RTHK: Blinken faces quit calls in Congress hearing

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken beat back criticism of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan on Monday at a contentious congressional hearing where at least two Republicans called on him to resign.

In five hours of often testy exchanges with lawmakers, Blinken defended US President Joe Biden's decision to pull out and pushed back on accusations that the State Department should have done more to help Americans and at-risk Afghans to be evacuated, blaming the previous administration for lacking a plan.

He repeatedly noted that Republican former president Donald Trump had negotiated the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, and said Biden's administration could not renegotiate because of threats from the group to resume killing Americans.

"There's no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining," Blinken said.

"We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan," Blinken said, referring to the Trump administration's agreement to remove all US forces from Afghanistan by May 1.

Members of Congress  Biden's Democrats as well as opposition Republicans  have pledged to investigate since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month after a rapid advance.

Blinken appeared on Monday before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and was to testify on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the first Biden administration official to testify publicly to lawmakers since the Islamist militant group's takeover.

Fireworks had been expected, given the amount of finger-pointing over how the two-decade-long war ended. Many Republicans, particularly those closely allied to Trump, interrupted or even shouted over Blinken during the House hearing, a departure for a committee known for bipartisan cooperation.

Others offered harsh criticism.

"The American people don't like to lose, especially not to the terrorists. But this is exactly what has happened," said Representative Michael McCaul, the panel's top Republican.

McCaul asked why assets like the Bagram Air Base were not maintained and why the administration had not reached counterterrorism agreements with neighboring countries. "This is a national security threat as China moves in. For all I know they make take over Bagram," McCaul said.

Blinken said the United States was actively working to identify threats. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-09-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
South Africa: Employment and Labour applauds high compliance with labour legislation

The Department of Employment and Labour is encouraged by the high rate of compliance with labour legislation, which stood at 96% in one week of the joint blitz inspection in Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape.

The department on Monday applauded high compliance with labour legislation in the Sunday's River Valley Local Municipality with some concerns that remain.

The Provincial Head of department, Nomfundo Douw-Jack said that the continued scourge of the employment of illegal immigrants remains a concern, which does not only impacts negatively on law enforcement but also the unemployment rate.

"Employees are encouraged to attend the information session as it will help them to understand their rights and responsibilities and be able to report employers who may be non-compliant," Jack said.

The joint operation continues this week and will end with an advocacy session meant to empower employees about the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, National Minimum Wage Act, Unemployment Insurance Act, Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, Immigration Act as well as information about COVID-19 and vaccination.

The advocacy sessions will be held on Thursday at Nomathamsanqa Hall in Addo and Mabhida Hall in Kirkwood.

The first week of the operations saw a total of 166 inspections being conducted with 79 in the farm sector, 33 in wholesale and retail sector, 16 in the hospitality sector and 38 in miscellaneous.

The inspections were conducted in the Addo and Kirkwood areas to ensure that employers in these sectors comply with legislation while employees get the protection of the law and being vaccinated at the place of work.

Five compliance orders and one written undertaking were served to non-compliant employers due to underpayment of their employees. A sum of R109 786.77 for underpayment of salaries of employees was recovered from employers who were not paying according to the prescribed rates.

The Acting Provincial Chief Inspector, Patiswa Mbongwana, who is also coordinating the joint operation said it is their collective objective to protect vulnerable workers whilst assisting employers to comply with the law.

The Department of Health also used the opportunity to conduct a COVID-19 education drive and vaccinated 158 workers in Sitrusoewer, Summerville and some of Farm Packhouses in Addo and Kirkwood.

The 71 alleged illegal immigrants who are Lesotho, Malawi and Zimbabwe nationals were detained and they appeared before court on Wednesday, 8 September 2021.

All females who were detained got released because of their small children but warned to appear before court. Out of the 68 males, two were juveniles and two produced valid visas which left a total of 64 illegal immigrants detained pending deportation. One farmer paid an admission of guilt amounting to R5000 at Addo Police Station, the department said.  SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa: Widows, partners suffer when there's no will left behind

Widows and the partners of deceased men are still being side lined when it comes to inheritance and succession after their partners pass away.

This is according to the South African Women Lawyers Associations Chuma Hlengane.

Hlengane was speaking during the Department of Justices virtual dialogue marking the commencement of the annual Wills Week campaign.

During this week, members of the public will be assisted to draw up their wills for free at all provincial Masters of the High Court offices, private law firms, private practice attorneys all supported by the department and the Law Society of South Africa.

A will is a legal document which sets out what should happen to a persons assets and personal belongings when they die.

Hlengane said in the associations experience, women and sometimes their children, are being left with nothing when their partners die because there is no will to protect them.

In many parts of the country, women are still fighting the same battle of not being recognised when it comes to succession and inheritance especially in rural areas. You will discover that widows in these areas are still being abused by their in-laws because their right to inherit their husbands properties, estates or their marital estates is being infringed because they are being sidelined by male family members when their spouses die, she said.

Hlengane emphasised that it is not only assets that can be declared in a will but succession issues as well.

Female heirs, as well, in the villages are suffering the same when it comes to leadership positions and chieftancy. When you are a female, you need to fight twice the battle (to succeed your parent) because there are people who willtry to take over merely for the fact that you are a woman.

The Law Society of South Africa's Ugeshnee Naicker said National Wills Week provides an opportunity for citizens to have legally binding wills which will declare what should happen to their assets when they pass away.

If you die without leaving a willyour assets may not go to the person of your choice, it can take a longer time to have an executor appointed, there could be extra and unnecessary costs, there could be unhappiness and conflict amongst members of your family because there are no clear instructions on how to distribute assets, Naicker said.

Documents that you will need when drawing up a will:

Your identity document

A list of all your assets and even specific personal items like clothing

A list of beneficiaries and their Identity numbers

Visit the Law Society of South Africas website at www.lssa.org.za for a list of all lawyers and attorneys participating during Wills Week.  SAnews.gov.za

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South Africa: Cele to visit Inanda after drive-by shooting

This story has been published on: 2021-09-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Unemployment, economic recovery and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be top of the agenda during this weeks Cabinet Lekgotla. This is according to Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, who was briefing the media ahead of the start of the Lekgotla. He said Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, Mayors and a variety of ... See more
Hong Kong: 4.8k election poll cards sent

The 2021 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections will be held on September 19. The Registration & Electoral Office has mailed poll cards to about 4,800 registered voters and authorised representatives in the contested subsectors to inform them of where they should cast their votes on polling day.

The office said voters and authorised representatives can only cast their votes at the polling station specified on their poll card.

Those who have not yet received their poll card can log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System for information, or call the election hotline on 2891 1001.

The office also reminded voters and authorised representatives to bring their Hong Kong identity card or other specified alternative documents to the designated polling station to cast their votes.

A total of five ordinary polling stations and dedicated polling station set up at a police station will be open from 9am to 6pm.

A total of 412 candidates will contest 364 seats in 13 subsectors in the election.

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RTHK: Pyongyang urged to return to talks after missile test

Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea on Tuesday called on North Korea to return to talks over its missile and nuclear development, a day after Pyongyang announced it successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles, suggesting advancement of its military capabilities.

The three-way meeting in Tokyo included US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, South Koreas Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japans Director-General for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.

US envoy Kim said the three countries were open to diplomacy with the North as we see to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies."

Kim called on North Korea to respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.

Washington and its allies will continue to work to fully implement all United Nations Security Council resolutions in addressing North Korea's missile development, he added.

On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the new missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometres away.

The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance, suggesting that 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 Washington and Seoul.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was also set to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday for talks with South Korean officials over bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday. Chung is expected seek a more active role from Beijing, Pyongyangs main ally and economic lifeline, in persuading the North to return to the negotiation table.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a regular news conference earlier Tuesday that the trilateral meeting had been scheduled before North Koreas test-firing of the missiles, but the meeting the day after would be a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Koreas weekend missile test-firing was a new threat to the region.

Japan and South Korea are separate key allies for the US presence in the Asia-Pacific region. (AP)

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South Africa: Inanda drive-by shooting an attack on Constitution, says JCPS cluster

The drive-by shooting that claimed the lives of three women in Inanda, Durban, at the weekend was part of intimidation tactics devised to weaken and undermine the countrys Constitution ahead of the 1 November municipal elections.

This is the firm position of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster, said Police Minister Bheki Cele and Zizi Kodwa, the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, responsible for State Security.

Accompanied by Police Deputy Minister Cassel Mathale, Cele and Kodwa on Tuesday visited the area to assess the situation.

Ncami Shange, 34, Beatrice Nzama, 60, and Philisiwe Jili, 37, were killed on Saturday when a black Opel Corsa bakkie, with five occupants opened fire on a group of people waiting outside a local primary school ahead of a community meeting.

A further five people were injured and taken to hospital.

Kodwa said: This is nothing but an act of intimidation and attack on the countrys Constitution.

The [victims were] people who [were] exercising their right to elect a leader of their choice and to participate in the elections, which will strengthen democracy.

Speaking on behalf of the JCPS cluster, Kodwa urged the public not to be intimidated by such brazen criminality.

The cluster fleshed out a plan that would protect the upcoming Local Government Elections. The plan, Kodwa said, would not just protect political parties, but the entire system.

Its important that we guard the system against such acts of intimidation. It is the responsibility of the JCPS to ensure that such intimidation, at the end of the day, do not triumph over the Constitution and weaken our democracy, he said.

From initial investigations, Cele said it was clear that the shooting was a tactic aimed at instilling fear.

Clearly the person who committed this terrible crime was intimidating rather than targeting a particular person or candidate, he said.

The matter has since been referred to the KZN SAPS Political Task Team.

The matter is on the agenda of the JCPS cluster, but also is on the agenda of the provincial Commissioner, [who is] working on prevention [of violence in during the elections and] going forward, said Cele.

Similar attacks, he said, have been happening in Gauteng and in the Western Cape.

There have been a lot of problems in Gauteng, especially in the Tshwane area. Were also having problems in the Western Cape, especially in the Gugulethu area. Its a problem that is linked to the elections, he said.

With regards to the Inanda incident, the Minister said it should be understood in the context that the area is already crime-ridden.

It could be a combination of the two [crime and political intolerance], so those are the things that need to be looked at, he said.

He said it was fortunate that members of the South African National Defence Force are still deployed in Gauteng and KZN, as this will assist the police to have a hold on the scale of such attacks.

The Minister said a SAPS budget to protect the elections will have to be found to safeguard the polls.

We have made our budget [needs] known through the National Commissioner and the CFO, which will be presented to Cabinet and National Treasury, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

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Hong Kong: Come2hk scheme to open

The quotas under the Come2hk travel scheme will open for application tomorrow.

Under the scheme, non-Hong Kong residents who fulfil specified conditions will be exempted from compulsory quarantine when they come to Hong Kong from Guangdong and Macau.

They can apply for the quota through the online booking system from tomorrow at midnight.

A daily quota of 1,000 each has been set for the Shenzhen Bay Port and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Port.

Quotas will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. The next cycle for quota booking will be open every Wednesday.

Each applicant can apply for the quota with a maximum of three accompanying non-Hong Kong residents.

Applicants must provide their name, gender, date of birth, valid travel document number for entry into Hong Kong, a mobile phone number which can receive SMS in the Mainland or Macau and a specified entry date and boundary control point.

They must also present valid proof of a negative nucleic acid test result that is obtained within three days prior to or on the day of entry into Hong Kong in order to be exempted from the compulsory quarantine requirement upon their arrival in the city.

Non-Hong Kong residents who come to Hong Kong under the scheme are reminded that they would still be subject to Guangdong or Macau's quarantine arrangements when they leave for the two places.

Click here for details or call 3142 2330 for enquiries.

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Hong Kong: HK welcomed to economic pact

Economic ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states today welcomed Hong Kongs interest in seeking accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

They welcomed Hong Kong's decision in a joint media statement after the Fifth ASEAN Economic Ministers - Hong Kong, China Consultations, which was co-chaired via video conferencing by Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau and Brunei Darussalam Minister at the Prime Ministers Office and Minister of Finance & Economy II Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah.

The ministers considered that Hong Kong is well placed to add value to the economic partnership, noting that the city has already established free trade agreements with 13 of the 15 participating partnership economies.

Mr Yau reiterated that Hong Kongs entrance into the partnership would provide an additional platform for promoting trade and investment between ASEAN and Hong Kong. It would also help further consolidate the regional supply chain through providing more access and choices of high-quality services to enterprises in the region, which enable businesses to fully benefit from regional economic integration. Furthermore, it would encourage investment flows and stimulate regional economic growth.

At the meeting, he also exchanged views with the economic ministers on possible areas for co-operation to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Free, open trade and investment facilitate the efficient distribution of vaccines and related goods, Mr Yau pointed out, adding that a well-functioning and effective multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization as its core, is instrumental to tackling the enormous economic challenges posed by the pandemic.

Noting the dramatic change in consumers buying habits from shopping at physical stores to purchasing online, he called for intensified co-operation between Hong Kong and ASEAN to grasp this fast-growing business model and build a strong, efficient and effective regional supply chain.

The online conference also took stock of the key co-operation areas since the meeting last year and noted the progress made on various fronts, including the full entry into force of the free trade agreement and investment agreement between Hong Kong and ASEAN in February.

Mr Yau thanked ASEAN member states for their continued support and participation in events organised by Hong Kong to promote closer economic co-operation, ranging from the high-level webinars in the past two years to the latest edition of the Belt & Road Summit held on September 1.

Bilateral trade between Hong Kong and ASEAN, the citys second largest trading partner, continued to record robust growth in the face of the pandemic. In the first half of 2021, the value of trade in goods between the two sides jumped by 21% year-on-year, reaching $589.7 billion.

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South Africa: Police officer dismissed for impregnating inmate

This story has been published on: 2021-09-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Unemployment, economic recovery and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be top of the agenda during this weeks Cabinet Lekgotla. This is according to Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, who was briefing the media ahead of the start of the Lekgotla. He said Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers, Mayors and a variety of ... See more
Hong Kong: Welfare chief tours child care centre

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong visited Sweet Heart After School Care Centre for Pre-primary Children in Sham Shui Po today for a closer look at its re-engineered service, which started operation in mid-August.

Dr Law first toured the facilities and observed the activities provided by the centre, and exchanged views with the staff and parents.

He learnt about the different enrolment demands for the morning, afternoon and evening sessions, and noted that over half of the children enrolled in the centre received full-fee waivers, relieving the burden of families with financial hardship.

The centre was formerly the Parents' Mutual Help Child Care Centre (MHCCCs). Such centres are operated by non-governmental organisations on a self-financing basis to provide a flexible form of child care for children under the age of three.

To strengthen child care services, the Government announced in the 2018 Policy Address a range of initiatives. These included accepting the Consultancy Study on the Long-term Development of Child Care Services report's recommendation to re-engineer MHCCCs in phases to cope with the community's child care needs and optimise the use of public resources.

A feasibility study on the provision of an after-school care service for children aged three to six in suitable welfare facilities was completed in April 2020.

A total of 19 MHCCCs are now being re-engineered in phases from 2021-22 to provide an after-school care service for pre-primary children aged three to under six through the additional provision of social workers and supporting staff. As of August 2021, four MHCCCs have been re-engineered.

Dr Law said the current-term Government is committed to promoting pro-child and pro-family policies and an array of measures have been implemented to strengthen child care services.

These include enhancing the long-term planning of child care centres (CCCs), improving the manning ratio, increasing the level of subsidies for CCC services, providing child care training for grandparents, and increasing the service places of aided standalone CCCs, as well as occasional child care and extended hours services.

In addition, a number of enhancement measures have been introduced to the Fee-waiving Subsidy Scheme under the After School Care Programme with a view to better supporting low-income and needy families, Dr Law added.

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RTHK: England to give Covid booster jabs to over fifties

Britain will begin a Covid-19 vaccine booster programme for older and more vulnerable people soon as Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government relies on vaccines rather than further lockdowns to navigate a "bumpy" winter.

Officials said Covd-19 vaccines had saved more than 112,000 lives and averted 24 million infections as they proposed a third shot for front line health workers and those aged over 50 or clinically vulnerable, starting with people most at risk.

Johnson hopes the booster programme, which is being undertaken without firm evidence about its likely impact, will mean that hospitals can bear the burden of all winter infections without the need for another lockdown.

He also outlined a "Plan B", involving mandatory vaccine certificates in some settings, mandatory mask wearing, and asking people to work from home, which was being held in reserve.

"We're now motoring ahead with the booster programme...so that's going to mean we're going to be building even higher walls of immunisation of vaccine protection in this country," Johnson told a news conference, adding that Plan B could help avoid more economically damaging lockdowns.

"When you've got a large proportion of the country, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference, and give us the confidence that we don't need to go back to the lockdowns of the past."

Johnson scrapped the last coronavirus restrictions in England in July with the aim of a "return to normal".

Britain has recorded 134,000 Covid-19 deaths among its 67 million people.

Health minister Sajid Javid said the booster programme would start next week and he expected vaccinations for health workers to become compulsory.

The four nations of the United Kingdom will all pursue a booster campaign as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

The JCVI proposed the booster be given six months after a second shot, after evidence of a small decline in vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation in older people from a little over 90% to a little under 90% over 5-6 months.

Officials said protection from two doses of vaccine beyond 6 months was uncertain and that boosters would prevent illness and deaths from COVID-19 over the winter, but did not say whether the extra shots would lower transmission rates.

"We're not past the pandemic. We know this winter could quite possibly be bumpy at times...It's better to be pre-emptive and to be prepared and plan for the worst," England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam told reporters.

So far 44 million people have had two vaccine doses, 81 percent of those aged over 16. On Monday, the government said those aged 12 to 15 would also be offered shots.

Britain is currently recording the second highest number of new infections after the United States, which also plans booster shots.

The British recommendation comes after some leading scientists, including from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organisation, wrote in Monday's Lancet medical journal that COVID boosters were not yet needed for the general population. Reuters)

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RTHK: Chinese ambassador banned from UK parliament event

The Chinese ambassador to Britain has been banned from attending an event in the country's parliament because Beijing imposed sanctions earlier this year on lawmakers who highlighted alleged human right abuses in Xinjiang.

China imposed the sanctions on nine British politicians, lawyers and an academic in March for spreading what it said were "lies and disinformation" the over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in the country's far west.

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, and John McFall, the speaker of the House of Lords, stepped in to prevent Zheng Zeguang from speaking at an event in parliament.

"I regularly hold meetings with ambassadors from across the world to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians," Hoyle said.

"But I do not feel it's appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members."

Hoyle said he was not banning the Chinese ambassador permanently, but only while the sanctions remained in place.

Richard Graham, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary China Group, had given an invitation to Zheng during the summer, the Daily Telegraph said.

Graham and the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The All Party Parliamentary China Group declined to comment.

China sanctioned five British lawmakers, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee.

The targeted individuals and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering Chinese territory and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with them.

China imposed the sanctions after Britain, the United States, the European Union and Canada imposed parallel sanctions on senior Chinese officials accused of the mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Tim Loughton, a Conservative politician targeted by the sanctions, welcomed the decision to bar the ambassador from the event.

He said China could not think "they can shut down free speech by parliamentarians in a democracy".

At the time the sanctions were imposed, Britain condemned the move as an attempt by Beijing to stifle criticism, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying he stood in solidarity with those affected.

London and Beijing have been trading angry words over a range of issues, including China's reforms in former British colony Hong Kong and China's trade policy.

Activists and U.N. rights experts say at least a million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labour and sterilisations.

China has repeatedly denied all accusations of abuse and says its camps offer vocational training and are needed to fight extremism. (Reuters)

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Vietnams two biosphere reserves nominated for UNESCO voting

Vietnams biosphere reserves Nui Chua in the central province of Ninh Thuan and Kon Ha Nung in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will be voted to seek UNESCO recognition at the 33rd session of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (CIC-MAB) in Nigeria from September 13-17.









Baby turtles are released at Nui Chua National Park in the central province of Ninh Thuan. (Photo: VNA)



The event was held in both online and offline forms in Nigeria. This marks the first time an annual meeting of CIC-MAB has been organised in an African country.



Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to UNESCO, said Vietnam is now home to 9 biosphere reserves recognised by UNESCO. If approved, Vietnam will have 11 biosphere reserves, becoming one of the countries with the largest number of UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserves.



It is also the first time since 2015 that Vietnam has had biosphere reserves nominated for voting by UNESCO. The voting is scheduled to take place on September 15.



The CIC-MAB, known as the governing body of the Man and the Biosphere programme, comprises 34 member nations biennially elected by the UNESCO General Assembly./.
NA Standing Committee opens third session

The 15th National Assembly Standing Committee opened its third session on Monday, which is expected to last until September 22.













NA Chairman Vuong inh Hue delivers a speech at the opening of the third session of the 15th National Assembly Standing Committee. VNA/VNS Photo Trong uc

Opening the session, NA Chairman Vuong inh Hue said six draft laws would be tabled for discussion for the first time at this session, which are important to the completion of the legal system and ensuring the systems consistency, as well as to the implementation of the countrys commitments under signed new generation free trade agreements like the CPTPP and EVFTA.



The NA Standing Committee will also perform its supervision function through examining reports on the enforcement of the Constitution, laws and NA resolutions, as well as the implementation of the National Target Programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous regions in 2021-2030.



The committee will give opinions on a detailed plan on thematic supervision of the National Assembly and the NA Standing Committee in 2022.



Several measures regarding tax reduction and exemption to support enterprises and citizens affected by the COVID-19 pandemic will be submitted to the committee for consideration and approval during this session.



The committee will consider the establishment of Tu Son City in northern Bac Ninh Province, the Prime Ministers proposal on the appointment of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and the signing of an international treaty in which Viet Nam provides an office for the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).



After the opening, the committee scrutinised the draft law on insurance business under the NA Vice chairman Nguyen uc Hai.



Minister of Finance Ho uc Phoc said that the revised law overcomes limitations after more than 20 years of implementing the Law on Insurance Business in 2000.



The revised law helped to perfect the legal regulations on insurance business; handling conflicts, overlaps and inadequacies of the Law on Insurance Business with legal documents promulgated by the National Assembly; reforming administrative procedures in insurance business activities and authorised management, inspecting and handling violations on insurance business activities.



Chairman of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh agreed with the revised law, but said the legislative body needed to create a legal basis for building a national database on insurance businesses. The Ministry of Finance would be assigned to manage it.



Speaking at the session, National Assembly Chairman Hue said the development of the countrys insurance market remained limited.



He suggested the legislative body pay attention to the opinions from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Insurance Association, and the Consumer Protection Association.



Regarding insurance contracts, Hue requested a careful review of civil contracts, in which the compatibility of the contract needed to be considered carefully to ensure fairness between the parties.
Vietnam will impose a zero percent tax rate on 31 commodities imported from Cambodia such as live poultry, poultry meat and by-products, lemons and rice.

Vietnam will impose a zero percent tax rate on 31 commodities imported from Cambodia such as live poultry, poultry meat and by-products, lemons and rice (Illustrative photo: VNA)

The list also includes finished pork products and unprocessed tobacco leaves, among others, according to a decree issued by the Vietnamese Government on September 14.

Decree No. 83/2021/ND-CP stipulating special preferential import tariffs aims to implement an agreement on boosting bilateral trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in 2021-2022.

The document sets quotas for rice with 300,000 tonnes and unprocessed tobacco leaves, 3,000 tonnes each year.

To enjoy the tariff, the products must have certificates of origin (C/O) form S granted by Cambodia's authorised agencies and undergo customs procedures at border gates as mentioned in Appendix III attached in the decree.

The document will take effect from September 13, 2021 to December 31, 2022.
Costs of US-led war on terror after 9/11: $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths

People's Daily Online) 16:56, September 13, 2021

Editor's Note: Sept. 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City in the US. After the tragedy, the US initiated a global war on terror, which has since caused extremely serious civilian casualties and property damage, while leading to horrific humanitarian disasters.

People mourn for the victims at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Enormous cost

Duration: 20 years

Cost: approximately $8 trillion

Deaths: approximately 900,000 people

Nearly 20 years of post-9/11 wars have cost the US an estimated $8 trillion and have killed over 900,000 people, according to a report from the Costs of War project at Brown University.

Debt in blood

The Afghanistan War

U.S. soldiers stand guard at the site of car bombing in Nangarhar Province, east Afghanistan, Jan. 5, 2015. (Xinhua/Tahir Safi)

Casualties: led to the deaths of more than 30,000 civilians; injured more than 60,000 civilians

Refugees: 11 million people

Economic loss: generated an average loss of $60 million per day

The Iraq War

Several Iraqi children squeeze into the trunk of a car to escape from Basra on March 30, 2004. (Photo/Xinhua)

Casualties: around 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths, including 16,000 directly caused by US forces

Refugees: 3.25 million

Damage: US forces were also found to have seriously violated international humanitarian principles along with perpetrating a series of prisoner abuse incidents

US-led coalition forces made use of a large number of DU bombs, cluster bombs, and white phosphorus bombs in Iraq, and did not take any measures to minimize the damage these bombs inflicted upon civilians.

According to estimates from the United Nations, there are still 25 million mines and other explosive remnants that need to be removed in Iraq.

The Syrian War

Hadi Ghusoun, a retired English teacher in his late 60s, looks at old certificates, which he had found under the rubble of his shattered house in Homs city in central Syria, March 11, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

Casualties: Between 2016 and 2019, the confirmed number of war-related civilian deaths amounted to 33,584 in Syria, while the number of Syrian civilians directly killed by US-led airstrikes reached 3,833, with half of them being women and children

Refugees: About 15,000 Syrian doctors (about half of the countrys total) have fled the country, while 6.5 million people inside the country were left displaced and homeless and about 5 million Syrians had to escape abroad.

According to a survey conducted by the World Food Programme in April 2020, about one-third of Syrians were facing a food shortage crisis, and 87 percent of Syrians had no deposits left in their accounts.

Disastrous Consequences

The US-led war on terror has directly led to horrific humanitarian disasters in the affected war-torn countries, contributing to personnel casualties, damage to facilities, production stagnation and, most especially, civilian casualties.

An Afghan disabled child walks with crutches in Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, Feb. 22, 2020. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

The US-led campaign has also brought about a series of complex social problems, such as waves of refugees, social unrest, ecological crises, and psychological traumas.

The war on terror has often produced spillover effects, causing harm to the countries that were not themselves involved in the wars.

For example, when attacking suspected terrorists during the Afghanistan War, US aircraft and drones often dropped bombs on neighboring Pakistani villages, and even on wedding cars and Pakistani border guard soldiers.

Even the US itself has fallen victim to the war on terror it has started.

Between 2001 and 2005, about one-third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with mental or psychological illness, and 56 percent of those diagnosed had more than one disease.

When the US started the Afghanistan war under the pretext of counter-terrorism in 2001, the country claimed that it would eradicate terrorism and help the Afghan people rebuild their homeland. However, nearly two decades later, the US has instead opted to hastily pull out its troops from Afghanistan all while the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan continues to multiply, national reconstruction efforts stall and Afghans remain subject to a life of abject poverty.

What the US did in Afghanistan over the past 20 years shows that its wanton military intervention and attempts to impose American ideology and values on others will not help resolve the issues at hand. It is a US approach that is ultimately doomed to fail.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Xi replies to letter from plateau-stationed model battalion

Xinhua) 08:14, September 14, 2021

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."

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
How will China's manufacturing fare in next five years?

Xinhua) 08:21, September 14, 2021

Workers weld components at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China has set strategic goals to develop into a manufacturing powerhouse from 2021 to 2025, forging ahead on greater innovation and vitality, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Boasting the world's most comprehensive industrial system with more quality and high-end products churned out by Chinese manufacturers, the transition from "made in China" to "designed in China" is kicking into high gear.

China would speed up its new industrialization and informatization process, MIIT minister Xiao Yaqing told a press conference Monday. Xiao pledged that the country would develop into a "manufacturing powerhouse" and "network powerhouse" through five-year efforts.

The ministry is paying close attention to the top-level design, Xiao said, adding that it is formulating the 14th five-year development plans for different industries. These plans will be released over the next four months.

COMPETITIVENESS

The country's manufacturing sector has topped the world for 11 consecutive years since 2010, Xiao said, hailing that the country's position as a manufacturing country has further strengthened.

The added industrial value of the Chinese manufacturing sector grew from 16.98 trillion yuan (about 2.63 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to 26.6 trillion yuan in 2020. The figure gives Chinese manufacturers a 30-percent-share of the global total-added industrial value.

China also boasts the world's most comprehensive industrial system with 41 major industrial categories. More than 40 percent of the outputs of Chinese-manufactured products rank the top of the world among 500 major industrial goods.

In the meantime, more and more key industries, including new energy vehicles (NEVs) and photovoltaic equipment, lead the world with high-end brands such as telecommunication devices going into the global playing field.

INDUSTRIAL UPGRADE

Stressing 5-year-period industrial upgrades and optimization at the press briefing, Xiao said the ministry would improve the manufacturing sector level and implement the carbon neutrality and carbon peak goals.

Notable breakthroughs would happen in the key sectors focusing on new-generation information technology, new energy, and high-end equipment, Tian Yulong, chief engineer from the MIIT, told the press briefing. Tian noted that these sectors are closely related to the core industry competitiveness.

In traditional industries such as engineering, building materials, and chemical sectors, efforts would promote technology levels and build the industrial chain more solidly, Tian said.

As for the overall industrial sector, Xiao said the low-carbon transition would conclude in the next five years. "It is an arduous task for the industrial sector to achieve the carbon goals, but also a significant opportunity," the minister told the press briefing.

During recent years, under the country's emissions-cutting initiative, the market share of China's solar cell module represents more than 70 percent of the global total. By the end of August, the sales of China's NEVs exceeded seven million, accounting for about half the total globally and topping the world ranking.

The ministry would speed up efforts to lower emission intensity and will likely see a faster pace in the industrial structure adjustment by key industries, Xiao said. Xiao added that it is formulating the green development plan for the industrial sector during the 14th Five-Year period (2021-2025) and will release it soon.

DIGITAL ECONOMY

Noting the digitalization trend in the global economy, Xiao said that the manufacturing businesses going digital is the "compulsory course" for the sector's development and vowed efforts to promote digital transformation throughout the entire sector and develop 5G networks.

Currently, the development momentum of the digital economy is still robust, with new business forms and new models emerging. It would provide strong growth support for the manufacturing industry, Xiao said.

Looking to the future, key technology breakthroughs in sectors such as high-end chips and basic software, and planning of front-tier technology such as quantum information and advanced computing, would strengthen.

Meanwhile, the construction of new forms of digital infrastructure and the cultivation of emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing would move faster, said the minister.

Hailing the faster growth of the country's 5G industry, Zhao Zhiguo, director of the cybersecurity management bureau from the MIIT, said the shipments of 5G equipment of local brands and chip-design capability in China boast leading advantages globally.

Talking about the future focuses on 5G, Zhao said the ministry would expand application scenarios facing three key sectors, including new information consumption forms, the real economy, and public services.

The number of 5G terminal connections in China now stands at above 400 million, ranking first worldwide. Its 5G base stations make up over 70 percent of the global total. China's 5G development has made positive progress, Xiao said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Hong Kong braces for Election Committee elections for a better future

Xinhua) 08:23, September 14, 2021

Photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows the Golden Bauhinia Square in south China's Hong Kong. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

-- Observers believe the Election Committee will have broad representation and balanced public participation which can better reflect the voice of the majority of Hong Kong residents and respond to their demands.

-- Improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has plugged the institutional loophole for anti-China elements to take advantage of elections to enter the governance structure of the HKSAR;

-- With the new electoral system, a patriotic, capable and responsible administration team will be elected.

HONG KONG, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 2021 Election Committee's subsector ordinary elections in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will be held on Sept. 19.

As the first practice of improving Hong Kong's electoral system, the elections will lay a solid foundation for the implementation of the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong" and the central authorities' overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR, and usher in a new future of greater prosperity for Hong Kong that has returned to stability from chaos.

Photo taken with a phone shows a view by the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, south China, July 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

BROAD REPRESENTATION

On March 11, a decision on improving the electoral system of the HKSAR was adopted by an overwhelming majority vote at the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).

According to the decision, the Election Committee, expanded to 1,500 members of five sectors, shall be responsible for electing the Chief Executive designate and part of the members of the Legislative Council (LegCo), as well as for nominating candidates for the Chief Executive and LegCo members.

Expanded from four sectors to five, the Election Committee has new representatives of Hong Kong members of related national organizations.

Observers believe the Election Committee will have broad representation and balanced public participation, which can better reflect the voice of the majority of Hong Kong residents and respond to their demands.

Li Huan, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Hong Kong and Macao Studies of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said there is an urgent need to address Hong Kong's deep-seated problems that have become more prominent in recent years, citing major livelihood issues in housing, land, employment and incomes.

The new Election Committee can better represent the interests of the grassroots, Li noted.

Out of the 1,500 seats of the Election Committee, 325 people were determined to be validly registered as ex-officio members, 156 persons were validly nominated to be members of the Election Committee and 603 candidates would be uncontested while 412 candidates would contest in the Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections to be held on Sept. 19 for 364 seats.

Photo taken on July 8, 2021 shows a view of a ferris wheel and Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

ELIMINATE PAN-POLITICIZATION

Since the 2014 illegal "Occupy Central" movement, and especially after the social unrest in 2019, Hong Kong has been embroiled in continuous political disputes and even a governance crisis. "Pan-politicization" has become a factor hindering Hong Kong's stable development and even jeopardizing national security.

The anti-China forces manipulated various political issues and instigated disputes and rifts and then some people acted only based on their political identities, said Yip Kin-ming, a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee member from Hong Kong.

"The pan-politicization has blinded the Hong Kong society and hindered the improvement of the economy and people's livelihood," Ye stressed, noting that only by removing pan-politicization and radicalization can Hong Kong get back on the right track.

In the past, elections in Hong Kong were often used by external anti-China forces to endanger national security and undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. In the latest 2019 District Council election, the "black terror" violence went rampant and political gains were sought through unfair elections.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, anti-China forces from the United States and other Western countries have been cultivating "political agents" in Hong Kong and taking Hong Kong as a subversive base for a "color revolution", which seriously undermined Hong Kong's democracy, freedom and high degree of autonomy.

Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said improving the electoral system of the HKSAR has plugged the institutional loophole for those anti-China elements to take advantage of elections to enter the governance structure of the HKSAR.

After the improvement of the electoral system, Hong Kong's administration team will be able to concentrate on pursuing development and benefiting the people, and resolve the deep-seated problems impairing Hong Kong's development, said Tu Haiming, chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank and also a member of the CPPCC National Committee.

A pedestrian walks past a poster on improving electoral system and ensuring patriots administering Hong Kong in south China's Hong Kong, March 31, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

ELECT THE CAPABLE

With the new electoral system, a patriotic, capable and responsible administration team will be elected so that the Hong Kong economy and the people's livelihood can be improved and the financial hub can sharpen its global competitiveness and regain its glory.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the city's largest political group, has over 100 members running for the membership of the Election Committee. About 50 of them are ex-officio members or will be elected uncontested.

DAB chairperson Starry Lee expects the Election Committee to succeed in completing the task of nominating and electing the next HKSAR chief executive and new LegCo members.

"The 1,500 Election Committee members will elect the capable and the competent," Maria Tam, deputy director of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee under the NPC Standing Committee, said.

"They will work to ensure that the future chief executive and LegCo members are more resourceful to solve Hong Kong's deep-seated problems and help Hong Kong find a way out (of the dilemma)."

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam also expressed her optimism. "After social stability and political security are guaranteed, I'm confident that Hong Kong will have a better future with greater progress in the economy, people's livelihood and social development," she said.

From the national security legislation in Hong Kong to improvements to its electoral system, the policies implemented by the central authorities over the past years are aimed at safeguarding the fundamental well-being of Hong Kong residents, pushing for the HKSAR's long-term prosperity and stability, and facilitating the enduring success of "one country, two systems."

A new plan was issued recently by the central authorities for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, which created more opportunities and a broader arena for Hong Kong to make better use of its advantages and integrate into the national development landscape.

"The biggest opportunity in the world is in China and the biggest opportunity for Hong Kong is in the mainland," Luo said, urging Hong Kong to actively seize the new wave of historic opportunities.

"We firmly believe that Hong Kong will forge new advantages and make new contributions in the process of further integrating into the national development," he said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, Singapore pledge to deepen pragmatic cooperation in multiple fields

Xinhua) 08:28, September 14, 2021

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Singapore pledged here Monday to deepen pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in multiple sectors.

While meeting with Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and Singapore have enjoyed mutual understanding and mutual trust in the development of bilateral relations.

While mainly focusing on economic development and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the two side have worked together to push forward the development of the bilateral ties and have achieved fruitful results, Wang said.

China is willing to join hands with Singapore to promote strategic communication, deepen pragmatic cooperation, overcome difficulties and meet challenges, and win the war against the pandemic at an early date so as to push forward the speedy recovery of each other's economy and make positive contribution to peace and development of the region and the world at large, Wang said

He stressed that the two sides should maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen joint prevention and control of COVID-19 and press for cooperation in fighting the virus.

Wang also noted that the two sides should work together to push forward the joint construction of the Belt and Road with high quality, give full play to the role of the new land-sea route, synergize the new land-sea route with the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, tap the cooperation potential in the fields including E-commerce business, artificial intelligence, mobile payment and big data so as to add new impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

China is ready to work with ASEAN countries including Singapore to make good preparation for the commemorative event to mark the 30th anniversary of the dialogue relations between China and ASEAN so as to elevate the China-ASEAN relations to a higher level, he said.

Wang said the two sides should also work together to push for the early entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

For his part, Balakrishnan said China and Singapore have maintained an open, candid and friend-like relationship, and Singapore is grateful for China's provision of COVID-19 vaccines to his country.

Singapore is always ready to deepen its cooperation with China in the fight against the pandemic, trade, investment, digital economy and green development, he said.

He said Singapore would like to make greater efforts to align China's plan for the new land-sea route with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, so as to inject new impetus into the ties between the two countries.

As China-ASEAN relations bear a fundamental, comprehensive and strategic significance, Balakrishnan said ASEAN countries hope to develop a stable and solid relationship of cooperation with China as both sides mark the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations this year.

Singapore supports the acceleration of consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and backs the RCEP agreement taking effect at an early date, Balakrishnan said.

He noted that Singapore is willing to work with China to stick to multilateralism in addressing new problems and challenges, in a bid to push for the just and sustainable development of the world.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China warns U.S. against attempt to rename TECRO

Xinhua) 08:30, September 14, 2021

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- 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 the 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 the "Taiwan Representative Office," the Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing.

Zhao said the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the China-U.S. Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations clearly states that the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.

On Sept. 10, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a phone call with President Xi Jinping that the United States has no intention to change the one-China policy, Zhao added.

He said the United States should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, honor its commitments with concrete actions, stop all forms of official exchanges with Taiwan, and stop elevating substantive relations with Taiwan.

This should include refraining from renaming TECRO in the United States as "Taiwan Representative Office" and stopping sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, Zhao said.

"The United States should handle the Taiwan question in a prudent manner, lest it should seriously undermine China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
U.S. doubles down on vaccination efforts as Delta variant drives COVID-19 surge

Xinhua) 08:33, September 14, 2021

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.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China's booming robotics industry shapes intelligent future

Xinhua) 08:45, September 14, 2021

-- In China, key technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence have been widely used in new-generation robots.

-- The World Robot Conference 2021 displayed a wide range of application fields -- from space to deep sea research, from factories and workshops to fields, and from major projects to people's daily life.

-- According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the output of Chinese industrial robots increased from 72,000 units in 2016 to 212,000 units in 2020. Service and special robot manufacturers in China earned 52.9 billion yuan (about 8.21 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue last year, a year-on-year increase of 41 percent.

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Visitors to the World Robot Conference 2021 can hardly miss the chance to meet with a robot guide roaming at the exhibition venue in Beijing as they immersed themselves in the intelligent future shaped by the latest robotic technologies.

Service robots dance during the World Robot Expo in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

A number of the robots, Opti, impressed the visitors with their chubby orange appearance, funny expressions and smart hand gestures at the four-day event that concluded on Monday.

Terminus Group, the Chinese developer of Opti, said 152 of their products will serve as mascot robots at the upcoming Expo 2020 Dubai. The intelligent machine will greet and interact with visitors, respond to information inquiries, and provide services such as food and beverage delivery.

In addition to the service robots, the World Robot Conference 2021 displayed a wide range of application fields -- from space to deep sea research, from factories and workshops to fields, and from major projects to people's daily life.

More than 110 enterprises and scientific research institutions brought over 500 products that represent new technologies in the upstream and downstream segments of the robot industrial chain.

A live demonstration of robot-assisted orthopedic surgery became a hit during the conference. Guided by an optical tracking system, a mechanical arm controlled by a computer master console skillfully performed the surgery on a model of the human spine.

Visitors view an orthopedic surgery robot at the World Robot Expo in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 12, 2021. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

Chen Jinhu, a staff member of Beijing Tinavi Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., said the surgery is guided by the company's telemedicine system, which has allowed doctors at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, which specializes in orthopedics, to successfully carry out telesurgery on patients across the country.

"Research and development in the orthopedic surgery robot involves many disciplines such as medical science, mechanics, biomechanics and computer science, as well as the collaboration of universities, companies and hospitals," said Chen.

In China, key technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence have been widely used in new-generation robots. The development of robots will feature an internet-based trend with autonomy, collaboration and dexterity, according to Wang Yaonan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the output of Chinese industrial robots increased from 72,000 units in 2016 to 212,000 units in 2020. Service and special robot manufacturers in China earned 52.9 billion yuan (about 8.21 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue last year, a year-on-year increase of 41 percent.

Ma Qinghai, general manager of SMC Investment Management China Co., Ltd., said that with the rapid development of China's robot industry, many new demand and application scenarios have emerged, encouraging SMC to develop new technologies and products.

Sixty percent of the company's products are now used in the automation and robot-related industries led by semiconductors, new energy and biomedicine sectors.

"The vigorous development of China's robot industry has brought opportunities to SMC. We saw sales rise over 50 percent in the first eight months," Ma said.

A visitor takes photos of a panda-shaped robot during the World Robot Conference 2021 in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Zhang Jin, vice president of Siasun Robot & Automation Co., Ltd., said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the overseas demand for industrial robots continued to grow, and the company's exports have more than tripled this year.

The Shenyang-based company has set up overseas branches. "We have cooperated with overseas universities and research institutes to carry out research and development catering to local needs. Cooperation in the robot industry is deepening and creating new driving forces for the world economy," he said.

Experts at the conference pointed out that while robot-related technology integration and innovation have made continuous progress, it is still difficult to comprehensively integrate industry, learning, research and investment due to bottlenecks such as intellectual property ownership, interdisciplinary talent training and disconnection between application scenarios and product innovation.

Many places in China are striving to create incubators favorable to the integrated development of the robot industry.

Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area has become a hotbed aimed at becoming a world-class platform for robot technology innovation and industrial cooperation. It hosts more than 100 robot enterprises.

Liu Li, deputy director of the management committee of the development area, said the local robot and intelligent manufacturing industry is expected to become an industrial cluster with an industrial scale worth 100 billion yuan by 2025.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China to develop new ultra-high-speed trains, commercial airplanes

Global Times) 08:49, September 14, 2021

A mechanic works at a train maintenance workshop in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, Oct. 6, 2020. Railway staff members have stepped up the maintenance of high-speed trains to ensure traffic safety as the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays are driving up travel demand. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

China vowed on Monday to strengthen research and development into cutting-edge and disruptive technologies in the transport sector, and carry out studies of new types of vehicles such as ultra-high-speed trains and commercial airplanes.

The plan was put forward in a guideline issued jointly by the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Science and Technology, in a bid to accelerate the construction of transport systems using scientific and technological innovations.

The guideline will focus on the major tasks that limit China's development in science, technology and transportation, for which it will strengthen the availability of high-quality science and technology, promote innovations in related industries, and enhance the fusion of new technologies with transportation.

Based on the schedule put forward in the guideline, by 2025, basic research in transportation and the applications of that research will be significantly strengthened, breakthroughs will be made in key technologies, the integration of cutting-edge technologies with transport will be accelerated, and a scientific and technological innovation system will be established to buildChina into a country with strong transportation networks.

By 2035, the innovation capability in the basic research of transportation and applications will be fully enhanced, and key technologies will be achieved independently from other countries. Cutting-edge technologies will be fully integrated with transportation, and a scientific and technological innovation system that meets the needs of a country with strong transportation networks will be basically established.

China will focus on breakthroughs in core components such as power, perception and control in transport vehicles, communication and navigation equipment, as well as emergency rescue equipment.

The country will also try to overcome key technological barriers in some specific industries, including saturation deep diving and airworthiness certification.

A cooperation agreement for the two ministries was signed on July 24, 2020, to strengthen the integration and cooperation of science and transportation, and promote the transformation of transport development from relying on traditional factors to focusing more on innovation, said Cen Yanqing, a deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Transport, during a press conference on Monday.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp started research into ultra-high-speed trains in August 2017. The company's highest designed speed for these trains is expected to exceed 1,000 kilometers per hour, according to previous media reports.

The world's fastest maglev transportation system with a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, which was self-developed, rolled off the assembly line on July 20 in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, another crucial milestone in the country's rapid rise as a global leader in high-speed rail technology and manufacturing.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
2 COVID-19 drugs under development, effective on patients with mild condition: Sinopharm

Global Times) 08:51, September 14, 2021

Photo/CNBG

Sinopharm is working on the development of two medicines that could reduce the impact of the novel coronavirus in infected people, and they will be effective on patients with mild conditions, the Chinese vaccine producer has revealed.

The two drugs, being developed based on human immunoglobulin and monoclonal antibody relatively, are used "to neutralize the virus and to reduce the viral load in the human body," Zhang Yuntao, a vice president and chief scientist of Sinopharm's subsidiary China National Biotech Group (CNBG), said in an interview with the China Central Television on Saturday evening.

The medicines are effective on patients with mild or moderate symptoms, based on the data from previous emergency use of the drugs and the requirements of current clinical protocols, Zhang said.

One of the two drugs Zhang mentioned was revealed for the first time during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services earlier this month.

The company claimed it is the world's first COVID-19 medicine based on human immunoglobulin developed from plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients.

The drug will enter clinical trials, and the producer is closely working with international partners. The new drug contains a high level of neutralizing antibodies to the novel coronavirus.

Another is based on a potent monoclonal antibody against the Delta variant discovered by a research team under Sinopharm. The monoclonal antibody can effectively block the binding of the novel coronavirus to the Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. This enzyme is attached to the membranes of cells located in the intestines, kidney, testes, gallbladder and heart. The antibody can prevent the virus from infecting cells.

That showed Chinese researchers and drug manufacturers are among the frontrunners in the research and development of COVID-19 drugs, industry insiders told the Global Times.

Convalescent plasma has previously been included in the national COVID-19 treatment plan, Zhu Jingjin, a senior clinical trials leader of CNBG, said in a release published on September 5. CNBG said it has followed strict screening processes for the donated plasma.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, US must answer the "question of the century" with strategic courage, political resolve

08:57, September 14, 2021 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with his US counterpart, Joseph R. Biden on Sept. 10, and the two leaders had candid, in-depth and extensive strategic communication and exchanges on China-US relations and relevant issues of mutual interest.

Xi explained China's principles and stance on and charted the right course for major issues such as how to develop China-US relations and advance the coordination and cooperation between the two countries, demonstrating China's high sense of responsibility to bring the China-US ties back to the right track of stable development as soon as possible.

This marked the first time of direct conversation between the two leaders since they had a phone talk on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year in February.

China and the US are respectively the biggest developing country and the biggest developed country. Whether they can handle their relationship well bears on the future of the world, and it is a question of the century to which the two countries must provide a good answer.

Both history and present have proved that China-US cooperation benefits the two countries and the world, while the confrontation between them would bring harms to both of them and the rest of the globe.

The China-US relationship is not a multiple-answer question of whether they should have good relations, but a compulsory question of how, Xi said.

Both Xi and Biden agreed to maintain frequent contact by multiple means and instruct officials at the working level to intensify the work, conduct extensive dialogue and create conditions for the further development of China-US relations.

This is in line with the common aspiration of international society. It is believed that the direct conversation between the Chinese and US leaders is of irreplaceable importance for the two sides to manage their bilateral relations.

For the time being, the China-US ties are encountering serious setbacks and conflicts. Even the fields that have witnessed successful bilateral cooperation are constantly disturbed by disputes and even frictions. What caused the situation is that the US was comprehending China with a wrongful logic, taking China as its major opponent and even an enemy, and trying to block and stop China's modernization.

Impacted by such mistaken mindset, the US has constantly challenged China's major interests, enhanced its efforts to contain China, and brought confrontation to every aspect of China-US relations. Smearing China in the international arena, the US has created serious risks against global peace and stability. This goes against the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common interests of the rest of the world, and has triggered wide concerns from international society.

With major changes and a global pandemic unseen in a century, the world is facing increasing global challenges that need to be addressed urgently. These global challenges cannot be dealt with by any single country alone. They can only be tackled with international cooperation.

Whether China and the US can carry out effective cooperation concerns whether the international society is able to walk out of the very period of turbulence. However, it is the overall environment of China-US relations that decides if such cooperation is normal and constructive. The US cannot, deliberately contain China and hurt China's legitimate interests, and on the other hand, wish China to satisfy the needs of the US unconditionally. Such logic has never worked in international exchanges.

The history of China-US exchanges has fully proved that only by respecting each other's core interests and well managing disputes can the two countries find a solid ground for coordination and cooperation on issues of common interests. At present, international society generally hopes that China and the US can keep their dialogue and enhance coordination on major international and regional issues, including climate change, pandemic control and economic recovery.

The US expressed its willingness to launch more dialogues and cooperation with China in its recent communication with the latter. Since it is somewhat aware of the practical importance of China-US cooperation, it should make concrete changes and create favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation as soon as possible.

Since China and the US established diplomatic ties in 1971, their cooperation has brought tangible benefits to the rest of the world. China and the US need to show broad vision and shoulder great responsibilities. The two countries should look ahead and press forward, demonstrate strategic courage and political resolve, and bring China-US relations back to the right track of stable development as soon as possible for the good of the people in both countries and around the world.

To undo a knot, no one is more suited than the person who tied it. The US should right its wrongs regarding its policy on China, meet China halfway, and develop its relations with China on the basis of mutual respect and treating each other as equals.

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

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Chinas new blueprints inject vitality into Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

09:00, September 14, 2021 By Lu Yanan ( People's Daily

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council recently issued a general plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin New Area of south Chinas Guangdong province and a plan for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening-up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, which will fuel the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Skyscrapers in China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qianhai & Shekou Area in Shenzhen, south Chinas Guangdong province, June 1, 2020. (Peoples Daily Online/Wang Meiyan)

The official release of the two plans marks a new stage of all-round progress in the construction of the two cooperation zones in Hengqin New Area, Zhuhai city of Guangdong province and Qianhai, Shenzhen city of the province, said Lin Keqing, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and executive vice governor of Guangdong province.

In recent years, Hengqin New Area has continuously boosted infrastructure construction and institutional innovation, laying a good foundation for building the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone.

As cooperation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong has been constantly deepened, Qianhai has made many institutional innovations, attracting many enterprises in the modern service industry from Hong Kong and bringing convenience to Hong Kong residents life and work.

According to Cong Liang, deputy head of Chinas National Development and Reform Commission, the plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone was formulated to serve Macaos long-term development and promote the integrated development of Hengqin and Macao.

Under the guiding principle of facilitating Macaos economic diversification properly, the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone is believed to serve as a new platform to boost the diversification of Macaos economy, a new space benefiting Macao residents life and employment, a new model to enrich the practice of one country, two systems, as well as a new high ground for building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Cong pointed out.

The plan also sets for the zone development goals, including improving systems and mechanisms, promoting the development of industries, and elevating the level of public services for the time periods that correspond to the terms of office of the Macao government in 2024 and 2029 and the stage before the year 2035, when China is expected to realize socialist modernization basically.

Photo taken on August 30, 2021 shows a gorgeous night view of the financial island of Hengqin New Area in Zhuhai city, south Chinas Guangdong province. (Peoples Daily Online/Wang Guorong)

Eventually, the zone will foster new industries that can boost Macaos economic diversification, build a new home for Macao residents which provides convenience for their life and employment, establish a new system that features integrated development with Macao and high-level openness, and improve the new mechanism of extensive consultation, joint contribution, joint management, and shared benefits between Guangdong and Macao.

Focusing on expanding the cooperation zone and deepening reform and opening up, the blueprint for the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone specifies three tasks, including expanding the development space of the cooperation zone, creating an innovation test platform for comprehensively deepening reform, and building a hub for high-level opening up, Cong said.

The total area of the cooperation zone will be expanded from 14.92 square kilometers to 120.56 square kilometers, and relevant supporting policies will cover the entire cooperation zone after the expansion, according to the plan.

The plan clearly states that the cooperation zone will take the lead in implementing major pilot reform tasks and sets multiple tasks including promoting the innovative development of the modern service industry and accelerating the reform and innovation of institutions and mechanisms for the development of science and technology.

In addition, the plan elaborates on building a new system of open economy of higher standards. It proposes powerful measures for facilitating trade in services with Hong Kong and Macao, further expanding opening up in the financial industry, etc.

The construction of the two cooperation zones has provided a new and vital historic opportunity for Guangdongs reform and development in the new development stage and serves as a strategic focus for Guangdong to contribute to the one country, two systems practice, a strategic platform for Guangdong to comprehensively deepen reforms, and strategic support for the provinces efforts to promote the countrys new development paradigm, Lin noted.

The release of the general plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin New Area represents an essential move for supporting Macao in achieving appropriate economic diversification and enriching the one country, two systems practice, and will inject new impetus into the long-term development of Macao, said Cheong Weng Chon, secretary for administration and justice of the Macao government.

The plan for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening-up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone will help promote higher-level cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and giving full play to their roles as the engines for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, said Lee Ka-chiu, chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong government.

Business circles and professional service providers in Hong Kong have actively prepared themselves for seizing the new opportunities to be brought by the plan, the official said, adding that the Hong Kong government will discuss with relevant central government departments how to implement the measures for further expanding the opening up of trade in services set out in the plan through the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement.

The Hong Kong government will, together with relevant industries, provide advice and coordinate efforts to facilitate the development of the cooperation zone in Qianhai in financial services, innovation, and technology, legal services, and business environment, and continue strengthening cooperation with the governments of Guangdong and Shenzhen to further support young people from Hong Kong in making innovations and starting their own businesses in Qianhai, according to the official.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
U.S. remains prepared to engage with DPRK after missile tests

Xinhua) 09:51, September 14, 2021

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.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, Singapore vow to enhance cooperation in pandemic control, digital economy

Xinhua) 09:57, September 14, 2021

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in Singapore, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Singapore agreed here Monday to enhance the cooperation in combating COVID-19 and developing the digital economy.

The pledge was made during a meeting between visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

At the meeting, Wang said the China-Singapore relations have advanced with the times, playing a leading role in regional cooperation.

China is willing to work together with Singapore to bring into full play the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), the highest-level and most influential cooperation mechanism between the two countries, in order to push the bilateral cooperation to new heights, Wang said.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang said China is willing to join hands with Singapore to work on medicine research and development and virus research, among others, and to jointly oppose vaccine nationalism, so as to make contribution to the regional anti-pandemic course and the building of a community of common health for mankind.

The pandemic has triggered a booming digital economy, Wang noted, saying that China is ready to work with Singapore to utilize digital technologies to upgrade the bilateral cooperation projects and mechanisms, and expand the cooperation in areas including green economy, so as to facilitate the economic recovery of both countries and the region.

Heng, for his part, said maintaining high-level contacts amid the pandemic is of great significance in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Singapore and China.

He hoped that a new JCBC meeting will be held to push forward the bilateral cooperation in the post-pandemic era.

The deputy prime minister praised China for conducting vaccine cooperation and sharing experience in pandemic prevention and control with other countries.

He said Singapore is willing to continue promoting the cooperation with China in the fields of pandemic prevention and control, digital economy, green finance and climate change, among others.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Touching stories of people's all-out efforts in epidemic control during recent wave of COVID-19 in China

People's Daily Online) 10:22, September 14, 2021

In a recent wave of COVID-19 in China, the country faced great pressure in controlling the outbreak and spread of the Delta variant. Between July and mid-August, China confirmed COVID-19 cases in 16 provinces and 150 medium and high-risk areas. The flareup in the local epidemic over the short period of time posed the most severe and complicated prevention and control situation in China this year.

1. A medical worker conducts a nucleic acid test on a resident at a neighborhood in Wuchang district, central China's Wuhan. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

2. Party members deliver supplies to people under quarantine in Hanjiang district, Yangzhou city in east China. (People's Daily/Xia Cunxi)

3. A medical worker disinfects the entrance of a scenic area in Zhangjiajie, central Chinas Hunan province. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

To aid the anti-pandemic efforts of relevant localities, the joint prevention and control mechanism of Chinas State Council sent working groups to the frontlines. After about a month of arduous fighting, Nanjing in east Chinas Jiangsu province downgraded all areas to low risk, and the last medium-risk area in the province, a residential community in the city of Yangzhou, was also eventually downgraded to low risk.

The facts have proven that Chinas accumulated experience and methods in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic at home since last year are also capable of effectively handling the Delta Variant, according to a message released by the countrys National Health Commission on its website on Aug. 26.

A look at the stories of common people fighting against the local outbreak demonstrates why China is more than capable of continuing its successful handling of the virus.

Medical worker racks his brains to help a senior patient suffering from poor memory to recall her travel history

On July 27, more than two weeks after the first positive COVID case was reported in Nanjing city during the latest round of outbreaks, Ding Songning from the acute infectious disease department at the citys disease control center couldnt sleep for the entire day because he was busy carrying out an epidemiological investigation of a positive case.

The patient in question was an 80-year-old woman surnamed Wang, who was unable to clearly remember her travel history, making it difficult for Ding to press ahead with his work within a 24-hour window as he was required to do. Then, it occurred to Ding that the woman, who was suffering from chronic diseases, must have gone to pharmacies recently to purchase some medicine. After coming up with this clue, Ding aided the patient to recall her travel history piece by piece until he finally came up with an epidemiological investigation.

Based on contact survey data, Nanjing built 20 virus transmission models, which made the fight against the epidemic more efficient. By Aug. 15, the city had investigated more than 22,000 people suspected of being infected with COVID-19. According to Ding, thanks to the assistance of various departments, they were able to form a report on the travel history of a suspected COVID case within only 50 minutes; the police were then able to issue a report on the travel history of the suspected case within 5 hours; at which point, the local healthcare department was able to release an epidemiological investigation of the suspected case within 12 hours.

As a hub for studying and surveying COVID-19, the epidemiological investigation center for epidemic control in Nanjing deployed 50 healthcare experts and 80 police officers to carry out investigations. All the districts of Nanjing sent 450 groups with each consisting of three peopleone police officer and two healthcare workerswith an aim to carrying out investigations. All relevant staff members were on standby 24 hours a day.

Ambulance driver and his wife work diligently at the frontline, longing for a reunion with their daughter

Leng Hailong is an ambulance driver in Yangzhou city. After the first COVID case was reported in the city during the latest outbreak, the citys emergency rescue center immediately dispatched 38 transport teams consisting of vehicles carrying negative pressure facilities and 145 ambulances to transport COVID-19 patients. Leng was one of the drivers.

At 10 a.m. on Aug. 4, Leng was told by his superior to transport a patient to the hospital. Before starting off, he made a phone call to the patients community to inquire about its exact location and gathered information about the patient, such as which floor the patient lived on, in order to make sure that a stretcher could be used. Jiao Lu, Lengs wife, also a colleague of his, was with him all along. The two cheered on each other by writing the Chinese characters Jia You (meaning stay strong) on the back of each others protective clothing before hitting the road.

When Leng was carrying the senior patient down the stairs, Jiao followed him closely behind while spraying disinfectants along the stairwell and onto the ground. When they returned to the emergency rescue center about two hours later, the couple carefully disinfected the ambulance and they themselves also went through strict disinfection procedures. When they were having a simple meal together, Leng made a video call to their daughter, whom they hadnt seen for days due to their busy work. Though Jiao shed tears because she was unable to be with her daughter, she said resolutely that they must stay at their posts to fight the virus because they were needed at that moment. By Aug. 16, Yangzhou had transported a total of 17,900 people to quarantine centers established in surrounding cities.

Nurses conduct over 1,000 nucleic acid tests in one day

Guan Xiaoxi, a nurse from a community healthcare center in Wuhan, central Chinas Hubei province, was among the many grassroots healthcare workers who made their due contributions in the fight against COVID-19 by earnestly performing their duties. In the evening of Aug. 2, the epidemiological investigation results showed that the seven people who tested positive for COVID-19 had travel histories related to multiple districts in Wuhan.

According to a previous notice released by the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council, which pointed out that after confirming the necessity of mass nucleic acid testing, it was imperative that any city with a total population of less than 5 million complete the testing of all residents within two days, and those cities with a total population of more than 5 million meanwhile had to complete the testing of all residents within three days. Wuhan, a city with a population of more than 10 million, fell into the second category.

On Aug. 3, the city dispatched a total of 28,000 medical workers, 13,000 community workers, 40,000 Party members, and 110,000 volunteers to 3,576 nucleic test sites. Guan was stationed at a testing site in Jiangan district. Between Aug. 3 and 5, she worked a tight shift, and when she took off her protective clothing, she found herself soaked in sweat all over her body. After the samples were delivered to the labs, they would be counted and tested immediately, and it would take about 8 hours for medical workers to get the results and upload them, Guan explained. By Aug. 8, more than 11.28 million people had been tested in Wuhan, which was almost the citys total population.

A race against death! A critically ill senior patient saved in Nanjing

At about 10 p.m. on Aug. 13, Chen Hui, a doctor for acute diseases from a hospital in Nanjing, performed an operation on an 85-year-old COVID-19 patient who also had high blood pressure and who had had a tumor removed from his body before.

The patients symptoms were very acute as he suddenly suffered breathing difficulties and had not urinated for over a period of 24 hours. When the operation started, the patients blood pressure dropped sharply and his heart rate was 130 beats per minute. After Chen opted to give the patient a trachea cannula, the man went back to breathing normally. However, after a short while, his heart rate soared to 200 beats per minute and his blood pressure then dropped to a lower level, and what was worse, a large pericardial effusion was found in the place around the patients heart, which could have prevented his heart from pumping normally.

Chen said that a pericardiocentesis with extended catheter drainage must be immediately performed to treat the effusion. Fortunately, the operation proved to be a success, with the patients blood pressure and heart rate both having returned to normal levels. At 3:30 a.m. on Aug 14, the patient was out of danger. The doctors and healthcare experts also tailored a treatment plan for the patient, enabling him to recover step by step.

During this latest COVID-19 outbreak, the numbers of COVID-19 cases in Nanjing and Yangzhou reached above 200 and more than 500, respectively. Jiangsu province, which administers the two cities, established 67 teams consisting of 4,786 medical workers to rescue and treat severely ill patients. By Aug. 25, both cities had been cleared of moderately ill patients and critically ill patients, according to a news conference briefing on COVID control in Jiangsu province.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
30 years on, China, ASEAN strengthen all-round cooperation

Xinhua) 10:31, September 14, 2021

The 18th China-ASEAN Expo is held from September 10 to 13 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Enterprises from over 40 countries and regions are participating in this year's expo, which is held both online and offline and boasts a total exhibition area of 102,000 square meters.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN.

Over the past 30 years, the two sides have seen bilateral trade skyrocket from 8.36 billion U.S. dollars to 685.28 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, an increase of over 80 times, according to Chinese customs data.

China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, and in 2020, ASEAN also became China's largest trading partner.

Besides trade and economic cooperation, China and ASEAN have been committed to extensive cooperation in various other fields, including security, education and tourism, to safeguard regional stability and promote common development and prosperity.

China's official data shows that personnel exchanges between the two sides exceeded 65 million in 2019 before the onslaught of COVID-19. They have exchanged over 200,000 students and formed more than 200 pairs of sister cities.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
South Africa benefited from the BRICS bloc: president

Xinhua) 10:51, September 14, 2021

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday the country has benefited from being a member of the BRICS over the last decade.

"We have reaped the benefits of membership of this important bloc, most notably in the area of economic cooperation," he said in his weekly newsletter.

Joining the bloc of emerging economies enhanced South Africa's position as an important emerging economy in the world, he said, adding that it has given the country access to policy and technical expertise of larger and established economies, as well as access to the support of the New Development Bank.

Ramaphosa noted the growing trade ties especially between South Africa, China, and India. "Bilateral trade has grown, particularly with China and India, with commodity exports and manufactured goods imports featuring strongly," Ramaphosa said. He further highlighted the direct investment in sectors such as mining, automotive, transportation, clean energy, and financial services.

Ramaphosa said the establishment of the New Development Bank which has a regional office in Johannesburg has been crucial in financing and technically supporting projects in transportation, clean energy, environmental protection, water infrastructure, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

"Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa has received two billion US dollars in funding from the New Development Bank under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Program to fight the pandemic and to support our economic recovery," he said.

He applauded the cooperation from other BRICS countries in terms of securing personal protective equipment and cooperation around vaccine access and distribution.

The president made the remarks after the conclusion of the 13th BRICS Summit held last week. He said the recently concluded summit agreed to deepen cooperation in fighting the pandemic and in the mobilization of resources in response to future pandemics.

"In support of economic recovery, BRICS partners agreed to strengthen collaboration in catalytic sectors such as energy, IT, science, technology and innovation, agriculture and the green economy. These are all important sectors identified in our Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, announced last year," he said.

"BRICS is of immense strategic importance to our country and will continue to be so for some time to come," said the president.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Pakistan may learn from China's experience in building special economic zones: PM

Xinhua) 10:55, September 14, 2021

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (C, Rear) witnesses a signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between China and Pakistan in Gwadar, Pakistan, on July 5, 2021. (Pakistani Press Information Department/Handout via Xinhua)

According to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, China has provided considerable assistance in the area of building special economic zones. As an important trading partner, China is instrumental in promoting Pakistani entrepreneurial development, as well as creating the conducive business environment and enhancing investment attractiveness.

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said here on Monday that his country has a lot to learn from China's experience in industrial development and the construction of special economic zones.

Pakistan has a huge potential in small and medium enterprises and Chinese entrepreneurs can play an important part in their growth, said the prime minister during a forum here, which was also attended by representatives of Chinese companies in Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (1st L) unveils project plates during a groundbreaking ceremony of several projects in Gwadar, Pakistan, on July 5, 2021. (Pakistani Press Information Department/Handout via Xinhua)

Khan said that the government has been trying to improve the business environment, creating incentives to investors.

Special measures are being adopted to remove hurdles being faced by the Chinese investors in Pakistan, he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said at the forum that China is keen to enhance cooperation with Pakistan to accomplish a great achievement in trade.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Senior Chinese official calls for public science awareness

Xinhua) 11:11, September 14, 2021

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Monday urged efforts to promote awareness of science among the public.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks in Beijing while participating in activities marking China's Science Popularization Day.

Huang visited exhibitions on topics including scientific and technological innovation and ecological civilization. He also talked via video link with volunteers and representatives from the public in east China's Zhejiang Province and central China's Henan Province.

Huang stressed the development of the science-fiction industry to inspire curiosity and imagination among the youth.

China's Science Popularization Day is observed during the third weekend of September. Since 2003, the China Association for Science and Technology has organized relevant activities on an annual basis.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, U.S. hold 12th political party leaders dialogue



Xinhua) 13:09, September 14, 2021

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The 12th China-U.S. Political Party Leaders Dialogue, co-sponsored by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the U.S. Democratic Party and Republican Party, was held Monday via video link.

Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the dialogue. He said that China and the United States should implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen dialogue, meet each other halfway, and create advantages for the relationship between the two countries returning to the right track of stable development.

He said that the dialogue is conducive to enhancing communication, understanding, and mutual trust. China is willing to work with the two parties of the United States to give full play to the political leading role of political parties in relations between states. China would also promote the two sides to strengthen coordination and cooperation based on respecting each other's core interests and major concerns and properly managing differences to provide positive factors to the stable development of bilateral relations.

Representative of the Democratic Party Howard Dean, who is also the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and representative of the Republican Party Carla Hills, who is also a former U.S. trade representative, hailed the U.S.-China relationship as the most important bilateral ties globally. They added that the dialogue between political parties of the two countries is a vital part of bilateral ties.

Despite going through some hard times bilaterally, the two countries still share many common interests, they said. They called for more high-level dialogues to increase trust, advance cooperation, promote the two countries' development, and jointly tackle global challenges.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China urges Japan to reflect on its aggression history

Xinhua) 13:13, September 14, 2021

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday urged Japan to honestly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, and take concrete actions to win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks when asked to comment on Japan's Education Ministry reportedly approving five publishers' plans to remove or change the relevant expressions of "comfort women" in textbooks.

The forced recruitment of "comfort women" is a grave crime against humanity committed by the Japanese militarism, Zhao said. "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, Zhao said.

"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," Zhao said.

Japan should honestly face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, make a clear 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, Zhao said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, Cambodia pledge stronger ties, closer cooperation

Xinhua) 13:32, September 14, 2021

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.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Why sovereign wealth funds find sweet spot in China

Xinhua) 13:34, September 14, 2021

Photo taken on March 4, 2020 shows the skyscrapers of the Central Business District in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- At a time when uncertainty has gripped the investment world, global sovereign wealth funds are looking at China for greater certainty in returns.

Chinese assets are becoming increasingly attractive to sovereign wealth funds, thanks to the country's impressive economic growth, higher asset returns and improved investment access, according to a recent study by investment management firm Invesco.

The firm surveyed 141 senior investment officers or portfolio strategists from 82 sovereign wealth funds and 59 central banks, and found that 98 percent of the funds are willing to maintain or increase their China allocations over the next five years.

"With China's growing economic standing and the potential attractive returns available on the mainland, it seems likely China will be top of mind for years to come," the report said.

In fact, some of the biggest sovereign wealth funds are already casting their vote of confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

By the end of June, China accounted for 4.9 percent of the equity investments of Norway Government Pension Fund Global, making it the single largest emerging market of the large-scale sovereign wealth fund.

Chinese assets accounted for 27 percent of the portfolios of Singapore-based Temasek Holdings by the end of March, more than the share of any other country.

What's behind the increased exposure to Chinese assets is the prospects of attractive returns. Major stock indices performed particularly well in 2020, helping the Norway Government Pension Fund Global secure a return of 33.9 percent in its Chinese equity investments.

Bond yield is also appealing. The 10-year treasury bond yield in China stood at around 2.9 percent, more than double that in the United States and much higher than the negative returns in the eurozone.

"The returns from the Chinese market have become the key to growth for major sovereign wealth funds," said Fu Chenggang, chief economist with the International Financial Center Federation.

A more important factor behind the increased investment in China by sovereign wealth funds is the country's economic resilience.

Usually funded by foreign exchange reserves and a country's budgetary surplus, sovereign wealth funds are often state-owned and are tasked with generating returns to help stabilize the economy and accumulate wealth for future generations.

With such objectives, the funds usually have a long-term investment horizon and seek stable returns. The Chinese economy, which proved resilient despite the COVID-19 impact, makes it a compelling investment case, said Arnab Das, a global market strategist with Invesco.

The Invesco report also cited China's increased openness to foreign investment in sectors such as infrastructure as the reason behind their bullishness.

"China's opening-up measures in the capital market, foreign trade and certain industries not only fuel the long-term growth momentum for the economy but offer more stable expectations for foreign investors," Fu said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Analysts sound concerns over politicizing COVID-19 origins probe

Xinhua) 14:01, September 14, 2021

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.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China's common prosperity drive "good thing", says Singapore bank CEO

Xinhua) 14:05, September 14, 2021

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's common prosperity drive is a good thing that is coming at the right time, Bloomberg quoted a Singapore bank official as saying recently.

"The focus on common prosperity, how you take care of the bottom of the pyramid, that's not a bad thing. It's the right time for that," Singapore-headquartered DBS Group Holdings Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said at a virtual event on Saturday.

"We've created massive pools of inequality" globally in the last 15 to 20 years perpetuated by technology, he noted.

China's common prosperity agenda and Singapore's focus on the social safety net for the bottom of 20 percent are good things to do to achieve long-term sustainable growth, said Gupta.

He said he expects that social equity will become a greater focus of government policies and corporate agendas over the next decade.

Gupta added that applying board diversity quotas, and naming and shaming businesses that are less progressive may be necessary to make a bigger push for gender equality at companies in Singapore and across Asia.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
China, ASEAN move towards deeper economic, trade cooperation

People's Daily Online) 14:13, September 14, 2021

Economic and trade cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been continuously deepening since the two sides established a dialogue relationship in 1991. Experts said that the China-ASEAN relationship has grown into the most successful and vibrant model for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

An exhibitor from central Chinas Hunan province advertises products at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Ma Ning)

Trade between China and ASEAN increased from $8.36 billion in 1991 to $685.28 billion in 2020, representing an average annual growth rate of 16.5 percent, according to recent customs statistics. The growth rate was 3.4 percentage points higher than the overall average annual growth rate of China's foreign trade during the same period.

Last year, ASEAN became Chinas largest trading partner. Meanwhile, China has remained ASEANs largest trading partner for the past 12 consecutive years. Between January and August, Chinas imports and exports to ASEAN reached $553.92 billion, an increase of 33.3 percent, accounting for 14.5 percent of Chinas total foreign trade during the same period.

The commodity structure has also been continuously optimized. Chinas exports of mechanical and electrical products to ASEAN hit $204.48 billion in 2020, while the countrys imports of agricultural products, rubber, petroleum, natural gas and other products from ASEAN have continued to grow rapidly.

As of the end of 2020, Chinese companies have benefited from imports of goods worth 3.3 trillion yuan ($511 billion) from the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, an average annual increase of 27 percent, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Over 90 percent of the goods traded between the two sides now enjoy zero-tariff treatment, equating to a total tax reduction of 314.9 billion yuan.

Visitors peruse over Malaysian products at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Sept. 11, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhou Hua)

Enterprises from China and ASEAN countries expressed their general optimism about the two sides economic and trade cooperation in the future, according to a report issued on Sept. 11 by global auditing and consulting firm PwC during the 18th China-ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, capital of south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The two sides are expected to deepen cooperation in various areas, said Gabriel Wong, inbound/outbound leader at PwC China.

Cross-border logistics between China and ASEAN are also improving. The new international land-sea trade corridor, which traverses western China and connects Southeast Asia, has turned out to be the fastest route that connects Chinas inland western region with ASEAN under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
U.S. blame game against China aims at covering up COVID-19 failure: Pakistani newspaper

Xinhua) 14:29, September 14, 2021

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States has nothing solid in its hands to tarnish China in its politicized and intelligence community-led report on origins tracing of COVID-19, said a Pakistani newspaper.

The English daily Lead Pakistan published an article on Sunday saying the U.S. blame game is only to cover up its failure in pandemic control.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, some U.S. politicians have spent huge time on political manipulation and blame game, rather than pandemic control and saving lives, it said.

The paper added that the U.S. politicians want to discredit China with lies and are making arbitrary and irresponsible remarks to seek "presumption of guilt" against China.

The so-called origins tracing report, it said, is another example of the United States deceiving and misleading the international community, just like what the fabricated report about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction did.

On America's wrong approach against COVID-19, the paper said U.S. leaders deceived their citizens by terming the once-in-a-century pandemic as flu, wasted time, refused to take measures, blocked information and even blacklisted experts who told the truth.

"They followed the 'America first' principle, hyped up egoism in its COVID-19 response, arbitrarily defunded the WHO, withdrew from multiple organizations and hoarded anti-pandemic materials," said the article, adding that by politicizing the pandemic, the United States laid down the powerful weapons of science and solidarity against the virus, and failed with the highest number of cases.

"Which one is more important, the lives of Americans or the private interests of the U.S. politicians, the lives of the people around the world, or the geopolitical strategies of the U.S.," asked the paper, adding that the U.S. failure in controlling the pandemic is a serious lesson, but they are not learning from it.

The article added that more and more people from across the world are raising their voices against U.S. propaganda over COVID-19, and even the U.S. public has been criticizing the ugly performance of their politicians.

It also urged the U.S. politicians to learn from their lessons, respect science and facts, and stop playing the blame game, because COVID-19 origins tracing calls for equity, openness, transparency and international cooperation.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Chinese embassy in Vietnam slams visiting Japanese defense minister's attacks on China

Xinhua) 14:31, September 14, 2021

HANOI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Vietnam on Monday refuted Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi's verbal attacks on China during his visit to Vietnam.

Kishi falsely accused China of "attempting to use its power to change the status quo" in waters near Diaoyu Island, of "intensifying situation in East China Sea and South China Sea through its coast guard law," and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs related to China's Taiwan region, said the Chinese Embassy in a statement.

The enactment of the coast guard law, which is China's routine legislation, did not target any specific countries, and completely complied with international law and international practice, according to the statement.

China has always committed itself to working with all countries directly concerned with South China Sea in properly handling differences on the sea via dialogues and negotiations, and pushing forward the formulation of a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea that is in line with international law, the statement read.

Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands have always been an inherent part of Chinese territory, according to the statement.

It is Japan rather than China that has been using its power to change the status quo in the waters near the Diaoyu Islands, and Japan should stop covering up itself and making groundless accusations, the statement read.

With regard to China's Taiwan region, Japan is in no position to interfere in China's internal affairs, and its far-right political forces' provocations would only arouse memories of Japan's disgraceful history, the statement added.

Japan should not underestimate the strong resolution, determination and capability of the Chinese people to safeguard their national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Chinas booming robot industry displays a wider range of innovations and applications

People's Daily Online) 16:29, September 14, 2021

At the 2021 World Robot Conference, held in Beijing from Sept. 10 to 13, more than 110 enterprises and scientific research institutions displayed over 500 products, showcasing an array of new applications and innovations of robots.

A reporter interacts with an intelligent robot actor at the World Robot Conference held in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 12, 2021. The 2021 World Robot Conference is held in Beijing from Sept. 10 to 13. More than 110 enterprises and scientific research institutions brought over 500 products to the exhibition. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

Traditionally, industrial robots are used for the manufacturing of automobiles, metal products, and electronic products. In recent years, however, they have begun to display a wider range of applications in a variety of fields ranging from furniture and home appliances, ironware and bathroom accessories, and food and beverage.

Robots that can assist human beings in completing a task are a major trend nowadays. Compared with traditional robots, these robots, which are smaller and more flexible, have demonstrated their excellent performance in precision assembling and product packaging. At the 2021 World Robot Conference, the exhibition area for medical robots was two times larger than that of the previous event.

In the exhibition area for service robots, a smart dustbin captured widespread attention. The dustbin opened up automatically after it heard a voice indicating there was garbage to be collected. Supported by artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, the dustbin has the ability to sort through and manage garbage independently on its own.

Special robots, which can offer a hand in special circumstances, were also exhibited at the conference. A monitoring robot that can keep an eye on the water-cooled walls inside boiler units aroused the curiosity of many visitors. It can operate along the water-cooled walls inside a boiler unit, and is powered with image recognition technology, having the ability to measure the thickness of the wall, detect damage on the wall and submit its results to human workers. The whole process is safe and efficient, according to Xu Guangping, general manager of Beijing Tri-Tech Co., Ltd., the developer of the robot.

Last year, the size of Chinas robot sector continued expanding to surpass 100 billion yuan, with the country becoming a vital force to support the development of the global robot industry, said Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at the opening of the conference.

A fire-fighting robot developed by a high-tech company based in Beijing was displayed at the conference. According to an engineer with the company, the robot can battle temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius for a period of 30 minutes without taking a break, greatly improving the efficiency of rescue efforts during fires.

An industry insider told Peoples Daily that Chinas robot industry is among the top players in the world with regards to certain innovations and applications. Moreover, statistics indicate that China has remained the worlds largest market for industrial robots for eight consecutive years.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Chinese ambassador urges U.S. to "make earnest efforts" to improve bilateral relations

Xinhua) 16:56, September 14, 2021

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang on Monday urged Washington to "make earnest efforts" to improve bilateral ties, stressing the role of economic and trade cooperation as the "ballast and propeller" of China-U.S. relations.

"If we compare China-U.S. relations to a giant ship, then economic and trade cooperation has been its ballast and propeller. When the ship sails against heavy winds and huge waves, we need to add more strength to the ballast and propeller," Qin said during a virtual meeting with board members of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), featuring CEOs of some of the largest U.S. corporations.

Citing the latest survey of USCBC, Qin said that uncertainties caused by difficulties and challenges facing China-U.S. relations have been most worrisome to the American business community.

"What I can offer is the certainty from the Chinese side. China's economy is promising, its market potential is huge, and its door of opening-up will only open wider," Qin said, adding China will continue to welcome American companies to the Chinese market.

"To be frank, the difficulties and uncertainties in China-U.S. trade and business cooperation are not from the Chinese side," he said.

Qin noted that China has been faithfully implementing the phase-one trade agreement despite the pandemic, while the U.S. side has continued to impose sanctions and restrictions on China, including putting more than 900 Chinese entities on various lists of restrictions.

"This has directly affected Chinese companies' ability and willingness to purchase from the U.S. and has had a negative impact on the implementation of the agreement," he said.

"I hope that the U.S. side will meet with China halfway, follow the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and make earnest efforts to improve China-U.S. relations," said the Chinese ambassador.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
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." Enditem




A Chinese language course has been set up at Madagascar's Ministry of National Defense, the Chinese Embassy in Madagascar said in a notice on Monday. Photo: the embassy website

A Chinese language course has been set up at Madagascar's Ministry of National Defense, the Chinese Embassy in Madagascar said in a notice on Monday, in the hope that the two sides and their militaries will establish a broader, smoother and sounder communication channel through the course.

"China-Madagascar relations have been developing healthily and steadily in recent years, and have seen bilateral cooperation extending to more fields," Ambassador Guo Xiaomei said at a press conference on Monday.

The embassy set up a military office in the country this year, suggesting the great importance China attaches to promoting the development of ties between the two militaries, Guo noted.

Setting up the Chinese language course will build up a broader and more solid bridge between the two sides, and help establish a more efficient communication channel as the militaries exchange ideas and experiences, she added.

Madagascar Defense Minister General Leon Jean Richard Rakotonirina addressed the conference in Chinese, saying that the course will help the two sides understand each other and deepen bilateral ties.
By Zhang Zhixin

September 11 this year is the 20th anniversary of the 911 terrorist attack in New York, and also the first anniversary after America withdrew its troops and ended the war in Afghanistan. But the suicidal terrorist attack at Kabul Airport on August 26 was a new reminder for the international community that the end of the Afghanistan War may indicate the failure of Americas anti-terror strategy, but not the end of global counter-terrorism operations. The world still needs to tackle humanitys common challenge together.

Americas anti-terror war went astray after the country invaded Iraq. It hoped to use force to promote the American-style democracy in the Middle East to enlarge the so-called free world, but history has proven without dispute that counter-terrorism operations based on military means alone will only backfire with greater intensity.

According to data from American website Defenseone.com, after the country launched the anti-terror war in 2001, it has engaged in the internal warfare of at least 24 countries; in the 2018-2020 period alone, it carried out or participated in counter-terrorism operations in 85 countries worldwide (44% of all countries). The website released the statistics that the US-initiated anti-terror war has caused nearly 800,000 deaths, including 335,000 civilians, and more than USD 6.4 trillion losses for American taxpayers.

Despite the immense casualties and financial losses, Americas anti-terror strategy hasnt achieved its goals  it neither annihilates nor restricts or diminishes terrorist threats.

No new large-scale terrorist attacks have taken place on American soil again after 2001, but the number of terrorist attacks happening around the world every year and the list of terrorist organizations released by the US State Department have kept growing. According to analysis, with the exposure of Americas torture of prisoners at Guantanamo, the black prisons set up by CIA all over the world, and the so-called enhanced interrogation measures adopted by US intelligence agencies, the number of anti-America extremists has actually increased.

As Ambassador Dai Bing, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the UN said recently, the international counter-terrorism situation remains complex and severe with terrorism and violent extremism closely intertwined .

According to the UN, IS has rallied itself up again in Iraq and Syria in the first half of this year and spread to Africa and provided capital for terrorist organizations in other places, leading to terrorist attacks from time to time. This means the international community still has a long way to go in fighting terrorism, and all countries should join hands in fighting this common enemy of all humanity.

International community should draw lessons from Americas failed anti-terror war and adopt a new approach to counter-terrorism

First of all, anti-terror efforts should not be divided on an ideological basis or practice double standards. In particular, no individual country should be allowed to designate terrorists or non-terrorists based on its own political agenda.

Second, anti-terror efforts should focus on dealing with the root causes rather than tackling the symptoms. The key is eradicating the soil that breeds terrorism, freeing the people from the delusion of terrorist and extremist ideas by developing the economy and improving their lives, and building inclusive and diversified societies.

Third, counter-terrorism operations should not be an excuse for pursuing selfish calculations or interests or the pretext for seeking or maintaining hegemony. No country shall pursue its own gains by transferring conflicts in the name of counterterrorism.

Lastly, anti-terror efforts should have clear priorities in different periods rather than being aimless, ill-planned and ill-organized.

As the Taliban has recently come back to power in Afghanistan, the outside world is questioning whether it will shelter international terrorist organizations again and whether it is able to bring peace and security to the Afghan people who have been afflicted by the war for 20 years. The international community should help Afghanistan in its reconstruction, urge it to honor its international commitments and sever ties with terrorist forces, and help it fight terrorist organizations and groups at home through intelligence sharing. Thats the only way to protect Afghanistan, the Eurasian continent and the whole world from the threat of terrorism and make them truly enjoy peace, security and prosperity.

(The author is an associate researcher and doctor at the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on china.com.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
BEIJING, Sept. 14 -- China and Cambodia co-chaired the experts' working group meeting on humanitarian mine action under ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus via video link on September 14.

Representatives from the ADMM-Plus countries, ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Regional Mine Action Center and the International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for East Asia (ICRC) attended the meeting.

Participants exchanged views on the cooperation programme of the experts' working groups in the next three years, challenges for and future cooperation mode of de-mining actions in the region.
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob Monday signed a cooperation deal with the main opposition bloc, aimed at ensuring the stability of his new government.

Under the accord between Prime Minister Ismail and veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Ismail has agreed to a set of reforms including new laws to prevent party defections, limiting the prime minister's term to 10 years, and lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

The agreement also ensures bipartisan agreement on every bill that is introduced in parliament, input from the opposition on a national recovery council, and an assurance that the opposition leader receives the same pay and privileges as a Cabinet minister.

Ismail said in a statement that the agreement will lead to bipartisan cooperation, help the government fight the COVID-19 crisis and revive the economy. "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.
Typhoon Chanthu is heading north toward Jeju Island from Shanghai to bring up to 70 mm of rain an hour to the southern resort island, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Monday.

A storm alert has been issued in Jeju, which will see high winds of more than 20 m/s, fast enough to shake street signs, and up to 500 mm of rain until Wednesday.

South Jeolla and coastal areas of South Gyeongsang Province will come under the indirect influence of Chanthu and see up to 120 mm of rainfall and southern parts of North Jeolla and North Gyeongsan provinces up to 40 mm.
President Moon Jae-in is visiting the U.S. from Sept. 19 to 23 to attend the UN General Assembly in New York and a ceremony in Hawaii handing over the remains of American soldiers who died in the 1950-53 Korean War.

The U.S. earlier recommended that Moon attend the meeting virtually due to coronavirus concerns, but he is determined to be there in person to give a keynote speech marking the 30th anniversary of the two Koreas jointly joining the world body.

Last month, the White House sent a letter to world leaders urging them to attend the meeting virtually for fear of the spread of COVID-19.

Moon "will deliver a keynote speech at the General Assembly, hold bilateral meetings with world leaders and meet the UN secretary-general," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee told reporters Monday.

It is unclear whether he will sit down face to face with U.S. President Joe Biden. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "We're pursuing bilateral summits with a number of countries that have confirmed their leaders will be there in person."

Moon is also taking super boy band Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS, with him as "cultural ambassadors."
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 96F. S winds shifting to NE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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An American flag waves in the wind as flags decorate the Main Plaza in honor of Flag Day on Monday, June 14, 2021. MIKALA COMPTON | Herald-Zeitung
Press Release

September 13, 2021 Tolentino backs passage of proposed "Good Samaritan at Sea Law" MANILA -- Senator Francis 'Tol' N. Tolentino is pushing for the approval of a proposed legislation that seeks mandatory implementation of existing ratified maritime treaties which cover safety of life at sea. In his co-sponsorship speech for Senate Bill No. 1972, Tolentino said the recent maritime incident along the West Philippine Sea (WPS) that involved the lives of 22 Filipino fishermen must never happen again and those who will fail to render assistance to distress persons must not go unpunished, especially if the incident is within the Philippine territorial waters. Tolentino, one of the principal author of SB 1972 stressed that being a key player in the global maritime industry, it is only necessary for the Philippine Government stay true to its commitments to the international community to implement and enforce laws affecting maritime safety. SB 1972 or the proposed "Good Samaritan at Sea Law," aims to implement the provisions concerning safety of life at sea and the duty to render assistance to persons in distress at sea in the said International Maritime instruments ratified by the Philippine Government. Tolentino noted that although there are standing conventions to which, the Philippines is a state party and provide for obligations to render assistance to persons in distress at sea, these provisions are not self-executing. The Philippines is a signatory in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 and its Protocols of 1978 and 1988 and Agreement of 1996 (SOLAS); and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). These international conventions according to Tolentino provide that domestic laws must be enacted in order to implement its provisions. Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code penalizes abandonment of person in danger and abandonment of one's own victim. Under Section 5 of SB 1972, the ship captain/master of the vessel is mandated to render assistance to any person or persons found at sea in danger of being lost, as well as to proceed with the rescue of persons in distress, upon receiving a signal from any source. Failure to comply with any of the obligations listed in SB 1972 shall be punishable by a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P1 million, depending on the size of the vessel or ship to be determined in the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the measure. If the violation--due to failure to render assistance--did happen within the country's internal waters, archipelagic waters or territorial sea, an additional penalty of imprisonment of not less than six months but not one year shall be imposed. Meanwhile, an additional penalty of imprisonment of not less than one year and one day but not more than two years shall be imposed if the offender is the cause or part the ship that caused the distress at sea, collision or any other incident of navigation. As an archipelago with around 330,000 Filipino seafarers and around 1.9 million registered small-scale fishermen, Tolentino said that it is more imperative for the government to be firm in protecting their lives by making it a legal obligation to render assistance to persons in distress at sea.
Press Release

September 14, 2021 Bong Go commends approval of additional funds to cover payment of special risk allowance for health care workers Senator Christopher "Bong" Go has welcomed the recent approval for the release of additional budget to cover the payment of the second and third batch of COVID-19 Special Risk Allowance for healthcare workers (HCWs). President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the release of PhP407.08 million in funds charged against the 2021 Contingent Fund to cover the SRA of eligible private HCWs and non-Department of Health plantilla personnel who are directly catering to or in contact with COVID-19 patients from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021. "Nararapat lamang na mabigyan sila ng dagdag na kompensasyon bilang pagkilala sa kanilang sakripisyo. Kailanman ay hindi sila pababayaan ng gobyerno," he said. "Ang ating mga medical frontliners ay ang mga sundalo sa gyerang ito. Sila ang tinuturing nating bayani sa laban kontra COVID-19," he added. In response to complaints from public and private HCWS who have yet to get their SRA, the President has directed the DOH and the Department of Budget and Management to expedite the delivery of funds for the benefit of the country's HCWs. Based on the President's earlier directive, an initial amount of PhP311.8 million was provided to the DOH to cover the SRA of 20,208 public and private HCWs. With the recently approved PhP407.08 million, the government will be able to cover the SRA of a total of 117,926 more healthcare workers since the President's pronouncement. Earlier, Go asked concerned authorities to exercise some flexibility in implementing the terms of the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, which serves as the legal basis for the SRA. "Bigyan natin ng sapat na suporta ang medical frontliners. Bawat araw ay nasa panganib ang kanilang buhay. Siguraduhin nating mabibigyan ang lahat ng qualified healthcare workers ng Special Risk Allowance at iba pang insentibo o benepisyo na naaayon sa batas," appealed Go. "Kaya ako umaapela na maging flexible tayo sa pag-iimplementa ng nakasaad sa batas at kung kakayanin ng pondo ay bigyan na ang lahat ng qualified ng fixed na amount ng SRA kaysa bilangin pa natin ang kanilang pag-duty bawat araw," he added. To guarantee that their contributions and risks are adequately recognized, Go also expressed his support for extending the SRA to all HCWs working in hospitals. Given the significant number of COVID-19 cases accepted in the country's health care institutions, he pointed out that practically all HCWs fit under the scope of the law's description. "Lahat naman ng health workers na naka-duty ay maituturing na exposed sa banta ng COVID-19. Hindi nakikita ang kalaban na ito kung kaya't mahirap paghiwalayin pa kung sino ang exposed at sino ang hindi," continued Go. "Pagdating mo sa ospital, 'di mo naman masasabi. Once nasa loob ka na, prone at maituturing na exposed ka na rin. Hindi mo masabi na walang virus sa dinaanan mong floor dahil dito lang ang virus kasi hindi nga natin nakikita ang kalaban," he explained in an earlier interview. Go went on to say that the government should do everything possible to help HCWs, considering their critical role in fighting the pandemic and preserving lives. "As much as possible, kung kakayanin naman ng pondo, ibigay na natin lahat ng suportang pwede nating ibigay sa medical frontliners dahil sila naman ang maituturing na mga bayani sa laban na ito," Go stressed. To meet the rising demand for health workers, Go had previously invited HCWs working in non-critical areas to volunteer to be deployed to Metro Manila and other crucial areas to help enhance the country's capacity to combat the epidemic. In line with this, he launched an initiative to mobilize volunteer medical frontliners in collaboration with the Office of the Presidential Assistant to the Visayas, DOH regional offices, local government units, hospitals with Malasakit Centers, and Project Balik Buhay member-private hospitals. In 2019, Go was instrumental as author and co-sponsor in the enactment of Republic Act No. 11466 or the Salary Standardization Law 5. The law gives civilian government employees, including nurses, their fifth round of salary increases broken down in tranches. In the same year, he also pushed and ensured enough funding was allotted for the implementation of a Supreme Court decision upholding Section 32 of the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 some 18 years after the law was enacted. The law increases the minimum salary grade of the Nurse I position to SG-15. The ruling was implemented the following year.
Press Release

September 14, 2021 Poe sponsors bill to strengthen fight against digital crime Sen. Grace Poe sponsored a bill that aims to address and penalize the proliferation of subscriber identity module (SIM) card-aided fraud in the country especially in the pandemic. "Our reliance on our mobile phones for various financial and personal transactions requires us legislators to ensure that digital connectivity is safe for all users," said Poe. In her sponsorship speech, Poe noted that unregistered SIM cards can also be used to facilitate other crimes such as terrorism, cyberbank heists, the proliferation of unsolicited, even indecent or obscene messages, and the dissemination of massive disinformation campaigns that could cause chaos and disorder among the public. "Criminals have taken advantage of our lax system to freely carry out their despicable schemes and evade the long arm of the law. The fact that these crimes are flourishing under the current system only proves that the system is flawed and needs to be changed," Poe said. The proposed "SIM Card Registration Act" or Senate Bill No. 2395 under Committee Report No. 306 shall require all public telecommunications entities to make the registration of all SIM cards a prerequisite to their sale where subscribers need to submit a registration form accomplished electronically and present a valid identification card. The bill also provides penalties not only for failure to comply with the registration requirement and breach of confidentiality, but also for using fictitious identities to register SIM cards, spoofing and the unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards. "This bill is not the be-all and end-all in our fight against any form of digital crime. It is only one of the measures that we need to put in place as Filipinos increasingly turn to digital banking and payment channels," said Poe. A total of 155 countries in the world have adopted laws that require the mandatory registration of SIM cards which includes nations with the highest regard for data privacy rights such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and most countries in the European Union. Poe also underscored that the privacy of consumers shall continue to be given the highest regard where the National Telecommunications Commission will ensure that the centralized SIM card registry will be in accordance with the Data Privacy Act 2012. "Ang mga impormasyong makakalap ay maaari lamang makuha ng mga awtoridad sa utos ng isang Korte. It will only be given upon finding of probable cause that a specific mobile number was or is being used in the commission of a crime, or that it was utilized as a means to commit a malicious, fraudulent or unlawful act," explained Poe.
Press Release

September 14, 2021 Grace Poe's sponsorship speech transcript

on sim card registration bill (CRN 306, SBN 2395)

Sept. 14, 2021 It is my honor to rise in sponsorship of a measure that aims to address the proliferation of subscriber identity module (SIM) card-aided fraud in the country especially during the pandemic. We have all heard of crimes perpetrated through SIM cards. Criminals have taken advantage of our lax system to freely carry out despicable schemes and evade the long arm of the law. Batay mismo sa 2019 National ICT Household Survey ng Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), out of 32,915 respondents all over the country, 6,840 individuals have been victimized by text scams by unregistered mobile numbers. Kung susumahin, isa sa limang tao ang nabibiktima gamit ang 'di rehistradong SIM cards sa Pilipinas. We need not look further if we want to cite a concrete example of a SIM card-aided fraud. One of our dear colleagues in the Senate, Sen. Win Gatchalian himself, has fallen prey to the wicked schemes of these criminals. Gamit lamang ang unregistered SIM card, naisakatuparan ng mga kawatan ang kagustuhan nilang makapanlamang o makapanloko ng kapwa. Unregistered SIM cards can also be used to facilitate other and more heinous crimes such as terrorism, cyberbank heists; the proliferation of unsolicited, indecent or obscene messages; and the dissemination of a massive disinformation campaign which could cause chaos and disorder among the public. Mr. President, dear colleagues: That these crimes are flourishing under the current system proves that the system is flawed and needs to be changed. We are not alone in wanting this kind of policy. Globally, the trend skews heavily in favor of SIM card registration. A total of 155 countries in the world have adopted laws that require the mandatory registration of SIM cards--including nations with the highest regard for data privacy rights such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, and most countries in the European Union. To address this in our legal system, this bill will be requiring all public telecommunications entities to make the registration of all SIM cards a prerequisite to their sale. Dahil sa polisiyang ito, hindi lamang mapapadali ang trabaho ng mga awtoridad sa pagtukoy ng mga salarin sa mga krimen na ginagamitan ng 'di rehistradong SIM card; magiging balakid din ito upang mapigilan ang paglipana nila. Each buyer must submit a duly electronically accomplished registration form and present a valid government-issued identification card (ID) or other similar forms of documents. Anyone who fails to comply with the requirements shall be refused the sale of a SIM card. No valid ID, no SIM card. Ang mga kasalukuyang SIM card na ginagamit--mapa-prepaid o postpaid man--ay kinakailangan ring mairehistro sa loob ng 30 araw mula sa next credit reload upang hindi ito awtomatikong ma-deactivate ng telco. All registration shall be forwarded by the telco to a centralized database accessible by the National Telecommunications Commission and DICT. Any information obtained in the process shall be treated as absolutely confidential, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012. The privacy of consumers shall continue to be given the highest regard. Ang mga impormasyong makakalap ay maaari lamang makuha ng mga awtoridad sa utos ng isang korte. It will only be given upon finding of probable cause that a specific mobile number was or is being used in the commission of a crime, or that it was utilized as a means to commit a malicious, fraudulent or unlawful act. Inilagay natin ang proteksyong ito upang maiwasan ang abuso sa paggamit ng impormasyong nakakalap. Further, the measure provides penalties not only for failure to comply with the registration requirement and breach of confidentiality, but also for using fictitious identities to register SIM cards, spoofing and the unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards. Finally, the bill makes clear that any doubt in the interpretation of any of its provisions and its implementing rules and regulations shall be construed in a manner that accords the highest respect for privacy, and liberally interpreted in a manner mindful of the rights and interests of SIM card subscribers. This bill is not the be-all and end-all in our fight against any form of digital crime. It is only one of the measures that we need to put in place as Filipinos increasingly turn to digital banking and payment channels. This is why this Representation has also filed another bill regulating bank accounts, e-wallets and other financial accounts or Senate Bill No. 2380. As proposed by the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the rise in bank fraud may be better addressed by following the money trail. The bill that I filed seeks to penalize money mules--or those who electronically receive, acquire, or transfer money or proceeds derived from a cybercrime. Our reliance on our mobile phones for various financial and personal transactions requires legislators to ensure that digital connectivity is safe for all users. Mr. President, fellow senators, it is, thus, my honor to endorse to this chamber for deliberation, Senate Bill No. 2395, under Committee Report No. 306.
Press Release

September 14, 2021 Poe: Water franchises must ensure better services Sen. Grace Poe brought before the plenary for deliberation two proposed water franchises that assure the people's access to safe water and improved services especially during the pandemic. "With the grant of this franchise, nawa'y tuluyan nang dumaloy ang ginhawa at maramdaman ng bawat Pilipino ang 'care in every drop'," the chairperson of the Senate committee on public services said in her sponsorship speech of the Maynilad and Manila Water franchise bills. "We are for the continuity of water services and we have continuously reiterated to our concessionaires our expectation for a better water provider in the new normal," she added. The two water concessionaires have been granted concession agreements in 1997 for the delivery of water and sewerage services. At present, Maynilad is servicing the West Zone of Metro Manila and the Province of Cavite, while Manila Water is servicing the East Zone of Metro Manila and the Province of Rizal. Last March 31 and May 18, 2021, Manila Water and Maynilad, respectively, signed a Revised Concession Agreement (RCA) which removes the contentious provisions found in the 1997 contract and included provisions beneficial to the consumers. Poe pointed out that the RCA designates the two water concessionaires as public utilities, thus they need a congressional franchise to operate. Poe said that under the new agreement, there shall be a tariff freeze until December 2022. The concessionaires are also required to provide alternative water supply to their customers in case of service interruption. "Sa ilalim ng bagong kasunduan, walang pagtaas sa presyo ng tubig sa NCR hanggang Disyembre ng susunod na taon," she said. "Ang mga concessionaire ay kinakailangang magkaroon ng alternatibong water supply tuwing may scheduled interruption. Kung ito naman ay biglaan, kailangan ay maibalik ang supply ng tubig anim na oras matapos ang notice, at dapat ay may updates sa mga consumers ukol sa progreso nito," she added. Poe said that failure to comply with these measures will penalize or fine the concessionaires and may be considered as cause for termination of the contracts. "This is the first time this Committee under my chairmanship will be granting a franchise to a water concessionaire. So for good measure, apart from the House bill transmitted to us, we made use only of the standard provisions in franchises that we have already deliberated and passed on the floor," Poe said. This includes the standard provision on 'Responsibility to the Public' highlighting the concessionaire's responsibility to comply with all of its obligations, and to incorporate public participation in its service. The franchise will also be subject to revocation for failure to operate continuously for two years. "We recognize that the grant of franchise is just part of a bigger solution to the water problems in the country, and that there is still a need to tap and develop new water sources, improve water supply, distribution and sewerage systems, and further educate people on water conservation and climate change," Poe said. "Kapag naisabatas, isa itong malaking hakbang tungo sa ating pangarap para sa ating bansa at sa lahat ng Pilipino na magkaroon ng mura at sapat na suplay ng malinis at maiinom na tubig sa lahat ng oras," Poe added. Poe also earlier filed Senate Bill 123 or the proposed Water Regulatory Act to rationalize the economic as well as administrative regulation of water utilities through an independent, quasi-judicial body called the Water Regulatory Commission. Among its functions are to set the policy for water supply, sewerage and septage management; issue and licenses; set, review and approve rates; review and suspend contracts; initiate investigations on erring officials through its quasi-judicial nature; review and revoke issuances, memoranda and the like.
Press Release

September 14, 2021 Tolentino wants to rename Army's medical unit corps after Josefa Llanes-Escoda Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino wants to rename the Philippine Army's Medical Unit Corps after Josefa Llanes-Escoda in recognition of her untiring social work during the World War II. Tolentino issued the call as he led the Senate Committee on Local Government's hearing on the seeking to declare Sept. 20 as a special non-working holiday in the province of Ilocos Norte, to be known as Josefa Llanes-Escoda Day, in commemoration of her birth anniversary. "Perhaps you should do more in terms of research, perhaps you should endeavor more to reach out to some other areas and my imagination is now awakened that we should have a Escoda Military Nursing Corps in the Philippine Army or an Escoda Wing in V. Luna Memorial Hospital among others," Tolentino told officials of the National Historical Commission (NHC). Born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Llanes-Escoda was a prominent civic leader and a social worker during her time. Due to her untiring social work, she was dubbed as "Florence Nightingale of the Philippines." During the World War II, she and her husband intensified their resistance against the Japanese forces by supplying medicines, foods, clothes and messages to both Filipino and American prisoners of war. Llanes-Escoda was later on executed by the Japanese Imperial Army. Tolentino said the House Bill No. 7650 filed by Rep. Ria Christina Farinas was approved by the committee without any objection and will be referred to the plenary for further discussion. Aside from approving the measure, Tolentino urged the NHC to put more emphasis in informing the Filipino people about Llanes-Escoda's legacy and contribution to society. Llanes-Escoda founded the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and is also one of the co-founder of the National Federation of Women's Clubs (NFWC). Questioning the lack of emphasis on Llanes-Escoda's achievements, Tolentino told the NHC that a street should be named after her in Manila. "The Girl Scouts building should have been named Josefa Llanes-Escoda building. You should have coordinated with the Philippine Nursing Association for the creation of an Escoda award for outstanding nurses especially during this time of COVID-19 pandemic," said Tolentino. The Senator also raised the possibility of putting up an Escoda Shrine in Dingras, Ilocos Norte. "Baka makalimutan po ito eh, siya iyong Florence Nightingale of the Philippines. Sana matulungan po kami ng National Historical Commission," Tolentino stressed.
Saudi Arabias Local Content and Government Authority on Monday issued a list of 28 items that government contractors should buy only from national companies, reports notes, citing the agency.

The directive, the agency notes, aims at supporting local products and boosting the Kingdoms non-oil economy. The list primarily includes meat, poultry, fish and dairy products.

The list has been established following concertation with the ministries of environment, water and agriculture, industry and mineral resources, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Expenditure Efficiency and Governmental Projects Authority, and the Federation of Saudi Chambers.

The authority is also studying sectors where consumption of the items on the mandatory list is high to ensure the contractors involved in those areas abide by the regulations, Zawya reports. The sectors identified are military, health, education, and prison. Abdulrahman Al-Samari, CEO of the authority has indicated that the mandatory list is part of the governments efforts to develop local content in all non-oil sectors.
Beer, here! Rush have just announced that they will be releasing their own brand of beer, specifically a Canadian Golden Ale, at the end of the month. The band collaborated with the Toronto-based microbrewery Henderson Brewing Company for this unique offering. From the press release: August 17, 2021 (Toronto)  It started during the R40 tour when, after a gig, someone handed frontman Geddy Lee a bottle of Robinsons Iron Maiden -Trooper beer. Geddy took one look at it and jokingly asked where the Rush beer was. That quip stayed in the mind of the band, and recognizing the growing craft beer movement, particularly in their hometown of Toronto, the band decided to look into it seriously. Beer has always been an import part of the touring experience for the band. That first after-show beer helping to draw a line between the focus of performing and the wind-down that follows. After hundreds of shows in so many countries around the world, the band really began to see
Oxford College students Devin Gee and Sarah Bekele will host a discussion during the symposium about Emorys history with slavery and its impact on the experiences of Black students today.

In the Wake of Slavery and Dispossession: Emory, Racism and the Journey Towards Restorative Justice Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Atlanta and Oxford campuses Learn more about the symposium. Register to attend.

In summer 2020, the Coalition of Black Organizations and Clubs at Emory University sent a list of 11 demands to administrators to address racial and social injustices on campus.

On top of the COVID-19 pandemic upending all semblances of normality, the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks sent people around the world to the streets in protest. Those demonstrations created a sense of urgency to address a wide range of racial issues at universities across the country, including Emory.

Since then, administrators, faculty, staff and students have been working together on a range of items, including renaming buildings that were previously named after supporters of slavery and improving relations between campus police and the community. On that list of demands, the coalition also asked for students to be educated on the histories and contributions of Emorys, and more broadly, Americas Black constituency.

The In the Wake of Slavery and Dispossession symposium, set for Sept. 29-Oct. 1, is a step toward addressing that educational component.

These presenters are going to draw an arrow through slavery and dispossession to redlining and school inequity, says Camille Goldmon, a PhD student in the Department of African American Studies who is on the symposium steering committee. Goldmons dissertation is on the legacies of Black farmers in the South. Its rare that over a few days youre going to get a history thats immersive and complete. Its healing that an institution like Emory is acknowledging its own role in these issues.

In addition to presentations by renowned scholars and community members, students on the Atlanta and Oxford campuses will lead discussions as well as host performances and art exhibitions to educate their peers.

Iliyah Bruffett, a third-year student in Emory College of Arts and Sciences, says that she is looking forward to the symposium and hearing about the past, present and future relations of Emory and its Indigenous community. Bruffett is Ojibwe from White Earth Nation in northern Minnesota.

Since arriving on campus, she has been involved with creating more visibility and belonging for Native American and Indigenous students, including contributing to a new website for the Emory Native American Initiative. She and fellow third-year Emory College student Sierra Talavera-Brown are working toward forming Emorys first organization for Native American and Indigenous students.

Walking into Emory and not having the community I would have at a college back home was scary, says Bruffett, who is an anthropology and human biology major with a minor in African American studies. I want future students to come in knowing theres a place for them and a support system to back them up.

On the first day, there will be a keynote panel discussion, Student Activism at Emory University. On Sept. 30, there will be two more student-led panels, one on student activism and the other on art as a catalyst for social change. On Oct. 1, there will be multiple student presentations, including a session on Native American leadership models with the College of the Muscogee Nation and another on the work of writer James Baldwin.

Oxford College second-year students Sarah Bekele, president of the Oxford Black Student Alliance, and Devin Gee, a member of Oxford Men of Color, will host a discussion about Emorys history with slavery and its impact on the experiences of Black students today. Bekele says that they will address the romanticized Kittys Cottage narrative as well as the national conversation around Confederate monuments, including the Oxford Confederate Cemetery.

When I first saw the plaque of what happened to Kitty, I knew it wasnt telling the full story, says Bekele, who is majoring in linguistics and psychology with a minor in quantitative sciences and mathematics. Being open [about the history] could help students make a more informed decision about whether to come here.

Gee also believes that starting these conversations can help students find a better sense of belonging. Before arriving at Oxford, Gee says hed heard that some of the campus buildings were constructed by enslaved people, but he did not know about the cemetery.

I feel like I can speak for most college students when I say that the only thing on my mind during my first few days was Am I in the right place? says Gee, who is pre-med, majoring in quantitative sciences and computer science. Emory not being vocal about its past made it unclear how the university viewed its own history. I felt alienated by this.

Still, he sees the symposium as a step in the right direction.

I do not think that any one finite action could really atone for the past, says Gee, but it seems that Emory has committed to starting and continuing this conversation and work.
Plano Public Library Breaks Down Technology Barriers



The ALA/Information Today, Inc. Library of the Future Award is presented to an organization that plans, develops, and applies a patron-training program that explores IT in a library setting. The 2021 winner is Plano Public Library (PPL) in Plano, Texas, for its program Breaking Down Barriers With Tech Training, which provides one-on-one instruction for community members in need of technology help. This instruction can include basic computer skills, how to download library apps, how to search the internet, and how to use Google Docs.

With five branches serving about 285,000 people, PPL takes its commitment to bridging the digital divide seriously. More than 200 people have attended 23 training classes at partner locations since Breaking Down Barriers With Tech Training began in March 2019. Although library staffers run the classes, partners are a vital component of the program: They offer translation help and share Spanish-language library services with participants. Corporate volunteers from Hispanic interest groups even assisted with a library tour, when more than 60 ESL students visited the Harrington Library branch to learn about library resourcesand 2 dozen of them registered for library cards on the spot.

In addition to helping underserved community members feel more confident with using technology, the program helps to prove PPLs value to the community, especially to potential partners. It raises the librarys profile as a place to go for technology training.

GETTING STARTED

PPLs Outreach & Engagement (O&E) team is in charge of community partnerships and is always on the lookout for projects that bring together library priorities and partner needs. Once we had identified basic technology training as the need, we worked with the partner organizations to further define what skills would be most useful to the constituents, and the Breaking Down Barriers project was born, says Tammy Korns, PPLs development and outreach manager. Once the O&E team plans out the details of a class, staffers who have received outreach training may sign up to teach. PPL routinely trains staff for outreach, and staff self-select opportunities that match their own interests, skills, and availability, says Korns. However, we specifically requested assistance from our Spanish-speaking staff when providing tech training to ESL students.

It quickly became apparent that one-on-one instruction is preferable when conducting the classes, so more library staffers were given the opportunity to become teachers, ensuring that there would be enough expertise to go around. Korns says the O&E team gathers all of the resources the staffers will need for a class and facilitates the communication between the library and the partner organization. The partner organization provides the location, students, internet access, and childcare if needed.

While we are very pleased with the results of these classes, we have really only just begun to identify and reach groups within our community that can benefit from this type of individualized technology training, says Korns. We began with partners we were already working with, as well as reaching out to senior living facilities, and we look forward to growing the project.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

So far, the program has held classes at Chase Oaks Family Center, the Brain Injury Network of Dallas, and local senior living facilities. At Chase Oaks Family Center, bilingual PPL staffers teach computer and technology skills classes directly after an ESL class concludes, so that the centers staffers are available to provide childcare and help with translation when needed. Chase Oaks Family Center caters to community members who need ESL classes, citizenship exam prep, and other services. Korns explains that prior to Breaking Down Barriers With Tech Training, the center had connected with PPL to help their students sign up for library cards. As we discussed their goals for their students and how we could get more involved, basic technology training stood out as an area where library staff could make an impact. Many of their students lacked access to computers, and thus were unfamiliar with how they work. They wanted assistance so they could better manage communication with their childrens schools, search for information and services they needed, and connect with friends and family.

A Plano Public Library staff member helps an ESL student at Chase Oaks Family Center.

PPL hosts monthly tech training classes at the Brain Injury Network of Dallas (BIND), continuing their existing partnershipBIND members have volunteered at book sales, visited library branches, and displayed their artwork at PPL. Participants in the classes have survived a brain injury, cancer, or a stroke, and some of them need assistance in mastering the online skills necessary for re-entering the workforce. The classes are taught to groups, with the opportunity for one-on-one help. We opened a conversation about how they were serving their members and how we could help, Korns says. Technology training was identified as a need, and since PPL has a set of outreach laptops, we were able to send staff to their site to provide this training.

Plano Public Library staff teach a technology class at the Brain Injury Network of Dallas.

PPL staffers visit multiple local senior living facilities to encourage residents to use the ebooks, e-audiobooks, and digital magazines that the library offers, and they provide instruction on how to access this digital content. The Plano community has a strong and growing senior population, so we actively sought out opportunities to serve this group, says Korns. Staff often field questions from seniors in regard to accessing eBooks and other digital resources. We had offered a how-to program called eBooks & More in the library, so it made sense to take that same program out to senior living facilities.

A senior practices accessing digital content at the library.

Because the groups PPL is catering to are starting at a basic level of tech knowledge, Breaking Down Barriers With Tech Training is designed to build skills over a series of visits. Consistency of visits helps increase confidence for the participants and make them feel at ease with technology, Korns says. Theyre able to practice what theyve learned until theyre able to go digital on their own.

What makes this project unique is taking library staff and resources into the community, says Korns. Through this project we have seen how important it is to provide a customized approach and curriculum for learner groups. Rather than advertising the classes, we work with partner organizations to meet the needs of their constituents/members, and we take the training to them. This improves both the comfort level of participants, and accessibility of the classes.

Photos courtesy of Beth Morgan, Plano Public Library
[September 14, 2021] Employer Support Has a Direct Impact on the Health and Resilience of Employees, According to a Mercer Survey As the pandemic continues to unfold, the ability of employers to have a positive impact on employee health and resiliency cannot be understated and is one of the most important findings of the latest Mercer "Health on Demand" survey released today. Since the onset of COVID-19, when employers stepped up to provide essential support, it made a difference. Employees who say they received good support from their employers are much less likely to view their personal experience of the pandemic as mostly or entirely negative compared to those who received little or no support - 25% vs. 49%. And almost half (45%) of those receiving good support say they are less likely to leave their job as a result. Survey results confirm that the pandemic has had a material impact on the mental, physical and financial health of employees. Over half of US employees feel some level of stress in the last year; nearly a fourth of US employees say they experienced mental health issues such as depression or anxiety; a fifth are financially worse off; and nearly a fifth feel less physically healthy or fit. Low-wage earners were more likely to experience each of these negative impacts - and less likely to feel supported by their employers during the pandemic. These findings reinforce that employers have room for improvement when it comes to understanding the diverse needs of their employees and providing resources to support the well-being of the entire workforce. "There is nothing more important to the health of a business than the health of its people and the communities in which that business operates. COVID-19 challenged our global healthcare system, but the ability of employers to have a positive impact on employee health and resiliency is one of the most important findings from our 2021 Health on Demand survey," said Martine Ferland, President and CEO, Mercer. "The research is clear - employers that place health and humanity at the center of business transformation will build a more energized and adaptable workforce that is better able to persevere through periods of crisis." The 2021 report lays out several key findings and implications for supporting employee health and well-being: Provide varied and valued benefits: Well-being is at the core of an employee's relationship with their employer. The amount of support, type of support, and ability to personalize that support matters. The ability to customize a package of benefits to meet individual needs is highly or extremely valued by 55% of employees. Variety matters as well: the more benefits and resources that are offered, the more likely it is that each employee finds something of value. Of employees offered 10 or more health and well-being benefits or resources by their employer, 52% say that their benefits are a reason to stay with their company, compared to only 32% of those offered 1-5 benefits or resources. In addition, employees receiving 10 or more benefits are more confident that they can afford the healthcare they need - and more likely to agree that their employer cares about their health and well-being. Enable digital access to healthcare: COVID-19 necessitated that healthcare be delivered in different and innovative ways. One-fifth of employees used telemedicine for the first time during the pandemic, and another 23% increased their usage. Of those trying telemedicine for the first time, the great majority - 72% - intend to keep using it. The survey also registered a sharp increase in employee interest in other digital health solutions, ranging from apps that help find healthcare providers to virtual reality tools for self-care. Compared to the 2019 Health on Demand survey, a greater percentage of employees n the 2021 survey found digital solutions to be highly or extremely valuable. The ability to access care virtually has gained momentum and become a valued option for employees. Survey results reinforce that employers need to plan for a future in which most healthcare journeys include virtual visits and digital healthcare supports. Reduce stress and anxiety: Notably, US employees are more stressed than those in many other countries. While 59% of US employees say they feel some level of stress, one-quarter report being highly or extremely stressed. That's the highest percentage of the 13 countries included in the survey. In the UK, for example, only 16% of employees feel highly or extremely stressed. With 48% of US employees rating employer support for mental health as highly or extremely valuable, employers that provide robust mental health and counselling benefits will foster greater loyalty and create a stronger bond with their employees. However, 40% of employees say it is difficult to find and access quality mental health care. It's even harder for some employees: among low wage earners, that number rises to 47%. Employees identifying as LGBTQ+ place the highest value on employer support for mental health - 61% say it is highly or extremely valuable, but nearly as many (58%) say quality mental health care is difficult to find and access. Clearly, employees have unmet needs when it comes to mental health care. Half (49%) of all US employees say that programs that reduce the cost of mental health treatment are highly or extremely valuable. Employers looking to provide affordable mental health care support should note that many employees would highly value virtual counselling via video chat with a therapist (42%), virtual counselling via text with a therapist (38%), and even virtual mental health advice via AI-powered text chats, with no human involved (31%). Tackle healthcare inequities: Healthcare inequality persists, with higher-earners better able to access medical coverage, income protection and mental health counselling than low-earners. Participants with household income (HHI) at or below the US median are significantly less likely to feel confident they can afford the healthcare their family needs (60%) than those with HHI above the median (83%). Unfortunately, the people who need support the most are the least likely to receive it. Those with HHI above the median reported having better access to benefits through their employers: the survey revealed a gap of 21 percentage points in access to employer-sponsored medical coverage between those with HHI at or below the median and those with HHI above the median and a 19-point gap in access to life insurance. Employers should consider a strategy that targets benefits to the groups that need them most. In a time of labor shortages, a strategy for achieving greater equity may also give employers a competitive advantage. "Every good leader knows that when employees feel they are treated well they are more likely to stay, be engaged, and flourish," said Kate Brown, Mercer's Center for Health Innovation Leader, "With significant shifts in attitudes towards mental health, sustainability and digital healthcare over the last year, employers must evolve their health strategy to reflect a modern workforce that prioritizes flexibility, choice, a caring culture, and digital access to support their health and well-being." About the survey The 2021 Mercer Health on Demand survey asked 14,000 employees across 13 countries across the globe about what they want when it comes to their health and well-being. Country and regional results were weighted to the true sample, with 2,000 in the US. The resulting report captures the voice of the employee to inform debate about employee health and wellbeing preferences, digital delivery of benefits, inclusive and environmentally-friendly solutions that meet ESG agendas and mental health solutions. About Mercer Mercer believes in building brighter futures by redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being. Mercer's approximately 25,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm operates in 130 countries. Mercer is a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world's leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, with 78,000 colleagues and annual revenue of over $18 billion. Through its market-leading businesses including Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Oliver Wyman, Marsh McLennan helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment. For more information, visit mercer.com. Follow Mercer on LinkedIn and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005791/en/

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NEWSALERT-UNGA-BIDEN-WAR Amid growing China tensions, Biden tells UN that US is 'not seeking a new Cold War.' (AP)Amid growing China tensions, Biden tells UN that US is 'not seeking a new Cold War.' (AP)
Request of Paul Whelan to be transferred to US forwarded to Russian Justice Ministry

 Moskva city news agency, Sophia Sandurskaya

13:38 14/09/2021

MOSCOW, September 14 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Russia Republic of Mordovia forwarded a request of an American citizen Paul Whelan, sentenced to 16 years in jail for espionage, to the Justice Ministry, the press service of the court told RAPSI.

The request was forwarded to the Justice Ministry with the aim to collect the necessary information in accordance with the provisions of an international treaty, as well as to preliminary agree on the issue of transferring the convict with the competent authorities of the United States, the statement reads.

In June 2020, the Moscow City Court convicted Whelan of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years behind bars. The hearing was held behind closed doors.

Whelan is serving his sentence in a penal colony in Russias Republic of Mordovia.

The Foreign Ministry of Russia reported that papers classified as state secret were seized from Whelan during his arrest in December 2018.

Whelan's Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said that his client came to Russia in December 2018 to attend the wedding of his acquaintance. He received a flash drive containing culturological information he was interested in, including photos and videos. There were also classified data on the flash drive, the lawyer said, but emphasized that his client did not have a chance to use the flash drive before he was arrested.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on September 14, 2021

2021/09/14

Sputnik: According to The Washington Post, the US will hold the Global COVID-19 Summit on September 22. Will China attend the meeting?

Zhao Lijian: I noted relevant reports and have no information to offer at this moment.

Associated Press of Pakistan: The China-ASEAN Expo was successfully held in Nanning and concluded yesterday. Pakistan participated as special partner country for the second time this year. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: The 18th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) was concluded on September 13. President of Pakistan Arif Alvi delivered video remarks at the opening ceremony and Pakistan attended the meeting and exhibition as a special partner country for the second time. China appreciates that.

The Expo is an important platform to deepen China-ASEAN cooperation. In recent years, as China-ASEAN relationship is upgraded, the influence and appeal of the CAEXPO has also been enhanced. It has propelled and witnessed the continuously deepening economic integration of the two sides, accelerating economic and trade cooperation with greater connectivity and closer cultural and people-to-people ties.

As all-weather strategic cooperative partners, China and Pakistan have enjoyed deepening economic and trade cooperation in recent years. China has been Pakistan's largest trading partner for 6 years running. We are ready to work with Pakistan to jointly move forward the high-level bilateral ties, deepen cooperation in various fields including economy and trade, build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and contribute to common development and prosperity in the region.

Beijing Youth Daily: A group of 177 Stanford faculty members on Monday sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, criticizing the "China Initiative" launched by the Trump administration in 2018. They said "the China Initiative has deviated significantly from its aimed mission; it is harming the United States' research and technology competitiveness and it is fueling biases that, in turn, raise concerns about racial profiling." Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The media has exposed that the so-called "China Initiative" sets targets before investigating cases. Such disregard of judicial justice will only lead to cases involving unjust, false or wrong charges. As of the end of March, none of the so-called China-Related Cases Examples posted on the DOJ website involved intellectual property or commercial theft, with charges ranging from fraud to misrepresentation to tax evasion. This joint letter signed by the faculty members once again proves that more and more people in the US have realized that the so-called "China Initiative" is essentially a tool for anti-China forces in the US to abuse the concept of national security to contain and suppress China. The initiative has not only seriously impacted China-US relations, but also aggravated racial discrimination in the US and caused grave damage to the Asian American community.

We urge the US side to heed the just call from all walks of life in the US, earnestly correct its mistakes and stop interfering with normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the US in science, technology, culture and other fields.

MASTV: In the countdown to Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, candidates are making frequent references to China. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, one of the candidates, said yesterday that he will create the post of special adviser on human rights issues to deal with China's alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang if elected. Earlier, Sanae Takaichi said that she would continue to visit the Yasukuni Shrine if elected. What is your response to this?

Zhao Lijian: China's position on the Yasukuni Shrine is consistent and clear. China's internal affairs brook no foreign interference. Japanese politicians should stop making an issue out of China. Enough with such senseless political hype-up.

Bloomberg: President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Australia, India and Japan at the White House next week for discussions that will include countering China's expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Does the ministry have a comment on this meeting of the Quad?

Zhao Lijian: It is China's consistent belief that any regional cooperation mechanism should follow the trend of peace and development, and help promote mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries rather than target a third party or undermine its interests. Forming closed and exclusive "cliques" targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and deviates from the expectation of regional countries. It thus wins no support and is doomed to fail.

I want to stress that China is not only a major engine of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific, but also a staunch defender of regional peace and stability. China's development strengthens the force for world peace and is a boon for regional prosperity and development. Relevant countries should discard the outdated zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, view China's development correctly and respect people's aspiration in the region and do more that is conducive to solidarity and cooperation of regional countries.

The Paper: On August 29, two days after the terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, the US conducted a drone strike in Kabul. It claimed two terrorists were killed. However, US media reported in recent days that their investigations on the ground found those killed in the airstrike were not terrorists, but 10 innocent civilians. It was an intelligence mistake. Some media commented that the incident once again smashed the myth that the US military and the US intelligence agency are omnipotent, calling on the international community to hold accountable those who committed the crimes. Do you have any response to this?

Zhao Lijian: There have been a slew of media reports that the US mistakenly killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan and the international public opinion is demanding that the US should be held accountable. In the face of the widespread skepticism and condemnation from the international community, the US should not seek to gloss over its mistake and get away with it. Instead, it should investigate and ascertain the truth and give a responsible explanation to the Afghan people and the international community.

Prasar Bharati: Recently China has allowed chambers of commerce from Germany, France and Italy to bring back their employees and family members to China. So, my question is, what's the criteria China is adopting to give visas to people from certain countries while blocking visas to 11 countries including India for the past 10 months? When will China issue visas to people from India?

Zhao Lijian: The global COVID-19 situation remains grave and complicated. Referencing the practices of other countries, China adjusts its management measures on in-bound travelers accordingly as the epidemic situation evolves. China stands ready to maintain close communication with all parties and properly manage the work related to international travel on the premise of ensuring effective epidemic control.

Follow-up: What do you mean by the steps by relevant countries? COVID cases are in many countries, not just the 11 countries or India, for that matter. So do you think there is no way people can be allowed to enter China following proper COVID protocols?

Zhao Lijian: China and relevant countries agreed to launch fast track arrangement for two-way travels related to resumption of work and production. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement made between China and relevant countries in light of the COVID-19 situation and need for resumption of work and production.

Follow-up: Do you think such arrangement can be done between China and India also?

Zhao Lijian: I believe we should leave that to the diplomats of our two countries to discuss. India can also talk to China if it has such needs.

Bloomberg: South Korea recently joined a small list of countries that can launch a missile from a submarine. How much of a concern for China is South Korea's development of missile technology and will State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi raise the issue during his visit to Seoul?

Zhao Lijian: China has noted relevant reports. We hope countries concerned can jointly contribute to regional peace, stability and development. China and the ROK are important neighbors. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will soon visit the ROK. The two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern.
Two Expedition 65 astronauts are getting ready for a Sunday spacewalk to modify the International Space Station's power system.

Meanwhile, the orbiting lab is hosting a variety of biology and botany research today as two cosmonauts clean up following Thursday's spacewalk.

International astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk on Sunday. They will set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:30 a.m. EDT, exit the station's U.S. Quest airlock, then translate to the Port-4 (P4) truss structure to install a modification kit. This will ready the P4 for a new Roll-Out Solar Array set to be delivered on a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission next year. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 7 a.m. on the NASA app and the agency's website.

Hoshide and Pesquet still had plenty of time for microgravity research today as they gear up for Sunday's excursion. The JAXA astronaut, who is on his third space mission, serviced mouse embryo samples in the Kibo laboratory module to learn how the space environment affects key phases of reproduction. ESA Flight Engineer Pesquet set up the Columbus laboratory module and explored how the human central nervous system adapts to weightlessness.

NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur worked on two different space botany experiments today helping mission planners and doctors learn to sustain crews on longer space missions farther away from Earth. Kimbrough harvested plants growing on petri plates for the APEX-08 genetic expression study. McArthur cleaned up debris in the Kibo lab's Plant Habitat that is growing Hatch Green chiles for the Plant Habitat-04 space crop experiment.

NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei replaced components inside the Combustion Integrated Rack then relocated a detection device that studies the radiation spectrum onboard the station. Vande Hei also partnered with Hoshide and Pesquet assisting the duo with their spacewalk preparations.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov slept in Friday morning following their seven-hour and 25-minute spacewalk on Thursday to connect data and communication cables to Russia's Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The duo from Roscosmos then began disconnecting components on their Orlan spacesuits and stowing spacewalk gear in the orbiting lab's Russian segment.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Advanced Plant EXperiment-08 (APEX-08): The crew harvested plant material that that had been growing in Petri Plates in the Veggie Facilities. The plant material grown in the Petri plates in Veggie for 9 days was harvested and fixed into the KFTs. The plant material will perfuse in the KFTs for 24 hours and will then be stored at -80C for return. Compounds known as polyamines contribute to plant stress mitigation on Earth, and plants grown in microgravity display evidence of stress at the morphological level and gene-expression changes suggestive of stress response. APEX-08 examines the role of these compounds in these plant responses to microgravity in Arabidopsis thaliana. Results could provide insights into the mechanisms plants use to modulate the stress of microgravity.

Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF): A crewmember closed out the CBEF Alternative Humidifier. CBEF-L is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) new subrack facility, which is an upgraded facility of the original CBEF currently aboard the ISS. CBEF-L provides new capabilities with additional new resources such as Full High Definition video interface, Ethernet, 24 VDC power supply, and a larger diameter centrifugal test environment. By using the original CBEF and CBEF-L as one facility for the same experiment, the payload user is provided with an upgraded experimental environment that can handle the processing of more experimental samples for a wider array of experiments.

Combustion Integrated Rack - Fluids and Combustion Facility (CIR): A crewmember replaced the FCF Hard Drive installed in the FCF Image Processor in the CIR. The crew photo documented the final configuration of the FCF Image Processor. The CIR includes an optics bench, combustion chamber, fuel and oxidizer control, and five different cameras for performing combustion investigations in microgravity.

GRASP: A crewmember performed GRASP quasi free-floating science protocols. The purpose of the Gravitational References for Sensimotor Performance: Reaching and Grasping (GRASP) investigation is to better understand how the central nervous system (CNS) integrates information from different sensations (e.g. sight or hearing), encoded in different reference frames, in order to coordinate the hand with the visual environment. More specifically, the science team seeks to better understand if, and how, gravity acts as a reference frame for the control of reach-to-grasp.

Light Ions Detector for ALTEA (LIDAL) Facility: A crewmember returned the Light Ions Detector to the bottom of EXPRESS Rack 3. The LIDAL Facility utilizes a trigger based on fast scintillators to increase the window of acceptance of the ALTEA system to low Z ions (protons and helium ions) and to provide time of flight (TOF) measurements. LIDAL is an addition to the existing Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts (ALTEA) facility, upgrading ALTEA's ability to take measurements that could be converted by dedicated software in real-time into radiation risk coefficients, effectively enabling ALTEA to become a dosimetric "risk meter" aboard the ISS.

Plant Habitat-04: A crewmember removed debris from the Science Carrier/Plant Habitat Facility and took photos of the entire Science Carrier and each of its four quadrants. Water was then injected into the Distribution System. Microgravity Growth of New Mexico Hatch Green Chile as a Technical Display of Advanced Plant Habitat's Capabilities (Plant Habitat-04) demonstrates using the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) by growing peppers in space for the first time. An excellent source of Vitamin C, peppers are more difficult to cultivate than many possible space crops because they take longer to germinate, grow, and develop fruit. The investigation includes microbial analysis to improve understanding of plant-microbe interactions in space and assessment of flavor and texture, which vary based on the growth environment and care such as amount of watering.

Redwire Regolith Print (RPR): A crewmember removed and swapped the Redwire Regolith Print Tray and Extruder. RRP demonstrates 3D printing with regolith feedstock material in microgravity using the Made in Space Manufacturing Device currently aboard the ISS. This demonstration could help determine the feasibility of using resources available on planetary bodies as the raw materials for on-demand construction of housing and other structures. This capability reduces the amount of materials needed on future exploration missions, thus reducing launch mass.

Space Embryo: A crewmember performed Sample Fixations. Mammalian Early Embryogenesis Under Microgravity State in Space (Space Embryo) studies the developmental potential of mammalian embryos in microgravity. Microgravity may affect preimplantation embryo development in mammalian species, but until now most studies of reproduction in space were limited to fish or amphibian species. Researchers plan to culture mouse embryos for four days to observe whether they achieve normal development.

Ceramic Manufacturing Module (Turbine CMM): A crewmember removed the Facility Cap from the Calibration Module and installed the Module into the Turbine Ceramic facility. Turbine CMM demonstrates manufacture of single-piece turbine blade/disk combinations (blisks) in microgravity for commercial use. Manufacturing blisks in space could produce parts with lower mass and residual stress and higher strength than those made on Earth due to greatly reduced sedimentation of the solution in microgravity.

Systems

ORU & Tool Change-out Mechanism (OTCM) checkout: Last night, the Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) and performed a checkout of OTCM-1. OTCM is a component of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) that can be used to Loosen/Tighten fixed bolts by using a socket torque drive mechanism and can interface with Standard Dexterous Grapple Fixtures (SDGFs) by using a gripper mechanism.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) operations: Today, the Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the MSS and maneuvered the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock and are currently extracting the ISS Experience ZCAM using SPDM arm 2. Once the camera has been completely extracted, ground controllers will reconfigure the MSS and translate the Mobile Transporter (MT) from worksite 7 to worksite 5.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: The crew completed several activities in preparation of the USOS 4A IROSA Prep EVA. The crew performed an EVA tool reconfiguration, Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) hardware checkout, and installed the EMU helmet lights and HD EMU Camera (HECA) onto the EMU helmets. Additionally, the crew inspected EVA hardware that was used by the Russian crew for RS EVA #50. The 4A IROSA Prep EVA is scheduled for Sunday, September 12th.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Powerup

MSS ISS Experience Extraction from JEM Airlock [ACTIVE]

Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation [PLANNED]

SSRMS maneuver to park ISS Experience Z-CAM [PLANNED]

Look Ahead Plan

Saturday, September 11 (GMT 254)

Payloads:

APEX-08 insert into ICEBERG (NASA)

Cell Science-04 Procedure Review (NASA)

LSG Work Volume Deploy (NASA)

Systems:

EVA Equipment lock (E-LK) preparations

EVA Tool Configuration

EVA procedure review

EVA procedure conference

Sunday, September 12 (GMT 255)

Payloads:

CS-04 Bioreactor Removal (NASA)

LSG Decontamination HW removal (NASA)

Systems:

USOS 4A IROSA Prep EVA

Monday, September 13 (GMT 256)

Payloads:

APEX-08 Clean and Dry (NASA)

CS-04 Crew survey (NASA)

CIR Manifold 4 bottle Change (NASA)

ESA EPO BLOB SD Clean and reinstall (ESA)

FIR ACE Module reconfigure to ACE-T1 (NASA)

Kubik 6 Bio Check (ESA)

RR-D1 HW gather and procedure Review (NASA)

Standard Measures - Saliva setup (NASA)

Standard Measures Presleep Questionnaire (NASA)

Veggie Monitor Collect Photo (NASA)

Systems:

Environmental Health System (EHS) Surface Sample Kit (SSK) Collection/Incubation

EVA debrief

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Relocate PBAs for upcoming EVA

GRASP science performance in quasi free-floating configuration

Space Embryo Sample Fixation

Combustion Integrated Rack Optics Bench Translation Out

FCF Hard Drive Replace

ISS HAM Kenwood Radio Power Up

Biofilms Kubik 6 status check

Combustion Integrated Rack Optics Bench Translation In

Removal of US TV camera, light, and REBA battery from Orlan-MKS

Space Embryo Closeout

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Transfer

JEM Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Alternative Humidifier Closeout

Crew stows GRIP Supine Bag in COL1O0

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - JEM

Adlink Power Chain Check

EVA EMU Stow

Extravehicular Activity Battery Installation

EVA Battery Operations Terminal Charge Initiate

Cargo Transfer to Dragon [Deferred]

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tools Reconfigure

Light Ions Detector Return

Station Support Computer 6 Reload

APEX-08 Petri Plate Harvest

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Helmet Light Installation

Turbine-Ceramic Manufacturing Module (T-CMM) Module insert

Redwire Regolith Print Tray and Extruder Removal

Plant Habitat-04 Debris Removal

Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Installation

Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Powered Hardware Checkout



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KPMG in Bahrain recently hosted a tax and VAT awareness seminar in Arabic to discuss the key learnings and what to expect going forward as the kingdom approach the 1,000 days milestone since the introduction of VAT.



The event was attended by representatives from the local and international business community to learn from KPMGs Tax experts about the impact from VAT and other taxes on the marketplace. The seminar was moderated by Hassan Khalaf, Manager - Tax and Corporate Services, and Mansoor AlWedaie, Manager - Tax and Corporate Services, both from KPMG in Bahrain.



AlWedaie discussed information regarding the laws of economic substance which were implemented in 2019. These laws compel corporations that conduct relevant activities to disclose their revenues via the National Bureau of Revenue e-portal, as of this year.



He also addressed the reporting requirements for multinational corporations, which will come into force during the financial year 2021.According to these requirements, all multinational corporations and groups operating in Bahrain and having consolidated revenues equal to or exceeding BHD 342 million must evaluate whether or not they are subject to the requirements of disclosing reports applicable to multinational corporations via the website.



Hassan Khalaf, Manager - Tax and Corporate Services at KPMG in Bahrain, started his presentation by thanking the National Bureau of Revenue for providing taxpayers with the necessary information. He indicated that taxpayers can stay informed of the latest updates periodically by checking the guide available on the Bureaus website.



Hassan also addressed the latest developments, taxes and fees in the Kingdom of Bahrain, stating: The VAT Law came into effect in the Sultanate of Oman in April 2021, which may impact Bahraini corporations operating there.



Suppliers residing in Bahrain and supplying goods and services to corporations that are not registered in Oman may be required to register for VAT in Oman when the place of supply is in the Sultanate.



Additionally, suppliers residing in Bahrain and supplying goods to corporations that registered in Oman for tax purposes may be required to register for VAT in Oman when the place of supply is in the Sultanate. Accordingly, corporations must comply with the final deadlines for VAT registration in order to avoid tax penalties, he added.



During the virtual seminar, the participants also reflected on the previous VAT cycles and showcased some of the key challenges faced.



KPMG in Bahrain is a member firm of KPMG international. It was established as the first national accounting and auditing firm, and it has grown to be one of the largest professional services firms in the country. The firm provides audit, tax and advisory services to a wide array of clients operating in different sectors, utilizing the in-depth technical and industry experience of their professional staff.  TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Exports Office (Adex), the UAE-wide export financing entity, allocated AED735 million ($200 million) to overseas buyers to finance their procurement of UAE goods and services in 2021, a 33.3 per cent increase compared to 2020.



In its first full year of operation in 2020, Adex committed AED500 million ($136 million) to overseas buyers.



Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Chairman of the Export Executive Committee of Adex, pointed out that the office had made great progress over the past two years at the local and international levels as evidenced by the growing support for local exporters and the steady expansion of their exports of goods and services.



Adex continues to transform challenges into opportunities according to the directives of the UAEs wise leadership. We will continue with our initiatives to strengthen the global market positioning of UAE goods and services in line with the governments make it in the Emirates initiative and the strategic objectives of Operation 300bn, said Al Suwaidi.



Both aim to develop the UAE's industrial sector and enhance its role in strengthening the national economy. By doing so, we can further achieve the countrys diversification goals and build a more sustainable environment for the industrial and export sectors. We are confident that Adexs financing solutions to foreign importers will open up new opportunities for UAE exporters to expand to new markets.



Adex has been building robust collaborations with several government, semi-government, and private entities over the past two years to support the export sector.



Adex has strengthened its international relations as well to increase UAE exporters access to global markets across continents. It took key steps to promote the UAEs trade ties with Eastern and Southern African countries.



In addition, Adex has signed a cooperation agreement with TDB to establish robust business and trade ties between the UAE and Africa by exploring the possibilities of co-financing and establishing additional lines of credit.



Furthermore, Adex provided AED 22 million to Jenaan Pipes & Irrigation Systems to finance its infrastructure project in Egypt. The fund will enable the company to import raw materials from Borouge, a leading UAE petrochemicals company, to manufacture and supply irrigation systems to one of the worlds largest refineries situated in Egypt.



Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Acting Director General of Adex, said: We are proud of our accomplishments over the past two years. We will move forward to reach new heights of success and enable our non-oil exporters to achieve their goals and increase their profits. Through our support, we are furthering their contributions to the national economy. Our financing solutions are designed to accelerate the diversification of the UAE economy and the growth of the local non-oil sectors, in line with the countrys strategic visions. We will remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure the expansion of national exporters.



We look forward to enhancing our contributions in the coming years and leveraging promising opportunities to bolster the export sector and explore new global markets for our exporters. This is in line with the 10X10 Program, a recently launched government initiative under the Projects of the 50. We are committed to promoting the local exports, as well as supporting Emirati export companies expansion in 10 markets identified by the 10X10 Program, Al Dhaheri added.  TradeArabia News Service
Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is expanding its digital and technology services in the UAE to meet the countrys growing needs to deliver new projects more efficiently and enhance existing assets.

This sees the appointment of new senior positions to support the companys digital transformation agenda.

Marianna Imprialou is joining Atkins UAE technology leadership as the Head of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (ML& AI).

In her new role, she will focus on the exploitation of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) data by using ML & AI technologies to enable innovation, improve quality, generate efficiencies, and reveal hidden insights.

Imprialou is a principal data scientist with expertise in leading projects that allow better decision-making by using data and ML & AI algorithms.

She delivers creative, cutting-edge and commercially viable solutions that generate new business insights and solve a wide range of engineering problems. As part of her previous role in Atkins, Imprialou has built and led a Data Science team that performs at all stages of the data science lifecycle.

She holds an MEng and PhD in Civil Engineering, and before joining Atkins, she was an assistant professor in transport engineering at Loughborough University, UK, where she was teaching statistical methods.

Imprialou has also published over 20 peer-reviewed papers in the space of data science.

Atkins said its other senior hire is Alejandro Lopez who takes over as the new Digital Delivery Director to lead the companys global programme and project management analytics services that aim to transform the traditional way of working on large programmes to a more data centric approach by developing predictive analytics capabilities with an integrated digital framework.

An experienced construction professional, Lopez has deep knowledge in project and program management and BIM management. He has gained experience in construction by working extensively across projects in Europe and the Middle East regions.

According to Atkins, Lopezs career has transitioned from traditional roles in project management to more strategic assignments focused on digital disruption and innovation, enhanced business efficiency, and delivery performance.

His skill set is focused on developing the digital and governance strategy, tools, assurance, and protocol to ensure effective, timely and informed decision making, and more broadly drive value-added and successful outcomes for major real estate and infrastructure clients.

Lauding the appointments, Johan Hesselse, Managing Director of Atkins UAE, Engineering, Design and Project Management, SNC-Lavalin, said: "By expanding our digital offering in the emirates, we are not only enhancing our clients project delivery but also sharing our knowledge to help build local capabilities that will lead a more sustainable future."

"Our digital strategy is focused on digital solutions, project monitoring, and service transformation that supports existing services while utilizing technology to achieve cost efficiency and deliver higher quality solutions for our clients, added

In line with its global digital transformation strategy, the SNC-Lavalin Group announced the construction of new state-of-the-art facilities designed to accelerate its technological leadership capabilities.

The Centers, called Lava Labs, will be opened in key locations globally and will enable the Company to bring its global expertise from its businesses to local clients and markets.

Lava Labs will also host events, training, and discussions, bringing together the best of the industry and innovation ecosystems - both virtually and in person  to share ideas on how SNC-Lavalin can help to address societal challenges such as climate change and population growth.

Technology Director Gavin Britton said: "By bringing top-notch talent to our business, we are accelerating our digital transformation agenda and redefining industry standards of project delivery."

By harnessing data and the latest technologies, Atkins is helping clients in the UAE to transform digitally and add value across their assets lifecycle through digital twin, data integration, immersive training, dynamic insights, asset management, visualization, analytics and AI solutions.-TradeArabia News Service
Vertons wireless lifting beams remotely orientate suspended loads without the need for taglines, using gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems, removing the need for personnel near or under loads.

For Dal-Lago, a leading global precast company, bringing the industrialization of construction with its parent company DLC Consulting, means they can offer their lifting industry customers safer, faster, and smarter solutions, said a senior official.

"This is the most revolutionary product in the history of lifting operations," stated Liyakat Ali Syed, the Director and Head of International Market Operations in Australia, India and the GCC at Dal-Lago.

"The benefit of being an authorized Verton distributor is that we can reach out to many clients who are in different industries. We are excited to be representing Vertons unique and innovative products which create the safest lifting operations available, while also offering our clients our patent fastest precast solutions, which they might need for their construction projects too," noted Syed.

Managing Director Trevor Bourne said that this distribution agreement with Dal-Lago will mean safer and more efficient work for countless construction projects.

"The reach that our technology will now have thanks to Dal-Lago is exciting, as the safety benefits they deliver are sorely needed in the construction industry," he noted.

According to him, Vertons range of lifting solutions uses gyroscopes and sophisticated control systems that make even the most difficult job safer, without the need for personnel near or under loads.

"Plus, from a productivity and efficiency perspective, the load arrives at the destination in the right orientation due to the control system onboard our equipment while controlling the load via our remote control, even in the event of sudden wind gusts," stated Bourne.

"Coupled with our smart tech that captures and analyses lifting operation data to identify opportunities for improvement, our solutions are designed to make lifting operations better for everyone," he added.

Bourne pointed out that the potential for the Dal-Lago/Verton partnership was huge. "For example, any wind turbine company who would need Verton lifting solutions to safely and more efficiently install towers in India can easily consult with Dal-Lago about building their wind towers in precast concrete," he explained.

Syed said while Dal-Lagos philosophy was to minimise the need of raw material especially concrete in any building structure and complete the building structure faster with its patent dry connections, Vertons lifting solution was an absolute complement to the whole production and erection system.

"Its an elegant collaboration. Our precast construction industry will hugely benefit from Verton equipment as it allows faster erection of panels without worrying about the safety of workers on site," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Aiming to play a role in Saudi Arabias efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic, Al Salem Johnson Controls (York)s Research & Development, Product Management and Jeddah Factory, have worked together to develop a new air purifier.

The portable easy-to-use unit is helping various facilities, including schools, improve their IAQ (indoor air quality), thanks to its latest air purification technologies.

This unit comes in different capacities to suit various applications, such as small and large educational institutes, health, commercial and residential facilities, offices hotels, and others.

The York Air Purifier filters the air up to 99.97% though its multistage filtration system. Starting with a pre-filtration by an aluminum filter to remove large particles and moisture.

Secondly it traps gases, such as odours or smoke via filter loaded with activated carbon. In the third stage, a high-quality HEPA filter separates the finer particles that escape from the prefilter.

The air purifier includes an air quality sensor to measure the degree of air purity and then automatically adjust its settings in terms of speed and power to ensure consistent IAQ in a room.

Al Salem Johnson Controls (York) continues to conduct local research, transfer the latest international technologies to the kingdom, and harness its expertise in the field of HVAC, to develop more Saudi-made units in its factory located in King Abdullah Economic City.

The company also has extensive experience in services such as measuring IAQ, balancing air flows and raising the HVAC Systems efficiency. In addition it has the largest specialised maintenance team in the Middle East.-- 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
P&O Maritime Logistics, a leading provider of marine solutions, has begun Phase 1 of its implementation of wearable technology that proactively prevents microsleeps and supports workers in managing their fatigue.



SmartCap from Wenco International Mining Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery, has previously been used in the mining and trucking industries to eliminate safety incidents due to fatigue. P&O Maritime is testing the effectiveness of this technology to bring leading-edge safety to their operations and customers.



The wearable technology actively monitors real-time fatigue levels of employees, sensing when a worker has reduced ability to resist sleep. The system then activates an alert system, notifying the wearer to take action to prevent a safety incident.



SmartCap works independently but has been designed to complement existing safety technologies and protocols common throughout heavy industry. Companies that have used SmartCap as part of their safety protocols have reported a significant decline in the number of fatigue-related incidents.

Embracing new and emerging technologies is part of the innovative mindset at P&O Maritime Logistics. Enacting practical digitalisation in its business is leading to disruptive change within the industry  both for customers and employees.



For example, the company has put digital first in its recent innovative offering, Supply on Demand, which has disrupted the status quo for moving cargo  reducing costs and boosting efficiency. Through using technologies such as SmartCap, P&O Maritime Logistics is on the leading edge of implementing the next generation of operational excellence for its employees.



After the conclusion of the initial 90-day phase, which began on July 27 with a group of employees at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai, P&O Maritime Logistics will assess the success of the system and how to integrate it across its entire network.



Martin Helweg, CEO of P&O Maritime Logistics, said: Im incredibly proud that P&O Maritime Logistics is leading our industry by piloting this innovative safety technology. Were always looking for ways that we can boost the safety of our crews and empower them to ensure that safety is always front of mind.



A key element of SmartCap technology is that it puts wearers in charge of managing their fatigue by sending them private early warning alerts. By keeping the alert private to wearers rather than triggering a central alert, SmartCap empowers workers to act on their fatigue pre-emptively with a proven scoring system that pinpoints propensity to resist sleep.



At P&O Maritime Logistics, SmartCap is intended to complement existing safety and fatigue management systems and protocols. Crew always have the right and responsibility to stop working if they ever feel too tired.



SmartCap also assists P&O Maritime Logistics in eliminating fatigue-related incidents through escalated intervention alarms that are customized to local fatigue management policies. The technology can be adapted to various vessel operating requirements, including crew work hours and rotations.



As P&O Maritime Logistics is a tech-driven business, the SmartCap system is an exciting way we can look to introduce innovative solutions that help in our efforts to continuously boost our high safety standards. With technology such as SmartCap, it also gives us a high-level view of our safety programme and will help us track fatigue across our crews, Helweg added.



I look forward to seeing the results of the pilot and to working closely with Wenco International Mining Systems on understanding how this tech can become integrated into our safety systems.



Klaus Hansson, Wencos Regional Manager  Europe, Middle East, and Kazakhstan agreed: Its exciting to see our proven technology being rolled out in new industries and countries  and P&O Maritime Logistics is our partner of choice to begin piloting the system outside of a mining and trucking environment.



As we continue to gather information from the implementation, we will be able to harvest the analytics to see how our system can be integrated across P&O Maritime Logistics network. Our ambition is for the SmartCap system to be introduced across a wide variety of industries where safety is a top priority, and were excited about taking this step with P&O Maritime Logistics.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai is attracting innovative and pioneering initiatives from chambers of commerce from around the world as it prepares to host the World Chambers Competition 2021. The competition is taking place during the 12th World Chambers Congress (12WCC) from November 23 to 25, 2021.

The World Chambers Competition is the only global awards programme to identify and reward the most innovative, entrepreneurial solutions of chambers to todays most pressing global challenges.

The competition recognises and celebrates the achievements of these chambers while bringing their stories to a wider audience. In spotlighting the diversity and enterprise championed by the competing chambers, the competition aims to enable change to make the world a better place for people and planet.

ICC and its World Chambers Federation (WCF) have announced finalists of the 2021 World Chambers Competition. The 16 shortlisted chambers will present their initiatives during the 12th World Chambers Congress. Under four categories, 78 initiatives representing 33 countries were received for the 2021 edition of the World Chambers Competition.

The total exceeds the number of entries received for the 2019 edition and shows the compelling and tireless efforts of chambers in the face of the current global landscape.

Finalists for the competitions Best Digital Project category are: Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Munich and Upper Bavaria (Germany)  Cert4Trust: Blockchain-based validation of digital certificates and documents; Santiago Chamber of Commerce (Chile)  Resolucion en Linea: Reconnecting businesses with consumers through online dispute resolution; Business West Chamber of Commerce (England)  Great British Food Programme; Lima Chamber of Commerce (Peru)  Digital Chambers: The New Age.

In the running for the Best Resilience Project: Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (Luxembourg)  House of Entrepreneurship Luxembourg; Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Australia)  COVID-19 Support for Australian Businesses; Greater Des Moines Partnership (United States)  DSM Forward Playbooks; German-Russian Chamber of Commerce Abroad (Russia)  #ResilientTogether: Building resilience in turbulent times.

For Best Climate Action Project, four chambers of commerce were nominated, namely Eskisehir Chamber of Industry (Turkey) for its Secure Management Platform for Shared Process Resources (SHAREBOX); East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce (England) which will present its Chamber Low Carbon Project; Dublin Chamber of Commerce (Ireland) for the Dublin Chamber Sustainability Academy; and Voka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Belgium) for the Voka Sustainable Business Charter.

Competing for the Best Unconventional Project are: Styrian Chamber of Commerce (Austria)  Extended Reality Hub; Potsdam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Germany)  Schufi: The App for Teen Entrepreneurs; Corlu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Turkey)  The Foreign Trade Intelligence Centre; and Chamber of Commerce in Quito (Ecuador)  AWE: Academy for Women Entrepreneurs in Ecuador.

Hamad Buamim, President & CEO of Dubai Chamber and Chair of the ICC-World Chambers Federation described the World Chambers Competition as a source of innovation for the global chambers community as it showcases cutting-edge ideas and solutions that have helped chambers address new challenges and create added value for their members.

We are encouraged by the tremendous response we saw to the competition this year, as well as the high calibre submissions received by chambers from all corners of the globe. The upcoming 12th World Chambers Congress in Dubai will provide an ideal platform to showcase such game-changing initiatives that will raise the bar for chamber services and initiatives, said Buamim.

An international jury, comprising ICC World Chambers Federation leadership along with representatives from transnational, national, and local chambers, is responsible for shortlisting category finalists.

The 2021 World Chambers Competition finalists will present their projects to delegates and judges attending the 12th World Chambers Congressthe largest global thought-leadership conference for chambers and their business members worldwide. Presentations will take place from November 23 to 25 with the winners announced on the final day of the event, November 25.

Taking place under the theme, Generation Next: Chambers: 4.0, this years Congress is set to be more collaborative and dynamic than ever.

The upcoming Congress will be held during Expo 2020 Dubai, the first world expo to held in the MEASA region. The mega event represents an unprecedented opportunity for businesses of all sizes, international organisations and government entities from across the world, to come together to foster a more diversified and resilient global economy, inspire a vibrant business environment and drive sustainable growth.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Cyber Security & Innovation Series (CSIS) in Dubai, UAE is hosting over 200 attendees in a hybrid online and in person event taking place from September 13 to 16 online.



Held under the patronage of the UAE Cybersecurity Council, the series will conclude its sessions with an award giving and networking majlis event at Grand Hyatt on September 16, reported Emirates News Agency WAM.



CSIS is organised by Market Solutions Events Management, a leading event organiser lead by the Emirati architect and entrepreneur Madiha Salem.



Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity, UAE Government, commented: "A public-private partnership will be critical to build collaboration among private, public and government entities so as to establish a globally trusted digital oasis in the UAE."



The event is gathering C-Suite Cyber and IT executives, change makers and business leaders, to gain insights from a wide array of speakers during the 30 interactive engaging sessions. The speakers will discuss different perspectives highlighting innovations in the area of cyber security. The conversations will also focus on the pre, during, and post cyberattacks procedures, and building, scaling, bettering mature infrastructures in the ever-evolving cyber universe. The event will conclude with the award show and 5 majlis ceremonies to celebrate best achievers in the field.



Ussama Dahabiyeh, CEO of Injazat, said: "As a company that is progressing towards becoming a national technology champion, we are proud to be participating in the Cyber Security & Innovation Series as a lead partner, sharing our expertise and key insights with industry innovators and decision makers.



In todays data-driven world, where advancements in technology amounts to wider security breaches; Injazat has been constantly adapting its capabilities to combat todays sophisticated threats. The need to engage in impactful dialogue and forge meaningful partnerships has never been more imperative to build plausible cyber resilience in the region and we welcome the opportunities that the CSIS event create for us to exchange knowledge, while also offering a platform to showcase our abilities in designing and developing digitally advanced communities."



CSIS will host cyber and IT executives from the most targeted industries in engaging, thought provoking, closed-door, and most importantly, niche platforms for executives to speak and hear the language that they are familiar with, with audiences that are dealing with the same risks and environments, and solutions that are specifically designed to help them secure their infrastructures.



CSIS will also discuss ransom, accessing sensitive data, and dissect the nature of attacks as they are increasingly requiring more proactive, robust, resilient, adaptive, and smart measures in place.
Emirates Mars Mission, in partnership with the Dubai Airshow 2021, has launched Planet X  a new nationwide competition. It is designed to inspire a new generation of talent to build careers in the fast-growing global space and aviation industries.

The multidisciplinary contest will create and exciting opportunities for the countrys youth who are interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through a two-month contest to build, code and design robots for deep space exploration.

Emirates Mars Missions Planet X challenge kicks off with a prequalification round in September, followed by a week of training in October. The main challenge takes place during the Dubai Airshow 2021, running from November 14 to 18, where high school and university students will be required to create ground and aerial robots for reconnaissance missions on Planet X. Up to AED50,000 ($13,612.93) is available for the winning team.

Omran Sharaf, Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission  Hope Probe, said: Empowering youth is an important part of our long-term vision to enhance the nations global position in all space-related fields and create a new cadre of leaders that can push the boundaries of science and technology. Planet X aims to inspire young people with skills in science, engineering, technology and mathematics.

By building and coding robots to successfully carry out complex reconnaissance missions on Mars, we will demonstrate how exciting and rewarding a career in space science can be. We want to inspire students to reach for the stars and contribute to our nations meteoric rise in deep space exploration and I believe our new competition will deliver on this.

Timothy Hawes, Managing Director at Tarsus F&E, organisers of Dubai Airshow 2021, added: Since its launch, Dubai Airshow has been a platform for fostering new talents and inspiring the next generation to be part of the global aerospace industry. Initiatives like the Emirates Mars Mission Planet X provides students with an opportunity to showcase their skills, learn from the industrys leading experts and pave their way towards a career in the space industry.

To enter Planet X, students must complete a pre-qualification challenge which is open. Applicants are required to design an aircraft capable of carrying out missions on Mars, answer technical details about how it would work in practice, as well as compete in a live coding challenge that will take place in September.

The most successful 40 students will be invited to receive rigorous training and mentorship from engineers and technologists. They will learn how to build, design and develop state-of-the-art robots and 3D-printed aircrafts alongside the team that successfully sent the Hope Probe to Mars.

The main challenge will take place in November during the Dubai Airshow 2021. To complete their mission successfully, students will have to complete a number of complex challenges: First, build an unnamed ground vehicle to study the surface of Planet X and seek out a specific location to collect samples using Lego Mindstorms EV3, a third-generation robotics kit.

There will be different programming complexities for high-school and university students. All robots will have to feature built-in sensors and actuators. Student teams will also have five minutes to complete a simulated mission without any support or assistance.

The second challenge will involve designing an unmanned aerial vehicle to glide above the Martian planet for reconnaissance missions. Students will be required to use CAD Fusion 360 modelling software to design and 3D print the aircraft, as well as share a technical presentation on its design.

The Planet X challenge is part of continuous efforts to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM. As part of this, Emirates Mars Mission is driving innovation, building educational capabilities and creating new opportunities for the nations youth.-- TradeArabia News Service
Tulpar modular armoured tracked vehicle with its Mizrak turret system and Cobra II MRAP mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle will be exhibited at Otokar stand at DSEI 2021.

Otokar, the pioneer land systems company of Turkish Defence Industry, exhibiting its prowess at DSEI 2021 from September 14 to 17, 2021 in London, UK.

Highlighting Otokars strong R&D capabilities General Manager Serdar Gorguc said: Our combat proven know-how in land systems and related R&D, engineering and testing capabilities as well as our wide product range puts us at the forefront of the global defence industry. In the last 10 years, we had allocated 8% of our revenue for our R&D and testing activities.

We continue to introduce innovative solutions in land systems by taking into account the current and future requirements of modern armies and security forces. We analyse the different needs and expectations of our users for land systems, simulate these requirements in house and develop solutions that meet these requirements in the fastest manner thanks to our excellence in R&D, engineering and testing.

As a qualified NATO and United Nations supplier, nearly 33 thousand military vehicles of Otokar are actively used in more than 35 countries in different climates and geographies around the world. We are ready to meet the different requirements of armed forces, not only by supplying products but also through transfer of technology and local production models. During DSEI, we will introduce our capabilities in land systems to potential users and develop our cooperation with our existing users, said Gorguc.

Emphasising Tulpar Tracked Armoured Vehicles success in trials Gorguc said: Tulpar has been tested and qualified by Otokar R&D Centre in the past years. But in the recent user trials and tests we saw that performances obtained by the potential users are similar to those obtained in Otokars own trials, and Tulpar performed very well in different geographical and climate conditions. We believe that Tulpar is a very capable tracked armored vehicle to meet the current and future requirements of modern armies.

Tulpar stands out with mobility, high firepower, and survivability features. The vehicle is designed as a multi-purpose vehicle with variants ranging from 28,000 kg to 45,000 kg to fully satisfy the future global requirements. Future-oriented perspective of modularity is to increase operational flexibility by using common components and a common chassis over wide range of vehicle variants. Tulpar comes in several variants that share common subsystems.

Tested in the toughest climates and on rough terrain, Tulpar boasts best-in-class ballistic and mine protection with modular armour technology and armor structure that can be configured and scaled according to threats.

In addition to providing an effective solution in missions that require high fire and destruction power, Tulpar can serve in all kinds of combat environments from urban, built-up areas and light bridges to woodlands and all terrains especially soft surfaces where main battle tanks are unable to operate due to their heavy weights.

Mizrak is an unmanned remote controlled weapon station which is designed for wheeled and tracked armored fighting vehicles. It is remotely controlled from inside the vehicle under armor.

Displayed Mizrak is with 30 mm cannon and 7.62 mm coaxial MG. Mizrak has the latest generation digital fire control system architecture having dual-axes independently stabilised commander and gunner sights utilised with highest performance thermal camera, day camera and laser range finder.

Cobra II Mine-resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (Cobra II MRAP) is developed to ensure high survivability in risky areas. The vehicle provides superior protection for the crew against ballistic, mine and IED threats while maintaining high cross-country mobility in battlefield conditions with its independent suspension system.

It is specifically designed to provide high reliability, ease of maintenance and quick removal / installation of power pack.

With its modular design, Cobra II MRAP provides high payload and spacious internal space for integration of weapon systems and mission equipment. The vehicle can be configured with alternative seating layouts for up to 11 personnel with 3 or 5 door configurations as per specific user requirements.

-- TradeArabia News Service
The UAEs Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) said that the European Commission has approved the UAEs Camel Milk Residue Monitoring Plan and continues to allow the export of UAE camel milk to the 27 EU countries for 2021.



Saif Al Shara, Assistant Undersecretary for the Sustainable Communities Sector and Acting Assistant Undersecretary for the Food Diversity Sector at MOCCAE, said: Enabling food products to compete in local and international markets is a priority that we aim to achieve in collaboration with our strategic partners from the public and private sectors.



In this context, the Ministry has issued effective legislation and continues to roll out control processes to ensure our food products meet the latest international safety standards. We liaise with our counterparts in every target market to understand their import and health requirements, and develop plans to guarantee compliance of our food products.



With 4,500 tons produced annually, camel milk and its products are among the UAEs signature foods. They are in high demand locally, and owing to Al Ain Farms and Emirates Industry for Camel Milk and Products (EICMP)  the manufacturer of the popular camel milk brand Camelicious, they are making inroads into regional and global markets, he added.



This requires continuous follow-up with the concerned authorities, such as the European Commission, to keep up to date with the import requirements and help local producers meet them.



During Q1 2021, MOCCAE worked closely with Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Dubai Municipality, Al Ain Farms, and EICMP to secure the approval of the European Commission for the UAEs Camel Milk Residue Monitoring Plan. This included overseeing the two manufacturers compliance with the import requirements and submitting annual reports of residue percentages to the Commission.



The commitment of Al Ain Farms and EICMP to enacting action plans and complying with relevant legislation has helped camel milk enter new markets. Notably, the two manufacturers were approved for export to the US and Canada.



Currently, MOCCAE, along with food control authorities and the two manufacturers, is liaising with Chinese authorities to obtain their approval for exporting UAE camel milk and its products to China.  TradeArabia News Service
With 21 years experience with Marriott International, Saad Al-Ghamdi joins an extensive complex including Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre, Le Meridien Fairways, Aloft & Element Al Mina, and the soon to open Aloft & Element Dubai Airport as Complex Director of Sales & Marketing.

He will oversee and direct all aspects of the sales and marketing activities at the six properties.

Taking on the new position, Al-Ghamdi will be responsible for managing the overall marketing and sales programmes, comprising annual budgets, revenue, and distribution management for four operating properties.

He will also play a pivotal role in the opening of the new Aloft & Element at Dubai Airport which is expected in Q4.

Al-Ghamdi's career began with Jeddah & Madinah Marriott hotels where he progressed to the role of Director of Sales & Marketing. He then took on the position of Cluster Properties Director of Sales & Marketing for 5 properties in Saudi Arabia for which he received 2012 Sales Leader of the Year MEA.

He then moved to the UAE as Director of Sales & Marketing at Courtyard by Marriott Abu Dhabi, where he was a member of the pre-opening Executive Team for the first endorsed Marriott brand hotel in the UAE capital. Under his leadership, the hotel received the Regional Marriott Leadership Excellence Award and Regional Hotel of the Year Award.

Prior to his new role, Al-Ghamdi served as Director of Sales & Marketing at Marriott Hotel Al Forsan in Abu Dhabi.-TradeArabia News Service
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After a Muslim youth was allegedly beaten to death on September 9 following a dispute in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, his young family has been left in agony and despair. The police have filed an FIR and arrested a few accused. The family is demanding justice and are seeking the arrest of all accused in the case.

Aas Mohammad Kaif | TwoCircles.net

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BANAT, UTTAR PRADESH  The murder of a 24-year-old youth Sameer Ahmad of Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh has left his family in agony and despair. Sameer was allegedly beaten to death on September 9 following a dispute in Banat town of Shamli.

Sameer had recently found a job and had gone to rectify his Aadhar card details as part of paperwork for the new job. The family said their happiness of Sameer finding a job has been cut short as he was murdered.

As per his family, Sameer had gone to the nearby Tata Service Centre to availing necessary Aadhar card facilities. He was beaten to death after his elbow touched a person leading to a dispute, Sameers mother Fatima told TwoCircles.net at her home in Banat.

According to Sameers uncle Khalid, Around 8 to 10 boys beat him up and smashed his head on the ground, causing his death.

Khalid claimed that some of the assailants belong to an extremist Hindu organization. The claim has not been corroborated by the police.

The incident took place in Banat, which is a Muslim-majority town (with a population of ten thousand) in the Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh and is barely five kilometres away from the district headquarters. Although the town is known for its communal harmony and brotherhood, tension has been brewing between the two communities here following the alleged wrongful defeat of Wajahat Ali Khan in the local Nagar Panchayat elections in 2018.

Being a small town, reports said that the assailants and the victim knew each other.

Following the murder, an FIR has been filed against eight accused at Aadarsh Mandi police station in Shamli. The police said that there may be old enmity between the accused men and the victim.

Sameer was sole bread-winner of family

Sameers mother Fatima is heartbroken with grief. Sameer was the eldest son of the family and took over as a motor mechanic following the death of his father two years ago.

He was working very hard and his only goal was to earn enough for the education of his sister and brothers, Fatima said, adding, He understood his responsibility very well and had no animosity with anyone.

Sameer had recently landed a job as a mechanic in a motor company (Tata) here. He was currently engaged in paperwork for the same.

As per his family, there was a deficiency in his Aadhar card and he had gone to a nearby service centre to get it fixed. Why was he murdered? What was his crime? Two years ago, I lost my husband and now I lost my only support.

Sameers uncle Khalid, who lives in Prem Nagar, a locality in Banat asked this reporter to get the assailants arrested and get justice for them.

We are making efforts for the same. A case has been registered against eight accused all of them are residents of Banat, he said.

Although Khalid discounts that Sameer was killed because of his religion but maintains that all the accused youth belong to a particular ideology and are known for hooliganism.

According to the FIR lodged at Adarsh Mandi police station, the accused include Vatan Raj son Soupal, Vardan son of Mintu, Akshay son of Kullu, Raj son of Rajesh, Ashish son of Harish Chandra, Lucky son of Gabbar, Ayush Rana son of D. Rana and Bhonda son of Bharat.

According to Sunil Negi, the Station House Officer (SHO) at Adarsh Mandi Police Station two youth Watanraj and Vardan Chaudhary, residents of Azadnagar area, have been arrested and efforts are on to arrest the rest.

Khalid insists that all the accused be arrested at the earliest.

Sameers sister Iram, an 11th standard student, told TwoCircles.net that she left her studies following the death of her father two years ago, But my brother Sameer convinced me that as long as he is alive, he will support my education. He was very supportive.

Iram blamed the goons of the area for killing his brother.

Sameer has left behind a devastated family. His two brothers Asif and Rihan are both students. Asif has passed the 10th board exams and Rihan is a 6th standard student.

His sister Iram is not sure if she would continue her education or even her brothers would. We would study due to the support of my brother. No will be able to study now, she said.

Sameers friend Rizwan told TwoCircles.net that Sameer was an easy-going person before his father passed away. After his father died, Sameer changed and his responsibilities increased and he was not able to spend time with us, he said.

Rizwan said that Sameer had started working as a motor mechanic in a nearby town. Now he had landed a job in some company, he said, adding, His death has devastated his family and created havoc. They have nothing left now.
Help India!



The Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) Kerala launched Dictionary of Mappila Verses by adding the names of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 omitted by the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) last month. State President of SIO Kerala said mentioning the names of the Mappila martyrs who were cut off by the ICHR is to express a strong stand against the Hindutva regime

KERALA  Following the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) removal of Malabar Rebellion martyrs names from Dictionary of Martyrs of Indias Freedom Struggle, the Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) Kerala unit on Monday launched the same in protest adding the names of the erased ones.

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The book titled Dictionary of Mappila Martyrs was handed over by Amjad Ali EM, State President of SIO Kerala to Alavi Kakkadan, a prominent historian and chairman of Variyamkunnath Kunjahammad Haji Foundation of India.

Abdul Hakeem Nadwi, State secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Kerala, Rashad VP, State secretary of SIO Kerala, and Sahel Bas Joint Secretary of SIO Malappuram were present at the launch of the event at Press Club Malappuram.

Amjad Ali EM said that the Malabar Rebellion in 1921 discomforts Hindutva politics. Therefore the dictionary released by the governing Sangh Parivar cant include Malabar martyrs, he added.

The greatness of Variyan Kunnathu and Ali Musliyar lies in not getting into the good list of Sangh Parivar. History will remember them for getting omitted from Sanghs distorted history. Therefore, to mention the names of the Mappila martyrs who were cut off by the ICHR is to express a strong stand against the Hindutva regime, Amjad Ali said.

Alavi Kakkadan, Abdul Hakeem Nadwi, Rashad VP, and Sahel Bas also expressed their opinions during the event.
Children aged 12 to 15 in England are to be offered their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The UKs four chief medical officers (CMOs) announced the same recommendation during a Downing Street press conference on Monday.

But what exactly has been announced, why was the decision made and do parents need to vaccinate their children?



 What has been announced?

The UKs four chief medical officers (CMOs) have said children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Around three million children are set to be eligible for the jab despite the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) deciding not to recommend mass vaccination of the age group.

While health ministers are yet to publicly approve the move, a document published on the Public Health England (PHE) section of the Government website states that all children aged 12 and over are eligible and will be offered a first jab.

 Why was the decision made?

In their advice to the Government, the UKs CMOs said they were recommending vaccines on public health grounds and it was likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid-19 in schools.

They added: Covid-19 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.

The advice was announced on Monday (Hannah McKay/PA)

After seeking advice from a range of experts, including the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of Paediatrics, 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.

Story continues

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.

 What does the data say?

The CMOs think a single dose of Pfizer will reduce significantly the chance of a young person getting Covid and passing the virus on.

Clinical evidence shows that a single dose of Pfizer cuts the risk of catching the Delta variant of Covid-19 by 55% and has a much higher effect on preventing severe illness and death.

(PA Graphics)

It also cuts transmission.

 Why not two doses?

The JCVI has been asked to look at whether second doses should be given to children and young people aged 12 to 15 once more data comes through internationally.

Data from the US and Canada has indicated a higher rate of the extremely rare event of inflammation of the heart muscle, known as myocarditis, after a second dose, which was considered in the decision-making.

 Who can get the jab at the moment?

All 16 and 17-year-olds are being offered a first dose, with the intention of having a second at a later date.

Those aged 12 to 15 are eligible for two doses if they are at higher risk of a number of issues.

Englands chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty added there were no plans at the moment to look at vaccinating under-12s.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is currently not recommended for anyone under the age of 18.

(PA Graphics)

 Do children need to be vaccinated?

The JCVI had said Covid-19 presents a very low risk for healthy children and vaccination would only offer a marginal benefit.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, from the JCVI, said there was no conflict between its advice and that from the CMOs, adding that the JCVI had looked at jabs from a health perspective.

Prof Whitty said it had been a difficult decision, but CMOs would not be recommending the jabs unless we felt that benefit exceeded risk.

He added: In a sense, what were not trying to do is say to children you must, must, must, must, must but what were saying is that we think on balance the benefits both at an individual level and in terms of wider indirect benefits to education and through that to public health are in favour, otherwise we would not be making this recommendation.

He agreed that the CMO advice was not in conflict with that from the JCVI, saying it was very much in line with it but had also looked at issues such as education.

 Will vaccines be given in schools?

It is expected the vaccinations could be given through schools as soon as possible once the advice has been considered by the Government.

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

 Do parents need to give consent?

The Government has said if your child if offered a vaccination at school, a consent form may be handed out to give your permission.

The nurse or GP will discuss the Covid-19 vaccine with at the appointment and will be able to answer any questions you may have.

Parental consent will not be needed if the child is considered competent to make a decision by themselves.

Prof Whitty said for the great majority of cases, children and their parents come to the same decision.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said parental consent will be needed for vaccinations of 12 to 15-year-olds, but children can overrule parents who do not want them to get the jab.

He told the Commons: As with all vaccinations for children, parental consent will be sought. The consent process will be handled by each school in their usual way and will provide sufficient time for parents to provide their consent.

Children aged 12 to 15 will also be provided with information usually in the form of a leaflet for their own use and to share and discuss with their parents prior to the date of the immunisation and that scheduled time for it.

Parental, guardian or carer consent will be sought by the school age immunisation providers prior to vaccination in line with other school vaccination programmes.

In the rare event that there is a situation a parent does not consent but the child or the teenager wants to have the vaccine, then there is a process by which the school age vaccination clinician will bring initially the parent and the child to see whether they can reach consensus and if not, if the child is deemed to be competent, then the vaccination will take place.

 Are there any side-effects?

The most common side-effects in children aged 12 to 15 are similar to those in people aged 16 and over.

They include pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle and joint pain, chills and fever.

These effects are usually mild or moderate and improve within a few days.

(PA Graphics)

The JCVI has also investigated the effects of 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.

During the Downing Street briefing, Dr June Raine, from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said the side effects for 12 to 15-year-olds being vaccinated are mild.

On myocarditis and heart issues, she said: Weve undertaken a very thorough review, both of the UK and the international reports, there is a consistent pattern, slightly more often frequently do we see cases in young males and after the second dose.

But, overall, the conclusion of our expert advisers is these are mild cases, individuals usually recover within a short period of time with standard treatment.

Our advice remains that the benefits outweigh the risks of getting vaccinated, and this includes those aged 12 to 15.
For the first time in 10 years an Israeli premier is on official visit to Egypt. The meeting took place in the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Israeli leader speaks of "the foundations for deeper ties in the future". The energy sector of strategic interest, with the agreement on natural gas exports from 11.3 billion euros.

Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Security in the region and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an element of great tension for which a resumption of peace talks between the parties is "very unlikely" in the immediate future. These are the issues at the heart of yesterda's meeting between the Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennettin the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Bennett is the first head of government of the Jewish state in the last 10 years to make an official visit to the Land of the Pharaohs. His trip lasted a few hours and may represent the starting point for further diplomatic steps, thanks to Cairo's role as mediator with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Egypt was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but relations between the two neighbors have often been troubled. In a note released at the conclusion of the meeting, Bennett said yesterday's face-to-face meeting "laid the foundation for deeper ties in the future." "We addressed a whole range of issues," he added, "in the areas of diplomacy, security and the economic sphere, as well as deepening relations and strengthening the common interests of our countries.

The Egyptian bureau stresses that the two leaders also discussed "efforts to revive the peace process" Israeli-Palestinian, on a dead track since 2014 and around which at the moment there is little hope of recovery. The Israeli premier then posed the question of the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza also in 2014 and never returned and the fate of two civilians who entered the Palestinian enclave illegally and then kidnapped by local militias. Finally, Cairo insists on the importance of the work of rebuilding the infrastructure and activities in ruins due to the blockade that Israel has imposed on the Strip for 15 years now.

The talks between Bennett and al-Sisi finally focused on some regional issues, among which the dossier concerning the Iranian nuclear program, source of tension between Israel and Teheran. The Israeli premier concluded by saying that he had explored with his counterpart "ways to deepen relations and interests of the two countries", which have recently strengthened ties in the energy sector. Since 2020, in fact, Cairo receives natural gas from Israel to liquefy it and export it to Europe, a deal worth 11.3 billion euros.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Siberian entrepreneurs seeking investment from China. Moscow needs to boost energy supplies between Lake Bajkal and the Amur River. The Chinese want control of the new facilities. Russian critics say opening the doors to Beijing's money goes against the national interest.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Under recent agreements work is set to begin on new hydroelectric power plants in the Siberian regions of Amur and Khabarovsk, which border China. For some time Russian companies in the area have been asking the Chinese to invest in local energy facilities, where several engineers from China work. Now the new complexes could end up in Beijing's hands. In an official report to President Vladimir Putin, Russian entrepreneurs have made it known that this choice will be essential to ensure energy supplies in the area between Lake Bajkal and the Amur River.

The new power plants will be built along the Amur basin and on the Niman and Selemdza tributaries, in order to "develop the energy system of the Far Eastern federal region, with the necessary flood prevention measures," as the report states. The financial means for such an operation are not specified: "The matter is being worked out, and it will be necessary to attract appropriate investments as soon as possible."

In order to fix the eastern aquifer basins, at the beginning of August the Deputy Premier for the Far East, Jurij Trutnev, had tasked the Ministry of Energy and the State Electricity Agency Rusgidro with submitting proposals. The acting governor of Khabarovsk, Mikhail Degtarev (who replaces the incumbent Sergei Furgal, in prison for almost a year), has also suggested various solutions to contain overflows from the Amur basin. One of them is the construction of new power plants: "So the whole [railway section] Bam [Baikalo-Amursky Magistral] will be powered by electricity."

Since the end of July, the regions of Oltre-Bajkal, Khabarovsk, and the Birobizan Autonomous Jewish Region have been in a state of emergency due to flooding. Heavy rains have caused the Amur and Zeja rivers to rise out of control. Many roads were flooded and hundreds of houses and cultivated fields were swept away and evacuated. Cyclones have been plaguing the Amur region since the beginning of June, causing damage worth more than 6 billion rubles (nearly 70 million euros).

The new power plants will be added to the two existing Soviet-era power plants in the Khabarovsk and Amur regions, which serve to regulate water in the basins and have now reached the limits of their capacities (over 30 billion tons of water). Discussions about the need for the new power plants have been going on since 2013, at the time of the previous floods, and even then the authorities signed a 230 billion ruble (2.7 billion) agreement with the Chinese group Ctgc (China Three Gorges Corporation). The aim was to jointly implement energy projects on Russian territory. The Russian side would have retained 51% of the new facilities. However, the Chinese withdrew from the deal in 2016.

Now the Russians are back in talks with Ctgc and other Chinese companies, which now want majority control to agree to invest in Russian power plants. Initial surveys show the Chinese are ready to build the new facilities on a turnkey basis, but holding on tightly to control. Some voices of protest have been raised against this initiative, such as that of Sergej Sasim, director of the Center for Electro-Energy Research at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. In his opinion, these agreements go against national interests: "We should use a system of financing repayable with interest on energy produced". One way or another, the new power plants will be built, and the Chinese will certainly not be left empty-handed.

Russian-Chinese trade is expanding all the time. On August 31, the Minister of the Russian Republic of Cuvasja, Alina Semenova, disclosed an agreement to export liquor from Ceboksary, on the Urals, to China. Its value is 8.5 million euros. In Priangarje, the Siberian region of Irkutsk, a Chinese citizen has been accused of smuggling wood worth hundreds of millions of rubles, extending beyond all rules the Chinese business in the Siberian forests.
This is the latest outbreak in the country, following those in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Yunnan. Events and celebrations for the Mid-Autumn Festival cancelled. Some cities in partial lockdown; public places and schools closed. Health experts: new wave of infections will be contained within a month.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Covid-19 cases have doubled in Fujian the latest in a series of outbreaks in China. The National Health Commission said this morning that yesterday the number of infections in the south eastern province reached 59, from 22 the day before. The count does not include asymptomatic people.

In four days, Fujian recorded 102 infections. The infection originated in Putian, specifically from a Chinese citizen who returned from Singapore, where the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus is increasing. The other most affected centre is Xiamen: the administrations of the two cities have so far imposed partial lockdowns, affecting only some areas of the city.

All schools, from kindergartens to high schools, and public places such as cinemas, gyms and bars have been closed. Today, Xiamen International Airport has stopped 60% of incoming and outgoing flights. Residents are allowed to leave their homes only for essential reasons; authorities have cancelled events and celebrations of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on September 21. As AsiaNews has learned, many Chinese originally from Fujian have had to hastily cancel plans to gather with their families for the holiday.

As a matter of protocol, health authorities have begun mass testing of the local population. Overall, there were 92 cases of infection in China yesterday; the previous day there were 49. Two weeks ago, the government declared to have contained the contagion in Jiangsu, discovered in late July and then spread to several other provinces, including Beijing. Guangdong and Yunnan also had Delta variant outbreaks in June and July.

According to Chinese health experts cited by the South China Morning Post, infections in Fujian will be contained in about a month. Last year, the central government had claimed to have eradicated the lung disease, first detected in Wuhan (Hubei), between late 2019 and early 2020. Analysts note that the latest waves of contagion have contributed to the slowdown in the country's economic recovery.
Following an investigation by the Khmer Times, police raided a hotel-casino. A number of people were arrested and two victims released. Firearms were also found. Those arrested will be questioned after a 14-day quarantine. To avoid the crackdown, criminal activities are being moved away from the coastal city.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Cambodian police arrested 14 people accused of criminal activities at a Chinese-owned hotel-casino on Ochheuteal Beach, Sihanoukville.

The authorities acted following the investigative work of the Khmer Times, which exposed how more than 8,000 people held prisoner by Chinese bosses were forced to engage in online fraud in a complex of buildings known as the China Project.

According to the Cambodian newspaper, shots were heard near the beach last Thursday. The next day, police raided the hotel. The criminals fired up to six shots as they attempted to flee to a nearby building. No deaths or injuries were reported.

The same criminal activities uncovered in the China Project investigation were found inside the Xihao Ying hotel-casino. In addition to online fraud, the authorities report enslavement, cross-border human trafficking and sexual abuse.

All those arrested are Chinese and were placed in solitary confinement for 14 days.

We are now waiting for them to complete their quarantine and we take further action in accordance with the laws, said Preah Sihanouk (Sihanoukville) provincial courts spokesman Huoth Vichetr.

Police officers arrested two other Chinese nationals, but it was later discovered that they were actually victims of extortion and were released.

Police also confiscated seven firearms, including three automatic rifles, an AK47, and several bulletproof vests. Now the authorities are investigating the origin of this paraphernalia.

According to the Khmer Times, the police carried out the arrests under pressure from the central government, eager to put an end to the violence in Sihanoukville.

The newspaper expects more raids in neighbouring areas. It seems in fact that criminal groups are moving to other locations, including O'tres, Victory Hill, in central Sihanoukville and near the port, as well as Battambang province and the capital.

Cambodia can also rely on Chinese help. We will continuously share information and provide encouragement to local law enforcement officers in their efforts to rid the coastal province and elsewhere of this menace, said the head of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security Task Force after the raid.

Chinese police and Cambodian police are looking for a way to resolve the problem, said officials with the China-Cambodia Law Enforcement Cooperation Office.

It is every police officers responsibility to crack down on crimes of this nature which are particularly horrific. Our government has a very strict policy to crack down on such crimes.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Oscar Fernandes, who hailed from Karnataka, died yesterday at the age of 80. A leading member of the Indian National Congress, he served as a minister in the Singh government. For Cardinal Gracias, India lost a true patriot who always upheld Gospel values in public.

New Delhi (AsiaNews)  Indian political leaders and the Catholic Church are mourning Oscar Fernandes who passed away yesterday.

The Indian Catholic politician was a veteran member of the Indian National Congress and a former Minister of Transport and Labour in the cabinets chaired by Manmohan Singh.

Fernandes, who hailed Udupi district (Karnataka), died at the age of 80 in a Mangalore hospital.

One of Sonia Gandhi's closest aides, she knew him from the time she served as parliamentary assistant to her husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed in 1991.

Gandhi described him as a veteran parliamentarian, a sensitive minister who championed the cause of labour and underprivileged

Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences for this death.

In a statement, Archbishop Card Oswald Gracias of Bombay (Mumbai), president of the catholic Bishops' Conference of India, remembered Fernandes as a staunch Catholic who always upheld Gospel values in public.

I often interacted with Fernandes and always felt he put the interests of the people as a priority, the prelate said. The country has lost a true patriot who gave his all for the nation. His death leaves a great void in his family and friends.

Bishop Peter Paul Saldanha of Mangalore spoke about the role Fernandes played in the life of his state, promoting the welfare of the people of Karnataka during his tenure in office without distinction of caste, creed or colour.

Bishop Gerald Lobo of Udupi, his hometown, also remembers the late politician. He had a magnetic personality and helped many grow, leading them to overcome their difficulties and problems.

What is more, "As a true Catholic he always maintained cordial relations with others, including people of other religions, always representing everyone in his political activity.
The new vicar succeeds Bishop Ruben Tierrablanca Gonzalez, who died in December from COVID-19 after three weeks in intensive care. A fidei donum priest from Italys Campania region, Bishop Palinuro has lived in Turkey for nine years. This is excellent news, according to Bishop Bizzeti. The new vicar is an expert, ready to contribute to the growth of a diocesan Church.

Istanbul (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis has appointed Fr Massimiliano Palinuro as the new Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul. The fidei donum priest, currently parish priest in Trabzon (Trebizond), replaces Bishop Ruben Tierrablanca Gonzalez who died nine months from COVID-19.

Speaking to AsiaNews shortly after his appointment, Bishop Paolo Bizzeti, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and president of Caritas Turkey, said it was an excellent appointment" because the local Catholic community "needs expert and trained people" to contribute to the growth of a diocesan Church in Turkey.

The new apostolic vicar was born in Ariano Irpino (Italy) on 10 June 1974 and is incardinated in the Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia.

In 1993, he entered the Alessio Ascalesi Archiepiscopal Seminary in Naples and was ordained deacon in 1998. After moving to Rome to study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, he obtained a licentiate in Sacred Scripture.

He was ordained priest on 24 April 1999 and appointed parish vicar at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Ariano. In 2000 he was appointed parish priest in the SS. Annunziata parish in San Nicola Baronia.

After earning a doctorate in biblical theology at the Pontificia Facolta Teologica dellItalia Meridionale (Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy), he began teaching New Testament studies in 2004 in charge of New Testament Greek Philology at the same university.

He has been a fidei donum priest in Turkey for nine years, first in the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Izmir and, more recently, in the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia as parish priest in Trabzon, where in 2006 Fr Andrea Santoro was shot dead while praying in St Marys church.

With the new appointment, the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul has once again a stable leadership after the death of the previous pastor, Bishop Ruben Tierrablanca Gonzalez, who died last December. After contracting the coronavirus, the prelate spent three weeks in intensive care, placed on ventilator but never recovered.

Bishop Tierrablanca, who was born on 24 August 1952 in Cortazar, south-central Mexico, was appointed apostolic vicar in April 2016 in Turkeys economic and commercial capital. He first came to Turkey in 2003, where he also served as Apostolic Administrator of Constantinople for the Greeks. In 2018, he became president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Turkey.

Bishop Bizzeti, who knew him well, remembers him as a pastor devoted to interfaith dialogue, especially with the Muslim Sufi current. He loved being in this country, even though he knew its limits.

The prelate was impressed by Tierrablancas openness to dialogue and collaboration, by his incessant quest for exchange with other religions and his desire to build the Churchs diocesan dimension in Turkey, boosting pastoral care and ensuring that it took on more responsibilities.

In the last census, in 2017, the Apostolic Vicariate of Istanbul had 16,000 baptised members in a metropolis of almost 16 million people, divided in 12 parishes. The seat of the vicariate is the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

It extends its jurisdiction over Latin-rite Catholics living in European Turkey and in some provinces of north-western Anatolia: Kocaeli, Duzce, Zonguldak, Bartin, Kastamonu, Cankr, Krkkale, Ankara, Karabuk, Bolu, Eskisehir, Sakarya, Bilecik, Yalova, Bursa, Balkesir and Canakkale.

Since 1999, the apostolic vicar of Istanbul has also been administrator sede vacante of the Apostolic Exarchate of Constantinople, the only jurisdiction of the Byzantine rite in Turkey.

In the country Catholics number 53,000, less than 0.1 per cent out of a population of 76 million. There are seven ecclesiastical districts (dioceses and vicariates), 54 parishes (13 pastoral centres), and about sixty priests, and as many women religious.

The Church is involved in education with 23 schools, including kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, as well as healthcare with five clinics and hospitals, five centres for seniors and the disabled, and six rehab centres.
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Summary

Owens opens Blackout with a description of her childhood, centered around her grandparents. She visited their home in Stamford, Connecticut, a different reality from her home in a small, three-bedroom apartment within a run-down, roach-infested building (14). She describes the life of her grandfather who was born into the segregation of Jim Crow in North Carolina. Watching his father disrespect his mother and shrink from responsibility, Owens grandfather made the decision to prioritize his family above all else (15). She describes that her grandfather experienced real racism in his childhood, and outlines the Democratic Partys segregationist policies in the 20th century, including the KKK (16). Owens grandfather met his wife in Connecticut, and when he was 17 he was married. Owens describes living with her grandparents as a bit of culture shock, with Bible readings, rules, prayers, and responsibilities (22). As a teenager, Owens rejected the teachings...
Stamford, Connecticut

Owens' connection to Connecticut begins with her grandfather meeting her grandmother here. In this house where Owens spent much of her childhood, she describes a strict schedule, rules, responsibilities, and prayer. This middle-class neighborhood was in strict contrast to her home across town in a "run-down, roach-infested building" (14). Her grandparents insisted that her family move in with them, and Owens describes this as "one of the greatest blessings of my life" (14). Although her time with her grandparents was formative in creating foundational values in faith and family, Owens describes that she longed to be "cool and liked and normal" once she entered high school (23). Although the values that he grandparents had instilled would be corroded, Owens would eventually return to them.

Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fayetteville is where Owens' grandfather was born; here, he experienced the segregation of Jim Crow. At five years old, he had to...
Campus News

Eco-flush latrine project new model of experiential learning success

Tanzanian girls carry water for primitive toilets. A UB student design for an eco-flush toilet uses gravity  rather than water  to move waste material, which eases the burden on women and children who would otherwise spend hours retrieving water. Photo: Douglas Levere

By CHARLES ANZALONE

The latrine project is an excellent example of what is possible when we work on challenges and goals bigger than our own. That is the promise of high-impact experiential learning.  Mara Huber, director Experiential Learning Network

Call this the equation for success in post-pandemic education: Bright, socially aware students work to make a difference in the world, creating connections through network-savvy UB administrators and digital badges. The result: Something real happens. The students add value  even if its a world away  by exploring global challenges, working with community-based organizations (NGOs) and then using their skills and resources to produce something valuable. Thats a quick formula for the ongoing project that evolved from the UB engineering intramural program, where students take on problem-based, extracurricular engineering activities that provide a real-world learning experience. The two students who took part in the year-long engineering intramural challenge  2021 graduate Nia Gilliam and senior Ashley Perez  knew the project would be unconventional. Collaborating with a U.S.-based nonprofit and Hope Revival Childrens Organization (HRCO), an NGO partner in rural Tanzania, Gilliam and Perez worked to improve the design of an eco-flush latrine that was being used in nearby regions. The students studied design materials and available building resources, and met with partners via Zoom. While perhaps not the most glamorous of topics, the challenge of sanitation and managing human waste in sub-Saharan Africa is an important global priority (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6), a topic affecting public health, education and economic development.

Latrines in Tanzania.

Rural communities like Raranya, Tanzania, endure a shortage of functioning latrines and unreliable access to clean water. Due to open defecation, coupled with climate change, water-borne illnesses are rampant and affect school attendance, community health and wellness, and economic development. With the recent procurement of a brick-making press (another project supported by the UB community), the NGO can now build its own latrines. But rather than constructing more standard pit latrines, leaders wanted something sustainable and an example of something better to inspire the surrounding Mara Region. The eco-flush toilet presented an excellent starting point.

Many benefits to EcoSan latrines

The design for an eco-flush latrine developed by UB engineering alumna Nia Gilliam and current senior Ashley Perez.



The challenge resonated with the UB students on a number of levels. As they researched possible latrine designs, they eventually settled on the Eco-San model that uses dry composting to transform waste into agricultural fertilizer. Unlike in the U.S., where water is used as the flushing power, the EcoSan latrines rely mainly on gravity to allow the matter to fall into pits below the surface, Perez explains. Since no water is required, these latrines can be used in areas that are water-scarce  in our case rural Tanzania, she says. This design factor eases the burden on women and children  often school-aged girls  who would otherwise spend hours retrieving water, as well as reducing the number of open defecation fields, which reduces the risk of disease spread. By implementing the EcoSan latrines in Raranya, Gilliam notes, we are hoping and expecting to see a decrease in disease transmission, an increase in crop yields, and an increase in the amount of children staying in school. We believe the latrine has the potential to increase community morale as well by the youth going to the latrines in groups and having some time to socialize, she says. It can also be a safer space for women and girls to use the bathroom when they go in groups. Although the students completed their design work for the intramural program in spring 2021, their efforts continue to evolve. When the partner asked the students to help get the latrine constructed, they started a GoFundMe campaign and raised $800 for the project. Since then, interest in the project has grown. A new technology partner, Sprung-brett RDI Inc., is taking the Eco-San latrine to the next level. Local women and community members are contributing to the design, identifying needs and opportunities for ventilation and solar electrification. The students will present their project later this month at the virtual gathering of the University Global Coalition, which calls on universities around the world to engage around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Exciting discovery, important impacts
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.
Nealon was once the airlines chief information officer, but left and then rejoined Southwest in 2016 in a strategy role. In January 2017, he was promoted to president, a position previously held by CEO Gary Kelly. That  along with Kellys statement that he, Nealon and Van de Ven would form a three-headed office of the CEO  triggered speculation that Nealon would eventually ascend to the top job.
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.
She especially recommends tree species native to the Midwest, which are likely to handle the local weather and can feed the local wildlife. There are so many wonderful native trees, she said. Just be sure you choose one that is suited to your conditions. On the Arboretums website (mortonarb.org), you can search for trees by attributes and site conditions or consult the Plant Clinic for advice.
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.
Attorneys for Lane and Kueng asked the judge to remove language from the indictment that says their clients had been police officers since December 2019. Earl Gray, Lanes attorney, said his client was still in training and remained under supervision for months. Gray said Lane was working his fourth shift without supervision when he encountered Floyd. Tom Plunkett, Kuengs attorney, said his client was on his third shift without supervision. Both attorneys said language in the indictment that indicates otherwise would be unfair.
The most updated guidance from the city advised unvaccinated people get tested one to three days before leaving for their trip. Upon return, they should get a COVID-19 test three to five days as well as quarantine for seven days. If they choose not to get tested, they should quarantine for 10 days.
Were still in the pandemic, but we continue to see crowded classrooms, crowded lunchrooms that have us all concerned about the infections that are happening in our communities. We cannot roll back those protections and those guidelines, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th said, later adding, It is appalling. I have been in several meetings with the Chicago Public Schools representatives. They dont even have the decency to provide answers to the parents and educators that theyre supposed to represent. Today we demand those answers.
During the pandemic, Illinois has funneled more than $700 million in relief funding into the states child care industry, according to the governors office. Through an initial round of grants, over 5,000 providers received monetary support, including 85% of eligible child care centers and 40% of licensed family child care homes. On average, child care centers have received over $270,000 each and child care homes have received an average of $13,000, according to the governors office.
The city further finds that street gangs are often controlled by criminally sophisticated adults who take advantage of our youth by intimidating and coercing them into membership by employing them as drug couriers, and by using them to commit brutal crimes against persons and property to further the financial benefit and dominance of the street gangs, according to the ordinance.
I will tell you I have concerns about the fact that the alderman chose the floor of the City Council, and in my view put his colleagues in a very awkward position, Lightfoot said at her post-council news conference. I think the better course, that still needs to happen, is that he needs to stand at a podium like this, say what he has to say and face questions from members of the media. I think thats truly the only way to put this matter behind him.
The previous year, prosecutors dropped the case against Gabriel Solache and Arturo Reyes, whod been convicted in a 1998 killing, after Judge James Obbish discredited Guevaras testimony and threw out the convictions. The retired detective had repeatedly said on the witness stand that he didnt recall details of the investigation but the judge called his testimony baldfaced lies.
Sputnik: According to The Washington Post, the US will hold the Global COVID-19 Summit on September 22. Will China attend the meeting?

Zhao Lijian: I noted relevant reports and have no information to offer at this moment.

Associated Press of Pakistan: The China-ASEAN Expo was successfully held in Nanning and concluded yesterday. Pakistan participated as special partner country for the second time this year. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: The 18th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) was concluded on September 13. President of Pakistan Arif Alvi delivered video remarks at the opening ceremony and Pakistan attended the meeting and exhibition as a special partner country for the second time. China appreciates that.

The Expo is an important platform to deepen China-ASEAN cooperation. In recent years, as China-ASEAN relationship is upgraded, the influence and appeal of the CAEXPO has also been enhanced. It has propelled and witnessed the continuously deepening economic integration of the two sides, accelerating economic and trade cooperation with greater connectivity and closer cultural and people-to-people ties.

As all-weather strategic cooperative partners, China and Pakistan have enjoyed deepening economic and trade cooperation in recent years. China has been Pakistan's largest trading partner for 6 years running. We are ready to work with Pakistan to jointly move forward the high-level bilateral ties, deepen cooperation in various fields including economy and trade, build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, and contribute to common development and prosperity in the region.

Beijing Youth Daily: A group of 177 Stanford faculty members on Monday sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, criticizing the "China Initiative" launched by the Trump administration in 2018. They said "the China Initiative has deviated significantly from its aimed mission; it is harming the United States' research and technology competitiveness and it is fueling biases that, in turn, raise concerns about racial profiling." Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: The media has exposed that the so-called "China Initiative" sets targets before investigating cases. Such disregard of judicial justice will only lead to cases involving unjust, false or wrong charges. As of the end of March, none of the so-called China-Related Cases Examples posted on the DOJ website involved intellectual property or commercial theft, with charges ranging from fraud to misrepresentation to tax evasion. This joint letter signed by the faculty members once again proves that more and more people in the US have realized that the so-called "China Initiative" is essentially a tool for anti-China forces in the US to abuse the concept of national security to contain and suppress China. The initiative has not only seriously impacted China-US relations, but also aggravated racial discrimination in the US and caused grave damage to the Asian American community.

We urge the US side to heed the just call from all walks of life in the US, earnestly correct its mistakes and stop interfering with normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the US in science, technology, culture and other fields.

MASTV: In the countdown to Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, candidates are making frequent references to China. Former Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, one of the candidates, said yesterday that he will create the post of special adviser on human rights issues to deal with China's alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang if elected. Earlier, Sanae Takaichi said that she would continue to visit the Yasukuni Shrine if elected. What is your response to this?

Zhao Lijian: China's position on the Yasukuni Shrine is consistent and clear. China's internal affairs brook no foreign interference. Japanese politicians should stop making an issue out of China. Enough with such senseless political hype-up.

Bloomberg: President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Australia, India and Japan at the White House next week for discussions that will include countering China's expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Does the ministry have a comment on this meeting of the Quad?

Zhao Lijian: It is China's consistent belief that any regional cooperation mechanism should follow the trend of peace and development, and help promote mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries rather than target a third party or undermine its interests. Forming closed and exclusive "cliques" targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and deviates from the expectation of regional countries. It thus wins no support and is doomed to fail.

I want to stress that China is not only a major engine of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific, but also a staunch defender of regional peace and stability. China's development strengthens the force for world peace and is a boon for regional prosperity and development. Relevant countries should discard the outdated zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, view China's development correctly and respect people's aspiration in the region and do more that is conducive to solidarity and cooperation of regional countries.

The Paper: On August 29, two days after the terrorist attack at the Kabul airport, the US conducted a drone strike in Kabul. It claimed two terrorists were killed. However, US media reported in recent days that their investigations on the ground found those killed in the airstrike were not terrorists, but 10 innocent civilians. It was an intelligence mistake. Some media commented that the incident once again smashed the myth that the US military and the US intelligence agency are omnipotent, calling on the international community to hold accountable those who committed the crimes. Do you have any response to this?

Zhao Lijian: There have been a slew of media reports that the US mistakenly killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan and the international public opinion is demanding that the US should be held accountable. In the face of the widespread skepticism and condemnation from the international community, the US should not seek to gloss over its mistake and get away with it. Instead, it should investigate and ascertain the truth and give a responsible explanation to the Afghan people and the international community.

Prasar Bharati: Recently China has allowed chambers of commerce from Germany, France and Italy to bring back their employees and family members to China. So, my question is, what's the criteria China is adopting to give visas to people from certain countries while blocking visas to 11 countries including India for the past 10 months? When will China issue visas to people from India?

Zhao Lijian: The global COVID-19 situation remains grave and complicated. Referencing the practices of other countries, China adjusts its management measures on in-bound travelers accordingly as the epidemic situation evolves. China stands ready to maintain close communication with all parties and properly manage the work related to international travel on the premise of ensuring effective epidemic control.

Follow-up: What do you mean by the steps by relevant countries? COVID cases are in many countries, not just the 11 countries or India, for that matter. So do you think there is no way people can be allowed to enter China following proper COVID protocols?

Zhao Lijian: China and relevant countries agreed to launch fast track arrangement for two-way travels related to resumption of work and production. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement made between China and relevant countries in light of the COVID-19 situation and need for resumption of work and production.

Follow-up: Do you think such arrangement can be done between China and India also?

Zhao Lijian: I believe we should leave that to the diplomats of our two countries to discuss. India can also talk to China if it has such needs.

Bloomberg: South Korea recently joined a small list of countries that can launch a missile from a submarine. How much of a concern for China is South Korea's development of missile technology and will State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi raise the issue during his visit to Seoul?

Zhao Lijian: China has noted relevant reports. We hope countries concerned can jointly contribute to regional peace, stability and development. China and the ROK are important neighbors. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will soon visit the ROK. The two sides will have an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern.
On September 13, 2021, Ambassador Qin Gang attended the virtual welcome event hosted by the US-China Business Council. USCBC Chairman Tom Linebarger, President Craig Allen and some board members participated in this event.

The USCBC extended welcome to Ambassador Qin for assumption of office, and expressed its commitment to China-US friendly exchanges and bilateral economic cooperation.

Ambassador Qin spoke highly of the important contributions made by the USCBC in maintaining and fostering China-US economic cooperation over a long period of time. He said, on September 10, President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden had a phone talk, and President Xi said to President Biden, when China and the United States cooperate, both countries and the world will benefit; when China and the United States are in confrontation, both countries and the world will suffer. Getting the relationship right is not optional, but something we must do and must do well. President Xi's words show China's sincerity to pursue sound and stable China-US relations. My mission here is to work with the US side and make sure that we deliver. I look forward to working with all of you towards this end, and I would love to talk to you, and be a good listener and helper to you, so that we can uphold and promote the common interests of China and the US.

Ambassador Qin said that China's economy enjoys a good momentum and bright prospects. Since the beginning of this year, it has maintained a steady and upward trend. In the first six months, it registered a year-on-year growth of 12.7%. Foreign trade grew by 27.1% and paid-in foreign investment increased by 28.7%. According to the IMF, China's contribution to world economic growth will exceed 1/4 for the next five years. China will continue to be the source of confidence, growth and hope for world economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. China's high-quality development in the new stage and for a new paradigm will provide a broader market to foreign investors, including American businesses.

Ambassador Qin pointed out that, President Xi Jinping stressed that China is committed to promoting high-level opening-up, protecting property rights and intellectual property rights, and making our policies more transparent and predictable. China will build a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment. China has been shortening the negative list for access of foreign investment for four years in a row. The latest list only has 33 items. For those areas outside the list, domestic and foreign investments are treated equally. When China joined the WTO, China pledged to open 100 services sectors, and now it has committed another 22 sectors. Up till now, we have removed all the foreign ownership caps on the manufacturing sector and agriculture, and the opening of the services sector, including the financial industry, is also picking up speed. Several days ago, President Xi Jinping announced that we will extend the negative list for trade in services across the country, explore the development of national demonstration zones for the innovative development of trade in services, and establish Beijing Stock Exchange to support the development of innovation-oriented SMEs.

Ambassador Qin stressed that reform and opening-up is just like crossing the river by feeling the stones. New problems will occur when developing a market-oriented economy, but not all of them are predicted. When new problems occur, we must try to resolve them with new solutions. The Chinese government's policies and measures are to define what is allowed and what is not, and create a fair and law-based market environment. This will make our policies more predictable. At the same time, the Chinese government will carry out extensive study and solicit people's opinions before introducing a new policy.

Ambassador Qin said that according to the latest survey of USCBC, uncertainties caused by difficulties and challenges facing the China-U.S. relations has been most worrisome to American business community. If we compare China-US relations to a giant ship, then economic and trade cooperation has been its ballast and propeller. When the ship sails against heavy winds and huge waves, we need to add more strength to the ballast and propeller. On concerns about the uncertainties in China-US relations, what I can offer is the certainty from the Chinese side. China's economy is promising, its market potential is huge, and its door of opening-up will only open wider. China will continue to welcome American companies to explore Chinese market. To be frank, the difficulties and uncertainties in China-US trade and business cooperation are not from the Chinese side. I hope that the US side will meet with China halfway, follow the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and make earnest efforts to improve China-US relations.

Ambassador Qin said that as a show of sincerity, China has been faithfully implementing the agreement despite the pandemic, and has made positive progress in enhancing IPR protection and expanding market access of agricultural products and the financial sector. At the same time, China has eliminated market-based tariffs on imports from the US to facilitate trade. However, since the agreement came into force, the US has continued to impose sanctions and restrictions on China, including putting more than 900 Chinese entities on various lists of restrictions. This has directly affected Chinese companies' ability and willingness to purchase from the US and has had a negative impact on the implementation of the agreement. The US business community is concerned about China's future tariff exclusions policy. Recently, US media reported that the Biden administration is considering launching a Section 301 investigation into the subsidies of China. Neither Section 301 investigations nor tariff war has worked. The US business community must be aware of this from firsthand experience. It is hoped that necessary conditions and atmosphere can be created for the implementation of the phase one agreement and bilateral economic and trade exchanges, rather than making things worse.

Ambassador Qin reiterated his commitment as Chinese Ambassador to the US to acting as a bridge and bond between the two countries and working extensively with US business community to be a good listener and helper, so as to uphold and promote the common interests of China and the US.

Ambassador Qin also gave introduction to the development and policies of related industries in China, and had in-depth exchanges with USCBC board members on issues of common interest.
Using modern technology, Chinese archaeologists and researchers have restored silk fabrics from the Sanxingdui Ruins site in Southwest China's Sichuan province and unveiled them for the first time.

What appeared to be ash on the surfaces of gold masks, bronze wares and other artifacts uncovered at the site turned out to be silk, according to China's cultural authorities.

This is the first time silk and textile residue has been unearthed at the Sanxingdui Ruins, and the discovery advances the origin of silk in the Sichuan Basin to over 3,000 years ago, according to the archaeologists.

The new findings indicate the ancient Shu Kingdom was one of the important origins of silk in ancient China, shedding light on the unified yet diverse origins of Chinese civilization.

After over half a year of research, crew members from the China National Silk Museum and Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute found that there were mainly three types of fabric.

"We found three types of fabrics at the Sanxingdui Ruins site this time, namely Juan, Qi and braided fabric," said Long Bo, an associate research fellow at the China National Silk Museum.

Sacrificial objects with spiritual meaning

The researchers discovered the fabric found in the No. 8 pit was juan (tough silk) after restoring it on a computer, but the exact color is very hard to identify due to erosion.

Researchers at the China National Silk Museum used white and black pieces of paper to better show the structure of juan, and even illustrated how to produce it on site.

Zhou Yang, a research fellow at the museum said that silk was first used in sacrificial objects, and it was later used in tombs, as well as in ordinary people's daily clothing. The silk fabrics found at the Sanxingdui Ruins recently are sacrificial objects.

"The silk found in this sacrificial burial pit bears even more spiritual meaning, because we know that that scenario is for connecting heaven and earth, and connecting human and god, which has a certain religious meaning. So the silk found here is obviously different from those discovered in tombs or ruins," said Zhou.

Shedding light on the origin of Shu brocade

The discovery of silk fabrics at the Sanxingdui Ruins is of great significance to the historical research of the Sichuan silk, one of China's most famous brocades also known as Shu brocade (Shujin), and of the silk of Central Plains, according to Zhou.

"This time, through more cutting-edge scientific cognition methods, we found the existence of silk, and filled the vacancy of silk in the Sichuan Basin with archaeological evidence," noted Zhou.

On the basis of the new findings, the history of silk in the Sichuan Basin can be dated back to the Sanxingdui period, about 3,000 years ago during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 B.C.).

The wide variety of fabrics uncovered at the site showcase the connection between the Sanxingdui culture in southwest China's Sichuan Basin and the Yin Ruins, another notable archaeological site in central China's Henan Province.

"Thus again, it demonstrates the pluralistic and unified features of the Central Plains civilization. We can draw the same conclusion from the perspective of silk," said Zhou.

Chinese archaeologists have recently unveiled a series of new major discoveries from six newly found sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui Ruins site in southwest China's Sichuan Province, mostly from pits No. 3, 4, 7 and 8.

The much anticipated archaeological excavation of the Sanxingdui Ruins site has been underway since the site announced the discovery of six more pits in March. Nearly 10,000 cultural relics have been unearthed so far.
Chinese disaster film "Cloudy Mountain," aiming to dominate the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, celebrates rescue heroes and workers of national infrastructure projects who have saved lives during natural disasters.

Actor Huang Zhizhong plays a retired soldier who specialized in constructing railways, while his son, played by actor Zhu Yilong, is a geological engineer. Set in a fictional town with a newly built tunnel, the story revolves around a series of natural disasters that follow a severe ground collapse. The father-son duo finds themselves struggling to prevent a catastrophe threatening the lives of the town's 160,000 residents.



Parts of the movie were shot in Guizhou province's Shuanghe Cave, the longest of its kind in Asia, at around 240 kilometers.

Zhu said, at the premiere held in Beijing on Sunday, that he now had a new appreciation for all the workers and soldiers who had played roles in building China's railways. "They could focus on a project for years, even giving up family reunions during the Spring Festival," he revealed. "Thanks to their dedication, more Chinese people can get home for family reunions faster and more conveniently via rail."

The premiere of the film, directed by Li Jun, was dedicated to the lives of "ordinary heroes."

Producer Fu Ruoqing, also the general manager of the China Film Group Corporation, also expressed his gratitude to railway construction soldiers and the workers of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC). "Because of their heroic deeds and their standing up against natural disasters and emergencies, they have made the story of 'Cloudy Mountain' so real and so emotional."

Many key figures in the national infrastructure industry and real-life rescue heroes also attended the premiere of "Cloudy Mountain." Hu Dongpo from a CRCC rescue team for national tunnel project emergencies, said he had participated in more than 10 rescue missions ranging from tunnel collapses, coal mine floods, forest fires and flooding disasters. "Looking at the scenes in the film, I feel they are so real, and are like what I have experienced. It highlights China's infrastructure builders' spirit of rising to challenges and their willingness to sacrifice."



The film also resonated with railway construction veteran Zhang Xincheng, who witnessed many casualties, geographical disasters and accidents during the construction of the Chengdu-Kunming railway line in the 1960s. "I'm grateful this film depicts what hardships the railway construction soldiers had been through."

"Cloudy Mountain" will open on Sept. 17 and is leading the ticketing presales of all the films to be screened during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday season. It is also expected to spark a hopeful cinema recovery after a lukewarm summer market.
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.
You are here: Business

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.
The 2021 Election Committee's subsector ordinary elections in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will be held on Sept. 19.



As the first practice of improving Hong Kong's electoral system, the elections will lay a solid foundation for the implementation of the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong" and the central authorities' overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR, and usher in a new future of greater prosperity for Hong Kong that has returned to stability from chaos.

BROAD REPRESENTATION

On March 11, a decision on improving the electoral system of the HKSAR was adopted by an overwhelming majority vote at the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC).

According to the decision, the Election Committee, expanded to 1,500 members of five sectors, shall be responsible for electing the Chief Executive designate and part of the members of the Legislative Council (LegCo), as well as for nominating candidates for the Chief Executive and LegCo members.

Expanded from four sectors to five, the Election Committee has new representatives of Hong Kong members of related national organizations.

Observers believe the Election Committee will have broad representation and balanced public participation, which can better reflect the voice of the majority of Hong Kong residents and respond to their demands.

Li Huan, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Hong Kong and Macao Studies of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said there is an urgent need to address Hong Kong's deep-seated problems that have become more prominent in recent years, citing major livelihood issues in housing, land, employment and incomes.

The new Election Committee can better represent the interests of the grassroots, Li noted.

Out of the 1,500 seats of the Election Committee, 325 people were determined to be validly registered as ex-officio members, 156 persons were validly nominated to be members of the Election Committee and 603 candidates would be uncontested while 412 candidates would contest in the Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections to be held on Sept. 19 for 364 seats.

ELIMINATE PAN-POLITICIZATION

Since the 2014 illegal "Occupy Central" movement, and especially after the social unrest in 2019, Hong Kong has been embroiled in continuous political disputes and even a governance crisis. "Pan-politicization" has become a factor hindering Hong Kong's stable development and even jeopardizing national security.

The anti-China forces manipulated various political issues and instigated disputes and rifts and then some people acted only based on their political identities, said Yip Kin-ming, a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee member from Hong Kong.

"The pan-politicization has blinded the Hong Kong society and hindered the improvement of the economy and people's livelihood," Ye stressed, noting that only by removing pan-politicization and radicalization can Hong Kong get back on the right track.

In the past, elections in Hong Kong were often used by external anti-China forces to endanger national security and undermine Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. In the latest 2019 District Council election, the "black terror" violence went rampant and political gains were sought through unfair elections.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, anti-China forces from the United States and other Western countries have been cultivating "political agents" in Hong Kong and taking Hong Kong as a subversive base for a "color revolution", which seriously undermined Hong Kong's democracy, freedom and high degree of autonomy.

Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said improving the electoral system of the HKSAR has plugged the institutional loophole for those anti-China elements to take advantage of elections to enter the governance structure of the HKSAR.

After the improvement of the electoral system, Hong Kong's administration team will be able to concentrate on pursuing development and benefiting the people, and resolve the deep-seated problems impairing Hong Kong's development, said Tu Haiming, chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank and also a member of the CPPCC National Committee.

ELECT THE CAPABLE

With the new electoral system, a patriotic, capable and responsible administration team will be elected so that the Hong Kong economy and the people's livelihood can be improved and the financial hub can sharpen its global competitiveness and regain its glory.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the city's largest political group, has over 100 members running for the membership of the Election Committee. About 50 of them are ex-officio members or will be elected uncontested.

DAB chairperson Starry Lee expects the Election Committee to succeed in completing the task of nominating and electing the next HKSAR chief executive and new LegCo members.

"The 1,500 Election Committee members will elect the capable and the competent," Maria Tam, deputy director of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee under the NPC Standing Committee, said.

"They will work to ensure that the future chief executive and LegCo members are more resourceful to solve Hong Kong's deep-seated problems and help Hong Kong find a way out (of the dilemma)."

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam also expressed her optimism. "After social stability and political security are guaranteed, I'm confident that Hong Kong will have a better future with greater progress in the economy, people's livelihood and social development," she said.

From the national security legislation in Hong Kong to improvements to its electoral system, the policies implemented by the central authorities over the past years are aimed at safeguarding the fundamental well-being of Hong Kong residents, pushing for the HKSAR's long-term prosperity and stability, and facilitating the enduring success of "one country, two systems."

A new plan was issued recently by the central authorities for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, which created more opportunities and a broader arena for Hong Kong to make better use of its advantages and integrate into the national development landscape.

"The biggest opportunity in the world is in China and the biggest opportunity for Hong Kong is in the mainland," Luo said, urging Hong Kong to actively seize the new wave of historic opportunities.

"We firmly believe that Hong Kong will forge new advantages and make new contributions in the process of further integrating into the national development," he said.
China's publication authority has launched a campaign to collect excellent projects for promoting nationwide reading in 2021 and foster a sound atmosphere for the habit.

The campaign will select and recommend reading-related projects that focus on the centenary of the Communist Party of China and promote Party history learning and education, according to the National Press and Publication Administration.

Projects that can improve primary-level reading facilities and expand public reading spaces, and those that employ new technologies to explore multimedia and multi-platform reading will also be included in the candidate list.
The Chinese mainland resolutely opposes the development of official ties or the establishment of official entities between China's Taiwan region and countries that have diplomatic ties with China, a spokesperson said on Monday.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to reports saying that the United States is considering allowing Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority to change the name of the representative office in the United States.

Zhu warned that any trick played by the DPP to seek "Taiwan independence" is doomed to fail.
The Luohu district government and the Guangdong Yuehai Real Estate Group co-hosted a fair in Shanghai Sept. 8, highlighting the region's investment opportunities.



To attract more high-profile companies and investments to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, one of China's most dynamic and developed regions, the Luohu district government has rolled out a series of policies that support funding, talent acquisition and public services.

During the fair, Sun Xiaoran from the Luohu Enterprise Service Center introduced these policies in detail, while explaining the district government's plans for future development and its thriving business environment.

Notably, the Guangdong Yuehai Real Estate Group signed a cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Diamond Exchange, marking an important step for Luohu  the largest gold and jewelry market in the country  to become the only diamond export-import trade platform in China.

Meanwhile, the group also announced that it will work with Shanghai BAOKU Culture, a cultural development firm, to jointly establish a real estate project in Shenzhen.

Senior executives of the Guangdong Yuehai Real Estate Group and Shanghai BAOKU Culture introduced their respective roles in the project, vowing to make their contribution to the development of the Greater Bay Area.
As the BRICS group enters its second decade, the collective is now ready to consolidate its early achievements. In this context, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa met virtually on September 9 for their 13th summit under India's chairship, themed Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus. The situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the region, the reform of the multilateral system, the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as vaccine production and distribution topped the agenda of talks.



Achievements and challenges

In its first decade of existence, the BRICS was partially successful in pushing for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank quota redistribution. The five economies also offered an outside option to the international financial order through the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingency Reserve Agreement for the provision of infrastructure finance and liquidity to emerging and developing economies.

The group is also expected to advance a common agenda that stresses not only continuity, but also a positive transformation for its five members and the world on issues such as post-pandemic recovery, the transition to a low-carbon economy, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Yet, the broader setting in which the BRICS grouping operates challenges the full realization of its potential.

The stagnation of the Russian and South African economies and Brazil's economic and political crisis, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have stalled BRICS countries' attempts to take on a more significant role on the global stage. The India-China border standoff and broader competition in the Indo-Pacific have further challenged the balance within the group at a time when its original ambition to become a facilitator of alternative voices in global governance is questioned.

Against this new backdrop, the BRICS are transitioning from a concerted modus operandi (e.g., club, bloc, coalition and community) to bilateral arrangements among the five members. This so-called bilateralization of intra-BRICS relations would allow each member to pursue transnational and interstate interests whenever they overlap with one another while still benefiting from being part of the cluster when collective action is more desirable. Nevertheless, while it does give countries more flexibility, it also hinders consensus building and, most importantly, concrete action at the multilateral level.

This is most evident in the BRICS' response to the pandemic. In 2020, Russia became the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine and called on the other four BRICS countries to cooperate in its production and distribution. China announced its intention to make its homegrown vaccines a global public good. India and South Africa called on the World Trade Organization to suspend intellectual property rights related to COVID-19 to ensure affordable access to vaccines, medicines and other new technologies needed to control the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the group failed to provide a robust collective response to the health crisis. Negotiations at the 12th summit in Russia resulted in vague commitments to collective action and the revisiting of old proposals such as the creation of the BRICS Vaccines Research and Development Center and the strengthening of the BRICS Tuberculosis Research Networkoriginally presented by South Africa in 2018.

After this year's summit, the leaders' declaration only noted the "progress toward the early launch of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center in a virtual format." Had the grouping been able to make greater strides in tracking and implementing its commitments, the BRICS could have given a breakthrough contribution to the fight of the pandemic at a time when the world needs strong leadership and cooperation the most.

Pursuit of common goals

Despite the bilateralization of the group, the creation of the NDB in 2015 and the evolution of its portfolio since indicate that the five countries still engage as a coalition in the pursuit of agreed common objectives. Mandated to fund sustainable development and infrastructure projects in emerging and developing markets, the NDB has built a portfolio of 80 approved projects worth approximately $30 billion. On September 2, the bank welcomed its first non-founding members, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Bangladesh, in an effort to realize its global vocation, mobilize resources with the private sector, and play a catalytic role through the financing of regional economic integration projects.

In the current domestic and global framework, the strengthening of bilateral engagements among the five BRICS countries expands the options for the group to act. Members now need to make these bilateral arrangements work toward a common agenda that favors the construction of a stable and peaceful environment for sustainable development. This is the main challenge ahead of the grouping.

The creation of an open platform to track the implementation of the commitments made by the BRICS leaders, the rejuvenation of BRICS mechanisms like the BRICS Academic Forum to bring about innovative thinking, and the establishment of a multitrack diplomacy process that is mutually reinforcing and more conducive to taking past commitments and new ideas to fruition are some of the urgent steps in this direction, which could be further promoted by China during its chairship of the BRICS in 2022.

The author is a scholar with the Center for BRICS Studies at Fudan University, China, and an associate professor, assistant dean and executive director of the Center for African Latin American and Caribbean Studies at O.P. Jindal Global University, India.
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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 on Monday.

China has decided to urgently provide food, materials for winter, COVID-19 vaccines, and medicines worth 200 million yuan 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.

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.

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.
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Two people including a security force member were killed and at least four others injured in a bomb blast in Myanmar's Mandalay region on Monday, according to a release from the Ministry of Information.

The injured included two civilians, two members of fire services department and some security force personnel, the release said.

According to the release, a bomb exploded at a COVID-19 checkpoint where healthcare measures were being carried out in Aungmyaythazan township on Monday morning.

The injured were sent to the military hospital for treatment and the search for suspects is being carried out.
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Children aged 12 to 15 will be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, chief medical officers (CMOs) of Britain's all four nations confirmed on Monday.

England's CMO Chris Whitty said they came to their decision after considering "what effect this will have on transmission in schools and effects on education".

"It's a useful tool to reduce the disruption," he added. It is expected the vaccinations will be given through school immunization program.

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 Sky News 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 percent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and nearly 81 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.
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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.
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Iran will maintain its "ordinary and technical" cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as long as the UN nuclear watchdog sticks to a "non-political and non-discriminatory" approach to Iran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"If some people with political motives want to contaminate cooperation based on technical understanding, Iran's response will be appropriate," the ministry's spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference, ahead of an IAEA board of governors meeting starting on Monday morning in Vienna.

Some may have been looking for the adoption of a resolution against Iran in the board meeting, "but this is not what has been achieved in the technical framework between Iran and the IAEA," he added.

On Sunday, Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi made a one-day visit to Tehran and met Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), for the first time since Eslami was appointed in August.

Khatibzadeh said Grossi's visit was for the upcoming IAEA board meeting, and "positive consultations" were conducted during the visit concerning issues that were already attended within the current cooperation framework.

In the meeting between Grossi and Eslami, it was agreed that the Iran-IAEA cooperation will continue "within the framework of technical cooperation and without external intervention," the spokesman added.

It was also agreed that Grossi will travel to Iran after this week's board meeting to discuss pending issues on the cooperation agenda, and he will continue to make trips to Iran "on a more regular basis" in the future.

Concerning the specific issues discussed during Sunday's meeting, Khatibzadeh said the memory cards of some IAEA monitoring cameras at Iran's nuclear sites will be replaced, and some cameras that need reparation will be fixed.

The IAEA, he stressed, will perform its operations without having access to the films or the memory cards, and without increased access based on the IAEA's Additional Protocol in Iran.

The implementation of the Additional Protocol was not included in the text of the 2015 nuclear agreement, commonly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and Iran's parliament passed a law in December 2020, requiring the government to halt its "voluntary implementation" of the protocol.

Later this week, the head of Iran's atomic agency will lead a delegation to Vienna to attend the meeting of the IAEA's board, the Iranian spokesman said.

The AEOI was part of Iran's negotiating team during the Vienna talks aiming at reviving the JCPOA, and it directly led Iran's technical and nuclear working groups during the negotiations, Khatibzadeh said in response to a journalist who asked whether the talks will be resumed during Eslami's trip to Vienna.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Aug. 22 that Tehran would engage in "reasonable" negotiations, provided the talks "serve the Iranian people's interests."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 agreement in May 2018 and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran has gradually ceased to perform parts of its commitments under the deal since May 2019, invoking provisions within the text of the accord.

After six rounds of talks in Vienna since April, the parties said serious differences remain between Iran and the United States for the revitalization of the agreement. The sixth round of talks ended on June 20, two days after Iran's June 18 presidential election.
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China and Singapore agreed Monday to enhance the cooperation in combating COVID-19 and developing the digital economy.

The pledge was made during a meeting between visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

At the meeting, Wang said the China-Singapore relations have advanced with the times, playing a leading role in regional cooperation.

China is willing to work together with Singapore to bring into full play the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), the highest-level and most influential cooperation mechanism between the two countries, in order to push the bilateral cooperation to new heights, Wang said.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang said China is willing to join hands with Singapore to work on medicine research and development and virus research, among others, and to jointly oppose vaccine nationalism, so as to make contribution to the regional anti-pandemic course and the building of a community of common health for mankind.

The pandemic has triggered a booming digital economy, Wang noted, saying that China is ready to work with Singapore to utilize digital technologies to upgrade the bilateral cooperation projects and mechanisms, and expand the cooperation in areas including green economy, so as to facilitate the economic recovery of both countries and the region.

Heng, for his part, said maintaining high-level contacts amid the pandemic is of great significance in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Singapore and China.

He hoped that a new JCBC meeting will be held to push forward the bilateral cooperation in the post-pandemic era.

The deputy prime minister praised China for conducting vaccine cooperation and sharing experience in pandemic prevention and control with other countries.

He said Singapore is willing to continue promoting the cooperation with China in the fields of pandemic prevention and control, digital economy, green finance and climate change, among others.
The global COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market size is expected to be worth around US$ 4.6 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Trends Market Research.

The global COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market size was valued at US$ 970.0 Mn in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.10% during forecast period 2021 to 2030.

Growth Factors

High demand for immunization for the ongoing pandemic and manufacturer's initiatives to expand their production capacities are the factors expected to boost the demand for packaging materials.

The hurtling vaccine inoculation rate and growing public trust in are anticipated to fuel the growth of the market. According to the global attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine survey, the share of people going for immunization has increased significantly in 2021. The increasing public willingness to get vaccinated early is expected to drive the manufacturing and distribution process, propelling market growth over the forecast period.

The increasing funding and investments in R&D activities specific to the development of an innovative vaccine, packaging material, and delivery devices are anticipated to fuel the growth of the market during the forecast period. For instance, the federal government of the U.S. invested USD 143 million to develop plastic alternatives to conventional glass vials for the storage of biological liquids.

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Report Highlights

The syringes segment dominated the market for COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery devices and held the largest revenue share of 61.10% in 2021. The segment is further divided into empty and prefilled syringes. . The average volume of a single COVID-19 dose is estimated to be 0.5 ml, thereby 1.0 ml sterile empty syringes are preferred. The prefilled syringes segment is anticipated to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. To vaccinate the 7.0 billion world population in a shorter time is a tedious process with the established logistic network. The presence of distribution constraints associated with current COVID-19 packaging systems is expected to increase the preference for prefilled syringes.

Vials can be classified as plastic and glass vials. As vaccine components interact with the polymers of the plastic vial it is not frequently used for the storage of biological liquids. Whereas Type 1 borosilicate glass vials are used for COVID-19 vaccine storage.

North America dominated the COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery devices market and held the largest revenue share of 39.7% in 2021. According to the CDC data, till 5 March 2021, 15.9 % of the total U.S. population has received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 8.1% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

In Europe, the market for COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery devices held the second-largest revenue share in 2021. The region has robust vaccine production and packaging facilities. The growing concern in EU member states to keep the vaccination rate par with countries such as U.K and U.S. is one of the key factors expected to boost the growth of the market for COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery devices. the market for COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery devices is expected to experience the fastest growth rate over the forecast period. China, India, and Korea are among the notable markets for COVID-19 vaccine packaging and delivery device manufacturers.

Key Players

BD

B. Braun Melsungen AG

Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd.

Terumo

NIPRO Medical Corporation

SCHOTT AG

Gerresheimer AG

Cardinal Health

Market Segmentation

Product Outlook Vials Glass Plastic Syringes Empty Prefilled

Regional Outlook North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Asia Pacific China Japan India Thailand South Korea Australia Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Middle East & Africa South Africa Saudi Arabia UAE



The COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market research report covers definition, classification, product classification, product application, development trend, product technology, competitive landscape, industrial chain structure, industry overview, national policy and planning analysis of the industry, the latest dynamic analysis, etc., and also includes major. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global market. It covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on the demand during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the market at the global level.

The report provides size (in terms of volume and value) of COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market for the base year 2020 and the forecast between 2021 and 2030. Market numbers have been estimated based on form and application. Market size and forecast for each application segment have been provided for the global and regional market.

This report focuses on the global COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market development in United States, Europe and China.

It is pertinent to consider that in a volatile global economy, we havent just conducted COVID-19 Vaccine Packaging And Delivery Devices market forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also studied the market based on key parameters, including Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth, to comprehend the certainty of the market and to find and present the lucrative opportunities in market.

Request for Sample with Complete TOC and Figures & Graphs @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/13643
The global Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market size is expected to be worth around US$ 20.6billion by 2030, according to a new report by Trends Market Research.

The global Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market size was valued at US$ 15.9 billion in 2020 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 17.5% during forecast period 2021 to 2030.

Growth Factors

Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems deliver the therapeutic drug directly at the target site and in a sustained manner. This can leverage beneficial outcomes such as improved efficacy, reduced side effects, and decreased dosage for patients and formulators. Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems are appealing and have been used in many branches of medicine such as oncology, pain management, immunology, cardiology, and wound management.

The unique physical properties of hydrogel attract their interest in use for drug delivery applications. The porosity and drug loading capacity of hydrogels can be adjusted by modifying the density of cross-linking. This helps them to protect liable large drug molecules from degradation increasing the half-life. Many research studies have been carried out to examining the delivery of insulin orally using hydrogel systems. As patient compliance issues are frequently reported with injectable insulins such innovation is expected to be a disruptive technology in the diabetes care market.

Report Highlights

The natural segment dominated the market for hydrogel-based drug delivery systems and accounted for the largest revenue share of 42.3% in 2020. Based on polymer origin the hydrogel can be classified into three main types natural, synthetic and hybrid. Proteins such as gelatin, lysosome, and collagen; and polysaccharides such as chitosan, hyaluronic acid, and alginate are used in the manufacturing of natural hydrogels. They have good cell adhesion properties but due to their mechanical and stability issues recently are less preferred in formulating drug delivery systems.

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Hydrogel-based drug delivery systems are made of synthetic polymer and are gaining more acceptance than naturally derived polymer owing to their higher drug absorbing capacity, improved mechanical properties, enhanced lifetime, and controllable degradation features. Poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) starch, Poly (vinyl pyrrolidone), and Poly (acrylic acid) are the widely used synthetic polymer in drug delivery applications.

The ocular segment dominated the market for hydrogel-based drug delivery systems and accounted for the largest revenue share of 48.5% in 2020. Hydrogels are commonly used in ocular drug delivery applications because most of the hard and contact lenses are made of hydrogel films. So, it becomes easy to incorporate therapeutic drugs into contact lenses. Dextenza and Lacriset are hydrogel-based ocular drug delivery systems approved for clinical use. Additionally, there are numerous ongoing clinical trials specific to hydrogel contact lens-based drug delivery systems, which, in turn, is fueling the market growth. For instance, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary are conducting a clinical trial to study the delivery of dexamethasone drug through the hydrogel contact lens.

The subcutaneous drug delivery segment is expected to witness a CAGR of 10.3% in the market for hydrogel-based drug delivery systems over the forecast period. Hydrogel being biodegradable material they are extensively used in the formulation of subcutaneous drug delivery systems. The implants degrade naturally inside the body thereby the need for its surgical removal is eliminated.

North America dominated the hydrogel-based drug delivery systems market and accounted for the largest revenue share of 56.1% in 2020. The presence of efficient reimbursement that covers the cost of modern therapies, the domicile presence of hydrogel suppliers, and frequent product launches are the key factors expected to contribute to market growth in the region.

Key Players

GALDERMA

Blairex Laboratories, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Bausch and Lomb

Medtronic

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.

Ferring B.V.

Endo International plc

Akorn, Incorporated

Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Market Segmentation

Polymer Origin Outlook Natural Synthetic Hybrid

Delivery Route Outlook Subcutaneous Ocular Oral Cavity Topical Other

Regional Outlook North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Asia Pacific China Japan India Thailand South Korea Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Middle East & Africa South Africa Saudi Arabia UAE



The Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market research report covers definition, classification, product classification, product application, development trend, product technology, competitive landscape, industrial chain structure, industry overview, national policy and planning analysis of the industry, the latest dynamic analysis, etc., and also includes major. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global market. It covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on the demand during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the market at the global level.

The report provides size (in terms of volume and value) of Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market for the base year 2020 and the forecast between 2021 and 2030. Market numbers have been estimated based on form and application. Market size and forecast for each application segment have been provided for the global and regional market.

This report focuses on the global Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players. The study objectives are to present the Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market development in United States, Europe and China.

It is pertinent to consider that in a volatile global economy, we havent just conducted Hydrogel-based Drug Delivery System market forecasts in terms of CAGR, but also studied the market based on key parameters, including Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth, to comprehend the certainty of the market and to find and present the lucrative opportunities in market.

Request for Sample with Complete TOC and Figures & Graphs @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/requesttoc/13640
Pulse Oximeter Market Growth & Trends

The global pulse oximeter market size is expected to reach USD 3.4 billion by 2028, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028. Technological advancements in products, growing healthcare costs, and readmission, and increasing adoption of pulse oximetry devices are expected to boost market growth during the forecast period. Market players are introducing devices that are more efficient and support telehealth approaches. For instance, in February 2017, the company received a CE mark for Rad-97 Pulse CO-Oximeter used to monitor blood pressure at set intervals. It is also capable of transferring the data to a remotely connected device.

There are various other types of oximeters such as wrist-worn oximeters, bedside, or desktop oximeters, and mobile phone pulse oximeters, the latest addition. These oximetry devices are equipped with a sensor that is compatible with the software installed in a users mobile phone, which analyzes data to display information. For instance, iHealth Labs, a subsidiary of a China-based company, Andon Health, offers such products. In October 2013, the company received FDA approval for its wireless pulse oximetry device.

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Pulse Oximeter Market Report Highlights

The fingertip pulse oximetry devices are being used by customers to self-monitor symptoms of COVID-19 contributing to segment growth since the onset of the pandemic

In handheld pulse oximetry devices, the probe, which is very delicate and prone to damage, can be replaced, unlike in fingertip oximeters, and is expected to be in high demand due to the advantage of reduced risk of COVID-19 transmission

There is an upward trend in the use of the medical device in homecare settings as it enables tracking and storing of patient's oxygen level readings, which reduces the need for hospital readmissions

North America held the largest share in the market in 2020 due to factors such as availability of funds for R&D. The sales for fingertip pulse oximetry devices soared in January 2020 and March 2020 in the U.S. post the country-wide spread of the novel coronavirus and release of the WHO guidelines citing the oximeter as an essential device for monitoring blood oxygen during self-management

In Asia Pacific, the demand for medical devices has increased from hospitals for monitoring critically ill COVID-19 patients. As the spread of the novel coronavirus has progressed significantly, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India has notified all healthcare facilities to make necessary arrangements for devices used in diagnostics, treatment, and management of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

The industry is also witnessing mergers, acquisitions, and licensing agreements. For instance, in December 2016, Nihon Kohden announced an absorption-type merger of 11 wholly-owned consolidated subsidiaries to improve management and efficiency of operations

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Pulse Oximeter Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global pulse oximeter market on the basis of type, end-use, and region:

Pulse Oximeters Type Outlook(Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Fingertip

Handheld

Others

Pulse Oximeters End-use Outlook(Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Hospitals & Other Healthcare Facilities

Homecare

Pulse Oximeters Regional Outlook(Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America US. Canada

Europe UK. Germany France Italy Spain

Asia Pacific China Japan India

Latin America Brazil Mexico

Middle East & Africa (MEA) South Africa



List of Key Players of Pulse Oximeters Market

Medtronic (Covidien)

Carefusion Corp.

GE Healthcare

Philips Healthcare

Masimo

CAS Medical Systems, Inc.

Opto Circuits India Ltd.

Nonin Medical, Inc.

Smiths Medical

Welch Allyn

Spacelabs Healthcare

Meditech Equipment Co.

Nihon Kohden Corporation

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.
Market Synopsis of Blood Glucose Test Strip Market:

Market Scenario: Blood glucose test strips are small disposable strips which are used in conjugation with blood glucose meters for monitoring and controlling diabetes. These strips have glucose oxidase impregnated on them, which when reacts with glucose present in the blood gluconic acid. The market for Blood glucose test strips is expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% by the end of the forecasted period.

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market Information by Technology (Thick Film Electrochemical, Thin Film Electrochemical, Optical) - Forecast to 2027

Acknowledging the exponential growth, the market perceives currently and gauging the potential the market holds to grow in the future; Market Research Future (MRFR), in its recently published market forecast asserts that the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market will grow exponentially by 2027, registering a striking CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017  2027).

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market  Key Players

Some of the key players for Blood Glucose Test Strip Market are:

Abbott Laboratories

Acon Laboratories, Inc

Allmedicus

Apex Biotechnology Corporation

Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings Ag

Braun Melsungen Ag

HMD Biomedical

I-Sens, Inc.

Lifescan, Inc.

Roche Diagnostics

Taidoc Technology Corporation

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Blood Glucose Test Strip Market  Segments

The Blood Glucose Test Strip Market can be segmented in to 2 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;

By Technologies: Comprises Thick Film Electrochemical, Thin Film Electrochemical, & Optical among others

By Regions: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.

Industry, Innovation & Related News:

July 05, 2018  Researchers at MITs Little Devices Lab (US) presented a Lego-like device they have developed to perform diagnostic tests at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Referred to as plug-and-play the engineered system device is called as Ampli blocks, can test blood glucose levels in diabetic patients and also detect viral infection.

June 22, 2018  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a mHealth platform that includes a sensor embedded in the arm, a wearable transmitter and an app, all designed to help those with diabetes and their care teams continuously track blood-glucose levels. The Eversense CGM, system useful in continuous glucose management is developed by Senseonics and accounts for the first approved implantable device that promises up to three months of constant monitoring, contrary to other wearable CGM platforms.

April 13, 2018 - Livongo Health (US) a start-up developing connected devices and software for diabetics and other chronic conditions. The company completely devoted to providing cost-competitive aid for diabetes, has already developed its own glucometer & apps providing accurate readings. Livongo, also ships test strips to patients at no additional cost. The company announced that it has bagged the investment for USD 105 million to support the further development of its technology and a partnership from Cambia Health Solution.

April 2018 Pops! Diabetes Care, which is a Twin Cities device maker has registered its first patient in their clinical study which it is backing to see whether their device named, Pops! One, can effectively monitor blood-sugar levels for diabetics. They are also additionally partnering with the Childrens Minnesota health care system on a six-month research of 50 young patients who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. They will use the Pops device to record their blood-glucose levels and alert them when they need to inject insulin. The most noticeable piece is the blood-testing device which is slightly smaller than a typical smartphone which contains a disposable cartridge with a glucose meter and three tiny lancets that have been designed so that they are less painful and easier than using a conventional finger-stick unit with individual test strips. The individual replacement cartridge can be used for up to three tests.

Blood Glucose Test Strip Market - Regional Analysis

North America market leads the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market with the significant market share. The market is further expected to reach astronomical amounts growing at a substantial CAGR throughout the forecast period (2017-2027). Well-developed healthcare sector, increasing prevalence of diabetes in the US & Canada coupled with the high per capita healthcare expenditures of these economies, together drive the regional market growth. Moreover, the presence of some of the matured market players fuels the market growth.

Europe & Asia Pacific is the second & third largest market respectively in the Global Blood Glucose Test Strip Market. Expected to be a fastest growing market Asia pacific region is estimated to grow rapidly over the projected period. Increasing healthcare expenditures along with favorable government policies of developing economies like India and China foster the market growth in APAC.

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While the world's second largest market of Blood Glucose Test Strip, Europe is predominantly driven by the availability of funds for research, well-developed healthcare infrastructure, huge patient population, & government support for research & development. Besides, economies having high healthcare expenditures such as the UK & Germany propel the growth of the Europe market.

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Medical Robotics Market Research Report: By Product (Surgical Robotic Systems, Rehabilitation Robotic Systems, Hospital & Pharmacy Robotic Systems, Noninvasive Radiosurgery Robotic Systems and others), Application (Laparoscopy, Neurosurgery, Cardiology, Orthopedic Surgery and Pharmacy Applications), End User (Hospitals and Clinics, Specialty Centers, Rehabilitation Centres and others) and Region (the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa) - Forecast till 2027

Global Medical Robotics Market - Overview Medical robotics is the advanced method for the treatment and surgeries which involves the use of robots. It is an emerging field. Now a days medical robots are widely adopted by people due to their reliability and safety concerns. Medical robotics have found many applications in healthcare sector as this robots are used in different surgeries like urology, cardiology, and neurology. The major driving factor for the growth of the market is increasing number of chronic diseases and rising demand for the more accurate surgical procedures. Beside this increasing encouragement and funding provided by governments, automation in healthcare sector and increasing demand for the minimally-invasive surgeries has also contributed in grow medical robotics market. On other hand high cost of medical robots as well as high maintenance cost may restrains the growth of market.

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Advances of surgical robots amid increasing use of surgical robots can foster market growth during the forecast period. Advantages of robot-assisted therapy and shares offered by medical robot companies can facilitate market growth. Furthermore, the use of medical robots in the pharmaceutical industry to assist workers in harsh environments and prioritize their safety can fuel the market growth.

But latency issues with robots as well as the nascent stage of the technology can create hesitation among hospital chains and pose a challenge to the market.

Competitive Outlook:

Transenterix, Inc., Hocoma AG, Auroba biomed Inc., Medrobotics Corporation, ZOLL medical corp, Hansen Medical, Inc., Kinova, Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Aethon Inc., Stryker Corporation, Intouch Health Technologies, Inc., Titan Medical, Inc., Carefusion Inc., Mazor Robotics Ltd., Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc., KUKA Roboter GmbH, Medtech SA, ReWalk Robotics, Varian Medical System, Inc., Myomo Inc., Smith & Nephew Ltd., are notable players profiled in the global medical robotics market report. The market is characterized by new product launches, joint ventures, agreements, and partnerships.

Segmentation Analysis:

The global medical robotics market is segmented by product and application. Major products include medical robotic systems, hospitals & pharmacies, rehabilitation services, accessories, and others. Rehabilitation services can account for a considerable market share due to incidence of stroke, paralysis, or other diseases which render a person immobile. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), stroke is one of the leading causes of disability. Rehabilitation services which assist disabled people regain their gait is expected to drive the segment growth.

By application, it is segmented into rehabilitation, laparoscopy, neurology, cardiology, and others. The neurology segment is expected to induce high demand due to need for medical robots in neurosurgery.

Regional Analysis:

Geographically, the medical robotics market comprises trends and opportunities at country and regional levels across the Americas, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), Europe, and Asia Pacific (APAC).

The Americas is estimated to dominate the market till the end of the forecast period. Within Americas, the North American region accounted for over 40% market share due to adoption of robot-assisted surgeries, high healthcare expenditure, and sophisticated healthcare infrastructure.

Europe is the second biggest region and portended to exhibit a stellar CAGR during the assessment period due to favorable government initiatives aimed at integrating technology which can better patient lives. Resurgence of economies in the region combined with the proliferating healthcare sector can augment the regional medical robotics market size considerably.

The APAC region is expected to exhibit the fastest growth rate during the forecast period due to introduction of robot-assisted training sessions for surgeons, adoption of surgical robots, and the growing geriatric population. The constantly developing healthcare infrastructure combined with a plethora of opportunities have created new growth avenues for the global medical robotics market in the region.

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The Chief Minister called for efforts to improve skills in maintenance and repair of drinking water plants, motors, solar units, sanitation equipment and others and said lack of trained and skilled manpower was affecting proper maintenance of such facilities being used in day-to-day life.  Twitter

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh will soon have a skill development college in each parliamentary segment to train students to improve their employment prospects and get better pay.

Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy disclosed this while chairing a high-level meeting with the minister for industries Mekapati Goutham Reddy and senior officials at his camp office here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said they were going to set up skill development colleges, one each in all parliamentary constituencies in the state besides a high-end skill university in Visakhapatnam and a skill university in Tirupati shortly. He said that the curriculum in the skill development colleges would be prepared by both the upcoming skill universities containing concepts like coding, languages, robotics and IoT, and added that the students would be taught and trained on various skills having high job potential.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to start works on construction of a high-end skill university in Visakhapatnam and also construction of classrooms in the upcoming skill development colleges and also in medical colleges in a novel way.

The Chief Minister also called for upgradation of subjects being taught in ITIs and also rope in reputed agencies like National Academy of Construction in them so that the skills of students would be improved to suit the market needs. He instructed the officials to pay attention to improve the skills of Class X dropouts to help them find employment. He also directed the officials to share data of students trained in skill development with the new industries and lay stress to ensure 75 percent of locals get employment in them.

The Chief Minister called for efforts to improve skills in maintenance and repair of drinking water plants, motors, solar units, sanitation equipment and others and said lack of trained and skilled manpower was affecting proper maintenance of such facilities being used in day-to-day life. He asked the officials to develop human resources and English language skills among students. He felt the need for coming up with an action plan to avail the services of skilled persons for the upcoming medical colleges and the hospitals.

Efforts were on to set up an ITI in each constituency, he said and felt the need to set up an industrial training centre. He directed officials to keep a tab on facilities being provided in private ITIs and lay stress for certification of standards in the ITIs being run by either the government or the private agency.

Stressing on the need to strengthen faculty members in the government run ITIs, engineering colleges and polytechnic colleges, the Chief Minister said there was a need to arrange an interaction with the representatives from the industry for every three months to help get training as per the need. He also directed district collectors to arrange apprenticeship to students.
Hyderabad: With the Telangana High Court rejecting the plea of the state government to permit immersion of Ganesha idols made of Plaster of Paris (PoP) in Hussain Sagar and other lakes, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been caught in a dilemma over big idols including Khairatabad Ganesha, apart from 30,000 other idols which were conventionally immersed in the iconic Hussain Sagar.

The authorities first explored the possibilities of immersing the Khairatabad idol in Kukatpally IDL lake considering its size, but later the officials felt that it could not only violate the High Court directions but also Hyderabad metro corridor would turn a major hindrance in the procession route. However, the civic body has been actively considering the option to immerse the Khairatabad idol in a baby pond constructed near Sanjeevaiah Park.

According to GHMC officials, instructions were given to the police to issue tokens to pandals stating the time, date and location of baby ponds for hassle-free immersion. The official machinery has geared up for the eleventh day of immersion where about over 30,000 idols would be immersed in about 25 baby ponds which are spread across the GHMC limits. Devotees can still immerse clay idols in the city water bodies including Hussainsagar. Only PoP idols would be advised to immerse in the designated baby ponds adhering to the directions given by the High Court. About 14 cranes have been set up on the Tank Bund and four cranes at People's Plaza would cater to the needs of clay idols, which would be removed within 48 hours.

A senior GHMC official, requesting anonymity, said PoP idols up to 14 feet can be immersed in 24 baby ponds - Pathi Kunta, Mir Alam Tank, Lingam Cheruvu, Boin Cheruvu, Mundla Katwa, Nagole Cheruvu, Kotha Cheruvu, Banda Cheruvu, Mothukula Cheruvu, Nalla Cheruvu, Large Tank, Patan (Saki) Cheruvu, Raisamudram, Kaidamma Kunta, Gurunath Cheruvu, Gopi Cheruvu, Durgam Cheruvu, Hussain Sagar (Jala Vihar) and Ambedkar Nagar. He said that the civic body would maintain required depth in baby ponds.

The official said that prior to revised High Court orders, the corporation had planned to immerse all big idols in Kukatpally IDL lake but considering the hindrance in the metro corridors, the authorities finally dropped the idea by Monday afternoon. He said if bigger idols were carried to the Kukatpally IDL lake, most of them would have to be cut at various metro stations including Erragadda.

"This could not only be a major problem but also attract the contempt of court and the idea was finally dropped. Considering the setbacks, instructions were given to the police to issue tokens to pandal organisers with the time, date and location of the nearby baby pond. We are actively considering immersing the Khairatabad Ganesha idol at a mega baby pond of 60 feet width and 20 feet depth at Sanjeevaiah Park. The corporation would maintain full tank level at the baby pond near Sanjeevaiah Park on the banks of Hussainsagar and which is the only option left with the GHMC," he added. The official said that the corporation had been already clearing four lorry loads of debris from each baby pond and would deploy more staff and vehicles in the coming days to ensure hassle-free immersion at all baby ponds.
Kottayam: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Surendran said that concerns raised by Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt regarding 'Love Jihad' and 'Narcotic Jihad' should be discussed.

The controversial "love and narcotic jihad" remarks by Kallarangatt triggered a row in Kerala's political circles. The Bishop, while addressing devotees at a church in Pala on September 9, had alleged that young girls were largely falling prey to "love and narcotic jihad" in Kerala and said that these tactics are being used to destroy non-Muslims.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Kerala BJP chief Surendran said that the issue of 'Narcotic Jihad' raised by Pala Bishop is significant at an international level because terrorist organizations have links with drug cartels.

"Terrorist organizations have links with drug cartels. Globally, they make money through the drug trade. The situation is no different here. Last year alone, drugs worth Rs 3,000 crore was seized in Kerala. About 75 per cent of the drugs smuggled into India are reaching Kerala. It is a serious issue that should be discussed," he said.

The BJP leader said that those who came against the Bishop and raised concerns are trying to create religious division. "The scholars of the Muslim community should understand this and support the bishop and lead an open discussion," he said.

Further, the BJP president alleged that those who say there is no 'Love jihad' or 'Narcotic Jihad' are not talking about those who joined ISIS from Kerala. "Why deport girls you love to Syria? Even though there are many incidents in Kerala where girls are converted. There are those who argue that there is no love jihad, such people are supporting terrorism," he claimed.

Earlier, the Congress party slammed BJP for trying to attain political gains by dividing society along religious lines.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's response on a plea for compensation by the mother of a fisherman, who was aboard the St Antony fishing vessel, which was fired upon by two Italian marines in 2012 killing two persons, and later died by suicide allegedly due to the trauma of the incident.

The high court directed the central government counsel to file a statement in response to the plea and listed the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The woman, in her plea, has contended that the boat owner did not forward her son's name as one of the persons who was also onboard the vessel and therefore, he neither received any counselling for the trauma suffered nor was considered for compensation.

Subsequently, as a result of the trauma suffered during the incident, the petitioner's son committed suicide, her lawyer told the court.

The lawyer said that the petitioner's son's name ought to have been sent to the Italian authorities for consideration of appropriate compensation.

Last month around 10 fishermen, who were also onboard the fishing vessel and had survived the firing incident, had moved the Supreme Court seeking compensation.

The apex court had, thereafter, directed the Kerala High Court not to disburse any amount from the Rs 2 crore earmarked for the owner of the fishing vessel.

On June 15, the top court had brought the curtains down on the 9-year old pending criminal proceedings in India against two Italian marines, Massimilano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were accused of killing the two fishermen, after Rs 10 crore in compensation was paid by Italy to the heirs of the deceased and the boat owner.

It had directed Rs 4 crore each be given to the dependents of the two deceased fishermen and the rest Rs 2 crore would be given to the vessel owner.

The top court had referred the matter to the Kerala High Court to oversee the disbursement.

In the fresh plea, the 10 fishermen had said they were also injured in the incident and hence, entitled for the compensation. They had sought a stay on the disbursement till their claims were determined.

The top court had also said earlier that as per the international arbitral award accepted by India, Italy shall resume further investigation in the case against the two marines and quashed the FIR, registered at Coastal Police Station of Neendakara, Kollam in Kerala and re-registered by NIA in 2013, and all the proceedings in the case.

It had closed the case after the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS delivered its award on May 21, 2020 under which Italy agreed to pay Rs 10 crore compensation, over the ex-gratia amount already paid.

In February 2012, India had accused the two marines on board the MV Enrica Lexie -- an Italian flagged oil tanker -- of killing two Indian fishermen who were on a fishing vessel in India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Latorre, who had suffered a brain stroke on August 31, 2014, was first granted bail and allowed by the apex court on September 12, 2014 to go to Italy for four months and after that, extensions have been granted to him.

In Italy, Latorre underwent a heart surgery after which the top court granted him extension of his stay in his native country.

The complaint against the marines was lodged by Freddy on whose vessel two Kerala fishermen were killed when marines opened fire on them under the misconception that they were pirates.
Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition Congress on Tuesday urged the Kerala government to convene an all-party meeting to find a "permanent solution" to end the row over the 'narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangat and accused it of remaining a "mute spectator" while both the Christian and Muslim communities were heading towards a conflict.

However, the BJP, which had supported the Bishop on the controversial remark, brought the attention of the Christian community to the recent political tie-up between the Left Democratic Front and the Social Democratic Party of India in the Erattupetta Municipality and tried to establish that the LDF and the CPI(M) would extend support to extremist groups.

SDPI is a political arm of the Popular Front of India (PFI).

A group of people, who was not at all a party in the matter, were indulging in hate campaign in the social media platforms to add fuel to the fire and thus disrupt communal harmony in the southern state, V D Satheesan, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, said here.

However, the Left government was doing nothing to end the conflict and remaining a mute spectator, he alleged.

He urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to go through the social media posts on the 'narcotic jihad' remark by the Catholic priest and asked what his government, intelligence department and the cyber cell of the police were doing when vested interests were trying to trigger communal clashes over it.

Stating that the Congress had taken a strong stand in the issue to prevent clashes between the two communities, he said they would support any government endeavour to end the tension.

"The government should be ready to convene an all party meeting, participating all leaders concerned from both the communities, and find a permanent solution in the issue. There are those who are waiting to use the opportunity to burn Kerala down to ashes. We repeatedly request everyone not to fall into their trap," he added.

BJP state Chief K Surendran, however, alleged that the SDPI councillors in the Erattupetta Municipality were the ones who had taken out a violent protest march towards the Bishop House over his 'narcotic jihad' remark and the CPI(M)'s decision to foster a political tie-up with them was its "arrogance" towards the "suppressed Christian community" in the state.

The LDF had toppled the UDF-led council of the Erattupetta Municipality with the support of the SDPI members and a Congress councillor, who turned hostile, on Monday.

"The Marxist party is now moving towards a public political tie-up with the SDPI. The collaboration is a grave threat to the secular stand adopted by the state. The CPI(M) has joined hands with the anti-national forces for political gains. It is anti-democratic," he told reporters in Palakkad.

He asked how the Left party, which always preaches about secularism, could collaborate with a group which had allegedly triggered several communal clashes in the southern state.

"The Christian community and the secular mindset in Kerala should discuss this," Surendran said, adding that the 'narcotic jihad' was a usage mentioned in many conferences of the United Nations as 'narcotic terrorism' and it was not a new issue.
The minister, who visited the Jammu railway station and a community service centre (CSC) here, took stock of the facilities being provided to the public. (PTI)

Jammu: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday promised that rail link with the Kashmir Valley would be open to the public before 2024, an official spokesperson said.

He said systematic surveys are being undertaken to link the remotest regions of the country through mobile and internet connectivity.

The minister, who visited the Jammu railway station and a community service centre (CSC) here, took stock of the facilities being provided to the public.

His visit is part of the public outreach initiative of the Union government for Jammu and Kashmir.

The railway minister assured that rail link with Kashmir would be open to the public before 2024, the spokesperson said.

He also inspected the Jammu railway station and studied the upgradation plan for the Jammu and Kathua railway stations.

Vaishnaw assured that appropriate steps would be taken to facilitate pilgrims and tourists reaching Jammu and beyond through the railways.

On February 14, former railway minister Piyush Goyal had set the target for completion of the Katra-Qazigund track project by next year.

"Reviewed the progress of Udhampur Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project in Jammu and Kashmir and deliberated ways for early execution. The project will be completed by 2022 and will facilitate ease of transport for the people of Jammu and Kashmir," Goyal had tweeted.

On December 28, 2020, Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal had set the target for completion of the project by December 2022.

"The prestigious project will be completed by the end of 2022," Gangal had said.

The 272-km railway line is being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000 crore by the northern railway.

Gangal said that the first section connecting Udhampur to Katra and the third section between Banihal and Baramulla have been completed with both the sections operational.

The work to complete the most difficult Katra-Banihal section is going as per schedule, he added.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court is examining how every case of an accidental death or injury or even murder in the course of employment can be brought to the notice of the Commissioners and Industrial Tribunals under the Employees Compensation Act so that they can exercise their powers to provide monetary relief to the victims' families.

A bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and Ziyad Rahman A A on its own initiated a petition on the issue after noting the plight of night watchmen who are generally "ill-equipped and ill-paid" for the job they do and if they are killed during the course of employment, their families receive some compensation only if the accused are convicted.

The court said that such "frail" men, often armed only with a mosquito coil, are seen "ineffectively" guarding shops and ATMs at night, while the owners slumber in their opulent homes.

When such a night watchman is killed on the job and the criminal case ends in acquittal, "the family of the murdered man, often already thrown into the streets, have no perceivable means of getting a compensation", the court said.

The bench was of the opinion that such circumstances would give rise to valid proceedings for compensation under the Employees Compensation Act 1923 for "accidental death" of the employee.

It also noted that the Commissioners appointed under the Act in the various Industrial Tribunals in the state do not have the administrative machinery to initiate proceedings or even get information of "such accidental death" having occurred.

The bench was also of the view that not only in the case of security guards falling prey to dacoits and robbers, in every case where there is an accidental death or injury in the course of employment there is no machinery in place for the matter to be brought to the notice of the notified Commissioners for the purpose of invoking the powers under the Act.

"Considering the fact that there is no effective machinery or infrastructure provided to the Industrial Tribunals or the notified Commissioners under the Act, we are of the opinion that the Kerala State Legal Services Authority(KSLSA) could take an effective, proactive role insofar as the initiation of proceedings through the District Legal Services Authorities and Taluk Legal Services Authorities.

"However, they would also require information as to any incidents of death in the course of employment including incidents similar to that of the security guard. The information could only be supplied by the police, who first take cognizance of such offences whether it be a murder or an accidental death," the court said.

For issuing suitable directions in the matter under consideration, the court impleaded the state government, KSLSA and the industrial tribunals at Kollam, Alappuzha, Idukki, Palakkad and Kozhikode as parties.

The plight of the night watchmen first came to the attention of the high court while allowing a batch of criminal appeals in which the appellants had challenged their conviction by a sessions court for the offences of robbery and house trespass at a jewellery store and the murder of a night watchman deployed there whose body was dumped in a nearby well.

Their appeals were allowed by the high court as there was no evidence against the accused.

The bench said that when one of the appellants had sought return of the amounts deposited in court towards compensation to be awarded to the victim's family, it "set us thinking about the plight of the sad lot of 'night watchmen' who are generally ill-equipped and ill-paid".

"We observed that often they stake their lives to offer nothing more than a sense of security to those whose property they watch over," the high court said.
A police team is camping in the area to check any further violence in the area. (Representational image: social media)

Kannur: Two activists of the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition BJP suffered hack injuries during a political clash at Melur village in Dharadmom, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home constituency in this politically volatile district, police said here on Tuesday.

The clash between the rival parties broke out on Monday night and the situation is under control now, they said.

The BJP activist, identified as Dhanraj, suffered serious hack injuries on his hand and chest and he was now admitted to a private hospital in neighbouring Kozhikode after being given first aid at the co-operative hospital in Thalassery.

Maneesh, the injured Marxist party activist, was also rushed to the co-operative hospital.

A police team is camping in the area to check any further violence in the area.
Coming down heavily on KPCC chief and Member of Parliament, K Sudhakaran, he alleged that the Kannur strongman had wrested the party state unit's leadership just like the Taliban had captured Afghanistan. (DC Image)

Thiruvananthapuram: In a setback to the opposition Congress, which is making all efforts for a strong comeback after the drubbing in the Kerala Assembly polls, senior leader and KPCC former general secretary K P Anil Kumar on Tuesday quit the party and joined the ruling CPI (M), days after another leader P S Prashant resigned and went to the Marxist party fold.

He said he was ending his 43 year-long relationship with the Congress and would co-operate with the Marxist party now onward without any condition.

One of the leaders who had openly expressed displeasure over the recent selection of the party's new district chiefs by the All Indian Congress Committee (AICC), Kumar had been under suspension for "indiscipline" for some time.

Announcing his resignation at a press meet here, the leader said though he had submitted his explanation after the party action against him last month, the suspension was yet to be revoked.

Coming down heavily on KPCC chief and Member of Parliament, K Sudhakaran, he alleged that the Kannur strongman had wrested the party state unit's leadership just like the Taliban had captured Afghanistan.

"I am not ready to be stabbed in the back and die. The present party leadership has a dictatorial mindset. The party has lost its existence and democratic nature," Kumar, who had also served as the Youth Congress chief for five years, alleged.

Soon after the leader announced his resignation, Sudhakaran issued a press note saying Kumar was expelled from the primary membership of the party as his explanation regarding the disciplinary action was not satisfactory.

Noting that Anil Kumar was a leader who has held top positions in the party, he said 'irresponsible response' from a person like him, who was obliged to show responsibility and obligation towards the party, was viewed as a 'grave breach of discipline' by the leadership.

Rubbishing the charges, he also claimed that the Congress is a party which ensures internal democracy.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly, V D Satheesan also dismissed the charges levelled by Kumar and said his resignation would cause no impact on the party.

After announcing his resignation, Anil Kumar went to the AKG Centre, the headquarters of the ruling CPI(M) where he was welcomed by party veteran and former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Felicitating him with a red shawl, Balakrishnan said he would get the deserved position in the Left party.

Prashanth, who had quit the party and joined the CPI(M) earlier this month, was also present during the occasion.

The Congress in Kerala had "temporarily suspended" Anil Kumar along with former MLA K Sivadasan Nair on August 29 for publicly expressing displeasure over the selection of the party's district chiefs in the state by the AICC.

Both the leaders made scathing criticism against the state leadership over the selection of District Congress Committee (DDC) chiefs.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) had on Saturday evening published the list of 14 DCCs in the state, following which the disgruntled leaders made the remarks on TV talk shows.
Confronting yet another indoctrinating school year

By Paul Driessen



Labor Day is over, and millions of American children are back in school for their first in-person classes since March 2020. They and their parents are dealing with anxiety and mixed emotions that promise to make this academic year far more stressful than most.

Students and families are being thrown into a maelstrom of uncertainty and unrest, amid Covid variants, mask and vaccine mandates, and programs to address the pandemic of racial inequity. Some classes are even being segregated by race , 67 years after the Supreme Court ruled against segregation, and 57 years after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination by race.

Judging children based on their immutable genetic characteristics and dividing them into oppressors or oppressed appears to be the new normal in many schools. Civics, history, literature and even math are focused on social justice, critical race theory and ever-expanding victimhood.

In the name of fairness and  racial equity , Advanced Placement classes that allow high-schoolers to earn college credit are being eliminated, access to charter schools restricted, and merit-based admission for science-technology magnet schools replaced with color-focused standards.

Non-academic, activist cultural issues and new racial and sexual sensitivities loom large, requiring careful navigating, and consuming time, energy and anxiety that were once devoted to education and homework. Schools are hiring consultants to teach anti-racism , and explain why hard work, objectivity, nuclear families and respect for authority are examples of  acting white .

Children too young to understand the questions are polled on their gender and pronoun preferences . Gender dysphoria is affirmed with or without parental consent , and sex reassignment is presented to minors as a solution to teen anxiety, often behind their parents backs.

Programs like  Woke Kindergarten demonstrate that even the youngest children, who once were learning to tie their shoes, are not exempt from what increasingly resembles indoctrination far more than education  on race, sexuality, Marxism, the  climate crisis  and more. Picture books like Woke Baby and The Antiracist Baby for readers 0-3 years-old offer lessons in social justice for infants and toddlers.

Teachers actually brag about how much they enjoy indoctrinating and radicalizing our young people, leading to greater divisiveness in the future. Students are taught how and what to protest. Many even get extra credit for doing so  and demerits for havingthe wrong views on issues.

Sacramento-area high school teacher Gabriel Gipe unwittingly told Project Veritas how thrilled he is to have 180 days every year to turn [students] into revolutionaries . His classroom has an Antifa flag, a gay pride flag and a photo of mass-murderer Mao Zedong. He wants to attack the United States on cultural and economic fronts, to root out this culture that keeps perpetuating hyper-individualism, hyper-competitiveness, capitalist exploitation and consolidation of wealth.

Hes hardly alone. Within his own department three other radical teachers are definitely on the same page as Gipe  and liberal-progressive-leftist-Marxist instructors and ideologies now dominate K-12 and college through graduate school. What is said anddone in California rarely stays in California.

The Anti-Defamation League has produced a self-directed No Place for Hate program for educators, families and students as young as pre-K, to prevent hateful or discriminatory conduct based on race, gender or sexual orientation, and encourage students to report hateful behavior to the proper school authorities.

This ADL program is a sad reflection on how well-organized activists and educators have turned Americas tremendous (though difficult and still unfinished) racial and ethnic progress on its head.

Equally alarming, questioning and conservative political views and speech are not protected, indeed are vilified and cancelled, while progressive viewpoints are extolled and imposed.

This social justice warrior agenda could be profoundly negative, even destructive, for children and families, the competence of our future workers, and a UnitedStates of America.

Teachers have long been highly protective of their asserted privacy of interactions with students. However, virtual instruction during the pandemic effectively put cameras in every classroom, giving parents a chance to watch on Zoom how  and what  their children are being taught. Many parents were shocked and appalled, and are now demanding reform.

Many teachers dont appreciate this parental involvement, and some school boards and parent-teacher associations have tried to prevent parents from speaking up. Some teachers and school boards are even using private social media to single out, attack and even arrest troublemakers who speak out-of-turn during school board meetings.

Sports teams predominate with black athletes deservedly raise no questions. But magnet schools and academic programs with majority Asian participation raise progressive cries of racism and inequity  and demands that populations be rebalanced and PTAs be purged of Asians or disbanded altogether .

No wonder parents have increasingly responded by abandoning public and even independent schools, in favor of parish, charter, pod or home schooling. Earlier this past summer, National Center for Education Statistics reported unprecedented decreases in public school enrollment across all grades, regions and U.S. territories, with the steepest declines (by as much as 22%) among the youngest students.

Caught in the middle, children of all ages are anxious and confused, alone on the frontlines of a cultural conflict not of their making. What can be done to alleviate at least some of the stress?

Parents must remember that schools are not assembly lines, and students need support. They must be vigilant; review course materials, reading lists and assignments; talk to their children and stand up for them; and push back against political activism thatdetracts from essential education, imposes ideologies instead of teaching how to think and reason, and fosters racial, gender and political division. Children should know they are not alone.

The road is long, the stakes high. But parents are more effective when they organize or join groups like Independent Womens Forum , Parents Defending Education or Fight for Schools , which are challenging these prevailing trends. A few might even consider running for the local school board .

Some children will need additional help managing stress. Even before the pandemic and todays polarization, one in six American schoolchildren was found to have a mental health disorder. The use of prescription anxiety medication in the United States is widespread, often unnecessary and even harmful. Simple exercise and spending time outdoors can help reduce stress naturally.

Chewing gum can also help. Like singing, chewing helps calm heartbeats, breathing and butterflies in the stomach. It lessens anxiety by stimulating the vagus nerve that runs to the heart, lungs and abdomen.

The notion that students should chew gum in school is certainly contrarian. But who could tell whether they are doing so behind their compulsory masks ? And as long as they dispose of their chewed morsels properly, should anyone care? Surely, natural stress reduction is preferable to drugs.

So far, this back-to-school season doesnt look back-to-normal. Considering all the harm they have been causing, teachers and administrators at least need to help parents make it less stressful for kids who have no say and never asked for any of this.

Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow ( www.CFACT.org ) and author of books and articles on energy, environment, health and human rights issues.
The Great Synagogue of Vilna, located in Lithuania, was a victim of the crossfire of Hitler's Nazis and the Soviets. It was supposed to be obliterated, but some parts of the holy place still exist. Uncovered were precious remnants from the site by archaeologists after the end of the war.

Despite the ruined state of the building, scientists discovered some parts survived the destruction, which was thought to be complete. Even being a part of a war, what was thought lost can be dug up and preserved for future Jewish generations to marvel at.

Salvageable parts of the synagogue

As the German and Soviet war machines trample over the legendary synagogue, it was not enough to erase its remnants. The archeologists were fortunate to retrieve the ark and bema remnants, a raised playing platform for worshippers, and the Yad, a silver pointer used when reading the Torah scroll, reported the Daily Mail.

An unknown discovery by the scientists is an undocumented 'terrazzo' floor, which comprises a sun motif right in the ark's frontal portion. The excavators also found intricate stairs in the diggings seen in old photos before the subsequent destruction in the war.

Friends of Israeli Antiquities, its lead Dr. Jon Seligman, made a statement in the joint Israeli-Lithuanian dig. He said that the old Vilna synagogue and its Jewish worshippers were victims of the Nazi holocaust and later the Soviet Red Army. It was looted of its valuables by the two forces and burnt to the ground.

History of Vilna

Read Also: Hitler's Weird Stone Henge: Does It Hide Secret Tunnels to Experiment Aircraft Before Modern Prototypes?

Erected in the 1600s but was a victim of the Nazi juggernaut in WWII, it was utterly destroyed when the Soviets rolled in 1956. The scientists have been excavating for six years, earlier finding the table for Torah reading.

A new find in the dig is the mosaic floor, dual staircases, and the vast pillars that held up the synagogue's roof. More amazing revelations are the Torah ark containing scrolls and the Bimah, a raised platform and reading desk in the Jewish worship place.

The Nazi occupation

In 1941, it was occupied by the Third Reich, herding all Jews into two ghettos, and committing genocide by slaying them.

Close to the end of the year, a total of 40,000 Jews were killed. They were massacred in the Ponary forest, which The Nazis built to dispose of Jewish people in the outskirts of Vilnius. By this time, Germans had burned portions of the temple. Seligman remarked they wanted to dig the Aron Kodesh and Bimah as significant remnants over 300 years old. It was impossible to do after the Soviets destroyed it, cited the Times of Israel.

But finding the magnificent staircases seen in old photos preserved, showing the temple in pristine condition, and proving they still exist. Findings other than the Bimah are also the complete pillar, one of four that supported the ceiling. The scientists found more items like coins, tiles, and parts of the ritual baths. The ruins of the Great Synagogue of Vilna yield a treasure from 1796, a Hebrew stone inscription. It holds history to be discovered further.

Related Article: Divers Discover Sunk Warship With Treasures of the Amber Room Looted by Nazis in World War 2

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Vladimir Putin reveals Platform-M Robotic combat tanks at the disposal of the Russian army. These are touted as the latest weapons with the new Sarmat-2 tactical vehicles to modernize Russian forces in a great power competition.

Russia and Belarus are undertaking a massive wargame very close to the borders of the EU. Earlier, NATO and the US held similar drills in the Black Sea, with an intrusion of the HMS Defender with assistance from a US spy plane close to Crimean waters. This military movement is only one posturing by both sides, rankling over military issues the past few months.

Wargames on EU borders

Current wargames are set to end on Thursday with many units from Russia and the Belarusian Army. The Zapad-2021 is one of the largest drills approved by Moscow to showcase military might, reported the Express UK.

Including are 200,000 troops, 80 planes with helicopters, and 15 maritime ships, lastly are 300 tanks, said the Ministry of Russian Defense. These exercises also include showcasing robotic tanks and even the new Sarmat-2 units; the first time used touted by the Russian media, noted by the Financial Times.

When possible, Putin reveals that the Platform-M Robotic combat tanks will replace troops armed with grenade launchers and machine guns to engage ground troops, which is remotely controlled by an operator distantly.

Today Zapad 2021 began - a massive military exercise. But we should be watching out for greyzone activities in addition to the military ones!

Me https://t.co/QBJj40P2Wh, with comments by @Pabriks and  former PM Andrius Kubilius (now an MEP). pic.twitter.com/tMWBG30aJO  Elisabeth Braw (@elisabethbraw) September 10, 2021

Read Also: Russian 'Top Secret Army' Found in a Tablet With Information About Putin's Alleged Shadow Group

Present among officials was Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator who observed the wargames last Sunday. He seemed to be ready for war. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, wore a green military battle dress, seeing the drills in the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground.

Later, the president remarked that it is one of the most crucial drills by two-armed forces against what is perceived as saber-rattling by the west against Russia and his country.

Putin's drills are rattling NATO members

The Russian leader said he would be checking on the exercises next week, which he deemed necessary. NATO has been very active in the region recently as these drills also bring a message to them, noted the Daily Mail

Zapad-2021 has caused tension to NATO members within the west borders of Belarus. Estonia is rattled and said the drill was an opening act for a full Russian invasion of the country anytime.

The chief of the Estonian Defence Forces, Martin Herem, stated concern about the nature of the joint drills at the borders. He added that it was not far from imaginable should the Russian military launch a full invasive assault on Estonia. It may not come soon, but it can happen years from now.

Russia does not want to lord over the country. There is no interest in occupation or control by the Kremlin. Its end goal is to destabilize and influence from the destabilization. Herem said that his country was part of the USSR before it dissolved. There is a significant Russian minority based in the eastern part living there.

After the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, Vladimir Putin vowed he would do anything to protect Russians from harm anywhere. So, far he has kept his word which is troubling, that he invoked the doctrine of self-defense. When Putin reveals Platform-M Robotic combat tanks in the Zapad-2021, he gives the west notice that it's playing for keeps.

Related Article: Putin Boasts Latest Russian Superweapon; Nuclear Torpedo Concerns the West

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The 20th Anniversary 9/11 representation of the Twin Towers symbolizing the spirit of that day was vandalized with the world Taliban on it. That an unknown individual or whoever defaced the memorial, almost like the terrorists themselves. It was an act of desecration for the lives lost in that few hours when jets rained down on American targets.

The Twin Towers became the rallying call for all and became the symbol of a resurging nation that defeated the Taliban in 2001.

9/11 Memorial in Greenville Destroyed

Last Saturday night, vandals violated the tribute, which commemorates the 20 years past the terror attacks in New York. It was not without cost, when 3,000 died on that day, reported the Sun UK.

The memorial built by the Upstate Granite Solutions, based in Greenville, South Carolina, was a remembrance for all the souls lost. The replica is surrounded by American flags as a symbol of nationalism as well. The vandalism was evident at the bottom of the monument, with one of the structures having the word 'Taliban' done using a spray can.

Paul Nichols, the CEO of the Upstate Granite Solution, spoke to CBS17 that the remembrance is to connect survivors and pay tribute to those who died that day. Especially the firemen and emergency services who died, saving many on that day. He added that they used time and money on the 9/11 monument so that everyone could get together in the spirit of 9/11 and its heroes. The 20th Anniversary 9/11 representation of the Twin Towers shows that the respect for that day's heroes still lingers on.

Read Also: George W. Bush on 9/11 Attack: Says Americans Are Exceptional When Needed, Calls to Remember United Airlines Flight 93

By Sunday, the traces of the horrible defacing were removed, with the report already filed by the cops.

Kelly, Nichols' wife, spoke to Fox Carolina about the shocking vandalism, saying it hurt and upset her a lot but was not furious with the person who defaced it. She added that it should be a source of unity in a community, with no need to foster hatred. The remembrance gives people a sense of being one, prop up the first responders, support the troop, and show Americans something to hang onto and believe.

Americans Patriotic Zeal Cannot be Destroyed by a Little Vandalism

On Facebook, the company posted, "Takes more than a little spray paint to destroy our spirit of patriotism!"

The more sobering news is that vandals attacked another memorial for the 13 fallen troops in Kabul in the past week, US flags displayed were torn apart and destroyed on the site. Earlier in September, someone from Riverside, California, set up the remembrance could have been an attack on America and 9/11.

According to Ryan Railsback, the spokesperson of the Riverside Police Department said someone is destroying it on purpose like cutting or ripping. More reports of defaced memorials are cropping up recently like someone against these remembrances destroyed it.

Last Thursday, another flag display was vandalized in Boston. America and Britain, with the allies, beat the Taliban in 2001, who was accused of hiding the Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Those malign forces of today cannot take away the significance of the 9/11 20th anniversary representation of the Twin Towers by violated by defacement or any remembrance of that fateful day,

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.

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The US Capitol Police Board has authorized the agency's proposal to reintroduce a temporary fence around the Capitol building ahead of a scheduled right-wing rally on September 18, according to authorities.

Following the deadly January 6 riot, when a crowd of supporters of former President Donald Trump and other participants broke through the Capitol's doors as Congress was confirming President Joe Biden's 2020 election, fencing was erected around the building for months.

The fence was partially dismantled in March, but the entire roadblock was removed in early July. The fence will be built a day or two before the protest and will be taken down immediately after the event if all goes smoothly, said Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger.

September 18 rally to support J6 rioters

On Monday, Manger briefed four congressional leaders on security preparations for the September 18 rally, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. 'Look Ahead America,' led by former Trump campaign worker Matt Braynard, is organizing the rally on September 18.

The rally will begin in Union Square and support the jailed rioters from January 6, as per the Washington Examiner. According to several sources, the event is expected to draw between 300 and 500 attendees. In July, the organization staged a separate demonstration outside Washington DC Jail, when around 100 people gathered to show solidarity for arrested individuals on January 6.

Per Daily Mail, the Metropolitan Police Department is anticipated to fully mobilize its force, which gave vital backup to Capitol Police on January 6 when they were overrun. During a Capitol press conference on Wednesday, Pelosi would go into depth about the security measures in place, declaring, "We intend to keep the Capitol's integrity intact."

Officials would not necessarily replace a Capitol fence that had been removed, she added. A former Trump campaign adviser is organizing the protest.

Read Also: Grieving Vladimir Putin Pays Respect to Minister Killed After Saving Man During Arctic Exercise

Top Democrats expressed worries about the repetition of violence

Matt Braynard released his video of himself being interviewed by CNN, in which he described the gathering as a peaceful rally for people's civil rights who have been denied about the rioters who have been the focus of a countrywide FBI manhunt. More than 600 people have been identified and prosecuted, many of them based on tips, face recognition, and social media posts.

The FBI's Washington Field Office released a new video of the unnamed guy who planted a pipe bomb near the Capitol on January 5. It also released additional photos of a guy with a bleeding head suspected of assaulting federal officials in the US Capitol.

Jacob Chansley, the "Qanon Shaman" who was seen wearing a horned helmet inside the Capitol on January 6, pled guilty last week to disrupting an official procedure - the meeting of Congress to tally electoral votes that elected Biden president.

After denouncing the planned protest as another gathering of violent white nationalists in a floor speech, Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin told Forbes he is "very concerned" about a repetition of the violence that engulfed the Capitol on January 6. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn, two of the House GOP's most fervent advocates of Capitol riot defendants, indicated their bosses would not attend the demonstration, while others did not answer questions.

Despite many right-wing members of his conference strongly supporting accused Capitol rioters in the past, House Minority Leader McCarthy told Politico, "I don't think anyone" in the House GOP would attend the rally. McCarthy's remarks came after the Capitol Police informed him and other congressional leaders on the demonstration. Head Thomas Manger told reporters that they were briefed on the department's "operation plan" for September 18.

Related Article: Donald Trump Slams Afghanistan Withdrawal on 9/11 Anniversary; Claims Joe Biden's Decision Opens Opportunity to China, Russia

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United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken was met with widespread criticism during a hearing on Monday when three Republican congressmen told him that he should resign from his position for his alleged failed response in Afghanistan and withdrawing American troops.

Blinken testified during a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday where Rep. Joe Wilson blamed President Joe Biden's administration for letting the Taliban group take over the war-torn country. The GOP member said the Democratic party was responsible for the crisis at the U.S. southern border.

Criticism of Blinken's Response in Afghanistan

Wilson said that several individuals who were on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) terrorist watchlist were allowed to "enter American neighborhoods." The representative said the dangerous people were let to be "lone wolf suicide bombers" that could "murder as many Americans as possible."

The Republican said that American families have never been placed at much greater risk in history as compared to today. Wilson said that the global war on terrorism was not over and was moved from international land and into the United States, Fox News reported.

Wilson criticized the Biden administration's decision to pull out all remaining American troops from Afghanistan shortly after the militant group took over the capital on Aug. 15. The Republican said the withdrawal of the soldiers was the direct cause of the suicide bombing attack in Kabul on Aug. 26.

During the hearing, Blinken also blamed former President Donald Trump for handcuffing the Biden administration with his agreement with the Taliban group. The former Republican president's deal with the insurrection group reduced the number of U.S. troops in the country by 2,500 by the time Biden was seated as the U.S. president.

Read Also: George W. Bush on 9/11 Attack: Says Americans Are Exceptional When Needed, Calls to Remember United Airlines Flight 93

Blinken noted that with the militant group continuing its reign of terror in Afghanistan after the agreement, Biden was left with a choice between "ending the war or escalating it." The secretary of state said that if the Democratic president did not follow through with Trump's commitment, the Taliban would have resumed its attacks on American forces and allies, Politico reported.

Investigation of Biden's Afghanistan Withdrawal

Biden's withdrawal is already being investigated by several Democratic-led congressional committees that threaten the Democrat's efforts to justify his decision. While Republicans prioritized the recent events in Afghanistan during the hearing, Democrats have criticized mistakes made under both presidents' administrations.

Blinken also said that even the most "pessimistic assessments" of the Kabul situation did not anticipate that the withdrawal of American troops in the city would result in the collapse of Kabul's forces. The secretary of state said that Biden's administration prepared a wide range of contingencies to prepare for any potential situation in Afghanistan.

The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, defended the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. He said that there was no scenario where a similar decision would have gone smoothly. Meeks also told other lawmakers who were skeptical of Biden's decision to detail how they would have handled the situation that would guarantee a safer and more effective withdrawal of the U.S. soldiers, CNN reported.

Related Article: Two Democratic Lawmakers Push for Vaccine Mandates for All Domestic Travelers; Fauci Supports Proposal But Will Biden Back It?

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced that he would issue steep fines on local city officials who implement United States President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates which allows city leaders to fire employees who do not get the coronavirus vaccines.

The Florida lawmaker also expressed his support of a lawsuit that aims to prevent the city of Gainesville from implementing the vaccine mandate. "We are here today to make it very clear that we are going to stand for the men and women who are serving us. We are going to protect Florida jobs. We are not going to let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate," DeSantis said during a press conference in Gainesville.

Fine Against Vaccine Mandate

DeSantis revealed that Florida filed a legal brief supporting the 200 first responders who filed a lawsuit against the city of Gainesville. The legal action criticized the city's implementation of Biden's vaccine mandate. City officials gave employees until Sept. 30 to get one of the coronavirus vaccines or risk being fired from their jobs, Yahoo News reported.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody also expressed her support of the 200 employees, saying the personnel has risked their lives during the coronavirus pandemic. The official said city workers were brave for filing a lawsuit against their city and argued they will not be fired for their own personnel medical decisions.

Read Also: Antony Blinken Faces Widespread Criticism; GOP Members Call For the Secretary's Resignation Citing Alleged Failed Afghanistan Response

DeSantis' fine against county and city governments that choose to implement the vaccine mandate will cost about $5,000 for each violation. The Florida lawmaker said the government should not just cast aside employees who have been faithfully serving their city.

The fine is the latest in resistance by Republican officials who oppose Biden's latest efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the Democrat told the Labor Department to require all businesses with at least 100 employees to get their staff vaccinated to ensure their safety amid the health crisis, CNN reported.

Criticism of Biden's Decisions

The federal government could impose thousands of dollars in fines against companies for every employee that refuses to get inoculated. Biden also signed an executive order that required all government workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus without giving them the option to opt-out by getting regular testing.

In a statement, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy noted that the vaccine requirements will benefit businesses that want their workers to continue working from home. He said that the implementation will also benefit employees, arguing that it will improve public health and reassure residents of the safety of their situations.

DeSantis also criticized Biden's mandate, arguing that the Democrat's orders were "not following science" regarding the natural immunity that people gained from being infected by the virus. The Florida lawmaker credited studies that showed natural immunity offered good protection against the infection. DeSantis used the supposed evidence as support for his opposition to the vaccine mandates.

The Republican official said that Biden's administration could have acknowledged natural immunity if they were really following science. He argued, however, that since they chose to ignore it, the mandate was all about government control, Fox News reported.



Related Article: Two Democratic Lawmakers Push for Vaccine Mandates for All Domestic Travelers; Fauci Supports Proposal But Will Biden Back It?

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When Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the conclusion of what is considered to be the greatest Russian war games performed in Europe since the Cold War, he witnessed a massive display of weaponry put on by his troops.

The Zapad joint exercises with Belarus take place every four years, with the main phase starting last week and involves tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of tanks, planes, and vessels in locations throughout western Russia and Belarus.

This 45-minute spectacle is part of one of the greatest military drills on NATO's eastern border since the Cold War ended. According to Russia, 200,000 troops are participating in Zapad 2021, which will see Russia's most strategically vital western military region conduct joint military maneuvers with Belarusian forces for six days - at least in the active phase.

Zapad war games

Those figures might very likely be overblown. Russia tends to tell figures to impress domestic viewers while also scaring the West. However, regardless of the actual numbers, they are huge exercises that have already entailed months of planning and longer-term military rotations, Sky News reported.

Zapad takes place every four years and always follows the same plot. A fictitious western alliance is collaborating with "terrorist organizations" to destabilize Belarus and seize control of portions of the nation. The Union State's, Russia's, and Belarus' combined forces must repel the invasion, beat the adversary head-on, and potentially sustain a longer-term regional conflict with a nuclear component toward the conclusion.

That implies his relationship with President Putin is heading in one direction: greater integration, both militarily and politically. Russia now maintains a relatively constant military presence in Belarus, including a joint Air Force training center in Grodno, which is close to Belarus's borders with Poland and Lithuania.

Such large-scale drills so close to the border, Ukraine, NATO members Poland and Lithuania argue, risk being provocative, as per The NY Post. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated on Friday that an all-out conflict with Russia was a possibility and that he wanted to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When combat in eastern Ukraine escalated and Russia massed additional soldiers along the border, tensions between Kyiv and Moscow reached new heights this year. Putin disputed that the military drills are aimed at any foreign state and claimed that they are necessary for light of growing NATO operations near Russia's and its partners' borders.

Read Also: Drones Attack Targets US Forces in Northern Iraq on 9/11 Anniversary; Officials Reiterate Support to KRG in Maintaining Peace

Russia showcases support to Belarus in huge military exercises

The drills are performed every four years, but this year's exercise has been interpreted as a show of Russian support for Belarus and its president, Alexander Lukashenko, whom the West has chastised for cracking down on opposition.

The main part of the drills, which will involve 200,000 troops, 80 aircraft, 290 tanks, and 15 ships, will take place at nine locations in Russia and five locations in Belarus, according to Russia's Defense Ministry. Armenia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia were also expected to participate.

The Zubr-class LCAC, the world's largest hovercraft, took part in Monday's maneuvers, according to footage from the exercise. Russia claims that 200,000 troops are participating in this year's war exercises, but military experts believe the number is far smaller.

The number of troops expected to take part is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. Last week, Michael Kofman, head of the Center for Naval Analyses' Russia Studies Program, wrote on the website War on the Rocks that Moscow intends to emphasize the number of troops involved.

The war simulations are meant to test Russia's ability to fight a big battle with NATO on its northern border. Although the drills are scheduled to finish on September 16, Moscow has stated that Russian troops would not return to their military bases until mid-October, as per Express.co.

Related Article: Grieving Vladimir Putin Pays Respect to Minister Killed After Saving Man During Arctic Exercise



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Former United States President Donald Trump recently criticized George W. Bush after the latter's comments during his 9/11 20th anniversary speech where the 43rd U.S. president compared the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill rioters to international terrorists.

The Republican official said that Bush should not be "lecturing anybody" because he was allegedly responsible for getting the United States into a deteriorated relationship with the Middle East. Trump said Bush was responsible for the death of millions of people despite spending trillions of dollars.

Trump's Criticism of Bush

Trump alleged that during Bush's presidency, the World Trade Center came down. The Republican businessman also argued that the 43rd president of the United States led a "failed and uninspiring presidency."

During his speech at the anniversary event on Saturday in Shanksville, Pa., which was the site of the crash of Flight 93, he said the U.S. nation lacked unity. Bush also compared the responsible terrorists to the recent proprietors of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot who stormed the building and attacked lawmakers, the New York Post reported.

"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," Bush said during his address.

Read Also: Antony Blinken Faces Widespread Criticism; GOP Members Call For the Secretary's Resignation Citing Alleged Failed Afghanistan Response

On Monday, Sen. Richard J. Durbin urged lawmakers to confront domestic terrorism that seemed to be growing in the country. In his remarks, the official said that the Capitol Hill incident was just as heartbreaking as the 9/11 event. He noted that the greatest threat to the United States was not foreign terrorism but domestic terrorism. Durbin said in all his efforts, Al-Qaeda did not succeed in breaching the Capitol, but homegrown American terrorists did nine months ago, the Washington Post reported.

Denouncing Trump's Presidential Efforts

During Bush's speech, he also appeared to have indirectly criticized Trump's presidency and his effects on the American nation. The 43rd president said that so much of the country's politics have become an appeal to anger, fear, and resentment. Bush expressed his concern about the safety of the nation and its people.

While Bush did not necessarily name Trump during his address, many knew exactly who he was talking about when he made his statements. Many critics have said that since Trump's candidacy in the summer of 2015, he has spent the majority of his time trying to weaponize what divides the American people.

Those who oppose Trump said that the Republican businessman understood there was and still is power in lighting the flames of resentment and anger. His direct audience were White residents who barely clung to their dreams of being the middle class while expressing his views that he was one of them, that it wasn't their fault, and that the "elites" were responsible for the problems in the country.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump told his supporters that elites were out to get the average resident. In 2018, he addressed the "elite" people, saying he, and the average American, had more capabilities than them, CNN reported.



Related Article: Capitol Police Warns Potential Violence on September 18 Rally Supporting January 6 Suspects; Security Fencing Reinstalled

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New information about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill's provisions has begun to emerge. A new round of stimulus checks is the only thing that's missing. Democrats, backed by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, announced plans earlier this summer to enact a large reconciliation bill worth more than $3 trillion.

This announcement came after more moderate and centrist members of both parties decided to put together an infrastructure package that would focus on conventional spending on roads, bridges, and other forms of physical infrastructure. President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which included steps to assist workers and strengthen labor laws, was rejected by this group of Senators.

The Biden administration also presented the American Families Plan last spring, which featured popular proposals such as extending the existing structure of the Child Tax Credit until 2025 and establishing a paid family leave program. Over the summer, the reconciliation bill gathered traction; and it now contains many of the President's initiatives that were left out of the bipartisan infrastructure package.

Is there a fourth stimulus check?

Per AS, a fourth stimulus check is one item that hasn't been cut yet. A fourth stimulus check is one measure that is noticeably lacking from the reconciliation package. While Sanders and other senators have been tight-lipped about why money was not set aside for a direct payment, the proposal contains some evidence.

Some of the reconciliation bill's provisions would deliver the money directly to American homes. The package includes money to make the Child Tax Credit adjustments permanent.

The law also establishes a paid government family leave program and ensures that families pay no more than 7% of their income for childcare. However, some economists are concerned that the elimination of government safeguards and programs such as unemployment benefits and the eviction moratorium, along with a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases, would hinder the recovery.

More than nine million individuals applied for unemployment benefits in the weeks leading up to the termination of the programs, and Goldman Sachs believes that over 700,000 families might be evicted this year.

As the IRS nears the end of the third phase, a push for the fourth stimulus check payment may be evident. In the third round of the stimulus check, payments totaling 169 million were made. In July, over 2 million people got $1400 stimulus checks in their bank accounts as a result of this, according to Digital Market News.

The $3,200 was distributed to the eligible individuals, according to the records. However, it is still insufficient since many Americans are still unable to meet their financial obligations. The unemployment rate is 5.2 percent, which is somewhat higher than it was before the pandemic. However, it is still not stable. In addition, 9.1 million individuals lost their enhanced unemployment benefits as a result of the expiring federal payments.

Bonuses for teachers have been approved in parts of Texas and Florida. If the American Families proposal is implemented, families will be eligible for the Child Tax Credit until 2025. Millions of Americans benefited from the stimulus check payments, which helped them pay off bills and costs.

Read Also: These States Confirm New Stimulus Checks, Cash Bonuses; Is Yours on the List?

Experts suggest extending stimulus payments

People were able to escape hardships since the stimulus funds were distributed in three stages. However, when Congress debated whether or not to put a stop to the fourth stimulus payment, people became increasingly concerned.

Although stimulus payments were a huge success, many people have yet to get assistance. Many people did not participate in the program because they believed they were ineligible.

Some of the candidates were genuinely disqualified. As a result, most individuals are still feeling the effects of the pandemic. Some experts recommend that the government continue to provide these benefits until the economy and unemployment rates improve.

The fourth Stimulus check is not anything on which you should rely. The reason for this is that the government is likely to concentrate on the other big concerns that have arisen in the previous several months. They are also attempting to re-establish the economy by bolstering the infrastructure plan.

The proliferation of Delta variants continues to pose a danger to the economy's recovery. The unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high. In Texas, almost 7200 jobs were lost. The federal government's unemployment benefit had ended on September 6 at the time. These issues suggest that family difficulties may worsen and that economic development may take a bit longer to thrive.

Even if it isn't politically viable to do so at the federal level, that doesn't mean states can't step in and take control of the situation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration, which is facing a recall election next week, advocated for the $600 stimulus checks, as per BGR.

A total of $354 million was paid out in the first round of roughly 600,000 payments. Last Monday, the payments began to appear in recipients' bank accounts. The rest, according to California officials, will be distributed every two weeks.

Related Article: President Joe Biden May Put COVID-19 Stimulus Payments Automatic, Requiring No Vote to Distribute Checks



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United States officials announced on Monday that the nation's government will be sending nearly $64 million in humanitarian aid to support Afghanistan residents after more than $1 billion in financial support was pledged over to the war-torn country.

The day prior to the U.S. government's announcement, the United Nations issued an emergency call to raise $600 million to keep Afghans from starving. The incident comes after the American government was known to have spent $300 million per day to fund its war on terrorists in Afghanistan.

$1 Billion in Humanitarian Aid for Afghanistan

President Joe Biden's administration has yet to acknowledge and officially recognize the Taliban as the ruling government of the war-torn country. This comes as the militant group took over the capital Kabul and breached the presidential palace on Aug. 15.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. State Department partnered up to supply the fund. The money will be distributed through the UN and other independent aid groups. The American federal government's latest donation brings the total financial aid to Afghanistan from the U.S. to $330 million this year, The Hill reported.

The USAID also has a Disaster Assistance Response Team that is deployed outside Afghanistan that will be responsible for managing America's response to the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Read Also: Antony Blinken Faces Widespread Criticism; GOP Members Call For the Secretary's Resignation Citing Alleged Failed Afghanistan Response

During a UN conference that urged the donations for the $600 million fund for Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was too early to know how much would be going to the war-torn country. The official added that after decades of war and suffering, Afghans were perhaps in their "most perilous hour."

Guterres said residents in Afghanistan were at risk of running out of food by the end of the month, with the World Food Programme saying 14 million people were on the verge of starving. Several speakers in Geneva noted that the loss of billions of dollars of financial support to Afghanistan donors had a "moral obligation" to help the country after the 20-year engagement with the United States, Reuters reported.

Humanitarian Crisis in the War-Torn Country

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was becoming more evident in many regions such as in Wardak Province, where the local economy is at a standstill. The majority of cross-border trade and many local businesses are still closed weeks after the Taliban took control of the nation's government.

A Wardak Province's Chak district villager, Zakariam, who was also a former Taliban fighter who served 16 years in prison, said there was at least security in the region. However, he noted that there was no work and that people were able to earn money to make a living. The former fighter said that flour prices at the local market have doubled.

Villagers have stopped cooking chicken and other meat, which is now considered a luxury, to afford cheaper products, such as beans and rice. Many people have started to ration their food, eating less and becoming uncertain of when they could get the money to pay for their next meals, the New York Times reported.



Related Article: Donald Trump Criticizes George Bush's Comparison of Capitol Hill Rioters to International Terrorists

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Karen Olick, the chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, announced her resignation on Monday for an unknown position.

Olick Decides To Resign To Pursue New Opportunities

In a recently published article in MSN News, Olick has chosen to leave her job to seek other opportunities, Mayorkas informed DHS authorities. Despite this, Karen's work throughout the crucial first nine months of the new Administration is appreciated by the agency.

Olick said in a separate farewell note, "Though too often underappreciated by our fellow citizens, I am continually struck by how many millions of Americans sleep in safety every night because so many at DHS do not sleep." However, she did not respond and give any further comments.

Olick's resignation and reshuffle come as the Biden administration attempts to deal with the immigration crisis at the southern border. Higgins is a career civil servant with over 20 years of experience in the federal government while Olick was a senior executive at SKDK, a strong Democratic strategic communications company. She was the firm's ballot initiative practice leader, according to a published article in POLITICO.

Read Also: Taliban Allows Afghan Women To Study Under Some Conditions

Migrants at the Southern Border Has Reached More Than 200,000

According to data published by Customs and Border Protection, over 200,000 migrants were met at the US-Mexico border in July, the largest number in almost two decades. Last month, Customs and Border Patrol officers saw 212,672 individuals at the US-Mexico border, up from 188,829 in June.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that they are facing a record volume of migrants between ports of entry. It is essential that aspiring migrants realize that if they enter the US illegally and do not qualify for refuge under our rules, they will be turned back, according to a published report in USA Today.

President Joe Biden's administration has been dealing with an influx of migrants along the border. Many of former President Donald Trump's immigration policies have been reversed by the Biden administration; but Title 42, which enables border officers to deport illegal migrants to limit the spread of COVID-19 in detention centers, has remained in place.

Reshuffling in the Department of Homeland Security

According to department officials, Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, would serve as temporary chief of staff until a new appointment is announced. At the end of the month, Olick intends to depart DHS.

Meanwhile, DHS employees and senior officials have been working nonstop on other crises that their agency is leading, such as recovering from Hurricane Ida's aftermath and assisting in the vetting of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who were evacuated from Kabul in August, according to a published article in The News Caravan.

During the department's busiest period, one career DHS official claimed that several career DHS workers were unhappy because career individuals in key security roles had to go into the office but senior political appointees in the front office did not.

Related Article: Two Democratic Lawmakers Push for Vaccine Mandates for All Domestic Travelers; Fauci Supports Proposal But Will Biden Back It?



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Following brain surgery, a six-year-old boy was struck in the head by a projectile while on the playground at his school in Kenosha County. He is in serious condition and is in a medically induced coma.

Alex Hook, a first-grader at Silver Lake's Riverview Elementary School, was having fun with his friends during recess on Friday while a landscaper mowed a grassy median next to the school. According to relatives, the landscaper mowed over a piece of rebar, which hit Alex in the back of the head.

From recess to battling for his life, he's been through it all. Alex Hook, 6, is in a coma after being hit by a lawnmower projectile on Friday morning, September 10. Alex's aunt, Michelle Koertgen, said the youngster is a wonderful child that any parent would be delighted to have.

The boy remains in coma

Hook's aunt told FOX6 News that he is currently in a medically induced coma. Koergten created a GoFundMe account to aid with medical costs and other expenses. While the Hook family is learning the circumstances of the sad playground tragedy, Koergten is enraged that it occurred.

Alex was rushed to Children's Wisconsin Hospital in Milwaukee, where he underwent emergency brain surgery after suffering a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage. The Village of Salem Lakes hires the firm that cuts the median. This is the first time the firm has experienced an incident like this, as per WDIO.

Koertgen claimed she established a fundraising website to help pay for therapy that her insurance didn't cover. As of early Monday morning, the campaign had raised more than $56,000 of its $150,000 target.

Relatives claimed the landscaper mowed over a piece of rebar, which hit Alex in the back of the head. She said the Wisconsin kid will get an MRI on Monday to see if there is any more swelling in his brain.

Read Also: Pregnant Woman Shot Dead in New York While Trying To Halt Dispute Between Ex and Boyfriend at Her Baby Shower

Recent Wisconsin incident involving a minor

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old Wisconsin man was previously sentenced to 20 years in jail for fatally beating a 7-year-old relative. According to the Associated Press, Damian Hauschultz was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in June to first-degree negligent killing in the death of Ethan Hauschultz in April 2018.

Damian, his father Timothy Hauschultz, and his wife Tina McKeever-Hauschultz were arrested in February 2019 in connection with Damian's death. Damian, who was 14 at the time, was given the task of punishing Ethan for not memorizing 13 Bible verses.

Damian, who shoved and stepped on Ethan, kicked him several times as he was carrying a log. Damian then buried Ethan in the snow before being sent to a neighboring hospital and proclaimed dead.

Tina is already serving a five-year sentence, while Timothy faces trial in December. In June, Damian Hauschultz, 17, of Mishicot, pled guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Ethan Hauschultz, who died in 2018.

He will be under extended supervision for another ten years after completing his jail sentence. Tina McKeever-Hauschultz, the father's wife, has already been sentenced to five years in prison. Ethan Hauschultz, Timothy Hauschultz's great-nephew, was guarded by Damian's parents, who were designated by the court.

Ethan's punishment, according to the criminal complaint, was to carry the log around a route for two hours a day for a week while Damian observed. Damian reportedly stood on Ethan's "body and head" while he was "face-down in a puddle," according to the lawsuit.

Per Star Tribune, Damian is also accused of burying Ethan in approximately 80 pounds of compacted snow, where he was left for about 20 to 30 minutes without a coat or boots. Ethan died of hypothermia, but he also suffered from a variety of other injuries. Damian had run out of excuses, said Ethan's mother, Andrea Everett.

Related Article: Ohio Judge Reverses Court Order Forcing Hospital to Administer Ivermectin in Treating COVID-19 Patient



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Leading experts, including two departing top U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials and three from the World Health Organization (WHO), stated in a paper published in a medical journal on Monday that COVID-19 vaccination booster shots are not required for the general population.

More data was needed to justify boosting, according to the experts. That viewpoint conflicts with plans by the US government to begin administering an additional round of vaccinations to many fully vaccinated Americans as early as next week, pending clearance from health authorities.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus advised that affluent nations with huge vaccination stocks should stop giving booster shots until the end of the year and make the doses available to poorer countries.

Biden backtracks announcement of COVID-19 vaccine booster availability

President Joe Biden first stated that a third COVID-19 vaccine booster shot would be available beginning September 20 for those with healthy immune systems, but he later backtracked due to concerns that the announcement was made before FDA and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee recommendations. Two important scientific advisory groups will meet in the coming days to decide who will be eligible and when USA Today reported.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the Delta variant's spread, the Biden administration has stated that booster injections will be administered later this month. Officials at the White House are working on a plan to administer booster doses eight months after the second dose is given, as per Republic World.

However, the FDA and the CDC in the United States must still approve the concept. At a major public meeting on Friday, experts will assess data about an additional Pfizer shot. The WHO, on the other hand, has encouraged nations to put their booster shot plans on hold for the time being.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus encouraged countries earlier this month not to give booster injections to those who have already received both doses of the vaccine. At a press conference, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan asked for an "extension of the moratorium" on booster doses until at least the end of the year, so that every nation can vaccinate at least 40% of its population.

In the United Kingdom, the government's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) has suggested third doses for specific, vulnerable populations so that they do not become infected and the NHS is not overburdened. According to the JCVI, booster shots would guarantee that the protection that has been built up in the population does not deteriorate over the winter months when NHS pressures are most intense.

Read Also: Maskless Airline Passengers To Face Double Financial Penalties Under Biden Administration's Plan

Study shows Pfizer booster enhances protection

Per Sky News, modeling also predicts that this year's flu season may be up to 50% greater and sooner than normal, putting a significant burden on the health system. This is why the JCVI advises all susceptible populations to have a third COVID-19 and flu vaccine.

As the first nation to begin providing third vaccine doses, Israel is the only country with any evidence of their effectiveness. People over 60 started getting Pfizer booster shots at the end of July, as long as they got their second dosage at least five months prior.

The Israeli health ministry released statistics on August 22 showing that a third Pfizer dose significantly enhanced protection from infection and severe illness. It claimed that protection against infection was four times stronger 10 days after a third dosage than after two doses.

The study found that protection against serious illness or hospitalization was five to six times higher 10 days following the third shot. The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were authorized for use as boosters in the UK on September 9.

A third vaccine would be given at least six months following the second, due to concerns that the protection it provides to the elderly wears off over time. There is currently no evidence that combining two doses of one vaccination with the third dose of another is effective.

The JCVI is awaiting the findings of the Cov-Boost study, which will test combining Pfizer with AstraZeneca, Moderna, Valneva, Novavax, Janssen, and Curevac dosages and is being conducted by the University of Southampton.

Related Article: Israel Prepares For Fourth Round of Vaccination, Ensuring There Will Be Enough Doses

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Apple's latest iOS could be released some time next week. Fans have bookmarked Apple's "California streaming," scheduled on September 14, with suspicions that iOS 15 would debut in the event.

For what it's worth, though, some of the iOS 15 features have already been released ahead of time.

Historically, Apple September events debut their latest iPhone series. Then, the company would release its latest version of iOS a week after. Many fans already expect Apple to debut iPhone 13 this Tuesday, which means iOS 15 could officially launch on September 21.

How to Watch iOS 15 Release Date: Apple California Streaming

According to Cnet, Apple California streaming will be an online-only event on September 14, 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. The event will be live streamed through Apple's official webpage. Other users can also watch through their smartphone or Apple TV app.

To watch the event, head to their website. Note that the video will automatically appear at the scheduled time. Prior to that, the webpage uses a standby photo with a description "Apple Event." The official YouTube video is also embedded below.



Read Also: Child Tax Credit Update: Get $600+ Catch-Up Payments This 2021 If You File For CTC Now

Apple iOS 15 Features: 4 Special Upgrades You Should Watch Out For

A lot of new features will be added on iOS 15. Some of the details were already leaked at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 21) earlier this year. Notably, other features upgraded are long-time requests from many Apple users.

Cnet reported the details of these features;

4. iMessage Improved Interface

iMessage will have improved functionality and sharing options. Whenever a friend sends multiple photos, they appear in a collage formation that lets users quickly swipe across. Shared multimedia content like photos, news articles and playlists can later be accessed in a new storage folder called "Shared with You."

3. Apple Maps with Extra Features

Apple further improves its technology through Apple Maps. Information like elevation data, road colors, driving direction, 3D landmarks, improved night mode, and rich labels will be added with iOS 15. An exciting feature is the new "AR walking," where users can use their phone to scan nearby buildings in the area to help the iPhone determine the precise position.

Extra features added in Apple Maps include weather warnings. The app will notify users of dangers like flash flood-prone areas and suggest alternate routes to avoid the area.

2. FaceTime Major Upgrades

Apple will also upgrade features in FaceTime through iOS 15. FaceTime will offer spatial audio, where the user could hear the speaker's voice based on their position on the screen. FaceTime will also use utility tools like grid view, calendar schedule, scheduled calls, and share links of ongoing or incoming calls. FaceTime calls can later be accessed by Google Android and Microsoft Windows users too.

1. Face ID, Facial Recognition and Digital ID

Apple also announced upgrading their Facial ID technology to recognize users even with their face masks on. Identity and security will be improved through the new iOS 15 feature that lets users carry digital versions of government-issued IDs. Apple will automatically recognize its user with the data taken from their Face ID, Facial Recognition, and digital ID.

Related Article: iPhone 13 Color Pink Leaked Ahead of Release; But Apple Price Gets Bad News
Google has recently released its fifth and final beta build of the Android 12, but no final date has been given for the official rollout of the final version. Interestingly, new evidence reveal what could be the Android 12 release date.

Android 12 Set for Release in October, Internal Google Document Reveals

An internal Google document alleged that the company is set to release the Android 12 source code on October 4 to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), XDA Developers revealed. The report noted that such release normally coincides with the actual day Google publicly releases a new Android version.

The document also detailed when Google will stop approving software builds for the Android 10, Android 11, and Android 12. It also disclosed when the tech giant releases the Android 12 source code with past release dates for the previous versions.

If it is correct, then the release will likely coincide with the rollout of the Pixel 6 phones, which is due for unveiling a few weeks after the purported Android 12 release.

The internal Google document also pointed that Android 12 took longer to launch than previous versions. With its October 4 release, it took them about a month after the normal annual rollout in September for the past two versions.

Read Also: Android 12 Features: 3 Best Google OS Updates That You Should Be Excited About

Why? It seems Google will give a major overhaul in terms of visuals and functionality with the Android 12.

12 Major Upgrades to Expect in Android 12

According to an Android Authority report, Google confirmed during its Google I/O 2021 that Android 12 will offer the biggest, top-to-bottom design overhaul, which is part of the next version of its Material You design language. This allows users to influence the design of their Android phones.

Also, a color extraction protocol will allow Android 12 to take elements from an installed wallpaper in completing the design. This means colors seen across the Android system will be altered based on the lock screen/home background. This will make your phone automatically exude a distinct look and feel. Aside from color extraction, there will be new design changes, spacing alterations, and animation boosts that will surely delight users.

One glaring change is the rounded rectangles on the notification shade, which are similar to Quick Tiles that are larger and can accommodate more information. Because of this, only a fewer tiles would be visible at first pull-a total of four instead of the usual six. The theme of the Quick Tiles will change depending on the color extraction protocol.

New privacy tools on Android 12 will make data collection by apps transparent, which is quite similar to an iPhone. This would allow users better control over app permissions to assist them in handling how and when apps can access their information through the new Privacy Dashboard.

Another useful feature is the new scrolling screenshot support that allows users to capture larger images of the current page on screen. Tapping the "capture more" button would allow you to take more of your screen. Then, you can edit or crop the image.

A redesigned notification system will offer better visuals, functionality and usability. Google is currently improving controls, while enhancing animations and transitions.

As the search giant, Google has certainly made search more powerful on an Android 12 device. Here, the company is introducing AppSearch, an on-device search engine that will let users search for content inside applications, even if the device is offline.

Users can also share Wi-Fi credentials easily and quickly through a "Nearby" button, which makes the user share connection to whoever they like. Here, they can share their credentials with multiple people without having to hand their phone for everyone to scan.

Updating Android 12 will also be possible through Project Mainline, the Google Play system updates program. The company could now push Android updates and other services through Google Play without the need for full system updates to fix issues. As such, Google can provide updates faster and efficiently by not passing through OEM channels or carrier.

Android 12 will also feature App Hibernation, which will disavow an unused app of its permissions and remove temporary files and cache owned by the app to optimize the device. Android 12 users can use this using the "App Info" section.

And, who would not rejoice with the flurry of new emojis people can use for their messages or social media posts? A syringe doesn't now come with a blood-red liquid (maybe to encourage vaccination), while other new ones are somewhat quirky, such as a fun-loving snowman.

More new Android 12 features, such as new widgets, heptic-coupled audio effect, improved auto-rotate, Internet panel, and immersive mode tweaks, will also be released.

Related Article: Android 12 Beta Download: How to Install New Google OS and Return to Android 11 if You Don't Like It
Businessman and crypto investor Kevin O'Leary, Mark Cuban's "Shark Tank" co-star, slammed Ethereum as he gave his own insights on the blockchain's scaling problems.

O'Leary said in an interview with CNBC that he finds Ethereum "very slow". And because of this, he said, "different blockchains will emerge."

Clear Rules Should Govern Cryptos: Kevin O'Leary Tells Regulators

Because of this, O'Leary called on U.S. regulators to hand down clear rules to govern the crypto market, stressing that investors would refuse to be "cowboys" in dealing with digital assets sans a dependable regulatory framework.

O'Leary said he would not want to get involved in crypto "if regulators say it's inappropriate." He added in the interview, "I can't afford to be noncompliant," per Markets Insider.

O'Leary also called the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's deferred action on Coinbase's Lend product "a slowdown in regulation." The SEC threatened to sue Coinbase over the crypto lending product, which it said pays stablecoin owners four percent interest on their savings.

Read Also: Ethereum Price Prediction: When Will ETH Value Increase and Decrease?

While O'Leary criticized Ethereum's speed, he remained bullish on decentralized finance--a main use case on ETH. He said DeFi is "not just about Bitcoin anymore or Ethereum," stressing that the industry is wider than the two main cryptocurrencies.

While the famous businessman, who is dubbed "Mr. Wonderful," stated that crypto assets are still not yet considered as institutional assets, he believes that cryptos will eventually achieve that status.

He added that once the SEC approves Bitcoin as an Exchange-Traded Fund, or a fund that can be traded on an exchange like a stock, the market for the asset will grow another $1 trillion.

Ethereum rose 0.86 percent in the last 24 hours on Tuesday to $3,297.29, but it actually slumped from $4,037 on September 3, a near 20 percent fall.

Factors Behind Ethereum Price Slump

According to A3 Investing News, this drop is due to an overall sell-off in cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin seeing its value plummet from a September high of $62,000 to about $44,680. Also, overall profit taking took its toll on Ethereum after its August rally. ETH soared from $1,700 in the last week of August to $4,000 in early September.

Another factor is the DeFi industry performance which had a negative impact on ETH prices. DeFi industry value dropped from $90 billion last week to $84 billion on Monday.

With Ethereum's decline, the asset is staying below 25-day and 50-day moving averages, hovering above the 38.2 percent retracement level. Because of this, the direction for its least resistance should be on the downside, especially if prices move below last week's low of $3,013. On the other hand, a direction towards $3,490 will discard the bearish sentiment.

Related Article: Ethereum, Bitcoin Price Forecast: 'Seismic' Change Could Boost Value!




Actor Ha Jung-woo was fined 30 million won (US$25,600) Tuesday for illegal use of propofol in 2019.







The Seoul Central District Court ordered the 43-year-old screen star to pay a fine of 30 million won and forfeiture of 88,749 won for violating the Narcotics Control Act. The sentence was heavier than the 10 million-won fine sought by the prosecution.







Prosecutors had pressed a summary indictment against Ha on charges of taking shots of the anesthesia-inducing medication for non-medical purposes between January and September in 2019, but the court put him to a formal trial. A summary indictment is a measure taken on minor crimes in which an accused can be exempt from a trial with court approval.







The actor admitted to all the charges against him and asked for leniency during the first court hearing last month.







Delivering the ruling, the court said that the accused colluded with his doctor to fabricate his medical records to cover up illicit drug use.







"Ha's responsibility is heavier as he is a popular actor," the court said.







But it does not seem like Ha visited the hospital only to receive propofol injections or has drug dependence, the court added, noting that it also took into consideration that he deeply regrets his action and has no previous criminal record.







After the court ruling, Ha said he accepts the decision and will try to live a "more responsible and healthy life."







The actor has starred in a number of films, including "The Chaser" (2008), "The Handmaiden" (2016) and the 2017-18 smash hit series "Along With the Gods." (Yonhap)


TvN series "The Devil Judge," starring Ji Sung and Jin Young, ended last month. Courtesy of tvN



By Lee Gyu-lee



Judge-turned-writer Moon Yoo-seok, who created and scripted tvN's recent series "The Devil Judge," recently shared the thoughts his creative mind came up with that were behind his writing of the dystopian, dark hero series.





Writer Moon Yoo-seok / Courtesy of tvN

"With everything that has been going on in the world, I started to wonder what our future would be like if such patterns continued. So it led to the idea of bringing up a thought experiment, in a way, by setting the concept of this series in a near-future dystopian world," Moon said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.



The series, which ended last month with an 8 percent viewership rating, is set in a fictional dystopian Korea, two years after the country has been swept by a mysterious plague.



The government implements a new justice system in which court trials are proceeded with as a live show for the public and rulings are made based on votes by citizens.



Kang Yo-han (Ji Sung) is the star senior judge, who ruthlessly punishes those found guilty. Despite his image as a just, crusading judge, rookie judge Kim Ga-on (Jin Young) starts to question his methods and legal boundaries.



The writer said the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic gave him the idea to write the story about a dystopian society.



"It was terrifying to see how the world has changed so fast since the coronavirus pandemic began, like elderly patients in Spain's nursing homes being found dead after staff abandoned them, or the global economy nearly collapsing and putting many people out of job," he said. "In a world like this, it's inevitable for extremist groups, who seek to express their dissatisfaction through hatred and exclusivism, to emerge."



He added that such a concept made the story more universal for global viewers to appreciate the series.



"Because I applied such an unsettling phenomena happening around the world into the story, I have been getting reactions from overseas viewers," he said. "As Korea's content is getting more popular globally, I believe that (the Korean) creators should also expand their interests to more global topics for a broader audience to sympathize with."





A scene from the series / Courtesy of tvN




KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min







Mirae Asset and KB Financial Group have joined "RE100," the global initiative led by the international non-profit Climate Group in partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), to help influential businesses commit to 100 percent renewable energy seeking zero-carbon grids on a global scale.







This is a first for financial service providers to join the drive taken by large manufacturers thus far.







According to Climate Group, the two banking groups were among four Korean firms announcing their commitment to the eco drive, alongside Korea Zinc and SK IE Technology (SKIET), raising the total number of Korean firms to 13.







Currently, 324 global companies are participating in RE100, including Google, Microsoft and Apple. In Korea, SK Group was the first to join the initiative last December.







Mirae Asset Executive Vice Chairman Choi Hyun Man Courtesy of Mirae Asset

KB Financial said it will fully convert to renewable energy supply by 2040 and Mirae Asset will follow suit by 2025.







Korea Zinc has declared that it will only use renewable power overseas by 2050. SK IET said up to 60 percent of its energy sources will be renewables by 2025 before it fully goes 100 percent renewable by 2030.







According to a recent study cited by the group, the failure of Korea's leading manufacturers to convert fully to renewable energy will lead to about a combined 40 percent reduction in output, due to anticipated rising fossil fuel prices and stricter regulations. This means the export-oriented country's GDP could shrink 3.8 percent.







The group said RE100 is increasingly emerging as a matter of survival for the country to remain a long-term, strong exporter in the global market.







Korean firms will be able to procure renewable energy more easily by weaning off of the current fossil fuel-heavy energy production system gradually, the group added.







KB Financial Group officially renounced its carbon-heavy investment plans last September in a group-wide directive to tackle climate change. The group's ESG committee said it will no longer invest in coal-powered business models.







The move is also part of the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) drive, as defined by the three central factors being used to measure the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business.







The financial group said it will factor in green drives in identifying new business investment plans, a step taken while rearranging its investment portfolio to put greater emphasis on firms with eco-friendly business models. These efforts will lead to the issuance of a greater volume of ESG bonds.


An electronic board in Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows a slight gain of the benchmark KOSPI, Tuesday morning. Yonhap



KOSPI unlikely to regain momentum for rally



By Lee Min-hyung



The increased short selling of Korean stocks has emerged as a major fear factor in the local stock market, amid concerns that such moves will end up restricting any growth momentum in the benchmark KOSPI.



After the country's financial regulator partially lifted a ban on the short selling of listed shares in May, foreign and institutional investors have increased their transaction volumes for short selling here.



Retail investors cried foul even before the partial resumption of shorting, as it is high-risk trading strategy that bets on the possibility of a stock price fall and is primarily used by foreign and institutional investors.



According to data from the Korea Exchange, the daily transaction volume for shorting in the local stock markets between Sept. 1 and 13 reached 451.1 billion won ($385 million) on average, up 8.9 percent from the daily average in August. After the partial resumption of short selling, the daily figure went on to hit a record high on Sept. 10, when the short transaction volume came in at 673.6 billion won.



As the increased short selling sends a signal that the outlooks for the main bourse and secondary Kosdaq do not remain as promising as they once were, fears are escalating among investors that local stock markets may lose momentum for any additional rally from the mid- to short-term viewpoint after experiencing a big fall in March 2020 amid the global spread of the pandemic.



Investors in Kakao are particularly ramping up their criticism of the resumption of short selling, as the big tech firm was the most heavily shorted stock throughout last week. Kakao's stock price surged to as high as around the 170,000-won range back in June, but starting this month, it nosedived to reach 120,000 won as of Tuesday, hit hard by the increased shorting related to anxieties about imminent monitoring and regulation from the Fair Trade Commission, a local financial watchdog.



Sejong University Business Professor Kim Dae-jong said that the stock market would likely face a slight decline as the year end approaches, due to the U.S. Fed's planned tapering.



"If the Fed possibly starts slowing the pace of asset purchases in November, that will speed up capital outflow in the local stock markets," he said. "When the tapering begins, foreign investors will generally withdraw their capital from emerging economies, and this will result in a slight fall for Korean stocks."



The benchmark index hit the record 3,300-point mark in June, but has since failed to continue its upward momentum. The KOSPI has since entered an adjustment period, and it has been hovering between 3,100 and 3,200 points.


Ministry of Justice's legal affairs bureau chief Lee Sang-gab, fourth from left, speaks during a press conference on the progress of investor-state dispute settlements at the Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



US firm ceases attempts to compromise with gov't



By Park Jae-hyuk



The Korean government is not ruling out the possibility of losing a nine-year-long legal tussle with Lone Star Funds, which could lead to a massive outflow of over $4.6 billion in taxpayers' money to the U.S. private equity firm (PEF) in the worst-case scenario.



"It is not easy for us to be 100-percent sure about winning the Lone Star case," the Ministry of Justice's international dispute settlement division director Han Chang-wan said in a press conference, Tuesday. "In particular, issues regarding the Lone Star case are complex and a great volume of documents and evidence were submitted to the tribunal, so it is difficult to predict the result."



The government was also unclear about when the arbitration decision will be reached, although the final question-and-answer sessions with arbitrators ended in October last year. The uncertainty is mainly attributed to the absence of a declaration on the termination of proceedings.



According to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the final ruling should be made within 120 days  or at least 180 days in extenuating circumstances  after the declaration, so there still exists a possibility that the long-pending dispute may not be settled this year.



"The government is expecting the final decision to be made any time now, so we have held meetings regularly to draw up follow-up measures," said Lee Sang-gab, chief of the justice ministry's legal affairs bureau.



Han mentioned an application for annulment as one of methods to protest an unfavorable ruling. In that case, a three-member ad hoc committee will be organized to review an annulment for at least a year.



However, the arbitration decision cannot be nullified, unless the underlying arbitral tribunal was improperly constituted; the tribunal manifestly exceeded its powers; there was corruption on the part of a member of the tribunal; there was a serious departure from a fundamental rule of procedure; or the decision has failed to state the reasons on which it is based.



The government's remarks can be seen as proof of its skepticism about winning the legal battle which revolves mainly around the Financial Services Commission's delayed approval of the Texas-based PEF's sale of its stake in Korea Exchange Bank to Hana Financial Group in 2011.



The Office for Government Policy Coordination's financial policy division director Kwon Min-young also confirmed that Lone Star has not made any additional offers, since the government rejected the company's proposal made last November to end the dispute if the government pays $870 million.



Lone Star spokeswoman Christina Pretto told The Korea Times last December that it was a sincere proposal to resolve the long-running conflict, but she has declined to comment on the matter since January.



The muted stance may indicate that the U.S. firm decided to try to win the case through arbitration proceedings.



In addition to Lone Star, the government has clashed with Elliott Management and Mason, which have demanded compensations of $770 million and $200 million, respectively, for the government's intervention in the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.



Schindler Elevator has also sought to receive $190 million from the government, arguing that financial authorities caused damage to the company by allowing Hyundai Elevator to issue new stocks and convertible bonds.


Japanese Foreign Ministry's Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Takehiro Funakoshi, center, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, left, and South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk pose during their trilateral meeting on North Korean issue, Sept. 14, in Tokyo. AP-Yonhap



The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan held trilateral talks in Tokyo on Tuesday about efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea amid renewed tensions over the recalcitrant regime's recent missile launches.



The talks between Seoul's nuclear negotiator, Noh Kyu-duk and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, came after the North test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend amid signs of its reactivation of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.



Kim renewed his calls for the North to return to dialogue, while noting the recent developments in the North served as a reminder of the importance of close cooperation between the United States and its allies.



"As we have made it clear repeatedly, the United States has no hostile intent with the DPRK," Kim said in his opening remarks. The DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.



"We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions," he added, stressing Washington, in the meantime, will continue to fully implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions on the North.



Noh, Kim and Funakoshi were expected to discuss humanitarian support and other incentives to encourage the North's return to dialogue, as it struggles with a series of economic and other hardships exacerbated by pandemic-driven border closures.



South Korea and the U.S. have been discussing humanitarian aid for the North in certain areas, including public health, sanitation and clean drinking water. Before his departure for Tokyo, Noh took note of "considerable progress" in consultations between the allies over such humanitarian support.



In recent months, Seoul has been revving up diplomacy to reengage with Pyongyang, seeking to tamp down lingering skepticism over a peace drive overshadowed by the reclusive state's continued pursuit of nuclear and missile programs.



The International Atomic Energy Agency has recently reported indications of the North resuming the operation of a five-megawatt nuclear reactor at its main Yongbyon complex, including the discharge of cooling water from the reactor.

Following the trilateral session, Noh and Kim were set to meet bilaterally. Noh and Funakoshi had two-way talks on Monday.



Noh, Kim and Funakoshi last held their three-way talks in Seoul in June. Last month alone, Noh and Kim held face-to-face talks in Seoul and Washington  a sign of beefed-up cooperation among the countries over the North Korean issue.



Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have remained stalled since the Hanoi summit in 2019 between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal. (Yonhap)


Chief nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk, right, poses with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim, left, and Takehiro Funakoshi, before their talks in Tokyo, Tuesday. Yonhap



US still committed to inter-Korean humanitarian projects



By Kang Seung-woo



Humanitarian assistance-based efforts by South Korea and the United States to engage North Korea appear to be falling on deaf ears as Pyongyang is opting for confrontation over dialogue to seize some kind of initiative before returning to denuclearization negotiations.



Under these circumstances, President Moon Jae-in's peace efforts, represented by his highly-hyped Korean Peninsula "peace process," are increasingly losing their footing.



On Monday, the reclusive state announced that it had successfully tested a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend, putting a damper on repeated calls from Seoul and Washington for the country to return to dialogue.



The missile launches were carried out before the top nuclear negotiators of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held a trilateral meeting in Tokyo, Tuesday, to discuss ways to resolve the stalled North Korea nuclear issue.



Currently, the Joe Biden administration is committed to supporting inter-Korean humanitarian cooperation projects, in the hope that this will lead to the Kim Jong-un regime responding by resuming dialogue.



However, the fact that the missile launches occurred even ahead of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's trip to Seoul, Tuesday and Wednesday, has raised the speculation that North Korea is taking a confrontational path toward the U.S.









In June, Kim ordered his country to prepare for both "dialogue and confrontation" with Washington, and "especially to get fully prepared for confrontation."



"North Korea is following its own path of seeking more from the U.S., such as sanctions relief or the suspension of the South Korea-U.S. combined military exercises, and the missile launches were part of this basic strategy," said Shin Beom-chul, the director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.



As North Korea has remained silent on the humanitarian aid offers and staged military provocations, the Moon administration's peace initiative of engaging the North to move it forward on denuclearization seems to be doomed due to the lack of support from the relevant parties.



In the wake of the missile tests, Cheong Wa Dae has yet to come up with an official position on the matter, while the U.S. and Japan strongly denounced the launches as a "threat to the international community."



"Frankly speaking, few countries support the Korean Peninsula peace process. With North Korea and China urging the U.S. to concede more, Washington perfunctorily approves it, but it is not yet ready to ease sanctions," Shin said.



"As there is little chance that the relevant countries will change their stances, the peace initiative is unlikely to make progress if South Korea continues to pursue it in the same fashion."





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gives a thumbs-up while watching a military parade at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, Thursday, to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the country's founding. Yonhap
Human Rights Watch issued a report titled, "'I Thought of Myself as Defective': Neglecting the Rights of LGBT Youth in South Korean Schools," Tuesday. Courtesy of Human Rights Watch



By Lee Hyo-jin



Kim Do-hyun, a 25-year-old transgender male, remembers the day when a classmate in his middle school, after watching a film in class portraying a same-sex relationship, said, "All homosexuals should be shot dead."



The remarks left him trembling with rage, so he had to leave the classroom and calm down outside. "The teacher didn't intervene," Kim said. "Other classmates just laughed."



Jin Pu-reun, a 22-year-old lesbian, said, "Once it became known that I was a lesbian in high school, I was singled out for harassment and the older students rebuked me saying, 'You are homosexual, you're dirty.'"



These two cases of discrimination in school against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students were included in a report titled, "I Thought of Myself as Defective: Neglecting the Rights of LGBT Youth in South Korean Schools," issued Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organization.



Based on 67 interviews conducted between February 2019 and May 2021 with 26 secondary school students or recent graduates, and 41 teachers, counselors, administrators, parents and other education experts, the in-depth report highlights the issue of discrimination and harassment against LGBT students in Korea.



"When we spoke to the students, the first thing they mentioned was that they often experience bullying and harassment including ostracization by their peers, verbal harassment, cyberbullying, and even physical and sexual assault in schools," Ryan Thoreson, an LGBT rights researcher at HRW, said Tuesday during a conference held in line with the report's release.



Yoo Seung-hee, director of the LGBTQ Youth Crisis Support Center DDing Dong, and Ryu Min-hee, a lawyer at Korean Lawyers for Public Interest and Human Rights (KLPH), also took part in the conference.



"The verbal harassment, in particular, came from teachers as well as students, with many teachers saying derogatory things about LGBT people in the classroom," Thoreson said.



He explained that these students, who often struggle with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide, don't know where to seek support, due to a lack of assistance for them at school and elsewhere.



"Mental health professionals in and outside of schools aren't trained to deal with these issues and provide support. At times, counselors made things even worse by rejecting LGBT youths or urging them not to be LGBT," he said.



HRW further pointed out that the LGBT children feel even more isolated as they are not reflected in the curricula. The national sex education curriculum devised by the Ministry of Education excludes any mention of sexual minorities or their sexual and reproductive health.



The marginalization these students face can seriously undermine a range of human rights including their rights to education, privacy, health and information, and freedom from violence and discrimination, the report says.



In this regard, the human rights watchdog called for a stronger commitment from the Korean government and school officials to protect the human rights of all children.



It recommended the National Assembly enact a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, including provisions on sexual orientation and gender identity that would prohibit discrimination in educational settings.



The education authorities were recommended to develop guidelines for anti-bullying policies that are inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and establish training programs to help teachers, counselors and administrators develop competency on LGBT issues.


Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton, second left, talks with South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook, second right, during their meeting at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Sept. 13. Reuters-Yonhap



South Korea and Australia have urged North Korea to return to talks "without preconditions," stressing that diplomacy and dialogue are essential to bringing peace on the Korean Peninsula.



The two countries made the call in a joint statement adopted following the biennial "two plus two" talks of foreign and defense ministers that took place in Seoul on Monday.



The talks came amid renewed concerns after the North test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missiles over the weekend and signs of its reactivation of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.






China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi / Reuters-Yonhap



Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was set to visit South Korea on Tuesday for talks with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong amid renewed tensions in the wake of North Korea's test-firings of long-range cruise missiles.



Wang is scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, later in the day, on a two-day trip, just days after the North test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile over the weekend while also showing signs of reactivating a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.



He is scheduled to hold talks with Chung on Wednesday where they are expected to discuss the North's missile launches and efforts to bring Pyongyang back to dialogue amid the prolonged deadlock in the denuclearization talks with the United States.



In the morning the same day, President Moon Jae-in will have a meeting with the top Chinese diplomat at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office said.



Moon is likely to call for China's backing for Seoul's efforts to build peace with the North, during the meeting.



South Korea has sought to maintain close ties with Beijing despite an intensifying rivalry between China and the United States, as the country tries to enlist support from Beijing to move the stalled nuclear talks forward.



Wang could also use the occasion to highlight Beijing's positions on key regional issues, such as the Taiwan Strait, the East and South China seas, and Xinjiang province, among the issues over which his country has been at odds with Washington.



On bilateral relations, the two sides are expected to have broad discussions on ways to strengthen cooperation on a wide range of areas, with a particular focus on promoting cultural exchanges, such as in the humanities sector, as next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.



They recently launched a committee on the future development of bilateral relations.



Wang's visit comes about five months after Chung and Wang had their last talks in the Chinese city of Xiamen in April. Wang last visited Seoul in November last year. (Yonhap)




Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder and senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the church office, Seoul, March 27, 2020. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Park Ji-won



Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder and senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, died Tuesday. He was 85.



The pastor emeritus passed away at 7:13 a.m. in Seoul National University Hospital due to a brain hemorrhage, the church said.



Cho had been hospitalized due to the stroke since July last year. He is considered as the pioneer in expanding the size of Protestant church in Korea.



Born on Feb. 14, 1936 in Ulju, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province as the eldest of nine children, he was raised in a Buddhist family. Cho was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in his second year of high school and was told that he would not have long to live.



He was introduced to Christianity through a friend of his sister and decided to follow the religion. Cho met with Kenneth Tice, a missionary from the Assemblies of God, an American Pentecostal denomination in Busan and began helping him. He later enrolled in the Full Gospel Theological Seminary of the Assembly of God in September 1956, at the age of 20.





The main building of the Yoido Full Gospel Church / Korea Times file



After graduating from the seminary in 1958, he established the Cheonmak Church in Daejo-dong, Eunpyeong District, Seoul in 1961 with pastor Choi Ja-sil, his mother-in-law. He was ordained on April 26, 1962. He then moved to Seodaemun District and founded Seodaemun Church in 1963. As the number of churchgoers soared, he moved to Yeouido and founded the current Yoido Full Gospel Church in 1973.



In 1993, the church was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest single congregation with around 700,000 members  it currently has 570,000.



He engaged in many church as well as social activities while serving as pastor there.



In 1976, Cho established Church Growth International (CGI) to expand the church internationally. He established the Kookmin Ilbo newspaper in 1988, a Christian daily, and set up Good People, an international non-government organization for human rights, the environment and child welfare in 1999.



The pastor also pushed for establishing a hospital specialized in heart disease in Pyongyang, North Korea, but this project was suspended due to sanctions imposed by the South Korean government.





Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder and senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church preaches during a ceremonial event at Bongsu Church, Pyongyang, North Korea, for the establishment of a hospital specialized in cardiac problems in this Dec. 4, 2007 photo. Courtesy of Yoido Full Gospel Church
Tahni Osterman paints a landscape 'en plein air.' / Courtesy of Otahni Studio



By Chantal Terblanche



Tahni Osterman is not the stereotypical artist with a tortured, manic soul whose depression and cynicism fuels their creativity and need to make art. In fact, she is the complete opposite, finding some of her best inspiration in travel and beautiful sunsets.



Art has always played a big role in her life. Her grandfather was a pen and ink artist whose work mainly centered around farm life, buffalo and agriculture. Besides the influence of her grandfather, Osterman had two aunts who would, without fail, give her art supplies for her birthday. With all this artistic influence around her, it seemed like an obvious choice to study art further.



Osterman studied illustration through the graphic design program at Oklahoma State University, and she finished up her art degree with a study abroad landscape painting class in Tuscany, Italy. Before coming to Korea she did newspaper and magazine layout design as well as work for a wedding invitation design company. It was in Italy that she fell in love with landscape painting.



Even with all her training, Osterman believes that the greatest teacher has just been the hours, days and weeks of actually putting the brush to canvas. "For art, I can think of no better teacher than trial and error," she told The Korea Times.



Ever since arriving in Korea in 2011, Osterman has been actively building her body of work. Her first oil painting collection was centered around Namhansanseong, a mountain fortress southeast of Seoul. After a few years, she realized that she wanted to pursue her dream of making and selling her art. It was then, in 2019, that Otahni Studio was born.



While balancing a full-time job as well as running a small business can be tiring, Osterman finds that painting acts as an outlet for the stresses of daily life and she finds the actual act of making art very rewarding.



Osterman finds inspiration for her landscapes in the mountains, skies and architecture of Korea, and how they all interact with each other. "There is something so peaceful and awe-inspiring about nature to get lost in, and personally I think that the geography of Korea lends itself beautifully to the practice," she said.



"For my style of art, the texture and patterns of the brushwork play a central role in the overall tone of the finished piece," she said. It is for this reason that she likes the freedom offered by larger canvases, which give her more space to be more expressive with her brushwork.





Tahni Osterman poses with a painting. / Courtesy of Otahni Studio



Osterman is heavily influenced by the works of Erin Hanson, the California artist responsible for the "open impressionism" movement. This trend is expanded from the original impressionism where the artist's goal was to capture light. Open impressionism goes further to capture the movements of the scene by using vibrant colors and thick brush strokes, evoking the emotions of a particular landscape.



"By pre-mixing the color palette, I am able to focus more on the subject of a painting while preserving the freshness of the landscape," Osterman said.



She also loves the works of W. Lester Stevens, an early 20th-century American painter who painted numerous landscapes and over 5,000 pieces in his lifetime.



Just as many artists do, her practice and style have both changed over time. When Osterman was younger her goal was to paint something exactly as it looked, as she thought that was what a real artist did. In recent years, her style has loosened up and taken more of an impressionistic turn. As she has gotten older and more experienced, she began to see more value in the overall tone and energy of a finished piece rather than creating a photorealistic replica of a place or thing.



While Osterman tries to work from life as often as she can, the logistics of hauling oil paints around the country can be tricky. She does, however, keep a painting kit ready to go by the door just in case the opportunity to do some "en plein air" painting arises. "En plein air" is the French term for painting outdoors. Osterman often starts a painting "en plein air" and then takes it back to the studio to finish it up.





Tahni Osterman paints a landscape 'en plein air.' / Courtesy of Otahni Studio




Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul visited an inter-Korean border unit on Tuesday and checked recent moves by the North Korean military, his office said.







During his visit to the Army's Third Corps in the eastern county of Inje, Won was debriefed on the North's recent military moves and the unit's operations status, and encouraged the service members in charge of "craggy and vast areas", according to the JCS.







"It is necessary to ensure a staunch readiness posture to instantly respond to any contingencies and win a victory, and to constantly hone combat skills through strong trainings," Won said.







The inspection came as the communist country has raised tensions by warning of a "major security crisis" in protest against the combined military exercise between South Korea and the United States staged in August.







The North severed inter-Korean communication lines last month, and it test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile last week. (Yonhap)






Students take part in online classes at an elementary school in Seoul, in this July 15 photo. Yonhap



Questions emerge over free online private academy lecture service for underprivileged students



By Bahk Eun-ji



Seoul Learn, one of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's campaign promises to provide underprivileged students with online lectures from well-known private academies ("hagwon" in Korean) for free, began operating officially at the end of last month.



Although the goal is to bridge the educational disparity between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, a controversy has arisen as the education community is raising questions about whether it is effective and criticizes it for promoting education via private academies instead of supporting public schools.





Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon / Yonhap

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) officially launched the free online lectures on Aug. 27 for 110,000 students from households in various low-income and social minority categories, ranging from elementary, middle and high school students, to children from mixed heritage families and children who are not attending school.



The city government purchases the online lectures of famous lecturers at private academies, popularly referred to as "top instructors," at 15 to 25 percent of the market prices, and provides them for free to those students through the learning portal.



The goal of Seoul Learn is to bridge the educational disparity, a chronic social problem here between the children of parents of different income levels. The problem has become more serious due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, as children in lower-income families have to rely on public schools' online classes, the quality of which has usually been worse than that of in-person classes, while children of affluent families can make up for this lack of quality education by attending hagwon on the side.



According to data from Statistics Korea, as of 2020, households with a monthly income of less than 2 million won ($1700) spent 99,000 won per month on private education, but households with a monthly income of 8 million won or more spent 504,000 won on private education, which is five times more. It is clear that income inequality leads to educational inequality.



Against this backdrop, the SMG plans to bridge the gap by providing free online private academy lectures. In the case of content quality, which has been considered the biggest challenge of the project, it is working with the nation's eight most popular online private academies, known to be of high quality, including Megastudy and Etoos, to raise students' satisfaction levels.



"Other than education in public schools, students from vulnerable groups cannot access hagwon lectures even if they want to take them. Seoul Learn is a service that aims to provide fair access to those students," Lee Dae-hyun, director of the SMG's lifelong education bureau, told the Korea Times.



However, the SMG's project has elicited mixed reactions from the education community.



Similar free online lecture services for elementary, middle, and high school students, such as "EBSi," provided by the public broadcaster EBS, and "Gangnam Ingang," run by the Gangnam District Office in Seoul, have already been in operation for a considerable period of time. Additionally, doubts have emerged over whether such deep-rooted problems as educational disparities and learning deficits among different socioeconomic groups will be resolved simply by offering more free online lectures.



"Most online lectures by such top instructors can already be taken free of charge on EBSi," said Gu Bon-chang, director of the policy bureau of "World Without Worries about Shadow Education," a civil society organization devoted to ending Korea's problems in education, in particular, the issue of excessive academic competition.





"The SMG's claim that Seoul Learn is not a policy that promotes private education also lacks logic, as the brands of the private education companies are visible through the lecture platform. From the moment when students start using the platform, they will become the targets of marketing from these private education companies," Gu said.





People pass a building housing the offices of private academies in Seoul in this Aug. 28, 2020 photo. Yonhap




President Moon Jae-in met with the members of BTS, a popular South Korean boy band, at his office Tuesday and awarded them the certificates of appointment as his special envoy for public diplomacy.







BTS will begin activities in earnest as the "special presidential envoy for future generations and culture" by attending an annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York next week, according to Cheong Wa Dae.







Moon is also scheduled to attend the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly. The president and the seven members of BTS plan to participate together in the second meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals Moment (SDG Moment) of the Decade of Action to be held on Monday. BTS will make a speech during the session, with a video clip of its performance played.







The SDG Moment is aimed at reinforcing the international community's efforts to achieve the SDGs, a blueprint for resolving pending global challenges, including poverty, hunger and the climate crisis.







"As BTS has delivered messages of comfort and hope to the entire world, its attendance at the U.N. General Assembly this time is expected to serve as a meaningful opportunity to expand communication with future generations around the world and draw their sympathy on major international issues," Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement.







In July, Cheong Wa Dae announced Moon's decision to name BTS for the task. (Yonhap)


Democratic Party of Korea presidential contender Rep. Lee Nak-yon speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps



By Nam Hyun-woo



Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun's withdrawal of his presidential bid is anticipated to benefit Rep. Lee Nak-yon, another former prime minister and runner-up in the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) presidential primary.



Chung dropped his presidential campaign on Monday, following weaker-than-expected results in the latest regional primary votes over the weekend. "As an ordinary member of the DPK, I will dedicate myself to creating a new Korea and return the support I received from the public and the party," Chung said in a press briefing at the National Assembly.



Chung's dropped out at a crucial moment, as DPK contenders will visit South and North Jeolla provinces next week for another round of regional primary elections. The provinces have traditionally been a liberal stronghold and home turf for the liberal party. The number of DPK members having voting rights in the region is estimated at 200,000.



According to Chung's camp, Chung will not endorse any of the other remaining contenders, but his withdrawal is widely anticipated as a plus for Rep. Lee Nak-yon, who is lagging behind Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung in the primary race.









Chung and Rep. Lee share a lot in common. During the primary, the two have focused on criticizing Governor Lee. Before the presidential race, they both served as prime ministers under the Moon Jae-in administration.



Chung and former Prime Minister Lee are also both from the Jeolla provinces  Chung is from Jinan County in North Jeolla Province, and Lee is from Yeonggwang County in South Jeolla Province. Given the tendency of voters preferring contenders from their region, pundits expect the former prime minister will be able to absorb Chung's supporters.



Regarding Chung's resignation, an official from Rep. Lee's camp said, "DPK members in North Jeolla Province have been contemplating between Lee and Chung, and the withdrawal will likely give an advantage to Lee."





Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, center, leaves the National Assembly after announcing he would drop his presidential bid, Monday. Joint Press Corps
President Moon Jae-in poses with BTS members at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday, after awarding certificates of appointment to the K-pop sensation as special presidential envoys for future generations and culture. The group members will begin their activities as special envoys by participating in Moon's trip to New York next week to attend a meeting of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Moment of the Decade of Action group. Yonhap
By Martin Schram





Summer traditionally ends in a most un-august manner, lulling us lazily and newslessly into a faux placidity. Somehow it always ends immediately after Labor Day with the eruption of a back-to-the-grindstone mentality.







But not the summer of '21. It was just the opposite of all that. Suddenly, in August, our Great News Funnels began gushing torrents of terrible news of all sorts, all at once. It all ran together and you couldn't tell where one god-awful nightmare ended and the others began.







America the Superpower lost its second war, half a world away. This time the U.S. forces were outlasted if not outfought by Afghanistan's Taliban terrorist forces. They were the same Taliban that infamously beat and subjugated women; the same Taliban that gave sanctuary to al-Qaida evildoers who attacked our homeland 20 years ago on 9/11.







We saw panicked Afghan citizens trying to flee to escape the Taliban: an ISIS-K suicide bomber killed some 170 of them  and 13 U.S. troops who were trying to help them.







We saw panicked American citizens trying to save their families from the perils of Mother Nature.







America the Beautiful was suddenly being devastated simultaneously by drought-caused wildfires and storm-caused floods. Rural towns were leveled, world famous cities were inundated, people were killed. First responders were fighting to save lives. Hundreds of billions of dollars of damage was inflicted by record temperatures, rainfall and flood levels that were being called our planet's worst-ever climate change crises.







And all the while, America found itself trapped, yet again, in a new surge of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant  a surge that grew because almost one-third of Americans had refused to get vaccinated and many Republican governors opposed mandating mask-wearing.







While our politicos debated vaccines and masks, our news screens were inundating us with videos of unspeakable horrors that transcend politics. West Coast villages burned to the ground. New York City's subway stairways looked like Niagara Falls.







On windows and rooftops in Queens and in New Jersey we saw flash flood victims seemingly trying to decide if they could make their way through surging water-filled streets or wait for rowboat rescuers. TV anchors were saying something about "row versus wade"  but no, that turned out to be some breaking news about another very different nightmare change event.







Just before midnight Sept. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court  in a stunning 5-4 vote  announced that it had abandoned its duty to protect the constitutional rights of women to obtain abortions in accordance with the court's famous ruling in the case known as Roe versus Wade. The court refused to block enforcement of a Texas abortion law that Justice Sonia Sotomayor called, in her dissenting opinion, "a flagrantly unconstitutional law."







The Texas law made illegal all abortions  including in cases of rape or incest  after the sixth week of pregnancy, which is before many women even realize they are pregnant. The law adopted an unprecedented vigilante method of enforcement.







It authorized all private citizens to in effect become bounty hunters and sue for up to $10,000 anyone who helps a woman obtain an illegal abortion  for example the Uber driver who takes them to an abortion clinic. Sotomayor's opinion, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, compellingly contended that "a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand." That majority included all three justices appointed by Donald Trump. But Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the minority.







After days of seeing the disillusioned expressions of young Afghan women who felt betrayed at being abandoned to live again under Taliban oppressors, we recognized the same expressions on Texas women who were being interviewed on TV. We were witnessing the de facto Talibanization of the U.S. Supreme Court.







Most of America's newsmakers seemed to understand this tragic summer of nightmarish news was no time for petty political ploys. Most but not quite all  for one formerly prominent newsmaker apparently remains eager to remind us of his flair for never being underdone by even our lowest common denominators. Just after Labor Day, former President 45 made it back into our news  in his familiar way.







Donald Trump, who last year made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, spread the word that he has begun consoling some Gold Star families whose loved ones were just killed in that Kabul airport suicide bombing. Trump made public several messages he sent to Shana Chappell, mother of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui and a Trump supporter.







"If I were President," Trump wrote to her, "your wonderful and beautiful son Kareem would be with you now, and so would the sons and daughters of others." The sound you hearing is news breaking.









Martin Schram (





martin.schram@gmail.com ), an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. This article was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
North Korea should refrain from raising tension



North Korea has again tried to raise military tension on the Korean Peninsula by testing long-range cruise missiles. The North's state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Monday that the launches took place Saturday and Sunday.



The agency said new cruise missiles traveled for about 126 minutes and successfully hit targets 1,500 kilometers away. It added that the launches were part of the North's efforts to develop strategic weapons under its current five-year military buildup plan.



Cruise missiles are not subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions against the North, although the country is banned from developing ballistic missiles. However, we must express concern as well as regret over the cruise missile test, because such a weapon poses a security threat to South Korea and its neighbors. Cruise missiles, which are hard to detect since they fly at low altitudes, can carry nuclear warheads.



The missile tests were seen as a low-level show of force, conducted without the presence of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It came after the North launched two cruise missiles on March 21 and Jan. 22, and two ballistic missiles on March 25. Pyongyang appears to be using these repeated missile tests to put more pressure on the U.S. to accede to its demands for sanctions relief.



The Kim regime might also be trying to send a certain message before trilateral talks were held in Tokyo, Tuesday, between the top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Seoul's negotiator Noh Kyu-duk met with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, to discuss how to restart dialogue with North Korea. The latest missile launch also came before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's two-day visit to Seoul which started Tuesday.



We urge Pyongyang to stop its military provocations so as to help create a favorable atmosphere for the resumption of stalled denuclearization talks with Washington. The North's display of its military strength could derail efforts by the U.S. and its ally South Korea to resume dialogue.



North Korea is now reportedly going through difficulties due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, an acute shortage of food and its economic failure amid prolonged international sanctions. That is probably why the North held a scaled-down military parade Thursday night to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the country's foundation. Kim is apparently trying to tighten his grip on power and cement internal unity by boosting his country's military strength. Yet the question is if the North can muddle through without any assistance from other countries.



Regrettably, however, the North is still reluctant to return to the negotiating table. It appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing reactor in the Yongbyon nuclear complex north of Pyongyang, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is wrong for the North to attempt to turn the clock back and restart its nuclear gamble.



The Kim regime should realize that abandoning its nuclear program holds the key to peace, coexistence and co-prosperity on the peninsula. It needs to positively respond to a package of humanitarian assistance proposed by Seoul and Washington to help North Koreans improve their livelihoods. And the North must return to the dialogue table before it is too late.


By Lee Seong-hyon





Cambridge, MA  China's State Councilor Wang Yi is visiting South Korea this week. To be precise, it is one of the four countries he will be visiting (Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, and South Korea). Among them, Vietnam and Singapore were visited by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris last month, while Cambodia and South Korea were visited by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in June and July, respectively.



The visit is seen as a move by China to trace the U.S.'s footprints to recheck the contours of the great diplomatic chess game between the eagle and the dragon. It's like Beijing trying to figure out what kind of strategy Washington has made with these countries against China.



In Vietnam, Wang said that China will "focus on the Asia-Pacific and East Asia" in terms of geopolitical importance and will "prevent an external force from impairing ASEAN's central role," in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.



Wang also underscored China's socialist market economy affinity with Vietnam, saying, "The two sides should stick to their shared ideals and beliefs so as to push forward their respective socialist cause," according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.



China's Global Times insisted that Wang's visit to the neighboring countries is not meant "to counter U.S. influence" in the region. The English-language newspaper, Global Times, is China's prime public opinion warfare tool.



China is well aware of its weaknesses compared to the United States. China does not have a wide network of allies and partners like the United States. Biden is trying to make the best use of it to keep China in check, while China is trying to neutralize The United States' efforts as much as possible.



Amid the intensifying competition and rivalry between the U.S. and China, China has divided the three major battlegrounds of that competition into regional groupings. The first is Europe, centered on NATO. The second is Southeast Asia, centered on ASEAN. The third region is Northeast Asia, centered on Japan and South Korea, the two military pact allies of the United States.



After U.S. President Joe Biden took office this year, the White House hosted its first "face-to-face summit" with Japan, followed by its first "no-mask summit" with South Korea a month later. By holding early back-to-back summits with its two Asian allies (even earlier than Biden's meetings with NATO leaders), Washington clearly showed its intention to utilize robustly its Asian alliance structure with Seoul and Tokyo to contain China.



In particular, Biden recently decided to "choose and focus" on competition with China by pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, even risking the domestic political fallout for the hasty exit process.



Moreover, since there is news that the U.S. government is considering including South Korea and Japan in the "Five Eyes," the exclusive club for top-secret intelligence sharing, China seems intrigued to, in my view, send Wang to inspect the situation in Seoul, including whether the Moon Jae-in administration wants to be a member of Washington's most exclusive fraternity.



Meanwhile, in South Korea, there are divergent discourses regarding the focus of Wang's visit and what his prime agenda might be. For instance, the Hankyoreh, a center-left daily, said that "South Korea-China bilateral relations will be the focus."



Since the Hankyoreh is resourceful in supporting the Moon administration's views, some pundits followed the "cue" and penned accordingly. Some say, for example, that Wang is visiting to "prepare for the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China" next year. Others say that Wang's mission is to coordinate "Xi Jinping's visit to South Korea," which the Moon administration has been trying to arrange for the past four years.



However, these views may be missing some of the bigger U.S.-China geopolitical contexts mentioned above and how they are motivating China's outreach to South Korea.



In Seoul, Wang is expected to push for deeper South Korea-China cooperation on the North Korean issue. However, China's prime goal will be to keep the U.S. sphere of influence in check. Wang can also emphasize China's "special influence" on North Korea to warn the Moon government not to get too close to the U.S.



Taken together, Wang's real purpose includes checking "the temperature" in South Korea regarding the Seoul-Washington alliance, particularly as the Biden administration has demonstrated its sustained strategic focus on China with the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well as the U.S. consideration of inviting South Korea to join the Five Eyes.





Lee Seong-hyon, Ph.D. (sunnybbsfs@gmail.com), is a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. He is the former director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute.


Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California / AP-Yonhap



Regulator expects measure to foster competition in smart device market



By Kim Bo-eun



Korea's antitrust regulator fined Google 207.4 billion won ($177 million) Tuesday for abusing its market dominance to prevent the market entry of competing operating system (OS) developers.



The Korea Fair Trade Commission's (KFTC) fine and corrective measure are the latest moves to curb alleged unfair practices by the U.S. tech giant, following the National Assembly passing a bill last month banning Google from requiring app developers on its app store use its payment system. Google's requirement was devised to increase revenues from fees.



In the latest measure, Google has been ordered to allow electronic device makers to use operating systems other than its Android OS. The watchdog said the multinational company had effectively prevented device manufacturers from developing products loaded with modified versions of the OS. The tech giant had also been forcing manufacturers to sign contracts under which the devices would have to incorporate Google's own app market, Play Store.



These measures were applied to smartphones and other smart devices including watches and TVs. This prevented Samsung Electronics from using a modified OS for its Galaxy Gear 1 smart watch in 2013, the regulator said. Samsung instead opted for the Tizen OS, but faced limitations in its app ecosystem and switched to Google's OS for its Galaxy Watch 4 launched last month.



Google initiated these measures in 2011, effectively increasing its hold over the global OS market. Google's market share grew from 38 percent in 2010 to 87.4 percent in 2012, 93.2 percent in 2014 and 97.7 percent in 2019.



"The keyword in this case is platform. The network effect and resulting dominance in the platform sector makes it difficult for new players to enter the market," KFTC Chairperson Joh Sung-wook told reporters in a briefing.









"By taking this serious measure against the practice of abusing a dominant status in the platform sector, we expect this to serve as a precedent to refer to in executing the law for platform-related cases."



The commission said the latest measure was not a discriminatory move against a foreign firm, stressing it would take the same action against other players regardless of whether they were local or foreign, if they engage in anti-competitive practices.





Korea Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Joh Sung-wook speaks during a briefing in Sejong, Tuesday, outlining a 207 billion won fine on Google for its practice of blocking the market entry of competing operating system (OS) developers. Yonhap




By Yi Whan-woo







LG has joined hands with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a U.S. food processing and commodities trading company, to manufacture bio-plastics from corn, the Korean company announced Tuesday.







It said CEO Shin Hak-cheol and ADM CEO Juan Luciano made an agreement at the American company's headquarters in Chicago, Monday, to establish a joint venture plant in the U.S. to produce lactic acid and polylactic acid-based plastics.







Lactic acid is needed to produce polylactic acid, which is one of the commercially popular types of bio-plastics used in a wide range of products, including food packaging, disposable utensils, clothing and upholstery.







Under the agreement, the two companies will launch a joint venture plant by early 2022, aiming to produce up to 75,000 tons of polylactic acid and lactic acid combined and to sell them by 2025.







The deal makes LG Chem, an LG Group affiliate, the first Korean company to build a polylactic acid plant capable of an integrated process of transforming raw materials into finished goods.







LG Chem will be able to receive a stable supply of high-purity lactic acid as part of its broader plan to accelerate the commercialization of biodegradable chemical products and contribute to the fight against climate change.







"Today's agreement is yet another way in which we're delivering on growth opportunities in plant-based solutions," Luciano said.







Calling LG Chem a "global leader," he said he is "excited to work together" to expand U.S. production of lactic acid.







He expressed hope that the cooperation will help enhance capabilities "to meet growing demand for responsibly-produced products."







Shin viewed the establishment of a joint venture as the "beginning of a new journey," saying it formalizes the cooperation "toward a sustainable business structure for the benefit of the environment and society."







"As a leading company for sustainability, LG Chem will actively seek new ways to contribute to carbon-neutral growth," he said.







LG Chem and ADM have been working together to meet growing demand for bio-based products.







In 2019, the companies signed a joint development agreement to secure mass production technology to create bio-based acrylic acid, which can be used to manufacture superabsorbent polymers used in diapers and other hygiene products.


Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, front right, and Prime Minister Kim Kim Boo-kyum, front left, applaud during the youth hope ON project meeting at the Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) Seoul Campus, Tuesday. Yonhap



Tech giant vows to create 70,000 jobs in the next three years



By Kim Hyun-bin



Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong started his official business agenda a month after his release from prison.



Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum hosted the youth hope ON project meeting with Lee at the Samsung Software Academy for Youth (SSAFY) Seoul Campus, Tuesday.



After their meeting, Lee vowed to create 30,000 additional positions for young jobseekers through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program within the next three years.



"Samsung Group through SSAFY plans to create 10,000 jobs annually for the next three years as part of their diverse social contribution projects. They will initiate a project that would create a total of 30,000 youth jobs," Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said. Samsung vowed to create 40,000 jobs on August 24 and a total of 70,000 jobs in the next three years, Kim added.





Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong takes photos with students enrolled at the company-run SSAFY coding program in this photo taken in 2019. Korea Times file





Participants of Samsung's SSAFY program pose in front of the logo at the SSAFY Seoul Campus. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Afghan women airport workers are pictured at a security checkpoint of the airport in Kabul, Sept. 12. Of the more than 80 women working at the airport before Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15, just 12 have returned to their jobs. AFP-Yonhap



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.



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.





Members of the Taliban patrol along a street in Kabul, Sept. 13. AFP-Yonhap



"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.





People gather to withdraw money from a bank in Kabul, Sept. 12. EPA-Yonhap
In this Sept. 7, 2019, file photo, Britain's Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attends a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bruges in Bruges, Belgium. Britain's Prince Andrew will contest a U.S. court's jurisdiction over a civil suit brought by a woman who says he sexually abused her when she was a teenager, court filings showed Sept. 13. AFP-Yonhap



Britain's Prince Andrew will contest a US court's jurisdiction over a civil suit brought by a woman who says he sexually abused her when she was a teenager, court filings showed Monday.



His lawyers will also say the prince has not been served legal papers in the case, despite claims by his accuser's legal team.



Court papers filed in New York said attorney Andrew Brettler would represent Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II's second son, "for the purpose of contesting purported service of process and challenging jurisdiction."



Accuser Virginia Giuffre says she was "lent out" for underage sex by late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking minors.



Giuffre sued Andrew last month, alleging he sexually abused her at the London home of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, when Giuffre was under 18.



Giuffre also claims Andrew abused her at Epstein's New York mansion and on Little St. James, Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.



Andrew, 61, has vehemently denied claims he had sex with Giuffre and said he has no recollection of meeting her.



Giuffre sued Andrew under the Child Victims Act, as she was 17 at the time of the alleged offenses.



An agent for Giuffre said in an affidavit last week that he handed the papers to a police officer at the main gates of Andrew's property in Windsor, England, on August 27, but did not meet him personally.



Andrew, a divorced father of two and former Royal Navy helicopter pilot, who flew in the 1982 Falklands War against Argentina, was forced to step back from frontline royal duties in late 2019.



That followed outrage at a television interview he gave to the BBC, in which he defended his friendship with Epstein, a multi-million-dollar hedge fund manager who befriended countless celebrities.



Andrew later issued a statement in which he said he "unequivocally" regretted his "ill-judged association" with Epstein.



He has made few public appearances since, although he joined other senior royals for the funeral of his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Windsor Castle last April.



Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting underage girls for Epstein. She is due to go on trial on November 29. (AFP)


On 13 September, authorities in Brazils Sao Paulo state announced that people who are waiting for their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus (Covid-19) are now being offered a Pfizer jab instead to complete their vaccination, due to shortages of the AstraZeneca jab.

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On 13 September Mexicos federal senate approved an impeachment bill after the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneracion Nacional (Morena) reached a consensus with opposition parties.

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Young people around the world are losing the generation game because of the global capitalist crisis. Such is the conclusion drawn in a recent article published in the Financial Times, the mouthpiece of big business in Britain. To the ruling class horror, the crisis is leading to increasing radicalisation of the youth.

The FT is not merely a newspaper, but a special bulletin for investors and the rich  i.e. for the ruling class. With this readership in mind, and speaking with recent graduates, the FT tried to break down exactly why the young generation are losing faith in their system. On the one hand, there are few job prospects for young people: youth unemployment reached a peak of 18% in OECD countries this year, the FT notes. Another is housing, as the FT explains to its readers:

In the UK, people aged under 30 are now four times as likely to rent than they were two generations ago. In the US, a 2015 survey found home ownership among those aged 25 to 34 was 37 per cent, compared with an average of 45 per cent for the same cohort in previous generations.

But the cause of young peoples failing hope for the system goes deeper than any particular factor. It represents disillusionment in the capitalist systems ability to provide a safe, stable life for them.

Weve witnessed widespread misery and social murder during the pandemic. And on top of that, the climate crisis poses an existential threat for the whole of humanity. Young people have a much more doom-laden view of the future, one interviewee tells the FT. And millions are awakening to the systemic nature of the oppression and discrimination which permeates society. In fact, a growing majority of young people in one country after another feel like their lives are spiralling into chaos and instability. The FTs polling indicated that roughly 80% of 18-34 year olds in Spain, the US and the UK agree with the statement, I feel like things in my country are out of control right now. More than 60% agree in South Africa, Brazil, India, France, Canada, Italy, Mexico and Russia.

The FT are careful not to excessively frighten their readership, but had they dug a little deeper they could have found that increasingly young people are coming to the conclusion that it is capitalism that is to blame for the anxiety and instability that dominates their lives. A study by the Institute of Economic Affairs in July found that more than 70% of young people in the UK explicitly blamed the climate crisis, and racism on capitalism, with almost 80% quite rightly blaming the housing crisis on capitalism. 67% of respondents answered that they would prefer to live under a socialist system whilst a remarkable 75% agreed with the statement, socialism is a good idea, but it has failed in the past because it has been badly done.

And in the USA, socialist sentiments haves been steadily rising amongst young people over recent years, with a greater proportion of Millennials viewing socialism more favourably than capitalism. Over a third of Millennials believe in the ultimate elimination of capitalism, and 28% of Generation Z view communism favourably.

A report by the IEA has found that the majority of young people in Britain want socialism. This comes as no surprise. This generation of young people has known nothing but precarity, crisis & climate catastrophe. We must overthrow this rotten system.https://t.co/LS9QdcEtAC  Socialist Appeal (@socialist_app) July 9, 2021

In the back of their heads, the strategists of the ruling class are quite alive to the existential threat that this growing mood of anger poses to their system. Not for nothing have the FTs editors decided to attach a banner to the top of their website, appealing for subscribers to their paper: We believe in capitalism, the appeal starts out  a remarkable thing for the editors of a newspaper called the Financial Times to feel they must justify! It goes on: But the model is under strain. We need to reform in order to preserve. If you think the same, join us. Their appeal that sounds somewhat like a rallying cry by more far-sighted strategists who see serious dangers ahead.

However, as was noted in the FT article, this seething discontent and questioning of the status quo among the youth has yet to be brought together en masse into a coherent movement or vision for the future. At least, not yet. The FT are certainly keen to grasp at any straw, emphasising that young people today are post-political, engaging on single issues, etc. But the brewing anger could easily crystallise into a sweeping movement for fundamental change. As the FT notes, the radicalisation of the youth following the last crisis completely up-ended politics in one country after another, albeit with a delay:

The last cohort to come of age in a global crisis was during the financial crash of 2008-09 and the economic crises and austerity that followed. Then as now, young people were hit disproportionately. Many joined movements such as Occupy Wall Street, the Spanish Indignados and contributed to the leftward shift of the UK Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn after 2015.

Now, the FT notes, the crisis of capitalism is even deeper, and the youth are already beginning to mobilise, Covid-19 has brought the inequalities facing young people into sharper relief. Hit disproportionately by an economic shutdown that disrupted jobs more than assets, young adults are mobilising around issues such as racial justice and climate change.

With the right wing back in control of the Labour Party, relentlessly attacking both the left and its own youth wing, these same radicalised young people are now leaving the party in large numbers. But, the FT notes, this itself poses new dangers for the ruling class. Yes, it means there is currently no outlet for the massive anger building up. But it also means that young people now feel utterly unrepresented by the whole political setup:

Eighteen to 29-year-olds overwhelmingly voted Labour, and theyve never seen a Labour government, a UCL academic tells the FT, I worry about perceived unfairness, disillusionment, more non-voting. Were in the situation that theyve lost out economically in the pandemic, and now theyre losing out politically.

Elsewhere in the world, the situation is much the same. The leaders of the traditional workers parties have adapted themselves so much to capitalism, that they fail to offer any alternative to the rotten status quo. This has been the case with the various social democratic parties across Europe, who, when in power during the last decade, have all implemented austerity.

In response, the youth feel alienated from mainstream parties. These do not provide the answers they want, or allow them to act on their desire for radical change.

Revolutionary ideas

The weight of the rotting capitalist system is bearing down on the youth everywhere. Unable to provide a decent future to millions, the system is preparing the ground for a social explosion in all countries. The FT poses the question as a generational conflict, between home-owning Baby Boomers and propertyless Millennials and Gen Z. The FT explains that young people have been hit disproportionately by an economic shutdown that disrupted jobs more than assets.

True enough, but the FT presents this situation in purely generational rather than class terms. Those who own the overwhelming majority of these assets are the private property-owning capitalists and big landlords. The enemy of working class youth is not a retired generation of workers whose only asset is the home that they perhaps own  which, incidentally, the Tories in Britain are forcing the elderly to surrender in order to pay for their care in old age.

The anger that the FT describes for its readers is a class anger. As one young Italian computer engineering graduate living with his parents in northern Italy told the bosses paper:

We have realised that politics directly influences us, placing physical limits on our lives . . . This situation has brought us closer to politics . . . We are the working class and voters of the future, and a stronger generational opinion is already forming.

The depth and scope of change in society that young people are clearly aware is needed requires not just gradual piecemeal change, but wholesale transformative change; not just radical ideas but revolutionary ideas.

What is needed are the ideas of Marxism. What is needed is the building of a revolutionary organisation where young, radically-minded people will not become demoralised or isolated and can make use of their energy in the class struggle.

Much to the capitalists displeasure, the desire and drive for radical change that young people have shown in recent years is not going away, but is being intensified by the crisis of the system. But it cannot be satisfied by half-heated reformist politics which seek to patch up the system, or through single-issue campaigns.

As one anthropology graduate told the FT in the close of its article: People realise that stuff like [the pandemic] will keep happening if we dont do things differently  theyre open to doing things that may have seemed drastic before.

The only way forward is organising boldly and globally for a socialist revolution against the entire capitalist system, to put power in the hands of the working class and youth.
The US Supreme Court has voted to uphold a new Texas state law that drastically limits access to legal abortions. This scandalous attack on reproductive rights must be met with working-class resistance in defence of fundamental democratic freedoms, which are under threat from the rotten US capitalist system.

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans have believed for decades that abortion should be legal in most cases, the democratic Texas state government has once again attacked the reproductive rights of a majority of the population.

The latest in a string of anti-abortion laws in Texas bans the practice once a heartbeat is detectable, when the fetus is approximately six weeks old. Never mind that this is often before the fetus itself is detectable by the pregnant woman. The law also allows vigilante citizens to sue anyone who helps someone get an illegal abortion for up to $10,000. This is not limited to abortion providers, but even to anyone who drives someone to their appointment. Many other states are poised to pass similar laws. Unsurprisingly, the US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow this law to stand.

To make matters even worse, in a country where 43.6% of women are victims of some form of contact sexual violence during their lifetime, and only 50 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults lead to an arrest, the law makes no exception for cases of rape or incest. In such instances, 80% of Americans believe abortion should be legal, and even a majority (62%) of Americans who identify as pro-life agree with this as well.

Why are so many capitalist politicians so interested in blocking abortion access for the working class? After all, they are happy to support abortion for their mistresses and for personal profit. As always, political expediency trumps the health and wellbeing of the majority. Before the 1970s, conservative politicians could reliably lean on the racism of their white Evangelical voter base by openly supporting segregation. After the Civil Rights movement weakened this position, the politicians needed a new way to rope in these voters. As we have explained in detail elsewhere, they chose to latch onto anti-abortion politics in the 1970s.

When conservatives were no longer able to lean on the racism of their white Evangelical voter base by supporting segregation in the 1970s, they chose to latch onto anti-abortion politics / Image: Thomas Hawk, Flickr

To be sure, liberal capitalists and politicians shed plenty of crocodile tears for women workers. But what do they actually have to offer us? Its noteworthy that Biden has called this law an unprecedented assault on a womans constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade. But back in 1973, when the case was being argued, he said he did not believe that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body. Today, he calls the Texas law extreme for forcing victims of rape and incest to carry their pregancies to term. Yet in 1977 he used his political weight to block federal funding of abortions specifically for cases of rape and incest.

Bidens actions speak louder than his words. His voting record includes: a yes for the Hyde Amendment (to limit Medicaid funding for abortion); a yes for the Hatch Amendment (an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade); a yes for an amendment by Jesse Helms that would block federal funding for abortion research; and five no votes to allow federal funding for federal employees abortions. He even has an anti-choice amendment named after him. The Biden Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act still stops any foreign US aid from being used for abortion-related medical research. Perhaps Bidens Gender Policy Council should focus on undoing his own assault on womens rights.

Melissa Upreti, the chair of the UNs working group on discrimination against women and girls, says the Texas law is profoundly discriminatory and violates a number of rights guaranteed under international law. We ask: who exactly guarantees these rightsthe capitalists? The governments that exist to serve and protect their interests and property? In the final analysis, no capitalist government can guarantee workers rightssince workers and capitalists have diametrically opposed interests.

When cuts must be madeand they must eventually always be made, because capitalism regularly and inevitably lapses into crises of overproductionworkers rights and quality of life are the first to go to the chopping block. There is no friendly capitalism for the people that it exploits. Since the UN exists to ensure capitalism survives globally, the only guarantee Upreti and her colleagues can make to working women is our continuedand worseningoppression.

Despite Bidens crocodile tears for women workers in Texas, he has a track record of voting for laws that block federal funding for abortion, and he even has an anti-choice amendment named after him / Image: Gage Skidmore, Flickr

Ironically, within the ruling class, the predatory rideshare companies Uber and Lyft have put up the strongest fight against this law. Since citizens may now sue anyone who drives people to their abortion appointments, these companies have promised to pay legal fees for any of their drivers who get into trouble, since drivers cannot control what their passengers do. Of course, none of this does anything to help those who actually need an abortion; it doesnt expand abortion access or prevent clinics from closing. Meanwhile, the drivers themselves are ineligible for employer-sponsored health insurance outside of the state of California, let alone assistance for reproductive care. Lyft at least pointed its drivers somewhere it can get health insurancethe federal governments Affordable Care Act.

Attacks on reproductive rights not only harm those of us with uteruses, they harm the entire working class. For women who rely on wages to survivethe vast majority of usan unplanned pregnancy can plunge us deep into poverty or homelessness. Not everyone has health insurance and not all plans cover abortion. For example, in the US, it costs an average of $10,808 to just give birth to a child in a hospital, even when there are no complications. If we include pre- and post-natal care, that number balloons to $30,000.

And yet, Americans of typical childbearing age (under 35) have a median bank account balance of just $3,240. For Black Americans, that number is $1,150, and for Latinos its $1,950. In other words, a pregnancy carried to term can send millions of Americans into lifelong medical debt, even when the pregnancy is wanted. To get an abortion out of state, those seeking the procedure must travel an average of 496 miles round trip. When days of lost work and the cost of room and board are includedas there is often a waiting period of up to 72 hoursthe financial burden can be too much to bear.

The fact is, financial emergencies are not isolated to individual women; when we go into crisis, the men and boys in our lives often go down with us. After all, when we are forced to give birth, there is a near-even chance the child will be male. Currently, 13 million children in America do not get enough food to eat. Roughly half of these kids are boys, and they are certainly not helped by their alleged male privilege.

The entire working class has an undeniable material interest in fighting for full reproductive rights, up to and including abortion, as part of a socialized health care system operated under workers democratic control / Image: Lori Shaull

This is just one reason the entire working class has an undeniable, material interest in fighting for full reproductive rights, up to and including abortion, as part of a socialized, universally accessible health care system, free at the point of service and operated under workers democratic control.

As weve seen, a majority of Americans support the right to abortion. But as with so many other issues, the will of the majority means nothing in a system that offers democracy only to the rich. So when it comes to solving workers problems, we should have no illusions that a capitalist government can offer a solution. Nor should we seek salvation from corporations whose existence depends on extracting the lifeblood of the working class. Only a workers government can faithfully represent the class interests of the majority.

In this context, its worth remembering that the revolutionary workers state established in the October Revolution was the first government in the world to fully legalize abortion over 100 years agoin backwards Russia. Can this amazing achievement happen again? We have every reason to believe so. Help us work toward the building of a mass working-class socialist party! The first step is to join the IMT and organize for revolution in our lifetime.

Originally published 9 September at socialistrevolution.org |
A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Africa/Middle East Joint Group (AME JG) delegation, led by Ms Fikile Zitha, Co-chair of the AME JG, met the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, at the New Treasury Building, in Port-Louis.

The FATF AME JG delegation is in Mauritius from 13 to 15 September 2021 to conduct an on-site visit in the context of the delisting process of Mauritius from the FATF grey list.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Mr Louis Steven Obeegadoo; the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy; the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun; the Attorney General, Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Maneesh Gobin; the Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Mr Nayen Koomar Ballah; the Financial Secretary, Mr Dharam Dev Manraj; the Governor of the Bank of Mauritius, Mr Harvesh Kumar Seegolam; the Director General of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Dr Navin Beekarry; and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Sarwansingh Purmessur, were also present during the meeting.

The objective of the on-site visit is to confirm that the technical aspects of the FATF Action Plan have been completed by Mauritius and that there is the institutional capacity and high-level political commitment to implement the reforms over the medium to long terms. It also aims at verifying the implementation of Mauritiuss Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism reforms.

During its on-site visit, the FATF AME JG delegation will meet the relevant representatives of Ministries and authorities concerned, and will visit the premises of a number of institutions. The decision on the delisting of Mauritius from the grey list will be taken by the FATF at its Plenary scheduled for October 2021.

It is recalled that the 42nd Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group Task Force of Senior Officials and 21st Council of Ministers Virtual Meetings were held recently. As such, the applications made by Mauritius for the upgrading of Recommendations 8, 24 and 33 were considered and had been rated as follows: Recommendation 8 (Non-Profit Organisations) from Non-Compliant to Largely Compliant; Recommendation 24 (Transparency and Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons) from Partially Compliant to Largely Compliant; and Recommendation 33 (Statistics) from Partially Compliant to Compliant.



Prime Minister meet FATF delegation in PMO. Prime Minister meet FATF delegation in PMO. Prime Minister meet FATF delegation in PMO. Prime Minister meet FATF delegation in PMO. Prime Minister meet FATF delegation in PMO.

Following the upgrading of these three Recommendations, Mauritius is now Compliant or Largely Compliant in 39 out of the 40 FATF Recommendations on Technical Compliance, with only Recommendation 15 (New Technologies) rated as Partially Compliant.

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Prudential plc has partnered with Invest Africa a leading trade and investment platform for African markets, to support the development Environmental, Societal and Governance standards. The partnership will centre around Invest Africas flagship programme, The Africa Debate , which sees the Continents business leaders and policy makers assemble annually to discuss future investment priorities for the region.

Arjun Mallik, Managing Director, East Africa, Prudential plc, will join a discussion with leading figures in risk management, finance, business and law to outline why ESG policies should be a priority for investors in Africa and share best practice in ESG strategies. Alongside Prudential plc, DLA Piper, EBII Group, Jersey Finance and Vodafone Group will take part in the debate, drawing on experiences across the region.

In recent years, ESG has moved up the agenda for businesses globally as investors have placed greater emphasis on the integration of ESG measurements to strategic plans and operations. With Covid-19 placing severe strain on African economies, fulfilling local needs while meeting ever more stringent international standards is a challenge for emerging markets. Given the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on these regions, the private sector has an important role to play in setting the agenda for the regions push to build back better from the current crisis.

Now in its 7th year, The Africa Debate will provide the platform to amplify the social, environmental and governance priorities of the regions leaders as they seek to secure the long-term investments needed to drive progress towards the sustainable development goals. The conference will assemble leading figures from government, multilateral institutions and multinational companies including the IMF, World Health Organisation, Google, Afreximbank and the African Development Bank

Karen Taylor, CEO of Invest Africa said, The focus on ESG-led investment within our membership network has become more prominent over the last five years. It is ever more important for businesses to have a set metrics for their plans to define, achieve and measure ESG goals and we aim to facilitate this through cross-sector and cross-border collaboration at The Africa Debate. We are delighted to have a leading institutional investor like Prudential lend their experience and expertise to the discussions.

Arjun Mallik, Managing Director, East Africa, Prudential commented, Prudentials purpose in Africa  as elsewhere  is to help people get the most out of life. Our ESG strategy is integral to how we fulfil that purpose, and we are committed to living the three pillars of this ESG strategy across the continent: making health and financial security accessible to as many people as possible, taking steps to curb the human impact on climate change and building social capital through promoting diversity of thought, a culture of inclusion and a sense of belonging within and outside our organisation.

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International

Japan, US, S Korea call on N Korea to return to arms talks

Tokyo, Sep 14 (AP) | Publish Date: 9/14/2021 12:06:17 PM IST

Senior diplomats from Japan, the US and South Korea Tuesday called on North Korea to return to talks over its missile and nuclear development, a day after Pyongyang announced it successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles, suggesting advancement of its military capabilities. The three-way meeting in Tokyo included US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, South Koreas Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japans Director-General for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.

US envoy Kim said the three countries were open to diplomacy with the North as we see to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies.

Kim called on North Korea to respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.

Washington and its allies will continue to work to fully implement all United Nations Security Council resolutions in addressing North Koreas missile development, he added.

On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the new missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 km (930 miles) away.

The North hailed its new missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance, suggesting that 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 Washington and Seoul.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was also set to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday for talks with South Korean officials over bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday. Chung is expected seek a more active role from Beijing, Pyongyangs main ally and economic lifeline, in persuading the North to return to the negotiation table.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a regular news conference earlier Tuesday that the trilateral meeting had been scheduled before North Koreas test-firing of the missiles, but the meeting the day after would be a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Koreas weekend missile test-firing was a new threat to the region.

Japan and South Korea are separate key allies for the US presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
National

Shun protests in state, Punjab CM appeals to farmers

Amarinder Singh

HOSHIARPUR (PUNJAB), SEP 13 (IANS) | Publish Date: 9/13/2021 1:50:40 PM IST

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday appealed to the representatives of farmers unions not to hold protests across the state against the three Central farm laws passed as the state and its people have already expressed solidarity with them on this issue.

In his address after laying the foundation stone of government college at Mukhliana village in the Chabbewal assembly constituency at a cost of Rs 13.44 crore, he said the state where its entire people stood like a rock with them in favour of their legitimate issues, should desist from holding protests across the state against these black farm laws passed by the BJP-led Central government.

Amarinder Singh said 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.

He, however, said since these laws have already been rejected by the state Assembly and replaced by the states own farm laws which were sent to the Governor for his assent but to our dismay these have not yet been forwarded to the President.

Anything within the purview of his government was done by us promptly, said Amarinder Singh, adding a delegation of various leaders from these farmers unions met him recently in Chandigarh to get the price of sugarcane hiked from Rs 325 to Rs 360 per quintal and it was accepted by him at once.

Expressing concern over the inordinate delay in meeting out farmers justified demands due to Centres apathy, the Chief Minister said instead of holding protest in the state, they should mount pressure on the Union government to get these anti-farmer laws repealed.

He also announced to name this upcoming government college after the name of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the prime architect of the Constitution.
THE government standing its ground on building a Bangladesh civil service administration academy on 700 acres of forest land in Coxs Bazar despite opposition by local people and activists is worrying. Fifteen environmental organisations in the district protested against the government decision on Sunday and demanded that the project on the protected land should be cancelled as it would harm the local ecology and biodiversity. The area proposed for the project is home to at least 58 species of trees, endangered animals and the lease was granted in violation of the national forest policy, the forest law and the governments commitment to the international community to protecting forest land. Green group Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan also condemned the land ministrys decision and said such projects that endanger local biodiversity are a reflection of the governments ecologically insensitive development policy, especially in a district that has already borne the brunt of deforestation. The forest in the district has been harmed by refugee settlement. The government should, therefore, seriously reconsider its policy on development projects on forest land.

Since independence, as the cadastral survey shows, Bangladesh has lost more than 4.58 lakh acres of forest land to the development of government projects or encroachment by more than 100,000 individuals and businesses. The forest department allotted more than 1.60 lakh acres of forest land to government agencies dealing with roads and highways, railway, security and for other development projects. Of the 11,000 acres of forest land in Gazipur and Dhaka, a large portion is encroached on by big businesses and politically influential quarters. The forest department has neither any record of how much land it has lost nor how many cases have remained pending in courts. An investigation that the Anti-Corruption Commission conducted in 2018 found that Gazipur district officials were involved in the illegal use of forest land for the development of at least eight resorts and private parks. When government agencies arbitrarily acquire forest land for development projects and forest department officials are involved in land grab, it is no surprise that greenery disappears. The government should keep off its ecologically insensitive development plans to stem the continued degradation of forests.

Bangladesh as a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals was obliged to stop deforestation by 2020 and is obliged to have 20 per cent of the landmass in forested land by 2030. The government must, therefore, immediately reconsider its decision on forest land acquisition in Coxs Bazar for the construction of a public administration academy. It should also investigate allegations of environmental groups that the approval of the project was made in violation of relevant policies and laws. It must also take initiatives to reclaim the illegally occupied forest land, initiate legal proceedings to reclaim such land and stop building infrastructure on forest land in the name of development. The government, more importantly, must also prioritise forest conservation and reforestation in its development policies.
 New Eastern Outlook

AT THE summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to be held on September 1617 in Tajikistan, the official announcement of the procedure of Irans admission to its membership is expected.

It will be an anniversary summit of the organisation founded 20 years ago in 2001 by six states  The Shanghai Five (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan), formed in 1996, and joined by Uzbekistan. Today, the SCO includes eight countries: in 2017, in addition to the already mentioned six states, India and Pakistan became members of this regional organisation dealing with security, economic and humanitarian cooperation. As a result, the total area of the SCO has made up about 23 per cent of the planets landmass, and its constituent countries population has reached 45 per cent of the worlds population.

In addition, the SCO has four more observer countries (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia) and six dialogue partners (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey). Given the constantly growing international prestige of the SCO in recent years, another 12 countries interested in cooperation claim observer or partner status  Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Maldives, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Thus, the SCO is becoming a central and bridging structure in Eurasia. The expansion of the SCO increases its power and influence. As for the economic aspects, I am sure that we should focus on combining efforts, coordinating national strategies and multilateral projects throughout the SCO space, Russian president Vladimir Putin said back in the day. The goal is to combine the potentials of EurAsEC, the SCO, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Chinas One Belt, One Road Initiative, he further explained.

The SCO charter emphasises that all decisions within the organisation are based solely on the principle of consensus. Therefore even if some small state conditionally opposes it, the decision will simply not be made. In addition, the SCO is characterised by the Shanghai spirit  a code of conduct in which countries commit themselves to develop cooperation based on the principles of trust, mutual respect and mutual consideration of interests.

Given the SCO is a platform for discussing a wide range of regional issues, during the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO member states held in Dushanbe in July, Russia insisted on a favourable consideration of Irans application for membership in this organisation. After all, Iran is also a regional state. It needs to discuss these problems on an equal footing and seek common solutions, particularly to the ongoing situation in and around Afghanistan. Therefore, Tehrans full membership in the SCO would further emphasise that Iran participates in the regional security debate.

Tehran received observer status with the SCO back in 2005 and applied for full-fledged membership in 2008. However, due to the international sanctions against Iran, it could not be accepted into the association until 2015 because, according to SCO rules, a country under UN Security Council sanctions cannot become a member. The sanctions were lifted in 2015 after Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear programme.

However, Tajikistan then unexpectedly blocked the Iranian application, accusing Tehran of supporting the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (banned in Tajikistan and Russia) and indirect involvement in the organisation of contract murders and terrorist acts committed in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, according to another version popular in Iran, the conflict between the two countries was due to financial reasons. According to the Iranian media, Dushanbe intended to embezzle money from Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, who kept it in Tajik banks to circumvent sanctions by trading oil on behalf of the authorities. A third version of the possible reasons for the rift between Dushanbe and Tehran was the growing influence of Irans long-time adversary, Saudi Arabia, on Tajikistans politics. In 2016, Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon visited Riyadh, where he described Saudi Arabia as his countrys important partner in the Arab world. In the spring of 2017, the media reported that Saudi Arabia was allegedly planning to build a parliamentary complex in Dushanbe, requiring the demolition of several buildings in the centre of the city, including the embassy of Iran (although in July 2017, the Tajik authorities announced that they had given preference to a Chinese contractor).

Some time ago, the conflict between Tajikistan and Iran was resolved, and the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi even intended to fly to Dushanbe personally. And this will be his first foreign voyage since his election as president of the Islamic Republic in June 2021. In April, Iran and Tajikistan agreed to establish a joint committee on military defence and armed forces to facilitate further security cooperation between the two countries. It also cannot be ruled out that Tajikistans support for the Iranian application is partly due to the landlocked countrys need to access ports. Iranian ports, including Chabahar in the upper Arabian Sea, offer the cheapest and shortest shipping options.

The transformation of Irans observer status in the SCO into full membership would undoubtedly be an important geopolitical victory for the Islamic Republic regarding its positioning in Eurasia, including in regard to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. In addition, it would refute western propaganda that Iran is in international isolation and could be another boost to the recently concluded Sino-Iranian cooperation agreement. Although, unlike the 25-year-old Iran-China cooperation agreement, which does not imply the binding of any actions, such a scheme is not possible in the SCO.

More intense participation in the activities of the SCO corresponds to the adjustment of foreign policy by current Iranian authorities. Recall that the supreme leader of Iran recently indicated the main outline of the current phase of the countrys foreign policy and the course Raisi should follow: strengthening relations with non-western countries, including China and Russia. During Raisis confirmation ceremony as president by Ayatollah Khamenei, Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to the supreme leader in international affairs, also said that the priority of the Raisi government should be oriented towards the east and cooperation and strategic relations with China, India and Russia which can help Irans economy to progress. At the same time, Iran indeed seeks constructive participation in Eurasian economic and security institutions hoping to reduce the pressure of western sanctions and possibly creating additional leverage in communicating with the west.

New Eastern Outlook, September 13. Vladimir Platov is an expert on the Middle East.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 01:02:06|Editor: huaxia

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Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief convener of the Hong Kong Coalition, addresses an online seminar on the interpretation of the Hengqin plan and Qianhai plan, in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 13, 2021. China's central authorities have recently issued the general plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin and the plan for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

HONG KONG, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Coalition on Monday held an online seminar on the interpretation of the Hengqin plan and Qianhai plan, with more than 10 officials and experts from Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland sharing their views on the new development opportunities brought by the two new plans.

China's central authorities have recently issued the general plan for building a Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin and the plan for comprehensively deepening the reform and opening up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone.

Leung Chun-ying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief convener of the coalition, said in his speech that the two plans provided a broader, more convenient and quality environment for residents of the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao to live, invest and work.

They also provided more diversified development opportunities for enterprises in Hong Kong and Macao, and allowed multinational companies and the international community to seek business opportunities in the vast mainland market through a more familiar operating environment in Hong Kong and Macao, Leung said.

He pointed out that Qianhai, Hengqin and Nansha, as important platforms for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), have their respective characteristics and advantages, serving as accelerators for Guangdong-Hong Kong, Guangdong-Macao and Hong Kong-Macao in-depth cooperation.

Xu Ze, president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said the two plans fully demonstrated the central authorities' firm determination to continue advancing reform and opening up, highlighted the need to leverage the strengths of Hong Kong and Macao, and charted a feasible path for deepening Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation.

Hong Kong needs to be well prepared to seize the opportunity, Xu said, noting that only by following the general trend and leveraging and enhancing Hong Kong's strengths will Hong Kong have a future.

Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said that although the Hengqin plan and the Qianhai plan have different emphases, they both focus on assisting the country to deepen reform and further promote high-quality opening-up.

The Qianhai plan has created greater development space for Hong Kong, provided a driving force for the further improvement of Hong Kong's advantages and pillar industries, and provided a broader platform for the development of young people, Chan said.

He stressed that Hong Kong should seize the new opportunities brought by the national development through cooperation and coordinated development, and make its competitive industries bigger and stronger, thus creating greater development space for Hong Kong people including youth.

Lei Wai Nong, secretary for economy and finance of the Macao Special Administrative Region government, said that the Hengqin plan enables Macao's advantages in business environment to closely link with the GBA's huge domestic market, complete industrial chain, rapid development of infrastructure and the continuous innovation of institutional potential and policy space.

The plan will not only facilitate domestic and foreign investors to form an alliance with Macao capital and enterprises to enter the in-depth cooperation zone and further explore the GBA market, but will also help create a first-class business environment and build the cooperation zone with high quality and efficiency, Lei said.

He also welcomed professionals from Hong Kong to seek development in Hengqin, contribute their wisdom and jointly promote the development of the GBA.

During the discussion session held in Hong Kong, industry professionals and experts from the fields of finance, law and big data expressed their belief that both the Hengqin plan and the Qianhai plan enriched the practice of "one country, two systems" and deepened and enhanced the reform and opening up. They hoped that various sectors of Hong Kong would seize the precious opportunities to integrate into the national development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 05:26:17|Editor: huaxia

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Students are dismissed from the first day of school at PS 133 in the Brooklyn borough of New York, the United States, on Sept. 13, 2021. The public schools in New York City started a new school year with full in-person teaching and learning on Monday as many parents and teachers are still calling for an on-line option. The public school system in New York City, the biggest one in the United States with about 1.1 million students, saw the return of most of its students with joy and anxiety. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The public schools in New York City started a new school year with full in-person teaching and learning on Monday as many parents and teachers are still calling for an on-line option.

The public school system in New York City, the biggest one in the United States with about 1.1 million students, saw the return of most of its students with joy and anxiety.

Meanwhile, New York City requires the vast majority of its 300,000 employees to work in person starting from Monday, leaving parents with no choice but sending their children back to school.

All students and staff members are required to wear masks at school and classrooms, and cafeterias will have air purifiers, with each classroom to be sanitized each night.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio welcomed students back to school on Monday morning at Public School 25 in Bronx.

"It's so good to see all our kids coming back to school in person where they can learn best," said de Blasio, adding that testing and tracing make schools in New York City the safest public school system in America.

New York City mandated all staff members to get vaccinated by at least one shot by Sept. 27.

"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," said de Blasio.

New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter urged people to get vaccinated, saying vaccination is the key to recovery.

Now, students aged 12 and above are not mandated to get inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines and the federal regulator has not approved COVID-19 vaccines for kids younger than 12 years old.

Porter recently said 74 percent of teachers have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, parents, municipal workers and even children held a march from the city hall to Washington Square Park on Sunday demanding a remote learning option and safer conditions.

Another rally was held on Friday at the building of the Department of Education in Lower Manhattan demanding a remote learning option.

A number of parents of students from Public School 229 in Queens sent emails to or called schools asking for a remote learning option and some parents said they won't send their children to school on the first day or for a few weeks.

New York City has put into place rules on quarantine and even school closures in case of infections and Porter admitted that remote learning is a tool at hand.

As many as 87 school-based employees died of COVID-19 in New York City since March 2020, according to the website of New York City's Department of Education. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 17:24:36|Editor: huaxia

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A loaded ship leaves a container terminal in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province, July 13, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jianmin/Xinhua)

"If we compare China-U.S. relations to a giant ship, then economic and trade cooperation has been its ballast and propeller. When the ship sails against heavy winds and huge waves, we need to add more strength to the ballast and propeller," Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said during a virtual meeting with board members of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC).

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang on Monday urged Washington to "make earnest efforts" to improve bilateral ties, stressing the role of economic and trade cooperation as the "ballast and propeller" of China-U.S. relations.

"If we compare China-U.S. relations to a giant ship, then economic and trade cooperation has been its ballast and propeller. When the ship sails against heavy winds and huge waves, we need to add more strength to the ballast and propeller," Qin said during a virtual meeting with board members of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), featuring CEOs of some of the largest U.S. corporations.

Citing the latest survey of USCBC, Qin said that uncertainties caused by difficulties and challenges facing China-U.S. relations have been most worrisome to the American business community.

"What I can offer is the certainty from the Chinese side. China's economy is promising, its market potential is huge, and its door of opening-up will only open wider," Qin said, adding China will continue to welcome American companies to the Chinese market.

"To be frank, the difficulties and uncertainties in China-U.S. trade and business cooperation are not from the Chinese side," he said.

Qin noted that China has been faithfully implementing the phase-one trade agreement despite the pandemic, while the U.S. side has continued to impose sanctions and restrictions on China, including putting more than 900 Chinese entities on various lists of restrictions.

"This has directly affected Chinese companies' ability and willingness to purchase from the U.S. and has had a negative impact on the implementation of the agreement," he said.

"I hope that the U.S. side will meet with China halfway, follow the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and make earnest efforts to improve China-U.S. relations," said the Chinese ambassador. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 19:44:14|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, learns about the progress in making comprehensive use of coal amid circular economy at a chemical company during his inspection tour of Yulin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

XI'AN, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has stressed efforts to develop the country's energy industry, noting that such development should follow a green and low-carbon path.

Xi made the remarks on Monday while visiting a chemical enterprise under the China Energy Investment Corporation in Yulin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Xi inspected the company's central control room, visited its project site, and learned about the comprehensive use of coal.

Continued efforts should be made to boost the energy industry so as to underpin the modernization of the country. Meanwhile, the development of the coal industry should be transformed and upgraded, following a green and low-carbon path, he noted.

Such efforts would be conducive to peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality without straining resources, energy and environmental capacity, Xi said.

"This will help us meet the requirements of building a community with a shared future for humanity and protect our planet Earth well," he added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 19:54:29|Editor: huaxia

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U.S. President Joe Biden is pictured as he speaks with members of the press upon returning to the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 7, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

At issue is that many Americans believe the decision to get vaccinated should be a personal one, not a government mandate. If a person wants to risk illness and possible death, that's their business, many argue.



by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week.

"Next, I will sign an executive order that will now require all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated -- all. And I've signed another executive order that will require federal contractors to do the same," Biden said.

The president's vaccine mandate is immediately blasted by Republicans, who are calling the plans "unconstitutional." Unions are questioning the mandate, and legal challenges could follow.

People walk inside the Oculus center in New York, the United States, Sept. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

REPUBLICANS SEE OPPORTUNITY

"My job as president is to protect all Americans," said Biden. While the nation is attempting to resume normal life, the Delta variant is still wreaking havoc with some people who refuse to get a jab.

As of Aug. 30, around 1.6 million Americans were hospitalized with the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those, only 0.65 percent were people who had been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

At issue is that many Americans believe the decision to get vaccinated should be a personal one, not a government mandate. If a person wants to risk illness and possible death, that's their business, many argue.

Republicans see the issue as an opportunity to appeal to their staunchest supporters.

Biden is "forcing an unconstitutional, un-American federal decree on businesses and families. His agenda is all about power, all about control, and meant to divide us," said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Many Republican governors have publicly opposed Biden's vaccine mandate since it was announced, and some have already vowed legal actions.

The White House is "hammering down on private businesses and individual freedoms in an unprecedented and dangerous way," Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey tweeted.

Meanwhile, the largest labor union in the United States is also asking questions.

While acknowledging "it is the best way for us to protect each other in the workplace," President of the American Federation of Government Employees Everett Kelley emphasized that "workers deserve a voice in their working conditions."

The mandate will impact much of the U.S. business community, said Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the center for international and security studies at the University of Maryland.

"Every firm that contracts with the federal government or would like to do so in future will have to comply," Ramsay said.

It's estimated that over two-thirds of all U.S. jobs are in companies with over 100 employees, Ramsay noted.

A student receives a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Los Angeles, California, the United States, on Aug. 30, 2021. (Xinhua)

EFFECTIVENESS DOUBTFUL

The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet weighed in, although Justice Amy Coney Barrett recently rejected a request to ban a university's vaccine mandate.

However, there have been other successful lawsuits against measures the White House said were aimed at public health.

A federal appeals court over the summer rejected CDC-imposed restrictions on cruise ships. Some experts said the ruling underscored courts' willingness to place restrictions on government public health mandates.

Biden's mandate is a sharp reversal from previous statements from Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in April that the government "cannot require someone to be vaccinated." White House press secretary Jen Psaki on July 25 said forcing vaccinations is "not the role of the federal government."

The New York Times reported that experts seem split on how effective Biden's plan will be.

Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, warned that Americans opposed to vaccination might dig in and bristle at being told what to do, the New York Times reported.

The American Hospital Association was cautious, warning that the moves "may result in exacerbating the severe work force shortage problems," as reported in the New York Times.

Some private firms have already imposed their own vaccine mandates. But other companies are reluctant to do so, on fears of worker backlash.

Naomi Ross, an office manager in her 40s in the DC area, told Xinhua that people should not be forced to get the vaccine. She has been vaccinated, and got the jab the very day it became available to her, the manager said.

Polls show that those who reject the vaccine are more worried about possible side effects of the vaccine than they are about COVID-19. Social media are also rife with conspiracy theories about the vaccine.

As of Monday, over 178 million Americans, or 53.8 percent of the U.S. population, have been fully inoculated.

Vaccine mandates are nothing new in the United States. School children in many U.S. states are required to get vaccinated against measles, chicken pox, polio, and hepatitis B.

Opponents of COVID-19 vaccine mandates said those vaccines have a long history of use, whereas some parents do not trust the coronavirus vaccines because they are so new. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 22:24:19|Editor: huaxia

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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin, Moscow, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Kremlin press release)



Putin hoped Assad's actions to establish a dialogue with political opponents would continue.



MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The unauthorized presence of foreign armed forces in parts of Syria is the main problem facing the Middle Eastern country, Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Their presence not approved by the United Nations or the Syrian leadership contradicts international law, and has impeded efforts to consolidate the country and slowed down post-war restoration, Putin said Monday during a meeting with Assad in Moscow.

Putin hoped Assad's actions to establish a dialogue with political opponents would continue as only a consolidation of all forces in Syria will allow the country to move forward.

He praised Russian-Syrian joint efforts for having dealt a serious and significant blow to terrorists and allowed the Syrian government to control 90 percent of the territory.

Putin also spoke highly of the development of trade and economic ties between the two countries, whose trade volume increased 3.5 times in the first half of this year.

During the meeting, Assad criticized "certain states" for obstructing the political processes in Syria in every possible way and said foreign sanctions were anti-human and illegitimate.

He thanked Russia for providing humanitarian aid, including COVID-19 vaccines, and defending norms of international law. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 22:30:39|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, on Tuesday announced the launch of a competition to stimulate growth of businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps in northern Kenyan county of Turkana.

IFC said in a statement released in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, the competition that runs from Sept. 14 to Nov. 5 encourages businesses to submit proposals for funding and training aimed at facilitating their growth.

Other entities supporting the Local Enterprise Development Competition include Nairobi-based non-profit group, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), Turkana county government and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The broader goal of the contest is to support private sector development and job creation in the vast and drought-prone Turkana County, empower refugees and host communities.

"This competition demonstrates IFC's commitment to local businesses in Kenya and our efforts to uplift host communities and refugees with private sector solutions," said Jumoke Jagun-Dokunmu, IFC's regional director for Eastern Africa.

Jagun-Dokunmu noted that Kakuma refugee camp and the adjacent region has untapped business potential that requires adequate funding and training to unlock and create new jobs for the youth.

Overseen by Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF) which is a joint initiative of IFC and AECF, the Local Enterprise Development Competition focuses on market-led solutions to economic and social challenges facing refugees and their host communities.

Winners of the contest will be announced in early 2022 and will leverage new funding and capacity development to expand their businesses, transform the lives of refugees.

AECF's CEO Victoria Sabula said the competition targets small and medium-sized enterprises owned and operated by residents of Turkana county including refugees. The competition will pay special attention to businesses owned by women and youth that require capital injection to expand their geographical reach as they generate employment.

The winners of the third edition of Local Enterprise Development Competition will receive performance-based grants ranging from 1.5 million shillings (about 13,648 U.S. dollars) to 5 million shillings besides advisory support focusing on marketing, financial management and publicity. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-15 00:13:49|Editor: huaxia

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JUBA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 soldiers were killed in fresh clashes on Monday between rival factions of South Sudan's opposition group -- the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-in opposition (SPLM/A-IO), an official confirmed on Tuesday.

Lam Paul Gabriel, spokesperson for the SPLA-IO under First Vice President Riek Machar said three senior military officers were among those killed in the clashes that occurred at Morjala and Gazal area of Upper Nile state with another SPLA-IO splinter group.

The fresh clashes came after the breakaway SPLM/A-IO faction led by Machar's former chief of staff Simon Gatwech Dual on August 4 clashed at Magenis with soldiers loyal to the latter, leaving 34 soldiers killed.

Dual's faction had accused Machar of nepotism and weakening its hand in the transitional unity government formed in February last year.

"The breakaway faction (Kit-Guang) are working to widen their area of operation, they want to expand their territory but we are fighting in self-defense," said Gabriel.

South Sudan descended into conflict in December 2013, following a political dispute between Kiir and his deputy Machar that caused a split within the army, leaving soldiers loyal to the respective leader to fight.

A peace deal signed in 2015 collapsed in the aftermath of renewed violence in July 2016. The revitalized peace deal signed in 2018 under pressure from the international community remains the only hope to durable peace in the youngest nation, following years of violence that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions both internally and externally. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-15 02:41:12|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- A young Zambian engineer who has been working for a Chinese construction firm since 2015 has expressed gratitude for the opportunity, saying this has enabled him to enhance his skills.

Chisamba Mayondi said the time he has spent at China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Cooperation, which was given a contract to construct an ultra-modern terminal at Zambia's biggest international airport, the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, has made him competitive in the job market.

"When I learned of this project I really wanted to join because it was a great opportunity to learn different things. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I really appreciate and feel privileged to be part of this," he said in an interview.

Mayondi believed that the exposure he has gained at the Chinese firm gives him an edge in the job market.

Apart from enhancing his skills, the experience has enabled him to get managerial skills on how to manage people because construction works involve dealing with people.

"For me, the experience has opened for me a lot of doors. It has given me a competitive edge in any market," he added.

He appreciated how local and Chinese workers have managed to work together in harmony despite cultural and language barriers.

According to him, the workers have been able to come up with a way to communicate, a situation which helps them work in harmony during the construction period.

He said that the relationship between China and Zambia has brought benefits to the southern African nation.

His hoped that the cooperation will continue to grow because apart from supporting Zambia's development, local people have benefited through skills transfer.

According to him, people who joined the company as unskilled laborers have acquired various skills which will not only benefit them as individuals but also the country.

"At the same time, there has been a lot of skills transfer. A lot of people were unskilled laborers when they joined but now they are skilled people. This is good for them and good for the country," he added.

He said the Chinese firm has exposed him to various areas in the construction industry, adding that the company's systems have been created in a way that gives workers an opportunity to experience various areas of the project.

The Chinese firm started construction works for the terminal in 2015. Once completed, it will have a hotel, cargo terminal, air traffic control building, rescue and fire station as well as a shopping mall.

Mayondi, who undertook a four-year civil engineering course at Southwest Jiaotong University in China.

He went to China in 2010 and first did a one-year training in the Chinese language and preparatory course at Tongji University. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 18:23:06|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Forced to go home empty-handed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and bad weather in spring, 82-year-old Spanish mountaineer Carlos Soria is back in Nepal for Mt. Dhaulagiri in an effort to become the oldest person to climb the world's 14 highest peaks.

On Monday, the Spanish reached the base camp of Mt. Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh tallest peak at 8,167 meters, said Mingma Sherpa, chairperson of Seven Summit Treks which is organizing the climber's expedition.

"The expedition team is expected to reach the top of Mt. Dhaulagiri by October 10, provided the weather conditions remain friendly," Sherpa told Xinhua.

Soria has already scaled 12 of the 14 highest peaks, including Mt. Qomolangma, the world's tallest at 8,848.86 meters, and Mt. Dhaulagiri and Mt. Shishapangma, the world's 14th highest at 8,012 meters inside the Xizang Autonomous Region of China, are his last targets.

"Now, we can see and feel closer to Dhaulagiri... In the next few hours, we hope to get to our base field," the Spanish climber wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.

Soria will be aided by four Nepali Sherpa guides in his 12th attempt on Mt. Dhaulagiri, according to the Seven Summit Treks. "This shows his commitment to the cause," Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a climbing guide leading the expedition team, told Xinhua.

In May, the Spaniard backed down from his attempt on the peak due to bad weather and reported coronavirus infections among the mountaineering guides.

He started scaling mountains above 8,000 meters at the age of 55 and has conquered 11 since turning 60. He climbed Mt. Qomolangma at the age of 61, briefly becoming the oldest person to summit the world's tallest peak.

Even though time is running out for Soria because of his age, he appeared to be cool. "I am very happy with the life that I have lived," Soria told Xinhua in an interview in April.

The climber arrived in Nepal on Sept. 6 along with another Spanish mountaineer who shall also attempt Mt. Dhaulagiri, according to the climbing guide Sherpa.

As of Monday, a total of 227 climbers from 24 teams have received climbing permits to summit five Himalayan mountains inside Nepal, while 40 of them from four teams are aiming at Mt. Dhaulagiri, according to Nepal's Department of Tourism. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 14:37:28|Editor: huaxia

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by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are either vaccinated or tested once a week.

"Next, I will sign an executive order that will now require all executive branch federal employees to be vaccinated -- all. And I've signed another executive order that will require federal contractors to do the same," Biden said.

The president's vaccine mandate is immediately blasted by Republicans, who are calling the plans "unconstitutional." Unions are questioning the mandate, and legal challenges could follow.

REPUBLICANS SEE OPPORTUNITY

"My job as president is to protect all Americans," said Biden. While the nation is attempting to resume normal life, the Delta variant is still wreaking havoc with some people who refuse to get a jab.

As of Aug. 30, around 1.6 million Americans were hospitalized with the coronavirus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of those, only 0.65 percent were people who had been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

At issue is that many Americans believe the decision to get vaccinated should be a personal one, not a government mandate. If a person wants to risk illness and possible death, that's their business, many argue.

Republicans see the issue as an opportunity to appeal to their staunchest supporters.

Biden is "forcing an unconstitutional, un-American federal decree on businesses and families. His agenda is all about power, all about control, and meant to divide us," said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Many Republican governors have publicly opposed Biden's vaccine mandate since it was announced, and some have already vowed legal actions.

The White House is "hammering down on private businesses and individual freedoms in an unprecedented and dangerous way," Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey tweeted.

Meanwhile, the largest labor union in the United States is also asking questions.

While acknowledging "it is the best way for us to protect each other in the workplace," President of the American Federation of Government Employees Everett Kelley emphasized that "workers deserve a voice in their working conditions."

The mandate will impact much of the U.S. business community, said Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the center for international and security studies at the University of Maryland.

"Every firm that contracts with the federal government or would like to do so in future will have to comply," Ramsay said.

It's estimated that over two-thirds of all U.S. jobs are in companies with over 100 employees, Ramsay noted.

EFFECTIVENESS DOUBTFUL

The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet weighed in, although Justice Amy Coney Barrett recently rejected a request to ban a university's vaccine mandate.

However, there have been other successful lawsuits against measures the White House said were aimed at public health.

A federal appeals court over the summer rejected CDC-imposed restrictions on cruise ships. Some experts said the ruling underscored courts' willingness to place restrictions on government public health mandates.

Biden's mandate is a sharp reversal from previous statements from Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in April that the government "cannot require someone to be vaccinated." White House press secretary Jen Psaki on July 25 said forcing vaccinations is "not the role of the federal government."

The New York Times reported that experts seem split on how effective Biden's plan will be.

Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, warned that Americans opposed to vaccination might dig in and bristle at being told what to do, the New York Times reported.

The American Hospital Association was cautious, warning that the moves "may result in exacerbating the severe work force shortage problems," as reported in the New York Times.

Some private firms have already imposed their own vaccine mandates. But other companies are reluctant to do so, on fears of worker backlash.

Naomi Ross, an office manager in her 40s in the DC area, told Xinhua that people should not be forced to get the vaccine. She has been vaccinated, and got the jab the very day it became available to her, the manager said.

Polls show that those who reject the vaccine are more worried about possible side effects of the vaccine than they are about COVID-19. Social media are also rife with conspiracy theories about the vaccine.

As of Monday, over 178 million Americans, or 53.8 percent of the U.S. population, have been fully inoculated.

Vaccine mandates are nothing new in the United States. School children in many U.S. states are required to get vaccinated against measles, chicken pox, polio, and hepatitis B.

Opponents of COVID-19 vaccine mandates said those vaccines have a long history of use, whereas some parents do not trust the coronavirus vaccines because they are so new. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 16:47:34|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang on Monday urged Washington to "make earnest efforts" to improve bilateral ties, stressing the role of economic and trade cooperation as the "ballast and propeller" of China-U.S. relations.

"If we compare China-U.S. relations to a giant ship, then economic and trade cooperation has been its ballast and propeller. When the ship sails against heavy winds and huge waves, we need to add more strength to the ballast and propeller," Qin said during a virtual meeting with board members of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), featuring CEOs of some of the largest U.S. corporations.

Citing the latest survey of USCBC, Qin said that uncertainties caused by difficulties and challenges facing China-U.S. relations have been most worrisome to the American business community.

"What I can offer is the certainty from the Chinese side. China's economy is promising, its market potential is huge, and its door of opening-up will only open wider," Qin said, adding China will continue to welcome American companies to the Chinese market.

"To be frank, the difficulties and uncertainties in China-U.S. trade and business cooperation are not from the Chinese side," he said.

Qin noted that China has been faithfully implementing the phase-one trade agreement despite the pandemic, while the U.S. side has continued to impose sanctions and restrictions on China, including putting more than 900 Chinese entities on various lists of restrictions.

"This has directly affected Chinese companies' ability and willingness to purchase from the U.S. and has had a negative impact on the implementation of the agreement," he said.

"I hope that the U.S. side will meet with China halfway, follow the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and make earnest efforts to improve China-U.S. relations," said the Chinese ambassador. Enditem
SOUTH African drug dealer, Shila Khumalo, who was convicted in May this year, collapsed at the Harare Magistrates Court yesterday shortly after chief magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi sentenced her to 12 years in jail.

Khumalo will, however, serve 10 years after Mutevedzi suspended two years on condition of good behaviour.

A number of South Africans have been arrested at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport for drug trafficking.

The court heard that on May 9, information was received that Khumalo was coming to Zimbabwe from Brazil with cocaine aboard an Ethiopian Airways plane and was expected to land at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.

On May 10, acting on the information, a team of detectives from CID Drugs and Narcotics Harare, operatives from the Central Intelligence Organisation and personnel from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, who were manning the arrival lounge at the airport, intercepted her.

A search was conducted on her luggage and person leading to the recovery of 53 white balls in her undergarment.

The whitish powder was tested in the presence of the accused at the airport and it tested positive for cocaine.

It was further discovered that she had ingested 60 balls of cocaine. So far she has excreted 58 balls. The court heard that she is linked to a syndicate most of whose members are still at large. Newsday
Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswanas private television station YTV has challenged the business community to consider creating employment for the countrys youth faced with spiraling unemployment
Ive watched Netfilixs Narcos crime series from the beginning and enjoyed it thoroughly.

From the series first tale of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar to the murder of DEA special agent Kiki Camarena and the aftermath in Mexico, the series has been consistently first rate.

So I was pleased to read Rosy Corderos report at Deadline.com that Narcos will be returning to Netflix with the third season in Mexico.

Netflixs Narcos: Mexico returns with season 3 on Nov. 5  its final season in Mexico. It is as yet unknown if the franchise will continue with another installment after the original series, set in Colombia, and the Mexico offshoot, both of which ran for three seasons. Executive producers previously have said their intention was to follow the drug trade across various countries.

The new season is set in the 90s, when the globalization of the drug business ignites.

It examines the war that breaks out after Felix Gallardos (Diego Luna) arrest. As newly independent cartels struggle to survive political upheaval and escalating violence, a new generation of Mexican kingpins emerge. But in this war, truth is the first casualty  and every arrest, murder, and take-done only pushes real victory further away.

You can read the rest of the of the piece and watch a video of the trailer via the below link:

Narcos: Mexico To End With Season 3 On Netflix  Deadline




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
Russia's Supreme Court backs women's right to self-defense against domestic violence

 flickr.com/ Mark Ramsay

10:38 14/09/2021

MOSCOW, September 14 (RAPSI)  Russia's Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a woman who stabbed her partner with a knife saying that it was justified self-defense.

The Court clarified that justified self-defense is defined by the Criminal Code as the actions aimed at protecting the personality and rights of the defender or other persons protected by law, of the interests of society or the state from a socially dangerous assault, if such an assault is associated with violence dangerous to the life of the defender or another person, or with an imminent threat of such violence.

According to the case materials, in the course of a quarrel initiated by the womans partner he attacked her in the presence of a child by inflicting blows at her body and pressuring her throat, what resulted in choking, while she was cutting bread with a knife; the defendant pushed the man away from herself and used this knife to stab him in the chest area.

A court of first instance qualified these actions as deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm, dangerous to the victims life, committed with the use of objects used as weapons and considered that the actions of the victim did not pose a threat to the life and health of the defendant.

An upper court dismissed the appeal against this ruling; however, it re-qualified the womans actions as deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm, committed in excess of the limits of necessary defense.

The Supreme Court in turn found that this conclusion of the court of appeal was made with a significant violation of the provisions of the Russian Criminal Code dealing with justifiable self-defense.

Under the established circumstances of the incident, the woman had the right to inflict any damage of any nature and extent to the assailant, as there was a real threat to her life; the single blow on the victim with a knife was inflicted precisely at that very moment, the Supreme Court noted.

Therefore, the defendant committed no crime as per the respective provision of the Criminal Code, the Supreme Court found. It ordered to cancel the conviction and later judicial acts issued with respect to the woman and to terminate the criminal case for lack of corpus delicti. The Court also recognized the defendants right to rehabilitation.
Court in Moscow again fines Facebook, Twitter for for failing to remove banned content

 flickr.com / Mr Seb

16:06 14/09/2021

MOSCOW, September 14 (RAPSI)  A Moscow court has fined social media companies Facebook and Twitter for failing to delete content prohibited by Russian law, Zulfiya Gurinchuk, press secretary of the Moscows Tagansky District court, told RAPSI.

Facebook was handed fines totalling 21 million roubles (about $288,000) while Twitter received fines of a total 5 million roubles (about $70,000).

For similar offenses, Facebook was earlier fined 26 and 17 million rubles ($356,000 and $233,000 at the current exchange rate). Twitter was fined 19 million rubles ($260,000) in May.

Russias communications watchdog Roskomnadzor routinely reminds that if an Internet platform fails to block the prohibited information within 24 hours after receiving the respective notification, it faces fines ranging from 800,000 to 4 million rubles ($11,000  55,000) and up to 10% of its total annual revenue in case of repeated violations.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A girl student, Kanimozhi who had scored 562 out of 600 marks in Tamil Nadu plus two examination, committed suicide in Santhampadi village of Ariyalur district reportedly on the fear that she was not able to perform well in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Examination (NEET).

She took the extreme step on Monday evening.

Kanizmozhi daughter of advocate couple, Karunanidhi and Vijayalakshmi had reportedly told her parents that she was unhappy over her performance in NEET.

Ariyalur police superintendent's office told IANS that the girl took the extreme step on Monday evening when the parents had gone for a wedding ceremony. Police said that both the parents had given her all support but for the past couple of days, she was unhappy over the performance in the entrance examination. An FIR has been registered under Section 174.

This is the second case of suicide in Tamil Nadu after Dhanush, a 19-year-old student who had killed himself hours before the NEET examination on Sunday.

This is the third death in Ariyalur district due to NEET exam in the last few years, Anitha in 2017 and Vignesh died in 2020.

The DMK has already passed a bill against NEET in the Tamil Nadu assembly on Monday.
After Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee, West Bengal Law Minister Moloy Ghatak also informed the enforcement directorate that it is not possible for him to go to ED office in New Delhi on Tuesday and suggested that the ED officers can come to Kolkata to interrogate him.

Ghatak was summoned by ED in connection with the coal scam and money laundering case.

According to sources in the ED, the state law minister wrote a letter to the central agency that it would not be possible for him to be present at the ED office on such short notice. The minister instead proposed to record his statement in a video conference.

Ghatak's lawyer Divakar Kundu is going to Delhi. The minister informed him that he had received the notice on September 10 but the next two days were holidays followed by a cabinet meeting on September 13. So, it was not possible to prepare all the documents so quickly.

The minister also said that as he is stationed in Kolkata and ED has an office in the city, the officers can come down to Kolkata and record his statement. The minister also said that he was ready to cooperate with the probe agency to the best of his knowledge.

After Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee, Ghatak is the third person to get a call from the central agency investigating the coal scam. Though Rujira Banerjee refused to go to Delhi, Abhishek Banerjee went to the ED office in New Delhi on September 6 and was interrogated for nine hours. He was again called the next day but he refused to go. The ED has issued a fresh notice and asked him to appear on September 21.

The case, filed under criminal sections of the (PMLA), was filed by the ED after studying a November, 2020 FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that alleged a multi-crore coal pilferage scam related to the Eastern Coalfields Ltd mines in the state's Kunustoria and Kajora areas in and around Asansol. Local state operative Anup Majhi alias Lala is alleged to be the prime suspect in the case.

The ED had earlier claimed that Ghatak was a beneficiary of funds obtained from this illegal trade. According to ED sources, the investigators have spoken to more than one person in this connection, collected information and recorded their statements. The name of Ghatak has come up on several occasions during these interrogations. Apart from the ED, the CBI is also investigating the coal scam.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has expressed concern over the delay in justice to the Hathras rape victim who died exactly a year ago.

In a tweet, Priyanka Gandhi said that it has been exactly a year since the incident took place but instead of getting justice, the victim's family is receiving threats.

She said that the victim was denied a proper cremation and the entire state machinery was involved in maligning the girl's character.

"How can one even expect sensitivity from a government that is not concerned about women's security and safety? The anti-women mentality of the chief minister who has said 'women should not be given freedom' is known to everyone," she tweeted.

Last year, a Dalit girl was allegedly raped by four youths in a village in Hathras.

She died two weeks later in a Delhi hospital. After her death, the victim was forcibly cremated by the police without the consent of her family -- a claim later denied by the police.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal will travel to Haldwani and Nanital in Uttarakhand as a part of his election tour ahead of the Assembly elections in the state scheduled in 2022.

"AAP national convenor & Delhi CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal to visit Uttarakhand's Kumaon region. CM Arvind Kejriwal will reach Haldwani on 19 September, 2021. Important tour in view of the upcoming Uttarakhand assembly elections," the Delhi-based party said in a tweet.

"The agenda of CM's visit to the state is presently being planned," a source said.

Earlier in August, Kejriwal had named Col (Retd) Ajay Kothiyal as AAP's chief ministerial candidate for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

He had said that the people of Uttarakhand do not want politicians but a patriot army man, who has fought for the country, battled terrorists, carries two bullets in his body, and played a major role in the reconstruction of Kedarnath after the 2013 tragedy.

"People here want a break from politicians who have only looted the state. They now want an Armyman as CM who will not spend his tenure filling his coffers but serve them," Kejriwal had said in Dehradun, adding that he wishes to develop Uttarakhand as a spiritual capital for Indians living across the world.

He had also assured people of generating employment opportunities for the youth if AAP is voted to power in Uttarakhand.

Kothiyal had joined AAP in April this year at an event in Haridwar.

With AAP jumping into the fray by banking on a retired armyman and the Congress as the main opposition, a triangular contest also involving the ruling BJP is anticipated in the hilly-state.

The Kejriwal-led party has planned to contest all the 70 seats in the state.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the BJP, who controls MCD Delhi, of negligence over the building collapse incident that occurred in North Delhi's Sabzi Mandi area a day ago.

Addressing a press conference this afternoon, senior party leader Durgesh Pathak said, "That four storey building was being illegally renovated. In fact, AAP counciller from the Malka Ganj Ward -- Guddi Devi had been verbally updating the MCD about the concerns of RWA members and local residents regarding that construction. She also wrote them a letter on September 2 but the party did not heed her warning."

"I am sure that BJP is involved in this illegal construction and has taken bribe for the same," he alleged adding that the building used to be constructed during the night hours and it could not have happened without MCD member's knowledge.

The blood of those two children who lost their lives in yesterday's building collapse is on the saffron party, Pathak further said.

The building, which was around 50 to 60 years old, was not even declared dangerous.

Delhi Police arrested the owner of the ill-fated building on Tuesday under sections 288, 304, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. An investigation over the matter is going on.

Durgesh Pathak further accused the BJP of selling four of Delhi's areas, namely, Karol Bagh, Pusa Road, Old Rajinder Nagar, Shastri Nagar and said, "Earlier these people used to give land on lease but now they have started selling them off."

There will be a standing committee meeting of the BJP on Wednesday where the future of these four-key areas will be taken, said the AAP leader, adding that their party will protest against the decision.

He also condemned MCD's decision to sell the Novelty cinema land.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/14/2021 -- 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.



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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



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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.



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Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/14/2021 -- The Latest research study released by HTF MI "Worldwide Big Data 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 CropIn, Farmeron, FarmLogs, AKOL, VitalFields, Search Technologies, Blue River Technology, The ClimateCorporation, Silent Herdsman, HoneyComb, Granular, MySmartFarm, PrecisionPlanting & Monsanto etc.



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Browse market information, tables and figures extent in-depth TOC on "Worldwide Big Data Market by Application (Farmers, Weather Forecast, Agricultural Regulatory Bodies & Agrochemical Industry), by Product Type (, Hardware, Software & Services), Business scope, Manufacturing and Outlook  Estimate to 2025".



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At last, all parts of the Worldwide Big Data 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.



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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:

Worldwide Big Data Market By Application/End-User (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : Farmers, Weather Forecast, Agricultural Regulatory Bodies & Agrochemical Industry



Market By Type (Value and Volume from 2021 to 2026) : , Hardware, Software & Services



Worldwide Big Data Market by Key Players: CropIn, Farmeron, FarmLogs, AKOL, VitalFields, Search Technologies, Blue River Technology, The ClimateCorporation, Silent Herdsman, HoneyComb, Granular, MySmartFarm, PrecisionPlanting & Monsanto.



Geographically, this report is segmented into some key Regions, with manufacture, depletion, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Worldwide Big Data 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 Worldwide Big Data 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 Worldwide Big Data 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.



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Some of the important question for stakeholders and business professional for expanding their position in the Worldwide Big Data 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 Worldwide Big Data movement showcase by applications, types and regions?

Q 4.What segments grab most noteworthy attention in Worldwide Big Data Market in 2020 and beyond?

Q 5. Who are the significant players confronting and developing in Worldwide Big Data Market?



For More Information Read Table of Content @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3521594-worldwide-big-data-market



Key poles of the TOC:

Chapter 1 Worldwide Big Data Market Business Overview

Chapter 2 Major Breakdown by Type [, Hardware, Software & Services]

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.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/14/2021 -- According to a new market research report "Data Center Rack Server Market by Form Factor (1U, 2U, and 4U), Service, Tier Type (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4), Data Center Type (Mid-Sized, Enterprise, and Large Data Centers), Industry, and Region - Global Forecast to 2024" published by MarketsandMarkets, the data center rack server market size expected to grow from USD 52.1 billion in 2019 to USD 102.5 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 14.5% during the forecast period.



Major growth factors for the market include an increasing need for high-density servers due to high computation needs and advancement in emerging technologies, such as edge computing, IoT, and big data analytics.



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85- Tables

34- Figures

134- Pages



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2U form factor segment to hold the largest market size during the forecast period



The 2U form factor segment is estimated to hold one of the largest chunks of the data center rack server market shares during the forecast period. This is mainly because it facilitates easy adoption in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The servers require normal coolers and hence are economical. Moreover, 2U rack server solutions enable low-cost deployment for a variety of data center needs. These benefits fuel the demand for data center rack servers in the market.



Mid-sized data centers segment to record the fastest growth rate during the forecast period



The adoption of data center rack servers among mid-sized data centers is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Rack servers used in mid-sized data center provides a facility for storing and computing information at a lower cost, which helps organizations in their personal or private usage. Organizations are rapidly adopting these solutions as they provide increased scalability and easy migration from traditional technologies. Vendors can develop specific solutions targeted toward mid-sized data centers to improve their position in the data center rack server market. Furthermore, rising technological proficiency among the mid-sized data centers further compels mid-sized data centers to adopt data center rack servers.



North America to hold the largest market size during the forecast period



Countries that contribute the most to the data center rack server market in North America include the US and Canada; the reason for the dominance of these countries is their well-established economies, which enable investments in new technologies. North America being the most developed region, is home to large industries that are capable of investing in reliable and advanced IT infrastructure for growing data traffic, thereby opening new opportunities for the adoption of data center rack servers.



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Market Players



Key market players profiled in this report are Hewlett Packard Enterprise (US), Lenovo (China), Dell (US), Cisco Systems (US), Huawei (China), Oracle (US), Fujitsu (Japan), NEC (Japan), Rittal (Germany), Vertiv (US), Schneider Electric (France), Asus (China), Inspur Systems (China), Iron Systems (US), Black Box Corporation (US), and Quanta Computer,. (China).



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, and 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:

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MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

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Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

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Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/14/2021 -- According to a new market research report "Deep Packet Inspection and Processing Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Solution Type (Hardware and Software), Installation Type (Integrated and Standalone), Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2024" published by MarketsandMarkets, the Deep Packet Inspection and Processing Market size expected to grow from USD 8.7 billion in 2019 to USD 12.5 billion by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.9% from 2019 to 2024.



The major factors driving the deep packet inspection and processing market include the continuous evolution of cyberattacks and their corresponding security solutions, need for modern network performance management and optimization solutions. The growing need to meet compliance requirements, increasing advancements in the communication technology, and soaring need to counter fraudulent activities in several verticals are fueling the demand for installing deep packet inspection and processing solutions in various organizations across the globe.



Browse in-depth TOC on "Deep Packet Inspection and Processing Market"

164- Tables

34- Figures

181- Pages



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By organization size, the large enterprises segment to hold a significant share in the global deep packet inspection and processing market in 2019



Large enterprises are organizations that have more than 1,000 employees. These organizations invest heavily in advanced technologies for increasing overall productivity and efficiency. To reduce Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX) of infrastructure, large enterprises are widely opting cloud-based deep packet inspection and processing solutions. Large enterprises are expected to invest significantly in implementing advanced deep packet inspection and processing solutions that are capable of anomaly-based detection to provide optimum security to their intense competitive environment.



Large enterprises have adopted cloud security solutions, as they use a large number of cloud and Internet of Things (IoT)-based applications susceptible to cyberattacks. Moreover, as they face threats from targeted attacks to disrupt their Information Technology (IT) services, these organizations adopt deep packet inspection and processing solutions to provide effective security.



Based on verticals, the IT and telecom vertical to hold a significant share in the global deep packet inspection and processing market during the forecasted period



IT and telecom is one of the major adopters of deep packet inspection and processing solutions. It has been a highly regulated and competitive industry that always processes a majority of the private data of its customers. The increased integration of ICT with the daily activities of industries, governments, families, and consumers, along with the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, has led the telecom and IT vertical to focus more on their cybersecurity activities. Telecom organizations typically store personal data such as names, addresses, and financial data, which is a compelling target for cybercriminals or insiders. Thus, factors such as the use of Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls, storage of data on cloud services, mobility and cloud computing, and extensive use of platform-as-a-service in enterprises are expected to fuel the demand for deep packet inspection and processing solutions in the IT and telecom vertical.



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North America to hold the largest market share during the forecast period



North America dominates the global deep packet inspection and processing market, as the growth in the region is being driven by the rising internet penetration and increasing adoption of cloud-based and IoT applications across verticals. Moreover, North America tops the world in terms of security breach incidents. Therefore, the global market is dominated by North America that is considered to be the most advanced region with regard to cyber technology adoption and infrastructure.



Other factors pushing the deep packet inspection and processing market in this region are enormous usage of smart handheld devices, rapidly growing eCommerce, and friction among the competing countries in different regions. The strict announcement by the US government that no funding would be allocated to business projects unless cybersecurity is properly addressed in the mission is also arousing a sense of cyber awareness among the businesses in North America.



Market Players



The major vendors covered in the deep packet inspection and processing market include IBM (US), Cisco Systems (US), Extreme Networks (US), Juniper Networks (US), Symantec (US), SolarWinds (US), Viavi Solutions (US), NetScout (US), LogRhythm (US), Qosmos (France), Cubro Network Visibility (Austria), Lionic Corporation (Taiwan), Trovicor (Taiwan), Netronome (US), Sandvine (Canada), Huawei (China), Bivio Networks (US), Ipoque (Germany), ManageEngine (US), and WiseSpot (Hong Kong).



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, and 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

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Northbrook, IL 60062

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Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com

MnM Blog: https://mnmblog.org

Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/deep-packet-inspection-processing.asp
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/14/2021 -- The "Worldwide Personal Identity Management - Market Development Outlook " Study has been added to HTF MI repository. The study envisage detailed qualitative as well as quantitative market data insights and follows Industry benchmark classification and NAICS standards to built strong players coverage in the study. Some of the major and emerging players identified are IBM Corporation, VMware, Broadcom, Microsoft, Oracle, OneLogin, Centrify, Sailpoint, Broadcom, Accenture, Deloitte & Ernst & Young.



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Worldwide Personal Identity Management Market Development Scenario by Players

? Financials Information, Business Overview and Product Specification Matrix

? Patent Analysis Briefing* [if applicable]

? No. of Patents Issuance by Year / by Players / By Issuing Office

? Key Development  Product/Service Launch, Mergers & Acquisition, Joint Ventures



Worldwide Personal Identity Management Market Competition



Each company profiled in the research document is studied considering various factors such as product and its application portfolios, market share, growth potential, future plans, and development activity. Readers will be able to gain complete understanding and knowledge of the competitive landscape. Most importantly, the report sheds light on important strategies that key and emerging players are taking to maintain their ranking in the Worldwide Personal Identity Management Market. It shows how the market competition will change in the next few years and how players are preparing themselves to stay ahead of the curve.



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Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report :



1) How companies are selected or profiled in the report?

List of some players that are profiled in the the report includes "IBM Corporation, VMware, Broadcom, Microsoft, Oracle, OneLogin, Centrify, Sailpoint, Broadcom, Accenture, Deloitte & Ernst & Young". Usually we follow NAICS Industry standards and validate company profile with product mapping to filter relevant Industry players, furthermore list is sorted to come up with a sample size of atleast 50 to 100 companies having greater topline value to get their segment revenue for market estimation.



** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc.



2) Is it possible to add more list of company and customize study as per our need?

Yes, we can add or profile new company as per client need in the report, provided it is available in our coverage list as mentioned in answer to Question 1 and after feasibility run final confirmation will be provided by research team checking the constraints related to difficulty of survey.



3) Can we narrow the available business segments ?

Yes, depending upon the data availability and feasibility check by our Research Analyst, further breakdown in business segments by end use application or product type can be provided (If applicable) by Revenue Size or Volume*.



4) Can specific country of interest be added? What all regional slits covered with covid impact analysis?

Yes, Country level splits can be modified in the study as per objectives. Currently, research report gives special attention and focus on following regions with covid outbreak and impact analysis:

In North America, In Latin America, Europe, The Asia-pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), What are the main countries covered?, The United States, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria & South Africa

** One country of specific interest can be included at no added cost. For inclusion of more regional segment quote will vary.



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BFSI, Government, Retail and CPG, Healthcare and Life sciences & Education are the segments analysed and sized in this study by application/end-users, displays the potential growth and various shift for period 2015 to 2026. The changing dynamics supporting the growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the moving pulse of the market. Check which segment will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to overall growth. , Personal Identity Management markets by type, Access control & Content management have been considered for segmenting Worldwide Personal Identity Management market by type.



With the multiple advantages of technology, cost and service, many major developed rapidly. They kept leading domestic market and on the other way actively developing international market and seizing market share, becoming the backbone of Worldwide Personal Identity Management industry. It is understood that currently domestic players has been massively used by operators in China.



***Sub Regions Included: North America [United States, Canada, Mexico], Asia-Pacific [China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam], Europe [Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe], South America [Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America], Middle East & Africa [GCC Countries, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of Middle East & Africa]



*** Unless until specified in Original TOC of Worldwide Personal Identity Management Market Study



To know more about the table of contents, you can click @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/3559539-worldwide-personal-identity-management-market



Research Objectives

- To analyse and forecast the Worldwide Personal Identity Management market, in terms of value and volume.

- Which segment has the potential to gain the highest market share?

- To help decision maker from new offer perspective and benchmark existing marketing strategy.

- Correlate cost structure historical data with key business segments.

- Analyse marketing contribution and customer acquisition by up-selling and cross selling.

- Identifying Influencing factors keeping Worldwide Personal Identity Management Market Intense, factored with periodic analysis of CR4 & CR8 concentration ratio & HHI Index.



HTF MI also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research according to clientele objectives; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report like North America, Europe or Asia.
A new community-dwelling study from Sweden suggests that the lunar cycle affects sleep in humans, with more pronounced sleep alterations in men than women.

Both the new and full moons represent significant turning points during the lunar cycle, said lead author Dr. Christian Benedict, a researcher in the Department of Neuroscience at Uppsala University, and his colleagues.

Following the day after the new moon until the day of full moon, also named the waxing phase, the moons illumination increases, and the timing of the meridian of the moon, i.e., when the moon reaches the highest position in the sky, is gradually shifted from noontime toward midnight.

In contrast, from the day after the full moon until the day of the new moon, also named the waning phase, the moons illumination decreases, and the timing of the meridian of the moon is gradually shifted from early night hours toward noontime.

In their new study, the researchers focused on the contrast between the waxing and waning phases of the lunar cycle.

They obtained one-night sleep recordings from 852 participants (22-81 years old) all living in Uppsala, Sweden.

We expected that sleep monitored during the waxing phase would be characterized by increased sleep onset latency and shorter total sleep duration compared to the waning phase, they said.

In light of previous findings, we also hypothesized that the association of the lunar cycle with sleep would differ between sexes.

The authors found that human sleep can vary considerably across the 29.53-long lunar cycle, with on average shorter and less efficient sleep on nights during the waxing phase.

We used one-night at-home sleep recordings from 492 women and 360 men, Dr. Benedict said.

We found that men whose sleep was recorded during nights in the waxing period of the lunar cycle exhibited lower sleep efficiency and increased time awake after sleep onset compared to men whose sleep was measured during nights in the waning period.

In contrast, the sleep of women remained largely unaffected by the lunar cycle.

One mechanism through which the moon may impact sleep is sunlight reflected by the moon around times when people usually go to bed.

In addition, a recent study suggested that the male brain may be more responsive to ambient light than that of females.

The findings were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

_____

Christian Benedict et al. 2022. Sex-specific association of the lunar cycle with sleep. Science of the Total Environment 804: 150222; doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150222
About 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid crashed into Earth near the site of the small town of Chicxulub in what is now Mexico. The impact eradicated roughly 75% of the animal and plant species on Earth, including whole groups like non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. New research from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, and Cambridge shows that snakes  a major group of predators comprising over 3,700 living species  started to diversify around the time of this catastrophic event.

The end-Cretaceous mass extinction caused the demise of numerous vertebrate groups, and its aftermath saw the rapid diversification of surviving mammals, birds, frogs, and teleost fishes.

However, the effects of the extinction event on the evolution of snakes remains poorly understood.

Our research suggests that extinction acted as a form of creative destruction  by wiping out old species, it allowed survivors to exploit the gaps in the ecosystem, experimenting with new lifestyles and habitats, said senior author Dr. Nick Longrich, a researcher in the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath.

In the study, Dr. Longrich and his colleagues used fossils and analyzed genetic differences between modern snakes to reconstruct snake evolution.

Their results show that all living snakes trace back to just a handful of species that survived the Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

The researchers argue that the ability of snakes to shelter underground and go for long periods without food helped them survive the destructive effects of the impact.

In the aftermath, the extinction of their competitors  including Cretaceous snakes and the dinosaurs themselves  allowed snakes to move into new niches, new habitats and new continents.

Snakes then began to diversify, producing lineages like vipers, cobras, garter snakes, pythons, and boas, exploiting new habitats, and new prey.

Fossils also show a change in the shape of snake vertebrae in the aftermath, resulting from the extinction of Cretaceous lineages and the appearance of new groups, including giant sea snakes up to 10 m long.

Its remarkable, because not only are they surviving an extinction that wipes out so many other animals, but within a few million years they are innovating, using their habitats in new ways, said Dr. Catherine Klein, a researcher at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg.

The study also suggests that snakes began to spread across the globe around this time.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

_____

C.G. Klein et al. 2021. Evolution and dispersal of snakes across the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction. Nat Commun 12, 5335; doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25136-y
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Austria and Germany release new ham radio call books

The communications regulators in Austria and Germany have made new editions of their national amateur radio call books available for free download



There are three amateur radio categories in Austria:

Class 1 CEPT HAREC up to 400 watts (1kW for clubs) all bands

Class 3 Entry Level 100 watts on 144/430 MHz

Class 4 CEPT Novice 100 watts on 1.8/3.5/21/28/144/430 MHz



The amateur radio exam in Austria is oral rather than the written approach used in UK and other countries.



The Austrian call book, dated September 6, can be downloaded as a PDF or spreadsheet from

https://www.oevsv.at/oevsv/aktuelles/Rufzeichenliste-Neuauflage/



Roland Schwab, OE6WDE, produced a chart in 2016 analyzing the distribution of Austrian amateur radio licenses

https://www.oevsv.at/oevsv/aktuelles/Statistisches-Amateurfunk-in-Oesterreich/





Germany has two categories of amateur radio license:



Class A CEPT HAREC 750 watts all bands



Class E CEPT Novice 100 watts on 1.8/3.5/21/28, 75w on 144/430, 5w microwave







The German call book, dated September 1, 2021 is available at

Source OVSV https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Austria
California club assists animal rescue group with communication support

The El Dorado County Amateur Radio Club (EDCARC) has been providing radio communication support for small and large-animal rescue efforts during the Caldor Fire. Members of the South County Large Animal Rescue (SCLAR) group, El Dorado County Animal Services, and other volunteers have been addressing the need. Many of the EDCARC volunteers are also members of the Clubs Neighborhood Radio Watch program.

As the Caldor Fire destroyed the community of Grizzly Flats, threatened Lake Tahoe, and caused evacuations in dozens of communities throughout the county, thousands of area residents were forced to flee their homes without having time to round up their pets and livestock.

We desperately love our animal companions, whether big or small, and being separated and unable to care for them in the midst of a disaster is truly heart-wrenching, said Alan Thompson, W6WN, the clubs Public Information Officer. Because of the mountainous terrain, many of our neighborhoods already had little or no cell or internet communication, and the fire only made things worse.

Thompson said the club quickly deployed its Mobile ARES Communications Center, maintained by Jay Harmor, KE6GLA, which is in service as central net operations. Several members stepped up, including Dale Dennis, KJ6HHY, from Yolo ARES, and Tom Newman, NN6H, from Alameda County RACES (and part of the Alameda County Sheriffs Communications Team, to volunteer their time and radios to accompany the animal rescue teams dispatched into impacted areas. Teams of SCLAR members, Animal Services personnel, public employees, and radio communications staff have been conducting daily animal rescue missions and welfare checks throughout the impacted areas. Until residents are permitted to return, these teams are providing food, water, and care to abandoned animals.

Thompson said those seeking an animal evacuation or welfare check should contact El Dorado County Animal Services  western slope, (530) 621-5795 or the shelter at (530) 621-7631. In the South Tahoe area, call (530) 573-7925.

SCLAR will respond as directed by El Dorado County Animal Services. They cannot self-deploy or respond directly to phone calls for assistance, Thompson said.

Source: http://www.arrl.org/news/california-club-assists-animal-rescue-group-with-communication-support
The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), while reiterating that it would support decisions taken in the best interest and development of the country and the Sri Lankan Muslim community, said it would like to raise concerns on the decisions taken on the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) by the Cabinet.

General Secretary of ACJU Ash-Shaikh M. ArkamNooramith in a statement said;

Muslim Family Laws were in practice in Sri Lanka throughout history of more than 1000 years among the Muslim community in accordance to the Islamic religious teachings and cultural practices. These customary laws were codified and implemented since the Dutch and English colonial eras and postindependence period until today and were subjected to amendments time to time as required upon due consultation from community representatives as it was related to the Muslim communitys religious and cultural affairs.

In this context we agree that certain reforms are needed in terms of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act. Especially the grievances of the Muslim women should be addressed through these reforms.

Since this matter is concerning the religion followed by the Muslims, our stance is that, the appropriate reforms are required to be made considering the fundamental teachings of the religion, and upon due consultation of the concerned stakeholders by taking their views into consideration. Accordingly, the ACJU has presented its submissions on the necessary reforms in the prevalent Muslim Personal Laws on various occasions.

However, it is saddening that the Cabinet of Ministers has proceeded to take some decisions with regard to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, without taking into consideration the opinions given by Islamic religious and civil organisations. The ACJU expresses its displeasure and distress with regard to this matter.

Thus, the ACJU kindly requests the government and the Minister of Justice, to reevaluate the above decisions made by the Cabinet of Ministers, by adhering to an inclusive decision making process, while giving due consideration to the fundamentals of the religion with regard to this matter and honouring the rights of all citizens of the country, in order to ensure that no one is served injustice and the multicultural diversity of our nation is upheld.

The ACJU reiterates that it will support every decision that is taken based on the above-mentioned criteria, in the best interest and development of the country and the Sri Lankan Muslim community.

We pray that all decisions made in the best interest of our country, results in lasting goodness for our country and our future generations.
The president of the Malaga Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, has said that he hopes central government will declare the area seriously affected by the Sierra Bermeja fire as a 'catastrophe zone'.

At its height the blaze, which has burned for six days, forced the evacuation of six villages and displaced thousands of people from their homes during the civil protection emergency.

This Tuesday morning (14 September) the Infoca forest fire brigade declared the blaze controlled, although not extinguised, and allowed the last of the evacuated residents to return to the affected area, while it continues to work on the extinction tasks.

Salado has said that the provincial council has made its technicians available to the municipalities affected by the fire in Sierra Bermeja and the Genal Valley to assess and repair "as soon as possible" the damage to basic infrastructures, especially the water supply.

"Now it is time to work tirelessly for the environmental recovery of the area," he said, adding that an urgent assessment of the damage must be carried out "because I hope that the Government declares this area as a catastrophe zone and the villages present claims for those damages."

Salado also announced the creation of an emergency eight-million-euro Diputacion fund to help with the environmental and economic recovery of the muncipalities affected by the fire.

The provincial council is also assessing the damage that the Sierra Bermeja and Genal Valley roads may have suffered: Once this nightmare is over, we will try to assess the damage and undertake the necessary investments so that the roads are in perfect condition as soon as possible, said Salado.
The president of the Junta de Andalucia is not willing for the tragedy of the Sierra Bermeja fire to fall on deaf ears. He wants the devastation, which claimed the life of one firefighter and devoured almost 10,000 hectares, until it was declared controlled this Tuesday (14 September), be a lesson that invites reflection and action.

And Juanma Moreno is calling for Spains Penal Code to be modified and tougher penalties of those who cause these fires. These people have to pay. What has happened requires reflection given that there are more and more intentional fires," said the head of the regional government.

Moreno highlighted that the costs in economic, social and human life terms" are "very expensive" said he will propose a parliamentary initiative to reform the Penal Code.

He said that all indications point to the fact that the Sierra Bermeja fire was intentional, "due to the choice of the rugged area and for it having been started at night, knowing that strong winds would blow from the east during the following days and to do as much damage as possible."

The Junta president said he has already floated the idea to Spains prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who replied that it seem "reasonable" to address the matter.
One of the objectives that the Infoca brigade set for itself in its fight against the Sierra Bermeja fire was to save the Los Reales forest, located between Genalguacil, Estepona and Casares, which is home to rare pinsapo Spanish fir trees.

This Tuesday morning (14 September), with the fire under control, the director of the operation, Juan Sanchez, reported: "We will have to make a full, on-site assessment, but it is still a green island within the general black of the mountains."

The Infoca commander explained that the adult Spanish firs are for the most part saved, but those that are mixed with pines have been more affected.

The Minister of Agriculture, Carmen Crespo, announced that they are going to study the area and promised to implement the reforestation of the mountains as soon as possible.
. :     ,     ,     
MBABANE  Members of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) on Saturday night stopped a party and allegedly assaulted some youths who were having a braai.

According to three of the youths aged between 17-20 years, the soldiers found them at Mbangweni enjoying a braai in celebration of their friends 21st birthday. The trio explained that they were within the premises of the homestead when one of the soldiers appeared over a wall fence and asked one of them to come outside. The time was way past the curfew hours. *Andile said he obliged and the soldier told him to inform everyone that all those who were not permanent residents of the home should vacate with immediate effect. Again, Andile said he obliged. He said some of them heeded the call and went out, but surprisingly, another soldier emerged, armed with a firearm and sticks. I told the soldiers that the people were leaving, but they seemed less interested, said Andile. He alleged that the second soldier started hurling insults at them and demanded that everyone should vacate before he lost his temper. Andile said as the soldier was shouting, the people inside started getting scared and became reluctant to vacate.

Kicked

He alleged that the soldiers went inside the homestead and kicked one of the doors. Andile said there were other people who were asleep in other rooms who were not part of the celebration. He said even those people were allegedly assaulted as the soldiers kicked the doors and got inside. Andile further narrated that the soldiers allegedly forced them all out to the tar road where they were forced to do push-ups with their fists for over 30 minutes. He alleged that while doing the push-ups, they were assaulted with a mop stick. Andile said the mop stick broke and the soldiers allegedly took a thorny hedge stick and assaulted them with it. He explained that while they were doing the push-ups, the soldiers brought some of the half-cooked meat and threw it on the ground and forced them to eat it. He said some of the meat was still raw and hot from the fire. Basidlisa inyama ishisa, iluhlata imfimfa ingati, said Andile in vernacular, meaning they were forced to eat the raw and hot meat from the fire. He said they were forced to eat it from the ground not using their hands.

Andile alleged that some swallowed bones due to the manner they were forced to eat the meat. During a visit by this reporter to Andiles homestead at Makholokholo yesterday afternoon, three of them were found lying on their beds. They had bruises mainly on their buttocks. Andiles father, *Musa, said he was disappointed by the behaviour of the soldiers. He said he did not understand the reason why his children were assaulted because he believed that even if his sons committed a crime, the soldiers should have arrested them and then called him to pay a fine.

Musa said his sons could not go to school yesterday as they were in pain due to the alleged assault. He said some were doing their high school at Woodlands while another one was studying at Eswatini College of Technology (ECOT). When asked if he had reported the case to the police, Musa said he did call the them, but they told him to bring his sons to the police station. He said that would be difficult for him to do since his sons could not sit, but rather needed an ambulance where they could lie down. UEDF Public Affairs 2nd Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo said her office had not been furnished with the alleged incident report, making it impossible to comment from an uninformed position.
MBABANE  Bhutana Dlamini is adamant that he qualifies to stand for election to the vacant Senate seat.

Dlamini, who was disqualified from the race to replace the late Jimmy Hlophe, has taken the matter to the High Court on an urgent basis. He is seeking an order declaring that he qualifies to stand for the Senate elections. He has also applied that the elections be stopped until the matter is concluded in court. Dlamini (51) of Nkamanzi under Chief Gija, is further seeking an order directing the clerk to Parliament, Speaker and Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), to furnish him with or his attorneys with the reason(s) for disqualifying him from the race.

Contesting

Other respondents are the Attorney General, Sifiso Dlamini and others who are also contesting to take part in the elections. Dlamini is represented by Derrick Jele of Robinson Bertram. He wants the court to order that he be furnished with the reason(s), within seven days from the date of service of the order. The Senate hopeful went on to pray that the decision to disqualify him should be reviewed and set aside. He went on to seek an order that he be granted leave of court to supplement his founding affidavit on receipt of the reasons for his disqualification and the respondents to pay costs of the application. Judge Nkosinathi Maseko presides over the matter. Dlamini told the court that he was nominated by a majority of Members of the House of Assembly to stand for the elections for the vacant seat in Senate. He submitted that in line with the provisions of Section 96 of the Constitution, he allegedly provided the Clerk of Parliament, as the Returning Officer of the elections, Benedict Xaba, with all valid documents as required.

He argued that despite that he allegedly qualified in terms of the Senate legislation and the Constitution, the clerk of Parliament advised the House of Assembly that he had been disqualified through the vetting process. No reasons were provided, Dlamini said. He stated that the House then adjourned the elections and he was to be furnished with the reasons for his disqualification on September 2, 2021. Up to date, no reason has been provided. I also requested the reasons through my attorneys and they have not been provided, Dlamini submitted. He told the court that the matter was urgent in that the elections may be called by the Speaker to resume at anytime. He submitted that he feared that the elections would continue despite that the reasons for his disqualification had not been provided. This is as a result of the silence of the first respondent (clerk to Parliament) on the reason since September 2, 2021 to date. Should that happen, I will suffer irreparable harm in that I will be left out of the elections without a remedy. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court. The respondents are yet to file their answering papers.

Dlamini informed the court that currently, he was not complaining about the outcome of the elections but the qualification to take part in the elections. He said he had been advised that the Elections Petitions Act would not assist him as it applied to a challenge of an outcome of an election of a person not the disqualification. He submitted that, through his attorneys, he requested to be furnished with the reasons for his disqualification as that affected his constitutional right to a fair hearing and to freedom of assembly and association.

Intention

The respondents have not provided the reasons. It is clear that the intention is solely to prevent me from standing in the Senate elections which I am entitled to in law, he added. Dlamini said he was nominated on August 25, 2021 and accepted the nomination. He informed the court that he registered for the 2018 national general elections under the community of Nkamanzi. He attached his voter card to the court papers. He did not contest for election during the general elections is 2018, but voted for someone else. He also told the court that he paid all his taxes and attached a tax clearance certificate. He further informed the court that he applied for a police clearance certificate. He said he submitted all the above documents to the office of the clerk of Parliament. The elections, according to Dlamini, were to take place on September 2, 2021. I expected to be on the ballot papers but to my complete surprise I was not. The issue of the elections was then tabled in Parliament in the House of Assembly for voting. A majority of the Members of Parliament objected to my exclusion in the ballot papers and questioned the returning officer, the first respondent, why I was not on the ballot papers. He submitted that the clerk of Parliament merely told him that he had been disqualified and was allegedly not given reasons thereof.

The majority of the House, according to Dlamini, then voted that the elections be deferred and the clerk of Parliament should provide a reason for his disqualification. My disqualification was reported on social and print media and it is trending as if I have done something wrong. I have qualified to take part in the elections as I complied with Section 96 of the Constitution fully. I expected the first respondent to furnish me or the House of Assembly with the reasons and he has not done so. Dlamini said he then instructed his attorneys on September 7, 2021, to request for the reasons for his disqualification on his behalf. Up to date there is no response to the letter and the reason for my disqualification has not been provided. This is the reason that has made me approach the court for the interdict to compel the first third (clerk of Parliament, Speaker and EBC) to furnish me with the reason for my disqualification. This will enable me to challenge same.

Disqualification

Dlamini told the court that he had a clear right to the reasons for his disqualification. He said he deserved to know the reasons for his disqualification. The clerk of Parliament, according to Dlamini, as adjudicating authority, was obliged in law to furnish him with the reasons for his decision. He argued that the clerk of Parliaments failure to provide him with the reasons was clearly prejudicial to him in that he would not be able to take part in the elections. This is clearly an abuse of power which should not be condoned by the court. Dlamini told the court that he had no other alternative other than to seek an interdict. He said this was because the House of Assembly sought the reasons for his disqualification and they were not provided. The court, according to Dlamini, should intervene. The matter is pending in court.
MBABANE  Pastor Sikhumbuzo Shongwes wife, Jabulile Nkonyane, is divorcing him.

Nkonyane filed divorce papers at the High Court 14 days after Shongwe was granted bail by the same court. Shongwe had been arrested after he allegedly shot her several times around August 22, 2021 at their rented flat at Moneni, Manzini. The clergyman was admitted to E100 000 bail on August 31, 2021 by Judge Mbutfo Mamba, who ordered him to pay E10 000 cash and provide surety for the balance. The couples marriage of four years has been marred by controversy and they have been in and out of courts in countless occasions. In her divorce papers, Nkonyane brought it to the attention of the court that their relationship had broken down irretrievably and her husband had shown his intention of wanting out of the marriage.

Adultery

She is, among other things, accusing her husband of having committed adultery with her cousin. Nkonyane informed the court that the union between them was soleminised on March 25, 2017 in Manzini, in community of property and two children were born. She narrated to the court that upon getting married, they did not establish a matrimonial home but lived at a rented flat at Moneni. The parties, according to the plaintiff (Nkonyane), were in the process of finishing their home at Timbutini in Manzini.

On or about the month of May 2021, the defendant, with the sole intention of putting an end to the marriage, in a family meeting categorically stated that he no longer needed me as a wife, submitted Nkonyane. She further submitted that she was chased out of their rented flat at Moneni, Tisuka. She said on May 12, 2021, in the company of her father-in-laws driver, she took some of her clothes as Shongwe had ordered her to vacate the flat.

The plaintiff recounted that on or about the month of July 2021, around 5am, together with her brother and son, they drove to Moneni, Tisuka (rented flat) to fetch the two minor children. Upon arrival, Shongwe opened the main door to the flat and he was naked, alleged Nkonyane. According to Nkonyane, her husband tried hiding some of the alleged unpleasant things she had found, including the woman, unfortunately it was late as she (Nkonyane) had already identified the woman. The woman is my cousin and her name in Hloniphile Ndzinisa. I did not condone the defendants adultery, said Nkonyane. These are allegations contained in particulars of claim whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the defendant is yet to file his papers in the event he is disputing the allegations.

Certificate

Nkonyane told the court that on August 22, 2021, she proceeded to Moneni to fetch her academic certificate with an intention to apply for employment since the defendant had allegedly barred her from the family business. At our rented flat, I was confronted with a situation whereby I found a number of people including Shongwe enjoying alcoholic beverages, alleged the plaintiff. She informed the court that upon seeing her, Shongwe tried by all means to hide Hloniphile, being the woman he was allegedly having an adulterous relationship with. Nkonyane alleged that she confronted Shongwe about the relationship and he became violent and ended up shooting her. She said the shooting led to her being hospitalised and she almost lost her life.

The matter is still pending in court and appearing for the plaintiff are lawyers from Musa M Sibandze Attorneys.
MBABANE - A 35-year-old woman of Nkoyoyo had to spend three nights in a tunnel with her newborn, after giving birth to a child with albinism.

The woman was allegedly kicked out of the rented flat she shared with the father of her two children soon after she gave birth to their second child, who has albinism. During an interview with this publication, *Martha explained that she gave birth to her second child three weeks ago. When I delivered my baby, she was different from what I had expected. Her skin tone and the colour of her eyes were different. The nurses and doctors told me that the baby had a condition of albinism, she said. Further narrating her story, Martha mentioned that the nurses then took her for counseling so she was mentally ready to live with her newborn. Apparently, she was invited together with the father of the child to the counselling session, but he allegedly never participated.

Denied

On his first visit to the hospital, he saw the baby and started acting funny. He denied fathering the child and said he wanted nothing to do with us and called me all sorts of names, alleged Martha. When she was discharged from hospital, she went home only to be met with an enraged man who wanted nothing to do with her. The father of her children allegedly threw her out with the newborn baby. It has been hard moving from house to house asking for help. Sometimes I run out of energy so I end up sleeping in the pipes or tunnels. I have tried to reason with the father of my children, but he would hear none of it, alleged a distraught Martha. A community member confirmed seeing Martha and her newborn baby on the streets for a couple of days. The resident explained that she had always thought that they were resting or on their way to town. I saw them about three times and it was always in the early hours so I thought they were going for an early hospital visit. I then asked her why she left so early and she told me her story. She currently resides with me as we try to find alternatives for her, said the resident.

Condition

Meanwhile, a doctor described the infants condition as culocutaneous albinism, which is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by a lack of pigment in the hair, skin and eyes. The doctor explained that albinism was caused by defective or absent tyrosinase, an enzyme necessary for melanogenesis. Although rare in the western world, albinism is quite common in sub-Saharan Africa, likely as a result of consanguinity. Albinism has long been associated with stigma and superstitions, such as the belief that body parts from people with albinisim are good-luck charms or possess magical powers, said the doctor. Meanwhile, Stukie Motsa, President of the Stukie Motsa Foundation which caters for people with albinism, said the chances of giving birth to a child with albinism were 25 per cent. Motsa said the counselling that was now provided in hospitals was implemented after they saw the gap that people were not educated enough about the condition. The counselling services that are now provided in hospitals were put in place after we saw the rise in stigma against people with albinism. People do not understand that you can give birth to a child with albinism if both parents have the recessive genes, said Motsa. She further said they would provide any help available for the mother and make sure she was safe, together with her newborn. Motsa asked to be provided with the contact details of the mother.

On another note, Women and Law in Southern Africa has condemned the act of the father. Through their representative, the organisation advised the woman to seek help from the Deputy Prime Ministers (DPM) Office. We fully condemn domestic violence against women and children. The newborn has been deprived of shelter. We strongly urge people to desist from discriminating against people with albinism, it is wrong and distasteful, said the representative. The father, when contacted, said he did not wish to discuss his family issues with this publication. Similar to Marthas story, this publication, three months ago, published an article of a woman from Piggs Peak who was living with her two children in the bushes. This was after her boyfriend allegedly beat her up and threatened her life.
MBABANE  If we are seen to be behaving like Egyptian mummies in Parliament, then by all means, we qualify for punishment by the voters.

The above sentiments were shared by Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo. He stated that as the Legislature, they were duty-bound not to be a disappointment to the citizenry and prayed that God would guide them not to be.

Khumalo stated that what the liberation groups were saying was for now a perception that was informed by justified impatience. I believe in freedom of expression for all and I cannot fault the liberation groups for their democratic expression, he said.

Khumalo said the electorate was their principal and it was within their inalienable right to make their feelings known about their (MPs) actions or inactions. However, the MP stated that based on what he had read somewhere, he happened to be aware of a lined up series of motions made by the legislators that sought to address the current situation which had somewhat paralysed the political and socio-economic life of the country.

Failed

Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni said they had failed the electorate in effectively carrying out their mandate as parliamentarians. Myeni said there was so much fear instilled and they tended to forget that they should fear the electorate as they had the power not to vote them back into Parliament. He mentioned that in so many instances, he had stood up in Parliament seeking his colleagues support on the arrest of MPs Mduduzi Bacede Mabuza of Hosea and Mthandeni Dube of Ngwempisi. Instead, he said some of the MPs passed the loan of E1.7 billion for a new Parliament structure, while the electorate lacked medication in hospitals, the countrys roads were also in a terrible state and students were without scholarships. He alleged that MPs were forced into passing the loan. Myeni said the project was not urgent and of no importance. Parliament has the power to make laws, but has not been doing this, he noted. This, Myeni said, was displayed when they jointly stopped the election of a senator.

Legislators

Myeni said as legislators, they had played a part in the current political crisis as all power was vested in them. The Nkilongo MP stated that what the electorate simple meant was questioning why the legislators were in Parliament if they failed to represent their interests. Myeni said the electorate was right by what they were saying in that they should resign if as MPs they were failing to do what the electorate required of them. Why do we continue to be in Parliament if the electorate is not happy? questioned Myeni. He added that what was currently happening was wrong as legislators during the campaigning phase promised to serve the electorate, but once they got into Parliament, they cared about their salaries. Mtsambama MP Simosakhe Shongwe said if the liberation groups felt resigning of MPs was a solution, they could use whatever way to achieve that. Shongwe stated that he was, however, for the idea that the groups should call the legislators and address them on the issue. He said legislators who supported political reforms were known as they had openly declared such.

Minority

MP Shongwe said they were a minority and were trying to raise various motions by supporting each other in order to win their colleagues over so that they understood the entire purpose behind the political reforms and join them. Personally, I can resign if it comes to a push, but what I want is for emaSwati to be liberated, he stated. Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko was also of the view that as parliamentarians, they needed to first address the issue of resignation collectively inside the House, which was the rightful platform.

Meanwhile, Shiselweni II MP Strydom Mpanza noted that the concerns made by the groups were genuine, but only if they had first made an attempt to address them as lawmakers on the issue. Mpanza said he would actually like to have an audience with the groups to exchange views and come up with solutions. Lugongolweni MP Enos Magongo said he could not resist resignation, but make sure that he followed the laid down procedures. However, he said he had never heard of a Parliament resigning en masse in his entire life. Siphocosini MP Mduduzi Matsebula said his electorate had not raised any concern with him. Matsebula stated that so far, they were on track not just on the political aspect, but also on service delivery, hence he would not consider resigning until the electorate proved that he had failed.

Presented

He mentioned that under his constituency, they presented and unpacked annual performance reports, presented midterm consultative and evaluation review reports and held regular imiphakatsi meetings to consult the people and give feedback. Matsebula added that even with the political and constitutional changes recently proposed by the youth, they were considering it with the inkhundla council in consultation with relevant stakeholders. Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini and Manzini North MP Macford Sibandze did not wish to respond to questions posed to them. When sought for comment on the statements made by the liberation groups, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendant Phindile Vilakati stated that she was not aware of the communication and once it reached her office, she would respond where relevant. She had been asked if the police service would act on the supposed tactics to be employed by the liberation groups to force MPs to resign en masse.
MBABANE  Some liberation groups are calling for the current Legislature to resign en masse.

This call was first made during the recent border blockades at the Oshoek, Matsamo and Golela border gates last week and later confirmed by the parties. The liberation groups are under the umbrella of the Political Party Assembly (PPA). Those present during the blockade included the Congress Party of Swaziland (CPO), Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), Peoples United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). The Constitution of the Kingdom of Eswatini under Section 55, Subsection 98 (b), allows the holder of the seat to resign in writing addressed to the clerk to Parliament.

Important

The groups mentioned that it was important to lobby the Members of Parliament (MPs) to start resigning en masse and leave the Legislature open, otherwise the Parliament of the country under the current regime would be a target for sabotage. The groups felt that there should be no conditions for any form of elections under the Tinkhundla System in Eswatini, adding that they would ensure that it did not happen. They mentioned that members of the Legislature who were still serving the interests of the current government and being salaried were part and parcel of the looters, hence they should be forced to resign. The legislators were given two months to consider the resignation. They shared what they termed tactics they would use to force the MPs to resign. These will not be published for ethical reasons as they could be interpreted to incite violence. The political formations made it known that they had not achieved the objective they wanted to accomplish because of the existing Legislature, which was under the current government.

Furthermore, they stated that there could be no formula of parliamentary route to change the country as they would talk about principles in the process of the legislative system that could help change the laws of the country. However, they stated that it could all be wishes as the King was the super power of the Legislature. Parliament is just a mimic. Tinkhundla system should just be undermined, institutionally and otherwise, they stated. If this is not done, the groups stated that it would be difficult for them to mobilise solidarity while they still kept a system in that fashion. The PPA representative, Sibongile Mazibuko, stated that MPs were living a lie and stealing from the public purse if they failed to carry out their mandate. TUCOSWAs Acting Secretary General (SG) Mduduzi Gina said as a way of showing solidarity with the incarcerated MPs, their colleagues should resign. Gina said Parliament could be a site of struggle as demonstrated by the arrested MPs for those who could be able to push the agenda of political reforms for emaSwati inside Parliament. Also, he stated that the Legislature should have to move a clear motion and call upon the Executive to give them assurance that they would not be arrested for having done what they were elected to do.
The two-day Middle East Banking Innovation Summit & Awards (MEBIS+) will delve into the emerging technologies and innovative strategies that are supercharging the finance industry when it opens on September 15 in Dubai.



The two-day Middle East Banking Innovation Summit & Awards (MEBIS+) will delve into the emerging technologies and innovative strategies that are supercharging the finance industry when it opens tomorrow (September 15) at Le Meridien Dubai Conference Centre in Dubai.



With topics covering factors such as automation, AI, machine learning, data analytics and digital transformation, the MEBIS+ Summit will demonstrate how technology is pushing the banking industry into the future and helping to create a dynamic, growth-focused culture.



Featuring a vast range of banking professionals and esteemed finance experts, the MEBIS+ speaker line-up is impressive. From Commercial Bank of Dubai, Dr Bernd van Linder will speak on his experiences and the importance of embracing disruption. Jameel Khan from Mashreq Bank, Maisa J Shunnar from National Bank of Bahrain and Tuncay Tuncer from Standard Chartered Bank will join a panel discussion exploring the wide-ranging and dynamic role of the Chief Digital Officer.



Prasad Mopidevi from Commercial Bank of Dubai, Sanjay Khanna from RAKBANK and Noman Rashid from Dubai Islamic Bank will share their thoughts on the future of branch banking in a world dominated by Covid-19, and Manal Meshal from Ahli United Bank (Bahrain) will speak on building digital marketing dominance.



Rashed AlOthman from Riyad Bank and Stefan Kimmel from Commercial Bank of Dubai will discuss the importance of bolstering traditional banks with technology to drive success. Elissar Farah Antonios from Citi (Mena Cluster) will explore digital banking culture and discuss whether digitization is a necessity or a luxury.



With the exciting new addition of the MEBIS+ Awards, this event will celebrate the institutions that are going above and beyond in their quest to provide exemplary service to their clients and a great workplace culture for their teams.



With eight key categories, the Awards aim to acknowledge the organizations that are excelling in leadership and employee support. These banking and financial institutions are demonstrating the significant impacts that a supportive, diverse and forward-thinking culture can have on the success of a business.



Over 450 attendees from the financial services sector are expected to attend the event.



The MEBIS+ Summit and Awards is an in-person event, with hygiene and social distancing measures strongly enforced in accordance with DHA guidelines.  TradeArabia News Service
Knight Frank, a global leader in real estate advisory market, said its Middle East unit continues to strengthen its UAE strategic consultancy (StratCon Advisory covering real estate strategy, healthcare and education) operations across the Middle East and Africa, assembling a very strong team of leading industry experts, with over 50 years of accumulative experience.

The real estate advisory teams are spearheaded by one of the senior partners at the firm Shehzad Jamal, who has over 18 years of experience in corporate finance (equity and intangible asset valuation and restructuring), real estate and alternative asset segments, said a statement from the company.

Jamal has undertaken assignments in various geographies including GCC countries, Egypt, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya and UK, it stated.

As a result of how successfully he had established Knight Frank's Middle East healthcare and education departments in the market, he also now leads the firms UAE Real Estate Advisory business supported by a robust team which has gone from strength to strength, even in challenging market conditions over the last 18 months, said the statement from the company.

On the key role, Jamal said: "We take pride in our collaborative approach and having a relationship with our clients that emulates a partnership. This has resulted in creating long term relationship with our clients and makes us the first point of call for the companies we have worked with."

In the Middle East, from its strategically positioned offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, Knight Frank provides integrated residential and commercial real estate transaction, consultancy and management services across the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East and globally for the last 12 years.

Across the world, Knight Frank is the leading independent global property consultancy, serving its clients for 125 years, with the most comprehensive network of any real estate advisor in the world.-TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia's futuristic $500-billion new city Neom played host to nearly 150 design and construction companies who visited the project site over the last four days and held discussions with its top officials on future collaboration.

The meeting included an introductory session by Neom aimed at demonstrating to the participants its ambitious vision and plans that support Vision 2030, and the ambitious direction of HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, towards building a better future.

Neom is currently seeking contractors and investors for the giga project, which is located in northwest of Saudi Arabia, on the Red Sea coast.

The representatives of these global companies visited the 12-sq-km logistics park, featuring the construction villages with labour communities of up to 30,000 workers, as well as offices, warehouses, and construction service establishments, according to a SPA report.

"Neom is interested in the future of design and construction, and presents a positive image of how projects should be," remarked its CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr.

"The scale and complexity of this project requires strong partnerships between Neom and the entire industry value chain to make the giga projects vision a reality," he added.

Chief Projects Officer Brett Smythe said: "What we witnessed in this meeting confirms the great interest in what we are aiming to achieve here in Neom. This interest is not only related to the size of the project, but also to the way the work is being implemented."

"We are serious about building Neom in a completely different manner and we are working to steer the sector towards technological progress, increased innovation, and efficiency," he added.

Al Nasr said Neom is the cornerstone in supporting the realisation of the kingdoms Vision 2030 in terms of diversifying sources of income and is featured by its uniqueness in terms of the future of the vision and the magnitude and diversity of businesses and projects.

The Saudi giga development, through its The Line project, aims to create 380,000 jobs and achieve and add an income of SR180 billion ($48 billion) to GDP by 2030, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
The value of exports of Bahrain origin increased by 103% to BD386 million ($1.01 billion) during August 2021, compared to BD190 million for the same month of the previous year, said the Information &eGovernment Authority (iGA) in a new report.



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%, according to iGAs foreign trade report of August 2021.



Saudi Arabia ranked first among countries receiving Bahraini exports of national origin, importing BD77 million from Bahrain. Meanwhile, the US was second with BD62 million and the UAE third with BD53 million.



Unwrought aluminium 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 aluminium (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 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 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 increase of 73%.



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 a total of BD92 million, China was second with BD65 million; and the UAE was 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 aluminium oxide was second with BD28 million, and parts for aircraft engines third with BD21 million.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabias World Defence Show has announced its participation at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) event, unlocking the Middle East opportunity for UK firms.

A senior-level delegation from World Defence Show, held under the Patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, will be at the DSEI Saudi Pavilion to highlight opportunities in the Gulf defence show market.

Other major players from the kingdom in attendance at DSEI will include event founder General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) and strategic partner Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI).

Several high-level dignitaries as well as leaders and key executives of large multinationals are set to visit the Saudi Pavilion, which will showcase a comprehensive portfolio of defence systems and solutions.

Meanwhile, ADS, which represents more than 1,100 UK businesses operating in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors, has officially confirmed its attendance at Saudi Arabias World Defence Show.

The company will co-ordinate and manage the UK Pavilion at the inaugural show in Riyadh from March 6 to 9 2022, unlocking opportunities for firms to access the fast-growing Middle East defence market.

In the UK, ADS represents members ranging from major multinational businesses to hundreds of small and medium sized companies in every part of the UK.

ADS and the UK Pavilion join hundreds of global defence companies that have signed up for exhibition space, including General Dynamics, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Rolls Royce.

In addition to the UK Pavilion, other major econmies taking dedicated space include the US, China, France, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Bulgaria, Portugal, South Korea and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, six of the kingdoms largest 10 defence firms  including Saudi Arabian Military Industries, Military Industries Corporation, Al-Tadrea, GDC, Middle East Propulsion Company, National Company for Mechanical Systems, and Wahaj have booked their stands.

Shaun Ormrod, Chief Executive Officer of World Defence Show, commented: Following months of Covid restrictions, video calls and remote meetings, we are thrilled to be getting back on the ground and welcoming clients to the Saudi Pavilion at DSEI.

Visitors to the stand will be able to connect with key industry players and learn more about Middle East market opportunities at a time when regional defence economies are booming thanks to a rapid increase in local spending.

Our agreement with ADS means UK firms will further benefit from being part of a dedicated international pavilion space, bringing valuable brand exposure and increased footfall throughout the event.

David Scotter, Director of Events at ADS, said: The World Defence Show provides a new platform for UK companies to showcase their defence expertise and capabilities to the world, and we are looking forward to hosting the events first-ever UK Pavilion.

This will provide prime exhibition space at World Defence Show alongside major British manufacturers, creating significant exposure for companies seeking to make an impact in Saudi Arabia.

As well as expert guidance, support and additional facilities, the UK Pavilion delivers an ideal solution for UK businesses looking to tap in to the growing Middle East market.

Hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from March 6 to 9 2022, World Defence Show will serve as the global stage for defence interoperability, a topic that has become a growing challenge for decision-makers around the world, connecting all five key domains  air, land, sea, space and security.

It is the first event to put KSA on the map as a global defence hub, gathering peers and partners from the east and west to work together.

The biennial event will enable the industry to keep pace with developments across defence and technology. The speed at which these developments take place compels the industry to cooperate across borders and domain expertise to generate opportunities throughout the defence value chain.

By connecting key defence contacts, primes, SMEs, and buyers, World Defence Show has laid the foundations to advance the defence industry and address the challenges presented by ever-deeper defence systems integration.-- TradeArabia News Service
CBI books former GM of NHIDCL in disproportionate assets case 21 Sep 2021 | 7:37 PM New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against former General Manager of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), PMU-Mokokchung (Nagaland), for allegedly amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 96,68,971, the CBI said on Tuesday. see more..

Jitendra Singh proposes Integrated Aroma Dairy Entrepreneurship for Jammu & Kashmir 21 Sep 2021 | 7:17 PM New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday met Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala and proposed Integrated Aroma Dairy Entrepreneurship for Jammu and Kashmir to augment the income of farmers. see more..

A foreign woman and her child found dead in GK 21 Sep 2021 | 7:00 PM New Delhi, Sep 21 (UNI) Two bodies of foreign nationals - a woman and her child, were found in Kalkaji on Tuesday. see more..
New Delhi, Sep 14 (UNI) An Indian-origin Tanzanian filmmaker, Amil Shivji who grew up watching Bollywood movies, has released the East African nation's first-ever adaptation of a Swahili literary work about its struggle for freedom from the British colonial rule, it was reported here on Tuesday.

The film titled 'Tug of War' is part of the official selection at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which began on September 9. The film, adapted from a famous novel of the same name by celebrated Tanzanian writer Adam Shafi, tells the love story of a young revolutionary and an Indian-origin runaway bride set in the backdrop of the resistance movement in Zanzibar in the 1950s.

Shot in Zanzibar, an autonomous archipelago in the Indian Ocean lying close to mainland Tanzania, 'Tug of War' is the second feature film of Shivji, a fourth-generation Tanzanian, whose ancestors first arrived from Porbandar, Gujarat. The film, part of the Discovery programme of the Toronto festival, had its world premiere on Monday in Canada's business capital that boasts of a large South Asian diaspora.

"Zanzibar was the biggest market for Hindi cinema outside India in the second half of last century," says Shivji, who grew up in Tanzanian capital Dar-es-Salaam. "Bollywood still plays a big role in the culture of the island, which has a very strong Indian community, whose ancestors arrived here in the late 19th century," he adds. "Zanzibar is a beautiful melting pot of cultures and Gujarati is one of the four official languages," says Shivji, who teaches cinema at the University of Dar-es-Salaam.

In adapting a Swahili novel, Shivji attempts to reclaim and retell the history of the freedom struggle from the people's point of view. "We never had a chance to tell our history. It was always told from the colonial point of view," he says. "Reclaiming our history is very powerful," he adds. Tanzania gained independence from the British in 1961.

Shivji, whose first feature film, 'T-Junction' (2017) was about class contradictions and prejudices in the story of two young women from working class backgrounds, first came to India as an eight-year-old with his parents. "We did the touristic visit going to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur," says the director, whose parents are both lawyers.

"My father is a visiting professor of law at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. He always talks about JNU," says Shivji, who fell in love with the songs and dances of Bollywood films as a young boy. Years later, he remains in touch with Indian cinema, though more inclined towards movies with strong storytelling elements today than the "westernised, urbanised mainstream Bollywood cinema".

Shivji, who read Shafi's novel in the secondary school where it is a reading material, returned to the literary work when he was making his debut film. "A neighbour gave the novel to me to help me with the inspiration. It was so poetically written, I knew immediately it spoke to cinema with its visual imagery," says the filmmaker. A few years later, Shivji moved to Zanzibar to write the script for the film, finally beginning the shooting in December 2019. "We completed the shooting before the coronavirus pandemic hit the country and worked remotely to complete the film," he adds.

His second feature film starting the film festival circuit, Shivji is eager to visit India again. "I am now looking forward to visiting India again, this time hopefully to participate in a film festival," he says.

UNI XC ACL
New Delhi, Sep 13 (UNI) Former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge expressed grief over the death of the veteran Congress leader and former union minister Oscar Fernandes who died in Mangaluru in Karnataka on Monday.

Manmohan Singh, in the condolence message, said: "I was deeply shocked and saddened to learn about the sudden and untimely demise of Oscar Fernandes today. With his hard work, pleasant nature and popularity he became one of the tallest leaders of the Congress party from Karnataka who helped the Party in making many important decisions. His popularity among the common people of Karnataka is evident from the fact that he was elected five times to the Lok Sabha and two times to the Rajya Sabha."

"With the demise of Oscar Fernandes party has lost a loyal soldier, committed organizational worker and an irreplaceable mentor to innumerable congressmen, Venugopal said in his condolence message. Rising from the grassroots, he served as MP, union minister and also AICC General Secretary. He was also the member of many high-level committees of the party, reminisced Venugopal.


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Cameroonian student explores China for exchanges

 00:00:00



Joseph Olivier Mendo'o [File photo/sis.pku.edu.cn]

For 29-year-old Joseph Olivier Mendo'o from Cameroon, the best places to understand China and Chinese culture are villages and counties.

Mendo'o, a PhD candidate at Peking University's School of International Studies, has left his footprints in many remote areas of Chinese provinces such as Hebei, Shanxi and Guizhou since he came to the country five years ago.

He and other representatives of foreign participants at the Global Young Leaders Dialogue wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping talking about their trips across China and expressed the hope of serving as a bridge to promote exchanges and dialogue between the country and the rest of the world.

"Happiness must be achieved through hard work," Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, wrote in his reply to 36 representatives of young foreign participants at the Global Young Leaders Dialogue.

"In Africa, we also have similar sayings," Mendo'o said. "During my tours, I saw the local Chinese work really hard and strive for happiness. They want to alleviate poverty and live a better life."

He said it was "a beautiful surprise" receiving a reply from Xi, who hailed them for their efforts to visit various parts of China and deepen their understanding of the country.

More overseas youths are welcome to China for exchanges, Xi said in the letter, expressing his hope that young people at home and abroad will enhance mutual understanding, develop friendship and achieve mutual success, thus contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Mendo'o said his knowledge about China was "shallow" before he set foot in the country, but he learned a lot through hands-on experience.

He used to practice Mandarin every morning with his first group of Chinese friendsthe elderly who worked out in parks. By exchanging ideas and getting together with his Chinese classmates, he came to understand more about the lives and pursuits of young Chinese and noticed "a sense of community "among them.

To learn more about China, Mendo'o went to the countryside.

In July, he was among youth representatives from 13 African countries who visited Xingxian county, a formerly impoverished county in Shanxi, to learn about China's poverty-alleviation efforts.

Mendo'o said he learned that the Chinese government has explored many ways to reduce poverty and motivate people to pull themselves out of suffering. The officials and villagers really trust each other, he said.

His research focuses on China-Africa relations and regional integration. He often attends youth forums to share his knowledge and experience in China and exchanges views with scholars from different backgrounds.

For Mendo'o, young people can play an important role in facilitating dialogue between China and African countries and make up for the gap in understanding. "Through various visits, young foreigners can learn about the real China. In the same way, Chinese can learn about the world through us," he said.

Mendo'o said he believes practical exchanges will foster mutual understanding, and youth exchanges should be raised to a new level.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 01:00:35|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said here on Monday that his country has a lot to learn from China's experience in industrial development and the construction of special economic zones.

Pakistan has a huge potential in small and medium enterprises and Chinese entrepreneurs can play an important part in their growth, said the prime minister during a forum here, which was also attended by representatives of Chinese companies in Pakistan.

Khan said that the government has been trying to improve the business environment, creating incentives to investors.

Special measures are being adopted to remove hurdles being faced by the Chinese investors in Pakistan, he said.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong said at the forum that China is keen to enhance cooperation with Pakistan to accomplish a great achievement in trade. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 02:12:08|Editor: huaxia

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Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Singapore pledged here Monday to deepen pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in multiple sectors.

While meeting with Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and Singapore have enjoyed mutual understanding and mutual trust in the development of bilateral relations.

While mainly focusing on economic development and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the two side have worked together to push forward the development of the bilateral ties and have achieved fruitful results, Wang said.

China is willing to join hands with Singapore to promote strategic communication, deepen pragmatic cooperation, overcome difficulties and meet challenges, and win the war against the pandemic at an early date so as to push forward the speedy recovery of each other's economy and make positive contribution to peace and development of the region and the world at large, Wang said

He stressed that the two sides should maintain high-level exchanges, strengthen joint prevention and control of COVID-19 and press for cooperation in fighting the virus.

Wang also noted that the two sides should work together to push forward the joint construction of the Belt and Road with high quality, give full play to the role of the new land-sea route, synergize the new land-sea route with the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, tap the cooperation potential in the fields including E-commerce business, artificial intelligence, mobile payment and big data so as to add new impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

China is ready to work with ASEAN countries including Singapore to make good preparation for the commemorative event to mark the 30th anniversary of the dialogue relations between China and ASEAN so as to elevate the China-ASEAN relations to a higher level, he said.

Wang said the two sides should also work together to push for the early entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

For his part, Balakrishnan said China and Singapore have maintained an open, candid and friend-like relationship, and Singapore is grateful for China's provision of COVID-19 vaccines to his country.

Singapore is always ready to deepen its cooperation with China in the fight against the pandemic, trade, investment, digital economy and green development, he said.

He said Singapore would like to make greater efforts to align China's plan for the new land-sea route with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, so as to inject new impetus into the ties between the two countries.

As China-ASEAN relations bear a fundamental, comprehensive and strategic significance, Balakrishnan said ASEAN countries hope to develop a stable and solid relationship of cooperation with China as both sides mark the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations this year.

Singapore supports the acceleration of consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and backs the RCEP agreement taking effect at an early date, Balakrishnan said.

He noted that Singapore is willing to work with China to stick to multilateralism in addressing new problems and challenges, in a bid to push for the just and sustainable development of the world. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 02:54:01|Editor: huaxia

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Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) meets with Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in Singapore, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Singapore agreed here Monday to enhance the cooperation in combating COVID-19 and developing the digital economy.

The pledge was made during a meeting between visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

At the meeting, Wang said the China-Singapore relations have advanced with the times, playing a leading role in regional cooperation.

China is willing to work together with Singapore to bring into full play the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), the highest-level and most influential cooperation mechanism between the two countries, in order to push the bilateral cooperation to new heights, Wang said.

On the COVID-19 pandemic, Wang said China is willing to join hands with Singapore to work on medicine research and development and virus research, among others, and to jointly oppose vaccine nationalism, so as to make contribution to the regional anti-pandemic course and the building of a community of common health for mankind.

The pandemic has triggered a booming digital economy, Wang noted, saying that China is ready to work with Singapore to utilize digital technologies to upgrade the bilateral cooperation projects and mechanisms, and expand the cooperation in areas including green economy, so as to facilitate the economic recovery of both countries and the region.

Heng, for his part, said maintaining high-level contacts amid the pandemic is of great significance in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Singapore and China.

He hoped that a new JCBC meeting will be held to push forward the bilateral cooperation in the post-pandemic era.

The deputy prime minister praised China for conducting vaccine cooperation and sharing experience in pandemic prevention and control with other countries.

He said Singapore is willing to continue promoting the cooperation with China in the fields of pandemic prevention and control, digital economy, green finance and climate change, among others. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 10:48:40|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States has nothing solid in its hands to tarnish China in its politicized and intelligence community-led report on origins tracing of COVID-19, said a Pakistani newspaper.

The English daily Lead Pakistan published an article on Sunday saying the U.S. blame game is only to cover up its failure in pandemic control.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, some U.S. politicians have spent huge time on political manipulation and blame game, rather than pandemic control and saving lives, it said.

The paper added that the U.S. politicians want to discredit China with lies and are making arbitrary and irresponsible remarks to seek "presumption of guilt" against China.

The so-called origins tracing report, it said, is another example of the United States deceiving and misleading the international community, just like what the fabricated report about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction did.

On America's wrong approach against COVID-19, the paper said U.S. leaders deceived their citizens by terming the once-in-a-century pandemic as flu, wasted time, refused to take measures, blocked information and even blacklisted experts who told the truth.

"They followed the 'America first' principle, hyped up egoism in its COVID-19 response, arbitrarily defunded the WHO, withdrew from multiple organizations and hoarded anti-pandemic materials," said the article, adding that by politicizing the pandemic, the United States laid down the powerful weapons of science and solidarity against the virus, and failed with the highest number of cases.

"Which one is more important, the lives of Americans or the private interests of the U.S. politicians, the lives of the people around the world, or the geopolitical strategies of the U.S.," asked the paper, adding that the U.S. failure in controlling the pandemic is a serious lesson, but they are not learning from it.

The article added that more and more people from across the world are raising their voices against U.S. propaganda over COVID-19, and even the U.S. public has been criticizing the ugly performance of their politicians.

It also urged the U.S. politicians to learn from their lessons, respect science and facts, and stop playing the blame game, because COVID-19 origins tracing calls for equity, openness, transparency and international cooperation. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 11:12:50|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported 15 new community cases of Delta variant of COVID-19 on Tuesday, all in the largest city Auckland, which brought the total number of cases in the country's community outbreak to 970.

Of the current community cases, 22 cases are in hospital, including four cases in intensive care units (ICUs) or high dependency units (HDUs), Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference.

Auckland has 953 community cases and the capital Wellington has 17 cases, Bloomfield said.

There are 942 cases that have been clearly epidemiologically-linked to another case or sub-cluster, and a further 10 for which links are yet to be fully established, he said.

According to the Ministry of Health, New Zealand also reported two new cases in recent returnees. These cases have remained in managed isolation and quarantine facilities in Auckland.

Areas outside Auckland moved to Alert Level 2 from 11:59 p.m. local time last Tuesday, which means businesses and schools are back to normal, with masks mandatory in certain settings and gatherings limited to 50 people in size.

Auckland currently remains at Level 4, the top-level COVID-19 lockdown, for another week. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 11:18:06|Editor: huaxia

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HANOI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Vietnam on Monday refuted Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi's verbal attacks on China during his visit to Vietnam.

Kishi falsely accused China of "attempting to use its power to change the status quo" in waters near Diaoyu Island, of "intensifying situation in East China Sea and South China Sea through its coast guard law," and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs related to China's Taiwan region, said the Chinese Embassy in a statement.

The enactment of the coast guard law, which is China's routine legislation, did not target any specific countries, and completely complied with international law and international practice, according to the statement.

China has always committed itself to working with all countries directly concerned with South China Sea in properly handling differences on the sea via dialogues and negotiations, and pushing forward the formulation of a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea that is in line with international law, the statement read.

Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands have always been an inherent part of Chinese territory, according to the statement.

It is Japan rather than China that has been using its power to change the status quo in the waters near the Diaoyu Islands, and Japan should stop covering up itself and making groundless accusations, the statement read.

With regard to China's Taiwan region, Japan is in no position to interfere in China's internal affairs, and its far-right political forces' provocations would only arouse memories of Japan's disgraceful history, the statement added.

Japan should not underestimate the strong resolution, determination and capability of the Chinese people to safeguard their national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 11:28:39|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Construction workers in the Australian state of Victoria are being targeted in a vaccination blitz as the state government battles to contain its soaring number of COVID-19 cases.

Victoria reported 445 new locally acquired infections on Tuesday, bringing the overall active cases to 3,799.

Throughout the pandemic, Victoria has endured more frequent and lengthier lockdowns than any other Australian region. The state capital of Melbourne has been the hardest hit of all, so far racking up almost 230 days in lockdown since early 2020. Yet the city's condition is still steadily deteriorating.

Health authorities desperate to track sources of the virus are now concentrating their efforts on building sites, which account for about 13 percent of the active cases.

Exacerbating the problem is that construction workers tend to travel longer distances than other workers meaning they have even greater potential to transmit the disease.

In response, the Victorian government has begun a four-week enforcement blitz to ensure workers comply with COVID-19 health requirements, such as mandatory mask wearing, and urging them to get vaccinated.

Speaking on Monday, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said, "it doesn't take much for this highly infectious Delta variant to get from a highly mobile, younger, under-vaccinated workforce into outer suburbs, into the families and communities of those suburbs."

"We'll do everything we can to ensure the construction industry can continue in a COVID-safe way," Foley said. "But the entire industry -- employers, unions -- are on notice."

Workers caught breaking COVID-19 regulations face on-the-spot fines of up to 1,817 Australian dollars (about 1,339 U.S. dollars), while building businesses will be out of pocket for up to 10,904 Australian dollars (about 8,035 U.S. dollars).

The state government also wants to encourage construction workers to get vaccinated by allowing them to get their jabs, without bookings, at four large vaccination centres. That offer will continue until Sept. 26.

Aside from generally being more mobile than most workers, builders and tradesmen tend to be young.

Foley said the outbreak was a "pandemic of the young and the unvaccinated" with 87 percent of Victoria's active cases being aged under 50, with 585 aged under 19.

Nationally, the Delta strain has disproportionately affected younger people, with the Australian government reporting the highest number of cases has been among those aged from 20 to 29.

Meanwhile, the epicentre of Australia's outbreak continues to be the state of New South Wales (NSW), which recorded 1,127 new locally acquired cases in the 24 hours up to 8:00 p.m. local time Monday.

Overall, the number of cases in NSW has snowballed to 39,954 since the first case was discovered in the capital city of Sydney on June 16. There have since been 186 related deaths, including two in the latest statistics.

Amid the grim daily update, the NSW government announced on Tuesday a range of financial support packages worth 287.5 million Australian dollars (about 211.66 million U.S. dollars) for its beleaguered populace.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the funds would assist workers and vulnerable people under financial strain due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

"The expansion 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," Barilaro said.

"Grants for culturally and linguistically diverse groups have also been expanded to connect multicultural communities with essential services throughout the pandemic." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 17:43:32|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks finished higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei and Topix indexes ending at their highest levels in 31 years, as Japan's vaccination progress for COVID-19 was catching up with other developed economies, boosting expectations for broader economic activities.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average closed 222.73 points, or 0.73 percent, higher from Monday at 30,670.10, its highest finish since Aug. 1, 1990.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended 21.16 points, or 1.01 percent, higher at 2,118.87, its highest close since Aug. 3, 1990.

Trading volume on the main section increased to 1,339.01 million shares from Monday's 1,135.44 million shares.

After the Japanese government said that over 50 percent of the country's population has been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19, Tokyo stocks opened high in the morning and stayed in positive territory all day, with the Nikkei index briefly surging over 300 points.

Investors started to expect a release of restrictions in the restaurant, retail, and tourism sectors in particular following the progress in inoculations, brokers said.

"With fewer daily COVID-19 cases recently in the United States and Japan, investors view both economies as on track to return to normal," said Toshikazu Horiuchi, an equity strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Gains on Tuesday resumed momentum for the recent upward trend in the Tokyo market, after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's announcement of not running in the leadership race of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Brokers said Suga's announcement fueled strong buying by foreign investors who had been net-sellers recently as it raised hopes that Suga's successor would come up with a fresh stimulus package.

The winner of the LDP's presidential election on Sept. 29 is set to become Japan's new prime minister as the party controls the House of Representatives. The general election is expected to be held later this year.

By the close of play, 29 out of 33 sectors of the Nikkei subindex ended higher, with insurance, marine transportation, oil and coal product, retail, and restaurant shares heading the upward trend.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones 1,707 to 380 on the First Section, while 101 finished unchanged.

Due to expectations of tighter supply since productions might be disrupted by Hurricane Ida and another tropical storm expected to hit Texas, U.S. crude oil futures increased to their highest levels in a month, which supported the increase of oil-related issues on Tuesday.

Among them, refiners Eneos Holdings finished up 1.3 percent, Idemitsu Kosan increased 3.3 percent, and Cosmo Energy Holdings jumped 4.5 percent.

Directly benefiting from expected high vaccination coverage, restaurant operators Royal Holdings and Watami climbed 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. Leisure activities related shares also ended higher, with the Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land gaining 3.4 percent, travel agencies H.I.S. rising 3.2 percent, and Knt-Ct Holdings ending up 3.0 percent. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-14 22:18:39|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that it has expanded its test and trace application's outreach and language services for its citizens and foreigners who received COVID-19 vaccine inoculations in other countries and will return to Indonesia.

The application is a monitoring tool so that people could move safely in public places such as shopping centers, offices, and tourist sites in Indonesia.

"We have listed several brands of COVID-19 vaccines used in other countries, more or less similar to those in Indonesia, such as Sinovac, Sinopharm, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and others," Setiaji, the ministry's Chief of Digital Transformation Office, said at a virtual press conference.

The application's language services are being expanded to English, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and Russian in order to reach more foreigners.

Foreigners only need to apply for registration on a website, and then the authorities will verify the data to their respective embassies, said the ministry. Enditem
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), an agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment has told Nigerians, especially those residing in urban settlements, to stop using the two-stroke engine generators because of the danger their smoke poses to the environment.

NESREA's Director-General, Professor Aliyu Jauro, who gave the warning in an interview with Daily Trust in Abuja, said the two-stroke engine generators, often referred to as 'I pass my neighbour', is contributing immensely to the pollution of the air and environment in the country.

Aliyu, who spoke on the recently concluded International Air Day of the Blue Skies, said such generators had been a major air pollutant across the country and called on citizens to desist from using them.

He said although many people are using such generators because of the countrys power situation, they can embrace the solar systems instead.

He also reminded Nigerians that the ban on the importation and sale of the generators was still in place, adding that soon the agency will activate one of its measures to curb the usage of the two-stroke engine gen by arresting and prosecuting the defaulters.

Professor Jauro said, One of the things we have succeeded in doing is to ask the federal government to ban the importation of two-stroke engine gens, that is the one Nigerians call I better pass my neighbour, in which you mix engine oil with petrol in the same tank.

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Those small generating sets are high pollutants. So by law, people are not supposed to import and use them.

These are some of the measures in place, even though we still have them because people find other ways of importing them. We encourage people to patronize green sources of energy like solar.

The DG revealed that We have a programme coming up soon to check the usage of such generators even though we are going to start with the big generating sets, before coming down to the smaller ones.

We are weighing the two for compliance. We are going to work to ensure that people reduce the use of generating sets because of the environment.

If you have it in your neighbourhood, there is noise pollution, air pollution; there is likely to be oil spillage because a lot of oil is involved. We encourage Nigerians to switch to solar.

He also mentioned other sources of pollution to include firewood, especially in rural areas but added that industries are one of the highest pollutants.

He said, they use a lot of machinery, fossil fuel and emit a lot of pollutants. Likewise the transportation sector; we have mobile sources and also stationary sources like power generating stations.

Prof Jauro reminded Nigerians that Air pollution is one of the major causes of death, as of 2016. It is said that about 6.5 million people died because of air pollution.

When you breathe in polluted air, it causes a lot of health challenges, asthma, cancer, bronchitis and other health issues.
The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has launched investigations into four salt manufacturers in Kilifi County for allegedly operating illegally.

The companies are said to be running without mining and export permits, which has seen the country lose millions of shillings in taxes. The companies include Kensalt, Malindi Salt, Krystaline Salt and Kurawa Salt.

The committee said the companies had failed to comply with the Mining Act, 2016 that requires them to obtain export permits for any consignment of salt.

"Section 171 of the Mining Act of 2016 provides that exporting a mineral is only authorised by an export permit granted by the Cabinet Secretary in charge, but a majority of the companies have failed to adhere to the law," said PAC Vice-Chair Jessica Nduku.

Ms Nduku, who was in the company of Auditor General Margaret Nyakongo and officials from the Mining ministry, had led the team on a fact-finding mission on compliance when it emerged that the companies are still paying their rates to the Lands ministry instead of ministry of Mining as per the Act.

"Our visit is as a result of issues raised by the Auditor-General that the companies were not paying royalties to the government. We need to know where they go," she said.

The committee gave the managers one week to supply all necessary documents before it issues its recommendations. Ms Nduku brushed aside claims by the firm's managers that the government did not involve them when formulating the Mining Act.

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Public participation

"We have established that there was public participation because the management has employed locals in their companies," she said. The PAC official said the amended mining law gives direction on whether the companies will continue to remit their rates to the Lands ministry.

"If there is a need to change the mining law, they should first pass through public participation, take it to the Member of Parliament who is their representative to table in Parliament," said Ms Nduku.

The salt firms' officials are demanding an amendment to the law and have moved to court to challenge it.

Magarini MP Michael Kingi noted that the companies were contravening the law by paying rates to the Ministry of Lands and urged for the controversy to be resolved through the Parliament and instead of courts.

"You opt to go to court after exhausting all avenues, and the easiest is taking a petition to Parliament to get the solution. It could not have taken much time and the unnecessary push and pull to address the matter if the companies would have engaged the political leadership," said Mr Kingi.
Blog

Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies John Campbell reflects on his last decade writing for Africa in Transition.

As of today, I am retiring from the Council on Foreign Relations, where I have held the Ralph Bunche Chair for Africa Policy Studies since 2009. I am delighted that my successor is Michelle Gavin, former senior director for Africa at the National Security Council, former ambassador to Botswana, and now a senior fellow at the Council, based in New York. She has been a close professional colleague, and she is a co-owner of the blog, Africa in Transition.

Since I established the blog a decade ago, my theme has been that Africa is important and is becoming even more important. American interests require policy makers--inside and outside the federal government--to pay more attention to a continent that could well displace Asia as the largest in population by the end of the century, that is particularly buffeted by climate change, and carries a heavy disease burden, the consequences of all three of which will be worldwide, including in the United States.

Moreover, a concern is that overgeneralization about Africa combined with a general lack of granular understanding of on-the-ground realities--and a hubris about outsiders' influence for positive change, as defined in Washington, D.C. or New York--will result in poor policy, as it did in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Hence, the intended audience for the blog has been American policy makers, though it is gratifying that it also has an African audience.

The primary focus of the blog has been on politics, security issues, and terrorism, a reflection of the assumption that security and good governance are prerequisites for all other aspects of development. The blog also reflects awareness of the central role played by religion in African life. Over the years, the blog's primary focus has been on Nigeria and South Africa, the two countries on the continent of greatest strategic importance to the United States and the subject of my four books. Citizens of both harbor a commitment to democracy and good governance, but institutions and a sense of national identity are weaker in the former than in the latter, where the trajectory toward democracy and the rule of law is more assured, if still challenged. More recently, the focus has broadened to include the ongoing jihadi crisis in the Sahel and the pervasive instability in Congo, Ethiopia and the Great Lakes.

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Given the ongoing governance challenges, the blog has usually been skeptical of the 'Africa Rising' narrative often found in corporate boardrooms and among some non-governmental organizations. It has been critical of the self-serving political leadership that has too often been characteristic of the weak states that emerged out of colonialism and that has fostered corruption, ethnic competition, and, in many places, popular alienation from the government. However, Africa's extraordinary contribution to both high and popular culture worldwide is evidence of the bright future that awaits once the twin challenges of governance and security have been met.
Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the opening of the 48th session of the Human Rights Council on September 13, 2021.

UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet on Monday deplored "multiple and severe reports of alleged gross violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law" committed by all parties to the conflict in Tigray.

In an update to the UN Human Rights Council (OHCHR) on the situation in the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia, Ms. Bachelet said the conflict has "continued unabated," and "risks spilling over to the whole Horn of Africa".

In the last few months, "mass detentions, killings, systematic looting, and sexual violence" have created "an atmosphere of fear and an erosion of living conditions that resulted in the forced displacement of the Tigrayan civilian population. Civilian suffering is widespread, and impunity is pervasive, she said.

Joint investigation

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also informed the Council on progress made in the joint investigation by the OHCHR and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) following the conclusion of the fieldwork phase of the report.

The full range of information collected is currently being analysed, but Ms. Bachelet said it was already clear that cases documented comprise multiple allegations of human rights violations.

These included attacks on civilians, extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. Sexual and gender-based violence has also included gang rapes, sexualised torture and ethnically targeted sexual violence.

Violations by all parties

According to Ms. Bachelet, Government forces and their allies continue to be implicated in allegations of human rights violations.

Reports also suggest that people of Tigrayan ethnicity have been detained by law enforcement officials on ethnic grounds, mostly in Addis Ababa.

She noted that incitement to hatred and discrimination were also documented targeting people of Tigrayan ethnicity, as well as attacks on journalists and the suspension of media outlets' licenses and shutdowns of Internet and telecommunications in Tigray.

Ms. Bachelet added that Tigrayan forces have also allegedly been responsible for attacks on civilians, including indiscriminate killings resulting in nearly 76,500 people displaced in Afar and an estimated 200,000 in Amhara.

More than 200 individuals have reportedly been killed in the most recent clashes in these regions, and 88 individuals, including children, have been injured, she said.

There have also been reports of the recruitment of children into the conflict by Tigrayan forces, which is prohibited under international law.

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Avoid national division

Ms Bachelet urged the Government of Ethiopia to accept the recommendations of the joint investigation report that will be issued on 1 November 2021 and to give human rights and humanitarian actors unhindered access. She called for all parties to immediately end hostilities and negotiate a lasting ceasefire to "avoid the risk that Ethiopia will be torn apart".

WHO airlift

The largest single shipment of humanitarian cargo to date has been airlifted to Ethiopia by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN agency said on Monday.

85 metric tons of life-saving medical supplies were flown by a charter flight from WHO's Logistics Hub based in Dubai to in Addis Ababa on Friday. The supplies, including essential medicines, trauma and emergency surgery kits, infusions, consumables, equipment, and cholera kits, are enough to address the urgent needs of more than 150 000 people.

"This delivery will help bolster our efforts to provide relief to hundreds of thousands of families who are grappling with a difficult humanitarian situation," said Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO Representative in Ethiopia.

Currently, nearly 2.5 million people are in need of health assistance from WHO and partners. The shipment to Ethiopia wrapped up a historic week for the WHO Dubai Logistics Hub. Four times the weekly average has been dispatched with over 450 metric tons of medical supplies valued at more than $ 4.3 million in support of cholera outbreak response in Nigeria, critical shortages of medicines in Afghanistan, and trauma and surgical supplies to Syria and Yemen.
Soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia rest during a joint AMISOM and Somali National Army operation in 2012 to seize territory from Al Shabaab in the Lower Shabelle region.

analysis

To prevent continued attacks, the next generation of counter-terrorism must be people-centred, not focused on military might.

The fall of Afghanistan last month and the Taliban's 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.

Using satellite structures, Islamic State has expanded into all five geopolitical regions of Africa

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 haven't been the only groups driving violent extremism in Africa. In the post-9/11 era, the Islamic State's 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.

Incentivised counter-terrorism programmes have unwittingly helped fund authoritarian regimes

With 41% 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 Africa's 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 Africa's 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 Africa's 'own 9/11' when Bin Laden's mujahideen bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Africa's 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 continent's development. This was more of a political statement to encourage international partners to continue supporting Africa. Initially it worked, as the US and European governments repackaged their aid to countries supporting the anti-terror campaign. US foreign assistance to Africa was used as an incentive to reward its allies.

Criminal justice approaches have been undermined by political renditions and weak judicial independence

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.

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.

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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, Africa's 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, Regional Organised Crime Observatory Coordinator for Southern Africa, ENACT organised crime programme, ISS Pretoria
Carlos Mavanga is one of many South Africans to receive a Covid-19 vaccine while collecting social benefits.

South Africa's president has announced the easing of some restrictions and urged citizens to get vaccinated. Less than 20% of South Africans are fully vaccinated as the authorities urge a boost in vaccine take-up.

The road to Thulamahashe is full of potholes. The town is located close to Kruger National Park in the province of Mpumalanga, one of the poorest in the country. But the roads remain quite busy -- especially on social grant payday, as hundreds make their way from the villages to the nearest town over.

Carlos Mavanga is one of them. Since 6 a.m. he has been waiting patiently in a long line in front of a supermarket where he will receive his pension -- the equivalent of around 100 ($118). Five of his family members also rely on the grant.

While he is waiting, Mavanga is approached by nurses. They offer him a COVID-19 vaccine. He doesn't think twice.

"It is easier for me to get vaccinated at the same place where I pick up my social grant," the 64-year old tells DW. "They only came once to my village to vaccinate people -- and I only learned about it when it was too late. That's why I am happy I can get it here today."

Mobile vaccination sites head to rural areas

More than 100 mobile vaccination sites in the country are currently being set up in the same places where many residents receive their social grants.

Jane Simmonds from the South African Medical Research Council says the idea is simple: Bring the the vaccine to where the people are.

"We know that people over 60 are far more vulnerable and exposed to COVID and the severe consequences of COVID," she says. "So it was an obvious thing for us to come to the queue where older people are collecting their grants. Because they are already in town -- and easy to find and approach."

Mpumalanga still has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. In total, less than 20% of South Africans are fully vaccinated. President Cyril Ramaphosa spent months fighting for easier vaccine access --an issue plaguing much of the continent. Finally -- at least in South Africa -- the supply arrived. Then demand became the problem, with fewer people than expected racing to take the jab.

In an address to the nation on Sunday, Ramaphosa announced a loosening of COVID restrictions from Monday due to a decline in infections. The current nighttime curfew now begins one hour later at 11 p.m., larger gatherings are allowed and shops can sell alcohol on weekdays.

Many rules still remain in place, however, including mandatory face masks in public. While the third wave in South Africa still isn't over, the number of new infections have declined in the last few weeks. The official number of deaths due to COVID-19 in South Africa is 85,500, however excess death numbers suggest that the real toll may be closer to 200,000.

A long road to normalcy

As South Africa embarks on a hard-won path towards normality, President Ramaphosa has warned the country isn't out of the woods yet.

"The day will soon come when we can gather again without restrictions, when we can fill our stadiums," Ramaphosa said in his televised speech. "How soon that day arrives depends on one thing: How many of us get vaccinated -- and how quickly we get vaccinated."

Ramaphosa has previously said no one will be forced to take the jab. But some members of his cabinet have already floated the idea, while a few major companies have announced mandatory vaccinations for their staff.

So far, there are no incentives in place for the easing of restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated. With a digital COVID vaccine certificate still in development, South Africans who get the jab are simply given a piece of paper to prove it.

Shorter queues raise alarm bells

In the bigger cities, the queues in front of vaccination centers have become noticeably shorter in the past days -- a worrying sign, says Elizabeth Oduwole from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

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She has been researching the drivers of vaccine hesitancy in Cape Town -- which already existed before the coronavirus pandemic. The two main factors, she says, are religion and internet-sourced misinformation.

"The reasons that they gave is that, in our religion no needle goes in our bodies, we don't take in foreign things, we just let God and natural herbs help," she told DW. "We recommend stakeholder engagement: Engage religious leaders, opinion leaders, community leaders. But for social media... that's a tough nut to crack."

Oduwole has been observing this trend across the continent. In her home country Nigeria, she says the spread of misinformation has also posed a major challenge for the polio vaccination campaign.

Back at the social grant queue in Mpumalanga, many here are well-versed in the many rumors surrounding the vaccine. But Carlos Mavanga isn't worried. He says all his friends who got it before him are doing just fine.
analysis

Lockdowns and other restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus crisis have led to a rise in teenage pregnancies in Africa. Aid organizations are warning of a regression in girls' rights to education and health.

"I'm five months pregnant by a young man who works in the barracks," says 16-year-old Elsa. "He is a soldier and helps me buy food and other things for school, because my family could not afford to send me to school otherwise."

Elsa is one of many girls in Africa who have found themselves in this similar situation during the coronavirus pandemic: Young girls in particular are increasingly dealing with early and unwanted pregnancies, which is further exacerbating poverty and inequality.

Elsa lives in Mozambique's southern province of Inhambane and is in the eighth grade at Massinga Secondary School. Her teacher, Hermenegilda Gafur, confirms that many young girls at the school are now expecting a child. "There can be two or three pregnant women in one class alone," Hermenegilda told DW.

This was also the situation for 16-year-old Mirela, who was hoping to escape the same economic hardship her parents' experienced.

"I got pregnant by a man who worked at the hospital and he said he would marry me," she says. Unfortunately the promise fell through, and she is currently living with her parents.

The impact of COVID lockdowns

There are signs that teenage pregnancies are on the rise in several African countries -- due to lockdowns imposed during the pandemic.

International aid organizations say there is cause for concern and are warning of the long-term consequences early pregnancies have on young girls. According to UNICEF, difficulties during pregnancy and childbirth are among the leading causes of death among young women between 15 and 19.

Many vital drop-in centers for adolescents and adults who require urgent help, as well as schools, have also been forced to close due to the pandemic. According to Amref Health Africa, a Kenya-based nongovernmental organization, girls are much more vulnerable to sexual abuse without such safety structures, which help to educate them about sexual and reproductive health. Amref says this trend is now likely prevalant across the continent.

Poverty a factor in early pregnancies

In neighboring Uganda, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) cites growing poverty as one reason for rising teen pregnancy rates.

"Those who are poor tend to marry their girls off, much like a business deal," UNFPA representative Edson Muhwezi told DW. "The parents receive a dowry, often cattle." COVID-19 has only exacerbated the situation, he adds.

According to the Ugandan government, prior to the pandemic the teen pregnancy rate was one in four teenagers. Now, it's nearly one in three girls in every village.

Pandemic pushing up teen pregnancy

Viola Ekikyo is among them; she had her child at 17. "I was scared and ran away from home," she says. She later returned, and now helps her mother in a small restaurant.

"She wouldn't have gotten pregnant if the schools hadn't been closed," her mother told DW.

Meanwhile in South Africa, the number of children born to teenage mothers in the most populous province, Gauteng, has increased by 60% since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

One reason for the high rate of teenage pregnancy is that girls have very limited access to contraceptives or the option of safe abortion, according to the latest report from nongovernmental group Save the Children, which has raised concerns about the welfare of mothers and babies in pandemic times.

Figures from the Gauteng health department indicate that between April 2020 and March 2021, more than 23,000 teens under the age of 18 gave birth -- including 934 girls under the age of 14.

The cycle of child poverty continues

Marumo Sekgobela, a health and nutrition manager at Save the Children South Africa, stresses that the global pandemic risks creating setbacks in the hard-won progress of girls -- especially in the field of education.

"We encourage them to attend primary health care clinics in their communities," he told DW. Screenings, consultations with social workers, and open conversations with parents are also crucial, Sekgobela says.

He warns that this wave of early pregnancies will have consequences for those affected. "Young mothers' education will be affected, and most are likely to drop out of school," he says. "This perpetuates a cycle of child poverty that many young girls in South Africa are already experiencing."

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There are also health risks involved: Early pregnancies could lead to complications, such as high blood pressure during pregnancy or high blood sugar levels. Childbirth also poses risks, particularly for young mothers, as well as their babies.

Broadening the discussion

The high rates of teenage pregnancy has also set back South Africa's fight against HIV/AIDS. According to Sekgobela, infection rates are quite high among pregnant women.

Then, there is another serious factor to consider: Sexual violence.

"We need comprehensive sex education, which should be offered to young people at appropriate ages in and out of school," Sekgobela says. He suggests policymakers and civil organizations implement this to a greater extent, and include traditional chiefs and religious leaders in discussions.

In principle, most young people -- especially those in the cities -- are aware of the risks and impacts of early pregnancy, Sekgobela says. "But in rural areas or informal settlements, education and development are just not the same."

Luciano da Conceicao and Julius Mugambwa contributed to this article, which was translated from German.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that beginning next month, funding shortages will force it to suspend lifesaving food assistance for more than 100,000 displaced people in parts of South Sudan until the start of 2022.

"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 catastrophe, if their access to food diminishes", said Matthew Hollingworth, Representative and Country Director of WFP in South Sudan.

Outpacing resources

While generous contributions from donors have enabled WFP to assist millions, many vulnerable people in crisis areas continue to suffer from the highest levels of food insecurity and cannot survive without sustained food assistance.

Starting in October, 106,000 people displaced in camps in Wau, Juba and Bor South, will not receive monthly food rations for the rest of the year.

For the next four months, WFP requires an additional $154 million to provide sufficient quantities of food assistance.

"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", said Mr. Hollingworth.

Downward spiral

Over the last few years food insecurity has continued to increase, currently affecting more than 60 per cent of South Sudan, according to WFP.

The three-month suspension is part of a broader food assistance reduction across all camps that was announced in April, whereby 700,000 refugees and internally displaced people currently receive only half the caloric contents of a WFP food ration.

Prior to implementing the cuts, WFP and partners ran a campaign to prepare those communities affected.

Pushing for peace

The world's youngest nation has been mired in instability and conflict since gaining independence from Sudan 10 years ago.

In 2018 President Salva Kiir and former Vice-President and long-time political rival Riek Machar, signed a peace accord hoping to end the crisis and improve the lives and safety of millions of South Sudanese.

However, three years later, implementation continues to stagnate with key issues still unresolved, including the deployment of unified forces and broader security sector reform.

During a four day visit which ended on Sunday, to increase momentum in executing the peace agreement, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, reiterated to the UN-run Radio Miraya network, that all parties must work together to demonstrate political will for a durable peace.

"We are committed to supporting the current efforts towards peace and stability in South Sudan", he said. "We will be backing every positive step that is taken, and we believe that achieving the ultimate objective of peace and stability requires a very strong and trustworthy partnership between the Government and international partners".

Listening carefully

Ongoing conflict and the worst flooding in 60 years have left more than eight million people in need of assistance.

Amidst dwindling resources, the UN peacekeeping chief heard first-hand the challenges humanitarian agencies face in trying to help communities across South Sudan.

Humanitarians say food insecurity this year is the worst in a decade with 7.2 million people severely acutely food insecure. There has been three years of unprecedented flooding. Last year's floods were the worst for 60 years, affecting 480,000 people.

"We are also seeing subnational conflict across the whole country at a time when, actually, we want to see the political gains that have happened since the unity government came into place last year strengthened", said WFP's Mr. Hollingworth.

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Political strategy

Mr. Lacroix underscored the need for civil society and media to operate in safety, particularly during the lead-up to elections.

"It's very simple", he said. "The UN stands for freedom of expression. We stand for wide open civic space".

The Under-Secretary-General also reiterated the importance of meeting the peace deal target for at least 35 per cent representation of women across all governance structures, saying their role and empowerment is "absolutely critical to achieving peace".

While acknowledging the difficulty of the situation in the country, Mr. Lacroix. assured that the UN's commitment is "very, very strong".

"We will continue, to do our best to help support the South Sudanese people moving forward", he concluded.
Addis Abeba  Amhara special forces were deployed to Bulen woreda of the Metekel zone in Benishangul Gumuz regional state, Bulan woreda communication bureau announced on September 12.

The communication bureau said that the Special forces from the neighboring Amhara state "were welcomed" by residents of Bulen town, in Metekel zone, 1 km in the outskirt of the town. The statement added that the local community are expecting the Amhara special forces to work in a spirit of patriotism to return sustainable peace to the area and exterminate "messengers of the Junta" and "remnants of the T.P.L.F walking around carrying its ideology and school of thoughts."

On September 09, the Benishangul Gumuz state security bureau accused Gumuz armed rebels of killing five security forces and one Chinese national in the latest attack in Metekel zone.

Earlier in August, an armed group accused by the regional government of belonging to the Gumuz community killed five members of local militia in Bulen woreda, which has been the scene of recurring violence that caused the death and displacement of hundreds of civilians.

The regional government and the Metekel Zone Integrated Command Post recently announced the finalization of preparations to take final and decisive measurements against 'TPLF agents' operating in Metekel and Kamashi zones. The warning came after regional government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May of this year with an unnamed "armed group" with incentives to integrate members of the armed group into local administration in a bid to bring a lasting solution to the security crisis in the region. The regional government went on to appoint 25 former members of the unidentified armed group to two regional, three zonal and 16 woreda level leadership positions in July.

The news of the deployment of Amhara Special Forces comes in the backdrop of on and off tensions between authorities of the two regional states particularity over the ownership status of Metekel zone itself, which Amhara officials at times lay claims on.

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Tensions between the two regional states were running high particularly after the killing in April 2019 of at least 18 members of the Amhara community in various localities of Metekel zone. In what was described at the time as a retaliation offensive by armed militia from Amhara region, "several dozen" members of Gumuz and Sinasha communities were killed in just two days in three Kebeles (localities) in Jawi Wereda, bordering Banishagul Gumuz regional state, in the first week of May 2019.

Due to this claim on the ownership status of the Metekel zone itself, officials of the two regional sated often trade blames against each other but both were unable to contain the violence, especially in the Metekel Zone which continued to claim the lives of civilians.

The tensions between the officials of the two regional states went up last year in December after the late Abere Adamu, former Commissioner of the Amhara Regional State Police Commission, announced that the region's police was requesting the federal government to "either be given the responsibility or for the federal government to intervene" in Benishangul Gumuz state in order to stabilize growing security crisis in Metekel zone of the region and secure the safety and security of civilians.

Gembir Betish, a resident of Bulan Woreda told Addis Standard that two days after the deployment of Amhara Special Forces, the community is yet to tell the outcomes. However, he added that things are "so far so good." AS
Four new ministers and an Attorney General were sworn in on Monday in Tanzania following a mini reshuffle.

President Samia Suluhu made the appointments on Sunday, dropping the names of three ministers and bringing back two ministers from former president John Magufuli's reign.

In the reshuffle, Dr Stergomena Tax was sworn in as the Minister of Defence and National Service, two days after she was sworn in as Member of Parliament to replace Elias Kwandikwa who died on August 2. Mr Kwandikwa was also the Defence minister.

Dr Tax, a former Executive Secretary of Southern African Development Community (Sadc), becomes the first woman to head the Defence ministry in Tanzania.

Bumbuli MP January Makamba was sworn in as Minister for Energy replacing Dr Medard Kalemani whose appointment was revoked.

Mr Makamba junior served as Minister of State in the Vice President's Office (Union and Environmental Affairs), before his appointment was revoked by Magufuli.

Prof Makame Mbarawa, who also served as minister in Magufuli's regime, becomes the new Minister of Works and Transportation replacing Dr Leonard Chamuriho.

President Samia appointed Dr Ashatu Kijaji as Minister of Community and Information, a newly created ministry, dropping off Dr Faustine Ndugulile.

The President moved the Information Services Department to the new ministry under Dr Kijaji from the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports.

She also appointed Dr Eliezer Feleshi as the new Attorney General (AG) to replace Prof Adelardus Kilangi whom she named an ambassador.

Prior to his appointment, Dr Feleshi was the Principal Judge of the High Court.

The new officials were sworn in at State House Chamwino, Dodoma.

Shortly after the swearing in of the new appointees, the President urged leaders countrywide to uphold the leadership code and avoid harsh language and abrasiveness to accomplish government directives.

She further said she would continue making necessary changes in the government for the good of Tanzania.
Costa Rican economist Rebeca Grynspan has become the first woman to head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) after taking office on September 13.

The former vice president of her country will serve as the UN trade agency's secretary-general for a four-year term.

She succeeds Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the first Kenyan to head a global UN agency from 2013 to 2021.

Dr Kituyi was appointed the seventh UNCTAD secretary-general on September 1, 2013, and reappointed for another four-year term in July 2017, which began on September 1 that year.

In February this year, he stepped down to return to Kenya to prepare to vie for the presidency in the 2022 General Elections.

Ms Isabelle Durant from Belgium replaced Dr Kituyi in an acting capacity following his departure on February 15.

Ms Grynspan was nominated by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and approved by the General Assembly in June.

"I am honoured to begin work at UNCTAD at a critical time for our world," Ms Grynspan said.

"Covid-19 has exposed the widespread inequalities and vulnerabilities of the world and the development model. As we recover from the pandemic, we have an opportunity to rebalance the global economy, boost resilience and ensure shared prosperity."

She called on countries to pursue bold decisions to address unmet trade, finance, investment and technology needs of developing countries struggling to meet both the Covid-19 economic fallout and sustainable development challenges.

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UNCTAD will hold its 15th conference in Barbados from October 3 to 7.

"We must take action to transform trade and reshape our global economy to overcome barriers to greater prosperity for all and embark on a sustainable development path that will benefit everyone," said Ms Grynspan.

Before her UNCTAD appointment, she was the secretary-general of Ibero-American, a regional bloc of 19 countries in Latin America and those of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, Portugal and Andorra.

She returns to the UN, having previously served as the under-secretary-general of the UN. She is also the ex-associate administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and a former regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean for the organisation.

In addition to being the vice president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, she also held the housing and coordinator of economic and social affairs dockets as minister. She has also served as deputy finance
According to netblocks, Nigeria loses about $250,000 every hour since the Twitter ban, a figure arrived at using the Brookings Institution method.

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, PIN's 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.

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.

Despite the legal actions, the Nigerian government has stuck to its guns in continuing the ban.

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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 Nigeria's 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 government's 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.
His colleagues and well wishers have been sending their condolences to the family of the late Tage.

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.

" 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 the late Tage.

Tage will be remembered in the Kannywood for the numerous hilarious roles he played in Hausa comedy films.
At Nizamiye Hospital, a private facility in Abuja, a nurse administers a second Covid-19 vaccine dose to a recipient.

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.

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.

Nigeria's 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).

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.

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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 Nigeria's estimated 206 million population.
analysis

Disagreement over rulings by Senate President Ahmad Lawan on voice votes have led some senators to demand division and eletronic voting

A very common part of the proceedings of a parliament is the echo of words like "aye" and "nay".

Just hearing phrases like "those in favour, say aye" or "those against, say nay", one could easily guess that it is the plenary session of either the Senate or the House of Representatives. It is one of the ways the lawmakers vote during such proceedings.

Voting is a vital part of deliberations by the lawmakers. It marks the end of discussion on a topic. No issue can be concluded or resolved without the voting exercise.

In Nigeria's National Assembly, there are different methods of voting; the voice vote, electronic voting and the division method - mostly done verbally or by signing in a register.

Order 72 of the Senate Standing Rule prescribes that "the modes of voting in the Senate shall be: a) by voice vote b) signing a register in a division or c) through electronic voting device installed in the Senate."

After the vote, the Senate President or Chairman of the chamber rules in favour of the side with the most votes and in the case of a voice vote, in favour of the loudest voices.

The voice vote is the primary system adopted by the legislature, being the fastest means, while other voting methods are used on rare occasions.

The electronic voting for instance has not been used by the Senate since 2016 when the lawmakers approved the nominations of Ejembi Eko and Amina Augie as justices of the Supreme Court; and in 2017 when the constitution was amended.

The division method on the other hand, was also not used for a long time, until recently.

Voice vote and "unfair" ruling

Although the voice vote is the easiest, many have argued that it is not always fair, reliable and effective especially in the ninth assembly and the Senate in particular.

In fact, some lawmakers have challenged the ruling of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on voice votes.

Some political analysts have cited instances of the Senate President allegedly ruling against the loudest voices.

"This renders the voice voting system totally unreliable, especially under Lawan's Senate," Akinloye Oyeniyi, a legislative expert, told PREMIUM TIMES.

"It has happened before. Not once, not twice. The proof is there. The video of all the proceedings where he gave unfair and biased ruling after the voice vote is out in the public," he said after the plenary session of July 15 where the Senate confirmed Sani Adams as an INEC commissioner - despite opposition from some senators.

The Senate had initially stood down Mr Adams' nomination because of a petition written against him. PREMIUM TIMES reported the controversial past of the now INEC commissioner which prompted the petition that was written against him.

Mr Adams had been sanctioned more than once for physically assaulting his colleagues - which led to the termination of a previous appointment. This and other allegations in the petition had caused many lawmakers to oppose his nomination.

But on the day he was to be confirmed, the leader of the Senate INEC committee, Kabiru Gaya, told the chamber that the petition against him "was paltry and that the reason for the termination (not dismissal as alleged by the petitioner) was not based on gross misconduct but on the rationalisation policy of the federal government... and has nothing to do with his integrity or moral uprightness."

When Mr Lawan put the question of his confirmation to vote, the echo of "nay" was louder than "aye" (signifying that more lawmakers were against his confirmation) but Mr Lawan ruled that the "ayes" had it.

This can be considered one of the instances of "misjudgement" by the Senate President during proceedings.

MORE CASES...

- AMCON bill

Another instance was on April 28 when the senators passed the bill that empowers the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to seize the assets of loan defaulters that were not included as collateral when the loan was approved.

Some lawmakers like the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, had raised concerns about some provisions of the bill which they said will empower AMCON to go beyond their mandate.

This newspaper reported how the senators complained that if AMCON goes beyond its mandate, it would bring legal issues.

But Mr Lawan simply told his colleagues that it was not the time to make corrections to the bill. He ignored their complaints and ruled in favour of the clause even when the voices against the clause were louder yhan of those supporting it.

This prompted Akwa Ibom senator, Albert Bassey, to raise Point of Order 73 (the division method) but he was talked out of it.

- PIB

The recently signed Petroleum Industry Bill was probably the most controversial subject to be deliberated upon in both chambers of the National Assembly this year.

A major part of the bill that caused chaos in the chamber was the allocation to host communities.

While the legislation proposed 2.5 per cent, the Joint Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) recommended five per cent.

However, during the final consideration of the bill, a new proposal of three per cent was made. And then followed Mr Lawan's ruling in favour of the new proposal despite resounding "nays" in the chamber.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how his ruling was followed by chaos in the chamber and eventually, another call for Order 73 by Rivers State senator, George Sekibo.

And like in the previous time, an appeal was made for him to withdraw his motion for a division. He did.

- Electoral Act

The memories of the event of that day are still fresh in the minds of political watchers.

It was July 15, the day senators considered and passed the much anticipated Electoral Amendment Bill. The consideration and passage of the bill was preceded by calls for a total reform of Nigeria's electoral system and attempts by some lawmakers to omit proposals and key priority amendments canvassed by citizens during the public hearings - some of which include the use of electronic transmission of results of an election and campaign spending limit for presidential candidates.

During the consideration, an amendment was made to a section of the legislation to empower the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly to determine the use of electronic transmission in an election.

As usual, the proposal was followed by murmurings and when Mr Lawan put the question to vote, the "nays" sounded louder than the "ayes" but he

This prompted the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, to call for a 'division' and he rejected appeals by Mr Lawan and the Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya, to withdraw his motion.

An unmoved Mr Abaribe said the act of voting individually was necessary for Nigerians to know where each lawmaker stands. Fifty-two senators eventually voted in support of the amendment.

Order 73, the Division method

Although the third method of voting recognised in the Senate's Standing Rule, this process is usually preceded by a call or challenge from a lawmaker unsatisfied with the ruling of the Senate President after a voice vote.

Order 73 of the Senate Standing Rule states that "any senator may challenge the opinion of the Senate President or the Chairman by claiming a division."

While it remains a rare part of proceedings, Mr Lawan has been challenged with Order 73 three times already in two years.

"This goes to show you that many lawmakers, especially the minority, do not have confidence in the Senate President and his ruling. It is one thing to vote and another thing to rule and that is the one that he has been misusing.

"He only rules as it favours him or their political interest. Ruling from the chair," Mr Oyeniyi said.

More calls for division imminent

The events of July 15 shows that there will be more calls for division in the chamber, Mr Abaribe told PREMIUM TIMES.

The lawmaker said the last call for division showed Nigerian where their lawmakers stood on the improvement of Nigeria's electoral process.

He expressed satisfaction that some Nigerians queried their senators for the way they voted or being absent.

He also stressed the need for lawmakers to use the electronic voting system, describing the voice vote as anachronistic and no longer necessary.

"So, you can see that it is an improvement in our democratic system because you are beholden to your people. And you can see that that singular action of insisting that everybody must now vote openly will now give us how we should go. And that should be for us to simply use the electronic voting system that is already in the chamber.

"We are in a democracy and in the 21st century. Ideally, what we should be doing is voting electronically while you are in your seat. Which would mean that, first of all, your privacy is guaranteed. Secondly, you rule or vote according to your conscience and no longer as part of a herd mentality.

"So you can now see that this is just for people to get away with things that are undemocratic. So we want a change and maybe we will have to push for the electronic system to be used. It doesn't cost you anything. It is already there."

Although he could not tell if there are immediate plans to initiate the electronic voting system, he was, however, positive that there would be more open voting.

"I don't know if there will be moves to start using the electronic voting system soon but one thing I can assure you is that there will be more calls for division as we go on. Because what it means now is that we now want Nigerians to know who their real representatives are and what they are doing."

He further said whether or not future divisions swing the way of the minority, there is satisfaction in knowing that the constituents are aware of the activities of their lawmakers.

"A change does not mean that you have to win. You can also win by losing. That is what has happened. On the transmission of results, even though those of us who wanted direct transmission put in the law, lost, we won because the tide of public opinion swung against those who voted against it and they could see clearly that they were not doing what their constituents wanted.

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"So you could see all those who voted "yes" who now had to take time out to explain themselves to their constituents and so many of them were thoroughly embarrassed by their constituents. And many could not face their constituents. I think that is the way to go."

Bias rulings as evidence in court

Although the Senate President has the power to rule, a biased ruling could be used in court, Mr Oyeniyi explained.

With reference to Mr Adamu's confirmation, the legislative expert said in instances where the petitioners approached the court to challenge his confirmation, a video of the day's plenary could be used as evidence - to show that majority of the lawmakers were opposed to his confirmation.

"It flouts the law actually. Although it is in his power to make the final ruling after a vote, cases like that of the INEC nomination consideration, one can get the video of the proceedings and use them in court.

"You could argue that despite the choice of the people during the vote, the Senate President ruled it in his favour, practically making him the only one who made that decision."

He further said Mr Lawan's allegedly unfair rulings reflects poorly on the ninth Senate.

"There is disunity in the Senate, under Lawan. It is one thing to vote and another thing to rule and that is the one that the Senate President has been misusing. He only rules as it favours him or their political interest.

"We see how Lawan will put the question and even when you hear the people voting a particular way, he will rule another way. There are many instances. The videos of these proceedings are there, online, for people to check and see."

He, however, said the voice voting system should not be entirely discarded but suspended in the ninth Senate.

"They should use either electronic voting or individual voting. That way everyone sees who's voting. Counting is done and no ruler is able to rule against the main vote."

The ninth Senate, now over two years old, already has three records of calls for division.

In the past, there were appeals to lawmakers who invoked Order 73. Will there be more calls for Order 73? Will there be appeals in the future? Will the rulings be "fairer"? Will the imminent calls for division reintroduce electronic voting? Are the lawmakers willing to subscribe to that method?

As some questions remain unanswered, many hope that the next two years of the Lawan-led Senate will provide the answers. Positive answers.
TANZANIA is blessed with unique cultural practices that Tanzanians could capitalise on them for development as well as icon when travel abroad.

The advice was made in Dar es Salaam over the weekend by Dr Aida Kisanga (64), the author of a new book titled; "My story: Kilimanjaro to London - Reflections and Lessons of living in two different Worlds" which was launched at the weekend in the city.

"Tanzania just like many other African countries has its culture that could be used as main tool for competing socially and economically in the modern world.

"I wish to clarify that we cannot compete in technology development or other spheres of life, but the unique the culture we have here, is very competitive and attract many foreigners to learn and adopt," said Dr Kisanga.

Dr Kisanga, who was born in Kilimanjaro Region and grew up in culture of chaga tribe, said she has lived in United Kingdom for the past 40 years, but Tanzanian culture is not in any way comparable to that of the UK or other parts of the world she had lived or travelled to.

"This is why I authored this new book which is in a simple language comparing the cultures I had experienced with. It is an awakening call for Tanzanians while offering the lesson to foreigners on strength of Africa's ways of life," said the mother of two and a PhD holder in architecture.

Giving his views on the book that is in the country's book stores and online, the renowned and a veteran journalist, Mr Jenerali Ulimwengu, said that the author has used a simple language which will make her readers love learning through reading.

Mr Ulimwengu said if people don't take time to read, it means they hate knowledge and development, but emerging of that kind of books would synergize reading culture among many Tanzanians.

"The author has eloquently done her best in presenting her ideas in very simple English that can be understood by people from diverse walks of life. It undoubtedly promotes reading and learning culture and its content fills the vacuum of limited literature that is touching many Tanzanians and Africans," he said.
Dar es Salaam  Four key players in the insurance, finance technology services and energy sectors have launched a new product that will enable all customers paying for fuel at a minimum of Sh10,000 using Selcom Pay Mastercard QR or Puma card at Puma Energy stations in Dar es Salaam receive life insurance cover from Sanlam in real time, valid for seven days.

The cover underwritten by Sanlam Tanzania in partnership with TanManagement Insurance Brokers Limited, Selcom Tanzania and Puma Energy aims to add value to the purchase of fuel from all Puma Energy Stations across Tanzania.

Mr Khamis Suleiman, CEO of Sanlam Tanzania said, "We are translating Ministry of Finance Directive by action to ensure we meet the target set of having approximately 50 percent of the adult population with at least one insurance policy and increase the penetration rate to 5 percent of the GDP.

"Other benefits which will be received in this scheme will include the poverty alleviation and creation of wealth through claims payment ," he said.

He said the process flow assists clients who regularly purchase fuel at Puma Energy stations to cover themselves for Life Insurance whilst paying through their Digital Wallets, another move which has been promoted by the government to reduce use of hard cash and promote overall financial inclusion.

Mr Sameer Hirji, Executive Director of Selcom Tanzania said the initiative makes use of cutting-edge technology to ensure that they achieve the goal of the insurance service reaching out to as many as possible.
column

Last week, I read a news report in which the Gombe State Commissioner for Finance appealed to Lagos and Rivers State to be their " brother's keeper" as far as the VAT (Value Added Tax) sharing formula is concerned, and more or less, 'temper justice with mercy. Unfortunately, Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 AG Rivers State v FIRS & AGF is presently not a family matter, but a legal one! Therefore, I shall examine the highlights of this issue from a legal point of view (carefully, because it is sub judice).

Background

The Rivers State Government (RSG) by way of Originating Summons, approached the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt Division, seeking the determination of some constitutional questions, inter alia, the interpretation of Items 58 & 59 on the Exclusive Legislative List Part I Second Schedule to the Constitution, and whether the Federal Government had the power to delegate the FIRS to collect certain taxes like VAT by virtue of the said provisions of Items 58 & 59. An action is commenced via means of an Originating Summons inter alia, when a party "claiming... .any legal or equitable right under... . an enactment... .for the determination of any question of construction under the instrument and for a declaration of the rights of the persons interested". The reliefs granted in an Originating Summons, are declaratory. The court declared inter alia, that the FIRS is not empowered to collect VAT.

Armed with the favourable decision of the court, the Rivers State House of Assembly went ahead to swiftly pass its Value Added Tax Law No. 4 of 2021 (VATL), to enable them commence the collection of their VAT. FIRS then applied for a stay of execution of the judgement of the Federal High Court, which the court refused to grant, on the ground that the courts are bound to obey laws that are duly enacted (VATL), and that granting a stay would amount to overruling (or is it negating) the decision that it had already handed down. See the case of Nwabueze v Nwosu 1988 4 N.W.L.R. Part 88 Page 257 on the established principle that a successful litigant should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of his success.

The FIRS immediately appealed against the decision, filing a stay of execution of the decision of the Federal High Court and a motion for interlocutory injunction, while LSG (Lagos State Government) filed an application for joinder as a Respondent in the matter, in the interest of justice. Though the Appellant has not moved its applications, nor has the LSG's motion for joinder been heard, last Friday, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, ruled that all the parties in the matter should refrain from taking any action that would give effect to the decision of the Federal High Court, pending the determination of the applications. In other words, the Court of Appeal granted a temporary stay of execution without actually hearing the application for one, citing the need to preserve the 'res', that is, the subject-matter of the suit. Can a declaratory judgement be stayed? judgement be stayed? What is the res in this case?

The grant of a stay of execution of a judgement is discretionary. See Igwe v Kalu 1993 4 N.W.L.R. Part 285 Page 1. But, generally, factors that are considered in the grant of such an application include special circumstances, or the fact that the res may be destroyed and would render the appeal negatory if a stay is not granted; and the Applicant must show the existence of a legal right. See Vaswani Trading Co. v Savalakh & Co. 1972 7 N.S.C.C. Page 692 at 695; Irukwu v T.M.I.B. 1997 12 N.W.L.R. Part 531 Page 113 at 127.

The matter was however, adjourned to Thursday for the determination of the pending applications. Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly also speedily passed their own Value Added Tax Law last Thursday, and it was assented to by the Governor on Friday morning as well.

The Position of the Law

Section 1(1) of Constitution declares its supremacy and bindingness on all authorities and persons throughout Nigeria, including the Federal Government, the Courts and the FIRS, while Section 1 (3) provides that any law that is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, shall be void to the extent of its inconsistency. See AGF v Abubakar 2007 8 N.W.L.R. Part 1035 Page 117 at 144 on the supremacy of the Constitution, and the fact that the grundnorm is not a mere Act or law. In AG Ondo State v AGF 2002 9 N.W.L.R. Part 772 Page 222, the court held that "... once the powers, rights and the limitations under the Constitution are identified as having been created, their existence cannot be disputed in a court of law".

Items 58 & 59 on the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution (that is items assigned solely to the Federal Government by the Constitution, for legislation upon by the National Assembly (NASS)) which cover taxes - while mentioning Stamp duties, taxes of incomes, profits and capital gains, do not mention VAT; nor is VAT mentioned on the Concurrent Legislative List, which both Federal and State can legislate upon. The well known principle in statutory construction, "Expressio unius est exclusio alterius' is applicable here - that is, the rule that 'the inclusion of the one, is the exclusion of the other' - 'when one or more things of a class are expressly mentioned, others of the same class are excluded'. I submit that, it is obvious from the constitutional provisions, that VAT is excluded from Items 58 & 59 of the Exclusive Legislative List and Item 7 of the Concurrent Legislative List, and therefore, does not come under the Federal Government's control. Ergo, it is a Residual matter, falling squarely under the purview of the States alone.

Simply put, constitutionally speaking, it is ultra vires the FIRS to collect VAT, the reason being that VAT is a matter for the State Houses of Assembly to legislate upon, and consequently, the State tax collection agencies or whoever the State delegates so to gather. See SC. 340/2010 AGF v AG Lagos in which the Supreme Court held that the Federal Government lacks the constitutional powers to legislate upon matters that are on the Residual Legislative list, and are the responsibility of the States.

So, to the extent that a law like the Taxes and Levies (Approved List for Collection) Act 1998 (TLA) (already nullified by the Court of Appeal for its inconsistency with the Constitution in Uyo Local Government Council v Akwa Ibom State Government & Anor 2020 LPELR-49691 (CA)) in Section 4 Part I First Schedule to Section 1 of the Act provides that VAT should be collected by the Federal Government (the Federal Board of Inland Revenue or now, the FIRS), this provision is inconsistent with Items 58 & 59 of the Exclusive Legislative List, and is therefore, null and void and of no effect. Similarly, Section 7 of the Value Added Tax Act 1993 (VATA), which provides that VAT shall be administered by the Federal Board of Inland Revenue, suffers the same fate of nullity as the above-mentioned TLA provision, by virtue of its inconsistency with the Constitution. See the case of Imonikhe v AG Bendel State 1992 23 N.S.C.C. Part II Page 480 at 491 per Nnaemeka-Agu JSC where his Lordship stated thus: "Any act which infringes or runs contrary to those organic principles or systems (in the Constitution), is said to be unconstitutional". See also Alhaji Nuru Bani Gaa v Alhaji Ishola Are Ogele SC.96/1998 18 N.W.L.R. Part 852 Page 251 per Pats-Acholonu JSC who held thus: "To suggest that the provision of the Constitution should be construed subject to the prescription of an inferior statute, is a legal apostasy... ..Any law inconsistent with such provisions would have done violence to the spirit of the organic and primary law, and therefore, to the extent of such inconsistency, is null and void and of no effect... ".

Based on the foregoing, as the law stands today, it is difficult to fault the decision of the Federal High Court, as it is a proper interpretation and application of the Constitution with regard to VAT.

An amendment of the Constitution would therefore be required, to include VAT on the Exclusive Legislative List, for it to be lawful for the FIRS to collect VAT. It is trite law that the Constitution cannot be amended by the provisions of any law, but only by the means provided for in Section 9 thereof. In this scenario, it means that the TLA and VATA (which are existing laws by virtue of Section 315(1) of the Constitution), or any other law or Federal Government directive or practice, cannot serve as constitutional amendments that can be used to insert VAT onto the Exclusive Legislative List; and the offending sections of the said statutes which I already cited above, must be brought into conformity with the Constitution, as a result of their inconsistency.

Specifically, by virtue of Section 9(2) of the Constitution, for the purpose of amendment, there must be a proposal to include VAT on the Exclusive Legislative List in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and this proposal must be supported by votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members in each House of NASS, and approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the States, that is, 24 States. The fact that the Constitution is constantly being observed in its breach by Government and its agencies with regard to many matters, does not or cannot confer constitutionality, lawfulness or correctness on such matters.

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A pertinent question to ask, is what the effect of the newly enacted VAT laws of both States which empower them to collect VAT is on this controversy, since the laws are not the subject-matter of any litigation and are valid and subsisting?

Conclusion

That the decision of the Federal High Court in this matter, is one that promotes fiscal Federalism is unarguable. But, there are many who are against this decision, and argue that it may put States who depend on 'sharing' of the VAT of others for part of their survival, into financial jeopardy. Their concerns are not unfounded.

However, those on the other side of the divide, believe that this practice of the FIRS collecting VAT into a central pool and sharing it, is unconstitutional, unfair and inequitable to the States that generate the highest amounts of VAT, because they are deprived of their own revenue which can be used to develop their own State infrastructure, just so that other States can be propped up - 'robbing Peter to pay Paul', is what this practice has been described as by many. They believe that this practice should be jettisoned, and items like minerals removed from the Exclusive Legislative List and left as Residual matters, so that States can harness their own resources and dramatically increase their IGRs and VAT, instead of depending on others.

My dear Readers, kindly, share your opinion on whether this VAT controversy is a family matter, which should be resolved amicably and holistically by negotiation and love, of course, along with other thorny issues which have not been brotherly in nature, but instead, have been a source of discord amongst Nigerians. For instance, as Governor Wike of Rivers State has publicly complained - is it equitable for States who prohibit and destroy alcoholic beverages, to be allowed to enjoy the revenue generated from the sale of alcohol in other States? Are those who argue that if the Federal High Court judgement is not upheld, we will be moving further away from true Federalism, correct? Or should the law be allowed to take its course, no matter the cost? What are your views?
Maputo  The Maputo City Court on Monday sentenced former Transport Minister Paulo Zucula to ten years imprisonment for his part in the corrupt purchase of two aircraft from the Brazilian company Embraer in 2009.

Mateus Zimba, the former representative in Mozambique of the South African petro-chemical giant Sasol, who acted as a middleman in the deal, also received a ten year sentence. However, Jose Viegas, the chairperson of Mozambique Airlines (LAM) at the time was acquitted.

The case concerned a bribe of 800,000 US dollars paid by the Brazilian company, in order to ensure that LAM would buy two Embraer aircraft. The prosecution said the accused had used the LAM purchase of Embraer aircraft in order to enrich themselves, with Zimba, who had no prior connection with LAM or with civil aviation, setting up a shell company, "Xihivele", registered in Sao Tome and Principe, through which the bribe was channeled.

Embraer has already admitted to paying bribes in several countries, including Mozambique. The bribes came to light thanks to investigations by Brazilian and United States prosecutors into Embraer's business practices. Embraer confessed to paying bribes and reached a settlement with the US and Brazilian authorities which involved paying total fines of around 225 million US dollars, and giving full details of the bribes.

Viegas was acquitted, in part, because there was supposedly insufficient evidence against him, and in part because the statute of limitations on the crime of which he was accused, illicit participation in business, had expired.

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Nonetheless the treatment of Viegas was very lenient, since according to documents from the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor's Office, it was Viegas who negotiated the size of the Mozambican bribe, although there is no evidence that he took any of the money himself.

Embraer paid the bribe, disguised as "sales commissions", in two instalments of 400,000 dollars each to a Xihevele account in Portugal.

On 22 April 2009, Embraer signed a "commercial representation agreement" with Xihevele. The stated purpose of this company was to promote the sale of aircraft to LAM, even though LAM had already signed the purchase agreement. Xihevele had not existed during the negotiations between LAM and Embraer.

The court also sentenced Zucula and Zimba to pay the Mozambican state compensation of 70.7 million meticais (slightly more than 1.1 million US dollars at current exchange rates). This sum, the court said, reflected not only the 800,000 dollar bribe but also the damage done to Mozambique's international reputation.

The goods confiscated from Zucula and Zimba (real estate and money frozen in bank accounts) will now revert to the state.

The defence lawyers for both men have announced that they will appeal against the verdict.
Detectives in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, have been given 10 days to investigated eight people arrested in connection to the murder of businessman Sidik Anwarali Sumra , his driver and a land agent.

The eight are suspected to have played a key role in the murder and relocation of the bodies of Sumra, Rahil Mohamed Kasmani and Mr James Kazungu Kafani from the scene .

The police had sought 21 days to detain the suspects but Shanzu Chief Magistrate Florence Macharia Monday said the 10-day period was reasonable.

"The police are hereby allowed to hold the respondents for 10 days to conclude their investigations," said the magistrate.

The suspects are Robert Mganga Mwagosha, Daniel Karisa Mwaro alias Mbosso, Laban Mwataro, Anthony Wanje , Geoffrey Upanga, Robert Nicholus Kibandika, Cliff Ngombo and Patrick Kilesi.

An affidavit filed by Mr Dennis Isemek, who is investigating the murder, indicates that data analysis shows the eight were at the crime scene when the victims were killed and their car set ablaze.

The police say that Mr Mwagosha is the treasurer of the Junju 72 land committee, who was mandated to spearhead the acquisition of the land, which Sumra wanted to purchase.

Suspects fled

After the murder of the three, the police say that Mr Mwagosha fled from his residence in Junju and even changed the mobile phone numbers he had been using to avoid being tailed.

"He went further to register another mobile number in his wife's name so that he could not be tailed and arrested by the police. It took the intervention of a multi-agency security team to arrest him in Nairobi," Mr Isemek said.

According to the police, the multi-agency operation was extended to Kolewa forest where Mwaro and Mwataro were flushed out and arrested. The two are said to have been operating from the forest since the murder was executed in July.

They relied on family members and close friends for food supply.

The suspects, according to the police, deserted their homes for the past two months. Their arrest in the forest was spearheaded by Mtwapa Directorate of Criminal Investigations officer Phidelis Emaka.

Sh300 to move bodies

Eye witness accounts led to the arrest of the eight suspects.

Among those whose accounts were relied upon are a primary school pupil and a secondary school student, who were among those paid by the prime suspect to move the bodies from the crime scene.

According to the police, the witnesses were paid Sh300 for the job.

Mr Upanga, Mr Kibandika, Mr Ngombo and Mr Kilesi were arrested after they were found with Kazungu's mobile phone, which went missing after he was killed.

Two witnesses led the police to Mr Upanga, who mentioned Kibandika, leading to the arrest of Mr Ngombo and Mr Kilesi, the one found with the mobile phone.

Witness protection

The suspects, save for Mr Mwagosha, are bodaboda operators in Mtepeni, which is about a kilometer to Junju, where the killing took place.

Police reports tabled in court shows that the bodaboda operators have been adversely mentioned as having aided in the murder of the three persons and the burning of their vehicle.

"If the respondents are released, they are likely to interfere with key witnesses as the investigating officer has written to the Witness Protection Agency for them to be protected," Mr Isemek said

Preliminary investigations show that Mr Mwagosha in 2020 met with Mr Kazungu, who was with a land surveyor and former Junju ward MCA Onesmus Gambo Karisa.

The purpose of the meeting was identification of beacons in the 78 acres parcel of land that Sumra wanted to buy. They were, however, denied access to the property by the respondents.

According to the court documents, the land, CR21104 plot no 335, is a subdivision of a parcel on plot number 72, measuring 78 acres and is the property of Apple Valley ltd.

"On July 7, Mr Mwagosha was at his workplace when the deceased arrived , and he was among the suspects who interrogated the deceased persons and later killed them," Mr Isemek said.

Phone numbers changed

After the murder, the police went on to say that Mr Mwagosha paid people Sh300 to drag the bodies from the crime scene and dump them next to where their vehicle was parked, about 800 meters away.

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"The respondents vandalised the vehicle, stole valuables and later burnt it. The respondents then deserted their residence and charged the mobile phone numbers they were using," said the officer.

Mr Mwagosha was arrested on September 9 at his hideout at Ambuja Court in Tassia's Fedha Estate in Nairobi while the rest were nabbed on September 10.

According to the police, Kazungu had pleaded in vain with the attackers, in their local dialect, to spare their lives.

A forensic analysis of the crime scene points at Mr Mwagosha as the key suspect.

The arrests came just days after Mr Karisa and Mzungu Shume Mwangemi secured bond terms after spending close to two months behind bars.

Mr Karisa and Mr Mwangemi have already been charged with the murder of the three people.

The two were on Thursday granted a Sh500,000 bond each after denying the murder charge.
Media personality Willis Raburu's ex-wife Mary Ngami has urged people not to assume children who were born and died never existed.

In a cryptic message on her Insta-stories, Ngumi, commonly referred to as Marya, indicates she's found herself discussing her child who is no more, only for the other person to appear confused.

She also stresses that she doesn't share such stories to seek sympathy but to make people know she has lost something dear to her.

"My child did exist. I've lost a child. I hear myself say, and the person I am talking to just turns away.

Now, why did I tell them, I don't understand. It wasn't for sympathy or to get a helping hand. I just want to know I've lost something dear.

I want them to know my child was here. My child left something behind which no one can see, So if I've upset you I am sorry as can be. You all have to forgive me. I couldn't resist. I just want you to know that my child did exist."

Ngami lost her baby girl, namely Adana, in 2020 and later separated with Raburu.

In April this year, during a Q&A session, she also confirmed she's officially divorced him.

And in July this year, Raburu and his girlfriend Ivy Namu welcomed a newborn baby, their first child together.
The Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has warned the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) against flouting public procurement procedures, saying that the practice has been persistent for long in this institution and must be addressed.

A report by the Auditor General for the financial year 2019/20, on which the committee was deliberating Monday, September 13, indicated inefficiencies in the procurement process at RAB.

The report shows that during the financial year ended June 30, 2020, RAB disregarded the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and equity in awarding tenders worth over Rwf21.8 billion.

The reported irregularities, according to the audit, include among others, inadequate market surveys, improper technical and financial proposals, and sidelining the Internal Tender Committee in awarding some tenders.

According to the Auditor General, failure to conduct proper market survey led to significant unexplained variances of over Rwf1.2 billion between tenders whose estimated costs were Rwf3.3 billion reflected in the procurement plan and the related contract amounts of over Rwf2.5 billion.

A dairy contract signed without legal opinion

Acting in contravention of the law, on December 13, 2019, RAB signed the framework contract worth Rwf749 million with a contractor called SALTEL for the supply of dairy equipment and testing tools without seeking legal opinion from the Minister of Justice/Attorney General.

This, the report said, denies RAB to benefit from supervisory and advisory expertise, from the responsible Ministry in order to prevent any legal incidence that may affect the execution of the signed contract.

RAB procurement officer Valens Dusabe told PAC that though the tender price was over Rwf749 million, it was a framework contract whose unit price [for the items in question] was Rwf55 million. He explained it is that unit price that made them not send the contract to the Ministry of Justice as it was below the Rwf500 million threshold.

MPs disapproved of such explanations, arguing that practices like this imply mismanagement of public funds as they are not complying with the procurement legislation.

The Rwf274 million sweet potato vine tender issue

The audit noted that RAB signed contracts with two suppliers Jean Marie Vianney Habumuremyi and Serge Ganza for the supply of sweet potato vine cuttings in Kirehe, Karongi, and Nyagatare District.

However, the report said that there was no evidence that the internal tender committee was involved in selection of the successful bidders.

The report showed that over Rwf274 million was paid for sweet potato vine cuttings during the year ended 30 June 2020, indicating that the contract duration was three months, with a price of Rwf10 per potato vine cutting.

This undermines the fundamental principles of accountability, transparency and fairness in awarding public tenders, according to the report.

RAB Director General, Patrick Karangwa, said that the institution had a list of people who supply various seeds including maize, beans, Irish potatoes, and sweet potatoes, among others.

He said that the arrangement to award the tender to the two sweet potato vine suppliers was made in order to provide farmers with the needed farm input during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, MPs wondered whether other suppliers could not manage to supply such farm input just because of the Covid-19 pandemic, questioning how the tendering process was made to select the two suppliers.

"This issue should be investigated as a special case ... a senior management of an institution does not replace its tender committee," PAC Chairperson, Valens Muhakwa said, indicating that the tender committee's advice was needed.

Technical studies, supervision awarded to same bidder

Contrary to the provision of article 90 of law N62/2018 of 25/08/2018 governing public procurement, the report said, it was noted that tenders worth over Rwf2.1 billion for technical studies and supervisions works [for valley dam repair for irrigation in Eastern Province], were awarded to the same bidder.

This provision states that it is prohibited for a consultant who has been hired by a procuring entity to provide consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a tender or a company connected to the consultant shall not be allowed to bid for providing goods, works or consultant services related to that tender.

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Awarding both tenders of studies and supervision, the report warned, may lead to conflict of interest.

"Therefore, possible gaps in the feasibility studies may be hidden or may not be discovered when the feasibility studies have been done by the same company conducting the supervision of works," it concluded.

MPs concurred with the Auditor General's report on this, wanting to know what might be behind this practice.

However, Karangwa told PAC that they thought they were doing the best thing to have the study and supervision of its implementation by another contractor, done by one entity.

"The person who carried out the study is the one in the best position to supervise that the works of the contractor [for dam construction] are being done according to the study," he said.

entirenganya@newtimesrwanda.com

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When completed, the 17.5MVA, 33/11KV injection substation being built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), will add 15MW to the electricity supply in Ekiti state, Executive Director, Networks, Mr. IfeOluwa Oyedele, has disclosed.

The facility with associated 33KV/11KV and installed four 500KVA distribution substation transformers located in Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti, Oyedele said, would improve the socio economic wellbeing of the people of the benefiting communities.

Speaking in the town during the ground-breaking ceremony of the construction of the substation, Oyedele revealed that NDPHC had completed five injection substations in Ekiti state since its inception.

In addition, he stated that the company since it began operations in 2004 has constructed a total of 18 substations, which are now operational throughout the country.

He said: " The facility is for the entire local government because the power requirement of Ekiti state is in the region of about 250MW. When you add 10 to 15MW to that kind of load, you will see it is substantial.

"And when you reinforce this, it will relieve other substations of the load that they are presently carrying. It is something that the entire community and its environs will benefit from."

He said the commencement of the project followed a tripartite ad-hoc committee comprising the NDPHC, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and Ekiti state government representative to assess ways of improving supply.

"We have about five already completed distribution projects in the Ekiti state from the inception of NDPHC, "he added.

Oyedele also disclosed that the company has constructed and commissioned over 350 injection substations with a combined capacity of about 3540MW across the country.

"NDPHC since its inception has completed 2,194km and 887km of 330kV and 132kV transmission lines respectively. This is in addition to completed 10 new 330/132kV substations and eight new 132/33kV substations which are connected to the national grid, thus significantly adding 5590MVA and 3493MVA capacities at 330kV and 132kV levels respectively," he added.

In the last 14 years, he noted that NPDC had built generation stations to the capacity of 5,000MW, which he said has doubled the generation capacity of Nigeria.

"Right now, we have over 10 projects that are at the 99 per cent completed. If you remove all the lines constructed by NDPHC, Nigeria will probably be in darkness, "Oyedele said.

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Governor of Ekiti state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who noted that the power supply to the state was grossly inadequate, stated that the substation when completed will bridge the supply gap in the state and called for its early completion.

Also speaking, the Olujodo of Ido-Ekiti, Ayorinde Faboro, assured that with the project, businesses that had relocated from the community would come back, lamenting that the people had suffered untold hardship because of lack of power.

"We are 13 communities in Ido-Osi Local Government and all the communities will benefit from this project. Now, we are getting our light from Omu Aran when the light is coming, it will first step down at Otun.

"So, sometimes in a week, we don't have light. In a month, we hardly get up to 50 hours of electricity, which is very poor. But with this substation, we will not be waiting for these people to ration us light. Rather, we will now have power here and still give to other communities, "he said.
Tunis/Tunisia  The number of pupils is expected to rise by 50,000 each year over the next decade, said Education Minister Fathi Slaouti, which requires an infrastructure revamp.

A rise by 65,000 is reported for the 2021/22 school year, the minister further told a press conference Monday two days before schools open.

This brought about a number of new challenges, including the lack of territorial resources and the low budget to build new schools, notably in Nabeul, Bizerte and Greater Tunis.

Funds earmarked for the creation of projects in primary and secondary schools do not exceed 4.8% of the Education Ministry's budget, the minister added.

Slaouti also said 15 new schools will bring the total number to 6,130. They will accomodate 2.143 million students.
Monrovia  The future of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) has become blurry than ever before but it all did not start with the Alternative National Congress' Alexander Cummings walkout nor his refusal to attend the presentation of Joseph Boakai as the Unity Party's standard-bearer. There was a white elephant in the room from the onset and it was glaring.

Cummings walkout from a major meeting over the weekend, perhaps, was an indication that the cup was full. His refusal to attend the Unity Party's ceremony capped it all up.

But he has come under severe criticisms for his recent posture, which he says were all intended to ensure that the Framework document of the CPP is not continuously violated.

However, his critics say his walkout was a show of arrogance.

Why Did Cummings Walkout?

The ANC in a statement explained that the Political Leaders of the CPP had engaged in the usurpation of the functions of the various organs and functionaries of the CPP in violation of the Framework Agreement.

According to the ANC, no such powers is reserved in the Framework Agreement for the reported actions of the Political Leaders, especially its repeated actions to usurp the functions and authority of the National Advisory Committee (NAC), the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the CPP Secretariat.

"The ANC has sought to call attention to these transgressions of the Framework Agreement, and to urge Political Leaders to self-correct and abide by the constitution of the CPP. The internal efforts of the Political Leader of the ANC to get his colleagues to self-correct and reverse course is unsuccessful," the ANC stated.

The stated added, "Therefore, the Political Leader of the ANC, having failed to advise his colleagues to abandon their continued violations, was compelled to walk out of a meeting to continue the transgressions. This is without prejudice to the continued membership."

The CPP's Argument

Reacting to Cummings' walkout, the Unity Party's standard beater, Mr. Boakai said, Cummings has always tried impose his decisions on the CPP.

"Out of four, you should not always decide what we should do. We will continue the process that will guide our principle decision on the consensus," Boakai said.

Last Friday's meeting was intended for the four political leaders to look into the Mr. Benoni Urey's allegation that the Framework document submitted to the National Elections Commission (NEC) had been altered by a high-ranking member of the CPP - an allegation that did not go down well with Cummings.

However, Cummings believed that the review the document be done by a committee set up by the National Executive Council of the CPP.

But Boakai argued that Cummings' suggestion for a special committee to rather review the document is wrong and his stance against the four leaders looking at the document to resolve the issue makes one to believe that he is guilty of the allegation made by Mr. Urey.

Cummings' Contention on Boakai's Selection for UP

In the ANC's political leader's view, Boakai's selection as the standard-bearer of the Unity Party was not done in conformity with the CPP Framework, hence, he could not recognize such selection.

"I am constrained to decline your invitation at this time due to a number of concerns with the process which led to the program. In particular, the action to derive an aspirant for the position of CPP Standard Bearer through a process outside of a national convention falls short of the Core Values of the CPP as stated in section 3.1.2 "Good governance; including in particular Inclusiveness, Participation, Accountability and Transparency," Mr. Cummings stated.

According to Cummings, the manner in which Boakai was selected runs contrary to the Guiding Principles of the CPP which provide for the creation of "an enabling environment of upholding the tenets of democracy including respect for the Rule of Law and human rights", and has the potential to expose the CPP to public ridicule.

"To the Alternative National Congress (ANC), the Core Values and Guiding Principles of the CPP are not without legal force and moral effect. In addition, they define the deeper values of our commitments to each other, and our pledge to the Liberian people for a better Liberia. Therefore, the ANC believes each constituent member of the CPP must act, at all times, to uphold and adhere to the rule of law, including the laws which govern our respective parties," he stated.

However, the chairman of the CPP, Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence, said the leadership of the CPP had asked contesting parties for the standard-bearer of the CPP to hold conventions and submit the names of their standard bearer to the CPP.

According to her, in that meeting, Boakai informed his colleagues that the Unity Party had its convention earlier and had selected him as the standard bearer.

Cummings, according to her, informed the body that he was going to get back to the body with the timeline and plans before he can speak about his own political party.

"The three of us at that meeting agreed that the right thing to do was to accommodate Mr. Cummings by allowing him more time to have his convention. Because of that, I was asked as the chair to readjust the road map for the matrix that was provided in that meeting to include the timeline for the ANC to have their convention."

Senator Karnga-lawrence also said, on the issue of extending her tenure, Mr. Cummings agreed in principle and welcomed the idea stating that it was necessary since, in fact, he and Boakai would be contesting for the CPP standard bearer position, it would be better for her to continue to preside.

Is Cummings Dodging Bloc Voting?

Mr. Benoni Urey of the All Liberian Party (ALP), a constituent member of the CPP, has never relented on his stance that Mr. Cummings should not be President of Liberia, especially so when Boakai is still in the race.

Both men have clashed over this a number of times.

Mr. Urey has publicly declared that Mr. Cummings, in his own words, "was not fit to be President", owing to his late arrival on the political landscape.

Mr. Urey had said he prefers former Vice President Joseph Boakai. "People usually elect people who have worked in government. You don't elect people who just come from a country and come to another country and want to be president. You elect people based on their experience and based on their reputation. And I think of the 3 candidates, Joe Boakai has the most experience; Joe Boakai has stood the test of time, and he's a relatively decent person."

Mr. Urey's assertions, according to Mr. Cummings, is a deviation from the objectives of the CPP. "Those assertions are far from the truth. When the four (4) political parties agreed to come together on February 21, 2019 and we all affixed our signatures to the document, we decided to work together in a collaboration of independent parties and by 2023, put forth a single ticket for the Presidency in 2023."

However, it is becoming glaring that Cummings may be the lone man standing at the CPP's convention Mr. Boakai is already assured of the ALP's support while recent developments over the past few months are indicating that the Liberty Party is also leaning on the side of Boakai.

But Mr. Menikpake Dumoe, a supporter of the ANC argued otherwise. He stated, "Bloc voting is not recognized by the Framework Agreement of the CPP and we are not renegotiating the Framework Agreement. Therefore, there is no way it will be used at the primary next year."

He continued: "Those who want to vote in bloc can try it in 2029. Hon. Alexander B Cummings did not walk out of poorly planned impromptu CPP leadership meeting today, because of bloc voting.

"The ANC leader and rising star in the opposition community, Alexander B Cummings walked out to underscore the numerous violations of the Framework Agreement.

"Our support base in the CPP is solid and we will eventually win the nomination but we have a duty to protect the sanity and public image of the CPP.

"This inability to lead or work with others is fast becoming the legacy of Joseph N. Boakai; he always shies away from leadership and shift blame.

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"How can you claim to be the legitimate leader of a major political party and say you are unable to find 310 delegates that you trust to vote for you?

"Over the last couple of weeks, the UP/Boakai media have been running and winning numerous opinion polls across media platforms. One may ask why with all this popularity they are afraid of a democratic primary?

"If we follow the absurd reasoning of the Unity Party and the Boakai team, Political parties will demand that their political leaders cast presidential ballots in the name of their members."

In an analysis of the CPP Primary process and the pre-empted bloc voting, Ms. Wade Powell, among other things, opined:

The CPP Framework Document leaves no room for individual political parties to take away the right of eligible voters and replace that right with an instruction/mandate to vote at the CPP Primary. Additionally, it makes absolutely no sense that individual parties within the CPP will be allowed to select how they vote and have multiple voting practices within the same primary. As such, the idea being peddled by some members of the CPP is in complete violation of both the laws of the CPP and the laws of the Republic of Liberia ad common sense in general. One must be very careful of setting these sorts of precedents that allow fundamental rights of eligible voters in political parties to be arbitrarily taken away. If our history has taught us anything, it is that some people have always tried to circumvent the laws to gain power and authority, not to do what is right but to do what is personally beneficially. As a group of people presenting ourselves to the citizens of Liberia to be elected as their next leaders, we also must be very careful in the character of ourselves that we project. If we are circumventing the laws of the land and our own Political Party, at a time when we do not yet have state power, what does that say about how we will conduct ourselves once we do get state power?
Monrovia  The Executive Chairman of ArcelorMittal, Lakshmi Mittal has assured the government and people of Liberia that its latest US$800 million agreement will not only increase the company's investment in Liberia to US$2.5 billion, it will create thousands of jobs and boost the Liberian economy.

With the latest investment, Mr. Mittal said the company has remained one of Liberia's largest investors for 16 years, and over these years, it has demonstrated that it is a stable, reliable and strategic investor; and is proud of the contribution it has made to the country and its people.

Speaking at the signing ceremony graced by President George Weah and top government officials, Mr. Mittal said the company will be expanding its mining operations - in the first phase tripling its current production levels to 15 million tons a year; and will be exploring the potential to go beyond that - up to 30 million tons a year.

The product, he added, will also be higher quality and to deliver this premium quality, the company will be constructing a new concentration plant - with the first concentrate expected in late 2023.

He said: "To deliver on this potential, we will again need to enhance the infrastructure - for example increasing the capacity of the rail link connecting Tokadeh with Buchanan, as well as with the port of Buchanan. It is a very ambitious plan and one that we at ArcelorMittal are very excited about."

He continued: "But, ultimately, we hope that it is the people of Liberia that will benefit most from this agreement. The expansion of our operations is expected to generate thousands of jobs for the local population during the construction and operating phases. More than 2000 jobs will be created during the construction phase and the vast majority of these roles will of course be for Liberian citizens."

Once up and running, he said an additional 1000 jobs for Liberian citizens will be generated.

ArcelorMittal signed a landmark agreement in 2005, becoming the first public international company to come to Liberia after years of unrest. Since arriving in the country, ArcelorMittal has been helping to educate and train people for the specific skills needed for the mining sector.

All through the years, he said the company has invested heavily in the Liberian economy; beginning with the physical and social infrastructure critical to help Liberia back on a path of economic development.

"We built roads and railways, we helped set up schools and hospitals - and slowly but surely mining in Liberia came back to life. It was a huge milestone when in 2011 we shipped the first iron ore from Liberia in 20 years," he recounted.

"I remember that day very clearly. It was a celebration of more than just the re-start of mining operations in reestablishing mining in the country, we also helped the country rebuild - and being part of that journey has been extremely rewarding for all of us I am sure."

He thanked President George Weah and his team for their commitment to reach the agreement; adding that though, the period of negotiation was tough, he admired the hard-working spirit of both parties.

He noted that the negotiation period has also enabled both parties to know each other better, deepening their relationship and building further trust.

"This is an excellent foundation as we start this new phase that will see us invest an additional US$800 million in the country - taking our total investment to US$2.5 billion," he said.

Enhanced Training Opportunities Looming

Since arriving in the country, the ArcelorMittal's Chairman trumpeted that the company has been helping to educate and train people for the specific skills needed for the mining sector; and it is now going to expand its vocational training center to reach out to more Liberians.

He mentioned that one of the benefits of ArcelorMittal as a global company is that, its employees have the chance to enhance their knowledge and skill set through working in different parts of the group. He disclosed that the company has established a new program for high potential Liberian employees and talented graduates who will be offered the opportunity to work at some of the company's other major mining operations in Brazil and Canada.

"They will then be able to bring this knowledge back home to Liberia. As Chairman of the company, I am delighted that we can make this contribution to the country and your people. After 16 years here, we really do see ourselves as a partner for Liberia. We have been through some tough times together. Ebola is the most obvious example."

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He continued: "That was a terrible time for your country but you came through it with a remarkable display of strength and fortitude. We stood beside you through that period when many others shut down their operations and took their people out. Tough though those times were, I believe that it demonstrated to you that ArcelorMittal is a company that is here in good times and bad."

He expressed confident that with this new agreement, there are good times ahead; nothing, "It is a very large project and to succeed, we will need the support and cooperation of all stakeholders. But the journey we have experienced in Liberia over the past sixteen years, makes me confident we will be able to achieve that if we work openly and honestly together with a relationship based on transparency and trust."

He then expressed hope that the new agreement will also send a positive signal to the world that Liberia is a stable place for international investment. He also paid homage to all the employees of ArcelorMittal Liberia who, he said, have made the company's operation a success, and have laid the foundations for the next phase; adding, "Working together I am sure we will make it a success we can all be proud of."
Adal Poultry Enterprise was established more than 20 years ago at the outskirts of the town of Keren. "Good things come to those who are prepared to work hard on their goal," says Mr. Omer Yessuf, the acting manager of the firm. We have conducted a brief interview with him, and the excerpts follow.

The enterprise was established in the year 2000 with a 600 thousand capital, which has now grown to more than five million Nakfa. Initially, poultry farming was perceived as an impracticable and difficult enterprise considering the losses farmers were experiencing. However, determined to grow and expand in this sector, Adal Poultry Enterprise has been exemplary in the commercial poultry farming sector.

"Initially we started the business with around 2700 chicks bought from private hatching enterprises at small poultry houses. Currently we are operating with around 18 thousand chickens. The chicks were originally imported from countries such as Holland, Germany and Hungary. But with the advent of the bird flu we are limiting our sources in line with the Ministry of Agriculture's (MoA's) plan to control diseases. As a result, the diseases have become known and easy to administer," says Mr. Omer.

Animal feed for the chicken come from different sources. From 2001 to 2011 it was bought from plants such as Dibarwa Animal Feed Plant. But since 2011 the enterprise has been producing feed for its own use. The price of chicken and eggs is greatly influenced by the price of feed at the market. When the enterprise started to produce on its own, it became possible to store feed for a longer period of time and therefore avoid the market price instability, which indirectly influences the price tag of their produce. They also buy milled fish from the Department of Marine resources and calcium from Ghedem Gement Factory.

This has enhanced their ability to manage the content of feed which is tested in a laboratory. Accordingly, they feed the chicken 18 percent milled fish, 12 percent byproduct of sesame, one percent calcium and 70 percent sorghum. They utilize chopped straw from their farm to bed the chicken. The chicken are always locked inside and they must check the floor continuously. Mr Omer says "the floor has to be dry always and if it gets wet it's an indication that there is an issue".

Mr. Omer said that during the on-going COVID-19 crisis, the enterprise made big profits as the supply of chicken was very limited and the chicken they produced fetched more remunerative prices. Presently, the firm is earning around one million Nakfa before tax. In the coming year they have a plan to expand their ventures to include chicken production intended for meat. Mr. Omer says this will be very lucrative because these chicken are ready for sale within 45 days.

Mr. Omer holds a firm opinion that any work that began with enthusiasm and zeal bears the fruits of success. In the present scenario, he calls on farmers not to depend only on one type of activity but to add various supplementary enterprises to the existing one to raise the farm's income and attain the government's aim of achieving food security. "When we started as a small scale poultry farm for meat and egg production, we also included dairy farm. Currently we have more than twenty cows," he says.

Moreover, in the context of the enterprise they are operating, Mr. Omer is of the opinion that sanitary practices are key to the success of poultry farming as it minimizes the incidence of diseases. If you can keep the chicken disease free, you can make profit. "After starting the business and we experienced a lot, we have acquired more knowledge on how to keep chicken. We always learn from our mistakes. We have experienced diseases in the past and incurred enormous lose on our business. This was because it takes time to identify the diseases and apply the necessary medication," says Mr. Omer. In order to avoid this they follow cautious procedures in the feeding system, poultry housing, ventilation and the chicken's exposure. They also vaccinate the chicken regularly. Though they have no particular vet that they work with, when there is an issue they are helped by experts. Under normal circumstances, all of the feeding and vaccinating is supervised by him. The chicken begin to be vaccinated right from their early age.

Mr. Omer said that they have a plan to expand the capacity of their poultry farm to 50 thousand egg producing and ten thousand chicken intended for meat production step by step in different phases.

When asked why in phases, he said they will invest their savings from the enterprise itself for expansion without financial assistance from other sources. He also said he wants the MoA to launch innovative programs for small scale poultry farmers. He is happy that the government has now initiated programs to assist small scale poultry farmers and interested households which he envisions will further help in the expansion of poultry farms in rural areas.

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Mr. Omer offers his advice to interested start-ups who engage in poultry farming. He says that the imported chicken are different from the indigenous chicken which are more resilient. Those who want to invest in poultry must first learn how to manage chicken and consult experts. This will help them avoid unnecessary and unexpected losses.

Mr. Omer concluded by saying that their enterprise is a proof that if one is determined, success is inevitable even under the most adverse conditions. He has high expectation from the government to provide subsidy on the purchase of chicks and feeds for small scale poultry farmers. Besides, he hopes to see a hatchery established for the production of good breed of chicks suited to the different climate conditions in the country.

Adal Poultry Enterprise, which has given job opportunities to around 50 workers, has outlets in Keren and Asmara where eggs are sold at fair prices.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday drafted the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) into the newly-inaugurated Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) Implementation Steering Committee (ISC) to ensure openness in the operations of the body.

A statement by the Head, Communications and Advocacy, NEITI, Mrs. Obiageli Onuorah, said the president's approval of the appointment of the transparency watchdog was conveyed to the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva and the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Dr. Ogbonnaya Orji, by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Boss Mustapha.

The president stated that it was necessary to include NEITI in the committee to utilise the agency's independent knowledge, information, and data to help align the implementation of the Act with emerging global issues in the sector as expected.

"NEITI will also work with the committee to put in place sustainable systems and processes for institutions that will emerge under the act. NEITI is also expected to work with the committee to lay a solid foundation for a culture of good governance and open a new era for the industry," the statement said.

While approving NEITI's inclusion, Buhari said the body has used its industry audit reports to facilitate successful implementation of the administration's anti-corruption reforms in the oil, gas and mining industries.

According to him, this has advanced the economic development policies of the current administration and helped Nigeria to continue to meet the expectations of the international community, especially the 55-member countries of the global EITI.

Reacting to the development, Orji applauded the president's consideration to include NEITI into the PIA committee.

"It is the right step in the right direction, considering the mandate of NEITI and its objectives, its pivotal roles in the ongoing reforms and strategic importance to Nigeria's oil and gas industry.

"We commend Mr. President for his insight and foresight. The inclusion of NEITI in this committee will provide the platform for our agency to bring in EITI standards and work with sister agencies in the committee to design a workable, result-based implementation plan for industry-wide use," he said.

Orji explained that some of the new requirements of the global EITI on contract transparency and beneficial ownership are captured in the PIA.

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"NEITI's membership of the committee will provide opportunity for close monitoring of these issues right from the beginning of the PIA's implementation," he added.

He noted that the organisation currently ensures that revenue payments to the federation from all extractive sources are properly assessed, remitted and tracked, ensuring that entities are held accountable on the deployment and application of revenues for the benefits of the citizens.

Buhari recently approved the constitution of the nine-man steering committee which is headed by Sylva, with representatives from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), ministry of justice, ministry of finance, budget and national planning, among others.

The committee is expected to guide the effective and timely implementation of the PIA and ensure that the new institutions to be created have the full capability to deliver on their mandate under the new legislation.
opinion

The presence of ECOMIG in The Gambia is a matter of international agreement under the purview of Section 79(1)(c) of the Constitution which requires the National Assembly's prior approval. In 2017, when ECOWAS decided to deploy their forces into The Gambia there was no approval from the National Assembly because the term of Pres. Jammeh elapsed and the National Assembly at that time was in cahoots with him to flout the Constitution. Therefore, the National Assembly led by Abdoulie Bojang as Speaker and Fabakary Tombong Jatta as Majority Leader with the majority APRC NAMs, was a rogue parliament. By that time, the National Assembly had already imposed an unconstitutional state of emergency to illegally extend the term of both the President and the Assembly itself.

Consequently, the international community, including AU and ECOWAS could not have obtained a mandate to send troops in the Gambia to protect constitutionality because the lawful authority of the Gambia was in exile. But in line with the international principle of responsibility to protect, and to protect international peace and security as per the UN Charter, as well as the AU and ECOWAS charters on governance, democracy and elections against unconstitutional change of government through stealing elections, there was ground for international community to deploy foreign forces to protect the verdict of the people and ensure constitutionalism.

But what was required when normalcy was restored and the constitutional authority was in place, (in this case Pres. Adama Barrow and his Government), everything should be put in line with the Constitution. This means, henceforth if ECOMIG is to stay ever more in this country, Pres. Barrow should seek the expressed approval of the National Assembly to legalize and legitimize the presence of ECOMIG. This was never done.

Not only has Pres. Barrow failed to do what is constitutional, but the National Assembly has also decided to ride along with him. Therefore in 2020 Barrow went to ECOWAS to seek an extension of ECOMIG presence on Gambian soil until December 2021 without any approval from the parliament, who did not also object until today! It should be clear to all that the continued presence of ECOMIG on this land is utterly unconstitutional. Do not listen to the disgusting narratives of the Government Spokesman Ebrima Sankareh and NPP surrogates who try to rationalise this unconstitutionality just to mislead and aid and abet wrongdoing by the President. The fact is, the Gambia does not need foreign troops under the current circumstances. If there is, let the President tell citizens why that is the case.

The claim that there are loyalists of the Tinpot Dictator in the army is true, but they do not pose any threat to the peace and stability of this country. If so, we would have seen armed response from those loyalists when 8 soldiers were arrested, detained, tried and convicted for nine years for planning to overthrow the Government in 2019. But none of that happened. This shows that even if there are Jammeh loyalists, they do not have capacity to change anything, with or without the presence of ECOMIG.

After all, Jammeh loyalists are in the State House. They are in the National Assembly. They are in the Judiciary. They are in public offices at both central and local levels. They are in the army, police, intelligence and in each and every security agency. In fact, Jammeh's party APRC is still a legally registered political entity with supporters across the country. But do these people pose any threat? Let the President and his CDS and IGP and DG NIA tell us how Jammeh loyalists are a threat.

After all, if indeed Jammeh loyalists pose a threat it is because Pres. Barrow has given them the oxygen to become a threat. By his poor leadership and undermining transitional justice process and jumping into bed with Jammeh Enablers everywhere, Barrow has served Yaya Jammeh and APRC more than he has served the Gambia since he took office. By his actions, Barrow has actively empowered, encouraged, strengthened and resuscitated APRC and Jammeh loyalists from dying, naturally!

His failure to ensure effective and robust security sector and civil service reforms; his failure to support a draft constitution; his failure to support and defend victims; his failure to speak up against impunity and support accountability, means Barrow has become the number one lifeline for Yaya Jammeh, APRC and impunity in this country. Therefore, why should the Gambia need foreign forces here when Barrow is already in bed with Jammeh and his loyalists?

All Gambians must rise up to demand that ECOMIG forces leave our shores. We appreciate their mission to remove Jammeh which was beautifully accomplished in January 2017. Since then, they are no more here to serve the Gambia but Adama Barrow and by extension, that same Yaya Jammeh. Therefore, it is also in ECOWAS' and ECOMIG's best interest that they leave now because the presence of their troops is now becoming an unbearable liability to Gambian citizens. The frequent incidents of violence, abuse and general misconduct committed by their soldiers in various communities are reaching boiling point!

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Above all, the presence of ECOMIG is the single most leading cause for the delay and the derailment of the necessary security sector reforms, hence the democratic transformation of this country. Because of this challenge, security agencies remain in abnormal circumstances while Barrow refuses to follow good governance principles, which pose a clear and direct threat to national security. Thus, the effect of ECOMIG presence is adversely huge, thereby highlighting the irresponsible nature of this President in failing to stand up to defend the best interest of the country.

The truth is, Pres. Barrow has no authority to bring and keep foreign forces in the Gambia all by himself, hence ECOMIG has no mandate to be in the Gambia.

For The Gambia Our Homeland
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered Regional Commissioners to re-organize petty traders across the country without being violent or aggressive.

The President gave the directives on Monday in Dodoma shortly after swearing-in the newly appointed Ministers and Attorney General adding that the exercise should be polite and smooth.

"Take the necessary measures without oppressing traders in anyway," President Samia said

equally the president urged the petty traders to pay attention to governing rules and regulations as well as heeding directives given by Regional and District authorities.
Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmaajo, arrives at Sochi Airport to take part in the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia, October 22, 2019. Vladimir Smirnov/TASS Host Photo Agency

Somalia President Mohamed Farmaajo has appointed a 5-Member Commission of inquiry to investigate the disappearance of Somalia's National Intelligence and Security Agency (Nisa).

The 25-year-old Ikran Tahlil went missing in June, and her disappearance has aroused calls across the country demanding for her justice.

Farmaajo said on Monday that the commission of inquiry will be chaired by the Attorney-General and deputised by Head of Military Court.

They are expected to hand over the findings and evidence to responsible legal institutions for execution of Justice.

Local media claimed that Ikran was picked up from her house by a vehicle that was believed to be familiar to her.

In June, her mother Qali Mahmoud Guhaad asked the government of Somali to help the family to search her.
Buchanan, Grand Bassa  At least two persons have been confirmed dead and several others wounded in a tragic vehicle accident on Monrovia-Buchanan highway.

The accident occurred during the evening hours on Monday, September 13,2021 in St. John City .

A gray vehicle transporting passengers from Monrovia to Buchanan ran into a truck that was headed for Monrovia.

Two persons, the driver and a female passenger from the gray vehicle died instantly, according to medical practitioners that arrived on the scene, while several others we rushed at the Liberian Government Hospital in Buchanan. Two were later transferred to Monrovia due to their condition.

Details coming soon... .
Monrovia  Africa's leading financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, has announced its audited half year financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2021, showing impressive growth across all major income lines and performance indicators.

The pan African financial institution delivered a 33.4% appreciation in its profit before tax which rose to N76.2bn ($185.5mn) as at June 2021, up from N57.1bn($139.1mn) recorded in the same period of 2020, translating to an annualised Return on Average Equity of 17.5% as against 14.4% a year earlier.

This feat was recorded despite the challenging business and economic environment that emerged from the slow pace of activities following the global lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The results filed with the Nigerian Exchange, showed that the Group's profit after tax stood at $147.5mn representing a significant rise by 36.3% compared to $108.2mn recorded in the half year of 2020, while gross earnings grew to $769.6mn from $732.0mn as at June 2020; a 5% growth.

As at June 30, 2021, the Group's Total Assets crossed the $19.5 billion mark as it soared to $20.2 billion up from $18.7 billion at the end of the 2020 financial year. Customer Deposits also crossed the $14.6 billion mark growing by 7.4 per cent to $14.8 billion in the period under consideration, compared to $13.8 billion as at December 2020.

The Group's Shareholders' Funds remained robust at $1.83bn up from $1.76bn in December 2020, reflecting its strong capacity for internal capital generation. In line with the bank's culture of paying both interim and final cash dividend, the Board of Directors of UBA Plc has declared an interim dividend of 20kobo per share for every ordinary share of 50kobo each, held by its shareholders.

UBA's Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka, expressed delight over the bank's performance in the first half of the year, adding, "This has been a strong first half for us, as global economic recovery exceeded expectations, creating a positive rub-off on consumer and corporate confidence, savings and investment activities. We saw this positively impact our business, as we continued to leverage our key strategic levers - People, Process and Technology, and our Customer 1st Philosophy, to revolutionise customer experience at UBA."

He added that the bank's investment in the Rest of Africa (Excl. Nigeria) continues to yield good results for the group. In his words; "The benefits of pan-African business diversification accruing to the Group is once again evident, with gross earnings and interest income growth of 5.1% and 8.3% respectively, despite the low yield environment in our largest market, Nigeria. We are making remarkable progress on our strategy that is progressively positioning UBA as the bank of choice on the continent, driven by our emphasis on tech-led innovation and best customer experience."

Continuing, the GMD pointed out that the bank recognises the far-reaching effects of the pandemic on businesses globally, and remains focused on its promise to always provide our customers with the best banking experiences possible. "Our H12021 performance reflects our progressive efforts in building on the strong momentum that we started the year with. As a purpose-driven organisation, we remain resolute in our drive for sustained growth in customer acquisition, transaction volumes and balance sheet, as we consolidate our 'Africa's Global Bank' market position in the years ahead, uplifting livelihoods across the continent," Uzoka explained.

UBA's Group Chief Financial Officer, Ugo Nwaghodoh, on his part, noted that the bank's goal is to achieve marked improvement in earnings quality whilst maintaining positive operating leverage as well as top-notch asset quality. "The Group recorded an RoAE of 17.5% (from 14.4% in 2020H1) and a NIM of 5.8% (from 5.4% in H12020) as we played the volatile yield environment diligently for best return on our interest earning assets. Capital position remained strong, with the capital adequacy and liquidity ratios of 24.9% (22.4% in 2020H1) and 58.3% (58.2% in 2020H1) respectively. This is robust enough to support our growth ambitions," he said.

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The GCFO pointed out that even while the operating environment remains largely uncertain and volatile, despite marked improvement from Covid-19 induced macroeconomic stress, UBA will continue to build resilience through its geographically diversified business model to support headline earnings growth for the Group.

"We remain committed to our 18% and 15% respective RoAE and deposit growth guidance for FY 2021, as we continue to invest in growth opportunities across our geographies of operation, whilst managing capital and balance sheet prudently," Nwaghodoh stated.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading Pan-African financial institution, offering banking services to more than twenty-five million customers, across over 1,000 business offices and customer touch points, in 20 African countries. With presence in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, UBA is connecting people and businesses across Africa through retail; commercial and corporate banking; innovative cross-border payments and remittances; trade finance and ancillary banking services.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has given its commitment to support the 'Great Blue Wall Initiative,' a regionally connected network to develop a regenerative blue economy.

The Great Blue Wall Initiative is a project for the western Indian Ocean countries that intends to adopt an action-driven, oriented and focused approach.

Under the project, seascapes and conservation/restoration sites will be identified based on country priorities, opportunities, existing efforts, local partners' needs, and availability of funding as well as on the already available science and knowledge.

As such, the Great Blue Wall initiative The IUCN and its partners' endorsement was announced as one of the key commitments to action at its World Congress, in Marseilles, hosted by France this week.

Initiated by the regional director of IUCN, Thomas Sberna, the project is supported by James Michel, a former President of Seychelles, and the founder and executive chairman of the James Michel Foundation.

Michel took part in a high-level dialogue organised by the IUCN.

"The Great Blue Wall initiative represents a unique opportunity to move forward at an unprecedented speed. Now is the time with the support of our partners to make it a reality. Subsequently, a wave can embrace the wider world. As a supporter, a world influencer and an advocate of the Blue Economy, I today pledge my full support for this visionary initiative," said Michel.

The western Indian Ocean provides food security, sustains economic growth, regulates the climate, and provides livelihood opportunities for coastal communities across 10 countries - Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Michel said that the Great Blue Wall Initiative provides a great opportunity if not a moral compass to act as a global champion for the cause and pave the way towards a blue future.

"The Great Blue Wall presents a first of its kind. It is a unique approach for the region, Africa and the world subsequently. It promises to play an instrumental role in helping to achieve a nature-people-positive world. A planet in balance. I believe it can be achieved provided there is political will. Let us make it happen, let us make history, let us make the future," he added.

Former president James Michel has been advocating for a sustainable Blue Economy architecture for small islands and coastal states since 2010.

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He said that when he started it was often a lonely journey plagued with a constant feeling of a lonely voice in the vast ocean.

"Look at us today! Today, it is embraced by the world. The Blue Economy is seen as a driver of conservation and development. We are unlocking its full potential - it can be sustainable, regenerative and people-centre," said Michel.

He talked about the various initiatives Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has made which included the world's first debt for nature swap, a financial architecture to alleviate the debt trap and fund ocean protection and climate mitigation.

Michel concluded in saying that "I see the ocean as the medium of life, and the future of civilisation. I see our great seas as a place that holds the world's shares of Earth's natural resources. I see the extent of care that is required to use this precious resource without having to disturb nature's balance. Above all, way back then, 11 years ago, I saw the architecture of the blue economy concept as the saviour of our planet. Today, this reality is being talked about in the world."
Chief Court Reporter

OPTIMAX Mining Resources (Pvt) (Ltd) has been granted a provisional order barring two other miners from disposing five million tonnes of iron ore stockpile at Mkwake Railway Siding in Buchwa, pending the finalisation of the matter.

Optimax claims ownership of the iron ore fines totalling US$125 235.

The ruling came after the company sued NCD Coal Mines (Pvt) (Ltd) and Next Gen Power (Pvt) Ltd (NGP) and Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ)-- seeking to stop the removal of the iron ore from the site pending the confirmation or discharge of the provisional order on the return date.

NCD and NGP, in a development unrelated to Optimax's acquisition of the iron ore, entered into an agreement of sale of iron ore and joint venture agreement for mining iron ore at Buchwa Mine, Mberengwa.

However, pursuant to the agreement, NGP started removing the ore which Optimax had bought from the Sheriff's sale in execution.

Justice Happias Zhou granted the application for a provisional order by Optimax, finding a well-grounded apprehension for irreparable harm if NGP was not interdicted from disposing of the ore.

"The relief, subject to a few amendments to the draft provisional order, can therefore be competently granted against the first respondent and the other two respondents. In the result, the provisional order is granted in terms of the draft thereof," he said.

Both NCD and NGP had opposed Optimax application. NCD wanted the application dismissed on the basis that it never authorised NGP to remove Optimax's ore.

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According to NCD the ore in question fell outside the areas to which its agreement with NGP related, hence there was no reason for the latter to get to where the ore is piled.

Further NCD accused NGP of abusing the agreement and, also the prospecting licence which is not included in the agreement. In the event the application was granted, NCD made an alternative claim for costs against NGP, which the court found to be irrelevant at this stage.

NGP sought to raise several preliminary points to block the hearing of the matter on urgent basis, but Justice Zhou, found the submissions misplaced.

The judge said conduct of NGP demonstrated the worrying tendency by litigants to raise unnecessary objections in preliminary points, a tendency which the courts have warned against in many judgments.

To this end, Justice Zhou ruled the objection that the matter was not urgent was therefore without merit and dismissed it. Optimax bought the five million tonnes of iron ore fines at an auction conducted by the Sheriff of the High Court.

Its title to the ore was confirmed by the Sheriff in a letter dated February 27, 2017 and a letter by the Secretary for Industry and Commerce in August 2018.
"GIVE a man a fish, and he will be hungry again tomorrow; teach him to catch a fish, and he will be richer all his life."

True to the assertion, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has come in handy to vulnerable women countrywide through the partnership between Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) and her Angel of Hope Foundation which has so far afforded over 3 000 Epworth residents a rare opportunity to acquire self-help skills from the university free of charge as part of her multi-pronged empowerment initiatives

Amai Mnangagwa started with Epworth, a sprawling settlement which is infamous for vices like prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse.

She has been working with the community to shun criminal life and prostitution which exposed them to diseases and equip them with life skills to earn a decent living through the use of their brains and hands.

Beneficiaries include ladies of the night, orphans, child head of families and people living with disabilities, among many other disadvantaged groups.

The First Lady has a passion for women, children, the elderly and people living with disabilities.

The programme will be expanded to cover all parts of the country and to motivate the women, the First Lady has also selected a course to study.

The university's Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Gundani and deans of faculties were present and took the beneficiaries through what the programmes demanded.

A list of what the women and girls wanted to study was compiled.

The mother of the nation is always keen to uplift areas that are looked down upon.

Addressing the women yesterday, the First Lady said it was critical for beneficiaries to focus on their studies so that they can transform their lives.

"Madzimai we have come to change our lives and start afresh. I would want you to think deeply as an individual and think of a course you want to do. What you did long back is past, today you are starting a new life.

"As we are here we have different life circumstances, we come from different backgrounds too. Our family beliefs are different, but what we do and our decisions have a bearing on our lives. We have orphaned children and child-headed families and some who are being looked after at some care centres. We have girls living with disabilities who can work with their hands. Some worked at night selling their bodies. Today a chance to change our way of life has come. Totosunga dzisimbe vasikana kusvikira tasvika kwatiri kuyenda. (Be strong because we are going forward).

"We are not looking back because if we backtrack we remain in one place. We must use our brains and hands. ZOU has many faculties that we can learn from and I shall be among the learners. Ndinenge ndichitodzidzawo nemi and we do not want people who will lag behind," she said.

The First Lady said she will ensure everyone takes their studies seriously.

"Such empowerment programmes are rare therefore grab this opportunity with both hands. Today a university has come to your doorstep, we must take the studies seriously," she said.

"I know that changing someone's way of life is difficult, so here in Epworth if you see what I come with, it means you are always in my mind. Don't let me down madzimai."

Amai Mnangagwa urged the women to shun commercial sex work and focus on using their hands.

"I have heard of a place called 'pabooster' where ladies of the night roam around soliciting for clients. Even young girls are selling their bodies. This is not right. We should do away with this kind of life and start afresh. Education is key, let us all embrace this programme we have brought," she said.

She thanked the university for the partnership.

Professor Gundani said he was excited to work in partnership with the First Lady and her Angel of Hope Foundation for the benefit of the nation.

"As ZOU we said what we are seeing bids on us to carry our hoe on the shoulder and follow Amai and walk with her. As a university we said what the First Lady is doing for the nation is good and we praise it and where can we play a part. I have come with my team of deans and professors so that you hear what we have to offer," he said.

He said it was essential to teach people to catch fish than having to feed them on a daily basis.

"The First Lady is doing this for our benefit as a nation. As a university we learnt that if you want to teach someone, do not give them fish but teach them how to fish. This is a lesson we learnt from the First Lady," he said.

Dr Yurita Nyamanhare, a director in the vice chancellor's office said the courses were a way of complimenting the First Lady's efforts to empower the women countrywide.

"As a university we are proud to partner Angel of Hope Foundation programmes which are being spearheaded by the First lady. We have seen it fit for universities as ZOU to partner her offering different courses which can come as short courses or long courses. We are offering them for free and these are spread throughout the eight faculties that we have at ZOU.

"In the faculty of agriculture ZOU is offering crop production, animal production as well as agribusiness and marketing. In the faculty of applied sciences it is offering courses in sign language and counselling services as well. It is also offering courses on disability awareness.

"In the Faculty of Arts, Culture and Heritage we are offering a special certificate in ethics. This course is expected to restore the Ubuntu which is part of our African dignity, our own valued inheritance. Amai has been spearheading empowerment of women therefore as ZOU we are complementing her efforts," she said emphatically.

Social welfare officer Mrs Susan Ngani praised the First Lady for offering tangible solutions to problems affecting people.

"There were children who were roaming around the streets and this touched Amai and she took them out of the streets and placed then into a home called Chambuta Children's Home which has been transformed by Amai and the children are learning.

"They are in a good beautiful environment. Amai did not come to give anyone fish. She has come with life skills to give vulnerable people. That is inheritance no one can take away from you. Amai is leaving no one behind," she said .

Acting Harare Mayor Councillor Musarurwa Stewart Mutizwa thanked the First Lady for her efforts to transform the lives of people.

"I want to thank the work being done by Amai. She is removing people who are working and living in the streets and orphans so that they would have a better life.

"This idea she has come with in partnership with ZOU of giving people skills to work for themselves is a game changer. They are going to acquire knowledge and self-help projects thus leaving the streets. If the streets are clean, this becomes easy for us to manage our cities.

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"We have many ladies of the night in Harare and mostly in Epworth but Amai because of her love and kindness, she is here today to empower them. We are thankful for her vision and initiatives," he said.

Beneficiaries of the programme said life will certainly not be the same for them and promised to change.

"If your mindset changes, your life will also change. I thank you for what you have done for us here in Epworth Amai," said Mrs Isabel Kapandurwa.

Mrs Lilian Chanyuka said; "We never thought we would be remembered to a point of being sent to university. We are so grateful and we will never embarrass you Amai. We shall try all in our might so that our children's children will hear about this."

Another beneficiary, Junet Banda said; "I work with people living with disabilities and have decided on what I will study. I want to learn sign language because I was failing to communicate with some people that I work with. Amai has remembered us.

"Our lives have changed. We are going to learn and transform our lives. My husband abandoned us when I gave birth to a child with disability. I know that he will want to come back if he hears that I am now a graduate. We are so happy."

A former lady of the night promised not to go back to the booster.

"I will no longer go kubooster seeking men because I have been empowered by our mother the First Lady," she said.

The courses are offered in Faculties of Agriculture, Applied social sciences, Commerce and Law, Education, Science, Technology and Arts, Culture and heritage studies.
The US$9 million water project set to benefit thousands of Harare South residents has been completed.

Areas that will directly benefit from the water project include Southview Park (commonly referred to as Fidelity), Ushewokunze, Southlands, Stoneridge Park, Hopley and Eyecourt suburbs.

Some of the areas had gone for years without running water.

Provision of clean water is a top priority under the Second Republic.

President Mnangagwa visited Southlea Park during a clean-up campaign in 2019 and assured residents that his Government would look into their challenges such as lack of access to potable water and sewer systems. While it is the responsibility of Harare City Council to install off-site infrastructure as per the provisions of the Urban Councils Act, it was incapacitated due to financial challenges, resulting in Fidelity Life Assurance of Zimbabwe intervening.

Fidelity Life contracted Masimba Holdings to undertake the massive water project for its Southview Park housing scheme, but surrounding suburbs will now benefit.

In a statement Masimba Holdings said there will be a temporary road closure of Harare-Beitbridge Highway for eight days to enable road crossing for construction of 450 mm pipeline from Granville cemetery water reservoir site.

The statement advised motorists to exercise extreme caution when approaching 15 km peg on the highway. In its latest update to Southview Park residents that was seen by The Herald, Fidelity Life said the project was almost finished.

"The main pipeline is also 100 percent complete. The contractor is now focusing on pressure testing the entire pipeline to eliminate any leakages," said Fidelity Life. Everything is now 100 percent complete."

"The pressure testing is at 80 percent. This is a city council requirement. Some of the biggest challenges on the project included the putting of concrete bases and columns in rivers and diverting the rivers in order to dry beds.

"What is left is the final road crossing along Harare-Masvingo Highway to connect to Southview residence connection point which takes approximately seven days.

"The estimated cost of completion of the project stands at US$9 million making it the biggest water project in Zimbabwe to a residence," said the firm.

Fidelity Life said the project was supposed to have been completed five months ago, but the contractor requested for extension of time owing to the impact of Covid-19 on the project.

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The revised completion date has been set as September 23, which would be followed by testing and commissioning, leading to handover to the City of Harare.

The project involved pipe excavations and pipe laying of 8,9km on the main line, construction of 10 megalitres and 1 megalitre water reservoirs, which are all 100 percent complete.

Other completed works include construction of a pump station, workshop, caretaker house and Pepsi gate valves.

Minor outstanding works include pressure testing on the completed line which is 80 percent complete, with 7km already tested against the target of 8,9km. On its own, the City of Harare is struggling to provide clean water to citizens, if at all, due to massive corruption and general incompetence by the MDC leadership and councillors.
POLICE Commissioner Erasmus Makodza, who is accused of corruptly allocating a piece of land at a police farm in Mashonaland East Province to his alleged girlfriend during the time he was heading the province, yesterday denied the charges when his trial opened saying he never participated in the processes of deciding on whether to offer her the part of the farm or not.

Comm Makodza, who was represented by lawyer Mr Tapiwa Makanza, is being charged with corruptly concealing a transaction from a principal and alternatively criminal abuse of office.

He denied the charges when he appeared before regional magistrate Mr Noel Mupeiwa.

"He recused himself from attending to anything to do with Maonei Chapfudzas (herein after referred to as the applicant) application that is to say, accused did not chair the committee which decides on applications for a public private partnership with the Zimbabwe Republic Police as regards police farms.

"His subordinate Assistant Commissioner Moyo (the late) chaired the committee. In the ordinary course and scope of doing business the accused would have been the one who would have chaired the committee," reads part of the outline. Mr Makanza added that Comm Makodza was a non-participant in the whole process and that in any event he had no personal interest in the transaction

He said Makodza did not fail to disclose anything as he did not have a personal interest in the transaction since he was not in a relationship with Chapfudza and had simply had a child with her two years prior to the alleged offence.

"Out of the abundance caution and in order to avoid a situation where he could be said to have abused his office by entertaining the applicant's application, he therefore recused himself.

"At the material time, the accused (Comm Makodza) was not a director in Jeriel Enterprises (Private) Limited. The State is put to the strict proof thereof.

"Accused will also state that he did not deceive his principal nor did he intend to derive any gift or consideration for himself," said Mr Makanza.

He said Comm Makodza did not omit to do anything which he had a legal obligation to do as a public official.

"Infact he had no legal obligation to disclose his private relationships with anyone as they are not relevant in the conduct of his official duties however in this case he did so. Accused will also state that since he did not participate in the approvals for applicant's application he could not have then been charged with showing favour to the applicant," Mr Makanza added.

Meanwhile, the State also called its two witnesses, Superintendent Mugove Chidhakwa and Sergeant Norbet Hlabati who alleged that both their statements were doctored or tampered with by the investigations officer, Mr Eric Chacha.

First to testify was Sgt Hlabati who by that time of the alleged offence was the farm manager at the police projects farm Mashonaland East, said Comm Makodza did not do anything wrong as he never participated in the whole processes since he was not part of the committee.

"I am not aware of any wrongdoing on this agreement by the accused person. I did not see the accused person showing interest or favour on this agreement. Although he was my superior, he would only give instructions through the normal channels and those instructions had nothing to do with the agreement," he said.

Sgt Hlabati however denied his statement which was recorded by the investigating officers saying the court should now consider the one he had made during cross examination in court yesterday.

"Some of my statement that I made were altered by the investigating officer. I plead with the court to follow with the correct statements I am making right now under oath during these court proceedings," he said.

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Meanwhile, Supt Chidhakwa who was by then the Mashonaland East provincial intelligence officer also denied his statement which was recorded since he alleged that it was doctored.

The senior officers also exonerated Comm Makodza for any wrong doing during the transactions.

Ms Tendai Shonhai, appeared for the State, alleged that in 2019, Comm Makodza decided to corruptly benefit from police projects in Mashonaland East where he was at the time officer commanding.

Comm Makodza is said to have engaged Assistant Commissioner Stephen Zengeya, who was responsible for administration in the province, and told him that there was a private investor who wanted to use Lendy Farm, which is owned by police.

It is alleged that Comm Makodza then introduced Maonei Chapfudza to Asst Comm Zengeya, saying she wanted to invest into piggery, poultry and horticulture on the police farm.
On Monday 13/9/2021 President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Sharm El Sheikh.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Director of the General Intelligence Service Mr. Abbas Kamel, Head of Israel's National Security Council Dr. Eyal Hulata, the Israeli Prime Minister's Military Secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Gil, and Senior Advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister Shimrit Meir, as well as the Israeli Ambassador to Cairo.

The Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency stated that a bilateral session of talks was held between the two sides, during which the latest developments in bilateral relations in various areas were discussed. They also focused on the developments in the regional and international arenas, notably with regard to the Palestinian issue.

President El-Sisi confirmed that Egypt supports all efforts exerted to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution as well as the resolutions of international legitimacy. All of this contributes to reinforcing security and achieving prosperity for all peoples of the region.

President El-Sisi underscored the need for the international community's support for Egypt's reconstruction efforts in the Palestinian territories.

The President also reiterated the importance of maintaining calm between the Palestinians and Israelis, particularly in light of Egypt's ongoing efforts to mitigate tension between the two sides in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Minister of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram asserted that the launching of the national strategy for human rights on September 11 affirmed that Egypt has started a new era of building the Egyptian person and providing decent life for all citizens under the new republic.

The minister's remarks were made during her meeting with a delegation of the National Commission for Human Rights in Sudan chaired by Refaat Merghani in the presence of a delegation of the National Council of Human Rights in Egypt.

During the meeting, Makram said that the political leadership is keen on maintaining the human rights of Egyptians and reviewed the latest efforts exerted to provide alternatives for illegal immigration and guaranteeing the right to work, praising all efforts exerted by the state to care for Egyptians abroad and protect their rights.

She also commended the efforts exerted by Sudan in the field of women empowerment, citing the four ministerial portfolios in the Sudanese government.

The Sudanese official, for his part, lauded the Egyptian experiment in the field of enhancing human rights, terming it as a pioneering step at the Arab and regional levels.

He said Sudan is keen on drawing on Cairo's experiment in the field of establishing human rights especially the Saving Boats initiative launched by the Emigration Ministry to help reduce the number of illegal immigrants and find them alternative jobs to avoid illegal immigration.
BEATRICE Mtetwa, the lawyer representing journalist, Hopewell Chin'ono who is facing charges of inciting public violence Monday asked magistrate Vongai Muchuchuti to recuse herself on allegations that she is biased.

Mtetwa said it would be unfair for Muchuchuti to preside over Chin'ono's trial as she has already determined his fate.

This assertion is based on the magistrate's previous rulings against her client.

Chin'ono is being accused of inciting the public to commit public violence after he retweeted a post by politician Jacob Ngarivhume calling for anti-government protests last July.

The State had asked the court that they were ready for trial, but Mtetwa objected saying she had another matter at the High Court.

Mtetwa also said Muchuchuti could not preside over the trial since she had already suggested that Chin'ono had a case to answer during an application for exception.

"There is a pending review at the High Court on your ruling. The grounds for review your worship include certain pronouncement and the ruling which suggests you believe in the guilty of the accused and in our respectful view those comments naturally are concerns to the accused and your impartiality is therefore doubtful when you made those pronouncements. So, we apply that we wait for the review proceedings. you have to recuse yourself, " Mtetwa submitted.

" In any event the lead counsel is not available. You are aware that there is no concentration since there is no affidavit of yourself to answer your allegations and as it is our application is not contested at the High Court. For that reason, we may seek the postponement of the matter."

"You have the power to postpone a matter and the reason obviously is for the justice to be done," Mtetwa further said.

The State however opposed to the application saying the application before the High Court is yet to be set down and cannot stop these proceedings since there is no order from the High Court.

Muchuchuti rolled over the matter to this Tuesday for ruling.
THE East African Community (EAC) integration agenda has received a major boost after the African Development Bank (AfDB) pledged support to Infrastructure, power connectivity and capacity building for the bloc.

AfDB Regional Executive Director, Mr Cheptoo Amos Kipronoh, observed here recently that investment in infrastructure, power connectivity and capacity building were key to economic development and strengthening EAC integration.

The AfDB boss further commended the EAC for being the most integrated bloc among the eight regional economic communities (RECs) recognised by the African Union (AU).

"The AfDB rates EAC very highly. You are truly on course to the Community's intended objective of transforming the region into a single market for all factors of production for enhanced welfare and economic prosperity of the people of East Africa," he said.

Likewise, Mr Kipronoh commended the governments of the EAC partner states for their commitment to the integration and urged the EAC Secretariat to continue focusing on removing the challenges to doing business in order to realize value chains in the region.

On his part, the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Steven Mlote, thanked the AfDB through the Executive Director for the bank's continued support to EAC integration and reiterated the EAC commitment to strengthen the cooperation.

Eng Mlote further hailed the AfDB for financing a number of infrastructure projects including the Arusha-Holili/Taveta-Voi Road, a transport corridor of the East African region that links the Northern Corridor at Voi to the Central Corridor across the common border at Holili/Taveta through Arusha; Malindi-Mombasa-Lunga Lunga/Horohoro-Tanga-Bagamoyo highway that straddles the coastlines of Kenya and Tanzania, adding that the Athi River-Namanga-Arusha road, which had reduced immensely hours of journey from Nairobi to Arusha.

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Equally, Mlote requested AfDB to consider supporting EAC in economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and accessibility of vaccines in the region.

"Our regional economy has been affected so much due to Covid-19 pandemic and we really need urgent intervention to rescue our economy," he said.

Eng Mlote informed the AfDB official that since May 2020, intra-regional trade has shown significant resilience with a notable positive correlation with measures put in place by Partner States to protect transport corridors from severe disruptions.
THE decision on whether or not to elevate Chake Chake Town Council into a municipality remains subject to the outcome of next year's population census, the House of Representatives was told here yesterday.

Minister of State in the President's Office, Regional Administration, Local Government and Special Departments, Masoud Ali Mohammed said as per 2012 census, Chake Chake had 97,249 inhabitants-50,838 women and 46,411 men-the number that could have soared during the one decade to warrant the municipal status.

The minister was answering a question by Wawi Representative Bakar Hamad Bakar who wanted to know why Chake Chake town is not upgraded into the municipality despite its population increase and improved social and economic infrastructure.

Minister Masoud nodded to the social and economic development in Pemba Island's busiest centre but said the decision to promote it into the municipality will depend on the outcome of the envisaged census.
THERE is no indicative taxi fare in Zanzibar though the government might discuss with the taxi operators to introduce the service pricing mechanism, the House of Representatives heard here yesterday.

Works, Communication and Transport Minister Rahma Kassim Ali, responding to Pandani Representative Prof Omar Fakih Hamad, said so far the taxi fare is negotiable between the service provider and client.

In his question, the legislator decried poor taxi services in the country's airports in Unguja and Pemba, seeking explanation on why the government is not formalising the sub-sector and setting indicative fares.

Minister Rahma said taxi services don't fall under the otherwise highly regulated public transport. She however pledged to work on the challenges that trouble the semi-sector.
TANZANIA Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) finalises processes to introduce the Creative Industry Sector Skills Council (CISSC).

This is part of sector skills councils that the government has entrusted to the TPSF to form and coordinate them in implementation of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) 2016-2026 under the support of the World Bank (WB) through the Education and Skills for Productive Jobs (ESPJ) programme-for-results.

The CISSC would therefore come to stimulate the implementation of the NSDS, according to TPSF Executive Director Francis Nanai.

The creative industry includes, among others, advertising and marketing, architecture, design, film, TV production, Radio, cartoonist and photo graphics.

"The envisaged new council would help in identifying skills gaps and lay down mechanisms to develop skills needed in the job market," Mr Nanai stated over the weekend at stakeholders' meeting to build awareness over introduction of the (CISSC).

He argued that in ensuring that Tanzania reaches a high middle income country it must have people with the right skills.

"The creative industry sector has made a huge contribution to creation of employment, but this sector has lacked skills among those employed," he said.

The Five Year Development Plan (FYDP III) amplifies skills development, through interventions that address the problem of low soft skills (knowledge, creativity, persistence, self-drive and attitude) and mismatch between the skills demanded by employers and compared to training by academic institutions.

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The behavioural nature of soft skills requires sustainable skills development from early child education as well as demands from the labour market and self-employment.

It is evidently clear that for many decades ahead, countries that will benefit will include those with internationally competitive skills. In that regard, Tanzania needs to continue to develop its human capital as well as increasing the local skills in rare and specialized areas in order to efficiently exploit the country's enormous natural resources.

When officiating the meeting, Director of department of Arts in the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Ms Leah Kihimbi, pointed out that the government's

objective is to bring the country to high middle income status, that was why it invests heavily on developing human resources.

In these efforts the government was closely engaging the private sector so that it could continue giving support.

When presenting his paper, Mr Nicholas Mbwanji, a labor market analyst, advised that more investments have to be directed to vocational and technical education for the country to realise the target of reaching higher middle income status.

"Soft skills are crucial if we want our youth to be economically independent," he said.

He said the nation has to get rid of 'degree holder syndrome' which has been retarding investment on vocational and technical education.
Government's plan to convert the existing food bank into a cash-based-transfer was met with derision.

Both Landless People's Movement (LPM) and pressure group Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement opposed to the mooted conversion.

The announcement to transform the existing food bank to a cash-based transfer (CBT) was made by President Hage Geingob last week.

LPM's deputy leader Henny Seibeb said President Geingob is using the CBT to rescue the fading voter confidence in the ruling party ahead of the 2024 presidential and national elections.

He said the same tactic has been previously used by countries to manipulate vulnerable people to garnish voter confidence, and he would not be surprised if Swapo is using the same tactic.

"LPM would, thus, not be surprised that after their Swapo president, who at the same time heads the current government, is on the same path to introduce drastic social reforms using a similar tactic," Seibeb said.

The food bank, since its launch in 2016, has benefited 45 000 Namibians from 11 000 households in peri-urban and urban areas.

As directed by the Harambee Prosperity Plan II, the government has until the end of next year to make the transition.

Food bank administrator Tangeni Mwashekele told New Era last week that the transition is still at the documentation phase.

Seibeb, however, acknowledges that CBT impact communities, as it reduces household unemployment, financial dependency on the employed members of the household and attain a meaningful economic stability through collected tax, resulting from increased spending by the beneficiaries on daily commodities.

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He said the "cash" concept is not new to Namibia, and it has proven to work during a pilot project, which was done at Otjivero-Omitara in 2006 already by the basic income grant coalition (BIG).

Seibeb said his party is aware of the calls led by BIG through civil and faith-based organisations for government to implement a universal BIG as opposed to conditional grants.

"We, thus, call on the head of State and his advisors to seriously pursue finding common ground with the BIG coalition on the most viable and feasible CBT scheme if such an initiative is ever to succeed," he said.

AR spokesperson Simon Kanepolo said the food bank is a failed project, and proposed that the money be redirected to food production in the Kavango and Zambezi regions.

"Money must be injected in the economy to create jobs for the children of the elderly who get food parcels," said Kanepolo.

As it is, Kanepolo said, the distribution of food remains a fire lighter for lazy Namibians.

President Geingob has recently vehemently opposed a universal BIG.

During the Covid-19 briefing at the end of July, Geingob asked, "Why should it be everybody getting the amount? Why don't we look at needs; why should I get the same as the person in Katutura in the street? Does it make sense?"

The President further noted that those with abilities should be provided with facilities and conducive environments, which they could use to generate their own income, so that government only concentrates on the needy and poor.
Rundu  A 43-year-old Zambian national is fighting for his life in the Rundu state hospital, where he was rushed to at the weekend after he was found critical with stabbed wounds at Ndama location.

"He was stabbed with an unknown object on the chest, arms and face several times by unknown suspect(s)," said Chief Inspector Pendukeni Haikali, who provided the weekend's crime reports.

"The victim is admitted at Rundu state hospital in a critical condition. If anyone is seeking information about the said man, [he/she] should call the hospital or the police. Police [are] investigations underway," she said.

In a separate incident, the police in Rundu on Saturday at about 18:00 arrested a 24-year-old male suspect, who was found in possession of an unlicensed Bareta pistol during a police search at Tuhingireni informal settlement.

The suspect will be charged and was expected to appear in the Rundu Magistrate's Court yesterday.
That western Kenya is sitting on large deposits of gold could be a reality that is yet to come to the surface.

Bushiangala and Isulu villages in Ikolomani, Kakamega County are said to be the bedrock of the precious metal but it is the visible poverty among residents that tells a different story.

There is no presence of large-scale mining nor any proof that the mineral is economically viable despite the many years of exploration by international firms that keep exchanging hands over the years since the pre-colonial era.

This has largely left the venture to small-scale artisanal miners who are ill-equipped, forcing them to dig out deep shafts in search of the mineral, at least to earn a living that at times comes with death.

But on the waiting line are middlemen scavenging the area, taking advantage of small scale miners exploiting them as they lack exposure to the gold market.

Read: The death traps that are Kakamega's gold mines

We met Mr Benedict Khayego at his work station at Bushiangala going about gold mining. For 38 years now, he has been an artisanal gold miner, getting into the deep shafts to scoop the valuable mineral.

The 52-year-old, having ventured into gold mining at a tender age, chairs the Indombero Mining Artisanal Miners group that has a membership of 46 people.

His day and that of the other group members starts at 8am and closes at 5pm, but they at times spend the night in the shafts, depending on the day's work.

Seven shafts

He says they own seven shafts on a piece of land they leased to enable them undertake small scale gold mining.

The farm located off the Musoli-Bushiangala road has been their place of work over the years and he says they have always earned a living from the dangerous shafts.

Sometimes they are filled with water, forcing them to spend much time drawing it out before digging into the soil.

Read: Kakamega gold prospector reports promising finding after phase one

Khayego says they lack machines to undertake large scale mining and that they rely on the holes that were made by the Europeans who conducted exploration and mining activities in the areas in the 1950s and lately.

And after the sweat, they sell a gramme of gold for Sh5,000 to middlemen who in return reap a lot of money on reselling with minimal sweat. But for the artisanal miners, this is a good hustle for them as it enables them to get some money.

A few metres from the Indombero Mining Artisans group, another set of miners - made up of women - is setting up a gold mining site.

The group is yet to give itself a name. It is composed of women who broke up from Rock Mining group, in search of their independence. They want to undertake the activity that is normally a men's affair. Ms Scholastica Daudi is acting as their chairlady while Ms Mable Chanzu is the secretary.

"We have started this group and will soon give it a name. Men were mistreating us in the other group. There is hope of gold being found," says Ms Daudi.

Read: Rosterman, our boulevard of broken dreams for gold

Artisanal miners are, however, facing a challenge of being evicted for lack of license. Mr Khayego complains that Shanta gold, the exploration firm that has seven prospecting licenses, is asking them to abandon their shafts as the sites now belong to them.

Shanta acquired the project from Barrick Gold last year and is exploring for the mineral in three locations of Shisele, Isulu and Shirumba.

Small artisanal industry

It is believed Ikolomani has been sitting on gold since 1932 when colonialists discovered the metal in this area with local corrupting the name gold mine

Europeans conducted extensive exploration and mining up to 1952 and left, leaving Africans who were working on their farms to continue doing small-scale prospecting for gold and set up a small artisanal industry in Idakho.

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Khwisero, Kakamega East, Luhrambi and Ikolomani that form the extensive Lihranda gold corridor are the four leading mining sites in the region.

In its regular updates released early this month, Shanta Gold says it has found the fourth hole with visible gold at Bushangala after reaching 3,205 metres.

Chief executive, Mr Eric Zurin, notes that the firm is almost halfway through its total planned infill drilling programme in western Kenya for 2021.

He exudes confidence that they will be able to release a source update later this month,

"We are delighted with our second set of results from phase two of drilling at West Kenya. While the intersections across the board have been very strong, we are particularly pleased with a new intersection of 3.9m at 63.80 g/t Au which is 60 meters in proximity to the undisclosed hole announced last month which intersected 4.0m at 706.3 g/t," says Mr Zurin.
The Independent Patriots for Change are forging ahead with their intended lawsuit of N$500 000 against NamRights director Phil Ya Nangoloh for alleged slander.

This was confirmed yesterday by IPC spokesperson Imms Nashinge. IPC is lodging the suit over WhatsApp messages Ya Nangoloh posted, suggesting that an "activist" of the party posted an audio message in which he says that he wishes President Hage Geingob is dead.

According to a letter sent to Ya Nangoloh by Henry Shimutwikeni, the legal representative of IPC, the party said it is aggrieved by messages Ya Nangoloh authored that say the original post was from a member of the party.

According to them, the author of the original post, Jonas Immanuel Muukeshe, is not a member or an "activist" of the party and his name appears nowhere on their database. In the letter of demand, Shimutwikeni demanded that Ya Nangoloh retracts the statements, publish an unreserved apology, and unequivocally withdraw "all the aspects of your messages which attempt to put the IPC within the domain of the said audio messages as per your false defamatory innuendos, insinuations, suggestions, and statements".

The IPC further lamented the fact that by authoring and distributing the said false messages, Ya Nangoloh maliciously intended for the message to be understood by recipients to mean that IPC is associated with persons who threaten the life of the President of the Republic of Namibia and/or by extension IPC has threatened the life of the head of state.

IPC further accused Ya Nangoloh of having a "predisposition towards making unfounded provocative statements on social media platforms under various pseudonyms with the sole aim of tarnishing its name.

"IPC is baffled by your resolve to pertinently refer to the said Jonas Immanuel Muukeshe as an IPC activist when the said audio makes no mention of the same," the party stated.

They further said that the widely circulated messages by Ya Nangoloh have led to other instances reporting on the incidence as one, which involves the IPC. Efforts to get hold of Ya Nangoloh proved futile as messages left on his cell phone were not returned by the time of writing the article. The Namibian newspaper reported yesterday that Ya Nangoloh is adamant that he will not apologise for his utterances and dared the IPC to take him to court.
For the financial year that ended on 30 June 2021, FirstRand Namibia Limited's profit after tax increased to N$1.086 billion, up by 2.4%, while total deposits were N$36 billion, down from N$38 billion in the previous year. Also, total advances remained steady at N$30 billion.

Announcing their financial results on Friday, the Group's ordinary dividend declared for end of 2021 is 118 cents per share, combined with the interim dividend of 94 cents, totalling 212 cents per share. This is compared to the total dividend of 154 cents in 2020.

Moreover, the Group's assets under management grew from N$14 billion in 2020 to N$15 billion in 2021, while Tier 1 Capital was recorded at 17.7%, compared to 15.9% in 2020.

The latest results also show Customer Satisfaction Scores came in higher than in 2020, speaking to an increased appreciation for the use of digital and alternative channels countrywide.

In terms of digital innovations, FirstRand Namibia remains the market leader - showing strong growth in headline earnings at N$1 023 million, compared to N$867 million in 2020.

According to a FirstRand statement, these most recent financial results reflect an extremely difficult operating environment, with normalised earnings decreasing.

Oscar Capelao, FirstRand Namibia chief financial officer, commented: "Post the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, underlying customer income and affordability in all segments deteriorated sharply as evidenced by lower levels of underlying transactional and credit turnover, and the increase in non-performing loans".

He added that for FirstRand Namibia, the economic impact of Covid-19 will continue to place acute pressure on the Group's performance for the rest of the 2021 calendar year.

"However, trends are improving post-lockdown - even as economic recovery slowly emerges, and we remain hopeful the remaining year will be better for Namibia and its people and the world at large," said Capelao.

"At the same time, our clients, employees, and broader society suffered sustained, complex personal challenges and many loved ones were lost to the pandemic. At FirstRand Namibia, we share their grief and are saddened by the numerous members of our own FirstRand Namibia family too who passed away over this period through Covid-19-related illnesses. We extend our condolences to all families who lost loved ones," said Conrad Dempsey, CEO: FirstRand Namibia.

"The group's steady performance over the period is partly attributed to the pandemic impact driving necessary innovative and holistic relief programmes aimed at helping customers, including the Cashflow Relief programme, support to SME's and larger businesses to continue to cover costs and salaries, as well as numerous waivers of fees and restructurings of loans," continued Dempsey.

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Direct financial support to entities engaged in fighting the pandemic's spread doubled the groups' community investment over the period into health care worker protection, hospital equipment, oxygen delivery support, and vaccines transport and distribution across the country.

"FNB Namibia's digital banking platforms have also contributed to its brand value growth. As a purpose-led brand, FirstRand Namibia continues to push and redefine boundaries on what help means to customers and society. We play a pivotal role in our customers' lives by empowering them through relevant and meaningful contextual solutions. Help is, therefore, central to everything we do," Dempsey added.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated our plans to design, implement and improve the nature of our financial and non-financial support to our customers and vulnerable communities. We continue to respond purposefully and empathetically to calls for help by assisting customers through a range of relief measures to help keep their heads above the water in the midst of a pandemic," noted Dempsey.

"Globally, economies and societies are starting to emerge from the pandemic. In some countries, post-pandemic life is becoming a reality, with swift economic recovery creating new jobs. This view of life on the other side inspires us and our partners to step up and rebuild lost capacity to ensure Namibia keeps in step with the global recovery," ended Dempsey.
Nairobi  National carrier Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) Monday signed an aircraft lease agreement that will see Kenya Airways lease two Embraer E190 jets to Congo Airways

The cargo codeshare partnership with the Congo Airline is meant to boost domestic operations and flight frequencies in the Central African country.

KQ said it will offer courses through its Pride Centre and explore the exchange of technical personnel in various areas to ensure skills transfer between the two airlines.

"The partnership strengthens collaboration and bolsters aviation ties between Kenya and the DRC, actualizing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Kenya Airways and Congo Airways signed in April 2021 in Kinshasa and witnessed by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and DRC's President Felix Tshisekedi," the airline said in a statement.

KQ Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Allan Kilavuka said the partnership is among others, aimed at actualizing Pan Africanism by creating a model for cooperation between the two African Airlines.

"KQ is a key player in the aviation space in Africa, and with over 40 years of experience, this is an important step in enhancing cooperation to increase air connectivity and offer greater passenger and cargo options between the two countries. The timing of this agreement is correct, considering the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, as it will increase the utilization of our aircraft.," he said.

Congo Airways' Chief Executive Officer Pascal Kasongo Mwema Mwenda, on his part, noted that "increased air connectivity will offer more choices to passengers in the DRC and between the two countries. It will also provide better connectivity to international destinations, enabling both countries to fly to a better future and build a resilient aviation industry that can stand the test of time."

Kenya is seeking to leverage the DRC market by diversifying its export destinations, given the COVID 19 induced disruption, which has highlighted the need for deeper inter-regional trade.

Strengthened bilateral between the two countries will boost the National Carrier and Congo Airways passenger and cargo transport businesses between the two markets and the international network.

The International Air Transport Associations (IATA) estimates that African airlines saw a combined loss of USD 2 billion due to reduced passenger travel in 2020.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) parliamentarian Nico Smit last week tabled a motion to establish a committee to investigate if the Bank of Namibia (BoN) is able to relax capital requirements for local financial institutions. In the same motion, Smit suggested the committee must investigate bridging finance for financial institution clients already in distress.

According to Smit, these interventions are desperately needed to support the recovery of the Namibian economy with a much-needed kick start. "Also, the National Assembly should deal with this motion in the appropriate manner to ensure that this committee is established at the earliest date possible as a matter of urgency," he stated.

He said the Namibian economy is still in severe distress. Among many indicators, he noted, it is best reflected in the inability or unwillingness of the private sector to borrow as shown by the dismal private sector credit extension statistics provided by commercial banks.

"This is due to a toxic combination of a lack of business confidence and strict banking regulations on capital adequacy and distressed loans," Smit explained.

Furthermore, the PDM lawmaker noted that after 18 months of operating at a loss, a very large number of businesses have reached the end of their available reserves, or their access to bridging credit.

At the start of the pandemic last year, the central bank announced measures to improve liquidity in an attempt to boost the domestic economy. These measures included a moratorium on loan repayments, liquidity relief measures, a capital conservation buffer rate reduced to zero from 24 months and the postponement of the implementation date of the 25% Single Borrower Limit.

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However, the PDM parliamentarian said he is confident more can be done by the central bank. "The Bank of Namibia has the statutory power to allow commercial banks access to liquidity that would not be available under normal conditions. This is on top of the relief measures announced in March 2020," Smit stated.

Commenting on the PDM motion, local economist, Mally Likukela, pointed out that the Bank of Namibia is mandated by government to instil prudential banking practices and that relaxing capital requirements will be going against this mandate.

"I believe that the capital requirements are at their most relaxed point at this time following the Monetary Policy authority's Covid-19 support measures undertaken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in 2020. The economy is in distress because of factors related to the Covid-19 induced recession and not the financial system. It will be the biggest regulatory mistake to relax further. You cannot correct a problem by creating another problem. The rescue measure put in place must be given sufficient time to permeate through to the real economy before introducing further measures. Politicians should respect the independence of the central bank and its ability to manage the economy," said Likukela.
The Supreme Court has reversed a High Court judgement forcing the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to pay US$22 million to tycoon Adam Molai's Housing Corporation of Zimbabwe (HCZ) for breach of contract.

In an ex-tempore ruling granted Monday, Supreme Court judges Justices Susan Mavangira, Tendai Uchena and Felistus Chatukuta dismissed the lower court's ruling and ordered that NSSA did not have to compensate HCZ.

Advocate Thabani Mpofu who was representing NSSA confirmed the development.

Last year, High Court judge Justice Paul Musithu had ordered that NSSA pays HCZ whose representatives include Molai and Stephen Duggan and Aleck Nyatanga.

Mpofu said, "The Supreme Court has set aside with costs the judgment of the High Court by Justice Paul Musithu which enforced an arbitration award requiring NSSA to pay Housing Corporation Zimbabwe (Adam Molai) US$ 22 million.

"This was in addition to US$16 million which NSSA has already paid to HCZ. NSSA and HCZ had concluded a Housing Offtake agreement which required HCZ to make available to NSSA 8000 housing units at US$38 000 per unit."

NSSA entered into a contract agreement with HCZ back in 2017.

Parties agreed HCZ would build 8 000 houses in Caledonia, with a unit cost of US$8 000.

HCZ was also to furnish NSSA with an unconditional performance bond worth US$16 million which would be channelled towards the purchase price of the housing units.

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But parties had a fallout when NSSA wrote a letter of demand to Zimnat accusing HCZ of failing to deliver on its end of the deal.

Prior to that HCZ had sued NSSA for repudiation of contract before independent arbitrator, Peter Lloyd who had ruled in HCZ's favour and ordered that the pension manager compensate the property developer $22 million.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, NSSA had filed an application at the High Court seeking to stop the registration of the arbitration award.

The pension fund argued that the company should not be given the arbitration award as it had swindled the public pension fund of $16 million.

It had also accused HCZ of failing to deliver any completed housing units as required in terms of the agreement.

Musithu had blocked the application and noted that NSSA had failed to demonstrate that the award was against public policy.

This had prompted NSSA to file the present appeal at the Supreme Court.
Police in Mashonaland Central have stepped up their game in eradicating the sale of illicit liquor known as "Soldier Whisky" that comes in small sachets that resemble packaging for freezits.

Judith Gora (31), who was selling the illicit liquor at Dave bottle store in Madziwa, has since been arrested.

Mashonaland Central police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Naison Dhliwayo said on September 8, police officers were deployed to look out for shebeen and beer outlets selling illicit beer.

"One of the officers in civilian clothes posed as a potential patron and approached Gora who was selling the illicit beer at wholesale price," he said.

"The police officer bought the liquor, went outside and alerted his colleagues."

Gora was arrested for contravening section 3 (1) of the Harmful Liquids Act and nine packets containing 42 sachets of the liquor were recovered.

Asst Insp Dhliwayo thanked members of the public for providing the police with information on shebeens.

"We are appealing for more information so that we can totally eradicate the illicit liquor menace," he said.
Walvis Bay  A group of frustrated workers yesterday resigned from the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union, saying the union has failed them.

The group is employed at African Deli, through African Personnel Services (APS), for the past five years. African Deli manufactures ready-made traditional food and was found in 2013.

The employees yesterday said that the union has not done anything tangible for them despite them paying union fees every month.

The employees who find themselves in a predicament showed the media their payslips where some of them make as little as N$131 per month and still has to pay union fees.

"There is simply no work at African Deli. Sometimes we work only one day a month. You are even lucky if you work for 10 days at least and make N$1 000," Elvis Uakumba said yesterday.

Uakumba, who is a quality control officer, said they have highlighted their plight on several occasions to Nafau, as the working arrangement is not favourable for anyone.

"We have been demanding for a basic salary and permanent jobs or a permanent salary of at least N$4 500 per month as the "no work, no pay arrangement is disadvantaging us," Uakumba said.

He added that their hourly rates were last adjusted in 2019 while they have a union that should be reviewing such contracts yearly.

"That is why we resigned and want to join the Affirmative Repositioning union as they really fight for their members," he said.

He also added that APS should also look at their African Deli contracts and look for clients that can offer better employment conditions to its employees. Working one day is not in our interest at all, he said.

Branch organiser for (Nafau) Joseph Makanga, yesterday said that the employees have a right to resign if they are not happy with the way the union is handling their matters.

"They can do so through their human resource department." However, he said he had no knowledge that they wanted to come to resign at the union office.

APS branch manager, Jacky Weise was also contacted, however, did not respond to the questions sent by yesterday afternoon.
Tunis/Tunisia  A total of 6,860,726 COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered so far, including 4,558,381 first doses and 2,302,345 boosters, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The number of fully vaccinated people stands at 3,014,774 and is as follows: 2,302,345 received two doses, 320,920 got one shot as the J&J/Janssen vaccine requires a single dose and a further 391,509 had one jab as they were infected before.

Out of 114,979 text message invites sent on September 13, only 36,227 people honoured their jab appointments.

6,088,765 people registered on Evax.tn platform until September 13 to book vaccination appointments, according to the ministry.
By Anthony Wesaka

Police officers, who handled Kapchorwa Chief Magistrate while at Moroto Central Police Station, are facing disciplinary charges.

The officers are said to have used excessive force against Chief Magistrate Godfrey Teko Lokeris at the police station on Saturday evening.

Mr Lokeris was arrested after a bar brawl in Moroto Hotel when he is alleged to have drawn a pistol at his cousins and revellers.

Although he was released at the police station, he is still facing charges of attempted murder and assault of several people, including police officers.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga said the officers used excessive force despite the fact that the suspect had already been restrained and was obedient to police orders.

"The officers are being investigated because of their actions against the suspect within the police cell," Mr Enanga said yesterday.

Mr Lokeris was released on police bond on Sunday.

It is alleged that Mr Lokeris visited Moroto Hotel with his cousins and later had a disagreement.

Witnesses said he punched one of his cousins before pulling out his pistol and threatened to shoot them.

He was later disarmed by another security agent, who happened to have been at the hotel.

Witnesses said he later found police officers who had come to arrest him prompting them to use coercive force to detain him.
Denmark has promised to work with local farmers to boost agriculture in Uganda given the countries' continued trade.

According to data from the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade, the country's biggest exports to Denmark last year were oil seed, oleagic, fruits, grain, seeds, coffee, tea, mate and spices, fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic invertebrates.

This information was revealed by Mr Nicolaj A. Hejberg, the Danish ambassador to Uganda, while introducing a Danish food and agriculture investor's delegation in Kampala yesterday.

"Our goal is to promote increased trade between Uganda and Denmark especially in agricultural value chain where Danish companies sign partnership agreements with local companies to improve production and quality," he said.

He said the Danish companies partnering with local ones come with state of art modern equipment that will greatly improve production.

Mr Helberg pledged his government's support in availing information to potential Danish investors about Uganda so that trade between the two countries grows stronger.

He added that trade between Uganda and Denmark is growing despite the slowdown of global business and investments caused by the outbreak of Covid-19.

Uganda's exports to Denmark was worth $978,000 (Shs3,4b) in 2020, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade.

Uganda imported agricultural or poultry-keeping machinery from Denmark, worth $12,000 (Shs42.3b) in 2020.

Mr Tom Mugenga, the director of Rosebud flowers, said Denmark has a very long and strong agriculture tradition making them one of the leading countries in the world with modern agricultural production so partnering with them will boost local companies.

"There are so many opportunities that this country offers in terms of its agriculture production so the Danish with their modern technology will greatly change us from subsistence agriculture production to modern one," he said.

Mr Mugenga called on Denmark to lobby other European Union countries to import and reduce taxes on Ugandan agriculture products since most of them are organic.
analysis

Climate talks must pay more attention to African voices, not just of governments but of the people.

On 9 September, Kenya's government declared a state of national emergency due to the devastating drought conditions pushing once-prosperous cattle herders into poverty, breaking up communities and triggering new disputes over land rights. At the beginning of this month, the UN's World Food Programme warned that four years of drought had laid the groundwork in southern Madagascar for the world's first climate change-induced famine. And in the Sahel, security experts and agronomists explain how the quickening tempo of desertification and drought has been pushing cattle herders further south into the Savannah areas, where crop farmers had previously dominated.

These crises, while scarcely new to Africa, are happening more frequently, and are now being complicated by the impact of the COVID pandemic which has severely impacted African economies. The social and economic pressures they cause risk exacerbating existing political tensions, precipitating new conflicts, driving some to support militant groups and others to flee.

Africa, in other words, is right on the front line of climate change. As we approach the COP26 Climate Summit in November, it is time that Africa's situation is pushed up the agenda. Without faster, more effective action on climate change, both poverty and conflict are likely to increase, with heavy costs for the whole world. On the other hand, tackled head-on, there can be benefits for all. That is why Africa Confidential, International Crisis Group and the Royal African Society have combined to organise a conference on Climate, Conflict and Demography in Africa, to be held on 14 September 2021.

It is vital that these diverse threads are brought together, not separated out. The costs of failing to address climate change include not just the damage to the environment and livelihoods, but the misery of increased conflict. Even though COP26 has no session on security implications, these must be factored in to the global discussions.

Africa is also at the centre of the policy debate on energy. While rich in fossil fuels, Africa's people are energy poor. At present, the entire continent of 1.3 billion people generates about the same electricity as the UK's total capacity of 108 gigawatts.

Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a headline speaker at our conference, recently argued in Foreign Affairs that: "Energy use and emissions are so low in Africa that even tripling electricity consumption through natural gas would add just 0.6% to global emissions... despite the urgent need we are seeing wealthier nations issue blanket bans against public investments in fossil fuels, including natural gas", while failing to invest in African renewables. Africa should be exempt from such bans, as continued poverty is not a humane solution to climate change.

So what should be done? That is what the conference will discuss. The debate about climate change needs to expand from the rich West, which can better afford to adapt, to the developing world, in Asia as much as Africa, which cannot afford to be left out. Finding a path to accelerate sustainable energy provision across Africa must be a priority goal of COP26, along with building the resilience of African communities and supporting their adaptation.

This will only happen if these global gatherings pay more attention to African voices, not just of governments but of the people, all those who need food, jobs, opportunity and hope. If they can only find these things by migrating or leaving their continent, that is what they will do.

Western economies are awash with new targets for cutting carbon emissions, or trading or even burying the stuff. Yet in so many of Africa's 54 economies, still recovering from the pandemic, most of these concerns barely surface. The same holds true around the world where there is often a chasm between the green consciousness of officials in wealthy economies and their awareness of the practical implications of their policies in developing economies.

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Yet there is much goodwill on all sides to craft viable responses, to find new technological fixes, to draw more effectively on the wealth of community knowledge and experience across the globe.

It is the hope of pulling in these ideas and enthusiasm for positive change that has been the driving force for our conference. Some of Africa's and the international system's most renowned experts will be contributing to the debates on 14 September. We urge you to get involved and make your views heard. These are issues on which none can remain silent.

Join us at https://bit.ly/AfricanVoices4COP.

Comfort Ero is the Africa Programme Director of the International Crisis Group. Patrick Smith is Editor of Africa Confidential. Nick Westcott is Director of the Royal African Society.
Embattled Meru Senator Mithika Linturi was on Tuesday charged with attempting to rape a 36-year-old woman.

Appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Nazushi at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, the senator denied two charges of attempting to rape and committing an indecent act.

The prosecution alleged that on January 30, 2021 at Mayani Villas Hotel in Nanyuki, the senator intentionally attempted to sexually abuse the woman around 3am.

He is further accused of committing an indecent act by intentionally touching the woman's breast and private parts without her consent.

The senator denied the charges.

State prosecutor Evelyne Onunga did not object to Linturi being release on bond but urged the court to grant him bail on condition that he should not interfere with witnesses either directly or indirectly.

Linturi's defence team led by lawyer Mothomi Thiankolu urged the court to release the senator on reasonable bail terms.

The magistrate granted Linturi Sh500,000 bond or Sh200,000 cash bail.

The case will be mentioned on October 26.

His arraignment comes after he failed to stop his prosecution at the High Court last month.
Nine Harare and Chegutu residents have been set free after being hauled before the courts on charges of committing public violence for allegedly participating in last year's anti-government demonstrations protesting against a clampdown on pro-democracy campaigners, abductions and attempts to amend the Constitution.

First to be acquitted on Wednesday 8 September 2021 were Edward Dzekwa, the MDC-Alliance Councillor for Ward 9 and the opposition political party supporter Isheunesu Chimunyemba, who were set free by Chegutu Magistrate Noah Gwatidzo after a full trial.

Councillor Dzekwa and Chimunyemba, who had been out of custody on bail, had been on trial after they were arrested by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers in July 2020 and charged with contravening section 37(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for participating in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, breach of the peace or bigotry.

The duo was also charged with unnecessary movement during a national lockdown as defined in Section 4(1)(a) of the Public Health (COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) Order 2020, Statutory Instrument 83 of 2020.

However, Magistrate Gwatidzo acquitted Dzekwa and Chimunyemba, who were represented by Douglas Chikwangwani of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), after ruling that the State failed to prove the alleged case against them and that State witnesses, who were police officers gave inconsistent evidence during trial, which could not convince him that they were telling the truth.

On Friday 10 September 2021, Harare Magistrate Stanford Mambanje set free lawyer and opposition MDC-Alliance party spokesperson Advocate Fadzayi Mahere together with six other Harare residents namely Tinotenda Muskwe, Tinashe Murapata, Jessica Drury, Nyasha Musandu, Josse Lotter and Simon Drury after ruling that there had been an inordinate passage of time without commencement of their trial.

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Mahere, Musandu, Muskwe, Murapata, Drury, Lotter and Drury had been on remand for more than one year after they were arrested by ZRP officers on 31 July 2020 and charged with participating in a public gathering with intention to promote public violence, breach of peace or bigotry as defined in Section 37(1)(b) of Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

Mahere, Muskwe, Murapata, Drury, Musandu, Lotter and Drury were also charged with unnecessary movement during the COVID-19 National Lockdown without any exemption with prosecutors pressing a charge of contravening section 4(1)(a) of the Public Health (COVID-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) (National Lockdown) Order Statutory Instrument 77/2020.

They were accused of participating in an illegal demonstration in Harare's Mt Pleasant suburb while holding some placards written "Free Zim", "#Free MDC Trio", "#Stop abductions" and "#Hands off Constitution".

On Friday 10 September 2021, Magistrate Mambanje ruled that there is no prejudice to be suffered by the State as it can still summon the seven Harare residents to appear in court if it intends to prosecute them.

The ruling came after the Harare residents, who were represented by Chris Mhike of ZLHR and David Drury of Honey & Blanckenberg Legal Practitioners, argued that there had been an inordinate passage of time without commencement of trial and that there has been significant prejudice suffered by the seven people as a result of excessive delay to commence trial.

The lawyers also argued that there are risks to the health and life of the seven Harare residents as a result of frequent remand court appearances and the non-readiness of the State to commence trial.
Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on September13, 2021 had discussions with the World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana.

The World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana has hailed the quality and quantity of fruitful cooperation between the institution and Cameroon. He has also given assurance of the bank's continuous support to sectors that boost economic growth and job creation.

The World Bank senior official spoke to the press in Yaounde on September 13, 2021 after discussions with Prime Minister, Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute. He disclosed that, "We have a very strong partnership with Cameroons panning over a number of programmes. At the moment, 15 programmes are operational and at the end of my mission, there will be about 19." Ousmane Diagana said that the programmes cover human, fiscal and natural capitals given the strengths of Cameroon's economy.The World Bank and Cameroon, he further said, need to continue to develop human capital by supporting education and health.

During the earlier part of the visit, the World Bank's official signed to finance two programmes in Cameroon amounting to over 3 BillionUS Dollars. The financing concerns diverse are as such as education, transport, infrastructure, energy, road and the acquisition of vaccines to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. He there fore discussed the importance of vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic with the Prime Minister. The World Bank, has mobilised funding for the vaccination programme in Cameroon and expressed the readiness to increase the funding by 30 million US Dollars."Vaccination is essential, it is urgent,"Ousmane Diagana said. He high-lighted sectors like agriculture and energy in which Cameroon used to be the best. The World Bank is therefore ready to mobilise additional support so that the country can make maximum benefits from the sectors.
Paynesville City  A group of young professional home and abroad have formed themselves into a group named and styled the "Boakai Tact team". The mission of the group is to rally support for the candidacy of former Vice President Joseph Boakai who is hoping to contest for the presidency come 2023.

The Tact Team 2023 main objective is to ensure that the former VP Boakai lead the CPP ticket for the 2023 elections. The Tact Team was launched minutes after the Unity Party (UP) and Collaborating Political Parties endorsed former VP Boakai as aspirant for the CPP ticket.

Liberia, A Nation in Crisis

Making remarks at the official launch, Ex-Vice President Joseph N. Boakai described Liberia under the leadership of President George Weah CDC government as a "country in crisis."

According to former Vice President Boakai, Liberians should first think about country deplorable condition while voting for the future of their children and country. He cautioned them against voting leaders on the basis of friendship.

The former Vice President Boakai stated that this is not the time for Liberians to sit and complain but to join the opposition to ensure victory.

Said former Vice President, "We are ashamed, we are a disgraced and it is about time we take this country, the young people which is your job. Give us the chance to make you proud, to help you build a country that you can be proud of."

Performing the official launch, ALP political leader, Benoni Urey acknowledged the effort of the Tact Team to establish the group and to help with the campaign process of VP Boakai.

Mr. Urey, though admitted that the CPP is not free of some internal problems, he admonished members to remain committed.

Said Mr. Urey, "Fortunately for us, we have a leader who has a lot of experience, wisdom and a lot of endurance that has been guarding us along the way.

"I am insisting that we remain united and trying to push the collaboration forward."

Making brief remarks, the chairman of Tact Team 2023, J. Cyrus Saygbe, disclosed plans of the Tact Team in coming days which will include incorporating members who believe in the ideology of former VP Boakai.

According to Mr. Saygbe, they are willing to work with friendly political parties and pressure group which will meet the objective of ensuring that former VP Boakai win the presidential elections in 2023.
Until now, Mukuru residents have had no option but to buy polluted water from informal vendors charging exorbitant prices

* Cartels sell water to slum dwellers at hugely inflated prices

* Dispensers let residents buy clean water with rechargable tokens

* Nearly half of Kenya's urban population lives in slums

In the 30 years that Josephine Muthoni has lived in Nairobi's Mukuru slum, she has never had a steady supply of clean water.

The only way to get water was from vendors dotted around the slum, who charge exorbitant prices for the often polluted water they buy from government water points or steal straight from the municipal pipes, the 62-year-old mother of nine explained.

Muthoni said filling a 20-litre (5-gallon) jerry can cost as much as 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.45) - a potentially crippling amount in a city where the majority of slum dwellers earn less than $1.90 a day, according to the World Bank.

"We would sometimes walk five kilometres to get water. I thought that was how life should be until I worked for a family and saw water flowing full time from their taps," the retired housekeeper told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The more than 600,000 residents living in one of Nairobi's largest slums have struggled with water access for years, a problem exacerbated by frequent bouts of city-wide water rationing, which has been ongoing since 2017.

But soon, Mukuru residents will be able to fill a jerry can with clean water for as little as 50 Kenyan cents, using token-operated vending machines that the city government is installing in an effort to ease the slum's water stress.

With the new system, residents will receive plastic tokens - similar to key fobs - that they can charge using the M-Pesa mobile money platform.

They then insert the tokens into a machine at one of the 10 water stations being set up around Mukuru and select how much water they want dispensed.

Kagiri Gicheha, an engineer at the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC), which is helping develop the system, said the project is in the final stages, only awaiting the installation of the vending machines.

The dispensers, each costing 200,000 shillings, mean Mukuru residents will no longer be at the mercy of the slum's informal, exploitative water market, Gicheha said.

"This is a way of controlling the cartels that have long been stealing water in the slums because this is an automated system that is very easy to manage," he said.

Until the system is operational, residents can fetch clean water for free from boreholes that have been dug for the project, each of which will feed up to four water dispensers.

Since starting the project in April 2020, the city government has drilled nearly 200 boreholes across five Nairobi slums and hopes to expand to more areas depending on funding and demand, Gicheha said.

CHEAP, CLEAN, RELIABLE

Officials decided to launch the system in Mukuru after seeing the success of a similar programme run by the local nonprofit Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum.

Currently, there are 23 machines dispensing water to Kibera residents, who pay two shillings to fill a jerry can, said Johnstone Mutua, a programme officer at the grassroots group.

"The project is very efficient. Most residents now know how to use the system and we installed solar-powered lights for security at night," said Mutua.

"This means someone can get water anytime they want."

Maureen Adhiambo, a 28-year-old mother of three in Kibera, says the vending machines cost half of what she used to pay water vendors and finally offer her a reliable source of water.

"(Before), the queues were too long and water would come only once a week," she said.

"Now, I can buy five 20-litre jerry cans of water per day ... and there's no queue."

Mutua said the first attempt at setting up a water vending system was in Mathare slum in 2015.

But the machines were being fed from large tankers, not boreholes, he said, which meant during drought there was no water to fill them with - so now the machines in Mathare stand empty.

RISKY WALK FOR WATER

Fuelled by explosive population growth, demand for water in Kenya's capital has shot up over the past decade, but broken municipal water pipes and frequent drought leave the city chronically thirsty.

While residents need more than 810,000 cubic meters daily, the city's dilapidated water infrastructure can only supply 526,000 cubic metres, according to figures from the NCWSC.

Across Kenya, the water crisis hits hardest in slums, where nearly half the urban population lives, according to the World Bank, and where homes are not connected to the water grid.

Before the vending machine project came to Mukuru, Gideon Musyoka, an elder of one of the villages inside the slum, said the taps at the government water points rarely flowed and when they did the water was often tainted by raw sewage.

For women, the search for water was time-consuming, expensive and dangerous, exposing them to sexual assault or rape. "Women were almost getting used to being raped, even in broad daylight, as they went to water points to fetch water," said Muthoni, the Mukuru resident.

EFFICIENCY

Jamlick Mutie, an independent water and sanitation expert working in Nairobi's slums, applauds the water dispensers as a safe, affordable and efficient solution.

Mutie noted that at the subsidized cost of 25 shillings per cubic metre, Mukuru residents will be able to buy water for less than half what other Nairobi residents pay to get it piped into their homes.

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Efforts to get clean water to the slums are especially urgent during the coronavirus pandemic, with health experts pointing to handwashing as one of the best ways to curb the spread of COVID-19, he said.

"For the slum residents, it would be a disaster without water," he said.

The price of the water is enough to cover the costs of maintenance and electricity to run the machines, making the project sustainable, he added.

The biggest challenge, Mutie warned, is protecting the machines from the cartels who see the project as a threat to their business.

Mutua at SHOFCO said Kibera residents are tackling that problem by having volunteers guard the water stations.

To discourage tampering with the vending machine pipes, the charity built an aerial water network, suspending the pipes overhead rather than burying them underground, and is encouraging the government to do the same in Mukuru, he said.

As the people in Mukuru wait for their water vending machines to arrive, Musyoka, the village elder, said having abundant, clean water is something many of them never could have imagined.

"Seeing so much water in Mukuru slums is what we call magic. Now, we can say that people are clean and healthy," he said.

($1 = 109.7500 Kenyan shillings)
City fathers and management are convening a first of its kind State of the City Address expected to address the municipality's rising debt, service delivery and Dangamvura pipeline among other key issues, residents have been demanding answers on.

Mayor Councilor Blessing Tandi is expected to update stakeholders on the city's performance as Civic Centre affairs take centre stage in anticipation of the appointment of a new Town Clerk to replace the late Joshua Maligwa.

The issue of the council rising debt, the Dangamvura water pipeline, Sakubva Urban Renewal project update are also expected to be addressed in the inaugural State of the City Address.

Mutare City spokesperson Spren Mutiwi recently confirmed that the debt has more than doubled since February, when the city creditors owed ZWL$400 million in unpaid bills by residents, businesses and government.

He said legacy debt challenges have also worsened the situation with the debt rising 123,75% to ZWL$895 since the beginning of the year.

"Right now we are owed ZWL$895 million in unpaid rates. We have people who have not settled their bills since 2008," said Mutiwi.

This rising debt is indicative of the current administrative failings superintendent by the underfire acting Town Clerk Dr Anthony Mutara, who was recently nabbed by the Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC) on abuse of office charges.

Council has also hiked rates 400% sparked outcry from ratepayers, as residents accuse management of prioritising executive perks at the expense of service delivery.

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This has been exacerbated by the recent acquisition of managerial vehicles at a cost of US$320,000 at a time service delivery has not been up to the expectations of ratepayers.

Council management is also pursuing a cost recovery model and has intensified its recapitalising programme under the Mutare Urban Renewal project- which is also facing financing challenges.

In a statement of assurance to residents, council says it is replenishing its old service vehicle fleet through targeted and phased procurement of service delivery vehicles across all departments.

"Five brand new vehicles were delivered and these will enhance service delivery and reduce the turnaround in addressing key service delivery issues. Very soon we are expecting a grader.

"We are moving towards restoring sound and effective service delivery," reads a statement by the COM.

Mutare has further introduced an online payment platform for bill payment and statement enquiries, to boost council revenue which has dwindled following the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nairobi County MCAs have put city attorney Lydia Kwamboka on the spot over her office's alleged failure to gazette Bills passed by the Assembly.

This, they claim, has led to confusion over a number of laws being applied by the county government.

Ms Kwamboka, however, has pointed out that her office can only publish what is assented by the governor.

Budget and Appropriations Committee chairperson Robert Mbatia accused the county attorney of failing to publish several Bills passed by the county assembly in the Kenya Gazette.

He cited Finance Bill, 2019, which was passed by the Assembly two years ago but which has never come into effect because it was neither assented to nor published in the Kenya Gazette as required by law.

Further, he alleged, the Finance Bill, 2020 was not considered by the County Assembly because of the county attorney's office failure to publish it in good time.

This, he claims, has resulted in confusion over what law is being applied for collection of fees by City Hall.

"The last complete review of taxes, fees and charges was undertaken through the Finance Bill, 2018 and the subsequent Finance Act, 2018," said Mr Mbatia.

He further cited other laws touching on revenue administration like Nairobi County Revenue Act; on advertising such as outdoor advertising, transport, trade licensing, among others, which have never been published to pave way for their operationalisation.

"Whereas the County Assembly, through the Office of the Clerk and Office of the Speaker, has taken remedial measures to correct this mess, the performance of the Office of the County Attorney is something that the Budget committee is seriously looking into," said the Kariobangi South MCA.

But in her defence, Ms Kwamboka exonerated her office from the accusations, saying it can only gazette what the county governor greenlights.

"If the governor fails to assent to a Bill that is not my office's failure. My office only gazettes Bills once assented. We cannot publish what has not been assented to. After gazetting it, thereafter it becomes law," said Ms Kwamboka.
The race to the August 2022 General Election gains fresh momentum in just over two weeks, when the electoral commission kicks off mass voter registration targeting six million youths who have attained voting age in the past five years.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has earmarked the month of October for signing up new voters, opening a new battle frontier for political parties in the 2022 race for State House as well as other electoral seats.

"The IEBC targets at least six million new voters at the county assembly ward level and we urge all eligible Kenyans who have not registered to turn out up in large numbers and register," said IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati while announcing the registration drive.

Recent voter registration patterns have been used to predict presidential election outcomes with reasonable accuracy, given Kenyans' inclination to vote as regional blocs.

So integral is the upcoming voter registration drive that Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader, Raila Odinga, has pegged his decision on whether or not to vie for the top job, the fifth in an illustrious career spanning over three decades, on the youths' turnout in his backyard.

"I cannot vie if my people have not registered for IDs and voters' cards. I will first gauge the number of people who are registered before I make my announcement on the presidential race; so take this matter seriously. I have seen where we are going and mastered all the ways to manoeuvre through the journey. Nyanza residents should support me in this journey by registering as voters. My aspirations depend on voter registration," Mr Odinga said in Rangwe, Homa Bay County, on Saturday.

While Kenya has a total of 9.2 million eligible new voters, the IEBC says it is seeking to enlist only six million of those who had either not turned 18 years by 2017 or those who had attained the age but failed to register in the last General Election.

The registration of six million new voters will raise Kenya's total voters register to 23.6 million, up from 19.6 million in 2017.

To cater for the projected increase in voter numbers, and the requirement that no polling station will have more than 700 voters, the IEBC estimates that Kenya will have 53,000 polling stations in 2022, up from the 40,883 in the 2017 poll.

The voters roll estimate is based on the assumption that all eligible voters will enlist, and does not factor deaths.

It includes some 5.2 million youth who will have attained voting age by 2022 and an additional four million people eligible to vote in 2017 but who were not registered as voters, according to an analysis of the 2019 census and 2017 voter registration numbers.

With 809,583 total potential new voters, Nairobi, currently with 2.25 million registered voters, is potentially the richest hunting ground for politicians to snap up in the planned registration drive.

Others in the top 10 of potential new voters are Kiambu (489,361), Nakuru (397, 133), Bungoma (371, 241), Kakamega (337, 091), Machakos (337, 993), Kilifi (331, 889), Turkana (316, 705), Meru (302, 929) and Uasin Gishu (285, 456).

The Maa counties of Kajiado and Narok have 272,033 and 249,756 potential new voters in 2022, respectively, while Mombasa, Trans Nzoia, Wajir, Makueni, Kitui, Migori, Garissa and Kisii follow, in that order, having between 240,000 eligible new voters and 200,000.

Kwale, Nandi, Bomet, Kericho, Busia, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Baringo, Mandera, Murang'a, Siaya, West Pokot, Embu and Marsabit can enlist up to between 200,000 and 100,000 new voters.

President Uhuru Kenyatta's restive political backyard of Mt Kenya, slowly taking shape as the country's biggest swing vote in 2022, has a potential of 5.9 million new voters by next year, while Deputy President William Ruto's Rift Valley backyard could have a total of 7.448 million votes.

This includes Nakuru's 1.346 million possible new voters, as well as Laikipia's 323,455, Trans Nzoia's 586, 481, Kajiado's 683,226, Narok's 591,486, Turkana's 508,140, and Samburu's 158,331, all seen as battlegrounds in the expansive 14-counties region.

The Nyanza counties of Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira could have a total of 3.641 million giving a glimpse of Mr Odinga's base numbers.

Based on these projections of total possible votes by 2022, Nyanza, Western and Coast could collectively have 9.1 million voters next year--all seen as Mr Odinga's bases based on the 2007, 2013 and 2017 polls, but with Dr Ruto has since made some inroads in the region while Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi also aims to slice up a chunk of the Western vote in his second attempt at the top job.

Keen to attain the most numbers in the planned mass registration drive, ODM director of political affairs Opiyo Wandayi yesterday said the party was pulling all stops to mobilise the youths.

"Elections is all about numbers and every political party worth its salt will be monitoring this exercise keenly. How we shall approach it ourselves is a strategic question that cannot be a subject of public debate," said Mr Wandayi, who is also Ugunja MP.

Mr Wandayi demanded a fair process.

"Voting is a civic duty for every citizen. Therefore, nobody should feel disenfranchised in any way. The IEBC should provide adequate time for voter listing. The government should also fast track the processing of issuing identity cards to the millions of youth who have applied for them to enable them participate in this crucial exercise," he said.

Murang'a senator Irungu Kang'ata, on the other hand, said DP Ruto's political wing was planning to target the youth, particularly those between 18 and 25 years, and whom they see as the biggest swing vote in the 2022 polls. A total of 5.2 million youth who were not eligible to vote in 2017 have now attained voting age.

"We have activated our machinery countrywide to mobilise our supporters to register as voters. Hustler movement is powered by youths hence it's important to ensure they are registered as voters particularly the 18 to 25 age bracket. We have roped in influencers who wield clout among the youth to help our voter registration drive. They include social media influencers," said Mr Kang'ata yesterday.

The ANC party leader, Mr Mudavadi, wants the IEBC to assure Kenyans of the credibility of the process, alleging plans to use Huduma Namba as the voting document instead of the gazetted identification numbers, which is set to be phased out over time.

"Our electoral laws recognize the national identity card or the passport as documents of voting. No law has been changed to allow any other document to be used," Mr Mudavadi said in Murang'a on Sunday.

In Western, former Trade minister Mukhisa Kituyi, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka and Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wangamati this weekend asked residents to come out in large numbers to enlist as voters.

"As Luhyas, we have got the weapon. Let's turn out in large number and register as voters. This way we can have a bargaining power as a community and join hands with other communities to march to State House. We can't think of winning the presidency if ourselves as a community isn't registering," said Dr Kituyi at Khamoto Primary School, Maraka Ward in Webuye East.

Mr Lusaka said Luhyias are the second-biggest voting bloc after Mt Kenya, and that should count for something in next year's polls.

"By registering as voters the youth, who are the majority, will have a big and direct say in determining their future by electing leaders of their choice," said Mr Lusaka.

Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki yesterday appealed to the youth to register as voters, even as he complained that most of them had not acquired identity cards.

The county has 213,154 voters with Chuka/Igambang'ombe leading with 76,486 voters followed by Maara with 68,729 and Tharaka at 67,939.

The county boss is facing stiff competition from Senator Kithure Kindiki, Chuka University Vice Chancellor Erastus Njoka, National Museums of Kenya Director General Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia and the clerk of the Machakos County Assembly, Gitari Mbiuki.

Additional reporting by Brian Ojamaa and Alex Njeru

Total potential new voters by county (9.251 million)

The number of new voters IEBC is targeting in new registration: 6,000,0000.

Total number of voters in 2017: 19, 611, 433

1. Nairobi 809,583

2. Kiambu 489,361

3. Nakuru 397,133

4. Bungoma 371,241

5. Kakamega 337,091

6. Machakos 337,993

7. Kilifi 331,889

8. Turkana 316,705

9. Meru 302,929

10. Uasin Gishu 285,456

11. Kajiado 272,033

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12. Narok 249,756

13. Mombasa 234,741

14. Trans Nzoia 228,859

15. Wajir 225,671

16. Makueni 220,095

17. Kitui 217,524

18. Migori 214,973

19. Garissa 211,669

20. Kisii 209,377

21. Kwale 199,428

22. Nandi 191,463

23. Bomet 188,865

24. Kericho 171,268

25. Busia 163,075

26. Kisumu 163,056

27. Homabay 151,054

28. Baringo 138,312

29. Mandera 131,073

30. Muranga 126,946

31. Siaya 124,546

32. West Pokot 123,504

33. Embu 108,716

34. Marsabit 102,082

35. Nyamira 90,002

36. Vihiga 87,162

37. Kirinyaga 84,763

38. Elgeyo Marakwet 82,629

39. Nyeri 77,475

40. Laikipia 76,968

41. Samburu 75,544

42. Nyandarua 74,866

43. Isiolo 71,978

44. Taita Taveta 69,063

45. Tharaka Nithi 47,896

46. Tana River 44,771

47. Lamu 18,179

Totals 9,251,763
Ronalds Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), a private company, is in line for appointment to audit the financial accounts of the Office of Auditor-General (OAG) for the previous two financial years.

The external audit firm, which quoted Sh18.47 million for the job, was recommended for the job by the National Assembly Clerk Michael Sialai after being ranked at 91 percent- the highest score.

The details of the outcome of a bidding process are contained in a document submitted to the House Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), a watchdog committee.

PKF Kenya LLP which quoted Sh21.23 was ranked the second-highest bidder at 88.1 percent.

If approved by a resolution of the National Assembly, Ronalds will audit the financial statements of the Office of Auditor-General for the years 2018/19 and 2019/2020 and the organisation's mortgage and car loan scheme for 2015/16 financial year.

The communication by Mr Sialai was sweet news to Ronalds that lost to PKF Kenya LLP in August 2019 to audit OAG's accounts for the years 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 at Sh41.19 million.

At the time Ronalds and Associates did not get the job despite quoting the least-- Sh31.6 million.

Mr Sialai urged PAC, chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi, to expedite consideration of the approval of M/s Ronalds Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

"A notification of intention to enter into a contract was issued to M/s Ronalds Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) and accepted on May 24, 2021. There was no appeal from any of the other bidders within the prescribed period," Mr Sialai told PAC.

The OAG audits the accounts of the national and county governments, meaning that its accounts can only be audited by a private entity as there is no other government agency with similar expertise.

What remains before the private firm formally gets appointed is for PAC to move a motion for consideration of the approval as provided for in the constitution.

Already, a negotiation committee has been appointed in line with the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act to negotiate on other contractual terms.

Article 264 of the constitution mandates the National Assembly to ensure that the accounts of OAG are audited and reported on by a professionally qualified accountant appointed by it.

In line with this requirement, eight firms submitted their bids after the advertisement was made by the National Assembly on February 19, 2021.

They include PKF Kenya LLP, Ronalds LLP, Kiarie Kang'ethe and Company Certified Public Accountants and Nelson and Francis LLP in joint venture with Growth Path Consultants.

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The others are Said Abeid Said and Company Certified Public Accountants, Ambale Ogot and Company Certified Public Accountants, Mazars Certified Public Accountants and FH and Company.

However, three companies-- PKF Kenya LLP, Ronalds LLP and Kiarie Kang'ethe and Company-- proceeded to the technical evaluation as the others were knocked out at the preliminaries.

Kiarie Kang'ethe and Company was dropped after scoring below the pass mark of 75 points as required of the evaluation criteria, meaning that only PKF Kenya LLP and Ronalds LLP proceeded to the financial evaluation stage.

Nelson and Francis LLP failed to fully fill confidential business questionnaires for the joint venture partner growth path associates, Said Abeid did not separate the technical and financial proposals as required and the tax compliance certificate it provided was also expired.

Ambale and company did not submit the original and a copy of the proposal document as required, Mazars did not provide a certificate of good standing for the personnel as required while FHC did not separate technical and financial proposals.

National Assembly has previously engaged M/s Baker Tilly Meralli's to audit the Auditor-General for the financial years 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014.

The expiry of the contract saw PSC in 2016 attempt to identify a professionally qualified accountant to provide external audit services for the three financial years but the House failed to approve the process.
Zimbabwe music superstar Jah Prayzah has attributed his success to the life changing Pacific Cigarettes sponsorship that catapulted him to international stardom.

The 'Nziyo yerudo' hitmaker made the revelation in Cape Town over the weekend at the 50th birthday celebrations of Adam Molai, the founder of Pacific Cigarettes.

"My first ever big and meaningful endorsement deal came from Savanna Tobacco (Pacific) back in 2015. Game rese rakabva rachinja (the whole game changed) after that. This weekend we are in Cape Town as we celebrate the founder, Mr Adam Molai's 50th birthday celebrations. May God give you more years and more blessings sir," wrote Jah Prayzah on his Instagram.

The musician further told his 718 0000 Instagram followers that Molai continues to be a pillar of support to him and the arts industry.

"You are a blessing to many, and we dance with joy as we continue to see you grow," said the award-winning star affectionately known as Musoja among his legions of fans.
Creche owners say registration is difficult and they get no help

The creche in Durban where a five-year-old drowned in a pit latrine was not registered, says the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development.

Elihle Nyembe's body was found in the pit latrine at the Little Flower Creche in Thornwood on 31 August.

In a statement after the child's death, MEC for Social Development Nonhlanhla Khoza slammed illegal creches and warned they would face "the full might of the law".

But creche owners say it is difficult to register and they get no help.

The death of a five-year-old in a pit latrine at a Durban creche prompted angry comments about illegal creches from KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza. But creche owners say registration with the department is difficult and onerous and they get no help.

Five-year-old Elihle Nyembe was found in a pit latrine at the Little Flower Creche in Thornwood, Durban, on 31 August.

Her mother Nana Nyembe said that when Elihle did not come home with her brother, a search had been conducted but the child had not been found. "We went looking for her everywhere but we did not look at the toilet because we were told the toilet is for teachers and there is no way she could be there. The next day they pulled her out of the toilet," said Nyembe.

"Elihle was joyful, she was young but you could see in her eyes that she was wise. I wish you could see what a beautiful person she was," said Nyembe.

In a statement on 5 September, MEC Khoza said the creche was not registered. She said people who continued to operate illegal Early Childhood Development centres in the province put the lives of children at risk.

"We warn people to desist from operating illegal ECD centres, creches and daycare centres or face the full might of the law."

But owners of creches we spoke to say registration requirements are difficult to meet.

A 56-year-old woman who runs an unregistered creche in Verulam, north of Durban said she has been trying since her creche was established early last year to have it registered but without success. "There is a certificate they told me I need to have but I cannot afford to pay for it. There are other things that are required like junior toilets, and many other things that I cannot afford since I don't get any funding. The money parents pay for me to look after their children only covers food and other little things we might need," she said.

She said many people don't have access to information and lack the resources to run a fully compliant creche.

Another creche owner said most people operate creches because they want to help people in their communities. "I have a lot of space in my yard so I thought why not build a big room that I can use as a creche. We do this because we love children and we also want to help parents who don't have anyone to look after their children while they are at work. The Department of Social Development should host a workshop to help people like us understand how it works and also assist with some funding so that we can be compliant," she said.

Thuthukile Mhlungu, who runs Inkanyezi Early Education Childhood Centre in Amaoti in Inanda, north of Durban, said the centre was established and registered in 2009 but only got the registration certificate in 2017. "It is a long process and everything has to be up to standard when running an ECD centre. We found an old building that we had to renovate, which was a big challenge since we didn't have funding. But now we are getting a conditional grant from the Department of Social Development which helps with salaries and groceries for the little ones. It doesn't cover maintenance, but we are coping," Mhlungu said.

A creche or ECD centre - defined in the regulations as "a place for the care of more than six pre-school children for part of the day or night", must be registered with the provincial government and must be managed and maintained according to the Guidelines for Early Childhood Development Centres. It must provide a safe environment for children, proper care for sick children, adequate toilet facilities, adequate space and ventilation, safe drinking water, measures to separate children of different age groups, and a hygienic area for the preparation of food, among other things.

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KZN Social Development spokesperson Mhlabunzima Memela said ECD Centres are registered as Partial Care Facilities if they comply with Norms and Standards for Registration as stipulated in the Children's Act. Then the centre can register an Early Childhood Development Programme in compliance with the Norms and Standards, also as stipulated in the Children's Act.

"Even if an ECD centre is run privately, it must still register in terms of the Children's Act," he said.

Also, staff at a registered ECD centre or creche must be vetted by the department to ensure that they are suitable to work with children, Memela said.

He said the Little Flower Creche was registered as a non-profit-organisation (NPO) but was not registered under the Children's Act. "People make the mistake that just because they are registered as an NPO they are fully registered but that is not true."

He said the department was still investigating the Little Flower Creche. He said there was a need for a creche in the community and when the investigation was complete, the department would decide whether the creche would continue to operate or be closed.
After being chased away for asking for minimum wage, Gqeberha bakers who endured racism turned first to the CCMA, then to a political party, then to a union. None helped.

Workers chased away from their jobs at Desai's Bakery in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, say they endured years of verbal, xenophobic and racist abuse from their employer. They feel they have no protection and no way to safeguard their rights.

When the workers asked their employer to increase their wages, which were below the legal minimum, they say they were threatened and sent away.

One of the employees, Fungai Chawasarira, 33, says he worked without a break for 12 hours a day preparing baked goods. "The employer would say to us, 'You are monkeys. You are assholes. You eat grass in Zimbabwe and Malawi. Your parents cannot even buy machines.'"

Chawasarira worked at Zahid Desai's bakery with 15 colleagues. Some had been there for as long as 17 years. They say they were paid between R13 and R15 an hour - well below the minimum wage of R21.69 an hour. All but one of the group was born in Zimbabwe or Malawi.

"Once I cut my finger with the bread [slicer]. But all the employer was concerned about was the machinery, not my injury. I bled in the taxi trying to get to Livingstone Hospital," says Gumie Mukondiwe, 33, who is from Zimbabwe.

The workers' payslips were handwritten on brown envelopes, which held their wages in cash. They received no sick leave and were not registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

The group of 16 workers asked Desai to pay them the minimum wage in January 2020. "But our request for an increase made his brother chase us away, as you hear on the audio," says Chawasarira, who plays an audio file stored on his phone. In it, someone says, "You want to speak to me? I don't speak to animals! I am not a fucking animal. Go to the fucking bush! You can be like an animal there! You can't be like an animal here! You are ungrateful rubbishes [sic]. You will never come here and intimidate me! Take your fucken bush maniere [manners] to the bush. I have no time for you. You are ungrateful! This is South Africa, not Zimbabwe! This is not Malawi! You want fire? I'll give you fire. Fuck off from here, man!"

Chawasarira says that in response the workers went outside, where "men with guns started to threaten us". They decided to leave and went straight to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to report a case of unfair dismissal.

Blocked at every turn

The workers never went back to work. No agreement could be reached between them and their employer at a CCMA conciliation meeting on 17 February 2020, so they filed for arbitration. This was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and only took place seven months later, on 29 September.

Before this, in August, the workers approached the EFF for help, but it said the CCMA would not allow the party to represent workers and recommended a meeting with the employer. The workers and four EFF provincial leaders went to the bakery to ask for a meeting on 22 August. But they were beaten up, allegedly by the bakery's private security guards.

"One of the workers from Zimbabwe was beaten to the point of unconsciousness and had to be hospitalised. Desai uttered racist remarks, saying: 'I have been wiping the arses of Blacks for over 30 years,'" says EFF Gqeberha regional leader Khanya Ngqisha, who was also assaulted.

The group laid charges, but nothing came of them. Gqeberha police spokesperson Priscilla Naidu says a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm was investigated but the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute on 1 October 2020.

NPA provincial spokesperson Anelisa Ngcakani says the case was not prosecuted because the police docket said the complainant refused to identify the suspects and so there was no prospect of a successful prosecution.

But Chawasarira says this is not true and that the police failed to arrest the attackers and also never arranged an identification parade. Naidu did not respond when asked about this.

The group of workers then joined a tiny union, the Democratised Transport, Logistics and Allied Workers' Union, paying a membership fee of R65 each. They hoped the union would help represent them at the arbitration hearing, but the union organiser did not show up and the workers were left to represent themselves.

"Since we didn't have a representative and they had a lawyer, it was very hard for us. We didn't know all the CCMA rules. There were masked guards from the bakery outside - these scary people where you only see the eyes. The employer's security guard came inside armed with a gun. Some of us [panicked]. The employer denied everything and said we had threatened to burn the bakery, which was a lie," Chawasarira says.

A CCMA official told them to take a settlement of R1 500 each or lose the case. "We refused. It worried us because it seemed the CCMA had already decided that we would lose," he says.

During the arbitration, Chawasarira says, the commissioner disregarded their payslips, would not admit into evidence the audio recording and instead accepted Desai's assertion that he had always paid them the minimum wage, even though he had no proof of this.

Desai says the workers' allegations are "false accusations against the company". "This case was heard at the CCMA and was concluded at the CCMA. That's where it ended one and a half years ago." He would not comment when asked if it was his brother's voice on the audio recording.

Failed frameworks

The workers have been unemployed since they were told to leave the bakery and feel they have nowhere to turn. They laid a formal complaint at the CCMA several months ago but never received a response.

The Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) points out that sections 115 and 149 of the Labour Relations Act give the CCMA the power to help workers obtain legal advice, help or representation. "The fact that it rarely does so is an institutional failure," says CWAO spokesperson Lynford Dor.

"A case such as this, no matter its legal merits, where workers are treated so inhumanely and yet cannot access justice through an institution like the CCMA is reflective of a failed legislative and institutional framework that governs post-apartheid labour relations," Dor says.

The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey indicates that 67% of workers are not unionised. "A majority cannot afford any legal advice, and workers will inevitably take up disputes at the CCMA on the basis of their experience of an act of injustice and potentially a general knowledge of their rights, but not on the basis of a deep knowledge of the legal requirements to win a particular case," says Dor.

The CCMA took more than six weeks to reply to questions. CCMA director Cameron Morajane denies that Desai's guards brought guns into the arbitration.

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"The CCMA and our hearing rooms are weapon-free zones. Our security service providers would record any incidents in relation to the above ... No incidents were reported by the service provider. The commissioner also confirms that to her knowledge there were no persons in the hearing room with firearms nor [were] any concerns in relation to [this] brought to her attention."

Morajane says the workers brought a claim for unfair dismissal, but the CCMA had no jurisdiction to arbitrate the dispute because the employees had not been fired, only called to disciplinary hearings by their employer.

"Considering the finding that the CCMA had no jurisdiction, the commissioner could not determine any claims for statutory payments," says Morajane, who adds that if the workers have since been dismissed, they can refer a case and they can also still make a case for not being paid the minimum wage.

Morajane concedes that the CCMA advised the workers to accept a settlement because their "prospects of success appeared to be slim considering that the matter was prematurely referred at that stage".

Morajane says there is not a record of the formal complaint the group laid at the CCMA several months ago.

Today, all 16 workers are destitute. "I am supporting my parents, seven siblings and my two children in Malawi and without work I can't send them anything," says Malik Austin, 31, whose job at Desai's Bakery was his first.

"Life is not easy on us in any way," says Chawasarira. "Gift of the Givers [helps] with food and other stuff."
Young people's feelings of anger, fear and powerlessness arise less from environmental damage than from the unwillingness of adults to stop it, a Lancet study finds

As climate change drives a surge in deadly disasters - and harsh scientific warnings of worse to come - young people are struggling with growing "eco-anxiety" about the future of the planet and their own lives, psychologists say in a new study.

But their feelings of anger, fear and powerlessness arise less from the environmental damage itself than the unwillingness of adults to stop it, despite the availability of solutions and overwhelming evidence of the risks, the research finds.

"Eco-anxiety is a sign of mental health, an entirely appropriate response to what's going on," said Caroline Hickman, a psychotherapist and lead author of an international study published on Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet.

Luisa Neubauer, a German climate campaigner with the Fridays for Future students' movement, said inaction by world leaders on global warming "is too much to handle, too much to accept".

"What does it mean for young people to see the world fall apart while we have solutions at hand, while we know how to stop it? Government is pushing us in front of a bus," the 25-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Here's what the study of 10,000 children and youth in 10 countries around the world had to say about rising climate-related mental health risks in young people:

How many young people are worried about climate risks and how fearful are they?

More than half of those surveyed - in countries from India, Brazil and Nigeria to Britain, Australia and the United States - said they feared for their own family's security and anxiety was affecting their ability to sleep, study, eat or play.

Four in 10 said climate threats made them hesitant to have children of their own one day, and over half admitted they believe humanity is "doomed".

"We were horrified to see these numbers, the scale of the distress," said Hickman, a board member of the UK-based Climate Psychology Alliance.

Youth from the Philippines - slammed by increasingly severe cyclones - and from deforestation-hit Brazil ranked the highest on many measures of worry, with more than nine in 10 surveyed saying they are frightened for the future.

But those in wealthier countries also showed high levels of distress.

"I think people more and more acknowledge how threatening it really is, especially as a young person, to look at your life ahead and know you will spend every single year of your life in the (climate) crisis," Neubauer said.

How is that frustration and fear affecting young people?

The study noted that such high levels of distress, the impact on daily lives and feelings of betrayal will "inevitably affect the mental health of children and young people".

Some psychologists have suggested that helping worried youth take significant action to tackle global warming - from joining protests to eating less meat - can reduce feelings of powerlessness and protect their mental wellbeing.

But Hickman argued that "thinking the way to cure eco-anxiety is eco-action isn't right", calling it a "simplified solution" that doesn't address the real problem: the need for governments to act urgently.

Neubauer said she expects the long-term stresses on young people could radicalise some - and lead others to disengage.

"It's easy to lose trust in government and political systems these days because they're failing us so much," she said.

"But it's also easy to turn away from the whole thing, (to) say it's so tough I can't deal with it, that I don't want to read the news anymore. We will see people wanting to escape from the crisis and the inaction," she predicted.

Could the study help fuel climate lawsuits by youth?

Young activists from Portugal to Colombia and the United States have filed a growing series of lawsuits demanding swifter action on climate change, usually on human rights grounds.

Six Portuguese children and young adults, for instance, last year asked the European Court of Human Rights to order 33 countries to make steeper emissions cuts, arguing inadequate government responses jeopardised their future.

Neubauer herself was lead plaintiff in a landmark court case that led Germany's federal constitutional court in April to rule the country's climate plan was "incompatible with fundamental rights", forcing the government to step up emissions cuts.

"The court surprised us by really jumping in and saying ... today's inaction will harm tomorrow's freedom and safety," which are guaranteed in the constitution, she said.

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Hickman said that more broadly, "psychological distress could be argued to be a human rights violation. Our findings show us there is a moral injury to children and young people."

What can lower mental health risks for youth?

Getting many more people to see climate change as their own personal fight and to effectively push governments for change is what will make a difference, Neubauer said.

"We need more pressure. We need more people to understand that it's their issue too - that it's everyone's issue," she said.

Right now, the idea that young people will somehow "fix" climate change is a heavy weight for them to carry, she said.

"We won't fix it. We're doing everything we can - but that won't be enough. We need everyone there," she added.

Hickman agreed that ramping up pressure on government and other officials with the power to drive real climate action is the easiest way to lower mental health pressure on children.

"We want to reduce eco-anxiety among youth and young people by increasing it among government ministers," she said. "We need to say to governments: 'Where is your conscience?'"
analysis

Zimbabwe born artist Kudzanai Chiurai is a phenomenon. He is one of the most challenging and inventive figures in contemporary African art. From large scale photos of fictional African dictators to experimental films and protest posters, rich oil paintings and minimal sculptures, his work is housed in the world's top galleries and collections.

Chiurai, though, frequently shrugs off gallery spaces to show in warehouses, on the street or in urban locations. His latest project, The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember, is housed in a boutique shopping complex, 44 Stanley, in Johannesburg. It is built around his collecting practice focused on preserving archives and memorialising social and cultural history from southern Africa. He's turned his own personal library and archive into a public art project.

It's an idea informed by Chiurai's obsessive interest in history and accumulation of artefacts such as books, pamphlets, zines, newspapers, vinyl records, political posters, audio recordings and other ephemera - materials that explore the relationship between cultural production and social movements.

The work takes a pointedly nontraditional approach to archivism. The selection and acquisition is determined by interaction. It is managed as a kind of commons where people can share and benefit from the artist's collection and what is donated by others. Whereas most archives and libraries stress the preservation of materials, Chiurai's library promotes access, physical engagement, and active use of the materials to maintain their continued relevance.

The library reflects Chiurai's artistic repertoire, which deploys the use of mixed media to address social, political and cultural issues. It calls to mind his groundbreaking 2011 exhibition State of the Nation which explored conflict by constructing an African utopia that enabled him to merge forms and mediums, juxtapose political ideas, evoke historical figures - like a speech by slain Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba delivered by artist Zaki Ibrahim - alongside a performance by contemporary musician Thandiswa Mazwai.

In his work Chiurai imagines new ways to activate, share, present and reinvent the archives, as he does with his latest project, the library.

The library

Initially, in 2017, The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember was of no fixed abode, usually incorporated into the artist's own exhibitions. But the concept of a mobile library was altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted movement and live events. The library is about gathering, not just materials, but people. It is supposed to be a meeting place.

Now, Chiurai also invites others to curate this archive, to re-arrange it for regular public viewing in a rented space. He considers the library to be:

Itself a form of liberated zone. It functions independently - I find a different librarian every time ... and different people see the process of cataloguing differently. Some look at it visually, and some aurally - and so different librarians bring different things to my attention.

The library includes the artist's extensive collection of vinyl records associated with liberation movements in southern Africa from the 1970s-80s, notably Zimbabwean Chimurenga and South African anti-apartheid struggle music. There are also recordings of speeches by historical political figures such as Ian Smith, Kwame Nkrumah, Mobutu Sese Seko, Dr Martin Luther King and even a dramatic re-enactment of the trial of Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale.

The collection has continued to grow. In 2018 it obtained digital recordings from the US-based educational project, Freedom Archives - radio interviews with political figures and women involved in the liberation movements in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Guinea- Bissau, as well as the US civil rights movement. Other materials are donated by individuals and institutions.

Accordingly, Chiurai treats these traces of struggle with great care. Some of these historical documents and posters are now framed and hung on the white walls. Once, these materials chronicled life in Black Africa or Black America as it happened. Now, they are artefacts of frozen moments in history. His library is conceived as a place of contemplation and reflection. There is a big green couch and listening stations.

The art of remembering

The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember is part of an effort to expand ideas of what a library can be and its decolonisation. It is an extension of new ways people are using the 'library' as a place of inquiry and conversation with the past.

Perhaps, what is fascinating is that Chiurai's library is not static, but re-arranges in the hands of a guest librarian, and has travelled from its first iteration in Harare, to Cape Town, Kalmar, Sodertalje and Johannesburg. Previous librarians have been the political writing platform Chimurenga in Harare, writer and DJ El Corazone in Cape Town, and film director and deejay Sifiso Khanyile in Johannesburg.

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What Chiurai is doing is to incubate a new model for artistic creation and knowledge production that interferes with the circulation, display and preservation of cultural objects. Who has a right to assign value? Who decides what is history? What kinds of materials should be collected? How can access be expanded to new publics?

Visitors also have a responsibility. They are not just passive observers, but collaborators, interpreters, and readers. The library becomes a place of provocation that allows multiple registers of value, because value is negotiated. It's also about the reinvention of the library as a space for multiple forms of contemplation. It is still a destination for artists, scholars, curators, and collectors to research and engage with southern African history.

Remembering is a virtue that Chiurai extols. In Black communities it is often an expensive luxury, a privilege. But through this new space arranged in the form of a hybrid gallery, community center, library and archive, remembering is translated into a collective process of reimagining and of sharing heritage. It is also testament of the generosity behind Chiurai's art practice, of care and community.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand
The City of Windhoek Junior Council which consists of 40 council members elected during elections held on 28 May, was recently inaugurated.

The Council is headed by Junior Mayor, Shetukana Lesley from Dawid Bezuidenhout Secondary School, deputized by Kavita Ngeje from Chairman Mao Zedong High School.

Handing over the reins to the new Mayor, former Junior Council Mayor Grace Mackinza thanked the City of Windhoek and the Junior Council for affording her the opportunity to grow her leadership skills. "As a younger leader, I have gained exposure not only to better myself but my community as well," she added.

Mackinza called on the incoming Junior Council members to reach out to the needy and vulnerable persons in the society through the Junior Council projects initiative.

In his acceptance speech, incoming Junior Mayor, Lesley said the 2021/2022 Junior Council activities will be focused on the "Keep-a-Child-in-School Project" where Junior Councillors are expected to stand and identify the needs of children's rights in their communities.

"We will commit ourselves diligently to raise awareness on school-going girls who stay out of school due to menstrual health problems and also to raise awareness on the neglected boy child," he said.

He further expressed that they will continue supporting the existing projects such as the Cancer Project, Elderly Project, Clean-Up Project, and HIV/AIDS Project, which was initiated by the previous council.

City of Windhoek Mayor, Dr Job Amupanda encouraged the Junior Councillors to take up the opportunity provided and serve with determination so that they can be co-creators of solutions to the challenges facing their communities.

The learners will serve in these positions for a period of one year.
opinion

Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Western funding agencies continue to adopt a monitor and control approach, determining what the African CSO must do from a distance.

By Lord Dr Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE and Joakim Reiter, Vodafone Group Chief External & Corporate Affairs Officer

In the United Nations Decade of Action, it is well known that Africa is facing a massive funding gap to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. What is less known is that some of the aid money meant for Africa does not make it to the continent. The funds which do make it are largely distributed directly to international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rather than African-led charities or voluntary organisations at the front line in the fight against poverty, malnutrition or diseases.

A new report Barriers to African Civil Society; Building the Sectors Capacity and Potential to Scale-up, supported by Vodacom, Safaricom and Vodafone Foundation, suggests that this approach continues to hamper the ability of African-led civil society organisations (CSOs) to build capacity at scale and in a sustainable way.

That is not only bad for socio-economic development, but also hampers the long-term growth of organisational capabilities, skills and talents in the countries to tackle their most pressing challenges, as well as undermining the emergences of a vibrant civil society that underpins stable democratisation and good governance.

The study, which covered five African Countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa) was delivered with research partners Witts Business School, Johannesburg, the Centre for African Philanthropy, Judge Business School Cambridge and Clearview Research.

The report outlines some of the international barriers which continue to hamper the growth and development of African CSOs. According to its findings, the "colonial" nature of the funding model means that western funding agencies continue to adopt a monitor and control approach, determining what the African CSO must do from a distance.

The localisation of international NGOs in African cities, and the donor preferences, language and reporting mechanisms of the development and philanthropic community, create a significant barrier preventing funds getting through.

If this barrier can be overcome, then the CSOs have in-country barriers which further reduce their chance of securing successful funding including high taxes on international funds and restrictive local government policy practises that prevent NGOs from getting funding from certain sources.

Even where CSOs have successfully overcome those external barriers, there can be in-house challenges which don't help in their search for funds. Questions over governance, leadership, trust and transparency are often raised. Although legitimate demands for accessing aid, African-led CSOs themselves can struggle to resolve these issues, because - in the form of a catch-22 situation - they can't get access to the funding to help them to do so.

We need to break the dependency of African charities on northern hemisphere funders by creating a better functioning, and healthier, relationship between donors and African CSOs. Doing that will require dialogue amongst key stakeholders about how to strengthen and accelerate the role of African-led CSOs. Greater commitment to the long-term sustainability of these CSOs is critical to the Continent's success in delivery of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

International donors should be challenged to facilitate a level playing field for local CSOs by reimagining grant making guidelines, procedures, organisational norms and management systems.

We need a new balance between core and project funding with CSOs being empowered to develop long term strategies so that they can invest in non-programme critical issues such as securing resources and improving their own financial management systems. Larger grants are needed as well so these organisations can heavily invest in capacity building, people management and digital tools and applications, ensuring longer term efficiency and effectiveness.

This debate is taking place while COVID-19 continues to ravage large parts of the continent, and will undoubtedly have an impact, emboldening some donor and NGO community leaders to speak out and confront the inequalities in the allocation and use of resources.

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It is only a matter of how much time before the questioning of the old and established models will lead to their disruption as a more locally embedded model is preferred with a complete reconfiguring of thinking and a power shift from the north to the south.

When all is said and done, with all the best hopes and systems of process and accountability in place, it is fundamentally necessary now to ensure a new culture of trust, confidence and mutually beneficial collaboration between donors and on the ground operators.

With trust and true partnerships, we can cut through layers of costly reporting and analysis and secure the maximum amount of cash flows to the front line. The time for perpetual scepticism - a curse of old donor-recipient thinking - must come to an end. We all need the poor and those on the edge of opportunity to flourish and thrive. Our global interdependence necessitates it.
Luanda  President Joao Lourenco travels this Tuesday to the northern Cuanza Norte Province for a two-day working visit.

The President's Office for Institutional Communication and Press Affairs stressed in a press release that, on the first day, the Angolan Head of State will meet with the local government officials.

The meeting will assess, among other aspects, the general state of life in the province in the social, economic and political domains.

In the afternoon, President Joao Lourenco is to grant separate audiences to representatives of religious institutions, traditional authorities, businesspeople and youth leaders.

President Lourencos agenda includes a visit to a new housing construction project, on the outskirts of Ndalatando city.

The said project has to do with the distribution and urbanisation of basic infrastructure-filled landplots that will allow hundreds of families to build their own houses on them under governmental supervision.

Joao Lourenco is due back in Luanda on Wednesday afternoon.
AMALIA Akwaake, one of the two women charged in connection with the disappearance of N$1,1 million from Standard Bank Arandis in May, was denied bail on Friday.

Swakopmund magistrate Nelao Brown dismissed Akwaake's application, mostly on the grounds that the investigation is still ongoing, and that the missing money is yet to be recovered.

Akwaake, a resident of Ondangwa, was arrested on 18 May, about two weeks after Arandis bank manager Engelborg Strauss was arrested.

Preliminary indications were that Strauss allegedly took N$800 000 from the bank's safe and gave it to an unknown person who had waited at the Arandis turnoff on the B2 highway.

Later that day, the unknown person allegedly directed her to deposit an additional N$306 000 into a Bank Windhoek account, details of which were sent to her via SMS.

Strauss allegedly then made the deposit.

Akwaake reportedly withdrew the money from the Bank Windhoek branch at Oshakati, believing it was part of a plan by a witch doctor named 'Mama Lala', whom Akwaake claimed to have been in contact with to help her get rid of bad luck.

Public prosecutor Johannes Shangadi argued there was evidence that suggested Akwaake may be 'Mama Lala', and that she knows where the money was left.

He said cellphone numbers and records point to the possibility that Akwaake orchestrated the theft, and was just using 'Mama Lala' as an unidentifiable scapegoat.

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Shangadi feared Akwaake would dispose of the money if granted bail, and would therefore interfere with the investigation, which would not be in the interest of the administration of justice.

In defence of Akwaake, her lawyer Nathan Knittle argued that, considering his client's testimony and that of Strauss - that both were in touch with a female named Mama Lala via cellphone with a similar number and that both were threatened that their families would get hurt if they said anything about the financial demands and transactions - they were in fact being extorted by an external suspect, who may be part of a syndicate.

Knittle said considering that all the facts have not been established yet, and that cellphone records still have to be inspected, keeping Akwaake behind bars would not be in the interest of the public or the administration of justice.

He said Akwaake has cooperated with the police from the start.

Akwaake told the court she believes she had been hoodwinked by 'Mama Lala', and that the money could have been stolen by the witch doctor.

She denied orchestrating the theft, or that she was 'Mama Lala'.

Brown said there was evidence that could implicate Akwaake, even though she denies her involvement, and therefore investigations must be allowed to continue without possible interference.

She dismissed the application, and the matter is set to continue on 29 September
THE Grootfontein municipality is yet to implement recommendations of a 2019 report which revealed widespread maladministration, financial mismanagement and corruption among council employees and former councillors at the town.

The report, which has been kept under wraps since it was finalised in 2019, revealed that some employees and councillors at the municipality have over the years been engaged in dubious land deals.

The report also unmasked that municipal bosses have been paying themselves irregular housing and vehicle allowances without owning houses and cars.

It further revealed that top managers at the town have been receiving skyrocketing subsistence and travel (S&T) allowances to treat themselves to high-end hotels.

The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development compiled the above-mentioned report after an investigation into alleged maladministration and corruption was conducted from 11 to 29 March 2019.

This specific report has been the subject of political squabbles at Grootfontein since it was finalised.

Towards the end of last year, the former chairperson of the management committee, Jack Tsanigab, reportedly left a council meeting with the report as it was about to be discussed.

It was later retrieved through law-enforcement intervention.

The Grootfontein municipality has, however, been dragging its feet in terms of implementing the outcome of the probe.

As a result, none of the implicated staff, including former acting chief executive officer (CEO) Arnold Ameb, have been held to account regarding the findings of the investigation.

Grootfontein CEO Kisco Simvula refused to comment on the report, saying it was "classified" and that the issues raised are of an internal nature.

DUBIOUS LAND DEALS

One of the key issues flagged in the report is the mechanism the municipality follows to sell land to companies and individuals.

For example, the report states that in 2013, the council sought ministerial approval to go on tender for the sale of land in an area called Luiperdheuwel Extension 2, and Omulunga Extension 4.

Upon approval, the council did not follow the tender process, but instead sold the land using the "median" method.

This method, according to the report, did not benefit the council, as people who submitted lower bids and were not in the position to pay the deposit of 20% within 21 days were allocated these plots.

According to the report, after 21 days of non-payment of the deposit, the finance department repossessed the plots and re-allocated them to second bidders "who are council staff members, associates, business persons or councillors".

"The second bidders would then ensure that they pay 20% of the purchase price and build up to a certain level so as to comply with conditions set by the council.

"The sale will then be concluded by the council lawyers with the power of attorney signed by the chairperson of the management committee and the acting CEO without ministerial approval," the report states.

FAT ALLOWANCES

Investigators found that Ameb was paid a housing allowance of 40% without having any proof of a monthly mortgage letter from commercial banks, according to the report.

Ameb was further paid N$450 000 in S&Ts over a five-year period.

Over the same period the municipality paid a combined amount of more than N$1,3 million in S&Ts for 13 top managers and councillors.

This includes former mayor Absai Haimene, who received over N$245 000.

Tsanigab was paid N$150 702 during the same period, while the town planning officer, a certain IT Lungameni, was paid N$109 300 during the same period.

AMEB CRIES FOUL

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Ameb has, however, rejected the findings of the investigation.

He currently occupies the position of strategic executive for property, and was appointed as acting CEO for the municipality in April 2018.

In his response dated 9 August and sent to Simvula, the current CEO, Ameb claims the report is highly inaccurate, and that the investigation was skewed towards him.

"It makes me feel like a foreigner in my own country. If I had enough resources I would have surely emigrated to another country. The report is a danger to nation building," he said.

He further claims the findings of the investigations border on tribalism, and the municipality should therefore disregard it.

If not, Ameb says, he would sue the investigators and the minister of urban and rural development, Erastus Uutoni, "in their private capacities".

He says nothing has changed at the municipality.

"Instead, things are getting worse," Ameb says.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia must carry out a recount of votes cast in last year's regional council election in the Kavango East region's Ndonga Linena constituency, the Electoral Court has ordered.

The court yesterday ordered that a recount should be done within 10 days.

Deputy judge president Hosea Angula and judges Orben Sibeya and Esi Schimming-Chase also declared the announcement of the election result in the constituency and the swearing-in of Swapo candidate Michael Kampota as regional councillor, as null and void.

The All People's Party (APP), represented by lawyer Henry Shimutwikeni, first filed a case in the Electoral Court in January, when they asked the court to order a recount of votes cast in the Ndonga Linena constituency in the regional council election on 25 November last year.

At the heart of the party's application was a claim that some 40 ballots were wrongly rejected when votes cast in the election were counted.

The APP claimed the rejected ballots had markings on which indicated the choice of candidate that the voter using each ballot had made, but that the ballots were nevertheless rejected and not included among votes which were counted.

Swapo candidate Michael Kampota was declared the winner and sworn in as regional councillor for the Ndonga Linena constituency after he received 12 more votes than APP candidate Daniel Djami.

Kampota received 1 073 votes, while Djami had 1 061 votes. Two candidates from the Popular Democratic Movement and the Independent Patriots for Change received 146 and 70 votes, respectively.

According to the APP, its polling agents observed that 40 ballots were rejected at polling stations in the constituency because the voters who cast the ballots made a marking on the photographs of a candidate on the ballot, instead of in the open space next to the photograph.

The party also claimed its polling agents objected to the rejection of the ballots, without success, and that the markings made on the rejected ballots were clear enough to establish which candidates the voters meant to choose.

In June, the Electoral Court ordered that the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) should make 57 ballots which were rejected in the constituency's regional council election available to the APP to be copied.

The ballots were made available to the party at an ECN logistics store in Windhoek on 12 July, APP secretary general Vinsent Kanyetu said in a sworn statement filed at the court.

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Kanyetu stated that according to the ECN's records, 57 ballots were rejected at 11 ballot stations and mobile polling points in the constituency.

However, when ECN officials opened 11 regional election ballot boxes from the constituency in July, only four ballots which had been marked as rejected were found, Kanyetu said.

In one of the ballot boxes, an envelope marked as containing rejected ballots was also found, with 16 ballots in the envelope, but none of those had been endorsed as rejected either, Kanyetu said.

Noting that the difference in the number of votes counted for the Swapo and APP candidates was only 12, Kanyetu stated: "At this stage it is clearly certain that the errors made have the potential to alter the outcome of the election."

He added that an inspection of the 16 ballots found in an envelope showed some of them should have been counted, but were not. The fact that those ballots had been rejected and were not counted contravened the Electoral Act, Kanyetu claimed.
Fiscal de la Nacion, Zoraida Avalos, presento hoy proyecto de ley que modifica la Ley General de Salud para que jueces o fiscales dispongan destino final de los cadaveres en casos de posible afectacion del orden publico.

Lea aqui el proyecto de ley.?? https://t.co/aQATPzinRY
In an interview with TV Peru, the Cabinet chief commented that he met with community leaders and locals on Monday evening, adding that the commitment is to guarantee the restoration of said service as soon as possible.

"We have been told that it (the service) will be restored tomorrow," he said, noting that the service must be restored first, while evaluations and assessments will be carried out after that.

Abimael Guzman

The high-ranking official remarked that the Public Ministry is authorized to make a determination on the matter considering that a regulatory context is involved and the Executive Branch will respect what it (the Public Ministry) deems appropriate.

As for Ombudsman Walter Gutierrez's criticism of his management, the head of the Ministerial Cabinet emphasized that each person acts according to the regulations.

"If his function is to assess or rate ministers, he should proceed with that, if not, he needs to review his functions and in which context this is framed," he added.

??AHORA l Titular de la PCM, @GuidoPuka , junto a viceministro de @viviendaperu , jefe de @indeciperu y viceministro de Gobernanza Territorial PCM, llego a San Juan de Lurigancho para constatar los avances de los trabajos de restablecimiento del servicio de agua en el distrito. pic.twitter.com/oDXySI38UA

Titular de la PCM, @GuidoPuka: Ayer en la noche nos hemos reunido con los dirigentes y pobladores y nos comprometimos a garantizar el restablecimiento del servicio del agua lo antes posible, por eso es importante ver in situ el avance del trabajo. pic.twitter.com/rHy7MtgVXy
In an interview with the Official Newspaper El Peruano, the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) explains how private capital will be boosted.





What measures will you take to boost private investment?





We maintain a private investment promotion policy. There are a number of Public-Private Partnership projects which are underway and others that we want to promote. Currently, the expansion of Jorge Chavez International Airport and Lima Metro Line 2 are very important. Likewise, there are strictly private initiatives such as the Chancay Port, which is progressing quite well and entails great resources.





On the other hand, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) , we are hosting executive roundtables that seek to bring various elements of the public administration and the private sector together to unlock and ease the development of new businesses.





This month, one of our tasks will precisely be to give new impetus to the executive roundtables. We begin with two sector roundtables that seem very significant to us. The first is aquaculture, a sector that has experienced some growth, but has plenty of potential because it can be carried out on the coast, mountains, and jungle. We want to give it a great boost.





The second is the mining sector roundtable because there are paramount projects whose problems and obstacles need to be solved, trying to avoid conflicts so that initiatives can move forward. Our goal this month will be a new push to two roundtables per week.





It was announced that 52 projects will be sped up, which are worth S/114 billion (about US$27.804 billion). Is it public, private or mixed investment?





They are of the three types, and this idea basically responds to the National Plan of Infrastructure for Competitiveness, which identifies the major gaps that our country faces in terms of telecommunications, roads, and ports, among others.





There are projects that can be executed in a strictly public manner; others are carried out under the Public-Private Partnership scheme.





In both cases, it is necessary to provide a closer follow-up because one issue is that the initiative be approved. Yet from there until the execution progresses and ends, there are a series of barriers and issues that must be continuously addressed.





There are also some projects which are concessions but respond exclusively to private investment the best example is Chancay Port.





Is that included among these 52 projects?





Yes, indeed.
#VacunateYa ???? | Llego al pais un lote de 748 800 dosis de vacunas contra la #COVID19 que forman parte de las 13 000 000 que llegaran durante setiembre para proteger a los peruanos de una posible tercera ola de la #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/LGnCkNjU9h
Ministro del Interior, @JuanCarrascoMi: "Desde el Poder Ejecutivo, se esta promoviendo un proyecto de ley, que dara a conocer el presidente de la Republica, @PedroCastilloTe, a fin de permitir la incineracion del fallecido terrorista Abimael Guzman". Via @soltvcanal pic.twitter.com/nNboeqjerE
El presidente @PedroCastilloTe sostuvo un encuentro con los directivos, dirigentes y agricultores de mas de 60 cooperativas de productos organicos del pais, donde reafirmo el compromiso de fortalecer la capacidad exportadora de las comunidades campesinas del Peru. https://t.co/0lz0snm72t
Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: Invoco a las autoridades y al pueblo peruano a mantenernos unidos. Espero que el pais responda al esfuerzo que estamos haciendo para que nuestro pueblo cumpla con el proceso de vacunacion para reactivar la economia y abrir las escuelas. pic.twitter.com/fHBTJ4ex0b
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. An active duty reservist of the Armenian Armed Forces died after suffering according to preliminary information a fatal gunshot wound as a result of violation of the rules of organizing combat service, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said.

It said the incident took place around 22:00, September 13 in a military outpost at the south-eastern direction.

The victim is Sergeant Mkrtich Hovakimyan (born 1978).

An investigation is underway to fully determine the circumstances of the incident, the Ministry of Defense said and conveyed condolences to the family and friends of the Sergeant.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Russia Vladimir Putin had a meeting with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin, the Russian presidential office reports.

I am very happy to again welcome you in Moscow. First of all I want to congratulate you on your past birthday, and also over the very good results of the presidential election, the Russian leader said at the meeting.

Putin stated that the results of the elections show the trust of the Syrian people towards Assad. I know that you do a lot for that, including for organizing dialogue with your political opponents. I am hopeful that this process will continue, Putin said, adding that the uniting of all forces in Syria would only allow the country to move to a progressive development.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Slovakia are going to develop the cooperation in a number of areas, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said at the joint press conference with his Slovak counterpart Ivan Korcok in Yerevan on September 14.

FM Mirzoyan said that he has discussed with his Slovak counterpart the bilateral relations, as well as the ways of utilizing the cooperation potential in different branches of economy.

The relations between our countries have developed in all directions, and today we reaffirmed that that we need to make efforts to further intensify those ties. This, firstly, relates to the political dialogue. We have a high-level political dialogue, and that dialogue refers to both the bilateral and the multilateral relations. We also talked about the economic relations, especially about the existing potential which is not utilized yet. We need to make joint efforts for the development of energy, information technologies, as well as in the fields of culture and science. I would like to inform that we have outlined certain actions that we are going to implement soon with joint efforts, the Armenian FM said.

Ararat Mirzoyan expressed gratitude to Slovakia and its people for the support provided to Armenia both during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Artsakh War, and also for the position adopted by that country.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok arrived in Armenia on an official visit on September 13.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Slovakia Ararat Mirzoyan and Ivan Korcok discussed the ongoing regional developments during their meeting in Yerevan on September 14.

At a briefing with reporters following the meeting, the Armenian FM informed that they have also discussed with his Slovak counterpart the recent large-scale aggression of Azerbaijan against the people of Artsakh and the Azerbaijani crimes.

We talked about the non-fulfillment by Azerbaijan of the provisions of the trilateral statement. In particular, it concerns the Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives held in Azerbaijan. We also talked about the preservation of cultural heritage, touched upon the current tension on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, the provocative actions of Azerbaijan, its incursion into Armenias territories. We talked about solving all existing problems with peaceful means, through negotiations, in particular the necessity to continue the peaceful negotiations over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, FM Mirzoyan said.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok arrived in Armenia on an official visit on September 13.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Slovakia appreciates Armenias efforts aimed at establishing peace and stability in the region, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Ivan Korcok said at the joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan.

He expressed hope that new processes are launching in the region, after more than 30 years of insecurity, which would eventually lead to reconciliation.

The meeting touched upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. We were attaching great importance to refraining from any action having a potential for escalation. We also highlight the complete implementation of the commitments assumed by the November 9 statement. Every conflict leads to sufferings of ordinary people. If there is a will, determination to achieve peace, every conflict is possible to solve. As an EU member state we continue supporting the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. We welcome the actions aimed at strengthening trust, such as the return of the Armenian prisoners of war, who are held in Azerbaijan. The return of Armenian POWs and civilians held there must continue, and also conditions must be provided for conducting demining in order to prevent additional losses, the Slovak FM said.

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok arrived in Armenia on an official visit on September 13.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The 8th session of the Armenian-Ukrainian Inter-governmental Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation kicked off in Yerevan.

Armenian Minister of Economy, Co-Chair of the Commission Vahan Kerobyan welcomed his Ukrainian counterpart, Minister of Social Policy Maryna Lazebna and expressed hope that the inter-governmental commissions efforts will lay the foundation for deepening the trade-economic relations between Armenia and Ukraine.

I think weve created good pre-requisites for significantly improving the pace of development of bilateral relations, Kerobyan said.

Kerobyan said that both sides concurred that the Armenian-Ukrainian relations have very big and untapped potential, for example in tourism, and encouraged Armenian and Ukrainian travel agencies to conduct mutual visits to carry out studies and offer new packages for tourists.

Another important issue is the organization of an Armenian-Ukrainian business forum. Kerobyan said the meetings will lead to the creation of new business ideas, new initiatives and joint projects.

The Armenian minister of economy expressed hope that by the time the commission meets again in May 2022, the sides wouldve shown the great potential for development of relations.

Lazebna noted that the protocol signed by the commission  which includes the abovementioned priorities  is a very good roadmap for the development of bilateral trade-economic relations.

Since the coronavirus-related global crisis, in the first half of this year we are seeing positive dynamic in our trade-economic relations, and from this perspective it is certainly very important to ensure the long-term development of the Ukrainian-Armenian relations in the key sectors for our countries. In person of Armenia, Ukraine has always seen an important partner in South Caucasus, and today Id like to point out all the important sectors and building direct collegial relations, opening of new markets, cooperation both between our governments and businesses based on mutually-beneficial conditions.

Lazebna highlighted that in commercial relations their objective is to not only increase turnover and restore and pre-crisis levels, but also qualitatively enhance the nomenclatural products.

The Armenian Ambassador to Ukraine Vladimir Karapetyan and Ukrainian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Kuleba, as well as other government officials from both countries were in attendance of the meeting.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Parliament will hold a closed-format session to discuss the current situation on the Goris-Kapan highway in the Syunik province.

Secretary of the Armenia faction Artsvik Minasyan told reporters at a briefing that a respective agreement has been reached in the Parliament.

Yesterday we have submitted a letter on behalf of the Armenia faction proposing to attend the session at the level of top officials. Its very important for us to get complete information, he said.

He said that the discussion may involve elements of state secret, therefore, they are ready for a closed discussion.

The important task is to be able to solve the current challenges facing the country. Works need to be done at all directions. The simplest example is that today the sovereignty of Armenia has been violated. In fact, we have lost the sovereignty in that territory, the territorial integrity is violated, and there must be a criminal case over that. We expect that the Prosecutor General will answer to all questions, Artsvik Minasyan said.

He noted that they must be informed from the Foreign Ministry whether necessary actions are being taken with the Iranian side or what processes are taking place in international platforms.

As a result of the discussion with the leadership of the Parliament a decision was made to hold a closed-format discussion, he said, adding that an agreement has been reached to hold that meeting as soon as possible. It will take place either today or tomorrow, he added.

The police of Azerbaijan are checking the documents of drivers and cargo of trucks with Iranian license plates in the area of Eyvazli settlement under Azerbaijani control, near the Vorotan community on Goris-Kapan inter-state road.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Reaffirming the growing dynamic of relations, Armenia and Slovakia are boosting joint work.

At a joint press briefing with Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan, the Slovakian FM Ivan Korcok said that his doctrine is to maximally utilize the existing potential of cooperation.

Undoubtedly there is great potential for cooperation in the relations of Armenia and Slovakia, particularly in economic direction. There was growth in trade turnover, but we must surpass these results. Armenians and Slovaks expect tangible results. The energy sector is very promising in terms of cooperation. A Slovak company is now negotiating to participate in the modernization of the Metsamor nuclear power plant. Possibilities for cooperation exist also in agriculture, IT, digitization and tourism sectors. We will encourage Slovaks to come to this wonderful country, and Armenians to Slovakia, the Slovak FM said.

FM Korcok added that as an EU country, Slovakia encourages and supports Armenia to continue structural reforms.

At the end of the press conference FM Korcok invited FM Mirzoyan to visit Slovakia at any convenient time.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok and his delegation, the PMs Office told Armenpress.

Pashinyan welcomed Mr. Korcoks official visit to Armenia and highlighted the constant development of the relations with Slovakia. He praised the fact that Slovakia is showing an interest to the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasian region.

In this context the Armenian PM touched upon the current situation caused by the 2020 war launched by Azerbaijan against the Republic of Artsakh, Azerbaijans non-fulfillment of the agreement on the return of Armenian prisoners of war, as well as the incursions of the Azerbaijani armed forces into Armenias sovereign territory.

Nikol Pashinyan introduced the actions of the Armenian government, Armenias expectations from the international community and emphasized the necessity of resuming the negotiation process within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.

Pashinyan also touched upon the Armenia-EU partnership and highlighted the importance of the support provided to Armenias democracy development reforms.

In his turn the Slovak FM presented the interest of his countrys government to developing the multilayered cooperation with Armenia. He highlighted the importance of utilizing the great cooperation potential in economy, business ties, commercial relations and IT industry. Ivan Korcok conveyed the friendly greetings of the Slovak leadership addressed to Armenias Prime Minister and people.

Mr. Ivan Korcok said he is impressed with the results of the recent snap parliamentary elections in Armenia and stated that despite the pandemic and the war Armenia is moving on the development path.

Mr. Korcok said Slovakia appreciates Armenias efforts aimed at the establishment of peace and stability in the region and attached importance to the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. He stressed the need for taking actions to strengthen trust in the region and expressed Slovakias support to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

The officials also exchanged views on the ongoing regional developments.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. On August 9, 2021, the Head of Security Department at Ucom, Aram Sargsyan, has been awarded with the "Gratitude" medal by the President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan. People honored with that medal have significant contribution to the restoration and development of the economy, science, culture, and social sphere of NKR, as well as subserved the NKR defense and international recognition.

Later, on September 2, 2021, the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia, Andranik Piloyan, bestowed A. Sargsyan the "Collaboration for Salvation" medal.

Moreover, on December 15, 2020, Karen Melyan, the Senior Engineer at the Data Centers and Infrastructure team at Ucom, was honored with the Certificate of Gratitude by the commander of the military unit N of the RA Ministry of Defense for his endurance, courage and patriotic activity during the defense of the homeland borders.

At Ucom, we attach particular importance not only to the team efforts for the benefit of the country, but also to the individual contribution of each employee of the company. It is a great honor to work with such dedicated colleagues, who, by their personal example, inspire all of us to do the utmost and even more, said Victoria Baghdasaryan, Director of Human Resources Management and Organizational Development at Ucom.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. National Archive of Armenia Director Grigor Arshakyan held a meeting with the Iranian embassys Cultural Center advisor Soyyed Hossein Tabatabai and the Iranian Academy of Cultural Heritage Vice-Rector for Research Morteza Rezvanfar.

The interlocutors attached importance to the need for deeper cooperation between the two friendly nations, particularly in mutual recognition of historical-cultural heritage and exchange of archive data.

Tabatabai noted that the upcoming 30th anniversary of establishment of the Armenian-Iranian diplomatic ties would be a good occasion to organize an exhibition of joint archive materials in Iran and in Armenia. The Iranian side expressed interest to get acquainted with archive documents relating to them in the fields of architecture and other sectors, and offered the Armenian side to reciprocally use their archives.

Director Arshakyan emphasized that the two countries had centuries-old historical-cultural friendly relations and informed the delegation that the Armenian National Archive has in its depository, among others, a 1607 manifesto issued by Shah Abbas, relating to granting the Armenian princes of Kashatagh land privileges, and enabled to get acquainted with the exhibit.

The sides reached an agreement to enhance cooperation and to sign a joint memorandum in this context.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received today Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia Ivan Korcok, who is in Armenia on an official visit, and the delegation led by him.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Presidents Office, Armen Sarkissian greeted the high-ranking guest and said that the two countries, as well as Armenia and the EU have a brilliant history of relations, but its necessary to talk about the future and the plans for the future.

The Foreign Minister of Slovakia noted that they want to work in the direction of developing bilateral relations.

 Slovakia has friendly attitude towards Armenia, the two countries have a high-level political dialogue, which is a good basis for developing mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, the Minister said.

Ivan Korcok stressed the great potential in the sphere of economy, including business relations, trade and economic relations, cooperation in various fields, and the need for its effective realization. He also highlighted the expansion of cultural partnership to bring the two peoples closer.

The President of Armenia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia also exchanged views on the situation and challenges in Armenia and the region after the war.

The sides also touched upon the deepening and development prospects of Armenia-EU cooperation in different directions.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The Governor of Syunik Melikset Poghosyan received the newly appointed US Deputy Ambassador to Armenia Chip Laitinen, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Governorate of Syunik.

The US Deputy Ambassador was accompanied by the military attache of the embassy, the head of the political and economic office, who are also newly appointed.

According to Deputy Ambassador Laitinen, US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Lynne Tracy wished them to start their first visit to Armenia from Syunik, emphasizing that the region is a priority in terms of the activities of the embassy.

The US Deputy Ambassador expressed the desire to get acquainted with the situation on the ground and understand how they can continue to support democratic and economic development, as well as learn about security issues.

The Governor of Syunik Melikset Poghosyan presented the situation in the region in the post-war period, the concerns of the leadership and the population of the region, the problems related to the new border situation.

During the meeting the parties discussed issues related to security, roads and traffic, economic and other issues.

The Governor expressed readiness for further active cooperation, and referring to the programs implemented by the USAID in the region, he expressed hope that they will be continuous.
According to a press release published by Hanwha Defense on September 14, 2021, the company is ready to showcase its advanced artillery and unmanned ground systems at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) to be held at ExCel, London, from September 14-17.



K9 Thunder Self-Propelled Howitzer SPH (Picture source: Army Recognition)

A leading innovator in the global defence market, Hanwha Defense will put on display up-to-date defence platforms, including the K9 Thunder Self-Propelled Howitzer (SPH), the next-generation Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), and the Multi-Purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicle (M-UGV).

The 155mm/52-calibre K9 Thunder is the worlds best-selling SPH, as nearly 1,700 K9 variants are in service in seven nations including South Korea, Turkey, Poland, Finland, Norway, India, Estonia. Australia would be the eighth customer for the K9 SPH solution with negotiations underway.

Hanwha Defense plans to offer the latest variant of the K9, dubbed K9A2, for the British Armys Mobile Fires Platform (MFP) program.

K9s UK version is to feature enhanced lethality, protection and mobility. Equipped with a fully automated ammunition loading system, the K9A2 is to have an increased rate of fire of nine rounds per minute. The newer K9 variant will also be fitted with mine protection kits and composite rubber tracks.



In a step towards building a robust industrial partnership in the UK, Hanwha Defense is scheduled to sign formal agreements with multiple local defence partners during DSEI 2021.

Alongside with high-class artillery and armored vehicle systems, Hanwha Defense will exhibit the Multi-Purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicle (M-UGV) at DSEI. It is the first time that Hanwha Defense has put its UGV platform on display in the European market.

The 4x4 M-UGV was developed in 2019 as part of a government project aimed at developing unmanned robotics to support infantry troops in various combat situations.

The 1.5-ton electric vehicle can move at a top speed of 30 km/h on paved roads and is operated either remotely or autonomously to carry out various missions such as surveillance, logistics transport, evacuation of casualties, and combat engagement.

The vehicle is armed with an indigenous remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS) that can lock on the targets automatically using acoustic sensors to determine the source of gunfire during the confusion of combat.

A newer 6x6 version dubbed the Intelligence UGV (I-UGV) is set to be unveiled later this year. The I-UGV is to feature a payload capacity of 500 kg and a cruising radius of 100 kilometers. The South Korean Army plans to trial the I-UGV in coming months in effort to help review the vehicles operational effectiveness.
Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to persisting presence of foreign troops in Syria without the permission of the countrys authorities as a problem at a meeting with the Syrian leader Bashar Assad in the Kremlin on Monday, Tass informs.

September 14, 2021, 09:37 Putin refers to persisting presence of foreign troops in Syria as problem

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: "I consider the main problem the fact that foreign armed forces, without the permission of the United Nations Organization, without your sanctions, are still present on separate territories of the country, which evidently contradicts the international law and prevents you from undertaking best efforts for the countrys consolidation and for moving towards its recovery with rates possible if the whole territory was controlled by the legal government," Putin said.
Reaffirming the growing dynamic of relations, Armenia and Slovakia are boosting joint work.

September 14, 2021, 14:17 Ivan Korcok invites Ararat Mirzoyan to Slovakia

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: At a joint press briefing with Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan, the Slovakian FM Ivan Korcok said that his doctrine is to maximally utilize the existing potential of cooperation.

Undoubtedly there is great potential for cooperation in the relations of Armenia and Slovakia, particularly in economic direction. There was growth in trade turnover, but we must surpass these results. Armenians and Slovaks expect tangible results. The energy sector is very promising in terms of cooperation. A Slovak company is now negotiating to participate in the modernization of the Metsamor nuclear power plant. Possibilities for cooperation exist also in agriculture, IT, digitization and tourism sectors. We will encourage Slovaks to come to this wonderful country, and Armenians to Slovakia, the Slovak FM said.

FM Korcok added that as an EU country, Slovakia encourages and supports Armenia to continue structural reforms.

At the end of the press conference FM Korcok invited FM Mirzoyan to visit Slovakia at any convenient time.
US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will host the first-ever Quad Leaders Summit at the White House on September 24, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

September 14, 2021, 14:12 Biden to host leaders of Australia, India and Japan on Sep 24

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: 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.

The Quad Leaders will be focused on deepening our 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 statement says.

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.
Diplomats of the United States, Japan and South Korea held a trilateral meeting in Tokyo, during which they discussed the DPRK's testing of a new long-range cruise missile, news.am informs, citing Kyodo.

September 14, 2021, 14:29 US, Japan and South Korea discuss new North Korean missile tests

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: The parties also agreed to continue close cooperation on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, to achieve which sanctions will be applied against Pyongyang.

According to the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAC), North Korea's missiles hit targets at a distance of 1,500 km.

The Japanese diplomat stressed that if the new North Korean missile is indeed capable of covering a distance of 1,500 km, then this poses a direct threat to the peace and security of Japan. The country's authorities also promised to continue to strengthen their defensive capabilities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin where they discussed the political situation in Syria, international terrorism as well as issues of bilateral and humanitarian cooperation. The details about the meeting held on September 13 were published on the Russian leaders website on Tuesday, Tass informs.

September 14, 2021, 14:40 Putin holds meeting with Syrias Assad at Kremlin

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: In the beginning of the talks, Putin said that he is glad to welcome Assad in Moscow and congratulated him on the occasion of his birthday on September 11 and for the "very good result at the presidential elections" which were held on May 26 and were won by Assad with more than 95% support.

"The [election] results show that people trust you and, despite all challenges of the previous years and tragedies of the previous years, still associate the process of recovery and return to normal life with you," Putin told Assad.
The number of residents of Mehmana community of Artsakhs Martakert region has a decreasing tendency.

September 14, 2021, 17:07 Mehmana has a great potential for resettlement. Community Leader

STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 14, ARTSAKHPRESS: The head of the community Avag Mkrdumyan told "Artsakhpress".

"The village was founded a long time ago by four Greek miners who moved to Artsakh to work here. That is why our village has got the name "Greek". In our small village we have many vacant houses but they need to be renovated. We are ready to provide them to our displaced compatriots.

The school and the kindergarten have not been operating for seven years. Families with children of school and preschool age moved to the city of Martakert. The rural roads are in good condition. We have a community hall and an aid station.

Mehmana is rich in historical and cultural monuments: "Panaya" (1249) and St. Astvatsatsin (1228) churches, 13th century cross stone, old tombstones ... Mehmana was the richest village around.

There were a lot of fruit trees, especially apple trees," said the head of the community.
Indonesia's elite counter-terrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said.

Abu Rusdan was seized late on 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," Mr Ramadhan said.

Indonesian authorities consider Rusdan to be a key figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah, which the US has designated a terrorist group.

The shadowy Southeast Asian network is widely blamed for attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The 2002 Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Source: AP

Mr 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 travelled through 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 counter-terrorism unit, known as Densus 88, has swept up 53 alleged members of the Jemaah in the past weeks, across 11 different provinces.

Taliban takeover prompts crackdown

An Indonesian court banned the group in 2008 and a sustained crackdown by the country's security forces with support from the US and Australia has helped to weaken the militant network.

Story continues

A spokesman for Indonesia's 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 Taliban's ideology and networks."

Indonesia's counter-terrorism crackdown has been ongoing for months already.

In the past year, Indonesian officials say counter-terrorism 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.

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Revocat Karemangingo was the treasurer of the refugee association in Mozambique

A prominent member of the Rwandan refugee community in Mozambique, who had told police there was a plot to kill him, has been shot dead.

Revocat Karemangingo had been a lieutenant in the Rwandan army that was overthrown in 1994 by forces led by President Paul Kagame.

In Mozambique he became a businessman and was not involved in politics, the leader of the refugee community said.

The Rwandan government has been accused of targeting opponents living abroad.

It has consistently denied the allegation.

Mr Karemangingo, who was the treasurer of the Rwandan refugee association, was driving to his home near the Mozambican capital, Maputo, when his car was ambushed on Monday.

He was shot nine times, police said.

No-one has been arrested so far and the police do not yet have a motive for the killing.

'Targeted in 2016'

Mr Karemangingo had warned the authorities that there were people with links to Rwanda who were plotting to kill him, refugee association chairman Cleophas Habiyaremye told the BBC.

The Rwandan high commissioner in Mozambique was not immediately available for comment.

A previous plan to kill him in 2016 was foiled as he had unexpectedly changed the vehicle he was travelling in, Mr Habiyaremye added.

Mr Karemangingo was among the suspects in the 2019 killing of another Rwandan refugee, Louis Baziga, who was at the time the leader of the Rwandan community in Mozambique.

But he was cleared of involvement in that killing and played no role in Rwandan politics, Mr Habiyaremye said.

The death of Mr Karemangingo comes three months after the arrest by Mozambican police of Cassien Ntamuhanga, a former journalist turned opposition activist who had escaped from prison in Rwanda. He has since been held incommunicado.

Three weeks ago there was an attempt on the life of the secretary of the refugee association, the chairman said.

Human rights organisations have consistently accused Rwanda of targeting or killing opposition members abroad who are involved in - or perceived to be involved in - activities against the government.

Story continues

The Rwandan government has also accused some Rwandan refugees of carrying out or financing activities aimed at destabilising the country.

In neighbouring South Africa, a leading Rwandan opposition politician Seif Bamporiki was shot dead in February.

Rwanda's former intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya was murdered in a hotel room in Johannesburg in 2014.

Former army chief Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was shot and wounded in the same city in 2010.

Rwanda's government has always dismissed suggestions that it was involved in any of these killings or attempted killings.
The Cayuga County Health Department has a message for parents: Keep your children at home when they're sick or exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms.

The public plea comes as COVID-19 cases surge in Cayuga County. There were 91 new cases in three days and 369 so far in September. With the spike in cases, hospitalizations are on the rise. As of Monday, there are 17 Cayuga County residents with COVID-related illnesses receiving treatment at Auburn, Crouse or Upstate University hospitals. The hospitalized patients range in age from two in their 30s to two in their 90s. Twelve of the 17 patients are age 60 and older.

In a news release, the health department expressed concern over the "extremely high number of COVID positive cases" since school began last week. Over a six-day period, there have been 233 new cases in Cayuga County.

Health officials repeated guidance it has given before  that COVID symptoms can be similar to seasonal allergies. If children are exhibiting allergy symptoms, they should stay home, get tested for COVID-19 and should not be sent to school until the result is known.
Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann commented on Ashley's plea and conviction in the news release.

This defendant refused to even discuss resolving the charges until today, the second day of trial," he said. "This resulted in considerable police, prosecution and court resources being consumed unnecessarily preparing for the trial, which was expected to last four weeks. These resources included not only prepping over a hundred prosecution witnesses, but included the summoning over 200 potential jurors. Nevertheless, Gage Ashleys acceptance of responsibility is certainly better later than never. We hope the conviction of the two shooters who murdered Joshua Poole provides some level of closure for his family.

Budelmann also praised the various people and agencies involved in the investigation and trial, including the Auburn Police Department, the New York State Police and the Cayuga County Sheriffs Office. He also commended the work of Cayuga County Chief Assistant District Attorney Chris Valdina and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Brittany Grome Antonacci, who were representing the prosecution at the trial, along with DA's office Investigator Joseph DiVietro and Victim/Witness Coordinator Kristine France.
Assemblyman Brian Manktelow, who represents Wayne County and parts of Cayuga and Oswego counties, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Manktelow's office confirmed the diagnosis on Tuesday. Last week, the assemblyman posted on his Facebook page that he was in quarantine. But he did not reveal whether he tested positive or if he was exposed to the virus.

"Fortunately, due to the long weekend, I did not see my staff and they are still in the office," Manktelow, R-Lyons, wrote. "While I have had to move appointments and reschedule meetings, my staff and I are still committed to serving the citizens of the 130th Assembly District. My amazing staff is still in the office, and we are in constant contact."

Manktelow isn't vaccinated. He told The Citizen in April that he wanted to wait until the vaccine was available to all of his constituents in the 130th Assembly District. But he has also shared that, due to undisclosed health issues, he has been advised not to get the vaccine.
Most New Yorkers support mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

The Siena Research Institute found 69% of voters support requiring school employees, including teachers, to be vaccinated. Two-thirds of voters said they support businesses, such as gyms and restaurants, mandating customers to show proof of vaccination. There is a similar level of support (65%) for employers requiring employees to be vaccinated.

In New York, school employees must submit to weekly COVID-19 testing unless they present proof of vaccination. President Joe Biden has issued a nationwide directive requiring employees at businesses with 100 or more workers to be vaccinated or get tested weekly.

Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg noted that more than three-quarters of Democrats and a majority of independent voters support the vaccine mandates.

"Although a majority of Republicans support two of the mandates, they are divided on employers mandating their employees (to get vaccinated)," Greenberg added.

At least 70% of New York City voters support vaccine mandates. In upstate New York, 65% of voters support vaccine mandates for school employees, while 57% endorse the idea of employers requiring employees to be vaccinated.
A central New York village is requiring its employees to be fully vaccinated amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The village of Skaneateles in Onondaga County issued the vaccine mandate on Tuesday. Employees must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 5.

Skaneateles Mayor Mary Sennett told The Citizen that the village board of trustees felt the requirement was important.

"Health and safety for our community is always foremost," she said. "This is certainly a health and safety issue."

The village has under 15 full-time employees. There is also an unknown number of part-time employees who will be covered by the requirement.

According to the policy, an employee is considered fully vaccinated when they have received both doses of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer) or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine and have waited at least two weeks for the vaccination to become fully effective.
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.
Former FAW VW executive joins Chery Jaguar Land Rover

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On September 14th, Chery Jaguar Land Rover (CJLR), the joint venture between Chinese automaker Chery Automobile and UK auto manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, announced that Ma Zhenshan would immediately take on the executive vice president position of CJLR and the Integrated Marketing Sales and Service Organisation between CJLR and Jaguar Land Rover China.

Ma Zhenshan; photo credit: Chery Jaguar Land Rover



Ma Zhenshan joined FAW-Volkswagen twenty-one years ago as a market researcher and worked his way up to the companys central China market business division manager in 2013. Three years later, Ma Zhenshan was promoted to vice manager of FAW-VW Sales Company (FAW-VWs subsidiary), responsible for marketing of the VW brand. From 2020, Ma came up as executive vice manager of FAW-VW Sales Company, executive director of the VW brand, fully responsible for FAW-VWs VW brands marketing and promoting works.

Earlier this year, rumors of Ma Zhenshans transfer from FAW-VW to Jaguar Land Rover were leaked. Soon afterward, Ma posted on his social platform that he would be coming back to the FAW Group without revealing specifics. However, with today's announcement, the executive vice president position in CJLR finally welcomed its successor after being empty for more than a half year.

The chairman of Chery Jaguar Land Rover, Liu Yang said, Ma Zhenshan has ample experience in the joint ventured auto company and regional marketing, branding, and operation management. Mas addition to the team will push forward the premium Jaguar brand and Land Rover brands development in the Chinese market, bringing the authentic, brilliant British experience to more consumers.
CATL plans to plow 13.5 billion yuan in lithium-ion battery manufacturing base in Yichun

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On Sept. 13, Chinese power battery giant CATL signed a cooperation agreement with Yichun Municipal Government to build a lithium-ion battery manufacturing base in the city of China's Jiangxi province, the company announced via its WeChat account.

CATL, Yichun Minicipal Government signing agreement; photo credit: CATL



Under the agreement, the production base will cover an area of 1,300 mu (about 867,000 square meters) and involve a total investment of around 13.5 billion yuan ($2.094 billion). The construction is expected to be completed within 30 months.

CATL said the investment is made to further improve its development of production capacity and meet the demands of future business development and market expansion. It is of important significance to the company's long-run and stable development and is in line with the interests of all shareholders despite the increase in capital expenditure and cash outlay.

The pact was signed after CATL inked a framework cooperation agreement with Jiangxi Provincial Government and Yichun Municipal Government at the end of July. According to the earlier agreement, the battery giant planned to build a lithium-ion battery manufacturing base and a production base for relevant upstream materials like lithium carbonate at Yichun Economic & Technological Development Zone and related counties, cities, and districts.

Notably, Gotion High-Tech, another main automotive lithium-ion power battery supplier in China, celebrated in late May the foundation stone-laying ceremony for its lithium-ion battery project in Yichun, which is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2022.
XPeng deploys 400 supercharging stations by end of Aug. 2021

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- As of August 2021, XPeng Inc. (XPeng) had deployed a total of 400 own-brand supercharging stations, spanning 101 cities in China, the company announced on Tuesday. Of those, 102 stations were newly launched last month.

XPeng P7 at supercharging station; photo credit: XPeng



The EV manufacturer built 16 supercharging stations on highways in August, making the cumulative number of XPeng-branded highway supercharging stations increase to 27. The company is China's first automaker to operate supercharging service at rest stops on highways.

According to XPeng's update, the company's charging network has also included 81 destination charging stations, 36 of which were deployed last month, as well as 1,596 free charging stations that cover 209 cities across China.

XPeng is the first EV startup in China to offer free lifetime charging services for its customers, aiming to popularize its smart EVs by providing easy access to free charging facilities and improving customer experience. It focuses on facilitating urban mobility, as well as long-distance inter-city driving for XPeng's users.

Over the next three weeks, the EV startup plans to expand its supercharging network into more than 60 cities or regions, including Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Chizhou, Yangzhou, Luoyang, Huanggang, Urumchi, and Yinchuan.
Car and City: Beijing's insurance registrations of new vehicles in July, 2021

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Insurance registrations of locally-made new vehicles in Beijing, capital of China, amounted to 49,619 vehicles in July, and its monthly registration volume of new energy vehicles (NEVs) reached 13,434 vehicles, accounting for 27.07% of the total volume, according to data from China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).

Only one local brand was among the top 5 registered vehicle brands in Beijing last month. That is BYD. With 4,258 new vehicles registered in Beijing, BYD ranked second among all vehicle brands, followed by Honda, Toyota and Nissan. But by the year-to-date registrations in the city, BYD were the fourth on the vehicle brands list, surpassed by Honda and Toyota.

Several models from BYD were on the top 10 registered models list. Monthly registrations of the BYD Qin PRO EV were 1,135 vehicles while the respective volume of the BYD Song PLUS EV and the Han EV was around 940 vehicles.



Battery electric vehicles insurance registrations took up 94% of the total registration volume of NEVs in Beijing in July, with registrations reaching 12,634 vehicles. By the end of July, consumers in Beijing has registered 62,119 NEVs in total this year.



The EU5 from BAIC BJEV was the most registered model in Beijing last month. Among all 1,782 registered EU5s in July, 1,493 were for renting. Three out of the top 5 registered NEV models were from BYD and the XPeng P7 were the most registered model from Chinese NEV startups.



But the EU5s year-to-date registrations were fewer than those of the Model 3, ranking second with 5,510 vehicles registered. The Model Y, the other model Tesla produced in China, registered 5,211 vehicles in the first seven months in Beijing.
Dongfeng Honda sees 11th-generation Civic leave production line

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The China-built 11th-generation Civic, the all-new version of the classic Honda-branded sedan model, rolled off the assembly line on September 14, according to Dongfeng Honda. The new model will formally hit the market ten days later.



The 11th-generation Civic; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda



The all-new Civic adopts a fire new exterior design compared to the existing version. At the front end, the aggressive triple air intakes are located below the slim LED headlights, accentuating the car's width and low center of gravity. Aside from the headlights, LED lighting is also used in daytime running lights, parking lights, and fog lights.

The 11th-generation Civic; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

As for the side profile, a low beltline with horizontal windowsills and door-mounted side mirrors improve visibility while maintaining the clean lines of the exterior. The lower character line carries up from the bottom of the front door, rising across the rear doors, and through the rear fenders for an enhanced sense of motion.



The 11th-generation Civic; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

At the rear, the spoiler has been moved to the base of the rear window and thus provides a ducktail look. The taillight strip running across the tailgate also stresses the vehicle's width.



The 11th-generation Civic; photo credit: Dongfeng Honda

In the cockpit, a 9-inch HondaConnect infotainment touchscreen is two inches larger than that of the outgoing model. The all-new Civic offers three color schemes for interior, namely, the Black, the Black/Red, and the Sport Black.

Regarding safety facilities, the 11th-generation Civic comes with the Honda Sensing safety suite, which encompasses such functional systems as ACC (adaptive cruise control), LKAS (lane keeping assist system), TJA (traffic jam assist), LDW (lane departure warning), FCW (forward collision warning), and TSR (traffic sign recognition).

The all-new made-in-China Civic will carry a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine that is good for 95kW/134kW. Mated to the engine is a 6-speed manual transmission or a CVT.
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.
DeepRoute.ai scores $300 million in B-round led by Alibaba

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On September 14th, Chinas autonomous driving startup, DeepRoute.ai announced it has raised $300 million via its B-round of financing, which was led by Alibaba Group, with participation from Jeneration Capital, FOSUN RZ Capital, Yunqi Partners, and Glory Ventures.

the DeepRoute.ai fleet; photo credit: DeepRoute.ai



According to DeepRoute.ais CEO, Zhou Guang, the B-round funds will be put to its R&D, team expansion, and enlarging the scale of its autonomous testing and operation fleet. DeepRoute.ai has already started a trial operation of its RoboTaxis in Shenzhen. This year, the company will be pushing its autonomous driving application in urban logistics. DeepRoute.ai will realize the commercialization of its driverless technology by combing the strength of the company's investors and partners.

Autonomous driving is leading the technology reformation in the world. As one of leading companies in the field, DeepRoute.ai is rivaling against Pony.ai, WeRide, Didi Autonomous Driving, Baidu Apollo, Momenta, and AutoX.

DeepRoute.ai possesses numerous innovative self-developed technology and product advantages. It also accumulated great road-test mileage and operation experience in core areas in many Chinese cities, partner and chief investment officer of Jeneration Capital, Tan Hainan said.

DeepRoute.ai also announced its 123N three-year business strategy. 1 means to build a set of autonomous driving system. 2 represents the two focal points of the company, namely autonomous transportation, and autonomous city-wide freight service. 3 is the three production standards the company follows, safe, reliable, and intelligent. N signals the multi-scenario diverse application of autonomous driving technology.

Founded in 2019, DeepRoute.ai has successively opened up autonomous driving testing and trial operations in Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Hangzhou. During the time, DeepRoute.ai has accumulated over 2 million kilometers of testing and operating mileages and achieved rapid technology innovation and iteration. The company intends to expand its self-operated RoboTaxi fleet to 1 million vehicles by the end of 2021 and 1.5 million in total, including co-operated vehicles.

DeepRoute.ai believes that the in-city freight industry will be the first to realize autonomous driving commercialization. The government advocates this application aspect, as it is safer and more stable to transport cargo on a fixed route than transferring people to various destinations. In order to obtain a head start in the field, DeepRoute.ai has been testing its unmanned light trucks for almost a year now, rounding 2 million kilometers of road-test in three cities.

Adding the B-round funding, DeepRoute.ai has received roughly $400 million in financing since its establishment, with $1 billion in market value, thus confirming its place in Chinas autonomous driving field.
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.
The Arab Weekly

CAIRO--The summit meeting held Monday between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett signalled a change in the two sides visions that is pushing them closer on security and economic issues as a basis for future political processes. The talks also indicated that the two countries potential common ground goes beyond the issue of Gaza and recent arrangements to stop the hostilities between Hamas and Israel.

Analysts said the choice of Sharm el-Sheikh, the traditional site of previous regional summits, was heavy on symbolism as it suggested that Egypt is able to activate long-stalled processes and is ready and willing to cooperate with Israel for the purpose of securing calm in the region.

The analysts believe that both Egypt and Israel have changed their perspectives. This reflected on the character of the bilateral relationship and the way of thinking of Cairo and Tel Aviv about addressing certain issues. Cairo feels compelled, by virtue of the transformations in the region, to seek coordination with Israel. Common interests start in Gaza but also extend to eastern Mediterranean gas fields where investments requires calm while disagreements mean trouble for both parties.

Experts add that the Israelis have found it difficult to develop their relations in the Arab region as long as their peace with Cairo remained cold while the Egyptians were uneasy about a normalisation process that overpassed them.

Former Egyptian ambassador to Washington, Abdel-Raouf El-Reedy, told The Arab Weekly that bringing Egyptian-Israeli coordination into the open would lead to a new approach on a number of regional crises, as Tel Aviv has an influence over various issues in the region and believes that Cairos attitude could also have a bearing on developments as well.

He added that the success of joint understandings depends to a great degree on progress regarding the Israeli governments position on the Palestinian issue. Egypt sees this as a crucial dimension in its national and Arab security outlooks.

There is no change according to the experts in the fundamentals of Egyptian or Israeli strategies. What has changed is the regional environment where transformations force each side to rearrange its priorities and overcome latent hostility and look to common interests.

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the Sisi-Bennett meeting was to deal with a number of bilateral issues  and efforts to revive the peace process, as well as developments on the regional and international scene.

Cairo and Tel Aviv find economic peace an appropriate starting point for developing relations between them. Major breakthroughs have been achieved there as economic cooperation does not carry the same sensitivities as political questions. The Israel right-wing government finds this focus convenient as it spares it the embarrassing quandary posed by dealing with the Palestinians, an issue that ruffles the feathers of extremist factions that are part of Israeli government coalition.

The development in relations has led to closer security coordination. Economic cooperation between the two sides reached the point where Egypt imported natural gas last year from Israel to re-liquefy it and export it to Europe from the Idku and Damietta stations on the Mediterranean in northern Egypt, under a 15-year $15 billion agreement.

The deterioration of the economic situation in Gaza is of great concern to Egypt, which fears an explosion near its borders. Cairo has endeavoured to carry out a reconstruction plan that has faced many obstacles on the part of Hamas movement which controls the Strip.

It also faces obstacles from Israel, which insists on continuing its siege of the Gaza but without objecting to easing the restrictions it has imposed there, provided that a reconstruction mechanism is found that deprives Hamas of achieving great benefits from the aid or having access to open crossings where Israel sees a threat.

Israels foreign minister proposed over the weekend improving living conditions in Gaza in exchange for calm from the enclaves Hamas Islamist leaders.

The plan, which includes infrastructure and employment benefits, aims to show Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded enclave that Hamass campaign of violence against Israel is why they live in conditions of poverty, scarcity, violence and high unemployment, without hope, Yair Lapid said Sunday.

He stressed that he was not calling for negotiations with Hamas, as Israel doesnt speak to terror organisations who want to destroy us.

In the first stage of the plan, the infrastructure in Gaza, an impoverished territory of two million people, would receive a sorely-needed upgrade, Lapid said in a speech at the Reichman University in Herzliya.

The electricity system will be repaired, gas will be connected, a water desalination plant will be built, significant improvements to the healthcare system and a rebuilding of housing and transport infrastructure will take place, he said.

In exchange, Hamas will commit to long-term quiet, he added, noting the international community would play a role in the process, especially Egypt, to Gazas south.

If the first stage were to go smoothly, Gaza would see the construction of an artificial island off its coast that would allow the construction of a port and a transportation link between Gaza and the West Bank would be created.

Lapid said he had presented the plan to partners in the Arab world, as well as to the United States, Russia and the European Union.

There is still work to do, were still on the drawing board, but if this plan has a chance to succeed and gains widespread support, Ill propose it to the government as the official position, he said.

Lapids focus on the Gaza Strip while ignoring the West Bank carry a political message that strengthens Hamas authority in Gaza, which means the continued existence of two separate Palestinian bodies, a situation which seems to serve Israeli interests, even if Egypt is trying to bring back the Palestinian Authority to the fore, as illustrated by the recent Egyptian-Jordanian-Palestinian summit in Cairo.
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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. 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
Evidently, an iPad loaded with the software Disney VIP tour guides use to skip lines found its way into the hands of an unauthorized user.

WDWNT:

A Disney fraud investigator was on alert that someone outside the company may have gotten control of a device for Disney employees only. Over the past few days, his team had noticed unapproved overrides on a Disney app used to make reservations, the sheriff's report said. "The app is used to facilitate entry into the front of the lines without having to stand in line to wait on the ride. The application is a private app for qualifying guests and is only installed on WDW company-owned devices," the sheriff's report said. "The app is not available to the public for use."

However, keeping a keen eye out, the Disney fraud folks quickly caught up with this unauthorized user and even called in the Sheriff.
Naval officers spotted this freaky pig-faced shark floating dead off the coast of Elba, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. It's an angular roughshark (Oxynotus centrina) that's nicknamed "pig fish" not just for its peculiar mug. From LiveScience:

"It is commonly called a 'pig fish' because when it comes out of the water it emits a kind of grunt," Yuri Tiberto of the Elba Aquarium in Italy, told Toscana Media News following the recent discovery.

According to the Elba Island app Facebook page, naval officers found the roughshark floating dead in the water before they hauled it onto the pier. The sharks are plentiful in the Mediterranean, where their spiny dorsal fins and relatively large bodies make them vulnerable to fishing operations, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Because of this, angular roughshark populations have been in decline for decades, and the species is considered vulnerable (that's one slot safer than "endangered" on the Red List's scale).
MONTREAL, Sept. 13, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Visitors from all over the world come to the Canary Islands to enjoy its tropical vistas and Mediterranean-type attractions. Here, you'll find an amazing array of leisure activities, such as lying on a pristine white- or black sand beach, while sipping an exotic beverage. Or, for the more adventurous, you can go scuba diving or check out and aerial-tram ride. Although small in size, these islands offer a huge number of tourist-related activities that are supported by seven airports and numerous boat transfers.

Matthew Keezer Visits the Canary Islands (CNW Group/Shared Media)

Noted travel authority, Matthew Keezer, suggests that tourists who seek a marine-oriented vacation would do well to visit Spain's Canary Islands. The largest of these islands are; Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, and Tenerife. These are the islands that tourists generally use as their "base" when island-hopping to the various other islands. Here, you'll have the opportunity to enjoy activities such as camel riding in Gran Canaria or wine tasting while exploring the Timanfaya National Park dormant volcanoes and other-worldly landscape.

Matthew Keezer notes that the climate is warm and inviting throughout the entire year. However, you may want to schedule your trip in February if you wish to experience the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which is known for its parades and Brazilian-like carnival atmosphere. This is when you'll get to see the mixture of the islands' South American, African and Spanish cultures on display. There are also a number of the expected beach activities as well as an exciting night life to be found anywhere else in Europe.

Things to Do in the Canary Islands

Matthew Keezer suggests that you check out these things to do, while you're in the Canary Islands:

Visit the Timanfaya National Park (Parque Nacional de Timanfaya)  This national park is a highly interesting and perhaps a bit eerie when viewing its lava fields and (dormant) volcanoes. It presents an alien-like terrain that is exceptionally popular with tourist from the nearby beach towns. Photo opportunities abound in this unique and memorable location.

Tenerife  This beach location is popular for its snorkeling and beach turtle kayak safaris. The marine life observation is provided in the most protective manner in consideration of the resident marine life.

Los Christianos Dolphin-Watching  You can relax while enjoying the spectacular views in search of dolphins and other. You can even book a cruise that features a marine biologist on board!

Matthew Keezer says that you should be planning your next vacation before the eventual rush of tourists in the near future. This way, you can avoid any crowding that can ensue when visitors, once again, make their way to this location. The Canary Islands offer a wide range of tourist activities and they are sure to be a prime destination for those who are ready to embark on a new tourism adventure. Of course, Matthew Keezer also suggests that you follow all of the COVID restrictions that you can find on government websites.

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SOURCE Shared Media

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2021/13/c3843.html
SEI Healthcare completes an educational workshop series on HowItreat.MD for Canadian HCPs focused on the management of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Lewes, Delaware, United States , Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

SEI Healthcare, a global professional Independent Medical Education organization, announced the successful execution and completion of a workshop series entitled Real life challenges in heart failure management: Weighing co-morbidities and complexities in clinical decisions.

The live HowItreat.MD workshop event was chaired by Dr. Simon Kouz (Head of the Department of Medicine CISSS de Lanaudiere and Associate Professor of Laval University, Joliette, Quebec, Canada) and Dr. Grace Chua (Mackenzie Health, Richmond Hill & Maple, Ontario, Canada) with support from Novartis Canada.

The HowItreat.MD workshop series focused on addressing the latest guideline-directed approaches to the management of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), which have been shown to reduce both morbidity and mortality and improve patients quality of life.

The workshop series invited Canadian HCPs to collectively progress through a number of patient case profiles with baseline characteristics and various decision points. Audience members provided their responses in real time by selecting the most appropriate answer to each question they were presented with. Dr. Simon Kouz and Dr. Grace Chua discussed the participants collective responses via a moderator dashboard in the context of currently available clinical trial evidence and guidelines relevant to the management of HFrEF.

The first part of the live workshop series, conducted in January, was attended by a total of 40 Canadian HCPs and focused on two patient case profiles:

A 64-year-old man post-myocardial infarction with fatigue, dyspnea on exertion, and elevated BNP

A 73-year-old man with palpitations, worsening dyspnea, and fatigue

The second part of the live workshop series was conducted in June. It was attended by 25 Canadian HCPs and focused on three patient cases profiles:

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A 76-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus and HFrEF

A 68-year-old woman with multiple comorbidities and HFrEF

A 66-year-old man with hypertensive non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and decompensated HF

The key learning objectives of the entire workshop series were to:

Identify opportunities to optimize guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in the treatment of HFrEF

Apply recent clinical trial findings to the management of patients with HFrEF and comorbid conditions

Evaluate the use of echocardiogram in the diagnosis and monitoring of HF

Build post-discharge planning into the management of HF patients hospitalized for acute decompensation

Apply health technology, evidence-based medicine, and clinical practice guidelines to navigate gray areas of HF

Following the new clinical guidelines is essential for good clinical practice so we can improve the quality of care for heart failure patients in Canada. The gray zones are rarely outlined in the clinical guidelines, so it was great to touch upon and highlight this important topic, said Dr. Simon Kouz. It was a pleasure to work with Dr. Grace Chua in bridging theory and practice. Although the program was hypothetical in nature with virtual patient cases, the HowItreat program and platform demonstrated clinical scenarios that apply to real-life clinical practice in heart failure, states Dr. Kouz. The optimal decision-making process is key to good transfer of knowledge. The art of medicine is not only in evidence-based application but in treating patients accordingly. Participating in this program with Dr. Chua was an excellent experience and really highlights the importance of educating HCPs with cutting-edge educational platforms and technology such as HowItreat.MD.

Developing this program with Dr. Kouz and the SEI Healthcare team has been an absolute delight, said Dr. Grace Chua. We took on the challenge of translating knowledge for the practical treatment of HFrEF prior to the release of the updated 2021 CCS/CHFS guidelines on defining a new pharmacologic standard of care for HFrEF. We added to the program after the updated guidelines release to provide the most up-to-date content. We aimed to provide an innovative and flexible platform for tackling real-life complex treatment challenges via a mix of patient cases and didactic sessions. Dr. Chua continues, There are ample options for clinicians to choose from based on their learning styles and how much time they can devote to each learning session. We hope that this will be as helpful to healthcare providers as it has been rewarding for us to be a part of.

Dr. Rita Aresta, Medical Lead at SEI Healthcare, said, It was a real pleasure to be able to work on this project, which covered so many facets of HFrEF management and went beyond simply case-based learning to include video content and live webinars, all the while working with key opinion leaders and other colleagues across different time zones.

Further details about this educational program can be found at https://cardiologyclinicsimulations.com/.

The two part on-demand workshop series can be found on the HowItreat.MD workshops and webinars platform at https://workshop.howitreat.md/enduring, whereas the heart failure virtual patient cases can be found at https://howitreat.md/clinic/heart_failure in both English and French languages.

SEI Healthcare very much looks forward to developing many more educational patient case workshops and webinars focused on HFrEF, especially considering the constantly evolving treatment landscape, said Joseph Isaac, Global Digital Education & Webinar Lead.

HowItreat.MD allows HCPs to access learning materials produced in close collaboration with world-renowned experts across 27 therapeutic specialties in a fluid and interactive manner. While the core element of case-based learning is seen throughout the platform, multiple formats ensure healthcare professionals can engage in their preferred medium. In light of their busy schedules and personal preferences, HCPs often prefer to connect with and learn in different media formats. With this in mind, SEI Healthcare has added Omni-Channel formats that include engaging videos, podcasts, journals, webinars, and the much-anticipated live interactive workshops.

SEI Healthcare is committed to bringing medical education to the forefront of innovation on a global scale. Our users can access the platform for free and in their preferred language, as well as engage with and listen to key opinion leaders in their field of expertise. Bringing the latest information and breakthroughs to the forefront for hundreds of thousands of HCPs in a manner that is exciting and engaging  this is what truly drives the team at SEI Healthcare.

SEI Healthcare visit https://sei-healthcare.com

For educational solutions, visit: https://howitreat.md

CONTACT: Name: Samantha Harrison Email: info@sei-healthcare.com Organization: SEI Healthcare Address: Mailing Address 16192 Coastal Highway Lewes, Lewes, Delaware 19958, United States




Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14) Despite the recent advisory from Japan, Philippine security officials on Tuesday said they have not received reports on possible terror threats in the country.

We have not received any report on possible terror attacks as advised by the Japan Foreign Ministry, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Guillermo Eleazar said in a statement.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) echoed the statement, adding its personnel constantly validate all reports on security matters.

[A]nd it is a continuous process. As per last review our threat level is moderate, the AFP said separately. We ensure that all citizens, Filipinos or not, as long as they are within our territory, are protected and kept safe from terrorists' threats.

The Defense department also said the advisory will be validated, stressing officials are working closely with other government branches to monitor possible security threats.

News agency Associated Press reported on Monday that Japans Foreign Ministry had advised its citizens to avoid religious facilities and crowds in six Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, due to possible attacks.

The report said the ministry obtained information that there are increased risks such as suicide bombings. Japans advisory covered its citizens residing in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar, it added.

The Japanese Embassy confirmed that Japan received information about a possible attack, but did not give further details.

We issued a warning to alert Japanese people residing in some Southeast Asian countries, but we cannot disclose the source, the embassy said in a statement.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, on the other hand, said it has not been officially informed about the matter.

Despite the report, the PNP said security forces wont be letting their guards down.

Noon pa man ay patuloy ang aming intelligence monitoring, Eleazar said.  At nananatiling maigting ang ating pakikipag-ugnayan sa ibat ibang bansa laban sa terorismo through information-sharing and partnership in dealing with terror groups.

[Translation: Our intelligence monitoring continues. And our cooperation with different countries against terrorism remains strong through information-sharing and partnership in dealing with terror groups.]
(CNN)  The ground literally shook on the day the Mexican Supreme Court decriminalized abortion: On September 7, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Mexican Pacific coast, rocking several states and killing one person. It lasted about a minute.

But the shockwaves sent across the region by the court's abortion ruling will be felt for years to come.

One women's rights leader consulted by CNN says the unanimous ruling, which found penalizing abortion to be unconstitutional, could make Mexico a destination for women from the US -- where abortion was recently strictly limited in Texas -- and even a model for other countries in Latin America, a region that has not historically been friendly to women seeking abortion.

What the ruling means

Mexico's highest court had been asked to consider a law enacted in the northern state of Coahuila, which said that women who get an abortion may be punished with up to three years in prison and a fine.

In a unanimous vote, the court declared the local law unconstitutional, a ruling that doesn't automatically legalize abortion in the country, according to analysts consulted by CNN. Pending cases must still be heard at the local level and laws restricting abortion in states across Mexico are still on the books.

However, it sets a powerful precedent for the rest of the country, which the Supreme Court justices acknowledged as they took the decision. Ana Margarita Rios Farjat, one of only three women on the bench, also spoke forcefully against the Coahuila law before casting her vote.

"I'm against stigmatizing those who make this decision [to undergo an abortion] which I believe is difficult to begin with, due to moral and social burdens. It shouldn't be burdened as well by the law. Nobody gets voluntarily pregnant thinking about getting an abortion later," she said.

"Never again will a woman or a person with the capacity to carry a child be criminally prosecuted," later concluded Justice Luis Maria Aguilar, praising the ruling as "a historic step."

The ruling received high praise by women's and reproductive rights groups, but was blasted by conservatives and the Mexican Catholic Church. While the court seems to have decidedly moved to the left, the country remains polarized. Mexican public opinion is still deeply divided on the issue on abortion.

Polling conducted before the decision by national newspaper "El Financiero," showed that 53 percent of Mexicans opposed the law allowing women the right to have an abortion, while 45 percent agree that Mexican law should allow the procedure.

This reality was reflected in interviews conducted by CNN the morning after the ruling was issued on the streets of Mexico City.

"A woman shouldn't be deprived of her right to decide for herself and much less be incarcerated for something she decides about her own body," said one woman walking on the centric Reforma Avenue, who declined to be named.

"I agree that women should do whatever they want with their body, but not on this issue. We're talking about a human being. Things shouldn't be done that away [by having an abortion]," said another who also declined to be named.

A much awaited day

On the day of the ruling, those in favor and against abortion had peacefully protested in front of the Mexican Supreme Court building. Some knelt and prayed, or held figurines of fetuses up high, while others waved banners demanding safe and legal abortions, which described their cause as a "fight against a patriarchal society."

The ruling is a blow to much of Mexico's vast and deep-rooted Catholic community. Before it was heard, Bishop Jesus Jose Herrera Quinones from the Nuevo Casas Grandes Diocese, issued a statement on behalf of the Mexican Episcopal Conference: "We would like to remind you all that a human being, conceived by a father and a mother, whose life begins at the moment of conception, should be recognized in his or her dignity in all stages of life and deserves the same protection under the law in the face of actions that could put this person in jeopardy," Herrera Quinones wrote.

The day after the ruling, Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican actor-turned-conservative-activist, criticized the court's decision in an emotional tweet pinned to his official account. "Mexico cries today. Mexico shakes today. It is raining unconsolably in several parts of the country and the Earth creaks. Today thousands of Mexican babies have been condemned to die. Mexico cries today; Mexico shakes for its daughters and sons that will never be born," Verastegui wrote.

But history has been made. Maria Antonieta Alcalde, director of Ipas/Central America and Mexico, a women's rights groups that also advocates for reproductive rights, says the court's ruling is the result of years of lobbying and advocating by organizations like hers with the purpose of making abortion safe and legal in Mexico.

"Even though the decision was expected, the positions of the different judges, how clear their message was and having a unanimous decision was something that we didn't expect," Alcalde said.

She stressed that even though the ruling of the court applies to the state of Coahuila specifically, it sends a message to all the states. Under Mexico's federal system, states can enact their own laws, but a ruling by the Supreme Court supersedes any local statutes.

Alcalde also said the ruling may also have repercussions across the Mexican border, specifically when it comes to Texas, where controversial law that bars abortions after six weeks went into effect on September 1.

"Texas is moving in the other direction. What could happen is that more Texan women may decide to travel to Mexico. It's kind of the opposite of what used to happen. A lot of Mexican women used to travel to the U.S. to have a safe and legal abortion. What we will see in the future, especially if keeps the new law, is that some women from Texas may travel to Mexico to have a safe and legal abortion," Alcalde said.

Before the ruling, abortion was only legal in all of Mexico's states only when the pregnancy was the result of rape. In issuing her opinion, Justice Ana Margarita Rios said that -- legal or not -- between 750,000 and a million abortions are practiced in Mexico yearly.

The ruling could mark a turning point for the greater Latin American region, which the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think-tank dedicated to the analysis of international affairs in the Western Hemisphere, describes as "one of the most restrictive regions in the world when it comes to reproductive health laws and policies, particularly abortion."

Abortion is entirely prohibited in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Suriname, according to a February analysis by the organization.

The same analysis notes that abortion is allowed in several countries only under strict conditions -- typically when the pregnancy is the result of rape, involves a fatal fetal anomaly, or poses a health risk to the mother's life -- and is allowed "on demand" in Uruguay, Cuba, Guyana, French Guiana, and Argentina.

This story was first published on CNN.com Mexico's abortion ruling could make waves beyond its borders
(CNN)  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, but an Apple spokesman declined further comment.

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.)

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Apple issues urgent iPhone software update to address critical spyware vulnerability."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  Robinsons Land's real estate investment trust (REIT) arm has successfully debuted on the local bourse.

RL Commercial REIT on Tuesday raised 23.5 billion from its maiden offering, which sold 3.34 billion shares priced 6.45 apiece with an over-allotment option of up to 305 million shares.

RCR shares closed at 6.46 per share Tuesday afternoon - up 0.16% from the initial price.

The newly listed firm has the largest market capitalization among listed REITs at 64.2 billion, portfolio valuation of 73.9 billion, and asset size with a gross leasable area of 425,315 square meters.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez welcomed the listing of RCR, which he praised for its "impressive portfolio and sterling record as a property developer."

"This public offering is another vote of confidence that the Philippine economy is on track to a solid recovery from the difficulties brought about by the pandemic," Dominguez said.

This initial public offering marks the fourth REIT listing with the local bourse, succeeding those made by Ayala Land Inc. REIT, DD Meridian Park REIT, and Filinvest REIT.

Philippine Stock Exchange president and chief executive officer Ramon Monzon, meanwhile, praised the strong support RCR garnered among local and foreign investors for its IPO.

"Local small investors, or LSIs, from 52 provinces and 14 countries likewise joined the RCR investment bandwagon. In fact, for the first time ever in PSE's history, a local small investor from Iraq invested in an IPO via PSE's Electronic Allocation System or PSE EASy," Monzon said.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Emilio Aquino also noted RCR's listing brings the total market capitalization of listed REIT firms to 171.3 billion - up from the previous 107.1 billion.

RCR chairman Frederick Go expressed gratitude for the "overwhelming response" their offering attracted.

"We would like to thank the investing public for their continued trust and support to the Robinsons Land brand. We appreciate how our reputation and track record over the years have resulted in this expression of confidence in RCR's IPO," he said.

More than 94% of RCR's initial portfolio are spread across the Makati, Bonifacio Global City, and Ortigas central business districts. The rest are situated in Mandaluyong City and Quezon City, along with high-growth commercial hubs in Tarlac, Naga, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.

RCR also reported an 89-year average land lease with land leases lasting as long as 99 years, making it the REIT with the longest land lease tenure.

"RLC will receive the proceeds from the offer as the selling shareholder and invest it according to the Reinvestment Plan detailed in the REIT Plan," the company added.
With the mere prospect of face-to-face classes still up in the air given the current state of the country, its no wonder that Esnyr Ranollos 60-second skits of seemingly mundane Pinoy classroom moments are addicting and extremely relatable. His short TikTok videos depicting Filipino high school life remind those who lived through similar experiences of a simpler time in their lives, and give current students a glimpse of what theyre missing.

Like most young people who found fame on TikTok, Ranollo never expected to go viral. This was all unplanned, he says of his million-view skits. Ranollo attributes his spot-on portrayals to his time as a student council member back in high school, where he was able to observe his classmates and how they interacted with each other.

When asked what his title was back in high school, he replies with the happy pill. People find me entertaining and funny and in a real classroom set-up, ako yung nagl-lighten ng mood ng classroom namin, he shares.

In a video call with CNN Philippines Life, Ranollo tells us about when he started making TikToks, how much he values his life outside of social media, and why he usually takes a bath before shooting his videos.

More of Ranollos content on @esnyrrr.

***

Interview and video by SAMANTHA LEE
I first met an Itchyworm when I was 21.

That particular Itchyworm would be Jugs Jugueta, their frontman and guitarist, and of course, in a couple of years later, friendly neighborhood Its Showtime host.

This was way back in 2003. I was in my graduating year at the Ateneo de Manila, taking a drawing and painting elective every Thursday in Gonzaga Hall.

Every so often, in between doing studies (which eventually become crumpled balls of paper) or charcoal portraits of my seatmate, I would peek out the window and see this Itchyworm sitting by the cabinets outside, quietly playing games on his Nokia phone while wearing shades. This Itchyworm had a cool vibe about him, as if after watching many Eraserheads gigs, he had absorbed the affectations of Ely Buendia.

Of course, being the Eraserheads nerd that I was, I had a quiet excitement in the pit of my stomach whenever I was in the vicinity of musicians who were Eraserheads-adjacent. And true enough, there was no other band more Eraserheads-adjacent at that time than the Itchyworms.

Sadly though, 2003 was a bad time to be an Eraserheads fan. The Eraserheads had already broken up a year before  to little fanfare a piece of news eclipsed by the tragic passing of actor Rico Yan in that same week.

In music, as much as all else in life, things come in cycles. And yes, the kids in 2003 were no longer interested in Beatles-inspired Filipino songs with pun-filled lyrics and distortion pedals. The sounds of those days came from opposite ends of the music spectrum  you either went for the Rottweiler growl of nu-metal bands (or kupaw, in industry speak) or the kolehiyala-cheesiness of acoustic acts like Nyoy Volante and Paolo Santos. There was no middle ground.

The author with Kelvin Yu, Jazz Nicolas and Chino Singson in 2013. Photo courtesy of WINCY AQUINO ONG

But as fate would have it, I heard the Itchyworms song Bituwin on the radio one afternoon  all dreamy, orchestral, and psychedelic, bordering on Magical Mystery Tour territory, neither kupaw nor acoustic  and strangely, I felt a kinship with their music, like I could imagine myself being friends with whoever worked on that song.

After some time, I mustered enough courage to introduce myself to Jugs after class. When I told him that Bituwin reminded me so much of the Eraserheads Lightyears from the Fruitcake album, he bolted up and gave me a good handshake.

We chatted for a bit and he told me that he bought an EP of my fledgling indie band Narda and he liked our songs as well.

Something was in the air at that moment. And little did I know that a few months later, my band and his would be doing a gig together in K.A.F.E. Katipunan, and I got to meet the rest of the Worms.

Knowing that the Itchyworms were big Beatles fans, I wore a "Yellow Submarine" shirt that I got from HMV Hong Kong, in the hopes that maybe that shirt would start a conversation with Jugs bandmates.

See, theres a lot of waiting time during gigs for conversations with fellow musicians. And luckily, my t-shirt did wonders as Jazz Nicolas, their principal songwriter and drummer, couldnt stop mentioning my shirt with the Heinz Edelmann rendering of the Fab Four inside that titular watercraft. Then Chino Singson and Kelvin Yu joined in on the conversation, and I instantly had a connection with these four talented musicians.

Maybe it was our love for The Beatles (and Wings-era Paul McCartney). Maybe it was the movie references we inserted in our conversations. Or maybe it was their wicked sense of humor that made me laugh so hard that I would get a hint of abs the morning after.

Fast forward 18 years later, and I could say that the Itchyworms became my good friends in the music business. I practically grew up with them well into my thirties.

I had directed a couple of their music videos, having my humble start as a filmmaker with the 60s period piece Akin Ka Na Lang, which we shot on a shoestring budget somewhere in Tandang Sora, in which the vocalist of my band Narda, Katwo Librando, acted as the bands love interest  Mod ukay-ukay dresses, Twiggy make-up, and all.

The Itchyworms at the UP Lagoon Park. Photo courtesy of WINCY AQUINO ONG

Aside from this, I worked with them on one project after another, such as an Eraserheads documentary for MYX, and during my years in a PR agency, I had always requested Jugs to be the host for our blogger events.

Jazz became my officemate for two years when we were jingle writers plying our trade on Amorsolo Street. Jazz also composed the Danny Elfman-inspired musical score for my Cinemalaya horror film San Lazaro.

But most of all, it was an honor to have them play when I married my wife in 2013. Like I said, it had been quite the journey with them.

After hours and hours upon interviewing the band and their roster of collaborators (producers, album cover designers, music video directors) for the podcast Worms Upon a Time, I fell down a rabbit hole of Itchyworms trivia and other Reddit-worthy scoops. And upon listening to all of the songs in their catalog, I fell in love once again with their music, or to be more exact, the love songs theyve made in the last 25 years of their career. (Mind you, nobody does an OPM love song better than the Worms.)

Here are seven of the greatest Itchyworms love songs (at least for me), and the good memories Ive come to attach to them.

1. Bituin

Like I mentioned a while back, this was the song that got me hooked to their music.

This was my gateway drug, mainly because Ive always been a sucker for Filipino pop songs with string arrangements.

During our interviews, I learned that Jugs wrote this on the piano, and Jazz, ever the genius arranger, helped him out in completing it. Buddy Zabala, bassist of the Eraserheads, produced this track and told me that during their sessions, they had so many ideas flying around. They kept adding and adding layers of harmony to the song until he had to take out the discipline card and told everyone, Okay, thats enough. I think were done here.

2. Akin Ka Na Lang

Di naman sa sinisaraan ko ang panget na yan / 'Wag ka dapat sa 'kin magduda /Hinding-hindi kita pababayaan

When I first heard the song, I sort of knew that they had a hit on their hands. It was APO Hiking Society meets The Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds. Even my mom loves this song.

It was definitely not one of those macho love songs you heard on the radio  and that was so refreshing in the era of pogi rock power ballads.

I heard that Jazz wrote this song for an ex-girlfriend. And when that girl heard this on the radio, she literally fell off her chair.

3. Beer

The Ateneo High School covered courts. That was where I first heard this song. This was during a fair and my band shared the stage with The Bloomfields and the Itchyworms that night.

When Jugs took to the mic, he gave a disclaimer that they were still road-testing the song and probably the crowd of Ateneans would be the first to hear it.

When Chinos weeping guitar solo came out of the amplifiers, I got goosebumps all over my body. And Buddy Zabala, who produced this song along with Raimund Marasigan, shared the same idea. Oh no, well be hearing this in karaoke bars for years, he said.

And true enough, this kundiman-inspired masterpiece keeps me up all night whenever the neighbors next door belt it out during long weekends.

4. Love Team

My wife, Cj de Silva (who some of you may know as the Promil Kid back in the 90s) is a true-blue Itchyworms fan. And she told me once that Love Team could probably be the greatest OPM song ever written. Why? Because the idea of a love team only exists in the Philippines, and theres a certain sadness to it. A love thats real to the audience, but artificial to those in the backstage, she said.

True enough, it is a thing of beauty. It had grown beyond its Kim Chiu-Gerald Anderson associations and became a thing all its own.

On my wifes 27th birthday, the gift she asked from me was a gig featuring all her favorite bands. I asked Chino if they could play this song last as a surprise to the birthday girl.

When they played it, it turned out Jugs and Jazz had no choice but to turn their microphones to the crowd. Everyone knew the words by heart, and were singing it with their eyes closed. I looked at my wife and saw tears in her eyes. To this day, I still think its the best gift Ive ever given her.

5. Ayokong Tumanda

After a long hiatus from directing music videos, Jugs contacted me one day and told me that he wanted me to direct this fun song that he wrote. Mag-direct ka na kasi ulit! was Jugs text message to me.

When I got the song file, I had a smile on my face all day. It was the Itchyworms doing a yacht rock number! Visions of the Doobie Brothers and Hall & Oates danced in my head. And that piece of lyric, Ayokong tumanda / Kapag hindi ka kasama, really tugs at the heartstrings.

Danita Paner and Jeff Cabal during the Ayokong Tumanda shoot in 2013. Photo courtesy of WINCY AQUINO ONG

I remember shooting this music video with the band in three different parks in Quezon City, just the five of us fooling around on the grass, climbing trees, throwing Frisbees, drinking fake wine. Little did we know that it would eventually rack up eight million views on YouTube.

Truly its a love song that cuts across all crowds. And yes, you always feel younger whenever theres an Itchyworms song coming out of your speakers.

6. Huwag Na Sana Akong Gumising Mag-Isa

For the most part, an Itchyworm love song is jokey, almost leaning towards the novelty genre, no small thanks to their all-too-Pinoy sense of snark.

For a change, this ones dark and spooky. And I remember Kelvin and Jazz telling me that the music video should be shot in black-and-white. I couldnt agree more.

From our interviews, I learned that this song started out as a Cinderella-inspired track from the indie hit film "Ang Nawawala," but Jazz fell in love with it that he wanted to record his own version with the boys.

Whenever I listen to this song, I close my eyes and I picture William Martinez and Yayo Aguila dancing in a miasma of smoke, a love team from a different time and dimension, lost in a film noir dream.

7. Di Na Muli

According to Jugs, its the biggest hit theyve ever had. And yes, this song is the Itchyworms at their epic best. (No one does epic like the Itchyworms.)

With a helping hand from songwriter Wally Alcolala and Ryan Cayabyab himself, this song won the PhilPop grand prize in 2016. And two years later, after being part of the soundtrack of the Viva Films movie Sid & Aya, the song went gangbusters, a cover song that was the staple of the har-har genre (think silky-voiced teens armed with ukuleles and YouTube accounts).

The last I saw the Itchyworms in the flesh, before the pandemic, was during their concert in Resorts World with Ely Buendia.

When they sang this song and everyone was waving their phones like substitute lighters, I realized there and then that there was something mystical whenever the four of them made music.

There was always love to be found in their notes, a love that sticks around for years.

***

Worms Upon A Time is produced by Sony Music Philippines and Big Baby Studios, and its available wherever you stream your podcasts.
(CNN)  Is that stress pumping steadily through your veins? Even if your blood pressure is normal right now, high stress levels may put you at risk of developing hypertension within the next decade or so, a new study found.

When the stress hormone cortisol continues to increase over time, you may also be at higher risk of having a stroke, heart attack or heart disease, according to the research published Monday in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.

It's yet another study illustrating the link between the mind and a person's heart health, said cardiologist Dr. Glenn Levine, a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who was not involved in the study.

"Stress, depression, frustration, anger and a negative outlook on life not only make us unhappy people but negatively impact our health and longevity," said Levine, who chaired the AHA's scientific statement on the connection between mental well-being and heart disease.

When developing the AHA statement, "we looked at all the data we could find and we concluded that negative psychological health factors such as stress were clearly associated with many cardiovascular risk factors," Levine said.

The good news, Levine said, is that because the mind, heart and body are interconnected and interdependent, a person can also improve their cardiovascular health by striving for a positive psychological outlook.

"You can decide to change your mindset about that stressful situation or set boundaries -- just by being aware you can keep that stress from becoming toxic to you," said stress management expert Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, an editor for Contentment magazine, produced by the American Institute of Stress.

"We shouldn't discount our ability to have a role in our well-being," said Ackrill, who was not involved in the study.

Higher impact on younger people

The new study followed 412 multiracial adults between the ages of 48 and 87 with normal blood pressure, measuring urine levels of stress hormones at several points in time between 2005 and 2018. Hormone levels were then compared to any cardiovascular events that may have occurred, such as high blood pressure, heart pain, heart attacks and bypass surgery.

"Previous research focused on the relationship between stress hormone levels and hypertension or cardiovascular events in patients with existing hypertension. However, studies looking at adults without hypertension were lacking," said study author Dr. Kosuke Inoue, an assistant professor of social epidemiology at Kyoto University in Japan, in a statement.

The study tested for three hormones -- norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine -- that regulate the autonomic nervous system and control such involuntary body functions as heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.

Inoue and his team also looked at levels of cortisol, a steroid hormone that is released by the body in reaction to acute stress such as danger. Once the danger has passed, the body reduces cortisol output -- but if a person is continuously stressed, cortisol levels can remain elevated.

"Norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine and cortisol can increase with stress from life events, work, relationships, finances and more," Inoue said.

Doubling levels of cortisol alone -- but not norepinephrine, epinephrine or dopamine -- was associated with a 90% higher risk of having a cardiovascular event, the study found.

Each time combined levels of all four stress hormones doubled, the risk of developing high blood pressure rose between 21% and 31%. The effect was more pronounced in people under the age of 60, a worrisome finding, according to the researchers.

"In this context, our findings generate a hypothesis that stress hormones play a critical role in the pathogenesis of hypertension among the younger population," they wrote.

The study had limitations, including the lack of a control group and the use of just one measure -- urine analysis -- to test for stress hormones, the authors noted.

Still, examining urinary measures of stress hormones over time is "neat and novel," Levine said. "It's a somewhat objective way, as best we can tell with imperfect tools, of categorizing people who are likely to be more stressed, more of the time."

What to do?

Wait a minute, you say. I want to know if I'm stressed -- but I can't run out and get a urine test. How can I know if I'm at risk for heart problems due to higher levels of stress hormones?

"While we all obviously don't know what our urine cortisol levels are, there are ways we can learn to self-reflect on whether we may have some negative psychological factors, particularly things like stress," Levine said.

"If we do recognize that we tend to be frequently stressed, frustrated or angered, then it's helpful to ponder what exactly are the things that lead us to become stressed," he added. "Once we do that, we can really thoughtfully sit down and decide, is it worthwhile to allow these things to lead me to become stressed or frustrated?"

Becoming aware of what triggers your stress allows you to be able to stop those automatic hormonal responses before they trigger your circulatory system, Ackrill said.

"The mechanism of stress is that we get worked up over something so our sympathetic nervous system revs everything up. We need our heart pumping fast to keep our blood pressure up so that we've got good circulation and we can get away from the danger," she said.

"You want to intervene earlier, when you're just starting to mount your stress response, with some deep breathing or another relaxation response," Ackrill added.

That will allow your higher executive brain to kick in, giving you options on how to handle the situation.

"Often we let our mind quickly react to something before we've truly had time to allow our higher levels of cognitive functioning, our prefrontal cortex, to weigh in," Levine said. "We want to pause, ponder and digest this, and take a couple seconds to decide what is the most skillful way to react."

This story was first published on CNN.com Higher stress levels raise blood pressure, risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  With a little over two weeks left before the filing of the certificate of candidacy begins, several of those floated as contenders in the 2022 elections have yet to officially announce their plans.

The upcoming polls are expected to be markedly different from the usual as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on. Still, familiar names remain, although some alliances may have shifted.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' Politics As Usual, three political experts shared their forecasts on those reported or rumored to run, including their prospects of winning.

President Duterte, Senator Go

A faction within the ruling party PDP-Laban has endorsed Senator Bong Go as its standard-bearer, with President Rodrigo Duterte as his running mate.

Go has turned down the candidacy, while Duterte has confirmed he is running for vice president. But Duterte added he will give way if his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, seeks the highest office.

Political consultant Greg Garcia and campaign strategist Alan German, however, believe Duterte will ultimately not join the race.

READ: Duterte unlikely to push through with VP bid, experts say

They also think the proposed Go-Duterte tandem will fall through, with German noting the senator's numbers have "consistently been low" despite launching political advertisement, including online, "in full speed."

"Definitely, he's got the machinery," German said of Duterte's long-time aide. "I think he has the resources, but I'm not sure if that's enough to carry the man and the message."

The tandem also "does not make sense" given the less-than-ideal reception by the public, according to Garcia, who suggested it could be nothing more than a case of pre-election posturing.

Vice President Robredo

On the side of the opposition, Vice President Leni Robredo is among those eyed to succeed Duterte. While confirming a presidential bid is possible, she also listed other options, including vying for a local seat in Camarines Sur or quitting politics altogether.

For Garcia, national numbers currently show no promise for Robredo.

He said this is probably due in no small part to her image as one of the fiercest critics of Duterte, who seems to continue to enjoy significant support. Going local, he added, may be the better option for the vice president.

German, meanwhile, said she may be "more effective" as an alliance builder.

Robredo earlier told CNN Philippines that she is mulling over bigger factors besides just numbers in deciding on her 2022 plans. She has also been in talks with other potential candidates in a bid to forge unity among the opposition.

READ: Robredo 'way past' numbers, personal convenience' in 2022 plans

Senators Lacson, Sotto

Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson and Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III have officially declared their tandem and candidacy for president and vice president, respectively.

According to political strategist Lito Banayo, Sotto has a good fighting chance, but that the same cannot be said so far for his running mate.

Still, the experts agree Lacson is not one to back out of the race or slide down to a vice presidential run. If victory continues to appear murky for Lacson, the more likely alternative would either be another go at the Senate or retirement, they added.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte

Also among the expected presidential bets is the First Daughter, Sara Duterte, who has topped a number of election surveys.

The incumbent Davao City mayor earlier said she will not gun for a national seat next year if her father decides to do the same.

READ: Sara Duterte says she won't run for president after her father officially accepts VP nomination

This appears to rule out a Duterte-Duterte tandem, which the experts predict would ultimately not fly. The two highest government posts ending up in the hands of family is fraught with danger and would likely be rejected by Filipino voters, they said.

What could work and is "highly" possible, according to the experts, is a team-up with another political brand, particularly one that holds power in the other side of the country  former Senator Bongbong Marcos.

Former Senator Marcos, Former Defense Chief Teodoro

Marcos said he will definitely run for a national post, although specifics remain unclear.

According to German, an alliance between Sara and the son of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos can be seen as a powerhouse, as the two are cemented brands in the country's southern and northern parts, respectively.

READ: Bongbong Marcos: Tandem with Sara Duterte? Everything is possible

"I think that will happen," Garcia also said. "I see (it) based on the numbers and historically on the way candidates behave. I think there will be a Bongbong-Sara tandem."

Despite the horrors of martial law, he added the Marcoses continue to hold sway in politics, evidenced by Imee winning a Senate seat and Bongbong coming in a close second to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race.

Another rumored potential running mate of Sara is former Defense chief Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro, who flew to Davao City to meet the mayor earlier this year. Teodoro ran for president in the 2010 elections. He returned to private life after placing fourth in the race.

Should he vie for a national post, Banayo and Garcia said over a decade away from the public eye would be disadvantageous for Teodoro. "Twelve years is a long time in politics. Out of sight, out of mind," Banayo said.

Manila Mayor Moreno

Emerging as one of the top public bets in national surveys, the numbers are in favor of Manila City Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, Garcia said.

"I think this is Isko's moment, based on the numbers againI've always maintained that Duterte was the everyman 1.0. People are looking for the everyman 2.0, and right now, he fits the bill," the political consultant added.

German and Banayo also think the presidency is the mayor's next step, if not local re-election.

Moreno was appointed party president of Aksyon Demokratiko last month, although he appears to continue to weigh his options for next year.

Other incumbent and former lawmakers

Other lawmakers have also indicated their intent to run for higher office.

For one, Senator Manny Pacquiao is eyed as the standard-bearer of the group he leads within PDP-Laban. He is expected to announce his decision this month.

But experts think his prospects of becoming president are slim.

"Because of the pandemic and because of the economic problems we have...I think this is one election where people will weigh competence much more than popularity or anything else," Banayo said. "With that as a premise, I don't think Senator Manny, even if he runs, will win."

Another member of the Congress, Former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, is eyeing the top government post.

In 2016, he lost in the vice presidential race, with Duterte as his running mate. For Garcia and Banayo, Cayetano is already doing well in Congress, numbers-wise, and that trying again for a higher post could be a risky leap.

The same applies to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who is seeking a tandem with Sara Duterte, the experts said. They believe it might be best for Gatchalian to stay in the Senate for now, where he's "a cinch for re-election."

Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe, who is rumored to be considering the vice presidency, would be a strong contender, according to Banayo and Garcia.

"That's what I'm seeing, and the fact that she's come up with television ads lately seems to show she's trying to test the waters whether a vice presidential run is possible or likely," Banayo added.

Asked about former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, German thinks it could be difficult for him to secure allies.

"First, he was a staunchly anti-Duterte figure. Unfortunately, towards the latter part of his pronouncements, even the Liberal Party, he was already scratching them the wrong way," he said. "Even his erstwhile allies are now looking at him with maybe two or three question marks right now."

Return to Senate

Banayo, Garcia, and German also shared their thoughts on some politicians' reported plans of a Senate comeback.

Among others, the list includes former Senators Loren Legarda, who is now House Deputy Speaker and representative of the lone district of Antique; Francis "Chiz" Escudero, the current governor of Sorsogon; and JV Ejercito.

Legarda and Escudero both confirmed their Senate bids. The experts believe both have a high chance of returning, as they are already established personalities in the upper chamber.

Ejercito, meanwhile, would have his chances reduced if his half-brother former Senator Jinggoy Estrada runs for the same post, as they would cancel each other out, they noted.

READ: Senate race shaping up as 'veterans' eye comeback

'Pandemic, youth to define elections'

The health crisis has given weight to the value of competent government officials, the experts said, adding this will hopefully reflect in the votes.

They urged the public to carefully review candidates' track records instead of simply putting trust in surnames.

"This is one election where people, especially the young people...will look very closely at the accomplishments, the qualifications of the candidates, as well as of course, the character," Banayo said.

"I think that if more young voters go to the polls, that could be a defining moment for Philippine elections," he added.

RELATED: Young Filipinos comprise 52% of total registered voters for 2022 polls so far  Comelec
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  The Department of Justice has issued an immigration lookout bulletin order (ILBO) against former presidential adviser on economic affairs Michael Yang.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the ILBO against Yang was issued following a request by Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee that's investigating the government's handling of pandemic response funds  including the procurement of allegedly overpriced face masks and face shields.

Yang has been in hot water for his alleged ties to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., the countrys top medical supplier amid the pandemic. The company is being questioned for bagging billions of pesos in contracts despite having an initial paid-up capital of only 625,000, among others.

RELATED: Senators quiz Pharmally's supposed same-day delivery of 500,000 face masks

The former presidential adviser was a no-show in Monday's Senate probe, prompting lawmakers to recommend his inclusion in the immigration watchlist.

Lawyer Raymond Fortun, who represents Yang, acknowledged the Senates authority to seek the issuance of an ILBO.

However, the same is totally unnecessary. Mr. Yang has continuously expressed his willingness to cooperate in the Senate investigation, and has no plans of leaving the country during the course thereof, he said.

An ILBO has likewise been issued against former Budget Undersecretary Lloyd Christopher Lao and Overall Deputy Ombudsman Warren Rex Liong. Also included are Pharmally officials Huang Tzu Yen, Linconn Ong, Twinkle Dargani, Mohit Dargani, Krizle Grace Mago and Justine Garado.

An ILBO doesnt bar an individual from leaving the country and instead directs Immigration agents to inform the DOJ should the person attempt to do so. ILBO subjects are required to seek clearance from the agency to exit the country.

It is different from a hold departure order, which can only be issued by courts. This happens when a case has already been filed.

State prosecutors request a precautionary HDO while the preliminary investigation is being conducted.

CNN Philippines senior correspondent Anjo Alimario and correspondent Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered Cabinet officials to seek his permission first before attending Senate investigations as he continued to criticize their inquiry.

He said he will allow them to attend if he deems it reasonable, but he will prohibit their attendance if it will be used to harass the officials in public.

"You can cite the person in contempt, pero ako ang magsabi na ako ang may utos na hindi mag-attend," Duterte said.

[Translation: You can cite them in contempt, but I will say that the order not to attend came from me.]

He added, "I think I can do it as president if there is an abuse of authority there. I will limit you to what you can do with the executive department."

His spokesperson Harry Roque said there could be a legal basis in preventing the Cabinet executives from attending Congressional inquiries.

The President said the hearings are taking too much time from the officials, specifically mentioning Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, but their testimonies are not being utilized.

Duterte criticized the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and its chairman Senator Richard Gordon for holding several hearings into the government's alleged anomalous purchase of pandemic resources. He said the lawmakers are "stretching" the investigation to benefit from it come 2022 elections.

He also said he will campaign against Gordon for being an "unfit" senator.

The President, meanwhile, said he was not interested in the fate of Pharmally Pharmaceuticals  a small supplier being scrutinized by lawmakers after it bagged billions of pesos in government contracts  since it was already able to deliver its requirements.

"You can crumple Pharmally. Wala kaming pakialam diyan. Ang pakialam namin nag-order kami, dumating, tama 'yung order, tapos ang presyo negotiated," he said.

[Translation: We don't care about them. What we care about is that we placed an order, they delivered it correctly, and we were able to negotiate the price.]

Senators have questioned how Pharmally Pharmaceutical won several contracts worth over 8 billion, including those awarded for the supply of alleged "overpriced" face masks and face shields, even though the company only had a paid-up capital of 625,000.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  Despite declaring that he will run for vice president next year, political experts believe President Rodrigo Duterte will ultimately go back on his word.

The 76-year-old Duterte confirmed late last month that he will join the vice presidential race, following months of mixed and vague pronouncements.

Political consultant Greg Garcia, however, does not think the decision is final.

Let me just say that I think they are very politically savvy," Garcia said in an interview with CNN Philippines Politics As Usual aired on Tuesday.

"They know what's in store, what's not in store," he said. "So, I don't think he will run.

Campaign strategist Alan German made the same prediction, as he pointed out issues of constitutionality.

Opinions are split on whether or not the president is permitted under the 1987 Constitution to seek the vice presidency  something not yet done before.

Article 7, Section 4 of the Constitution states The President shall not be eligible for any reelection." Others argue that while the text does not expressly prohibit Duterte from gunning for the second highest office, it violates the spirit of the Constitution since a vice president can become president if the incumbent dies, resigns or is removed from office.

If we're talking about the spirit of the Constitution, being the vice president is a heartbeat away from the presidency," German said, "and I do agree that there will be a step down later on."

"That is my belief, that the President will not go for it as well, he added.

Go-Duterte or Duterte-Duterte tandem?

The experts also suspect talks of a team-up between Duterte and Sen. Bong Go will not materialize.

Critics and analysts alike have said this pairing being pushed for by the ruling party is simply a smokescreen." They said the senator will likely eventually give way to the presidential bid of Dutertes daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who is a frontrunner in most election surveys.

Go, for his part, has declined the nomination to be the standard-bearer of the PDP-Laban Party, saying he remains focused on his role as a lawmaker.

There is also no sense in such a tandem, Greg Garcia argued, noting the senators current numbers show a victory would be elusive.

It just doesn't make sense because there are numbers...So, I think they know reality and they will balance it well, and they will know what to do, he said.

Garcia added it could be nothing but a case of pre-election "posturing."

An alliance between Duterte and his daughter, meanwhile, also does not look promising, according to political strategist Lito Banayo.

What may have worked in Davao City could not simply be applied on a national scale, and this is something both are likely aware of, he added.

I think it's pretty clear. She knows it won't fly, Banayo said, referring to Sara. "People will reject something like that, and I think the President is quite savvy politically also to know that that won't fly.

Garcia and German echoed the sentiment, saying the two highest government posts ending up in the hands of family members would spell danger in the minds of Filipinos.

The father-daughter tandem won't sit well with the Filipino voters, German said.

That can be measured naman eh," he explained, "and I'm sure that their numbers will validate the fact that hindi katanggap-tanggap sa Pilipino na father-daughter ang tumakbo nang sabay [that Filipinos will not find it acceptable for a father and daughter to run simultaneously].

RELATED: 2022 polls: Possible contenders, alliances and their prospects of winning, according to experts
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14) Senators on Tuesday adopted a resolution urging the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to extend the deadline for voter registration until the end of October.

The registration period is set to wrap up by Sept. 30.

Several groups and lawmakers have appealed for the extension as some areas in the country halted processing due to COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.

But Comelec rejected the calls, saying such a move may result in delays in the preparations for the 2022 national elections. The poll body said it would instead make modifications to accommodate those who want to cast their ballots next year.

The commission implemented longer voter registration hours in late August. Earlier this month, it also approved registration activities in areas under the modified enhanced community quarantine.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  The Senate unanimously approved on third and final reading Senate Bill 1156, which seeks to amend the Foreign Investments Act of 1991.

The bill is one of the key economic measures that President Rodrigo Duterte certified as urgent.

Among the salient points of the legislative measure is the creation of the Investment Promotions Council, which will address foreign investors' complaints such as lack of infrastructure and poor Internet and electricity connection.

The council will develop the Investment Priorities Plan to help potential foreign investors partner with local enterprises.

The measure also stipulates that foreign e-commerce businesses can be treated as domestic enterprises and shall not fall under the constitutional prohibitions on foreign ownership of media and educational institutions, provided the greater part of their business is not conducted in the Philippines.

The House of Representatives has yet to pass the measure's counterpart bill.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  The country is set to receive 10 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses from the COVAX Facility co-led by the World Health Organization.

"COVAX has allocated a further 10 million doses to come to the Philippines in the next few weeks," said WHO representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe at the Laging Handa briefing Tuesday.

He said that is on top of the 13 million doses already provided by the facility to the country, which consisted of three million vials of single dose J&J vaccine and 10 million double dose vaccines.

Abeyasinghe did not give details on the timeline of delivery or which vaccines would be included in the additional allocation. Local vaccine officials have yet to comment on the matter.

The first donation from COVAX of over half a million AstraZeneca doses arrived in the country in March. Since then, the other deliveries from the facility included 4,584,000 doses of AstraZeneca, 2,472,210 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 3,240,850 doses of J&J Janssen vaccines.

COVAX is a global initiative that seeks to ensure nations' equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  The World Health Organization's representative to the country said even with the "significant" number of people vaccinated in the National Capital Region, it still would not justify relaxing restrictions.

"We have significant population coverage within NCR, I believe it's about 60% now, but this is not adequate at this point to relax our current quarantine positions," Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in a briefing on Tuesday.

He said the government must be "very careful in calibrating" how it responds to the current situation as any increase in current transmission levels might overwhelm the hospital system.

"So far, the healthcare system has been holding up and that's largely because we are seeing fewer cases among the vaccinated, particularly in NCR," said Abeyasinghe.

On Monday, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) released the guidelines in the implementation of alert levels in Metro Manila.

EXPLAINER: What you need to know about the COVID-19 alert level system in NCR

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said Metro Manila will be placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) with Alert Level 4 from Sept. 16 to 30.

During the Laging Handa briefing, Health undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the reasons for the policy shift to alert levels were because people were more mobile during the latest ECQ, adding that most cases in NCR only came from a small proportion of barangays.

She said model projections showed that lower cases can be achieved if improvements are made in minimum public health standards, better case detection-to-isolation time, and increased vaccination coverage.
(CNN)  The current evidence on COVID-19 vaccines does not appear to support a need for booster shots in the general public right now, according to an international group of vaccine scientists, including some from the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.

"Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high," the scientists write in a new opinion piece, published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet.

The authors of the paper include two senior FDA vaccine leaders, Dr. Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, who will be stepping down in October and November, the FDA announced late last month. No further details were released about their retirements, although they sparked questions about whether the departures would affect the agency's work.

The FDA and other public health agencies around the world continue to examine evidence on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and the role booster doses of vaccine might play in improving immunity against the disease.

For the new paper in The Lancet, the scientists note that they reviewed randomized trials and observational studies on Covid-19 vaccines and consistently find that "vaccine efficacy is substantially greater against severe disease than against any infection; in addition, vaccination appears to be substantially protective against severe disease from all the main viral variants. Although the efficacy of most vaccines against symptomatic disease is somewhat less for the delta variant than for the alpha variant, there is still high vaccine efficacy against both symptomatic and severe disease due to the delta variant."

The scientists note that there is an opportunity right now to study variant-based boosters before there could be a widespread need for them. But they also argue in their paper that the current Covid-19 vaccine supply could "save more lives" if used in people who are not yet vaccinated than if used as boosters. In early August, the World Health Organization called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September.

"To date, none of these studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease, even when there appear to be declines over time in vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease," the scientists write in their paper.

"The limited supply of these vaccines will save the most lives if made available to people who are at appreciable risk of serious disease and have not yet received any vaccine. Even if some gain can ultimately be obtained from boosting, it will not outweigh the benefits of providing initial protection to the unvaccinated," the scientists write. "If vaccines are deployed where they would do the most good, they could hasten the end of the pandemic by inhibiting further evolution of variants."

The paper published just shy of a month after US federal health officials announced plans for booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be offered this fall, starting September 20, subject to authorization from the FDA and sign off from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is meeting this Friday to discuss vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech's application to administer their Covid-19 vaccine as a third dose, or "booster" shot, to people ages 16 and older.

"The message that boosting might soon be needed, if not justified by robust data and analysis, could adversely affect confidence in vaccines and undermine messaging about the value of primary vaccination. Public health authorities should also carefully consider the consequences for primary vaccination campaigns of endorsing boosters only for selected vaccines," the scientists write in their new paper. "Booster programmes that affect some but not all vaccinees may be difficult to implementso it will be important to base recommendations on complete data about all vaccines available in a country, to consider the logistics of vaccination, and to develop clear public health messaging before boosting is widely recommended."

Overall, the views in the new opinion paper do not reflect the views of the FDA, the agency told CNN in an emailed statement Monday.

"As noted in the article, the views of the authors do not represent the views of the agency. We are in the middle of a deliberative process of reviewing Pfizer's booster shot supplemental approval submission, and FDA as a matter of practice does not comment on pending matters before the agency," an FDA spokesperson said. "We look forward to a robust and transparent discussion on Friday about that application."

WHO push to wait on boosters

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated his call for wealthy nations to refrain from boosting their Covid-19 vaccinations until shots are available to more of the world. He urged countries to wait until at least the end of the year -- a longer timeline than WHO's initial call to wait till the end of September.

"Low and lower-middle income countries are not the second or third priority. Their health workers, older people, and other at risk groups have the same right to be protected," Tedros said.

"I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki then reiterated the Biden administration's view that the US can offer Covid-19 booster shots to Americans this fall while at the same time working to provide vaccines to people around the world who have not yet received a shot.

"Our view is that this is a false choice," Psaki told reporters at a White House briefing. "And the United States has donated and shared about 140 million doses with over 90 countries -- more than all other countries combined."
(CNN)  A huge hoard of Iron Age gold artifacts has been uncovered by an amateur metal detectorist in Denmark.

The "enormous" find consists of almost one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold buried 1,500 years ago, according to a press release from the Vejlemuseerne museum, which will exhibit the hoard.

Described by the museum as "one of the largest, richest and most beautiful gold treasures in Danish history so far," the hoard was discovered in Vindelev, near the central Danish town of Jelling, by a rookie detectorist called Ole Ginnerup Schytz.

Mads Ravn, head of research at Vejlemuseerne, told CNN that he almost fell off his chair when Schytz sent him a photo of an object, asking him if it was anything significant.

Schytz had only recently acquired his metal detector and been given permission to use it on his friend's land. Within a few hours of starting, he had uncovered the hoard.

"I told him he might as well just sell the detector now because he already peaked," said Ravn, adding: "It doesn't get better."

Archaeologists from the Vejlemuseerne then excavated the site along with a team from the National Museum, uncovering a treasure trove including "huge medallions the size of saucers," according to the Vejlemuseerne.

The artifacts were buried in a longhouse by an Iron Age chieftain, revealing that Vindelev was a center of power at the time, the museum added.

Whoever buried the hoard would have been immensely wealthy and powerful, said Ravn, adding that the hoard contains medallions that are thicker than normal.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said.

In the sixth century the chieftain attracted skilled artisans to the area, and later buried his large gold hoard. It is not clear exactly why he buried it, but Ravn believes it was buried as an offering to the gods.

Some experts have suggested the gold was buried to save it during a time of war, but Ravn said the combination of objects suggests it was more likely to have been an offering.

The hoard contains saucer-sized decorated medallions called bracteates, as well as Roman coins that had been fashioned into jewelry.

One of the bracteates is decorated with a male head and a number of runes, as well as a horse and a bird. A runic inscription on the horse reads "the high one," according to preliminary research, which could refer to the chieftain or the god Odin.

At the time, Norse mythology was developing and would have been in competition with more ancient religions, said Ravn, around 300 years before the ancient sagas were written down.

In addition, one heavy Roman gold coin dates from the rule of Constantine the Great (324-337 AD), and reveals that Europe was already well connected during the Iron Age.

The Roman coins show how mobile people were at the time, said Ravn, with people from northern Europe moving south to plunder or serving as mercenaries in Roman armies before bringing the coins back home.

"There weren't these borders," said Ravn, "so people were moving around."

The period also saw a climate catastrophe caused by the ash cloud from a large volcanic eruption in Iceland in 536 AD, which led to years of famine.

"It was a very chaotic period in some ways," Ravn said.

Some of the largest gold hoards in Scandinavia were buried around this time, and some objects found on the island of Hjarno, central Denmark, have similarities to those in this latest hoard.

This suggests there might have been an alliance between the rulers of the two areas, and the beginnings of Denmark as a united kingdom, Ravn said.

The hoard will go on display at the Vejlemuseerne in February 2022 as part of a large Viking exhibition.

"It's kind of a pre-chapter to the Viking age," said Ravn. "We already have the echo of the early Viking age coming along in that time."

This story was first published on CNN.com Rookie detectorist finds huge Iron Age gold hoard in Denmark
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Huawei chairman Xu Zhijun announced that the Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies will launch its 6G networks in 2030, which is 50 times faster than 5G.

According to a report in Global Times, Huawei will define 5.5G and research 6G at the same time in the next few years, he wrote in a recent book preface. However, Xu noted the shadow of geopolitical uncertainties hanging over the research and development of 6G technologies, as Huawei might still be excluded from overseas markets in 6G products.

According to the article written by Xu, 6G has a more complicated technology environment than 5G, with an impact likely to come from multiple technologies like cloud computing, blockchain, and big data. He disclosed that Huawei started investment in 6G research in 2017 when it was pushing 5G commercialization.

For now, 6G is something for scientists and engineers to worry about, but if they get this right, we could be living in a truly connected world by the mid-2030s.

Analysts said that though the US' ban imposed a year ago on Wednesday caused some "flesh wound," the company is well-positioned to continue to lead in the coming 6G era.

Although it is too early to predict the final form the 6G standard will take and which technologies will be included, there are some plausible assumptions about its capabilities and the challenges that operators, manufacturers, and researchers face.

The Chinese government has already begun researching 6G technology. A report in CGTN said that Cui Baoguo, deputy dean of the School of Information at Tsinghua University, once predicted that 6G network speed could reach 1,000 gigabytes per second, with a delay of under 100 us-microseconds (0.1 ms-meter per second). The speed of 6G is 50 times that of 5G networks, and the delay is only one-tenth of the latter. 6G is far superior to 5G in terms of the peak rate, delay, traffic density, connection density, mobility, spectrum efficiency, and positioning capabilities.
A Vietnam Airlines aircraft is seen at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City in January 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnams sovereign fund has subscribed to Vietnam Airliness rights offering amid its accumulating losses due to Covid-19.

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) paid VND6.89 trillion ($303.56 million) to acquire 689.5 million shares and kept its ownership rate in the state-owned carrier at 31.08 percent.

The airlines HVN ticker rose by the maximum allowed 7 percent Monday, its sixth consecutive day of gain.

HVNs issued VND8 trillion worth of stocks to existing shareholders to increase its capital.

Japans ANA Holdings, the operator of All Nippon Airways which owns an 8.77 percent stake in Vietnam Airlines, sold its rights to buy 70 million shares to Vietnam Airlines employees since it is itself facing financial difficulties.

The carrier estimates its losses for the first half of 2021 at around VND10.79 trillion.
Medics prepare to take samples of residents at a lockdown area in Thanh Xuan Trung Ward of Hanoi's Thanh Xuan District for coronavirus tests, August 30, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

The World Health Organization country representative for Vietnam has recommended a three-point action plan to tackle likely pandemic scenarios, noting that the coming weeks are 'critical'.

First, Vietnam should vaccinate priority groups, including medical workers, the elderly, people with underlying diseases, and then the whole community as quickly as possible. In addition, vaccination priority should be given to areas with relatively weak healthcare systems, Kidong Park, the WHO representative in Vietnam, told the Vietnam News Agency.

Secondly, the country needs to make sure that people strictly follow the Ministry of Healths protocols on Covid-19 prevention, including wearing masks, keeping distance and avoiding mass gatherings at schools and workplaces even after social distancing rules have been eased.

For this part, Vietnam could also come up with more measures for personal protection and public health measures to reduce transmission as much as possible, Park said.

Thirdly, it needs to further strengthen healthcare capacity to better manage critical Covid-19 cases and introduce an appropriate roadmap for Covid-19 treatment to avoid overload in the medical system with mild and moderate cases.

Evaluating what Vietnam has been done so far to contain the virus, Park said the epidemic situation in Vietnam remains "very complicated and difficult," with the number of cases crossing more than half a million people since the beginning of September this year.

The nation has kept reporting a high number of cases and deaths daily in the past weeks, mainly from Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces.

"This is a situation of concern and a sign of a high risk of community transmission," he said.

The healthcare system is under enormous pressure, medical staff are working non-stop and some medical facilities in infected localities have been overloaded, he added.

He commended the Vietnamese government for making great efforts and mobilizing resources to contain the outbreak, especially supporting localities that are hotspots with experts and other human resources.

The pandemic prevention campaign is now being implemented by the highest agency of the government, with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh now working as head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, which shows the high determination of the Vietnamese government in controlling the outbreak, Park said.

There is still a lot of work ahead for Vietnam and the coming weeks are "critical," he stressed.

He said WHO believes that Vietnam's public health emergency response strategy in controlling the current outbreak is "on the right track."

Vietnam has recorded 620,166 community cases in 62 out of its 63 cities and localities so far in the fourth Covid-19 wave that broke out late April. The latest outbreak has claimed 15,625 lives.
A worker handles batches of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine provided via global vaccine access mechanism Covax at a storage in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of UNICEF Vietnam

Vietnam has received 1,484,060 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses from France and Italy via Covax on Tuesday.

France provided 672,000 doses and Italy 812,060 doses, according to a press release by UNICEF Vietnam.

French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery said France's support aimed to demonstrate its solidarity with Vietnam in the pandemic, a statement echoed by Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Antonio Alessandro, who stated Italy stood close to Vietnam and its people in the fight against Covid-19.

At a handover ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung said France and Italy's donations, as well as those via global vaccine access mechanism Covax, were appreciated for ensuring equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Vietnam has so far received over 11.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses via Covax. The country has vaccinated over 30 million people with at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, and around 5.5 million people have been fully inoculated.

Vietnam aims to secure 150 million doses to vaccinate 70 percent of its 96 million population by next year.
A deliveryman carries goods at a field hospital in HCMC's Thu Duc City. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen

HCMC will lift the ban on inter-district delivery services on Thursday, its People's Committee has said.

Le Hoa Binh, the city deputy chairman, said the resumption is to help with people's demand for goods as social distancing under Directive 16 is extended until the end of September.

Since July delivery people were not allowed to cross district borders and could only work in certain districts as authorities sought to contain Covid-19.

Late last month they were allowed to resume deliveries in eight districts earlier considered high-risk.

Delivery companies quickly increased the number of shippers to around 25,000, helping meet the publics demands to shop from home.

An average delivery person could handle 20-25 orders a day, meaning 25,000 of them could serve 650,000 families, the city Department of Industry and Trade said.

Ho Chi Minh City, epicenter of the fourth coronavirus wave, has recorded 303,475 Covid cases.

It has undergone a series of social distancing orders.

With strict coronavirus control measures like not allowing people to go out and relying instead on the military and local authorities to deliver food and other necessities to houses, delivery demand has been on the rise.

Starting September 7 the city has also allowed food and beverage businesses to resume operations, though they can only take delivery orders.
A medic holds a vial of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at a medical center in Vietnam's Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, March 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Tran Hoa

Japan said on Tuesday it will donate an additional 1.3 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam, Taiwan and other Asian neighbours.

Taiwan will get 500,000 more doses, bringing Japans total donation to the island to 3.9 million, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters.

The latest donation batch will go out as soon as possible, and includes another 400,000 shots for Vietnam, 300,000 for Thailand, and 100,000 to Brunei, Motegi said.

To date, Japan has given out more than 23 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Japan to countries in South Asia and the Pacific islands, he said.

Additionally, Japan has pledged $1 billion and 30 million doses to the Covax program, overseen by the GAVI alliance and the World Health Organization.

Japan has fully vaccinated 50 percent of its population, according to government data on Monday. The country has relied mainly on imported mRNA-type vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc for its domestic inoculation push, choosing to give away most of its supplies of the AstraZeneca shot.
'Not vaccinated.' Bao Loc was shocked at her online status, though she'd had her second Covid-19 vaccine shot in August. How would she get her "green pass," now?

Loc, a resident of HCMCs Go Vap District, had got the first dose of Covid vaccine on June 26 at a community injection site in District 11. Later, she checked on the electronic health book application ("So suc khoe dien tu"), which helps citizens register for vaccination and records their information, and did not see her inoculation data.

On August 16, she had the second jab in District 5. This dose was updated into the system, the application said she was vaccinated with one shot. But later, on Sept. 8, she checked the application again and was deemed "not vaccinated."

Meanwhile, on the website of the Covid-19 Vaccine Portal, her first jab was updated, but her name was mistakenly written as "Buu Loc".

As Vietnam plans to gradually open services in the coming months based on people's vaccination record, many residents like Loc are worried that the inaccurate online updates can affect their chances of a new normal.

Bao Locs status is "not vaccinated" on the electronic health book application, though shed got two doses already. Photo courtesy of Bao Loc

When the HCMC Center for Disease Control (HCDC) announced it would receive vaccination information for adjustment, Loc sent her information three times, but it was still not updated.

"I called the hotline, the operators said that the number of vaccinated people is very large and overloaded, so it has not been updated, so I should wait."

Since she has a certificate of vaccination issued at the site, Loc is not too worried. But she works in international trade and has to regularly go in and out of ports to complete documents, and she is concerned that if the city applies the "vaccination green pass," she will face trouble if she loses the certificate.

"If the data is updated into the app, it is more convenient to just take out the phone when checking," Loc said, adding that if the information was not updated soon, she would laminate the certificate of her vaccinations, so she can take it around with greater convenience.

Similarly, Ha Vy of Binh Thanh District received two vaccine shots on June 21 and August 11 at two medical facilities but the information has not yet been updated in the system.

Many HCMC residents who've had two Covid-19 vaccine shots have found that both the electronic health book application and the Covid-19 Vaccine Portal have not fully recorded their information. In several cases there have been errors in personal information.

In some other cases, those having received just one shot have been deemed "fully vaccinated" by the system.

On July 6, Hung had his first shot at a vaccination site at the Tan Son Nhat Airport. When he was to get the second dose on August 19, he was in Lam Dong Province and could not return to HCMC to get it, but he was marked "fully vaccinated" on the application.

"I am asking them to edit the data so that I can get the second dose," Hung said.

The electronic health book is a mobile application connecting people to the personal health record system of the Ministry of Health. With this application, people can manage their own health information and be proactive in finding information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

People's vaccination status is to be updated on the application, including their personal information, the number of vaccine doses they have, and a QR code for medical staff to scan if needed.

Those who have had the first dose of the vaccine will receive a yellow certificate. Those who have had two doses will receive a green certificate. Those who have not had any injections are recorded as "not vaccinated."

According to the HCMC, vaccination information of local residents has been uploaded to the electronic health book application in the last few weeks, but there have been mistakes.

In order to correct these, from Aug. 23, the HCDC has started to receive information from citizens and transferred it to relevant agencies to update.

Accordingly, people can visit a website and provide their information with a photo of their Covid-19 vaccination certificate to receive correction support.

Explaining the delays in updating vaccination information on the system, Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said information of those having their shots before July 20 have not been updated because the national database was not completed then.

"Currently, vaccination facilities are speeding up updating this information and will try to fully update it soon," Chau said.

In Hanoi, the updating process has been very slow.

Huy Hoang, a 40-year-old resident of Thanh Xuan District, was in the priority group for vaccination against the coronavirus. In mid-May, he had his first dose at the Bach Mai Hospital, received the second towards end of July and was given a certificate of vaccination.

However, when he checked the electronic health book application, he did not see his data. Hoang said he had read about how to use the application but could not find a way to update his vaccination information himself.

A user in Hanoi encounters an error on the electronic health book application. Photo by VnExpress/Luu Quy

Meanwhile, Vu Minh, 26-year-old resident from Cau Giay District, received his second dose at the Bach Mai Hospital last week. He had a certificate for his first dose, but it was collected by the hospital. The medical staff said the certificate will be sent to his company, so he needs to wait a bit longer. Three days after he received the second shot, the new electronic health record application shows that he has had only one shot.

A staff at a vaccination site in Hanoi said that each site will have its own data entry staff in charge of inputting daily vaccination information into the system. However, the process was not synchronized initially and the number of vaccinated people was too large, so it was difficult for staff to solve the data entry problem soon. The vaccination certificate will be issued after a few days.

The rep said that those who have not received the certificate should contact vaccination sites like hospitals or places where they had been vaccinated to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

According to the Ministry of Health, many people have not got their "green passes" on the electronic health book because the data is still being uploaded. In a letter sent to provinces and cities last week, the ministry urged relevant units to input data into the national Covid-19 vaccine immunization system and complete it by September 20.

The Covid-19 Vaccine Portal has also updated a "feedback" button for those who want to request to update their information. Citizens can ask for corrections if their information on the website is not correct.

Many people have followed these steps and received no updates.

As of Monday, 24 million people in Vietnam had received at least one shot, accounting for 25 percent of the population. To date, 5.3 million have been fully vaccinated.
Emirates airliners are seen on the tarmac in a general view of Dubai International Airport in Dubai, UAE, January 13, 2021. Photo by Reuters

The United Arab Emirates has lifted a ban on travelers from 13 red-listed countries, including Vietnam, and will allow those fully vaccinated to enter from Sept. 12.

The decision to lift travel bans came as Dubai prepares to host Expo 2020 World Festival starting Oct. 1 following a one-year hiatus amid the Covid crisis, the kingdom's National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) said.

Arriving passengers need to apply via the website of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) for necessary approval.

Passengers must furnish a certificate showing they are fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved Covid vaccine and take a mandatory rapid PCR test at the airport.

WHO has approved the U.K.'s AstraZeneca, Americas Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson&Johnson, along with China's Sinopharm and Sinovac.

All arrivals have to take a rapid PCR test before boarding. PCR tests on the fourth and eighth day are required.

Since June, Vietnam and 12 other countries were put in the UAE's travel red list due to rising concerns over the Delta variant.

A week ago, the UAE announced the resumption of tourist visas for fully vaccinated travelers. The move comes as the daily number of positive cases continues to drop in the country, having been lower than 1,000 since last week. The vaccination rate was closing on the 92 percent mark, the highest in the world after Malta, Reuters reported.

Vietnam is currently facing its most challenging Covid outbreak and several countries have banned or imposed stricter quarantine measures for travelers from the country.

In the current wave of Covid that began in late April, Vietnam has recorded over 620,000 cases.

Over 29.28 million people have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, with 5.32 million people fully vaccinated.
What is his background?

Born in 1952, Elder grew up in South Central Los Angeles. He studied at Brown University and after at the University of Michigan Law School.

He then wrote several books and started his own law firm before becoming a radio host. Despite initially beginning on local airwaves, his radio show was broadcast nationally by ABC from 2002 to 2007.

Elder has never run for public office before. He is a big supporter of the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party.

What does he believe in?

Business Insider has a list of positions he has previously held, including:

"The ideal minimum wage is $0 ," he said in an August interview.

," he said in an August interview. " Medicare should be abolished ," according to a 1996 radio ad.

," according to a 1996 radio ad. Children should have had the choice to attend school in person since they weren't at "grave risk" of covid-19, according to his campaign website.

Newsom's lockdown process following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic is "draconian."

He is pro-life .

. He doesn't believe in climate change.

Elder is no stranger to controversy, having previously made inflammatory statements about women and well as immigrants and African-Americans. So much so that the leader of Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles came out against Elder, saying he would be a detriment towards equality in California.

Can he win?

Newsom is expected to win without the ballot going to the second round. A low turnout is good for Newsom, and with a day to go, barely over a third of eligible voters have cast their ballot. Elder needs a big turnaround, but at this late stage it is unlikely.

In an intriguing development, and surely one which will continue to dominate headlines after September 14, is Elder's website. There is a button at the top which takes the user to a webpage to report fraud in the election. As of publication, the website already discusses Newsom's victory and how it was won through fraud.

The Republican strategy, as in the presidential election, has been to cast doubt on election integrity, and in California it is no different.

If it were to go to that second stage, however, Elder is expected to carry the vote.
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- Some US states sending out their own stimulus payments (More info)

- Overview of the three stimulus checks passed by Congress. (Details)

- Will the Child Tax Credit be extended to 2025? (Full story)

- Conservative Dems oppose extension of new Child Tax Credit (Full details)

- Many jobless Americans seek out other federal aid available to the unemployed (Full story)

Useful information / links

California Golden State Stimulus checks:

- How to track your Golden State Stimulus check

- When can I expect my $600 Golden State Stimulus in California will arrive? (Details)

- What state programs exist for Americans who have lost unemployment benefits? (Full details)

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Some of our related news articles:
Lessons learned as Republican bid to oust California Governor Newsom fails

Democrats are breathing easier on Wednesday after California Governor Gavin Newsom handily survived a Republican attempt to oust him through a recall election.

With midterm elections looming next year that will determine which party controls the U.S. Congress, Reuters looks at four takeaways from Newsoms victory -- for both parties.

COVID IS STILL KING

Newsoms aggressive approach toward containing the coronavirus pandemic was the driver behind the recall movement. It also seems to be a primary reason he survived.

About one-third of voters said the pandemic was their top concern, according to an exit poll conducted for CNN  far more than any other issue.

As the Delta variant sweeps across the country, Newsom was able to draw a sharp contrast between states such as California, which have adopted sweeping virus mitigation measures, and Republican-run states such as Florida and Texas that have resisted them. The Republican favorite in the recall election, radio talk show host Larry Elder, said he would lift the states vaccine and mask mandates if elected.

If the next few months going into the midterms get fought on vaccine mandates and masks and keeping kids safe, thats good for Democrats, said Robert Shrum, a longtime Democratic adviser who teaches at the University of Southern California.

TEXAS, FLORIDA AS A FOIL

Newsom nationalized the election, turning it into a test of Democratic versus Republican polices. He spent much of the closing days of his campaign railing against the actions of Republican-led states such as Texas, which recently enacted laws restricting abortion, curtailing voting access and expanding gun rights - and whose governor, Greg Abbott, opposes mask and vaccine mandates.

In both New Jersey and Virginia, the only two states with gubernatorial elections this year, both Democratic candidates are proposing much stronger requirements to manage COVID-19 and casting their opponents as out of step with the American public.

California's outcome, however, might not be entirely applicable to other states. Newsom went into the recall with a huge advantage: Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state 2-to-1. Moreover, the recall process was conducted largely by mail and did not follow the contours of a normal election.

TRUMPISM LOOMS LARGE

Newsom also benefited from the rise of Elder as his primary foil in the election. With his history of taking controversial conservative opinions on his radio show and his steadfast support of Republican former President Donald Trump, Elder made an easy target.

As the recall election approached, Newsom and his allies began to frequently invoke Trump, who lost to Democratic President Joe Biden in California last year by nearly 30 percentage points.

"I got to run against the real Donald Trump," Biden said on Monday at a campaign event for Newsom. "Well, this year, the leading Republican running for governor is the closest thing to a Trump clone that I've ever seen."

Raphael Sonenshein, a political scientist at California State University in Los Angeles, said Newsom successfully framed the election to be about national Republicans and Trump, rather than his own record.

If you run against yourself, youre going to lose, he said.

For Republicans, the election illustrated the dangers of having polarizing, pro-Trump contenders in competitive states and districts where moderates, independents and suburban voters will be decisive. That may be a lesson that carries over to Republican nominating elections next year, when a host of Trump allies and candidates endorsed by him will challenge more centrist politicians.

"Republicans can certainly squander potential opportunities with unsatisfactory candidate selection," said Chris Stirewalt, a Republican analyst with the American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington.

TURNING OUT THE BASE

The largest concern among Democrats heading into the recall was that energized Republicans would vote in droves while their own voters would neglect to show up in an off-year special election. But Newsom and his allies appear to have successfully alarmed Democrats enough to come out.

That should serve as an example for Democrats at the national level, who at times have focused more on reaching swing voters than turning out their base in state elections, Sonenshein said.

With high turnout in the 2018 midterm elections and now in the recall, Democrats are showing that they are motivated not just by their own party identification, but specifically by opposition to todays Republican Party, added Mike Madrid, a Republican political strategist who is a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group.

Trump in some specter is enough to get them out to vote," Madrid said.
Speaking at the receiving ceremony, Deputy Minister To Anh Dung thanked the Government and people of France and Italy for their highly appreciated, valuable and timely support, which he said made practical contributions to the prevention of COVID-19 in Vietnam. This is a testament to the dynamic development of the strategic partnership between Vietnam, France and Italy over the years, as well as the friendship and solidarity in sharing difficulties and overcoming the pandemic, he said.

At the receiving ceremony (Photo: VOV)

The Deputy Minister highly appreciated the initiative to establish the COVAX Facility to ensure fair and equal access to the COVID-19 vaccine globally. Italy and France are two of the EU's top donors to the COVAX mechanism. The two countries are also important trade partners of Vietnam and development partners of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He also expressed his belief that the valuable contributions of Italy and France to Vietnam and ASEAN countries would contribute to creating favorable travel conditions for businesses and people.

On behalf of the COVAX Facility, Dr Kidong Park, Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam, thanked France and Italy for their contributions to Vietnam. Vietnam has so far received more than 11.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines through COVAX.

French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery said that France's decision to allocate 672,000 doses of vaccines to Vietnam shows solidarity and mutual support in difficult times, and the successful long-term cooperation relationship between the two countries in healthcare. In addition to financial contributions to the COVAX Facility, the French Government is committed to sharing 60 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 with the aim of promoting vaccination globally.

On behalf of the Italian Government, Charge d'Affaires of the Italian Embassy in Vietnam Paolo Epifani highly appreciated Vietnam's disease control efforts and expressed his pleasure to contribute 812,060 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the vaccination campaign in Vietnam.

So far, Italy and France are the two EU member countries that have donated the largest amount of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam./.
Field Hospital No. 10 (Photo: taimuihongtphcm.vn)

The batch includes 1,000 protective suits level 4, 500 protective suits level 3, 1,500 Korean N95-3M masks, 1,000 face shields and 1,000 shoe protective bags, worth 362.5 million VND.

Over the past few days, the Consulate General of Vietnam in Hong Kong has made efforts to call for donations, contact hospitals to find out their needs and suppliers to quickly deliver essential medical supplies to the hospital to serve the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with two times of presenting medical supplies to the Field Hospital No.14, this is the third time the Consulate General of Vietnam in Hong Kong has supported hospitals to fight against the pandemic, with a total amount of more than 1 billion VND./.




Vietnam's stall at the festival (Photo: VNA)

In addition, publications introducing Vietnamese tourism such as Vietnam Pictorial and Le Courrier du Vietnam were also available at the Vietnamese stall.



During the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Nguyen Van Thao held meetings with PTB leaders to brief them on socio-economic achievements that Vietnam has gained over the years as well as the fruitful outcomes of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's freshly-ended Europe trip, which has contributed to accelerating relations between Vietnam and the EU and Belgium in particular.

The festival is a chance for the embassy to promote the image of the Vietnamese nation and people to foreign friends, while introducing Vietnams achievements in international integration and exchanging experience in workers movements, social welfare policies and the protection of workers interests, Deputy Ambassador to Belgium Le Vinh Thang talked with the Vietnam News Agency's correspondent in Belgium.

Within the festivals framework, many activities were held including music concerts, seminars, discussions and book fairs.

Herman Dereymaeker, a member of the PTB, expressed his impression about Vietnamese tourism, land and people.

Well-known speakers of Belgium and other countries highlighted issues related to the history of Belgiums communist movement, world peace, the health crisis caused by COVID-19, and the solidarity of the working class all over the world./.
The festival was held in the city of Usti nad Labem in the Ustecky region in the north of the Czech Republic.



The festival is an annual event, aimed at creating a chance for foreigners in the Czech Republic to introduce the traditional culture, cuisines and unique customs of their homeland to international friends.

An art performance of Vietnam at the event (Photo: VNA)

According to Mr. Le Nam Thang, President of an art club of the Vietnamese community in Usti nad Labem city, although members of the club were busy with their businesses, they still spent time preparing special performances for the festival with the desire to promote the unique and distinctive features of Vietnamese culture.

Mr. Le Quyet Tien, Vice Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Teplice city, said Vietnam's performances received special attention from the audience.

Vietnamese dishes such as spring rolls, moon cakes, coffee and tea were also introduced by the Vietnamese community at the festival, he said, adding that all proceeds are donated to the local Giac Vien pagoda for charitable activities.

Tien said that the festival creates opportunities for other communities in the Czech Republic to understand more about Vietnamese people and culture.

According to Mr. Petr Nedvedicky, Mayor of Usti nad Labem city, there are 8,000 Vietnamese in the Ustecky region, adding that the local administration and people respect and love the Vietnamese people who live and work in Usti nad Labem, and are eager to discover the unique culture of Vietnamese people.

The mayor also expressed his sincere thanks to the Vietnamese community for joining hands with the Czech government and people to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by sewing and donating masks, and donating medical equipment and necessities for medical staff and relevant forces during the outbreak of the pandemic.

For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung thanked the local administration for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community.

The Ambassador said that the Czech Republic has 14 ethnic groups, while Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups. Therefore, the integration of the Vietnamese community will contribute to enriching the unique features of the Czech people, he added./.
China published the latest human rights action plan on September 9, 2021, setting the objectives and tasks of respecting, protecting and promoting human rights in the period from 2021 to 2025.

Titled "Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025)," the document was released by the State Council Information Office.

This Action Plan adheres to the constitutional principle of respecting and protecting human rights, and the Outline for the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035. It follows the spirit embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights conventions.

The targets of the Action Plan are as follows:

Promoting the free, well-rounded and common development of all individuals as the general goal. The Chinese government will hold fast to its people-centered approach, and exert itself to meet the peoples growing expectations for human rights protection. It will guarantee the principal position of the people, and ensure that development is for the people and relies on the people, and that development benefits are shared by the people.

Protecting the peoples economic, social and cultural rights to meet their expectation for a better life, and creating more favorable economic, social and cultural conditions to achieve this goal.

Safeguarding the civil and political rights and promoting effective participation in social affairs, thus laying a sound democratic and legal foundation for well-rounded development of the people.

Cherishing clear waters and green mountains as invaluable assets. China will continue to respect, work with, and protect mother nature, and promote the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature. It will promote eco-environmental progress and work to build a beautiful China, in order to create a sustainable environment for human beings and later generations.

Reinforcing the equal protection of the rights and interests of particular groups and providing them with extra assistance, to ensure all have an equal share in the fruits of development, and to provide policy support for the well-rounded development of all.

Conducting extensive research, education, and training, and building awareness in this field, to create a social atmosphere of respecting and protecting human rights.

Participating in global human rights governance. China will engage itself in all work relating to the UN human rights mechanisms, propel the international community to establish a more just, fair, reasonable and inclusive governance system, and work together to build a global community of shared future.

Editor: Liu Jiaming
Citizens are seen on a street in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 13, 2021. Lithuania started to use the COVID-19 vaccine certificate on Monday. People without certificate will not be allowed to enter certain public recreation places. (Xinhua/Xue Dongmei)

VILNIUS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The national COVID-19 certificates became mandatory for people to access certain services in Lithuania on Monday.

The Opportunity Pass can be issued to people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the past 180 days, have tested negative for coronavirus, or have been fully vaccinated.

The EU's Digital COVID Certificate is also valid.

People without such certificates will be banned from visiting shops selling non-essential goods, major shopping centers and marketplaces exceeding an area of 1,500 square meters.

They would be denied access to beauty services, gyms or events attended by more than 500 people.

However, people without the national certificates are still allowed to enter shops and marketplaces selling food, veterinary products, animal feeds, pharmacies, as well as shops selling vision corrections products, orthopedic products, plants, seeds and fertilizers.

On June 7, Lithuania started to issue the EU's COVID pass. The government seeks to encourage higher rates of vaccination with more strict restrictions.

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Editor: WXL
Yu Hong (L), Chinese ambassador to Brunei, and Haji Erywan, Brunei's second minister of foreign affairs, attend the handover ceremony of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines at Brunei International Airport, Brunei, Sept. 12, 2021. A total of 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine contributed by the Chinese government to Brunei arrived at Brunei International Airport on Sunday midnight. (Xinhua/Xue Fei)

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine contributed by the Chinese government to Brunei arrived at Brunei International Airport on Sunday midnight.

A handover ceremony was held at the airport, attended by Haji Erywan, Brunei's second minister of foreign affairs on behalf of the Brunei government and Yu Hong, Chinese ambassador to Brunei, representing the Chinese government.

Also in attendance were senior government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Ministry of Health of Brunei and representatives from the Chinese embassy in the country.

"Since last year, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Brunei have worked hand in hand, speaking volumes about the Kampong spirit of sharing weal and woe," Yu Hong said at the airport.

"The pragmatic cooperation in various fields between our two countries and the friendship between our two peoples have been deepened and advanced in the course of anti-pandemic cooperation," she added.

Since 2020, Brunei and China have extended mutual assistance in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brunei provided financial assistance to help China manage the impact of the pandemic in March 2020. This latest contribution represents the second batch of vaccines received from China. The first batch of vaccines consisting 52,000 doses of Sinopharm were received in February 2021, a MFA press statement stated.

"This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, which is a significant milestone for Brunei and China relations," according to the statement.

"As Strategic Cooperative Partners, both countries have continued to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment, energy, agriculture and fisheries, connectivity, tourism, health, defense and people-to-people exchanges. Brunei and China have also maintained close cooperation on regional and international issues of mutual concern." Enditem

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Editor: GSY
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- 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 the 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 the "Taiwan Representative Office," the Chinese foreign ministry's spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing.

Zhao said the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the China-U.S. Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations clearly states that the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.

On Sept. 10, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a phone call with President Xi Jinping that the United States has no intention to change the one-China policy, Zhao added.

He said the United States should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, honor its commitments with concrete actions, stop all forms of official exchanges with Taiwan, and stop elevating substantive relations with Taiwan.

This should include refraining from renaming TECRO in the United States as "Taiwan Representative Office" and stopping sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, Zhao said.

"The United States should handle the Taiwan question in a prudent manner, lest it should seriously undermine China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao said.

Editor: Zhang Zhou
Photo taken in May, 2021 shows a Hainan gibbon and its baby ape in south China's Hainan Province. Dubbed as "Giant Panda of Hainan," Hainan gibbon is currently found only in a single reserve, the Bawangling Nature Reserve, part of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. In March, the monitoring team found that two of the Hainan Gibbon groups each added a baby ape, 7 months old and 6 months old, respectively, said Huang Jincheng, director of the Forestry Department of Hainan Province. "Continuous monitoring showed that the two baby apes are in good health and grow well," said Huang. "So far, the population of Hainan gibbons has recovered to 5 groups with a total of 35 individuals." (Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park/Handout via Xinhua)

MARSEILLE, France, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The conservation of Hainan gibbons in China is a success for biodiversity preservation worldwide, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on Sunday during the ongoing 7th World Conservation Congress (WCC).

Hainan gibbon, the most endangered of all gibbons and the world's rarest primate, is endemic to the southern Chinese island of Hainan. Its population has increased from as few as 7 to 9 in the 1980s to 35 today, according to a report released at the WCC held both online and in-person in Marseille, France.

The report, titled "The Hainan Gibbon Case Study: Effectively Saving a Critically Endangered Species" and written by 15 experts from 11 organizations worldwide, was released at a press conference simultaneously held in Marseille and Haikou, capital of China's Hainan Province.

The success of this case was achieved "thanks to efficient protection by the Chinese central to local governments and a combined effort by Chinese and international scientists and conservation communities to understand the behavioural ecology of these gibbons," Susan Cheyne, a specialist on small apes with the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), told the press via video link.

Dubbed as "Giant Panda of Hainan," Hainan gibbon is currently found only in a single reserve, the Bawangling Nature Reserve, part of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park.

In March, the monitoring team found that two of the Hainan Gibbon groups each added a baby ape, 7 months old and 6 months old, respectively, said Huang Jincheng, director of the Forestry Department of Hainan Province, at the press conference.

"Continuous monitoring showed that the two baby apes are in good health and grow well," said Huang. "So far, the population of Hainan gibbons has recovered to 5 groups with a total of 35 individuals."

"Hainan gibbon is a very important example of how we can have a conservation success even when a species gets down to a very low level," said Russell Mittermeier, chairman of the IUCN-SSC Primate Specialist Group.

The experiences of this case should be applied to other members of this endangered genres, he added.

Vance Martin, president of the U.S.-based WILD Foundation, told Xinhua after the conference that the case of the Hainan Gibbon is very special because of its extremely low number.

The reason behind this successful conservation is "brilliant and enlightened leadership, international cooperation and experts who really care, and then it is the unique way that the leadership enlisted the local community and the local community who wanted to do it," he said.

Martin, also an expert in international nature conservation and wilderness protection, said there is a big picture story going on in China with nature conservation, "which is a modern-day global example of how you have to go about conservation."

"China's example with eco-civilization, and looking at big picture and putting the big picture to work locally in particular areas with community involvement, is exactly what the world needs to do," he concluded. Enditem

Editor: WXY
People visit the 31st Mid-Autumn Festival fair in Chinatown in San Francisco, the United States, Sept. 11, 2021. The two-day event is held to hail the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, which will fall on Sept. 21 this year. The fair was closed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Liu Yilin/Xinhua)

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Iryna Zhdanova, Founder of Churyumov Scientific Lyceum, Executive Director of the Open Policy Foundation, Ph.D. in History

Who will serve in the cyber forces and defend Ukraine's independence? Who will develop electric cars and space rockets? And who will repair combines and tanks equipped with IT stuffing?

These thoughts were aroused by recent decisions about investments in rocket production, startups, and cyber forces, as well as the president's visit to the United States and speeches at the Kyiv Security Forum.

Physical and mathematical education and national security

I am convinced, like thousands of my like-minded colleagues, that one of the strategic tasks of public, private, and civic education is the support and development of physical and mathematical (physmath) schools, polytechnical schools, colleges, and universities, in particular with a focus on border regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts. And now it must be done in the northwest, on the border with Belarus - in Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Volyn oblasts. Because the military threat is most likely in these bordering areas. At the same time, probably no one will argue that the involvement of high-quality IT specialists in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies is already a serious challenge.

I am convinced that Nord Stream 2, there are so many talks about this today, is not the only threat to our country. The destruction of physmath education, in the long run, carries no less, and perhaps even greater risks and threats. After all, the world is gradually refuse to use gas. And our future lies in IT.

Regarding the role of physmath education for national security

Immediately after the start of the war in 2015, representatives of the Civic Platform for Scientific Reform (coordinator - the Open Policy Foundation) spoke about this factor at the parliamentary committee on science and education. And a teacher Paul Pshenichka, during his speech in the Parliament in 2018, drew applause when he quoted US President Ronald Reagan's response to the generals regarding a large budget for education: It is not the Pentagon where defense issues resolve but the school.

As a woman born into a family of professional military technicians, I recall with pain the numerous reorganizations of the leading air defense training institution, the Zhytomyr Military Institute, as a result of which in 2015, amid Russian aggression, the best lecturers were simply fired. Air defense professionals remained unnecessary during the most difficult years of the war.

What do we have in 2021?

Of course, US military assistance is important for Ukraine. And today a strong team of IT specialists works in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But will we fully realize our national potential? Do we attract the best people? After all, the salaries of IT staff in the state service and the private sector are not comparable.

Regarding the quality of physmath education

The pandemic has an adverse effect on the quality of education and access to it. The situation with mathematics and physics is especially threatening. This was confirmed by the results of the last independent external evaluation (IEE) in 2021.

It is not easy to teach physics and mathematics remotely and motivate students to study them. At the same time, if one does not learn the basic knowledge about opening brackets in primary school, adding/multiplying fractions in grades 5 or 6, then a further study of algebra and mathematics is impossible. And no IEE will be able to motivate students to study mathematics who have not gained this basic mathematical knowledge. It is not difficult to predict that in a few years the results of the state final attestation (SFA) in the 9th grade will cause a big hype again.

Regarding access to physmath education

During my childhood, I studied at the Republican Mathematical School in the late 70s and early 80s. Then mathematics and physics Olympiads were massive and accessible. And then, we worked strategically for space and defense.

Independent Ukraine has preserved the basics of the system for Olympiads in physics and mathematics. But for most children from low-income families, from remote villages and district centers, physmath education and participation in Olympiads were clearly not a priority. And quality learning of mathematics and physics is now possible only with a tutor.

In fact, talented students from poor families, but not with unlocked potential, will not be able to serve in the cyber troops of the Armed Forces, or other law enforcement agencies, or work in leading IT companies. Another question: what will graduates from wealthy families choose - international high-tech campaigns or civil service?

That is why expanding access to quality physmath education and mass involvement of students in the Olympiad movement is a matter of strategic importance today, which will largely determine our tomorrow.

What is happening in Russia today?

I am far from the idea that everything is OK there. But it is impossible not to notice those things that need to be implemented here. We also need to learn from our enemy.

In Russia, they systematically work now with the involvement of schoolchildren from the 3rd grade in mathematics competitions, that is, they start from elementary schools. They develop methodical manuals and textbooks on Olympiads in mathematics for teachers of regular schools in regions where families are unable to pay, but children are motivated to receive physmath education. They support their mass schools specialized in mathematics, work with pedagogical colleges.

And even if students are motivated to study mathematics in depth, but they are not good at basic knowledge, these students are accepted to a mass specialized mathematical school. And then, it is the work of teachers and methods aimed primarily at motivating students...

What is in the world?

I am assessing NASA math textbooks for 5th grade. The key targets on each topic are tasks on cultivating skills, approaches, strategies for solving problems...

What is in Ukraine?

I remember my struggle for the skill of the ability to make decisions in emergencies, solve problems during the formation of standards of specialized science education. We lost this position, even for specialized science education.

I look through the requirements of the standard program for grades 5-9 (2017 and 2021): there is not even a mention of the formation of skills, approaches, strategies to solve problems... No, I am not against financial literacy and the ability to determine the size of a room.

But is this about Ukraine, which is at war (more than one year), launches missiles and seeks to take a leading position in the sphere of IT?

The next issue is further education. Polytechnic and pedagogical colleges, regional universities in recent years have systematically forced to deadlock situation of a vicious circle: the network of vocational schools is optimized, colleges are transferred to regional funding, state order for universities is rated, that is why there are no entrants to regional universities, no state orders, and no funding.

There is an acute shortage of mathematics, physics, and computer science teachers and a lack of quality internships. They bought expensive equipment for robotics clubs, STEM, but did not train teachers. The system of teacher advanced training is corrupt. State subventions and regional funding are distributed nontransparently. There is a conflict between regional universities and regional institutes of postgraduate pedagogical education over the distribution of these funds.

There is nothing worth saying about non-governmental organizations. Delegating this service to NGOs and businesses is in fact a fiction. Only a narrow circle of friendly organizations has access to public funds aimed at the advanced training of teachers. Educators are afraid to talk about it because they risk being left without certification and without a job.

At the same time, there is a demand for teacher training in non-governmental institutions. But these institutions can provide this service only at the expense of donors or for a fee. But, does the teacher have money? Is there a motivation for donors if the state does not fulfill the obligations and rules, which were prescribed in relevant law and in the resolution  800 of the Cabinet of Ministers? The questions are more rhetorical.

What is in perspective?

I no longer believe in sword dancing with the state. It is enough to shout betrayal, it is necessary to build a partnership between the government and civil society.

We crucially need to learn how to play a long game to unite those who are concerned from public and private physmath schools, public initiatives, to look for extra-budgetary funding together, to create networking of public and private physmath schools, which aims to share methods, the transformation of the Olympiad movement into a mass one, including in the regions.

Is such an ambitious task realistic?

Firstly, it is about the risks.

One of the speakers at the Kyiv Security Forum named three main challenges of US-Ukraine relations:

Indifference,

Lack of leaders and responsibility,

Failure to fulfill obligations.

It seems to me that education in Ukraine has the same challenges.

How to overcome them? Specific cases

Schools and universities usually create NGOs to implement their grants. Teams of educational institutions are focused exclusively on their students and entrants because this is state funding. There are stiff and unfair competitions both among private schools and among NGOs.

I think this is a losing strategy for everyone. The world is transforming. The divide and rule! formula is transforming into the unite and manage! And the strategy of zero-sum games is changed to a strategy in which all participants win.

At a lecture for first-year students at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the editor of the publishing house Spirit and Letter Konstantyn Sigov announced: The gifts of friendship among educators are much more promising than the temptations of competition. Success will come to those who realize this first and start building bridges among the islands of innovative schools, lowers the boat among the tsunami of reforms and starts rowing as a team, and flexibly adapting to winds and waves.

The NGO Open Policy Foundation has proved that it is possible to achieve synergies and significant results by uniting with concerned civil servants and responsible leaders. It is not an NGO that was established at the school, but it is the private school, Klym Churyumov Scientific Lyceum, that was set up based on 12-year work of the public organization in the field of education, as a forum for the implementation of public education initiatives promoted by the NGO at the legislative level.

We brought together concerned leading teachers from physmath schools and tested the latest techniques firstly at the International Green School, in a mountainous hard-to-reach village, and now in a startup - a private science lyceum in the capital. From the new 2021/22 academic year, the International Green School/Kosmach will operate as an open training center for educational institutions, organizations, businesses, and civil servants who share our values of open policy and synergy in action.

These are real steps that are already working and having results.

About the partnership of public and private physmath schools

On September 1, Ihor Zhdanov and I were invited to First Bell at a specialized physmath school, which is more than 50 years old. It has a strong tradition of basic education. I listened to a discussion between my husband and students of 11th grade from the Kyiv Natural Sciences Lyceum 145 (KNSL 145) on athletes, life hacks about communicating with children when you become a minister, about a conflict between Reagan and his rebellious daughter who did not forgive him for his power trip. I thought it was a great gift to maintain the trust of my own children in their uncorrupted father. And I also thought that politicians and patriots should be involved in the lives of physmath schools.

But an even greater gift is the ability to unite concerned and responsible educators, leaders in the physical physmath sphere, and representatives of high-tech campaigns. That is why we, together with the KNSL 145 and other interested and concerned leaders in physmath education, are initiating in 2021 the creation of an open family hub for graduates of physmath schools. This is a powerful untapped potential of Ukraine. I would like to wish my state to have a special program of systematic support for specialized physmath schools - state, communal, and private ones - it doesn't matter. The main thing is for them to be Ukrainians.

Goal?

It is scaling up of innovative domestic and adapted(!) international methods (not in the format of theory, but specific cases) for ordinary public schools, especially in communities affected by war and the threat of escalation of cyberwar, as well as experience of involving students and teachers in the mass All-Ukrainian Olympiad movement, robotics, and STEAM education.

And we must start it not from elementary schools as in Russia, but from kindergartens. Yes, I am right because that's where motivation is formed. And motivation is the first thing you need.

Do I believe in these scenarios?

I have a great hope that private schools, businesses, venture funds, and donors will be able to fulfill this social mission. As for the state, it depends on a single factor: whether politicians, leaders, and those responsible are not indifferent to physmath education. After all, if there is money for the President's Fund for Support of Education, Science and Sports, for the Presidential University, then why should money be available for physmath education?

Finally, I would like to quote the answer of Borys Hudziak, Rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University, during his speech at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. B.Hudziak was asked what to do when something real is devalued in society and he answered: It is not necessary to think much about it but to try to do a lot, act Live in hope is a deep virtue: hard, difficult, but I go forward

So, physical and mathematical schools, let's unite and #keeprowing! and then, maybe, the state will contribute to our efforts using its cyber soldiers.
Ukraine expects $750 million of the second tranche under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of November or early December, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"We expect the positive completion of the mission. We expect that the end of November or the beginning of December is the date when the IMF tranche is possible," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"All conditions, all benchmarks from the memorandum have been met," he said.

The prime minister said that the government does not allow a negative outcome of the mission, which is to arrive in Kyiv next week.

"Today, we do not see any barriers to positively complete the mission and receive the tranche," Shmyhal said.

At the same time, the mission will probably take place online due to quarantine restrictions, he said. "Most likely, it will be an online mission, since the number of patients with COVID-19 is growing," the prime minister said.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that there is no reason to increase heat and hot water tariffs for heating companies in view of the actions taken by the government on the debts of heating companies and the gas price fixed for them.

"The government has taken all measures to prevent this from happening. We are fulfilling our obligations under the memorandum, we are giving over UAH 30 billion to heating companies in order to put things in order there, and we also made the price of gas excluding VAT UAH 6.18 per cubic meter, which is less for many cities than is fixed in heat tariffs," the prime minister said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

At the same time, he clarified that some heating companies hold the heat tariff at the level of UAH 4.5-5, noting that in such cases "it will be necessary to look for mechanisms to compensate for the difference from local budgets and, possibly, from the state."

At the same time, Shmyhal said that today he is not aware of the desire of any local authorities, the powers of which now cover the setting of tariffs for heating companies, to increase these tariffs. "So far, I do not see mayors who want to raise tariffs. There is absolutely good will to keep tariffs at last year's level. If someone does this [raise tariffs], we will conduct a dialogue," the prime minister said, promising that "the state is ready to lend a shoulder" in this matter, including at the expense of the state budget, if local budgets fail.

As reported, according to the law on measures aimed at overcoming the crisis and ensuring financial stability in the natural gas market (No. 3508-d), adopted by the parliament on July 29, 2021, heat suppliers will be able to restructure more than UAH 50 billion for consumed gas for a period of five years. At the same time, UAH 10 billion of fines and financial sanctions accrued on these debts of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy will be written off.

The state also compensates heating companies for about UAH 30 billion of the difference in tariffs for thermal energy, which arose as a result of the establishment of economically unjustified tariffs for thermal energy by the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC).

The document also envisages the abolition of penalties for gas supplier and the unblocking of frozen accounts of heating companies.
Over the past day, Russia-occupation forces in Donbas violated the ceasefire 12 times, one soldier was killed, the press center of the Joint Force Operation (JFO) headquarters reported.

"Over the past day, September 13, some 12 ceasefire violations were recorded in the JFO area. As a result of enemy shelling, one member of the Joint Forces received an injury incompatible with life," the headquarters said on Tuesday morning.

In particular, over the past day near Zaitseve, the enemy fired at the positions of the Ukrainian defenders from automatic easel and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers. Near Verkhniotoretske, the occupation forces fired from 120 caliber mortars prohibited by the Minsk agreements. In the direction of New York, the enemy fired from artillery systems with a caliber of 122 mm. In the area of Zolote-4, the occupation fighters opened fire on the positions of the Ukrainian defenders from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers. Near Katerynivka Russian-occupation forces used grenade launchers of various systems and small arms. Near Novooleksandrivka, the enemy three times carried out numerous shelling of Ukrainian positions from grenade launchers of various systems, large-caliber machine guns and small arms. Near Prychepylivka, the Russian-occupation forces fired twice from large-caliber machine guns, small arms and 82-caliber mortars. In the direction of Popasna, the enemy fired twice from large-caliber machine guns and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.

The headquarters also said that as of 07:00 on September 14, no violations of the ceasefire were recorded.

"The Ukrainian side of the JCCC informed the representatives of the OSCE Mission about all the facts of violations by the Russian-occupation forces, using the established coordination mechanism," the headquarters said.
Ukraine has come to understand it can only rely on itself, which means that it needs to learn how to become an agile military state like Israel, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"The 40-year-old [Kuleba] 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  that is what we have to survive," The Independent said in an article released on Monday, citing Kuleba.

Kuleba said Ukraine does not believe the promises of the West, since it has learned a number of bitter lessons that they will most likely not be fulfilled.

"This country has learned a number of bitter lessons that western promises are likely unfulfilled. We do not believe in promises," the minister said.

According to him, Russia is trying to "encircle" Ukraine.

"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," the publication said in its article.

In addition, the Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that Ukraine now has a problem, since it has not invested enough in the border, which makes it vulnerable to the penetration of subversive groups or migrants from Belarus.

"Frankly speaking, we have a problem now because we did not invest enough in the border. Now we look at it and see it as a perfect vulnerability for subversion groups or migrants Lukashenko might want to send over [to Ukraine]," the publication said, citing Kuleba.
During the celebration of the International Center of the National Guard of Ukraine, Canadian officers led by commander of the Joint Task Force of the Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine (Operation UNIFIER) Melanie Lake donated new medical equipment for training guardsmen to the Center.

"These are educational materials that will improve training in the courses of combat medics, assistance to the wounded in combat conditions, courses of collective training of units. There are realistic dummies, moulage of various wounds, stretchers and other materials that will make the training more realistic," service of the National Guard of Ukraine said on Tuesday.

The total cost of the transferred equipment was about UAH 4.5 million.

Lake said that the courses that they conducted at the International Center are the most productive and show the fastest results. According to her, medical courses provide space for practicing the most realistic battle scenarios and fully practicing skills and abilities. She expressed confodence that the knowledge that the guardsmen received during medicine course would greatly improve the level of life preservation in the area of the Joint Forces Operation.

The officers of the High Command of the National Guard of Ukraine and the International Center thanked the personnel of Operation UNIFIER for their fruitful cooperation and goodwill. Together they reviewed all the teaching materials provided for future exercises.
Ukrainian OTT platform SWEET.TV is for introduction of liability for viewing pirated content, restriction of operation of Russian streaming services in country

KYIV. Sept 14 (Interfax-Ukraine)  National online cinema SWEET.TV stands for the introduction of liability for the population for the use of pirated content.

During a press conference at the press center of Interfax-Ukraine, SWEET.TV director Oleksandr Rezunov said that the operation of pirate services in Ukraine is still very active, which is primarily due to high demand from users.

"This issue requires a tough reaction from the state. And the introduction of liability for consumers of pirated content. Also, due to pirated sites, Ukrainian content producers lose millions of hryvnia. This leads to insufficient funding for future projects and reduces the quality of the content produced," he said.

According to Rezunov, the issue of developing a mechanism for introducing such a penalty is on the side of the legislative branch.

"The size of the fine I would introduce is small, purely symbolic  about UAH 100. Why is this needed? Not to take money from consumers. The main problem of the market is that people do not always understand or forget that they are watching illegal content, and the industry loses from this, the state loses taxes, copyright holders lose royalties and cannot produce high-quality content. A purely symbolic fine would lead to the fact that a person remembered about it," the SWEET.TV director said.

To combat piracy, SWEET.TV became a member of the Supervisory Board of the Media & Communication Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. In addition, the company is a member of the Clear Sky anti-piracy initiative.

The SWEET.TV director called the high activity of international broadcasting platforms another problem of the Ukrainian pay TV market.

"In Ukraine, it is necessary to introduce equal conditions for doing business. In particular, the requirements regarding language quotas are practically not applied to foreign media platforms. There is no practical implementation of tax norms  now the adopted regulatory legal acts introducing VAT payment by nonresidents who provide online media services simply do not work," Rezunov said.

He also stressed that Russian streaming services available on the territory of Ukraine, in fact, violate Ukrainian legislation in terms of the unhindered broadcasting of content from Russian media that have come under sanctions.

SWEET.TV is a Ukrainian OTT platform with over 260 TV channels, including HD and 4K, as well as products from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, etc.

The platform has direct contracts with Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony and other international content producers for dubbing media products specifically for the territory of Ukraine, and not for the CIS. The service creates Ukrainian-language dubbing for cult Hollywood films in the "Hollywood in Ukrainian" project.
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, (Photo : Chris Jackson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo)

A U.S.-based lawyer for Britain's Prince Andrew on Monday forcefully rejected claims in a civil lawsuit by a woman who accused the prince of sexually assaulting her when she was 17, and challenged whether the case could even be brought.



At a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the prince's lawyer Andrew Brettler also said the plaintiff Virginia Giuffre appeared to have in 2009 signed away her right to sue Queen Elizabeth's second son in resolving a separate lawsuit.



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Giuffre, 38, has said Andrew's abuse occurred about two decades ago, around when the financier Jeffrey Epstein was sexually abusing her. Andrew, the Duke of York, has denied Giuffre's accusations.



"This is a baseless, nonviable, potentially unlawful lawsuit," Brettler, who is based in Los Angeles, said at a court conference conducted by phone.



"There has been a settlement agreement that the plaintiff has entered into in a prior action that releases the Duke and others from any and all potential liability," Brettler added.



Brettler also said Giuffre had not properly served Andrew under U.K. law and the Hague Convention, including when a process server left a copy on Aug. 27 with a police officer guarding Royal Lodge, the prince's home in Windsor, England.



Giuffre's lawyer rejected that claim. "We have properly served him," David Boies told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.



Kaplan directed Boies to propose alternative means to serve Andrew, and rejected Bretter's argument that Hague Convention procedures had to be "exhausted" before applying U.S. procedures. The next conference was scheduled for Oct. 13.



Andrew, 61, is a former friend of Epstein, a registered sex offender who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 after U.S. prosecutors charged him with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women.



The prince stepped down from royal duties and saw charities and other organizations distance themselves from him after he gave a November 2019 BBC interview now widely seen as disastrous concerning his relationship with Epstein.



Giuffre's lawsuit puts Andrew in a tough position because he could be held in default and owe damages if he ignores it, or face years of legal battles by defending himself in court.



According to the Aug. 9 complaint, Andrew forced Giuffre to have unwanted sexual intercourse at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein's longtime associate.



The complaint also said Andrew abused Giuffre at Epstein's mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and on a private island Epstein owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands.



In a Sept. 6 letter, a London-based lawyer for Andrew suggested that Giuffre's lawsuit might be dismissed because she signed a release in 2009 in a separate Florida case covering "claims against persons associated with Jeffrey Epstein."



The lawyer, Gary Bloxsome of Blackfords, said Andrew's lawyers needed to review the release and determine its scope.



"[U]ntil we have made that determination, it is difficult for us to give advice as to whether the Duke should voluntarily accept service," he wrote.



Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she aided Epstein's sexual abuses. She faces a scheduled Nov. 29 trial before U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan.


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 (Photo : REUTERS/Tom Brenner)

U.S. President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the "Quad" countries - Australia, India, Japan and the United States - next week, the White House said on Monday.



The summit of the four leaders will be held at the White House on Sept. 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The prime ministers of Australia, India and Japan - Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga - are expected in the United States next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.



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A virtual meeting of leaders of the Quad countries, which have been seeking to enhance cooperation in the face of China's growing power and assertiveness, was held in March. In that meeting, the leaders pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccines and climate and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing.



"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," Psaki said in the statement.



Biden's Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell, said in July the long-planned in-person meeting should bring "decisive" commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure. [L2N2ND2WV]



Biden, who is pushing big infrastructure spending at home, said in March he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China's massive Belt and Road Initiative, which involves projects from East Asia to Europe.



Psaki said the Quad Leaders would "be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific."



A senior U.S. official said infrastructure would be among a range of topics discussed at the in-person summit.



The vaccines initiative from the first summit stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports.



At the March summit, the four leaders agreed Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd would produce at least a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries.



Japan's Kyodo News reported last week that Suga would visit Washington this month for the Quad meeting even though his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party - and by default as Japan's prime minister - ends on Sept. 30.



Suga became the first leader to hold a face-to-face WhiteHouse summit with Biden in April, underscoring Japan's centralrole in U.S. efforts to face down China.



The Quad meeting will come after Biden's image has taken a battering over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said ending America's longest war will allow the administration to divert resources and attention to tackling China-related issues.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives remarks during a 9/11 commemoration event to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, at the State Department in Washington, U.S., (Photo : REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken beat back criticism of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Monday at a contentious congressional hearing where at least two Republicans called on him to resign.



In five hours of often testy exchanges with lawmakers, Blinken defended President Joe Biden's decision to pull out and pushed back on accusations that the State Department should have done more to help Americans and at-risk Afghans to be evacuated, blaming the previous administration for lacking a plan.



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He repeatedly noted that Republican former President Donald Trump had negotiated the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, and said Biden's administration could not renegotiate because of threats from the group to resume killing Americans.



"There's no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining," Blinken said.



"We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan," Blinken said, referring to the Trump administration's agreement to remove all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by May 1.



Members of Congress - Biden's Democrats as well as opposition Republicans - have pledged to investigate since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month after a rapid advance.



Blinken appeared on Monday before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and was to testify on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the first Biden administration official to testify publicly to lawmakers since the Islamist militant group's takeover.



Fireworks had been expected, given the amount of finger-pointing over how the two-decade-long war ended. Many Republicans, particularly those closely allied to Trump, interrupted or even shouted over Blinken during the House hearing, a departure for a committee known for bipartisan cooperation.



Others offered harsh criticism.



"The American people don't like to lose, especially not to the terrorists. But this is exactly what has happened," said Representative Michael McCaul, the panel's top Republican.



McCaul asked why assets like the Bagram Air Base were not maintained and why the administration had not reached counterterrorism agreements with neighboring countries.



"This is a national security threat as China moves in. For all I know they make take over Bagram," McCaul said.



Blinken said the United States was actively working to identify threats.



MANY QUESTIONS



Lawmakers asked a long list of questions about the rapid collapse of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and scramble to evacuate 124,000 people.



Democrats expressed concern about Americans and at-risk Afghans who still wish to leave, but backed the withdrawal as necessary, if painful. "I would welcome hearing what exactly a smooth withdrawal from a messy chaotic 20-year war looks like," said Representative Gregory Meeks, the committee's chairman.



Blinken praised the evacuation as "a heroic effort." He pledged that the United States will continue to support humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, but through non-governmental organizations and U.N. agencies, not the Taliban.



Afghanistan is at risk of running out of food as it faces a terrible drought in addition to political upheaval. "We need to do everything we can to make sure the people of Afghanistan don't suffer any more than is already the case," Blinken said.



He said he had not spoken personally to members of the Taliban leadership. "Any legitimacy that they may seek from the international community ... is going to be contingent on their actions," he said.



Blinken said he would name a senior State Department official to focus on support for Afghan women, girls and minorities.



Republicans grilled Blinken about what happened at Kabul's airport during the evacuation ahead of the administration's Aug. 31 deadline to leave. Thirteen U.S. troops and dozens of Afghans were killed in a suicide bombing amid the chaos.



Democrats said they wanted to address not just the seven months Biden was president before Kabul fell but all 20 years of U.S. involvement in the country - under presidents from both parties.



A U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks masterminded by al Qaeda leaders based in Afghanistan.


Waheedullah Hashimi (C), a senior Taliban commander, gestures as he speaks with Reuters during an interview at an undisclosed location near Afghanistan-Pakistan border (Photo : REUTERS/Stringer)

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.



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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.



The issue is of major importance to the international community and could impact the amount of aid https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-seeks-600-million-avert-afghanistan-humanitarian-crisis-2021-09-12 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 https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/actions-or-words-afghan-journalists-question-talibans-free-press-pledge-2021-08-19 and banking https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13, 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 https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/taliban-say-woman-can-study-university-classes-must-be-segregated-2021-09-12 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 https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-protests-persist-posing-problem-new-taliban-government-2021-09-07 across 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.


EXPO 2020 Set To Become The World's Most Inclusive EXPO - Are Platforms like Virtuworx the Final Solution? (Photo : EXPO 2020 via Yibada)

With mere months until the official opening, EXPO 2020 Dubai promises to be one of the world's most inclusive events, and expected to attract over 25 million visitors during the course of its 178-day run. More than 190 countries have pledged to take part on a site that covers 4.3sq km and even houses two metro stations. This marks the first time an EXPO will take place in the Middle East, and organisers are keen to establish an atmosphere that's like no other.



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While restrictions remain a reality in many parts of the world, the UAE is banking on their successful vaccination programme as well as their convenient destination appeal to bring in as close to the original projected visitors as possible. One of the UAE's most strategic advantages remains its location, situated within a four-hour flight from a third of the world's population and an eight-hour flight from the remaining two-thirds.



Back in April 2021, Director-General of EXPO 2020, Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy told the BBC that she was hopeful that the targets set would be met.



"The world has gone through these galactical shifts over the last year but now with vaccines being rolled out, we believe that situation will settle by October. We believe the situation will be far more positive by then," commented Ms Al Hashimy.



The inclusiveness organisers continue to promote is being infused into all aspects of the event and is integral to the UAE's bigger plans to diversify and expand their economy. In May, Minister of Economy His Excellency Abdulla Bin Touq announced the country's target to double the size of its economy within the next decade, stating that the Ministry of Economy and other government entities are "working according to an ambitious vision to double our national economy over the next 10 years to reach Dh3 trillion by 2031."



According to the World Bank, while growth in the UAE contracted by 6.3 percent due to COVID-19 as well as lower oil production in 2020, the region is expected to reach a 2.5 percent increase by 2022. This will be made possible by many government-backed initiatives, including an expansion of the UAE's golden visa system and agreements like the Abraham Accords.



"We are keen to raise the level of coordination with our partners and local government, and private sector, to develop several specific initiatives that would enhance government efforts in moving towards a sustainable economy in the next 50 years," Abdulla Bin Touq told the Khaleej Times back in April.



While the government is keen to attract new company headquarters to the region and is now allowing 100 percent ownership in businesses registered by foreign nationals, tourism still remains a lucrative source of revenue for the UAE.



Chief economist at Oxford Economics, Scott Livermore recently stated, "the surge in travel to Dubai [at the end of 2020] illustrates the willingness of travellers to spring back. This also bodes well for the success of the delayed EXPO 2020, which creates an opportunity for a faster recovery in Dubai."



In terms of culture, the event will be key to not only welcoming tourists from around the globe but will also emphasize the over 200 nationalities currently living and working in the UAE. The global feel of the UAE is something organisers are excited to highlight and in December the Dubai EXPO is set to host The World Conference on Creative Economy.



Noura Al Kaabi, the Minister of Culture and Youth confirmed the news earlier this year at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Summit stating, "We are working on implementing several measures aimed at stimulating growth in the cultural sector, with the core objectives to set up the foundations to aggregate, measure and nurture the sector, and to ensure the provision of required policies and frameworks for a thriving cultural sector."



With a focus on culture and stimulating the economy in the current climate, Dubai EXPO 2020 has an opportunity that no EXPO has had before and that's the ability to be digitally inclusive. Leveraging technology in a way that promotes growth and depth is something Noura Al Kaabi is already pushing for.



"We are living in uncertain times, yet the digital world has enabled us to continue to experience culture and creativity even during a global pandemic. Here in the UAE, we have the advanced technology, the networks and connectivity to do so. The arts - music, dance, theatre and poetry - predate modern technology, and right now we need to be looking at how our digital tools can complement this industry by ensuring not only its continuity, but also its growth," she explained to a virtual audience at the 2021 edition of the Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis for Future Generations in March.



Event organisers around the globe are continuing to leverage technology to help ensure experiences remain accessible to both virtual and in-person attendees. While the pandemic saw the necessity for all areas of life, including work and play, to swiftly change to remote setups, the lessons learned during this time look poised to carry into the future.



Hybrid events, using the latest in virtual reality technologies are being pioneered by companies ready to tackle post-pandemic life. Niall Carroll, chairman of CG Tech, an investment holding company with interests in a variety of fields, including virtual reality, explains how advances in remote work and technology will be key to powering events like EXPO 2020 Dubai in the future.



"Virtual reality will be a vital component for companies moving forward. The ability to reach larger groups of people in a meaningful and fun way is what will set global events apart," explains Carroll.



The Virtulab, CG Tech's own digital skunkworks, has launched their proprietary platform, known as Virtuworx, to the public. What originally started as an in-house productivity solution is now being used by organisations around the world to provide a multitude of experiences. From hands-on training to trade shows, events and full-fledged virtual campuses, Virtuworx is proving virtual avatar-based reality is the best way to ensure business and event success.



"Were EXPO 2020 Dubai to adopt a fully virtual, digital annex, they would far surpass the 25 million visitor target," explains Niall Carroll. "Anyone with an internet connection would be able to participate. You're talking about the ability of four billion people to join the experience."



So how exactly would it work and what would be the added benefits of going digital for the EXPO?



With Virtuworx clients are able to custom build their virtual environment. In terms of the EXPO, a virtual replica of the entire site would be possible. Giving virtual attendees the opportunity to move freely between the vast space, much as they would in real life. Digital avatars allow for connections to be made and value to be added. Other key takeaways include a more inclusive experience for all attendees as well as a decrease in the event's carbon footprint, a definite plus for organisers.



"Virtual reality has really come into its own over the last 18 months. What was once seen as an extravagance is now being touted as a necessity for many to remain connected and engaged. Businesses and even governments are recognising the absolute need to embrace digital technology," says Carroll.



As the UAE gears up for the opening of Dubai EXPO 2020, digital technology and its influence on culture and the economy will remain hot topics as the world adapts to a new way of living. Just how this technology will transform the events of the future is anyone's guess, but it seems we are only at the precipice of exciting times ahead.


A still image shows a behind the scenes of Netflix series entitled "D.P." in this handout picture taken (Photo : Netflix Korea/Handout via REUTERS)

A hit Netflix series is reigniting a debate in South Korea over the country's massive military, its history of abuse scandals, and the mandatory conscription that fills its ranks with young men.



"D.P.", short for Deserter Pursuit, has been among the top Netflix shows in South Korea since it premiered at the end of August.



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The series follows military police assigned to capture deserters, shining a light on daily life for many conscripts, including mental and physical abuse from other soldiers.



Director Han Jun-hee said he sought to tell a humanising story about how the system makes deserters both victims and criminals, as well as the toll it takes on those forced to do the hunting.



"'D.P' is a story of tracing a deserter, but at the same time, it is a paradoxical story of looking for someone's unfortunate son, brother, or lover," Han told Reuters in an email.



Asked about the popularity of the show, a defence ministry spokesman said that the military environment has changed and that the ministry has tried to stamp out abuse and harsh treatment.



Last week the military announced that even before the series came out, it had planned to do away with the system of having rank-and-file soldiers track down AWOL comrades. That change will go into effect in July 2022.



South Korea maintains an active duty military of 550,000, with 2.7 million troops in reserves, amid decades of tensions with North Korea. All men must serve for up to 21 months, depending on the military branch.



South Korea's military criminal law punishes desertion by up to 10 years in prison.



The Defence Ministry says abuse and desertion among conscripts are down, largely because of a 2019 decision to allow enlisted soldiers to use cellphones in their barracks.



The ministry declined to confirm the exact number of deserters, but South Korean media reported that 55 cases were reported last year, down from 78 in 2019. Military deaths by suicide also dropped from 27 to 15 in the same period.



HEATED DEBATE



The series landed as the country debates the future of conscription and the potential for abuse, particularly as young men facing dim economic prospects have complained of losing time to military service that they could have spent on studies or work.



In 2018 a Supreme Court ruling https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-southkorea-military-idUKKCN1N63GP for the first time found that conscientious objection is a valid reason to forgo military service. Parliament last year passed a bill allowing K-Pop stars to postpone their military service https://www.reuters.com/article/southkorea-kpop-idUSKBN28B4GH to when they are 30.



The military has been rocked by multiple sexual abuse scandals this year, prompting lawmakers to pass a law that sex abuse and violent crime in the military will be handled by civilian courts.



Reaction to the series among former conscripts has been mixed, with some saying it mirrored their experiences, others saying its depictions of abuse are overblown, and some avoiding the show altogether to prevent traumatic memories from resurfacing.



"There is a scene in D.P. where they throw combat boots (at the soldier). I went through a lot of similar harassments," said Ma Joon-bin, who described his time between 2013 and 2014 as the "dark ages." "Now that I look back I feel it was unfair, but back then it was so common."



Lee Jun-tae, 24, who served from 2017 to 2019, said he had never experienced or heard of any of his friends suffering abuse during their service.



"There was no harsh treatment during my time," he said.



Last week the presidential favorite for the ruling party, Lee Jae-myung, called the stories in the series a "barbaric history" of South Korea. Hong Joon-pyo, an opposition party candidate, has said he endured cruelty as a soldier and pledged to consider moving to voluntary military service.



Ending conscription won't solve all the problems if broader military culture doesn't change as well, said pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik, who served as a D.P.



"As long as there is military service, whether mandatory or voluntary conscription system, problems are inevitable one way or another," Kim said.


Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zheng Zeguang attends a news conference on the state of trade negotiations between China and U.S. in Beijing, (Photo : REUTERS/Jason Lee)

The Chinese ambassador to Britain has been banned from attending an event in the country's parliament because Beijing imposed sanctions earlier this year on lawmakers who highlighted alleged human right abuses in Xinjiang.



China imposed the sanctions on nine British politicians, lawyers and an academic in March for spreading what it said were "lies and disinformation" the over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in the country's far west.



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Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, and John McFall, the speaker of the House of Lords, stepped in to prevent Zheng Zeguang from speaking at an event in parliament.



"I regularly hold meetings with ambassadors from across the world to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians," Hoyle said.



"But I do not feel it's appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members."



Hoyle said he was not banning the Chinese ambassador permanently, but only while the sanctions remained in place.



Richard Graham, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary China Group, had given an invitation to Zeguang during the summer, the Daily Telegraph said.



Graham and the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The All Party Parliamentary China Group declined to comment.



PARALLEL SANCTIONS



China sanctioned five British lawmakers, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee.



The targeted individuals and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering Chinese territory and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with them.



China imposed the sanctions after Britain, the United States, the European Union and Canada imposed parallel sanctions on senior Chinese officials accused of the mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang.



Tim Loughton, a Conservative politician targeted by the sanctions, welcomed the decision to bar the ambassador from the event.



He said China could not think "they can shut down free speech by parliamentarians in a democracy".



At the time the sanctions were imposed, Britain condemned the move as an attempt by Beijing to stifle criticism, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying he stood in solidarity with those affected.



London and Beijing have been trading angry words over a range of issues, including China's reforms in former British colony Hong Kong and China's trade policy.



Activists and U.N. rights experts say at least a million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labour and sterilisations.



China has repeatedly denied all accusations of abuse and says its camps offer vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.


Pope Francis arrives to lead the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in Presov, Slovakia (Photo : REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa)

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that the cross should not be used as a political symbol and warned against Christians trying to be triumphalist, in an apparent criticism of the use of religion for partisan ends.



Francis flew to the city of Presov, in eastern Slovakia, where he presided at a long service known as a Divine Liturgy, a Byzantine rite used by Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches.



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The pope wove his homily around the theme of Christian identity, saying crosses and crucifixes were often used superficially by Christians.



Speaking to about 30,000 worshippers, he said many Christians had crucifixes or crosses around their necks, on walls in their homes, in their cars and in their pockets but had no real relationship with Jesus.



"What good is this, unless we stop to look at the crucified Jesus and open our hearts to him," he said. "Let us not reduce the cross to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social status."



In 1950 in Presov, the communist authorities forced the Eastern Rite Catholics, who owe their allegiance to the Pope, to join the Orthodox Church. A number of Eastern Rite clerics who refused were jailed.



APPEAL TO RELIGION



In Hungary, where the pope stopped briefly on Sunday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has appealed to religious sentiment in his anti-immigrant and nationalist politics, saying that Hungary's Christian heritage risked disappearing.



After his meeting with the pope on Sunday, Orban said he asked the pontiff "not to let Christian Hungary perish". The pope said in Hungary that the country could preserve its Christian roots while opening up to the needy.



At the liturgy on Tuesday, Francis also again appeared to warn Christians against the use of their religion in so-called culture wars that he believes hurt the common good.



"How often do we long for a Christianity of winners, a triumphalist Christianity that is important and influential,



that receives glory and honour?" he said.



In Slovakia, the far-right Kotlebovci-People's Party Our Slovakia says it stands on three pillars - Christian, national and social - and has vowed to prevent immigration of mostly Muslim refugees.



"The cross is not a flag to wave, but the pure source of a new way of living," Francis said, adding that a true believer "views no one as an enemy, but everyone as a brother or sister".



A number of political parties in Europe, including several far-right parties in the east, use crosses on their party flags or symbols.



In Hungary, one of Orban's government allies, the tiny Christian Democratic Peoples' Party (KDNP), uses a cross on their symbol. The far-right nationalist Our Homeland Party (Mi Hazank) uses the Byzantine cross, which has two horizontal beams.



The pope later visited one of the most impoverished communities in Slovakia, a settlement of Roma people, where he condemned prejudice and discrimination against them, saying it was wrong to pigeonhole entire ethnic groups.



He then held a rally with young Slovak Catholics attended by around 20,000 people at a stadium in Kosice before he was due to return to Bratislava. He returns to Rome on Wednesday.


Former police plead not guilty to federal charges in George Floyd death

(L-R) Former Minneapolis police officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng in a combination of booking photographs from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Hennepin County Jail in Minneapolis, (Photo : Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS)

Four former Minneapolis police officers involved in the deadly arrest of George Floyd entered not guilty pleas to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights at an arraignment on Tuesday.



Former officers Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were fired after Floyd's arrest on May 25, 2020.



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Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ex-policeman-derek-chauvin-be-sentenced-george-floyds-murder-2021-06-25 in state court in June to 22-1/2 years in prison following a jury verdict of guilty in the murder of Floyd, after a bystander's cellphone video showed the Black man was held face-down and not resisting in a restraint.



The verdict https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-race-georgefloyd-idCAKBN2C716I was widely seen as a landmark rebuke of the disproportionate use of police force against Black Americans.



The video of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of the handcuffed Floyd for more than nine minutes during the arrest caused outrage around the world and the largest protest movement seen in the United States in decades.



Chauvin was helping arrest Floyd on suspicion of using a fake $20 bill.



All four officers are federally charged with depriving Floyd of his rights by failing to provide him with medical attention.



Chauvin also is federally charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are federally charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin from kneeling on Floyd's neck.



Chauvin also faces a federal prosecution on charges of violating the civil rights of a 14-year-old boy he arrested in 2017.



At Tuesday's hearing, the judge asked for more legal documentation from attorneys for both sides in order to rule on motions by attorneys for Lane, Kueng and Thao, asking to sever their trials from Chauvin.


Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a meeting with athletes, participants of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, in Moscow, Russia (Photo : Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via REUTERS)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he was self-isolating after several members of his entourage fell ill with COVID-19, including someone he worked with in close proximity and had been in close contact with all of the previous day.



Putin, who has had two shots of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, explained the situation to a government meeting by video conference after the Kremlin said he was "absolutely" healthy and did not have the disease himself.



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"It's a natural experiment. Let's see how Sputnik V works in practice," Putin said. "I have quite high levels of antibodies. Let's see how that plays out in real life. I hope everything will be as it should be."



Putin, 68, said the circumstances had forced him to cancel a planned trip to Tajikistan this week for regional security meetings expected to focus on Afghanistan, but that he would take part by video conference instead.



The Kremlin said Putin took the decision to self-isolate after completing a busy round of meetings on Monday, which included face-to-face Kremlin talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.



Putin also met Russian Paralympians and travelled to western Russia on Monday to observe joint military drills with Belarus.



He was quoted by the RIA news agency as telling the Paralympians on Monday that he was worried about the COVID-19 situation in the Kremlin.



"Problems with this COVID are even surfacing in my entourage," Putin was quoted as saying at the time. "I think I'll be forced to quarantine myself soon. Many people around me are sick."



He said on Tuesday the colleague he worked with in close proximity - one of several entourage members who had fallen ill with COVID-19 - had been vaccinated but that his antibody count had later fallen and that the individual had fallen ill three days after being revaccinated.



"Judging by everything, that was a little late (to get revaccinated)," Putin said.



The Kremlin has had a rigorous regime in place designed to keep Putin, who turns 69 next month, healthy and away from anyone with COVID-19.



Kremlin visitors have had to pass through special disinfection tunnels, journalists attending his events must undergo multiple PCR tests, and some people he meets are asked to quarantine beforehand and be tested.



Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin's work rate would not be affected.



"But it's just that in-person meetings will not take place for a while. But that does not affect their frequency and the president will continue his activity via video conferences."



Asked if Putin had tested negative for COVID-19, Peskov said: "Of course yes. The president is absolutely healthy."



Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute which developed the Sputnik V vaccine, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that, in his view, Putin would need to self-isolate for one week.



Gintsburg said any decision on the length of the isolation period was a matter for the Kremlin's own medical specialists.



Other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have also been forced to self-isolate during the pandemic.


Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry discussed over the phone Friday with his US counterpart, John Kerry, recent developments in efforts to restart Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, as well as a number of international and regional issues.

Among issues discussed were the latest developments in Libya and Syria.

The two diplomats also discussed the United Kingdoms Thursday vote to leave the European Union and the possible repercussions of the move.

Shoukry and Kerry agreed to keep in touch and follow up on developments after the UK's exit vote.

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Egypts Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has said that the return of the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) report on human development in Egypt for 2021, following a decade-long hiatus, indicates the Egyptian states ability to overcome challenges.

Madbouly made the remarks during the launching ceremony for the Human Development Report (HDR) 2021 in the New Administrative Capital, which was attended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as well as key UNDP and state officials.

The HDR reflects the comprehensive development efforts undertaken by the state, which extend to all aspects of life in Egypt, presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said.

The return of this report after a 10-year pause is an important indication that the Egyptian state could overcome many challenges, Madbouly said during the ceremony.

The PM said that he was among the experts who participated in preparing the HDR during the past few years, and hailed the complete impartiality and scientific method through which the report was prepared.

Madbouly added that Egypt has become in an excellent position to be more open to international institutions and keener to make all data available and to follow transparency in all measures taken, Madbouly said.

Economic reform program

Madbouly said that Egypts economic reform program achieved major accomplishments before the coronavirus and managed to maintain positive economic growth during the pandemic.

Egypt is keen to achieve 7 percent economic growth during the coming four years, Madbouly said.

Over the past 10 years, Egypt witnessed two revolutions and faced numerous security, political and economic challenges, Madbouly said, affirming that these developments had many negative implications on economy.

Madbouly said that Egypts economic reform program mainly sought to fix decades-long structural problems in the economy.

But most importantly, [the programme aimed to] secure job opportunities for our youth, improve the individuals standard of living, upgrade the services provided to him, achieve social justice and sustainable development within the framework of Egypt Vision 2030 and the UN SDGs, Madbouly said.

He noted that the economic programme has also aimed to attract more regional and international investments to expand the Egyptian economy.

Madbouly also said that the state has launched social initiatives and programmes to ease the effect of the economic reform program on some segments of society, including the cash-subsidy programme Takaful and Karama.

Madbouly said that the achievements Egypt has made thanks to the economic reform programme are only one stage of a long programme Egypt is keen to implement.

The UNDP introduced the report in 1990 to define and measure development and to rank countries based on their Human Development Index (HDI), which ranks education, health and income.

According to UNDP Egypt, the country's 2021 report highlights human development between 2011 and 2020.

Putting human beings at the heart of development

Speaking during the ceremony, Randa Abu El-Hassan, UNDP Resident Representative in Egypt, said this is the 12th Human Development Report to be issued on Egypt since 1994.

This important report... reaffirms Egypts commitment to a development approach that puts human beings at its heart, Abu El-Hassan said.

Abu El-Hassan said that the report covers a pivotal period in Egypts modern history, starting with the revolutions in 2011 and 2013, and including the adoption of the 2014 constitution, followed by major reforms in economic and social policies.

Abu El-Hassan said these reforms managed to tackle chronic development challenges, and that Egypts economic reform program could achieve economic stability.

She also highlighted that Egypt was among few countries that were able to achieve positive economic growth in 2020 despite the pandemic.

Important changes amid socio-economic challenges

In a recorded speech played during the ceremony, UNDP administrator Achim Steiner expressed the UNDPs pride to have collaborated with Egypt in issuing the HDR since 1994.

The 2021 report covers a period of important changes in Egypt marked by major socio-economic transitions and challenges, Steiner said.

It shows how the country has made huge strides in key areas such as health, education and housing, he stated.

Egypt, Steiner said, is notable for being among the earliest adopters of the concept of human development, which is centred on expanding the richness of human life rather than simply the richness of the economy.

Steiner mentioned that Egypt managed to raise life expectancy from 70.3 years in 2010 to 72 years in 2019.

He also said children in Egypt today benefit from nearly four years more of schooling compared to three decades ago.

Steiner also noted that due to the COVID-19, global human development is regressing for the first time since 1990.

Like the rest of the world, Egypt is grappling with these harsh realities; yet, notably it has managed to maintain positive economic growth due to the implementation of bold economic reforms, Steiner said.

Egypt is also responding proactively to the climate and environment crisis, Steiner said, citing Egypts establishment of a national council for climate change in 2019 to drive forward climate action.

The UNDP is proud to support these crucial efforts, including through the new strategy on climate change, Steiner added.

Steiner said that Egypts upcoming development finance assessment supported by the UN will lay the foundations for the countrys new integrated national financing framework.

It will also help increase investments to achieve SDGs and sustainable development strategy goals under Egypt Vision 2030, according to Steiner.

During the ceremony, Minister of Planning Hala El-Said said that Egypt was among the earliest countries to document the human development situation.

El-Said said that the issuance of HDRs around the world contributes to strengthening countries' capacity to collect and analyse data related to human development.

HDR Egypt's recommendations

Khaled Zakaria, the author of the 2021 HDR Egypt, revealed a number of recommendations mentioned in the report.

These include issuing a number of laws supporting economic and social development, Zakaria said.

The recommendations also include the implementation of institutional and administrative reforms required to comprehensively implement existing strategies and laws.

These laws include the social insurance law, the health insurance law and the waste management law.

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EgyptAir will operate four weekly direct flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv as of October for the first time since 1979, according to the Egyptian flagship carriers flight schedule.

Direct flights have been scheduled to take off from Cairo International Airport and arrive at Tel Avivs Ben Gurion International Airport on 3, 4, 5, and 7 October.

The ticket prices range from EGP 4,500 (around $285.7) to EGP 4,900 ($311) for one-way flights, which take around 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Although EgyptAir's schedule confirms earlier Israeli news reports about the flights between the Egyptian and the Israeli capitals, no official confirmation has been announced by the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry.

The Jerusalem-based online newspaper The Times Of Israel reported on Sunday that once flights are re-launched by EgyptAir, they will be operated by the airlines fully marked aircraft.

Since the 1980s, the only flights between Israel and Cairo had been operated by Air Sinai, a subsidiary of EgyptAir, which operated flights in unmarked planes without the official flag.

The listing of direct flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv comes a few hours after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis meeting on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

The visit is the first by Bennett to Egypt as prime minister, as well as the first visit by an Israeli prime minister in general to Egypt, since 2011.

The two leaders discussed the latest developments concerning the peace process in the Middle East.

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.

According to the Israeli PM offices statement on the meeting, Bennett stated that the Egyptian role is important in the region and that after four decades, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty has been the cornerstone of security and stability in the region.

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Tuesday that the launch of the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) report on human development in Egypt for 2021 reflects the success of the Egyptian people in enduring the impacts of the economic reform programme.

President El-Sisi, along with key state and UNDP officials, attended a ceremony in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo to celebrate the issuance of the report.

The report is the 12th to be issued on Egypt since 1994 and comes after a hiatus on issuing the report that lasted for 10 years.

The UNDP introduced the report in 1990 to define and measure development and to rank countries based on their Human Development Index (HDI), which ranks education, health and income.

According to UNDP Egypt, the country's 2021 report highlights human development between 2011 and 2020.

The [HDR] report is a certificate not on the government or the state; it is for the people, who I always say are the true heroes, El-Sisi said in remarks during the ceremony.

The president noted that the country's economic reform plan succeeded only because the people accepted it and understood its measures.

Even though we have taken social protection measures to ease the implications [of the economic reform program], eventually, challenges that have been and still are facing the Egyptian state still represent a burden on Egyptian society, El-Sisi said.

Development in parallel with counterterrorism

El-Sisi said that the Egyptian state has taken measures to counter terrorism during the eight past years, but has considered the fight against this phenomenon to be based on construction and development.

El-Sisi said the state has worked on developing all sectors with the utmost strength, depth and comprehensiveness.

The president urged that the reports prologue in the coming years include challenges such as terrorism, regional challenges, illegal emigration, and refugees in Egypt.

El-Sisi said that Egypt hosts 5-6 million refugees who live among us as guests rather than refugees and enjoy the same services the state provides to citizens.

This number of refugees can be equal to the [population] of two or three countries, and therefore, the report shall put this into consideration, El-Sisi said.

Changing the lives of millions in 3 years

In his remarks, El-Sisi said that Egypt has altered the plan to develop the countryside as per its Decent Life initiative so that it is completed in three years instead of 10.

Decent Life, Hayah Karima in Arabic, comprises a series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects. As many as 4,658 villages are included in the initiative, which is divided into three phases.

El-Sisi launched the first phase of the initiative in mid-2021 with a budget estimated at EGP 250 billion, due to be completed by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Imagine that we, in Egypt, will be able to change the lives of 58 million Egyptians, God willing, during the coming three years, El-Sisi said, adding that the next HDR on Egypt should be able to monitor such huge transformation.

El-Sisi said the country managed to raise the availability of sanitation service provided to the countryside from 12 percent to 38 percent, affirming that the country aims during the coming three years to provide sanitation services to the entire countryside.

The president also underlined Egypts efforts to line canals so that they can eliminate pollution and establish dual and triple sewage treatment plants.

From the period between 2014 until now, in addition to the three coming years, maybe our spending will exceed EGP 600-700 billion for the dual and triple treatment plants, first to benefit from water and also to eliminate environmental pollution caused by this water, El-Sisi said.

El-Sisi also highlighted the efforts to develop the lakes of Manzala, Timsah and Mariout as an example of the countrys development plans, saying that Lake Manzala has probably not witnessed such development in 500-600 years.

We do not [just] return them to their previous state, we do something that is unprecedented in the history of Egypt and the region, El-Sisi said.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has assured that Egypt will continue coordinating with all Libyan parties to help ensure the unity of Libya's national institutions and the holding of long-awaited parliamentary and presidential elections in December.

El-Sisi made the remarks during a meeting with the speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh and Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Haftar in Cairo on Tuesday.

The meeting, which was attended by the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel, tackled the latest developments in the neighbouring country, whose stability is viewed as critical to Egypts own national security.

El-Sisi stressed to the Libyan officials the necessity of expelling all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya and preventing foreign interventions, which aim to implement agendas at the expense of the Libyan people.

Egypt has repeatedly called for the immediate exit of all foreign forces and mercenaries from the North African country, with which it shares a 1,115 kilometre-long border.

The Egyptian calls are in line with demands made by other international and regional powers in order to firm up the ceasefire that came into effect in October.

Saleh and Haftar hailed Egypts ongoing efforts to support the Libyan people in managing the transitional period as well as its contribution to uniting the Libyan army, Rady noted.

The two Libyan officials asserted that they agreed with Egypts vision on managing the transitional stage, especially the necessity of holding the parliamentary and presidential elections before the end of 2021, as well as reinforcing national security and expelling all mercenaries and foreign troops from Libya.

The oil-rich country was gripped by violence and political turmoil following the ouster and murder of its leader Muammar Gaddafi on the heels of a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

In recent years, Libya was torn between warring administrations, one in the east and one in the west, before the two camps signed a ceasefire in Geneva last year and an interim government was established earlier this year to guide the country towards national elections slated for December.

However, there are still divisions between Libyan parties over when to hold elections, which elections to hold, and on what constitutional grounds.

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Egypt has become among the countries with high rates of human development, said Khaled Zakaria, the main author of the United Nations Development Programmes Human Development Report (HDR) in Egypt for 2021.

During a ceremony in the New Administrative Capital east of Cairo to celebrate the issuance of the report on Tuesday, Zakaria reviewed the issues tackled by the report.

The report covered several issues related to the definition of "development for all" and therefore, Zakaria added, dealt with issues of investment in people, economic reform, social protection, woman employment, and governance as well as issues related to environmental system management.

"In each issue, the research team followed a review of the constitutional framework, as being the governing framework for development in Egypt, in addition to Egypts Vision 2030," he noted during the ceremony, which was attended by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

He added that the increase in human development rates in Egypt continues, and Egypt has moved to become one of the countries with high human development rates, a matter that reflects the sectors related to health and educational and national income.

As for education, dropout rates are going down, while the rates of transition from one educational stage to another is going up, he pointed out.

The Egyptian health sector, Zakaria said, has witnessed an improvement in performance, pointing to the increase of the average life expectancy for males and females in Egypt over the past years.

He also praised the health initiatives launched by the Egyptian government in recent years, including the early detection of Hepatitis C infection.

In July 2020, the Egyptian health ministry announced that the country was officially free of Hepatitis C, only months after concluding the 100 Million Health initiative to screen and overcome hepatitis and non-communicable diseases.

The initiative, spanned from October 2018 until April 2019, included mass screenings for all citizens over the age of 18 for the early detection of Hepatitis C infection alongside evaluation and treatment in Hepatitis treatment units deployed nationwide.

The report is the 12th to be issued on Egypt since 1994 and comes after a hiatus on issuing the report that lasted for 10 years.

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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.

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Nine people, most of them members of Somalia's security forces, were killed in a suspected suicide bombing at a checkpoint in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, police and witnesses said.

The attack took place near a checkpoint frequented by the security forces, police officer Mohamed Ali said.

"There are still investigations going on but with all indications so far, a suicide bomber caused the blast," he said, adding that six members of the security forces and three civilians were killed and 11 others wounded.

The bombing was claimed the by Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab Islamist group, which has been fighting to topple Somalia's federal government since 2007 and has carried out waves of attacks.

The jihadist group controlled the capital until 2011 when it was pushed out by African Union troops, but it still holds territory in the countryside and launches frequent attacks against government and civilian targets in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

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Many Afghans from the Hazara ethnic minority studying in Iraq's city of Najaf watched in terror as their homeland fell back into Taliban hands.

And while they feel safe for now, they fear for their families back home -- and for their own safety should they ever return.

Millions of Shia pilgrims come each year to Najaf to mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammed's son-in-law Ali, whose mausoleum stands in the old city.

Others, like Sheikh Ali Bassir, 51, have spent years studying at the prestigious seminary that trains Shia clergy.

"I wanted to serve the people of Afghanistan so much, I want to go back, but the situation isn't normal," Bassir says, surrounded by shelves bearing copies of the Koran while a ceiling fan turns above.

His serene smile turns wooden as he considers the fate of the Hazara people, who make up between 10 and 20 percent of Afghanistan's 38 million people and have been long persecuted for their faith in a country riven by deep divisions.

With the Taliban back in control since last month, the majority Shia Muslim group is worried the Sunni hardliners may again turn on them -- just as happened during the Taliban's previous 1996-2001 rule.

During the militants' first, scorched-earth takeover of the country in the late 1990s, thousands of Hazaras were believed to have been slaughtered by the militants, who see Shia Muslims as heretics.

Images of the destruction of two massive Buddha statues carved into a cliff in the largely Hazara province of Bamiyan went around the world in March 2001.

Just days after the Taliban's return, the statue of a prominent Hazara leader in Bamiyan was decapitated.

Marginalised and persecuted

Many Afghans and the international community still remember the Hazaras' brutal treatment at the hands of the Taliban.

"My brother and sister are in Afghanistan. They're far from the capital, in the countryside, thank God. They're well," says Bassir.

But he adds that he is "afraid of how the Taliban will take control over the Shias," showing a video on his phone of fighters violently putting down a demonstration he says was made up of Hazaras.

Throughout the centuries, the group has been subjected to slavery, religious and economic persecution, as well as forced displacement.

By some estimates, nearly half of the Hazara population was wiped out in the late 19th century, with many later enslaved during the conquest of their traditional homeland by Pashtuns, the country's biggest ethnic group.

Sunni extremists continued to target Hazaras in attacks even after the US-led invasion in 2001.

In May, 50 people were killed near a girls' school in a mostly Hazara district of Kabul.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was widely blamed on the Islamic State group's Afghanistan chapter.

'Iraqi at heart'

Bassir's 21-year-old son Mustafa listens intently from the corner of his father's study.

An Afghan national, he feels "Iraqi at heart" after being born and raised there.

Even in another country riven by 40 years of war, "I prefer to stay in Najaf, it's safer," he says in fluent, locally accented Arabic.

Fellow Hazara student Sheikh Mohammed Taqi, in his 20s, wants to bring his family to Iraq from western Afghanistan's Herat province.

"My mother, my sister and my wife are still there," he says. "I'm very afraid for them... a woman can't leave her home any longer without her husband."

But "we have no idea how to get a visa or even a passport" for travel, Taqi says, as "there is no state anymore" in Afghanistan.

While under the Taliban's previous reign, women were not allowed to leave home unchaperoned, this does not appear to be the case under their new rule.

Sheikh Qorban Ali, a 26-year-old from Afghanistan's northern city Mazar-i-Sharif, dreams of going home.

But he says that for now "the situation means students can't go and spread their message".

He would nevertheless gladly obey if the Shiite authorities in Najaf gave the order, declaring that "we have to go if it's possible".

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Moroccan authorities have dismantled a cell of Islamic State group-affiliated militants and arrested three suspects accused of plotting an assassination, security services said Tuesday.

The suspects, detained in the southern city of Errachidia, had planned "crimes of a terrorist nature against individuals" and selected a public servant for "imminent assassination", according to the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), which oversees counter-terrorism operations.

Security forces searched the suspects' homes and a shop, where they found military clothing, jihadist literature and information, it said.

The head of the cell was "active in recruiting from the among followers of traditional religious trends", said the statement carried by the MAP state news agency.

The suspects, aged between 21 and 37, "had shared digital content of a terrorist nature such as those documenting suicide attacks and killings carried out by Daesh", it said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

They were remanded in custody for further investigations on the cell's potential international links, its plans and any other people "involved in its extremist activities", the statement said, warning that Morocco continues to face the threat of terror attacks.

Since 2002, Moroccan security services have dismantled more than 2,000 extremist cells and made over 3,500 arrests linked to terrorism, according to BCIJ figures published in February.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually Friday with his counterparts from Israel and three Arab states on the anniversary of the normalization of ties, the State Department said.

Blinken will meet the foreign ministers of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco to "commemorate the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords and discuss ways to further deepen ties and build a more prosperous region," a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday.

The meeting -- and use of the term "Abraham Accords" -- marks a full embrace by President Joe Biden's administration over what predecessor Donald Trump's team considered a signature foreign policy success.

The United Arab Emirates, followed quickly by Bahrain and Morocco, became the first Arab states in decades to normalize relations with Israel, which earlier reached peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.

Notably absent from Friday's commemoration is Sudan, whose new civilian-backed government -- desperate for US support -- promised Trump to move forward with Israel but has since been hesitant in the face of public opposition.

Critics of the Trump approach said that normalization was no substitute for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, with the previous administration staunchly backing Israel, including its right to annex land.

The Arab states' warming to Israel came after Trump promised state-of-the-art F-35 warplanes to the United Arab Emirates and broke longstanding US policy by recognizing Morocco's claims to Western Sahara.

Biden has not changed either decision, although his administration says it is attaching greater oversight on sales to the Emirati military.

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Qatar warned Tuesday it would not take responsibility for Kabul airport without "clear" agreements with all involved, including the Taliban, about its operations.

Doha has become a key broker in Afghanistan following last month's withdrawal of US forces, helping evacuate thousands of foreigners and Afghans, engaging the new Taliban rulers and supporting operations at Kabul airport.

"We need to make sure that everything is addressed very clearly otherwise... we are not able to take any responsibility of the airport (if) all these things are not addressed," Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at a press briefing.

"Right now the status is still (under) negotiation because we need to have an agreement that's clear for everyone for all the parties and who is going to take care of the technical (side), who's going to take care of the security aspects.

"There is a possibility for collaboration with other countries if needed, but until now the discussion is only among us and Turkey and the Taliban."

Since the US pullout, Qatar Airways planes have made several trips to Kabul, flying in aid and Doha's representatives and ferrying out foreign passport holders.

A Pakistan International Airlines jet landed in Kabul Monday, marking the first international commercial flight since the US withdrawal.

It then made a return flight to Islamabad with about 70 people on board -- mostly Afghans who were relatives of staffers with international organisations, according to airport ground staff.

Kabul's international airport was ransacked after US-led forces finished a chaotic evacuation of more than 120,000 people, and the Taliban have since scrambled to resume operations with technical assistance from Qatar and other nations.

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.

But the resumption of regular commercial flights will be a key test for the Taliban, who have repeatedly promised to allow Afghans with the right documents to leave the country freely.

The United States pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan on August 30, ending its longest war just ahead of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks that prompted its invasion.

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A transgender woman who led a militia called The White Rabbits has been sentenced to 53 years in prison for bombing a Minnesota mosque in 2017, the Justice Department announced.

Emily Claire Hari, 50, was convicted last year on five counts including the bombing, destruction of religious property and using force to obstruct worship, the department said in a statement late Monday.

It said that Hari -- who at the time identified as a man, Michael Hari -- organized a "terrorist militia group" named The White Rabbits in Clarence, Illinois.

Hari recruited two men, Michael McWhorter and Joe Morris, into the group, and on August 5, they attacked the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center (DAF) in Bloomington, Minnesota, around 500 miles (800 kilometers) away.

In the early morning hours, as some people were gathering at the mosque for prayers, they broke a window and threw containers of volatile fuel and a pipe bomb inside, which exploded, causing heavy damage.

"Hari targeted DAF specifically to terrorize Muslims into believing they are not welcome in the United States and should leave the country," the department said.

In January 2019, McWhorter and Morris pleaded guilty to the bombing, while Hari fought the case at trial.

Hari's two accomplices have not yet been sentenced.

"Hari sought to terrorize an entire faith community. Today's sentence makes clear that such acts of hate-fueled terror will not be tolerated," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced a second day of tough congressional questions Tuesday about the Biden administration's much-criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Blinken sought to parry a new wave of bipartisan lawmaker anger over the operation that resulted in the complete takeover by the Taliban, and has left many American citizens, green card holders and at-risk Afghans stranded in the country.

The top two members of the committee, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez and Idaho Republican James Risch, both assailed the withdrawal as a debacle in their opening remarks.

``The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed,'' said committee chairman Menendez, who has been generally supportive of President Joe Biden's foreign policy but has taken issue with several of its aspects, including Afghanistan.

``This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administration's decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January,'' Menendez said. ``There has to be accountability.''

``The withdrawal was a dismal failure,'' said Risch, the ranking GOP member of the panel, accusing the administration of ``ineptitude'' that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on U.S. troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.

``There's not enough lipstick in the world to put on this pig to make it look any different than what it actually is,`` Risch said.

Much as he did on Monday in an often contentious hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken tried to deflect the criticism and maintained the administration had done the best it could under extremely trying and chaotic circumstances.

Blinken again blamed the Trump administration for its Feb. 2020 peace deal with the Taliban that he said had tied Biden's hands, as well as the quick and unexpected collapse of the Afghan government and security forces that led to the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.

``Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained,`` he said. ``They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward.''

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., demanded to know how the intelligence had been so wrong, suggesting that not only the wrong people were in charge of assessing the situation but that the policy had been incoherent.

``This was a failure of policy and planning,`` said Rubio, a frequent critic of Biden's. ``China, Russia and Iran look at this as incompetence they might be able to exploit.''

The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get people out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul, cementing its hold on the country before the completion of the U.S. withdrawal on Aug. 30.

Blinken defended the withdrawal and the end of America's longest-running war as ``the right thing to do`` after 20 years. And, he noted that despite severe difficulties the U.S. and its allies had managed to evacuate some 124,000 people.

``The evacuation was an extraordinary effort _ under the most difficult conditions imaginable _ by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals,'' he said.

Even some Democrats, though, were unswayed.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the only woman on the committee who has long fought for the U.S. to protect the advances made by Afghan women and girls, lamented the current situation and said presidents and lawmakers of both parties shared the blame for the situation.

``Let's stop with the hypocrisy about who's to blame,'' she said in a pointed dig at former President Donald Trump and his second Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who negotiated the 2020 peace deal with the Taliban separate from the Afghan government with no assurance that minority rights would be respected.

``I want to know where the outrage was when they were giving away the rights of women and girls,'' Shaheen said.

In response, Blinken said he would soon be appointing a senior official to oversee U.S. policy toward Afghan women and girls.

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Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will head to Paris on Wednesday to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, state media in the UAE reported.

Sheikh Mohammed, the United Arab Emirates' de facto leader, would discuss with Macron "the prospects of consolidating strategic cooperation" between the two countries, the official WAM news agency said on Tuesday.

The two men will address a number of issues, among them regional developments which are likely to include Afghanistan.

Tensions have simmered in Afghanistan since the United States completed its withdrawal last month, with sporadic street protests erupting in cities and armed resistance to Taliban rule in the Panjshir valley.

France said on Monday it will contribute 100 million euros ($118 million) for emergency humanitarian work in Afghanistan after the Taliban grabbed power.

The Taliban's takeover sparked a chaotic exit for the Americans and their allies after 20 years in the country.

During the evacuation, France set up an air bridge at the UAE's Al-Dhafra air base for people evacuated from Kabul.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on Monday there were "very few" French nationals still stranded in Afghanistan, saying that they only numbered in the dozens.

Some 2,800 people were evacuated from Afghanistan by France, including 2,600 Afghans, he said.

The UAE has set up an air bridge to deliver tonnes of aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, a Kabul airport operations manager told AFP on Saturday.

The wealthy UAE, a close US ally, is one of a number of Gulf states that have been key staging posts for evacuation flights for foreigners and Afghans, alongside Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

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The United States said Tuesday it had evacuated nearly 500 "military and civilian" Afghans from Uzbekistan, while the ex-Soviet country declared there were now no Afghan refugees on its territory.

The days leading up to the Taliban's capture of Kabul caused scenes of chaos in Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as soldiers loyal to the crumbling government fled over state borders in military aircraft.

Uzbekistan had mostly withheld comment on the number and status of the refugees as it looked to cultivate ties with the Taliban next door.

But a US embassy spokesman told AFP Tuesday it had evacuated 494 "military and civilian" Afghans out of Uzbekistan's southern Termez airport with the Uzbek government's help.

"The evacuation was completed September 12-13," the spokesman told AFP by telephone, making no comment on the final destination of the refugees.

Uzbek foreign ministry spokesman Yusup Kabulzhanov on Monday confirmed the evacuation in comments to the privately-owned Kun.uz outlet.

"All Afghan refugees have left the territory of Uzbekistan", he said, without giving figures.

A staffer at Afghanistan's embassy told AFP last month that up to 1,500 Afghans might have crossed into Uzbekistan illegally after the Taliban secured control of the northern stronghold Mazar-i-Sharif in mid-August and began beating a path towards Kabul.

In a rare statement on the refugees in August, Uzbekistan said it had returned 150 people to Afghanistan at their own request and following talks with the Taliban to guarantee their safety.

- Thousands of Afghans in Tajikistan: EU -

Tajikistan, which has eschewed official contacts with the Taliban, has been similarly secretive about the number of refugees it has taken in.

The European Union's delegation in the country said on Tuesday that it was providing 160,000 Euros in humanitarian aid funding "to benefit up to 5,000 displaced Afghans" in two Tajik provinces bordering Afghanistan.

The EU statement cited the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as saying that "up to 50,000 refugees could be registered in Tajikistan after the total withdrawal of American and NATO troops by the end of 2021".

The statement comes after Interior Minister Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda earlier this month criticised international donors for failing to help Tajikistan house refugees.

Afghanistan is set to dominate discussions at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation -- a bloc that includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, China, India, Pakistan and Russia -- hosted by Tajikistan this week.

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The CDC Group  the UKs development finance institution and impact investor  announced on Tuesday that it has made a $60 million commitment under its African Private Credit Fund Strategy, which targets addressing a significant credit market dislocation and mid-market financing gap that is evolving amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This commitment covers two investments; including a $30 million investment in Vantage Mezzanine Fund IV, which is managed by Vantage Capital  an established pan-African fund manager  and a $30 million cornerstone investment in BluePeak Private Capital Fund I, BluePeaks maiden fund.

These commitments will enable fund managers to increase credit supply to mid-market African companies by providing countercyclical mezzanine funding that is bespoke and meets the markets need, said the CDC.

The CDCs African Private Credit Fund Strategy also aims to kickstart a signalling effect by attracting more commercial investors to African markets, which will in turn help develop reliable, long-term, private debt platforms that can streamline economic growth, employment, and sustainable development throughout the continent.

The investment contributes to the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) by working towards SDG 8, which relates to the availability of decent work and economic growth.

The investments are a testament to the CDCs pledge to play an anchoring role in the success and scale of Africas mid-sized companies through different instruments, said Clarisa De Franco, the managing director and head of Private Equity Funds at the CDC.

Additionally, we are confident that our partners will steward their investee firms to onward growth, generating favourable returns that will motivate commercial investors to invest in Africas nascent private credit market as we observe its rise as a promising asset class.

Meanwhile, Jo Fry, investment director and head of intermediated credit at the CDC, said that the CDCs investments in Vantage Capital and BluePeak Private Capital present an opportunity to get capital to where it is most needed.

Businesses in Africa often face significant challenges in gaining access to funding, and the pandemic has further tightened the availability of capital in these markets. We are excited to be supporting the continuing development of the private credit [fund] sector, he explained.

This can fill a funding gap with debt capital for medium-sized enterprises whose financing needs are of a size that excludes them from accessing credit from traditional banks.

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As the guests began arriving at the 30th anniversary of MBC Group, held in Lisbon last week, the Egyptian Star Yousra had her own special entry onto the red carpet.Beloved throughout the whole Arab world, Yousra whose real name is Civene Naseem, has engraved for herself a special place in the cinema industry since her first steps in the field in the 1970s. She was discovered by director of photography Abdel Halim Nasr and went on to appear in films directed by renowned filmmakers such as Henry Barakat, Youssef Chahine Mohamed Khan, Khairy Beshara, acting between 1970s and early 1990s alongside renowned names like Adel Emam, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Rushdi Abazah, Samir Ghanem, Nour El-Sherif, among many others.Collaborations with Adel Emam and Ahmed Zaki played an important role in her career, shedding light on the young talent. Fast forward over 50 years of work in the industry, Yousras filmography boasts almost 100 titles of the well-known films and television series. Her rich portfolio also includes a couple of theatre roles.Considered a fashion icon, Yousras entry on MBCs red carpet emphasized her glamour as she was greeted with great respect from young and older generation of Arab actors, actresses and producers.Over the past years, the actress appeared in a number of shows produced by the Saudi media conglomerate. In 2017, MBC recruited her as one of the judges in season 2 of Project Runway Middle East where she sat alongside Tunisian fashion icon Afef Jnifen and renowned Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab. Saheb Al-Maqam (The Enshrined Saint) released on MBCs Shahid platform in 2020 was the first feature film starring the Egyptian actress produced by MBC.Though MBC is younger than the span of Yousras achievements, the actress wraps up the Groups history saying: I didnt feel the thirty years: they passed like a day. Everything beautiful passes very fast, everything that is booming makes the time go fast, because you live in this continuous success, Yousra commented to Ahram Online, making her best wishes for the MBC Group to continue their growth.I wish the Group to keep opening new horizons and addressing new audiences, as they have been doing for three decades now while investing into all talents and allowing them develop and mature through their channels and shows.While talking about the boundless opportunities of development, Yousra also underscores the sheer necessity of the process. We all live in constant development. We are never static. When thinking about something new, I always think about young people. How do they think? How do they perceive the shows and the actors? How would you like us to appear? What can I present to the young generation? It is important to connect with the young people. They are full of fresh ideas. They should not feel that the older generation is detached from their interests, Yousra told Ahram Online adding that one does not live alone and should be linked to the surrounding reality and its people.She goes on to give an example of social media that dominates the lives of todays youth. To be honest, for long I did not like social media. I feel it is not real life. However, in todays reality we are required to accept its presence and to live its new meanders. It is up to us to embrace or reject the change.Yousras official Facebook page has 2.6 million followers and her Instagram account 3.2 million.In a world dominated by social media, the concept of talent and approach to acting as well as receiving the performers has definitely changed. The portrayals of heroes and heroines in films produced 30, 40 and 50 years ago are definitely different to new expectations of young audiences posting their own creations on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram among other platforms.There are a lot of great young talents in the sphere of films and television. They all deserve to get their chances and shine. This can be done through the MBC channels but also through many other platforms available to new generation.Yousra adds that social media can be used to shed light on or create talents. This is actually already happening. I am not for using the social media for needless and often aggressive confrontations between the users.Commenting on content posted on TikTok by young people, Yousra said some content is very entertaining and makes me laugh. But there are also those that I do not appreciate at all. It is normal: in life we always have two sides of the same coin.Yousra goes on to mention Shahid, the first free video-on-demand service in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region launched by MBC in 2008.For very long, Shahid was quite strange to me and to my colleagues from the same generation. To be honest when working on Saheb Al-Maqam (The Enshrined Saint) we were a bit worried that the film would not have many viewers on the platform. In fact, it was an unprecedented success. I was very happy and definitely surprised. Directed by Mohamed Gamal El-Adl, the 2020 film starred Yosra, Asser Yassin, Amina Khalil and Bayoumi Fouad.Saheb Al-Maqam opened many doors allowing more actors from the established generation to have faith in the success of their works premiering on Shahid, she added. In fact, Saheb Al-Maqam was Yousras first film after eight years that she dedicated to television series only.Equally, Yousra is fond of Netflix and the presence of many Arab productions on the platform. This is a great opportunity to show our art to the whole world, she concluded.As the guests began entering the Warner Bros studio to shoot the special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, we were yet to discover Yousras distinctive role in the show hosted by George Kurdahi, renowned Lebanese media figure and the newly appointed information minister.

As she carried herself and spoke with interminable grace, the audience filled with Arab world stars followed attentively Yousras contribution to the anniversary show marking the MBCs thirtieth anniversary. The special episodes will be aired on MBC on 18 September.



For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Green recovery, securing development finance, and mobilising international efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while recovering from the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic were the main topics at the two-day International Cooperation Forum (ICF) organised by Egypt this week.

The SDGs were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 and aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030, according to the UN.

The ICF aimed to help lay the foundations for sustainable recovery and push the international development agenda forward amid the ongoing pandemic, while discussing ways to achieve Egypts 2030 Vision, closely linked to the SDGs and the Africa We Want Agenda 2063.

The event was organised by the Ministry of International Cooperation in collaboration with some 1,500 representatives of international financial institutions (IFIs), regional financial institutions, governments, civil society, and the private sector.

Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Rania Al-Mashat, minister of international cooperation, said that the holding of the forum under the patronage of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi illustrated the states conviction that joint work is necessary to promote development, support the international communitys efforts in achieving the SDGs, and boost the Africa 2063 Agenda.

The ICF discussed the most urgent topics related to global development and the means to recover from the pandemic through the partnership of the bodies concerned, Al-Mashat said.

The forum will be an annual event that gathers stakeholders to push forward the SDGs on the local, regional, and global levels.

In an interview with the Weekly, the deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Jeffrey Schlagenhauf, said that Egypt had taken the lead by organising the ICF, adding that it was a great opportunity to scale up international efforts to achieve the SDGs and recover from the pandemic.

Egypt did a lot in this area a number of years ago through the OECDs Middle East and North Africa (MENA) programme that focuses on this important region in the world. The forum is a great step forward in mobilising efforts on a global level, Schlagenhauf said.

To meet the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, the OECD has launched the MENA-OECD Initiative for Development, which includes two programmes on governance and competitiveness with an aim to reinforce reform in the region through an inclusive and coordinated approach, innovative policy dialogue, links between key stakeholders, peer learning and capacity building.

The initiative covers 19 countries: Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, Yemen, and Kuwait.

The important thing with the SDGs effort in Egypt is to bring as many players to the table as it can and to attract durable investment into the country, in particular into Africa, to finance the projects that serve these goals, Schlagenhauf said.

He said that the OECD was committed to continuing its support for Egypts efforts to achieve its SDGs agenda and to meet its Africa 2063 Agenda obligations.

On the finance gap that Africa, including Egypt, is suffering from in attaining the SDGs, Schlagenhauf told the Weekly that between 2018 and 2019 the African countries had secured financing of around $41.4 billion, which is not sufficient for the continent to meet its obligations amid ongoing challenges.

He called for mobilising more finances from the global community and spurring the private sector to play its part in the development and recovery processes.

The minister of state for economic affairs in the Libyan Government of National Unity and head of the Libyan delegation at the forum, Salama Al-Ghawil, said that Egypt was playing a leading role in the region regarding economic, development, and political aspects, notably with regard to Libya.

The ICF was a prime example of this role, he said.

CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) Hani Sonbol highlighted the role that multilateralism and international cooperation can play in supporting the SDGs agenda in Africa and Egypt by leveraging the required resources to finance its achievement.

Sonbol commended the efforts of Egypts Ministry of International Cooperation in bringing together international institutions at a pivotal time. He added that the Egyptian government has been at the forefront of development cooperation, providing an innovative framework and a blueprint that can be replicated by other countries to achieve the SDGs.

Trade finance is more important now than ever before to ensure that the worlds most vulnerable countries are anchored to the international trade system and that they are not left behind, as the trade finance gap, initially estimated at $1.5 trillion before the pandemic, has increased significantly to $3.4 trillion, and in order to be able to meet the SDGs, he explained.

He added that the ITFC has been keen on prioritising trade in its member countries, approving over $58 billion for them since 2008, out of which $23 billion was provided for Africa and around $7 billion for the African least developed countries (LDCs).

Underlining the critical role that multilateral development banks play in times of crises, Sonbol pointed to the ITFCs Covid-19 Response Programme, which has approved over $605 million to support member countries in restoring livelihoods, building resilience, and kick-starting economic growth, with a particular focus on supporting micro, small, and, medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), sustaining agriculture value chains, and building capacities, and highlighting the role of the ITFCs trade development initiatives in enhancing resilience.

President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Collen Vixen, who participated in the forum virtually, emphasised the importance of enhancing the inclusive economy and engaging the development banks in supporting the private sector.

We need to set up systems that catalyse growth consistently and that will benefit the developing countries in reducing their debt levels and coping with the challenges they face, he said.

He also noted the importance of establishing bilateral and multilateral partnerships, particularly in the field of producing vaccines against the coronavirus and overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Egyptian commentators say there has been no significant breakthrough in the resumption of Egyptian-Turkish relations. Two exploratory rounds of negotiations have been held in the last four months, one in Cairo in May, the second in Ankara in the first week of September. The meetings convened at deputy foreign minister level, with Hamdi Loza heading the Egyptian delegation and Sedat Onal the Turkish delegation. The protocols and agenda were much the same in the two rounds.

In interviews with Bloomberg, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri underlined three important elements in assessing the progress of the talks and their future prospects.

Most important is Turkeys involvement in Libya. It is clear that Turkey is not taking serious action on two core requirements of the Berlin Process: the removal of the mercenaries and foreign fighters Turkey introduced into the country, and the reduction of Turkeys own military presence in western Libya. A plan to implement these points was discussed in the second Berlin Conference and provided for phased, proportionally reciprocal withdrawals by both Russia and Turkey. It was never put into effect.

Cairo supports the position of the Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Committee (JMC) on this issue. The JMC, an output of the first Berlin Conference, maintains that the continued presence of mercenaries and foreign forces threatens the Libyan political process. Turkey continues to cite the agreement it struck with the former Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) as grounds to maintain its military presence until a new, elected government comes to power and determines the fate of the agreement. Ankaras refusal to implement its obligations under the Berlin process naturally affects prospects for the resumption of relations with Cairo which has been working to help restore stability to Libya.

The second element is the timeframe Madbouli mentioned. Madbouli has said Egyptian-Turkish relations could be restored by the end of the year if outstanding issues are resolved. As upbeat as the statement sounds, it implies a process of confidence building. And Libya, where elections are scheduled for mid-December, will be the main testing ground. Will Turkey alter its policies so as to smooth the pathway to that crucial juncture?

Madboulis belief that exploratory talks cannot go on indefinitely appears to be shared by the Turks might be thinking along the same lines. In remarks to Turkish media, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu indicated that progress needs to be made in the talks before the two sides are in a position to exchange ambassadors.

The third element is political will. How strong is Cairos and Ankaras resolve to normalise relations? According to the closing statement of the last meeting, the two sides agreed to continue consultations and affirmed their desire to achieve progress to facilitate the normalisation of bilateral relations. Foreign Minister Shoukri also told Bloomberg that Cairo was keen to find a solution and reach a formula for restoring normal relations.

It is clear that Cairos foreign policy outlook differs from Turkeys. Cairos vision for regional stability is one in which all countries of the region attain their interests through peaceful political practices. It is the antithesis of the militarised foreign policy adopted by non-Arab regional powers in the past decade. The latest application of the Egyptian foreign policy outlook is to be found in the Egyptian-Iraqi-Jordanian cooperation mechanism that emerged from the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership in August. This tripartite mechanism was established as a fulcrum for regional development and the realisation of the participants mutual interests. One of the lessons it offers is that diplomacy is a more effective way for countries to attain their interests than militarisation, whether through conventional means such as building military bases abroad or unconventional means such as transporting mercenaries and other irregular foreign fighters to assist proxies in other countries.

Egypts official statement also mentioned Iraq, Syria and Palestine, all of which fall within the scope of Egypts immediate national security. It is no coincidence the three countries were singled out by name. Egypts relations with all three have grown significantly closer, and Egyptian gas will soon pass through Jordan to Syria and from there to Lebanon. The increasing realm of shared interests between Egypt and its neighbours in the Levant can only bear fruit in a stable climate, and that requires Turkey to change its foreign policies and attitudes towards the region.

A major outstanding concern is Turkeys continuing harbouring of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Will Turkey agree to extradite suspects wanted on security-related charges? The isuue was raised before the last meeting, but so far no information is available. The Turkish authorities are likely to hand over a few individuals implicated in criminal cases but for the most part will refuse Egypts demand, arguing that the charges are political. A related issue is the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated media in Turkey which Egyptian authorities say Ankara promotes. An anti-Egyptian message also persists in Turkish state media, even though some of the more vocal pundits have softened their tone or had their volume temporarily muted.

What is motivating Turkey to restore its relations with Egypt to normal? Turkish investments in Egypt have not been significantly affected by the intergovernmental friction. Most observers believe that Ankaras shift in its relations with Egypt is driven by domestic discontent arising from President Recap Tayyip Erdogans crisis-generating policies which have isolated Turkey as never before, both in the West and the Arab region.

Others point to Ankaras desire to cooperate with Egypt over arrangements in the Eastern Mediterranean. Turkey claims that the maritime boundary it drew in the Eastern Mediterranean does not harm Egypt. Whether or not this is the case, Egypts allies, Cyprus and Greece, have objected to the unilaterally imposed boundary that Ankara based on an MoU with an interim government in Tripoli. Ankara needs to understand that any normalisation in Egyptian-Turkish relations will not come at the expense of the Egyptian-Greek-Cypriot alliance.

Egypt made this clear when the Cypriot president came to Cairo to participate in a meeting of the bilateral intergovernmental committee in the week preceding the second round of Egyptian-Turkish exploratory talks. During the visit Egypt reiterated its position on the dispute Turkey precipitated with Cyprus and Greece. Egypt opposes Ankaras unilateral imposition of a maritime border and its provocative drilling activities in areas Greece and Cyprus claim fall within their territorial waters. International law and legitimacy, the respect for other nations sovereignty and non-intervention in others domestic affairs must remain the governing principles of international relations.

It appears that, despite some cautious optimism, contacts between Egypt and Turkey have not moved beyond the exploratory and testing phase. It is also too soon to assess the results of this phase. Still, it is an important step in the much-needed efforts to reduce regional tensions and end the cycle of conflict.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi received Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday. The meeting, arranged last month during head of Egyptian General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamels visit to Jerusalem, is part of Egypts ongoing efforts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.



President Al-Sisi used the meeting to reaffirm Cairos support for peace within the framework of a two-state solution and relevant international resolutions, and underscored the importance of international support for Egypts reconstruction drive in Palestinian areas devastated during the last Israeli war against Gaza.The Israeli prime minister described the meeting as important and very good, adding we have created a foundation for a deep connection for the future.Cairos efforts have brought the Palestinian file to the forefront after a decade during which it was relegated to the back seat, a source who preferred to remain anonymous told Al-Ahram Weekly.Recent weeks have witnessed multilateral action to reinvigorate the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. During Bennetts visit to Washington in the last week of August, US President Joe Biden stressed that a two-state solution was the only viable path to a lasting resolution of the conflict. In the first week of September, Sharm El-Sheikh was the venue for a trilateral summit between President Al-Sisi, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas: their aim, to work together to develop a vision for reactivating efforts to resume negotiations, and to work with brothers and partners to revive the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution.The arrangements for the meeting between Al-Sisi and Bennett were finalised a week before the visit by an Israeli national security delegation to Egypt. According to Israeli reports and official statements, the Israeli delegation discussed a range of issues with Egyptian authorities, including the resumption of air traffic and the revival of Israeli tourism to Taba, the Palestinian question and the possibility of reviving the peace process, the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, and Egyptian-Israeli economic relations.Egyptian sources stress that Cairos priorities are focused on peace-making, and have been lent impetus by Bidens support. Egypt, they say, is keen to grasp new opportunities now that any prospects of implementing the deal of the century, proposed by the previous administration in Washington, have faded.But is there any real chance of kick-starting peace talks?Sources in Cairo say that while the deal of the century had little, if any chance, of injecting new life into a process that ground to a halt 14 years ago, prospects now hinge on the US and Israeli positions.Since being elected Biden has repeatedly reiterated his commitment to a two-state solution and pledged to pursue all possible avenues to achieve it. There are, however, complicating factors. One was evidenced during Bennetts visit to Washington when he forced Israels perspective on Iran onto the agenda. To Israel, this question outweighs reviving peace talks.A second factor centres on Israels attempts to advance its plan for what it terms economic peace in exchange for security. Biden has indicated that his administration could work with Bennett on such a scheme until a clear initiative emerges to revive the peace process.Israel Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has outlined Israels vision for changing the economic realities of Gaza. Speaking at Reichman University in Israel, Lapid said that a blend of international investment, Israeli-Palestinian cooperation and a quiescent Hamas could change the lives of ordinary inhabitants of Gaza for the better. Political conditions  in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority  dont allow for diplomatic progress at the moment, but in Gaza we can, and we should, act now, he said.Cairo sees the Israeli position as an attempt to stabilise the truce with Hamas while deferring matters relating to Israels relationship with the Palestinian Authority, something it rejects in both form and substance.Israeli talk of economic peace is hardly new. It was promoted by Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996, and suggested again during the 2007-2013 tenure of former Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. This proposal was unacceptable to both the Egyptians and Palestinians, though it was dusted down and put on the table once again as part of the deal of the century proposed by Trump, said the source.Kick-starting the peace process, then, appears to be stuck in square one, with the central question whether or not Israel can commit to taking a courageous step towards the two-state solution. Observers in Cairo believe Bennetts fragile coalition government will collapse if it makes so much as a gesture in this direction. They also believe that Bennett is loath to pursue a foreign policy course that would give his coalition partner and current foreign minister  Lapid will assume the premiership in two years in accordance with the coalitions rotation deal  a chance to shine.Current efforts are an attempt to pave the way for the peace process given the current absence of any common ground, says the anonymous Egyptian source.Though chances of resuming the long-stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process are slim, sources in Cairo believe that the meeting between Al-Sisi and Bennett did produce some positive results. They see encouraging signs of the possibility of transforming the Egyptian-mediated Gaza ceasefire into a durable truce, thereby averting a return to military escalation. They also believe some progress has been made on the prisoner exchange question and on clearing the way for the Gaza reconstruction drive that Egypt is overseeing in collaboration with the UN.Mustafa Al-Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told the Weekly from Ramallah that the recent flurry of activity, including the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, may contribute to solving some issues, including on the ceasefire and better treatment for Palestinian prisoners, but will have little impact on the peace process itself. The Israelis, says Al-Barghouti  and he includes not only Bennett and Lapid but the whole spectrum of elite Israeli society  are all right-leaning, and strong believers in what the deal of the century had to offer. Current efforts may improve the situation regarding some issues, he concludes, but as far as the Palestinian cause goes, it is too early to talk about any breakthrough.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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If you want to visualise the financial cost of the war on terror since 11 September 2001, imagine $2 trillion when a dollar is put on top of a dollar reaching far into outer space.

The first $1 trillion would be 67 miles high, further than the distance to outer space from the planets surface and a lot further than US billionaire Elon Musk travelled in his space rocket a few months ago.

Such shocking images are what Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Cost of War Project and an anthropologist at Brown University in the US, and her colleagues are trying to get through to Americans and the international community about the cost of the war on terror.

US President Joe Biden in a speech to announce the end of the war in Afghanistan cited the figures reached by the Cost of War Project, and not the figures of the US department of defence, when explaining his decision to withdraw US troops from the country.

More than $2 trillion has been spent on the war in Afghanistan, and Brown University researchers have estimated that this means more than $300 million was spent daily for 20 years, he said.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Savell said that the two figures of $2 trillion and $300 million were taken by Biden from their Projects assessments of the cost of the war and not from official Pentagon figures that put the cost of the war in Afghanistan at $1 trillion, or about 50 per cent lower than the Cost of War researchers.

Savell said that the mention of the $2 trillion figure in an official speech by the US president was a great victory for the projects work, explaining that the goal from the beginning was to change the public debate in the US and not to accept the official figures as there is a bigger story that needs to be told.

This relates not only to the heavy financial cost of the war, but also to its grave human cost. As a direct result of the post-9/11 wars, about one million people have been killed and another 38 million people displaced.

The countries that have suffered the most have been Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, but this suffering is impossible to convert into definite numbers in terms of its human and material costs. Estimates will certainly be less than the real numbers.

Counting the number of people who have died as a result of rockets, bombs, bullets, car bombs and sectarian violence, says Savell, does not include all the after-effects of the war. In Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, people have lost their communities, their jobs and their means of earning a living, beginning waves of mass displacement.

Because wars often involve the bombing of infrastructure such as sewage systems, water treatment facilities, hospitals, roads and bridges, such systems in Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan have been largely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people have died, not due to missile strikes or car bombs, but rather because of polluted water and a lack of food or healthcare.

The UN has estimated that for every direct death post-9/11, at least three people have died indirectly as a result of the war. In other words, the most realistic number of victims of the war on terror is about 2,787,000 people.

President Biden has cited your work in the Cost of War Project to support his argument for ending the US military presence in Afghanistan. How do you feel about that, taking into account the fact that Biden in the past supported the wars in Iraq, Syria and Libya?

President Biden quoted us because the Pentagon estimates that the war in Afghanistan has cost close to $1 trillion. We say that we have to take a broader view if we are going to talk about even just the economic costs of the war. We have to think about the fact that there are other expenses in a war, like medical care for US veterans when they come back home. Theres interest on borrowing because the wars have been paid for through borrowing and debt. You have to think about the fact that there are homeland security costs for preventing and countering terrorism on United States soil. Also, you have to think about the fact that the war on terror has increased the Pentagons annual budget to $700 billion a year.

Biden said theres a research group at Brown University that says that the cost of the Afghanistan war is $2 trillion (we say the cost is $2.3 trillion actually). We are very glad that Biden quoted our figure because it is a signal that these wars have cost more than just what the defence department said.

Yes, Biden has a very mixed track record with his support of the wars to begin with, but he is absolutely making the right decision to end the US engagement in Afghanistan. Obviously, the transition period is coming with some heavy cost itself, but it is a first step, and theres so much more that needs to be done to truly end US military violence in Afghanistan and different parts of the world. So, we see this as a first step, and theres still so much more work to be done to hold the government accountable.

How did the idea come about to take this comprehensive approach when looking at the real cost of war?

The Cost of War Project was initiated by Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford, both of whom remain co-directors of the project. I am the third co-director since 2016. The project was founded 10 years ago to bridge the gap in media coverage, especially US media coverage, of wars. There is very limited and very poor discussion in the US media about the true cost of the wars, and we wanted to provide a broader view. The goal of the project is to prompt the American public as well as decision-makers to ask big and difficult questions about whether these high costs of war are worth paying and what other options are available.

In the report there are devastating figures regarding human casualties, the number of displaced people, and the scale of the US counterterrorism operations. How did you and your team conclude these figures?

Thats right  we estimate the human cost at more than 900,000 people, most of them civilians, and the displaced people at around 38 million, while US counterterrorism activities are taking place in over some 85 countries. At the beginning of the project, I said to myself, well, here are maybe seven or eight countries. But the map expanded and expanded. I think its like an octopus, like tentacles stretching all over the world. The activities range from active warfare against extremists and militants to training and assistance.

I was the lead researcher behind that particular report on 85 countries. And what we did was my research team put together a combination of US government sources and investigative journalism. The US government is not always completely transparent about counterterrorism activities. And so oftentimes the only way that information comes to light is when something terrible happens, like a US service member is killed, and then a reporter will go to investigate. For example, in Kenya in 2020 there was a firefight between members of Al-Shabaab at a US military base at the Manda Bay Airfield, and there was a US service member who was killed alongside the two US contractors who were killed. The US media found out and reported on it. That is the kind of way that we put together various pieces of information.

In the vast majority of the 85 countries, in 79 of them, the US is doing training and assistance in counterterrorism, so helping other countries security forces to fight terrorism in their countries. But oftentimes this is not the innocuous help that it may sound like at first, because often the US is providing funding and equipment and military training for countries who are using counterterrorism as an excuse or justification for cracking down on political opponents or other kinds of insurgents, and so its become a way that intensifies different kinds of conflicts around the world rather than helping [to end them].

It hurts rather than helps. Our military approach to the problem of counterterrorism is incredibly counterproductive because US violence and other countries government violence against groups of their own people inevitably leads to backlash and retaliation and anger and resentment, and thats been one of the biggest recruiting devices for a lot of militant groups around the world.

You said it is impossible to know the exact number of civilian casualties of the war on terror and the actual number of casualties could be much higher than your estimate of 929,000. In Scotland, the authorities have opened an investigation into the increasing numbers of young refugees from Somalia and Afghanistan who have committed suicide because of the difficulty of adapting to life in exile. Is this confirmation that it is difficult to count the number of civilian casualties?

Thats horrible. What a horrible story. There are so many human costs, so many tragic stories like that. It is the reverberating effects of the war; it will be felt for decades to come. People who live in war zones are really the ones who will bear the brunt of the US-led wars. That is where wars cause the most devastation, and unfortunately Americans are not always aware of that.

The US administration has implied that it will not now deploy soldiers on the ground and will use surgical strikes with drones in its fight against terrorism. Does that give you some relief?

No, no relief at all. It is horrible. The doubling down on the drone strategy is awful because it is a way of minimising the effect on US service members, but its effect on civilians around the world is horrible. Drone strikes kill civilians, and as I said they are counterproductive because that kind of violence leads people to join militant groups.

So, thats what Im talking about when I say we need to continue to hold the US government accountable because its not just drone strikes that is problematic; its also all kinds of shadowy operations like Special Forces operations, training, arms sales and different mechanisms by which the US is going to continue the post 9 September wars where counterterrorism efforts are going to just take different shapes rather than end. In Afghanistan, the CIA is training and equipping militia groups to continue fighting Islamic State in Afghanistan. There are all of these defence contracting companies that are still on the ground. So, there are lots of shadowy ways in which this war is continuing.

In your work you talk about the lasting effect of the wars on inter-ethnic and sectarian relations and infrastructure like water, the sewage system, and hospitals in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. How has 20 years of war affected local communities in the Middle East?

It is difficult to know. I think there are people pushing for things like truth commissions and reparations, but theres unfortunately been a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in those. I personally think that the US has a great responsibility to begin to address and repair some of the damage. But I am not the one in charge. I wish our politicians would take that responsibility on, but Im not optimistic.

One of Americas big myths is focusing on the American soldiers who died during the wars, as if thats all the human cost, but what war really means is that civilians in conflict zones die or endure endless suffering and live with trauma for the rest of their lives. Women miscarry, children suffer from birth defects due to environmental pollution, women suffer the trauma of losing their husbands and their male children after becoming drug addicts or suffering from psychological problems.

These are the myriad reverberating effects of war. During the post-9/11 wars, 387,000 civilians died. These are astronomical numbers. I think they really prompt us to ask the question that the Cost of War Project is trying to ask: is the war on terror worth it?

You talked about the huge increase in the Pentagons budget due to the war on terror. Meanwhile, there is a lack of funding for infrastructure, health services and education. Do you think this has contributed to the rise of far-right ideas in American politics? In other words, do you think there is a relationship between the state of American democracy and military intervention?

Absolutely, and I think thats such a good insight. Most Americans dont realise, but the state of being at war for the past 20 years has eroded the quality of American democracy, and it has prevented the US, as you are saying, from investing in domestic priorities that would improve the lives of people. Over 50 per cent of the US federal discretionary budget every year is spent on military related expenses, and it is growing. So, its squeezing out federal spending on everything else.

Also, there are things like increased surveillance and increased police militarisation because a lot of the war equipment and war veterans who have come home to police departments are by-products of the war on terror. I think the racialised logics of the post 9/11 wars in the form of discrimination against black and brown and Muslim people are also clear. So, the state of war is bad for Americans and for American democracy, and most people just arent aware of that.

One of the aims of your work is to raise awareness among the American public about the cost of wars and the price of interventions. Do you notice any change in the American attitude to military interventions?

What is encouraging to me is that amongst younger people in the US polling shows that they do not approve of aggressive US military interventions abroad or what people call the forever wars. The majority of the American public is not in favour of war. So, our best hope, I think, is in educating people, and that is what we try to do and push people to think critically about US militarism.

I hope that this younger generation can turn the tide on some of these things. Im not very optimistic because I think that there are a lot of business interests in keeping the system the way it is. The defence contracting companies have a really big role to play in lobbying the US government, and there are a lot of, unfortunately, incentives for Congresspeople to maintain the status quo.

But there is a very big peace movement in the United States, and theres a very big segment of the population that is against this kind of foreign policy. I really hope that we will be able to gain more influence in the years ahead.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The leader of Fatahs Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Zakaria Al-Zubeidi  one of those who were rearrested after the jailbreak  was taken to an Israeli hospitals intensive care unit after being tortured, his brother revealed through social media. According to The Jerusalem Post, mosques in Jenin told Palestinians that Zubeidi was in a critical condition.

Palestinian protesters moved towards the Jalameh checkpoints to express their anger, followed by clashes with Israeli forces. The aftermath of the jail break continues, especially since it greatly embarrassed Israel and impacted the security situation with Palestinians.

Palestinian detainees Mahmoud Al-Arda, Mohamed Al-Arda, Yacoub Al-Qadri, Ayham Kamamji, Monadel Anfiaat  all members of Islamic Jihad  and Al-Zubeidi, escaped from Gilboa prison on 6 September, and most of them were captured a few days later. Israel said the detainees escaped by digging a tunnel from the bathroom in their cell using a spoon they hid inside the jail cell.

Israel is continuing extensive investigations to find the flaws that led to the authorities failure to discover the tunnel digging and notice the prisoners fleeing. A judicial official close to the investigations told the Hebrew website Walla!: The prison guard sitting in the monitoring room should have been watching the security cameras, but instead was watching television and did not notice the six detainees escaping as seen on the security cameras. The source added that when the six detainees came out of the tunnel, the guard dogs in the courtyard began to bark. Israeli prisons have a new system that turns on when dogs bark, the source revealed. It came on and an alarm went off in the monitoring room, but, again, the guard did not notice it because he was watching television.

Walla! reported that security cameras recorded the escape and the six detainees fleeing the tunnel. Al-Zubeidi was one of the first to emerge. Cameras also showed one detainee who had trouble coming out of the narrow tunnel, and the other detainees had to pull him out.

The six men fled the prison and reached a mosque in Al-Naoora district in occupied north Palestine, changed clothes and separated into three groups.

When, four hours later, the authorities realised they were missing and deployed Israeli security forces, army and police, the escapees decided against heading to their hometown of Jenin in the West Bank. Instead, they decided to hide in the town of Al-Nasra close to Hebron in occupied north Palestine.

Israel captured four detainees while Kamamji and Anfiaat remain at large, and Israel is on high alert in their pursuit with predictions that at least one of them has reached Jenin. This worries Israel because it expects a bloodbath if it attempts to invade the Jenin Refugee Camp to arrest them, since the camp is teeming with armed men from many Palestinian factions. Although it recaptured most of the men who escaped, the incident has embarrassed Tel Aviv, giving rise to extensive domestic criticism of Israeli officials.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett broke his silence and asserted these flaws happened due to deficiencies in the state and its agencies. He blamed his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu for such failures and promised to undertake radical reforms. Over the past six decades, there have been many escapes by Palestinians from Israeli prisons using a variety of means, including digging tunnels.

In July 1958, 66 detainees attempted to flee Shatta prison which led to the death of 11 Palestinian detainees and two Israeli soldiers; the rest were re-arrested. In 1969, Mahmoud Abdullah Hammad, alias Mahmoud Al-Sayfi, from the town of Silwad in the West Bank, managed to escape from a prison in Ramallah after hitting a prison guard in the courtyard. Al-Sayfi was on the run for nine years in the Silwad hills and surrounding area. In August 1970, he crossed the Jordan River and from there went to Kuwait.

The Great Escape was in May 1987, when six detainees escaped from Al-Saraya prison in the centre of Gaza City. They sawed through the prison bars in their cell on the second floor of the prison. It took them seven continuous days and no one noticed what they were doing. They began sawing the back of the metal bars late during night prayers and sometimes during the call for dawn prayers.

Another attempt to escape was in 1988 when 24 detainees from several Palestinian factions tried to flee Shatta prison. Detainees who had short sentences or were hesitant left the cell, and the rest chose the most experienced of them to begin digging a tunnel inside the cell. Another escape was attempted at Shatta prison in 2014, but authorities discovered the tunnel by the time it reached four metres.

Although Israel succeeded in recapturing most of the recent escapees from Gilboa prison, Palestinians see the incident as a great victory because it gave Israel a security shock and shone a light on Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons who suffer harsh conditions, which have worsened after the escape. Israel punished all detainees by shuffling and moving them around, and several detainees were beaten at many Israeli prisons. The incident also overshadowed Egypt-sponsored negotiations for a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas military wing, asserted that no prisoner exchange will take place until the release of the detainees who escaped Gilboa. A spokesman for Al-Qassam said: The heroes of the freedom tunnel will come out with their heads raised high.

The leadership of Al-Qassam decided no exchange deal will be made without the release of these heroes. He further promised that the Palestinian detainees will soon be freed above ground. Hamas and Islamic Jihad openly threatened they would begin military escalation against Israel if detainees were abused in Israeli prisons or if the Israeli army invades Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank, where Israel suspects the fugitives have sought refuge.

With these threats returned a policy of dripping rockets whereby for three days rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip against near by Israeli settlements. Israel responded by bombing Palestinian faction locations, which could lead to full-fledged military confrontations between the two sides. This is even more likely in light of detainee problems and Palestinians accusing Israel of reneging on its commitments in the truce that was reached after Israels war on Gaza in May.

Whatever the repercussions of the Gilboa escape, it is certain this incident triggered a new round of confrontations between Palestinians and Israel in general, and Palestinian detainees and Israeli prison authorities in particular. The latter are trying to take advantage of the recent escape to withdraw privileges or rights that detainees gained following long hunger strikes and protesting Israeli abuses against them.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Moroccos Islamist party suffered the latest in a series of Islamist defeats since the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted from power in Egypt following popular demonstrations in 2013. More recently, this July, the same fate befell the Ennahda Party government in Tunisia. Now Moroccos Justice and Development Party (PJD), in power since 2011, lost the parliamentary elections, held last week, securing only 12 (in contrast to 125) out of 395 seats.

National Rally of Independents (RNI) 97-seat win means it will now lead the government. Headed by Aziz Akhannouch, an oil tycoon who has close ties with the monarch, the RNI is now in charge. Akhannouchs party has succeeded in appealing to Moroccan voters through presenting a promising electoral platform aimed at strengthening the middle class, especially in the health and education sectors, which were most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as generalising social protection and encouraging investment and free initiative, said Moulay Boubkir Hamdani, head of Centre for Strategic Thinking and Defence of Democracy (CSTDD) in Morocco.

But even parties who lost were far ahead of the Islamists, with the liberal Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) and the centre-right Istiqlal Party winning 82 and 78 seats, respectively. All three parties aligned with the palace agenda to remove the Islamists from power. The PJD had failed fight corruption and unemployment, as it had promised and Moroccans have been by and large disappointed since the Islamists latched onto power in 2011.

There are also other rational factors in this defeat related to the states legalisation of charitable work, which constituted the most important mechanism for this partys support by poor classes, in addition to the retreat of the thesis that political Islam was the alternative capable of solving all societal problems in Morocco. Moreover, there was a massive participation of voters in this election, and the Islamist party used to previously benefit from election boycotts, Hamdani added. Taking the reins, the RNI now faces the challenge of achieving economic and social reform in a country swept up by the pandemic, where the royal palace has traditionally monopolised social aid initiatives and power remains concentrated in the kings hands.

Akhannouch, who is appointed by the king, must now start forming a coalition government out of the parties who have the highest numbers of seats, bringing divergent ideologies together. Failing in the elections, former Moroccan prime minister Saadeddine Al-Othmani and PJD head and top leaders announced their mass resignation within an hour of the results, claiming that the new electoral laws applied in March, which have made it more difficult for any party to have a large lead in terms of seats, were introduced to obstruct their party. But the PJD has felt a sense of failure since 2017 when internal divisions resulted in the removal of Abdelilah Benkirane, undermining the partys unity. Nor could the party prevent normalisation with Israel (in return for US recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the contested Western Sahara) and the legalisation of medical cannabis  both decisions made by the king.

According to Intissar Fakir, director of MEIs North Africa and Sahel programme, the defeat is due to the new electoral law, the inability to campaign because of the pandemic, and a weak achievement record, as all major initiatives over the past five years were driven by the monarchy.

Fakir says, over the past 10 years, the PJD benefited from more popularity and enthusiasm under former prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane. More crucially, under his leadership, the party managed to balance the need to appease the monarchy while maintaining some independence. This balance succeeded in shielding the party from attempts to scapegoat and increased their popular appeal. It helped the PJD to score a majority of seats in the 2016 elections. But since then, under the leadership of Prime Minister Saadedine Othmani, the party shifted away from the balance and focused more on becoming a loyalist party that implements the monarchys vision, without too much concern over its grassroots appeal. But Fakir does not believe this loss will be the end of the party, which retains support among segments of Moroccan society.

The party will be in the opposition, which is a more comfortable place for them, paradoxically even though they have been leading a governing coalition for the past 10 years. Away from the running of government, the PJD will have a chance to regroup and rebuild its reputation with the voters, so long as they do not give into internal fighting and the blame game and focus on formulating a strong message they can use to regain appeal in the next few years.

The extent of their loss must be a shock for the party, but it also gives them a chance to decide what the next decade is going to look like. The Islamists in Morocco never did have a full grip, and that is what ultimately caught up to them. The PJD defeat seems logical to some extent, being a part of a series of rejections in the MENA region of Islamist politics, which have proved incapable of addressing political and social reforms aspired to during the Arab Spring in 2011. But Moroccans and Tunisians are not primarily disaffected with Ennahda and the PJD because they are Islamist parties, rather it is because they have not provided responsive and successful policies  this is the view among many who voted against them or supported their removal from power, noted Fakir.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The launch of the first, homegrown National Strategy for Human Rights earlier this week marks a milestone in Egypts history. It is a key step for upgrading human rights in the country for the first time in many decades. The fact that President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi personally attended the launch, and his declaration that 2022 will be the Year of Civil Society, leaves no doubt that the Egyptian government and its institutions mean business.

After more than a year of meetings and consultations led by the Foreign Ministry, which brought together all concerned parties such as government ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the strategy provides a practical, comprehensive roadmap for safeguarding all kinds of political, economic and social rights.

This roadmap includes concrete proposals to deal with issues raised by local and international human rights groups in recent years, such as pre-trial detention and freedom of expression, but also stresses the need to work on vital basic rights such as the right to education, healthcare and housing. The strategy also notes the need to resume ongoing efforts to protect and expand womens rights, those with disabilities, and the young.

Dealing with political rights alone in terms of laws and legislations is indeed a vital aspect, assured by the 2014 Constitution. But improving living conditions and providing basic needs for millions of Egyptians is what will strengthen and safeguard those political rights.

Political Islamic groups, especially terrorist organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Group, Jihad, Al-Qaeda and more recently the so-called Islamic State or Daesh, all feed on hardships and inequalities that exist in poor and developing nations. They offer the false promise that adhering to their extremist ideologies will yield a better life, if not on earth then in heaven.

By offering basic social services funded by foreign countries and individuals, such as schools and medical clinics, political Islamic groups expanded their popularity and ideology, allowing them to reach their goal of seize power in several Arab countries in order to impose their extremist vision that only serves the interests of the groups leaders and their transnational organisations.

While doing this, they disregard all basic human rights highlighted in the 2014 Constitution, including womens rights, freedom of religion and freedom of belief.

Since taking office in June 2014, President Al-Sisi has been aware that hard work is required on several fronts: political, economic, social and religious, where moderation and awareness need to be boosted, in order to protect the country and prevent a takeover by political Islamic groups that once threatened the integrity and existence of the state.

Egypt was among the first countries that contributed to wording the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Since then, Egypt has continued to contribute to promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The first National Strategy for Human Rights hopes to meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people, providing a domestic agenda that stems from the countrys needs, and not the agenda of external parties or transnational organisations aiming to weaken the Egyptian state.

Egypts vision for human rights is based on a number of key principles, topped by integration and interconnection among all rights and freedoms. There is a strong link between democracy and human rights, but this can only be seen when the balance between rights and duties, the individual and society is realised.

In his speech marking the launch of the Strategy, the president vowed that the Egyptian state would remain committed to respecting and protecting the rights to physical safety, personal freedom, participation in political life, freedom of expression and formation of non-governmental organisations. He added that Egypt has always welcomed different opinions as long as they do not harm the freedom of others and are aimed at constructive criticism. He also pledged that the state would continue to exert painstaking efforts to promote the values of citizenship, tolerance and dialogue, while combating violence and discrimination.

The commitment to protecting rights and freedoms can be achieved through effective and efficient legislation and sound general policies as well as the efforts of national institutions. Egypt has a rich national institutional infrastructure that works on promoting respect and protection of human rights which witness continued development, and the human rights strategy further strengthens this by noting the establishment of the permanent higher committee for human rights, a key step in enhancing coordinated national work in this domain. The national councils for women, childhood, motherhood and the disabled also play a pioneering role in promoting rights in these categories.

As the independent national institution having powers under the constitution, the National Council for Human Rights also plays a pivotal role in promoting relevant principles, spreading awareness in this regard and presenting an annual report to the state.

The strategy also recognises that civil society is a key partner in promoting human rights at all levels: political, economic and social. Civil societys contributions are clear and its partnership with the state is indispensable. Therefore, it was President Al-Sisi who asked the government to amend the old law regulating the activities of NGOs and civil society organisations. This resulted in issuing a new law regulating civil participation and the activities of civil society institutions. The executive statute of this law will mark a new stage of partnership between the government and civil society.

As for religious freedoms, Egypt has achieved great progress to ensure equality among all citizens in rights and duties. A law was issued to build and restore churches, thus contributing to legalising the conditions of about 1,800 churches and affiliated buildings.

Egypt still has a long way to go to perfect the human rights situation, but the National Human Rights Strategy is definitely a heartening start.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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I am writing this article on the very day, 20 years ago, when the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington came under terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda terrorists using three civilian airliners.

A fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was also flying towards Washington, but brave passengers overpowered the terrorists flying the plane, which then crash landed in Pennsylvania. There was speculation that the target of the fourth plane was either the White House or Capitol Hill. On that fateful day, 3,000 innocent Americans and people from 90 other nationalities perished.

The mastermind of these attacks was a Saudi radical by the name of Osama Bin Laden. The United States had not come under attack on its own soil since the British set fire to the White House in 1812.

The world changed after the 11 September attacks. Under the administration of former president Georges W Bush, the US entered two wars, the first on 7 October 2001 when US forces launched the longest war in American history against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The war then lasted 20 years, and the last soldier left the Afghan capital Kabul on 31 August this year.

Two years later, in March 2003, the US, falsely believing that the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had direct links to Al-Qaeda, attacked Iraq and overthrew the Iraqi president and his regime. The two wars cost the US treasury some $7 trillion. More than 4,000 US soldiers died, in addition to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A few weeks after the invasion of Iraq, Bush visited a US aircraft carrier and addressed the navy personnel. In the background hung a banner with two words written on it  mission accomplished.

The world is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 11 September attacks with many questions unanswered as to what went wrong in the exercise of military force by a great power against not only a terrorist group but also against a certain vision and a set of ideas that has persisted across the Arab and Muslim world. The recent return of the Taliban to rule in Kabul and the groups now complete control of Afghanistan have come to haunt not only Americans and allies of the US but also the Arab and Muslim countries.

While Osama Bin Laden died in a US raid in May 2011, his ideas still resonate in Arab and Muslim countries. It is true that his terrorist organisation has been weakened and has not been able to mount further attacks against the US, but it still has followers, and there are other terror organisations operating in various parts of Africa and the Arab world.

The overthrow of Saddam Hussein destabilised Iraq and the Levant, including Lebanon, by indirectly enhancing the influence of Iran inside Iraq and throughout the Middle East, the Gulf and the Arab Peninsula. One of the most serious consequences of the US invasion of Iraq has been the creation of strategic regional imbalance that favours Iran.

Another indirect result of the American wars has been the marginalisation of governments and states seen as allies and strategic partners of the US. This trend was compounded by the advocacy of democracy by the Bush administration in 2005. One of the questions that many Americans posed in the wake of the 11 September attacks was why do they hate us? They referred to Arab and Muslim people.

Another assumption of the Bush administration that proved counterproductive and highly destabilising for pro-US regimes in the Middle East, like Egypt, for instance, was that the lack of democracy in the Arab world had been the main driver radicalising Arab youth. The assumption completely ignored the various ideological, economic and social reasons that explain why some Arabs believe in the teachings and propaganda of the various groups of what is known as Political Islam.

These trends have been reinforced by economic and social circumstances rather than any lack of democracy. Ironically, the US assumption and the perception prevalent within the ranks of the advocates of Political Islam themselves emboldened them. This led to the failure of the popular uprisings of 2011 in Egypt and elsewhere across the Arab world to prepare the ground for a smooth democratic transformation.

You cannot sell the democratic idea to groups that reject diversity in all its forms and democracy itself as alien to their interpretation of Islamic teaching. Even so, there has been one common denominator between the West and these groups, and that has been the ballot box. However, for the latter the ballot box is the first and last step in their vision of democracy. Their pernicious vision rejects the very notion of the peaceful transfer of power. How on earth can you convince people who falsely claim to rule in the name of God that they have lost an election?

The 11 September attacks were not only an attack on the US, but they were also an attack against a model of government and a way of life in the Arab world. Previously, the widespread belief within Al-Qaeda had been to attack the near enemy, meaning Arab governments like the Egyptian and Saudi governments. The 11 September attacks were the first to target the far enemy, meaning the United States and the West.

The resistance to the US military presence in Iraq led to the splintering of Al-Qaeda and the emergence of more radical groups like the Islamic State (IS) group or Daesh, that outperformed the original in cruelty and brutality. For two years, IS succeeded in what Bin Laden and his organisation had never managed to achieve, namely to rule vast tracts of land in parts of Syria and Iraq and to set up a caliphate in them from 2013 until 2017.

It took an international coalition under US military command to defeat and degrade IS. However, it did not eliminate it altogether, and it is still operating in parts of Iraq and Syria on a much smaller but still lethal scale.

The 11 September attacks were the bloody and unforgivable embodiment of the clash of civilisations theory put forward by US political scientist Samuel Huntington in 1993 with the publication of an article under the same title in the US journal Foreign Affairs. One year later, Huntington published his book The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order.

Twenty years later, the clash is still present, and the original fault lines that predated the 11 September attacks still have not gone away. May all those innocent people who perished on that fateful day 20 years ago rest in peace.

*The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The international community is watching with great concern and apprehension the formation of a new government.



Governments rise and fall every day and have done so for centuries.



The fate of a new Taliban government in Afghanistan, like a ghost rising from the ashes, remains vague and undefined.



After 20 years of occupation by US forces  call it protection, collaboration, assistance  they were forced to flee suddenly, overwhelmed by the power of the Taliban. Now a big question remains. Do the Afghani people want a Taliban government? Are we to watch more gruesome images in Kabul as we have previously seen in Kandahar, or will Afghanistan find peace at last under a new government? It remains to be seen, and the eyes of the world are watching carefully.



Why do we need a government at all? Can we not as citizens run our business without this fearful, often corrupt organisation we call government? The answer is a resounding no.



We the people, since our earliest days invented government  because we needed it. Governments evolved as protection was needed, if people stayed together in groups, and agreed that some of the group will have more power to help maintain order.



What often escapes us is that we the people make the rules that our governments help us maintain. Humans can be selfish, greedy, deceptive, so we make rules to abide by, even if that means giving up a few of our rights for the general good.



What would life be in a world without rules? Societies would rapidly deteriorate. Abiding by the rules is an instinct of self- preservation. We make rules for everything, imitating our very bodies that follow biological rules that keep us healthy and alive. So it is with a tribe, a group, a culture, a society, a country.



It seems almost a human instinct and scientists are working to confirm it.



We make rules for every aspect of our lives, sports, courtship, games, appearance, dress, eating, queuing, writing, walking, even for saying please and thank you.



By age three a child can be taught the rules of a game. Experiments show that when a hand-puppet violates the rules, the children object and attempt to teach it.



Scientists believe that although animals have patterns of behavior, wired in their genes for generations, such as courtship dances, rules however are unique to man. That would explain our special ability to latch on to rules. They seem hardwired in our DNA and despite protesters and rebels we enforce them without question. They are crucial to the success of our species.



Is that how governments started? To enforce those rules and punish those who do not respect them?



Whatever the reasons, governments evolved as people discovered they needed protection and a body to enforce those rules.



What is government, anyway? It is described as a system, or group of people, governing a certain community. Even small bands of hunters pre-dating agrarian societies, governing existed in groups of 50-100.



Tribalism was a face-to-face discussions, settling conflicts and agreeing on rules.



Like many facets of life the first forms of big government emerged when civilisation first began. They were not much different from earlier ones, but with the growth of populations, so grew the power of governments.



History records that government practices have survived for thousands of years. The first recorded governments date as far back as Sumer (Mesopotamia, c 4500 BC) followed by Egypt and Harrapan (Indus Valley, now several countries, c 3300 BC). China, Greece, ancient Rome, and Japan round up the first seven governments in history.



Ancient Egypt gets special credit for having the most well-known, thoroughly documented government out of all ancient civilisations.



The growth of government almost always ends abuse of power causing the destruction of freedom, justice, and equality. It is baffling that the very body elected by the people to care for the people, ends up by oppressing, deceiving and robbing the people  especially of their rights. Needless to say this is not good government.



There are three types of governments: democracy, monarchy and dictatorship. Under their umbrella are 10 forms of governments: democracy, communism, socialism, oligarchy, aristocracy, monarchy, theocracy, and colonialism.



Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others, said Winston Churchill, and he should know. His country has fought or colonised all the others.



Still democracy remains elusive, for there is no perfect example to follow. Monarchies are democracies, so claim communisms, socialisms among others.



However you wish to define a form of government, once it becomes destructive or abusive to the rights of the people, it is the right of the people who elected it to remove it. It is not just a right it is their duty to throw off such a government and to provide new grounds for their future security.



Fortunately, Egypt has been one of the few, if not the only country to have overthrown a government in power because of its corruption.



The people fought for their liberties and rejected a band of despots called the Muslim Brotherhood, though they had no relation with the religion they claimed to embrace.



Governments should be totally divorced from individual religious practice.



Religion has been a shield for despots throughout history. Yet, the very essence of religion is the love for Gods creatures.



When government fears the people there is liberty, when the people fear the government there is tyranny.



Thomas Jefferson (1743-1846)

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Tourism is the enemy of archaeology. Therefore, we need to accommodate the need for tourism to support the economy of the country and also the need to preserve and conserve archaeological sites.



I believe that one of my roles as an ambassador for the World Tourism Organisation is to encourage the antiquities agencies of countries with major cultural heritage, as well as the tourism authorities, to be more aware of this subject and of the important question of how to accommodate both the need for tourism and the preservation of antiquities.



Many conferences on this subject have been organised by the UN cultural agency UNESCO, including in 1996 in cooperation with the European Union and the World Tourism Organisation to discuss culture, tourism, and development in the 21st century. Other conferences have taken place in Milan and Paris and in countries such as Indonesia and Australia.



A roundtable discussion in Paris left me convinced that archaeological sites should be protected not only from tourism, but also from other threats facing us in the modern age.



The travel and tourism industry in Egypt is one of the countrys leading economic sectors, generating about LE389 billion in 2018. Tourist arrivals reached a peak in 2010 with 14.7 million visitors, and in 2019, albeit with several limitations on travel, they reached 13.026 million. About 88 per cent of the direct travel and tourism contribution to Egypt derives from leisure spending, compared to 12 per cent for business spending. At least two thirds of this percentage is linked to the visitation of heritage sites.



Mass international tourism, especially in Egypt, has been welcomed as a major contributor to economic prosperity and as a main employer without much regard for its adverse effects, however. For instance, every year new hotels, restaurants, and other tourist facilities have been built, nowhere more so than in Luxor, with larger and better roads carrying busloads of people traveling to reach the sites. Moreover, the numbers of national and local visitors are increasing very rapidly, including mass school visits and holiday visitors and nowhere more so than at the Pyramids of Giza.



The government is marketing historic cultural tourism internationally and is aiming to at least double the current numbers of visitors. Projections also show galloping interest and an increase in the numbers of Egyptian visitors. This entails opening dozens of new sites and preparing them for visits. Moreover, an increase is expected in plans to list more sites from the 143 now included on UNESCOs Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in Egypt.



All this will put strain on the sites, as once a site is inscribed on the World Heritage List and gains worldwide recognition, there is a substantial difference in visitor numbers when compared to the situation before its nomination.



But in many countries, including Egypt, where tourism is one of the major current and future contributors to the economy, there are no plans on how to facilitate a larger number of visitors and how to ensure the protection of sites and their surroundings, including the local community, before a nomination to the UNESCO List. Consequently, many World Heritage Sites could suffer from the negative impacts of an unsustainable number of visitors.



This can be seen in Egypt, where mass tourism can threaten some World Heritage Sites, such as the Pyramids at Giza and Saqqara and Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt.



From here comes the importance of establishing site-visitation plans with proper itineraries. It is hugely important to enhance the sites and their attractiveness, while managing any related risks. However, to date, there is no system in place to integrate the income generated by tourism with the protection and preservation of the monuments.



It is a fact that each tourist who enters a tomb or a pyramid brings about 20 g of water through breath into the monument with him. The Pramid of Khufu at Giza is a good example. Humidity has risen to 85 per cent inside the Pyramid, and salt deposits up to one cm thick have accumulated over the surface of the so-called Queens Chamber and in the Grand Gallery of the Pyramid. Stones have become weak and detached.



We have removed black spots of soot from the ascending passage that leads to the second chamber of the Pyramid with a solution composed of alcohol and water. We have also removed accumulations of salt and installed ventilation, which have reduced the humidity.



Over 3,000 tourists visit the tomb of Tutankhamen from the 18th Dynasty in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor, and, before we closed it, the 19th-Dynasty tomb of Seti I. This number increases during the peak tourism season to 5,000 a day and could lead to the complete decay of the tombs. The problem in the Valley of the Kings is made more acute by the fact that tourists visit the same sites that they have been visiting for the past 90 years. We must keep in mind that the tombs in the Valley of the Kings number 62, but, as I said, tourists concentrate only on visiting a few of them which are the most famous.



There has been deterioration in the tomb of Seti I. Cracks have formed in the tombs interior, and the inscription in the second part of the tomb of Ramses III is also now gone. The sound and light shows at the Temples of Karnak and Philae are not properly designed for their safety, though they are being improved with new technology.



Mechanical shocks from tourist buses and cars are also dangerous, generating excessive vibration and air pollution. Tourists with their guides enter the tombs, where they may even touch the paintings, and guides often use inappropriate lighting.



The damage caused by mass tourism to man-made and natural sites is now well documented worldwide. In Egypt, where tourist-management is in its infancy, the problems created by large tourist groups are quite apparent. For example, at the great Temple of Abu Simbel, an average of 3,000 tourists arrive daily.



It is impossible to control such numbers. Some tourists touch or knock against the walls; others take flash photographs; and all of them breathe humidity and carbon dioxide. It is thus small wonder that a piece of stone recently fell from the Temple ceiling. From the tourists point of view, such a crowded visit is also disappointing as they are obliged to wait for their turn to visit, whereupon they are crowded into small, oxygen-starved chambers, unable to see the wonderful reliefs and paintings or appreciate the haunting ambience.



The only solution to accommodate the needs of both tourism and archaeology is the proper management of sites. It is commonly recognised among archaeologists, conservators, site inspectors, and others in the field that the countrys cultural heritage is under increasing threat from the growth in the number of tourists, rising subsoil water tables, rapid urban development, and agricultural and building expansion.



Other threats to the sites include poor restoration, flash floods, rainfall, and vegetation.







SITE MANAGEMENT: Proper site management is neither a recipe nor a science. It is a number of combined practices oriented by a clear strategy aimed at protecting and sustaining historical sites so that they can be transmitted to future generations.



These practices are complementary and constitute a site-management system. There is no single reference that provides comprehensive directives on strategies and practices. However, successful site management is based on three main preconditions: well-developed strategic tools including cultural protection policies; properly enforced conservation laws; and active institutional national and international collaboration, a well-organised training and research support system, and the availability of resources.



Site management plans (SMPs) are work plans that describe steps to conduct well-defined actions to protect archaeological sites. Efficient implementation of SMPs aims to ensure sustainable site protection, conservation, presentation, investigation, visitation, and value enhancement in a way that assures the preservation of the site for the future.



At the Giza Plateau, we did the following, for example. An architect converted the master plan into an active project. A wall was built to limit access for visitors and others. A new entrance was opened to lead visitors to the desert south of the Pyramids. A parking area was created. A visitor centre was built. Electric cars are now used to stop traffic within the site. Camels and horses are limited to a zone outside the site. There is a souvenir sellers zone near the parking area. And panoramic views are identified at the site for visitors.



I really believe that mass tourism can destroy heritage sites. The only way to save our heritage is proper site management as a response to growing tourism. If we do not do this, most of the remains of the great Ancient Egyptian civilisation will vanish in less than 100 years.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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AZHARITES IN KABUL: On the afternoon of 24 August, Al-Azhar University teacher Shawki Abu Zeid landed on a military plane in Cairo after having been evicted from Kabul in the wake of the Taliban takeover of the capital of Afghanistan.



The trip from Kabul to Cairo came after over two years that Abu Zeid had spent in the Afghan capital as head of the Al-Azhar Institute in Kabul  an educational institute that provides school education for close to 800 Afghan students, all boys, who come from several Afghan regions.



Abu Zeid was grateful to have been brought back home with 23 other Egyptian teachers who had been posted by Al-Azhar to Kabul. However, as he also said in comments to Al-Ahram Weekly, he lamented the abrupt end of the mission of an institute that was really helping to provide knowledge to some very keen and brilliant students who really cared to learn.



It was in May 2019 that this graduate of the Al-Azhar Faculty of Pedagogy in Cairo was sent on his first overseas posting to Kabul. Having passed the exams, interviews, and training for this job, Abu Zeid, then in his late 40s, was possibly hoping for an easier post in a country not as marred by political uncertainty as Afghanistan. Certainly, he said, his family had been apprehensive about the move, but he nevertheless decided to head to Kabul.



When I arrived, it all looked very different but quite nice. My apprehension about the country did not last long because the name of Al-Azhar is a trusted pass to the hearts and minds of the people there, he said.



With the warm support he found from some of his coworkers and from an exceptionally kind Afghan group of associates, Abu Zeid started to slowly but surely find his way around and learned to appreciate the beauty and norms of the place and even to cope with the sometimes exceptionally cold weather.



The most heartwarming part was the look on the faces of the students who attended the primary, elementary, and secondary classes of the institute that reflected huge keenness and much gratitude for being able to learn in classes organised by Al-Azhar, he said.



In addition to managing the institute, Abu Zeid was often engaged in other activities that allowed him to give lectures at public gatherings and to share his thoughts in programmes on national TV.



Wherever he went, Abu Zeid said, he only saw welcoming faces. Before I went, I learned from colleagues who had already served there that the Al-Azhar Institute is never involved in any political issues and never gets into any controversy. This made perfect sense because we have a very specific mission, and our mandate requires that we steer clear from politics and just be engaged with knowledge, he said.



We conveyed the ideas of tolerance, compassion, and piety that we carry as Azharites. We taught the Arabic language, linguistics, and literature, he added.



Prior to the abrupt end of his mission in Kabul, Abu Zeid started working with the Afghan Ministry of Education to start an additional Al-Azhar Institute for girls. There was an agreement and work in progress, and we were not very far from concluding it, but unfortunately with the recent developments things came to a sudden stop, he lamented.



Girls are not made to be kept at home and are not meant to be deprived of knowledge and learning. Girls deserve every opportunity to learn, and we had hoped that Al-Azhar would be able to contribute to this in Afghanistan, he said.



Today, Abu Zeid is not sure about the fate of this project that he has invested so much in. Nor is he sure whether the Al-Azhar Institute in Kabul will re-open its doors for its few hundred students.



The decision, he said, is in the hands of the state and Al-Azhar. It is not clear yet whether our work would still be welcomed and when it could be safe for teachers to be there again. These are matters for high-level decisions, he said.



However, he added, if asked to go back and continue my work in Afghanistan, I would certainly be part of the mission again.



It was in 2009 that Al-Azhar opened its Institute in Kabul, and the kind of respect that all those who worked there received shows the respect an Azharite has in this city and from this people. We were hoping to reach out to Afghan people all over the country, but this was not what was meant to be, he stated.









REACHING OUT: Secretary-general of the Al-Azhar Islamic Research Centre in Cairo Nazir Ayyad explained that the centre has been committed to delivering religious knowledge for some 60 years.



It was in the first week of January 1961 that Al-Azhar opened its first overseas institute in Somalia. Sixty years down the road, Al-Azhar is claiming both dedication and success in its operations to establish learning centres that teach the Quran, Islamic theology, and Arabic across many countries that have larger or smaller Muslim populations.



According to Ayyad, Al-Azhar is keen on putting across knowledge that reflects the true precepts of Islam that are at odds with all forms of radicalism.



Our message is one of tolerance and compassion. This is the commitment that the grand imam of Al-Azhar has made. It is a commitment that the establishment of Al-Azhar subscribes to, he stated.



Over the past six decades, Ayyad said, Al-Azhar has been having institutes built and operated in many African countries, particularly those around the Nile Basin and also in Asian states with large Muslim communities. However, Ayyad added, there have been institutes too in other countries, among them Romania.



Overall, Ayyad said, Al-Azhar has 30 institutes and centres that fall directly within its central operation. Those, he explained, are divided among 16 countries.



The management of these is conducted in partnership with the host countries, Ayyad said. Al-Azhar, he explained, sends out teachers and takes care of their salaries, while the host states provide for local administration staff that help with communication with the population of their countries.



The teachers sent overseas, Ayyad said, are selected through a very thorough process that guarantees that they are the best suited to teach foreign students in a foreign country. They have to pass several tests to be accredited as overseas teachers, and we dont keep any teachers for more than three years in any one overseas post, he said.



Most recently, Ayyad added, Al-Azhar has opted to expand the profile of its overseas teachers by incorporating some of the foreign students who come to Egypt to study at Al-Azhar University. Once they are eligible for accreditation, Ayyad explained, they go through the necessary tests to qualify as Al-Azhar teachers in their home countries. This new mechanism, he added, has also proved to be a success.



The foreign students who come to study at Al-Azhar are usually graduates of Al-Azhar institutes overseas. Some are on scholarships that are granted either by Al-Azhar or by their national governments. Some are enrolled as full-tuition students.



Ultimately, Ayyad said, everyone studies the same curriculum of Arabic and Islamic theology. There is no difference between, for example, the curriculum that is offered to students in Afghanistan and that to students in Somalia, he said.



The predominance of a particular school of theology in any particular country, he said, is naturally accommodated. We teach all schools of Islamic thinking and regulations. This applies to everyone everywhere, in Egypt or overseas. Obviously, we dont interfere in the personal choices of anyone, and they can choose whichever school they wish to follow, he added.



However, more attention is accorded to the predominant school in the different countries. For example, the Institute in Kabul catered for the Hanafi madhab (school), while the one in Somalia catered more to Shafei teachings, he said. In all cases, students receive the same books sent from Cairo through the facilities of the Foreign Ministry, he added.



Currently, Ayyad said, Al-Azhar is working on upgrading and revising the curricula it teaches to students overseas. Part of this new plan is to digitise the learning material. There is also a plan, he added, to increase the number of institutes, given the interest that many are showing to join them.





A JOURNEY OF LOVE AND LEARNING: Asian and African students who attend Al-Azhar University in Cairo to study Islamic theology, Arabic literature, and medicine often talk about their rewarding experiences.In 2013, Othman, an Afghan student, graduated from his high school in Kabul where he learned Arabic and Islamic studies. His wish was to come to Egypt, the land of Al-Azhar, a minaret of learning, to pursue a university degree in Islamic theology. He applied for a scholarship and was accepted.In 2014, Othman arrived in Cairo for the first time, and since then with the exception of two trips home, he has been in the city where he secured his degree and is now pursuing post-graduate studies.According to Othman, being in Cairo was never anything other than easy. Having been accepted in the dorms of the university, he got a good introduction to the city as he slowly but surely upgraded his Arabic and communication skills.Like most other students who come to study at Al-Azhar, Othman had to do an intensive language course before fully engaging with his academic studies.His hope is to stay on until he gets a PhD degree, which should get him a good job back home. One would always love to stay on at Al-Azhar because it is not just a matter of learning, but also a matter of love. We love Al-Azhar, and we dont just think of it as a place of learning, he said.Othman is one of around 100 students that come to study at Al-Azhar on scholarships every year. The beginning was with 50 students a year in 2010, only one year after Al-Azhar opened its institute in Kabul.During the past four years, these scholarships have been doubled in number to meet the growing demand of students to attend Al-Azhar. This, he said, was unlikely to change with the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The wish to join Al-Azhar will not disappear, but I am not sure about the practicalities, he added.I know that Egypt has other universities, but for us Al-Azhar means something different. We always like to think of Jamaleddin Al-Afghani as being an important historical connection between Afghanistan and Al-Azhar, Othman said.Al-Afghani was a 19th-scholar who came to study in Egypt from an area between Afghanistan and Iran. He lived in the country during the Mohamed Ali period and was one of the names then associated with the expansion of learning.The association between Afghanistan and Al-Azhar did not stop in the 19th century, however, Othman added. Many prominent figures from modern and contemporary Afghanistan studied at Al-Azhar, he said.Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are other countries that send a considerable number of students every year to attend Al-Azhar, mostly to study Islamic theology but also to study the Arabic language.Khedr, Aisha, and Soheimi have come from these three countries to study at Al-Azhar during different points of the past five years. Like Othman, they all had a good basis to their subjects in their home countries and all shared his dream to be Azharites.None of them was willing to contemplate the argument that what Al-Azhar offers in terms of knowledge is archaic or outdated.What we learn in the classes on Islamic studies is all about moderation, compassion, and peace. This is not just what our teachers preach, but actually what they practise  at least in dealing with students, Khedr said.Having been a student at Al-Azhar for the past eight years, Khedr said that he was proud of everything he had learned and that the ultimate lesson put across in the curriculum was about co-existence.The wish to join Al-Azhar had made Soheimi do extra Arabic lessons in a private school in Bangkok in his native Thailand to secure a good place in what he says was a very tough competition among hundreds of students dreaming to do Islamic studies at Al-Azhar in Cairo.It was that same wish that made the parents of Aisha come with her to Cairo a few years ago to launch her in her studies at the Al-Azhar Faculty of Arabic and on life in Egypt.Through the student union, where the three met along with Othman, these young Azharites have found a new community that they call a home away from home. Together, some of them have gone on trips to attend the moulids (birth festivals) of Sufi figures in Tanta and Desouq. They have also attended events hosted by Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, whom Aisha called Abul-Wafedin  the father of foreign students.Theirs is also not a strictly Asian community, in fact not at all, said Othman. There are several African friends who are, like us, on a journey of love and learning.FROM AFRICA: Saleh is a student from Chad who is part of the Othman group of friends at Al-Azhar in Cairo.

With his friends, Saleh has often enjoyed attending lectures where there is discussion at times in colloquial Egyptian Arabic that he can now follow quite comfortably.

Away from the classroom, other African students, whose command of colloquial is advanced, have ventured into attending lectures that independent preachers offer at Al-Azhar Mosque.

When they go back home, like fellow student Mohamed did when he went back home to Nigeria, it is always a new phase in their relationship with Al-Azhar. This is a strong bond that can never be broken, Mohamed said.



When I went back home, I wanted to teach everything that I had learnt at Al-Azhar. I wanted to convey the knowledge that would bring all good Muslims closer to Allah and to one another and to be able to answer questions on Islam from those who do not subscribe to the faith, Mohamed said.



Speaking from the school where he is teaching the Quran and Arabic to children in Lagos in Nigeria, Mohamed said that he was convinced that the knowledge offered by Al-Azhar was one of the best ways to stop the expansion of the ideas of radical groups like Boko Haram in his country.



The more scholars Al-Azhar is able to send to Muslim communities all over the world and the more scholarships that keen students can get to study at Al-Azhar, the smaller the space there will be for those who hold radical ideas like Boko Haram and others, he said.



These are groups of people whose knowledge of Islam is confused, which makes them basically ignorant. They believe in hatred, and they use poverty to spread fear, he said. One cannot fight Boko Haram with arms; one fights hatred with tolerance and knowledge. This is why Al-Azhars role is more valuable than ever, he added.



But for foreign students who come on often enough long and challenging journeys to study at Al-Azhar, Arabic and Islamic studies are not the only objective. Some come to attend other faculties as well.



Sogo and Khawlatalemtiaz came from Guinea-Bissau and Indonesia to study medicine at Al-Azhar University. For both, this was a perfect opportunity to see two wishes come true: to improve their knowledge of Arabic, the language of the Quran, and to graduate as medical doctors as they both hope to do.



Studying at any university other than Al-Azhar would not have allowed these two things to happen at the same time, Sogo said.



According to Khawlatalemtiaz, with a degree in medicine and a good command of Arabic, she will be well positioned to get good jobs in several places. However, she added, the best part really is about being part of this grand university. Its about the journey and not just about the destination.



It was in the 10th century CE that the Fatimid rulers of Egypt established Al-Azhar as a venue for worship and the learning of the Muslim Shia faith that was then dominant in Egypt. With the fall of the Fatimids, it did not take long for Al-Azhar to be converted to the Sunni faith of the new rulers.



Over the centuries, Al-Azhar has had its ups and downs, and its teaching of Islam has continued to be the subject of debate between those who think it is falling short of catching up with modernity and those who think that it remains a cornerstone of promoting the proper understanding of Islam.



Under the rule of Mohamed Ali in the 19th century, Al-Azhar saw many reforms and became part of the modernisation schemes that the ruler of the country was adopting.



In the 1930s, Al-Azhar started to teach its students the basics of science, and in the early 1960s under the rule of former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser it successively opened faculties of commerce, law, engineering and agriculture. Faculties teaching other scientific and literary disciplines followed. However, for all students of Al-Azhar there is a mandatory introductory curriculum of basic Islamic studies and Arabic language.



In his autobiography Al-Ayyam (The Days, published between 1929 and 1967), the Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, sometimes called the dean of Arabic literature, offers a gloomy picture of a young blind child, as he then was, humiliated by the unsympathetic sheikhs teaching the Quran and Islamic studies at Al-Azhar.



A famous quotation from one unkind sheikh is his calling on Taha Hussein to read, you blind child.



Al-Ayyam is also a diary of the lack of intelligence that Hussein faced at this old and for him outmoded establishment of education when he attended it at the beginning of the last century.



However, such accounts do not register with todays foreign students whose pride in being Azharites cannot be overstated. For each and every one of them, Al-Azhar is the ultimate learning experience.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The woman who broke barriers as the first female foreign minister and deputy prime minister in culturally conservative Somalia now aims for the country's top office as the Horn of Africa nation moves toward a long-delayed presidential election.

Parliament member Fawzia Yusuf H. Adam is well aware of the challenges in winning votes in a nation where women often remain marginalized. In an interview with The Associated Press, she described the struggle of leading a foreign ministry staff that was overwhelmingly male.

``They were very reluctant to collaborate with me just because I am a female,'' she said.

Even as more educated women return to Somalia from the large diaspora to help rebuild the country after three decades of conflict, attitudes toward Adam's run for office are mostly skeptical, if sympathetic. Even friends and colleagues see her chances as next to impossible because of her gender.

``She's good, but unfortunately she's a woman,'' said Abdiwahid Mohamed Adam, a doctor at Mogadishu Memorial Hospital. Complicating her bid, he said, is the fact that Adam comes from the breakaway region of Somaliland, a comparatively stable area in the north that has sought international recognition as an independent country for years.

But the soft-spoken Adam, a widow and mother of three, said she believes her run for the presidency is worthwhile, not futile, on several levels, while the timing of the election has been pushed back once again amid political tensions from mid-October toward the end of the year.

``I want to break this barrier against women, so that in the near future many others will have the courage to run and even win,'' she said, adding that it's time to fight for the rights of women.

Somalia's years of insecurity marked by devastating attacks by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group also have driven Adam to run. ``There was mayhem in this country for the past 30 years,'' she said. ``Young people are dying like flies, killing each other, exploding themselves, killing other people.''

Like others across Somalia, she has watched as the insecurity weakened the country's foundation. High unemployment, poor education and one of the world's least-equipped health systems are all a result. Corruption and political squabbling haven't helped.

``I thought a woman may be what this country needs, the leadership of a woman, to bring peace and stability,'' Adam said.

Her presidential campaign has been relatively low-profile because of the insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of holding large public rallies, Adam prefers smaller indoor gatherings. ``This could be less expensive but less effective as well,'' said Liban Abdullahi Farah, a political analyst in the capital, Mogadishu.

Unlike many other candidates and everyday people in Somalia, where face masks are hardly seen despite having one of the highest COVID-19 case fatality rates in Africa, Adam says she takes the pandemic seriously and speaks bluntly about its dangers after seeing several friends die.

``I keep giving advice on this pandemic, particularly how badly it impacts women and the poorest of them,'' she said. ``We don't have a good health system to deal with this phenomenon.''

Women in Somalia have been especially hard hit by the virus, Adam said, both physically and economically.

``I personally took my two vaccinations, many people did, but many poor people in the camps, the internally displaced people, the very poor, vulnerable people do not have that chance,'' she said. ``What I am hoping is to win this election. (The pandemic) will be one of my priorities, because we don't want to lose more people.''

Apart from some awareness messaging, Somalia's federal government does little to enforce basic virus prevention measures of social distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing.

At the country's coronavirus treatment center in the capital, deputy director Abdirahim Omar Amin told the AP that ``very many women have been infected'' by COVID-19. Health ministry data, however, show that men represent more than 70% of confirmed cases in Somalia.

``The people themselves do not have the awareness, or they are in a state of denial, calling it `just heartburn' and stay at home, and the person is brought here when it is too late,'' he said.

Among the women Adam hopes to help if elected president is Fatuma Mohamed, one of the hundreds of thousands of people living in camps in Mogadishu after being displaced by insecurity or climate shocks like drought.

Mohamed said her husband died of COVID-19, while she survived. Now she struggles to raise two young children, earning money by doing laundry when she can.

``This disease has devastated us, it killed my mother and my husband,'' she said. ``I have not seen anyone offering me a helping hand. I struggle all alone.''

Adam's path in life has been far different. Married to a general, she first entered politics in her hometown of Hargeisa in Somaliland years ago but fled to Mogadishu, saying local politicians saw her as a threat. She later started a political party, the National Democratic Party, and rose to some of the country's highest offices.

Now, in pursuit of the presidency, Adam has Somaliland in mind as part of her ambitions.

``If I am elected, I am sure I could reunite my country as I belong to both sides, the north and south,'' she said, ``and I believe that I am the only person who's capable of doing that as I already made a plan for the unification.''

If her candidacy fails, she said, she aims to become prime minister, adding ``I would always advise whoever wins the presidency.''

Short link:


A recovery in Lebanon: Arab help needed



Haitham Nouri, , Tuesday 14 Sep 2021



Now that a new government has finally been formed, Lebanon is hoping to restore its political and economic balance with help from larger neighbours



Lebanon formed a new government after 13 months of political feuding and economic meltdown, exacerbated by the Beirut Port blast of August 2020.



The names of the cabinet ministers generated heated debate in public and political circles. Although, as per the demands of the people the majority of the ministers are not veteran politicians, they were still nominated by traditional sectarian political factions, rendering them one way or another affiliated to these forces.



We cant have an all-technocrat government without the ministers having affiliations, said the new Prime Minister Najib Mikati, indicating that there has to be political consensus to back up the crucial decisions that need to be made.



Maged Harb, a Lebanese university professor and journalist, said it is difficult to find Lebanese figures who dont have political or sectarian affiliations. Besides, negotiating with the IMF cant take place without consensus among political powers. The IMF wants Lebanon to float the national currency, the lira, which means the dollar will be traded for 16,000 liras, which is its price on the black market.



The dollars price fell in Beirut with the announcement of the formation of the government from 17,000-17,8950 liras to less than 16,000 liras. The Lebanese press attributed the drop to the optimism the long-awaited development induced.



The IMF also demanded subsidies be lifted. This has already taken place  only 10 or 10 per cent of goods are subsidised. The fund wants to stabilise the wages of government employees, which means many workers will have to leave their jobs in the public sector. This will lead to downsizing government administrations and decreasing their financial allocations, Harb stated.



Lebanon has been seeing unprecedented political disturbances since 2019 when thousands of people went out on the streets to protest the governments decisions to raise taxes on telecommunications. The people demanded the fall of the political elite, leading the government of Saad Al-Hariri to tender its resignation.



Many attempts to form a government had failed until Hassan Diab, a university professor, rose to the helm in January 2020. Diabs government was rejected by the Lebanese Sunni community on the grounds that its head was more inclined towards the Iranian-backed Hizbullah.



Since then, Lebanon had lost the support of the Gulf, which rejected Hizbullahs control over Beirut, Harb said.



Seven months later, the Beirut Port turned to rubble, deepening the political and economic crises of the country. Governmental and political corruption became more widespread. In the words of Harb, the corruption of the political elite stood in the way of development in all sectors.



The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic further crippled Lebanon, pushing its health sector to the precipice of collapse. During this period, the Lebanese currency lost about 90 per cent of its value, and the prices of goods rose by over 500 per cent.



For example, the increase in the price of sunflower oil recorded 1,391 per cent, sugar 1,232 per cent, meat 966 per cent, poultry 374 per cent, eggs 787 per cent and milk powder 334 per cent. The price of rice rose by 869 per cent, butter by 725 per cent and other dairy products by more than 500 per cent. Vegetable price increases ranged from 550 per cent to 700 per cent, while increases in fruit prices reached 500 per cent, according to Crisis Observatory, a research centre at the American University of Beirut.



Lebanon has also been engulfed by critical fuel shortages in the past few months. Vehicles would line up for long hours at petrol stations while the government failed to buy any form of petroleum, rendering the electricity crisis more acute and causing irreparable damage to hospitals.



Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon are currently engaged in talks to deliver Egyptian gas to Lebanon, a move described as one of Cairos leading roles in the past years.



Cairo and Beirut may seem like they have not had strong relations for decades. But former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak visited Beirut following the Israeli aggression. Egypt has also participated in building Lebanons power plants and extended an air bridge to supply Beirut with medical assistance. And now, Egypts gas is topping the agenda of international negotiations, Harb stated.



Inserting Syria into the equation is an amendment to the Caesar Act through which the US has been imposing sanctions on Damascus and capitals doing business with it. The US-European consensus over exporting Egyptian gas to Lebanon has provided solutions for both Damascus and Beirut, he added.



Hizbullah announced Iran may deliver oil to Beirut. However, exporting Egyptian gas to Lebanon via an existing infrastructure  that requires upgrades and maintenance  can delimit Irans role in Lebanon and is an indication of the re-emergence of an Arab role to counter the influence of Tehran and its ally, Hizbullah.



When the government was formed, Mikati said he would ask forthe help of my brothers in the Arab and GCC countries.



Arab support was one of the main reasons behind the quality living conditions in Lebanon, be it through Arab tourism, Gulf deposits in Beirut banks or investments in Lebanese real estate, said Harb.



Lebanon saw a series of crises, the third worse  according to the Crisis Observatory  being the emigration of the Lebanese. The first wave of emigration was in the wake of the Mountain War between the Maronites and the Druze in 1860 until World War I, which saw 330,000 immigrants leaving Lebanon. The second wave was during the Civil War of 1975-1990 when about a million people left the country.



Exacerbating the emigration crisis is the general state of pessimism. According to the World Bank, it is going to be between 12 and 19 years before Lebanon restores its GDP to the 2017 levels if the political will for reform is absent.



Harb believes controversy will surround the appointment of Finance Minister Youssef Khalil who is claimed by many to have close ties with the governor of the Central Bank. The latter has been accused of causing the current crisis, especially the inability of depositors to withdraw their savings, the reduction of subsidies and the inability to purchase fuel and medicine.



The labour minister is being criticised for his ties with Hizbullah. The group insisted on snatching this portfolio, expected to oversee infrastructure operations.



According to a Lebanese source who preferred to remain anonymous, Al-Hariri had strongly insisted on not giving the Labour Ministry to Hizbullah because the move would drive Gulf investors away.



Egypt is slated to play a major role in the Lebanese infrastructure sector, Harb said, due to its vast experience in expanding infrastructure networks quickly and at a reasonable cost.



Whatever the case may be, Lebanon needs serious reform to eradicate corruption. Political neutrality is also critical for the appeasement of Western and Arab investors and for the countrys speedy return to normality.



This, however, will not materialise without conducting general elections, which are slated for next year. The elections will shed more light on the balance of power in Lebanon and their results will determine how much international donors will help the country.



When Mikati was head of government for the first time in 2005, he successfully managed to organise elections. He refused to nominate himself to ensure neutrality. Today, many are pinning their hopes on Lebanons wealthiest man succeeding again.



*A version of this article appears in print in the 16 September, 2021 edition ofAl-Ahram Weekly



https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/423096.aspx
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.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken pauses as he speaks during a 9/11 commemoration event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. [File photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP]

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.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 14, 2021 - 16:15 | All, Japan

Japan plans to introduce a tougher jail sentence as part of penalties for online insults amid growing calls to tackle cyberbullying, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Tuesday.

Kamikawa told a press conference that she will ask her advisory panel to examine the plan to impose a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,725) over insults at its meeting Thursday.

At present, the penalty against insults is detention for less than 30 days or a fine of less than 10,000 yen. The Justice Ministry is also planning to extend the statute of limitations for insults from one year to three years.

"Online insults provoke similar posts one after another, which can lead to irreversible human rights violations," Kamikawa said. "As we see growing criticism against online abuse, we need to designate the act as a crime to be seriously dealt with and curb it."

Recent high-profile cases in Japan involving insults in cyberspace include the death of Hana Kimura, 22, a professional wrestler and cast member of the popular Netflix reality show "Terrace House" in May 2020. She apparently committed suicide after receiving a barrage of hateful messages on social media.

Two men in Osaka and Fukui prefectures were penalized 9,000 yen each for their insults against Kimura, but there were voices of concern that the penalties were too light.

In Japan, the penalty against defamation, which involves an untrue statement referring to a specific action, is a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. In comparison, insults are bad-mouthing someone using phrases like "annoying" or "creepy" without referring to a specific action.

As provisions on insults under the country's Penal Code have not been drastically reviewed since the law was established in 1907, when the grave impact of online abuse was not a consideration, there have been urgent calls to address the matter.

The advisory panel is expected to discuss how to find a delicate balance between freedom of expression and tougher regulations on online abuse.

Following Kimura's death, the parliament in April enacted a law to establish a simpler court procedure that will help victims of cyberbullying in seeking to identify individuals who made defamatory posts online.

Under the legislation, expected to take effect by fall next year, cyberbullying victims will go through only one court proceeding to identify individuals who make hateful posts online, saving them time and costs related to such requests.

At present, people, in general, must go through at least two court proceedings -- one against social media operators and the other against internet service providers to obtain information on their harassers.

Related coverage:

Olympic athletes pained by online bashing, mental health care sought

Man told to pay damages for hateful posts on late "Terrace House" star

Japan enacts law to enable simpler court steps to find cyberbullies
KYODO NEWS - Sep 7, 2021 - 22:07 | World, All

North Korea appears likely to hold a military parade on Thursday to celebrate the country's 73rd founding anniversary, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported Tuesday.

Citing military sources, Yonhap said around 10,000 troops were earlier observed in Pyongyang, possibly indicating preparations for a military parade that would be the first of its kind to mark the state founding anniversary in almost three years.

It said fighters were recently observed flying over the capital city at night, while preparations appear to be under way at Mirim, a suburban airfield with a facility where parade rehearsals are known to take place.

South Korean officials are focused on whether any new weapons such as submarine-launched ballistic missiles will be made public at the military parade, if it takes place.

North Korea last held a military parade to mark the occasion in 2018, when it celebrated the state's 70th founding anniversary, though it held a military parade last year to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

At the 2018 parade, which came around three months after the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit, North Korea did not display intercontinental ballistic missiles that could target the United States, signaling leader Kim Jong Un's desire to refrain from provoking then U.S. President Donald Trump for the sake of moving forward with nuclear negotiations.

Trump met Kim two more times, but their talks made little progress, with the two countries at odds over issues such as the degree of sanctions relief Pyongyang should receive for denuclearization steps.

The holding of a Thursday parade by the armed forces could stem partly from last month's South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises that prompted the North to warn of a "serious security crisis."

Yonhap quoted a South Korean official as saying the event could be held at night just as with previous parades. The official added that the North could use the occasion to convey messages to South Korea and to the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden.

On Oct. 10 last year, the North staged a predawn military parade in Pyongyang to show off a cutting-edge ICBM on the party's anniversary, in a rare move amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also unveiled an SLBM then.
KYODO NEWS - Sep 14, 2021 - 13:09 | All, Japan

The number of people aged 100 or above in Japan is estimated at a record 86,510, with the number of men reaching the milestone topping 10,000 for the first time, health ministry data showed Tuesday.

The number of centenarians as of Sept. 15 represents an increase of 6,060 from a year earlier for the 51th consecutive year of rise, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said prior to the Respect for the Aged Day holiday, which falls next Monday.

Of the 86,510, women accounted for 88.4 percent or 76,450, up 5,475 from a year earlier and men totaled 10,060, up 585, the data showed.

When the survey started in 1963, the number of centenarians in the country stood at 153, but it eclipsed 1,000 in 1981 and surpassed 10,000 in 1998, due mainly to advances in medical technology.

In July, the ministry said average life expectancy in Japan, one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world, rose to record highs for both genders in 2020 -- 87.74 for women and 81.64 for men.

Kane Tanaka, a 118-year-old resident of Fukuoka, southwestern Japan, is the oldest Japanese woman. She has been recognized as the oldest living person in the world by Guinness World Records.

Tanaka was born in 1903, the year the Wright brothers flew the world's first powered airplane.

Mikizo Ueda, a 111-year-old resident of Nara, western Japan, is the oldest Japanese man.

By prefecture, Shimane in western Japan has the highest number of centenarians per 100,000 people for the ninth straight year at 134.75, followed by Kochi and Kagoshima at 126.29 and 118.74, respectively. The nationwide average stands at 68.54.

Related coverage:

100-year-old Japanese recovers from COVID-19, says positivity is key

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KYODO NEWS - Sep 14, 2021 - 19:55 | All, Japan, World

Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Tuesday to continue their efforts toward the denuclearization of North Korea through "dialogue and sanctions," a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Their meeting in Tokyo came a day after Pyongyang said it had successfully carried out tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend.

It also followed a report released late August by the International Atomic Energy Agency that said North Korea appeared to have resumed operating its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels amid stalled denuclearization negotiations with the United States.

Washington has pushed for complete denuclearization, while Pyongyang has called for sanctions relief.

During Tuesday's meeting, the three countries agreed to work closely toward the goal of complete denuclearization of North Korea in line with U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the ministry said.

At the outset of the three-way talks, Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, said, "Our cooperation becomes all the more important as North Korea advances furthermore in its nuclear and missile development."

Sung Kim, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, said in response, "We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions." DPRK is the acronym of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

Noh Kyu Duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, referred to the possibility of humanitarian assistance to North Korea, including providing coronavirus vaccines through international aid organizations, a Japanese official said.

Washington said Monday it remains ready to engage with Pyongyang toward ridding the country of its nuclear weapons even after the North announced the test-firing of the new cruise missile.

The United States has offered to meet "anywhere, anytime without preconditions" with North Korea, but Kim said Pyongyang has yet to respond to Washington's call.

The new cruise missile can hit a target 1,500 kilometers away, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, a range that would include almost all of the Japanese archipelago.

At the meeting, Japan gained support from the United States and South Korea to address North Korean abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, the ministry said.

Funakoshi and Kim held a separate meeting on the same day, as Funakoshi and Noh did Monday.

The trilateral meeting was last held in June in Seoul.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has attached importance to strengthening cooperation with Washington's two closest allies in Asia, whose bilateral relations have sunk to the lowest level in decades over the wartime labor and compensation issues.

In late April, the Biden administration completed a review of its North Korea policy and signaled its readiness for dialogue with North Korea while building on a 2018 bilateral agreement that included Pyongyang's commitment toward denuclearization.

Related coverage:

U.S. says ready to engage with North Korea despite latest missile tests

North Korea test-fires new cruise missile with range to reach Japan

North Korea stages military parade amid worst food crisis in decade
KYODO NEWS - Sep 14, 2021 - 21:17 | All, Japan

Former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has given up on running in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's upcoming leadership race and is leaning toward backing vaccination minister Taro Kono instead, people familiar with his decision said Tuesday.

Ishiba, the No. 2 pick to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in opinion polls after Kono, had been considering putting his name forward for the Sept. 29 vote that will effectively determine the country's new leader, but some allies saw his chances of winning as slim and urged him to sit it out.

The LDP presidential election now appears to be a three-way contest between Kono, former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former communications minister Sanae Takaichi.

Earlier this month, Suga announced his intention to resign after just a year in office amid mounting criticism over his government's COVID-19 response.

The decision by Ishiba will likely help Kono, who was No. 1 in media polls including by Kyodo News, collect more votes as the LDP seeks to install a popular leader ahead of a general election this fall.

Having held a number of Cabinet and senior party posts including agriculture minister and LDP secretary general, and long considered a contender for prime minister, Ishiba, 64, made his fourth attempt at becoming LDP leader in September 2020 but came in last behind Suga and Kishida.

A divisive figure among LDP lawmakers, Ishiba's biggest source of power has been his popularity among the party's rank-and-file members, who will be voting in the LDP presidential election for the first time since 2018.

But Kono, 58, a fellow maverick within the conservative party known for his reform-minded views and social media savvy, is expected to sweep up many of those votes, leaving Ishiba with little chance of winning.

Even among the 17 lawmakers belonging to the LDP faction headed by Ishiba, some had argued he should seek to realize his policy goals by backing Kono.

Kono, who doubles as minister of administrative and regulatory reform, on Monday visited Ishiba's office to ask for his support should he choose to pass on the LDP presidential election.

Ishiba is set to announce his decision not to run at a press conference after meeting with his faction members on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the faction led by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the LDP's largest group with 96 lawmakers including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, agreed Tuesday to endorse both Kishida, 64, and Takaichi, 60, while leaving open the option for members to vote for Kono if they choose.

Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, himself a popular choice for future prime minister, said he will back Kono, citing his experience in leading the vaccine rollout, focus on tackling climate change and willingness to change the status quo.

"With Japan and the world changing as it is amid the coronavirus pandemic, the LDP needs a new type of leader who is not held back by the old ways of doing things, the old ways of thinking," Koizumi said at a press conference.

Former communications minister Seiko Noda, who has expressed a desire to join the race, has yet to secure the 20 nominations from lawmakers necessary to throw her hat into the ring.

Suga, who has yet to publicly name his preferred candidate, behind the scenes has expressed full support for Kono, according to people close to the prime minister.

Campaigning for the LDP presidential election begins Friday, with LDP lawmakers of both houses of parliament and rank-and-file members each holding 383 votes for a total of 766.

The candidate who takes a majority of votes wins. If none is able to, the contest goes into a run-off vote between the top two competitors.

In the Kyodo News opinion poll, conducted in the two days following Suga's resignation announcement on Sept. 3, 31.9 percent of respondents said Kono was most fit to become prime minister, while 26.6 percent chose Ishiba and 18.8 percent selected Kishida.

Noda followed with 4.4 percent, while Takaichi trailed with 4.0 percent.

Related coverage:

Japan vaccine czar Taro Kono declares bid to succeed PM Suga

3-way LDP race likely as Kishida makes pledges, Takaichi declares bid

Taro Kono tops opinion poll as most fit to become Japan's next PM
New Delhi:

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 12 Telugu Desam Party lawmakers for stalling the House proceedings on Thursday. The TDP leaders were protesting in the Lower House demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. The lawmakers have been barred from attending the proceedings for next four days under rule 374A. The suspension comes a day after Mahajan suspended 26 All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) members for 'continuously coming to the Well of the House and obstructing proceedings' on Wednesday. The Lower House saw repeated adjournments on Wednesday as several AIADMK and DMK members protested over the Cauvery river dam issue while Congress MPs raised slogans for a JPC probe into the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Speaking to news agency ANI, AIADMK's M Thambidurai had said, "Now elections are coming, so BJP wants to get some seats there, that is why they gave approval to Karnataka for Mekedatu dam project. Protesting is our democratic right, there has been no response from the government"

The AIADMK members trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans demanding justice. The Tamil Nadu parties are protesting against the proposed Mekedatu dam in Karnataka on Cauvery, claiming that it will affect farmers in their state. Later, they were joined by several TDP members who have been demanding special financial assistance for Amravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

While the House was adjourned once in the morning, later it was again adjourned till 2 PM during the Question Hour, despite assurances by the government that Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari would make a statement on the Cauvery river issue.

As soon as the AIADMK members started their protest, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that their problem would not be solved like this and asked them to discuss the issue with the minister concerned.

"I don't think it sends the right message to your state... this unruly behaviour must stop," she told the protesting members. Mahajan has adjourned the proceedings of Lok Sabha till 11 am on January 3.

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New Delhi:

The Chhattisgarh government led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, on Wednesday, ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe in connection to the 2013 Jhiram Ghati Maoist attack in Bastar district of the state. The Jhiram Valley Maoist attack claimed at least 29 lives including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, Vidya Charan Shukla, Mahendra Karma and several other frontline leaders from the party. Thirty-two people, including 20 policemen, who were accompanying the Congress convoy were also injured in the attack. An order issued by Director General of Police DM Awasthi said the 10-member SIT panel will be headed by Inspector General of police, Bastar Range, Vivekanand Sinha.

"Chhattisgarh government orders SIT probe in 2013 Jhiram Ghati Naxal attack in which 29 people including Congress leaders had died," the news agency ANI reported.

Chhattisgarh government orders SIT probe in 2013 Jhiram ghati Naxal attack in which 29 people including Congress leaders had died. pic.twitter.com/oKYyaVPEVt  ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019

Read | Bhupesh Baghel takes oath as new Chhattisgarh Chief Minister

Around 250 Naxals in civilian clothes struck a convoy of Congress leaders during the party's Parivartan Rally in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur. The convoy was on its way back from Sukma to Jagdalpur.

The development came days after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took over the office in December 2018. Earlier, Baghel dubbed the attack a "policies conspiracy", adding that the BJP government did not investigate the matter properly. In Chhattisgarh, the Congress alleged that party leaders were not provided adequate security by the BJP dispensation despite Naxal threats.

Though the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier probed the attack, it did not cover the conspiracy angle.

Read | On 'Gathbandhan' bus, Rahul Gandhi takes Opposition leaders to oath-taking ceremonies

Hours after taking oath as the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Baghel announced his three key decisions in the state which include farm loan waiver, MSP hike and the SIT probe in 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack. Hailing from Kurmi OBC community, Baghel became the third chief minister of Chhattisgarh. On December 11, Congress swept the heartland state with wins in 68 out of the 90 Assembly constituencies.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi demanded a JPC in the Rafale combat jet deal during Winter Session proceedings of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Gandhi opened the Rafale debate in the Lower house and said that a JPC must be formed to look into the multi-billion combat jet deal. Gandhi tried to play the Rafale tapes, which was rejected by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. She asked Gandhi if he was in position to authenticate the tape. She said that if he plays the tape, he will have to take the responsibility. Gandhi replied in negative and did not play the tapes. He raised the concerns over the Rafale demands and questioned the Modi government over the change in the number of fighter jets. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley replied on behalf of the Modi government.

Countering Gandhi over Rafale charges, Jaitley said that, When he (Rahul) was a young man, was he playing in the lap of one Q whose name cropped up in the Bofors case. On JPC demand, Jaitley said no House Panel can go against the Supreme Court verdict. Jaitley countered Gandhi and said that, If the fingers point at you in AugustaWestland, National Herald and Bofors, then it is a bit too much. Today, they have the audacity to raise an allegation against us.

On Tuesday, PM Modi in hist first interview of 2019 had said that. In Parliament, I have spoken elaborately on this (Rafale) and whichever public forum I got, I spoke about this. The matter has been cleared even by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court scrutinised it threadbare. The French President has spoken. ..The least they should do, the questions you are asking me, media should have the courage to ask where is the evidence for these allegations? Dont throw muck and run away.... They are not able to give any real evidence, just keep talking.

Unko yeh bolne ki beemari hai toh mujhe kya baar baar usi me ulajna chahiye kya? (If they have this habit of raising this constantly should I also get embroiled in it) There should be debate in the country, why controversies have been created over defence deals since Independence and our forces weakened. Who is doing it? What is the reason? Also, what is the need for middlemen in the defence deals? Cant defence deal not be done without middlemen? Had Make in India been initiated 70 years back, the malai khane wala raasta from outside would have been closed.

My crime is that I am trying to Make In India. My crime is that whatever our defence forces need, that should be made in India, so that dealings outside the country end. I am trying to get technology transfer.

Those people who want to weaken the Army are levelling allegations. Should I worry that they are making personal attacks on me, or whether my countrys needs should be met? I decided that whatever abuses are hurled at me, whatever allegations are levelled against me, I will continue on the path of honesty and give primacy to the countrys security. I wont leave my Army jawans to their fate. Whatever be their requirement, I will expedite the procurement processes. I will do it even if false allegations are levelled me.

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New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he is looking forward to meeting the new leadership in Pakistan and wants to have great relationship with the country. Trump told his Cabinet colleagues in the same meeting that he has ended USD 1.3 billion in aid to Pakistan because "this South Asian country houses enemies". The US President underscored that his administration has initiated peace talks with the Taliban. He also announced that a meeting with the new leadership of Pakistan will take place "very soon". Earlier, Donald Trump had accused Pakistan of not doing "a damn thing for us" and defended his administration's decision to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Islamabad.



ALSO READ | Syria: 19 killed in clashes between militants and rebels in Idlib

South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham, who is considered close to President Trump, had told CNN in an interview that if Pakistan helped the US in bringing the Taliban to the table for negotiations, then the US would focus on counterterrorism and the IS.

The Republican Senator wants the US to offer Pakistan a free trade agreement as an incentive for Islamabad to push the Taliban to the peace table to end the Afghan war.

Trump alleged that Pakistan has not been fair to the United States. "We want to have a great relationship with Pakistan, but they house the enemy. They take care of the enemy. We just can't do that," Trump said.

"So, I look forward to meeting with the new leadership in Pakistan. We will be doing that in the not too distant future. But I ended USD 1.3 billion that we paid. I think it was water, we were just paying to Pakistan. So, I ended that."

Trump had slashed nearly US Dollar 800 million in military assistance to Pakistan this year, saying it has not done enough to eliminate safe havens for the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network within its borders. Trump earlier in 2018 wrote on Twitter that the "United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools."



ALSO READ | After 600 tanks, China to provide 4 naval warships to Pakistan

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had met Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad in September last year and pressed him to take "sustained and decisive measures" against terrorists threatening the regional peace and stability.

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New Delhi:

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale issue. aEntire nation wants to know your reply on the Rafale deal,a Gandhi said. aWhy not a single Rafale has been delivered to India,a Gandhi asked. He repeated the Congress stand that the multi-billion contract was taken away from state-owned HAL and given to Reliance. aFirst pillar is process, second is pricing and the third and most interesting is patronage. Senior officers of the IAF chose Rafale after long negotiations, IAF wanted 126 aircraft, why was the demand changed to 26,a Gandhi asked.

Here are LIVE updates from the Lok Sabha:

5:20 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 11 am on January 3, 2019.

5:18 pm: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspends 26 AIADMK members for staging protests during Wednesday's session, reports ANI.

26 AIADMK MPs have been suspended by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan for 'continuously coming to the well of the house and obstructing house proceedings' pic.twitter.com/j78nCnulCy a ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019

4:53 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 5 pm.

4:43 pm: Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant demands JPC probe over Rafale deal in Lok Sabha, asks why the government is afraid of the JPC.

4:33 pm:A Govt has engaged with relevant U.S. authorities, under terms of the India-U.S. Extradition Treaty of 1997, for the extradition of U.S based individuals for their role in the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai: MoS MEA VK Singh's reply in Lok Sabha.

4:22 pm:A Qatar bought these aircraft at a much cheaper price, propriety and procedure questions still exist, and we have a right to ask questions, saysA Biju Janta Dal MP Kalikesh Singh Deo in Lok Sabha.

Biju Janta Dal MP Kalikesh Singh Deo in Lok Sabha: Qatar bought these aircraft at a much cheaper price, propriety and procedure questions still exist, and we have a right to ask questions. #RafaleDeal pic.twitter.com/XEqUkw1HIG a ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019

4:10 pm:A Reliance has a debt of Rs 8,000 crore, says Saugata Roy of TMC.

4:06 pm: TMC accuses Jaitley of indulging in blame games, says it was a mystery as to why a private firm was made the offset contract partner.

4:03 pm: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy is speaking on the Rafale issue, he asks why defence minister is not speaking on the fighter jet deal.

3:50 pm: Anil Ambani's firm was not favoured by the government, the offset partner was chosen by Dassault, the maker of Rafale jets: Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

3:49 pm: No JPC can go against the Supreme Court verdict, says Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

3:45 pm: Jaitley targets Congress over Bofors, National Herald and AgustaWestland scam, says Congress' hands soaked with several scams.

3:40 pm: The terms of the deal were better than the one negotiated by the UPA, says Jaitley, adding that "There were discussions on the cost of basic aircraft and weaponised aircraft. Cost of basic aircraft was 9 per cent less than UPAas time. Cost of weaponised aircraft was 20 per cent less than UPAas time. The time of delivery was 11 years during the UPA regime".

3:38 pm: The price of weaponed jets cannot be revealed, says Jaitley.

3:34 pm: Supreme Court is satisfied with the process of buying Rafale fighter jet deal, Jaitley said.

3:38 pm: As many as 74 meetings were held before Rafale fighter jet deal was inked, says the union minister.

3:36 pm: Nothing has been done on Rafale till 2014, it is all about the national security: Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

3:35 pm: Rafale was a consolidate deal: Arun Jaitley.

3:30 pm: Indian Air Force (IAF) has been demanding Rafale since 2001, says Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha.

3:00 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned till 3:30 pm.

2:59 pm: Lok Sabha Speaker admonishes the Congress lawmakers for paper planes, says ayou wanted a debate, no hear him out.a

2:59 pm:A Congress lawmakers fly paper planes during Rafale debate.

2:58 pm: "It is a tragedy for country that grand-old Congress party is today headed by a gentleman who doesnat even have basic understanding of what a basic combat aircraft is," says Jaitley during Rafale debate.

2:54 pm: aIf the fingers point at you in AugustaWestland, National Herald and Bofors, then it is a bit too much. Today, they have the audacity to raise an allegation against us,a Jaitley says.

2:53 pm: aWhen he (Rahul) was a young man, was he playing in the lap of one Q whose name cropped up in the Bofors case,a says Jaitley.

2:49 pm:A You donat understand national security, you only understand paisa, Jaitley attacks Gandhi

2:48 pm:A aOn the last occasion, he (Rahul Gandhi) manufactured a conversation between him and the former French President. Today, he repeats the same. Today, he tried to produce a tap but he is too scared to authenticate it,a says Jaitley.

2:47 pm: Every word spoken on Rafale deal is a lie. We demand probe against the Congress for the Rafale tapes, says Jaitley.

2:43 pm: Some people have natural dislike for truth, says Jaitley

2:42 pm: aWe are utterly disappointed,a Finance Minister Jaitly says in a reply to Gandhias Rafale debate remarks.A A

2:39 pm:A aThe UPA was buying an aircraft at Rs 526 crore, but when (PM) Modi went to France a new deal surfaced at Rs 1600 crore per aircraft, why did the price change,a asks Rahul Gandhi.

2:37 pm: The Supreme Court has not said that the JPC canat be formed, says Rahul Gandhi. We demand JPC in the matter, says Gandhi. The Congress chief says that the BJP leaders must not shy away from JPC.A A

2:36 pm: "Who changed the Indian Air Force's demand," asks Rahul Gandhi. He also questioned that "why the deal is made-in-France."A A A

2:35 pm: The AIADMK is protesting to save PM Modi, alleges Gandhi.

2:34 pm: You have to take responsibility of the Rafale tape in case you play it, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan tells Rahul Gandhi

2:32 pm: After 4-minute adjournment, Lok Sabha proceedings resume.

2:26 pm: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley countered rahul Gandhi and said that, alast time the MP (Rahul Gandhi) spoke on Rafale, he lied before the nation by concocting a conversation between him and the French President.a

2:24 pm: Mahajan says that even if you have to read out the transcripts, you must authenticate.

2:23 pm: Lok Sabha Speakar Sumitra Mahajan refuses Gandhias request.

2:21 pm:A Rahul Gandhi tries to play the audio clip in which a Goa minister purportedly said that all Rafale files were in Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikaras abedroom.a

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Thursday reprimanded Meghalaya government over tardy rescue operations for the 15 miners trapped inside a 370-feet rat-hole coal pit in East Jaintia since December 13 last year. Hearing an urgent plea, the top court expressed its dissatisfaction over the rescue efforts. Rebuking the state government, the Supreme Court said that "dead or alive, they (the miners) should be taken out." The top court also questioned the government and asked as to what steps have the authorities taken to rescue the miners.

Meanwhile, divers of Indian Navy and rescuers from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Monday reached the bottom of the mine, as per some reports. "Divers of the Indian Navy have entered the main shaft of the coal mine to survey the bottom of the sheet using underwater remotely operated vehicle (UWROV)," R Susgni, spokesperson of the rescue operations, said. The rescue operation, to save 15 miners who have been trapped in a rat-hole mine in Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya East for the last 19 days, was resumed on Monday morning.

Also Read | Meghalaya Mining Disaster: On day 17, no clue of survivors in East Jaintia, only 3 helmets recovered

Susgni said that they have requested the East Jaintia Hills district authorities to assist in dewatering the 370-feet-coal pit to 30 meters or within the safe diving limit so that the divers can resume diving. Odisha fire services are also dewatering at least three abandoned mines where 15 trapped miners are trapped.

Also Read | No clue of 13 people trapped in Meghalaya rat-hole mine, scuba divers called in to search

More than 200 rescuers, including 72 NDRF rescuers, 14 members of the Indian Navy, 21 Odisha firefighters, 35 Coal India Limited (CIL) officials along with a team of Meghalaya-owned State Disaster Response Force are deployed to carry out the operations. The miners have been trapped in the mine in the Ksan area of Lumthari village in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district since December 13, after water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it.

General Manager of Coal India Limited (Northeastern Coalfields) J. Borah said two more pumps will be reaching the site with the auxiliary pipes and other materials which are not available in Jaintia Hills or Shillong. Meanwhile, Congress women workers stage a token protest against the Conrad Sangma-led government for the slow process' in rescuing the trapped miners.

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New Delhi:

Bindu and Kanakdurga, two women who successfully managed to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Keralas Sabarimala, have become a household name now. But how exactly they managed to sneak past the protesters and onlookers? Answer lies in meticulous planning by Kerala Police, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans Office. Such was the secrecy of this entire mission that only top officers and the Chief Minister was aware about this. In fact, to avoid any glitch, the Travancore Devaswom Board officials were also kept out of the loop.

According to a Times of India report, the women were living at a secret location for past one week. The police planned a pre-dawn trek to avoid any attention. Only six hand-picked officers dressed in black clothes accompanied the women devotees. They avoided the usual route and stepped inside the temple via the staff entrance. The women also avoided the Pathinettam Padi (the 18 holy steps) and didnt carry irumudikettu (the offerings for the deity) on their heads, the report said. The women began trekking at around 1 am and reached the temple around 3:30 am. Within ten minutes, they entered the temple, had quick darshan, and were whisked away by the cops.

The Wednesday darshan broke the decades-old tradition. Though there is no clarity over the ban of womens entry inside the temple, it was in 1991 that the Kerala High Court formally banned entry of women of menstruating age inside the temple. 27 years later on September 28, 2018, the Supreme Court lifted the ban, saying that discrimination against women on any grounds, even religious is unconstitutional.

Reacting to the entry of the two women into the temple, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said it showed the "headstrong attitude" of the chief minister. PS Sreedharan Pillai said the CPI-M-led government had "betrayed" the sentiments of Ayyappa devotees. Women's rights activist Trupti Desai, the leader of Bhumata Brigade who led the campaign for women to be allowed to offer prayers in Maharashtra's Shani Shingnapur temple, Haji Ali Dargah, Mahalakshmi temple and Trimbakeshwar Shiva temple, hailed the courage of the two women. "This is a big victory for our agitation. Victory of equality...This is a good beginning for women in the new year," Desai was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

(With inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi:

Amid the heightened demand of a fast-track hearing by various right-wing organisations, including the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party, the Supreme Court is scheduled to take up a batch of petitions in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case on Friday. A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul is likely to decide on when the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute case will begin. They are likely to constitute a bench to hear the petitions filed against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment that ordered equal distribution of the 2.77-acre land among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. On October 29, the Supreme Court had denied urgent hearing in the case, saying that it wasnt the priority and decided January 4 as the date when it will take a decision on when to start the hearing and if the case deserves to be fast-tracked. Earlier during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute case, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court had refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of its observation in the 1994 judgment that a mosque was not the integral part of Islam.

Suggested Read | Ram Temple ordinance can be considered only after legal process: PM Narendra Modi

Here are the live updates of Supreme Court hearing on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case:

10:48 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Breaking News: Supreme Court adjourns Ayodhya land dispute case hearing till January 10. The hearing which continued for 60 seconds, did not see any arguments from either side.

10:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Supreme Court will take up the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case along with public interest litigation questioning delay in the adjudication of the matter today. Hearing to begin soon.

08:11 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi denies Ordinance before Supreme Court decision: Defying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) demand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday refused to bring a special Ordinance for the construction of Ram Temple at Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. In an interview with news agency ANI, the prime minister made it clear that Ordinance on Ram Temple will be considered only after legal process gets over.

08:06 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The demand of an Ordinance: Right-wing groups, including the RSS - ideological patriarch of the ruling party, want the government to bring an Ordinance to bypass the legal system and begin the construction of a grand temple of Hindu deity Ram in Ayodhya - the place believed to be his birthplace.

08:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Will the Ayodhya dispute case be fast-tracked?: Several right-wing groups and the ruling BJP have been demanding a fast-track hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute case as they want the legal issue fixed and construction of Ram temple begin before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The court will decide today whether the issue needs to be heard on a day-to-day basis.

07:50 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Hello and welcome to News Nation live updates: The Supreme Court is expected to take up the Ayodhya land dispute case today to decide whether the matter needs to be fast-tracked. A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will also constitute a dedicated three-judge bench that will hear the matter. Several right-wing groups had filed petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment that ordered equal distribution of the 2.77-acre disputed land among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. All eyes will be on today's hearing as it comes amid the demands of a special Ordinance to construct the Ram temple in Ayodhya. So, stay with us as we bring you all the live updates directly from the court room.

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New Delhi:

Vikram Saini, a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Uttar Pradeshs Muzaffarnagar, in a highly controversial statement has said that people who feel unsafe and threatened in India should be bombed. The BJP leader is even ready to take the responsibility if he was allotted a ministry. The BJP leader can be seen making the nefarious remarks in a video shared by news agency ANI. My personal view is that those who say they feel unsafe and threatened in India should be bombed. Give me a ministry and I will bomb all such people, not even one will be spared, the BJP leader said.

#WATCH Vikram Saini, BJP MLA from Muzaffarnagar says 'My personal view is that those who say they feel unsafe and threatened in India should be bombed, give me a ministry and I will bomb all such people, not even one will be spared' pic.twitter.com/E9yWNH7MBF

 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 4, 2019

Recently, a debate on intolerance was triggered once again after noted Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah, referring to the Bulandshahr violence, said that in some parts of the country a cow's death was being given more importance than the killing of a police officer.

There is complete impunity for those who take the law into their own hands. In many regions, we are witnessing that the death of a cow has more significance than that of a police officer, Shah had said during an interview with Karwan-e-Mohabbat India.

Read More | Death of cow given more significance than that of police officer: Naseeruddin Shah

Following his remarks, the actor came under the attack of right-wing trolls and was even asked to leave the country and settle in Pakistan. In no time, Shah turned from one of the most respected actors of the Hindi film industry into many things - a traitor, a Pakistani agent.

The President of Uttar Pradesh's Nav Nirman Sena, Amit Jani, even booked him a one-way ticket to Pakistan dated for August 14, 2019, when the country celebrates its Independence Day. Reacting to Shahs statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendranath Pandey had said the actor was growing into Pakistani agent, a character he played in one of his movies Sarfarosh.

News Nation does not necessarily vouch for the authenticity of the video.

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Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has apparently made a U-turn on singing Vande Mataram on the first day of every month at the secretariat. The Chief Minister has now said that his government will give a new form to the practice. He said that on the first working day of every month it will be sung along with police band to encourage patriotic feelings. The remarks after the BJP criticised the new Congress government for suspending the tradition that was started by former BJP Chief Minister Babulal Gaur in 2005.

#MadhyaPradesh CM Kamal Nath: At 10:45 am on first working day of every month,police band will play the tunes that encourage patriotic feelings during their march from Shaurya Samarak to Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal.On arrival at the Bhawan, National Anthem&Vande Mataram will be sung pic.twitter.com/B516wGW3l1 a ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2019

"At 10:45 am on the first working day of every month, police band will play the tunes that encourage patriotic feelings during their march from Shaurya Samarak to Vallabh Bhawan in Bhopal. On arrival at the Bhawan, National Anthem and Vande Mataram will be sung," CM Kamal Nath was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. He holds the portfolio of General Administration Department (GAD), which is responsible for organising the monthly event.

January 1, 2019, was the first day in the past 14 years when the national song was not sung. Nath had to face a slew of criticism when he announced the end of this tradition. Later, he had clarified that the practice of collectively reciting the national song will be adopted in a new way.

"The national song is in our hearts and we also sing it from time to time. However, we also believe that merely singing Vande Mataram once a month is not a certificate for one's patriotism. Love for one's country cannot be linked to singing the national song once a month," he had said.

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New Delhi:

The death of a cow in an accident has led to ostracisation of a farmer and his family from their village in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. According to Hindustan Times, the cow died after being hit by tractor-trolley when Pappu Prajapati, 36, was parking it. The cow died on the spot. The villagers called a panchayat terming death of the cow as a gau-hatya (murder of cow), Prajapati told newspaper.

In its verdict, the panchayat members, led by village sarpanch Pancham Singh Chauhan, said the family would be allowed to enter the village only when all the members take a dip in the holy Ganga, organise a mass feast after a Kanya and Brahman Bhoj and donate a cow.

Despite Prajapatis pleas, the panchayat pronounced the order. Since Prajapati has been proved guilty of a gau-hatya, he and his family have to get rid of sin through penance, said Prakash Gautam, one of the members of the panchayat.

Meanwhile, the report suggests Prajapati has left the village with his family to take a dip in the Ganga.

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New Delhi:

Hours after the Supreme Court adjourned the Ayodhya title suit hearing till January 10, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said that the matter should be resolved between people in an amicable manner. aLord Ram belongs to the whole world, not just Hindus,a Abdullah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. aNobody has or can have any issue with Lord Ram. Concrete efforts should be made to resolve the construction issue. And the day it happens, I will myself go and add a brick. There must be a quick solution,a Abdullah further said.

A

Farooq Abdullah on Ayodhya issue: Bhagwan Ram se kisi ko baer nahi hai na hona chahiye. Koshish karni chahiye suljhane ki aur banane ki. Jis din ye ho jayega main bhi ek patthar lagane jaaonga. Jaldi samadhaan hona chahiye https://t.co/eIBPpvpr8G a ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2019

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court said that an appropriate bench constituted by it will pass an order on January 10 for fixing the date of hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute title case. "Further orders will be passed by an appropriate bench on January 10 for fixing the date for hearing the matter," a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul said. Senior advocates Harish Salve and Rajeev DhaVan, appearing for different parties, did not even get the opportunity to make any submission during the minute-long hearing.

Now, a three-member bench will be set up for taking forward the Ayodhya land dispute case in which as many as 14 appeals were filed against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The apex court on October 29 had fixed the matter in the first week of January before the "appropriate bench". Later, an application was moved for according an urgent hearing by advancing the date, but the top court had refused the plea, saying it had already passed an order on October 29 relating to the hearing of the matter.

The plea for early hearing was moved by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) which is one of the respondents in the appeal filed by legal heirs of M Siddiq, one of the original litigants in the case. A three-judge bench of the top court had on September 27 last year, by 2:1 majority, refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

Various Hindutva organisations have been demanding an ordinance on early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site. The hearing on Friday assumed importance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday had suggested any decision on an ordinance on Ram temple in Ayodhya can happen only after the completion of the judicial process.

PM Modi's comments had come amidst heightened demands by Hindutava organisations, including the RSS, for an ordinance for an early construction of the temple. "Let the judicial process take its own course. Don't weigh it in political terms. Let the judicial process be over. After the judicial process is over, whatever be our responsibility as government, we are ready to make all efforts," the prime minister had said during an interview, broadcast by several TV channels.A A

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Canberra: The coronoaovirus lockdown in Australia's capital city of Canberra has been extended by a month more as the country continues to battle the ongoing third wave of the pandemic. Andrew Barr, chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory , said on Tuesday that Canberra will remain in lockdown until October 15.

Restrictions were due to end on Friday after 36 days in lockdown but Barr said the risk to the community remained high. On Tuesday morning, Australia reported 1,595 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, taking the nationwide infection tally to 75,324 and the death toll stood at 1,098. New South Wales , Australia's most populous state and the current epicentre of the pandemic, reported 1,127 new cases and two deaths. Victoria, the second-most populous state, reported a further 445 new local cases.

There were 22 new cases reported in the ACT, only two of which were in quarantine for their entire infectious period. It takes the number of active cases in the national's capital to 252. The ongoing outbreak in the surrounding New South Wales area is one of the reasons for the extended lockdown in ACT, according to Barr. Under the current restrictions, Canberra residents are only allowed to leave home for six reasons: essential shopping; healthcare; essential work; outdoor exercise for a maximum of two hours per day; Covid-19 vaccinations; and tests.

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Kabul: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight made its first flight to Kabul on Monday after Afghanistan was captured by the Taliban last month. Airlines spokesperson Abdullah H Khan has informed in this regard. He said Boeing 777 flight number PK 6429 took off from Islamabad. Bank officials and journalists were present on this Commercial Chartered Flight of the World Bank. The plane later returned to Islamabad.

This was the first Pakistan International Airlines aircraft to land in Kabul after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Kabul and the large evacuation of people from Afghanistan until August 31. Abdullah H Khan told the media that it was a special chartered commercial flight. 'We had also made arrangements for others who wanted to leave Afghanistan because we had space on the plane,' he said.

He further said that it was a commercial flight, which operated through regular airport infrastructure, which was restored. 'These operations are very important for Pakistan International Airlines and the whole world,' PIA Chief Operating Officer Arshad Malik said in a statement.

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In India, 15th September every year is celebrated as Engineers Day. In fact, it was on this day that the great engineer of India and Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born. He was one of the great engineers of India. It was he who created modern India and gave a different look to the country. He also made an extraordinary contribution to engineering, which hardly anyone could forget. Not only that, he managed to build many dams and bridges built across the country. It was because of him that the water problem in the country was solved.

History of Engineer's Day: 'Engineer's Day' was declared by the Indian Government in 1968 on the date of birth of Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. After which Engineers Day was celebrated on 15th September every year. In fact, on September 15, 1860, Visvesvaraya was born in the Kolar district of Mysore (Karnataka). As an engineer, Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya has contributed to the construction of several dams in the country, including the Krishna Raj Sagar dam in Mysore, a dam in Khadakwasla reservoir of Pune and Tigra dam in Gwalior, etc. Not only that, Dr. Visvesvaraya was given full credit for making Hyderabad City. He had created a flood protection system there, after which he became renowned all over India. He played an important role in developing a system for the protection of Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion.

Hardly all of you would know that Visvesvaraya was also called the father of modern Mysore State. He had set up several factories and educational institutions in association with the Mysore Government, which are mainly inhabited by Mysore Soap Factory, Mysore Iron and Steel Factory, State Bank of Mysore, Mysore Chambers of Commerce, and Visvesvaraya College of Engineering.

Engineer's Day is celebrated in these countries apart from India: Let us tell you that Engineer's Day is celebrated not only in India but also in many other countries. For example, on June 16 in Argentina, 7 May in Bangladesh, 15 June in Italy, 5 December in Turkey, 24 February in Iran, 20 March in Belgium, and September 14 in Romania are celebrated as Engineer's Day. In fact, the day is celebrated to encourage engineers around the world to take the country and the world on a new path of progress because of their skills.

Will there be reservation in promotion? SC seeks reply from states in two weeks

Tribal family converted to Christianity, villagers no longer giving place to bury bodies

Will the rest of the Muslims of the country will agree with this statement of Owaisi?
Kathmandu, September 14

The Ministry of Health and Population has informed that Nepals Covid-19 tally has reached 866,905 as of Tuesday afternoon.

The ministry said 1,562 new cases were confirmed in the country in the past 24 hours.

In this period, 10,266 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which returned 1,180 returned positive. Likewise, 4,177 people underwent antigen tests for the virus, of which an additional 382 tested positive.

Of total tests, 11.49 per cent of the PCR and 9.14 per cent of antigen samples returned positive, keeping the overall per-day positivity rate at 10.81 per cent.

As of today, there are 26,202 active cases across the country. Of them, 1,512 are hospitalised, 453 in intensive care units and 137 on ventilators.

In the past 24 hours, 1,589 people have achieved recovery whereas 19 deaths have been reported.

Of the total cases so far, 742,306 people have achieved recovery. Likewise, 10,984 died, according to the ministry. The countrys recovery rate is 95.23 per cent and the death rate is 1.41 per cent.

Meanwhile, 88,184 people were vaccinated today.
Kathmandu, September 14

The Supreme Court has ordered the Election Commission to let CPN-UML lawmakers Som Prasad Pandey and Sharada Devi Bhatta join the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN-Unified Socialist, a newly formed party after the split of the CPN-UML.

A division bench of justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Nahakul Subedi issued the order in response to the writ petition filed by Pandey and Bhatta. Earlier, the court had told the CPN-UML not to take action against them even if they join the new party.

Both Bhatta and Pandey want to join the newly formed party. However, they had missed signing the application for the party registration and the Election Commission had refused to register them as lawmakers of the new party.

It means these two are the UML lawmakers officially and the party may remove them from the lawmakers position if they defect to the CPN-Unified Socialist in absence of the order issued today.
Gear up for fall home energy management

Media Contact: Trisha Gedon | Communications Specialist | 405-744-3625 | trisha.gedon@okstate.edu

Given the unpredictability of Oklahoma weather, homeowners may still be running air conditioners and fans for several more weeks. However, energy management adjustments should begin now.

Nearly half the energy used in the home goes to heating and cooling, said Gina Peek, Oklahoma State University Extension housing and consumer specialist and interim associate dean.

Making smart decisions regarding your homes heating and cooling system can have a big impact on utility bills, Peek said. A few simple steps around the home can pay big dividends when the weather cools down. Think back to the deep freeze Oklahoma experienced in February this year and remember how your utility bills reflected the increased energy usage.

The easiest and least expensive way to increase system efficiency is to change the air filter regularly. Check once per month and change them three times per year at a minimum.

A dirty filter slows down air flow and makes the system work harder to keep you warm or cool, said Scott Frazier, OSU Extension energy management specialist and associate professor in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. A clean filter also will prevent dust and dirt from building up in the system, which could lead to a costly repair or an early system failure.

Like a yearly checkup or regularly scheduled vehicle tune-up, its important to do the same for an HVAC system. In the fall, check all gas or oil connections, gas pressure, burner combustion and heat exchanger. Improper connections can be a fire hazard and can contribute to health problems.

Frazier said a thermostat driven by smart technology is a wise investment for homeowners to help lower utility bills.

A smart thermostat lets you control the homes heating and cooling temperature settings from a smart device such as a cell phone, tablet or computer, he said. These thermostats are Wi-Fi enabled, which allows access to the temperature setting and other features through an application downloaded on your smart device.

Another option is a programmable thermostat that allows homeowners to set the temperature for different times of the day. For example, the heat can be set to automatically turn down to a specified temperature when residents go to bed and automatically turn up in the morning as they wake.

Another area to check is a homes ducts, which can be big energy wasters. Sealing and insulating ducts can significantly improve the efficiency of your air system. Start with the ductwork that runs through unheated/uncooled parts of the home such as the attic, crawl spaces and garage, then move to heated/cooled spaces.

Other energy wasters are drafty windows and doors. Add or replace worn weather stripping around doors and windows and caulk any gaps.

If your heat and air system is older, or simply isn't heating and cooling effectively, have it evaluated by a professional, Peek said.
Workforce

Biden's COVID vaccination mandate for feds has a deadline

Federal employees have until Nov. 22 to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

That's per the update to the safety principles issued to agencies to incorporate into their policies from the White House's Safer Federal Workforce Task Force.

According to the task force website, an individual is considered "fully vaccinated" two weeks after the second dose of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson jab.

President Biden's announcement on Thursday overturned earlier policies that gave feds the option to either get vaccinated or submit to regular testing. Now, agencies don't have to stand up a testing program for feds and onsite contractors, although they still can.

One thing the latest guidance still doesn't address is how agencies will collect employees' information on their vaccination status. Under the previous scheme, they were directed to use attestation forms to confirm vaccination status.

Implementation guidance on the executive order is forthcoming, the website states, and "will be released soon." The order gave the task force a week to issue guidance.

The new document does, however, tell agencies to use attestation for contractors who aren't vaccinated or part of an agency testing program until Biden's mandate for them kicks in as well. To be onsite, they'll need to either be in the agency's own program or have a negative COVID-19 test from the last three days.

Biden's latest requirement has drawn divided responses from federal employees and lawmakers alike.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, issued a joint statement after Biden's announcement praising the policy.

"With high numbers of coronavirus cases across the country caused by the Delta variant, especially in regions with low vaccination rates, the Biden Administration is taking a crucial step to protect American lives and slow the virus's spread," they said. "As the nation's largest employer, the federal government is setting the standard on implementing workplace safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Their Republican colleagues had a different take.

"Transparency and accountability from the Biden Administration, not draconian vaccine mandates, are what will lead us out of this pandemic. Americans' ability to make choices about their healthcare has more power than any executive order," said House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.).

Federal employee unions also had a range of reactions. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 700,000 federal and Washington, D.C. government workers, supports universal vaccination but seeks to bargain over implementation. The National Treasury Employees Union, with 150,000 members over 34 agencies, was wholly supportive of the mandate, and issued a statement declaring that the Biden administration was acting within its rights to require vaccines. The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, representing 30,000 law enforcement officers and agents across 65 agencies, said the order was "misguided" and said they would "review the legal landscape for this order and act as appropriate to support our members."

People in government buildings that aren't yet under a mandate, like visitors and contractors, will need to attest to their status, and, if unvaccinated, follow masking and distancing guidelines, the latest document states.

Unvaccinated visitors, like contractors, will also need a negative COVID-19 test from the last three days to enter, unless they're getting a benefit or public service.

The guidance also addresses how agencies should handle contact tracing and travel. Some of the policies in the document, like paid time off for side effects from vaccination or taking a family member to be inoculated, haven't changed since Biden mandated vaccination.

Although agencies no longer need a testing system for the now-scrapped scheme of testing and vaccinations, they still need a process for diagnostic testing for feds after workplace exposure, the guidance states.

The task force document also reminds agencies to abide by all collective bargaining obligations for their safety plans, although this can be post-implementation "where necessary," it says. The document also refers agencies to guidance issued in June to address reopening processes for how they should handle teleworking policies.
FCW Insider: September 14, 2021

Federal employees have until November 22 to comply with the administration's vaccination mandate.

In a report to Congress, the Office of Personnel Management said it largely agreed with a set of recommendations from the National Academy of Public Administration about the future of the HR agency.

Record demand for services and pandemic precautions have prompted some fundamental reassessments about delivery.

Quick Hits

*** Kiersten E. Todt has been named chief of staff of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. A longtime cybersecurity expert with past experience in the federal government, Todt most recently served as managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, which partners with global companies to provide small businesses with free cybersecurity tools and resources. She was the executive director of the bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity during the Obama administration.

*** Alvaro Bedoya, the director of the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law School, was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. Bedoya's previously served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp. (the "Company") announced today that it priced its initial public offering of $100 million, consisting of 10,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit. The units will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market ("Nasdaq") and are expected to begin trading tomorrow, Wednesday, September 15, 2021, under the ticker symbol "AEHAU". Each unit consists of one share of the Company's Class A common stock and one half of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. Only whole warrants are exercisable. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the shares of Class A common stock and warrants are expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols "AEHA" and "AEHAW," respectively.

The Company is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry, it intends to focus on the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors.

EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments, LLC, is acting as sole book running manager for the offering. The Company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on September 17, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained, when available, from EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments LLC, Attn: Syndicate Department, 590 Madison Ave., 39th Floor, New York, New York 10022, by telephone at (212) 404-7002, by fax at (646) 861-4697, or by email at syndicate@efhuttongroup.com.

Story continues

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 14, 2021. 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 an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements," including with respect to the initial public offering and the anticipated use of the net proceeds. No assurance can be given that the offering discussed above will be completed on the terms described, or at all, or that the net proceeds of the offering will be used as indicated. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company's registration statement and preliminary prospectus for the offering filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Copies are available on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.

CONTACT:

Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp.

515 Madison Ave

Suite 8078

New York, NY 10022

Attn: Suren Ajjarapu

Chairman & CEO

suren@aestherhealthcarespac.com

(646) 908-2658

SOURCE: Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/664117/Aesther-Healthcare-Acquisition-Corp-Announces-Pricing-of-100000000-Initial-Public-Offering




SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new market study published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., (GIA) the premier market research company, today released its report titled "Advanced Ceramics - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics" . The report presents fresh perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a significantly transformed post COVID-19 marketplace.



Advanced Ceramics

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Edition: 17; Released: August 2021

Executive Pool: 7259

Companies: 140 - Players covered include Applied Ceramics, Inc.; 3M Company; CeramTec TopCo GmbH; COI Ceramics, Inc.; CoorsTek, Inc.; Kyocera Corporation; Materion Corporation; Momentive Performance Materials, Inc.; Morgan Advanced Materials; Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.; NGK Insulators Ltd. and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Product Segment (Monolithic Ceramics, Coatings, Matrix Composites); End-Use (Electrical & Electronics, Transportation, Machinery, Chemical, Other End-Uses)

Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Rest of Latin America; Middle East; Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; UAE; Rest of Middle East; Africa.



Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Advanced Ceramics Market to Reach US$88.7 Billion by the Year 2026

Growth in the global market is expected to be driven primarily by the increasing demand for these materials in the medical, space, and automotive industries. Zirconia ceramics are extensively used in the medical sector, owing to their aesthetic, biological, and physical properties. This would offer tremendous opportunity for these materials to drive a surge in demand for endosseous implants, implant abutments, and artificial bones. In the automotive sector, advanced ceramic materials are witnessing increased consumption in battery components, attributed to their electrical and thermal properties. The rapid evolution of the technical ceramics industry and the resulting need for organic growth is driving companies to collaborate with universities and startups to develop more advanced and innovative materials. In addition to their use in energy and environment technology applications, technical ceramics would find use in Industry 4.0, IoT and AI. Demand for advanced ceramics continues to be dictated by the manufacturing sector as the materials are widely used in the production of a range of products including industrial machinery, motor vehicles, electrical equipment, aircrafts and electronic components, among others.

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Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Advanced Ceramics estimated at US$61.2 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$88.7 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.3% over the analysis period. Monolithic Ceramics, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 6.1% CAGR to reach US$71.7 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Coatings segment is readjusted to a revised 6.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 14.7% share of the global Advanced Ceramics market. Growth in the Monolithic Ceramics segment is driven by improving demand from major end-user industries such as automotive, defense, power and electrical and electronics. These ceramics find use in making sensors, security systems, and engine components in the transportation sector owing to attributes such as high temperature resistance. Demand for ceramic coatings is expected to be fueled by growth in the production of aerospace equipment and revival in the motor vehicles production.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $17.3 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $29.4 Billion by 2026

The Advanced Ceramics market in the U.S. is estimated at US$17.3 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 26.84% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$29.4 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.7% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 4.7% and 5.9% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 4.3% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$31.6 Billion by the end of the analysis period. The US is the leading developer and producer of Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) and other ceramics utilized in heavy-load applications, supported mostly by NASA and Department of Defense (DoD) funding. Advanced ceramic applications in lightweight body armor, infrared missile domes, aircraft engines, and various space applications are likely to lay the growth foundation for advanced ceramics in developed markets. In Europe, with implementation of Euro 6C legislation, demand for filters used in heavy-duty diesel engine exhausts continues to witness strong growth. In addition, low-emission zones established in various European cities, translates to additional sales of ceramic exhaust filters. Growing demand from electronics, medical, and automobile sectors contribute to the market's growth in Asia-Pacific.

Matrix Composites to Reach $7.8 Billion by 2026

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) which include ceramic matrix with any fiber reinforcement have emerged as an ideal solution to combat the issue of brittleness. Growth in the segment is led by growing demand for high performance and lightweight materials from a number of end-use industries. In the global Matrix Composites segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 7.2% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$4.1 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$7 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$990.1 Million by the year 2026, while Latin America will expand at a 7.9% CAGR through the analysis period. More



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Cision

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
ZURICH, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss performance sportswear brand On announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 31,100,000 Class A ordinary shares at a public offering price of $24.00 per share. On is offering 25,442,391 Class A ordinary shares and certain selling shareholders are offering 5,657,609 Class A ordinary shares. In connection with the offering, On and the selling shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4,665,000 Class A ordinary shares at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments. The Class A ordinary shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2021 under the symbol "ONON."

On Logo (PRNewsfoto/On)

The closing of the offering is expected to occur on September 17, 2021 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering, with Allen & Company LLC, UBS Investment Bank, and Credit Suisse acting as joint book-running managers. Baird, Stifel and Telsey Advisory Group are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering.

A registration statement on Form F-1 relating to the proposed offering has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was declared effective on September 14, 2021. The proposed offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the proposed offering may be obtained from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, by telephone at 866-471-2526 or by email at prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014; or 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.

Story continues

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any 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. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

About On

On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Eleven years after market launch, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor, and all-day activities. Fueled by customer-recommendation, On's award-winning CloudTec innovation, purposeful design and groundbreaking strides in sportswear's circular economy have attracted a fast-growing global fanbase  inspiring humans to explore, discover and dream on.

On is present in more than 60 countries globally and engages with a digital community on www.on-running.com.

Cision

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SOURCE On Inc.
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. today announced the acquisition of Bedford Hills, NY-based Lloyd Bedford Cox., Inc. (LBC). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Logo (PRNewsfoto/Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.)

Founded in 1921, LBC is a fourth-generation retail insurance agency providing comprehensive insurance coverage, services and risk assessment tools to high-net-worth individuals and families throughout the United States, Europe, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. J. Jeffers Cox and his associates will remain in their current location under the direction of Patrick Kennedy, head of Gallagher's Eastern region retail property/casualty brokerage operations.

"The LBC team has earned a great reputation for its expertise in serving emerging affluent and high-net-worth clients, and this provides us an opportunity to expand our high-net-worth practice in a key market," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "I am delighted to welcome Jeff and his team to our growing global company."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company has operations in 57 countries and offers client service capabilities in more than 150 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Investors: Ray Iardella





Media: Linda J. Collins VP - Investor Relations





VP- Corporate Communications 630-285-3661/ ray_iardella@ajg.com





630-285-4009/ linda_collins@ajg.com

Cision

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SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Both business and STEM talent in Australia see Google as the most ideal choice

SYDNEY, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Universum, a global leader in talent data and insights, shared the findings from the Australia portion of its annual global talent survey. Having collected the opinions of over 17,000 students from Australia's leading universities, the research sets out to track the career aspirations and preferences of Australia's future talent pool. The Australia study also recognizes the most coveted employers based solely on the responses collected.

(PRNewsfoto/Universum Communications Pte. Ltd)

This year, Google retained its position as the most ideal employer among business students. Followed by Apple, Commonwealth Bank, Deloitte, Government  Federal/Commonwealth, KPMG, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Qantas, EY (Ernst & Young) and Government  State.

The top 10 most attractive employers among engineering/IT students are Google, Microsoft, Apple, Government  Federal/Commonwealth, Amazon, Government  State, Qantas, CSIRO, BHP and Samsung.

What students want

To better understand their career priorities, respondents were asked about the types of employer attributes they are attracted to the most. It was revealed that students favour employers who they perceive to provide secure employment, the potential for high future earnings, and a friendly work environment. Most interesting, though, is that this year's survey showed students are strongly drawn towards employers who adopt an ethical culture and demonstrate respect for their people.

Jim Evans, senior consultant at Universum, said "Unsurprisingly, concerns resulting from the pandemic have made security a high priority for career seekers. It would, however, be remiss to believe that focusing communications primarily on this attribute would make an employer more attractive. What matters most to students in Australia is finding employers that offer the golden mix of security environment and development."

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Overall students' top preferences 2021 2020 1. Secure employment 2. High future earnings 3. A friendly work environment 4. Ethical standards 5. Clear path for advancement 1. Secure employment 2. High future earnings 3. Clear path for advancement 4. Professional training and development 5. A friendly work environment

Salary expectations have increased

In the past year, Australia has experienced challenges, such as an economic downturn that led to an increase in the unemployment rate and the impact of the pandemic. However, the students in the country remain optimistic. When participants were asked to state the annual salary they expect upon graduation, the average expected annual salary is 90,271 AUD. The results also showed that the annual average salary expectations among business/commerce/management students had increased significantly.

Business/Commerce/Management Students Engineering/IT Students Year

Year

2021 95 958 AUD 2021 87 375 AUD 2020 82 023 AUD 2020 83 130 AUD

Universum 2021 Students' discipline Ideal Employer Ranking 2021 Business/Commerce/Management 1. Google 2. Apple 3. Commonwealth Bank 4. Deloitte 5. Government - Federal/Commonwealth Engineering/IT 1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. Apple 4. Government - Federal/Commonwealth 5. Amazon

About the Universum 2021 Top 100 Ideal Employer Rankings  Australia Edition

The results are based on the answers of 17,160 students studying for degrees in business/commerce/management, engineering/IT, natural sciences, humanities/social sciences/education, law and health/medicine with 51,945 individual evaluations of 144 employers within each main field of study from December 2020 to June 2021. Each respondent is asked questions about their career preferences, expectations and employment related drivers and then presented with a list of 144 national and international employers, nominated by the target group through an independent and structured nomination and assessment process, which prevents companies unfairly influencing their positions. The rankings consist of those employers chosen most as an 'ideal' choice when working through a structured funnel-based methodology.

About Universum

Universum, part of the StepStone Group, is a global thought leader in Employer Branding. Universum has 32 years of peerless experience in the field of employer branding and is established in over 60 markets globally. Universum has a diverse workforce is physically present in 20 countries. With so much data, historically and geographically, Universum is uniquely positioned to deliver key insights to employers about how to attract and retain their future workforce. Our data-led, human and purposeful output has attracted over 1,700 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners that publish our annual rankings and trend reports. Find out more at https://universumglobal.com/.

SOURCE Universum Communications Pte. Ltd
New homes line a street in the Sydney suburb of Moorebank in Australia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prices for Australian residential properties in the major cities climbed a record 6.7% in the June quarter versus the previous quarter amid super-low borrowing costs and strong demand for work-at-home property.

Data out on Tuesday from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed gains across the country, led by an 8.2% jump in Canberra and an 8.1% rise in Sydney, while Melbourne grew 6.1%.

Prices were up a steep 16.8% on the same quarter of last year. The total value of Australia's 10.7 million residential dwellings rose by a record A$596.4 billion ($439.37 billion) in the June quarter, to stand at A$8.9 trillion.

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
The Biden administration was never expected to be an eager leader in the cannabis reform movement.

However, with over 90% of Americans believing that pot should be legal for medical use and 60% supporting recreational use, it is fair to ask when or if the Biden administration will take action on the matter.

That answer could come sooner rather than later with Congress making incremental progress such as when the House reintroduced the MORE ACT, which historically passed during the previous session. Meanwhile, the Senate introduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which recently closed its public comment period.

Biden Standing Firm On Cannabis Position So Far

While some in the industry had a degree of confidence as to what Biden may do if legislation ever reaches his desk, it appears now that just about anything is possible.

However, Biden is sticking to campaign promises about the plant and more recent press statements could provide an idea as to his potential actions.

On April 20, 2020, Biden press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated the President's support for states' rights, medical legalization and rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule II substance for additional research. Psaki also added that Biden's position did not align with the proposed bills in the House or Senate.

Though a commitment to campaign promises makes a candidate a more attractive choice, with public support growing and bipartisan backing gaining momentum, many people admit they can only theorize why Biden has stayed the course so far.

NORML political director Justin Strekal told Benzinga he wished he had an answer. "I have stories, but I don't have answers," Strekal said, adding that Biden's stance "defies political logic."

Brady Cobb, founder and former CEO of Bluma Wellness who has lobbied for cannabis reform on Capitol Hill, told Benzinga that he assumed there'd be "immediate alignment" under a Democrat President. "It's just not there," Cobb said, noting that the administration's early decision to fire staffers over cannabis use presented a confusing image that was pounced upon by the media.

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Paul Blair, vice president of government affairs at Turning Point Brands (NYSE: TPB), said Biden's stance is "a start, but clearly not a present priority."

He added, "I dont see the administration changing its stance, however, until theyre presented with a concrete consensus proposal for the regulation of the marketplace and a path to passage for a legalization bill." Blair said neither exist at the moment.

Others believe that confusion is at the heart of Biden's stance.

Ellen Mellody, a former spokesperson for Obama's 2008 press secretary, is now a strategist for the cannabis media firm MATTIO Communications. Mellody says Biden's reluctance is much like others of his generation who have been subject to waves of cannabis propaganda and misinformation though finds that to be a weak excuse.

"That's morally unconscionable, disappointing, out of line with this moral character and reveals how persuasive these misinformation campaigns have been surrounding cannabis," Mellody said.

As Psaki mentioned in April, Biden does not align with the current bills in either chamber of Congress. Cannabis operators note that reluctance around cannabis legalization is not exclusive to the President.

"Cannabis policy is an exceptionally contentious topic, which is exacerbated by legal, practical, social, racial, economic, commerce, public health and safety, states' rights, individual liberties, and internal trade and treaty-based complications," Trent Woloveck, chief commercial director of Jushi Holdings Inc. (OTC: JUSHF) told Benzinga, adding that pressing issues like COVID and the infrastructure take precedence but remains hopeful that cannabis reform will receive attention during this term.

Will Congress Pressure Biden With A Bill?

Some commended the reform efforts made by Democrats so far. Others were critical, noting fragmentation as a possible stumbling block.

Bob Fireman, MariMed Inc. (OTC: MRMD) CEO and president, stated that Congress made historical progress with the passage of the 2020 MORE Act, highlighting its safe banking and decriminalization components.

"However, instead of the Senate working that bill to a conclusion, Senator Schumer decided to produce a Senate bill," Fireman said. "Unfortunately, that bill has created heated discussion with more progressive members of his caucus and has stalled."

Mellody appeared optimistic about the progress made so far despite internal opposition. "However, with such thin margins the Senate and some soft Democrats, who sway in the wind like Manchin, the votes aren't there right now," said Mellody, noting that the stance goes against the will of the public and what she considers the correct political maneuver.

Mellody and Strekal both believe more political pressure could compel Biden to take action. "I am of the belief that reform will come when Congress sends it across town, as opposed to coming from the White House," Strekal said.

Meanwhile, Blair contends that the focus should be on the states, especially the five potential states that could take up reform in 2022. He said reform in conservative states through ballot initiatives is a prime point to watch.

"Thats what makes this more bipartisan and what tips the scales in Washington over the next five years, with more and more states, Red and Blue, creating marketplaces," Blair said.

Photo: Public domain/Wiki Commons

See more from Benzinga

 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIMI International Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: BIMI) (BIMI or the Company), a leading healthcare products and services provider in China, today announced that it entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the Agreement) on September 10, 2021, to acquire Chongqing Zhuoda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Zhuoda), a wholesale supplier of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, including over 1,220 pharmaceutical products, thousands of Chinese herbal medicines and more than 50 types of medical equipment.

Pursuant to the Agreement, BIMI will purchase all the issued and outstanding equity interests in Zhuoda in consideration of US$11,617,500 (RMB 75,000,000). At the closing, 2,200,000 shares of common stock of BIMI valued at RMB 43,560,000, or $3.00 per share (approximately US$6,600,000) will be issued as partial consideration for the purchase of Zhuoda. The remainder of the purchase price in the amount of approximately US$4,800,000 (RMB 31,680,000), is subject to post-closing adjustments based on the performance of Zhuoda in 2022 and 2023.

Mr. Tiewei Song, CEO and President stated, We are encouraged and excited about the planned acquisition of Zhuoda, as we believe this transaction will be transformative for our Company and our shareholders. Zhuoda has established long-term strategic cooperation with 14 local hospitals, which account for most of the grade A tertiary hospitals in East Chongqing. It will greatly boost Companys local market expansion.

The acquisition of Zhuoda represents a unique opportunity for BIMI and our shareholders to expand our product coverage, with BIMIs commercialization expertise augmenting Zhuodas extensive products pipeline, large medical establishment customer base and their deep relationship with domestic and international medical device manufactures such as GE, Philips, LEPU and Landwind Medical. We are confident that this acquisition will create lasting value for our customers and will promote the growth of the company in a sustainable manner concluded, Mr. Tiewei Song.

Story continues

About BIMI International Medical Inc.

BIMI International Medical Inc. was founded in 2006. The Company is now exclusively a healthcare products and provider, offering a broad range of healthcare products and related services and operates five private hospitals in China. For more information, please visit www.usbimi.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the Companys ability to achieve profitable operations, its ability to continue to operate as a going concern, its ability to continue to meet NASDAQ continued listing requirements, the effects of the spread of COVID-19, the demand for the Companys products and services in the Peoples Republic of China, general economic conditions and other risk factors detailed in the Companys annual report and other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Relations Contact:

Janice Wang

EverGreen Consulting Inc.

Email: IR@changqingconsulting.com

Phone: +1 571-464-9470 (from U.S.)

+86 13811768559 (from China)








BAMENDA, CAMEROON / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / BRT Token, an all-in-one Defi solution for Africa, after reaching its hardcap by raising $375 000 within a month of sales during its ICO is set to get listed on exchanges this September.

Decentralized finance was once a promising idea; now, it is a reality. DeFi is leading a movement that is leveraging cryptocurrencies and blockchains to transform the outdated traditional financial systems into more efficient and inclusive systems without an intermediary.

There are only a few projects that truly benefit customers for their every single usage or loyalty. There is often no connection between users and the company; customers rarely feel valued by the company or get something in return for contributing to the company's growth, particularly in AFRICA.

That is where BRT Token steps in.

BRT Token Loyalty benefits

BRT Token is an African blockchain startup in Cameroon that combines cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and various businesses to form a single ecosystem ( BRT Ecosystem) in which customers are given benefits for their loyalty in their native token (BRT Token) and can become stakeholders who share in revenue, participate in decision making, and grow alongside the project as customers.

BRT Token

BRT Token is a DeFi token. It intends to benefit its holders with 60% of the ecosystem fees through liquidity provision, with tokens being burned in the process (Buy Back and Burn).

Using the proof of stake protocol at its core, token holders can mint more tokens by staking their benefits or purchased token. The minting process is similar to bitcoin mining pools, so holders accrue benefits according to their percentage of the total token in the staking pool.

According to project whitepaper tokenomics, there will be a total of 12 million tokens, with 3,650,000 Tokens set aside for staking on their smart contract. Users will receive approximately 5000 BRT tokens per day based on their token stake in the staking pool. Interestingly, the token benefits will be halved once every year for the next 25 years, transforming it into digital GOLD.

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KEY FEATURES

Some of the key features of the BRT ecosystem include,

STAKING PROTOCOL: Token holders can stake their token to accrue benefits according to their percentage of the total token in the staking pool.

TOKEN HOLDERS: 60% of all Fees and profits from the ecosystem will be distributed among token holders monthly.

BUY-BACK & BURNING: BRT Token has implemented a buyback and burn program. Tokens are bought back with 60% of ecosystem profits and burned quarterly.

GOVERNANCE TOKEN: Token holders will be able to vote and decide on what direction the token and project go.

LIMITED SUPPLY: They will exist only a Max Supply of 12 000 000 BRT Token and it is designed to keep reducing in supply.

BRT Token will be a super deflationary token from its design and concept.

THE BRT ECOSYSTEM

The BRT ecosystem is a collection of various DeFi protocols and services which will exist as the token backbones and propel the project in reaching its objectives in becoming Africa's Bitcoin.

EXCHANGER

Users will be able exchange cryptocurrencies in 3-15 minutes, cross blockchains, P2P and SWAP at the lowest market rates, and earn benefits for every trade or swap made.

CRYPTO DEBIT CARD SERVICES

Debit cards (virtual and physical) Reloadable with CRYPTO and FIAT currencies. The card will bridge between price and bureaucracy, reaching out to the millions of unbanked people in Africa and the rest of the world, also making access to banking solutions simple and inclusive.

E-COMMERCE

According to Statista, the total value of e-commerce in Africa reached $16.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $29 billion by 2022. They intend to capitalize on the young market to become a titan in the field of P2P e-commerce marketplaces by utilizing the full potential of crypto and blockchain.

Their journey to building begins with BRT Wallet, a non-custodial Defi wallet for crypto Holdings, Swapping, Dapping, Trading, Shopping, Banking and many other features.

To learn more about BRT Token visit basereward.online

Social Links

Telegram: https://t.me/BASEREWARDOFFICIAL

Twitter: https://twitter.com/baserewardtoken?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/basereward/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/base-reward-token

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwGhxoP3URH---QSnfF7XoQ

Media Contact:

Company: Base Reward llc

Contact: Che Brandon

Email: info@basereward.online

Website: https://basereward.online

SOURCE: Base Reward llc





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/663985/BRT-Token-Hits-Hardcap-During-Its-Initial-Coin-Offering




Award-winning, Charlotte-headquartered company celebrates 55th Anniversary

CHARLOTTE, N.C., September 14, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As Carolina Handling, one of the Southeasts leading material handling solution providers, celebrates its 55th anniversary and the latest round of industry awards, Brent Hillabrand, its President and CEO, sees three key reasons for the companys continued success and growth.

"Companies are facing significant material handling challenges due to the rapid growth in e-commerce, increasingly complex operational demands and continuous pressures to limit costs and find greater efficiencies," Hillabrand explained.

"There is tremendous growth in intralogistics and automation. We can use our experience and expertise to help them organize data into meaningful and actionable business metrics. We will continue to invest more and more on equipment monitoring and automatic data-capturing solutions."

Excellence

After starting with just five associates working in an old gas station in 1966, the company has grown to nearly 600 associates, including more than 300 service technicians, as it operates centers in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, NC; and Greenville, SC, together with an equipment distribution center in Piedmont, SC.

Through five decades of business and technology cycles, including the dot-com bust, 9/11, the 2008 recession and COVID-19, the companys constant commitment to excellence and service has made Carolina Handling one of the largest, fastest-growing material handling organizations in the country.

"We are committed to excellence, innovation and mutually beneficial relationships, and our associates are the common thread in all three aspects of our success," noted Hillabrand.

The company is the exclusive Raymond Solutions and Support Center in the Southeast for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Floridas Central time zone territory.

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Earlier this year, it was awarded the prestigious MVP (Most Valuable Partner) Award by the Material Handling Equipment Distributors association as one of the industrys premier providers. The company recently earned its 30th consecutive Raymond Dealer of Distinction Award and has also been named as one of Business North Carolinas Top 125 Private Companies.

Empowerment

"We are committed to providing an environment that encourages associates to realize their full potential. Every associate has the opportunity for ongoing personal development and advancement. In turn, our associates are passionate about helping our customers," said Hillabrand.

Carolina Handling associates receive some of the most comprehensive training and career development support within the industry.

The company maintains an average on-site time for technicians of just 1.1 hours from the initial request, and nearly 90 percent of calls are completed on the first visit.

About Carolina Handling:

As a Raymond Authorized Solution & Support Center, the industrys only 100 percent integrated network of material handling solutions experts, the company offers customers the flexibility to grow or move locations nationwide while maintaining high levels of service and support.

Carolina Handling, with its nearly 600 associates, provides automation and optimization services and virtual reality-based training in addition to parts, racking, storage, conveyors, lighting, and dock and door equipment. Its proprietary iWarehouse optimization system allows real-time monitoring of fleets and warehouses.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005792/en/

Contacts

Donna Waldrep, Director of Marketing

Carolina Handling, LLC

dwaldrep@carolinahandling.com

864.269.6360

John Love

Jackson Marketing Group

John.love@jacksonmg.com

313.506.2114
FILE PHOTO: A patient waits for her so-called "double eyelid surgery" to begin in a plastic surgery clinic in Shanghai

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's People's Daily newspaper said it was "imperative and urgent" to regulate advertisements bombarding people with recommendations for cosmetic surgery, procedures and treatments, as they had become excessive, and some made false claims.

"From posters at bus stops and in subway, to introductions on social websites and content platforms, from advertisements planted in films and television variety shows, to promotions by live-streamers, medical beauty advertisements are overwhelmingly pervasive," the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper said in a commentary published on its website.

The People's Daily said some advertisements associate good looks with "high-quality", "diligence" and "success", fabricating stories about "plastic surgery changing one's destiny" and distorting aesthetic perceptions.

The criticism of the sector comes as Chinese regulators have wielded a wide-ranging crackdown on industries from technology to education to property to strengthen their control over the economy and society after years of runaway growth.

The spate of regulatory activity has raised investors' concerns over which sectors might come under scrutiny next.

In August, China's market regulator drafted guidelines to regulate the medical aesthetics sector's advertising practices, saying that they were prompting societal anxiety over people's looks.

Demand for plastic surgery or medical aesthetic treatment has boomed in China in recent years with procedures to make one's eyes wider or nose higher among the most popular. However, they have been criticised for failing to caution people about risks.

In July, a 33-year-old online influencer died from complications after a botched liposuction procedure in a case that was widely reported by media in China.

The market for plastic surgery in China is expected to grow to 300 billion yuan ($46.54 billion) by 2022, state news agency Xinhua reported last month citing a report by the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics.

($1 = 6.4467 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
Digital marketing professional and B2B business development expert Clayton Johnson launches the Rapid Business Growth System, working with businesses to grow revenue through a suite of proven online marketing strategies.

Andover, Minnesota, United States , Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

The new Rapid Business Growth System gives B2B owners, entrepreneurs, and agencies the opportunity for strategic development consulting from Clayton Johnson. The results of the system are expected to, at minimum, double business over twelve months.

More details can be found at: https://claytonjohnson.com

With Johnsons new Rapid Business Growth System, a no-cost 45-minute web call begins the journey to maximized revenue. After the business and its goals are assessed, Clayton Johnson delivers a strategy for exponential growth that business owners are invited to implement on their own. After seeing Johnsons expertise first-hand and evaluating potential growth scenarios they also have the option of becoming his client.

Using online marketing to grow revenue is a key priority for modern businesses. Those without effective methods for doing so can quickly fall behind many commercial rivals, while those with the necessary tools are able to develop a keen edge over competitors.

With the Rapid Business Growth System, clients can utilize Clayton Johnsons proven expertise in online marketing to enhance their businesses from different angles. The System allows them to create recurring revenue, pull in buyers from untapped sources, or reactivate past customers.

After the initial web call, clients who do not find the conversation to be incredibly valuable are offered $100 immediately in compensation.

Clayton Johnson is a highly sought-after consultant with almost 2 decades in the SEO and marketing industries. Through his advertising strategies and search engine ranking development, he has built sustainable revenue streams for his own brand and client businesses.

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Clients only pay for the Rapid Business Growth System if they decide to enter into a long-term consulting arrangement with Clayton Johnson. This comes in the form of a monthly consulting fee but is far less than the revenue growth that his expertise delivers.

Speaking about the Rapid Business Growth System, Johnson said: This type of thing is what I do best and it makes me very, very happy to see someone achieve financial success and all that comes with it as a result of the help I give them.

Interested parties can find further information at: https://claytonjohnson.com

CONTACT: Name: Clayton Johnson Organization: Clayton Johnson Address: 2233 146th Ave NE, Andover, Minnesota 55304, United States Phone: +1-651-964-0332




Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is overseeing House Democrats' tax proposals. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

If it's a year ending in a number, then federal tax policy is again on the table.

This year differs from the recent norm, however: The debate in Washington is over raising taxes  more specifically, by how much.

Democratic tax proposals, which are aimed at funding a budget bill expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year, are still in flux, with formal plans expected to be made public in the next few days. Even after that, negotiations loom on the horizon, even within the party, and compromises are inevitable.

While the income of taxpayers in the bottom 99% of the income distribution is comprehensively examined, up to 35% of the income earned at the top is not.

IRS study of tax enforcement

But the details dripping out from Congress indicate that an about-face on federal taxes is in the cards  higher taxes on wealthy households and, at least nominally, on corporations.

That doesn't mean that corporations and the wealthy will count as losers: They seem likely to retain key tax breaks that contribute to the unconscionable rise in wealth inequality in the U.S., including the ability to pass unearned wealth on to future generations.

The increases being aired on Capitol Hill and coming from the White House won't do much to restore U.S. taxes to their historical level or the system's progressivity to where it was as recently as the 1970s, but at least they're a start.

Before examining the details, let's place tax policy in its historical context.

In recent years, or until this round of policymaking, tax cuts were part of the political platforms on both sides of the aisle, though there were disagreements over who would pocket the larger share.

It wasn't always so. For the first year or two of his presidential term, John F. Kennedy consistently questioned his advisors' counsel to cut taxes, in part because voters seemed strongly averse to deficit spending; a Gallup Poll in August 1962 found that 72% of respondents were opposed to a tax cut if it meant the government would go further into debt.

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Kennedy ultimately gave in to the siren call of lower taxes, proposing a reduction in the top personal tax rate to 65% from 91% and a cut in the corporate tax rate to 47% from 52%  figures that seem almost quaint in today's terms.

As it happens, congressional Republicans voted overwhelmingly against the Kennedy proposal when it came to the floor (in 1964, under the Johnson administration), and then made the "fiscal irresponsibility" of Democrats their campaign shibboleth.

The wealthiest Americans have enjoyed an almost unbroken decline in their tax burden since the early 1960s, when income of married people in excess of about $90,000 (about $775,000 in today's dollars) was taxed at 70% or higher. That applies to earned income, such as wages.

Unearned income  mostly capital gains and dividends  have enjoyed a preferential rate for decades: The top capital gains rate peaked at 40% in the mid-1970s, when the top rate on earned income was 70%.

The effective rate on capital gains was even lower, however, because as much as 50% of gains on assets held six months or more was exempt, reducing the real tax bite to 20% or less. The top capital gains rate today is 23.8% on high-income taxpayers.

We've written before that the capital gains rate is the biggest tax loophole for the wealthy, by a huge margin. Not only is it uncapped, but unlike breaks such as the mortgage interest deduction, it also applies to the bulk of their income.

On average, taxpayers reporting income of $10 million or more in 2019 claimed about 57% of their income as capital gains or as stock dividends. For those reporting income of about $100,000 or less, capital gains composed less than 5% of income, on average.

Furthermore, as the late tax expert Edward Kleinbard never tired of pointing out, the capital gains tax is our only truly voluntary tax. It's billed only when a capital asset is sold, and if the asset is held through the owner's death, it's extinguished entirely.

This is the notorious step-up in basis that allows wealthy families to pass their unearned wealth down through the ages. It allows those who inherit and sell capital assets to pay a tax only on the gain since the original owner's death, rather than on the gain dating from the original purchase.

It has long been evident that wealthy taxpayers and their proteges in Congress would fight capital gains tax increases to the last drop of blood, and that seems to be happening.

In his American Families Plan, President Biden has proposed raising the top capital gains rate to 43.4%, its highest rate since the 1920s and, depending on how one calculates, higher than the top rate on wage income. Biden also proposes scrapping the step-up in basis by taxing unrealized capital gains at death except for a $1-million exemption per individual.

The proposal circulated by House Ways and Means Committee Democrats, however, would raise the top rate only by five percentage points, to 28.8%. It's silent on the step-up, an indication that congressional Democrats would keep it as is.

As a share of gross domestic product, Americans' overall tax burden  counting federal, state, local and payroll taxes  shrank to 24.3% as of 2018, a level lower than in any developed country other than Ireland, Chile and Mexico, according to the Tax Policy Center. The highest rate belongs to France, at 46%; the average among all members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was nearly 34%.

But those countries provide far greater public services than the U.S. Many, including France, provide universal healthcare to their citizens. Many also provide more generous old-age and survivor benefits, measured as a share of government spending and of GDP, than the U.S.

The Ways and Means proposal would restore the top personal tax rate to 39.6% from 37%, where it was set by the Republican tax cut bill of 2017. That matches the proposal by Biden, who called the top rate reduction "one of the 2017 tax cuts clearest giveaways to the wealthy."

The higher rate would kick in at about $450,000 for married households and $400,000 for singles. The proposal also would impose a 3% surtax on incomes over $5 million.

The committee also proposes accelerating the expiration of the generous giveaway on estate taxes enacted in the 2017 measure, which doubled the exemption from estate taxes to $24 million and scheduled the change to expire at the end of 2025. The committee would end the increase as of the end of this year.

All told, according to a committee fact sheet, its proposals would add $1 trillion to the tax bill for wealthy families over 10 years.

House Democrats would also raise the top corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, the level set by the 2017 measure. The higher rate would apply to businesses with income higher than $5 million, and would remain at 21% for most businesses with lower revenues.

In truth, however, statutory corporate tax rates are largely mythical. Major businesses, especially international corporations, have myriad ways to cut their tax bills and exploit them energetically.

They write off executive stock options, take advantage of federal research and development subsidies, and use accelerated depreciation schedules to write off the decline in the value of equipment faster than the equipment actually loses value. According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 26 profitable corporations paid no income tax or recorded a negative tax rate since the 2017 tax cut bill. Among them are FedEx, Duke Energy and Nike.

House Democrats, like the Biden administration, propose an $80-billion increase in funding for IRS enforcement over 10 years, aimed at high-income taxpayers. This would be a major expansion of the ability to pursue tax cheats by the agency, which says it spent less than $5 billion on enforcement in 2020. But it's spending that pays for itself. According to recent studies, tax avoidance and evasion are concentrated among high-income people.

The House Democrats' proposal instructs the IRS not to use its increased funding to "increase taxes on any taxpayer with taxable income below $400,000"  the level that Biden generally considers the upper limit of a middle-class income.

A team of IRS analysts and academic economists recently calculated that the 1% conceal as much as 21% of their income from tax collectors. Of the unreported income, about 6 percentage points is hidden by sophisticated evasion that goes undetected in random audits, the researchers determined. Yet the IRS concentrates its enforcement firepower on the working class.

"While the income of taxpayers in the bottom 99% of the income distribution is comprehensively examined, the researchers observed, up to 35% of the income earned at the top is not.

The one disagreement over this new spending is how much it actually would bring in. The Biden administration placed the return at about $700 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office, however, offered an estimate of only $200 billion. Either way, it's profitable.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
TORONTO, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the Fraser Institutes annual Economic Freedom of the World report, Canada is no longer among the top 10 most economically-free countries in the world.



In this years report, Canada ranks 14th based on 2019 data, the most recent comprehensive data, part of a downward trend since 2016. (Last year, Canada initially ranked 8th, although data revisions later lowered its rank to 13th.)

Due to higher taxes and increased regulation in Ottawa and the provinces, Canadians are less economically free, which means slower economic growth and less investment in Canada, said Fred McMahon, Dr. Michael A. Walker Research Chair in Economic Freedom at the Fraser Institute.

The report, which was first launched in 1996, measures economic freedomthe ability of individuals to make their own economic decisionsby analyzing the policies and institutions of 165 countries and territories. Indicators include regulation, freedom to trade internationally, size of government, property rights, government spending and taxation.

Hong Kong again ranks 1st followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Georgia, the United States, Ireland, Lithuania, Australia and Denmark.

However, the reports warns Chinas heavy hand will lower Hong Kongs in future years

While Hong Kong remains the most economically-free jurisdiction in the world, its important to remember that the measurement is based on 2019 data and that more recent interference from China threatens to undermine Hong Kongs rule of law, which helps ensure equal freedom for all, McMahon said.

The rankings of other major countries include Japan (18th), Germany (22nd), Italy (47th), France (53rd), Mexico (75th), Russia (100th), India (108th), Brazil (109th) and China (116th).

People living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy greater prosperity, more political and civil liberties, and longer lives.

For example, countries in the top quartile of economic freedom had an average per-capita GDP of US$50,619 in 2019, compared to US$5,911 for bottom quartile countries. And poverty rates are lower. In the top quartile, 0.9 per cent of the population experienced extreme poverty (US$1.90 a day) compared to 34.1 per cent in the lowest quartile.

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Finally, life expectancy is 81.1 years in the top quartile of countries compared to 65.9 years in the bottom quartile.

Where people are free to pursue their own opportunities and make their own choices, they lead more prosperous, happier and healthier lives, McMahon said.

The Fraser Institute produces the annual Economic Freedom of the World report in cooperation with the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes in nearly 100 countries and territories. Its the worlds premier measurement of economic freedom.

The report was prepared by James Gwartney, Florida State University; Robert A. Lawson and Ryan Murphy of Southern Methodist University; and Joshua Hall, West Virginia University.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Fred McMahon, Dr. Michael A. Walker Research Chair in Economic Freedom, Fraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:

Mark Hasiuk, Senior Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute, (604) 688-0221 Ext. 517, mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org




LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") reminds investors of the upcoming October 26, 2021 deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in the class action filed on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Cassava Sciences, Inc. ("Cassava" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: SAVA) securities between September 14, 2020 and August 27, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period").



(PRNewsfoto/Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP)

If you suffered a loss on your Cassava investments or would like to inquire about potentially pursuing claims to recover your loss under the federal securities laws, you can submit your contact information at https://www.glancylaw.com/cases/cassava-sciences-inc/. You can also contact Charles H. Linehan, of GPM at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, or via email at shareholders@glancylaw.com to learn more about your rights.

Cassava is a clinical stage biotechnology company. Its lead therapeutic product candidate is called simufilam (formerly PTI-125) developed as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease ("AD"). Simufilam purportedly targets an altered form of a protein called filamin A ("FLNA") in the Alzheimer's brain and reverts it to its native, healthy conformation, thereby countering the downstream toxic effects of altered FLNA.

On August 24, 2021, after the market closed, reports emerged about a citizen petition submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") concerning the accuracy and integrity of clinical data for simufilam. The petition requested that the FDA halt Cassava's clinical trials pending a thorough audit of the publications and data relied upon by the Company. Among other things, the petition stated that the "[d]etailed analysis of the western blots [relied on by Cassava to support the connection between simufilam and Alzheimer's] shows a series of anomalies that are suggestive of systematic data manipulation and misrepresentation." It also stated that the methodology for studies "about Simufilam's effects in experiments conducted on postmortem human brain tissue . . . defies logic, and the data presented again have hallmarks of manipulation." The petition further stated that, after initial analyses of Phase 2b trials found that Simufilam was ineffective in improving the primary biomarkers endpoint, "Cassava had these samples analyzed again and this time reported that Simufilam rapidly and robustly improved a wide array of biomarkers" and the reanalysis "shows signs of data anomalies or manipulation."

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On August 25, 2021, before the market opened, Cassava issued a response to the petition, claiming that the allegations regarding scientific integrity are false and misleading. Among other things, the Company claimed that the clinical data, which the citizen petition stated had been reanalyzed to show simufilam was effective, had been generated by Quanterix Corp. ("Quanterix"), an independent company, suggesting that the reanalysis was valid.

On this news, the Company's share price fell $36.97, or 32%, to close at $80.86 per share on August 25, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

On August 27, 2021, before the market opened, Quanterix issued a statement denying the Company's claims, stating that it "did not interpret the test results or prepare the data" touted by Cassava.

The same day, Cassava responded to Quanterix's statement, stating that "Quanterix'[s] sole responsibility with regard to this clinical study was to perform sample testing, specifically, to measure levels of p-tau in plasma samples collected from study subjects."

On this news, the Company's share price fell $12.51, or 17.6%, to close at $58.34 per share on August 27, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume.

The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that data underlying the foundational research for Cassava's product candidates had been manipulated; (2) that experiments using post-mortem human brain tissue frozen for nearly 10 years was contrary to a basic understanding of neurobiology; (3) that biomarker analysis for patients treated with simufilam had been manipulated to conclude that simufilam was effective; (4) that Quanterix, an independent company, had not interpreted the test results or prepared the data charts for the biomarker analysis for patients treated with simufilam; (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, there was a reasonable likelihood that Cassava would face regulatory scrutiny in connection with the development of simufilam; and (6) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired Cassava securities during the Class Period, you may move the Court no later than October 26, 2021 to request appointment as lead plaintiff in this putative class action lawsuit. To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact Charles Linehan, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to shareholders@glancylaw.com, or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Cision

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SOURCE Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP
Impact debt to SATYA, a leading Indian microfinance institution of Gojo group

TOKYO, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. (TSE First Section: 3769, President & Chief Executive Officer: Issei Ainoura, hereinafter "GMO-PG"), of the GMO Internet Group, which develops comprehensive payment-related services and financial services, has funded impact debt to SATYA MicroCapital LimitedManaging Director, CEO  CIO: Mr. Vivek Tiwari, hereinafter "SATYA"), a microfinance institution in India, the India group company of Gojo & Company, Inc. (Founder and CEO: Taejun Shin, hereinafter "Gojo"), through GMO-Z.Com Payment Gateway India Credit Fund managed by GMO-PG's India subsidiary, GMO-Z.COM PAYMENT GATEWAY INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED.



GMO-PG will continue to promote investment for financial inclusion FinTech companies to contribute to the progress and development of society.

Background and Summary

GMO-PG is committed to SDGs by offering payment related services that support online, cashless, paperless, DX, etc., processing EC payment using de facto renewable energy (Scheduled to start in 2021), driving social innovation in payment and financial technology, and investing in financial inclusion fintech companies based on the management principle to seeking both material and spiritual wealth by contributing to the progress and development of society.

While SATYA, an India MFI group company of Gojo, provides microfinance services to retail borrowers in rural segment with a mission to bring financial inclusion to all. It provides microfinance services to women for entrepreneurial activities, who do not have access to financial services, to help them become economically independent. Using the power of technology such as smartphone apps, the company is connecting with them for improved and faster processing and providing the financial inclusion and other services for social and economic upliftment to lift millions of people out of poverty.

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GMO-PG supports the activities of Gojo and SATYA, and with the desire to help solve the world's poverty problem, GMO-PG made the decision to fund SATYA through Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) worth Rs. 300 million through GMO-Z.Com Payment Gateway India Credit Fund, a fund managed by GMO-PG's India subsidiary, GMO-Z.COM PAYMENT GATEWAY INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED which was established in 2019.

In addition, GMO Global Fintech Fund, a VC fund of GMO Internet Group, has invested in Gojo as well in 2020.

About SATYA MicroCapital Ltd.URL: https://satyamicrocapital.com/ 

New Delhi based SATYA MicroCapital Ltd. is one of the most sought-after microfinance institutions in the industry, having achieved the fastest business growth in India's history while maintaining stable credit quality. With 99% of its clients are women, SATYA has provided microloans to over 515,000 micro women entrepreneurs across 21 states in India since its establishment in October 2016. It is also instrumentally driving women empowerment and micro entrepreneurship across 22,500 villages of the country. With an employee base of over 2,700 people working across 257 branches, it aims to socio-economically uplift 5 million households by the year 2025. (As of end September 14, 2021)

GMO Payment Gateway

GMO-PG provides comprehensive payment-related and financial services to over 100,000 merchants including online operators, NHK, National Tax Agency and, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government GMO-PG's annual transaction value exceeds approximately 67.2 billion USD (7.4 trillion JPY, GMO-PG consolidated companies total, as of end-June, 2021) mainly from providing payment processing services, in addition to value-added services to contribute to the merchant's growth and payment methods and funding that utilize financial technology.

As the leading companies in the payment industry, GMO-PG provides payment infrastructure such as payment and financial solutions and platforms to financial institutions and business operators that are adopting cashless payment and digital transformation (DX). GMO-PG is also pursuing global expansion through strategic lending and investment to overseas leading FinTech startups and payment-related services in overseas.

GMO-PG aims to build out the payment infrastructure that is secure and convenient by driving further innovation.

Press Inquiries GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. GMO Internet Group Corporate Value Creation Strategy Division Group Communication Public Relations/UX Design Department TEL: +81-3-5456-2695 E-mail: pr@gmo-pg.com E-mail: prgmo.jp




30 Hong Kong Companies Named HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021

HONG KONG, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Thirty Hong Kong companies have been named the 'Best Companies to Work For in Asia' by HR Asia - a publication of Business Media International, the region's most authoritative publication for senior human resource professionals.

HR-Asia-Logo (PRNewsfoto/Business Media International)

This year, over 12,000 employees from 235 companies in Hong Kong responded to the Total Engagement Assessment Model (TEAM) survey, HR Asia's proprietary employee engagement survey. The in-depth survey provides companies with a unique 360 degree insight of their employees' morale, their needs, and expectations as well as their engagement levels.

The HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021 Awards ceremony was held virtually this year due to the pandemic, gathering over 3,000 HR practitioners across Asia. This is the seventh edition to be held in Hong Kong, with winners having demonstrated outstanding, world-class employee engagement and workplace excellence.

"This pandemic has certainly re-defined how companies look at the employer-employee relationship. It is clear that many Hong Kong companies have chosen to put even more emphasis on employee engagement to drive productivity and loyalty amidst the current crisis. Some of the better performing companies this year, are also the same ones who invested substantially, even prior to 2020, in world-class employee engagement and good workplace practices  and are reaping the benefits today," said William Ng, group publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Media International, publisher of HR Asia.

The Awards and survey now cover twelve markets across the region including mainland China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam making this the largest survey in the region for employee engagement.

To view the complete list of Hong Kong's 'Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2021', please click here: https://hrasiamedia.com/hr-asia-best-companies-to-work-for-in-asia/hong-kong-companies-focused-on-employee-engagement-during-pandemic/

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About Business Media International

Business Media International is a subsidiary of Audience Analytics Limited, a regional leader in enabling growth companies through data-driven brands. Our properties include media brands such as SME Magazine, HR Asia, Capital Asia, Energy Asia, Logistics Asia, TruthTV and CXP Asia, business impact assessment brands such as SME100, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia, Golden Bull Awards and CXP Asia Best Customer Experience Awards, exhibitions, and growth analytics SaaS.

About HR Asia

HR Asia is Asia's largest circulating publication for senior HR professionals. With over 50,000 copies distributed every issue, and an online and offline audience exceeding 200,000, HR Asia is the go-to brand for HR professionals seeking quality business intelligence and industry updates. HR Asia is published by Business Media International, a regional leader in B2B intelligence.

Media Contact:

Contact Person: Roman Lee

Phone Number: (60) 3 7880 3511

Email: roman@businessmedia.asia

SOURCE Business Media International
Solution streamlines vaccine policy communication and tracking, after employees say they want their colleagues to be vaccinated

SYDNEY, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As increasing vaccination rates become a primary path towards reopening Australia, local workers are indicating a preference to work in environments where their colleagues are vaccinated. To assist businesses in managing complex workplace vaccination issues, Humanforce, a provider of intelligent workforce management solutions, has released a solution to help organisations communicate and manage their policies.

"As Australian businesses have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns and have needed to ensure the safety of employees and customers, encouraging and in some cases mandating vaccines in the workplace is being increasingly discussed." said Clayton Pyne, CEO of Humanforce "In fact, we're already seeing vaccination mandates being enacted in high risk settings like residential aged care and even private enterprises, like Qantas, Virgin and food producer SPC.

"The challenge for workplaces who are introducing vaccine policies, is how they can effectively communicate, enforce and track these policies with their employees. An automated workforce management solution can help to streamline this process and ensure compliance, which is very important when dealing with such a high priority health issue affecting the safety of the entire workplace and wider community."

Recent research has shown that 67% of casual workers said they had been concerned about their health in the workplace during the pandemic and 79% said they would prefer if their colleagues were vaccinated.

"Given there is a strong desire amongst casual workers to complete their shifts in safe environments where those around them are vaccinated, the onus is on employers to formulate and communicate clear vaccination policies for the future," said Clayton.

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Humanforce has released a solution to streamline workforce management for COVID-19 vaccinations, which will allow organisations to manage the vaccination policies that may apply to their workforce in the future, and to effectively communicate and track this. This will help managers to have one single source of truth when it comes to ensuring the people who need to be vaccinated within their workforce are, and at the right times.

Humanforce can support employers and employees with a solution featuring the following tools:

Create custom vaccination requirements, including expiration rules and allow upload of vaccination proof.

Automated communication of vaccination requirements to relevant employees.

Prevents people from being rostered on if they don't meet vaccination requirements, ensuring compliance.

Single view of all employee vaccination status and any upcoming expirations.

Can collect vaccine status and proof from new employees during onboarding.

The Humanforce solution also supports contact tracing reporting amongst employees, should there be a positive COVID-19 case occur within the workplace. This helps employers to rapidly and accurately identify and report any workers who are contacts of a positive case.

Additionally, the solution helps to navigate and manage a number of new and complex leave types, including pandemic leave, that have been introduced in response to COVID-19.

-ends-

SOURCE Humanforce
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the World Food Travel Association (WFTA) announces four new industry leaders are joining its Board of Directors, bringing the total number of directors now to thirteen. The new directors are:

World Food Travel Association (PRNewsfoto/World Food Travel Association)

Ioana Hardy, Managing Director, Impacters Group, a London UK-based marketing firm focused on socially conscious, sustainable and responsible businesses.

Yorm Ackuaku, Host of Item 13, a podcast dedicated to the celebration of African food. A Ghanaian native, Yorm lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.

Maureen Littlejohn, an award-winning travel journalist and Executive Editor of Culture Magazin, a publication that promotes exchange between the Canadian and Vietnamese cultures. Maureen is based in Toronto, Canada.

Glenn Jampol, President of the Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Farm & Inn based in Costa Rica. Glenn is also the Chair of the Global Ecotourism Network (GEN).

Erik Wolf, Executive Director of the World Food Travel Association, welcomed the additions, stating "Each of our new directors brings a specific skill that strengthens our Association. These four professionals will help us to take the Association to the next level. We are grateful for their support, and look forward to working with them to leverage their own strengths in our strategy, marketing and product development initiatives."

ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD TRAVEL ASSOCIATION (WFTA)

The WFTA is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2001 by Erik Wolf, its current Executive Director. It is recognized as the world's leading authority on food and beverage tourism (a.k.a. culinary tourism and gastronomy tourism). The WFTA's mission is to preserve and promote culinary cultures through hospitality and tourism. Every year, the organization provides professional programs and services to 200,000 professionals in 150+ countries.

Media Contact: Erik Wolf, (+44) 7827 582 554, help@worldfoodtravel.org

Erik Wolf and each of the four new Directors are available for interview/comment.

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Individual images of each Director are available on request.

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SOURCE World Food Travel Association
TOKYO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Japan said on Tuesday it will donate an additional 1.3 million AstraZeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan and other Asian neighbours.

Taiwan will get 500,000 more doses, bringing Japan's total donation to the island to 3.9 million, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters.

The latest donation batch will go out as soon as possible, and includes another 400,000 shots for Vietnam, 300,000 for Thailand, and 100,000 to Brunei, Motegi said.

To date, Japan has given out more than 23 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced in Japan to countries in South Asia and the Pacific islands, he said.

Additionally, Japan has pledged $1 billion and 30 million doses to the COVAX programme, overseen by the GAVI alliance and the World Health Organization.

Japan has fully vaccinated 50% of its population https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/headline/kansensho/vaccine.html, according to government data on Monday. The country has relied mainly on imported mRNA-type vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc for its domestic inoculation push, choosing to give away most of its supplies of the AstraZeneca shot. (Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
RADNOR, Pa., Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against Piedmont Lithium Inc. f/k/a Piedmont Lithium Limited (NASDAQ: PLL) (Piedmont) on behalf of those who purchased or acquired Piedmont securities between March 16, 2018 and July 19, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period).



Deadline Reminder: Investors who purchased or acquired Piedmont securities during the Class Period may, no later than September 21, 2021 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class. For additional information or to learn how to participate in this litigation please contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP: James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453; toll free at (844) 887-9500; via e-mail at info@ktmc.com; or click https://www.ktmc.com/piedmont-lithium-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=piedmont

Piedmont engages in the exploration and development of resource projects. Piedmont primarily holds a 100% interest in a lithium project covering 2,322 acres in the North Carolina. On May 17, 2021, in connection with Piedmonts redomiciliation from Australia to the United States, Piedmonts American Depositary Share (ADS) holders received one share of Piedmont common stock for each ADS.

The Class Period commences on March 16, 2018, when Piedmont filed a Registration Statement on a Form 20-F. On June 14, 2018, Piedmont issued a press release entitled PIEDMONT LITHIUM ANNOUNCES MAIDEN MINERAL RESOURCE which stated, in part, its strategy of building an integrated lithium processing business based on proven, conventional technologies and benefitting from the inherent advantages of Piedmonts strategic North Carolina location, including;  [s]trong local government support. Throughout the Class Period, Piedmont informed investors regarding its plan for completing necessary permitting and zoning activities required to commence mining and processing operations in North Carolina.

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The truth began to emerge on July 20, 2021. Before market hours, Reuters published an article entitled In push to supply Tesla, Piedmont Lithium irks North Carolina neighbors which reported the following, in pertinent part, regarding Piedmonts regulatory issues in North Carolina: (1) Piedmont had not applied for a state mining permit or a necessary zoning variance in Gaston County, just west of Charlotte, despite telling investors since 2018 that it was on the verge of doing so; (2) five of the seven members of the countys board of commissioners, who control zoning changes, said they may block or delay the project; and (3) Piedmont had been set to meet with commissioners in March, but canceled with three days notice, further straining the relationship.

Following this news, Piedmont shares fell $12.56 per share over the trading day, or nearly 20%, to close at $50.52 per share on July 20, 2021.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Piedmont had not, and would not, follow its stated steps or timeline to secure all proper and necessary permits; (2) Piedmont failed to inform relevant people and governmental authorities of its actual plans; (3) Piedmont failed to file proper applications with relevant governmental authorities (including state and local authorities); (4) Piedmont and its lithium business did not have strong local government support; and (5) as a result, the defendants public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.

Piedmont investors may, no later than September 21, 2021 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed as a lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class members claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country involving securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of state and federal law. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world. The firm represents investors, consumers and whistleblowers (private citizens who report fraudulent practices against the government and share in the recovery of government dollars). The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(844) 887-9500 (toll free)

info@ktmc.com




The first museum and cafe devoted to the history and cultural significance of Korean Red Ginseng

VIP Grand Opening Ceremony at Ginseng Museum Cafe

From left: John Ahn (President, Korean American Association of Queens NY), Sang Young Kim (Owner, Ginseng Museum Cafe), Katja Sherlock (Influencer), Hwasup Shim (General Manager, aT NY), Adam Goodman (President, Natural Products Association East), Nae Soo Kim (Head Director of Global Business, KGC), Steven Shapiro (Rivkin Radler Law Firm & KGC Advisory Attorney), Young Bin Kim (Director of Global Business, KGC), Heungsil Lee (CEO, KGC US), Sangjun Lee (Branch Manager, KITA East)

From left: John Ahn (President, Korean American Association of Queens NY), Sang Young Kim (Owner, Ginseng Museum Cafe), Katja Sherlock (Influencer), Hwasup Shim (General Manager, aT NY), Adam Goodman (President, Natural Products Association East), Nae Soo Kim (Head Director of Global Business, KGC), Steven Shapiro (Rivkin Radler Law Firm & KGC Advisory Attorney), Young Bin Kim (Director of Global Business, KGC), Heungsil Lee (CEO, KGC US), Sangjun Lee (Branch Manager, KITA East)

CERRITOS, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Korean Ginseng Corp. (KGC), and its CheongKwanJang brand, the Worlds No. 1 brand of Ginseng, hosted a grand opening event at its new Ginseng Museum Cafe located at 315 5th Street, on the corner of 32nd Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan on September 14th. Ginseng Museum Cafe introduces each guest to the thousand-year history and efficacy of one of South Koreas first-ever export products, ginseng, in an entertaining way. Using fun, immersive digital animation, the museum hopes to provide each visitor with a unique ginseng experience, the highlight of which is the first-of-its-kind opportunity to taste their refreshing, reenergizing specialty: draft 24-hour-fresh-brewed pure ginseng extract.



Commenting on the grand opening of the Ginseng Museum Cafe, Nae Soo Kim, KGCs Head Director of Global Business, said, We are particularly grateful for the opportunity to introduce the culture of Korean Red Ginseng on 32nd Street, the street that best symbolizes the historic role of Korea in the United States. Our wish is that people from all around the world can learn about, experience, and bring home the natural and cultural wonder that is Korean Red Ginseng.

Entry into the Ginseng Museum Cafe is free to the public and open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays. Visitors will be required to follow New Yorks current COVID-19 guidelines.

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About Korea Ginseng Corp.

For more than 120 years, Korea Ginseng Corp. and its Cheong Kwan Jang brand, the Worlds No. 1 brand of Ginseng, has been dedicated to providing the worlds leading Korean Red Ginseng. Key benefits of Korean Red Ginseng include: supporting a healthy immune response; supporting healthy energy and stamina levels; supporting healthy brain function and blood circulation; and supporting menopause relief. Korean Red Ginseng is also rich in antioxidants. For more information visit, https://www.kgcus.com/ . You can also follow Korea Ginseng Corp. on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KGCUS , Twitter: www.twitter.com/KGCUS , Instagram: www.instagram.com/KGCUS , and YouTube: www.youtube.com/KGCUS .

Media Contacts:

Joanne Tedesco, Dresner Corporate Services, (573)355-7855, jtedesco@dresnerco.com

David Gutierrez, Dresner Corporate Services, (312)780-7204, dgutierrez@dresnerco.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5df50541-656b-41c7-9de4-697c6c991b92




Mobile Hospitals Market  Scope of Report This report on the global mobile hospitals market studies the past as well as the current growth trends and opportunities to gain valuable insights of the indicators of the market during the forecast period of 2021 to 2031.

New York, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Mobile Hospitals Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2021-2031" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06150407/?utm_source=GNW

The report provides the revenue of the global mobile hospitals market for the period of 20172031, considering 2020 as the base year and 2031 as the forecast year.



The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) of the global mobile hospitals market from 2021 to 2031.



The report has been prepared after extensive research.Primary research involved bulk of research efforts, wherein analysts carried out interviews with key industry leaders and opinion makers.



Secondary research involved referring to key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents to understand the global mobile hospitals market.



Secondary research also included Internet sources, statistical data from government agencies, websites, and trade associations. Analysts employed a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches to study various attributes of the global mobile hospitals market.



The report includes an elaborate executive summary, along with a snapshot of the growth behavior of various segments and sub-segments included in the scope of the study.Moreover, the report sheds light on changing competitive dynamics in the global mobile hospitals market.



These serve as valuable tools for existing market players as well as entities interested in participating in the global mobile hospitals market.



The report also delves into the competitive landscape of the global mobile hospitals market.Key players operating in the global mobile hospitals market have been identified and each one of these has been profiled in terms of various attributes.



Company overview, financial standings, recent developments, and SWOT are attributes of players in the global mobile hospitals market that have been profiled in this report.



Key Questions Answered in Mobile Hospitals Market Report



What is the sales/revenue generated by mobile hospital service providers across all regions during the forecast period?

What are the opportunities in the global mobile hospitals market?

What are the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats in the global market?

Which region is set to expand at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period?

Which function segment is expected to generate the highest revenue globally in 2030?

What are the market positions of different companies operating in the global market?



Mobile Hospitals Market  Research Objectives and Research Approach

The comprehensive report on the global mobile hospitals market begins with an overview, followed by the scope and objectives of the study. Following this, the report provides detailed explanation of the objectives behind this study and key vendors and distributors operating in the market and regulatory scenario for approval of product.



For reading comprehensibility, the report has been compiled in a chapter-wise layout, with each section divided into smaller ones.The report comprises an exhaustive collection of graphs and tables that have been appropriately interspersed.



Pictorial representation of actual and projected values of key segments is visually appealing to readers. This also allows comparison of market shares of key segments in the past and at the end of the forecast period.



The report analyzes the global mobile hospitals market in terms of type, function, and region.Key segments under each criteria have been studied at length, and the market share for each of these at the end of 2031 has been provided.



Such valuable insights enable market stakeholders to make informed business decisions for investment in the global mobile hospitals market.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06150407/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




North America Outdoor Structures & Beach Chair/Camping Chair Market  Scope of Report. The analysts recent report on the outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market, with the help of a comprehensive outlook, provides readers with an assessment of the North America market landscape.

New York, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Outdoor Structures & Beach Chair/Camping Chair Market - North America Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2021-2031" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06150388/?utm_source=GNW

This study on the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market analyzes the scenario for the period 2015 to 2031, wherein 2020 is the base year and 2019 and earlier is historical data.



The report enables readers to make important decisions regarding their business, with the help of a wealth of information enclosed in the study.



This study on the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market provides data on the developments of important players and stakeholders in the market, along with a competitive analysis.The report also provides an understanding of strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, along with trends and restraints in the landscape.



Presented in a clear, sanctioned manner, the report on the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market gives readers an individual understanding of the market.



Key Questions Answered in This Report on North America Outdoor Structures & Beach Chair/Camping Chair Market

How much revenue will the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market generate by the end of the forecast period?

What type of outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chairs are likely to hold the maximum market share by 2030?

What regions currently contribute the maximum share to the overall outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market?

What are the indicators expected to drive the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market?

Which region is likely to be a lucrative market during the forecast period?

What are the essential strategies incorporated by key stakeholders in the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market to expand their geographical presence?

What are the major advancements witnessed in the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market?

The report answers these questions and more about the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market, aiding major stakeholders and key players in making the right decisions and strategizing for the advancement of their business.



Outdoor Structures & Beach Chair/Camping Chair Market  Research Methodology

This report on the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market is based on a complete and comprehensive evaluation of the market, backed by secondary and primary sources.The competitive scenario of the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market is supported by an assessment of different factors that influence the market on a minute and granular level.



By thoroughly analyzing the historical data and current trends, researchers of the outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market arrive at predictions and estimations, and calculate the forecast for the market.



The report uses an analytical triangulation method to estimate numbers and figures of the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market, with both a bottom-up and top-down approach.



The detailed assessment of the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market, along with an overview of the landscape, has been provided based on a careful examination of the avenues related to this market. Analysts conclusions on how the North America outdoor structures & beach chair/camping chair market is set to grow are based on carefully vetted primary and secondary sources.

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against CorMedix, Inc. ("CorMedix" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: CRMD) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and docketed under 21-cv-16855, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired CorMedix securities between October 16, 2019 and May 13, 2021, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under  10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.

Fighting for victims of securities fraud for more than 85 years (PRNewsfoto/Pomerantz LLP)

If you are a shareholder who purchased CorMedix securities during the Class Period, you have until September 20, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

CorMedix is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases in the U.S. and internationally. The Company is focused on developing its lead product candidate, DefenCath, a purported novel antibacterial and antifungal solution designed to prevent costly and dangerous catheter-related bloodstream infections ("CRBSIs"). DefenCath has been available in Europe and the Middle East under the brand name Neutrolin since 2013.

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In the U.S., CorMedix completed Phase 3 of clinical development of DefenCath in July 2019 and finally appeared ready to submit a New Drug Application ("NDA") to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for approval, including its manufacturing information, on October 16, 2019. That day, the first day of the Class Period, the Company announced that "[t]he FDA was supportive of Neutrolin's proposed manufacturing program, including the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the container closure and testing, and indicated that it will conduct a thorough review of all of the CMC ["Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control"] information as well as assess the commercial readiness of the various manufacturing facilities at the time of NDA filing" and that "[n]o further CMC meetings with FDA [we]re planned prior to NDA submission."

In February 2020, CorMedix began its rolling submission of its NDA for DefenCath as a catheter lock solution with an initial indication for use of preventing CRBSIs in patients with end-stage renal disease who are receiving hemodialysis via a central venous catheter. The NDA submission was completed in July 2020.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the ExClass Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (i) deficiencies existed with respect to DefenCath's manufacturing process and/or at the facility responsible for manufacturing DefenCath; (ii) in light of the foregoing deficiencies, the FDA was unlikely to approve the DefenCath NDA for CRBSIs in its present form; (iii) Defendants had downplayed the true scope of the deficiencies with DefenCath's manufacturing process and/or at the facility responsible for manufacturing DefenCath; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On March 1, 2021, CorMedix issued a press release "announc[ing] that the [FDA] cannot approve the [NDA] for DefenCath . . . in its present form." CorMedix informed investors that the "FDA noted concerns at the third-party manufacturing facility after a review of records requested by FDA and provided by the manufacturing facility"; that the "FDA did not specify the issues and CorMedix intends to work with the manufacturing facility to develop a plan for resolution when FDA informs the facility of the specific concerns"; that, "[w]hen we are informed of the issues, we will schedule an investor conference call to provide an update on our expected timeline for resolution"; and that, "[a]dditionally, FDA is requiring a manual extraction study to demonstrate that the labeled volume can be consistently withdrawn from the vials despite an existing in-process control to demonstrate fill volume within specifications."

On this news, CorMedix's stock price fell $5.98 per share, or 39.87%, to close at $9.02 per share on March 1, 2021.

Then, on April 14, 2021, Defendants announced that CorMedix would have to take additional steps to meet the FDA's requirements for DefenCath's manufacturing process, including "[a]ddressing FDA's concerns regarding the qualification of the filling operation [that] may necessitate adjustments in the process and generation of additional data on operating parameters for manufacture of DefenCath."

On this news, CorMedix's stock price fell $1.44 per share, or 15.37%, to close at $7.93 per share on April 14, 2021.

Finally, on May 13, 2021, CorMedix announced that "[b]ased on our analyses, we have concluded that additional process qualification will be needed with subsequent validation to address the deficiencies identified by FDA." After an analyst pressed for clearer information on DefenCath's manufacturing deficiencies on a conference call held that same day, Defendant Phoebe Mounts, CorMedix's Executive Vice President and General Counsel, finally disclosed, inter alia, that "there are times when there may be unexpected results obtained"; that the FDA "expect[s] us to generate sufficient data to demonstrate that[ the filling] process is a controlled process and is consistent with the agency's requirements for good manufacturing practice"; that "sterility is a very important part of that process," as well as "the accuracy in making sure the right volume of DEFENCATH is loaded into the vials"; that "we are talking about thousands of vials during the manufacturing run"; that Defendant must "generat[e] of a lot of data to make sure that . . . all the equipment has been qualified for the intended use and every step in the manufacturing process has been qualified"; that "th[e] process needs to be very robust, [and] needs to be reproducible"; and that "the burden is on the manufacturer to demonstrate that the facility can do that process reducibly and generate the required product for commercial distribution."

On this news, CorMedix's stock price fell $1.51 per share, or 19.97%, to close at $6.05 per share on May 14, 2021.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com

CONTACT:

Robert S. Willoughby

Pomerantz LLP

rswilloughby@pomlaw.com

888-476-6529 ext. 7980

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pomerantz-law-firm-announces-the-filing-of-a-class-action-against-cormedix-inc-and-certain-officers--crmd-301375878.html

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP
Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee, author of UK Ministry of Defence report Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach, suggests net zero commitment as a condition for awarding MOD contracts, as the UK government strives for net zero emissions by 2050

Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee

Richard Nugee is the Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy Lead for the Ministry of Defence

Richard Nugee is the Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy Lead for the Ministry of Defence

Francesca dArcangeli

Francesca is a Managing Partner for Boyden UK

Francesca is a Managing Partner for Boyden UK

LONDON, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boyden, a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 75 offices in over 45 countries, and ADS Group , the membership organisation for UK businesses in aerospace, defence, security and space, release a trailblazing report from their broadcast on Sustainability  the New Defence Culture.



Published ahead of the UN COP26 Conference to be held in the UK in November, the report shares mission-critical thinking from those at the forefront of how the UK can achieve net zero by 2050, including broadcast panellists Dr. Andy Clifton , Global Sustainability Manager, Engineering and Design, and Rolls-Royce Co-Chair of MOD-Industry Sustainable Procurement Working Group; and Dr. Sam Healy , BEM1, Group Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Director, QinetiQ and Chair of ADS Sustainability Working Group.

In discussions on how the MOD and Industry can collaborate to reach net zero emissions by 2050, Lt. Gen. Nugee insists, I think we can be more sophisticated in what we expect from industry and give clear guidance. For instance, we may try to introduce a requirement that unless a company has its own route to net zero, we wont accept a bid from them.

In reviewing the ecosystem, Dr. Andy Clifton outlines the role of primes such as Rolls-Royce . Its fundamentally about collaboration. As primes, we have a particular role to play in guiding the discussion on requirements for sustainability through the whole SME value chain and, with the MOD as an end user, provide more understanding, so we all know where we can contribute to reach net zero.

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The Boyden/ADS Group report is based on a broadcast hosted by Francesca dArcangeli , Managing Partner UK and Global Practice Leader, Industrial Practice and Sameer Savani, at the time Head of Engineering & Innovation, ADS Group.

The next Boyden/ADS Group broadcast will take place later in 2021 with Lt. Gen. Richard Wardlaw , OBE, MOD Chief of Defence Logistics & Support, Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee and senior representatives of Industry. To request access, please contact abi.vickers@boyden.com .

Boyden/ADS Group full report from the broadcast Sustainability  the New Defence Culture and executive summary .

MOD Strategic Approach by Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee.

____________

1 British Empire Medal







About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 75 offices in over 45 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked amongst the top companies on Forbes Americas Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2021. For further information, visit www.boyden.com .

Contacts:

Francesca dArcangeli, Boyden

Managing Partner, United Kingdom

Global Practice Leader, Industrial Practice

T: +44 7879 359 306

E: Francesca.darcangeli@boyden.com

Marc Brooker, ADS Group

Senior Account Manager

T: +44 20 7091 7831

E: Marc.Brooker@adsgroup.org.uk

Andy Dunne, Boyden

Principal, United Kingdom

T: +44 7718 480 721

E: Andy.dunne@boyden.com







Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad8676be-2189-4911-821a-ccdd2e4bc08a

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/92aeed6e-64fc-4103-ae5a-5572f1dd0d13




(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the Federal Reserve to force Wells Fargo & Co. to separate its traditional banking and Wall Street businesses, after the lender was handed fresh regulatory action and a $250 million fine this month.

In a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Warren called on the Fed to revoke Wells Fargos status as a financial holding company in order to effect a separation. The Fed should order the company to develop a plan to ensure its customers are protected through the transition, the Massachusetts Democrat said.

Every single day that Wells Fargo continues to maintain these depository accounts is a day that millions of customers remain at risk of additional negligence and willful fraud, Warren wrote. The only way these consumers and their bank accounts can be kept safe is through another institutionone whose business model is not dependent on swindling customers for every last penny they can get. The Fed has the power to put consumers first, and it must use it.

The New York Times earlier reported the contents of the letter. A representative for the Fed confirmed it received the letter and said it planned to respond.

Wells Fargo was fined this month over its lack of progress addressing long-standing problems, the first such sanction under Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf. The penalty adds to the more than $5 billion in fines and legal settlements the bank paid over the last five years tied to a series of scandals that began with fake accounts in its branch network.

The latest order, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, cited deficiencies in Wells Fargos home-lending loss mitigation practices -- the steps firms take to avoid foreclosure -- that have prevented the bank from being able to fully and timely remediate harmed customers.

Meeting our own expectations for risk management and controls  as well as our regulators  remains Wells Fargos top priority, the bank said Tuesday in a statement. We are a different bank today than we were five years ago because weve made significant progress.

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Fresh Questions

Warren cited the Bank Holding Company Act, which requires that banks are well capitalized and well managed. If a financial holding company falls short of these, the Fed is required to give a notice for the institution to correct its deficiencies.

Should the bank fail to remedy those within 180 days, the Fed can ask the company to divest control of any subsidiary depository institution -- or the bank can choose to cease to engage in activity that isnt permissible for a bank holding company.

The latest sanctioning raises fresh questions about whether the bank meets the Acts requirements that it be well managed, and whether the board and Scharf are capable of effectively running the lender, Warren said.

Progress Signs

Despite the regulatory hit, Wells Fargo has made progress under Scharf. A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau order tied to the firms sales practices levied in 2016 expired this month while in January, the bank was freed from a 2015 regulatory order over violations of anti-money-laundering rules. The Fed also confidentially accepted a plan for overhauling risk management and governance at the bank, Bloomberg reported earlier this year.

More broadly, Warren has also been pushing for executives of companies that dont follow the rules to face personal consequences, she said in an interview with Bloomberg News.

I am pushing hard for more personal liability, Warren said. These executives want to drag in the big bucks for running these companies, then they should be responsible when they preside over big companies that are breaking the law and cheating American consumers.

(Updates with comments from Warren from 10th paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Desperate Afghans fled the violence during the Taliban's months-long offensive that led to it capturing Kabul, adding to a displaced population that already numbered in the millions. At the same time, foreign organizations that once provided food and medical aid were forced to leave the country. Displaced people in Farah Province told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that the Taliban-led government has yet to provide assistance as they struggle to feed their families.
DUSHANBE -- Dozens of Afghan women residing in Tajikistan have rallied at Afghanistan's embassy in Dushanbe to protest against the erosion of human rights under the newly installed Taliban-led government and what they said was Pakistan's support of the militants.

The women chanted "Pakistan, go away from Afghanistan!," "Stop killing Afghans," and "We support resistance," among other slogans, as they gathered in front of the embassy on September 14, before entering the building.

The protesters told RFE/RL that they are concerned over Afghanistan's future and expressed hope that the resistance fighters led by Ahmad Masud in the country's north will be supported by other nations to battle against the Taliban.

Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad Zohir Akbar met with the protesting women and said he supported them, adding that the Taliban will be unable to maintain government structures.

After toppling the Western-backed government in Kabul a month ago, the hard-line Islamist group has told the world it has changed, including in its attitude toward women and girls. The group also promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents.

But many Afghans remain deeply fearful, especially after the militants formed an all-male government led by hard-line Taliban veterans, banned protests, and cracked down on demonstrators and journalists.
Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to the Central Asian nation, John Pommersheim, to make a verbal protest over President Joe Biden's recent comments about the Central Asian nation in relation with the U.S. troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"A verbal note of protest was conveyed to the U.S. Ambassador in connection with the statements by the President of the United States of America Mr. Joe Biden during his visit to a fire station in Pennsylvania. The verbal note stated that such statements do not correspond to the spirit of friendly relations and partnership. The Republic of Tajikistan is interested in the development of mutually beneficial relations with the United States of America in the spirit of mutual support and mutual respect," a Tajik Foreign Ministry statement on September 14 said.

The protest was in response to Biden's comments on September 11 at a firehouse in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The president defended the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan despite chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport, where some Afghans desperate to leave the country died after trying to hang on to the landing gear of an aircraft as it took off.

For example, if we were in Tajikistan and pulled up a C-130 and said were going to let, you know, anybody who was involved with being sympathetic to us to get on the plane, youd have people hanging in the wheel as well," Biden said.

Biden's statement caused a wave of reactions on social media by Tajik users, who criticized Biden's statement saying the two countries are very different and such parallels cannot be made.
Afghan women are using a social media campaign to fight back against a strict new dress code for female students amid fears that the Taliban-led government will return to the strict interpretation of Islamic law that it employed during the militants' first time in power in the 1990s.

Many Afghans were taken aback when the Taliban imposed a strict new dress code for women students, prompting women to share pictures of themselves wearing colorful traditional dresses, using hashtags such as #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture. The Taliban-led government's edict, announced earlier this month, ordered female university students to wear a niqab -- an Islamic veil that covers the face  and abaya -- a loose-fitting and all-covering robe.

When the Taliban imposed its brutal rule on Afghanistan in 1996-2001, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education.

After toppling the Western-backed government in Kabul a month ago, the hard-line Islamist group suggested it had changed, including in its attitude toward women and girls. The group also promised inclusiveness and a general amnesty for former opponents.

But many Afghans remain deeply fearful, especially after the militants formed an all-male government led by hard-line Taliban veterans, banned protests, and cracked down on demonstrators and journalists.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 14 called for the preservation of gains won by Afghan women and girls over the past two decades under a Western-backed government.

Afghan women & girls want to ensure that the gains they have made are not lost, doors are not closed & hope is not extinguished, Guterres said in a tweet.

Safeguarding their rights  including access to education & other essential services - is central to the future of the country & every Afghan, he added.

Guterres made the plea after the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, accused the Taliban of contradicting their promises on human rights, saying that over the past three weeks, women havebeen progressively excluded from the public sphere."

Addressing the Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva, Bachelet cited, among other things, "credible allegations of reprisal killings" of former members of the national security forces, as well as arbitrary detentions of people who worked for previous administrations, including some who were later "found dead."

Later on September 13, more than $1 billion in aid was pledged for Afghanistan at an international donors conference in Geneva amid warnings of a looming major humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations had estimated that more than $600 million was needed by the end of the year for the war-torn and drought-stricken country.

Afghanistan faced drought, displacement, and a humanitarian crisis even before the Taliban took control of the country, with half the population dependent on aid, according to the UN.

The world body said about a third of the money it had asked would be used by its World Food Program, which has said many Afghans did not have access to cash to afford sufficient food.

The financing would also provide for measures to support women and children and set up education projects. It could also be used to fund emergency shelters for an estimated 3.5 million people who are internally displaced.

Sporadic anti-Taliban rallies occasionally have ended in deadly clashes since the group's takeover on August 15.

On September 14, dozens of people reportedly protested in Kandahar after residents were asked to vacate a residential army colony, with footage from local media showing crowds blocking a road in the southern city.

Around 3,000 families were asked to leave the colony within three days, a former government official was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the evictions or the protest.

Meanwhile, the Afghan ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva called on the UN Human Rights Council to "immediately dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate and document abuse of human rights," including in Panjshir Valley, the last pocket of resistance to the Taliban's rapid takeover.

"Today, the world cannot and should not be silent as millions fear for their life and human rights, and humanitarian crises are unfolding in the country," said Nasir Ahmad Andisha, a member of the ousted government.

"The people of Afghanistan need action more than ever."

At a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee on September 13, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the chaotic U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.

Blinken also said he would name a senior State Department official to focus on support for Afghan women, girls, and minorities.

He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee later on September 14.

With reporting by the BBC, Reuters, and Pajhwok
The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected the state Senate's effort to keep records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County secret
In this Gazette file photo from February, Christina Claudio, left, and her son Lukas, 2, step outside their room with her mother-in-law, Angela Smith, during a ribbon cutting for New Promise Family Shelter, the citys first low-barrier shelter for homeless families with children.
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Academy School District 20 recently became the third Pikes Peak-area school district to join a program designed to give students greater access to the tools they need to succeed academically.

Pikes Peak Library Districts Power Pass program, launched in 2019, provides students with an electronic library card that grants access to thousands of digital resources including e-books, homework assistance, live tutoring and SAT preparation. District 11 was the library systems inaugural Power Pass partner, joining the program in 2019. Harrison School District 2 adopted Power Pass in January.

The idea behind (Power Pass) was to come up with a way to reduce barriers for student access, so they have what they need to succeed academically, said Elyse Jones, the library systems community partnership coordinator. Parents might not always have the time, or the ability, to physically bring their student to one of our locations. With Power Pass, they dont have to.

Students in participating districts can skip the application process and open a library account with just a few keystrokes, said spokeswoman Denise Abbott.

Students can just go to the My Account space on the librarys website, enter their ID number, and theyre automatically ready to go, Abbott said. Its that easy.

Abbott pointed out that the Power Pass is not a physical library card, but it performs most of the same functions. Using only their student ID number, any Power Pass holder can check out five physical items at a time  including books, DVDs, and games  from any of the systems 15 locations or mobile libraries.

The only limitation is on the number of physical items they can check out, Jones said. With a traditional library card, you can check out up to 100 physical items. But being a Power Pass student doesnt mean you cant get a traditional library card as well.

The goal of the Power Pass program, Abbott said, is not to replace existing school libraries, but to expand on their resources to give students every chance to succeed  and to occasionally have a little fun.

We offer access to lots of recreational materials as well, Abbott said. If students want to unwind with some music, or maybe read a few comic books, they have access to those things  and they dont even have to leave their homes.

More than 2,200 District 20 students have signed up for Power Pass since the beginning of the school year, according to district spokeswoman Krystal Story.

Its a great program, Story said. Even if students dont have the ability to get their own library card, they can use all of PPLDs resources with Power Pass.

The library system is in conversations with several other area districts and hopes to bring at least one more district onboard by the end of the calendar year, Jones said.

Our goal is to eventually partner with every school district in our service area, she said.
For the second year in a row, families of fallen firefighters will gather to grieve in front of computer monitors as coronavirus concerns again stall their chance for a memorial ceremony in Colorado Springs.

Citing rising COVID-19 case rates throughout the nation, the International Association of Firefighters has announced that their annual September memorial honoring fallen firefighters would also be held virtually in 2021.

The ceremony, started in 1976, is usually held in Colorado Springs Memorial Park where the names of firefighters lost in the line of duty are inscribed on memorial walls in their honor. Hundreds of firefighters from the U.S. and Canada join the families in the park to honor lost comrades.

In 2020, union officials said they cancelled the event to protect people from the spread of COVID-19.

This year, they told families the same thing.

We have fallen firefighter family members coming from all over the United States  New York, Atlanta  all these places that have way worse upticks than we even have, Chris Weaver, memorial coordinator, said. So we dont want to bring these people from potential hot spots to our community.

This years virtual service will honor members lost in 2020 as well as in 2019  225 names in total, Weaver said. Typically, the union memorializes fallen firefighters from the past year, which is a tradition thats compounding each year the event is held virtually.

That means that in 2022, the Colorado Springs ceremony will honor all firefighters lost since 2019.

Around 10,000 people typically turn out to the annual event, Weaver said, and many families, some of whom had already made travel arrangements, were angry when they found out theyd need to cancel their plans.

Still, Weaver said most understood why coordinators had made the decision.

We just didnt think wed be good stewards of the fallen firefighters families safety if we had another memorial this year, Weaver said. Everybodys dealing with all this change the best they can.

On top of their concern for the local community, union officials said the association has lost several of its members to COVID-19. In August, they said seven firefighters died from the virus, and five more died between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7, according to the unions page for firefighters lost to COVID-19.

The association lists 53 overall as having lost their lives to the virus since the pandemic began last March.

In a Sept. 1 message to the union, general president Edward Kelly urged firefighters and their families to get vaccinated against the virus, citing the amount of Americans and Canadians already vaccinated against COVID-19 and claiming it was firefighters jobs to boost those numbers.

Firefighters lead, Kelly said. We lead in our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities, our provinces. We have to lead right now. Get vaccinated.

The event on Saturday will be streamed live starting at 1 p.m. People can watch it on the union's YouTube page, their Facebook page, or their main webpage.
FILE  The Haunted Mine Drop is shown in this July 2017 file photo at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The Haunted Mine Drop is billed as the first drop ride to go underground, plunging riders 110 feet inside of Iron Mountain. An investigation is underway after a 6-year-old girl on vacation with her family died after an incident occurred Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, on the Haunted Mine Drop ride. (Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent via AP, File)
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Top House Republicans criticized a Democratic proposal to spend $1 billion to fund the creation of a new privacy bureau at the Federal Trade Commission, saying it would serve a partisan agenda rather than improve the privacy needs of Americans.
FILE  Nicki Minaj attends The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute benefit gala in New York, in this Monday, May 6, 2019, file photo. The 64-year-old father of rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said. Robert Maraj was walking along a road in Mineola on Long Island at 6:15 p.m. Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, Nassau County police said. Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
A pedestrian died from injuries suffered Saturday night after being run over by a pickup in a Colorado Springs parking lot, police announced Tuesday.

Police say the pedestrian, whose name and gender weren't released, was apparently lying prone in the parking lot on the 3500 block of Austin Bluffs Parkway and was run over by the truck.

The pedestrian was hopitalized after the incident but died from injuries a day later.

Twelve Colorado Springs pedestrians have died in 2021, making up a third of the city's 36 traffic deaths, officers said.
El Paso County commissioners on Tuesday granted a developers request to rezone about 20 acres of land in the Tri-Lakes area, a win for proponents who said it will allow for more affordable housing in the county.

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the request by developer JZs Land Development LLC to rezone 20.88 acres at the intersection of Colorado 105 and Red Rock Ranch Drive, about a mile south of Palmer Lake.

The rezoning is the first step in plans to build out the parcel in conjunction with development on a 33-acre parcel to the east, also owned by the developer and already zoned to allow -acre lots, said Ingrid Richter of Olive Real Estate Group, representing the developer. The landowner wants to build about 37 new single-family homes on both parcels in a development called Red Rock Acres, she said.

Monument Creek cuts through the property and splits the north and south portions, allowing for a combination of densities within Red Rock Acres, Richter said. On the newly rezoned parcel, the developer plans to build seven single-family homes on -acre lots on about 5 acres on the north side of the property, and three homes on 2 -acre lots on about 15  acres on the south side of the property. The new zoning allows for approximately six more lots than permitted under the previous 5-acre zoning.

Red Rock Acres will meet the demand for housing and buildable lots in El Paso County, Richter said. The goal is for Red Rock Acres to offer a more rural residential lifestyle, with affordable housing ranging from half a million (dollars) to $1 million. Unfortunately, that is affordable nowadays.

About a dozen residents who spoke Tuesday against the rezoning said anticipated development for both parcels was incompatible with other nearby developments and the new zoning is inconsistent with other zoning in the area, including to the north and west, where the parcels are zoned for 5-acre lots.

Im not against development, resident Martha Brodzik said. Im just wanting to have something that fits into an area of this part of northern El Paso County that is more rural like the rest of it.

Opponents also argued homes in the Cloven Hoof Estates neighborhood to the south, though zoned for -acre lots, were built on 1-acre lots and are incompatible with plans for development in Red Rocks Acres.

Its going to stick out terribly if you put that many houses, Andrea Rusco said, imploring the developer to build 1-acre lots on both parcels.

But developers argued building larger lots could force the average home price above $850,000, which isnt as affordable.

Having different types of lots and density in the area is good for everyone, said Jim Stiltner, owner of JZ's Land Development. Currently, the area limits the availability for our teachers, fire responders and younger generations from purchasing homes, and I personally would like to see more single-family homes in the area with more people.

Larger lots would also be expensive to build because of well and septic costs required for 2 - and 5-acre lots, and because the developer anticipates paying for possible road improvements and additional fees to the Forest View Acres Water Service and Palmer Lake Sanitation districts, Richter said.

About a dozen more residents spoke Tuesday in favor of the rezone, most agreeing it would help address the housing shortage in El Paso County.

We are lacking in property and affordable homes for families, Jimmy Rios said. I dont feel the rezone is harmful or detrimental to our community. In fact, I think it would be helpful.

Matthew Dunston said he supported the rezoning and early plans for development because they were deliberate.

It does meet the standards, he said. (Stiltner) really put a lot of painstaking detail into how the lots sit on that land.  When you have rural residential (development) of this density, you have to be really thoughtful.

Before voting to approve the request, commissioners acknowledged the project would continue under heavy resident scrutiny as it moved forward.

I would encourage everyone to continue to work together, Commissioner Cami Bremer said.
Hawaii unwraps voluntary digital vaccination record

Hawaii residents can now upload their vaccination card to their smartphones so they can carry digital proof of their immunization against COVID-19.

The digital card, called the Hawaii SMART Health card, will make it easier for vaccinated residents to present evidence to restaurants, businesses and other venues without carrying a physical document.

Starting Sept. 10, people who have been vaccinated in the state can upload a photo of their vaccination card to the Safe Travels Hawaii website to create a digital record, officials said. Any individual who has completed the 14-day waiting period after receiving a vaccine shot in Hawaii, will be eligible for the SMART Health card.

Participation in the SMART Health Card program is purely voluntary, but it aims to make it easier and more convenient for patrons to present proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, other businesses and establishments that require it, Gov. David Ige said.

Ige stressed this voluntary verification was another option for residents to confirm their vaccination status and that it should also curb the use of fake vaccination cards. Once individuals have verified their vaccination status, businesses will be able to authenticate that data with a validator app that scans the digital cards QR code and cross-references the states databases.

Its another step toward protecting the health and safety of our residents and visitors, while also balancing the need to support local businesses and Hawaiis economy,Ige said.

This announcement comes as more public- and private-sector organizations require proof of vaccination, and states develop their own verification apps. New York unveiled its own QR-code generating app called the Excelsior Pass in March, and vaccination passport initiatives in California, Lousiana, Colorado and Illinois have ramped up in recent months.

SMART Health Cards are growing as a standard to show proof of vaccination across the nation, Hawaii CIO Doug Murdock said. Hawaii joins states such as New York, California and Louisiana, in implementing an application that allows people to share their vaccine status to businesses and venues in a safe and secure way.
- The media have been busy during the last period, following up on the meeting supposed to be held between the heads of the intelligence services of the Damascus government and the Turkish occupation in Baghdad, and at a time when the researcher on Turkish affairs, Dr. Muhammad Noureddin, ruled out the meeting at the present time, he confirmed that the Kurds are the targets in the first place. In such meetings, Kurdish researcher Hussein Omar agreed with him. (photo attached)

A number of writers referred to the severe isolation imposed on the leader Abdullah Ocalan and said: "Isolation is a crime against humanity, and it can only be ended through local and global struggle, and to achieve this there must be resistance everywhere," and they ruled out achieving peace in the region with continued isolation. . (photos and video attached).

Daraa is hardly absent from the Syrian scene, until it returns to it again, from a struggle for influence between Iran and Russia to establish itself in this region, to seeking to restore the control of Damascus forces over it, open the crossings with Jordan, and make it a transit line to deliver Egyptian gas to Lebanon, and obtain a return for it. to meet that. This means gaining the recognition and legitimacy that Moscow has been searching for for a long time. (Pictures attached).

Portrait

"I am afraid that I will be martyred before the liberation of Afrin," this phrase was said by the activist Sosin Berhat, hours before her martyrdom, so that the pledge she made to herself would turn into a covenant for the rest of the Kurdish people. (Pictures attached).

World

The Lebanese have high hopes for the new government headed by Najib Mikati, but it is marred by a lot of anxiety and fear of its failure due to the crises that have accumulated for more than a year in a vacuum, starting with the collapse of the Lebanese currency, and not ending with the high rates of unemployment and poverty in society. (Pictures attached).

Culture and art

Great efforts are made by the band accompanying the participants of the Hawar Festival in its third season, and the band is trying with its expertise to present its best in front of the audience. (photos and video attached).

ANHA
Unfortunately, we arent done with COVID-19 yet . . . or maybe its more correct to say that COVID-19 isnt done with us yet. Either way, perhaps we should stop and ask what we have learned from the pandemic, which alters the way our markets are working.

Many businesses and their supply chains were the envy of our modern world. Human and, more recently, machine learning has sifted through mountains of data to understand complex underlying demand relationships. This has helped us craft a culture of lean manufacturing. By cutting down on the expense of excess inventory and ordering inputs only when theyre needed, we have shaved costs out of the system. This just-in-time management was working like clockwork until COVID-19 gave us considerable grit in the gears.

Cobbled COVID-19 chains

Last year our highly coordinated system almost failed. We experienced serious demand shocks when we were socially isolated and staying safer at home. To be honest, there were some good things that came out of the experience. Many folks returned to their kitchens and dining room tables for meals, and our fluid milk purchases temporarily stopped their downward slide as milk and butter flew off the grocery shelves. But on the whole, isolation was not preferable.

We are trying to get back to more normal living. This year, children are in classrooms, more of us are working from our offices, and we are eating more meals in restaurants. But COVID-19 isnt in the past yet, and its making some things  like price forecasting  harder than ever.

Most dairy processors have developed sophisticated demand models that help them forecast their cheese needs a year in advance. Of course, those are subject to tweaking along the way as new opportunities emerge, but the long-run forecast is a guiding principle for plants to signal just how badly they are going to want milk over the subsequent months.

A new perspective

Last year, during the first wave of COVID-19 cases, we held a few focus groups with processors and others to try to understand what they were doing to manage in the face of the biggest demand shock that we had ever seen. One of the observations was that the definition of long-term had declined from yearly to monthly and that short-term had dropped from monthly to daily.

We could no longer depend on demand models that were built with data from more normal times. They simply werent providing any insights for what the market wanted and what milk was worth.

In fact, another focus group member said that they had to put away the computer models and just fly by the seat of their pants. In other words, when clockwork wasnt working, people resorted to the old sun dial, and we had to make do with our mental models.

Known conditions

As I am trying to forecast prices for the year ahead, Im still using my mental model and putting together the important pieces of information that we know today:

The Delta variant of COVID-19 is surging. The current rise of new cases is not at a peak yet and, like previous waves, it seems to be starting in the Southern states and will probably work its way north through the rest of the country. It is impacting a much higher percentage of children than previous waves, and I have to question whether we can keep our schools continuously open.

Impact: Declining fluid milk sales to schools may be in store.

Access to shipping containers is constrained. The value of electronics and other consumer goods coming from Asia to the U.S. is much greater than the agricultural commodities that we would like to be shipping from the U.S. back to Asia. Containers are making the return trip to Asia empty to be refilled as quickly as possible rather than being sent to the interior of the U.S. to be filled with dairy products.

Impact: Export cheese sales decline.

Extreme weather in the form of heat and drought in the West is extensive. The value of the dairy ration is almost as high as it was back in 2012, and milk production in states like California, Oregon, New Mexico, and Washington is negative or below expectations. Although warmer and dryer than usual, the north central part of the U.S. has received adequate moisture at the right times and forage crops look fairly decent. These regions have the cows, and if we have the feed, we are going to produce milk.

Impacts: There will be less powder for export sales and more cheese produced. This will tend to keep Class III and IV prices more closely aligned with fewer negative PPDs.

Restaurant demand has been surprisingly robust. Many restaurants did not make it through the pandemic, but those that did are seeing large gains in sales. Those who are still in business have altered their ingredient purchases to a much shorter timeline, though. If the new surge of COVID-19 continues, there is concern that we may have to close down in-restaurant eating again.

Impact: Plants are holding inventory to be able to fill out-of-home eating demands on short notice.

Grocery sales are still decent. Although well down from the purchases of a year ago, IRI reports indicate that in April of 2020, we were preparing more than 88% of our meals at home. While that dropped to about 77% in July of 2021, it is still above prepandemic levels. Our shopping pattern has also changed from fewer trips to the store and large cart fills of groceries back to more trips and smaller purchase volumes.

Impact: Dairy sales are still significantly above 2019 levels, but there was a bigger hit on fluid milk, butter, yogurt and processed cheese. Natural cheese sales are still holding up.

What it means

Despite my neutral forecast, it only reflects the fact that I cant see around the corner. Despite very strong milk production, we have had better than expected domestic and export sales. Our markets seem to be balanced right now, but it is a precarious balance and it probably cant sustain a very large demand impact. If COVID-19 closes down schools and restaurants again, or we cant get export products out of our ports, then we cant maintain the current level of milk production.

I am expecting that heat and high feed prices will have a negative impact on milk production in the U.S., and that may bring enough tightness into the supply side that we could take some smaller setbacks on demand and still not have a large impact on prices.

For planning purposes, look for an average All-Milk price that might average 60 to 80 cents higher than last year. But futures markets seem to be nervous about the long-run, and our milk checks are living in the present.




Gary Overby was born November 6, 1952 in Clear Lake, South Dakota, moving to Rapid City in 1959. Overby began his law enforcement career in the U. S. Army, serving in Vietnam then later working for Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, Pennington County Sheriffs Office, and eventually the U. S. Marshal Service. Beginning his career in the U. S. Marshal Service in the Sioux City, Iowa office in 1980, eventually moving to the Rapid City office in 1983 to begin missile escort duty. He recounts the basic duties and experiences he had over the year that he assisted the U. S. Air Force in transporting missiles through South Dakota. He later moved up through the ranks of the U. S. Marshal Service retiring as the agent in charge of the San Francisco Field Office in 1998.

Mr. Overby was interviewed for the park's oral history program in January 2007. Below are several excerpts from his interview.

When did you get involved with law enforcement, and then eventually the U.S.

Marshals Service?

In 1971, right after graduating from high school, I went into the United States Army. I volunteered for a two-year enlistment that included volunteering for Vietnam. I went to Fort Ord, California, where I was trained as an infantryman and sent to Vietnam in November of 1971. While there, I was eventually transferred from the infantry to the military police, which is where I obtained my interest in law enforcement. I came back to the United States in August of 1972, went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, and was there until March 1973 as a military policeman.

Then I obtained a position as a park technician at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, with the National Park Service. I served at Mt. Rushmore as a law enforcement firefighter park ranger from 1973 to 1976. I then wanted to get more experience in law enforcement, so I obtained an appointment as a Pennington County Deputy Sheriff in Rapid City, South Dakota, and I worked for Sheriff Mel Larson in patrol for two years, and then school liaison, you know, juvenile delinquency type investigations for two years.

Then February 1980 I received my appointment as a Deputy United States Marshal. That was, of course, after spending almost a year and a half of a process of taking an examination and going through interviews, and so forth. When I became a Deputy United States Marshal, I went to Glencoe, Georgia, which is the home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy, and I attended the eight-week basic criminal investigators course, and then I attended the basic Deputy United States Marshals course there. I graduated from both of

them and I was assigned to Sioux City, Iowa, to the U.S. Marshal's office for the northern district of Iowa in June 1980. I worked that assignment until May 1981, at which time I obtained a lateral transfer as a Deputy U.S. Marshal to the Pierre U.S. Marshal's office, and I served under Deputy U.S. Marshal in charge, Steve Turchek.

So in 1983, when an opening came up in the Deputy U.S. Marshal Missile Escort Program in Rapid City, I went ahead and applied for that opening. That would have been in the summer of 1983. I was able to obtain the appointment, and I transferred out from Pierre, South Dakota, to Rapid City, South Dakota, and I was assigned to the U.S. Marshal's office in Rapid City. I was one of two Deputy U.S. Marshals that were assigned to the Missile Escort Program for Ellsworth Air Force Base in their Missile Wing out there.

What was the history of the missile convoy escort program?

If I understand the history on this, in the early seventies the Air Force contracted with the U.S. Marshal Service to provide civilian law enforcement escorts for their convoys, to handle, for instance, reckless drivers, drunk drivers, or someone disturbing the peace or impeding the convoy, so that there would be a civilian authority that could take care of that. Well, the U.S. Marshal Service really fits the bill because they had a very broad authority in their jurisdiction, but it wasn't a large program as far as manpower. I believe at the time there was Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, then there was I think Minot and Grand Forks up in North Dakota, then Cheyenne [WY] and Montana and Missouri. But, in other words, if you start adding up the actual numbers of Missile Escort Deputies, it probably only came to around twelve maybe, or something like that.

How many times would you end up going out with convoys?

That would have been probably a couple times a week. It could be a little bit more depending on their work schedule. The reason for that is, that was dictated by the maintenance schedule. I always kind of thought it was a misnomer to call it the Missile Escort Program when in actuality we weren't escorting any missiles, they were already out there. What we were doing was actually escorting the nuclear warhead, and the weapons carrierI imagine you've seen pictures of them, or maybe even have one therewas a big semitrucktrailer looking affair. So whenever the maintenance individuals, or the wing that was responsible for updating the warheads, whatever their schedule was, that was our schedule.



This was something else that people don't understand, I think civilians don't understand. When those missile fields were opened up, created and established in the 1960s, many civilians felt that all the Air Force did was pretty much insert their missiles and warheads and leave them there and go off to a launch facility and then conduct their operation. The reality is that those were highly technical pieces of equipment that needed to be tested, needed to be updated. In some cases they would rotate a fresh warhead and bring in the old one. The old one, of course, they would just, like an engine, overhaul it, do all your testing at the facility at Ellsworth Air Force Base, bring it up to all the specs, all the codes, make sure everything is working, and then put it in the inventory so that, let's say, H1 or H3 or B1, whatever silo is in next for an update in their maintenance schedule, they go out and put a fresh warhead on the missile. That's really the gist of what we were doing, making sure that those warheads got out there in a safe timely fashion, and that they were brought back in a safe timely fashion.

The people that did the actual work themselves would meet us out there. They weren't part of our convoy. They would travel their own route, so to speak. Either they'd meet us out there or they'd be out there right after we got there. We always called them the Red Hats because they always wore red ball caps. Of course, our convoy commander knew the people, and all the security protocol there was done between our convoy commander and the Red Hats when they would get together. My responsibility was mostly with the conveyance of the

convoy there and back, and then also the liaison with the law enforcement authorities as we were doing this work.

What was the procedure for a missile convoy esccort?

The Air Force would call our office in Rapid City and notify them that they had a convoy the next morning. So when I would get in, I would call and confirm. Usually, we would take the warhead out there, and sometimes we would wait and then we would bring the other one back. But there were times when we would maybe go straight out there because they were having an extended maintenance issue with the missile but they still needed to bring the warhead in.

So you didn't always know if you were going to do a one-tripper, if it was going to be a one-way going out or one-way coming back. But they would tell us the day before. We would normally know by about three in the afternoon the day before. Then what would happen was, our vehicle was kept out at the Air Force base, and I would take my private vehicle. I'd get up and I'd be out there by about five-forty, five-forty-five in the morning, and I would go to the motor pool. They were the ones that were responsible for storing and securing the U.S. Marshal's escort vehicle. Now, mind you, this is not a U.S. Air Force vehicle. It was a General Service Administration, their motor pool. I'd check it out, make sure that everything looked good. Then I'd leave my civilian vehicle there and I'd drive the U.S. Marshal's vehicle over to the Air Police, they had like a meeting room near their barracks. Everyone that was going on the convoy that morning would meet there by six. At that time, we would all go in, and there was always a captain or a lieutenant that was in charge of the convoy. He or she would

check and make sure that all the Air Force personnel were present and accounted for and check with the NCOs to make sure that all the equipment is functional and road ready, that they're all ready to go.

They would finally, then, tell us where we're going. Of course, as you probably know, they was Hotel Flight, Bravo Flight, Charlie . . . and they would go like C1, C2, C3, or B1, B2, B3. They would say, for instance, okay, H1 today, we're going to H1, and confirm it's going to be a round-tripper. I had a map of all the missile sites, and I would confirm the location of that site while I was sitting there listening to her briefing. Because usually it was female officers that were the convoy commanders. I think there was only one male officer that I'd seen. Most of them were female officers. I was listening to them, and I'd look up the missile site location. Then I could figure the route.

For instance, if you're going up to the missile fields north of Belle Fourche and Newell, I knew then what cities I'd have to go through, what route I'd have to take. For instance, going up to north of Newell and Nisland, I knew I'd have to go through Sturgis, because we'd take Highway North 79 out of Sturgis, near Bear Butte. I knew what enforcement actions I would have to take because we always made sure the convoy never stopped, so I'd know ahead of time what intersections I'd have to block to make sure that the convoy would not have to

stop and could go through expeditiously.

The same thing if it was one of the missile sites north of Philip, or south of there. I knew pretty much where I'd have to go. In my mind I had thought out where I was going, because I was the head of the convoy. I never made a wrong turn, but I always kind of wondered in the back of my mind if I ever made a wrong turn, would they all keep following me.

What would you do after a convoy reached the silo with the warhead?

Either we may be so far out on the prairie that you can't go anywhere really for dinner or lunch, so you have something with you to

snack on. Or you go to a launch control facility, which then does, of course, as you know, have a mess and dining facilities, and we would go there. Or sometimes if we were close enough we would go into Wall, Philip, or Belle Fourche and we would meet the sheriff or the chief of police. What we would do then, we would have lunch with them. We would go to whatever local diner is the most popular one. We'd just sit there and visit. It was a great way for the convoy commanders to get to know the local authorities.

It was also a goodwill action because South Dakotans . . . I've always found themmaybe because I'm from there originallythey're pretty easy going. They're pretty good people. This way, we could sit down with them. Because we've made a lot of noise going through their community. We have these stupid warheads going through their town. (chuckles) Well, this made them feel pretty good when they could talk to us. None of them ever expressed any problems or issues with that. They were always very supportive. But there were a lot of times that it was just regular chit chat, the day's events, and things like that in the world.
Robots like Spot can search for objects in places humans can't. Image: Katrina Lo Surdo/CSIRO

A team of scientists from CSIRO has made it to the final round of the worlds toughest robotics competition taking place this month.

It has prepared a fleet of six state-of-the-art robots for the Subterranean Challenge run by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Robots from competing teams, which includes scientists from NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will need to navigate through a massive underground obstacle course in search of objects, akin to an Easter Egg hunt for advanced robots.

Dr Navinda Kottege, Group Leader and Principal Scientist at CSIRO Data61s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group, told Information Age the DARPA Subterranean Challenge forces teams to solve some of the most difficult problems in the already extremely complex field of robotics.

We are not giving any prior maps or additional info about environment, Dr Kottege said.

First you have to locate yourself in the course, but theres no GPS because its underground, so you need to map the environment and then localise yourself in the map.

On top of that the course is filled with difficult terrain  loose rocks, stairs, ramps, platforms, ledges  and it is harsh for communications so there is no guarantee the humans, who are outside the course, can interact with the robots.

Then theres the machine vision problem.

Robots must find and accurately report back the location of a series of objects simulate the presence of a human in a search and rescue operation.

These objects could be backpacks, helmets, mobile phones, but they could also be thermal mannequins or enclosed areas with a high concentration of carbon dioxide.

After an hour inside the course, the team that finds the most objects wins.

The CSIRO team will deploy a fleet of six robots  two track robots, two four-legged robots, and two drones  inside the Louisana Mega Cavern where the competition takes place.

Dr Kottege said many teams are taking similar approaches when it comes to hardware, including widespread use of Boston Dynamicss four-legged Spot robot, so he believes the CSIROs edge comes in the form of the science agencys simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) system, Wildcat.

Localisation is extremely important for this competition, he told Information Age.

Each object the robots find needs to be localised within a five metre bubble. Were talking about kilometre-scale distances inside the course so if your localisation is off by a fraction of a degree at the start you will only drift more and more.

Weve seen other teams suffer from exactly that problem; they were really good at navigation and detected more objects but score less than us because their SLAM was off.

Cutting edge technology

Every aspect of the DARPA Subterranean challenge is designed to push the boundaries of robotics and breed innovation.

Radio communication inside the course quickly becomes nearly impossible, so the CSIROs robots drop small communications nodes as they venture deeper, like Hansel and Gretels breadcrumbs, to make sure the robots can tell the humans outside where each hidden object is located.

The underground course is also massive which stretches the capacity of small drones that search up high, so the CSIROs two larger tank-track robots carry the other robots deeper into the course where they can be deployed.

We have to solve so many problems in parallel, which in turn brings advances in many fronts of technology, Dr Kottege said.

Previous DARPA challenges have done exactly this.

Its Grand Challenge, which began in 2004, invited participants to drive autonomous vehicles across the Mojave Desert and helped kickstart a whole new industry.

The Subterranean Challenge has obvious implications for emergency services and first responders who are looking to lean on robotics to do the more dangerous aspects of their work.

For Dr Kottege, this attitude explains why advancing the field of robotics serves humanity, from first responders to experts whose job it is to crawl inside and check airplane wings while they are being manufactured.

These are people whose job it is to know that a bolt is properly placed or certain coating adequately applied to make an aircraft safe, but they have to work in these unpleasant environments, in confined spaces where they risk injury, he said.

If you use a robot instead, the expert can sit in a nice, comfortable air-conditioned room and access the same information without being put in harms way.

The final of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge takes place from 21-23 September.
The UK will soon take Brexit one step further, going the full GDPR exit with the country rewriting its own data laws and even appointing a new privacy commissioner from across the ditch.

In the UK last week, culture secretary Oliver Dowden told The Telegraph the country is looking to reform data protection and management.

In particular, the Boris Johnson-led government wants to create key differences between the countrys approach to managing data and GDPR.

Now that we have left the EU, Im determined to seize the opportunity by developing a world-leading data policy that will deliver a Brexit dividend for individuals and businesses across the UK, Dowden told the paper.

Hoping to turbocharge the digital economy while also cutting red tape, the conservative government is looking to develop a light touch British framework, with details expected to be published next month.

UKs GDPR Brexit

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in 2018 and defined a set of rules governing the way personal information for EU citizens is shared and stored.

Personal data relates to any information that is identified or identifiable to a person and the scheme originated when the European Commission looked to reform data protection in 2012.

It took four years to develop the framework aimed at giving people more control over their personal data.

In its new data protection and privacy approach, the UK is looking to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach that it says disproportionately imposes greater requirements on smaller businesses and charities.

It also wants to do away with people having to provide consent each and every time they visit a particular website, and permission pop-ups on every website so only those cookies with a high risk to privacy will need individual and repeated permissions.

Pointing to countries such as Japan and New Zealand as data adequate, the UK does not believe it is watering down its privacy protection.

It recently announced the appointment of former New Zealand privacy commissioner John Edwards as the incoming privacy commissioner who will take the helm of the UKs Information Commissioners Office.

Leading the regulator responsible for enforcing data protection law, Edwards will go beyond the regulator's traditional role of focusing only on protecting data rights.

Instead, he will have a mandate to take an approach that promotes innovation and economic growth, according to Dowden.

Theyre promising a commonsense approach rather than a box ticking mandate imposed across the board.

Does Australia need privacy reform?

Although it was drafted and passed by the EU, GDPR imposes the requirement on organisations regardless of their actual location.

If they target or collect data related to people in the EU, GDPR applies, which obviously includes Australian businesses and organisations.

However, in Australia, GDPR compliance is still lagging, according to a Capgemini survey that found almost half of organisations still have a way to go.

In terms of national rules, the Privacy Act in Australia, overseen by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), shares many common requirements with GDPR, including the need to implement a privacy-by-design approach to compliance, being able to demonstrate compliance with privacy principles and obligations, and adopting transparent information-handling practices.

However, Australias privacy protections need to be fit for purpose in the digital economy, and to ensure that the definition of personal information needs to align with the GDPRs definition of personal data, according to the OAIC.

It made this recommendation in its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Digital Platforms Inquiry.

The OAIC also suggests evaluating the current Privacy Act exemptions and considering whether additional GDPR rights should be introduced in Australia.

For example, it wants the fair collection of information rule to be extended to the fair use and disclosure of personal information through a new, explicit provision in the Privacy Act.

A key challenge for regulating privacy in the digital era is whether privacy laws appropriately balance privacy self-management and organisational accountability, the OAIC said.
Apple has released patches for two zero-day flaws in its iOS and macOS operating systems, warning that these are being actively exploited.

These were the 15th zero-days targeting macOS and iOS, according to the technology news site SecurityWeek.

The site, which tracks zero-day attacks, said there had been 64 attacks this year. Twenty have targeted Microsoft products.

The flaws were in the CoreGraphics and WebKit components of the two operating systems.

One was credited to the Citizen Lab research group, and includes an iOS zero-click exploit for iMessage that was used toin Bahrain. Together with another similar exploit, these were given the name FORCEDENTRY by Citizen Lab.

The company provided no detail about the issues, merely saying about the iOS flaws:

"CoreGraphics

"Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

"Impact: Processing a maliciously crafted PDF may lead to arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

"Description: An integer overflow was addressed with improved input validation.

"CVE-2021-30860: The Citizen Lab;

"WebKit

"Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

"Impact: 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.

"Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management.

"CVE-2021-30858: an anonymous researcher."

So far, 66 documented 0day attacks in 2021:



- Microsoft: 20 (Exchange, Offfice, IE, PrintSpooler, Windows kernel, etc.)

- Apple 15 (iOS, macOS, WebKit, etc.)

- Google: 11 (7 Chrome, 4 Android)

- Sonicwall - 4

- Adobe - 2  Ryan Naraine (@ryanaraine) September 13, 2021

While the advisory did not say so, both flaws are also found in the macOS Big Sur 11.6 and macOS Catalina versions of the operating system.

In a statement, Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, said: "After identifying the vulnerability used by this exploit for iMessage, Apple rapidly developed and deployed a fix in iOS 14.8 to protect our users

"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.

"While that means they are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users, we continue to work tirelessly to defend all our customers, and we are constantly adding new protections for their devices and data."

Contacted for comment, Satnam Narang, a staff research engineer at security firm Tenable, said attackers could exploit CVE-2021-30860, an integer overflow vulnerability in CoreGraphics, by sending a specially crafted PDF file to a target via iMessage.

He added that FORCEDENTRY had been used in targeted attacks against activists since at least February 2021.

The second vulnerability, CVE-2021-30858, was a use-after-free vulnerability in Apple's WebKit framework that is used for displaying web content, Narang said.

"An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by accessing a website or Web content containing malicious code. The flaw was reported anonymously, and no specific details about the in-the-wild exploitation of this vulnerability were shared," he added.

"Because FORCEDENTRY was used by threat actors in targeted attacks, the risk to the average user is less. However, it is still good practice for Apple users to apply available patches in a timely manner because of the impact from unpatched flaws."
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".
1. Yes. Several other districts factor them in. It would provide a more complete picture.

2. Yes. Theyre not as accurate, but they can be useful in spotting a trend in infections.

3. No. The district is keeping tabs on those numbers, so the public doesnt need to.

4. No. As long as the public health district is aware of those stats, thats all that matters.

5. Unsure. The district isnt obligated to include them, but it might be helpful.

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Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph..

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Man Who Survived Drug Overdoses Sues Ed Buck

A man who survived two overdoses from drugs

allegedly supplied by Ed Buck is suing the former Democratic donor, who was

convicted in July of the overdose deaths of two other Black men in his West

Hollywood apartment.

Dane Browns Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges sexual

battery, assault, hate violence, negligence, intentional infliction of

emotional distress and human trafficking. Brown, acting as his own attorney,

seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit brought Friday.

Christopher Darden, an attorney who represented Buck during the

criminal case, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Brown and Buck met on the Adam4Adam website in June 2019 and for the

next two months Buck often sent a ride-hailing vehicle to a hotel in Skid Row

where the plaintiff then lived to bring him to Bucks residence, the suit

states.

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After arriving at Bucks apartment for the first visit, the two

engaged in sex and Buck provided methamphetamine to Brown to smoke and to use

intravenously, the suit states. Buck continued to provide the drug to Brown as

he stayed in Bucks apartment from July through September 2019, the suit

states.

Buck, who sought out Brown because he is Black and gay, also forced

him to watch pornography, the suit states.

Buck intravenously injected methamphetamine into Brown on Sept. 4,

2019, and again a week later, causing Brown to overdose both times and have to

be hospitalized on each occasion, the suit states.

During the second incident, Buck also gave Brown the date rape

drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, also known as GHB, the suit alleges. Buck refused

to call an ambulance, so Brown walked across the street to a service station,

where an employee and a passerby called 911 on his behalf, according to the

suit.

Brown survived both overdoses and testified against Buck during a

trial in U.S. District Court, where on July 27 a jury found Buck guilty of

committing all nine crimes for which he was charged, including two counts of

violating distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death.

Buck once was a candidate for a seat on the West Hollywood City

Council.

He donated more than $500,000 to political candidates and causes, most

of them associated with the Democratic Party.
Racial Equity Finds a Permanent Home in Los Angeles

On Monday, September 13, 2021 marks a monumental day in the history of Los Angeles. Attorney and Executive Director of the Civil and Human Rights Department, Capri Maddox, has cut the ribbon to the newly established building looking to house the first racial equity branch of local government in the Los Angeles City Mall arena.

Attorney Maddox stated with much joy, This office is a testament to the struggle for civil and human rights in Los Angeles, she continued, From the portraits of civil rights icons that greet you as you walk in, to the state-of-the-art workspaces for discrimination investigators, to our John Lewis Conference Center, where community groups will meet and carry the work forwardevery inch of this office is built for meaningful change. The L.A. Civil Rights office will deliver justice and pursue equity in Los Angeles for generations to come.

Showing their support during the grand opening were Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas.

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The Los Angeles City Mayor stated, Everyone in L.A. deserves to be treated with dignity and to be protected from discrimination  and those values are at the center of everything we do at City Hall, Garcetti continued, Capri is an outstanding leader, and this new space provides LA Civil Rights with even greater opportunities to pursue justice and work to improve the lives of all Angelenos.

Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas stated, As leaders of a city as diverse as Los Angeles, it is our responsibility to ensure that our most underserved communities have equal access to services, resources, and opportunities.

Ridley-Thomas continued, That is why I am committed to advancing an agenda that puts equity at the forefront, said Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas. The launch of this department could not have come at a better moment. This is precisely what we need to assist in addressing systemic racism. Its time to get to work.

The newly designed office complex includes an open workspace, meeting rooms, and storage space for dozens of employees. The John Lewis Conference Center is a gathering space with the capacity to hold over 50 people and holds teleconferencing capabilities, according to the immediate press release, the Human Relations Commission, Commission on the Status of Women, Commission on Civil Rights, Reparations Commission and Transgender Advisory Council will look to utilize that room.

As previously reported, Attorney Maddox is leading a frontier into a new sense of equality within Los Angeles. As the first executive director of the newly developed Civil and Human Rights Department, she is cultivating a stronger resource to be available for underserved communities.

Maddox is known for her dedication and putting her life energy into carrying out works that benefit communities, generally for those who have not seen the support they need. She is determined to provide channels for the entire city to thrive on.

Within her position as former senior advisor to City Attorney Mike Feuer, Maddox directed initiatives such as the City Attorney Business Support Program and attorney recruitment and outreach efforts. She designed the blueprints for a Foster Care Diversion Program and oversaw the City Attorney Faith-Based Council.

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The mission behind the Civil and Human Rights Department is Protecting Angelenos and anyone who works or visits the City of Los Angeles from discrimination that denies equal treatment in private employment, housing, education, or commerce.

Maddox has always faced these challenges within the community head-on. investigation and enforcement of the L.A. Civil and Human Rights ordinance are looking to be a cornerstone in bringing change within the city and not a moment too soon. The need for unity overtook a part of the ceremony as demonstrators verbalized their concerns during the grand opening.

Maddox is devoted to this cause with every fiber of her being, she has gone on record previously stating, My role is important for a few reasons; we have systemically been mistreated, underrepresented, disrespected in so many ways. I know the focus is related to perhaps things happening in law enforcement, but some of the systemic issues are affecting us in our lives, in our health, in our education systems, and our opportunities.

She continued, The damage is for generations to come. Attorney Maddox continued to explain that we need to step up and address those disparities. She broke down how deep-rooted and entangled the inequalities are within communities of color.

The principles that the organization is looking to stand on include education, addressing the root of the issue, confronting and exposing the disparities, and carrying out affirmative action that results in meaningful change.

Maddox noted in a prior interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel, We have to expose this type of behavior because people are focusing on one area in the front of the house, and the back of the house is being robbed blind. She emphasized that as a community, there is no room for imbalance.

The newly established Civil and Human Rights Department building is located at 201 N. Los Angeles St, Suite #6, Los Angeles, California. The front of the department faces the community and has an inviting design, letting people know that change is coming, and its taking place at this moment. with the help of everyone in the community, massive progression will envelop L.A. Find out more about the positivity happening in the local community by visiting the Civil and Human Rights and Equity Department Website. Follow them on their social media platform, @Lacivilrights.


Russias government says President Vladimir Putin is in self-isolation after several members of his team became infected with COVID-19.

Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that Putin himself tested negative for COVID-19 and was absolutely healthy. But the Russian leader decided to self-isolate because he had been in close contact in recent days with others who were infected.

Peskov did not say how long Putin would remain in self-isolation. He did not name any of the individuals around the president who were infected, but he did say there were several cases.

Peskov added that Putins isolation would not greatly affect his work. He said that while Putin will not hold in-person meetings, the president will continue his activity via video conferences.

The 68-year-old Putin has had two injections of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. The president explained the situation at a government meeting by video conference. "It's a natural experiment. Let's see how Sputnik V works in practice," Putin said. "I have quite high levels of antibodies. Let's see how that plays out in real life. I hope everything will be as it should be."

Putin said the situation forced him to cancel a planned trip to Tajikistan this week for security meetings expected to center on Afghanistan. He added that he planned to take part in those meetings by video conference instead.

The Russian government said Putin decided to self-isolate after completing a series of meetings in Moscow on Monday. Those included face-to-face talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Putin also met with Russian Paralympians and traveled to western Russia on Monday to observe joint military drills with Belarus.

When asked about the timing of the decision, Peskov said it was made after doctors completed their testing, their procedures. He added that no one's health was endangered during Monday's events.

Alexander Gintsburg directs the Gamaleya Institute, which developed the countrys Sputnik V vaccine. He told the Interfax news agency that, in his opinion, Putin would need to self-isolate for at least one week.

Russian officials have been criticized for not taking the pandemic seriously and for rarely putting in place measures to control the virus, even when faced with high infection rates. Russias death rate from COVID-19 is currently at its highest level since the pandemic began. However, few virus restrictions are currently in place.

Russia has struggled to vaccinate its citizens, with injection rates falling behind many other nations. As of September 10, only 32 percent of the population had received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine. And just 27 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

isolate  v. to put or keep (someone or something) in a place or situation that is separate from others

negative  adj. in a medical test, negative means the person being tested does not have a disease

absolutely  adv. completely

in practice  n. used to say what is actually done or what the actual effect or result of something is

procedure  n. the official or usual way of doing something
Andrew wanted to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but was afraid his parents would not approve. He signed up for a vaccine in secret. Then he told his parents just before he was to receive the vaccine.

But his father told him no. He said, Youre not getting thisvaccine.

Andrew said it was the first time his father 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.

Children under 18 need their parents permission to get medical treatment such as the vaccine against COVID-19. Students and organizers of campaigns that directly target young people for vaccination efforts are facing reactions from families.

Millions of American students have returned to school in recent weeks. At the same time, the coronavirus continues to spread at high rates in some places.

U.S. President Joe Biden has pushed school districts to persuade students to get vaccinated. Bidens administration has also pushed for clinics in schools that provide vaccines.

But distrust of the vaccine and other concerns remain in communities in many parts of the country. And many state governments and school districts are not pushing the vaccine in some areas for several reasons.

In Tennessee, the health department ended vaccination events and outreach aimed at children. Republican lawmakers criticized advertisements aimed at children that included words like Give COVID-19 vaccines a shot. Republican lawmakers accused the health department of peer pressuring children to get the vaccine.

It is estimated that half of people ages 12 to 17 have been vaccinated across the country. That age group has been able to get the Pfizer vaccine since May. Pfizer is currently testing a vaccine for younger children. Last week, the Los Angeles Unified School District school board voted to require vaccines for students 12 and older.

Conflicting information surrounding vaccination efforts at schools is damaging trust between parents and school officials.

School officials in Kettering, Ohio, said they received death threats in August. They came after social media videos on TikTok falsely claimed the district was vaccinating children without parental permission.

There was no truth to the claims but they caused huge hysteria in the community, said Scott Inskeep, the head of Kettering City Schools.

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.

Research by the Kaiser Family Foundation said that eight states permit children to get vaccines without parental permission. The states are Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama.

In some areas, there have been efforts to make it easier for children to get vaccinated.

State lawmakers in New York and New Jersey introduced laws that would permit teens to agree to vaccines without their parents permission, but they were not approved.

The Washington, D.C. city council passed a law giving young children the ability to make medical decisions, but a group is disputing the law in court.

In May, officials in two Oregon counties banned health officials from giving vaccines to underage children without parental permission.

Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer, who is also the mother of three teenagers, said, Our children are not the property of the State of Oregon.

But the counties removed the ban after state health officials released an opinion saying children 15 and older have the right to make their own health decisions.

Alabamas law permits children like Andrew, who disagreed with his father, to get the vaccine on their own. But in reality, that is almost impossible. The Alabama Department of Public Health requires parental permission. So do large pharmacies.

Andrew's Hoover High School does not push for COVID-19 vaccinations on its website or social media sites. There has been no sign the school will hold a vaccine clinic. The day after their argument, Andrews father took him to the pharmacy and signed his permission form, without saying a word.

Pediatricians sometimes try to create discussion between children and parents to encourage the use of the COVID-19 vaccine. But it does not always work, even with parents who have accepted a pediatrician's recommendation for other vaccines.

Doctor Katrina Skinner is president of the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She said some parents look at her like she is feeding their child poison when Im recommending a COVID vaccine.

Im Dan Novak.

Cedar Attanasio reported this story for The Associated Press. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

Quiz - School Vaccine Efforts Targeting Students Face Opposition Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

district n. an area established by a government for official government business

clinic n. a place that is smaller than a hospital where people get medical help

outreach  n. the activity of bringing information to people

peer pressure n. a feeling that you must do the same things that other people of your age and social group do in order to be liked or respected by them

hysteria  n. a state in which your emotions are so strong that you behave in an uncontrolled way

pharmacy  n. a store in which drugs and medicines are sold and prepared

pediatrician  n. a doctor who specializes in treating children

encourage  n. to advise someone to do something


World Health Organization Africa director Matshidiso Moeti says that Africa will get 25 percent fewer COVID-19 vaccine doses than expected by the end of 2021.

Her comments to reporters last week came as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said just over 3 percent of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated.

African health officials were surprised by the announcement that the COVAX effort to give vaccines to low-and middle-income countries is again lowering its delivery expectations. The United Nations runs the COVAX plan, which was organized to make certain poorer countries get the vaccine.

Moeti told reporters that the announcement was in part because of the prioritization of bilateral deals over international solidarity.

Moeti noted that certain COVAX difficulties, such as export controls on vaccine doses and the introduction of booster shots by some countries, are the reasons for the 25 percent reduction. A booster shot is an extra amount of a vaccine given to provide added protection against a disease.

Moeti noted that COVAX has delivered over 5 million vaccine doses to African countries in September. But, she added, three times as many doses have been thrown away in the United States alone since March.

Every dose is precious, Moeti said.

She said that wealthy countries have promised to share 1 billion doses worldwide, but, so far, only 120 million have been released.

If companies and countries prioritize vaccine equity, this pandemic would be over quickly, Moeti added.

The WHO says the goal of vaccinating 10 percent of people in Africa by the end of September will not be met. The aim, now, is to vaccinate 40 percent by the end of the year.

The Africa CDC says 145 million vaccine doses have been secured across the continent. About 111 million doses, or 77 percent, have been given out.

Many more doses are needed, and there is worry.

Some richer countries, including the United States, are beginning to give out booster shots, using up more vaccine. The WHO director-general called for a delay in giving out booster shots until the end of the year to deal with the severe vaccine inequality.

John Nkengasong is the Africa CDC director. He told reporters last week that the problem we have with the third (booster) doses is we have not seen enough science to be certain it is necessary.

Nkengasong said he fully understands that people with weak natural body defense systems against disease need to increase their protection. But for otherwise healthy individuals, I just havent seen enough science, he added.

African countries have recently seen a strong increase in COVID cases, driven mostly by the delta variant. But the WHO Africa director reported a decrease of nearly 25 percent in new cases at the beginning of the month. She said that is the steepest drop in eight weeks since the peak in July.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Cara Anna reported on this story for the Associated Press. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

dose  n. the amount of a medicine, drug, or vitamin that is taken at one time

priority  n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first

bilateral -adj. involving two groups or countries

solidarity  n. a feeling of unity between people who have the same interests, goals, etc.

precious  adj. very valuable

steep  adj. having a very sharp slope; almost straight up and down

peak  n. at the highest point or level
In this Sept. 14, 2021, file photo, a syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to levels not seen since last winter, erasing months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's argument for his sweeping new vaccination requirements.

The casesdriven by the delta variant combined with resistance among some Americans to getting the vaccineare concentrated mostly in the South.

While one-time hot spots like Florida and Louisiana are improving, infection rates are soaring in Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, fueled by children now back in school, loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels.

The dire situation in some hospitals is starting to sound like January's infection peak: Surgeries canceled in hospitals in Washington state and Utah. Severe staff shortages in Kentucky and Alabama. A lack of beds in Tennessee. Intensive care units at or over capacity in Texas.

The deteriorating picture nine months into the nation's vaccination drive has angered and frustrated medical professionals who see the heartbreak as preventable. The vast majority of the dead and the hospitalized have been unvaccinated, in what has proved to be a hard lesson for some families.

"The problem now is we have been trying to educate based on science, but I think most of the education that is happening now is based on tragedy, personal tragedy," said Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency room physician in Lexington, Kentucky.

In this Aug. 18, 2021, file photo, medical staff tend to a patient with coronavirus, on a COVID-19 ward inside the Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. Credit: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File

In Kentucky, 70% of the state's hospitals66 of 96are reporting critical staff shortages, the highest level yet during the pandemic, the governor said.

"Our hospitals are at the brink of collapse in many communities," said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky's public health commissioner.

The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January. And both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.

The country is still well below the terrifying peaks reached in January, when it was averaging about 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day.

The U.S. is dispensing about 900,000 vaccinations per day, down from a high of 3.4 million a day in mid-April. On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet to discuss whether the U.S. should begin giving booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, a girl passes a "Welcome Back to School" sign as she arrives for the first day of class at Brooklyn's PS 245 elementary school in New York. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, fueled by children now back in their classrooms, loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels. Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

On a positive note, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 appears to be leveling off or even declining at around 90,000, or about where things stood in February.

Last week, the president ordered all employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly tests, a measure 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.

"We read about and hear about and we see the stories of hospitalized people, people on their deathbeds among the unvaccinated over the past few weeks," Biden said in announcing the rules. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

The requirements have met with resistance and threats of lawsuits from Republicans.

Arizona on Tuesday reported 117 deaths, the most in a single day since last February. Tennessee now ranks first in the U.S. in new cases per capita. Hundreds of students there have been forced to quarantine. Some schools have closed because of staffing shortages. Others have asked to switch to remote learning.

In this Sept. 14, 2021, file photo, a health worker administers a dose of a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

But measures aimed at containing the virus have run into opposition. Last week, a Tennessee high school student who spoke at a school board meeting in favor of a mask mandate was heckled by adults while he talked about his grandmother dying from the virus.

Stanton, the ER doctor in Kentucky, said he has admitted families where the delta variant has swept through generations, especially if the older members are unvaccinated.

"Now in Kentucky, one-third of new cases are under age 18," he said. Some children brought it home from summer camp and spread it to the rest of the family, and now, "between day care and schools and school activities, and friends getting together, there are just so many exposures."

In Alabama, hundreds of COVID-19 patients fill intensive care units, and one hospital contacted 43 others in three states to find a specialty cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia. It wasn't soon enough. The 73-year-old died Sept. 1.

"In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you have not, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies," his family pleaded in his obituary.

In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, Maitre d' Susanne McDonald checks guests' proof of vaccination at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan in New York. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

In Hidalgo County, Texas, along the Mexican border, about 50 patients were in the hospital with COVID-19 on a given day in July. By early August, the number had soared to over 600.

"Back in July we were almost celebrating. Little did we know," said Ivan Melendez, public health authority for Hidalgo County. The situation has improved, with just under 300 people in the hospital as of Monday, but ICUs are still above 90% capacity, Melendez said.

The biggest surge over the summer occurred in states that had low vaccination rates, particularly in the South, where many people rely on air conditioning and breathe recirculated air, said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech. She said states farther north could see upticks as the onset of cold weather sends people indoors.

Vaccination rates are not as low in some Northern states, but "there's still a lot of unvaccinated people out there. Delta is going to find them," Marr said.

Explore further New COVID cases were 300% higher this Labor Day weekend than last year

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Fig. 1: Phylogenetic analysis of 391 Bangladesh SARS-CoV-2 genomes MarchJuly 2020. a, Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of 391 viruses sampled from Bangladesh (black) on a background of 68,870 publicly available GISAID global sequences in collapsed clades. Collapsed clades are colored by the predominant region/country that they were sampled in (blue, Europe; red, United States; green, India; pink, Middle East). International arrival frequencies from those regions between 18 February 2020 and 18 March 2020 are displayed in a bar chart and shown in the same colors. b, Maximum-likelihood Bayesian time-scaled phylogenetic analysis generated using BEAST (v.1.10.4); clades, internal nodes and migration events are annotated. Credit: DOI: 10.1038/s41564-021-00955-3

Travel within your own country in response to the government announcing a national lockdown is directly linked to a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, according to an international study led by Bangladesh and involving a researcher from the University of Bath.

The studythe first of its kind to combine genome sequencing and mobile phone datahas found a direct link between mass migration from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh (an area of high infection), and the spread of coronavirus to the rest of the country after a stay-at-home order was announced during the nation's first wave of infection in March 2020.

It is hoped that insights from this project will be used by other countries to track the virus and to inform the way governments respond when fresh outbreaks occur.

For the Bangladesh study, a consortium of scientists that included Dr. Lauren Cowley from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath investigated the spatial spread of the coronavirus during Bangladesh's first wave by analyzing the genome sequences of 391 viral samples collected from different parts of the country. This information was integrated with anonymised population-mobility data collected from Facebook and three mobile phone operators. This analysis gave the researchers insight into the evolution of the virus, and allowed them to track the different times and locations where new lineages of the virus appeared. It also enabled the authors to work directly with the government on the detection of variants of concern (Alpha and Beta) in Bangladesh.

The researchers established that much of the virus' spread from the capital to all other areas of the country occurred during a three-day window between the government announcing a stay-at-home order and this order coming into effect (March 2326, 2020). The population mobility data showed that a large proportion of Dhaka's usual residents left the city for regional towns and villages in response to workplaces being closed.

As a result of the researchers' findings, the government of Bangladesh restricted intercity travel during subsequent waves of infection, thereby making it harder for the virus to spread using the same channels as it did during the first wave.

Like Bangladesh, earlier in the pandemic the UK allowed time to pass between tighter COVID restrictions being announced and the new rules being imposed. On December 19 2020, in response to a localized spread of the new Alpha variant, the British prime minister declared that London and South East England would be entering a tier 4 "stay at home" alert level, however it wasn't until December 21 that the restrictions came into effect. As a result of this time lag, many Londoners left the capital for other parts of the country, taking the virus with them.

Commenting, Dr. Cowley said: "We can apply lessons learnt from the Bangladesh study to the COVID situation in other countries. What we've learnt is that it's best to shorten the time as much as possible between lockdown interventions being announced and imposed. Similar mass evacuations were seen in London in December 2020 to what we observed in Dhaka in late March 2020. These should be prevented as much as possible to limit the nationwide spread of the virus outside major capitals or other hotspots of infections."

Professor Tahmina Shirin, director at IEDCR (Bangladesh's national government public health department) and a senior author of the Bangladesh paper, said: "It is important that we continue to generate evidence to aid our policymakers to contain the spread of the virus successfully.

"Our consortium has provided many invaluable insights that helped the decision-makers to devise essential real-time policy decisions. These include the provision of mandatory quarantine and isolation of travelers arriving from countries where the variant of concern was dominating, imposing lockdown measures and restricting intercity movements of people, banning all international flights from high-risk countries to Bangladesh."

Dr. Cowley, one of the first authors of the study, contributed to the project by training Bangladeshi scientists via Zoom in nanopore sequencing (a technology that enables DNA fragments to be analyzed) of the coronavirus. She also made a big contribution to the analysis of the sequences found in various parts of Bangladesh following the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

She said: "Of the samples sequenced during the first wave, we found that 85% fell into three dominant lineages. When examining our sequencing and mobility data in the context of the timeline of interventions that were put in place, we found that between March 23rd , when a national lockdown was announced, and March 26th, when the lockdown came into effect, there was a mass migration out of Dhaka to all areas of the country which resulted in the dispersal of these three lineages across Bangladesh."

The first confirmed COVID-19 cases were recorded in Bangladesh on 8 March 2020. However, testing was slow to be implemented in regions outside of Dhaka, which made it hard to trace the spread of the virus during the first wave. In the week ending 11 April, new cases in Bangladesh grew by 1,155 percent, the highest increase in Asia at that time.

To date, Bangladesh has recorded nearly 1.5-million cases of coronavirus and almost 25,000 deaths during the pandemic.

The team of scientists involved in the study will continue to provide sequencing and analysis in Bangladesh. The researchers have been working closely with members of the Bangladesh government who are leading the public health response, to ensure policy decisions are guided by science and the latest genomic evidence in-country. This has led to a restriction on intercity travel being imposed in Bangladesh in response to the study's findings from the first wave.

Thanks to their genomic surveillance work, the scientists were also able to reveal the dominance of the Beta variant during Bangladesh's second wave of infection. Another positive outcome of this work is that the country has developed the capacity to respond to future outbreaks and epidemics.

Dr. Cowley said: "Several groups of Bangladeshi scientists have contributed to this and have collaboratively built a bank of Bangladesh SARS-CoV-2 sequences that is extremely important to public health officials tracking the outbreak there. Their genomic surveillance capacity, built during this pandemic, will be a tremendous asset to the country's public health for many years to come. This is something that Bangladesh can be hugely proud of and that other countries wishing to implement genomic surveillance using comparatively low resources can learn from."

Speaking of the emergence of new coronavirus variants and the associated risk, senior scientist at icddr,b (a Bangladesh-based international health research institute) and a senior author of the paper Dr. Firdausi Qadri said: "As more mutations accumulate in the SARS-CoV-2's genetic code, there would be more variants of which some could have the strength to breakthrough natural or vaccine-induced immunity. This is already evidentBangladesh has experienced the second wave with the Beta variant and is currently battling the third wave with the Delta variant. Real-time genomic surveillance is critical to understand the efficacy of these vaccines and to devise relevant strategies for Bangladesh and beyond."

Commenting on the integration of genomic data with people's movement data, Professor Caroline Buckee, study co-author and associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said: "These new data streams are valuable additions to traditional surveillance systems, and this study shows how they can be used during an emerging crisis to provide insights that are difficult to gain any other way. It also highlights the potential for interdisciplinary approaches like this to transform public health during this pandemic and in the future."

This research is the result of a consortium comprised of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Bath, and Bangladesh-based Institutes that include the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), icddr,b (formerly International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research) and the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi), plus other local and international institutions.

The paper is published this week in Nature Microbiology.

Explore further Bangladesh extends lockdown as cases hit new record

More information: Lauren A. Cowley et al, Genomics, social media and mobile phone data enable mapping of SARS-CoV-2 lineages to inform health policy in Bangladesh, Nature Microbiology (2021). Journal information: Nature Microbiology Lauren A. Cowley et al, Genomics, social media and mobile phone data enable mapping of SARS-CoV-2 lineages to inform health policy in Bangladesh,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-021-00955-3
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The Netherlands said Tuesday it would further ease COVID-19 restrictions including an end to social distancing, but will introduce a pass for bars, restaurants and festivals.

The pass showing proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus or a negative test will be needed for people aged 13 and over from September 25, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.

Infection rates are falling in the Netherlands, which early in the pandemic had some of Europe's most lax restrictions but drastically tightened up during a brutal second wave.

"I'm glad to announce today that from September 25 the compulsory 1.5 metre social distancing rule will be dropped," Rutte told a televised press conference.

"This means more people can visit a cafe or restaurant at the same time. It also means that festivals and sporting events outside can get back to full capacity."

Rutte noted that coronavirus passes were "already in use in many countries around us."

In France, one of the first European countries to introduce them, they have helped boost vaccination rates.

The Dutch government rejected criticism from people like the populist, coronasceptic politician Thierry Baudet who said the passes were an attempt to enforce vaccination.

"No, using the corona admission ticket is not forcing anybody to get vaccinated. You can also use testing to get in somewhere and that for now remains free of charge," health minister Hugo de Jonge said.

The Netherlands will meanwhile still require masks on public transport and in airports, but not on train or tram platforms.

Explore further Dutch advice: booster for people with immunity problems

 2021 AFP
Ebola virus. Credit: NIAID

Johnson & Johnson's two-dose Ebola vaccine regimen is safe, well tolerated and produces a strong immune response in people over the age of one, according to two new papers published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The EBOVAC-Salone study provides important further evidence for the potential of the regimen using the Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo vaccines to be used as a protective measure against Ebola virus disease for both children and adults.

Conducted in Sierra Leone, the study is the first to assess the safety and tolerability of this vaccine regimen in a region affected by the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, which was the worst on record. It is also the first study reporting the evaluation of this vaccine regimen in children.

The research in Kambia district was a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Sierra Leone's College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) under the EBOVAC1 project.

The authors found that the vaccine regimen was well tolerated and induced antibody responses to Zaire ebolavirus 21 days after the second dose in 98% of participants, with the immune responses persisting in adults for at least two years.

During the 2014-16 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, 28,652 cases and 11,325 deaths from Ebola were reported. Approximately 20% of cases were in children under 15 years, and children younger than five years are at a higher risk of death than adults.

First author on the paediatric paper, Dr. Muhammed Afolabi, Assistant Professor at LSHTM, said: "This study represents important progress in the development of an Ebola virus disease vaccine regimen for children, and contributes to the public health preparedness and response for Ebola outbreaks.

"Working in tandem with Sierra Leone colleagues and the local communities, this is the first published study to evaluate this two-dose vaccine regime in a randomised controlled trial in children. The results show that this vaccine regimen has the potential to save many young lives."

The clinical trial recruited participants from September 2015 to July 2018. The study was divided into two stages. In stage one, which aimed to gain initial information about the vaccine regimen's safety and immunogenicity, 43 adults aged 18 years or older received the Ad26.ZEBOV vaccine followed by the MVA-BN-Filo vaccine after 56 days. In stage two, 400 adults and 576 children and adolescents (192 in each of the three age cohorts of 1-3, 4-11 and 12-17 years of age) were vaccinated with either the Ebola vaccine regimen (Ad26.ZEBOV followed by MVA-BN-Filo) or a single dose of a meningococcal quadrivalent conjugate vaccine followed by placebo on day 57. Adults participating in stage one of the study were offered a booster dose of A26.ZEBOV two years after the first dose which induced a strong immune response within seven days.

Co-first author on the adult paper, Dr. Daniela Manno from LSHTM, said: "To protect people from Ebola, we will need a range of effective interventions. These findings support the additional strategy of providing an Ad26.ZEBOV booster to previously immunised individuals at the start of an Ebola virus disease outbreak."

The study findings have already contributed to the approval and marketing authorisation of the two-dose Ebola vaccine regimen in July 2020 by the European Medicines Agency, for use in both children and adults. It also contributed to the WHO Prequalification in April 2021, which will facilitate formal registrations of this vaccine regimen in countries at risk of Ebola virus disease outbreaks.

In 2021, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization for the World Health Organization (WHO) made a recommendation in support of using both the Johnson & Johnson's two-dose Ebola vaccine regimen as well as an Ebola vaccine manufactured by Merck (the rVSV-ZEBOV-GP) during outbreaks for individuals at risk of Ebola exposure and preventively, before outbreaks, for national and international first responders.

Professor Deborah Watson-Jones, from LSHTM, said: "The threat of future Ebola virus disease outbreaks is real and it's important to remember that this disease has definitely not gone away. Despite the additional global challenges around COVID-19, we must not slow down efforts to find effective ways of preventing Ebola virus epidemics and, should outbreaks occur, of containing them rapidly. Vaccines have a key role in meeting both of these objectives."

Professor Sir Brian Greenwood, one of the trial investigators from LSHTM, said: "This is an example of crucial research which brings together scientists from Africa with partners in the north and pharmaceutical companies to tackle a major public heath threat in Africa."

Professor Mohamed Samai, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Sierra Leone, and Dean of COMAHS, said: "COMAHS was proud to be a key partner in this important trial, whose results have the potential to protect the population of Sierra Leone, neighbouring countries and beyond from this terrible disease."

In May 2021, Johnson & Johnson announced it would donate thousands of Ebola vaccine regimens in support of a WHO early access clinical programme launched in response to an outbreak in Guinea and aimed at preventing Ebola in West Africa. The programme began by vaccinating health workers, other frontline workers and others at increased risk of exposure to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. To date, more than 250,000 individuals participating in clinical trials and vaccination initiatives have received at least the first dose of the Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine regimen, including 200,000 who have been fully vaccinated. Further studies are being carried out in Sierra Leone to investigate whether the vaccines are safe and induce immune responses among infants aged under one year, and to follow up the adult and child participants over five years to assess the potential for long term protection.

The research team faced many challenges in carrying out the trial in the course of an epidemic, including the fact there was no electricity, no laboratories and limited medical facilities. They worked closely with the local community as they experienced the Ebola outbreak and its aftermath to enrol participants and keep track of as many as possible to obtain follow-up data, as well as setting up mobile clinics and in rented houses.

The authors acknowledged some limitations of the study including the fact there were more men than women in the adult trial, the measurement of Ebola antibody concentration levels in only a subset of participants and the booster dose only being offered to participants in the stage 1 phase of the trial. The study also focused only on safety and immunogenicity because by the time the study was implemented the West Africa Ebola outbreak had been brought under control, which meant it was not possible to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine regimen.

This project has received funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No [115854, 115850 and 115847]. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. Funding was also provided by Johnson & Johnson.

Explore further Johnson & Johnson starts Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone
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The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) has released its new recommendations on supporting breastfeeding during maternal or child hospitalization. Whenever possible, the lactating mother and breastfeeding infant or child should be kept together, according to the new guidelines, published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine.

The ABM recommends using evidence-based guidelines for milk expression and storage. However, whenever possible, direct breastfeeding is preferred to pump use or hand expression of milk.

Other recommendations include to consider that fluid needs may differ for the lactating mother and to consider infection control and prevention.

Each facility should create a policy to support the lactating mother and breastfeeding child.

Explore further Pregnant and lactating women with COVID-19: Scant clinical research

More information: Melissa Bartick et al, ABM Clinical Protocol #35: Supporting Breastfeeding During Maternal or Child Hospitalization, Breastfeeding Medicine (2021). Melissa Bartick et al, ABM Clinical Protocol #35: Supporting Breastfeeding During Maternal or Child Hospitalization,(2021). DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2021.29190.mba
Diagram of a handheld photoacoustic finder system. Credit: POSTECH

Massaging the upper arm is known to relieve the body of swelling by stimulating the lymph nodes that process toxins in our body. Cancers such as breast cancer and melanoma metastasize primarily through lymphatic system, so knowing the condition of the lymph nodes is essential in accessing the stage and prognosis of the cancer. Recently, a research team at POSTECH has developed a handheld photoacoustic finder that can help examine lymph node conditions without radiation exposure.

A research team led by Professor Chulhong Kim of POSTECH's Department of Electrical Engineering, Convergence IT Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Byullee Park, and Ph.D. candidates Moongyu Han and Jeongwoo Park in collaboration with WONTECH Co., Ltd. has developed a handheld photoacoustic finder (PAF) equipped with a solid-state dye laser and a transparent ultrasound transducer (TUT). Unlike conventional gamma probes, this non-radioactive PAF eliminates the risk of exposure to radiation and the need for special facilities, and allows repeated usage which is cost-effective. The findings from this study were recently published in Photoacoustics, an international journal ranked in the top 0.78% in the field.

In general, sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy around the cancer is performed to assess the metastasis in breast cancers and melanoma. This is because the SLN is the first gateway for tumors to travel to the lymph nodes. However, since conventional biopsies use radioisotopes to find the SLN, patients and physicians are inevitably exposed to radiation and the procedure requires a special facility to access radioactive materials.

To this, the research team coaxially aligned a spherically focused TUT (a device that converts electrical signals into ultrasonic waves or receives ultrasonic waves into electrical signals) with the solid-dye laser handpiece (a medical laser commonly used for skin treatment in dermatology). A photoacoustic signal is generated when a laser is irradiated to a colored area and is detected by an ultrasonic transducer. Conventional ultrasonic transducers are opaque, making coaxial coupling with lasers impossible. However, using the TUT technology acquired by the research team, a laser and an ultrasonic transducer are coaxially integrated into one small handpiece to easily detect photoacoustic signals.

Using the photoacoustic finder, the researchers successfully located the SLN in the under arm of a mouse placed under a chicken breast after injecting blue dye into the mouse. In addition, the photoacoustic finder also detected melanoma in a mouse subcutaneously injected with melanoma (malignant cancer) placed under a chicken breast, confirming that the finder can be used to detect colored malignant tumors.

"We believe the photoacoustic finder (PAF) system we have proposed is the first portable photoacoustic sensing tool for SNL localization," explained Professor Chulhong Kim who led the study. "This research shows great potential to be helpful in detecting SLN or melanoma without using radioactive substances in the future."

This study was conducted with the support from the Basic Science Research Program and the National R&D Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, POSCO Project, and BK21 FOUR Project.

Explore further Quadruple fusion imaging via transparent ultrasound transducer

More information: Byullee Park et al, A photoacoustic finder fully integrated with a solid-state dye laser and transparent ultrasound transducer, Photoacoustics (2021). Byullee Park et al, A photoacoustic finder fully integrated with a solid-state dye laser and transparent ultrasound transducer,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.pacs.2021.100290

Provided by Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH)
(HealthDay)Women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), with or without prepregnancy hypertension, have an increased risk for incident heart failure, according to a study published in the Sept. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Angela M. Malek, Ph.D., from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 425,649 women aged 12 to 49 years with a live, singleton birth to examine the associations of HDP and prepregnancy hypertension with maternal heart failure within one and five years of delivery.

Of the participants, 0.4 percent had prepregnancy hypertension without superimposed HDP, 15.7 percent had HDP alone, 2.2 percent had both prepregnancy hypertension and HDP, and 81.7 percent had neither condition. The researchers found that incident heart failure event rates were higher for non-Hispanic Black versus non-Hispanic White women with HDP (HDP: 2.28 versus 0.96 per 1,000 person-years; both conditions: 4.30 versus 1.22 per 1,000 person-years). Incident heart failure risk within five years of delivery was increased for women with prepregnancy hypertension, HDP, and both conditions compared with neither condition (hazard ratios, 2.55, 4.20, and 5.25, respectively) after adjustment.

"These racial and ethnic differences are important since we already know non-Hispanic Black women experience higher pregnancy-related deaths than non-Hispanic White women," Malek said in a statement. "Clinical and public health prevention efforts are needed to reduce complications and death rates in women who have hypertensive disorders before or during pregnancy."

Explore further Glucose levels tied to maternal mortality even without diabetes

Copyright  2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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Voicing impatience with the reluctance of millions of Americans to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, on September 9 President Biden ordered that businesses with more than 100 employees require workers to get the shot or test negative for the virus at least once a week. In late July, Biden had issued a similar order for most federal workers.

Even before the president took these steps, questions were being raised about the legality, medical necessity, and political wisdom of vaccine mandates. In the following Q&A, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Associate Professor Stacey Lee, an expert in business law, health law, and negotiation, addresses some of these issues. For example, do labor unions have much say about such mandates? Does a 1905 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court affirming mandatory vaccination still have teeth? And should employers worry that workers might walk off in significant numbers if forced to get the vaccine?

How much legal leeway do government departments and private businesses have when they try to tell their employees that they can't keep their jobs unless they've been vaccinated against COVID-19?

Stacey Lee: Private employers have considerable leeway. For example, absent a union contract, private businesses can require employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment as long as they allow exemptions for medical reasons and seriously-held religious beliefs. In other words, they can terminate employees who refuse to get vaccinated.

As of September 9, President Biden has mounted his most aggressive effort to date to get more Americans vaccinated, using an approach that involves an emergency provision in the Occupational Safety and Health Act, threats to withhold federal funding from hospitals and other health care agencies, and his authority as chief executive of the federal work force.

The efforts by President Biden deftly avoid lingering legal ambiguity over a president's ability to force individuals to take certain health care actions. While the right of the government to impose vaccines mandates has been established since 1905 when the Supreme Court held that Cambridge, Massachusetts, could require all adults to be vaccinated against smallpox, recent cases, including the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act, raise the question of whether a president can simply order Americans to get vaccinated. The president's recent actions, however, appear to avoid this legal quagmire. Relying on the government's constitutional power to regulate commerce and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's authority to issue emergency standards, the president can require companies to maintain safe workplaces through vaccination.

Is it easier for a private business to impose mask and vaccination mandates than for a government entity?

Absolutely. However, the government's authority to protect the health and safety of its citizenry is well-established. Government-issued vaccine mandates are legal and have been upheld by the courts both before and after the pandemic. I do not see that changing. A majority of states have imposed mask mandates throughout the pandemics. Yet, no state has issued a blanket vaccine mandate. This could be in large part due to the current political climate. As of July, more than 40 states had introduced legislation restricting vaccine mandates.

Private businesses have increasingly issued mask and vaccine mandates. Recently, small and large companies, including Disney, Google, and Wal-Mart, have issued vaccine mandates. What makes their enforcements efforts easier is the recent Department of Justice ruling that Section 564 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act does not prohibit private businesses from imposing vaccine mandates. Also, the public is generally more open to private business dictating how it engages with workers, customers, and the public at large.

What about employee groups that are represented by unions? Must a vaccination requirement be agreed to at the bargaining table, as with almost any other part of a labor contract? Or could employers unilaterally require it by claiming it as an emergency measure?

The question about unions is an interesting one. Can an employer unilaterally impose a mandatory vaccine policy? The answer is, it depends. A vaccine requirement is a change in employee working conditions that traditionally require unions to agree to the bargaining table. In other words, an employer could not unilaterally require vaccination as a requirement for continued employment. There are, however, exceptions. For example, suppose the union has agreed to waive its right to bargain over health and safety policies. In that case, an employer can unilaterally impose mask and vaccinate mandates without getting a union agreement. It is worth noting that these types of waivers are fairly common practice in many industrial settings.

Similarly, an employer can unilaterally impose a vaccine mandate if the employer can show that the union has waived the right to bargain over a particular topic through past practice. For example, suppose it is common for an employer to impose new health and safety work rules without bargaining with the union. In that case, that practice might allow the employer to implement a mandatory vaccination policy unilaterally. There are several pending lawsuits in which teamsters have challenged employer vaccine mandates. It will be interesting to see how courts interpret the scope of an employer's ability to impose these health requirements without union agreement.

You mentioned the 1905 Jacobson v. Massachusetts decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the states' authority to enforce compulsory vaccination laws; the court reaffirmed that decision in a 1922 case. So, that decision still holds sway amid today's legal arguments over mask and vaccination mandates?

On the state level, yes, the Supreme Court's Jacobson holding is still good law. It is within a state's right to protect the public's health by requiring vaccines and masks. All 50 states and the District of Columbia require school-aged children to receive vaccines for measles, rubella, and polio. So, on a state level, the question of why there are no state masks and vaccine mandates is not a legal one but more of a political one.

Several U.S. companies are reportedly considering health insurance surcharges for unvaccinated employees. For example, Delta Air Lines already said its unvaccinated employees must pay an additional $200 per month, starting November 1, to stay on the company's health plan. What do you think of using health insurance surcharges as a way to encourage vaccination (and presumably, to help offset the costs of COVID-19 treatment that unvaccinated employees might require)?

I am in favor of employers resorting to carrot-and-stick measures to encourage people to get vaccinated. It is reasonable to require individuals absent a qualified exemption to bear a portion of the health care costs resulting from their refusal to get vaccinated. Delta Air's approach reminds me of the premium surcharge that tobacco users face in some companies if they fail to stop smoking, use tobacco-related products, or comply with reasonable alternatives like completing a smoking succession program.

In the case of Delta Air, the company says its approach is yielding results. In the two weeks since announcing the surcharge, Delta Air has announced that one-fifth of its unvaccinated workers have received the COVID-19 shot.

Americans are leaving jobs at record rates during the pandemic. Do employers face the possibility of losing even more workers who might leave their jobs because of the mandates?

In specific industries, yes. For example, for nursing homes and hospitals, whether or how to implement vaccine mandates is a major consideration. Only about 62 percent of nursing home and long-term care staff are fully or partially vaccinated. While a vaccine requirement could go a long way toward protecting residents and stopping outbreaks, many nursing home administrators believe it could also lead to a mass exodus of workers for other industries.

President Biden's announcement on September 9 would require two-thirds of U.S. workers to get vaccinated. This could make it easier for employers to enforce vaccine requirements because workers would have fewer employment options.

Explore further Federal mandate takes vaccine decision off employers' hands
A girl carrying water on her head walks past sewage around houses in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. This year's outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan

Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as Africa's most populous country struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks.

This year's cholera outbreak, with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years, is worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigeria faces a resurgence of cases driven by the Delta variant, and less than 1% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

At least 69,925 suspected cholera cases were recorded as of Sept. 5 in 25 of Nigeria's 36 states and in the capital, Abuja, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control. Children between 5 and 14 are the most affected age group and the overall case fatality rate is 3.3%, more than double that of COVID-19s 1.3% case fatality rate in Nigeria.

At least 2,323 people have died from suspected cholera this year, but there are concerns that might be an undercount given that many affected communities are in hard to reach areas.

States in Nigeria's north where flooding and poor sanitation increase the risk of transmission are the hardest hit. The 19 states in the north account for 98% of the suspected cases.

A boy walks past sewage around houses in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. This year's outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan

Cholera is endemic and seasonal in Nigeria, where only 14% of the population of more than 200 million have access to safely managed drinking water supply services, according to government data from 2020, which also shows that open defecation is still practiced by at least 30% of residents in 14 states

Nigeria also continues to see regular outbreaks of yellow fever, Lassa fever, measles and other infectious diseases.

"We must remain conscious that these multiple outbreaks can further strain our health system," outgoing Nigeria CDC director-general Chikwe Ihekweazu told The Associated Press.

But he and other officials say the experience from those health crises has helped Nigeria prepare for the worst. "Prior investment in diagnostic capacity, case management, electronic surveillance systems, event-based surveillance, risk communication, logistic management systems and national/subnational workforce development have paid off significantly during COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Two women buy mobile phone cards from a stall close to sewage water in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. This year's outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan

That has not contained cholera, however, and in some states, authorities have said COVID-19 has taken center stage.

In Kogi State, which has Nigeria's second-highest cholera case fatality rate at 24.5%, top health official Saka Haruna told the AP the rate is high because of the difficulty in accessing care in hard-to-reach areas.

Even in the capital, finding care has been challenging. Ese Umukoro said she had a "very difficult" experience when her brother, Samson, had cholera and was rejected at three hospitals before being admitted at the fourth. She asked the government to "try their best to at least give us good water to avoid that kind of sickness."

Sokoto State has Nigeria's fourth-highest count of suspected cholera cases, and its health commissioner told the AP that 22 of the 23 Local Government Areas have been hit by the outbreak.

Sewage water runs past a house in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. This year's outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan

In this Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 file photo, a doctor treats a child suffering from cholera, at a village health clinic in Ganjuwa in Nigeria's rural Bauchi State. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. The 2021 outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File

In this Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 file photo, a doctor treats a person suffering from cholera, at a village health clinic in Ganjuwa in Nigeria's rural Bauchi State. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. The 2021 outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File

In this Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 file photo, healthcare workers spray a chlorine solution designed to kill cholera bacteria, in Ganjuwa in Nigeria's rural Bauchi State. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. The 2021 outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File

In this Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 file photo, a Nigerian woman suffering from cholera receives treatment at a village health clinic in Ganjuwa in Nigeria's northern Bauchi State. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. The 2021 outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File

A boy empties garbage onto the street in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with multiple disease outbreaks. This year's outbreak which is associated with a higher case fatality rate than the previous four years is also worsened by what many consider to be a bigger priority for state governments: the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan

"What is driving the infections is lack of good sanitary conditions in our villages and open defecation, aggravated by heavy rainfall," said Ali Inname.

It's a common problem. Government data from a study supported by UNICEF found access to safely managed sanitation services at just 21% nationwide.

Engineer Michael Oludare, an Oyo-based water scientist, said it is "very important" for authorities to provide basic water and sanitation. He said the poor, women, children and internally displaced people are among "those that will have problems when it comes to cholera."

Moreover, Nigeria still grapples with the challenge of inadequate vaccines and trained manpower to cover all Local Government Areas where the cholera outbreak has been recorded.

Explore further Cholera kills 35 in Niger

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The illustration shows a senescent muscle cell (left), including the numerous factors that led to its declining ability to divide and grow. It also shows the same type of cell after the overexpression of NANOG, which reversed many of the factors. Credit: University at Buffalo

A University at Buffalo-led research team has shown that a protein named for the mythical land of youth in Irish folklore is effective at reversing aging in skeletal muscle cells.

Published Sept. 3 in Science Advances, the study centers on the protein NANOG, which is derived from Tir na nOg, a place in Irish lore renowned for everlasting youth, beauty and health.

In a series of experiments, researchers overexpressed NANOG in myoblasts, which are the embryonic precursors to muscle tissue. The myoblasts were senescent, meaning they were no longer able to divide and grow.

The overexpression ameliorated some of the primary characteristics associated with age-related deterioration of cells, including autophagy, energy homeostasis, genomic stability, nuclear integrity and mitochondrial function.

Most notably, NANOG increased the number of muscle stem cells in the muscle of prematurely aging mice. This demonstrated the feasibility of reversing cellular aging in the body without the need to reprogram cells to an embryonic pluripotent state, a process that's often used in stem cell therapy but runs the risk of tumorigenesis.

"Our work focuses on understanding the mechanisms of NANOG's actions in hopes of discovering druggable targets in signaling or metabolic networks that mimic the anti-aging effects of NANOG. Ultimately, the work could help lead to new treatments or therapies that help reverse cellular senescence, and aid the many people suffering from age-related disorders," says the study's corresponding author Stelios T. Andreadis, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Explore further Embryonic gene Nanog reverses aging in adult stem cells

More information: Aref Shahini et al, Ameliorating the hallmarks of cellular senescence in skeletal muscle myogenic progenitors in vitro and in vivo, Science Advances (2021). Journal information: Science Advances Aref Shahini et al, Ameliorating the hallmarks of cellular senescence in skeletal muscle myogenic progenitors in vitro and in vivo,(2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe5671
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has already had a major impact on children's education, with schools having been required to implement infection control measures that have led to long periods of absence and classroom closures. With the new school year underway, risk modeling specialists at the University of Bristol have developed a new epidemiological model for SARS-CoV-2 transmission that forecasts primary school infection outbreaks could be more frequent and possibly substantially larger this autumn than in 2020, due to the more transmissive and infectious Delta variant and projected increase in community infection.

The study, published on the preprint server medRxiv, is led by Dr. Mark Woodhouse from Bristol's Schools of Earth Sciences and Mathematics, working with colleagues in Earth Sciences, Bristol Veterinary School and with specialists in public health and infectious diseases on the CoMMinS (COVID-19 Mapping and Mitigation in Schools) project.

The new agent-based model characterizes the numbers of daily close contacts that can occur in primary school classrooms, involving pupils and teachers and provides a basis for assessing likely rates of COVID-19 infection transmission and infections within classrooms in the new term. The model takes into account the infection dynamics of the new Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 and changing guidance for mitigation measures in schools.

The pre-print reports advances in computational probabilistic modeling for estimating in-school infection risks, building on earlier studies by Bristol colleagues (Sparks et al; Aspinall et al). The new analytical framework is based on developments in characterizing, statistically, the complexities of child-with-child and child-with-teacher interactions within the classroom, and how these are modulated by classroom management controls for reducing infection spread.

A previous study (Sparks et al) demonstrated that pupils' interactions with one another have a distinctive statistical profile: some children are not extensive mixers, whilst others are very sociable and have many, many contacts in the school day. The latter children may act as "super-spreaders" in a class or school if they pick up a COVID-19 infection in the community or from another child.

Mitigation strategies to control infection are modeled to allow analysis of their effectiveness in supressing infection outbreaks in classrooms and in limiting pupil absence. The model was applied to re-examine COVID-19 in schools in the UK in autumn 2020 and, with some fine-tuning, is now run to forecast infection levels in autumn 2021 when the more infectious Delta variant is anticipated to be dominant and school transmission could be a major concern in any new wave of the epidemic.

Using forecasts that are tracking current upward trends in incidence rates in the UK, key findings and implications from the model include:

Substantial COVID-19 outbreaks could occur in primary schools during the Autumn term.

A small proportion of primary schools (less than one percent) might experience outbreaks, as defined by the DfE1 and that there will be more such outbreaks than in 2020.

Most primary schools are expected to experience at least one classroom infection case.

A comparison of alternative mitigation measures indicates that bubble quarantining is less effective in reducing infection in primary schools when compared to testing-based surveillance and removing children when they become symptomatic.

Bubble quarantining is highly disruptive to education but offers little public health benefit. However, bubble quarantining may be considered necessary to manage large outbreaks in primary schools1.

Lateral flow testing-based surveillance achieves a greater reduction in numbers of infected pupils compared to bubble quarantining. Confirmatory PCR testing has very little benefit in reducing infection levels in the classroom but can reduce quarantine time for false-positive rapid tests.

The study confirms that individual school's policies that encourage social distancing together with other measures like ventilation and hygiene and routine lateral flow testing can reduce infection transmission, but the researchers recognize there are practical limits to such policies, especially with primary school age children.

The study's findings indicate that testing-based surveillance of infections in the classroom population with isolation of positive cases is a more effective mitigation measure than bubble quarantining both for reducing transmission in schools and for avoiding pupil absence, even accounting for insensitivity of self-administered tests. Bubble quarantining results in large numbers of pupils absent from school, with only modest impact of classroom infection. However, maintaining a reduced contact rate within the classroom has a major beneficial impact for managing COVID-19 in school settings.

Dr. Mark Woodhouse, Knowledge Exchange Fellow in the Schools of Earth Sciences and Mathematics, said: "Schools re-opening for the new school year face the prospect of managing and mitigating risks associated with the evolving COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in England and, in particular, the aggressive dynamics of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is growing in prevalence.

"Mathematical models are being used extensively to help understand the probability of the virus being transmitted between persons, to inform prevention and control strategies. For schools, our findings suggest there are substantive implications for the relative efficacies of different mitigation measures that may be followed. For instance, our modeling presents evidence that, with the emergence of the Delta variant and other changing factors, there is likely to be a distinct contrast between the efficacies of bubbles and of regular testing when it to comes to projected numbers of infections in schools and pupil absences in the first few weeks of the new academic year. In addition, our results indicate potential benefits from refocusing on social distancing in schools, as well as enhanced ventilation and good hygiene."

Professor Sir Stephen Sparks FRS, Emeritus Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, added: "We believe our study projections provide important information for policy considerations, especially in relation to absences from school that will be consequent on choices of different mitigation measures. There is the prospect that schools could become driver reservoirs of community infection, rather than the other way around, as was the case with the Alpha variant.

"These, and related arguments from our modeling, suggest thatin forecast modeour stochastic contact network framework should be of value to Directors of Public Health and Education Authorities charged with responsibility for prompt assessment and managing of infection transmission dynamics in classes, schools and in multiple schools in a given education authority area or wider region. In terms of current or future DfE criteria for school actions, our model can be tailored straightforwardly to different schools' demographics and to the relevant local community incidence level."

Explore further Modeling study suggests that schools can safely reopen with proper mitigation strategies

More information: M. J. Woodhouse et al, Analysis of alternative COVID-19 mitigation measures in school classrooms: an agent-based model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, (2021). M. J. Woodhouse et al, Analysis of alternative COVID-19 mitigation measures in school classrooms: an agent-based model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission,(2021). DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.30.21262826 R. S. J. Sparks et al, A novel approach for evaluating contact patterns and risk mitigation strategies for COVID-19 in English primary schools with application of structured expert judgement, Royal Society Open Science (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201566 W.P. Aspinall et al, Quantifying threat from COVID-19 infection hazard in Primary Schools in England, (2020). DOI: 10.1101/2020.08.07.20170035 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Young people are at risk of falling seriously unwell with tuberculosis and spreading the disease. Therefore, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, among others, have mapped key factors that affect the treatment outcomes in 10- to 24-year-olds with tuberculosis in Brazil, where the disease is increasing. To deal with the global tuberculosis epidemic, researchers say that greater focus is needed on this age group in tuberculosis programs. The study is published in The Lancet Global Health.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis (TB) was the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent globally. It's a disease that affects those who are socially and economically vulnerable. An estimated 1.8 million young people develop tuberculosis each year, comprising 17 percent of all new cases globally.

"Young people experience a substantial burden of tuberculosis, which can also have an impact on the disease spreadbut this age group is often neglected in tuberculosis programs," says lead author Louisa Chenciner, an internal medicine doctor working in the NHS (National Health Service), UK, who undertook this research as part of her master's thesis at Karolinska Institutet. "They tend to have wider social networks, whether at work, school, with family or friends, and may therefore contribute to active transmission of TB in their community. To address the global TB epidemic, we need to better understand factors implicated in adverse treatment outcomes for young people."

She was part of an international research group that has published a national cohort study of more than 40,000 young people (1024 years old) with tuberculosis in Brazil, where the TB incidence rates are rising. The aim was to evaluate key health and social factors associated with adverse treatment outcomes and the role of social protection strategies for this age group.

"Almost one-fifth of the study population experienced adverse treatment outcomesfalling behind the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy," says co-author Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, assistant professor at the WHO Collaborating Centre on Tuberculosis and Social Medicine at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet. "This indicates that young people need greater attention in national and international tuberculosis programs."

A disproportionate number of young people with tuberculosis were detained in prisons or juvenile detention centers. More than half had lesser educational attainment than their peers. Race also affected treatment outcomes, and factors such as poverty, HIV, homelessness and drug use were associated with adverse outcomes.

There were disparities in the treatment support received by young people, with approximately half receiving adequate tuberculosis treatment supervision and one third undergoing complete contact tracing. The few young people who were enrolled in government cash transfers, including Programa Bolsa Familia, were less likely to experience adverse outcomes.

"To our knowledge this study is the first nationally representative analysis of the characteristics of young people with TB in Brazil. Previously, there was little evidence on the health and social factors that could be associated with unfavorable treatment outcomes in this sometimes underserved group," says Tom Wingfield, a researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK, and Karolinska Institutet.

Explore further Rifampin regimen found to be cheaper than isoniazid for latent tuberculosis

More information: Chenciner, L. et al, Social and health factors associated with unfavorable treatment outcome in adolescents and young adults with tuberculosis in Brazil: a national retrospective cohort study, The Lancet Global Health (2021). Journal information: The Lancet Global Health Chenciner, L. et al, Social and health factors associated with unfavorable treatment outcome in adolescents and young adults with tuberculosis in Brazil: a national retrospective cohort study,(2021).
Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Professor Wei Shen Lim, left, Britain's Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam and Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) June Raine, right, attend a media briefing on the latest COVID-19 update at Downing Street, central London, Tuesday Sept. 14, 2021. Credit: Justin Tallis/Pool via AP

The U.K. said Tuesday it will offer a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to everyone over age 50 and other vulnerable people after an an expert panel said the boosters were needed to protect against waning immunity this winter.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers that the government had accepted the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization and would start offering booster shots next week. The World Health Organization has asked wealthy nations to delay booster shots until every country has vaccinated at least 40% of their populations.

"The JCVI is advising that a booster dose be offered to the more vulnerable, to maximize individual protection ahead of an unpredictable winter,'' Professor Wei Shen Lim, the panel's chair, said during a media briefing. "Most of these people will also be eligible for the annual flu vaccine and we strongly advise them to take up this offer as well."

The JCVI said booster shots were needed to ensure vulnerable people are protected against COVID-19, because studies have shown that the immunity conferred by vaccines weakens over time. The panel recommended that everyone over 50, as well as health care workers, people with underlying health conditions and those who live with people who are immunosuppressed get a booster shot at least six months after they received their second dose of vaccine.

The move comes despite the WHO's appeal to delay booster doses amid global shortages of vaccine. The agency said that COVID-19 would continue to threaten people everywhere until all countries vaccinate enough people to head off potentially dangerous new variants.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated the call last week after an earlier appeal was widely ignored.

"I will not stay silent when companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world's poor should be satisfied with leftovers," he said 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."

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van Tam, said at least nine countries have already announced booster programs and 18 others are considering doing so.

Israel is already providing booster doses to a wide range of people who have received a full two-dose regimen. U.S. health officials are continuing to assess the science and utility of boosters.

WHO officials insist the scientific justification for boosters remains unclear.

Van Tam said the panel was mindful of the appeals to share vaccine, but the panel's primary responsibility was to the U.K.

"Of course as public health people we take a very strong view that it is important that the whole world has access to vaccines and that until everyone has access to them none of us are fully safe. We get that," Van Tam said at the briefing. "By the same token, the job given to us is to define what is best for the U.K., and that is what JCVI has done."

Oxford University Professor Sarah Gilbert told The Telegraph newspaper last week that immunity from the vaccine was holding up welleven against the delta variant. While the elderly and those who are immune-compromised may need boosters, the standard two-dose regimen is providing lasting protection for most people, she said.

The panel said the Pfizer vaccine should be the primary choice for booster shots, with a half-dose of Moderna as an alternative. This is because these messenger RNA vaccines are more effective as booster shots, the JCVI said. The AstraZeneca shot, which is based on a different technology, will be offered to anyone who can't receive an RNA vaccine for clinical reasons.

Explore further AstraZeneca vaccine creator: Many may not need booster shots

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Using a virus that grows in black-eyed pea plants, nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego developed a new treatment that could keep metastatic cancers at bay from the lungs. The treatment not only slowed tumor growth in the lungs of mice with either metastatic breast cancer or melanoma, it also prevented or drastically minimized the spread of these cancers to the lungs of healthy mice that were challenged with the disease.

The research was published Sept. 14 in the journal Advanced Science.

Cancer spread to the lungs is one of the most common forms of metastasis in various cancers. Once there, it is extremely deadly and difficult to treat.

Researchers at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have developed an experimental treatment that combats this spread. It involves a bodily injection of a plant virus called the cowpea mosaic virus. The virus is harmless to animals and humans, but it still registers as a foreign invader, thus triggering an immune response that could make the body more effective at fighting cancer.

The idea is to use the plant virus to help the body's immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells in the lungs. The virus itself is not infectious in our bodies, but it has all these danger signals that alarm immune cells to go into attack mode and search for a pathogen, said Nicole Steinmetz, professor of nanoengineering at UC San Diego and director of the university's Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering.

To draw this immune response to lung tumors, Steinmetz's lab engineered nanoparticles made from the cowpea mosaic virus to target a protein in the lungs. The protein, called S100A9, is expressed and secreted by immune cells that help fight infection in the lungs. And there is another reason that motivated Steinmetz's team to target this protein: Overexpression of S100A9 has been observed to play a role in tumor growth and spread.

"For our immunotherapy to work in the setting of lung metastasis, we need to target our nanoparticles to the lung," said Steinmetz. "Therefore, we created these plant virus nanoparticles to home in on the lungs by making use of S100A9 as the target protein. Within the lung, the nanoparticles recruit immune cells so that the tumors don't take."

"Because these nanoparticles tend to localize in the lungs, they can change the tumor microenvironment there to become more adept at fighting off cancernot just established tumors, but future tumors as well," said Eric Chung, a bioengineering Ph.D. student in Steinmetz's lab who is one of the co-first authors on the paper.

To make the nanoparticles, the researchers grew black-eyed pea plants in the lab, infected them with cowpea mosaic virus, and harvested the virus in the form of ball-shaped nanoparticles. They then attached S100A9-targeting molecules to the surfaces of the particles.

The researchers performed both prevention and treatment studies. In the prevention studies, they first injected the plant virus nanoparticles into the bloodstreams of healthy mice, and then later injected either triple negative breast cancer or melanoma cells in these mice. Treated mice showed a dramatic reduction in the cancers spreading to their lungs compared to untreated mice.

In the treatment studies, the researchers administered the nanoparticles to mice with metastatic tumor in their lungs. These mice exhibited smaller lung tumors and survived longer than untreated mice.

What's remarkable about these results, the researchers point out, is that they show efficacy against extremely aggressive cancer cell lines. "So any change in survival or lung metastasis is pretty striking," said Chung. "And the fact that we get the level of prevention that we do is really, really amazing."

Steinmetz envisions that such a treatment could be especially helpful to patients after they have had a cancerous tumor removed. "It wouldn't be meant as an injection that's given to everyone to prevent lung tumors. Rather, it would be given to patients who are at high risk of their tumors growing back as a metastatic disease, which often manifests in the lung. This would offer their lungs protection against cancer metastasis," she said.

Before the new treatment can reach that stage, the researchers need to do more detailed immunotoxicity and pharmacology studies. Future studies will also explore combining this with other treatments such as chemotherapy, checkpoint drugs or radiation.

Explore further Researchers discover how cowpea mosaic plant virus activates immune system against cancer

More information: Young Hun Chung et al, S100A9Targeted Cowpea Mosaic Virus as a Prophylactic and Therapeutic Immunotherapy against Metastatic Breast Cancer and Melanoma, Advanced Science (2021). Journal information: Advanced Science Young Hun Chung et al, S100A9Targeted Cowpea Mosaic Virus as a Prophylactic and Therapeutic Immunotherapy against Metastatic Breast Cancer and Melanoma,(2021). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202101796
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Traveling about 30 miles from Glen Burnie, Maryland, to Towson for her community language program has been a struggle for 63-year-old veteran Alison Elinoff. A stroke 15 years ago left the right side of her body paralyzed.

She skipped class several timesoften for a doctor's appointment at the Veterans Administration hospital or because she was too tired. Her performance suffered.

"I really like virtualvirtual is great," Elinoff, who struggles to speak clearly because she has aphasia, a condition developed after a stroke. She likes being in class in person, but it takes 45 minutes to get there, which she said is a hassle.

The Snyder Center for Aphasia Life Enhancement (SCALE) went virtual at the start of the pandemicbut Elinoff will be forced to go back in person Sept. 30., part of a dispute over billing for virtual sessions versus in-person appointments between the VA and the League for People with Disabilities. Payments to the League for virtual sessions by the VA are reimbursed at a lower rate than in-person sessions.

Elinoff is not alone. Some disabled people say they're hesitant about going back in person and want to keep virtual services that began during the pandemic. But the practicality of whether that's possible remains uncertain, and other disabled people say they want to return to in person activities.

Changes to telehealth, such as reimbursing at full price for virtual appointments, were possible when Maryland was under a state of emergency order. But Gov. Larry Hogan ended the state of emergency Aug. 15, meaning some COVID-19 telehealth options expired on that date, Maryland Department of Health spokesman David McCallister wrote in an email Friday. Under the Preserve Telehealth Act of 2021, insurers, such as Medicaid, are required to provide coverage for telehealth services, regardless of the patients' location, he also wrote.

But David Greenberg, president and CEO of the League, said organizations offering medical day care for disabled people will be required to serve them in person if they want to get reimbursed starting Sept. 30.

SCALE is part of the League for People with Disabilities. When asked for comment, the VA wrote in an email that it does not "provide any payments to organizations with which we have no contract or agreement. Billing requests by vendors and community partners failing to meet standards and failing to submit required documentation will be rejected."

Gloria Padilla, who lives in the Northern Parkway area, said her son, Jeremy, is not ready to go back to in-person activities. Jeremy, 31, has autism. In the past, he volunteered at food pantries and took courses at Community College of Baltimore County. Padilla said while her son is vaccinated, she worries he may still catch the virus because he doesn't know how to social distance.

She'd like for Jeremy to eventually give up virtual sessions to socialize in person, she said, but that should happen gradually.

Debbie Gnibus, of Middle River in Baltimore County, whose son, Ricky, also uses the League, shares the same worries as Padilla.

Ricky Gnibus, 41, has arthrogryposis, a muscle nerve disorder, and operates his wheelchair with his mouth or chin. He cannot operate the wheelchair with a mask on, she said.

Debbie Gnibus, 63, lives 40 minutes from the League and works full time. Before the pandemic, Ricky rode the bus to the League. Now he does virtual sessions.

"I'm concerned Ricky would be more susceptible to getting COVID. Even with the shot, people are still getting [the virus]" she said. "There are so many unknowns. You just don't know what to do, and I'm trying to do the best that I can for my son."

Jacqueline Jones, 53, of West Baltimore, has had four strokes. Jones, who uses a wheelchair and is partially blind in one eye, took part in the League's virtual programs, which she said kept her busy. "This is a good place to be."

While she's comfortable going to the League's office in person, she said she'd like others to have access to virtual learning as the state reopens.

"For me personally, I would come back to the League. I love the League, but there are some people out there that are still hesitant to come back because of the COVID-19 virus and the variant," she said. "I was concerned, but after getting vaccinated, I feel better about coming back to the League."

Changes to which virtual services are offered also impact local schools. People with disabilities are among those whose households have the lowest incomes, and many students lacked the technology and access to participate in virtual learning, according to the Maryland Developmental Disability Council. For example, a lack of closed captioning or interpreters continues to be a problem, and screens are not always useful for the visually impaired.

But despite the challenges, "virtual life is generally positive for people who have mobility issues because it alleviates the stress that can come with traveling," said Rachel London, executive director of the MDDC.

London said the organization raised $200,000 to provide technology for remote school access and other virtual services, but some spaces were still inaccessible.

She pointed to how the Maryland General Assembly embraced virtual meetings, which gave disabled people the ability to testify and attend public meetings from home instead of needing to find accessible transportation. The change lead to an increase in meeting attendance among individuals that the MDDC works with and their families, she said.

As schools resume in person, parents have conflicting thoughts about what may be best for their kids. For those who suffer from anxiety, virtual classes allowed them to comfortably communicate and participate in class.

Rene Averitt-Sanzone, executive director of the Parents Place of Maryland, a special education nonprofit, said several schools also increased services, such as speech therapy and sign-language classes, to better accommodate students.

Younger students who spent little time in school before the pandemic have never had the opportunity to learn crucial social-emotional lessons. For students who received specialized help with one-on-one educators or assistive technology, more time out of the classroom meant even more learning lost.

Angie Auldridge, mother of an 8-year-old with autism and cognitive impairments, was faced with the challenge of juggling care for him, working from home and looking after her two other children with her husband.

Days were spent struggling to keep their son engaged with learning for hours in front of a screen, Auldridge said.

Some days, Auldridge had to physically restrain her son in front of the computer; nevertheless, he was not able to stay on the same academic track, she said.

In Auldridges's family, virtual education was an obstacle to be overcome. One thing they would like to keep from the pandemic era is telehealth.

Maryland Health Care Commission's 2019 decision to expand telehealth services and reimburse providers for them at the same rates as in person visits made attending medical appointments more convenient.

For families like the Auldridges, they did not have to drive to Baltimore from their home in Western Maryland and their son was able to see a sought-after specialist in Kansas City.

"I was glad to hear about it because having telehealth access made my son's appointments so much easier," said Auldridge. "It was more convenient especially because his appointments are usually more of a conversation between the doctor and parents than a physical examination, so I hope we can continue to have that option."

Explore further Telehealth has permanent place in mental health treatment post-pandemic, providers say

2021 The Baltimore Sun.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus M.Barysevich participates in the International Conference Impact of Global Economic Challenges on Social and Labor Human Rights

On September 13, 2021, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mikalai Barysevich took part in the opening ceremony of the International Conference Impact of Global Economic Challenges on Social and Labor Rights, organized by the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus.

In his statement, Mikalai Barysevich noted the counter-productiveness of unilateral coercive measures and their negative impact on the fulfilment of Belaruss international commitments in the field of sustainable development, which was also confirmed on September 9 during the meeting of the Council for Sustainable Development chaired by the National Coordinator for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Anatoly Isachenko.

During the event, the Deputy Minister also drew attention to the initiative of the Head of State on the need to launch a global dialogue on security aimed at establishing a stable, fair and predictable world order and eradicating the practice of using unilateral coercive measures.

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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...
Spain vaccination update September 13: more than 35 million now double jabbed



Spain steps up efforts to vaccinate all those between the ages of 12 and 19

With the cumulative incidence rate of coronavirus cases creeping ever lower and hospital pressure easing daily, Covid experts attribute the improving data to the steady pace of the vaccination campaign. Spain has maintained its vaccine momentum throughout September after a slow start to August, and according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Health on Monday September 13, a total of 35,300,384 people are now fully immunised, representing 74.7 per cent of the population. In addition, 37,216,507 people, or 78.4 per cent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Unfortunately, herd immunity remains elusive and President Pedro Sanchez has suggested that it may be necessary to fully vaccine more than 90 per cent of the population rather than the original 70 per cent to ensure Covid in Spain is kept in check.

The push to double jab the younger population, who have been hardest hit during the fifth wave of the pandemic and continue to be the group responsible for the majority of infections, continues and now 58.4 per cent of those aged between 12 and 19 have been fully immunised. This is a big step in the right direction compared to the 45.5 per cent on the same day last week . Every community in Spain has redoubled its efforts to vaccinate this group, with Asturias leading the way on 70.2 per cent. Cantabria is lagging behind with just 28.9 per cent but every region has made significant improvements in the past 7 days.

As of this Monday, more than 90 per cent of all those aged 50 and above have been double vaccinated, while the most vulnerable population, people over the age of 80, now have a 100 per cent vaccination rate.

Double vaccinations by age group

80+: 100 per cent / 2,896,320 people

100 per cent / 2,896,320 people 70-79: 98.6 per cent / 3,905,620 people

98.6 per cent / 3,905,620 people 60-69: 96.5 per cent / 5,151,937 people

96.5 per cent / 5,151,937 people 50-59: 92.9 per cent / 6,537,358 people

92.9 per cent / 6,537,358 people 40-49: 85 per cent / 6,708,503 people

85 per cent / 6,708,503 people 30-39: 71.2 per cent / 4,436,173 people

71.2 per cent / 4,436,173 people 20-29: 68.6 per cent / 3,393,372 people

68.6 per cent / 3,393,372 people 12-19: 58.4 per cent / 2,271,101 people

While Spains Health Minister, Carolina Darias, confirmed last week that a third booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine would be made available to those with compromised immune systems, Covid experts remain at loggerheads about the necessity of this . The World Health Organisation has advised against administering a third dose until every country has achieved a 14 per cent vaccination rate, while studies by both Pfizer and Moderna have shown that their vaccines have a satisfactory efficacy rate against strains such as the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, Spain looks likely to begin producing its own vaccine next month , which is currently going through trials and proving to be very effective against new mutations.

Image: Archive
UOG and Guam Museum to host part 2 of virtual tour series for older adults and persons with dementia
Satellite Internet connections are vital and necessary in South Africa as they offer extreme redundancy should your terrestrial connectivity solution fail.

It is therefore curious that, while many businesses have opted for generators as back-up power for their operations, far fewer have considered backing up their terrestrial connectivity solutions.

If a business loses terrestrial connectivity, this will also bring down its transactional systems, and this would be devastating to that business.

Satellite as an alternative

Thankfully, satellite is a robust, reliable, and trusted technology that is ideal as a backup connectivity source.

It is not affected in any way by terrestrial infrastructure weaknesses that can be caused by anything from battery theft to vandalism and load-shedding.

Satellite is rather an always-on service, which means it is available anywhere in the country, and this makes it the back-up of back-ups for business connectivity.

The recent incidents in July disrupted terrestrial infrastructure and affected businesses, particularly in KZN and Gauteng, explained Paratus South Africa MD Kallie Carlsen.

Connectivity outages are not limited events and I believe that every business and household should consider a back-up to terrestrial connectivity because connectivity is the lifeline for everything we do today.

Imagine the impact on a retail store  in terms of the financial and reputational damage  if all transactional systems were to be off-line for long periods.

Carlsen said that this should be sufficient reason for businesses to think about implementing a backup that uses VSAT technology.

VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal and its purpose is to transmit and receive satellite transmissions.

A VSAT comprises a dish antenna, a transceiver (or a combination of BUC and LNB) and a satellite router (modem).

Paratus South Africa

Paratus South Africa is a Tier 1 infrastructure operator that forms part of the Paratus Group  the largest privately owned pan-African network operator.

Paratus South Africa is an independent provider for last-mile connectivity and offers full-spectrum, end-to-end services.

It is a managed service partner that is committed to delivering specialist satellite solutions that bridge any gaps left by traditional terrestrial and radio access networks.

The overarching Paratus Group is one of the biggest VSAT operators in Africa and boasts hubs and gateways in the UK, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.

Paratus Group owns and operates four satellite ground earth station facilities and provides VSAT services across 28 African countries, with customers ranging from entry level consumers to complex enterprise secure networks.

Because we are backed by a robust network, we offer a constant, reliable and quality connection, explained Carlsen.

We can mitigate lost connections through a range of services and satellite or VSAT technology can come to the rescue in providing a constant and quality connection to anyone and anywhere in the country.

After all  how can businesses think big if they do not have a reliable and constant connection?

Click here to learn more about Paratus satellite Internet products.
Local competition in hospice and managing through fires and the pandemic.

5. Who do you most admire in the business world?

Jane Adams in the field of social work.

6. What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your lifetime that you havent yet?

Creating an age-friendly and dementia-friendly Napa County.

7. If you could change one thing about the healthcare industry, what would it be?

That healthcare would be always affordable and accessible for all people.

8. Whats something people might be surprised to know about you?

I was part of a Guinness Book of World Records for most Rosie the Riveters assembled in one location (Richmond, Virgina). It was really fun. There were guy Rosie the Riveters, baby Rosie the Riveters.

9. Whats on your to-do list?

Going to all the National Parks. Glacier National Park, Montana (is next).

10. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
LJ Montelli has served in some of the worlds most dangerous places and shed blood for his country more times than he cares to talk about.

Nobody in their right mind could say he owes America, or his home town of St. Helena, another hour of his time. Yet here he is, the newest member of the St. Helena Police Department.

From Ramadi to Railroad Avenue, public service has been a constant for Montelli, who comes from a military family.

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Growing up in St. Helena, everybody knows each other and helps each other out, he said. But when you look outside our small town, not a lot of people help each other. I felt like I could help everybody by joining the military.

The 9/11 attacks, which occurred when Montelli was 14, only solidified his plans to join the Army. He graduated from St. Helena High School in 2005 and immediately left for boot camp in Missouri.

Montelli had always been drawn to law enforcement, so the military police was an obvious choice. His first overseas posting was in South Korea, conducting joint operations with the South Korean army and training them to do police work.

'Hearts and minds'
Thirty-three more people in Napa County have tested positive for the coronavirus, Napa County officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

The latest COVID-19 infections bring the countys overall total to 12,099 since the emergence of the pandemic in early 2020, according to the Napa County Health and Human Services agencys informational website on the virus. The update follows the reporting of 126 new cases over the Friday-to-Monday weekend.

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Twenty-six people were hospitalized on Tuesday with COVID-19 symptoms, and no local intensive-care beds were available.

Meanwhile, the Napa Valley Unified School District reported 20 positive COVID-19 cases for the week of Sept. 6-12, including seven employees and 13 students, all of them attending classes in person. The cases amount to 0.11% of the district's combined student body and staff.

That total is down from the 29 positive tests recorded the week before, although it includes Labor Day when schools and government offices were closed.

NVUSD saw its highest case count of the new school year  36 people, including 34 students  in the week ending Aug. 29, the first full week of instruction after campuses opened Aug. 18.
Aetna Springs would guarantee rent of $1 million over the first 10 years. It foresees the venture generating $20 million for Napa County in 10 years in transient occupancy and sales taxes, said papers presented to the district.

It would also place conservation easements on 100 acres near the Cleary Reserve and 730 acres at Lake Luciana near the districts Spanish Valley property. Wickline said that will allow better access to existing open space, better trails and better public enjoyment of the area.

"What animates me is the opportunity we have to create something really quite special out here in Pope Valley," Wickline said.

Woodbury and Wickline talked about the idea off-and-on for a couple of years.

"I think you all know I'm very willing to be creative, and I've been very motivated from the beginning to find ways to fund this district in a permanent, sustainable way," Woodbury told the District Board of Directors on Monday.

But Woodbury didn't think the Aetna Springs group offered enough conservation benefits. Some areas to be preserved from development are flood plains and steep hills. Aetna Springs hasn't reduced the overall number of possible building sites and developable parcels, he said.
When you are oriented to get as much sunlight during the day, in cooler climates that is exactly what you want to get as much light and heat on the fruit to ripen it, she said. But in warmer areas like California, especially as you get further south and further into the valley, you can end up having too much heat on the fruit, which reduces quality and yield, so one of the things you can do is change that row orientation so you are getting less sun on the fruit in the afternoon, and you are getting more of your sun in the morning.

Similarly, the canopy is important to shield the fruit from being baked in the sun, but also requires more water to keep that part of the plant alive. Bartlett said there are a few ways to manipulate canopy growth, but warns that you have to find a careful balance to avoid scorching or drying out your plant.

You can change the amount of canopy and the amount of fruit that you are trying to ripen in that particular year, so you can choose to reduce your yields and that will allow you to do a more aggressive shoot thinning, and then you have less canopy area that is out there losing water, she said. [But] you cant totally denude the canopy, because that will backfire on you.
Voters across California will go to the polls today to decide whether to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office and potentially replace him with one of 46 candidates in the state's first gubernatorial recall election since 2003.

Polling places across the region are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for in-person voting. If you're in line at 8 p.m. you'll get to vote in person, county election officials said.

But many people have already cast their ballots by mail, including more than 837,000 of the county's 1.9 million registered voters through Monday morning. And more than 14,600 voted in early voting as of last weekend.

Two leading replacement candidates from the San Diego area continued campaigning Monday.

John Cox, a businessman who lives in Rancho Santa Fe, was in Yountville  site of a controversial party Newsom attended in spring 2020 after ordering a statewide lockdown  and in Sacramento.

Kevin Faulconer, a former San Diego mayor living in Point Loma, was in Los Angeles Monday on his way back to San Diego so he can focus Tuesday on "get out the vote" efforts.

The ballot asks two questions: whether to recall the governor, and who should replace him.
Washington cites Beijings strategy of civil-military fusion, which it says treats private companies and universities as assets to develop Chinese military technology.

Joint research institutions, academia and private firms are all being exploited to build the PLAs future military systems  often without their knowledge or consent, the State Department said in a 2020 report.

Trump's successor, Joe Biden, has given no indication of what he might do.

Chinese officials appealed to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to drop the visa restrictions when she visited in July, according to The Paper, a Shanghai online news outlet.

The policy is necessary to protect U.S. national security interests," the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. It said the policy is a response to some abuses of the visa process and is narrowly targeted.

More than 85,000 visas for Chinese students have been approved over the past four months, according to the embassy.

The numbers show clearly that the United States stands ready to issue visas to all those who are qualified  including Chinese students and scholars, it said.
The Spanish governments package of measures to address the steep rise includes a new tax through March on energy companies windfall gains, which are a result of the way wholesale power prices are calculated.

Officials say that in daily power auctions the government pays all the megawatts it buys from different power sources at the highest price of them all. That is usually gas-generated electricity, whose price has soared.

Consequently, even if power is produced from cheap renewable energy, the companies are getting paid for it at the same price as much more expensive gas  meaning artificially high prices and windfall gains.

The government wants to tax those exceptional gains, hoping to collect 2.6 billion euros ($3 billion) over the next six months which will be passed on to consumers.

That measure brought a rebuke from Pablo Casado, the leader of the main opposition conservative Popular Party, who likened it to the expropriation of private assets.

The measure also helped drive down the share prices of energy companies on the Madrid stock exchange Tuesday. Shares in Endesa, Spains biggest energy company, fell by 2.6% in morning trading.
Up until this summer, it has been very sensible for the last decade to ask who the University of California really belongs to.

But as students returned to UCs 10 campuses after the last years pandemic absences and remote classes, they and future applicants for slots at the systems most desired locations could be assured that UC belongs more now to Californians than it has for quite a while.

This is one result of the surprising flood of money that arrived in state coffers as the coronavirus pandemic began to ease last spring.

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The question of who UC really belonged to arose during the Great Recession that began about 13 years ago, as the university system started admitting more and more out-of-state and foreign students to help make up funding cuts inflicted by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators of the time.
Armenia marks Independence Day: Digest on congratulations from int. leaders

Largest flag of Armenia raised in Yeraskh village of Ararat Province (PHOTOS)

China PM to Armenia counterpart: Cooperation in sidelines of One Belt One Road joint construction steadily develops

Lukashenko to Pashinyan: Belarus, Armenia will be able to fully realize bilateral cooperations potential

Kazakhstan President: Armenia achieved great success, enjoys well-deserved reputation in international arena

Putin to Pashinyan: Trilateral agreements implementation will ensure your countrys peaceful, prosperous development

Mishustin to Pashinyan: Russia-Armenia relations progressively developing in all directions

Guy Parmelin: Switzerland remains reliable partner of reforms in Armenia

France MP: Armenia fighting for survival of itself, its people, against Azerbaijan, Turkey

Wendy Morton: UK will continue to be proud supporter of Armenias democratic, economic development

Russia envoy to Armenia: Any challenge in modern world can be overcome only through joint efforts

Top Iran officials congratulate Armenia, Armenian people

Pope Francis: May divine blessing be with people of Armenia

Wreath laid on behalf of Armenia ex-President Sargsyan at Yerevan military pantheon (PHOTOS)

Sweden ambassador: My best wishes to all Armenians (VIDEO)

Netherlands envoy to Armenia: This beautiful country, wonderful people have bright future (VIDEO)

Xi Jinping to Armen Sarkissian: Dynamics of development of China-Armenia relations is maintained

Armenia First President: Independence is non-negotiable for me

Putin: Development of Russia-Armenia relations corresponds to fundamental interests of our fraternal peoples

Blinken: US remains committed to helping negotiate long-term political settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Armenia Security Council chief refuses to speak about possible Pashinyan-Erdogan meeting

Biden: US will continue to advocate for release of all Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan

Armenia FM to head for New York

Macron to Armenias Sarkissian: We will spare no effort to find lasting solution to conflict

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: Defeat, authorities that symbolize it cannot be source of inspiration, creation

494 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia 3rd President Sargsyan: Challenging but honorific struggle awaits us ahead

Karekin II: Main meaning of 30th anniversary of independence is to rebuild progressive, prosperous country

Karabakh President: Strong, developing Armenia has no alternative

Shombi Sharp: UN will continue to stand with Armenia in addressing impact of recent crises, pandemic, conflict

Armenia President: Today it turns out that we did not appreciate what we had

Georgia capital Tbilisi TV tower illuminated in colors of Armenia flag (PHOTOS)

US ambassador: We continue to look with confidence at future for Armenia as sovereign, prosperous state

Police not allowing reporters to cover PM's visit to Yerevan military pantheon

Newspaper: Azerbaijanis get more active after dismissal of commander of Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh

Armenia marks Independence Day 30th anniversary

Senior officials visiting Yerevan military pantheon on Armenia Independence Day 30th anniversary (PHOTOS)

US launches strike at one of al-Qaida leaders in Syria

Biden to declare end of "20-year war" in Afghanistan in speech at UN General Assembly

US Ambassador to Armenia: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has yet to be settled, Artsakh status will be clarified

Nikol Pashinyan: Russian-Armenians and their businesses stand strong with the Armenian State

Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan pledges investments worth $780,000,000

US says it is willing to consider return to nuclear deal with Iran

Azerbaijani-Turkish military exercises are being held in Nakhchivan

Businessman Samvel Karapetyan: I don't agree that systems have changed in Armenia, only people have changed

Two residents of Armenia's Kasakh who disappeared in Vorotan section and were returned, are at home

Kyrgyz MP proposes to appoint one Ambassador to Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia Central Bank head: Buffer of Armenian financial organizations is sufficient to resist challenges

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative for South Caucasus to visit Armenia

Armenia PM sends telegram of condolence to Russia President

Armenia Deputy PM: Government shouldn't be involved in business

Nearly 700 projects considered during "Armenia 2020-Armenia 2041" meeting

Putin, Aliyev hold phone talks

Armenian filmmaker calls on Armenia citizens to join march to Yerablur Military Pantheon on Independence Day

Digest: Armenian women die in the Netherlands shooting, Azerbaijan returns 2 Armenians

Relatives of deceased servicemen protesting in front of Armenia government building

Russian Expert Center: Russia is ready to offer Yerevan buses and new metro wagons

"High-Level Observer Day" held as part of "Three Brothers-2021" Azerbaijan-Turkey-Pakistan military drills

Flights to and from Gyumri and Moscow launched

Russia deputy PM: Development of new strategic document has started with Armenia

Armenian businessman: I would like for Armenia to have three official languages

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains or relics of soldiers not found in Hadrut today

COAF and AMAA partner to revamp dairy production in Lori Province of Armenia

Gunshots heard in Armenia's Kut village again

Alexey Overchuk: Russia is ready to help Armenia overcome economic crisis and pandemic

Armenia economy minister: Unblocking of communication will help increase country's GDP by 30%

Armenia army's units to march on country's Independence Day

Armenia PM congratulates Vladimir Putin on United Russia Party's victory

Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sergey Smbatyan, performs at InClassica festival (PHOTOS)

Russian official: Bandwidth of Upper Lars checkpoint to grow by 6.5 times in 2022

Armenian Deputy PM: Armenia-Russia trade turnover made up $1.9 billion in first semester of 2021

Nursultan Nazarbayev congratulates Armenia President on 30th anniversary of Independence

Iran Ambassador to Armenia: We hope alternative road to Goris is built as soon as possible

Egypt President congratulates Armenia President on 30th anniversary of Independence

Erdogan to visit Russia on a working visit

Young Dutch man with mental disorder shoots at passers-by, kills 2 female members of AGBU Holland

Russia ambassador to Armenia: Innovative approaches needed to deepen bilateral relations

Greek MFA slams Turkey for illegal fishing in its territorial waters

PM: Armenia greatly interested in opening communications

Armenia-Russia cooperation agreement signed

Deputy PM: Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral platform discusses issues I have spoken about many times

Armenia PM spokesperson: No contacts taken place so far with Turkey

North Korean MFA slams new defense alliance created by Australia, UK and US

20 Turkey citizens seek asylum in Armenia in past 3 years

Armenia economy minister on Goris-Kapan motorway situation: We are very actively rebuilding bypass road

Russia deputy PM: Issue of corridors not being discussed

Armenia deputy PM: Unblocking of roads will have positive effect

Deputy PM: Cooperation within EEU is main guarantee of Armenia's economic recovery

Azerbaijan FM heads for US

Iran sending sizeable military forces to Azerbaijan border

2 Armenian General Benevolent Union women die from stabbing (PHOTOS)

8 dead after shooting at Russia university

342 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia opposition MP: No security mechanisms on Goris-Kapan motorway to prevent abducting, getting lost

Yerevan hosting Armenian Business Forum 2021

Australia PM says France submarine deal not in his countrys interest

Half of Earth's coral reefs die out in last 70 years

World oil prices falling

Firefighting resumes at Armenia national park

Over 70% of ballots counted in Russia State Duma elections
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received a delegation led by Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, who is on an official visit to Armenia.

The PM welcomed Korcok's visit to Armenia, and highlighted the continued development of relations with Slovakia.

Also, the head of the Armenian government expressed satisfaction with Slovakia's interest in the establishment of peace and stability in the South Caucasus. In this context, PM Pashinyan referred to the situation created as a result of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) last year, Azerbaijan's non-fulfillment of the agreement on the return of Armenian prisoners of war, as well as the incursions of Azerbaijani forces into Armenia's sovereign territory. The premier presented the respective steps being taken by the Armenian government, Armenia's expectations from the international community in this regard, and stressed the need to resume the Karabakh process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

Nikol Pashinyan touched also upon Armenia-EU cooperation, and stressed the importance of the assistance being provided to the reforms for the development and strengthening of democracy in Armenia.

The Slovak FM, for his part, noted the interest of his country's government in the development of multilateral cooperation with Armenia. Korcok stressed also the importance of realizing the great potential of cooperation in the economic sphere. Furthermore, the Slovak FM said that he is impressed with the results of the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 20, and stressed that Armenia has taken the path of development, despite the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the war last year.

Ivan Korcok added that Slovakia lauds Armenia's efforts to establish stability and peace in the region, and stressed the importance of a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflictand within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. The Slovak FM considered it necessary to take steps to strengthen confidence in the region, and expressed his country's support for the respective efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

The interlocutors exchanged views also on the strengthening of democratic institutions in Armenia, and the processes taking place in the region.
The Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan today received the delegation led by Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Ivan Korcok.

Welcoming the guests, the parliamentary speaker noted that Slovakia is one of the important partners of Armenia in Europe, and Armenia attaches great importance to the sustainable development of the friendly relations with Slovakia.

Alen Simonyan reaffirmed the necessity of cooperating in all spheres. In this context, he especially stressed the activities of the Embassy of Slovakia opened in 2020 on continuous ensuring of political dialogue and effective cooperation in different fields.

According to the Head of Parliament, the role of parliamentary diplomacy is rather comprehensive on the bilateral agenda, and soon the Armenia-Slovakia Parliamentary Friendship Group would be re-structured in the National Assembly of the eighth convocation. Alen Simonyan informed that he invited the President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Boris Kollar to pay an official visit to the Republic of Armenia for maintaining the active cooperation between parliaments and deepening it.

He highly appreciated the adoption of the resolutions on the Conflict Being Continued in Nagorno-Karabakh and on Nagorno-Karabakh. Simonyan underlined that at this moment the issue of the immediate repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and civilians detained in Azerbaijan is of priority, for which Armenia anticipates the support of the international community.

The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Ivan Korcok thanked Simonyan for the reception, informing him that this is his first visit to Armenia. He reaffirmed that there is no alternative to a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Touching upon the snap parliamentary elections, the guest highlighted their results, expressing certainty that they affirm once again the values of democracy adopted by Armenia.

The sides touched upon the perspectives of deepening the Armenia-Slovakia cooperation within the framework of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement.

At the end of the meeting, opinions were exchanged on the necessity of development of joint agendas.
Governor of Syunik Province of Armenia Melikset Poghosyan today received newly appointed Deputy Ambassador of the United States of America to Armenia Chip Laitinen, who was accompanied by representatives of the US Embassy, as reported the regional governors office of Syunik Province.

"The Deputy Ambassador stated that US Ambassador Lynne Tracy wanted all of them to begin their visits with a visit to Syunik Province, attaching importance to the fact that the province is a priority from the perspective of the Embassys activities. Mr. Laitinen noted that the US Embassy wants to become familiar with the situation on the spot and understand how it can continue to support democratic and economic developments.

Welcoming the diplomats visit to Syunik Province, Poghosyan presented the situation created in the post-war period, as well as the issues and concerns of the provinces regional governors office and population with respect to the new situation on the border.

During the meeting, the parties discussed issues related to security, roads and traffic, as well as economic issues. The regional governor expressed willingness for active cooperation, and since there was talk about the programs carried out by the USAID in Syunik Province, he voiced hope that they would be ongoing, the press release reads.
Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Aghajanyan today met with deputies of the Parliament of Ukraine Artyom Dmitruk and Darya Volodina. He posted the following on his Facebook page:

Today I met with deputies of the Parliament of Ukraine Artyom Dmitruk and Darya Volodina. Among those attending the meeting were secretary of the Civil Contract faction of the National Assembly and MP Hrachya Hakobyan.

During the meeting, I underscored the importance of the friendly Armenian-Ukrainian relations and considered further development and deepening of inter-parliamentary ties and bilateral contacts necessary.

I expressed confidence that the contacts and partnership between the two parliaments will grow deeper and stronger after the final formation of the Armenia-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The prospects for strengthening of trade and economic relations were also touched upon. In this context, I stated that there is great potential that is unused and attached importance to intensification of activities of the Armenian-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission.

Both sides highly appreciated the role of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine and the Armenian community.

In regard to advancement of the agenda of joint cooperation, we attached importance to the implementation of specific actions.
OSUs Greenwood School of Music celebrates grand opening

Media Contact: Jennifer Kinnard | Asst. Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Oklahoma State University Foundation | 405-334-1022 | jkinnard@osugiving.com

Members of the Cowboy family celebrated the grand opening of the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music building Saturday. The event kicked off with the sound of student performances resonating throughout the first floor as guests toured the many unique spaces.

Over the past decade, the Cowboy family has intentionally woven visual and performing arts into the fabric of OSU's identity, said OSU President Kayse Shrum. The Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music is the latest example of how we continue to elevate the arts as an integral part of OSU's land-grant mission.

The transformational facility amplifies music at Oklahoma State University, where students have already begun utilizing many of the practice spaces and rehearsal halls on the first floor.

Every design aspect of the Greenwood School of Music focuses on the students and how to best help them succeed. The building was created with slanted walls for favorable acoustics, specialized applied instruction studios, ample student practice rooms and advanced technology throughout.

Glen Krutz, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, welcomed the crowd and expressed his excitement on how the building will impact OSU.

Students from the sciences, business, engineering, education and many other disciplines are encouraged to play in our music ensembles, Krutz said. This new building quite literally serves the entire OSU campus.

Dedication to student success has always been an integral part of OSUs land-grant mission, and the Greenwood School of Music illustrates that dedication in nearly every square foot.

Every design aspect focused on the students and how to best help them succeed. The building was created with slanted walls for favorable acoustics, specialized applied instruction studios, ample student practice rooms and advanced technology throughout.

We are indeed in the midst of a transformative period at Oklahoma State, and the trajectory of the performing arts at OSU has been profoundly affected, said Jeff Loeffert, director of the Greenwood School of Music. This facility enables our students to achieve at levels we never dreamed possible and will stand toe to toe with the absolute best programs in the country.

From left: First Cowboy Darren Shrum, President Kayse Shrum, Anne Greenwood, Michael Greenwood, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Glen Krutz, OSU Foundation President Blaire Atkinson, and Director of the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music Dr. Jeff Loeffert

More than 100 people have donated to the project, including lead donors Michael and Anne Greenwood.

OSU Music has always been so very talented and done so much but with limited resources, Anne Greenwood said. But now with the addition of this state-of-the-art facility, they at long last have all they need to be even better and to grow professionally.

Overall, fundraising efforts for the building have been extremely collaborative. Many students, faculty, staff and alumni are banding together to honor former music faculty and staff.

The Foundation and College are still working to raise the final $1.4 million in private gifts. Prominent rooms and rehearsal halls in the building are still available for donors to name.

If youd like to support the Greenwood School of Music or get more information on remaining spaces, please contact Laura Ketchum at 405-385-0701 or lketchum@osugiving.com.
Paul Simon Institute talk to explore state of philanthropy in wake of pandemic

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute next week will host a discussion about the state of philanthropy in Illinois in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monique Jones, the president of Forefront, a Chicago-based organization that supports Illinois nonprofit organizations, will talk with John Shaw, institute director, at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20 in a live Zoom webinar. Jones and Shaw will discuss how COVID-19 has impacted fundraising in Illinois and how Forefront works to support the states nonprofits and grant makers.

Jones took the helm of Forefront this past January. She is a licensed clinical social worker with a 20-year career in mental health, violence prevention, philanthropy and gender and racial equality. Before she joined Forefront, Jones was the president and CEO of the Evanston Community Foundation, and prior to that she served as the director of programs for the Chicago Foundation for Women. She also was director of violence prevention for the Cook County Department of Public Health and clinical director for the Jane Addams Hull House Association.

Monique Jones is one of the most compelling and charismatic leaders in Illinois philanthropic community, Shaw said. We look forward to learning about her vision of how wise and strategic philanthropy can revitalize Illinois.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration on Zoom is required to access the webinar. Visit paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu/event-information to register. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for Jones with their registration or send questions by email to paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu.

The event is part of the institutes Understanding Our New World virtual conversation series with government and private sector leaders, policy experts, political analysts, authors and journalists.
Fikile Ntshangase was involved in legal action against a mining company when she was killed. Rob Symons/All Rise

A record 227 environmental activists were murdered in 2020, a Global Witness report found.

But that number is likely an undercount, and the group said the toll may rise in coming years.

Many killings are linked to logging, mining, and agriculture, with Indigenous people heavily targeted.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Fikile Ntshangase was the nearby coal mine's "worst nightmare," according to her daughter.

The 65-year-old led a group that was taking legal action against the company that ran the mine, located just outside of South Africa's Hluhluwe-Imfolozi nature reserve.

"She organized, she campaigned and educated people about their rights," her daughter, Malungelo Xhakaza, said in a new report from the human-rights watchdog group Global Witness. "Ultimately, I believe that's what cost my mother's life."

In October 2020, Ntshangase was shot in her living room and died.

She's one of 227 environmental activists who were murdered in 2020, according to the Global Witness report, which was published on Monday. That's an average of more than four activists murdered every week. It's more killings than the group has ever recorded in a single year since it started publishing these reports in 2012.

Still, the number is likely an undercount. Global Witness compiles its database using information that's publicly available online. But many cases likely go unreported, especially in countries with heavy suppression of media or with ongoing conflicts that make it difficult to parse out particular incidents.

For that reason, the report emphasizes that its figures are "only a partial picture" of these killings.

"The people killed each year defending their local places are also defending our shared planet - in particular our climate," environmentalist Bill McKibben said in a statement for the report. "The activities that flood our atmosphere with carbon - fossil fuel extraction and deforestation - are at the heart of so many of these killings."

Story continues

Killings are often linked to resource extraction

The largest number of murders (65 of them) happened in Colombia, followed by Mexico (30) and the Philippines (29). Those three countries together accounted for more than half of the killings in the report.

In cases where a perpetrator could be identified, hitmen carried out the most murders, killing a total of 89 activists. Militia or guerrilla groups were linked to 30 deaths, armed forces to 18, and police to 12.

Oscar Eyraud Adams was killed after speaking to local media about water extraction. Mexicali Resiste

Over one-third of the fatal attacks targeted Indigenous people. One of those killed, Oscar Eyraud Adams, was shot just a month after showing local media how dry the land had become in Tecate, Mexico. Adams had complained that large companies like Heineken were diverting water from the community, according to a local report on his death.

"I thought people might beat or kidnap him, but I never imagined they would go as far as they did," his mother, Norma Adams, told Global Witness.

"Every person like this around the world is at risk. And they are at risk, in the end, not just because of another local person who pulls the trigger or plunges the blade; they're at risk because they find themselves living on or near something that some corporation is demanding," McKibben said.

Nearly 30% of the killings recorded had links to resource extraction like logging, mining, large-scale agriculture, and hydroelectric dams. Logging was linked to the most cases in the report - 23 deaths.

Charred logs lie on a stretch of the Yari plains, which was recently burned for pasture, in Caqueta, Colombia, March 3, 2021. Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

The report recommends that governments implement regulations to protect environmental activists, and that the United Nations "formally recognize the human right to a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment." It also implored businesses to evaluate their supply chains and operations in order to ensure they're not contributing to human-rights violations.

But Global Witness expects these death tolls to continue rising in the years to come as the climate crisis accelerates.

"People sometimes ask me what I'm going to do, whether I'm going to stay here and keep my mother's fight alive," Xhakaza said. "I'm too proud of her to let it die. I know the dangers - we all know the dangers. But I've decided to stay. I'm going to join the fight."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Los Angeles Police Department officers. David McNew/Getty Images

LA is requiring city employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 5, with some exemptions.

Six LAPD employees are suing the city, saying the mandate violates their rights.

They said it created a "hostile work environment" in the police force.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Six Los Angeles Police Department employees are suing the city over its vaccine mandate, which requires most city employees to be vaccinated by October 5 or show weekly negative coronavirus tests.

The officers filed the lawsuit in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The lawsuit, seen by Insider, said that the mandate had created a "hostile work environment" in the police department, and that their privacy and civil rights were being violated.

They asked the court to exempt them from the requirement.

Currently, the city's vaccine mandate allows people to be exempt under certain religious and medical criteria.

But the lawsuit said that some of the six "could not assert a medical or religious exemption" to the vaccine requirement. It also said that some of them had already "experienced and recovered from COVID-19" and have antibodies against the virus as a result.

The lawsuit also said that some police leaders had been "obstructing the process of submitting requests for medical or religious exemptions," and "have engaged in hostile attacks on those seeking exemptions to vaccination for medical or religious reasons."

The lawsuit also claimed that people who are exempt from coronavirus vaccination are punished with "invasive testing" that violates their privacy rights.

Of the six employees suing, one is a detective, one is a lieutenant, two are officers, and the two others have unknown roles in the department, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A spokesman for the LAPD told the LA Times that the police department could not comment on pending litigation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Three teenagers are accused of setting a fire that led to the death of a 70-year-old man in Maine over the weekend.

The blaze broke out at a six-story apartment building on Blake Street in Lewiston on Saturday afternoon, according to the Maine State Fire Marshals Office. First responders from multiple agencies were dispatched to the fire around 4:45 p.m., and the building was evacuated.

But as the blaze spread, Felicien Betu was still trapped in a sixth-floor apartment, the fire marshals office said.

As first responders were trying to reach him, Betu jumped from the top-floor window to escape the flames, according to fire officials. He died from his injuries.

Investigators with the fire marshals office launched an investigation into the fire and determined it was arson.

On Monday, two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old who are accused of setting the fire were arrested and taken to the Long Creek Correctional Facility, the fire marshals office said Tuesday.

Officials are still investigating, and no other information had been released as of Tuesday.

Lewiston is in southern Maine, about 34 miles from Augusta.

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Body wrapped in trash bags found by tugboat operator in Nashville river, police say
Activision Blizzard is facing still more legal action over its labor practices. As Game Developer reports, Activision Blizzard workers and the Communication Workers of America have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the game developer of using coercion (such as threats) and interrogation. While the filing doesn't detail the behavior, the employee group ABetterABK claimed Activision Blizzard tried to intimidate staff talking about forced arbitration for disputes.

Companies sometimes include employment clauses requiring arbitration in place of lawsuits. The approach typically favors businesses as arbitrations are often quicker than lawsuits, deny access to class actions and, most importantly, keep matters private. Work disputes are less likely to reach the public eye and prompt systemic change. Tech firms like Microsoft have ended arbitration for sexual harassment claims precisely to make sure those disputes are transparent and prevent harassers from going unchecked.

It's not clear how Activision Blizzard intends to respond. We've asked the company about the complaint. The NLRB has yet to say if it will take up the case.

The gaming giant has taken some action in response to California's sexual harassment lawsuit, dismissing three senior designers and a Blizzard president after they were referenced in the case. It has so far been reluctant to discuss structural changes, though. The NLRB complaint might intensify the pressure for reform, and certainly won't help Activision Blizzard's image.
Colson Whitehead and Honoree Fanonne Jeffers are two of the finalists

African American authors led the field of finalists for the eighth annual Kirkus Prize announced on Monday.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead is shortlisted in the fiction category for his highly-anticipated heist novel, Harlem Shuffle, while critically acclaimed poet Honoree Fanonne Jeffers earned the nod for her widely praised fiction debut, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois.

Jeffers epic literary novel is also an Oprah Book Club pick and bestselling phenomenon that has quickly sold out its first print run. Harlem Shuffle is Whiteheads 10th book and his first in the crime genre.

Nominees Colson Whitehead, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (Credit: Whiteheads official site, Jeffers Facebook page)

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Finalists include 18 books across the three categories honored by Kirkus: fiction, nonfiction, and literature for young readers. Other African American authors recognized today include Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, another debut author nominated in fiction for her eclectic short story collection My Monticello, which Whitehead called A badass debut by any measurenimble, knowing, and electrifying.

In nonfiction, Pittsburghs Brian Broome is nominated for his debut coming of age memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods, and Harvard University professor and historian Tiya Miles garnered her nod for All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashleys Sack, a Black Family Keepsake.

Within the young readers literature category which encompasses picture books, middle-grade books, and titles for young adults, three African American writers made the list.

Veteran childrens author, poet, and critic Carole Boston Weatherford is nominated for Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, which makes this important history accessible to children. Nikki Grimes is nominated for the beautifully illustrated poetry collection, Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, which shines a spotlight on lesser-known Black women poets of the period.

Coretta Scott King Medalist Sharon G. Flake earned her nod for The Life Im In, a sequel that explores the psyche and formative experiences of the antagonist from her beloved 1998 novel The Skin Im In.

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(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Though the Kirkus Prizes are relatively new in the literary field, having been founded in 2014, they are among the most lucrative in the industry. There is a total of $150K going to the three winners across three categories.

With the announcement, Kirkus Reviews editor-in-chief Tom Beer lauded the diversity of the field, noting that the mission of the Kirkus Prize, like Kirkus Reviews, is to recognize books that deserve the widest possible readership.

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In recent years, that roster has included a diverse group of writers including standout authors like Whitehead, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and in 2020, debut novelist Raven Leilani, who won for Luster.

Kirkus Reviews is a driving force in the publishing industry, covering over 10,000 books each year, and is widely read by decision-makers including booksellers and librarians, as well as avid readers and book lovers of all kinds.

Finalists are chosen by a four-judge panel of experts from various aspects of the book business, including authors, booksellers, librarians, and Kirkuss own critics and editors.

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The post African American authors lead the pack for Kirkus Prize nominees appeared first on TheGrio.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by the state Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount.

The high court without comment rejected the appeal filed after an appeals court and trial court both ruled the documents are public records that must be released. The court also dissolved a stay on the appeals court ruling it put in place on Aug. 24 so it could review the record and decide whether to accept the appeal.

The Arizona Court of Appeals had ruled that the documents sought by the watchdog group American Oversight detailing how the recount and audit are being conducted are public and must be turned over.

Republicans who control the Senate have tried for months to keep secret how their contractors are conducting the recount. They argued that because the records are maintained by Senate contractors, they were not subject to public records law and that legislative immunity applies. But the appeals court in its Aug. 19 ruling rejected that argument.

The court said the main contractor, Florida company Cyber Ninjas, was subject to the records law because it was performing a core government function that the Senate farmed out.

"Allowing the legislature to disregard the clear mandate of the (public records law) would undermine the integrity of the legislative process and discourage transparency, which contradicts the purpose of both the immunity doctrine and the (law)," acting presiding Judge Maria Elena Cruz wrote for the three-judge panel.

"The requested records are no less public records simply because they are in the possession of a third party, Cyber Ninjas, Cruz wrote later in the ruling.

A spokesman for Cyber Ninjas, Rod Thomson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Senate spokesman Mike Philipsen.

It is unclear when the records will actually be released. There is a previously scheduled status conference hearing set for Thursday before the trial court judge who issued the original order.

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The appeals court ruling came in a case filed by American Oversight that is fighting for transparency in the election recount and upheld a Maricopa County Superior Court judge's ruling. That judge also ordered the Senate to turn over audit records it held, and they were released on Aug. 31.

Arizonans can look forward to much needed transparency, even if it may reveal gross attacks on democracy itself, Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.

The unprecedented partisan recount and review of election results in the state's most populous county was prompted by former President Donald Trump's loss in the state and his contention without evidence that he lost in Arizona and other battleground states because of fraud.

Senate Republicans issued subpoenas to Maricopa County for all 2020 ballots, the machines that counted them and other data in the states most populated county.

The materials were given to contractors with little to no election experience for what Senate President Karen Fann calls a forensic audit. Election experts say the 2020 election was secure and well-run, and the contractors are using bizarre and unreliable procedures. Maricopa County has refused further participation.

The results of the audit and hand recount are expected to be handed over to the Senate at any time. But there have been repeated delays. The Senate then plans to review what is expected to be a three-volume report before it is released to the public.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday also rejected an appeal in another public records case involving the Senate election audit. In that case, Cyber Ninjas and the Senate were sued for failing to release records by the company that owns the Arizona Republic newspaper. Cyber Ninjas wanted the case moved to a different trial court judge, but under pandemic rules issued by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, the automatic right to ask for a different judge was suspended.

Cyber Ninjas argued that denying it the ability to seek a new judge improperly deprived it of a valuable substantive right. The high court without comment declined to consider a challenge to its own order, although two of seven justices would have heard the case.

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report.
LONDON (Reuters) - Banks should hold their nerve in the face of European Union pressure to shift euro derivatives clearing from London to the bloc, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday.

Since Britain fully left the EU last December, the bloc has asked banks to move euro clearing from London, which accounts for the bulk of activity, to Frankfurt.

So far, banks and their customers have put on a united front against relocating clearing, saying it would bump up costs by splitting markets.

Bailey said banks were waiting rather than shifting euro positions as a June 2022 deadline looms when temporary permission for London clearers to serve EU customers ends.

"The right thing to do is to wait for the moment. The cost of moving and fragmenting are too large," Bailey told a Bloomberg event.

"While waiting is sensible from the point of view of the banks, it puts the responsibility on the authorities to sort the thing out," Bailey said.

However, negotiations with the EU at the present time have not been particularly intense, but the BoE was happy to give EU regulators the assurances they need, he said.

"If they want to take a decision to break the system up, then it's important to consider the risks to financial stability that come with fragmentation."

Clearers in the United States already have EU permission to serve customers in the bloc.

"We could see some clearing of euro instruments switch to New York from London if this does not get sorted out," NatWest bank chairman Howard Davies told the same event.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Ernest Scheyder

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp Chief Executive Mark Bristow spent years burnishing his reputation as an aggressive dealmaker, but he says now he is focused on new mines that he hopes will boost profit and the company's sagging stock price.

The strategy eschews the acquisition appetite that made Barrick what it is today and instead pins the company's growth on exploration projects in Egypt, Nevada, Guyana and elsewhere.

"The very foundation of our future has to be our geologists and where we are investing," Bristow told Reuters on the sidelines of the MINExpo conference in Las Vegas, the quadrennial gathering of industry executives and suppliers. "Organic growth is always a winner when it comes to value."

Barrick's shares have lagged rival Newmont Corp and the S&P 500 this year, putting pressure on Bristow and his management team. But Bristow said that by funding exploration, rather than striking deals, Barrick's costs should drop over time, boosting revenue.

"We've got to balance the short-term-ism that fund managers want ... with the fact that we are investing capital for the long term," he said. "You've got to be patient."

Bristow, 62, has long implored his fellow CEOs to buy each other. Last autumn, he called for industry consolidation as the best way to avert a "serious reserve crisis" looming for the sector.

He formed the existing Barrick when it bought his Africa-focused Randgold Resources in 2019. A few months later, Bristow made an $18 billion hostile bid for Newmont, a deal that eventually fizzled but not before both companies formed a Nevada joint venture.

Integrating all those corporate cultures was complicated, Bristow said, but a process almost complete that should help the company focus on growing.

The newfound focus on internal growth comes as Bristow pushes the mining industry to better invest in host communities.

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"They are stakeholders that are as important as our own shareholders," he said.

"BETTER FISH TO FRY"

Bristow said the company will strike a deal should an appealing one present itself, which he described as a mine that can produce 500,000 ounces of gold annually "for a long time" and be profitable at gold prices of $1,200 an ounce. But he stressed that acquisitions would be a secondary focus.

As a tangible sign that his deal interest may be cooling, Bristow said he has no interest in buying a stake in Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines, which government-controlled mining investment arm ZCCM-IH took control of from Glencore Plc earlier this year. ZCCM has said it is searching for an external investment partner.

Bristow also in the past year repeatedly floated a buyout of rival Freeport-McMoRan Inc, saying such a tie-up would make logical sense. Now, though, that interest is gone.

"It was absolutely the right thing to consider," Bristow said. "But right now, today, I think there are better fish to fry than Freeport."

Toronto-based Barrick has no interest in nickel, lithium or other metals used to make electric vehicles and will deepen its focus on copper and gold, which are often found together geologically, Bristow added.

Separately, Bristow said he supports Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema's plan to rework mining policies and boost industry investment.

He added that he is eager to complete a deal with Papau New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape to restart the Porgera gold mine after a protracted licensing fight.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Sep. 14The Berea Police Department is growing by four small paws.

On Saturday, Sept. 11, the Berea Police Department introduced their newest team member  a nameless golden retriever pup  to the community via the department's Facebook page.

The department is enlisting the help of the community to name their newest comrade.

"Today, we picked up our newest team member and he needs a name. With a lot of donations and community help, we are thrilled to announce our (first) ever community service dog for Berea," the post read.

According to the post, this dog will work with kids in local schools as a therapy dog and be a resource for BPD officers to assist Zinnia Hensley, community resource officer, when dealing with victims of crimes.

The police canine will also work to assist BPD officers with their mental health and wellbeing.

Ofc. Michael Rothermel, a hometown Berea native, was chosen to be the dog's handler.

"Rothermel is very skilled with K9s and looks forward to working with all of Berea in utilizing our newest member for the betterment of Bereans," a post from BPD noted.

The post asked community members to suggest several names for the new canine. Those suggestions will be narrowed down this week to three names.

After that, the department will give citizens a chance to vote for their favorite name.

Once the votes are tallied, the department will get his collar and badge ready for him to be sworn in.

As of Monday morning, the post had received nearly 450 responses suggesting names for the new member.

Of those, Chase (like the dog from children's show Paw Patrol) is a strong contender. However, other names specific to Berea have been shared. Some examples include Arty after the Artisan Center, or Pin, short for Pinnacles. Boone was also suggested heavily in reference to Daniel Boone.

The purchase of the new Berea canine was done in partnership through donations from businesses as well as the community including Berea Walmart, Richmond Veterinary Clinic (Dr. Putnam), Bruer Farms Doodles, The Berea Police Association and the citizens of Berea.
We know many Illinois residents who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are wondering, whats next? Some told the Tribune they felt half vaccinated now that the contagious delta variant has emerged.

Health officials are still collecting data on possible boosters for those who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as U.S. officials plan boosters as early as the fall. Heres what people who got the J&J vaccine should know:

1. You should feel reassured about the protection that you have. Dr. Michelle Prickett, who has worked in Northwesterns COVID-19 intensive care unit throughout the pandemic, said the vaccines all work well. She said that for vaccinated people who are hospitalized, it is primarily vulnerable populations with less severe cases. Unvaccinated people are still coming in with very progressive respiratory failure and the COVID-19 pneumonia that was so dangerous last year and continues to be. She has not noticed one vaccine or another sticking out more among hospitalized patients. The main point I would stress is people that are vaccinated do much better than people that are unvaccinated, she said.

Dial Hewlett, head of the division of disease control at the Westchester County Department of Health and a fellow at the Infectious Diseases Society of America, noted that all vaccines are preventing severe disease and death; he noted that we are not seeing large numbers of hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated populations.

In short, all the vaccines are helpful. Before the delta variant began to spread, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 66% effective at preventing COVID-19, while Pfizer and Moderna were 95% and 94%, respectively, although all three were highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death.

I think we can say without a doubt that all three of the vaccines have been effective against the delta variant, which has been the predominant string thats been here in the U.S. for the last probably six weeks, Hewlett said. New studies from the CDC showed unvaccinated people were 10 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 11 times more likely to die.

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2. Mixing and matching vaccines might be OK, but experts counsel patience. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discourages J&J recipients from getting a booster of another vaccine. Earlier guidance from the CDC said in situations where the first dose was received but the patient could not complete the series with the same vaccine, consideration can be given to vaccination with a J&J vaccine, under the supervision of a health care provider.

I think most of us in the medical community feel that that really shouldnt be done unless you absolutely have to, Hewlett said. You will get the maximum benefit, he added, if you use a product that is identical to the first product that your body was exposed to.

3. If you are immunocompromised, talk to your doctor. For right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are only suggesting booster shots for immunocompromised people who received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. But Hewlett notes this vulnerable population, such as people undergoing chemotherapy or who have had organ transplants, are often seen by specialist physicians who can counsel them as to whether they would advise seeking out a Moderna or Pfizer booster shot.

4. Theres a lot we dont know  about transmission, for example. Hewlett said we dont have the data yet to understand whether, for example, J&J recipients contract or spread the virus more easily than those who got the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. We also dont know how long protection lasts, exactly, although the vaccines that were initially given out early in the year still seem to be effective. Still, these questions and more are why Prickett advises maintaining cautions in your life such as masking and social distancing.

5. We should know more soon. In an Aug. 18 statement from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and other officials, they said they expected more data on J&J in coming weeks and pledged to keep the public informed with a timely plan for J&J booster shots as well. J&J data collection is different from the Moderna and Pfizer for multiple reasons; the rollout began later, and the shot uses different technology. Hewlett said he understands that people are frustrated by the lack of immediate data and subsequent guidance, but he notes that this is for good reason. The nations agencies have strict research protocol, and we should be reassured, he said, by a stringent  if slow  process to find out more. I think that all of us should be very reassured with the process that we have, he said.

Chicago Tribunes Lisa Schencker contributed.

abowen@chicagotribune.com
(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is seeking to raise $12 billion to $15 billion for its third flagship private equity fund after making a string of acquisitions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Toronto-based firm is expected to start fundraising later this month and complete it by early 2022, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

In a letter to shareholders in August, Brookfield Chief Executive Officer Bruce Flatt said he wanted to bring in $100 billion for deals and grow each of the firms flagship funds to more than $25 billion in capital over time. To achieve that, Brookfield is bolstering its investor ranks. Flatt said the firm now has 2,000 clients globally, up from 425 five years ago.

A representative for Brookfield declined to comment.

At $15 billion, the new fund would be two-thirds larger than the $9 billion raised for a 2019 buyout pool. A prior fund brought in $4 billion in 2016. Those vehicles each had a net internal rate of return of about 30%, the people said.

Three recent acquisitions by its private equity arm, Brookfield Business Partners, pushed it past the threshold that typically triggers the firm to start raising additional capital, or more than 75% of the money allocated. Those deals included the $5 billion acquisition of Modulaire Group, a provider of modular leasing services in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, and the purchase of trucking-parts supplier DexKo Global Inc. for $3.4 billion.

Brookfields buyout division had roughly $77 billion in assets under management at the end of the second quarter, according to its website. Thats up from $17.8 billion at same point five years ago. As with previous funds, Brookfield Business Partners is expected to be the largest investor in the new fund and will likely commit more than $3 billion, the people said.

Investors continue to pour vast sums of money into the private equity industry in search of higher returns in the low interest rate environment. In July, Hellman & Friedman raised $24.4 billion for its biggest fund to date. Soon after, Carlyle Group Inc. said it was seeking to raise the industrys largest-ever private equity pool.

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(Adds detail on private equity fundraising in final paragraph.)

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Members of the Kentucky National Guard. Gary Williams/Getty Images

The governor of Massachusetts activated the National Guard on Monday to drive school buses.

Amid chaotic bus-driver shortages, 250 guard members are now set to help with school transportation.

The shortage made districts delay start dates, offer daily bonuses, and pay parents $1,000 stipends.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker activated the National Guard on Monday to drive school buses as the driver shortage continues to force school delays and interruptions around the country.

Baker's order enlists 250 guard members to drive school transport vans, with 90 set to start training on Tuesday.

"We asked a bunch of communities if they'd be interested in having Guard people drive vehicles for them, especially the smaller buses," Baker said in a briefing on Monday. "A bunch of communities said if you can figure out the legal issues and the paperwork and all the rest, that would be great."

According to the briefing, the local driver shortage persisted in part because of an increased demand for applicants with commercial driver's licenses, a permit held by many National Guard members.

"We've had conversations with colleagues in municipal governments about the issue with drivers, but nobody was really sure where it was going to land," Baker said. "Once it became clear that there were going to be communities that were shorthanded - wasn't going to be a vehicle issue, but an issue with CDLs - we started talking to the Guard."

School districts around the country have offered bonuses and raised wages in order to recruit and retain bus drivers amid the shortage.

While the incentives helped in some areas, several schools have been forced to push back the first day of class or start virtually because of shortages and mass resignations.

Pittsburgh Public Schools delayed school openings by two weeks because of transportation issues caused by the shortage. The announcement caused protests by both parents and students, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

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The Rochester City School District in New York planned to start high school remotely while it attempted to hire 78 bus drivers, with more drivers resigning each day.

After a tearful emergency board meeting, the district stepped back on the plan and allowed students to start class in person. But students stranded without a ride to school have to attend class virtually, The Democrat & Chronicle reported.

Other districts are paying parents to transport their own kids to and from school. EastSide Charter School in Delaware is offering parents $700 for every child they drive.

In Chicago, more than 70 public-school bus drivers quit right before the school year began because of vaccination requirements, Insider's Madison Hoff reported.

The school system responded to the sudden resignations by paying parents $1,000 stipends to use however they want on transportation such as public transit, Uber, or Lyft for the first two weeks of school, CBS Chicago reported. After that, they'll get $500 per month.

"According to the bus companies, the rush of resignations was likely driven by the vaccination requirements," CPS said in a statement. "As a result, the district went from being able to provide all eligible students a bus route to being unable to accommodate transportation for approximately 2,100 students, within a matter of days."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Daily Beast

Michael M Santiago/GettyImagesProsecutors have discovered a tranche of evidence in the basement of a co-conspirator in the Trump Organization tax fraud case, a defense lawyer for indicted chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg revealed in court on Monday, with the attorney also signaling that more shoes are yet to drop in New Yorks ongoing investigation.We have strong reason to believe there could be other indictments coming, Weisselbergs lawyer, Bryan C. Skarlatos, said in Manhattan crim
A man found guilty of a gun crime was sentenced to 324 months in federal prison Tuesday, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas announced.

A Fort Worth jury convicted Abedel Sattar Alkheqani, 27, of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in March. He was sentenced Tuesday afternoon by Senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means. In the press release from U.S. Attorney Prerak Shahs office, Alkheqani is referred to as a career criminal.

Alkheqanis sentence was enhanced due to his prior felony convictions. He has been convicted five times, including four times for burglary. The Armed Career Criminal Act raises the maximum penalty for offenders with three previous convictions for a violent felony or serious drug offense.

According to the news release, Alkheqani was arrested in March 2020 after Arlington police identified him as a suspect in a shooting in a residential neighborhood in Arlington.

Witnesses told law enforcement that a man matching Alkheqanis description got out of a pickup truck with a pistol in his hand and fired three times as the victim tried to run away, the release said. The victim was hit multiple times and hospitalized, but ultimately recovered.

Based on witnesses descriptions of the suspects truck and surveillance video, officers found the truck used in the shooting about a half-mile from the scene. The truck was registered to Alkheqani.

When officers pulled Alkheqani over a few hours later, they found marijuana in his jacket pocket and arrested him for possession. He then gave written consent for officers to search his home and vehicle, the release said.

Law enforcement found a single round of 9mm caliber ammunition in Alkheqanis truck, which matched the manufacturer and caliber of the shell casings recovered at the shooting scene. At his home, they found a .22-caliber rifle beside his bed and a magazine containing ammunition for the rifle within arms reach.

Alkheqani told officers that the rifle was his wifes, but in recorded jailhouse calls, Alkheqani asked his wife, Is my rifle still there? before correcting himself and stating, I mean your rifle.

Forensic analysis later showed gunshot residue was found on Alkheqani on the day of the shooting.

The Arlington Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives Dallas Field Division conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Levi Thomas and Frank Gatto tried the case.
Politicians, tourism officials and arts leaders gathered outdoors Tuesday morning at the gateway to Navy Pier in an event designed to signal the return of live shows to Chicago and to highlight the need for audience support.

Navy Pier will host a series of outdoor performances Sept. 24-25. Dubbed Chicago LIVE Again, the two-day festival, which will be free, is slated to include performances produced by Broadway in Chicago, Chicago Childrens Choir, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Theater, Northlight Theatre, Black Ensemble Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance and other local cultural institutions and artists.

Tuesdays event featured brief live performances by Chicago Shakespeare and Blue Man Group, which recently reopened at the Briar Street Theatre.

Your creativity kept us together while we were apart, said Marilynn Gardner, the CEO of Navy Pier. And you will lead our city in the recovery.

Other speeches praising the vitality and resilience of the arts in Chicago were delivered by a variety of people, including Chicago first lady Amy Eshleman; Mark Kelly, the retiring commissioner of cultural affairs and special events; and Eileen LaCario, vice president of Broadway in Chicago.

The arts must be at the center of bringing Chicago back, said Eshleman, both downtown and in all 77 neighborhoods.

Performances (which are mostly musical) will run continuously on the two main stages within Polk Bros Park at the Pier from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 24 and from noon to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 25. The festival, which was funded by the Pritzker Foundation and the Illinois Office of Tourism, is designed for standing audiences, although attendees are welcome to bring blankets and lawn chairs.

At 9:45 p.m. Sept. 25, the Navy Pier fireworks, funded by an anonymous donor, will be themed around the return of Chicago theater. More at navypier.org.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Reuters

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the resumption of face-to-face classes in areas deemed low risk for COVID-19, with up to 120 schools to join a two-month pilot reopening run, his education minister said on Monday. The Philippines is among 17 countries globally where schools have been closed for the entirety of the pandemic, according to a report https://www.reuters.com/world/unicef-calls-schools-reopen-pandemic-hit-nations-2021-09-16 last week by the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, highlighting what it called "18 months of lost learning". Duterte has held off on reopening schools https://reut.rs/3EBJZbU, sticking to a vow to keep them shut until a vaccine was available, warning that doing otherwise "spells disaster".
Two men are a step closer to sharing a $20.5 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging a former Chicago police detective framed them for a 1993 murder  the latest case involving the notorious detective to unravel amid questions about his conduct.

The Chicago City Councils Finance Committee approved the payment to Armando Serrano and Jose Montanez in their federal lawsuit against the city and retired detective Reynaldo Guevara. The full council will consider it Tuesday.

Each plaintiff is in line for $10.25 million. If the council agrees to the deal, that will make nearly $60 million in payments by Chicago taxpayers in lawsuits alleging wrongful convictions by Guevara.

Montanez and Serrano were convicted in the fatal shooting of Rodrigo Vargas in his van as he left his Humboldt Park apartment for work.

They were convicted on the testimony of a heroin-addict man who was facing felony charges and allegedly told Guevara the two men had confessed to the Vargas murder. But in 2004, the man recanted his testimony, saying Guevara had fed him the story.

Guevara had not consented to testify in the lawsuit, city lawyer Jeff Levine said Monday, so the witness version would not be challenged by that of the former detective if the case went to trial.

Guevara has come under fire over dozens of allegations that he bullied witnesses and framed innocent people in dozens of cases.

In 2009, Juan Johnson won a $21 million verdict in his wrongful conviction lawsuit against Guevara, who Johnson alleged framed him for a 1989 murder.

In 2018, a jury awarded more than $17 million to Jacques Rivera for his wrongful conviction after he said Guevara and two other detectives framed him for a 1988 murder on Chicagos West Side.

The previous year, prosecutors dropped the case against Gabriel Solache and Arturo Reyes, whod been convicted in a 1998 killing, after Judge James Obbish discredited Guevaras testimony and threw out the convictions. The retired detective had repeatedly said on the witness stand that he didnt recall details of the investigation but the judge called his testimony bald-faced lies.

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(Guevara) has now eliminated the possibility of being considered a credible witness in any proceeding, Obbish said. Its a troubling day.

A Cook County judge also tossed charges against Roberto Almodovar and William Negron, whod been convicted in 1995 of a double homicide on the strength of witness testimony obtained in part by Guevara.

Guevara has repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned about the accusations against him.

But at least 18 men whose cases were tied to alleged misconduct by Guavara  some of whom served years or decades in prison  have had their convictions thrown out. An alleged corruption racket in the predominantly Latino West Side neighborhoods where Guavara worked included claims of trumped up murder charges, drug dealer shake-downs and monetary payoffs to alter the outcome of police line-ups.

Also Monday, the committee held off voting on a separate $425,000 proposed settlement for Dejuan Harris, who was shot by an officer in 2016 after, according to polices account, he pointed a gun at them. Harris said he only threw away a gun as he fled police after they pulled over a car in which he was a passenger.

Several aldermen said they doubted Harris version of events, and the city should stop rewarding people with sizable payments for bad behavior.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com
NEW YORK  The reputed octogenarian boss of the Colombo crime family and his top two aides were busted Tuesday morning on racketeering and extortion charges over their menacing move to seize control of a local labor union, court documents charge.

Family head Andrew (Mush) Russo, 87, underboss Benjamin Castellazzo and consigliere Ralph DiMatteo were among those arrested as the Colombo hierarchy took a major hit, according to a federal indictment. The 14 suspects also included four captains in the crime family, including the nephew of legendary boss Carmine (Junior) Persico, with one defendant still at large, authorities said.

In addition to racketeering, the charges included loansharking, money laundering, drug trafficking and a construction safety scam, officials charged. According to the indictment, alleged family captain Vincent Ricciardo threatened to murder a construction union boss who was forced to surrender a portion of his annual income to the mob.

(The union head) knows Ill put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids, right in front of his f---ing house, Ricciardo was quoted as saying in court papers. You laugh all you want, pal, Im not afraid to go to jail. Let me tell you something, to prove a point? I would f---ing shoot him right in front of his wife and kids. Call the police.

F--- it, let me go. How long you think Im gonna last anyway?

The Colombos allegedly first started the shakedown in 2001 of the union representing construction workers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The familys top echelon became involved two years ago, the 46-page indictment charges, with an eye on turning the union into a mob-run operation.

The investigation revealed that the collection of salary payments from Labor Union personnel was only one facet of a broader plan to take total control of the Labor Union and more lucrative Health Fund, according to the indictment.

Ricciardo, known as Vinny Unions, explained the mobs future plans for the union in another conversation, court papers allege.

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Im gonna put an assistant administrator in there with youse, a legitimate guy, he said in another recorded chat. Youse are gonna have a trustee meeting, youse are gonna hire him as an assistant administrator, whatever the f--- you do, and hes gonna call all the shots.

Russo, the familys longtime boss, continued to run the Colombos from behind bars after his 2011 arrest and subsequent release, authorities charge. His rap sheet includes seven prior convictions, including bribery, racketeering and witness tampering. Russo took over the family from his imprisoned cousin and fellow boss Carmine Persico.

Colombo captain Theodore Persico Jr., one of the late mob bosss nephews, was also arrested, with court papers detailing plans for his rise to head of the family once the elderly Russo stepped down.

Everything we allege in this investigation proves history does indeed repeat itself, said Michael Driscoll, FBI assistant director in charge of the New York office. The underbelly of the crime families in New York City is alive and well.

Russo was most recently arrested in January 2011, eventually pleading guilty to federal charges. Authorities said he was the Colombo street boss at the time  and captured him discussing mob business in recorded conversations.

I dont hesitate, Ive never hesitated to use violence against mobsters who stepped out of line, he said in a recorded chat.

Russo, once a schoolboy friend of Godfather star James Caan, famously disappeared in 1981 after a federal indictment and was believed dead by the FBI  only to resurface at a court hearing after his attorney arranged for the mobsters surrender.

Ricciardo was caught on another recorded call discussing a suspected informant inside the family.

Oh no, hes dead now, hes finished, he said. He signed his own death certificate.
The Daily Beast

YouTubeThe last text Gabby Petito sent before she went missing while road-tripping across the U.S. with her fiance set off alarm bells for her mother, who became fearful for the 22-year-olds safety after receiving the odd message.Thats according to a newly-unsealed search warrant giving North Port, Florida, police permission to search a hard drive investigators found in Petitos white van, which she and Brian Laundrie, 23, had been using to tour the countrys national parks.The text message
Next week on Coronation Street (ITV)

Norris has saved a big surprise for his own funeral, while Zeedan is left battered mere days after his return to the neighbourhood. And will Kelly find out that Gary killed her dad Rick?

Read on for all the latest Coronation Street spoilers in the week of 20-24 September 2021.

Zeedan is attacked

It doesnt take long for Zeedans comeback to go pear-shaped. In fact, on Monday, the Weatherfield returnee will be seen launching a verbal attack on Ryan for cheating on Alya, only to then be beaten up himself.

Zeedan Nazir [QASIM AHKTAR] (ITV)

In the aftermath, Zeedan tries to frame Ryan by claiming that he was the one who caused his injuries.

Read more: Next week on EastEnders

Read more: Next week on Emmerdale

But, pretty soon, Yasmeen and Alya have managed to get the truth out of Zee about the trouble hes in.

Bombshells at Norriss funeral

Norris's send-off will descend into acrimony when Billy reads out a letter written by the man himself prior his death. In it, he teases that the paperboy statue outside the Kabin contains a secret and then reveals that Rita used to surreptitiously have her hair coloured by Claudia rather than Audrey.

Claudia Colby [RULA LENSKA]. Ken Barlow [WILLIAM ROACHE], Freda Burgess [ALI BRIGGS} (ITV)

The bombshell disclosure results in the two women rowing at the wake, while over at the Kabin, Mary chainsaws the paperboys head off in order to discover what lies inside

Kelly discovers the truth about her dad?

When news breaks at the prison that shes Rick Neelans daughter, Kelly finds her fellow inmate Mia in a state of shock. Mia explains that Rick is the reason shes locked up and why her mum is dead, but a stunned Kelly insists that hes now living in Spain and has paid her legal fees.

Kelly Neelan [MILLIE GIBSON] (ITV)

Mia is far from convinced and blurts out that she reckons someone has done away with Rick  all of which leads to Kelly calling Gary and demanding that he tell her the truth about whats happened to her dad.

Gemma and Freda argue over Aled

Despite Gemmas assurances that shell maintain links with other deaf people following Aleds operation, Freda cant help but be annoyed when she overhears talk of how the youngster will be normal once he has his cochlear implants.

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Freda [ALI BRIGGS], Gemma Winter [DOLLY-ROSE CAMPBELL] (ITV)

Freda then offers to take Aled out for a walk, but Gemma is later left panicked when the two of them fail to return home. Eventually, the pair are tracked down to the community centre, but Gemma is thrown when Freda refuses to hand Aled over.

Davids feud with Daniel

After Daniel offers to help Summer with her university application, David cries foul and tears a strip off him for his supposed favouritism.

David suggests that, given Daniels history with Bethany, he probably fancies Summer - a jibe that is overheard by Max. The next day at school, Max makes a dig at Daniel, likening his relationship with Bethany to that of Romeo and Juliet.

Daniel Osbourne [ROB MALLARD], David Platt [JACK P SHEPHERD], Max Turner [PADDY BEVER] (ITV)

But when Daniels wallet later goes missing, hes quick to accuse Max and demand that he empties his pockets. Witnessing the commotion, David intervenes and warns Daniel that therell be payback for his actions. Daisy, meanwhile, tries to calm Daniel down, telling him that hes risking his career with no proof of Maxs guilt.

Watch the latest Coronation Street spoilers
Nicaja Taylor, 14, during a therapy session at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. Nicaja was diagnosed with COVID last spring and hospitalized when she couldn't get enough oxygen.

High school is hard enough when youre healthy and strong. But when its difficult to breathe and take steps because of nerve damage, when youre crippled by anxiety and living through a pandemic, it is even harder.

Still, Nicaja Taylor, 14, tried to be optimistic in early August as she pedaled an exercise bike during a physical therapy session, looking ahead to the day later that month when shed walk into Wyoming High School for the first time.

Im very excited about that, but also very nervous. I have never even seen the inside of the school before, she said. It has two floors, and its a big school, so Im afraid Ill get lost.

Nicaja  who loves anime, Marvel movies and fantasy novels  also is worried she might not be able to handle the stairs at her new school in the western Michigan city that borders Grand Rapids.

She had asthma before she contracted the coronavirus in April and was hospitalized for a week.

It wasnt too bad at first, she said. I kept going back to the hospital because I couldnt breathe. ... The last time I went there, I really couldnt breathe and I had to be on an oxygen machine. And then, I think that next day, I was in the ICU.

When it came time for her to leave Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital, Nicaja couldnt walk. She had nerve pain in her left leg. She was so tired, all she wanted to do was sleep.

And she was coping with an altogether new diagnosis: Type 2 diabetes. The anxiety that had nagged her most of her life was at an all new level.

In the beginning, it was a lot just to take in, said her mother, Jovonne Taylor. I was stressed  and if your child is not doing well, youre not doing well.

Nicaja takes a water break during her therapy session at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.

Nicaja needed to spend a week at a rehabilitation hospital to build strength and recover before she could go home.

Her degree of disability ... was much more than expected with her lung infection and likely exacerbated by long COVID-19 effects, said Dr. Doug Henry, a pediatric physiatrist who treated Nicaja at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.

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She had lung tissue damage from the virus that compromised her bodys ability to oxygenate her blood, he said, and her obesity put increased pressure on a nerve in her leg.

We do not know for sure if her COVID-19 infection caused her diabetes, but the time frame is there, Henry said. There is evidence that COVID-19 can do this.

Nicaja and her mom have now fallen into a rhythm. Theyre eating better, exercising and coming regularly to outpatient therapy. But it wasnt easy getting from that panicked April to August.

COVID does weird things to people, Jovonne said.

Were just trying to help Nicaja right now cope with her feelings. She has coping skills, but sometimes she says, I dont want to use them. 

One creative outlet for Nicaja has been poetry. She pulled a notebook from her backpack and read from one shed recently written:

My legs are giving out. You cant stop now. Body dont give out, dont let me down.

I am your mind. I march in line, keeping everything fine. I cant breathe, waking up. Im awake. Its another day, another chance to change.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nicaja Taylor, 14, of Michigan got COVID in April, now has diabetes
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho's public health officials say crisis standards of care are imminent for the state's most populated region as hospitals continue to be overrun with unvaccinated coronavirus patients.

The southwestern and southern Idaho regions that include Boise and Twin Falls may get official authorization to begin rationing health care  a step intended to ensure the patients most likely to survive are given access to scarce resources like intensive care unit beds  any day now, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said Tuesday.

We continue to set new records each week, said Jeppesen about coronavirus hospitalizations. We do not see a peak in sight.

Hospitals in the northern half of the state were given permission to begin rationing care last week, when Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene was forced to begin treating some patients in a field hospital set up in a conference center instead of regular hospital rooms.

Nearly all the metrics we track are trending in the wrong direction, when it comes to coronavirus, deputy state epidemiologist Dr. Kathryn Turner said.

On Sept. 11, the state had more than 600 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, far beyond last winter's peak when 466 people were hospitalized. Coronavirus patients in intensive care units and on ventilators are also setting record highs in the state. The vast majority of them  more than 91%  are not vaccinated against coronavirus.

The highly contagious delta variant is sickening and sometimes killing more younger patients than the original variant, Turner said. In all of 2020, more than half of the COVID-19 deaths were among Idaho residents who were at least 80 years old, according to the department's numbers. This year, well over half of the deaths are in people aged 50 to 79, and just over 7% of the deaths were among even younger Idaho residents.

But even as the state continues to see new records in the number of people hospitalized or on ventilators with COVID-19, weekly vaccination rates are dropping. About 40,000 vaccine doses were administered during the week of Sept. 5, according to numbers from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, compared to 57,000 and 67,000 doses each of the two prior weeks.

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Still, many of Idaho's most powerful officials have been reluctant to support mask mandates or employment-based vaccine requirements. Idaho Gov. Brad Little has never issued a statewide mask mandate. Last week announced that he was working with Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden to see if they could use the court system to stop President Joe Biden from requiring that large employers mandate COVID-19 vaccines or implement routine COVID-19 testing.

Meanwhile, the governor  like state health officials  continues to urge residents to get vaccinated against coronavirus.

Such urging has been largely ineffective so far. Idaho remains one of the least-vaccinated states in the nation, with just 50% of its residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Reuters

Indian officials said on Tuesday they had seized nearly three tonnes of heroin originating from Afghanistan worth an estimated 200 billion rupees ($2.72 billion) amid the chaos following last month's takeover of the country by the Taliban. Afghanistan is the world's biggest illicit opiate supplier https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/profits-poppy-afghanistans-illegal-drug-trade-boon-taliban-2021-08-16, but since taking power, the Islamist Taliban have said they plan to ban the drug trade, without giving details on how. Two people had been arrested in connection with the haul and investigations were ongoing, an official in Gujarat said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak publicly.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Sen. Richard Blumenthal said America's failure in Afghanistan is ruining its global reputation.

He zeroed in on the fact Americans and Afghan allies were left behind after the last US troops departed.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there's about 100 Americans still in Afghanistan who want to leave.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on Tuesday told reporters that the US government's failure to evacuate all Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan is hurting the country's reputation.

"I feel very passionately that we are tainting America's reputation around the world but more importantly abandoning essential honor and moral imperative by failing to do more to evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies who put their lives on the line," Blumental said.

The Connecticut Democrat told CNN's Manu Raju he's "deeply disappointed that our State Department has failed to put more pressure on the Taliban" over the evacuations.

"My feeling is there has to be accountability," the senator added. "The time will come when we will finish an analysis and there will be accountability and we should hold responsible officials who failed to honor our promises."

Blumenthal's comments came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was being grilled by senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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The Biden administration has faced bipartisan criticism over its handling of the pullout, particularly over the fact that a few hundred Americans and thousands of Afghan allies were left behind. The US pulled out the last troops from Afghanistan in late August.

Blinken on Monday told House lawmakers "as of the end of last week, we had about 100 American citizens in Afghanistan who told us that they wish to leave the country."

At least some foreign nationals, including Americans, have been able to leave Afghanistan in the past week.

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During the congressional hearings on Afghanistan, Blinken has offered a full-throated defense of the withdrawal and the administration's approach to it. But he's faced fierce pushback from lawmakers in the process - including Democrats.

"Mr. Secretary, the execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed," Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday.

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan coincided with the Taliban's takeover of the country. In the final days of the evacuation, a terror attack linked to ISIS-K near the Kabul airport killed 13 US service members and 169 Afghans.

Read the original article on Business Insider
CAIRO (AP)  Egypts president met Tuesday with Libyas parliament speaker and a powerful military commander as Cairo pushes for the withdrawal of foreign forces and the holding of elections as scheduled in December.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received Speaker Aguila Saleh and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, in Cairo, the Egyptian leaders office said in a statement.

El-Sissi said his government would continue its efforts "with all Libyan brothers ... to hold the significant presidential and parliamentary vote by the end of this year.

He also reiterated calls for foreign forces and mercenaries to be pulled out of the oil-rich country.

Saleh and Hifter, whose forces run most of Libyas eastern and southern regions and oil facilities, are close allies to Egypt. In recent months, el-Sissis government has also reached out to officials in western Libya, apparently to counterbalance Turkeys influence there.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and split the oil-rich country between rival governments, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

In April 2019, Hifters forces, backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His 14-month-long campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military support of the Tripoli-based government with hundreds of Turkish troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.

U.N.-sponsored peace talks brought about a cease-fire last October and installed an interim government that is expected to lead the country into December elections. The cease-fire deal also required the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries within three months, a deadline that was never met.

The U.N. has estimated there have been 20,000 foreign forces and mercenaries, mostly Syrian, Turkish, Russian and Sudanese, in the North African nation. The presence of foreign fighters and mercenaries is a major hurdle to holding the planned vote.

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Libyan lawmakers have failed to finalize a legal framework for voting to take place, throwing the election schedule into doubt.

With mounting international pressure, the parliament earlier this month adopted a controversial presidential electoral law and said it is in the process of finalizing it for parliamentary elections, according to the U.N.'s envoy to Libya.

However, the High Council of State, an executive institution that among other duties proposes electoral laws, complained that the law was adopted without consulting its members, which could derail the roadmap.
Emma Chamberlain attends the 2021 Met Gala celebrating "In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art" on September 13, 2021. in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Emma Chamberlain glistened in head-to-toe gold at the Met Gala on Monday night.

Her custom Louis Vuitton dress featured plenty of cutouts.

The YouTube star paired her '70s look with hoop earrings and green eye shadow.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Emma Chamberlain set the tone for the first Met Gala since the pandemic with a glittering gold dress.

The YouTube star made her debut at fashion's biggest night in a daring Louis Vuitton dress with plenty of cutouts.

Nicolas Ghesquiere designed the custom dress for Chamberlain to fit the "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" theme.

Emma Chamberlain at the 2021 Met Gala. John Shearer / Contributor / Getty Images

The sparkling gown features an asymmetrical skirt and a chain-link back.

"I knew that I wanted something more open on top," Chamberlain told PopSugar. "There were a few things I had in mind, but generally I just gave everybody control."

Chamberlain paired the look with dangling gold hoop earrings and bold green eye shadow that added to the '70s vibe of her ensemble.

Emma Chamberlain attends the 2021 Met Gala celebrating "In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art" on September 13, 2021 in New York City. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

"What I really love about the dress is the daintiness," Chamberlain told the site. "I felt like it would fit my body in a way that was comfortable, but it also just gave me a certain feeling. "

"When I look at a piece of clothing, I focus less on a specific feature or element and more on the subconscious feeling it gives me," she added.

Read the original article on Insider
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic inequities that women and minority workers and business owners already faced, reinforcing gender roles and widening racial disparities.

Driving the news: Against this backdrop, a new partnership between the National Urban League and the moderate Democratic think tank Third Way wants to level the playing field for entrepreneurs  and plans to push for federal action, Axios has learned.

Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free

The initiative, Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity, aims to create an agenda of policies that will eventually be supported by Congress and President Biden.

Expected to be on that agenda: equalizing access to capital, networks and markets for minority and women entrepreneurs.

Why it matters: While many grassroots efforts exist to improve entrepreneurial equity, very few are focused on effecting long-term changes at the federal level.

Context: One study from Yelp from earlier this year found that women-owned businesses, Latino-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses were more likely to close and reopen two or more times, compared to other businesses.

More than half (51%) of Black-owned small businesses have less than three months cash, compared to 44% of all small business owners, according to a recent Goldman Sachs survey.

What theyre saying: Throughout the pandemic, "we've seen the power of Congress and the federal government in [bringing a] historic amount of change to small businesses," Imani Augustus, Director of AEE, tells Axios.

The big picture: From government funding to reconciliation, the talk on Capitol Hill this year has been about rebuilding the economy  and specifically, how to create a post-COVID economy that is more inclusive and equitable, adds Gabe Horwitz, senior vice president of the economic program at Third Way.

The bottom line: We need far more small businesses, period, Horwitz says.

More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free
By Reuters Staff

(Reuters) - COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will be made widely available to Americans this month, while several other countries including Britain, Israel, Germany and France, have decided to offer boosters to older adults and people with weak immune systems.

There is no consensus yet among scientists and agencies that a third dose is necessary.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Aug. 18 that current data does not indicate a need for booster shots, and has repeatedly called for a delay, arguing that the most vulnerable people worldwide should be fully vaccinated before high-income countries deploy a top-up.

British officials on Sept. 14 recommended that all vulnerable people, frontline health staff and those aged over 50 be offered a booster shot.

The African Union's top health official said on Sept. 9. that rich nations would do better to send COVID-19 vaccines to Africa rather than hoarding them for domestic third-dose booster shots that scientific evidence does not back.

The following outlines the options countries and regions are considering on the issue:

UNITED STATES

Federal health authorities are discussing shortening the timeline for COVID-19 booster shots to allow additional doses sooner than the eight-month window officials have been targeting, President Joe Biden said on Aug. 27.

Health officials said earlier in August that booster shots will be made widely available from Sept. 20 to Americans who received their initial inoculation of two-dose COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and by Pfizer and BioNTech at least eight months earlier.

EUROPEAN UNION

European Union countries that decide to use COVID-19 vaccine booster shots may face increased legal risks because the additional dose has not yet been recommended by the EU drugs regulator, the European Commission said on Aug. 26.

The EU drugs regulator said on Aug. 6 there is still not enough data to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Recent supply contracts with Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have included the potential for the bloc to buy booster shots.

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ARGENTINA

Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said on Aug. 31 the capacity to give a booster shot to health workers and people with weaker immune systems might be evaluated in November.

AUSTRIA

Austria plans to start COVID-19 vaccine booster shots on Oct. 17, nine months after the first group of people to get the shots received their second dose.

BELGIUM

Belgium has authorised the use of boosters  specifically mRNA shots - for immunosuppressed people. More data is needed before considering extra shots for the elderly and people living in nursing homes.

BRITAIN

British officials said on Tuesday as they recommended all vulnerable people, frontline health staff and those aged over 50 be offered a booster shot. They said COVID-19 vaccines have saved more than 112,000 lives and averted 24 million cases of the disease.

It has said it would buy 60 million more doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine ahead of the booster programme, bringing its total order of the shot to 100 million doses.

BRAZIL

Brazilians should prepare for annual COVID-19 immunisations to reinforce vaccines, the head of public-sector laboratory Butantan said in May.

CAMBODIA

Cambodia started on Aug. 12 offering AstraZeneca booster shots to those who have received the inactivated virus vaccines developed by Sinopharm and Sinovac.

CANADA

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization released on Sept. 10 a report https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/summary-september-10-2021-additional-dose-covid-19-vaccine-immunocompromised-following-1-2-dose-series.html recommending booster shots of an authorized mRNA vaccine to those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised.

CHILE

Chile began on Aug. 11 administering booster shots to those already inoculated with Sinovac's vaccine in a bid to lock in early success following one of the world's fastest mass vaccination drives.

CHINA

By the end of October, the country is expected to complete giving regular regimen doses to 1.1 billion people as well as booster shots to limited groups such as the elderly and high-risk employees.

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech government will offer a booster COVID-19 vaccine shot from Sept. 20 to any previously vaccinated person.

DENMARK

Danes with weak immune systems such as cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, or those with organ transplants, will soon be recommended to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster, the Danish Health Authority said on Aug. 20.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Dominican health authorities started distributing a voluntary third vaccine dose in early July.

ECUADOR

Ecuador will administer a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people with weak immune systems and will carry out tests to determine if the rest of the inoculated population also needs a booster, Health Minister Ximena Garzon said on Aug. 18.

FINLAND

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare recommended https://thl.fi/en/web/thlfi-en/-/thl-proposes-a-third-coronavirus-vaccine-dose-for-limited-groups on Sept. 8 that third coronavirus vaccine doses be first administered to people aged 12 or more with weakened immune systems.

FRANCE

France plans to roll out COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in nursing homes from Sept. 12 or Sept. 13 onwards. Meanwhile, people aged over 65 and those with existing medical conditions are able to book appointments for a booster shot from early September.

GERMANY

Germany will in September start to offer a booster shot to vulnerable people, such as the elderly and those with weak immune systems. The shots will be mRNA-vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna regardless of what was used previously.

GREECE

Greece will make booster vaccines available to vulnerable groups from Sept. 14, Health Ministry experts said, hoping to curb a rise in Delta variant infections.

Authorities would start making booster jab appointments to persons with compromised immune systems and individuals over the age of 60.

HUNGARY

Hungary has been offering an optional third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine from Aug. 1.

INDONESIA

Indonesia started giving booster shots produced by Moderna to medical workers in July and is considering extra doses for wider use.

IRELAND

Ireland will give vaccine booster shots made by Pfizer or Moderna to elderly people who were fully vaccinated at least six months ago, irrespective of what vaccine they received initially, the health ministry said on Sept. 8.

ISRAEL

Israel on Aug. 29 began offering a booster shot to anyone who has been fully vaccinated, lowering the age of eligibility to 12.

ITALY

Italy's medicines agency AIFA said on Sept. 9 it had approved the use of a third dose for immunocompromised people, those over 80 years old, nursing home residents, and front-line health workers frequently exposed to the virus.

RUSSIA

Health clinics in Moscow started offering booster shots in July to people vaccinated six months ago or more.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines is allotting 45.3 billion pesos ($899 million) for booster shots under its 2022 budget, an official said on Aug. 19, even as health authorities have yet to conclude there is a need for a third dose.

POLAND

Poland will give third doses of COVID-19 vaccine to people with weak immune systems. The doses will be made available from Sept. 1.

SERBIA

The Serbian health authorities authorised a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines for people with compromised immune systems, health workers and anyone vaccinated at least six months ago, country's labour minister said on Aug 15.

SINGAPORE

Singapore said in May it was making plans for booster shots later this year or early next year, if necessary.

SLOVENIA

Slovenia will most probably start recommending a third vaccine dose, the head of the National advisory committee on immunization, Bojana Beovic, told the Slovenian national broadcaster on Aug. 18.

SOUTH KOREA

South Korea plans to begin giving out booster shots from October, as soon as the country achieves fully vaccinating 70% of the population. Initial booster doses will go to those with weakened immune systems or deemed to be at high risk, and others will receive them six months after full vaccination.

SPAIN

Spain's healthcare regulator approved on Sept. 7 a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines for people with severely compromised immune systems who are likely to have weaker protection from the conventional two-dose inoculation schemes.

SWEDEN

The majority of Swedes will be offered a booster shot against COVID in 2022, while high risk groups could get a third shot this autumn, the health authority said on Aug. 3.

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland has ordered 43 million doses of vaccines, including preparations for potential booster shots in 2022, should they be needed, the Health Ministry said.

GULF STATES

The United Arab Emirates will start providing a booster shot to all fully vaccinated people. The shot will be available to people considered at high risk three months after their second vaccine dose, and six months for others.

In June, the UAE and Bahrain made the Pfizer vaccine available as a booster shot to those initially immunised with a vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm.

Bahraini authorities have also authorised the use of a booster dose of the Sputnik V vaccine, the first time the Russian shot has been approved for a third dose, the state-run Bahrain News Agency said on Sept. 11.

THAILAND

Thailand plans to give AstraZeneca or mRNA-type booster shots to an estimated 3.4 million people who were administered the Sinovac brand earlier. Booster doses have already been given to medical and frontline workers who received the Chinese vaccine.

TURKEY

Turkey is allowing people who were inoculated with Sinovac's vaccine to take an additional Pfizer dose, the health ministry said on Aug. 16.

URUGUAY

Uruguay offers a Pfizer dose for those fully vaccinated with Sinovac's Coronavac. https://bit.ly/37SFw5P

COMPANIES

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna on Aug. 13 for people with compromised immune systems.

Pfizer and BioNtech also submitted data for COVID-19 vaccine booster authorization to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Moderna Inc MRNA.O said on Sept. 3 it had asked the EU drugs regulator for conditional approval of a booster shot of its vaccine at a 50 microgram dose.

The company also said it had completed data submission for the use of a third booster dose of its two-shot vaccine to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Pfizer and Moderna have raised the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines in their latest EU supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Aug. 1.

Moderna had earlier struck deals with Spain's Rovi and Switzerland's Lonza at a Dutch plant that would boost 50-microgram dose production  half the level of its original shots - in Europe to up to 600 million doses annually, with the capacity due to come on line this year.

On Aug. 5, Moderna said its COVID-19 shot was about 93% effective four to six months after the second dose, showing hardly any change from the 94% efficacy reported in its original clinical trial.

It expects, however, a COVID-19 booster to be necessary prior to the winter season.

AstraZeneca said it was looking into how long the vaccine's protection lasts and if a booster dose would be needed.

(Reporting by Matthias Blamont in Paris, Michael Erman in New York, Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, John Miller in Zurich, Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Miyoung Kim in Singapore, Alistair Smout in London, Essi Lehto in Helsinki, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Dagmarah Mackos, Milla Nissi, Pawel Goraj, and Veronica Snoj in Gdansk; Editing by David Holmes, Susan Fenton and Bernadette Baum)
via Twitter/@mghnzilla

More 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 Lawrence, said in a statement to The Daily Beast that they were aware of an incident involving a possible sexual assault near campus over the weekend but would not provide further details in order to protect the privacy of victims.

It was the second such protest in recent weeks: About 1,000 protesters surrounded the troubled Fiji frat house at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last month after an alleged sexual assault. The Journal Star reported that men were filmed inside the house laughing as women outside chanted Kick him out!

In Kansas, protesters gathered on Monday night outside the frat house, which had been roped off with police tape. The crowd spilled off the sidewalk and onto the street, and shouted chants like, We believe her, Justice now, and Lock him up, in a demonstration that lasted more than two hours, according to WDAF-TV.

A Change.org petition to remove the fraternity from the campus had garnered roughly 10,500 signatures by Tuesday afternoon and protests were set to continue on Tuesday night.

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The rally was promoted in part by current and former sorority members at the university who, in July of last year, launched an Instagram account called Strip Your Letters, and demanded that the body governing the universitys sororities address concerns about making Greek Life a safer, more equitable place for ALL women and Sisterhoods on our campus. Their demands included the creation of a system to anonymously report instances of sexual abuse and racism.

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Leaders from Strip Your Letters, a self-described campus-adjacent group, include recent graduates and founders Grace Reading, 23, and Anissa Brantley, 22. Reading told The Daily Beast theyre aiming to mobilize the governing body of sororities on campusthe universitys Panhellenic Associationto disaffiliate from the Interfraternity Council, which provides leadership and support to campus frats and enables sexual violence that disproportionately affects sorority women.

Fraternity men are much more likely than non-fraternal men to engage in sexual assault, and that puts sorority women at the highest rate of any university group or demographic to be sexually assaulted, she said.

Rape culture is a huge part of Greek culture, its not something that has ever gone away.

University of Iowa Suspends Frat Over Totally Bonkers Hazing

Reading, who left Kappa Delta sorority during her senior year, said that Strip Your Letters has crowdsourced for information on social media about sexual violence and found that no fraternity on campus has been spared from sexual assault allegations.

This is a culture within [the university] that is regularly ignored and dismissed because it benefits the university and benefits those organizations, she said. (A spokesperson for the school did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.)

Brantley said that the schools Panhellenic Association would provide sorority women a list of safe parties to attend while she was a student. But the fraternities were frequently a locus for sexual assault.

None of them are safe, she said.

Leaders from the universitys Panhellenic Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

But Brantleys sentiments were echoed by some current students who said sexual violence has been a pervasive issue on campus.

While Phi Psi is currently the one being blamed, every single fraternity here is guilty, Abigayle Redeker, a junior at the university told the schools student newspaper, The University Daily Kansan. Until rape culture is demolished, its going to continue happening here.

Members of other fraternities also protested in support of the alleged rape victim.

On Monday, Phi Kappa Psi released a statement that said the fraternity had been alerted to the allegations of sexual assault.

On Sunday, September 12, Phi Kappa Psi became aware of allegations against a new undergraduate member based on alleged events occurring at the chapter house on the night of Saturday, September 11. University of Kansas officials were immediately notified so a full and prompt investigation could be initiated. Phi Kappa Psi takes these allegations very seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement.

The fraternity did not immediately reply to The Daily Beasts request for comment on Tuesday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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ATLANTA (AP)  The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a statewide civil rights investigation into Georgia prisons, citing particular concern about violence.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the department's civil rights division, said the investigation will be comprehensive but will focus on harm to prisoners resulting from prisoner-on-prisoner violence. It will also look into sexual abuse of gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners by both prisoners and staff.

Under the Eighth Amendment of our Constitution, those who have been convicted of crimes and sentenced to serve time in prisons must never be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, Clarke said during a video news conference. We must ensure the inherent human dignity and worth of everyone, including people who are incarcerated.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office referred a request for comment on the investigation to the state Department of Corrections.

The GDC is committed to the safety of all of the offenders in its custody and denies that it has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating their civil rights or failing to protect them from harm due to violence," Corrections spokeswoman Lori Benoit said in an email. "This commitment includes the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault.

If the investigation reveals reasonable cause to believe there is a systemic constitutional violation, the Justice Department will provide written notice of any violations, along with supporting facts and minimal remedial measures, Clarke said. She added that the department would work with the state to establish solutions.

Clarke said the Justice Department is committed to trying to address the effects of prison staff shortages, inadequate policies and training and the lack of accountability.

Understaffing is a particularly devastating problem, Clarke said, noting that it can lead to inadequate supervision and violence. It can also keep people from being able to get necessary medical and mental health care. Without adequate mental health care, people experiencing mental health issues may harm themselves or commit suicide, risks that are compounded if they're locked up and isolated in solitary confinement, she said.

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The Justice Department's investigation was prompted by an extensive review of publicly available data and other information, Clarke said. Among the things considered, she said, were concerns raised by citizens, family members of people in prison and civil rights groups, as well as photos and videos that have leaked out of the state's prisons that have highlighted widespread contraband weapons and open gang activity in the prisons.

Clarke pointed to at least 26 deaths in Georgia prisons by confirmed or suspected homicide as well as a reported 18 homicides so far this year in Georgia prisons. She said there have also been reports of other violent acts, including stabbings and beatings.

People of color are disproportionately represented among the nation's prison population, Clarke said, adding that Black people make up 61% percent of the people held in Georgia prisons but only about 32% of the state's population. She also said investigators would continue a current investigation into whether Georgia adequately protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people held in prisons from sexual abuse by other prisoners and staff.

The Justice Department in April filed a brief in a lawsuit filed by a transgender woman held in a men's prison in Georgia. The department didn't take a position on the facts of the case but said the Constitution requires prison officials to keep transgender people reasonably safe from substantial risk of harm and provide them with adequate medical care.

Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the solitary confinement conditions at a Georgia prison, said she is grateful for Justice Department intervention.

While this is a first step, it is an incredibly significant one in our struggle for accountability and safety inside Georgia prisons," she said, adding that she's been involved in advocacy work around prisons for two decades. "In my 20 years, I have never seen the prisons in such crisis. I have never seen this level of violence, of illness and of apathy from management.

State Rep. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, has been vocal about problems in Georgia prisons and said he's been frustrated by a lack of information and cooperation from the Department of Corrections. He welcomed the federal investigation, but said it can take a long time for such actions to bear fruit.

Im very pleased about the trajectory but I want to stress that there are still crisis conditions in prisons that Georgia officials should be addressing immediately with any tool at their disposal," he said in a phone interview after the announcement.

To that end, he appeared before a meeting of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles Tuesday morning just before the federal investigation was announced and said the state prison system is melting down, with the coronavirus pandemic contributing to a staff shortage that allows more deaths and violence.

He said the board needs to be in an emergency mode that allows it to release more people in response to conditions.

___

Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, her fiance. Courtesy of Schmidt and Petito family

Police told Insider that Gabby Petito's fiance wouldn't speak to authorities.

"His family declined to make him available, and they gave us the information for his attorney," a spokesman said.

Petito, 22, was reported missing by her family on Saturday.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The fiance of the New York woman who went missing on a cross-country road trip has hired a lawyer, and his family won't let him speak to investigators, a police spokesman told Insider on Tuesday.

Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old "van life" YouTuber, and her fiance, Brian Laundrie, set out from New York in a white converted camper van on July 2, her family has said.

The pair visited national parks across the US, including in Colorado and Utah. Petito's family reported her missing on Saturday.

Related video: The shortest route to see all 50 U.S. national landmarks

She was last seen checking out of a hotel with Laundrie on August 24. Petito's last known location is believed to be Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Laundrie recently returned with the van to his parents' home in North Port, Florida, where he and Petito had been living, the police said.

Investigators with the North Port Police Department seized the van over the weekend, a spokesman, Josh Taylor, said.

"We showed up. We see the vehicle. We take the vehicle," Taylor told Insider. "We make an attempt to talk with Brian, and his family declined to make him available, and they gave us the information for his attorney."

Though the police don't know whether a crime has been committed, investigators still want to speak with Laundrie.

"Right now we don't have a crime. We have a concern of a crime," Taylor said.

Taylor said the van "could be a key piece of evidence" in the case.

"It's her van," Taylor said of Petito. "She's not here. He is. So I think it was important for us to take that vehicle and to preserve potential evidence."

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Taylor said the van would "be processed accordingly, as far as fingerprinting and other types of forensic processes."

The department is working with the FBI on the matter, the spokesman said.

Taylor added that New York's Suffolk County Police Department was leading the investigation into Petito's disappearance. The police in Suffolk County told Insider they had no new information to share about the case as of Tuesday morning.

The attorney for Laundrie did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Petito's family has urged the public to help find the young woman.

"We don't eat. We don't sleep. We're just actively looking for her," Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt, told reporters on Monday.

Schmidt said she last FaceTimed with Petito in late August.

Petito has a tattoo that says "let it be" on her right arm and a tattoo of a triangle with flowers on her left arm, the police said. She is 5-foot-5 with blond hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information about Petito's whereabouts can contact the Suffolk County police at 800-220-8477.

Read the original article on Insider
BEIJING (AP)  Transport links in the Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai were largely restored Tuesday as a typhoon remained offshore.

Typhoon Chanthu brought high winds and rain to the countrys largest city and the surrounding region, but not at the level it would have if it had made landfall.

The storm has been weakening and on Tuesday was lingering about 225 kilometers (140 miles) east of Shanghai, packing maximum sustained winds of 126 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour), the China Meteorological Association said.

It was due to begin moving northeast toward South Korea and Japan on Thursday.

Shanghai on Monday had suspended flights, trains and subway services, and closed schools and offices in anticipation of the storms arrival. Around 100,000 people were evacuated from vulnerable areas, according to state media.

Chanthu drenched Taiwan with up to 13 centimeters (5 inches) of rain on Sunday as the storms center passed the islands east coast, before heading north to Shanghai.

The storm grazed the island of Luzon in the Philippines last week, but no flooding or damage was reported.

Typhoons are called hurricanes or cyclones in other parts of the world, but are the same weather phenomenon.

Typhoon In-fa made landfall south of Shanghai in late July, disrupting flight schedules and prompting evacuations for about 330,000 residents of Fengxian District on the citys southern edge.

Torrential rains and flooding in July caused the deaths of at least 292 people in Zhengzhou, a major city in the central province of Henan, including some trapped in the citys subway tunnels.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  A former political rival of a Republican Florida congressional candidate made repeated violent threats to take her out, even claiming he could summon a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad to kill her, according to trial testimony Tuesday.

The civil trial concerns whether a temporary restraining order granted to candidate Anna Paulina Luna should be made permanent, which would prevent 2020 GOP primary rival William Braddock from having contact with her. A friend of Luna's, Erin Olszewski, also sought a permanent restraining order against Braddock.

Luna testified that she had only brief in-person contact with Braddock at a political event but heard from several acquaintances last spring that he was allegedly making threats to have her killed.

Mr. Braddock clearly hated my guts and wanted to hurt me, said Luna, who is an Air Force veteran and media consultant. I started getting very afraid of him. It was horrifying, and it still is.

I think he's an evil person, she added. I think he has definitely emotionally terrorized me.

Braddock, a former Marine who has denied any wrongdoing, had been running again in Florida's 13th congressional district this year but dropped out in July citing publicity from the stalking case.

Braddock could testify later in the trial, which is before Pinellas County Circuit Judge Doneene Loar. After a full day of testimony, Loar continued the case until Sept. 24.

Luna is a candidate again for the seat being vacated by Democrat Charlie Crist, who is running for governor. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Luna on Tuesday, just as he did in her unsuccessful 2020 campaign against Crist.

Olszewski testified Tuesday that she secretly recorded a phone call in June she initiated with Braddock in which he claimed the purported Russian-Ukrainian hit squad would respond quickly if he made a single phone call.

I was shook. I actually, I had to catch my breath, Olszewski testified via Zoom. I never in my life had heard an actual threat like this.

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Olszewski, a nurse and single mother who is active in Republican politics, also said Braddock made veiled threats against her that mentioned her three children if she revealed what he said about Luna.

It's scary. I didn't know what he's capable of and what he's done in the past, she said. He was very angry. If she would come close to winning, he said he would take her out.

His words were it would be close battle contact. That she wouldn't even see it coming because they would befriend her, Olszewski said of the murder plan.

Olszewski said she shared the contents of the Braddock call she recorded on an iPad with Luna, and both women called police. No criminal charges have been brought.

Several other witnesses testified about similar communications they had with Braddock regarding Luna. Many of them are connected to a conservative political group called Community Patriots Pinellas, including witness Audra Christian.

She testified about several message exchanges she had with Braddock, including one in which he said, We cannot let Luna the lunatic win and another saying he was worried about Luna writing legislation in Congress because she's a moron.

His verbiage was getting increasingly violent, Christian testified. Most men don't talk like that.

Another witness, Arthur Mackwell, said Braddock told him he had watched people come and go from Luna's home in St. Petersburg. It was very concerning, he said.

In 2020, Luna lost by about 24,600 votes to the far better-known Crist in the District 13 congressional race. Crist previously was Florida governor as a Republican and has held or run for several other elected posts.

Other candidates seeking the congressional seat so far are Democratic state legislators Ben Diamond and Michele Raynor, former Obama administration official Eric Lynn and Christian Hotchkiss.

Luna is challenged in the GOP side by Amanda Makki, a former Washington lobbyist who lost the primary to Luna in 2020, and two other lesser-known candidates.
With the FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the continued surge of the delta variant, governments across the world have renewed their push to increase the number of vaccinated individuals by persuading the holdouts. On Sept. 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced sweeping vaccine mandates, expressing frustration at the vaccine holdouts: Weve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.

As a communication scientist who has studied the effects of media and health campaigns for the past 30 years, I worry that a fevered pitch in vaccine messaging may make the holdouts even more resistant. The direct, blunt messages to go get vaccinated that worked on three-quarters of Americans may not work for the remaining one-quarter. If anything, they might backfire.

Research has shown that some health communication techniques work more effectively than others depending on the audience. Its a lesson that not only policymakers can apply but also members of the media, industry and even parents and relatives.

When it comes to embracing new ideas and practices, research has identified five categories of people: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. With COVID-19 vaccination, its come down to the last two, and they are the most resistant to change.

This group of unvaccinated people is substantial in number  there are nearly 80 million people in the U.S. who are vaccine eligible yet remain unvaccinated  and they are the ones who could help the U.S. achieve herd immunity. But, research suggests that they are also the ones who will take offense at forceful exhortations to go get vaccinated.

Strong messaging can backfire

Public health messaging can and does often influence people  but not always in the intended direction. Back in 1999, I testified in the U.S. Congress about how powerful anti-drug messages may be turning adolescents on to drugs rather than off of them. Likewise, the strong language of current vaccine messaging may be evoking resistance rather than compliance.

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Consider this headline from a recent New York Times editorial: Get Masked. Get Vaccinated. Its the Only Way Out of This. This follows 18 months of public-health messaging urging people to stay home, wash hands and maintain social distancing.

They may be well intentioned, but research in health communication shows that such directive messages can be perceived as high threat, meaning they threaten the free will of the message receiver by dictating what they should do. They are likely to trigger what psychologists call reactance. In other words, when individuals sense a threat to their freedom of action, they become motivated to restore that freedom, often by attempting to do the very thing that is prohibited or by refusing to adhere to the recommended behavior.

Recent research by my communications colleagues at Penn State shows that even advertisements that include directive slogans such as No Mask, No Ride  from Uber  and Socialize Responsibly to Keep Bars Open  a Heineken message  can irritate consumers and make them less likely to engage in responsible behaviors.

Reactance to COVID-19 messaging is evident in the form of widespread protests around the world. Many have gone to the streets and social media, with slogans such as my body, my choice, let me call my own shots and coercion is not consent.

These responses demonstrate not simply hesitation to get vaccinated, but rather active resistance to vaccine messaging, reflecting an effort to protect personal agency by asserting ones freedom of action.

Flipping the script

Freedom is a critical concept in the anti-vaccination rhetoric. Freedom, not force is the battle cry of the protesters. If we lose medical freedom, we lose all freedom, reads a poster. Choose freedom, urged Sen. Rand Paul in a recent op-ed expressing his resistance to mask mandates and lockdowns. We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport, we will not wear a mask, we will not be forced into random screening and testing.

Anti-vaccination protester holds a sign and a flag during a rally against COVID-19 vaccines

One way to counter such reactance is by changing the communication strategy. Health communication researchers have found that simple changes to message wording can make a big difference. In one study by my Penn State colleagues who study health persuasion, the researchers tested participants responses to sensible health behaviors such as flossing: If you floss already, dont stop even for a day. And, if you havent been flossing, right now is the time to start.  Flossing: Its easy. Do it because you have to! Study participants reacted to such messages by expressing their disagreement through anger and by defying the advocated behavior.

But then the researchers reworded the same advocacy to be less threatening, such as: If you floss already, keep up the good work. And if you havent been flossing, now might be a good time to start. And Flossing: Its easy. Why not give it a try? They found that the participants reactance was significantly lower and their message acceptance higher.

In the same way, softening the message and using less dogmatic language could be the key to persuading some of the unvaccinated. This is because suggestive, rather than directive, messages allow room for people to exercise their own free will. Studies in health communication also suggest several other strategies for reducing reactance, ranging from providing choices to evoking empathy.

Bandwagon effects

Perhaps more important  given peoples reliance on smartphones and social networking  is to make better use of the technological features of interactive media, which includes websites, social media, mobile apps and games. Clever use of digital media can help convey strong health messages without triggering reactance.

Research in our lab shows that peoples responses to media messages can be influenced by the approval of anonymous others on the internet, in the same way that consumers rely on other peoples opinions and star ratings for making purchasing decisions online. In a recent study, we discovered that freedom-threatening health messages can be made more palatable if they are accompanied by a large number of likes on social media from other people. When a lot of others were seen as supporting the advocacy message, the forceful language did not seem any more threatening to their freedom than the gentler version.

In other words, we found that the number of likes has a strong bandwagon effect in reducing reactance. We also discovered that providing an option to comment on the health message imbues a higher sense of personal agency and greater acceptance of the message.

In another recent experiment, we found that customization, or the ability to tailor ones phone or online site to ones liking, can also aid health communication. Whether it is a phone app, dating site or social media feed, customizing a digital space allows people to reflect their personality. Seeing a health advocacy message in such a personalized space does not pose as much of a threat in such venues because people feel secure in their identity. We found that customization helps reduce negative reactions to health messages by increasing ones sense of identity.

A communication strategy that is sensitive to psychological reactance could empower the holdouts to willingly get vaccinated instead of grudgingly comply with a mandate.

[Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The Conversations science newsletter.]

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: S. Shyam Sundar, Penn State.

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S. Shyam Sundar receives funding from U. S. National Science Foundation.
Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights pleaded not guilty Tuesday during an arraignment in federal court.

In May, a federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao, nearly a year after Chauvin was seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes in videos that sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism.

Floyd, who was handcuffed and prone, repeatedly said "I can't breathe" as Kueng and Lane helped restrain him and Thao kept bystanders away.

The officers are accused of violating a federal law that forbid government officials from abusing their authority, and prosecutors must prove they willfully deprived Floyd of his civil rights. Kueng and Thao, who saw Chauvin pinning Floyd to the ground, were charged with failing to intervene. All four were charged with failing to provide medical aid to Floyd.

If convicted of causing bodily injury while violating the federal civil rights statue, the four men could face fines or up to 10 years in jail, according to the Justice Department. Actions resulting in death can lead to a life sentence or the death penalty, but legal experts told MPR that's unlikely.

If Chauvin is convicted in the federal case, that sentence would be served at the same time as his 270-month state sentence in the death of Floyd. A jury convicted him in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The four men appeared via video conference in Minneapolis so attorneys can argue 40 pretrial motions. Chauvin appeared from a room in the states maximum security prison.

From May: Derek Chauvin, 3 other former Minneapolis police officers indicted on civil rights charges in George Floyd's death

At the start of the hearing Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Tony Leung indicated that the issue of separating Keung, Thao and Lane's trials from Chauvin's would be addressed.

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In August, attorneys for Kueng and Thao asked to separate their federal trials from Chauvin's, arguing jurors would be unfairly prejudiced if they stood trial with him. Lane's attorney asked to join this request, which prosecutors oppose.

At the time, attorneys for the prosecution and defense had agreed the request was premature and asked to set it aside until more information develops, according to court documents.

Leung may also hear arguments on how much evidence prosecutors must turn over to the defense, according to MPR. Prosecutors have already turned over more than 370 gigabytes of documents, audio and video footage, the outlet reported citing court documents.

'A harder case to prove': What Chauvin's guilty verdict means for three other officers charged in Floyd's death

The federal indictment is separate from the state's case against the officers. Lane, Kueng and Thao face charges of aiding and abetting in Floyd's death.

In May, Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who presided over Chauvin's trial, postponed the state trial until March 2022 so the federal case can move forward first. Cahill said he felt the need to put distance between their trial and Chauvin's conviction given the intense public interest.

Chauvin, who made his first appearance on federal charges in June, is also expected to return to federal court Thursday for a separate charge alleging he knelt on a 14-year-old boy's neck in 2017.

Sweeping changes could be coming to policing in Minneapolis following the reckoning over Floyd's death.

The Justice Department launched a civil investigation into the city's policing practices, which will determine if there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing and may result in major changes.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis residents will vote in November on a ballot question that would change the city's charter and replace the police department with a department of public safety.

Contributing: The Associated PressFirst court appearance: Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd's murder, appears on federal charges

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd federal case: Chauvin, Lane, Kueng, Thao plead not guilty
Associated Press

The retired conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice leading a Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election released a video Monday threatening to subpoena election officials who don't comply and saying the intent was not to overturn President Joe Biden's narrow victory in the battleground state. The unusual six-minute video from Michael Gableman comes after election clerks were confused by an email his office sent last week that was flagged in at multiple counties as junk, a possible security risk and not forwarded to municipal clerks as he wanted. Gableman said Monday that if the state's 1,900-plus municipal and county election officials did not cooperate with his investigation, he would compel them to comply.
Guinea's military strongman opened a four-day series of talks on Tuesday, intended to pave a return to civilian rule after a coup that one attendee said he blamed on "the failure of the entire political and military class".

Coup leader Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, who seized power on September 5, addressed political leaders in a closed-door meeting inside parliament in the capital Conakry. According to several people who attended the session, he was an attentive listener.

Doumbouya told attendees the coup was the result of "the failure of the entire political and military class", according to Sidya Toure, a former prime minister who was at the meeting.

The nation's leaders had "betrayed the values of independence", Toure reported Doubouya as saying.

The junta, which has come under intense diplomatic pressure since seizing power on September 5 from president Alpha Conde, later held talks with religious leaders.

It will then meet civil-society figures, diplomats, trade unionists and mining executives through to Friday.

Soon after seizing power, Doumbouya accused the Conde government of "trampling citizens' rights" and pledged to form a government of "national unity" that will guarantee a transition.

But what exactly he has in mind remains unclear -- and there are questions about how long the military intends to cling to power.

Papa Koly Kourouma, a former prime minister under Conde, said that further meetings were needed to come up with more substantial proposals.

"It was a first contact and must be taken as such," he said.

- Land borders reopening -

The putsch came amid rising criticism in Guinea of Conde, 83, for his perceived authoritarianism, but nevertheless sparked broad international condemnation.

It raised fears about democratic backsliding in the region, following a similar coup in Mali last year.

West Africa bloc ECOWAS and the African Union suspended Guinea after the putsch. The United Nations, the European Union and the United States also condemned it.

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Guinea's neighbours and trading partners, concerned about instability in the mineral-rich country, will be watching this week's consultation closely.

All of the country's main political parties -- including Conde's RPG party -- said they would participate.

In a televised statement on Monday evening, the junta announced they would be reopening all of the nation's land borders from Wednesday.

Some had been shut after the coup, others before elections last year, officially for security reasons, a move that had caused diplomatic tensions with neighbouring countries.

The junta also said that a so-called draft charter on the transition will be drawn up at the end of this week's consultation.

Details remain scarce. It is not clear what form the transitional government will take, nor how long it will last, nor what the role the military might play.

- Similar neighbouring coup -

Guinea's putschists quickly dissolved the government and the constitution after the coup.

That constitution had been at the centre of political tensions under Conde.

Last year, he pushed through a new version that allowed him to run for a third presidential term in October 2020.

The move triggered mass demonstrations in which dozens of protesters were killed. Conde won the election but the political opposition maintained the poll was a sham.

Parts of Conakry erupted in joy at news of the coup, with residents flooding the streets to applaud the army.

The junta subsequently released scores of political opponents detained under Conde, and in a sign of apparent good will, dismantled roadblocks across the capital.

But Guinea's current predicament has drawn parallels with neighbour Mali, which has suffered two coups since August last year, led by Colonel Assimi Goita.

International condemnation was swift, with ECOWAS briefly imposing sanctions.

Mali's military committed to restoring civilian rule, under diplomatic pressure.

But over a year on, the army is still firmly in power in Mali and there are growing doubts about its promise to stage elections in February.

lal/sst/eml/pbr
CONAKRY (Reuters) -Guinea's new military rulers began consultations with political, religious and business leaders on Tuesday which they say will lead to the formation of a transitional government following the coup that ousted President Alpha Conde on Sept. 5.

In a short address, coup leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a special forces commander and former French Foreign Legionnaire, urged attendees to "not repeat the errors of the past" when building a new system of governance.

Doumbouya and the other soldiers behind the coup have said they ousted Conde because of concerns about poverty and corruption. Conde was serving a third term in power after altering the constitution to permit it.

The coup leaders say the week-long dialogue, which began with a meeting with the heads of the main political parties on Tuesday, will lay out the framework for a promised government of national unity and lead the country of 13.5 million people back to constitutional order.

But their seizure of power has been widely condemned by Guinea's allies and regional organisations. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)suspended Guinea from its decision-making bodies and called for a short, civilian-lead transition.

It was also the third coup in West and Central Africa since April, intensifying concerns about a backslide towards military rule in a region rich in resources but many of whose people live in poverty.

The talks are expected to define the duration of the transition, what political and institutional reforms are needed before elections, and who will lead the transition.

"We are going to return to our respective staffs and alliances to try to formulate in writing our vision, our proposals that we will submit to the new authorities," main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo said following the session.

However, proceedings were marred by a chaotic and crowded registration process which took up much of the allotted discussion time, a Reuters journalist said. Some smaller political parties were unable to get access.

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Tuesday's meeting with political leaders will be followed by a similar gathering with regional government representatives and religious organizations.

Civil society organisations, diplomatic missions, heads of mining companies and business leaders are also scheduled for meetings with the junta throughout the week.

Guinea is a major producer of bauxite and the coup has raised concerns about supplies.

(Reporting by Saliou Samb, Writing by Cooper Inveen, Editing by Bate Felix and Angus MacSwan)
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and former President Jovenel Moise Valerie Baeriswyl; Leigh Vogel / Getty Images

Haiti's chief prosecutor, has asked a judge to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in connection to the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise.

Bedford Claude, Port-au-Prince's chief prosecutor, said Henry spoke to a suspect in the case hours after Moise was killed.

"There are enough compromising elements ... to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment," Claude wrote in a charging request to the judge.

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Haiti's chief prosecutor has asked a judge to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

Bedford Claude, Port-au-Prince's chief prosecutor, said last week that Henry spoke with one of the suspects in the assassination just hours after Moise's death, the Associated Press reported.

"There are enough compromising elements ... to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment," Claude wrote in a charging request to a judge.

Claude said that evidence shows Henry calling suspect Joseph Badio at 4:03 and 4:20 a.m. on July 7, the same morning Moise was killed inside his home by armed gunmen.

Badio was in the vicinity of Moise's home at the time of the calls, Claude said.

Claude has also asked Henry to meet with him and explain why he had spoken to Badio following the assassination.

Moise appointed Henry to the position of prime minister two days before he was assassinated.

Henry has not addressed the situation publicly, but told politicians and civil leaders on Saturday that he wants to focus on finding the "real culprits."

"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, according to AP. "The real culprits, the intellectual authors and coauthor and sponsor of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise will be found and brought to justice and punished for their crimes."

More than 40 people have been arrested in connection to Moise's murder, and officials are still looking for Badio and other suspects.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Haiti's chief prosecutor reportedly sought an indictment on Tuesday to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude also asked a judge to bar Henry from leaving the country, Reuters and The Associated Press reported.

There are enough compromising elements ... to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment, Claude wrote in the order.

Henry represents a flight risk and thus should be "forbidden from leaving the national territory by air, sea or road due to serious presumption relative to the assassination of the president," the prosecutor wrote in a letter to Haiti's Migration Services.

President Moise was assassinated on July 7 in what was called a "highly coordinated" attack on his residence, the countrys acting prime minister confirmed in a statement.

Phone records show that suspect Joseph Badio called Henry twice in the hours after the 1 a.m. killing, according to the prosecutor.

Those calls were made at 4:03 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. by Badio not far from the scene of the crime, Claude added.

The telephone calls lasted for a total of seven minutes as Henry was staying at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince at that time, according to Claude's court document cited by AP.

A representative for Prime Minister Henry declined immediate comment, Reuters reported.

This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.
A woman who went on a cross-country road trip in a van with her boyfriend is missing after her parents told police they hadn't heard from her in two weeks.

Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, 22, last spoke with her family during the last week of August and was believed to be in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, police said. Her family reported her missing Saturday to the Suffolk County Police Department in New York after they hadn't heard from her since.

"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," Petito's mother, Nichole Schmidt, said at a news conference Monday.

Josh Taylor, a spokesperson for the North Port Police Department in Florida, told USA TODAY officers on Saturday night recovered the van from the North Point, Florida, home of Petito's boyfriend. The city is about 35 miles south of Sarasota.

Officers spoke briefly with the family of Petito's boyfriend, but not with him, while at the home, Taylor said.

The family members referred officers to Steven Bertolino, an attorney for Petito's boyfriend, Taylor said. A person who answered the phone at Bertolino's law officesin Long Island, New York, declined to comment when reached by USA TODAY.

Police have not publicly identified Petito's boyfriend and he has not spoken publicly about the case.

The van is currently in the custody of North Port police and "will be processed accordingly" for any evidence, Taylor said. Police are investigating and cautioned it's still unclear if a crime occurred.

"We're holding out hope that she's alive," Taylor said.

The National Park Service is "coordinating with multiple law enforcement agencies as part of the investigation into" Petito's whereabouts, a spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY.

The Suffolk County Police Department declined to comment further on the case when reached Tuesday morning by USA TODAY.

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In a Facebook post, the North Port Police Department said "the circumstances are odd," even though there was no "definitive information" a crime occurred in North Port.

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It added: "We are actively gathering local details and any evidence to assist in finding needed answers."

Petito and her boyfriend set out from New York  where Petito was visiting for her brother's high school graduation, according to Newsday  on July 2 to begin their cross-country trip, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said she had a FaceTime call with her daughter around three weeks ago and last received texts from her phone Aug. 30.

The couple was traveling in a white 2012 Ford Transit van, police said. Petito's mother said her daughter regularly kept in touch while they were on the trip. Photos on social media chronicle Petito's trip, and she shared a YouTube video about the journey in mid-August.

When Schmidt hadn't heard from her daughter for a few days, she thought she might have been in a place with no service, she said. After a little over a week, she became concerned, she added.

"I believe a mothers instinct is the most powerful," Schmidt said.

According to police, Petito is white, around 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 110 pounds. She also has blonde hair and blue eyes, and several tattoos, including one on her finger and one on her forearm that reads let it be. Anyone with information about her whereabouts was urged to call 1-800-220-TIPS.

Meanwhile, in California, a hiker in Yosemite is also missing. Joel Thomazin, 31, was on a solo hike from Hetch Hetchy to Lake Eleanor but didn't return as planned Thursday. He is white, 5 feet, 10 inches and has buzzed, brown hair, according to Yosemite National Park officials said Saturday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gabby Petito: Police search for missing NY woman; van found in Florida
Three House Democrats on Tuesday announced intraparty opposition to legislation that would allow direct drug price negotiations between the government and pharmaceutical companies, imperiling the measure's advancement at the committee level.

The three "no" votes would be enough to tie up the total House Energy and Commerce Committee vote if all Republican members oppose it as well.

BIDEN RELEASES PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN THAT WOULD LET GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATE DRUG PRICES

California Democratic Rep. Scott Peters, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee working to approve the provision as part of a partisan multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure and social spending bill, said Tuesday that he opposed it.

I have proposed an alternative drug pricing reform model that will keep Democrats promise to lower out-of-pocket costs for medicines, in part by empowering the secretary of health and human services to negotiate prices, Peters said on Tuesday.

Peters and fellow Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, drafted a narrower alternative to the more sweeping measure favored by the liberal wing of the party, known as H.R. 3, that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. GOP lawmakers have long opposed direct negotiation of drug prices, saying that doing so would stifle innovation of future cures and treatments.

Schrader also announced Tuesday that he would not support the more sweeping drug pricing bill.

"We need to be serious about how to address this issue by ensuring we champion legislation with broadly supported policies that have the bipartisan, bicameral backing needed to pass Congress," Schrader said, according to a statement from his office. "I do not believe the drug pricing provision before the Energy and Commerce Committee today will meet this goal and succeed in the Senate, so I cannot vote in favor of the title."

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The rival legislation from Peters and Schrader would preserve innovation by giving the government narrower negotiating power for drugs that have no other competitors on the market. Peters's bill also has support from Democratic Reps. Kathleen Rice of New York, Lou Correa of California, and Stephanie Murphy of Florida.

Rice, also a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, likewise announced Tuesday that she would not support the Democrats' drug pricing policies, which she said are "not fiscally responsible and jeopardize the bill's final passage."

While H.R. 3 would cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors under Medicare at $2,000, Peters's legislation would adjust the cap on out-of-pocket costs with income, ranging from $1,200 to $3,100, so that the poorest seniors enrolled in the government healthcare program would get the greatest amount of assistance.

Peters said in a statement Tuesday that he looked forward to working with his Democratic colleagues to achieve reforms that help patients, support future innovation and grow American jobs.

House Democrats first passed H.R. 3, or the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, in December 2019, but it stalled before getting a vote in the then-majority-GOP Senate. The Congressional Budget Office, a federal agency that provides economic advice to Congress, estimated that the price negotiation provision in H.R. 3 could save the federal government more than $456 billion over a decade. The CBO has not yet issued an updated score for the Peters bill or for other healthcare proposals being pushed by Democrats in this Congress, such as expanded benefits under Medicare to include hearing, dental, and vision coverage.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Energy and Commerce Committee reconvened Tuesday morning to debate the Democrats drug price negotiation proposal, which the party plans to include in the $3.5 trillion social infrastructure package known as the Build Back Better Act in the House.

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Tags: Healthcare, News, Biden Administration, House Democrats, House Energy and Commerce Committee, House GOP, Infrastructure

Original Author: Cassidy Morrison

Original Location: House drug pricing measure in trouble as three Democrats announce opposition
Nicholas is carrying maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 km) per hour

Tropical storm Nicholas has been downgraded from a hurricane after making landfall on the Texas coast in the US, bringing heavy rain and the risk of life-threatening flooding.

The storm was upgraded to a hurricane after reaching land at 00:30 (05:30 GMT), but has now weakened.

More than 500,000 power outages have been reported in Texas, according to PowerOutage.us.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency in Louisiana.

It comes just weeks after Hurricane Ida - the fifth strongest to ever hit the US mainland - killed dozens and left more than a million Louisiana residents without power.

Nicholas is carrying maximum sustained winds of 70mph (110km/h), weather officials said, and is expected to hit the Texas coast and upper Louisiana with five to 10 inches of rain.

There could be rainfall of up to 20 inches across central to southern Louisiana, they said.

The US National Hurricane Centre said that Nicholas "has continued to move slowly inland and has weakened during the past few hours".

But it warned that "life-threatening flash flooding impacts, especially in highly urbanised metropolitan areas, are possible", and the National Weather Service called it a "life-threatening situation".

"We want to make sure that no one is caught off guard by this storm," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards told a news conference.

He warned that drainage systems still clogged from Ida could trigger flash floods.

More than 119,000 homes and businesses remain without power in Louisiana due to Ida, he added.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared states of emergency in 17 counties and three cities.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner warned of flooding and urged the city's roughly 2.3 million residents to stay off streets and motorways.

"Take things seriously and prepare," Mr Turner said at a news conference. "This is primarily a rain event and we don't know how much rain we will be getting."

Dozens of schools across the two states have been closed, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled or delayed at airports in the Texas cities of Corpus Christi and Houston.
Sep. 13Just a few hours after one of Nick Rolovich's close colleagues in the coaching world was fired for not receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, the second-year Washington State coach still did not clarify at a weekly news conference how he plans to move forward with 36 days until Gov. Jay Inslee's Oct. 18 deadline.

Billy Ray Stutzmann, an assistant coach at Navy who worked as an offensive intern at Hawaii under Rolovich and who is the younger brother of WSU co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Craig Stuzmann, announced on Twitter he was fired by the Midshipmen after refusing to get the vaccine and failing to make a case for a legitimate religious exemption.

Since late July when Rolovich announced he wouldn't be receiving a COVID-19 vaccine citing "reasons which will remain private," the WSU coach has refused to reveal how he'd comply with Inslee's mandate for state employees, and maintained a similar stance Monday.

"No, I still plan on, like what I said, following the mandate and doing what I need to do to be the coach here," Rolovich said. "That's all we can say about that."

If Rolovich planned to receive the Moderna vaccine, he would've needed to start the process by Sept. 6. The deadline for Pfizer was Monday and Oct. 4 for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. Under the mandate, Rolovich is also able to apply for a religious or medical exemption.

In a two-minute exchange with another reporter on Monday's Zoom conference call, Rolovich took seven other questions about his vaccine status  the most he'd received since announcing his decision not to receive a COVID-19 shot in a July 21 tweet .

Below is a full transcript of the exchange:

"I wanted to follow up with vaccine mandates now in place for students, state employees and fans. I know you said you plan on following the mandate, but have you received your shot or have you scheduled your shot?"

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Rolovich: "Yeah, I'm not going to talk about that Chris. I understand what you guys are trying to get to  "

"Are you seeking a religious or medical exemption?"

Rolovich: "I'm not going to talk about that either, Chris."

"What's been your hesitation with talking about it or being more forthcoming?"

Rolovich: "I don't know that it's all that positive to get deep into it with the media the way it's going, so I'm just going to try to keep that to myself and concentrate on being the coach here."

"But I think you can understand you're the highest-paid state employee and there are fans, teachers and students that are upset about your stance on this and your lack of insight about why you haven't said you've received the shot or not. How do you answer those people that are upset about your stance on this?"

Rolovich: "Uh, I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say here."

"Well, there are people who've said you should be suspended or terminated by WSU over your lack of a statement on this, over whether you're going to get a shot or not."

Rolovich: "Okay."

"There are people that are upset and would like some clarity from the highest-paid employee in the state about whether you're going to get the shot or not."

Rolovich: "Okay. I understand that."

"So again, will you get your shot or have you scheduled your shot?"

Rolovich: "I'm not going to answer that, Chris, and we're going to move forward with USC at this point."

According to Cougfan.com, as of Sept. 3 Rolovich had not informed WSU President Kirk Schulz or Athletic Director Pat Chun whether he plans to get vaccinated or file for a religious exemption.
By Sarah Morland

(Reuters) - The governor of Iowa has said she will appeal a temporary order by a federal judge that aims to allow schools to enforce use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has killed more than 6,300 people in the state.

"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," Republican Governor Kim Reynolds said in a tweet https://twitter.com/IAGovernor/status/1437519087178031107 on Monday night.

A federal judge had earlier ordered the state to immediately stop enforcing a law passed in May that prevents school boards from ordering use of face masks, saying the law substantially increased the risks of catching the disease for children with health conditions.

The temporary restraining order will be in effect until the court orders a preliminary injunction.

Iowa has reported more than 450,000 cases of the coronavirus and over 6,300 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

It joined a handful of other U.S. states in May in passing a law that forbids cities, counties and local school districts from requiring people to wear face masks that protect against the spread of the coronavirus.

These governors have said that such rules of mask mandates infringe on personal liberty, while proponents of mask mandates say these are needed to combat surging cases, fuelled by the more contagious Delta variant, which has disrupted the reopening of schools across the country.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under pressure to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for children below 12, is meanwhile looking to complete a data review on the safety of children in clinical trials as quickly as possible.

Separately, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened fines for cities and counties that mandate employees must get vaccinated against COVID-19, which has killed nearly 50,000 people in the state.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland in Gdansk; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
The new judge hearing the case against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said the trial won't start for at least a year  pushing the Guantanamo Bay proceeding beyond the 21st anniversary of the deadly al Qaeda attacks, which killed nearly 3,000.

The new timeline means the 57-year-old terror suspect, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003, will likely spend two decades in the military lockup before his trial concludes. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

At a bare minimum, we are at least one year away from trial, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall said Monday, according to unofficial transcripts published by the military commissions. I will ensure that I am fully apprised of the procedural history and the background of any motion ... prior to any ruling. I am not bound by any particular timeline to get to trial.

McCall, who took over the case last week, is the fourth judge to preside over the 9/11 hearings for KSM and four co-defendants. The lead defendant's attorney argued Friday for the ouster of the new judge as legal teams clashed over what went on at CIA black sites and key questions about alleged torture and confessions remain unresolved. McCall served a short stint as the judge last year before he was temporarily removed.

Gary Sowards, who previously represented the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, and now represents Mohammed, said McCall has shown a lack of impartiality. The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review, which oversees the island war court, handed down a ruling last week affirming McCall's role.

Mohammed, described as the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks in the 9/11 Commission Report, was a close ally of Osama bin Laden and is being tried alongside four co-defendants: Ammar Baluchi, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin Shibh, and Mustafa Hawsawi.

9/11 MASTERMIND SMILES & WAVES IN GITMO COURT

The long-awaited trial could put CIA "enhanced interrogation" tactics in the spotlight. KSM was reportedly waterboarded more than 180 times.

Story continues

We're just past the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, and consistently in these proceedings, both inside the hearing room and outside, the government has blamed the defense for the delay," said Rita Radostitz, a lawyer on KSM's team. "And it's frustrating to hear that all the time, because the vast majority of the delay in this case has been caused by the government's decision to spend more than three years torturing Mr. Mohammad in black sites around the world.

Alka Pradhan, a defense lawyer for al Baluchi, said that information pertaining to their conditions of confinement and their torture should be declassified.

Maj. Jackson Hall, a member of the prosecution, said all evidence relevant to the trial has been shared with the defense teams.

The idea that there's going to be evidence presented in this case from the prosecution that the accused has not seen or has not had is wrong," Hall said. "There is not going to be any evidence of that. We're already 99%, if not more, complete with either declassifying or providing the evidence the prosecution is going to use affirmatively.

In the two decades since the attacks, the five men believed to be responsible for the planning and execution of the plot have yet to stand trial. The key unresolved question is the admissibility of confessions obtained by the FBI after the CIA subjected them to enhanced interrogation techniques  called torture by some.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Robert Swann, a retired Army Colonel and lead prosecutor, said FBI special agent Frank Pellegrino will give powerful testimony at Gitmo about his January 2007 questioning of KSM, and Swann called Pellegrino a man, quite frankly, who knows everything about Mohammed.

Swann said that the prosecution has given the defense interview notes from that KSM interrogation, which include information on how he selected the hijackers and arranged for their training.

Frank Pellegrino will talk to us about that from the witness stand," Swann said. "This is not a piece of paper that's going to go in front of the members. The testimony of the witnesses on that issue would do that.

Swann added that he put the chances of Mohammad taking that witness stand at "slim to none."

"Should he, we'll be ready for it," Swann added.

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Tags: News, 9/11, al Qaeda, KSM, Guantanamo Bay

Original Author: Jerry Dunleavy

Original Location: New judge says 9/11 trial at Gitmo is 'at least one year away'
A senior Democratic lawmaker challenged the credibility of the top U.S. general and President Joe Bidens national security team in a parting blow ending Secretary of State Antony Blinkens two-day cycle of jousts with congressional Republicans.

The notion that General Milley said that nothing I or anyone else indicated a collapse of this army or this government in 11 days, I just don't think that's true, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing drew to a close.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley made that comment last month as U.S. forces poured into Kabul for a last-minute evacuation under the watch of the Taliban, which had seized the capital city following a blitz across the country. Bidens team has cited his characterization of the intelligence warnings to justify the idea that it drew up withdrawal plans that were reasonable based on the available information, but Kaine signaled his alignment with Republican colleagues who rejected that defense.

If the administration really said, 'Nobody could see this coming,' then that probably suggests that the contingency planning for something that was a real possibility wasn't all that it should have been, said Kaine, the 2016 Democratic nominee for vice president.

BLINKEN FACES DEMAND FOR RESIGNATION IN ACRIMONIOUS START TO AFGHANISTAN DEBACLE REVIEW

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that the government forces in Kabul would collapse when U.S.  while U.S. forces remained, Blinken said. Nonetheless, we planned and exercised a wide range of contingencies. Because of that planning, we were able to draw down our embassy and move our remaining personnel to the airport within 48 hours.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who led the Senate Intelligence Committee last year when Republicans controlled the Senate, set the table for Kaines criticism.

Just going back to the beginning of this year, obviously I can't quote the titles of the pieces, but suffice it to say, there are numerous pieces that would be categorized as, Its gonna hit the fan, Rubio said. I think any analysis of those pieces would have led anyone to that conclusion.

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Rubio also faulted the administration for neglecting to change its withdrawal plans as the Taliban offensive unfolded over the summer months.

Weeks before the fall of Kabul, you could see the Taliban was headed towards doing something they hadn't done before: They were going to isolate Kabul from the north, cutting off all the supply routes, Rubio said. If, in fact, the people in charge of our foreign policy did not see all these factors and conclude there was a very real possibility of a very rapid collapse, then we have the wrong people making military and diplomacy decisions in our government.

Kaine stopped short of echoing Rubios conclusion that we have the wrong people analyzing this, but he acknowledged that he was making the same point that Rubio made.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

I know it wasn't the consensus opinion, and I know it wasn't the most likely possibility, but the possibility of a collapse was not 0% and it wasnt 1% and it probably wasn't 10, Kaine said. That was always a fairly  it was a possibility that had to be grappled with.



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Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Tim Kaine, Senate Foreign Relations, Afghanistan, Mark Milley, Antony Blinken

Original Author: Joel Gehrke

Original Location: 'I just don't think that's true': Tim Kaine rejects Biden team's key defense of Afghanistan withdrawal miscues
A Western Kentucky man admitted Monday to shooting and killing his estranged wife after investigators found her dead in her home, according to Kentucky State Police.

The Daviess County sheriffs office found Hannah Fuller, a 23-year-old Owensboro woman, was found dead in her home with a gunshot wound on the morning of Aug. 26, according to state police. State police were called in to help with the investigation.

After identifying Fullers body, investigators said they tracked down 36-year-old Joshua Fuller.

He confessed, in detail, to killing his wife with a handgun, state police wrote in an arrest citation. Fuller also admitted to tampering with evidence at the scene, according to the citation.

Fuller was charged with murder-domestic violence and evidence tampering, according to court records.

Preliminary investigation indicated the two were in an altercation when Hannah Fuller was shot, police said in a statement.

Fuller was held in the Daviess County Detention Center, where he was booked at 7:39 p.m. Monday, according to jail records. He was scheduled to be arraigned in Daviess District Court Wednesday morning, according to court records.

State police were still investigating Monday night, officials said.
Heading into the 50th anniversary of the Game of the Century, the Oklahoma Sooners are riding high after a 76-0 throttling of Western Carolina, where everything was going their way. Unfortunately, theyll also be riding without wide receiver Brian Darby who has already been ruled out for this weeks game with Nebraska and could be without starting cornerback Woodi Washington, who Lincoln Riley listed as doubtful for Saturdays game.

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Billy Bowman and Danny Stutsman were the other notable injuries from Saturdays win, but no specific update was given on those players. Lincoln Riley did mention several other players were questionable but didnt mention anyone by name.

Latrell McCutchin, who made his first start last week against Western Carolina, looks to be in line for another start this week against Nebraska. At slot corner, more of Jeremiah Criddell should be expected if Billy Bowman is unable to play.

Brian Darby wasnt high on the wide receiver depth chart, but hes figured into each of the first two wins for the Sooners and has totaled four receptions for 42 yards through two games.

Stutsman was one of the standout defensive players from the shutout win in week two and figured to earn more opportunities, but if hes unable to play, look for Shane Whitter to get some opportunities in his stead.

Cody Jackson worked with the starters in the second quarter, turned three receptions into 31 yards receiving, and helped set up one of the Sooners scores late in the second quarter.

In week three, the Oklahoma Sooners depth will be tested if theyre forced to play without Woodi Washington or Billy Bowman against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. But every team has to deal with injuries, and it will be interesting to see if the Sooners experience any drop-off without arguably their best cornerback in Woodi Washington.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.

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A dozen alleged New York mobsters have been arrested by the FBI, including a suspected boss of the Colombo crime family.

The arrests were made as part of an FBI investigation into alleged healthcare fraud and union corruption that relied on recorded conversations.

NBC4 reports that Andrew "Mush" Russo, the 87-year-old alleged boss of the Colombo crime family, and an underboss, Benjamin "Benji" Castellazzo, were among those arrested.

The FBI is still seeking one more defendant, who is still at large.

Of the dozen people arrested, nine are suspected members of the Colombo crime family, and one is allegedly a soldier in the Bonanno crime family.

One of the alleged Colombo mobsters, Vincent Ricciardo, allegedly threatened to kill a man who would not comply with his demands.

"I'll put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids, right in front of his f****** house," he said in a recorded conversation. "I'm not afraid to go to jail ... I would f****** shoot him right in front of his wife and kids. Call the police, f*** it, let me go, how long you think I'm gonna last anyway?"

According to federal agents the Colombo crime family is "thriving and continues to engage in various crimes including, among others, extortion, loansharking, money laundering, fraud and drug trafficking."

Mr Russo is no stranger to prison. Before his most recent arrest in 2011, recorded conversations show the alleged boss has no intention of leaving the mob.

"I can't walk away, I can't rest." he said.

He also once admitted in a recorded conversation that he has "never hesitated" to use violence to discipline mobsters.

Mr Russo has previous bribery, racketeering and witness tampering convictions. He was also charged for ordering the killing of a Colombo underboss, Joseph Scopo, during a civil war within the family in 1993.

The defendants in the case were arraigned on Tuesday afternoon in Brooklyn Federal Court, though the exact charges were not immediately made public. They are expected to be charged for alleged labor racketeering.

The Colombo crime family is the youngest of New York's infamous "five families, which include the Colombo, Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.

The Five Families were formed after Charles "Lucky" Luciano created the "Mafia Commission" following a bloody war in 1930 between competing mob clans.
BALTIMORE  Traveling about 30 miles from Glen Burnie, Maryland, to Towson for her community language program has been a struggle for 63-year-old veteran Alison Elinoff. A stroke 15 years ago left the right side of her body paralyzed.

She skipped class several times  often for a doctors appointment at the Veterans Administration hospital or because she was too tired. Her performance suffered.

I really like virtual  virtual is great, Elinoff, who struggles to speak clearly because she has aphasia, a condition developed after a stroke. She likes being in class in person, but it takes 45 minutes to get there, which she said is a hassle.

The Snyder Center for Aphasia Life Enhancement (SCALE) went virtual at the start of the pandemic  but Elinoff will be forced to go back in person Sept. 30., part of a dispute over billing for virtual sessions versus in-person appointments between the VA and the League for People with Disabilities. Payments to the League for virtual sessions by the VA are reimbursed at a lower rate than in-person sessions.

Elinoff is not alone. Some disabled people say theyre hesitant about going back in person and want to keep virtual services that began during the pandemic. But the practicality of whether thats possible remains uncertain, and other disabled people say they want to return to in person activities.

Changes to telehealth, such as reimbursing at full price for virtual appointments, were possible when Maryland was under a state of emergency order. But Gov. Larry Hogan ended the state of emergency Aug. 15, meaning some COVID-19 telehealth options expired on that date, Maryland Department of Health spokesman David McCallister wrote in an email Friday. Under the Preserve Telehealth Act of 2021, insurers, such as Medicaid, are required to provide coverage for telehealth services, regardless of the patients location, he also wrote.

But David Greenberg, president and CEO of the League, said organizations offering medical day care for disabled people will be required to serve them in person if they want to get reimbursed starting Sept. 30.

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SCALE is part of the League for People with Disabilities. When asked for comment, the VA wrote in an email that it does not provide any payments to organizations with which we have no contract or agreement. Billing requests by vendors and community partners failing to meet standards and failing to submit required documentation will be rejected.

Gloria Padilla, who lives in the Northern Parkway area, said her son, Jeremy, is not ready to go back to in-person activities. Jeremy, 31, has autism. In the past, he volunteered at food pantries and took courses at Community College of Baltimore County. Padilla said while her son is vaccinated, she worries he may still catch the virus because he doesnt know how to social distance.

Shed like for Jeremy to eventually give up virtual sessions to socialize in person, she said, but that should happen gradually.

Debbie Gnibus, of Middle River in Baltimore County, whose son, Ricky, also uses the League, shares the same worries as Padilla.

Ricky Gnibus, 41, has arthrogryposis, a muscle nerve disorder, and operates his wheelchair with his mouth or chin. He cannot operate the wheelchair with a mask on, she said.

Debbie Gnibus, 63, lives 40 minutes from the League and works full time. Before the pandemic, Ricky rode the bus to the League. Now he does virtual sessions.

Im concerned Ricky would be more susceptible to getting COVID. Even with the shot, people are still getting [the virus] she said. There are so many unknowns. You just dont know what to do, and Im trying to do the best that I can for my son.

Jacqueline Jones, 53, of West Baltimore, has had four strokes. Jones, who uses a wheelchair and is partially blind in one eye, took part in the Leagues virtual programs, which she said kept her busy. This is a good place to be.

While shes comfortable going to the Leagues office in person, she said shed like others to have access to virtual learning as the state reopens.

For me personally, I would come back to the League. I love the League, but there are some people out there that are still hesitant to come back because of the COVID-19 virus and the variant, she said. I was concerned, but after getting vaccinated, I feel better about coming back to the League.

Changes to which virtual services are offered also impact local schools. People with disabilities are among those whose households have the lowest incomes, and many students lacked the technology and access to participate in virtual learning, according to the Maryland Developmental Disability Council. For example, a lack of closed captioning or interpreters continues to be a problem, and screens are not always useful for the visually impaired.

But despite the challenges, virtual life is generally positive for people who have mobility issues because it alleviates the stress that can come with traveling, said Rachel London, executive director of the MDDC.

London said the organization raised $200,000 to provide technology for remote school access and other virtual services, but some spaces were still inaccessible.

She pointed to how the Maryland General Assembly embraced virtual meetings, which gave disabled people the ability to testify and attend public meetings from home instead of needing to find accessible transportation. The change lead to an increase in meeting attendance among individuals that the MDDC works with and their families, she said.

As schools resume in person, parents have conflicting thoughts about what may be best for their kids. For those who suffer from anxiety, virtual classes allowed them to comfortably communicate and participate in class.

Rene Averitt-Sanzone, executive director of the Parents Place of Maryland, a special education nonprofit, said several schools also increased services, such as speech therapy and sign-language classes, to better accommodate students.

Younger students who spent little time in school before the pandemic have never had the opportunity to learn crucial social-emotional lessons. For students who received specialized help with one-on-one educators or assistive technology, more time out of the classroom meant even more learning lost.

Angie Auldridge, mother of an 8-year-old with autism and cognitive impairments, was faced with the challenge of juggling care for him, working from home and looking after her two other children with her husband.

Days were spent struggling to keep their son engaged with learning for hours in front of a screen, Auldridge said.

Some days, Auldridge had to physically restrain her son in front of the computer; nevertheless, he was not able to stay on the same academic track, she said.

In Auldridgess family, virtual education was an obstacle to be overcome. One thing they would like to keep from the pandemic era is telehealth.

Maryland Health Care Commissions 2019 decision to expand telehealth services and reimburse providers for them at the same rates as in person visits made attending medical appointments more convenient.

For families like the Auldridges, they did not have to drive to Baltimore from their home in Western Maryland and their son was able to see a sought-after specialist in Kansas City.

I was glad to hear about it because having telehealth access made my sons appointments so much easier, said Auldridge. It was more convenient especially because his appointments are usually more of a conversation between the doctor and parents than a physical examination, so I hope we can continue to have that option.
Hospitals are overwhelmed in Mauritius, ventilators are hard to find, and there's no longer enough space at the main cemetery for Covid victims.

Less than three weeks before it flings its doors wide open to international travellers at the start of the peak tourist season, the paradise island nation is struggling with an alarming explosion in coronavirus infections and deaths.

In just two months, cases have jumped over five-fold to more than 12,600 as of Friday, by far the largest increase across Africa during the same period, according to data compiled by AFP.

Since the pandemic started, Mauritius has recorded 1,005 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, far higher than the continent's average of 598.

The crisis is now so acute that 74-year-old former prime minister Navin Ramgoolam has flown to India for Covid treatment, and the opposition leader has told of his struggle to find a bed for an ailing friend.

"People do not realise how bad the situation is," said one nurse at a Covid treatment centre, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of possible reprisals.

"We are already above capacity."

In July, the idyllic Indian Ocean holiday destination, renowned for its white sandy beaches and turquoise waters, partly reopened to vaccinated international visitors.

But they had to remain in "resort bubbles" for 14 days before being allowed to venture further afield, provided they had a negative PCR test.

The government reduced that timeframe to seven days this month ahead of a full reopening planned for October 1, when vaccinated tourists will be free to explore the island as long as they test negative up to 72 hours before arrival.

But in another blow to the tourism industry, the US Centers for Disease Control added Mauritius to its list of high-risk Covid destinations, saying travellers should "avoid" the country.

"The situation is worsening," one doctor said on condition of anonymity, adding that medical professionals had been instructed not to talk about the crisis.

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"The priority of the government is to ensure a smooth opening of the borders on October 1."

The government has not given any explanation for the surge, but local media reports speak of people ignoring social distancing guidelines and throwing caution to the wind after getting inoculated.

The authorities had ordered people in some sectors to have Covid jabs or risk hefty fines and jail terms of up to five years.

As of Saturday, 61 percent of the population was fully vaccinated.

- 'No safety net' -

But the pandemic picture remains bleak.

Bernard, a worker at the leafy Bigara cemetery, said the area reserved for coronavirus victims was already full.

The dead are now being laid to rest at another graveyard, but locals are furious, saying Covid-19 victims are being buried too close to their homes.

L'Express newspaper reported that police had to be summoned last week when youths began throwing stones at health workers burying the dead at Bois-Marchand cemetery.

The authorities have been slow to paint a clear picture of the death toll, and announced a sharp revision to official figures Friday, from 34 to 89.

The health ministry explained its initial calculations by saying the majority of the 89 fatalities were due to comorbidities and not directly caused by Covid-19.

Locals are conflicted about the relaxation of restrictions, with tourism contributing 25 percent of gross domestic product before the pandemic.

"We had closed the country but despite this the number of cases exploded," said taxi driver Paul Pierre, who said the prospect of a tourist surge made him "shudder".

Hotel receptionist Diana Mootoosamy echoed his fears, telling AFP: "Suddenly we find ourselves without a safety net.

"By welcoming tourists, are we going to attract foreign exchange or (Covid-19) variants?"

- 'Traumatic' experience -

Others say the economy, which shrank 15 percent in the last financial year, desperately needs the boost.

"My restaurant has been empty since March 2020. If the tourists don't come back, I'll have to put the key under the doormat," restaurateur John Beeharry told AFP.

The country's healthcare system is struggling to cope.

Opposition leader Xavier Duval rang alarm bells over a "traumatic" hunt earlier this month for a hospital bed with a ventilator for a close friend.

With family members in tears, Duval tried several private clinics and the main hospital with no luck, before one centre agreed to admit his friend -- but only for 48 hours.

"All this indicates that the system is overwhelmed," he said, calling the situation "alarming".

"I'm afraid Mauritius will come to a stage where we might need to decide who will get the air supply and who will have to die."

str-txw/mbx
The office of former first lady Melania Trump said a book soon to be released by Stephanie Grisham, her former chief of staff, is merely an effort "to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump."

Grisham, who was former President Donald Trumps White House press secretary from July 2019 to April 2020 and then the chief of staff for the first lady until she resigned on Jan. 6, wrote the tell-all book Ill Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House, an apparent play on the fact that Grisham did not hold any press conferences during her time as press secretary.

"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," Trump's office told Politico on Monday. "Through mistruth and betrayal, she seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of Mrs. Trump."

MELANIA TRUMP'S OFFICE SAYS BOOKS ABOUT HER LIFE ARE 'IDLE GOSSIP'

Grisham's book claimed the former first lady fell asleep before her husband delivered remarks on election night in 2020. After Donald Trump began alleging widespread voter fraud and rioters subsequently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Grisham suggested that the then-first lady make a statement criticizing the siege, a suggestion Melania Trump rejected, the book says.

Melania Trump released a statement on Jan. 11 condemning the attack and calling for national unity.

"I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me  from people who are looking to be relevant and have an agenda," she said at the time. "This time is solely about healing our country and its citizens. It should not be used for personal gain."

The former first lady has criticized similar efforts by other members of her inner circle in the past. After former friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, author of tell-all Melania and Me, released recordings of the then-first lady discussing White House duties, Grisham, in her capacity as the first lady's spokeswoman, said Wolkoff's recordings lacked context.

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"Her only intent was to secretly tape the First Lady in order to peddle herself and her salacious book," Grisham said last October. "There is no way to know if these recordings have been edited and it's clear the clips were hand-picked and presented with no context. The First Lady remains focused on her family and serving our country."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Both Grisham and Melania Trump have been quiet since leaving the White House. Melania Trump, known for being a reserved first lady, has kept a low profile since relocating to Mar-a-Lago with her husband. Grisham was not heard from publicly until the announcement of her book.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Melania Trump's office for comment but did not hear back at press time.

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Original Author: Virginia Aabram

Original Location: Melania Trump slams former chief of staff's 'mistruth and betrayal' ahead of book release
Thirteen-year-old Rose Lehane Tureens debilitating headache has lasted a year and a half.

At 5 months old, Madelynn Birchmeier stopped reaching developmental milestones. She couldnt hold a bottle and didnt have the strength to crawl or sit up on her own. Now a year old, shes undergoing therapy with hopes shell catch up.

For 7-year-old Waylon Wehrle, complications from COVID-19 stole his memory along with his ability to walk and talk. After months in hospitals and rehab, he has slowly improved but will have diabetes the rest of his life.

The virus heightened 14-year-old Nicaja Taylors anxiety and asthma and also may have triggered diabetes.

Thirteen-year-old Matthew Burris wasnt very sick at first, but weeks after his infection he couldnt run as hard or as fast. One day in the spring, he collapsed on a soccer field, unable to get enough air.

They are just a few of the children in the U.S. suffering long-term complications from COVID-19.

Changed by COVID: Young athletes who get COVID-19 have to play it safe

Waylon Wehrle, 7, had COVID-19 in the spring and developed life-threatening complications. He suffered multiple strokes and myocarditis. The staff claps as Waylon leaves the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids after two months.

Recovery for most kids infected with the virus is swift and the illness is mild. But about 2% to 3%, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky estimated, struggle with an array of puzzling and sometimes crippling symptoms that stretch on for weeks or months with no explanation and no clear end date.

Stay connected: Subscribe to Coronavirus Watch, your daily update on all things COVID-19 in the USA.

Clinics are popping up around the country to provide care for these children, and researchers are studying how the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 triggered their lingering symptoms and how best to treat them. So far, the answers are few and the list of questions long.

CHANGED BY COVID

Day two of a weeklong USA TODAY Network series exploring long-haul COVID-19, the people whove suffered and the experts trying to help them. If you dont want to miss future stories in this series, sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter here.

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Everyone wants quick answers, said Daniel Munblit, an expert in the pediatric immune system at Imperial College London researching long-haul COVID-19. We do not have answers.

In a study he helped lead in Russia, researchers found a quarter of children hospitalized for COVID-19 continued to have symptoms six to eight months after they were sent home.

Still, most of the children  even the sickest  recovered.

We should not exaggerate the problem, Munblit said, but at the same time, we should not downplay and say that none are getting it.

More research is needed to better understand the condition, he said.

Were talking about potential consequences that may affect these children for decades. Even if its a tiny proportion of children, its very much worth investigating.

Two percent may seem like a small number, said Dr. Sean OLeary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Childrens Hospital Colorado. But with about 5 million children in the U.S. infected so far that's about 100,000. Do the math," he said. "Thats a lot of kids, right?

And the share of children in the U.S. getting sick and hospitalized with the virus is climbing as schools reopen and kids return to classrooms largely unvaccinated. The Pfizer-BioNTECH COVID-19 vaccine has an emergency use authorization for adolescents ages 12-15 and is fully authorized for people 16 and older. But younger children still arent eligible, leaving them vulnerable to the extremely contagious delta variant.

If youre not vaccinated, in a lot of parts of the country, theres a very reasonable chance youre going to get this sometime in the coming weeks or months, said OLeary, who also is a liaison to the CDCs vaccine advisory committee. Roughly half of 12- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated at this point, and then there are all the younger kids who cant get vaccines.

Madelynn Birchmeier, 1, of Muskegon sits in a highchair while after returning home from a physical therapy session at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. She is dealing with long-haul COVID-19 that she got last fall after her mother, a nurse at a local hospital, became infected after hugging a patient.

Is MIS-C a long-haul COVID symptom?

An even smaller subset of children end up with a rare complication known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome  children, or MIS-C. The extreme immune reaction to COVID-19 results in fever and severe inflammation in multiple organs that can include the heart, brain, lungs, kidneys, eyes, blood vessels, lungs, skin and digestive system. It most commonly appears several weeks after the initial coronavirus infection and can lead to hospitalization, organ failure, and, in rare instances, death.

Since the pandemic began, the CDC has identified 4,661 cases of MIS-C nationally and 41 deaths from the condition. It has disproportionately affected children who are Black or Hispanic/Latino  the same populations who have carried a heavier burden of COVID-19 overall, and is more likely to strike boys than girls.

Dr. Clifford Bogue, the chair of pediatrics and chief medical officer at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, in Connecticut, has treated several dozen children with MIS-C.

Of the 120 children hospitalized at the clinic so far, about half came in for a different complaint and then tested positive. The other half sought care for COVID-19, and half of those had MIS-C.

The good news is all the children have survived and done reasonably well, he said.

So far, Bogue said, he and his colleagues arent seeing long-term complications in kids with MIS-C, though it hasnt been long enough to know for certain.

MIS-C is still so new, it can be hard for doctors to recognize. In mid-summer, a child was transferred to Yale New Haven for a suspected case, but it ended up being appendicitis, said Dr. Elijah Paintsil, a pediatric infectious disease expert there.

Some kids bounce right back after a few days in the hospital, treated perhaps with steroids to tamp down inflammation, immunoglobulin to boost the immune response to infection and supportive care like fluids. But Paintsil said children who have endured intensive care often have long-term mental health issues, like nightmares.

Much about COVID-19 in kids remains a mystery.

Its a new phenomenon. Thats why were taking it seriously, Paintsil said. His clinic plans to follow up with MIS-C patients at 2, 6, 9 months and a year after their initial treatment to track their recovery.

His team has learned to admit to the parents that we dont know what we are doing, but hey, stay with us, lets do this together, he said.

Dr. Laura Malone, a pediatric neurologist at the Pediatric Post COVID-19 Rehabilitation Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, said theres no definitive link between any particular demographic or preexisting medical condition that might make one child more likely than another to develop long-haul COVID symptoms.

In some of the patients that weve seen, these are relatively healthy children that dont have a lot of pre-existing medical conditions that continue to have persistent symptoms, she said.

Malone said MIS-C should fall beneath the long-haul COVID umbrella  as a type of long-lasting after-effect from the virus; other doctors disagree. Even what qualifies as a long-haul symptom hasnt been formally defined.

The definitions of what long COVID is continues to evolve, Malone said. But most people refer to any post-acute syndrome of COVID as symptoms lasting more than four weeks. And that does include children and adults that have been hospitalized, so that would include the MIS-C patients as well.

Nicaja Taylor, 14, takes part in her therapy session at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 last spring and hospitalized because she couldn't get enough oxygen.

How wide-ranging are kids' symptoms?

The medical problems kids with long-haul COVID are experiencing seem to mirror what many adults have reported, said Malone, an assistant professor of neurology and physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The complaints are wide-ranging and can include fatigue, headaches, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, sleep disturbances, decreased endurance or poor conditioning, pain, rashes, loss of smell or distorted smells. Some children have lingering rapid heartbeat.

Mood and attention issues can make it challenging to concentrate or do schoolwork, Malone said, and some kids might not be able to explain how they're feeling.

They might have declining grades in school but they may not be able to say, Im having difficulty thinking or concentrating or paying attention, she said.

Dr. Alicia Johnston, who leads the post-COVID clinic at Boston Childrens Hospital, said shes had patients who had to drop out of their freshman year of college or miss a semester of high school. Shes seen competitive athletes too exhausted to get out of bed, and children complaining about chronic pain.

Its life-altering on a number of different levels, she said. These kids have physical, social and psychological consequences of post-COVID syndrome.

Sometimes symptoms fade and then return. Or they dont show up until a few months after an infection, when the children hit the wall, she said.

That seems pretty far out to be calling it post-COVID but I dont think we know. Weve seen a number of kids with that scenario, Johnston said. Early on we would have said, Well thats clearly not COVID, but Im not so sure about that now  its all so new.

The symptoms are fairly similar to those seen with other post-viral infections, like the Epstein-Barr virus that causes mononucleosis, she said.

That makes her optimistic about their prognosis, though she cant do much for the long-haul COVID kids now other than treat their symptoms, manage their pain and validate their experiences.

Its a painful, long process, but kids can recover, Johnston said.

When will long-haul COVID in kids end?

How long it will take is impossible to predict. At Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Sanjeev Swami also uses Epstein-Barr infections as his model for treating long-haul COVID.

Theres no good medication to speed recovery from mono, he said, just resetting physiology by focusing on getting good sleep, and slowly boosting exercise. Its interventions, Swami said, but its not Heres a prescription, go to your pharmacy, take a pill for a week, which would be much easier but unfortunately doesnt actually help.

He now has long-haul COVID patients whove been sick for eight to 12 months and has to reset their expectations that recovery will come quickly.

Week by week, though, Swami expects to see them slowly improve. Generally, a child who has been sick for two months will take about the same amount of time to recover.

Youre going to have good and bad days, he said. You cant think about it with such a short time frame.

Dr. Marc Hershenson, a pediatric pulmonologist at the University of Michigans Pediatric Post-COVID Syndrome Clinic, said he and other doctors are concerned about how quickly the virus is spreading now among kids whove largely returned to in-person learning at schools around the country.

Were worried, he said. Were worried that theres going to be more acute pneumonia with COVID in the tweens and teens that we havent seen before. And then were worried about the MIS-C. And then were worried about the long-term effects on the lung, in terms of flare ups of asthma or development of asthma in kids who may have had a tendency in the past but maybe hadnt had full-blown asthma.

I hope Im wrong about all this and that, you know, somehow well dodge a bullet, but it doesn't look well.

Matthew Burris, 13, was able to attend soccer camp this summer after all. Matthew had a mild case of COVID in January but shortly after started developing breathing problems, especially on the soccer field.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Long COVID in kids: Lasting illnesses are puzzling, can be crippling
BANGKOK (AP)  A court in Myanmar has agreed to change the venue for the trial of an Australian economist and adviser to ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of violating the nations official secrets law, lawyers said Tuesday.

Sean Turnell was charged along with Suu Kyi and three former Cabinet ministers under the law in March, a month after the military ousted Suu Kyis elected government and seized power.

The decision by the countrys Supreme Court will move the trial from Yangon, Myanmars biggest city where Turnell was arrested, to the capital, Naypyitaw, said one of Suu Kyis lawyers, Kyi Win.

That will consolidate most of the legal cases against Suu Kyi in a single location. The cases, lodged at the behest of the military-installed government, are widely seen as an effort to discredit Suu Kyi and prevent her from returning to politics.

Violating the official secrets law carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The colonial-era statute criminalizes the possession, collection, recording, publishing, or sharing of state information that is directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.

The exact details of Turnells alleged offense and those of the others have not been made public, though state television, citing government statements, has said the Australian academic had access to secret state financial information and had tried to flee the country.

Turnell has been confined in Yangons Insein Prison, known for decades for holding political prisoners.

Meanwhile, the trial of Suu Kyi, 76, and two colleagues continued Tuesday at a special court in Naypyitaw, a day after she had to cancel her participation because of illness. The court on Monday allowed her to return to her place of detention -- which is kept secret by the authorities -- after she explained that she was suffering from cold symptoms and felt dizzy on the ride to the court.

Another of her lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw, said her condition had visibly improved Tuesday when she returned to court, though she informed her legal team that she still felt some dizziness. Her co-defendants on several charges, former President Win Myint and Naypyitaw ex-Mayor Myo Aung, were also in attendance.

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Suu Kyi is being tried in Naypyitaw on charges of sedition, defined as spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest, and sometimes termed incitement; two counts of flouting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign; illegally importing walkie-talkies for her bodyguards to use; and unlicensed use of the radios.

Suu Kyis lawyers have argued in court that the sedition case should not be prosecuted, and both her team and the prosecution on Tuesday presented arguments to the court on that matter, Khin Maung Zaw said.

Two prosecution witnesses failed to show up to testify about the COVID-19 restrictions case and the testimony of a third was postponed, he said.

Khin Maung Zaw also told reporters that the defense lawyers had Suu Kyi sign documents appointing them to represent her in corruption cases filed in the central city of Mandalay.

The military seized power just before Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party would have begun a second five-year term in office. It said it acted because last November's election was marred by widespread fraud, an assertion that is widely doubted. Protests over the army takeover are continuing, along with growing armed resistance.
By Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis

OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's Labour Party began coalition talks with other members of the centre-left bloc on Tuesday seeking to form a government after their parliamentary election victory, with the focus on climate change and oil.

Labour leader Jonas Gahr Stoere https://www.reuters.com/article/norway-election-labour/newsmaker-winner-of-norways-election-is-wealthy-champion-of-common-people-idINL8N2PV31A must address voters' concerns over global warming and a widening wealth gap, while ensuring any transition away from oil production - and the jobs it creates - is gradual.

Stoere's goal is to convince both the rural-based Centre Party and the mostly urban Socialist Left to join him, which would give his cabinet 89 seats, four more than what is needed for a majority in the 169-seat assembly.

"There is more that unites us than divides us," Stoere told reporters outside his home in Oslo on Tuesday after speaking with other party leaders on the phone.

He must persuade Centre and the Socialists to compromise on policies https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/whats-stake-norways-election-2021-09-12 ranging from oil and private ownership to non-member Norway's relations with the European Union https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-should-reclaim-energy-regulation-eu-eurosceptic-opposition-says-2021-08-10.

In particular, Stoere must persuade them to compromise on energy policy, including where to allow exploration while also cutting emissions.

"The likely compromise has to do with restricting exploration, and the less explored and matured areas are easier to stop exploration in," said Baard Lahn, a researcher at Oslo-based climate think-tank CICERO.

"Also the industry has indicated they are less interested in those areas at the moment. That's a possible outcome, but exactly what that will look like, there are many possibilities."

Norway produces around 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, accounting for over 40% of export revenues.

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But most major parties also believe oil will play a smaller part over time, and hope the engineering know-how of oil firms can be transferred to renewable energy, including offshore wind.

Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg said she would step down after eight years in power as soon as a new government is ready, with a cabinet headed by Stoere potentially taking office in mid-October.

Monday's result means Labour neither needs the Marxist Red Party nor the anti-oil Green Party to rule, thus lessening the pressure for big shifts.

"Labour will not make any dramatic changes to the oil industry," said Teodor Sveen-Nilsen, an energy analyst at Sparebank 1 Markets.

"Most important was Labour's decent results."

Labour won 48 seats, down one from four years ago, while the Conservatives lost nine seats at 36 as the political panorama fragmented and smaller parties gained ground.

Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, leader of the Centre Party which saw its seats rise by nine to 28, reiterated his desire for a two-party government with Labour but did not rule out three.

The Socialist Party, which nabbed two extra seats to haul 13, pointed to oil and taxes as the big issues.

"Climate and oil, tax and wealth distribution are policies that we must sort out if we are to be part of a new government," Socialist Party leader Audun Lysbakken said.

(Writing by Gwladys Fouche;Editing by Terje Solsvik and Andrew Cawthorne)
Washington  Three of the nation's four most recent former presidents are coming together to offer their support to a new organization that aims to assist Afghan evacuees who are resettling in the United States after fleeing Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as former first ladies Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, are joining Welcome.US as honorary co-chairs "to lift up everyone else involved and remind us that this is our opportunity, in a time of all too much division, for common purpose," the group's website states.

The organization, which launched Tuesday, also boasts a welcome council composed of former and current government officials from both parties, military and business leaders, and activists. It brings together a coalition of organizations helping Afghan allies as they arrive in the U.S. and businesses making financial or in-kind contributions to resettlement efforts.

Welcome.US billed itself as a "first of its kind national organization that will engage Americans and mobilize support across sectors for Afghan refugees" and said in a press release it will provide a "single point of entry for Americans who want to get involved" with helping Afghans who have fled the country.

After the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan, the Biden administration launched the largest military evacuation in U.S. history, airlifting more than 122,000 people from the main airport in Kabul, including roughly 5,500 Americans, before President Biden's August 31 deadline for withdrawing the final U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

The administration now is tasked with resettling more than 50,000 Afghan evacuees, overwhelming the U.S. refugee resettlement system. Since mid-August, the U.S. has admitted roughly 24,000 of the Afghans it relocated from Kabul, and most are being temporarily housed at eight military installations, where they undergo medical screenings and additional processing. Another approximately 39,000 have remained at military bases in Europe and the Middle East.

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After the Afghan evacuees complete their processing at the military bases, they are connected with resettlement agencies, which help them find affordable housing and jobs. But the volume of refugees arriving in the U.S. has strained resettlement agency resources, prompting the groups to secure short-term lodging through hotel chains and Airbnb rentals.

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The Canary Islands' first volcanic eruption on land in 50 years has forced authorities to evacuate another part of El Paso municipality on the island of La Palma and to urge sightseers attracted by the phenomenon to stay away.People from the neighborhood of Tacande Alto were evacuated late Monday (September 20) and early Tuesday (September 21) after a new stream of lava started flowing from another crack on the slope of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, El Paso's mayor Sergio Rodriguez told state broadcaster TVE.About 6,000 of the 80,000 people living on the island have been forced to leave their homes to escape the eruption so far, TVE said.
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The North Korean state media triumphantly published a congratulatory message from the queen on Monday prompting knowledgeable insiders to speculate that Pyongyang must have made up the note from Buckingham Palace in a propaganda move to shore up the rogue states international standing.

A royal spokesman, however, has confirmed to The Daily Beast that Queen Elizabeth II did indeed send a cheery message to Kim Jong Un on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

North Korea regularly greets our queen on her birthday, Korea expert Aidan Foster-Carter, senior research fellow at Leeds University in England, told The Daily Beast, but I find no trace of any message from us/her to themuntil now. So this is intriguing.

The message, dated September 7, two days before North Koreas founding day parade, was revealed Monday by Pyongyangs Korean Central News Agency, which published it in its entirety among dozens of other messages from leaders of countries such as Algeria, the Seychelles, and Azerbaijan. The controversial King of Thailand was another well-wisher, but the heads of other major Western powers were notable by their absence.

The queen avoided any personal tribute to the Korean dictator despite hailing the anniversary of the establishment of the Kim dynasty.

Kim Yo Jong Is Ready to Become the First Woman Dictator in Modern History

As the people of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea celebrate their National Day, I send my good wishes for the future, she said.

A royal spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the message to The Daily Beast, dispelling suspicions that it might have been an elaborate hoax. The palace would only say that the message had been sent to the head of state, although there is only one man to whom that could refer. Pyongyangs KCNA confirmed it was sent to Kim Jong Un as president of state affairs.

It was a message sent by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) on behalf of Her Majesty to the people of North Korea on their national day, said a spokesperson for the palace. Such messages are routinely sent in the queens name by and on the advice of the FCDO, she would not have crafted the message herself.

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However, efforts to downplay the significance of the message will not appease critics who fear the regime is making use of the queens message to confer legitimacy on its autocratic system. North Koreas nuclear aspirations were demonstrated again on Sunday with boasts of successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile.

Watch: Who is The Queen?

DPRK leaders have been trying to engage with the queen for years, sending nice notes to the family and her citizens. In 2014, for instance, Kim Yong Nam, then North Koreas titular head of state, sent birthday greetings to the queen in which he wished her and her subjects health and happiness... well being and prosperity.

The sense then, as now, was that North Korea was reaching out for friendship with the U.K. despite hostility dating to the Korean War when British troops played heroic roles under the aegis of the United Nations Command in battles along the line between the North and South.

Bruce Bennett, North Korea expert at the Rand Corporation, said the queens message could also be seen as pro-Western propaganda, designed to appeal to the people of North Korea rather than the ruling family.

I firmly believe that the ROK (South Korea, the Republic of Korea), the U.S. and other allies should be telling the people of North Korea that we do not hate them. Contrary to what the regime tells them, we are not their enemies, and that we really hope that they can have a better life.

Bennett suggested that the U.S. should follow the queens example when it came to congratulating the North Koreans on anniversaries.

I have always been puzzled with why the U.S. government doesnt try to send such messages, he said. While Kim Jong Un appears to be paranoid about outside information, the U.S. and its allies should be regularly sending appropriate messages to the people of North Korea, messages that contradict the regimes villainizing propaganda.

With Kim having so many internal problems right now, he needs scapegoats to blame, said Bennett. What better message to send that that we are not hurting North Koreathe regime is.

Watch: The Queen's Biography

New Kim Jong Un Purge Suggests North Korea Is in Deep Shit

Andrew Salmon, an author of ground-breaking books on the Brits in the Korean War, saw the leaders of the two countries in a symbiotic relationship. Those few words from the queen, he said, were a message from one hereditary (constitutional) monarch to one hereditary (absolute) monarch.

But there may be more to the message than mere words, in the view of Choi Jin-wook, whos been analyzing North Korea issues for decades with the Korea Institute of National Unification and others.

A wild guess! he said, observing that the U.S. and U.K. are in intimate communication and may have collaborated on the message. A country or a person like North Korea which is isolated and labeled a usual suspect needs to be treated nicely. Otherwise, it may make trouble, he said.

Choi said the U.S. was in no position to do anything, but interestingly the top U.S. negotiator on the DPRK, Sung Kim, was in Tokyo conferring with South Korean and Japanese envoys even as KCNA was reporting the message. Sung Kims point was the U.S. wanted to get into a dialogue with the North regardless of progress on denuclearization, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

Indeed, Sung Kim talked up negotiations despite North Korea boasting of having successfully test-fired a new type of cruise missile over the weekend. Without referring to the cruise missile tests, he said the U.S. was prepared to work cooperatively with the DPRK to address humanitarian concerns, Yonhap reported.

Shim Jae-hoon, a long-time analyst of Korean issues, had a less charitable explanation for the royal gesture. Think of her age (95), he said. She may just be getting on.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Northside College Prep teacher Nora Flanagan said she spent part of her weekend searching for a rapid COVID-19 test after learning one of her students tested positive for the virus.

I desperately wanted to make sure that I did not bring the infection in front of more students or that I didnt send my sons into their school communities and put more people at risk, Flanagan said Monday at a Logan Square rally.

CPS has no testing plan to support situations like that. Theres no rapid test for exposed students or teachers, so I had to take care of it myself. And theres even less of a plan if any of us had been sick.

Flanagan  who is the mother of two Chicago Public Schools students  was one of more than two dozen protesters calling attention to the districts chaotic fall reopening. Those in attendance Monday demanded more COVID-19 testing in schools, faster contact tracing when there is a positive case, quicker disclosure of cases and expanded access to remote, synchronous learning for students who dont feel comfortable with the safety protocols in place.

The demonstration comes two weeks after CPS welcomed students back for full-time, in-person learning for the first time since March 2020 and days after the district reported logging 160 student and adult coronavirus cases since Aug. 29. Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS officials have expressed confidence in their reopening plans, which include an indoor mask mandate, a vaccination requirement for district employees and 3 feet of social distancing where possible  which is less than the 6-feet standard once in place. The protesters said the measures are not enough to ensure the safety of students and staff.

Were still in the pandemic, but we continue to see crowded classrooms, crowded lunchrooms that have us all concerned about the infections that are happening in our communities. We cannot roll back those protections and those guidelines, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th said, later adding, It is appalling. I have been in several meetings with the Chicago Public Schools representatives. They dont even have the decency to provide answers to the parents and educators that theyre supposed to represent. Today we demand those answers.

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Among the questions that remain is when weekly testing for students and staff members will be available in all schools. The testing program  which is voluntary, except for unvaccinated staff members and student-athletes who are unvaccinated or half-vaccinated  was initially supposed to start everywhere Sept. 1, but then that goal was pushed to Sept. 15.

Interim CPS CEO Jose Torres and interim Chief Education Officer Maurice Swinney said in a districtwide note to families Friday that CPS will continue scaling up our COVID-19 testing program in all schools in the coming weeks. A district spokeswoman could not say Monday how many schools offer the testing.

On its website, CPS says 1,054 tests were administered from Aug. 29 to Sept. 11 through its screening program, with no positive cases and 85 invalid results.

Its also unclear how many students and staff members have been directed to quarantine since the start of school. CPS has only been updating its online case tracker once a week, on Wednesdays. The district reported 160 cases from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8, with more than 2,900 people deemed a close contact of an infected person, according to Wednesdays data. Some parents have complained CPS contact tracers have not been notifying close contacts fast enough, and schools have not been disclosing positive cases to their communities in a timely manner either.

The principal of Drummond Montessori Magnet School alerted parents Monday night about a person who was present at the Bucktown school on Thursday testing positive for COVID-19. The parents of affected students had already been contacted, according to the principals note, and those students moved to remote learning while CPS contact tracing team completes its investigation.

Even before the school year started, some parents were calling for more remote learning options as the highly transmissible delta variant sparked an uptick in coronavirus cases in Chicago and around the country.

CPS says remote, synchronous instruction is only available to medically fragile students enrolled in the districts Virtual Academy, students isolating at home because they tested positive for COVID-19 and students quarantining because they were determined to be a close contact of someone who tested positive.

The protesters at Mondays rally demanded a remote learning option for everyone as they marched to an area near Lightfoots home. Northwest Side parent Jim Santoyo pointed to recent CPS case numbers and said Lightfoot is not prioritizing student safety.

Lori Lightfoot decides that it is not up to us to determine what is the safest for our students. It is up to her and her unelected school board, Santoyo said.

tswartz@tribpub.com
A former Parkville construction manager has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to defraud the federal government of $335 million in contract work that was meant for firms owned by minorities and veterans, according to prosecutors.

Patrick M. Dingle, 50, admitted in federal court Monday to participating in the fraud alongside other co-conspirators. He also pleaded guilty in a separate case to filing false tax returns and dodging an estimated $615,000 in tax liability, prosecutors said.

A defense attorney for Dingle declined to comment on the plea.

In 2019, Dingle was charged along with co-conspirator Matthew McPherson by a federal grand jury in a 16-count indictment outlining the fraud accusations. Dingle, working as the construction manager for North Kansas City-based Zieson Construction Company, won nearly 200 federal contracts set aside for minority and veteran-owned small businesses between 2009 and 2018, prosecutors say.

The contracts were obtained by Dingle and McPherson through the use of straw owners who signed checks and other documents but did not control the day-to-day operations of the companies or gain substantial profits from them. That rendered the construction companies ineligible to seek the federal contracts.

Dingle pleaded guilty on Monday to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire and major program fraud. He also admitted to lying on his tax returns, including by submitting nearly $800,000 in fraudulent business expenses.

McPherson, 45, of Olathe, pleaded guilty in 2019 to his role in the crime and has yet to be sentenced.
U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) promises the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill will, "both address our perilously changing climate and create new, good jobs, all while strengthening the economy and reinvigorating local communities." But Maya MacGuineas, the president of the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said politicians are punting on taxes and the promise to bring the bill in on budget.

"What we're seeing coming out of the Ways and Means Committee right now really indicates that lawmakers aren't willing to kind of back up all the things that they want to spend money on with a plan to pay for it," she told Yahoo Finance Live.

Democrats on the powerful committee are considering raising $2.9 trillion in taxes over 10 years to pay for President Joe Biden's Build it Back Better plan. Those increases include raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from the current 21%, and raising income taxes for the highest-earning Americans.

"People are very eager to raise taxes on anybody but themselves. And if we're going to be realistic, there's not enough money just from the very, very wealthy in this country to come anywhere close to financing the huge expansive agenda that's being discussed," MacGuineas cautioned.

'If something's worth doing, it's worth paying for'

MacGuineas said plans to tackle climate change, cybersecurity and create jobs are all worthwhile and said, "If something's worth doing, it's worth paying for. How do we want to pay for it?"

To help pay for his $3.5 trillion plan, Biden originally proposed much larger tax increases on the wealthy with a capital gains tax that would approach 39.6% for the highest earners. The Ways and Means Committee proposed a top rate of 25%. The current rate is 20%.

MacGuineas said it's easier for politicians to promise spending on items people like than it is to pay for them. "What's coming out of the committee is a lot more in tax breaks, and very importantly, a lot less than the actual revenue raisers," she added.

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The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the current fiscal situation in the United States is unsustainable with plans to borrow $12 trillion to $13 trillion over the next 10 years.

"Borrowing a trillion to $2 trillion every year, even post COVID, which is what we are on track to be doing, that's not going to strengthen us in any way, that's going to weaken us tremendously," MacGuineas said.

The current national debt is approaching $29 trillion. Annual interest payments on the debt total $330 billion but MacGuineas fears those payments will rise to $910 billion if Congress passes new spending without plans to pay for it. To help put that $910 billion interest payment into context, consider the Biden administration is asking Congress to approve $752 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2022.

"Borrowing weakens the economy, leaves us vulnerable to new emergencies, leaves us vulnerable on a geopolitical stage, we're competing with other nations around the world, both in terms of national security, and to maintain our position as an economic superpower," MacGuineas warned.

She said the fiscal health of the country is the very foundation of our economic strength and warns that continued borrowing will chip away at the standard of living in the United States.

The decision MacGuineas said is clear, "If you want to grow government a lot, you're going to have to grow taxes a lot. If you want to have a smaller government, then taxes will be lower, but you're going to have to cut a lot of the spending," there is no way to avoid hard choices.

Adam Shapiro is co-anchor of Yahoo Finance Live 3pm to 5pm. Follow him on Twitter @Ajshaps

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Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto Sanchez was remembered Tuesday as a gap filler and bridge builder who gave his life to help American citizens and Afghan refugees trying to escape the Taliban.

Politicians including former Vice President Mike Pence and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb praised Sanchez during his funeral in his hometown of Logansport, Indiana, about 100 miles southeast of Chicago. Sanchez was one of 13 service members killed during the Aug. 26 suicide bomb attack at Kabuls international airport.

Sanchez, 22, had been working as an embassy guard in Jordan before he was ordered to assist the civilian evacuation in Afghanistan, Chaplain Capt. Blake Campbell said during the service at LifeGate Church.

It was in this selfless act of bravery and courage that he gave the ultimate sacrifice and gave up his life in defense of the defenseless, he said. What we will do today is honor a perfect Marine.

Pence, who was governor of Indiana before winning the White House with Donald Trump, said Sanchez died defending innocent civilians fleeing from the chaos that had become Afghanistan.

Citing news reports, he said Sanchez remained at the Abbey Gate outside the airport, the spot where the bombing took place, aiding adults and children even when it was clear the Marines would have to evacuate.

Cpl. Sanchez didnt run, Pence said. He was determined to get the kids out of the gate and he stayed at his post. No one will ever say it better than his mother did: In the final moments of his life, it was a work of art, doing everything he could to get those kids out of harms way.

Zach Szmara, a pastor and friend of the family, said Sanchez possessed a sense of justice that showed up on the soccer field when opponents roughed up a teammate with a cheap shot.

He would find a way to stand in the gap and make it right, Szmara said. Be it a hard tackle later in the game, or fighting even harder in the air for a header, he would make the opposing team know that he had seen the wrong and he was making it right.

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Holcomb said that aside from being an athlete, Sanchez was an artist and student whose laugh brightened the lives of all those who were fortunate to know him.

Sanchez enlisted in the Marines following his 2017 graduation from Logansport High School, one of 17 people in his class to join the military.

Szmara said that Sanchez, the U.S.-born child of Mexican immigrants, kept his love for his familys homeland  he had a Mexican flag tattoo  while serving with the American flag on his uniform.

I share all of this because I think sometimes we can have a flawed vision of America, Szmara said. We wrongly believe unity means uniformity. ... There is richness and beauty in each of our immigrant neighbors and who they are, their values, their languages, their food, their families, their hard work, their culture. They make us better together, they make us stronger, because immigrants are a blessing, not a burden.

The service, which was livestreamed, was followed by a procession to Mount Hope Cemetery in Logansport, where Sanchez was laid to rest with military honors.

jkeilman@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @JohnKeilman
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered members of his cabinet to get his consent before appearing at senate investigations, fuelling accusations from activists and some politicians of an attempt to stifle scrutiny.

Duterte gave the directive in a recorded televised address aired on Tuesday after he said senators probing his government's use of more than $1 billion in pandemic https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippine-health-ministry-says-no-corruption-13-bln-pandemic-funds-2021-08-14funds were using the hearings to further their political ambitions.

"I will require every cabinet member to clear with me any invitation, and if I think he will be called...to be harassed, berated...I will not allow (them to attend)," Duterte said.

This was not the first time Duterte has challenged the investigative powers of Congress. In January, he directed the head of his military detail to ignore legislative summons issued by the senate, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-philippines-vaccin-idUSKBN29916V which was probing his guards for inoculating themselves with an unauthorised COVID-19 vaccine.

"I will limit you to what you can do with the executive department," Duterte told the senators, but added if the invitation was reasonable and "in pursuant of the truth" then he would not stand in the way.

In a post on Twitter, activist Renato Reyes of the left-wing alliance Bayan (Nation), labelled the order as "tyrannical" and accused Duterte of trying to cover up corruption.

Duterte has told senators to stop probing ongoing programmes https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/philippines-duterte-says-medical-supplies-not-overpriced/ar-AAO1XUj after they zeroed in on a multi-billion peso medical supplies contract his government awarded to a small-capitalised firm with links to public officials during the hearing.

Duterte, whose government is facing growing criticism over its handling of the pandemic, has said the deal was above-board, and accused the senators of "stretching the hearing because it is good for elections".

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Former congressman and activist Neri Colmenares urged cabinet members to keep attending the senate hearings because otherwise it breached the "wish of the people" to scrutinise such transactions.

Senate President Vicente Sotto has defended the senate's record, saying last month, the upper chamber's investigations have led to the removal of government officials and the filing of cases against them.

(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Ed Davies)
Sep. 14ANDOVER  A town staff member called police to the Sept. 2 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting because of "residents getting rowdy," according to the police call log.

More than two dozen Andover residents gathered at the meeting to voice opposition to an outpatient addiction treatment and detox center that would require 24-hour use at Doctors Park on Haverhill Street. Residents at the meeting said they had not been properly notified by town officials about the project.

"The residents were cleared out by the time the officer arrived," said Lt. Eddie Guy, the spokesperson for Andover Police.

The ZBA had already closed the public hearing for the project's three variances and had made a decision to grant the developers the variances by the time residents came to the meeting.

"The biggest issue here is no one seems to have been notified," said Rich Ranzi, who lives directly across the street from Doctors Park. "Going from a day-time operation to 24-hours with trucks coming in and out, it's different."

The board still discussed procedural aspects to the approval process and told residents they could appeal the board's decision or ask the Planning Board to halt the project. Board members reiterated these processes for about 45 minutes before they solidified their pre-written approval for the variances moved on to the next item.

That's when a town staff member called the police, Guy said. There was no record of who made the call, he clarified.

"Residents cleared out no issue," the police log noted.

"It's my expectation that the chairs of the boards and committees manage the public comment portions of their meetings," said Town Manager Andrew Flanagan. "In rare instances when board members or staff are concerned about their safety or the safety of meeting participants, I trust that they use their best judgment when asking for a police presence."

Residents have yet to appeal the ZBA's decision as of press time, as plans for redevelopment moved ahead with the Planning Board Tuesday night.
The growing urgency of tackling global warming is colliding with the worlds deeply uneven use of the heat-trapping energy resources that are causing it.

The big picture: The long-simmering debate over the role rich and poor countries should fill in tackling climate change is reaching a boiling point.

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Rich countries in North America and Europe, which have built their economies on oil, natural gas and coal, are calling for drastic cuts in burning these fuels. Leaders of poorer nations, particularly in Africa, are urging lenience for their still-developing economies.

Driving the news: Wealthy nations and development banks funded by them are restricting access to financing for fossil-fuel infrastructure in dozens of the worlds poorest countries.

The biggest sticking point is emerging over natural gas, which emits far less carbon dioxide and other traditional pollution compared to coal and oil.

But gas is still a fossil fuel that is contributing to Earths temperature rise because its primary component is methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Why it matters: To forestall the worst effects of a warming planet, the world must drastically cut heat-trapping emissions, most of which come from burning fossil fuels, says a just-released United Nations report. Yet concerns about equity  which often fall along racial lines  are emerging in response.

The most valuable thing we can do is invest in technologies that allow countries to substitute in renewables for fossil fuels. Shutting off the spigot now for the poorest countries will be devastating for them.

Vijaya Ramachandran, director for energy and development at the nonprofit Breakthrough Institute

How it works: Governments and development banks in and funded by wealthy nations, including the United States and World Bank, largely control access to financing for the worlds 74 poorest countries as defined by the World Bank, most of which are in Africa.

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The Treasury Department in August issued guidance to the worlds multilateral banks that opposes funding entirely to oil and coal and production of natural gas. It will offer narrow and qualified support for certain natural-gas infrastructure like pipelines, in the poorest countries only.

The World Bank announced similar restrictions earlier this summer, as did a United Kingdom development bank last summer.

The European Investment Bank has taken the strictest approach. It announced in 2019 it would end financing of all fossil-fuel projects, including natural gas, by the end of this year. Gas facilities that have technology installed that could capture its emissions are the only exception.

What theyre saying: Curbing natural gas investments in Africa will do little to limit carbon emissions globally but much to hurt the continents economic prospects, said Yemi Osinbajo, vice president of Nigeria, in an oped published in late August.

By the numbers:

The 48 countries and more than one billion people of Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding Northern African nations and South Africa) account for less than 1% of the worlds cumulative carbon emissions. The entire continent is just 3%.

Even if those 48 nations suddenly tripled their electricity consumption overnight using only natural gas, it would amount to just 0.62% of the worlds annual global emissions, per a calculation by Energy For Growth Hub, a nonprofit focused on sustainable and equitable energy development.

In fact, its not even electricity, but cooking (with fuels like wood) thats especially polluting. These wood fuels represent Africas largest single energy source, and therefore is one of the regions largest contributors to climate change, according to a June peer-reviewed study by Duke University experts.

Many homes in Sub-Saharan Africa are still cooking with charcoal and firewood, and urgently need to transition to cleaner options like propane and other products derived from oil and gas, said Murefu Barasa, founder and managing partner of EED Advisory Limited, a Kenya-based consulting firm on energy access in Africa.

Yes, but: Some environmentalists agree that although poorer nations have as much right as wealthier nations to fully develop their economies, the urgency of climate change means new fossil fuels, including natural gas, cant play a role.

It has yet to be demonstrated that there are development pathways for the countries of the south that are not fossil-dependent pathways, said Tom Athanasiou, executive director of EcoEquity, a think tank working with international groups to ensure equitable climate solutions.

We believe there are such pathways, particularly since the renewable energy revolution.

He said richer nations need to help more to subsidize the transition costs so countries like Nigeria and Kenya can rapidly adopt cleaner energy.

The bottom line: If the push for a net-zero 2050 is not very widely accepted around the world as being fair, its going to fail, Athanasiou said.

Editor's note: Amy Harder is launching Cipher, a new publication by Breakthrough Energy, a project focused on how to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To keep following her journalism, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.

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KOSICE, Slovakia (AP)  Pope Francis on Tuesday urged Slovakias Roma to integrate better into the mainstream as he met with the countrys most socially excluded minority group, who have long suffered discrimination, marginalization and poverty.

But in some ways Francis visit to the Lunik IX settlement in the eastern city of Kosice brought home just how excluded the Roma are: Slovak police and soldiers lined tall fencing along the main route into the neighborhood, preventing residents who hadnt registered in advance from accessing the small seating area for the event.

Despite the problematic optics, the visit was nevertheless a highlight of Francis four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia. The trip marks his first outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July and the restart of his globetrotting papacy after a nearly two-year coronavirus hiatus.

Lunik XI is the biggest of about 600 shabby, segregated settlements where the poorest 20% of Slovakias 400,000 Roma live. Most lack basics such as running water or sewage systems, gas or electricity.

Francis acknowledged Slovakias Roma had long been subject to prejudice and harsh judgments, discriminatory stereotypes, defamatory words and gestures, and even misunderstandings on the part of the Catholic Church. His visit alone could help change attitudes among Slovakias majority, many of whom would never visit a neighborhood that until recently police refused to enter at night.

But Francis, 84, urged the residents to think of future generations in trying to overcome their own prejudices, obstacles and longstanding mistrust of the Slovak majority, and try to integrate better so their children can have a brighter future.

Their great dreams must not collide with barriers that we have erected. They deserve a well-integrated and free life, Francis told the crowd. Courageous decisions must be made on behalf of our children: to promote their dignity, to educate them in such a way that they can grow up solidly grounded in their own identity and be given every opportunity they desire.

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Roma have long suffered racism and discrimination in Slovakia and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, and continue to face huge hurdles in employment and education. The mistrust is reciprocal, with some Slovaks blaming the Roma for crime and Roma distrusting state institutions that have long failed them.

That distrust was on display during Francis visit, with a far more robust Slovak security presence than at any of Francis other stops, literally keeping the Lunik residents behind wire fencing.

Vladimir Fabian, spokesman for the city of Kosice, said residents had been given the chance to register to attend the event, but many didnt. In addition, anyone who wanted to attend had to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or proof of recovery from COVID-19.

The fence was erected for security reasons, Fabian said, adding that security also dictated that residents were told to stay in their buildings and watch the pope from their windows.

The Rev. Marian Deahos, a Salesian priest who works with the Roma in a nearby community, said Francis call for greater integration may fall on deaf ears given the deeply felt barriers the Roma have about integration and the racism" some Slovaks have toward them.

The biggest problem is that we, Slovaks, consider the Roma to be under us, less than us, that they steal, they dont work and have problems with us, Deahos said on the sidelines of the Lunik event. While some Roma are able to work and live in mixed neighborhoods, those in Lunik havent managed to because either they dont believe they can or dont have the education or means to, he said.

The residents of Lunik IX have faced a compounded hurdle: The settlement was originally a neighborhood where Roma families lived alongside the families of service members and police officers, a communist-era measure to keep law and order. Kosice authorities later moved Roma from other parts of the city to the neighborhood, essentially confirming its ghettoization and the forced separation of Roma from the mainstream.

Marginalizing others accomplishes nothing, Francis told the crowd. Segregating ourselves and other people eventually leads to anger. The path to peaceful coexistence is integration: an organic, gradual and vital process that starts with coming to know one another, then patiently grows, keeping its gaze fixed on the future.

Francis sought to highlight the example of Roma who had left or otherwise integrated more fully into Slovak society. His encounter featured one resident  Jan Hero, 61, who married a Slovak woman  and a family of four who got out of Lunik IX with the help of the Salesian priests who minister to the community.

Thanks to this, we can today offer our children a life thats happier and more dignified and peaceful, said one of those who left, Rene Harakaly. Noting that she still has family members in Lunik IX, she added: We hope that your visit brings a new hope and passion for an internal transformation to those here today.

Lunik IX mayor Marcel Sana, a resident since he was 2, has overseen a host of public works since taking over in 2014, including improving sanitation and security. The local school is well-regarded, and playgrounds have opened for local children.

When I took over the office, my vision was to make Lunik IX a quarter like all others in Kosice, Sana said. But after everything was neglected for 20 or 30 years, we need time to make it happen.

Residents said Tuesday that some things had already changed in the runup to Francis visit, with fresh paint on building exteriors.

We have new roads, new stairs, they repaired everything, said resident Alexander Horvath.

The pope of the peripheries has long sought to meet with societys most marginalized during his foreign trips, making sure to always include visits to slums, ghettos or prisons where he can offer words of encouragement and welcome.

Francis started his penultimate day by celebrating a Byzantine rite Mass in Presov, near Kosice, in recognition of the countrys Greek-Catholic believers. During the chant-filled, open-air Mass, Francis took a swipe at European politicians who often brandish crosses to emphasize their Christian credentials.

Crucifixes are found all around us: on necks, in homes, in cars, in pockets, he said. Let us not reduce the cross to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social status.

Organizers said more than 30,000 people attended, and they received the Eucharist via small spoons, as is done in the Eastern rite.

Well before Francis arrival they had filled the outdoor site as a choir sang hymns. They cheered and wildly waved the yellow-and- white flags of the Holy See as Francis looped through the crowd in his popemobile.

We came here at 3 a.m. to get the best spot, said Slavka Marcinakova, a resident of Presov. Pope coming to Slovakia  you have an opportunity like this only once in a lifetime. We are so happy for that.

____

Janicek reported from Prague, Czech Republic. AP visual journalists Adam Pemble, Andrea Rosa and Luigi Navarra contributed.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged in a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York that Prince Andrew sexually abused her in the early 2000s at Jeffrey Epstein's New York City mansion. Christopher Furlong - WPA Pool/Getty Images, Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Prince Andrew hired a lawyer who has represented Armie Hammer to defend him against a sexual abuse lawsuit.

The attorney argued in a virtual hearing Monday that the Duke of York hasn't been effectively served with a lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

He claimed a "secret settlement agreement" frees Prince Andrew of liability in the lawsuit.

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Prince Andrew is now challenging a sexual abuse lawsuit from a Jeffrey Epstein accuser with the help of a Hollywood lawyer.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged in a lawsuit filed last month in federal court in New York that the royal sexually abused her in the early 2000s at Epstein's New York City mansion, when she was 17.

Prince Andrew, who has repeatedly denied Giuffre's allegations and said he doesn't recall ever meeting her, didn't appear Monday at a virtual hearing.

His attorney Andrew Brettler, who has defended actor Armie Hammer and former "Saturday Night Live" star Horatio Sanz against sexual assault allegations, told Judge Lewis A. Kaplan that Giuffre had not effectively served his client with the lawsuit, which he referred to as "baseless, non-viable, and possibly unlawful."

Brettler initially asked that a UK court be given time to weigh in on whether Prince Andrew was properly served with the lawsuit. Kaplan said he believed that was unnecessary, and that he would authorize additional means to serve the Duke of York with the lawsuit if Giuffre requested it.

Kaplan gave her attorney, David Boies, a week to file a request that the court authorize a different manner to serve Prince Andrew, who is reportedly staying at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, with the lawsuit.

Prince Andrew attends the Sunday service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, following the death announcement of his father, Prince Philip, in England, Sunday, April 11, 2021. Associated Press/Steve Parsons

A 'secret settlement'

At the virtual hearing, Brettler asked that Giuffre's attorneys provide him with a copy of a "secret settlement agreement" that he argued would protect his client from liability. He said that the document, which remains under seal, has already protected other individuals accused of similar conduct.

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Boies said that was a mischaracterization of what happened with the document, and argued that Prince Andrew doesn't have a right to make discovery requests while he's still contesting that he's been served with the lawsuit.

While the contents of the settlement agreement are unknown, Kaplan noted that its unsealing is currently being litigated in front of Judge Loretta A. Preska in the Southern District of New York.

Court documents show Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who Giuffre previously sued and accused of sexual abuse, wrote to Preska last week asking that a 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Epstein be unsealed. Dershowitz wrote that the settlement prompted Giuffre to drop a battery claim against him last month, and suggested it would be relevant in the lawsuit against Prince Andrew as well.

Kaplan told Brettler that he believed it would be most orderly to let Preska handle the issue of whether the settlement be unsealed, while he works on the issue of whether or not Prince Andrew has been served.

"If there is a document out there that would provide your client with an affirmative defense to the claim made in this action, or help you out in England, or both, you'd like to see it sooner or later," he said. "I understand that."

The next hearing in the lawsuit is slated for October 13, and attorneys are expected to appear in person, Kaplan said.

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DETROIT  Chanting "Black Lives Matter" and "No justice, no peace, James Craig is still police," about 50 protesters engulfed the former Detroit police chief Tuesday morning as he tried to announce his bid to become the next Republican governor of Michigan.

Appearing on Belle Isle, the political newcomer waited for about 20 minutes before heading to a podium, where he was immediately mobbed. After several attempts to speak as critics screamed and pressed in from all sides, Craig shouted, "I've got one thing to say: I'm running for governor!"

Then he walked away, surrounded by supporters who pushed back against the protesters chasing him and his team.

Craig eventually delivered remarks about his vision for the state from the rooftop of Icon Detroit, a massive riverfront property that was previously the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources.

He touted his law enforcement experience and blasted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's approach to fighting the pandemic. He said he has not seen evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, but heralded the widely criticized effort in Arizona to "audit" voting results.

He referenced infrastructure, education and the pandemic at points during the speech, but did not mention any of these issues when asked about the top priority of his campaign.

Instead, he repeatedly came back to the concept of leadership and his campaign slogan: leading from the front.

Roughly two hours after Craig sped off in a black SUV from Belle Isle  with protesters screaming and flipping the bird  the former police chief touted his leadership skills by discussing his department's response to protests in recent months.

"We were never going to retreat," Craig said.

'Leadership works'

Craig, 65, repeatedly referenced his 44 years in law enforcement as the key experience that makes him ready to become governor. He mentioned the creation of a task force that includes lawmakers, sheriffs and others working on potential future legislation.

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But asked whether the issue is his campaign's top priority, Craig said no.

"What I do know is leadership works...You hear folks talk about, well, I'm going to unify. How are you going to unify when you're not talking to the other party? You don't have a relationship with the other party, that's not unification," Craig said.

"We know there are things that we can agree on and things that we won't agree on."

Instead of picking one or two top priorities, Craig repeatedly took aim at Whitmer and her policies. While still needs to emerge from a crowded GOP primary field, he used his introductory speech to emphasize he's already focused on his potential Democratic opponent.

"The damn roads are not fixed unless someone here can tell me different," Craig said to laughter from the small but fervent crowd gathered at the Icon building.

Asked about his own plan to improve infrastructure, Craig said, I didnt say that was one of my priorities. However, I do think our roads do need to be fixed.

He then criticized the state's lack of preparedness for storms that caused widespread flooding and power outages throughout the state.

Craig also blasted the governor's pandemic policies. He said "countless parents and grandparents may have died" in nursing homes not because of the pandemic, but because of "a failed response to the pandemic." It's an oft-repeated GOP talking point, but no one has provided any evidence that the state's nursing home policies directly led to any deaths.

He said Whitmer, not the pandemic, forced small businesses to close and school children to miss out on a year of traditional education.

The governor's initial pandemic orders caused tens of thousands of businesses to close. Some rules were scaled back within weeks. But while other regulations remained in place for much of 2020 and the first few months of 2021, businesses were allowed to operate in a limited capacity for most of the year.

Republican lawmakers also worked with Whitmer in 2020 to give local school districts the authority to create local pandemic policies. But Craig said there are still confusing school mandates from Lansing, despite the fact the state rescinded the remaining pandemic orders in June.

Asked about this, Craig pivoted to promoting the opportunity to choose to get vaccinated and blasting the possibility of inoculation mandates.

"Lets let parents choose. If a parent wants to send their child to school and don a mask, so be it. If a parent feels that well, you know what, I really dont want my son or daughter in school if there are unvaccinated children, and you want to homeschool? Choice," Craig said.

If you dont want to get vaccinated. I mean what are we becoming, making mandates, making mandates to get vaccinated? Are we becoming socialists? Communists? What about choice?"

He never articulated how he would have fought the pandemic differently.

Jay Bass left, leads chants as Rai Lanier speaks on behalf of Detroit Will Breath in opposition of former Detroit Police Chief James Craig before he could officially announce his run for Michigan governor, as a Republican candidate on Sept. 14, 2021, from Belle Isle.

Concerns and spin

The raucous welcome into the gubernatorial race is indicative of both the vitriol Craig will face and the support he'll garner.

The Belle Isle disruption echoed protests from last summer, when activists all over the country took to the streets to protest the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and to advocate for criminal justice reform in general.

Detroit Will Breathe protesters were highly critical of the way Craig and his department responded to protests last summer. They successfully sued the city after police used batons, tear gas and other means to break up protests, earning an order from a judge that temporarily barred police from using such tactics.

The city eventually countersued protesters, arguing they were part of a conspiracy to destroy property. But the department lost that legal fight after a judge tossed their claims in March.

However, Craig and his team tried to use the disruption Tuesday as a rallying cry.

The former police chief called the protesters radical paid activists who do not speak for most Detroiters. He later acknowledged, "I feel like they were paid. I don't have any hard evidence, but I feel like they were paid."

He also said he thinks most Michiganders  including many across the state who might not be as familiar with his work in Detroit  will connect with him and his campaign.

"Im a blue-collar guyIm not special. I didnt grow up with a gold spoon in my mouth... Im not (personally) financing this campaign. Im not different than anybody else in the state. I will resonate with those folks up north, or in the west, because Im authentic, Im a leader, and Im blue-collar," Craig said.

Others immediately spun the protests as a win for Craig.

"These leftists want to defund your police. Republicans are the only sanity left in this Country. @GovWhitmer is finished," tweeted Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock.

"Thank you BLM for reminding us what your world looks like."

Within hours of the protest, the Craig campaign used it in a call to donors for more support.

"Leftist protestors stormed the podium at the Chiefs launch announcement and called him a racist," part of the email to supporters states.

"Tell those protesters that you're not afraid to stand up to them and stand with the chief  donate now."

In between leaving Belle Isle and speaking at the Icon, Craig blamed the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for not doing enough to intervene in the protests, according to an interview he gave the Detroit News.

However, text messages obtained by the Freep and the News show a member of the Craig campaign told a member of the DNR that crowd control is "not on you guys."

"The DNR pro-actively worked with the Craig campaign to ensure they had the proper permit for their event," said department spokesman Ed Golder.

"The Craig campaign did not request a security plan for the event, and affirmed they understood that crowd control would be the responsibility of the campaign. As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we immediately dispatched a park ranger and law enforcement officers to respond."

A security detail escorts former Detroit Police Chief James Craig from protesters before he could officially announce his run for Michigan governor as a Republican candidate on Sept. 14, 2021 from Belle Isle.

More: Detroiters get real about city's crime: What they said in new poll

More: Detroit Police Chief James Craig set to retire, run for governor, sources say

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More: Former Police Chief James Craig to launch campaign for governor on Belle Isle Tuesday

More: James Craig says he doesn't have information to weigh in on Trump's stolen election claims

'I do believe in election integrity for all'

In the lead up to the announcement, Craig touted his law enforcement experience as a key component of his platform. He touted his support for the rights of gun owners  in 2013 he said more armed citizens would drive down Detroit's crime rate  and the way his department responded to Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

He's vaccinated against COVID-19 and has publicly advocated for wearing masks, but he also said inoculation is a personal choice and criticized state pandemic regulations.

However, Craig largely tried to avoid wading too deeply into some of the biggest questions still percolating in Republican politics: Does he believe and support misinformation spread by former President Donald Trump and others that the 2020 election was rigged or stolen?

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Asked after an event in August whether he believes Trump's claims, Craig said, "If there was evidence, if there was a proper investigation that the election was stolen," before trailing off and stating, "I don't have that information."

On Tuesday, he said he had not seen any evidence of fraud but supported audit efforts across the country.

"There are many Michiganders, many across our country, who feel there were problems. We should listen to those folks," Craig said.

"I do believe in election integrity for all, Democrats and Republicans. And I think it's very appropriate that when you go to a poll, you should show ID."

Craig served as chief of police in Detroit for about eight years before retiring in the summer. A Detroit native, he spent decades working as an officer in Los Angeles before becoming the chief of police in Portland, Maine, in 2009. He moved on in 2011, leading the Cincinnati Police Department before coming to Detroit.

A security detail escorts former Detroit Police Chief James Craig from protesters before he could officially announce his run for Michigan governor as a Republican candidate on Sept. 14, 2021 from Belle Isle.

In recent years, Craig garnered attention from conservatives through his multiple appearances on Fox News and similar broadcasts. He regularly appears on Tucker Carlson's controversial Fox show, where he told the host he was running for governor during a July 21 appearance.

He tried to walk that back slightly in a radio interview the following day, arguing he was still weighing the decision. He'd also formed what he called an "exploratory committee" to raise money before making a formal announcement; there's no apparatus for such an entity in Michigan, although Rick Snyder and others have also used the phrase before launching their own political bids.

More: Gov. Whitmer, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig running even, Free Press poll shows

More: Former Detroit police chief slams 'victimhood mentality' at birthplace of Michigan GOP

Typically, incumbents have an advantage in any political race. However, very early polling shows Craig and Whitmer running neck and neck: results of a late-August survey from EPIC-MRA commissioned by the Free Press found 45% of likely Michigan voters would vote for Whitmer and 44% would choose Craig.

The majority did not recognize Craig's name, though, one of several hurdles he'll need to overcome if he wants to successfully challenge Whitmer.

Rai Lanier speaks on behalf of Detroit Will Breath in opposition of former Detroit Police Chief James Craig before he could officially announce his run for Michigan governor, as a Republican candidate on Sept. 14, 2021, from Belle Isle.

In an effort to introduce himself to voters, Craig was slated to appear in Grand Rapids later Tuesday. His campaign canceled a Flint visit after the delay in Detroit caused by protesters.

He'll head up north after that, speaking in Traverse City on Wednesday. On Thursday he'll attend events in Mackinaw City before heading to the Upper Peninsula to meet people in Newberry Township, Marquette and Escanaba.

Fundraising is another key component of name recognition, but Craig and every other GOP contender start at a substantial disadvantage compared with the governor.: Whitmer already has more than $10 million in the bank.

Other declared GOP candidates who've filed paperwork with the state include Grand Rapids businessman and U.S. Army veteran Austin Chenge, conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, Ottawa County real estate agent Ryan Kelley, Kalamazoo chiropractor Garrett Soldano, Oakland County pastor Ralph Rebandt, and Livingston County evangelist and substitute teacher Bob Scott.

Most of these candidates have garnered attention from and based at least portions of their platforms on blasting pandemic orders issued by the Whitmer administration.

Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: James Craig launches run for governor surrounded by protesters
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was one of the five justices to vote against stopping Texass restrictive abortion law from taking effect (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs Washington DC-area home was surrounded by protesters on Monday as the backlash over the decision to allow Texass restrictive abortion ban to take effect continues nationwide.

Video tweeted by a number of news outlets showed dozens of demonstrators gathered at a park near the Chevy Chase, Maryland home of the courts second-newest addition and participating in a demonstration moments later in a residential area where they chanted slogans through a loudspeaker.

Our message was loud and clear at Brett Kavanaughs house yesterday: We will not allow *anyone* to deny our rights and our humanity. Respect our existence or expect resistance, Shutdown DC, which organised the protest, said in a statement.

Mr Kavanaugh was one of five conservative justices on the Court who voted earlier this month to allow a law passed by Republicans in Texas banning abortion after six weeks and deputising state residents to file lawsuits against offenders to go into effect. The decision elicited scathing reactions from liberals as well as some of the courts dissenting justices.

The Texas law bans all abortions after six weeks into the pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant, and is enforced via a bounty system that rewards citizens for filing successful lawsuits against anyone accused of participating or aiding in an abortion after the six-week threshold.

The Courts order is stunning. Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand, wrote Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent.

Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the court was one of the most controversial and politically-charged nomination fights in the modern history of the court; after his initial hearings were held, several women came forward with claims of sexual assault allegedly committed by Mr Kavanaugh during his time at school, which the now-confirmed justice furiously denied.

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Despite the furious liberal resistance to his nomination, Mr Kavanaugh became the second of three Supreme Court justices to be confirmed to the court under former President Donald Trump.

The third, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed in the height of the second wave of Covid-19 cases in the US and became involved in a superspreader event when the White House event celebrating her confirmation resulted in numerous Covid-19 infections among guests and attending press.

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the presence of foreign troops in Syria, saying they are there against the will of the Syrian government and are blocking the consolidation of the war-torn country, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Putin was referring to hundreds of U.S. troops stationed in eastern Syria and working with Kurdish-led fighters in battling the militant Islamic State group, as well as Turkish forces in northern Syria. Speaking during a rare meeting in Moscow on Monday night with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad, he said the presence of the foreigners is illegal because they don't have permission to be there from the United Nations or Syria's government.

Russia joined Syrias 10-year conflict in September 2015, when the Syrian military appeared close to collapse, and has since helped in tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, whose forces now control much of the country. Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed across Syria and they also have a military air base along Syrias Mediterranean coast.

Assad has rarely made trips abroad in the past decade since Syria's conflict began, except to visit key allies Russia and Iran. Assad and Putin discussed cooperation between their armies and ways to continue operations to gain control of the last rebel-held areas in Syria, state media in Damascus reported.

Putin later announced he was going into self-isolation because of coronavirus cases in his inner circle. Assad and his wife tested positive to coronavirus in March, and recovered three weeks later.

It was the first meeting between the two allies since they held a summit in the Syrian capital in January last year. The two also met in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2017 and in Moscow in 2015. Syrian state TV described Monday's meeting as long and said the two were later joined by Syrias foreign minister and Russias defense minister to discuss mutual relations and fighting terrorism.

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This clearly violates international law and doesnt allow you to make maximum efforts to consolidate the country, Putin was quoted as telling Assad about the foreign forces, according to a statement released by the Kremlin.

"Only a consolidation of all forces in Syria will allow the country to get on its feet and start steady development, moving forward, Putin said.

Putin and Assad also discussed the political process in the war-torn country, the TV said.

In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists said that Russian warplanes have been carrying out strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country. The region is home to some 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by the conflict.

Last week, a Russian-negotiated cease-fire deal went into effect to end a government siege and intense fighting in the southern city of Daraa. The deal brought areas held by the rebels in the city under government control for the first time since 2013.

We have the intention in Syria as a government and institutions to move in parallel between the liberation of land and the political process, the TV also quoted Assad as saying.

The TV said the during the meeting, the two leaders discussed cooperation between their armies in fighting terrorism and the continuation of liberating lands held by terrorists. Assad's government refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.

The Russian president said our joint efforts have liberated the main, overwhelming territory of the Syrian Republic. Speaking to Assad, Putin added that the terrorists have suffered very serious, significant damage, and the Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90% of the territory.

In Geneva, a team of U.N. investigators gave a strikingly different view of the situation. They said that after Assad won a fourth seven-year term this year, there seems to be no moves to unite the country or seek reconciliation and that the country was not safe for refugees to return.

In a report, the U.N. Syria Commission of Inquiry said that arbitrary and incommunicado detentions by government forces have continued and the economic situation has deteriorated dramatically, along with a recent surge in fighting.

The overall situation in Syria looks increasingly bleak, Commissioner Karen Koning AbuZayd said.

Syrias conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed half a million people and displaced half the countrys pre-war population of 23 million, including 5 million who are refugees outside the country.

___

Litvinova reported from Moscow. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva.
Boca Ciega High senior Matthew McCrary has a message for Pinellas County school district leaders: All the quarantines taking place are wreaking havoc on learning.

It is very difficult, McCrary said, offering the example of him sitting in the school auditorium four of seven periods one recent day because so many teachers were out. We dont get assignments and were falling behind.

This was supposed to be the year when students who lost class time over the past two semesters would be helped to get back on track and move ahead academically. For many, its not happening.

Several factors are at play.

Positive cases of the coronavirus reached last years level after one month, forcing large numbers of children and teachers to stay out of school until theyre cleared to return.

Also, the state stopped paying for live remote classes, which were available a year ago, meaning students cant tune in to lessons from home. And schools have struggled to get substitutes for quarantined teachers.

That stretches those who remain on campus to the point where they cant always provide the instruction needed to children in their classrooms, much less those who are absent.

Were trying. But this is even harder than in a normal year, said Sarah Khattabi, a teacher at John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg.

Khattabi and her fellow John Hopkins teacher Tatyana Arnold said theyve had as many as eight students missing per period on any given day. At the same time, the school has not been able to find subs for the four to five educators who have been out daily.

Parents have called requesting assignments for their children, saying they dont want them to fall behind. But keeping up with those requests has been tough, Arnold said, because teachers time is spent dealing with their usual students in class, others sent to their rooms because their teachers are out, and still others they tend to when covering for absent colleagues.

Updating materials on Canvas, the districts preferred method for keeping students up to date while on quarantine, comes as much as possible, Khattabi said. Often, quarantined children end up getting excused from assignments, with the expectation theyll make it up when they return.

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It is what it is, Arnold said. We dont have the support that is needed for these times.

Stresses on the system

Parents whose children have been isolated said even in the best of circumstances, theyve seen the stresses on the system.

Andria Peek said the teachers at her sons school, Double Branch Elementary in Wesley Chapel, provided really great communication home when her boys were quarantined after testing positive for COVID-19. One even drove assignments to their home, Peek said, and provided leniency in the time to submit the work.

Working from home while caring for two children and a husband who was also ill with COVID-19 did not leave Peek much opportunity to help with schooling. Being in and out of school doesnt allow for continuity of learning, she said, suggesting the current situation isnt much better than it was when the pandemic first surfaced in March 2020.

The teachers really did attempt to help them not get behind, she said. I dont know how its possible to manage all the kids in the school, plus those who are out, and take care of their own families.

Wendy Jaeger, another Pasco County parent, said her 5-year-old son got sick with COVID-like symptoms and had to stay home from Woodland Elementary in Zephyrhills for about two weeks. She requested work for him to do, so he could stay on track.

Once he got better, though, his teacher became ill, Jaeger said, and the substitute would not accept the materials.

Jaeger said in a direct message that her son is learning nothing with the substitute and shes ready to home school him for the year. The only thing that stops me is his need to be around other children.

Doing what you can

Madeline Hoffman, a senior at Sunlake High in Land OLakes, said she had trouble staying on top of classes while quarantined last year, even with online access available. This year, she said, some teachers have offered to meet remotely if necessary, and they try to keep everyone updated through Canvas.

Still, Hoffman said, things happen in the classroom that an absent student cannot access. Sometimes materials are distributed that dont make it online, she noted.

The teachers are doing what they can. We should limit the amount of kids who have to deal with this, said Hoffman, who recently encouraged the Pasco County School Board to impose a mask mandate for students.

Maresi Brown said the guidelines were unclear for what her son, Henry, should do while quarantined from Boca Ciega High. As a senior in several advanced classes, Brown said, theres not much wiggle room to make up work as graduation approaches.

He has been contacting his friends in his classes and he emailed all his teachers, she said. His friends have been his biggest resource.

One time, they called him from class, to make sure their teacher explained a complicated assignment for him.

Hes trying to do his best to keep up, Brown said. Theres been no official outreach from the school. This has all been what hes been able to do himself.

Like others, she would not put any blame on teachers.

Its hard for me to ask more from the teachers, Brown said. I know how hard theyre working, and how poorly theyve been resourced.

Tough for teachers

Its equally hard for teachers on quarantine, said Abrianna Carver, a fifth-grade teacher at North Shore Elementary in St. Petersburg. She missed the first two weeks of classes because of the coronavirus, and is still trying to regain her full health.

Carver said she found it frustrating that her students did not always get adequate classroom coverage while she was out, and worrisome that parents werent told why she wasnt there.

When substitutes did come, she added, they did not necessarily follow lesson plans: During my time away, they seem to have missed a lot.

Carver said she is trying to get everyone, including herself, back into the swing of things. She planned to set up a personal Teams channel for her class in case the children are quarantined.

Making connections

Hillsborough County district officials have heard similar concerns over the past several weeks. Chief academic officer Terry Connor said the district encourages all teachers to have regular contact with students out on quarantine.

Yet he acknowledged the problems with finding substitutes and other difficulties described can make it tough to do. So the district is launching new online initiatives aimed directly at students who are at home, if theyre not sick and wish to stay current with their lessons.

They have something to work on.... They dont have a teacher to communicate with during the day, Connor said of students on quarantine.

For prekindergarten through fifth grade, Hillsborough is establishing a group of virtual instructors who students can either call or contact online to ask questions about their class materials. Theyre starting with 10 teachers, and will adjust as needed.

The teachers wont be delivering lessons, but will be available for support.

Because middle and high schools offer many more courses, the district contracted with a company called Paper, which provides access to online tutors 24 hours a day. Once students log in and indicate which course they need help in, Connor said, they should be connected to a tutor within 30 seconds.

The district remains committed to accelerating students this year, so they pick up what they missed last year and stay abreast of their current classes. Remediation alone cant help, Connor said, because if you do that, you just fall further and further behind.

He was hopeful the new efforts could bridge the gap.

Matthew McCrary agreed that having teachers available for students is critical. After staying home for a year, until he could become vaccinated, he saw how much better an education he can get in person.

For him, one other action would help. He said many teachers and students arent wearing masks at school, and perhaps they should.

The teachers are smart enough to know they should be wearing a mask to stop the spread of the disease, McCrary said.

  

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Every Thursday, get the latest updates on whats happening in Tampa Bay area schools from Times education reporter Jeffrey S. Solochek. Click here to sign up.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle arrives for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden (AP)

Former vice president Dan Quayle has emerged as an unlikely hero in the saga of the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Peril, a new Bob Woodward book detailing the chaotic final days of the Donald Trump presidency, reveals for the first time a private conversation between Mr Quayle and Vice President Mike Pence before the certification of the 2020 election.

Mr Pence was under pressure from Mr Trump and his allies to refuse to certify the results of the election, and was searching for a legal avenue to delay or deny Joe Bidens victory.

In late December, Mr Pence asked Mr Quayle, George HW Bushs former vice president, if there was any way he could stop the results of the 2020 Presidential election from being certified on 6 January.

According to the book, Mr Quayle told him: Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away.

Mr Pence then asked if he could delay the certification, citing bogus reports of widespread voter fraud in Arizona.

Mr Quayle reportedly responded by saying he was in Arizona, and Mr Biden had won fair and square.

Mr Quayle was responsible for certifying the results of the 1992 presidential election when Bill Clinton defeated his former boss, Mr George Bush senior.

Former vice president Mike Pence presiding over the certification of election results on January 6 (REUTERS)

Mr Woodwards book, co-written with the Washington Posts Robert Acosta, details a tense encounter in the Oval Office on 5 January where Mr Trump tries to convince his vice president to block certification of the election.

Mr Pence refuses, saying: Ive done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. Its simply not possible.

A furious Mr Trump says he doesnt want to be friends anymore, according to CNN , who obtained an advance copy of Peril.

Mr Pence was targeted by rioters during the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, who chanted Hang Mike Pence as they stormed the building.

Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman told MSNBC that Peril recasts Mr Pences role in the failed plot.

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The book depicts Pence as much more mealy-mouthed about January 6 than we thought he was, Mr Sherman said.

It just shows you that Pence was either struggling deeply to deal with the pressure he was facing from Trump or he was more open to this.

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell responded by saying: Wow, Dan Quayle comes to the rescue of the republic.

Peril is the third book written about the Trump presidency by Mr Woodward after 2018s Fear and the 2020 release Rage.

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"The Rescue." National Geographic

The documentary masterfully takes you inside the rescue.

The hero cave divers took part in the movie's reenactments depicting their courageous acts.

"The Rescue" opens in theaters on October 8.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have spent their careers doing movies that feature people who find their thrills doing death-defying extreme sports. The one that found them the highest-acclaim, an Academy Award win, was 2018's "Free Solo," in which the duo chronicled the first-ever free solo climb of El Capitan at Yosemite National Park by climber Alex Honnold.

Now the filmmakers have elevated their storytelling once more with "The Rescue," a perfectly made recount of the dramatic rescue of 12 teen soccer players and their coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the Chiang Rai Province of northern Thailand.

You probably remember the worldwide news coverage of the events. 15 days we were on the edge of our seats as thousands of volunteers, the Thai Navy SEALS, and cave divers from all over the globe went to Chiang Rai to help rescue the boys and their coach.

It doesn't matter if you know the outcome or don't going into "The Rescue" because either way, it delivers.

This story has to be seen to be believed.

British cave-diver John Volanthen. Linh Pham/Getty Images

The hero cave divers are amazing on-screen characters in the documentary

What's so special about this documentary is not just the access Vasarhelyi and Chin got for the movie but how they used it.

Once more teaming with National Geographic (as they did on "Free Solo"), the directors have the resources needed to tell the story properly: underwater photography, 3D mapping of the long cave. However, the greatest attribute the filmmakers have is putting the focus on the cave divers who could do what the SEALS couldn't: find the boys and get them out.

After the realization that the missing boys were in the cave and monsoon-like rains were on the horizon, the rescue became a race against time. But it so happened that one of the greatest cave divers on the planet was going out with a woman whose hometown was where this was all taking place.

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Rick Stanton is a retired British firefighter who for 40 years has been exploring the most dangerous caves on Earth as a hobby. He learned what was happening from his girlfriend and teamed with his cave exploring partner, John Volanthen - an IT consultant who is a world-record-holding British cave diver - to go and see if they could help in Chiang Rai.

Delving into not just Stanton and Volanthen's recollections but their lives is as fascinating as it is thrilling. They are men who feel most at peace being in claustrophobic underwater caves. It's the complete opposite of the "Free Solo" subject Alex Honnold, whose domain is high above the surface climbing mountains. But what they all have in common is an intense dedication to their craft.

For Stanton and Volanthen, the stakes are life or death in Chiang Rai.

(L-R) John Volanthen and Rick Stanton in "The Rescue." National Geographic

The directors used the actual hero divers for the movie's reenactment scenes

What is also so special about "The Rescue" is how Vasarhelyi and Chin look back on the events.

There is a lot of archival footage to choose from. The event got attention from practically every news source in the world as well as countless phone video footage from volunteers. But how do you show what the divers went through inside the cave to rescue everyone? Reenactments were the answer.

It's not a revolutionary idea, the method has been done time and again in documentaries. However, they are often sloppy and filmed with actors who sort of look like the real people but not exactly, so the footage can take a viewer out of the story.

That did not happen here. Vasarhelyi and Chin used Stanton, Volanthen and the other divers who were there in the cave to film the reenactments. It results in some of the best reenactment footage I've ever seen. There are definitely moments where I wondered if what I was watching was reenactment footage or video shot on the day.

The Thai soccer team in the cave. Thai Navy SEALS/Screenshot

Expect a lot of Oscar buzz for this movie

There are countless projects in the works looking back on the Tham Luang cave rescue, including the Ron Howard-directed movie "Thirteen Lives" starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton. I don't know how they can be successful after "The Rescue" comes out.

Vasarhelyi and Chin have made the definitive retelling of this event and whatever I see after I will always compare it to what I saw in "The Rescue."

The duo are certainly on their way for another Oscar nomination and right now are the frontrunner to win it.

"The Rescue" opens in theaters on October 8.

Read the original article on Insider
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Shutterstock

In the early 1910s, some years before Prohibition, a farmer walked into the post office in Owensboro, Kentucky, to mail a holiday package to his son in Arkansas. It contained an assortment of Christmas treats, including chewing tobacco, homemade cakes and some warm yarn socks. Into the box the farmer also slipped in a pint of fine old whiskey knowing his sons fondness for Eggnog.

The postmaster inquired if there was any liquor in the package. The farmer said, no. The postmaster informed him about the Webb-Kenyon Act, recently passed by Congress, that made it a crime to ship to booze to a dry country, which included the one in which his son resided. The farmer repeated answer.

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Out of the shadows stepped one of the unheralded villains of the last century: the postal inspector. He pointed to the package, opened it, and found and then waggled aloft the bottle of offending whiskey. The farmer was arrested and given a summons for court. He faced 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

Prohibition soon came along and made the transportation of liquor illegal for all and after 13 years it was finally repealed. For the post office, however, repeal never arrivedas anyone who has tried to legally ship a bottle of liquor through the mail well knows. FedEx and UPS can deliver whiskey; your mailman cannot. Its one of those outmoded decrees from the past that ignore commercial evolution, akin to regs that ban people from saying bad words on broadcast television but allows cursing on cable.

Efforts are now underway to bring repeal to the U.S. Postal Service. Last May, H.R. 3287 was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. It was to amend the federal code to allow the postal service the authority to mail alcoholic beverages. This billsince stalled in committeeaims to let the post office catch up with the modern world with all its newfangled internet ordering and liquor delivery.

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Given the long-standing prohibition against shipping liquor, it may come as a surprise to learn that ordering liquor by mail was once commonplace.

The Most Complete Liquor Price List Ever Issued by a Mail Order Liquor House in the South, boasted one 1913 ad for the Dan Lazarus Liquor Co. in Little Rock, Arkansas. The retailer offered free shipping for those who spent more than $3 and claimed to be the fastest shipper in the whiskey trade! Did your shipment arrive with a few broken bottles? No problem. We will made good immediately because we know it is best for you and for us.

As you might have guessed, the mail-order liquor business grew owing to one reason: the swelling number of dry counties and states. Between 1907 and 1909, five states went dry, and a far larger number of counties voted to ban liquor sales. In Arkansas, home to the aforementioned Dan Lazarus Liquor Co., 66 of the states 75 counties had voted to go dry. What were those living in dry regions supposed to do? Order by mail, naturally.

The National Association of Mail Order Liquor Dealers was formed early in the century and it hosted annual conventions to compare notes and best practices. The mail order business came into existence only a few years ago as a result of the many states going dry, noted one vendor at the 1916 convention, and that volume was increasing at a tremendous rate.

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This form of commerce attracted notice from Congress, which soon passed the Webb-Kenyon Act. The law was meant to address that Buick-sized loophole for states and counties that banned liquornamely, that vendors from out of state could legally ship liquor anywhere without recourse because the federal governmentnot the statesheld oversight of interstate commerce. Local authorities could arrest someone when they went to collect their shipment but couldnt intercept the liquor when it was en route or arrived at the post office.

The solution was as elegant as it was crafty: simply redefine liquor. The courts had earlier determined that states could enforce bans on interstate shipments of things inherently injurious to health or safety, or things-inherently fraudulent or immoral. So along came Webb-Kenyon, which tipped its hand in its official name: an act divesting intoxicating liquors of their interstate character in certain cases.

Webb-Kenyon was vetoed by President William Howard Taft on the advice of his attorney general, who feared the law would erode the constitutionally endowed role of the federal government to oversee interstate commerce. Congress wasnt as fearful and overrode the veto. It became law in 1913.

With their new powers, states amended their own laws regarding shipping. In Florida, for instance, 1914 laws mandated that those shipping liquor to wet counties must use boxes plainly marked as containing liquor with a label stating both the quantity and quality of the hooch, along with the written notation: Intended only for the private use of [fill in the blank] and family. Additionally, liquor could only be delivered during daylight hours and on weekdays.

The law was challenged in the courts, as Taft and his allies anticipated. But few anticipated that in 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court would uphold the law. That ruling helped create momentum for a constitutional amendment banning the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors nationally, which was ratified in January 1919.

The 18th amendment and Prohibition rendered moot Webb-Kenyon and state laws governing liquor shipments. Of course, the futility of enforcing Prohibition helped result in Repeal thirteen years later. But the ban on shipping liquor via the U.S. Post office persisted in a feral fashion, although the public had to be often reminded of this.

A 1944 account reported the distinctive smell of Kentucky bourbon in a post office where a number of bottles of Christmas cheer had been broken in handling. Dont do that, the post office warned. All alcoholic beverages are being confiscated and the names of senders are turned over to postal inspectors for investigation.

Similar reminders were posted around holidays. In 1935, a postal bulletin reminded post masters that intoxicating liquors are unmailable, and that liquors found in the mails are subject to confiscation and the mailers are liable to heavy penalties.

In recent decades, patterns of commerce have swiftly evolvedfrom shops on Main Street to catalog sales to big box stores to Amazon Prime. Yet throughout it all, liquor has been banned from the mail since the 1910s.

In large part, this is owing to the steadfast and effective opposition of liquor wholesalersan industry created after Repeal to appease Prohibitionists, who wanted more separation between liquor producers and liquor drinkers. No one who made liquor could sell it directly to liquor stores or barsit had to first go through a distributor. Any erosion of the three-tier systemthat is, permitting direct sales by mailis an existential threat to the middle tier.

Proposed legislation to allow the U.S. Postal Service to handle beverage alcohol is simply not a safe or responsible solution to answer the current significant needs of the USPS, said the CEO and president of the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) Michelle Korsmo last spring in opposing efforts to open the mail, citing the potential for underage ordering and avoidance of taxes.

Not all in the industry agree. The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. (DISCUS), the nations largest liquor trade group, sees a golden opportunity to help the struggling USPS, and estimates that opening mailboxes to hooch could generate $180 million per year for the agency. It also argues that at a time when consumers are increasingly comfortable ordering everything online, that direct-to-consumer shipping serves as an important complement to the traditional three-tier system of beverage alcohol distribution, as DISCUS president and CEO Chris Swonger wrote in a guest essay for USA Today last spring.

How this plays out remains to be seen. But if youre wondering what happened to the Kentucky farmer who tried to mail his son a pint of whiskey, well, he avoided jail. According to news accounts, he unbosomed himself of his bad deed to the judge, explained woefully that he only wanted to help his son get some of that good Kentucky whiskey unavailable in Arkansas and threw himself on the mercy of the court.

The Kentucky judge, perhaps moved by the farmers appeal to the states native tipple, let him walk.

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(REUTERS)

A group of Senate Democrats has released another voting rights bill following a months-long effort to unite lawmakers behind an antidote to state-level, Republican-led restrictions on ballot access ahead of critical midterm elections and a redistricting cycle that could redraw political boundaries for the next decade.

The latest proposal  the Freedom to Vote Act  builds off a framework from Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who joined universal Republican opposition to the For The People Act, a sweeping expansion of voting rights that faced a filibuster blockade in the evenly divided Senate.

A group of Democrats have struck a deal with Senator Manchin, who joined seven other lawmakers  including four progressive Democrats  to draft the proposal, a slimmed-down version of the For The People Act proposing nationwide standards for early and mail-in voting, safeguards against partisan gerrymandering, automatic voter registration, and the creation of Election Day as a public holiday, among other measures.

It also includes Senator Manchins demands for nationwide voter ID standards, allowing voters to present a broad set of identification cards and documents in hard copy and digital form, according to a statement from lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill could be ready for a vote as soon as next week.

Republicans refusal to work with us is no excuse for not getting something done, he said on the Senate floor on Tuesday. This is a good proposal, one that nobody in this chamber should oppose. My colleague, Senator Manchin, is working with Republicans to secure support.

Senators Amy Klobuchar, Tim Kaine, Jeff Merkley, Alex Padilla and Raphael Warnock were also involved with the legislation.

While Senate Democrats pursue bipartisan support in the chamber, where the bill will need 60 votes to pass, it is likely to face another GOP stonewall.

House Democrats have passed the For The People Act as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a restoration of the landmark 1965 civil rights law, but Senate Republicans have vowed to prevent both bills from passing Congress.

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GOP lawmakers have accused Democrats of staging a federal takeover of elections even as they endorse partisan laws that roll back voting access and consolidate electoral oversight  including the power to toss out votes  in GOP-dominated state legislatures.

Following the 2020 elections in which more Americans voted than ever before, we have seen unprecedented attacks on our democracy in states across the country, Senator Klobuchar said in a statement. These attacks demand an immediate federal response.

Texas recently joined at least 18 states that have enacted more than 30 new laws combined that restrict voting access, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.

Those laws follow a coordinated wave of nearly 400 bills filed by GOP lawmakers in nearly every state to roll back options to vote by mail, impose strict voter ID requirements, cut back on early voting hours and criminalise handing out food and water in long lines at polling places, among other measures.

A parallel effort has seen more than 200 bills in 41 states that would give lawmakers in Republican-dominated state legislatures more authority over the electoral process, including whether to count ballots at all, according to the States United Democracy Center.

Read More

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The Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo GettyOn the day Donald Trumps second impeachment trial began in the Senate, the campaign for embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)reportedly under federal investigation since the summer for alleged sex crimes with an underage teenmade by far its largest ever political contribution: $100,000 to a mysterious nonprofit created to defend the then-president.While that donation may not sound out of the ordinary, it stands out for a number of reasons. For one
Six months after being arrested on coup charges by a Bolivian government allied to her political rival Evo Morales, ex-president Jeanine Anez is still awaiting a trial date.

The 54-year-old, who claims she is the victim of "political persecution," attempted suicide in a jail in La Paz last month while suffering from "severe depression" due to her prolonged pre-trial detention, according to her daughter, Carolina Ribera.

Last month, a Bolivian court added another six months to Anez's custody, until March 2022, meaning she could spend a year in jail without seeing the inside of a court.

"Evo Morales... is holding her to spread a message of fear to all opposition leaders and all Bolivians who think differently," Ribera told AFP last week.

The conservative Anez had come to power in November 2019 after Morales and senior allies in his Movement for Socialism (MAS) resigned following weeks of protest over his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term.

As Morales fled into exile after 14 years in power, Anez was the most senior parliamentarian left and was sworn in by congress as interim president, despite the lack of a quorum, with MAS legislators boycotting the session.

Morales and his allies claimed they had been the victims of a right-wing coup.

Under Anez's administration, Bolivia held elections in October 2020 in which Morales protege Luis Arce stormed to a landslide victory and she handed over the reins of power.

Then in March this year, Anez was arrested and charged with leading a coup, terrorism, sedition, conspiracy and failure to perform official duties.

- 'Servile' justice -

The lawyer and former television presenter was more recently also charged with "genocide" over protesters' deaths during violence between supporters and opponents of Morales -- as well as between protesters and the security forces -- that left 37 people dead in November 2019.

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The accusation relates to two incidents in which 22 people died just days after she became president in what a report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights described as "massacres."

The same report questioned the independence of the South American country's justice system and cautioned against the "arbitrary use" of "ambiguous" crimes on the statute book, including some of those leveled against Anez.

Her detention has elicited widespread international condemnation and Anez's family has repeatedly asked the government to free her, or at least transfer her to a hospital for treatment for hypertension and other health conditions.

"In Bolivia, justice is completely manipulated and servile to the government," said her daughter, Ribera.

Bolivia's opposition has decried the lack of separation of powers in the country, saying the courts, electoral body and public prosecutor's office are all loyal to Arce.

msr/mlr/sw
Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney who survived a roadside shooting months after his wife and son were killed, is being investigated on allegations that he mishandled funds from his former law practice.

South Carolinas State Law Enforcement Division announced Monday that it was looking into accusations that Murdaugh misappropriated money from the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, & Detrick law firm. Murdaugh, 53, said in a statement last week that he had resigned to enter rehab and that he "made a lot of decisions that I truly regret."

The family-founded firm disclosed the allegations against Murdaugh earlier this month and said that a forensic accountant would lead an internal investigation. Murdaughs license was suspended indefinitely within two days of the announcement.

It remains unclear how much Murdaugh is accused of taking from the firm and how it was used.

S.C. Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel called for patience as the investigation unfolds.

Investigative decisions we make throughout this case and any potentially related case must ultimately withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice process, Keel said Monday. As with all cases, SLED is committed to conducting a professional, thorough, and impartial criminal investigation, no matter where the facts lead us.

Murdaugh became the subject of intrigue in June following the murder of his wife, Margaret, and son, Paul. He discovered their bodies lying on the ground near the family's dog kennels, according to his 911 call. They had been shot multiple times.

The double homicide has not been solved and is being investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division.

Law officials have given no indication that the shootings of Margaret, 52, and Paul, 22, are directly connected to that of Alex Murdaugh,

Paul Murdaugh had been slated to go to trial on three felony charges related to the 2019 death of Mallory Beach, 19, in a boating accident. Authorities allege he was intoxicated while driving a boat when he crashed, sending Beach overboard. Her body was found a week later.

On Sept. 4, Murdaugh reported that he was the subject of a roadside shooting. He told 911 that hed been shot while changing a flat tire in rural Hampton County. Murdaugh was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, for treatment of a superficial head wound.
Residents of Mariannas Sunland Center, which houses people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, received $304,466 in back wages after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation.

That money went to 168 Sunland Center residents, Labor announced, or $1,812.30 per resident.

Sunlands one of the three centers run by the state of Florida-funded Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). Its stated raison detre, according to its website, is to provide training and support to residents in every aspect of their lives in preparation for good citizenship in their chosen living environments.

Job training and employment is part of that. Labor said the agency holds certificates authorizing special minimum wage rates for workers with disabilities affecting the jobs they perform.

But, Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildali De Jesus said, To participate in the federal special minimum wage program, employers must provide the required counseling and referral opportunities to ensure workers with disabilities have every opportunity to reach their potential.

Some Sunland Center residents didnt receive that counseling or the referrals. So, Sunland had to pay them at least federal minimum wage for their hours worked. Also, Labor said, payroll records did not show amounts paid to employees, a Fair Labor Standards Act violation.

APD Communications Director Melanie Mowry Etters said in an email to the Miami Herald: APD is committed to following the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the oversight occurred due to a former Sunland employee failing to deliver Subminimum Wage Training in a timely manner to Sunland residents. The Department of Labor found there were eight out of 44 months where the Sunland employee did not provide the required training.

APD has implemented safeguards and additional supervision to ensure Subminimum Wage Training is delivered as required. Additional employees are now responsible to ensure the training is conducted. Also, an online training calendar has been developed to notify Sunland trainers of required training 30 days prior to the due date.

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The Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website contains information on how to file a complaint. Miamis Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607. The national helpline is 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). No matter the immigration or citizenship status, workers can speak with the department, which claims it can handle calls in more than 200 languages.

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Manpower Minister Tan See Leng speaking in Singapore's Parliament on 14 September 2021. (SCREENSHOT: Ministry of Communications and Information/YouTube)

SINGAPORE  Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Tuesday (14 September) slammed the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) member Leong Mun Wais job proposals, saying that they would hurt the local workforce and Singapores attractiveness to investors.

Speaking in Parliament, Dr Tan was referring to the Non-Constituency Member of Parliaments (NCMP) proposals highlighted during the session, including increasing the qualifying salaries for Employment Pass (EP) and S-Pass to $10,000 and $4,500, respectively, in stages over the next three years, imposing a monthly levy of $1,200 on all EPs, and setting a 10 per cent single nationality cap in the workforce.

It becomes clear that Mr Leong's policy can only make the environment so hostile that very few foreign investors will consider Singapore to build any business, maybe no foreign investor will consider, said Dr Tan about Leongs nationality cap proposal.

Dr Tan and Leong were speaking during the debate on the motion tabled by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on securing Singaporeans jobs and livelihood, and a separate motion by Leong and fellow PSP NCMP Hazel Poa on foreign talent policy.

Wong warned against restrictive economic policies that would harm Singapores standing. He said, "If we are not careful, decades of hard work to build up our business hub will be wasted, our economy will contract and go down in a tailspin.

Dr Tan, who is also Second Minister for Trade and Industry, criticised the PSP for continuing to equivocate about free trade agreements and workforce data, and claim that it does not have the relevant information.

He said that the Ministry of Manpower has been publishing workforce data regularly with a great degree of details. Among the official figures highlighted in the House, he added that over the past decade, while there was an increase of 110,000 EP and S-Pass holders, local professional, managerial, executive, and technical workers (PMETs) increased by 300,000.

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The number of PMET job vacancies across sectors has also been on an upward trend since 2010 and hovering around 30,000 over the past five years, Dr Tan said.

Many businesses and trade chambers have said that they are experiencing difficulties in finding enough local workers with the right skills, and this has hampered their expansion plans. Consequently, some business are giving up on Singapore and turning to hiring workers in their home country instead, according to Dr Tan.

But Dr Tan acknowledged that there is a minority of local PMETs who have lost jobs and the government has been focused on helping them to re-enter the workforce.

The PSPs attacks on free trade agreements and foreigners have an adverse effect on business sentiment here and overseas, Dr Tan said.

I worry that the PSP is calling for policies that are not only short-sighted but protectionist and this will do grave harm to Singaporeans.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
Doctor Who actor Tanya Fear has been found alive and has been taken to a local hospital for assessment.

The 31-year-old British actor and stand-up comedian  who played Dr Jade McIntyre in a 2018 episode of the BBC sci-fi series  had been missing for four days.

Fear's family, based in the UK, have said in a statement on Twitter: "It is with great pleasure and relief to report, that Tanya has been found safe, by police today.

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"We understand she is not physically harmed, but as a precaution, is being assessed at a local hospital.

Read more: 'Doctor Who' actor Tanya Fear reported missing in Los Angeles by worried family

"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.

Actor Tanya Fear pictured in 2017. (Getty Images)

"Tanya's family are relieved and extremely grateful."

The actor disappeared on 9 September in the Hollywood Bowl area of Los Angeles, California.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed in a statement that Tanyaradzwa 'Tanya' Fear had been found safe and her family had been notified.

Her mother Yvonne Marimo had told the MailOnline: "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 okay.

"We havent been able to reach anyone from the US Embassy in London yet and we are very keen to hear from them to find out whats going on in Los Angeles."

Born Tanyaradzwa Fear and also known as Pauline Fear, the actor had been performing a series of stand-up comedy gigs in LA at venues including the HaHa Club and the Comedy Nook.

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Friends shared the news she had been officially listed as an official Missing Person on social media and Doctor Who fans were been quick to help by retweeting and sharing the reports and pictures.

Her cousin Tendai said: "Tanya loves her Dr Who fans soooo much because of things like this!! Thank you for all your support."

Story continues

Read more: Doctor Who's Matt Smith reveals Hollywood star he thinks should be next Time Lord

The Doctor Who episode she appeared in, Arachnids In The UK, depicts giant spiders taking over the city of Sheffield.

She has since starred in a series of short films called Shoot Your Shot that she also wrote and directed.

Watch: Doctor Who actor Tanya Fear had been reported missing for four days
(Bloomberg) -- Teck Resources Ltd. is exploring options for its metallurgical coal business, including a sale or spinoff that could value the unit at as much as $8 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Canadian miner is working with an adviser as it studies strategic alternatives for the business, which is one of the worlds largest exporters of the steelmaking ingredient, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Shares of Teck were up 4.7% at 1:04 p.m. in Toronto, giving the company a market value of about C$17.4 billion ($13.7 billion).

Large commodity producers are under increasing pressure to cut back on fossil fuels in response to investor concerns over climate change. BHP Group last month agreed to sell its oil and gas assets to Australias Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and is seeking to exit some of its coal operations. Anglo American Plc spun off its South African coal unit for a separate listing in June.

Exiting coal could free up resources for Teck to accelerate its plans in commodities like copper, as demand shifts to the building blocks of an electrified global economy. Deliberations are at an early stage, and Teck could still decide to keep the business, the people said.

A representative Teck declined to comment.

Teck produced more than 21 million metric tons of steelmaking coal last year from four locations in western Canada. The business accounted for 35% of the companys gross profit before depreciation and amortization in 2020, according to its website.

Metallurgical coal is a key raw materials used in steelmaking, which remains one of the most polluting industries on the planet and faces significant pressure from policymakers to clean up its act. China, the worlds largest metal producer, has indicated it will curb steelmaking in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

Prices of metallurgical coal prices have continued to rise this year as bets on a global economic recovery fuel frenzied demand for steel. This helped Teck swing to a second-quarter net income of C$260 million, compared with a C$149 million net loss the same period last year.

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Sophie Ross Apartment

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Since moving is one of the worst experiences we willingly subject ourselves to as a species, I put it off for more than four years. (Thats how long I lived in my shoebox-sized walkup studio apartment in Manhattan  and it certainly reflected the tastes of the 25-year-old that originally moved into it.)

I was eventually forced out of my old building due to a maintenance issue (a blessing in disguise, I see now) and lucked out by finding a dreamy one-bedroom apartment in my price range soon after.

Finding it was one thing. But the prospect of actually decorating my first grown-up apartment  rather than throwing some posters on the wall and succulents on the windowsills and calling it a day, like my 25-year-old self would have  was at once thrilling and overwhelming.

Now that Im a few months into my new lease, Im finally ready to spill on some of the lessons I learned, things I bought and thoughts I had (Who needs $1,000-apiece dining chairs?) while decorating my first grown-up apartment.

Credit: Sophie Ross

Instead of following trends, stay true to you.

While I like to think Ive never been much of a follower, when it was time to move, I didnt know where to start  other than by finding my favorite home inspo on Instagram.

I noticed many of the Instagram tastemakers I followed all had similar minimalist, bare apartments  give or take a few Matisse prints  complete with chic stools for nightstands, modern furniture, muted white hues and zero clutter or apparent storage. (You know the ones.) I was inspired by the homes of some of the top trendsetters on my feed, and at first, aimed to emulate them because I didnt know what my own interior design style was.

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But the inspiration and pieces I was finding still didnt quite feel like me. Plus, I have a lot of stuff  give me nightstands with drawers and storage over something gram-worthy any day.

Luckily, I was able to consult a college friend whos now an interior designer to figure out what my own interior style was. Together, we realized my fashion choices were all about coziness, warmth and bright colors  and that aesthetic would lend itself perfectly to my new apartment.

Basically, Im the total opposite of minimalist chic.

Good furniture doesnt have to be expensive  I promise.

I was happy I discovered my own style before I mindlessly copied someone elses, and I found pieces that truly felt like home to me  even if they arent the most photogenic or cool according to Instagram.

My previous furniture, purchased from Ikea circa 2014, had already been put through multiple moves and was unlikely to survive another. So, I was starting from scratch, and moved only with my beloved sectional couch from my old apartment. (Luckily, its a pullout, so thats where I slept until my new mattress and bed frame  more on that in a bit  arrived weeks into my move.)

Since this was my first grown-up apartment, I really wanted furniture that would feel, well, grown-up. I was ready to invest in pieces that were elegant, stylish and of higher quality than my rickety Ikea stools.

That said, I am but a humble writer in New York City, and I simply didnt have the money to afford most of the designer furniture on my vision boards. (I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after one of the Instagrammers I followed did a swipe-up for dining chairs that were $1,000 apiece  she purchased six total.)

But, believe it or not: After thoroughly combing the Internet, I found plenty of affordable, durable and chic furniture from places like Target (a lattice-wood media console for $300), Article (a cream boucle dining bench for $379 and two velvet dining chairs for $179 each) and Overstock (a suede pink shell chair for my bedroom vanity for just $207).

Opalhouse Minsmere TV Stand, $300

Credit: Sophie Ross

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Article Gabriola Ivory Boucle Bench, $379

Credit: Article

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Article Oscuro Garland Green Dining Chair, $179

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Carson Carrington Ullnasnoret Upholstered Scalloped Velvet Arm Chair, $234.49

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So, contrary to popular belief, its definitely possible to furnish a place with gorgeous furniture without breaking the bank.

Storage is essential.

Dont let influencers barren apartments fool you: Youll never regret investing in extra storage solutions.

One of my favorite purchases was my Silk & Snow upholstered bed frame complete with substantial storage underneath. (I keep T-shirts, hoodies, bras and more under there, which opens up even more space in my dresser.)

Silk & Snow The Best Storage Bed, $550

Credit: Sophie Ross

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My new vanity (via Wayfair) is the perfect place to keep all my makeup, too, with a drawer Ive inserted separators in and an ultra-spacious surface that Ive added extra storage containers on top of, too.

Latitude Run Cliff Vanity With Mirror, $199.99

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As a beauty writer, I have a lot of skincare products. Some of my first purchases for my new apartment were matte-black storage solutions that matched my bathroom hardware.

BASSTOP 4-Tier Bathroom Storage Cart, $36.99

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Danya B. Narrow Decorative Wall Mount Vertical Shelving Unit, $66.54

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Dont rush the process.

I realized that once I ordered a large piece of furniture, it wasnt going anywhere  I dont have the emotional or physical bandwidth to return something bigger than me  so Id better be sure when I purchase something. (A large standing lamp I ordered from Urban Outfitters arrived in disastrous shape and is currently held together with duct tape. I still like how it looks, though, so its staying. And to be fair to Urban, I also ordered another lamp that came in perfect shape, and totally fit the vibe I was going for in my bedroom.)

Urban Outfitters Willow Rattan Floor Lamp, $279

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Once I had all of my essential, cant-live-without furniture, I took my sweet time picking out the perfect decor, artwork and finishing touches, and simply let things come together. Its a one-step-at-a-time kind of thing, and Ive definitely avoided buyers remorse because of it.

One no-brainer purchase, however, was a full-length accent mirror  it opens up my small space and is, obviously, perfect for documenting #ootds.

Urban Outfitters Selene Floor Mirror, $349 (Currently Unavailable)

Credit: Sophie Ross

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As much as I love plants and flowers  and feel envious of those aforementioned influencers who have a substantial at-home collection of thriving, lush greenery  I dont pretend to be someone whos good at keeping them alive. (And I left my sad succulent phase behind when I moved out of my old apartment, thank you very much.)

I love the realistic-looking faux florals from Afloral, along with their DIY bouquet kits, vases, planters and other accessories at affordable prices.

Afloral Purple Artificial Wildflower Lavender Bush, $16

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Set of 3 Ceramic Stoneware Jugs, $34

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I may not be the minimalist with a green thumb that I wish I was, but my apartment truly feels like me  and thats how it should be.

If you enjoyed this story, check out the one celebrity beauty brand that Sophie Ross actually likes!

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The post Things I got  and learned  while decorating my first grown-up apartment appeared first on In The Know.
A third body was pulled from the Passaic River in northern New Jersey in the midst of a search for three people swept away during Tropical Storm Ida.

The Hudson County Prosecutors Office confirmed in a tweet on Monday that the body was recovered from the river in Harrison, about two miles from Newark. The office is investigating the discovery along with the Harrison Police Department.

Authorities have not identified the person and did not say whether it was connected to Ida. Harrison police referred questions to New Jersey State Police, which did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

Last week, two other bodies were pulled from the river. A medical examiner identified them as two Seton Hall students who lived in Passaic, according to NBC New York. The news station reported that the two had not been seen since floodwaters overtook their car near the Passaic River.

Image: Emergency personnel remove a body from the Passaic River near the Newark and Kearny border on Sept. 9, 2021. (Tariq Zehawi / NorthJersey.com / USA-Today Network file)

A third person, Donna Lomagro, 56, was swept away by currents in Woodland Park and is still missing, NBC New York reported. Good samaritans tried to rescue Lamagro but the current was too strong.

Ida slammed parts of the country after initially making landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29. It was a tropical storm by the time it reached New Jersey but caused at least 25 deaths with extreme rainfall and massive flooding.
Autoblog

Right on cue, Ford has confirmed that the Bronco Raptor is on the way. "Ford Performance is excited to share a sneak peek of one of the Bronco special edition vehicles that will be available in 2022," says the teaser text to go along with the video you see above. From the teaser, we can clearly see that Ford will adopt a version of the Raptor-specific grille that it applies to all of its best off-road models.
As the credits rolled and the lights came up, the audience at the Princess of Wales Theatre erupted and were brought to their feet, causing tears of joy to stream from Hollywood star Jessica Chastains eyes at the premiere of her film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, part of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Its no surprise Chastain got so emotional seeing this film with an audience for the first time, not only taking on the lead role in this spectacular, captivating movie, but also producing the film.

Gatlinburg, Tenn.: Jim Bakker, founder of the PTL television ministry and his wife Tammy Faye stand in front of a replica of the Constitution after signing a scroll to commemorate the bicentennial of the signing of the constitution. (Getty Images)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye is based on the 2000 documentary of the same name, chronicling the life of Tammy Faye Bakker Massner, the vivacious televangelist who, along with her then-husband Jim Bakker, built a multimillion dollar empire, including a theme park dubbed the "Christian version of Disneyland," the development of the PTL Satellite Network and television program The PTL Club in the 1970s and 1980s.

But their luxurious lives were brought to grinding halt following sex scandals and fraud, resulting in their divorce, and a prison sentence for Jim. Hot on the news cycle, the quirky personalities of the couple, paired with their criminal and legal issues, became regular Saturday Night Live jokes.

Dana Carvey, right, plays the Church Lady in a sketch with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker- played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks. (Photo by Jacques M. Chenet/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Chastains transformation is nothing short of incredible in this film, you begin to forget where Chastain ends and Tammy Faye begins, particularly under the intricate hair, makeup and signature Tammy Faye accent.

During the screening in Toronto, Chastain revealed that her physical transformation helped to elevate her performance because she knew the makeup couldn't "walk into the room" before she did.

Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" (Courtesy of TIFF)

'I feel they saved lives with that interview'

With Andrew Garfield perfectly cast as Jim Bakker, alongside Chastain, this pairing transports you right into the lives of the the legendary televangelists.

But for Chastain, she did have a goal to humanize Tammy Faye. In the actor/producer's mind, after seeing the documentary about Tammy Faye's life while on a press tour for Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain was completely taken by her compassion and love, and believes Tammy Faye faced a large injustice.

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While the financial fraud was very real, when she was on television Tammy Faye, with her extravagant outfits and sparkling personality (and sparkly makeup), was a public supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, a position largely not taken by Evangelical Christians.

Through the movie, which starts when Tammy Faye was just a young girl, moving to when she met Jim and all through the creation of their empire, The Eyes of Tammy Faye also expertly recreates key moments from PTL television and other TV interviews with the pair.

One that stands out is an interview Tammy Faye did with Christian minister Steve Pieters in 1985, who spoke to Tammy Faye about coming out, his AIDS diagnosis and how his family responded.

At the TIFF screening, Chastain revealed that the interview blew her away.

Its so profoundly beautiful and loving, she said. I feel they saved lives with that interview.

TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 12: (L-R) President of Production at Searchlight Pictures Matthew Greenfield, Michael Showalter, Jessica Chastain, Rachel Shane, Abe Sylvia, President of Production at Searchlight Pictures David Greenbaum attend "The Eyes Of Tammy Faye" Premiere during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 12, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

"I grew up as a young, gay boy in the Bible Belt and was fascinated with this sparkly woman in the tabloids," screenplay writer Abe Sylvia shared on Saturday evening. "There's a bravery to those people that I think gave me freedom to do what I wanted to do in my life."

The Eyes of Tammy Faye director Michael Showalter (White Hot American Summer, The Big Sick), revealed he loved the story of Tammy Faye and, in particular, wanted to work with Chastain.

"Its this crazy world," Showalter said. "I just loved the theatrical possibilities."

"I loved that idea of kind of looking deeper...like Tammy is sort of an underdog."

While Chastain has been nominated for Academy Awards for her work in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, all eyes will be on the actor in the upcoming award season because her role as Tammy Faye is definitely a worthy of her first Oscar.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) runs until Sept. 18 with both in-person and digital screenings of films. The Eyes of Tammy Faye will be released in theatres on Friday, Sep. 17.
Apple fans finally got their first look at iPhone 13.

On Tuesday, Apple introduced the next version of its popular smartphone, one of several device announcements made during a virtual event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Among the other devices unveiled Tuesday: a revamped budget iPad, an updated version of its iPad Mini, and the new Apple Watch Series 7 with a bigger display.

The iPhone 13 will arrive in four models: a standard version with a 6.1-inch display, a Mini model, plus Pro and Pro Max models with larger screens and better battery life.

All four devices will be available to preorder on Friday and launch in stores on Sept. 24. The iPhone 13 will start at $699 for the Mini model, all the way up to the iPhone 13 Pro Max at $1,099.

Don't miss a moment: Huge innovations to how-tos, follow the latest tech news with the Talking Tech newsletter

"Our customers rely on iPhone every day, which is why weve made iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini more powerful, more capable, and more fun to use, said Greg Joswiak, Apples senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a statement.

This year's release features several subtle upgrades to the iPhone, which will remain popular due to "pent up demand" for a new Apple phone, said Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.

About 250 million of the 975 million iPhones already sold have not been upgraded in more than 3.5 years, said Ives.

Do you own an iPhone or iPad? Update your Apple devices right now.

History of the iPhone: How Apple's signature smartphone has changed over the years

iPhone 13 features

The iPhone 13 will be available in five colors: red, starlight (a whiteish shade), midnight (a blackish shade), blue and pink. The two camera lenses on the back of the smartphone have been placed diagonally.

Along with the typical upgrades to processing speed, display and battery life, the iPhone 13 adds a Cinematic Mode, which uses an automatic focus to shift between subjects in a video, similar to Portrait Mode for photos.

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The new phone also means the arrival of iOS 15, which will launch as a free software update on Sept. 20. It will include updates to FaceTime, a Live Text feature where users can search text within images, and a Focus mode to manage your notifications.

The Apple Watch Series 7.

A new Apple Watch

It wasn't just the iPhone enjoying the attention at Apple's event. The tech giant also unveiled Apple Watch Series 7, with a larger display and redesigned look to provide more of a wraparound effect.

Digital buttons on the watch face appear bigger to make them easier to tap, such as trying to find snooze on an alarm. The watch will also include new faces to leverage the size of the display.

The Apple Watch uses the extra screen area to add a predictive text keyboard, so users can quickly type messages by dragging their fingers across the appropriate letters or they can do it the old-fashioned way letter by letter.

Apple says the updated watch boasts an 18-hour battery life and charges 33% faster than the Series 6. It's available in multiple colors including midnight, starlight, green and red.

The Series 7 will start at $399 and launches later this fall.

The new iPad Mini.

Two new iPads, including a revamped Mini

Apple also rolled out updates to its iPad line, with new versions of its entry-level model starting at $329 and an overhauled iPad Mini starting at $499.

Apple says the new iPad Mini, which will feature an 8.3-inch touchscreen, will perform 80% faster than the previous model. The tablet, available Sept. 24, will include an upgrade to its cameras, support for the second-generation Apple Pencil, and support for 5G wireless networks.

The entry-level iPad will retain the same design and price but feature more storage starting at 64GB, and add a 12-megapixel front-facing camera with support for Center Stage, a feature on iPad Pro models which can automatically detect and follow who's on screen. It's available on Sept. 24.

Scroll down for live updates of Tuesday's Apple event:

Which iPhone to choose?

Here's a quick rundown of all the iPhones Apple will have available, with iPhone 13 on the list, and its starting price:

iPhone SE: $399

iPhone 11: $499

iPhone 12: $599

iPhone 13: $699

iPhone 13 Pro: $999

The iPhone 13 Pro is not cheap

Bigger phone, bigger screens, bigger battery life and a bigger price tag. The iPhone 13 Pro starts at $999, and the Pro Max starts at $1,099. There's also a storage option for the Pro at 1 terabyte. You can preorder all four new iPhones starting Friday. They reach stores Sept. 24.

A big camera update for iPhone 13 Pro

The camera features a brand new telephoto lens, Ultra-wide and wide lenses. Low light photos will look brighter and sharper, optical zoom will get a boost, while the system will allow for macro photography to get detailed closeups on objects. The smartphones will also feature Night Mode for taking pictures without proper lighting conditions.

Users can also personalize their cameras with photographic styles. You can use default templates like rich contrast or vibrant warm, altering the tone and warmth on a photo to create the specific style you want.

Apple showcased how the cameras work by putting them in the hands of directors including Kathryn Bigelow. And here I am wasting all this on my dog (but still worth it).

As for battery life, the 13 Pros last 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro and 2.5 hours longer than the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

There's an iPhone 13 Pro model, too

And of course, here comes the info on the Pro model of iPhone 13.

The Pro comes in four finishes: graphite, gold, silver and sierra blue. They seem to feature a more metallic look compared to the standard models. There's still the three-camera system on the back of the phone as well.

There's also going to be an iPhone 13 Pro Max, for the Apple fans who love their big screens. Apple said it has the fastest graphics processing of any smartphone, ideal if you enjoy games on your phone.

The Pro models will have a new Super Retina XDR display, as well as ProMotion, which offers really high refresh rates and adapts depending on the activity. Translation: Scrolling and swiping through your phone will feel more fluid.

The Pro will have a 6.1-inch screen and Pro Max will have a 6.7-inch screen.

The iPhone 13 will start at $799

The iPhone 13 Mini will start at $699 while the iPhone 13 will start at $799. The tech giant is also increasing the storage capability, starting with 128 GB of storage, which is pretty impressive. Both phones top off at 512 GB.

Also interesting to note Apple hasn't said anything about a Pro or Plus model with a larger screen.

How's iPhone 13 battery life?

The big question I have, as well as every other curious smartphone owner, is how long will the battery run? It runs between 1.5-2 hours longer than last year's phones.

There's a smart data mode that will automatically shift your phone from 5G to LTE to help conserve battery life.

What is Cinematic Mode?

As expected, the iPhone 13 is adding a new mode called Cinematic Mode, which is essentially a version of Portrait Mode for use in videos.

The feature is capable of highlighting and framing the key elements in a video clip, from people or objects in the background to those who are closer to the camera.

The mode will anticipate when the focus of the clip changes. Apple said they studied cinematography used in filmmaking to help design the mode. The mode will shoot in Dolby Vision HDR as well.

The iPhone 13 has arrived

Time for the star of the show, the next iPhone. Cook just unveiled the iPhone 13.

It has a flat-edged design just like the iPhone 12, and a diagonal arrangement for the dual-camera system in the back. It will be available in five colors.

Apple is also bringing back the iPhone Mini model. The display is 28% brighter than last year's phones. The display also boasts improved power efficiency. The standard iPhone 13 has a 6.1-inch screen, while the Mini has a 5.4-inch screen.

The next iPhone has a brand new chip (shocker) called A15. So, big surprise, it's going to run faster and better than your old iPhone.

Apple says the new chip has 50% faster processing than its competition and 30% faster graphics processing.

Apple Fitness+ gets an update, too

The fitness app available for Apple Watch will launch in 15 more countries and include additional types of experiences such as pilates and guided meditation. There are also workouts to help users get ready for snow season activities such as skiing or snowboarding.

The Fitness+ app will also add Group Workouts using the upcoming SharePlay feature for FaceTime launching on iOS 15. It can support up to 32 people at the same time.

Apple Watch Series 7 is here at $399

Next up is the Apple Watch, the company's popular wearable. It will add new features specific to biking, including support for e-bikes and fall detection.

The Apple Watch Series 7 will boast a new display with 20% more screen area than last year's model. The shape has also been tweaked to feature softer, more rounded corners to create a more seamless wraparound effect. It's also 70% brighter indoors.

Buttons of the watch have been made larger to make them easier to find (especially if you're half asleep trying to hit snooze on an alarm). There's also a keyboard on the Apple Watch. Finally. It also has several watch faces aimed at leveraging the additional screen space.

The Apple Watch is water-resistant and is the first model with dust resistance. It also boasts an 18-hour battery life and charges 33% faster than the Series 6.

It's available in multiple colors including midnight, starlight, green and product red. Watchbands also feature a fresh variety of colors, too.

The Series 7 will start at $399. It's available later this fall. Meanwhile, the budget Series 3 will stay at $199, while the Apple Watch SE starts at $279.

The iPad Mini returns at $499

Cook said "its littlest iPad" is getting its biggest upgrade ever. It's available in four colors: purple, pink, starlight and space grey. It also boasts an 8.3-inch liquid retina display.

The top button will also double as a way to use Touch ID option as well. It's 40% faster and 80% faster with graphics processing. So, yeah, it's going to be really fast.

The iPad Mini features a USB-C port, similar to iPad Air, which they say will result in 10 times faster data transfers, and support third-party devices that also use USB-C. It will also feature 5G.

The new mini-tablet will also record in 4K and the same camera as the upgraded entry-level iPad, which means it will also support Center Stage.

It will support the second-generation Apple Pencil, and will have its own line of super -hin Smart Folio cases.

The iPad Mini starts at $499, available in both Wi-Fi and cellular models. It's available for preorder Tuesday, and launches next week.

Apple unveils new iPad at $329

Apple plans to roll out a new version of its low-cost iPad model. Apple says the new model will provide 20% faster computer and graphics processing, as well as a stronger neural engine to make services such as Live Text operate more quickly.

The front-facing camera is now a 12MP Ultra Wide camera and features Center Stage, which makes video calls more engaging by automatically detecting people. It's currently available on Pro models of iPad.

It maintains a similar design, which allows it to support most third-party peripherals such as the first-generation Apple Pencil and keyboards.

The iPad will also stick with the same price at $329 but will add 64GB of storage to start, a major upgrade. It will launch next week.

New shows on Apple TV

Cook introduces the audience to new series coming this fall to the tech giant's streaming TV service. Several big names popping up, including Jon Stewart, a new season of The Morning Show starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston coming this month, and the science-fiction show called "Invasion," a show called "The Shrink Next Door" starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell.

The Apple event has started

We've officially begun with a musical interlude that appears to take place across different parts of California, performing the song "California Soul."

Tim Cook now jumps on stage to sing the praises of California. "We're proud to call California our home," he said.

Where can I watch the Apple event?

Along with streaming the event on Apple's website, you can also watch it through YouTube.

Remember, you can also stay on this page and follow the latest news once the event begins at 1 p.m. EDT.

Apple Store: 'Be right back'

As expected prior to any Apple event, the company's online store is down since we're going to see new products later Tuesday.

"Be right back," reads the message on Apple's store. "We're making updates to the Apple store. Check back soon."

A new Apple Watch and AirPods, too?

Apple typically doesn't only talk iPhone when it hosts (physically or virtually) its September events. We're likely going to see a new version of the Apple Watch as well. According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, the upgraded Apple Watch Series 7 will sport a new design, larger screens and a faster processor.

Meanwhile, 9to5Mac reports Apple could also introduce a fresh version of its AirPods. The last time Apple rolled out new AirPods was in 2019, said the report.

Beware the iPhone 13 scams

As buzz rises over the likely unveiling of the iPhone 13, so too are the number of scams linked to Apple's event. Research firm Kaspersky said they have seen intensified scamming activity ahead of the event.

The schemes often involve fake offers such as snagging the next iPhone before release or getting other deals on products like AirPods. People who sign up never get the device, and hackers get a hold of their personal information.

Apple presentations have always been a popular lure for scammers to roll out malicious activity, said Tatyana Shcherbakova, security expert at Kaspersky, in a statement. For several years now, weve seen how fraudsters use the buzz around new iPhone release and start spreading malicious features."

Among tips Kaspersky offers to protect yourself: Verify messages are from reliable sources, don't click on links in suspicious emails, and be skeptical about offers that appear too good to be true.

Epic ruling: Changes for the App Store?

It's likely Apple will address the recent decision in Epic Game's lawsuit filed against the iPhone maker. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered Apple to let developers use payment options beyond the App Store, which would circumvent Apple's 30% commission on most app transactions.

Epic Games has said it is appealing the judge's decision rejecting Epic's allegations that Apple ran a monopoly.

By mid-December, Apple must build a framework that would allow developers to steer payments outside of the App Store and Apple's iOS, said Gene Munster, a managing partner with Loup Ventures.

But "it won't be until next year that developers can do steering A/B testing," Munster said on Twitter. " Apple will probably make further changes in the next 5 years, which will collectively yield an App Store that is a favorable asset from an investor's standpoint."

 Mike Snider

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'Pent up demand' for a new iPhone

In advance of today's event, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives laid out a synopsis of Apple's position, noting that the company "remains in the midst of its strongest overall product cycle in roughly a decade."

The new line of iPhones, expected to be called the iPhone 13, will be the second model to include 5G wireless connectivity. Apple appears to be boosting production of the new phones beyond that of the iPhone 12, Ives said. His analysis suggests Apple's initial production of about 90 million units surpasses that of the initial iPhone 12 production of 80 million.

The reasoning? "This 5G driven product cycle will extend into 2022 and should also benefit from a post-vaccine consumer 'reopening environment,' Ives said.

Beyond that, there is "pent up demand" for new iPhones among current customers because about 250 million of the 975 million iPhones already sold have not been upgraded in more than 3.5 years, he said.

The new wave of iPhones is expected to include "an eye-popping 1 terabyte storage option," twice the highest storage capacity in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Ives expects.

 Mike Snider

iOS 15 is arriving soon: Here's what we know about the iPhone's upcoming update

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: iPhone 13 Pro: Apple unveils new phone, iPad, iPad Mini and Watch 7
SINGAPORE (AP) 

Chinas top diplomat met Tuesday in Singapore with the wealthy city-state's prime minister, reaffirming the importance of trade and diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In a Facebook post, Singapores Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he had a productive and candid" discussion with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi covering international and regional developments.

Singapore welcomes Chinas continued contribution in our part of the world, and will continue working with China to build a more harmonious and peaceful world, Lee wrote.

Singapores foreign ministry said in a statement that Wang and Lee also affirmed the positive momentum in both countries cooperation amidst COVID-19.

Wang is on a week-long official tour, and had visited Vietnam and Cambodia prior to the two-day working trip in Singapore. He is expected to visit South Korea after Singapore.

Wangs visit comes weeks after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited Southeast Asia and stopped in Singapore and Vietnam. Chinese state media have described Harriss trip as one that sought to pit countries against China.

While in Singapore last month, Harris had criticized China for its actions in the South China Sea, describing them as intimidation and coercion. She said that the U.S. would stand with our allies and our partners in the face of Chinese threats.

On Monday, China's Wang also called on Singapores Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

They discussed further ways to strengthen relations between the two countries, including advancing co-operation with China on Singapores government projects and exploring new areas of co-operation such as the digital economy.

Balakrishnan also welcomed Chinas interest in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a free trade agreement between 11 countries that include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week that the countries that Wang is visiting are close neighbors and important partners.
Former President Donald Trump said Gen. Mark Milley may have committed treason with secret calls to China at the end of his administration.

The ex-commander in chief called into Newsmax on Tuesday to respond to a new book that claimed Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, promised to give his Chinese counterpart advance notice if Trump ordered a strike against China.

"If it is actually true  which is hard to believe that he would have called China and done these things and was willing to advise them of an attack or in advance of an attack  that's treason," he told Sean Spicer and Lyndsay Keith.

Milley was concerned Trump might order a strike that would lead to war with China, attempting to avert armed conflict to Chinese Gen. Li Zuocheng of the Peoples Liberation Army in a pair of secret calls before and after the 2020 election, according to excerpts from Peril, written by Watergate sleuth Bob Woodward and fellow Washington Post journalist Robert Costa.

RUBIO DEMANDS BIDEN FIRE MILLEY OVER REPORTED CALL TO CHINESE AT END OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If were going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise, Milley said to Li in one of the conversations, the book claimed.

Treason against the United States, as outlined in the Constitution, "shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

Anyone found guilty of treason "shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States," according to U.S. code.

No person has been executed for treason by the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.

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At least one Republican in Congress, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, said Milley should be court martialed if the reporting is true. Others have called on him to resign or be fired. Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the Ukraine-focused impeachment proceedings against Trump, said if the book is correct, Milley "usurped civilian authority, broke Chain of Command, ... violated the sacrosanct principle of civilian control over the military," and should step down.

In his interview with Newsmax, Trump admitted he was frustrated with China on trade and the coronavirus but said it was a "ridiculous" claim he considered an attack on China, denying ever thinking about such an operation.

"I think he is trying to just get out of his incompetent withdrawal out of Afghanistan," Trump said of Milley.

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Trump also said he considers Woodward and "his cohorts" to be "extremely dishonorable people."

Milley remains chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Biden administration. The Pentagon did not comment on the book as of press time.

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Tags: News, Donald Trump, Mark Milley, China, National Security

Original Author: Daniel Chaitin

Original Location: Trump says secret calls to China by Milley described in Woodward book amount to treason
EXCLUSIVE  Former President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, suggested that terrorists "absolutely" were airlifted from Afghanistan as part of the U.S. evacuation effort from Kabul last month, questioning the Biden administration's vetting process.

The former president, during the interview, called the Biden administrations effort to resettle Afghan allies "incredible."

TRUMP SLAMS 'RUSHED' AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL, BLAMES 'INCOMPETENT' BIDEN

"There has never been a war  win, lose or draw  and you bring everybody into your country," Trump said. "Thats a lot of people, and at a tremendous cost alreadytheyre talking about billions and billions of dollars."

The Biden administration, last month ahead of its Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw all military assets from Afghanistan, airlifted more than 124,000 individuals from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Biden administration officials said that included approximately 6,000 American citizens.

Since the withdrawal, the Biden administration has said its mission has shifted from a military mission to a "diplomatic" one and it is committed to continuing to evacuate Americans left behind, as well as Afghan allies, some with pending Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs), who aided the U.S. military throughout the war.

But Trump warned that the individuals that the Biden administration are resettling in the U.S. could pose a risk to national security.

"The people they are resettling  it's the worst. There was no vetting," Trump said. "And it is probably a tough group of people, because they were able to get on the plane, so they were aggressive."

DOZENS OF AFGHAN EVACUEES FLAGGED BY DHS AS POTENTIAL SECURITY THREATS

"What does that mean? Does that mean you have terrorists there?" Trump asked. "Absolutely you do."

At this point, the Department of Homeland Security has flagged 44 Afghan evacuees as potential national security threats to the United States, according to a report by the Washington Post last week.

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Also last week, senior U.S. officials told Fox News that Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in Kosovo, will temporarily house Afghan refugees who dont pass the initial round of vetting. Those officials told Fox News that several refugees have already been sent to that base but said it was unclear what the next steps would be for those who failed the initial security screening  including whether they will be sent back to the now-Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

US SENDING ANY AFGHANS FLAGGED FOR CRIMINAL OR TERROR TIES TO KOSOVO, OFFICIALS SAY

The White House , though, said intelligence and counterterrorism officials were "working around the clock" to "vet all Afghans" before allowing them to enter the United States by using a screening process involving "biometric and biographic security reviews conducted by our intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals."

The White House said those with SIVs and vulnerable Afghans were flown to third countries in Europe and Asia that had agreed to "serve as transit hubs" before undergoing "robust security screening and flying to the U.S."

"You took some very bad people onto those planes and distributed them all over the world  with all of them coming to the United States, because the rest of the world is not going to take them," Trump continued. "The rest of the world is going to deliver them to the United States and ask for a lot of money for helping us out, but, you know, its a never-ending thing."

The former president called it a "tough situation" but underscored that "no war has ever taken the people of a country where there was the war, and moved them into their country."

Meanwhile, in addition to security concerns, the White House announced Friday that it has temporarily suspended flights bringing Afghan refugees into the country due to a measles concern.

"Operation Allies Welcome flights into the United States have been temporarily paused at the request of the [Centers for Disease Control] and out of an abundance of caution because of four diagnosed cases of measles among Afghans who recently arrived in the United States," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

PENTAGON: 'NO QUESTION' AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL MAKES IDENTIFYING TERROR THREATS MORE DIFFICULT

She said that individuals are being quarantined and that the CDC has begun full contact tracing. Additionally, all arriving Afghans are required to have a measles vaccination as a condition of entry into the U.S.

The Associated Press had previously reported that "health safety concerns" had shut down flights out of Qatar and Germany. There are nearly 10,000 evacuees at the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany.

As of last week, DHS said approximately 60,000 Afghans have arrived in the U.S. since mid-August.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Charles Johnson, a military veteran and pastor, has shed tears over the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan

From the outside, it might seem odd that the voters of Sandy Hook, Kentucky, are so deeply distraught by the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan that some speak of the events with tears.

The vagaries of America's foreign entanglements do not usually much figure into the lives of those residing in this tiny hamlet, the seat of Elliott County and its only real town.

Yet as he stood outside his church on a clear Sunday morning, Charles Johnson's voice broke as he described how he saw the US pull-out ordered by President Joe Biden.

It was "an absolute disgrace" that American troops left "in the middle of the night", abandoning Afghan allies who had "sacrificed their lives, and their reputations, and the safety of their families," the preacher said.

"There was no reason for them to die," he said. "They didn't have to die."

Last month's chaotic and deadly end to America's longest running war has spurred widespread criticism of the Biden administration and a drop in public support for the president.

Among allies, it has undermined Mr Biden's message of competence, and in Washington, members of Congress from both parties are demanding answers.

In places like Elliott County, deep in the Appalachian foothills, it is being seen as vindication for voters who rejected the Democrat and had backed Republican Donald Trump.

To some of them it is the confirmation that Mr Biden and his party cannot be trusted to improve people's lives - theirs or anyone else's.

US President Joe Biden walks past the headstones of fallen troops of the Afghan war at Arlington National Cemetery

Sandy Hook is both a surprising and unsurprising place to be rife with such sentiment.

Not long ago, the county was the staunchest Democratic stronghold in the US - until the arrival of Mr Trump in 2016, it had voted "blue" in every presidential election since it was incorporated in 1869, the longest streak in the country.

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Support for Democratic politics had been so strong for so long in Elliott County for two reasons. Early on, it was the party of the Old South, still hostile to the values of the North against which a civil war had been fought.

By the 1930s, it was because of the embrace of the New Deal, a vast government programme to create social safety nets and jobs amid the Great Depression.

Jobs, the economy and social policy have always been the things voters cared most about.

The 1960s Vietnam war did not shatter their faith in Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Jimmy Carter's troubles abroad barely registered here in 1980, when he lost Kentucky but won three-quarters of the vote in Elliott.

The rural hills of Eastern Kentucky have always been a hard-scrabble place

But along with much of the rural American south, the county turned away in the last two elections with the feeling that the party had abandoned them.

Voters saw themselves scolded as "a bunch of yokels addicted to opioids and Mountain Dew, and they don't like that portrayal" said Michael Berheide, a political scientist at Berea College, Kentucky. "And they see Biden as continuing that."

Mr Trump won the county last year by over 50 points, the largest margin anywhere in the US.

President Lyndon B Johnson shakes hands with troops stationed in Kentucky

Few were paying attention when Mr Trump struck a deal with the Taliban to leave Afghanistan.

It did not seem an urgent issue at election time, said Earl Kinner, 82. "You know, nobody was thinking about it," he said, though most eastern Kentuckians, like the majority of the country, "didn't see any sense in being over there".

But the withdrawal from Afghanistan has become a prime example of how mistrust in Mr Biden is shaping perceptions about his policies, whatever they might be.

"Any time that's there's something happening overseas, there's the back story of what's happening here at home that shapes how [voters are] feeling about that," said Melanie Goan, a history professor at University of Kentucky in Lexington.

"They see Biden as the enemy. He stands for positions that they don't accept. You have all these reasons for them to pin the blame on Biden."

To people in Sandy Hook, "Trump comes across as a leader. This fellow, Biden, he comes across as a weak sister," Mr Kinner said.

Carl Simmons, at First Baptist in Sandy Hook, calls Bidens Afghanistan policy a disgrace

Nicole McComas, 33, said: "The leader of the military is the commander in chief. So, whether he likes it or not, it's all on him. There's nobody else he can blame for it. There's not one part of it that I could try to redeem him on".

Many were convinced that Mr Trump would not have bungled the exit as Mr Biden did. Mr Trump would not have left military equipment there, said one. He would not have been seemingly indifferent to the suffering of Afghans, suggested another.

Mr Biden's top diplomat defended the withdrawal during testimony to Congress, claiming that the president had "inherited a deadline, not a plan" from his predecessor. The administration argues the withdrawal would have been chaotic and dangerous whenever it happened.

The irony for Mr Biden is that as he now turns to a domestic agenda that aims to address the grievances of places like Sandy Hook - including a $3.5bn infrastructure plan to bring better connection to rural America, expanding social services and public health and pro-union policies popular with blue-collar workers - he may well find his efforts spurned.

"I don't think that people are going to forgive this bit here, this Afghanistan thing. I don't think people are going to forget," Mr Kinner said. "To people here, he just turned and ran."

Democrats "turned their backs on Appalachia," said Carl Simmons, 60, a coal company purchasing agent - and now, it seemed to him, they had turned their backs in Afghanistan, too.

"We've built in those people some hope that - 'Maybe I can have a better life.' But we dashed that hope," he said.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa via AP Images

In August, as Tropical Storm Fred unleashed record flooding across his western North Carolina district, 26-year-old freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn was doing what he does best: posting.

Cawthorns presence on the MAGA-iest corners of social media is so prolific that it wasnt until a few days after the stormafter he had criticized President Joe Biden over the withdrawal from Afghanistan, called the Democratic governor of his state a tyrant, warned his followers about authoritarian school boards, and crowed that he would rather be hated by the mainstream media and the D.C. swamp if that means Im loved by the patriotic Americans across the countrythat Cawthorn began to communicate about the flooding and mudslides.

And when Cawthorn finally did get around to tweeting about the storm and its damage, he chose to retweet some general government guidance about cleanup and to post pictures of himself handing out meals to first responders and speaking with constituents.

Madison Cawthorn Fantasizes About Busting Out Jan. 6 Political Hostages

Faced with criticism that he and his office were slow to respond to the natural disaster, Cawthorn bristled. He wrote in an op-ed that partisan attacks during moments of life and death have no place in our political discourse. And then three days later, after 13 U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, he tweeted that Biden was a mentally unstable individual and urged his Cabinet to remove him.

Its these sorts of anticsdeeply popular with adoring Trump fans and deeply unproductive for a legislatorthat have produced four Republican challengers against Cawthorn. And its why Eric Batchelor, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and current sheriffs deputy, seems to have based his campaign on a simple message.

Being a representative is about being a representative to this district, Batchelor said in an interview with The Daily Beast. Its not about flying around this country raising national campaign dollars and searching for the next photo op. Its about being here in this district.

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The three other Republicans running to unseat Cawthorn in North Carolinas 11th DistrictRod Honeycutt, Wendy Nevarez, and Bruce OConnellhave all entered the race within the last two months. And they all seem to be arguing that residents of western North Carolina deserve a more experienced, more serious representative who will not only show up but, more importantly, not embarrass their constituents in the process.

The job of being a congressman requires politicking and governing. Politicking is mostly theater, governing is mostly work. Madison is all politicking and no governing, says a section of OConnells website that simply reads, Whats wrong with Madison Cawthorn?

Honeycutt, a genial retired Army colonel, put it only a little more gently, saying maturity, leadership, knowledge, and experience is currently missing from the district.

Ill be more front-door porch screen, back-door porch screen, than TV or computer screen, he said.

For some of the field, the case against Cawthorn extends to riskier turf for a GOP primaryhis embrace of Donald Trumps election fraud conspiracies and his speech to the crowd outside the White House on Jan. 6, when he told them the Constitution was being violated.

Nevarez, a U.S. Navy veteran, said the Capitol riot was a hard thing to watch and was motivated to run against Cawthorn afterward. Those words mattered, she said.

Newly Elected GOP Congressman Madison Cawthorn Has Tried to Convert Jews to Christianity

Instead of taking a step back and recalibrating his rhetoric, Cawthorn has only ramped things up. In August, he appeared to tell a constituent that another Jan. 6-style, pro-Trump demonstration at the Capitol might be in the works, and he warned of more bloodshed if elections continued to be rigged. Those kinds of statements have added fuel to the backlash, and Batchelor claimed that much is apparent on the campaign trail.

There are a lot of people who voted for him because they were voting for the Republican, they were voting for who they saw as the best option, but who are not happy with him now, Batchelor said.

But in todays Republican Party, there might not be much space for challengers running against a MAGA heros divisive politics and national focus. Thats because Cawthorn might be performing the most important kind of constituent service there is: owning the libs.

Republicans who know this terrain say the district is not always forgiving to incumbents, but they believe Cawthorn will be tough to beat in a GOP primary. Few have forgotten how he emerged from political obscurity to win the primary in 2020, defeating a Trump-endorsed candidate handily.

Since then, Cawthorns constant partisan tweeting and media hits have only elevated his profile and allowed him to cultivate a national network of small-dollar donors. Its paid off spectacularly: in the first six months of 2021, he raised $1.8 million, more than all but a handful of lawmakers.

That elevated profile means Cawthorn does have a real target on his back, said Carl Mumpower, a former chairman of the GOP in Asheville, the districts biggest city. The pile-on-Cawthorn game is in full swing, he said.

But Mumpower suggested that Cawthorns strategy to hold the seat may be a good one, and argued the primary is his to lose.

Hes passionate, and talking to his crowd at home is not high on his list or even necessary, said Mumpower, who did not vote for Cawthorn in the 2020 GOP primary but believes hes gotten unfair treatment from the local press and GOP critics.

Photo ops at a washed-out campground, I know some people think thats leadership, but thats quite often propaganda, he said. Hes got other things hes putting his mind to.

One GOP operative told The Daily Beast that Trump, who won the district by 12 points in 2020, still polls well there, and Cawthorn has effectively cultivated his support base. His challengers, the operative said, dont have a real chance if Cawthorn stays on his current track and doesnt make any major, major mistakes from a constituent service standpoint.

Why Isnt Anyone Trying to Seduce the Never Trumpers?

If Cawthorn simply stays on his current track, however, its a guarantee he will get headlinesmany of them bad.

Aside from his political rhetoric, Cawthorns attention-grabbing personal behavior has been a source of heartburn for many in Beltway GOP circles, and privately, some would not be heartbroken to see him replaced by another Republican.

Shortly after being sworn in, for instance, Cawthorn oddly proclaimed to his GOP colleagues that he had built my staff around comms rather than legislation, according to TIME. In February, he attempted to board a plane with a Glock handgun, which was confiscated. And in July, he nearly got in a physical altercation with 74-year-old Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) over a bill. After McKinley filed an ethics complaint, Cawthorn sent him an error-ridden apology note that leaked and went viral on social media.

Thats all on top of a steady stream of troubling reporting about Cawthorns pastincluding claims from multiple women that he sexually harassed them while he was a student in college. (Cawthorn dropped out of the faith-based Patrick Henry College after a semester in which he mostly received Ds.)

For now, Cawthorns challengers are largely straying from talking about his personal conduct, preferring to focus on missed votes, photo ops, and his rhetoric around the 2020 election. Batchelor, for instance, said he wanted to stay away from personal attacks and that his professional demeanor speaks for itself.

Madison Cawthorns Ex-Best Friend Says He Lied About the Car Accident that Left Him Wheelchair-Bound

Honeycutt said he did not want to badmouth Cawthorn and was reluctant to even discuss a specific instance where he felt the incumbent had clearly failed. The only experience hes had is what hes had in this seat, and comparing myself to himIve got 37 years of experience at a strategic level, an operational level, Honeycutt said. I think theres a big difference.

Cawthorn has not yet hit back directly at his GOP challengers. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast about their charges against him.

But the risks of Cawthorns approach have been clear to friendly Republicans. Karl Rove, the prominent GOP strategist, recently warned the congressman that his thirst for national media and out-of-state fundraising trips could cost him.

Dont get too far over into campaigning nationwide, Rove said he told Cawthorn, in an interview with the Smoky Mountain News. Dont neglect the people back home.

Whether They Egged On Jan. 6 Rioters or Cleaned Up After, These Lawmakers Raked In Fundraising Cash

Republicans say the congressman will have to take his challengers seriously, even if he is solidly favored. Fresh fundraising reports will come out soon, but as of July, Cawthorn had spent most of the $1.8 million he raised, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

But Cawthorns ability to raise such sums to begin with has Republicans convinced that he will easily do so going forward. His ability to gin up outrage donations may also work against his GOP challengers, but in a different way: Democratic donors who loathe Cawthorn are propelling one candidate, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, who raised over $600,000 since getting in the race, as of July.

Most of the GOP challenger field has not been in the race long enough to post fundraising totals, and they stress that they do not anticipate outraising Cawthornor even coming close.

The Republican challengers have a smaller constituency to appeal tosome smaller than others. Two candidates, Batchelor and Nevarez, would not say if they had voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, and along with Honeycutt, they support creating an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack.

Those kinds of Republicans have become the target of Trumps ire and earned the hatred of his base. If such a candidate breaks through and forces a real race against Cawthorn, it could spark a high-profile test of Trumps enduring grip on the GOP.

Batchelor said he hoped his candidacy might help prove that there is an alternative to the Trump-era GOP that is so embodied by figures like Cawthorn. The challenge, he said, is to convince those Republicans that there is more to this party than one personality.

Maybe Im wrong, said Batchelor, but a lot of people are maybe starting to accept the fact that the Republican Party is not just about one person again.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's President Kais Saied said on Tuesday he would not do deals with those he described as "traitors", an apparent reference to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the biggest in the suspended parliament.

Ennahda has called for a national dialogue to find a way forward after Saied on July 25 dismissed the prime minister, froze parliament and seized governing powers, moves the party has called a coup.

"I will not deal with.. traitors and those who pay money to offend their country. No dialogue with them," he said in a video that was posted online by the presidency.

Local media have reported that Ennahda had paid a foreign lobbying company, something it denied doing.

"They paid nearly 3 million dinars to foreign lobbying groups to harm their country," said Saied in the video, without naming Ennahda.

More than seven weeks after his intervention thrust Tunisia into its biggest political crisis since introducing democracy in a 2011 revolution that triggered the Arab Spring, Saied has yet to name a new prime minister or declare his future intentions.

Last week one of his advisers told Reuters he was planning to suspend the constitution and offer an amended version for a public referendum.

The powerful labour union UGTT rejected that approach the following day and Saied then said any amendments to the constitution must be made within the existing constitutional framework.

The union, as well as Ennahda, other political parties and Western democracies that have supported Tunisian public finances, have all urged him to quickly name a new government and to return to the constitutional order.

Saied, in his comments on Tuesday, said: "The government is important. But what is more important is how this government will work".

(Reporting by Tarek Amara, writing by Angus McDowall, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
vanessa lachey

vanessa lachey/ instagram

Vanessa Lachey "will never forget" the day she landed her next big role.

The actress, 40, took to her Instagram account on Monday with a very emotional selfie video, presumably taken moments after she found out she had landed the lead role of Jane Tennant in the upcoming CBS procedural series NCIS: Hawai'i, premiering next week.

Vanessa was in her car in the snippet, completely overcome with tears of joy as she arrived at her best friend's house.

The Philippines-born star could barely get out words as she filmed herself, saying, "I just found out, I got the job!"

"I'm so happy," she continued, before a fresh round of sobs overtook her.

In the back of the car, Vanessa's 4-year-old son, Phoenix Robert  whom she shares with husband Nick Lachey  looked on as his mother remarked, "We're happy, right?! He doesn't know what we're happy about!"

Then, Vanessa got out of the vehicle and yelled to her friend, "I got the job!" before crying again and hugging her repeatedly.

RELATED: NCIS: Hawai'i Begins Production as Cast and Crew Take Part in Traditional Hawaiian Blessing

"I remember the day I got the call 'You got the job!'" the mother-of-three wrote in the caption."I will never forget it! Dreams do come true. One week from today, our show premieres and I'm beyond grateful for this opportunity. My life is changed forever. ."

Vanessa was previously best known for roles in The Bold and the Beautiful, Disaster Movie, BH90210 and the Fox sitcom Dads, which ran from 2013-2014. She also guested in one episode of CSI: NY in 2009.

RELATED: Vanessa Lachey Announces Her Very Personal New Book Life From Scratch: 'I Hope It Inspires People'

NCIS: Hawai'i will also star Alex Tarrant, Noah Mills, Yasmine Al-Bustami, Jason Antoon, Tori Anderson, and Kian Talan.

The new spinoff show will follow a team of Naval criminal investigators who operate on the Hawaiian Islands.

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RELATED VIDEO: Vanessa Lachey Shares Back-to-School Photo of Her 3 Kids Camden, Brooklyn and Phoenix in Hawaii

NCIS was first launched in 2003 after Mark Harmon's Jethro Gibbs character was introduced in a two-episode arc on JAG.

The show, now in its 18th season, had its first spinoff in 2009 with the premiere of its Los Angeles counterpart, with the New Orleans offshoot following in 2014.

In April, Vanessa announced that she would star in the upcoming spinoff, making her the first female lead in the long-running franchise.

Lachey will play Tennant, the first woman to be named the Special Agent in charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor.

"A woman in a male-dominated profession, she's thrived in a system that's pushed back every step of the way through equal parts confidence and strategy," her character description reads. "She's also a mother raising her children mostly on her own and has to balance her duty to her kids and her country."

Vanessa reacted to the announcement on her Instagram page at the time, writing, "Honored is an understatement! To join the NCIS franchise as the first female lead and to do it on the Beautiful Islands of Hawai'i... I still can't believe it! Thank You CBS for believing in me! Now let's get to work! #NCISHawaii ."

The Hawaii-based crime series premieres Sept. 20 at 10:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
Afghan evacuees disembark a UK Royal Air Force military plane that landed in the United Arab Emirates. A group of five evacuees who traveled to America have contracted measles. GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

Virginia's health department is monitoring five cases of measles among Afghanistan evacuees.

The agency is contacting people they believe to have been exposed to the virus.

Measles spreads through coughing, sneezing, and contact with droplets from an infected individual.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Virginia Department of Health says it's monitoring five Afghanistan evacuees who have contracted measles, according to a statement from the department.

The Department of Health is currently reaching out to individuals it believes may have been exposed to the virus.

The reported cases are currently localized in central and northern health regions, the department reported.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts (RHHD) worked with a Richmond area hospital to identify the individuals who were potentially exposed at the hospital on September 10, the press release said.

The Piedmont Health District is also working to track down further exposures that could have occurred at Fort Pickett in Nottoway County, while northern Virginia health departments are trying to identify anyone exposed to the measles at Dulles International Airport.

Measles is a highly contagious illness that spreads through coughing, sneezing, and contact with droplets from the nose, mouth, or throat of an infected individual, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Cases of measles in the US are rare due to the widespread use of vaccines against the disease.

Due to commonality in many tourist locations, the Virginia Department of Health advises all who intend to travel to said locations to be evaluated for immunity, and possible vaccination, before they go. If a child hasn't received their vaccine, they should avoid locations where measles is common.

Read the original article on Insider
A Virginia Tech instructor's syllabus for fall students included her apologies for the "injustice" of being white, heterosexual, and middle class.

"I am a Caucasian cisgender female and first-generation college student from Appalachia who is of Scottish, British, and Norwegian heritage," the "WHO I AM" section of Crystal Duncan Lane's released Human Development 1134 syllabus read. "I am married to a cisgender male, and we are middle class. While I did not 'ask' for the many privileges in my life: I have benefitted from them and will continue to benefit from them whether I like it or not."

TEXAS TECH ANNOUNCES LGBT LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE SCHOLARSHIP



Lane, a human development and family science instructor, said she recognizes the unfair privileges of her having white skin, the documents said.

"This is injustice. I am and will continue to work on a daily basis to be antiracist and confront the innate racism within myself that is the reality and history of white people," she wrote in the syllabus, according to Campus Reform.

Lane ended her apology by suggesting Caucasian students "join her" on a path to confront implicit racial biases.

"I want to be better: Every day. I will transform: Every day. This work terrifies me: Every day," she said. "I invite my white students to join me on this journey. And to my students of color: I apologize for the inexcusable horrors within our shared history," the documents said.

Natalie Rhodes, a student at Virginia Tech, said the instructor's apology is out of line, according to the report.

"It is a class about disabilities, not political opinion, affiliation, nor judgment in any sort," Rhodes said. "If you are discussing disabilities, stick to your course."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Washington Examiner reached out to Virginia Tech and Lane for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.

Story continues

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Tags: News, Virginia, Students, Racism, woke, College

Original Author: Luke Gentile

Original Location: Virginia Tech instructor apologizes for 'injustice' of being white and straight
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

The 49ers saw three of their running backs get hurt in Sundays win over the Eagles, so they are looking at some potential additions to the roster this week. According to multiple reports, the team is bringing in Duke Johnson, Lamar Miller, and T.J. Yeldon. Johnson was released off of the Jaguars practice squad last [more]
Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday that he will back vaccine point man Taro Kono to become the next leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

"It's clear who can be the leader to breathe new life into the party and to change both the LDP and Japan," Koizumi told reporters. The winner of the party's presidential race would be poised to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Kono, who also serves as administrative reform minister, is considered the front-runner for the Sept. 29 party vote. But the Hosoda faction, the largest of the LDP's intraparty groups, said Tuesday that its members will back one of two other candidates: former internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi or former LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida.

"It's clear that they will support anybody but Kono," said the environment minister, a rising star in the LDP and son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He urged younger lawmakers to rally behind Kono, especially those serving their first to third terms.

Kono and Shinjiro Koizumi are close, both representing districts in Kanagawa Prefecture, which includes Yokohama. Koizumi had said in 2020 he would support Kono, had the latter decided to run in the previous LDP leadership race that year.
An election to choose the next leader of Japan's ruling party is getting candidates worked up. The term of current Liberal Democratic Party chief and Prime Minister, Suga Yoshihide, ends this month.

The vote will effectively determine Japan's next prime minister as Suga has decided he will not run.

The campaign period officially kicks off this Friday.

The candidates are former LDP policy chief Kishida Fumio, Regulatory Reform Minister Kono Taro and Former Internal Affairs Minister Takaichi Sanae.

LDP Executive Acting Secretary-General Noda Seiko is also considering a run. She's seeking the backing of 20 party members -- the minimum required to enter the race.

Former LDP Secretary-General Ishiba Shigeru had been considering his candidacy. Ishiba has run for party leader 4 times in the past.

However, Ishiba met with Kono on Monday, and Kono asked him to help unite the party if he wins the LDP's top spot.

It now appears Ishiba will not run, and will instead back Kono.

On Monday the candidates mentioned national security issues after North Korea announced it had successfully test-fired a new long-range cruise missile.

Kishida said he would consider upgrading the country's missile defense capabilities, including the capacity to attack enemy bases.

Kisihda said, "Regarding the capability to attack enemy bases, I would first like to resolve the balance between the Constitution and preemptive attacks."

Kono said the debate over a "capacity to attack enemy bases" is in the past. He said what should be discussed is the improvement of missile interception capabilities and deterrence.

Kono said, "We will enter an era where we discuss how to enhance deterrence within the Japan-US alliance."

Takaichi said Japan should possess precision guided missiles. She added she will consider legislation to enable cyber-attacks that could neutralize enemy bases.

Takaichi said, "We have to think about realistic ways to react if there's a clear sign of a missile launch."

Election campaigning will officially kick off on Friday, with the new leader to be decided on the 29th of this month.
Genderless options are increasingly finding their way into schools in Japan, easing pressure on students to conform to norms and stereotypes.

A growing number of schools allow students to choose skirts or pants for their uniforms, while satchels for elementary school children free from gender-based colors are increasingly common. Some schools are reviewing regulations that include clauses based on the distinction of sexes.

Tombow Co., a school uniform manufacturer in the city of Okayama, is in the vanguard of encouraging schools to introduce gender-neutral uniforms. The company developed a pair of trousers for female students incorporating ideas proposed by transgender people. Designed to look wearable by boys as well, the comfortable garments have been adopted by some 1,000 schools across the country.

But as the option may serve to emphasize that wearers belong to a sexual minority, Ayumi Okuno, a designer at Tombow, said, Emphasis is given to functionality so that students can choose (the trousers) whether they are in sexual minorities or not.

Sanyo Junior High School, run by the Himeji city government in Hyogo Prefecture, adopted a new school uniform consisting of a blazer and slacks for both male and female students this spring, abandoning a tight standup collar uniform for boys and a sailor-style uniform for girls. It made the shift after considering that railway operators and other companies are using genderless uniforms.

School is a microcosm of society. We decided that uniforms that are wearable regardless of gender are suitable for a school in the new age, Takahisa Hasegawa, principal of the school, said.

The school introduced the new uniform after holding discussions with students, parents and teachers and surveying parents of elementary school children in its school district. It has also made a skirt available to female students who wish to wear it.

Male and female elementary school students used to carry black and red satchels, respectively, on the shoulder almost with no exception. Only about 20% of girls opted for red satchels in the current school year and 60% of boys for black ones, however, according to an industry survey.
New Delhi: The oldest digital currency in the crypto market by Market Cap  Bitcoin, is yet to become a legal tender in many countries. However, with the rising crypto market, smaller countries have begun to accept it as a legal tender.

Though majority of the countries are yet to adopt the currency, even those who accept the digital token in any form.

Here are some countries that have accepted Bitcoin in one or the other form:

El Salvador: The American country is the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender along with the US Dollar. Majoity of the businesses in El Salvador now accept payments in Bitcoin.

Ukraine: In a recently passed bill the country have legalized Bitcoin. The bill has explicate the fortes as well as the course of action to protect its users from different frauds. Though, the bill is yet to be approved by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Post to the validation of the bill, people would be authorized to exchange and trade the Bitcoin that they own.

Cuba: In August, the government of Cuba announced regulation of cryptocurrencies on the island. Cuba central bank will soon set rules regarding the crypto payment in the country along with the guidelines to issuances of the license to the service providers.

United States: Several tech giants in United states like Microsoft and Dish Network are already accepting payments through Bitcoin, even when bitcoin is not yet considered as a currency in the country. Hence, the users adhere a certain abidance in the exchange and trading of the digital currency.

Germany: Few businesses in the country have been accepting payments in Bitcoin for years now. Earlier in July, Germany allowed special fund allocation, almost 20 percent of their capital in crypto assets.

Canada: Crypto currencies in this country are rather used as barter transactions. Some major banks in Canada have recently banned the use of their credit and debit cards for Bitcoin transactions.

United Kingdom: UK has a crypto-friendly stance and is even creating a pro-bitcoin environment.

India: India have not made any legal regulation for bitcoin yet. Bitcoin transactions in the country are made with minimal regulations. Though, the government is likely to produce a crypto bill in the coming months.
New Delhi: Bigg Boss OTT contestant Divya Agarwal and TV actor Varun Sood have been dating for more than two years now. Though the couple had to stay quite apart this year as Varun had to leave for the Cape Town for a stunt reality show, post to which Divya entered the house of Bigg Boss as a contestant.

On the weekend episode Sunday Ka Vaar, the audiences of the controversial reality show had a lots of twists and drama to witness. The Bigg Boss housemates celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi in the house packed with their powerful Bollywood-style performances.

Moose Jattanas elimination from the show came as a shock to her inmates and fans. Host Karan Johar had a heated argument for making a sexist comment in the nomination task.

Last but not the least, Divya Agarwal had an emotional moment as she gets to see her boyfriend Varun Sood on the show, for the first time after entering the BB house. MTV Ace of Space winner Divya Agarwal was all in tears on the sight of Varun, who have entered in the show as a connection to her.

Watch the heartfelt video here:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by kehek (@sur_div_run)

The duo was clearly short of words on seeing each after a long time as they hugged and kissed on the glass wall between them making it a beautiful memory of the show.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by lopa (@infinity_divrun)

Former Bigg Boss contestants Rashami Desai and Devoleena Bhattacharjee, who had entered the BB house as guests also welcomed Varun on the show.
In November 2009, the late Charles Krauthammer gave a seminal speech, titled Decline Is a Choice. In it, Krauthammer stated, The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no ... Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, 
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Why is teaching about climate change so often limited to the natural science context? In their presentation Drs. Kumler and Vosburg-Bluem suggest that learning about climate change from a social science context provides new opportunities to engage learners. For example, you might have learners address the question of why climate change is such a hot potato political topic. Students can examine documents such as national political party platforms, candidate speeches, and media articles to address this question. Within the social sciences learners can also examine the historical implications of how we came to this global tipping point and how we can use the past to more critically examine our current and future decisions and actions. What is OUR role as environmental citizens both locally and globally? In this broadcast the presenters addressed reasons why and how you can approach climate change using politics, geography, economics, or history. They also discussed how the social sciences provide useful insights into student participation beyond typical approaches such as individual tree planting, changing transportation modes, or installing energy efficient devices.

Lori Kumler

At the time of this broadcast Lori Kumler was an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio. Her research interests include civics education, environmental policy, and climate change in social studies education.

After teaching high school social studies for nearly a decade in the United States, Lori taught in Rio de Janeiro where she discovered the concept of sustainability and rekindled her passion for the environment. Brazils contrast of rich natural beauty and limited human development led her to undertake graduate studies at the University of Michigan where she earned an M.S. studying Brazilian water policy followed by a Ph.D. in Resource Policy and Behavior. Dr. Kumlers research in Brazil focused on the implementation of Brazils 1997 Water Law in the Paraiba do Sul Watershed. Returning to Brazil, she interviewed dozens of stakeholders, water managers, and water users as she traveled throughout the basin. Brazils water law has provided a unique opportunity for sustainable management of its water resources, where the new policy has led to significant investment in watershed recovery.

Bethany Vosburg-Bluem, PhD

At the time of this broadcast Bethany Vosburg-Bluem, PhD, was a social studies and teacher education professor at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Prior to being in higher education she taught secondary Social Studies for 14 years. She earned a B.S in Psychology, her Secondary Social Studies Certification and a M.Ed degree from Wright State University in Dayton, OH, then went on to explore her interest in the natural world by earning her PhD in Social Studies and Global Education from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. Her dissertation: Civic Sustainability Thinking: The Synergy between Social Studies and Educating for Sustainability focused on exploring what role social studies, with its expansive reach and interdisciplinary disposition, could play in addressing the increasingly complex and dynamic economic, environmental, political and social issues facing our world today and in the future. Her research and teaching interests have included the intersection of systems thinking, climate change and social studies education with an emphasis on the application of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Career, College and Civic (C3) Framework introduced by the National Council for the Social Studies. She has co-editing a multi-author NCSS Bulletin titled, Creating a Sustainable Future: What Role Can Social Studies Inquiry Play?

Resources
The peoples, lands, and resources of indigenous communities in the United States, including Alaska and the Pacific Rim, face an array of challenges, many of which are exacerbated by climate change impacts. As one of the most marginalized demographics, the consequences of observed and projected climate change are already having dramatic consequences and eroding Indigenous ways of life that have persisted for thousands of years. Both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Third National Climate Assessment acknowledge that the greatest opportunities for adapting to, and mitigating for, climate impacts must include indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

This presentation focuses on key findings from the Third National Climate Assessment with special emphasis from the Indigenous Peoples, Lands and Resources Chapter. It includes discussions on access to traditional food, decreases in water quality and quantity and sea ice, and relocation of Native communities brought on by changing climate conditions.

Dr. T. M. Bull Bennett (Mikmaq)

Dr. T. M. Bull Bennett (Mikmaq), was born in Brunswick, ME, and grew up in the mountains and prairies of Wyoming. He earned a BS in Biology from Black Hills State University, and completed his MS at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Bennett then went to work for the Tribal Colleges in South Dakota, before returning for PhD studies at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, earning his Doctorate in Atmosphere, Environment and Water Resources. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Bennett worked for the North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges, first as the Science Coordinator and then the President and CEO.

In 2008, Dr. Bennett was appointed by the Secretary of Interior as a charter member of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. In 2011 he was appointed to the National Climate Assessment (NCA) Development and Advisory Committee to lead the development of the Indigenous Land and Resources chapter of the Third National Climate Assessment released in May, 2014.

Scott Frazier, Crow / Santee

When I am asked to write a BIO, I am always challenged with my upbringing that it is not appropriate to beat your own drum. I was told once that when you are asking for a job, you should tell the employer how good you are at everything. I am a Crow Tribal member with many Santee relations and family. As a worker, I think I am just okay at some jobs and better at other jobs and terrible at the rest. When I finally write a BIO regarding some of the things I have done, I wonder who that person is because it could not be me.

I have been in love with nature from my beginning. As a Tribal person, I have participated in many of our Tribal ceremonies and tried to support Tribal sustainability all my life. I worked fighting fires as a young man, as an operator and pipefitter for Exxon in one of their refineries as a middle-aged man, and now I work to teach about helping the Earth.

I wish I could say I have never done a cruel thing but now, I am trying to work off that debt so I can end up in a good place.

My goal now is to inspire young people to become scientifically curious. They are our hope to resolve the challenges our planet will face after I am gone. Hopefully, to a better place.

Julie Koppel Maldonado

Julie Koppel Maldonado obtained her doctorate in Anthropology from American University in Washington, D.C. Her research focused on the experiences of environmental change and displacement in tribal communities in coastal Louisiana. She has consulted for the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank on post-disaster needs assessments, development-forced displacement and resettlement, and climate change. Julie was a lead author on the Third NCAs Indigenous Peoples, Land, and Resources Chapter, and co-organized Rising Voices II: Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability - Bringing Together Science and Indigenous Ways of Knowing to Create Positive Solutions. She was also the lead editor and organizer for the Special Issue of Climatic Change and book, "Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Impacts, Experiences and Actions."

Albert Abby Ybarra, Yaqui-Tohono O'Odham

Albert Abby Ybarra, Yaqui-Tohono O'Odham is an Environmental Education Consultant with Project Indigenous. A Native American owned and operated education group teaching cultural diversity from an Indigenous perspective. Abby was the Outreach Coordinator for the No Child Left Inside Coalition, and has served as the Environmental Education Specialist / Coordinator for the District of Columbia (D.C.) Department Public Works. Prior to his work in D.C. Abby was the Director of Secondary Education for TreePeople and Project Manager for their teen environmental education program. His career includes educational positions with County and State Agencies as well as many years of consulting work on government and private contracts.

In addition to his passion for environmental and conservation work, Abby was a television reporter for seven years and has more than 15 years of combined experience as a professional television producer, actor, and musician. He has won numerous awards for his creative work on public service announcements and documentaries, including an Emmy nomination for Nicaragua Under Siege for a CBS Affiliate in Sacramento CA.

At the time of this broadcast Abby was on the Board of Directors for Native Youth Alliance and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). Abby received their highest award, The Rosa Parks- F.Lee Boggs Award for Environmental Excellence.

Bob Gough (Lenape/Irish descent)

Bob Gough (Lenape/Irish descent) was an attorney with graduate degrees in sociology and cultural anthropology specializing in cultural ecology. He worked with American Indian Tribes on cultural and natural resource issues over the past 40 years, particularly in the Great Lakes and Great Plains regions. He maintained a private law practice on indigenous rights and conducted outreach activities to Native Alaskan and American Indian communities on behalf of the Federal Wind Powering America program.

Additional Resources

Climate change and indigenous peoples: a synthesis of current impacts and experiences

This 100+ page synthesis of literature brings together research pertaining to the impacts of climate change on sovereignty, culture, health, and economies that are currently being experienced by Alaska Native and American Indian tribes and other indigenous communities in the United States.
Well-Being: What Does It Have to Do With Safety?

Panelists explains how well-being and safety collide in a Plenary Session at Safety 2021 in Austin, Texas.

Understanding the the complete health and wellness of employees can help to support a more safe workplaceespecially in the midst of the on-going pandemic that has now stretched on beyond a year in a half.

According to a panel of safety experts at the American Society of Safety Professionals Professional Development Conference & Exposition, safety professionals should look to Total Worker Health strategies to reduce stress and improve safety, health and well-being at work.

The pandemic has made this so clear, said Dede Montgomery, MS, CIH, Senior Research Associate in Outreach and Education at Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences. We need to look at worker safety and health in a more holistic manner to ensure the safety of a workplace.

In addition to Montgomery the panel included Jack Dennerlein, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Ergonomics and Safety Department of Environmental Health at Harvard University, Leslie Hammer, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center at Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences and Sharon Kemerer, COHN-S, Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist and Certified in NIOSH Spirometry. The panel was moderated by immediate past ASSP President and President of SafeTech Consultants Deborah Roy.

The panelist first discussed the pandemic and the resulting emotional tole on workers. In the last year and a half, it has become increasingly clear that in order for employees to work safely, you have to consider all angles of workers health. This includes emotional and mental issues as well.

One way to approach this is to use Total Worker Health strategies. TWH, which is outlined on this NIOSH page, can help safety professionals engage with workers in a respectful way that increases safety and health in and out of the workplace.
Divisions are deepening between Democratic Senators over the $3.5 trillion economic recovery plan proposed by the Biden administration, in which an energy system overhaul features heavily.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, for one, earlier called for "a strategic pause" on discussions of the package after openly expressing skepticism about the price tag of the plan.

"I have always said if I can't explain it, I can't vote for it, and I can't explain why my Democratic colleagues are rushing to spend $3.5 trillion," Manchin wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.

Incidentally, as CNN notes, Manchin represents a coal-producing state. And just as openly as he is critical of the price of the Biden plan, Manchin has been against the shift to a 100-percent renewable grid.

But it's not only Manchin, the CNN report notes. The differences within the Democratic Party are running deeper and deeper along pro and anti-fossil fuel lines. Just as Sen. Manchin appears to be adamant that zero fossil fuels make no sense, there are senators at the opposite end of the spectrum who will not vote on the $3.5-trillion bill unless it makes climate change stipulations that satisfy them.

"Everyone gets a chance to kick the tires," Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said, as quoted by CNN, in response to Manchin's comments about a 100-percent renewable grid. "At the end of the day we are going to have a deal, and it is going to be good enough on climate or it won't go."

"The urgency of the crisis was made very clear this summer," Sen. Ed Markey from Massachusetts said. "We have to work hard to find a resolution of this issue. But I don't think we should finish the legislation until there is a clean energy standard."

Such differences appear irreconcilable, and the Democrats need total unity to get the monster recovery bill through budget reconciliation. Both sides would need to make concessions if this is to happen, but based on the above comments and others like them, the extent of these concessions may not be sufficient to ensure the success of the bill.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Tropical storm Nicholas, which was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane yesterday, made landfall in the early hours of Tuesday in the Matagorda Peninsula, threatening dangerous flooding in the U.S. oil heartland just days after another hurricane, Ida, shut down almost all offshore oil production and a lot of Gulf Coast refining capacity.

The progress of the hurricane pushed oil prices to the highest in six weeks on Monday, as more than 40 percent of U.S. offshore oil production, or close to 800,000 bpd, still remains shut down from Ida. The last hurricane at one point shut down as much as 95 percent of production.

The threat of more disruptions from extreme weather is also a cause of concern for producers and a reason for traders to add price premiums, Nishant Bhushan, Rystad Energys Oil Markets Analyst, told the Houston Chronicle. Nicholas could impact loadings at the ports and also refineries, and turn last weeks rising number of working rigs around again.

The National Hurricane Center warned of dangerous floods as Nicholas approaches land. The center reported that various warnings have been issued for several regions along the Texas Gulf Coast, including Sabine Passhome of the largest LNG export facility in the country.

On the forecast track, the center of Nicholas is expected to make landfall along the Texas coast in a few hours [on Wednesday], move over extreme southeastern Texas on Tuesday and early Wednesday, and over southwestern Louisiana later on Wednesday.

The hurricane is currently moving at maximum sustained winds of 74 mph with higher gusts, the NHC also said. These speeds are unlikely to change before Nicholas makes landfall.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said states of emergency will be declared for 17 counties and three cities in anticipation of Nicholas landfall, which is more likely than not to push oil prices further up.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Two recent reports warned that oil and gas production needs to be significantly reduced if the world is to meet the Paris Agreement goals and curb the effects of climate change. They add to a growing body of research calling on Big Oil to stop pumping. But Big Oil seems to be doing the opposite.

At the beginning of September, Italy's Enione of the most ambitious oil majors when it comes to emission reduction commitmentsannounced a new oil discovery offshore Ivory Coast. The company estimated the potential reserves of the new discovery at between .5 billion and 2 billion barrels of crude and 1.8-2.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Last week, Exxon reported yet another discovery off the coast of Guyana - its twentieth in the Stabroek block. It adds to reserves already estimated at 9 billion barrels of crude, which the Guyanese government plans to exploit to the best of its abilities.

Meanwhile, a report from University College London has warned that the oil industry must start cutting production at a rate of 3 percent annually by 2050 to meet the 1.5-degree Celsius target of the Paris Agreement, which is the more ambitious scenario of the agreement. This, according to the researchers led by environmental and energy economist Dan Welsby, means some 60 percent of global oil reserves, along with 90 percent of coal reserves, need to remain in the ground.

Another report, by Carbon Tracker, calls on oil companies to plan for a future where demand will be much lower. So much lower, in fact, that they needed to plan for 50-percent lower output over the next decade or so if they really want to take part in efforts to curb the rise of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

"Oil and gas companies are betting against the success of global efforts to tackle climate change," one of the authors of the report, Carbon Tracker's head of oil, gas, and mining, Mike Coffin, said. He couldn't have put it better, and while it is not news that the interests of the oil and gas industry are at odds with a lot of climate change efforts, there is more than one reason for this. Related: The Top Two Commodities To Watch In The Short Term

Consider another recent news report. Canada's Enbridge paid $3 billion for Moda Midstream Operating, a company that owns the biggest oil export terminal in the United States, the Ingleside Energy Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, to be renamed Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC).

"EIEC's highly advantaged outer harbor location, with direct connection to low-cost, long-lived supply, combined with VLCC capability and rapid loading rates, position it as one of the most competitive export facilities globally," Enbridge said.

The deal comes at a time when the United States is making a mad rush for climate change legislation to catch up with Europe, and this rush is largely unfavorable for the oil industry. And yet, Enbridge is betting big on the continued demand for U.S. oil globally.

The reason: oil demand outlook.

Oil demand, which stunned the energy world last year, sending Big Oil reeling and many small companies sinking, is back with a vengeance, exceeding all expectations, some of which predicted that the shift to renewables would kill oil demand growth pretty soon. It now appears these predictions were premature.

It is because of this demand outlook that Big Oil is risking, as the Carbon Trackers report notes, up to a trillion dollars worth of oil and gas projects that will not be competitive in a low-carbon world. Because this low-carbon world is quite uncertain, even with all the legislation and the support of asset managers with trillions of dollars in assets.

Last week, record-high gas prices and low wind speeds, which together served as an unpleasant surprise for the UK grid, forced National Grid ESO to fire up a coal plant. The portion of energy the plant supplied was minuscule, at 3 percent, but the fact remains that one of the most ambitious emission cutters in the world was forced to resort to dirty coal because less dirty gas was too expensive, and green wind fell too short because of the weather. Related: Iraq Secures New Investments In Its Booming Oil Industry

Meanwhile, the same record-high gas prices and low wind speeds are causing protests in parts of Europe as electricity bills swell. With gas, it's about a shortage that was the result of a rare combination of events, including a prolonged winter and a strong rebound in economic activity in Asia, which has been gobbling up more LNG cargos. With wind, it's the weather. It may well be the case that Big Oil continues with its business as usual in anticipation of more such discrepancies between energy demand and supply.

French TotalEnergies, the latest oil major to rebrand itself away from its core business, earlier this month announced a $27-billion investment in Iraq over the next 15 years. The money will go towards boosting the rate of oil recovery at several southern fields, reducing gas flaring to use the gas for local power generation, and building a solar farm. Some might call this greenwashing. Others would call it hard cold reality, where people need energy, and getting it on a consistent, reliable basis trumps its emission footprint.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Just as the Gulf Coast begins to recover from the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida, tropical storm Nicholas has now made landfall and is pushing oil prices higher on fears of more outages.

Chart of the Week

Creating an all-time high for the umpteenth time this year, Europes main gas benchmark, the Dutch TTF front-month, has surpassed the 60 per MWh threshold and is bound to increase even further.

News that the commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (which Russias gas giant Gazprom is presenting as the main solution to Europes gas tightness) might take an additional 4-8 months to happen further boosted Europes supply shortness.

With spot LNG prices already above $20 per mmBtu and wind generation lower than expected, European utilities have to calibrate their purchases as they head into the winter season.

The combination of high demand and low supply is poised to maintain prices under pressure, with only two realistic means to bring them lower: more oil-pegged LNG coming in (unlikely as Asia wields higher profits) or Gazprom booking higher throughput capacities via Ukraine (also unlikely).

Energy Market Movers

Colombias national oil company Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) reported two attacks at its La Cora Infantas field, with media reports suggesting bombs were planted to damage key bits of infrastructure. Ecopetrol stock fell 3% day-on-day on Tuesday.

reported two attacks at its La Cora Infantas field, with media reports suggesting bombs were planted to damage key bits of infrastructure. Ecopetrol stock fell 3% day-on-day on Tuesday. US oil firm Chevron (NYSE:CVX) pledged to invest $10 billion in low-carbon projects through 2028, growing renewables fuels production to 100,000 b/d, and producing 150,000 tons per year of green hydrogen.

pledged to invest $10 billion in low-carbon projects through 2028, growing renewables fuels production to 100,000 b/d, and producing 150,000 tons per year of green hydrogen. UK major BP (NYSE:BP) experienced unexpected internal turmoil after the head of its renewables-focused business Dev Sanyal departed from the company to become chief executive of Varo Energy.

Oil Prices Today, Tuesday, September 14, 2021

With almost half of US Gulf of Mexico offshore production still offline following the damages brought about by Hurricane Ida, tropical storm Nicholas is now wreaking havoc across the Gulf Coast, bringing back the threat of power outages and widespread flooding. The downside risks to US crude production have pushed crude prices up, with the past three trading sessions seeing consecutive increases.

Tropical Storm Nicholas Hinders Ida Recovery.

With 40% of production still offline in the Gulf of Mexico, US oil producers are preparing for another blow as Tropical Storm Nicholas makes landfall close to Texas. Among others, Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) evacuated its Perdido platform which was unaffected by Ida.

China to Release First Batch of SPRs on Sept 24.

Continuing their struggle to bring down commodity prices, Chinese authorities have earmarked the first SPR crude auction for September 24. A total of 7.4 million barrels will be available with conditions largely favoring state companies Sinopec (SHA:600028) and Petrochina (SHA:601857).

Spain Caps Gas Prices as They Spiral out of Control.

The Spanish government has pledged to cap gas prices and take away extraordinary profits that energy companies would be making to bring down electricity prices, as Spain saw its spot electricity prices soar to 154 per MWh this Monday.

Japanese Companies out of UK North Sea.

Japans Marubeni (TYO:8002) will sell its oil and gas assets in the North Sea for $1 billion to Ithaca Energy, a UK-based subsidiary of Delek Energy (TLV:DLEKG), in a first move that might trigger other equity holders such as JX Nippon leave the maturing basin. Related: Record-Breaking Energy Prices Could Soar Even Higher In Europe

Phillips 66 Might not Rebuild Louisiana Refinery.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) might not rebuild its Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, inundated and damaged by Hurricane Ida, a potential decision that comes only several days after media rumors surfaced that the US refiner is seeking a buyer for the refinery.

Aluminum Prices Rise to 13-Year Highs.

Continuing their bullish run on the back of China cutting back aluminum production and global inventories continuing their downward slide, LME aluminum futures surged past the 3,000 per metric ton mark for the first time since 2008.

PDVSA Offers New Grades as Merey Stream Wanes.

Venezuelas state oil company PDVSA will start offering its customers upgraded heavy grades like Morichal, Zuata Sweet, and Hamaca Special Blend from October, as gradually declining production rates and dearth of light grades to be used as dilutive render the future of its main crude stream Merey hazy.

Valero and Unipec are the Largest Buyers of US SPRs.

US refiner Valero (NYSE:VLO) and Chinese trading firm Unipec landed the highest allotments in the latest auction of US strategic crude stocks, buying 6 and 4 million barrels, respectively, to be delivered between 01 October and 15 December.

Citgo Deadline Extended into 2022.

The US Treasury extended its protection of Venezuelan-owned US refiner Citgo Petroleum from possible seizure by creditors until January 2022. PDVSA, the previous owner of Citgo, put up 50.1% of the company in collateral to its 8.5% interest bonds maturing in 2020 and failed to make timely payments since 2019.

Chiles Indigenous Place Wants National Lithium Firm Shut Down.

Communities of indigenous people living around Chiles largest lithium deposits in the Atacama salt flats have filed a complaint to the countrys regulators, asking for SQMs (NYSE:SQM)operating permits to be suspended until the firm submits an acceptable environmental compliance plan.

Chinese Coking Coal Prices Plunge.

Coking coal futures in China plummeted this week as market participants fear the government would ramp up regulatory oversight as it seeks to depress commodity prices, with the Dalian January 22 price falling more than 5% on Tuesday, to $420 per tonne.

Libyan Export Terminals Blocked Again.

Following last weeks wave of protests in several key Libyan ports which eventually abated to allow all anchored vessels to load and depart, this week saw a resurgence in riots in Es Sider and Ras Lanuf as pressure mounts on the head of Libyas NOC to resign.

NGOs Pressure Bank of China to Give Up Coal.

A group of 35 non-governmental organizations has called on the Bank of China, globally the largest investor in coal that invested more than $35 billion in coal plants since 2015 alone, to stop financing new coal projects.

By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com

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The COVID pandemic has wreaked considerable damage on the economies of South Americas smaller fiscally fragile countries, with the former Dutch colony of Suriname hit especially hard.



During 2020 the impoverished South American nations gross domestic product shrank by 13.5%, the continents worst performance after Venezuela. A deeply impoverished Suriname now finds itself mired in a severe economic crisis that is threatening an already fragile state that only emerged from an intense political impasse during July 2020.



The depth of Surinames economic problem is reflected by the former Dutch colony defaulting on scheduled debt service payments for $675 million of sovereign debt during 2020. Since then, Paramaribo has been negotiating with creditors to cure the default. That resulted in international credit agencies Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings downgrading Surinames credit rating.



President Chan Santokhi, who won the tiny South American countrys top office in the July 2020 election, is battling to resurrect a flailing economy and cast off the corruption as well as the malfeasance of the Bouterse administration. Like in neighboring Guyana, Santokhis government plans to exploit what appears to be Surinames considerable offshore petroleum wealth to revitalize the economy, bolster government finances and return the former Dutch colony to growth.

Despite Suriname only possessing oil reserves of 89 million barrels, the tiny South American nation possesses enormous oil potential. The impoverished country shares the Guyana Suriname Basin, which the U.S. Geological Survey estimates contains up to 35.6 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources. Already, neighboring Guyana is experiencing a massive oil boom that saw its GDP expand by an exceptional 43% during 2020.

Video: Winter Could Send Oil To $100

Exxons slew of quality oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, with the latest at the Pinktail well, point to even greater petroleum potential. Exxon along with partner Malaysian national oil company Petronas, which is the operator, found the presence of hydrocarbons at the 15,682-foot Sloanea-1 exploration well in offshore Suriname Block 52. The 1.6-million-acre Block 52 and neighboring 1.4-million-acre Block 58 are believed to lie on the same hydrocarbon fairway as the prolific Stabroek Block.

That proposition is supported by the five quality oil discoveries made by Apache and TotalEnergies, the operator, in Block 58 where they both hold a 50% interest.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley in 2020 announced that it had modeled the oil potential for Block 58 and determined that it could contain oil resources of up to 6.5 billion barrels.

Industry consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that the five discoveries made in offshore Suriname up until the end of June 2021 hold recoverable oil resources of up to 1.9 billion barrels of crude oil.



At the June 2021 Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit Apaches Vice President Global Geoscience and Portfolio Management Eric Vosburgh stated; What I would say is that the ultimate scale of the resource and production potential is big. I think I need a word bigger than big, but its big. Apache and partner TotalEnergies are committed to developing Block 58. At the start of 2021, Apache announced that most of its annual $200 million exploration budget will be directed toward drilling in Suriname. TotalEnergies set a 2021 exploration budget allocated $800 million with the energy supermajor devoting a third of its exploration appraisal activities to Block 58.



While plans to develop the block have yet to be released TotalEnergies and Apache are expected to make their final investment decision during mid-2022 and work toward first oil by 2025. Surinames national oil company and industry regulator Staatsolie has the right to farm into Block 58 and take up to a 20% stake, which would see it liable for $1 billion to $1.5 billion in development costs. Paramaribo is also focused on attracting further energy investment in Suriname recently awarding three shallow-water blocks to foreign energy supermajors. TotalEnergies and partner Qatar Petroleum won Blocks 6 and 8, which are adjacent to Block 58, and Chevron was awarded Block 5. That region is underexplored and thought to possess considerable petroleum potential.

The medium and light crude oil found in Block 58 has similar characteristics to the Liza grade crude oil being pumped from the neighboring Stabroek Block. When that is combined with a low estimated breakeven price of around $40 per barrel Brent it is easy to see why offshore Suriname is especially attractive for international energy companies.



As further petroleum discoveries are made, oilfields developed and infrastructure built the breakeven price for offshore Suriname will fall to under $40 per barrel, making the region competitive with neighboring offshore Guyana and Brazil.

The downgrades to Surinames credit rating will make it difficult for Paramaribo to raise urgently needed capital including that required by Staatsolie to exercise its farm in option for Block 58.

Related: Oil Jumps To Six-Week High On Brighter Demand Outlook

International ratings agency Fitch in April 2021 announced it had downgraded Suriname to restricted default (RD) after the government failed to make $49.8 billion of payments on its 2023 and 2026 notes. That event according to the ratings agency was Surinames third default since the pandemic began in March 2020.



Those events highlight why Paramaribo must resolve the negotiations with creditors and the potential for a sovereign debt default if it is to build further momentum for the exploitation of Surinames vast offshore petroleum resources.



The current economic crisis coupled with the economy shrinking by nearly 14% last year emphasizes why Paramaribo must attract further investment from foreign energy companies so it can experience a massive economic boom like the one underway in neighboring Guyana. It is French oil supermajor TotalEnergies which is positioned to become a leading player in Surinames emerging offshore oil boom.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Californias Kern County sued Governor Gavin Newsom for violating the California Constitution and disregarding multiple State laws with legislation and proposed legislation to restrict oil production and ban fracking in the state.

Nearly two-thirds of what California doesnt import comes from Kern Countys 76 active oilfields  a fact that also makes the County the seventh highest oil producing region in the United States, the county said in a press release this week.

California imports around 70 percent of the oil its economy continues to need, Kern County says, noting that unlike oil imported from producers such as Iraq or Saudi Arabia, the oil produced in the county is subject to the highest possible environmental and worker protection safeguards.

In addition, Kern County oil producers pay every year more than $1.3 billion in wages to thousands of workers who, on average, earn double the Countys average wage, pay over $197 million in taxes and contribute around $9.1 billion to the Countys total economic output.

Earlier this year, Governor Newsom directed CalGEM to initiate regulatory action to end the issuance of new fracking permits by January 2024.

As we move to swiftly decarbonize our transportation sector and create a healthier future for our children, Ive made it clear I dont see a role for fracking in that future and, similarly, believe that California needs to move beyond oil, Governor Newsom said in April.

In its statement announcing the lawsuit, Kern County says:

Heedless of the law and unfaithful to the California Constitution he swore to uphold, contrary to the needs of thousands of workers, families, schools and other governmental services dependent on Kern Countys oil and gas industry, and contrary to the forecasted harm to our States air quality, increased pollution, increased sea, rail and ground traffic, harm to consumers and disproportionate harm on minority and low-income populations, Governor Newsom has declared himself above the law.

The Countys lawsuit asks the Court to stop this power grab and return control to Californias elected Legislature, it added.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Refiners and analysts expect China to issue soon a new batch of crude oil import quotas for independent refiners, which is boosting the spot prices of the most popular grades with the teapots and could raise overall Chinese imports through the end of the year.

Russias ESPO crude variety, a staple with the independent refiners in China, has seen its price on the spot market rise by $1 a barrel compared to August, trading sources told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Spot differentials for Brazils Tupi and Iracema grades have also increased in the past weeks, the traders added.

The spot prices of the grades popular with the independent Chinese refiners have increased as speculation intensified that the worlds top crude oil importer is preparing to imminently issue a new batch of oil import quotas for those refiners.

Teapots, as independent refiners are commonly known, need government-authorized volumes to import crude, unlike the giant state-held refiners.

Independent refiners, which account for around a fifth of Chinas crude oil imports, have slowed down purchases in recent months, as quotas were lowered in the latest batch, refiners went into scheduled maintenance, and the government increased its scrutiny over their business practices.

Amid an oversupply of refined products and low refining margins, Chinas government launched earlier this year a crackdown on the trade and business practices at its independent refiners. China has been increasing the oversight on the refining industry in order to crack down on the illicit fuel trade, close loopholes that some companies have been using to avoid paying fuel consumption taxes, and curb the fuel oversupply, part of which is the result of tax avoidance or tax evasion.

Analysts now expect a fourth batch of import quotas to be issued as early as this month or next, which would push up purchases from teapots.

Chinese refiners are once again boosting their purchases after several months of slowdowns in spot market, while Chinas oil imports rebounded in August, rising by 8 percent compared to July.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Energy prices in Europe have hit records due to a shortage of natural gas and much lower than expected wind power output, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Some countries have even been forced to restart coal power plants to ensure enough electricity reaches consumers.

The UK is suffering the most from the drop in wind power output, caused by mild weather. The country, which prides itself on its wind capacity and whose Prime Minister last year said wind farms could power every home by 2030, produced less than 1 GW of wind power on several days. This compares with a generation capacity of 24 GW, according to ICIS senior energy economist Stefan Konstantinov.

Gas prices, meanwhile, are running at record highs because of the asynchrony in demandspurred by the reopening of EU economies after lockdownsand supply, which has been constrained because the EU is not the only region where economies are reopening after lockdowns.

Insider reported that wholesale gas prices in Europe had surged by as much as 450 percent over the past year, causing electricity prices in Germany and France to hit records, too.

It took a lot of people by surprise, ICIS Konstantinov told the Wall Street Journal about the gas crunch. If this were to happen in winter when weve got significantly higher demand, then that presents a real issue for system stability.

Unfortunately, it could still happen in the winter, depending on whether it turns out to be mild or not.

People are starting to throw the crisis word around when it comes to Europe, John Kilduff from Again Capital told CNBC. Europe is squarely behind the eight ball going into the winter season. Its going to put the focus on this commodity thats been overlooked for the last several years.

Gas reserves in Europe are 7.6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year. And there is little hope they will be replenished in time for the start of winter. On the other hand, as summer releases its grip on wind power, output from the North Sea should increase, alleviating some of the shortage.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Hurricane Ida, which stormed through Louisiana at the end of August, has led to oil supply losses of 30 million barrels so far, driving the first decline in global oil supply in five months and pushing global inventories sharply down, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.

Initially, Hurricane Ida shut in as much as 1.74 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production, or 95.65 percent of the total crude pumped in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. On the day when the hurricane made landfall, a total of 288 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated. This was more than half of the manned platforms in the Gulf.

Due to the storm's severity and the damage identified at some offshore platforms and facilities, crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been slow to restart.

Two weeks after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on August 29, a total of 43.60 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production, or 793,522 bpd, was still shut in as of September 13, according to data from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

"Unexpected outages during August forced a decline in supply for the first time in five months and extended the sharp drawdown in global oil stocks. The most severe by far was Hurricane Ida, which wreaked havoc on the key US Gulf Coast oil producing region at the end of August, knocking 1.7 mb/d offline," the IEA said in its Oil Market Report for September published today.

The impact of Hurricane Ida "is still causing problems for US and global markets," said the agency.

"Offshore installations and refineries have been slow to restart due to the severity of the storm, forcing massive stock draws of both crude and products in key markets. The biggest impact on supply will be seen in September, with total supply losses estimated at around 30 mb," the IEA noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Germanys federal networks regulator BNA said on Monday it would decide no later than January 8, 2022 whether it will certify Nord Stream 2 and issue an operating license for the natural gas pipeline.

The Federal Network Agency of Germany announced today that Nord Stream 2 AG has submitted all the documents required for verification by the agency. Thus, the Federal Network Agency has four months to prepare a draft decision and submit it to the European Commission, the regulator, Bundesnetzagentur, told Russian news outlet Sputnik on Monday.

The documents were received on September 8, so the four-month deadline expires on January 8.

Last Friday, Gazprom said it had completed the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, although gas flows on the controversial Russia-led pipeline cannot begin until Germany grants an operating license to the project.

Earlier last week, Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany was set to be completed within days and come on stream.

But in order to begin shipping gas to Germany, Nord Stream 2 will need the go-ahead from the German regulator via an operational license.

Last month, a German court ruled that Nord Stream 2 will have to obey European Union regulations that separate owners of the pipelines from suppliers of gas, dealing a blow to Gazprom, who sought to have EU rules waived for the controversial pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the company behind the pipeline, said on Friday that after the mechanical completion of the construction, the required pre-commissioning activities will be carried out with the goal to put the pipeline into operation before the end of this year.

Gazprom hopes to start gas flows via the first leg of the pipeline as early as October 1, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing sources with direct knowledge of the Russian gas giants plans.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia presenting the overall Best General Construction Company for the year 2020/2021 award to Frank Lartey whiles his Wife Naa Torshie looks on.



The Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry has adjudged Core Construction Limited as the overall best general construction company of the year, 2020/2021.



Established in 1995 as the wholly Ghanaian-owned limited liability construction company, Core has lived up to its vision of becoming the fastest growing and preferred hub for construction works in Ghana and Africa at large.



Core Construction Limited edged out other top industry giants to win the award in the keenly contested category at the maiden Ghana Construction Industry Excellence Awards 2021 in Accra on Friday.



The citation accompanying the award reads: Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry has not lost sight of the fact that the Core Construction Limited has over the years maintained its market premium with the modern state of the art construction equipments such as the biggest ever bitumen processing plants in Ghana and across the sub-region, asphalt processing plants, quarry processing plants among others.



It added: evidently, the ability of the company to produce such high-level quality equipments coupled with the excellent construction capabilities has contributed significantly to Ghanas infrastructural development.



As a result, the citation further stated: Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry is proud of having the Core Construction Company and in particular, its owner as an inspiration to young and upcoming Contractors in Ghana and Africa.



In recognition of your outstanding performance in the Construction Industry in the country, the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry and its partners congratulate you on being accorded the overall Best General Construction Company for the year 2020/2021 Award.



The Managing Director and Founder of the company Frank Lartey dedicated the award to all who have played a part in the companys success.



He said, I extend my gratitude to everyone who has played a part to recognize our efforts, I am grateful that our efforts have been recognized and rewarded



With its conglomerate companies such as Platinum Seal Limited, Platinum Quarries Limited and many others, the company has manifested its belief in innovations and specializations by designing product-specific plants and equipment to propel its work activities in the construction industry.



Aside from this, the company has on its own facilitated the studies and capacity building programs for numerous Ghanaian engineers both within and outside the shores of Africa in our road agencies in order to be equipped with modern asphalt technologies to help improve our road infrastructure networks in Ghana.







Source: Mypublisher24.com









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The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour as of Monday September 13, 2021 toured 10 WASSCE centers during the ongoing 2021 WASSCE.



Scheduled to tour some centers in Eastern, Greater Accra and Central Regions, the schools toured so far include O'Reilly SHS, Tema SHS, Achimota School, Okuapeman SHS, Mount Sinai SHS and Akropong School for the Deaf.

The rest are Mampong PRESEC, Methodist Girls SHS - Mamfe, and Aburi Girls SHS.



The Deputy Minister, on his tour of the centers, inspected exam centers, addressed students, inspected ongoing infrastructure projects, visited dining hall and some food stores and interacted with Heads of schools and staff.



He remarked during the tour that "WASSCE is taking place smoothly at all centers with no incidents nor violations. It's gratifying to note also that all the schools visited have adequate stock of food items. My interactions with students and Heads of Schools afforded me a deeper appreciation of ongoing infrastructure projects and their dedication to improve on outcomes".



"I cherished in particular, my visit to candidates with hearing and visual impairment. Indeed Ghanaian students are better positioned for a brighter future with the worthy investment put into the flagship Free SHS policy", he added.



The Deputy Minister's monitoring schedule continues to other Central Region and of course, in Assin, his beloved home.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the only thing Ghanaians have not made part and parcel of their lives, since the coming into force of the 4th Republican dispensation, is to make taxes regular, predictable parts of their lives.



According to President Akufo-Addo, our tax-to-GDP ratio of 14.3% compares unfavourably with our peers the world over. The average tax-to-GDP ratio in West Africa stands at 18%, and, indeed, the recommended ratio for ECOWAS Member States is at least 20%. The average for OECD countries is 34%.



It is no wonder, the President indicated, that American, German, French, Japanese and British peoples, amongst others, can readily find the means to fund their own development, particularly their infrastructural development, whereas we are constantly struggling to do the same.



There is, therefore, an urgent need to enhance significantly our domestic revenue mobilisation capability to realise our development potential, create opportunities for our vibrant and dynamic youth, and deliver improved livelihoods for our fellow citizens, he added.



President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday, [September 13, 2021], in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, when he delivered the keynote address at the 2021 Bar Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).



Addressing the gathering, the President noted that the necessity for increased mobilization of resources for national development is crucial, especially as there are critical needs in all sectors in all parts of the country.



Not too far from where we are gathered, torrential rains have caused havoc and washed away bridges and roads. Farms have been destroyed and investments have disappeared under floodwaters. These are just new additions to an already difficult situation of a long list of infrastructural deficits that require a lot of money for their elimination, he said.



The President continued, COVID-19 has brought extra devastation to our fragile economies, and we have not seen the end of it to be able to say we can start counting our losses. The only certainty we do have is that we need a lot of resources to engender the rebuilding of the economy. Hence, the exceptional significance of Governments Ghana CARES Obaatampa Programme, which is seeking to raise GH100 billion from both public and private sectors to finance the revitalization of our post-COVID economy.



He was, thus, glad that the Ghana Bar Association has decided to enlist the undoubted strength of lawyers to help in the mobilization of resources through taxation, adding that we have work to do to convince the people of Ghana that, if we are to get the developments that we all crave, then paying taxes must become a regular and unquestioning feature of our lives.



With the theme of the Conference being Ensuring an Increase in Revenue Mobilization through Taxation for the Purpose of Accelerated National Development, President Akufo-Addo urged the outgoing President of the Bar, Anthony Forson Jnr, to start from getting members of the Bar to pay their taxes.



The record of lawyers in paying taxes has been historically poor. It is unfortunate, but a most unpleasant fact, that members of the professions in our country have not been known to set a good example when it comes to paying taxes. They appear to think that being members of the learned professions put them above complying with everyday civic duties, like paying taxes. It is embarrassing that lawyers are often at the top of the list of those who flout our tax laws, and use their expertise to avoid paying taxes, he stressed.



Following the recent expose by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to the effect that some sixty thousand (60,000) professionals working in the country, including lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers, surveyors, architects, do not pay taxes, the President was hopeful that persons evading taxes move swiftly to regularise their tax affairs before the GRA moves to crack the whip.







Source: graphic.com.gh









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Journalists assigned to cover Rev Isaac Owusu Bempahs case at the Accra Circuit Court on Monday morning were ejected by some police personnel when the pastor, who has been charged for threatening to kill Patricia Oduro Koranteng, aka Nana Agradaa arrived at the court.



Several other journalists who followed Rev. Owusu Bempah to the court were denied entry even after showing the policemen their ID cards bearing their names and the media house they worked with.



Graphic Onlines Justice Agbenorsi, who was seated at the Accra Circuit Court 3 at the time the accused persons arrived, was thrown out together with another journalist from Starr FM, Murtala Inusah before the case was subsequently transferred to the Accra Circuit Court One.



They are both reporters, sack all of them, one of the plain clothed policemen instructed the heavily armed policemen who escorted the accused persons to court.



No specific reason was given to the journalists.



After the proceedings, journalists who were taking footage of the accused persons were also threatened by sympathisers and members of the Glorious Word and Power Ministries where Rev Owusu Bempah is the head pastor.



While some sympathisers poured water on the journalists, others smashed the camera and mobile phones of journalists taking videos of the accused persons.





The Accra Circuit Court on Monday refused bail to Rev Isaac Owusu Bempah, and five members of his church who have been charged with threatening to kill Patricia Oduro Koranteng aka Nana Agradaa.



The court, presided by Ms Afia Owusu Appiah, accordingly remanded the five accused persons into police custody to reappear in September 20, this year.



According to the court, the police only arrested the accused persons Sunday and therefore it would be prudent to remand them to allow the police more time for investigations.



The five accused persons had earlier pleaded not guilty to offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace , threat of death and assault of of public officers.



Threat of death



Prosecutors have accused Rev Owusu Bempah of storming the house of Nana Agradaa with over 40 macho men amidst threats to beat and kill her.



The prosecution said Nana Agradaa reported the matter to the police, and the police invited Rev Owusu Bempah, but he refused the invitation.



According to the prosecution, the police then proceeded to the church premises of Rev Owusu Bempah to effect his arrest, but his church members assaulted the police officers.







Source: graphiconline.com









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An Accra Circuit court has remanded to police custody, the 35-year-old taxi driver, who allegedly claimed on Onua TV that he had killed several persons, including a pregnant woman for ritual purposes.

The accused, Felix Ansah, who appeared before the court, presided over by Ms Rosemond Baah Tosu, pleaded not guilty to the charge of publication of false news.



However, Ansahs counsel, Mr Theophilus Donkor, in his application for bail, told the court that his client was speaking in a spiritual realm adding: If anything at all, it is Onua TV that made the publication and not the accused person.



The prosecution, represented by Chief Inspector Godfred Asideu Bampoe, who held the brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sylvester Asare, opposed the bail application, urging the court to remand the accused person to enable the police complete its investigation.



The presiding judge, remanded the accused person to re-appear on September 16, this year.



Facts



The facts, as presented by the Chief Inspector Bampoe, were that on September, 2021, the attention of Police was drawn to a statement made or published on the "Maakye show on Onua Televisan station by the accused to the effect that he buried alive a pregnant woman at Ashaiman.



Upon the receipt of this information, the prosecutor said the Police launched investigation into the matter which led to the arrest of the accused.



Preliminary investigation revealed that accused is a taxi driver and resides at Wejia, Accra.



The prosecutor said it was also established during investigation that on September 2, 2021 at Onua TV's morning show "Maakye with the host Captain Smart, the accused in a response to a question from the host stated that he (accused) had killed several persons in the past.



Additionally, the accused person also stated that he buried a pregnant woman alive at Ashiaman to perform sacrifice for Alfred Agbesi, the former MP for Ashaiman, Chief Inspector Bampoe told the court.



However, the prosecutor said the police was yet to extend investigation to locate the scene of the alleged buried and other persons mentioned by the accused person.





Source: graphiconline.com









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Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has condemned the molestation of Journalists during the prosecution of renowned Preacher, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah.



Journalists assigned to cover the Head Pastor of the Glorious Word Power Ministries, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempahs case at the Accra Circuit Court on Monday, September 13, 2021 were reportedly assaulted and ejected by some police personnel and church members from the court.



Rev. Owusu Bempah is in Police custody after being arrested together with two other people charged for threatening to kill popular fetish priestess now turned Evangelist, Patricia Oduro Koranteng, a.k.a Nana Agradaa.



They were picked up from the church premises and arraigned before court yesterday but several journalists who went to the court were denied entry even after showing the Police officers their ID cards bearing their names and media house.



Speaking on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' Tuesday morning, Kwesi Pratt slammed the Police for disallowing the media practitioners from entering the courtroom and also leaving them to be manhandled by the members of the Pastor's church.



He couldn't wrap his head around the mistreatment of the journalists, therefore asking ''was it the journalists who were prosecuting the man?''



"The Police are prosecuting the man but you gang up with his bodyguards against Journalists like it's the Journalists who have committed the wrongdoing . . . I have no right to whatsoever to pronounce judgement in this case or to make prejudicial statements in this case. I have no right. Who am I? But the work of the Journalist is very important; but for the Journalist, nobody would have known anything has happened," he emphasized.



Mr. Pratt urged the Police to protect Journalists just as they are mandated to do for every citizen.



"We're entitled to a certain normal protection every citizen is entitled to," he stressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Students of the University of Cape Coast, with the business idea of developing an insect farm that will breed the black soldier fly for farmers who are engaged in livestock production, won the Second Edition of "Africa's Biggest Idea Challenge" held at the University of Cape Coast on Friday 10th September 2021.



Students presented a variety of interesting business proposals in areas such as ICT, packaging, fashion, food and beverages, agriculture and events planning.



Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Joe Ghartey, the Special Guest of Honour, applauded all the contestants and said they were all winners. He recounted his days as a student entrepreneur and told the gathering that he is still an entrepreneur.



He noted that Government had several initiatives for the private sector and he hoped the private sector would take advantage of the initiatives. Hon Ghartey states that in his view, the answer for the creation of employment for the teeming unemployed youth was in the private sector and not the public sector.



He wished all participants well and said he was so impressed by the program that he was offering to sponsor the next event in 2022. Joe Ghartey surprised the best female entrepreneur with an unexpected monetary award.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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The National Road Safety Authority has exercised its enforcement mandate and directed six Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to cease any acts or omissions that directly or indirectly permit the unlawful use of tricycles for fare-paying passenger services.



The Authority has, following that, threatened it would not hesitate to seek an enforcement order if they fail to carry out the required remedy within a month of the directive.



According to the Authority, Regulation 128 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I.2180) prohibits tricycles for fare-paying passengers.



Despite the unambiguous position of Regulation 128, there is evidence to confirm that the MMDAs herein are acting contrary to the law by permitting the use of tricycles for fare-paying passenger services by issuing stickers at a fee or approving terminals for the purpose.



The Authority considers this action by the Assemblies as a threat to road safety. It explains that the make and construction of tricycles do not meet the specifications for passenger-carrying vehicles as provided by Regulation 127 of L.I. 2180.



In a letter signed by the Director-General of the Authority, Ing. (Mrs.) May Obiri-Yeboah, and copied to some six Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, the Authority argues that the bodywork and construction of tricycles make them unsafe or unsuitable for the conveyance of passengers.



The tricycle has open sides and is without seatbelts for both the driver and passengers.



The recipients are New Juaben Municipal Assembly, Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly and Berekum Municipal Assembly.



The rest are Tafo Municipal Assembly, Bongo Municipal Assembly and Bawku Municipal Assembly.



According to the Authority, it is vested with the public duty to reduce road traffic crashes and casualties by issuing compliance notices or directives, where it appears to the Authority that an undertaking within the road environment constitutes a road safety threat.



The emergence and use of motorcycles and tricycles appear to threaten the considerable gains made in improving the national road safety situation.



Motorcycle and Tricycle-related deaths and injuries have increased by 87% over the last five years, it reveals.









Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Ghana Police Service has apologized to journalists after some were mistreated during the prosecution of the Head Pastor of Glorious Word Power Ministries, Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah.



Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah and two other people from his church were arrested for issuing death threats at fetish priestess turned Evangelist, Patricia Oduro Koranteng, popularly called Nana Agradaa.



They were said to have brandished guns in videos and circulated them on social media.



The Pastor and the two suspects were arraigned before Accra Circuit Court on Monday, September 13, 2021 but the journalists assigned to cover the court case were assaulted and refused entry into the courtroom.



In a statement signed by Acting Director-General of Public Affairs of the Police Service, ACP Kwesi Ofori and read on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', the Police said; ''A team is currently studying the footage of the alleged assault of some of the journalists to identify the alleged perpetrators for immediate prosecution.''



''We apologize unreservedly for this inconvenience and wish to give the assurance that journalist will be fully protected and allowed to do their work at all times including subsequent coverage of this case'', the Police assured.





Full statement

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Emirates, the Premier Partner and Official Airline of Expo 2020 Dubai has launched its latest initiative under a global campaign to promote destination Dubai to people from all walks of life this winter season.



The airlines Early Bird Expo 2020 Dubai deal, launched this week across its global markets, will enable customers to save up to 20% on fares to Dubai when they book their flights early.



Adnan Kazim, Emirates Chief Commercial Officer said: Dubai truly has something for everyone and this winter, as our home city hosts Expo 2020, the excitement and range of attractions for visitors will ratchet up, including various once-in-a-lifetime experiences.



He added: As Dubais home airline, Emirates is launching a series of initiatives to make it even more compelling for travellers to plan their visit and experience Dubai. Last month, we announced that well give a free Expo Day Pass to every Emirates customer travelling to Dubai during the Expo period, and we introduced an innovative mile a minute offer for our Skywards members. Today we are launching an early booking discount on flights to Dubai across all our markets. In the coming weeks, we plan to roll out offers tailored for families, a special Expo edition of our popular My Emirates Pass product, a celebratory offer for the UAEs 50th jubilee anniversary and more, so stay tuned.



Whether exploring Dubai solo, as a family, or reconnecting with family and friends, there has never been a better time to visit Dubai than this winter season. Emirates current special promotions include:



Early bird discount: This special offer is valid on any return tickets booked to Dubai as the final destination for travel dates between 26 September 2021 and 31 March 2022. It is applicable to bookings made from 6  27 September, 2021 via Emirates.com, through Emirates call centre or retail outlets, or via a travel agent. The offer applies to Emirates Business and Economy base fares; on Saver, Flex, Flex+ fare brands.*



Free Emirates Expo Day Pass: Emirates customers visiting and travelling through Dubai anytime during the much-awaited Expo 2020 mega event, will be eligible to receive a free Emirates Expo Day Pass for every flight ticket booked with the airline. For more information on this promotion, please visit the dedicated offer page.



Earn a mile a minute in Dubai: Emirates customers can earn 1 Skywards Mile for every 1 minute spent in Dubai between 01 October 2021 and 31 March 2022. Existing and new Emirates Skywards members who sign up for the program before 31 March 2022, can avail the offer on Emirates.com, and will earn up to 5,000 Miles. The offer is applicable on all Emirates flight tickets purchased between 01 August 2021 and 31 March 2022, for travel during Expo 2020 Dubai. Emiratesmarketed, flydubaioperated flights with an Emirates (EK) flight number are also included in the offer.



Extra Baggage allowance: During this offer period, passengers from Ghana will be able to enjoy extra baggage allowance of one additional piece of luggage to and from Dubai.



As international borders reopen and travel restrictions ease, Emirates has resumed passenger services to over 120 destinations and currently operates 7 weekly passenger flights from Accra to Dubai.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









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The National Organiser of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the presidency has pampered the founder and leader of Glorious Word Power Ministry, Rev Isaac Owusu Bempah for far too long.



Joshua Hamidu Akamba, in an interview on NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie, said the man of God has become very disrespectful, arrogant and rowdy because of his affiliation with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



"He claims to be untouchable because he is with the President, he told sit-in host Mac Jerry Osei Agyeman.



Akamba was reacting to the arrest of Rev Isaac Owusu Bempah and three of his junior pastors.



The controversial man of God and his junior pastors are currently in the custody of the Ghana Police Service, following their arrest in the creation and circulation of multiple videos containing threats and the brandishing of a weapon, and the assault of some police personnel.



The police say they arrested the suspects after critically analyzing the said videos and based on intelligence gathered.



Two other suspects are, however, said to be on the run and are being pursued.



Rev Owusu Bempah and his junior pastors were put before court on Monday, September 13, 2021.



He pleaded not guilty to charges including offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, the threat of death, and assault of office public officers proffered against him, and has been asked by the court to be kept in police custody for a week.



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.

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Petro Itozya Magoti, an assistant secretary at the Chama Chama Mapinduzi party (CCM), got married to his heart-throb, Joyce, and he took to Instagram to praise her while promising to love her till the very end.



In what was dubbed "the National Wedding", Magoti and Joyce walked down the aisle in an exquisite ceremony that was attended by top Tanzania's officials and celebrities.



The politician celebrated his new marriage, adding that he was lucky to love and be loved.



Their wedding comes three months after their engagement.



Read Full Story .... lindaikejisblog.com >>> :

















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Boris Johnson, sister Rachel Johnson and mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl attend the launch of Boris Johnson's book "The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History" in 2014. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images)

The Prime Minister's mother has died aged 79, 'suddenly and peacefully,' at a London hospital.

Artist Charlotte Johnson Wahl was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease aged 40, and has lived in a small Notting Hill flat with her carer for several years.

The Prime Minister's relationship with his late mother remains something of a mystery, though he commissioned her to paint an image of London for his office when he was mayor, and in a brief gaffe, suggested he hoped to see her on Mothers' Day, despite Britain being in lockdown.

But during his reportedly chaotic and difficult childhood, Boris, the eldest of her four children, was close to his mother and protective of her. She encouraged him in his interests and fostered his precocious cleverness, but also later admitted that he had witnessed her being hit by his father, Stanley Johnson, on multiple occasions.

Boris Johnson will be mourning his mother this week. (Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS)

After a happy childhood growing up in St John's Wood as one of five, with strongly liberal parents who campaigned for human rights, Johnson Wahl went to Cheltenham Ladies' College.

She then went on to Oxford, where she met Boris's father, Stanley Johnson, and they married at Marylebone Register Office before her course was completed, as she took a year out to follow him to America.

According to Boris Johnson's biographer, Tom Bower, Stanley Johnson's 'bluster and bonhomie camouflaged the scars of his own childhood.'

Reportedly, Johnson Wahl recalled him hitting her 'for caring too much about her friends', a pattern of abuse which allegedly continued throughout the Prime Minister's childhood, until the divorce in 1979.

Already an anxious child, Wahl Johnson recalled toddler Boris's reaction to meeting his baby sister Rachel: 'His look was shock, disbelief and fear.'

Watch: Boris Johnson meets children

Clever and quiet, aged just three, he told his mother that he 'wanted to be World King' after reading a picture book on ancient Greece.

Story continues

Despite her well-off aristocratic upbringing, Johnson Wahl was left to struggle as a single parent when Stanley Johnson headed off to explore the rainforest as a passionate environmentalist.

The family moved to a farmhouse which was dilapidated, mouldy and untidy, and Charlotte and the children were regularly ill as a result, with Boris - then known as Alexander - enduring periods of deafness due to grommets.

Stanley, Rachel and Jo Johnson react to Boris being elected leader of the Conservative party. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Johnson Wahl suffered a breakdown in 1974, when Boris was 11, and was in hospital for eight months, leaving Boris, Rachel, Jo and Leon with their father.

She was eventually admitted to the Maudsley Hospital in London, suffering from severe depression coupled with "anxiety and compulsive rituals so severe that her hands bled from constant washing."

Wahl Johnson was subject to electric shock therapy and aversion therapy, before being transferred to another hospital.

Read more: Boris Johnsons mother dies aged 79

"Looking back, she recalled, the marriage was ghastly; terrible."

Boris knew about the abuse, and had witnessed it, she added. Rachel Johnson later described the marriage as 'ice storm-esque', a reference to the film about a warring '70s couple.

"Her stoic bravery taught Boris never to reveal vindictiveness or bear grudges", Bower writes in The Gambler, his biography of the Prime Minister. "He learned to act without revealing his motives."

Despite everything, in a rare admission of vulnerability, the PM said in 2004, "I was upset when they broke up."

The PM , then mayor, with his mother at his 2014 book launch. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images)

His mother moved to a small flat in Notting Hill, earning a living painting portraits or friends and contacts such as Jilly Cooper and Joanna Lumley, though Rachel later recalled "we had to bring ourselves up... there wasn't much to eat."

Johnson Wahl refused to accept any money from Stanley Johnson post-divorce, and later commented,

"Once I sent the boys to the market to buy a turkey for Christmas and they came back with a capon because turkey was too expensive. So Christmas dinner was rather small that year. It was like something out of Dickens.

Read more: Boris Johnson faces huge backlash as millions hit with National Insurance hike to reform social care

She later remarried and moved to America, but returned to London after she was widowed in 1996.

In his adult life, Johnson Wahl rarely commented on her children's public lives, but told a journalist in 2015 that Boris was soft-hearted and in 2008 said she felt protective of him.

Looking back on their childhoods, she added, "They were quite a handful but I loved them tremendously. I taught them very odd things that I wanted to know, like how to draw a squirrel. It was such fun, so cosy."

Watch: Johnson visits care home ahead of social care announcement
Sloan Digital Sky Survey image of blazar Markarian 501. Credit: Arbet-Engels et al., 2021.

A team of astronomers from Switzerland and Germany has conducted a long-term multi-band photometric monitoring of a nearby blazar known as Markarian 501. The observational campaign delivered essential information regarding the blazar's variability and detected numerous flares from this source. Results of the study were published September 7 on arXiv.org.

Blazars are very compact quasars associated with supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of active, giant elliptical galaxies. They belong to a larger group of active galaxies that host active galactic nuclei, and are the most numerous extragalactic gamma-ray sources. Their characteristic features are relativistic jets pointed almost exactly toward the Earth.

BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) are a type of blazar showcasing lower-power jets and higher Doppler factors than other blazars. Based on the location of the synchrotron peak, they can be divided into low (LBLs), intermediate (IBLs), and high synchrotron peak BL Lacs (HBLs). Astronomers are especially interested in finding rare extreme HBLs (EHBLs)identified by synchrotron emission peaks at energies above 1 keV. Such objects are believed to be among the most efficient and extreme accelerators in the universe.

At a redshift of 0.034, Markarian 501 (or Mrk 501) is one of the most frequently studied nearby bright blazars. Previous observations of this source have suggested that it may be an EHBL. A group of researchers led by Axel Arbet-Engels of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, decided to further investigate this hypothesis by conducting a long-term multi-band photometry of Mrk 501 using various ground-based facilities and space telescopes, including the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT).

"We studied the broadband variability of Mrk 501 from the end of 2012 to the middle of 2018. Data from eight instruments were considered," the astronomers wrote in the paper.

The variability of Mrk 501 was detected in all wave bands. The fractional variability is lowest in the radio and highest in the TeV band, and it monotonically increases from the radio to the X-rays and from the GeVs to the TeVs.

The lag between the TeV and X-ray variations were estimated to be less than 0.4 days. According to the researchers, this almost zero lag is consistent with synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission, where TeV photons are produced through inverse Compton scattering.

"The reported delay < 0.4 days between the TeV and X-rays fluxes agrees with the self-Compton or external Compton frameworks as electrons cool rapidly (< 0.5 hour) at these energies," the scientists explained.

The observations also identified numerous TeV and X-ray flares from Mrk 501. The characteristic time interval between TeV flares was found to be comparable with the expectation if these flares are triggered by the so-called Lense-Thirring precession (a relativistic correction to the precession of a gyroscope near a large rotating mass) of the accretion disk around the SMBH.

Explore further Research investigates variability of the blazar Mrk 421

More information: Axel Arbet-Engels et al, Long-term multi-band photometric monitoring of Mrk 501. arXiv:2109.03205v1 [astro-ph.HE], Axel Arbet-Engels et al, Long-term multi-band photometric monitoring of Mrk 501. arXiv:2109.03205v1 [astro-ph.HE], arxiv.org/abs/2109.03205

 2021 Science X Network
Som-Act researcher conducting a survey at IDP DIgaale camp. Credit: University of St Andrews

A new international report led by the Third Generation Project at the University of St Andrews reveals the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on internally displaced persons in Somaliland.

Working in partnership with SOM-ACT and Transparency Solutions, the new ground-breaking report, led by the Third Generation Project (TGP), an international think tank that uses education and research to enable social change for climate justice, assesses the impact that the pandemic had on those at the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Digaale, Somaliland. The report focusses on the initial stages of the pandemic (JanuarySeptember 2020), highlighting how marginalized communities are liable to be neglected in times of crisis.

Like many countries around the world, the pandemic caught the Somaliland government and international humanitarian organizations unprepared. Oxfam and SOS Children's Village International, which already have a significant presence at the Digaale IDP camp, saw a variety of factors impede their response to the pandemic. This included a lack of local Somalilanders in senior positions which left workers without on-the-ground leadership when many senior staff returned to their countries of origin at the outbreak of the pandemic.

Focussing on the Digaale IDP camp in Somaliland, the report uses surveys and key informant interviews to detail and analyze the responses of key stakeholders in Somaliland during the early stages of the pandemicgovernment and international humanitarian organizations as well as the critical role played by local civil society organizations.

The report reveals that during the first six months of the pandemic, three quarters of Digaale IDP camp residents experienced daily challenges in accessing food, combined with, and exacerbated by, decreased levels of income. Around half of those surveyed reported insufficient water for basic sanitation and over a quarter had experienced intimate partner violence (emotional and/or physical) as well as a shortage of medical supplies at health centers. None of the children attended school during this period and digital learning was not available to most.

Despite an initial positive response, the report highlights how marginalized communities are liable to be neglected in times of crisis, despite their heightened vulnerability, and how local organizations can be key to preventing worsening outcomes.

Report co-author Bennett Collins from the Third Generation Project at St Andrews said: "Charities and non-governmental organizations saw an exodus of international staff at the outset of the pandemic which only underlines how vital it is that local people staff their own country offices. It is clearly an inefficient and harmful system if international humanitarian NGOs cannot fulfill their mandates during a crisis."

Abdikarim S Hersi from Transparency Solutions, a Somali-led development organization, added: "The pandemic revealed the limited capacity from the mandated Somaliland government institutions for preparedness, response to and management of the pandemic as well as the well-being of IDPs in the time of crisis. We can see that the coordinated response from civil society organizations, international non-governmental organizations, and the Somaliland government was crucial and much needed in delivering key services to the IDP's and other economically and socially disenfranchised citizens."

Yahye Xanas, executive director of SOM-ACT, a collective of Somalilander human rights journalists, commented: "The data presented in our report is truly shocking. We call on the Somaliland government to review their own policies toward internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, and to actively include IDPs in the National Development Programme, and for INGOs and CSOs to better coordinate a humanitarian response in IDP camps across Somaliland."

More information: The report is available online: The report is available online: transparencysolutions.com/wp-c  aft-compressed-1.pdf
The fossils of a 43 million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis," in an evolution of whales from land to sea, which was unearthed over a decade ago in Fayoum in the Western Desert of Egypt, at the university's paleontology department lab, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

Egyptian scientists say the fossil of a four-legged prehistoric whale, unearthed over a decade ago in the country's Western Desert, is that of a previously unknown species. The creature, an ancestor of the modern-day whale, is believed to have lived 43 million years ago.

The prehistoric whale, known as semi-aquatic because it lived both on land and sea, sported features of an accomplished hunter, the team's leading paleontologist, Hesham Sallam, told The Associated Pressfeatures that make it stand out among other whale fossils.

The fossil was first found by a team of Egyptian environmentalists in 2008 in an area that was covered by seas in prehistoric times, but researchers only published their findings confirming a new species last month.

Sallam said that his team did not start examining the fossil until 2017 because he wanted to assemble the best and the most talented Egyptian paleontologists for the study.

"This is the first time in the history of Egyptian vertebrate paleontology to have an Egyptian team leading a documentation of a new genus and species of four-legged whale," said Sallam.

The fossil sheds light on the evolution of whales from herbivore land mammals into carnivorous species that today live exclusively in water. The transition took place over roughly 10 million years, according to an article published on the discovery in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Egyptian researcher at Mansoura University Abdullah Gohar, shows the fossil of a 43 million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis," in an evolution of whales from land to sea, which was unearthed over a decade ago in Fayoum in the Western Desert of Egypt, at the university's paleontology department lab, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

Egypt's Western Desert region is already known for the so-called Whale Valley, or Wadi Al-Hitan, a tourist attraction and the country's only natural World Heritage site that contains fossil remains of another type of prehistoric whales.

The newly discovered creature belongs to the family of Protecetids, extinct semi-aquatic whales that lived from 59 to 34 million years ago, Sallam said. It would have walked on land but also hunted in the water.

"This is yet another new species of early whales from the time when they retained four functional limbs," said Jonathan Geisler, an expert on the evolutionary history of mammals with New York Institute of Technology.

He said that the location of the discovery in Egypt is also a clue as to when and how they spread around the globe. Geisler was not involved in the find.

Egyptian Professor and founder of Vertebrate Paleontology Center at Mansoura University and American University of Cairo, Prof. Hesham Sallam, speaks about the discovery of a 43 million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis," in an evolution of whales from land to sea, which was unearthed over a decade ago in Fayoum in the Western Desert of Egypt, at the university's paleontology department lab, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

The oldest fossil whales are about 50 million years old and are believed to have originated in modern-day Pakistan and India. However, scientists have not been able to reach a conclusive answer as to when whales moved out of their point of origin to all the world's oceans.

"This new species by itself cannot answer that question, but when viewed in the context of other fossil discoveries, suggests that this dispersal occurred 43 million years ago," said Geisler, adding the new find could possibly serve as a link between Indo-Pakistan and North American regions.

The fossil whale has been been named Phiomicetus Anubis, after the god of death in ancient Egypt.

The fossils of a 43 million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis," right, in an evolution of whales from land to sea, which was unearthed over a decade ago in Fayoum in the Western Desert of Egypt, at the university's paleontology department lab, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

"We chose the name Anubis because it had a strong and deadly bite," said Sallam, professor of paleontology at Mansoura University in Egypt. "It could kill any creature it crossed paths with."

The new species stands out for its elongated skull and snout that suggest it was an efficient carnivore capable of grasping and chewing its prey, he said. It was about 3 meters (9 feet long) and weighed around 600 kilograms, according to researchers. It is also believed to have had sharp hearing and sense of smell.

HOLD The entrance of The Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center, where the discovery of fossils of a 43 million-year-old four-legged prehistoric whale known as the "Phiomicetus Anubis," in an evolution of whales from land to sea, which was unearthed over a decade ago in Fayoum in the Western Desert of Egypt, at the university's paleontology department lab, in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

The discovery followed a four-year collaboration between Egyptian paleontologists and U.S-based scientists, Sallam added.

His team has previously made headlines worldwide with their 2018 discovery of Mansourasaurus, a new species of long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs that lived in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura.

Explore further Egyptians discover fossil of new amphibious whale

More information: Abdullah S. Gohar et al, A new protocetid whale offers clues to biogeography and feeding ecology in early cetacean evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1368 , Abdullah S. Gohar et al, A new protocetid whale offers clues to biogeography and feeding ecology in early cetacean evolution,(2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1368 , royalsocietypublishing.org/doi  .1098/rspb.2021.1368

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A close-up look at a green crab. A new study led by WHOI scientist Carolyn Tepolt is investigating the adaptive mechanisms of the green crab along the west coast of North America, where it has shown extensive dispersal in the last decade despite minimal genetic diversity. Credit: Ted Grosholz

The green crab, Carcinus maenas, is considered a globally distributed invasive species, an organism introduced by humans that eventually becomes overpopulated, with increased potential to negatively alter its new environment. Traditionally, it's been assumed that successful populations contain high genetic diversity, or a variety of characteristics allowing them to adapt and thrive. On the contrary, the green crablike many successful invasive populationshas low genetic diversity, while still spreading rapidly in a new part of the world.

A new study led by Carolyn Tepolt, an associate scientist of biology at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is investigating the adaptive mechanisms of the green crab along the west coast of North America, where it has shown extensive dispersal in the last decade despite minimal genetic diversity. The study was published recently in Molecular Ecology and is a collaboration between WHOI, the University of California at Davis, Portland State University, and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

"Invasive species like these are generally unwelcome. Green crabs can compete with native species, rip up eelgrass 'nurseries', and eat small shellfish before they have a chance to be harvested. Green crabs can be an ecological menace and an economic burden," Tepolt said. "In this study, we found that one of the world's most serious marine invasive species has evolved specific genetic variation that likely helps it adapt to new environments really quickly, even when it's lost a lot of genetic diversity overall."

Genetic diversity refers to small individual-to-individual differences in DNA, and often translates into a range of different inherited traits within a species. A population with high genetic diversity is more likely to include individuals with a wide range of different traits. In order for a population to adjust to changing environments, this variation can be crucialor so scientists have often thought. Invasive species often challenge this assumption, successfully spreading in new regions despite low genetic diversity caused by descending from a small number of initial colonists.

This study focuses on a northwest Pacific population of green crab that has spread within the last 35 years from a single source. High-profile marine invasive species, such as green crabs, often live across thousands of kilometers of ocean, spanning countless environmental differences, both small and large.

Using six U.S. west coast locations spanning over 900 miles from central California to British Columbia, Tepolt and her team examined the species' genetic structure at thousands of places across its genome. While this population has lost a large amount of overall genetic diversity relative to its European source, a piece of DNA associated with cold tolerance in a prior study appears to be under strong selection from north to south across its invasive West Coast range.

This may represent a type of genetic featurea balanced polymorphismthat evolved to promote rapid adaptation in variable environments despite high gene flow, and which now contributes to successful invasion and spread in a novel environment. Researchers do occasionally find incredibly successful populations that have passed through severe bottlenecks, dramatically decreasing their genetic diversity relative to their source. This study is amplifying the need to consider that diversity at specific parts of the genome (rather than genome-wide diversity) may play a critical role in resilience in new or changing environments.

"This is exciting for two main reasons. First, the study tests a partial resolution to 'the genetic paradox of invasions', demonstrating that variation at key parts of the genome permits rapid adaptation even in a population with low overall genetic diversity. Second, it suggests that high gene flow in a widespread species' native range may generate evolutionary mechanisms, like this one, which provide that species with the substrate for rapid adaptive change as it spreads across new environments," Tepolt explained.

Identifying invasive species spread can also be a job for non-scientists. As the climate changes and as humans get better and better at moving stuff around the globe, there's more potential for species to come along for the ride and expand into new environments. Tepolt says it's important to keep an eye out for cues, changes in the environment and possible new species in places they haven't been before. She recommends seizing the opportunity to tell officials and researchers if there is something unusual at the coastline. There may be signs at beaches and boat ramps asking people to keep a lookout for particular species and giving contact information. If there are suddenly green crabs in an area for the first time, for example, on the West Coast in the Salish Sea and in Alaska, they likely should not be there and should be reported.

Explore further Don't focus on genetic diversity to save endangered species

More information: Carolyn K. Tepolt et al, Balanced polymorphism fuels rapid selection in an invasive crab despite high gene flow and low genetic diversity, Molecular Ecology (2021). Carolyn K. Tepolt et al, Balanced polymorphism fuels rapid selection in an invasive crab despite high gene flow and low genetic diversity,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/mec.16143 Carolyn K. Tepolt et al, Rapid Adaptation to Temperature via a Potential Genomic Island of Divergence in the Invasive Green Crab, Carcinus maenas, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2020). DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.580701 Journal information: Molecular Ecology , Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Researchers discovered what is possibly the world's oldest artwork, rendered here in a three-dimensional scan, on a rocky promontory at Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau in 2018.

An international collaboration has identified what may be the oldest work of art, a sequence of hand and footprints discovered on the Tibetan Plateau. The prints date back to the middle of the Pleistocene era, between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago  three to four times older than the famed cave paintings in Indonesia, France and Spain.

To answer the question, "is it art?" the team turned to Thomas Urban, research scientist in the College of Arts and Sciences and with the Cornell Tree Ring Laboratory.

"The question is: What does this mean? How do we interpret these prints? They're clearly not accidentally placed," said Urban, a co-author of the paper, "Earliest Parietal Art: Hominin Hand and Foot Traces from the Middle Pleistocene of Tibet," published Sept. 10 in Science Bulletin.

"There's not a utilitarian explanation for these. So what are they?" Urban said. "My angle was, can we think of these as an artistic behavior, a creative behavior, something distinctly human. The interesting side of this is that it's so early."

The project was led by David Zhang of Guangzhou University in collaboration with researchers from Bournemouth University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Education University of Hong Kong, Institute of Geology and University of Minnesota.

Urban's involvement with the group grew out of his ongoing efforts to study human and animal footprints in the White Sands National Park in New Mexico as a way to understand the behaviors of human ancestors. One of Urban's colleagues on that work, Matthew Bennett with Bournemouth University, was part of the initial team that examined the "art-panel" that was found on a rocky promontory at Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau in 2018. A series of five handprints and five symmetrical footprints were stamped in travertine, a freshwater limestone that was deposited by a nearby hot spring, then hardened over time.

"It would have been a slippery, sloped surface," Urban said. "You wouldn't really run across it. Somebody didn't fall like that. So why create this arrangement of prints?"

The fact that the panel includes handprints gives one hint. While footprints are common in the human record, handprints are much rarer. Their presence connects the Tibetan panel to a tradition of parietal art  that is, art that is immobile  typified by hand stenciling on cave walls.

The oldest such art, found at the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and El Castillo cave in Spain, dates back between 40,000 and 45,000 years. In light of the Tibet discovery, the Chauvet cave paintings in France  approximately 30,000 years old  are practically contemporary.

Urban's collaborators used uranium series dating to determine when the art-panel originated. They hypothesize the child who made the footprints was around 7 years old and the child who made the handprints was about 12.

More important than the age of the artists, however, is the question of their species. Were they Homo sapiens? An extinct hominin? One theory, supported by recent skeletal remains found on the plateau, holds they were Denisovans, a mysterious group that were ancient relatives of Neanderthals.

While their exact identities may never be known, the art-panel makes the case for the earliest hominin occupation on the Tibetan Plateau.

Equally difficult for the researchers to resolve is that perennial question, which no amount of uranium dating will ever settle: What constitutes art?

"These young kids saw this medium and intentionally altered it. We can only speculate beyond that," Urban said. "This could be a kind of performance, a live show, like, somebody says, 'hey, look at me, I've made my handprints over these footprints.'"

In this context, Urban argues for a broader definition of art, even if it makes some connoisseurs bristle.

"Different camps have specific definitions of art that prioritize various criteria," he said. "But I would like to transcend that and say there can be limitations imposed by these strict categories that might inhibit us from thinking more broadly about creative behavior. I think we can make a solid case that this is not utilitarian behavior. There's something playful, creative, possibly symbolic about this. This gets at a very fundamental question of what it actually means to be human."

Explore further Fossil footprints tell story of prehistoric parent's journey

More information: David D. Zhang et al, Earliest parietal art: hominin hand and foot traces from the middle Pleistocene of Tibet, Science Bulletin (2021). David D. Zhang et al, Earliest parietal art: hominin hand and foot traces from the middle Pleistocene of Tibet,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.09.001
Credit: Orbit Fab

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), over 4,000 operational satellites are currently in orbit around Earth. According to some estimates, this number is expected to reach as high as 100,000 by the end of this decade, including telecommunication, internet, research, navigation, and Earth Observation satellites. As part of the commercialization of low Earth orbit (LEO) anticipated in this century, the presence of so many satellites will create new opportunities, as well as hazards.

The presence of these satellites will require a great deal of mitigation to prevent collisions, servicing and maintenance. For example, the San Francisco-based startup Orbit Fab is working to create all the necessary technology for orbital refueling services for satellites. To help realize this goal, industry giant Lockheed Martin recently announced that they are investing in Orbit Fab's "Gas Stations in Space" refueling technology.

The San Francisco-based startup was founded in 2018 by Daniel Faber and Jeremy Schiel, both of whom have strong backgrounds in the commercial space industry. Between 2016 and 2019, Faber was the CEO of Deep Space Industries (DSI), one of the leading companies currently developing asteroid mining capabilities. Schiel, meanwhile, was the vice-chair of the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS), a consortium dedicated to fostering standards and best practices for satellite servicing.

As they state on their website, the company was founded to create "a thriving in-space market for products and services that support both existing space businesses (communications and Earth observation) and new industries like space tourism, manufacturing and mining." Their first product is the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI), a fueling port that will allow for orbital refueling for satellites.

The RAFTI system is designed to extend the life expectancy of spacecraft by giving them the ability to conduct on-orbit refueling. The system comes in two components: the Service Valve (SV) and the Space Coupling Half (SCH). The SV serves as a fill/drain system for ground fueling and in-orbit refueling, a primary docking adapter for attaching two spacecraft together, and a secondary servicing connection to facilitate servicing missions that use robotic arms.

The SCH is a double-action latch mechanism that supports both primary docking or secondary attachment of two spacecraft. According to the RAFTI Spec Sheet, the system measures 10 x 10 x .5 cm (3.9 x 3.9 x 0.2 inches), or 500 cm3 (30.5 cubic inches); has a peak power requirement of 10 watts (W); and can accommodate a flow rate of 1 liter (0.264 gallons) per minute (at an increase of 15 psi/m).

It can operate at temperatures of -40 to 120 degrees Celsius (-40 to 248 degrees Fahrenheit) and pressures of 500 to 3,000 psi. Lastly, it can handle many types of propellant, including LOX/H2, water and alcohol, nitrogen, helium, xenon and krypton. It can reportedly keep internal/external leakages as low as 1 x 10-6 square cubic centimeters per second (scc/s)which is so low as to be barely measurable.

Orbit Fabs RAFTI (Rapidly Attachable Fuel Transfer Interface) Service Valve will allow satellites to refuel in-orbit. Credit: Orbit Fab

This summer, the RAFTI SV was flight-qualified after being launched to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (on June 30th, 2021). As part of an agreement with the Seattle-based launch service provider Spaceflight Inc., the SV flew aboard Orbit Fab's prototype Tanker-001 Tenzing spacecraft. This flight aimed to test the tanks, fueling ports, thrusters, and rendezvous and docking systems.

The Tanker-001 Tenzing spacecraft is now in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) and carries high-test peroxide (HTP) fuel, a "green propellant, making it the world's first operational fuel depot in space. Previously, Orbit Fab conducted a four-month testing program, launching a prototype tanker to the ISS in May of 2019. In the process, they validated their propellant feed system and became the first company to refuel the ISS with water.

Most recently, Orbit Fab announced that they had secured investments from two aerospace giantsLockheed Martin and Northrop Grummanboth of which have a long history of manufacturing satellites for commercial, navigation and military applications. Chris Moran, the VP, executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures, said in a recent press statement: "Lockheed Martin has a long legacy of investing in and developing servicing capabilities and their enabling technologies. This includes for military and commercial, large and small space systems. Our charter is to strategically invest in smaller technology companies focused on innovative technologies within our existing businesses, and Orbit Fab fits this criteria. We look forward to working with Orbit Fab and gaining access to their in-orbit refueling technology, an important component of space flight logistics that could help our customers address new and evolving threats."

Orbit Fabs Refueling Network Concept. Credit: Orbit Fab

"This investment in Orbit Fab is one of several we have made that have created and supported innovative technologies and capabilities for on-orbit flexibility," added Paul Pelley. "The ability to refuel a satellite on orbit is a critical component for our customers' missions because it allows them greater maneuverability and can extend the life of a mission with replenished fuel."

Pelley is the director of the Augmentation System Port INterface (ASPIN) program at Lockheed Martin Space. ASPIN is a docking adapter that the company will include in its LM 2100 combat satellite bus, which will allow for hardware and instrument upgrades in orbit. The adapter was designed to have plenty of open space to support refueling interfaces, such as Orbit Fab's RAFTI port.

Astronaut Christina Koch puts Orbit Fabs equipment through its paces on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA and the ISS U.S. National Laboratory

Earlier this month, the company announced that it had completed environmental testing with the Lockheed Martin IN-space Upgrade Satellite System (LINUSS), which will be launching for orbit later this year. Similar in concept to ASPIN, the LINUSS technology will demonstrate how small CubeSats can upgrade satellite constellations to expand their operations and extend their service lives.

This research is part of a larger effort to develop the necessary technology and tools to repair, refuel, and upgrade satellites in orbit. By extending their capabilities and lives, fewer satellites will become defunct over time, thus mitigating the possibility of collisions and orbital debris over time. After all, commercializing LEO means that we need to take steps to prevent the Kessler Syndrome from ruining everything!
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

New research led by the University of Oxford, published in Conservation Letters, has examined the conflict between small-scale fisheries and marine mammals, using the experience of fisheries on the west coast of South America to highlight a worldwide issue.

Globally, conflict between recovering seal and sea lion populations and fishing communities has been escalating. This new research presents a unique overview of this conflict, particularly from the fishers' perspective, and proposes solutions that will be relevant to many fishing communities around the world.

In this part of South America, specifically Peru and Chile, marine mammals have been protected since the mid-20th century. Conservation policies have mostly been successful and over the last thirty years marine mammal populationsspecifically those of sea lions and sealshave recovered. However, this recovery means that there's a much higher likelihood that these animals will come into conflict with local fishers. The study found:

 Nearly 9 out of 10 fishers have a negative impression of sea lions.

 Fishers report that on average sea lions reduce their catch and income by over 50%.

 Whilst it's illegal for sea lions and seals to be killed, this is happening regularly with over 70% of fishers admitting that sea lions are being killed to defend catches.

 Fishers' overwhelming concern is that sea lion populations are now too large.

To manage this conflict, there's a need to balance the competing objectives of wildlife conservation with protection for local communities. There's still concern about sea lion and seal populations because of how recently they've recovered, but small-scale fisheries are struggling, and fishers are often earning less than the minimum wage.

The international community needs to incorporate the needs and opinions of fishers in the global dialogue, including considering if protecting human welfare could involve reducing protection for marine mammals.

'If the global community is committed to a post-2020 deal for nature and people where improvements to people's wellbeing and nature conservation are both fulfilledthe elusive 'win-win' - then governments and scientists must engage with these "messy" local conflicts that repeat across the globe but resist high-level simplification.' Professor Katrina Davis

Sea lions and seals eat the same fish targeted by fisheries, so they're in competition for resources, and it's not uncommon for fishers to catch fish that have already been 'nibbled' by the marine mammals. They can also be accidentally caught in fishing nets and break them, meaning that the fisheries must pay to replace equipment.

By understanding fishers' motivations and perceptions we can develop more effective managerial solutions to the fisheries. Including managing sea lion populations, providing financial compensation for catch losses and gear damage, training programs, and shifting focusing from fishing to eco-tourism.

Lead author Professor Katrina Davis says, "A tricky balance must be met between ensuring the future viability of marine mammal populations and ensuring that the livelihoods of small-scale fishers are protected. Fishers perceive that they are suffering large catch and income losses because of sea lionsand it's these perceptions that we have to manage when we're developing policy solutions."

Moving forward, researchers plan to investigate the impact of culls on these interactions, whether this would be viable without harming population levels, and whether it would curb aggression towards marine mammals.

Explore further Breakthrough study shows no-take marine reserves benefit overfished reefs

More information: Katrina J. Davis et al, Local disconnects in global discoursesThe unintended consequences of marine mammal protection on smallscale fishers, Conservation Letters (2021). Journal information: Conservation Letters Katrina J. Davis et al, Local disconnects in global discoursesThe unintended consequences of marine mammal protection on smallscale fishers,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/conl.12835
Aerial photo showing the exposed eelgrass beds of Flora Bank, which at high tide shelter juvenile salmon, Eulachon, and breeding Dungeness crabs. Credit: Brian Huntington

A new report on the value and vulnerability of juvenile salmon habitat in northern BC's Skeena River reveals how climate change and development are critically impacting the regionand provides a historical assessment to help inform the region's future planning. Collaborators from the Lax Kw'alaams Fisheries Program, the Skeena Fisheries Commission and Simon Fraser University say proactive stewardship will be key.

The Skeena River is BC's second-largest-salmon-producing watershed after the Fraser River and its estuary (where freshwater meets salt water) provides nursery habitat for juvenile salmon, the oil-rich Eulachon (candlefish), Dungeness crab, surf smelt and Pacific herring.

Lead author SFU alum Ciara Sharpe, a fisheries biologist working with the Lax Kw'alaams First Nation, near Prince Rupert, says the Skeena River estuary, BC's second largest, has been poorly studied despite its significant ecological, cultural, and economic importance, compared to the Fraser River estuary.

"This report is the first to synthesize historical and recent research on the estuary and its trajectory under climate change," she says. "Now this information is out there to provide a scientific foundation for decision-making or planning."

Impacts of Climate Change

The report found that over the past 90 years, the amount of freshwater entering the estuary in the spring has increased, likely due to climate change-driven increases in glacial melting and shifts in precipitation patterns.

The ocean waters adjacent to the Skeena River estuary, into which young salmon and Eulachon enter, have also been changing, warming by approximately one degree over the past 80 years.

Report co-author, SFU professor of biology and environmental management Jonathan Moore, says that climate change and human development in estuaries is putting stress on the system.

"Estuaries bear the burden of stressors from both the ocean and upstream watershed," says Moore. "With oncoming climate change, there is a need to think proactively about stewardship and management of estuaries to increase their resilience to this change."

Skeena River estuary importance for salmon

Five years of sampling fish in the estuary revealed the importance of the Flora Bank region and its eelgrass beds, near the mouth of the Skeena River for young coho, Chinook and sockeye salmon.

"Each year, as many as 1 billion juvenile salmon may swim through the estuary on their way to the ocean," says Sharpe. "We discovered that young salmon feed, grow, and reside in these waters for weeks to months. The food and shelter they find likely gives them a boost in growth that improves their chances of surviving to return to the Skeena as adults."

Genetic analysis revealed that these juvenile salmon come from the territories of 11 First Nations throughout the Skeena and beyond, and some will return home to as adults to support the fisheries of these Nations.

Lax Kw'alaams senior fisheries biologist and paper co-author Katherine Butts says the report also highlights the importance of the estuary for spawning surf smelt, breeding Dungeness crabs and young Eulachonall important for local food webs and fisheries.

"Coast Tsimshian peoples have managed fisheries resources and the environment for millennia and continue to do so to ensure that as the ocean, river and land feeds the people," says Butts. "The Coast Tsimshian people monitor, protect and enhance them to ensure they are sustainable for future generations."

Explore further Science journal letter highlights salmon vulernability
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Nearly half of global youth surveyed (45 percent) say climate anxiety and distress is affecting their daily lives and functioningaccording to results from the largest scientific study into climate anxiety in children and young people, to be presented at a special event today (Tuesday 14 September 2021)

The inaugural study, based on surveys with 10,000 children and young people (1625) across 10 countries, found 75 percent of young respondents believe 'the future is frightening'jumping to 81 percent of youth surveyed in Portugal and 92 percent in the Philippines. It found, for the first time, that climate distress and anxiety is significantly related to perceived government inaction and associated feelings of betrayal. 58 percent of children and young people surveyed said governments were "betraying me and/or future generations," while 64 percent said their governments are not doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe.

The study found widespread psychological distress among children and young people globally and warns 'such high levels of distress, functional impact and feelings of betrayal will negatively affect the mental health of children and young people." Experts warn that because continued government inaction on climate change is psychologically damaging, it potentially amounts to a violation of international human rights law.

Caroline Hickman, from the University of Bath, Climate Psychology Alliance and co-lead author on the study said: "This study paints a horrific picture of widespread climate anxiety in our children and young people. It suggests for the first time that high levels of psychological distress in youth is linked to government inaction. Our children's anxiety is a completely rational reaction given the inadequate responses to climate change they are seeing from governments. What more do governments need to hear to take action?"

Dr. Liz Marks, from the University of Bath's Department of Psychology and co-lead author on the study, said: "It's shocking to hear how so many young people from around the world feel betrayed by those who are supposed to protect them. Now is the time to face the truth, listen to young people, and take urgent action against climate change."

Mitzi Tan, 23-years-old, from the Philippines, said: "I grew up being afraid of drowning in my own bedroom. Society tells me that this anxiety is an irrational fear that needs to be overcomeone that meditation and healthy coping mechanisms will 'fix." At its root, our climate anxiety comes from this deep-set feeling of betrayal because of government inaction. To truly address our growing climate anxiety, we need justice."

Beth Irving, a 19-year-old climate activist behind the Cardiff student climate strikes, said: "When I was 16... I went through phases of feeling utterly helpless in face of this immense problem, and then would launch myself into organizing protests or changing things within my school. To put so much energy into something and then see so little real life impact was exhausting; I had many occasions where I would hide myself away and think "None of this is enough." It's so damaging to put this problem on the shoulders of young peoplehope needs to come instead from palpable structural action."

Additional findings from the study include:

59 percent of children and young people surveyed were very or extremely worried about climate change;

More than half of respondents said they had felt afraid, sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and/or guilty;

55 percent of respondents felt they would have fewer opportunities than their parents;

65 percent felt governments were failing young people, while 61 percent said the way governments deal with climate change was not "protecting me, the planet and/or future generations";

Almost half (48 percent) of those who said they talked with others about climate change felt ignored or dismissed.

Young people surveyed from the Global South expressed more worry and a greater impact on functioning; while young people surveyed in Portugal (which has seen dramatic increases in wildfires since 2017) showed the highest level of worry amongst those from the Global North.

The study concludes that governments must respond to 'protect the mental health of children and young people by engaging in ethical, collective, policy-based action against climate change."

The research comes after UNICEF released a report into the physical threat climate change poses to children, with one billion children at 'extremely high risk' of the impacts of the climate crisis.

About the study

10,000 young people (aged 1625 years) were surveyed, using polling company Kantar, in ten countries:

Australia, United States, United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Finland, Portugal, Brazil and France. Data was collected on their thoughts and feelings about climate change, and government response.

The study was carried out by academics from a range of institutions: The University of Bath, the University of Helsinki, NYU Langone Health, University of East Anglia, Stanford Medicine Centre for Innovation in Global Health, and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, The College of Wooster, Climate Psychiatry Alliance.

The costs of the survey were funded by AVAAZ. Avaaz is funded by small donations from citizens worldwide which allows it to finance urgently needed quantitative research in the emerging field of climate psychology. Avaaz has been campaigning on climate change for over a decade.

Explore further Australians are 3 times more worried about climate change than COVID: A mental health crisis is looming
The skeletons were found in North China last year. Credit: Qian Wang

On the left side of the grave, the male skeleton lays with one arm outstretched, holding the abdomen of the female skeleton by its side. The woman's face is pressed into his shoulder, left hand resting across his waist; on her fourth finger is a simple silver ring.

The postures of the skeletons, which were discovered last summer during construction in the city of Datong in China's Shaanxi Province, suggests that the man and woman were buried together and positioned in this way as a display of the love they shared. The remains of the couple, dated to the North Wei period (386 to 534 C.E.), is believed to be the first discovery of its kind in China.

According to Qian Wang, a paleoanthropologist and professor at Texas A&M University's College of Dentistry, the joint burial in itself isn't unique. The cemetery of more than 600 tombs, excavated in June 2020 by the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, contains at least two other joint burials. But the two nearly complete skeletons locked in embrace are a "remarkable discovery" for the rare glimpse it gives into cultural attitudes in China during this time period, he said.

"It reflects humankind's thoughts toward death and the brave pursuit of love, and belief in the afterlife," Wang said.

The discovery of the skeletons, and Wang's assessment of its significance, is detailed in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. Wang's research focuses on craniofacial skeletons, and his research team recently discovered the earliest confirmed case of intentional cranial modification from more than 12,000 years ago in northern China. When researchers unearthed the skeletons at the Datong cemetery, Wang was contacted by a frequent collaborator to give his assessment.

When he received the photos, "it was very shocking to see," Wang said. "That's why I realized the importance of this. You can find side-by-side burials, or two different coffins in a burial chamber, but this is a loving embrace, which means they were put there (shortly after death). This is not only a broader expression of love, but it also shows community support."

While researchers can't say for certain who the couple may have been or how they died, Wang said their remains, which were "exceptionally well-preserved," provide some clues.

The man, believed to be around 30 years old, suffered from an unhealed fracture on the ulna of the right arm. Part of the fourth finger of his right hand is also missing, suggesting he might have lived "a very energetic lifeperhaps a warrior, or something like this," Wang said. The woman is about 35 years old, he said, and appears to have had an issue with one of her wisdom teeth.

"They look pretty much like commoners," Wang said, but beyond that, little else can be gleaned about the lives they may have led.

The presence of the plain silver band on the woman's ring finger does lead Wang to believe the individuals were likely husband and wife. Based on the appearance of the skeletons, several scenarios are possible.

An artists reconstruction of the pair. Credit: Anqi Wang

"The woman was healthier than the man. So maybe the man died of infection of something, and the woman decided to commit suicide to be buried with him," Wang said.

Other possibilities cannot be ruled out, but the paper's authors agree it is most likely that the woman sacrificed herself to be buried alongside her husband, writing that "union might be happiness and death might be sadness, yet this burial of love embodies them all."

Wang said this would be consistent with the values of the time.

During the North Wei Dynasty, about 500 years after Confucianism, romance between men and women was praised. Wang says attitudes toward "free love" were somewhat liberal, and many celebrated love stories had tragic endings similar to "Romeo and Juliet." He describes the folk story of the "Butterfly Lovers," in which a woman jumps into the tomb of her deceased lover. Their spirits emerge from his grave as butterflies, never to be separated again.

"This kind of free expression of the pursuit of love was praised, and committing suicide for love was praised and accepted," Wang said.

It would then make sense that the couple's families would position their bodies in such a way to show their bond in life, with the woman's visible wedding ring serving as a symbol of their love. Wang notes that while the male skeleton's ring finger is missing on the visible right hand, it's possible the hand positioned under the female skeleton could also bear a wedding band. Both skeletons remained buried for future exhibition in a museum, and have not been fully exposed.

Wang said this time period also saw a growing belief in the afterlife as Buddhism entered China under North Wei rulers. The move of several small ethnic groups into northern China was the source of much social, cultural and political change during the period, he said.

"Along with other new ideas and thoughts, the openness and boldness of the expression of love" in the case of the embracing skeletons is a clear influence from Western regions, the study's authors write.

Similar archaeological discoveries have been made elsewhere in Europe, such as Italy's "Lovers of Valdaro." But this manifestation of love in skeletal form discovered in China is unique in that it has been given scientific description, using Wang's assessment.

"With our discovery, the paper is a scientific description of the embrace, which means it has been entered into the scientific literature," Wang said. "It's not just the burial itselfit somehow reflects our whole believing of thoughts toward death, love, family support, ring culture, and our view of life."

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More information: Quanchao Zhang et al, Eternal love locked in an embrace and sealed with a ring: A Xianbei couple's joint burial in North Wei era, China (386534 CE), International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (2021). Quanchao Zhang et al, Eternal love locked in an embrace and sealed with a ring: A Xianbei couple's joint burial in North Wei era, China (386534 CE),(2021). DOI: 10.1002/oa.3009
Basaltic lava flow. Credit: The University of Queensland

Lava samples have revealed a new truth about the geological makeup of the Earth's crust and could have implications for volcanic eruption early warning systems, a University of Queensland-led study has found.

UQ volcanologist Dr. Teresa Ubide said it was previously understood that cooled lava from so-called "hot spot" volcanoes was "pristine" magma from the melting mantle, tens of kilometers under the Earth's surface.

"This isn't quite the casewe've been misled, geologically deceived," Dr. Ubide said.

"For decades, we have considered hot spot volcanoes to be messengers from the earth's mantle, offering us a glimpse into what's happening deep under our feet.

"But these volcanoes are extremely complex inside and filter a very different melt to the surface than what we've been expecting.

"This is due to the volcano's intricate plumbing system that forces many minerals in the magma to crystallize."

Dr. Ubide said the minerals are being recycled by the rising magma, changing their overall chemistry to "appear" pristine, which is an important new piece of the jigsaw to better understand how ocean island volcanoes work.

"We have discovered that hot spot volcanoes filter their melts to become highly eruptible at the base of the Earth's crust, situated several kilometers below the volcano," she said.

"The close monitoring of volcanoes can indicate when magma reaches the base of the crust, where this filtering processes reaches the 'tipping point' that leads to eruption.

"Our results support the notion that detection of magma at the crust-mantle boundary could indicate an upcoming eruption.

El Hierro volcano in the Canary Islands. Credit: Laura Becerril

"This new information takes us one step closer to improving the monitoring of volcanic unrest, which aims to protect lives, infrastructure and crops."

Hot spot volcanoes make up some of the world's most beautiful landscapes, such as the Canary Islands in the Atlantic and Hawaii in the Pacific.

The international team of researchers analyzed new rock samples from the island of El Hierro, in Spain's Canary Islands, just southwest of Morocco.

This data was combined with hundreds of published geochemical data from El Hierro, including the underwater eruption in 2011 and 2012.

The team then tested the findings on data from ocean island hot spot volcanoes around the world, including Hawaii.

Dr. Ubide said hot spot volcanoes are also found in Australia.

"Southeast Queenslanders would be very familiar with the Glass House Mountains or the large Tweed shield volcano, which includes Wollumbin (Mount Warning) in New South Wales," she said.

"Hot spot volcanoes can pop up 'anywhere,' as opposed to most other volcanoes that occur due to tectonic plates crashing into each other, like the Ring of Fire volcanoes in Japan or New Zealand, or tectonic plates moving away from each other, creating for example the Atlantic Ocean.

"Southeast Queensland hot spot volcanoes were active millions of years ago.

"They produced enormous volumes of magma and make excellent laboratories to explore the roots of volcanism.

"There are even dormant volcanoes in South Australia that could erupt with little warning, that would benefit from better geological markers for early detection."

More information: Teresa Ubide et al, Volcanic plumbing filters on ocean-island basalt geochemistry, Geology (2021). Journal information: Geology Teresa Ubide et al, Volcanic plumbing filters on ocean-island basalt geochemistry,(2021). DOI: 10.1130/G49224.1
Striations start to form in the cuticle on the adaxial side of the proximal (purple) region of the Hibiscus trionum petal during early stages of bud development and are fully established by the time the flower is fully developed. Credit: Chiara A. Airoldi.

Flowers are employing a materials science phenomenon typically associated with failures in structural engineering to produce exquisite three-dimensional petal patterns to lure pollinators.

In civil engineering "buckling" is a dirty word with the buckling of beams and columns leading to mechanical failureand is something that engineers want to avoid.

But for some plants, buckling is being employed to advantage.

Flowers use several different strategies to lure pollinators. Chemical color from pigments is just one of these strategies and recent research is finding that iridescence could be just as important for attracting pollinators like bees.

This optical effect is produced by an intricate pattern of nano-scale ridges on the surface of petals that diffract light to cause iridescence, like that seen on the surface of CDs or soap bubbles, but how the plant develops these ridges was not known.

Research from the University of Cambridge has demonstrated that plants employ buckling to precisely alter the deformation of the surface of petals in hibiscus flowers. The findings are published in Cell Reports today.

"The petal striations on hibiscus flowers develop during petal growth, and Professor Beverley Glover's team, who were the first to discover the iridescence properties in flowers, suspected that they may be caused by mechanical properties as the petals expanded", said Dr. Sarah Robinson in the University of Cambridge's Sainsbury Laboratory and lead of the research.

Cryo-Scanning Electron Microscopy of Hibiscus trionum petal fracture with false color processing. Credit: Raymond Wightman, False color processing by Gareth Evans.

Working with members of Professor Glover's team, Dr. Robinson was able to test this model by using a robotic system, called ACME (automated confocal micro-extensometer) that she had earlier developed to measure mechanical properties in plants. They applied a specific force to stretch immature hibiscus (Hibiscus trionum) petals that had not yet developed striations to see if it was possible to mechanically induce the patterns. "The ACME developed by Dr. Sarah Robinson gave us the unique chance to investigate if Hibiscus striation patterns could be mechanically induced.'' said Dr. Chiara Airoldi, in the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences and first author.

"We saw striations appear almost instantaneously when a mechanical stress was applied. This told us that it was buckling that was causing a wrinkling of the petal surface and not a slower biological process. We were able to measure the striations and show that they had the same properties as they do when they develop naturally. One of the big surprises was that we could also induce striations at 90 degrees to the striations that naturally occur, which indicates that the orientation of the striations is not pre-patterned. However, we could not induce striations in other parts of the petals, suggesting that the ability to form striations is under genetic control," said Dr. Robinson.

Striations appear almost instantaneously when a mechanical stress was applied to proximal (purple) adaxial region of Hibiscus trionum petals. The movie is in real-time. Credit: Sarah Robinson

The buckling occurs in the cuticle, which is a waxy surface covering made up of two layers. It is these two layers with different mechanical properties that makes the buckling possible.

"Using buckling theory we postulated a model and recreated the experiment. This allowed us to illustrate why some cuticles wrinkle and others do not, emphasizing the role of layers." said Dr. Carlos Lugo, in the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences.

Using buckling theory the researchers postulated a model and recreated the experiment. This allowed them to illustrate why some cuticles wrinkle and others do not, emphasising the role of layers in the cuticle. Credit: Sarah Robinson

"Using cryo-SEM (scanning electron microscopy) fractures we have been able to show that the cuticle that striates has two physically distinct layers. We are further investigating the development of hibiscus petal striations through a combined approach of mathematical modeling and measurements of physical properties of the layers," said Dr. Airoldi.

An estimated 35 percent of the world's crop harvest relies on animal pollinators and with pollinator populations in decline, understanding how the relationships and signaling operate between plants and pollinators is of growing importance.

More information: Mechanical buckling can pattern the light-diffracting cuticle of Hibiscus trionum, Cell Reports (2021). Journal information: Cell Reports Mechanical buckling can pattern the light-diffracting cuticle of Hibiscus trionum,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109715
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

New York City's app-based delivery workersa lifeline to city residents during the COVID-19 pandemicregularly face nonpayment or underpayment, unsanitary or unsafe working conditions and the risk of violence, according to a new report released Sept. 13 by Los Deliveristas / Worker's Justice Project and the Cornell University ILR School's Worker Institute.

The report, "Essential but Unprotected," examines the working conditions of app-based delivery workers engaged by digital platforms such as UberEATS, Doordash and GrubHub to deliver food to consumers in New York City.

"New York City's food delivery workers risk their lives to bring hot, fresh meals to the doors of thousands every day," said Ileen A. DeVault, professor of labor history at the ILR School and academic director of The Worker Institute.

"This report reveals the harrowing world these workers live in. They face danger everywhereon the busy streets, in constant exposure to health threats, through low wages that trap their families in poverty, and through discrimination and unfair treatment by many 'employers,' restaurant owners and customers," DeVault said. "This report is a starting place for desperately needed reform."

The experience of app-based food couriers in New York City illustrates the challenges that workers and advocates confront in achieving labor protections in the digital platform economy, researchers said. Like all workers in the gig-economy, platform workers fall in gray areas or outright gaps of existing legal frameworks, such that their employment status and relationship with the platforms remain unregulated.

The survey results revealed that the already precarious work conditions of food couriers only worsened during the pandemic, including issues of underpayment or nonpayment of base pay and tips. Around 42% of workers who participated in the study reported experiencing non-payment or underpayment.

The survey also found that for delivery workers, the workplace comprises the city streets, the restaurants where they pick up food, customers' front doors and building lobbies and elevators. Although delivery workers are considered essential workers, they lack basic safeguards and sanitary conditions at work. Forty-nine percent of survey respondents reported having been in an accident or crash while making a delivery. Of these workers, 75% said that they had paid for the medical care with their personal funds.

The most serious danger that delivery workers confront is becoming victims of violent assault when their electric bikes are stolen. This widespread issue also worsened during the pandemic. Fifty-four percent of the survey participants reported having experienced bike theft, and about 30% of these said that they were physically assaulted during the robbery.

The report involved both primary and secondary research, including a survey of 500 app-based couriers doing deliveries in New York City, focus groups with workers and individual interviews. The study details the harsh working conditions workers face in the unregulated industry.

The goals of the research, funded by the Workers' Justice Project, with additional support from the ILR School and the state of New York, are to raise awareness among stakeholders about the pressing issues that app-based delivery workers face in the largely unregulated platform economy and to help inform policy and organizational solutions to such issues.

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Traditionally, the Faroe Islands hunt pilot whales and not dolphins.

The government of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, faced an outcry on Tuesday over the culling of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins in a day in what was said to be the single biggest hunt in the northern archipelago.

"There is no doubt that the Faroese whale hunts are a dramatic sight to people unfamiliar to the hunts and slaughter of mammals," a government spokesman told AFP.

"The hunts are, nevertheless, well organised and fully regulated," he said.

Traditionally, the North Atlantic islandswhich have a population of around 50,000 peoplehunt pilot whales and not dolphins, the spokesman said.

"There are usually a few of them in the 'grind', but we normally don't kill such a large number," said a local television journalist, Hallur av Rana.

The "grindadrap" is a practice whereby the hunters first surround the whales with a wide semi-circle of fishing boats and then drive them into a bay to be beached and slaughtered.

Photos showing the bloodied corpses of more than 1,000 Atlantic white-sided dolphins on the beach sparked outrage on social media.

"It looks quite extreme and it took some time to kill them all, while it's usually pretty quick," av Rana said.

According to av Rana, some 53 percent of the islands' population are opposed to hunting dolphins.

There are however no plans to abolish the "grind", which authorities insist is a sustainable way of hunting.

Sea Shepherd, a charity that campaigns against the hunting of whales and dolphins, described it as a "barbaric practice".

According to local estimates, there are around 100,000 pilot whales in the waters around the Faroe Islands and around 600 were killed last year.

Explore further Up to 50 pilot whales killed in Faroes: activists

 2021 AFP
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers at the University of Missouri have found chronic wasting diseasea fatal illness found in deer that affects their neurological system and causes chronic weight losshas spread fivefold among Kansas counties, raising concerns about the spread of the disease and the importance of educating hunters about it.

"In 2009, there were only six Kansas counties with confirmed positive cases of chronic wasting disease, and by 2020, there were 32 Kansas counties with confirmed positive cases," said Zoe Koestel, a doctoral student at MU. "There has definitely been an increase in the prevalence of this disease, so our surveillance research will help better track the spread of the disease and possibly identify clusters or patterns, which can inform management efforts."

Koestel works with Ram Raghavan, a professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Health Professions, and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, to test samples of hunted deer at MU's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. After analyzing more than 1,900 samples from last year's deer hunting season, they identified chronic wasting disease in seven eastern Kansas counties where the disease was previously undetected.

The project involves collaborating with taxidermists, wildlife biologists, game wardens and individual hunters, who collect and send the lymph nodes of their hunted deer to the MU College of Veterinary Medicine, where the samples are tested for chronic wasting disease.

"If a test comes back positive, I will call the hunter to let them know the CDC advises against eating the meat of diseased animals," Koestel said.

Chronic wasting disease has been spreading throughout the United States for decades, despite efforts to contain it. Since it was first discovered in Colorado in 1967, the disease has now been identified in deer in 26 states, and the Midwest has seen a particularly sharp increase of its prevalence recently.

Currently, there are no reports of humans becoming infected with chronic wasting disease by eating the meat of a deer with the disease. However, similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease is caused by misfolded proteins called prions, which cannot be eliminated by traditional means such as cooking or heating.

There is evidence that mad cow disease can be transmitted to humans by ingestion of diseased beef. According to the CDC, four deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a human prion disease, have been identified in the United States, which has helped raise awareness regarding the consumption of meat from diseased animals.

"This project not only helps us track the spread of the disease, it also helps raise awareness for hunters because we want them and their families to stay as safe as possible," Koestel said. "Hunters are the world's original conservationists, and they often ask how they can help our efforts. The more samples we receive from hunters, the better we can track the spread of chronic wasting disease."

The testing results may provide key insights on not just where the disease is currently located, but where it might be detected in the future.

"At the 'One Health' laboratory in MU's Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, we investigate how wildlife and other diseases change trends in geographical areas over time, so these results provide helpful information to public health officials so more tailored management efforts may be considered," Koestel said.

As hunting license purchases and excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment, collected through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, make up a large component of funding for state wildlife agencies, Koestel is also interested to see how the increased prevalence of chronic wasting disease, as well as the ability to test harvested animals for the disease, will impact hunter perceptions moving forward.

"Hopefully this research leads to more awareness about the disease so hunters are inclined to have their harvested deer tested for it," Koestel said.

Programs such as Share the Harvest, which allows hunters to donate surplus venison to low-income families in Missouri, will only accept and package meat that tests negative from the 29 Missouri counties within the state's Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone.

"It feels good to contribute to sampling efforts that will add knowledge about this disease so it can be managed among deer and also potentially prevent it from jumping to other species, particularly humans," Koestel said. "This is a great example of the 'One Health' concept, as the health of humans, animals and the environment are all intertwined and affect one another."

Explore further Chronic wasting disease found in deer in 24 states
London at night, seen from the International Space Station. Different colors are visible, showing different lighting technologies. Credit A.Sanchez de Miguel, ESA, NASA

Global light pollution has increased by at least 49% over 25 years, new research shows.

This figure only includes light visible via satellites, and scientists estimate the true increase may be significantly higherup to 270% globally, and 400% in some regions.

The study, led by the University of Exeter, examined light emissions from 1992 to 2017.

The findings show differing regional trends, but emissions have increased almost everywhere and there is "limited evidence" that improved technology has cut light pollution.

"The global spread of artificial light is eroding the natural night-time environment," said first author Dr. Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"This study provides clear evidence not only of how bad light pollution has become as a global problem, but also that it is continuing to get worse, and probably at a faster and faster rate."

The study highlights the "hidden impact" of the transition to solid-state light emitting diode (LED) technology.

LEDs emit more blue light than previous lamp technologies, but satellite sensors are blind to this blue light and so underestimate the level of emissions.

Correcting for this, the authors say the actual increase in the power emitted by outdoor lighting, and thus of light pollution, may be as high as 270%.

The study finds persistently increasing light pollution in Asia, South America, Oceania and Africa.

In Europe, detected light increased until around 2010 and the leveled off, and in North America it appears to be in decline.

However, the researchers say the shift towards blue-rich LEDs masks the fact that light pollution has increased in most locations.

"To take the UK as an example, if you ignore the effect of the switch to LEDswhich has been extensiveyou get the false impression that light pollution has recently declined," said Dr. Sanchez de Miguel.

"However, correcting for this effect shows it has really increased, and potentially very markedly.

"Contrary to popular belief, the installation of 'broad white' LED streetlights, whilst potentially providing some energy savings, has increased light pollution and also the impacts on organisms such as moths."

Ruskin Hartley, Executive Director of the International Dark-Sky Association, said, "Over the past 25 years, the transition to solid-state LED lighting has been accompanied by rapid increases in light pollution globally.

"Without concerted action to reverse this trend, the impact on the natural environment will accelerate, further exacerbating the biodiversity crisis, wasting energy, and meaning a whole generation will grow up in perpetual twilight."

Many studies have now shown that light pollution, from streetlights and other sources, can have major impacts on the natural environment.

Such pollution is likely to have played a role in the massive declines of insect populations.

The paper, published in the journal Remote Sensing, is entitled "First estimation of global trends in nocturnal power emissions reveals acceleration of light pollution."

The University of Exeter has launched a Green Futures campaign and website to drive action on the environment and climate emergency.

Explore further Light pollution has complex effects on animal vision

More information: Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel et al, First Estimation of Global Trends in Nocturnal Power Emissions Reveals Acceleration of Light Pollution, Remote Sensing (2021). Alejandro Sanchez de Miguel et al, First Estimation of Global Trends in Nocturnal Power Emissions Reveals Acceleration of Light Pollution,(2021). DOI: 10.3390/rs13163311
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In a new paper, a group of leading researchers and policy experts argue that improving and enriching existing policy analysis methods  including costs and benefits among multiple other factors such as uncertainty, resilience and a better understanding of innovation  would lead to better decisions.

It addresses the recent amendment of the UK's guidelines for policy analysis, which identifies the need for special treatment of policies that aim to drive systemic "transformational change," including climate policies.

The paper's authors say "inadequacies" in the way policies are devised might be hindering global climate action.

Ahead of the vital COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow later this year, they offer improved principles for policymaking during times of dynamic and transformational change.

The paper comes from the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition (EEIST) project, led by the University of Exeter.

"Calculations of the economic costs and benefits of policies, although they are considered alongside other considerations, have substantial influence on decisions," said EEIST director Dr Jean-Francois Mercure, of Exeter's Global Systems Institute.

"In periods of rapid change  like now  it's extremely difficult to accurately estimate these costs and benefits, especially far in the future."

"We don't have enough certainty about the future to make sufficiently reliable predictions, so we need to consider how to use uncertainty to our advantage."

"This is what our framework offers."

As well as switching the focus away from an excessive reliance on costs, benefits and economic valuation, towards evaluating risks, opportunities and resilience, the new framework:

considers multiple interacting factors, acknowledging that changes will need to be made in light of changing circumstances.

analyzes processes of transformation instead of predicting outcomes at a moment in time.

Co-author Simon Sharpe, policy lead for COP26 at the UK Government's Cabinet Office, said: "Policymaking on issues such as climate change involves fundamental uncertainty, widely differing interests and the potential for structural change in the economy."

"We make better decisions when these factors are the focus of our analysis, not assumed away or left on the sidelines."

In one example of "static" cost-benefit analysis hindering global climate action, such analysis suggested that replacing coal with gas would be the cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions.

However, this ignored the dynamic "feedbacks" (self-reinforcing chain reactions) that through a complex process of cumulative innovation and industrial development, eventually drove renewables to become the cheapest form of electricity generation.

During the COVID pandemic, governments have been forced to react quickly to rapidly changing situations, and this may offer hope for more agile policy in future.

The EEIST research team will further develop the framework and analyze its benefits for policymakers as they respond to the accelerating climate crisis.

The paper, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, is entitled: "Risk-opportunity analysis for transformative policy design and appraisal."

Explore further Economic cost of climate change could be six times higher than previously thought

More information: Jean-Francois Mercure et al, Risk-opportunity analysis for transformative policy design and appraisal, Global Environmental Change (2021). Jean-Francois Mercure et al, Risk-opportunity analysis for transformative policy design and appraisal,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102359
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A Russian Soyuz rocket has blasted into space carrying 34 new satellites from British operator Oneweb, which aims to provide broadband internet everywhere in the world.

The rocket, operated by Europe's Arianespace, took off at 1807 GMT Tuesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, broadcast live by the Russian Roscosmos space agency.

"The launch went to plan," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Telegram.

It was the sixth launch of OneWeb satellites this year, the last one having been on August 22.

OneWeb is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low-earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries worldwide.

The company is competing against billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the race to provide fast internet for the world's remote areas via satellites.

The UK company plans for its global commercial internet service to be operational by next year, supported by some 650 satellites.

Arianespace, which has worked with Russia for close to two decades, is under contract to make 16 Soyuz launches between December 2020 and the end of 2022.

With this latest mission, a total of 288 satellites are now in orbit for the constellation.

Explore further Russian rocket launches 34 new UK satellites

 2021 AFP
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers.
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" " A firefighter battles a wildfire in the Smidovich Nature Reserve in the Republic of Mordovia where 55 firefighters and 18 units of equipment were sent to battle a fire and got trapped because of sudden strong winds. Russia Emergencies Ministry/TASS via Getty Images

This summer, severe consequences of climate change were felt around the world: tornadoes, hurricanes, flash floods and wildfires. In Russia, for example, 2021 has been one of the country's worst wildfire seasons ever. At one point, more than 300 wildfires burned simultaneously; those burning in Siberia combined to be bigger than all other fires in the world combined.

What's happening with these wildfires in Siberia? Russia, Siberia in particular, is known as one of the coldest places in the world, yet each year, it experiences more wildfires of increasing severity. This year was the worst after 2012, with more than 43 million acres (17.5 million hectares) burned, according to Zhenya Naumova, Greenpeace Russia's fire response project manager. The biggest fires were in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia region) in the northeastern part of Siberia (many are still burning as of this publication), as well as fires in the Ural Mountains and southern regions of Siberia.

Thousands of firefighters, along with soldiers, emergency responders and even agricultural workers have been mobilized to fight the blazes. In many places however, officials need even more volunteers and financial resources. And some fires aren't being fought at all; in areas without a lot of infrastructure and few people and settlements, authorities are just letting the massive fires burn.

"The problem is that if the fires start in these zones and they don't send any emergency firefighters there when it's much easier to stop it, then the fire becomes bigger and bigger and the scale becomes so high that you cannot actually stop the fire," Naumova says. But, according to Naumova and Greenpeace, these wildfires should all be fought when they are small so that they don't get out of control and spread. Unfortunately, right now there is inadequate funding to fight all the fires.

" " An employee of the Russian Emergencies Ministry battles a wildfire in Russia's Sakha Republic (Yakutia). On Aug. 8, a state of emergency was declared in the region as forest fires spread to populated areas. Russia Emergencies Ministry/TASS via Getty Images

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What's Causing These Fires?

Nine out of every 10 of these wildfires are caused by human activities, Naumova says. That includes things like campfires that aren't put out, sparks from passing coal trains or old electrical lines breaking. The other one of the 10 fires is caused by lightning.

While human accidents and faulty infrastructure doesn't necessarily have much to do with climate change, the conditions caused by climate change make the fires easier to start and make them more severe once they do. Siberia is one of the fastest warming places on Earth, with average monthly temperatures in 2020 averaging more than 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) above the average for the period between 1981 and 2010.

"Climate change is making the conditions more convenient for fire to start," Naumova says. "It's drier, it's hotter and there's more lightning in some areas. When all these conditions are put together, the possibility for fires is higher, and the possible scale for fire is getting higher, increasing potential harm that the fire is bringing."

In addition, helping the fires grow so large and so fast is an infestation of silkworms, which kill the trees, leaving forests full of dry wood, ready to go up in flames.

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Should the World Be Worried?

Yes, according to scientists and activists. Nearby villages in Siberia end up blanketed with toxic smoke, meaning the residents end up breathing unhealthy air and living in apocalyptic-looking landscapes.

Along with the damage these fires can do to the environment, people and wildlife, the fires also release stored carbon and methane into the atmosphere, contributing to the very global warming that is increasing their frequency and severity in the first place. According to data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, between June 1 and Aug. 15, 2021, fires in the Sakha Republic released nearly 881 million tons (800 million metric tons) of CO2.

Roughly 65 percent of Russia is also covered by permafrost. As this permafrost thaws due to fires and warming temperatures, soil microbes begin to decompose and release even more CO2 into the atmosphere, along with methane, a greenhouse gas around 30 times more potent than carbon.

" " A blanket of smog covers the city around the village of Kharyyalakh in Sakha, Russia, as air pollution increases from the massive wildfires. Ivan Nikiforov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

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What Is Being Done to Mitigate the Fires?

Not nearly enough, says Naumova.

"On the state level, there is still no clear plan to act against fires because of climate change, and no clear plan to act against climate change at all actually," she says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has questioned the science of human-caused climate change before, and even emphasized the positive impacts warming temperatures could have. For example, he's suggested that melting ice means more access to shipping routes and less difficulty searching for minerals, oil and gas. More recently however, Putin has acknowledged the connection between the climate change and the growing natural disasters.

Given the catastrophic fire season of 2021, Putin announced that funding for firefighting will go up threefold. There are also plans to plant trees in scorched areas, which Naumova says is an unnecessary waste of time and money, because the forests recover quite well on their own when people don't get in the way.

What Naumova and Greenpeace Russia would like to see happen is a further increase to spending on firefighting. In addition, Naumova said they would like to see every fire fought from early stages as opposed to leaving some to burn. They also want to forbid using fire to clear the land for agriculture and industry. And most of all they want to end risky activities like leaving burning campfires and smoking in the forest  and to improve infrastructure that could start fires to begin with.

"We know that nine out of 10 fires happen because of human activities, and this means that if we are changing the mindsets and becoming more careful with fires in our normal life and in industrial activities, then we actually can minimize this amount of fires happening," Naumova says.

Now That's Crazy NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Earth-monitoring tool showed smoke from the massive Russian wildfires reaching all the way to the North Pole for possibly the first time in history Aug. 6, 2021.
 Action beginning on Biden clemency plan for some drug offenders in CARES home confinement cohort | Main | NACDL produces notable new report on data-driven policing and racial bias in criminal justice system 

September 14, 2021

Last call for "Donald Trumps Theatre of Pardoning: What Did We Learn?"

Today is the day for this online panel, the first in a terrific series of online panels exploring in depth federal clemency powers. As explained in this prior post, this series is jointly organized by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, the Federal Sentencing Reporter, and the David F. and Constance B. Girard-diCarlo Center for Ethics, Integrity and Compliance at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

A whole lot of folks are doing great work putting this series together, and Margaret Love merits extra praise for her efforts and for helping to assemble writings on these timely topics in Volume 33, Issue 5 of the Federal Sentencing Reporter (which largely provides the foundation for these panels). Here are more details about today's first panel:

Donald Trumps Theatre of Pardoning: What Did We Learn? Tuesday, September 14, 2021 | 12:30  2:00 p.m. EDT | Zoom (Register here) This panel will examine the unusual nature of President Donald Trumps pardoning, looking at the grants themselves and the process that produced them. Professors Bernadette Meyler and Frank Bowman, both scholars of the pardon power, will look to history for anything comparable to Trumps use of the pardon power, and comment on its implications for the role that pardon has historically played in the U.S. justice system. Amy Povah will share her experiences as someone who was personally involved in recommending cases to the White House at the end of the Trump Administration. Kenneth Vogel will share his experiences as a journalist covering Trumps pardons for the New York Times. This panel will set the stage for the two subsequent panels about the future of presidential pardoning, by asking basic questions about the role of a regular pardon process and the result of it having been sidelined by Trump. It will also consider whether Trumps pardons were an aberration or the predictable result of trends in pardoning over the past thirty years. Panelists: Frank Bowman, Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law

Bernadette Meyler, Carl and Sheila Spaeth Professor of Law, Stanford Law School

Amy Povah, founder, CAN-DO Justice through Clemency

Kenneth Vogel, New York Times Moderator: Margaret Love, executive director, Collateral Consequences Resource Center and former U.S. Pardon Attorney

September 14, 2021 at 09:26 AM | Permalink

Comments

"I guess we learned not to do it again." That's only half joking.

But more seriously, I chuckle at this synopsis of the series. "unusual"? Talk about understatement of the millennium. "process"? If he had a process, that's news to me. Bribing people close to him like Dershowitz I don't think qualifies for that description. Beyond that, can you name *any* aspect of his "administration" that had a process? "aberration or the predictable result of trends"? That's hardly a close call that warrants extensive discussion.

Posted by: kotodama | Sep 14, 2021 5:26:54 PM

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The letter, which was spearheaded by the advocacy group The Weldon Project, includes signatures from celebrities such as Drake, Killer Mike, Deion Sanders, Al Harrington and Kevin Garnett. Kazan will also participate in a live-streamed event today airing on Vimeo and moderated by Politico reporter Mona Zhang, at 11:00 a.m. PT to discuss the letter and reinforce the case to provide clemency to all federal nonviolent marijuana offenders.

"The harms of incarceration are obvious, but the pains of federal marijuana convictions transcend prison walls, making it more difficult for someone to get a job, access affordable housing, and receive an education. A conviction can forever limit an individual's constitutional rights and can put the American dream further out of reach for an entire family. Enough is enough. No one should be locked up in federal prison for marijuana. No one should continue to bear the scarlet letter of a federal conviction for marijuana offenses," the letter says, noting that three-quarters of the states have now abandoned the federal government's blanket criminal ban in favor of safe, regulated legal access to marijuana for adults and/or those with qualifying medical conditions.

The request to U.S. President Biden comes at a time when an overwhelming 68% of U.S. adults support the federal legalization of cannabis, and 1 in 3 Americans live in states where cannabis is legal for adults to use. Thousands of individuals are currently incarcerated in the United States for nonviolent cannabis-related crimes, while countless others have had their rights and livelihoods stripped away because of prior arrests and sentences....

The letter to President Biden points out that a full pardon of federal marijuana offenders is consistent with the Constitution and past practices of presidents from both political parties. "In 1974, President Ford established a program of conditional clemency for Selective Service Act violators. In 1977, President Carter issued a categorical pardon to all Selective Service Act violators, closing the book on a costly and painful war. President Biden has the power to do the same for the federal war on marijuana. Through his act of constitutional grace, a general clemency will send a clear and powerful message that our country is truly taking a new course on criminal justice policy and practice." In December of 2020, Angelos was fully pardoned by President Trump.

The stories of those who would be helped by a pardon are compelling: Drake, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, Killer Mike, and dozens of other hip-hop artists, for example, signed on in support of their friend and fellow rapper Ralo, who is facing 8 years for a nonviolent cannabis offense. "I appreciate my friends and peers in the hip-hop community, especially Drake, supporting my clemency because it's just not right that corporations are allowed to violate federal law and become millionaires while people like myself go to prison for years," Ralo said. "This is hypocrisy. I hope that Joe Biden honors his campaign promise and grants us clemency without delay, so I can return to my family and community."
DUBLIN, September 14, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "India Water Purifier Market Outlook, 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In the last few years, the Asia Pacific and majorly China, India & Bangladesh are experiencing a potential growth in water purifier sales due to an increase in water pollution, rising health awareness, rising disposable income, etc.

India Water Purifier Market is expected to grow with a CAGR of more than 9% in the forecasted period of FY 2020-21 to FY 2025-26. Overall Water Purifier is segmented into organized water purifier market and unorganized water purifier market.

Further segments are covered based on By Technologies where RO+ water purifier is dominating the major market share followed by offline water purifiers. In review year organized market has a CAGR of more than 14% by value and reaches the volume of more than 100 Lakhs unit in the year 2019-20.

The growth in the water purifier market has been largely driven by the rising awareness about drink pure water and growth in disposable income of the middle class where water purifiers have become the inevitable part of houses. According to our research share of institutional end-users is also growing at a pace of more than 6% in the forecasted period. Increasing water pollution in the country and the lack of freshwater supply by municipalities also drive the demand.

The total market is made up of organized and unorganized players having huge price differences between them. Unorganized players are slowly becoming organized through easy online platforms. E-commerce has created huge differences in the distribution channels of all players whether organized or unorganized. Demand at the top end (electric) of the water purifier market, as well as the bottom end (non-electric/gravity-based), is showing strong growth.

To compete with a low price Chinese product penetration domestic players are adopting strong marketing strategies and got standards approval for the quality of their products. GOI's Make in India policies and restrictions on the import of Chinese and Korean products helping domestic companies.

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Also, export in neighboring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka is growing. Leading companies spend more on branding advertisements through celebrities. Eureka signed Madhuri Dixit for marketing its brand Aquaguard. Hindustan Uniliver signed Farhan Akhtar and Prachi Desai as brand ambassadors for 'Pureit Marvella RO. Kent RO signed Hema Malini and Sachin Tendulkar.

Other companies covered in this report are Livpure, Okaya power, Blue star, Panasonic, Havells, and LG Electronics and Ion exchange. In the last 5 years companies like Whirlpool, AO Smith, and Hi-Tech Sweet Water Technologies are successfully established in the Indian water purifier market.

Key aspects covered in the report "India Water Purifier Market Outlook, 2026" are the following:

Global market size outlook By value, By volume

Global market share outlook By type, By technologies, By Sales Channel, By Region & By Companies

Indian market size outlook By organized and Unorganized sector

Indian market share outlook By companies, By region, By state, By technologies, By end User, By organized-Unorganized sector

RO+ water purifier market size By value & Volume and Share by product type RO, RO+UV, RO+UF & RO+UV+UF & technological developments

UV water purifier market size By Value and Volume & technological developments

Offline water purifier market size By Value and Volume & technological developments

Trade dynamics (Import & Export), Market dynamics (Drivers and Challenges)

Key trends, Competitive analysis & Strategic Recommendation

CONSIDERED IN THE REPORT

Base year: 2019-20

Historical year: 2014-15

Forecasted year: 2025-26

Companies Mentioned

A. O. Smith India Water Products Private Limited

Blue Star Limited

Eureka Forbes Ltd

Havells India Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited

HI Tech Sweet Water Technologies Private Limited

Ion Exchange India Limited

Kent RO Systems Limited

Livpure Private Limited

LG Electronics India Private Limited

Okaya Power Private Limited

Panasonic India Private Limited

Tata Chemicals Limited

Whirlpool of India Limited

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/f9ty5w

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005668/en/

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(Corrects bullet point and second paragraph to show the company aims to be valued at 270-300 mln stg, and is not looking to raise that amount)

By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters) - British mid and small-cap investment bank Peel Hunt said on Tuesday it plans to list on London's AIM market to raise money to expand its operations and technology as well as bolstering its capital position.

The company expects to be valued at between 270 million and 300 million pounds ($373.57 million-$415.08 million) after a placing of ordinary shares according to a source familiar with the matter.

Alongside its intention to float, Peel Hunt updated on its current trading and said it had posted full-year 2021 revenues of 196.8 million pounds ($272.15 million), up from 95.5 million in the previous year.

"Having expanded significantly over the last ten years, Peel Hunt is now well established as a leading UK mid and small-cap focused investment bank," Chief Executive Steven Fine said in a statement.

"The IPO represents an important milestone in our journey and allows us to accelerate our growth plans, building on the strong momentum in our business."

Peel Hunt was founded in 1989 and bought by Belgium's KBC in 2001 but is now majority-owned by current and former employees after a staff buyout in 2010.

The broker said it had appointed the former global head of equity capital markets at UBS, Lucinda Riches, as a non-executive director with a view to her taking over as chairman from Simon Hayes who is due to step down next year.

At the end of August Peel Hunt said it had 157 corporate clients with an average market capitalisation of around 775 million pounds and distributed its equity research to more than 1,200 institutions.

The company is also a provider of trade execution services to UK retail platforms and brokers, and said in the year ended March 2021, 47% of all retail trade value in Britain was dealt on its trading platform.

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($1 = 0.8470 euros)

($1 = 0.7231 pounds)

(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)
Japan outgoing PM Suga led cooperation with Southeast Asia countries (Getty Images)

Japan warned its citizens on Monday against a possible attack in six Southeast Asian countries, urging them to stay away from religious sites.

The Japanese foreign ministry said it had obtained information that there are increased risks such as suicide bombings.

This rare warning applies to Japanese citizens in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar.

None of these countries can be considered a rival or enemy of Japan, and relations between Tokyo and most of them are relatively stable.

Over the past decades, Japan has led a successful diplomatic campaign to bolster its influence in the Southeast Asian region to counter Chinas similar assertive strategy through economic cooperation, alternative connectivity initiatives, and security engagements.

This is why Mondays warning sent shockwaves in several of these nations.

The website of the Japanese embassy in Malaysia issued an alert on Monday morning.

There is information that there is an increasing possibility that suicide bomb attacks will occur in places where many people gather, such as places of worship, it said

We ask all Japanese residents to remain vigilant against terrorist attacks, it added

The statement asked Japanese residents to avoid visiting places that could be possible targets, including Western-owned facilities such as restaurants and hotels.

But many among the other countries mentioned in the Japanese advisory said they were surprised at the announcement and had no knowledge of such a threat or details from Japan as to the source of its information.

Tanee Sangrat, a spokesman for Thailands 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.

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The warning included instructions to Japanese citizens to follow local news closely and use caution for the time being without further details.

When asked by AP, Japans Foreign Ministry refused to specify whether the information was shared with other countries and also refrained from revealing its source.

According to the foreign ministry, the advisory has been sent to the Japanese embassies in the countries concerned to be directed to Japanese citizens.

Additional reporting by AP
ITE College Central at 2 Ang Mo Kio Drive (PHOTO: Google Street View)

SINGAPORE  A man who had viciously stabbed his ex-wife in the carpark of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central in 2018 had been upset over the division of matrimonial assets, and over the womans alleged infidelity, the High Court heard on Tuesday (14 September).

Seet Cher Hng, 69, stabbed Low Swee Geok, Divisional Director of the Examinations Division at the Ang Mo Kio institution in 19 July 2018, after feeling increasingly isolated and depressed by her failure to respond to his demands.

Seet then turned the knife on himself, inflicting 13 stab wounds on his chest and abdomen, but survived.

At the start of his trial on Tuesday (14 September), Seet indicated his desire to plead guilty to his charge of murder under section 300(c) of the penal code, which states that he intentionally caused such bodily injury as is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause the death of Low, who was 56.

However, as he cannot plead guilty to a capital charge under the law, the trial proceeded with the prosecution reading the opening statement and submitting 47 conditioned statements from witnesses, including eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime, pathologists and analysts from the Health Sciences Authority and the police officers involved in the case.

Seet was then called on by Justice Aedit Abdullah to take the stand, but declined to give evidence, stating, I wish to plead guilty and I do not wish to give evidence.

Justice Abdullah said that he was satisfied that the charge of murder had been made out and convicted Seet of murder, some one hour into the hearing.

Seet's lawyer, Wendell Wong, told the court that Seets main intention behind pleading guilty had been to shield his daughter, whom he "loved dearly", and other loved ones from re-living the tragedy. His sister, who was present in court, was given some time to speak to Seet after the hearing. "This is a painful family tragedy, a life lost and a family shattered," said Wong.

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The prosecution stated that it would not be objecting to life imprisonment for Seet, while Wong also said that he would be proceeding on the same basis for mitigation.

The hearing was then adjourned to 22 September for sentencing. Seet faces the death penalty or life imprisonment. He cannot be caned as he is above 50.

Breakdown of marriage and Seet's beliefs of wife's 'infidelity'

Seet and Low married on 7 April 1993 but divorced on 13 June 2011. Seet retired from his job at the ITE Headquarters on 30 June 2017, and relied on monthly payouts from his Central Provident Fund.

After the couple's divorce, Seet became unhappy with his share of the proceeds from the division of matrimonial assets  a condominium unit jointly owned by the couple. He also blamed the divorce on Lows alleged infidelity.

Between 2011 to 2018, Seet demanded via email that Low pay him a sum varying from $200,000 to $500,000 as his share of the proceeds as well as compensation for the alleged infidelity. He left a letter on the windscreen of her car at the carpark of ITE College Central sometime before Chinese New Year in 2018. He demanded $500,000 and threatened to commence legal proceedings in the letter.

However, Low ignored his letters and emails, and Seet became increasingly more isolated, upset and depressed, Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun told the court.

Seet made plans

On 17 July 2018, Seet reserved a car from a car-sharing platform, to use on 19 July from 4pm to 10pm. He picked up the car from Clementi on 19 July and drove to ITE College Central.

He brought along with him a haversack containing three knives, a spanner, and a note addressed to the police, dated 12 April 2018. One of these knives had two sets of numerals 010609 and 020609, engraved on its blade. These numbers represented the dates which Seet believed he caught Low having an affair  and served as a reminder to him of her alleged infidelity.

Seet arrived at ITE College Central at about 4.41pm and drove around Carpark K to look for Lows car. He parked some 30 lots away and lay in wait for her, intending to enter her car just before she drove off.

Low appeared at about 7.33pm and entered the driver's side of her car. Seet then made his move, entering the front passenger side door of her car with his haversack, causing Low to scream. Seet grabbed his ex-wifes arm to prevent her escape but she slipped out of his grasp after a brief struggle.

Low stepped out of her car but fell. Seet followed quickly behind, getting out from the front passenger side with a knife in his right hand. He went around the back of the car, towards her, and stabbed her repeatedly  in her left upper chest, left mid-back and left lower back. While the stab wounds to her chest and abdomen were fatal, each individual wound was enough to cause her death by severe bleeding, the court heard. Low sustained a total of eight stab and incised wounds.

Seet then stabbed his own torso repeatedly before collapsing on top of his ex-wife. Police officers and paramedics who were alerted to the scene by a 999 call from a witness pronounced Low dead at the scene at 8.03pm.

Seet was also conveyed to hospital where he was found with 13 stab wounds, some of which caused liver lacerations. He eventually recovered from his injuries and was assessed by a psychiatrist, who stated that he did not suffer from a major mental disorder and was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence.

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

Geneva [Switzerland], September 14 (ANI/Xinhua): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged world leaders to join the Food Systems Summit to be held on September 23 with ambitious commitments.

"As leaders prepare for the historic Food Systems Summit on September 23, I urge everyone to come with ambitious commitments to feed hope for a better future. It is our moral imperative to keep our promise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030," he said in a statement ahead of the summit, which is to be held during the high-level week of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly.

"The international community has a vital opportunity to help advance the vision of the 2030 Agenda by transforming how we produce, process and consume food," said Guterres. "A well-functioning food system can help prevent conflict, protect the environment and provide health and livelihoods for all. In food, there is hope."

Over the past 18 months, as the COVID-19 pandemic physically pushed people apart, the Food Systems Summit will bring them together through a remarkable process of global engagement. They are united around the simple idea that food can help accelerate actions and bring in solutions to achieve all of the SDGs and recover better from COVID-19, he said. (ANI/Xinhua)
Children aged five to 11 in the US could be offered a COVID vaccine by the end of October. (Getty)

Children aged five and over will be the next group to be offered a coronavirus vaccine, a public health expert has said.

On Monday, the UKs chief medical officers said healthy children aged 12 to 15 should be offered one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

In England, invitations for one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech jab will begin next week, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed on Tuesday.

Pfizer is now reportedly preparing its case for vaccinating children aged five to 11 in various countries, with the US expected to offer jabs to that group by the end of October.

Watch: COVID vaccine approved for 12- to 15-year-olds in UK

Professor Devi Sridhar, personal chair in global public health at the University of Edinburgh, told ITVs Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that Pfizer is applying for its vaccine to be rolled out to young children in the US.

She said: It looks like Pfizer is going for approval of the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds in the United States in October, so this is going to be the next issue on the horizon  once we deal with the 12- to 17-year-olds, whether we do that for the under-12s.

The Reuters news agency reported at the end of last week that top US health officials believe Pfizers vaccine could be authorised for five- to 11-year-olds by the end of next month.

COVID-19 vaccine doses in the UK. (PA)

It is thought that Pfizer will have enough data from clinical trials to seek emergency-use authorisation for that age group from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of September.

It is expected the FDA would take three weeks to make a decision on whether the jab is safe and effective for that age group, meaning an October rollout.

Reuters also reported that a Moderna jab for children aged five to 11 could be available in November.

In an interview last Friday with German newspaper Der Spiegel, BioNTech co-founder and chief medical officer Ozlem Tureci said the company will soon be seeking approval for the Pfizer vaccine to be used in children aged five and over  and that it will have data on the jabs impact on babies by the end of this year.

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Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, during a media briefing on Monday in which it was announced that 12- to 15-year-olds should have a COVID vaccine. (PA)

In the coming weeks, we will present the results of our study on five- to 11-year-olds to authorities worldwide and apply for approval of the vaccine for this age group, including here in Europe, she said.

The data is currently being compiled. We expect to have the data on the younger children from the age of six months by the end of the year.

Israel, which has one of the worlds highest COVID-19 vaccination rates, is already giving the Pfizer vaccine to medically vulnerable children aged five to 11.

In the UK, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) had previously advised against offering COVID-19 vaccinations to 12- to 15-year-olds, saying the medical benefits were only marginal.

However, in their advice the UKs four chief medical officers stressed the impact of missed schooling due to coronavirus on childrens education and mental wellbeing.

Prof Sridhar said mixed messaging surrounding jabs for 12- to 15-year-olds hasnt helped.

She told Good Morning Britain: There hasnt really been new evidence thats come up in the UK shift in position, so I think part of that is why we have had mixed messaging  theyre trying to explain to people why theyre doing something now that they didnt do two months ago.

Every virologist I know, whether its in Germany or in France or in the States or Canada, have gotten their child vaccinated as soon as they become eligible, it hasnt been something they struggled with, its been, Actually I want to protect my child as fast as possible.

Zahawi said parental consent would be sought before vaccines are administered to children aged 12 to 15.

Daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK. (PA)

In the rare event that a parent declined but the child wanted the jab anyway, there would be a procedure to enable them to receive it if they were deemed competent.

Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI, said there will be a grade of competency based on age when considering whether a childs decision to take a vaccine against a parents wishes can be honoured.

When asked whether he would feel comfortable about a 12-year-old child taking up their offer of a vaccine if their parent had not consented, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I wouldnt feel comfortable about that.

I think we have to be really careful that we go by the law, and the law clearly states that the child and parent should try to come to an agreed conclusion.

A teenage girl receives a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Holon, Israel, where children aged 12 to 15 have been offered jabs since June. (AFP via Getty Images)

But that if the child wants to go ahead or doesnt want to go ahead and the parent feels absolutely the opposite, then the clinician involved in administering the vaccine needs to be absolutely sure that the child is competent to make that decision.

There will be a grade of competency from the age of 16 downwards, so 14- to 15-year-olds may be deemed competent to make that decision on their own, its less likely that a 12- or 13-year-old will be deemed competent.

The government is set to outline its COVID winter plan later on Tuesday.

It is expected all over-50s will be offered a booster jab  starting with the over-70s and the most vulnerable.

The shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be administered at least six months after the second dose amid concerns the protection it gives to older people fades over time.

Watch: Lockdowns a 'last resort' to combat COVID this winter, says vaccines minister
On August 26, the Supreme Court struck down the federal eviction moratorium. That policy, enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nearly a year prior, protected renters around the country from the threat of losing their homes in the midst of the pandemic. At least 1.55 million fewer eviction cases than normal were filed while the moratorium was in place, despite economic turmoil that has left more renters than ever behind on payments.

While the exact timing of its demise came as a surprise, the end of the CDC moratorium was inevitable. The moratorium was a stop-gap measure, and one that never relieved rent obligations. Responding to pressure from tenant advocates and landlord groups, Congress appropriated $46.5 billion in emergency rental assistance in December 2020 and March 2021 to help pay off debts accrued during the moratorium. While recent news coverage has highlighted the slow distribution of these funds, the picture on the ground is more complicated.

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Some programs have done a remarkably good job of getting assistance to tenants and landlords, and it appears to be having the intended effect: Current eviction filing rates in these areas are significantly lower than in places that have been slow to distribute aid. Hopefully that momentum can be maintained even with the CDC eviction moratorium struck down. But in places that have failed to get money out the door, it may be too late to stave off a flood of evictions.

In attempting to help tenants and landlords, Congress opted to decentralize rental assistance, distributing funds to nearly 500 state, county, city, and tribal governments around the country. The most recent Treasury Department progress report on these programs shows that, through the end of July, only some $4.7 billion had been spent, barely 11 percent of the total funding made available by Congress. But there are bright spots. Nearly 30 percent of total funds in the state of Virginia have been spent, and over a quarter of all funds in Texas. While the state program in Louisiana had spent less than 5 percent of available funds, the city of New Orleans had spent more than 35 percent. The city of Sacramento had spent half the funds available to it. Still, these examples are more the exception than the norm. By the end of July, 30 states had spent less than 10 percent of total funds allocated to them.

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Not all low-spending programs should be treated as failures. In some cases, theres simply more money than there is need. Montana, for example, distributed $14.2 million by the end of July, just 4 percent of the $352 million available to the state. That looks bad on paper, but recent estimates from the National Equity Atlasa joint project of PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institutesuggest that total rental debt in Montana was only about $12 million. By that metric, Montanas program should be regarded as a success: Need has been met. The remaining fundswell over $300 millioncan soon be reallocated to states in greater need.

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On the other hand, big states like Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee have disbursed rental assistance slowly, despite considerable need. The National Equity Atlas estimates that more than a million renter households in just those five states owe nearly $2.5 billion in back rent. Yet they collectively had distributed only $431 million by the end of July, a mere 6 percent of rental assistance allocated to them. Its noteworthy that these states have also been reluctant to provide tenants with additional protections during the pandemic. Georgia and Ohio, for instance, were two of just seven states that never implemented a state-level eviction moratorium.

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Whats particularly frustrating about the slow rollout of funds in these statesand in a range of local programs nationwideis that their ultimate success likely hinges on initial performance. Programs build trust when they prove themselves capable of developing functional application systems, doing outreach, and processing claims quickly. Those that are inaccessible, slow, or unable to help tenants and landlordswhether as a result of limited technical capacity, misplaced concern about fraud, or simple negligencewill fail. If you havent been able to get more than 5 percent of available funds out the door at this point, what credibility do you have in the eyes of landlords?

Whats going wrong on the ground? The Treasury Department has encouraged a number of steps to streamline distribution of aid, such as tenant self-attestation to determine program eligibility, yet many programs havent embraced these reforms and continue to insist on collecting a substantial amount of paperwork, thereby slowing down the process. Technical glitches in application systems havent helped. For nearly two months, people trying to access New Yorks rental assistance program werent able to save an in-progress application.

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Where rental assistance is getting distributed, it seems to be having its intended effect. We paired the records of new eviction filings from June and July collected by the Eviction Lab with the Treasury Departments data on rental assistance distribution. We focused on areas in which the CDC moratorium was the only remaining eviction protectionexcluding places like New York City and Austin, Texas, that had additional protections in placeand on jurisdictions in which only a single rental assistance program was available. Eviction filings over those two months, relative to the historical average, were significantly lower in places that managed to push out a larger share of rental assistance. The differences are substantial: The city of Arlington, Texas, distributed only 9.5 percent of their initial allocation of rental assistance by the end of July and saw 846 eviction cases filed in June and July, 98 percent of the historical average. By contrast, only 162 cases were filed in Chesterfield County, Virginia, over those two months, 15 percent of the historical average in a county that had spent 88 percent of its initial rental assistance allocation. You can see the relationship in this chart:

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The end of the federal eviction moratorium may jeopardize the success of emergency rental assistance, even in places that have made good on distributing aid. Landlords intent on removing tenants now have little to restrain them.

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Still, emergency rental assistance offers the best opportunity for landlords to be made whole, and many may choose that option rather than evicting tenants in arrears. But the promise of such programs rings hollow in places that arent rapidly distributing assistance to landlords.

The rollout of emergency rental assistance serves as a reminder that policy design needs to be responsive to the needs of those it is meant to servein this case both tenants and landlords. For tenants, that means policymakers must be more sensitive to the realities of poverty in this country: that not everyone has a laptop or access to high-speed internet to complete an online application; that many people dont have email addresses; that documentation requirements arent just a hassle, but in many cases an insurmountable barrier. For landlords, it means authorities must recognize that time is of the essence. Dollars spent sooner have the potential to go a lot further in both paying down debts and buying trust.

Congress is currently weighing a once-in-a-generation expansion of the social safety net. The pandemic has made painfully clear how important such an investment is, and also provides lessons about how such programs shouldand shouldntbe designed. Now is the time to start doing social policy differently: strip away administrative burdens and thinly veiled concerns about fraud, and instead emphasize equality of access, ease of use, and timeliness. This is how we can keep people housed, and how we can begin to rebuild trust in the social welfare state.
Lindsay Ellis, a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, put out a call a little while ago for university employees who were looking to quit their jobs. She couldnt believe the response. There was a lot of anger, there was a lot of fear, and there was a lot of sadness. I dont think Ive ever seen my inbox like that, Ellis says. The last 18 months have left a lot of college employees feeling, frankly, disillusioned with the work that they do and unsure of whether the leaders of these institutions are going to sufficiently have their backs in in a pandemic. You can see one example of this in James Tierney, an assistant teaching professor of economics at Penn State who submitted his resignation in August. His biggest complaint: that his school is not requiring people on campus to be vaccinated this fall, even though its requiring a return to in-person teaching. Penn State leadership says most students are vaccinated, but Tierney isnt comforted by that. He thinks professors arent allowed to teach classes online again, like they did last year, because students want to go back to campus, and the students tuition money is what keeps the school running. On Tuesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Ellis about whats it like to work on a campus right now, with workers like Tierney feeling exploited and students feeling confused and depressed, and what might come out of this moment of reckoning for higher ed. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Lindsay Ellis: A lot of people get into higher ed because they feel like this is a stable profession. So much of the higher ed workforce over the past few decades has changed in ways that dont normally break through to public perception. I would say less than half of many faculties are tenured. Other people are contingent, hired every year, every semester. And the workload in a lot of student-facing positions is totally overwhelming for people too. These are people who are working really long hours, often on the weekend. The pay isnt great, and they dont really see an opportunity for professional advancement. That was an underlying issue before the pandemic, but COVID showed that the lows can be even lower than what people had anticipated.

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To me, the theme of these breaking-point moments is when campuses were asking their employees to give up their own personal lives, to put their health in jeopardy during the pandemic without really acknowledging what that took and what the workers were sacrificing.

Seth Stevenson: As these schools reopen, what kind of reactions are you hearing about mask and vaccine mandates, and teaching virtually as opposed to in person?

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If youre at a public institution, the policies your school can adopt have always been in line with what the state allows. But because masks and vaccines have become so politicized, its a good chance that, in Republican-leaning states, youre not going to have mandates, and people might not even be tested regularly. A lot of schools dont put up the resources for that. If youre at a private institution, youre going to have a lot more flexibility. The campus leaders there are far more likely to mandate masks and vaccines and schools in states that voted for President Joe Biden. So theres a real anger, particularly in red-state public schools, of people not feeling like the health and safety of their family members is being valued.

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The people in charge of these schools are kind of a tough spot, right? Theyve got a pretty complicated challenge to deal with.

I think there is an acknowledgment that, especially at state institutions, to some degree their hands are tied. And I think that acknowledgment is far overshadowed by a sense of, Wow, this institution, my employer, theres a lot of hypocrisy here.

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We hear a lot about adjunct professors or lecturers who seem to be doing a ton of work without a ton of compensation. If they are being exploited, why do they stick around?

I think higher ed is one of those jobs where people see it as part of their identity. When I talk to professorsadjunct, tenure-track, tenured they see it as a role where people have envisioned their whole future. So sticking around through those circumstances made sense for a lot of contingent faculty. The other piece of this is that there are so many graduate students who hit the faculty job market every year. I think, perhaps especially early in the career, theres a degree of hope there as well.

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Are you seeing fault lines between different kinds of faculty? Like, between teaching faculty versus research faculty or tenured faculty versus nontenured faculty?

I think one surprising thing is that, before the pandemic, those fault lines were very apparent, but over the course of the pandemicwhen many departments across the country reorganized, leading to cuts of even tenured faculty membersthere was a level of organization and activism among tenured and tenure-track faculty that I dont think wed seen at such a large scale before. There certainly still are divisions between these groups, but I think there is a greater awareness that everybody is vulnerable here and it makes a lot more sense to band together. Faculty members have unionized.

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Was this reckoning inevitable? Is it something that was overdue?

I think the pandemic did serve as an accelerant of some of the underlying dynamics that had predated it. One thing I have my eye out for this year is a mismatch between the needs of students and what the college workforce is able to provide, in terms of staffing levels and engagement and dedication levels. A lot of people who work on campuses really want distance and space between themselves and their own personal lives. And they no longer want to be in a work environment that has to be a calling or has to be part of their identity. Some people just want a job thats a job.

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Jenee Desmond-Harris is online weekly to chat live with readers. Heres an edited transcript of this weeks chat.

Q. Trust fail: I have a longtime friend who has a daughter with another longtime friend. For the past two years, these friends have presented themselves to me and my wife as a family, and we have been frequently social with them.

It came out in the last few weeks that this couple have not been living together for nearly two years and did not tell us. Wed been trying to schedule events with them as if they were one family unit and now we find out that they havent been for a very long time. When confronted with this deception, the response I received said something along the lines of Sorry, I thought I could fix something. I couldnt.

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Now, we understand that a couples personal business is their own; our problem is that they lied by omission for two years! Had they said something at the time, I dont think it would have been a problem, but knowing that theyve essentially just lied to our faces for two years is having an effect on the friendship. I can only ask what else theyre lying to us about.

A: Come on, you dont really think lying about this one thing (that was obviously very stressful and difficult for them) means they might be lying about other things just for fun, do you? I understand it hurts to be out of the loop, but they didnt cause you any harm and this was, in fact, their business. Theyre your friends, so you should feel free to tell them how hard it is to learn that you were left in the dark, but dont make this a bigger deal than it isespecially while theyre still in the midst of a big life transition and could probably use your support.

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How to Get Advice From Prudie:

 Send questions for publication here. (Questions may be edited.)

 Join the live chat Mondays at noon. Submit your questions and comments here before or during the discussion.

Q. Living in post-truth hell: My partner is vax-hesitant and we cant stop arguing about it. Its tearing us apart. If COVID even comes up for any reason, we end up in an argument because she questions everything related to COVID and cant resist jumping on any statement that supports the status quo. I worry that the more we argue, the further towards anti-vax quackery she moves. We both want to stop but it just keeps happening.

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She is pregnant, and I respect her hesitancy for that reason, but also, we live with a couple of public school students and I worry about her increased risk. Shes generally intelligent and science-minded, and Im at a loss how to navigate this moment in time without shredding our relationship. Help!

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A: I assume you have already shared with your partner that the vaccine is recommended for people who are pregnant, and that being pregnant means shes at higher risk for severe COVID. Also, if she does get it, she could risk preterm birth or other scary pregnancy outcomes. This is all from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Im sure her doctor would give the same advice.

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But Ive lived in this country for the past two years and I get itpeople like your partner see conspiracy theorist podcast hosts and Facebook groups as more authoritative than traditional medical experts, so theres not much use in citing scientific sources. I think your best bet here is to listen to and, to the best of your ability, pretend to validate her concerns. Dont make her feel stupid and try not to get angry with her. Just be calm and consistent in your messaging: Im really worried about you and our baby. Can you do this for me? Illustrate your concerns with stories of pregnant women and babies who have died from the virus. Then listen to her. Then repeat your fears again.

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In the meantime, work on reducing her exposure to the virus. The good news is that she does seem to believe COVID is a real thing and not, for example, a government conspiracy designed to get microchips into all of us. So encourage her to wear a mask, avoid gatherings and dining inside, and basically stay away from people. That means you volunteer to do all the errands and grocery shopping and go out of your way to keep her entertained without increasing her risk. And refuse to travel for the holidays.

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Its not fair that youre in this position or that even after your partner gives birth, youll face your next battle: making sure your children receive all the standard vaccinations. I completely understand that you dont want this battle to ruin your relationship, but remember that you also dont want to ruin the health of your children, so they will have to come first.

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Q. Guilt-ridden: My father and I live in different states; my mother and siblings have since passed away. My goal is to retire in 10 years where Ive built a life near longtime friends. Dad is 88 years old and still able to live at home, and he wants to stay there until he passes. Financially, Im not in a situation to hire people or pay for a nursing home. Dad has a home care insurance policy and lives on a fixed income. The guilt I feel is terrible. I feel I should move home now that my dad needs me.

If I move home, I could be there for one year or 10 yearswho knows! I dislike the town but love my dad. My thoughts run to my mom and the disappointment she would have if I didnt take care of Dad daily. I have encouraged him to move here but got a resounding no. I then read that for a senior to leave friends late in life is bad, so I dont want him to go through that. He does need help now but doesnt want to admit it. I even said Id come out for a few months and help him with the transition and move tasks.

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At 65, I feel Im throwing away how I wanted the end of my years to be so that my dads own last years will be nice. I wont have my friends, especially those who have committed to supporting me at the end of my life if I move. Once I move out there, Ill probably not be able to afford to leave again. Where is the line of responsibility a person must take for themselves versus their family? Im childless with no nieces or nephews. All the solutions Ive heard involve money, which I dont have. Do you have some advice for someone with my specific financial and singular background to meet my responsibilities to my father without throwing away the life I had hoped to have in my senior years?

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A: This is a really difficult situation. But what makes it easier is that you dont want to move and your father hasnt asked you to move. And he knows he has an open invitation to live closer to you. I think you should stay where you are and reiterate to him frequently (even weekly) that your offer to come and help him pack up and make his way to your state is still good. When it comes to health, things can change quicklyit might take a slight setback for him to realize hed like to be closer to you. Or he could lose a couple of good friends over the next year and feel less attached to his hometown. For now, rest assured that youre being a good child and offering support while allowing him to make his own choicesand thats all you can do.

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Q. Sincerely second thoughts: I recently broke up with my boyfriend in a sort of ultimatum fashion and now Im having doubts. When we met, he was a messa month into his marriage, he decided he didnt actually want to be married. We started dating and he told me she would agree to get a divorce. Fast forward a few months later, she shows up to our job demanding he come back home. She didnt know we were dating (and co-workers), so I sort of felt ashamed. We talked about it later on and he apologized for putting me in that situation and swore he wanted nothing more than for it to be over, but she went back on their original deal and was refusing to get a divorce. A few more months go by and shes finally in agreement on the divorce but hes on his way to boot camp and you cant be in the middle of divorce proceedings, so he doesnt actually get the ball rolling until hes back. Or at least thats what he told me.

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Now its been almost three years since theyve tied the knot and no divorce in sight. Whenever I would bring it up, it was like a sore spot and fights would ensue. Recently I checked the courts website to see if they had at least filednegative. When I brought this up, what should have been a calm conversation turned into me breaking up with him right on the spot because I felt like he was never going to get a divorce. I told him he could come find me once he filed the paperwork. But I genuinely love him and I dont know what to do. Did I cross the line by saying its all or nothing? Or was I finally sticking up for myself by setting a boundary?

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A: You were finally sticking up for yourself by setting a boundary. Try not speaking to him, not checking on him on social media, and not looking up his legal records for a year. Yes, a full year! Tell yourself you can revisit your feelings after that point. I guarantee you will have moved on and wont want to.

Q. Re: Living in post-truth hell: Where is her OB-GYN in this? Are you going to her doctor with her? Can you let the doctor know of your concerns so she can do what she can to address them with your wife and possibly have something new or persuasive to say?

A: This is a good idea. Because of COVID, some doctors arent allowing partners to participate in visits in person. But if he can get in thereeither in person or via FaceTimeand press the issue, he definitely should!

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Q. Re: Guilt-ridden: They can contact their dads local Area Agency on Aging and see if they can get him some additional help like shopping, cleaning, rides to doctors, or see if hes eligible for more help. He may want to stay at home but thats not likely. They can help her prepare for the possibility of a nursing home as well.

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A: Yes, it sounds like he has some help available already, but the more, the better.

Q. Re: Living in post-truth hell: Just today, the Washington Post had a story about a thirtysomething couple in California who both died of COVID. She was pregnant and they were able to deliver the baby via C-section from the intubated mom before she died. They had four other young kids at home.

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It was heart-wrenching to read. Get vaxxed.

A: Im sure the letter writers wife has a million reasons that this story is fake news or doesnt apply to her, but I agree that it was heart-wrenching and I can only imagine how hard it is for her husband to worry that something similar might happen to her.

Jenee Desmond-Harris: On that depressing note, well wrap things up. Thanks as always for reading and participating. See you here next week!

If you missed Part 1 of this weeks chat, click here to read it.

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My husband and I just celebrated our second anniversary. He also just tested positive for gonorrhea and informed me of this after secretly getting his results and treatment yesterday. He has received his injection and antibiotic, and I will be getting tested this afternoon. Prior to our wedding, we were together off and on for two years. During one of our Ross-and-Rachel-on-a-break times, I contracted chlamydia and advised him to get tested. He did and tested negative for STDs. At the time, I was under the impression that STD testing would test for all STDs, but now I am wondering if he would have just been tested for chlamydia? The other question would be is it possible to almost three years ago to test negative for gonorrhea and then develop symptoms and test positive three years later? I would also be curious if it is possible to contract this STD without having sex with an infected person, because we have not had relations in quite a few months, so I dont think it came from me.
Tuesday is the last day for Californians to vote in the states gubernatorial recall election, which incumbent Democrat Gavin Newsom is expected to win. His leading Republican opponent is a conservative talk-show host named Larry Elder who has been endorsed by a number of the partys most nationally prominent right-wing figures and is campaigning against vaccine mandates. (In July, Elder hosted a self-identified doctor from Texas, Kathy, on his radio show. She suggested Bill Gates may be using the vaccine to control minority populations and said that COVID-19 can be treated with, among other things, hydrogen peroxide and the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.)

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On Monday, NBC News noticed that Elders campaign website has begun linking to another site funded by his campaign, StopCAFraud, which asserts that fraud has been detected in the results of the recall election, which, if youll remember from earlier in this post, is not over:

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Republican Larry Elder appealed on Monday to his supporters to use an online form to report fraud, which claimed it had detected fraud in the results of the California recall election resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.

Youre reading that righta website paid for by Newsoms main competitor says Newsom has won the election and been reinstated in a job he never stopped doing:

Statistical analyses used to detect fraud in elections held in 3rd-world nations (such as Russia, Venezuela, and Iran) have detected fraud in California resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor. The primary analytical tool used was Benfords Law and can be readily reproduced.

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Benfords lawit came up a lot in late 2020is a real statistical idea that can be used to detect potentially fraudulent data sets, but it cannot travel through time to do so in the future. Actual California results will begin coming in at 8 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, though a winner might not be declared immediately. For now, the state has only released early vote totals by party identification, which, while helpful for prognosticating about the final result, are not the kind of information that could possibly allow one to conclude that Newsom had won his race to remain governor, fraudulently or otherwise.

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The claimed purpose of Elders new site is to collect signatures for a petition demanding a legal review of the election. Its language impliesalbeit in a very confusing, unnecessarily elaborate waythat violence might also be ultimately required:

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They say that in America, there are four boxes of liberty. The soapbox, the ballot box, the jury box, and the ammo box. When we vote we exercise our rights as Californians and as Americans to make our voices heard via the ballot box, having listened to others make theirs heard through the soapbox. We trust in our elected officials to safeguard that ballot box, such that its results will truly reflect our will as Californians. However, when those officials, either through laziness or incompetence, allow thieves to steal amidst the dead of night and cheat our ballot box, we can no longer rely on its contents. Will we now have to fight the California jury box, in the hope that the final boxthe one most akin to Pandoras  remains closed?

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Never open the final box! Its the one most akin to Pandoras!

The other key touch of 2021-style Republican politicsin which anyone who knows how things actually work is perceived with suspicion by core voterson Elders new page is that the petition calls for a special session of the California legislature to investigate and ameliorate the twisted results of this 2021 Recall Election of Governor Gavin Newsom. In California, special sessions of the Legislature can only be called by the governor.

To review, this document is effectively a letter to Newsom (which probably isnt actually being sent to him) asking him to call a special session to investigate his own victory in an election that has not yet actually ended.

Ultimately, the explanation for whats happening is next to a checkbox at the bottom of the page, below a form that asks for the signees address, email address, and phone number:

Id like to receive email marketing and SMS updates from StopCAFraud.com & partners.

So, its a fundraising thing.
On a recent episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick spoke with Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, about the ongoing legal ramifications of Sept. 11 and the forever wars. Azmy has been challenging the U.S. government repeatedly over the past two decades, litigating matters from the rights of Guantanamo detainees to discriminatory policing practices, to government surveillance, to the rights of asylum-seekers and accountability for victims of torture. A portion of their conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, has been transcribed below.

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Dahlia Lithwick: You were the third civilian lawyer to set foot in Guantanamo, and that was in October 2004, after the Supreme Courts decision in Rasul. And you went on to represent Murat Kurnaz, who was being detained there. Do you mind giving us the CliffsNotes version of how you advocated for him?

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Baher Azmy: After the Rasul decision came down in June 2004, the Center of Constitutional Rights and others started identifying additional detainees who had been in touch with CCR who needed lawyers, and one lawyer Id worked with on another prisoners rights matter in New Jersey asked me if I wanted to represent this individual, Murat Kurnaz. I knew nothing about him. I had a conversation with his mother and she was understandably anxious, and then I had to get security clearances to go down to Guantanamo.

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So I went down. I knew almost nothing about him. I entered the room with a handwritten note from his mother that was written in Turkish. I still remember, it was very simple: You will be visited by an American lawyer you can trust. We have been vacationing in Turkey, your brothers go to school, we saw his ex-wife, and she is loving you. And I just saw the look on his face transform a little bit, like a crack in the matrix. And we talked, we got along really well. The only rights detainees seemed to have was the right for their lawyers to bring them food. So he had coffee from McDonalds for the first time. Later, they would open a Starbucks in Guantanamo, and just a little piece of absurdist, American consumerism trivia, Murat preferred McDonalds to Starbucks, as it turns out. Im not sure I can get him an advertising gig, but for those of you interested in coffee dynamics.

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When I got back to the United Statesit was very hard leaving him that first timewe finally learned the reasons that the government offered for his detention. They had these combatant status review tribunals. These were administrative show trials that they were going to say satisfied the mandate of Rasul and gave them adequate process. But these were out of law and into the domain of literature, just preposterous. You were presumed an enemy combatant, and without a lawyer and having been in Guantanamo, you had to disprove your enemy combatant status, when in the majority of cases, enemy combatant status was based on classified evidence.

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In his case, they said his friend from Germany was a suicide bomber and committed a suicide bombingalthough they misspelled it, we ultimately figured outin Istanbul in a synagogue. Murat said, Oh, he did that? I do not need a friend like that. I did not know. So putting aside the astonishing legal proposition that someone could spend the rest of their life in detention because of the unknown and unknowable. Look, this happened in 2003 when Murat was incommunicado in Guantanamo. Put that astonishing proposition aside, it was just made up. Within 24 hours, were on the phone with him and had an affidavit for him saying, Hi, Im alive. Just totally made up. And at the same time, no one shared the classified file, which I ultimately made public, that showed the U.S. had been convinced that he was innocent and the Germans as well. Nevertheless, he spent five more years there.

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And we became very close, as a lot of lawyers had with their clients. I was his only connection to the outside world, to learn about his family, to learn about politics, to the extent that we could talk about it. He had a rapid ripping sense of humor that was so delightful, but also this very rooted faith in Islam that got him through this. One advantage, I think, some of these prisoners had is praying five times a day helps break up the monotony, to some extent. He was released in 2006. I was there for the reunion with him and his family, which was remarkable. And I was there for his wedding. Its been a while since Ive been in touch, but hes thriving.

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Thats a tragic, but ultimately, kind of a happy story about someone whos eventually released and reunited with his family. But I feel like we cant really leave this conversation without talking, at least for a moment, about Abu Zubaydah, who you no longer defend, but defended for over a decade. Hes the subject of torture, unlawful detention, unlawful questioning, and hes still there, the No. 40 guy at Gitmo. What does that leave us to think about the project of the 40 people still left behind at Guantanamo?

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There were other faces of indefinite detention. Previously I would say it was Adnan Latif, who had been cleared for release and after pleas to the Supreme Court to please take his case and undo the damage that the D.C. Circuit had been doing. The Supreme Court passed, and two months later, Adnan Latif took his life. He used to be the face of indefinite detention.

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Now, Abu Zubaydah was at the intersection of so many pieces of the war on terror. Apprehended in Pakistan; flown to Thailand, where there was initial interrogation by the FBI, by Ali Soufan, who suggested he was making some progress and got some major leads from Abu Zubaydah. Nevertheless, civilians in D.C. thought we needed to do more and then he became one of the first victims of the systematic program of torture and dehumanization and brutalization through waterboarding, all sorts of physical violence, and then sent to European black sites for more torture interrogation, and after the 2006 decision in Hamdan that basically said the Geneva Convention prohibit this kind of brutalization, brought to Guantanamo.

He is the iconic face of indefinite detention now because there are some people who are cleared for release who, in theory, the government should be working on returning. There are some people who are slated for military commissions, so will be tried, although, we can talk about why that probably wont happen, and then some who Obama said theres not enough evidence to try, but too dangerous to release. In our opinion, in a place that believes in due process, that should be a null set. You should only be prosecuted based on what youve done, not on predictions of how black your soul is based on some expert prognostication about returning to the fight. But nevertheless, he is in that category. But ultimately, I think this is about keeping him secret. He has a lot of stories to tell, some of which have gotten out through his drawings, but it is hard to know what the government would ultimately do with Abu Zubaydah after what they have done to Abu Zubaydah.

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In addition to normalizing and becoming complacent, these things grow and expand and take different forms. And Im guessing you would say so much of the conversation now that were hearing, even in the last few weeks around leaving Afghanistan, has that same throughline of Oh, well. Mistakes were made. Human life was lost. We learned. And yet again, no sense of real stock taking, no sense of real accountability. This must feel awfully resonant for you after what you just talked about in terms of Gitmo.

Yeah. Thats a really a good point. The sort of Oops, we did our best to describe calamitous war-making, total distortions of American institutions that really have become normalized only through this bizarre filter of American exceptionalism that makes us ignore the genocide of Native Americans and minimize the violence of slavery. We just have this immense capacity to put our outrages behind us. And I think there are consequences. I dont want to try and oversell this, but I do think theres a throughline between these forms of soft authoritarianism the hard authoritarian in Trump. We tortured people. Thirty years ago, we wouldve said, America wouldnt do that, and we systematically did it. We rationalized it through high-level legal counsel, albeit fraudulent lawyering, and no one was held accountable. The outrages go totally unpunished or unreconciled, and so they become normal and we just get inoculated to one absurdity and one governmental abuse after another.

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I dont want to overstate what youre saying, but it does feel a little bit as though part of the trick here is if it comes in a different bottle, wearing a different cloak, in a different iteration, then its easy just to say, Well, we dont torture people anymore, without seeing all of what comes after it, the iterations that follow, but also to tell an American exceptionalist story about how were learning and getting better.

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Yes. Right. We wont do it again, but of course, as youre saying, itll come up in a different garb. So maybe we stopped formally torturing, but at the Southern border, we separated parents from babies, an alternative form of torture, designed to maximize cruelty. Another throughline is weve posited a vision of freedom through these past wars, and certainly Trump embraces this. Its also like an Andrew Jacksonian vision of freedom, where ours is increased at the repression of others. So theres a little bit of Adam Serwers point that the cruelty is the point. You maximize cruelty, shock, and awethe iconography of terror, of showing subdued and cloaked Guantanamo detainees tied together. Were winning, so you are free, and by the way, they hate us for our freedom, which I still cant quite figure out how to unwrap from some massive flag of narcissism. Trump has taken that mantle and said, We deserve to inflict cruelty on other people and we will feel better about ourselvessome of us willwhen we do that, but that started before him.

Read more about Azmys Guantanamo experience in the collection Crisis Lawyering: Effective Legal Advocacy in Emergency Situations.

And to hear the entire discussion, listen below, or subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The last effort to pass serious climate change legislation in Congress collapsed without even getting a Senate vote. Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of the most outspoken climate hawks in Congress, remembers it vividly.

It was the first Congress under the Obama administration, and the bill on the table was for cap-and-trade. Speaker Pelosi stepped up and passed serious climate legislation that put some of her members  in real peril, Whitehouse told me in a recent interview. And then her work came over to the Senate. Congress had just finished an exhausting, drag-out war to barely pass the Affordable Care Act, and by the spring of 2010, a grim midterm situation was developing.

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And the message was that the Obama White House had lost interest in having any more fights, and was walking away from climate, leaving the House high and dry, Whitehouse recalls. And that is in fact what took place, and it was many months before the Obama White House would use climate and change in the same paragraph.

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Whitehouse sums up the Obama administrations climate change legacy, which includes a Clean Power Plan that the Supreme Court blocked from going into effect, as a pretty grim and weak record. The Paris Climate Accords salvaged that record somewhat, he said, although President Trump walked away from that shortly after taking office.

So they werent quite 0-for-3, but it was pretty bad, Whitehouse said. And thats probably why people are so anxious about making sure that we dont walk away this time.

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Obamas midterm fears were not unfounded: Democrats lost unified control of government when Republicans won the House in 2010, effectively killing the opportunity for legislative action on climate change for a decade. During those intervening years, Whitehouse tried to keep a focus on the issue by employing the bread-and-butter of senatorial techniques: talking. Nearly every week that the Senate was in session between 2012 and 2021, Whitehouse gave a floor speech to draw attention to the latest troubling developments in climate change. He called them his Time to Wake Up speeches. Sometimes he would get company, as when dozens of other Senate Democrats joined him for an all-night talk-a-thon on the issue in 2014 that got some press. Much of the time, though, he got about as much attention as Sen. Dan Sullivan would for his Alaskan of the Week addresses. After nine years and 279 speeches, though, Whitehouse finally put the speeches to bed in January. Democrats were back in power, climate was on President Bidens agenda, and it was time to get to work.

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Democrats in both the House and Senate are now very much at work on the all-purpose, multi-trillion dollar reconciliation bill that will include major climate legislation. A slew of big climate proposals are under consideration, including a Clean Electricity Payment Program, designed to incentivize electricity suppliers to transition away from carbon; a methane polluter fee; and a carbon polluter import fee to pressure trade partners to make their own carbon mitigation efforts, among other items.

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When I asked, after 279 speeches, what his absolute must-haves are in order to support the bill, Whitehouse said that its actually nature that is setting the must-haves. The idea is to put in place all the tools necessary to achieve 1.5 degrees or less of planetary overheating. (He did add, more specifically, that he doesnt see how we get to that place that I have just described without a polluter fee on carbon pollution.)

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But for Whitehouse, its not just the what, but the when. As he said in an August 9 floor speech, if we lose the House next year, as people are predicting, to gerrymandered states, were done on getting serious about climate. Democrats had an opportunity in 2010 to preempt much of the worst of climate change, and they missed it. Now they have a final opportunity to mitigate the worst of it. They cannot wait another ten years. Thats why its necessary, Whitehouse said, for the legislation to put in place tools that can be dialed up, or dialed down, by executive branch agencies regardless of whos in power.

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But future Republican majorities arent the current impediment to strong climate action. Democrats need to get 50 out of 50 Democratic votes in the Senate to put any of this in place. And West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the most conservative Democratic senator who represents home-state energy interests, has said some of the provisions in the bill to transition from fossil fuels are very, very disturbing.

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When I asked Whitehouse how he and his climate hawk colleagues would navigate the Manchin issue, he quoted from the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln.

When the folks needed to go out and close the deal for the votes on the Fourteenth Amendment, he said, and they asked Lincoln, What are we supposed to do? And he stood up and said, I am the President of the United States of America, clothed with great powers, go and get me those votes! What Whitehouse was getting at was that the persuasion needs to come from a place above his pay grade.

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I think that ends up being, frankly, a conversation between the president and Sen. Manchin, he said. But to me it is not an excuse to yield against strong climate measures. There have to be other ways to accommodate Sen. Manchin than to imperil the future of the planet.

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Whitehouse pins the Obama administrations backing away from the legislative fight, and national politicians general tendency to let climate slide to the backburner, on a self-reinforcing cycle. Polls show that while Americans think something needs to be done on climate change, it ranks low on the list of priorities behind the economy, health care, and so on. With those poll numbers in hand, politicians then dont talk about the climate issue as much. When they talk about it less, it disappears from the conversation, and becomes less of a priority. Soon enough, Congress action on climate change is limited to one senator giving a speech, to an empty chamber, once a week for nine years.

There may be one reason, though, to suspect that legislators can sustain the willpower they need to enact major legislation this time around: Just walk outside, and theres a good chance youll encounter it. As I write, the heat index is 92 degrees on a mid-September afternoon in Washington D.C. Much of the east this summer suffered from torrential rains and damaging thunderstorms, and tornadoes, and hurricanes that quickly ramp up in severity and flooded a swath stretching from New Orleans to New England. The Pacific Northwest has been trapped under heat domes bringing record-breaking temperatures, while California is getting used to the term gigafire. In 2009, climate change was something Americans would read about. In 2021, it regularly punches you in the face. Maybe that will finally make it impossible for the White House and Congress to go back to the familiar cycle that ultimately ends in inaction. But ultimately, just like in 2010, Whitehouse thinks its up to the president.

What breaks that cycle is courage and leadership, Whitehouse said. And I think what the Biden administration will find is that courage and leadership will actually be rewarded by voters.

And if not? he added. Worse case scenario, all we do is save the planet.
Haiti is in desperate need after a devastating earthquake, a hurricane, a presidential assassination, and not enough vaccines to stop the delta variant. International aid is pouring in, which is all good, but not good enough.

It is time to ask about what Haiti is owednot in terms of international benevolence or moral duty, but as a matter of basic legal rights and principles. Many think of Haiti as a debtor nation, but the fact is that former colonial powers might be the ones legally in debt to Haiti. And the basis for that debt is not just a generalized grievance about colonial domination, but something much more tangible: Haiti once had something of great value, and the United States took it. That something is a small, uninhabited, rocky island covered in a million tons of sun-baked bird poop.

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The island of Navassa is about 30 miles off the coast of Haiti and is covered in centuries worth of accumulated bird droppingsguano. Sometimes referred to as white gold, guano is a potent fertilizer that in the mid-1800s was a scarce resource for which American farmers were desperate. Peru had large amounts of the stuff, but its near monopoly position and special deal with Britain meant that American farmers were priced out. In 1850, guano was $76 a pounda quarter of the price of gold at the time. The situation was so dire that President Millard Fillmore devoted portions of his 1850 State of the Union address to the subject.

To solve the problem, the U.S. resorted to a kind of privatized colonialism. The Guano Islands Act of 1856 (which, incredibly, is still on the books) authorized American entrepreneurs to search the world and seize unclaimed islands anywhere that guano could be mined. The key implication was that the might of the U.S. Navy would back up Americans claims.

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, administration of the act waspardona shit show. A State Department analysis in the 1930s concluded that many of the islands seized under the act actually already belonged to other nations, and the U.S. has quietly returned many of them over the years.

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Not so with Navassa. In 1857, Haiti was not yet mining the guano on the island in its backyard, but when American entrepreneurs claimed the island, Haitians protested. The U.S. responded by sending its navy to Port-au-Prince to tell the Haitians to stay away from Navassa.

Such behavior is not surprising. In 1857, the U.S. did not even recognize Haiti as a nation, even though it had become independent a half-century earlier (having been forced to literally purchase its freedom from France). The fact that Haiti emerged from a slave revolution was offensive and scary to many American politicians, who feared that recognizing Haiti would encourage enslaved people in the U.S. to think of their own revolution.

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Haiti, for its part, has continued to quietly maintain its claim to Navassathe constitution of Haiti even says so. But Haitis near-vassal state relationship with the U.S. over the past century-and-a-half has meant that no Haitian government has been willing to bring formal claims for the unlawful taking of its property.

In ordinary life, if someone takes your property and keeps it by threat of force, the law is supposed to provide a remedygenerally the return of the asset and monetary compensation for the opportunity costs of having not had use of the asset. Even if the government takes part of your land for public use, youre constitutionally entitled to just compensation. So why not Haiti? Some might object that historical injustices at a certain point become too attenuated or complex to remedy with moneythat is a common argument against reparations for slavery, or the illegitimate conquest of inhabited territory, or pillaged art. Haiti has plenty of those larger claims as well.

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But maybe we can start small, with the taking of that little island covered in bird droppings. Navassa is a tangible, transferable piece of real property that was taken from Haiti at a time when it was covered in one of the worlds most valuable assets. Whether we call it a debt, damages, reparations, or an offer to settle a disputed claim, it is long past time for the U.S. to pay up.

And how much is the bill? Some back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that its pretty substantial. In 1857, it was estimated that there were a million tons of guano on Navassa, piled between one and six feet deep. Using conservative estimates (and assuming no further deposits by seabirds), the million tons would have been worth about $2 billion in todays dollars. And if that money earned a return rate of between 1 and 3 percent per year for 170 years, wed be looking at between $10 billion and $260 billion. That wouldnt solve all of Haitis problems. But it would be a step toward remedying what weve taken.

Joseph Blocher and Mitu Gulati are faculty in the law departments of Duke and U. Virginia respectively. Their article, La Navassa: Property, Sovereignty and the Law of the Territories is forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal.
Nicki Minaj turned a lot of heads Monday when she told her 22 million followers on Twitter that she refused to take the COVID vaccine to attend the Met Gala, and that she planned to do more research before she got the shot. She added, My cousin in Trinidad wont get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding.

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A classic example of vaccine misinformation and how it spreads, Minajs post set off a nightlong round of ridicule. Many speculated her cousins friend in fact acquired a sexually transmitted infection that derailed his wedding. But rumors like the one Minaj heard, particularly around mens sexual health, have made up a common thread of COVID vaccine conspiracies that really do affect vaccine decision-making. And they obscure an actually alarming fact: COVID-19 itself, not the vaccine, can linger in the penis and have serious effects on mens sexual health. I called Dr. Aaron Spitz, a prominent urologist and the author of The Penis Book: A Doctors Complete Guide to the Penis, to explain what the current science tells us about what COVID really does to mens bodies, the fears hes heard from his patients, and why viruses like this only become real to some men when it concerns their dick. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Aymann Ismail: What do we know right now about how COVID can affect mens sexual health?

Aaron Spitz: To the extent that we know theres a separate and distinct problem that COVID is causing in mens sexual healthaside from a mans lungs, his heart, and all of thatthere have been studies looking at fertility. In about 5 percent of cases, they find that there is a negative effect on male fertility in terms of lowering sperm count and lowering the motility or movement of the sperm. So yes, it has been shown that when men get infected with COVID, and in particularly more severe cases in this small percent, there can be an impact on their fertility. Whether this is a long-lasting effect is not known.

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In a bigger percentage of men, maybe about 20 percent or so, there has been noted to be a decrease in testosterone and an increase in hormones that the pituitary gland, a little gland thats in your brain behind your eyeballs, secretes to make your testicles produce testosterone and sperm. If theres something wrong with the testiclesif the testicles are injured, and they cant make as much testosterone and sperm as they normally dopituitary glands send out even more of that signal. So the fact that there were these men whose signals were higher and their testosterone was lower indicates that the testicles were being injured.

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On the other hand, it could be that guys who inherently have poor function in their testicles, who already have lower testosterone, are the ones more prone to get sicker from COVID. Its a chicken-egg question: Did they have bad COVID because they had low testosterone, or did the COVID give them low testosterone? We dont know. But its entirely possible that the COVID made them have low testosterone, because in autopsy studies of men who died from COVID, a small percentage of them had inflammation and injury in the testicles themselves.

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Does COVID have any particular effect on penises and erections?

If the testosterone is lower, then there could be a difficulty with erections, because erections rely on testosterone to have the tissue of the penis to be healthy and to allow blood flow. So, low testosterone can decrease the health of the penis and its ability to get erections. But, again, theres no clear data on that with COVID.

There are men who are seeking care for erectile dysfunction and low testosterone because they had COVID, and its verifiable that thats why they have it. Thats because a more common relationship between erectile dysfunction and COVID is likely to be anxiety and stress. COVID freaks people out psychologically, and its extremely stressful physically, too, and financially. Stress causes humans to release adrenaline to cope with it. And adrenaline in humans causes blood to rush to the heart and lungs and brain and liver to be able to cope with a physical attack, a physical stress. If the stress is just psychological, like financial or situational, the body still responds with adrenaline. Stress makes it harder to get an erection. If a guy has stress from COVID, or if hes got stress because he lost his job, or lost a loved onewhatever it is, the adrenaline released in the moment that hes stressed can make it hard to get an erection. And if a person is just chronically stressed out, their adrenaline releases higher at a chronic level and that, too, is going to decrease blood flow to the penis. The stress component of COVID is a lot more likely to be the cause of erectile dysfunction than coronavirus itself.

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What about the COVID vaccineis there any evidence any of the COVID-19 vaccines can affect the penis or testicles?

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There is not. In fact, one study showed that sperm count went up temporarily after the vaccine. It did not go down. And so at the very least, you can say that the COVID vaccine does not harm fertility in men, and it actually, in fact, boosted the sperm counts a little bit after the vaccine.

There is no evidence of the vaccine causing any impairment to testosterone production or causing any inflammation or pain in the testicles or causing erectile dysfunction. Now, a person could get a transient flulike syndrome after the vaccine or after the booster, and they can feel really lousy for a day or two. And during that time, they may not be able to perform sexually very well because they feel lousy. Its just because theyre having a strong immune response, and its just a temporary phenomenon. Now for some guys, they can develop performance anxiety around that short-lived episode. Its not uncommon for a guy who has a normal sexual function to be off one night. And it may be because hes under the weather and he will panic and think, Oh my God, this never happened to me before. This is terrible. Something is wrong with me. And the next time he goes to have sex, hell get the idea in his head. Oh my God, what if that happens again? And that thought causes his body to release adrenaline, which then decreases the flow of blood to the penis and makes him have a bad erection. And it becomes a vicious circle. A guy may think he has erectile dysfunction because of the shot when its really performance anxiety.

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Is it possible for ones testicles to become swollen as an effect of the COVID vaccine?

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No. The COVID vaccine is not causing an infection in your body. The COVID vaccine is stimulating your antibodies against the COVID virus shell, but it is not stimulating your antibodies against your testicle tissue. Its not mounting an immune response that then wants to attack the cells of the testicle. Whereas the COVID infection, in fact, can attack the cells of the testicle because that virus binds to those cells and then it can drop its viral load into the cells and then it reproduces and then it explodes itself. So no, the vaccine will not cause inflammation and swelling and pain of the testicles.

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What would cause a mans testicles to become swollen in that kind of way?

The most common cause of painful swelling of the testicles is an infection. And in younger men, the most common types of infections are sexually transmitted infections, like chlamydia, for example. And in older men, the most common cause of infection would be something like E. coli from their own intestinal tract. That would be the most common cause of a painful sudden swelling of the testicles that would come out in a day or two. And these are treated with antibiotics.

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You know, the reason why Im asking. It might sound random, but

Nicki Minaj. Yeah, I saw the tweet.

Tucker Carlson on Fox News just read the whole tweet on his television program and said it seems sensible. What do you think was really going on?

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Who knows? But it is not due to the COVID vaccine.

Do your patients often ask about COVID and sexual performance in men?

Ive gotten more questions about fertility than sexual performance. I think that there may have been news reports about these studies that did show decrease in sperm count, but I think its also a human concern. Theres this thing that does terrible things to you: Theres long-haul syndromes, strokes, lungs, sense of smell loss, and then, Whats it going to do to my dick?

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Have you been seeing any misinformation that you want to take this moment to dispel when it comes to how the COVID vaccine affects a mans health?

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The best thing I can say is when male health has been studied in the context of the COVID vaccine, whats been demonstrated is that sperm counts temporarily improve. Wow. And nothing else. No other health effects have been demonstrated. No negative health effects have been demonstrated. So, I mean, thats pretty good!

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And then the other thing I would say is, if youre going to go online for your health information, then go to reputable sources like PubMed, which has journal articles that are peer reviewed and can provide the best information. It may be difficult to understand what these articles are saying, but at the very least, you could then take these questions to a physician or go to the CDC. But dont go to social media, celebrity sites, or the dark web or wherever else people are getting this terrible information.

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What would you suggest if someone like me is worried about their own body in this way? Whats the best practice to address it?

The best practice is to try to get information from a medical expert and not from social media or from friends and family. So, if you have the ability to make an appointment with a physician, ask your physician these questions, youre likely to get the best possible answer. If you have access to a specialist, make an appointment or have a conversation with an infectious disease specialist or urologist, even better. But at the very least, have this conversation, ask these questions of a physician.

Just to be very clear, what is the greater risk for a mans sexual health: getting the COVID vaccine or not getting it?

The greater risk is not getting the vaccine because its very hard to have good sex when youre dead.
This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

On Aug. 28, Adnan Kakar, editor of the popular left-leaning Urdu-language Pakistani blog Hum Sub, woke up to find his Facebook profile permanently disabled. Facebook had also banned the Hum Sub Facebook page, followed by more than 100,000 people, from promoting content for 60 days.

Their crime? Sharing articles about the Taliban in the Urdu language condemning the group, along with a photo of Mullah Omer, the founder of the Taliban. Facebook notified Kakar and his colleagues that they had violated community standards related to dangerous individuals and organizationseven though by late August, the Taliban was fully in control of Afghanistan.

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Social media companies are still trying to figure out what to do with Taliban-related content on social media after their takeover in Afghanistan. Now that the Taliban have announced a government, for instance, will Facebook continue to ban those who support it? This issue points to the challenges U.S.-based companies attempting to moderate content worldwide.

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Some of the confusion around how social media companies should treat the Taliban stems from the U.S. government itself. Though the Afghan Taliban are on the U.S. Sanctions list under the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulation, they are not designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Departments Bureau of Counterterrorism. Despite the Afghan Taliban qualifying for the Foreign Terrorist Organization list by virtue of attacking civilians and U.S. military (and indeed the Pakistani wing, named Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is), it was never added for political reasons: It controlled several territories in Afghanistan, and designating it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would make it difficult for both the United States and the previous Afghan government to hold peace talks and negotiations with them.

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These designations affect how social media platforms approach the Taliban, though each has a different approach. Facebook has been the most stringent in blocking content related to the Afghan Taliban. It divides its Community Standards related to Dangerous Individuals and Organizations into three tiers, with the first being most stringent. Facebook says it does not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on Facebook. The section of Tier 1 relevant to the Afghan Taliban states: including terrorist organisations, including entities and individuals designated by the United States government as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). The rule goes on to say, We remove praise, substantive support, and representation of Tier 1 entities as well as their leaders, founders, or prominent members. YouTubes ban on the Afghan Taliban is similar to Facebooks and blocks any content uploaded by or in support of it.

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Twitter, on the other hand, has allowed more freedom to the Taliban, allowing their spokespeople to maintain a presence there and issue press statements. Twitters Violent Organizations Policy states, There is no place on Twitter for violent organizations, including terrorist organizations, violent extremist groups, or individuals who affiliate with and promote their illicit activities. But Twitter moderates content on a post by post basis rather than a blanket ban on the organization.

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In the past, Twitter has been under fire from members of Congress regarding its policies toward the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. In October 2019, a bipartisan group of representatives called on Twitter to stop blatantly violating U.S. law, to immediately change their policy, and to remove all content from Foreign Terrorist Organizations and affiliated profiles, including Hamas and Hezbollah, by November 1st. Twitter responded by saying it respected U.S. law and that it made an exception for groups with representatives who have been elected to public office through elections, as is the case with parts of Hamas and Hezbollah.

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These policies raise important questions about social media companies often self-contradictory application of their content moderation policies.

For one thing, it is important to note that Twitter suspended former President Donald Trumps account while he was still in office for inciting violence, but the Talibanwho have routinely incited violence against Afghans and U.S.was allowed to operate on Twitter and only subjected to a post by post scrutiny. Facebook also suspended Trump. If social media companies can blacklist the president of the United States, can they not also choose to not abide by U.S. foreign policy alignments in content moderation, which potentially violate international human rights law?

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Facebook itself seems baffled as to how to proceed. Company representatives speaking to media recently have said that they may continue to ban content from the Afghan Taliban even if the United States takes it off the sanctions list, but another Facebooker speaking to the BBC cited the U.S. sanctions list as having guided Facebooks decision to ban Talibans content. It can be deduced that the decision to ban the Taliban and discussing it is rooted in U.S. foreign policy, but the decision to take it off the list is not. What, then, is Facebook guided by, and is the policy implemented across the board? Facebook needs to be transparent.

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As it is, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Facebook has a special list of VIP Facebook users, called XCheck, including politicians, athletes, and journalists whose posts are given special treatment and not subjected to review for the first 24 hours the same way ordinary users are. According to the Wall Street Journal, when Facebooks Oversight Boardcreated to be an independent body on content moderation appealsasked for information on XCheck during its review of Facebooks decision to suspend Trump, the platform denied the lists existence. There is no point in having the Oversight Board if Facebook is going to use it to pretend to be neutral in content moderation while withholding critical information from it that can lead to informed decisions.

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One cautionary tale here is what happened after Twitter deleted a tweet from Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for using abusive language and threatening violence against a secessionist movement. Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani has termed Twitters deletion of the presidents post as neo-colonial, as an American company decided what a Nigerian president could communicate to citizens who elected him. In response to Twitters censorship of his post, Buhari banned the entire social network from Nigeria. This has led to cutting the access of millions of Nigerians to Twitter which they rely on for speech and business. Social media companies need to carry out detailed human rights due diligence before making such decisions where in trying to help a population, their actions end up being counterproductive.

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Another challenge is that social media companies are making global policy decisions based on U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization and sanctions lists that are by definition intended to achieve U.S. foreign policy interests. As a result, people across the globe, especially those in politically contested areas such as Palestine and Kashmir, end up being silenced. For example, 7amleh, a Palestinian digital rights group, has documented more than 500 accounts that were silenced for sharing content related to forced evictions by Israeli authorities. Similarly, social media companies have been accused of giving in to pressure from the Indian government under its IT Rules and censoring Kashmiri activists and organizations. This is a grave violation of international human rights, and civil and political rights under Article 19 of the universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

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There are also double standards on part of Facebook toward content in the global south as opposed to in the West, as pointed out by the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan in a recent letter to Facebook. Facebook is quick to take action against postseven condemnatory onesabout the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan. But the same content remains allowed for users in the United States. For example, Pakistan-based journalist Adnan Rehmat faced temporary suspension by Facebook for sharing the post of a U.S.-based journalist who faced no such consequences. Furthermore, Sirajuddin Haqqani, an Afghan Taliban leader now in the Afghan cabinet who has a $10 million bounty from the State Department and is on the sanctions list, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in February 2020, and the New York Times did not face consequences from Facebook for sharing it.

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There is certainly no easy way to moderate content on social media, especially that related to dangerous and violent organizations and governments. Moving forward, however, there are some glaring issues that social media companies have to address. They must enforce their community standards equitably across different regions and languages of the world. They should also reconsider following U.S. foreign policy to guide their policies. They must be more transparent about their content moderation policies, including publishing lists of individuals and organizations they elect to ban along with explanations as to why they are doing so. Without these changes, they cannot be surprised when people see them as doing the bidding of the most powerful governments in the world.

Update, Sept. 14, 2021: This article was updated to include information about Facebooks XCheck list reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
More than 20 provinces in Spain on alert for storms: September 14



An Atlantic storm will bring lower temperatures, rain and storms to much of Spain

As Hurricane Larry sweeps across the United States and Canada it seems that Spain will not escape totally unscathed, as more than twenty provinces have been placed on alert for heavy rain, storms and even hail in the case of Menorca.

According to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), all of the Mediterranean can expect typical autumn weather on Tuesday September 14, with lower temperatures and an increased amount of rainfall.

Yellow alert

A Coruna

Lugo

Orense

Pontevedra

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Leon

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Seville

The yellow weather warning signifies a risk of strong storms with rainfall that could lead to the accumulation of between 15 and 20 litres of water per square metre per hour and up to 60 litres over the space of 12 hours.

The risk of rain will extend to Toledo, Ciudad Real, Huesca, Zaragoza, Lerida and Madrid also. In Menorca, a weather phenomenon known as a metatsunami could cause sea levels to rise by 0.7 metres, while very strong gusts of wind are expected in mountain areas of Spain and Mallorca.

Strong and persistent rain and stormy weather is forecast for Andalucia , mountainous areas of Extremadura and western Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, Leon, western Cantabria and the southern Pyrenees.

The instability is caused by an Atlantic storm located to the west of the Peninsula, according to Aemet. The squall will move eastwards as Tuesday progresses, spreading showers and winds throughout Spain.

The rain will also bring with it the most unwelcome red Saharan dust, which is carried in a mass of warm air from Africa. These dust clouds usually leave a thick residue on Spanish streets and cars and can also cause difficulty breathing.

Aemet has also forecast a drop in temperatures across the Peninsula on Tuesday, with a more prominent decline in inland areas.

Image: Aemet
Swearwords and nicknames. Recordings of former general prosecutor's discussions played in court

Listening to the conversations recorded in the office and the car of Dobroslav Trnka dominated two days of the trial in September.

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The trial of former general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka, accused of concealing the Gorilla recording, continued on September 13 and 14, 2021.

The Gorilla file, which Hascak and Penta insist is fabricated, describes how Penta corrupted state representatives during the privatisation of state property under the second government of Mikulas Dzurinda.

Ten recordings were played in court, with one capturing a conversation between Trnka and convicted fraudster Marian Kocner, one involving a discussion between Kocner and Trnka's friend Lorant Kosa, and one between Kosa and Trnka. Some of the recordings were found on the mobile phone of Marian Kocner after he was detained on charges in other cases, some made by the police while investigating Trnka.

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Related article Gorilla recording has been leaked online Read more

Samples from Dobros

On the recording of a conversation between convicted fraudster Marian Kocner and Trnkas friend Lorant Kosa, Kocner mentioned samples from Dobros that they wanted to trade with Slavo. Slavo is the nickname of Jaroslav Hascak, the main character of the Gorilla file and former co-owner of the Penta financial group.

A recording from 2014 that leaked to the media in 2019 was also played during the Trnka trial in mid-September. The recording was on the USB flash drive the police found in Kocner's safe in his home in October 2018, after he was detained.

In the recording, Kocner reproached Trnka for what appears to have been an attempt to blackmail Hascak by using Gorilla.

Former general prosecutor refuses plea bargain on first day of trial Read more

Why did you go blackmailing that Hascak? Kocner asks on the recording and mentions that Hascak is his friend and he also paid for Trnka to be re-elected as general prosecutor. He even specified that it cost 1 million euros.

Trnkas attorney Martin Krakovsky called the recording illegal proof even before it was played, because it was made without the agreement of the recorded parties.

What the police recorded

The court also played recordings that the police made while wiretapping Trnka between August and September 2019, as part of the investigation that resulted in the pressing of charges against him for concealing the Gorilla recording.

On the recordings made by the police, Trnka discusses, along with Lorant Kosa, a possible investigation into the extortion of Jaroslav Hascak and estimates what evidence may be held by the authorities involved in the criminal proceedings.

Theoretically, there may be other facts that would not only be to my detriment, but also to my advantage," Dobroslav Trnka said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

The prosecution claims that Trnka obtained Gorilla from Kocner and both of them attempted to use the recording for negotiation, the Sme daily reported. Trnka allegedly played it to prime minister Robert Fico at the Government's Office before the 2010 election. The meeting where this happened was described in court earlier in September, when Trnka's successor as general prosecutor, Jaromir Ciznar, testified in the case. Fico denied any such occurrence, Sme noted.

The judge of the District Court Bratislava I adjourned the Trnka trial on December 6 - 8. Experts should testify at the adjourned hearing and sections of the Gorilla recording should be played.

14. Sep 2021 at 17:20 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Putting people in ghettos solves nothing, Francis said during his visit to Slovakia's largest segregated Roma neighbourhood.

About 2,000 people gathered to meet Pope Francis on the housing estate of Lunik IX in the eastern-Slovak city of Kosice. Pope Francis visited Lunik IX as part of the programme on his third day in Slovakia.

Being part of the Church means being members of one team, Pope Francis said in his address to the Roma from Lunik IX and other marginalised communities.

You are not on the margins of the church, you are at its heart, Pope Francis addressed the crowd. Nobody shall feel put aside.

The Pope said the Roma have too often been the subject of prejudice and pejorative stereotypes. "This has made all of us poorer - poorer in humanity," the Pope said. "To renew our dignity, we all need to go from stereotypes to dialogues, from closure to integration."

Pope also thanked all the people who perform the work of integration. "Putting people in ghettos solves nothing," Pope said. "The way to satisfied co-living is integration."

He called on priests and monks to not be afraid of assisting the marginalised. "You will realise you are assisting Jesus."

The pope further stressed that children are the hope for the unity of people. In the end, the Pope recited the Lord's Prayer with the Roma and blessed the visitors.

Many watched the event from the windows of the blocks of flats nearby.

As a gift, Francis received two paintings of the Blessed Roma Emily and Zephirin and a scaled-down sculpture of Christ, also located in the church in Lunik IX.

Lunik IX. The infamous, misunderstood housing estate Pope Francis plans to visit Read more

14. Sep 2021 at 17:14 | Compiled by Spectator staff
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/cables-drones-lipstick-on-pigs-highlights-of-blinkens-congressional-grilling-on-afghan-disaster-1089075710.html

Cables, Drones, Lipstick on Pigs: Highlights of Blinkens Congressional Grilling on Afghan Disaster

Cables, Drones, Lipstick on Pigs: Highlights of Blinkens Congressional Grilling on Afghan Disaster

The US-backed Afghan government in Kabul disintegrated on 15 August, just over four months after President Bidens announcement that Washington would be... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced day two of his congressional testimony on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan on Tuesday, a day after he appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.Tuesdays testimony saw the US top diplomat facing off against the senators, among them some of the most vociferous critics of the Biden administration in the wake of its humiliating retreat from Afghanistan.Blame GameBlinken began his testimony with an opening statement emphasising that his boss, Joe Biden, was not the one who kicked off the process which would culminate in the USs withdrawal.When President Biden took office in January, he inherited an agreement that his predecessor had reached with the Taliban to remove all remaining US forces in Afghanistan by 1 May of this year. As part of that agreement, the previous administration pressed the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including some top commanders. Meanwhile, it reduced our own force presence to 2,500 troops, Blinken recalled. By January of 2021, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 9/11, and we had the smallest number of US forces in Afghanistan since 2001, he added.Blinken repeated Bidens oft-stated talking point that had the White House not followed through with the withdrawal agreement, the Taliban would resume its attacks on US forces, causing casualties and requiring additional US troops, and aiding strategic competitors and adversaries including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, who would like to see America remain bogged down in Afghanistan for another decade.Clearly and Fatally Flawed WithdrawalForeign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez (D) began questioning with a discussion of the chaotic nature of the US withdrawal, telling Blinken that the execution of the withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, and stressing that there has to be accountability on the matter, not just from the Biden administration, but its predecessors as well.Menendez went on to threaten to subpoena Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin if he declined to appear before the Senate voluntarily, saying the Pentagon chiefs refusal to testify would affect [his] personal judgement of Department of Defense nominees.Answering Menendez questions, Blinken insisted that the administration had begun planning for a worst-case scenario for Afghanistan in the spring, including the possible need to take control over Kabuls airport and to evacuate the US Embassy in 48 hours if necessary. He also defended Washingtons special immigrant visa (SIV) programme for Afghans who assisted the US during its occupation, saying that a quadrupling of SIV processing occurred starting in the spring of 2021.Not Enough Lipstick in the World for This PigSenator James Risch grilled the secretary on the damage done to Americas reputation, both at home and abroad, by the chaotic Afghan withdrawal.Blinken said the responsibility was shared  that Biden was ultimately responsible for the strategic decisions, and different agencies, agency heads, agency officials were responsible for the tactical ones.Risch went on to ask Blinken about warnings hed received from forces on the ground in Afghanistan about the dire situation there, including a 13 July cable warning from the US Embassy in Kabul about the Talibans rapid advance and the perceived danger of an imminent collapse of the government.Republican Senator Marco Rubio accused the Biden administration of ignoring evidence that the Afghan military and government would collapse, admitting that even while Trump was president, at the beginning of 2020we had already a bad status quo in Afghanistan. We had a small footprint, but we had a strong commitment to air support, and that sustained the Afghan security forces ability to resist the Taliban. Rubio went on to slam Pakistan for providing a safe haven to Taliban fighters.What did we think was going to happen when that terrible status quo was changed? Rubio asked.Senator Ron Johnson (R) went after Blinken over the administrations claim that Americas allies were on board with the US withdrawal. Its detachment from reality that our NATO allies are onboard with this thing  theyre not. Thats not what were hearing, he insisted.The secretary responded by saying that he and Secretary Austin went to speak to allies before Biden announced the withdrawal in April to listen to their views, their prescriptions, their ideas for what we should do moving forward in Afghanistan.Terror Ties Possible, Blinken AdmitsSenator Mitt Romney (R) asked Blinken about whether the Taliban had abandoned its ties to al-Qaeda.ISIS-K, thats a different thing, as you know, Blinken added, referring to the Daesh (ISIL)* offshoot that claimed responsibility for the deadly 26 August attack at the Kabul airport as US forces and their allies were wrapping up their withdrawal.The Taliban and ISIS-K are sworn enemies. And in fact over the past five or six years, since the emergence of ISIS-K, the fight has actually been between the Taliban and ISIS-K, with the Taliban taking most of the territory that ISIS-K sought to hold onto in Afghanistan, the secretary said.Drone Strike MixupIn his line of questioning, Republican Senator Rand Paul grilled Blinken over the administrations intelligence failure in the recent drone strike response to the Kabul airport attack, which ended up killing civilians, including an aid worker and seven children, not terrorists.The guy the Biden administration droned  was he an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative? Paul asked. The administration is of course reviewing that strike and Im sure a full assessment will be forthcoming, Blinken said.* The Taliban and Daesh (ISIL) are terrorist organisations which are banned in Russia and other countries

https://sputniknews.com/20210828/john-bolton-slams-two-faced-pakistan-over-taliban-support-proposes-taking-out-countrys-nukes-1083739265.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210905/it-will-divide-europe-nato-chief-fumes-over-concept-of-european-army-1083800346.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210911/pentagon-says-still-assessing-kabul-drone-strike-after-new-evidence-contradicts-us-claims-1088968416.html

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 seiner Pradikation, 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 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/change-of-power-ahead-in-norway-as-left-wing-coalition-wins-election-1089051030.html

Change of Power Ahead in Norway as Left-Wing Coalition Wins Election

Change of Power Ahead in Norway as Left-Wing Coalition Wins Election

Whereas Labour, the traditional heavyweights, have had their weakest showing in years, despite winning the election, the fringe left-wing parties, by contrast... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T05:46+0000

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news

europe

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A change of government is looming in Norway, as the left-of-the-centre red coalition is heading for a parliamentary majority in Monday's general election.Combined, the Labour (26.4 percent), the Centre (13.6 percent) and the Socialist Left (7.5 percent) get 89 of 169 seats in the Norwegian parliament, with over 99 percent of votes counted. This allows them to safely depose the right-of-the-centre blue bloc led by the Conservatives, national broadcaster NRK reported.Analysts pointed out that Jonas Gahr Stre speaks like he has gotten his dream government without having to rely on fringe parties such as the Reds and the Greens. However, it will take some time before a new government can be presented. Jonas Gahr Stre is looking forward to future talks with allies from the Socialist Left Party and the Centre. Socialist Left leader Audun Lysbakken emphasised his readiness to cooperate, presenting the climate, oil and tax distribution as key issues.It is a result above expectations. I didn't think it was true when I saw the first figures, Anniken Huitfeldt, a Labour MP since 2005 who chairs the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and is currently tipped to become Norway's new Foreign Minister, told Swedish broadcaster SVT.However, despite the election victory, Labour had its worst election in terms of votes since 2001 and its second-worst in a hundred years. Nevertheless, the ruling Conservatives have lost 4.6 percent since 2017 and received just 20.5 percent of the vote. Prime Minister Erna Solberg admitted defeat. Combined, Norway's heavyweights, the Labour and the Conservatives are at their weakest in 15 years.The 2021 election appears to be a record success for the fringe left-wing parties  never before have the Socialist Left, the Greens and the Marxist Reds had so many seats combined (24). The majority of their votes comes from the big cities.The maverick national-conservative Progress Party, which left the blue coalition and the government over immigration policy disagreements, had a boost compared with the adverse polls in the run-up to the election, but nevertheless had its worst showing in 28 years, at 11.7 percent.The election proved a bitter pill to swallow even for the Christian Democrats, who scored only 3.8 percent and ended up below the threshold for the first time since World War II.Regardless of its party composition, the new parliament has already been touted by the Norwegian media as the most gender equal in the country's history, with women making up 47 percent of the MPs.

https://sputniknews.com/20210910/abortion-becomes-key-election-issue-in-norway-as-left-wing-parties-head-for-victory-1088941207.html

vot tak Some good news for norway, hopefully. 0

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

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/china-company-reportedly-hoping-to-revive-stalled-plans-to-mine-vast-afghan-copper-deposit--1089063863.html

China Company Reportedly Hopes to Revive Stalled Plans to Mine Vast Afghan Copper Deposit

China Company Reportedly Hopes to Revive Stalled Plans to Mine Vast Afghan Copper Deposit

Afghanistans Mes Aynak copper deposit, one of the largest untapped high-grade projects in the world, is estimated to hold 240 million tonnes of 2.3 percent... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T12:11+0000

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China is exploring ways to begin mining copper at Mes Aynak, Afghanistan's best-known deposit located about 40 kilometers south-east of the capital, Kabul, according to Kandahar-based outlet Taand. The reserves of an estimated 240 million tonnes of 2.3 percent grade copper are believed to be worth at least $50billion. Jiangxi Copper on September 13 announced that the company, along with the Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC), was monitoring the situation in what is now Taliban*-ruled Afghanistan, hoping to push forward with the joint venture.Jiangxi has a 25 percent stake in Mes Aynak with Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC) and a 30-year contract worth US$3 billion to develop the deposit, touted as one of the worlds largest untapped high-grade projects.Back in 2007, the Afghan government signed a 30-year agreement to develop the deposit with a consortium of state-owned Chinese mining companies, including MCC and Jiangxi Copper. As part of the deal, MCC pledged to build the mine and the infrastructure around it. However, the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan put the plans on hold. After the US and NATO made their abrupt withdrawal from the country, which resulted in a swift return to power of the Taliban Islamist group, Chinese firms are now hoping to revive the stalled plans. Jiangxi Copper evacuated staff stationed at the project to neighbouring Pakistan in the light of the volatile situation in the south Asian country, Wind Gap reported on 18 August, citing a company spokesman. Mes Aynak is also the site of ancient Buddhist ruins. This comes as Beijing said it was ready to maintain communications with the Taliban government after an interim cabinet was announced last week, with the country declared an "Islamic Emirate". On 8 September 2021, China's state councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that establishing the new interim government was a "necessary step to restore order" in Afghanistan and urged the Afghan Taliban to unite with all ethnic groups and factions to build a broad and inclusive political structure, pursue moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, draw a clear line with terrorist forces, and establish and develop friendly relations with other countries, especially neighbouring countries.*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

See you in the ice haha bad cop good cop routine. tards cry about US, UK, EU companies 'STEALING" resources. Chinese come do the same it is good. So let the Chinese do it. stupid even for tards. haha 8

Peter Stern US & EU will be green with envy about chinese plans to get action in Afghanistan . . . 7

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/chinese-fm-wang-pushes-rcep-ratification-in-southeast-asia-tour-after-cambodian-lawmakers-okay-pact-1089047202.html

Chinese FM Wang Pushes RCEP Ratification in Southeast Asia Tour After Cambodian Lawmakers Okay Pact

Chinese FM Wang Pushes RCEP Ratification in Southeast Asia Tour After Cambodian Lawmakers Okay Pact

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting several Southeast Asian nations in a bid to push ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T00:44+0000

2021-09-14T00:44+0000

2021-09-14T00:43+0000

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china

regional comprehensive economic partnership (rcep)

vaccines

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Wangs weeklong tour began in Vietnam on Friday and will touch Cambodia, Singapore and South Korea, as well.In Vietnam, Wang urged that disputes in the South China Sea should not be allowed to disrupt the hard-won peace and stability in the region. China and Vietnam have made competing claims over island chains and sea lanes in the waterway, and can often be seen harassing the fishing fleets and oceanography vessels of the other nation in disputed waters. However, both nations claims are also contested in part by several other countries, including Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan.Wang also announced that China would donate 3 million more COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam, bringing the total supplied to 5.7 million, and urged Hanoi to ratify the RCEP agreement.So far, Cambodia and Singapore are the only ASEAN members to ratify RCEP, while non-members China and Japan have also ratified it.Dato Lim Jock Hoi, secretary-general of ASEAN, hailed RCEP last week at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, saying it had the potential to play a significant part on the regions economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic - if it enters force in time.Tan Sri Dato' Azman Hashim, Chairman of Malaysia-based AmBank Group, said at the expo that RCEP member nations combined GDP could grow to a majority of world production under the pact, collectively gaining at least $174 billion in real income by 2030.Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak told lawmakers government forecasts suggest entering RCEP would boost GDP by 2%, the countrys exports by 7.3% and investment by 23.4%.The RCEP agreement will become the core foundation for trade and investment in the region, further expand regional value chains and create more employment and market opportunities for peoples and businesses in the region, he said, according to the Khmer Times.Wang also promised $270 million in aid to Phnom Penh and 3 million more COVID-19 vaccines on Sunday, having already received more than 26 million vaccines from China.His visit comes just two weeks after US Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Singapore and Vietnam to pressure them to join the US drive to block Chinese interests in the region.Harris also came to promise 1 million vaccines to Vietnam as part of the US goodwill push. However, after her transit was delayed by several hours, a Chinese diplomat quickly moved to promise Hanoi 3 million vaccines.In response, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the envoy, but said Vietnam does not ally with one country to fight against another. Hanoi fought defensive wars against both states in the 20th century but, like China, maintains a policy of nonalignment.Earlier in the summer, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Singapore and Vietnam, as well as the Philippines. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman went to Cambodia, South Korea, Mongolia and China, both on visits of much the same goal: aligning regional nations against China as part of the US new strategy of Great Power competition intended to forestall Chinas rise to superpower status.In contrast to Washingtons military-centered focus to resolving regional disputes with China, Beijing has promoted dialogue and worked to further economic integration across Asia using projects like the Belt and Road Initiative and smaller projects like Two Corridors One Belt in conjunction with Vietnam. Hanoi and Beijing agreed to set up a naval hotline for resolving issues earlier this year, and nations with competing South China Sea claims have pledged to work toward finishing a code of conduct based on the UNCLOS.

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

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

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/civilians-plan-to-advance-space-tourism-industry-in-3-day-orbit-adventure---spacex-1089079550.html

Civilians Plan to Advance Space Tourism Industry in 3-Day Orbit Adventure - SpaceX

Civilians Plan to Advance Space Tourism Industry in 3-Day Orbit Adventure - SpaceX

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - SpaceX plans to take another step in expanding the civilian commercial space tourism industry when it launches a Crew Dragon manned... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T22:26+0000

2021-09-14T22:26+0000

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It will be the first manned orbital mission in the history of human spaceflight to be crewed only by tourists and other passengers who are also not professional astronauts, SpaceX has said.The mission will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening or night at a time from 8:02 p.m. and 1:02 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), provided storms or other weather problems do not delay it, SpaceX said.The mission is scheduled to stay in orbit for three days before re-entering the atmosphere for a sea splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida, according to published reports. The spacecraft will complete each orbit of the earth in about 90 minutes and will orbit more than 100 miles higher than the International Space Station.The Crew Dragon is also equipped with a specially-designed zero-gravity toilet, the reports said.The mission is financed by US billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38 who created the payment processing company Shift4. Isaacman personally selected Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor from Memphis, Tennessee, for the flight. She is now a physician's assistant at St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis.Arcenaux will be the first person with a prosthetic body part to participate in any space mission: She will also be the flight's chief medical officer.Sian Proctor, 51, a geologist and educator, was chosen for the mission from a presentation she posted on social media. She will be only the fourth US African-American woman to travel in space in the 60-year history of US human space flight.Chris Sembroski, 42, from Seattle, Washington, worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin and had the most convoluted route to the space flight. A friend of his won the flight seat in a raffle but decided not to go and passed on the ticket to him.The first civilian to buy a private flight into space was US billionaire investment manager Dennis Tito who bought an eight-day visit on the International Space Station 20 years ago. He was flown there and back on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.Published estimates put the likely cost of Wednesday's mission at more than $200 million.

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/court-packing-or-term-limits-why-any-scotus-reform-is-highly-unlikely-1089071500.html

Court-Packing or Term Limits? Why Any SCOTUS Reform Is Highly Unlikely

Court-Packing or Term Limits? Why Any SCOTUS Reform Is Highly Unlikely

The upcoming conclusions of The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States will not translate into actual reform, given ongoing... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T22:02+0000

2021-09-14T22:02+0000

2021-09-14T22:01+0000

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Bill Clinton-appointed Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer warned against "court-packing" and the lamented politicisation of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in a 12 September interview on Fox News.Court-packing has been actively circulated by Democrats after former US President Donald Trump appointed three conservative judges to the US Supreme Court's nine-member bench. Left-leaning politicians and pundits advocate increasing the number of justices to neutralise what some suggest is a "conservative" bias. In April 2021, US President Joe Biden created a presidential commission tasked with weighing the pros and cons of SCOTUS reform, including an expansion of the bench. However, Breyer believes that if one party is able to "pack" a court, the other will attempt to do the same. However, 18-year term limits instead of life terms on the bench "would make life easier" for everyone, according to the 83-year old justice.Term Limits vs Court PackingJustice Breyer's suggestion of term limits appears reasonable, believes David Levine, professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of Law.In addition to that, term limits "might lead to selecting judges with more experience," the professor points out. He explains that with life tenure, there is a temptation to select very young nominees who can serve for a long time. To illustrate his point he refers to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, 49. "If there were term limits, youth would matter less as a criterion for selection," Levine remarks.The Constitution provides for life tenure for a good reason, argues Robert A. Sedler, a law professor at Wayne State University Law School. In particular, this prevents politicisation of the court, according to him. Sedler opposes any major changes to the Supreme Court, including court-packing, even though he identifies politically as a liberal.Any new reforms are unlikely to "remove politics from the assessment of SCOTUS," deems Charles Anthony Smith, professor of political science and Law at the University of California Irvine. US politicians will continue to play political bias cards if a court decision goes contrary to their agenda, he explains.When it comes to term limits, it mostly depends on its length, Smith believes. If long terms were adopted, say 25 or 35 years, it wouldn't be very different from lifetime appointments, in the eyes of the public. If these terms were reduced to four or six years "the public would begin to see the justices as little more than politicians," according to the political scientist.Nothing Will Change for US Supreme CourtThe Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States is due to fulfill its bipartisan analysis in October 2021. Any possible reforms to the court, however, would have to be approved in the US Congress. SCOTUS reforms do not seem likely, given an increasingly divisive atmosphere in both congressional chambers, legal observers say.It's highly probable that nothing will change following the publication of the commission report, believes Sedler, but from a liberal viewpoint that's not a bad thing, according to the academic.He notes that liberals are concerned about the possibility that the US Supreme Court would upend the constitutional protection of individual rights, such as a woman's reproductive freedom. These particular concerns were fanned by a recent SCOTUS refusal to block a new Republican abortion ban in Texas, labeled the Heartbeat Act. The law prohibits abortions as early as six weeks after conception, and encourages private citizens to surveil, report and sue those who violate the legislation.The latest SCOTUS decision almost nullifies Roe v Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling qualifying abortion as a woman's constitutional right. SCOTUS earlier already overturned a White House eviction moratorium, and rejected Biden's effort to reverse Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy. These moves are only the beginning, warned Steve Benen, a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," in a recent op-ed for NBC News.According to Sedler, the fears are exaggerated, as in cases of constitutional rights, "the court has not overruled any prior decisions."

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/cuba-dismisses-scientifically-unacceptable-narrative-of-havana-syndrome-afflicting-us-diplomats-1089058978.html

Cuba Dismisses Scientifically Unacceptable Narrative' of Havana Syndrome' Afflicting US Diplomats

Cuba Dismisses Scientifically Unacceptable Narrative' of Havana Syndrome' Afflicting US Diplomats

A report commissioned by the State Department and released in December 2020 by a National Academy of Sciences committee found that directed microwave... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T10:50+0000

2021-09-14T10:50+0000

2021-09-14T10:50+0000

cuba

cuba

havana syndrome

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Cuba has rejected claims of mysterious Havana Syndrome attacks ostensibly targeting US and Canadian diplomats on its soil. There is no scientific evidence of attacks of this nature, declared a detailed report, assembled by experts that included neuroscientists, physicists, psychologists and otorhinologists affiliated with the Cuban Academy of Sciences and published on the Cubadebate official news site.The report deplored that some accepted "as an axiom that attacks occurred in Havana," adding that after four years, no evidence of attacks has appeared." Cases of the enigmatic disease have been reported among US officials and intelligence officers since 2016 in Cuba, China, Germany, Australia, Taiwan and in Washington. The Cuban experts questioned whether the plethora of reported symptoms, ranging from hearing high-pitched or sharp sounds that left them nauseated, to bloody noses, headaches or other symptoms resembling a concussion could even be referred to as a single syndrome. The scientists suggested that some of the proposed explanations for the allegedly occurring complaints violated basic laws of physics. They also expressed frustration over having been denied access to much of the evidence cited by US researchers. American scientists probing cases of the purported disease, which has also been dubbed sonic attacks, have suggested that some of the complaints may have been rooted in preexisting conditions.It added that the only explanation so far that cannot be ruled out is the possibility of psychological suggestion triggering the described symptoms. Earlier, a report released in December by a US 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. Neither the source for the energy was indicated, nor was an attack suggested as the cause. The Cuban document described the US report's conclusion as puzzling as it cites no direct evidence for the involvement of (radio frequency) in the events in Havana or elsewise. Sonic Attacks Symptoms of the mysterious illness first came to light publicly in 2017, with reports claiming that in late 2016, US diplomats and other staff stationed in Havana began hearing strange sounds and experiencing physical sensations that supposedly resulted in hearing, balance and cognitive changes. Dubbed "Havana syndrome, reports of the disease surfaced later in China in 2018. Symptoms included hearing a "piercing directional noise, experiencing head pressure, nausea, dizziness, and brain fog. After allegedly hearing the sounds, diplomats suffered long-term health anxiety.Late in July, CIA Director William Burns stated that Russia may be responsible for the mysterious incidents, but cited insufficient evidence to make final decisions. The allegations were dismissed by Moscow as "totally absurd." At one point, American officials asserted they had been victims of sonic attacks prompting a shutdown of US Embassy operations, with Canada reducing its diplomatic personnel in Havana in 2017. However, researchers in both countries have been unable to agree on what might have caused the illnesses. US vice-president Kamala Harris last month briefly delayed a trip to Vietnam after reports of two cases of the illness occurring there. Harris and her team eventually opted to continue with their travels, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki saying there had been no assessment indicating that the VP was targeted as part of the incident.

vot tak The latest "yellow rain" propaganda fraud by israeloamerica. Although it cant be ruled out the cause might be from secret activities being pursued by the americans from inside their embassies that affected embassy personnel. 0

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/distress-in-uttar-pradesh-india-after-more-children-succumb-to-dengue-death-toll-exceeds-200-1089050729.html

Distress in Uttar Pradesh, India After More Children Succumb to Dengue; Death Toll Exceeds 200

Distress in Uttar Pradesh, India After More Children Succumb to Dengue; Death Toll Exceeds 200

After deaths among children were reported in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a 'mysterious' fever was named as the culprit. Subsequently, a team of... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T09:13+0000

2021-09-14T09:13+0000

2021-09-14T09:13+0000

dengue fever

india

uttar pradesh

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covid-19

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As many as 11 people have succumbed to Dengue fever, including 9 children, in Uttar Pradesh's worst-affected district, Firozabad, in the past 24 hours. The mounting death toll now exceeds 150 in the district and is estimated to be over 200 in the country's most populous state, making this the worst outbreak of Dengue fever in decades.Indian news daily, Amar Ujala, reported that over 450 people are seeking treatment for Dengue fever symptoms at Firozabad's medical college and hospital alone. Children have become the targets of the fever: over 167 have tested positive for the disease in the district. Among those who died on Monday were a seven-month-old boy and a two-month-old girl. The tragedy playing out in the rural area of the state was highlighted after the sister of a 14-year-old girl who had died in a medical college on Monday, squatted in front of the vehicle of a top government official to protest the poor health infrastructure in the district. The officials present attempted to diffuse the tense situation, as the distraught girl highlighted how her sister had died waiting for treatment that was not available.Nearly 168 new patients with Dengue-like symptoms were rushed to the hospital in Firozabad among reports that the government hospital had run out of beds, compelling patients to share hospital beds while waiting for treatment. A health crisis is looming in West Bengal state, as well over 130 children have been admitted to hospital with high fevers and dysentery. West Bengal Health officials, who went into a huddle to take stock of the situation, said that the symptoms the children exhibited had led to suspicion of an outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis.

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dengue fever, india, uttar pradesh, west bengal, covid-19
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/fbi-releases-911-documents-chiles-911-us-election-interference-in-moscow-1089046762.html

FBI Releases 9/11 Documents; Chile's 9/11; US Election Interference in Moscow

FBI Releases 9/11 Documents; Chile's 9/11; US Election Interference in Moscow

Moscow has called out "big tech" corporations for working with the US government to interfere with Russian elections. 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T09:25+0000

2021-09-14T09:25+0000

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FBI Releases 9/11 Documents; Chile's 9/11; US Election Interference in Moscow Moscow has called out "big tech" corporations for working with the US government to interfere with Russian elections.

Nick Davies, peace activist and author of "Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion of Iraq," joins us to discuss 9/11. The FBI has released the first classified documents related to 9/11 in accordance with orders from President Biden. Also, Iran's recent agreement with the IAEA has given some observers hope that further work can be done to convince the US to rejoin the JCPOA nuclear agreement.Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston, author, historian, and researcher, joins us to discuss Chile's 9/11. Many people in the Global South are remembering their own version of a 9/11 attack. The US fostered a coup and facilitated the murder of the socialist leader of Chile in 1973, resulting in years of brutal torture and disappearance of left-leaning citizens and political leaders.Jim Kavanagh, writer at thepolemicist.net and Counter Punch, joins us to discuss North Korea. North Korea has tested a new long-range cruise missile. Also, investigations into the US drone attack in Kabul that killed 10 innocent civilians is revealing no evidence of explosives or connection to terrorism.Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss US election interference in Russia. Russian authorities have called the US ambassador in to discuss the use of US tech corporations to interfere in Russian elections. Also, Russian internet regulators are threatening further action against those big tech companies.Dan Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War," joins us to discuss Ukraine and Belarus. Ukrainian President Zelensky has complained about Russian authoritarianism as he arrests his political competition and Russian language news organizations. Also, Belarusian President Lukashenko has refused to negotiate with the West regarding immigration unless they drop all illegal sanctions against his company.Dr. Colin Campbell, a Washington, DC, news correspondent, joins us to discuss domestic politics. Progressives are complaining about the Democratic leadership's tax plan, complaining that "billionaires are popping champagne" over the proposed tax changes. Also, HBCUs advocates urge President Biden to fulfill his campaign promises to support the institutions.Professor Danny Shaw, author, activist and professor of Latin American studies, joins us to discuss the Global South. Evo Morales has emerged as a powerful anti-imperialist leader throughout the Latin American and Caribbean political sphere. Morales has been on a tour of nations that are currently besieged by the US empire in recent weeks, having met with the leaders of both Cuba and Venezuela.Jack Rasmus, professor in economics and politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss Afghanistan. Dr. Jack has penned another important article about Afghanistan and points beyond. He argues that "The USAs 20-year second war in Afghanistan was thus a war of intended permanent occupation of that country as a base for further extension and deepening of US imperial interests throughout Central Asia."We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

Truth 101 How can USA be both an Empire and a democracy? 0

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venezuela, cuba, evo morales, radio, afghanistan, alexandr lukashenko, domestic politics, radio sputnik, the critical hour, 
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/overwhelming-majority-of-poles-believe-poland-should-remain-in-eu-poll-shows-1089070676.html

Overwhelming Majority of Poles Believe Poland Should Remain in EU, Poll Shows

Overwhelming Majority of Poles Believe Poland Should Remain in EU, Poll Shows

WARSAW (Sputnik) - An overwhelming majority of Poles believe that their country should remain a member of the European Union, according to a survey conducted... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T14:39+0000

2021-09-14T14:39+0000

2021-09-14T14:39+0000

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poll

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When asked whether Poland should remain a member of the EU in the future, 68.6% of the respondents gave a definitively affirmative answer, while another 19.5% chose the "rather, yes" option.A total of 7.2% of the survey participants were in favour of leaving the EU. This scenario is "strongly" supported by 3.8%, while the less sure version of the answer was picked by 3.4%.Some 4.8% of the respondents could not answer the question.When asked if they consider Poland's exit from the EU a realistic scenario, 30% of people answered affirmatively.The poll organisers said that 10% of men and 5% of women supported Poland's exit from the EU. The group where 100% of respondents were in favour of staying in the bloc were those over 70 years old, while those in support of Poland's exit from the EU (14%) were mainly present in the 40-49 age group. In turn, in the 50-59 age group, 21% had no opinion on the issue.The poll was conducted on 10 September through phone interviews and covered 1,000 people.Euroscepticism has been on the rise in Poland as some of Warsaw's recent policies drew harsh criticism from Brussels. On 7 September, the European Commission turned to the EU's Court of Justice asking to impose daily fines on Poland over its controversial judicial reform until it complies with an order to suspend it. The Polish government called the decision an act of aggression.This development sparked a heated debate about the possibility of the so-called Polexit between the ruling party and the opposition. However, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki firmly maintained that Poland will remain a member of the EU and that the government does not consider leaving the bloc.

TruePatriot So, you're saying they are Pole-arized? Perhaps. 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/pla-warships-reportedly-sail-near-alaska-1089060842.html

PLA Warships Reportedly Sail Near Alaska

PLA Warships Reportedly Sail Near Alaska

A website affiliated with the US Defense Department reported on Sunday that a naval flotilla of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), featuring one of... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T10:32+0000

2021-09-14T10:32+0000

2021-09-14T10:41+0000

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If the report is true, activities by Chinese warships are likely a normal far-sea training amid the PLA Navy's rapid development of such capabilities, Chinese analysts said on Monday, noting that this could also be seen as a countermeasure against US military provocations on China's doorsteps in the name of freedom of navigation.A four-ship PLA Navy task force, including a guided missile cruiser, a guided missile destroyer, a general intelligence vessel and an auxiliary vessel sailed in international waters inside the US Exclusive Economic Zone, off the coast of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, on August 29 and 30, the US Department of Defense reported on Sunday on the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS) website citing a release from the US Coast Guard District 17.While the DVIDS report did not name the four PLA vessels, military observers said they are likely of the same flotilla that sailed east through the Soya Strait into the Pacific Ocean on August 24, as the timing and location would logically fit together.The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on August 24 spotted a PLA Navy flotilla consisting of four warships, namely the Type 055 destroyer Nanchang, the Type 052D destroyer Guiyang, a Type 903A supply ship with hull number 903, and a surveillance ship with hull number 799, which passed through the Soya Strait from the Sea of Japan and then sailed east, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release on August 25.China and many countries classify the Type 055 as a destroyer but the US sees it as a cruiser.During the activities of the PLA's warships near Alaska, US Coast Guard cutters Bertholf and Kimball were also operating in the area, the DVIDS report said, noting that the interactions between the US and Chinese vessels were safe and professional, and verbal communications were in accordance with international standards set forth in the Western Pacific Naval Symposium's Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea and the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.The DVIDS report became unavailable for unknown reasons on Monday.China has yet to announce any related information as of Monday evening.Assuming the US report is true, the PLA naval flotilla operated in the international waters, which means this could be a normal far-sea training and the Chinese ships did not show any sign of aggression or provocation, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Monday.The flotilla, led by the 10,000 ton-class Type 055 destroyer, displayed the PLA Navy's rapid development in far-sea capabilities as Chinese warships are expected to train in more distant, unfamiliar waters in the future, Wei said, noting that the US sent coast guard ships because it is wary of the presence of Chinese warships close to the country, particularly advanced destroyers like the Type 055.Warships from the US have been making frequent provocations near China in the name of freedom of navigation and now it might feel a little uncomfortable to see Chinese warships on its doorsteps, Wei said, stressing that "this is a countermeasure and a signal against the US actions of hegemony." As for why the US deleted the report, a Chinese military expert who requested to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Monday that it is possible that there were factual errors. If report is true, the US could feel it lost face by having Chinese warships sailing near it, taking some of its own medicine of freedom of navigation.This is not the first time the PLA Navy has sent warships to the region. In 2015, five PLA Navy ships transited expeditiously and continuously through the Aleutian Island chain in a manner consistent with international law, the US Naval Institute News reported at the time. It was an "innocent passage" within 12 nautical miles of the Aleutian Islands, the report said.This article originally appeared on the Global Times website.

Alba1970 good about time someone gave the Americans a taste of their own medicine 8

GM W It's okay. Not a problem and not news worthy. 7

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/prince-andrew-may-be-forced-to-give-evidence-in-sex-assault-case-lawyer-for-epsteins-accusers-says-1089073688.html

Prince Andrew May Be Forced to Give Evidence in Sex Assault Case, Lawyer for Epstein's Accusers Says

Prince Andrew May Be Forced to Give Evidence in Sex Assault Case, Lawyer for Epstein's Accusers Says

Virginia Roberts Giuffre is suing Prince Andrew for having sex with her at least three times when she had been a part of Jeffrey Epsteins sex-trafficking... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T18:26+0000

2021-09-14T18:26+0000

2021-09-14T18:26+0000

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The Queens son may be forced to give evidence in Virginia Roberts Giuffres sex case filed in the US despite his apparent attempts to dodge and hide and duck from the accusations, according to Lisa Bloom, a lawyer who famously represented alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein.The lawyer said that a UK court might have to step up and enforce the cooperation agreement that would leave Prince Andrew with no other choice than to give evidence before a US judge.The Daily Mail noted after Bloom made her comments, that the Evidence Act 1975, the Civil Procedure Rules and the Hague Convention give the High Court an authorisation for uncooperative residents of England and Wales to give evidence or documents to court.We have a system and a process and, especially when it comes to sexual assault cases, he's entitled to present all his defences, Bloom told BBC in reference to Roberts Giuffres case.What are the Accusations?Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit in the US against the British royal in August, accusing him of battery and infliction of emotional distress, when he allegedly sexually assaulted her at the age of 17.Roberts Giuffre claims Prince Andrew was aware that she was a part of Jeffrey Epsteins sex-trafficking operation but used his powerful position to have sex with her three times  at Ghislaine Maxwells London home, Epsteins New York mansion and the financiers private island. The woman said she couldnt refuse Epstein and Maxwells orders for fear of her life.Prince Andrew previously denied the claims, saying that he doesnt remember meeting the woman, but has not commented on the civil suit so far.On Monday, the US District Court in New York held its first pre-trial video conference on the case. Prince Andrews legal team is reportedly trying to dodge the trial over claims that their client wasnt properly served the court summons.They are also said to be keen on showing the court that the whole case is baseless, non-viable and potentially unlawful over Roberts Giuffres 2009 settlement with Epstein, where she reportedly agreed not to prosecute any of the financiers potential associates.But US District Judge Lewis Kaplan wasnt impressed by the arguments and skirmish between the two sides. According to the Daily Mail, he urged Prince Andrews legal team to cut out all the technicalities and get to the substance.Virginia Roberts Giuffres team insists that Prince Andrew was served legal papers on 27 August through a policeman at the gate of the dukes Royal Lodge home in Windsor.Lisa Bloom told BBC that she believes that Prince Andrews attempts to run away from the case will turn out fruitless in the end:I think that Prince Andrew is trying to dodge and hide and duck service which is not a good look for him, the lawyer said. Eventually the judge is going to say that he's been served, either on this occasion or in the future because wealthy people typically have guard gates and walls and they can get on their plane and go away and they can try to evade service and they often do, but it doesn't work forever.

TruePatriot No one can be forced to testify against themselves. Period. What he should do is to completely ignore the legal action and let it become a default ruling. Then those with the judgement can go to the UK with hat and judgement in hand and attempt to collect. 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/prince-andrews-lawyers-told-to-cut-the-technicalities-get-to-the-substance-in-sex-abuse-case--1089049951.html

Prince Andrews Lawyers Told to Cut the Technicalities, Get to the Substance' in Sex Abuse Case

Prince Andrews Lawyers Told to Cut the Technicalities, Get to the Substance' in Sex Abuse Case

A US District Court in New York held a pre-trial video conference in the civil suit filed by Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts), the woman alleging she was... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T05:29+0000

2021-09-14T05:29+0000

2021-09-14T05:36+0000

britain

virginia roberts

ghislaine maxwell

prince andrew

jeffrey epstein

sex assault

virginia roberts giuffre

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US District Judge Lewis Kaplan urged Prince Andrews legal team to cut out all the technicalities and get to the substance, after the sex assault case against the royal entered its first preliminary hearing on Monday, according to the Daily Mail.The hearing, held by video conference at a federal court in New York, was the first since Roberts, 38, filed a civil lawsuit against the embattled Duke of York last month, alleging she was trafficked out by the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the Queens son when she was 17. The two sides have clashed over whether Prince Andrew had been successfully served with a court summons or not. Lawyer for the plaintiff, David Boies, said that in his view the procedure had been validly carried out, in line with Article 10 of the Hague Convention. Boies added that it's clear Prince Andrew has actual notice of this complaint and proceeding. In court documents filed last Friday, Virginia Roberts's lawyers claimed that Prince Andrew had been served on August 27. The according paperwork was handed to a a Metropolitan Police officer who was on duty at the main gates of the Queens sons residence in Windsor Great Park on 27 August. The Duke of Yorks lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has disputed this. Judge Kaplan is cited as having pointed out to the royals legal team that the Hague Convention is optional, adding that service could be effected upon a foreign national under US Federal Rule 4(f)(3) without involving their government, by other means not prohibited by international agreement, as the court orders. The Judge indicated he would likely grant that order and was unlikely to change my mind unless I hear something new. Baseless lawsuit During the 30-minute hearing the Duke of Yorks lawyer also slammed the lawsuit targeting the royal as baseless, non-viable and potentially unlawful. Andrew Brettler pointed to the prior settlement agreement that the plaintiff had entered into, which in effect releases the royal from any and all potential liability. The settlement was signed by Roberts in 2009 with the billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The settlement was subsequently used by US lawyer Alan Dershowitz to have the woman drop her battery allegation against him. Brettler reportedly alleged to it as a secret settlement agreement that could release the Duke of any liability as we suspect it does. The judge offered an alternative service of the legal papers through other channels within a week, however the two sides tussled over the necessity of this. The judge gave the plaintiffs lawyers one week to request another attempt at serving the court summons by other means, such as the Hague Convention or a legal mechanism called Rule 4F3.Battery, Infliction of Emotional Distress Virginia Roberts, now a married mother-of-three living in Australia, and goes by her married name, Giuffre, alleges she was forced to have sex with prince Andrew on at least three occasions. The first time was purportedly at the London townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's alleged madam, or pimp. Maxwell is currently in jail, charged with grooming and sex trafficking girls for the financier. The second time, in early 2001, was supposedly at Epstein's New York mansion, and the third time was on the tycoon's private island in the Caribbean. The formal allegations against the Duke of York are battery and infliction of emotional distress. Prince Andrew has dismissed all allegations and in a November 2019 car crash BBC interview tried to defend his friendship with the late tycoon Jeffrey Epstein. The Prince 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.The embattled royal was soon forced to permanently resign from all his public roles. Convicted pedophile 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.

Mike Literous 19 year old Harry Dunne was killed by a American spy who then fled from justice ,she is now being sheltered by Pedo Nappy wearing Joe bidet Biden ,that is more important then a young prostitute that saw a Royal penis 20 years ago.... And received money to taste it. 3

eddy2020 A man had sex with a nubile young woman? Did he ask her age before he plonked her? Did she act or look like she was within the lawful age of consent? Did she resist his advances upon her. Was he warned she was under age for sex? 3

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/recall-election-will-california-voters-oust-gov-newsom--embrace-a-black-conservative-candidate-1089068475.html

Recall Election: Will California Voters Oust Gov. Newsom & Embrace a Black Conservative Candidate?

Recall Election: Will California Voters Oust Gov. Newsom & Embrace a Black Conservative Candidate?

California voters are set to decide on 14 September whether Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom will be removed from his post. The recall election, the first one in... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T17:10+0000

2021-09-14T17:10+0000

2021-09-14T17:10+0000

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Recall supporters, who managed to collect the roughly 1.5 million signatures needed to put Newsom on the ballot, argue that the governor mishandled the coronavirus pandemic, did not do enough to tackle the state's homelessness problems, and supported sanctuary city policies while the migrant crisis was simmering at the southern border. For his part, Newsom denounced the effort claiming it is driven by "a ragtag crew of pro-Trump, anti-vaccine extremists".Democrat heavy-weights have already indicated their support for the governor. Last week, vice-president Kamala Harris called upon Californians to oppose what she called a Republican-driven effort to recall Newsom. She specifically drew parallels between the GOP-controlled states which are pushing ahead with a conservative agenda and California, a liberal stronghold, insisting that the vote would indicate "who we are as a nation".Former president Barack Obama has also thrown his weight behind Newsom by releasing a political ad, and the incumbent president, Joe Biden, joined the California governor on Monday night in Long Beach. The decision you are about to make is going to have a huge impact on California; its going to reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly  not a joke  around the world, Biden told the audience on 13 September.A total of 46 candidates applied by the July 16 deadline to run against Newsom in the 14 September recall, including nine Democrats, 24 Republicans and 13 who are either from third parties or are non-partisan.If the majority of Californians decide that the governor should be removed from office, the ballot's second question will determine who will become the head of the state. Any candidate needs a simple plurality to win, as there is no run-off in the recall election.Conservative talk show host Larry Elder has become the clear frontrunner among GOP gubernatorial candidates. Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey published on 10 September indicated that 38 percent of likely voters preferred Larry Elder over dozens of other challengers.The African-American conservative candidate has already become a primary target of Democrats and Joe Biden, who dubbed Elder a "Trump clone". Elder has criticised the Biden administration's tax hike proposals and government regulations. The GOP candidate is also critical of the state's mask and vaccine mandates and minimum wage proposals. He previously lashed out at Black Lives Matter for rising crime stemming from the 2020 summer riots and defund-the-police movement. Elder also denounced the critical race theory (CRT) and told The Hill in February 2021, that "the idea that theres systemic racism against Black people is a lie."According to a conservative media outlet, The Daily Wire, Elder appears to be confident about his chances of winning the recall elections. However, Newsweek deems that though Elder is poised to outpace most of his peers in the race, his chances of beating Newsom are very small. Citing bookmakers Betfair, the media outlet noted that the GOP frontrunner's odds of winning most votes on the replacement ballot are 1/50. To complicate matters further, a Republican has not won a statewide election in California  a Democrat stronghold - in 15 years. In 2020, former president Donald Trump lost the state to Biden by more than 5 million votes.Meanwhile, a number of surveys predict that Newsom is likely to stay. A Friday poll by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times showed that 60 percent of likely voters in California would vote to keep Newsom in office, and only 39 percent said they would vote to recall him. For its part, poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight has calculated that 57.3 percent would vote to "keep" and 41.5 percent to "remove".

GM W Nah, those recalls never work. 6

Preterist-ADSeventy Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder looks like George Floyd. 1

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/russian-president-putin-holds-meeting-with-syrian-president-assad-1089049368.html

Russian President Putin Holds Meeting With Syrian President Assad

Russian President Putin Holds Meeting With Syrian President Assad

Since 2015, Russia has been assisting Syrian President Bashar Assad in the fight against terrorist groups in the country. 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T04:03+0000

2021-09-14T04:03+0000

2021-09-14T06:16+0000

russia

vladimir putin

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syria

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On Tuesday, it was announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who had arrived in Russia on an unannounced visit, in the Kremlin.When they met, Putin congratulated Assad on his victory in the presidential election in May, noting that Syrian residents now associate the return to normal life with their president."And, of course, on a personal note - regarding the very good result of the presidential elections. The results indicate that people trust you and, despite all the difficulties of previous years and the tragedies of previous years, they still associate the process of recovery and return to a normal life with you," the Russian president said.The Russian president noted that hotbeds of terrorism still remain in Syria.Putin has also pointed out that joint efforts of Russia and Syria dealt a blow to terrorists and "terrorists have suffered very serious, significant damage" while the Syrian government, headed by Assad "controls 90% of the territory".Additionally, Vladimir Putin noted that the illegal presence of foreign armed forces in Syria is preventing progress on the path towards consolidation of the country.Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Syrian leader is doing a lot to establish a dialogue with opponents and expressed the hope that the process will continue.In turn, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Syria and Russia have "achieved significant results not only in the liberation of the occupied territories seized by militants and in the destruction of terrorism, but also facilitated the return of refugees who were forced to leave their homes".Also, Vladimir Putin stressed that trade between Russia and Syria had increased 250 percent.In addition to issues of military-political cooperation, the presidents discussed the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia has provided Syria with Sputnik V and Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccines to combat the pandemic, Vladimir Putin said.Since 2015, Russia has been supporting the Syrian authorities in the fight against terrorist organisations. In addition, Russia acts as the guarantor of a ceasefire agreement between Damascus and opposition groups supported by the United States and allies.Russia established an air base in the Syrian coastal city of Khmeimim in September 2015, which supported the Syrian military's operations against a broad array of terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda* (aka al-Nusra) and Daesh*, among others.The US and its allies have been conducting a ground military operation in war-torn Syria since 2014, supporting the rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Syrian government and its allies, Russia and Iran, have repeatedly slammed the US and Turkey for keeping troops deployed in the country illegally. Damascus and Moscow have also accused Washington of stealing Syria's national resources and demanded that they cease such activities, but to no avail.

https://sputniknews.com/20210907/over-400-militants-lay-down-arms-in-syrias-daraa-after-truce-with-authorities---source-1083811581.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210831/4-soldiers-killed-8-wounded-in-terrorist-attack-in-syrias-daraa-province-russian-military-says-1083761961.html

randomsputnikuser This article should have said, those opposition groups supported by the United States and allies, are al Nusra/al Qaeda and Daesh. Why hide it? This isn't the New York Times. 15

BUY HUAWEI It's time to bomb the rest of the terrorists who are illegal in Syria 13

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russia, vladimir putin, bashar al-assad, syria
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/see-the-irony-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-puts-on-tax-the-rich-dress-to-30k-per-ticket-met-gala--1089058113.html

See the Irony? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Puts On 'Tax the Rich' Dress to $30K-Per-Ticket Met Gala

See the Irony? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Puts On 'Tax the Rich' Dress to $30K-Per-Ticket Met Gala

A self-proclaimed Democrat socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez never misses a chance to show how much she detests inequality, lack of affordable healthcare or... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T10:29+0000

2021-09-14T10:29+0000

2021-09-14T10:29+0000

new york

united states

met gala

alexandria ocasio-cortez

aoc

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https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0e/1089057573_0:164:2002:1290_1920x0_80_0_0_9e6741c62bb7f26b0927ca2ea2ca1a79.jpg

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) send quite a complicated message across the room on Monday when she put on a white dress with a bloody-red tax the rich slogan for the Met Gala show in New York.The lawmaker, known to many as AOC, said she partnered with lavish Canadian designer Aurora James who created the dress while keeping working-class women of colour in her mind.Tickets to the Met Gala usually cost at least $30,000 but Ocasio-Cortez might have walked into the Metropolitan Museum of Art for nothing.She stressed on Twitter (before haters get wild) that New York elected officials are routinely invited to attend the Met because of their responsibilities in overseeing and supporting the citys cultural institutions for the public.Social media users rushed to point out that attendees could get their invitation to the Met if they are chosen by a designer who is going to display their works at the event and has a table. In this case, the selected individual would have to wear the persons design, according to a review by Distractify.Aurora James is a founder of the luxury Brother Vellies brand, often worn by celebrities such as Rihanna and Meghan Markle. Her net worth is estimated to range between $1 million and $5 million.Its not quite clear whether it was James design that landed AOC with a spot at the Gala but many have found the message problematic, considering the place and the context. Even Ocasio-Cortezs usual supporters seemed angered by the lawmakers appearance at the extravagant event, where people dont really care much about spending crazy sums of money on food and gowns.Apart from her Twitter message on responsibilities, AOC hasnt commented on the situation yet.

horseguards Do you thpnk your readers are morons, or is it you that is so? Reading Sputnik is becoming a daily struggle of attrition 2

vot tak The israeloamerican infiltration is quite obvious. Where are you Roskomnadzor and FSB? 1

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new york, united states, met gala, alexandria ocasio-cortez, aoc
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/senate-foreign-relations-committee-grills-blinken-over-fatally-flawed-afghanistan-withdrawal-1089077712.html

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Grills Blinken Over 'Fatally Flawed' Afghanistan Withdrawal

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Grills Blinken Over 'Fatally Flawed' Afghanistan Withdrawal

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been sent to the US Capitol to answer for the Biden administrations handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T21:06+0000

2021-09-14T21:06+0000

2021-09-14T22:22+0000

afghanistan

afghanistan

us troop withdrawal

secretary of state

biden administration

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has spent the past two days questioning the Biden administrations withdrawal from Afghanistan. A cohort of largely Republican lawmakers spent Monday grilling Blinken, but the Committees head, Bob Menendez (D-NJ), was equally as critical as his colleagues across the aisle.Menendez blasted the withdrawal procedures during the day's testimony, telling Blinken that the steps taken to remove soldiers "was clearly and fatally flawed." He further went on to threaten that he would subpoena Biden officials who refused to testify.Blinken has steadfastly defended the administrations withdrawal and attempted to ease concerns over the US leaving $80 billion worth of military technology, noting that none of the hardware is operable or provide a strategic threat to the US.However, it's worth noting that the abandoned technology and equipment can be sold for pieces, effectively providing the Taliban* with a new revenue stream.Blinken refused to produce an internal state department memo from July that warned of the collapse of the Afghan government following the exit of US troops. The dissent memo went directly to Blinken as a Taliban offensive was already sweeping through the country. Blinken defended his decision to keep it from the committee, claiming that dissent cables are "only to be shared with senior officials in the department."At the heart of Blinkens defense was how the Biden White House inherited the withdrawal from the Trump administration, as it was former US President Donald Trump who initiated negotiations with the Taliban for nine rounds over 18 months. A peace deal was finally struck on February 29, 2020, with the basic agreement being that the US would withdraw all troops from Afghanistan, and in return, the Taliban would not allow Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorist groups. It was also outlined that the Taliban would start peace talks with the Afghan government.Although the Trump administration began withdrawing troops from the war-torn nation, some 3,500 soldiers still remained by the start of the US President Joe Biden's first term in office. Touching on the situation Biden found himself, Blinken told lawmakers that the Biden administration was left with one of two options: continue to conduct the withdrawal as it played out, or send more troops in and effectively tear up the previous agreement.After initially pushing back a withdrawal date, the US officially closed its near 20-year occupation of Afghanistan on August 31 after weeks' worth of chaotic withdrawal measures were implemented. However, while the US may no longer have boots on the ground, Biden has indicated that a "over the horizon" counterterrorism strategy is in the works.*The Taliban is an organisation banned in Russia and other countries

4Justice Rats arguing with other rats. They're all guilty of this 20 year miserable failure. They all supported it while it was going on. They all have blood on their hands. 1

vot tak "but the Committees head, Bob Menendez" ... An israeli quisling. Note these israeli quislings don't fault the u.s. military, who were the ones actually responsible for planning and carrying out the rout. Instead the these zionist owned traitors play a pr political operation. Like everything zionist, zero substance, 100% psywar bs. 0

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Nevin Brown

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Nevin Brown

afghanistan, us troop withdrawal, secretary of state, biden administration
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/tabloids-raise-row-over-russian-spy-ship-with-undersea-cable-cutting-capability-near-uk-waters-1089064786.html

Tabloids Raise Row Over Russian Spy Ship With Undersea Cable-Cutting Capability Near UK Waters

Tabloids Raise Row Over Russian Spy Ship With Undersea Cable-Cutting Capability Near UK Waters

At least one British warship is thought to have been assigned to escort the Russian vessels as it crossed the Channel, which serves as a major transit artery... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T11:59+0000

2021-09-14T11:59+0000

2021-09-14T17:54+0000

russia

britain

tabloids

english channel

yantar

russian submarines

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The British tabloid press is up in arms over the presence of a Russian spy ship in the English Channel, insinuating that the vessel, which acts as a mothership for deep-diving mini submarines, could engage in nefarious activities if not kept an eye on.The Yantar, a Russian research vessel attached to the Russian Northern Fleet and operated by the Navys Main Directorate of Underwater Research, was traveling east through the English Channel, passing the Strait of Dover before noon local time on Tuesday, Marine Traffic data shows.Russian officials said the ship is designed to measure and map the worlds oceans and determine their depth. For this purpose, the oceanographic vessel can be equipped with advanced manned and unmanned deep-sea underwater vehicles capable of diving to depths of more than 6,000 metres.The ship can also be used for search and rescue operations involving sunken submarines, or underwater repair work, and has a helipad for one onboard helicopter. The vessel was deployed to South America in 2017 to help search for Argentinas lost Navy submarine. Before that, in 2016, the Yantar assisted a Syrian telecoms company with emergency repairs to a strategically important cable providing internet to Syria, Libya and Lebanon. Similar repair work may have been done in late 2016 off the coast of Iran, according to media reports.The Daily Mail, meanwhile, says that in addition to the HMS Mersey, British shore-based sensor equipment and submarines may have tracked the Yantar during its transit, while pointing to a 2017 Russian media report suggesting the ship could cut internet cables and jam underwater sensors. A Ministry of Defence spokesman told the newspaper that the Royal Navy was monitoring the presence of a Russian ship through the English Channel as part of a routine response to transiting warships from other nations.Tuesdays transit isnt the first time the Yantar has come up in the news. In August, The Times reported that Britains military had launched an investigation to determine whether the ships activities close to a cable that carries internet traffic between Europe and America off Irelands coast were nefarious in nature. The inquiry has yet to report back.Stories about alleged Russian plans to cut the UK off from the internet appear regularly in the UK press, but never explain what motivation Moscow might have for engaging in such hostile activity, which would constitute an act of war. In 2019, Britains Department for International Trades Export Control Joint Unit announced restrictions banning the sale of British-made submersible vehicles and technologies to Russia, citing Moscows alleged efforts to develop capabilities to track, assess and disrupt undersea communication cables".

https://sputniknews.com/20190815/uk-bans-transfer-of-sub-tech-to-russia-in-bid-to-stop-moscow-from-destroying-the-internet-1076559413.html

Proof Reader Critic  Sink the f*****g Russian b******s. 9

Mike Literous scissors  hanging underneath it ready to cut cables.... Oh those russian fiends, luckily the UK has Blojo Boris to protect them. 8

10

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britain

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Ilya Tsukanov

russia, britain, tabloids, english channel, yantar, russian submarines
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/tajikistan-summons-us-ambassador-over-joe-bidens-remarks-on-911-anniversary-1089058859.html

Tajikistan Summons US Ambassador Over Joe Biden's Remarks on 9/11 Anniversary

Tajikistan Summons US Ambassador Over Joe Biden's Remarks on 9/11 Anniversary

The Biden administration has been lambasted by Republicans and Democrats alike because of its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. According to a survey... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T12:01+0000

2021-09-14T12:01+0000

2021-09-14T12:01+0000

9/11: 20 years later

tajikistan

joe biden

afghanistan

antony blinken

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https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0e/1089064734_0:0:3073:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_59e70ba253fdd602a30df783153fd69f.jpg

Tajikistan has taken strong exception to US President Joe Biden's remarks on the 9/11 attacks anniversary. The Central Asian nations Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the American Ambassador to Dushanbe, John Mark Pommersheim, to protest formally against the controversial comments.The verbal note stated that such statements do not correspond to the spirit of friendly relations and partnership, it added.The diplomatic protest comes after Biden claimed at a 9/11 commemorative event in Pennsylvania that like Afghans, many Tajiks would also be hanging in the well of the wheel if the US pulled up a C-130 Hercules aircraft in Tajikistan.The remarks were made while Biden was defending the US troop withdrawal process from Afghanistan amid widespread criticism that Washington left behind many Afghans at the risk of reprisals from the Taliban owing to their involvement with the coalition forces for the past two decades.The Biden administration has been firm in defending its withdrawal of the American troops by the 31 August deadline.Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that the Taliban would have mounted attacks on US personnel had President Biden not honoured his predecessors pledge of pulling out the allied forces from the region by the agreed deadline.As a result, upon taking office, President Biden immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it, the top US diplomat remarked.

https://sputniknews.com/20210818/intentions-paved-the-roads-to-kabul-snowden-calls-to-learn-lesson-from-tragic-sequel-to-vietnam-1083647221.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210914/we-dont-need-to-hear-lies-blinken-excoriated-by-lawmakers-over-bidens-botched-afghan-withdrawal-1089053494.html

Ahson Take a trip to Saigon or Hanoi and you will get to see the truth first hand on the desire for many Vietnamese to go to the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Same same for Chinese and many others around the world no? 6

vot tak Regarding those who do want to go to the usa, they are the sort the home countries are better off without. In a similar way that Russia, and eastern europe, are better off without the zionists who moved to israel after the break up of the USSR. Any country that can export its ahsons will be better off. Though like Palestine, the locals where the zios go wont be. 5

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afghanistan

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Dhairya Maheshwari

tajikistan, joe biden, afghanistan, antony blinken
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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/think-you-are-right-blinken-agrees-pakistan-played-duplicitous-role-in-us-war-on-terror-1089056312.html

'Think You Are Right': Blinken Agrees Pakistan Played 'Duplicitous' Role in US' 'War on Terror'

'Think You Are Right': Blinken Agrees Pakistan Played 'Duplicitous' Role in US' 'War on Terror'

Pakistan has consistently fended off allegations of supporting the Taliban in the US War on Terror, instead portraying itself as a victim for the past two... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T11:57+0000

2021-09-14T11:57+0000

2021-09-14T11:57+0000

9/11: 20 years later

afghanistan

haqqani

antony blinken

pakistan

/html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0e/1089064467_0:2:3073:1730_1920x0_80_0_0_fee530d6e4b14b87f0a0979783db8b1f.jpg

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday accused Pakistan of "hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan" by supporting Washington in its counterterror operations in the country, while harbouring terrorists during the 20-year-long War on Terror.And so, going forward, what we are looking at  what we have to look at  is to insist that every country  including Pakistan  makes good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban-led government, if it has to receive legitimacy of any kind, Blinken added.The State Departments top diplomat reiterated his list of demands for the Taliban-led regime in Afghanistan  ensuring freedom of travel and safe passage for Afghans and foreigners wanting to leave the nation, not allowing Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven for outward directed terrorism, forming more inclusive government, to allow humanitarian aid into the country and upholding the rights of women, girls and minorities  as preconditions before the US and its partners would move towards recognising the recently unveiled cabinet in Kabul.The significant remarks come as Islamabad tries to forge a global consensus on a greater international engagement with the Taliban, in the wake of the new rulers in Kabul announcing their new cabinet last week.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi last week called for discarding old lenses, developing new insights and proceeding with a pragmatic approach in dealing with the new developments in Afghanistan.He said this while participating in a virtual meeting of his counterparts from China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Islamabad has also said that the Taliban must be incentivised for coming good on its promises, with Qureshi pointing out that the Islamist group was allowing safe passage for those wanting to leave the nation.The new Taliban cabinet has attracted criticism globally for having at least six ministers sanctioned by the United Nations for their alleged terrorist ties. Taliban's newly appointed interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani heads the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) Haqqani Network and has a $10 million bounty on his head.The Pentagon has said that members of the Haqqani Network remain on its hit list, remarks which drew condemnation from the Taliban, which has accused the US of violating the Doha Deal of February 2020.Major western powers, including the US, UK and the European Union (EU), have refused to recognise the new Taliban cabinet, saying that they will judge the new government by its deeds and not words.

https://sputniknews.com/20210914/we-dont-need-to-hear-lies-blinken-excoriated-by-lawmakers-over-bidens-botched-afghan-withdrawal-1089053494.html

https://sputniknews.com/20210829/pentagon-admits-co-mingling-of-taliban-haqqani-backtracks-on-separate-entities-valuation-1083744270.html

2007harleydavidsonsg Yet western powers refuse to recognize the continued role being played out by the UAE-Saudi in Yemen supporting these mercenaries groups for hire. 3

1

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Dhairya Maheshwari

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afghanistan, haqqani, antony blinken, pakistan
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/too-far-gone-to-remember-its-trumps-slogan-biden-trolled-over-pic-with-kids-wearing-maga-hats--1089060260.html

'Too Far Gone to Remember It Is Trump's Slogan: Biden Trolled Over Pic With Kids Wearing MAGA Hats

'Too Far Gone to Remember It Is Trump's Slogan: Biden Trolled Over Pic With Kids Wearing MAGA Hats

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited Shanksville, Pennsylvania on Saturday for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, to honour the 40... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T10:46+0000

2021-09-14T10:46+0000

2021-09-14T11:17+0000

joe biden

united states

9/11

maga

maga hat

/html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0b/1088993589_0:0:2387:1344_1920x0_80_0_0_d391f727d2add78a172a1a0f4875bfeb.jpg

After a spate of online trolling, President Joe Biden has dismissed suggestions that he was somehow tricked into posing for a photo with children wearing Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats. According to the POTUS, he was posing with the youngsters to underline his message of unity.Joe Biden had been attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony on Saturday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania when he stopped to take a photo with several children. The photo, posted online on Sunday from an account belonging to Jana Musser, supposedly one of the mothers, revealed that the youngsters were wearing pro-Trump merchandise.The caption stated that we can all come together to be united. Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers also posted the image to Twitter, reiterating claims that former President Donald Trump had won the 2020 election, which had been rigged to favour his Democratic rival. The viral images led some to suggest that Biden had been duped into posing with the kids. Another offered explanation was that he was unaware the children were sporting pro-Trump gear.

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Svetlana Ekimenko

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joe biden, united states, 9/11, maga, maga hat
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/uk-threatens-to-ditch-northern-ireland-protocol-urges-eu-to-start-negotiations-seriously-and-soon-1089056737.html

UK Threatens to Ditch Northern Ireland Protocol, Urges EU to Start Negotiations Seriously and Soon

UK Threatens to Ditch Northern Ireland Protocol, Urges EU to Start Negotiations Seriously and Soon

Earlier, grace periods for post-Brexit checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland, designed to ease the transition into new trading arrangements with the... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T09:00+0000

2021-09-14T09:00+0000

2021-09-14T09:00+0000

boris johnson

northern ireland

great britain

maros sefcovic

brexit

brexit

northern ireland's democratic unionist party (dup)

david frost

northern ireland protocol

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The UK government has warned the EU that it may unilaterally suspend the so-called Northern Ireland protocol agreed upon by Boris Johnson last December, reported The Guardian. Lord David Frost, the Brexit minister, raised the prospect of triggering Article 16 of the protocol, a safeguard clause allowing either side to dispense with applying the protocol if it "leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist". Frost warned that to avoid the protocol collapsing, there needs to be a real negotiation between us and the EU. After the UK exited the European Union, Northern Ireland also effectively left the single market. The Republic of Ireland, meanwhile, remains a part of the European bloc. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Britain agreed to leave some EU rules in place in Northern Ireland and accept checks on goods arriving from elsewhere in the UK to preserve an open land border with EU member state Ireland as a key pillar of the peace process there, hailing back to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.I was concerned by some of the comments we have heard from commission representatives in recent days which seem to suggest they may be considering this way forward [the take it or leave it approach], Frost told the House of Lords.UK-EU Chill On Saturday the Brexit minister warned of a long-term chill marring UK-EU relations if trading arrangements are not resolved, with substantial and significant change to the Northern Ireland Protocol. The Brexit minister was speaking after his Brussels counterpart, European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, said that a renegotiation of the protocol would merely lead to more instability.The Brussels official also called upon Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to dial down the rhetoric over the Northern Ireland Protocol. The DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had threatened his party could collapse Stormont within weeks by pulling out ministers from the current power-sharing institutions if changes to Brexits Northern Ireland Protocol are not delivered. Sefcovic who went on a two-day visit to Northern Ireland to meet with business leaders and politicians, also reacted to the announcement on Monday by the UK Government that it was extending grace periods on some Irish Sea border checks, saying:Earlier, the UK announced it was extending grace periods on post-Brexit checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from October 1 "to provide space for potential further discussions" on the contentious Northern Ireland protocol.Grace periods were extended twice before, in March and then again in June, when a ban on the import of chilled meat goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain was averted. The EU reacted to the extension, stressing that both sides were "legally bound to fulfil their obligations" under the Brexit deal.

Alba1970 the UK will soon cease to exist as Scotland will be leaving soon our place is outwith the vile and corrupt UK and we will not be a member of the war criminal organisation that is NATO 5

CountTo5Manual Who would expect food shortages in UK after Brexit...Bloomberg headlines today : U.K. Delays Brexit Border Checks on EU Food as Shortages Hit 2

4

northern ireland

great britain

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boris johnson, northern ireland, great britain, maros sefcovic, brexit, brexit, northern ireland's democratic unionist party (dup), david frost, northern ireland protocol
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/us-considering-scenario-of-de-facto-partition-of-syria-russian-foreign-ministry--1089074632.html

Presence of US Troops in Eastern Syria is 'De Facto Partition', Russian Foreign Ministry Says

Presence of US Troops in Eastern Syria is 'De Facto Partition', Russian Foreign Ministry Says

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned Tuesday that the continued presence of American troops in eastern Syria amounts to a de facto partition... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T17:13+0000

2021-09-14T17:13+0000

2021-09-14T18:22+0000

us

syria

war in syria

sergei ryabkov

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"One of the main reasons for the instability and continuation of the conflict in Syria is the illegal presence of the United States in the country," Ryabkov told RT Arabic on Tuesday. US troops have been deployed to Syria since late 2015, when then-US President Barack Obama began deploying US Special Forces units to support Kurdish militias fighting Daesh*, although US and allied air forces had been bombing Daesh positions since the year prior. Greater numbers of US troops arrived in subsequent years after Daesh was forced out of Iraq, and US forces in Syria's Deir-ez-Zor Governorate began building large facilities for a more permanent presence near the country's primary oil fields.In 2018, then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US intended to keep troops in eastern Syria until its goals of forcing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power and training a large proxy force of Kurds and other ethnic minorities in the region who were oppressed by Daesh rule. However, he also said the US intended to stay in order to keep Iran's position in Syria weak, a very open-ended mission goal.Roughly 900 US troops remain in Syria, officially serving as advisors to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.Ryabkov's comments come hours after Assad traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At their meeting, Putin similarly pointed to the presence of US and Turkish forces in Syria "without your consent" and against international law, which "does not give you the opportunity to make maximum efforts to consolidate the country, in order to move along the path of its restoration at a pace that would be possible if the entire territory was controlled by the legitimate government."Since US President Joe Biden took office in January, he has ordered two sets of airstrikes in eastern Syria, both of which ostensibly attacked Shiite militias the US claimed were responsible for attacking US forces in Iraq. The US has claimed the militias are controlled by Iran - claims both the militias and Tehran have denied.However, Biden also claimed just last month in a bizarre gaffe that the US had no troops in Syria.*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS), al-Qaeda, and al-Nusra are a terrorist organisations outlawed in Russia and many other states

See you in the ice If you don't like what the thieves, invaders and parasites do then you have to stop them, yourself. Nobody else is going to do it. Defeating 10, 1000, or 100,000 will change nothing. So long as they exist they will continue to do what they do. 10

mandrake Provide some serious shit that can challenge the morons presence in Syria and prepare the finalization of the jews presence in Palestine, which they have no legal claim on. Given the jewss neverending criminality, including holding hundreds of nukes, the world will soon cooperate to sent the jews to their final resting place (and it wont be in Palestine)! 5

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us, syria, war in syria, sergei ryabkov
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/us-gen-milley-reassured-china-twice-in-trumps-last-days-potus-wouldnt-attack-woodward-book-says-1089078540.html

US Gen. Milley Reassured China Twice in Trumps Last Days POTUS Wouldnt Attack, Woodward Book Says

US Gen. Milley Reassured China Twice in Trumps Last Days POTUS Wouldnt Attack, Woodward Book Says

A new book by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reveals some of the behind-the-scenes actions taken by senior members of the US defense... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T20:48+0000

2021-09-14T20:48+0000

2021-09-14T20:49+0000

bob woodward

donald trump

china

mark milley

insurrection

coup d'etat

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According to the New York Times, which obtained an advance copy of the book prior to its September 21 release date, US Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and seniormost officer of the US Armed Forces, was one of the central figures coordinating the mitigation effort to ensure Trump didnt do anything illegal before leaving office on January 20, 2021.Hes Been Crazy for a Long TimeAt the top of the list of fears was that Trump might try to hold onto power by provoking some kind of incident that would give him emergency powers, similar to the Reichstag fire incident in 1933 that saw dictatorial powers given to Germanys then-chancellor, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Milley told Woodward that fear included a potential attack on China, which he said he had already warned Trump off of doing previously.On January 8, two days after the insurrection by Trump supporters at the US Capitol that failed to block certification of the November 2020 election results, Milley phoned his counterpart in China, Gen. Li Zuocheng, chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, to reassure him there was no danger to the Peoples Republic of China.The phone call reportedly lasted 90 minutes. According to Milley, Li remained unusually rattled even after. He was particularly concerned about the stability of the US government and if the military was willing to act against another attempted seizure of power. US troops had already been deployed to the US Capitol after the failed attack, a number that would swell to more than 26,000 troops - ten times the number of US troops in Afghanistan at the time.Later that day, Milley received a phone call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who similarly fretted that Trump might stage an even more drastic action than that on January 6.Madam Speaker, Milley said, I agree with you on everything, adding he was going to prevent anything like that in the United States military.Aggressively Watch EverythingAfter their conversation, Milley said he summoned his top military commanders to the Pentagon and ran an impromptu review of the step-by-step process for launching a nuclear weapon. While Trump was the only one who could order a nuclear strike, Milley wanted his top generals to be reminded in person that he also had to be involved.If you get calls, General Milley said, no matter who theyre from, theres a process here, theres a procedure. No matter what youre told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And Im part of that procedure. Youve got to make sure that the right people are on the net.According to Woodward and Costa, Milley then went around the room to each officer and directly asked them if they understood the process.Milley said he then turned the most powerful parts of the US national security state into a tool for catching another potential Trump coup attempt. He told the head of each military branch to watch everything all the time and reached out to both National Security Agency director Paul Nakasone and CIA Director Gina Haspel, urging them to aggressively watch everything, 360.Haspel similarly feared Trump might stage an attack against Iran.Reminding Troops Of Their OathsFour days after Milleys meetings, on January 12, all eight members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued an unprecedented memo to all active and reserve US troops reminding them that the January 6 insurrection had been a violation of US law."The violent riot in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, was a direct assault on the US Congress, the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process," the memo said. "We witnessed actions inside the Capitol building that were inconsistent with the rule of law. The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection."The memo was also likely provoked by sympathy among law enforcement and active duty and reserve military members for the insurrectionists, and came as units across the country investigated reports that their members might have gone to Washington to be part of the attack.In addition, several top Pentagon officials had resisted attempts by US Capitol Police to deploy National Guardsmen around the national legislature prior to the riot, which began as a rally hosted by Trump outside the White House. The USCP chief at the time, Steven Sund, later told lawmakers his ability to respond to the escalating situation had been hamstrung by the Pentagon, which took hours to respond to his emergency requests after Trump supporters began mobbing the buildings western terrace.Trump was subsequently impeached in early February for incitement to insurrection, but the Senate acquitted him, with some senators feeling it was improper for him to be impeached after leaving office.

bones289 No one has acted more insane than Pelosi. She is a disgrace to the government. Her tantrums are well documented. Tearing up speeches and calling for impeachment over a phone call to Ukraine. Very unstable behavior indeed. Dementiacrat to the bone. 9

TruePatriot Another stupid supposed tell all book that has no credibility or worth whatsoever. 6

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bob woodward, donald trump, china, mark milley, insurrection, coup d'etat
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/us-spy-chief-admits-greater-terror-threats-emerging-in-yemen-syria--iraq-than-afghanistan-1089047945.html

US Spy Chief Admits Greater Terror Threats Emerging in Yemen, Syria & Iraq Than Afghanistan

US Spy Chief Admits Greater Terror Threats Emerging in Yemen, Syria & Iraq Than Afghanistan

Amid the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, politicos and insiders have warned that the rapid pullout could set the stage for the resurgence of... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T02:49+0000

2021-09-14T02:49+0000

2021-09-14T02:49+0000

afghanistan

yemen

somalia

us

iraq

syria

terror threat

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The greatest terror threats to the US are now emerging in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Somalia - not Afghanistan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has revealed.The revelation emerged Monday during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit, which kicked off in the Washington suburbs and is expected to come to a close on Tuesday.Although US intelligence officials are keeping close tabs on the developments unfolding in war-torn Afghanistan, Haines admitted during the event that greater terror threats are actually emerging in countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.It was during the Kabul exit that 13 US soldiers were killed by a suicide bombing that was later claimed by Daesh-K, an off-shoot group of the Daesh militant group.Haines later followed up her remarks by underscoring during the speaking event that intelligence agencies are still placing a "big focus" on the potential resurgence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.Turning the attention to domestic terrorism as well, Haines further indicated that such matters are a "growing and concerning threat" for officials.Haines' comments come on the heels of remarks from top US Gen. Mark Milley, who recently warned that a "likely" civil war in Afghanistan could lead to the "reconstitution of al-Qaeda." Sounding off alarms, Milley speculated that such infighting in the region could unfold "within 12, 24, 36 months."*The Taliban and al-Qaeda are terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other states.

Hess The U.S. will find many pretexts to keep its Zionism-controlled terrorism against the people of the Middle East going fo a long time to come. 5

vot tak Haines is full of (israeli). The terrorism in Syria, Iraq and Yemen is mainly an israeloamerican controlled proxy force fighting an undeclared war against those 3 countries. 5

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yemen, somalia, us, iraq, syria, terror threat
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/we-dont-need-to-hear-lies-blinken-excoriated-by-lawmakers-over-bidens-botched-afghan-withdrawal-1089053494.html

We Dont Need to Hear Lies: Blinken Excoriated By Lawmakers Over Bidens Botched Afghan Withdrawal

We Dont Need to Hear Lies: Blinken Excoriated By Lawmakers Over Bidens Botched Afghan Withdrawal

Amid broad bipartisan criticism of the Joe Biden administrations handling of the situation in Afghanistan lawmakers this week are holding their first public... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T07:49+0000

2021-09-14T07:49+0000

2021-09-14T07:49+0000

afghanistan

joe biden

donald trump

us senate

us house of representatives

us house of representatives foreign affairs committee

michael mccaul

lloyd austin

afghanistan

taliban

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken was excoriated over the bungled US withdrawal from Afghanistan at Mondays congressional hearing, with a Republican lawmaker erupting that Congress does not "need to hear lies". Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., slammed the administration's botched handling of the pullout, heatedly saying he didnt "believe a word" the secretary was saying.Blinken, the first Biden administration official to testify publicly to lawmakers since the US departure from Afghanistan, appeared before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee to defend President Joe Biden's abrupt decision to pull out US troops from the war-ravaged country. The move had allowed the Taliban* Islamist group to swiftly reclaim control, toppling the Western-backed Kabul government.Congressman Brian Mast, who lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan, accused Blinken of lying about President Joe Biden's leaked call with former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, and wondered if he had manipulated intelligence. According to a leaked transcript of the July 23 call, reported by Reuters, Biden told former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani: The call came as the Afghan government forces collapsed in the face of Taliban advances, resulting in the seizure of Kabul by the rebels.What the congressman said is wrong, period, Blinken said, responding to Masts words.'Blame-ShiftingAntony Blinken attempted to defend President Bidens decision to abruptly pull out troops from Afghanistan, saying, "We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan," during his hearing in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "There's no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining," Blinken said.The Secretary of State once again attempted to shift the blame for the subsequent developments in Afghanistan, such as the Kabul terrorist attack that claimed 13 US lives, and the botched evacuation that left Americans and vulnerable Afghan allies trying to escape the country to an uncertain fate, onto the previous administration of Donald Trump.Trumps administration had negotiated a settlement with Taliban in February 2020 in Doha, Qatar. The peace deal called for the US to bring down its forces to 8,600 from 13,000 over a span of three to four months, with the remaining forces withdrawing in 14 months, or by May 1st. The Taliban were expected to commit to preventing terrorism, including undertaking obligations to renounce al-Qaida* and prevent that group or others from using Afghan soil to plot attacks on the US or its allies.According to Blinken, Biden's administration could not renegotiate Trumps deal with the Taliban because of threats from the group to resume killing Americans. Blinken again noted that no one in the US government expected the Afghan government to collapse as quickly as it did.At the Mercy of the TalibanA torrent of harsh criticism has accompanied the botched US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was slammed at the hearing as a disgrace.According to him, the abrupt withdrawal had emboldened the Taliban and other US adversaries."The American people don't like to lose, especially not to the terrorists. But this is exactly what has happened," said Michael McCaul, who argued that the "unconditional surrender to the Taliban" would not have happened if Biden had heeded the advice of military advisers.I can summarise this in one word: betrayal, said McCaul, who also questioned why assets like the Bagram Air Base were not maintained.Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, said the decision to pull out of Bagram Air Base on July 1, ahead of the civilian evacuation resulted in the deadly suicide attack that killed 13 US troops.Other GOP members, Reps. Lee Zeldin and Tim Burchett, also echoed calls for Blinken's resignation.Lawmakers from both sides asked Blinken for an estimate of the numbers of Americans and vulnerable Afghan allies who still wish to leave the country."As of last week, there were about 100 American citizens in Afghanistan who told us they wish to leave the country," said Blinken, along with about several thousand green card holders.Blinken praised the evacuation as "a heroic effort," vowing further humanitarian aid to Afghanistan through non-governmental organisations and UN agencies, not the Taliban.Ahead of the hearing, the Republican National Committee released a statement demanding Blinken be held to account for handling of the Afghanistan developments.Republican House members introduced articles of impeachment for Blinken earlier, arguing he had failed to properly advise Biden.Blinken is also to testify Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to answer questions about his departments role in the Afghan pullout.Senate Armed Services Committee members are to hold a non-public briefing on the same issues on Wednesday, hearing from Gen. Austin Scott Miller, former commander of US Forces-Afghanistan.Two other public hearings have been slated for September 28 - with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.* Terrorist groups outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

Thomas Turk ''..American heroes are dead because of the arrogance, incompetence and ineptitude of this Administration. Secretary Blinken must be held accountable... '' and all Senators, except ONE who said NO, must be tried for war crime of illegally attacking Afghan. with no UNSC nor UN mandate, and blamed on a messy, false flag that had 300 fatal errors, even a primary skool kid could see through.. 2

vigilante No UN, no UNSC, the Americans are still in Syria stealing oil and protecting islamist terrorists with the help of Turkey. The time will come. 1

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joe biden, donald trump, us senate, us house of representatives, us house of representatives foreign affairs committee, michael mccaul, lloyd austin, afghanistan, taliban, antony blinken, mark milley, gen. austin scott miller
https://sputniknews.com/20210914/why-california-recall-election-procedure-triggers-gop-suspicion-1089076214.html

Why California Recall Election Procedure Triggers GOP Suspicion

Why California Recall Election Procedure Triggers GOP Suspicion

The outcome of the recall election may not become clear before 22 October, after each of the state's 58 counties submits their final results to the Secretary... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T21:25+0000

2021-09-14T21:25+0000

2021-09-14T21:24+0000

joe biden

recall

donald trump

news

world

us

california

election fraud

election irregularities

gavin newsom

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Californians have started to cast ballots in the recall elections, well before the 14 September deadline. Every registered voter in the state received a ballot by mail. Altogether, officials issued 22.2 million mail ballots. As of 12 September, over 8 million ballots, or roughly 37% of all ballots sent to Californians, have been returned by mail or voted in person, according to ABC 7.After polling places close at 8 p.m. local time, voters will be able to see preliminary results for each of 58 counties at the Secretary of State (SOS) website. Election results will be regularly updated as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional and other ballots are tallied, according to the website.The SOS further notifies California voters that each county processes ballots differently and the distances poll workers must travel in some cases, from polling places to county offices, also varies. In addition, the state allows every ballot to count as long as it is postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days.Although California state law requires county officials to send their first batch of results to the SOS no later than two hours after they begin tallying votes, it may take up to 30 days to come up with a final result. During this period, county officials are required to verify voter records and determine whether the ballots were cast by eligible voters, according to the SOS. Typically, the first batch of ballots consists of votes submitted before Election Day, such as ballots from voters overseas and those who used mail-in voting, according to Newsweek. The results from all the 58 counties won't be compiled and certified by the SOS until 22 October.Some media outlets, including NPR and CapRadio, announced that they would rely on the Associated Press to call the winner in the recall race before the official numbers are announced.If 50% or more voters choose to keep Newsom, the recall will have failed. If a majority of voters opt to remove the governor, the replacement candidate who gets the most votes will be elected for the remainder of the term of office, through 2 January 2023.Some Republicans have raised an alarm over the possibility of election fraud in the state. Conservative talk show host Larry Elders campaign website has asked for reports of incidents of "any irregularities, interference, or intimidation."Elder's concerns are primarily driven by a GOP distrust of mail-in and absentee voting, as well as the practice of receiving ballots after the official Election Day, a long-standing electoral process they claim invites election fraud. Republicans in a number of US states are currently reviewing 2020 election results in a similar effort denounced by the Biden administration as the "Big Lie." A recent Yahoo News poll suggested that as many as 66% of Republican voters continue to believe baseless claims that last year's election was "stolen" from the former US president, Donald Trump."Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged?" Trump commented on 13 September. "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!"Conservative media outlet Townhall published an op-ed on 14 September, self-titled "Very Concerning Evidence of Vote Fraud in California Recall Election." In particular Townhall refers to a case in Torrance in which police claimed to have found "300 recall ballots and multiple California drivers' licenses in a felons car" and a case in the San Fernando Valley in which unnamed election officials told Republican voters that they had already voted. Although California authorities pledged to investigate these claims, the conservative media outlet suggested that the allegations of possible irregularities could be the tip of an iceberg.Left-leaning mainstream media in the state bash the GOP for "setting the stage to blame a loss on voter fraud." While polls increasingly note that Newsom has high odds of staying at the helm, media observers admit that California has long been a Democratic stronghold and the GOP has very little chance of winning. A Republican has not won a statewide race since 2006. In addition, the Republican Party claims just 24% of registered voters in California, compared with 46.5% for Democrats, according to AP.

vot tak Let me guess, blinova's likudite handlers want to set the stage for a recall of the recall if their chosen (and I mean chosen) stooge does get in legally. But why is a person in Russia so enamored with promoting american fascist politics? 0

vot tak Correction: Does not get in. 0

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Ekaterina Blinova

Ekaterina Blinova

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Ekaterina Blinova

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https://sputniknews.com/20210914/with-israel--hamas-locking-horns-again-a-gaza-based-expert-says-full-fledged-war-still-unlikely--1089052255.html

With Israel & Hamas Locking Horns Again, a Gaza-Based Expert Says Full-Fledged War Still Unlikely

With Israel & Hamas Locking Horns Again, a Gaza-Based Expert Says Full-Fledged War Still Unlikely

The Jewish state has entered its holiday season and cannot occupy itself with another round of hostilities with the Islamic group that controls the Gaza Strip... 14.09.2021, Sputnik International

2021-09-14T06:46+0000

2021-09-14T06:46+0000

2021-09-14T06:46+0000

israel

gaza

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Four months after Israel's Guardian of the Walls operation in Gaza, tensions between the sides are brewing again. And now it seems that the Jewish state is preparing itself for yet another confrontation with Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the enclave.Tensions Run HighRecently, it was reported that during his trip to Washington, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett asked the American leader Joe Biden to replenish the Iron Dome Defence System with interception missiles after their stock was depleted following the recent escalation with Gaza.Some Israeli analysts saw it as an indication that another round of hostilities was just around the corner.The escape of six Palestinian prisoners from the Gilboa facility in northern Israel has also added fuel to the fire.Their escape prompted Israel to tighten its security around other prisoners serving terms on charges of terrorism, a move that was seen as harming their conditions.As a result, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of cities across the West Bank on Friday, clashing with the IDF. Jerusalem registered a number of stabbing incidents, and shortly after four fugitives have been captured, the militants of the Gaza Strip launched several rockets into Israel's southern communities, prompting an Israeli response.On the Brink of War?Mkhaimer Abu Seada, a political analyst from Gaza, has been following the recent developments with great concern. And he thinks that Hamas is not interested in yet another full-fledged conflict with Israel.The previous round has left the Strip devastated. Many roads, hospitals, police stations, schools and residential buildings have been either partially or fully destroyed, and the general mood on the street is that another confrontation could deal a blow to Gaza from which it will hardly recover.Israel has already extended some of those concessions. In recent weeks, Israeli authorities opened the crossing with Gaza allowing some products and necessities in. The fishing zone was expanded too, and some Gazans have been given a permit to enter Israel for work and medical services.To vent their frustration, Hamas, says Abu Seada is resorting to its old tricks. Only recently, the weekly riots at the fence that separates Israel from Gaza have resumed. The activists of the group continue to send incendiary balloons into the Jewish state, where nightly disturbances of the countrys southern communities have become a regular occurrence."They are stretching the rope in a bid to get more concessions, knowing that Israel will not want to escalate tensions now either".Many Jewish holidays are celebrated in September, and for many Israelis it is a time for family and getting together. Bennett and his security people are saying they are ready for any scenario but the chances that they will open a full-fledged war in the middle of the holiday season are slim."What happens after the holidays will largely depend on the behaviour of Hamas," said Abu Seada. "Israel might go into a confrontation if tensions continue to be high," he added.Mediation EffortsHowever, since the hostilities of May there have been many efforts to bridge the gap between the two sides. The mediation has been carried out by Qatar and Egypt, with the latter holding multiple meetings with both Israeli and Palestinians delegations to reach a long-lasting truce.Parallel to that, Egypt has been exerting efforts into what seems to be as the revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Lately, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met with the head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian leader King Abdallah II. Yesterday, he also held a bilateral meeting with PM Bennett.Hamas has already stated that any negotiations in this regard will include the names of the six prisoners who escaped from the Gilboa last week. But it is unlikely that Bennett, known for his hawkish views, will be willing to budge."The gaps between the two sides are still too wide, and I am not sure Bennett will be ready to pay the price that [former prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu did, when he swapped the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners."

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

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The betting public was all over Brave World in Mondays $8,500 Preferred 3 for horse and gelding pacers at Grand River Raceway, and the Harry Poulton pupil didnt disappoint.

In rein to Travis Henry, Brave World shot to the lead from Post 1 and never looked back. He laid down fractions of :27.3, :57.1 and 1:25.2 before kicking home in :29 to win by three-quarters of a length over St Lads Beat It in 1:54.2. Modern Rock took home third prize in the nine-horse affair.

Sent off as the 4-5 favourite, the seven-year-old son of Royal Mattjesty-Fit N Bad won for the fourth time this season and for the 31st time in his career. The career winner of $365,640 is owned by Thestable Brave World Grp of Guelph, ON.

To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results  Grand River Raceway.
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."

- 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.

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.
A few minutes of weightlessness, or a few days. A short hop above the Earth's atmosphere or a journey to the Moon and back... the era of space tourism is upon us, and -- for those who can pay -- it comes with many options.

This year has been an important one for the up-and-coming sector, with a slew of new missions announced. Here is the state of play.

- SpaceX -

1: INSPIRATION4

Elon Musk's company is set this week to send four passengers to space, for a total of three days. They blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon mounted on a Falcon 9 rocket.

It'll be the first orbital mission involving four non-professional astronauts. The "Inspiration4" mission is chartered by American billionaire and pilot Jared Isaacman, and will fly beyond the altitude of the International Space Station.

2: AX-1

In January 2022, three businessmen will visit the ISS, alongside an experienced former NASA astronaut.

The mission, which is to last 10 days in total and named Ax-1, is being organized by the company Axiom Space, which has signed up for three more future flights with SpaceX.

They will operate in the American segment of the ISS, where they will conduct scientific experiments.

3: SPACE ADVENTURE

SpaceX also has plans for another orbital voyage for four paying clients, organized by Space Adventures.

It was this company that organized tips for seven tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009 aboard Russian rockets.

3: DEARMOON

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is due to take a trip around the Moon, presumably in 2023, aboard a Starship rocket that is still under development by SpaceX. The mission is called dearMoon.

- Virgin Galactic -

Virgin Galactic's experience involves an enormous carrier plane that takes off from a runway, reaches a high altitude, then drops a rocket-powered spaceplane which accelerates towards space.

The passengers and crew experience a few minutes of weightlessness at altitudes exceeding 50 miles (80 kilometers) -- the US definition of space.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson participated in a test flight on July 11 out of New Mexico.

The company is currently grounded pending an investigation over a flight "mishap." It hopes to have routine flights by 2022.

- Blue Origin -

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin also offers a few minutes of weightlessness, but at altitudes exceeding 60 miles (100 kilometers). Its astronauts thus breach the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

The reusable rocket blasts off vertically, and the capsule detaches in flight.

Its descent back to Earth is slowed by three huge parachutes and a thruster.

The Amazon founder was among the first four passengers to make the trip from the company's west Texas base on July 20.

- Russian endeavors -

Russia will send an actress and a director to the ISS in October, aboard a Soyuz rocket. The goal: to shoot the first fiction film in orbit and in zero gravity.

Japan's Yusaku Maezawa is also set to go to the ISS in December on a Soyuz rocket. The trip is to last 12 days and is being organized through Space Adventures.

The company has announced another mission to the ISS in 2023 in a Russian rocket, for two participants, one of whom will have the opportunity to perform a spacewalk.

- Spaceballoon -

Other companies are developing less ambitious projects, like Space Perspective. Its capsule, hoisted by a spaceballoon the size of a football stadium, offers a view of the Earth's curvature.

Tickets cost $125,000 but the balloon ascends only 30 kilometers, which means passengers won't experience weightlessness.
Weve reported on the leaks of the upcoming OPPO Find X3 Pro Photography Edition yesterday. Today, OPPO has scheduled a big event for 16 September, Thursday for the launch of new products with the announcement of ColorOS 12 as the main highlight and of course, the Find X3 Pro Photography Edition that collaborated with Kodak will also be unveiled on that day.

According to the poster posted by OPPOs official Weibo account, the event will be held on 16 September, at 6 pm, with the slogan ONE the MORE the STEP. As reported, the upcoming Find X3 Pro Photography Edition will have a dual-textured back with a metal frame covering the upper part of the back and a leather texture covering the bottom which represents the vintage Kodak cameras.

As for the tech specs, we are expecting it to be no different from the OPPO Find X3 Pro which has a 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz refresh rate display, Snapdragon 888 chipset coupled with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, dual 50MP cameras for the main and ultrawide, 13MP telephoto lens, 3MP microlens as well as a 32MP selfie camera. Powered by a 4500mAh battery with 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 fast charging support, 30W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging.

As of now, there is still no official information on the tech specs, and it is expected to be a China-exclusive, but hopefully, it will land in the Malaysian market too. So do take this with a pinch of salt and stay tuned for more tech news updates on TechNave.com
An illustration of the equilibrium bid function for a simple first-price auction for one object and an approximation illustrated via dots. Credit: Bichler et al.

Over the past few decades, computer scientists have been exploring the potential of applying game theory and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to chess, the abstract strategy board game go, or other games. Another valuable use of game theory is in the economic sciences, particularly as a framework to explain strategic interactions in markets and the resulting outcomes.

One of the most common theoretical constructs designed to enable the application of game theory in economics is auction theory. Auction theory is an application of game theory that specifically describes how different bidders may act in auction markets.

When applying auction theory to real or realistic markets with multiple items on sale and with value interdependencies, however, calculating equilibrium bidding strategies for auction games can be challenging. In game theory, the Bayesian Nash equilibrium (BNE) occurs when no player (or bidder) can improve their chosen strategy after they considered their opponent's choices.

The BNE is considered a stable outcome of a game or auction and can serve as a prediction for the outcome, yet it is far harder to calculate for auctions compared to finite complete-information games such as rock-paper-scissors. This is because opponents' values and bids are continuous.

Past studies have introduced several numerical techniques that could be used to learn equilibria in auction games. These methods are either based on calculations of pointwise best responses in the strategy space or on iteratively solving subgames. Their use was largely restricted to simple single-object auctions.

Researchers at Technical University of Munich have recently developed a new machine learning technique that can be used to learn local equilibria in symmetric auction games. This technique, introduced in a paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence, works by representing strategies as neural networks and then applying policy iteration based on gradient dynamics while a bidder is playing against himself.

"Just last year, the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Paul Milgrom and Bob Wilson for their work on auction theory and design," Martin Bichler, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. "Early work by Nobel Prize laureate William Vickrey led to game-theoretical equilibrium strategies for simple single-object auctions, which are based on the solution to differential equations. Unfortunately, more complex multi-object auctions have turned out very challenging to solve and equilibrium bidding strategies are known only for very specific cases."

Bichler and his colleagues have been conducting research related to auction theory and exploring its applications for several years now. In their recent study, they specifically set out to develop a technique based on artificial neural networks and self-play that can automatically learn equilibrium bidding strategies in auctions.

"We proved that our method converges with the equilibrium strategy in a wide variety of auction models with standard assumptions," Bichler said. "This allows us to develop equilibrium solvers that compute equilibrium bidding strategies for various types of auction models numerically, which was not possible so far."

When the researchers tested their technique, they found that the BNEs it approximated coincided with the analytically derived equilibrium, whenever it was available. The estimated error was also very low in cases where the analytical equilibrium is unknown. In the future, the tool they developed could thus be used to investigate the efficiency of auctions and determine what bidding strategies one may expect will emerge in equilibrium.

In addition to its significant contribution to the study of auction theory, the technique created by Bichler and his colleagues could be a highly valuable tool for auctioneers, as it could help them to select auction formats and bidders to develop their bidding strategies. For instance, it might prove useful during spectrum auctions, which are used by regulators worldwide to distribute the rights to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum to different mobile network providers.

"We first adapted the standard learning process in neural networks (gradient descent) to handle the discontinuities of utility functions in our auction models," Bichler said. "Secondly, we could prove that the method converges to equilibrium in auctions with only a mild set of assumptions. This is interesting because equilibrium learning of this sort does not converge in general in games."

In their future studies, Bichler and his colleagues would like to test their technique on different scenarios and ensure that it generalizes well. In addition, they plan to develop tools that can automatically compute equilibria in a wider variety of game theory-related problems, reaching beyond symmetric auction games.

More information: Martin Bichler et al, Learning equilibria in symmetric auction games using artificial neural networks, Nature Machine Intelligence (2021). Journal information: Nature Machine Intelligence Martin Bichler et al, Learning equilibria in symmetric auction games using artificial neural networks,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-021-00365-4

 2021 Science X Network
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During the pandemic, restaurants around Seattle started to notice they were getting more food orders from different versions of their menus that sometimes dated as far back as 2014. Worse, when the kitchens couldn't fulfill orders from such outdated menus, those angry customers posted negative reviews about the restaurants online or called the restaurants to complain.

Last year, Art of the Table owner and chef Dustin Ronspies said he received to-go requests for stuffed quail and other small plate items from a menu he wrote eight years ago. His staff had to tell the delivery drivers that the kitchen didn't have those ingredients on hand.

Nearby, the seafood restaurant Manolin recently received a request for "black rice with squid," a menu item that's so outdated that the cooks couldn't recall when Manolin last served it in the dining room, let alone make it on the spot.

Unbeknown to these restaurants, the third-party delivery-app Grubhub was hawking these gourmet to-go items, and then putting the onus on the restaurants when the chefs could not reproduce these dishes for delivery, said several restaurateurs who spoke to The Seattle Times. Grubhub did not return a request for comment.

"They are ordering things we have not had in over a year. ... It's insane. It's a blatant misuse of our business," said Manolin co-owner Joe Sundberg.

The city of Seattle will soon start cracking down on such practices. In one of the strictest measures in the United States, a new Seattle law, effective Sept. 15, will require third-party meal-delivery apps to get written consent from restaurants before listing their menus or taking orders without permission. A delivery service that refuses to "remove the restaurant from its listing within 72 hours of receiving the request" could be fined $250 per violation.

Revenues generated from those fines will go toward supporting small restaurants with fewer than five employees, city officials said.

Seattle has been one of the most aggressive metropolitan cities in trying to rein in the practices of food delivery services. Last year, after small businesses and customers around Seattle complained that delivery services were "price gouging" during the pandemic, the city imposed a 15% cap on commission that third-party, app-based services can charge to deliver food.

The latest delivery mandate has the backing of two influential restaurant organizations; the Washington Hospitality Association and the Seattle Restaurant Alliance. Anthony Anton, the president of the WHA, said delivery apps are hurting restaurants because it's the small-business owners, and not the delivery services, that are getting the brunt of the negative online reviews for not being able to fulfill delivery orders from outdated menus.

Linda Di Lello Morton, a board member of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance and the co-owner of Terra Plata Bistro on Capitol Hill, agreed. "It really hurts when we get a bad review when it had nothing to do with us," Morton said.

Two years ago, Grubhub, Postmates and other delivery app services were not household names around Seattle. But after Gov. Jay Inslee ordered all restaurants to temporarily shut their dining rooms during the pandemic, many chefs pivoted to takeout and delivery, relying on multiple app-based services to handle their orders.

Even restaurants that didn't contract with these third-party apps were unwillingly forced into the delivery ecosystem as their menus were posted on apps without the restaurant's consent.

To gain market share in the cutthroat delivery-services realm, many third-party apps try to list as many restaurants as possible, even using old menus from Google searches to give customers more variety to choose from.

Problems often arise when delivery sites post old menus without the knowledge or consent of restaurants: Seasonal menus and pricing are outdated. Many chefs also don't do to-go orders or offer only a limited menu because many entrees don't travel well.

When a customer orders from an old menu that the kitchen can't fill, that's when restaurateurs, delivery drivers and customers start the finger pointing at each other over the unfilled deliveries, several owners said.

Matt Storm, owner of the pizzeria The Masonry, said his Neapolitan-style pie doesn't hold up well sitting in a pizza box for 30 minutes, so he doesn't offer delivery and discourages customers from ordering pizza for takeout. Yet, delivery services continue to advertise his pizza on their platforms, he said.

He recalled one courier who demanded he make a duck egg pizza since a customer had already paid for it with a credit card after seeing that outdated menu item on the delivery app.

"There is literally no duck egg here. I can't magically pull one out of my (expletive)," Storm recalled telling the angry delivery driver.

Sundberg, the owner of two critically acclaimed restaurants, Manolin and Rupee Bar, said for a year he used his own employees to do food deliveries to keep his staff employed during the pandemic. He didn't realize he had a competitor: Grubhub and other delivery services, which posted old menus from his two restaurants without his consent.

"We had one customer (who) ordered six items, five of which are things we haven't had for about a year," said Sundberg. "I have reached out to these companies in the past to get our names and logos and menus off the sites because there were three to four of these [to-go orders] a week. ... We can't fill these orders."

Every time he contacted the delivery services to take his businesses off their sites, his menus would be "back up in six or eight months," he said.

Other restaurants that signed an agreement with delivery services say it's difficult to end the partnership. Uttam Mukherjee, co-owner of the popular street Indian food counter Spice Waala on Capitol Hill and in the Ballard neighborhood, originally signed with Grubhub to handle its delivery. But in February, when drivers repeatedly showed up 90 minutes late to deliver fries and wraps that had turned cold and mushy, Mukherjee demanded Grubhub stop delivering his food because it was hurting his restaurant's reputation.

"I called them twice to take us down (and said), "You do not have permission to use our menus without our knowledge," " he recalled. "They would say, "Sorry, we didn't know." And a couple of weeks later we would get another order from Grubhub."

Explore further DoorDash offers lower-priced delivery plans amid criticism

2021 The Seattle Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Here we are, finally, in September, with, hopefully, the last of the really cruel summer heat behind us. Not that the new month means the heat wont hang around because it probably will for a little while.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The New Hampshire Public Health Association (NHPHA) is pleased to announce that it has welcomed Suzanne Gaulocher, Associate Professor of Public Health and Director of the Center for Healthy Communities at Plymouth State University, to its Board of Directors for a one year term.

Ms. Gaulocher holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she was a part of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment focusing on the intersection of human and environmental health. She also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Master of Arts from Oregon State University in Applied Medical Anthropology. Her research and teaching centers around the intersection between human health and the environment with a focus on community engagement, social justice and health equity.

Ms. Gaulocher looks forward to serving on the NHPHA Board of Directors and using her expertise to help advance health equity in New Hampshire.

About NHPHA

NHPHA is a statewide membership organization composed of professionals and others who have an interest in public health. For over 25 years, it has brought together members who share a common goal of making sure that New Hampshire citizens live, learn, work, and play in safe and healthy environments. For more information, visit nhpha.org or call 603-228-2983.

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In the 2021 Budget, Finance Minister Colm Imbert had said the goal of the Government was to boost jobs. But what exactly is the state of unemployment in Trinidad and Tobago?
ON Republic Day, activist Jerome Alexander will run a marathon from OMeara Road in Arima to South Quay, PoS to raise public awareness about the dangers of pornography. Alexanders idea to run the 26-mile marathon was in part inspired by a friend of his in the US who ran 30 marathons in 30 days.
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Vietnams Ministry of Information and Communications has announced a campaign to provide at least one million computers together with Internet connections to help underprivileged K-12 students keep up with online classes.

The campaign, entitled 'Connection and Computers for Children,' is born out of the Vietnamese prime ministers orientation of supporting teachers and students with online learning instruments during the COVID-19 social distancing bouts that are in place in many parts of the country.

It was launched on Sunday in a ceremony joined by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

In the 2021-22 school year that started earlier this month, online learning will be considered a regular solution for education during the ongoing pandemic, rather than a situational alternative like in the previous school year, officials stated.

However, the new learning method requires access to computers and accompanying gadgets, which jeopardizes the learning and teaching opportunities of students and teachers in financially challenged households.

Addressing the issue, the Ministry of Information and Communications collaborated with the Ministry of Education and Training in the campaign in bringing high-speed Internet and digital infrastructure to students and teachers in need.

The organizers also opened a call for donations to purchase computers and technology gadgets for struggling students who live in areas upholding the governments stringent Directive No. 16, which forbids all services and outdoor travels that are deemed non-essential.

According to the information ministry, the campaign calls for donations from all sectors in Vietnam to ensure that no student is left behind in terms of study opportunities.

To realize the goal, it has allocated a budget of VND3 trillion (US$133 million) to establish cellular Internet coverage in remote spots within social distancing zones.

As per the ministrys plan, 283 locations will get Internet connection in September, while a total of 1,910 spots will get network coverage by the end of 2021.

The information authority also vowed to provide computers to destitute students, with one million devices to be mobilized in the first phase from September to December 2021.

This phase will prioritize poor students in socially distanced areas, and will cost an estimated VND2.5 trillion ($110 million), officials stated.

During the subsequent phase of 2022-23, the campaign utilizes support from various sectors to make sure that all students from poor households get equipped with personal computers for their online education.

During Sunday's ceremony, the ministry also announced an online learning support package for locales that are maintaining movement curbs under Directive No. 16.

Requiring a budget of VND650 billion ($28.7 million) and expected to last three months, the package involves free subscriptions of domestic online learning platforms, free data that accompanies computers for poor students, as well as Internet infrastructure upgrades to help provinces organize better online education.

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The Michelin Guide Singapore has celebrated its fifth anniversary with 14 restaurants added to this years list, including one promoted to three stars, one to two stars, five to one star, and seven newly awarded one star.

After debuting in the 2019 edition with two Michelin stars, Zen has been promoted to three Michelin stars in 2021, the highest accolade in the Michelin Guide.

With Zens promotion, Singapore is now home to a total of three 3-star restaurants, including Les Amis and Odette, which were elevated to this category in 2019, the Michelin Guide said in a press release early this month.

Meanwhile, Jaan by Kirk Westaway received a second Michelin star in 2021 for its modern reinterpretation of British gastronomy through an innovative culinary lens.

Michelin inspectors praise the restaurant for embodying the quintessence of fine dining and its smart use of amazing British produce to create a romantic setting that has it all  food, service, ambiance, and spectacular views.

With this recognition, Jaan by Kirk Westaway joins four other restaurants with two Michelin stars in Singapore, namely Saint Pierre, Shisen Hanten, Shoukouwa, and Waku Ghin.

This year also saw twelve new restaurants receiving one Michelin star in the city-state.

Of these, four are making their debut in the 2021 edition with one Michelin star (Art in the National Gallery, Cloudstreet, Oshino, and Sommer), three have gained one Michelin star for their new openings (Basque Kitchen by Aitor, Lerouy, and Whitegrass), while five have been promoted from Michelin Plate (Cure, Esora, Shang Palace, Thevar, and 28 Wilkie).

With these new additions, Singapore has a total of 41 one-Michelin-star restaurants.

A photo is taken at the ceremony to reveal the Michelin Guide selection 2021 for Singapore. Photo by courtesy of Michelin Guide Singapore

In addition, the Michelin Guide also marks its fifth anniversary in Singapore by launching the first-ever Michelin Guide Young Chef Award, which recognizes a young chef working in a Michelin-starred restaurant who has exceptional talent and great potential.

This year's award went to Cloudstreets Chef Mark Tai, a graduate from the Culinary School of America and with more than several years of professional experience both in the hotel and restaurant industries.

Tais expertise and leadership goes beyond the kitchen and shines in its operational and dining aspects, too, the Michelin Guide Singapore said in its press release.

Despite the challenges posed by 2020, it has been impressive to observe how the chefs and their teams were able to reinvent and adapt to the unfolding situation, said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides.

On top of managing their restaurants, they also came together in looking out for those who were in need in their communities, from feeding migrant workers and frontline workers, to setting up welfare funds for displaced F&B staff.

In this 2021 edition, we pay tribute to the perseverance and dedication of these professionals, who continue to bring us together over the finest gastronomy and experiences.

I believe the readers of the Michelin Guide and all food lovers are excited to continue discovering Singapores colorful and resilient dining scene, as well as the reinventions that have taken place over the last year and those to come.
Police in Vietnam confirmed on Monday they had caught 15 people hiding inside a refrigerated truck in an attempt to dodge inspection at a local COVID-19 checkpoint.

A patrol team of the Ham Tan District police in Binh Thuan Province inspected the refrigerated truck numbered 51D-382.14 over suspicious signs while it was parked at a restaurant in Tan Duc Commune at around 10:00 pm on Sunday.

As driver Le Van Tuans responses to the functional forces questions were conflicting, the officers requested the 39-year-old man hailing from Ham Thuan Nam District in the same province to open his refrigerated trailer and discovered 15 people and baggage inside.

The patrol team immediately escorted the refrigerated truck and the people in question to the Tan Duc COVID-19 checkpoint for further clarification.

At the checkpoint, all of the 15 people in the truck and driver Tuan presented a valid certificate of negative COVID-19 testing.

Tuan then confessed that he had made deals with some passenger bus operators to illegally transport the 15 people through COVID-19 checkpoints for VND700,000(US$31) per person.

Police officers found 15 people hiding in a refrigerated truck in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam, September 12, 2021. Video: Binh Thuan traffic police

Following Tuans confession, the patrol team managed to find out a passenger bus, numbered 61A-310.27, and a car carrying the license plate 75A-170.78 waiting to pick up the 15 people at two nearby petrol stations at 10:30 pm and 11:00 pm on the same day, respectively.

The police officers also apprehended the passenger bus driver, 37-year-old Ngo Van Vu from north-central Thanh Hoa Province, and the car driver, 42-year-old Nguyen Ngoc Hung from central Thua Thien-Hue Province.

Vu and Hung later admitted to carrying the 15 people in question from different localities.

The two men transferred their passengers to Tuans refrigerated truck at Long Khanh Bus Station in southern Dong Nai Province, which borders Binh Thuan, in the hope that the disguised vehicle could take the illegal travelers through checkpoints without attracting attention.

Police officers book a case of illegally transporting passengers in a refrigerated truck from Dong Nai Province to Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam, September 12, 2021. Photo: Binh Thuan traffic police

The truck successfully passed several roadblocks without undergoing inspection before being discovered in Tan Duc Commune.

The patrol team booked the case and transferred the report to traffic inspectors for administrative sanctions on all of the 18 people for their violations against the pandemic prevention and control regulations.

Car driver Hung was separately booked for failing to present a drivers license upon the officers request and had his car seized for further investigation and handling.

Officers also turned all of the 18 people around in the direction back to Dong Nai Province, preventing them from coming further into Binh Thuan Province.

But Binh Thuan authorities later decided to send them to local quarantine centers, pending their cooperation with relevant provinces to bring the 15 passengers back to their hometowns.

Police officers book a case of illegally transporting passengers in a refrigerated truck from Dong Nai Province to Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam, September 12, 2021. Photo: Binh Thuan traffic police

Dong Nai has been placed under enhanced social distancing according to the prime ministers Directive No. 16 until Wednesday, while Ham Tan District in Binh Thuan Province has applied the less stringent Directive No. 15 for COVID -19 prevention purposes, with commercial passenger transport services between them suspended.

Dong Nai is currently the third hardest-hit locality in Vietnam since the emergence of a new coronavirus infection wave on April 27, with 35,584 local cases, after Ho Chi Minh City with 303,475 and Binh Duong Province with 160,669.

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Here are todays leading news stories:

Politics

-- A state-level funeral will be held at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi on September 15 for General Phung Quang Thanh, former Politburo member, former Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission and former Minister of National Defense, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

COVID-19 Updates

-- Ho Chi Minh City is expected to extend the ongoing social distancing period to the end of this month, chairman Phan Van Mai said during a meeting on Monday.

-- Authorities in the southern province of Long An have allowed fully vaccinated residents to pass COVID-19 checkpoints in areas where relaxed social distancing measures are applied.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has asked the Ministry of Health for permission to shorten the interval between two doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to six weeks, compared with the recommended pause from eight to 12 weeks, in order to expedite inoculation.

Society

-- Another storm is expected to enter the East Vietnam Sea on September 20 or 21 and likely to affect central provinces, Ho Chi Minh City-based weather pundit Le Thi Xuan Lan stated.

-- Police in the south-central province of Binh Thuan confirmed on Monday they had caught 15 people hiding inside a refrigerator truck in an attempt to dodge inspection at a local COVID-19 checkpoint.

-- A 33-year-old man from the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for attacking officers at a COVID-19 checkpoint with a knife and a hammer.

-- Police in the northern province of Hung Yen confirmed on Monday they had caught 41 people partying inside a karaoke parlor despite an ongoing ban due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among them, 17 tested positive for narcotics.

Sports

-- Vietnam lost 1-9 to Brazil in the opening match of Group D at the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021 in Lithuania early on Tuesday morning.

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The director of a district-level medical center in Vietnams Mekong Delta has been suspended for allowing a 13-year-old child to receive COVID-19 vaccination.

The Peoples Committee in Can Tho City has decided to suspend Nguyen Kim Hai, director of the Thot Not District Medical Center, for 15 days over the administering of a COVID-19 vaccine shot to an under-18-year-old person without consulting the local steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

During the suspension, competent authorities will review the extent of the violation and determine a suitable disciplinary action for the health official.

On Monday, a Facebook user posted a status saying that a health worker and her family members, including a 13-year-old niece, had been fully inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Thot Not District.

The post stirred up public concern as authorities in Can Tho and Vietnam in general have yet to issue any guideline on COVID-19 vaccination for people under 18 years old.

Hai verified the information later the same day, adding that several other children who are family members of local health personnel in the district also received the jabs.

As family members of health workers are also at high risk of getting infected, the district-level health authorities decided to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to these special cases, he explained.

"Although Can Tho Citys Department of Health has not announced any guideline on COVID-19 vaccination for people under 18 years old, the manufacturers instructions show that the vaccine can be given to people over 12 years old, he continued.

All family members already gave their consent on the inoculation of these children.

An official from the Can Tho health department said that each district is authorized to make the list of individuals eligible for the vaccination.

However, they must belong to the target groups that are approved by the Ministry of Health.

Aside from Hai, D.K.Q.  a health worker in Tan Loc Ward, Thot Not District  was suspended for her involvement as well.

She was the one who used her connections with local health authorities to administer the vaccine shots to her 13-year-old niece.

Vietnam aims to immunize at least two-thirds of a population of nearly 98 million people against COVID-19 by the first quarter of next year.

Around 29.2 million vaccine doses have been administered since inoculation was rolled out on March 8, while more than 5.3 million people have been fully vaccinated.

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The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has asked the Ministry of Health for permission to shorten the gap between two doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to six weeks, down from eight to 12 weeks as recommended, in order to expedite inoculation.

The proposal was made amidst the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City, which is the hardest-hit locality in Vietnam with 303,475 local infections, accounting for half of the countrys caseload recorded since the emergence of a new bout on April 27.

The city with over 7.2 million adults has administered more than 7.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to its people, with the numbers of the first and second shots respectively topping 6.4 million and 1.3 million as of Saturday.

Dang Quang Tan, head of the Ministry of Healths General Department of Preventive Medicine, confirmed on Monday the Ho Chi Minh City health departments proposal on reducing the interval between two AstraZeneca vaccine doses.

While understanding the need to speed up vaccination in the southern city, Tan attached great importance to sticking to the instructions given by the manufacturer and the health ministry.

Experts will carefully consider this proposal, Tan said.

The AstraZeneca vaccine manufacturer originally advised a pause of four to 12 weeks between its doses, according to an expert of Vietnams Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI).

The manufacturer then increased the recommended minimal interval to eight weeks, explaining that the longer gap, the better immune response.

Currently, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has authorized the emergency use of seven COVID-19 vaccines, five of which have been administered to people.

In comparison to the AstraZeneca vaccine, all other six vaccines require a shorter interval of four weeks between two shots.

Vietnam has confirmed 620,165 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities in the current wave and a total of 624,547 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged early last year.

Recoveries have reached 385,778 while the death toll has surged to 15,660.

Health workers have given around 29.2 million vaccine doses to citizens, including 1,066,948 shots on Sunday, since inoculation was rolled out on March 8.

More than 5.3 million people have been fully vaccinated.

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Police in Vietnams Central Highlands province of Dak Nong have penalized a group of seven people for getting together for a bash in violation of COVID-19 social distancing regulations.

They have been fined a total of VND70 million (US$3,060) after being caught enjoying their party at a cafe in the provinces Dak RLap District last week, local police reported on Monday.

They disregarded the current COVID-19 social distancing rules under the prime ministers Directive No. 16, including mandatory face mask donning, a stay-home order, and a ban on gatherings larger than two people outside the home, police said.

This act has defied the epidemic prevention measures, so it must be strictly punished as a warning to others, a district leader said.

Local authorities have applied safety regulations after the recent detection of over 100 coronavirus infections from two clusters in the district.

Dak Nong has documented 460 COVID-19 cases, including 174 recoveries and no fatality, since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, according to the local Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

With 173 COVID-19 cases, Dak RLap is now leading the province in coronavirus infections, the committee said.

Nationwide, there have been 624,547 coronavirus infections, including 385,778 recoveries and 15,660 deaths, which is equivalent to 2.5 percent the total patient number, or 0.4 percentage points higher than the global mortality rate, the Ministry of Health reported on Monday.

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 303,995 infections and 12,220 deaths.

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The prolonged implementation of Hanois first metro line has caused the cost of its supervision and consultancy contract to shoot up by US$7.8 million.

The Ministry of Transport mentioned the figure in a document recently sent to the Ministry of Finance to report on the current progress of the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway project in the capital city.

As the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract of the metro section was not completed as scheduled, the costs of supervision and consultancy soared by a hefty $7.835 million, the transport ministry stated.

Vietnams corresponding capital left for the project is currently not sufficient to pay for the cost overrun, while the agreement on additional loans, signed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and the Export-Import Bank of China, still has about $26.4 million.

In late April, Vietnams transport ministry asked the bank to amend an article of the additional loan agreement so the supervising and consulting contract could be among items financed by the deal.

However, the request was not approved by the Chinese lender.

According to experts, it is quite common for the cost of auxiliary contracts to increase due to sluggish implementation of a project with foreign lending.

In such a case, the cost overrun can be settled with the remaining capital of the foreign loan agreement, backup fund, or corresponding capital.

If the corresponding capital is insufficient, the local budget is usually allocated to pay for the difference.

The experts added that amending a foreign loan agreement can be a very long process.

Stretching 13 kilometers, the Cat Linh - Ha Dong urban railway runs from Cat Linh Station in downtown Dong Da District to Yen Nghia Station in Ha Dong District.

The project saw its investment cost ballooning to VND18 trillion ($868 million) from the initial estimate of VND8.7 trillion ($552.8 million).

Work on the railway began in October 2011 and was initially scheduled for completion in 2013.

However, several hurdles, including problems in Chinas official development assistance (ODA) loan disbursement that were only resolved in December 2017, have stalled it for years.

The line has been awarded a safety certificate by the French consulting consortium Apave-Certifier-Tricc but it has yet to begin commercial operation so far.

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The Ministry of Health confirmed 10,508 COVID-19 cases throughout Vietnam on Tuesday, together with 12,638 discharged patients and 276 fatalities.

Thirty-three provinces and cities reported 10,496 domestic cases whereas the country logged 12 separate imported infections, the health ministry said.

The ministry had recorded 11,168 locally-infected patients on Monday.

More than 6,700 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 registered 6,312 local infections, up by 866 patients from yesterday; Binh Duong Province 2,178, down by 1,473; Dong Nai Province 777, Long An Province 379, Kien Giang Province 157; An Giang Province 111; Tien Giang Province 102; Hanoi 21; and Da Nang 11.

Vietnam has detected 630,661 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 stays atop the list with 309,787 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 162,847, Dong Nai Province with 36,361, Long An Province with 28,865, Tien Giang Province with 12,468, Dong Thap Province with 7,923, Khanh Hoa Province with 7,353, Da Nang with 4,835, Hanoi with 4,074, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 3,915.

By comparison, Vietnam confirmed a combined 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in the previous three waves.

The health ministry announced 12,638 recoveries on Tuesday, taking the total to 398,461.

The toll has increased to 15,936 deaths after the ministry documented 276 fatalities on the same day, including 199 in Ho Chi Minh City, 41 in Binh Duong Province, and 12 in Dong Nai Province.

Vietnam has reported 635,055 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck it early last year.

Health workers have given around 30.3 million vaccine doses, including 1,021,602 shots on Monday, since vaccination was rolled out on March 8.

Over 5.6 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.

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Court trials in Vietnam will be shifted to the virtual mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a draft regulation of the countrys supreme judicial agency.

This is not only a necessary step but also a general tendency worldwide, said the Supreme Peoples Court in its draft rule on online trials.

Accordingly, a lawsuit will be judged at the court with the participation of a trial panel, procuracy representatives, lawyers and others, who must comply with epidemic prevention measures including keeping safe distances among them.

Meanwhile, defendants are not brought to the court, but are arranged to sit in a designated room in the prison to stand the trial as per normal proceedings.

Virtual trials will be applied to civil, administrative, marriage, and family cases with simple details and sufficient evidence.

Regarding criminal cases, first instance trials will be conducted virtually for cases at less serious, serious, and very serious levels with clear proof.

Online appellate sessions will be held for cases at the three said levels, in which the appealers ask for commutation, suspended sentences, non-custodial rehabilitation, or increases of compensation, save for suits where the appealers claim themselves innocent or request their cases to be further investigated or clarified.

As for cases in which defendants have committed particularly serious crimes, the online model is not applicable, the draft rule said.

In addition, courts will not perform virtual adjudication for cases in which the involved parties or assets are in foreign countries, proceedings that need the presence of interpreters and national security-related offenders, or trials of sexual abuse of minors, among others.

The draft regulations also set forth necessary procedures for bringing cases to online trials.

Nguyen Thanh Vinh, chief justice of the Peoples Court of Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City, said the agency proposed the virtual court model to the Supreme Peoples Court in May, after he had learned about the application of the trial mode in other countries.

It can speed up the settlement of unheard cases while ensuring epidemic prevention and control measures," Vinh said.

"In addition, it is a cost-saving solution.

The proposal was made in the context that the court has failed to try around 500 cases every month due to the epidemic, the chief justice said.

The top court, after considering the Thu Duc courts proposal for its consistency with its similar scheme, has prepared the draft regulation on online adjudication for a number of criminal, civil, and administrative cases, Vinh said.

Many countries around the world have applied the virtual model effectively, said lawyer Phan Trung Hoai from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association.

They have successfully set up e-courts and digitized case files, case management, and a legal database, Hoai added.

The shift from physical to virtual trials is necessary, but the new model must ensure the basic principles and procedures specified in the 2015 Criminal Procedure Code, including those relating to the protection of human rights as well as the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals, the lawyer said.

At a meeting of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform on August 26, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that organizing online trials is an inevitable and necessary trend amid the rapid development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A crew from A Current Affair breached NSW health orders when they attempted to interview a pastor in Bidwill last month.

Media Watch last night reported ACA crime editor Simon Bouda attempted to interview Pastor Marvin Osaghae whose Christ Embassy Sydney church has copped recent hefty fines for an illegal gathering and failing to wear masks.

A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed in a statement, On Tuesday 24 August 2021, officers from Mt Druitt Police Area Command were told a television news crew had breached the Public Health Order.

The three men, 48, 58 and 60, self-reported to police after immediately identifying that they had breached the Order by not wearing masks while attempting to interview a man outside a house in Bidwill about 6am that day.

The men each received a $500 Penalty Infringement Notice for failure to comply with a direction to wear a mask.

Paul Barry told viewers, Whoops. Yes, in filming a report about breaching public health orders Nines crew breached a public health order. Embarrassing.

And why did they then dob themselves in? Nine says they wanted to do the right thing.

But were told that someone at the pastors home, possibly his wife, appeared to film the ambush on a phone, catching them maskless.

Bouda and his crew then undertook 14 days isolation.

Nines head of news & current affairs, Darren Wick, told ABC in a statement, We did have a crew who inadvertently conducted an interview while not wearing masks recently. They did not intentionally set out to breach the health orders but upon realising they had breached them, instantly wanted to do the right thing, which was to report it and cop the consequences. We are no different to the public. They were not suspended. They were isolating at home and got tested on days 1, 5, 12 and 14 as per Nine COVID-safe plan and health department protocols. They are now back at work after completing the 14 days isolation.
This week on Foreign Correspondent, Eric Campbells report The Cruel Sea looks at a Spanish yacht saving the lives of asylum seekers in a political storm.

Oscar Camps day job is as a lifeguard on the busy beaches of Barcelona, Spain.

But theres another group of people at sea who need help, and he sees it as his duty to offer it.

Nothing is more important than to protect life at sea, says Oscar. Protecting life is not a crime, it is a duty.

In summer when the Mediterranean is calm, the sea becomes Europes deadliest migrant crossing, as people flee Africa for a better life.

For the crew of Barcelona-based rescue group Open Arms, its time to set sail.

Director and founder, Oscar Camps, and his crew of trained lifeguards, know that the consequences for those fleeing can be fatal: Thousands of deaths every year, between two and three thousand each year, repeatedly and continuously.

But Italy wants to stop boat migration and in April it impounded Open Arms rescue ship. In defiance, the crew is taking out a yacht called The Astral.

Reporter Eric Campbell joins the crew on The Astral on a dramatic and dangerous journey of search and rescue on the Mediterranean.

They meet boatloads of people from different countries and with different stories but all have one purpose: destination Europe.

One of the first scenes they come across is a tiny boat with more than 70 men, women and children. Helpless and floating in the dark, one migrant who came from as far as Zimbabwe says, We are suffering. We are suffering too much in our home country. They are all desperate to find a better life.

They come across a sinking boatload of young Tunisians, including minors, fleeing after a coup in their country.

They encounter a people smuggler lying about a dying baby to trick them into mounting a rescue.

And they come up against Italy and the EUs increasingly hard-line policy on asylum seekers, even paying Libyans to turn boats back at gunpoint.

Disembarking in Sicily, Campbell talks to migrants whove already made the perilous journey but now regret it as life in Europe is so tough for them.

They have a warning for migrants: dont come! But the boats keep coming.

But for those aboard The Astral, their only concern is saving lives. After two weeks, the yacht conducts 15 rescue mission and helps 400 migrants.

No matter what their motivations are, why they left, why they flee, persecution, misery, war, it doesnt matter, they dont have to die abandoned at sea, says Oscar.

Thursday 16 September at 8pm on ABC.
TVs most ridiculously-titled show has been given a third season.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will return to Disney+, following the Wildcats at summer camp.

Production for the third season will relocate from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and begin later this year.

We are overjoyed to be heading to the great outdoors for season three, and grateful to our partners and friends at Disney+ for their continued support of our next-generation Wildcats, said Tim Federle.

Inspired by the immensely successful, two-time Emmy Award-winning High School Musical franchise that catapulted the likes of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens into stardom and dominated the Billboard charts, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is again taking over the airwaves and helping launch the careers of some of Hollywoods next big stars. A few of the breakout original songs from the series include . Just For a Moment, the season one ballad Joshua Bassett and Olivia Rodrigo wrote for their characters Ricky and Nini; All I Want, the platinum-certified, Billboard Hot 100-reaching hit song that Rodrigo wrote and performed as Nini in season one; and The Rose Song, an empowering number that Rodrigo penned for Nini in season two. The soundtracks for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season one, season two, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special have an astounding 1 billion, 438 million combined streams to date.

Seasons one and two of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series are set at East High School, the setting and filming location of the original movies. In season one, the series follows members of the drama club and their faculty advisors as they work their way to opening night of their schools first-ever production of High School Musical: The Musical. Season two culminates in a performance of Beauty and the Beast. Show-mances blossom, old friendships are tested while new ones are made, rivalries flare, and lives are changed forever as these students discover the transformative power that only high school theatre can provide.

Seasons one and two of the GLAAD Media Award-winning series are currently available on Disney+.
By Dave Larsen

For more than 50 years, the University of Dayton has prepared students to serve the common good as law enforcement officers, lawyers, security professionals and social service providers. Now, criminal justice studies majors have greater research, collaboration and experiential learning opportunities with their programs transition to a department within the College of Arts and Sciences.

The newly rechristened Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies is home to the third-largest major in the Colleges social sciences division. Its elevation from an interdisciplinary program to a department is expected to increase its visibility in the region, improve faculty and student recruitment, and better reflect the homeland security and cybersecurity aspects of its curriculum.

The designation also enhances the departments ability to get students out of the classroom and connected with community organizations, said Martha Hurley, professor and Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies (CJSS) chair.

In order to understand the root causes of injustice and assist with vocational discernment  helping them find their calling  we need to be able to connect with businesses, government agencies, nonprofits and the like, Hurley said. In the state of Ohio, criminal justice is typically a department, not a program. We ran into some barriers trying to connect students as a result of that.

Since becoming a department July 1, CJSS launched a new partnership with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to provide internship opportunities to students, particularly those from Illinois who are living at home during the summer months. Hurley said other agencies are now approaching the department about similar agreements.

The change to a department will give CJSS more legitimacy, especially when working with agencies for experiential learning opportunities, which is a vital part of our college experience, said Claudia VanZandt, a junior criminal justice and security studies major from Dayton.

VanZandt had internships with the Ohio Innocence Project and Montgomery County Juvenile Court Probation Services. Those opportunities gave her first-hand experience in areas of interest and altered her potential career path.

Working in juvenile court had never even crossed my mind prior to my internship, she said. The experience completely changed my idea of what I want to do post-graduation and now I am planning to pursue a career in the field of juvenile justice.

Julia Jenkner, a senior criminal justice and security studies major from Algonquin, Illinois, had an internship with the Montgomery County Adult Probation Services Department and also recently interviewed for an internship with the U.S. Secret Service. She said the law enforcement professionals with whom she worked and met all spoke highly of the top-tier applicants they see from the University.

Going forward, I have a lot of confidence knowing that we have such a good reputation within the City of Dayton law enforcement community, that they know what to expect from me and what kind of student and worker I am from being part of the criminal justice studies department, Jenkner said.

Criminal justice and security studies shift to a department follows the 2018-19 expansion of its curriculum from a single curricular path to four separate concentrations: criminal justice studies, pre-law, cyber security management and business intelligence. Student enrollment increased nearly 45% after the addition of new security-related elements. The department has 178 undergraduate majors and 19 minors enrolled during the 2021 fall semester.

As a department, CJSS will have dedicated tenure-line faculty to recruit, educate and mentor its students. In August, the department welcomed a new assistant professor, Mark Morgan, who holds a doctorate in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati. From 2019 to 2021, Morgan served as a policy advisor at the National Institute of Justice, the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hurley said the departments goals include diversifying the criminal justice professions by recruiting diverse students and emphasizing ethics, integrity, understanding social justice and creating deeper connections to community.

Criminal justice and security studies has created pathways with Sinclair Community College, which has a more diverse student population than the University of Dayton. During the 2021 fall semester, 25% of CJSS majors are multi-ethnic students.

First-year students can now apply for the departments new 3+2 program with the University of Dayton School of Law, which allows criminal justice and security studies majors with a pre-law concentration to earn a bachelors degree and a law degree in five years.

When you couple the Sinclair pathway with the new 3+2 program, we really are generating highly qualified students who have transitional skill sets, Hurley said. They are more diverse than any time in the history of this major and agencies are coming to us to pick those students up.

For more information, visit the Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies website.

Pictured, from L to R: Claudia Vanzandt, Martha Hurley and Julia Jenkner
Gia Skova not only did write her new Film, "The Serpent," she also directed it and appeared in the star role of Lucinda Kavsky. Whats more, Skova created the character of Lucinda, a special agent who works for an ultra-secret part of the CIA, by drawing her in comic books. Gia said: I love to be creative and to draw, and from the pictures I painted of Lucinda I got this image of a strong, insanely beautiful, heroically courageous woman, who embodies hope, defeats evil and saves the world. To me, Lucinda is not just a role, it is the character Id love to be in real life.

Skova said that her aim in "The Serpent" was to trace the salvation of a little girl, who she describes as the personification of the future.

She continued: If more people paid attention to the little ones, to make them into responsible, competent and ethical adults, most of the problems in the world today would vanish. Children are the future.

Stunts

In "The Serpent," Gia did all the stunt fight scenes herself, as well as the car chases  she didnt have a stunt double on set. She describes it as a challenge, but one she rose to. The movie was filmed entirely in the United States, although there are several scenes set in China. It co-stars Travis Aaron Wade as Detective Franklin, Nigel Vonas as Pierce, Kristopher Graves as Gerry, and Richard E. Wilson as CIA Director Gozbiv.

Filmmaking

Gia enjoys working with other writers and directors, but loved the opportunity to be a one-woman band for this movie, after making several other short films.

She said: While I was working as a model Ive always studied film in my free time, wherever I was around the world. I didnt find it too difficult to get funding for The Serpent  if you have a good story and can work hard to complete the movie, its no problem.

Her previous acting credits include "Joao, o Maestro," "Finding Beauty in the Beast" and "Bleed for This." She started acting at the age of 12, starring in plays in Moscow and winning awards including 2009's Best Actress of Moscow Theater and Best Theatrical Actress of Saratov.

Model

Skova now lives in the US, where she is a successful model, appearing in fashion magazines, including Vogue and InStyle, walking in runway shows for designers such as Stella McCartney and Marc Jacobs, and featuring in adverts for LOreal and Red Bull among other big brands. She was a teen supermodel in Moscow by the age of 16, before moving to the US to continue her career, and says she wants to continue combining modelling and filmmaking.

Asked what she prefers doing out of writing, acting and directing, she says she loves all of them equally.

Future projects

Gias philosophy is learn every day, and she certainly isnt sitting still. Shes currently working on four new film projects including a family adventure story that she plans to produce in England. She said: Stay tuned on my Instagram account for more details about my upcoming projects.

"The Serpent" was released in the USA in June and is available on Amazon Prime in the UK. Its also showing at open-air cinemas in the UK over the summer.
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)
The nine-handed final table of the 2021 WSOP International Circuit 1,700 Main Event at the King's Resort in Rozvadov is set. Out of a field 912 entries, hopefuls from five different countries remain in contention for the lion's share of the 1,342,920 prize pool. Germany has four hopes in the mix while Italy boasts two finalists.

Andrea Ricci jumped into the top spot during the final stages of a long day, which started with 81 contenders and lasted nine full levels in order to reach the final table. The Italian was the only player to bag up an eight-figure stack and will enter the final table with 63 big blinds.

Another four players are within four big blinds and that also includes Aliaksandr Shylko, who finished in fourth place during this very tournament back in 2019.

Furthermore, the 2019 EPT Sochi Main Event winner Uri Gilboa will also be back on Tuesday, September 14, when a champion is crowned. He brings up the rear end of the leaderboard with just nine blinds but three other finalists are just a few big blinds ahead. The nine finalists and tenth-place finisher Mihai Stinca have also locked up a seat for the 2021 WSOP Europe Main Event worth 10,300 each.

2021 WSOP International Circuit King's 1,700 Main Event Final Table Line-Up

Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Sami Karli Germany 6,810,000 43 2 Simone Lombardo Italy 6,475,000 40 3 Ahmad Achegsei Germany 2,175,000 14 4 Andrea Ricci Italy 10,085,000 63 5 Uri Gilboa Israel 1,385,000 9 6 Mr. Bond Germany 3,375,000 21 7 Aliaksandr Shylko Belarus 6,730,000 42 8 Vincent De Neve Germany 6,410,000 40 9 Mourad Tounnouti Netherlands 2,135,000 13

The action will resume at 2pm local time the following day with blinds of 80,000-160,000 and a big blind ante of 160,000. All nine contenders have locked up at least 10,459 locked up for the efforts but a significantly bigger payday of 236,489 awaits for the eventual champion.

Among the notables that fell throughout the day were the WSOP bracelet winners Martin Kabrhel, Vangelis Kaimakamis, and Armando D'Amanzo, Thomas Bichon, two-time WSOP Circuit Ring winner Emil Bise, Andrea Dato, Szymon Wysocki, and Robert Kokoska.

Especially during the early stages, the eliminations came at a rapid pace. The first level alone resulted in 20 casualties and D'Avanzo closed the gap to chip leader Ahmad Achegsei after he knocked out Vincent Lamy with aces versus kings in a preflop contest.

Kabrhel was sent to the rail on the final five tables when he lost a flip with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Alexey Mishuk. The big of D'Avanzo to add a WSOP Circuit ring to his poker resume after recently claiming his maiden gold bracelet on GGPoker ended just shy of the final three tables. His ace-queen found no help against the pocket queens of Alexey Mishuk.

Martin Kabrhel

Once the last three tables were set, the rise of Andrea Ricci started. He knocked out "Sammy" and Georgios Tsouloftas to take over the lead. The road from there on wasn't without speed bumps but especially during the very late stages, Ricci had the best of it against Achegsei several times to cement his status as the chip leader.

Two bubbles were played at the very end - one for the nine-handed final table and the other for the WSOP Europe ticket. Two Romanians came up second-best on these occasions as Petru Proca lost a battle of short stacks with Uri Gilboa and Mihai Stinca never recovered from a massive blow by Sami Karli with ten players remaining.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this event on September 14 as the PokerNews team will be back to provide all the key hands from the first flop until the last river card.
During the outbreak of the coronavirus, the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), was established by African Union, as a component in support of the Africa Vaccine Strategy and was endorsed by the AU Bureau of Heads of State and Government on 20th of August 2020. Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), has emphasized: Africa has to team up with development partners to achieve its 60% continent-wide vaccination in the next two years. I think that is why we should as a collective of the continent, and of course, in partnership with the developed world make sure that Africa has a timely access to vaccines to meet our vaccination targets.

Modern Diplomacy reports that the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team from the African Union (AU) informed that Russia would supply and deliver 300 million Sputnik V vaccines to Africa. That step was intended to support African countries to attain their targeted immunization of 60% of the population by the year-end. That vaccine story disappeared, but instead what become so common is the speedy registration of Sputnik V on bilateral basis in various African countries.

According to the latest, Nigeria has become the 68th country in the world to approve the Russian vaccine. The use of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has been approved in Nigeria, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in an official statement.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russias sovereign wealth fund) announces the approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria (NAFDAC). Nigeria has become the 68th country in the world to approve the Russian vaccine. Total population of all countries, where Sputnik V is approved for use, now exceeds 3.7 billion people, which is nearly half of the global population, the statement said.

Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, and the approval of Sputnik V will provide for using one of the safest and most effective vaccines in the world. Sputnik V is based on a proven human adenoviral vectors platform and is successfully used in over 50 countries. Approval in Nigeria will make an important contribution to the countrys fight against the pandemic, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said.

Besides Nigeria, other African countries have registered Russias Sputnik V vaccine. Reportedly, the vaccine has been registered in Algeria, Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia, the Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe.

Russias drive to share Sputnik V vaccine, of course, offers a chance to raise its image and strengthen alliances in Africa. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has made efforts promoting the vaccine using all its channels. But supply and delivery have largely lagged behind, the pledges have simply not been fulfilled. Russian authorities have oftentimes said that they would step up efforts for fruitful cooperation in combating coronavirus in Africa.

Promising more than can be delivered appears to be a universal problem with coronavirus vaccines, and it is a real risk for Russia as well, said Theresa Fallon, Director of the Brussels-based Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies. They have won the gold medal for creating this very effective vaccine, she said. But the problem is how are they going to implement production and delivery?

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), with profit motivation, has attempted supplying the Russian vaccines through, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, from the Monarch family and a third party in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to a number of African countries. For instance, the Republic of Ghana reportedly signed US$64.6 million contract for Sputnik V vaccine from Russia through Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum. It was double the price from the producer as reported in the media.

On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted, in a speech early September, that advanced countries that produce vaccines against the coronavirus do little to protect humanity from the pandemic.

The benefits of vaccination are enjoyed mostly by advanced economies. The bulk of the vaccines is made there, and it is used to protect their own population. But very little is being done to protect humanity in the broad sense, Putin said at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the Far East of Russia. This is very bad for the producers, because all this boomerangs around the globe. For instance, in Africa the level of protection with vaccines is minimal, but contacts with the African countries continue. There is no getting away from this. This infection will return again and again.

According to an official release obtained late February, the Sputnik V vaccine the following advantages:

 Efficacy of Sputnik V is 91.6% as confirmed by the data published in the Lancet, one of the worlds oldest and most respected medical journals; It is one of only three vaccines in the world with efficacy of over 90%; Sputnik V provides full protection against severe cases of COVID-19.

 The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.

 Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

 The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.

 The developers of the Sputnik V vaccine are working collaboratively with AstraZeneca on a joint clinical trial to improve the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine.

 There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.

 The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.

In February, peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet published an analysis from Phase III clinical trial of the Russian vaccine, showing its 91.6-percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19. The Sputnik V vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

Sputnik V was registered in Russia on August 11, 2020 as the worlds first officially registered coronavirus vaccine. Russian vaccines have advantages as no deaths have been reported after vaccination with the Sputnik V, Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya Center, the vaccine developer, said and was reported by TASS News Agency. As of today, no deaths after vaccination with Sputnik V have been registered, he said.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russias 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. RDIFs management is based in Moscow.

In Africa, during first of September, the coronavirus-related death toll has topped 196,190, while more than 6.9 million recoveries have been reported. South Africa accounts for a majority of coronavirus cases and deaths across Africa  2,777,659 and 82,261 respectively. The death toll in Tunisia climbed to 23,451, and 664,034 cases have been confirmed. Egypt recorded 16,736 deaths and 288,441 coronavirus cases.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia is ranked second to South Africa (308,134 cases and 4,675 deaths) and is followed by Kenya (235,863 cases and 4,726 deaths) and Nigeria (191,805 and 2,455). The total number of COVID-19 cases has reached almost 8 million in Africa, according to the World Health Organizations (WHO) Regional Office for Africa.
If the current situation of the Saudi-American relationship is described as an irrevocable divorce, this would be unfair, wishful thinking. The two countries would never accept the severance of relations no matter how divergent their views happen to be. Perhaps the most accurate description of the relationship is that it has been about setting aside issues of contention and restructuring relations and rebuilding them anew in a manner that would guarantee the interests and attend to the concerns of both partners.

Middle East Monitor reports that the restoration of relations to the warmth they were at previously is very possible and the attempt by the Americans to compensate for the loss of Saudi capabilities by going to smaller countries in the region has been unsuccessful. In all its security and political projects around the world Washington is in need of a big partner that is comparable to it in size. Riyadh is able to make its infinite resources available to its partners without batting an eyelid.

Political disagreements or divergence over some files between Riyadh and Washington did not begin with the arrival of Biden in the White House. Nor did this happen because Biden, his administration's team and his party are at odds with Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, as propagated by the Western media.

Signs of disagreement started showing openly about two decades ago. Over a period of more than 80 years, the oil-rich kingdom, and the most important source of energy, has been at the centre of the election storm and at the core of disagreements between the two ruling parties in America.

Saudi Arabia has always been different and has always been the one upon which disagreements occur. Every new administration stumbled in its relationship with Riyadh during its first few months as a result of misunderstanding the relationship with Riyadh. Then, the relationship would gradually improve because Riyadh is honest in its opposition, truthful in its alliance, respects those that respect it and refuses to be a subordinate to anyone, drawing the red lines and insisting on them.

The Americans and the West in general think that the Saudis are unique, especially as they try and deal with other politicians in the region. This is true, for you have to accept them for what they are, they are Bedouins, civilised and shrewd politicians. They pretend to be inattentive but they are aware of the threats facing them. They are very decisive when it is time for confrontation. They are tender with their friends but extremely tough with their enemies. They own palaces and yet they dwell in tents in the desert. Hence, they are different from all the boys and traitors who ruled in some parts of the Arab world and with whom the West dealt since the beginning of the last century and until today.

Saudis are a unique case summed up by King Abdul Aziz, May Allah bless his soul: "have made it my way and my principle not to initiate aggression ever but I observe patience until no more patience is left and then I strike, and my blow is fatal." And so did King Faisal in his famous speech in which he said: "We are purer than pure honey for those who seek our friendship but we are a lethal venom for those who try to disrupt our ranks. Saudis cannot be but independent in their behaviour and opinion; they do not succumb to pressures or threats, nor do they agree to be subordinates to any pact or state irrespective of the consequences."

King Fahad expelled Washington's ambassador after he intervened in things that did not concern him. Fahad purchased the weapons he needed from China without paying attention to anyone. As for the British, he severed ties with them when they broadcast a malicious film in the early eighties. Faisal too suspended oil supplies to the entire West and bought weapons for Egypt. King Saud supported the Algerians and the Tunisians against the French in the struggle for independence.

He stood against the British and refused to lease to them an inch of Saudi territory after they offered to rent the Eastern Province for a period of 99 years as they did with China over Hong Kong.

The disclosure by Washington the day before yesterday of some of the documents relating to September 11, and prior to that the US' rough dealings with one of America's most important allies in the region amount to a perusal of the policy of brinkmanship. Although some wise people believe that the two allies are capable of working together in a region of mutual interest and that they are unlikely to head in the direction of complete severance of ties, the White House should understand that it is playing with fire. It should also know that it is the one that risks burning the crops which were planted 80 years ago and once the harvest is set on fire the crops will be lost for good.
As the Afghan government crumbled before the Taliban in mid-August, pilots trained by the United States fled in their aircraft. Taking hundreds of crew and family with them, the pilots flew north to Central Asia, with the bulk landing in Uzbekistan but another group seeking safety in Tajikistan.

The Diplomat reports that Central Asia isnt far enough to flee for pilots hated by the Taliban for their role in airstrikes, but with new delays in the overall evacuation process, it may be some time before they arrive in the United States.

A reported 46 aircraft, including Black Hawk and MI-17 helicopters as well as A-29 light attack aircraft and PC-12 surveillance aircraft, landed in Termez, Uzbekistan carrying more that 450 people on August 15. An additional group of more than 140 Afghans arrived in Bokhtar, Tajikistan, with early reports mentioning around 18 aircraft.

Uzbekistan has been under considerable pressure to get rid of the pilots; meanwhile, Tajikistan has faced less pressure to do so. Neither state is particularly welcoming of refugees for the long term, though both have assisted the United States and other Western countries in providing transit and temporary refuge to those fleeing Afghanistan via air. Tashkent, which has engaged in talks over the last few years with the Taliban, has signaled its intent to work with, if not recognize, the Taliban government. The Tajik government, on the other hand, has been more circumspect. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said he would only recognize an inclusive Taliban government, specifically mentioning ethnic inclusivity given the large population of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan. The announced caretaker Taliban government is not exactly inclusive.

A Wall Street Journal report late last month explained that Uzbekistan is urging Washington to act quickly to take the pilots to a third country to avoid inflaming relations with the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. That process has begun. On Sunday a first group of Afghan pilots who had flown to Uzbekistan were transferred to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates. Two more groups are expected to follow soon.

The Taliban, which had called for the pilots and aircraft to be returned to Afghanistan, criticized the transfer. Per the Wall Street Journal, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said: These pilots should return to their country, the country needs them We are just starting to rebuild our country. The world should help us, instead of hurling hurdles in the way of reconstruction of Afghanistan and economic prosperity of our people.

The U.S. Department of Defense had appropriated more than $8.5 billion since 2010 to develop the Afghan air force and its special mission wing. The Taliban, without their own air capabilities, were most vulnerable to airstrikes. While the Taliban have promised amnesty to the former Afghan governments forces, few take that pledge seriously. The pilots who landed in Tajikistan have not been covered as heavily as those who landed in Uzbekistan. Beyond the smaller numbers, the differing political positions of the two Central Asian governments vis-a-vis the Taliban are a significant factor. To put it bluntly: The Afghan pilots in Tajikistan are in far less danger of being turned over to the Taliban than those in Uzbekistan.

A State Department spokesperson told The Diplomat, without including any specifics about the numbers of Afghans or aircraft, that the Afghan personnel and aircraft are secure and being housed by the government of Tajikistan. The spokesperson also commented that the United States is confident that the government of Tajikistan is also committed to the welfare of those who have left Afghanistan.

The timeline for bringing the Afghan pilots out of Tajikistan is unclear. Relatives told The Diplomat that the pilots had their cellphones taken and communication with and about the group has been limited. Meanwhile, the Tajik government has been occupied with other matters. Last week, Tajikistan marked its 30th independence anniversary and this week Dushanbe will play host to summits for both the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Whatever timeline existed has also arguably been delayed by the temporary pause in evacuation flights from overseas U.S. bases to the United States due to a possible measles outbreak. After four Afghans arriving in the U.S. were found to have measles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requested that evacuation flights be suspended temporarily. Measles is an extremely contagious disease caused by a virus, which spreads via coughing and sneezing. A vaccine has been available since 1963, and the disease is all-but-absent from the United States and other Western countries save for occasional outbreaks among unvaccinated populations, which includes very young children unable to be vaccinated.

The pause will stall Afghans evacuees at U.S. bases in third countries, such as in the UAE and Germany which will further strain diplomatic relations with partners facilitating the U.S. evacuation flights. The German government had agreed to allow Afghans to stay at Ramstein Air Base for only 10 days, but with onward evacuation flights to the U.S. paused that limitation will quickly become impossible to hold to.

As of September 8, the Biden administration said it had evacuated more than 60,000 people from Afghanistan to the United States since August 17  most of them Afghans.
73 patients died of COVID-19 and 10 people died of pneumonia in a day in Kazakhstan, the Health Ministry said on Sept 14, AKIPress reports.

Since the start of the pandemic, 10,427 Kazakhstani citizens were killed by coronavirus and 4,687 by pneumonia with signs of COVID-19.

As of September 14, 76,858 patients are undergoing treatment, 15,308 of whom are hospitalized and 61,550 are treated at home.

1,196 patients are in serious condition, 345 are in extremely serious condition and 194 are put on a ventilator.
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, News.am reports.

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.
Delegation of MPs of the Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan is leaving for Moscow today - Azerbaijani parliamentarian Nizami Safarov, who became a part of the delegation, told Vestnik Kavkaza.

The purpose of the visit is to observe the elections to the State Duma, which will be held this Sunday, September 19.

In an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, Milli Mejlis deputy Rasim Musabekov stressed that Russia is a strategically important partner of Azerbaijan. "In addition to the RF-AR inter-parliamentary friendship group, together with the State Duma and the Federation Council, we have a common committee for discussing issues of mutual interest. I am a member of this group. Unfortunately, due to pandemic restrictions, the activities of this format are currently limited," he said.

Milli Mejlis deputy Arzu Nagiyev noted the strength of ties of Azerbaijani deputies with their Russian colleagues. "We are in contact at the level of the interparliamentary friendship group and at the level of the Interparliamentary Assembly. There are normal contacts both at the level of senators and at the level of parties. We have no disagreements and problems," Arzu Nagiyev concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, discussed bilateral relations and developments in Afghanistan in their recent phone conversation, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, Sputnik reports.

"They also discussed some pressing issues related to bilateral relations, and the situation related to events in Afghanistan," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi may hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which Tajikistan hosts later this week, the Iranian Embassy in Moscow said, Sputnik reports.

The SCO heads of state will convene for a meeting dated to the 20th anniversary of SCO establishment in Dushanbe on Friday.

"Yes, he (Raisi) will be there. We hope so (that the meeting with Putin will be held)," an embassy spokesman said, commenting on media reports saying that Raisi may meet with Putin on the summit sidelines
All five candidates of political parties operating in Uzbekistan are registered to participate in the presidential election, which will be held on October 24, Trend reports citing the press service of the Central Election Commission.

UzLiDeP party collected the most subscription lists in support of the candidate, while the Adolat - the least of all.

"Milliy Tiklanish" party and the Ecological Party submitted documents and signature lists in support of their candidates on September 8.

Based on the results of checking the correctness of the collection and compilation of signature lists, the CEC issued positive conclusions, and on September 11 registered Alisher Kadirov as a presidential candidate from Milliy Tiklanish and Narzullo Oblomuradov as a candidate from the Ecological Party.
The White House said on Monday Biden will travel to New York on September 21 to address the United Nations General Assembly, France 24 reports.

The world's largest diplomatic meeting, which was held virtually in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be held this year with a hybrid in-person-virtual format.

Around 100 leaders have said they will attend the event, according to a provisional list obtained by AFP.

At the General Assembly Biden plans to propose an international summit specifically dedicated to tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, The Washington Post and Politico reported.
After nearly three months of social distancing, the conditions to loosen anti-pandemic measures to some extent are being discussed so that localities, businesses and people can feel more comfortable.

Many articles about changes by world leaders about the pandemic have recently been published in local newspapers.

Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health Emergencies Program, has been reported as saying that the virus is here to stay with us and it will evolve like influenza viruses.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the pandemic would subside one day but not completely disappear. It will become an endemic disease.

The pandemic will continue if SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate in unvaccinated countries, diminishing the hope of eradicating the virus.

The previous expectation of achieving herd immunity thanks to vaccinations has been dashed with the appearance of the Delta variant, which spreads very rapidly. The new normal status is not herd immunity or zero Covid, but living together with the virus.

With this viewpoint, many countries have changed their management activities, production and circulation activities to a new normal state.

Of course, the virus has killed many people and overloaded the healthcare system, and living together with the virus doesn't mean acceptance. What countries are doing is creating policies that will adapt to the situation and not allow the pandemic to develop beyond the treatment capability of the healthcare system.

Adapting to live with the coronavirus and turning Covid-19 into an endemic disease on the basis of vaccination coverage is the only choice.

Preparing for vaccine green card

This viewpoint is also affecting Vietnam's leaders, who have been tracing positive cases, separating them from the community and zero-Covid policies.

In HCM City, more than 110,000 positive cases are allowed to quarantine at home, simply because there are not enough resources to build concentrated quarantine centers and hospitals to receive 7,000 infections a day. Eighty percent of them have no symptoms or mild symptoms.

The total number of vaccination shots by September 7 had reached 6,884,159, including 6,175,513 first shots and 708,646 second shots, which means 84 percent coverage for the first shot and only 6 percent for the second shot.

The figures are expected to rise to 90 percent and 33 percent, respectively, by September 15, the date the Government asked localities to control the outbreak.

HCM Citys leaders are now preparing a vaccine green card policy, and speeding up vaccinations to be able to reopen the economy. The city is considering easing requirements on social distancing for people who have had one or two shots.

Pressure

According to research by the University of Economics and Law (UEL), since the beginning of the fourth wave, the most serious so far, many of the 288,333 businesses with 3.2 million workers in HCM City have had to suspend operation. Only 717 businesses out of 1,527 businesses in hi-tech parks, Industrial Zones (IZs) and Export Processing Zones (EPZs) have maintained operation at different levels, and only 65,000 out of their 345,000 workers are still working.

The total goods and services retail turnover in August and the industrial production index dropped sharply by 59.4 percent, 92.3 percent and 49.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, FDI decreased by 43.6 percent. The number of newly set up businesses dropped by 17.5 percent in quantity, and there was a 30.3 percent drop in registered capital.

The research team estimates that if the outbreak lasts until the end of September, and the new normal status is set up in the second half of October, HCM Citys GRDP (Gross Regional Domestic Product) 2021 would fall by 13.48 percent compared with the previous year.

The damages to the economy will be quite serious. The economy is very likely to fall into recession, the research team warned.

HCM City authorities have recently allowed food and beverage service providers, units that provide postal, telecommunication, office informatics equipment and educational equipment (with business household registration certificates) to operate from 6am to 6pm, but under a take-away mode only.

HCM City has also allowed supermarkets, convenience stores, food stores and shippers to operate only within districts and within Thu Duc City; medicine, medical equipment production and training facilities can operate from 6am to 9pm.

Everyone in the city needs to prepare and learn how to prevent Covid-19 to protect themselves in the new circumstances.

Tu Giang

HCMC achieves significant results from strong social distancing measures HCMC has begun to see a drop in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, especially the decline in severe patients and death rates.
Contributing about 45% of the countrys GDP, HCM City and Hanoi are considered the two engines pulling the national economy. Both must be healthy and go hand in hand to revive the pandemic-hit economy.

Ho Chi Minh City to rise up

During a recent livestream with local residents, HCM City Chairman Phan Van Mai did not directly answer the question "When will the city end social distancing measures?". It was a necessary caution because it is related to the beliefs of people who have stayed at home during the three months of social distancing.

But he mentioned good signs: supermarkets and the supply chain will open from now until September 15; shippers are allowed to operate in red areas (pandemic-hit) and residents are allowed to go to the market to buy food once a week; in green areas (epidemic free), processed food shops are allowed to operate in the form of takeaway delivery.

It is hoped that the gradual ease of social distancing measures in the city will help improve people's quality of life.

HCM City: People show their travel documents to police officers. Photo: Thanh Tung

The Ho Chi Minh City Business Association cited a study by the University of Economics and Law as saying that since the fourth wave of Covid-19 broke out in late April, the vast majority of 288,333 businesses with 3.2 million workers in the city had to stop operation. Only 717 out of a total of 1,527 enterprises in hi-tech zones, industrial zones and export processing zones maintained operation at different levels, with the participation of about 65,000 employees out of a total of 345,000 people.

Thus, the citys economic loss is serious, occurring in all sectors and regions of the economy. If the citys economy recovers slowly, the growth of the southern key economic region will decrease sharply, the unemployment rate will increase, and national budget revenue will be affected.

The risks were identified by the government after HCM City was assigned to control the epidemic before September 15.

Ho Chi Minh City, which contributes 23%-25% of Vietnams GDP and 27% of state budget revenue, is in a serious situation but will probably recover soon. A support program for people and businesses needs to be designed and implemented early before it is too late.

Hanoi to go hand in hand

Giving vaccination for the elderly in Hanoi. Photo: Pham Hai

Hanoi, because of the lack of Covid-19 vaccines, has had to impose social distancing since July 24 under the Governments Directive 16. Hanoi's decision at that time was controversial. Social distancing and blockade, if extreme, would severely affect people's livelihood and production and business circulation while Hanoi had only a few cases of infections.

At the time the capital implemented social distancing, an epidemiologist released a chart showing that the number of cases in Hanoi since July 6 tended to repeat what had happened in Ho Chi Minh City since May 24. If the city did not immediately impose social distancing, Hanoi would have been in the same situation of HCM City.

However, Hanoi did not apply extreme policies and in fact industrial and manufacturing enterprises continue to operate. In the first eight months of this year, the citys index of industrial production increased by 6.3% year on year.

However, the impact of social distancing has been very clear. For example, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services in August was estimated to decrease by 32.2% compared to the previous month and by 51.2% over the same period of last year.

After nearly three times extending social distancing, Hanoi has controlled the epidemic well, proving the effectiveness of the early social distancing measures.

Hanoi is speeding up vaccinations. Within three days, the capital administered more than 1 million doses of vaccines with support from medical staff of 11 provinces. At this rate, Hanoi is expected to vaccinate 70 percent of the population of over 18 years old by September 15, or a few days later.

On September 6, Hanoi Mayor Chu Ngoc Anh issued Official Letter No. 20 with an impressive goal: "Immediately resuming" economic recovery and promoting economic development in green and yellow zones and then to the entire city from September 15.

By September 15, when vaccination coverage is enough, it is hoped that Hanoi will reopen its economy. Only when the two locomotives, Hanoi and HCM City, operate at the same time, can they help pull Vietnam's economic train.

Tu Giang

Hanoi considers re-opening some services after September 15 The Hanoi authorities are considering relaxing restrictions on selected services as the capital city seeks to revive the economy following the improvement of the coronavirus situation.
All of the three largest mobile network operators have affirmed that they are ready to cover depressed areas with broadband as per the Prime Ministers request to serve online teaching.

But they are still waiting for licenses to install equipment in localities.

PM Pham Minh Chinh has assigned the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to implement the program broadband wave and computer for students to serve online learning amid Covid-19 and to acclerate the development of digital society.

MIC Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, in an article on the new academic year, wrote that to carry out digital transformation in the educational sector, its necessary to provide broadband to every person and household. There are still nearly 2,000 depressed areas nationwide, but MIC has decided that all these areas will have access to the internet by the end of the year.

Tao Duc Thang, Deputy CEO of Viettel, said since the first days of the pandemic, Viettel has satisfied the urgent requests of the National Steering Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control and ministries in deploying telecom and IT systems to serve pandemic prevention and control.

Viettel has doubled the bandwidth for fiber optic internet, while keeping service fees unchanged to best satisfy peoples demand for learning and working at home. It also has exempted all users from high-speed access to MOHs website and Bluezone apps.

MIC has instructed telecom carriers to urgently come up with technical solutions to optimize coverage areas, and install equipment to quickly cover depressed areas with internet in September.

Thang said Viettel is preparing its workforce and equipment to cover depressed areas as soon as possible as per the PMs request. However, its plan cannot go quickly because of the checkpoints set up by local authorities to ensure social distancing. Viettel hopes that MIC will ask local authorities to facilitate Viettels technicians to set up infrastructure items in isolated areas, provided that the technicians meet pandemic prevention requirements.

Dao Xuan Vu, CEO of Viettel Net, said the firm has been assigned to urgently cover the two depressed areas of Hau Giang and Binh Phuoc with internet waves. The company is ready to implement the plan, but the pace will depend on the Governments instructions and local authorities decisions to allow its technicians to work in areas under social distancing.

MobiFones CEO To Manh Cuong, replying to a MIC request to urgently enlarge the wave coverage area, said that the telecom carrier is ready to do this.

A VNPT representative said the firm has enough employees and equipment and is just waiting for the licenses so they can enter the lockdown areas.

Nguyen Thai

PM launches programme to provide computers for disadvantaged students 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.
Some retail systems have allowed customers to place orders for iPhone 13, although the model has not been officially launched.

Xa Que Nguyen, CEO of Hnam Mobile retail system, said those who order iPhone 13 before launch on September 14 will receive better incentives.

Normally, the iPhone is officially sold in Vietnam after it launches in other markets. However, to attract buyers, some Vietnamese retailers have allowed their customers to order the product immediately after the new model is launched in the US. As the official prices are not set, customers will enjoy better incentives than those who place orders later.

However, big retailers like The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shop say that they still don't know what products Apple will release on September 14.

According to Xa Que Nguyen, iPhone 13 will be officially sold in Vietnam in the second half of October this year.

According to leaked information, the launching event will start at 0:00 on September 15 (Vietnam time). Apple will launch four new generation models of iPhone, including iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The iPhone 13 mini will have a 5.4-inch screen, while iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro will use a 6.1-inch screen and the most advanced version iPhone 13 Pro Max will have a 6.7-inch screen.

If Apple launches the iPhone 13 at this event, retailers in Vietnam will allow customers to place an order for the product right after the event.

Nguyen Lac Huy, representative of CellphoneS, confirmed the information, and said that the new iPhone will be sold in Vietnam in late October.

Due to the great success of the iPhone 12 model compared to the iPhone 11, the representative of CellphoneS said that it is difficult for the iPhone 13 to achieve record sales like its predecessor, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Di Dong Viet (Viet Mobile) has a more optimistic view. Nguyen Dat, manager of the chain, says the purchasing power of iPhone 13 in Vietnam will not be inferior to the previous generation, reflected in the number of people interested and inquiring about the product recently.

In addition, iPhone has its own customer groups who are not affected by economic difficulties. Moreover, the epidemic situation may be under control by the end of October, Dat said.

Hai Dang
Over the past several years, aviation historian Chuck Cravens has brought us regular updates regarding ongoing restoration projects at AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota. Many of the aircraft involved have been for the fabulous Dakota Territory Air Museum, and such is the case for this particular story about the resurrection of a long-lost, legendary racing Mustang which dates to the post-war Cleveland National Air Races. The original constructors of this race plane built the airframe up from the components of three different Mustangs, but did not record their serial numbers. They listed it as a P-51C with the FAA, with the registration being N5528N. During her racing career, the Mustang bore the names Thunderbird, and later, Mr.Alex, so with the lack of a definitive airframe serial number, we will refer to it henceforth simply as Thunderbird/Mr.Alex. For more details on the airframes history, please see Chuck Cravens fascinating first piece on the aircraft HERE. This current episode is Cravens third installment of that aircrafts remarkable story and its journey back to flight

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was perhaps the biggest event in world news during June of 1953. The crowning of a new British monarch has always been a historical and newsworthy event, but in 1953, for the first time, it was possible to broadcast the ceremony on live television  and in color! Remarkably, Thunderbird/Mr. Alex played a role in distributing this unprecedented coverage of the event.

While there was great popular excitement at being able to see the coronation on live television, this didnt come with out some political controversy regarding whether the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) should be allowed to film the event in such a way. Traditionalists, like then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Elizabeth the Queen Mother, were opposed. However, when the BBC leaked their decision to forbid TV coverage, it quickly became clear that a vast majority of the British public favored the coverage. This public pressure resulted in a go-ahead for the British network to cover the event live on June 2, 1953.

Unfortunately, North American television networks didnt have the same option for live coverage. In fact, covering a breaking international news event happening overseas was the largest challenge that the television industry had faced up until this time. While it was theoretically possible to transmit directly across the Atlantic through underwater cables, it would require pre-empting every existing cable at the prohibitive cost of some 40 million dollars.1

Since videotape and communications satellites didnt exist in 1953, the only viable coverage option which American and Canadian networks had was to physically transport film of the event to broadcasting facilities within the US.

As is true with all breaking-news, even today, networks compete to be first. Back in 1953, this competition evolved into the Great Coronation Race. A variety of plans for scooping competing networks were proposed; NBC explored chartering the revolutionary deHavilland Comet jetliner from the British Overseas Airlines Corporation (BOAC) to fly the film to the US. However, since that airliner type had suffered three serious accidents since its commercial debut in 1952, interest in that option quickly faded.

The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) found their option by arranging for the BBC kinescope film to be flown from London Airport (Heathrow) to Goose Bay, Labrador in an RAF English Electric Canberra PR.3 fresh off the production line, and Americas CBS and NBC managed to obtain space in the same Canberra for their separately made films.

1 Reuven Frank, The Great Coronation War, The American Heritage magazine,Volume 44, Issue 8,December 1993, accessed via website, https://www.americanheritage.com/great-coronation-war, 6-24-2021

The CBC film would be transferred from the No.540 Squadron RAF Canberra PR.3 (WE140) to a No.445 Squadron RCAF CF-100 Mk.3B Canuck (s/n 18137) for delivery to Montreal and subsequent broadcast, so the two US networks needed a way to get the kinescope film from Goose Bay to broadcasting facilities in Boston. Boston was the closest transmission point with the capability of feeding the entire country for both networks.

This is where Thunderbird/Mr.Alex comes into the story. The two networks set up a race. CBS hired Joe DeBona, flying Thunderbird, and NBC hired arch-rival Paul Mantzs red P-51. The Mantz Mustang had Stan Reaver for a pilot; he had finished second to DeBona in the 1949 Bendix and vowed not to let that happen again.

At the time Thunderbird had been repainted as Mr. Alex, and it was owned by Jimmy Stewart (who just happened to own an interest in a CBS affiliate TV station). The Mr. Alex moniker was in honor of Alexander Maitland Stewart, Jimmy Stewarts father.

Both Mustangs were due to pick up their film footage from the Canberra in Goose Bay and then race to carry the precious cargo to Boston.

When coronation day finally arrived, the kinescope film was shot, then hurried over to an airfield for loading aboard a Royal Air Force Canberra for the transatlantic flight to Canada. The British jet made the crossing and was on the ramp in Goose Bay with the film by 1:45pm on June 2nd. DeBona and Reaver rushed to get their film reels and stow them in their respective aircraft.

Just 17 minutes later, DeBona left Goose Bay at 2:02 pm Eastern Time; he arrived in Boston at 4:13. Reaver left at 2:15 pm, but had icing problems enroute; he didnt arrive at Boston until 4:37 pm. But even before they landed in Boston, it soon became clear that CBSs DeBona would make it first.

As the realization dawned that Reaver and the NBC film would arrive after DeBona, an NBC executive approached ABC management with a new solution. ABC had already struck a deal to pay the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for access to their coverage of the coronation, and NBC was now willing to pay any amount so that they could also share the broadcast.

A deal was struck, and just moments before 4:00 pm (less than 15 minutes before DeBona landed in Boston), both NBC and ABC switched their feed to CBC coverage from Ottawa. As DeBona covered the last few miles to Bostons Logan Airport carrying the CBS film, the NBC executives were dismayed to see that the CBC coverage was broadcasting the Canadian celebration ceremonies, instead of the events from London!

DeBona touched down in Boston at 4:13, taxied to the ramp, and handed the film over to CBS executives who rushed to the broadcast booth to get the film on the air as soon as humanly possible. However, four minutes later at 4:17pm, CBC switched to the Montreal feed that showed the London coverage of the coronation. This meant that both NBC and ABC were able to beat the CBS coverage by several minutes, without needing the film brought by Reaver a mere 20 minutes later.

So while CBS won the much vaunted air race, NBC and ABC were able to air Coronation coverage first. CBS went on the air with their own coverage at 4:23 and could claim to be the only network to run an edited version that they produced themselves.

Despite the change in plan on the day, the race itself did a great deal to promote television by enabling the same day broadcast of a distant world event. It provided an opportunity for millions to share a cultural event. According to Alice Rizzo, writing for Reuters in 2018, Its also been widely viewed as the moment that changed the future of television.

Mr. Alex

In January of 1953, six months prior to the coronation, Jackie Cochran had sold Thunderbird back to Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy applied to the CAA for a variance to the restrictions on the registration limiting Thunderbird to flight within the continental United States. This was granted to enable the Coronation film flight from Goose Bay to Boston. The restriction was reinstated after the trip.

As the Mustang was prepared for the Coronation race, Stewart had the aircraft repainted and named Mr. Alex to honor his father, Alexander Maitland Stewart.

Mr. Alex has been portrayed in artists renderings in various colors; sometimes black and yellow, one description said black and white, and the most common description was blue and white with a red spinner. However, with no known color photos of the aircraft available, it is difficult to prove which hues are correct; the best contemporary evidence indicates that it was blue and silver with a red spinner. This color scheme was described by an unnamed newspaper reporter who saw Mr. Alex at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas.2 Black and white photos do appear to show the lighter areas as white, but black and whites of known silver Mustangs appear similarly, so it is not definitive proof. Hopefully, a color image will eventually emerge to settle this question once and for all.

March 31, 1954 marks the final notable event in Thunderbird/Mr. Alexs career with Joe DeBona and Jimmy Stewart; a new non-stop transcontinental flight record of 4 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds from Los Angeles International airport to Idyllwild Airport in New York. DeBonas average ground speed was just over 561 miles per hour! This record still stands for west-to-east propeller-driven aircraft.

On September 1, 1954, Jimmy Stewart sold Thunderbird/Mr. Alex to Joe DeBona. On March 14th the following year, DeBona applied to the CAA for registration of N5528N. Two days later, DeBona sold the Mustang to James M. Cook of Jacksboro, Texas.

Cook installed silver iodide burners in the aircraft for cloud-seeding to help suppress hail storms in western Nebraska. He had earlier used a P-40 for this purpose, but had damaged the Warhawk in August 1954, necessitating the purchase of another suitable plane for his business.

However, Cook didnt fly the aircraft for long, sadly. During the summer of 1955, he had to bail out of the aircraft mid-flight due to mechanical issues. The aircraft, without its pilot, subsequently crashed. Contemporary news accounts quote James Cook as saying that he had an undercarriage problem, with one gear leg locked in the up position and the other locked down. Cook struggled to get the gear problem corrected for an hour and 40 minutes but couldnt rectify it despite receiving advice over the radio from several P-51 experts. Cook survived his parachute descent, but the aircraft was left where she fell; the FAA cancelled N5528Ns registration on August 15, 1955.

2 Ft. Worth Star -Telegram, May 20, 1953

Restoration Progress

The wings received most of the restoration time this month, with the attention focusing mainly on the aileron linkage and the landing gear actuating system.

Wings

Aileron Control Linkage

The aileron control linkages have been completed as wing progress continues.

Landing Gear and Wheel Wells

The landing gear control system required a great deal of hydraulic plumbing and mechanical linkage work this month.

And thats all for this exciting news about the resurrection of Thunderbird. We will present further updates as this famous racing aircraft returns to her former glory. Many thanks to Chuck Cravens and everyone at AirCorps Aviation and the Dakota Territory Air Museum for their help in making this article possible.
Headlining Tuesday's election calendar is the California gubernatorial recall election. Details are on this page. There are also two state house special elections in Iowa and Tennessee as well as mayoral primaries in Boston, Cleveland, and Toledo. Use the links below to see other results.

California Gubernatorial Recall Election

Voters in California will decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled. Here's a 270toWin article from a few weeks back with some background on the election. For more, see these articles from CNN, The New York Times, and FiveThirtyEight. Here's some recall history from the Secretary of State's office.

A vote-by-mail ballot was sent to registered voters (over 22 million) in August. As of Monday, over 8 million of those had been returned (about 37%). Political Data Intelligence has a nice tracker providing demographic and party breakdown of these ballots. On Election Day, polling locations are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Pacific Time.

Live results will appear below after 11:00 PM Eastern Time.

Question 1

There is one 'yes or no' question on the ballot that asks "Shall Gavin Newsom be recalled (removed) from the office of Governor." If a majority (50%+1) of the votes cast on this recall question are 'Yes', Newsom will be removed from office and replaced with the replacement candidate receiving the highest number of votes.

The election has been colorful at times and appeared competitive for a period earlier this summer, but appears to be heading for an anticlimactic finish. Democrats mobilized aggressively in recent weeks, culminating with a visit by President Biden on Monday.

Recent polling has moved sharply in Newsom's favor. The FiveThirtyEight average shows the referendum being defeated by double-digits.

Question 2

There are 46 candidates who hope to succeed Newsom; voters can choose one. The candidate receiving the most votes will become governor if Newsom is recalled.

Support has coalesced around conservative talk show host Larry Elder, who is averaging 28%. However, he has exceeded that number in five of the six most recent polls, including two where he was at 38% or higher. There are no notable Democrats on the ballot, as those with political experience stayed out of the race at the urging of Newsom's campaign.

Keep in mind:
Ridofranz/Getty Images

My sisters and I were fortunate when it came to my parents last chapter. Before my fathers Alzheimers became obvious to all but my mother, they moved from the West Coast and selected a senior living facility, with step-up care, to be near their three daughters. The facility had a memory care unit, which allowed my parents to seamlessly stay in the same place, even as my father began slipping away. 

While our situation was idyllic, life doesnt work that neatly for all families. There are many more stories of frustration and despair, stories of older parents unwilling to leave their home, and grown children scrambling to figure out the appropriate next caregiving steps while working and parenting their own children. One friend recently told me that her 91-year-old parents finally sold their home. But they were unable to part with most of their possessions, so they moved into a condo because they wanted to think about what made sense next. That friend is ready to tear out her hair.

Looking at options

So many factors go into the decision around choosing the right living situation for older parents. And when multiple siblings are involved, it can complicate matters. For those who have ruled out home health care or living with family members, there are a bewildering number of factors in choosing a senior facility. 

And while there are no one-size fits all solutions, there are important questions to ask that can help shortcut the decision-making process for all involved. Some are as basic as the size of the facility and number of beds, the cost structure and the proximity to a hospital and family. Others are more subtle, requiring observations. Such as: How much light does the facility or the room get? Do the residents seem happy and engaged? 

Amenities like transportation services for appointments or the existence of a nurse on staff for things like changing bandages can make the difference in a loved ones well-being and the familys peace of mind. Dining services and healthy food options are as important as the policy on visiting hours. How does it smell? was a piece of advice I got from more than one person, suggesting that a pervasive smell of urine might require a deeper look.

One of the most universal pieces of advice was to ask questions about continuing care when you are looking at facilities. Many people regretted not having their loved one in a facility where they could step up to more comprehensive care, including nursing home care with hospice. Several people I interviewed shared the pain of both the family and loved one in having to make a transition to a new situation while they were ill or even dying. 
Courtesy JARED LEEDS

Some people are spending more time at home, often sharing that space with family members for more hours than before the pandemic. Others are downsizing their homes as children move out and nests empty. Whatever the situation may be, rooms can feel crowded.



But a few simple tricks can make your home feel more spacious.

Last year, Hershelle Burton moved from Brooklyn, New York, to a 1,200-square-foot house in Queens that she inherited from her parents. She remodeled the space to reflect her own style and make it appear larger.

Its very different  its lighter and brighter than it used to be, she says. Burton, 52, knocked down a wall between the kitchen and living room, added more lighting, repainted in light colors, installed hardwood floors throughout and kept pathways open to create a sense of flow.

Its all about tricking the eye, says Tammy Bolden, a Montclair, New Jersey interior designer and owner of Bold Interior Designs, who often works on spaces in New York City. [Here] space is at a premium, apartments are small and rents are high, so its very common to make a small space feel larger and serve multiple purposes, especially during the pandemic.

Here are 10 simple ways to make your home look and feel larger:


Half Yearly Report and Accounts

Sydney, Sep 13, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Subject to final approval of the EMP currently being considered by the Northern Territory Government, Empire Energy Group Ltd ( ASX:EEG ) ( OTCMKTS:EEGUF ) is planning to carry out a ~165 kilometre 2D seismic survey in the EP187 permit. This seven line survey will further delineate the continuity of the Velkerri shale resource in EP187. Results from the survey will be integrated with existing 2D seismic data coverage. Planning for the drilling of the Carpentaria-2 well, Empire's first horizontal appraisal well, is well advanced. Its objective will be to demonstrate commercial flow rates and better understand gas composition over distance within the project area. Empire expects that this will significantly enhance Empire's Contingent Resource position and add support to discussions with prospective gas customers and transportation owners as we advance our commercialisation strategy.Following completion of the Pangaea and EMG NT acquisition, the Empire team is carrying out further analysis and planning over the acquired Western Beetaloo acreage. Around $110 million has been spent on these areas by the Pangaea / EMG joint venture. The extensive technical data is being integrated with Empire's existing dataset. The Empire team is preparing to further engage with the stakeholders including pastoralists and Traditional Owners in the core areas this year, ahead of proposed on-ground activities commencing in 2022, to progress preferred horizontal drilling locations.Strong positive sentiment in the global gas sector has been evidenced by trading indexes now trading at multi-year highs. The widely-watched LNG forward curve, the Japan / Korea Marker (Platts), is trading above US$20 / mmbtu for the coming northern hemisphere winter, with LNG spot prices falling below just US$2 / mmbtu in June 2020 (Platts).LNG prices are expected to remain strong due to several factors including: (i) a warm Northern Hemisphere summer increasing power demand for cooling and drawing down on storages depleted by a cold winter; (ii) commodity traders seeking to replenish gas inventories ahead of the coming northern winter; (iii) Asia's accelerating economic recovery; and (iv) coal to gas switching policies in Asia to reduce emissions and encourage clean air.To view the Half Year Report, please visit:About Empire Energy Group Ltd

Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.


ASX Small and Mid-Cap Conference Presentation

Sydney, Sep 14, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ( FRA:DRH ) ( OTCMKTS:DRSHF ) encloses its investor presentation at the ASX Small and Mid-Cap Conference to be given today by the DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik at 2:30pm Sydney time, followed by Q&A.The registration link for the conference is as follows:To view the presenttion, please visit:About DroneShield Ltd

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.

Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.

Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.

DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets.

.


Development Update - September 2021

Perth, Sep 14, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Wiluna Mining Corporation Limited ( ASX:WMC ) ( FRA:NZ3 ) ( OTCMKTS:WMXCF ) is pleased to provide an update on mine development activities.OPERATIONSWiluna Mining controls 100% of the Wiluna Mining Operation. The Wiluna Mining Operation is located at the northern end of the Western Australian Goldfields, approximately 530 km north of Kalgoorlie and 900km northeast (one and a half hours by direct flight) of Perth.The Wiluna Mining Operation has a gold endowment (historic and current) of over 11 million ounces and currently has a Mineral Resource of over 7 million ounces (1 g/t cut-off) which makes it the 8th largest gold district in Australia under single ownership.The Wiluna Mining Operation is currently in development stage with a two-staged, 3-year development underway to transform Wiluna from a modest, cashflow positive producer of free milling ore via a conventional CIP plant to a multi circuit operation producing circa 250kozpa. On completion, the staged development plan will enable Wiluna to treat all the ore types at Wiluna through four processes including;- Existing 2.1 Mtpa CIP process plant;- 750,000 tpa flotation concentrator which is in construction and will be commissioned in December 2021 scaling up to 1.5 Mtpa capacity by end of FY 2024;- Gravity circuit which ultimately produces gold dore; and- Tailings retreatment plant which links tailings reclaim and reslurrying with the existing CIP circuit, which is also processing flotation tailings, to produce gold dore.Stage 1 development is defined at a production profile of 120kozpa. The final capacity and shape of the Stage 2 development at the Wiluna Mining Operation will depend on the conclusions from the Feasibility Study currently taking place. This Feasibility Study includes significant Resource drilling which is aiming to add an additional 500koz to our current underground Ore Reserve of 661koz @ 4.74 g/t by the end of CY 2021.Two Staged Expansion SnapshotStage 1 Commissioned December 2021, ramped up Q4 FY 2022- Production 120,000 ozpa concentrate/dore (approximately 30,000 ozpa dore)- Processing Rate 750,000 tpa sulphides and approximately 2,000,000 tpa tailings re-treatment- Estimated AISC/oz US$1,150-$1,200/oz*Stage 2 Feasibility Study completion expected Q3FY 2022- Targeting commissioning Q1 FY 2024- Planned Production 250,000 ozpa concentrate/dore (approximately 50,000 ozpa dore)- Processing Rate 1,500,000 tpa sulphides and approximately 2,000,000 tpa tailings re-treatment*Expected improvements in AISC to result from increased grade and reduction in development cost per tonne mined.The Wiluna Mining Operation also has significant exploration and discovery potential within its 1,600km2 tenement area, both "under the headframe" at the Wiluna Mining Centre, and regionally. The Company is progressing multiple targets with million-ounce discovery potential such as the three additional well-defined mining centres at Regent, Lakeway and Matilda, all with stand-alone, long life mining potential.A key business imperative of Wiluna's plan going forward is to minimise our environmental footprint and create a more sustainable future operation. To this end, we are pursuing more environmentally friendly processing routes undertaking process and mining efficiency studies, investigating the use of renewable energy solutions to meet our increasing energy demands and initiatives to clean up and rehabilitate any historic legacy issues. In support of this strategy the Company has installed equipment to acquire wind data for a renewable energy power generation study still slated to commence in 2022.To view the full update, 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.


Exploration and Development Update

Melbourne, Sep 14, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cohiba Minerals Limited ( ASX:CHK ) is pleased to announce that Titeline Drilling is making good progress with drill hole HWDD05 at the Horse Well Project.As of the 12th of September 2021, the drill hole had reached 797.5m (80.8deg Dip and 54.9deg Azimuth) and is currently in the Pandurra Formation as expected (Figure 1*).The Company will commence drilling at Pernatty C immediately following completion of HWDD05 with an initial focus on PSDDH01 and PSDDH02, which will be angled holes (70deg declination) drilled to the west-south-west (Figure 2*). It is expected that PSDDH01 will be drilled to around 900m, while PSDDH02 will be drilled either to basement or the base of the Tapleys Hill Formation (THF) depending on observations made as the drilling progresses.The Company has completed the EPEPR documentation for the next program of drilling at Horse Well and is awaiting final confirmation of the heritage survey from the Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation.Cohiba Minerals, Tigers Dominion Group (TDG) and Euro Exploration have finalised the initial drill program for the Warriner Creek Project and are currently undertaking the EPEPR documentation.The Company's subject matter experts have taken delivery of 20 polished thin sections from the drill core at HWDD04. These thin sections, expertly produced by Adelaide Petrographic Services Pty Ltd, will enable the geology and prospectivity of HWDD04 and surrounds to be studied in much greater detail. A second batch of 20 polished thin sections is currently being processed and will be available shortly. These petrographic studies are of critical importance in understanding the petrology, alteration and mineralisation genesis within an IOCG environment.The Mining Lease application at Pyramid Lake was temporarily postponed due to some strategic and technical issues which have now been overcome and the final application has now been prioritised for completion.Cohiba's CEO, Andrew Graham says, "The Company is pleased to be making excellent progress with the follow up hole (HWDD05) at Horse Well and believes it will provide strong supporting evidence that it is drilling in close proximity to an IOCG system.A larger scale drilling program at Horse Well is in direct response to the results to date and the extensive follow up work undertaken by the Company's IOCG experts. The Company remains committed to the Horse Well area as a prime IOCG target zone.This drilling will be immediately followed up with the long-awaited drill holes at Pernatty C, which will test for both Zambian Copperbelt (ZCB) style mineralisation and a deeper IOCG target.The Company is also pleased to be expanding its presence and portfolio in the Gawler Craton with its involvement in the Warriner Creek Project and believes this is a strategic addition to the current project portfolio in South Australia. We remain committed to becoming a significant explorer for IOCG deposits in the Gawler Craton."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Cohiba Minerals Limited

Cohiba Minerals Limited (ASX:CHK) is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the primary focus of investing in the resource sector through direct tenement acquisition, joint ventures, farm in arrangements and new project generation. The shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol CHK.

The Company recently acquired 100% of the shares in Charge Lithium Pty Ltd, which holds exploration licences in Western Australia.


Okapi Acquires Historical Sunnyside Uranium Mine

Perth, Sep 14, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Okapi Resources Limited ( ASX:OKR ) ( FRA:26O ) is pleased to report it has acquired a 100% interest in the historical Sunnyside Uranium Mine by staking mining claims that cover 960 acres adjacent to Okapi's existing Rattler Uranium Project in Utah, USA.The Sunnyside Uranium Mine comprises several small past-producing pits and adits where uranium was mined in the early 1900s at grades reported to have been 1,500 ppm U3O8 and 1.5% V2O5. The acquisition of the Sunnyside Uranium Mine complements the Company's existing Rattler Uranium Project which is contiguous with Energy Fuels' La Sal Project.The La Sal Project is fully permitted for mining and operated from 2006 to 2012. In 2014, Energy Fuels reported remaining resources at La Sal totalling 1.3Mt at 1,700ppm U3O8 and 8,880ppm V2O5, for 4.5 million pounds U3O8 and 23.4 million pounds of V2O5.Okapi's planning for its maiden, high-impact exploration programs at Rattler and Sunnyside is well advanced.Okapi Resources Executive Director David Nour commented:"The acquisition of a 100% interest in the past-producing, high-grade Sunnyside Uranium Mine demonstrates the deep in-country knowledge and expertise of Okapi's team. This acquisition represents yet another highly value-accretive acquisition for Okapi shareholders. The team remains focussed on executing its strategy as it becomes a new leader in North American carbon-free nuclear energy."Sunnyside Uranium MineThe acquisition of the Sunnyside Uranium Mine increases Okapi's total landholding in Utah by 90%, from approximately 1,020 acres to a total of approximately 1,960 acres. The Company's expanded project area in the La Sal Uranium District now comprises ninety-eight (98) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unpatented Federal mining claims located approximately 85km north of Energy Fuels Inc's White Mesa Uranium/Vanadium mill in Utah - the only operating conventional uranium mill in the USA (see Figure 2*).The new claims are located immediately along strike from Okapi's Rattler Uranium Project which includes the historical Rattlesnake open pit mine, which was discovered around 1948 and was in production until about 1954. Historic production from the Rattlesnake Open Pit Mine reportedly totalled 285,000 tonnes of ore @ 2,800ppm U3O8 and 1.0% V2O5 for 1.6 million pounds of U3O8 and 4.5 million pounds of V2O5.Okapi's claims at Sunnyside and Rattler are contiguous with Energy Fuels' La Sal Project. The La Sal Project is fully permitted for mining and operated from 2006 to 2012. In 2014, Energy Fuels reported remaining resources at La Sal totalling 1.3Mt at 1,700ppm U3O8 and 8,880ppm V2O5, for 4.5 million pounds U3O8 and 23.4 million pounds of V2O5.Up until 1991, historic production from the La Sal district is estimated to comprise around 6.4 million pounds of U3O8 at 3,200ppm U3O8 and 29 million pounds of V2O5 at 1.4% V2O5.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Okapi Resources Ltd

Okapi Resources Limited (ASX:OKR) is a minerals exploration company focused on the discovery and commercialisation of mineral deposits in Australia. Okapi's primary objective is to discover and develop mineral resources from its current portfolio. The Company has carefully selected projects with historical workings and excellent results. Okapi has a team of professionals with an exemplary record of success and with a particular history in Australia. Okapi is also pursuing a growth strategy that aims to appraise and secure further exploration and development opportunities within gold and mineral endowed districts.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico cities and towns have broken nearly 100 heat records in September, and the state is in for another week of hot and dry weather.

Daniel Porter, meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Albuquerque, said high-pressure systems have dominated the region, with temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above normal.

On Monday, Albuquerque reached 90 degrees for the eighth consecutive day.

If we take the high and the low temperature for each day so far and averaged it all out, we are currently the second-warmest for the first half of September, with an average temperature of 77.6 degrees, Porter said.

A cool front will bring moisture to northeastern New Mexico on Tuesday, meteorologist Clay Anderson said.

That will be used as fuel for thunderstorms that are going to pop up late in the day and into the evening hours, Anderson said.

Severe thunderstorms will be possible in the states far northeastern corner. Hail and high winds could also make an appearance.

Albuquerque is expected to have a high of 91 degrees on Tuesday. Rain chances are minimal all week for the metro area.

Hazy skies should begin to clear as wildfire smoke exits the region.

Albuquerques forecast calls for a high of 90 degrees on Wednesday, 91 on Thursday and 90 on Friday. A notable cool front is likely to move into New Mexico early next week.

We could actually start to see some more seasonal temperatures, Anderson said. But until we get there, we should look for increasing winds through the weekend, especially on Sunday.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Former New Mexico tax department head Demesia Padilla will face five years of probation but no prison time under a sentence handed down last week by a Sandoval County judge.

Padilla, who resigned her position in former Gov. Susana Martinezs administration amid a public corruption investigation, was convicted by a jury in June of embezzlement and computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle  both felony offenses.

She faced up to 18 years in prison under the two charges, but District Judge Cindy Mercer suspended all prison time for Padilla and imposed five years of supervised probation.

During that time, Padilla will be barred from drinking alcohol and selling or owning firearms. She will also have to complete 200 hours of community service in the coming year and pay more than $25,000 in restitution to the Bernalillo family she was accused of embezzling money from while she was a Cabinet secretary.

Despite the sentencing, the lengthy legal saga involving Padilla might not be over.

Thats because five of the eight initial charges filed by Attorney General Hector Balderas office against Padilla were dismissed by a Santa Fe judge in 2019.

The state Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of those charges last year, ruling that the section of the states Governmental Conduct Act they were filed under was too vague to support criminal charges.

But that decision could be reviewed, and Balderas called on state lawmakers in a statement Monday to tighten the states public corruption laws.

We successfully secured a felony conviction in a jury trial, yet remain disappointed that corruption loopholes in the law have not been corrected by the Legislature, Balderas said.

Padilla, one of Martinezs first Cabinet appointees, resigned her position as Taxation and Revenue Department secretary in December 2016, a day after AGs Office investigators raided the agency in search of tax documents connected with Padilla and her husband. About 18 months later, she was charged with embezzlement and public corruption.

Authorities alleged she embezzled more than $25,000 from Harolds Grading & Trucking, a company that had been a client of her accounting firm, through unauthorized fund transfers and later used her state government position to try to prevent the company from being audited.

The investigation into Padillas actions was launched by then-Auditor Tim Keller, who is now Albuquerques mayor, and was eventually referred to the Attorney Generals Office.

Paul Kennedy, Padillas attorney, did not respond Monday to questions about the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the corruption case against Padilla was the latest in a string of ethics scandals involving New Mexico public officials that resulted in convictions.

Former state Sen. Phil Griego, a Democrat from rural San Miguel County, was sentenced in 2017 to 18 months in prison and more than $47,000 in fines after being convicted of fraud, bribery and other public corruption charges.

And former Secretary of State Dianna Duran, a Republican, resigned from office in 2015 and pleaded guilty to illegally using campaign contributions to fuel a gambling habit. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to pay $28,000 in fines and restitution.

Meanwhile, the AGs Office and FBI continue to investigate an alleged kickback scheme involving former House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton of Albuquerque, who has resigned from the Legislature. No charges have been filed, and she has denied any wrongdoing.
Despite Diane Dimonds grudging acceptance of Joe Bidens victory in her Aug. 28 column, she devotes the rest of her screed to undermining the validity of that election and supporting Republicans efforts to undermine the vote. Most of her points merit rebuttal.

Despite the long history of questionable electioneering in this country, the 2020 election was not only certified but described by the supervising officials, many of them Republicans, as the cleanest election in our history. Everyone who participated, including the voters, should be commended. Instead, since the votes were tallied, Dimond has alternated between raising vague, unsupported fears of a stolen election and complaining voters are starting to doubt the validity of the result. Was that not the intent of her columns? Claims like this have already resulted in the deadly insurrection of Jan. 6.

If Dimond wants us to believe the 2020 election was deeply flawed, lets see the evidence of thousands of recent cases of voter fraud. Document, with names, places and details, where witnesses have testified under oath or the guilty have confessed. So far, the claims of fraud from the losing side have melted like snow under judicial review. As the health of the republic is at stake, cite the cases, including which candidate would have benefitted, so we can examine the evidence for ourselves.

As for the recent moves to strengthen election laws, many of them are blatantly partisan, anti-democratic and yes, racist. What else can you call it when Alabama starts requiring state-issued IDs to vote, then closes many DMV offices in their Black Belt? Native American tribes have had to sue to prevent the mass disenfranchisement of their members. Purging the rolls of people who havent shown up for a few years disenfranchises those who cant take a day off from their poorly paid jobs, so theres a bit of classism as well.

Would it be wonderful if the whole country were on a new, improved voting system, especially one that protected the rights of qualified voters? Of course, but that would require a constitutional amendment. I wish you the best of luck with that.

As for mailing ballots to all registered voters, nine states already do that routinely. Some others decided to do that this time, on account of the pandemic. Of the 44 million ballots that went out by the same postal system we use for filing other vital paperwork, 560,000 were rejected for various reasons so the systems for detecting fraud actually worked, although they may have rejected some for a simple variation in signatures. Fifteen million apparently went to people who werent entitled to use them  and didnt or werent interested in casting a vote. States like ours had systems to let anyone who was expecting a ballot and didnt get one to vote in person. I dont see the big problem there.

Yes, indeed, the attacks on our election system have eroded the trust of the citizens, as they were meant to do, under a deluge of unsupported allegations. But this nonsense may backfire on the shortsighted, irresponsible people and organizations who spread them. Elections here have been hotly contested, but the results have been, sometimes reluctantly, accepted, and power has been passed peacefully from one elected administration to the next. As the poisonous tide of partisanship rises to engulf us, and Republican legislatures assert their right to substitute their own electors for the peoples choice, how long will that last? If a Republican claims victory, what obligation do we have to accept the claim?
SANTA FE  New Mexico is one of just two states without a law prohibiting bestiality  a fact that hampered prosecution last year of someone who posted an online ad seeking a horse to abuse, animal advocates told lawmakers Monday.

In a legislative hearing, members of the nonprofit Animal Protection Voters of New Mexico and other groups urged state lawmakers to pass a law expressly prohibiting the sexual abuse of animals and related acts.

This is very difficult to talk about, Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection Voters said Monday, but this is something that needs to change.

She cited the example of an ad posted last year from someone seeking a mare for sexual acts. Her organization reported the advertisement to law enforcement officers, who said there was nothing they could do without a change in the law, Johnson said.

M. Jenny Edwards, a criminologist who used to manage a large animal shelter in Washington, told lawmakers that its difficult to estimate the prevalence of bestiality in New Mexico.

But she mentioned some examples  one involving David Parker Ray, who was convicted about 20 years ago of kidnapping and torturing two women.

The sexual abuse of animals, Edwards said, is often linked to domestic violence, child abuse and other criminal behavior.

Not talking about it doesnt make it go away, she said. This is something that does happen in New Mexico.

Several lawmakers expressed interest in helping craft a new statute that would make it a crime to sexually abuse an animal. West Virginia is the only other state without a bestiality law, Johnson said.

I think its past time we do something about it, Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said during Mondays hearing.

A bestiality prohibition, Johnson said, would complement New Mexicos existing animal cruelty laws, which often rely on demonstrable signs of injury, which may not be present in some instances.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexico reported 14 additional COVID-19 deaths Monday  including five from Bernalillo County  as the death toll climbed to 4,619 residents.

The deaths included adults ranging in age from their 30s to their 80s. Ten of the 14 had preexisting medical conditions, according to the state.

Individuals who are not fully vaccinated have made up about 92% of the deaths over the past four weeks.

This is heartbreaking every day, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a tweet about the 14 deaths. Vaccines work. They are safe and effective. They will keep you out of the hospital and off a ventilator.

About 93% of the states official COVID-19 deaths are classified that way because COVID-19 is listed as the underlying cause of death on the persons death certificate. In other cases, COVID-19 is either listed as a contributing factor in the death or an investigation is pending after a positive test.

The Department of Health on Monday also reported 1,786 new cases of the disease over the past three days.

Bernalillo County, the states largest, had 491 new cases; Dona Ana County in southern New Mexico had 145 cases; and Sandoval County, covering Rio Rancho, had 139.

The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in New Mexico fell to 320, down 18% from the beginning of last week.

The share of adult residents who have completed their vaccine series rose to 69.0%, with 78.8% of adults having received at least one dose.

About 51.2% of residents aged 12 to 17 have completed their shots, while 62.3% have had at least one dose.
Keeping a vehicle in good working order under New Mexico law doesnt mean that every bulb in a tail lamp needs to be lit, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling came in an appeal by an Albuquerque man who was pulled over for having a burned out tail lamp bulb, leading to his conviction on a drunken driving charge.

This case reminds us that not all vehicles on New Mexicos roads and highways are in perfect condition, Justice Shannon Bacon wrote for the court in its unanimous opinion.

The court concluded that as long as the tail lamp is visible from 500 feet away, it complies with the laws requirement that it is in good working order, even if one of the bulbs isnt lit.

The justices overturned a holding by the state Court of Appeals that all tail light bulbs in a multi-bulb tail lamp must be illuminated for a vehicle to be in compliance.

The case dates to 2012 when a man was pulled over by a Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office deputy because the upper bulb of his left tail lamp was not illuminated, but the lower bulb was lit. The right tail lamp was working properly.

The deputy arrested John Farish, 35, on charges of operating a vehicle with defective equipment and first-offense driving under the influence, court records show.

Farish was convicted on both charges in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court. He appealed the convictions to 2nd Judicial District Court and then to the Court of Appeals.

Farish argued that the traffic stop wasnt justified because the deputy lacked reasonable suspicion to conclude that Farish was breaking the law.

Requiring vehicles to be free of all defects would impose an absurd standard for vehicles on New Mexico roads and highways because it would require that equipment be in perfect condition, the Supreme Court concluded.

Justices ordered the 2nd Judicial District Court to reconsider the case in accordance with the Supreme Courts interpretation of state law.
As the delta variant of COVID-19 continues to produce hundreds of new cases a day in New Mexico with hospitals near capacity, it is difficult for many to comprehend there is a significant and persistent level of vaccine hesitancy. After all, the data is so overwhelming that if vaccinated you are far less likely to get COVID-19 and even less likely to become seriously ill.

But that hesitancy  or in some cases resistance  is real, and it is illustrated by a couple of headlines in the past week.

First, despite having one of the highest overall vaccination rates in the nation, just 46.4% of New Mexicans ages 18 to 24 were fully vaccinated as of Monday, trailing the statewide average by more than 20 percentage points. New Mexicans in that age group  a demographic that is out and about and working in retail and restaurant jobs  also trailed their peers nationally, who are vaccinated at a rate of 48.3%

Headline Number Two: Despite the governors edict that state employees must either be vaccinated or take regular COVID tests and wear masks, only 57% of New Mexico State Police officers were fully vaccinated as of the last week in August. Thats well below the statewide rate of 69% for New Mexicans 18 and older. State Police Chief Tim Johnson acknowledged some reluctance among officers, despite the agencys attempt to provide them with accurate information about the vaccine. And these officers have been on the front lines when it comes to enforcing public health orders during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, young people arent the only major demographic area of concern. Hispanic/Latinos and Blacks still lag far behind non-Hispanic whites in first dose administered and vaccination series completed. The percentage of Blacks fully vaccinated was still below 50% (48.8%) Monday while Hispanics/Latinos were at 52.2% according to the DOH COVID Vaccine Dashboard.

And despite the states excellent overall track record, combined state and federal data showed somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 New Mexicans ages 18 and older still werent fully vaccinated as of Sept. 13, although in a promising development, about 160,000 of them had received at least one dose. That leaves way too many people in that category who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and more likely to infect others if they get it.

Dropping down to the next tier, only about half of New Mexicans ages 12 to 17 had completed the vaccination series, and children under 12 are not yet eligible. Those numbers leave a lot of fertile ground for the highly contagious delta variant.

Reasons given for not getting vaccinated vary. A 50-state survey this month by QuoteWizard found that in New Mexico 50% of those unvaccinated said they were concerned about possible side effects, 21% didnt think they needed the vaccine, 38% had a wait-and-see-if-its-safe attitude, 51% didnt trust the vaccine, 46% didnt trust the government and 32% didnt think COVID-19 was a big threat.

Much of the hesitancy can be traced to debunked claims like DNA, magnetic and fertility concerns  yet these are some of the folks who would be willing to treat themselves with an anti-parasite drug sold at veterinary supply stores rather than take a rigorously vetted vaccine? That drug, invermectin, had hospitals in some states and poison control centers slammed with people who had taken it.

Are there possible side effects to the approved vaccines? Yes. But those are minuscule when you consider COVID-19 has claimed the lives of nearly 4,600 New Mexicans. Invermectin is a whole lot more dangerous.

With short-staffed hospitals struggling to care for the surge of COVID patients, and doctors, hospitals and nurses working to care for people with all the other maladies that afflict humans  from heart attacks to cancer to worn-out joints  its in everyones interest to do what we can to encourage, or when appropriate, mandate vaccinations. Thats especially true for the state, which would be well advised to renew its just-expired $100 incentive for people getting either a first or second shot.

Science has taught us a great deal about the virus, and marketing and surveys have taught us a lot about the resistance. The past state campaigns have been effective, but when it comes to young people a University of New Mexico Center for Social Policy report concluded targeted outreach to this specific sub-group will be needed given their higher rates of vaccine hesitancy. Greg Romero, president of the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, said he got the shot but some of his peers just havent been motivated to act quickly. They just dont see an urgent need at this moment to get it, he said. (UNM requires all faculty, staff and students who access campus facilities, housing, programs, services, and activities to provide documentation of full vaccination for COVID-19 or documentation of a UNM validated limited exemption no later than Sept. 30.)

The governor should address the State Police issue. These officers are role models  along with many professional athletes who have taken a social responsibility dive on this issue.

And its time to roll out a targeted new effort aimed at vaccine-hesitant young people in New Mexico. Because in the words of state DOH spokesman David Morgan, being young is not the same thing as being immortal.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The Department of Justice is taking steps to ensure that future consent decrees laying out police reforms will be monitored differently than those that are already underway.

The changes will not automatically impact the city of Albuquerques court-mandated reform effort, although Mayor Tim Keller said his administration will approach the U.S. District Court in New Mexico to ensure the same standards are applied to (the Albuquerque Police Departments) settlement agreement.

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting on Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that monitoring teams hired by cities to oversee a consent decree will now be subject to  among other things  budget caps, termination hearings after five years, assessment tools and standardized training. The teams will be barred from monitoring more than one city at a time.

The changes were born from a review undertaken by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the use of monitors in civil settlement agreements and consent decrees with state and local governmental entities.

The department has found that  while consent decrees and monitorships are important tools to increase transparency and accountability  the department can and should do more to improve their efficiency and efficacy, said Attorney General Garland. The Associate Attorney General has recommended  and I have accepted  a set of 19 actions that the department will take to address those concerns.

Gupta said consent decrees have been vital tools in upholding the rule of law and promoting transformational change.

The department must do everything it can to guarantee that they remain so by working to ensure that the monitors who help implement these decrees do so efficiently, consistently, and with meaningful input and participation from the communities they serve, she added.

According to a news release, within the next 90 days, Gupta and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke in the Civil Rights Division will begin working with stakeholders to develop a set of monitor training materials and tools.

In Albuquerque, police and city officials praised the changes.

The city signed its Court Approved Settlement Agreement with the United States in 2014 after a lengthy DOJ investigation found officers had a pattern and practice of using excessive force on citizens. The investigation came on the heels of several high-profile shootings that resulted in large settlements.

Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman, said the Keller administration has been meeting with DOJ officials for months and working with the Major Cities Chiefs Association to outline several concerns about (the) existing process used by the DOJ to monitor the Albuquerque Police Department.

For example, the Keller administration highlighted the exorbitant cost paid by Albuquerque taxpayers for the work of out-of-state monitors who oversee APDs reform process, Gallegos said.

As of February 2021, Dr. James Ginger, who, along with his team, oversees the reform effort and evaluates the citys progress on the Court Approved Settlement Agreement, has been paid $7.5 million since 2015.

He is barred from talking to the media and did not respond to requests for comment. DOJ attorneys involved in the settlement agreement also did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, Keller said he appreciated the Attorney General for listening to the citys concerns and for making changes to reflect the realities were facing.

In this city, we want to make reforms that are actually meaningful to our local communities rather than out-of-state consultants, Keller said. I believe that Albuquerque has what it takes to do that while supporting our officers, tackling crime and making our city safer for people from all walks of life.

Gallegos did not respond to questions about which reforms Keller was implying were not meaningful to the community.

Barron Jones, a senior policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said we all want to see the day when the monitor is no longer needed, and when our police department is the professional and trustworthy department the community deserves.

But, of course, that day is not here yet, he added.

As for cost, Jones pointed out that, prior to the settlement agreement, the city was routinely paying out high-dollar settlements in lawsuits against the police department for excessive force. In the years leading up to the DOJs investigation and the settlement agreement, the city had spent at least $28 million on officer misconduct lawsuits. City attorneys have said that, since the reforms began, they are no longer seeing the same kinds of lawsuits.

What we do know is the reform process is very costly; it costs money to bring departments into compliance with constitutional policing, Jones said.

Furthermore, he said he worries that, if there were time limits on how long a city could be under monitoring, those who want to resist the effort would just wait it out.

The administrations comments about the monitor and the reforms he is pushing are in contrast to those made months ago.

As recently as February, City Attorney Esteban Aguilar defended Ginger against those who said he was changing the goalposts or prolonging the process for his own financial gain.

Hes an officer of the court, he represents the judge, and he is the eyes and ears. So he has a responsibility to accurately portray that information and communicate that, Aguilar said at the time.

Gallegos also did not respond to questions about whether the citys view of the monitor has changed.

Nobody has suggested we are done with the reform process, he said instead. Chief (Harold) Medina has emphasized that a lot of progress has been made, but not necessarily acknowledged in monitoring reports. Nevertheless, Chief Medina has been candid about the need for continuous reform of our processes to ensure culture change is here to stay. Chief Medina has also highlighted many areas where the monitoring process has stifled his ability as Chief to put more resources toward fighting crime.

In a statement, Medina said APD has made tremendous progress in changing the culture in the department.

But the public also deserves a fully staffed police department that has the resources to focus on fighting crime, he said. The pendulum has swung too far in the wrong direction where officers do not feel supported. We need the local flexibility to ensure we can balance fighting crime while protecting the rights of all citizens.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexicos film industry has come roaring back to life this year and it has so far managed to avoid significant COVID-19 outbreaks.

Many credit the stringent protocols put in place by the industry.

Film and TV productions in New Mexico got the green light to resume in September 2020.

According to the New Mexico Film Office, from Sept. 1, 2020, through Sept. 1, 2021, there have been 176,598 COVID tests administered throughout the various productions. Of those, 183 were positive.

This is a testament to the film industry as they want to mitigate and remain safe, said Amber Dodson, New Mexico Film Office director. There have been less than eight productions that have paused for their own safety during the last year.

As of Aug. 31, there were 18 film and 24 TV productions in various phases currently in the state.

When the film industry paused in March 2020, leaders spent months developing protocols that would be put in place when it resumed.

In June 2020, the White Paper was created by a Task Force of the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee describing health and safety guidelines to resume film and TV production.

It outlines protective measures to be used, including regular screening, diagnostic testing, use of personal protective equipment, cleaning and disinfecting work sites and appropriate response should an employee contract COVID-19 or be exposed to it.

The New Mexico Film Office also created Back2One, which promotes increasingly safe and healthy work practices and workplaces for the film/TV community, specifically in regard to the spread of infectious diseases. It also ushers in a smart and safe return to production and help ensure sustained success.

Dodson said one example of a protocol put in place for a New Mexico production is that each production has to give the Film Office its test results and if someone tests positive, the state has to be notified within four hours.

Heather Shreckengost is a health and safety manager for Tareco S/4 and works daily to ensure that productions are following the rules.

The studios are the ones who write and develop the protocols, Shreckengost said. They do vary by production. My main role is to ensure that all on set are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) properly.

Being on set has changed in the last year.

When the cameras are rolling, masks dont have to be worn, Shreckengost explains.

Once filming stops, the masks have to come back on, she said. Everyone also has to maintain a safe distance of at least 6 feet. It can be difficult with small shooting locations, but thats when size limitations are put into effect.

Shreckengosts job varies from day to day, though the one constant is ensuring everyones safety on set.

I have to make sure we have enough PPE, as well as training anyone on set with how to properly wear a mask, she said. I order specialty items such as commercial grade air purifiers. As we move locations, the logistics have to be done in advance before anyone starts filming.

Dodson said COVID has changed the way productions operate.

She said most days are shorter because testing takes up more time.

Ive actually heard from producers that because of COVID, its made for longer production schedules, Dodson said. Each production is hiring extra staff. Productions are shooting for more days.

Dodson also credits the film industrys ability to pivot quickly for its success in having a low transmission rate.

Productions are nimble and efficient, Dodson said. It serves each production well to be as safe and as stringent as possible. They dont want to miss a single moment of their time because it costs money to shut down a production.

Shreckengost also keeps track of the COVID variants that pop up in the state.

We do adjust to keep everyone safe, she said. We have to treat everyone as if they are an exposure risk. If we get shut down, it costs productions a lot of money. Then theres the health aspect of it too. It helps to have a team that is committed to implement and execute the protocols.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

In 2009 a ground-breaking initiative quietly began peer education behind bars  pairing former prisoners with current ones  to reduce recidivism in New Mexico.

The project was so successful that in 2020, Probation and Parole requested the program be replicated for those on the outside.

Project ECHO recently partnered with the New Mexico Corrections Department to start the Community Peer Education Project, or CPEP, which is fully funded by the department.

Project ECHO has its roots in health care, using videoconferencing and technology to bring expertise from top health care professionals to medical workers in underserved communities around the world.

Much like the Peer Education Project, CPEP utilizes Project ECHOs methodology to have former probationers and parolees guiding others through the system, providing resources and giving them a shoulder to lean on.

Weve seen the power of peer support in prison, so we felt like it would be really powerful on the outside as well, Karla Thornton, founder of PEP and CPEP, said. We really believe that peer support can change peoples lives  and make them better citizens in the community.

Officials with the program and the Corrections Department said the key to the programs success is having peer educators who have been in their shoes.

It makes such a huge difference to know that you can talk to somebody whos walked in your shoes, whos had to actually experience these same challenges, Corrections Department Cabinet Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero said, adding that many participants have already expressed interest in becoming peer support workers.

She said 64 people are currently in the program and 269 have completed it. Of those, 128 still participate in weekly CPEP workshops.

Lucero said even those probation and parole officers who were at first skeptical about the program have come around after seeing the difference CPEP makes.

At the end of the day, these people go home, theyre part of our communities, she said. My vision for this agency in the future is they go home and they become legitimate, contributing members of society and to their family It strengthens the communities they live in and ultimately, our state benefits from it as well.

Program specialist Carissa McGee said since launching in March, it has received more than 800 referrals from probation and parole officers around the state. McGee, one of the former inmates who helps run the program, said they seek to work with those considered high risk and high needs.

We want to be dealing with the most challenging individuals out there, so that we can hopefully reduce the recidivism. Thats the main goal, she said.

McGee said the pandemic led them to switch their model from in-person to virtual, a change that allowed them to reach every corner of New Mexico. She said they have six volunteer peer educators who undergo an initial training and can oversee up to 30 to 40 probationer/parolees.

McGee said the connection between the two are the meat and potatoes of the program. That is a lot of back and forth. Youre texting, youre on the phone, youre sharing stories, lived experience, she said. The strength and the beauty and the power that comes from those engagements is really the muscle behind us. Its our engine.

She said peer educators help with everything from housing and employment to navigating documents and processes that go along with supervision. McGee said one of the biggest hurdles is teaching clients how to use technology, like emails, smartphones and Zoom calls, that have changed during their time behind bars.

McGee said CPEP holds weekly virtual workshops for participants that cover life and skills like effective communication and resume building. She said peer educators stay sharp through bi-weekly sessions where they get more guidance and education.

McGee said, right now, its too early to measure recidivism in CPEP  defined as a person reoffending within three years  but they will be watching.

McGee hopes in time the grapevine will bring them closer to their goals.

Its not a buzz yet amongst our population. And thats what were building towards, so that the folks who are incarcerated, theyre hearing about it. And as soon as theyre getting out theyre asking for it. Thats really whats going to drive some bigger interest and really get us where we want to be, she said.
Albuquerque police conduct a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Albuquerque police conduct a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) A gun remains in the parking lot during a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Mike Sandoval/For the Journal A bullet hole is seen in the restaurant window during a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Mike Sandoval/For the Journal Albuquerque police conduct a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Albuquerque police conduct a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Albuquerque police conduct a homicide investigation at the Subway on Gibson near I-25 Tuesday morning. (Mike Sandoval/For the Journal Prev 1 of 7 Next

Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Police say a man trying to rob a 24-hour sandwich shop in Southeast Albuquerque was shot and killed by an employee early Tuesday morning.

Its the second time in a little more than a week that an attempted robbery has ended with the suspect being killed.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said officers were dispatched around 5:20 a.m. to a shooting at Subway on the 1300 block of Gibson, near Interstate 25.

When they arrived, they found a man had been shot and was dead inside the shop.

After preliminary investigation, talking to some of the employees at the business, it appears that the male had entered the business and attempted to rob one of the employees, Gallegos said. At that point, one of the employees fired shots at the robber and that robber was deceased on scene.

He said it appears the suspect was armed. It is not yet known whether he was also a suspect in other robberies.

The employee was not publicly identified.

Outside the business Tuesday morning, investigators could be seen photographing the scene. One of the windows had a bullet hole and a black handgun could be seen on the ground nearby.

Media representatives from Subway did not respond to requests for comment. The store had apparently reopened by the afternoon and an employee who answered the phone said they were not interested in talking about it.

The shooting comes eight days after a similar incident near the North Valley. On the evening of Sept. 6, police say a man tried to rob a Tobacco Town on Fourth and Griegos NW, and was shot and killed by an employee. The suspect was found half a block away and died at the scene.

Gallegos said detectives are considering that shooting to be self-defense. As for Tuesdays shooting, he said, its too early to tell.

They have to identify the suspect, interview the shooter, he said. Once we get that information, detectives will know more.

According to Journal records, detectives have determined seven homicides to be justified this year.

Gallegos said that, for whatever reason, cases where an employee shoots a robbery suspect happen more often at tobacco shops than at fast food restaurants. However, he said, they have seen armed robberies at other businesses on Gibson, near the airport.

Gallegos said the department is aware of robbers hitting multiple businesses. He said that is part of what Operation Turn the Tide  an initiative launched two weeks ago in the wake of a robbery suspect shooting three APD officers and injuring a fourth  is attempting to address. The operation includes temporarily allocating more resources to violent crime investigations.

In the past few weeks, weve literally served dozens and dozens of warrants, Gallegos said. We moved a lot of detectives in to help with robbery and homicide because were looking for offenders who are tied to some of these homicides, or potentially tied to these serial armed robberies. We want to get them off the street.

Journal city editor Martin Salazar contributed to this report.
ARVADA, Colo.  President Joe Biden tried to advance his domestic spending plans on Colorado on Tuesday by warning about climate changes dangers while highlighting how his clean-energy proposals would also create good-paying jobs.

The trip to the National Renewable Energy Laboratorys Flatirons Campus outside Denver capped the presidents two-day swing to the West, and offered Biden the chance to continue linking the need to pass his spending package to the urgent threat posed by climate change.

Heres the good news: Something that is caused by humans can be solved by humans, Biden said. He deemed the need for a clean-energy future an economic imperative and a national security imperative and said that there was no time to waste as the impact of climate change seems to grow more severe by the year.

Biden said that extreme weather events will cost more than $100 billion in damages this year and underscored his goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050 while using solely carbon pollution-free power 15 years earlier.

We can do that, we can do all of this in a way that creates good jobs, lowers costs to consumers and businesses and makes us global leaders, the president said.

Biden spoke about more jobs for the economy on an earlier tour as he checked out a giant windmill blade on the ground outside the lab and got a demonstration of wind turbine technology.

And, keenly aware of the delicate work underway back in Washington to craft details of his infrastructure-plus spending package, he gestured at Democratic legislators along for the tour and said, Theyre the ones getting it all through Congress.

Biden had spent Monday in Boise, Idaho, and Sacramento, California, receiving briefings on the devastating wildfire season and viewing the damage by the Caldor Fire to communities around Lake Tahoe.

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. Its about fires. Just fires.

Throughout his trip, Biden held out the wildfires across the region as an argument for his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and additional $3.5 trillion package of spending. The president said every dollar spent on resilience would save $6 in future costs. And he made the case that the rebuilding must go beyond simply restoring damaged systems and instead ensure communities can withstand such crises.

In the end its not about red states or blue states. A drought or a fire doesnt see a property line, Biden said. It doesnt care, give a damn for what party you belong to  yes, we face a crisis, but we face a crisis with unprecedented opportunity.

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.

Biden has set a goal of eliminating pollution from fossil fuel in the power sector by 2035 and from the U.S. economy overall by 2050.

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.

With unified 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.

In California, Biden appeared to respond to those concerned about the plans 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. He also insisted that, when it comes to addressing climate change, we have to think big.

Thinking small is a prescription for disaster, he said.

The 100-member Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Given solid GOP opposition, Bidens plan cannot pass the Senate without Manchins or Sinemas support. The legislative push comes at a crucial time for Biden, who had seen his poll numbers tumble after the United States tumultuous exit from Afghanistan and a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

___

Lemire reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
MOSCOW  In the months before Sundays parliamentary election in Russia, authorities unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, making sure that the best-known and loudest Kremlin critics didnt run.

Some were barred from seeking public office under new, repressive laws. Some were forced to leave the country after threats of prosecution. Some were jailed.

Pressure also mounted on independent media and human rights activists: A dozen news outlets and rights groups were given crippling labels of foreign agents and undesirable organizations or accused of ties with them.

The embattled opposition groups admit the Kremlin has left them few options or resources ahead of the Sept. 19 election that is widely seen as a key to President Vladimir Putins effort to cement his hold on power. But they still hope to erode the dominance of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, or parliament.

We still want to take a lot of seats away from the United Russia so that a lot of andidates not approved (by the authorities) become State Duma deputies and members of regional legislatures, Leonid Volkov, top ally of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, told The Associated Press.

The election is crucial because the Kremlin wants complete control over the next parliament, opposition politicians and political analysts say. The Duma chosen this year will still be in place in 2024, when Putins current term expires and he must decide on running for re-election or choosing some other strategy to stay in power.

Putin loves to maintain uncertainty and make decisions at the last minute, says political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter.

No one will know until the last minute what he will do in 2024, Gallyamov said. Will he run himself once again or put forward a successor?  Will it be another constitutional reform, or will a new cabinet need to be approved, or election laws need to be changed?  All roads must be open to Putin, he must feel that his options are not limited by anything. For that, the parliament must be absolutely obedient.

Its equally important to eliminate any risk of lawmakers supporting possible protests in 2024, Gallyamov said, because a directly elected institution opposing the Kremlin alongside demonstrators could take the conflict to another level.

It wont be easy, however, to preserve United Russias dominance in parliament, where it holds 334 of 450 seats.

A poll by the independent Levada Center showed only 27% of Russians are prepared to vote for the party. Thus, steamrolling the opposition and using administrative leverage is the only way, Gallyamov said.

Navalny, Putins biggest critic who dented United Russias dominance in regional legislatures in recent years, is serving a 2-year prison sentence for violating parole for a conviction he says was politically motivated. That followed his return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for a poisoning by a nerve agent that he blamed on the Kremlin, which denies it.

Navalnys top allies were slapped with criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of regional offices have been outlawed as extremist organizations.

That has exposed hundreds of people associated with the groups to prosecution. The parliament also quickly rubber-stamped a law barring those with ties to extremist organizations from seeking office.

As a result, no one from Navalnys team is running, and many have left the country. About 50 websites run by Navalny and his associates have been blocked, and dozens of regional offices are closed. Several other opposition activists were not allowed to run because they supported Navalny.

Another prominent Kremlin critic, former lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov, was briefly arrested in June along with his aunt on fraud charges. Gudkov said he had planned to run in a Moscow district against a less-popular United Russia candidate, but authorities pushed him out of the race.

They took my aunt, found some alleged 6-year-old debt she owed for a rented basement, added me to the case, arrested the two of us for two days, and made it clear that if I dont drop out of the election and dont leave the country, they will imprison me and my aunt, Gudkov told the AP. He then left the country.

Authorities also jailed Andrei Pivovarov of the Open Russia opposition group financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison on charges widely seen as political revenge.

Pivovarov, who had planned run for the Duma, was removed from a Warsaw-bound plane just before takeoff from St. Petersburg and taken to the southern city of Krasnodar. He was accused of supporting a local candidate last year on behalf of an undesirable organization and jailed pending an investigation.

Open Russia shut down several days before Pivovarovs arrest. In a twist, Pivovarov was allowed on the ballot of the liberal Yabloko party even though he will remain behind bars through election day. Allies say it will be next to impossible for him to win.

They destroyed everyone, who was at least somehow visible, as potential political players, said Marina Litvinovich, a human rights activist and one of the few Kremlin critics running.

Litvinovich was a longtime member of the state Public Monitoring Commission that observes the treatment of prisoners and detainees but was removed after exposing abuses of jailed Navalny supporters. She decided to run in a Moscow district in place of Yulia Galyamina, a prominent politician who was convicted in a criminal case last year and barred from running.

Litvinovich told AP its difficult knowing that at any moment, you could be barred from the race, or targeted with a raid tomorrow, or become implicated in a criminal probe.

But were trying to overcome that feeling and move forward, she said.

Navalny ally Volkov echoed her sentiment.

Its not a very pleasant feeling, when a giant, very heavy, very dumb elephant is galloping towards you, he said.

Despite the crackdown, Navalnys team still plans to deploy its Smart Voting strategy  a project to support candidates who are most likely to defeat those from United Russia. In 2019, Smart Voting helped opposition candidates win 20 of 45 seats on Moscows city council, and regional elections last year saw United Russia lose its majority in legislatures in three cities.

Volkov said its been harder to promote Smart Voting, with dozens of websites blocked and people intimidated by the crackdown: Online registrations for the project soared a year ago after Navalnys poisoning, but there are fewer this year.

There have been record downloads, however, for the teams smartphone app, which is much harder for the authorities to block.

Others plan to continue advocating against voting for United Russia. Pivovarovs allies decided to proceed with his campaign even though he jailed. Last month, they opened campaign offices in Moscow and Krasnodar, using cardboard cutouts of Pivovarov to greet supporters.

For us, this campaign is a megaphone, Pivovarovs top ally Tatyana Usmanova told AP at the Moscow office opening last month.

What Andrei was striving for is that as many people as possible understood that they shouldnt vote for United Russia, that the elections are unfair.  Now we have a legitimate opportunity to talk to people about it all.

___

Daniel Kozin in Moscow and Tanya Titova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
MINNEAPOLIS  Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyds civil rights pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a federal hearing that included arguments on several pretrial motions, including requests to hold separate trials.

A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao in May for allegedly depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority on May 25, 2020, as Floyd, 46, was held face-down, handcuffed and not resisting in a restraint that was captured on bystander video. His death led to worldwide protests and calls for change in policing.

All four of the men appeared at the hearing remotely via videoconference. Chauvin, wearing a plain T-shirt, appeared from a small room in the states maximum security prison, where he is serving a 22 1/2-year sentence for murder in Floyds death. The other three men appeared remotely alongside their attorneys.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung asked each man separately how he would plea, and each clearly responded: Not guilty.

The hearing also addressed roughly 40 pretrial motions, though many were similar. Most of the motions were routine, such as agreeing when names of witnesses would be disclosed. But Leung heard oral arguments on two issues, and ordered attorneys to file additional written arguments on those motions.

Attorneys for Lane and Kueng asked the judge to remove language from the indictment that says their clients had been police officers since December 2019. Earl Gray, Lanes attorney, said his client was still in training and remained under supervision for months. Gray said Lane was working his fourth shift without supervision when he encountered Floyd. Tom Plunkett, Kuengs attorney, said his client was on his third shift without supervision. Both attorneys said language in the indictment that indicates otherwise would be unfair.

Common sense dictates that a law officer with four days on the job would be less apt to intervene, Gray argued.

Prosecutor Manda Sertich said the men were officers as of December 2019  they graduated from the police academy and were sworn in.

Kueng, Thao and Lane are also asking that their federal trials be separated from Chauvins, saying they would be unfairly prejudiced if they went to trial alongside him.

Plunkett wrote in court documents that evidence against Chauvin would confuse the jury and deprive Kueng of his right to a fair trial. Gray argued in court that everybody knows Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder so a jury would have a hard time presuming the other former officers innocence.

Attorney Robert Paule argued that much of the evidence against Chauvin would not come into play against his client, Thao. Paule also argued that since it appears Lane and Kueng intend to use their lack of experience as a defense, Thao, who had been an officer for more than eight years, should be tried alone.

Leung gave no indication of how he would rule. He said this case has video evidence, which shows what each defendant did or did not do. He also said separating trials in federal court is not common, but it does happen. He asked prosecutors why the men should be tried together.

Sertich said the states case against the men was separated due to space restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but federal court has more space. She also said jurors will know about Chauvins murder conviction whether he is sitting in the courtroom with the other three former officers or not.

As Floyd was being arrested, he repeatedly said he couldnt breathe as Chauvin pinned him to the ground. Kueng and Lane helped restrain Floyd; Kueng knelt on Floyds back, and Lane held Floyds legs, according to evidence in state court. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

While all four officers are charged broadly with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, the indictment breaks down the counts. A count against Chauvin alleges he violated Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer.

Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. All four officers are charged with depriving Floyd of his rights when they failed to provide medical care.

The four former officers were also charged in state court, where Chauvin was convicted in April of murder and manslaughter. The other three former officers face state trial next March on aiding and abetting counts.

Chauvin is also charged in a separate federal indictment alleging he violated the civil rights of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Meanwhile, the federal government is investigating policing practices in Minneapolis. The investigation known as a pattern or practice  examining whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing  includes a sweeping review of the entire police department. It may result in major changes to policing in the Minnesota city.

___

Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
KABUL, Afghanistan  Afghanistans new foreign minister said Tuesday that the Taliban governing the country remain committed to not allowing militants to use their territory to launch attacks. But he refused to say when or if the countrys new rulers would create a more inclusive government.

Without other political factions and women serving in the government, the Taliban seem unlikely to win international recognition as the legitimate leaders of Afghanistan. And without such recognition, the Afghan state is unable to tap billions of its funds frozen abroad, leaving it virtually bankrupt at a time of immense humanitarian need.

The Taliban received sharp criticism last week after they announced a Cabinet made up entirely of men from their movement, including several on international terror lists. Taliban leaders previously had promised broader representation.

Amir Khan Mutaqi, a longtime Taliban negotiator named as foreign minister, appeared Tuesday at his first news conference since becoming a member of the interim government. But he gave little indication of whether the Taliban would bend to international pressure.

Asked if the Taliban would include women or ethnic and religious minorities in the government, Mutaqi answered, We will decide in time but did not offer a commitment.

He underscored that the current government is ruling on an interim basis and said that when a permanent one is formed, we will take into account what the people want. He would not give a timetable for a permanent government.

We are taking everything step by step. We have not said how long this Cabinet will last, Mutaqi said.

After the withdrawal of Western troops and the Talibans sudden return to power last month, the U.S. and its allies have used money, potential recognition and warnings of isolation to pressure them away from repeating their repressive rule of the 1990s. At that time, the Taliban imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including severe restrictions on women and minorities.

Mutaqi, responding Tuesday to a question about the eventual holding of elections, replied that other countries must not interfere in Afghanistans internal issues, a comment he repeated several times during the news conference.

However, the foreign minister did give the first confirmation from the interim government of the new Cabinets intention to honor a deal the Taliban reached with the United States last year.

Under the deal, which opened the way for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban promised to break ties with al-Qaida and other militant groups and ensure they dont threaten other countries from the movements territory.

We will not allow anyone or any groups to use our soil against any other countries, Mutaqi said.

While ruling Afghanistan during the late 1990s, the Taliban sheltered al-Qaida and its chief, Osama bin Laden. Their refusal to hand over bin Laden and other al-Qaida members after the Sept. 11 terror attacks prompted the U.S. to launch a military assault which ousted the Taliban and led to a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Many experts remain skeptical the Taliban have broken ties with al-Qaida since they reached the 2020 withdrawal deal with the Trump administration. But al Qaida has been significantly weakened, and Washington has made clear its top priority is preventing Islamic State attacks from Afghanistan.

The Taliban have battled with the Islamic State since its emergence in Afghanistan in 2014. A burgeoning IS affiliate has claimed responsibility for most recent attacks, including the horrific bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service personnel and 169 Afghans during last months chaotic evacuations.

Still, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, said at a national security summit Tuesday that al-Qaida could begin to threaten the United States from Afghanistan within one to two years, echoing warnings that were issued before the U.S. withdrawal.

Meanwhile, the broader terms of the worlds relationship with the Taliban remain unsettled a month after they swept into Kabul on Aug. 15 and Afghanistans U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the presidential palace.

There also appear to be divisions within the Taliban over the next steps. Some leaders are said to be more open to compromise, while others insist on resolute Taliban domination.

The makeup of the Taliban government poses a dilemma for the United Nations as it prepares to open a new session of the U.N. General Assembly. Several of the interim ministers, including Mutaqi, Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, are on the U.N.s so-called black list of international terrorists and terrorist financers.

Haqqani is also wanted by the FBI for questioning in connection with attacks in the Afghan capital during the last two decades. As the interim interior minister, he oversees Afghanistans police and has already called former officers back to work. While some have returned, including most traffic police, many are reluctant.

Mutaqi urged the U.N. to remove the Taliban ministers from the watch list. The list has no logic, he said.

When the Taliban last ruled, the U.N. refused to recognize their government and instead gave Afghanistans seat to the previous, warlord-dominated government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who eventually was killed by a suicide bomber in 2011. It was Rabbanis government that brought bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.

This time around, it is not clear whether the seat will be reserved for a representative of Ghanis government. The presidents sudden departure shocked the political leadership in Kabul, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the governments chief negotiator, who were still negotiating with the Taliban to form an interim government.

The governments of the U.S. and other countries promised millions in new humanitarian aid for the U.N. to spend in Afghanistan as the country faces increasing hunger and economic collapse, but they suggested a future willingness to help could depend on the actions of the Taliban.

During a second day of tough congressional questioning about the Afghanistan withdrawal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would hold the Taliban, to their promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a base for terrorist attacks.

Mutaqi said the Taliban-led government seeks good relations with foreign nations but insisted they must not interfere in its affairs. He also called for international donors to send more aid and international banking institutions to continue their projects in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is poor. It needs all the help the world can give, Mutaqi said, promising that foreign aid would be distributed without corruption.

He also said that all of Afghanistans embassies operating abroad have been told to continue their operations. He promised Afghans would be allowed to leave the country and said it was the job of the Taliban government to provide passports to its citizens.

___

Lee Keath contributed from Cairo.
The University of New Mexicos Anderson School of Management is hosting a four-part series focused on innovation and regional collaboration across different parts of the state, beginning Thursday in Albuquerque.

The goals of the series are to facilitate collaboration to increase the competitiveness of New Mexico for business attraction and retention, and to showcase the role that universities can play in regional economic development, according to a news release from the Anderson School.

The Anderson School plans to partner with other universities to participate in future series installments, according to the release.

The first event, titled Enhancing Competitiveness through Collaboration, will take place Thursday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The university is partnering with Albuquerque Economic Development on the event, which will cover topics such as the local film industry, the employment environment, and innovation supporting the space industry. A panel of local experts will reflect on the research projects, according to the release.

For more information or to register for this program, visit www.ABQ.org/events.
Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A New Mexico face mask mandate for indoor public settings will be extended for at least another month, a spokesman for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday.

The mask mandate, which applies to all state residents regardless of their vaccine status, was reimposed in mid-August amid a surge in new COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.

It is part of a public health order issued by acting state Health Secretary David Scrase thats set to expire Wednesday. But Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said the order will be extended without any substantive changes planned.

A separate public health order requiring that hospital employees, corrections officers and other workers in group home settings get the COVID-19 vaccine or risk losing their jobs does not have a set expiration date.

After steadily increasing over the last month, the number of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations related to the virus have shown signs of leveling off in recent days.

There were 749 new cases reported statewide on Tuesday, including 215 new cases in Bernalillo County and five new cases among inmates at state-run prisons in Santa Fe and Los Lunas.

And health officials reported 352 individuals were hospitalized due to the virus  down from 388 individuals hospitalized a week earlier.

However, state health officials have warned the death rate due to the virus could continue to rise, since deaths have tended to lag behind new cases and hospitalizations during the COVID-19 pandemic that first hit New Mexico in early 2020. And 12 additional deaths were reported Tuesday, bringing New Mexicos toll to 4,631 since the start of the pandemic.

While some vaccinated individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 amid the recent surge, unvaccinated adults make up the overwhelming majority of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Nearly 79% of New Mexico residents age 18 and older had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday, while 69% of adults had gotten all shots necessary to be fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, New Mexico was among the first states to require that face coverings be worn in public settings, when Lujan Grisham revised a previous public health order to include a face mask mandate in May 2020.

But the face mask requirement has drawn criticism, even though a Journal poll conducted last fall found 78% of likely voters supported it, and some county sheriffs have refused to enforce the mandate.

Before being recently reimposed for indoor public settings, the face mask mandate had been lifted in May for fully vaccinated individuals in order to conform to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.
REDDING Calif. - There is just one more day until the California recall election.

Governor Gavin Newsom needs just 50%, plus one of the votes to remain in office. Action News Now spoke to some people at the voting site in Downtown Redding.

Tom Roberts lives in Redding and says he's against the recall, saying Newsom did a good job slowing the coronavirus down when the pandemic first started.

"I think Newsom did a pretty fair job when it came to the pandemic," Roberts said. "I knew early on in March 2020, and he took a lot of action. It has helped slow down the pandemic. Governing a state of 44 million people it's almost an impossible job, overall, he has done a pretty good job."

RELATED: 2021 Gubernatorial Recall Election in the North State

Meanwhile, a woman named Elly voted to recall Newsom. She said the deal-breaker for her was the incident at the French Laundry.

"I voted for him to be recalled because I feel like he is being hypocritical," Elly said. "For one thing, he has the mandate to require everyone to wear a mask, but he himself did not follow it, he was at a party without any mask with a bunch of people that were less than six feet apart."

Currently, over 36,600 ballots have been returned from Shasta County, and mail-delivered ballots still need to be counted, according to the Shasta County Clerks and Elections Office.

The Shasta County Clerks and Elections will be open for any last voters tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
CHICO, Calif. - The Chico Police Department said there was a stabbing at the 1300 block of East Ave.

The police log reported the stabbing happened at 3:52 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

The stabbing happened at the Safeway gas pump on East Ave., according to police.

Chico Police Department said there is no threat to the community.

This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information on-air and online.
RED BLUFF, Calif. - The Red Bluff special city council meeting was canceled due to multiple employees testing positive for the coronavirus, according to City Manager Rick Crabtree.

Crabtree said that multiple city employees have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 30 to 45 days.

The meeting will be rescheduled soon.
CHICO, Calif.  The City of Chico announced Monday the Temporary Resting Center will be closing on Friday as there is no clear guidance on what is next.

The city said it cant discuss what is in the works but people living at the resting site have until the end of the week to get out.

I have nowhere to go, said homeless man Ron Newman. They close this down, there is nowhere for me.

Breaking down into tears, 61-year-old Ron Newman thinking about having to leave the place he has called home for the last two weeks.

He said he has disabilities and no means of transportation, adding additional hurdles when having to leave on Friday.

Every day is a challenge, said Newman. Found out that I will never work again because of my hips. I have deformed hips and severe osteoporosis and severe COPD. Every day is a challenge.

RELATED: Chico Temporary Resting Center to close Friday

City council members and city staff said they cant disclose what is next. They said the federal judge asked them not to discuss any details until everything is finalized.

The City of Chico has spent over $35,000 a month to keep this resting site up and running for the homeless.

The city said it cant share what it will do with this money now due to ongoing negotiations with the judge and the plaintiffs.

Newman is worried about leaving the site.

It could actually be detrimental, said Newman. It could kill me because I am going to walk 100 feet with everything I have to pack out of here. It is insane. It is not going to happen.

About 30 people are currently staying at the resting site and will have to be gone by Friday.

The city, the plaintiffs and the magistrate judge meet again two weeks on Sept. 27.
Get ready for even hotter temperatures, sunny skies, and impacted air quality across northern California Tuesday. Low pressure is flattening as it tracks to our east, and high pressure is building into northern California today. This will result in hotter temperatures, very dry conditions, and elevated fire danger. We have fairly substantial impacts to our air quality this morning, and we'll continue to have impacted air quality through the day. Sensors are showing very unhealthy air quality in Trinity County, while the rest of our region has air quality in the unhealthy for sensitive groups to unhealthy range to start the day. Skies are clear of clouds to start the day, but we do have a mix of hazy to smoky conditions overhead. This will continue to be the trend through your Tuesday. Fire danger will be a concern due to how dry conditions are, but winds are not expected to be very strong. Temperatures are starting out in the 60's in the valley and foothills, and 30's to 40's in our mountain zones to start the day. Winds are mostly light and out of the northeast this morning, but will shift to have more of a westerly flow this afternoon. Humidity is projected to fall into the 6 to 21 percent range Tuesday afternoon, which is lower than what we had on Monday. The lower humidity and hotter temperatures over dry fuels will keep fire danger in the moderate to high range Tuesday. High temperatures are projected to top out in the upper 90's to lower triple digits in the valley, and mid 80's to mid 90's in the foothills and mountains. All around, today will be hot, dry, and impacted air quality can be expected. Make sure to dress for the heat, stay hydrated, and limit your time outdoors if you can.

A welcome change of pace is on the way for the remainder of this week. Areas of low pressure will track through the Pacific Northwest to our north, and bring a welcome cooling trend into our forecast from the middle the latter half of this week. The issue is that we'll also have stronger winds developing over the next few days. The strongest winds in our region are expected to be in areas closest to the Nevada border Wednesday and Thursday. Gusts up to 30mph out of the west will be possible both Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Temperatures will end up in the mid 90's in the valley on Wednesday, and then upper 80's to lower 90's in the valley Thursday and Friday. Foothill and mountain areas will top out in the 70's to mid 80's on Wednesday, and then only climb into the 70's to lower 80's Thursday and Friday. We'll stay sunny and continue to have some air quality impacts from smoke over the next few days. Clouds will begin to increase across our region on Friday.

A stronger area of low pressure will drop down from the Gulf of Alaska into the Pacific Northwest as we head into this weekend and that will bring even bigger changes into your weekend forecast. Mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies, much cooler temperatures, and the potential for showers are all ahead for your upcoming weekend. Valley areas will dip into the 50's to lower 60's in the overnight hours, and then only top out in the mid 70's to lower 80's in the afternoons both Saturday and Sunday. Foothill areas will have low temperatures in the 50's to mid 60's, and high temperatures in the 70's to lower 80's both days this weekend. Mountain areas will have low temperatures in the 30's to 40's, and high temperatures in the 60's to 70's this weekend. The potential for showers will return on Saturday, and is expected to continue through Sunday. Our best chance for wet weather will be in our higher elevations, but there is still a decent chance for at least some light precipitation in the valley. Models have been going back and forth on the potential for showers, but we should get more confidence on when and where wet weather will be likely over the next few days. We'll dry out and warm back into the low to mid 80's in the valley on Monday. Mountain and foothill areas will mostly top out in the 70's early next week.
Dentsu India has bolstered its Digital, Experiential and PR capabilities under the Isobar India group, comprising the award-winning creative agencies Isobar India and WATConsult, and the PR agency, Perfect Relations. The group structure will see the three agencies align with Isobars global proposition: crafting distinctive brands and innovative experiences for a connected future.

This change is part of the networks global plan to transform into the worlds most integrated group by 2024; it also accelerates the markets growth journey into dentsu India 2.0. The group will further support the delivery of Isobars world-class capabilities and services from India, and the structure will promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing across the India team, embodying the Isobar spirit of Invent, Make, Change.

Heeru Dingra, previously Chief Executive Officer (CEO), WATConsult, will lead the group as its CEO, reporting into Amit Wadhwa, CEO, dentsu Creative India.

SCREENXX Awards 2021 Last Date for nomination of Digital Video Content and OTT Platform.. - Monday, September 20, 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN

Jean Lin, Global CEO, Creative and Executive Officer, dentsu Group Inc., said, Strategically, India is one of our largest and most important markets for Isobar. Heeru joined us through the acquisition of WATConsult and has gone from strength to strength, cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation. Heeru will strengthen Isobar's growth story, bringing together the best specialists from different creative disciplines to create the next wave of transformative experiences for our clients and in turn, accelerate our brands into the dentsu India 2.0 vision. I am certain that with Heeru at its helm, the Isobar India group will continue to grow and deliver excellence for our clients.

Amit Wadhwa added here, Heerus appointment to lead the Isobar group as its Country CEO takes the dentsu India 2.0 journey a notch up. The decision is also in alignment with our global ambition of transforming into the most integrated network by 2024. We aim to deliver the best of our offerings to clients with pathbreaking ideas and solution-led strategies, making our headway into excellence.

Heeru Dingra commented, The Isobar India group houses some of the best agency teams in the countryand I feel humbled to lead this brilliant bunch. As I take this new leap, my aim is to offer world-class integrated services and top-notch expertise that bring value to our current and future clients. People and creativity are at the core of our business, and I assure our clients will only be served with the industrys best.
Kantar, the worlds leading data-driven analytics and brand consulting company today announces the appointment of Guillaume Bacuvier as Global CEO of its $300m+ Worldpanel Division. Mr Bacuvier succeeds Josep Montserrat who takes on the role of Non-executive Chairman of the Worldpanel business.

Guillaume Bacuvier biography

Most recently, Guillaume Bacuvier was Group Chief Executive Officer of dunnhumby Ltd, a global leader in customer data science for the retail and CPG/FMCG industry. Guillaume led a commercial and technological transformation of the business, involving material investment in the company's product portfolio, and both acquisitions and divestments to strengthen the company's competitive positioning. Over his four-year tenure, dunnhumby improved its operating performance and expanded its customer base across the globe whilst improving employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

Prior to dunhumby, Guillaume was at Google for more than a decade, holding a number of senior roles, culminating in Vice-President, Advertising Solutions, EMEA where he was responsible for all aspects of the core online advertising business in the region, including commercial P&L for Googles Doubleclick and Analytics business.

Guillaume started his career as a strategy consultant in BoozAllen Hamiltons TMT practice before moving to Orange Group where he was responsible for messaging services for all Orange OpCos. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a graduate degree in Industrial Economics from Universite Paris-IX Dauphine.

Commenting on his appointment, Ian Griffiths, Deputy CEO and CFO said, The next phase of growth for our Worldpanel business will be heavily influenced by technology and advanced data analytics, and Guillaumes expertise and experience will prove invaluable. He is an experienced, international CEO combining world-class technology credentials with a deep understanding of consumer behaviour and the retail and media landscapes. He additionally has a proven track record in transforming a data business and holds excellent relationships with retailers and fmcg/cpg brands across the world.

Kantar additionally celebrates the elevation of Josep Montserrat to Non-executive Chairman of the Worldpanel business. As an advisor to Guillaume and the Worldpanel leadership team, Kantar and our clients will continue to benefit from his expertise in consumer insights and his passion for our business. Josep joined Worldpanel in 1994 and was appointed CEO of the Worldpanel business in 2007. Over 14 years, he has built a world-renowned business that serves as industry currency standard data in almost 50 countries. With a panel of more than 1.5 million shoppers around the world, thanks to Joseps leadership, Kantar is able to inform the growth strategies of the worlds leading CPG/ FMCG brands and retailers. Josep built the Worldpanel business on the foundations of a strong employee culture, leading his team to winning Great place to work awards in 9 markets and regional awards in Europe & Asia.

Commenting on Joseps contribution to Kantar and the wider industry, Ian Griffiths added, In Josep, we have a leader who understands deeply that great businesses are built by teams with a passion for what they do. Josep excels at channeling that passion into great outcomes for his clients. Never has this been clearer than during the COVID-19 pandemic when, under Joseps leadership, the Worldpanel team worked tirelessly to keep clients informed of the unprecedented changes to consumer behaviour. The data and insights generated by Josep and his team, quite literally helped supermarkets keep their shelves stocked during the pandemic period. We thank Josep for his incredible contribution to Kantar so far and look forward to his continued leadership in his new role.

Both Mr Bacuvier and Mr Montserrats appointments are effective 13 September 2021.
In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media and the rapid shift to digital, especially in the pandemic period. However, at the same time the industry has been facing stiff challenges, moreover client expectations has also increased, with more emphasis being given to digital and online reputation management. The industry has undergone a radical shift and the current times have pushed the industry to change gears.

In conversation with Adgully, Hitesh Raj Bhagat, Global Head of Corporate Communications, truecaller.com, how the platform has been able to set up a strong base in India, the various ways in which the company is managing its reputation in challenging times, and more.

SCREENXX Awards 2021 Last Date for nomination of Digital Video Content and OTT Platform.. - Monday, September 20, 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN

Big brands like Truecaller are very particular in preserving and maintaining their reputation. In todays world where a pandemic has disrupted the world, how are companies managing their reputation?

At Truecaller, we are very fortunate to have the trust of close to 280 million active users globally. With that comes a massive responsibility  not only to provide this vital service in a seamless, uninterrupted manner, but also a responsibility of ensuring privacy and keeping user data safe.

We ensure our reputation in these ways:

By making sure Truecaller works across the widest range of devices, right from the cheapest to the most expensive smartphone. By offering the highest accuracy and fastest algorithms that rely on community reporting to find spam and scam callers. By practicing data minimisation - capturing only the data we need for the service to work and no more. By communicating openly - about how Truecaller works and that the app does not upload user contacts or make them publicly searchable By storing all user data locally within the country (without any foreign backups or mirrors) - well ahead of any regulations By offering strict GDPR set rules and settings to everyone, irrespective of their location (such as the option to unlist yourself, download data, change your name) By taking down bad actors who misuse the Truecaller name while selling databases - Truecaller data is not for sale.

Could you also throw some light on the changing face of managing reputation risk in the VUCA world? What kind of corporate strategy are companies deploying to manage reputation risk in the VUCA world?

The last two years have only amplified the concept of VUCA - and it is important to be prepared. In the current climate, it's important for any company to also step up to the task when it comes to corporate social responsibility. That alone is a big contributor to manage reputation. This year, we launched a new app for personal safety called Guardians - it is a completely free app, no ads and no premium tiers. It's meant for user and family safety for everyone, and available in multiple languages, all over the world - and it will never be monetised.

When COVID-19 was wreaking havoc in people's lives, Truecaller was helping the fundraising efforts of multiple charities like Give India, Feeding India, Vibha, Hemkunt Foundation and Milaap. We partnered with the government to add the COVID-19 helpline into the app, we included all government hotlines in the app. Then we partnered with FactChecker and MapmyIndia to include even more verified numbers and 60,000 COVID-19 related points of interest - all inside the Truecaller app. We are also very vocal about women's safety - a cause we have been working actively for, for many years. 50% of Truecaller users are women - simply because they use Truecaller as the first line of defence against stalking, harassment and unwanted communication. Our women safety campaigns are actively geared towards guiding and protecting women's interests while they use their smartphone as a powerful communication tool.

Digital has become a powerful communication tool and managing online reputation is a challenge as the medium is dynamic as news travels fast. How is your company geared to manage the online reputation to project a positive image and strengthen the brand equity?

We have a fantastic support team that is always answering questions and guiding our users across multiple channels. In addition, we have a brand team that has official Truecaller channels across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We are always interacting with and listening to user requests across all these channels. In fact, most new Truecaller features like Call Reason, Call Alerts, private Group Chat, SMS scheduling, SMS translations, Smart SMS and Spam Statistics are based on user feedback. We regularly engage with content creators to help spread our message.

What are some of the best practices that you follow and apply in India from your counterparts in Sweden to create a focussed communication and PR strategy for the India market?

Truecaller is built with love in India and Sweden. Today, we call ourselves Swe-Deshi, because while the co-founders are Swedish, India is home market for Truecaller. Whichever way you cut the pie, India is the home market. The biggest section of our users are in India, majority of revenues from in-app advertising and business are from India and a majority of Truecaller employees are also in India. So, it is India that sets the tone and practice for communication and PR strategy.

Truecaller is built on a simple ideology - when someone knocks at your front door, you have the right to know who it is before you open the door. Similarly, we believe all users have the right to know who is calling before answering a phone. The mission is to make communication safer and more efficient for everyone - that is why all core features of Truecaller have always been free. That being said, we also incorporate the best of both Swedish and Indian values in all we do. That is why Truecaller in-app advertising - our primary revenue stream - never has political advertising, alcohol or any objectionable advertising. We communicate all these practices quite often and quite openly.

In todays complex world, cross-cultural communication at a global level is a challenge. One has to manage different geographies in different languages. So, what are the challenges that you face here and what is the process you follow to have communication that is meaningful and sensitive across cultures?

There are certain markets that are much more important for Truecaller - these are places where Truecaller is growing at a very rapid pace. Usually, these markets have 2-3 things in common - they are developing markets that are seeing explosive smartphone growth, the smartphone user base is primarily Android users and thirdly, these are markets/ countries that deal with a lot of spam or scam calls on a daily basis. So, for Truecaller, India is the number one market - but other countries in Africa, Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil are where Truecaller is growing very fast. In August 2020, we crossed the milestone of 5 lakh new registered users per day in a 24 hour period - this gives you an idea of the growth for Truecaller. As far as cross-cultural communication goes, we rely on some excellent local partners in those countries to advise us on communication - it's important to speak the local language and be sensitive to cultural differences and opinions.

How do you work on the effectiveness and measurement front for your campaigns with your PR partner? Is there a particular metrics that you follow to arrive at the impact of every campaign and PR activity?

We are fortunate to have some of the best PR partners globally and they follow industry standard best practices. We try to target our news and releases as much as possible, maintaining regular conversations with stakeholders, track effectiveness, total numbers and value of each coverage. Plus we maintain a high level of transparency in any dealing with the media - this automatically translates into honest coverage - we don't shy away from any questions. We also have several third party tools and research that track things like consumer sentiment, media sentiment, total coverage effectiveness, impressions and so on. We also have a strong focus on vernacular languages - because Truecaller is not just an urban phenomenon. Spam and scam calls affect all users, so Truecaller itself is available in many Indian languages and is present across all cities, even Tier 2 and 3 semi-rural and rural areas.
Actor, producer, entrepreneur Rana Daggubati has a sharp eye for the right opportunities when it comes to his movies and business. After starting his successful business ventures, a digital content channel South Bay, the actor has now invested in Ghost Kitchens- a new-age internet restaurant company started in 2019, which helps celebrities/creators to launch their food brands and grows creator brands and its own brands. Ghost Kitchens operates 4 company owned kitchens in Mumbai and fulfilment partners in Pune & Hyderabad.

The company has now launched a program called - Fulfilment Partner Program under which theyll open 1200 internet restaurants aiming INR 200 CR. ARR in next 2 years. The brands will be licensed to existing Restaurants with under-utilised kitchen capacities having infrastructure to service a particular cuisine ; helping restaurants to earn incremental revenues and profits. Ghost Brands will Provide BaaS (Brand as a service), SaaS(Software as a Service and SOPs as a Service) and FaaS (Food as a service) which will help the fulfilment partners to efficiently manage the business and control the quality of food.Ghost Kitchens has commitment of 150+ internet restaurants which will go live in next 3 months in cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and others.

Through this model, Ghost Kitchens plans to tie-up with 20 celebrities in the next 1 year and open 1000+ Internet restaurants. Rana says,Ghost Kitchens is one of the new brands that has a strong and fresh vision towards their business. We hardly had any company that helped creators to launch their food brands. Ghost Kitchens with their experience and ability is bridging that need gap in the market and I see a lot of credibility in their Fulfillment partner program and looking forward to see the company grow to its fullest potential.

Karan Tanna, Founder CEO of Ghost Kitchens says,Attrition rate in restaurants is very high, more so due to Covid. Ghost Brands program will help restaurants get additional profit by leveraging our brands, technology and back-ended menus. With the help of creators we can generate demand for our Fulfillment partners. There is a great value for all stakeholders in the cycle and hence we feel we can disrupt the restaurant industry.
SGAPR, the public relations practice of Strategic Growth Advisors Private Limited, Indias leading investor relations consultancy has won the PR mandate for Equitas Small Finance Bank, a subsidiary of holding company Equitas Holdings Ltd. The PR mandate includes working on the Banks research based strategic narrative, focused communication, brand building and corporate engagement.

Established in 2016, after receiving a license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 30 June of the same year, Equitas Small Finance Bank began banking on 5 September 2016 and did an initial public offering (IPO) in October 2020. Headquartered in Chennai, Equitas Small Finance Bank has swiftly risen to become one of the upcoming microfinance entities in the country. In 2021, the company partnered with Indias leading Fintech firm Niyo in 2021, to launch a mobile banking platform called NiyoX.

Speaking about the mandate, Ms. Purvi Shah, Head- PR Practice, Strategic Growth Advisors said, At SGA PR, we are ever committed to building brands through the power of our strategic communicative approach, which has helped us to establish a rock-solid client base in just about two years. Our motto of value-driven consultancy, is something that is firmly integrated into every aspect of our swiftly growing PR division, as we provide the best-customized approach to every client, that has yielded phenomenal results for businesses in a short span of time. We are delighted at having forged yet another association rooted in trust and quality service. Equitas Small Finance Banks belief in our tenacity and unique growth-centric approach to Public Relations only reaffirms our faith in our capabilities and dedication to take the SGA legacy forward.

Vignesh Murali Head Marketing, Branding and Corporate Communications, Equitas Small Finance Bank added, For a banking institution, it is very important to have a strategic partner, who is perceptive of the industry and well-rooted in the media world. We are very thrilled to have on board with us the SGA PR Practice, as we continue to grow and expand, and are confident in the abilities of its stellar management and research-driven ideologies. SGAs expertise in the finance domain across all its verticals will help us establish a well-mapped media presence as we amplify our brands presence in national and international waters. Through this prized partnership, we aim to achieve new milestones with the power of focused corporate engagement.

With over 160 trusting clients and 325+ years of combined experience of the team, SGA has today established itself as a knowledge-driven unique consultancy practice. SGA provides an effective complement of Investor Relations, Public Relations and Corporate Reporting practices under a single umbrella, it is also Indias number one Investor Relations Consultancy. Some of its many services across the three domains include perception management, media management, integrated reports, specialized branding, among others.
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

Bern, 14.09.2021 - On 14 September 2021, President Guy Parmelin received Emirati Minister of Education Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi on a courtesy visit. Prior to this, the minister held a working meeting with Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Research, Education and Innovation. Their talks focused on the Swiss vocational education and training (VET) system and bilateral cooperation in the fields of research and innovation. The World Expo in Dubai was also discussed.

During both the courtesy and working visits, both sides welcomed the good relations between their countries and discussed cooperation opportunities in the fields of education, research and innovation. Expo 2020, which will take place in Dubai from October 2021 to March 2022 under the motto Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, is expected to play an important role in this regard. Switzerland will have its own pavilion at the World Expo, organised by Presence Switzerland of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation will also be represented, by swissnex. The swissnex programme there is based on the Expo theme weeks, which are linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Joint events between Swiss players and Emirati partners are intended to generate innovative solutions to achieve these goals and further promote bilateral relations in education, research and innovation.

The topics addressed by Mr Al Hammadi and Ms Hirayama in their discussion on VET included the division of roles between the players and how to make VET attractive to young people going forward. At Expo 2020 in Dubai, SERI is also planning various VET-related activities in the Swiss Pavilion, with the general aim of raising awareness of Swiss VET and promoting knowledge transfer. Meetings between Swiss VET partners and stakeholders in the Emirati VET landscape are currently being set up.

An important instrument in cooperation in science between Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates is the federal government's bilateral programmes. These promote research and innovation cooperation with regions that have scientific and technological development potential. For the 202124 funding period, SERI has once again entrusted the leading house mandate for North Africa and the Middle East to the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO).

During his stay in Switzerland, Mr Al Hammadi will visit EPFL in Lausanne, which has been running EPFL Middle East research centre in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) since 2009. His tour also includes ETH Zurich, and various universities of applied sciences and international research organisations.

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Note: How are you dealing with vaccination mandates in your company? Maybe you're already vaccinated. Do you feel safe? As if you have dodged a bullet? Maybe you're not vaccinated. Do you feel pressured in order to keep your livelihood? These aren't easy choice for most folks. Did the Biden Administration think more than a step or two ahead to the ramifications of this layer of rules and punishments that will impact not only health, but also mental health, and will likely build a dangerous level of resentment. The mandates could be a recipe for workplace violence. And then those who are not electing vaccination will be demonized further. I have read comments all over social media saying "Good! Let them get fired! They are idiots! Selfish! They deserve to die." A slippery slope to sanctioned trouble.



From CNN Business yesterday, iconic American brands Coca Cola, Kellogg and Campbell's Soup asked questions.



New York (CNN Business) The trade group that represents consumer brands including Coca-Cola (KO), Kellogg (K) and Campbell Soup (CPB) fired off a letter to President Joe Biden on Monday with a laundry list of questions about his new vaccine mandate.



In the letter, Consumer Brands Association CEO Geoff Freeman called for "immediate clarity" on the administration's new Covid-19 Action Plan.



That plan, unveiled last week, caught some in the business world off guard because it includes an emergency rule from the Labor Department that calls for all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their entire workforce is vaccinated or regularly tests negative for Covid-19. Biden officials have said companies could face penalties of up to $14,000 per violation.

The Consumer Brands Association  which represents the $2.1 trillion 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 plan.

"The Consumer Brands Association and our member companies stand ready to partner with you in getting Americans vaccinated," Freeman wrote.

The letter to Biden included a "small sampling" of questions that have surfaced among business leaders, including:

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?



Read more here.
So Larry Elder is a white supremacist (at least in the eyes of the left). So argued a Los Angeles Times columnist, Jean Guerrero, on CNN as Brian "journalists are the real heroes" Stelter's smug visage nodded along.

These denizens of the left all but celebrated when a white woman in a gorilla mask attacked Elder in a transparently racist attack.

The same Los Angeles Times, when forced to cover the incident, ran a deceptive headline that attempted to pin the blame on Elder that read, "LAPD is investigating altercation involving Larry Elder at Venice homeless encampment." If only Elder would stop causing altercations, all would be well in the world.

Perhaps their protestations and attempt to ignore this incident would be slightly more believable if they hadn't breathlessly subjected America to an endless string of fake hate crimes.

The stories follow a similar pattern. The incident turns out to be a hoax followed by the breathless media and political perpetrators demanding we move on while still trying to use the incident to push their evil narrative.

They say something like, "Well, it could have been true, which shows that we have a serious racism problem and need to support our noxious policies." What goes unsaid is that these policies are aimed at dividing America into racial camps that serve their interests of exploiting races for political power and gain.

One of the more revolting incidents happened at my alma mater, the United States Air Force Academy, a few years back. Someone wrote racist graffiti outside the dorm room of black cadets at an institution that once focused on integrity, shared values, and a common and uniting mission that transcended race.

In talking to a fellow classmate and good friend, we were both immediately convinced it was a hoax since that is what made the most logical sense.

And yet the top general at the academy, Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, took it at face value and rushed to yell at the whole cadet wing in a very public spectacle, all but accusing them of being unrepentant racists.

"If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out," he thundered, apparently unaware of the irony in the fact that he had just treated the entire cadet wing as something beneath him and not worthy of dignity or respect. He screamed at the cadets to take out their phones and videotape his wonderful speech, no doubt hoping to have it go viral, which indeed it did.

The left loved and celebrated the virtue-signaling speech and saw it as a stirring example of leadership. Some called for him to become president in a clear attempt to contrast him with the current president they despised.

It was interesting in the sense that it was an earlier example of what we continue to see out of top military leaders, which is blatant pandering to the cultural left in seeking their praise and favor. They are happy to sell their soul for little more than pats on the head by corrupt and wicked cultural powers. They don't even need the proverbial pot of porridge.

The graffiti was written by a black student who was trying to distract from the deep trouble he was in. Liberals were deeply disappointed since they would have far preferred that a U.S. military academy be loaded with racists.

Silveria never apologized for accusing the cadets under his charge of harboring racists, and the only person who "got out" as a result of the incident was the hoaxer, who was never subjected to a humiliating scream-down.

The Bubba Wallace NASCAR noose incident was only slightly less ridiculous than the "Justice for Jussie" incident that left us expected to believe that noose-carrying MAGA hatwearing goons jumped poor Jussie Smollet in the middle of Chicago. I'm hard pressed to remember an actual incident initially celebrated by the media as a hate crime actually not being a hoax.

Yet when there is an actual hate crime against a black conservative (which happens rather frequently), liberals blame the victim. Poor pale gorilla woman had to chuck a perfectly good egg at a rather darkly colored white supremacist. Such a noble sacrifice.

It is instructive when there are obvious examples of racist acts like this one emanating from the left while the media's herculean efforts to uncover actual hate crimes from the people they hate turn up nothing.

The truth is that Democrats are racist to the core. After all, is there anything more racist than believing that an entire race belongs to your political party of choice?

Los Angeles County sheriff Alex Villanueva was absolutely right when he noted that gorilla woman had "woke privilege," which protected her from charges of racism. Imagine if a white woman in a gorilla mask chucked an egg at Maxine Waters. That would be a story that blanketed the news for weeks on end. The media would make it their life song to uncover the woman's identity and utterly destroy her while pinning the act on all conservatives. We aren't supposed to notice the gross double standard.

When the entire cultural Death Star is in the hands of the left, woke privilege is a powerful force, which motivates businesses and institutions to get with the program or become Alderaan. So they bend over backward to demonstrate their fealty even when it turns off their customer base, a la Subway's Meghan Rapinoe commercials.

This whole recall election has once again put on display that racism is very much alive in America. It is embedded where it has always existed, within the same Democrat party and their cultural appendages.

Charges of white supremacy by the left are nothing more than a weapon. The evil old charge that a person was a racist routinely tossed at every Republican under the sun was growing tired and trite, so Democrats upped their game and started calling anyone who disagrees with them white supremacists. Suddenly, white supremacists seemed to be falling from the sky and landing everywhere.

It didn't matter, the color of a person's skin. If anyone sees the left for what it is, a demonic blend of incompetency, hatred, and immorality, that person is declared a white supremacist. Hence, Larry Elder is a white supremacist. It is a relatively simple catechism.

It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be a black conservative in America today. It is hard to even imagine the kind of noxious racism that people like Clarence Thomas and Thomas Sowell (and Larry Elder and soon-to-be Herschel Walker) experience on a relatively routine basis.

The left's racism takes a couple of forms. One of those forms is the soft bigotry of low expectations, a term that former president George W. Bush used back in 2000. It is the belief that black students cannot do the work and so should not need to perform as well in school. It is a form of looking down on black Americans as somehow less, and dependent on their liberal white betters.

We've descended rather far since 2000. I've watched as the counties around where I live in Northern Virginia have declared war on math in the name of racial justice. Who knew that math was a form of white supremacy?

Another form of Democrat racism is the belief that any black American who is not wedded to the Democrat party is deserving of contempt. That's the type of overt racism that Elder is experiencing, one known all too well by any black conservative in a prominent position.

How sad that a party must descend to such evil and obvious racism to control a minority for the sole purpose of maintaining their corrupt grip on power. Toss in a healthy dose of election fraud, and the nation's worst governor will likely survive to wreak more chaos and despair on the nation's largest state and perpetuate the same systemic racism that is core to his party.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
For the record, Ive not only opposed our Mideast military adventures but also, in 2007, wrote an article warning about the folly of nation-building.

Yet I also know that if you are going to overthrow a tyrannical regime and remake the government, a prerequisite is winning the hearts and minds of the people. You must also recognize that you never change things by fighting the existing reality, as famed architect Buckminster Fuller observed. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

Now, when the Nazis invaded the USSR during World War II, they initially encountered some people who hoped theyd free them from Stalins brutal rule. Adolf Hitler was very blunt about his absence of interest in winning hearts and minds, however, reportedly saying that he came not as a liberator, but a conqueror.

What of America in Afghanistan, however? Were we replacing the dreaded Taliban government (which the Biden administration now thinks it can work with) with a better model? And from the Afghans perspective, did we come as liberators or cultural conquerors?

Consider: Over the past 20 yearsCongress has allocated close to a billion dollars to export academic feminism to Afghanistan, reported commentator Tucker Carlson last month. That money was spent on programs like a two years Masters degree in Gender and Womens Studies offered at Kabul University, something Afghans apparently never knew they needed, he continued.

Another U.S. government effort meanwhile funded, quote, activities that educate and engage Afghan men and boys to challenge gender stereotypes, Carlson also informed. Uh-huh, I bet that went over like a lead balloon.

We also demanded affirmative action, that women constitute at least 10 percent of the Afghan National Army and a still larger proportion of that countrys political leadership, the commentator further related. Owing to our gender (sex is the proper word, actually) quotas, dozens of women entered Afghanistans parliament even though many of them hadnt even been to the areas they supposedly represented.

Oh, we made Afghan women police officers, too.

Question: Did we also remember to institute mandatory weekly pig roasts?

How about yearly Draw Mohammed contests?

All the while, American troops were instructed to ignore the sexual abuse of boys as it is commonly practiced in that country. This was to maintain good standing with the U.S.-trained Afghan police and militia in a country where the practice of bacha bazi (boy play) is widespread, Time told us in 2015. In some cases, the U.S. ended up arming suspected pedophiles (as opposed to just giving them the U.S. presidency).

So the molestation of boys is a cultural norm you must respect, even though the Taliban might punish this behavior with death. But not having women enter roles (i.e., soldier, cop) unknown to them for 99.999 percent of history? Perish the thought!

Ah, the perversion of sex roles along with the perversion of sex. Did anything ever better epitomize our pseudo-elite, uber-effete Left?

Now, I dont deny that the Taliban mistreat women (along with many other groups, to varying degrees). But even if you were sold on steroid-level feminism, wouldnt a wise person realize that baby steps were prudent, that as with straightening a crooked arrow, bending it too fast could mean breakage? (The answer, of course, is that a wise person wouldnt embrace feminism in the first place, period, let alone the steroid-level variety.)

In other words, the Western sexual devolutionaries could have tried eliminating objective wrongs such as, oh, lets say, selling daughters to settle debts and killing girls for having committed minor infractions against the tribe  and the rampant pederasty. Even these changes would have been difficult to put into effect, but they would have constituted a noble endeavor, comparable to the British Raj ending the practice of suttee (widow-burning) in India. But, no, this wasnt good enough for the Afghanistan nation-fiddler social engineers, who seemed to be right out of Berkeleys or Browns gender studies departments.

Of course, leftists viscerally feel (and everything is about feelings with them) that American conservatives are more alien than any alien culture. But do consider that even Western rightists tend to be upset when so-called gender programs are foisted on them. How do you think the tribal Muslim Afghans reacted?

We dont have to wonder. As Carlson also reported last month, one USAID official conceded in a classified report, quote, Focusing on gender made things more unstable because it caused revolts. Gee, you dont say.

So how was our intervention viewed by the average Afghan? Did we seem like liberators or bizarre, sex-switching alien cultural imperialists?

In truth, our sexual devolutionaries are just as radical as the Taliban, only at the other extreme. Though the Afghans conception of sex roles is quite askew, theres nothing odd about traditional ones; they are historys norm. Western feminism is the anomaly.

I wholly reject the Taliban, of course (and theyd liberate my head from my body). Nonetheless, I respect them more than I do our leftists, who are extremists without guts and the willingness to die for their cause (though they are good at killing civilizations). I suspect the average Afghan feels the same.

There some are lessons we can take away from the Afghan experience, ones that many learned long ago. First, dont tolerate any leftist blather about ethnocentrism, multiculturalism, or cultural relativism. While liberals are fuzzy-headed relativists, they only preach the above when it serves to destroy Western norms they dislike. But they end up acting as dogmatic as any Allah-worshiping jihadist because, ultimately, relativists make everything relative to themselves and their agenda.

Second, because theyre detached from reality, leftists tend to destroy everything they touch. Empower them at your own peril.

If  and I say if  Id been inclined to invade Afghanistan, had intended to uproot its culture, and didnt care how many heads (not to mention bombs) I made explode in the process, I wouldnt have put the cart before the horse. As I explained in 2014, Id have done what Charlemagne essentially did: Go Roman, forcibly convert the population to Christianity, and then garrison troops there until the change took. Then the culture might have been suited for a Western-style republic. For nation-building was never sufficient in Afghanistan without its prerequisite: civilization-building.

Instead, we took a tribal Islamic people, of which 99 percent believe Shariah should be the law of the land, 73 percent fancy it Gods will and 61 percent say it should be applied to non-Muslims as well, and tried giving them San Francisco values. The Capons and Clucking Hens of Incongruence, we attempted to computerize a camel  with corrupted software.

So, no, we werent offering a new model that made the Afghans existing model obsolete. We just tried trading the Taliban for the Femiban, a folly that would have made any wise wise guy say, Yeah, this should end well.

And it did.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Gab, MeWe or Parler or log on to SelwynDuke.com

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License

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On September 9, American President Joe Biden  as a supplicant  called Chinas President Xi Jinping. Junior Chinese officials had refused to have substantive, respectful, discussions with President Bidens subordinates. For example, with former American presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry, the Chinese side offered only a video link for his conversations with Vice-Premier Han Zheng and Foreign Minister Wang Li, even though Kerry was in Tianjin.

The Chinese refused the Americans request that the two nations respond jointly to global warming separate from the other aspects of their difficult relationship. The Chinese side demanded that the United States, without any criticism, respect and submit to Chinas values and priorities.

Just a week previously, as the United States was getting kicked out of Afghanistan, Chinas Maritime Safety Administration announced that, as of September 1, all ships seeking to transit the South China Sea would be required to register their passage with the Administration, thus asserting that the South China Sea was Chinas domestic waters subject to Chinese sovereign authority.

Such an assertion can henceforth easily serve China as a casus belli  a just reason for going to war against any nation that refuses to accept such Chinese authority.

This remarkable demand, unprecedented in history, applies to all ships supporting the economies of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan with imports of oil and exports of goods in transit through the South China Sea. Accepting the Chinese regulation would reduce these counties into dependents on Chinese goodwill and patronage, in some degree of vassalage.

In recent years, China has deployed perhaps as many as 3,000 nuclear missiles with independently targeted warheads. China has thus shifted its military strategy from one of deterrence toward one of global dominance, with the capability to win nuclear wars. Governments with such striking power are more likely to be tempted into striking first if war seems inevitable.

On August 24, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced that "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era " will be incorporated into the national curriculum. The Ministry affirmed that Incorporating Xi Jinping Thought into the curriculum will be significant in helping teenagers establish Marxist beliefs and strengthen confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Studying Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the primary political task of the Communist Party of China and of the country.

The guiding document requires that Xi Jinping Thought be integrated into curricula covering basic, vocational, and higher education, and be integrated with various subjects. Primary schools will focus on cultivating love for the country, the Communist Party of China, and socialism. In middle schools, the focus will be on a combination of perceptual experience and knowledge study, to help students form basic political judgments and opinions. In college, there will be more emphasis on the establishment of theoretical thinking.

Photo credit: Janna Wittoeck CC BY 2.0 license

The teaching materials must grasp the essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, systematically summarize its content, and clarify the scope of learning, read the statement. Also formulated are guidelines on labor education for students to cultivate their hard-working spirit, and on education of national security.

Domestically, the Chinese Communist Party, acting through the government, has limited video gaming for young Chinese to three 3 hours a week  one hour each on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Control of the internet will permit the state to track who uses video games.

In further control over the culture of young Chinese, the Party has called on media to marginalize pop icons, fandom and promotion of effeminate male stars.

Eighteen institutes for the study of Xi Jinping Thought have been established to interpret and promote the thought of President Xi. Such institutes have been placed in significant centers of the Chinese ruling elite: the Central Party School, Ministry of Education, Academy of Social Sciences, National Defense University, Peking, Tsinghua, and Renmin universities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong Province, and the China Law Society. (The Economist, August 28, p.34)

The Xi Jinping Thought Center of the China Law Society works on implementing the teaching that the Party leads the courts so that notions of separation of powers and judicial independence are alien to Chinese characteristics and so heretical.

All these developments share a common purpose and are interdependent. Collectively and individually, they embody the spirit and practice of the traditional Chinese imperial order.

That order posits that above there is a Heaven (Tian) and on Earth one Son of Heaven (Tianzi) who provides order for the world and everyone in it (the Tian xia or All-Under-Heaven).

China is becoming once again a theocracy with Heaven as its God and Xi Jinping as its chief priest -- and the rest of us as subjects of the Most High which acts through its Chief Priest. This theocracy was largely invented by one Mozi (470  c. 391 BC).

Stephen B. Young is author of The Tradition of Human Rights in China and Vietnam and Global Executive Director, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism.

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The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency whose function is to enforce federal campaign finance laws, including monitoring donation prohibitions, and limits and oversees public funding for presidential campaigns.

Just yesterday, the FEC ruled that Twitter did not violate any election laws last year when it prevented users from sharing links to the New York Post news story about Hunter Biden.

Back in October 2020, the Post had carried an article covering Hunter Biden's questionable business dealings in Ukraine while his father Joe Biden was vice president. Biden had even bragged about using his influence and that of President Obama to fire the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the matter and getting closer to the truth. At best, this was a matter of conflict of interest; at worst, it was a case of high-scale corruption and abuse of power.

An "independent regulatory agency" such as FEC should have instantly swung into action and ensured that the social media platform allow the free exchange of information. But that didn't happen.

Even Twitter's CEO admitted that blocking the story was a mistake.

If this were just a minor story of little consequence and an honest mistake by social media, we could move on.

But this was merely the tip of the iceberg that proved the attempts of social media and the mainstream media to meddle in the presidential elections.

The Media Research Center conducted a study to comprehend the impact of this suppressed story by polling 1,750 voters in seven swing states.

They discovered that one of every six Biden voters (17%) said he would not have voted for Biden if he had known the facts about various news stories the mainstream news media refused to cover and that social media chose to block.

The poll also showed that 45.1% of Biden voters were unaware of the financial scandals and conflict of interest of Hunter Biden; 35.4% of Biden voters were also unaware that Biden's former aide Tara Reade had alleged that he sexually assaulted her during the 1990s.

The poll also showed that 50.5% of Biden voters were unaware that, under President Trump, the U.S. had become an oil exporter, and 45.3% among Biden voters were unaware that President Trump brokered a peace deal between Israel and Arab nations. Finally, 36.1% of Biden voters were unaware that it was President Trump's leadership that led to the development of the vaccine.

They were probably aware that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the elections from Hillary Clinton.

It is beyond debate that the modern mainstream media function as an arm of the Democrat party. They even have an identical choice of words on any given day about any issue, almost as if they were following orders.

The question remains: how did we get here?

We revisit the principles of democracy.

As the risk of sounding like a boring civics teacher, democracy is a form of government in which people choose their representative leaders by voting and where every citizen is treated equally and has identical rights and freedoms.

For a democracy to be fully functional, there always have to be controls installed that keep the system in check  i.e., to make sure that human invention doesn't compromise the system.

There are three types of controls: detective, preventative, and finally corrective. The detective control functions like Sherlock Holmes, who identifies the problem and deduces the cause of the problem. After the detective control has performed its function, the corrective control attempts to undo the damage caused by the problem. Finally, the preventive control attempts to avert the event from ever occurring again.

The implementation of these controls is the myriad independent apolitical agencies such as the Armed Forces, the intelligence agencies, public health agencies, environmental and climate agencies, election commissions, etc.

What's become of these agencies currently?

It is not that these agencies are not functioning as controls; it is just that their objectives have changed to serve the Democrat establishment. Their goal now is to detect and prevent any occurrence that could harm the Democrat establishment and also to correct  i.e., reduce the impact of  any occurrence that harms the Democrat establishment.

These days, they are occupied with trivial pursuits such as identity politics and wokeness instead of doing their duties.

The consequence is an agency such as the FEC that not only purposefully ignores the media and social media block of a legitimate story such as the Hunter Biden news, but also brazens it out by refusing to acknowledge that the blocking had violated any electoral law.

They know that in Washington, they will receive no reprimands for their inactions; in fact, they will be complimented and promoted for allowing a story that could benefit President Trump to be suppressed.

We have seen myriad agencies misuse COVID-19 to permanently alter the ways elections are conducted and even restrict basic freedoms such as freedom of movement.

This almost makes democracy irrelevant. The people may be allowed to vote for the candidate of their preference, but they do not have adequate information to arrive at their right conclusion. The information they get always points to the establishment approved candidate as worthy of their votes.

Even if free thinkers such as Donald Trump or Larry Elder do get elected, the agencies swing into action to place impediment after impediment to block their ability to change the status quo. There are leaks via "whistle-blowers" and scandals that are carried by the media that even cause the voter to wonder if they made the right choice.

Years ago, a veteran journalist told me, "For politicians, democracy is too important to be left just to the will of the people. They give you the illusion of variety, but in reality, the public can only choose among the candidates they approve of."

This is exactly how Washington functions.

What will it take to resolve this situation?

It will take several decades of electing strong free-thinking leaders who can resist all the attacks and inducements of the corrupt establishment and work toward restoring the credibility of the agencies and indeed the whole system.

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New York and California are glaring examples of one-party rule gone bad, resulting in tyrannies of the hard left. They are also contrasts of how the populace in one state is impotent to reject corrupt, one-party rule and how the populace of the other has availed itself of a constitutional pressure valve, the recall petition, for political self-correction.

Each state demonstrates the extreme dangers of one-party rule recognized 250 years ago by America's Founders and addressed by the U.S. Constitution through federalism at the national level. However, the Founders were uncertain how to institutionally protect minorities in individual states and municipalities from the tyranny of the majorities, ultimately leaving it to the discretion of each state's own constitutional structure along with the voters.

As of September 2021, there are 23 Republican-controlled states, in which the Republicans control the governorship and both houses of the Legislature. Democrats hold 15 of these trifectas, and the remaining 12 states are divided. The political disruptions occurring in two of the Democrats' largest trifectas, New York and California, may provide some answers for the future American political landscape, particularly just how much hard-left policy the public is willing to endure.

In New York, Andrew Cuomo's dramatic decline in fortune from the "Luv Guv" and potential 2024 presidential candidate to disgraced ex-governor had nothing to do with his alleged sex harassment, his executive order to place COVID patients in nursing homes, his gross mismanagement of COVID, the multiple incidents of corruption, or his incompetence. New York's politicians knew how he treated female staffers. Many condoned and benefited from the cesspool of corruption. They couldn't care less about Cuomo's executive incompetence.

Cuomo's crime was standing in the way of many of the left's most destructive policies, like increasing taxes on the high incomeearners, legalizing marijuana, and instituting no bail for most crimes. Hard-left radicals, nearly all of whom are from New York City and constitute about a third of each legislative body, engineered Cuomo's ouster.

But Cuomo's removal from office has brought New York's citizens no relief from the tyranny of one-party rule and the political power of the hard-left partisans. The new governor, former lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul, immediately capitulated to New York City's partisans. Her new lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, a former member of the state Senate from the Bronx, is a defund the police advocate.

Hochul quickly announced that one of her top priorities is to make sure illegal aliens get up to $15,600 in cash payments under the state's $2.1-billion Excluded Workers Fund. She unilaterally extended the no-eviction moratorium until January 2022, ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. She hopes placating the New York City radicals will forestall a primary challenge from the state's attorney general, Letitia James, another radical New York City politician.

New York's constitution does not allow the right of recall. Citizens are stuck with the policies of the New York City cabal until 2022. Only then will voters be able to decide whether to rebalance the political scale with likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, the former Westchester County Executive, or Lee Zeldin, a Long Island congressman.

In contrast, Californians exercised their constitutional right to recall the unpopular Governor Gavin Newsom. The September 14 election will determine whether Newsom stays or is replaced by a Republican, most likely talk show host Larry Elder.

The reasons why Californians are giving Newsom an up-or-down vote are several: huge encampments of the homeless, gasoline prices at $5 a gallon, fires raging, water scarce, drug use rampant, and schools among the worst in the nation. Newsom also grossly mismanaged COVID shutdowns, hurting many small businesses.

The outcome of California's recall election will provide answers to how much taxation, regulation, and mismanagement voters are willing to tolerate, with implications for the 2022 elections.

Circling back to America's Founders, in Federalist No. 10, James Madison addressed the "People of New York," warning them of the dangers to public safety and property rights from an "overbearing" majority. With great prescience, he pointed out that democracies that fail to consider the beliefs of the minority, the public good, and the primary responsibilities of government, such as making sure the streets are safe, ensuring that criminals are punished, and providing good public education, will come to bad ends.

Democracies that are "spectacles of turbulence and contention," he observed, "have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths." While his reference was to ancient Athens and Rome, which placated the hoi polloi with bread and circuses, it could equally well apply to New York, California, and our federal government, each of which is trying to distract Americans from the erosion of constitutional rights with freebies.

Linda R. Killian is a local New York Republican chairman and a retired financial analyst.

Image: N.Y./California Democrats.

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In the wake of the rabid left's demonization of police, the "Ferguson effect" has come onto Minneapolis with a vengeance since the death of petty criminal George Floyd while in police custody.

That's news. But despite statistics like this:

In the year after Floyds death on May 25, 2020, the number of people approached on the street by officers who considered them suspicious dropped by 76%, Reuters found after analyzing more than 2.2 million police dispatches in the city. Officers stopped 85% fewer cars for traffic violations. As they stopped fewer people, they found and seized fewer illegal guns.

...and this:

In May, the most recent month for which complete records were available, officers initiated about 58% fewer encounters than they did in the same month the year before. The number of traffic stops they conducted was down 85% over the same period. Business checks  in which officers stop at a business to talk to employees and customers  were down 76%. The number of people the police stopped for acting suspiciously also dropped 76%.

Reuters is befuddled.

Drawing a definitive link between police pullbacks and increasing crime can be complicated. Homicide rates shot up throughout the United States beginning in the summer of 2020  not just in cities where the police scaled back traffic stops, but also in patches of rural America and other areas where patrolling remained unchanged. But three law enforcement experts interviewed by Reuters say a less active police force can most definitely impact community safety.

The hard reporting in this shocking story is very good work, and Reuters did say it had looked at millions of police call records to assemble its report showing the sorry reality in Minneapolis of a non-functioning police department.

But the interpretation here left a lot to be desired. Look how they call that link between police retiring at their desks, not wanting to stick their necks out for the crime-plagued community, given that one false move, one bad call on a criminal, could mean jail, pariah-ization, and a full loss of a lifetime-earned pension for themselves? Who'd want to stick their neck out in that?

Where the heck was Reuters's incuriosity about the radical left-wing rioters and radical groups leading them, complete with fawning press coverage, such as Black Lives Matter, and all their calls to "defund the police" that came of it? Where was their indictment of the gormless left-wing city officials and leaders who failed to stand up for the police but instead kowtowed to the mob, political correctness narratives, and of course the cameras? Reuters preferred befuddlement and hiding behind the word "complicated" to asking.

And where was the Reuters examination of the draconian, out-of-proportion punishment for the now expolice officer Derek Chauvin, who at a minimum didn't profit from his bad call on Floyd, but was egged on by a mob, and then faced a tainted jury with activists, a biased judge, and pressured alteration of standard medical evidence? The death of Floyd was obviously an accident, a bad one, but mitigated by Floyd's drug use and resistance to arrest. It may have merited punishment in a fair world, too, as it was not in the same category as that of a cold-blooded killer. However, it was treated that way, complete with wall-to-wall press coverage, and ordinary beat cops as powerless as Chauvin knew that it could have happened to them as easily as it did him.

Why take chances? Reuters does try to grapple with the mass exodus of police officers, with some retiring and some taking some kind of sick leave, but it notes that largely, cops have gone "hands off," as the news agency delicately put it.

That means a hell of a lot of citizens have got to bear the brunt of that rhetoric, those leftist officials, and all the rubbish spewed out in the rest of the press about defunding the police even as the police are not defunded; they are just gone, and now the locals fend for themselves.

Who's responsible for that? Reuters does not say. But anyone who watches anything about human nature can see what's going on here. People respond to incentives  and criminals have gotten the word that it's time to commit crimes, while cops have gotten word that it's time to pretend nothing is happening, or take the long route to a crime scene and let what happens happen.

Just the talk about defunding the police has been a disaster for Minneapolis, as the shocking statistics show. The city is well on its way to becoming a third-world dump, complete with lousy economy, corruption galore, a rundown look, crime like Caracas, zero investment, and people fleeing. Those numbers tell a terrible story that shouldn't be buried in the piece, but blazed from the headlines.

Image: Logo, Wikipedia, fair use.
Elizabeth Warren is one of the least impressive figures in American politics today, despite her prominence. A wealthy leftist who made money flipping foreclosed-upon properties, she owes her fame to her Harvard resume, something she achieved by lying about her race; a book she wrote that pointed out the painfully obvious; and a completely erroneous study about medical bankruptcy. It's no surprise that this faker should be trying to bully Amazon into pulling Alex Berenson's factually accurate, meticulously sourced books about COVID and vaccines. If you run afoul of Warren's narrative, she will try to destroy you.

As a teacher, Warren bounced around from law school to law school in the 1970s and 1980s (University of Houston Law Center, the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law). I had her as a professor in Texas, and while I will be the first to admit that I was, at best, an indifferent student in her class, I was not helped by the fact that she was one of those lecturers who never finished one thought before moving inscrutably to the next.

When Warren burst onto the national political scene, it emerged that she had leveraged herself into her job at Harvard by claiming to be Native American. Harvard needed to prove its diversity, and she gave it the chance. It was a dirty bargain between leftists.

In 2004, Warren and her daughter gained renown for writing a painfully obvious book pointing out that two-income families were struggling financially, in significant part because the drive to get their kids into good public schools drove up real estate prices. As my kids would say, "Duh."

A year later, Warren and David Himmelstein claimed that half of the families filing for bankruptcy did so in the wake of a serious medical problem. The book helped justify Obamacare. The problem was that it was wrong, because that's how Warren rolls.

Following the 2008 real estate crash, Warren, that modern-day Marxist fighting for the little people against banks and other evil industrialists, made some nice money flipping houses for a profit. Ironically, banks are proving to be evil, but that's not because they do what banks have always done, which is to loan money  often because the government forces them to do so to people who will not be able to pay the loans back  and then foreclose on failed loans. Instead, they're evil because they're buying into the same leftist garbage that Warren peddles.

Given Warren's less than honest and accurate history, it somehow seems apropos that she, of all people, should be trying to censor Alex Berenson's wildly popular, and completely accurate, COVID pamphlets (emphasis in original):

Last week, Warren sent Amazon a six-page letter complaining that the company is not actively hiding my Unreported Truths booklets  as well as others that present unapproved views about Covid-19  in its search results. [snip] Warren's letter focuses mainly on the fact that my and other books are prominently displayed in Amazon's search engine (this is no surprise, given their ratings and sales). But it hints that she would like to go further. It asks Amazon to explain its "existing policies regarding the listing, promotion, and sale [emphasis added] of books and other products containing COVID-19 misinformation on its platform?" To be clear, the Unreported Truths booklets contain no misinformation. As those of you who have read them know, they are sourced from government data and scientific preprints and peer-reviewed papers. I provide links to the relevant documents so readers can judge them for themselves. But even if the booklets were completely wrong, their dangers would pale in comparison with the risks of government-fueled censorship. Elizabeth Warren should not be telling Amazon  which essentially controls retail book sales in the United States  what it can and cannot sell.

Warren has had a remarkably successful career for someone who has so little to offer other than trite Marxist prescriptions that have failed whenever and wherever they've been tried. In a perfect world, someone like this would never be allowed near power.

However, we do not live in a perfect world, and Warren is trying to use her bully pulpit to stifle dissent. Berenson is correct that she needs to be stopped because, if she gets away with censoring information she dislikes, the floodgates are open for all the Democrats' mediocrities to turn the First Amendment into a nullity.

Image: Elizabeth Warren, 1985 Peregrinus (UT Austin Law School yearbook).

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Words used to hold meaning but now they propagate political terminology for propaganda.

In Congress, sure, there have always been bills with cute names to dupe the public into supporting them or voting for them. Politicians love to use specific phrases and slogans that get everyone going.

But the latest mainstream accusation is laughable.

Last year, most left-leaning voters and leaders spent a great deal of time emphasizing the need to change our entire social and political structure based on a virus that turned out to be little more than a bad flu. Because they cared so much they vilified anyone who didnt follow their made-up unscientific rules (that no one voted for) and now theyre upset that their own actions have led to political losses. They were so offended by Donald Trumps presidency that they were willing to shut down our economy and create wider wealth gaps.

Despite decrying the right as Nazis, and whatever else, the left still thinks they should be in control of all three branches of government as a matter of right, including the judiciary.

When they gained control of the presidency and the legislative branch, things didnt cool down for them, despite having the president, the House Majority, and the upper hand in the Senate. That was because they didnt control the Supreme Court. But to conservatives, the Supreme Court is sacred. Its the last place people can go to challenge our governments actions when they become tyrannical.

Recently, the Supreme Court upheld Trumps policy that requires illegal immigrants seeking asylum in Mexico to stay there until legally cleared to enter. It then ended the crippling eviction moratorium that rewarded people for remaining unemployed and not paying for their rented units. Once the Court also ruled in favor of a state law that protects the unborn in Texas, the media started throwing around the term shadow docket.

The left claims that the Supreme Court must be investigated because they have ruled in favor of conservatives near midnight during some proceedings. They drummed up the term from a 2015 (conservative) law professor who no one remembers in order to try and undermine the only branch of the government which holds a generally conservative majority. They are claiming that these midnight rulings prove that there is a shadow docket that goes against normal procedural regularity.

They ignore the fact that midnight is usually the deadline for ruling on cases. Midnight rulings are not new, nor are they shady, they are standard protocol. But since the far left is questioning validity on the grounds of upholding normal procedural regularity, then they must question pandemic interference, too.

Normal procedure regularity, has not existed in the U.S. court system throughout most of the pandemic. The changes were directly linked to leftist overreactions which halted in-person proceedings, and condensed arguments and court procedures to stop the spread of COVID.

The Supreme Court closed its doors and went to hearing online arguments. Cases have been scheduled on a limited basis, arguments have been condensed, and standard procedure is no more.

When the Supreme Court refused to examine evidence of voter fraud, the left cheered. No one checked the clock. When it ruled that Oklahoma cannot prosecute serious crimes committed by Native Americans on reservation land, no one heard a peep from the #MeToo movement or #BelieveAllWomen.

Now that the Court has ruled against liberal policies, suddenly the court is doing backdoor rulings trying to undermine the system thats how liberals see it anyway. Scheduling teleconference court procedures is unprecedented. Hearing arguments online is unknown to our system, but again, liberals had no problem with that. There were no articles calling out anyone for destroying normal procedural regularity, when it benefitted them.

These are the people who demanded that everything change, and now that it has, theyre blaming conservatives for the consequences of their own policies. They want control of every branch of the government so that anyone who believes in protecting Americans before immigrants, the unborn before confused mothers, and our right to dissent from our government is silenced if not legally punished.

These are the people who scream tyranny when the legal system follows due process, yet champion violence and destruction in the name of social justice. Its absurdism at its worst.

When the left screams tyranny they usually embody it. When they call for the protection of rights, you can bet they are in favor of revoking the freedoms of individuals who disagree with them.

Its the reason I walked away. Its the reason I research everything and look to the Constitution for guidance in a time where our leaders lack leadership and abuse their authority.

I do not condone any government actions which defy the Constitution. When they rule against what I believe I look to the Constitution and it usually lines up.

I still have faith in the courts. They are our last great hope of upholding the values of American culture.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License

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The current movement in the United States to demand reparations for slavery is perhaps the most aggravating of all the unreasonable demands that have been made of the American people in the 21st century. Slavery was outlawed approximately one hundred and fifty years ago. There is no one to whom to pay legitimate reparations because no one in living memory has been affected by slavery. There is also the factor of race, which presumes that Blacks are all descended from innocent slaves, while Whites are all descended from evil slave-owners. This ignores a basic fact of American society: we are a land peopled by immigrants, many of whom came after the end of slavery and, therefore, don't even have a historical connection to slavery in America.

Nevertheless, activists in California are making another attempt to extort money from citizens who have nothing to do with slavery. A state task force has been convened to study how to compensate descendants of enslaved people in California. Since people who never owned slaves don't owe anything to people who never were slaves, it is difficult to see how any kind of reparations could be justified. They're trying, though, and one of the possibilities being recommended is creating a school curriculum, based on the Charleston Syllabus, that will teach the history of slavery and its legacy in California.

The syllabus is a reading list about race relations, assembled after White supremacist Dylann Roof massacred nine Black worshipers in a church in Charleston. Dylann Roof is a truly terrible person whose actions are completely indefensible. The syllabus itself is a good idea for compiling thoughts about race and slavery in America. However, a task force interested in the true history of slavery might consider making some additions to the syllabus to get a full picture of slave-owners in America.

One inclusion to the syllabus should be Larry Koger's book Black Slaveowners: Free Black Slave Masters in South Carolina, 17901860. Mr. Koger has exhaustively researched Black slave masters in South Carolina in general and Charleston in particular. He documents not only sale records, but also tax records and Census records to show that although a few Blacks did indeed buy friends and family members to free them, most Black slave-owners bought slaves for the same reason that Whites did: they wanted to make money, and slave labor was the best way to invest money and to see a good return on their investment.

The history of Sally Seymour would make a good addition to the syllabus. Sally Seymour was a Black woman and former slave who became a pre-eminent pastry chef in Charleston with the help of her own Black slaves.

Peter Prioleau should be included on the list, too. He was a Black slave who betrayed Denmark Vesey, a Black man planning a slave revolt in Charleston. Vesey was arrested, tortured, and executed. Prioleau was freed as a mark of thanks for his service to the slave-owning community.

If the history of slavery is to be taught in this country, it can only be meaningful if the true history is taught. Slavery in America was not just a simplistic matter of evil Whites enslaving innocent Blacks. It was the same as slavery has always been, down through the ages, everywhere in the world. Slavery in America was a matter of the powerful enslaving those over whom they had power. It's not politically correct to recognize that Blacks, as well as Whites, were slave masters for financial gain, but it is the truth. And while the number of Black slaveholders, like the number of Native American slaveholders, was small, their existence is another facet of America's complex racial history.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of Future Slave, a story about a 21st-century Black teenager who is sent back in time and becomes a slave in the Old South.

Image: Slaves waiting for sale in Virginia by Eyre Crowe. Public domain.

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Last week, word emerged from the White House that Biden's own staff can't stand to listen to him. It's not that they don't agree with his policies (heck  they probably crafted them). Instead, it's that he's such a verbal loose cannon that they shudder when they hear him speak off the cuff. Yesterday, the White House staffers paying attention to his answers about western wildfires were so worried about where his mouth was taking him that they pulled the plug on him in mid-sentence.

We, along with every political outlet in America, reported last week on a Politico story explaining that Biden's staff constantly worry about Mr. Big Mouth in the White House. As we summed it up then, "we still don't know who is dictating his policies, but it appears that everyone in Biden's orbit is begging him to keep his mouth shut and be the good little puppet they need."

The same Politico story noted that "[Biden's] verbal miscues have been causing headaches for him and his team. Biden has delivered several self-inflicted wounds during freewheeling Q&A sessions that required immediate clean-up." That problem may explain why, on Monday, a panicked White House cut off Biden's feed in mid-sentence:

The White House abruptly cut the feed of President Biden's briefing on wildfires with federal and state officials. During Monday's visit to Boise, Idaho, Biden received a briefing about the ongoing wildfires that have plagued several states out west. While Biden spoke for much of the briefing, at one point he said he wanted to hear more from George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters. "Can I ask you a question?" Biden asked. "Of course," Geissler responded. "One of the things that I've been working on with some others is " Biden said before being cut off mid-sentence.

BIDEN: Can I ask you a question?



*White House feed cuts out pic.twitter.com/YQ9I9u3r98  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 13, 2021

Nor is this censorship an anomaly. The Fox News report quoted above points out that in August, the White House cut Biden's audio feed when a reporter asked him about the military's deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan. The White House did the same in March when Biden volunteered to take questions from Democrat politicians.

Puppet politicians are all well and good when they take their orders and do as they're told. They become a problem either when they try to seize real power or when they become so verbally incontinent that they can no longer be trusted to stick to the script and speak only when their strings are pulled.

In January, I predicted that Biden would be out by June. I was obviously wrong. I'm not going to risk picking a specific date by which Biden retires from office. However, I do not see how his staff can keep propping him up if they're reduced to silencing him whenever he gets a head of steam and starts moving his lips on his own.

Image: Biden puppet by Marcus Aurelius.

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A few days ago, reality hit us between the eyes. We saw what happens when a man competes against a woman in a wrestling match?

This is the sick story:

Alana McLaughlin choked out Celine Provost in the second round of a Friday MMA match in Miami. On the surface, it sounds like a ho-hum competition between two no-name women. Not so. Alana is a man pretending to be a woman and has the muscular physique to prove it. Most female MMA fighters refused to fight McLaughlin, but Provost took a loss for the LGBT crowd. Provost landed a few punches, but could not physically match the man in the octagon. McLaughlin, who goes by the nickname Lady Feral, was a sprinter at Newberry College before he joined the military in 2003. He served in the Army Special Forces unit for seven years. In 2016, he had anatomy surgery and has since claimed to be a woman. He's 38 now, and a formidable foe for any woman willing to challenge him. This is the second time the MMA has foolishly allowed males to intrude on the womens competition. Fallon Fox was the first male interloper and he whipped Elisha Helsper in 2012.

This is sick. This is not civil rights. This is what happens to a society that loses its common sense.

In my book, this is physical abuse disguised as a sports competition. My guess is that a real man would be embarrassed to defeat a woman like this. Furthermore, why are women even competing in these events? Why aren't women's groups calling for these "events" to be terminated?

My guess is that the left is so invested in "transgenderism" that they can't walk it back anymore. In other words, they are afraid to admit that men and women are biologically different. After all, these are the same people who came up with the nonsense about "birthing people."

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

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As Globalization kicks back into gear, many digital entrepreneurs love operating across continents. They tap into the biggest marketplaces like Amazon, Facebook and the Google App store  and serve clients from all over. In recent months however, it was not possible to travel to the U.S. to start a new business in person  and folks increasingly relied on business tools with online access.

Two of the most commonly used solutions on U.S. soil that enabled people to experience continuity and trust in the system, are powered digitally these days: Firstly, LLC formations and secondly, registered agents. These activities are some of the building blocks needed to fire up your new business in America.

To run a digital services business from abroad and tap into the U.S. market, the most important part is to set up a legal entity in the U.S. and to gain some local presence. Here is a shortcut followed by many entrepreneurs:

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When choosing an LLC formation company there are many things to consider. Starting an LLC can be a daunting task, not to mention the possible budgetary issues. Luckily there are many reliable and budget friendly registered agents that can lessen the burden.

Here are five of the fastest growing LLC formation services in the US:

1. ZenBusiness

Based in Texas, ZenBusiness has helped thousands of US LLCs. The company was formed in 2015. The thing that makes ZenBusiness stand out is the fact that they are socially conscious. They focus on helping the community whilst growing as a company. Their starting price for their package is only $49 and includes many features. This package includes LLC formation, a years worth of free registered agent service, an operating agreement template that can be customized to suit your LLC and an in-house accounting assessment. If you choose the option to upgrade to the Pro package, they include annual report filing as well. ZenBusiness has more than 6200 reviews online and the outcome is very positive.

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2. Incfile

The signup fee at Incfile is probably what attracts most clients. Incfiles LLC service fee starts at $0. You only pay a state fee. This makes it definitely the most budget friendly option. Since opening in 2004, they have helped more than 500 000 businesses to form. Even though the service fee is so low, you still get a lot of features. These features include a year of registered agent service and lifetime company alerts for certain filing deadlines. Incfile offers great customer support, with staff on standby, whether you call or email. If your business is on a strict budget, Incfile would surely be the best option.

3. Northwest Registered Agent

Formed in 1998, Northwest is one of the older companies on this list. They are a bit pricier than ZenBusiness and Incfile, but the services they offer sets them apart from the cheaper options. Signing up costs are $225. There are no upsell costs to Northwest. You get what you pay for. Many other services may require you to pay for extra add-ons. Customer service is also high up on the priority list at Northwest. If you have any questions or queries you can call their service number and they will tend to your needs in a speedy manner. They are the only registered agent that scans every document sent to your business locally on your behalf. Yes they are expensive, but you get what you pay for.

4. Inc Authority

Another company that has been around for quite a time is Inc Authority. The company has been around since 1989. Similar to Incfile, they offer free LLC service in addition to their paid packages. Even though the signup fee is $0, there are certain features that can only be unlocked when you purchase a premium package. These packages start at $399. Unfortunately when you buy a package, you cannot back out. Inc Authority has a no-refund policy. Make 100% sure that you want to use their services before making any purchase.

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5. LegalZoom

LegalZoom has a big reach in the US due to their great brand power. They manage a large number of LLC formations and have extensive experience. What sets them apart, is the fact that they can keep up with a big workload, helping over 2 million businesses to get started. When it comes to customer service, they also stand out. LegalZoom offers assistance like no other, having operating hours till 10pm on weekdays and 7pm over weekends. The downside to LegalZoom is the long list of upsells that you have to pay. Apart from your starting cost being $79, you have to pay for certain features, making it a very expensive option. If you are someone that is looking to work with a well-known experienced company, then LegalZoom is for you. But you need to be willing to pay.

Tips to keep in mind:

Some LLC formation services does not require a signup fee

Determining the businesss needs beforehand is important

Add ons may be billed separately

Final take:

At the end of the day, the amount you spend on an LLC formation website will be much less than what you would spend on hiring an attorney. Before choosing a company to work with, make sure you understand the needs of our business as well as how much you are willing to pay. What you are losing in money, you are essentially gaining in time.
(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 14 - Bologna University student Patrick Zaki requested to be released as his trial started in the Egyptian city of Mansoura on Tuesday, saying he has been on prison for too long for the relatively minor nature of the accusations he faces. However, after a hearing lasting about five minutes, the trial was adjourned until September 28 and the court ruled he must stay in jail until then.

The Egyptian student of the University of Bologna has been held in custody since February last year.

Zaki's lawyer, Hoda Nasrallah, also requested his release and access to the dossier with the accusations against him.

Amnesty International Italia said Monday that the accusations regarded something Zaki wrote in 2019 in defence of the Coptic minority that he belongs to.

Zaki, 30, is pursuing an Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Bologna.

He also conducts research and advocacy on gender issues and human rights for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a human rights organization based in Cairo.

Petitions for his release have been rejected on countless occasion.

Zaki was arrested on arriving at Cairo International Airport when he returned home from Bologna for a short family visit.

The Egyptian National Security Agency reportedly arrested Zaki, interrogated him about his time in Italy and his human rights work, and took him to an undisclosed location.

During interrogation, he was allegedly frequently threatened, beaten on his stomach and back and tortured with electric shocks.

The European Parliament, Amnesty International and Scholars At Risk have been among the bodies calling for his release, along with the Italian government.

The Italian parliament has voted to urge the government to grant Zaki Italian citizenship in a bid to pressure Egypt to release him. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 14 - Etty Peleg, the maternal grandmother 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, has also been put under investigation for the boy's abduction at the weekend, sources said Tuesday.

The boy's maternal grandfather, Peleg's ex-husband Shmuel Peleg, was already being probed in the northern city of Pavia for aggravated kidnapping.

Eitan 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.

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, after the disaster by the Italian authorities.

The boy's maternal family had said last month they would mount a legal challenge against this decision, saying the child was being held "hostage".

On Monday one of Aya Biran's lawyers said that she as going to talk to a judge about appealing to the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention to bring he boy back to Italy.

Israel ratified the convention in 1991.

Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on that the Italian government was looking into the case.

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.

The boy's uncle on his father's side, Aya Biran's husband Or Nirko, said Tuesday that the maternal family were hiding Eitan, comparing the case to that of Israeli soldiers being held prisoner by Hamas.

"The Peleg family have refused to say where the child is," Nirko said.

"They are hiding him in a sort of hole".

Nirko said his brother had checked whether Eitan was at Tel Aviv's Sheba hospital and had not found him there.

When asked about the comments, legal sources form the maternal family said that Eitan "is well". (ANSA).


BEIRUT - A few hours after a meeting in Moscow between Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al Assad, the Russian airforce used air-to-ground missiles to target anti-government forces in the Aleppo region, hitting districts included in a 2020 truce reached between Russia and Turkey.

Reports were from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The area hit by Russian airstrikes was Daret Izza, west of the regional capital of Aleppo but in the same region and out of government control.

The area is under de facto Turkish influence but is in the hands of armed opposition groups.

Russia and Turkey have for years had competing areas of influence in northwestern Syria. Syrian and Russian government attacks have stepped up in recent days after positions held by armed forces between Idlib and Aleppo.
ROME - Italy on Tuesday issued three new postal stamps to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri.

The vignettes chosen are very different from those used in the past on numerous occasions to commemorate the author of the Divine Comedy, all of which had been in a traditional style.

As noted in an illustrative bulletin, the head of the committee for the study and elaboration of postal cards of the economy ministry (which issues postal stamps), Angelo di Stasi, a shortlist was selected of "contemporary works that aim to bring in new elements to the panorama of Italian postal stamp issues, conferring on the three stamps meanings that are much deeper than simply the mere commemoration".

And thus for 'l'Inferno'' the choice was work by Corrado Veneziano, a teacher and expert of visual arts as well as language techniques, which evokes Buffalmacco, an artist who lived at the same time as Dante. The subject of the painting was inspired by his frescoes "Il Trionfo della Morte" and "Inferno", recently restored and located inside a Pisa cemetery.

A work by Francesco Di Pietro, artist working inside the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato S.p.A., was on Purgatory, in which " a modern Dante is shown on the train platform of the underground, with behind him human figures 'annihilated' by lit-up screens, who shake hands with each other and seem hypnotized".

The rector of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Paolo Bocci, drew Paradise: a young man with his head circled with laurel leaves engaged in an acrobatic move and with a pen in hand, encircled by letters and pieces of paper. The drawing was entitled "bearing witness".


NAPLES - Bahrain came in first in the Middle East and Africa for attracting investment in the tourism sector in 2020, according to an annual report issued by Fdi IZntelligence, an international company for investment promotion.

Gulf News noted that: "Last year, major investments from UAE-based property developers helped Bahrain's tourism sector remain buoyant and created jobs during the worst ever period for the global tourism industry.

Bahrain secured $492 million of tourism capital investment in 2020, mainly made up of investments from global property developer Emaar Properties and real estate developer Eagle Hills, despite the overall regional decline in capital investment in 2020." It added that: "Capital investment into MEA last year decreased 82 per cent 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 2,800 in 2020" and that prior "to Covid, Bahrain was attracting around a million visitors a month on average and the tourism sector contributed around 7 per cent to GDP. As the first economy in the GCC to diversify away from oil".

"During the pandemic, the country continued developing its strategy to transform its tourism sector, allocating more than $10 billion to tourism infrastructure projects, including the $1.1 billion modernisation of its international airport. More recently, Edamah, the real estate arm of Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, also announced several new upscale property projects in the country," it added.

"Accor, a hospitality group with over 400 hotels, Minor Hotels, which has a portfolio of 527 hotels and resorts, and Hilton DoubleTree unveiled plans to launch new properties in the Kingdom. Bahrain is now home to global hotel brands including Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Rotana, Intercontinental, Wyndham and Sofitel. Anticipating a significant rebound in tourism numbers, Bahrain is growing its portfolio of five-star hotels and is set to have around 9,300 rooms by the end of 2022.

Bahrain is also anticipating a return in demand and growth for beachfront affordable brands," it continued.

"Despite the obvious challenges, we have continued to progress with our ambitious tourism infrastructure and real estate plans, which have attracted some of the world's most renowned hotel brands and the Gulf's largest property development groups, including Emaar," said Mahmood Al Aradi, Chief Investment Officer at Bahrain's Economic Development Board, told Gulf News.
BEIRUT - Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese armed and political movement Hezbollah, on Tuesday morning confirmed that Iranian oil headed for Lebanon would enter the country on Thursday.

Lebanon is suffering from an economic collapse and a prolonged lack of basic goods and services.

In a speech broadcast on television, Nasrallah stated the news that had previously circulated as rumor: that oil requested from Iran had arrived in Iranian cargo ships through the Suez Canal and been unloaded at the Syrian port of Baniyas. It was then loaded onto tankers currently heading from the Mediterranean coast through the Homs region to the Lebanese border and its Bekaa valley, which for eight years has been firmly in the hands of Shia militias and local tribes.

Lebanese and Syrian media said that Syrian and Lebanese traffickers that work with Hezbollah have for years been operating along the Homs-Nekaa route and that they are linked to the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and fuel.

The Hezbollah leader confirmed that the Iranian oil would be transported on this route to avoid "embarrassing the Lebanese authorities", which are supposed to comply with international sanctions against Iran imposed by the US.


Schools that prioritised distributing food parcels to poorer children in the early stages of the pandemic may not have focused on ensuring all pupils received an education, Englands chief schools inspector has said.

Amanda Spielman said the attention of many schools went very rapidly to the most disadvantaged children when schools were not fully open to pupils.

Speaking at an Institute for Government (IfG) event, the Ofsted chief said the attention given to children with greatest difficulties amid the pandemic was admirable, but it meant some schools didnt have the capacity left to ensure all pupils had access to remote education.

Asked about disparities in attainment between different types of schools during the pandemic, Ms Spielman played down the argument that private schools benefited significantly from the adoption of teacher-assessed grades rather than exams, compared with state schools.

But addressing the disparities in what remote learning was offered, she said: There is an unevenness in resource which I think we have to acknowledge.

The average private school has three times as much money so far more staff, far more technology to mobilise to switch to teaching remotely, so I dont think we should lose sight of that entirely. But that doesnt explain the disparities that we saw in the state sector.

Another thing I saw was that in a lot of schools, it felt as though their attention went very rapidly to the most disadvantaged children, into making food parcels, going out visiting.

Amanda Spielman (Ofsted/PA)

They put a great deal of attention into the children with greatest difficulties, which is admirable, but in some cases that probably got prioritised certainly last summer which may have meant that they didnt have the capacity left to make sure that there was some kind of education offer for all children.

I think in those first few weeks when it looked as though it might just be sort of three or four weeks, it was less obvious to some that they really did need to start assembling a full remote education offering.

But on Tuesday, Dame Christine Ryan, chair of Ofsted, faced questions from MPs about the watchdogs role in overseeing schools efforts to provide quality remote education for all children during the pandemic.

Tory MP Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Committee, said: It seems to me that Ofsted was virtually invisible in terms of, particularly in the first lockdown, in making clear what kind of standards of remote learning there should be, and how it should be done, and that you just vacated the field.

The evidence is there in terms of the lost learning of pupils and the very, very patchy remote learning from school to school.

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Mr Halfon added: There is a view that during the pandemic Ofsted was a bit like the hedgehog at the back of my garden, in semi-hibernation.

But Dame Christine rejected the criticism as she said: I dont agree with the sort of picture that its gone into hibernation.

It may not have been big and showy but it did lots of work behind the scenes, she added.

During the IfGs event, Ms Spielman was asked for her thoughts on suggestions that school time should be extended to help children catch up.

She said: Enlarging the school day can certainly make sense provided its not just a bit of extra time that somebody else pastes on.

That its properly integrated into the curriculum, that it genuinely helps children do better in each of their classes and provides the time for the enrichment.

Asked whether school holidays should be shortened, she added: There is potentially scope for thinking about increasing the school year.

But she highlighted that the six-week summer holiday in England is already pretty short by international standards.

If were going to capture some more time, I suspect most parents would prefer to see less holiday at some of the times of year its hard to keep children occupied and to do nice things outside, than to shorten the summer still further.

In June, education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins quit with a condemnation of the Governments 1.4 billion catch-up fund, which he said fell far short of what was needed.

He had recommended that schools be funded for a flexible extension to school time  the equivalent of 30 minutes extra every day.

But the Governments announcement did not include plans to lengthen the school day or shorten the summer break.

The Department for Education said at the time that the findings of a review of time spent in school would inform the spending review.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders union NAHT, said: From the very start of the crisis, staff looked after the most vulnerable pupils as the country went into lockdown; they effectively reimagined the very concept of school as they worked to implement a remote learning offer.

There is no doubt that this vital work helped to shield large numbers of children from the worst effects of the pandemic.

The solutions offered by central government almost always arrived long after schools had worked things out for themselves. Schools learned much more quickly than policy-makers about what worked and what pupils needed.
Workers will be entitled to full rights and protections from their first day in the job under a Labour government, Sir Keir Starmer will confirm.

In his address to the TUCs annual conference on Tuesday, the Labour leader will commit to a new deal for workers to ensure they are paid properly, not taxed unfairly.

He will say that employment rights for workers need to be strengthened to reflect changes to the economy and the reality of modern.

Under Labours proposals, first unveiled over the summer, all workers will get full protections including holiday pay, parental and protection from unfair dismissal from their first day with an employer.

At the same time, the party is promising a minimum wage of at least 10 an hour and the right to work flexibly and to request shifts that fit around family life.

It will also ban fire and hire  the practice of sacking employees and then taking them back on worse terms  and end zero-hours contracts.

Sir Keirs address comes as he faces pressure to spell out how Labour would fund the 12 billion-a-year increase in health and social care spending announced last week by the Government.

While the party supports the increase in investment, it has condemned the Governments plan to pay for it through an increase in national insurance contributions  but has yet to set out any alternative proposals.

Sir Keir is expected to say: Under the Conservatives unfair plans, working families across the country dont get a pay rise but will get a tax rise.

Ensuring good quality secure work, underpinned with employment rights fit for the reality of modern working, is not only good for employees, but its good for business, and is part of getting our economy firing on all cylinders.

Too many people in Britain spend their lives worrying about how many hours theyll be given next week, what will happen if they need to attend a medical appointment, or how theyll pay the bills if they fall ill.

Labour will give all working families the job security and pay security they not only need, but deserve.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: We are fully committed to protecting and enhancing workers rights and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

In the past 18 months alone, we have introducing parental bereavement leave, protected new parents on furlough, and given millions a pay rise through a higher minimum wage.
Rapper Bugzy Malone has been cleared of unlawfully punching two men.

The popular Manchester-born grime artist fractured their jaws with single blows shortly after his hysterical girlfriend phoned him to say three men were breaking into their house.

Malone, 30, said he drove to his former home in Ramsbottom, near Bury, braced for a volatile situation as he feared for the safety of his then partner, Miami McKenzie, and his mother Mavis, who were inside the property.

A friend also called him to say the house was being done over, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Bugzy Malone on stage in 2019 (Isabel Infantes/PA)

As he approached the property he said he saw his friend with two men in what was clearly a confrontation.

He ran over and hit out with a reflex punch to one of the men who he said had lunged towards him, and said he then struck the other who made a sharp movement in his direction with clenched fists.

The Crown argued Malone, real name Aaron Davies, did not act in self-defence and angrily struck out in a sense of justified revenge after he wrongly believed they were the intruders.

The prosecution said both men were sitting ducks as the first did not see the sucker punch coming from the trained boxer and the second was punched while Malones friend held him.

Jurors took less than four hours to find Malone, now based in London, not guilty of two counts of unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The court heard the unlikely backdrop to the events on September 9 2018 was the towns annual black pudding-throwing festival.

A terrified teenage girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, rang her parents at the festival, asking them to pick her up from nearby Nuttall Park after saying she and her friends had been followed by Malone who had driven his car in an intimidating manner.

She said a young male in their group had earlier climbed on to a wall at Malones house and peered over the front gates and shouted the musicians name.

Her father decided to visit Malone to get his version of events and was joined by a family friend and the boys father.

The boys father threw a brick at the gates before forcing his way into the courtyard of the property, and the other two men later walked off before they came across Malone returning home.

The jury was told the boys father was later prosecuted and convicted of causing criminal damage.

Malone, who starred in Guy Ritchies 2019 film The Gentlemen, denied chasing the youngsters in his car and said his intention was to motivate them to stay away from his property which he had just moved into.

Reading a statement while standing with Malone outside court, the rappers solicitor Lachlan Nisbet said: Bugzy would like to thank his family and friends and everyone who has supported him resisting these charges.

From difficult beginnings Bugzy has worked hard to make a success of himself. Like anyone else he has the right to protect himself, his home and his family if strangers intrude on his property.

In this instance, faced with distraught family members, Bugzy did no more than the minimum necessary to defend himself and to secure the safety of his family home.

Bugzy is grateful to the judge and all of the jury members who took the time to consider properly all the facts and to reach a considered verdict from the evidence.

Bugzy has worked hard to make sure these charges have not diverted him from his work and career. Now that the trial is over Bugzy is looking forward to his UK tour being his core focus.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Republicans were trying to contain a fire of their own making a day before voting ends in the recall election against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, persuading their voters to turn out Tuesday even as party leaders promoted unsubstantiated claims that the race was rigged or compromised by misconduct.

Larry Elder, one of the leading Republican candidates seeking to replace Newsom if the recall succeeds, has said he believes there might very well be shenanigans, as there were in the 2020 election. His campaign website has a link to a Stop CA Fraud website where people can report suspicious voting activity or sign a petition demanding a special legislative session to investigate an election that isnt even over.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump, who has continued to promote falsehoods about his loss in the 2020 election, issued a statement saying, "Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged?"

That messaging poses problems for Republican Party officials, who are encouraging everyone to vote while also promoting a narrative that California's election security can't be trusted. Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and the Republican National Committeewoman for California, said she made a video with her husband showing how they cast ballots by mail and urging everyone to do the same.

But Dhillon also said she could not say whether California's election will be safe and secure, detailing numerous problems that she said she and a team of attorneys monitoring the election have witnessed.

There will be a lot of questions and potentially litigation after this election about this sloppy-at-best treatment of peoples ballots and their right to vote, Dhillon said. I think people have to get out there and vote. We have to document problems, and we have to litigate those problems.

Much of the GOP criticism of Californias elections has focused on the wide use of mail-in ballots, which have been automatically sent to all active registered voters for state elections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. An overwhelming majority of California voters cast ballots by mail even before the pandemic, and no widespread voter fraud issues have surfaced.

As of Saturday, 7.8 million ballots had been cast, or nearly 35% of registered voters, according to Political Data Inc., a data firm that works with Democrats. Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Registrars Office, said voting by mail is trusted, secure and safe.

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)

There are extensive protocols in place that ensure the security and verification of all returned vote by mail ballots, Sanchez said. The claims made disregard and misrepresent those safeguards. As a result, their messaging could be confusing to voters and discourage participation.

The GOP's predicament is similar to the one from last year's presidential election, when many in the party feared that Trump's claims about widespread fraud from an expansion of mail-in voting during the pandemic would backfire. They were concerned his message would convince many Republicans to stay home.

In California, the GOP needs all the help it can get.

The party has just 24% of registered voters, compared with 46.5% for Democrats. People registered to vote without a political party are roughly equal to registered Republicans, but typically align their votes with Democrats. Republicans have not won a statewide office since 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection to governor.

Dhillon pointed to an issue in Los Angeles over the weekend as one piece of evidence fueling voter distrust. In the Woodland Hills neighborhood, some people who showed up to vote were told they had already voted.

Whether there is an innocent explanation for that or not, rumors spread like wildfires based on facts. Those facts are there are errors in voting in Los Angeles County. People see that online and decide its not worth it to vote, Dhillon said.

The Los Angeles County Registrar's Office said the error was caused by some settings on computers used to check in voters before issuing ballots. The office said those affected were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which act as placeholders until voter eligibility is determined.

Republican Party officials say they are working to have poll watchers in every county to monitor voting locations and county registrar's offices, where clerks will verify and count ballots. The state GOP also is urging voters to report suspicious voting activity to the party.

The Elder campaign promoted fraud claims over the weekend, pointing to a website that urges people to sign a petition saying he's lost an election that isn't over yet.

They are trying to throw battery acid on our Constitution, on our electoral norms, Newsom strategist Sean Clegg said.

Not all Republicans are embracing the claims. John Cox, a businessman running to replace Newsom, said voter fraud concerns are another distraction.

Frankly, all this talk about the election not being valid is a cul de sac because its going to result in some people deciding not to vote, Cox said as he campaigned Monday outside the Capitol.

Separate from the Republican claims, a group of election security and computer science experts have raised concerns about California's election system. Their warning is rooted not in claims of widespread fraud, but public release of copies of an election management system that is similar to the one running elections in 40 of California's 58 counties.

Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder attends a rally for the California gubernatorial recall election on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Monterey Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

The copies were released last month during an event organized by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who has made unsubstantiated claims about last year's election.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said concerns about election security are inaccurate." The states chief elections official said California has "the strictest voting system testing, procedures for use and security requirements in the nation.

All votes, whether in person, by mail or drop box, will be cast on paper ballots that can be hand-counted afterward if there are questions about the tally in any county.

Part of the challenge for election officials is the vote counting and vote reporting process, which can lead to changes in results that appear to swing back and forth before final tallies are released.

In a state like California, where election officials can begin processing mailed ballots ahead of Election Day, the first batch of results often is from mail-in ballots. Those are expected to slightly favor Democrats. Then come results from in-person polling places on Election Day, which is when higher percentages of Republicans typically vote. Finally, late-arriving mail ballots are counted and reported.

Ballots will be counted up to seven days after the election as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday.

Local elections officials are seeing increased activity from a group of election observers aligned with Republicans, said Donna Johnston, Sutter County registrar of voters and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

Johnson said election officials welcome observers and the chance to explain procedures that ensure election security and integrity. The increase in distrust, though, is heartbreaking to us, she said.

Election officials take it personally when somebody is just making unfounded accusations about what we do, Johnston said.
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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian Minister of Social Policy Maryna Lazebna says September 14, 2020, is an important day for Ukraine and Armenia as the session of the joint inter-governmental commission was held after a long pause during which the two countries agreed on how to improve the mutually beneficial cooperation, the peoples life quality and create better future.

During a press briefing after the session, the minister said that her delegation to Armenia included officials from different ministries and agencies, including energy, industry, agriculture, medicine, education and culture. In this context she highlighted the key role and share of the Armenian community of Ukraine both in the country and in the Armenian-Ukrainian relations in general.

We agreed that its necessary to focus on the social sector because there is a big Armenian Diaspora in Ukraine, and they also closely follow what is happening in Ukraine. And I am sure that they would like us to cooperate more and further develop our relations and that our citizens get satisfied with the life quality both in Armenia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian minister said.

Today the 8th session of the Armenian-Ukrainian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation was held in Yerevan. A respective protocol was signed by the sides at the end of the meeting.

Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan says the document signed supposes cooperation in different fields, including commercial cooperation, agriculture, education, social policy, digital transformation and several other areas.

I think the protocol we have signed would be a very good starting point for greatly improving the bilateral relations, the minister said.

In addition, Chairman of the Commission on TV and Radio of Armenia Tigran Hakobyan and member of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine Maxim Onoprienko signed a memorandum on the cooperation in TV, radio broadcasting field.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
Gaurav Gupta's exit comes days after Zomato decided to stop its grocery delivery service from September 17

Gaurav Gupta was designated as a co-founder in 2019, and headed the supply function at Zomato. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: Zomato co-founder Gaurav Gupta has resigned from the company, sources told PTI. Gupta was designated as a co-founder in 2019, and headed the supply function at Zomato. The response from the company could not be obtained at the time of filing the story.

Gupta's exit comes days after Zomato decided to stop its grocery delivery service from September 17, mainly due to gaps in order fulfilment, leading to poor customer experience.
Hearing appeals on the contradictory judgements by Gujarat and Madras high courts, SC urged the GST Council to take a policy decision on it

The Supreme Court concluded that the judgment of the Madras High Court needs to be affirmed and it dismissed the appeals challenging that verdict while the appeals against the judgment of the Gujarat High Court were allowed.  PTI

Chennai: The Supreme Court has held that input tax refund is admissible only with respect to input goods, and not for input services. Hearing the appeals against the contradictory judgements by Gujarat and Madras high courts, the top court urged the GST Council to reconsider the formula and take a policy decision on this.

In its judgment dated 24 July 2020, in a case filed by VKC Footsteps India, the division bench of the Gujarat High Court had directed the Union Government to allow the claim for refund made by the petitioners before it, considering unutilised ITC on input services as part of net ITC for the purpose of calculating refund in terms of Rule 89(5), in furtherance of Section 54(3) of the CGST Act of 2017.

It also held that Rule 89(5) by restricting the refund only to input goods had acted ultra vires Section 54(3).

However, the division bench of the Madras High Court, while delivering its judgment on September 21, 2020 in the case filed by Tvl. Transtonnelstroy Afcons joint venture, declined to follow the view of the Gujarat HC.

It found that refund is a statutory right and the extension of the benefit of refund is only to the unutilised credit that accumulates on account of the rate of tax on input goods being higher than the rate of tax on output supplies by excluding unutilised input tax credit that accumulated on account of input services.

The Supreme Court concluded that the judgment of the Madras High Court needs to be affirmed and it dismissed the appeals challenging that verdict while the appeals against the judgment of the Gujarat High Court were allowed. The court said that the implications of Sec. 54(3) do not appear to have been taken into consideration by Gujarat High Court except for a brief reference.

It also asked the GST Council to enable it to take a considered view in accordance with law.

"The Apex Court has passed a landmark judgement to remove the doubts that arose after the contradictory views by the High Courts of Madras and Gujarat, said Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY.
The Centre said it will constitute a committee of 'domain experts' to go into the entire matter

Chief Justice N.V. Ramana reiterated it will not put in the public domain by stating on affidavit whether or not it used the Pegasus spyware. (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, while reserving its interim order on a batch of petitions seeking an independent probe into the alleged snooping of the mobile phones of key political leaders, Supreme Court judges, top mediapersons and other eminent people told the Centre not to beat around the bush on the issue as it would not take it anywhere.

The Centre, while refusing to file a detailed affidavit addressing the issues raised in the petitions before the court, said it will constitute a committee of domain experts to go into the entire matter and submit the report to the court. The government told the court that the domain experts will be independent of the government and not connected with it in any way or having any monetary connection with it.

Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, heading a bench which also comprised Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, reserved its interim order as the Centre, invoking national security and the fight against terrorism, reiterated it will not put in the public domain by stating on affidavit whether or not it used the Pegasus spyware, with the petitioners insisting that the government should state in Yes or No terms whether it used the Israeli firms spyware to snoop on citizens, invading their privacy.

Telling solicitor general Tushar Mehta, the second highest ranking Central government lawyer, that they will pass an interim order in two to three days, CJI Ramana said if the government, in the meantime, wanted to provide details to the court, it could do so.

After the solicitor general informed the court of the governments stand that it will not state on affidavit whether or not citizens were snooped upon using the Pegasus spyware and insisting on forming a committee of domain experts, CJI Ramana said they had given the government a reasonable and fair opportunity to file a detailed affidavit on the issue but since the government refused, they (court) will hear the petitioners and pass the appropriate orders.

Making it clear that at no stage of the hearing had the court sought any

information on snooping that has a bearing on national security or the fight against terrorism, Chief Justice Ramana, referring to the Centres statement in Parliament, said that they are seeking information whether the snooping on citizens had been done or not.

Referring to the earlier hearings where the government had flagged the

issue of national security or the fight against terrorism getting blunted if it made a public disclosure by stating on affidavit whether or not it had used the Pegasus spyware for snooping, CJI Ramana said: When the matter came up a few days back and national security arose, we said that no one is interested in disclosing anything which compromises internal or external national integrity. We were only expecting a limited affidavit since there are petitioners before us who say their rights, including the right to privacy, has been infringed by A or B agency. You (Centre) had to say whether it was done lawfully or unlawfully.

Referring to an earlier Supreme Court ruling, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal said when the issue before the court is the violation of the right to privacy of citizens, the government cant be seen to be stonewalling the information sought by the court.

It is unbelievable that the Government of India tells the Supreme Court that it will not provide information. (The government is saying) that you (court) shut your eyes, let us (government) do what we are doing, Mr Sibal, who was appearing for top journalist N. Ram, told the court, in a jibe over its stand.

As the solicitor general sought to clarify that the Government of India was not hiding anything from the court and it only wanted the matter to be first examined by a committee of domain experts, who in turn will submit their report to the court, CJI Ramana said: Dont beat around the bush, adding that it will not take the matter anywhere.

Senior lawyer Shyam Divan, appearing for another veteran journalist, told the court to ask the Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India to file an affidavit stating whether the government or its agencies used the Pegasus spyware to snoop on citizens. He referred to several court judgments in which it had asked top bureaucrats of the Centre or states to file an affidavit on the issues before it.
The ED wants to question the former home minister over a money-laundering case filed with it

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate has sought the CBIs help to trace former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. The ED had last week issued a lookout notice against Mr Deshmukh after he failed to appear before the agency even after five summonses were issued to him.

The ED wants to question the former home minister over a money-laundering case filed with it. Mr Deshmukh is, however, untraceable and he has not only skipped the summonses issued by the agency but also stated that he will not appear before it until he exhausts all the remedies available in the law.

Mr Deshmukh challenged the summons issued by the Supreme Court, but the court had dismissed his plea and had directed him to approach the appropriate forum. Following this, Mr Deshmukh approached the Bombay high court under the CrPC. Through his lawyer, Mr Deshmukh had also informed the ED that he would not appear before the agency as his plea was pending before the court.

Meanwhile, the BJP has asked the NCP to disclose Mr Deshmukhs whereabouts. Deshmukh is one of the top leaders of the NCP, which controls the state home department. Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse-Patil and Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale must be aware of Mr Deshmukhs whereabouts. They must tell the agencies about it, BJP leader Pravin Darekar said.

The ED has filed the case on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI. The CBI registered a case of corruption against Mr Deshmukh after the Bombay high court had directed it to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Mr Deshmukh on the basis of allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Mr Singh had alleged that Mr Deshmukh had directed now dismissed API Sachin Waze to collect Rs. 100 crores every month from hotels and bars in Mumbai.

The CBI has claimed it was revealed during the probe that Waze had collected more than Rs. 4 crores t the behest of Mr Deshmukh. While Mr Deshmukh is untraceable, the CBI last week arrested his lawyer Anand Daga and CBI inspector Abhishek Tiwari. Tiwari was arrested for his alleged role in the manipulation of the preliminary inquiry against Mr Deshmukh in connection with the extortion case. The CBI had told the court that the two were arrested after a conversation ensued and evidence was found.

Tiwari was also accused of leaking the investigation report against Anil Deshmukh. On the basis of that leaked report, the news of Anil Deshmukhs innocence was widely spread.
Put simply, the Taliban members of the new Afghan 'state' have blood on their hands

The interim government announced by the Taliban last week, over three weeks after they captured Kabul on August 15, constitutes the best or the worst of world news in 2021 (depending which side you are looking from, of course). Its surely more sensational than the suffering of the worlds seven billion souls since 2019, due to the Wuhan-origin Chinese virus. Simultaneously, it shows where the status of the United Nations edicts, resolutions and declarations stand before 194 member states. Has diplomacy and the worlds collective wisdom touched its nadir since the birth of the League of Nations following the First World War? Do the deeds of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Osama bin Laden, et al pale before the Afghanistan of 2021? Has the world seen such bizarre, brazen, gory acts by a band of desperadoes masquerading as the saviours of Afghanistan? A sovereign state on the Westphalia model, recognised the world over, has fallen to terrorist leaders -- lock, stock and barrel. But as the world gasps in disbelief at scenes of violence and massacre, two nations -- Pakistan and China -- stand out, in support of the terrorists. They are simply following Mao Zedongs dictum: power comes from the barrel of the gun. This is akin to making monsters behind mass murder part of the global comity of nations.

Put simply, the Taliban members of the new Afghan state have blood on their hands. No matter that the UN hasnt still been able to define terror or terrorism. Why? Major countries invariably differ owing to self-interest, thus the cliche: One nations terrorist is another states freedom fighter. When India goes to the UN Security Council to galvanise the world to act against the terrorists backed by the Pakistan Army and its ISI, Communist Chinas foreign minister rushes to their defence, invariably shielding the terrorists. To the Islamabad-Beijing gang, foreign-sponsored terrorists in India are God-sent freedom fighters of the Orient who can effectively keep India under check.

Afghanistans present scenario is nothing but a replay of a process going on for the past three decades, and theres no reason to think the unholy terror alliance of these two will allow India any respite from macabre mayhem soon. Neither Pakistan nor China will leash these terrorists as long as they dont harm their own nations -- particularly China.

A few facts about the Talibans background could be worth revisiting. Born predominantly as a Pashtun group in the mid-1990s with support from Islamic religious schools (madrasas), its primary aim was to impose order and regimentation (like the CPC) with a gun in the hand of each Talib. Created and supported by the Pakistani State and its ISI, it was meant to make full use of Pashtuns as puppet killers in the two fronts of Afghanistan and Hindustan. With a cocktail of various terror groups, and the subsequent entry of Chinese money and the CPCs backroom brigade, close ties developed between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, the latter giving ideological, financial and military support.

An intriguing aspect of this terror saga is that the United States, at least initially, didnt oppose the Taliban (even when India bled, and its airliner was hijacked to Kandahar in 1999). In Washingtons eyes, the Taliban was a healthy counterweight to the Tehran-Moscow influence in Kabul. India didnt matter and in any case the West held India in contempt. They felt that Indias terror problem is a failure of state law and order.

American companies wanted to build pipelines through Afghanistan to transport oil and gas from Central Asia and the Caspian to the open sea, girdling Tehran. The Taliban, being an ally of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, both Americas friends, were thought to be capable of imposing order in Afghanistan.

Things started going awry from around 1998 when Osama bin Ladens Al-Qaeda began running ops from the Afghan-Pakistan bad lands hurting US interests.

The UN Security Council soon demanded that the Taliban hand over Bin Laden to US custody, which they promptly refused. Understandably, UN retribution, at the US behest, followed, with a ban on flights to and from Afghanistan, economic sanctions and a ban on the sale/transfer of military equipment to the Taliban. This once again proved that until a sovereign state is directly hit by terror, it will never accept the pleas of others hit by terrorism.

It may be politically incorrect to say so, but the United Nations will never be able to fight terror or terrorism till it is defined legally, or the 194 member nations reach a consensus. Otherwise, economics, trade, commerce and business will continue for all those not hit. India should therefore be prepared to go it alone.

Afghanistan shows the fallacy of the cliche friend in need. The unbelievable cowardly escape through one door by friend and dramatic drum-beating entry from another door by an unscrupulous and opportunistic hungry stranger searching for land, money, minerals, contract and creating debt trap for all; thereby ending with a monopolist which the world would rarely experience.

Which way does the terrorist-turned-Taliban traverse? The Taliban have undoubtedly usurped power illegally, but there is no law to counter their illegal act, with the so-called big powers still wailing from the rooftops. So let us at least look at a legal dictionary-defined terror/terrorism with the hope that the UNSCs luminaries will now try to be more serious about this issue than they are now.

To the legal fraternity: Terror is extreme fear; one or more violent acts that cause extreme fear. Also: Terrorism is use or threat of violence to intimidate or cause panic, especially as a means of achieving a political end. There are, however, several other definitions. Agri-terrorism, focusing on disrupting/destroying a countrys food supply by attacking agricultural industries with plant or animal pathogens. Bioterrorism, involving intentional release of harmful biological agents, such as bacteria or viruses, into air, food, or water supply of humans (China)?

Cyberterrorism, committed by computer (China)? Ecoterrorism -- (the developed countries of the West)? Lone-wolf terrorism (India as the victim)? Narco-terrorism, associated with/financed by profits from illegal drug trafficking (Pakistani Army-ISI bosses; and some greedy Americans during the Fifth Afghan War 2001-2021)? State-sponsored terrorism to pursue strategic and political goal objectives (China-Pakistan in landlocked Central Asia)? State terrorism, practised by sovereign governments (Dictators around the world)?

Who is a terrorist? Try this: Someone using violence -- bombing, shooting, kidnapping, intimidating to cause panic to achieve political ends (Pakistan, Taliban)?

Will the UN Security Council act now, even at this late hour? Or will it go the League of Nations way?
Japan has administered a total of 145.8 million shots, and over 51% of its population is fully vaccinated

Tokyo: Japan has given first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to 63.6% of its population, surpassing the U.S. in the proportion of those who have had at least one shot of the vaccine despite starting months behind.

The island nations progress now puts the U.S. last among Group of Seven nations when it comes to the proportion of the population with at least one dose, after vaccine hesitancy squandered the countrys head start. About 63.1% of the U.S. has had at least their first shot, and 53.8% are fully vaccinated.

Japan has administered a total of 145.8 million shots, and over 51% of its population is fully vaccinated, according to government figures released Tuesday.

The vaccination rollout in Japan started off slow and late compared to other developed nations, but has progressed quickly since early summer. Japan hit a million shots administered per day in mid-June, and has stuck around that pace since then while battling a wave of infections driven by the predominance of the delta variant. The U.S., meanwhile, got a head start but hasnt been able to maintain pace.

Japans vaccinated population is concentrated among its elderly, who were initially prioritized. Near 90% of those 65 or older have had both jabs. The country is still rushing to inoculate younger people, who have been most affected in the most recent and worst-yet wave of coronavirus infections.

As shots in Japan are still being delivered at a brisk pace, its too early to tell how much hesitancy may affect the vaccination program in the country, which has a testy history with vaccines.

Some countries, including the U.S., have seen vaccinations stall as the issue becomes politicized or due to the influence of anti-vaccine fringe groups. Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a vaccine mandate for all federal employees, health-care workers and employees at large companies in an effort to boost the number of vaccinated Americans.

Japanese officials are seeking to vaccinate all those who are eligible and willing by November, with the goal of having at least 80% of the population vaccinated.

Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the vaccine rollout, is currently running to lead Japans ruling party and become its next prime minister. As Kono announced his official bid on Friday, he said Japan would be among the top of the G7 countries in October in terms of vaccination rates. France currently tops the G7 with the highest rate of fully vaccinated residents, at around 72%.
Since the movement swept to power, Taliban officials have said women would be able to work and study within the limits laid down by sharia

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.

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 from men.

Women have staged several protests across 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.
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A few days ago, we were blabbering about how BMW might choose to put its straight-six to sleep when it comes to the 3 Series G20 facelift that is expected to arrive in late 2022.

19 photos
Unikat Motorworks is the kind of enterprise that loves to keep everyone on their toes. About a month ago, we had a look at how these Polish craftsmen transformed a factory-spec Triumph Thruxton 1200 into a custom masterpiece youll certainly cherish. Today, the autoevolution pages are honored with the presence of yet another precious wonder bred on Unikats premises.In its previous life, the bike youre seeing here was a standard R 18 from BMW Motorrads range. This bad boy is put in motion thanks to an air- and oil-cooled boxer-twin leviathan, with eight valves and an astronomical displacement of 1,802cc. At around 4,750 rpm, the Bavarian monstrosity is fully capable of generating up to 91 wicked horses, while a brutal torque output of no less than 116 pound-feet (158 Nm) will be spawned at 3,000 spins.When the donor rolled into Grzegorz Korczaks Wroclaw-based workshop, his team began by replacing R 18 's original wheels with a pair of aftermarket alternatives, which measure 21 inches up front and 18 inches at the rear. Their rims are firmly embraced by top-shelf ME 888 tires from Metzelers catalog.Furthermore, the stock fenders have been discarded to make way for Unikats one-off items, as were the handlebars and foot pegs. The cockpit is adorned with an assortment of Motogadget goodies, including underslung glassless mirrors and m-Blaze bar-end turn signals. With these modules in place, the Poles proceeded to remove the standard seat in favor of a cross-stitched solo saddle that manages to look seriously classy.If you ask me, R 18s chunky mufflers were its ugliest characteristic, so Ill applaud Polands moto experts for attending to this by installing their very own bespoke exhaust. The finishing touches come in the forms of CNC-machined Unikat badges and a fresh license plate holder with integrated LEDs. All things considered, wed say this predator is certainly a lot sexier than a stock R 18.
Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, which limited access to various spaces, the IAA 2021 had 400,000 participants from ninety-five countries. Statistics show that almost two-thirds of participants, or 67 percent if we want to be exact, were under the age of 40.According to the organizers, the IAA 2021 Mobility Show had 744 exhibitors and 936 speakers from 32 countries. From previous experience at auto shows , we can say that nobody got to listen to all the speakers, but that is normal for an event like this.The VDA representatives consider that 400,000 visitors in just six days is a fantastic result. For reference, the IAA 2019 , held in Frankfurt, had 560,000 visitors over a larger period, while the 2017 edition of the same event had 810,000 visitors. Back then, Frankfurt had the largest auto show held in Europe if we looked at the exhibition surface.Despite the international travel restrictions, the IAA 2021 had 32 percent more visitors per day than the average number of daily visitors of the last IAA held in Frankfurt. Mind you, back then people could travel without restriction, so money and individual schedule were the only limits.Since January 2020, the VDA had decided on moving the IAA Show to Munich. The organizers were not affected by the pandemic because the event in Frankfurt was held alternatively with the Paris Auto Show. Last year, we were supposed to get a new edition of the Paris car exhibition, but it was canceled due to the virus that turned the world uspide down.The IAA 2021 brought a new city, Munich, which was the host of a new kind of event. Instead of just placing everything in an exhibition center and having everyone gather there, IAA 2021 introduced the city as an exhibition space for over one-fifth of the exhibition area.An internal survey conducted with visitor input revealed that eighty-six percent of visitors graded the concept of the IAA 2021 Mobility Show as either good or very good. That is excellent news for the organizers.Visitors have appreciated the mix of exhibitors along with the opportunity to try out innovative designs on site. It is no wonder that over 7,000 test drives were booked during the event. At this point, you should know that the IAA 2023 will start on September 5, 2023, and will be held until September 10, 2023. The event will take place in the Bavarian city, just like this year's edition.
Theres a reason why not many are brave enough to attempt to reinvent the wheel: doing it is a complicated, challenging and lengthy process. When it comes to tires, though, Michelin is happy to report progress on its revolutionary airless tire, Uptis.

10 photos
NHTSA

ADAS

AV

Either you proactively self-regulate and over-deliver on safety so you can develop with minimal regulation.



Or you force the hands of regulators to codify safety and make R&D harder for the entire industry when your tech inevitably contributes to harming people.



Easy choice. https://t.co/S91SJAObH4  Mahmood Hikmet (@MoodyHikmet) September 14, 2021

Apart from data from the vehicles that present such systems,also wants the companies to let the agency know about complaints, field reports, reports involving crashes with injury or deaths, property damage claims, arbitrations, and lawsuits related toThe list is very long, and it shows the level of detail NHTSA needs to look at to assess how safely these companies are pursuing such systems. In other words, the accidents involving Autopilot brought scrutiny not only on what Tesla is doing, but to the industry as a whole. That may lead to more stringent rules for using ADAS, and even forbidding some of them to work on public roads.On the other hand, the comparison can be really detrimental to Tesla. If these other automakers show that they are deploying such systems with a proper level of care  with few or no crashes with emergency vehicles or regular ones  Teslas 11 cases will make it look terrible compared to them.As Mahmood Hikmet put it in a recent tweet, automakers have two choices regarding autonomous driving researches, and he knows what he is talking about. Theresearcher made a great video about Teslas approach to the technology that you must have watched already. In case you didnt, click here to fix that The two choices Hikmet mentioned are to proactively self-regulate  keeping regulators at ease, sure that you are being cautious enough  or force the hands in these tests. In this last case, you give regulators no option but to impose stricter rules that can delay or even hamper the development of new technologies. As obvious as it seems, the investigation on Tesla shows the company picked the second choice. We may soon see the results for that method.
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NEDC

The ET7 will be NIOs firstmodel to go on sale in Germany and will join the ES8in Europe, with the latter set to reach its first customers in Norway sometime this month. The Chinese brand is also looking to export the ET7 to Norway next year, although German buyers will likely have to wait some more until they can order the ES8 SUV for themselves, reports Electrek Entering Germany is the objective that were striving for. Interest is very high with many requests from potential users there. Our target is to have ET7 in Germany by the end of 2022, said NIO founder and CEO, William Li.You can already pre-order the ET7 in China, where it will likely go on sale in Q1 of 2022. Sales in Germany should follow suite, with deliveries estimated to take place in Q4 of 2022. As of right now, were not sure just how much youll have to pay for the ET7 in Germany. We do however know that the 70-version will be priced at around 488,000 yuan in China, which is roughly $69,000 (59,000).Outside of the base model, theres also a mid-spec ET7 version with a 100-kWh battery pack, enabling a range of up to 435 miles (700 km). Meanwhile, the flagship 150-kWh model should be good for 621 miles (1,000 km) before having to recharge  as perstandards.As for straight line performance, the ET7s 644 hp (653 ps) electric drivetrain also produces 627 lb-ft (850 Nm) of torque, which altogether will get you from zero to 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.9 seconds.
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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!!????



Met our first batch, inspiring to see their passion!https://t.co/ukO7aYI5Hh pic.twitter.com/7WSNmflKsd  Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) September 13, 2021

The company is led by Bhavish Aggarwal, and its the e-mobility wing of the ride-hailing startup Ola. And the vision for his latest associated venture aims to create a clean mobility, a carbon-negative footprint, and an inclusive workforce, he says. Aggarwal, an Indian entrepreneur, is the co-founder and CEO of the ridesharing company Ola Cabs. He founded the company with his friend Ankit Bhati in December 2010.And the first of the staff began work this week at the production facility in Krishnagiri, India. The factory is located some 2.5 hours southeast of Bangalore, and Aggarwal says the Futurefactory will require approximately $330 million to build.At full capacity, Futurefactory will employ over 10,000 women, making it the worlds largest women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally, Aggarwal wrote.Currently a line of e-scooters which are generating an online buzz are produced at the Ola mega factory. The S1 and S1 Pro electric scooters are targeted to both the domestic Indian market and soon, for international export markets.The Ola S1 and S1 Pro are interesting in that they promise considerably better speed performance than other comparably-sized electric scooters. Its the price that seems astonishing - and it very well might make those models sales hits globally. According to Ola, pricing starts at approximately $1,350 USD and and say reservations have been open since September 8th and the compan expects deliveries to begin in October.Featuring an 8.5electric motor, the S1 model is said to produce a top speed of 56 mph (90 kph), and the S1 Pro is advertised to achieve a top speed of 71 mph (115 kph). The power is supplied from a banana-shaped battery pack stored beneath the riders feet. That battery provides 3of capacity and 75 miles (121 km) of range. As you may imagine, the top-of-the-line S1 Pro requires an amped-up 4 kWh capacity and offers slightly more range at 112 mi (181 km) on a single charge.While the batteries are not removable, Ola says they can be swapped out in just 30 minutes and that they can be fully recharged in just 18 minutes via the Ola quick charger to provide 46 miles (75 km) of range. An overnight charge with a 750W portable charger takes just 4.5 hours on the S1 - 6.5 hours on the S1 Pro.Backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, Ola Electric is aiming to produce a completed scooter every two seconds following this planned expansion. Including the 10,000 female production workers, the factory will also include 3,000 robots on the lines.
After the end of the Second World War, the automotive market in the U.S. was beginning to show its first signs of recovery. However, Detroits biggest companies were in no hurry to release a new model which left the door open for smaller, independent manufacturers This is where we meet Preston Tucker, the visionary figure behind the legendary sedan that bore his name. The man who had spent a huge chunk of his professional career working in the automotive industry decided it would be the perfect time to introduce his masterpiece to the world.The first design debuted in Science Illustrated magazine in December 1946 and showcased a futuristic version of the car along with a photo of a scale model titled "Torpedo on Wheels". It was actually called Tucker Torpedo, but to avoid reminding people of the war, it was ultimately renamed after the model year that was targeted for its release.

That month, famed stylist Alex Tremulis was hired and given six days to come up with a production-worthy design. Tremulis achieved the impossible and just three months later, in the spring of 1947, Tucker commissioned a couple of full-page advertisements in many important newspapers announcing, the car of tomorrow.

Publicly unveiled in the summer of 1947, the 48 was a pioneering vehicle the likes of which the industry had never seen.Lets start with the imposing body, the work of no less than nine of the eras brightest designers. While it didnt look drastically different from the sedans being built in the U.S at the time, it was a stunning combination of curved shapes and swooping lines that made it stand out from the crowd.Apart from the six tailpipes, the most recognizable feature was a third headlight mounted in the middle of the front fascia that could light the car's path around corners at steering angles greater than 10 degrees. This technology was first introduced on the Czechoslovakian Tatra 77 in 1935 but only became mainstream in the auto industry several decades later.The Tucker 48 was also a pioneering vehicle in terms of safety. For increased crash protection, an innovative perimeter frame design was employed, years before other carmakers recognized its potential. Moreover, a roll bar was integrated into the roof and the steering box was placed behind the front axle to protect the driver in the event of a front-end collision. Even the windshield was ahead of its time, being constructed from shatterproof glass and designed to pop out during a collision.Safety-oriented elements were also present inside the cabin where the dashboard was fully padded and the instrument panel along with all the controls were placed within easy reach of the steering wheel.There was no conventional glove box on the passenger side. Instead, storage compartments were integrated into the doors and the padded area around the dash and footwell (called a crash chamber) was reinforced to protect the occupant.It was also one of the first cars of its era to use a four-wheel independent suspension system albeit, unlike modern systems, it employed a rubber block sandwiched between the upper and lower A-arms or rubber torsion tubes instead of coil springs.Preston Tucker proposed several other innovations that were unfortunately abandoned during the development process. Among them, the most important were disc brakes, magnesium wheels , or self-sealing tubeless tires, all of which became indispensable for the industry decades later.The ambitious entrepreneur initially tried to develop a revolutionary aircraft-inspired engine for his Torpedo. It was a 200-hp, 589 ci (9.65-liter) flat-six `with hemispherical combustion chambers, a fuel injection system, and oil pressure-operated overhead valves instead of a conventional camshaft. Although several prototypes were eventually built, the powerplant didnt make it into production since it was never tuned to perfection. With time and funds running out, the company abandoned this project and opted for an O-335 made by Aircooled Motors (previously Franklin Engine Company), a company they acquired in 1947 for $1.8 million.Developed for the Bell 47 helicopter, the unit was the closest Tucker could get to his initial plan. After his engineers ran extensive modifications to make it feasible for automotive use, the 334 ci (5.4-liter) ended up making a solid 166 hp. More importantly, it proved to be extremely reliable after being subjected to countless hours of intense testing.While the engine itself wasnt as innovative as initially planned, it was positioned at the rear and fed power through an adapted version of a Cord 810 four-speed manual named the Tucker Y-1, or a unique continuously variable transmission called the "Tuckermatic". Thus, it should have been the first rear-wheel-drive passenger car with a rear-mounted engine mass-produced in the U.S., a decade before the Chevrolet Corvair was introduced.As you can see, the Tucker 48 had an overwhelming number of pioneering features which had to be perfected in a little over a year. Unfortunately, that never happened, and the early models released in 1947 and 1948 failed to live up to what was initially advertised. The media tore into the Tucker Corporation, a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation turned into a trial, losses began piling up and mass-production failed to commerce. The company never recovered and was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1949.Including the prototypes, only 51 Tucker 48s were completed, of which 47 survive to this day. In August 2010, chassis number 1045 sold for $1.1 million, while the record-holder is the number 1043 which sold for $2.9 million at a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2012.Those of you who would like to know more about this fantastic car should watch the 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges, it tells the full story of Preston Tucker and his pioneering sedan.You can also watch the 2013 episode of Jay Lenos Garage featured below where Tucker Club historian and restorer Martyn Donaldson showcases chassis number 1003.
While the race competition is getting tighter and people have the unprecedented opportunity to actually buy tickets to space (as long as they can afford it), tourism here on Earth is still booming. Before exploring uncharted territory, people still want to indulge in the beauty this planet has to offer. And, if theyre able to do so in the most luxurious setting available, even better. Richard Branson s hotel in Kenya is precisely the embodiment of these two concepts: high-class accommodation and direct contact with the wilderness, in all its beauty. Actually, its a 12-tented safari camp placed right in the private Olare Motorogi Conservancy, part of the wider Maasai Mara ecosystem. Called Mahali Mzuri, which means beautiful place in Swahili, this unique safari camp integrates luxurious tents right in the middle of nature and offers spectacular game drives twice per day.Its not surprising, then, that it was voted Worlds Best Hotel in 2021, by the Travel & Leisure readers. Rated based on location, facilities, service, food and overall value, Mahali Mzuri won many hearts and made it to the top position, out of 100 hotels. Voters apparently raved about this places luxurious features, communion with nature and excellent service.Part of the Virgin Limited Edition collection , Mahali Mzuri can accommodate maximum of 24 guests at a time, which makes it very intimate. Each of the luxurious tents feature a private deck, an ensuite bathroom and can be configured with king or twin beds. Guests get to enjoy incredible game drives, with all meals and drinks included, and access to wireless internet and laundry service.Of course, staying at the worlds best hotel doesnt come cheap. Tickets during high season can go as high as $1,520 per night, for one person. But thats certainly more reasonable compared to a ticket to space.
That changes this week, thanks to a single photo released recently by the U.S. Air Force ( USAF ). It shows a single B-2 on the tarmac at Keflavik Air Base in Iceland, one of three such planes assigned to the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to have traveled to the European country back in August to be part of a forward operation there. A perfect fit for our Photo of the Day section, and a great opportunity to bring the plane into the spotlight.The B-2 Spirit by its full name, the aircraft designed by Northrop Grumman is described as a key component of the nations long-range strike arsenal and one of the most survivable aircraft in the world.Its a heavy strategic bomber that can fly virtually undetected by enemy installations, designed to look like a flying wing of sorts, a shape that makes it unique in the skies of the world.Powering it are no less than four General Electric non-afterburning turbofans that can take the plane to speeds of 560 mph (900 kph) and altitudes of 40,000 feet (12,000 meters). The bomber has a range of 6,900 miles (11,000 km), being capable of striking deep inside enemy territory, using either conventional bombs, or if need be no less than 16 nuclear ones.Luckily, the plane has been used so far solely for conventional bombing. Its first combat mission took place during Operation Allied Force over Kosovo in the late 1990s, flying just 1 percent of the total missions, but destroying 33 percent of all targets in the eight weeks of the war.The B-2 also holds the record for longest air combat mission in history. It happened in 2001, when a number of them flew for 44 hours over Afghanistan.
The new Rex MK II is a great example of versatility. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)s newest unmanned land platform is able to not only provide logistical support, but also gather intelligence and even conduct attacks. This multi-mission robot vehicle was designed as the perfect support system for infantry ground forces.Built with an electric hybrid system that enables a range of up to 300 km (186 miles), the Rex MK II can also carry up to 1.3 tons of payload. This makes it a real asset when it comes to delivering munition supplies, critical medical equipment, as well as water and food, during combat. Thanks to the high payload, it can serve not just as a supply-carrier, but also as an emergency vehicle for evacuating injured personnel.When it comes to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, the Rex MK II can help provide critical information, thanks to its situational awareness system that integrates radars and electro-optical sensors. This unmanned vehicle can also become lethal when it has to. A 7.62 mm machine gun and caliber 0.50 heavy machine gun are part of the remotely-controlled weapons system that enables Rex to carry out attacks.IAI representatives have stated that theres a growing demand for unmanned land platforms. The companys Land Division range also includes a border patrol automatic vehicle, one that can detect and destroy ground level and subterranean explosive devices, a bulldozer for military engineering in high-risk zones, and a robot vehicle for complex missions in challenging conditions.Rex MK II is the newest addition to this range, which is already being sold to defense customers around the world. IAI will make the official presentation of this new robot vehicle at the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London, taking place between September 14 and September 17, 2021.
The Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV) filed the suit last year, claiming that Uber is an employer and the 4,000 drivers working for the ride-hailing company in Amsterdam are its employees, not contractors, thus they should be treated accordingly.With this victory of the FNV, drivers working for Uber will receive better wages, as well as more rights, in case of an illness or if they are let go.Uber countered stating that it is just a technology platform connecting customers with taxi drivers. But the Court of Amsterdam had a different take on the matter, deciding that the legal relationship between Uber and the drivers meets all the characteristics of an employment contract. What that means is that all the drivers who have personally connected with the service and have transported passengers through the Uber app are covered by the Collective Labor Agreement for taxi Transport.Moreover, the American-based company has to pay a 50,000 fine in compensation.Uber is not pleased with the decision and is determined to stand its ground, announcing it has no plans to employ drivers in the Netherland. Maurits Schonfeld, Uber's general manager for Northern Europe, states that this is a disappointing decision because the majority of drivers want to remain independent and have the freedom to choose if, where and when they work, as quoted by Reuters . It is why Uber plans to appeal the courts decision, ensuring at the same time that nothing is going to change for drivers who use its app.This isnt the first time Uber has lost a lawsuit in Europe. The ride-hailing company was also defeated in the U.K. where it lost in front of the supreme court back in February. That led Uber to recognize a U.K. trade union for the first time, back in spring.
One of the limitations of todays warships is that they are still dependent on ports, whenever theres a need for specific equipment, like the type required for disaster relief, or supplies. In order to make ships more versatile, no matter their size, the Royal Navy is developing a concept called Persistent Operational Deployment Systems (PODS).These interchangeable modules that would look like shipping containers, could be transported and then fitted to ships, so that the vessels could be re-tasked as fast as possible, without having to go to a port. Heavy-lift drones and autonomous boats would be used to deliver these large PODS to the ships. The PODS would mainly be used for carrying essential assets during combat, but they could also double as medical rooms for crews at sea.This is just one of the concepts outlined in the Royal Navy s vision for the future, which also includes an autonomous fleet program thats meant to transform navy operations for the next 50 years. The program stemmed from a design challenge for young engineers at UK Naval Engineering Science and Technology (UKNEST), a forum dedicated to naval defense development.Some of the ideas that were brought to the forefront include autonomous fast attack crafts that can hide smaller uncrewed boats , underwater transport units for supplies and munition, aircraft carriers that use a combination of biofuel and renewable power, as well as an underwater flagship at the center of the future autonomous fleet.The Royal Navy is determined to turn concepts like these into reality, and it seems like its got the funds to do it. In November 2020, the British Prime Minister announced a 24 billion ($33 billion) boost, across four years, for the military  presented as the largest defense budget increase since the Cold War.
These are not the first smart swimming glasses ever to be released, but they are a tough competitor to beat, thanks to their rich features and impressive battery life.The Holoswim come with an OLED holographic display that offers you all the important swimming metrics in real-time. These include the distance, pace and time, helping you monitor your sessions.Chinese-based company Guangli, the developer of the Holoswim, describes them as being able to combine the real world with the virtual one, with the help of AR (augmented reality) diffractive light waveguide technology.In addition to offering all the important metrics, the goggles come with a dedicated mobile app that allows you to keep tabs on your past swims, analyze your results and create customized training sessions. Moreover, you will even get notifications on your goggles when you receive a phone call. Granted though, you cant take the call while youre in the pool, but it is a useful feature nevertheless. Swimmers have to be within a 16-ft (5 m) range for this feature to work.The app is compatible with both Android and iOS.Available in seven colors, the Holoswim goggles are made of comfortable silicone and come with an adjustable band. They fit both men and women of all ages and have an IPX8 rating, making them suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, in pools and open waters. Their only limitation is the fact that you cant use them for diving The way the smart goggles work is by having a waterproof electronic module integrated and a couple of buttons on the side.One of the most noteworthy characteristics of the goggles is their long-lasting battery life. They pack a 150mAh battery that has a range of over 10 hours of use, meaning around 500 round trips in an Olympic pool of 164 ft (50 m). You can easily recharge the battery via magnetic charging.Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, the Holoswim goggles have already managed to reach the goal of $2,570, with over $5,600 raised so far, even though the campaign has just been launched. There are still 40 days to go.You can get the goggles for a pledge of $88, with the estimated delivery date being December 2021.
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Secretary of State Tony Blinken will hold a virtual meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords.

Why it matters: This is the most active and public show of support by the Biden administration for the agreements, which were President Trumps landmark foreign policy achievement.

Behind the scenes: Israeli, Emirati and Bahraini officials were pressing the Biden administration for the last two months to hold some kind of commemoration. Officials from the three countries tell Axios the Biden administration was non-committal and only in recent days suggested holding the virtual meeting.

The event will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords and discuss ways to further deepen ties and build a more prosperous region," a senior State Department official told me.

Flashback: The Abraham Accords were signed on Sep. 15, 2020 at the White House by former President Trump, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain.

The accords included the normalization of relations between Israel and the two Gulf states.

The next month, Israel and Sudan announced they would normalize relations.

Then in December, after the U.S. elections, Morocco renewed diplomatic relations with Israel in return for the U.S. recognizing the disputed Western Sahara as part of Morocco.

The big picture: Biden supported the Abraham Accords as a presidential candidate and reiterated his support after assuming office. But the Biden administration was reluctant to use the term Abraham Accords, which was directly connected to Trumps legacy.

Still, the Biden administration took several steps to stabilize the agreements, including by allowing a deal to sell F-35 fighter jets to the UAE to go through and by maintaining Trump's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty in the Western Sahara

The Biden administration also followed through on a $700 million aid package to Sudan promised by Trump as part of the normalization deal with Israel.

What's next: The Biden administration is still working to finalize the Israel-Sudan agreement and to organize an official signing ceremony, as the Sudanese have requested. Administration officials say they're also working to convince more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel.

Worth noting: Principal deputy assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs Yael Lampert attended a ceremony on Tuesday hosted by the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace, which was founded by Jared Kushner and former U.S. envoy Avi Berkowitz, who brokered the deals.
Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro has joined the State Department's Iran team as a senior adviser, a senior State Department official tells Axios.

Why it matters: Israel is pressing the Biden administration to start discussing a Plan B in case diplomacy with Iran fails. Shapiro, who has a personal relationship with many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, is equipped to play a key role in any such talks. His portfolio will be the regional aspects of the Iranian issue and coordination with Israel.

State of play: Indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran about a possible mutual return to the 2015 nuclear deal were suspended after the Iranian elections in June. It's unclear if and when they'll resume.

The new Iranian president and senior members of his government signaled they'd take a tougher line than their predecessors, restarting negotiations from zero.

That led many Israeli and U.S. officials to think that a return to the 2015 deal, which was canceled by President Trump, is less likely at the moment.

Israel is concerned this limbo will allow Iran to make even more progress in its nuclear program. It wants to urgently put together a joint strategy with the U.S. to counter Iran.

The prime minister unveiled what he called a "death-by-a-thousand-cuts strategy during his meeting Friday with President Biden. The president said that if diplomacy with Iran fails, he's ready to consider other options.

Driving the news: Shapiro went through a security clearance process and started working last week as a part-time senior adviser to U.S. envoy for Iran Rob Malley, a senior State Department official told Axios.

Shapiro was in Washington ahead of the Biden-Bennett meeting and advised the State Department on several issues, though he did not meet the Israeli delegation, a source familiar with the issue said.

State Department officials say Shapiro will spend half of his time in Washington and half in Israel, where he'll work out of the U.S. embassy.

One of his main missions will be to engage in discussions with the Israeli prime ministers office, foreign ministry and ministry of defense to enhance coordination and allow a more intimate dialogue about Iran.

Be smart: In recent months, Shapiros name came up in several press reports as a possible U.S. special envoy for promoting normalization between Israel and the Arab world.

The president and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they want to push forward normalization but havent decided if they want to appoint a special envoy.

Between the lines: In December 2020, after Biden was elected, Shapiro wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post stressing the U.S. and Israel must enter into a close dialogue.

He recommended drafting a joint strategy on Iran and avoiding a public fight like when the initial nuclear deal was completed in 2015.

What they are saying: A senior State Department official told Axios that Malley recruited Shapiro as part of his commitment to receiving a broad range of views about Iran. Although he supported the 2015 deal, Shapiro takes a more centrist approach to Iran.

Dans experience and knowledge of the region and the fact that people in the region know him will help us in thinking about the regional aspects of the Iranian issue and will contribute a lot to our coordination with Israel," the State Department official told Axios.

Whats next: Malley is going to add more advisers to his team in the coming weeks to expand it and integrate more experts with divergent views on Iran.
The Biden administration is quietly pressuring India to restart vaccine exports with plans to offer a higher-profile role for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an upcoming COVID-19 global summit in New York if he agrees to release vaccines soon, sources with direct knowledge of the high-level discussions told Axios.

Why it matters: India is the world's biggest vaccine maker. In March, Modi halted exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine  one of the cheapest on the market  because the virus was ravaging his own population.

Convincing Modi to renew his vaccine supply to the world  through the global vaccination organization COVAX  is an important part of the Biden administration's strategy to mitigate the international spread of the virus.

Vaccinating as much of the developing world, as quickly as possible, is in America's vital interest, because the uncontrolled spread of the virus inevitably produces more dangerous variants.

An administration official acknowledged discussing vaccine exports but denied they're tied to Modi's upcoming participation.

"We have regularly been communicating with [the] government of India in bilateral and multilateral channels to discuss vaccine supply and inquire about timeline for exports, and these conversations are not tied to a specific summit or engagement," the U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity.

The backstory: The U.S. itself effectively banned its own vaccine exports for months until it had enough supply for all Americans. It's also reserved hundreds of millions of doses for boosters, complicating its position as a proponent of dose-sharing.

Modi's government faced internal criticism for allowing millions of doses to be exported before the emergence of a second wave it failed to anticipate.

Now, six months later, more than half of India's eligible population has received at least one shot, according to official data, making it more palatable to resume exports.

Behind the lines: Biden officials understand vaccine diplomacy is a delicate subject with the Indians. In internal meetings, high-ranking Biden officials decided to take a soft approach to Modi.

Biden plans to host a COVID-19 summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings next week, with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy hinting the president will make some new announcements ahead of the summit.

Biden aides decided against trying to strong-arm Modi by conditioning his participation on his willingness to release vaccines to COVAX. He'll be welcomed regardless of his decision, according to one of the sources.

Modi also has been invited to a White House summit on Sept. 24 along with the leaders of Japan and Australia.

The big picture: COVAX, the UN-backed program aimed at addressing coronavirus vaccine inequality, has struggled to reach its goals.

Last week, it announced it expected to have only 1.425 billion doses available at the end of this year, down from the 1.9 billion the organization expected it would have in an estimate provided in June.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been critical of wealthier nations like the United States for prioritizing booster shots ahead of increasing initial donations for residents in lower-income nations.

The United States has already donated 140 million doses and pledged to purchase 500 million doses from Pfizer for COVAX distribution, a White House official said.

Go deeper: Officials want countries participating in the summit to pledge that COVAX should be the main vehicle to distribute vaccines.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Monday that terrorist groups operating in Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Iraq currently pose a greater threat to the U.S. homeland than those in Afghanistan.

Why it matters: The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has prompted new warnings from military and intelligence officials about the possibility that al-Qaeda will reconstitute.

But as top Biden officials have repeatedly warned, the terror threat has "metastasized" to the point that militant groups based in Afghanistan are no longer the top threat facing the U.S.

Al-Qaeda's offshoot in Yemen, al-Shabaab in Somalia, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria  though it has been severely degraded in recent years  are among the terrorist groups that are currently higher on the U.S. priority list.

ISIS-K, an offshoot of the Islamic State responsible for the bombing at Kabul's airport that killed 13 U.S. service-members and scores of Afghan civilians, is viewed as the top threat in Afghanistan.

What they're saying: "In terms of the homeland, the threat right now from terrorist groups, we dont prioritize at the top of the list Afghanistan, Haines said at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit. "What we look at is Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Iraq for ISIS. And thats where we see the greatest threat."

Haines stressed, however, that the U.S. "will want to monitor any possible reconstitution of terrorist organizations" in Afghanistan, and acknowledged that the Taliban's takeover has made counterterrorism more challenging.

"Our intelligence collection is diminished and that is something that we have to prepare for and that we have been preparing for, frankly, quite some time," she said.

Go deeper: Red flags for Biden's "over-the-horizon" counterterrorism strategy
The 25,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab were delivered to Yerevans Zvartnots airport and handed over to the Armenian Ministry of Health in the presence of French diplomats.

French President Emmanuel Macron touted the shipment on his Twitter and Facebook pages. Macron cited his August 3 pledge to provide 200,000 doses of vaccines to Armenia.

The rest of the deliveries will continue tomorrow and in the weeks to come in coordination with the Armenian authorities, read a statement released by the French Embassy in Yerevan. France stands with Armenia in dealing with the pandemic.

Armenia received earlier this month 187,000 and 27,500 doses of the same vaccine from Belgium and Lithuania respectively.

The donations are significant for the country of about 3 million where only about 336,000 vaccine shots were administered as of September 12. Fewer than 122,000 of its residents have been fully vaccinated since the launch of the Armenian governments immunization campaign in April, according to the Ministry of Health.

The campaign has been seriously hampered by widespread vaccine hesitancy. In a bid to accelerate it, Health Minister Anahit Avanesian decided late last month to require virtually all public and private sector employees refusing vaccination to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense.

Avanesian defended last week the unpopular measure effective from October 1. She said Armenians not complying with it should not only face heavy fines but also risk losing their jobs.

The daily number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has been slowly but steadily rising since June. The Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday morning 657 new cases and 21 coronavirus-related deaths.
Also, Gagik Jahangirian again denied allegations that he is pressuring courts to allow arrests of opposition members and make other decisions sought by the Armenian government.

Jahangirian, who is widely regarded as a figure loyal to the government, was installed by Armenias former parliament as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in January. The supposedly independent body nominates judges, monitors their integrity and can also dismiss judges.

In April, the SJC chairman, Ruben Vartazarian, was controversially suspended and charged with obstruction of justice after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians political allies accused him of encouraging courts to free arrested government critics.

Vartazarian denies the accusations. He has said the authorities ordered the criminal proceedings to replace him with Jahangirian. The latter was named as acting head of the SJC pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

In recent months Armenian courts have approved virtually all arrest warrants issued by law-enforcement authorities for opposition figures prosecuted on various charges rejected by them as politically motivated. Three of those oppositionists were arrested after being elected to the current parliament in June.

Jahangirian faced tough questions opposition lawmakers on Tuesday as he appeared before the National Assembly to present the SJCs candidates for a vacant seat in Armenias Court of Cassation. They accused him of pressuring and intimidating judges. He denied that.

Aregnaz Manukian, a deputy from the main opposition Hayastan bloc, also grilled Jahangirian about the origin of his familys expensive properties. She specifically challenged him to explain how he had managed to build a villa in one of Yerevans richest neighborhoods while working as a senior prosecutor earning a relatively modest salary.

Jahangirian said the villa currently rented by the Iraqi Embassy in Armenia is very modest compared to surrounding mansions. May the Iraqi Embassy staff forgive me for working in such bad conditions, he said.

Jahangirian claimed that he built the villa with proceeds from the sale of another house where he and his family lived until 2003. He said he had built that three-story house in the center of Yerevan after selling in 1989 the familys 3-bedroom apartment located in a city suburb.

Manukian was unconvinced. You are one of the lucky few to have managed to sell a 3-bedroom apartment and build a huge house in the famous Yerevan neighborhood, she said with sarcasm.

Jahangirian also appeared to confirm the opposition lawmakers claim that his son acquired a luxury apartment in downtown Yerevan, worth over $600,000, after he took over the SJC in April. But he linked the acquisition to the fact that that the latter is married to a daughter of Khachatur Sukiasian, a wealthy businessman and parliamentarian representing Pashinians Civil Contract party.

That apartment block was built by a brother of my in-law Khachatur Sukiasian, he said. So they [the Sukiasian brothers] either gave or did not give that money. I have no idea. Ask them.

Jahangirian announced in early August that the judicial watchdog has drafted legislation aimed at purging courts of people who have committed crimes against justice. The 66-year-old official himself was accused by civic groups of covering up crimes and committing human rights abuses when he served as Armenias chief military prosecutor from 1997-2006.
The Armenian governments press office gave few details of their talks held in Yerevan. In a statement, it cited Pashinian as saying that the government is committed to deepening its mutually beneficial cooperation with Gazprom, Armenias principal supplier of natural gas.

The statement said Miller briefed Pashinian on his companys investment and social programs in the country. The interlocutors discussed the state of Russian-Armenian cooperation in the area of energy and prospects for its development, it added without elaborating.

Gazprom issued an even shorter statement on the meeting. It said the two men discussed key issues of that cooperation.

It was not clear if the price of Russian gas supplied to Armenia was on the agenda of the talks. Gazprom raised it by 10 percent, to $165 per thousand cubic meters, in January 2019 and has kept it unchanged since then.

Yerevan urged the Russians last year to cut the wholesale price, arguing that that global energy prices have collapsed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Pashinian raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But they failed to reach any agreements.

International energy prices have rallied strongly this year amid renewed economic growth around the world. In June, Gazprom raised its average gas export price for European countries to $240 per thousand cubic meters.

The Reuters news agency reported that spot prices in the Dutch TTF gas hub reached as much as $800 per thousand cubic meters on Tuesday amid low levels of underground gas storage in Europe.
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You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @idesai98 on Twitter.
Above the Beaches: Interstellar Moments of Oregon Coast

Published 09/12/21 at 6:26 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast)  We are not alone in this universe. We're not necessarily talking about aliens here: just look up at night and see the endless number of other suns, many of which have other worlds circling about them. We're not the only planet in that massive tangle of bright lights, and by far and away not the only rocky home with a sun.

In between us and the great, black expanse of space are some engaging sights, especially if seen from the walloping beauty of these beaches. On the Oregon coast, nighttime can yield some truly jolting moments from above, in the form of interstellar phenomena to that which is meteorological.

Oregon Coast Beach Connection managed to capture more than a few over the years.

On a winter's eve in Depoe Bay several years back, the moon took on this striking glow. It's a moon halo, caused by ice crystals high in the atmosphere, then refracting out in all directions in a literal rainbow of colors. It's harder to see here on camera because the brightness of the halo blows out the details, but there were a variety of colors surrounding the glowing edges and mixed in.

These things tend to take up enormous chunks of the sky, so vast you have to move your eyes around considerably. It's pictured here above the Whale Watching Center and the adjenct viewpoint, the headquarters for whale watching on the Oregon coast.

Such phenomena can be a weather predictor, indicating colder weather on its way. On this particular day it had been rather warm and sunny on the central coast, but the following day proved much chillier and damper.

Back in 2010, quite the stunning lunar eclipse happened in Oregon. This night was not very cooperative on the coast, however, with lots of clouds blocking the way. Luckily, there were breaks in the cover. Oregon Coast Beach Connection cameras started out in Cannon Beach, where things were actually a little stormy. However, moving southward to a little less cloud cover in Manzanita, the result was this fuzzy but interesting moment.

More interstellar fun happened in Manzaninta a few years later, this time a bit of a shocker. Testing the camera exposures for other nighttime subject matter yielded this awe-inspiring streak. Speaking to OMSI's Jim Todd, it turned out likely not what was hoped: not a meteor. Instead, Todd said this was an iridium flare rather than a meteor, which  back then  was actually rarer. This is when an orbiting satellite briefly glints in sunlight as it passes over.

Now, that sight has gone with all iridium satellites replaced by orbiting objects of other materials.

In yet another night in Manzanita: the stars were thick, omnipresent and even overwhelming. Take a look just above Neahkahnie: the faint colorations are hints of the Northern Lights. Glorious.

Way back on July 1 of 2015, sky watchers got to witness a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, the closest they would be to each other for another year. On the Oregon coast, it was particularly fascinating.





In Seaside, they were a little ways above the horizon, poking through occasional cloud cover, and in one case, seen just above the volleyball nets on the beach. Two searing, bright dots in the darkening colors of dusk.

Down around Manzanita, from the Neahkahnie Viewpoints, they were seen dipping down into the horizon.

Venus was at a magnitude of -4 and Jupiter with a magnitude of -2, falling in line with Venus' usual M.O. of being the brightest object in the sky.

At the time, Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection Venus is so bright because it has thick clouds of carbon dioxide that reflect nearly 70% of the sunlight that reaches it back into space.

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Lost Mysteries of South Oregon Coast: Gold, Meteorite, Ruins

Published 09/12/21 at 6:26 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Gold Beach, Oregon)  Mysteries along the Oregon coast abound, especially in the region's long and often disjointed history. Shipwrecks are long forgotten and their accounts now like jigsaw puzzles, World War II relics lie scattered around or disappeared entirely, and sometimes even the origins of town names are murky and unclear.(Above: Port Orford, courtesy Manuela Durson - see Manuela Durson Fine Arts)

Yet some things are more lost than others, particularly if you look to the south Oregon coast. In this truly rugged stretch, some thought-provoking legends remain: rumors and mysteries of gold, an ancient city and even a chunk of something from space.

Legend of the Lost City Near Gold Beach

One truly bizarre legend out of the south Oregon coast comes from near Gold Beach in the Floras Creek area, according to the Curry County Historical Society. In 1881, one local newspaper (it's unclear which) ran a story about the discovery of ruins of an ancient city. Various mounds were covering up what were found to be remnants of ancient buildings, cut out of stone, and often lying on their sides after being tipped over.

The newspaper didn't appear to mention who was involved in the findings, just that excavations were being done and that more and more mounds were giving way to other buildings. There was no discussion about how old these were, either  certainly not what ancient meant.

Supposedly, a storm uprooting a large tree led to the exposure of some piece of building from below.

The paper also describes another find nearby of what appeared to be a mining ditch on a hillside in this spot, with a walled-up section at one end made of the same materials and masonry style of the ruins.

None of this carries any real credibility, of course. The end of the article touts how newspaper personnel will visit the place again soon, but thereafter the historical society notes no mention was ever made of it again. No exact location was given, either.

Whatever that was, it's a tiny oddball footnote in south Oregon coast history.

Port Orford Meteorite





About 1859, just as Oregon became a state, a government geologist named Dr. John Evans found some odd rocks about 40 miles east of Port Orford, and sent them off to Dr. Charles Jackson in New York. He concluded it was like nothing of this Earth, with a network of metals inside, including mostly iron but nine percent nickel.

It caused an immediate sensation, getting the name of Port Orford Meteorite, and coaxing Evans into attempting to provide more on where he found it. His memory did not serve him well, and then he died before being able to relay any truly accurate location in those south Oregon coast hills. By the 1940s, the Smithsonian Institute joined the fervor and offered up a reward, bringing all manner of treasure hunter and kook, with some even claiming they were seeing visions of it.

Later in the century, some newspapers loudly proclaimed it had been found, even featuring pictures of some unusual rocky chunk. It was not true, however.

In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian declared the entire thing a hoax, however, even suggesting Evans did this for financial gain and that he was not trained in finding these kinds of space debris on his own.

However, the tale ends with quite a mystery. Three scientists associated with the Smithsonian tested the meteorite sample and found it to be actually from the Imilac Meteor Showers.

Lost Gold Mine



Hills east of Port Orford, courtesy U.S. Dept. of Forestry

Also from the 1850s, there is the Legend of the Lost Gold Mine near Port Orford. A group of soldiers on a mission in the hills east of here made camp for a few days, and according to a variety of historical accounts some found a rich vein of gold nearby.

Each collected samples, and one tried to mark the area by burning four trees. Some were able to return soon but could not find the gold and quartz near the mark. Others had to wait years for their service to be over, with many delayed by the advent of the Civil War. Those that finally returned a decade or so later could not find the vein as well.

That legend sparked decades of searchers on the south coast, but no one has ever found any clear sign of where a gold vein might be.

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As the new Biden Administration considers new regulations that aim to protect the environment, The Environmental Partnership highlighted the energy industrys progress in environmental stewardship.

The partnerships third annual report included the first results from its new flare management program, which found a 50 percent reduction in flare volumes and intensity from 2019 to 2020 even as the nations oil and gas production remained consistent.

Tackling methane emissions is a top priority, said Mike Sommers, president and chief executive officer of the American Petroleum Institute, in a press call discussing the report. He said the API encourages member companies to adopt no routine flaring plans and said companies have taken considerable action to reduce flaring and emissions.

We realize theres more work to be done to achieve our environmental goals while providing affordable energy, he added.

Sommers said the API is interacting with the Biden Administration as it crafts new regulations to stem methane and other greenhouse gas emissions, expressing hope the industrys best practices and technological advancements will be taken into account during the process.

The industry is committed to reducing emissions, and the best way is through cost-effective regulations, combined with industry efforts like the partnership, he said.

He pointed out that the API recently released a letter signed by more than 130 producers, manufacturers, industry associations and labor union protesting a possible fee on methane emissions. Sommers called it a tax on production, not emissions, saying such a fee would cost $14.4 billion in additional energy costs and 155,000 jobs.

Vanessa Ryan, manager of the carbon and climate policy team at Chevron and chair of The Environmental Partnership, pointed to the expansion of the partnerships efforts in the last year despite the impact of the pandemic. She reported that the partnership is funding operations and research at Colorado State Universitys Methane Emissions Test and Evaluation Center to develop new emissions detection technologies. Participating companies will be providing sites for field tests of those technologies later this year. The partnership also conducted aerial surveys of the Permian and Denver-Julesberg basins this year as part of a pilot project testing different detection technology.

Among the partnerships 94 members are several midstream operators, who implemented emissions-reduction technology on more than 2,000 compressors and during more than 400 pipeline blowdown operations.

Partnership members conducted 430,000 leak detection surveys on 86,000 sites, he said. Thats a survey every three minutes of every day, Todd said. Surveys found leak occurrences at a rate of 0.04 percent or less than one in every 2,000 components.

Todd also said flaring mitigation efforts have resulted in the diversion of 17 billion cubic feet of gas that would have been flared, removing 9.4 million metric tons of emissions from the atmosphere.

Part of the mitigation efforts include removing pneumatic controllers, with nearly 20,000 additional gas-driven controllers replaced or removed between 2018 and 2020 and nearly 7,600 high-bleed pneumatic controllers replaced, retrofitted or removed from service. More than 5,600 zero-emission pneumatic controllers have been installed in the past two years.
More than 18 months after it was established, the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition has issued the first edition of its Methane & Emissions Report.

The report serves as a primer, seeking to fully explain and clarify emissions sources, regulatory oversight and industry best practices and recommendations.

In this inaugural report, the coalition says the percentage of natural gas flared  out of all the natural gas produced in Texas  fell by 72 percent between June 2019 and May 2021, according to data from the Railroad Commission. In addition, the volume of gas flared fell by about 73 percent. Beyond Texas, methane emissions from five of the largest energy-producing regions across the US has fallen by nearly 70 percent, even as production in those regions tripled from 2011 to 2018.

Thure Cannon, president of the Texas Pipeline Association  one of seven trade associations, along with 40 operators that make up the coalition  said the report confirms the progress the industry, including pipelines, has made.

Coalition members comment "PPROA is an active participant of the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition which includes Texas oil and gas allied trade associations who share a goal of developing and providing information on methane and emissions. The Coalition, after months of substantial work, has prepared an extensive report offering industry best practices and analyzing the critical necessity of flaring while controlling and managing emissions to protect the environment."

- Judy Stark, president, Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Association

"PBPA members have been working aggressively to eliminate flaring as a matter of routine operations while successfully producing more hydrocarbons than ever before. Operators have also been doing so with an unparalleled health and safety record. We will continue to work with others in the regulated community to safely and responsibly develop natural resources in the Permian Basin to make America more energy and economically secure."

- Ben Shepperd, president, Permian Basin Petroleum Association

"The oil and natural gas industry's focus on advancing and pioneering technologies has been and will continue to be the driving force of continued environmental progress. South Texas communities are stronger than ever because of it."

- Teddy Carter, chair, South Texas Energy & Economic Roundtable Advisory Council

"The results are clear - clean fuels produced right here in Texas are reducing emissions in the United States and abroad. With the rapid improvements documented in this report, American producers can continue to meet the nation's demand for affordable, abundant energy."

- Jason Modglin, president, Texas Alliance of Energy Producers

"In Texas, we hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to emissions, and that truly shines through in this report. The men and women who work to ensure Texans and the world have reliable, affordable energy necessary for everyday life are focused on innovations to improve our emissions footprint. Those efforts contribute directly to the Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition's work and the important progress the industry is making."

- Ed Longanecker, president, Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association

"Initiatives like the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition have been bold in their efforts to end routine flaring and reduce methane emissions even further, and data confirms their endeavors are successful. The oil and natural gas industry is and will continue to be the cornerstone of a cleaner, stronger, better future with lower emissions and less carbon intensity. Unmatched investment, innovation and collaboration will deliver this future with the energy needed to maintain and improve modern life."

- Todd Staples, president, Texas Oil & Gas Association See More Collapse

Methane is our product, so we have every incentive to prevent leaks of methane to the atmosphere, he told the Reporter-Telegram by email. Investing in domestic natural gas pipelines would help to make even more headway in reducing emissions, because if we have more pipeline capacity to handle the gas that is being produced, there is less need for the gas to be flared. In fact, a recent report from Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy highlighted the beneficial role played by natural gas pipelines, concluding that investing more in the US natural gas pipeline network could help the US reach net-zero emission goals more quickly and cheaply in the future. Increasingly, however, the pipeline industry faces regulatory challenges in getting new pipelines built, even while it is clear that expanding this critical infrastructure is the blueprint for continued environmental progress.

The report states that, While methane is a common gas produced by the decay of organic material, the coalition recognizes the environmental and economic benefits of minimizing methane emissions. Industry has made and continues to make great strides in reducing methane emissions resulting from oil and natural gas operations.

It listed six best practices being used by industry to address emissions:

 ELIMINATE HIGH-BLEED PNEUMATIC CONTROL DEVICES Industry has taken voluntary efforts in eliminating high-bleed pneumatic control devices and replacing them with either low-bleed or no-bleed devices that can reduce emissions.

 CONDUCT VOLUNTARY INSPECTIONS Operators can conduct inspections in many different ways, including conducting LDAR (leak detection and repair) or AVO (audio/visual/olfactory) inspections using OGI (optical gas imaging), Method 22 visual determination of fugitive emissions, aerial inspections or other new or innovative technologies to help pinpoint fugitive emissions sources and allow operators to quickly address them.

 VOLUNTARY BEST EMISSIONS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Beyond state and federal requirements, operators equip facilities with emissions reduction equipment and utilize voluntary use of emissions reduction equipment. For example, operators strive to voluntarily optimize and utilize vapor recovery towers  which aid in the process of reducing flash gases being sent to the storage tanks, vapor recovery units  which help send gas to the sales line instead of being vented or combusted, and combustion devices, such as thermal oxidizers, vapor combustion units, or flares  which are combustion devices used to burn gases, such as volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants for environmental, operational, and safety reasons.

 VOLUNTARILY REPLACE COMPRESSOR ROD PACKING Where reasonably practicable, replace rod packing on reciprocating compressors where not required by federal regulation, at least every 26,000 hours of operations or 36 months. Leaks from compressors can be reduced through proper monitoring and cost-effective scheduling for replacing packing rings and piston rods.

 BEST PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Implement good planning and management practices to ensure gas transportation and utilization are available and adequate before a well is brought online. These proactive practices help minimize the need to flare and is in line with the coalitions stance on ending routine flaring.

 FLARE OPTIMIZATION When flaring is necessary, reduce or prevent incomplete combustion by optimizing combustion efficiency and operation of flares. Managing emissions when flaring is necessary via auto igniters, remote or on-site monitoring, use of automation, redundant ignition, and maintenance programs.
At least three Southeast Texas counties had issued disaster declarations by Monday evening in response to the impending Tropical Storm Nicholas after spending much of the day taking steps to prepare for whats coming.

The storm was expected to make landfall as a tropical depression early this morning after crawling along the central Texas coast.

But in Beaumont, preparation for the storm, which could bring at least a dozen inches of rain, began Friday.

Were monitoring the forecast, said Beaumont Emergency Operations Center spokesperson Carol Riley.

We prepare for a level higher than what is forecasted for our area. It may look like overkill sometimes, but we would rather be prepared than playing catchup.

Weve been hit by storms like Imelda and Harvey that kinda snuck up on us.

The citys generator tanks were filled and vehicles received full tanks of gasoline before the weekend even started.

Police and fire worked together in the EOC to make sure their staffs are prepared, while streets and drainage crews are on duty.

They are responding to citizen calls regarding ditches and culverts as well as checking storm grates, culverts and ditches for anything blocking drainage, said Beaumont Public Works and Technology Services Director Bart Bartkowiak.

As water rises today, Drainage District 6 workers will be continually checking for debris, according to District Engineer Doug Canant.

And Drainage District 7 employees have been split into two 12-hour shifts to make sure the pump stations are covered, according to Supervisor Ronnie Hollier.

The workers who run the pump stations are waiting for the water levels to rise enough for them to turn the pumps on, with the exclusion of the automatic pumps that regulate themselves.

Sandbags also were made available for residents across Southeast Texas.

Weve got our people for the Emergency Operations Center on standby, and we are giving out sand bags at the precinct barns, said Mike White, EOC director for Jefferson County.

They put sand out there and they put bags and the individuals can go there and get the sand themselves.

Wayne McDaniel, Hardin County judge, said that they made sand bags available at six locations in their county. Joel Ardoin, EOC director of Orange County, said they began giving out sandbags several days ago.

In Jasper County, all four of the precinct commissioners had free sandbags available to their constituents, judge Mark Allen said.

Were also coordinating with Red Cross, should we need any shelter operations to be opened up, Ardoin said.

All of the county fleets will be filled up, topped off and well pre-position some of the large, high-water vehicles in different parts of the county should the weather take a turn for the worse.

Well have those available to start rescuing people if that need should arise.

McDaniel encourages people to try to keep vehicles full of gasoline in case of a power outage or an evacuation, but he does not anticipate an evacuation. Allen also encourages people to stay prepared with gasoline, generators and other essentials.

I recommend that anybody that has any concern about the storm should go ahead and take an inventory of what they have in their household  make sure they have plenty of batteries or charged up devices, Allen said.

And if there are any downed lines, people should stay clear. If theyre traveling, especially in the dark, be very, very cognizant of their surroundings, because its hard to tell how deep floodwaters are in the dark. Its hard enough in the daytime.

If it is raining hard or if there is severe flooding, he recommends people stay home.

But ultimately, officials were feeling relatively confident heading into whats expected to be the worst of the storm.

It looks pretty good for us, Ardoin said. Five to 10 inches over a three-day period  thats normal. Normal weather.

rachel.kersey@beaumontenterprise.com

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office early, a contest the Democrat framed as part of a national battle for his partys values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and continued threats from Trumpism.

Newsom bolted to a quick victory boosted by healthy turnout in the overwhelmingly Democratic state. He cast it as a win for his handling of the pandemic and liberal issues, and it ensures the nations most populous state will remain in Democratic control as a laboratory for progressive policies.

No is not the only thing that was expressed tonight, Newsom said. I want to focus on what we said yes to as a state: We said yes to science, we said yes to vaccines, we said yes to ending this pandemic.

With an estimated two-thirds of ballots counted, no on the question of whether to recall Newsom was ahead by a 30-point margin. That lead was built on votes cast by mail and in advance of Tuesdays in-person balloting, with a strong showing by Democrats. While likely to shrink somewhat in the days ahead as votes cast at polling places are counted, Newsoms lead couldnt be overcome.

Republican talk radio host Larry Elder almost certainly would have replaced Newsom had the recall succeeded, an outcome that would have brought a polar opposite political worldview to Sacramento.

The recall turned on Newsoms approach to the pandemic, including mask and vaccine mandates, and Democrats cheered the outcome as evidence voters approve of their approach. The race also was a test of whether opposition to former President Donald Trump and his right-wing politics remains a motivating force for Democrats and independents, as the party looks ahead to midterm elections next year.

Republicans had hoped for proof that frustrations over months of pandemic precautions would drive voters away from Democrats. The GOP won back four U.S. House seats last year, success that Republican leaders had hoped indicated revived signs of life in a state controlled by Democrats for more than a decade.

But a recall election is an imperfect barometer  particularly of national trends. Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1 in California, so the results may not translate to governors in toss-up states or reflect how voters will judge members of Congress next year.

Trump, who had largely stayed out of the contest, made unsubstantiated claims that the election was rigged in the closing days, claims echoed by Elder's campaign. Elder did not mention fraud as he addressed his supporters after the results were in.

Lets be gracious in defeat. We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war, he said, later adding that the recall has forced Democrats to focus on issues such as homelessness and Californias high cost of living.

Newsom for months had likened the recall to efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the presidential election and a push in Republican-led states to restrict voting access.

Democracy is not a football, you dont throw it around. Its more like  I dont know  an antique vase, Newsom said after his win. You can drop it, smash it into a million different pieces  and thats what were capable of doing if we dont stand up to meet the moment and push back.

He became the second governor in U.S. history to defeat a recall, cementing him as a prominent figure in national Democratic politics and preserving his prospects for a future run. Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall in 2012.

California voters were asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled, and, if so, who should replace him? Only a handful of the 46 names on the replacement ballot had public recognition, but most failed to gain traction with voters.

Elder entered the race just two months ago and quickly rose to the top of the pack. But that allowed Newsom to turn the campaign into a choice between the two men, rather than a referendum on his performance.

Newsom seized on Elders opposition to the minimum wage and abortion rights as evidence he was outside the mainstream in California. The governor branded him more extreme than Trump, while President Joe Biden, who campaigned for Newsom, called him the closest thing to a Trump clone Ive ever seen.

Though the contest didnt quite bring the circus-like element of Californias 2003 recall  when voters replaced Democratic Gov. Gray Davis with Republican movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger  it featured quirky moments of its own.

Reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner entered the race but gained little momentum and left the state for part of the campaign to film a reality show in Australia. Businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in 2018, tried to spice up his campaign by hiring a live bear to join him, branding himself as the beast to Newsoms beauty.

Newsom will soon be campaigning again; he's up for reelection next year.

Orrin Heatlie, the Republican who launched the recall effort last year, cast it as a David and Goliath battle and said it was telling that Newsom had called on national Democrats like Biden to salvage his damaged political career.

The president and other prominent Democrats offered Newsom support in the races closing days, while national Republican leaders largely kept the contest at arms length.

The recall needed 1.5 million signatures to make the ballot out of California's 22 million registered voters. It never would have come before voters if a judge hadnt given organizers four extra months to gather signatures due to the pandemic. That decision came the same day Newsom attended a maskless dinner at the lavish French Laundry restaurant with lobbyists and friends, stirring outcry.

Supporters of the recall expressed frustration over monthslong business closures and restrictions that kept most children out of classrooms. Rising homicides, a homelessness crisis and an unemployment fraud scandal further angered Newsoms critics.

But the broader public stayed on his side. Polling from the Public Policy Institute of California showed his approval rating remaining above 50% throughout the pandemic. With weeks to go, the institutes poll showed 60% of Californians approved of Newsoms handling of the pandemic.

The rise of the highly contagious delta variant led Newsom to frame the race as one of life or death consequences. He pointed to Texas and Florida, which were seeing worsening surges as their Republican governors rejected mask and vaccine mandates, as cautionary tales for what California could become.

Newsom has been viewed as a potential White House contender since at least 2004, when he defied federal law to issue marriage licenses to LGBT couples as mayor of San Francisco. His victory maintained those prospects, though he will still have to navigate around the ambitions of Harris, who came up through San Francisco politics alongside Newsom.

He came to the contest with advantages. Californias electorate is less Republican, less white and younger than it was in 2003, when voters booted the Democratic Davis. Newsom was allowed to raise unlimited funds, dwarfing his competitors while flooding TV screens with advertising. Public worker unions and business and tech executives poured millions into his campaign.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego, Jocelyn Gecker in Lafayette, Don Thompson in Lincoln, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Adam Beam in Sacramento contributed.

___

See AP's recall coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)  Afghanistans new foreign minister said Tuesday that the Taliban governing the country remain committed to not allowing militants to use their territory to launch attacks. But he refused to say when or if the countrys new rulers would create a more inclusive government.

Without other political factions and women serving in the government, the Taliban seem unlikely to win international recognition as the legitimate leaders of Afghanistan. And without such recognition, the Afghan state is unable to tap billions of its funds frozen abroad, leaving it virtually bankrupt at a time of immense humanitarian need.

The Taliban received sharp criticism last week after they announced a Cabinet made up entirely of men from their movement, including several on international terror lists. Taliban leaders previously had promised broader representation.

Amir Khan Mutaqi, a longtime Taliban negotiator named as foreign minister, appeared Tuesday at his first news conference since becoming a member of the interim government. But he gave little indication of whether the Taliban would bend to international pressure.

Asked if the Taliban would include women or ethnic and religious minorities in the government, Mutaqi answered, We will decide in time but did not offer a commitment.

He underscored that the current government is ruling on an interim basis and said that when a permanent one is formed, we will take into account what the people want. He would not give a timetable for a permanent government.

We are taking everything step by step. We have not said how long this Cabinet will last, Mutaqi said.

After the withdrawal of Western troops and the Talibans sudden return to power last month, the U.S. and its allies have used money, potential recognition and warnings of isolation to pressure them away from repeating their repressive rule of the 1990s. At that time, the Taliban imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including severe restrictions on women and minorities.

Mutaqi, responding Tuesday to a question about the eventual holding of elections, replied that other countries must not interfere in Afghanistans internal issues, a comment he repeated several times during the news conference.

However, the foreign minister did give the first confirmation from the interim government of the new Cabinets intention to honor a deal the Taliban reached with the United States last year.

Under the deal, which opened the way for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban promised to break ties with al-Qaida and other militant groups and ensure they dont threaten other countries from the movements territory.

We will not allow anyone or any groups to use our soil against any other countries, Mutaqi said.

While ruling Afghanistan during the late 1990s, the Taliban sheltered al-Qaida and its chief, Osama bin Laden. Their refusal to hand over bin Laden and other al-Qaida members after the Sept. 11 terror attacks prompted the U.S. to launch a military assault which ousted the Taliban and led to a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Many experts remain skeptical the Taliban have broken ties with al-Qaida since they reached the 2020 withdrawal deal with the Trump administration. But al Qaida has been significantly weakened, and Washington has made clear its top priority is preventing Islamic State attacks from Afghanistan.

The Taliban have battled with the Islamic State since its emergence in Afghanistan in 2014. A burgeoning IS affiliate has claimed responsibility for most recent attacks, including the horrific bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service personnel and 169 Afghans during last months chaotic evacuations.

Still, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, said at a national security summit Tuesday that al-Qaida could begin to threaten the United States from Afghanistan within one to two years, echoing warnings that were issued before the U.S. withdrawal.

Meanwhile, the broader terms of the worlds relationship with the Taliban remain unsettled a month after they swept into Kabul on Aug. 15 and Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the presidential palace.

There also appear to be divisions within the Taliban over the next steps. Some leaders are said to be more open to compromise, while others insist on resolute Taliban domination.

The makeup of the Taliban government poses a dilemma for the United Nations as it prepares to open a new session of the U.N. General Assembly. Several of the interim ministers, including Mutaqi, Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, are on the U.N.s so-called black list of international terrorists and terrorist financers.

Haqqani is also wanted by the FBI for questioning in connection with attacks in the Afghan capital during the last two decades. As the interim interior minister, he oversees Afghanistans police and has already called former officers back to work. While some have returned, including most traffic police, many are reluctant.

Mutaqi urged the U.N. to remove the Taliban ministers from the watch list. The list has no logic, he said.

When the Taliban last ruled, the U.N. refused to recognize their government and instead gave Afghanistans seat to the previous, warlord-dominated government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who eventually was killed by a suicide bomber in 2011. It was Rabbani's government that brought bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.

This time around, it is not clear whether the seat will be reserved for a representative of Ghani's government. The president's sudden departure shocked the political leadership in Kabul, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the governments chief negotiator, who were still negotiating with the Taliban to form an interim government.

The governments of the U.S. and other countries promised millions in new humanitarian aid for the U.N. to spend in Afghanistan as the country faces increasing hunger and economic collapse, but they suggested a future willingness to help could depend on the actions of the Taliban.

During a second day of tough congressional questioning about the Afghanistan withdrawal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would hold the Taliban, to their promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a base for terrorist attacks.

Mutaqi said the Taliban-led government seeks good relations with foreign nations but insisted they must not interfere in its affairs. He also called for international donors to send more aid and international banking institutions to continue their projects in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is poor. It needs all the help the world can give, Mutaqi said, promising that foreign aid would be distributed without corruption.

He also said that all of Afghanistans embassies operating abroad have been told to continue their operations. He promised Afghans would be allowed to leave the country and said it was the job of the Taliban government to provide passports to its citizens.

___

Lee Keath contributed from Cairo.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP)  A former employee of a West Virginia nonprofit organization has pleaded guilty to theft of federal funds, officials said.

Ruth Marie Phillips, 69, of Chesapeake, Ohio, admitted on Monday that she stole funding from the River Valley Child Development Services in Huntington, which provides programs and services to children and families, a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of West Virginia said.
WINSTON -SALEM, N.C. (AP)  A North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a fatal shooting in 2018 that authorities say resulted from an argument over a drug deal.

Charlie Andrew Goldsmith, 23, pleaded guilty on Monday to second-degree murder in the 2018 death of 21-year-old Jordan Anthony Gabriel, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. Goldsmith had been facing a first-degree murder charge, was allowed to enter the guilty plea to second-degree murder as part of a plea arrangement.
Police have arrested a man accused of killing another man in a car at a Beaumont traffic light.

Rickey James Johnson, 26 of Beaumont, was taken to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility after speaking with investigators, the Beaumont Police Department said in a news release.

Police received a report of shots fired just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday on South 11th Street at College Street.

The officers found a 2008 blue Honda CRV at 1055 Interstate 10 South and learned two people had been shot.

Korey Green, 23 of Beaumont, was in the passenger seat and died on the scene. The driver, a 23-year-old Beaumont woman was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said Green and the woman had left the parking lot near the Paradise Hookah Lounge and stopped at the traffic signal located at College St at South 11th St. A man, who is believed to be Johnson, approached the vehicle and began firing at the victims. The woman was able to flee the area and stop for help at 1055 Interstate 10 South.

Investigators were able to take statements and get a warrant for Johnson for the murder of Korey Green, according to Beaumont PD. The victims and the suspect were involved in an on-going disturbance.

Those who have information about this crime may contact the Beaumont Police Department at 409-832-1234 or if you wish to remain anonymous, contact Southeast Texas Crime Stoppers at 409-833-TIPS or down load the P3 TIPS app to submit your tip with your smartphone.

All tips submitted to Southeast Texas Crime Stoppers must remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/megzmagpie
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.
Every anniversary of that terrible day is difficult to get through, but this years Sept. 11 commemoration was exceptionally tough. Not only was it a significant number  the 20th  it occurred just weeks after we handed over the country where the plot was hatched to the very people who welcomed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Its seems inconceivable that we could be so shortsighted, but it happened. Both presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden thought it was time to end our presence in Afghanistan, as were many voters. They were tired of staying there and pushing back against the Taliban and other assorted terrorists. The problem is, however, that the Taliban and their terrorist buddies were not tired of trying to overthrow the Afghan government.

What makes our surrender even more galling is that this Afghan government had fought and stopped the Taliban as long as we provided air and logistical support  and the psychological reassurance of just being there.

Before the U.S. withdrew, causing the larger number of NATO troops to leave also, the Afghan government held every major city in every province. And each one of those provinces had schools for girls and shelters for victims of domestic violence. No political prisoners were locked up and the country had a vibrant free press. U.S. combat casualties were far below the number of servicemen and women who died each year in training accidents.

But we were tired of Afghanistan  and seemingly unconcerned about all the progress we had made, all the money we had spent, all the lives we had lost to eliminate that threat. So we abandoned a counter-terrorism presence that was working  and similar to our mission in Iraq, Syria and other places.

Because we were tired. But the fight against terrorism doesnt go away, even if you wish it would. Like the Cold War that preceded it, its a challenge we have to accept year after year. If you dont show tenacity and play offense instead of defense, the other side gains. And in this case, we had to suffer the most humiliating defeat since Saigon fell. The Taliban openly laugh at us, with mock funerals featuring coffins draped in U.S. and NATO flags, and a re-enactment of the flag raising at Iwo Jima with Taliban soldiers dressed in captured U.S. gear.

Going forward, it gets worse. Terrorist groups like al-Qaida, ISIS-K and the Haqqani network now have an entire country in which to openly rebuild and recruit  and hatch more plots against the U.S., Europe and moderate Arab regimes.

The Taliban dont care about anything beyond Afghanistans borders and are content to focus their cruelties within them. But their terrorist cousins do want to reach out and touch us. Dont forget, this is how the 9/11 attacks happened  al-Qaida using Afghanistan as a base for operations.

Could something like that happen again? Of course it could. The Taliban probably arent strong enough to push out the other groups even if they wanted to  and many of their members openly admire those groups. They are all Islamic extremists with only variations in philosophy or methods.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin insisted last week that the Taliban shouldnt go down that same road, saying, The nature of al-Qaida and (the Islamic State group) is they will always attempt to find space to grow and regenerate, whether its there (in Afghanistan)  or whether its in any other ungoverned space.  We put the Taliban on notice that we expect them to not allow that to happen.

Did you get that? The Taliban are on notice from us.

Do you think they care? Do you think they dont understand there is zero chance of U.S. and NATO troops returning to push them out, as we did in 2001?

Sure, we can lob a few missiles into Afghanistan or conduct some air strikes, but those are mere annoyances to the Taliban. They dont threaten their power in any way or have any real effect on how they operate.

The bottom line is that today, we are less safe from another terrorist atrocity than we were before Kabul fell. That doesnt mean that another 9/11-type attack will happen, but the chances of it are higher. And that is not what you want to be thinking during a Sept. 11 commemoration, or any time.

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom
Over the weekend, rapper Bill Kahan Kapri, popularly recognized as Kodak Black, shared that he accepted Jesus into his heart as his Lord and Savior.

This news comes just days after Christian ministers Kevin Louidor and Annia Icart prayed with the hip-hop artist at a gas station in Florida, the Christian Post reports. The two ministers both attend King Jesus Universal Ministry.

Louidor shared the powerful testimony on Facebook, expressing that God protected the two ministers in a horrific car crash shortly after they prayed with Kodak Black.

TESTIMONY! GOD SAVES! On our way to our church King Jesus Universal Ministry with my sister in Christ Annia Icart, we went to stop by the gas station and we happen to meet a popular rapper Kodak Black and the Lord used us to minister to him and his crew, and Kodak gave his life to Jesus Christ! Louidor said.

Then after we was done, we started driving to church and the presence of God filled the car, and we [were] praising God and out of nowhere [I] start[ed] speaking in tongues and declare may the angel of protection be with us! And soon as I finished saying that the car lost control and we got [into] a car accident. We know the enemy is not happy of what took place because we brought a soul to kingdom so he retaliated! Victory is won! Jesus is Lord! he shared.

Louidor also shared a video of Kapri saying the prayer, where he expressed to God, I pray right now that you forgive me of all of my sins, and I receive your forgiveness and I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and He rose from the dead. I accept you, Jesus, as my Lord and my Savior. Come into my heart, clean me up. Use me for your glory. I believe that if I was to die that when I wake up, I will be in your arms. In Jesus name, I am saved. Amen.

Before his conversion, Kapri identified as a Hebrew Israelite. He shared his personal conversion story on Instagram in a video with the caption God vs. The Devil: Who Side You on Fa the War,

Kapri gained recognition with his single No Flockin. His second album Dying to Live rose to number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2018. Just a year later, the artist was sentenced to four years in prison for making a false statement to purchase a firearm. He later sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons for torture and religious suppression, the Christian Post reports.

Kapri was one of 73 people granted pardons by former President Donald Trump before he left office. According to a White House statement, the Trump administration called Kapri a prominent artist and community leader, according to a White House statement.

His pardon was also supported by other religious leaders, including Pastor Darell Scott and Rabbi Schneur Kaplan.

Before his conviction and after reaching success as a recording artist, Kodak Black became deeply involved in numerous philanthropic efforts. In fact, he has committed to supporting a variety of charitable efforts, such as providing educational resources to students and families of fallen law enforcement officers and the underprivileged, the White House statement expressed.

In addition to these efforts, he has paid for the notebooks of school children, provided funding and supplies to daycare centers, provided food for the hungry, and annually provides for underprivileged children during Christmas. Most recently while still incarcerated, Kodak Black donated $50,000 to David Portnoys Barstool Fund, which provides funds to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kodak Blacks only request was that his donation goes toward restaurants in his hometown, the statement added.

Kapris conversion is a prime example that prayer really does have power!
Two young Bangladeshis look at their mobile phones near Dhaka University, Aug. 30, 2021.

The ruling Awami League in Bangladesh has started training tens of thousands of cadres to wage a propaganda war on social media in preparation for the next general election, which is more than two years away, ruling party officials said.

The party was working to create a platform of 100,000 online activists to prevent rumors and propaganda on social media sites ahead of the polls, said Md. Abdus Sabur, secretary of the Awami Leagues science and technology affairs subcommittee, who is heading the effort.

We started the move in January this year. One and a half more years are needed to fulfill our target. We are working under the instructions of our party chief and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Sajeeb Wazed, her information and technology advisor, Sabur told BenarNews.

Wazed is Hasinas only son. The 12th parliamentary election is likely to be held at the end of 2023 or in early 2024.

Sabur said the Awami League (AL) had already trained around 30,000 online activists across the country, who have begun work.

Opposition activists use social media platforms to embarrass the government and confuse the common people, especially as the election is nearing, Sabur said, adding that was why AL decided to take action.

They are using this tactic because they do not have people to engage in street movements.

ALs explanation seemed a little bit fishy, said M. Hafizuddin Khan, a former bureaucrat who runs a campaign for good governance.

What is propaganda for the Awami League might be the truth for the BNP. So how will it be identified? Khan told BenarNews.

I think it will be a reason for chaos on social media sites. Awami League already has a strong grip on every organ of the state.

A 2020 report by Freedom House, a Washington NGO that conducts research and advocacy on political freedom and human rights, corroborated Khans observations.

The ruling Awami League (AL) party has consolidated political power through sustained harassment of the opposition and those perceived to be allied with it, as well as of critical media and voices in civil society, the Freedom on the Net 2020 report by the NGO said.

Facebook account disappears

Some of the chaos Khan spoke about may have already begun.

Last month, Robin Ahsan, a Bangladeshi publisher and public protest organizer, found that his Facebook account had disappeared overnight. He said he suspected his social media profile had been targeted because of his activism.

He said his account vanished after he had conducted a live event on Facebook demanding the release of an actress who had accused a politically-connected businessman of attempting to rape and murder her.

I am not sure how or why my Facebook ID disappeared. I have organized several protests on various issues, but my Facebook ID vanished for the first time in August, Ahsan told BenarNews.

He said he got his account back after communicating with Facebook authorities directly.

Often, a Facebook account is suspended when several other users complain about content on the account they say is distasteful to them.

One AL party worker, a master trainer, described how he and his colleagues use that Facebook feature and other methods.

When we see any rumor on Facebook or Twitter, we follow three steps, AL worker Shariful Islam Sharif told BenarNews.

The steps include writing posts countering the alleged rumor, reporting the specific Facebook account or page to the social media company via dozens of different accounts, and sending the profile information of the account to law enforcement agencies.

All of this requires a lot of manpower and coordination, because Bangladesh has one of the worlds fastest growing number of social media users annually. The South Asian nation saw 25 percent year-on-year growth in social media users, said a February report by Hootsuite, a social media platform.

With more than 45 million social media users, 27 percent of Bangladeshs total population is active online, said Hootsuite, and research agency We Are Social.

Internet penetration in the country is more than 72 percent, according to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

Members of the ruling partys student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, hold a victory rally after the previous parliamentary elections at Dhaka University, Dec 20, 2019. [BenarNews]

Opposition criticizes Awami League plan

Meanwhile, a leader from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said ALs move to create online activists was not well intentioned.

We think that the Awami League is preparing a skilled team of online activists, not to counter rumors and propaganda on social media but to fight against the truth, and against those who are unmasking the failure of the government, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, BNPs senior joint secretary general, told BenarNews.

The Awami League government is detached from the people because it came to power through highly controversial elections in 2014 and 2018. As a result, people will have something to say, at least on social media, if they get a chance. It is important for the ruling party to prevent such truths from coming out.

Hasina, though, calls it propaganda and conspiracy against the government, ALs general secretary Obaidul Quader said, quoting the PM from a Sept. 9 meeting.

As the election gets closer, the level of propaganda is on the rise. We have to respond to this propaganda and must get united against these plots, Quader said at a press conference.

Former bureaucrat Khan said that a non-party interim government during the election process would be fair to both the ruling dispensation and the opposition.

The BNPs secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that is party's demand as well. He told reporters on Saturday that the BNP would foil any effort to hold the election without such a government and a fair Election Commission.

The Awami League has won three consecutive parliamentary elections, in 2008, 2014 and 2018. The last two of those were criticized at home and abroad for alleged fraud and other irregularities.
Police investigators inspect the wreckage of a car bomb following an explosion outside the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center in Yala province, Thailand, March 17, 2020.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha agreed to extend a state of emergency in Thailands insurgency-wracked Deep South provinces for another three months on Tuesday, the 65th extension of a decree that gives security forces detention powers.

NGOs, right groups and lawyers criticized the extension, saying the military has for many years exploited the emergencys powers by allegedly committing human rights abuses.

The cabinet agreed to extend the decree in the Deep South for another three months from Sept. 20 to Dec. 19, 2021, Deputy Spokeswoman at the Prime Ministers Officer Ratchada Tanadirek said.

Seven districts in the Malay-speaking Muslim-dominant southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani are covered under the Internal Security Act and are not included in the emergency decree.

The first emergency decree was imposed in July 2005. Officials had said back then it was aimed at ensuring peace in the Deep South, which had suffered from insurgency-related violence beginning a little over a year earlier. Since 2005, the emergency has been continuously extended, three months at a time.

Deep South Watch, a Pattani-based think-tank, reported that more than 7,000 people have been killed in the region in violence related to the separatist insurgency over the last 17 years.

A lawyer with the Muslim Attorney Center Foundation that assists suspected insurgents said the emergency was good for the authorities while people paid a price.

These security laws in the region yield satisfactory enforcement such as swift control of a situation and ease of work in rough circumstances, but on the other hand they affect the lives and freedom of people, Abdulqahhar Aweaputeh, the chief of the Muslim Attorney Center Foundation based in Yala, told BenarNews on Tuesday.

He said suspected insurgents have been detained without charges being filed against them for several days or weeks, often without a lawyers assistance and proper relative visits.

COVID-19 effects

Pornpen Kongkachonkiet, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation, said there was no need to extend the emergency decree because the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a slowdown in violence.

The situation is like what happened in Bangkoks Din Daeng area where the government used the decree to muffle the protesters who voiced their dissent, she said, referring to protests against Prayuth.

Meanwhile, an official in the Deep South said that although the situation was relatively calm, the decree was needed to allow ISOC-4, the militarys regional command, to keep peace.

We need to have the special laws to control this contested area. It has not returned to normalcy yet, there are insurgents in Deep South, the official said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Face-to-face peace talks between Thailand and Barisan Revolusi Nasional (the National Revolutionary Front, or BRN), which is the largest of the armed insurgent groups in the Deep South, have been stalled since March 2020 because of the pandemic. But both sides said they continued to meet online through technical-level panels, with Malaysia serving as facilitator.

The last virtual meeting occurred in February, Abdul Rahim Noor, the Malaysian broker of the southern Thai peace talks, confirmed to BenarNews at the time.

Wilawan Watcharasakwet and Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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A Marine from Massachusetts who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan has been given a heros farewell in a public wake and burial attended by hundreds
Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
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.
The Pittsfield Public School Committee will decide whether or not the accelerated courses in the district's middle schools will resume this year or remain "paused" after the curriculum subcommittee identified equity gaps in the program.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
You are the owner of this article.
Statehouse reporter

Danny Jin is the Eagle's Statehouse reporter. A graduate of Williams College, he previously interned at The Eagle and The Christian Science Monitor.
Marie Geary, speaking, a registered nurse at Berkshire Medical Center, said her co-workers are exhausted, demoralized and burnt out. At a Friday event, labor leaders described challenges such as low staffing levels in health care settings and a proposed ballot question that would take away employee status and related protections from workers for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig economy operators. But, many also see the upcoming year as a chance to pass legislation to invest in infrastructure, protect workers right to organize and more.
The author learned about municipal infrastructure as he monitored water main replacement on his street.
GLADWIN  Among the elusive species being hunted this season, one of the most challenging targets is the bear. With the bear hunting licenses dispersed and the season underway, hunters are on the lookout for black bears.

This season, the Gladwin area, which includes Mecosta and Osceola counties, saw a slight decline in the number of applications for bear hunting licenses since the 2019 season. The hunting season runs Sept. 12-20, and the archery-only season lasts from Oct. 8-14 and is specifically for hunting with bait or other methods that do not include dogs.

Gladwin has a license quota of 120 residential and six non-residential licenses for 2021. In 2019 the area saw 1,333 applicants and 1,046 in 2020. The bear hunting licenses are chosen based on a drawing system, and individuals as young as 9 years old can apply for a drawing. For any given license distributed, one bear can be harvested.

The number of bear hunting licenses available in the state in 2019 was reduced by 60 licenses from 2018. Across the state, 90% of hunters buying a license in 2019 were men and the average age of the license buyers was 50 years. About 4% of the license buyers were younger than 17 years old. The average number of days required to harvest a bear statewide was 19.1 days in 2019.

The Mentored Youth Hunting Program allows youth hunters 9 years of age and younger to hunt with a mentor who is at least 21 years of age, has hunting experience, and possesses a valid Michigan license to hunt other than an apprentice license.

Bears have been part of the Great Lakes fauna likely since the melting of the last glacier is native to Michigan. Bears existed in most of the forested habitats in the Great Lakes region prior to European Settlement.

The Michigan Department of Natural resources is involved in numerous efforts to maintain and manage bear populations. The organization has several plans such as the Statewide Forest plan, Eco-regional Resource Plan, the Wildlife Action Plan, and the Wildlife Division Habitat Plan, which take into consideration the habitat needs of Michigan's black bear.

According to the DNR, Michigan has nearly 19 million acres of forest land, and about 65% is privately owned. Around 35,000 square miles of suitable bear habitat is located in the Upper Peninsula (UP) and Northern Lower Peninsula.

The DNRs Recommendations for Bear Management Report lists numerous efforts the department is focusing on, and discusses some trends among bear populations and hunting in the state.

We believe the DNR should give high priority to planning and implementing an effective information and education communication strategy regarding bears, the report reads. We also recognize that bears are not evenly distributed across the landscape and hunting effort occurs mostly where hunters perceive the population to be at the highest density.

According to state data, about 15,000 to 19,000 black bears, including cubs, roam the hardwood and conifer forests of northern Michigan. About 90% of the bears live in the upper peninsula, while the remaining 10% are mainly found in the northern Lower Peninsula. In Michigan, bears typically enter their den by December and come out in late March or April.

A bear's home range is the area that provides sufficient food and covers for the animal to survive. Black bears are solitary animals, but family groups such as a sow and her cubs may be observed. Male black bears live in an area about 100 square miles in size, while females live in smaller areas of 10-20 square miles.

The Michigan bear hunting season functions under a quota system that was established to limit the number of bear hunters and to better influence the distribution and density of hunters in the different Bear Management Units. Under the quota system, the number of hunters participating in each unit and hunt period is limited by the number of licenses issued to achieve the desired bear harvest.

The eastern Upper Peninsula, western Upper Peninsula, and northern Lower Peninsula are presently divided into ten zones called Bear Management Units. BMUs help distribute hunters and the bear harvest throughout the entire ecological unit, rather than allowing hunters to target animals only in optimal habitats.

By distributing hunters throughout the ecological region, BMUs also help to assure that biological information obtained from harvested bears is representative of the entire region's population. Hunting of bears in the state is heavily monitored and the price for killing a bear without a proper license can carry jail time and hefty fines.

The DNRs work to monitor the hunting of bears is in conjunction with their efforts to maintain bears as well as other ecological areas for the future.

Our vision for successful bear management in Michigan is to cooperatively manage bear populations at biologically and socially acceptable levels using sound science and education so current and future generations can continue to value Michigan's bears, the DNRs website statement reads. The DNR recognizes that the citizens of Michigan have an interest and stake in the future management of bears and should have an opportunity for their points of view to be represented.

There have been some sizable bears that have been recorded during past hunting seasons in Michigan. According to MLive, one of those was an 8-year-old male bear that was the fifth largest bear ever killed in Michigan and 211th largest ever taken in North America during a hunt in Manistee County in September 2017 by Caledonia resident Jeff Kresnak.

The Department of Natural Resources estimated the animal's weight to be between 500-600 pounds, but bears are scored by their skull size. This particular animal had a skull of 21 and 15/16ths.

Whether or not this years hunters will see that kind of good luck this bear season remains to be seen, but it is sure to be an exciting and challenging hunt for one of Michigans most elusive natives.

For more information on the DNR and hunting season regulations and information, visit their website at www.michigan.gov/dnr.
If Africa is left behind in the global pandemic response, it could become a breeding ground for new Covid variants, making the control of the pandemic on the continent imperative.

Genomic surveillance

Increased genomics surveillance

If the pandemic is not controlled in Africa, we may see the production of vaccine-escape variants, which may profoundly affect the African and global population, says Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organisation (WHO) regional director for Africa.We ignore mutations and variants at our own peril. The Delta variant is a wake-up call and underlines the importance of genomic information, and of ensuring that African scientists have the necessary resources to analyse the evolution of Covid-19, he says.Without this analysis, variants can spread undetected on the continent and across the globe. This will prolong the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, not just in Africa, but worldwide, he adds.Genomic surveillance has been crucial to identify SARS-CoV-2 variants and guide the global public health response. Unfortunately, when the pandemic started, Africa was soon left behind.Its fragile health and scientific infrastructure, weak purchasing power, and the fact that diagnostics and reagents were being hoarded by developed countries, made Africa the worlds least vaccinated continent. It did not have access to the technology required to fight the pandemic.Strengthening genomic surveillance systems across the continent is key for early detection and control of disease outbreaks, says Dr John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).In close collaboration with the Africa CDC and the WHO, 112 African and 25 international organisations worked together and created a detailed analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants and lineages in Africa.The result is the production of this manuscript produced by hundreds of African scientists and public health officials across the continent - the first major output of Africas top scientists.The detailed Science paper describes SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in 33 African countries and two overseas territories.It shows that the epidemics in most countries were initiated by importations predominantly from Europe, which diminished after the early introduction of international travel restrictions.As the pandemic progressed, ongoing transmission in many countries and increasing mobility led to the emergence and continent-wide spread of many variants of concern and interest.To date Africa has increased its genomics surveillance and today, 40,000 African genomes are available in GISAID.In spite of limited sampling, the African scientists identified many of the variants of concern (VOCs) and variants of interest (VOIs) that are being transmitted across the world.Detailed characterisation of the variants and their impact on vaccine-induced immunity is extremely important.We are deeply committed to using the most advanced technologies in Africa to trace and combat the virus. If the virus keeps evolving on the African continent, this will become a global problem. It is our moral duty to try to protect Africa and the world, says Prof Tulio de Oliveira, a professor of Bioinformatics who hold appointments at Stellenbosch University's School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, its Faculty of Medicine and Health Science and Faculty of Science, and director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.The open-access manuscript is available on the Science website
SOUTH AFRICA Why a competitive local fashion industry needs the creativity of designers

Top jobs at big fashion houses

SOUTH AFRICA LVMH awards SA's Lukhanyo Mdingi coveted Karl Lagerfeld Prize

What can be done?

After a three-year hiatus, Philos comeback is possible, in part, because of the strong professional brand she built for herself while working for others as the creative director of major Parisian fashion houses.In the last two decades, several creative directors like Philo have come and gone from their prestigious posts at heritage fashion houses. These comings and goings have caught the attention of my York University colleague Eileen Fischer and I because they are counter-intuitive to what we would expect based on previous findings in marketing literature.Past research has shown that senior executives working for well-known organisations typically value their brand affiliations so much that theyre willing to make compromises and even accept lower pay for it . Why, we wondered, would a creative director  or any professional for that matter  in a high-profile position at one of the worlds most prestigious companies leave a job that can seemingly only add value to their professional brand?We provided answers to our question in a recently published study entitled Working It: Managing Professional Brands in Prestigious Posts . We used publicly available media interviews with 20 contemporary creative directors who have had one or more prestigious posts at top high-fashion legacy brands  including Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Gucci and Saint Laurent Paris  and identified two challenges inherent to occupying these top positions.First, while these professionals  and arguably others in similar positions like executive chefs or architects  acquire wealth and knowledge while working these prestigious jobs, the energy and time commitment these jobs require can deplete their physical and emotional health as well as the quality of their relationships with family and friends.Second, although their individual professional brands gain status from being affiliated with prestigious organisations, their own unique brand identity is at risk of becoming less clearly defined over time and consequently less distinctive from the organisation they work for.This is especially problematic in creative fields that require their top workers to possess a distinctive esthetic or mark. These challenges are significant because they can impact career mobility, and even those who are extremely successful face job insecurity and have no guarantees of continued employment.Our analysis identified four tactics that can help professionals in prestigious posts manage these challenges.1) Transporting teams. This means continuously surrounding themselves with trusted people who can help them perform effectively and consistently over time and across organisational settings. For example, Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons , who was the creative director at Jil Sander, Dior and Calvin Klein, transported his right-hand man Pieter Mulier with him through each of these posts until Mulier became the new creative director of Alaia 2) Drumming up sales. Given that high fashion is both art and commerce, this means producing a vision that is not only acclaimed by critics, but that also translate into sales. Hedi Slimane, currently creative director at Celine, is known for making controversial decisions like making changes to iconic brand names , yet his commercial success is such that hes earned the ability to be bold and unapologetic in how hes running things.

3) Selectively neglecting organisational norms. Of course, professional brands will be contractually obliged to perform in specific ways that reflect the expectations of the organisations theyre working for. But there are some they can ignore in the interests of protecting their professional brand. For instance, Marc Jacobs updated the conservative Louis Vuitton canvas despite having been specifically told it was off-limits. It proved to be an incredibly successful move for Vuitton and one that also fit perfectly with Jacobs irreverent brand persona.



4) Materialising the professional brand in the broader market. This means using social media posts to express professional brand identity to other fashion stakeholders that dont involve the organsation that employs the individual. Many creative directors use social media posts for this purpose.





The main takeaways are that people managing their own professional brands in prestigious jobs should strike a balance between benefiting from the affiliation and maintaining their independence.Furthermore, employers who recruit designers to prestigious jobs at their companies should approach the relationship in a mutually beneficial way.Both parties win if employers treat relationships with key talent as co-branding alliances aimed at success for everyone involved.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article
With more than 1.2 billion people, Africa is the second most populous continent in the world. And with a growing middle class, it has become a target for an increasing number of companies and multinationals looking to grow their profits.

Ogilvy South Africa's Group CEO, Enver Groenewald

When it started in Africa, the company played a significant role in boosting South Africa's economy and South African companies. Can you talk to us about that?

Can you give us examples of something that would have been important in terms of Ogilvy's work specific to South Africa's history?

Can you talk about the talent in your sector in South Africa and more widely on the African continent. How does that compare to other regions?

A mural of advertising agency founder David Ogilvy at the company's offices in Johannesburg.

Image supplied

What does it mean for Ogilvy to be a more than 50% Black-owned company?

What do you want Ogilvy to accomplish in the next five to 10 years?

The potential payoff for brands is significant, with household spending across Africa worth an estimated $2.5trn by 2030. But marketing products to this vast consumer base is tricky, and the rapid growth of mobile phone adoption across the continent means international advertising giants like Ogilvy have had to develop new strategies.CNN's Cyril Vanier spoke with Ogilvy South Africa's Group CEO, Enver Groenewald, about the agency's role on the continent, and how and where advertising dollars will be seen in the future.Here's an extract of the interview.: The 90s was a period in which we established quite significant growth. After the 1994 elections, there was a lot of pessimism and negativity towards democracy coming to the fore in South Africa, particularly. And off the back of that, I think that Ogilvy really introduced a type of advertising genre that spoke to social justice, that spoke to social unity, that spoke to really celebrating the best of a democratic South Africa.: One of the most seminal examples is the work done for VW ... where we told the story of management and employees coming together at a time in which there were great industrial relations tensions. At the time, that was unheard of because trade unions were in opposition to business owners and management.This piece of work for VW was surprising in telling the story of how for the success, not only of the company, but the workers in that company and the communities that depended on the success of that company could come together.The other was for Castle, which still remains one of the most successful beer brands in South Africa, and really positioned itself on the notion of social cohesion and the coming together of groups that up until then had been separated by Apartheid. It celebrated the very best of what I think both Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela promoted: this idea of a rainbow nation. That we were a country made up of very different colours but put together, it made for a beautiful sight.: We have an amazing wealth of talent across our continent. I don't think that talent in Africa, particularly from an advertising industry perspective, has to stand back for any other region. Some people may have that perspective that if the advertising doesn't come from a North American perspective or Western European perspective, it's not that great because those territories and regions are the benchmark. I reject that completely. When you look at advertising, communication, creativity through the lens of authenticity, then that levels the playing field.I'm talking about African creative talent not trying to emulate any other region but remaining authentic and true to what is intimately African. And I just want to qualify what I mean when I say typically Africa, because Africa is not one country. If you're a creative in Lagos versus a creative in Accra or a creative in Cape Town, you've got very different perspectives and very different definitions of authenticity.: It is probably one of the most important things that characterizes Ogilvy in the context, not only of the advertising industry in South Africa, but in the context of South Africa as a country and in terms of redressing the imbalances of the past. Being 51% Black-owned is vital in terms of making sure that we are contributing to economic transformation where it's needed most.Groenewald: I want Ogilvy to be a force for social change in South Africa. I go back to the idea of us not seeing brands and the power of brands only through the lens of the transactional relationship between the consumer and the product. I think brands can play an eminently powerful role in creating social cohesion and social justice. And that's not only in South Africa - that's globally.If we look at what we call purpose-led marketing and purpose-led brands, for Ogilvy that has to be the space that we absolutely own and occupy and take a leadership position in because that is absolutely the right thing to do.
Administrator

Remuneration: R15000 - R15000 per month Location: Johannesburg Education level: Diploma Job level: Junior Type: Permanent Company: Trusted Interns

Job description

Administrator

Based in Western Cape or Gauteng (remote role but will occasionally go to the office)

Earn a salary of R15 000 per month

Cv + Documentation to verify disability

1 position Available

Work collaboratively with the Producers and the Executive Business Director, building trust and respect, to provide admin support on projects

Effectively manage time and be responsible towards deadlines

Adhere to our processes and standards

Processing credit card expenses and assisting with claims in a timely manner

Foster clear and concise communication among all necessary parties

Work collaboratively with other admins across finance and HR

Load new suppliers and clients as per company guidelines

Ensure supplier invoices are processed and paid

Loading contracts to the system

Maintain the usage calendar

Follow-up on purchase orders and payments

Updating production finance information

Manage project back-up filing system

Occasional lunch or event planning

Arranging travel both domestically and internationally

Requirements

Ability to handle a very active desk supporting numerous, simultaneous projects

At least one years industry experience

Experience working with a creative team

Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously

Experience using Microsoft products

Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written

The ability to maintain good relationships with team members

The ability to multi-task and problem solve

Strong interpersonal skills

Ability to be discrete and maintain confidential information

Comfortable with technology for meetings and remote working

Flexibility to handle rapid and frequent change and interest in taking on new tasks as they come up

Positive, can-do attitude

Organised and efficient

Self-motivated and driven to achieve excellence

Enjoy working in a fast-paced environment under pressure

Patient, calm and curious

Ability to draw inspiration from others

Proactive and manages self-development

A confident team player

Able to self-manage your workload

Able to solve problems

Prepared to go the extra mile when the team is under pitch or deadline pressure

The HeadlinesOur client is a branded content and production house. We tell rich and engaging stories through beautifully crafted pieces of content. In our highly connected, fast-paced world, theres little doubt that content is the most powerful form of communication, so weve evolved short-form content to the next level, turning storytelling into storymaking. We do fun, we do loud, we do awesome. We work hard, we work fast, and we work well. If you have a strong desire to be part of an agency that constantly strives for new and innovative ways of creating award-winning work, then this is the place for you.You will:You are:Posted on 14 Sep 11:57
Mid/Senior Social Media Manager

Remuneration: R25000 - R30000 per month basic salary Location: Johannesburg Education level: Diploma Job level: Mid/Senior Own transport required: Yes Type: Permanent Reference: #SocialMediaManager Company: Cardilogix

Minimum of 4-6 years' experience in an advertising/marketing/digital/creative agency.

Community management: social media monitoring, listening, reporting and engaging across multiple platforms on social media.

social media monitoring, listening, reporting and engaging across multiple platforms on social media. Manage multiple accounts on various online platforms for brands.

Manage communities and respond accordingly.

Grow organic followers on social media platforms.

Reviewing user-generated comments and posts in a quick and timely manner.

Social media management: managing, publishing and scheduling social posts.

managing, publishing and scheduling social posts. Social media strategy : social media advertising and budget management.

: social media advertising and budget management. Ability to report accurately and draw insights for future optimisation.

Follow international brand pages and competitors.

Social media analytics : data, insights, reporting and analytics.

: data, insights, reporting and analytics. Social media platforms : Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, etc. Social media and online PR: crisis, PR and online management.

crisis, PR and online management. Live event coverage.

Supply information on trends to the agency as well as up-and-coming social media platforms that may suit a brand.

Conceptualise and manage social media competitions and giveaways.

Researching industry-related topics.

Updated CV

Links to social media pages/accounts you've managed.

Portfolio (PDF/Web/Behance)

Want to work for a leading, innovative and fun advertising agency? Our client seeks to hire a talentedMust currently work as a Community Manager or Social Media Manager and have work experience in a Digital, Marketing or Advertising agency.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 14 Sep 12:13
SAB appoints Sphe Vundla as corporate brand director

South African Breweries (SAB) has announced the appointment of Sphe Vundla as its new corporate brand director.



Over the past three and a half years, Vundla has been instrumental in some of SAB's most well-known beer brands, including Castle Lager, Castle Free, Carling Black Label, Lion Lager and Hansa, and has led the digital and integrated media functions for these brands.
Late last month, we first reported on a groundbreaking new study that appeared to "end the debate" on the subject of natural vs. vaccine-induced immunity. The study found that, when it comes to preventing serious infection with the delta variant, natural infection with a prior strain of COVID was as much as 13x more effective at preventing future infection than being fully vaccinated.

Though the research was initially ignored by the American medical establishment, on Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked during an interview with CNN how he would explain this to somebody who had been previously infected and is now reluctant to get the vaccine.

Dr. Fauci's response: "I dont have a really firm answer for you on that."

Well, if he doesn't have a good justification, then he's going to have to find one soon. Because as the Biden Administration ups the pressure on employers to force their workers to choose between their jobs and the vaccine, Spectrum Health, an extensive hospital system in Western Michigan, has just declared that prior employees (including nurses, doctors, etc.) won't be required to get the vaccine if they have already been infected.

The decision, which was made by the hospital system's medical exemption committee, was first reported by the Detroit News. Individuals with a positive PCR or antigen test plus a positive antibody test from within the past thre emonths can claim the exemption.

Spectrum Health will grant temporary exemptions from its employee vaccine mandate to individuals who can prove they have naturally acquired immunity to COVID-19. The west Michigan hospital system, which is in the process of merging with Southfield-based Beaumont Health, will grant an exemption to those who have a positive PCR or antigen test for COVID-19 plus a positive antibody test from within the past three months, the health system said in a statement Thursday. The exemption, the first for a major health system in Michigan, was developed "as new research has emerged" on natural immunity. "While we still recommend vaccination for people with prior COVID-19 infection, according to this new research, there is increasing evidence that natural infection affords protection from COVID-19 reinfection and severe symptoms for a period of time," the statement said. "Current studies are not clear on how long natural immunity protects from reinfection."

The policy is subject to change if "future evidence" reveals anything new about the efficacy of natural vs. vaccine-induced protection.

The policy could be updated if future evidence shows naturally acquired protection is waning or longer lasting, or if there is a validated antibody test result showing immunity, the statement said. Spectrum announced in late July that it would require the COVID-19 vaccine within eight weeks of the Food and Drug Administration approving a vaccine, but noted it would consider some exemptions. Those exemptions include religious exemptions and medical exemptions determined by a medical exemption committee. The hospital system's medial exemption committee recommended the health system allow for a temporary exemption for naturally acquired immunity based on available research, the statement said.

Other nearby health systems are sticking with the federal government's recommended mandate. They include Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System, Beaumont Health and Trinity Heath Michigan.

The CDC has said it's "uncommon" for those infected with COVID to become reinfected within 90 days. But nobody really knows for sure. "Experts dont know for sure how long this protection lasts, and the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 far outweighs any benefits of natural immunity," the CDC says.

What they don't want you to realize is the same is true for the vaccines.
Many media and political figures expressed outrage online after former President George W. Bush appeared to use his speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 to compare January 6 Capitol protesters to the Islamic terrorists who viciously attacked America, killing nearly three thousands innocents and wounding more than double that number.

Speaking at the 9/11 memorial service for Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, Bush recalled the September 11 attacks while warning of future terrorist threats to the United States.

We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within, he said.

Alluding to American citizens who stormed Capitol Hill to protest the 2020 election, the former president stated:

There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in its disdainful 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.

In response to the comparison, many took to Twitter to express outrage.

There is no comparison between 9/11/2001 & 1/6/2021, tweeted ACT for America, a grassroots movement dedicated to preserving Americas culture, sovereignty and security.

George W Bush is an imbecile, the group added.

There is no comparison between 9/11/2001 & 1/6/2021. George W Bush is an imbecile.  ACTforAmerica (@ACTforAmerica) September 11, 2021

The only place Bush should be on 9/11 is answering to the American people for all his lies, Washington Congressional candidate and retired Army Special Forces chief warrant officer Joe Kent wrote.

Instead hes just showing us that the regime is not just one party, its the ruling class that despises us & is not done exploiting us, he added.

The only place Bush should be on 9/11 is answering to the American people for all his lies. Instead hes just showing us that the regime is not just one party, its the ruling class that despises us & is not done exploiting us. https://t.co/Tc9sVSzFyg  Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) September 11, 2021

George Bush is a fraud! declared conservative comedian Terrence K. Williams.

This clown compared Jan 6th to 9/11, he added. What an insult. Its not even close.

George Bush is a fraud! This clown compared Jan 6th to 9/11. What an insult. Its not even close  Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) September 12, 2021

When Occupy Democrats is cheering George W Bush you might be confused if you havent been paying attention, political correspondent Jack Posobiec wrote.

Bush is publicly comparing 9/11 to Jan 6, he wrote in another tweet. They want Trump supporters treated like jihadists.

Are you paying attention yet? he added.

Bush is publicly comparing 9/11 to Jan 6 They want Trump supporters treated like jihadists Are you paying attention yet?pic.twitter.com/ByOi5hEoXt  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) September 11, 2021

I have personally overlooked many things from former President George W. Bush but his comparison between Trump voters and the Jihadists from 9/11 is an absolute disgrace, retired U.S. Air Force Col. Rob Maness wrote.

F*cking unbelievable, he continued, adding a NeverForget hashtag.

I have personally overlooked many things from former President George W. Bush but his comparison between Trump voters and the Jihadists from 9/11 is an absolute disgrace. F*cking unbelievable. #NeverForget https://t.co/ZPFtz9J6a0  Col. Rob Maness ret. (@RobManess) September 11, 2021

The more I hear from George W Bush, the more I realize there was never really a choice in presidential elections in my lifetime until 2016, Washington comic and columnist Tim Young wrote.

The more I hear from George W Bush, the more I realize there was never really a choice in presidential elections in my lifetime until 2016.  Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) September 11, 2021

George W. Bush, the man who brought us torture, indefinite detention, assassination, and mass surveillance, rebukes those whove turned their backs on the America I know, journalist Matt Taibbi wrote.

George W. Bush, the man who brought us torture, indefinite detention, assassination, and mass surveillance, rebukes those whove turned their backs on the America I know. https://t.co/nLbgQON4nU  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) September 11, 2021

My disgust over this stupidity knows no bounds, conservative activist Ned Ryun wrote.

My disgust over this stupidity knows no bounds. https://t.co/KcrqZ77UJ1  Ned Ryun (@nedryun) September 11, 2021

After 20 years of a war on terror abroad, [George W. Bush] wants to now fight a new one against his fellow citizens, journalist Greg Price wrote.

After 20 years of a war on terror abroad, W wants to now fight a new one against his fellow citizens https://t.co/qZlOEw3yz6  Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 11, 2021

One of Bushs many failures was to saddle the U.S. with DHS & TSA, forever treating citizens as possible terroristsinstead of forcing our enemies to change their way of life instead, Claremont Institute president Ryan P. Williams wrote.

Now he tacitly signs on to Bidens execrable national security strategys dangerous propaganda, he added.

One of Bushs many failures was to saddle the U.S. with DHS & TSA, forever treating citizens as possible terroristsinstead of forcing our enemies to change their way of life instead. Now he tacitly signs on to Bidens execrable national security strategys dangerous propaganda. https://t.co/VB7Tk36A0w  Ryan P. Williams (@RpwWilliams) September 11, 2021

I agree with President Bush, domestic terrorists like ANTIFA and BLM, are comparable to Islamic extremists, former Nevada State GOP chairman Amy Tarkanian wrote.

I agree with President Bush, domestic terrorists like ANTIFA and BLM, are comparable to Islamic extremists. https://t.co/34es20HCQn  Amy Tarkanian (@MrsT106) September 11, 2021

Swamp creatures like Bush hate Americans who oppose them more than they hate people who kill Americans, conservative commentator and actor Nick Searcy wrote.

Swamp creatures like Bush hate Americans who oppose them more than they hate people who kill Americans. https://t.co/9lwiAgvl03  Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) September 11, 2021

Youd think he was talking about Antifabut hes talking about you, national security analyst and Claremont Institute Senior Fellow David Reaboi wrote.

I cant think of anyone else whos made such a disgusting disgrace of his legacy, he added.

Youd think he was talking about Antifabut hes talking about you. I cant think of anyone else whos made such a disgusting disgrace of his legacy. https://t.co/QKf9L5BlY9  David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) September 11, 2021

I dont understand how George W. Bush could even say something like that many Trump supporters are the same that answered the call to arms from Bush, Republican congressional candidate and combat veteran Samuel Williams wrote.

Many lost their lives or maimed doing so, he added.

I don't understand how George W. Bush could even say something like that many Trump supporters are the same that answered the call to arms from Bush. Many lost their lives or maimed doing so. https://t.co/MxUxGY33oS  Samuel Williams (@votesamuelwill1) September 11, 2021

Bush gave a speech on 9/11 today and all I heard was that guys like me  who went to war under him AND his father  were a terrorist threat to our country, columnist Kurt Schlichter wrote.

Hes trash and Im done with him and his whole cabal, he added.

Bush gave a speech on 9/11 today and all I heard was that guys like me  who went to war under him AND his father  were a terrorist threat to our country. He's trash and I'm done with him and his whole cabal.  Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) September 11, 2021

When Bush condemns domestic extremists, hes NOT talking about Antifa or radical BLM rioters. Hes talking about the Deplorables, about us, former Trump campaign senior adviser Steve Cortes wrote.

He also assails the very people he sent to fight and die in his disastrous wars, he added. Hes the worst president ever.

When Bush condemns domestic extremists, hes NOT talking about Antifa or radical BLM rioters. Hes talking about the Deplorables, about us. He also assails the very people he sent to fight and die in his disastrous wars. Hes the worst president ever.pic.twitter.com/YOa8ZE2QOJ  Steve Cortes (@CortesSteve) September 12, 2021

George Bush is a monster, wrote former CIA operations officer Bryan Dean Wright.

George Bush is a monster.  BDW (@BryanDeanWright) September 11, 2021

Bush is a disgrace for this, conservative commentator Lisa Boothe wrote.

Bush is a disgrace for this. https://t.co/a1SFhCy9Bo  Lisa Boothe (@LisaMarieBoothe) September 12, 2021

I dont know what this is even designed to mean other than to be incendiary on a dark anniversary, Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former co-host of The View wrote.

First responders led & ran into danger and died, she added. Mayor Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, George Pataki, President Bush, Chuck Schumer. there were many real leaders leading us.

I don't know what this is even designed to mean other than to be incendiary on a dark anniversary. First responders led & ran into danger and died. Mayor Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, George Pataki, President Bush, Chuck Schumer. there were many real leaders leading us. https://t.co/60eBxqdvmL  Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 11, 2021

Was George Bush referring to the domestic terrorism organized through Antifa and BLM riots all over our country? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) asked.

I certainly hope so, she replied.

Was George Bush referring to the domestic terrorism organized through Antifa and BLM riots all over our country? I certainly hope so. https://t.co/dYuEOwenyu pic.twitter.com/Z5O5ZamKIa  Marjorie Taylor Greene  (@mtgreenee) September 11, 2021

On a solemn daywhere many of us are paying respect to the lives of those who were lost through remembrance, prayer, and acts of serviceBush is crafting the narrative that AMERICANS are the new terrorists, Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-FL) wrote.

What an absolutely sick individual and an embarrassment to our Nation, he added.

On a solemn daywhere many of us are paying respect to the lives of those who were lost through remembrance, prayer, and acts of serviceBush is crafting the narrative that AMERICANS are the new terrorists. What an absolutely sick individual and an embarrassment to our Nation. https://t.co/CkTnveCJxJ  Rep. Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) September 11, 2021

I didnt think George Bush could disgrace himself any more than he already has, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, radio host and former deputy assistant to former President Trump, wrote.

I was wrong, he added.

I didnt think George Bush could disgrace himself any more than he already has. I was wrong.  Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) September 12, 2021

While Republicans heaped criticism on Bushs remarks, Democrats praised the former president despite their longtime disdain for him.

According to journalist Glenn Greenwald, Liberals swooned emotionally for the former president because they crave his War on Terror, but just want it unleashed domestically at their political opponents.

He also claimed that hearing Bush link 9/11 with 1/6 was ecstasy for them.

President Joe Biden called Bushs speech really good, adding that it was a genuinely good speech about who we are.

Former President Bill Clinton thanked Bush for his powerful speech.

Thank you, my friend, he said, for your powerful and much-needed words on this difficult day.

Thank you, my friend, for your powerful and much-needed words on this difficult day. https://t.co/N2XhRMGKV4  Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) September 12, 2021

Bush is right, wrote longtime Democratic political operative David Axelrod.

Many of the same people who are clamoring about the threat of terrorism from abroad are ignoring-and even enabling-the more urgent threat of domestic terrorism like the insurrection of 1/6, he added.

Bush is right. Many of the same people who are clamoring about the threat of terrorism from abroad are ignoring-and even enabling-the more urgent threat of domestic terrorism like the insurrection of 1/6.  David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 11, 2021

George W. Bush is right, the Democratic Coalition tweeted. We must always remain vigilant against terrorist extremists both at home and abroad.

And we cannot rest until all of Trumps traitorous, insurrectionist foot soldiers face justice, the group added.

George W. Bush is right  we must always remain vigilant against terrorist extremists both at home and abroad. And we cannot rest until all of Trump's traitorous, insurrectionist foot soldiers face justice #NeverForgethttps://t.co/KIQ4iDtoyt  Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) September 11, 2021

Even George W. Bush now recognizes Trump, his supporters and those who directly participated in the 1/6 Coup attempt are terrorists  surely as the 9/11 ones were, former ESPN and MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann, wrote.

Ill say it again: Trump damaged America in a way Bin Laden only dreamed of, he added.

And there it is. Even George W. Bush now recognizes Trump, his supporters and those who directly participated in the 1/6 Coup attempt are terrorists  surely as the 9/11 ones were. Ill say it again: Trump damaged America in a way Bin Laden only dreamed of pic.twitter.com/9BJbPnxqWN  Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 11, 2021

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein
You wake up one morning married to a stranger who loves rye bread so dense youd better duck if a loaf comes sailing toward you.

You thought you were marrying a European. But he is Latvian. Citizen of an overlooked country on the Baltic Sea. Latvian rye bread sustained your husbands ancestors through icy winters and centuries of serfdom.

And you? Youre safely American. Born in a land of plenty. Yes, your Russian Jewish grandparents survived on rye bread in the old country. But in America, they ate mile-high hot pastrami sandwiches  the bread, a mere afterthought.

Your husband prefers open-faced sandwiches on Latvian rye bread with one slice of meat. He hates excess.

You think in time he will become like you. You are shocked to realize he wants you to become like him.

How did you marry a man so different from you? The answer never varies. You wanted to be near him. You felt compelled to be near him.

We met at a party in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He was 28. A grown-up with a PhD and a career. I was 20, a rising college senior, working a nothing summer job.

The chemistry was immediate.

I was a student of history. He was historys victim, born in Latvia in 1939. In 1944, to escape the Russians, his family fled westward. For five years, they lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany.

I thought our romance was just a prelude to the glamorous single life I would live after graduation. But John was thinking marriage.

We broke up. He married someone else and had two daughters. I moved to New York and wrote a book.

In my early 30s, out of the blue, John called me. He was getting divorced.

He showed up at my door with a bunch of yellow freesia. He was as handsome as ever.

This time, I said yes.

The day I met my mother-in-law, she served her rye bread. I understood it was a test of my suitability.

I lied and said I loved her bread. In truth, I didnt get it.

John and I married and had a son. Marriage surprised me. The way anger escalated. The rage I felt about the things John could not throw out: used nuts and bolts, broken dishes. Most shocking: The hatred I saw in his eyes when I told him I had thrown away the clogs he bought in Helsinki  the ones that hurt his feet.

Marriage surprised me in the other way, too. The unexpected sweetness. John playing chess with our son and the neighborhood kids in front of our fireplace, then feeding them rye bread, sardines and hot chocolate.

Eventually, John found a Russian baker in Brooklyn and started selling a bread he called Black Rooster Baltic Rye.

John built a following for his bread by handing out free samples. Sometimes, I helped. One afternoon at Zabars, a nice-looking fellow swung by my display table.

He took a piece of rye bread smeared with sweet butter. I know this bread. I grew up on this bread, he said, a dreamy smile crossing his face. Can I really buy it here?

When I said yes, he leaned over and kissed the lapel of my corduroy blazer. Thank you, he said. I love this bread.

I do, too, I said, and as I spoke I realized something had changed: I wasnt faking it. I loved Latvian rye bread.

If this were a film, you would see pages falling from a calendar, marking the passage of time. We come to a sunny Sunday morning. Johns older daughter and our grandson are visiting. John is making breakfast.

Teti! Rye bread! our grandson calls from his high chair.

I carry the smoked salmon and the fixings into the sunroom. Our grandson quickly sets to work on a plate of salmon and rye bread.

We all sit at the table. Light pours in through the windows. I gaze at the abundance. I look at John. So many years. So many meals. His never-ending need to share. My heart cracks open. I am Molly Bloom in Ulysses, saying, yes, I will marry you and be with you and care for you and be cared for by you. Yes. Yes, I will.

Michaele Weissman is a writer and writing teacher based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her fourth book, The Rye Bread Marriage, a memoir, will be published by Algonquin Books in 2023.
Last month, a visitor to Souris got more than she bargained for on a holiday to visit her sister-in-law.

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Last month, a visitor to Souris got more than she bargained for on a holiday to visit her sister-in-law.

Shortly after arriving at her destination, Shirley Klassen of Abbotsford, B.C., had her purebred rough collie Sienna run away.

SUBMITTED All nine of Sienna the rough collie's puppies are safe and sound after being born in the woods.

After days of searching by dozens of people in the town, a couple walking near the Souris River saw a sight they didnt expect: Sienna lying under a tree with the extendable lead attached to her collar wrapped around a tree and nine newborn puppies wriggling nearby on the ground.

With the dog mom and her babies now back at home safe and sound, Klassen is thanking the people of Souris for their assistance in giving her stressful vacation a happy ending.

Speaking to the Sun over the phone last week, Klassen said she had taken Sienna with her and her husband on their trip because she was pregnant and they wanted to be around if she gave birth.

What they didnt expect was for the dog, who belongs to the same breed as Lassie, to bolt away while the family exchanged greetings minutes after arrival on Aug. 15.

Sienna barked and poked Klassen with her nose, seemingly asking to be let into their pickup truck, but the owner didnt clue in that something was wrong quickly enough. The dog was put on an extendible lead and very soon Klassen felt a tug as Sienna bolted, pulling the lead out of her owners hand and dragging it along the ground.

No one saw the dog again for four days.

"We started searching immediately and nothing, absolutely nothing," Klassen said. "It was like she disappeared into thin air."

Looking for help, she was advised to make a post in a local Souris Facebook group and reach out to Brandon and Area Lost Animals for assistance.

In response, she said dozens of people came out to search the town for her missing dog. Some kids visiting from out of town reported that theyd seen a brown dog wandering around with a lead attached to its neck in Victoria Park, which straddles both sides of the river.

The tip didnt lead to any immediate discovery, but the searchers started to focus their efforts looking through the park.

"We put out flyers, stopped everyone we saw, asked them to keep an eye out," she said. "Some people were out there at five in the morning."

Except for five women who were involved in the search, Klassen made the decision not to tell anyone Sienna was pregnant out of concern it could make the dog a target for theft.

On Aug. 17, someone sent in a tip that theyd found brown fur along on a trail. It looked like Siennas, but again, no one could find her.

Klassen and her husband actually spent the night in the park in hopes they might find her, to no avail.

On Aug. 18, Klassen received some assistance from Toni Gramiak, the founder of the BALA Facebook page, who has experience in missing animal response.

"With a dog in survival or flight mode, the most important thing for owners to remember is that theyre no longer behaving like their pet," Gramiak said in a phone interview. "Theyre behaving more like a wild animal, like a deer or a fox. If a strategy isnt going to work to catch a fox or a deer ... its not going to work to catch their dog."

In a case like this, Gramiak says searchers should avoid calling out their lost dogs name because, in survival mode, it causes them to bolt.

"Even if the owner calls the dog ... its like youve just exposed the dog to predators. Its like youve shone a light on them and they run for their lives. What we see is the dog look back, tuck their tail and bolt. Ive seen it so many times. Of course, you never know if a dog is in full flight or survival mode, but its always best to err on the side of caution."

Instead of calling their name, she recommends searchers ask the dog if they want a treat or say positive things. She said shed told Klassen to search the bush to make sure she wasnt tangled around a tree.

That night around 8 p.m., Klassen finally got the call shed been waiting for: a couple said theyd found her dog.

They came racing over and revealed that they not only had Sienna with them, but nine puppies. Theyd been on the other side of the river when they heard the puppies whining.

At first, Sienna was still in survival mode, but after she was led to her crate and her puppies were set aside, she relaxed within five minutes.

Almost as soon as they got home, Klassen got even busier.

One of her other collies gave birth to a litter of eight.

Less than a week later, a third dog gave birth another seven puppies born from a third litter. They now have 23 puppies.

Last year, they only had a few puppies and there was a long waiting list claiming pups from future litters. Now they have enough to satisfy the entire waiting list and have a few left up for grabs for loving homes.

"Its amazing, simply amazing, that these people went all the way across the river to find them," Klassen said.

"Not very far from when theyd found them ... theres a cliff that goes straight down to the dam. Its a miraculous story."

In honour of the efforts of the people of Souris, the Klassens are buying a concrete bench to be placed near the dam for people walking along the park trail.

 cslark@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @ColinSlark
WINNIPEG - An extradition hearing for a former Canadian fashion mogul facing sex trafficking and racketeering charges in the United States is being pushed up a month.

Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard appears in front of a judge in court in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in this court sketch. An extradition hearing for Nygard, who faces sex trafficking and racketeering charges in the United States, is being pushed up a month. THE CANADIAN PRESS/James Culleton

WINNIPEG - An extradition hearing for a former Canadian fashion mogul facing sex trafficking and racketeering charges in the United States is being pushed up a month.

Peter Nygard was to appear in court from Nov. 15 to Nov. 19, but court documents show the date has been changed to Oct. 1 at the request of the Crown and Nygard's counsel.

Nygard was arrested in December under the Extradition Act and faces nine counts in the Southern District of New York.

Authorities there accuse the 80-year-old of using his influence in the fashion industry to lure women and girls with the promise of modelling and other financial opportunities.

Defence lawyer Brian Greenspan told court earlier this year that his client denies all allegations.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada denied Nygard's request to challenge two lower court decisions that denied him bail.

Nygard has remained in custody since his arrest. His bail was first denied in February. The judge cited concerns that Nygard would contact witnesses if released. He appealed that decision and was again denied release in March.

His lawyers had presented the bail hearing with a release plan that included monitoring all emails and text messages. It also involved an in-home security guard and 24-hour video surveillance.

Federal prosecutors argued that Nygard had the finances and personnel available to assist him in obstructing justice.

The extradition request from the U.S. details accounts from seven alleged victims who are expected to testify in a criminal trial in that country.

The women allege their livelihoods and their movements became dependent on having sex with Nygard. They say they were coerced through financial means or physical force.

Nygard is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. involving 57 women with similar allegations.

Nygard founded his fashion company in Winnipeg in 1967. It grew from a partial stake in a women's garment manufacturer to a brand name sold in stores around the world.

He stepped down as chairman of his company after the FBI and police raided his offices in New York City in February 2020.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021.

 With files from CTV Winnipeg
A fungus that is destroying bat populations in eastern North America has made its first appearance on the Canadian Prairies.

A radio transmitter is inserted into a little brown bat in an abandoned mine in Rosendale, N.Y., Jan. 27, 2009. A fungus that is destroying bat populations in eastern North America has made its first appearance on the Canadian Prairies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mike Groll

A fungus that is destroying bat populations in eastern North America has made its first appearance on the Canadian Prairies.

Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society report that they've found the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in eastern Saskatchewan, despite hopes the western grasslands would prove a barrier.

"We have found the fungus," said Cory Olson, who discovered it while researching how bats use structures on the prairies such as bridges.

"It's easily in the millions of bats in North America that have already died from this fungus."

White-nose syndrome is caused by growth of the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus on the bodies of hibernating bats. Bats are able to fight off the fungus during the summer. But when they hibernate in winter, their immune systems slow down.

The fungus eats at the skin on their wings, which causes the bats to dehydrate and wake up to drink. When they do, they burn energy. If they wake up too many times, their fat reserves don't get them through the winter and they starve to death.

Bats typically hibernate in large groups. If the group gets infected, the destructans fungus can wipe it out, said Jordi Segers, the white-nose syndrome program coordinator with the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.

"In the lucky scenarios, 85 per cent of bats disappeared. There's a really, really high mortality."

White-nose syndrome was first identified in North America in 2006. It's now throughout the eastern United States and Canada, as well as western states such as Washington.

"It's been spreading a few hundred kilometres every year," said Olson.

Scientists had hoped Prairie geology, which has few caves where bats gather in large numbers, might be a barrier. They still hope the more solitary hibernation of western bats will slow the syndrome's progress.

"The West is potentially different from the East," Segers said. "It might slow down the spread."

Although the fungus is now present in Saskatchewan, no bats have yet been diagnosed with the disease.

That's because it takes a hibernation season for symptoms of the syndrome to appear. As well, little is known about where and how Prairie bats hibernate, making it tough to find animals that don't survive.

The three species of bats native to the Prairies are already considered endangered. The threat of white-nose syndrome comes on top of challenges they already face from deforestation and the draining of wetlands that nurture the insects the bats live on.

"We know climate change is already having a big effect on bats," Segers said.

Bats play an important role in local ecosystems, he said.

They're also important to humans. Bats eat large amounts of insects that would otherwise damage crops.

U.S. studies have suggested that bats save American farmers billions of dollars a year in crop losses.

A Saskatchewan government zoologist said the province is aware the fungus has been found.

"The Ministry of Environment is working closely with local researchers and other agencies to ensure that appropriate protocols are followed by professionals when handling bats," said Erin Swerdfeger.

"(It) is forming a provincial working group to address many of the questions about our bat populations."

Segers and Olson point out that some bats survive white-nose syndrome. Finding out why might provide a clue to fighting the disease. One possibility is a probiotic "cocktail" that could help bats fight the fungus, said Olson.

Too little is known about Canada's bats, added Segers. More research will be needed to track the progress of the disease and how it can be fought.

"Through research, we're trying to find out how these bats survive and what we can do to help."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.
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.

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 - The final week of the federal election campaign kicked off with a war of words between Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, even as Trudeau insisted he wasn't getting personal.

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. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

MONTREAL - The final week of the federal election campaign kicked off with a war of words between Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, even as Trudeau insisted he wasn't getting personal.

Both leaders spent considerable time at their campaign stops Monday criticizing the other, but Trudeau suggested his actions couldn't be compared to his rival's.

"I know its easy to sort of say, 'Oh, this person's saying negative things, that persons saying negative things, a pox on all their houses,'" he said in Vancouver.

"But there is a difference between the kinds of personal attacks that Mr. O'Toole has been engaged in since he became leader and that were seeing right now, and the clear differences of perspective and policy that Ive been highlighting from the very beginning."

Earlier, O'Toole said Trudeau has veered into "personal attacks and American-style misleading politics," adding that the Liberal leader was only serving his own political interests by calling the Sept. 20 election.

"When Mr. Trudeau was partying  and weve all seen the photos  I was doing search-and-rescue missions in the military," O'Toole said in Ottawa.

"Every Canadian has met a Justin Trudeau in their lives  privileged, entitled and always looking out for No. 1."

Polls suggest a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives to form the next government, informing the parties' strategies for the last week of the campaign.

Monday's events came a day after Trudeau raised the tone against O'Toole at a rally at a drive-in movie theatre in Oakville, Ont., west of Toronto.

At one point, Trudeau told a cheering crowd of supporters that O'Toole's refusal to mandate vaccination for his candidates and for air and rail travellers was a policy that appeals to "the far right anti-vax wing of his own party," and the "mobs of anti-vaxxers who are harassing doctors and nurses, waiters and business owners."

But Trudeau insisted Monday that was not impugning O'Toole's character, even as he said the Conservative leader has "proxies" in the anti-vaxxer movement, the gun lobby and anti-abortion groups.

When asked for evidence that O'Toole has anti-vaccine proxies, Trudeau provided nothing concrete.

He said volunteers for a local Conservative campaign were among a crowd in one of the early protests, though he acknowledged the Conservatives repudiated them and kicked them off their campaign after their involvement came to light.

But, Trudeau said, one has to ask why O'Toole won't mandate vaccines for his candidates when a majority of Canadians are supportive of vaccines and when the Tory leader requires reporters and staff travelling with him on the campaign to be vaccinated.

"You have to know there is an awful lot of pressure from inside his party to do that, to leave room for that," he said.

Finally, Trudeau pointed to O'Toole saying the Conservatives are a "big tent" party when the Tory leader was questioned about People's Party of Canada sympathizers, some of whom have been at Trudeau protests carrying PPC signs.

"(That means) there is room in his Conservative party for anti-vaxxers, for gun lobbyists, for anti-choice activists," Trudeau said. "Thats the big tent that he is casting, to include people who find themselves outside the fringes of the mainstream."

Later Monday, Trudeau was confronted by a protester who screamed obscenities at him as he stepped off a bus ahead of an interview with Global News anchor Neetu Garcha.

The man called Trudeau a communist and screamed a misogynist comment referencing the Liberal leader's wife as a second man blasted the Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It" from a stereo and loudspeaker pulled on a cart.

"Isnt there a hospital you should be going to bother right now?" Trudeau retorted to the heckler, in reference to protests against pandemic measures that were taking place outside some hospitals.

Earlier, Trudeau had denounced the demonstrations and announced that his government would make it a criminal offence to block hospitals or harass health-care workers.

Ultimately, Trudeau's interview with Global was relocated from a set outside the studio to the lobby inside.

During a question and answer session with undecided voters broadcast later Monday on CBC, Trudeau admitted he has "less and less patience" for the anti-vaccination protesters.

He drew a distinction between people who are hesitant to get vaccinated and who could still be persuaded to do so and those who "are coming out to scream profanities at health care workers" and who will never be convinced.

"Some people you need to protect other Canadians from and that's what I am unequivocal about doing," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021.
Prosecutors failed to prove Linda O'Leary was operating her boat without proper care or consideration for others when it crashed into another vessel in central Ontario two years ago, a judge ruled Tuesday as he cleared her in the fatal collision.

Linda O'Leary and Kevin O'Leary arrive at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. A verdict is expected today in the trial of Linda O'Leary, charged in a boat crash that killed two people in central Ontario two years ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Jordan Strauss/Invision

Prosecutors failed to prove Linda O'Leary was operating her boat without proper care or consideration for others when it crashed into another vessel in central Ontario two years ago, a judge ruled Tuesday as he cleared her in the fatal collision.

O'Leary, the wife of celebrity businessman Kevin O'Leary, was charged with careless operation of a vessel under the Canada Shipping Act following the Aug. 24, 2019 collision on Lake Joseph, north of Toronto.

Linda O'Leary was driving the boat at the time of the crash, with her husband and a friend on board. The group was returning from a dinner party at another cottage, and court heard Linda O'Leary was the designated driver.

The other boat, a Nautique, carried a group of friends out on a stargazing excursion, court heard. The boat belonged to Irv Edwards, who owned a nearby cottage, but his friend Richard Ruh was at the helm when the crash took place, court heard.

The two vessels collided at the bow, or front, at 11:30 p.m.  an impact that knocked some of the passengers of the Nautique to the floor, court heard. Two people on that boat  Gary Poltash, 64, of Florida, and Suzana Brito, 48, from Uxbridge, Ont.  died from their injuries. Three others were also hurt.

In delivering his verdict, Ontario Court Justice Richard Humphrey found the Nautique had its lights off when it was struck, despite testimony from passengers who said some of the lights were on.

The lights were a central issue during trial, with the defence arguing the Nautique was essentially invisible to O'Leary until after the collision.

Humphrey noted Tuesday that security videos taken from the O'Leary and Edwards cottages "make it clear" the Nautique's lights were not on when the boats came into contact.

"The purpose of the venture into the open waters of Lake Joseph by Mr. Edwards and his guests was to acquire an unobstructed view of the night sky without interference from artificial light," the judge said.

"It defies logic to suggest they would have travelled to that location and activated the lights, the effect of which would have been to defeat their purpose."

Ruh also testified that he put his sweater over the console lighting to mute it, and later pleaded guilty to failing to exhibit a stern light on a power-driven vessel under the Canada Shipping Act.

There was also insufficient evidence to determine the speed at which the O'Leary boat was travelling, or what speed would have been appropriate under the circumstances, the judge found.

Humphrey rejected the Crown's submission that O'Leary should have considered the potential risk of an unlit boat and therefore driven at a lower speed than she did.

"This submission almost suggests that no one should operate a boat at night under any circumstance," Humphrey said.

The judge also addressed evidence regarding O'Leary's consumption of alcohol, though prosecutors did not ask the court to draw any inferences regarding her state of intoxication.

A provincial police officer testified at trial that O'Leary registered an "alert range'' blood alcohol level in a breath test shortly after the crash. The officer said O'Leary told her she only had one drink, and it was after the crash.

Humphrey noted the roadside screening test isn't a "scientific device for court purposes" and can't be used to determine O'Leary's blood alcohol level at all relevant times. The judge also noted O'Leary was not charged with impaired driving.

"Had this court been required to make a finding of fact as to the issue of impairment by alcohol, or alcohol in the defendants system over the legal limit at the time of the driving, there could have been no such finding on the evidence," he said.

"For greater certainty, this court concludes, on the evidence before it, that alcohol played no part as it relates to the issues of operating a vessel without due care and attention or reasonable consideration for others."

Lawyers for the Poltash and Brito families called the verdict "a further disappointment for the families."

"The families will continue to fight for justice, civilly," lawyers Patrick Brown and Nick Todorovic said in a statement.

"For these grieving families, it is about obtaining civil justice to prevent these deaths and curtail reckless and dangerous behaviour from continuing on our lakes. We are not there yet."

Tuesday's verdict was delivered in a hearing in Parry Sound, Ont., that was also livestreamed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Sept. 14, 2021.
MOSCOW (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin entered self-isolation after people in his inner circle became infected with the coronavirus, the Kremlin said Tuesday, adding that the leader himself tested negative for COVID-19.

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2021, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he delivers his speech during a plenary session at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia. The embattled opposition groups admit the Kremlin has left them few options and resources ahead of the Sept. 19 election that is widely seen as a key to Putins effort to cement his hold on power. But they still hope to erode the dominance of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, or parliament. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)

MOSCOW (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin entered self-isolation after people in his inner circle became infected with the coronavirus, the Kremlin said Tuesday, adding that the leader himself tested negative for COVID-19.

Putin, who is fully vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V, held several public engagements indoors Monday and even said that he may have to quarantine soon. An aide at the time sought to suggest he was speaking generally and insisted Tuesday that no one's heath was endangered.

During a daily conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin, 68, is absolutely healthy but had come in contact with someone who contracted the virus. Asked if Putin tested negative for the virus, Peskov said definitely, yes.

Peskov didnt say when Putin began self-isolating, when he tested negative, how long he would remain in self-isolation or who among the president's contacts was infected.

During a videoconference with government officials and members of the ruling United Russia party, Putin said that several people in his immediate circle were infected with the virus, including a staff member who he was in close contact with throughout Monday.

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is going into self-isolation because of coronavirus cases among his inner circle. The announcement came Tuesday Sept. 14, 2021, in the Kremlin's readout of Putin's phone call with the Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. Putin has been fully vaccinated with the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V. He received his second shot in April. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

That staffer was vaccinated and recently got revaccinated, Putin said, apparently referring to a third shot that Russia is offering people who were immunized more than six months ago.

"Three days after revaccination he fell ill, Putin said. We will see how Sputnik V really works.

Even the most highly effective coronavirus vaccines in use don't prevent all infections, but they reduce the risk of getting seriously sick or dying from COVID-19.

Russian authorities have been regularly criticized for underplaying the pandemic and for rarely imposing measures to control it even in the face of infection surges. Russias death toll is currently running at its highest level of the pandemic, with just under 800 fatalities a day. Nevertheless, hardly any virus restrictions are currently in place.

Putin has hardly ever worn a mask publicly, though he appeared to work largely remotely and was rarely seen in public for a period before he was vaccinated.

On Monday, Putin attended several public events, most of which were indoors and where it appeared from images on TV that no one wore masks. He shook hands with Russian Paralympians and pinned medals on them, attended military exercises alongside other officials, and met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose hand he also shook. Assad tested positive for the coronavirus in March and later recovered; its not clear if he is vaccinated.

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds during an awarding ceremony for the Russian Olympic Committee's medalists of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics at the St Catherine Hall in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin is going into self-isolation because of coronavirus cases among his inner circle. The announcement came Tuesday Sept. 14, 2021, in the Kremlin's readout of Putin's phone call with the Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. Putin has been fully vaccinated with the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V. He received his second shot in April. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

During the meeting with the Paralympians, Putin signaled that he was aware of cases close to him.

Even in my circle problems occur with this COVID, the Russian leader was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying. We need to look into what's really happening there. I think I may have to quarantine soon myself. A lot of people around (me) are sick."

Peskov later said Putin was speaking figuratively.

Asked Tuesday about why Putin proceeded with public events, Peskov said that the decision to self-isolate was made after doctors completed their testing, their procedures. Peskov said without explaining that no one's health was endangered at Monday's events.

Russias daily coronavirus infections have fallen in the past month from over 20,000 to about 17,000  but experts have called into question how Russia is tallying cases and deaths.

Despite high caseloads, Russia has struggled to vaccinate its citizens, and its rates lag behind many other countries. As of Friday, only 32% of the population had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and only 27% had been fully vaccinated.

Putin has occasionally gone to extreme lengths to protect himself from infection, despite the lack of restrictions in general. Peskov has confirmed media reports that people who meet in-person with Putin or attend events with him have to undergo rigorous testing or quarantine ahead of time.

Officials even set up special disinfection tunnels last year at his residence and the Kremlin that anyone meeting Putin had to walk through. The visitors were sprayed with a disinfectant mist, although it is not clear how effective that is. Putin also once visited a hospital in a full hazmat suit.

___

Follow APs pandemic coverage at:

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak


Transformation Music Releases Debut Worship Single Titled 'Be Exalted'

Transformation Music, the praise & worship team of Transformation Christian Fellowship (TCF) located in Clarksville, MD, released its first music single titled BE EXALTED, available now on all digital streaming platforms.

BE EXALTED is a joyful and upbeat Christian Contemporary worship song that seeks to lift up the name of the Lord with powerful declarations of His greatness and encourages true believers to welcome and experience His powerful presence. BE EXALTED features worship leaders Otisia Hill, Bumi Ayodele, and Princeton Gorham and was co-written by Producer/Songwriter and TCF Executive Director Vernon Hill, Jr. and Songwriter LaVarn Gordon. Vernon expressed his anticipation, saying, I am excited for listeners to hear Be Exalted and to experience the high energy and fervent worship of Transformation Music, which is the essence of Transformation Christian Fellowship.

Transformation Music reaches hundreds of people across various social platforms with its unique harmonies and Spirit-led ability to create new songs from and for the Lord through its vibrant and dynamic worship leaders. Transformation Music faithfully charges the atmosphere of praise and worship each week at Transformation Christian Fellowship, led by Senior Pastor Brandon Hill. My prayer for those who listen to Be Exalted is that they will be encouraged and motivated to praise God at all times! said Brandon. Transformation Music partners with Nonrev Christian Music, most notably recognized for such music singles as Jesus Is Calling, In Your Presence and Heart and Soul - Billboard Christian Soft AC Most Radio Added Chart and Sirius XM Praise Radio.

This special music release of BE EXALTED also commemorates the 5th year church anniversary of Transformation Christian Fellowship this September. Transformation Music has a passion to create an atmosphere of worship in order to connect lives to the transforming power & love of Jesus Christ!
Australian design startup Canva says it plans to double its workforce over the next year and invest further in marketing and product development after securing $US200 million in fresh funding, in a deal that pushes its valuation up to $US40 billion ($55 billion).

The Sydney-based startup announced the capital raising on Wednesday making it the most valuable private consumer software company ever and now worth, on paper, more than the ASX-listed telecommunications giant Telstra.

Co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who got married at the start of this year, hold a 30 per cent stake - valued at over $16 billion - in Canva. Having committed to putting a large portion of their wealth into philanthropic causes, Ms Perkins and Mr Obrecht said it felt strange to be referred to as billionaires as they felt they were just custodians of the cash.

Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva, plans to give the majority of her wealth away. Credit:Peter Braig

Billions upon billions of dollars is more than anyone needs in their entire lifetime by a longshot, Ms Perkins said. Its not often that you have the right idea, at the right time with the right, incredible team, and with the right investors who believe in your vision.
Leo McKern as Governor Bligh, and James Condon as the Judge-Advovate in Ray Lawlers The Man Who Shot The Albatross. October 23, 1971. Credit:Graham Nicholson Although the output of stage plays has been small he has been kept busy writing for television. He has just finished an adaptation of Moravias Two Women for BBC television. Before that he did adaptations of Sinister Street and Cousin Bette. The writing of the half-dozen 45-minute episodes generally takes him six or seven months with visits to London for before and after conferences. The BBC gives me a deadline which I generally go over, he said. I work on them as slowly as I do on my own work. He said he tackled the television adaptations because he wanted to learn television technique. If hed started to work on original material he would always have thought of it first in stage terms.

The influences of his television work will probably be seen in the Bligh play, which he describes as a far more ambitious play than The Doll. (The Doll was tossed off in a mere nine months.) Not that I have used a television technique, he said. But modern audiences are conditioned by television - their pick-up is quicker. No longer can you have the maid coming in and picking up the telephone. Of the Bligh play he promised: Anyone who sees Leos performance will think it worth the trip. Im a writer because I was never able to play the parts I wanted to play as an actor. Because of my height and face and - everything. Ray Lawler He doesnt think his output over the last years has been disappointing. It doesnt disappoint me, he said.Perhaps it would if I worked at a greater speed. I do think a lot of people overproduce  sometimes because of financial circumstances, which is a trap, sometimes because of a compulsive thing to write. I certainly havent got that. It only comes out of me very reluctantly.

Im a writer because I was never able to play the parts I wanted to play as an actor. Because of my height and face and  everything. If I were six inches taller and had a different face I would probably have found release in acting and not become a writer at all. He does not consider his second play, The Piccadilly Bushman, a failure. I didnt see the play but I was astounded to find that it was taken as a rather petulant writers outburst when I was trying to make a point about an expatriate actor. Perhaps with a different set of actors... It certainly didnt make me feel, Oh, I must not write again. His third play The Unshaven Cheek was written for the 1963 Edinburgh Festival and Lawler has refused to let it be performed since. He describes it as an emotional play which grew out of his own family background. Perhaps he was too close to his subject. Anyway when he saw it, it didnt feel right. With the Bligh saga now, hopefully, out of the way he wants to start work on his first Irish play. I can never catch up on the plays I want to do, Im never groping round for a plot. The Irish one will be the first set in another country - its the first time Ive felt confident to attempt to say something about another country.

He says he still feels an outsider in Ireland and wonders how long that will last. A couple of months ago the village priest left and he was asked to help take up a collection for him. Ray Lawler, author of The Doll, with the female lead Fenella Maguire. March 27, 1956. Credit:James Hopwood That was really an accolade, he says. I was as proud of that as anything. His friends are the people who live in the village but he doesnt drink in the local pub and he doesnt go to parties. In fact he hasnt been to a party in 13 years  not since The Doll   and hes never been to a nightclub. He likes to work to a routine. He starts at 9 and works till lunchtime. If hes working on television, which is not so tiring, he works again in the afternoon. Then takes a walk with the dog. After the family have gone to bed, he works again. I work a lot but not much comes out. He cant understand why more people don t pack up and go and live in Ireland. And this has nothing to do with the income tax exemption granted to writers two years ago  a concession he recommends to Australia and any other small population countries anxious not to lose their writers and artists.

The people are wonderful  the whole country can tell a story, he said. When he complained to one of the villagers of Irelands treatment of Edna OBrien and the fact that far more saucy books than hers were freely available there, the reply was, Ah yes, but shes one of ours, you see. I felt if it had been said about me I would have been rather pleased, said Lawler. He had gone to Ireland five years ago intending to stay only a year. His name was Irish, his wifes grandparents were born in Ireland, the writers he most admired were Irish. Not any more, but in the beginning hed always intended to return to Australia. I was prevented from coming back by a tax situation with The Doll which involved three countries, England, America, Australia. I had to stay out of all three of them until it was resolved. We went to live in Denmark and then came back to London for Jackie to have the baby. At the time we had a very dear Spanish nurse looking after the boys. She also happened to have TB. She gave it to Mark and he was in hospital for a year.

We were told we shouldnt take him back straight away so we settled down in Kent and that was where the rot set in. I discovered for the first time in my life I was a country boy. I took to it like a duck to water. And I started to feel the full effect of Europe which until then Id been seeing on the wing and clouded by other things. And then we went to Ireland  and Ireland claimed us. He dodges the question of how much money he made with - The Doll (It played 300 performances in Australia, ran seven months in the West End and Hollywood bought the film rights for $300,000). He says it was a nice sum but nothing like the $250,000 quoted in the papers. Was he continuing to live off the proceeds of The Doll? Yes, he grinned, but only because Im a modest liver. Some of Ray Lawlers friends have argued that he resented success. I asked him if it were true.
One of the ironies of this pandemic is that junk insurance might finally have some value for those who are unlucky enough to still be paying for it.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently added a COVID-19 alert to its Moneysmart website, saying some insurance policies added to credit cards, home loans, car loans and personal loans may have hidden benefits for those suffering from coronavirus hardship.

The big-four banks all sold CCI policies and are still paying out customer remediation. Credit:Ryan Stuart

Let me explain. The junk insurance scandal has come to light in recent years, thanks to successive investigations by ASIC and the 2018 Banking Royal Commission.

The scope of it remains unknown but, so far, it has been revealed that as many as 25 per cent of Australians were sold about 5.6 million of these add-on junk policies over the past decade, packaged up with their credit cards, home loans, car loans and personal loans.
One of EISS Supers many sponsorship deals is with the Wollongong and District Avicultural Society.

The all-breeds bird club has 55 members that promote breeding, showing and general care for your birds.

Does sponsoring bird shows pass fund members best-interest duty test? Credit:Matt Davidson

EISS Super, a $6 billion superannuation fund, pays the club $500 a year to help run bird shows.

While Im no bird-hater  and no doubt this club creates a sense of community for many  Im lost as to how this sponsorship could pass the fund members best-interest duty test.
NSW has reported 1127 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, with authorities saying it is too early to determine whether case numbers have reached a peak.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Jeremy McAnulty appeared before reporters in the first COVID-19 update not featuring NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian or a government minister since she announced an end to daily press conferences last week.

He said a woman in her 80s from western Sydney died at Ryde Hospital and a man in his 50s from western Sydney died at Concord Hospital.

Both had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with the man in his 50s receiving his shot three days before testing positive.
Rural doctors and pub owners say all hospitality workers who deal with customers should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a requirement of their employment.

The Rural Doctors Association of Victoria and the Australian Hotels Association have separately called for public-facing hospitality workers to be a focus of vaccination programs, with the state set to reopen once 80 per cent of eligible people are fully vaccinated.

The Rural Doctors Association of Victoria says all hospitality staff should be vaccinated against coronavirus.

More than 70 per cent of people aged 16 and over in regional Victoria have received their first dose, an Age analysis of federal Health Department data has found.

As of Monday morning, 73.7 per cent of the eligible population of regional Victoria  almost 960,000 people  had received their first shot, up from 67.9 per cent this time last week.
Readers are advised that some of the content of this story could offend. It features extremely strong language and racism.

Melbournes Jewish community has been subjected to a wave of anti-Semitic abuse via social media, graffiti attacks and verbal threats following recent breaches of public health orders by a small number of ultra-Orthodox worshippers.

Police take details from people outside a synagogue in Ripponlea last week. Credit:Eddie Jim

Neo-Nazi groups and other far-right groups have seized on publicity surrounding the illegal gatherings to vilify the broader community, often invoking Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust in their attacks.

The abuse followed an illegal engagement party in Caulfield North in August attended by about 70 Orthodox Jews, and a large gathering of ultra-Orthodox worshippers in Ripponlea last week to celebrate the Jewish New Year.
The COVID-19 crisis is increasingly a two-track pandemic. Thats the warning from the International Monetary Fund as vaccination rates in wealthy countries leave those in poorer nations behind.

Theres perhaps no starker illustration of this trend than the gap between Australia and our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea. Around 55 per cent of the Australian population has now received at least one COVID-19 vaccination (counting adults and children). But in PNG that share is just 1.1 per cent.

Vaccination rates in PNG are among the worlds lowest. Credit:SMH

Our vaccine rollout got off to a sluggish start but is now streaking ahead of most nations in the region.

Only about one in 10 people in the Solomon Islands have received at least one dose while in Vanuatu the share is 13 per cent and in Indonesia 26 per cent.
Faith-based hospitals and aged care facilities would be allowed to ban euthanasia on their premises under proposed amendments to Queenslands historic voluntary assisted dying laws.

And euthanasia would be opened up to people with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers.

LNP deputy leader David Janetzki will move 54 amendments to the Palaszczuk governments euthanasia bill. Credit:Matt Dennien

LNP deputy leader David Janetzki has proposed 54 amendments to the Palaszczuk governments euthanasia bill, which is expected to pass this week, with MPs granted a conscience vote.

Under the current bill, religious institutions can exercise a conscientious objection but must take steps to transfer people seeking euthanasia to another facility or allow a doctor to enter their facility to assist with euthanasia.
Large population increases across south-east Queensland could soon see more seats added to the states 93-seat Parliament.

The Electoral Commission of Queenslands next electoral redistribution is planned for December 2024 after the next state election on October 26 that year. However, Queensland Parliament can ask the commission to add seats if population growth is substantial.

Thousands of new homes are emerging in the Ripley Valley, boosting its population by 4200 in the past 12 months. Credit:Tony Moore

A redistribution also becomes mandatory if population growth in one-third of electorates takes them over the commissions threshold.

The most recent redistribution was in 2016, when four new seats were added to take Queensland Parliament to 93 electorates.
A Colorado high school was recently given an unexpected lesson in international affairs. The Wall Street Journal reports it had applied to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women but hit a hurdle with the accreditation committee.

A letter from the committee pointed to a year-old article on the schools website about a student joining the international Girl Up teen advisory board. The concern? The article described Taiwan as a country. The committee suggested modifying the reference to Taiwan, Province of China. The change was made and permission to attend the UN conference was granted.

Former prime minister Paul Keating.

As the schools Spanish teacher Christina Vela noted: No one was ever going to randomly stumble upon that webpage.

China sits on the gatekeeper committee that oversees participation at UN events and has taken to holding up requests by organisations that dont scrupulously adhere to Beijings preferred language. Communist Party bureaucrats scour the websites of every applicant for references to Taiwan to ensure compliance, even from organisations as obscure as the Association of 3 Hedgehogs.
Europeans and other western nations have dominated automotive excellence for over a century. Whether it is the satisfying thud of the door closing on a Volkswagen from Wolfsburg, or the beauty of a Ferrari from Modena, these brands are iconic  and very lucrative for their manufacturers. When we think of reliability, the Germans, and latterly the Japanese, have had it sewn up. But if you rest on your laurels, an upstart will soon be chasing at your heels.

The Chinese are not exactly upstarts in the traditional sense: its more than a decade since they surpassed America to become the most prolific car-makers in the world. But despite reaching that milestone in 2008, Chinas cars were still mostly clones of cheap western vehicles.

Now, however, is arguably producing the best cars in the world, and on track to dominate auto manufacturing. How did this happen, and will the west be able to regain its crown?

Advantage, Beijing

The centre of excellence in car manufacturing moved from Europe at the turn of the 1900s to the US with the growth of Detroit as the worlds auto powerhouse. The 1980s and 1990s saw Japan and South Korea surge ahead, only for Europe to rise again in the early noughties as Volkswagen duelled Toyota to be number-one manufacturer by output.

Each continent has added its own flavour along the way, from innovation in safety in Europe to volume production in the US to lean manufacturing in Japan. It was Toyotas manufacturing systems that saved German-owned Porsche when it was facing dire business conditions in the 1990s, for instance.

has gradually built its auto-making capabilities during these different eras. It originally began making Soviet-designed utility vehicles under licence in the 1950s, before its state-owned companies reached similar arrangements in joint ventures with western manufacturers like General Motors and Volkswagen in the 1980s. This produced cars that were far better designed and more sophisticated, and soon Chinas roads were becoming choked with western clones.

But if that steadily elevated to number-one world carmaker by output, it can now go one better. The goal for any automotive nation is to produce vehicles of outstanding quality at the lowest possible price, simultaneously delighting the owner with innovative features and good design.

Vehicle quality is both about simple reliability and also what we would describe as build quality: how well the vehicle is finished, the uniformity of the paint finish, how well the different panels on the body align, and even  as Volkswagen made famous  the sound the doors make when they close.

Japanese and Korean vehicles have dominated reliability, while build quality has been the preserve of the Germans for mass-manufactured cars, and British names like Rolls-Royce and Bentley at the luxury end (ironically both are owned by the Germans).

China is now a major threat on both fronts, having had the advantage of maturing most recently: as each new nation learns to produce vehicles at scale, they benefit from all the learning and technical developments that have gone before. Incumbent nations would have to start from the ground up to unlock these benefits, which is an enormous upheaval and expense. Many US car plants were built in the 1950s or even before, for instance.

China is also well placed to build cars for the right price. It still pays relatively low wages and has millions of skilled workers steeped in the nations strong manufacturing culture. Skilled workers are vital to reducing automotive costs because they make vehicles that need fewer adjustments or rebuilds.

China also has excellent shipping links, with many auto factories close to Shanghai, the worlds largest shipping port. This includes Teslas gigafactory, one of the largest facilities in the world, capable of producing around 2,000 cars daily. Getting the product out, shipped and with the customer quickly reduces costs because manufacturers get paid sooner. Also crucially important is Chinas huge components supply-chain, which is already a large exporter of car parts to other nations. This all adds up to huge economies of scale that dont exist anywhere else, and are difficult to replicate.

Changing of the guard

Admittedly, some Chinese vehicles in the past decade have not had the design or performance expected by western buyers, so have not sold in enough volumes in Europe to worry the establishment. Yet this is changing rapidly. Start-ups like Polestar (owned by Volvo) are building vehicles that combine excellent build quality and the safety features, design and performance that western buyers demand. Sales of the Polestar 2 electric SUV have actually outpaced the Tesla Model 3 in Sweden and Norway at times, albeit the Model 3 is still the bigger seller overall.

Comparing vehicles that are built both in the west and China is particularly illuminating. Teslas Model 3 and Model Y cars are both built in the US and China, and owners in Europe have reported that the Chinese versions are better. I hear that their all-important panel gaps are tighter, and fewer trips to the repair shop are required.

Polestar and Tesla both have very modern factories and are fully electric. Both are designed in the west, as is BMWs iX3, another fully electric SUV built in China for export back to Europe. Like Polestar and Tesla, the iX3 is taking advantage of Chinas supply chain in EV batteries, among other things.

Yet Chinese-designed and built vehicles are not far behind in their design (if not equal), and starting to invade European markets. Xpeng is one Chinese start-up that only produces electric vehicles. Having sold well in China, it is making its first moves into Europe via Norway with its G3 model. Reviews of this compact SUV by the established auto press have been good. Meanwhile, Nio is another Chinese manufacturer making great strides in becoming a global name in pure electric vehicles.

It is early days for these entirely Chinese-designed cars to take on the establishment, and there is always the possibility that geopolitics upsets progress, but it finally seems that all the ingredients are there. The next revolution in automotive is replacing petrol and diesel vehicles with electric. With all of Chinas advantages, it could yet lead this shift, and finally become the home of the best cars in the world.

Tom Stacey, Senior Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, Anglia Ruskin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
: A section of employees at the manufacturing facility of auto maker Ford India near here on Tuesday staged a protest against the decision of the US-based company to close the factory and sought the intervention of the government, Union sources said.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, Industries minister Thangam Thennarasu and senior government officials reportedly held a meeting at the Secretariat to decide on further course of action.

In a statement, the Chennai Ford Employees Union expressed 'shock' over the decision to shut the manufacturing unit and demanded that the management take alternative steps towards ensuring that the livelihood of the nearly 2,700 employees does not get affected.

The Union urged the company not to close the facility and in the exigency of a closure, it should ensure the management accommodates the employees to another production unit so that livelihood of the employees does not get affected.

A meeting between the employees and management held over the last two days did not yield desired results which lead to the protest by the employees in front of the factory at Maraimalai Nagar situated about 50 km from the city.

Some employees wearing factory uniforms, backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), resorted to protest by raising slogans demanding the state government's intervention and not to close the plant as announced.

According to industry experts, following the closure of the facility, several thousands of jobs were at stake as several ancillary companies that supply auto parts to Ford India tend to get affected.

Meanwhile, in response to query from PTI, Ford India said the company was committed to working closely with the employees and union to care for those impacted by the restructuring of its business.

On September 9, Ford said it would shut its two manufacturing facilities in India and would sell only imported vehicles in the country as part of a restructuring exercise.

The company, which invested about USD 2.5 billion at its Chennai and Sanand (Gujarat) plants, would stop selling vehicles such as the EcoSport, Figo and Aspire produced from these factories.

Meanwhile, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam sought Chief Minister M K Stalin's immediate intervention in the issue and ensure the company's facility at Maraimalai Nagar is kept afloat.

In a statement, he said the company announced the closure of its plant here in the second quarter of next year due to huge accumulating losses and lack of growth in a difficult market. "The move will affect the future of about 4,000 direct employees and also that of about 40,000 indirect workers. The future of micro, small and medium enterprises dependent on Ford Motor is also very bleak," the AIADMK coordinator said. He appealed to the chief minister to provide relief to the employees by sustaining the industrial climate in the State.

(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.)
on Tuesday said the Rs 7,100 crore that the company would receive from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as part of the settlement of an arbitral case would be used for deleveraging its balance sheet.

Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance Infrastructure, in the AGM today said,  has won against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation as the Supreme Court upheld an arbitral award in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL)  a Reliance Infra arm that used to operate Delhi Airport Metro Line.

As a result of SC judgment, Reliance Infra arm DAMEPL would receive a sum of Rs 7,100 crore from that would be utilized to repay the debt of Reliance Infra. RInfra's consolidated debt was Rs 14,260 crore, and its standalone debt Rs 3,808 crore as of March 2021. Recently, it raised Rs 550 crore from promoter group and VSFI Holding Pte, an affiliate of Varde Investment Partners, LLP.

Reliance Infra last year completed the full stake sale of Delhi Agra Toll Road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure III pte Ltd for Rs 3,600 crore.

The apex court also issued a notice to on the Airport Express' plea for interim to continue servicing the debt of the SPV, pending the Supreme Court's disposal of the petition. The SPV borrowed Rs 1,600 crore from 11 banks, including Axis Bank, UCO Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Andhra Bank, and Central Bank of India.

Ambani said that Reliance Infras new growth engines would be power distribution business as the new Electricity Act will be opening up a plethora of opportunities, new contracts in EPC Business and Defence manufacturing business.

Ambani also said Reliance Power reduced its debt by Rs 3,100 crore in 2020-21. The company further expects to reduce a debt of nearly Rs 3,200 in 2021-22 which would improve debt: equity ratio 1.80:1, which it claimed would be among the lowest in the power sector, he said during the AGM.

RPower, which operates the Sasan ultra mega power plant in Madhya Pradesh, said the plant recorded a plant load factor of 96 per cent during FY21. Ambani said the allied coal mine with the plant had an annual coal production of 18.6 million tonne, making it the largest private sector coal producer in the country.

The company has an operational portfolio of 6,000 Mw of coal-powered units. It has planned a capex of nearly Rs 3,200 crore to install Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGDs) in its coal-based plants.

The company's shareholders in June this year approved with the preferential issue of 59.50 crores Equity Shares of Rs 10 each and 73 crore warrants, convertible into equity shares of Rs 10 each amounting to Rs 1,325 crore.

With this, the shareholding of and other promoters in the company has gone up to 24.98 per cent and would further increase to 38.24 per cent following the conversion of warrants, Ambani said at the AGM.
Buoyed by the growth it witnessed across it clinics, Asia Holdings (AHH), the single speciality delivery platform backed by TPG Growth, is now planning to make more investments in single-specialty institutions that focus on nephrology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology among others.

Contrary to popular perception those elective procedures like motherhood, In vitro fertilization (IVF) etc have not taken a beating at AHH-backed single specialty clinics. In fact, enterprises like maternity and children hospital chain Motherhood Women and Childrens Hospital have grown in 2020-21 as several clinicians opted to do their clinical work in a single specialty hospitals rather than send vulnerable patients to multi-specialty hospitals.

Vishal Bali, executive chairman, AHH and also senior advisor of explained: People tend to think that single specialty set-ups are not clinically intensive. We decided to make our clinic chains adhere to high standards of clinical, safety and even accreditation protocols.

He adds, When the pandemic hit last year, we saw Motherhood actually grow rather than de-grow. FY21 is one of the best years for Motherhood's range of hospitals and reason being the doctors found the safety standards of Motherhood far ahead of several other institutions that they were attached with. Many of them started doing their clinical work at Motherhood hospitals.

Motherhood, where AHH invested in FY17, grew by 21 per cent in FY21  a pandemic hit year compared to a 19 percent year on year growth in FY20. From three hospitals in Bangalore in FY17 and annual turnover of $5 million, the chain has now grown to 12 hospitals and revenues of $39 million.

National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Providers (NABH), a constituent board of Quality Council of India set up to establish and operate accreditation programmes for healthcare organizations, requires institutions to have around 380 quality check-points. In comparison, in Motherhood we have developed over 780 quality check points, Bali claims.

Another AHH investment Nova IVF Fertility grew from 19 centers to 50 centers in two years, despite the pandemic. It performs more than 1200 IVF cycles and 3500 new couples start their parenthood journey every month despite the Covid-19 pandemic, AHH claimed.

Bali thus says that this proposition of having single specialty clinic chains is unique and the Indian healthcare ecosystem offers enough opportunities for this. We are now looking to make more similar investments in the area of nephrology, gastroenterology and ophthalmology. Even diagnostics can be an area we could look at, he says.

AHH has already invested close to $200 million in India.

It was launched in India in 2016 with the acquisition of Cancer Treatment Services International (CTSI) for $38 million. In 2019 US-based Varian Medical Systems acquired CTSI for $283 million. By then the chain had grown from just two cancer hospitals to eleven hospitals with a pipeline of six more.

The Motherhood hospitals came to AHH in 2016 when it picked up a majority stake in Rhea Healthcare. Nova IVF was acquired in 2019, a loss making entity then. It turned profitable in six months and will become a 50 IVF centre chain this fiscal.
Eupheus Learning, a Delhi-based leading B2B company, has raised $10 million in Series C from Lightrock India, a global private equity platform. Through the fundraising, Eupheus Learning will scale faster, pursue inorganic growth through acquisitions. It aims to democratise access to 21st Century learning solutions to school students.

With the funding, Eupheus Learning aims to fuel both product portfolio as well as the geographical and segment reach.

With the evolution of online teaching and the impact of Covid-19 on the education sector, we are assisting schools to adopt a hybrid form of teaching and learning experience by providing 21st-century learning solutions to students, said Sarvesh Shrivastava, co-founder and managing director, Eupheus Learning.

Eupheus Learning has a classroom-first curriculum focussed approach. With the introduction of NEP (National Education Policy) 2020, there has been an improved adoption and demand from schools for new-age solutions and its partnerships with the supplemental solution With its large catalogue of curricular and supplemental offerings, Eupheus Learning works with more than 5,500 schools in India and the Middle East.

Founded by Sarvesh Shrivastava, Ved Prakash Khatri, and Amit Kapoor in June 2017, Eupheus Learning has partnerships with 5,500 schools and reaches 4 million students. It has recently launched 2 mega competitions  National Coding Competition  Code2Win and Olympiad through ISFO, which will have a combined total registration of close to 1 million students in India.

The unprecedented disruption of a classroom due to pandemic-driven digitalization presents a rare opportunity for schools to adopt hybrid learning models and improve learning outcomes for students, said Divya Venkatavaraghavan from Lightrock.

Earlier this year, Eupheus raised $4.1 million in Series B led by Kuwait-based United Education Company (UEC) and Al Rayan Holding Company for domestic and international expansion.
Neo-bank player Open has raised Rs 453 crore in Series C round of from Temasek, Google, and existing investors Tiger Global Management and 3one4 Capital.

According to the regulatory filings, has invested around Rs 254 crore, has invested 108.6 crore, Tiger Global has invested Rs 54.75 and 3one4 Capital has invested around Rs 36 crore.

The company in the filing said that these shares offer price was Rs 9.09 lakh a piece and has offered 20 equity shares and 4,991 Series C compulsory convertible cumulative participating preference shares.

In view of the expansion and growth of the business, the company requires additional financial resources, said the company in the regulatory filing.

Open was founded in 2017 by Aneesh Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan, Mable CHako and Deena Jacob. The company claims to be one of the largest SME banking platform in the country. In February of 2020 the company had processed $11 billion in transactions.

Some of its early investors include Unicorn India Ventures, Trifecta Capital, BEENext. In June of 2019, Open had raised around $30 million in its Series B round that was led by Tiger Global, Tanglin Venture Partners Advisors. Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Speedinvest and BetterCapital AngelList Syndicate also participated in the round.

Neo banks are digital banks that have no physical branches. They offer services like payments, lending, credit, and savings. Neo banks partner with banks. Some of the prominent Neo bank players include Open, RazorPayX, Niyo among others.
MyGate, India's largest security and community management solutions provider, on Tuesday announced the launch of 'Homes' feature - a property search marketplace - on its app, and aims to have 25,000 listings per month by the end of the year.

The feature will allow users of - which services 3 million homes in 20,000 gated communities - to list properties for buying, selling and renting on the app.

The company has completed a pilot of the feature in Bengaluru, which attracted over 10,000 property listings, a statement said.

has set itself an aggressive target of 25,000 listings per month by December 2021, it added.

The company pointed out that two trends from the ecosystem pointed to the need for 'Homes' on the MyGate app.

"30 per cent of all users on the platform, particularly tenants, move from one MyGate property to another every 12 months. Secondly, a sizable number of conversations on the app's communication platform are about property, indicating that the market, in both its digital and physical forms, still does not adequately cater to the needs of users," it added.

MyGate said as a player "firmly embedded in the gated community ecosystem", it is "the only player capable of guaranteeing owner-only listings and offering reliable insight into the current state of a community".

This includes regularly updated photographs, verified reviews from actual residents, and many varieties of society-specific information, such as the availability of maids, cooks and nannies, functioning of clubhouse facilities, occupancy rate and security strength.

"As the vast majority of the information is available with MyGate, homeowners benefit from a smoother listing process and buyers/tenants from reliability of the information, with a completely brokerage-free experience," it said.

In June this year, MyGate launched 'Homes' for the 2,300 societies on its app in Bengaluru.

Over the next three months, the company logged over 10,000 listings with over 40,000 connections taking place.

MyGate CTO and co-founder Shreyans Daga said property search remains a time-consuming struggle even online due to the number of information gaps.

"Being deeply embedded in the gated community ecosystem, we're able to bridge many of these. We are able to provide buyers and tenants with all the information they need about a particular community to speed up their decision," he added.

Over the past month, 10 integrated services such as digital rent agreement with e-signing, legal assistance, movers and packers, property management, cleaning, painting and pest control have gone live on the app.

In the coming months, solutions like interior decor, furniture and appliance rental, rental deposit and home loans will also join the list, the statement 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.)
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Struggling to retain its staff, Finance has suffered yet another blow as its CEO Rakesh Kumar Bhutoria resigned even as the company is going through the process with the lenders, sources said on Tuesday.

The pandemic induced lockdown severely dented the finances of the Kolkata-based NBFC, leading to an asset-liability mismatch.

Subsequently, the lenders of the company took control of its finances to recover their dues, triggering mass level exits at Srei Group, as salary delays became a routine, and remunerations of the top-level executives were capped at Rs 50 lakh per annum. The salary cap was removed in April this year.

"CEO Rakesh Kumar Bhutoria has resigned from Srei (SIFL). These top-level employees are now exploring the option of taking legal recourse for release of their salary arrears, which has been held by banks controlling the TRA (Trust and Retention Account)," according to the sources privy to the development.

Even as Bhutoria's last working day is yet to be decided, the sources said the company has appointed a headhunter to scout for a suitable candidate for the new CEO.

"The headhunter has shortlisted a list of potential candidates, and they have even met the board of the company, as part of the interview procedure," according to the sources.

The lack of decision making by the lenders in clearing salary arrears has led to the loss of professional talent, ultimately leading to the top-level exits, as they feel demotivated, said one of the sources.

The chief operating officer (COO) of the company's fully-owned subsidiary Srei Equipment Finance Ltd (SEFL) had left in April. The company secretaries of SIFL and SEFL had resigned in March and May, respectively.

"Recently, the Head of Treasury and Head of Corporate Communications have also left," the sources said, adding about 230-250 employees of the Srei group have resigned since December 2020.

Payment of salaries and other statutory payments have also been routinely delayed ever since the banks took action, they said.

When contacted, Bhutoria neither denied nor confirmed his resignation.

On arrears related to salaries, he said employees are left with no other alternative.

Bhutoria hopes that the matter will be resolved soon.

"The employees may take legal recourse to get back the portion of their salaries held back by the banks controlling the company's cash pool account.

Even as there has been an understanding with the banks to release salary dues, nothing has actually happened on the ground. Even as the salary cap was removed in April, nearly a dozen senior executives have not been paid their arrears amounting to nearly Rs 3 crore," according to the sources.

They said Srei and its board wrote to banks several times for the release of arrears, and overdue payments of provident fund and taxes.

"At the behest of the board, Srei has also intimated the regulator (RBI) about their grievances. They are now exploring possibilities of seeking legal recourse to get the employee dues released," said another person privy to the development.

Srei owes around Rs 18,000 crore to around 15 lenders, including Axis Bank, UCO Bank and State Bank of India.

Srei offered no comments about Bhutoria's resignation.

However, it said the company's total liabilities are around Rs 18,000 crore of bank loans, and another nearly Rs 10,000 crore of external commercial borrowings and bonds. Realisable assets, including arbitration awards, are higher.

"Therefore, we believe we can pay all our creditors over a period of time if structured in line with cash flows. Additionally, the company's business model is sustainable, and we serve one of the critical segments of the Indian economy - MSME and infrastructure.

"As a going concern, SEFL remains hopeful of receiving necessary support and guidance from the regulator and other stakeholders," a company spokesperson said.

The NBFC manages close to Rs 40,000 crore of assets. It has been facing difficulties in recovering money from its borrowers, who are mostly construction equipment owners and are also impacted by the pandemic.

"In order to pay back our lenders in a structured and orderly manner, the company submitted a scheme in October 2020 for paying back principal and interest over time to banks and financial institutions. The company also offered the option of modifying the proposed repayment schedule to be suggested by the creditors," the company said further.

On the capital raise front, the board of directors of Srei Infra (SIFL) had in July cleared a proposal to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore through various means, including qualified institutional placement (QIP).

Earlier, the subsidiary SEFL attracted investment proposals totalling Rs 4,200 crore from private equity firms from the US and Singapore.

Arena Capital (US) and Makara Capital (Singapore) are awaiting fit and proper criterion clearance from the Reserve Bank (RBI), the sources said.

Srei Infra reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 971.05 crore in the quarter ended in June 2021.

In 2020-21, it had posted a record loss of Rs 7,338 crore, against a net profit of Rs 89 crore in the preceding fiscal.

Srei had transferred its business to SEFL in late 2019 by way of a slump exchange through a business transfer agreement, in lieu of fully paid-up equity shares to SIFL.

(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.)
on Tuesday said it has inked a pact with to install and operate a 3 MWp rooftop solar project at its passenger vehicle business unit (PVBU) plant in Pune.

The automaker said it has signed a solar power purchase agreement with

The solar rooftop project is expected to generate nearly 45 lakh KWh per year, reducing carbon emissions by around 3,538 tonnes per year, it added.

"After the recent inauguration of India's largest solar carport at our car plant in Pune, this project marks a new milestone in our ongoing efforts to reduce our impact on the planet," Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Vice President - Operations - Rajesh Khatri said in a statement.

Energy efficiency is at the core of the company's efforts and reducing GHG emissions and the carbon footprint of products play a vital role, he added.

"We will continue to conserve energy in our manufacturing facilities, optimising the consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels, energy productivity, climate change mitigation and lower operating costs," Khatri said.

Chief - Solar Rooftops Business - Ravinder Singh said the partnership represents a collective effort to help lower its carbon footprint and achieve its net zero carbon goal.

"We will continue to provide such future-focused green energy solutions and continue to strengthen our partners and customers by harnessing clean energy resources," 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.)
Vistaras Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Vinod Kannan will take over as the airlines chief executive officer (CEO) from January 1 as incumbent Leslie Thng returns to in a senior role.



The CEO transition was announced on Tuesday, a day before submission of financial bids for Air India.



Thng, who is on deputation from Singapore Airlines, took charge as CEO in October 2017. Last July, the airlines board approved his reappointment for a period of three years, beginning October. However, Thngs colleagues dont see his exit as a surprise and said this is in line with Singapore Airlines job rotation policies.



 is committed to the success of Vistara, together with our joint venture partner Tata Group. Kannans appointment has been approved by the board and is part of a regular renewal of the senior management at the airline. Thng will return to in a senior management role, the airline said in a statement.



On Thngs watch, placed orders for 50 Airbus 320/321neos and six Boeing 787 MAX aircraft. The airlines international operations, too, began during his tenure.



Kannan has been with Vistara since June 2019 and knows the Indian market well. As its CEO, his immediate task will be to drive international expansion further and stabilise the domestic business. A lot will, however, depend upon Tata Groups strategy for aviation. While the Tatas are front runners to acquire Air India, we dont know yet whether or how soon they will integrate the group airlines, said Ameya Joshi, aviation expert and founder of aviation blog Network Thoughts.



Currently, Kannan looks after network planning, revenue management, customer experience, and cabin service functions. He started his career with Singapore Airlines in 2001 and held various senior positions, including that of CCO of the group's budget airline Scoot. He has also handled global network planning and spent eight years running operations in Indonesia, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.



In a statement, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said,  Kannan will lead Vistara in its next phase of growth building on the strong foundation laid by Thng. The company continues to benefit from the strong commitment of the two partners - Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.



In addition to Thng and Kannan, Singapore Airlines has deputed two other executives in Vistara. This includes Nam Kung Sia, senior vice-president (ground services) and Hamish Maxwell, senior vice-president (flight operations).



Tatas own 51 per cent and Singapore Airlines owns the remainder in their joint venture. The two infused Rs 750 crore into the airline and were allotted fresh shares in July.



Vistaras net loss reduced to Rs 1,612 crore in 2020-21 (FY21), from Rs 1,814 crore in 2019-20 due to foreign exchange gain. Its revenue declined 52 per cent to Rs 2,243 crore in FY21, from Rs 4,738 crore a year earlier.
Amid the farmers stir against the new central farm laws, Prime Minister today asserted the Centre was working to empower small farmers, which numbered 80 per cent of the community.

Addressing a public meeting at Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh, Modi asserted more than 80 per cent of the Indian possessed land holdings of less than 2 hectares even as he observed that the domestic rural economy was now moving towards a transformation.

The central government is looking to empower the small through various schemes, such as hiking the minimum support price (MSP), Kisan Credit Card (KCC), insurance, pension scheme etc, he informed.

The PM claimed the Centre had so far done direct transfers of Rs 1 trillion to farmers, of which Rs 25,000 crore had gone to the UP

The unrelenting farm stir is led by Jat leader Rakesh Tikait of Western UP. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is worried about its poll prospects in the wake of the next UP polls, which will be held in the early months of 2022. The agitating farmers claim the new farm laws will disempower them, and subsequently, the system would be weakened in favour of private buyers  a charge vehemently denied by the Centre.

Nonetheless, the BJP government has been proactively taking measures to placate the farmers with its social outreach programmes coupled with special government schemes.

In this regard, Modi also invoked former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh, the tallest Jat leader of the country, saying the latter had shown the path of bringing about prosperity in the lives of small farmers and labourers so that they could eke out a decent living.

Meanwhile, the PM said the Centres roadmap of hiking the ethanol blending ratio would also result in higher rural earnings especially UP in the coming years. UP is the countrys largest sugarcane and ethanol, a sugarcane byproduct, producer.
India on Tuesday reported a net decrease of 12,062 in active cases to take its count to 362,207. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 1.94 per cent (one in 51). The country is seventh among the most affected countries by active cases. On Monday, it added 25,404 cases to take its total caseload to 33,289,579 from 33,264,175  an increase of 0.1%. And, with 339 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 443,213, or 1.33 per cent of total confirmed infections.

With 7,866,950 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Monday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 752,238,324. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 32,484,159  or 97.58 per cent of total caseload  with 37,681 new cured cases being reported on Tuesday.

Now the seventh-most-affected country by active cases, third by deaths, second by total cases, and first by recoveries, India has added 230,736 cases in the past 7 days.

India now accounts for 1.94% of all active cases globally (one in every 51 active cases), and 9.54% of all deaths (one in every 10 deaths).

India has so far administered 752,238,324 vaccine doses. That is 2259.68 per cent of its total caseload, and 53.91 per cent of its population.

Among Indian states, the top 5 in terms of number of vaccine shots administered are Uttar Pradesh (93492465), Maharashtra (73066288), Gujarat (56194569), Rajasthan (54967710), and Madhya Pradesh (54674522).

Among states with more than 10 million population, the top 5 in number of vaccine shots per one million population are Kerala (964353), Uttarakhand (889102), Gujarat (879794), Delhi (866953), and Karnataka (750475).

Backwards from here, the last 1 million cases for India have come in 27 days.

The count of active cases across India on Tuesday saw a net reduction of 12,062, compared with 10,652 on Monday. States and UTs hat have seen the biggest daily net increase in active cases are Maharashtra (2183), Mizoram (973), Tamil Nadu (49), Meghalaya (46), and Arunachal Pradesh (7).

With 37,127 new daily recoveries, Indias recovery rate stands at 97.58%, 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 (2.13%). The rate in as many as 16 is higher than the national average.

Indias new daily closed cases stand at 37,446  339 deaths and 37,127 recoveries. The share of deaths in total closed cases stands at 0.9%.

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 908.0 days, and for deaths at 905.9 days.

Overall, five states with the biggest 24-hour jump in total cases are Kerala (150580), Maharashtra (2740), Tamil Nadu (1580), Mizoram (1502), and Andhra Pradesh (864).

Among states with more than 100,000 cases, the five with worst recovery rates at present are Kerala (94.72%).

India on Monday conducted 1,430,891 to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 544,444,967. 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 (13.77%), Kerala (13.14%), Sikkim (12.6%), and Maharashtra (11.58%).

Five states with the highest TPR by daily numbers for tests and cases added  are Mizoram (86.12%), Kerala (16.39%), Meghalaya (10.1%), Manipur (7.12%), and Sikkim (2.78%).

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 (1417563), J&K (1027880), Kerala (936260), Karnataka (672170), and Telangana (647879).

The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6500617), Kerala (4390489), Karnataka (2962408), Tamil Nadu (2635419), and Andhra Pradesh (2030849).

Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 2740 new cases to take its tally to 6500617.

Kerala, the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 15058 cases to take its tally to 4390489.

Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 673 cases to take its tally to 2962408.

Tamil Nadu has added 1580 cases to take its tally to 2635419.

Andhra Pradesh has seen its tally going up by 864 to 2030849.

Uttar Pradesh has added 8 cases to take its tally to 1709555.

Delhi has added 17 cases to take its tally to 1438250.
The government on Tuesday extended the night curfew, which is in place in eight cities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, till September 25.

The curfew is currently in place from 11 pm to 6 am in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Gandhinagar.

After reviewing the present situation, the state government has decided to extend the night curfew till September 25, a government release stated.

All other restrictions imposed in the last order issued on July 29 will remain in place till September 25, including permitting eateries to function till 10 pm and capping of the attendance at public functions to 400.

The previous order had also allowed Ganesh Chaturthi festivities in public places with the height of idols kept at a maximum of nine feet.

had reported only 12 new COVID-19 cases and zero casualties on Monday.

(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 Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has requested the to decide on the demand of Afghan students for extension of their visa in the wake of the change of regime in their native country.

The ICCR, an autonomous body under the administrative control of the Ministry of External Affairs, offers 1,000 scholarships every year to Afghan nationals for pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D courses through Indian universities.

ICCR President and BJP Rajya Sabha member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said, "Many Afghan students have requested us for extension of their visa in the wake of change of regime in their native country. We have referred their request to the Union Home Ministry, which is the nodal ministry to take call on this issue."

He also pointed out that ICCR has no plans to stop or reduce the number of scholarships to Afghan students.

"As far as scholarships of Afghan students are concerned, we have neither any instructions nor any plans to stop them or cut them down," Sahasrabuddhe said.

He mentioned that as per rule, ICCR cannot provide stipend to students who are attending virtual classes from their country.

"Those students who have got admission in Indian institutions but are unable to come here can continue attending classes virtually and reach out to their respective institutions for further details. And in case the students don't attend classes physically in India, rules don't permit us to give them a stipend as they are not incurring any expenditure," he said.

--IANS

ssb/arm

(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.)
Just as its famous locks have been securing homes, will work to safeguard the borders of India in the 21st century, Prime Minister said here on Tuesday while projecting the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor as an important step in the economic progress of the district and the state.

The prime minister said the country is moving from being a major importer of defence products to becoming an important exporter and Uttar Pradesh is going to be a key centre in India's changing identity.

Addressing a gathering after visiting an exhibition on the node of the Defence Industrial Corridor, Modi asserted that UP was benefiting from the "double-engine" government, as the BJP was ruling both at the Centre and in the state.

New industrial units of small arms, armament, drone, aerospace, metal components, anti-drone system and defence packaging products are coming up, Modi said and added that this will give a new identity to and nearby areas.

"The locks of Aligarh used to safeguard the homes and shops. In the 21st century, my Aligarh will work to safeguard the borders of India. Till now people depended on Aligarh for the safety of their homes and offices. Because when a lock from Aligarh was put, people used to feel assured," he said, referring to the local lock-making industry.

Prime Minister Modi noted that the country has launched a campaign to encourage domestic production of defence equipment and platforms like fighter aircraft, drones and warships.

"Today not only India, but the world is watching how equipment ranging from modern grenades, rifles, fighter planes, drones and warships, are manufactured in the country itself," he noted.

"India is emerging from the image of being a big defence importer. Whatever we needed for defence, we used to import even after 75 years of independence.

""India is now moving towards making a new identity of an important defence exporter of the world. Uttar Pradesh is going to be a big centre of India's changing identity. I feel proud as an MP from UP," the prime minister said.

Modi also said that under the One District, One Product (ODOP), the Aligarh locks and hardware industries are being given a new identity. The Aligarh node of the Corridor will give many more opportunities to the small units.

"New avenues are coming up in the MSME, and now the local industrialists, MSME units will get a special benefit. There will be new encouragement for the MSMEs," he said.

Manufacturing of Brahmos missile is proposed in the Lucknow node of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor. In the Jhansi node, there is a proposal to set up a missile manufacturing unit.

"The UP Defence Corridor is coming up with big investment and employment opportunities. Today Uttar Pradesh is becoming an attractive place for investors from the state and the world.

"This is possible when there is a proper atmosphere for investment and necessary facilities are made available. Today UP has become a big example of double benefits of a double engine government," the prime minister said.

Assembly elections in the bellwether state are due early next year.

(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.)
Hours after handing over rights to tribal communities under the Forest Rights Act on Monday, Lieutenant governor assured that all those who are eligible under this act will be given rights.

On Monday, government handed over individual and community rights certificates to the beneficiaries of Gujjar-Bakerwal, Gaddi-Sippi communities under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 thereby aiming to usher in a new era of empowerment and prosperity for UT's deprived tribal population, informed an official statement.

Speaking at a public event, Sinha said, " government vigorously pursued the ideals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with full sincerity, we are marching ahead to vest due rights to the Tribal community. Many more such decisions are being taken to create a new just social order for our Tribal brothers and sisters."

"I want to assure that the UT administration is continuously working at different levels to safeguard Tribals' rights. In the areas where community rights are being given, an amount of Rs 10 crore will be provided immediately for the development of infrastructure in those areas," he said.

Meanwhile, after addressing the public event on Monday, Sinha addressed the reporters and assured that all those who are eligible under this act will be given rights.

"I thank PM Modi because of whom, we implemented Forest Rights Act on December 1, 2020. Jammu and Kashmir administration, especially Forest Department and Tribal Affairs Department, has started the endeavour to do something for the development of these communities (tribals)," he said.

Sinha added, "About 20,000 applications were received, while several people have been given the certificates. All those eligible will be given the rights. This work will be completed within 75 days. Jammu and Kashmir administration has programmes for their education and health."

Earlier, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday interacted with a delegation of the Gujjar-Bakerwal community along with members of the Gaddi-Sippi community.

(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.)
MP Prince Raj has been booked on rape charges here following a direction by a court, police said on Tuesday.

A complaint was filed three months ago by the alleged victim, who is a party worker, and the case was registered under sections related to rape, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, they said.

LJP spokesperson Shravan Kumar defended Prince Raj and claimed that the allegations against him are a "political conspiracy" to malign him. He said the MP had lodged a complaint of "extortion and blackmailing" with Delhi Police on February 10 against the woman who has accused him of rape.

The alleged rape took place in 2020, according to the complaint.

"The court's direction came on September 9 and a case has been registered under relevant sections at the Connaught Place Police Station," a police officer said.

Police said that an investigation is underway and nobody has been questioned in this regard yet.

Without naming anyone, Shravan Kumar alleged that it was a political conspiracy and said the police should swiftly probe the case lodged by the Samartipur MP. "We have absolute faith in judiciary," he added.

Without elaborating, he said cases of "honey trapping" also frequently happen.

Prince Raj is the cousin of LJP leader Chirag Paswan who, according to police, was also mentioned named in the FIR. The victim alleged that Chirag pressured her not to file the complaint against Prince, the police said.

Chirag Paswan had earlier said that he had spoken to his cousin and the complainant when the matter was brought before him. He had asked both of them to pursue the matter with police, he had said.

Chirag Paswan and Prince Raj are estranged now with the latter joining the party faction headed by their uncle and Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras.

In her complaint, the victim claimed that she met Prince first at the party office. They later met on many occasions and at one such meeting, the accused allegedly gave her something to drink. When she became unconscious, he made physical relations with her, the police said.

When she confronted him later, he showed her a video recorded by him in which he was seen making physical relations with her. She also alleged that he proposed to marry her and threatened her that he would put the video on the internet, they said.

She also alleged that Prince then started visiting her at odd hours.

(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.)
Rolls-Royce and Limited (HAL) signed a Make in India agreement on Tuesday to manufacture parts for Rolls-Royces Adour engines that will support the UK-headquartered companys international defence customer base.

Variants of the Adour engine power the Indian Air Forces (IAF) Jaguar fighters as well as its fleet of Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT). The IAF has the worlds largest serving fleets of both these aircraft. has manufactured and supported Adour engine variants, under licence from Rolls-Royce, over several decades.

However, Rolls-Royce now aims to strengthen the spares and maintenance ecosystem for Adour engines in India. Rolls-Royce and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during Aero India 2021, in February, to establish an Authorised Maintenance Centre for Adour at to support international military customers and operators.

With over 30 years experience of supporting repair and maintenance services for the Adour engines in India, HAL has the capability and capacity to support a large defence customer base. This is the first order for supply of spares for the Adour Global Supply chain, said HAL chief R Madhavan. We plan to be a key player in the supply chain of Adour engines and expect more orders to follow. We look forward to working with Rolls-Royce to build on this capability to serve global markets for supply of spares and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) of Adour engines, he added.

Kishore Jayaraman, who heads Rolls-Royce in South Asia, said: We are going to supply through multiple companies. HAL is only the first supplier we have signed a contract with, but we are looking at an entire supply chain ecosystem, he said. We are close to completing our discussions with a couple of other Indian companies. Over the next few weeks, we should be signing contracts with them as well.

Abhishek Singh, who heads Rolls-Royces regional defence business, said: Since the Adour engines would continue to serve in India for the longest time, we want to ensure that we build a supply chain that is self-sufficient, so that it can support older engines that will continue to fly in India. He added, In addition, multiple Adour engines are in service in Southeast Asia and in western countries such as the US, UK and others. The parts manufactured in India will find their way into our supply chains and from there to our global operators.

This is our first defence supplies agreement in India and creates an opportunity for India to increase its defence exports given the robust demand forecast for high precision components in this sector, said Alex Zino of Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce underscores a three-point aim in the current initiative. The first is to equip Indian manufacturers with the knowhow, processes and experience to build complex parts that require a lot of high-technology processes. That would enhance current capabilities and serve to make India atmanirbhar (self-reliant). Secondly, exporting parts from India would enhance supply chain efficiency and benefit Rolls-Royces global operators. Thirdly, since the Adour engines will continue to fly in India for the longest time, a self-sufficient supply chain would be in place to support those older engines.
Strict action will be taken against those who misbehave with in as the crime will now be included under the category of cognizable offence.

The government on Monday passed the Tourism Business (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Assembly.

Minister of State for Tourism Govind Singh Dotasara, while presenting the Bill in the House, said that Section 27-A has been added in this amendment.

Now the offences involved in this will be cognizable and bailable. At the same time, if the offence in sub-section 3 of section 13 is repeated, it will be non-bailable in sub-section 4 of section 13.

The Bill was brought in the year 2010 for the purpose of improving the pace of tourism business development, returning with a good feeling of pride of Rajasthan and preventing misbehaviour with them. However, it never mentioned whether the punishment was bailable or non-bailable, so it had to be amended, said the government.

The crime has now been brought under the category of cognizable offence.

--IANS

arc/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.)
Union Home Minister on Tuesday said that the progress of India is contained in the coordination of and official language.

"When accepted the Constitution, we also accepted a decision on September 14 1949 that this country's 'Rajbhasha' will be Hindi and 'Lipi' will be Devanagri. Along with Hindi, we also took a decision to accept regional languages," said Shah on the occasion of Hindi Diwas.

"On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, I urge all the countrymen to take a pledge to progressively use the official language Hindi along with their in basic works," the Union Home Minister added.

Shah expressed his happiness that the usage of Indian languages has increased in the state assemblies since 2014.

"Being 'Atmanirbhar' is not just about producing within the country, we've to be 'Atmanirbhar' even with languages. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi can speak Hindi internationally, what are we embarrassed about? Gone are the days when speaking in Hindi at an international level were a matter of concern," said Shah.

The Hindi language was first adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the official language of the Republic of India on September 14, 1949.

The decision of using Hindi as an official language of India was legalised by the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950.

Spoken as a native language by 258 million people, Hindi is recognised as the fourth most spoken language in the world.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over 5 crore people of the eligible populations have been vaccinated until 4 pm on Monday, said a press release from the state health ministry.

State Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma complimenting all medical and other personnel said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, after corona management, the State has set an example in too.

He said, "All personnel of the health department did the work diligently and this is the reason more than 5 crore population could be vaccinated in a very short span of time."

Dr 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 corona vaccine.

The Health Minister said that although coronavirus infection has come down by administering one dose to half of the population, the danger of corona still persists.

He said according to the experts, there is a need to maintain special vigilance looking at the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19. He called upon the people to make it a habit of wearing masks while going out, avoid going to crowded places, maintain social distance and wash hands frequently with soap to prevent COVID infection.

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Prime Minister will participate in the leaders' summit in on September 24, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday.

The prime minister is also scheduled to address the 'General Debate' of the high-level segment of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25 in New York, it said.

"Prime Minister would be participating, along with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and President Joseph R Biden of USA, in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in DC, USA, on September 24," the MEA said in a statement.

It said the leaders will review progress made since their first virtual summit on March 12 and discuss regional issues of shared interest.

"As part of their ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, they will review the Vaccine initiative which was announced in March this year," the MEA said.

It said the leaders will also exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical and emerging technologies, connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, climate change and education.

"The summit would provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the Leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region," the MEA said.

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Prime Minister will travel to the US next week to participate in the first in-person Quad summit that is expected to broadly focus on contemporary global challenges, including the Afghan crisis, the Covid pandemic and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific.

In his first visit to to the US since President took office, the prime minister will participate in the summit of the four-nation grouping on September 24 in Washington and address the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York the next day, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said while announcing the visit.

In Washington, Modi is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The Modi-Biden bilateral meeting is expected to take place at the White House on September 23. Both leaders have spoken virtually on multiple occasions after Biden became president in January. The last time Modi visited the US was in September 2019 when he and then US president Donald Trump addressed the Howdy-Modi event in Houston.

Prime Minister would be participating, along with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and President Joseph R Biden of USA, in the Leaders Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington DC, USA, on September 24, the MEA said in a statement.

It said the leaders will review progress made since their first virtual summit on March 12 and discuss regional issues of shared interest.

As part of their ongoing efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, they will review the Quad Vaccine initiative which was announced in March this year, the MEA said.





This will be Modis first foreign visit in nearly six months and his second since the outbreak of the pandemic coronavirus. In March, Modi travelled to Bangladesh to attend events organised to mark the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of the war of liberation of that country.

The US is hosting the in-person summit of the leaders of Quad to boost practical cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as well as to send a strong signal about Washington's commitment to the grouping.

In March, Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in virtual format. It vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, anchored by democratic values and unconstrained by coercion, sending an apparent message to China. The MEA said the leaders will also exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical and emerging technologies, connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, climate change and education.

"The summit would provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the Leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region," the MEA said. After concluding his engagements in Washington, Modi will travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly on September 25.

"The prime minister is scheduled to address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25 in New York," the MEA said.

"The theme for this year's General Debate is 'Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations'," it said. India and the US have held a series of meetings as part of preparations for Modi's visit to the US.

US Secretary of state Antony Blinken paid a two-day visit to India in July. Before that, US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin had paid a three-day visit to New Delhi in March.

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SpaceX, run by tech billionaire Elon Musk-run, is all set to launch to orbit its first all-civilian mission 'Inspiration4' on Wednesday. It will be the first completely private mission to orbit.

The Inspiration 4 crew is slated to launch Wednesday at 8.02 p.m. ET atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, reports The Verge.

Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, booked the Crew Dragon capsule last year and picked three normal folks to ride with him. The exact price he paid hasn't been disclosed, but it runs into the tens of millions of dollars.

The crew includes Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor and physician assistant; Sian Proctor, a geology professor and Christopher Sembroski, a data engineer.

Since the Dragon will not visit the International Space Station, unlike previous Crew Dragon missions, its docking port was removed and replaced with a dome window.

The window, inspired by the Cupola on the International Space Station, will provide the crew with incredible views of Earth, according to the Inspiration4 team.

Issacman, Arceneaux, Proctor and Sembrowski are set to arrive at Kennedy Space Center on September 9, ahead of their planned launch, the report said.

The Inspiration4 mission marks SpaceX's latest private astronaut mission.

The company's Ax-1 mission, also planned for the end of 2021, hosts a crew of four private astronauts paying $55 million each for an eight-day trip to the ISS.

In 2018, Musk also announced Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will hitch a ride around the moon on SpaceX's new rocket system Starship, which is under development.

--IANS

wh/dpb

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A special court here on Tuesday convicted five persons in connection with a related to Lalgarh (North) coal block allocated during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003, officials said.

The special judge convicted Binay Prakash, the then managing director of Ranchi-based Domco Pvt. Ltd.; the then directors Vasant Diwakar Manjrekar and Paramananda Mondal; chartered accountant Sanjay Khandewal and the company Domco Pvt. Ltd.

The court will arguments on the quantum of sentences on Wednesday.

"This case was registered on the basis of a preliminary enquiry initiated by on the directions received from CVC related to coal blocks allocated during the period from 1993 to 2005. During enquiry, it was revealed that the Lalgarh (North) Coal block was identified in favour of the company by the 19th Screening Committee and accordingly, the company was intimated vide MoC letter dated November 24, 2003," CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

The CBI had alleged that Prakash, promoter director of Domco Pvt. Ltd., entered into conspiracy with unidentified persons and submitted false information to authorities while applying for the block.

It is alleged that the Prakash made gains of Rs 7 crore by selling shares of the company on premium, after the allocation of the coal block.

"After investigation, charge sheet was filed on December 22, 2015 against the accused. The trial court found the five accused guilty and convicted them," Joshi said.

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President will stay at a private hotel here instead of the presidential retreat, where he normally stays, during his visit beginning Thursday to Himachal Pradesh, where he will address a special session of the state assembly.

The choice of venue follows after four staff members of the retreat tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, an official said.

The President during his four-day visit to Himachal Pradesh will address a special session of the state Assembly and will be the chief guest at the Valedictory Ceremony of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts at Shimla, the official added.

He said the President will stay at Cecil hotel at Chaura Maidan here instead of The Retreat -- the President's residence at Chharabra on the outskirts of

All those who come in close contact with the President will have to carry a COVID-19 RT-PCR negative report even if they have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, he added.

Earlier, Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar told the media here on Tuesday that President Kovind would address the special session of the state assembly on Friday at 11 am to mark the golden jubilee of Himachal Pradesh's statehood.

Kovind will be the third President to address the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. Then presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee addressed the state Assembly in 2003 and 2013 respectively, he said.

Apart from the sitting MLAs, all the former MLAs including former chief ministers Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal have been invited to attend the special session, he added.

Nitety-three former MLAs, including Kumar and Dhumal, have given their consent to attend the special session, the Speaker said.

Five MPs from the state and seven former MPs will also attend the session, he said.

A group photo of the President with the current and former legislators will also be taken as a memory at the Assembly, he added.

According to the schedule, the President will reach Annadale Helipad in on September 16 at 12 noon via Chandigarh from Palam airport Delhi. Subsequently, he will reach Cecil hotel at Chaura Maidan here at around 12.25 pm, the state government official said.

President Kovind will address the special session of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Friday from 11 am to 12 noon, the official said.

In the evening on Friday, he will attend a cultural programme at 7.30 pm and banquet hosted by the state governor at 8 pm, he added.

On September 18, the President will be the chief guest at the Valedictory Ceremony of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS Officer Trainees of 2018 and 2019 batches) at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts at from 11 am to 12 noon, the official said.

On September 19, he will reach the Annadale Helipad at 11.15 am to leave for Palam airport in Delhi via Chandigarh. He will reach Rashtrapati Bhavan at 1.35 pm on Sunday, he said.

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Union Road Transport and Highways Minister has invited US investors, particularly insurance and pension funds, to invest in the country's road and highway infrastructure.

Addressing the 17th Indo-US Economic Summit, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), he said he "sincerely hopes more and more US companies will come and invest in the road and highway projects in India which is the gold mine for all stakeholders".

He assured better returns for the investors compared to those garnered in the US.

About the government's efforts to boost production and adoption of alternative transport fuel such as ethanol and emphasis on last mile connectivity through several modes of transport, he noted that there are opportunities for American companies to invest in research and development of mobility technology in the country.

Gadkari was of the view that both India and the US would play a major role in the post-Covid global economic recovery.

Lalit Bhasin, the Summit Chair, noted that the pandemic presented innumerable challenges in economic fronts, but such challenges are also opportunities that can motivate for scaling up in the bilateral economic value chain.

"Pandemic has taught us to reform the business models, to go further up in the digital space, become more inclusive and at the same time global in our outlook," he said

Rohit Kochhar, Regional Vice President, IACC described the current period as a "watershed moment" for the Indo-US relations.

"I say this because our partnership is not just centered around business and economics, but also assumes great significance in view of recent geo-political developments. Increasingly, there are a host of areas where our concerns and interests are both intertwined and complementary," he said.

--IANS

rrb/sn/vd

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India and the United Kingdom plan to launch negotiations on a between the two nations by 1 November 2021, the commerce and industry said on Tuesday.

Both nations are looking at an interim by March next year, which will be followed by a comprehensive The interim deal will involve early concessions on certain key high-priority products and services related to tariffs or market access

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that an interim trade agreement is the first step towards an that would allow both nations to immensely benefit from the early gains of the partnership.

This was taken up during Goyals discussions with his British counterpart secretary of state Elizabeth Truss on Monday.

Certain services of mutual interest could be included in the interim agreement through request-offer-approach where India may include priority sectors that are immediately deliverable. If necessary, we may also explore signing a few mutual recognition agreements in selective services like nursing and architecture services, Goyal said.

Proposed between India & UK is expected to unlock extraordinary business opportunities and generate jobs . Both sides have renewed their commitment to boosting trade in a manner which benefits all, an official statement said.





In May, India and the UK had inked nine pacts, including the launch of an enhanced trade partnership (ETP), which would include negotiating a comprehensive FTA and an interim trade agreement for delivering early gains.

There is tremendous interest in the business community in both countries about the FTA, the minister said, adding that there is keenness to have an early conclusion of negotiations for quick and early economic benefits to businesses on both sides.

Substantial work has already been done and extensive stakeholder consultations have been held involving industry/business associations, export promotion councils, buyers/sellers associations, regulatory bodies, ministries/departments, public research bodies, etc. The consultation paper was also made public for wider participation as well, he said.

Working groups have also been set up to accelerate progress during negotiations. The meetings of these BWGs are presently in progress and are likely to be completed by September 2021.
Significant research and development investment, particularly from developed economies of is required to decarbonise energy as a part of climate action in developing countries, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a session on 'Future of Sustainable Technologies in India- Partnerships' organised by FICCI LEADS 2021 event on the theme 'Future of Partnerships', Yadav said that in any climate action, clean energy derived especially from renewable energy plays a vital role.

"We need to bring together the power of innovation across the world, with significant R&D investment, in particular, from developed economies of This would enable us to solve the challenge of decarbonising energy, as well as cement and steel, in a manner that is low on cost and allows for rapid deployment in developing economies," he said.

The minister said India has much to offer and share in terms of its experience with other countries embarking on a similar journey to address energy access issues, while also addressing the growing energy demand with renewable energy.

He also stressed that the private sector plays a pivotal role in creating low carbon sustainable economies and they should be encouraged to develop voluntary roadmaps for transition towards low carbon pathways.

"I also urge Indian companies especially in the hard to abate sectors like steel, cement, shipping, etc. to join 'Leadership Group for Industry Transition', a global initiative spearheaded by India and Sweden.

"Corporate action will remain the backbone of India's achievements for its climate goals, and I earnestly look forward to seeing active participation from more companies in the future," he said.

On collaborations with European countries, the minister said that India and Europe remain key economic partners who are all set to scale up their cooperation in the years to come.

"India has engaged in bilateral engagements with Germany, UK, and Denmark in the energy sector in the European Region. As a result of these engagements, many significant achievements could be made in the area of sustainable and green technologies," he said.

He elaborated on the Indo-German Energy Forum (IGEF), which was established in 2006 as an institutionalised energy dialogue with the aim of promoting Indo-German cooperation in the areas of energy security, energy efficiency, including energy conservation, renewable energy, investment in energy projects and collaborative research and development, considering the environmental challenges related to sustainable development.

On India and Denmark collaboration, he said both the countries had started working together in renewable energy sector in the late 1980s and last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen together launched a joint statement for the 'Establishment of a Green Strategic Partnership'.

"An action plan has been formulated as part of the 'Forward Action Plan' for India-UK collaboration on power, covering Power Sector Reforms Programme, New Partnership Programme on Smart Power, International Energy Agency (IEA) Clean Energy Transitions Programme, etc," he said.

The minister said there are many emerging sustainable technologies that can significantly contribute in India-Europe partnership such as Battery Storages, Green Hydrogen, Off Shore Wind Energy installation challenges or commissioning, Solar Photovoltaic, Solar Thermal, Waste to Energy/Bio Energy, Wind Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells , Energy Storage, Tidal Energy, Geothermal Energy.

"Disposal of electronic devices, data warehousing, digital assets and uses of Blockchain technology are also some of the key areas that may encourage collaboration between the two nations," he added.

Yadav said that the biggest take away for all would be to collaborate towards jointly developing sustainable technologies across different sectors at an affordable cost.

"The presence of a highly skilled workforce in India and a well-established R&D infrastructure from Europe could well be harnessed productively for this purpose.

"However, developed countries should also provide lead markets for products of green technologies and drive down costs, such that these can be deployed in developing economies at scale, he said.

The issues of sustainable development, poverty eradication and climate justice which are important pillars of the Paris Agreement and also important to strengthen Indo-Europe collaboration on sustainable technologies, he said.

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India on Tuesday said that the global approach to address the Afghan crisis must be guided by the recent UN Security Council resolution demanding that the territory of must not be used for terrorism and that a negotiated political settlement should be found out to the conflict.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, in a virtual address at an event, said resolution 2593 specifically refers to terrorist individuals proscribed by the UN Security Council (UNSC) including those belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Shringla said there was recognition of the need to uphold human rights, including of women and minorities, and to encourage all parties for an "inclusive, negotiated political settlement" and that India expects the international community to remain both responsive and united to deal with the Afghan crisis.

He said India's friendship with the Afghan people will continue to guide its approach in the future, noting that it is concerned about the developments within that country and their external repercussions.

The foreign secretary also said that the UNSC resolution, adopted during India's presidency of the global body last month, also sets expectations on safe passage and secure departure of Afghans and all foreign nationals who wish to leave that country.

"The UNSC resolution 2593 unequivocally demands that Afghan territory not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing terrorist acts; and specifically refers to terrorist individuals proscribed by the UN Security Council, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad," Shringla said.

"The resolution also sets expectations on safe passage and secure departure of Afghans and all foreign nationals from There is recognition of the need to uphold human rights, including of women and minorities, and to encourage all parties for an inclusive, negotiated political settlement," he said.

He said there was a reaffirmation for responding to the desire of Afghans to sustain and build on Afghanistan's gains over the last 20 years.

The UNSC resolution, adopted on August 30 under India's presidency of the global body, demanded that Afghan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter and train terrorists and plan or finance terrorist attacks.

"Our collective approach has been articulated by UNSCR 2593. It is only by remaining true to the principles professed therein that we can make a meaningful contribution to at this time," Shringla said.

"As for India, our long-standing investment in the people of Afghanistan has earned us tremendous goodwill and cemented the civilisational bond between our two countries. Our friendship with the Afghan people will continue to guide our approach in the future," he said.

The foreign secretary said the UNSC resolution comprehensively addressed the main pending issues relating to Afghanistan.

"Subsequent to the recent changes in Afghanistan, our immediate focus has been the evacuation of Indian nationals from Afghanistan. Most Indian nationals were able to leave Kabul in August," he said.

Shringla said a number of Afghans, including minorities, who were desirous of travelling to India, also managed to do so.

"But these processes could not be completed due to the security situation at the airport. Resumption of flights from Kabul airport is, therefore, a priority. We are closely monitoring the unfolding situation," he said.

He said as a neighbouring country of Afghanistan, India is naturally concerned about the developments within that country and their external repercussions.

"India has a civilisational relationship with the Afghan people and those long-standing links guided and will continue to guide our approach," Shringla said



The foreign secretary highlighted India's development partnership with Afghanistan saying it includes more than 500 projects spread across each of the 34 provinces of that country and they cover critical areas such as power, water supply, road connectivity, healthcare and education.

"India's destiny is inextricably linked with its neighbours. The countries in our neighbourhood are of unique and special strategic significance to India," he said.

Shringla said capacity building and training have been one of the main levers of India's development partnership with Afghanistan.

"Under our development assistance programme, we have built primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities across Afghanistan. More than 65,000 Afghan students have studied in India," he added.

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Prime Minister on Tuesday said the central government was working on a road map to transform Indias image from that of a defence hardware importer to an exporting country.

Addressing a gathering after visiting an exhibition on the Aligarh node of the Defence Industrial Corridor, Modi asserted that UP was benefiting from the double-engine government, as the BJP was ruling both at the Centre and in the state. The prime minister said even 75 years after Independence, India had to import most of its defence and military requirements.

Now, the country is moving towards domestically manufacturing defence hardware including rifles, fighter jets, drones and aircraft carriers. We are aiming to break the image of an importing country to that of an exporter, he asserted.

New industrial units of small arms, armament, drone, aerospace, metal components, anti-drone system and defence packaging products are coming up, Modi said and added that this will give a new identity to Aligarh and nearby areas.

Referring to the UP Defence Corridor, the PM said the Lucknow node of the project would soon witness an investment of Rs 9,000 crore for the manufacture of BrahMos missile systems, while the Jhansi node has also received a missile project proposal. There are six nodes in the UP Corridor.

UP is a major cog in the wheel of Indias defence self-reliant mission and I, as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the state, feel proud of this fact, he added.

Earlier, Modi laid the foundation of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University, Aligarh and also reviewed the Aligarh node of the along with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Aligarh node has already received more than 18 investment proposals, which will create thousands of new job opportunities and manufacture small arms, ammunition, drones, anti-drone systems, aerospace solutions etc., Modi added.





ALSO READ: PM to visit US for Quad on Sept 24; focus on Afghan crisis, Covid-19

He said Aligarh, which is at present recalled for its sturdy locks, will soon be reckoned for its defence manufacturing industries producing equipment to secure the countrys borders.

Meanwhile, the PM noted UP had become a major investment destination for both Indian and foreign companies owing to the proactive policies pursued by the Yogi Adityanath government.

Not long ago, the development path of UP was riddled with corruption, mafias, scams and a vindictive governance system. However, under Yogiji, the state is reaping the fruits of the twin engine government and progressing at all fronts, including expressways and industries, he added.

The PM said now the mafia elements were behind bars and the vaccination drive was in an overdrive in UP, which had so far administered nearly 80 million doses.

He also flayed the earlier regimes for ignoring the freedom fighters beyond just a handful select group of leaders. He recalled the name of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, a Jat leader, for playing an active role in the freedom struggle and contributing with his wealth too.

Apart from the foundation laying ceremony, Modi also invoked former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh and former PM Chaudhary Chanan Singh. This outreach of the Western UP pantheons by the PM is seen as preparing the pitch for the forthcoming crucial 2022 UP assembly polls amid farm stir led by Rakesh Tikait.
Reopening is unlikely to cause a third Covid-19 wave or lead to a large increase in cases in adults, even with the more infectious Delta variant, experts say and scientific research has shown. With a majority of India's having lost a year-and-a-half of learning, the benefits of opening with precautions far outweigh the risks.

An analysis of various studies shows that there was limited Covid-19 transmission in if precautions such as wearing masks, ensuring ventilation in classrooms and avoiding overcrowding were followed. Despite the more transmissible Delta variant having increased the number of Covid-19 cases in those below 18 years in the UK and the US, severe cases and deaths are still at similar levels as in 2020 and the rate of severe cases and deaths is lower in than older people, data and research show.

While a soon-to-be-released modeling study shows that school reopening is unlikely to cause a third Covid-19 wave in India, experts point out that high seropositivity among shows that the lockdowns and school closures did not protect children from getting infected. Further, the risk of infection from children to adults is low, studies have shown. What schools must do, though, is ensure that all precautions such as distancing and mask-wearing are adhered to, while all adults get vaccinated.

"The question, is it safe to reopen schools, is incorrect," said Swapneil Parikh, internal medicine specialist and author of The Coronavirus: What You Need to Know about the Global Pandemic. "The question is about weighing costs. Keeping schools closed has possibly had the highest costs to society, without clear tangible benefits. We don't really know that this has had a huge impact at slowing community spread of Covid-19. The benefits of in-person schooling are greater than the risks of in-school Covid-19."

This story weighing the benefits and risk of schools reopening is the third in our ' Disrupted' series, which began with the impact of pandemic-related school closures on children and learning, and continued with what schools must do to reopen.

Modelling shows schools unlikely to lead to third wave

In a yet-to-be published modelling study, researchers Gautam Menon, Brian Wahl and Sandeep Krishna have attempted to estimate how reopening schools might impact Covid-19 infections among children and adults in India. They factored in a community with schools, workplaces and people shuffling between these, different seropositivity levels in the community from natural infection as well as vaccines for Covid-19, and non-pharmaceutical interventions such as masking, Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University in Sonepat, told IndiaSpend.

"An increase in cases in children is expected as schools are opened, relative to keeping them closed," the researchers wrote in The Hindu on September 2. "But there is likely to be only a small increase in Covid-19 infections, including in adults, and this is unlikely to start a third wave," Menon told IndiaSpend. "Specifically, in regions with the levels of seroprevalence expected across much of north India, we expect this increase in cases to be marginal," they wrote in The Hindu.

Overall, 68% of Indians had antibodies for Covid-19, either because of or natural infection, according to the fourth nationwide serosurvey by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the results of which were released in July. At around 70-75% seropositivity in a district, it would be safe to reopen schools, and it would be reasonable to expect this level of seropositivity across most districts in India, said Menon. But district-level sero-surveys have not been conducted across all of India's districts, which should be undertaken to make more informed decisions on opening schools, Menon suggested.

School closures did not protect children from infection

Even with schools closed, "we have not done a good job of keeping Covid-19 infection away from children, who have anyway picked it up from the community", Menon said. The fourth national serosurvey showed that despite school closures, and without vaccines, over half (57.2%) of children, aged six-nine years, had Covid-19 antibodies, while 61.6% of those between 10-17 years had antibodies, we reported in July 2021.

"While a measure of last resort, school closures can contribute to a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but are by themselves insufficient to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 in the absence of other nonpharmaceutical interventions and the expansion of coverage," said the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) in its update on school reopenings and Covid-19 in July 2021.

Further, they found that the effectiveness of school closures in the European Union "appears to have declined in the second wave as compared to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly in part due to better hygiene measures in school settings".

In India too, school reopenings are recommended with a slew of precautions including masking, physical distancing, effective ventilation and adult vaccination, IndiaSpend had reported in September 2021.

Children unlikely to transmit infection more than adults

The early basis for school closures was that transmission in communities increased because of schools and if schools were closed, it would help control the spread, explained Brian Wahl, an assistant scientist in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control at Johns Hopkins University in the US. "But now we know that children do not drive transmission. They can of course bring the infection back to families but the best way to reduce severe disease and hospitalisation in older individuals--teachers and family--is to immunise them and reduce their risk," he added.

Several studies show that schools and children were not the primary mode of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19. In the US's North Carolina, in August 2020, over 90,000 staff and attended school in person. Of 805 infections detected over nine weeks, only 32 were traced back to in-school transmission. Studies in Wisconsin, in New York, in Utah and in Norway also show few Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren or staff because of in-person learning, and low transmission within schools.

Further, children would be less likely to transmit infections, and those who do would also transmit Covid-19 for a shorter duration because children are more likely to have mild and asymptomatic infections, found a review of 35 studies published in March 2021.

At the same time, the risk of transmission is greater from similar-aged people, both for children and adults, and as such school interaction could lead to greater infection in children, found a study from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which included Covid-19 cases until August 1, 2020. Similarly, a study from the US, published in June 2021, found that living in a household with a child going to school, especially high school children, would more likely result in a positive Covid-19 test. But when "mitigation measures are in place, transmission within schools is limited and infection rates mirror that of the surrounding community", the authors of the study wrote.

In England too, a study in December 2020 showed that Covid-19 cases in schools were uncommon, and were linked more closely with the level of cases in the community rather than school-based transmission. "The strong association with regional COVID-19 incidence emphasises the importance of controlling community transmission to protect educational settings," the study said.

"The risk to a community from a mass gathering of children is no greater than from a mass gathering of adults," said Parikh. In India, "it's not like we are saying that anything that has risk--such as bars, restaurants and weddings--should be shut, we are just saying that schools should be shut. Schooling is far more essential than any of these activities."

What is important is that the decision to send children to schools be personal, said Parikh. For instance, a family might choose not to send to school a child with a comorbidity, or one who lives with a parent or elderly grandparent who has cancer or any such disease that makes their immune system especially weak.

Further, if some parents, especially those who can continue to care for and educate the child at home, keep them from school, there would be lower risk of going to school (with fewer students) for those who do not have the same privileges, Parikh said.

Schools should not open without precautions

Where there were few precautions in place, there have been Covid-19 outbreaks in schools. In May 2021, an unvaccinated teacher in California, who taught unmasked, infected nearly half the class she taught, with the infection spreading to siblings and parents, the US CDC found. This shows the "potential for rapid spread, especially in unvaccinated populations such as schoolchildren too young for vaccination", the study said. Yet, large-scale "transmission might have been prevented by high levels of community vaccination; at the time of this outbreak, approximately 72% of eligible persons in the city where the school is located were fully vaccinated", the study added.

Similarly, there was a large outbreak in a school in Israel 10 days after the school reopened in May 2020, which was linked to large, crowded classes as well as an exception to wearing masks because of a heatwave.

To successfully reopen schools and convince parents to send children to school, the communication around school reopening should change, suggested Parikh. We need to say that "there is a real cost to denying kids and that the cost exceeds the risks of Covid-19. Also, we are doing scientific things to ensure the safety of your children and reduce that risk further."

"We take extra precautions with children for understandable reasons so if any steps can further reduce the risk, then I am a proponent of those," said Wahl. One important intervention is masks, with high filtration efficiency, that are especially made for children, and ventilation in schools, said Parikh, adding that devices such as carbon dioxide sensors or air filters should be used where possible.

Parikh also suggested testing school sewage for the SARS-CoV-2 virus and in case the virus is found, then additional steps such as testing children or staff, or instituting more precautions, could be taken. Further, as soon as adequate doses are available, India should consider vaccinating adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 years, he said.

Only at seropositivity of 80-85% or higher, derived both from prior infection or vaccination, can non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as physical distancing, be done away with, as they do not add any extra protection against Covid-19 spread, Menon said.

Not infections, but symptoms need to be tracked

The risk of asymptomatic Covid-19 infection was equal in children, teenagers and working-age adults, while the risk was greater for the elderly or those with comorbidities, found a large-scale SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programme in Madurai between October 19 and November 5, 2020. This was despite schools being shut for most of the first wave of Covid-19 in India.

But experts agree and research shows that Covid-19 infections and school outbreaks are likely to occur. These should not make parents anxious or lead to school shutdowns, experts said.

Parents should instead monitor symptoms very closely for any signs of severe disease, said Menon. "Most children with Covid-19 infection can be easily managed at home," Wahl said. One rare, but dangerous outcome of Covid-19 is Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, and parents should be cautious of any symptoms, such as fever, inflammation and rash after recovery from Covid-19, we had reported in May 2021.

Overall, children are at low risk of severe disease or death from Covid-19. For instance, the proportion of deaths from reported Covid-19 cases ranged from 0.05% at ages five to 17 years to 16.6% at 85 years or more, found a study in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, that looked at data until August 1, 2020. If seropositivity surveys are considered, adolescents aged 15-19 years have an infection fatality ratio [deaths as a proportion of all infections, not just reported cases] of around 0.001%, that is one of every 100,000 said Wahl, based on the Madurai study.

There is currently no evidence yet that the Delta variant causes more severe disease in children, said Menon and Wahl. In the US, as the Delta variant spread, more children were hospitalised than before, with unvaccinated adolescents more at risk than those vaccinated, a study by the US CDC found. But the higher hospitalisation and ICU admissions in the US are a 'denominator problem', Wahl said, because the Delta variant is much more transmissible and thus affecting a larger absolute number of people.

"No one wants kids to be sick, whatever the infection is, even a common cold," said Parikh. Even though the vast majority of children will have mild Covid-19, in a population where a third of the people are below the age of 18 years, even a low infection rate could lead to a large number of hospitalisations, said Parikh.

Knowing how the health system failed during the second wave is an opportunity for India to ramp up health facilities and pediatric health facilities, not because it will be needed for Covid-19 but because we know we have a "gaping hole" in our health infrastructure, said Parikh, citing the example of scarce hospital beds during dengue and malaria outbreaks, especially in rural India.

In addition, "opening schools in the middle of a Delta wave is very different from opening schools several months after a Delta wave. I don't think we can fairly make comparisons across different settings that are dealing with different stages of their own local epidemics," Wahl said.
The on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, alleging that Chief Minister did not make a mention about pending criminal cases in her nomination papers for the Bhabanipur by-poll.

Sajal Ghosh, the chief election agent of the saffron party's candidate for the constituency, Priyanka Tibrewal, wrote to the EC, raising objections to Banerjee's declaration.

"I beg to object to the nomination/declaration filed by on the ground that the candidate has failed to disclose particulars of the pending criminal proceedings against her," he said.

Ghosh, in his letter, also made a note of the number of cases filed at different police stations in Assam against Banerjee.



State legal advisor resigns citing personal reasons

Advocate General Kishore Datta on Tuesday resigned from his post citing "personal reasons", and it was accepted by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with immediate effect, according to the Raj Bhavan.

"In terms of Article 165 of the Constitution have accepted with immediate effect resignation submitted by Shri Kishore Datta, Senior Advocate, as Advocate General of State of @MamataOfficial with immediate effect," Dhankhar tweeted.

Datta, who took charge in February 2017, is the fourth advocate general of West Bengal in a row to have resigned from the post during the regime.

Anindya Mitra, the first advocate general to have taken charge after the TMC government came to power in 2011, and his successors Bimal Chatterjee and Jayanta Mitra had also resigned from the post.

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IDFC Ltd's - the holding company of - management came in for sharp critique from investors over long delays in of stake in assets, including the bank and mutual funds. There was also no clarity on meeting timelines for the merger of some of the entities.

In a conference call with investors ahead of an annual general meeting (AGM), Chairman Vinod Rai said the company had a very complex corporate structure. The three main entities are a non-operating financial company, IDFC Projects, and IDFC Foundation. The non-operating entity has various financial services businesses, including a bank and company. holds 36.5 per cent stake in IDFC First Bank, according to BSE filings. IDFC stock closed 3.36 per cent lower at Rs 54.7 per share on the BSE.





Vinod Rai

It has taken three-four years to unspool the complicated structure. Now what remains is the bank, mutual fund, and the foundation which has two joint ventures with Delhi and Karnataka governments, said Rai.

Rai said the management has engaged the advisor on divestment, with the objective to maximise value for shareholders. The advisor would short-list the pros and cons at the AGM slated for September 22.

Domestic brokerage Edelweiss in a note to clients said there was a lot of investor dissatisfaction with the delays that have happened so far. The management steering clear of offering any timelines has further compounded their worries.

There were also questions on why the process couldn't be concurrent to expedite the timelines, said Edelweiss.
Come July 2022, people in India and can transfer money to each other in an instant, a major step towards full currency convertibility for the Indian rupee.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of (MAS) on Tuesday said they would link their respective fast systems  Unified Interface (UPI) and PayNow  to enable users to make low-cost fund transfers between the two countries.

UPI, developed by National Corporation of India, facilitates instant money transfer and payments through mobile phones. PayNow is the equivalent of The money transfer facility will be on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other system, the said in its statement.

Currently, money can be transferred from Singapore to India through a rupee-denominated non-resident external (NRE) account. For transferring money to Singapore from India, a person has to fill a Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) form and bear hefty fees.

The Indian rupee is not fully convertible, which means one can receive foreign exchange freely but there is a limit while transferring funds. Currently, the limit set by the LRS is up to $250,000 in a year. The Singapore dollar, however, can be freely transferred.

The details such as limits of transfer and exchange rates are still sketchy, but experts say the same facility can be extended to the West Asia and North America corridors, through which the flow of remittances is the heaviest to India.

According to a person familiar with the thinking, the tie-up with Singapore will help thrash out several issues in the international payments space. This will also help India fine-tune its payments system so that it connects seamlessly with the international flow of





ALSO READ: UPI forms 10% of overall retail payments in FY21, says Macquarie report

One aspect that needs to be worked out is how to reduce currency conversion rates. The operational details will be worked out and announced in due course. At this stage the two central banks have agreed to work on setting up the connection, said the person, requesting anonymity.

In its official statement, the said, The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore, and closely aligns with the G20s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments.

The MAS said that when this is implemented, fund transfers can be made from India to Singapore using mobile phone numbers, and from Singapore to India, by using virtual addresses (VPA). The experience of making a PayNow transfer to a VPA will be similar to that of a domestic transfer to a PayNow VPA, said MAS.

This could be taken as the first baby steps by the banking regulator to allow Indians to directly invest in Singapores exchanges, said Sandeep Srinivasa, founder of fintech firm RedCarpet. Also, this would mean that outward remittance will not have to go through paper stamps, which is a remarkable regulatory innovation for India, Srinivasa said.



According to Asheesh Chanda, founder and CEO of Kristal.AI, the reduction in time and charges for cross-border payments will help grow trade between the two countries and will incentivise more retail investors to access global markets.

Currently, they pay up to Rs 3,000 in inter-bank charges, which are over and above the LRS processing fees by banks. This eats into their returns and hence discourages small investors from accessing global markets. The project is a welcome initiative and we look forward to its final rollout, he said.

The pact is following the RBIs vision document on payments and settlement systems for 2019-21. One of the goal-posts for 2021 was fostering innovation in a regulatory sandbox environment for legal entity identifiers (LEIs) for large-value cross-border payments. Bringing down charges for cross-border payments for trade receivables was also part of the vision.

LEIs are legal entities across the globe that facilitate such cross-border large-value transactions. The RBI, in its May 2019 vision document, had said it would tie up with other global central banks for oversight of these LEIs.

The tie-up will help increase the volume of remittance traffic, multi-entity participation, automation of capital control rules, and enriched message formats to accommodate future innovation by linkage participants.

These enhancements constitute a significant upgrade to the design of cross-border systems today, the MAS said in its statement on its website.

Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of MAS, said the tie-up would reduce the cost and inefficiencies of remittances between Singapore and India, and thus directly benefit individuals and businesses in the two countries.

The linkage between PayNow and UPI also paves the way for establishing more comprehensive digital connectivity and interoperability between the two countries, Mohanty said. Before inking the pact, the two countries were engaged in developing cross-border payments systems using cards and QR codes.

India is the largest recipient of inbound remittances across the globe accounting for 15 per cent of the global share. In 2020, India received $83 billion in remittances, a drop of 0.2 per cent compared to 2019.
After attacked the twin towers in New York 20 years ago, the US, Europe, China, Russia and even Iran rallied around a rare common cause: To topple a regime in that had made a base for

Now that unlikely group of geopolitical rivals find their interests aligned once more, only this time to see those same leaders restore order in a nation of 38 million whose economic collapse could trigger destabilizing humanitarian and refugee crises.

In the weeks since fell to fighters on August 16, world leaders one after another have called for cooperation even as they jockey to gain influence in the great power vacuum that the US departure has left behind.

Thats in large part because they face a common dilemma: How to shore up a nation at risk of famine, without strengthening a Taliban government that includes designated terrorists and whose intentions  from the treatment of foreign citizens and women, to its support for  remain unclear or worse, unpalatable.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would do everything we can to help Russia, the and Europe to cooperate effectively, because we share the same interests in deterring irregular migration and

France, together with Germany, is now proposing an European Union-led platform for some of Afghanistans neighbours to coordinate a response, according to a document seen by Bloomberg last week. The plan suggests inviting organisations, as well as countries such as the US, Norway and Turkey to help finance the effort, and to give special thought to including China and Russia.

The key priorities are to prevent a humanitarian crisis & to take steps to prevent economic meltdown, Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote on Twitter last week, after meeting counterparts from China, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. That, he added, requires enhanced engagement of the international community.

The US and other nations have leverage they can use to try to press the Taliban to share power, sideline terrorists, permit the education of women and forgo revenge against those who worked and fought alongside the US and its allies. That includes the potential withholding diplomatic recognition, as well as economic sanctions.

Yet if those tools are used, they could starve the country of the funds and humanitarian support needed to stave off collapse. Foreign aid accounted for 43 per cent of the Afghan economy in 2020, according to the World Bank. The country remains among the worlds poorest, with gross domestic product per capita of just $509 in the same year.

The conundrum this leaves the world with is how to first deal with the humanitarian crisis that is looming, says Adnan Mazarei, a consultant to the United Nations Development Program in Afghanistan, who oversaw the International Monetary Funds work there from 2009 to 2015.

The Talibans recapture of power is akin to a revolution and will have harsh effects on Afghanistans domestic production, as well as international trade, according to Mazarei, now a non-resident fellow at the Peterson Institute, a Washington think tank. Competent bureaucrats have fled while the Taliban are driving women out of the workplace and informal economy, where they played a critical economic role.

Without an internationally recognized government in place, the IMF and other donors have halted their fiscal support programs and wont be able fill the gaps in family incomes that Taliban polices make wider.

The sense of common purpose between the countries trying to stave off a crisis isnt always evident. Theres been more schadenfreude than solidarity in the responses to Americas failed attempt at nation-building in Afghanistan; officials in Tehran, Moscow and China have portrayed the hurried U. S. withdrawal as a humiliating defeat for a superpower in decline.

Russia and China both have significant interests in and are well placed to step in as regional power brokers and  in the case of Beijing  investors.

The Kremlin has cultivated ties with the Taliban for years, even as it banned the group as a terrorist organization, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hailing their leaders as reasonable people after talks in Moscow in July. Russia sent military reinforcements to its base in Tajikistan and will hold joint military exercises with states in the region this month.

China is anxious to prevent any Islamist support for Uyghur movements in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang province, where it has used past terrorist attacks to justify mass repression criticized in the West as a form of genocide. China also wants to protect $50 billion of investments under its Belt and Road program in Pakistan and is eyeing potential mineral wealth in worth more than $1 trillion.

Chinese investment is economically essential, the Talibans main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said Sept. 3 in an interview with La Repubblica.

Yet, neither China nor Russia appear anxious to own a problem that has humbled outside powers, including the former Soviet Union, for decades if not centuries. They also dont want to be left footing the bill for what they see as the mess left behind by the U.

S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

The may struggle to work with a Taliban government that tramples on values written into the DNA of many of the blocs 27 electorates, but it has paid countries to keep refugees from reaching borders before, including a 3 billion euro arrangement with Turkey, in 2016.

The US needs to work with the international community to provide Afghanistan with urgently-needed economic and humanitarian aid, Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an Aug. 29 phone call, according to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. It is necessary for all parties to make contact with the Taliban and guide it actively.

Russia, meanwhile, is ready to cooperate with the U. S., according to Andrey Kortunov, head of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. Yet hes less sure the political will for that exists in Washington. A block on Western aid over deteriorating human rights would cause major economic upheaval and benefit radical rivals of the Taliban. Security should be the main concern, he said.

For the Taliban, theres an opportunity to show they can govern while keeping groups such as and Islamic State out  and many countries appear to be banking on the fact they will take it. The international aid required could help the Taliban to consolidate power.

Much remains unclear and few optimists remain. Already, the Talibans statements and actions leave little doubt they intend to return to the same repressive policies toward women that they used in the 1990s.

The U. S. still has a freeze on about $9.5 billion of Afghanistan central bank assets.

For now, the Biden administration is exploring ways to use financial aid to help women and children while preventing it from falling under the direct control of the Taliban, according to a person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named without permission to speak publicly.

Blinken on Monday said the U. S. will provide $64 million in new humanitarian aid to Afghanistan that will not flow through the government but instead through nongovernmental organizations. At the same time, the U. S. is reviewing forms of bilateral assistance to the government in Kabul, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at a Sept. 9 briefing. When it is in our interest to engage the Taliban on the basis of our national self-interest, he said, we will do that.
on Tuesday hit out at the upcoming first-ever summit to be hosted by US President Joe Biden, saying the formation of "cliques" targeting other countries "won't be popular" and has "no future".

President Biden would host the first in-person summit on September 24 in Washington which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.

Asked for his comment on the upcoming summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that cooperation between the countries should not target third parties.

" believes that any regional cooperation framework should go with the trend of the times and be conducive to mutual trust and cooperation between the regional countries. It should not target any third party or harm their interests," he said.

"To form exclusive cliques targeting other countries does not conform with the country's aspirations, won't be popular and has no future," he asserted.

"I want to stress that is not only an engine for economic growth in Asia Pacific, it is also the main force safeguarding peace," he said, adding that China's growth is an increase in "forces for peace" in the world and "good news" for the region.

"Relevant countries should abandon the obsolete Cold War mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical rivalry concept and view correctly and respect people's aspiration in the region and do more things conducive to regional solidarity and cooperation," Zhao said.

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.

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.

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.

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Prime Minister on Tuesday spoke with Russian President and discussed regional and bilateral matters of interest along with the evolving situation in Afghanistan, urging that the world should engage with the war-weary country instead of leaving it alone at this critical juncture.

Khan received a telephone call from President Putin and the two leaders exchanged views on regional and bilateral matters of interest, according to a statement by the PM Office.

Prime Minister Khan underlined the need for the community to remain engaged in Afghanistan, stressing that "the Afghan people should not be abandoned at this crucial juncture.

Underscoring the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan for regional security and prosperity, he emphasised on the urgent need for provision of humanitarian assistance to the country and the imperative of averting an economic crisis.

The Prime Minister stressed that close coordination and consultations between and on the evolving situation in Afghanistan were of crucial importance.

Recalling their earlier telephone conversation of August 25, the two leaders exchanged views on the latest developments of Afghanistan, bilateral cooperation, and collaboration in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

In the bilateral context, the Prime Minister emphasised the growing cooperation across a range of sectors and reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to further upgrade the overall relationship.

He underscored that strengthening trade, investments and energy cooperation were the cornerstones of engagement with

He also reaffirmed his government's resolve for early realisation of the Stream Gas Pipeline Project.

The two leaders also renewed their invitation to each other to visit their countries.

The two leaders agreed to remain in close contact, according to the statement.

Pakistan's defence ties with have moved past the bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the US has further pushed the country towards Russia and China.

Russia and Pakistan have been holding annually the joint exercise - DRUZHBA since 2016. In October 2016, they held their first-ever joint military exercise in Pakistan.

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Prime Minister and US President will address the UN General Debate in-person next week, as over 100 heads of state and government arrive in New York to attend the annual high-level General Assembly session, which had gone virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modi will address world leaders from the iconic UN General Assembly hall on the morning of September 25, a day after he participates in the Quad Leaders' Summit in Washington DC hosted by Biden on September 24.

Modi, Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga will participate in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington and review progress made since their first virtual Summit on 12 March 2021 and discuss regional issues of shared interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Modi will address the General Debate of the 76th Session of the (UNGA) on September 25. The theme for this year's General Debate is Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations', the MEA statement said.

As per the second provisional list of speakers for the General Assembly, about 109 heads of state and government will address the General Debate in person and nearly 60 will deliver speeches through pre-recorded video statements.

Biden will travel to New York to deliver his first address to the 193-member General Assembly as American President. The US is traditionally the second speaker after Brazil at the General Debate, which this year will run from September 21 to 27.

Afghanistan's diplomat is listed as the last speaker on the last day of the General Debate. Currently the Afghan envoy at the UN is Ambassador Ghulam Isaczai, who was appointed by former President Ashraf Ghani as Kabul's envoy to the UN in June 2021. The interim Taliban government in power has not yet made any submission challenging Isaczai's credentials.

The diplomats of Myanmar and Guinea are also listed to speak on behalf of their countries on the last day of the debate. However, following the coup in Myanmar, its military rulers have said the country's Ambassador at UN Kyaw Moe Tun has been dismissed and they want Aung Thurein to replace him.

In response to a question on who should represent Myanmar at the UNGA, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had said that it is a matter that is strictly in the hands of the Credentials Committee and, of course, we will abide by what member states decide in the Credentials Committee or eventually, if necessary in the General Assembly. This is an area where the Secretariat has no power whatsoever.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among the world leaders who will address the session in person.

The 76th session of the UN General Assembly will begin on Tuesday. Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid will be President of the year-long session.

Modi had last addressed the UN General Assembly session in 2019. Last year, world leaders had submitted pre-recorded video statements for the session in September, as heads of state and government could not physically attend the annual gathering due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first time in the UN's 75-year history that the high-level session had gone virtual. This year too, the option has been kept open for the world leaders to send in pre-recorded statements since the pandemic continues to rage across several nations around the world.

The other events during the 76th session of the General Assembly are the meeting to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on September 22, Dialogue on Energy convened by UN Secretary-General Guterres on September 24 and the plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 28.

Guterres and UK Prime Minister Johnson will hold an informal, closed-door roundtable with a small but representative group of heads of state and government on the sidelines of the General Assembly on September 20.

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UN Secretary-General issued a warning against the "serious" possibility of a complete economic collapse in following the takeover.

Guterres made the remarks here on Monday while convening a high-level ministerial meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, reports Xinhua news agency.

He highlighted the acute and urgent need for funding support and action in the country.

"The people of need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour," he said during his opening remarks at the meeting.

"Let us be clear: This conference is not simply about what we will give to the people of It is about what we owe," he added.

The UN chief said that as of today, one in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from, and their basic public services are close to collapse.

Due to a severe drought, many people could run out of food by the end of this month.

The threat of economic collapse was discussed at a later press conference on Monday.

The risk comes from limitations in Afghanistan's financial system, meaning that a number of basic economic functions cannot be delivered, according to the UN chief.

"The community must find ways to make cash available to allow the Afghan economy to breathe, a total collapse would have devastating consequences to the people and risk destabilising neighbouring countries with a massive outflow," he said.

Guterres also announced that he had asked the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to travel to Kabul to meet the leadership.

"The de facto authorities pledged, in person and in a follow-up letter to Under-Secretary-General Griffiths, that they will cooperate to ensure assistance is delivered to the people of Afghanistan."

Asked about whether he would be willing to go to Kabul himself, Guterres said that "this is something to decide at the right moment, when the right conditions are met".

According to the Secretary-General, the UN Humanitarian Air Service has resumed flights from Islamabad to Kabul, and they were fully operational across the country.

--IANS

ksk/

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Britain's expert advisory panel on Tuesday recommended that a third booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine would be beneficial for people aged over 50 and frontline workers to boost their protection against the deadly virus over the winter months.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's (JCVI) recommendation notes that six months after a second COVID vaccine dose is the optimum timing to boost immunity with another dose, with the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines among those ideal for use as a third jab.

"Getting a dose too early may mean they do not need it as they still have a high level of protection, and as we've seen with the gap between the first and second dose, you don't want to have it too early," JCVI Chair Professor Wei Shen Lim told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.

He also indicated a recurrent booster every six months may not be needed but it is too early to be sure about that.

England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said following the JCVI decision, he expects the boosters to be offered "within days" and they will be taking place at mass vaccination centres and GPs.

Van-Tam warned of a "bumpy" winter ahead despite the vaccines having been "incredibly successful" and had so far prevented an estimated 24 million COVID-19 cases and 112,000 deaths.

"But we also know that this pandemic is still active. We are not past the pandemic, we are in an active phase still," he said.

"We know that this winter could quite possibly be bumpy at times and we know that other respiratory viruses such as flu and RSV are highly likely to make their returns," he added.

The JCVI briefing comes ahead of a government statement laying out its winter strategy for tackling COVID-19 without having to resort to further lockdowns.

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Shares of Vijaya Diagnostic Centre made a quiet debut as the stock opened at Rs 542.30, 2 per cent higher against the issue price of Rs 531 per share on the BSE. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it opened at Rs 540.

However, post listing, the stock soon jumped to a high of 588, 11 per cent premium over its issue price on the BSE. At 10:11 am, it traded at Rs 573.90. Around 7 million equity shares had changed hands at the counter on the NSE and BSE so far.

The initial public offering (IPO) of Vijaya Diagnostic Centre was subscribed 4.54 times, mainly due to strong response from the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). QIBs category was subscribed 13.07 times, while non-institutional investors and Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) were subscribed by 1.32 times and 1.09 times, respectively.

Vijaya Diagnostic is the largest integrated diagnostic chain in southern India, offering pathology and radiology testing services mostly in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The objective of the IPO, according to the company, is to enhance its visibility and brand image, provide liquidity to shareholders and a public market for the shares.

Vijaya Diagnostic offers a one-stop solution for pathology and radiology testing services to customers through an extensive operational network, which consists of 81 diagnostic centres and 11 reference laboratories across 13 cities and towns in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, the National Capital Region and Kolkata as on June 30, 2021.

According to the Crisil Report, the Indian diagnostics market was valued at around Rs 71,000-73,000 crore in FY21, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12-13 per cent to Rs 92,000-98,000 crore by FY23, driven by a rise in health awareness and disposable incomes, increase in demand for better healthcare facilities and quality of care of individuals, and increase in spending on preventive and wellness. Further, according to Crisil Report, the diagnostics market in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where Vijaya has a significant presence, is projected to grow to Rs 12,000-13,000 crore by FY23.

Since Vijaya primarily derives almost all of its revenues from walk-in customers, the companys brand and reputation are critical to the success of the business and operations. Vijayas ability to maintain and improve the brand name and brand image is dependent on factors such as quality, accuracy and efficiency of the diagnostic tests, turnaround time and patient satisfaction, the performance of companys service network, the introduction of new tests and services, ICICI Securities said in IPO note.

Further, as Vijaya expands into new geographic within India, and as the market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing the brand may become costly and difficult, the brokerage firm said.
The Board of Shree Cement has approved setting up of an Integrated Cement Plant at Village Gothra in Nawalgarh Tehsil of Rajasthan and Solar Power Plants at various locations to meet the captive requirement of the Cement Plants of the Company.

The company's existing cement capacity is 43.40 million ton per annum (MTPA). During the year 2020-21, the utilization rate was 67%. The proposed integrated cement plant will have a clinker capacity of 3.8 MTPA and cement capacity of up to 3.5 MTPA.

The expected capex for the project is Rs 3500 crore. The proposed capacity will be added by quarter ending March 2024.

The company proposes to set up solar power plants having capacity upto 106 MWp to meet captive power requirements of cement plants of the company at various locations. The expected capex for the project is Rs 500 crore. The proposed capacity will be added by quarter ending September 2022.

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Dish TV India hit an upper-circuit of 10% at Rs 21.31 after The Hindustan Times bought 2 crore equity shares of the cable TV network company on Monday, 13 September 2021.

The Hindustan Times purchased 2,00,00,000 equity shares (or 1.08% stake) of the company at Rs 19.22 per equity share via bulk deals on NSE on Monday, 13 September 2021.

Last week, Dish TV announced that YES Bank has proposed to oust the company's entire board, including Jawahar Lal Goel, the promoter and managing director. The bank said the existing board is purportedly acting at the behest of certain minority shareholders holding a mere 6% of shares in the company.

YES Bank has issued a notice asking the company to put its proposal to vote at Dish TV's annual general meeting on 27 September 2021.

The bank said the company's present board of directors has approved a rights issue process despite objections raised by the bank to dilute the shareholding of the bank and to prejudice the interests of inter alia, the bank, which is the single largest shareholder of the company as of date.

YES Bank had asked the board to desist from approving the capital-raising exercise by way of a rights issue. However, the board, without consulting the significant shareholders of the company, went ahead to make a press announcement on May 28, 2021 regarding its intention to proceed with a 1,000-crore rights issue, the bank said.

YES Bank is a shareholder of Dish TV India and hold 47,19,13,990 equity shares representing 25.63% (out of which 0.85% of shareholding is held in DP account of IDBI Trusteeship Services acting as trustee on behalf of YES Bank) of the paid-up equity share capital of the company.

Shares of Yes Bank jumped 9.39% to Rs 12.12 on BSE.

Dish TV India's consolidated net profit tanked 34.1% to Rs 49.14 crore on a 12.5% decline in net sales to Rs 730.97 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

Dish TV India is engaged in the business of direct to home (DTH) and teleport services. The company's segments include DTH and teleport service, and infra support services. It is also engaged in the business of broadcasting of other satellite telecommunications activities.

The scrip hit a 52-week high at Rs 21.31 during intraday trade.

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Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) said that it has signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce for Make-in-India Adour engine parts to support Rolls-Royce's international defence customer base.

Through this partnership, Rolls-Royce aims to strengthen the ecosystem for Adour engines in India by building on HAL's existing capabilities for manufacturing and supporting the Adour engines for Indian customers over several decades. This follows the MoU signed by Rolls-Royce and HAL during the Aero India 2021 to establish an authorized maintenance centre for Adour at HAL to support international military customers and operators.

R. Madhavan, CMD, HAL said, "With over 30 years' experience of supporting repair and maintenance services for the Adour engines in India, HAL has the capability and capacity to support a large defence customer base. This is the first order for supply of spares for the Adour global supply chain.

We plan to be a key player in the supply chain of Adour engines and expect more orders to follow. We look forward to working with Rolls-Royce to build on this capability to serve global market for supply of spares and maintenance repair & operations (MRO) of Adour engines. This new partnership will create avenues for the two companies to expand the defence sourcing footprint in India."

In an investor presentation filed with the bourses today, HAL said that first quarter (Q1 FY22) performance of the company was affected due to the second wave of COVID-19. However, the company expects to return to normalcy during the remaining period of the year.

The company's financial position is stable with consistent growth year-on-year and its cash surplus keeps improving, HAL said.

It further added that the government' push for Atmanirbhar Bharat and positive indigenisation list are providing boost to HAL's business.

The company's order book currently stands strong, with prospects for further additions.

As per media reports, the government is likely to launch an offer for sale (OFS) for HAL this month. The Central Government is looking to sell a 0.15% stake or around five lakh shares through the OFS. It may look at offloading more than 0.15% if there is strong market demand. It has asked bankers to give a report on market demand for the HAL OFS, reports added.

HAL is engaged in carrying out design, development, manufacture, repair and overhaul of aircraft, helicopter, engines and related systems like avionics, instruments and accessories primarily serving Indian defence programme. As of 30 June 2021, the Government of India held 75.15% stake in HAL.

On a consolidated basis, HAL posted a 31% rise in net profit to Rs 194.71 crore on a 7% decline in net sales to Rs 1,615 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

The scrip rose 0.43% to end at Rs 1410.80 on the BSE on Tuesday.

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Infosys in a regulatory filing on Monday announced that the board will meet on 12 and 13 October to approve and take on record the audited consolidated financial results for the quarter and half year ending 30 September 2021.

The IT major said its board will also consider declaration of interim dividend for second quarter ended September 2021 on the same day.

Infosys' consolidated net profit grew 2.3% to Rs 5,195 crore on 6% increase in revenue to Rs 27,896 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q4 FY21. Revenues in constant currency (CC) terms grew by 16.9% YoY and 4.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

While announcing its April-June quarter (Q1FY22) results, Infosys said it expects its revenue to grow by 14-16% in FY22, up from the earlier estimate of 12-14%.

Shares of Infosys were trading 0.24% lower at Rs 1,687 on BSE in early trade.

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting.

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Laurus Labs advanced 1.41% to Rs 655 in trade today after the company, along with Unitaid and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, announce agreement to accelerate development of best-in-class second- and third-line HIV medication for children.

Unitaid is a global health agency engaged in finding innovative solutions to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases more quickly, cheaply, and effectively, in low- and middle-income countries. Its work includes funding initiatives to address major diseases such as HIV/AIDs, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as HIV co-infections and co-morbidities such as cervical cancer and hepatitis C, and cross-cutting areas, such as fever management.

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries.

The aim of the agreement between Laurus Labs, Unitaid and CHAI is to speed up the development, commercialization, and registration of HIV treatment darunavir boosted with ritonavir (DRV/r). DRV/r is a best-in-class protease inhibitor that has been shown to effectively treat HIV in children who are just beginning treatment, or whose treatment is no longer working.

Despite being available in high-income countries for over a 15-year period, a generic, fixed-dose combination pediatric version of DRV/r is still not available. Through this agreement, Unitaid and CHAI are working with the company to finally address this critical need and ensure CLHIV (children living with HIV/AIDS) have access to high-quality second- and third-line HIV treatment.

Second- and third-line therapies are critical for CLHIV where the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended first-line treatment dolutegravir (DTG) may not be an option due to medication resistance or intolerance. Currently available second- and third-line treatments are often difficult for children to take due to bitter taste and difficult forms of administration.

The product development collaboration between Unitaid, CHAI, and Laurus Labs was spearheaded through Unitaid's investment in CHAI since 2016 to bring the best HIV medications to market more quickly and integrate them into treatment programs in low- and middle-income countries that need them the most.

Understanding the small market size for a pediatric version of DRV/r, the initiative has provided Laurus with a financial incentive for a portion of their development and commercialization costs.

CHAI will work closely with Laurus Labs to provide technical and regulatory support to enable accelerated generic development and regulatory submission of the medication.

Commenting on the collaboration in development of the new second line and third line pediatric treatment, Dr. Satyanarayana Chava, founder & CEO, Laurus Labs, said, We are excited about this innovative mechanism to accelerate the availability of pDRV/r regimen for children living with HIV.

The collaboration between Laurus Labs, CHAI, and Unitaid can positively impact over 100,000 CLHIVs and help them in leading a better life especially in their formative years.

Laurus Labs is a leading research-driven pharmaceutical manufacturing company in India. It has grown to become one of the leading manufacturers of API for Anti-Retroviral (ARV), oncology, cardiovascular, anti-diabetics, anti-asthma, and gastroenterology.

The company's consolidated net profit rose 40.52% to Rs 241.39 crore on a 31.22% increase in net sales to Rs 1278.50 crore in Q1 FY22 over Q1 FY21.

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Tata Consultancy Services has been named in the Forrester Now Tech: Cybersecurity Consulting Providers in Asia Pacific (APAC), Q3 2021.

The report provides an overview of 24 cybersecurity consulting providers in the region. It states that clients buy services from APAC security consulting firms to construct security programs, secure executive buy-in and sponsorship, innovate, and accelerate the security program.

Customers are partnering with TCS to proactively defend their digital estate from cyber-attacks and vulnerabilities and secure their digital transformation journeys. TCS' use of automation, investments in innovation and research, comprehensive portfolio of intellectual property, and outcome-based pricing models, help it stay ahead of changing market requirements.

TCS offers cyber security consulting services to customers across major APAC countries.

Services include strategy and roadmap advisory, architecture and design consulting, security assessment and transformation, professional services, and technical implementation. These services cover all security domains areas such as managed detection and response, identity and access management, enterprise vulnerability management, governance, risk and compliance, data privacy and protection, digital forensics and incident response, cloud security, data security and IT/OT security services.

Additionally, TCS' global network of Threat Management Centers help customers with rapid and expert security services locally, while ensuring compliance with data protection laws. In APAC, TCS operates seven Threat Management Centers in Australia, Japan and India. TCS addresses customers' security needs with its Zero Trust framework for business resilience and agility, and its Cyber Defense suite of solutions for consent management, cyber vigilance, vendor risk management, automated vulnerability remediation, identity and access management, and cloud security.

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Designit, a Wipro company, and a leading global experience innovation firm, today announced that it has won the Red Dot: Brands and Communications Design 2021 award for its interactive visitor centre for Digital Hub Denmark.

The Red Dot Award, an international design competition founded in 1955, recognises the highest quality work in brand design, communication design, and product design.

A jury of 24 renowned academics and design leaders select a fraction of all entries distinguished by their embodiment of the guiding principle, 'In search of good design and creativity.

Digital Hub Denmark, a non-profit organisation connecting international tech talent, start-ups, investors, and delegations in Denmark, needed a dedicated space for an interactive showroom, theatre, lounge, and co-working space. Recognized for combining sustainable design and architecture, Designit reimagined an old sugar factory into an inviting and interactive visitor centre that showcases Denmark's best and latest digital innovations.

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Watching America mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I was struck by the parallels with our own 26/11 siege of Mumbai. Both terror strikes traumatised the nations that were their targets. And both were masterminded from roughly the same region: Afghanistan/Pakistan. And there, the similarities end.

America has coped very differently with the after-effects of 9/11 than the way in which India has responded to 26/11. There is, first of all, the Indian tendency to forget and move on. As the 9/11 memorials reminded us, America has not forgotten that day. It continues to mourn ...
West Bengal Chief Minister has serious plans for the northeast, said Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sushmita Dev on Tuesday.

Speaking to ANI, Dev said, "I am extremely grateful to my leader, Mamata Di that she has given me an opportunity to file my nomination and contest the Rajya Sabha election. It is not important that Sushmita Dev has got it. There are a couple of messages in it. First, Trinamool Congress once again proved that more women in Parliament is their vision and conviction."

"Secondly, Mamata Di has given a strong message to the northeast (India) by giving someone from northeast a Rajya Sabha seat where West Bengal MLAs will be voting. It means she has serious plans for the northeast. And, I also cannot deny the fact that for many decades that no Bengali who is from Assam has gone to Rajya Sabha," the leader emphasised.

Asked about Tripura government's allegedly denying permission to leader Abhishek Banerjee's padyatra, Dev said, "It is crystal clear that the Tripura government and BJP regime here is extremely afraid of the charisma and determination of Abhishek Banerjee. That is the single reason they are consistently denying Abhishek's padyatra. We want to see how long the BJP government will be keeping a tiger like Abhishek Banerjee out of Tripura."

Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday nominated Sushmita Dev, who joined the party recently, as the party nominee for the Rajya Sabha bypoll from West Bengal.

Dev, a former Congress MP from Silchar, Assam joined last month in presence of party leader Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O' Brien and others. She is a prominent figure outside West Bengal to join TMC.

Trinamool Congress said in a tweet that it is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in

"We are extremely pleased to nominate Sushmita Dev to the Upper House of the Parliament. Mamata Banerjee's vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in shall help our society to achieve much more!" the party said in a tweet.

Sushmita Dev also expressed her gratitude to for nominating her to the Upper House of the Parliament.

"I am overwhelmed. I thank my leader from the bottom of my heart. Her conviction to see more women in parliament is exemplary. I will do my very best," she said.

The Election Commission had earlier this month announced bypolls for six Rajya Sabha seats across five states. These seats fell vacant due to the resignation or death of the sitting MPs. It also announced a biennial election for one seat from Puducherry.

Voting for all seats is scheduled for October 4. The six Rajya Sabha seats include two in Tamil Nadu and one seat each in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.Trinamool Congress is seeking to expand its footprint outside West Bengal.

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Prime Minister on Tuesday said was run by gangsters and mafias before 2017, but now things have changed under Chief Minister and such elements are behind the bars.

He also said that earlier roadblocks were created in the implementation of welfare schemes meant for the poor, but now there are no such hurdles and the benefits of these schemes are reaching the needy.

Modi was addressing a function after laying the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University here.



#WATCH | Under Yogi Ji's leadership, Uttar Pradesh has admistered more than 8 cr vaccine doses so far. The State has a record of administering highest doses of vaccines in a day: PM Modi in Aligargh pic.twitter.com/ZD13MeW1vO  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2021

The university is being established by the government in the memory and honour of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, the great freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer. It is being set up in a total area of over 92 acres at Lodha village and Musepur Kareem Jarouli village of Aligarh's Kol tehsil.

The university will provide affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh division.

The government's decision to set up the university after the noted Jat figure is being politically seen as part of the ruling BJP's bid to win over the community ahead of the crucial state assembly polls early next year.

A section of Jats, who live in sizeable numbers in western Uttar Pradesh, is seen to be aggrieved with the BJP over the issues of farmers.

The prime minister also visited exhibition models of Aligarh node of the Defence Industrial Corridor.

UP Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma briefed Modi about the upcoming university.

UP Governor Anandiben Patel was also present on the occasion.

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is hosting a virtual event on September 14 where the American technology giant is expected to unveil the iPhones 13 series. Formally called California Streaming by Apple, the online event will be hosted virtually from the Apple Park. The Apple event livestream will begin at 10:30 pm (IST) on September 14 through the dedicated Apple Events mini site. The event will also livestream on Apples YouTube channel. You can tune in here at 10:30 pm to watch the events livestream on the video embedded below. Here is a final round-up of things to expect from the Apple event:

iPhone 13 series

The iPhone 13 series is expected to bring as many models as Apple launched in the iPhone 12 series last year -- two regular iPhone 13 and two in Pro line. The iPhone 13 series is expected to be similar to the iPhone 12 series in terms of design, except the infamous notch is set to get some trim this time around. Aside to this minor yet significant change, everything else on the design side is expected to be similar to the iPhone 12 series.

Likewise, imaging is expected to get incremental upgrade  mostly on the software side. The 13 series is expected to get same number of cameras, but with better optics and sensors.

On the software side, it is likely that Apple will bring its Portrait mode feature to videos. Powering the next-generation iPhones would be a new chip  Apple A15.

One significant addition to the iPhone 13 series would be the satellite connectivity for improved support in emergency services. How it will function and what exactly is it used for will be known at the event.

Series 7

The Watch Series is now long due for a design refresh, and the Watch Series 7 might do the needful. It is expected to feature flat screen and edges, similar to iPhone 12 series. The new design is likely to allow Apple to fit a bigger screen compared to predecessors, but how big the size would grow will be known after the unveiling. Like the iPhone 13 series, the Watch Series 7 will get a new chip  Apple S7. Apple continues to add health-centric features to its smart watch series, and the Watch Series 7 is expected to bring a ton load of new health and fitness features.

3

The third generation AirPods, likely to be called the AirPods 3, may come with an AirPods Pro-like design. The pair of wireless earbuds are expected to get wireless charging case as standard. Besides, its case is tipped to have a 20 per cent more battery capacity compared to the predecessor.

Apple California Streaming Event: Watch iPhone 13 launch livestream
A South Korea's antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) 207 billion won ($176.64 million) for blocking customised versions of its operating system (OS), in the U.S. technology giant's second setback in less than a month.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on Tuesday said terms with device makers amounted to abuse of Google's dominant market position that restricted competition in the mobile OS market.

in a statement said it intends to appeal. It said the ruling ignores benefits offered by Android's compatibility with other programs and undermines advantages enjoyed by consumers.

The fine comes on the day an amendment to South Korea's Telecommunications Business Act - popularly dubbed the "anti- law" - came into effect.

The law now bans app store operators such as Google from requiring software developers use their payment systems - a requirement which effectively stopped developers from charging commission on in-app purchases. read more

KFTC said Google hampered competition by making device producers abide by an "anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA)" when signing key contracts with it regarding app store licences.

Under the AFA, manufacturers could not equip their handsets with modified versions of Android, known as " forks". That has helped Google cement its market dominance in the mobile OS market, the KFTC said.

The regulator said the fine could be the ninth-biggest it has ever imposed.

In 2013, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) launched a smartwatch with a customised OS, but switched to a different OS after Google regarded the move as an AFA violation, KFTC said.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment.

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Chinas foreign ministry has warned the United States against recognizing a change of the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington to the Taiwan Representative Office, a change regarded by Beijing as a violation of the One China policy.

The Biden administration is reportedly seriously considering the renaming at the request of Taiwan authorities, according to a report in the Financial Times on Saturday. The report added that senior U.S. and Taiwanese officials had held in-person talks Friday in Annapolis, Maryland.

The news came a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart President Joe Biden held a phone conversation in which they expressed their hopes to promote cooperation, manage competition and prevent unintended conflict between the two countries.

China has lodged a solemn representation with the U.S. side with regard to the above-mentioned issue reported by the media, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a regular press briefing on Monday.

The U.S. should abide by the One China principle and stop all forms of official exchanges or elevating substantive relations with Taiwan, Zhao said, including not renaming the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. as the Taiwan Representative Office.

The spokesman also urged the U.S. to handle the Taiwan question in a prudent manner, lest it should seriously undermine China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, Chinas cabinet, also weighed into the matter on Monday.

We firmly oppose any form of official ties or establishment of official institutions between the Taiwan region and countries that have diplomatic relations with China, she said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

In late July, China laid out detailed ground rules for engagement with the Biden administration on bilateral issues, grouping them under the three bottom lines and two lists of demands. They included the U.S. using caution on matters related to Taiwan.

In a similar incident regarding Taiwan issues in August, China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania over the countrys decision to allow Taiwan authorities to open a representative office using the islands name. Lithuania in early September also recalled its ambassador to China for consultation.

Commenting on the reported Taiwan Washington office renaming, the state-run China media outlet Global Times said in an editorial on Sunday that, if the change was made, the Chinese mainland's fighter jets should fly over the island of Taiwan and place its airspace in the patrol area of the PLA.

The editorial added the name change provides the Chinese mainland with sufficient reason to strengthen our sovereign claim over the island of Taiwan.

Though the phone conversation between Xi and Biden on Friday was regarded as a sign of willingness by both leaders to pull their countries relations back on track, the bilateral tensions remain high.

The Biden administration is also considering launching an investigation into Chinese subsidies under the U.S. trade laws Section 301, an outcome that could lead to new tariffs on Chinese imports, U.S. media reported on Saturday.

And on Sunday, the U.S. Department of Defense released photos of a Chinese navy task force that sailed in international waters near the coast of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska in late August. The photos were withdrawn on Monday.

The U.S. Navy also intensified surveillance of Chinese submarines in the South China Sea in the first half of the year, according to a report published by a Beijing-based Chinese think tank in July.

Contact reporter Cai Xuejiao (xuejiaocai@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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A former senior official at Chinas top securities regulator, who was also an iconic figure in Chinas largest stock market crash in the last decade, passed away recently. For many people in the market, Zhangs death closes a unique chapter in the history of the countrys capital market.

Zhang Yujun, a former assistant chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and ex-boss of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, died of pancreatic cancer at Shanghais Ruijin Hospital, sources with knowledge of the issue told Caixin, without specifying the date. He was 58.

Zhang is remembered by many market participants for his role in handling the historic stock market meltdown in 2015, when the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) nosedived more than 40% from June 12 to Aug. 26. Zhang had enormous power in leading the state rescue team to bail out the market. But the savior soon became a suspect. Since September 2015, he had been under a corruption investigation.

From late 2014 to mid-2015, the Chinese mainland stock market continued a rapid surge that was largely fueled by highly leveraged investors using borrowed money. The SCI jumped 60% from the end of 2014 to a peak in June 2015.

Amid the market surge, Zhang and his colleagues took tough action (link in Chinese) to curb leveraged speculation  especially retail investors buying stocks with borrowed money from unlicensed lenders  which some researchers later argued was a trigger (link in Chinese) of the subsequent meltdown.

On June 12, 2015, the CSRC said that it had ordered securities firms (link in Chinese) to cut off access to unlicensed lending for stock purchases, causing the SCI to slump 13% in the following five trading days. Forced sales by highly leveraged trading accounts made the matter worse  as stock prices fell, the accounts had no choice but to sell up to pay back the debt used to buy them, pushing prices even lower and triggering more forced selling.

In the wake of the market crash, financial regulators stepped in and assembled a national team of state-backed entities to buy stocks to prevent a further meltdown. Zhang was one of the four officials who led the CSRCs rescue efforts.

Two of the four fell from power shortly after the market turmoil due to corruption investigations, including Zhang.

In September 2015, Zhang was placed under investigation (link in Chinese) for violation of Communist Party discipline  which usually refers to grafts  and removed from office (link in Chinese). In July 2017, the countrys top graft buster said that Zhang had allowed his relatives to take advantage of his influence (link in Chinese) as a CSRC official to seek large amounts of improper benefits. Two months later, the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate announced a criminal investigation (link in Chinese) into allegations of bribery made against Zhang. The case has had no further public disclosure since.

Another member of the team, CSRC Vice Chairman Yao Gang, was removed from his position following the market crash, also for alleged violation of party rules. In 2018, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for bribery and insider trading.

It remains unclear whether the investigations into the two were linked to their work during the crash.

Before the probe into him, Zhang appeared to have a promising future. After starting his career at the central bank, Zhang spent more than 10 years working as president of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, making him the only person to take the position at both bourses. He was appointed assistant chairman of the CSRC in September 2012.

After the 2015 stock market meltdown, rumor even had it that Zhang would be promoted to deputy governor of the central bank.

Liu Caiping and Li Qing contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Guo Yingzhe (yingzheguo@caixin.com)

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Whats new: Chinas Tianqi Lithium Corp. (002466.SZ), the worlds top producer of the metal by output, disclosed Tuesday that has a revived a 3-year-old plan to list in Hong Kong.

Tianqi plans to issue shares equal to up to 20% of the companys total issued share capital, according to a filing (link in Chinese) to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. It will use the fresh capital to increase capacity, cover operating costs and pay back debt, including the money it borrowed in 2018 to buy a 23.77% stake in the New York-listed Chilean lithium giant Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A.

Whats the background: It was that year that the Southwest China-based company planned to raise up to $1 billion on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, the companys chairman called off (link in Chinese) the listing after a drop in the price of lithium sank its valuation at the time.

In recent months, lithium prices have surged due to growing demand for new-energy vehicles, as lithium is a key raw material for electric-car batteries. In the first half of this year, Tianqis net profit attributable to its parent company more than doubled from the previous year to 85.8 million yuan ($13.3 million). During that period, its lithium chemical sales increased by 36.44% year-on-year.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use.

Contact reporter Manyun Zou (manyunzou@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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Aluminum reached $3,000 a ton in London for the first time in 13 years

Southwest Chinas Yunnan province told local smelters to slash aluminum production 30% for the rest of this year to help meet goals for reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Yunnan has become a preferred location of aluminum smelting projects and other nonferrous metal refiners in recent years because of its abundant hydropower. In 2020, the province added 2.6 million tons of aluminum capacity, up 72% from the previous year and driving up power consumption. The province originally planned to put an additional 1.4 million tons of aluminum capacity into operation this year.

By allocating to Yunnan and using local hydropower, aluminum projects become greener, and the province is transitioning from a green power supplier to an aluminum supplier. But the added power usage strained the provinces own supply, and forced it to cut the power supply in May.

The provincial government issued a circular Friday ordering strict controls on emissions and energy consumption by local industries. Producers of green aluminum, or low-carbon aluminum, should cap average monthly output between September and December below August levels, the statement said.

Aluminum reached $3,000 a ton in London for the first time in 13 years, reflecting investors growing concerns over policy risks affecting supplies from China to Europe, according to Bloomberg. In China, the metal surged as much as 5.4% to the highest since 2006.

Yunnan province, one of the largest aluminum-producing provinces in China, already took measures to curtail local aluminum output under the pressure of power shortages. In May, the provincial energy bureau ordered aluminum companies to reduce power consumption by 25%. The order, which was supposed to be lifted by the end of June, has remained in place.

In August, Yunnans aluminum producers ran at 70.57% of capacity, down 25 percentage points from the same period last year, according to Kunming Power Exchange Center. The overall operating capacity of major industrial power consumers in the province dropped 14 percentage points to 56.4% in August.

Nevertheless, Yunnan is still under great pressure to meet energy goals. In the first half, the provinces energy consumption and energy intensity 

the amount of energy used to produce a given level of output or activity  remained among the highest in the country.

Last month, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planning body, cited nine provinces for excessive energy consumption, including Yunnan, Qinghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu.

The NDRC criticized local authorities for failing to meet carbon reduction commitments. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases causing climate change. The commission ordered provinces including Yunnan to suspend any new projects with high energy demands except for certain major national projects.

Yunnans total aluminum capacity reached 4.48 million tons a year, accounting for 10% of the national total, according to commodity industry information provider Baiinfo. With current control measures, Yunnans aluminum production is expected to reach 3.22 million tons this year, 8% of the national total.

According to the provincial government, six major industries in Yunnan consumed nearly 70 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the first seven months this year, up 19% from a year ago. The nonferrous metals industry accounted for 51% of the power usage.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

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MONROVIA, LIBERIA (Sept. 14, 2021)  The Carter Center is partnering with the Liberia Election Observation Network (LEON) on a new, three-year project to advance democratic governance in Liberia.

Through this project, entitled Strengthening Citizen Voices to Advance Electoral Reform and Democratic Governance, the Center will support LEONs activities to advance democratic governance through evidence-based reporting and engagement with citizens and officials. This will include advocacy in support of election reform that reflects recommendations from election observers, observation of by-elections, and observation of Liberias next national elections, anticipated in 2023.

LEON also will conduct national surveys on issues of public interest, and LEONs long-term observers will report on political activity across Liberias 73 electoral districts. Additionally, the project will support LEON as it observes and reports on activity within Liberias legislature in order to help increase transparency and provide information to constituents and legislators on issues being discussed in the assembly.

The Liberia Elections Observation Network was launched in May 2017 as a partnership between The Liberian Crusaders for Peace, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, the Federation of Liberian Youth, and the National Union of Organizations for the Disabled.

The Carter Center and LEON extend their appreciation to the government of Sweden for its support of this project and its dedication to Liberia.

###

Contact: In Atlanta, Soyia Ellison, soyia.ellison@cartercenter.org

In Monrovia, Taona Mwanyisa, +231 8811 02515, taona.mwanyisa@cartercenter.org

Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope.

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.
Photo: The Canadian Press

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 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 with gusts to 95 mph, 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 southwest of Freeport. The National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving to the north-northeast at near 10 mph 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 of rain were expected along the middle and upper Texas coast, with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches possible. Other parts of southeast Texas and south-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches 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.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Jagmeet Singh has apologized to the head of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations for not heeding a call to address the organizations annual meeting.

That was a mistake and I take responsibility, Singh said during a campaign stop in Toronto.

That should have never happened.

The assembly said in a news release that leaders of the three main federal parties were invited to appear digitally to address chiefs at the two-day meeting this week. A lack of response puts the commitment to true and lasting reconciliation in question, the assembly said.

They have all paid a great deal of lip service to Indigenous issues, but are unwilling to actually appear before the leadership of First Nations in B.C., said Regional Chief Terry Teegee.

If they cant spend ten minutes addressing these issues during the election, what kind of attention will they pay to reconciliation once they are elected?

The B.C. Assembly of First Nations represents all 204 First Nations in the province.

Grand chief, my apologies, Singh said. Im going to make sure we get this right.

Singh has positioned himself as an ally to Indigenous voters. He was the first leader to campaign on a reserve and spent Monday in Neskantaga First Nation, a fly-in northern Ontario community with Canadas longest water advisory.

The leaders campaign is now turning its sights towards sought-after seats in Ontario, including Toronto Centre.

The New Democrats came in third there during a byelection prompted by Liberal Bill Morneaus resignation last year. Its also being sought by Green Party Leader Annamie Paul.

While reiterating a commitment to lowering cellphone and internet prices, Singh faced a heckler who yelled about the "new world order," communism and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

Singh will later be stopping in Kitchener Centre, where incumbent Liberal Raj Saini resigned earlier in the campaign after facing allegations that he harassed a female staff member, claims he firmly denies.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.

Michael Lacey and James Larkin were accused of taking part in a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the site.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said that the cumulative effect of the child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by witnesses for the government is something that I cant overlook and will not overlook.

Before trial, the judge concluded she will still allow evidence showing that people were trafficked using the site, but will not allow prosecutors to linger on the details of the abuse suffered by victims.

Lacey and Larkin said the site never allowed ads for sex and used people and automated tools to try to delete such ads. While prosecutors say the site published many ads that depicted children who were victims of sex trafficking, no one in the federal case in Arizona is charged with sex trafficking or child sex trafficking.

The new trial date was set for Oct. 5
Photo: The Canadian Press A mail-in voting package that voters will receive if requested is seen in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

People voting by mail could play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the Sept. 20 federal election.

Postal votes could dictate which party wins in a series of closely fought ridings where just a handful of votes could decide the outcome.

Among them is CoquitlamPort Coquitlam in British Columbia  Canada's tightest race in the 2019 election  where the Liberals fought off a Conservative challenge by only 153 votes.

By today's deadline, more than 5,000 residents in that riding had applied to vote by mail.

Election officials begin counting local postal votes the morning after election day, raising the prospect of a delayed result and nail-biting finish.

About 914,000 electors across Canada had applied for mail-in ballots by today's deadline and more than 500,000 had returned them.
Cement prices rise in Zimbabwe

14 September 2021

Zimbabwe's construction sector appears to be on course for a revival, driven by public spending on infrastructure and private development. However, a recent increase in cement prices could restrict the recovery. On average, a 50kg bag, which ordinarily costs around US$10.50, is now around US$13.

An intermittent supply of cement on the local market looks to be behind the high cement prices, according to The Herald. The price hike has resulted in a rise in cheap imports from the region, particularly from Zambia, as many dealers look to fill the supply gap.

Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, has said the government has engaged the National Competitiveness Commission to undertake an analysis of the cost drivers of cement and offer recommendations. Dr Nzenza also stated that the country would increase surveillance of cement imports from the region to protect local companies and customers from sub-standard shipments.

Published under
Chanute firefighters, Boy Scouts and members of the American Legion gathered outside the Legion building Saturday evening for commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US. The ceremony included the ringing of the five-five-five bell, signifying the death of a firefighter in the line of duty. Nearly 3,000 people died when four hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and in Pennsylvania, including 343 firefighters, 71 law enforcement officers and eight private EMTs.
Lee University has been ranked once again in the upper tier of Southern universities in the 2022 U.S. News and World Reports Best Colleges.

This year Lee ranked #27, moving up six spots from last year, within the top 50 Best Regional Universities  South category, which includes both public and private universities. The ranked schools are evaluated in up to 15 areas related to academic excellence such as graduation rate, peer-assessment, freshman retention rate, student-faculty ratio, and acceptance rate.

To have risen six spots to break into the top 30 brings a great sense of accomplishment to our mission at Lee, said Lee President Dr. Mark Walker. Such achievement doesnt happen without the dedicated work of the entire Lee family and the favor of God.



In addition to the main ranking, Lee reappears in three specialty rankings. These include A+ Schools for B Students, the Best Value Schools listing, and Best Colleges for Veterans.

To judge the level of quality at each of the schools on the A-plus Schools for B Students list, U.S. News first examined two variables: the schools performance in the 2022 edition of the Best Colleges rankings and the average freshman retention rate. Schools had to bring an average of 75 percent of their freshmen back the following fall, as well as admit a significant proportion of students who were not straight A students in high school.

To determine which colleges met the Best Value Schools criteria, academic quality and cost were both considered. School rankings were determined by the ratio of schools quality to price, the percentage of need-based students who received scholarships and grants, and the percentage of the school costs, such as room and board, fees, and books that were covered by the average need-based scholarship or grant.

The Best Colleges for Veterans ranking is awarded to schools that reported on their enrollment of and benefits for veterans and active-duty service members as part of the U.S. News annual statistical survey of undergraduate schools. These rankings only include schools in the 2022-edition of the U.S. News rankings that meet the criteria.

U.S. News has been ranking colleges for 37 years and continues to be a closely watched college ranking. The magazine reviewed over 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide for the 2022 annual issue.

For more information and a list of rankings, visit usnews.com/colleges.








The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service, announced grant assistance to help the Rossville Blvd community develop a food system and revitalization strategies. The EPA, The BLVD, Crabtree Farms, The Chattanooga Area Food Bank and various other organizations will facilitate virtual workshops open to the public to brainstorm on a plan of action. The workshops, happening Sept. 21-23, will focus on stimulating economic growth, increasing access to local foods and strengthening community health in the Rossville Blvd corridor.



The BLVD is a grassroots organization working under a nonprofit called ELLA Library. The group seeks to improve access to food, safety, transportation, aesthetics and business along the Rossville Blvd. corridor. The passage begins at the I-24 overpass and continues 2.2 miles south to the Georgia State Line.

Executive Director Heather Herweyer has lived in the area for a decade and says that despite the corridors significance to the local economy, the Rossville Blvd. corridor area remains a food desert. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank provides food to more than 375 families per month with their East Lake mobile pantry and nearly 600 emergency food boxes were delivered to residents from January to July. We want to use this EPA workshop to develop a strategic plan to increase access to local foods. For example, maybe we can turn a vacant building into a weekly community market to provide food for residents, said Ms. Herweyer.



"Crabtree Farms, a non-profit educational urban farm, is partnering with The BLVD and ELLA Library to improve the Rossville Blvd corridor and the neighborhoods it ties together," officials said. "By using creative placemaking concepts, they will improve neighbors access to the farm and its products to help address food instability in the community."

Executive Director Melonie Lusk says, Through these workshops, we will look at opportunities to leverage the farm as a catalyst for food access, economic development, and community building along the corridor.
Flagship Detroit, a Douglas DC 3 built in 1937, will be in Cleveland the weekend of Sept. 18 and 19, on display for rides and tours at Clevelands Regional Jetport.



Mark Fidler, director of operations and airport manager, said the DC 3 is the worlds oldest flying DC3 and is in fact a flying museum that tells the story of a great era in aviation. The event is open to the public and several student groups including Cleveland High School Air Force ROTC and the Civil Air Patrol, will be taking part in the weekend events.



The Plane will be available for tours and rides on Saturday, Sept. 18, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and on Sunday from noon-4 p.m. The Civil Air Patrol, will be preparing and selling food as a fundraising effort.



The DC 3 was purchased and preserved by a non profit organization called the Flagship Detroit Foundation.



Mr. Fidler said, "The plane had been owned and operated initially by American Airlines. When old planes retire from commercial service, many of them are scrapped, some are parked and forgotten and a special few end up in a museum. But few fly on.



It was Zane Lemon, a former chief pilot at American Airlines, who was looking for a legacy aircraft to showcase the early days of commercial aviation when he discovered the DC 3 in 2004. Built in 1937 by Douglas, NC17334 flew for American Airlines as the Flagship Detroit from 1937 to 1947. Covering routes throughout the Ohio Valley, it carried 21 passengers during the height of style and comfort. Mr. Lemon, now president of Flagship Detroit Foundation, purchased the plane and began restoring one of the lost greats of aviation to its original 1937 condition. Over two years, the foundation repaired and replaced much of the plane. A new interior was installed replacing the 21 seats, galley and lavatory of the original aircraft. Workers at American Airlines maintenance base in Tulsa, Ok. hand-built exact replicas of the seats to supplement the seats they were able to find.



Mr. Fidler said Its an honor to be able to have the worlds longest flying DC3 here, and it gives us an opportunity to showcase our Regional JetPort as well. This is the communitys airport and we take great pride in showing it off to visitors at any time. This is a great educational opportunity for students to learn about our countrys aviation history, plus its a great piece of history for aviation buffs of all ages.



Opened in January of 2013, Clevelands Regional Jetport is a state of the art facility and in 2014 was named Airport of the Year by the Tennessee Aeronautic Commission. The runway accommodates a variety of general aviation aircraft and the state of the art facility has an 8,000 square terminal that features three conference rooms, catering kitchen, pilot lounges and waiting areas --- all designed with the aesthetics of East Tennessee charm.



Mr. Fidler said the conference rooms, training rooms and kitchens are designed for local organizations to use for special occasions, training or meetings. They are often used by visitors to the airport for brief conferences, training and meetings.



More details of the Flagship Detroit visit is available by calling Cleveland Regional Jetport at 423-4343.
The County School Board voted Monday to hire the same firm that brought Supt. Bryan Johnson to Chattanooga to help pick his successor.

The board vote 7-2 to hire Buffkin/Baker for the search. It had a $63,000 price tag for a full search, and also offered to vet candidates at $2,000 per candidate. The charge for candidates not making it past the initial step would be $500.

There was a 4-4 vote on proceeding with the latter $2,000/$500 vetting option with Rhonda Thurman abstaining. Ms. Thurman, who had not wanted any kind of search after earlier endorsing deputy superintendent Justin Robertson, then switched her vote to yes "to move the process along."

Also voting yes were Joe Smith, Joe Wingate, James Walker and Tucker McClendon.

Opposed were Jenny Hill, Tiffanie Roberson, Karitsa Jones and Marco Perez.

Both internal and external candidates will be welcome to apply.

There were two other search firms who made presentations. McPherson Jacobson LLC wanted $20,100 for an internal search and $50,000 for a formal search. Ray and Associates asked a base $12,000.

Buffkin/Baker representative Ken Carrick will again handle the search.

Mr. Smith said of the option offered by Mr. Carrick on the vetting, "I bet he knows we've got a very qualified internal candidate."

Ms. Robinson said, "I didn't get the memo" on the internal candidate. She said she wanted a full process to select the best choice and said she did not want to get involved with going through resumes.

She said the vetting process with the schools making a superintendent posting "may not bring in the best candidates. I don't think Bryan Johnson would have applied under this option. We did it right last time. I want to knock it out of the park again. I want an All Star."

Ms. Hill said the next leader needed to be ready for bold new initiatives beyond those crafted by Supt. Johnson and the board. She said of a speedy process outlined by board attorney Scott Bennett, "Are we going to have a superintendent by Friday?" She said it sounded like "we just add hot water and stir."

Mr. McClendon said the school posting would get just as many contenders as that "by a fancy search firm."

Ms. Thurman said superintendent candidates "already know that this job is open. I call it the Superintendent Shuffle."

She said, "I have questions about a superintendent who would leave his school this time of the year."

Ms. Jones said the board should pay attention to those within the system who have come up through the ranks, saying there are "some amazing local candidates.".

Ms. Thurman said if the board could not find a top-notch local candidate "then shame on us."

She said Dr. Johnson "didn't walk in here on water, and he didn't walk out on water. He walked out on us. He showed no loyalty to the students or to Hamilton County."
House District 29 candidate Deangelo Jelks said he had no comment on allegations by a campaign worker that he had raped her.

He said, "I know what you are referring to, but I have been advised not to comment."

He did, however, resign as vice chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

Mr. Jelks has not been charged with any crime, but Chattanooga Police are investigating the case.

A woman on Sunday filed a report against him that was being checked out by police.

The Democratic candidate is running against Republican Greg Vital for the seat once held by Rep. Mike Carter.

The election is Tuesday.

City Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod said she met with the alleged rape victim on Sunday and was supporting her.

Ms. Coonrod said, "This year, powerful male politicians across the nation have fallen from grace as a consequence of their past indiscretions coming to light. Since the start of the Me-TooMovement, senators, congressmen and other elected officials have been publicly held to account by the voices of women and those who support them. Nevertheless, this pattern of patriarchal, dominant behavior is not just limited to high offices - it is happening in our own back yard. Allegations of rape and sexual misconduct have been leveled against an up-and-coming leader of the Hamilton County Democratic Party.

"As a survivor of sexual assault, I choose to believe women who speak out against their perpetrators until there is proof otherwise. The decision to come forward about such a deeply painful and personal event is not only difficult, but it is terrifying. In times like these, my thoughts and empathy go out to the alleged victims as they begin the journey of healing and reclaiming the power that was so brutally taken from them.

"Some have posed the question, 'How can you believe them without infallible proof?' We must remember that justice is blind. This is the Democratic Partys moment to rise to the occasion by standing for true democratic values and supporting women. In this case, supporting women means listening when they come forward, advocating for them in the process and creating a safe zone where these values can flourish. As for the Hamilton County Democratic Party, there is an obligation to cultivate this so that victims are not discouraged from sharing their stories. And as painful as it, the women who are making these allegations must be willing to come forward openly with these accusations.





"The Democratic Party that I know, and love would not shy away from this moment. This is the time for those who lead this party to truly lead. Leadership is not a characteristic that shows up only during the good, but also the bad. The testament of an honest leader is being able to make tough decisions during tough times, and in tough times like these, an unpopular decision is often best for the moral good. I know what it feels like to place your faith in something or someone and then that something or someone does not live up to your expectations. Though I hope at this moment, good-hearted people will not be disappointed, and we will witness resolute leadership.

"We have a chance here in Hamilton County to exemplify what it means to truly be a democrat. We have a chance to take a stance against gendered violence and uphold the core principles claimed by modern Democrats.

"This is our test. Will we pass it?"
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) released the following statement regarding President Joe Bidens announced rule requiring that, in order to work, all employees of private employers with 100 or more employees must be vaccinated or subject to at-least-weekly COVID testing:

I visited with my doctor, and made the personal choice to get the vaccine - a product of President Trumps miraculous Operation Warp Speed - and I have continually encouraged others to do the same.

But this should be a personal decision for each Tennessean, in consultation with his or her doctor, not a top-down order from the federal government. This latest unlawful command by President Biden, which he vowed he would not order, improperly puts the federal government between Tennesseans and their physicians.

Not only is this an invasion of the doctor-patient relationship, and an attempt to distract from President Bidens botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, but having traveled the state over the last month, our businesses, particularly small ones, cannot find enough employees to hire, and the last thing they need is more draconian, one-size-fits-all, federal regulations that will make it even harder to hire and retain employees.

Men and women have fought and died for the personal freedoms of all lawful Americans, and no President can take those liberties away. In fact, on July 23, when asked about the possibility of federal vaccine mandates, the White House Press Secretary stated: thats not the role of the federal government. I couldnt agree more.
When America was attacked this time 20 years ago, Jim Jenkins was a Navy chaplain assigned to a group of Coast Guard chaplains and, as fate would have it, they were immediately deployed to New York Citys ground zero, where each was desperately needed. There were 3,000 casualties amidst soul-shaking circumstances  indeed  and the fact Chaplain Jenkins ministered to hundreds of families at ground zero reflects on God's faithfulness

On last weeks ChristianPost.com website, the ground zero chaplain had the opportunity to look back on at what happed 20 years ago and answer the ever-haunting question: Where was God during the lone terrorist attack in the history of the Unity States? The chaplain told Leah M.

Klett, a staff writer for The Christian Post, God was everywhere.

* * *

CHAPLAIN WHO MINISTERED TO HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES AT GROUND ZERO REFLECTS ON GODS FAITHFULNESS

(This story appeared on The Christian Post on Sept. 10th, 2021, and was written by Leah M. Klett)

Twenty years after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a Navy chaplain who ministered to hundreds of grieving families at ground zero has shared the incredible ways God showed up amid tragedy and provided comfort to those suffering.

Jim Jenkins, who was a Navy chaplain serving with the Coast Guard as part of the Chaplains Emergency Response Team, traveled to ground zero mere days after al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists hijacked four commercial jetliners and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

What Jenkins saw when he arrived at the wreckage of the towers will forever be engrained in his memory.

The only way I could describe it is, I saw footage of Berlin after the bombing. It looked like that as far as your eye could see. The TV couldn't give you a sense of the scope of the massive debris field, he told The Christian Post. It was so intense, so sobering.

The Lord had the appointments made for me already, who I was going to talk to, who was going to walk up to me, and what I was supposed to say. I got there right when I needed to, and not a moment before.

The following two weeks were a blur for Jenkins. For the first part of the day, he and his team would minister to the rescue and recovery workers at ground zero, the smell of burnt flesh lingering in the air.

For the first three hours of the day we were actually at the pile where they were looking for bodies, he recalled.

The second part of the day, Jenkins comforted those at a makeshift morgue: It looked like a MASH hospital attached to the medical examiner's office, he said. It was full of refrigerated trucks with body parts in it. They were trying to identify people.

But the most emotionally, spiritually, and mentally taxing part of his day were the evenings when he would accompany grieving families to ground zero. He stood by, praying for people as they watched their loved ones move from the rubble to the stretcher.

I talked a lot about the promises of God and of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Jenkins reflected. I really felt that, when I was ministering to people, they werent seeing my face. I believe they were seeing the face of God and experiencing His favor.

When he thinks about his time serving at ground zero, Jenkins said he can see Gods hand in nearly every circumstance. He shared the "incredible" way then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani personally comforted first responders, chaplains, and grieving families.

Giuliani came over to me, grabbed both my hands and stared at my face for a moment. Thank you for coming here to be with us," he said. It meant so much to see him right there, grieving with us.

In another instance, a man named Cleveland knelt on the Staten Island Ferry and asked him to pray amid a bomb threat.

One of his most vivid memories, however, is how a German Shepherd rescue dog comforted him as he sat on the ground one afternoon, exhausted and emotionally spent from the wreckage around him.

He came over and he put his head in my lap, he said. I looked up at the dog, and the dam broke. I finally just cried for the first time since Id gotten to ground zero. It was this incredible cathartic moment. The Lord took care of me right when I needed it.

Through a series of unlikely events, Jenkins would connect with the dogs owners years later.

After returning home, Jenkins struggled to cope with what hed seen at ground zero. He developed a precancerous condition of his sinuses and esophagus due to breathing in toxic chemicals. He was diagnosed with PTSD and to this day has recurring nightmares that his hands wont work as he tries to retrieve bodies from the rubble.

But even in his darkest moments, Jenkins said he feels the hand of God comforting him, telling him that He is present in even the bleakest of circumstances.

Something happens when you pray, when you cry out to God with groanings too deep for words, he said. Wherever we are, the Lord will meet us right in the midst of our brokenness.

Jenkins shares his story in his book, From Rubble to Redemption: A Ground Zero Chaplain Remembers. In his 2014 book, Fatal Drift: Is the Church Losing its Anchor?, he challenges the Church to remain steadfast in the face of obstacles.

He noted that tragedies present a unique opportunity for the Church. Like 9/11, in the midst of a pandemic, many people are asking, Where is God in the middle of this?

I can tell you firsthand that God is here, he emphasized. I'm encouraging believers to remember that. Jesus helped me in my rubble. He helped me when I was afraid. This is an unusual, open door for the Church to be forthright about who the Lord is and what He can do.

In the years following Sept. 11, 2001, numerous first responders, survivors and pastors have shared stories of how God proved Himself faithful amid tragedy.

I have come to realize that a lot of people I work with on a weekly basis are having a 9/11 experience in their lives. It might not be on the news, but it is a traumatic moment in which their world is crumbling down around them. In those moments, I know what to do. I know I get to serve.

In an increasingly polarized society, Stonier issued a call for unity, urging believers not to forget their shared humanity in Christ.

From 9/11 to early October, our country pulled together and was very unified because of what had happened. Then we started to get into the blame faze and started to fragment again. The world has been through so much trauma this year, and polarization has caused us to forget to honor one another. But as Christians, we are called to serve and love another, no matter our different backgrounds.

- - -

Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com

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royexum@aol.com
A clerk at Mapco, 2727 Rossville Blvd., called police about a disorder. Police spoke to a black male who was at the gas station trying to purchase cigarellos. The clerk told the man that he needed to leave because he was not wearing a shirt. The man admitted to police that he called the clerk a name. The man was compliant with police and told them he would go to the Mobil across ... (click for more)
With the launch of the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative the Tennessee Department of Human Services is taking a step to transform the way Tennessee serves its most vulnerable families. Over the next four years, this initiative will provide up to $5 million in Planning Grants and $175 million in Implementation Grants to further the Departments vision of fundamentally changing the way government assistance is delivered to families in Tennessee.

This first phase will award Planning Grants of up to $500,000 each to public-private partnerships dedicated to developing innovative strategies that will move Tennesseans with economic, social, and developmental vulnerabilities beyond their current circumstances and on to self-sufficiency.



With the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative, officials have an opportunity to create a new vision of government support. This new vision will shift the focus from the quantity of benefits, goods, and services provided to the quality of life for those served. TDHS invites Tennessee-based collaborative groups  large and small  that fall into one of the following categories to apply:

Tennessee Nonprofit organizations

Development Districts (city/county economic planning organizations)

Local government agencies (political subdivisions)

Human Resource agencies created pursuant to the Human Resource Agency Act of 1973

Planning Grants will provide the resources needed for grantees to develop their vision, overall design, budget, and other important aspects required for their Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Implementation Grant proposals. Planning Grant applications must be submitted online no later than Friday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. CST. Next spring the Families First Community Advisory Board will select the six Pilot Program grantees (two in each grand division) to receive up to $25 million in Implementation Grants over a three-year period. TDHS will also operate a pilot. Collaborative groups must be selected for a Planning Grant to be eligible for the larger Implementation Grants.



The Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative Planning Grants offer an entry point for public private groups to work together to form new ways of helping our citizens grow beyond lifes current challenges, said TDHS Commissioner Clarence H. Carter. We are putting an important stake in the ground for how Tennessee addresses our vulnerable citizens. To make this vision a reality, we need partnerships from across all regions and sectors of Tennessee - partners committed to transforming the lives of those in need so that dependence on government support is a mile marker in their lifes journey, not a destination unto itself.

More information on application requirements, including applicant eligibility, can be found in the 2021 Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Program Planning Grant Application Guide.

Funding for the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative is provided through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. TANF is a federally funded program that emphasizes work, family strengthening, and personal responsibility to empower families for longterm success. The Tennessee Department of Human Services is dedicated to making our state a place where all Tennesseans can move beyond the barriers they may face, to self-sufficiency, and on to new heights.
Ben Afflecks opening up about his longtime friendship with Matt Damon. The Gone Girl actor said in a recent interview his sanity and mental health have really benefited from having Damon in his life. From their days as kids in Massachusetts to writing Good Will Hunting and becoming household names, Afflecks always had Damon in his corner.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damons friendship goes back decades

Affleck and Damon didnt meet in Hollywood at an industry event or on a movie set. They met long before they became successful actors. The two grew up down the street from each other in Massachusetts.

Damons stint at Harvard University in the 90s would forever change the course of their lives. The Stillwater star had to write a screenplay as part of a class assignment. He and Affleck eventually turned it into a 1,000-plus page screenplay for what would become Good Will Hunting. They sold the screenplay, starred in the movie alongside Robin Williams, and went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Catapulted to fame their lives changed and they were both starring in major movie productions. But, unlike other actors, they had each other to turn to and rely on in the good times and bad.

Ben Afflecks says his friendship with Matt Damon is such an asset in Hollywood

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck | Getty Images/Bob Riha Jr.

RELATED: Ben Affleck Once Shared the Whole Reason He Did Good Will Hunting With Matt Damon

Affleck knows just how important Damons friendship is to him. Speaking to GQ about his longtime friend, who appeared on the cover of the magazines October 2021 issue, the Argo star said Damons helped keep his own sanity and mental health in check. It goes back to their history together and having known each other before they were famous.

I cant speak for Matt but my own kind of sanity and mental health really benefited from having someone who I grew up with and knew as a child who was also going through something similar, he said, referring to this 20-year-plus journey of being in the public eye.

Affleck continued, saying he could reflect on it with honestly, talk things over with, be myself with, who I knew why we were friends, why he was interested and loved me, why I loved him.

The Way Back star added that wonders how people can manage the spotlight without having someone like Damon in their life.

I often think of people who just become successful and then get thrust into this, and I think, How do they do it without having somebody that they can talk to? Who they can trust? Who knew them before? Its just been such an asset to meand, I think, I hope, to Mattthis relationship that weve had, he said.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are starring in The Last Duel together

RELATED: Ben Affleck Agreed to Star in Bounce With Gwyneth Paltrow After a Phone Call From His Ex

Get ready to see the best friends on the big screen because theyre teaming up again for another project. Affleck and Damon star in The Last Duel, the upcoming historical drama directed by Ridley Scott. They co-wrote the screenplay with screenwriter Nicole Holofcener.

Among Damon and Afflecks co-stars are Killing Eves Jodie Comer and Adam Driver. The Last Duel premieres on Oct. 15, 2021.
Theyre one of the biggest boy bands in the world. Now, theyre returning to the UN as President Moons special presidential envoy. Heres what we know about the K-pop group, BTS.

BTS attends a press conference for BTS new digital single Butter at Olympic Hall | The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images

BTS is known for their activism and influence in South Korea and beyond

This K-pop group is known for their global influence and positive message. BTS, along with Korean President Moon Jae-in, will attend the second meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment of the Decade of Action on Monday at the United Nations.

As BTS has delivered messages of comfort and hope to the entire world, its attendance at the UN General Assembly this time is expected to serve as a meaningful opportunity to expand communication with future generations around the world and draw their sympathy on major international issues, the Blue House said in a statement.

With this new recognition, some fans called BTS South Koreas Pride.

BTS was appointed special presidential envoy during September 2021

These artists traveled to Cheong Wa Dae, or Blue House, to receive the task from the President. They gave plenty of fist bumps in the process. J-Hope even gave a thumbs up.

First of all, its so honored as a Korean that Mr. President said we are helpful in national interests and furthermore diplomacy, RM said according to a fan translation. And its such a big honor to do something under the title special presidential envoy for future generations and culture as an artist (entertainer), one of the people in this country also as a person.

As we have been to the UN once before, we will return after successfully completing our job with our young spirit and passion as we always did, he continued. Thank you so much for assigning us this job.

Of course, fans took to social media, sharing their support for this K-pop group and their milestone. Some ARMYs even gave BTS the nickname South Koreas Pride in response to the event.

However, this wouldnt be the first time that BTS made history as award-winning artists. This boy band became the first K-pop group to perform at the Grammy Awards, later earning a nomination at the award ceremony.

BTS is the K-pop group behind the Love Myself campaign

This wouldnt be the first time this K-pop group visited the United Nations. In 2017, BTS created the Love Myself campaign, encouraging fans to navigate their own hardships, in addition to ending violence against children.

Since its creation, this project has earned over $2 million, with the song Love Myself earning millions of plays on the music platform, Spotify.

ARMYs also support several nonprofit organizations inspired by the BTS members. For RMs birthday, that included a nature-related project, where fans planted trees in South Korea and, in honor of the United States-based protests, the Black Lives Matter movement.

RELATED: Behind the BTS Anti-Violence Campaign With UNICEF, the Love Myself Campaign
Charlie Hunnam starred as Jax Teller on Sons of Anarchy for seven seasons, and the role made his career. The FX drama has now been off the air as long as it was on, but Hunnam still has a huge fan base that loves and adores him.

While working on his next project  the AppleTV+ series Shantaram  Hunnam just reminded his fans exactly why they love him.

Charlie Hunnam | Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage

Charlie Hunnam isnt interested in reprising the role of Jax Teller

Hunnam has nothing but fond memories of his time on Sons of Anarchy. But he has no plans to revisit the beloved character and reprise the role. He told People magazine that Jax is gone now because when he died, he died.

I would never, ever put that cut back on, Hunnam insisted. I would never put his rings back on. Not even for Halloween. It was a very deep experience. I lived with that character inside me for years, like, in a very real way. In a way that manifested in ways that I could never even [have] imagined.

The Sons of Anarchy star prefers TV roles

After Sons of Anarchy wrapped, Hunnam transitioned to the big screen. Hes starred in films like The Lost City of Z, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Jungleland, and The Gentleman. But Hunnam says he prefers TV roles, which could be the reason hes going back to the small screen in Shantaram.

I really like long-form storytelling, he says. The experience of working with a group of actors for a long period of time is really, really exciting and rewarding.

Charlie Hunnam just reminded his fans why they love him so much

According to The Newcastle Herald, Hunnam has been in Thailand this summer working on Shantaram with director Bharat Nalluri. To help out Nalluris young son Sonny, Hunnam recently recorded an uplifting video message for the teachers at Tighes Hill Public School.

During these difficult times its nice to get some positive feedback. And this just takes the cake! Thank you to the gorgeous Nalluri family for making this happen. You certainly made Ms Armstrongs day week, year, life ! And thank you Charlie Hunnam What a superstar for doing this! Posted by Tighes Hill Primary School on Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Hello. This is Charlie Hunnam. I am making this video on behalf of my friend Sonny, who wanted me to make a little video to say thank you to Mrs. Armstrong and all of the wonderful teachers at Tighes Hill school, the actor says in the clip.

The Sons of Anarchy alum blew a kiss to his fans

The Sons of Anarchy alum then gave the teachers praise for providing incredible classwork every day and a very fun and lovely environment. Hunnam also thanked them for the work they do to provide Sonny and his classmates with a fun and great education.

Thank you very much to Mrs. Armstrong and all the wonderful teachers at Tighes Hill School. Sending you lots of love, Hunnam said, before blowing them a kiss.

Charlie Hunnams message was a big hit

The school posted about Hunnams message on Facebook, and said it was nice to get positive feedback during these difficult times.

This just takes the cake! they wrote. Thank you to the gorgeous Nalluri family for making this happen. You certainly made Ms. Armstrongs day  week, year, life! And thank you Charlie Hunnam. What a superstar for doing this!

Tighes Hill principal Tony Selwood added that the schools staff were delighted to see Hunnams message, given the stressful and challenging circumstances they are currently operating in.

To have someone of Charlies caliber take the time to reach out to staff is lovely, Selwood said.

Shantaram has experienced massive delays and is scheduled to be in production until later this year. Season 1  which will feature 10 episodes  is expected to premiere on AppleTV+ in 2022. All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are available on Hulu.

RELATED: Sons of Anarchy Star Charlie Hunnam is Coming Back to TV  Everything We Know About Shantaram
Its the part Michael Gandolfini was born to play. James Gandolfinis son will step into the same role that defined his late fathers career in the upcoming Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark. But playing a young Tony Soprano wasnt easy, the actor has said, especially when he had to revisit his fathers performance on the acclaimed HBO series.

Michael Gandolfini watched all of The Sopranos for the first time to prepare for The Many Saints of Newark

Michael Gandolfini and producer/writer David Chase on the set of The Many Saints of Newark | Bobby Bank/GC Images

RELATED: Sopranos Prequel The Many Saints of Newark Stuntwoman Describes Massive Riot Scene

James Gandolfini died of a heart attack in 2013 while visiting Italy with his son. While Michael had spent time on The Sopranos set as a child, hed never actually seen the entire series until he began to prepare to play a younger version of his fathers character in The Many Sains of Newark.

Michael knew watching the award-winning mob drama would be difficult, so he recruited a trusted friend to help him through it, the 22-year-old said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. Eventually, he ended up watching all 86 episodes three times.

James Gandolfinis son says watching scenes of Tony Soprano with his kids was difficult

It wasnt always easy to watch his beloved father play the tough-but-troubled mob boss Tony Soprano. Some scenes were particularly challenging, especially those that involved Tony with his two kids, Meadow (Jamie Lynn-Sigler) and A.J. (Robert Iler), even though he knew his father was just playing a character.

It wasnt my dad. Its not the dad that I knew. Its not Jim, its Tony, he said during a September 12 appearing on CBS Sunday Morning. So in many ways it was really fun to watch him explore this complete character. But there are scenes that are very tough. Anything with his kids [is] tough, of course.

Michael also mentioned the moments early on in The Sopranos last season, when Tony ends up in a coma in the ICU after Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) shoots him.

The hospital stuff is tough, he said. That stuff definitely hit me hard. But I watched it with friends. I had a community of people I leaned on. But overall, because the show is so good, its fun. And my dad was so different than Tony.

Michael Gandolfini made the Tony Soprano character his own

Tony Sirico, Steve Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, and Vincent Pastore in The Sopranos | Getty Images

RELATED: The Sopranos: James Gandolfini Made Tony More Ruthless Than Initially Planned

James Gandolfinis Tony Soprano is often ranked as one of the greatest TV characters of all time. His son was acutely aware of that legacy as he stepped into his role in The Many Saints of Newark. He knew he had to balance meeting fan expectations with creating a performance that could stand on its own.

If anything, my instinct was to give, in scenes, more of the Tony [fans] had known, he told Sunday Mornings Jim Axelrod. And it was Alan [Taylor, director] and David [Chase, screenwriter] who would come in and be like, Pull it back  you cant yell at the principal like youre 30.

I felt the pressure and I wanted to give them the Tony they had all seen, he added. But I had to remember to pull back too  I wanted people to accept this new version of Tony.

The Many Saints of Newark premieres October 1 in theaters and on HBO Max.

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John Mulaneys rise to fame seemed like a rapid ascent. In the years since he became a household name, hes spoken about his soon-to-be ex-wife often. Fans of the famed comedian never thought much of the way he talked about her. Most of his stories seemed benign enough, but that all changed recently. Following news of the couples divorce, fans are feeling conflicted, not only about Mulaney and his recent string of erratic decisions but about the way he spoke of Annamarie Tendler over the years, too. In recent months, Mulaney has revealed he spent months in rehab after relapsing on drugs and alcohol, ended his marriage, moved, started a new relationship with Olivia Munn, and is now expecting a child. In light of those events and his lack of tact, fans of the famed comic are looking at the way he spoke about Tendler a lot differently.

Annamarie Tendler was often mentioned in John Mulaneys standup routines

Mulaneys style of comedy is appealing to a large portion of the population. As a natural storyteller, Mulaney connects with his audience by telling stories from his life. While he surely exagerated some key points for comedic effect, most of his tales appeared to be true. Tendler was a key character in many of those stories.

In his first major standup, New In Town, Mulaney and Tendlers relationship was fairly fresh. He addressed the crowd and informed them that he had a girlfriend. He went on to point out how often Tendler pointed out obvious occurrences. In his next standup, The Comeback Kid, Mulaney revealed that they had recently gotten married. He referred to her as a bossy little jew.

In Kid Gorgeous, his 2018 Netflix special, Mulaney quipped that he asked his then-wife if he could talk about her on stage. He noted that she requested that he not call her a B-. He finished the joke by saying, Also, I would never say that. Not even as a joke, that my wife is a b- and I dont like her. That is not true. My wife is a b- and I like her so much.

Hes spoken about her extensively in interviews and during acceptance speeches. In an Emmy acceptance speech, Mulaney joked that Tendler refused to fly across the country to watch you lose. Tendler was noticeably absent from the event.

Fans are finding Mulaneys stories about Annamarie Tendler a bit awkward now

Mulaneys recent string of decisions hasnt exactly endeared him to the public. Many fans are concerned that Mulaney has made a slew of life-changing decisions way too quickly. Addiction experts largely advise against such life-changing decision-making for at least a year after recovery begins. They arent thrilled with the way he seems to be treating his ex-wife, either. While Mulaney hasnt said anything outwardly bad about his time with Tendler, fans note that he isnt showing her a ton of respect, either. Now, fans are looking back at past standup skits. They note that some of his jokes could be considered passive-aggressive.

John Mulaney | Andrew Lipovsky/NBC/NBCU Photobank

One Reddit user points out that many of Mulaneys jokes described Tendler as bossy and controlling. While Mulaney often spun the jokes in a positive way, fans can help but notice them now and wonder if Mulaney was hinting at potential trouble in his marriage. Either way, it certainly has made for an uncomfortable experience for some fans, many of whom sympathize with the difficult position Mulaney has put Tendler in.

Rumors suggest Annamarie Tendler sought treatment to address her mental health while John Mulaney was in rehab

Tendler has not spoken openly about her divorce proceedings since issuing a public statement back in May. She has let her art speak, instead. Tendlers Instagram, which she reactivated earlier this year after deleting the account, is filled with haunting images that seem to convey her grief. Several reports suggest that art isnt the only way Tendler has chosen to address her troubles.

According to Page Six, Tendler sought inpatient treatment when Mulaney entered a rehab facility. According to an alleged source, Tendler sought treatment at a mental health facility in Connecticut. Tendler did not confirm if she did, indeed, seek any form of treatment in December 2020.

Annamarie Tendler and John Mulaney | Dan MacMedan/Getty Images

The Other Art Fair in Santa Monica will feature Tendlers work in late September. Tendler announced her involvement in the event shortly before John Mulaney announced Munns pregnancy. Tendler is a multidisciplinary artist. Her photography work is what will be on display, though.

RELATED: How Tall Are John Mulaney and His Wife, Anna Marie Tendler?
When James Gandolfini died in 2013, the world lost not only a great actor but the character of Tony Soprano. Both the actor and the character who made him a household name soon became synonymous with each other since The Sopranos premiere in 1999. The show ran for six seasons.

Michael Gandolfini was only 14 years old when his father died on a trip to Italy in 2013. Since then, he has followed in James footsteps, becoming an actor himself.

The younger Gandolfini is now starring in The Many Saints of Newark, a prequel to the beloved HBO mob show.

Michael Gandolfini | Bobby Bank/GC Images

Micheal Gandolfini leads The Many Saints of Newarks all-star cast

Like The Many Saints of Newark, David Chase and Lawrence Konner wrote The Sopranos. It followed the head of a New Jersey crime family who suffered from panic attacks. Joining James Gandolfini in the cast were Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Michael Imperioli, Steve Van Zandt, and Tony Sirico.

Junior. Paulie. Silvio. Big Pussy. See #TheManySaintsOfNewark, a Sopranos Story, in theaters and streaming exclusively on @HBOMax * October 1. pic.twitter.com/CeZU2FdhwQ  The Many Saints Of Newark (@newarkmovie) September 8, 2021

The Sopranos prequel film will essentially be Tony Sopranos origin story. Michael Gandolfini will take over his fathers role. Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga will play his parents Johnny Boy and Livia. Alessandro Nivola with play Tonys uncle and mentor Richard Dickie Moltisanti. Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Magnussen, Ray Liotta, Corey Stoll, and John Magaro round out the cast.

Michael Gandolfini says playing Tony Soprano after his father, James Gandolfini, was a difficult choice

By taking on the role of Tony Soprano, Michael Gandolfini knows he has tremendous shoes to fill. He told Empire that taking over his fathers iconic character was probably the toughest decision Ive ever had to make.

Gandolfini knew before shooting started not to go in with too many expectations. You know, I didnt want to put pressure on myself to walk out of this feeling like Id grown in terms of my feelings toward my dad. I just wanted to be the best actor I could be, portraying Tony in the way David [Chase] wanted, scene by scene. I didnt think about my grief because  well, I would have s the bed.

He continued by pointing out the differences between his and his fathers portrayals of the character. My dads character had all this beautiful sensitivity underneath this aggression, he said. This version of him is the reverse. His curiosity and sensitivity comes first. Hes not a gun-wielding gangster. Hes a kid who gets whittled down and pulled in.

The Many Saints of Newark will follow Tony Sopranos origin story

Since his fathers death, Michael enrolled at New York University. He made his feature film debut in Oceans 8 and has since had roles in Cherry and HBOs The Deuce.

Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini, plays a youthful version of mob boss Tony Soprano in "The Many Saints of Newark" https://t.co/424pTRzKqu pic.twitter.com/fJSiNmKLL0  CBS Sunday Morning (@CBSSunday) September 11, 2021

The synopsis on the films official website is as follows:

Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newarks history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime familys hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilitiesand whose influence over his nephew will help make the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss well later come to know: Tony Soprano.

The Many Saints of Newark hits theaters and HBO Max on Oct. 1.

RELATED: The Many Saints of Newark Is Not a Tony Soprano Prequel, Says Creator David Chase
In 2022, fan-favorite Oscar Isaac will be coming to Disney+ as the lead in Marvels Moon Knight series. But who is this character? Heres everything you need to know about Moon Knight, including his history, powers, and more.

Moon Knights origin story

Moon Knight in Marvels Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister 6 | Marvel/Getty Images

Moon Knight was originally conceived of as a villain to battle Marvels Werewolf by Night. While his origin story has changed a bit as the years have gone by  because, you know, comics  the fundamentals of it have basically remained the same, as Marvel explains.

Marc Spector, aka Moon Knight, comes from a well-respected family but chooses to chart his own course. He becomes a boxer, a Marine, and a CIA agent, as one does. But hes betrayed by his brother and ultimately becomes disenchanted with the CIA.

In his disillusioned state, he turns to mercenary work. His new career takes him to Egypt, where hes almost killed. But in his almost-dead condition, he comes around to find a statue of an Egyptian god looming over him. The deity, Khonshu, resurrects him and endows him with superpowers in exchange for his service to the deity.

As Marvel explains, his powers include, enhanced strength during nights with full moons, prophetic visions and dreams, and the ability to drain another persons life energies through physical contact.

Spector, now Moon Knight, goes back to New York with a renewed sense of purpose and begins fighting crime.

Moon Knight and mental health

Experience an All-New, All-Different @MarvelUnlimited. The app with everything you need to read Marvel comics! Here are some updated features to help you dive into the Marvel Universe  (1/6) pic.twitter.com/KLuAIhZV1S  Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) September 9, 2021

Early on in his history, Marc learns that his friend is basically a secret fascist and serial killer. That traumatizes him and he develops a dissociative identity disorder, which causes his psyche to splinter into multiple personalities. And that later comes into play with his crime-fighting.

Accurately representing mental illness is, of course, complicated. And its done with varying degrees of success in the Moon Knight comics. But having a character who is at least upfront about his mental health is significant.

Moon Knight is often compared to Batman, for example. And some fans argue that Bruce Wayne clearly has not processed the death of his parents, though his mental health challenges are rarely discussed. So to have Marc openly talking about his mental health can potentially be a good thing if addressed thoughtfully. Hopefully, the Disney+ series will discuss this aspect of his character in a well-thought-out way.

Additionally, its important to note that this explanation for his mental health challenges was added at a later point in the characters publication history and has shifted at various times depending on the creators.

Moon Knight on Disney+

Are you reading comics on the All-New, All-Different @MarvelUnlimited app? Celebrate with the new Marvel Snapchat Lens! Discover the mighty Marvel Universe and find your favorite characters: https://t.co/pjXGZOT9hE pic.twitter.com/ahr6WXMdu2  Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) September 10, 2021

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the titular role will be played by Oscar Isaac. With Ethan Hawke playing the shows antagonist. May Callaway, known for her work on Hulus Ramy, is on the shows roll call, as well.

Given the shows nature, it could be a rather dark series for Marvel. However, WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki have certainly had their dark moments, as well. And even the animated What If? Sees Doctor Strange going through some dark nights of the Soul.

The series is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2022.

RELATED: Marvels Hawkeye: Who Is Kate Bishop?
Benedict Cumberbatch is having a successful film festival season. His latest venture, The Power of the Dog, premiered at the Venice and Telluride festivals. It will also play at the Toronto International Film Festival from Sept. 9  Sept. 18, 2021. Netflix will release The Power of The Dog in late 2021 for Oscar consideration

Cumberbatch is also a frontrunner in the early Academy Awards race. He is currently receiving critical acclaim for his role as charismatic and powerful Montana rancher hellbent on making his new sister-in-law and her sons life a living nightmare.

Benedict Cumberbatch | Kirsty Griffin/Netflix

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in New Zealand natives Jane Campions latest film

The Power of the Dog is a New Zealand production written and directed by Jane Campion. She is known for her work on The Piano, Top of the Lake, and Bright Star. The script is based on the 1967 Thomas Savage novel of the same name.

The film will have a limited run in theaters starting Nov. 17, 2021, before releasing on Netflix on Dec. 1. The streaming site describes the plot of the two-hour film thus:

Benedict Cumberbatch presents The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion with the Silver Medallion Award at the Telluride Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/SzTGcxxcFX  Netflix Queue (@netflixqueue) September 6, 2021

A domineering, magnetic rancher responds with mocking cruelty when his brother brings home a new wife and her son, until the unexpected comes to pass.

Cumberbatch will play Phil Burbank while Jesse Plemons will appear as his more meek brother, George. Kirsten Dunst is gaining Oscar buzz for her role as Georges new wife, Rose. Kodi Smit-McPhee plays her son and Phils latest victim, Peter.

The Power of the Dogs toxic Phil Burbank is a departure for Cumberbatch

Cumberbatch made a name for himself playing brilliant but egotistical heroes in Sherlock and Doctor Strange. In a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, he described his character as one of the most toxic characters he has ever played.

His toxicity is a product of his upbringing, he said. I can understand it. I dont condone it. Its part of who he is. Its part of his flaw and personal tragedy.

Yeah, that skill stuck.



Benedict Cumberbatch shares how his THE POWER OF THE DOG cow herding skills were useful in everyday life. #TIFF21 pic.twitter.com/2v9vVHW1kG  TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 12, 2021

Cumberbatch further explained how his characters closeted sexuality impacts his characters cattle business. I understand that he is repressed, isolated, and worried about what he has created being taken away. In terms of toxic masculinity, the only way you can change it is to go toward it and try to understand it. You cant just oppose it. Thats fuel on the fire,

Before he finished, Cumberbatch concluded that Phil Burbank and current public figures with toxic masculine traits need to be understood to change their behavior. You need to understand why these damaged people are causing damage to themselves and to others, whether thats world leaders and strongmen like weve seen in politics over the last few years, or whether thats something in your own life or culture.

The Doctor Strange star was drawn to his Power of the Dog character because of their differences

Cumberbatch further expanded on what he believes his character needs. Tenderness, surely thats the answer and the thing that needs to be addressed, he said in a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

I was drawn into how utterly different to any experience Id lived this character was, he conversely said. Its a lesson in how tangled up you can become, how toxic masculinity can become if your true identity is not allowed or tolerated or celebrated or accepted.

RELATED: Power of the Dog: Benedict Cumberbatch and Jane Campions Expected Oscar Contender
TLC has brought plenty of unique reality TV series into viewers homes, and the network continues to deliver gripping programming that makes viewers keep tuning in  even when its about a topic they never would have thought they wanted to watch. Taking deep dives into an individuals family life has been a consistent strategy for TLC, and in 2019, viewers were introduced to the Plaths. Welcome to Plathville promises to explore the shifting family dynamics of a fundamentalist Christian family as their oldest children mature into independent adults and begin to question some of the familys rigid values. The family is headed up by patriarch Barry Plath, and many viewers have wondered: What does he do for a living?

Welcome to Plathville taps into divides in American culture

I'm watching a reality show on Hulu called Welcome to Plathville. Mom, Dad & 9 kids live on a 55 acre farm in rural Georgia. They never had soda & dont know who spiderman or Justin Bieber is. It's kinda like The Waltons meet Flowers in the attic. pic.twitter.com/WuPoRCUERB  Trevor Donovan (@TrevDon) July 3, 2020

The Plaths are unapologetically conservative  on top of strictly controlling their kids access to technology, social interactions, and sugar intake  and the premise of Welcome to Plathville makes that ideology crystal clear. Barry and Kim Plath got married in 1997, and since then they have produced a large family reared with their values close at hand. Together, the couple has 10 children, but only eight of them are featured on the show.

These featured children include their oldest son, Ethan, and his wife, Olivia. Ethans feud with his mother has been a major point of contention for both the familys lives and for the shows driving narrative. As the family has expressed concerns that Olivia doesnt conform to their standards and values, Ethan has made it clear that he is sticking by his wife and expects an apology for the way his family treated her.

Meanwhile, Micah and Moriah Plath have also grown and flown the nest, maintaining a relationship with their parents with some boundaries and distance in place. That leaves the children who still live at home to be a major focus of the show: Lydia, Isaac, Amber, Cassia, and Mercy. Not featured on the series are Hosanna (their oldest daughter who lives in Ohio with her husband and has a music career) and Joshua Plath, who tragically died in a 2008 accident when he was just 15 months old.

Getting to see the children grow and find their own relationship to the conservative values impressed on them as they matured has been a driving force for the shows success.

What does Barry Plath do for a living?

Kim and Barry Plath from TLCs Welcome to Plathville. | TLC

For more than 25 years, Barry Plath has worked in the same job: He serves as a transportation planner for a private firm, according to The U.S. Sun.

Until rather recently, Plath also kept busy working on the 55-acre farm that he and his family shared. However, they sold the farm and moved into town, a slightly less rural part of Georgia where the bulk of the show now takes place. Eagle-eyed fans noted after season 1 aired that the family had a home in the suburbs that was listed as a short-term rental property. The show had made it seem like the farm was their primary residence and that their relative isolation was part of their conservative lifestyle, but many have questioned how authentic that is.

Barry Plath also heads up his family band. His wife and his children have joined him over the years in musical performances that are usually at Baptist churches and other similar venues.

Welcome to Plathville is a major source of income

Welcome to Plathville's Ethan Tells Olivia He's Going to Confront His Parents: 'I've Let Them Walk Over Both of Us' https://t.co/sEF9s3eOln  People (@people) January 4, 2021

Part of the persona that the Plaths present to the public is rooted in humility and appreciation of a simple life. Some might balk at that presentation, however, when they find out just how much the Plaths are worth and how much of that total comes from their newfound celebrity status.

The family makes it seem as if their earnings come from Barry Plaths long-term but modest job as a transportation planner and Kim Plaths work as a naturopathic doctor. However, that ignores the fact that the family has amassed a net worth of more than $3 million thanks to their reality TV contracts, giving a substantial boost to their overall net worth.

That said, both Kim and Barry Plath have maintained their day jobs while filming the series, and much of their purported lifestyle does seem to be in line with their actual behavior. Still, with the recent controversies from the Duggar family hanging over TLCs head, any family being portrayed for their wholesome values is bound to be scrutinized with extra attention to any perceived hypocrisies.

RELATED: Welcome to Plathville: Micah Plath Reveals He Was Never That Close With His Parents
David Yonggi Cho, the Korean Pentecostal who founded the worlds largest megachurch, died on Tuesday at the age of 85.

Cho and his mother-in-law started a church in Seoul in 1958 in a tent pieced together from bits of US Army tents. Yoido Full Gospel Church, affiliated with the Assemblies of God, grew to a weekly attendance of about 800,000 people in seven Sunday services, with hundreds of licensed ministers and thousands of laypersons leading weekly small groups of 10 to 15 people.

Cho popularized the idea of cell groups, arguing they are key to discipleship and to fostering the intimate connections that tie individuals to a large and growing church. He also promoted Pentecostal practices of prayer and healing as essential to dynamic church growth.

I myself was devoted to praying with a do-or-die desperateness, Cho told the journal Church Growth. When we apply Gods word in our lives and experience Gods dispensation, we are empowered by God. Christians who believe in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit.  One only finds empty pews in many European churches. What caused it? The reason is that European churches have betrayed the Holy Spirit.

Billy Watson, president of Oral Roberts University, called Cho one of the great leaders of the Spirit-Empowered movement and predicted his legacy would impact Christians for generations.

Cho was born on February 14, 1936, in the rural county of Ulju. His father owned a glove and sock manufacturing company, but it went bankrupt during Chos childhood, forcing him to make his own way in the world.

He learned English from hanging around American military bases, and by the age of 15 began to work for the troops as a translator.

His life changed at 17, when tuberculosis sent him to the hospital coughing up blood and rethinking his understanding of the universe. As a Buddhist, Cho later explained, he had been taught that he must suffer to become Buddha through hardship.

Jesus, it seemed, offered an alternative. Christians told him that Jesus the living God is your friend, mentor and guide here and now. After reading a Bible given to him by a young woman, Cho decided to reach out to the Christian God.

As a last resort, he wrote in his 2019 memoir, I decided to look to the God I did not know. I cried out, God I want to live! I want to live! Please help me!

When he was later released from the hospital, cured of tuberculosis, he gave the glory to God and claimed a miraculous healing. In 1956, he started attending the Full Gospel Bible College in Seoul, preparing to become a minister.

Two years later, he and Jashil Choi, his future mother-in-law, started holding services in a tent. Only four or five people came to the first service, but within three years, regular attendance had grown to 600.

By the early 1960s, Cho harbored ambitions to grow his congregation into the largest church in Korea. He later told Church Growth that this was because he wanted to be rich and famous, and he had a competitive spirit.

The Lord had to let me fail so that I would turn to him in my need and allow him to build his own churchin his own way, Cho said.

The church grew into the thousands but then plateaued for several years at 2,400 before Cho developed the idea of cell groups. He started by empowering 20 deaconesses to develop groups in 20 districts in the city. Cho refined and reorganized the groups and the training for leadership as he went, and by 1973, the church had about 18,000 members.

The congregation built a new building in Yoido, the financial district of Seoul. Three years later, Cho founded Church Growth International to teach the principles he had learned internationally.

While many churches around the world adopted and adapted Chos cell group model, his ministry was not without controversy. He was frequently accused of preaching the prosperity gospel, telling his followers that faith will produce profit, fame, and material luxury.

Cho, however, said Christians do encounter suffering, but they know that God is causing them to suffer for their benefit.

Fundamentally, God wants us to be healthy, spiritually and physically. He also wants to give us hope. Sometimes God wants us to change, which often comes with pain, he said in an interview earlier this year. It is critical for us to keep our faith that he has good intentions and that he would give us what may seem bad at the moment but will turn out to be good eventually.

In 1981, two Assemblies of God leaders accused Chos church of accommodating ancestor worship. Some in the church continued cultural practices of lighting candles in front of deceased relatives and bowing to their pictures on important days. Cho said it was possible to distinguish between ancestor worship and honoring your father and mother, but many Christian leaders in Korea and the larger Pentecostal world saw that as heretical.

Cho stepped back from full-time ministry in 2008, passing leadership to Young Hoon Lee, the current pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church.

In his retirement, Cho faced his most serious scandal. He was found guilty of embezzling funds from the church and was given a three-year suspended sentence. He had directed leadership of the church to buy unlisted stocks owned by his eldest son. The value was inflated, and the church reportedly lost about 13 billion won, the equivalent of about $12 million. He was also found guilty of evading taxes in the stock deal.

Cho told his church that the conviction was the hardest day in his life of ministry. But he also said his conscience was clear before God, and the church allowed him to continue in part-time ministry.

His supporters said Cho was really guilty of being too naive about his wayward son and argued Cho has not personally benefitted from the stock scam or his many years in ministry. He continued to preach at the church on occasion until his health deteriorated in 2020.

All I did was offer my life just like the boy who gave the five loaves and two fish, Cho is quoted on the churchs website. I simply held on to the dreams that the Lord gave me.

Cho is survived by his three sons, and the church is planning a funeral for Sunday.
Reposted from my Substack newsletter

I have been asked by a number of church leaders if the approach we are advocating for an approach to allegations, which we call survivor-sensitive or survivor-centric or trauma-sensitive etc, diminishes the authority of the pastor. Does a survivor-sensitive approach go against the grain of what we in Anglican church call episcopal authority?

In some ways No, in some ways Yes. I need to explain.

First, I want to push against this term authority. This term is never used in the NT for pastors, bishops/overseers, or elders. Not once. They do not have authority, God does, Jesus does, the Spirit does. Which isnt to say there isnt some dimension of power and authority in the pastoral leader but I do want to register hesitation on framing the question with that term. By framing it with pastoral authority the discussion gets rigged in the wrong direction.

In fact, what authority a pastor or priest has is reshaped by the kind of authority Christ manifested, which was cruciformity or what I like to call Christoformity (see Pastor Paul). Read about this in the wonderful narrative in Mark 10:35-45. Jesus clearly was against power over and was for power for the sake of others. Which means self-denial and not self-protection or self-affirmation and especially self-aggrandizement. So if the pastor has concerns about loss of authority he or she may actually be facing a fresh alignment with Christs own practice.

Some may ask about Hebrews 13:17. (Be persuaded by your leading ones and yield [to them]) The NIV unfortunately translates what I have translated yield (hupeiko) with submit to their authority. The term leaders (NIV) or leading ones (above; its a participle) suggests leading and other following, which is a biblical sense of authority if you want the term, and it is defined here as yielding to them. But the word authority is not present in the Greek text and it gives off an air that is not necessarily present in the verbal ideas of this verse.

So, what authority the pastor has needs to submit itself to the kind of authority Jesus teaches in Mark 10 and that we see in Philippians 2, and we need to make sure it does not smell like Romes political power.

Second, lets give back their term authority and use it. I ask immediately, What authority, then, does a pastor, priest, or bishop have? In spite of my hesitations to use that term it is clear that the cleric has some kind of spiritual authority over what his or her job description gives him or her authority. I express this for a broad reach of church configurations: Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics. What the pastor is called to do is exercise gifts in nurturing Christoformity in his or her assigned church. Which means teaching and preaching and leading and discipling and mentoring and guiding etc.. Each of us has power to influence other people, whether we are parents or teachers or community leaders. The pastor has the same kind of power to influence within the space assigned to her or him. Lets say then that a pastor has authority over what a pastor is called to do.

Third, we need a reminder. Pastors have expanded their authority beyond their calling. The reason for people advocating for survivors is because the system in churches, shaped as it has been by pastors with authority and power, has favored the pastor and the church so much the victim (usually women) or survivor has been put off, silenced, gaslit, shamed, and humiliated. The pinch pastors are now feeling when we advocate for survivors is the result of their largely uncontested abuse of power and authority (which is why the term needs to be used very very cautiously). Pastors have abused their powers when allegations have come forward.

Fourth, we need to guard against destroying a pastors ministry on the basis of an allegation, we should recognize that not all pastors abuse their authority (most dont), and no pastor should be entangled in a public guilty until proven innocent situation. I believe the allegations need to be handled independently and privately and discreetly until or unless it becomes clear that the church or pastor are endangering others who could become victims or who are doing all they can to delay, delay, delay in order to wear down the persons making the allegations. The women worked behind the scenes at Willow Creek for four long years during which time they met one excuse after another. Someone independent needs to receive the allegation and act decisively and quickly and as privately as possible if there are indications of other victims.

Fifth, and this may be the death of the claim being made by some critics of the survivor sensitive approach, pastors and priests have no authority whatsoever to investigate anything when it comes to allegations of sexual abuse against anyone, and they should be restricted from investigating spiritual abuse in their own spheres of leadership. In which field is it that the Accused gets to investigate himself/herself? Do you not see the systemic failure in this? Do you not see that a system in which a pastor gets to investigate himself, or appoint investigators of himself, or to form the committee that finds the investigators is a corrupted system shaped by the ongoing expansion and abuse of pastoral authority?

So, Yes the survivor-centric approach diminishes the authority of a pastor if a pastor thinks his or her authority extends to self-investigations. And, Yes, it diminishes authority especially if it has become unmoored from Christoformity. But, No, the survivor-centric approach does not diminish the proper authority of the pastor.

If pastors would stay in their lane wed find a greater justice.
David Yonggi Cho, founder of worlds largest church, dies at 85

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Christians mourned publicly across continents Tuesday as news spread of the passing of David Yonggi Cho, the co-founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, the worlds largest congregation headquartered in Seoul, Korea, which encompasses a network of churches that once claimed more than 800,000 members. He was 85.

Yonggi Cho, who retired from leading the church in 2008 and was named pastor emeritus, died at 7:13 a.m. at a Seoul hospital, The Korea Herald reported. The beloved pastor was being treated for cerebral hemorrhage since July 2020.

He conveyed the gospel of hope to the Korean people who fell into despair after the Korean War, the church said in a statement to The Associated Press. He was instrumental in growing the Korean church, particularly developing Yoido Full Gospel Church as the worlds largest church.

Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, called Cho one of the great leaders of the Spirit-Empowered movement.

I am sorry to hear of the passing of Dr. David Yonggi Cho, one of the great leaders of the Spirit-Empowered movement," Wilson said in a statement on Twitter.

"His ministry, writings and fatherhood blessed millions. Dr. Chos legacy and impact will continue for many generations."

Spirit-empowered Christians are generally known as Pentecostals, charismatics or any other number of groups that emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit and the direct experience of the presence of God by the believer.

It is generally accepted by adherents of the Spirit-empowered way that faith must be powerfully experiential and not something found merely through ritual or thinking.

Spirit-empowered churches also stress the importance of conversions that amount to a baptism in the Spirit. This fills the believer with the Holy Spirit in an encounter revealed through speaking in tongues and other spiritual manifestations. Yoido Full Gospel Church is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination.

Born in a family of Buddhists, Cho became a Christian after he was introduced to the faith through a friend of his sister, The Korea Times reports. He later met Kenneth Tice, a missionary from the Assemblies of God in Busan, and began working with him. That led to Cho's enrollment in the Full Gospel Theological Seminary of the Assembly of God in September 1956 at the age of 20.

After he graduated in 1958, he opened a tent church in northwestern Seoul, which eventually grew into today's massive operation with powerful global influence.

Rest in Peace God's general! wroteGodman Akinlabi, lead pastor of Elevation Church in Nigeria. He lived a life of service and sacrifice for the Gospel of Christ. He is Heavens Gain.

The Rev. Dominic Yeo, lead pastor of Trinity Christian Centre in Singapore, called the late leader a great man of God in a statement on Facebook.

Today, we celebrate the homegoing of Rev Dr Cho Yonggi, a great man of God and faithful servant of the Lord whose burden was to see revival come into the nations. He was an amazing servant, prophet, and messenger of God who lived an abundant life. He planted one of the world's greatest apostolic churches in South Korea in 1958. Yoido Full Gospel Church has grown exponentially to impact many churches and ministries worldwide, Yeo said.

I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Rev. Cho and have been touched by his gentle yet strong leadership approach in guiding churches and discipling his flock. He was truly one of the greatest leaders and preachers in church history, having brought the Gospel to the discouraged, downcast, and lost. While the world has lost this mighty man of God, heaven is rejoicing at the homecoming of a saint.

While many gave Yonggi Cho high praise for his work with his church, he was not without flaws.

Cho leaves behind three sons. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
ELCA becomes first mainline denomination in US to install trans-identified bishop

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has installed Rev. Megan Rohrer as the first openly transgender bishop to serve in the liberal mainline Protestant denominations history.

For the next six years, Rev. Rohrer, 41, who identifies as both a male and female and uses the pronouns "they" and "them," will head the California-based ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod. In the role, Rohrer will oversee nearly 200 congregations in Northern California and northern Nevada.

Rohrer won on the fifth ballot during the online synod assembly in May, receiving 209 votes and narrowly defeating the Rev. Jeff R. Johnson of Berkeley, California, who received 207 votes. Rohrers installation service took place at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, California, on Sept. 11.

In a statement, Rohrer, who is married and has two children, said that stepping into the new role would not be possible without a diverse community of Lutherans in Northern California and Nevada prayerfully and thoughtfully voting to do a historic thing.

"My installation will celebrate all that is possible when we trust God to shepherd us forward," Rohrer said, according to The Associated Press. In the role, Rohrer promised to love others and love what others love.

Rohrer previously served as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco and a chaplain coordinator for the citys police department.

In a May 2018 interview with Gender Spectrum, Rohrer shared how falling in love with a campus pastors daughter in college was just the beginning of being open about sexuality. Rohrer described life as a long stretched out journey of figuring out identity.

As someone who was also a devout Lutheran after coming out as gay, Rohrer decided to go into ministry. However, the congregation associated with Rohrer at the time was not supportive" of her effort to go into ministry.

My home congregation originally refused to support me for ministry even more extreme than what the Lutheran Church policy was at the time, so they said, We think Meagan will be a great pastor, we just want her to stop being gay first, Rohrer said.

Rohrer later attended Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary but did not find that the school was accepting enough and later transferred to the Pacific School of Religion. She graduated in 2005 with a master of divinity degree.

In 2006, Rohrer was ordained in the ELCA through an "extraordinary candidacy process, as the church did not allow LGBT individuals to serve in office. Rohrers ordainment was officially recognized by the church in 2010 after the ELCA changed its policy  a move that prompted hundreds of congregations to leave the denomination in protest.

Rohrer is one of the seven LGBT pastors accepted by the progressive church since 2010.

The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with about 3.3 million members. In recent years, many congregations have left the denomination due to its increasingly progressive stances on theology and politics.

Though Rohrers ordination was applauded by many, others took issue with the move. The theologically conservative blog Exposing the ELCA called it a complete slap in the face to God.

The ELCA is thumbing its nose at God, His Word and Truth and effectively showing that they are part of the uber left and its rejection of Christianity, stated the blog. How can God-fearing, Bible-believing individuals remain in the ELCA? How can churches remain?
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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Second Congo War devastated much of Africa. More than 5 million people lost their lives  not only through the horrors of war, but due to starvation and disease. This war, in fact, was the second deadliest conflict since World War II. Millions were displaced and forced to flee their homes as refugees. Those who survived suffer wounds of trauma that last until this day.

As we watch from half a world away, we see similar events playing out in Afghanistan now. Thousands of people are displaced as extremists seize control of the country. Look closely, though, and in the masses of people you will see the hurting faces of men and women and boys and girls. Some carry physical scars, some dont. But all will carry long-term effects from this trauma.

Where will they turn for healing?

More than a decade ago, Joyce was just one of millions who had suffered in the Second Congo War. When her husband and seven of her eight children were killed, she fled with her remaining child to a settlement community in Uganda. There, Joyce discovered new hope through a ministry called Trauma Healing.

Following the devastation of the war, pastors, missionaries, and Christian counselors banded together to begin the hard work of restoring hope for those traumatized by violence and developed Trauma Healing, a Bible-based trauma intervention. By combining the power of Gods Word with mental health best practices and the proven benefits of small-group story-sharing, Trauma Healing was born.

Joyces Trauma Healing experience allowed her to move, as she says, from no longer thinking about my past to spending time praying about a bright future. What Joyce discovered in her healing group was both simple and profound: Joyce found that inside ancient book lay stories of a man who likewise had experienced great pain, but who also provided the answer to every aching heart. Joyces life was changed through meeting the person of Jesus in the pages of the Bible.

In Jesus, she saw both man and God, familiar with rejection and violence and yet overcoming and transforming all that humanity could throw his way. She read of him being mocked even as he proclaimed a message of healing and hope. She learned that he went from town to town to tell all the downcast and forgotten that they were not alone. Jesus touched the untouchable and cared for those marked ichabod, those told, There is no glory in you. You are worthless.

Soon, Joyce, too knew that she was not alone, not worthless.

In the pages of the Bible, we too discover that the God of the universe cares about our pain and our wounds, even today. We learn that he counts the hairs on our head and catches our tears in a bottle. And we hear his whisper, You are my beloved. The apple of my eye. Nowhere else in this world can we find words of comfort like these.

Millions of people around the world need this message today.

The wounds we can see, and those we cant

The reality is that the deepest wounds of trauma are often those we cannot see. In fact, our bodies need not bear any outside scar for us to carry pain that wears us down every moment of every day.

The National Council on Behavioral Health tells us that 70% of American adults have experienced a traumatic event in their lives. Another study estimates that about 1.45 billion individuals worldwide experienced war between 1989 and 2015, with 354 million adult war survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression. These are no small numbers, and it is likely that you or someone you know has experienced such trauma at some point or another.

Try as we might, we cannot find comfort anywhere else like we find in the Bible. Inside it, we find 2,000-year-old lessons that are still the balm for our tired, weary, and troubled souls.

For millennia, the Bible has been a source of healing, hope, and refuge. It has a proven impact on helping people heal from trauma and tragedies, including those of war, poverty, injustice, and violence. This is not just because some of the phrases are catchy, memorable, or controversial. Its because there is power inside of the pages of the Bible  a power that can heal a hurting soul and lift up the brokenhearted.

As Christians, we watch the chaos continue to unfold in Afghanistan and are slammed  yet again  into the reality that our world is not as it should be. And so we must continue to seek and preach the healing balm of the Gospel.

A balm for Afghanistan, and for all who hurt

Six hundred years before Jesus walked the earth, the prophet Jeremiah also longed to comfort those who were facing despair and isolation. As Gods people were carried away to a foreign land, Jeremiah wept bitterly. He cried out, Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? (Jer. 8:21-22 NIV).

Is there a balm in Gilead today  a balm for those in Afghanistan who are suffering the tragic effects of war? Yes, there is. When we open the Bible, we discover that the God of the universe cares about our pain and our wounds. We learn that he counts the hairs on our head and catches our tears in a bottle. And we hear his whisper, You are my beloved. The apple of my eye. This is what the Bible offers us  the truth that we are not alone, and the courage and strength to face our troubles and trauma head on.

Oh, and it does one other thing.

Years after the war, Joyce took in a homeless mother and her three children. Suffering from AIDS after being raped, this mother needed help. And Joyce took care of these children like they were her own.

The Bible not only has the power to heal us, but it gives us the strength and courage to then care for the hurting and wounded around us.

The Bible continues to change lives marked by the brokenness of our world. Its our only hope.
Congregants accuse elders of forcing out pastor who they say wanted to stay in pulpit until his last breath

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Congregants at Calvary Chapel Melbourne in Florida are upset and asking questions after elders at the multi-campus megachurch announced that Mark Balmer, their founder and senior pastor for some three decades, would no longer be leading the church. Several church members expressed the belief that they were certain Balmer would have preferred to stand in the pulpit until his last breath.

Ecclesiastes tells us, There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens. Although we are sure Pastor Mark would want to stand in the pulpit until his last breath, the elders with support of senior leadership, believe it is time for Pastor Mark to pass the baton, the elders said in a statement published on Facebook last Sunday. The same statement was delivered by the elders during a service a day earlier where Balmer, 77, was noticeably absent.

We have been in discussion with Pastor Mark for the past two years, and although this decision was not easy to make, we believe it is the right time. Per this announcement, Pastor Mark will no longer be serving as senior pastor and head elder, however, he will retain the title of founding pastor/pastor emeritus, the elders added in the statement.

The elders said the decision to retire Balmer was not inspired by any moral failure or any financial impropriety. They further noted that they encouraged Balmer to enjoy a long-deserved sabbatical after which we are in prayer with him as to the best utilization of his gifts to further serve our fellowship and the Body of Christ.

A woman who said she attended the second service at Calvary Chapel Melbourne with her husband noted in a response on Facebook that she was disappointed by the way Balmers retirement was handled.

What I witnessed on Sunday was at best very disappointing. I was continuously praying for the Holy Spirit to help me process the information shared by the elders. The information provided was nothing short of a well-written, sugar-coated series of words which said nothing and meant nothing. No reason whatsoever was provided and we were simply asked to go along with it because the elders had prayed about it for two years, she wrote.

She further expressed doubt that the elders were "unanimous" in their decision to transition the pastor.

Another commenter said when she first heard the statement from the elders on Saturday, she congratulated Balmer on social media. But after reading the published statement on Sunday, she had a change of heart.

How disrespectful to make an announcement of such weight without Pastor Mark being present. That's not Pastor Mark's way of taking a break ... At this point, I am in wait-and-see what Pastor Mark has to say. I believe he will speak openly to us when he has gathered his emotions and spent more time with God for guidance. Until then, many prayers for Pastor Mark and Lynda, she wrote.

Other church members also expressed their disappointment with Balmers abrupt retirement. One raised concerns that the move by the elders had divided the congregation.

Im sad to say Pastor Mark Balmer has been forced out at Calvary Chapel of Melbourne," the member wrote on Facebook, adding that the situation is "disappointing" and "beyond sad."

In their statement Sunday, the elders said Balmer started Calvary Chapel Melbourne nearly 30 years ago while serving as an elder at Calvary Chapel Merritt Island and full-time director of pharmacy at Wuesthoff Hospital.

He eventually retired from his secular job to devote himself to the church. Under his leadership, it grew to become the largest multisite church in Brevard County.

A report in Florida Today said prior to the pandemic, the church and its campuses in West Melbourne, Sebastian and Viera attracted at least 10,000 people to weekly services.

Bill Beck, the church administrator for Calvary Chapel Melbourne, told the publication that even though Balmers retirement had been under discussion for years and a transition plan had been created, he declined to discuss it as time went on.

It became increasingly obvious that he didnt want to talk about it," Beck said. "The elders wanted to have that conversation. The elders came to the unanimous decision that he needed to step down. Theres just no good way to do it. We love Pastor Mark, we honor him. But it is the elders job to hold church leadership accountable and to do what's best for the church.
Bible teacher shares how he 'chose Jesus over homosexuality' after contracting HIV

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When Moody Bible Institute professor and author Christopher Yuan was 9 years old, he began having same-sex attractions after discovering pornographic magazines at a friends house.

Following his exposure to pornography, Yuan said he experienced confusion and fear about his attraction to males.

In a recent testimony given at the Real Life Ministries megachurch in Idaho on Aug 29, Yuan was joined by his parents and said the familys faith journey was not an easy process and included painful experiences.

He shared that over time, their whole family became Christians by accepting and surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ.

At 9, those [pornographic] magazines gave me a distorted view of sex, and they soon became my master, Yuan told the audience at the evangelical churchs Post Falls campus. With pornography fueling my desires, I had my first encounter when I was 16 years old. But I kept my [same-sex] feelings hidden through high school, college, even in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Since discovering their Christian faith, Yuan co-authored with his mother a 2011 memoir titled Out of a Far Country: A Gay Sons Journey to God, A Broken Mothers Search for Hope, which has sold over 100,000 copies and is available in seven languages.

In Yuans grade-school years, he said that he did not fit in with the other boys as a Chinese American in Chicago.

I looked different. I acted differently and I had different interests. God gave me the gifts of music sensitivity, he said. Satan cannot take away God-given gifts, but he can twist the perception of them. And from a young age, I was viewed and ridiculed for being effeminate.

No longer keeping sexuality a secret

After a few years, in his early 20s, Yuan no longer kept his sexuality a secret.

On May 15, 1993, he came home from Louisville, Kentucky, after completing his first year in dental school. He made an unexpected announcement to his parents.

I am gay, Yuan recalled telling them.

During that time, Angela and Leon Yuan, who were college sweethearts that met in 1964, had many unresolved marital issues and were in the early stages of filing for divorce after 28 years of marriage. Leon Yuan was a dentist and Angela Yuan was a stay-at-home mom.

The Yuans  who considered themselves non-Christian at that time  had different reactions to their son coming out as gay.

Leon Yuan told the audience that he blamed his wife and accused her of making their son gay.

He believed he would find his own happiness if the entire family went their separate ways by splitting up.

You would never think that three simple words, I am gay, could cause so much pain, Angela Yuan said. I actually thought I could threaten Christopher with an ultimatum to choose the family or homosexuality, but Christoper already brought into the lie that he couldnt change  that he was born gay.

In response to his parents' reactions, Christopher Yuan packed his bags and left with indescribable emotions.

[It would have probably been] worse than receiving news of Christophers death, the mother recounted. He could have cut me with a knife. It would have hurt less. I was at the end of my rope.

As the marriage was seemingly coming to an end and her son leaving the family, Angela Yuan said it felt like her world was coming to an end.

I had no more reason to live, so I [was] determined to do the unthinkable.  I was going to end my life, she remembered. I thought that death was the only answer to all my problems.

'Opened the eyes of my heart'

Even though she did not believe in God, the mother decided to meet with a Christian minister who gave her a pamphlet on homosexuality. Then, she bought a one-way Amtrak ticket to Louisville, where she planned to say her final farewell to her son.

On the train, Angela Yuan only brought with her a purse and the pamphlet from the minister. She began to read the pamphlet, which explained the plan of Christian salvation. The document said, All people are sinners, but God loves them despite their sin. While reading the pamphlet, she said, God opened the eyes of my heart.

I realized that just as God loves me, in spite of my sin, I could love Christopher in spite of him leaving as a gay man, she said.

After she arrived in Louisville, the mother called a number on the back of the pamphlet, which connected her to a Christian woman. For the next six weeks, the woman met with Angela Yuan and guided her in the process of immersing in the Bible.

I went to Louisville expecting to end my life, and in reality, I did, she added, noting that her favorite Bible verse is Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

After six weeks, Leon Yuan received a phone call from the woman who discipled his estranged wife. The woman told him that Angela surrendered her life to Christ, and she has been saved.

Leon Yuan, however, was not pleased with the news of her newfound faith.

I told her, This is not good news. This was my worst nightmare because from now on, Angela has God on her side, Leon Yuan said. But, what I realized is [Angelas] transformation was not a Sunday-only change but in every aspect of her life.  What she had was not religion but an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Little did I know, God was also working on me.

Shortly after, Leon Yuan decided to attend church with his wife. One of their mutual friends also invited them to a Bible study. And as a result, they said they both grew in their understanding of God's Word.

I also surrendered my life to Jesus, the father told the audience. God became the glue that brought my marriage [back] together by drawing both of us to Himself. This was Gods way for preparing us for the difficult years ahead.

Although the couple reconciled and became Christians, they still did not have a relationship with their son.

At that time, Christopher Yuan, who was pursuing his doctorate level studies, spent most of his leisure time frequenting gay clubs. He also spent time seeking intimacy and happiness through various dating relationships.

Although he found some satisfaction from dating, he still encountered feelings of unfulfillment.

Eventually, Christopher Yuan began doing drugs to find happiness. To afford his drug habits, he also started selling drugs to friends, classmates and even a professor.

To be clear, not all gays and lesbians do drugs, not all gay men are promiscuous, of course. Some are and some are not, but that is part of my story, Christopher Yuan recounted. I actually thought I could live this double life: graduate student by day and promiscuous drug dealer by night.

Despite thinking he could continue selling and using drugs while going to school, three months before he was supposed to receive his doctorate, he was expelled from the school.

After news of the expulsion reached his parents, they took a flight from Chicago to Louisville.

Yuan thought his expulsion would not last because his dentist father was close friends with the school's dean. However, that was not the case.

Angry at his parents, who supported the schools decision to expel him, Yuan decided he would move further away from them to Atlanta, Georgia.

Christopher Yuan delved further into the drug scene in his new home and became a supplier through other dealers in over a dozen states, he said.

'In my world, I had become God'

It was nothing for me to have multiple anonymous sexual encounters each and every day because, according to the world, I had it all: money, fame, drugs and sex, Yuan said. I had exchanged the truth of God for a lie. And I began worshipping and serving the creature, rather than the Creator because, in my world, I had become God.

The parents began to pray for their son.

It was more than obvious that [Christopher] was totally unreachable and completely hopeless, but my wife and I committed.  Not focusing on the hopelessness, but on the promises of God, along with 100 prayer warriors from our church. We all cried out to God for our son Christopher, Leon Yuan recalled.

In addition to saying the prayer, Lord do whatever it takes to bring this prodigal son to You, Angela Yuan also fasted every Monday for eight years.

She also conducted a 39-day fast. And each morning, she would spend hours in her prayer closet.

God answered my prayers by saying wait and be still, she said.

One day, 12 federal drug enforcement officers knocked on Christopher Yuans door. They confiscated all his money and drugs, including 9.1 tons of marijuana. With that amount, he could have faced up to 10 years to life in prison. He received six years in a federal detention center in Atlanta.

While at the center, he made phone calls to friends but soon realized all the friends he knew had abandoned him.

In an act of last resort, Christopher Yuan called his mother fully expecting her to yell at him.

However, to his surprise, his mothers reaction to his imprisonment was to ask if he was OK.

Following Jesus

Christopher Yuan later found a Bible near the garbage in the detention center and he began to read it.

Shortly after, he received the shocking news that he is HIV positive.

After spending time devastated over the news, Yuan found himself picking up his Bible to read.

The more he read, he said, the more the Holy Spirit convicted him of his many idols, including homosexuality.

Christopher Yuan said over a gradual process, he eventually found his Christain faith. He said he chose Jesus over homosexuality.

I went through every verse, every chapter, every page of Scripture.  And a decision had to be made: either abandon God and His word by letting sexual attractions dictate not only who I was but also how I lived or abandon pursuing a monogamous same-sex relationship by freeing myself [and] not allowing my desires to control who I am [by living] as a follower of Jesus Christ, Christopher Yuan concluded. My decision was clear and obvious. I followed Jesus.

After finding Christ, Christopher Yuan applied to attend Moody Bible Institute in 2001. He graduated in 2005, receiving a masters degree in biblical exegesis in 2007 and a doctorate of ministry in 2014.

Christopher Yuans new identity in Christ compelled him to live in obedience to God despite his same-sex attraction. And his obedience has radically changed life, according to his profile on Moody Bible Institutes website.

Yuan is now a sought-after speaker and author who has taught Bible classes at Moody Bible Institute for over a decade. He is also the author of Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by Gods Grand Story. The book was named by Outreach Magazine as the 2020 Book of the Year for Social Issues.
4 problems with Bidens vaccine mandate, and 2 ways to respond

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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.
David Yonggi Cho's Church Loses Board Member; Megachurch Pastor Resigns, Converts to Catholicism

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A former Swedish megachurch pastor has resigned from the church board of the largest Assembly of God church in the world.

Ulf Ekman, the former leader at Word of Life, announced earlier this week that he and his wife Birgitta would be converting to Catholicism, and that he would also be departing his post at Yoido Full Gospel Church, where pastor David Yonggi Cho was recently convicted on charges that millions of dollars of church money was spent on buying his son's stocks. Cho was also sentenced to three years in prison.

Ekman did not mention the church scandal in his resignation letter, but thanked the board "for a vital and blessed fellowship over the years," in a document published by Charisma News.

"It has been immensely important for me to have been entrusted with the honour of belonging to this great group of ministers. I treasure it very much and carry it with me into future engagements in the Body of Christ," wrote Ekman.

The former megachurch pastor clarified that his conversion and departure from the board was "not a severing of ties."

Instead, Ekman and his wife were merely being faithful for what God had called them to do.

"The Lord gave me a word a few months ago: 'The task is fulfilled but the friendship remains'," he wrote. "We treasure the friendship we have with you in the Lord and believe we will, in a different capacity continue to have a living fellowship and a deep unity in Jesus. Let us draw inspiration from one another and together work for the strengthening of the Body of Christ on the earth."

In an explanation on his website, Ekman explained that his and his wife's conversations with Catholics challenged their "protestant prejudices" and led them to the realization that they "in many cases did not have any basis for our criticism of them."

"We needed to know the Catholic faith better. This led us to  realize that it was actually Jesus Christ who led us to unite with the Catholic Church," the pastor stated.

(Photo: Facebook/David Yonggi Cho)

The decision was one that began "around the beginning of this millennium" and come from an "an increased longing for and understanding of the importance of Christian unity started to grow in us," he explained in his letter to Cho.

"We have seen a great love for Jesus and a sound theology, founded on the Bible and classic dogma. We have experienced the richness of sacramental life. We have seen the logic in having a solid structure for priesthood, that keeps the faith of the church and passes it on from one generation to the next," he wrote on his website. "We have met an ethical and moral strength and consistency that dare to face up to the general opinion, and a kindness towards the poor and the weak. And, last but not least, we have come in contact with representatives for millions of charismatic Catholics and we have seen their living faith."

Ekman founded the charismatic Livets Ord (Word of Life) in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1983, and served as pastor there for close to 30 years.

Cho, 78, was sentenced to three years in prison after he was convicted of directing officials to buy stocks from his son at four-times the market price. The church subsequently lost U.S. $12 million, according to The Gospel Herald. Hee-jun, Cho's oldest son, the former CEO of the media company, Kookmin Ilbo, was also sentenced in February to three years in prison for his participation in the embezzlement scheme.
Pro-life group crashes abortion rally at Supreme Court to be there as a light;' plans to continue mission

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A pro-life group that crashed an abortion rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court is planning to continue their operation by sharing the pro-life message at other pro-abortion demonstrations in the coming weeks.

Pro-life activists with Students for Life of America showed up at a Self-Managed Abortion Teach-In rally held by the pro-abortion group Reproaction. The group held the event outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Thursday as part of an effort to highlight what they viewed as the benefits of chemical abortions, also known as the abortion pill.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, pro-abortion activists have worked to make the abortion pill available via telemedicine, meaning that women do the abortion at home, also called a DIY abortion, where they induce a miscarriage and are advised to flush the baby down the toilet or throw it in the trash, thus saving abortion clinics money on medical waste disposal. This also means that abortionists don't have to physically see their clients before dispensing abortion-inducing drugs and only see women for a follow-up visit to ensure the abortion was complete.

Reproaction characterized telemedicine abortions as self-managed abortion.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Tina Whittington, executive vice president of Students for Life of America, explained that the purpose of the counter-protest was to ensure that the life narrative is engaged anywhere where the abortion narrative is.

Wherever theres going to be this abortion narrative, we want to be there as a light  to bring in the pro-life narrative, Whittington added, noting that the pro-abortion rally was the most subdued event weve ever been to.

The dueling protests did not lead to violence and Whittington reported that some of the women protesting with Reproaction did take home materials handed out by Students for Life, which included fact sheets about the risks and dangers of chemical abortions as well as information about abortion pill reversals.

She said that her team has phone numbers and cameras should violence break out, adding, we walk them through before they get into these situations  how to handle themselves  if it does start to escalate, how  you de-escalate it.

The pro-life activist noted that Thursdays counter-protest, where pro-life activists highlighted their concerns about chemical abortion, is just the latest example of the pro-life groups activism on the topic. Students for Life of America has partnered with Charlotte Pence Bond, daughter of former Vice President Mike Pence, to create a docuseries about chemical abortion.

Video from Thursdays event, published by Breitbart, showed pro-abortion protesters holding signs emblazoned with phrases such as Stop prosecuting abortion and supporters wearing T-shirts that read pro-abortion, pro-family, pro-justice. Several participants held flags featuring the word abortion.

Chants shouted by pro-life counter-protesters included, Hey hey! Ho-ho! The abortion pill has got to go! We are the pro-life generation! We will abolish abortion! and Abortion harms women!

Meanwhile, a speaker at the Self-Managed Abortion Teach-In vowed that We will not stop until each person in this country has full reproductive self-determination. We are standing up for abortion, we are standing up for gender justice, and we are not going to stop. The most frequent chant shouted by the pro-abortion group was Abortion is unstoppable.

Signs held by pro-life counter-protesters included messages such as Dear Women, the abortion industry is lying to you, Chemical abortion hurts women, Chemical Abortion is 4x more dangerous than surgical abortion, Chemical abortion is death by mail and Fetal poisoning is wrong. Throughout the counter-protest, the pro-life group played testimony of women who went through chemical abortion on a loop.

One sign provided women with a phone number where they could obtain information about chemical abortion reversals. Another sign listed the side effects of chemical abortion, including severe pain and bleeding, future infertility, depression and anxiety and infection and death.

Reproaction lists some side effects of the abortion pill on its resource page, Understanding and Advocating for Self-Managed Abortion, but also labels such complications rare.

When sharing pictures of the event on social media, Reproaction accused so-called pro-life supporters of engaging in exclusionary and transphobic rhetoric for holding signs proclaiming that chemical abortion hurts women.

Reproactions resource page uses the gender-neutral term pregnant person instead of women several times, although it includes the words woman and women as well.

Once again so called 'pro-life' supporters are exclusionary and transphobic in their harmful rhetoric pic.twitter.com/EZVfbDOvz8  reproaction (@reproaction) September 9, 2021

The group also remarked that The anti-abortion crowd is here because theyre afraid. They know they cant stop abortion because abortion is unstoppable!

In her interview with CP, Whittington also discussed the state of the pro-life movement in the U.S., specifically addressing the Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as Senate Bill 8. The law prohibits abortions after a baby's heartbeat can be detected, usually at around six weeks gestation. Additionally, it enables private citizens to sue individuals who perform abortions and those who help women obtain illegal abortions.

The Supreme Court declined a request from abortion providers and pro-abortion groups to block the law, enabling it to go into effect on Sept. 1. While litigation against the measure is expected to continue in the lower courts, the Supreme Courts decision sparked outrage among pro-abortion groups and led to many nationwide protests.

A progressive group called Shut Down DC held a protest Monday night in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh lives. Kavanaugh is one of five Supreme Court justices who declined to block SB 8 from going into effect. Students for Life of America activists held a counter-protest at that event as well.

The #SupremeCourt approving Texas' #abortionban? That's gonna be a no from us. Tell Brett Kavanaugh what you think in person, at his house. Monday 9/13, meet at 6:30 PM at Chevy Chase Local Park. https://t.co/ZN2aD7yxFfpic.twitter.com/z3JdOuzx5Q  ShutDownDC (@ShutDown_DC) September 7, 2021

Whittington recalled how when Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court in 2018, Students for Life of America did rallies for him in front of senators offices, such as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

She told CP that Mondays counter-protest was a continuation of that support from when he was first nominated and went through the hearing process of confirmation.

He is someone who the abortion lobby has decided is  their enemy number one, she added. The abortion industry has painted a target on his back and  we can be that passionate voice in support of him and his  position for life.

Whittington told CP that Students for Life of America will hold another counter-protest outside a Womens March taking place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2. She predicted that the presence of the pro-life movement at the Womens March would serve as a counter-voice to the pro-abortion narrative.
Texas pro-life group evacuated by police over bomb threat, suspicious package

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A pro-life activist organization based in Texas that advocated for the states new abortion law received a bomb threat last Friday, leading police to evacuate the office as a precaution.

Texas Right to Life received an email last Friday that included a bomb threat, with a suspicious package being delivered to its headquarters in Bellaire later that day.

The Bellaire Police Department sent The Christian Post a statement about the situation on Monday, noting that the suspicious package ultimately did not include an explosive device.

While Bellaire police officers were one scene, a U.S. Postal Service employee was delivering the mail and in that delivery was a suspicious package. Officers recognized the suspicious nature of the packaging and cleared the offices and the building, stated the police department.

Houston Polices Bomb Squad was contacted and technicians responded to evaluate the package. After X-raying the package, it was discovered that the contents were inert.

The Bellaire Police Department is continuing its investigation into the incident, explaining that bomb threats are a criminal offense classified as a Terroristic Threat and can be punishable with a fine of up to $4,000 and as much as a year in jail.

Texas Right to Life did the right thing in contacting the police, continued the police department's statement. It was fortunate that our officers were on scene when the suspicious package was delivered and we appreciate the occupants of the building working with police to quickly clear out in the event that this was an actual bomb.

Soon after the incident, the pro-life group released a statement tying the bomb threat and other disparaging acts against them to the newly enacted Texas heartbeat abortion ban.

A lot of people are still FURIOUS about the Texas Heartbeat Act. Theyre trying to silence us. They despise us for even talking about a life-saving law, stated Texas Right to Life.

Their ire and vitriol wont stop us from protecting pregnant women from the same lies. Their clamors wont silence us from protecting babies.

On Sept. 1, a Texas law that prohibits abortions in most circumstances after a baby's heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks into a pregnancy, took effect.

Known as Senate Bill 8 or the Texas Heartbeat Act, the law allows private citizens to sue anyone who performs illegal abortions or helps a woman obtain an illegal abortion.

Last Thursday, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against the Texas Heartbeat Act in district court, arguing that the legislation is in defiance of the Constitution.

It is settled constitutional law that a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability, reads the lawsuit in part.

The United States  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.

Earlier this year, a declassified report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security named both pro-life and pro-choice abortion-related domestic violent extremists" as one of the categories of domestic violent extremists identified by the intelligence community.

Domestic violent extremists are defined as U.S.-based actors who conduct or threaten activities that are dangerous to human life in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any state; appearing to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; and influence the government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.

The report didn't mention any specific group or organization by name.
Trump joins missionary Sean Feucht in call for 21 days of prayer

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Declaring that turning to God is the ultimate answer to evil, former President Donald Trump joined missionary and political activist Sean Feucht in calling the nation to a period of 21 days of prayer on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 during a prayer event at the National Mall on Saturday.

Turning to God, the ultimate answer to evil that we see here today as thousands of Americans gather on the mall to pray for our beloved nation and to pray for one another, Trump said in a video message during the event known as "Let Us Worship.

"I want to thank Let Us Worship for calling Americans to 21 days of prayer in the coming weeks. America is a nation strengthened and sustained by God and the prayers of all His children. Your faith is a force that our enemies can never, ever extinguish," he said. "Your love of God, family, and country is more powerful than any adversaries' hatred, or malice, or scorn. So as we remember those Americans we lost two decades ago, we return again and again to the same simple prayer that was heard echoing all across our land in the days after the Sept. 11th attacks. God bless our first responders. God bless our service members. God bless the memory of all who died on 9/11 and God bless America."

Trump called 9/11 a terrible day as he honored the memory of the nearly 3,000 people killed during the attacks and praised especially the resilience of the incredible city of New York.

We cherish their legacy and we reaffirm our everlasting vow to never forget. We all remember hearing in the hours and days after the attacks, the stories of police officers, firefighters and first responders who showed bravery and daring far beyond the call of duty," Trump said.

"As a lifelong New Yorker, it was extraordinary to witness the strength and resilience of people in that incredible city and it is indeed an incredible city. They raced into danger and toward the smoke without a thought of their own safety. The heroism of the NYPD and the FDNY, the fire department, the police department, the port authority police as well as the first responders at the Pentagon and so many others will live in our national memory for all time, he said.

Trump, who also visited New York City on Saturday and spoke with members of the New York Police and Fire Departments, was asked if he planned to run for president again.

He joked at first that the question was difficult, then noted: Actually, for me, its an easy question. I know what Im going to do, but were not supposed to be talking about it yet from the standpoint of campaign finance laws  but I think youre going to be happy.

The former president later teased his intentions in a Fox News Digital interview where he said, "I don't think we're going to have a choice." He then went on to criticize President Joe Bidens handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Last month, 13 members of the U.S. military were killed during a terrorist attack on the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as they worked to evacuate people to safety, The Christian Post reported. The average age of the soldiers was 22 and President Joe Biden has faced much criticism for their deaths from some families.

"When you look at Afghanistan and what happened, and the death for no reason, just for no reason, parents  they want to speak with me  they dont want to speak with Biden," Trump said.

Results of a new CNN survey released Sunday shows that a majority of Republican voters believe the former president should continue to lead the party and be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024.

Some 51% said his presence at the top of the ticket would help Republicans reclaim the White House while 48% preferred someone new. In March 2019, 78% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents felt the same compared to 17% who preferred someone new.
Yoido Full Gospel, World's Largest Megachurch, Admits 'Stagnation, Slowdown' Following Controversies

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Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, often recognized as the world's largest megachurch, has admitted to a "stagnation" and "slowdown" in its growth following major controversies surrounding its leader and affiliates.

"Right now, we have a little slowdown and stagnation period," Young-hoon Lee, the successor to the now retired Yong-gi Cho, who founded the church in Seoul in 1958, told PRI.

Cho was convicted in February 2014 of embezzling $12 million of the church's funds, and was sentenced to three years in prison, though the sentence was suspended.

The former senior pastor was found guilty of directing officials to buy stocks from his son at four times the market price.

Pastors, such as Bob Rodgers of Evangel World Prayer Center, defended Cho at the time, however, arguing that he trusted his elders and his son to check and the read the thousands of pages of paperwork, and signed the papers without being fully informed of what was going on.

Yoido Full Gospel Church officials claim that the congregation, part of the Assemblies of God denomination, is approaching 800,000 people in total. It also reportedly attracts nearly 200,000 people to worship services every week at the main church in Yeouido, though they did not clarify how much the slowdown has affected that.

Yoido Full Gospel Church has been ranked as the largest Christian megachurch in the world on several lists, including one in September 2016 by Church Growth Today, which at the time said that it attracts 180,000 weekly worshipers.

Lee expressed his confidence that the slowdown is only temporary, however, and that the church will continue growing.

"We are going to have another great awakening and revival in Korea, because I believe Jesus is coming soon," he said.

While the church remains hopeful, many in South Korea are reportedly distancing themselves from megachurches amid scandals.

According to PRI, Christian leaders of other evangelical churches in South Korea have said that believers, who make up around 30 percent of the population, are now moving away from megachurches.

"The general public in Korean society, they do not trust Christians anymore," said Jung-Jun Kim, who leads a small church in Seoul.

Kim observed that people are increasingly leaving established Protestant churches to join smaller ones.

"Or, they just leave the church altogether. Because they say, 'I can be a Christian without belonging to an institutionalized church,'" he said.

Megachurch pastor Kong Hee, who led Singapore's City Harvest Church and referred to Cho as his "spiritual father," began serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence in April for misusing close to $35 million in church funds for the popstar career of his wife, in a case that dragged on for seven years.

In February 2016, Kong praised Cho for his major influence on the growth of Christianity in South Korea.
Unlawful overreach: Elected officials vow to fight Biden's vaccine mandate

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Governors and members of Congress have denounced the plans of President Joe Biden to expand COVID-19 vaccination mandates, with legal action expected against any federal action.

Biden announced on Thursday evening that there would be numerous federal emergency rules requiring vaccinations for federal employees, government contractors, many businesses, healthcare workers, but excludes U.S. Postal Service employees.

In response, many Republican members of Congress, governors and business owners have expressed their opposition to the mandate, often labeling it as overreach.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp took to his official Twitter account to denounce Biden's mandate, vowing to pursue legal action if the measures are implemented.

I will pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration, tweeted Kemp.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts also released a statement in response to Biden's announcement, describing it as a stunning violation of personal freedom and abuse of the federal governments power.

This plan isnt about public health  this is about government control and taking away personal liberties, Ricketts added. Americans, not the federal government, are responsible for taking charge of their personal health.

It is not the role of the federal government to mandate their choices. Nebraska will stand up to President Bidens overreach, and we will be working with the Attorney General to explore all our options.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced the mandate at a press conference held in Pasco County focused on promoting the success of monoclonal antibody treatments for those who've contracted COVID-19.

How could we get to the point in the country where you would want to have someone lose their job because of their choice about the vaccine or not? DeSantis said.

I mean, look, some folks have reasons to do  maybe theyre making the wrong decision  but to put them out of work and not let them earn a living because of this, I just think that thats fundamentally wrong.

Members of Congress, including Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California also denounced the mandate, with the GOP leader accusing the president of making small business an enemy of his administration.

Forcing main street to vax or pay a fine will not only crush an economy he's put on life supportit's flat-out un-American. To Joe Biden, force is more important than freedom. Americans won't stand for it, tweeted McCarthy.

On Thursday evening, Biden announced what he described as a new plan to require more Americans to be vaccinated, to combat those blocking public health.

These measures include requiring businesses with at least 100 employees to either require all of their staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have them produce at least one negative COVID test a week, requiring nursing home workers who treat people with Medicaid or Medicare to be vaccinated, and a mandate for all federal employees and those who contract with the federal government to be vaccinated.

Biden said that the requirements for being fully vaccinated or providing negative tests on a regular basis were already being implemented by major employers like Tysons Food, United Airlines, and even Fox News.

This is not about freedom or personal choice, Biden argued. Its about protecting yourself and those around you  the people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love.

What more do you need to see? Weve made vaccinations free, safe, and convenient. The vaccine has FDA approval. Over 200 million Americans have gotten at least one shot. Weve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, Biden added, And your refusal has cost all of us."

"The unvaccinated minority can cause a lot of damage, and they are.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who's also a medical doctor, noted that Biden's mandate ignores the science because people who've already contracted COVID-19 have a natural immunity to the virus.

"Vaccine mandates that ignore natural immunity ignore the science, are unscientific, and should not be adhered to or promulgated by the government," Paul wrote.

Several studies have shown that people who've already contracted COVID-19 will likely have lifetime immunity. The Cleveland Clinic found in one such study that vaccinating people with "natural immunity" did not increase their level of protection. An Israeli study also found that people with natural immunity have a far greater level of protection than those who were vaccinated.

Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a Harvard Medical School epidemiologist, has also said that people who've recovered from the virus have "stronger and longer immunity" than those who are vaccinated.

Similarly, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford professor of medicine, has explained that being vaccinated doesn't stop the spread of the virus, but it does provide protection from it.
Airline accused of unlawfully firing employees who questioned company's support of Equality Act

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Alaska Airlines has been accused of religious discrimination over the firing of two Christian employees who questioned the companys endorsement of the controversial Equality Act.

If enacted, the Equality Act, which is making its way through Congress, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil rights antidiscrimination laws.

The First Liberty Institute filed two Charge of Discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month against Alaska Airlines on behalf of two flight attendants, Lacey Smith and another whose name has been kept private.

In a statement released Friday, FLI denounced the firing of Smith as an example of corporate canceling, arguing that it violated federal protections for the religious beliefs of employees.

The idea that an employer can fire an employee for expressing a religious belief is chilling  especially when you consider the fact that the Equality Act is still a proposal, and it has not been signed into law, wrote Liberty McArtor of FLI.

This makes Laceys termination even more shocking because our current state and federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination against someone because of their religious beliefs and expression.

According to the complaints, earlier this year, Alaska Airlines posted on an internal employee forum about the companys support for the Equality Act and welcomed comments from others.

After Smith and a coworker asked questions expressing concern about the endorsement of the Equality Act, the company fired them both, claiming that their comments were hateful.

The two former employees have accused the airline of engaging in retaliation, religious discrimination, and creating a hostile work environment.

The Christian Post reached out to Alaska Airlines for a response to the complaints filed, however, the Washington-based company did not return comment by press time.

Alaska Airlines is one of around 400 businesses that have declared their support for the passage of the legislation, being listed as part of the Business Coalition for the Equality Act.

Supporters of the Equality Act have argued that it's necessary to protect LGBT individuals in the workplace, especially due to several states not explicitly offering such protections.

The proposed legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February by a vote that was largely along party lines, however, it remains to be voted on by the Senate.

The LGBT advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign celebrated the bill's passage in the House, with HRC President Alphonso David calling it a major milestone for equality.

Now, we look forward to a hearing and vote in the Senate to finally allow LGBTQ Americans the ability to live their lives free from discrimination, stated David at the time.

Critics of the legislation, among them Robert Netzly, the CEO of Inspire Investing, believe the Equality Act would marginalize religious groups and others who object to homosexuality, gay marriage, or transgender ideology.

It cancels by name specific provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, putting religious employers such as churches and private religious schools, hospitals, adoption agencies, and others at severe risk of lawsuits, wrote Netzly in a column for CP back in June.

Equality should be for all people, including female athletes who want an equal playing field when they compete, people of faith who have moral convictions about heterosexuality, and female prison inmates who should not be forced to share a cell with violent felons convicted for preying upon women.
Chaplain who ministered to hundreds of families at ground zero reflects on God's faithfulness

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Twenty years after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a Navy chaplain who ministered to hundreds of grieving families at ground zero has shared the incredible ways God showed up amid tragedy and provided comfort to those suffering.

Jim Jenkins, who was a Navy chaplain serving with the Coast Guard as part of the Chaplains Emergency Response Team, traveled to ground zero mere days after al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists hijacked four commercial jetliners and flew them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

What Jenkins saw when he arrived at the wreckage of the towers will forever be engrained in his memory.

The only way I could describe it is, I saw footage of Berlin after the bombing. It looked like that as far as your eye could see. The TV couldn't give you a sense of the scope of the massive debris field, he told The Christian Post. It was so intense, so sobering.

The Lord had the appointments made for me already, who I was going to talk to, who was going to walk up to me, and what I was supposed to say. I got there right when I needed to, and not a moment before.

The following two weeks were a blur for Jenkins. For the first part of the day, he and his team would minister to the rescue and recovery workers at ground zero, the smell of burnt flesh lingering in the air.

For the first three hours of the day we were actually at the pile where they were looking for bodies, he recalled.

The second part of the day, Jenkins comforted those at a makeshift morgue: It looked like a MASH hospital attached to the medical examiner's office, he said. It was full of refrigerated trucks with body parts in it. They were trying to identify people.

But the most emotionally, spiritually and mentally taxing part of his day were the evenings when he would accompany grieving families to ground zero. He stood by, praying for people as they watched their loved ones move from the rubble to the stretcher.

I talked a lot about the promises of God and of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Jenkins reflected. I really felt that, when I was ministering to people, they werent seeing my face. I believe they were seeing the face of God and experiencing His favor.

When he thinks about his time serving at ground zero, Jenkins said he can see Gods hand in nearly every circumstance. He shared the "incredible" way then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani personally comforted first responders, chaplains and grieving families.

Giuliani came over to me, grabbed both my hands and stared at my face for a moment. Thank you for coming here to be with us," he said. It meant so much to see him right there, grieving with us.

In another instance, a man named Cleveland knelt on the Staten Island Ferry and asked him to pray amid a bomb threat.

One of his most vivid memories, however, is how a German Shepherd rescue dog comforted him as he sat on the ground one afternoon, exhausted and emotionally spent from the wreckage around him.

He came over and he put his head in my lap, he said. I looked up at the dog, and the dam broke. I finally just cried for the first time since Id gotten to ground zero. It was this incredible cathartic moment. The Lord took care of me right when I needed it.

Through a series of unlikely events, Jenkins would connect with the dogs owners years later.

After returning home, Jenkins struggled to cope with what hed seen at ground zero. He developed a precancerous condition of his sinuses and esophagus due to breathing in toxic chemicals. He was diagnosed with PTSD and to this day has recurring nightmares that his hands wont work as he tries to retrieve bodies from the rubble.

But even in his darkest moments, Jenkins said he feels the hand of God comforting him, telling him that He is present in even the bleakest of circumstances.

Something happens when you pray, when you cry out to God with groanings too deep for words, he said. Wherever we are, the Lord will meet us right in the midst of our brokenness.

Jenkins shares his story in his book, From Rubble to Redemption: A Ground Zero Chaplain Remembers. In his 2014 book, Fatal Drift: Is the Church Losing its Anchor?, he challenges the Church to remain steadfast in the face of obstacles.

He noted that tragedies present a unique opportunity for the Church. Like 9/11, in the midst of a pandemic, many people are asking, Where is God in the middle of this?

I can tell you firsthand that God is here, he emphasized. I'm encouraging believers to remember that. Jesus helped me in my rubble. He helped me when I was afraid. This is an unusual, open door for the Church to be forthright about who the Lord is and what He can do.

In the years following Sept. 11, 2001, numerous first responders, survivors and pastors have shared stories of how God proved Himself faithful amid tragedy.

Recently, Mickey Stonier, who serves as an executive pastor at the Rock Church in California, and a fire chaplain, revealed how his time as a first responder at ground zero taught him the true meaning of servanthood.

When you are there at Ground Zero, knowing the world has completely changed, the only posture you can take is that of a servant, he said in an interview with Rock Church writer Susanna Fleming. That is what a pastor or a chaplain really is at the end of the day  a servant. You feel so humbled that you are the one who gets to be there for those who are going through this horrific, life-changing experience, and all you can do is just serve them.

I have come to realize that a lot of people I work with on a weekly basis are having a 9/11 experience in their lives. It might not be on the news, but it is a traumatic moment in which their world is crumbling down around them. In those moments, I know what to do. I know I get to serve.

In an increasingly polarized society, Stonier issued a call for unity, urging believers not to forget their shared humanity in Christ.

From 9/11 to early October, our country pulled together and was very unified because of what had happened. Then we started to get into the blame faze and started to fragment again. The world has been through so much trauma this year, and polarization has caused us to forget to honor one another. But as Christians, we are called to serve and love another, no matter our different backgrounds.
Most adult US Christians don't believe Holy Spirit is real: study

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Of an estimated 176 million American adults who identify as Christian, just 6% or 15 million of them actually hold a biblical worldview, a new study from Arizona Christian University shows.

The finding was published by the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University in its recently released American Worldview Inventory, an annual survey that evaluates the worldview of the U.S. adult population. Conducted in February, the survey included a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults.

The study shows, in general, that while a majority of Americas self-identified Christians, including many who identify as evangelical, believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and is the Creator of the universe, more than half reject a number of biblical teachings and principles, including the existence of the Holy Spirit.

Strong majorities also errantly believe that all religious faiths are of equal value, people are basically good and that people can use acts of goodness to earn their way into Heaven. The study further showed that majorities dont believe in moral absolutes; consider feelings, experience, or the input of friends and family as their most trusted sources of moral guidance; and say that having faith matters more than which faith you pursue.

Too often, it seems, people who are simply religious, or regular churchgoers, or perhaps people who want a certain reputation or image embrace the label Christian, regardless of their spiritual life and intentions, George Barna, the lead researcher at the Cultural Research Center, explained in a statement. 'Christian has become somewhat of a generic term rather than a name that reflects a deep commitment to passionately pursuing and being like Jesus Christ.

A closer examination of the data on Christians showed that while some groups of Christians, like self-identified born-again Christians and self-identified evangelicals, hold views that were more closely aligned with a biblical worldview, the survey still found errant beliefs among the groups.

From a sociological standpoint, self-identified born-again Christians are the siblings of self-identified evangelicals. There is tremendous overlap between the two niches: in fact, roughly seven out of 10 consider themselves to be part of both segments, the study noted.

While the groups arent considered interchangeable, Barna found that there are slightly fewer self-identified evangelicals, 28%, than self-identified born-again Christians, 35%.

Despite using different terminology to identify themselves, self-identified born-again and self-identified evangelical Christians possess nearly identical views on most of the beliefs evaluated. Across more than a dozen attributes studied, the average difference was only 2 percentage points, with the largest gap being only 4 percentage points, he noted.

Some 62% of self-identified born-again Christians contend that the Holy Spirit is not a real, living being but is merely a symbol of Gods power, presence or purity. Another 61% say that all religious faiths are of equal value, and 60% believe that if a person is good enough, or does enough good things, they can earn their way into Heaven. All these positions challenge a biblical worldview.

The study identified another group of self-identified Christians who were more closely aligned with a biblical worldview known as the Theological Born-again but only Christians identified as integrated disciples were classified by Barna as having a biblical worldview and that group represented the 6%.

As the groundbreaking American Worldview Inventory surveys have demonstrated, just 6% of U.S. adults possess a biblical worldview. Labeled Integrated Disciples for their demonstrated ability to assimilate their beliefs into their lifestyle, this group consistently  albeit imperfectly  comes closest to reflecting biblical principles into their opinions, beliefs, behaviors, and preferences, Barna explained.

More than 99% of this group believe that the Bible is the accurate and reliable words of God, believe that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful and just Creator of the universe who still rules the universe today and say they have a unique, God-given calling.

Significant minorities still held beliefs that challenge the biblical worldview. These include: 25% say there is no absolute moral truth; 33% believe in karma; 39% contend that the Holy Spirit is not a real, living being but is merely a symbol of Gods power, presence, or purity; 42% believe that having faith matters more than which faith you pursue; and 52% argue that people are basically good.

The survey results clearly demonstrate how careful you have to be when interpreting data associated with a particular segment of people who are labeled as Christians, Barna warned. Political polling, in particular, may mislead people regarding the views and preferences of genuine Christ-followers simply based on how those surveys measure the Christian population.
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On September 11, 2021, President Joe Biden addressed the nation in remembrance of the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In doing so, Biden attempted to explain what he believed unified America and made her unique. In multiple Sept 11, 2021 addresses, we captured a window into Bidens understanding of why America is, as he puts it, unique. Notably, Biden did not use the term exceptional, voiced by so many other presidents in describing America. Of greater significance, Biden affirmatively repudiated the critical importance of Americas religious character and the effects it has had on unity and exceptionalism. Bidens misunderstandings will not bring the unity we experience after the 9/11 attacks, but recognition of Gods importance will.

Bidens words about the subject are telling. In an address at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2021, Biden claimed America is the most unique country in the whole damn world. He elaborated, Were an idea. Its an idea...Its not based on religion. Its not based  its an idea. It really is. We hold these truths I mean, we never lived up to it, but weve never walked away from it, except the last  previous four years. Bidens confusing reference to "We hold these truths" did not include the full preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which includes reference to God.

From these and other such words about American unity and uniqueness, Bidens misunderstandings manifest themselves. America is not just unique, or different, as Joe Biden puts it, but exceptional among nations in many objective categories. Famed British historian Paul Johnson holds America to be exceptional because America is a God-fearing country, with all that implies. Biden is wrong to marginalize the importance of religion to American unity and exceptionalism. When the founding Americans justified breaking apart from the British Empire, they began with Americas common belief in God: 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. In America, God comes first and He is the source of our rights. Government is a creation of the consent of the governed for protection of those God-given rights.

Beyond the prime place of belief in God to the American system of government, religion in America was deemed critical for American government to work. One of America's Founding Father John Adams claimed: This Constitution was made for a moral and religious people, and is wholly unsuited for the governance of any other. Religion justified public education in America (Northwest Ordinance, 1787): Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. And French historian Alexis de Tocqueville said of America in the 1830s: There is no country on Earth in which the Christian religion holds greater sway over men than in America.

Bidens understanding of equality was not that voiced by America's Founders. The Founders and other early Americans were heavily influenced by British political philosopher John Locke. Locke asserted individual humans were born with equality of nature and worth among the species. But neither Locke nor early Americans believed the term created equal meant that individuals deserved to be treated equally throughout life, and that regardless of decisions in life or level of work, all are to receive equal benefits/property; thats essentially communism. The right to pursue happiness means the right to work harder than others to earn more property or other benefits. Americans deserve to be treated justly, but respected in liberty and property. To do otherwise and force equality of outcome is to destroy the right to liberty and pursuit of happiness.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, America turned back to God in a way I hadnt seen in my 53 years. Congress stood together holding hands while singing God Bless America. Prayers and acknowledgment of God was ubiquitous in America in the weeks after 9/11. As one pastor puts it, You couldnt find the ACLU with a search warrant (attempting to stop all the open and public displays of religion). The National Prayer Service in the Washington National Cathedral unified America like most have never seen. We were probably as unified as those who fought the Revolution and wrote the Declaration of Independence. Americans will not be unified with talk of us being only "unique but not exceptional. Americans desperately need leadership to voice what has truly made us exceptional: belief in God and respect for the rights God gives us and that government protects.
UN, human rights groups condemn Taliban's violent crackdown on women-led protests, journalists

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The United Nations and human rights groups have condemned the Taliban's ban on all demonstrations and the use of violence days after women took to the streets to protest Afghanistan's newly formed interim government that includes more than a dozen leaders who are designated terrorists and ex-Guantanamo detainees.

In a statement released Friday, the U.N. condemned the Taliban for its increasingly violent response to organized peaceful protests in which militants used live ammunition, batons and whips to beat women and journalists.

We call on the Taliban to immediately cease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and the journalists covering the protests," a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a press statement, adding that the Taliban killed four people during recent demonstrations.

Taliban fighters shot and killed two men and wounded several others during demonstrations in Kabul Tuesday, and beat and detained several women and up to 15 journalists, the spokesman said. During protests in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces last month, the Taliban killed a man and a boy and wounded eight others after firing their weapons into the crowds.

As Afghan women and men take to the streets during this time of great uncertainty in their country to press peacefully for their human rights to be respected  including womens right to work, to freedom of movement, to education and political participation  it is crucial that those in power listen to their voices, the U.N.'s statement continued.

The beating of women and journalists in Kabuls Karte Char neighborhood occurred on the same day the Taliban announced the ban on all slogans, demonstrations and protests that dont have official approval, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Their government doesnt count us as citizens of this country even though we are half of the population, a protesting woman was quoted as saying. We dont care if they beat us or even shoot us, we want to defend our rights. We will continue our protests even if we get killed.

Taliban fighters called the protesting women "agents of America."

Responding to the protests, the new regimes interior ministry, which is headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani, a member of the Haqqani network that has long been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, warned that such protests would be treated as illegal and participants would face severe legal consequences unless approved by authorities at least three hours in advance, The Epoch Times reported.

At a large protest by men and women on Tuesday, members of the Taliban fired shots into the air to disperse the demonstration held outside the Pakistan embassy in Kabul and arrested reporters.

Taliban authorities are obligated under international law to respect and uphold everyones right to peaceful protests and to respect the rights of women and girls, Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a report.

Concerned governments should press the Taliban to protect free expression and peaceful assembly, she said.

The report also said that Taliban security forces on Tuesday detained journalists from Etilaat-e Roz  Taqi Daryabi and Nemat Naqdi  for covering a protest in Kabul. The journalists were taken to a police station in Kabul, placed in separate cells and severely beaten with cables before being released on Wednesday.

Taliban authorities claimed that they would allow the media to function so long as they respected Islamic values, but they are increasingly preventing journalists from reporting on demonstrations, Gossman added.

Nemat Naqdi, a video journalist, and Taqi Daryabi, video editor, from the Etilaatroz newspaper undress to show their wounds after Taliban fighters tortured and beat them in custody after being arrested for reporting on a womens rights protest in Kabul, Afghanistan.



???? @yamphotopic.twitter.com/ipQ658KQMN  L.A. Times Photos (@latimesphotos) September 9, 2021

The Talibans crackdown on protests and journalists is raising concerns among religious minorities, especially Christians, as they fear increased oppression and persecution as the Taliban have promised strict enforcement of Sharia law, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said.

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 said. 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. 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.

Five of the newly-appointed leaders were in detention in Guantanamo and later exchanged for Bowe Bergdahl in 2014, according to Long War Journal.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the current Emir of the Faithful or top leader of the Taliban, issued religious decrees justifying the Talibans operations, including suicide attacks, from 1996 to 2001, the Journal said.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the acting head of state, refused to turn over Osama bin Laden after the al Qaeda terror group bombed the U.S. Embassy in August 1998.

Akhundzada and Akhund are among more than a dozen new leaders who were sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council in early 2001.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska  Alaskas largest hospital has begun rationing care, saying it has been overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

Providence Alaska Medical Center said Tuesday it will prioritize resources and treatment to those patients who have the potential to benefit the most.

Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw is chief of staff at the hospital and says that we are no longer able to provide the standard of care to each and every patient who needs our help,

Alaska, like other places, has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Providence is one of only three hospitals in Anchorage, a city of 300,000 people. Walkinshaw says Providences emergency room is overflowing and patients have to wait for hours in their cars to see a doctor for emergency care.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 COVID-19 cases climbing in U.S., mostly in South among unvaccinated

 Russia's Putin in self-isolation due to coronavirus cases in inner circle

 UK recommends COVID-19 booster shots for those over age 50

 Judge blocks medical worker vaccine mandate in New York state

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 See AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

SEOUL, South Korea  South Korea has reported a record daily increase in coronavirus infections in the Seoul region just days before the nation enters its biggest holiday of the year.

Officials said Wednesday that 2,080 new cases were confirmed nationwide, exceeding 2,000 for the eighth time in a span of a month. The 1,663 cases reported in the capital and nearby areas were the most since the start of the pandemic.

Officials are concerned transmissions could worsen nationwide during the Chuseok holidays, the Korean version of Thanksgiving that begins this weekend. Millions usually travel across the country to meet relatives.

Health officials are urging residents in the Seoul region not to travel to other areas during the holidays and to avoid relatives who arent fully vaccinated. About 40% of a population of more than 51 million was fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.

-

SYDNEY  Australias New South Wales state has hit a coronavirus vaccination milestone, with 80% of the target population receiving a shot, and the government says a curfew will be lifted in the worst-affected parts of Sydney.

Australia intends to open its borders and no longer resort to lockdowns once 80% of the population aged 16 and older is fully vaccinated.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Wednesday that infection rates have plateaued in the 12 worst-affected local areas in Sydney and the curfew will end for those areas Wednesday night.

Australias outbreak of the delta variant began in Sydney in June and New South Wales leads the rest of the country in vaccinating its population.

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UNITED NATIONS -- The new president of the U.N. General Assembly says his top priority is the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and getting every single person in the world vaccinated by the end of 2022.

After taking his oath of office Tuesday, Abdulla Shahid said: I believe that we can do it, and I call upon leaders of all countries to come together and get this done.

Shahid says he plans to hold a high-level meeting in early 2022 with government leaders, vaccine producers, the scientific community, civil society, and others to work on closing the gap to vaccine access.

The former foreign minister of the Indian Ocean island nation of The Maldives says that we cannot accept that only 3% of Africa has yet been immunized.

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BOISE, Idaho  Public health officials in Idaho say crisis standards of care are imminent for the states most populated region as hospitals continue to be overrun with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

Dave Jeppesen, the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, says southern Idaho including the Boise metropolitan area could join northern Idaho in rationing health care at any moment.

Last week, the state formally enacted crisis standards of care in northern Idaho, giving overwhelmed hospitals permission to direct scarce resources like intensive care unit beds to the patients most likely to survive. At Kootenai Health in Coeur dAlene, some COVID-19 patients are being treated in a field hospital at a conference center.

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LOS ANGELES  Authorities in Los Angeles say more than 2,600 officers and civilian employees in the police department will seek religious exemptions to vaccination against the coronavirus. An additional 300 want medical exemptions.

The city has mandated municipal employees get vaccinated by Oct. 5 unless they are granted an exemption. But it has not defined how it will judge if a religious belief is sincerely held or what will happen to employees who are not granted an exemption and refuse to be vaccinated.

Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday he wont comment on the sincerity level of people claiming a religious exemption.

The chief says more than 6,500 members of the department have received at least one vaccine dose. Ten police department employees and three spouses of employees have died of COVID-19. Thousands in the department have tested positive for the virus.

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FARGO, N.D.  An executive at the largest health care system in North Dakota says its hospitals in Fargo could use up to 300 additional nurses to handle COVID-19 cases and is bumping up incentives to fill the void.

We really are in crisis, said Dr. Doug Griffin, Sanford Health vice president and medical officer in Fargo, which serves a metropolitan area of about 250,000 people in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Hospitals across the region are filling up with both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, Griffin said. Fargo Sanford is about two to three weeks from reaching its peak hospitalization capacity.

Besides nurses, the system is short-staffed in patient services, respiratory therapy and even people who draw blood, Griffin said.

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HELENA, Mont.  Seventeen Montana National Guard soldiers have volunteered to keep helping the state with its COVID-19 response.

Gov. Greg Gianforte says 10 soldiers will be assisting Billings Clinic while another seven will help the state lab in Helena.

Over the past 18 months, Montana National Guard members have aided with COVID-19 response at nursing homes and by testing visitors arriving at airports.

Montana reported another 1,249 confirmed cases on Tuesday, with 362 people hospitalized. At least 1,847 residents have died of COVID-19 in the past 18 months, with cases steadily rising since mid-July. The health department reported 47 deaths in the first two weeks of September.

More than 474,000 residents, 51% of the eligible population, are fully vaccinated.

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PHOENIX  Arizona reported 2,609 coronavirus cases and 117 deaths on Tuesday, the most deaths in a single day since February.

Arizonas daily deaths reports often are larger early in the week due to reporting delays over the weekend, a trend cited by Department of Health Services spokesman Steve Elliott.

The additional deaths reported Tuesday were twice as many were reported the previous Tuesday and four times the states latest seven-day rolling daily average, according to Johns Hopkins University.

During the past two weeks, the number of hospitalizations remained above 2,000, with 2,090 COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds on Monday.

Arizonas pandemic totals have reached 1.05 million confirmed cases and 19,304 confirmed deaths.

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MISSION, Kan.  The number of COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have returned to levels reached last winter, potentially bolstering President Joe Bidens argument for sweeping new vaccination requirements.

The U.S. is averaging more than 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day. Thats still well below the peak of about 3,400 deaths and 250,000 cases per day in January. But its frustrating health care leaders, nine months into the nations vaccination drive, who are watching hospitals fill up with unvaccinated patients.

The cases, driven by the delta variant and resistance among some Americans to get vaccinated, are concentrated mostly in the South.

While hot spots such as Florida and Louisiana are improving, infection rates are soaring in Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, fueled by children back in school, loose mask requirements and low vaccination rates.

Now in Kentucky, one-third of new cases are under age 18, says Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency room physician in Lexington. He says some children brought it home from summer camp and spread it to the rest of the family, and between day care and schools and school activities, and friends getting together, there are just so many exposures.

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JOHANNESBURG  After uncertainty about whether the coronavirus pandemic would force South Africa to postpone local government elections, the courts have ruled the vote should move ahead.

South Africas courts ruled this month the Independent Electoral Commission should hold the polls on Nov. 1, despite concerns about political rallies spreading the disease.

South Africa has recorded 2,640 new infections and 125 deaths in the last 24 hours. The nation accounts for more than 35% of coronavirus infections in Africa, with 2.8 million confirmed cases and 85,002 confirmed deaths.

The elections may see an erosion of support for the ruling party, the African National Congress, which failed to register candidates in about 90 municipalities across the country before the deadline. However, the electoral commission threw the ANC a lifeline by reopening registration for candidates to be councilors in cities across the nation.

More than 7 million people, or 12.5% of the South African population, have been fully vaccinated with either the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, according to Johns Hopkins University. Vaccines are offered to all adults 18 years and older as officials seek to vaccinate at least 40 million of the 60 million population by the end of the year.

However, South Africa is yet to reach its target of 300,000 daily vaccinations.

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LAGOS, Nigeria  Nigerians eventually may get vaccinated at their churches and worship centers on Sundays.

The West African nations top health official says the government has introduced Sunday vaccination in the second phase of its vaccine rollout to ensure members can get the shot.

Faisal Shuaib didnt say when the measure takes effect or whether it has started in mosques. His meeting on Tuesday with Christian leaders across the country is the latest measure Nigeria has introduced to drive full vaccination rates to at least 1% of its population of more than 200 million people.

Africas most populous country has only vaccinated 5.7 million people, according to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. Only 1.7 million have received their second shot. The average daily cases has decreased to about 550 in the last two weeks.

Government tallies indicate more people are turning up at vaccination centers nationwide. Authorities have said Nigeria expects at least 52 million doses of vaccines by the second quarter of 2022.

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HONOLULU -- Hawaiis governor says the states high COVID-19 vaccination rate means there will not be another full-scale shutdown.

Gov. David Ige tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that doesnt mean there wont be more restrictions put in place if hospitalization rates increase or more people are moved to intensive care units.

Ige says there are signs the recent surge in cases is abating and the rate of people being hospitalized for COVID-19 is stable.

The states seven-day average for new cases is 567, a 37% drop from two weeks ago. The number of people hospitalized or in the ICU has slightly dropped as well.

Nearly 77% of Hawaiis eligible population is fully vaccinated and just over 86% has received at least one shot.

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GENEVA  The World Health Organization and partners say they hope to provide Africa with about 30% of the COVID-19 vaccines they need by February, half of the 60% goal African leaders had aimed for by the end of this year.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the vast disparity in vaccination rates between rich and poor countries a solvable problem.

He again called for pharmaceutical companies to prioritize the U.N. backed initiative known as COVAX to share vaccines globally. Currently, fewer than 4% of people in Africa have been fully immunized. Most of the 5.7 billion doses administered have gone to about 10 countries.

Most vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna have gone to wealthy countries, many of whom are considering plans to use booster shots. Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of vaccines alliance Gavi, says the COVAX program expects to have 1.4 billion doses ready for delivery by the end of this year, about one quarter fewer than its original goal.
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.
Texas continues to be under the fiery spotlight with John Oliver becoming the latest host to tear into Texas over signing its abortion ban into law.

Sunday night marked the return to the studio for the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver host, and he kicked it off with a scathing look at Texas and Senate Bill 8, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on September 7.

SB 8 bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, which goes against the law established in Roe v. Wade, that allows for abortions before fetal viability  between 22 to 24 weeks. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the law on September 1.

Charles Sykes/INVL

Planned Parenthood says that most women find out they're pregnant until after six weeks.

Oliver calls the new Texas law "draconian" as it also lets private citizens sue anyone that helps a woman receive an abortion after six weeks, facing a minimum fine of $10,000. He says that can be doctors, clinic workers or even an Uber driver who took someone to the clinic.

"This law has somehow managed to do the impossible and make being an Uber driver even worse," Oliver says. "You don't get health insurance, people are going to be a**holes to you and now, you might even have a cash bounty on your head."

The law also puts a bounty on abortion fund groups like Frontera Fund, which recently halted calls to its help line. Planned Parenthood paused abortions at three of its four San Antonio clinics.

Oliver quips that the news was so big, even celebrity gossip site TMZ weighed in.

Oliver also ripped into Abbott and his non-response to the bill not providing exceptions to survivors of rape or incest. Abbott told reporters on September 1, after signing the law that rape is a crime, and Texas would work "tirelessly" to remove rapists from the streets.

Oliver points out that rapists are not just "scary faceless criminals" on the street and most of the time are people known to the survivor. Arresting rapists, Oliver goes on, does not fix the problem of women not being able to receive legal, safe abortions.

"It might really just be quicker to say 'F*ck off, Greg,'" Oliver says.

Oliver also calls out "business daddy" AT&T, which owns HBO, after pointing out that an employee political action committee that belongs to the media company that is one of the biggest donors to co-sponsors of SB 8.

When Last Week Tonight pressed AT&T on the contributions, the company says "AT&T has never taken a stance on abortion," and that employee PAC contributions also went to opponents of the bill.

"Not taking a stance on this issue right now, is taking a stance," Oliver says.

On top of the Department of Justice suing Texas over SB8, people are doing what they can to fight the law, including trolling a anonymous whistleblower site meant to report people helping women seeking abortions, leading to its eventual shutdown.

Last Week Tonight airs every Sunday at 10 p.m. CST on HBO and can be streamed on HBO Max.
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."

Jason Fochtman, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

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.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Two central Pennsylvania men were arrested Monday and accused of participating in the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this year, with their social media communications cited by federal prosecutors as evidence against them.

A U.S. Justice Department news release said Marshall Neefe, 25, of Newville, and Charles Bradford Brad Smith, 25, of Shippensburg, both face felony charges over their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

Prosecutors said Neefe told Smith in early November he was getting ready to storm D.C. and then later wrote to him, We goin? ... Cause hot damn son I really wanna crack some commie skulls.

Details were not available late Tuesday on the federal courts online records system. Messages were left Tuesday seeking comment from federal public defenders in Harrisburg and at a phone number linked to Neefe.

Prosecutors alleged that both men entered Capitol grounds. They said Neefe carried a wooden club and helped push a metal sign into a defensive police line. Neefe is also alleged to have later sent a Facebook message that said he wanted police officers who hurled batons or maced them to "be lined up and put down.

Smith is purported to have sent a message on Facebook afterward saying we literally chased them into hiding and making an apparent reference to stopping certification. The mob had been attempting to stop Congress from certifying the presidential election results, but was unsuccessful.

Prosecutors said Smith used Facebook to transmit a video in which he said, We stormed the gates of the Capitol.

Neefe is accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers while using a dangerous weapon; carrying out an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds; and other charges. Smith's charges include disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  Two workers suffered minor injuries Tuesday in a small explosion at a plant in coastal Georgia, authorities said.

Firefighters in Savannah responding to the morning blast found that any flames had already been extinguished by the facilitys fire suppression system, according to the Savannah Fire Department.

The department said in a news release that the explosion appeared to have been caused by dust combusting in a room used to mix flour. Firefighters found damage to a wall and two workers with minor injuries.

The fire department did not name the business. The explosion occurred in a block that includes a commercial bakery.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The leader of Norways Labor Party will start talks Tuesday in an attempt to build a coalition after the center-left bloc beat the incumbent Conservatives and won Norway's general election.

With all votes now counted, the Labor Party and its two left-leaning allies  the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party  grabbed 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. The last seat is going to a northern Norway health-focused protest party, Pasientfokus.

The outgoing assembly was 88-81 in favor of the center-right led by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who was ousted after two four-year terms in the job. Her party also suffered a huge loss of nine seats.

Mondays result means that currently all five Nordic countries now have left-leaning governments.

Jonas Gahr Stoere, the Labor leader, said he would start talks with Norways third largest group, the Center Party, and its leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. That party made the largest gain and grabbed nine seats. Gahr Stoere, who is poised to become prime minister, also will meet the media later.

Solberg said later Tuesday that she would continue at the head of a caretaker government and step down when a new government is ready. Solberg would also continue as leader of the Conservatives.

The election campaign had focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the worlds wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The countrys biggest industry is responsible for over 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce.

On the other hand, Norwegians are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric.

Most of Norways oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the countrys untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government.

Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party  Norway's largest party  and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left wont offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy.

Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, blue hydrogen that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.

Gahr Stoere is a 61-year-old former civil servant. He also owns a large part of his familys company, and most the fortune there comes from the sale in 1977 of a Norwegian company that made cast iron stoves and fireplaces.

He also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. He took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO secretary general.

Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norways election commission. Turnout was 76.5%, down from more than 78% last time.
AMHERST, Mass. (AP)  The first woman to head Amherst College said she will step down at the end of the next academic year after serving as president for 11 years.

Biddy Martin joined the college in 2011 and is the longest-serving president of the college in 50 years, Amherst said in a statement Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Fearful of Donald Trump's actions in his final weeks as president, the United States' top military officer twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the two nations would not suddenly go to war, a senior defense official said Tuesday after the conversations were described in excerpts from a forthcoming book.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the Peoples Liberation Army that the United States would not strike. One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that defeated Trump. The second call was on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing chief executive.

Trump said Milley should be tried for treason if the report was true.

Milley went so far as to promise Li that he would warn his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, according to the book Peril, written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book. Details from the book, which is set to be released next week, were first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay, Milley told him in the first call, according to the book. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.

If were going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise," Milley reportedly said.

According to the defense official, Milleys message to Li on both occasions was one of reassurance. The official questioned suggestions that Milley told Li he would call him first, and instead said the chairman made the point that the United States was not going to suddenly attack China without any warning  whether it be through diplomatic, administrative or military channels.

Milley also spoke with a number of other chiefs of defense around the world in the days after the Jan. 6 riot, including military leaders from the United Kingdom, Russia and Pakistan. A readout of those calls in January referred to several other counterparts that he spoke to with similar messages of reassurance that the U.S. government was strong and in control.

The second call was meant to placate Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6. But the book reports that Li wasnt as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him: We are 100 percent steady. Everythings fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.

Trump responded Tuesday with a sharply worded statement dismissing Milley as a Dumbass, and insisting he never considered attacking China.

Still, he said that if the report was true, I assume he would be tried for TREASON in that he would have been dealing with his Chinese counterpart behind the Presidents back and telling China that he would be giving them notification of an attack. Cant do that!

Actions should be taken immediately against Milley, Trump said.

Milley believed the president suffered a mental decline after the election, agreeing with a view shared by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a phone call they had Jan. 8, according to officials.

Pelosi had previously said she spoke to Milley that day about available precautions to prevent Trump from initiating military action or ordering a nuclear launch, and she told colleagues she was given unspecified assurances that there were longstanding safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book, called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing upcoming military exercises. He also asked senior officers to swear an oath that Milley had to be involved if Trump gave an order to launch nuclear weapons, according to the book.

Officials in January and on Tuesday confirmed that Milley spoke with Pelosi, which was made public by the House speaker at the time. The officials said the two talked about the existing, long-held safeguards in the process for a nuclear strike. One official said Tuesday that Milleys intent in speaking with his staff and commanders about the process was not a move to subvert the president or his power, but to reaffirm the procedures and ensure they were understood by everyone.

It's not clear what, if any, military exercises were actually postponed. But defense officials said it is more likely that the military postponed a planned operation, such as a freedom of navigation transit by a U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific region. The defense officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Milley was appointed by Trump in 2018 and later drew the president's wrath when he expressed regret for participating in a June 2020 photo op with Trump after federal law enforcement cleared a park near the White House of peaceful protesters so Trump could stand at a nearby damaged church.

In response to the book, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent President Joe Biden a letter Tuesday urging him to fire Milley, saying the general worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the report deeply concerning, telling reporters at the Capitol, I think the first step is for General Milley to answer the question as to what exactly he said.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he had no concerns that Milley might have exceeded his authority, telling reporters that Democratic lawmakers were circumspect in our language but many of us made it clear that we were counting on him to avoid the disaster which we knew could happen at any moment.

A spokesperson for the Joint Staff declined to comment.

Milley's second warning to Beijing came after Trump had fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and filled several top positions with interim officeholders loyal to him.

The book also offers new insights into Trump's efforts to hold on to power despite losing the election to Biden.

Trump refused to concede and offered false claims that the election had been stolen. He repeatedly pressed his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the election results at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the event that was later interrupted by the mob.

Pence, the book writes, called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, to see if there was any way he could acquiesce to Trump's request. Quayle said absolutely not.

Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away, Quayle said, according to the book.

Pence ultimately agreed. He defied Trump to affirm Joe Biden's victory.

Trump was not pleased.

I dont want to be your friend anymore if you dont do this, Trump replied, according to the book, later telling his vice president: Youve betrayed us. I made you. You were nothing.

Peril describes Trumps relentless efforts to convince Attorney General William Barr that the election had been stolen. Barr is quoted as telling Trump, The Justice Department cant take sides, as you know, between you and the other candidate. According to the book, Barr had determined that allegations about rigged voting machines were not panning out. Barr also expressed disgust with Rudolph Giuliani and others insisting Trump had won, calling them a clown car.

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Associated Press writers Hillel Italie in New York and Lisa Mascaro and Lolita Baldor contributed reporting.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday that he wants to extend Connecticut's mask mandate for public schools beyond the end of this month when his pandemic-related emergency powers are set to expire.

Lamont, a Democrat, said another 90-day extension of his powers is warranted. State lawmakers have extended his emergency declarations in the past, although Republicans and some Democrats have argued it's time to get back to normal.
PRAGUE (AP)  Czech President Milos Zeman was hospitalized Tuesday while predecessor Vaclav Klaus was undergoing tests at the same hospital.

The presidential office didnt immediately comment on Zemans hospitalization, which was confirmed by Pragues military hospital. Further details weren't immediately given.
JOHANNESBURG (AP)  After uncertainty if COVID-19 would force South Africa to postpone local government elections, the courts have ruled that the crucial polls should move ahead.

Despite concerns about political rallies spreading the disease, South Africa's courts ruled earlier this month that the Independent Electoral Commission should hold the polls on November 1.

The elections may see erosion of support for the ruling party, the African National Congress party, which failed to register candidates in about 90 municipalities across the country before the deadline.

However, the electoral commission threw the ANC a lifeline by reopening registration for candidates to be councilors in the nation's cities.

The local government elections, which take place every five years, determine who will be on the councils that run cities, including responsibility for delivering basic services like water, sanitation and housing.

The elections also determine who will be mayors of major cities.

The previous local government elections held in 2016 resulted in major political shifts across the country with the ANC losing control of the major economic hub of Johannesburg, the Tshwane metropolitan area which includes the capital city Pretoria, and Nelson Mandela Bay. Cape Town continued to be governed by the opposition Democratic Alliance.

Voters are going to be looking at how political parties are performing nationally and provincially ... this is not going to serve the ANC particularly well," said Collette Herzenberg, senior lecturer of politics at Stellenbosch University. She said the ANC had been confronted by many challenges in the past five years.

The elections will be an assessment of President Cyril Ramaphosas leadership since he was elected in 2019, including his handling of the pandemic and corruption.

Several municipalities governed by the ANC have been found to be mismanaged by state auditors and some others have been placed under the administration of provincial governments.

The upcoming elections come at a difficult time for the ANC, which has been struggling with internal divisions, recent violent riots across the country over the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma and the suspension of the party's secretary-general Ace Magashule over corruption charges. South Africa's unemployment rate of 34% will also be a major issue.

COVID-19 should not be a big factor in voter turnout, according to Lesiba Teffor, vice chancellor for research at North West University.

The (pandemic's) threat is actually during the campaigning, where some parties will want to do door-to-door campaigning and others will want to hold massive political rallies. That is where the threat of the spread of the virus is," said Teffo. "The actual voting day is usually very orderly and people can social distance while queuing to vote.

But voter apathy may result in a low turnout.

Winston Mahlangu, who sells phone chargers and pouches on the streets in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, is among voters who are unenthusiastic about voting.

To be honest with you, I have not seen any obvious changes since I voted in the last elections. There is a lot that has been happening, with the coronavirus and people struggling," he said. "I am not sure how things will change after we vote.
MOSCOW (AP)  Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his embattled allies are not running in the Sept. 19 parliamentary election, but they still hope to challenge the ruling United Russia party with their strategy known as Smart Voting.

Hardly any Kremlin critics are allowed to run in the election to the parliament, or State Duma. Control of that body is seen as a key part of President Vladimir Putins efforts to cement his hold on power heading into the next presidential balloting, scheduled for 2024. Putin already has been running Russia since 2000.

The Smart Voting strategy could provide the only political intrigue in an election that has little overall drama, with very few opposition candidates allowed to run.

HOW DOES SMART VOTING WORK?

Smart Voting, an idea that Navalny came up with in 2018, is an online service designed to promote candidates that have the best chance to defeat those backed by the Kremlin and the United Russia party. It doesn't promote any particular opposition party.

Navalnys top strategist Leonid Volkov told The Associated Press that Smart Voting has been monitoring and analyzing hundreds of campaigns and will be endorsing about 1,300 candidates  not just for the State Duma balloting but also for various regional elections that are being held on the same day.

In the State Duma election, all 450 seats are at stake, and United Russia currently holds 334 of them.

Half of the Duma, or 225 seats, are directly elected by voters. But voters also make a second choice on the ballot for the other half of the seats, which are drawn from party lists. There will be 14 political parties on the Sept. 19 ballot, and voters will pick one of them to send another representative to the Duma.

For that second choice, Volkov said Smart Voting will recommend selecting any party other than United Russia that is likely to pass the 5% threshold required to win a seat.

HOW SUCCESSFUL HAS IT BEEN?

Smart Voting has been used twice in regional elections in the past two years, and has proven quite effective. In 2019, it helped opposition candidates win 20 of 45 seats on the Moscow city council, and regional elections last year saw United Russia lose its majority in legislatures in the cities of Novosibirsk, Tambov and Tomsk.

Volkov admits that Smart Voting has rather limited resources:

Weve won local battles, but we cant say were omnipotent.  Theres a long way to go. So far about 15%-20% of candidates endorsed by Smart Voting have won seats in legislatures, he added.

WHAT'S THE KREMLIN'S RESPONSE?

In recent months, authorities have unleashed a sweeping crackdown against Navalnys allies and supporters in a massive effort to suppress Smart Voting.

After recovering from poisoning with a nerve agent last year, Navalny was given a 2-year prison sentence for violating parole for a conviction. He says both the poisoning and the conviction were politically motived  charges the Kremlin denies.

His top allies were slapped with criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption, as well as a network of regional offices, have been outlawed as extremist organizations. That has exposed hundreds of people associated with the groups to prosecution. Many of his top associates have left the country. About 50 websites that his team ran have been blocked, and dozens of regional offices have been closed.

The authorities have moved to block the Smart Voting website as well, but some internet users can still access it.

Authorities urged Apple and Google to delete the mobile app designed by Navalnys team to promote Smart Voting, warning them that their failure to do so will be interpreted as interference in Russian elections.

They also demanded that Google and Yandex, the biggest Russian search engine, remove references to Smart Voting from the search results. So far, the demands have not been met.

Volkov said this multipronged attack disrupted operations, intimidated supporters and made it harder to promote Smart Voting. There were fewer online registrations on its website this year.

At the same time, however, the mobile app has had record downloads last month, and this is cool, Volkov said.

HOW HAS IT BEEN RECEIVED IN RUSSIAN POLITICS?

Smart Voting has been criticized by independent candidates and opposition groups for not supporting those who are genuinely against Kremlin policies. It has indeed backed candidates from nominal opposition parties that almost always toe the Kremlins line.

Navalny's team maintains that Smart Voting is not about voting for an ideal candidate, but rather is about defeating United Russia and Kremlin-backed politicians. Volkov said the goal is to disrupt and directly challenge a system that, in Putin's two decades in power, already has decided who will get a seat and who wont.

They have already assigned offices and positions, they have already laid out who will become a deputy.  We want to bring the people into the picture, when all of a sudden candidates on all levels realize that the voter is also present in this equation, and they should look up to the voter, he said.

Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Moscow Center says Smart Voting is a technical instrument aimed at shaking the structure the authorities would like to see as perfectly ideal.

Attempts to disrupt the system are painful for authorities, and thats why theyre taking Smart Voting seriously, theyre taking Navalny seriously, he said.

CAN IT UPEND THE KREMLINS DUMA ELECTION PLANS?

Putin expressed hope last month that United Russia will continue to dominate the parliament. Recent polls have shown, however, that only 27% of Russians are willing to vote for the party.

Nevertheless, political analysts believe it will be hard for the opposition to ensure a wide use of Smart Voting.

The authorities will do everything to completely block information on the candidates (endorsed by Smart Voting), so I believe this system will not be widely used by the electorate, says Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of R.Politik, a political think-tank.

Abbas Gallyamov, former Kremlin speechwriter turned political analyst, pointed out that Navalny, with his political authority and charisma, won't have the opportunity to advocate for Smart Voting as much as he used to.

Youre not voting for a perfect candidate that personally suits you; youre often voting for a person who is unpleasant stylistically and ideologically.  One needs a strong motive, one needs someone with authority to urge them to do that, Gallyamov said. While Navalny has that authority, his allies do not, he added.

Still, Gallyamov believes at least 15% of the voters might use Smart Voting.

"The protest sentiment, the discontent are there; they havent gone anywhere, he said.

Volkov doesnt offer numbers when asked what would constitute success. The most important thing, he said, is that Smart Voting changes the general perception of how the political system works and undermines the Kremlins vertical of power, bringing back competitive politics and making voters matter.

Even more politicians will start thinking about the voters in the next election or the next political event, he said.
MIAMI (AP)  A South Florida man claiming to be a film financier was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison for running a scheme to steal over $60 million from investors and producers seeking financing for movies and Broadway shows.

Benjamin Forrest McConley, 39, was sentenced in Miami federal court, according to court records. Besides serving prison time, he must also pay restitution. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
OPELIKA, Ala. (AP)  A former district attorney is asking a judge to keep him out of prison and allow him to serve his 10-month prison sentence on perjury and ethics charges in a community corrections program.

Attorneys for former Lee County District Attorney Brandon Hughes last week filed a motion seeking a placement in a community corrections program, arguing that is a more appropriate setting for Hughes and would would allow him to support his family.

The Alabama attorney generals office is opposing the request, saying that would be insufficient punishment for the former public official.

Hughes in June pleaded guilty to perjury and using his public office for personal gain. Hughes had been accused of giving false statements to a grand jury and using $14,000 dollars from the District Attorneys Fund to litigate a settlement involving a sex discrimination claim filed against him by a former prosecutor in his office.

A judge last month said Hughes could remain free on bond until the resolution of his application for community corrections. The judge has scheduled a Sept. 18 hearing on the request.

Mr. Hughes has not been convicted of a violent crime nor does he have a criminal history. Therefore, Mr. Hughes does not pose a threat to the community in any form, his attorney wrote in a motion seeking a placement in community corrections.

Prosecutors from the Alabama attorney generals office are opposing the request, likening it to a decision to, hang the petty thief while the corrupt public figure serves probation.

Prosecutors said a community corrections program would be little more than probation and allow Hughes to sleep at his home at night.

A CCP sentence, on the other hand, would be wholly inappropriate for the top prosecutor in Lee County who used his office for personal gain and lied to the grand jury about it, prosecutors wrote.
BOSTON (AP)  A former Boston Police Department clerk who according to authorities sometimes forged her supervisor's signature to boost her overtime pay by nearly $30,000 over a two-year period has pleaded guilty, federal prosecutors said.

Marilyn Golisano, 68, pleaded guilty Monday to embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds and wire fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.
TOKYO (AP)  Officials at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant have acknowledged they neglected to investigate the cause of faulty exhaust filters that are key to preventing radioactive pollution, after being forced to replace them twice.

Representatives of the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, made the revelation Monday during a regular review of the Fukushima Daiichi plant at a meeting with Japanese regulatory authorities. Three reactors at the plant melted following a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The filters are designed to prevent particles from escaping into the air from a contaminated water treatment system  called Advanced Liquid Processing System  that removes selected radioactive isotopes in the water to below legal limits.

At the core of this problem is TEPCOs attitude, a Nuclear Regulation Authority commissioner, Nobuhiko Ban, said at the meeting.

TEPCO has been repeatedly criticized for coverups and delayed disclosures of problems at the plant. In February, it said two seismometers at one reactor had remained broken since last year and failed to collect data during a powerful earthquake.

Company officials said that 24 out of 25 filters attached to the water treatment equipment had been found damaged last month, after an alarm went off as workers were moving sludge from the unit to a container, temporarily suspending the water treatment. The operation partially resumed last week after the filters were replaced.

TEPCO said it had detected similar damage in all of the filters two years ago, but never investigated the cause of the problem and did not take any preventive steps after replacing the filters.

Another regulatory commissioner, Satoru Tanaka, said at the meeting that the utility company should have responded to the problem more quickly to minimize the risk of possible radiation leakage into the environment.

TEPCO officials said dust monitors indicated no radiation leaks to the outside or exposure to plant workers inside the water treatment facility.

Akira Ono, head of TEPCO's decommissioning unit, said he regretted the utility's failure to address the problem earlier. He promised to improve safety management.

Japanese officials are working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to prepare to discharge into the ocean the wrecked plant's cooling water, treated so its radioactivity levels are below legal limits. Slated to start in spring 2023, the controversial plan is fiercely opposed by Fukushimas fishing community, as well as local residents and nearby countries.

Fully decommissioning the nuclear plant is expected to take decades, experts say.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is considering President Joe Biden's nomination of a Vermont judge who played a role in the states passage of the first-in-the-nation civil unions law, a forerunner of same-sex marriage, to become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court.

At the start of the Tuesday hearing, Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, called the nomination of Beth Robinson, an associate justice on the Vermont Supreme Court, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit truly historic. The courts territory includes Connecticut, New York and Vermont.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Ida Nudel, one of the most prominent activists to campaign for the right of Jews to leave the Soviet Union in the 1970s and '80s, died in Israel on Tuesday, Israeli media reported. She was 90.

Nudel was born in the Soviet Union in 1931 and came to prominence in the 1970s as a leading activist for the rights of jailed Soviet Jews, and as a refusenik  one of thousands banned from leaving the country at the time.
WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Warsaw's Jewish community buried an unidentified Holocaust victim on Tuesday whose remains were discovered this summer in a building that was within the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

We are here as the family for a person we don't know, Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said as the bones, wrapped in white cloth, lay on a wooden cart and community members gathered together.

Four men pulled the cart to the grave, where the bones were buried with soil from Israel, and Jewish leaders recited Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.

The ceremony took place in Warsaw's Jewish Cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe in a city that was a leading center of Jewish life until the Holocaust.

Leslaw Piszewski, chairman of the Jewish Community in Warsaw, said the burial was a very emotional event for him, all the more so coming on the eve of Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred days in the Jewish calendar.

After nearly 80 years this unknown person got his dignity back, Piszewski said. This is very important. This is the only thing that we can do for the unknown victim."

The remains were discovered due to a water break in a building in Muranow, a Warsaw district that was largely Jewish before the war and was the site of the Warsaw Ghetto during the German wartime occupation of Poland.

Marek Slusarz, a man who lives and runs a community nonprofit foundation in the building, discovered the human bones when he was searching in the basement for the source of a water break. When he and a plumber found them, he alerted police and the Jewish community.

It is believed that the remains belonged to a Jew who was in hiding when the German forces crushed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 by razing the area to the ground.

The area was rebuilt after the war on top of the wartime rubble.

Slusarz said that despite the tragedy, it was a source of satisfaction for him to have a role in the victim receiving a dignified burial. Not Jewish himself, he said he hoped such events would inspire younger generations in Poland to preserve the memory of the centuries of Jewish and non-Jewish co-existence in Poland.

A representative from the Israeli Embassy laid a wreath and Wojciech Kolarski, secretary of state in the office of President Andrzej Duda, also paid his respects at the funeral.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the first name of the Jewish official is Leslaw, not Leszlaw, and his title is chairman of the Jewish Community in Warsaw, not the president of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland.
PHOENIX (AP)  A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.

Michael Lacey, James Larkin and four other Backpage employees were accused of taking part in a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the site. While prosecutors say the site published many ads that depicted children who were victims of sex trafficking, no one in the federal case in Arizona is charged with sex trafficking or child sex trafficking.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said that the cumulative effect of the child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by witnesses for the government is something that I cant overlook and will not overlook.

Before the trial, the judge concluded she would allow evidence showing that people were trafficked using the site, but would not allow prosecutors to linger on the details of the abuse suffered by victims.

It seemed the government abused that leeway, Brnovich said. The judge said one government witness testified about being raped more than once, which raises a whole new emotional response from people.

While saying she didnt believe prosecutors had committed intentional misconduct, Brnovich said prosecutors are held to a high standard and it wasnt their job to to win at all costs.

Lacey and Larkin said the site never allowed ads for sex and used people and automated tools to try to delete such ads. They maintained content on the site was protected by the First Amendment and that the site helped authorities in investigating sex trafficking cases and earned compliments from law enforcement for their assistance.

In all, six former Backpage operators have pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating prostitution. Of the six, Lacey, Larkin and two others have pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges.

Lacey and Larkin founded the Phoenix New Times, held ownership interests in other weeklies such as The Village Voice and ultimately sold their newspapers in 2013. But they held onto Backpage, which authorities say generated $500 million in prostitution-related revenue from its inception in 2004 until April 2018 when it was shut down by the government.

Prosecutors say Backpages operators ignored warnings to stop running prostitution ads, some involving children. They are accused of giving free ads to prostitutes and cultivating arrangements with others who worked in the sex trade to get them to post ads with the company.

Authorities say Backpage employees would identify prostitutes through Google searches, then call and offer them a free ad. The site also is accused of having a business arrangement in which it would place ads on another site that lets customers post reviews of their experiences with prostitutes.

Prosecutors said the moderation efforts by the site were aimed at concealing the true nature of the ads.

The sites marketing director has pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate prostitution and acknowledged he participated in a scheme to give free ads to prostitutes to win over their business. Additionally, the CEO of the company when the government shut the site down, Carl Ferrer, pleaded guilty to a separate federal conspiracy case in Arizona and to state money laundering charges in California.

The judge has scheduled an Oct. 5 status hearing.

In a separate case in state court in California, Lacey and Larkin had previously pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges. Prosecutors allege Backpages operators illegally funneled nearly $45 million through multiple companies and created websites to get around banks that refused to process their transactions.

Earlier in the case, a judge threw out pimping conspiracy and other state charges against Backpages operators, ruling the charges were barred by a federal law protecting free speech that grants immunity to websites posting content from others. ___

This story has been corrected to say the judge scheduled an Oct. 5 status hearing, not a new trial. ____ Associated Press writer Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A contract teacher at a Louisiana prison is in custody for allegedly bringing contraband, including cellphones, cigarettes and alcohol, to inmates.

Mark Shamburger, 61, of Ethel, Louisiana was arrested Monday after an investigation by Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, Louisiana, the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections said in a news release. Shamburger was transported to the East Feliciana Parish jail on charges of introduction of contraband into a penal institution and malfeasance in office. It was unknown if he has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  A 28-year-old Oregon man serving a sentence for criminal mischief and robbery died in custody Sept. 6, officials said this week.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Devin Michael Stephen Harris, of Lyons, who had been incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary, died at a local hospital, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.

It is unlikely Morris died from COVID-19 because the state released his name and generally does not identify inmates who succumb to the coronavirus. The State Medical Examiners Office has not yet completed an autopsy to determine the cause of his death, a spokesperson for the office said.

Harris entered prison June 21 on a first-degree criminal mischief and third-degree robbery conviction and was set for release on Sept. 27, 2023 at the earliest.

At least 35 inmates have died in the correction departments custody in 2021, according to an estimate by an agency spokesperson.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)  A Kentucky man whose sentence was commuted by former Gov. Matt Bevin is scheduled to plead guilty in federal court, where he is charged with producing child pornography, according to court records.

Dayton R. Jones, 27, of Hopkinsville, pleaded guilty in state court five years ago to first-degree sodomy, first-degree wanton endangerment and distributing material portraying a sexual performance by a minor. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But after three years, Bevin commuted Jones' sentence to time served, one of hundreds of pardons and commutations the Republican former governor issued in his final days in office.

Jones allegedly took part in a sexual assault on an unconscious teenage boy, made a video and posted it to social media, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

Jones is scheduled for a hearing on Oct. 20 to change his plea to guilty, according to the court docket. The docket entry was first reported by the Herald-Leader.

A federal grand jury indicted Jones in June 2020 on a charge of using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction.

The charge carries a minimum 15-year prison sentence. The docket does not say what charge Jones will plead to or address the length of his sentence. His attorney did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.

Bevin has said there was no evidence of Jones guilt, though others involved in the crime implicated Jones and the prosecutor strongly disagreed the evidence was lacking.

Federal authorities also pursued a charge against another person Bevin let out of prison. Patrick Baker's family had held a political fundraiser for Bevin in 2018.

A federal court jury convicted Baker, 43, last month on a charge of murdering a drug dealer in Knox County in 2014 while trying to rob him of pain pills and cash.

Baker was convicted in 2017, but Bevin pardoned him in December 2019.

Baker's sentencing is scheduled for December. He faces up to life in prison.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)  A panel of Maryland lawmakers approved an emergency measure on Tuesday to require masks in K-12 schools to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

The 10-7 vote by the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review puts the emergency regulation into effect for up to 180 days. The Maryland State Board of Education approved the regulation last month on an 11-1 vote.

Only two of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions, Carroll and Somerset counties, had not already required students to wear masks while attending school.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended universal mask-wearing for teachers and students inside school buildings this fall, citing the rapid spread of the delta variant.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury said the mask requirement will increase safety and help reduce the need for quarantining sick students.

Seventeen other states, including most of Marylands neighbors, have required that all individuals wear masks in school buildings," Choudhury said.

Choudhury said data will be reviewed each month, and the board of education will consider whether the requirement could be lifted, if conditions improve enough, in consultation with the state health department.

Opponents of the requirement criticized the previous vote by the board and Tuesday's vote by lawmakers for encroaching on local school control. They backed Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's position to let local officials decide on masks in schools.

The committee's vote was along party lines, with 10 Democrats voting in support and seven Republicans voting against it.

Marsha Herbert, president of the Board of Education of Carroll County, urged the panel to vote against the mandate. But she said in a statement after the vote that the county would comply.

The state of Maryland is not in a state of emergency," Herbert testified before the vote. "The state board of education has definitely taken on a very large overreach of power.

In Somerset County, which had a mask-optional policy, local school officials also issued a statement saying the county on the Eastern Shore would comply with the mandate.

The vote came as Maryland has seen a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. The state reported an increase of 1,094 confirmed cases over a 24-hour period Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, hospitalizations reached 828, an increase of 26 from Monday, after having dipped below 100 on July 2.
BALTIMORE (AP)  The Maryland Zoo will vaccinate certain animals that have been proven to be susceptible to COVID-19, officials said Tuesday.

We have not had any cases of COVID-19 in the animals here, but the vaccine will add another layer of protection for the animals in our care, Dr. Ellen Bronson, the zoos senior director of animal health, conservation and research, said in a news release.
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP)  The house former drug kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman fled in 2014 when Mexican marines had him surrounded underwent some changes recently as the Mexican government prepared to give it away in a national lottery.

The surveillance cameras that covered every angle of the modest homes exterior were removed. And the hole under a bathtub that Guzman had slipped through to reach a network of tunnels was covered with a concrete slab.

The Associated Press was given access to the property in a quiet Culiacan neighborhood ahead of the lottery. In recent weeks, Mexicos Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People, known by its initials as INDEP, gave it a fresh coat of white paint inside and out and tiled over the spot in the bathroom where the tub and tunnel entry point had been.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been talking up the lottery of seized properties, but gave no mention to the history of this particular house. An expansive home in one of Mexico Citys swankiest neighborhoods and a private box at the famed Azteca Stadium have garnered more attention.

INDEPs website lists it only as Casa en Culiacan. Its about 2,800 square feet and located, perhaps appropriately, in a neighborhood called Libertad, or Freedom. The government values the two-bedroom home at $183,000.

The house had been abandoned for years and the marines did some damage when they searched it, so repairs were necessary.

Guzman escaped that time through the tunnels, but his freedom lasted only days. On Feb. 22, 2014, the marines descended again, this time in a condo on the coast in Mazatlan.

By that time, Guzman already had a reputation for daring escapes. He had slipped out of one of Mexicos maximum-security prisons in 2001, allegedly in a laundry cart.

In July 2015, less than a year and half after his capture in Mazatlan, Guzman slipped through a tunnel dug up to the drain in his cells shower and rode a motorcycle on tracks laid through a tunnel to escape another maxium-security Mexican prison.

The marines captured him again six months later in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he had been holed up in another unremarkable home.

Guzman was extradited to the United States, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in July 2019.

INDEP officials, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak, said they were surprised the house was getting attention. It is not luxurious. There is no swimming pool, none of the ostentation that characterizes other narco properties in Sinaloa.

People nearby said they didn't know who their neighbor was.

We never knew anything, we never knew who lived there, we never saw anyone, said one neighbor, who quickly cut off the conversation. Many locals aren't interested in speaking of Guzman or even saying his name in a place where the Sinaloa cartel remains powerful.

The house was well located for its previous purposes. There is a neighbor only on one side. On the other is a subterranean storm sewer  Culiacan built hundreds of kilometers of them to deal with torrential rains  which is where the bathroom tunnel connected to make Guzmans escape possible. A school is across the street.

On the morning of Feb. 17, 2014, the neighborhood was suddenly filled with the marines grey trucks. They blocked traffic. There was no doubt they were interested in the seemingly unremarkable house.

But they didnt find Guzman there. In fact, during his U.S. trial, a witness testified that Guzman was not in any of the five houses marines searched, despite reports to the contrary at the time.

Five days later, the marines caught up to Guzman 125 miles to the south in Mazatlan, where he was staying with his wife Emma Coronel and their twin daughters.

INDEP tried to auction off the home last year. It started the bidding at about $130,000. There were no takers.

Now, Lopez Obrador is giving it away as part of the lottery, with the drawing scheduled for Wednesday, the day before Mexico celebrates its Independence Day. Its the first time Mexicos national lottery is giving away property. The proceeds are to go to Mexicos Olympic athletes.

This raffle is very important and I call on all the people, those who can help buying a ticket, or two or three, Lopez Obrador said at his daily news conference last week.

In downtown Mexico City, lottery ticket vendors said sales have been good.

Jorge Lopez said hes been selling 100 to 120 of the $12 tickets daily since last week. Right now, its selling very well. He said the value of the 22 prizes, many well above that of the Culiacan house, is drawing attention. Some people ask about who the properties previous owners were, but not many, he said.

Back in Culiacan, across town near the center, Ignacio Mariscal said he supports the lottery. Those houses didnt serve anyone; those people had them, Mariscal said. I see it as perfectly fine. Its to help people in need.

__

AP writer Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed to this report.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP)  Hundreds of people chanted and held signs outside a University of Kansas fraternity house where a member is accused of sexually assaulting another student.

The Kansas City Star reports that the Monday night protest outside the Phi Kappa Psi house came after the fraternity officials reported the allegations over the weekend.

University Chancellor Douglas Girod said a statement Tuesday that fraternity leaders have been cooperative.

First, we want to say we appreciate that so many members of our community were moved to gather in support of combatting sexual assault," Girod said. "Sadly, sexual assault continues to be pervasive in our society, and we are heartened to know that so many of you feel compelled to engage on this topic.

He added that the university takes seriously all reports of sexual assault. The university has robust processes to investigate reported instances and hold accountable those individuals and organizations that violate university policies. He also noted the university has a number of resources to assist survivors of sexual violence.

The Lawrence Kansas Police Department responded to what was initially reported as a trespassing in progress, and encountered several hundred people engaged in protest, police said in a news release. Law enforcement agencies maintained a presence for the duration of the protest to ensure the safety of everyone involved."

No arrests were made and no injuries were reported, police said.

The police department also denied social media claims that it had used pepper spray on protestors, saying this was done by private security personnel in advance of police arrival.

A spokesman for the fraternity said the organization has been made aware of the allegations involving one of its new undergraduate members and the university was immediately notified.

Phi Kappa Psi takes these allegations very seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement, the statement said. Due to the recent nature of these allegations and the need for a full and complete investigation, Phi Kappa Psi cannot provide further comments at this time.

A petition to remove Phi Kappa Psi from campus had garnered more than 13,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
WINDHAM, Vt. (AP)  A recount vote to shutter a small elementary school in Vermont confirmed the earlier result of a yearslong debate.

Last week, residents of Windham voted 137-135 in favor of closing the elementary school. The recount confirmed the margin of two votes, WCAX reported.

The school's closing will allow families in Windham to choose where their children go to school.

The parents of the students supported the vote, citing that Windham Elementary was lacking compared with other schools in the area.

There has been no petition to repeal the decision to close Windham Elementary, the news station reported.
In the lab, robots are engineered for mind-blowing displays of perception and agility, like Boston Dynamics' parkour performing bot and the humanoid shooting hips at the Olympics.

But in the home, this technology is now deployed for the mundane task of spotting dog poop - a feature with expansive potential privacy costs.

"Roomba j7+," the latest version of iRobot's popular home vacuum, claims to give customers "even more control over their clean," with a camera that can identify and avoid pet droppings. Instead of smearing it all over the floor, the device will gracefully avoid the poop and even snap a picture and text it to your phone if you're out, the company says.

The $849 vacuum, released last week, relies on an AI-boosted brain and camera system to identify objects on the floor in real-time. It's designed to be a "thoughtful, collaborative cleaning partner" suited for people who want tech to serve them better, iRobot says in a news release. For the company that pioneered robot vacuums, it represents a significant upgrade.

"Smart home products often fail to live up to consumer expectations when they lack context of the home, cannot learn independently and require complex programming for basic functionality," said iRobot CEO Colin Angle. "We think we can deliver a (smart) home (product) that actually meets your need."

But there's a catch: Accessing these features requires that you share sensitive household data.

The company touts that the gadget gets smarter every time you use it, a feature made possible by an AI and vision platform, trained on tens of thousands of photos taken inside iRobot employees' homes, the company says. The photos help the vacuum make sense of what it is confronting as it scoots around your floor, and AI allows it to personalize how and when it cleans.

To maneuver around pet poop, the luxury vacuum uses a set of sensors to navigate around a room and map your furniture layout. If an object lies in its path that it suspects is a chord or dog poop, it'll take images of the objects and send them to a smartphone app.

iRobot built over 100 physical models of pet droppings, and trained algorithms on over a hundred thousand images to get the device to avoid crap, the company said in a video posted on Twitter.

If the gadget continuously encounters cords in a specific part of the room, it might mark off that area as a potential "keep out zone" for you to confirm on the app. It may even learn when and where you typically like for it to clean and figure out more opportune times to roam around based on when you're away from home, said Angle.

It's not just iRobot rolling out advanced vacs with more powerful vision and decision-making capabilities. In January, Samsung revealed a "JetBot90 AI+" with object recognition backed by Intel's AI software. The $1,300 vacuum doubles as a home security camera, allowing people to live-stream their rooms from robot eye level. The device is also supposed to avoid dog droppings and cables, the company says.

But experts say AI-powered home devices raise privacy considerations, in part because of the intimacy of the data they collect.

"People are used to thinking about whether Alexa is listening in on their house, or what the Ring doorbell is capturing outside, but they might not realize that the existence of a camera on their vacuum could present those same types of concerns," said Tom Williams, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the director of the Mines Interactive Robotics Research Lab at the Colorado School of Mines.

While audio-based home assistants are common, "once you move video into the home, it results in a bunch of new things being captured that audio alone wouldn't be able to do," he said.

Since 2018, Roombas have used sensors and a low-resolution camera, pointed at the ceiling, to map your home so the vacuum can move swiftly. But with a front-facing camera, the latest model can see anything left on the floor, and more easily avoid obstacles.

For customer privacy, the company says the vacuum only recognizes three specific objects: chords, pet droppings and its charging base. Angle says the software automatically shuts off the camera if it detects a human or photo of a human within view, and finds a human-free angle to capture. He also says the firm will never sell user data: Images taken by the Roomba are stored on the device, not on the cloud, unless you agree to send them to the smartphone app or to iRobot.

If you opt-in to sharing them with the company, those images are encrypted, and sent to iRobot, where staffers unencrypt them and compare them to other images in the company's database and use them to further train its robot vacuums, said Michelle Gattuso, product management vice president of portfolio and software experiences at iRobot.

Still, there are concerns about what happens should Roomba ever decide to share this data, or is unwittingly hacked.

"In theory, they could sell granular information to a Redfin, or Zillow that's trying to get an understanding of the interior of a home that's not for sale yet," said Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington researching policy and emerging technology.

iRobot says all images are deleted after 30 days. Since images taken of objects are encrypted, if someone were to hack the robot, they wouldn't glean much, the company claims.

"Even if we were hacked, and someone got the map of your home, they would know that you have a kitchen. They would know that you have something in that kitchen called the table. They would not be able to see what your kitchen looked like," Angle says. "What we store is very abstract. It's a line drawing."

Outside experts say people should remember that wherever there is data, there exists a chance for someone to see it and interpret what it means.

"The attribute of data is that it is observable because it exists," said Karl Rauscher, founder of the Association of Cloud Robot Operators, a robotics consulting firm. "If it's only observable by the person who has the encryption key, then any of these things could be compromised through permutations, or by simply accessing the key."
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Koreas competition watchdog plans to fine Google at least 207.4 billion won ($177 million) for allegedly blocking smartphone makers like Samsung from using other operating systems, in what would be one of the country's biggest antitrust penalties ever.

Google said it plans to challenge the fine. It has accused South Korean authorities of disregarding how its software policy benefits hardware partners and consumers.

Tuesdays announcement came as South Korea also began enforcing a revised telecommunications law that prohibits app market operators like Google and Apple from requiring smartphone users to pay with their in-app purchasing systems. It is the first nation to adopt such regulations.

South Korea has always closely scrutinized how foreign technology companies behave in its market. Much of the focus in recent years has been on Google and Apple as officials vowed to prevent them from abusing their dominant market positions in mobile internet.

Joh Sung-wook, chairwoman of South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, said Google has hampered competition since 2011 by obligating its electronics partners to sign anti-fragmentation agreements. This has prevented the companies from installing modified versions of Googles operating systems on devices like smartphones and smartwatches. That gave Google an easy way to cement its leadership in mobile software and app markets, she said.

Joh said manufacturers like Samsung and LG had to agree to the terms when signing contracts with Google for app store licensing or early access to computer codes so that they could build devices in advance before Google released new versions of its Android and other operating systems.

In an emailed statement, Google said the FTC is ignoring how Androids compatibility program, which defines the requirements for device makers and developers to achieve compatibility with the operating system, has spurred incredible hardware and software innovation, and brought enormous success to Korean OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and developers.

This in turn has led to greater choice, quality and a better user experience for Korean consumers, Google said. KFTCs decision released today ignores these benefits, and will undermine the advantages enjoyed by consumers. Google intends to appeal the KFTCs decision.

Joh pointed out that Samsung, the maker of the globally popular Galaxy Android phones, suffered a huge setback in 2013 when Google forced it to abort its plans to use a customized version of Google software on its Galaxy Gear smartwatches.

Samsung switched to a little-known operating system called Tizen but gave up on the software after struggling with a lack of applications. The companys new smartwatches are now powered by Googles Wear OS. LG was also thwarted from releasing smart speakers based on customized Google software.

The fine announced for Google would be the ninth largest the FTC has ever imposed. The company may end up paying even more.

Kim Min-jeong, another FTC official, said the amount announced by her commission was tentative, based on the revenue Google generated in South Korea from 2011 to April this year. She said the finalized fine, which could be announced in October or November, might be slightly higher.

We will ban (Google) from requiring device manufacturers to sign anti-fragmentation agreements in relation to (business contracts) regarding Play Store licensing and early access to operating systems, Joh said in a news conference.

Our corrective measures  will allow domestic device manufacturers to release fork devices in the domestic and foreign markets and foreign manufacturers to release fork devices in the domestic market, she said, referring to devices powered by customized operating systems.

The FTC began examining the case in 2016 and is conducting other investigations of Google, including its behavior in mobile applications and advertising markets.

Earlier Tuesday, the Korea Communications Commission, the countrys telecommunications regulator, said a revised telecommunications law prohibiting Google and Apple from requiring developers to use their in-app purchasing systems has taken effect.

The tech giants face global criticism over forcing developers to use in-app purchasing systems, for which the companies receive commissions of up to 30%. The companies say the commissions help pay for the cost of maintaining the app markets.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Bruce Springsteens most memorable artifacts including his favorite Fender guitar and stage outfits will be on display in a traveling interactive exhibit.

The Grammy Museum announced Tuesday that Bruce Springsteen Live! will open at the Grammy Museum Experience in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Oct. 1. The exhibit will feature Springsteen and the E Street Bands live performance footage, instruments, stage costumes and exclusive interviews.

The exhibit in New Jersey will run until March 20, 2022. It will travel to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in the fall next year.

As we reopen the doors to our museum and so many of us return to the workplace, it only seemed fitting that we would look to The Boss to lead the way. said Mark Conklin, director of artist relations and programming at the Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center, in a statement. No musical artist has captured the spirit and resiliency of New Jerseyans in song better than Bruce Springsteen, so we couldnt imagine a more appropriate exhibit at this moment.

Springsteens modified Fender guitar that was featured on several of his album covers such as Human Torch and Born to Run will be displayed. Other items will include stage clothing from Springsteen and members of E Street along with a signed itinerary from his Human Rights Tour, a six-week benefit tour in 1988. A ticket booth stage prop from the Tunnel of Love tour will also be highlighted at the exhibit.

A saxophone played by the late Clarence Clemons  who performed alongside Springsteen for 40 years  will be on display. The saxophone was passed on to Clemons nephew, Jake Clemons, who continues to use the instrument as the newest member of the E Street Band since 2012.

Through an interactive kiosk, visitors will be able to view Springsteens handwritten set lists and create their own encores to compare against the legendary performers original.

Few performers embody the soul and excitement of live rock and roll like Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, said co-curator Robert Santelli, founding executive director of the Grammy Museum. This exhibit will undoubtedly get fans excited about seeing Springsteen again in concert, hopefully soon.

The Grammy Museum partnered with the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University.
MIAMI (AP)  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is seeking to add to a new member to his team negotiating in Mexico with his political opponents  an ally jailed in Cape Verde awaiting extradition to the U.S. on money laundering charges.

Alex Saab will be incorporated into the government delegation immediately, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who heads Venezuela's team, announced Tuesday on Venezuela's state television.

Saab's appointment is unlikely to have any immediate impact on his legal troubles. A week ago, Cape Verde's Constitutional Court voted unanimously to reject his appeal of an earlier court ruling approving his extradition to face federal charges in Miami.

But the Maduro government's decision to redouble its embrace of the fugitive is likely to hang over dialogue efforts that already faced huge obstacles after years of bitter street fighting in Venezuela.

Venezuela's opposition compared the gambit to a failed attempt by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to name a rebel leader jailed in the U.S. to its delegation that negotiated a landmark peace deal in 2016 to end that country's half century armed conflict.

"We're not going to get distracted from our central agenda," the opposition delegation said in a statement. We Venezuelans need an integral accord that restores democracy and the opportunity to emerge from this immense social, economic and political crisis.

Saab, a businessman originally from Colombia, was arrested in June 2020 when his private jet made a refueling stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government has described as a humanitarian mission.

U.S. officials believe he holds numerous secrets about how Maduro, the presidents family and his top aides allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars in government contracts amid widespread hunger in oil-rich Venezuela.

Maduro's government has protested his arrest as illegal, claiming Saab was a diplomatic envoy and therefore possesses immunity from prosecution while on an official mission.

The talks that began a month ago in Mexico are aimed at resolving the South American countrys longstanding political dispute. The sessions are being sponsored by Norway, with Russia and the Netherlands playing a supporting role.

As part of the dialogue effort, the opposition  which with U.S. backing refuses to recognize the legitimacy of Maduro's administration  has agreed to participate in regional elections scheduled for later this year.
A woman is suing a New York fertility doctor, claiming he used his own sperm to secretly impregnate multiple patients  something she said she discovered when DNA genealogy tests revealed she had at least nine half-siblings.

The lawsuit was filed Saturday by the 35-year-old daughter of a woman who got fertility treatments from Dr. Morris Wortman in Rochester in the 1980s. It said he falsely told the family the sperm donor had been a local medical student. He kept the truth a secret, the lawsuit said, even after the woman, his biological daughter, became his gynecology patient.

Wortman was with patients and unavailable for comment Tuesday, his Rochester office said. The office did not immediately respond when asked for the name of an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The case is one of more than 20 instances in recent years where fertility doctors have been accused of using their own sperm, rather than samples from anonymous donors, to treat patients. The discovery of such scenarios has been made possible with the rise of genealogy sites like Ancestry.com and 23andMe.

In Indiana, Dr. Donald Cline was accused of using his own sperm to impregnate as many as dozens of women after telling them the donors were anonymous. He ultimately pleaded guilty to lying to investigators during an investigation and was given a one-year suspended sentence.

HBO released a documentary last year, Baby God, about a Nevada doctor accused of inseminating multiple patients with his sperm. In another example, a Colorado doctor was sued by at least six families alleging negligence and fraud for allegedly using his own sperm in several successful artificial insemination procedures from 1975 to 1989. A New Jersey woman sued a former New York doctor with similar allegations earlier this year.

The woman who sued Wortman asked, through her attorney, that her name be withheld because of the personal nature of the allegations and because they involved her medical history. She declined to be interviewed.

The lawsuit differs from some others involving fertility doctors in that Wortman, a gynecologist, had also treated the woman as a patient for nearly 10 years, performing numerous breast and pelvic exams and discussing her sex drive and other personal issues.

The doctors conduct shocks the conscience, the legal filing said.

The lawsuit said the woman had known that she was born in 1985 through artificial insemination and that Wortman had, in fact, been revered in her family for helping her mother conceive through what they thought was an anonymous sperm donation from a University of Rochester medical student.

But the woman began to question the story after taking a genetic test in 2016 that began to link her with one half-sibling after another  all people who were, themselves, the children of sperm donors.

One such sibling, David Berry, had been in touch with the woman for about four years before their growing suspicions were confirmed. He and other half-siblings were at first delighted to meet over their shared bond. His feelings are more complicated now.

An interesting dichotomy is feeling gratitude for your existence and knowing at the same time that you are the product of something that should have never happened, Berry, 36, said by phone from Miami, Florida.

It became a tougher pill to swallow, he said. On one hand youre grateful for your existence and the people youre sharing the experience with. On the other, I dont know how you forgive the violation of confidence and trust that a woman puts into her physician in the most intimate of settings.

In the meantime, Wortman continued to give the woman medical care, sometimes peppering her visits with personal questions about her husband and children and telling her about his own background as a child of Holocaust survivors. At one appointment, Wortman introduced her to his wife.

During an April visit, the lawsuit said, Wortman chuckled to himself and said aloud, Youre a really good kid, such a good kid."

Follow-up DNA testing with Berry and Wortmans daughter from his first marriage confirmed the genetic link in May, the lawsuit said.

The suit accuses Wortman and his Rochester clinic, the Center for Menstrual Disorders, of medical malpractice, battery, infliction of emotional distress, negligence, fraud and lack of informed consent.

Wortman is unlikely to face criminal charges because too much time has passed, according to the Monroe County District Attorneys Office.

While no victim has reached out yet, our appeals bureau did do some quick research and it appears that in reference to what has been made publicly available, any criminal action is barred by the statute of limitations, spokesperson Calli Marianetti said in an email Tuesday.

A handful of states, including Indiana, where Cline practiced, have enacted laws in recent years expressly making it illegal for a doctor to secretly donate sperm for a fertility patient, but few if any legal restrictions existed in the 1970s and 1980s, the period involved in many of the allegations.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A man who escaped death row in Louisiana in 2012 after he was exonerated by DNA evidence for a murder he didnt commit has died of COVID-19.

Damon Thibodeauxs death earlier this month was so unfair, according to a Minneapolis attorney who worked to free Thibodeaux after 16 years behind bars, including 15 on death row, after he was convicted in the 1996 death of his 14-year-old step-cousin.

Im struggling to make peace with it, but you cant," said Steve Kaplan, the now-retired lawyer who helped clear Thibodeaux and assisted him in moving to Minnesota to restart his life.

Thibodeaux, who eventually settled with his family in Texas, was a long-haul trucker who landed in Jacksonville, Florida hospital with the coronavirus in early August. That was a few days after getting his first vaccine shot against the virus. After three weeks in and out of intensive care, the 47-year-old Thibodeaux was expecting to come home.

Bro, Im ready to get out of this place and come home, he told his younger brother, David Thibodeaux, on the evening of Sept. 2. A few hours later, David's phone rang again with a doctor asking for permission to stop resuscitation on Damon after his lungs had collapsed and his heart had stopped, the Star Tribune reported.

My heart sunk, David said in an interview with the newspaper last week. I wasnt just being asked to let my brother go. Youre asking me let my best friend go.

Growing up, the brothers endured abuse from their mothers ex-husband. Damon also was sexually abused by the man and later by another relative, a neighbor and eventually his grandfather. We shared a lot of hardships together, David said,

Damon Thibodeaux was a 22-year-old deckhand on a Mississippi River barge in July 1996 when his 14-year-old step-cousin went missing while Thibodeaux was at her familys apartment. After the girls body was discovered along the river, Thibodeaux was subjected to a grueling interrogation that pushed him to confess to a crime he didnt commit. A year later he was sentenced to die.

Kaplan and others from the Minneapolis law firm Fredrikson and Byron helped prove Thibodeauxs innocence, noting that his confession didnt match the physical evidence, that witness statements were inconsistent and that DNA tests showed no connection between him and the murder. The district attorneys own expert concluded that Thibodeaux had falsely confessed to the crime

The conviction was overturned and he was set free in September 2012.

The lawyers who worked on his release said that rather than be angry and bitter about his path, Thibodeaux carried an easy smile along with optimism, kindness and grace.

He had an impact on everyone who had a privilege of knowing him, Kaplan said.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he will ask the Legislature to drop the current annual standardized testing in public schools and replace it with assessments taken throughout the year to better gauge individual student progress.

The Florida Standards Assessment are given at the end of each school year to assess students' gains in English, math and other subjects. The Department of Education website says the tests help Florida students succeed and serve Florida students by measuring education gains and progress.

But DeSantis said the system has flaws, including identifying students' weaknesses at the end of the year, instead of being able to help them during the current school year.

We need to measure results, we will continue to do it. We will continue to set high standards, but we also have to recognize that it is the year 2021 and the FSA is, quite frankly, outdated, DeSantis said at a news conference in Miami-Dade County.

He also said the existing test comes too late to adjust instruction plans if needed during the school year. You take a major test at the end of the year, you get the results at the end of the school year. You can't go back and fix that, the governor said.

DeSantis said he wants to replace the current testing with what he called progress monitoring," which he said will be short, individualized check-in assessments in fall, winter and spring that will take hours and not days to administer.

There will be 75% less time for testing, which will mean more time for learning. It also informs teachers in real time during the school year so you can make the necessary corrections, DeSantis said.

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said that schools basically shut down in April and May to prepare for the standardized tests.

We always say the FSA is an autopsy. We basically wait at the end of the year, we have this autopsy and we don't even gather the data until the end of the year, Corcoran said.
HOUSTON (AP)  Tropical Storm Nicholas gathered strength Monday and threatened to blow ashore in Texas as a hurricane that could bring up to 20 inches of rain to parts of the Gulf Coast, including the same area hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and storm-battered Louisiana.

Although the system was expected to generate only a fraction as much rain as Harvey, nearly all of the states coastline was under a tropical storm warning that included potential flash floods and urban flooding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said authorities placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the system's top sustained winds were 70 mph (110 kph), nearly hurricane strength and an increase of 10 mph (16 kph) from earlier in the day. If the winds hit 74 mph (119 kph), the storm would become a Category 1 hurricane. It was moving north-northeast at 12 mph (19 kph) and was predicted to make landfall late Monday night along the central Texas coast.

An automated station in Matagorda Bay registered a sustained wind of 55 mph (89 kph) with a gust of 71 mph (115 kph), the hurricane center reported.

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.

At dusk Monday, Nicholas was centered roughly 35 miles (60 kilometers) south-southwest of Matagorda, Texas, and a hurricane watch was issued from Port Aransas to San Luis Pass.

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 storm's arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year's 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 the utility tracking site 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, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
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A new fund has been launched to support Canada's resettlement of 20,000 Afghan refugees. Here is how you can donate.

How to Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund

How to Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund A new fund has been launched to support Canada's resettlement of 20,000 Afghan refugees. Here is how you can donate.

How to Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund A new fund has been launched to support Canada's resettlement of 20,000 Afghan refugees. Here is how you can donate.

How to Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund A new fund has been launched to support Canada's resettlement of 20,000 Afghan refugees. Here is how you can donate. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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The City of Toronto, the United Way of Greater Toronto, and Lifeline Afghanistan have launched the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund.

The three partners are collaborating to be able to provide direct resettlement support to Afghan refugees who resettle in Toronto.

Last month, the Canadian government committed to resettling at least 20,000 Afghan refugees after the Taliban retook power of Afghanistan.

Given it is Canadas largest city and leading destination of immigrants, and its large Afghan diaspora, Toronto will be a leading destination of the new Afghan arrivals.

Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund

Lifeline Afghanistan was formed a few weeks ago to mobilize stakeholders across sectors such as private citizens, community groups, educational institutions, and companies to help support Afghan resettlement efforts. Lifeline Afghanistan is also working to support the private sponsorship of Afghan refugees, as well as support their economic and social integration upon arriving to Canada.

United Way Greater Toronto will collect money donated to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund and distribute it among frontline immigrant-serving community agencies that will help Afghans settle in the Greater Toronto Area. Supports will include providing housing, job assistance, food, clothing, and community connections.

The City of Toronto will accept corporate or large-scale donations which it will also distribute to frontline immigrant-serving community agencies. It will also coordinate policies and strategies to respond to the arrival of Afghan refugees through its Toronto Newcomer Office.

The partners are working to establish an advisory committee that will be responsible for forming partnerships, and providing accountability for the management and distribution of the funds.

Donate to the Toronto Region Afghan Resettlement Fund

More information on the partnership, the fund, and other ways to support this cause is available on the City of Torontos website.

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Canada offers three major ways to apply to enter the country if you have a DUI.

I got a DUI years ago. Can I visit Canada? Canada offers three major ways to apply to enter the country if you have a DUI.

I got a DUI years ago. Can I visit Canada? Canada offers three major ways to apply to enter the country if you have a DUI.

I got a DUI years ago. Can I visit Canada? Canada offers three major ways to apply to enter the country if you have a DUI. Matt Hendler Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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People commonly ask: Can I enter Canada if I got a DUI 10 years ago?

Perhaps your DUI was 20 years ago. Or less than 5 years ago.

Whatever the case may be, you need to keep a few things in mind.

Canada has strict rules in place if you are looking to enter the country. It is crucial for you to understand these rules so that you are not unexpectedly refused at the Canadian border. Canada is able to find out if you have a DUI. Most of the time, those with DUI convictions are looking to visit from the United States.

Click here to get a free consultation with the Law Firm of Campbell Cohen: +1 (888) 940-4612

U.S. citizens looking to enter Canada need to present their passport or travel document to be screened by Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) officers. Their passports are linked to their FBI record which shows their criminal history. Any charge or conviction on your record can result in a CBSA officer deciding to turn you away at the border.

The good news is that Canada provides those with a DUI arrest or conviction with several options to demonstrate they are not a risk to the Canadian public.

You have both temporary and permanent options available to you. Your options depend on whether you were charged or convicted, the nature of your offenses, when you completed your sentence, among other factors.

The Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) is a temporary option.

Criminal Rehabilitation is a permanent solution.

A Legal Opinion Letter is an option if you are looking to travel to Canada with a criminal charge.

Temporary Resident Permit (TRP): A temporary option if your DUI sentence was completed less than 5 years ago

A Temporary Resident Permit is a temporary solution available to those who can demonstrate to the Canadian government they have a convincing reason to enter Canada. Key to the success of a TRP application is demonstrating that the benefits to Canada of your visit outweigh potential risks. A TRP is available to you if it has been less than five years since you finished your DUI sentence. Sentence means any judicial result following your case such as jail, probation, a fine, or community service.

If you are travelling to Canada for leisure, you are advised to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation if you are eligible for it.

Criminal Rehabilitation: A permanent option if your DUI sentence was completed 5 or more years ago

A Criminal Rehabilitation application is a permanent solution to clear your criminal history. If your application is successful, you do not need to worry about being turned away at the Canadian border as long as you do not commit any new offenses.

To apply, at least five years must have passed since you completed your DUI sentence.

Legal Opinion Letter: An option if you have been charged with a DUI, but not convicted

Finally, a Legal Opinion Letter is available to you as an option if you have been charged with a DUI but not been convicted.

A lawyer can prepare a letter explaining to Canadian government officials the nature of the charges, the lawyers conclusions, and their explanation on how a potential sentence may impact your admissibility to Canada. Having a clear and convincing letter on hand can demonstrate that you should be allowed to enter Canada while your DUI case is pending.

Click here to get a free consultation with the Law Firm of Campbell Cohen: +1 (888) 940-4612

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Earlier this year, Lil Kalish, of Mother Jones, profiled Randy Economy, a local reporter turned conservative radio host in California who, to quote the introduction to his show, wears an eye patch but can spot fake news a mile away, like a superhero pirate. Yargh! If, like me, you were feverishly wondering whether Randy Economy is his real name, it is; he has claimed on his LinkedIn page that he is both fluent in Pirate and a Pulitzer Prize nominee, which is a bit like describing Trump as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. At the time, Kalish wrote, Economy was the one-man media machine behind a right-wing campaign to recall Gavin Newsom, Californias Democratic governora once-fringe, longshot effort that got a double boost when, on the same day last November, a judge gave the campaigners more time to garner enough public support to force an election and Newsom went to a lobbyists party at the French Laundry, an exclusive wine-country restaurant, in violation of his own COVID advice and basic political judgment. Economy, who renamed his show Recall Radio, launched another program, on the same LA station, with two other recall leaders. They called it Friday Night at the French Laundry.

Newsoms hypocrisy injected new energy into the recall campaign; by March, it had gathered enough signatures to force an election, which takes place today. The campaign has been a media circus from the get-go; as Politico put it, getting attention in the nations most populous state is no easy feat, and candidates performed outlandish stunts in a desperate bid for attentionincluding Newsom. In early May, John Cox, a Republican businessman, set off for a press tour in a bus with MEET THE BEAST plastered on the side, accompanied by a sometime movie star and full-time Kodiak bear named Tag. (We certainly expected that the bear would get some attention, Cox said. It worked.) The same week, the reality star Caitlyn Jenner, who had also jumped in on the Republican side, sat for a splashy interview with Sean Hannity, on Fox. Jenner started paying a camera crew to follow her around, prompting Politico, among other observers, to ask, is the content for the campaign, or is the campaign just for the content? In mid-July, Jenners campaign denied that any TV or movie deal had been struck; around the same time, Jenner flew to Australia to take part in that countrys edition of Big Brother. Also around that time, state officials finalized the field, which, at a mere forty-one candidates, was slimmer than expected. During a debate last month, Kevin Paffrath, a Democrat and investment YouTuber who was among those to make the cut, proposed solving Californias drought issues by building a pipe to the Mississippi river. During another debate, a private investigator served Cox with a subpoena related to an unpaid debt.

From the magazine: The Wall Street Journals stubborn conservatism

One candidate emerged as a more serious threat to Newsom than any of the others. Naturally, he, too, is a media personality. Larry Elder, a conservative radio host from Los Angeles, was excluded from the initial field of forty-one after officials said that hed failed to disclose tax records in line with state law, but a judge struck down the decision and Elder made the ballot. He has since risen steadily in the polls, breaking away from the pack; his ceiling, in the region of thirty percent, is not very high, and would have been meaningless had polling around a different, prior question on the ballotto keep or ditch Newsom (who, if ditched, will not be among the candidates to replace himself; no, these rules dont make sense to me either)not narrowed substantially. The more Elder looked like a possible governor, the more he attracted serious scrutiny from the mainstream press. Alexandra Datig, Elders former radio producer and fiancee, told Politico and the LA Times that Elder once brandished a gun at her while he was high (Elder denies this); reporters also detailed his long history of misogynistic remarks. Late last month, the editorial board of the Sacramento Bee called on Elder to drop out of the race.

Elder, for his part, has bashed the Bee, in particular, and the mainstream media in general. He banned the former paper from his campaign events after it edited anti-Newsom attacks out of his responses to a questionnaire (the paper had asked for the focus to be on policy), and canceled interviews with Politico on at least two occasions. He complained that the LA Times never took him seriously enough to review his books. (The paper has since rectified that, concluding that Elder is not a writer but a brand.) During a session with opinion writers at the same paper, he refused to take a question from Jean Guerrero, a columnist whom Elders campaign has accused of bigotry masquerading as journalism. His campaign has amplified articles by right-wing pundits attacking mainstream outlets for their supposed racism and bias against Elder (who is Black), and right-wing outlets have in turn amplified Elder; according to Media Matters for America, he has appeared on Fox weekday shows sixty-five times already this year, averaging more than one appearance per week on Hannitys show alone. At his first press conference, he took only two questions, both from Chinese-American outlets; one had ties to the Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-linked far-right publication where Elder is a contributor.

Where Trumpian media-bashing goes, untethered conspiracy theories are rarely far behind. In recent dayswith polling now suggesting that Newsom will comfortably hold ona number of right-wing pundits have made California the latest front in their war on democracy, raising the specter of foul play even though the election hasnt happened yet. The only thing that will save Gavin Newsom is voter fraud, Tomi Lahren said on Fox last week. So, as they say, stay woke, pay attention to the voter fraud going on in California. Trump himself fanned the flames in one of his trademark not-a-tweet tweets. Elder, too, has pushed it; yesterday, NBCs Jacob Soboroff asked him repeatedly if he would accept the result, win or lose, and Elder repeatedly demurred. Like Trump before him, Elder is relying on this big lie, Guerrero told CNN Sunday. He understands that Californians are very likely to reject him as the next governor of California, and the only way that he can explain this loss away is by claiming that it was stolen from him.

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On the face of it, theres much less shame in a Republican outsider losing in deep-blue California than a Republican incumbent losing a national election. But the losers embarrassment is not the main issue here; California, clearly, has been sucked into the much broader Republican campaign to undermine voters confidence in democracy, then cite that lack of confidence in passing restrictive election laws. The California lies arent new, in that regard, but they do attest to the breadth and brazenness of the campaign. The press must continue to take this very seriously, despite the clownish absurdity of the recall election as a whole, and the lies at the tail end of it. As Ive written before, theres no contradiction in finding attacks on democracy funny, pathetic, and terrifying all at once.

Right-wing media outlets, of course, are central to these attacks. For them, the recallan election that right-wing media entrepreneurs helped contrive into existence outside of the regular schedule, and were always unlikely to winlooks like a free hit: an attention hustle that will beget more attention. In the final stretch of his campaign, Elder eschewed public rallies and doubled down on right-wing media hits; this, as CNNs Kyung Lah noted, seemed illogical from an electoral standpoint, but it made perfect sense if Elderas Lahs colleague Bryan Lowry put ithas been running with at least one eye on media opportunities in the elections wake. We likely have not seen the last of him. Randy Economy, for his part, stepped down from the recall campaign in May, after doing more than two thousand media interviews in its service. Hes less visible now, but has still regularly been quoted in recent weeks, including in mainstream national outlets. In January, as the signature drive heated up, Economy spoke with the Desert Sun, a local paper, about the effort. Hopefully, he said, I will get an Academy Award after this thing.

Below, more on California:



Other notable stories:

From the magazine: Teen Vogues complicated political transformation

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
MADRID (AP)  Firefighting crews near southern Spains 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, thats 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 regions 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 wildfires perimeter had reached 85 kilometers (53 miles).

Spains 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 theres 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.

Spain has experienced fewer fires so far this year than the average, but the number of big forest fires  those 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 regions 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.

About the photo: 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. (AP Photo/Pedro Armestre)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Davies Acquires SKWeston and IAS

Davies, an international claims management provider based in London, continued its expansion in the United States with acquisition of SKWeston & Co and IAS Claim Services.

SKW, headquartered in Towson, Maryland, has been re-branded to carry the Davies name and was folded into the firms consulting and technology business led by Chief Executive Officer Mark Grocott. Steve Weston, managing partner for SKW, and other management team members will continue to lead the companys day-to-day operations.

IAS, based in San Antonio, Texas, specializes in property, commercial, catastrophe and large loss claims using a network of independent adjusters serving all 50 states. Walter Leddy, IAS CEO and the existing management team will continue to lead the day to day operations and the wider team will continue in their roles within Davies, the company said.

Davies began been aggressively acquiring affiliates worldwide after BC Partners signed a deal to take a majority state in the business in March. The company employs 4,500 in the United Kingdom, United States, Bermuda, Canada and Ireland.

Liberty Mutual Partners With Accuweather

Liberty Mutual Insurance has teamed up with Accuweather to warn customers when their vehicles are threatened by oncoming hailstorms.

The carrier said auto insurance customers in 21 states may op in to its free service, which sends a text message when hail is forced in their area. The hail alert program was developed by Liberty Mutuals innovation center, Solaria Labs.

Liberty Mutual said 44% of respondents to a recent survey indicate that they had used the service to move their car to a safe location when alerted about an approaching hail storm.

Hail produced more than 2.8 million insurance claims from 2017-2019, according to a National Insurance Crime Bureau review of Insurance Services Office claims data. In 2020 alone, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration recorded more than 4,600 major hailstorms.

Liberty Mutual offers Hail Alerts in in Ala., Ark., Colo., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Minn., Mo., Miss., Mont., N.D., Neb., N.M., Okla., S.D., Texas, Tenn., and Wyo.

EFI Global Acquires Synergy

EFI Global, a division of Sedgwick that specializes in forensic engineering, environmental claims and fire investigations, has acquired Synergy Forensic Engineering.

Synergy operates a metallurgical laboratory in Milwaukee. Purchase of the company augments Tampa-based EFIs expertise in electrical fire analysis, electrical/mechanical analysis, mechanical failure analysis and material/image analysis, the company said in a press release.

The firm provides high-quality forensic analysis services that uncover the root cause of electrical, mechanical, environmental, material and metallurgical engineering problems, Sedgwick said in a press release.

GTCR Acquires Global Claims Services

GTCR, a Chicago-based investment house, announced that it has purchased Global Claim Services, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla.

GCS uses proprietary databases and custom applications to provide cost-containment solutions to the property and casualty insurance industry, GTCR said in a press release. The company assess damaged flooring, roofing, siding and cabinetry. It also provides temporary housing for policyholders who have lost use of their homes.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Logan and the management team at GCS will continue on with the company.

GTCR said GCS mobile-first products and databases provide insurance companies with decision support tools for property claims. The company serves all of the top 100 carriers in the U.S. and the top 30 carriers in Canada.
CopperPoint Appoints Claims Chief

CopperPoint Insurance Cos. has appointed Kris Mathis as senior vice president and chief workers compensation claims officer.

Mathis will replace Ginny Arnett Caro, who plans to retire at the end of the year after 21 years with the Phoenix, Arizona-based workers compensation carrier.

Mathis joined CopperPoint when the carrier purchased PacificComp in 2018. He served in a variety of managerial and executive leadership positions in claims and field services for insurance carriers including Safeco, CompWest, SeaBright and Liberty Mutual Group.

Mathis will work side-by-side with Caro over the remainder of the year to ensure a smooth transition, CopperPoint said.

Mathis earned a bachelors degree in history from California State University, Fullerton and a Juris Doctor from Trinity Law School. He holds a Workers Compensation Claims Professional (WCCP) designation and a Self-Insured Administrators Certificate from the California Department of Industrial Relations, Office of Self Insurance Plans (OSIP). He is a past member of the Governing Committee of the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) and currently serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the California Workers Compensation Institute (CWCI). He also serves on the Advisory Committee for Kids Chance of California.

Global Risk Solutions Hires Surveyor

Global Risk Solutions, an international claims adjuster headquartered in London, has appointed surveyor Chris Reeves to its team.

Reeves will support GRS multidisciplinary services to insurance companies as well as industrial clients, the company said in a press release. He will report to Chief Executive Officer Adam Humphrey.

Before joining GRS, Reeves worked in the construction sector and a leading international property and construction consulting firm, where he was responsible for delivering cost and valuation services on projects in various industry sectors.

Reeves is a Chartered Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a RICS-Qualified Mediator and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Sodoro Law Firm Hires Attorney

The Sodoro + Mooney + Lenaghan law firm in Omaha has added attorney Kalli P. Gloudemans to its insurance defense team.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Gloudemans received her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She later attended the University of Nebraska College of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree.

During her time in law school, Kalli completed a concentration in litigation skills, was a member of the University of Nebraska College of Law National Trial Team, and was nominated to the Order of the Barristers, a national honorary organization for law students who demonstrate exceptional skill in trial advocacy.

Gloudemans is licensed to practice law in Nebraska and Iowa. She serves as a board member of the Nebraska State Bar Association Workers Compensation section and is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and Nebraska State Bar Association.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)  President Joe Biden will promote his administrations use of a wartime law to aid in wildfire preparedness during a Western swing in which hell survey wildfire damage Monday in Idaho and California.

The administration activated the Defense Production Act in early August to boost supplies from the U.S. Forest Services primary firehose supplier. It marks the second use of the law, after the president used it to boost vaccine supplies, and the administration had not previously announced it.

The use of the act helped an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma, which provides the bulk of the U.S. Forest Services hoses, obtain needed supplies to produce and ship 415 miles of firehoses. Biden planned to showcase the move as part of his administrations efforts to address yet another devastating wildfire season across the Western U.S.

The president planned to deliver remarks during a visit Monday to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, and then travel to Sacramento, California, where hell survey wildfire damage. Hell wrap up the day in Long Beach for an election-eve event with California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote on Tuesday.

Bidens Western visit is aimed primarily at drumming up support for his massive $3.5 trillion spending plan by linking it to beating back wildfires and upgrading social programs.

In the two-day trip, which includes a stop in Colorado on Tuesday, Biden is looking to connect the dots for Americans between the increasing frequency of wildfires in the West  as well other extreme weather events around the country  and a need to invest billions in combating climate change as well as in a vast expansion of the social safety net.

In deep-red Idaho, several opposing groups were leveraging Bidens trip 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.

Bidens eleventh-hour election pitch in California comes the day before voters head to the polls to decide whether to recall Newsom and then replace him with Republican talk-show host Larry Elder, whos seen as the leading GOP alternative, or with any of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot.

The White House is trying to turn the corner after a difficult month consumed by a chaotic and violent 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.

Over the weekend, Biden acknowledged that his polling numbers have dipped in recent weeks, but argued his agenda is overwhelmingly popular with Americans. He said he expects his Republican opponents to attack him instead of debating him on the merits of his spending plan.

Youre going to see  and I get it  a lot more direct attacks on me, not what Im for, Biden told reporters on Saturday. Im a big boy. Ive been doing this a long time.

In addition to 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.

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 president is scheduled to head to Denver on Tuesday to continue to plug his economic agenda.

The stop in Idaho, a state he lost by more than 30 percentage points last year, will offer Biden a deep-red backdrop to argue that making investments to combat the climate crisis should be a priority across party lines. Idaho and California have seen wildfire season turn into a year-round scourge.

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. Just ahead of Mondays visit he issued another disaster declaration for the state, this time aimed at areas affected by the Caldor Fire.

Biden traveled recently to New York, New Jersey and Louisiana to survey damage caused by Hurricane Ida. He declared it a code red moment for the nation to act on climate during a visit to a New York City neighborhood impacted by Ida.

Folks, the evidence is clear: Climate change poses an existential threat to our lives, to our economy, he said during the New York visit. And the threat is here; its not going to get any better. The question: Can it get worse? We can stop it from getting worse.

AP writer Rebecca Boone in Boise contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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.

Officials said the fire was about 63% contained Sunday, adding that firefighters made progress overnight with the help of water-dropping aircraft and an aggressive ground attack, Mitchell said.

He said crews would 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 prompted Mendocino County authorities to evacuate parts of Calpella, a community on the Russian River about 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of Ukiah. Video footage posted on Twitter shows the fire pushing in the direction of Lake Mendocino.

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 U.S. Highway 50 as containment of the 342-square-mile (886 square kilometer) wildfire increased to 65%.

President Joe Biden issued a disaster declaration late Sunday for El Dorado County in an effort to provide federal funding to state, tribal and eligible local governments, plus certain private nonprofit organizations, who have been affected by damage from the Caldor Fire.

Firefighters were diverted from battling the 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.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified U.S. Highway 50 as a state route.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano defended the government's decision to shift to a new quarantine scheme for the second half of the month despite the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

"We have to learn to live with the virus. It is now being practiced in different countries," Ano told CNN Philippines' The Source. "They don't look anymore on the total cases but rather focus on severe and critical cases."

Ano noted that Metro Manila, which will be under general community quarantine with Alert Level 4 from Sept. 16-30, has already vaccinated 60.5% of its eligible population. He expressed confidence that the capital region will reach its 78% target by next month and eventually reach herd immunity soon.

"Maa-attain natin ang herd immunity but for the meantime kailangan tayo mag-adjust. Kailangan matuto na tayong maging responsible  everyone. Kaya itong alert level system na ito proven naman na ginagawa sa ibang countries, ipa-pilot testing natin dito sa Metro Manila," he said.

[Translation: We will attain herd immunity but for the meantime we need to adjust. We need to be responsible  everyone. That's why this alert level system which is being done in other countries will be pilot tested here in Metro Manila.]

RELATED: Metro Manila to be placed under Alert Level 4 starting Sept. 16

Ano said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases acknowledged the concerns of Metro Manila mayors, including the hospital bed utilization rates which became the basis for declaring alert levels. However, he explained that healthcare facilities and institutions cannot simply turn away patients even if they are considered non-residents of a locality.

RELATED: DOH urged: Non-residents should be excluded from LGUs' COVID data

He said the prevailing solution is to further increase COVID-19 beds to accommodate more patients.

Ano also said that all Metro Manila mayors agreed to place their respective jurisdictions under a uniform alert level for easier implementation.

Granular lockdowns

Under the latest IATF guidelines, regardless of alert level, city and municipal mayors will be authorized to declare granular or pocket area lockdowns on houses where one household member has been declared COVID-19 positive, as well as residential buildings, blocks, streets, subdivisions, and villages under their jurisdiction.

Declaration of granular lockdowns in critical areas "shall be provisionally effective immediately" and must include due notice to the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force, according to the government's latest guidelines. This will last for a period not shorter than 14 days.

Once placed under lockdown, individuals may not exit their place of residence anymore, except for returning overseas Filipino workers or those bound for international travel and those individuals who need medical attention.

Ano said the new COVID-19 alert level system will be assessed and may be recommended to President Rodrigo Duterte for a possible nationwide implementation later on.

READ: EXPLAINER: What you need to know about the COVID-19 alert level system in NCR

The Philippines reached its record-high tally of over 26,000 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, the highest since the pandemic started. It logged more than 20,745 new cases on Monday, the eighth time this month that it breached the 20,000-mark.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  The verification of data from local government units caused a "slight delay" in the launch of digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said.

"Kaya nahuli ng kaunti, actually sinisiguro natin na iyong datos na ibigay ng local governments ay accurate," DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan said in a taped Cabinet meeting that aired on Tuesday.

[Translation: It was slightly delayed because we actually made sure that the data given by local governments were accurate.]

The department initially had August as the target date in issuing digital COVID-19 certificates.

The VaxCertPH was soft-launched on Sept. 6. Overseas Filipino workers and outbound Filipinos from Metro Manila and Baguio City are prioritized in the initial rollout.

The DICT earlier said it is targeting a full nationwide implementation of the platform next month.

Honasan said the Philippines is one of the first countries to introduce digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates.

The VaxCertPH includes the holder's personal data, the brand, and lot number of the vaccines, as well as the date and place of vaccination.

It also contains a QR code that will be used to match data in the Vaccination Information Management System, a central database serving all LGUs.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  Metro Manila mayors are set to issue a resolution revising the unified curfew hours to 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. during the pilot run of the alert level system from Sept. 16 to 30, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benhur Abalos said on Tuesday.

The current curfew time is from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said all local chief executives also agreed to place the capital region under a unified community quarantine classification due to its porous borders.

Metro Manila will be under Alert Level 4 starting Sept. 16.

Under Alert Level 4, persons below 18 years old and over 65 years old, those with comorbidities, and pregnant women are not allowed to go out of their houses. However, they are permitted to go outside if they are buying essential goods or services or working in permitted industries.

Outdoor dine-in services, barbershops, hair spas, nail spas, beauty salons, and physical religious gatherings are allowed to operate for up to 30% of their outdoor seating capacity, regardless of vaccination status. These establishments and services can also operate indoors for up to 10% capacity, but employees and customers must have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Intrazonal and interzonal travel for authorized persons outside of residences would be allowed subject to the regulations of the local government of destination.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 14)  A lawmaker is calling on the government to provide cash aid to residents in areas that will be placed under granular lockdown.

AAMBIS-Owa Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin made the call following the governments decision to implement an alert level system with granular lockdowns in Metro Manila. The capital region would shift to general community quarantine with Alert Level 4 on Thursday.

"We should. Because hindi kaya ng tao especially now, to start with, marami na ngang walang livelihood," Garin told CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday, when asked whether financial aid must still be given to residents.

[Translation: Because people cannot make ends meet especially now, to start with, many have lost their livelihood.]

Garin said the government can still choose to provide food packs instead of cash aid, but a more sustainable way to solve the problem is to allow more economic activities in order to boost income and consumer spending.

"Now the question is, can we afford that still? And thats a question that hopefully we can say yes. Every time kasi we have a lockdown, it's costing not only the government cash but also the economy," she said.

"It would be very expensive, but if necessary, we should compensate the people for not allowing them to go out," she added.

Garin and Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo recently filed House Resolution 2209, urging the government to implement business bubbles where there would be greater mobility among fully vaccinated individuals amid the granular lockdowns.

The Interior department earlier said that affected residents can only expect to receive food packs from the local governments and the national government during the two-week lockdown period.

READ: DILG: No cash aid in areas under granular lockdown

Part 2, Section 7 of the latest guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases did not indicate whether financial aid may be provided to residents on lockdown.

"Households within areas under granular lockdown shall be provided assistance by their respective local government units and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in accordance with their relevant guidelines," the IATF guidelines read.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 15)  The Department of Education (DepEd) said it expects enrollment figures for school year 2021-2022 to reach the numbers recorded in 2020, as more students resume their studies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Latest data shared by the DepEd during the House appropriations committee's hearing showed 25,582,224 students have already enrolled as of Monday, the opening of classes.

Around 26.2 students enrolled for school year 2020-2021.

"[W]e expect the numbers to grow when we get news from the schools abroad, from our Philippine schools abroad. And if we take into consideration non-formal education or the Alternative Learning System, so we expect to match last year's performance in enrollment," Education Secretary Leonor Briones told lawmakers.

Enrollment has been extended until September 30, she added.

During the hearing, Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua also said there is a shortage of 127,000 classrooms in public schools nationwide.

Pascua said addressing the backlog will require a 900-billion budget, but DepEd was only given 2.9 billion by the Department of Budget and Management for constructing new classrooms in 2022.

DepEd has a proposed budget of 630.8 billion for next year.

"We have proposed to the DBM, if you are serious in addressing classroom shortage then we can have a three-year phasing of new building construction to address this shortage," Pascua said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 15)  The Department of Education (DepEd) will need 37 billion to provide all teachers laptops and data connectivity, two of their most needed tools as the country continues to implement distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Tuesday's hearing of the House Committee on Appropriations, Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua told lawmakers that of this amount, 33 billion will be for the purchase of laptops and another 4 billion for 12 months data connectivity.

We know the direction, we know where to go but always at the end of the day, its always the amount of funds needed for these programs [that] are obviously lacking at this time, he said.

At present, Pascua said there are laptops that were already distributed, being distributed, and still being procured. All in all, he noted that 97% of teachers in the country will be covered.

Broken down, 211,000 units under the 2019 budget had been handed out; 36,676 laptops from last year are currently being distributed; and 65,683 units from this year are being procured.

In addition, 40,000 laptops were also purchased through the Bayanihan 2 and will be delivered, the education official also said.

Pascua, however, emphasized that the provision of devices is only one aspect of the program. Another issue to address is connectivity, which is mainly the duty of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

He said the DICT is the one responsible to establish infrastructure of data and internet connectivity across the country.

Pascua added that DepEd cannot impose what should be done, but the agency is also looking for solutions to the problem.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 15)  The Philippine government made a commitment on Tuesday to provide financial aid for Afghanistan as the latter faces challenges brought about by the Taliban takeover.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Evan Garcia, the countrys permanent representative to the UN Office at Geneva, announced the Philippines pledge to the flash appeal of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the hopes to address humanitarian gaps in the Middle Eastern country.

This was made during the high-level ministerial meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, which was convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to call for international support for the Afghan people.

Earlier, Guterres made an emergency appeal for $606 million to meet the most pressing needs of the country.

On Monday, he said the goal had been fully met after they received over $ 1 billion of pledges.

READ: More than $1 billion in aid pledged for Afghanistan as country faces 'most perilous hour'

The DFA did not disclose how much the Philippines will give, but a tweet by the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN in Geneva noted a modest financial contribution to the UN OCHA Flash Appeal.

DFA Secretary Teddy Locsin, Jr. recently said the country would welcome Afghan refugees, particularly women and children trying to escape from the turmoil in their country.

This is after he said the Philippines will only accept refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan who are covered by negotiations between the Philippine government and its counterparts from other countries.

The Taliban regained control of Kabul almost two decades after American troops drove them from the Afghan capital.

This was followed by the formation of a new government with veterans of the militant group filling the top posts.
Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
James Cassity said he went outside to see what was wrong after hearing his dog bark. When he stepped outside, a man started swinging an ax at him.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
UAE warns Indian expatriates against fake flight approval letters

The UAE embassy in New Delhi issued an advisory asking Indian expats set to return to the Emirates to be cautious against fake flight approval letters issued by scamsters.

The UAE had allowed passengers holding passports of several SAARC countries including India to enter the country on a tourist visa provided they havent visited or been in these countries in the last 14 days. Photo courtesy: Flickr

The UAE embassy put out a tweet advising all its "visitors and clients" to only visit the official website.

"Please avoid visiting suspicious sites, @UAEembassyIndia shall not be responsible if any damage occurs," the UAE Embassy tweeted.

The Khaleej Times had reportedly investigated allegations of conmen using a fake website to send out flight approval letters.

The report said the bogus portal had conned several travellers until July 26.

The UAE had allowed passengers holding passports of several SAARC countries including India to enter the country on a tourist visa provided they havent visited or been in these countries in the last 14 days.

The exemption is provided to passport holders of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Nigeria, reported Gulf News quoting flydubai website.

The UAE earlier banned domestic carrier IndiGo from operating flights to the country for a week till August 24. According to reports, the ban was imposed for carrying passengers who had not undergone the mandatory RT-PCR test at the departure airport.
09/14/2021

Photo (c) Bombus Creative - Getty Images What Facebook users can and cant say on the social media platform has become an increasingly divisive issue. Forget hyper-partisan politics  the company has been pressured to moderate misinformation on a wide range of topics.

The company has been known to take strong action against what it sees as objectionable content, as many ConsumerAffairs reviewers can attest.

My account has been restricted (Facebook Jail) several times now, writes Tim of Florissant, Missouri. Each time was due to my response to a post that I had seen.

Tim complained that his responses were taken as stand-alone statements and not considered in their context to the post. He says Facebooks artificial intelligence may have perceived his words as threatening.

If the written responses were considered in relation to the post, they could not have been construed as threatening, Tim argues. It is a very flawed system of censorship that limits the ability to express new thoughts and insights!

Ann of Kenton, Tennessee, tells us she has spent a fair amount of time in Facebook jail as well. Her claim is that Facebook objects to information she says is well-documented.

They censor everything and use fake fact checking that does not even apply to the post, Ann posted in her review.

Some Facebook users are more equal than others

But it turns out there are a few million Facebook users who arent subjected to that kind of scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal cites internal documents and numerous Facebook sources who say the social media giant exempts many high-profile users.

According to the Journal, the program goes by the name of Cross Check or XCheck. The internal documents show it protects millions of VIP users from having to meet Facebooks normal enforcement process. Some celebrities and politicians are whitelisted, meaning their posts are pretty much immune from take-downs.

The Journal contends this is not exactly a secret at Facebook. It cites a 2019 internal review of Cross Check practices and found it to be widespread.

Not actually doing what we say

We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly, the review concluded. It called the companys actions a breach of trust and added: Unlike the rest of our community, these people can violate our standards without any consequences.

In a statement, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone acknowledged that criticism of the practice is fair but said the program was started with the best of intentions: to create an additional step so we can accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding.

Stone said many of the documents cited by the Journal no longer apply and that the company is working to phase out the practice of whitelisting.
60%

Website downloadbestsoft.com 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 3240 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 85734 bytes (83.72 kb uncompressed) and 14162 bytes (13.83 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-13, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
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We're talking about the dude who attempted to hoist hefty Stamford branch transfer Tony Gardner onto a tabletop, despite the big man's protests. It's only an hour or two into his new job, and Tony realizes there's no way in hell he can work with Michael Scott.

NBC

Michael then reached near-apex cringe when Phyllis's disabled father found the strength to walk his daughter down the aisle. A tantrum-throwing Michael slammed the man's wheelchair into multiple church pews before inserting himself between disgruntled groomsmen.

NBC Next wedding episode, the cast did a choreographed dance. It was still cringe, but unintentional this time.

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Go ahead. Take a moment to crawl out of your skin. But all of these disturbing episodes pale in comparison to "Scott's Tots."

In case you're one of the thousands who had the episode as a permanent skip in your Netflix queue, here's a brief recap:

Ten years prior to the episode, Michael Scott was inspired by a local group of underprivileged students.

NBC No, not young Stanley. We're talking about the kids in the clipping.

"I fell in love with these kids, and I didn't want to see them fall victim to the system. So I made them a promise," he confesses to the camera. "I told them that if they graduated from high school, I would pay for their college education. I have made some empty promises in my life, but hands down, that was the most generous."

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The pledge was also reasonable because, assumed Michael, surely he would be a millionaire by the time he was 30.

Nearly all of the kids hold up their end of the bargain, studying hard in exchange for that sweet tuition cash. Michael is a folk hero; the school has even named a reading room after him. And now that it's graduation time, the students have worked up a hip-hop tribute to their champion:

Hey, Mr. Scott, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do? Make our dreams come true!
It is no secret the locus for a great deal of the worlds cybercriminal activity lays within the boundaries of The Russian Federation. The onslaught of ransomware attacks directed at non-Russian entities is evidence of that.

Last week, Recorded Futures Insikt Group published a report shedding more light on the connection between the Russian state and criminal actors, a connection that Insikt Group posits is well established yet highly diffused.

The key judgments from the Insikt Groups analysis are:

It is highly likely that Russian intelligence services and law enforcement have a longstanding, tacit understanding with criminal threat actors.

This association will continue, though efforts to put space between the government and criminal entities may increase to provide greater plausible deniability to the government

US President Joe Bidens assertion that Russian cybercriminals are protected by the Russian government has placed Russian President Vladimir Putin on the defensive.

Russian cybercriminals are reforming their operations and targeting vectors implying that the Biden administrations actions have been modestly successful.

Is this much of a surprise to those who invest their professional life watching things Russia? Not really, says Monique Camarra, co-host of the Kremlin File who explains, We know the KGB was present in all aspects of Soviet life, so its no surprise that they would have relations and dealings with criminal groups. Important hubs were controlled by the KGB in cooperation with criminal elements. She continued how, for example, the Tambov crime group, during privatization of state assets, regained control of the port, fuel and energy business. The fact that the new cadre of criminals, the cybercriminals, are attached at the hip to the Russian security apparatus should surprise no one.

US sanctions have consequences

As a result of a flurry of ransomware attacks that impacted the United States infrastructure, the United States hit Russia in April 2021 with both sanctions and the expulsion of diplomatic/intelligence personnel from the United States, tying the diplomatic actions to the criminal actions in a clear and unambiguous signal: the tolerance of the United States was approaching its end point.

In June, at the summit referenced in Insikt Groups analysis and then again in July 2021 when Biden held a telephone conference call with Putin, a similar message was delivered, unambiguously, by Biden. Biden commented to reporters, "I made it very clear to him that the United States expects, when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil even though it's not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is."

It isnt as if Russia cant control their internet gateways across which these cyber crimes are being committed. To wit: On September 2, 2021, with the Russian election fast approaching and the efforts of Putin to silence dissent in overdrive, Roskomnadzor blocked six providers of virtual private networks to the Russian market (Hola! VPN, ExpressVPN, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Speedify VPN, IPVanish VPN); the organization had previously excluded two others, VyprVPN and OperaVPN. Roskomnadzor claims they blocked the VPN services due to illegal activities, including those related to the distribution of drugs, child pornography, extremism and suicidal tendencies.

Dmitry Dokuchaeva key individual

Interestingly, the Insikt analysis draws on actions that occurred over the last decade to create their mosaic of interconnectivity between the Russian government and cybercriminals. The analysis hangs its hat on Dmitry Dokuchaev, among others, a major in the Russian interior ministry (FSB), who is a unique individual in that he was simultaneously under indictment by the United States for cybercrimes and by Russia for treason associated with cybercrimes while an officer of the FSB in 2016. He pleaded guilty in Russia and went to prison.

The circumstances of Dokuchaevs arrest further cement the connection between the Russian government and the criminal cyber world and illustrate what Russia is capable of doing to cybercriminals if it is in their interests.

The FSB cyber operations group, Information Security Center, of which Dokuchaev was a member, imploded in December 2016 through January 2017, with the arrests of multiple leadership personnel.

The initial arrests included Colonel Sergey Mikhailov, deputy director of the center, and Ruslan Stoyanov, a manager at Kaspersky Labs. They are alleged to have feathered their nest by sharing with the West (the FBI and others) data that had been harvested from Russian companies which they engaged to investigate wait for it cybercrimes.

The arrest of Mikhailov was full of drama and seemed straight out of a 1950s Russian crime film: He reportedly was present at an FSB staff meeting when he was dragged unceremoniously out the of the building with a bag over his head. The next arrests included Dokuchaev, who served as Mikhailovs deputy within the center, and the director of the center, Andrei Gerasimov. In 2019, Mikhailov was sentenced to 22 years in prison by the Russian courts.

Much to the chagrin of the FSB, their dirty laundry was being aired for all to see, as the internal catfight between the FSBs Information Security Center, which just had its leadership arrested for cybercrimes, and the FSBs Special Communications Group (previously known to western intelligence as FAPSI, the group in charge of Russian cryptographic standards, security of Russian elections, signals intelligence, and a multitude of other activities) culminated in the Special Communications Group assimilating the Information Security Center.

Russias action to take

The FSB saga is evidence that Russia is fully capable of arresting and prosecuting cyber criminals operating within their geographic and virtual internet footprint. The bar is high for instances of cybercrime that will cause the Russian government to take action. But clearly, two officers facilitating the Wests investigation into Russian cybercriminals off the record and allegedly for millions of dollars, met that bar.

The choice of words is always important and therefore one reading between the lines will note the subtlety of Bidens messaging to Putin: It is in the Russian Federations interest to act because, regardless of whether entities operate with or without the tacit acknowledgement of the Russian government, the United States had provided fair warning that lack of action by Russia will result in the United States acting in its own interest.

Time will tell if the relationship between Russian cybercriminals and the Russian Federation cyber entities will evolve in a manner that quiets the former and their criminal activities. If not, the potential for action by U.S. government entities should be expected.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday sought to parry bipartisan congressional criticism of the Biden administrations Afghanistan withdrawal, as new intelligence estimates warned that al-Qaida could soon again use Afghan soil to plot attacks on the United States.

Blinken had mixed results in attempting to face down a second day of tough congressional questioning, this time from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As a day earlier before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he was assailed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike over the administrations preparation for and handling of the pullout.

Even lawmakers sympathetic to President Joe Bidens decision to end Americas longest-running war by withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years expressed disappointment and concern about the large number of Americans, green card holders and at-risk Afghans left behind in the chaotic and hasty evacuation from Kabul.

And, as Blinken testified just three days after the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, intelligence officials presented a bleak assessment that al-Qaida could begin to use Afghan territory to threaten America within one to two years.

The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, said committee chairman Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who has been generally supportive of Bidens foreign policy but has taken issue with several of its aspects, including Afghanistan.

This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administrations decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January, he said. There has to be accountability.

The withdrawal was a dismal failure, said Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the committee. He and virtually all of his Republican colleagues accused the administration of ineptitude that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on U.S. troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.

Theres not enough lipstick in the world to put on this pig to make it look any different than what it actually is, Risch said.

Much as he did on Monday at the often contentious hearing in the House, Blinken tried to deflect the criticism and maintained the administration had done the best it could under extremely trying and chaotic circumstances.

Blinken again blamed the Trump administration for its February 2020 peace deal with the Taliban that he said had tied Bidens hands, as well as the quick and unexpected collapse of the Afghan government and security forces that led to the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained, he said. They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward.

Blinken said the administration would hold the Taliban, which hosted and protected Osama bin Laden and top members of his al-Qaida network as they plotted the 9/11 strikes, to their promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a base for terrorist attacks.

But as he spoke, U.S. intelligence officials said al-Qaida may be only 12 to 24 months from reconstituting itself in Afghanistan to pose a significant threat to the United States.

Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave that estimate while speaking at the Intelligence & National Security Summit. Meanwhile, David Cohen, deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the U.S. already had detected some of the indications of some potential movement of al-Qaida to Afghanistan.

Experts have long said the Taliban still maintains ties to al-Qaida, which took sanctuary in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. Although Blinken was not asked directly about the intelligence assessments, he said the Taliban had not fully severed its links with the group.

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a vehement opponent of numerous Biden policies, called the withdrawal the worst foreign policy catastrophe in a generation and accused the administration of being naive in hoping the Taliban live up to their promises of moderation. They dont want to be welcomed into the community of civilized nations, he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., demanded to know how intelligence about the collapse of the Afghan government had been so wrong. He suggested not only that the wrong people were in charge of assessing the situation but that the policy had been incoherent and left the U.S. vulnerable to rivals.

This was a failure of policy and planning," said Rubio, another frequent critic of Biden's. I think China and Russia and Iran, they look at this botched withdrawal and what they see as incompetence that they think they might be able to exploit.

The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get people out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul, cementing its hold on the country before the completion of the U.S. withdrawal on Aug. 30.

Blinken defended the withdrawal and the end of America's longest-running war as the right thing to do" after 20 years. And, he noted that despite severe difficulties the U.S. and its allies had managed to evacuate some 124,000 people.

The evacuation was an extraordinary effort  under the most difficult conditions imaginable  by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals, he said.

Even some Democrats, though, were unswayed.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the only woman on the committee, who has long fought for the U.S. to protect the advances made by Afghan women and girls, lamented the current situation and said presidents and lawmakers of both parties shared the blame for the situation.

Lets stop with the hypocrisy of whos to blame, there are a lot of people to blame and we all share in it," she said, her voice rising as she took a pointed dig at former President Donald Trump and his second Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who negotiated the 2020 peace deal with the Taliban separate from the Afghan government with no assurance that minority rights would be respected.

I want to know where the outrage was when they were giving away the rights of women and girls, Shaheen said.

In response, Blinken said he would soon be appointing a senior official to oversee U.S. policy toward Afghan women and girls.

___

Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.
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.
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.
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.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Six people who recently traveled to the United States after fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan have been diagnosed with measles, officials said Tuesday.

The cases in Virginia and Wisconsin are being reported four days after the U.S. halted in-bound flights of Afghan evacuees following the discovery of a few cases of measles among new arrivals.

One case was confirmed Sept. 5 at Fort McCoy, an army base in western Wisconsin that is temporarily housing 8,000 people as they prepare to settle throughout the country.

Cheryl Phillips, a spokeswoman for a task force overseeing the refugees at Fort McCoy, said one person showed symptoms Sept. 4 after arriving at the base earlier that day.

The person was placed in isolation and others who were potentially exposed were quarantined and given measles vaccinations, Phillips said.

The Virginia Department of Health initially said Friday that three people who arrived from Afghanistan had been diagnosed with the measles in northern Virginia. The agency said it was informing people who risked possible exposure at places that included Dulles International Airport and two local hospitals.

The agency updated its count of measles cases to five in a news release Tuesday. Health officials said they were working to notify people potentially exposed at an unidentified Richmond hospital as well as Fort Pickett, an Army National Guard base southwest of Richmond that is providing temporary housing to recently arrived evacuees.

Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be spread through coughing, sneezing and contact with droplets from the nose, mouth or throat. Most Americans are vaccinated against it as children.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that all arriving Afghans are required to be vaccinated for measles as a condition of entry into the U.S. She said immunizations are being administered at military bases in the U.S., while officials are also exploring measures to vaccinate people while they're still overseas.

The measles cases in Virginia and Wisconsin have been reported in the wake of the U.S. government halting U.S.-bound flights of Afghan evacuees Friday. The decision was made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Psaki said Friday that the halt stemmed from the discovery of measles among four Afghans who had arrived in the United States.

The development had American officials overseas Friday removing from planes Afghan families who already had struggled through a grueling, dangerous escape to safety after Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15. Afghans faced Taliban checkpoints and crushing crowds to enter the Kabul airport. A suicide attack at an airport gate killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military members.

A government document viewed by The Associated Press said the halt would severely impact operations at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, one of the biggest transit sites. It also said U.S.-bound flights would stop from the U.S. al-Udeid base in Qatar.

Many thousands of Afghan evacuees airlifted out of Kabul are still en route to new homes in the United States. Some face relocation for further screening in Kosovo.
PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the first lawsuit Tuesday to block President Joe Biden's new vaccine requirements that could affect 100 million workers.

Brnovich, who is running in a crowded Republican primary for U.S. Senate, claims Biden is illegally treating U.S. citizens and legal immigrants differently from people caught crossing the border illegally, many of whom are offered vaccines but not required to accept them.

Brnovich's lawsuit is the first of many expected challenges to Biden's proposed vaccine rules. 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.

Biden said last week that his administration will require employers with at least 100 workers to ensure everyone is either vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19, affecting about 80 million workers. The roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. So will 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.

The Biden administration has no authority under the Constitution to mandate COVID-19 vaccines, period, Brnovich said. This is a heavy-handed attempt by the federal government that shows big government at its worst, not its best.

Brnovich told reporters in a conference call that Biden is overstepping his constitutional powers and argued that the Congress has delegated too much power to the president. But his lawsuit is focused on what he claims is the differential treatment of U.S. citizens and those living in the country illegally.

It is not a sensible argument, said Paul Bender, a constitutional law professor at Arizona State University. It's worse than nonsensical. It's really laughable."

The lawsuit is based on a lie that Biden's vaccine rules will exclude immigrants, Bender said. If immigrants living illegally in the country are working without authorization at an employer covered by Biden's vaccine rules, they will have to follow them.

Even if a court were to buy Brnovich's argument, the most likely outcome would be to impose the same vaccine and testing requirements for immigrants, not to eliminate them for citizens, Bender said.

Picking fights with the Biden administration could help Brnovich as he faces well-funded opponents in a tough primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, one of the GOP's top pickup targets in 2022.

The White House is gearing up for a wave of legal challenges from Republican officeholders and potentially affected employers that oppose the rules. White House press secretary Jen Psaki outlined the legal justification Friday, saying the Department of Labor has an obligation to keep workplaces safe.

The law basically requires the Department of Labor take action when it finds grave risk to workers, Psaki said. "And certainly a pandemic that killed more than 600,000 people qualifies as grave risk to workers.

Brnovich filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix.
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.
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, a central theme has emerged in the public hearings: voters want to be counted.

During a 45-minute hearing in Shelton City Hall on Monday  the third of four scheduled listening sessions  citizens and state lawmakers alike stressed the need to maximize representation in the General Assembly.

That, of course, can mean different things to different people as the state goes about using new U.S. Census numbers to create new districts for the state House and Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Take, for example, small towns with more than one House and Senate member. Some may say thats a way to obtain added muscle in the legislature while others say it dilutes a towns clout. Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofolo presented the committee of eight General Assembly members with a resolution from the local board of alders asking for just one state representative and one senator, rather than multiple lawmakers.

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 thats not a plus.

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, said 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. 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.

Broadly, population has moved out of small eastern Connecticut towns and population has grown in the areas closer to New York.

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 an online hearing  have sought input from residents who, unlike in the past, have sophisticated tools to draw their own proposed maps, 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.

Last Wednesday night, during a 20-minute hearing in the socially distanced Legislative Office Building in Hartford, officials from the League of Women Voters and Common Cause in Connecticut joined a private citizen in asking the committee to consider keeping under-represented communities together.

The basic point is that we believe that voters should choose their representatives rather than have representatives cherry pick their constituents, Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause, 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 those institutions are located. A new state 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 League of Women Voters 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.
MARLBOROUGH  State police have released a photo of one of the suspects they say was involved in an abduction at a local grocery store parking lot Saturday night.

Police said the victim, a 64-year-old woman, was putting groceries in her car outside the Big Y supermarket around 7 p.m. when two young men wearing masks approached her and demanded money.
BANGKOK (AP)  A court in Myanmar has agreed to change the venue for the trial of an Australian economist and adviser to ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of violating the nations official secrets law, lawyers said Tuesday.

Sean Turnell was charged along with Suu Kyi and three former Cabinet ministers under the law in March, a month after the military ousted Suu Kyis elected government and seized power.

The decision by the countrys Supreme Court will move the trial from Yangon, Myanmars biggest city where Turnell was arrested, to the capital, Naypyitaw, said one of Suu Kyis lawyers, Kyi Win.

That will consolidate most of the legal cases against Suu Kyi in a single location. The cases, lodged at the behest of the military-installed government, are widely seen as an effort to discredit Suu Kyi and prevent her from returning to politics.

Violating the official secrets law carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The colonial-era statute criminalizes the possession, collection, recording, publishing, or sharing of state information that is directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.

The exact details of Turnells alleged offense and those of the others have not been made public, though state television, citing government statements, has said the Australian academic had access to secret state financial information and had tried to flee the country.

Turnell has been confined in Yangons Insein Prison, known for decades for holding political prisoners.

Meanwhile, the trial of Suu Kyi, 76, and two colleagues continued Tuesday at a special court in Naypyitaw, a day after she had to cancel her participation because of illness. The court on Monday allowed her to return to her place of detention -- which is kept secret by the authorities -- after she explained that she was suffering from cold symptoms and felt dizzy on the ride to the court.

Another of her lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw, said her condition had visibly improved Tuesday when she returned to court, though she informed her legal team that she still felt some dizziness. Her co-defendants on several charges, former President Win Myint and Naypyitaw ex-Mayor Myo Aung, were also in attendance.

Suu Kyi is being tried in Naypyitaw on charges of sedition, defined as spreading information that could cause public alarm or unrest, and sometimes termed incitement; two counts of flouting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign; illegally importing walkie-talkies for her bodyguards to use; and unlicensed use of the radios.

Suu Kyis lawyers have argued in court that the sedition case should not be prosecuted, and both her team and the prosecution on Tuesday presented arguments to the court on that matter, Khin Maung Zaw said.

Two prosecution witnesses failed to show up to testify about the COVID-19 restrictions case and the testimony of a third was postponed, he said.

Khin Maung Zaw also told reporters that the defense lawyers had Suu Kyi sign documents appointing them to represent her in corruption cases filed in the central city of Mandalay.

The military seized power just before Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party would have begun a second five-year term in office. It said it acted because last November's election was marred by widespread fraud, an assertion that is widely doubted. Protests over the army takeover are continuing, along with growing armed resistance.
BRIDGEPORT  A teen was found bleeding excessively after suffering multiple gunshot wounds Monday night suffered, according to a city official.

Police were alerted to a ShotSpotter activation in the area of Rockridge Circle shortly at about 10:20 p.m. A minute later, a 911 caller reported a person had been shot in the leg in the area.

Arriving units found a victim on the sidewalk next to building 11 of the Stone Ridge Co-Op, according to Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management.

The victim, a 17-year-old, was bleeding excessively from gunshot wounds to the leg and hand, Appleby said. Officers applied pressure to the wounds until medics arrived and transported the teen to St. Vincents Medical Center. The victims injuries were deemed non-life-threatening at the hospital.

The Detective Bureau continues to investigate.

Anyone with information is asked to call the tips line at 203-576-TIPS or Detective Abe Konoval at 203-581-5229.
BRIDGEPORT  An online political advertisement launched Sunday targeting City Councilwoman Maria Pereira confused her with another Maria Pereira who has a criminal record.

The inaccurate advertisement, paid for by Bridgeport Generation Now Votes, a spin-off of the Generation Now civic group, claimed Pereira, who is competing Tuesday in a primary for her 138th District seat, was found guilty of threatening in the second degree and disorderly conduct.

On Monday, the group admitted the ad was inaccurate.

Generation Now Votes cited online Connecticut Judicial Branch records for a Maria H. Pereira of Bridgeport who has the same middle initial and same birth month and year  June, 1967  as Councilwoman Pereira.

Gemeem Davis, who is involved with the Generation Now organizations, acknowledged Monday that Generation Now Votes believed it was the same Pereira and got its facts wrong.

When we were aware that it was not her, we immediately pulled the ad and took that out, Davis said, estimating the advertisement ran Sunday morning into early Sunday afternoon. So we corrected that error.

Pereira on Monday said she will file a defamation lawsuit over the identity mix-up.

I have already texted Gemeem Davis that I will be pursuing litigation against BPT Gen Now Votes after the primary, Pereira wrote in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media, adding: This is the organization that is going to save Bridgeport from corruption and unethical behavior? P-L-E-A-S-E!

She also questioned Daviss statement that the ad was taken down Sunday afternoon.

It came through my Facebook feed this morning at 8 a.m., she said.

Davis reiterated the ad had been taken down at 2:40 p.m. Sunday.

Both Generation Now groups present themselves as good government entities trying to change the status quo of the citys Democrat-dominated machine politics by pursuing reforms and getting more people involved.

And while Pereira during her two years on the council and her previous tenure on the school board has garnered a similar anti-establishment reputation, she and Generation Now are not allies. Pereira on Monday criticized the organization for being condescending and acting like our saviors.

Davis said Pereira is not good for Bridgeport.

Davis cited the other criticisms from the digital advertisement: That for a few months last year Pereira was stripped of her council committee assignments for chaotic and disruptive behavior; how last summer she criticized a Black Board of Education member of ghetto-like behavior; and that Pereira received a campaign contribution from Juda Epstein, an attorney whose success helping the city collect overdue sewer system fees was criticized a few years ago as too aggressive by other council members seeking to reform that system.

Although Generation Now Votes paid for the advertisement against Pereira, the organization has not endorsed her and her running-mates two primary opponents in the 138th District, who are backed by the Democratic Town Committee. Each of Bridgeports 20 council districts has two members.

Meanwhile Pereira has taken credit for ensuring Council President Aidee Nieves, who has the support of Generation Now Votes, lost the town committees endorsement at the partys late July convention. Nieves, like Pereira, gathered enough petition signatures to force a primary in her 137th District.
Its still too early to end Gov. Ned Lamonts emergency powers, though it seems a lifetime since the legislature first granted him sweeping authority to fight the pandemic. Four people still die every day on average from COVID-19 in Connecticut, and hundreds remain hospitalized. The positivity rate is up. There are chilling signs of COVID spreading among children and of an even more transmissible variant popping up.

The governors emergency powers end this month. Unless the legislature extends them another three or more months, hell be unable to:

Continue requiring that all possible K-12 schoolteachers and early-childhood staff get vaccinated. Why does this matter? Because kids now represent 29 percent of all COVID cases nationwide.

Continue requiring that all possible workers in nursing homes and adult day care centers get vaccinated. Why is this important? Because nearly 3,000 nursing home residents in Connecticut have died from COVID-19.

Continue requiring that all possible state employees get vaccinated. Why bother? Because the coronavirus is sweeping through state prisons, among other places. At least 4,700 offenders have tested positive, and 43 staff are recovering from it.

Continue requiring masks in public K-12 schools. Why make kids mask up? Because 25,000 Connecticut children have gotten infected. The number of children hospitalized in the U.S. with COVID-19 hit a record high of more than 1,900 cases this past month. And yes, studies prove that masks do protect.

In the 18 months since Lamont began issuing emergency executive orders, hes never abused his authority. Also, legislative leaders have the power to reject any of his pandemic-related orders. Its doubtful the legislature could have passed such life-saving rules quickly, if at all. Plus, legislators have been happy to let the governor take the heat from fringe groups that dont believe in science.

Now 82 percent of Connecticut residents 12 and up are fully vaccinated  compared with Floridas 63 percent vaccination rate. In the Sunshine State, deaths are at their highest levels ever  350 a day on average  in no small part because Floridas Gov. Ron DeSantis wont allow the sort of vaccine and mask requirements that Connecticut has.

Republican legislators argue that Gov. Lamonts emergency powers are no longer needed. If only that were true.

There were 327 people hospitalized with coronavirus in Connecticut as of Monday, and 72 of them were not fully vaccinated. Imagine how that number would rise if the governors vaccine mandates werent in place. (See Florida, above.)

Its true that the governor has had these extraordinary powers a long time, since March 2020. At that time, only 4,291 people worldwide had lost their lives from COVID-19. A year and a half later, 1,000 times that number have died from the disease  4.6 million people.

Today, the delta variant is now the threat, accounting for 99 percent of Connecticuts cases. But the mu variant is on the rise. Connecticut has had 73 mu cases as of Sept. 5. Connecticut has one of the nations highest rates of the mu variant, says Hartford Healthcare.

Its too soon to relax our guard, and its doubtful the legislature could keep in place the policies that are protecting most of us from COVID. Give the governor another three months at least, please.
In 2020, I tested out Ninja's brand new cookware line, and a year later, I still use it every day. I'm such a big fan of Ninja products that when they asked if I wanted to test out their newest Foodi, I said yes before even fully reading the product description.

The Foodi isn't new to Ninja, but this is their latest model: the Ninja 14-in-1 SMART XL Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with Lid (it's a mouthful of a name, so for the majority of this review, I will just refer to it as the Foodi).

Ninja Foodi 14-in-1 8-qt. SMART XL Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid ninjakitchen.com $349.99 Shop Now

What is a Ninja Foodi?

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Kitchen appliances have seemingly quadrupled in the last few years. There are Instant Pots, pressure cookers, air fryers, rice cookers, and more: Plenty of Millennials dont want to use their oven anymore when they can just use an air fryer. Some folks who live in small city rentals don't even have an oven or more than two stove burners. So, where does the Ninja Foodi fit into all this?

Well, theyve seemingly combined everything into one: This particular is a 14-in-1, making it the fanciest Foodi yet.

These 14 programmable cooking functions include:

Pressure cook

Steam & crisp

Steam & bake

Air fry

Broil

Bake/roast

Dehydrate

Sear/saute

Steam

Sous vide

Slow cook

Yogurt

Keep warm

Proof

The Ninja Foodi has several features specific to the Ninja brand, like:

Pressure cook, air fry, and SteamCrisp  all under one SmartLid

 all under one SmartLid SmartLid Slider: Slide to unlock 3 cooking modes and 14 cooking functions all under one lid

Slide to unlock 3 cooking modes and 14 cooking functions all under one lid SteamCrisp Technology : Steam and crisp at the same time for faster, juicier, crispier results without drying out

: Steam and crisp at the same time for faster, juicier, crispier results without drying out Deluxe Reversible Rack: Double your cooking capacity or make 3-component full meals at the touch of a buttonmains and sides all done at the same time.

Since this is a pressure cooker with a bake/roast setting, you can actually make cakes and bread in it. And you can cook those up to 25% faster than if you used the oven (more on that later where I break down baking a cake in this). Similarly, Ninja advertises that the Foodi can pressure cook up to 70% faster than traditional cooking methods (like slow cooking) and air fry for crispy results with 75% less fat than traditional frying.

Cooking breakfast in the Ninja Foodi

For this review, I decided to make a week's worth of meals in the Foodi. That included breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert. I liked some of these meals so much (particularly the breakfast and lunch options) that I repeated a few of them.

French Toast

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

I saw a recipe for French toast sticks on Ninjas website. I went with it because that dish is pretty easy, and the Ninja recipe was pretty basic.

This was the first thing I cooked in the Ninja Foodi, and it was a hit. I air-fried it for 10 minutes total, flipping it halfway in between. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, which is exactly how I like it. This is the best French toast Ive made at home  and I have made a lot of French toast at home.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Crescent Rolls

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

These took a little bit extra of time, but came out perfectly. Using the Sear function, I cooked a single egg (mixed with a bit of milk) as I would on a stovetop to scramble it. Then I popped that in the fridge to cool off, because otherwise the egg's heat would cause the roll to fall apart.

Once the eggs were cool, I wrapped a bit of egg, cheddar cheese, and a frozen sausage link into a crescent roll and air fryed them for 7 minutes. It was super simple and tasted amazing.

Fried Egg on a Bagel

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 9/10

Earlier this year, I learned you can fry an egg in an air fryer, right on top of your bread of choice. Of course, I had to replicate this in the Foodi because it is a really easy breakfast and you can cook everything almost at once. I popped my egg, bottom half of a bagel, and frozen sausage in the Foodi and air-fried all three for about 4 minutes. I didn't air fry the top of the bagel at first, because I learned previously that without an egg on top, that piece will overcook and burn.

Once that was done, I popped the other half of the bagel into the Foodi and set everything to air fry for another 4 minutes. The egg looked weird at the end but tasted good enough, so I only dinged a point here for the presentation.

Cooking lunch in the Ninja Foodi

Making the lunch recipes in the Foodi were the fastest meals to cook in this entire experiment, as the lunch recipes often featured the Air Fry function.

Pizza Bagels

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 8/10

These pizza bagels tasted awesome and took less than 10 minutes to make. The only reason it doesnt get a 10/10 is that the pepperoni flew off the bagels in the baking process, so some pepperoni slices were overcooked and others werent cooked enough. But I imagine I can futz around with the settings a few times to get it exactly how I want it and hopefully keep my pepperonis from going rogue.

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 8/10

For this lunch, I followed Kraft's own recipe for air-fried Ranch chicken tenders. They take less than 10 minutes to make, and all you need are breadcrumbs, a Ranch seasoning packet, and chicken.

The only reason this didn't get a 10/10 rating is that the basket in the Foodi made it a little awkward to flip the tenders halfway through and I lost some breading in the process because of that. Otherwise, the outside was crispy and the chicken was still so juicy inside that I didn't even need a dipping sauce.

Cooking dinner in the Ninja Foodi

Cooking dinner in the Foodi was definitely the most labor-intensive. These recipes often used several different Foodi functions, and for some recipes, you cook two different parts of the meal at the same time.

Turkey Meatballs & Pasta

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 7/10

When I went to cook this recipe, the Ninja Kitchen website was down. I had to do a lot of Google searches to see how to make meatballs and pasta in the Foodi. Eventually I found a method for cooking the meatballs for 10 minutes, five on each side using the air fryer setting, and they came out perfectly: crisp on the outside but juicy on the inside. Ill definitely use this method to cook meatballs in the future.

The pasta was a different story. Id pre-bought ingredients based on the recipe, which called for using jarred pasta sauce, but I had no idea how to cook the pasta in the sauce in the Foodi. After several panic searches, I found out you can just pressure cook pasta for half the suggested time on the box. I cooked the pasta in the full jar of sauce and then added water to the mix until the pasta was completely covered.

The sound that the Foodi makes when it is pressure cooking truly terrified me. I know pressure cookers make sounds, but I was convinced it would blow up (it didnt) and I turned it off after three minutes of pressure cooking and then let it sit for an extra 10 minutes while it vented.

I dont understand why people use this method to cook pasta, as it isnt any faster than using a stovetop. Dont get me wrong, the pasta came out great and I enjoyed it, but this function is not faster or easier, so I do not get the point of it.

Teriyaki-Glazed Chicken & White Rice

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

I am embarrassed to admit that Ive never cooked rice before. Ive made instant rice in the microwave and that is certainly not the same. I always thought of cooking rice as a daunting task and I was shocked to learn how easy it is. This dish was by far the easiest and one of the best things I made in the Foodi.

The recipe was very simple  its definitely not authentic chicken teriyaki, but still delicious. I marinated the chicken for 24 hours and then after washing my rice, put everything in the Foodi together. Using the Steam & Crisp feature, you put the rice (plus water & butter) in the pot while the chicken goes on the rack above it on tinfoil. The end result was some of the fluffiest rice Ive ever eaten and perfectly cooked chicken.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

This was the absolute best meal that I made in the Foodi. I will think about this pot pie for a long time. My family grew up loving this dish, so I carted the Foodi over to my parents house for the weekend and made this with my dad. I will say, for a large kitchen appliance, it was actually easy to transport.

This was definitely a "trust-the-process" situation. You have to use three functions: Sear/Saute, Pressure Cook, and Broil. The first half of the meal is very simple  essentially the same as cooking the inside of the pot pie on a stovetop. Then you switch to pressure cook, so the chicken cooks all the way through. After that, you have to wait for it to de-pressurize before you can open the Foodi, add the crust, and broil it.

If the meal didnt taste so damn good, Id have dinged the rating for being such an ordeal. But this meal was so good that my dad literally licked the plate, so it gets the perfect 10.

Pepperoni Pizza & Pasta Bake

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 8/10

Now, this recipe gets dinged for the exact reason mentioned above. While it tasted good and my dad was a fan, it wasnt good enough to warrant having to open and close the Foodi so many times. I even burned my hand (though it was my fault: I opened the SmartLid too fast and was not fully paying attention).

This recipe requires three Foodi functions: Sear/Saute, Pressure Cook, and Air Fry. The first two went off without a hitch. In fact, the Foodi didnt make the scary Im going to explode sound at all, which scared me more because why did it make that sound previously? However, the third and final function didnt go well.

In the first two steps, youre cooking all of the pasta and sauce. The final step is cooking the cheese and pepperoni on top. But using the air fry function made the pepperoni blow around in the Foodi and burnt the cheese! It was only five minutes of cooking, yet still too much for the cheese. Thankfully, only the very top layer burnt and there was still ooey-gooey cheese underneath.

Cooking dessert & snacks in the Ninja Foodi

Crusty bread

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

As soon as I opened to recipe book inside and saw the words crusty bread, I knew I needed to make it. It only required one ingredient I didnt have  yeast  and everything else (flour, salt, and olive oil) was already in my kitchen cabinet.

It took 10 minutes to mix everything together and knead the dough until it was no longer sticky. Then it required three stages in the Foodi. This was a bit tedious, but simple enough to do and required virtually no effort or skill on my part. You use the Foodis Proof setting twice, 50 minutes each time, then you use the Steam & Crisp feature for 20 minutes to cook it. The Steam & Crisp feature requires a bit of water in the pot, while the bread bakes on the rack above it. It steams for five minutes, then bakes for 20 minutes.

It is a two hour process at least, but Id definitely do it again for fresh bread that is super soft on the inside and crusty on the outside. This seems to be shorter than regular oven methods for baking bread, as many suggest letting the dough rise in the fridge for hours ahead of baking, and this only needed to use the Proof function in the Foodi for an hour and 40 minutes.

Cake

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 2/10

The only reason this is getting any rating outside of 0 is that it did eventually cook the cake and it tasted great. But the process and outcome were bad.

The point of the Foodi is to make you not want to use other appliances. But in order to bake a cake, you need a water bath and a separate pan (not included) to place on the rack inside of the Foodi. While this isn't that hard, in the end it's not easier than using an oven because of how awkward it is getting the pan on the rack inside of the Foodi while the cake mix is unbaked.

I tried a coffee cake recipe I saw online that used boxed mix, and that was a huge mistake. It made the baking time much longer, as I used sour cream instead of oil and I added brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon to the mixture. The brown sugar topping was burnt before the center of the cake even started to bake. Clearly, I should have just baked a plain box cake and maybe my results wouldnt have been so wonky.

After nearly 45 minutes of baking, it did cook but the top was burnt and the bottom was stuck to the pan, despite a very generous amount of cooking spray. In the future, Ill 100% stick to baking a cake in the oven.

Reeses Cup Smores

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 10/10

This is one of the easiest snacks to make, and I am mad I never thought of this on my own. Using the Broil function, you get the Reeses cup all melty and the marshmallow gooey, while the bottom graham cracker gets toasty and warm. It was a very simple dessert snack but an excellent choice and something I will 100% repeat.

Banana Bread

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Rating: 4/10

While everyone else made sourdough bread at the start of the pandemic, I became a banana bread expert, so when I saw the recipe in the Foodi cookbook I knew I had to try it. Out of all the meals I made in the Foodi, this was one I'd made a million times previously in an oven, so I could compare the two methods in detail, and I have to say I have absolutely no idea why anyone would ever bake a cake or banana bread in the Foodi over the oven. It takes longer, and there are issues!

Using the Steam & Bake function, this took 50 minutes, divided between a 20-minute steam and a 30-minute bake (that's much longer than I typically bake banana bread in the oven, though I often make mine as muffins for easy portioning). After 50 minutes, when I pulled this out, I thought I had a success story on my hands, based on smell and sight. It looked good on top and smelled great! But when I went to transfer this out of the pan, I realized it was not structurally sound. The inside was still semi-soft, and not in an ooey-gooey delicious way.

I could have put it back in the bake more, but that seems to defeat the purpose of following the instructions and using this appliance. I rated this higher than the boxed cake because it looked much better coming out of the Foodi and I was able to eat the top of it, but overall this was not a success.

Ninja Foodi Pros

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Best air frying

Steam & Crisp

Easy to make multiple meals

Easy clean up

The Air Fry function on this device is top tier, and you can cook so many different meals so much faster in an air fryer than in the oven. I will say, you definitely need to follow the instructions inside Foodi's guidebook to avoid overcooking when using this function.

If you're like me and are afraid of cooking certain things (like rice) the Foodi will change that. In under 30 minutes, when you use the Steam & Crisp function, you can make chicken and rice that will take absolutely no skill whatsoever but still impress all your friends.

If you enjoy making more than one meal at once, then a Foodi is the appliance for you. Personally, I am not big on leftovers, but I know I am actually in the minority in this and I respect that most people think extra food is a good thing, not an annoyance.

The pot and air fry basket inside the Foodi are removable and super easy to clean. I baked, air fried, sauteed, broiled, and steam-cooked inside of the Foodi and there was no hard scrubbing required during cleanup. I just had to wash the pot, basket, and rack (if used) with soap and water and it was good as new.

Ninja Foodi Cons

Ana Suarez for Hearst Newspapers

Too much food for one person

Can be a little awkward to cook certain meals

Now, it is a pro for some and a con for others how much food is made in the Foodi. I do want to clarify, this often only refers to dinner recipes, as most of the breakfast and lunch recipes seemed to be designed for 1-2 people, whereas dinner recipes range from 4-8 servings, depending on the meal. Again, if you only like to cook for one hour a week and eat the same thing over and over again, this is definitely a pro.

Is the Ninja Foodi worth it?

For one person, this might be too much, but when I cooked dinner with my family each recipe was perfect: enough for everyone, plus some leftovers for lunch the next day. When I made any dinner recipe for just myself, it was way too much food. The Foodi can make leftovers for a few days, which means you can easily meal prep for an entire week in most likely under one hour, as many of these recipes only took ~30 minutes to make.

For me personally, I think a Ninja air fryer would be the better fit for my cooking style. The Air Fry function on this Foodi blew my old air fryer out of the water (sorry Chefman air fryer, I love you still).

Ninja AF101 Air Fryer Ninja amazon.com $89.99 Shop Now

I used the Air Fry setting the most while cooking in the Foodi, but I also liked pairing the Air Fry and Broil functions to get things extra crispy and cooked to perfection. I could easily make breakfast and lunch using use those two functions every single day for the rest of my life.

If $350 if a steep price tag, but the Foodi sounds enticing, there are models with fewer functions. This 9-in-1 Foodi is $200 on Amazon and has all of the important Foodi features like pressure cook, air crisp, broil, sear/saute, and bake/roast.

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Best Ninja Foodi Recipes

Chicken pot pie

Teriyaki-glazed chicken & rice

Ranch chicken tenders

French toast

Pizza bagels

I made almost all of the recipes above more than once. I had the French toast three times in one week  it was that good. I'd make that pot pie every night if I didn't want to gain 20 pounds in a week. All of the actual meals I made were good and enjoyable, the only true disasters were the cake and banana bread.

You can buy the Ninja 14-in -1 SMART XL Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with Lid for $349.99 at Ninjakitchen.com
NEW LONDON  After a woman was beaten, robbed at gunpoint and kidnapped from a Marlborough gas station parking lot over the weekend, police released some tips to help residents stay safe.

A 64-year-old woman was putting groceries in her car outside the Big Y supermarket in Marlborough around 7 p.m. Saturday when two men wearing masks walked up to her and demanded money. The two men then threw her in the backseat of her vehicle, pulled out a gun, put a bag over her head and hit her in the face with an object several times, police said.

They stole the vehicle, with the victim in the backseat, and drove to the DND Food Mart in East Hartford, where one of them used the victims ATM card to get money, police said. The pair threw the victim out of the vehicle in Berlin and drove behind a building, where they lit the vehicle on fire, according to police. The men fled in a 1999 to 2003 model Acura TL.

Police in New London shared some tips to residents via social media on Monday, following news of the Marlborough abduction.

The department urged residents to be aware of their surroundings.

If anyone ends up in a similar situation, police urged residents to make a scene, but stay calm and make mental notes of any details about the person or persons involved.

Yell, scream, make as much noise as possible, police said. Draw as much attention to you and the situation as you can.

Police said in that situation, the best defense is to run away. But if that isnt an option, police urged residents to be prepared to fight as if your life depends on it.

As the investigation in Marlborough continues, with police having released an image on Monday of one of the individuals involved in that incident, Marlborough First Selectman Greg Lowrey asked residents to stay calm and patient.

I find the report alarming and hope that the victim gets the care and support needed, Lowrey said Monday. Private citizens and government agencies are cooperating with investigators to develop evidence.

Police ask anyone with information to contact Detective Frank Cuoco at 860-465-5469.
National Hispanic Heritage month is here again! You are probably starting to see messages on social media and maybe even posters promoting local events. But what is National Hispanic Heritage Month? National Hispanic Heritage month is celebrated every year from September 15 to October 15 to recognize the contribution of both Hispanic and Latinx Americans to the United States. It initiated as a commemorative week in 1968. In 1988, the commemorative week was expanded to a month by legislation sponsored by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

Why September 15th? Seems odd to start the commemorative month in the middle, right? It happens that September 15 is the anniversary of the independence of five Hispanic Countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico, Chile, and Belize celebrate their Independence Days on September 16, 18, and 21, respectively.

National Hispanic Heritage Month provides the opportunity to move beyond the perception that all Latinos share one identity. In reality, the Latino culture is not an entirely monolithic group. We describe our identity in many ways that reflect the diverse origins of our community, our immigrant experiences and geography. Along with differences in our identity, we also share differences in the Spanish we speak as Spanish is regionally influenced. Mexican Spanish is different from Chilean Spanish, which is different from Spanish spoken in Spain. Music, food, and people make up a significant part of our culture and add even more diversity within the Hispanic community. We are people with a strong sense of family, community, and unity and National Hispanic Heritage Month is an excellent time to celebrate and share that widely.

Although some Hispanic people have been here since prior to the formation of the United States as we know it; for many, our ancestors, grandparents, and parents, immigrated to the United States for the purpose of a better life. It is for them and past generations that we honor their contribution to this countrys history, culture, and its achievements.

A significant part of my credit union career has revolved around helping Hispanic/Latinx community members join the credit union movement. I can still remember my first days as a teller. Spanish speaking members immediately began to ask me about other products and services they were interested in besides weekly check cashing. I saw families add savings for their children, establish credit, and finance their first reliable or new car. For some aspiring Hispanic/Latinx entrepreneurial members, these were the first steps in opening business accounts and having the established credit to finance starting costs for their first businesses.

Over my career, I have watched these same members grow their families and even purchase their first homes. Recently, a credit union student intern I worked with almost a decade ago reached out for a reference: A first-generation son of Mexican immigrants, he had graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Public Health and was starting his professional career in the medical field.

When I started out as a credit union professional in the Pacific Northwest, it was not atypical for me to be the only Hispanic/Latinx or person of color in any myriad of meetings, offices, or credit union industry get-togethers. With changing local demographics, more entry level Hispanic/Latinx professionals have joined our credit unions front lines. It was good to see our teams become more representative of the people we serve; however, it did not contribute entirely to a stronger sense of belonging. Instead, even as the front-line became more diverse, I felt more isolation as I looked around to see there was no increase in diversity at the top of our organizations. They were still not reflecting the communities we served.

Personally, I was lucky to find colleagues and executives who encouraged me, provided opportunities, and most importantly included me in leadership roles. I joined the Humanidei team earlier this year because of the mission and vision. We work with inclusive credit unions that are looking to be the employers of choice for mission driven people, and we are focused on helping create leadership teams that are as reflective of the communities as front-line employees.

When I think about Hispanic Heritage month, I am reminded of the many Hispanic/Latinx credit union colleagues I have met and built relationships with over my 20 years in the industry. The talent and diverse experience and contributions they bring to the credit union industry is only limited by the opportunities presented to them. From Oregon to Connecticut, Wisconsin to Texas, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, white, black and mestizo. From the front line to the c-suite and everything in between, I invite you to challenge yourself. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Learn something new about your Hispanic/Latinx colleagues. This time, though, instead of celebrating by taking a dance class, trying a new dish or reading a book, invite your Hispanic/Latinx colleagues to take a seat at the table. After all, we love to share our food and Im reminded of Cesar Chavez who said, If you really want to make a friend, go to someones house and eat with him the people who give you their food give you their heart.

We could all use a little more heart these days.
I double dog dare youto implement a culture that actually delivers.

Diving into that realm does require chutzpah  from a leader whos willing to go where others dont. Lucky for our listeners, we got to sit down with one such leader this week on CRMNEXTs Banking on Experience.

Sundie Seefried is CEO and President at Safe Harbor Financial (and former CEO at Partner Colorado CU), and she offers some fantastic suggestions on implementing a culture thats more than just talk.

Whats covered?
An independent study commissioned by NAFCU released today examines the benefits brought to consumers, businesses and the U.S. economy by the credit union federal income tax exemption. Specifically, the study found that removing the tax exemption status for credit unions would reduce tax revenue by $56 billion and reduce economic activity by $120 billion over the next decade, while eliminating nearly 80,000 jobs per year that span.

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger lauded the studys findings as evidence of the tax exemptions crucial importance to the American economy.

As not-for-profit cooperative financial institutions, credit unions have always put their members first by providing them with the best financial products, rates, and lower fees, said Berger. Today, 125 million consumers are members of a credit union. Consumers continue to recognize the benefits of credit unions and how a credit union can help them achieve financial freedom. The tax exemption status provided to credit unions has yielded dividends to consumers, Main Street businesses, and the U.S. economy through lower fees, better financial products, and better rates.

The study was conducted by American Universitys Robert M. Feinberg and Interindustry Economic Research Funds Douglas Meade.
Ruth GrahamNew York TimesSeptember 11, 2021When Crisann Holmess employer announced last month that it would require all employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by Nov. 1, she knew she had to find a way out.She signed a petition to ask the company to relax its mandate. She joined an informal protest, skipping work with other dissenting employees at the mental health care system where she has worked for two years. And she attempted a solution that many across the country are now exploring: a religious exemption.My freedom and my childrens freedom and childrens childrens freedom are at stake, said Ms. Holmes, who lives in Indiana. In August, she submitted an exemption request she wrote herself, bolstered by her own Bible study and language from sources online. Some vaccines were developed using fetal cell lines from aborted fetuses, she wrote, citing a remote connection to a practice she finds abhorrent. She quoted a passage from the New Testament: Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit.Major religious traditions, denominations and institutions are essentially unanimous in their support of the vaccines against Covid-19. But as more employers across the country begin requiring Covid vaccinations for workers, they are butting up against the nations sizable population of vaccine holdouts who nonetheless see their resistance in religious terms  or at least see an opportunity. Vaccine-resistant workers are sharing tips online for requesting exemptions to the requirements on religious grounds; others are submitting letters from far-flung religious authorities who have advertised their willingness to help.The conflict was picking up steam even before President Biden announced sweeping new workplace vaccine mandates on Thursday. The new orders will require the vast majority of federal workers and those who work for large private employers to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. Overall, the mandates are expected to affect 100 million American workers.U.S. businesses have spent the past 18 months dealing with a series of logistically and politically contentious challenges raised by the pandemic, including shutting down workplaces, requiring masks and reopening, combined with widespread labor shortages. The new battle over vaccine exemptions is especially fraught, pitting religious liberty concerns against the priority of maintaining a safe environment.How much can we ask? How far can we push? Do we have to accommodate this? Those are the questions employers are trying to figure out, said Barbara Holland, an adviser at the Society for Human Resource Management. And: How do I tease out whos not telling the truth?Interest in religious exemptions is clearly rising. Mat Staver, the founder and chair of Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal organization, said his group had received more than 20,000 queries on religious exemptions in recent weeks.Liberty Counsel filed suit on Friday against officials in New York over the states attempts to deny religious exemptions from its vaccination mandate for health care workers. The consequences of these forced edicts are enormous, Mr. Staver said, citing the possibility of labor shortages if health care workers quit or are fired en masse.In New York City, where vaccines are required for public schoolteachers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would recognize narrow and specific grounds for religious exemption.In many communities, large public employers are already dealing with a surge in requests. In Tucson, Ariz., 291 workers requested religious exemptions after the city announced a vaccine mandate for its employees. The city assigned four administrators to sort through the requests. They have approved slightly more than half so far, and denied 15, with some requests for further information still pending, according to Ana Urquijo, the interim assistant city manager.Some private employers are taking a hard line. On Wednesday, United Airlines told workers that those who receive religious exemptions will be placed on unpaid leave at least until new Covid safety and testing procedures are in place.Exemption requests are testing the boundaries of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who object to work requirements based on religious beliefs that are sincerely held.To the benefit of objectors like Ms. Holmes, the provision defines religion broadly. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has specified that religious objections do not have to be recognized by an organized religion and can be beliefs that are new, uncommon or seem illogical or unreasonable to others.They cannot, however, be based only on social or political beliefs. That means employers must try to distinguish between primarily political objections from people who may happen to be religious, and objections that are actually religious at their core.For many skeptics, resistance tends to be based not on formal teachings from an established faith leader, but an ad hoc blend of online conspiracies and misinformation, conservative media and conversations with like-minded friends and family members.People who have already made up their minds are now looking for ways to continue to exempt themselves from the Covid vaccine, said Joshua Williams, a pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado.Mr. Williamss prepandemic research into school immunization requirements suggests that most objections described as religious to vaccines are really a matter of personal  and secular  beliefs. After the state of Vermont removed its vaccine exemption for nonreligious personal beliefs in 2016, the proportion of kindergarten students with a religious exemption shot up from 0.5 percent to 3.7 percent, suggesting that most parents who took advantage of religious exemptions did so only when others were not available.Apple, Microsoft, Tyson Foods and Disney are among the major private employers who announced this summer that they would require at least some of their workers to be vaccinated. Since the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTechs coronavirus vaccine on Aug. 23, others are quickly following.As mandates take effect and the Delta variant surges in many regions of the country, some former skeptics are submitting to shots. The Biden administration said that roughly 14 million people in the United States received their first shot in August, about 4 million more than in July.Understand Vaccine and Mask Mandates in the U.S.
National Cybersecurity Failings: How Businesses Can Improve Their Security

The European Cybersecurity Index produced by ESET was published recently, revealing the best and worst European countries for cybersecurity. Despite the United Kingdom scoring highly for cybersecurity in the past, the Index placed the UK 17 out of 24, making the country the 8th worst for cybersecurity across Europe.

The result is surprising as the same Index showed that the UK has the highest commitment to cybersecurity out of the 24 countries analysed.

Businesses have been left wondering what they can do to improve their cybersecurity and protect themselves from threats.

Factors In The Index

The European Cybersecurity Index analysed 24 countries in Europe on a number of different factors, scoring the countries for each factor to create an overall total. The factors were:

Exposure rank, where a lower number indicates a higher risk of exposure, utilising data from Rapid 7 s National Exposure Index 2018.

Commitment to cybersecurity, using the ITU publication Global Cybersecurity Index 2018 to score countries on a scale of 0 to 1.

Percentage of victims of malicious software, social network or email hacking, online banking fraud, identity theft, with percentages of victims over the last three years taken from the Europeans Attitudes Towards Cyber Security.

Cybersecurity legislation, utilising the Cyber Regulation Index to identify seven categories for legislation and to rank the countries based on their total number in those categories

The UKs Commitment To Cybersecurity

One of the factors the European Cybersecurity Index used to rank countries was their commitment to cybersecurity. The Index took into account several factors to collate these scores, from national cybersecurity strategies to awareness campaigns and professional training.

The UK scored the highest, with a commitment score of 0.931. The lowest was Greece with a score of 0.527. Yet despite this commitment, the UK was placed 17th overall, while Greece came in 4th.

A commitment to cybersecurity is not enough for countries to score highly on the European Cybersecurity Index. The UK scored the lowest for exposure rank, suggesting a higher risk of exposure to cybersecurity threats. With this and other factors taken into account, including bank fraud, identity theft, and social network hacking, the UK placed 8th worst in Europe for cybersecurity.

Businesses can improve their cybersecurity by learning from other countries in the ranking.

How Other Countries Ranked

Greece - lowest scores of banking fraud: Greece placed 4th overall in the ESET Index and has been recognised as one of the best countries in Europe for banking fraud prevention. Just 1% of Greek citizens experienced banking fraud within the last three years.

While banking fraud can occur as the result of phishing emails and scams, UK businesses need to focus on reducing the risk of breaches and improving their security posture for extra security. An effective method to achieve this is through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools.

There are numerous ways in which AI can be used, but AI network protection can help in-house teams effectively manage cybersecurity threats and breaches. AI-based systems deliver up-to-date knowledge of global industry threats, predicting potential threats and breaches and guiding decision making within your organisation.

With a self-configuring network powered by AI, any vulnerabilities can be dealt with efficiently through self-patching. AI, machine learning, and deep learning can be used together to not only make real-time predictions on risks and potential threats but to resolve software bugs that could lead to vulnerabilities.

Germany - highest number of cybersecurity legislation: While Germany placed 12th overall in the ESET Index, the country notably scored highest for the number of cybersecurity legislation in place. The country values IT security and is recognised for prioritising cybersecurity skills.

German universities are considered to be some of the best in Western Europe for their focus on cybersecurity, embedding it within other subjects, and with the significant skills shortage in the IT industry at present, it is vital that businesses around the world focus on addressing those skill gaps. IT is vital to every business, and without effective training in place, businesses will find a greater number of cybersecurity threats to address.

Skills training in cybersecurity is essential to every single industry. The transition from office-based work to remote-working for many businesses means that there are more vulnerabilities to address, and effectively training the workforce is the best way to prepare employees against threats.

The training can cover different subjects, from phishing email awareness, cybersecurity compliance, and emerging technologies. Cybersecurity training is not exclusive to those wishing to enter the industry. It is essential training for all to undertake, from low-level employees to C-suite executives, and is the most effective way to protect your data.

Portugal - the most cyber-secure country in Europe: Portugal is the most cyber safe country in Europe, according to the European Cybersecurity Index. They scored the lowest out of all 24 countries for the number of victims of malicious software, social media and email hacking, and identity theft.

UK businesses can improve their cybersecurity by using Portugal as an example of best practice.

Many social media platforms are adding additional layers of security, such as dual-factor authentication to stop unauthorised log-ins. Online workspaces have followed suit, and utilising it can prevent cybersecurity threats and hacking attempts. Businesses should be encouraging their staff to use dual-factor authentication where possible.

Another valuable way to protect valuable data and identity information is to decentralise IT systems. The current skill gap in the industry makes it challenging to upskill in-house cybersecurity teams to address all of the vulnerabilities. This can lead to challenges in response times to threats.

Outsourcing certain areas of operations can address skill gaps and focus internal resources on key areas of operation. Trusted partners can ensure the security of outsourced areas. By decentralising cybersecurity in your business, you are reducing the risk of a vulnerability allowing access to the entire system. It greatly reduces the number of systems that can be accessed, providing thorough security and allowing internal teams the opportunity to respond quickly to risks.

Commit To Cybersecurity In Your Business

The UKs ranking for commitment to cybersecurity does not match up with the countrys overall ranking in the European Cybersecurity Index. The Index shows the countries with better responses to cybersecurity issues, giving businesses an indication of the steps they can take to integrate cybersecurity solutions across all levels of operation.

When the UK has the greatest exposure to cyber threats across Europe, businesses must take the steps to protect themselves. More thorough training, the implementation of AI networks, and a greater understanding of risk can go a long way to improve organisational cybersecurity.

About the Author: Hayley Kershaw writes for AdvanceFirst Technologies, a the leading EDI specialists with a global presence and a commitment to helping businesses thrive.

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When I picked up a newspaper yesterday and saw the headline Johnson to rip up Covid restrictions, my heart leapt.

Under the terms of his so-called winter plan the Prime Minister was apparently close to shelving the despised travel traffic light system, ready to abandon proposals for Covid passports, and had professed himself dead set against another national lockdown.

On paper, it looks like a welcome bonfire of the restrictions that have caused so much damage to society and the economy  until you realise that in reality this is little short of a wish list, with everything, right down to another full national lockdown, still held in reserve.

Over the 18 long months that the pandemic has lasted, many restrictions placed on us by central government have been counterproductive or worse

Angus Dalgleish is a professor of oncology at a London teaching hospital

The news has appalled and angered me in equal measure. While Boris is clearly trying to restore the libertarian credentials for which he was once famous, the reality is he has once more engaged in a giant fudge  one for which there is not the slightest justification.

Over the 18 long months that the pandemic has lasted, many restrictions placed on us by central government have been counterproductive or worse.

Working from home, in particular, has been a disaster  for people, business and government. A dynamic and efficient economy thrives on face-to-face interaction. Zoom calls are no substitute.

And I remain convinced that compulsory mask-wearing is little more than a confidence-building measure, with little medical evidence that it plays a significant role in preventing transmission of the virus.

Compliance

More than anything, I have been chilled by how easily we have succumbed to rules, which  with their reliance on barked orders and an expectation of compliance  could not be less in tune with traditional British values.

Even if you do not take this view, it is unarguable that a swathe of the population has been frightened into what feels like near-permanent isolation.

While Covid-19 remains present, its deadly grip on society has collapsed in the face of our vaccination programme

Im amazed by otherwise sensible contemporaries who have retreated into their houses, only opening the door to receive grocery deliveries.

I think history will judge it all to be a gross overreaction, one that had a horrendously negative effect on the economy and destroyed the prospects of many younger people.

Sadly, we cannot undo these past travesties  but we can change the present. It is the time for a change of course. There must be no lockdowns, no vaccine passports  and if I had my way  no working from home or compulsory mask-wearing either.

In other words, we must return to normality. This is what we were told our Government wanted. Now they must prove it.

I do not say this out of ideological fervour but we do seem to have the virus on the run.

While Covid-19 remains present, its deadly grip on society has collapsed in the face of our vaccination programme.

We have known this for much of the year, but two recent studies have underlined it.

In July, an Imperial College London report showed that fully vaccinated people were three times less likely than the unvaccinated to test positive.

Last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that of the 51,281 Covid-19 deaths in England between early January and early July this year, just 640 were people who were fully vaccinated. Thats 107 deaths a month, or 3.5 people per day.

This figure becomes even more astonishing when you realise it includes fatalities among people who had been infected prior to vaccination.

As the report authors themselves declared, the risk of death involving Covid-19 was consistently lower for people who had received two vaccinations compared to one or no vaccination.

The same ONS report showed that the average age of death for the double-vaccinated from Covid is now 84.

Thats nearly three years more than the UKs life expectancy, which stands at 81.26.

In essence, people dying of Covid are now, on average, dying later than people who havent contracted the virus.

This is very welcome news, a vindication of the vaccination programme which the Government proclaimed would deliver us from this nightmare. As I write, more than 80 per cent of the population aged 16 and over have been jabbed.

Risk

It shows that while we are living with something that causes infections and death, the coronavirus is approaching minor importance compared with the huge risk of an increase in deaths from other causes, such as cancer and heart disease.

Those two conditions have long been serious, but today we have ever more reason to feel frightened of them.

Two months ago, colleagues of mine wrote a paper for medical journal The Lancet, in which they underlined how we must expect substantial increases in the number of avoidable cancer deaths due to diagnostic delays caused by Covid-19. To be blunt, I believe we are on the cusp of a shocking rise in the number of otherwise preventable deaths directly attributable to the Governments obsessive, myopic focus on the coronavirus.

Now is the time to stop the dithering and end the creeping erosion of our fundamental freedoms. A view of empty Fleet Street in central London

In both a professional and personal capacity, I have looked with mounting horror at the number of people with worrying, sometimes chronic symptoms consigned to a telephone consultation with a GP three weeks after they have raised a red flag.

And I can only give thanks that  so far at least  my wife is not one of them. Twenty-five years ago, she found a lump in her neck which turned out to be a lymphoma.

Back then, she saw her GP the following day, was referred to hospital and was scanned and biopsied within a week.

If  as is likely today  shed had to wait three weeks for a GP and a subsequent referral it would have been too late. It will certainly be too late for many others.

The bottom line is that all the statistics show that if you are double-vaccinated and not enormously overweight then Covid is unlikely to prove life-changing.

Expensive

This, surely, is the best that any of us could hope for, as even a brilliant vaccine is rarely a panacea. Every year people get flu and die from it, despite being vaccinated.

Naturally, there are always outliers, and any death is a tragedy for the individual and their family  but it is not a basis for sweeping, ruinously expensive policies that dramatically affect the lives of an entire country.

Yet here we are, governed by ministers who, in their blinkered anxiety to tackle Covid above all else, seem content to let deaths by other causes rise dramatically. At the same time they are sending the country into a state of near-paralysis.

Perhaps we should not be surprised, after 18 months of what feels like countless U-turns by the Government.

It has flailed from one controversy to the next, whether it be the chaos of the pingdemic, which saw endless numbers of the population being told to self-isolate unnecessarily, or the endless changes to the travel rules.

Now is the time to stop the dithering and end the creeping erosion of our fundamental freedoms.

Angus Dalgleish is a professor of oncology at a London teaching hospital.
Hanging Baskets

Look, let's be frank. The choice facing the global community is stark and simple. There's no avoiding it. You either hang your basket. Or you don't. It's as simple as that.

Frankly, it's a debate that shows no sign of stopping.

And I welcomed the opportunity to engage with this issue on The Andrew Marr Show last Sunday.

Let's face it. If you choose to hang your basket  and frankly, there's no earthly reason why you shouldn't  then there are further choices to be made.

Tough choices. Where to hang your basket? In your lounge or living room?

What you must remember is this. Baskets don't hang themselves. They never have. And they never will [Stock image]

Fine. By all means try. But when you water it, don't complain that your carpet is soaked through.

By the front door? Or round by the patio? These are decisions that won't just go away. Put them off until tomorrow and you'll lose a vital day. And that can only mean one thing.

You'll have 24 hours without that basket hanging. What you must remember is this. Baskets don't hang themselves. They never have. And they never will.

Ironing

When you've won an unprecedented three General Elections in a row, well you begin to know a thing or two about ironing. And I'm happy to share that strategy.

Look, there are tremendous benefits to ironing a shirt or a pair of jeans. Not least an end to unsightly creases and wrinkles.

On a personal note, whenever I visited Camp David, I would always be sure my jeans were freshly ironed. That's something I first mentioned in an exclusive interview with World At One last Monday.

But to do it properly, let's face it, you can't just do it with your right hand or your left hand alone.

If you heat up your hand until it's hot enough to uncrumple a shirt, you will end up writhing in agony. So you've got to have an iron. And that requires investment. And what do you do once you've bought your new iron?

Frankly, I don't know. That's a question I'll leave to the experts.

But what I do know is that we, as a global community, will be faced with a lot of ironing in the future. And we have to create the ironing infrastructure to deal with it.

Jars

Marmalade, honey, jam, pickle. Chutney. Mustard, strong or mild. Even pumpkin seed. What does it all come down to?

As I made clear on Woman's Hour on Friday, it all comes down to jars. Big jars. Small jars. Medium-sized jars. Yes, getting a lid off our jars has never been more necessary. Or more difficult.

What I've been saying all along is that a viable solution to the whole global jar question must be both strategic and empowering.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair answers the tough questions all households face [File photo]

Yes, by all means start by trying to open the jar with your thumb and forefinger. But if that doesn't work, you must face up to reality. Now is the time for leadership with vision.

Look, what I'm saying is this. There are tough lessons to be learned. So, just place the jar on a flat surface. Reach for your hammer. Grip it in both hands. And slam it down hard on that jar. It's the only way forward.

People say to me  but what about all the broken glass?

Who's going to clear it all up? And won't some of the shards bury themselves in the honey or the marmalade?

Fair enough. These are perfectly reasonable questions. So, sure, let's proceed with caution.

But for pity's sake, let's not get bogged down in the niceties.

Kettles

The government I was privileged to lead introduced huge reforms. Things like the minimum wage, civil partnerships, paternity leave. Big, big changes in the way politics operated.

But sadly, despite all our efforts, descaling your kettle continues to be a major problem worldwide.

If you live in a hard water area, your kettle will build up limescale. But, look, regularly descaling your kettle will make it more efficient.

And, hey, it may also extend its useful life.

So, as I mentioned in an exclusive interview on Newsnight yesterday, it's something that's well worth doing.
Something extraordinary happened yesterday but were now so numbed by the consequences of this pandemic that many have shrugged it off.

A government which has been slavishly imploring us to follow the science for months overruled one of the bodies it says we should trust to deliver the science in order to vaccinate en masse healthy children aged 12 to 15-year-olds from next week who have a miniscule chance of succumbing to Covid-19.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had said the vaccine should only be offered to teens if they are extremely vulnerable or live with someone at risk because the benefits didnt outweigh the risks and the chances of long Covid among the age group are low.

But the decision to ignore the JCVIs equivocal message and continue the quest to jab jab jab at almost any cost was made by Christopher Whitty  a man with no children himself who wants us to continue to live in fear of the coronavirus in perpetuity.

One of the main reasons behind such a worrying move, with real world health risks for our innocent youngsters, was a fear that the continued spread of Covid could see them miss out on even more education.

But the decision to ignore the JCVIs equivocal message and continue the quest to jab jab jab at almost any cost was made by Christopher Whitty (pictured in September 2020) - a man with no children himself who wants us to continue to live in fear of the coronavirus in perpetuity

The embattled Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and his department have been pushing for such a rollout, terrified of the militant teaching unions who refused to work at the height of pandemic and caused the young to miss an average of 107 days of education last year.

So, in essence, we are going to be jabbing millions of kids for no good health reason just to keep teachers happy, who will no doubt start gently (or not so gently) encouraging their pupils to get jabbed.

Meanwhile ministers have made plain that parents will NOT have the right to overrule the wishes of even 12-year-olds despite experts from the JCVI saying that a 12-year-old was less likely to be deemed competent to make the decision on their own.

Its almost unbelievable that we are pandering to such a degree to teachers who spent the vast bulk of 2020 doing everything possible not to teach.

And how is there such a conspiracy of silence around this highly controversial decision, with most politicians and media outlets accepting the unprecedented move was almost inevitable?

Why? Because its what theyre doing in Israel and Australia  two countries also desperately trying to jab five to 11-year-olds.

If we follow their path, new-borns will be jabbed the moment they leave the womb.

It was left to the brave Conservative MP Marcus Fysh to provide some political resistance, calling for the head of the CMO.

He tweeted: Sorry to have to say it but the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty does not deserve the confidence of the country in deciding to vaccinate teenagers without good clinical reason. He should resign.

So much about Whittys decision needs to be questioned.

The embattled Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured in February) and his department have been pushing for such a rollout, terrified of the militant teaching unions who refused to work at the height of pandemic

It was left to the brave Conservative MP Marcus Fysh (pictured left, next to David Davis) to provide some political resistance, calling for the head of the CMO

Whats happened to the benefits of natural immunity? Some studies claim that the best away to protect kids and the world long-term against Covid is to let them get it. Let them build a natural immunity that - over time - will turn Covid into just another cold.

Is the alternative jabbing children every year forever? Covid will never go away if that is the case.

Teens are only being given one dose of the jab, rather than two, because of the dangers posed.

The most worrying of those is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, which a new study in the US and Israel suggests impacts 162.2 cases per million for healthy boys aged 12 to 15 and 94 cases per million for healthy boys aged 16 to 17 after two shots.

That means boys aged 12 to 15 are four to six times more likely to suffer vaccine-related myocarditis than end up in hospital with Covid.

Its almost unbelievable that we are pandering to such a degree to teachers who spent the vast bulk of 2020 doing everything possible not to teach, writes Dan Wootton (pictured above)

Anyone battling a heart condition as an adult will tell you that myocarditis isnt something you want to encounter in your teens even though the experts assure us the cases detected so far are mild.

Further, the CDC in the US is currently investigating the death of Jacob Clynick, a healthy 13-year-old from Michigan with no underlying health conditions who died in his sleep three days after receiving his second Covid jab in June.

In its report from earlier this month, the JCVI admitted there is considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the potential harms of vaccinating teens.

No wonder JCVI member Professor Adam Finn of the University of Bristol said: I stand by the JCVI advice, which is not to go ahead at this time with vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds on health outcome risk-benefit grounds given the current uncertainty  as there is a small but plausible risk that rare harms could turn out to outweigh modest benefits.

Dont tell me a 12-year-old can make this sort of serious health decision on their own, sometimes against advice from their parents.

Theres a reason why this age group cant vote or fight for their country in a war.

I can only imagine the scenes at schools up and down the country. Woke teachers preaching that every student should be jabbed for the good of society and to save granny, while virtually every other classmate gets vaccinated in the school hall.

It would take a very strong youngster to stand up against that degree of societal influence and peer pressure.

Parents will also be, quite rightly, concerned about the consequences to their childrens social lives and ability to travel in the future if they decide against the jab, given the government insists on keeping vaccine passports in reserve.

Now to stress, I am not in any way opposed to the brilliant and groundbreaking Covid vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had said the vaccine should only be offered to teens if they are extremely vulnerable or live with someone at risk (file photo)

Im double jabbed and think its a no brainer for any adult, especially the vulnerable or those with underlying health conditions  but it is up to the individual to make the choice.

I despise the coercion culture that has developed around vaccination, given its a fundamental human right to make informed decisions about what goes into our bodies.

Coronavirus is now becoming endemic.

Infection rates are not all that different amongst the vaccinated and unvaccinated  although deaths and serious disease are MUCH higher among the unvaxxed.

Avoiding Covid over the next 12 months is going to be very difficult  but the serious risks of hospitalisation and death have now gone for the vast majority of those who want to be vaccinated.

We need a commonsense approach like we have with the flu, so if you have symptoms and test positive then stay home.

Just because the rest of the world is vaccinating children doesnt make it right.

Is it going to take the death of a perfectly healthy British youngster  possibly even one who was vaccinated against their parents wishes  for our officials to wake up to just how wrong this decision is?
Many acne-plagued women have claimed a $50 serum from an Australian skincare brand has cleared theirstubborn spots in a matter of weeks.

Vital Skin Co is the brainchild of Sydney financial adviser Elizabeth Ware, 25, who was determined to create an affordable but effective range after battling chronic acne throughout her teens and early twenties.

Developed in consultation with pharmacists, the products are made with natural ingredients such as vitamins B, C and E which accelerate healing and reduce the appearance of pigmentation, without the harsh chemicals usually found in acne treatments.

Ms Ware ensured the formulas were suitable for all ethnicities, ages and skin types, after struggling to find products marketed towards her own Greek-African heritage.

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Acne-plagued women are raving about an Australian skincare brand, which many claim has cleared their stubborn spots in a matter of weeks. Pictured: A before and after transformation

Sydney financial adviser Elizabeth Ware (pictured) was determined to create an affordable but effective range after battling chronic acne throughout her teens and twenties

Best sellers include a $45 gel cleanser and a $40 'Glass Skin Cream', which customers have hailed the 'best moisturiser' they have ever used.

But the 'hero' product - and Ms Ware's personal favourite - is a $50 serum laced with niacinamide, the cosmetic name for zinc, which she describes as 'super gentle with maximum results'.

The serum is made with vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that helps to neutralise free radicals and reduce redness, swelling and improve the appearance of acne scars.

The brand's website boasts dozens of glowing reviews, with many crediting the product for clearing not only their spots, but scarring too.

One woman said she felt confident enough to go makeup-free after just a few weeks of using the serum.

'This has been so great to clear up my scarring,' she wrote.

'It's been there for years and for the first time I feel confident not wearing makeup which is huge for me! Will be repurchasing for sure.'

A second said she has 'never seen faster results' with her skin until she started using the product.

Many are calling Vital's $40 Glass Skin Cream (left) the 'best moisturiser' they have ever used, while the brand's $30 sage face mask also boasts dozens of rave reviews

Ms Ware (pictured before and after using her own treatments) ensured the formulas were suitable for all ethnicities, ages and skin types, after struggling to find products marketed towards her own Greek-African heritage

Others raved about the $30 soothing sage mask, with one woman crediting it for 'saving' her skin throughout winter.

While the beauty industry is becoming increasingly saturated with e-commerce skincare brands, Ms Ware believes the inclusivity of Vital sets it apart from others on the market.

'It's out core value. Our products have been tried and tested to give results no matter your [ethnic] background or skin concern,' she said.

To browse the full range of Vital Skin Co products, please click here.
A royal expert has warned Prince Harry to be cautious if he releases a statement on his upcoming birthday, because it could have unitentded consequences for Meghan's potential future career in politics.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, Richard Fitzwilliams predicted that, Harry - who lives in an 11 million dollar mansion in California with wife Meghan and children Archie, 2, and baby Lilibet - will use his 37th birthday tomorrow to highlight a charitable initiative.

And he said that it's reasonable to assume that he could choose to focus on the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, adding that he will have to 'be careful not to say anything critical of President Biden'.

Meghan marked her recent 40th birthday with her own endeavour - the 40x40 project - in which she asked high profile people to commit to giving 40 minutes of their time to support women going back to work.

And the couple also used the occasion of Archie's second birthday to campaign for vaccine equity and urged fans to donate $5 to ensure access to the jab in low-income countries.

Richard Fitzwilliams believes Harry could launch a charitable initiative on his upcoming 37th birthday - and has warned the royal to 'watch what he says'

But Richard Fitzwilliams has advised Harry to be careful what he says, amid the growing political tensions following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

'Its a big crisis and it would be a reasonable assumption that any birthday initiative might be linked to Afghanistan and the refugee crisis,' he said.

'Harry and Meghan seem to see their future in the US and Harry will have to watch what he says about US domestic matters, especially as it's been speculated that Meghan is eyeing up a future in politics.'

It comes after Harry and First Lady Jill Biden last night praised each other's support for wounded veterans during a 30 minute virtual event to celebrate Warrior Games Warrior athletes, their families, and caregivers.

Prince Harry thanked the warriors for their service and said the Warrior Games inspired his Invictus Games

Jill Biden praised Prince Harry's work with wounded warriors on Monday during their first even together since she became first lady

During their first event together since she became First Lady and he moved to the United States, Dr Biden praised Harry, saying: 'You live by a simple principle - served together recovered together.'

And Prince Harry returned the praise, thanking the First Lady for her support of veterans and their families.

'Thank you for your service and your continued support over all these years. It's been fantastic to see you in action in various parts of the world giving everything that you've got to so many people to not just those who wear the uniform but to the families as well. A lot of them wouldn't be here without you so, so thank you,' he said.

Last month, the couple were criticised for wading into Afghanistan crisis with woke 'word salad' statement, in which they said they were 'speechless' and feeling 'the many layers of pain'.

The warning Harry should be cautious follows a recent YouGov poll showing his popularity has fallen - in part due to poor public responses to statements like this one about Afghanistan

The lengthy statement, released via the couple's slick Archewell Foundation website, called on followers to support organisations including the World Central Kitchen, but failed to say how much they would be personally donating or details of how they would help.

Prince Harry's biographer Angela Levin told FEMAIL: 'I think Harry and Meghans grandiose, comfy and caring comments about the situation in Afghanistan, the disaster in Haiti and new Covid variants is another example of them trying to set up some sort of alternate woke royal family.

'Like most of their "compassionate" gestures there is no indication about what they themselves will do and whether any donations will be going through Archewell Foundation.

On top of their comments on Afghanistan, YouGov cited the the fallout from their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, as well as the public responses to their statements surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, for the fall in the couple's favourability ratings.

The couple's highly-viewed interview with Oprah Winfrey has also been cited as a reason for the pair's decline in popularity

The warning to be cautious about any comments around Afghanistan comes as a recent YouGov poll shows that Harry and Meghan's popularity has gone down again, with YouGov citing 'poor responses' to the couple's statements surrounding the withdrawal from Afghanistan as one of the reasons.

Positive opinion of the Duke of Sussex has fallen by nine points, from 43 percent in April to 34 per cent now.

The Duchess of Sussex, 40, has seen a steady decline in her popularity this year, with positive opinion at 30 per cent in March, falling to 29 per cent in April, and dropping a further three points to 26 per cent now.
McDonald's Australia is set to bring back its fancy wagyu beef burgers after disappearing from its menu two years ago.

Making its way back onto the menu from Wednesday, diners will be able get their hands on the fancy take on a classic Macca's burger, made from 100 per cent Australian wagyu beef.

The deluxe burger features wagyu beef, a tasty rasher of bacon, grilled onions, signature sauce and homegrown produce including tomato slices, crisp lettuce and Aussie Jack cheese.

The fast food restaurant has sourced more than 170,000kg of premium wagyu beef from farms across Australia.

McDonald's Australia is set to bring back its fancy wagyu beef burgers after disappearing from its menu two years ago

'We are thrilled to be bringing back our much-loved Wagyu Beef Burger,' Amanda Milios, McDonald's Australia's brand manager, said.

'We know this is a favourite for many of our customers who are looking for a delicious, more premium lunch or dinner option.

'As part of our continued support for the local agriculture industry, Macca's is proud to have sourced over 170,000 kilograms of premium F1 Wagyu beef from more than 100 Aussie farms.

'We've been celebrating and serving great-tasting, home-grown ingredients to our customers from farms across the country for 50 years and know there's huge demand for the taste of Wagyu beef.'

The Wagyu Beef Burger is available after 10.30am from September 15 until Tuesday, October 19 in McDonald's restaurants nationwide, including via Drive-Thru, McDelivery or the MyMacca's App.

The burger comes just days after Macca's launched its much anticipated Pokemon Happy Meal range, with 25 brand new trading cards to collect (picture of what the Happy Meal looks like overseas)

The burger comes just days after Macca's launched its much anticipated Pokemon Happy Meal range, with 25 brand new trading cards to collect.

The fast food restaurant has brought its 'most requested' Happy Meal collaboration to Australian shores after its launch proved to be a huge hit overseas.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the gaming franchise, fans will be treated to four official Pokemon Trading Card Game cards with every Happy Meal purchase.
Kamala Harris' model stepdaughter Ella Emhoff made sure her Met Gala debut went off with a bang on Monday night, when she put on an incredibly glamorous display in a sheer red ensemble - complete with a stunning makeover that left her looking almost unrecognizable.

The 22-year-old, who is signed to Gigi Hadid's modeling agency IMG, proved herself more than capable of holding her own alongside some of the industry's biggest stars when she stepped out at the star-studded event - which she attended without her boyfriend Samuel Hine.

Ella, who is known for favoring more funky fashion looks, eschewed a more traditional gown, instead opting for a skin-tight red shirt with a sheer pattern across her abdomen and arms, and a glittery panel over her stomach and breasts.

She paired the figure-hugging shirt with some baggy shiny red pants which were tied up at the waist and tight around the ankles, finishing her ensemble off with some comfortable-looking red sneakers.

Style star: Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff looked almost unrecognizable at the Met Gala, where she put on a chic display in a bright red ensemble

Glam time: The 22-year-old model, who is signed to Gigi Hadid's agency IMG, eschewed her signature low-key look, instead opting for a much more glamorous style

Risque: Ella wore a sheer, skin-tight shirt that featured glittering panels over her breasts and her stomach, along with a pair of baggy shiny pants

The model and knitwear designer - who is the daughter of Harris' husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife Kerstin - typically opts for a barely-there natural makeup look, however she underwent an incredibly glamorous makeover for the Met Gala.

Choosing to go without her signature wire-rimmed glasses, she had her normally curly hair in a sleek straight 'do that flicked up slightly above her shoulders - having teamed up with celebrity hairstylist Gonn Kinoshita for the evening.

Using products from R+Co, including the Rodeo Star Thickening Style Foam and the Trophy Shine + Texture Spray, Gonn created a stylish look that was pulled back behind the model's ears - allowing Ella to show off her sparkly makeup look, which was the work of A-list beauty pros at Pat McGrath Labs.

The look, which featured glittering gems around her eyes, a bold brow, and a slick of mascara, emphasized Ella's angular features, which were accentuated with the brand's Skin Fetish: Highlighting Balm Duo and the Sublime Skin Highlighting Trio.

For the eyes, makeup artists applied the Pat McGrath Labs Mothership IX: Huetopian Dream Palette, before adding a slick of the Fetisheyes Mascara.

Dazzling gems were then scattered around the model's eyes.

Upon her entrance to the event, she added a matching red face mask to her outfit in keeping with the strict COVID regulations that were put in place ahead of the Met Gala - where all guests were required to show proof of full vaccination status and get tested ahead of their arrival.

Attendees also have to wear masks indoors whenever they are not eating and drinking.

Ella clearly felt right at home at the star-studded event, where she happily posed and waved for the cameras as she made her way up the Met's iconic steps.

Comfy: Instead of heels, she chose to wear some sneakers, which featured the same sheer panels as her shirt

Right at home: Ella looked incredibly comfortable on the red carpet and she happily showed off her outfit for the cameras as she made her way inside the event

Glitz: Her tattoos were faintly visible through the sheer parts of her shirt - and she matched her makeup to the glittering elements of her ensemble by wearing gems around her eyes

Rules: Once inside she donned a glittering red face mask in keeping with the Met Gala's strict COVID regulations

Ella's appearance at the Met Gala comes at the end of a busy New York Fashion Week for the rising star, who attended several events alongside her magazine editor beau Samuel - including the Thom Browne show on Sunday.

There, the model stepped out in a more typical look, donning a striped blazerm matching long skirt, and a sharp suit and tie - matching her boyfriend, who wore a grey jacket and kilt with his own shirt and tie.

The couple held hands as they made their way out of the fashion show, with Ella sporting a funky stuffed animal-style handbag across her body as they left the event.

Ella has long had a relationship with the designer, having worn his design at a COVID memorial shortly before President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, where she quickly cemented her status as a style star thanks to her quirky look.

The model attended the inauguration as the step-daughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, who she calls, 'Momala', and she signed with major modeling agency IMG just weeks later, having generated a huge social media buzz with her appearance.

Three weeks later, she made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week, walking for designer Proenza Schouler - a brand for which she also modeled on Wednesday,

Busy bee: On Sunday, Ella attended Thom Browne's New York Fashion Week event with her beau Samuel Hine

Ella confirmed her relationship with GQ editor Sam, 27, in August. Above, the pair is pictured outside the Collina Strada show on Thursday in Brooklyn

In July, she made her couture debut at the Balenciaga show in Paris in front of the likes of Kanye West.

Emhoff is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she lives.

Little is known about her beau Hine, 27, who is a senior associate editor at GQ magazine. He's written a profile on John Mayer, which he called his favorite piece in an interview with Grailed.

He told the outlet that he grew in Chicago in a 'prototypical sheltered suburban childhood experience' before moving to New York.

'I was in college during what I guess was the height of the #menswear era, and I read all the blogs, and was basically like, I could do that.

'So I convinced a super fly English professor - shoutout Gage McWeeny - to let me do an independent study on fashion and I wrote some silly essays on, like, Oscar Wilde and fit pics. It was kind of insane that my conclusion from that was "I should get paid to do this stuff," but here we are.'
She seemed the eptiome of the modern woman who has somehow managed to have it all - graduating from Oxford while pregnant with her fourth baby, building a successful art career and raising four young children solo while her husband worked abroad.

But Boris Johnson's mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl, who has died aged 79, had a rather more complicated life behind the successful facade, battling mental health issues, ill health and a crumbling marriage plagued by infidelity.

The mother-of-four, who made a name for herself in the art world with little formal training, spoke publicly for the first time last year about her unhappy marriage with Stanley Johnson, who was alleged to be habitually unfaithful, claiming that the Prime Minister's father broke her nose in the 1970s.

Around the same time the artist was suffering with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), something she claimed was a precursor to her Parkinson's diagnosis in 1982, and she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment in 1974.

But the Prime Minister speaks with warmth about his mother, who was openly more left-wing than the rest of her family, crediting her with teaching him 'the equal value of every human life'.

Boris Johnson's artist mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl died 'suddenly and peacefully' in hospital last night at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, central London, aged 79. She is pictured with the Prime Minister as a child

While Mr Johnson's father Stanley - a former Conservative politician and MEP - is a familiar figure thanks to appearances on the TV talk show circuit and reality TV, it was his ex-wife Charlotte who was thrust into the spotlight last year with the release of a bombshell biography by journalist Tom Bower.

Released in October 2020, The Gambler, detailed her troubled marriage to Stanley, with Charlotte reportedly saying at the time that she wanted 'the truth to be told'.

The book claimed that Boris Johnson's father hit his mother and broke her nose in the 1970s, an aggression that left her needing hospital treatment.

It was claimed that the incident took place when Charlotte was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and had 'flailed' at Stanley, who broke her nose when 'flailing back'.

Bower also claims that Boris' distrust of his father is the reason he struggles to forge close friendships with men and seeks the company of women instead.

'Charlotte is certain that her suffering preyed on the young Boris. Denied his mother's embrace and the absence of any home warmth, while at prep school, Ashdown House in East Sussex, there was a vast emotional hole. Some called the result 'the frozen child', he wrote.

Boris spoke with warmth about his mother, who was openly more left-wing than the rest of her family, crediting her with teaching him 'the equal value of every human life'. They are pictured together in London 2014

Sonia Purnell's biography, Just Boris, claimed that throughout their marriage Stanley was habitually philandering with other women.

'Charlotte had lived every day for years knowing that every woman who came into close contact with Stanley was fair game,' said a long-time family friend. 'It even included the wives of friends', she writes.

Born Charlotte Fawcett in Oxford in 1942, Charlotte was the daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett - who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s.

She had described her parents as 'rich socialists', admitting that she had never voted Tory and found it 'extraordinary' that she came to marry one and have four Conservative children.

Her grandparents were Elias Avery Lowe, a Lithuanian-American paleographer at the University of Oxford and Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a writer best known for translating the works of Thomas Mann from German into English.

Art had been a love of Charlotte's since her childhood, revealing to Tatler that her parents gifted her a set of oil paints when she was five.

'I could handle them well and I immediately began to paint, without instruction. It was something I could make my own and be clever at. None of the others could paint', she said.

One of five children, Charlotte went on to study English Literature at Oxford University, where she met Stanley Johnson at a dinner in 1962.

At the time Charlotte was engaged to another student named Wynford Hicks, who she described in an interview with Tatler as 'extraordinarily beautiful but quite boring'.

Stanley sent her a note after the dinner asking if they could go for tea and a walk. She fell for him when he quoted Max Beerbohm's Seven Men, which made her laugh hysterically.

Charlotte married Stanley a year after they met and she interrupted her education to travel to America with her new husband, who had received a Harkness Fellowship.

While they were in the US, she gave birth to their oldest child Boris in the Upper East Side of New York.

She once explained how she settled on Boris Johnson's full name - Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson - while three months pregnant on a bus from the US to Mexico City.

'It was very uncomfortable, I was desperately sick', she told the Telegraph. 'We stayed with a man called Boris Litwin, who drew me aside and said, 'You can't travel back like this, here are two first-class air tickets.

'I was so grateful, I said, 'Whatever the baby is, I shall call it Boris'.'

But she later changed her mind and called him Alexander Boris de Pfeffel.

'At Eton, his friends discovered his foreign name and everyone started calling him Boris  even the beaks [teachers],' she recalled.

She married Stanley Johnson in 1963 and the pair had four children, three boys and one girl - Boris, Leo, Jo and Rachel (pictured)

Charlotte painted a variety of subjects, primarily portraits. She was the subject of an exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in 2015

'But everyone who's known him since childhood calls him Alexander. If I were to call him Boris it would mean something was really serious.'

Speaking of his birth in 1964, she said: 'Boris was a champion when he was born. Because not only was he very big, looked like he was ready for prep school, but he had thick yellow hair.

'It was most extraordinary and it was the time when the Beatles had just arrived in New York, so he got called the blond Beatle and all the mothers having babies in that hospital were brought in to see the blond Beatle.'

The pair had four children together, three boys and one girl - Boris, journalist Leo, former minister Jo and broadcaster Rachel.

Charlotte returned to England to complete her degree before the birth of her daughter Rachel in 1965, as the first married female undergraduate at her college, Lady Margaret Hall.

She once recalled sitting her final university exams while pregnant with Rachel and Boris was 'in the pram outside the exam hall'.

As Stanley travelled for his career as an environmentalist, often Charlotte was alone at their home, deep in an Exmoor valley where she home-schooled her four children.

During this period she balanced motherhood and painting, holding sell-out art shows in Brussels in the late 1970s.

From the outside, she seemed something of a superwoman, having balanced her education with raising a young family and developing her career as an artist.

But Charlotte was also struggling with a phobia of germs and dirt, eventually being diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Speaking to Tatler last year she said that it was a 'relief' to discover the condition often precedes Parkinson's, adding that it 'always felt such a bore' undertaking daily rituals caused by the disease.

When Boris was ten-years-old, in 1974, his mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the Maudsley Hospital, south London.

In the 2013 documentary Boris Johnson: The Irresistible Rise, Charlotte spoke frankly about a breakdown she had when Boris was a child.

She said that while she was away for months being treated, Boris took on a role in caring for his younger siblings, protecting them while the family was subjected to a stream of often 'dotty' nannies.

While she was being treated, Johnson Wahl held sell-out shows at the Maudsley Hospital, made up of 78 telling insights into her troubled psyche, many of which sold.

Once out of hospital, Charlotte travelled to Brussels to be with Stanley. Purnell claimed she was readmitted several more times with depression over a period of two years.

The mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1982, aged 40, but was still determined to continue her career as an artist.

Speaking to the Telegraph in 2008, she said: 'I try to paint every day if I possibly can, though I have to go to the hospital a lot.

'I still manage to paint, though my arm will suddenly do a movement which is completely unintentional and that almost brings me to tears.'

One of five children, she studied English at Oxford University. But she interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson (pictured left with Boris Johnson's wife Carrie), whom she met at Oxford and married in 1963.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl, is pictured with daughter Rachel Johnson and sons Leo Johnson and Boris Johnson at Somerset House, central London in 2015

Bower claims that 'Stanley had promised Boris that he would never leave his beloved mother', but that in Boris' first year at Eton in 1978 Stanley told his children that he and Charlotte were divorcing.

The mother moved with her children to Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, where she made a living painting to commission - with clients including Jonathan Miller and former Evening Standard editor Simon Jenkins.

After meeting at a dinner party in Brussels, Charlotte began a close friendship with Nick Wahl, an American academic who lived in Paris, whom she regularly commuted to see before marrying in 1988.

With Wahl Charlotte had moved to New York, but when was widowed in 1996, after her second husband died of cancer, she returned to the UK.

She had another sell-out show at the Gavin Graham gallery, Notting Hill, in 2004.

During her art career, Charlotte painted a variety of subjects though primarily portraits - including paintings of author Jilly Cooper and actress Joanna Lumley.

She is said to have completed more than 2,000 pieces in her career and was the subject of an exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in 2015.
The Great British Bake Off 2021 has unveiled its line-up for 2021 - and super fans of the show can get an advance glimpse into the contestants' lives - by checking out their social media accounts.

The popular programme, which kicks off on September 21 on Channel 4 at 8PM revealed the full line-up last night, with the programme showcasing a diverse mixture of cultures, ages, and occupations.

And going by their Instagram accounts, the stars of this year's show are camera ready, with several sharing glamorous holiday pool snaps on Instagram.

Of course, they've also been showing off their prowess in the kitchen, including vegan baker Freya and her impressively iced Nutcracker-inspired biscuits.

Crystelle from London, uses her Portuguese-Goan-Kenyan heritage for inspiration when it comes to her bakes

19-year-old vegan contestant Freya, seen sunning herself underneath a waterfall, likes to create plant-based bakes

This expressive and intricate watering can cake was created is the work of 34-year-old George, a Shared Lives Coordinator from a Greek Cypriot family who lives in London

Amanda, seen here relaxing in a swimming pool, revealed that she learned to bake with her mum and paternal auntie

As ever, Bake Off fans are curious to find out more about the contestants, and they can do just that, with the soon-to-be famous faces offering informations about themselves via their social media channels.

A vast array of professions will also be in the tent, from a vegan teenager, to a Met Police Detective and a Software Developer to a retired Nurse and Midwife.

And many of them have shared details about themselves, their lives, and - most crucially - their bakes, online.

Between them, this year's cast come from far and wide, with family from Goa to Germany to Greece, as well as Cyprus, Kenya, Portugal and the Middle East.

Freya, a 19-year-old vegan psychology student describes herself as a 'massive perfectionist' who like to create 'unexpected' bakes

North Yorkshire teenager Freya says she has wanted to enter Bake Off since the first series, when she was aged nine

Showing that plant-based doesn't mean boring: Freya shows off one of her stunning bake on Instagram, with this soldier-shaped cake

As well as being a keen baker, Freya likes to show off her unique (and delicious-looking) cakes on Instagram

The youngest of this year's wannabe winners, Freya, is a 19-year-old vegan pyschology student from Yorkshire, while the rest of the contestants range between ages 26 - 70.

Describing herself as a 'massive perfectionist' who likes to create 'unexpected' bakes, the teenager's social snaps how off dairy-free creation such as an iced Nutcraker bicsuit, and elaborate celebration cakes.

One colourful creation inspired by Marvel comics features everything from The Hulk's fist to Captain America's shield, hinting at promising things to come from the baker who says she's wanted to enter the show since she was nine-years-old.

26-year-old client relationship manager, Crystelle revealed to her Instagram followers that she will be taking part in the major baking show

Self-confessed 'stressor' Crystelle only actually started baking seriously three years ago

Met Police Detective Amanda, 56, was raised in London with Greek-Cypriot heritage - so the mother-of-two's bakes are heavily influenced by Greece and the Middle East

Meanwhile, 40-year-old Chigs, a sales manager from Leicestershire only took up baking at the start of lockdown in 2020 teaching himself complex techniques by carefully studying online videos.

His hard work clearly paid off, if snaps of colourful cupcakes on his Instagram are anything to go by.

Jurgen moved to the UK in 2003, and started making bread when he was unable to find traditional German bread here, with pictures of his mouthwatering efforts popping up on his social media account.

Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith are of course back, as well as hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding.

The Channel 4 show was filmed earlier this year with the contestants and crew placed in a COVID-safe filming bubble - the second time this has happened amid the pandemic.

40-year-old Chigs, a sales manager from Leicestershire only took up baking at the start of lockdown in 2020 teaching himself complex techniques by carefully studying online videos

While he may only have been baking for a short time, Chigs has already developed some serious skills, showing off these cupcakes on Instagram

Tom, a 28-year-old software developer from Kent, described being part of GBBO as 'the most surreal experience of [his] life'

Tom's tasty treats he's shared on social media include these 'creepy and kooky' cupcakes topped with orange icing and ghostly characters

This 'allotment birthday cake' by Tom was created to celebrate a friend's birthday, and features classic vegetable decorations

Jurgen, a 56-year-old computer pro who lives in East Sussex, originally hails from the Black Forest in Germany

Jurgen moved to the UK in 2003, and started making bread when he was unable to find traditional German bread here

Bakers for 2021 includes a range of ages - with the youngest contestant Freya aged just 19, and oldest Maggie, 70
It was an emotional weather report for Good Morning Britain's Laura Tobin today as she showed the impact of climate change on the North Pole.

Laura, 39, was giving a special live report from Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, which is known for its glaciers.

The presenter was explaining how the glaciers of Svalbard melting affects the rest of the world and the UK when she suddenly broke down in tears.

Visibly shaken, Laura explained she was thinking of her daughter Charlotte, four, who she hasn't seen for six days, and who had drawn her a picture of a polar bear ahead of the trip.

Laura said she didn't know whether there will still be polar bears in the area by the time Charlotte is her age.

Viewers were split by the segment, with some expressing sympathy while others claimed Laura was trying to be 'woke.'

Good Morning Britain's weather correspondent Laura Tobin, 39, pictured, broke down in tears during a live segment from Svalbard, Norway, today

The segment started normally for Laura, who was speaking in front of a glacier with a confident smile.

'We've come here because Svalbard is warming up and more than anywhere else on Earth, and the impacts around the world are huge,' she said.

'We need ice because it helps cool our planet. The weather here and the fact the ice is melting disrupts the jet-streams and changes the weather in the UK, the ice melting leads to sea level rise, which will lead to flooding in the UK.

'And here the vision of the changing landscape and the impact it's had on ecosystems and wildlife before our eyes has been breathtaking and devastating.'

The presenter started crying as she said she didn't know whether her daughter Charlotte, four, pictured, would ever get to see polar bears in the North Pole

Viewers did feel for Laura but others said the problem started at the top and that quitting using cars was not the solution

At this moment, Laura's voice began to break and she struggled to keep her composure.

'I came here, ripped away from Charlotte for six days,' she said, fighting back tears, 'My producer Ruth hasn't seen her daughter, she's never had a night away from her.

'And I wanted to come here and tell the story of the people here because it's actually not a story it's a reality.'

She brandished a piece of paper, showing a drawing from Charlotte to the camera.

'And my little Charlotte had drawn this picture here, a picture of a polar bear talking to a polar bear,' she said.

'But if Charlotte comes here when she's my age, there potentially won't be polar bears,' she added.

Laura began the segment confidently, talking the audience through the impact the ice caps melting had on the UK

Halfway through, the presenter's voice broke and she began crying, visibly moved by the reality of climate change

Svalbard is an archipelago located between Norway and the North Pole, which is known for its glaciers and rugged landscape, pictured

'You know, we were all talking about what we can do. Just understanding the reality and everyone making a different and everyone working together and not pointing fingers will help,' she said.

She concluded by saying that even though she was crying, she had enojyed her time in Svalbard and would like to come back one day.

Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, who were presenting the show today, were touched by Laura's tears.

'You said sometimes people go to a particular location for a couple of days and end up staying years, because they are so compelled by what they see and what they can do,' Susanna said.

Charlotte fought back tears as she showed the camera a drawing of a polar bear from her daughter Charlotte, pictured

'I know Charlotte means you're gonna come back. Otherwise, Laura, we would be at risk of you staying there for a long time because it's such important work.'

Laura, who had recovered from her tears, nodded and said Charlotte understood why she went to Svalbard.

'She said, "The ice is melting" and I said "Why?" and she said "Because the earth is warming up",' proud mother Laura recalled.

'And I told her "Why?" and she replied "Because we're driving our cars to the shops".

'I want to let her know we did everything we could to make sure this landscape stays the same for her,' she concluded.

The moment split audiences between those who felt for Laura, and the others who said she was being 'woke.'

Some viewers said Laura's segment had more impact on them than a previous moment in the show where the leader of Insulate Britain tried to justify the M25 protest from yesterday

'Oh Laura,' one said.

'And now for the woke weather,' another wrote.

'Being up in Svalbard attunes you to nature and what's going on in the real world - most of us are so alienated from our natural environment we don't understand the gravity of the crisis we are facing. If we did, we would be crying too,' one wrote.

'I'm sorry Laura is upset @GMB but the problem with climate change starts at the top. Forcing people out of their cars onto what? It's fine in London, Manchester, Edinburgh. Go to a rural location and you'll see hardly any transport. All the rubbish left at festivals etc,' another said.

'As much as I disagree with Laura flying there, that last little segment she did had more impact on me that the guy that was on earlier EVER could. Absolutely heartfelt and not antagonising people,' one said.
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Amazon is a great place to find some fashion gems, with plenty of dupes for designer items available if you're prepared to do a bit of hunting.

Luckily thousands of shoppers have done the hard work for you and have discovered the CRZ YOGA Women's Stretch Lounge Sweatpants, which scores of buyers claim are dupes for the Lululemon On The Fly pants.

The 29 CRZ casual pants not only look incredibly similar to the 108 Lululemon version but actually score points for quality, performance and fit too. Teams of shoppers have called them 'amazing Lulu dupes', 'super comfortable! Lulu comparative for sure' and even 'way better material then lulemon and a fraction of the cost.'

The CRZ YOGA Women's Stretch Lounge Sweatpants have amassed over 4,000 reviews with many shoppers calling them a dupe for the 108 Lululemon On The Fly pants

Catching the attention of thousands of Amazon shoppers, the CRZ YOGA Women's Stretch Lounge Sweatpants have come up trumps in terms of impressive quality, comfort and incredibly flattering fit.

Designed to be worn on the move, the fabric is super stretchy, lightweight but not sheer or thin, with a lovely cosy-soft feeling. One impressed shopper raved, 'super good quality, amazing stretch, and the length is spot on!'.

If you're looking for a perfect pair of everyday trousers that won't leave you feeling frumpy, then these might be a clever addition to your wardrobe.

The CRZ casual pants are the perfect choice for when you want the comfort of loungewear but need something stylish enough for the office. A great choice on the days we want to prioritise comfort, but are still fitted enough to give shape to your silhouette.

Tailored to hit just on the ankle, these are a lot smarter than traditional sweatpants but give you the mobility of leggings thanks to the lightweight stretchy fabric drawcord in the waistband.

Perhaps most impressively have been the comments which compare the 29 CRZ YOGA Women's Stretch Lounge Sweatpants to the Lululemon On The Fly pants, which at 108 are substantially more expensive.

Pair the tailored lounge pants with white trainers and a trench coat and you have a perfect autumnal look

One delighted shopper left a glowing review for the CRZ YOGA Women's Stretch Lounge Sweatpants, writing: 'I'm obsessed with these. I bought these as a Lulu dupes of the On The Fly pants, and they definitely lived up to that.

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A third penned: 'A great find. I have tried the Lulu equivalents and just can't bring myself to pay over $100 for them - I would recommend these to anyone.'
The Duchess of Cambridge will meet military personnel and civilians who helped evacuate Afghans from their country, Kensington Palace has announced.

Kate, 39, will visit RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday to chat to those who took part in Operation Pitting, which saw more than 15,000 people airlifted out of Kabul during August, including thousands of Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) applicants and their dependents.

More than 850 people arrived at the RAF base in Oxfordshire and were provided practical support like food, clothing, childrens toys and medical help while their details were processed.

During her visit, the duchess - who attended her younger brother James' wedding in France at the weekend - will meet RAF aircrews and medics who supported evacuees at Kabul airport.

She will also be introduced to and civilians and volunteers who established a repatriation centre at RAF Brize Norton.

The Duchess of Cambridge will visit RAF Brize Norton on Wednesday to chat to those who took part in Operation Pitting, which saw more than 15,000 people airlifted out of Kabul during August (pictured on a visit to RAF Arkotiri in Cyprus in December 2018)

Operation Pitting involved every unit at the military base, with personnel working alongside the Royal Navy, Army, local authorities and aid organisations in Afghanistan and the UK.

Brize Nortons full fleet of RAF transport aircraft flew around the clock to support the evacuation, including a record flight for an RAF C17 Globemaster which carried 439 passengers out of Kabul.

Aircraft involved in the operation also carried supplies ranging from clothing and baby food for the evacuees.

It comes after a royal expert warned Prince Harry to be wary of wading into the Afghanistan crisis again if he uses his 37th birthday tomorrow to highlight a charitable initiative.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, Richard Fitzwilliams predicted said that it's reasonable to assume that he could choose to focus on the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, adding that he will have to 'be careful not to say anything critical of President Biden'.

Meghan marked her recent 40th birthday with her own endeavour - the 40x40 project - in which she asked high profile people to commit to giving 40 minutes of their time to support women going back to work.

And the couple also used the occasion of Archie's second birthday to campaign for vaccine equity and urged fans to donate $5 to ensure access to the jab in low-income countries.

Richard Fitzwilliams believes Harry could launch a charitable initiative on his upcoming 37th birthday - and has warned the royal to 'watch what he says'

But Richard Fitzwilliams has advised Harry to be careful what he says, amid the growing political tensions following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

'Its a big crisis and it would be a reasonable assumption that any birthday initiative might be linked to Afghanistan and the refugee crisis,' he said.

'Harry and Meghan seem to see their future in the US and Harry will have to watch what he says about US domestic matters, especially as it's been speculated that Meghan is eyeing up a future in politics.'

It comes after Harry and First Lady Jill Biden last night praised each other's support for wounded veterans during a 30 minute virtual event to celebrate Warrior Games Warrior athletes, their families, and caregivers.

Prince Harry thanked the warriors for their service and said the Warrior Games inspired his Invictus Games

Jill Biden praised Prince Harry's work with wounded warriors on Monday during their first even together since she became first lady

During their first event together since she became First Lady and he moved to the United States, Dr Biden praised Harry, saying: 'You live by a simple principle - served together recovered together.'

And Prince Harry returned the praise, thanking the First Lady for her support of veterans and their families.

'Thank you for your service and your continued support over all these years. It's been fantastic to see you in action in various parts of the world giving everything that you've got to so many people to not just those who wear the uniform but to the families as well. A lot of them wouldn't be here without you so, so thank you,' he said.

Last month, the couple were criticised for wading into Afghanistan crisis with woke 'word salad' statement, in which they said they were 'speechless' and feeling 'the many layers of pain'.

The warning Harry should be cautious follows a recent YouGov poll showing his popularity has fallen - in part due to poor public responses to statements like this one about Afghanistan

The lengthy statement, released via the couple's slick Archewell Foundation website, called on followers to support organisations including the World Central Kitchen, but failed to say how much they would be personally donating or details of how they would help.

Prince Harry's biographer Angela Levin told FEMAIL: 'I think Harry and Meghans grandiose, comfy and caring comments about the situation in Afghanistan, the disaster in Haiti and new Covid variants is another example of them trying to set up some sort of alternate woke royal family.

'Like most of their "compassionate" gestures there is no indication about what they themselves will do and whether any donations will be going through Archewell Foundation.

On top of their comments on Afghanistan, YouGov cited the the fallout from their interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, as well as the public responses to their statements surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, for the fall in the couple's favourability ratings.

The couple's highly-viewed interview with Oprah Winfrey has also been cited as a reason for the pair's decline in popularity

The warning to be cautious about any comments around Afghanistan comes as a recent YouGov poll shows that Harry and Meghan's popularity has gone down again, with YouGov citing 'poor responses' to the couple's statements surrounding the withdrawal from Afghanistan as one of the reasons.

Positive opinion of the Duke of Sussex has fallen by nine points, from 43 percent in April to 34 per cent now.

The Duchess of Sussex, 40, has seen a steady decline in her popularity this year, with positive opinion at 30 per cent in March, falling to 29 per cent in April, and dropping a further three points to 26 per cent now.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands stunned in a gorgeous green dress today as she joined her husband King Willem-Alexander in Salland.

The royal, 50, cemented her style credentials in the elegant emerald gown with a trendy crimped detail.

The dress featured a printed white flower and branch detail, with Maxima styling the look with a chunky belt to cinch in her waist.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands stunned in a gorgeous green dress today as she joined her husband King Willem-Alexander in Salland

The royal, 50, cemented her style credentials in the elegant emerald gown with a trendy crimped detail

Known for her love of bold accessories, the mother-of-three opted for her signature bold hat.

She paired the dusty rosewood floppy hat with perfectly complementing earrings in pink and green.

Proving her natural good looks, the royal opted for a light make-up look with a hint of pink around her eyes and lips.

Meanwhile, King Williem-Alexander, 54, opted for a blue pinstripe suit with a crisp white shirt and patterned blue tie.

The dress featured a printed white flower and branch detail, with Maxima styling the look with a chunky belt to cinch in her waist.

Meanwhile, King Williem-Alexander, 54, opted for a blue pinstripe suit with a crisp white shirt and patterned blue tie. The couple are pictured seeing local enterprise during a in Deventer in the southern part of Salland in Overijssel

The couple were on a regional visit to Salland, the Netherlands, and without their three daughters Catharina-Amalia, 17, Princess Alexia, 16, and Princess Ariane, 14.

They visited local businesses and Maxima was given a stunning bouquet of flowers by a local.

The parents were back today, after waving goodbye to their middle daughter Alexia earlier this month.

The couple were on a regional visit to Salland, the Netherlands, and without their three daughters Catharina-Amalia, 17, Princess Alexia, 16, and Princess Ariane, 14

Proving her natural good looks, the royal opted for a light make-up look with a hint of pink around her eyes and lips

The Princess has come to study in the UK at the UWC Atlantic College in Wales.

She enrolled on a 67,000, two-year course to study for her International Baccalaureate diploma alongside heir to the Spanish throne Princess Leonor, 15.

The school, situated in a 12th century castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, offers activities and subjects like Tai Chi and Tibetan literature, leading it to be nicknamed 'Hippie Hogwarts'.

The royal is an international financier by training, was married to Willem-Alexander in 2002 in Amsterdam

Maxima was born in Argentina before she married into the Dutch royal family, three years after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville, Spain

The royal is an international financier by training, was married to Willem-Alexander in 2002 in Amsterdam.

She was born in Argentina before she married into the Dutch royal family, three years after meeting her husband-to-be in Seville, Spain.

Willem-Alexander became king after his mother, Beatrix, abdicated in April 2013 after 33 years as reigning monarch.

Queen Maxima has reportedly said that she had no inkling Willem-Alexander was heir to the throne when they first met.
Kamala Harris' model stepdaughter Ella Emhoff stuck with her red theme Monday after heading to The Standard hotel for the Met Gala afterparty

The 22-year-old switched her dramatic scarlet carpet Stella McCartney outfit for a more subdued red tiered dress as she headed to the hotel in Manhattan's Meatpacking District with journalist boyfriend Sam Hine.

Ella was spotted walking into her second exclusive party of the night wearing a long bright red dress tiered with levels of ruffles.

The modest sleeved dress tied at her collarbone covering much more skin than her earlier look.

Ella Emhoff, 22, changed into a more casual look after leaving the Met Gala on Monday night. Emhoff, pictured here with boyfriend Sam Hine, wore a red dress layered with ruffles going down to her ankles

Ella walked into the Standard hotel hand-in-hand with boyfriend Sam Hine, 27. The GQ assistant style editor wore a black suit and bowtie over a white button down shirt accentuated with a pie crust collar

Ella smiled for the cameras that followed her as Sam lead into the nights second most exclusive event at the Chelsea hotel

The stylish couple closed out fashion week at the Met Gala afterparty at the Standard hotel alongside A-list celebrities

The dress was paired with her red clutch from her Met Gala ensemble, a pair of platform boots mixed with splashes of red, maroon, and purple, and her usual round wire-rimmed glasses. Ella's subdued afterparty attire was more aligned with her everyday style than the show-stopping red sheer and sequined design she wore to the Met.

Ella entered the Standard hotel hand-in-hand with boyfriend Samuel Hine, who did not attend the Gala itself. Samuel wore a black suit and bowtie with a white button down shirt accentuated with a ruffled collar which paired well with Ella's ruffled dress.

The outfit was a relatively conservative choice for Hine, the GQ assistant style editor, who is often spotted wearing more fashion forward looks.

The afterparty on the 18th floor of the Standard hotel has become the most sought-after ticket to close out the star-studded night with its floor-to-ceiling windows that provide scenic views of the New York City skyline.

In 2014, The Standard afterparty famously saw Beyonce's sister Solange Knowles attack Jay-Z in an elevator amid claims of infidelity.

Ella, who is signed to Gigi Hadid's modeling agency IMG, proved herself more than capable of holding her own alongside some of the industry's biggest stars when she stepped out at the star-studded events.

The rising fashion star, who is known for favoring more funky fashion looks, eschewed a more traditional gown, instead opting for a skin-tight red shirt with a sheer pattern across her abdomen and arms, and a glittery panel over her stomach and cleavage.

She paired the figure-hugging shirt with some baggy shiny red pants which were tied up at the waist and tight around the ankles, finishing her ensemble off with some comfortable-looking red sneakers.

The look was from vegan fashion designer Stella McCartney, and tied in with the event's environmentally conscious theme, which saw guests served a plant-based menu.

Style star: Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff looked almost unrecognizable at the Met Gala, where she put on a chic display in a bright red ensemble

Glam time: The 22-year-old model, who is signed to Gigi Hadid's agency IMG, eschewed her signature low-key look, instead opting for a much more glamorous style

Risque: Ella wore a sheer, skin-tight shirt that featured glittering panels over her breasts and her stomach, along with a pair of baggy shiny pants

The model and knitwear designer - who is the daughter of Harris' husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife Kerstin - typically opts for a barely-there natural makeup look, however she underwent an incredibly glamorous makeover for the Met Gala.

Choosing to go without her signature wire-rimmed glasses, she styled her curly hair in a sleek straight 'do that flicked up slightly above her shoulders.

Her tresses were pulled back behind her ears, allowing Ella to show off her sparkly makeup look - which featured glittering gems around her eyes, a bold brow, and a slick of mascara.

She also had highlighter on her cheekbones to emphasize her angular features and wore some pale pink lip gloss to complete the look.

Upon her entrance to the event, she added a matching red face mask to her outfit in keeping with the strict COVID regulations that were put in place ahead of the Met Gala - where all guests were required to show proof of full vaccination status and get tested ahead of their arrival.

Attendees also have to wear masks indoors whenever they are not eating and drinking.

Ella clearly felt right at home at the star-studded event, where she happily posed and waved for the cameras as she made her way up the Met's iconic steps.

Comfy: Instead of heels, she chose to wear some sneakers, which featured the same sheer panels as her shirt

Right at home: Ella looked incredibly comfortable on the red carpet and she happily showed off her outfit for the cameras as she made her way inside the event

Glitz: Her tattoos were faintly visible through the sheer parts of her shirt - and she matched her makeup to the glittering elements of her ensemble by wearing gems around her eyes

Rules: Once inside she donned a glittering red face mask in keeping with the Met Gala's strict COVID regulations

Ella's appearance at the Met Gala comes at the end of a busy New York Fashion Week for the rising star, who attended several events alongside her magazine editor beau Samuel - including the Thom Browne show on Sunday.

There, the model stepped out in a more typical look, donning a striped blazerm matching long skirt, and a sharp suit and tie - matching her boyfriend, who wore a grey jacket and kilt with his own shirt and tie.

The couple held hands as they made their way out of the fashion show, with Ella sporting a funky stuffed animal-style handbag across her body as they left the event.

Ella has long had a relationship with the designer, having worn his design at a COVID memorial shortly before President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, where she quickly cemented her status as a style star thanks to her quirky look.

The model attended the inauguration as the step-daughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, who she calls, 'Momala', and she signed with major modeling agency IMG just weeks later, having generated a huge social media buzz with her appearance.

Three weeks later, she made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week, walking for designer Proenza Schouler - a brand for which she also modeled on Wednesday,

Busy bee: On Sunday, Ella attended Thom Browne's New York Fashion Week event with her beau Sam Hine

Ella confirmed her relationship with the GQ editor in August. Above, the pair is pictured outside the Collina Strada show on Thursday in Brooklyn

In July, she made her couture debut at the Balenciaga show in Paris in front of the likes of Kanye West.

Emhoff is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she lives.

Little is known about her beau Hine, 27, who is a senior associate editor at GQ magazine. He's written a profile on John Mayer, which he called his favorite piece in an interview with Grailed.

He told the outlet that he grew in Chicago in a 'prototypical sheltered suburban childhood experience' before moving to New York.

'I was in college during what I guess was the height of the #menswear era, and I read all the blogs, and was basically like, I could do that.

'So I convinced a super fly English professor - shoutout Gage McWeeny - to let me do an independent study on fashion and I wrote some silly essays on, like, Oscar Wilde and fit pics. It was kind of insane that my conclusion from that was "I should get paid to do this stuff," but here we are.'
Kate Rothschild looked every inch mummy cool as she was spotted for the first time with her new baby boy in London on Tuesday.

It's the first child for 39-year-old banking heiress Kate and her entrepreneur boyfriend Paul Forkan, 32, who were first linked in 2018.

The new mum, who put on a very autumnal display in a burnt orange floaty dress and a pair of casual brown lace-up shoes, couldn't hide her joy as she took photos and kissed her little boy who was born in June.

The joyous arrival will no doubt bring some comfort to the family, coming two years after the tragic death of Kate's teenage daughter, Iris, who lost her life in a buggy accident at the family farm on 8 July 2019.

Kate Rothschild, 39, was spotted beaming as she strolled along the streets of London with her new baby boy on Tuesday (pictured)

It's the first child for 39-year-old banking heiress Kate and her entrepreneur boyfriend Paul Forkan, 32, who were first linked in 2018

Iris Goldsmith (pictured left), 15, died suddenly after reportedly becoming trapped when a vehicle she was riding on the family farm near the village of North Brewham, Somerset, overturned

Kate Goldsmith (L) and Ben Goldsmith attend the European Premiere of Fire in Babylon at Odeon Leicester Square on May 9, 2011 in London

During the outing, the banking heiress opted to wear her auburn hair loose before tying it in a loose bun, and accessorised with a yellow hairband as she pushed her newborn son along in a pram.

She was seen sitting on a bench and burping her newborn baby - whose name has not yet been revealed - before filling up her pushchair with shopping and attaching her son to her front using a baby carrier.

Kate's baby joy comes two years after the tragic death of her daughter, whom she shared with ex-husband Ben.

Iris, who was the eldest of Kate's three children with Ben, was killed in a 'freak accident' at the age of 15 when her off-road Polaris Mule buggy overturned at the Somerset farm owned by her father.

Proud father: It's the first child for 39-year-old banking heiress Kate and her entrepreneur boyfriend, 32, (pictured with their newborn) who were first linked in 2018

It's the first child for 39-year-old banking heiress Kate and her entrepreneur boyfriend Paul Forkan, 32, who were first linked in 2018

Kate's baby joy comes two years after the tragic death of her daughter, whom she shared with ex-husband Ben. Pictured, strolling the streets with her new baby son

The banking heiress filled up her pushchair with shopping before attaching her newborn to her front in a baby carrier

The new mum put on a very autumnal display in a burnt orange floaty dress and a pair of casual brown lace-up shoes (pictured)

She was supported through the tragedy by her boyfriend, with a friend telling The Daily Mail: 'Paul has been a tower of strength to Kate since Iris's death.'

Paul is no stranger to tragedy himself, as the entrepreneur was 15 himself when both of his parents were killed in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while the family was on holiday in Sri Lanka.

He and brother, Rob then 17, survived the disaster which killed more than 225,000 people. The pair have since set up the trendy ethical clothing brand Gandys.

Meanwhile Kate's ex Ben has also gone on to welcome a child following the tragic loss of their daughter.

Ben, 40, welcomed his third child with his second wife, model turned society caterer Jemima Jones, 34, last April.

They called their daughter Vita Iris, in honour of her late big sister.

'We named her Vita, which means life, because she managed against the odds to cling on to hers after a very difficult start to life,' he said at the time.

'And her middle name is Iris, after her guardian angel big sister.'

Both Ben and Kate have spoken publicly about their devastation following their daughter's death.

The new mum put on a relaxed display as she strolled the streets of London with her new baby boy, while clutching a phone in her left hand (pictured)

Kate was seen sitting on a bench and burping her newborn baby - whose name has not yet been revealed (pictured)

Both shared moving Instagram posts on the six month anniversary of her passing.

At the time Ben wrote: 'You will always be a marvel to us, my Irie. One of lifes champions. Whats life without champions? Were struggling to make sense of ours without you.'

Ben is the son of late billionaire tycoon Sir James Goldsmith and younger brother of Environment Minister Lord (Zac) Goldsmith and television producer Jemima Goldsmith.

His mother, Lady Annabel, inspired the name of legendary Mayfair nightclub Annabels.

The 39-year-old looked like a natural as she took a seat during her casual stroll on Tuesdsay (pictured)

The new mum could be seen pushing her baby boy in a pushchair which was adorned with soft toys to keep him entertained

Ben and Kate separated in 2012 when Kate began a relationship with American rapper Jay Electronica, real name Timothy Elpadaro Thedford.

In an acrimonious break-up, Ben is alleged to have slapped her and kicked a childs toy at her after discovering texts between the pair, receiving a caution from police.

The row escalated on Twitter, as Electronica called Goldsmith a 'f****** hypocrite' and threatened to pay him a visit.

Ben also posted online to mock his wife for hiring a PR firm, saying: 'How about focusing on her devastated children?'

Jay and Kate then separated in 2014 and the rapper moved back to the United States, moving out of the London mews house where Kate would spend her days after dropping the children off at school.

Four years later, she struck up a romance with current partner, Paul.

However, Kate and Ben seem to be on better terms now, with Kate's financier ex-husband, Ben confirming the birth of her son to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden, announcing: 'It's incredibly happy news. Everyone is over the moon.

'I'm so excited to meet the little boy tomorrow afternoon.'

Ben's film producer sister, Jemima Goldsmith, then shared a picture of herself snuggling up to newborn on Instagram, gushing that it was 'the happiest day'.
The Queen will not 'overrule' Prince Charles' hopes of keeping Prince Andrew away from public duties even though she 'adores the Duke and enjoys his company', Prince Harry's royal biographer has claimed.

Royal expert and author Angela Levin, who wrote Harry: Biography of a Prince, appeared on TalkRadio today alongside host Julia Hartley-Brewer where they discussed Prince Andrew, 61.

Virginia Guiffre, an alleged victim of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, filed a lawsuit against the Queen's son in federal court in Manhattan on August 9. She claims she was forced to have sex with the royal three times when she was 17 - under the age of consent in the US.

When asked whether she thinks the Queen still wants Prince Andrew back on public duties, Angela Levin claimed: 'I think last time she did say that he couldn't be.

The Queen will not 'overrule' Prince Charles' hopes of keeping Prince Andrew away from public duties, Prince Harry's royal biographer Angela Levin has claimed. Pictured, the Queen at the gates at Balmoral on August 9, 2021

Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend a Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee at St Paul's Cathedral on June 5, 2012 in London

'He said a couple of days ago he was waiting for it to all blow over which shows how naive and arrogant he is because it's not going to blow over.

'You can tell that a mile off; and that he will return to public duties before the Platinum Jubilee next year.

'It's come back that no one thinks that's going to happen at all. I think the Queen is very susceptible not to micromanage and to bring people in.

'She adores Andrew and enjoys his company and I think that she won't overrule what Charles says and the rest of the royals who won't want him to do that.'

Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Maxwell's townhouse in London

Royal expert and author Angela Levin (pictured), who wrote Harry: Biography of a Prince, appeared on TalkRadio today alongside host Julia Hartley-Brewer where they discussed Prince Andrew, 61

The lawsuit claimed that Andrew was one of the 'powerful men' to whom Epstein loaned Ms Guiffre, then Ms Roberts, out to for sex and accused the duke of 'publicly feigning ignorance about the scope of Epstein's sex-trafficking operation and sympathy for Epstein's victims'.

Ms Guiffre alleges the first time with the royal was at the London townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's alleged madam. The second time, in 2001, was at Epstein's New York mansion, and the third time was on Epstein's private island in the Caribbean. The formal allegations against the duke are battery and infliction of emotional distress.

Andrew has long denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crime. In a car-crash 2019 interview with the BBC, he claimed he had no memory of ever meeting Ms Roberts, now a 38-year-old mother-of-three who lives in Australia and goes by her married name.

A now-notorious photo, apparently taken inside the London townhouse of Maxwell shows Andrew smiling for the camera with his arm around Ms Roberts' waist while Maxwell stands in the background.
Harvey Weinstein's former assistant has criticised the 'power-worshipping system' that allowed him to do his worst, while failing to protect the vulnerable, as she launches a campaign to make NDAs illegal.

Zelda Perkins, 48, from Wiltshire, worked for the disgraced film producer's London office in the 1990s, when she was in her 20 and signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in 1998 after claiming the producer sexually harassed her and tried to rape one of her colleagues, Rowena Chiu, in Italy.

Zelda eventually broke her NDA in 2017 to speak out against the producer, in a move that helped to spark the #metoo movement, and told the Times that she wants to see an end to the agreements that favour rich predators.

'Its not his fault in a way; hes a sociopath with too much power,' she said. 'Of course hes going to go mad. But we have laws to protect us from ourselves. And if the law enables criminal behaviour, then its not working.'

Zelda Perkins, 48, from Wiltshire, worked for the disgraced film producer's London office in the 1990s, when she was in her 20s

She is now spearheading a campaign called 'Cant Buy My Silence' against NDAs so that employees can come out against their employers when there has been wrongdoing.

Weinstein was arrested in New York in May 2018 and was charged with 'rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.'

In February 2020 he was convicted by a New York jury of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his apartment in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in a hotel room in 2013.

He was acquitted of the two most serious counts of predatory sexual assault, which each carried a potential life sentence. He was also found not guilty of first degree rape in relation to Mann. In March 2020 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

The disgraced Hollywood producer was convicted by a New York jury of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his apartment in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in a hotel room in 2013. Pictured in 2010 with model Bar Rafaeili and Marion Cotillard

Perkins said she was initially happy when Weinstein was convicted, because she felt justice had been served, but doesn't rejoice in Weinstein's punishment.

'It doesnt make me happy to think of any human limping around and getting punched by prisoners,' she said.

'He ruined my life on one level. He really did catastrophically ruin a lot of womens lives. But the reason it is a tragic story is because he was allowed by our power-worshipping system to do his worst.

Perkins, who was one of the precursors of the #metoo movement, said 'the system' enabled powerful men like Weinstein to get away with misconduct in the work place.

Perkins, left, worked for Weinstein her in her 20s. She had to sign a NDA when she quit her job and sued Miramax for damages with her coworker Rowena Chiu, who claimed Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1998 (pictured with Weinstein in Cannes in May 1998)

After Rowena Chiu's alleged attack in 1998, she and Zelda left the company and sought legal advice.

They were told that going after such a powerful man would be a risky gamble, and that it was in their better interest to try and seek damages.

They came to hard-fought agreement with Weinstein's company and signed after being told their former boss would be monitored for sexual harassment. Both women received 125,000 in the settlement, and agreed to sign an NDA.

Zelda, who admitted in the past she had felt like she had 'failed' after receiving the money, said she chose to put the past behind her.

The clauses of the NDA were draconian and forbade Chiu and Zelda to ever speak to each other again.

Zelda was not allowed to reveal what had happened to her family and friends either, and if she wanted to seek therapy or talk about it with a doctor, they'd have to also sign an NDA with Miramax.

Zelda is spearheading a campaign to reform the law on NDAs to make sure they are not used to cover up cases of sexually harassment or discrimination in the work place

Comparing Weinstein to the Godfather, Zelda said she was forced to isolate, and her career was put to a stop. She moved to Guatemala to put the Weinstein story behind her and lived there for five years, training to horses.

In 2017, rumours about Weinstein's behaviour started piling up, with Zelda being among the first people to speak out.

Chiu, who was among the people who spoke out later, revealed she tried to kill herself twice, due to the effects the gagging order had had on her life.

After Perkins spoke about the impact of her NDA, the attention was brought on her case to the Prime Minister at the time, Theresa May.

The government promised the laws on Non Disclosure Agreements would be reformed, noting their use to cover up 'unlawful discrimination and harassment complaints is unacceptable.'

However, since the arrival of Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, the Brexit Negotiations and the coronavirus pandemic, little has been done to change the law on NDAs.

Julie Macfarlane, who co-founded Can't Buy My Silence with Zelda, is a world expert on NDA and also fought her own legal battles regarding gagging orders in her personal life.

In 2014, she sued the Anglican Church, for making her sign an NDA after she was sexually abused by a vicar in her native Chichester when she was a schoolgirl,

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury assured her they would no longer ask victim of clerical abuse to sign NDAs.

McFarlane said it was important to focus of legislation, because it was the best way to ensure companies or entities like the Church would not abuse their power by using NDAs.

Zelda and McFarlane have created the Can't Buy My Silence website, where people under NDAs can anonymously share their stories.

They hope it will have the same resonance as Everyone's Invited had for schoolgirls to speak about about sexual harassment in school.
A 27-year-old mother who went viral on TikTok for warning others about the danger of skin cancer  a danger she knew too well, having ignored a suspicious mole for three years that turned out to be melanoma  has died following her own battle with the disease.

Kassidy Pierson from Minnesota first spotted changes to a mole on her inner thigh when she was 18, but didn't get it checked by a doctor until she was 21  and by then it had evolved into stage 3 melanoma, meaning that the cancer had spread.

It progressed to stage 4 and she continued to fight it until earlier this year, when she learned that her cancer was terminal and was advised to go on hospice.

Late last week, Kassidy's sister uploaded a video to her TikTok page, revealing that Kassidy has succumbed to the illness.

Kassidy Pierson, who publicly shared her battle with skin cancer, died last week

Sharing the news: The 27-year-old's sister told followers of her passing on TikTok

'I wanted to also come on and thank you all so much for following and supporting, and I can't tell you the amount of times that she would just break down crying because she couldn't believe how many people just loved her from this platform,' she said

@ohhkayypee There will be a slideshow video coming soon. Thank you for all your support. She was loved. And finally get your skin checked.  original sound - Ohhkayypee

Kassidy's sister looked bereft as she addressed her 230,000 followers.

'I know I'm not the face you want to see,' she began. 'I am [Kassidy's] older sister. And so I'm coming on here to let you guys know that she did pass away on Tuesday night.'

'She was with her fiance, she was not alone. She was not in pain,' she added.

'But I wanted to also come on and thank you all so much for following and supporting, and I can't tell you the amount of times that she would just break down crying because she couldn't believe how many people just loved her from this platform. So just thank you so much, for all that you have done for her,' she concluded.

She signed off with a warning like those her sister had shared, captioning the clip: 'Get your skin checked.'

Warning: Kassidy had noticed a cancerous mole on her inner thigh at age 18 but waited until she was 21 to see a doctor about it

Symptoms: It was dry, itchy, and its size, shape, and color had altered  but she didn't know these were signs of melanoma

Kassidy had documented her battle with cancer on TikTok as she urged others to be vigilant in checking their skin for signs of cancer.

'This is what my mole looked like,' Kassidy said in one video, revealing a photo of the large, dark mole on the inside of her leg and explaining that she first began noticing 'changes' to it when she was 18.

'It was bigger than a pencil eraser, it itched, it was dry, it bled when it was itchy, it had all the symptoms,' she continued. 'It was discolored, it changed shapes.'

At the time, Kassidy was unaware that these were all symptoms of melanoma. She was also pregnant with her son and didn't have health insurance, so she left the mole unchecked for several years before finally visiting a doctor at the age of 21.

Speaking to Buzzfeed, Kassidy revealed that her doctors took a biopsy of the mole, and two weeks later, she received a diagnosis of stage 3 melanoma  the most dangerous form of skin cancer  which had already spread to her lymph nodes.

'After two weeks, the dermatologist called me on the phone and told me it was unfortunately skin cancer, and it was melanoma,' she told the site.

'I then asked him what that meant, as I did not know. He told me that there were a few different types of skin cancer. Melanoma was the deadly one, and I had it.'

Speaking out: Kassidy revealed that her doctors took a biopsy of the mole, and two weeks later, she received a diagnosis of stage 3 melanoma  the most dangerous form of skin cancer

Concern: Earlier this year, doctors found seven new tumors on Kassidy's brain, and told her that there is nothing left they can do for her, advising her to go on end-of-life hospice care

Kassidy's first oncologist did not initially pursue any treatment options, and one year later, it was discovered that her cancer had further metastasized throughout her entire body  including her brain  thereby upgrading her diagnosis to stage 4.

In light of the devastating news, the mother-of-one decided to seek advice from a new doctor, who advised her to immediately begin an aggressive series of treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.

'It's been a long journey,' she said in a recent video. 'I had a partial hip replacement, I had half of my right lung removed, I've had a bowel resection, I've done two rounds of chemotherapy, I have done... four or five rounds of different radiation types now.

'I've been on different immunotherapies, clinical trials, drugs. It's been a very long journey that I have taken, a very, very long journey [with] multiple surgeries. The hip one was one of the hardest and the lung one. And those happened one right after the other.'

Despite the incredibly aggressive treatment plan, which took place over a six-and-a-half year period, Kassidy received the devastating news earlier this year that her cancer was terminal, after doctors discovered that it had spread to her brain, where she now has 'seven new tumors'.

Updates: The mother-of-one used her TikTok account to encourage others to get their skin checked at least once a year, urging them not to ignore anything suspicious as she did

Take note: She regularly shared images and videos of her own tumors so that people could see what they look like  and recognize if they are suffering from something similar

'Six and a half years later, I'm still stage 4 and I'm now terminally ill and on hospice,' Kassidy shared in the video revealing the image of her mole. 'So please go get your skin checked.

'Go and get your skin checked at least yearly. If you see something suspicious, go sooner.'

In July, Kassidy was told that she would be going on end-of-life hospice care, a heartbreaking moment that she documented in a tearful TikTok clip.

'I will do ten rounds of radiation for ten weeks and then I get put on hospice after that,' she told her followers, while sobbing into the camera.

'Unfortunately, as the melanoma has spread throughout my whole body, it has entered my brain with at least seven new tumors, if not more,' she added to Buzzfeed.

'Meaning that none of my treatments are working anymore, and unfortunately at this point they have nothing medically they can do. There are no treatments available for me.'

She added: 'I am not scared to die, I am just sad. It is a very sad thing, for the moments that I will not be there for.'

Step by step: Before going on hospice and stopping her treatments, Kassidy underwent numerous aggressive procedures, including chemo, radiation, clinical trials, and surgeries

Taking time: The mother-of-one is spent the time she had left in the presence of her loved ones  particularly her son, Hunter, and her fiance, Chris

The mother-of-one became determined to spend the time she had left in the presence of her loved ones  particularly her son, Hunter, and her fiance, Chris  and she revealed to Buzzfeed that she was in the process of planning her own funeral, describing the experience as 'fun.'

She also prepared letters and gifts to leave to her son, explaining that she wanted him to have things that will help him to 'know who she is' and 'give him a reminder on those special moments that his mommy is always with him.'

Speaking about her decision to share her cancer story on social media, Kassidy said that she wanted to raise as much awareness about the deadly risks of melanoma while she still can  adding that she believed terminal illness should be discussed 'more openly.'

'We all die some day,' she said. 'I have an opportunity to share my death, which many dont get a chance to do. I am blessed I get to say goodbye to my family, and I want to showcase all the ins and outs. The good and the bad of it all. This isnt pretty and this isnt easy. But there are good moments in the bad.'
David, John and Helen were abandoned as babies on either side of Irish border

Like many long-awaited reunions, the family get-together at David McBride's Birmingham home last weekend was joyful.

David, his younger brother John and sister Helen stayed up chatting long into the night.

This is not unusual of course  except that until two years ago, none had the remotest idea that any of the others existed.

All foundlings, each was abandoned at birth without a trace of their origins.

David had been placed in a red tartan shopping bag in a car on the outskirts of Belfast on a freezing January morning in 1962, Helen Ward left six years later in March 1968, also in a red tartan bag in a telephone box on other side of the Irish border.

Despite the similarities between their circumstances and two large scale media appeals no-one had ever made the connection between them, leaving both to spend much of their adult lives in an unsuccessful search for their birth parents.

David, his younger brother John and sister Helen are pictured at his Birmingham home. They trio - all abandoned as babies - only discovered they were siblings last year

Only last year did DNA confirm that David and Helen were full brother and sister, born to the same mother and father six years apart.

Their astonishing story was revealed soon after in an episode of ITV's Long Lost Family, which chronicled the siblings' joyful reunion and the extraordinary fact that their Roman Catholic mother and married Protestant father had had a secret affair for decades.

Neither could have conceived that there might be a further twist. Yet watching the show many miles away across the ocean in Australia, a young woman called Donna felt the story resonated.

Her father John Dowling was also a foundling, left in an Irish phone box on a May evening with a warm bottle of milk beside him.

What's more, his mannerisms bore an eerie resemblance to David's.

Donna picked up the phone to her father  a heavy goods driver living in from Kilkenny  and suggested he too do an DNA test.

Incredibly, it showed that he was another full blood sibling to David and Helen, born three years after David and three years before his younger sister.

Their extraordinary story is sensitively charted in a special episode of Long Lost Family tonight which retraces the events and trail of secrecy that led to a mother and father giving away not one but three babies over the course of six years.

'I always assumed I was the only one,' as David, a 59-year-old-lawyer puts it. 'To find out I've got not just a sister, but a brother too has been mind-blowing.'

Their astonishing story was revealed soon after in an episode of ITV's Long Lost Family, which chronicled the siblings' joyful reunion and the extraordinary fact that their Roman Catholic mother and married Protestant father had had a secret affair for decades

'To go from one day being a woman who was adopted, to having a full brother and then another  it's an incredible feeling,' adds Helen, a 53-year-old former teacher.

For John meanwhile  who had even watched the programme featuring David and Helen little thinking it was his own siblings on screen  the discovery has prompted a maelstrom of emotions. 'I was dumbfounded when I got the news,' he says. 'There's sadness in this story, but there is also so much happiness.'

Chatting over zoom today with the three of them, there's no question about the family resemblance. They all share the same wide smile and similar noses.

And despite being relatively new to each other's lives, they first met earlier this summer, they already enjoy the kind of affectionate teasing that any group of siblings will recognise. 'It's like we've known each other all our lives,' says David.

Thankfully, all three had happy upbringings with their respective adoptive families, although they discovered they were foundlings at different stages in life. For David, who was raised in Belfast, the revelation came when he was 15 and applying to join the military.

On the birth certificate he was required to produce, by his birthdate was written 'on or about Jan 6th'.

'I asked my father what that meant, and it was then that he told me,' he recalls. He learned that on Jan 16th 1962 he had been found wrapped in a blanket, placed in a red tartan bag and left in the front seat of a car on a suburban street on the outskirts of Belfast.

He was around 14 days old at the time. 'It meant that for the first couple of weeks of my life someone fed me, clothed me kept me warm, loved me, someone genuinely cared,' he says.

The legacy of that revelation was profound. 'Suddenly your view of the world changes slightly. You feel a wee bit lost to be truthful,' he recalls.

'I always assumed I was the only one,' as David, a 59-year-old-lawyer puts it. 'To find out I've got not just a sister, but a brother too has been mind-blowing.'

It began a quest to uncover his origins including, in 2003, a television appeal.

Yet despite his efforts he was unable to solve the mystery of his beginnings.

Little could David  who now lives in Birmingham with his wife Anastra and their three children, and who also has four grown up daughters from a previous marriage  have known that his sister was on a parallel journey.

Six years after David was abandoned Helen Ward - just days old, snugly dressed, and with a bottle of milk beside her in the tartan bag in which she was placed - was left in a telephone box in the Irish town Dundalk on a rainy March night in 1968.

She was discovered by a lorry driver and subsequently adopted by a loving couple who, while always open about the fact she was not biologically theirs, chose not to disclose the full circumstances of her birth.

'When I was 17, I asked my dad for more information, and he said 'let sleeping dogs lie.' But of course, you can't,' Helen, from Dublin, says. 'There are so many questions. My birth mum especially was always in the back of my mind. I thought of the hardship she had gone through giving me up and I had this huge need to know who she was.'

Brothers in arms: John discovered her was David's brother after seeing his reunion with Helen last year

Particularly following the birth of her own children, a son and two daughters, now in their twenties.

'I struggled when my first baby came along - my daughter was missing out on her grandmother,' she reflects. 'You think about the day that she dressed you, put you in a bag, put you in a phone box, and sent you off. And you look at your own little baby and you say 'how could she have done that?'

Finally, in 2003, Helen plucked up the courage to visit an adoption centre in Drogheda, Ireland. She hoped to find more information about her birth mother's identity, but instead her birth certificate contained only the simple words 'child found exposed'.

Those three words broke her heart. 'I had gone in with such hope' Helen recalls. 'It's heart-breaking but also frustrating. You feel somebody out there must know something.'

'It's like we've known each other all our lives,

Her search continued: eight years ago, Helen went public, talking to a local radio station about her quest. Although it prompted an emotional reunion with the lorry driver who had found her, it provided no further answers  although it did lead to a curious conversation with a local journalist who said he had heard of a similar story to hers which had occurred three years earlier in Drogheda, 21 miles down the coast from Dundalk.

'It was very similar, but as a foundling you think a mother could only leave one child,' she recalls.

More years passed, until the advances in DNA led Helen to take a test and in 2019 put herself on an online database.

Reunited: David and Helen's reunion was chronicled on ITV's Long Lost Family last year

Months later, there was a hit: unbeknownst to her producers for Long Lost Family had uploaded David's DNA onto the same system and discovered a full match. They got in contact and the discovery was astonishing to both of them.

'Finding I had a sister was probably one of the greatest gifts I've ever had,' recalls David. 'At the same time there was also sadness, knowing that she had gone through the same difficult journey as me.'

The brother and sister's first meeting, weeks later in late 2019, in a guest house close to the Irish border that had separated them for their early years, was joyful. 'There was just this immediate connection,' says David.

'It was like we were just in a room on our own and nothing else mattered,' adds Helen.

Naturally, both were desperate to know more about their birth parents. Yet neither were prepared for the trail uncovered by researchers, who through a spider's web of related DNA matches and forensic detective work managed to put together the pieces of the jigsaw.

Their mother was originally from Kerry, their father from Dublin, where he was a shop manager and band leader. He had died in 1993 at the age of 82.

Married with 14 children, he had conducted a secret extra-marital affair with their mother, who was 17 years younger, for nearly 40 years.

'They must have really loved each other for it to go on for that length of time,' says David.

David, Helen and John (David and John are pictured) are now getting to know some of his remaining children, some of whom knew about their father's extra-marital relationship but had no idea there were children stemming from it.

What's more, their mother was Roman Catholic and their father Protestant, a further scandal at a time of huge sectarian tension. 'It was a double taboo  an affair but also across the religious divide,' David adds.

Both believe it goes some way to explaining why their mother gave up her children, which she had had between the ages of 34 and 41  then a relatively advanced age.

'It must have been a very lonely situation she was in and it must have taken a huge amount of thought to give us up for the man she loved - but perhaps it was the only way,' says Helen.

Heartbreakingly, their mother passed away just four years ago at the age of 90. She had never married or had any other children - so they thought.

'I think we both have this sadness for her,' says David now. 'It's very hard to put yourself in the place of our parents in sixties Ireland and the choices they had to make.'

It was only when returning from visiting their mother's grave that Helen mentioned to David that she wondered if there might be a third sibling.

What is a foundling? A founldling is an infant that has been abandoned by its parents and is discovered and cared for by others. Helen and David share remarkably similar stories - but no one put the pieces together as they were left on either side of the Irish border. David had been placed in a red tartan shopping bag in a car on the outskirts of Belfast on a freezing January morning in 1962, Helen Ward left six years later in March 1968, also in a red tartan bag in a telephone box on other side of the Irish border. John was found in Drogheda in May 1965 by a journalist Paul Murphy after he heard the sound of a baby crying from a local phone box as he walked home from a visit to a friend. Their mother was originally from Kerry, their father from Dublin, where he was a shop manager and band leader. He had died in 1993 at the age of 82. Married with 14 children, he had conducted a secret extra-marital affair with their mother, who was 17 years younger, for nearly 40 years. What's more, their mother was Roman Catholic and their father Protestant, a further scandal at a time of huge sectarian tension. 'It was a double taboo  an affair but also across the religious divide,' David adds. Advertisement

'That conversation from years ago with the journalist had taken on a new resonance after finding David,' she says. 'The fact there was six years between us also left a question mark in my mind.'

'I thought Helen had lost her marbles at that point,' David admits. 'But when I did some research there were only three reported cases that I could find anywhere in Ireland over the Sixties of children being abandoned  and Helen and I were two of them.'

As it turns out, that third case was John. He had been found in Drogheda in May 1965 by a journalist Paul Murphy after he heard the sound of a baby crying from a local phone box as he walked home from a visit to a friend.

He found a baby lying in a hold-all wrapped in a rug with a warm bottle of milk beside him. He called the police and the baby  later given the name John  was taken to a local hospital and subsequently adopted.

Raised alongside a sister, he recalls he was always told he was adopted, but his parents had no idea he was a foundling, having been told nothing about the circumstances behind his placement into the adoption system.

'I had a very straightforward conversation with my mother and father who were very good people, and gave me a great upbringing,' he says.

The birth of his three daughters with wife Paula prompted more curiosity over his past, but it was not until 2013 that he decided to make further enquiries.

'I was always that little bit afraid of what I might find,' he says.

Encouraged by a friend who had stumbled upon the story of a baby left in a phone box around the time of his birth, John's enquiries led him to the discovery that he was that baby.

'It was strange,' he admits. 'It puts all these thoughts in your head regarding where you are really from.'

Yet like Helen and David any attempts at further enquiries yielded only dead ends. 'I told myself that maybe I wasn't to know,' he says.

That is, until last year, when his daughter Donna watched Helen and David's reunion on Long Lost Family, which is also shown in Australia, where she now lives.

'I felt a very strong emotion to the point where I thought these people could be related to my father,' she recalls on the show. In particular, she felt they shared an identical walk and that - of all things - their hands looked the same.

She contacted the producers on email and rang her father to suggest a DNA test.

The news that they were related, when it came a few short weeks later, was 'dumbfounding'. 'I was overjoyed,' he says. 'It felt like winning the Lottery.'

The trio's first meeting earlier this summer was as joyful as that of Helen and David 18 months earlier. 'It's amazing to actually look into someone's eyes and to see is there a similar person looking back at you,' says John.

'It was very natural and easy,' says Helen. 'I think that's the biggest feeling out of all this, there's no barrier there between us. We talked about everything, our past, our feelings. It's amazing to find people who know exactly how you feel.'

That joyful reconnection also extends to their children, many of whom met for the first time this past weekend. Our children want to know where they come from too  it's about their sense of identity,' says David. 'Suddenly they've discovered new cousins. Several of them look very much alike, and it's been lovely seeing them make their own connections.'

There are other family bonds being forged too: while four of their birth father's offspring have sadly passed away, David, Helen and John are now getting to know some of his remaining children, some of whom knew about their father's extra-marital relationship but had no idea there were children stemming from it.

'We have to be sensitive to the fact that this was their father,' says Helen. 'For some of them there has been a lot to take in. We have now met two of them and they have been very welcoming.'

Today, all three feel grateful they have been able to answer some of the questions that have haunted them their whole adult lives  and for the chance to forge deeper bonds. 'There's a sense of completion for all of us,' says John.

Long Lost Family Special - Born Without Trace What Happened Next is on tonight (14 Sept) at 9pm on ITV.
The six books shortlisted for the prestigious 2021 Booker Prize for fiction explore themes including racism, injustice, freedom and constraints on women's lives.

The only shortlisted author of British descent is Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohamed for The Fortune Men.

She is up against three Americans, one Sri Lankan and one South African.

The American-authored novels are No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, Richard Powers' Bewilderment and Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle, which are up against Sri Lankan Anuk Arudpragasam's A Passage North and The Promise by South African author Damon Galgut.

The six books shortlisted for the prestigious 2021 Booker Prize for fiction explore themes including racism, injustice, freedom and constraints on women's lives. Pictured, The Fortune Men

The only shortlisted author of British descent is Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohamed (pictured) for The Fortune Men

Patricia Lockwood (right), whose book, 'No one is talking about this' (left), has been shortlisted for 2021 Booker Prize

This is the third time Galgut has featured, having made the shortlist in 2003 with The Good Doctor and again in 2010 for In A Strange Room.

The judges announced a longlist of 13 books in July, chosen from 158 novels published in the UK or Ireland.

Works written in English by writers of any nationality are eligible for the prize.

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro featured on the longlist but failed to make the cut, missing out on becoming a double winner of the prize with his eighth novel, Klara And The Sun.

Anuk Arudpragasam, whose book 'A Passage North', has been shortlisted for 2021 Booker Prize

Maggie Shipstead's (right) book 'Great Circle' (pictured, left), which has been shortlisted for 2021 Booker Prize

The shortlist, announced at a digital press conference on Tuesday, was chosen by judges including historian and panel chairwoman Maya Jasanoff and former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Asked what conclusions can be drawn about the state of British writing, given only one British writer was shortlisted, judge Chigozie Obioma added: 'For me, I think the Booker Prize is the great leveller.

'If you think about some of the writers that we longlisted, say An Island, for instance, or even A Passage North, these are writers telling stories that don't make the news.

'I don't think that you would hear about the life of a poor woman in Sri Lanka, or a man who is marooned on an island off the coast of Africa.

'But while judging the Booker Prize we look at not just what the writers are saying, but how they are saying it, and therefore nationalities do not really matter.

'What matters is what the writer has brought to the page, and the vision that they have and how they have realised.

'So if we don't have many British writers, I think, it's just a coincidence, not something that we intentionally had made a conscious decision of.'

Discussing Galgut's novel, Obioma added: 'His novel was one of the first ones we read, I think, but we were immediately struck by what seemed, at first, a little bit odd but later on crystallised to be actually a kind of a renewal of what we used to think of as the omniscient voice.

'So here you have a narrator who is super intrusive and extraordinarily penetrating into the consciousness of characters.'

Richard Powers (right), whose book 'Bewilderment' (left), has been shortlisted for 2021

Damon Galgut (right), whose book, 'The Promise', has been shortlisted for 2021 Booker Prize (left)

Obioma described the narrative style as balancing between 'Nabokovian precision' and 'Faulknerian exuberance'.

Jasanoff said Great Circle was 'as absorbing in the manner of the great realist novels of the 19th century, but it also speaks to ever-present questions about freedom and constraints, particularly in women's lives, as some of my fellow judges remarked upon'.

'And we felt that it was kind of a 'tour de force' of scene creation and prose style which earned it its place on this shortlist,' she added.

The winner will be announced on November 3 and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, BBC iPlayer and the BBC News Channel.

The winner of the 2021 Booker Prize receives 50,000.
Talita von Furstenberg was among the glitterati who walked the red carpet at Monday night's Met Gala, walking arm-in-arm with her boyfriend, Rocco Brignone  and wearing a dress by her grandmother Diane von Furstenberg, naturally.

The 22-year-old glowed in a pleased Grecian gold pleated dress with a plunging neckline and a sweeping skirt, which she worked to perfection for photographers.

The budding designer, who has her own line under her grandmother's label, cozied up to her longtime boyfriend for photos, and also posed for several shots with DVF herself.

Gorgeous: Talita von Furstenberg was among the glitterati who walked the red carpet at Monday night's Met Gala

But of course! She wore a dress by her grandmother Diane von Furstenberg

Cute couple: The 22-year-old walked arm-in-arm with her boyfriend Rocco Brignone

She also posed for photos with her grandmother, with whom she got ready earlier in the evening

Talita accessorized her gown with a pair of gold platform sandals, dangling earrings, and a chunky bracelet set with glistening stones.

Makeup artist Tobi Henney did her face, as well as her grandmother's, using products from Clarins, while hairstylist Michael Silva was responsible for her locks.

Her date for the evening was her boyfriend Rocco, whom she has been dating since at least 2019. Like Talita, Rocco has a high-society background, coming from an Italian banking family that owns and runs the Costa Careyes private estate resort in Costalegre, Mexico.

The pair have traveled the world together, spending time in Italy and Greece, among other destinations.

Rocco let Talita take the spotlight for the evening, dressing up in a simple black tux.

While Talita didn't wear a face mask to take photos on the red carpet, her grandmother did.

Glam squad: Makeup artist Tobi Henney did her face, while hairstylist Michael Silva was responsible for her locks

All the goodies: Talita accessorized her gown with a pair of gold platform sandals and dangling earrings

Money: Like Talita, Rocco has a high-society background, coming from an Italian banking family that owns and runs the Costa Careyes private estate resort in Costalegre, Mexico

Bling: She also wore a chunky bracelet set with glistening stones

Jetset: The pair have traveled the world together, spending time in Italy and Greece, among other destinations

In pictures they posed for together, DVF is glamorous in a white gown with a sequined cheetah design across the front, which she'd coordinated with a black and white sequined mask.

The fashionable grandmother-granddaughter duo got ready together, too, with their glam squad sharing behind-the-scenes photos of them on Instagram.

Talita has attended the Met Gala with her grandmother in the past.

In 2018, they matched in light blue dresses, and in 2019 Talita wore a pink design covered in 3D flowers.

Meanwhile, Talita was just one of many A-list offspring to score invites to the fashionable event this year, the first Met Gala since the pandemic.

Madonna's daughter Lourdes 'Lola' Leon was among the attendees, as was Cindy Crawford's model daughter Kaia Gerber, Vice President Kamala Harris' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff, and Victoria Beckham's son Brooklyn Beckham, who attended with fiancee Nicola Peltz.

In pictures they posed for together, DVF is glamorous in a white gown with a sequined cheetah design across the front, which she'd coordinated with a black and white sequined mask

The 22-year-old glowed in a pleased Grecian gold pleated dress with a plunging neckline and a sweeping skirt, which she worked to perfection for photographers

Old hat: Talita has attended the Met Gala with her grandmother in the past

What a pro! Talita, who has her own fashion line under her grandmother's label, posed up a storm at the event

Talita was born Princess Talita, the eldest daughter of interior designer Alexandra (nee Miller) and her ex-husband Prince Alexander von Furstenberg, son of Diane and her ex-husband Prince Egon von Furstenberg.

Her royal heritage comes from her grandfather, German aristocrat Prince Egon, who was married to Diane for 14 years. The fashion designer and the royal, who passed away in 2004, had two children during their marriage: Prince Alexander von Furstenberg  Talita's father  and Princess Tatiana von Furstenberg.

However, it is from her grandmother Diane that Talita inherited her love of fashion, and the rising style star is now following in the designer's footsteps.

She is being groomed to one day take over the Diane von Furstenberg business, and has her own label with the brand. TVF for DVF.

Dolled up: The von Furstenberg women got ready together ahead of the event

They also posed for some glamorous photos outside before heading over

Each is pictured getting her makeup done before the gala started

Photos were posted on social media by their stylist and makeup artist
dded an edgy feel to her ensemble with a pair of chunky black shoes

Fashionista, 26, turned heads in a black dress with diamante detailing in London

Lady Amelia Windsor and Lady Kitty Spencer brought the glamour as they attended the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2021 Preview Party in London on Tuesday.

Lady Amelia Windsor, 26, who is cousins with Prince William and Harry, turned heads in a stylish black dress complete with diamante straps and detailing.

The Dolce & Gabbana model, who is no stranger to premieres and launch parties, added an edgy feel to her ensemble with a pair of chunky black shoes.

The fashionista wore her blonde her down and added a touch of glam to her outfit with a pair of dangling diamond earrings, a dainty bracelet, silver bag and turquoise ring.

Meanwhile, Lady Kitty Spencer, who has just returned from her Italian honeymoon, put on a very stylish display in a pink one-shouldered gown which feature tie detail.

The star-studded event saw British personalities like artists Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin flock to the Royal Academy for a night of glamour.

Lady Amelia Windsor looked effortlessly cool as she attended the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2021 Preview Party in London today (pictured)

Lady Kitty Spencer accessorised with a pair of dainty silver earrings and let her colourful down do the talking

Artist Tracey Emin donned an understated flower dress with black trainers and a colourful floral bag for the event, pictured

Victoria and The Serpent actress Jenna Coleman looked smart as she attended the event with 23-year-old actor Froy Gutierrez, right

Wearing her blonde locks in a half up and half down wavy hair do, the natural beauty completed her look with a pink blusher and nude-coloured lip as she posed for the cameras.

Her appearance comes after the socialite spent the summer jetting between Italy, France and the UK with her husband Michael Lewis, 62, whom she married in Rome in July.

Lady Amelia often wins praise for her fashion taste and regularly posts her fashion tips on her Instagram page, which has attracted over 90,000 followers, along with collaborations with brands, including with fine jewellery specialist Alice van Cal.

Speaking about why it's her preferred social media platform, Amelia said: 'It allows anyone to be creative and imaginative.

Artist Grayson Perry wore a neon yellow bob, opted for a silver and pink co-ord confection with a thick skirt and puffed up sleeves.

Lady Amelia regularly posts her fashion tips on her Instagram page, which has attracted over 90,000 followers

The socialite opted to wear her blonde locks in a half up and half down wavy hair do (pictured)

'I also love that we can share all the beautiful and meaningful things we see and hear in the world. I find it so inspiring and uplifting.'

The party girl, granddaughter of the Duke of Kent - the Queen's first cousin, has featured on the front of Tatler magazine and is also a regular at London Fashion Week, having first come to prominence at the Queen's 90th birthday party in 2016.

Once dubbed the most beautiful member of the royal family, Lady Amelia is currently signed to Storm models, which represents the likes of Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne.

Lady Amelia has also modelled for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana and designed her own range of accessories in collaboration with Penelope Chilvers.

Youtuber Tanya Burr looked very stylish in a baby pink dress with puffed sleeves and fuchsia heels, pictured

Tanya looked pretty in pink as she clutched a glass of champagne

The natural beauty completed her look with a pink blusher and nude-coloured lip as she posed for the cameras (pictured)

Lady Kitty Spencer's appearance comes after the socialite spent the summer jetting between Italy, France and the UK with her husband Michael Lewis, 62, whom she married in Rome in July

Lady Kitty's Spencer revealed a glimpse of her silver heels underneath her glamorous gown (pictured)

The 26-year-old fashionista, who is cousins with Prince William and Harry, turned heads in a stylish black dress complete with diamond straps and detailing

The contributing editor to Tatler Magazine, also reportedly interned at jewellery house Bulgari, during her time studying at Edinburgh University.

Several other British personalities attended the preview party, including Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin, who went for very different looks.

Grayson was wearing a neon yellow bob, opted for a silver and pink co-ord confection with a thick skirt and puffed up sleeves.

Meanwhile, Tracey donned an understatement black dress with a floral bag and black trainers.

Other guests included the Youtuber Tanya Burr, who wore baby pink, presenter Laura Jackson who looked statuesque in mint green, and the Scottish DJ Arielle Free who sixled in red.

Lady Kitty Spencer put on a colourful display in a pink one-shouldered dress (pictured)

Tracey picked a relaxed look and chose comfort with black trainers. She kept her jewellery discreet, pictured

The fashionista added an edgy feel to her ensemble with a pair of chunky black shoes and accessorised with a silver clutch bag (right)

The style maven added a touch of glam to her outfit with a pair of dangling diamond earrings, a dainty bracelet, silver bag and turquoise ring (pictured)

Amelia (pictured) has featured on the front of Tatler magazine and is also a regular at London Fashion Week, having first come to prominence at the Queen's 90th birthday party in 2016

The royal showcased her enviable sense of style in a black dress and Miu Miu shoes with silver detail (pictured)

Scottish DJ Arielle Free brought the heat with a short red dress and platform heels. She kept the rest of the look simple, with a neat bun and gold jewellery, pictured

From left to right: Batia Ofer, Yinka Shonibare, Rebecca Slater, President of the Royal Academy of Arts and Axel Ruger, Secret and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts

Jackie St Clair donned a glitzy dress with pink heels, while Kimberleigh Gelber picked a baby doll number for the event

Presenter and columnist Laura Jackson looked statuesque in a mint green lacey dress tied at the waist with a satin bow, pictured

Styles crossroad: Scottish journalist Kirsty Wark looked comfortable in a green and pink dress she wore with black trainers. Other guests like Jackie St Clair went for a more sophisticated look

Beaming: Rina Sawayama and Lianne La Havas beamed while posing for photographs

Abs: Singer Rina, 31, put her rock-hard abs on display

End of the night: Tracey was in high spirits as she made her way home
A smart pill based on the shape of a tortoise could replace the regular injections needed by people with diabetes and other long-term conditions.

The idea is that the capsule  the size of a blueberry  can be loaded with a single dose of medication and swallowed in place of a jab.

The capsule is flat on one side, and domed on the other, and is based on the leopard tortoise from Africa, which can easily flip over onto its feet after a fall or attack.

The bottom of the pill is weighted so that once it has rolled down the food pipe and arrived in the stomach, it wont settle until the flat bottom has found its feet and is touching the lining of the stomach.

The plastic capsule contains a tiny needle (about 4.5mm long) held in place by a solid sugar pellet that dissolves roughly four minutes after encountering the high levels of moisture in the stomach.

The idea is that the capsule  the size of a blueberry  can be loaded with a single dose of medication and swallowed in place of a jab

The dissolving sugar activates a latch system that releases the medication via a tiny needle into the stomach lining, from where it travels straight into the bloodstream.

The moisture level needed to trigger this means there is a time delay before the needle is released, preventing its activation earlier in the digestion process.

Once injected, the needle is then pulled back into the capsule via a tiny spring and the whole device safely passes through the digestive system.

The researchers behind the capsule say that as there are no pain receptors in the stomach lining, the jab would be painless.

The idea is that the capsule could be loaded with insulin, for instance, to replace the several injections needed daily by many of those with diabetes (multiple pills may still be required as the capsules are single-use).

They could also be used instead of the adrenaline auto-injectors carried by people suffering from severe allergies.

And the capsule could deliver treatments such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The man-made versions of antibodies are specially engineered to fight certain diseases, including breast cancer and autoimmune disorders, such as Crohns disease.

While potentially game-changing, mAbs and other biologics are made of proteins targeted by enzymes high up in the digestive tract  meaning they will not survive long enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream if taken as a pill. For this reason they have to be given intravenously or as an injection. This is where the capsule could come in.

When the capsule, called the L-SOMA, was trialled on pigs, it effectively delivered 4mg of the biologic Humira (used for rheumatoid arthritis) into their stomachs and 80 per cent of the drug was absorbed within half an hour of taking it, reported the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Its hoped that human trials of the capsule, which was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Womens Hospital in the U.S. will start soon.

Injections are frequently unpopular with patients so another option is highly sought after, says Abdul Basit, a professor of pharmaceutics at University College London.

The success of this study is a positive sign, but will likely need to be improved if the device is to pass through clinical trials to be used in humans.

If successful, the capsule could become invaluable to patients who are scared of injections, or dislike attending regular medical appointments or injecting themselves.

Delaying retirement until after the age of 67 may limit cognitive decline and even reduce the risk of Alzheimers, a study has found. Based on data from 20,000 Americans, it confirms previous studies that suggest remaining part of the workforce is a key factor for brain health  possibly because it prevents depression, linked with dementia.

The latest treatment for arthritis? Broccoli soup!

BroccoIi soup may help ease arthritis pain.

To test the theory, a three-month trial at the University of East Anglia will monitor 50 patients with moderate to severe knee damage.

They will have either broccoli soup (made with a variety not available to consumers) for four days a week, or other types of vegetable soup.

Previous research has shown sulforaphane, a compound in the vegetable, blocks the effects of harmful enzymes that destroy cartilage.

Participants will have their mobility and pain measured, and blood and urine tests to check their levels of sulforaphane.

Botox inside your tum can help weight loss

A Botox jab in the stomach is being tested as a weight-loss treatment.

In an ongoing trial at Trondheim University Hospital in Norway, 20 obese adults are being given injections of either botulinium toxin or a placebo into muscles in their stomach walls.

The injection is administered via an endoscope  a narrow tube which is passed down the throat into the stomach.

The theory is that the treatment will slow down the emptying of the stomach, making the patient feel fuller for longer.

The hope is this could be an alternative to procedures such as bariatric surgery, and so reduce the risk of complications.

Revolting remedies

Medical treatments that might make your stomach turn. This week: Parasites to help Crohns disease

Having parasitic worms in the bowel may reduce symptoms of Crohns disease (an inflammatory bowel condition that triggers abdominal pain and diarrhoea), according to research in the journal Gut.

In the 2005 study by Iowa University in the U.S., 29 people with Crohns were given 2,500 live Trichuris suis worm eggs to ingest every three weeks.

At the end of the six-month study 23 had fewer symptoms and 21 had none  and no side-effects.

The theory is parasitic worms, or helminths, dampen the more aggressive parts of the immune system to aid their survival  which has the effect of controlling inflammatory diseases such as Crohns.

In time we will have treatments based on substances that helminths produce, says Graham Rook, an emeritus professor of medical microbiology at University College London.

Did you know?

Being active on Twitter could, counterintuitively, lower symptoms of depression, reports Vanderbilt University in the U.S.

Researchers monitored Twitter use in about 300 people, and compared it with their depression symptoms and real-life social support.

Greater use of social media was associated with lower symptoms of depression in those with low social support, possibly as it made up for less in-person contact.
As a university fresher, Katherine Hawkes put an unusually heavy period down to the stress of being in unfamiliar surroundings.

The then 19-year-old was, after all, away from her home in Diss, Norfolk, and her parents Sally, an administrator, and Roy, a computer programmer, for the first time.

But she also felt exhausted and, two days later, faint, too. So Katherine put aside her embarrassment  Having a heavy period seemed so trivial, she says  and booked an appointment with her doctor.

The decision saved her life. Within hours, she was in hospital starting life-saving treatment.

Katherines heavy period was a symptom of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), a rapidly developing form of blood cancer. Left untreated, doctors told her, it would almost certainly have killed her within the week.

As a university fresher, Katherine Hawkes put an unusually heavy period down to the stress of being in unfamiliar surroundings

It was shattering news. Her GP had only taken a blood test as a precaution, and told Katherine shed get the result in a few days. But at 6pm that same day he called her to tell her she was so anaemic, she needed to go to hospital straight away.

Bewildered, Katherine set off to York Hospital with two housemates. There, a doctor ushered Katherine into a quiet room and told her: There is a high chance that you have leukaemia. Its so aggressive we need to start treatment tonight.

It was so shocking I couldnt take it in, says Katherine, now 22.

APL occurs when the bone marrow (the source of all blood cells) overproduces immature white blood cells, which means there is not enough space for other healthy blood cells to develop.

As a result, there is a lack of red blood cells (these carry oxygen around the body and a deficiency leads to breathlessness and lethargy) and white blood cells, which fight infections.

Crucially it also means a shortage of platelets, the component of blood that helps it clot and stems bleeding. This triggers symptoms such as bruising, because of unchecked leaking from tiny blood vessels  and heavy periods.

Dr Elaine Hampton, a GP with the charity Macmillan who helps to educate doctors in the signs and symptoms of leukaemia, says: Along with fatigue and bruising, heavy bleeding is a key symptom of APL.

Patients often have nosebleeds and bleeding gums, and a sudden change to an unusually heavy period can be a warning sign.

While APL is rare  affecting around 160 people in the UK every year  unusually heavy periods can, in fact, be a sign of other types of leukaemia, of which there are 10,000 new cases on average each year in the UK.

Katherines heavy period was a symptom of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL), a rapidly developing form of blood cancer. Left untreated, doctors told her, it would almost certainly have killed her within the week

Dr Hampton says women concerned by unusually heavy flow should not be embarrassed about seeing their GP, who will usually offer a blood test (to check for anaemia as a result of heavy bleeding, but which can also detect problems in the bone marrow).

A recent poll by Leukaemia Care revealed that 53 per cent of female patients had experienced a heavier-than-usual period in the lead up to diagnosis.

Katherine was three weeks into her first term of a psychology degree in 2018 when she experienced a period so heavy she had to use both a tampon and a pad.

I ended up sitting on a raincoat through every lecture to avoid bleeding on to things and then hoping I could get to the loo in the break, she says.

I reasoned it away. Id been warned that when you make a massive change, such as starting university, your body takes time to adjust.

Yet, looking back, she realises there were other symptoms, too. A few days after settling into her room, she noticed a large bruise between the thumb and index finger on her right hand and then started developing large bruises on her legs  one the size of a hand  but put it down to her natural clumsiness.

However, a week after noticing the first bruise and five days into her period, Katherine was on the bus when she thought she was going to faint.

Deciding she must be anaemic, she tried to see a GP but had to wait five days for an appointment.

Her GP suggested taking blood samples to check for anaemia. These showed that Katherines white blood cell count was 186; a healthy persons score is ten.

Such a high level can be a sign of leukaemia, which is why the GP called Katherine and urged her to go straight to hospital.

Katherine had time only to call her parents quickly before setting off. When she arrived at the haematology ward, a doctor came straight over to her.

The first thing she asked me was if my parents lived far away, says Katherine. I told her it was a four-hour drive from Norfolk. It was such a strange question. Why did she want to know?

Fearing they didnt have time to wait for them to arrive, the doctor told her she needed a bone marrow biopsy to confirm a suspected cancer diagnosis.

Katherine was stunned. I decided it must be a mistake, she says. I rang my parents and said: I have cancer. Then I started crying. The lovely doctor took the phone and explained that I was in good hands. She didnt leave me until my parents arrived.

As Katherine waited, a consultant reiterated the gravity of her situation. Her cancer was so aggressive, he told Katherine, that had she not visited the GP that morning: You would have been dead by the end of the week.

In order to get the specialist treatment she needed, Katherine had to be transferred that night from York Hospital to St Jamess Hospital in Leeds.

With no time to wait for the results of definitive bone marrow biopsies, doctors hooked her up to an infusion of the chemotherapy drug idarubicin, the standard treatment for APL.

The treatment leads to remission in up to 90 per cent of cases. But within minutes of Katherine being put on it, it triggered differentiation syndrome  a common but potentially severe complication in APL patients where the dying white blood cells targeted by the chemotherapy flood the lungs. This was preventing Katherines body from absorbing oxygen, threatening acute organ damage.

Katherines parents arrived just in time to see her being put into a medically induced coma.

She remained in intensive care in a coma for eight days while doctors managed the differentiation syndrome. When she came round, she found her shoulder-length hair had started falling out.

When I was finally brave enough to look in the mirror, I didnt recognise this balding, frail woman looking at me, she says. I had lost my health, dignity, independence. Now I had lost my hair.

In November, Katherine was transferred to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, closer to her family home, to start the second of four cycles of chemotherapy as an outpatient. As well as idarubicin, she was prescribed ATRA, a form of vitamin A that matures the white blood cells so they can be killed more effectively.

The side-effects of both drugs meant Katherine was in and out of hospital. First the chemo inflamed my heart, causing pericarditis, where fluid collected around my heart and had to be drained, she says. Then, on Christmas Eve, my right lung collapsed and had to be inflated.

Katherines treatment ended on February 26, 2019, five months after her diagnosis. That September, she returned to York University to restart her degree and she is now in her third year.

Doctors have reassured her that her treatment has been a success and the cancer is unlikely to return, but she has follow-up appointments every three months.

I have one more appointment before they give me the all-clear and tell me they dont need to see me again, she says.

I feel incredibly lucky. Im enjoying my course and have made wonderful friends. My experience is also shaping my career plans  I intend to train as a clinical psychologist specialising in pain management, says Katherine.

But the emotional fallout has been horrific. I have nightmares and I get panic attacks just walking into a hospital. Ive been told its a form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

And theres one thing she never forgets: If Id ignored my symptoms just a few days longer, I would be dead now.

leukaemiacare.org.uk
Brown University has been awarded 4.9 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study vaccine effectiveness among seniors.

The two-year project will look at nursing home residents after being fully vaccinated or after receiving a booster shot.

Nursing home residents were among the first to have Covid vaccines made available to them in December 2020, after the facilities quickly became sites of death and despair early in the pandemic.

But officials worry that some early adopters of the vaccine not be as protected as they were just after receiving the shot

CDC officials have awarded Brown University researchers and their Case University $4.9 million to study Covid vaccine effectiveness in seniors. Pictured: CVS Pharmacist William Hallock gives the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine to Kendal-Crosslands Communities staff member Georgie Stoker in Kennett, Pennsylvania, January 2021

'Given rising case counts of the Delta variant, we need to know as soon as possible who needs a vaccine booster shot and when they need it,' said co-lead investigator Dr Stefan Gravenstein, a professor of geriatric medicine at Brown, in a statement.

'This information on how specific immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection declines with aging, disease and in long-term care residents is critically important for developing a booster strategy based on real-time data in this population.'

Researchers will look at between 800 to 1,200 nursing home residents who have received one of the Covid vaccines, including a group who will receive boosters.

The team will looked at the residents' immune response and overall health to see if antibody levels change over time.

Data will be shared with the CDC every six months.

Studies have previously shown that elderly people develop weaker immune responses to the vaccines than younger people,

This is because the immune system begins to break down with age, a phenomenon known as immunosenescence.

What's more, a large number of severe breakthrough cases - in which a fully vaccinated person contract the virus - are among senior citizens.

The new research will follow previous studies conducted by Gravenstein and Dr David Canaday, a professor in the division of infectious diseases & HIV medicine, at Case Western Reserve University.

Their pre-print study, published in August, looked at blood samples of 120 nursing home residents and 92 health care workers given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Antibody levels, including neutralizing antibodies, were found to decline by more than 84 percent over a six-month period.

Additionally, 70 percent of nursing home residents had levels below or just barely detectable after six months compared to 16 percent of people who saw the same thing after two weeks.

Another study published by Gravenstein, Canaday amd Elizbaeth White, an assistant professor of health services, policy and practice, also found seniors mounted a weak immune response.

'Aside from the obvious value of better understanding who and when to boost against SARS-CoV-2 infection, we've also substantially innovated in how to efficiently recruit and immunologically follow a long-term care population,' Gravenstein said in a statement.

'This methodological advancement leverages Brown's strengths in the intersection between biology, aging and public health research.'
A staggering number of nursing home residents are being given antipsychotics medication by facilities in order to cover up staffing shortages.

According to a bombshell report from the The New York Times, 21 percent of nursing home residents are on antipsychotics medications.

The drugs can be dangerous - especially for people with dementia - and increase a person's likelihood of dying from health problems or other conditions.

The report claims that nursing homes are often using these drugs to sedate residents in order to make up deficiencies in staffing.

Misusing these drugs can cause a facility's reputation to fall, so in order to avoid officially reporting the usage of antipsychotics, nursing homes are resorting to falsely diagnosing residents with schizophrenia to dodge reporting regulations.

Nursing home residents are being given antipsychotics drugs that could potentially be dangerous in order to cover up staffing shortages in some facilities (file image)

Around one out of every nine nursing home residents in America have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, while only one in every 150 people in the general population have the condition.

Nearly one-third of long-term residents diagnosed with the condition by nursing homes in 2018 have no record of previously being treated for the condition, according to a federal report.

The false diagnoses are a form of reputation protection for the nursing homes.

A home that distributes a high amount of antipsychotics drugs could garner a poor public reputation or rating from the government.

Nursing homes are rated by the government on a five star scale, with a five stars being the best.

Facilities using a high amount of these drugs will see their rating fall.

Poor ratings would cause potential residents or their family members to instead seek care elsewhere.

Nursing homes have found a loophole, however.

The over-usage of these drugs can be hidden as those who receive medication for schizophrenia are not counted in official figures.

Regulators are 'concerned about this practice as a way to circumvent the protections these regulations afford,' Catherine Howden, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) told The Times.

Nursing homes are often inadequately staffed leading to them distributing antipsychotics medications to patients to sedate them so they require less care (file image)

'It is unacceptable for a facility to inappropriately classify a resident's diagnosis to improve their performance measures.

'We will continue to identify facilities which do so and hold them accountable.'

The Times finds that, in total, around 225,000 nursing home residents are receiving antipsychotics medication, or 21 percent.

These drugs are extremely dangerous when misused.

Patients with dementia - which can often strike the elderly population of nursing homes - have their risk of death from the condition nearly double if they are using these medications, though.

Nursing homes are pushed towards due to staffing shortages that plague the industry due to low pay.

The pandemic has especially created issues, with their being 200,000 less nursing home employees now than there were at the start of the pandemic.

Nursing homes that distribute more antipsychotics drugs will receive a lower officials government rating, leading to less business from potential residents. This leads to them using fake schizophrenia diagnoses to cover up the usage of the drugs. Pictured: The antipsychotics drug Risperdal

Problems that arise from not having enough staff on hand can also cause a nursing home's five-star rating to fall.

Instead of shelling out more money to hire more staff, and retain them long term, many are turning to the cheaper option of sedating residents, according to the Times.

A sedated resident requires less care from employees, allowing the small amount of employees that are around to spread their time out more.

The issues then pile on to each other, and nursing home residents that need care day to day to continue living a quality life are left taking dangerous drugs.
Health problems with the eye significantly raise the risk of dementia, a study shows.

Patients with deteriorating vision are more likely to end up with an impaired ability to remember, think or make decisions, researchers said.

They analysed data on 12,364 adults aged 55 to 73 and found the risk of dementia was 26 per cent higher in those with age-related macular degeneration.

The researchers, from the Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences in China, said they could not establish reasons for the links

The equivalent figure was 11 per cent for cataract sufferers and 61 per cent for those with diabetes-related eye disease.

The researchers, from the Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences in China, said they could not establish reasons for the links.

However it could be that eye conditions are associated with well-known risk factors for dementia such as heart disease.

The results also revealed those who suffered from diabetes, heart disease, stroke and depression - known as systemic diseases - were at an increased risk of dementia.

The risk was even higher if people also had issues with their eyes - also known as an ophthalmic condition.

The researchers said: Age-related macular degeneration, cataract and diabetes-related eye disease - but not glaucoma - are associated with an increased risk of dementia.

Individuals with both ophthalmic and systemic conditions are at higher risk of dementia compared with those with an ophthalmic or systemic condition only.

The authors said their study was observational, and so they cannot establish reasons why having an eye condition is linked to a heightened risk of dementia.

However it could be that eye conditions are associated with well-known risk factors for dementia including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and depression.

The risk was even higher if people also had issues with their eyes - also known as an ophthalmic condition

The deterioration of sight may also result in less activity within certain parts of the brain, may make people less able to recognise the faces of friends and family, and may mean they are unable to be as independent.

In the UK, cataracts affect around half of people over the age of 65, while nearly 40,000 people each year develop age-related macular degeneration.

The study was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Prolonged stress raises the risk of high blood pressure and heart issues by up to 90 per cent, scientists say. Dr Kosuke Inoue, of Kyoto University in Japan, said his findings suggested that testing for stress hormones could be helpful to head off illness.
Despite previous worries, COVID-19 vaccines are likely effective in people who received stem cell transplants, a new study finds.

Researchers from Nantes University Hospital in France used antibody testing to find whether or not those who had received the transplants were generating an appropriate antibody response to the shots.

Previous studies had shown people with blood based cancers - who often receive stem cell transplants as treatment - do not produce high antibody levels after inoculation.

The team found 64 percent of stem cell transplant recipients were developing antibody responses after receiving one dose and 83 percent were doing so after both doses.

French researchers found that 54% of stem cell transplant recipients developed high antibody responses after one shot of the virus (middle bar), and 83% after both shots (right bar)

Researchers, who published their findings in JAMA Network Open on Tuesday, gathered 117 participants who had received allogenic stem cell transplants recently and had no history of COVID-19.

Many stem cell transplant recipients are receiving the treatment due to a blood related cancer like leukemia.

The transplants are used to replace blood cells that are damaged while a person received chemotherapy or other treatment that can destroy the cells.

Allogenic means the stem cells come from donor bone marrow rather than from the patient's bone marrow.

Transplants can also help replace blood cells that work as a part of a person's immune system to fight off infections and viruses.

Each patient was given the full two-shot regimen of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Participants were then tested for antibodies before receiving any vaccine shot, on the day they received the second shot - testing the generation of antibodies after the first shot - and around 35 days after getting the second jab.

The team found that after the first shot, 54 percent of participants - 63 of the 117 - had developed appropriate antibody responses.

After two shots, 83 percent, or 97 out of 117, were discovered to have developed high antibody responses.

Only 62 percent of those who received both shots reached the highest classification of antibody levels, though, which as the levels the general population reaches after both shots.

The results are promising, and could mean that many of those with stem cell transplants could be just as protected against the virus as against the general population.

Blood cancer patients are significantly more likely to die from Covid, and previous studies found that they are less likely to develop antibodies from the vaccine.

While scientists have yet to develop a tangible connection between higher antibody levels and more protection against the virus, though they do believe there is a link.

Despite the potential of receiving little protection, cancer patients are still recommended to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can.

Currently in the U.S., more than 63 percent of the total population has received at least one shot of a vaccine and 54 percent of people are fully vaccinated.
Homemade masks can stop the spread of COVID-19 - but only if they meet certain specifications, a new study finds.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science used synthetic cough droplets to model how well different mask types stand up to coronavirus particles.

They found that surgical and N95 masks are still the most effective at stopping coronavirus spread.

Cloth masks may be a suitable alternative if these masks only if they have at least three layers and are made of cotton, the team found.

These findings may be particularly useful for lower-income countries like India, where surgical masks are not easily accessible to the general population.

Cloth masks are effective at stopping coronavirus particles from spreading if they meet certain criteria, a new study suggests (file image)

The researchers tested different cloth options and surgical masks, finding that multi-layer cotton masks worked better than other cloth masks at stopping coronavirus spread

The novel coronavirus primarily spreads through the air, in two possible forms.

Firstly, it can spread through large droplets ejected when an infected person talks, coughs, sneeze, or breathes.

These droplets tend to travel a short distance and drop to the ground.

Secondly, the virus can spread through smaller particles called aerosols.

These particles are also released from an infected person - but they tend to stay in the air for a longer period of time, especially when the space isn't well-ventilated.

Face masks can block both large droplets and small aerosols.

Studies have shown that surgical masks and N95s work better at blocking coronavirus particles than cloth masks.

As a result, some European leaders and businesses - including several European airlines and the German government - have banned cloth masks in favor of the more-effective surgical masks.

Some American scientists have called for similar regulations in the U.S., along with easier access to surgical masks.

But a new study - published on Tuesday in the journal Physics of Fluids - shows that cloth masks may also be very effective at blocking the coronavirus if they meet certain criteria.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science set out to determine which materials and mask formats work best at preventing droplet and aerosol spread.

The scientists used synthetic cough droplets to stimulate the particles released when a person sick with Covid coughs.

When a person with Covid coughs into a mask, their cough droplets spread out along the inside of the fabric - with more effective materials, like cotton and surgical masks (left), reducing spread more than lighter fabrics (right)

They measured the cough droplets' travel with high-speed imaging, then analyzed these findings to determine how well the droplets might be able to penetrate different types of masks.

While this method doesn't provide real-world data on cloth masks' ability to reduce Covid spread in a population, the scientists were able to see exactly what happened when someone coughed into a mask.

The researchers looked at different droplet sizes and speeds, as well as different masks and face coverings commonly used in India.

These face coverings included a handkerchief, a cotton towel, surgical masks, and a summer stole - a type of shawl.

'Our results show cotton, towel-based fabrics were most effective among the considered fabrics and must be stitched together as multiple layers for making homemade facemasks,' said study author Saptarshi Basu, a mechanical engineer at the Indian Institute of Science.

'A three or more-layered homemade mask is recommended, since it can suppress aerosolization significantly.'

This finding aligns with past research, which has shown that the more layers a mask has, the more it's able to prevent virus spread.

Cough droplets stopped by a mask will spread out along the inside of the mask material, the researchers' imaging revealed.

Cotton is particularly effective at stopping the cough droplets and reducing spread along the inside of the mask because this fabric has smaller pores - leaving little space for droplets to travel.

Multiple layers of cotton further block the cough droplets from traveling while also stopping large droplets from turning into aerosols, the researchers observed.

The researchers additionally studied the impact of washing a cloth mask, as some scientists have worried that a lot of washing could make a mask less effective.

In this study, however, washing seemed to have a 'negligible influence' on the mask's ability to block coronavirus particles, the researchers said. They saw no impact, going up to 70 wash cycles.

These findings are particularly useful for low- and middle-income countries like India, where surgical masks are not readily available and affordable for everyone.

'The current study is directed towards those people who cannot use the recommended N95 mask due to lack of convenience, availability, or economic and demographic reasons,' the researchers wrote.

When N95 and surgical masks aren't available, multi-layer cotton is the best option.

Still, the researchers write that any mask is better than nothing: 'one should always wear whatever makeshift mask is available.'

The researchers also note that multi-layer cotton masks may be useful for agricultural workers and medical settings outside of Covid.
A vast majority of unvaccinated Americans say they do not plan on getting COVID-19 shots, a new poll finds.

The survey, conducted by CNBC/Change Research, asked 1,775 Americans how they felt about the vaccines.

Of the respondents, 29 percent had not been vaccinated, and 83 percent of that group said that they never plan to receive the jabs.

There are not many things that could convince this segment of the population either with 84 percent saying even if the vaccines had no side effects they would not get the shots, and 87 percent would not get jabbed if they were mandated to do so by their employer.

A third of unvaccinated Americans report that they are afraid of the government or do not trust the federal government as reasons why they have not received the jabs. Less that 10% said they would get the shots if the Delta variant became more of a problem, and 7% said they would do so if former President Donald Trump asked them to get jabbed

Respondents to the poll offered different reasons as to why they were yet to be vaccinated.

Just over one-third, 34 percent, of unvaccinated respondents said they refuse the shots because they do not trust the government.

The same amount of survey takers also said they fear side effects from the vaccine.

Some just are not worried about the virus, with ten percent reporting that they would get jabbed if the Delta variant was more prominent in their community.

The Delta variant ravaged many unvaccinated communities across the country in recent months, and cases increased eight-fold during the month of July as the mutant strain took hold.

Seven percent are still awaiting direction from former President Donald Trump, saying they would only get vaccinated if he asked them to.

President Trump has been a vocal supporter of the vaccine - even to the chagrin of some of his loyal supporters - and has used his post-presidency rallies to promote them to his followers.

Despite his vocal support for the jabs, Trump supporters are the group least likely to want the vaccines.

The CNBC poll finds that 87 percent of participants who voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election are unvaccinated, and 60 percent of Republicans.

By comparison, 49 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Joe Biden voters are fully vaccinated.

Getting the final group of unvaccinated Americans jabbed has become a challenge for health officials nationwide.

Just over 75 percent of American adults have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 65 percent are fully vaccinated.

Demand for the shots has faltered in recent months, though, with less than one million Americans getting the shots every day - compared to over 3.5 million in early April.

While the rise of the Delta variant - a more contagious strain of the virus that originated in India - causing massive case surges nationwide pushed up vaccine demand for a few weeks, the rate of Americans getting the shots has dropped once again.

The remaining unvaccinated adults have been hard to convince to get the shots, as even offering incentives like vaccine lotteries that failed to have much impact on vaccination.

The White House is now trying to leverage to power of employers to force Americans to get the shots.

Last week, President Biden announced that every company with more than 100 employees will be forced to mandate vaccines on their employees.

Companies that do not comply will be fined $14,000 by the federal government.

The President is also requiring all federal employees or contractors to get vaccinated in the next 75 days, or potentially be terminated.

The executive order will not include an option of being regularly tested to opt out of the vaccine requirement.

The orders will apply to workers in the executive branch but not the congressional or judicial.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is once again calling for wealthy countries to postpone the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Instead, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing on Tuesday that richer nations should distribute extra doses to low-income countries facing vaccine shortages, especially those i Africa.

It is the third time Tedros has spoken against vaccine booster shots being distributed by wealthy nations, calling for a pause on distribution of the third shots through the end of September and then through the end of the year.

In Africa, just 3.7 percent of people are fully vaccinated against the virus because many poorer nations on the continent do not have enough doses or the infrastructure necessary to put together a massive operation the way many wealthier nations have.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (pictured), Director-General of the World Health Organization, is calling for developed nations to halt the roll out of COVID-19 vaccine boosters

African countries have fallen way behind the global vaccine pace. Chad is among the worst, with less than half-of-a-percent of residents having received at least one shot of a vaccine. Less than 6% of Africans have gotten at least one shot overall

'There are countries with less than two percent vaccination coverage, most of them in Africa, who are not even getting their first and second dose' Tedros said.

'And starting with boosters, especially giving it to healthy populations, is really not right.'

Africa has fallen way behind in the global vaccine roll out.

Less than six percent of Africans have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and less than four percent are fully vaccinated.

Worldwide, 42 percent of people have received at least one shot, and 30 percent are fully vaccinated.

The gap between Africa and many western developed nations is even larger, with 71 percent of people in the United Kingdom and 62 percent of those in the U.S. having received at least one shot.

Some African countries in particular are falling behind, such as Chad, which has partially vaccinated less than 0.5 of its population.

Cameroon has partially vaccinated 1.3 percent if its population and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at 3.5 percent.

Strive Masiyiwa, the special envoy to the African Union for COVID-19, told CNBC that trade restrictions are largely preventing countries on the continent from accessing the doses they need.

'We want access to purchase,' Masiyiwa said to CNBC.

'We call on those countries that have put restrictions on exports  exports of vaccines as finished products, exports of ingredients, drug substance.

'These restrictions are even more urgent for us today than intellectual property because the intellectual property doesn't deliver a vaccine to us tomorrow.'

The western world, including the U.S. has made some efforts to help out countries in Africa and the rest of the developing world, however.

The White House has donated 111,000,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to 65 nations - including 26 in Africa.

But plans to roll out boosters in the U.S. are underway with the White House targeting September 20 as the day to roll out third shots of the vaccines.

That deadline may be missed if boosters do not receive regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Diease COntrol and Prevention's (CDC) advisory committee in time.

Some within the United States have been vocally against vaccine boosters as well, favoring donating even more doses abroad.

A group of 18 senior FDA officials published a report on Monday opposing vaccine boosters, saying the science does not support given boosters to healthy, fully vaccinated, Americans at this time.

Because the vaccines still prevent hospitalizations and deaths from Covid, the shots are doing their jobs, the officials believe.

Donating vaccines abroad has more than just humanitarian value.

Making sure people in other countries are vaccinated can reduce the overall spread of the virus, limiting the potential for variants to form in other countries then cause chaos stateside.

The Delta variant - which caused cases to increase 15-fold from early July to late August in the U.S. - originated in India before ravaging America.
Unpublished data from Israel is driving the Biden administration's push to provide COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all Americans starting next week.

This data has reportedly provided the White House COVID-19 team with compelling evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine becomes less effective over time, unnamed officials told POLITICO.

The Israeli findings are 'more comprehensive and more alarming' than U.S. data, the officials claim.

Even Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, told POLITICO the data provided enough evidence 'that you would be impressed.'

Still, as these data are not yet public, many American scientists and public health experts remain unconvinced that booster shots are necessary for the entire population.

Biden administration officials are supporting the planned vaccine booster shot rollout with unpublished data from Israel, POLITICO reports. Pictured: Dr Rocelle Walensky (CDC Director) and Dr Anthony Fauci testify before the Senate, July 2021

About 63 percent of U.S. adults have been vaccinated thus far, and many will soon be eligible for booster shots if the Biden administration follows its planned September rollout

Booster shots - third doses of Covid vaccines - have been a major source of debate for the U.S. scientific community in recent weeks.

In late August, the Biden administration announced that booster shots would be available to all Americans who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, eight months after their second shots.

The booster shot rollout is set to begin on September 20 - though President Joe Biden has pledged that this rollout won't begin until the appropriate federal agencies give the okay.

The potential rollout has sparked tension at those agencies - the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Leaders of both agencies have argued that booster shots are not yet necessary for all Americans.

In fact, two FDA officials - Dr Marion Gruber and Dr Philip Krause - have announced that they plan to resign following the booster shot announcement.

Those two experts joined sixteen other senior FDA officials in authoring a report recently published in The Lancet, which argued there's no evidence for booster shots at this time.

'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,' the Lancet authors wrote.

But the White House Covid team reportedly has access to data that does show booster shots are necessary to decrease the risk against serious disease, according to POLITICO.

These data - which are not yet available to the general public - are drawn from research in Israel.

The Israeli findings reportedly show that 'the Pfizer vaccine's ability to prevent severe disease and hospitalization is waning over time,' according to two government sources who spoke to POLITICO.

Fauci said he found the Israeli vaccine efficacy data impressive. Pictured: Fauci in May 2021

Israel has been a source for vaccine efficacy data throughout 2021 because the nation has an earlier and faster rollout than the U.S.

Unlike other countries, the U.S. also has not comprehensively tracked breakthrough cases, outside of those that lead to hospitalization or death.

Israel is one of the first countries to give booster shots, which started with residents ages 60 and older in July and now includes residents over age 30.

The U.S. booster shot plan may follow a similar trajectory.

The CDC has published some studies suggesting that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines become less able to protect recipients against infection over time, suggesting a potential need for boosters.

One study published on September 10 found that vaccine effectiveness against infection declined from 91 percent to 78 percent during the Delta surge.

But the Israeli data are reportedly 'more comprehensive and more alarming,' according to POLITICO.

During the Delta surge, the Covid vaccines have become less effective at protecting Americans from infection, CDC analysis suggests

Fauci said these unpublished data demonstrate that the vaccines become less effective, to a degree 'that you would be impressed.'

'I would be very surprised if the U.S. data don't turn out to be ultimately very similar to the Israeli data,' Fauci told POLITICO.

The new data will reportedly be released soon, possibly later this week.

Based on current public information, however, many scientists remain skeptical that widespread booster shots are necessary in the U.S.

For example, physician and Covid commentator Dr Eric Topol has argued that boosters should be provided to adults over age 60 - not to all Americans.

Many experts currently argue that the U.S. government should instead prioritize sending vaccine doses to other countries, where the majority of the populations have not received even one shot.

The Biden administration maintains that the government can push for booster shots at home and vaccinations abroad at the same time.
Maureen Finch, pictured with husband David: 'It's just not acceptable. I have worked all my life. I have never asked for a penny'

Furious savers have condemned woeful incompetence by the Department for Work and Pensions over long delays to state pension payments.

After This is Money exclusively revealed a service meltdown at the DWP, despairing elderly people trying to get payments started or end deferments have inundated us with stories and pleas for help.

Maureen Finch, 69, who has received no income since retiring in April, says 'the stress is unbearable, and I have forgotten what a night's sleep is'.

She and her husband David (pictured), who is in poor health, will reach their golden wedding anniversary next month but cannot afford to have a meal out or see family at the moment.

Another reader has struggled to get his pension since turning 66 in early July, after the DWP mislaid his claim form and failed to send a replacement despite numerous requests.

'I cannot face calling up the DWP again,' he says, and like several other readers he has now asked his MP to step in on his behalf.

After This is Money got involved and tackled the DWP for readers, some of them finally received their payments.

No one can tell me what has gone wrong: Read our investigations for readers below

Many elderly people complain of long waiting times when contacting the DWP, getting repeatedly cut off, being promised callbacks that never happen, and receiving empty assurances that cases will be escalated.

It beggars belief that the Government have not paid people the state pensions they are entitled to on time Matt Rodda MP, Labours Shadow Pensions Minister

Some say they have no income at all and cannot pay essential bills - in some instances because their disability benefit stopped as soon as they reached state pension age - but claim DWP staff who were told this have still failed to help them.

The state pension is paid four weeks in arrears when it first begins, but delays have stretched for a further month and sometimes several more in these cases.

At the end of last week, Labour MP Andrew Gwynne asked the DWP 'whether there have been any reported delays in processing initial payments for those who have reached state pension age'.

DWP says 'sorry', and staff are being redeployed to process cases: Read its full statement below

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman said in a written response: 'Normal service will be resumed by the end of October 2021.

'The Department is working hard to clear backlogs which have occurred by reason of the Covid Pandemic and staffing issues which have now been rectified. Hundreds of additional staff are currently being redeployed.'

Anyone who has faced an unreasonable wait should contact their MP

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, who is now a partner at LCP, said: 'The DWP should have been honest and open months ago that they were having problems processing new claims.

State pension delayed? Are you over state pension age but having trouble getting payments started? Write to us and tell your story at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk Please put PENSION DELAY in the subject line. We will not be able to respond to everyone, and you may want to seek help from your MP.

'They are still refusing to say how many thousands of people have been left in limbo. People reaching pension age should not have to make repeated phone calls just to get the money to which they are entitled.

'Anyone who has faced an unreasonable wait should definitely escalate the issue via their MP who should take it up with the DWP.

'The more MPs who understand the scale of the problem the more Parliamentary pressure will be put on the DWP to get things sorted out.'

Labours Shadow Pensions Minister, Matt Rodda MP, said: 'It beggars belief that the Government have not paid people the state pensions they are entitled to on time.

'People work hard all their lives and deserve to be able to retire on time. That new pensioners are facing months of delays shows the incompetence of this Conservative government. Ministers must get a grip and fix this issue.'

Many of those waiting have no other income at all

Meanwhile, former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann said she was delighted the DWP had found a quick resolution, and hoped lessons would be learned to prevent this happening again.

But she questioned whether there should be compensation for those who may have had to borrow money to tide themselves over or who had lost out financially, because they had used credit card or 'buy now pay later' debt services and would incur interest.

She added: 'Many of those waiting for their state pension have no other income at all  no private pension, no savings, bills to pay and are no longer working. What are they supposed to live on?

'And at least with Universal Credit, people know that after the five-week wait they will receive money and there are emergency provisions. With the state pension there has been nothing.

Ros Altmann: At least with Universal Credit, people know after five weeks they will receive money and there are emergency provisions. With the state pension there has been nothing

'Once again, the hardest hit will be women, since the majority of those who are wholly reliant on state pensions are women  the very group who have been hit by the sharp rise in state pension age itself.'

This is Money asked the DWP whether it was prioritising cases where people report hardship, or where Employment and Support Allowance - paid when people have a disability or health condition that affects how much they can work - had been stopped at state pension age.

However, it did not respond to this question.

We also asked whether there was a shortage of staff processing new state pension claims because many have been diverted to a massive 'correction exercise' fixing underpayments to more than a hundred thousand elderly women - a separate scandal uncovered by Steve Webb and This is Money.

And we asked whether the staff redeployment to new state pensions would be from that team, and therefore delay that work. But the DWP did not respond to those questions either.

'You feel totally on your own and abandoned'

Maureen Finch, 69, a former administrator for a private spinal consultant, has been trying to end her state pension deferment since early April.

However, she began planning ahead and first contacted the DWP at the end of last year, as she was self-employed and had to give notice to move out of her office.

She says an online form was not available to end deferment, so she made nine calls starting in March to obtain an application form before receiving one in July, and a further three calls since then trying to sort out her state pension.

Mrs Finch says: 'I was often subject to a 40 minute delay in getting an answer, have been transferred and cut off.'

Regarding the last time she called, she says: 'I stressed that I had no other income, and this was causing me financial difficulties.

'I was promised this would be expedited and I would receive a phone call back within 48 hours. As on previous occasions when this was stated I received no phone call.'

Steve Webb: People reaching pension age should not have to make repeated phone calls just to get the money to which they are entitled.

Mrs Finch lives in Lincolnshire with her husband David, a former engineer aged 76.

She delayed her retirement because he was in ill health, but told This is Money she was now in despair over when she would finally receive any payment. This is due to be around 82 a week, although she will receive extra benefits for having deferred for several years.

'It is our golden wedding anniversary next month. I would dearly love to be able to have a meal or see family but find I cannot do any of these things I wish to do at the moment. The stress is unbearable, and I have forgotten what a night's sleep is,' she says.

'I am absolutely at a loss what to do. I have done everything I can to avoid ending up in this situation, and now I have been with no money since I stopped working. I worked through Covid because I was in the healthcare sector.'

Mrs Finch says of DWP staff that they never commit to a time when payments will start, that 'when you speak to them they just don't care' and that they have 'an uncaring, sloppy attitude'.

She adds that it is wearing a bit thin now to blame long delays in getting through on the phone to the DWP on Covid.

She says: 'Someone should be held to account for this. It's just not acceptable. I have worked all my life. I have never asked for a penny.

'I think they should have to pay you interest or compensation. I feel really bitter, after never having asked for anything. These government agencies should hang their heads in shame. You feel totally on your own and abandoned.'

Following our intevention in her case, Mrs Finch received a call from the DWP with news that her case had been sorted and she would shortly receive the money she is owed.

'I have zero confidence in the DWP, it's utter shambles'

Thomas Parker (not his real name) turned 66 in early July, but says the DWP lost his claim form and he has struggled ever since to get staff to send him a replacement or start paying his state pension

He has called several times, involving 'interminable' and 'demoralising' waits to get through, but despite staff apologising and at one point promising to pass his case to an 'escalation section', nothing has happened.

Mr Parker says he is 'in despair at the utter incompetence of the DWP', and has now lodged a formal complaint and written to his MP.

He says: 'I cannot face calling up the DWP again and have zero confidence in their ability to resolve what should be a straightforward matter of starting someones state pension. It is hardly something complex.'

The former financial manager from Middlesex says: 'It is only due to the fact that I am in receipt of my employers occupational pension that I am solvent.'

Mr Parker bought three years' worth of state pension top-ups, and is expecting to receive a little under 179 a week, just shy of the full rate.

He says: 'How is it possible that we the taxpayers can have paid billions in new IT systems, processes, online capability, consultants, to end up with a service, which is involved with ensuring the elderly receive their due state pension entitlement, and yet is an utter shambles?

'I cannot believe that my case is an isolated example. There must be many less fortunate people than myself who have been treated equally appallingly, and who have suffered financial difficulties.'

He went on: 'Doubtless someone from the DWPs PR department will respond with some trite standard comments apologising profusely, assuring you this is an isolated instance, and that whilst my case has fallen from their usual high standards that lessons will be learnt.

'But this is not sufficient. Somebody from the National Audit Office must instigate an independent investigation into the failings at the pension claims department.'

'Hours on the phone and form filling were a complete waste of time'

Susan Anthony (not her real name) has battled to end her state pension deferment and start drawing payments since early April.

The 70-year-old medical writer from Dundee says she applied in good time, and sent in her divorce documents last year.

'I have spent hours on the phone trying to find out the cause of the delay and had the same problems as other readers, with protracted waiting times, disconnected calls and woeful mismanagement, no follow-up and being asked to complete unnecessary forms.'

Ms Anthony says that in June she started receiving a series of additional forms from the international division of the DWP about her time spent working abroad and even short holidays going back to the 1980s.

Despite assuring the DWP several times that this was unnecessary since she qualified for a full state pension based on her ex-husbands contributions, she was advised to fill in the forms - and it took until early September for staff to admit she had been right all along, and her time overseas was not relevant.

'It was 20-30 minutes on hold every single time I phoned, then either being disconnected mid-conversation or being foisted off with promises of email follow-up that never happened,' she says.

'All the months of delay and hours spent on the phone, form-filling and hunting through my old records for precise dates were a complete waste of time. I asked when my pension would start and they said they had sent a reminder to the UK division and its in their hands.'

Since Ms Anthony has deferred her state pension for 10 years, she is due a large enhanced amount but has had to live on her savings. She describes the service she has received from the DWP as 'unacceptably poor'.

'Hospitals and supermarkets have carried on through the worst of the pandemic. Private companies have organised work from home systems that work and/or brought staff back in-office, so why cant the civil service? We are definitely not all in this together.

'Thank goodness I have savings. There must be people in hardship.'

After we alerted the DWP to her case, Ms Anthony has received money in her account.

'I kept working and can't plan my retirement'

Karen Cross (not her real name) applied well in advance of reaching state pension age in June, but was left in the dark over what amount she would receive and when by the DWP.

'Despite six phone calls to their call centre, 45 minute wait each time for a call to be answered, nobody can tell me when I will start receiving payments,' says the administrator from Leicestershire.

'The staff in the call centre seem to be unaware of any delays so it was a relief to read your article and comments from other readers.

'Luckily I didn't retire on my birthday and have been able to continue working, but I am finding the whole situation really stressful as I am unable to plan my retirement.

'So far it has been 11 weeks since my birthday and six months since my application went in. I just can't understand what the problem is and why no one can tell me what has gone wrong.

'It's just so inefficient. There must be something wrong. I have had to work six years longer anyway. It adds insult to injury not to pay me now.'

After we gave the DWP her details, Mrs Cross has received money.

What does the DWP say?

A DWP spokesperson said: 'We are sorry that some new state pension customers have faced delays receiving payment.

'All those affected have been identified and we have deployed extra resources to process these as a priority. Any claims made today should not be subject to delay.'

The DWP added that state pension claimants dont need to act because their cases have been identified and they will be processed as soon as possible. It plans to offer backdated payments in one sum.

Meanwhile, the cases of Mrs Finch, Ms Anthony and Mrs Cross have now been resolved, and Mr Parker's should be soon, according to the DWP. It regretted the delays in processing these cases.
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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. The UK's chief medical officers have also given 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.'

Boris Johnson (pictured visiting a British Gas training academy today) warned that Covid restrictions such as vaccine passports will be 'kept in reserve' in case of a winter surge

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'. Rishi Sunak (right) was on a visit with the PM this morning

Visiting a British Gas training academy with Chancellor Rishi Sunak (right) today, Boris Johnson (left) 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.

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

Chris Whitty and fellow chief medical officers approve jabs for 3million more youngsters - but they'll only get ONE Pfizer dose for now Chris Whitty today endorsed plans to vaccinate healthy 12 to 15-year-olds against Covid, with millions of children due to start getting their jabs from next week. England's Chief Medical Officer 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. Doses will be largely administered through the school vaccination programme, and it's believed parental consent will be sought - but children will be able to overrule their parents in the case of a conflict. Critics say giving young children the final decision could create tension between schools and parents, and warn that medics may feel uncomfortable if they are asked to jab children against their families' wishes. 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. If the recommendation is accepted by ministers, it will mean that around 3million more youngsters will be offered a vaccine from as soon as next week. Advertisement

No 10 said another lockdown over winter would only be considered as a 'last resort'.

Asked whether ministers would consider a winter lockdown if Covid-19 cases rise, the Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters: 'We are in a very different place than where we were previously when other lockdowns were introduced, thanks to the success of our vaccine programme and other things like therapeutics treatments for coronavirus.

'We would only ever consider those sort of measures as a last resort and we will set out in more detail tomorrow what our approach will be should we see a significant increase in cases.

'It is thanks to the fences built up through our vaccine programme that we are in a very different position and we are not seeing the sort of substantial increases that some feared once we moved to Step 4 of our road map.'

Downing Street also said there was 'no question' of having to introduce regional lockdowns on current Covid-19 levels.

The spokesman said: 'We are not seeing anything that suggests our NHS is about to be overwhelmed so there is no question of using those measures at the moment.'

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.

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 are expected to be offered a single Covid shot, pending approval from scientific advisers

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, 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, while PCR tests could be dropped for fully vaccinated travellers in time for the October school half-term.

It comes as another 29,173 cases were recorded yesterday, as well as 56 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, 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.

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

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

'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.
New York Senator Jessica Ramos says she witnessed a man try to hang himself during a tour of the state's infamous Rikers Island jail

A group of elected officials that toured Rikers Island called it a horror house of abuse and neglect, with one politician recounting witnessing an attempted suicide at New York Citys main jail complex.

New York Senator Jessica Ramos emerged from the Otis Bantum Correctional Center (OBCC) with a scathing account of its inner workings.

I cant begin to tell you the deplorable conditions we saw inside OBCC, she told reporters. In one of the intake rooms, there are at least one dozen men  per cell.

The conditions are so extreme that Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and I witnessed somebody trying to attempting to commit suicide.

The infamous institution is littered with 'guck,' dead cockroaches, fecal matter, and rotting food, she said when describing the 'deplorable' conditions.

Other human rights infractions included a transgender woman locked up with men, an HIV positive man being denied his medication, diabetics being denied insulin, and employees working back-to-back 24-hour shifts, politicians said.

Its inhumane for everyone here, Gonzalez-Rojas told reporters. People were telling me, I feel like a slave. I feel like an animal. Im treated like an animal.

Officials who toured Rikers Island said jail floors were covered with 'guck,' including feces

The delegation that toured the chaotic jail is calling for the release of prisoners, an end to cash bail, and the signing of New Yorks Less is More act, which would spare parolees from being shipped back to jail for technical violations.

The bill has been passed by the New York state senate and assembly, but must be signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul.

The infamous institution is mired by controversy.

A corrections officer was brutally attacked by an inmate at Rikers Island on August 30. The officer fractured his skull and received 20 stitches (pictured)

On August 30, a Rikers Island correction officer was left with a fractured skull after being viciously beaten by an inmate - who later said 'voices' in his head told him to carry out the attack,

A criminal complaint filed alleged that the inmate knocked the officer to the ground while pummeling him with his fists before stomping on his head and stealing the guard's pepper spray, according to The New York Post.

A day earlier, a series of videos from Rikers Island captured violent scenes of inmates attacking prison guards - including one incident where one officer could not stand up after being brutally kicked and stomped on.

Capt. Nauvella Lacroix stands at a Rikers Island facility with his shirt covered in human waste

In July, a Rikers Island jail captain was making his nightly rounds when an inmate with a history of attacks and escape attempts hurled his feces at him.

Captain Nauvella Lacroix, who's spent nearly nine years with the Department of Corrections in New York City, was struck in the face and torso area, leaving his uniform covered in human waste.

A photo shows him standing at a jail facility with his shirt smothered in human waste.

New York Assemblymember Emily Gallagher described Rikers Island as a 'house of horror'

New York Assemblymember Emily Gallagher was part of the delegation that exercised its legal right to inspect the correctional facility.

'What I witnessed was a humanitarian crisis,' Gallagher tweeted. 'A horror house of abuse and neglect. I'll share more soon but for now my message is simple: decarcerate.'

Alice L. Fontier, managing director of Neighborhood Defender Service, said the city is ignoring the prisoners.

Advocates are calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Less is More act into law

Fontier recalled during her most recent tour of the facility seeing people packed in intake cells for weeks, without access to a phone or their attorneys.

A two-by-six foot shower is being used as a segregated intake unit, she said, and prisoners are given a plastic bag to use as a toilet.

The lawyer, who has been coming to the jail since 2008, said the current situation is unlike anything she's ever seen.

Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (left) and attorney Alice L. Fontier (right), who toured Rikers Monday, are calling on the facility to be shut after witnessing its 'horrific' conditions

Fontier, a defence lawyer, called on officials to close the facility down.

This is the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life,' Fontier told reporters. 'This is unlike anything that has ever happened here. This just cannot be.'

The New York Department of Correction did not immediately respond to a Mailonline.com request for comment.
A driver who allegedly went the wrong way down a Brooklyn street and caused a collision that killed a three-month-old baby girl tried to steal another car to get away, and then asked arresting officers to let him off with a ticket, police have said.

Tyrik Mott, 28, was arraigned at Brooklyn Criminal Court on Sunday on charges of attempted grand larceny, attempted robbery and resisting arrest. Prosecutors say more charges are expected on Monday.

Police say Mott blew a red light in Clinton Hill on Saturday evening and went the wrong way down a street before he T-boned into a black 2020 Honda Civic that was coming from the opposite direction.

One of the cars then careened into the sidewalk, hitting a stroller with a three-month-old baby inside which was being pushed by her mother.

The girl - identified Sunday as Apolline Mong-Guillemin - was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital where she died of her injuries, the New York Daily News reports.

Her 33-year-old mother was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in a serious condition, and has had surgery.

A 36-year-old man who was also in the street, and the 49-year-old woman in the Civic which was hit were also injured and taken to hospital.

After the crash, Mott allegedly tried to steal a 2020 Hyundai from a 41-year-old man in a bid to get away, prosecutors told his arraignment hearing.

Police say Tyrik Mott, 28, blew a red light in Clinton Hill on Saturday evening and went the wrong way down a street before he T-boned into a black 2020 Honda Civic

One of the cars then careened into the sidewalk, hitting a stroller with a three-month-old baby inside which was being pushed by her mother

Assistant District Attorney Tzyonah Langsam said that Mott fell to the ground near the car, leading the driver to think he needed help.

When the driver got out of the car, Mott allegedly jumped in and tried to grab the wheel, but walked away when he noticed the man's wife was still inside, the Daily News reports.

He was eventually tackled by cops nearby.

Langsam told the court that Mott asked the arresting officers 'if he could just get a ticket'.

It also emerged that the car Mott had been driving has previously racked up 160 traffic violations, the New York Post reports.

Mott was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 partially secured bond by Judge Deepa Ambekar at the hearing on Sunday.

At the arraignment, Mott's mother, who only identified herself as Mrs. Mott, defended her son in a brief interview with the Post.

She insisted: 'Hes a good boy.'

Police are looking for another suspect in the case who was reportedly in the vehicle with Mott at the time of the crash.

The baby's mother was rushed to New York - Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical condition

Mott was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court and faced attempted robbery, grand larceny and resisting charges on Sunday

Motts defense lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, blasted the decision to hold his client on attempted robbery charges, and insisted it was a delaying tactic to prevent his release under New York's bail reform laws.

He told the Daily News: 'If he was going to be charged with that accident, hed be in front of this court with those charges today. If those charges are brought, at some point, thats a story for another day. But that has no bearing on whether bail should be set in this case or not set in this case.'

He said his client should be released because he has no criminal record.

Police, however, have said that Mott had been arrested three times before and had his license suspended.

He also has had 91 school zone speeding violations since 2017 with 35 for this year, according to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

A spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio told the Daily News that an investigation was underway into how Mott was still allowed to drive with so many traffic violations.

Mott has previously faced 91 school speeding violations, had his license suspended and was arrested three times

The investigation continues as police search for another suspect that was in the vehicle with Mott at the time of the crash

De Blasio said: 'There is something broken in the law because if you hurt someone with a car it should be no different than if you do it with a weapon.'

De Blasio is continuing to push Governor Kathy Hochul to sign for the Crash Victims Right and Safety Act so it can be passed.

The act is a state bill meant to reduce injuries and fatalities as a result of traffic accidents.

The idea for the bill came to de Blasio in May after he attended the funeral of NYPD officer Anastasios Tsakos who was killed by a drunk driver.

De Blasio praised the month of August as being one of the safest despite increasing rates throughout May, June and July that led him to blame 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.

Crime in NYC has seen a 0.9 percent decreased in overall crime through September 12 of this year

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.
The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a 35-foot sailboat with 104 Haitian migrants after the boat was spotted in Florida waters.

The migrants spent six days sailing from Haiti in hopes of reaching the United States but were intercepted by the Coast Guard on Sunday, just 18 miles off the coast of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami.

'There were way too many people on board,' U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Estrada said, according to WPLG television.

The U.S. Coast Guard's 7th District said the migrant were removed from the overcrowded boat and transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge.

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped a 35-foot boat with 104 Haitian migrants after the vessel was spotted in Florida waters on Sunday

The 104 migrants - all natives of Haiti - spent five days sailing across the Atlantic and were initially spotted by a Good Samaritan who alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. The individuals were transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge and later provided medical treatment

U.S. Coast Guard approaches a vessel (left) with 104 Haitian migrants after the boat was spotted 18 miles off the coast of Miami

'Once aboard a cutter, all migrants (received) food, water, shelter and basic medical attention,' the Coast Guard said.

Despite the cross Atlantic voyage, none of the migrants were diagnosed with medical issues.

'Our message is, 'Don't take to the sea in any shape or form. It's always dangerous. Water conditions can change on a moments notice. Weather conditions can change on a moments notice and we advise don't do it,' Estrada said.

The incident came after the Coast Guard stopped a 24-food vessel about three miles of Juno Beach last Tuesday and transferred 12 Haitian migrants to Bahamian authorities.

According to Coast Guard data, 502 Haitian migrants have been interdicted in U.S. waters since October 1, 2020 - the start of fiscal year 2021. In comparison, 418 Haitians were stopped in fiscal year 2020.

Biden administration extends deportation relief for immigrants from 6 countries

The United States will extend deportation relief and work permits for more than 300,000 Salvadorans, Hondurans and other immigrants in the United States and enrolled in a program known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), according to an announcement last Thursday.

The renewals for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan will last until December 31, 2022, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and were required as part of ongoing litigation over former President Donald Trump's attempts to end most enrollment in the program.

Biden, a Democrat, has championed and broadened the TPS program, which gives work permits and deportation relief to immigrants in the United States who come from countries hit by violence or natural disasters

The 'extension ensures continued compliance with various court orders issued by federal district courts,' the announcement from USCIS said. Current beneficiaries under the TPS designations do not need to pay a fee or file any application to maintain their TPS and have their TPS-related documentation automatically extended through the designated period.

The move will disappoint some Democrats and pro-immigrant activists who had pressed President Joe Biden's administration to expand the program to include hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants instead of simply extending the program for those already enrolled.

Biden, a Democrat, has championed and broadened the TPS program, which gives work permits and deportation relief to immigrants in the United States who come from countries hit by violence or natural disasters. Trump, a Republican tried to end it but was blocked in federal court. Several of the designations have been renewed for decades.

Since Biden took office on January 20, his administration has granted deportation relief to about 500,000 Venezuelans and Haitians through the TPS program. The administration also has extended protections to thousands of people from Myanmar, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

Biden announced on August 5 that he would also offer deportation relief to what could be thousands of Hong Kong residents in the United States, citing anti-democratic actions by China in Hong Kong.
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The last remaining UK sonar dome from a Royal Navy Type 42 destroyer has been saved and converted into a glamping pod.

Toby Rhys Davies, 49, has spent 50,000 transforming the naval relic into a luxury staycation abode at his quirky campsite in Redberth, South Wales.

The 50-year-old dome which was built to detect enemy vessels using sonic waves is the last of its kind in British ownership - with the others sat at the bottom of the sea or in foreign territories.

Both HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry - which were sunk in the Falklands War - boasted the device.

Mr Davies, owner of Apple Camping, said the dome which is now part of his creation was one of four domes that were built for Type 42 destroyers. The one he is in possession of was a 'spare'.

The other three were on active boats, including HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry, both of which are now at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after being sunk during the 1982 Falklands War.

The last remaining UK sonar dome from a Royal Navy Destroyer has been saved and converted into a glamping pod. Toby Rhys Davies, 49, has spent 50,000 transforming the naval relic into a luxury staycation abode at his quirky campsite in Redberth, South Wales

The 50-year-old dome which was built to detect rival U-boats and submarines using sonic waves is the last of its kind in British ownership - with the others sat at the bottom of the sea or in foreign territories. Both HMS Sheffield (above after being hit) and HMS Coventry - which were sunk in the Falklands War - boasted the device

The third dome is still on a ship but that vessel is owned by the Argentines, Mr Davies said.

The Type 42 HMS destroyers, also known as the Sheffield class, were a class of fourteen guided missile destroyers that were first ordered in 1968 and launched in 1971.

The Royal Navy used this class of destroyer for 38 years between 1975 and 2013 before they were replaced with Type 45 destroyers.

After it narrowly dodged active service in the Falklands War, Mr Davies salvaged the sonar dome in November last year when a friend with naval connections suggested he might be able to put it to good use.

The glamping site owner has previously hit the headlines for his conversion of a former Etihad airbus and a 1970s Jetstar into two other luxury stays.

His latest project took eight months to complete and cost Mr Davies 50,000, with the first guests snatching the opportunity to stay in August.

Mr Davies, owner of Apple Camping, said the dome which is now part of his creation was one of four domes that were built for Type 42 destroyers. The one he is in possession of was a 'spare'. Above: The inside of his creation

After it narrowly dodged active service in the Falklands War, Mr Davies salvaged the sonar dome in November last year when a friend with naval connections suggested he might be able to put it to good use

The project took eight months to complete and cost Mr Davies 50,000, with the first guests snatching the opportunity to stay in August

Mr Davies said: 'I was on holiday when I got a call from someone connected with the Royal Navy. 'He told me he had acquired this sonar hull and he thought I might be able to turn it into something.' Above: The fre-purposed interior

Now the three-bed subterranean pod is finished with a kitchen, bathroom, and even has underwater light and sound effects to complete the atmospheric stay

Mr Davies said: 'The shell of this thing is absolutely solid, it was built to withstand bombs so it was a bit of a task making some alterations to make it liveable'

Mr Davies said: 'I was on holiday when I got a call from someone connected with the Royal Navy.

'He told me he had acquired this sonar hull and he thought I might be able to turn it into something.

'I'd already got planning to do something underground and we were thinking about creating hobbit houses, but when I saw the sonar hull it was better than anything else I'd looked at.

'The shell of this thing is absolutely solid, it was built to withstand bombs so it was a bit of a task making some alterations to make it liveable.

'We spent three weeks with disc cutters just trying to shape it and take bits off it and we broke several tools trying to make port holes.

Mr Davies added: 'People are absolutely loving it and parents are going as mad for it as their kids. 'We had one couple decide they were staying inside and put the kids in the tents outside'

The new accommodation also includes an outdoor seating area, so families who choose to stay there can dine outside

Mr Davies added: ''There's so many rewarding little features like the periscope effect holes that look out onto the flower meadow, the old diving gear decor or the sonar sound effects as you descend down into the hull on the spiral staircase'

'It's a serious bit of kit.'

Now the three-bed subterranean pod is finished with a kitchen, bathroom, and even has underwater light and sound effects to complete the atmospheric stay.

Mr Davies added: 'People are absolutely loving it and parents are going as mad for it as their kids.

'We had one couple decide they were staying inside and put the kids in the tents outside.

'There's so many rewarding little features like the periscope effect holes that look out onto the flower meadow, the old diving gear decor or the sonar sound effects as you descend down into the hull on the spiral staircase.'
As her two kids got haircuts in a shopping centre barbershop, a young mother's bemoaning about the size of her belly caught Brendan Leigh Russell's attention.

The shop's resident body modifier, known by moniker BSlice Dot Com, allegedly offered to help out with a 'tummy tuck'.

'Brendan said he'd done that before... (he) pretty much said it was a pretty easy procedure,' the mother told the Sydney District Court.

But the allegedly unqualified Russell is now accused of leaving the woman bleeding heavily, writhing in 'extreme pain' and needing significant medical intervention to correct his work.

The 40-year-old has pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing grievous bodily harm in the back of his shop Transition in Erina Fair Shopping Centre in November 2016.

He has also denied charges of manslaughter and female genital mutilation related to two other women he operated on in 2015 and 2017.

Brendan Leigh Russell, 40, pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing grievous bodily harm in the back of his shop Transition in Erina Fair Shopping Centre in November 2016

Judge Helen Syme, hearing the trial without a jury, has suppressed the identity of all three complainants.

The judge was told on Monday the tummy tuck procedure was performed under local anaesthetic for $800.

The woman admits she knew he wasn't a trained plastic surgeon or a doctor but denies he warned her of several risks before operating on her.

'Whatever he was saying back then, he was so confident and very convincing and I felt like I was in really good hands and I felt he knew what he was doing,' the woman said.

The procedure stemmed from a comment in mid-2016 in which the woman lamented the size of her stomach as her children's hair was cut in Russell's shop.

When Russell said he could help, she raised her desire for an 'Elle Macpherson tummy' and asked, 'am I going to look like that after?' the court was told on Tuesday.

The procedure stemmed from a comment in mid-2016 in which the woman lamented the size of her stomach as her children's hair was cut in Russell's shop.

When Russell said he could help, she raised her desire for an 'Elle Macpherson tummy' and asked, 'am I going to look like that after?' the court was told on Tuesday.

Police claim Russell implanted the snowflake under another woman's right hand in early 2017 but when she complained of being in pain, the body modifier allegedly urged her to visit him and not go to hospital. She later died and he is accused of her manslaughter (stock image)

Hobbling around Erina Fair with her sister in the days before Christmas 2016, the woman said Russell came up and spoke to her.

'Brendan stated 'look at the way you're walking, it looks like you've been f**ked up the arse,' the woman said.

Under cross-examination on Tuesday, the woman denied the body modifier had actually opened with 'how are you?'.

'I suggest you said to him "I'm fine, just a bit sore and tired" and that was the extent of it,' lawyer Michal Mantaj said.

'No,' the woman said, saying that as well as the 'f**ked up the arse' line, he'd mentioned his search for presents, how he couldn't handle crowds and how he wanted to get out of there.

She said Russell allayed her fears about remaining awake during the procudure, boasting of his 'quite... good reputation' and how a surgeon had remarked his application of local anaesthetic was 'amazing'.

The body modifier donned gloves but no surgical mask or gown before he sliced into the woman's abdomen, removed a strip of skin measuring about 20cm and stitched the wound.

His aftercare instructions? Rest up, have Advill (ibuprofen) and return in about a week to have sutures removed, according to the woman.

Brendan Leigh Russell (pictured outside court in May) has also denied charges of manslaughter and female genital mutilation related to two other women he operated on in 2015 and 2017.

At home on the couch, she took Nurofen - another ibuprofen brand - as well as some diazepam and tried to sleep.

'I just woke up in extreme pain... (my husband) looked at my nightie and there was fresh blood everywhere, the lounge was covered in blood,' she told the court.

She later stumbled and collapsed on the floor, causing her and husband to panic.

'He phoned Brendan. All I remember is (my husband) saying there's blood everywhere,' she said.

Through her husband, Russell allegedly advised the Nurofen treatment cease, Advill begin and the compression bandage be removed.

'It just kept bleeding from the wound, my dressings were full of blood,' she said.

Russell removed some stitches at a follow-up appointment, applied steri-strips and put the substantial bleeding down to 'the way your body is healing'.

On the advice of friends and a GP, the woman reluctantly went to Gosford Hospital, where she was booked for surgery and stayed two nights.

Further corrective surgery resolved her pain and mobility issues but left a long, thin scar stretching from hip to hip, the court was told.

The woman denied Russell said 'of course I care' when he visited her at her home after her hospital surgery or that he'd offered her to refund the $800 cost of the procedure.

'No... he suggested he could have fixed the problem for me and I didn't need to go to the hospital,' the woman said.

'That (refund) was my husband and I - we decided we wanted a full refund for what I'd been through.'

The court was told the woman was told 'nothing' in a pre-procedure consultation about the potential for wound bleeding or the risks of internal bleeding or infection.

'Internal bleeding was never ever spoken about,' she said.

The woman denied suggestions the body modifier had described the tummy tuck as a 'big procedure' or that his lack of a mask during the procedure was because she'd mentioned 'it was intimidating'.

'That is not what happened,' the woman replied.

She also denied telling Russell in the days after the procedure: 'I'm really sore I did something stupid, I tried to do a bit of work.'

Despite the issues, the woman refused to give up Russell's name until she saw media reports in 2018 that he'd been charged with mutilating a customer's genitals with a branding iron.

'She was getting annihilated on social media and I felt sorry for her,' the mother said.

'I felt like if someone else came forward as well, maybe people would realise that these things happen.'
A prison inmate on death row who Kim Kardashian has been advocating to release is one step closer to walking free from jail after his sentence was recommended for commutation by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

Julius Jones' freedom now depends on Oklahoma Governor Kevin Sitt, who will either accept the suggestion from the board or decline it.

Kim praised the news as the 'first moment of justice' for Jones and thanked the three pardon and parole board members who voted in favor of the commutation.

'Thank you... for your courage and integrity today,' the reality star turned justice advocate tweeted Monday. 'Their votes to recommend commutation of his death sentence to life with the possibility of parole mark the first moment of #JusticeforJuliusJones,' she wrote.

The decision was reached with a 3-1 vote, after one member of the board listened to claims of bias in the case from the Defense Attorney's office and changed their mind about recommending Jones for a commutation.

If the commutation is approved by the governor, it will lessen Jones' death sentence to life with the possibility of parole.

Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board recommended the governor commute the death sentence of Julius Jones, who is convicted for the 1999 murder of 45-year-old businessman Paul Howell

FILE - Kim Kardashian West meets with members of Julius Jones' family at Tabernacle Baptist Church of Oklahoma City

On twitter, Kardashian voiced her joy after hearing the news and thanked the three Pardon & Parole Board members who voted in favor of recommending Jones for commutation

Kim had previously posed with Jones' attorney, Dale Baich outside the jail where Jones is being held, in 2019

The inmate has spent 22 years in jail after he was convicted in 2002 for the 1999 murder of 45-year-old businessman Paul Howell.

Jones has always maintained his innocence and claims he was convicted as a result of racial discrimination. The family say they have compelling evidence of his innocence.

On Monday, his family celebrated the news.

'We are overjoyed. Although that recommendation means he will not be walking out a free man as soon as we hoped, Julius would be able to spend his days inside prison no longer on death row and, in the future, be eligible for parole,' Alex Weintz, a spokesperson for the Jones family, told TMZ.

Sitt's office has said that they will consider Jones' case as they do with all incoming ones.

Demonstrators march in support of Julius Jones, who has been incarcerated for more than 20 years for a crime he says he did not commit

Supporters cheer after the third yes vote at a march and rally in support Julius Jones during the commutation hearing in Oklahoma City on Monday

Antoinette Jones, left, the sister of convicted killer Julius Jones, and her cousin Dionne Carruthers, right, walk from an Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board hearing

Jimmy Lawson, a friend of Julius Jones, hugs Madeline Davis-Jones, the mother of Julius Jones, following the recommendation of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that Julius Jones' death sentence be commuted to life in prison, during a commutation hearing for her son

@Justice4Julius shared a picture of supporters of Jones hugging each other and holding signs in celebration of the decision

'The governor takes his role in this process seriously and will carefully consider the Pardon and Parole Boards recommendation as he does in all cases.

'We will not have any further comment until the governor has made a decision,' said the statement.

@Justice4Julius shared a picture of supporters of Jones hugging each other and holding signs in celebration of the commutation recommendation, after the hearing in Oklahoma City.

Jones' plight first came to Kim Kardashian's attention after she watched Viola Davis' documentary 'The Last Defense,' in which Jones was featured.

Since then, the reality TV star who is also pursuing a career in law, has taken a deep interest in advocating for the man's freedom.

In November last year, she visited Jones in prison and spent time with his family.

In October 2019, Kim appealed to Stitt and the state Pardon and Parole Board to consider Jones's clemency petition.

The socialite shared images of Julius Jones' mother and his attorney to her popular Instagram account in 2019

In October 2019 the reality star said there is 'compelling evidence that he was wrongfully convicted' and went on to share a link to his clemency petition

Back then, Kim said in a tweet: 'I have been following the case of Julius Jones for little while now.

Julius Jones was convicted of murder in the 1999 shooting of 45-year-old Paul Howell, pictured

'Julius Jones is on death row in Oklahoma, despite maintaining his innocence and compelling evidence that he was wrongfully convicted. His case has also been strained with so much racial discrimination.'

Jones was a 19-year-old honor student on a scholarship at the University of Oklahoma at the time of the murder of Paul Howell in July 1999, and his mother said his son was with her on the night of the murder.

He has insisted throughout the years that his 2002 conviction was the result of bias from a racist juror.

Businessman Howell was shot and killed in the driveway of his parents' Edmond home and investigators say the suspect then fled in a Suburban.

Jones was arrested along with a co-defendant who fit an eyewitness's description of the shooter, while Jones did not. Jones claims his friends conspired to frame him after a robbery gone wrong which ended in the murder.

Businessman Howell was shot and killed in the driveway of his parents' Edmond home (pictured) and investigators say the suspect then fled in a Suburban

Rachel Howell, daughter of murder victim Paul Howell, sits next to a large photo of her father as she listens during a commutation hearing before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for his convicted killer, Julius Jones

According to Justice for Julius: 'In a case riddled with odious racial discrimination - including a police officer's use of a racial slur during Jones' arrest and the State's removal of all prospective black jurors except one - evidence shows that a juror used the n-word before jury deliberations at the sentencing phase.

'The US Supreme Court has made unequivocally clear that our criminal justice system cannot tolerate such blatant examples of racial prejudice on the part of even a single juror.'

Jones also claims his defense attorneys did not even bring up his alibi at trial and did not call any witnesses to the stand who could have attested for Jones's location on the night of the killing.

He said: 'I have spent the past twenty years on death row for a crime I did not commit, did not witness, and was not at. I feel terrible for Mr Howell and his family, but I was not responsible.'

He appealed to the Supreme Court after a juror told Jones' lawyers in 2017 that another juror used a racist term to describe Jones in his 2002 trial, saying authorities should 'shoot him behind the jail.'

The court rejected that appeal.

Kardashian has been championing prison reform in recent years, following her success with convincing then-President Trump to commute the life sentence of nonviolent drug offender Alice Marie Johnson in June 2018.

In April 2019, the mother-of-four revealed that she wants to become a lawyer and is said to be in the midst of a four-year apprenticeship with a San Francisco law firm. She is expected to take the California Bar exam in 2022.
The bodyguard hired to keep Derek Chauvin safe while he was on trial for the murder of George Floyd has revealed what it was like guarding 'the most hated an in America.'

Scott Yelle described how he lead a secret security operation which used safe houses, armored SUVS, and even disguises to keep the Minneapolis cop safe while he was on trial for the murder of George Floyd.

Yelle said that the security detail would wear bulletproof vests and kept a go-bag with mace, tourniquets and gas masks in the car in case they were attacked.

The bodyguard even used Snapchat to monitor where big clusters of protesters were, using the social media app's map feature.

'This was some agitator's Super Bowl,' Yelle told Inside Edition, of the opportunity for some protesters to take Chauvin out during his trips to and from his safehouse, some 35miles away from the Minneapolis courthouse where he was on trial, across state lines in Wisconsin.

Bodyguard of Derek Chauvin, Scott Yelle, described how he lead a secret security operation which used safe houses, armored SUVS, and even disguises to keep the Minneapolis cop safe while he was on trial for the murder of George Floyd

Cop Derek Chauvin became 'the most hated an in America' after he knelt on the neck of George Floyd for nine minutes in shocking footage from May 25, 2020 (right). Despite being smuggled into a parking lot beneath the courthouse each morning, Chauvin (pictured in court, left) was still thought to be in danger even in court

Yelle said getting 'one of the most hated men in America' back-and-forth from the courthouse everyday was a logistical nightmare and that he feared someone opening fire or throwing a Molotov cocktail at them.

Despite being smuggled into a parking lot beneath the courthouse each morning, Chauvin was still thought to be in danger even in court.

Yelle said he even refused to let Chauvin eat any of the food provided by court officials.

The bodyguard told Fabian that he used a fleet of bulletproof SUVs to protect Chauvin from assassination attempts and everyone traveling with Chauvin had to be mindful of the threats from crowds of protesters outside court each day.

He added that he had to be aware of dangers including, 'people shooting, people throwing rocks, bricks, anything they could find.'

Yelle described the secretive operation to protect Chauvin despite receiving hundreds of death threats

Yelle told INSIDE EDITION that rather than being in police custody, Chauvin was actually secured in a classified location 35 miles away from the Minneapolis courthouse where he was on trial, across state lines in Wisconsin.

'We also had to worry about people throwing Molotov,' Yelle said, adding that he received threats every single day.

In addition, Yelle said there were secret safe houses in suburban neighborhood, where Chauvin could be taken in an emergency.

He said they would even drive there on a round-about way to throw off anyone following them.

Throughout the time Yelle protected Chauvin, he mentioned he only saw him express remorse once.

'I said, 'Is there anything I can do for you? And he said, 'You can take me back a year,' Yelle said.

Chauvin received a sentence of 22 and a half years in prison, with the possibility of supervised relief, contingent on good behavior after serving two-thirds of his sentence or 15 years for second-degree murder.

George Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd, 46, lay face-down crying: 'I can't breathe.'

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd, 46, lay face-down crying: 'I can't breathe.'

Video of the incident went viral, and soon protests against police brutality spread throughout the United States, lasting for months, turning violent at times.

Chauvin was fired by the Minneapolis Police Department in the aftermath and was soon arrested.

He was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

On June 25, 2021, he received a sentence of 22 and a half years in prison, with the possibility of supervised relief, contingent on good behavior after serving two-thirds of his sentence or 15 years for second-degree murder.
A man who bashed his own father before forcing him to fix a car so he could rob him has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Zachariah John Hewitt, 31, and two other men broke into the home of his father Jamie John Hewitt at Ambrose, west of Gladstone, Queensland, on August 4, 2020.

The Gladstone District Court heard that Hewitt had consumed 12 cans of Jack Daniels when he entered the home at 11am and accused his father of stealing $70,000.

Hewitt and another man then punched his father, breaking some of his nasal bones.

He directed the accomplice to tie his father up as he continued to punch him and demand money, car keys and guns, Crown Prosecutor Evan O'Hanlon-Rose told the court.

Zachariah John Hewitt, 31, who Judge Jeff Clarke described as having a 'simply appalling' criminal history

Jamie John Hewitt suffered broken bones in his face inthe attack by his son and another man, before he was forced to fix a bumper bar on his own ute which the men then used to rob him

'They ransacked the house before cutting the complainant loose in order to make him fix a bumper bar to the complainant's own ute,' Mr O'Hanlon-Rose said.

'While that was occurring, they were loading valuables into vehicles,' reported The Gladstone Observer.

The haul included custom painted Adela wheels, worth $600 each, Mr Hewitt said at the time of the incident.

Mr Hewitt, then 51, required facial reconstruction surgery after the attack.

'He thought he was going to lose his life that day,' Mr O'Hanlon-Rose said of Mr Hewitt's recall of the ordeal.

His son was arrested two days later at an Airbnb after his father reported the incident to police.

The court heard Hewitt had a long criminal history, having previously been sentenced in Queensland courts 19 times.

His defence counsel Scott Moon told the court Hewitt had developed 'ill-feelings' towards his father after spending time in foster care as a child and adolescent.

Hewitt alleged his father had beat him as a child and had been involved with drugs.

A custom-painted Adela wheel which Mr Hewitt said was stolen in the home invasion by his son and two other men in August 2020

Judge Jeff Clarke said Hewitt's traffic history indicated he had lived 'a lawless life' and that his criminal record was 'simply appalling'.

He referred to Mr Hewitt's victim impact statement, describing the attack on him as 'callous' and 'gutless'.

Hewitt pleaded guilty to deprivation of liberty, robbery in company with personal violence, burglary in company and summary offences including two disqualified driving charges.

He was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the burglary and deprivation of liberty and a cumulative three years for the robbery offence.

Hewitt's licence was disqualified for the driving offences and he had convictions recorded for the other summary offences.
New Zealand risks being cut off from the rest of the world long after Australia and other countries open their borders as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stubbornly persists with a Covid-zero policy.

The Kiwi leader's insistence on keeping case numbers at zero - a strategy that has been abandoned by most nations as vaccination levels rise - could ruin any chances of the Trans-Tasman travel bubble resuming sooner than later.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has already suggested that vaccination passports could be in the hands of keen travellers as early as November when the international border is expected to be reopened.

The national Covid-19 roadmap allows for overseas travel for vaccinated passengers once 80 per cent of Australia is double-jabbed.

But New Zealand - which set up a travel bubble with Australia that removed the need to quarantine - could remain a no-fly zone after 15 new cases emerged on Tuesday.

New Zealand's zero-Covid strategy could see the country being left behind as Australia's intense vaccination efforts mean international travel could resume as early as mid-November (pictured, a passenger arrives in New Zealand in October 2020)

New Zealand has previously been praised for the tough policy however the measures have proved powerless in the face of the contagious Delta variant (pictured, a business owner in New Zealand last week)

David Beirman, a senior lecturer in tourism and risk management at the University of Technology Sydney, said countries such as New Zealand and states still chasing Covid-zero will be left behind.

He warned any jurisdictions trying to knock the highly-transmissible Delta variant down to zero cases were a in 'delusion' and needed a wake-up call.

'Most Australian states and New Zealand have been labouring under the delusion that lockdowns will somehow stop Covid-19 in its tracks,' he told News Corp.

'Once daily rates of Covid in NSW exceeded 1,000 per day after 9 weeks of lockdown even the most staunch defenders of a lockdown to achieve zero cases were ducking for cover.'

He said having two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine reduces the severity of the disease, and although it is not a 'watertight guarantee of immunity', countries were better off attempting to live with the virus than continue imposing the economically and psychologically devastating lockdowns.

A Sydney lecturer has said any states or countries still pushing a zero-Covid policy is 'in delusion' (pictured, Royal New Zealand Navy personnel at a checkpoint)

Holiday-hungry New Zealanders risk being left behind as their leader continues to push a zero-Covid policy, as Australia throws its doors open to the rest of the world (pictured, NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern)

Mr Beriman compared Ms Ardern with Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan who also insists on tightly shutting borders to the rest of the world.

'Bottom line is, better to run the risk of living a normal life than dying from the multiple ills of lockdown,' he said.

Flight Centre boss Graham Turner said Australia would most likely open to Britain, US, Singapore, Canada, and possibly Fiji by Christmas - but not NZ.

Mr Morrison also voiced his disapproval of his New Zealand's attempt to completely stamp out coronavirus cases before reopening.

'Any state and territory that thinks that somehow they can protect themselves from Covid with the Delta strain forever, that's just absurd,' he said.

New Zealand has previously been praised for its Covid-zero strategy, but outbreaks of the Delta variant have proved increasingly difficult to completely wipe out.

Ms Ardern, however, argued her health advisers still believed in an elimination policy.

'In their view, it's not only possible, it remains the best strategy and I totally agree,' she said early in New Zealand's renewed outbreak, which grew by 15 on Tuesday.

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

Australia has replaced its Covid-zero approach with an intense focus on a vaccination drive rather than the number of new daily 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'.

New Zealand's lockdown was extended on Monday despite the vast majority of the country recording zero new cases of the virus.

Auckland will remain under the strictest restrictions after detecting 33 new cases, while mandatory masks and social distancing measures will be enforced across the rest of the country.

Most New Zealanders remain vulnerable to infection, with just one third of the country fully vaccinated against the virus.

On Sunday, the New Zealand PM announced 500,000 doses of Pfizer had been bought from Denmark in a scramble to create more vaccination appointments.

'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,' Ms Ardern said.

NSW residents will enjoy new freedoms from September 13, with five fully-vaccinated adults permitted to gather outside for what has been dubbed a 'vax picnic' (pictured)

Ms Ardern said the country's strict 'zero Covid' strategy had helped bring the latest outbreak under control but that 'we haven't quite finished the job yet' (pictured, a closed restaurant in Auckland on Monday)

Meanwhile, NSW is leading the way in the vaccine rollout with 78 per cent of over-16s having had their first Covid-19 jab while 45.6 per cent are fully-vaccinated.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has directly linked the easing of restrictions to the number of residents jabbed and has promised to reward those who roll up their sleeves.

The premier is considering a plan for a home quarantine pilot for returning travellers, as the government looks to reopen international borders at the end of the year.

Ms Berejiklian will also consider allowing international travellers, who must be fully-vaccinated and provide a negative Covid test on arrival, to come to Sydney and quarantine at home for less than the current period of 14 days.

The transition to home quarantine is expected to begin once 70 per cent of NSW is fully vaccinated, due to be reached in mid-October.
Hawaiian Airlines is poised to resume flights to Australia - after an 18 month absence due to Covid-19.

Flights will restart to Sydney and Brisbane from December 15, according to the company's website and Twitter account.

The airline hopes to bring an Airbus A330 out of retirement to ferry 68 passengers in 'economy comfort' and business class.

But the US carrier made it clear to customers that the flights Down Under are no certainty given lockdown and border restrictions.

Hawaiian Airlines is set to resume flights to Sydney and Brisbane on December 15 (pictured, a Hawaiian Airlines plane at Hilo International Airport)

'We keep our published schedule available for sale further out but we constantly adjust it based on the likelihood of our ability to serve the market,' Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement to Executive Traveller.

'This has been true throughout the pandemic as conditions evolve in each of our markets.

'We look forward to returning to Australia soon but dont have a definitive date to announce.'

Users on Facebook were similarly sceptical of the announcement, as one person wrote: 'It will never happen. They are selling tickets and then theyll have your money and you wont get a flight'.

While another added: 'I'd be checking the refund policy very carefully. The hermit nation isn't open yet. Nothing official'.

But the airline confirmed that the flights were subject to change and were not confirmed due to the Covid-19 pandemic (pictured, passengers at Brisbane Airport)

This announcement comes as Graham Turner, chief executive of Flight Centre had predicted Australians will be flying to to London by November.

He also claimed mainland Europe, Fiji, Canada, the United States and Singapore could be on the cards before Christmas.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced vaccination passports could be in the hand's of holiday-hungry fully-vaccinated Australians in just a few months time when vaccination rates are due to hit 80 per cent.

But in a bizarre battle of the borders it appears Sydneysiders could travel overseas before they enter the Sunshine State or Western Australia, which remains tightly shut to NSW.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said vaccine passports would be rolled out within a few months time once vaccination rates reach 80 per cent (pictured, passengers at Brisbane Airport)

Mr Turner said he expects Queensland and other parts of the country to have a tougher time acclimatising with the rest of the world.

'NSW has nothing to lose,' the chief executive said.

'They've got the infection. It doesn't matter that they bring in more.'

The optimistic travel chief said travellers would likely only be required to quarantine for two to five days on their return to Australia when international travel resumes - and it could even be at home.

NSW on Monday reached nearly 47 per cent vaccination, after the state recorded 1,257 cases on Covid-19, down from 1,599 on Saturday.
A quarantine worker at a hotel in Brisbane

Covid-19 hotel quarantine could be in place for three or four years but Australians returning from overseas may be allowed to isolate at home by Christmas.

Jane Halton, a former public servant who conducted a review of the quarantine system last year, said hotel quarantine could last even longer if a new Covid-19 variant evades vaccines.

'In three or four years' time I'll be quite surprised if we're using these kinds of arrangements unless for example there's a very nasty new variant,' she told ABC radio on Tuesday morning.

Ms Halton revealed that quarantine will be required until Australia reaches herd immunity to Covid-19.

'We don't know how long it will take us to have the level of coverage of vaccines but also the protection right across the community,' she said.

For measles herd immunity is achieved when 95 per cent are protected by vaccines or natural immunity while polio requires 80 per cent coverage.

Most experts say herd immunity from Covid will require between 80 and 90 per cent of the population to be protected but some doubt whether it's possible at all due to new variants, waning vaccine protection and cases of re-infection.

Ms Halton said while foreigners may still require hotel quarantine, Australians returning from overseas could isolate at home by the end of this year.

'We know the short term will see a significant re-opening.

'I'm hopeful that we can have [home quarantine] systems up and running certainly in test arrangements well before Christmas,' she said.

'For many people the possibility of quarantining at home will be real and I think is something that we'll be looking to make pretty widely available.

'You may have to be isolated for a period waiting for a negative test but it depends on your risk and we also know that if you're double vaccinated you may have a shorter period that you might have to isolate, not necessarily 14 days.

Australians will be allowed overseas when 80 per cent of the population is vaccinated. Pictured: Sydney's Bondi Beach

'All those things are on the table,' she said.

A trial of home quarantine is under way in South Australia with double-vaccinated international arrivals staying at home for two weeks.

Ms Halton, who is chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, also pointed out that thousands of domestic travellers are in home quarantine around the country after travelling to Covid-zero states from Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia's national re-opening plan allows to 'new reduced quarantine requirements' when 70 per cent of over 16s are fully vaccinated.

Currently 42.55 per cent are double jabbed.

Visa holders will be allowed to enter at the 70 per cent mark with a cap on quarantine places.

The plan allows Australians, who have been banned from going on holiday since March 2020, to leave the country once 80 per cent have had both doses.

Travel bubbles will be set up with Covid-safe countries to allow movement without any quarantine at all.
A principal who sparked a Covid-19 outbreak after encouraging kids to come to class says all schools should be open to all students in lockdown.

Timothy Berryman said children 'get runny noses' all the time and are more likely to get hit by a car than catch coronavirus.

The Fitzroy Community School in Melbourne's inner-city has been linked to 31 Covid-19 cases after refusing to close classrooms during Victoria's sixth lockdown.

Mr Berryman, whose 11-year-old son caught the virus, said the threat the virus posed to children was extremely low and mild illness was 'inevitable'.

'It's a bit like saying some children will drown and some children get run over,' he told the Today show on Tuesday.

'But we haven't stopped them going on scooters and riding their bikes and getting in cars. We accept that that risk is part of it.'

His mother Faye Berryman - who founded the 'alternative' school in Melbourne's inner-suburbs - appeared on Sunrise just moments before.

Mrs Berryman was cut off by host Natalie Barr after she defended keeping the school open to all students.

At least 30 students and staff tested positive at Fitzroy Community Centre at Fitzroy North, Melbourne

Poll Should kids be back at school? Yes - it's unfair now the most at-risk are jabbed No - case numbers are still far too high I'm not sure Should kids be back at school? Yes - it's unfair now the most at-risk are jabbed 115 votes

No - case numbers are still far too high 95 votes

I'm not sure 27 votes Now share your opinion





'The government are telling people only to send their kids to school if they are essential workers - not to do their own research and decide themselves,' Barr said.

Ms Berryman replied: 'We didn't want to be forced into doing something that was against our conscience.

'We always hope that the legal rules line up with the model rules, but teachers were being forced to go against their conscience.'

Barr then abruptly ended the interview by admonishing the educator and telling her she threatened the wellbeing of the wider community.

'The trouble is that Melbourne has hundreds of cases, you got a growing outbreak and people in the extended community are at risk,' she said.

Melbourne has spent 225 days in lockdown since the pandemic began with schools closed to all but the children of essential workers during that time.

Up to 60 children were attending Fitzroy Community classes each day and more than 180 people were close contacts, making the school a Tier 1 exposure site.

Soon after his mother was lectured on air, Mr Berryman claimed on Today the risk of children dying from Covid-19 was lower than that from drowning or road accidents.

'The risk posed by drowning or by road accidents is about 10 times higher than Covid,' he said.

'When you run a primary school, you get children sick pretty much every day. Somebody calls in sick or has a runny nose.

'While you don't want any child to ever get the flu or get sick or get a cough or whatever, it's actually inevitable and part of running a school.'

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'

Principal Timothy Berryman (left) said the threat posed to children by the virus was extremely low and mild illness was 'inevitable', while the school's founder Faye Berryman said it went against her 'conscience' not to keep the classroom open during lockdown

Mr Berryman said he had tried to offer parents 'the best of both worlds' by giving them the option of on-site or remote learning.

'I don't know if I would have said I encouraged children to come to school,' he said. 'I offered full classroom teaching to those who came on-site.'

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley on Monday 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 the daily coronavirus press conference.

Philip O'Carroll, co-founder of the Fitzroy Community School, speaks to media in Melbourne on Monday

'This school has some history when it comes to sailing pretty close to chief health officer orders.

'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 on Monday by Victorian deputy chief health officer Dan O'Brien 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.

'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.'

VICTORIA OVERHAULS ITS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM Victoria is scrapping VCAL as part of an overhaul of vocational education for senior school students. Under new legislation set to be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday, the government will replace the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning with the Victorian Certificate of Education - Vocational Major. The Foundation VCAL year will be replaced with the Victorian Pathways Certificate, from which students can choose VCE, entry level vocational training, or move into the workforce. The program will be introduced from 2023. The government says the vocational major will mean students can access more subjects, as well as doing work experience. 'These reforms mean students will have better support and flexibility to study what they want, alongside key academic skills that will prepare them for the jobs of the future,' Education Minister James Merlino said in making the announcement. The government says the new program will be focused on students with additional needs, and vulnerable students at risk of leaving the school system. Advertisement

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.

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

'None of the kids who have Covid are sick,' Mr Berryman told The Herald-Sun.

'We have to accept that kids catch Covid at school. This will happen but it doesn't make the kids desperately sick.'

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'.

Darcy Wain, 15, receives a Pfizer vaccination at the Royal Exhibition Building Covid-19 Vaccination Hub in Melbourne

'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.

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.
ABC medical expert Norman Swan has lashed out at over 60s who are waiting to receive the Pfizer vaccination, calling it 'boomer entitlement'.

The Northern Territory recently announced that anyone over the age of 60 in Darwin could receive Pfizer from September 10, with the South Australian government making Pfizer available to all residents over the age of 12 less than 24 hours later.

Dr Norman Swan appeared on ABC's News Breakfast program on Tuesday morning to discuss what the move by South Australia and Northern Territory meant for Covid-19 vaccine messaging across the nation.

Dr Norman Swan (pictured) called the decision by South Australia and the Northern Territory to allow over 60s to receive the Pfizer jab 'boomer entitlement'

'This is boomer entitlement,' Dr Swan told ABC News Breakfast.

'It must mean that they've got loads of Pfizer doses they're not telling anyone about.'

Dr Swan argued that Pfizer doses shouldn't be given to residents over 60 who already have access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Dr Swan said: 'If they've got Pfizer doses to waste on over 60s when 12-year-olds need to be immunised, 12-year-olds should be in front of any 60-year-old who isn't otherwise contraindicated to get AstraZeneca.'

'They [12-year-olds] deserve the Pfizer more than over 60s.'

He added: 'Over 60s can get Astra, they can get Astra safely, and protect themselves against severe disease.'

Dr Swan continued to say that Pfizer vaccines should remain reserved for people under 60 and now 12- to 15-year-olds.

When asked whether it would be difficult to change the mindset of those over 60 who didn't want to receive the AstraZeneca shot, Dr Swan argued the older population with that established mindset will be left more vulnerable.

'It's very hard to change and they'll be vulnerable when we do open up,' Dr Swan said.

'And in states where they're not opening up, it will keep them locked down for longer.'

Dr Norman Swan argued that over 60s already have access to AstraZeneca, and Pfizer should remain reserved for those under 60 and now children aged 12 to 15 (Pictured: young woman receiving the Pfizer vaccine)

South Australia's decision to allow all residents aged over 12 to get the Pfizer vaccine from Monday is due to the government wanting to fast track their path to freedom.

Premier Steven Marshall said to reporters on Saturday: 'It's on for young and old.'

'We know there have been many people over the age of 60 who said, 'We don't want the AstraZeneca, we want the Pfizer jab, this is why we are not having the jab'.'

Northern Territory's Health Minister Natasha Fyles also said the decision to give over 60s the chance to receive the Pfizer jab in urban Darwin was to get Territorians vaccinated as fast as they can.

'This means every Territorian can be vaccinated by Christmas,' Ms Fyles said.

Mr Marshall noted that 40 per cent of South Australian residents had received two doses.

In the Northern Territory, 12% of children aged 12 to 15 have received their first dose, and 67% of residents 16 years and older have had one dose.
Proactive policing in Minneapolis plunged dramatically following the murder of George Floyd last year, even as violent crime soared, a new analysis reveals as the city prepares to vote on a ballot initiative to abolish the police department.

In the year following Floyd's death, traffic stops in Minneapolis plunged 74 percent, patrols of known problem areas were down 76 percent, and stops of suspicious people plunged 75 percent, according to a Reuters investigation.

Confidential police sources said that part of the slowdown was due to a staffing shortage amid an exodus from the department, but that much of the reduction in policing was due to a fear of being caught up in an incident that could go viral in a climate of anti-cop sentiment.

One officer said that some Minneapolis cops even deliberately take a longer route than necessary to respond to 911 calls, in the hope that whatever the emergency is, it will be resolved by the time they arrive.

In April, the average police response time to priority 911 calls was 40 percent longer than it had been a year earlier, Reuters found.

With fewer police stops, cops have fewer chances to recover illegal drugs and guns, and violent crime has soared, with the murder rate in Minneapolis on pace to hit a 20-year high. Some residents now call the city a 'gangster's paradise'.

State Patrol Police officers take a break during protests on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis. A new analysis finds that proactive policing in the city has plunged after Floyd's death

Examining millions of records, Reuters determined that police-initiated interventions plunged in Minneapolis in the year following Floyd's murder

While criminals have reveled in the police slowdown, honest residents living in dangerous neighborhoods have borne the brunt of rising crime.

One evening this summer, bullets crashed through the walls of Brandy Earthman's house on Minneapolis' north side.

The shots sheared through the door of the living room where her children were playing. One severed a bone in her 19-year-old son's arm.

Earthman and others complain that even with shootings soaring, the police are frequently nowhere to be seen.

'They don't care anymore,' she said. 'They're just going to let everybody kill themselves.'

In the months that followed Floyd's death last May, few cities wrestled more with the question of what the future of American law enforcement should be than Minneapolis.

Officials here floated attempts to overhaul, shrink or even abolish the city's besieged police force, with early voting set to start Friday on a ballot initiative to replace the police with a nebulous department of public safety.

On Monday, a judge heard arguments that the ballot language is too vague and misleading. The judge has not yet issued a decision on the question.

In the meantime, an examination by Reuters found, Minneapolis' police officers imposed abrupt changes of their own, adopting what amounts to a hands-off approach to everyday lawbreaking in a city where killings have surged to a level not seen in decades.

Even as 911 calls for help rose, proactive policing such as traffic stops plunged

A group of police officers walks along an empty street in downtown Minneapolis last week

Almost immediately after Floyds death, Reuters found, police officers all but stopped making traffic stops. They approached fewer people they considered suspicious and noticed fewer people who were intoxicated, fighting or involved with drugs, records show.

Some in the city, including police officers themselves, say the men and women in blue stepped back after Floyd's death for fear that any encounter could become the next flashpoint.

'There isn't a huge appetite for aggressive police work out there, and the risk/reward, certainly, we're there and we're sworn to protect and serve, but you also have to protect yourself and your family,' said Scott Gerlicher, a Minneapolis police commander who retired this year.

'Nobody in the job or working on the job can blame those officers for being less aggressive.'

In the year after Floyds death on May 25, 2020, the number of people approached on the street by officers who considered them suspicious dropped by 76 percent, Reuters found after analyzing more than 2.2 million police dispatches in the city.

Officers stopped 85 percent fewer cars for traffic violations. As they stopped fewer people, they found and seized fewer illegal guns.

'It's self-preservation,' said one officer who retired after Floyds death, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He said the force's commanders didn't order a slowdown, but also did nothing to stop it.

'The supervisor was like, `I don't blame you at all if you don't want to do anything. Hang out in the station. That's what they're saying.'

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the force encountered many challenges since Floyd's death drew national scrutiny to officers' conduct.

Mayor Frey said much of the change in policing stems from a shortage of officers so severe that he had to pull some off investigative duties to make sure 911 calls get resolved

People lay flowers at a memorial in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on April 21, 2021

'Our city and our officers are having to handle a host of issues that no other jurisdiction wants to touch with a pole,' he told Reuters.

The mayor said much of the change in policing stems from a shortage of officers so severe - about a quarter of the city's uniformed officers have retired or quit since Floyd was killed - that he had to pull some off investigative duties to make sure 911 calls get resolved.

'Cities do need police officers, and yes there are severe consequences when the numbers get as low as ours,' he said.

A police spokesman, John Elder, said short-staffing meant 'we were running from call to call and didnt have time for anything else.' He did not respond to additional questions.

Nonetheless, Reuters found, the drop in police-initiated interactions was steeper and more sudden than the drop in the number of officers. By July 2020, the number of encounters begun by officers had dropped 70 percent from the year before; the number of stops fell 76 percent.

Drawing a definitive link between police pullbacks and increasing crime can be complicated.

Homicide rates shot up throughout the United States beginning in the summer of 2020 - not just in cities where the police scaled back traffic stops, but also in patches of rural America and other areas where patrolling remained unchanged.

But three law enforcement experts interviewed by Reuters say a less active police force can most definitely impact community safety.

'The evidence that proactive policing works is pretty solid,' said Justin Nix, a University of Nebraska Omaha criminologist. More frequent stops make it riskier for people to carry guns illegally. And residents might be less willing to call for help if they think officers wont respond.

'If police pull back in the aggregate and theyre also pulling back in areas where crime is concentrated, that can be bad news,' Nix said.

'It's a gangster's paradise': Minneapolis residents say criminals now carry illegal guns with no fear

The shooters who came to Brandy Earthman's house one night in July on the far north end of the city approached before dark, she said. They peppered the house with bullets from outside, striking her oldest son - the second time he has been shot.

By the time she made it home from an aunt's birthday dinner, her 3-year-old was throwing up from what she had just witnessed. She counted 10 or 11 bullet holes.

Earthman says she is now looking for a new house, as far from Minneapolis as she can get.

Earthman said she did not know whether her house was targeted or why; her son was on house arrest at the time over a probation violation from a juvenile case.

'I'm not sure if this was like something with my neighbors, if they were trying to shoot my neighbors house and then hit ours,' she said.

No charges have been filed, Earthman said. A police spokesman did not respond to questions about the case.

A memorial marks the spot where a 6-year-old girl, Aniya Allen, was fatally shot in the head while eating McDonalds food in the back seat of her familys car on May 17

With police often nowhere in sight, some residents have taken to patrolling streets themselves.

One afternoon in August, Marcus Smith parked a black SUV on a street corner in north Minneapolis in front of a line of brightly colored stuffed toys and candles.

The memorial marks the spot where a 6-year-old girl, Aniya Allen, was shot in the head while eating McDonalds food in the back seat of her familys car on May 17. She died a short time later.

Smith, who has served prison time for possessing guns, said after Floyds death he gravitated to groups protesting the police. But after Allens shooting, he started putting on a Kevlar vest and spending his evenings on the corner he said police no longer seem to patrol.

'It's now safe to carry your firearms legally, illegally. You can do that in Minneapolis,' he said. 'Its a gangster's paradise.'

Sharrie Jennings grandson, Ladavionne Garrett Jr, 10, was shot in the head while he slept in the back seat of his parents car on Minneapolis north side.

He remains hospitalized more than four months later and only recently started breathing on his own. The shooting happened during the day on a residential block on the citys north end; police so far have made no arrests.

'This is every day, theres shooting, theres drug dealing,' Jennings said. 'Ive never been immune to the gun violence, but it was men on men, and now its kids and women. These are our future doctors, lawyers, mayors, and theyre not getting a chance at life.'

Jennings said she wont let her other grandchildren outside to play. She obtained a permit to carry a gun.

'This happened at 2 oclock in the afternoon,' she said. 'There were other kids out there. It could have been way more tragic than it was. And this is just every day in Minnesota streets, in Minneapolis streets, and the police just ride by like its OK.'

Lisa Clemons, a former Minneapolis officer who heads a nonprofit called A Mothers Love Initiative that helps crime victims and their families, said the lawlessness in the city has spun 'out of control.'

'People are tired and they are afraid,' she said. With residents feeling unprotected, Clemons invoked U.S. laws that allow people to use deadly force to defend themselves: 'What Minneapolis is creating is a stand-your-ground city.'

Cops flee department: Minneapolis has lost a quarter of its uniformed cops and can't find new recruits willing to do the jobs

Though proactive policing plunged last summer in many cities before rising again, no such rebound occurred in Minneapolis, where the police department is also dealing with an exodus of officers.

Between retirements and a surge of officers taking medical leaves, the city had 200 fewer officers to put on the streets this year than it did in 2019, a drop of about 22 percent.

A man walks by a group of police officers in downtown Minneapolis last week. The department has lost nearly a quarter of its officers and can't find recruits willing to take the job

A judge this July ordered the city to hire more officers, but officials have said it will be difficult to make that happen because the embattled department has struggled to attract new recruits.

The increased workload - fewer officers, more crime - played a role in making police less proactive, said one officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But the officer said patrol units also now choose to ignore minor violations that they might previously have used to attempt to stop someone and search for guns or drugs.

The officer added that police sometimes deliberately take a longer route than necessary to respond to calls - mostly in the hope that whatever the problem was, it will be resolved by the time they arrive.

In April, the average response time to priority 911 calls was 40 percent longer than it had been a year earlier, Reuters found.

All the while, the number of murders in Minneapolis is on track to reach a 20-year high.

In the 12 months after Floyds death, the number of outdoor shootings detected by specially designed microphone arrays set up in two of the citys most dangerous neighborhoods more than doubled, dispatch records show.

So far this year, 65 people have been murdered in Minneapolis.

Police fielded 91 reports of shootings in May, nearly double the number the previous year, dispatch records show. Violent crimes shot up in June 2020 and have remained more frequent.

Plunge in proactive policing follows Floyd's brutal murder

Policing in Minneapolis was fraught long before Officer Derek Chauvin and three others set out to arrest George Floyd for passing a counterfeit bill.

A project funded by the U.S. Justice Department in the Little Earth neighborhood - an impoverished, largely Native American pocket of the city - hinted at a simmering mistrust between residents and Third Precinct officers who patrol it.

That precinct also covers the neighborhood where Floyd died. In 2019, about 40 percent of 401 people surveyed in Little Earth said they did not trust the police to provide fair outcomes in the community, said Shelly Schaefer, a Hamline University criminologist who ran the study.

'There were people who said, `I'm not going to call the police; why should I if they dont do anything anyway?' Schaefer said. 'And police were like, `How can you expect us to resolve crime problems if youre not calling us?'

The distrust combusted when Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyds neck for more than nine minutes, killing him in an episode captured on film.

Chauvin was convicted of murder in April; three fellow officers await trial for aiding and abetting in Floyds death.

Within days, policing here was transformed.

Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in April; three fellow officers await trial for aiding and abetting in Floyds death

Intense protests followed the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man on May 25, 2020

Interactions between officers and the public typically start in one of two ways: either someone calls seeking help - usually by dialing 911 - or an officer sees something and acts.

To measure the change in policing, Reuters examined millions of dispatch and crime records from the citys police force that track how officers spend their time. The pattern was stark: Within days of Floyds death, the number of stops and other encounters initiated by city patrolmen plunged to their lowest point in years.

Elder, the police spokesman, said the change should be unsurprising at a time when the department was overwhelmed by rioting.

But records show the pullback continued long after the unrest ended. In May, the most recent month for which complete records were available, officers initiated about 58 percent fewer encounters than they did in the same month the year before.

The number of traffic stops they conducted was down 85 percent over the same period. Business checks - in which officers stop at a business to talk to employees and customers - were down 76 percent. The number of people the police stopped for acting suspiciously also dropped 76 percent.

Fewer stops led to fewer people being searched for guns or drugs. The month before Floyd was killed, police made 90 drug arrests, police records show. A year later, they made 28. The number of people charged with breaking gun laws dropped by more than half, even as shootings multiplied.

The less active policing triggers mixed responses. For some critics who have long sought crackdowns on aggressive officers, the pulling back on traffic stops as a pretext to search for guns or drugs, for instance, could be seen as a step forward.

But for citizens affected by the escalating gun violence, the reduced police presence has triggered a fear that criminals can act with impunity.

Ayolanda Evans, who works for an anti-gun-violence group called Protect Minnesota, remembers friends being beaten by the police when she was younger. Now, she says, 'police presence is not as strong. You dont feel like youre being profiled. But at the same time, I have seen some questionable activities and behavior, and Ive also seen the police drive right by.'

Councilman Steve Fletcher, who signed on to efforts to defund the police after Floyd's murder, said he had complained for years about police using minor infractions as a legal basis to stop people and search them for guns and drugs.

'Having to pull over 400 people to capture a gun, thats a lot of people feeling harassed and mistrustful of the police in our city,' he said.

Traffic stops became a flashpoint again in April when an officer in neighboring Brooklyn Center shot and killed another black man, Daunte Wright, after he fought with officers who stopped him for an expired registration. The officer has said she thought she was firing her Taser.

Fletcher questioned whether more stops or arrests would quell violence, and said he would rather steer some of those resources to violence prevention and mental health services. Still, he said he was troubled by the way police had transformed their work.

'Is it better to pull that out from under us? To show us what well miss without them?' he asked. 'No.'

The shift comes amid fresh scrutiny of police here and throughout the United States. The Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into whether Minneapolis officers for years used excessive force, discriminated against minorities and adequately disciplined misconduct.

Residents are poised this year to vote on a change to the city charter that would replace the city's police force with a new public safety department that would use 'a comprehensive public health approach.'

Floyd's death helped trigger a reckoning over race and policing across the United States.

Reuters examined dispatch records in six other large jurisdictions, and found that in four of them, including Cincinnati and Sacramento, officers initiated fewer encounters in the weeks after Floyds murder. In most of those places, however, proactive enforcement quickly rebounded.
A hardworking Muslim doctor who campaigns against Islamist extremism has criticised the government's 'arm yourself' slogan to promote vaccination.

Jamal Rifi has worked himself to exhaustion and delayed his retirement as the Delta strain of Covid turned Sydney's south-west into an infection hotspot.

The Lebanese-born GP, 61, turned the front yard of his Belmore house into a drive-through testing centre under a tarpaulin and he has gone to the homes of the elderly and the disabled to administer jabs.

But when it came to the federal government's 'arm yourself' television campaign to promote immunisation, Dr Rifi wasn't impressed.

A hardworking Muslim doctor who campaigns against Islamist extremism has criticised the government's 'arm yourself' slogan to promote vaccination. Jamal Rifi has worked himself to exhaustion and delayed his retirement as the Delta strain of Covid turned Sydney's south-west into an infection hotspot

The doctor, who regularly translates confusing government messages into Arabic for his many patients, said the well-intentioned slogan from 'some genius out there in Canberra' undermined the campaign to tackle violent extremism.

'Now how I'm going to translate this in Arabic? Arm yourself, that means get a gun or get a shotgun and arm yourself,' he told the ABC's Australian Story.

'It sounds very well to the general population, but it sounds very bad to my side of the Arabic community.

'You can't go and tell them "arm yourself" when you were fighting radicalisation for the last five years, and countering violent extremism. That was a bad decision.'

In one Department of Health image, a young man wearing a face mask and a Band Aid on his left shoulder is pictured with a militaristic slogan: 'I've armed myself for my country.'

Dr Rifi received death threats when he spoke out in 2014 against jihadist Khaled Sharouf, after one of his sons was photographed holding a severed head.

In another twist, the GP knew Sharrouf's family in Lebanon only to see the extremist from western Sydney travel to Syria in 2013 to join ISIS.

The respected community leader has long been associated with efforts to improve relations between Muslim Australians and other groups.

The doctor, who regularly translates confusing government messages into Arabic for his patients, said the well-intentioned slogan undermined the campaign to tackle violent extremism

During the 2005 Cronulla riots, in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, street and beach brawls broke out between Lebanese and white Australians.

This spurred Dr Rifi to establish a Muslim surf lifesaving patrol in the suburb where the clashes had erupted.

The efforts at cultural reconciliation saw Dr Rifi in 2012 walk the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea with Cronulla's federal Liberal member for Cook, Scott Morrison, forging a friendship with the future Prime Minister.

Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26, with residents of the city's west and south-west living under harsher restrictions, including a 9pm to 5am curfew and a 5km limit on leaving home for exercise.

Dr Rifi received death threats when he spoke out in 2014 against jihadist Khaled Sharouf, after one of his sons was photographed holding a severed head. In another twist, the GP knew Sharrouf's family in Lebanon only to see the extremist from western Sydney travel to Syria in 2013 to join ISIS

This saw legions of young men in July vent their frustration by breaking lockdown rules to travel into the city centre, to campaign against lockdowns and vaccinations.

Dr Rifi is now fighting a new war against misinformation.

'My reaction was, in my hand I have a vaccine against the Delta strain that is going to protect the most vulnerable in the community, but unfortunately, I dont have a vaccine against these idiots who are marching in the middle of Sydney,' he said.

'No vaccine against stupidity.'

Former human rights commissioner Professor Tim Soutphommasane, who was raised by Laotian-speaking parents in Sydney's south-west, said the lockdown restrictions needed to be lifted as soon as possible.

Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26, with residents of the city's west and south-west living under harsher restrictions, including a 9pm to 5am curfew and a 5km limit on leaving home for exercise. This saw legions of young men in July vent their frustration by breaking lockdown rules to travel into the city centre, to campaign against lockdowns and vaccinations (pictured is a man being arrested outside Sydney Town Hall on July 24)

'We've got to be very careful about ensuring that all restrictions on people's freedoms and rights are necessary and proportionate and, indeed, temporary,' he told the ABC's 7.30 program.

'We were only just starting to transition out of the measures that we were using last year to the measures that should be used in a vaccine world, which is we've got to get everyone vaccinated and doing that as quickly as possible and, when we do that, we should be able to lift these restrictions on people's freedom.'

Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan said images of people enjoying themselves in Bondi and Coogee would make it harder for western Sydney residents to obey lockdown rules.

'Are we really expecting people to continue to co-operate and willingly accept the disparity in treatment?,' he asked.

Dr Rifi's Canterbury-Bankstown local government area is home to 2,812 active cases of Covid, making it an epicentre of the outbreak.

But 76.7 per cent of the population aged 16 and over had had a first dose of either AstraZeneca or Pfizer, a level slightly below the statewide average of 78.8 per cent.
A young Vietnamese-Australian lawyer who hoped to become a federal MP only found out her dreams were being crushed by Kristina Keneally through the media.

Tu Le looked set to represent the Labor stronghold of Fowler in the city's west until Senator Keneally declared she wanted the seat for herself - even though she lives 44km away on an island on the wealthy Northern Beaches.

The 30-year-old migration lawyer wasn't even told that she was being pushed aside and only found out when she saw reports in the media last week.

Ms Le (right) is pictured with Labor leader Anthony Albanese. She will have to wait a little longer to become a politician

'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 told ABC radio on Tuesday.

'So that was pretty disappointing. But it's all, I'm just hearing it all on the media and the news. Like everybody else,' she added.

Ms Le said locals in the multi-cultural area where 75 per cent of residents are immigrants want greater ethnic diversity in Parliament and revealed that voters who had not even heard of leader Anthony Albanese were suddenly engaged in politics because of what happened to her.

Former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally

'I actually walked out the other day to Cabramatta to grab some lunch and was just chatting to the business owner,' she said.

'And I was talking to him about this because he told me he saw my face in the media and he was like, "you know, I know Scott Morrison, but who's Anthony Albanese, who's member of the Labor Party opposition, I don't even know."

'So these people who weren't engaged are now becoming furious and feel like... if they don't raise their voices and if they're not heard by their leaders, then we'd constantly be taken for granted and sidelined and pushed aside. And I think that people are no longer putting up with that,' she said.

Ms Le was brought up in Canley Vale, south-west Sydney, by Vietnamese immigrant parents and works as a migration lawyer and Buddhist youth leader.

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 - so she was handed the lower house seat instead and will officially be endorsed by the National Executive this week.

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.'

In a long and moving Facebook post on Monday morning, Ms 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.

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.
The UK are set to follow Australia's lead and start vaccinating children as young as 12 from next week but the decision rests entirely in the hands of the kids and not their parents.

The UK's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed plans to offer a single Pfizer jab to healthy 12 to 15-year-olds during a speech to the House of Commons on Monday.

Australia announced in late August that from September 13 onwards children between 12 and 17 were eligible for the jab as the federal government looked to prioritise students sitting their end of year exams.

'Vaccinating young people will protect them and provide peace of mind to their family,' Prime Minster Scott Morrison said last month.

'Importantly, this decision provides the opportunity for families to come together to visit their GP and get vaccinated.'

Experts in the UK however are warning the policy that allows students to decide on whether they get the jab may lead to unvaccinated pupils being 'bullied' and could even 'tear families apart'.

Australia announced in late August that from September 13 onwards children between 12 and 18 were eligible for the jab, with the UK following their lead on Monday

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

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

The UK are set to follow Australia's lead and start vaccinating children as young as 12 from next week but is leaving the decision in the hands of kids

The UK currently has 80 per cent of its adults fully vaccinated, but had been hesitant to start rolling the jab out to children.

The argument was Covid-19 doesn't have as damaging an effect on young people as it does adults, and the side effects of the vaccine on children hadn't been explored yet.

The Chief Health Officers of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales met to decide the benefits outweighed the potential risks, with 'wider societal impacts, including educational benefits'.

'It reduces the chance a child will get Covid, probably by about 50 to 55 per cent, and it will reduce the chances that a child who then gets Covid will pass it on,' England's CHO Dr Chris Whitty said.

ATAGI and the TGA approved vaccinations for children between 12 and 18 in August as they look to vaccinate the group which makes up a population of 1.2million.

'I would encourage all parents from September 13 to visit the eligibility checker and book your child in for their vaccination, so we can ensure all Australians are protected from Covid-19,' Health Minister Greg Hunt said.

The UK's Vaccines Minister Mr Zahawi underlined they would leave the decision in the hands of students - not their parents.

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 on Monday: '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.'

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

'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.
Spiralling childcare costs will not be reviewed by ministers despite a survey that found the vast majority of parents think it is too expensive.

A survey of more than 20,000 working parents, conducted by a dozen charities, found that 97 per cent said they found childcare too costly.

One-third said they paid more for someone to look after their children than they did for their rent or mortgage. And thousands claimed the costs were financially crippling and stunting their careers.

The poll came before a debate in parliament yesterday  prompted by a petition signed by over 112,000 parents  calling for an independent review into childcare funding.

Spiralling childcare costs will not be reviewed by ministers despite a survey that found the vast majority of parents think it is too expensive

Joeli Brearley, the founder of the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, which backed the latest survey, said: 'All we want from the Government is transparency.

'The cost of childcare continues to increase, forcing more parents out of their jobs, and the quality of our early years settings decrease, which will have serious long-term consequences for all of us.'

She added: 'We don't believe that the Government has a grasp of how big the issue is and the impact it is having on families and the economy.'

But children's minister Vicky Ford said it would be 'inappropriate' to open a review into childcare funding while a multi-year spending review was already under way.

She told MPs yesterday: 'We are not hearing systemic failures in any local area about parents not being able to access childcare.

'It's encouraging to see that the proportion of parents using formal childcare appears to be generally similar to before the pandemic.'

She added: 'Those leaving the market [childcare services] are less likely to be providers in disadvantaged areas of the country.

'Only 12 per cent of those leaving the market were in the most deprived areas.'

But Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, who called for the independent review, said: 'I thank the minister for that response but I fear the over 112,000 petitioners who signed the petition would disagree with her assessment that there isn't a problem to address here.'

With a full-time place costing 12,376 a year on average, the UK has the third most expensive childcare system in the world behind Slovakia and Switzerland, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, who attended the Commons debate yesterday with her newborn, quoted Ofsted figures showing that more than 400 nurseries had been forced to close during the pandemic.

She claimed that 30 per cent of local authorities did not have enough space to accept more children in nurseries even before the pandemic struck.

Siobhan Baillie, Tory MP for Stroud, said: 'Parental life should come with a military gold-command schedule planner. Instead it's made up of grandparents, if you're lucky for them to still be about, after-school clubs, childminders, understanding bosses, nurseries and friends doing favours for each other.'

A study by the TUC found that the cost of a one-year-old's nursery provision rose four times faster than wages in England between 2008 and 2016. In London  this rate was found to be more than seven times faster.
urt documents say the photographs document a scar on Duggar's hand that is seen in images recovered from his computer seized in his case

Duggar (pictured) is charged with downloading and possessing pornographic images of children under 12 years old, which he denies.

The government is demanding a judge deny Josh Duggar's request to suppress photographs of his hands taken by law enforcement that show a scar that matches those in images seized from his digital device as part of his child porn trial.

Duggar - best known for being a part of his family's hit reality show, 19 Kids and Counting - is charged with downloading and possessing pornographic images of children under 12 years old, which he denies.

On April 29, 2021 law enforcement took three high angle photographs of Duggar's open hands over his feet while he was in custody, the Sun reported.

Duggar's legal team filed a motion to suppress those photographs, claiming it was 'egregious' that Duggar's body parts were 'manipulated and he was required to pose for the photographs.'

His legal team added the photographs were an 'intrusion on (his) personal rights' and ask they be removed from evidence.

Duggar's attorneys are arguing that law enforcement needed to obtain a warrant in order to photograph Duggar's body parts and to authorize he pose in a particular manner for the photos, but the government is fighting back and demanding the judge in the case deny the request.

On April 29, 2021 law enforcement took three high angle photographs of Duggar's open hands over his feet while he was in custody

They claim in court documents that Duggar 'expressly consented to having the photographs taken,' and that was not ordered to remove any clothing for the photographs.

The documents continue to allege that the photographing of his hands 'did not constitute an unreasonable or warrantless search of the defendant' and that 'his hands were in plain view and clearly visible.'

The court docs say the photographs document a scar on Duggar's hand that is 'plainly visible' and that 'law enforcement observed the same scar in images recovered from the defendant's electronic devices seized pursuant to a search warrant in this case.'

Anna Duggar has supported her husband through his legal battle - and Josh is allowed to see their children when she is present while he awaits trial (family pictured)

After pleading not guilty to child pornography charges Duggar has been confined to the home of family friends who agreed to be his custodian during his release

Last week new court documents revealed Duggar was placed on the Arkansas sex offender registry for molesting his sisters years before his arrest on child pornography charges this April.

The papers, filed August 30, claim 'Joshua Duggar was placed on the sex offender registry and a legal proceeding was undertaken to remove Joshua Duggar from the sex offender registry.'

The claims were made by the city of Springdale and other defendants - referred to as the Springdale Defendants - in response to a lawsuit filed against them in 2017 by Duggar's four sisters.

Duggar was accused of sexually assaulting five young girls as a teen back in 2015.

The allegations were first reported by In Touch magazine which, through a Freedom of Information request, unearthed a 2006 police report detailing Duggar's alleged sexual abuse of the underage girls.

Four of the five girls were Duggar's sisters, according to the police report.

Two of Duggar's sisters - Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald - later spoke out to reveal they were victims but that they had forgiven their brother.

Duggar is best known for being a part of his family's hit reality show, 19 Kids and Counting

Last week new court documents revealed Duggar was placed on the Arkansas sex offender registry for molesting his sisters years before his arrest on child pornography charges this April

Jill, Jessa, and their two sisters Jinger Vuolo and Joy Duggar filed a lawsuit in an Arkansas federal court in 2017 against the City of Springdale, claiming the release of the information to In Touch breached their privacy and caused 'extreme mental anguish and emotional distress.'

In the new filings, the defendants argue the allegations that Duggar molested his sisters was already within public knowledge because he had already been placed on the sex offender registry over the alleged abuse before the police report came to light.

Duggar was busted in 2019 after Detective Amber Kalmer of the Little Rock Police Department accessed his files while working on an undercover online investigation to unmask perverts using it to trade images, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.

Authorities discovered that Duggar kept his trove of child pornography on his work PC hidden behind a screenshot of his family,

Cops seized the HP laptop from Duggar's office when they raided his Arkansas car dealership in 2019 to search for evidence of illegal downloads.

The computer's home screen featured a wholesome family portrait of 33-year-old Duggar, his pregnant wife Anna and their six children, federal prosecutors reveal in a new filing.

But when experts delved into the device's hard drive they soon uncovered sickening images of prepubescent engaged in sex acts, it's alleged.

She was able to locate two files: a zip folder containing 65 image files of naked girls aged between seven and nine, and a two minute video of a similarly-aged girl being raped by an adult man.

After pleading not guilty to child pornography charges Duggar has been confined to the home of family friends who agreed to be his custodian during his release. He is prohibited from using any Internet-accessible devices as he awaits trial.

Duggar's family rose to fame on reality show, 19 Kids and Counting which ran on TLC from 2008 to 2015.

The reality show was canceled in 2015 following the allegations that Duggar had molested his sisters and a babysitter. Duggar's parents said he confessed to the fondling and apologized.

Duggar previously apologized for a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife, Anna, who is pregnant with their seventh child.

Anna Duggar has supported her husband through his legal battle - and Josh is allowed to see their children when she is present while he awaits trial.

His trial has been set for November 30, with a pretrial conference on November 18. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years of imprisonment and fines up to $250,000 on each count.
It may still be summer, but families were warned last night to buy toys for Christmas now to avoid tears under the tree.

The Covid-related disruption to global shipping that has left supermarkets without some product lines also threatens to affect deliveries of toys from China, where most are made.

Perhaps to get parents in the mood for an early spree, grocers are selling mince pies  more than three months before Christmas.

Toys expected to be a hit this year include Lego sets, including its Elf Club House, at 84.99. Lego is also selling Advent calendars featuring Star Wars and Marvel characters.

It may still be summer, but families were warned last night to buy toys for Christmas now to avoid tears under the tree (stock image)

Batman vs Superman Scalextric cars for 39.99 are also likely to be popular, as well as the Ravensburger Planetary Solar System 3D jigsaw puzzle, at 39.99, and soft toys such as the Hoppie Rabbit with Audio Play, at 29.99. The warning about the need to stock up comes from NPD, a business analytics firm.

Frederique Tutt, its global toy industry expert, said: Shortages are a big concern for most makers. With anticipated supply chain shortages and resultant price increases on the cards, people need to shop early.

Retailers and brands are trying to bring their stock shipments forward, but are expecting shortages to hit well before Christmas.

In addition to shipping issues, the UK is said to be short of 90,000 HGV drivers, triggering fears that gaps on shelves will get worse.

The Covid-related disruption to global shipping that has left supermarkets without some product lines also threatens to affect deliveries of toys from China, where most are made (stock image)

However, the early crop of mince pies might cheer up some shoppers  even if it does infuriate traditionalists.

The Central England Co-op, which has shops across the middle of the country from West Yorkshire to East Anglia, said it had begun selling mince pies after customers asked when theyd become available.

It said: They also want to stock up ahead of any potential food shortages.

Packs of mince pies have also been spotted at some Asda and Iceland outlets.

Natalie Smith, of Central England Co-op, said: For months, colleagues have been inundated with requests for when 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.
The NHS in England is short of around 50,000 doctors ahead of what is set to be one of the worst winters on record, the British Medical Association has said.

The BMA warned that the number had fallen behind comparable European Union countries, with 2.8 doctors per 1,000 people compared to an EU average of 3.7.

Its research at the start of the summer showed that meeting this average would require scaling up the medical workforce by an additional 31 per cent  or a further 49,162 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors.

The latest data showed falling primary and secondary care doctor numbers pushing the shortage up to 50,191 FTE doctors, it added.

Stats released by the Office for National Statistics today revealed there are 167,000 vacancies in health and social care in the UK.

The staff shortages come after a bruising two years battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The BMA warned that the number had fallen behind comparable European Union countries, with 2.8 doctors per 1,000 people compared to an EU average of 3.7

Its research at the start of the summer showed that meeting this average would require scaling up the medical workforce by an additional 31 per cent  or a further 49,162 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors

The NHS in England is short of around 50,000 doctors ahead of what is set to be one of the worst winters on record, the British Medical Association has said (stock image)

The reason for the drop in doctor numbers is unclear, though several reasons have been suggested by experts.

There were 13,000 mental health absences in the NHS in June, while a British Medical Association survey in May found just over a fifth of doctors working in the health service said they might leave within the next year.

It also found that 21% of doctors were more likely to work in another country, 18% were more likely to leave the profession entirely and 26% were more likely to take a career break as a result of the pandemic.

Before Covid, around 4 per cent of doctors left the NHS each year - suggesting a huge exodus amid the pandemic.

A lot of doctors now supposedly set to quit were those who postponed retirement to tackle the pandemic, according to a GP.

Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said medics who had returned to the NHS service have no incentive to stay.

She said: 'Staff will do what it takes  the problem is what it's doing to them to do what it takes. People are concerned about the moral injury and complete lack of vision about what is happening.

'People who might be retiring imminently and are holding a lot of stuff together are going to bail out unless it's clear to them that the things they've been banging on about for years are going to be addressed.

'They're going to go earlier than they should. It's people who've got a lot of experience who will leave sooner than they should.'

The number of NHS doctors taking an early retirement in England and Wales more than tripled over the last 13 years, with 1358 doctors taking an early retirement this year compared with just 401 in 2008.

Doctors and NHS staff have also complained about abuse over the pandemic, amid the rise of anti-vaxxers and lockdown sceptics.

The shortage of doctors appears to be particularly acute in areas of depravity.

Dr Dean Eggitt, a GP in Doncaster, warned: 'It is unsurprising that GPs are choosing to work in areas of the UK where there is less disease burden and the job is easier. The responsibility for this lies with those in the Department of Health and Social Care who failed to deliver on the promise of more GPs.

'It is their responsibility to regard this as a humanitarian disaster and national emergency.'

The BMA warned that the number had fallen behind comparable European Union countries, with 2.8 doctors per 1,000 people compared to an EU average of 3.7 (stock image)

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, claimed that a decade of underinvestment meant there simply were not enough GPs to care for people who needed them.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chairman, said: 'With flu season on the horizon and even fewer staff this time round, it's a total unknown as to how well our services will cope  if they even cope at all.'

The BMA said it was already lobbying for amendments on workforce provision in the upcoming Health and Social Care Bill, which proposes a requirement for the Health Secretary to publish a report detailing workforce planning every five years.

It comes as a survey by charity Engage Britain found that one in five people have been forced to turn to private healthcare because NHS treatment was unavailable.

Dr Nagpaul said: 'It's frightening to see that the gap between the number of doctors in England and comparable EU nations is widening at such pace.

'Even more worryingly, having failed to reverse this damaging trend in the decade prior to the pandemic, the Government now has a much bigger, and incredibly urgent, task ahead of it.

'Winter is an incredibly difficult time for the health service, and we just about made it through last year with the demands of Covid-19 on top of usual pressures.

'With flu season on the horizon and even fewer staff this time round, it's a total unknown as to how well our services will cope - if they even cope at all.

'And this is before we even consider the enormous backlog of care generated by the pandemic.

'Alarm bells should have sounded when we struggled to staff the Nightingale hospitals, so Government really cannot afford to put this off any longer.

'Since then, we've seen hospital waiting lists in England grow to 5.61 million, high numbers of A&E patients waiting longer than four hours, and staff morale hit rock-bottom - all of which pose real and regular risks to patient care and safety.'

Dr Nagpaul said that new funding announced by the Government must not just go towards tackling the backlog but also to reduce ongoing pressures and to help retain and recruit more staff.

He added: 'The current draft of the Health and Social Care Bill carries significant risks and fails to properly address the problems the NHS is currently facing.

'For those still working in the NHS, who knows how long we've got them for.

'Rather than actively retaining staff, Government has stood by as doctors work themselves to the point of exhaustion, with many now considering leaving the NHS, further depleting us of expert, talented colleagues.'
Families could be hit with higher council tax bills because of the national insurance rise to fund the NHS and social care, a Whitehall chief admitted yesterday.

Around 2billion of the 14billion to be raised by the 1.25 percentage point tax rise, aiming to relieve pressure on NHS waiting lists caused by Covid, will be swallowed up by higher public sector wage bills.

The Treasury said it would hand government bodies extra money for costs of higher employer national insurance contributions for directly employed staff.

But councils that outsource services could be left with the bill and may pass it on to households by raising council tax.

Families could be hit with higher council tax bills because of the national insurance rise to fund the NHS and social care, a Whitehall chief admitted yesterday (stock image)

Boris Johnson today will try to ram legislation for the rise through the Commons.

Asked if councils would be reimbursed for contractors extra costs, Cat Little, director general for public spending at the Treasury, told the Commons public accounts committee that all direct employees of the public sector will be compensated for.

When asked if councils that might otherwise put up their tax bills would be reimbursed, she said: I cannot confirm the position at this stage.

Tory rebels last night urged the Prime Minister to rethink the hike to fund the NHS and social care reform.

Sir John Redwood said: I see the National Insurance rise has united the TUC [Trades Union Congress] and CBI [Confederation of British Industry] against it. The government should reconsider.

The TUC has called on ministers to increase Capital Gains Tax instead, while the CBI has warned higher taxes on business will suffocate economic growth.

Around 2billion of the 14billion to be raised by the 1.25 percentage point tax rise, aiming to relieve pressure on NHS waiting lists caused by Covid, will be swallowed up by higher public sector wage bills (stock image)

Revolts on the votes today could surpass last week when five Tories opposed and almost 40 abstained in an initial vote.

Amendments tabled today will include an attempt by Tory MP Marcus Fysh to get ministers to consider how they can encourage people to take out insurance for care costs.

National insurance, which workers and employers pay, will rise by 1.25 percentage points from next April.

From April 2023, this extra payment will become a separate tax called the Health and Social Care Levy.

Unlike national insurance, it will also be paid by people who continue to work beyond retirement age.

The Government says the changes will cost 255 a year for someone earning 30,000, and 505 a year for someone on 50,000.

Shareholders will also have to pay 1.25 per cent more in tax on the profits they make.
A fearless woman was left with no other choice but to catch a venomous red bellied black snake after it slithered into her living room.

Australian woman Sarah Kirkman shared footage to TikTok of the snake sitting on top of her television after it knocked over plants and furniture around her house.

As fate would have it, her local snake catcher was out of town meaning it was up to Ms Kirkman to remove the dangerous reptile on her own.

Sarah Kirkman came home to find a red bellied black snake sitting on top of her TV

'Came home to find all this mysterious mess on the floor,' Ms Kirkman said in one TikTok before zooming into the snake resting on her TV.

'Just love being an Aussie.'

She revealed she had two dogs at home and couldn't risk waiting for help to arrive so she grabbed a box and tried her best to lure the snake inside.

Using the end of a duster, Ms Kirkman filmed herself trying to trap the snake inside all the while barefoot and screaming hysterically.

With the help of her neighbours the snake was eventually lured inside a bin and freed in the bush behind her house.

Using the end of a duster, Ms Kirkman filmed herself trying to trap the snake inside the box all the while barefoot and screaming hysterically

Horrifyingly, Ms Kirkman revealed the red bellied black snake was the fourth one to visit her house this month alone.

'Its official, I have a snake plague,' she said.

'Just two days ago I walked into my laundry and heard a loud hissing sound, looked down and found another red belly at my feet.'

Her videos on TikTok received more than 440,000 views, with many impressed at the woman's bravery.

'OMG I would just let it inherit my house and belongings. I wouldn't come back,' one commented.

'I don't know if you're insane or just really brave,' said another.

Red bellied black snakes are not known to be aggressive but are venomous.

While their bites can cause serious illness, there have not been any recorded deaths in humans from a red bellied black snake in Australia.

These snakes are found along Australia's east coast and can grow up to 2.5 metres long.
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President Joe Biden was spotted bonding with a service dog and his owner at the California Governors' Office of Emergency Services and talking about his own beloved dogs Major and Champ.

The video was taken during Biden's first tour in the West Coast, where he surveyed damaged left by the wildfire season and campaigned in support of California Gov facing recall election Gavin Newson.

In the clip, posted by The Recount's account on Twitter, Biden can be seen talking to a staff member at the Office of Emergency Services, and sharing his love of canines as he pets the service dog.

Biden told the staff member about the dogs he has owned, including a black Labrador and German Shepard Champ, who died in June.

'I had a black lab[rador] for fifteen years,' Biden said.

'Best company in the world. And then my German Shephard died at age 15.

'They're the best aren't they?' Biden said before the 13 second clip ends.

President Biden bonded with the owner of a service dog at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

US President Joe Biden kicked off a visit to scorched western states Monday to hammer home his case on climate change and big public investments

President Joe Biden shakes hands with California Gov. Gavin Newsom before speaking about recent wildfires during his first tour in the West Coast since he took office

Some users were concerned about the President interacting with a service dog and wondered if he had previously asked the owner if it was ok to pet it.

'That is an Assistance dog on duty.

'I sure hope he asked the handler if he could pet the dog. Generally handlers do not want their dogs distracted from their work. Big No!!!' said @snapster552.

However, some commended Biden's character and familiarity with canines.

'I give pets to all 4 of the dogs on either side of my back yard. Even play fetch with them Two German Shepard and two mixed. But I own cats.

'Real pet owners are just good people also. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat and interact with animals (pets),' said @rizrug2216.

Champ died on June 19, leaving Major, Biden's other dog, as the sole First Dog of the nation.

Biden brought back the longtime tradition of presidential pets when he took office in January, after a pet hiatus in the White House during Trump's term.

Some were concerned about the service dog and wondered if the President had asked the owner if it was ok to pet it

However, others commended Biden's character and familiarity with canines.

'Real pet owners are just good people also. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat and interact with animals (pets),' said @rizrug2216.

RIP to our sweet, good boy, Champ. We will miss you always. pic.twitter.com/63hXXp8W9P  Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 19, 2021

US President Joe Biden greets employees at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Mather, California

President Joe Biden descends the steps from Air Force One at Mather Field in Mather

Biden was in California surveying damage left by the state's unparalleled wildfire season, and to boost Gov. Gavin Newsom's chances of reelection ahead of the state's Tuesday recall election.

It is the President's first tour in the West Coast since taking office.

Biden approved a disaster declaration for California, allowing funds to go towards structural recovery after more than 6,800 wildfires large and small blackened an estimated 1.7 million acres within the state.

Him and Newsom visited Sacramento and Long Beach on Air Force One for a Monday night campaign rally at Long Beach City College.

During his tour, Biden surveyed damaged left by California's unparalleled fire season

President Joe Biden listens during a briefing on wildfires at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

They then went to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services before an aerial tour of fire damage in the area.

Biden spoke about the urgent action needed to combat climate change.

'We have a global warning problem, a serious global warning problem. And it's consequential...

'Things are not going to go back the way they were, it's not going to get any better than this today. It only can get worse,' he said at a press conference.

'It's not a Democrat thing, it's not a Republican thing. It's a weather thing. It's reality. It's serious,' he added.

'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.'

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.

President Joe Biden greets a law enforcement officials as he speaks during a briefing on wildfires, after approving disaster declaration for the state
A Queensland man left stranded in NSW has collapsed just moments after a TV interview after heartless authorities rejected his travel exemption.

Ronald Renwick, 71, travelled to Sydney three weeks ago to receive life-saving heart surgery and has been unable to return to his Queensland home since.

Sunrise reporter Bianca Stone was forced to call emergency services and comfort the elderly man after he became 'unsteady' on his feet moments after the interview.

Ms Stone described the grim scene at the NSW-Queensland border as 'traumatic to witness' and said the elderly man fell to the ground in pain and went in and out of consciousness.

Ronald Renwick, 71, (middle) collapsed on the NSW-Queensland border just moments after he was interviewed by a Sunrise reporter (left) over his denied travel exemption

Police at the border checkpoint put the elderly man in the recovery position as they waited for paramedics to arrive.

Under current border rules, returning Queenslanders are required to fly back into the state and undergo mandatory hotel quarantine.

However due to his heart condition Mr Renwick has been ordered not to fly so has had no choice but to check-in to a hotel at the border.

The tearful retiree told Sunrise he is afraid he will 'end up dead or homeless' while stuck on state lines with a serious heart condition.

He purchased a home in Queensland with his wife earlier this year which stands just 100km from where he is stuck at the border.

'I had to wait and see my doctor for clearance to travel back and I got that last week,' the teary 71-year-old explained.

'I got here and they wouldn't let me in.'

Under current border rules returning Queenslanders are required to fly into the state and undergo hotel quarantine (pictured, people at the Queensland-NSW border in September)

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state's exemptions team had been expanded and would be working through a higher number of individual requests

Mr Renwick described the border rules as 'disgusting' and said residents should be allowed to self-isolate in their own homes.

The 71-year-old has been transported to Queensland's John Flynn Hospital where a negative Covid test has brought him one step closer to getting home.

Queensland Health later revealed Mr Renwick had initially applied for the incorrect travel pass but said it would support the retiree with a special exemptions process.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Paaszczuk was grilled over Mr Renwick's individual case during one of her Covid press conferences.

'I'm not aware of those issues, the exemptions unit will work through those,' the premier replied.

Ms Palaszczuk last week said the state's exemptions team had been expanded and would be working through a larger number of individual requests.

Last Monday, the premier reopened the application process for those seeking to relocate to Queensland, as well as returning Queenslanders.

Mr Renwick has been transported to Queensland's John Flynn Hospital (pictured) where a negative test for Covid-19 has brought him one step closer to getting home

Vaccinated NSW residents with a Queensland border pass can travel north of the border if they come from 12 northern LGA's that came out of lockdown on Saturday (pictured, police at a checkpoint in the Gold Coast on Monday)

Those that are wishing to relocate to Queensland will be required to prove they are genuine with proof of employment or a change of residential address.

It comes as NSW reinstated a border bubble with Queensland on Monday, 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 but for essential work, medical needs or school.

Queensland is virtually Covid-free, recording one new case of Covid-19 on Tuesday, while NSW recorded 1,127 new locally-acquired infections.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has issued a terror warning to Australians, claiming lockdown has exposed citizens to extremist material online.

She said the threat of an attack had risen as many Australians were stuck spending more time at home where potential extremists have accessed radical material on the dark web.

There are individuals or groups that agencies have credible intelligence on that have the intent and the capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia, she said.

Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews (pictured) stated the threat of a terror attack in Australia has risen with more people being radicalised by being exposed to extremist material online during lockdown

A 24-year-old male (pictured) was arrested in June 2021 following joint terrorism raids in Chester Hill and Sefton after he collected a large amount of extremist material and was in possession of several improvised explosive recipes. Police allege the man's rhetoric online was escalating

'We do know that during COVID, people have had a lot of time at home, they have had a lot of time online and some people have been looking at things they shouldn't be looking at,' she said to Sunrise on Tuesday morning.

'So we know radicalisation has increased.'

While Australia's terror threat level has remained at 'probable' since 2014, Ms Andrews said it is a threat that they take very seriously as they know radicalisation has increased due to people looking up this material during lockdown.

She also said that particularly with what is occurring in Afghanistan and overseas, this threat level is not taken lightly.

The minister described Australian intelligence as 'some of the worlds best', saying they are monitoring situations on home ground and overseas

A gunman killed 50 worshippers in March 2019 at the Al Noor Masjid and Linwood Masjid in Christchurch, New Zealand. A 28-year-old Australian man was charged with their murder

The minister described Australia's intelligence as 'some of the worlds best' and commented they are monitoring what is happening on home ground and overseas with authorities 'doing all that they can to make sure Australians are kept safe and secure.'

In the coming weeks, Ms Andrews will meet with Commonwealth, state and territory police agencies to discuss the handling of what she calls significant development in threats.

This parallels the 51 offenders currently in jail who have been charged with terror related offences who will start to be released in the coming years. Ms Andrews says there is legislation before the parliament that allow extended supervision to be put in place, allowing authorities to monitor these people closely.

'Again, that's all about keeping Australia safe,' she remarked.
Britain is prepared to unilaterally suspend a trading agreement with the EU, Brexit minister Lord Frost warned last night.

He told the House of Lords the EU should take the UKs proposals to renegotiate part of the Northern Ireland Protocol seriously if it wanted to prevent the Stormont Executive collapsing.

The former chief Brexit negotiator said he had set out the tests the UK would apply to trigger Article 16 of the protocol, which allows either side to suspend the agreement if it is deemed to be having a significant impact on everyday life.

The former chief Brexit negotiator said he had set out the tests the UK would apply to trigger Article 16

I urge the EU to take this seriously, Lord Frost told peers. They would be making a significant mistake if they thought we were not ready to use Article 16 safeguards if that is our only choice to deal with the situation in front of us. If we are to avoid Article 16, there must be a real negotiation between us and the EU.

The Government will confirm today that it is going to delay the introduction of import checks on goods from the EU until next year to avoid shortages in the run-up to Christmas.

Lord Frost was speaking days after his Brussels counterpart, Maros Sefcovic, joint head of the EU-UK partnership council, told Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party to dial down the rhetoric after it threatened to walk out of the Stormont Assembly if there is no change on the protocol within weeks.

Following a two-day visit to Northern Ireland, the European Commission vice-president said that a renegotiation of the protocol would lead to more instability for businesses and communities.

Lord Frosts remarks suggest that tensions between the UK and EU are once again ratcheting up.

I was concerned by some of the comments we have heard from commission representatives in recent days which seem to suggest they may be considering this way forward [the take it or leave it approach], he said.

If so, then with as much seriousness as I can, my Lords, I urge them to think again and consider instead working to reach genuine agreement with us so that we can put in place something that can last.

Lord Frosts remarks suggest that tensions between the UK and EU are once again ratcheting up

Those negotiations need to begin seriously and they need to begin soon.

Last week the DUP, which is fighting to hold on to votes in Northern Ireland, issued an ultimatum to the EU, saying that it would walk out of the Stormont Assembly if there was no change on the protocol within weeks.

Days earlier, the UK had announced it was unilaterally extending a grace period for checks on chilled meats including sausages.

Mr Sefcovic told reporters last week that the EU had responded calmly and had opted not to launch legal action in order to create space for dialogue.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's campaign expects to sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race, where voters will decide whether to oust the Democrat and replace him with a Republican - the most likely being conservative radio show host Larry Elder.

'There's no scenario where we lose tomorrow,' Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters Monday night in Long Beach, before Newsom was joined by President Joe Biden for a final rally. '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.

The campaign's boast came after Newsom saw a steady five-week ascent in the polls after they appeared deadlocked in early August among those who wanted to keep Newsom and those who wanted to see him replaced.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (left) campaign believes he'll sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race in the state. On Monday night he was joined at a Long Beach rally with President Joe Biden (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right)

Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder hugs a patron as he visits Philippe The Original Deli during a campaign for the California gubernatorial recall election on Monday. Elder is the most likely replacement for Newsom, polls show

'We saw the Delta surge as a real inflection moment in this campaign. I think it was a turning point for us,' Clegg explained. 'What Delta brought into clear, clear focus was what the stakes are in this election. When one party has basically become an anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-public health party.'

'Our message and endgame here reduced to a single sentence: a vote for this recall is a vote for a pro-Trump, anti-vaxx Republican governor who is going to reverse vaccine mandates on day one,' Clegg said.

Vaccine mandates are popular in the state with 61 per cent of California adults in favor of some kind of mandate according to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California conducted late last month.

That Trump link was broadcast Monday night by Biden, who appeared alongside Newsom at a rally at Long Beach City College.

'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' Biden warned.

'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' President Joe Biden warned at a Long Beach rally Monday night

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on track to win a recall election, which threatens to boot him from office and put in the next top vote-getter, which polls show is conservative radio host Larry Elder

Serena Delgadillo casts her vote Monday morning in the historic Los Angeles Union Station Ticket Hall in California. Voters in the state have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to vote in-person or turn in their mail-in ballot

The president also called Elder 'the closest thing to a Trump clone that I've ever seen in your state.'

'That was our theory of the case, that we needed to name the villains and define the stakes,' Clegg said of Newsom using Trump as a boogeyman during the race.

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.

A number of high-profile Democrats visited the state on behalf of Gov. Gavin Newsom (right) in advance of Tuesday's recall eletion including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (center)

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris (left) appeared at a rally in San Leandro, California with Gov. Gavin Newsom (right)

Newsom has seen gains in the polls as he's nationalized the race - and gotten national political figures to come to California to stump for him.

Prior to Biden's visit - described by Clegg as 'the crescendo' - Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, campaigned in the Bay Area with Newsom Wednesday. Former 2020 Democratic primary candidates and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar made the trek the weekend before.

Some of Newsom's ads featured Sen. Bernie Sanders - popular with the progressive wing of the party - as well.

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.

Republicans were hoping low Democratic turnout could recreate this dynamic.

Newsom's campaign said that's not happening.

'I think we have a lot to be worried about and hopefully tomorrow we have a silver lining here that we can apply to the big, big problem we have nationally in 2022 - that you can wake up the base,' Clegg said.

'The base may start out asleep,' Clegg said, pointing to a close Berkeley poll from July. 'But you can wake up the base.'

Elder is planning to host a victory party in Orange County, a more Republican-friendly part of the state.

With Democrats more prone to use mail-in ballots and Republicans likely to vote on election day, initial results - which will come in shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. PDT - could show a wide margin of support for Newsom.

The margin could then narrow as in-person votes are counted - opposite of the dynamic that played out in the presidential race, which saw Trump's leads in swing states evaporate once mail-in ballots were counted.

In California, counties were allowed to start processing mail-in ballots one week ago.
Joe Biden's livestream was cut off mid-sentence on Monday after the president went off-script to ask an audience member about the Idaho wildfires.

Biden was at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise on Monday for a round table with federal and state officials on on the wildfires - which Biden blames on global warming.

The meeting was being broadcast live but as the president went to pose a question to George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters, the White House appeared to cut him off mid-sentence.

'One of the things that I've been working on with some others is ' Biden said before the livestream ended abruptly prompting many viewers to question what had happened.

During a recent roundtable in Idaho, President Joe Biden blamed the wildfires engulfing parts of state and other western states on climate change - seconds before his feed was cut off

The moment was reminiscent of last month, when Biden's audio feed was cut moments before he was about to respond to a reporter's question on his administration's military withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan.

NBC's Peter Alexander asked, 'If Americans are still in Afghanistan after the deadline what will you do?'

Biden smirked just before the White House cut his feed.

In a follow-up tweet, backed by additional reporters at the briefing, Alexander noted that Biden answered, 'You'll be the first person I call.'

The Bootleg Fire burns through vegetation near Paisley, Oregon, U.S., July 20, 2021

A scoop plane drops water onto a burning ridge where a fire line had been created by crews of wildland firefighters, Monday, July 12, 2021, at the Lick Creek Fire, south of Asotin, Washington

Then in March, while speaking to Democratic lawmakers at a virtual event, the White House cut Biden's feed before he said he was 'happy to take questions.'

A recent Politico piece highlighted how White House staffers will 'either mute [Biden] or turn off his remarks' out of 'anxiety' the president will deviate from 'the West Wing's carefully orchestrated messaging.'

During a previous interview, White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that Biden is often advised by her staff not to take questions.

Just last week, Biden confused reporters when he told a crowd, 'I'm supposed to stop and walk out of the room' during a White House event following his carefully constructed remarks.

Also on Monday, Biden stopped off in Sacramento, California 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.

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.

Scientists say man-made global warming is changing the climate, making wildfires more destructive and more frequent.

President Joe Biden talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he arrives at Mather Airport on Air Force One Monday for a briefing on wildfires at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

'We have to think big,' Biden told an audience near California's state capital, Sacramento.

'Thinking small is a prescription for disaster... We're going to fight this climate change.'

The president is focusing on what is becoming a familiar message on the urgency of an issue that has sparked huge fires and floods -- both of which have devastated different areas of the country in recent months.

'The reality is, we have a global warming problem,' Biden told firefighters earlier in Idaho, echoing the scientific consensus that human activity is affecting the climate.

'Things aren't going to go back to what they were. It's not like you can build back to what it was before.'

Biden, who has broken with the climate change skepticism of his predecessor Donald Trump, recently said the world faces a 'code red' on climate change and called for parties to put aside their political differences to address the issue.
New South Wales has recorded 1,127 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths as epidemiologists say Sydney's outbreak may have already peaked after almost 12 weeks of lockdown.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian was missing from Tuesday's press conference after announcing she will no longer attend the daily briefings unless she has something important to say.

The new numbers, announced by NSW Health's Dr Jeremy McAnulty, were the lowest the state has seen in nearly two weeks, sparking hope the curve is finally flattening after three months of lockdown.

Experts have attributed the drop to surging vaccination rates across the state, with Dr McAnulty revealing 78.8 per cent of the adult population have now received one dose of the vaccine and just over 46 per cent have been double vaxxed.

The state recorded two deaths overnight - a woman in her 80s from western Sydney, who had received one dose of the vaccine and had underlying health conditions, plus a man in his 50s who was given his first dose three days before testing positive.

New South Wales has recorded 1,127 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths as epidemiologists say Sydney's outbreak may have already peaked after almost 12 weeks of lockdown

Case numbers have been dropping each day within the past three days with experts hopeful infections will continue to go down (pictured at Coogee Beach)

Daily case numbers have been dropping with Tuesday's infections the lowest in two weeks

NSW had recorded 1,257 cases on Monday, down from 1,262 on Sunday and 1,599 on Saturday.

Deakin University chair of epidemiology Catherine Bennett earlier 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.

Once the reproduction rate falls below 1, case numbers are likewise expected to follow.

'I think we've got a really good sign that we are now seeing this curve flatten,' Professor Bennett told the ABC.

Dr McAnulty said health authorities weren't yet able to determine if cases will continue to slide.

'It's too early to know if we're flattening the curve, but we're seeing, pleasingly so far, that cases haven't been increasing as fast as they have been, but there may be an effect of the weekend,' he said.

'There may be a factor of the weather in terms of influencing whether people get tested or not.

'So we'd like to see a few more days before we can have confidence about whether there is a trend. We have seen in the past, you know, three days of flattening and then it jumps up again. So we need to be cautious in drawing any [conclusions].'

The majority of the new infections announced on Tuesday remain in Sydney's west and south-west.

Ms Berejiklian will meet the mayors from Sydney's Covid hotspots today after they repeatedly called for a discussion on the tough restrictions imposed on their suburbs.

Canterbury Bankstown's mayor Khal Asfour says he will ask the premier about lifting the 9am-5pm curfew currently in place.

Dr McAnulty said the suburbs of greatest concern are Auburn, Greenacre, Bankstown, Liverpool, Merrylands, Punchbowl, Riverwood, Yagoona, Condell Park and St Clair.

For western NSW, 14 new infections were recorded while another 14 were counted in the Hunter region and nine cases in the Central Coast.

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

NSW suffered two more deaths on Tuesday in a woman aged in her 80s and a man in his 50s

Another infection was recorded in Yass, in southern NSW which was thrown into a two week lockdown after a local case was recorded on Monday.

Covid fragments have meanwhile been detected in sewage in Young in the Murrumbidgee council, in southern NSW despite there being no known cases in the area.

Anyone who lives in the district is urged to get tested with even the mildest of symptoms.

There are 1,253 patients currently receiving care in hospital for Covid-19 with 231 in ICU.

NSW's rolling seven-day average has dropped slightly to 1,395 from 1,430 in a promising sign the state is getting on top of the spread.

Ms 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.

'We're 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.

Residents in Coogee in Sydney's east are seen walking outside on Tuesday

Police officers continue to patrol the streets of Sydney to ensure residents are complying to health orders

Health authorities are yet to determine whether or not the curve is flattening with Covid infections in NSW

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.

'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.'

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.
Victoria's deputy premier has blasted a 'riduclous' plan to create a 'schools bubble' to get children back in the classroom.

The state recorded 445 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths, including a man in bhis 20s, on Tuesday in the sixth week of lockdown with only 129 linked to the outbreak.

Deputy Premier James Merlino on Tuesday hit out at a proposal by the Victorian Opposition to turn schools into Covid-safe 'bubbles' where they could freely play sport, music and go to assemblies.

'There are elements of their so-called plan such as the bubble that fly in the face of public health advice,' he said.

'For goodness sake, we've got secondary schools that have 1,500 to 3,000 students.

Deputy Premier James Merlino on Tuesday hit out at a 'ridiculous' proposal by the Victorian Opposition to confine students to their campuses as part of a 'schools bubble'

The state government is continuing to develop a roadmap out of lockdown, including a plan to return students to classrooms in term four. Pictured are secondary school students going to school in Melbourne on July 28

'It's not just the students, it's the teachers, all the staff, and their families - it's just a ridiculous idea from an opposition that doesn't have much regard for education.'

Year 11 and 12 students in Victoria have still yet to find out when they can return to the classroom.

Mr Merlino said the state's back-to-school strategy was 'well-advanced' and officials were working on a plan this week to return to on-site learning.

'Believe me, I want to get kids back to face to face learning as quickly as possible,' he said.

'I left three kids at home and every day they're asking me, Dad, when are we back at school? I want to get kids back to school as quickly as possible.'

Health officials said 85 per cent of the new cases are under the age of 50, 563 are children under nine, and 647 aged 10 to 19.

This graph shows the progression of Victoria's Covid oubreaks as the state recorded 445 new cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday

The deputy leader also hit out at a principal in inner-city Fitzroy who encouraged parents to send their children into school during Victoria's lockdown.

The Fitzroy Community School has been linked to 31 Covid-19 cases after refusing to close its classrooms.

Mr Merlino labelled its principal Timothy Berryman 'irresponsible'.

'We've got more than 2,200 schools in Victoria. That's more than one million students. Imagine if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one,' he said.

'Imagine the case numbers and the hospitalisations.'

The state's single-dose vaccination rate has reached 67.5 per cent, with one million jabs in arms expected across Victoria by Wednesday.

Mr Merlino implied unvaccinated Victorians would be banned from many activities for the foreseeable future, when asked about Crown Casino mandating jabs for both staff and punters.

'It makes sense that if a venue requires that you're vaccinated to enter, that the staff are also vaccinated,' he said.

'So this will be a part of life in Victoria in Australia and around the globe. Staff vaccinated and certain activities limited to people who are vaccinated.'

VICTORIA'S 'SCHOOL BUBBLE' PROPOSAL The state opposition has proposed immediately allowing Year 11 and 12 students back into the classroom as part of a 'Covid bubble' scheme. The plan would mean students could play sport, music or gather for assemblies as they would have before the Covid-19 pandemic. Victoria's Opposition says schools should be 'safe havens' to promote students' physical and mental wellbeing. 'It is time to treat schools as safe havens where all activities to promote social and physical wellbeing are encouraged,' Opposition Education spokesman David Hodgett told the Herald Sun. 'With community sport not being allowed, and children being limited in the activities they can do, we need to allow students full range of activities once inside the school grounds.' Advertisement

All but 38 of the new infections reside in Melbourne's northern and western suburbs, which are subject to a three-week vaccination blitz (pictured, health workers at a vaccine hub in Melbourne on Monday)

Victoria's new case number was a slight drop from Monday's 473 infections - the highest daily total in this outbreak.

Authorities warned people to remain vigilant as tearooms in essential workplaces pose the greatest risk of transmission.

A crackdown was also launched on construction workers amid concerns the state's Covid crisis has become a pandemic of the young and unvaccinated, with alarming new data revealing the regions with the lowest jab numbers.

The latest data from September shows Melbourne has the lowest vaccination rate of any local council with a first dose rate of 54.2 per cent, followed by Hume at 55 per cent, according to Covid Live.

Statewide, only about 40 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated and around 65 per cent have had their first dose - after 36,615 vaccines were administered in the past 24 hours.

The lagging vaccination rate places Victoria more than three weeks behind NSW in reaching the 70 per cent double dose target, which the northern state expects to hit in mid-October.

Meanwhile, compliance and vaccination blitzes have been launched across the Victorian building industry, with the sector put on notice it could lose its ability to keep working during lockdowns.

Some 13 per cent of the state's cases have been traced to building sites, with tradies lashed at Monday's Covid briefing for regularly ignoring lockdown rules and spreading the virus 20km across Melbourne.

The industry will be subjected to an extraordinary 'zero tolerance' Covid crackdown with fifty compliance teams deployed to sites across the state to ensure workers are following mask orders and social distancing properly.

SNAPSHOT OF VICTORIA'S CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

NEW CASES * 445 new locally acquired cases * Two deaths, bringing death toll from current outbreak to six - a Hume man in his 20s died at home - a Brimbank woman in her 80s died in hospital * 129 cases linked to outbreaks, source of 316 cases unknown - 74 per cent of cases in northern suburbs, including 175 in the Hume LGA, 64 in Moreland and 36 in Whittlesea - 83 cases in western suburbs, including 38 in Wyndham, 16 in Melton, 14 in Brimbank, 15 in Hobsons Bay - 20 cases in southeast, including six in Casey, five in each Dandenong and Port Phillip and four in Glen Eira - three cases in regional Victoria, including a Ballarat construction worker, a V/Line driver who lives on the Surf Coast, and a Mitchell Shire case - four cases linked to Fitzroy Community School, 33 cases in total * 10 suburbs urged to get tested with first sign of symptoms: 3064, 3047, 3048, 3061, 3059, 3046, 3060, 3029, 3030, 3025 * 3799 active cases in the state * 158 people in hospital, 45 in intensive care with 23 on ventilators * 42,694 tests in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning Healthcare workers are pictured at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne on September 13 * 85 per cent of all cases are aged under 50 - 563 cases in children aged nine and under - 647 cases in people aged 10 to 19 - 906 cases in people aged in their 20s - 683 cases in people aged in their 30s VACCINATIONS * 36,615 vaccine doses administered on Monday at Victorian-run hubs * 67.5 per cent of the eligible population has received first dose * Of the cases in hospital, one person is fully vaccinated, while 91 per cent are not vaccinated and eight per cent partially vaccinated EXPOSURE SITES * More than 968 exposure sites including an early learning centre in Meadow Heights and a Port Melbourne apartment complex. Advertisement

From July 1, on-the-spot fines for authorised worker breaches increased to up to $1,817 for individuals and up to $10,904 for businesses.

Melbourne's northern and western suburbs - where all but 38 of the infections recorded on Monday reside - will be subject to a three-week vaccination blitz.

Health Minister Martin Foley said 87 per cent of active cases were aged under 50, with 585 aged under 19.

'This continues to be a pandemic of the young and the unvaccinated,' he told reporters on Monday.

Mr Foley said 89 per cent of the 157 Victorians fighting Covid-19 in hospital were unvaccinated, while 11 per cent had received one dose.

Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said an increasing number of cases had been linked to the construction industry, which is also subject to a vaccination blitz and compliance crackdown from Monday.

He identified tearooms of essential workplaces as the 'most dangerous place' to contract the virus, given people drop their guard and their face mask to eat and drink.

Mr Weimar said there were six Covid-19 cases connected to an outbreak of V/Line train staff, with transmission having occurred in the train driver's break room.
A new book has delved into President Joe Biden's sometimes fraught history on racial issues, revealing that in the 1970s he lived in a home with a restrictive deed banning black owners or occupants.

The book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger, titled The Bidens, is due out next week, and one chapter explores the incident with the racist covenant, according to an advance copy obtained by Fox News.

Biden's father first purchased the home in Faulkland, Delaware in 1969, and Biden then swapped houses with his dad in order to remain within the council district he then served.

Biden, now 78, lived in the home from August 1971 to October 1974, during his first campaign for US Senate. The house came with a 'restrictive covenant' that said it couldn't be 'owned or occupied by any Negro or person of Negro extraction.'

A new book has delved into President Joe Biden's sometimes fraught history on racial issues, revealing that in the 1970s he lived in a home with a racially restrictive deed

From August 1971 to October 1974, Biden lived in this Delaware home which had a 'restrictive covenant' that said it couldn't be 'owned or occupied by any Negro'

The racist covenant was only revealed publicly in 1986, when Biden was holding hearings on Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's nomination as Chief Justice, and accused Rehnquist of living in homes with similar covenants.

The book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger is due out next week

At the time, Biden batted back criticism, saying his parents had 'filed a declaration of disavowal saying they find the restriction morally repugnant and they are not bound by it,' according to the Associated Press.

Biden also claimed the deed his dad signed did not include the restrictive covenant.

For his part, Rehnquist acknowledged the racist deeds, saying they were morally offensive but legally unenforceable.

The 1948 Supreme Court Case Shelley v. Kraemer ruled that racially restrictive covenants were unenforceable.

It is far from the only embarrassing racial incident from Biden's half-century career in politics.

In the 2020 Democratic primary, Kamala Harris, now his vice president, attacked Biden over his opposition to using federally mandated busing to racially integrate schools in the 1970s.

It is far from the only embarrassing racial incident from Biden's half-century career in politics. Above, Biden is seen in the early 1970s, when he was the youngest US senator

In 1975, Biden called busing an 'asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me.' Biden defended his position in the debate and said it was ultimately little different from that of Harris.

Also during the 2020 campaign, Biden raised eyebrows when he told radio host Charlamagne tha God that black voters 'ain't black' if they don't vote for him.

Biden has also been criticized for his fond remembrances of segregationists including Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd, the former Democratic Senator from West Virginia who was a leader of the KKK, but later renounced the group.

In a 2003 eulogy, Biden called Thurmond a 'brave man, who in the end made his choice and moved to the good side.' He said they became 'good friends.'

At several points during his career, during attempts to woo southern voters, Biden has also appeared to boast of Delaware's history as a 'slave state'.

While campaigning for president in Alabama in 1987, Biden said incorrectly: 'We (Delaware) were on the South's side in the Civil War'.

In fact, Delaware was a slave state that remained loyal to the Union in the Civil War.

In 2006, Biden also touted Delaware as a 'slave state' when pressed on his chances in the 2008 presidential primary in South Carolina.

'My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast, liberal state,' he said in an interview.

It was also during the 2008 campaign that Biden drew scrutiny for his infamous characterization of Barack Obama as 'the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'.

More recently, Biden was dogged by controversy when he called top aide Cedric Richmond, who is black, 'boy' during a briefing on Hurricane Ida last month.

Biden introduced Richmond, a New Orleans native who quit Congress to serve in the White House, by saying he was 'here with my senior adviser and, uh, boy who knows Louisiana very well, man.'
Olivia Stevens (pictured) was tragically killed in a buggy crash in Victoria's Gippsland area

A shattered mother is demanding justice after her six-year-old daughter was tragically killed when a buggy she was joyriding in with six other children flipped.

Olivia Stevens visited the farm of family friends on Saturday in rural Victoria and squeezed into the four-seater buggy for an off-road ride with the other children - all under 10.

The vehicle rolled in a paddock at the Rosedale farm just after 4pm, causing Olivia critical injuries. She was flown by helicopter to hospital but sadly she later died.

'The whole family is shattered. I don't know if we will ever be the same. The house is quiet without her... I want justice,' Ms Stevens told The Herald Sun.

Ms Stevens, who emigrated to Australia from Eastern Europe, and her husband are a well-known young family in the Gippsland region, running a dental practice Heyfield.

The tragedy has left the community shocked, with Olivia's gymnastics teacher Regan McDonald describing her as outgoing and friendly.

'She was very kind hearted and willing to give everything a go,' Ms McDonald said.

'She had the cutest little laugh and told some really good jokes. It was heartbreaking to hear she didn't make it.'

Olivia had been visiting the farm of family friends (pictured: with her father Scott and her mother Yana)

The driver of the buggy Damien Gibson, 33, appeared in Sale Magistrate's Court on Monday via video with his arm in a sling after he was also injured in the crash.

He is also well-known in the Gippsland region as managing director of fertiliser company Gibson's Groundspread.

Mr Gibson has been charged by Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives with culpable driving, dangerous driving causing death, reckless conduct endangering life and recklessly causing injury over the crash.

Detective Sergeant Roz Wilson said the investigation was still being carried out.

'It's quite tragic in a small community to have families involved in such an incident. These vehicles are not toys and can be a lethal weapon,' she said.

'We'll be looking at what safety measures - in relation to seatbelts and helmets - were put in place, and the manner in which the vehicle was driving.'

'We're still investigating the circumstances as to why so many people were on this vehicle.'

Damien Gibson (pictured left), 33, the managing director of a Gippsland Fertiliser company has been charged over the crash (pictured right)

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said the crash - one of a number of fatal vehicle collisions over the weekend in the state - would have reverberate through the community.

'Every one of those lives lost could have been avoided,' Asst Comm Weir said.

'All those families are going to be changed forever. Those small communities affected,' he said.

Tributes to the little girl had begun to flow online by Sunday.

'There are no words. Big hugs to you and your family,' one person wrote.

'Precious girl,' added another.

Locals added that in such a close community emergency services officers who attended the scene would have likely known the family involved.

Mr Gibson will next appear in court in January for a committal mention.
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Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez boasted that she boosted Google searches about 'our f****d up tax code' by attending the Met Gala, arguably the most elitist event in American celebrity culture, in a borrowed dress with the words 'tax the rich' on them, in what critics are calling yet another example of her unedifying hypocrisy.

The 31-year-old socialist firebrand attended the event with her boyfriend Riley Roberts after getting ready at The Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side.

She claims she was 'invited' to the event, but won't say who paid for her, if anyone. Conde Nast does not ordinarily comp tickets for anyone. It is more often the case that stars will be invited to sit on a donor's table that has been paid for.

AOC was photographed leaving the event with Aurora James, the designer of her dress, and James' partner Benjamin Bronfman, the heir to Seagram's Company Ltd. and son of former Warner Bros CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. AOC's reps won't say who invited her, nor will representatives for Mayor Bill de Blasio - who attended the event with his wife and his son.

She boasted to the magazine: 'The Met Gala is seen as elite and inaccessible...As a working class woman, [I] wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry,' she proudly told Vogue at the event.

On Tuesday morning, AOC boasted about the surge in Google searches for the words 'tax the rich'.

She wrote on Instagram: 'Surge in people looking up and discussing our f****d up tax code is and how we fix it so we can fund childcare, healthcare, climate action and student loan forgiveness for all? Aurora James understood the assignment.'

But she has been slammed for supporting the event by many who say she simply wanted to enjoy the limelight while trying to pass it off as a political protest in yet another example of her tone-deaf hypocrisy.

AOC - who previously posed on the cover of Vanity Fair, drives a $35,000 Tesla and claims to be '100% grass roots from the Bronx' despite growing up in a wealthy NYC suburb - wore a borrowed dress from Brooklyn designer Brother Vellies, a celebrity favorite run by Aurora James and had her make-up done beforehand by a Bobbi Brown artist. Her hair was styled by Vogue stylist Eric Williams and her shoes and bag were also from Brother Vellies.

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AOC poses in her 'Tax The Rich' dress while movie star Megan Fox waits behind her. AOC attended the event with designer Aurora James in what she claims was a political protest

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attends the lavish Met gala wearing a 'TAX THE RICH' dress. She boasted on Tuesday morning about increasing the number of people searching the words 'Tax the Rich'

Before the gala, AOC got ready at The Carlyle hotel on the Upper East Side, where rooms cost upwards of $1,000-a-night. She was escorted to a chauffer-driven car, with someone carrying the train of her dress, and she waved to screaming fans as she left the hotel

AOC with her boyfriend Riley Roberts (far right), her dress designer Aurora James and Benjamin Bronfman (far left), James' partner who is the heir to Seagrams Company Ltd. The group was pictured leaving at midnight.

It's unclear whether AOC's date, her boyfriend Riley Roberts, paid for his ticket, or if he was given it for free too

AOC posted this photo on Instagram last night along with a caption about her 'all BIPOC/women/LGBT+ team' of hair and make-up artists that included a Bobbi Brown make-up artist and Eric Williams, a hair stylist used for Vogue on cover shoots

The only jewelry she wore was a pair of $450 gold hoops from Mejuri and a $65 ring from the same brand.

She didn't wear a mask, like many of the other guests.

The event was for fully vaccinated guests only but the celebrities in attendance - who regularly preach online about COVID rules - ignored the guidance of the CDC and liberal states like California, where masks are recommended indoors regardless of vaccination status.

In a proud Instagram post about the event and her choice of outfit, AOC said: 'The medium is the message. Proud to work with Aurora James as a sustainably focused, Black woman immigrant designer who went from starting her dream Brother Vellies at a flea market in Brooklyn to winning the CDFA against all odds - and then work together to kick open the doors at the Met. The time is now for childcare, healthcare, and climate action for all. Tax the Rich.

'And yes, BEFORE anybody starts wilding out - NYC elected officials are regularly invited to and attend the Met due to our responsibilities in overseeing our citys cultural institutions that serve the public.

'I was one of several in attendance. Dress is borrowed via Brother Vellies.'

Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who previously said he'd never attend the event, also attended the event.

In a statement in a press release by Brother Vellies, AOC said: 'Theres no way Id be doing this if it wasnt with a woman of color and with the intent to grow the table and empower women that look like me.

'Despite being held in New York City, the culture of the Met Gala is everything but.

'NYC is often synonymous with inclusivity, inviting millions of people from different walks of life to call this city home.

'The Met Gala, on the other hand, is seen as elite and inaccessible. Im attending today because I want to change just that and spotlight women of color who are often not included during events like these.'

Donald Trump Jr led the criticism, blasting AOC as a 'fraud' while pointing out that she was also not wearing a face mask 'after spending the last 18 months as one of the biggest mask Karens in the country'.

Andray Domise, a writer and partner in black news network Rezistans Nwa, also pointed out that the gala was taking place just yards from where the NYPD were arresting 'defund the police' protesters - a cause that AOC has previously supported.

'Police were creasing people's heads outside while you and your friends were nibbling watermelon tarts with smoked yuzu soy on panipuri crackers,' he said

Greg Price, a writer for the Daily Caller, added: 'AOC grew up in a wealthy suburb, went to one of the most expensive colleges in America, makes a six figure salary, drives a Tesla, lives above a whole foods, and is currently at an event that costs more to attend than America's average personal income.'

AOC was slammed for attending the event with her boyfriend and lapping up the limelight

Actor and comedian Michael Rappaport also weighed in. He shared a picture of AOC in a dress fitting session and captioned it: 'Custom TAX THE RICH dress while at the most elitist event in the world.

'Will soon be rich with a ginormous production deal from somewhere & done with Politics, guarantee it.

'Stop treating ANY of these people like celebrities they are public servants that work for US.'

As she made her Met Gala debut, AOC will have passed crowds of BLM protesters clashing with police outside the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Brothers Vellies, James' luxury brand, is often worn by celebrities such as Beyonce, Meghan Markle, Zendaya, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, according to the brand's website.

It is AOC'S first time attending the gala, but her political message has already drawn controversy during this year's 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion' exhibit. It was also James' gala dress debut.

James and Ocasio-Cortez said they were inspired by their experiences as working women of color to make the political statement at the Met gala.

James is the founder of the 15percent Pledge, a nonprofit that asks brands to 'pledge 15percent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses.'

AOC fawning over British actress Gemma Chan and designer Prabal Gurung at the Met Gala on Monday night in New York City

AOC is interviewed on the steps of the Met Gala while designer Aurora James waits by her side and celebrities walk the famed carpeted stairs

AOC yelling out on the steps of the Met Gala before going inside to mingle with the well-heeled, ultra wealthy guests

Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who leaves office in November, also attended the event with his wife Chirlane McCray - who is also the Co-Chair of the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity - and son Dante. His spokesperson said: 'The mayor made the decision to attend months ago in one of his hours long economic recovery war room meetings led by Lorraine Grillo. He wanted to highlight a local designer who had been able to make it through the pandemic. Its a notable way to grab peoples attention and highlight the return of the citys fashion industry jobs.' It's unclear who paid for his ticket

Mayor de Blasio with his wife Chirlane and son, Dante, inside the event. He said he saw AOC there and 'commends' her for her 'message'

While AOC and Bill de Blasio mingled with celebrities inside the star-studded event, Defund the Police protesters were arrested outside. Both de Blasio and AOC championed the Defund the Police movement and led to the NYPD having $1billion of its budget cut

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, 2021 while Rep. AOC and Mayor Bill de Blasio were inside

Rep Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) wore a dress with the words 'rights for women' written on them. The dress had strands of purple, gold and white to represent the suffragettes

Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's ex-aide whose husband Anthony Weiner was caught sexting a 15-year-old girl, was there. She is shown mingling with actress Sienna Miller

Others pointed out that while the many people walking the red carpet were maskless, staff around them were not

She designs mostly accessories and shoes listed on her brand's website retail around the $600 and $700 mark.

AOC has been very vocal in the past about her stance on taxing millionaires.

In 2019 she advocated to raising taxes of to 70percent for the wealthy in order to fund measures against climate change.

'As a working class woman, [I] wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry, Ocasio-Cortez told Vogue.

'When Aurora and I were first kind of partnered, we started having a conversation about what it means to be working class women of color at the Met,'

'And we said, you know, we can't just play along, but we need to break the fourth wall, and challenge some of the institutions.

'And while the Met is known for its spectacle, we should have a conversation about it,' she added.

In a 2019 Tweet, AOC wrote: When we say 'tax the rich,' we mean nesting-doll yacht rich. For-profit prison rich. Betsy DeVos, student-loan-shark rich.

'Trick-the-country-into-war rich. Subsidizing-workforce-w-food-stamps rich.

'Because THAT kind of rich is simply not good for society, & it's like 10 people.'

There was also uproar over the fact that the celebrities on the red carpet were not wearing masks but teachers and kindergarteners in public schools have to.

'Do as I say, NOT as I do. NYC mayor makes every single NYC public school student and teacher mask up all day in school.

'Guess the Met Gala ain't considered school,' said one angry Twitter user after seeing Mayor Bill de Blasio without his mask, attending the event with his wife and his son.
The woman who murdered her boyfriend by sedating and gassing him allegedly tried to pay a friend to lie for her after allegedly getting the idea from a popular American TV sitcom.

Natasha Beth Darcy fed Mathew Dunbar a sedative-laced milkshake before gassing him at his Pandora property in August 2017. She was set to inherit his $3.5million property as the sole beneficiary.

She was found guilty of murder in June after a lengthy trial.

During the trial she allegedly offered a high school friend $20,000 to lie in court after becoming inspired by an episode of the 1990s comedy Frasier.

Prosecutor Brett Hatfield alleged Darcy planned the murder for some time, citing hundreds of Google searches on death methods starting with poisonous spiders and fungi

Natasha Beth Darcy, 46, has been found guilty of murdering Mathew Dunbar after the 42-year-old sheep farmer was found dead in his home near Walcha, northern New South Wales, on August 2, 2017

The court was told Darcy sent a series of letters to a friend after Mr Dunbar's death, offering her $20,000 to tell lies about him that would assist her at any murder trial.

'I was watching an episode of Frasier when Niles needed him to lie in court and say he didn't know that Niles was in love with Daphne,' she wrote in a letter in 2020, according to Nine News.

'It got me thinking, if only I could ask somebody to say that Mathew told them he was planning his suicide maybe a few or several days before he passed.'

Darcy now faces two counts of intending to pervert the course of justice, which could earn her an extra 25 years in jail.

She had claimed it was an assisted suicide and that Dunbar, 42, had been depressed over his sexuality and had talked of suicide.

Darcy pleaded not guilty to the murder charges but was convicted and will be sentenced in October.

At the trial Jane Vuletic, the forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Mr Dunbar, said he died from asphyxiation as a result of a plastic bag around his head that was filled with helium, plus mixed drug toxicity.

Prosecutor Brett Hatfield alleged Darcy planned the murder for some time, citing hundreds of Google searches on death methods starting with poisonous spiders and fungi which started back in February, 2017.

Darcy, the sole beneficiary of a Dunbar's estate (pictured) googled redback spiders and mushrooms six months before his death

Letters Natasha Darcy wrote from jail revealed she allegedly offered an old friend $20,000 to lie in court after seeing Niles ask Frasier to do the same in an episode of Frasier

He said she sedated her partner using a Nutribullet to blend a cocktail of sedatives, before moving a gas tank into his room and gassing him in his bed.

Darcy also admitted to undercover police to searching acepromazine and clonidine - another of the drugs found in Mr Dunbar's blood - after he died.

Agreed facts tendered in the case state that in 2009, Darcy hit her husband, Colin Crossman, on the head with a hammer as he slept.

Three days later when he was again asleep she took a tin of petrol from the garage and poured it on the bedroom floor and set it alight.

She had earlier given him a meal of tacos and samples later showed he had sedatives in his system.

Image tendered as evidence shows a NutriBullet cup in the dishwasher at Mathew Dunbar's property in Pandora

Darcy (pictured) accidentally revealed to an undercover cop she knew one of the sedatives that was in Mr Dunbar's dead body

The previous month, she had taken out a life insurance policy which paid $700,000 to her on the death of Mr Crossman.

Darcy claimed Mr Dunbar took his own life because he was depressed about his sexuality and a severe leg infection, the Brisbane Times reported.

She'd phoned triple 0 after claiming she found her partner dead in his bed.

Prosecutor Brett Hatfield alleged Darcy planned the murder for some time, citing hundreds of Google searches on death methods starting with poisonous spiders and fungi which started back in February, 2017.

Some of Darcy's Google searches included 'how to commit murder' and 'can police see websites you visit on your mobile'.

The mother had also carried out two 'dry runs' on Mr Dunbar to test the effects of drugs.

The court heard Darcy had been spreading lies about Mr Dunbar's mental health issues to friends and family, and told them he was gay.
A Muslim group fears residents of western Sydney will stop obeying lockdown rules as they see people enjoy the beach in wealthy suburbs.

The Lebanese Muslim Association, based at Lakemba, suggested Sunday scenes of sunbakers at Bondi could be enough to undermine compliance with the restrictions in locked down areas.

'Are we really expecting people to continue to co-operate and willingly accept the disparity in treatment?',' it asked in a 'community statement'.

While helicopters hovered over Bondi and Coogee on Sunday, areas of the Canterbury-Bankstown council have had a heavier police presence since the Delta outbreak spread throughout south-west Sydney in June.

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A Muslim group fears residents of western Sydney will stop obeying lockdown rules as they see people enjoy the beach in wealthy suburbs. The Lebanese Muslim Association, based at Lakemba, suggested Sunday scenes of sunbakers at Bondi (pictured on Sunday) could be enough to undermine compliance with the restrictions in locked down areas

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, who holds a Northern Beaches electorate, even defended beachgoers with infectious diseases experts backing him up.

'The fresh air, we know, is the safest place to be at the present time,' Mr Hazzard said.

In August, the Liberal minister chastised migrant communities in south-west Sydney for failing to comply with public health orders.

'There are other communities and people from other backgrounds who don't seem to think that it is necessary to comply with the law and who don't really give great consideration to what they do in terms of its impact on the rest of the community,' Mr Hazzard said.

This was enough to anger the Lebanese Muslim Association led by Samier Dandan.

'The empty rhetoric of togetherness was evident last weekend while clear non-compliance in Bondi and the beaches across Sydney were met with respectful conversations, non-compliance in Bankstown was treated with heavy-handed policing and paramedics,' the group said.

The Lebanese Muslim Association, based at Lakemba, suggested Sunday scenes of sunbakers at Bondi could be enough to undermine compliance with the restrictions in locked down areas (pictured are protesters in Bankstown surrounded by police on July 18, 2021)

'The different responses fuel long-term divisions across Sydney and continue to intensify heightened sensitivities around the over-securitisation and harsh policing of our diverse communities.'

The eastern suburbs of Sydney, where the Delta outbreak began in June, has lower case numbers than western and south-west Sydney, where there is a 9pm to 5am curfew.

Waverley council, covering Bondi, has 46 active cases of Covid, compared with 2,792 cases in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area covering Lakemba and Belmore.

In August, Health Minister Brad Hazzard chastised migrant communities in south-west Sydney for failing to comply with public health orders

Nonetheless, police were still out in force in Bondi on Sunday cautioning sunbakers who weren't socially distancing or wearing a face mask.

Randwick council, which takes in Coogee, has 329 active cases, a level still much lower than the 1,403 level of the Liverpool LGA in south-west Sydney.

WS-FM presenter Amanda Keller, who lives at Coogee, said the sunbakers in her area were inflaming people stuck in lockdown on the other side of Sydney.

'That's an insensitive response. It's a little insensitive to people who don't have the option to do that,' she said.

Police were still out in force in Bondi (pictured) cautioning sunbakers who weren't socially distancing or wearing a face mask

Sunrise presenter Natalie Barr agreed scenes of people enjoying the beach within their local government area was rubbing it in to western Sydney.

'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?".'

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has declined to allow swimming pools to open as Sydney's lockdown approaches its 12th week.

On Tuesday, the state reported 1,127 new cases, a big drop from 1,257 a day earlier.

In 12 council areas, residents must abide by a 9pm to 5am curfew and not venture more than 5km from home for exercise.

Dr Jamal Rifi, a Lebanese-born Muslim doctor who based at Belmore, has criticised the federal government's 'arm yourself' campaign to get jabbed. The GP, who regularly translates confusing government messages into Arabic for his many patients, said the well-intentioned slogan from 'some genius out there in Canberra' undermined the campaign to tackle violent extremism

Dr Jamal Rifi, a Lebanese-born Muslim doctor who based at Belmore, has criticised the federal government's 'arm yourself' campaign to get jabbed.

The GP, who regularly translates confusing government messages into Arabic for his many patients, said the well-intentioned slogan from 'some genius out there in Canberra' undermined the campaign to tackle violent extremism.

'Now how I'm going to translate this in Arabic? Arm yourself, that means get a gun or get a shotgun and arm yourself,' he told the ABC's Australian Story.

'It sounds very well to the general population, but it sounds very bad to my side of the Arabic community.

'You can't go and tell them "arm yourself" when you were fighting radicalisation for the last five years, and countering violent extremism. That was a bad decision.'

Waverley council, covering Bondi (pictured), has 46 active cases of Covid, compared with 2,792 cases in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area covering Lakemba and Belmore
A topless sunbather who was allegedly stabbed in the head, neck and chest by a 'random' teenager survived because of her incredible personal strength, a close mate says.

Kaitlin Jones, 23, was dripping with blood and screaming for help when construction worker Gavin Odgaard came to her rescue on Blacks Beach near Mackay, on Queensland's mid-north coast, at about midday on Monday.

She was raced to Mackay Base Hospital and treated for 'serious lacerations', before the 16-year-old alleged attacker handed himself in to police.

The top hairdresser spoke to a friend on the phone on Tuesday morning to say she is 'alive, but tired from all the painkillers'.

'Still very shaken, but she's a strong girl - still can't believe it, really,' the friend, who did not want to be identified, told Daily Mail Australia.

Kaitlin Jones' fiance Dylan Gorham (pictured together) is a FIFO worker and raced to be by her side after the alleged attack

Kaitlin Jones (pictured with her fiance Dylan) was allegedly stabbed repeatedly while sunbathing on a beach in Queensland

'She's in hospital and okay.'

The friend explained that Ms Jones' fiance Dylan Gorham, who is a FIFO worker, left his job at a mine site early on Tuesday morning to return to her hospital bedside.

'Her parents would be there too, thank God,' she added.

The teenager was charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm and will appear in Mackay Childrens Court on Tuesday.

Police will allege the attack was unprovoked.

Moments later, Ms Jones 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.

Local hairdresser Kaitlin Jones (pictured) crawled to the top of a nearby sand dune where she managed to stand and scream for help

Kaitlin Jones (pictured with her fiance Dylan) is recovering in hospital after allegedly being stabbed by a teenager

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 (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

Kaitlin Jones (left) told Mr Odgaard that her fiance Dylan Jay Gorham (right) was a miner on night shift who was asleep while she had gone to the beach

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.

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

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

'I just tried to reassure that she was going to be okay - but you never know with knives.'

Mr Ordgaard said she told him she had spotted someone walking past her on the lonely beach several minutes before the alleged attack.

Minutes later she saw a male standing over her before he allegedly launched 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.

Gavin Odgaard said the victim told him she had spotted someone walking past her on the lonely beach (pictured) several minutes before the attack

'It was just a random selection of victim. They make that stuff for horror movies - but apparently it happens in real life too.

'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.'

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.'
Australian employees will be able to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at their workplace from October.

Providers of the Covid-19 vaccine will now be able to apply for accreditation to deliver the vaccine at workplaces, much like the annual flu vaccine.

Pfizer and Moderna will be the main vaccines delivered through workplaces, but AstraZeneca will be ordered if needed.

Australian employees will soon be able to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at their workplace. Pictured: Sydney commuters

The jabs will likely be rolled out in bigger companies with thousands of employees such as Coles, Woolworths and the big banks which already give out flu shots.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the workplace vaccines would start in October. So far 43 per cent of over 16s are fully vaccinated.

'This program will make it even easier for people to get vaccinated, while recognising the eagerness of businesses to help,' Mr Hunt said.

'It will allow Australia to further increase the overall size of the Covid-19 vaccination workforce, and to use many offers of assistance from vaccination administrators and Australia's business community.'

Businesses are not allowed to seek payments from patients to administer the vaccine.

Which companies could offer Covid-19 vaccines at work? These are the companies that met with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in July to say they wanted to help with the vaccine rollout: Coles Group Woolworths Group Wesfarmers Commonwealth Bank of Australia Westpac Group NAB ANZ Bank Virgin Qantas Telstra Optus Ernst and Young Deloitte PWC KPMG Melbourne Airport Advertisement

It comes amid calls for businesses to mandate employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said businesses had a key role to play in the pandemic response.

'In the end, businesses are responsible for health and safety,' he told the Nine Network.

'They are also responsible for who comes into their business or who works in their business.

'Each business is going to tackle this different unless they are told that they're in aged care or childcare or healthcare, that it is mandatory.'

More than two-thirds of Australians aged over 16 have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine, while more than 42 per cent are fully vaccinated.
A Melbourne mother and motivational speaker accused of killing her seven-month-old baby girl has had her child homicide charges dropped.

Fiori Giovanni was charged after the death of baby Illen Bellinger, who drowned in a bathtub at her Southbank home in July last year.

Ms Giovanni was accused of negligence amounting to manslaughter after allegedly leaving the baby unsupervised in the bath with the girl's older brother.

The 36-year-old had pleaded not guilty to the charge in May this year and was ordered to stand trial in Victoria's Supreme Court.

But in a preliminary hearing on Tuesday the charge was withdrawn at the request Victoria's top prosecutor, Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC.

Fiori Giovanni (pictured) was charged after the death of baby Illen Bellinger, who drowned in a bathtub at her Southbank home in July last year but had the charges dropped on Tuesday

No details were given in a brief court appearance except that a notice of discontinuance, drawn up last Wednesday, had been filed with the court on Monday.

Ms Giovanni has been on bail and is now free.

The speaker and author was born in the African nation of Eritrea and sought asylum in Europe before moving to Melbourne.

In her autobiography, Defy Your Destiny, Ms Giovanni detailed her childhood in the war-torn country including her experiences as a child soldier, in an arranged marriage and as a refugee.

Ms Giovanni shared news of her little girl's death on social media.

'It is with our deepest sorrow and soul-wrenching heartbreak that we inform you of the death of our beautiful little angel Illen Joy Bellinger,' she wrote last year.

The 36-year-old had pleaded not guilty to the charge in May this year and was ordered to stand trial in Victoria's Supreme Court but saw her charges dropped in hearing on Tuesday

'A shining star was sent to inspire, change, and transform our lives in the short seven-and-a-half months we had the pleasure of being with her.'

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Office of Public Prosecutions said the decision had been made after 'careful consideration and consultation' with chief crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane QC and a senior crown prosecutor.

Ms Giovanni's autobiography talks about the challenges she overcame to arrive in Australia and how she was able to become an entrepreneur.

She was born in Eritrea and was 12 years old when she convinced her parents to let her escape an arranged marriage to a 25-year-old man.

At the age of 14 she started a summer camp which she later realised was preparation for mandatory army service.

She later fled to neighbouring Sudan in search of a better life.

Giovanni set up 'My Mind Valley' which is an affirmation program designed around her 'unrelenting belief that people can change their world by changing the way they speak to themselves.'
A principal who encouraged parents to send their children to class has been slammed as 'irresponsible' as his school faces being shut down.

The Fitzroy Community School in Melbourne's inner-suburbs has been linked to 35 Covid cases after refusing to close classrooms during Victoria's sixth lockdown.

Principal Timothy Berryman defended keeping his school open, claiming children 'get runny noses' all the time and that the threat posed to them by Covid-19 is extremely low compared to drowning to being hit by a car.

Deputy Premier James Merlino on Tuesday said the 'alternative' school was now under investigation by the state's Department of Health and the Victorian Regulation and Qualifications Authority.

He said it was 'irresponsible' for Mr Berryman to allow as many as 60 students - about half the school - to come to class rather than study at home.

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'

'We've got more than 2,200 schools in Victoria. That's more than one million students,' he said at the state's Covid briefing.

'Imagine if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one. Imagine the case numbers and the hospitalisations.'

Another four coronavirus cases, out of the 445 recorded in Victoria on Tuesday, were linked to the school bringing the total to 35.

Victoria's education regulator is probing whether the school breached its duty of care to keep children safe.

Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority Director Jonathan Kaplan said the school may have deliberately flouted lockdown rules.

'My immediate concern is for the ongoing safety of students at the school and the actions taken by the school to discharge its duty of care to students by complying with relevant public health direction,' he wrote to Mr Berryman.

The school's management was ordered to hand over their Covid-safe plans and any communication with parents about on-site attendance.

The school has until Friday to give regulators the documents and could face further action including deregistration and loss of licence.

Mr Berryman earlier on Tuesday claimed the risk posed to children by Covid-19 was far lower than other everyday dangers.

'It's a bit like saying some children will drown and some children get run over,' he told the Today show on Tuesday.

'But we haven't stopped them going on scooters and riding their bikes and getting in cars. We accept that that risk is part of it.'

At least 30 students and staff tested positive at Fitzroy Community Centre at Fitzroy North, Melbourne

His mother Faye Berryman - who founded the 'alternative' school in Melbourne's inner-suburbs - appeared on Sunrise just moments before.

Mrs Berryman was cut off by host Natalie Barr after she defended keeping the school open to all students.

'The government are telling people only to send their kids to school if they are essential workers - not to do their own research and decide themselves,' Barr said.

Ms Berryman replied: 'We didn't want to be forced into doing something that was against our conscience.

'We always hope that the legal rules line up with the model rules, but teachers were being forced to go against their conscience.'

Barr then abruptly ended the interview by admonishing the educator and telling her she threatened the wellbeing of the wider community.

Poll Should kids be back at school? Yes - it's unfair now the most at-risk are jabbed No - case numbers are still far too high I'm not sure Should kids be back at school? Yes - it's unfair now the most at-risk are jabbed 115 votes

No - case numbers are still far too high 95 votes

I'm not sure 27 votes Now share your opinion





'The trouble is that Melbourne has hundreds of cases, you got a growing outbreak and people in the extended community are at risk,' she said.

Melbourne has spent 225 days in lockdown since the pandemic began with schools closed to all but the children of essential workers during that time.

Up to 60 children were attending Fitzroy Community classes each day and more than 180 people were close contacts, making the school a Tier 1 exposure site.

Soon after his mother was lectured on air, Mr Berryman claimed on Today the risk of children dying from Covid-19 was lower than that from drowning or road accidents.

'The risk posed by drowning or by road accidents is about 10 times higher than Covid,' he said.

'When you run a primary school, you get children sick pretty much every day. Somebody calls in sick or has a runny nose.

'While you don't want any child to ever get the flu or get sick or get a cough or whatever, it's actually inevitable and part of running a school.'

Principal Timothy Berryman (left) said the threat posed to children by the virus was extremely low and mild illness was 'inevitable', while the school's founder Faye Berryman said it went against her 'conscience' not to keep the classroom open during lockdown

Mr Berryman said he had tried to offer parents 'the best of both worlds' by giving them the option of on-site or remote learning.

'I don't know if I would have said I encouraged children to come to school,' he said. 'I offered full classroom teaching to those who came on-site.'

Mr Berryman has been outspoken about the issue all through the lockdown and wrote to Premier Daniel Andrews last month asking him to reopen schools.

'Children are gifted with immune systems that appear designed to combat and defeat Covid. Closing their schools is causing much greater harm to them than Covid ever will,' he wrote.

'Keeping primary schools open supports children's learning and mental health  their learning and mental health suffer when they are isolated.'

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley on Monday 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 the daily coronavirus press conference.

Philip O'Carroll, co-founder of the Fitzroy Community School, speaks to media in Melbourne on Monday

'This school has some history when it comes to sailing pretty close to chief health officer orders.

'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 on Monday by Victorian deputy chief health officer Dan O'Brien 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.

'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.'

VICTORIA OVERHAULS ITS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM Victoria is scrapping VCAL as part of an overhaul of vocational education for senior school students. Under new legislation set to be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday, the government will replace the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning with the Victorian Certificate of Education - Vocational Major. The Foundation VCAL year will be replaced with the Victorian Pathways Certificate, from which students can choose VCE, entry level vocational training, or move into the workforce. The program will be introduced from 2023. The government says the vocational major will mean students can access more subjects, as well as doing work experience. 'These reforms mean students will have better support and flexibility to study what they want, alongside key academic skills that will prepare them for the jobs of the future,' Education Minister James Merlino said in making the announcement. The government says the new program will be focused on students with additional needs, and vulnerable students at risk of leaving the school system. Advertisement

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.

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

'None of the kids who have Covid are sick,' Mr Berryman told The Herald-Sun.

'We have to accept that kids catch Covid at school. This will happen but it doesn't make the kids desperately sick.'

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'.

Darcy Wain, 15, receives a Pfizer vaccination at the Royal Exhibition Building Covid-19 Vaccination Hub in Melbourne

'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.

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.
A mother's night out with friends took a terrifying turn when all their drinks were spiked, leaving them unable to walk or talk.

Kura Perkins and her friends were sharing a bottle of sparkling wine at Freo Social in Fremantle in Perth's south on Friday.

Ms Perkins said that the group put their drinks down to go and dance, and only minutes later she was unable to move.

Kura Perkins and her friends has their drinks spiked while dancing at Freo Social in Fremantle on Friday night (pictured, Ms Perkins 2nd from the right and her friends)

The mother-of-three was one of three woman made violently ill and had to rely on strangers to hold her up while she tried to contact her husband.

'The last thing on our minds was having our drinks spiked,' Ms Perkins told 9 News.

She said her symptoms included being 'very incoherent, not being able to stand up or walk, numbness in the legs and violent vomiting'.

Ms Perkins said there was a 45 minute gap where she had no idea what she was doing, after she ended up outside the bar alone.

Two good Samaritans came to her rescue, but she was unable to tell them who she was with or who she even was.

They eventually contacted her husband who came to pick her up.

The women were left unable to walk or talk as they fell violently ill while at the bar (pictured, Ms Perkins speaking about her ordeal)

Freo Social said incident was reported to police who attended the bar that night and staff were cooperating with authorities..

'Thankfully, the victims have all recovered physically. However, this is something no one should go through. It is both frightening for the victims and their friends and family,' it said.

'We are deeply saddened that this occurred at our venue - a place we strive to be safe for all.'

Ms Perkins urged everyone to be very wary of leaving their beverages alone on a night out after her and her friends' horrific experience.
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Dozens of left-wing protestors gathered in front of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's home to protest his recent decision to reject a challenge to Texas' controversial abortion law.

On Monday protestors with signs that read 'Kava Nope', 'my p*ssy, my rules' and 'Repro freedom for all' gathered in front of Justice Kavanaugh's home in protest of his recent decision to reject a challenge to Texas' new law allowing private citizens to sue providers that perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, Yahoo.com reported.

Dubbed by president Biden as an 'unprecedented assault on a womans constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade' five conservative justices, including Kavanaugh, backed the law known as the 'Texas Heartbeat Act' that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is normally after six weeks and before many women even know they are pregnant.

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On Monday protestors gathered in front of Kavanaugh's home in protest of his recent decision to reject a challenge to Texas' new abortion law

Protestors held up a sign that read 'repro freedom for all!' in front of Justice Kavanaugh's home in Maryland on Monday

Protestors gathered outside of Justice Kavanaugh's home with signs to protest his recent rejection of a challenge to the Texas abortion law

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh (pictured) was one of the five justices that voted in favor of the Texas abortion ban

It makes no exceptions for rape or incest and allows Texans to report people, including Uber drivers, who help or take women to get abortions. The only exemption is if there is a danger to the woman's health.

The law has prompted outrage among women's rights activists and Democrats.

The 'Abortion rights rally and speakout at Kavanaugh's house' event was organized by the left-wing group ShutDownDC on Facebook.

Kavanaugh (pictured) rejected the challenge to the law that allows allowed private citizens to sue providers that perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected

Dozens of protestors marched outside Justice Kavanaugh's home on Monday

A protestor holds up a sign that reads 'Kava Nope' as she marches outside the conservative Justice's home

Signs from protestors marching outside his home call on Kavanaugh to resign or be impeached

Officers watch as abortion rights protestors gather near the house of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Monday

Police officers were in attendance securing Kavanaugh's home as dozens of protestors marched in protest of the Justice's decision to pass the restrictive Texas abortion law

Protestors marched the short distance from the Chevy Chase Park in Maryland to Kavanaugh's home, where the lights were on but no one appeared to be home, Yahoo.com reported.

On Facebook, organizers said they were going to make sure their voices would be heard and called for the justice to resign.

'Brett Kavanaugh: You're going to hear from us directly,' the organizers wrote. 'Last week we came to the Supreme Court. But you werent there; the justices continue to work remotely. So we're coming to your house to tell you to keep your oppressive ideology out of our bodies (and) demand you RESIGN immediately.'

Video of the protest show people taking turns at the microphone and chanting as they walk up and down the block in front of the Justice's home.

Police were in attendance securing Kavanaugh's home.

On Thursday, the Biden administration sued to block the ban.

Attorney General Merrick Garland branded it as 'clearly unconstitutional' for violating Supreme Court precedents protecting a woman's right to an abortion.

A protestor writes 'resign Kavanaugh' in chalk outside the Justice's home on Monday

Protestors marched the short distance from the Chevy Chase Park in Maryland to Kavanaugh's home, where the lights were on but no one appeared to be home

A protestor carries a sign that reads 'RIP Roe V Wade' in response to the Texas abortion law that Justice Kavanaugh voted for

Garland blasted the new law, SB 8, at a press conference at the Justice Department, where he said the US was seeking a preliminary and a permanent injunction to prevent state officials from enforcing the new law.

He slammed what he called an 'unprecedented scheme to in the chief justices words insulate the state from responsibility  and singled out provisions that allow individuals under the new statute to sue abortion providers or those who aid or abet a woman who gets an abortion. State residents can seek up to $10,000 from such individuals who assist an abortion after a fetus reaches six weeks, in a mechanism lawmakers used to get around potential legal hurdles.

He was referencing a dissent by Chief Justice John Roberts, who called out the provision. 'The statute deputizes all private citizens without any showing of personal connection or injury to serve as bounty hunters,' Garland added.

His attacks on the law came after the Supreme Court last week allowed the to go into effect with a late night 5-4 decision denying an emergency appeal while its most controversial provisions get litigated  without issuing a stay that would stall enforcement. The majority wrote that it was not purporting to issue a ruling on the substance of the law.
Four left-wing Congress members known as 'the Squad' are the biggest spenders on personal security despite advocating for the defunding of police, records show.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Cori Bush (MO) have funneled thousands into private security.

Between April 15 and June 28 this year, Bush spent more than nearly $70,000 of her campaign funds on personal security.

AOC's campaign shelled out at least $4,636 at Tullis Worldwide Protection for 'security services' between January and June.

The Virginia-based company's other clients include the royal families of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the owner's website.

Pressley spent around $7,500. In the first quarter of 2021, she spent more than $4,000 and more than $3,500 in the second quarter on security expenditures. Although a portion of her spending was local, she did hire a Virginia company in January and a Washington, D.C., firm in March.

Omar was the most frugal, spending just $2,800 in her second quarter. All of her spending was local in St. Paul and nearby Ramsey, Minnesota.

Between April 15 and June 28, Cori Bush (MO) spent more than nearly $70,000 of her campaign funds on personal security, almost $20,000 above the median household income for residents in her district

AOC (D-NY) spent less on security and more on local spending. In her first quarter, about $35,000 of Ocasio-Cortez's local spending went to firms with Brooklyn addresses, despite representing parts of the Bronx and Queens

In her first quarter of 2021, Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) spent more than $4,000 and more than $3,500 in the second quarter. Although a portion of her spending was local, she did hire a Virginia company in January and a Washington, D.C., firm in March

In her second quarter, Rep. Illhan Omar (D-MN) spent $2,800. All of her spending was local in St. Paul and nearby Ramsey, Minnesota.

Bush previously said that she will continue to spend thousands of dollars in personal security because she has feared for her life, but at the same time reiterated her call for defunding police.

'I'm going to make sure I have security because, I know, I have had attempts on my life,' Bush told CBS News in an interview outside the Capitol. 'And I have too much work to do, there are too many people that need help right now, for me to allow that.'

'So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend $10 more on it  you know what, I get to be here to do the work,' she added.

The Squad believes defunding the police would prevent the deaths of people like Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor.

She and Presley are sponsors of the People's Response Act, which aims to transform our country's approach to public safety by creating a public safety division within the Department of Human Health and Services.

The act would provide $7.5 billion in grant funding to state and local governments, as well as community-based organizations, to fully fund public safety and improve crisis response.

Additionally, Pressley sponsored the BREATHE Act, which honors the lives of those stolen by police and state-sanctioned violence, such as Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd and countless others.

The act allocates new money to build healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities, in addition to stripping federal resources from incarceration and policing.

Bush, along with AOC, Omar and Pressley, also supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed the House last summer.
Leigh Sales has called out the left-wing keyboard warriors who have lashed ABC journalists with vile sexual insults and online abuse.

In an essay for the ABC, the award-winning political reporter wrote that those in her field cop their fair share of criticism holding politicians to account.

But she said the abuse is now being dished out at a 'furious pace' on social media - particularly on Twitter where she found herself on the receiving end of insults almost hourly.

Her cry for an end to the bullying comes after her colleague ABC News Breakfast presenter Lisa Millar was forced off Twitter as a result of relentless trolls.

Last week it was revealed the high-profile TV host shut down her social media account after the former foreign correspondent was bizarrely accused of showing a bias towards Scott Morrison's government.

ABC journalist Leigh Sales has called out the trolls that she and many of her colleagues have been abused by online

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.

'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.'

ABC News Breakfast presenter Lisa Millar was recently forced off Twitter as a result of relentless trolls

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'.

In the wake of Millar's Twitter boycott, Sales called out those who felt the need to repeatedly attack journalists, adding the online bullying is becoming 'increasingly more challenging to bear'.

'It is non-stop, personal, often vile, frequently unhinged and regularly based on fabrications,' the 7.30 host wrote for the ABC.

'It has the effect of an angry phone call from a politician magnified thousands of times over.'

She reported that Insiders host David Speers is also abused both before and after almost every program.

Hamish MacDonald who used to host Q+A before leaving the ABC said one of his reasons for changing networks was the amount of abuse he copped online.

The 7.30 host (pictured with Laura Tingle) said female journalists were sent sexual insults while those of colour were racially abused

Sales said women were no stranger to sexual insults in her field and there was a 'corresponding pattern' of racism for reporters of colour.

'Anyone who can stomach wading into mentions of @leighsales will find that virtually hourly, I am abused for doing my job, with a stream of tweets goading me to quit, demanding the ABC sack me, telling me I'm useless, stupid, biased and incompetent,' Sales said.

She said the majority came from left-wing trolls who couldn't handle journalists asking questions of Labor ministers especially Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

This was 'unusual' for ABC reporters who are usually targeted by even Prime Minister Scott Morrison as having a 'Labor/Green bias', Sales said.

'In the Australian corner of Twitter, the space is dominated by views that are militantly pro-lockdown, pro-Covid zero and pro-Labor premiers, and even the tamest of questions in those directions prompts an onslaught,' she said.

She said while journalists expected their reporting to be discussed and occasionally criticised, the 'Twitterati' wanted to scare them from asking questions about Labor altogether.

Sales who has won three Walkley Awards and an Order of Australia for services to broadcast journalism said she would not be 'bullied' into reporting on one side of a story

Touching on Millar's recent choice to abandon Twitter, Sales said throughout her extensive career she'd been tasking with reporting on violent and tragic events around the globe.

'For her to be so bothered by abuse on Twitter that she has de-activated her account should tell you something about the relentless and disgusting nature of the attacks,' she said.

Sales - who has won three Walkley Awards and an Order of Australia for services to broadcast journalism - said she was sure once her article was published she'd be horrifically accused of 'performing sexual acts on Liberal men'.

But she stressed she would never 'be bullied' into reporting just one side of a story and neither would her colleagues.

It was earlier revealed Sales, Millar and Speers were the three most trolled ABC employees over the past 12 months.

For Millar the attacks became personal and she was left with no other choice but to pull the plug on Twitter.

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 another.

'The way she has behaved in the past 3 months is atrocious. Literally nobody can stand her sorry. She is the female Barnaby Joyce.'
A violinist has showered her neighbours in music after spotting them tying the knot in their front yard during Sydney's lockdown.

The heartwarming footage, which was posted to TikTok, shows Melissa Voyias playing the string instrument for the loved up bride and groom, who were only allowed to have five guests in attendance under current restrictions.

'Spotted my neighbours having a lockdown wedding. After months of no weddings and events I couldn't resist going over to serenade them,' Ms Voyias captioned the video.

Sydney violinist Melissa Voyias decided to serenade her neighbours during their lockdown wedding after the bride and groom had their nuptials cancelled twice

The heartwarming footage was posted to TikTok showing Melissa Voyias playing the violin for the bridge and groom across the street with friends and family unable to be in attendance

The clip shows Ms Voyias observing her neighbours' wedding from her window, with the two getting married outside the front door of their home.

The violinist, who usually plays at events including weddings and receptions, then goes to grab her instrument before walking onto the street.

As she starts playing the newly married couple turn and walk towards the gate.

'Their wedding had already been postponed twice, they could only have five guests with the restrictions in Sydney,' Ms Voyias said.

'Their family couldn't make it from overseas... there was not a dry eye in sight.

'It turned out to be such a beautiful day!'

The couple smile and wipe tears away from their eyes as they watch Ms Voyias play for them from the street.

'Spotted my neighbours having a lockdown wedding. After months of no weddings and events I couldn't resist going over to serenade them,' Ms Voyias captioned the video

The video has attracted nearly 24,000 likes with more than 1,000 comments with people praising the 'beautiful' and 'kind' actions of Ms Voyias.

'This was incredible to watch. Beautiful to see someone doing such a kind gesture during these difficult times,' one person replied.

'Tears are rolling down my face. Faith in humanity restored,' another commented.

The latest easing in restrictions in Sydney mean weddings are now allowed to take place outdoors with five guests, including the pair getting married, two witnesses, a person conducting the service and a person to record it.

The two witnesses can attend from anywhere in greater Sydney but cannot leave the area to attend a wedding, while people from regional NSW can enter the greater Sydney region if they are the parent, child or sibling of the person being married.

Residents from the 12 LGAs of concern can only attend weddings in other LGAs if they are the parent, child or sibling of someone being married.

Weddings cannot be in households but must be outside, and people aren't allowed to have gatherings or services after.
FOX host Tucker Carlson blasted prominent Democrats and Biden White House officials for going back on earlier claims that they would never force a vaccine mandate on Americans.

'Until recently mandatory vaccines were unthinkable, even among Democrats,' said Carlson, before he played clips of from Biden, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Dr. Anthony Fauci all saying the current mandate was impossible.

Carlson was speaking after 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.

On Monday Carlson railed against Biden's executive order requiring all federal workers to be vaccinated

On Monday, Carlson started off with a clip of Biden at a December 2020 press conference where he told reporters he did not believe the vaccine should be mandatory.

'I don't think it should be mandatory, I wouldn't demand that it be mandatory but I would do everything in my power, just like I don't think mask should be made mandatory nationwide,' he said at the time.

Calson then aired a clip of Jen Psaki from this July saying the federal government does not have the power to mandate vaccines.

'Can we mandate vaccines across the country? No, that's not a role that the federal government even has the power to make.'

At a December 2020 press conference Biden (pictured) told reporters he did not believe the vaccine should be mandatory

A clip of Nancy Pelosi (pictured) in April captures her telling the press that vaccination status are private

In an August 2020 CSPAN interview Dr. Fauci (pictured) said the U.S mandating the vaccine would be 'inappropriate'

A clip of Nancy Pelosi in April captures her telling the press that vaccination status are private.

'We cannot require someone to be vaccinates, that's just not what we can do,' she said. 'It is a matter of privacy to know who is or who isn't.

And finally a clip of Dr. Fauci from a C-SPAN interview in August 2020 saying the U.S mandating the vaccine would be 'inappropriate.'

'No, definitely not,' he says. 'You don't want to mandate and try to force anyone to take the vaccine, we've never done that. We don't want to be mandating from the federal government to the general population. It would be unenforceable and inappropriate.

Conservatives have gone after the mandate, calling it 'unconstitutional, insane and coercive.'

'Forcing this and coercing people, I don't think is the right decision. I'd imagine that you're gonna see a lot of activity in the courts if they try to do that through an executive action,' Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a press conference Thursday.

The Republican National Committee says that it intends to sue to block Biden's order from taking effect, and several House Republicans plan to introduce legislation to negate the order.

Other Republican governors are also mounting a defense against Biden's aggressive new order and vowing to fight it through state laws and lawsuits.

Arizona, Montana, Indiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia and South Carolina were all among the Republican-led states that threatened legal action.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem appeared to threaten legal action against the Biden administration on Twitter, telling Biden: 'See you in court.'

She was joined by fellow Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who wrote 'I will pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration' on Twitter Thursday evening.

About 27 per cent of the eligible U.S. population age 12 and older have not received any COVID vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile about 75 per cent of Americans have received at least one shot and 53 per cent are fully vaccinated.

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.
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Looks New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is changing his tune in regards to the Met Gala.

In an unexpected appearance, de Blasio arrived at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday night - wearing a rather flashy blue velvet patterned suit - despite previously criticizing and ridiculing the prominent event in 2019.

'I'm not an elite guy. Let's make it real simple, it's just not my thing,' de Blasio told NY1 at the time. 'This is the kind of place where the elite goes and likes to be with each other, and I have a different approach.'

In an unexpected appearance, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday night  despite previously criticizing and ridiculing the prominent event in 2019

Despite numerous protestors being arrested outside, de Blasio arrived on the red carpet in a velvet blue suit, alongside his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante

Dante de Blasio, Bill de Blasio, and Chirlane McCray attend the The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021

But perhaps more than a year of lockdowns has changed De Blasio's perspective as he decided to get dressed up to attend the swanky event alongside the likes of J-Lo, Megan Fox and Kendall Jenner.

Despite numerous protestors being arrested outside, de Blasio arrived on the red carpet with his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante.

The mayor's appearance comes less than two months before his term is set to finish and a new candidate takes over.

It is believed that Democratic candidate Eric Adams is set to become the new New York City Mayor.

The mayor's appearance at the Met Gala comes less than two months before his term is set to finish and a new candidate takes over

'It's really about our recovery,' he told Politico. 'The message, the goals of this gala really celebrate diversity and inclusion, the things we need to focus on, the things that make this city great,' de Blasio told Politico

Dante de Blasio, Chirlane McCray and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attend The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion on September 13, 2021

Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for de Blasio, told Politico the mayor was attending 'to highlight the resiliency of New York City's independent designers and the comeback of fashion industry jobs.'

'The mayor made the decision to attend months ago in one of his hours-long economic recovery war room meetings led by Lorraine Grillo,' Neidhardt said. 'He wanted to highlight a local designer who had been able to make it through the pandemic. It's a notable way to grab people's attention and highlight the return of the city's fashion industry jobs.'

The Mayor also spoke with Politico and explained his reasoning for attending the event.

'It's really about our recovery,' he told Politico. 'The message, the goals of this gala really celebrate diversity and inclusion, the things we need to focus on, the things that make this city great. And it's important that this is an event looked at around the country, around the world. I wanted to support it because it's another example of New York City coming back strong.'

New York politicians also attendance were Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who appeared in a white gown adorned with the bright-red words 'TAX THE RICH.'
Hundreds of good Samaritans have offered to clean the home of a group of young men after footage emerged of their filthy living conditions while in lockdown.

Diagons.deli posted footage to TikTok on August 26 showing the horrifying state of a property occupied by six men in Dunedin, New Zealand, during the country's stage four stay-at-home orders.

Under the orders all retailers are closed and the only way to secure food is through a click-and-collect system or takeaway service. New Zealand recorded 15 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday.

The first clip shows rubbish overflowing out of their bins and onto the pathway, making it difficult for passersby to walk past.

The cameraman then turns and opens the front door, where he is greeted by a young man who says 'welcome to our crib'.

The vision then pans into the living room which is covered with empty glass bottles, with food scraps strewn on the floor.

The kitchen adjoining the room later comes into view showing a bench top covered in filth.

One man in the footage makes himself some lunch, frying up bacon in a grimy fry pan on top of a stove caked with old food.

Footage has emerged of the filthy home of six young men living in locked-down Dunedin in New Zealand (pictured, the lounge room of the residence)

Another resident of 'Diagons Deli' then hobbles into the living area on crutches before the cameraman shows off a burnt meal prepared on the stove for the men to eat.

Hundreds of users in the comments section on TikTok were shocked at the state of the home, offering to help fully clean the residence.

'Please I just want to clean it. I don't know how you live like that,' one user wrote.

While another added: 'Can I please come and clean it, no charge just pay my gas and I'm on my way straight up'.

Hundreds of good Samaritans have flooded to the comments section of the footage posted to TikTok, offering to clean the place for nothing in return (pictured, the kitchen of the home)

The country has previously been praised for its Covid-zero strategy, but outbreaks of the Delta variant have proved increasingly difficult to completely wipe out.

Australia has replaced its Covid-zero approach with an intense focus on vaccination rather than the number of new daily cases.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand's strict 'zero Covid' strategy - with harsh lockdowns used even for a handful of cases - had helped bring the latest outbreak under control but said that 'we haven't quite finished the job yet'.
Wild new video has emerged of the moment a tracksuit-wearing man rushes two female cops outside a cinema before allegedly repeatedly punching and kneeing one in the head and then fleeing.

The police bodycam footage shows the two officers, aged 30 and 32, instructing the pedestrian to move off the road in Bankstown, south-west Sydney, about 11.50am on Monday.

The alleged thug then races towards the pair, unleashing a flurry of punches at one officer and leaving her dazed before punching and kneeing the second officer in the head, police allege.

A man in a red hoodie can be seen allegedly kneeing a female police office in the head while a fellow female officer tried to help

The first officer regains her bearings and pepper sprays the man, causing him to flee and board a nearby train.

Paramedics and additional police rushed to Jacob Street Terrace and to assist the officers who were both injured in the incident and were transported to Bankstown Hospital for treatment.

After inquiries officers then tracked down and arrested the red-hoodie wearing alleged offender at a park in Yagoona.

He was taken to Bankstown police station where he then allegedly assaulted a third officer - a 32-year-old senior constable - who was also treated at hospital.

The new footage shows a man in a red hoodie unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks at the two female officers (pictured)

The 43-year-old was charged with three counts of assault police officer in execution of duty, cause actual bodily harm, resist or hinder police officer in the execution of duty, not comply with noticed direction re s 7/8/9 - Covid-19, and travel or attempt travel without valid ticket.

He was refused bail and briefly appeared in Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon on Tuesday defended one of the female police officers who has been criticised on social media for not doing enough to protect her colleague.

Police arrested a man, 43, on Tuesday and he has been charged with a number of offences including assault police and breaching Covid public health orders (pictured)

He said he had seen another video clearly showing the first officer was repeatedly kicked and punched first and 'was dazed as a result of that assault'.

'She shouldn't this morning be having to defend her actions she did a brilliant job to defend her partner,' he told 2GB.

'If she hadn't done the actions she did the other officer could have been more significantly injured... she did a fantastic job to recover.'
Iran is just a month away from amassing sufficient nuclear fuel to create a single nuclear weapon, as needs to secure a nuclear agreement with the US and allies intensify.

Iran has never been closer to reaching near bomb-grade levels since the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Although officials have not specified to what degree the country has produced nuclear fuel, they have warned that it could be a matter of months until they secure a second nuclear weapon, The New York Times reported.

In 2015, Iran was forced to ship out more than 97percent of its fuel after reaching a nuclear accord during Obama's presidency.

But after the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019 during Trump's term, Iran has steadily built back its nuclear fuel reservoir.

This means that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's government will be in a privileged position when negotiations with the US to restore a nuclear accord begin.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has said that the terms of the prior deal would have to be upgraded due to Iran's quick fuel gain over the summer.

'I'm not going to put a date on it, but we are getting closer to the point at which a strict return to compliance,' he said.

Iran is just one month away from amassing sufficient nuclear fuel to create a single nuclear weapon, Pictured: Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, speaks with Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi, left

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's government will be in a privileged position when negotiations with the US to restore a nuclear accord begin

In 2015, Iran was forced to ship out more than 97percent of their fuel after reaching a nuclear accord with Obama's government, but after the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, Iran has attempted to enrich uranium at 60 percent purity

On Sunday, Iran agreed 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 agencys 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 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.'

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. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)

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 Irans 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, its difficult for me to say. But I dont 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.

On Sunday, Iran agreed 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 (pictured, Iranian nuclear centrifuges)

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 Irans nuclear advances, with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg citing 'Irans failure to allow access for nuclear inspections.'
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Revealed: The logistics of vaccinating over-12s in schools How will it work? The NHS has already been asked to prepare to offer Covid vaccines to 3million 12 to 15-year-olds. Doses will mostly be administered through the school vaccination programme, which manages HPV and flu inoculations in schools every year. Official figures showed almost 90 per cent of children offered the HPV vaccine every year take it. Children will likely receive their vaccines in suitable areas such as school halls. They will be delivered by nurses, healthcare support workers and administrative staff. Parents are set to receive a letter revealing the plans for jabbing kids in the coming days, No10's vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi revealed today. They will also be asked to consent to their child receiving the vaccine. Will it need parental consent? Under-16s are not automatically presumed to be legally competent to make decisions about their healthcare and, therefore, whether they should get the Covid jab. But the courts have previously ruled that under-16s are competent to give consent to an intervention if they have 'sufficient understanding and intelligence to understand fully what is proposed'. This is known as the 'Gillick test', and has been in place since the 1980s. The test is normally carried out by a medical professional or nurse, who assesses the child's maturity, and their understanding of the advantages, disadvantages and potential long-term impacts of vaccination. They then give a view on whether the child is competent to consent to vaccination. Can children overrule their parents? Mr Zahawi said today that children as young as 12 could be able to overrule their parents to get the vaccine. But he admitted this was likely to be a 'very rare occurrence' for the youngest children. He also said parents should not be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated. Mr Zahawi said children would only be able to choose to have the coronavirus vaccine against their parents' wishes following a meeting with a clinician. The deputy head of the JCVI Professor Anthony Harnden said there was 'sliding scale' of competency, meaning it would be easier for a 15-year-old to overrule their parents than a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent'. Professor Chris Whitty said, in terms of medical consent: 'In the majority of cases, children and their parents come to the same decision.' Advertisement

Plans to vaccinate all over-12s across the UK descended into further confusion and controversy today as Britain's vaccines minister admitted Year 7 children could ignore their parents' wishes  while Tory MPs warned the jab policy will 'tear families apart'.

A gloomy Chris Whitty warned yesterday that schools faced another winter of disruption and advised those aged 12 to 15 should be offered single doses of Pfizer's jab from next week. No10's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS was ready to begin inoculations from next Wednesday.

There are concerns that while parental consent will be sought, it will not be needed if the healthcare worker administering the jab considers the child is competent to make the decision themselves.

Today Mr Zahawi admitted that 12-year-olds will be able to override their parents' wishes on Covid jabs but he admitted it is likely to be 'a very rare occurrence'. He also said parents shouldn't be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated, given that top advisers insisted the benefits only marginally outweighed the risks.

But in more confusion, a senior member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), Professor Anthony Harnden, suggested there would be a sliding scale of competency, meaning that it would be easier for a 16-year-old to overrule a parent than for a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent' under the 'Gillick test', which has been in place for the medical treatment of minors since the 1980s.

Cotswolds Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told MPs he finds Covid jabs for secondary school children  and the rows it will cause  'deeply troubling'.

He said: 'It will pit parents against parents. Parents against teachers with a poor child stuck in the middle wondering what to do, for very little benefit for the child themselves, with a lack of long-term data of the potential harm.

'And, above all, what really concerns me about this is the Gillick doctrine of treating children without parental consent will become the norm for a whole range of medical procedures.'

Fellow Tory MP Marcus Fysh has claimed it is a 'very dark day for our country' while Ian Duncan Smith said he is sure the vaccines diktat will cause disputes within families after Mr 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 last night.

Conservative Dr Caroline Johnson added: 'I have given many vaccines in my time, including hundreds more recently of Covid vaccines. Half of children have already had coronavirus and are very likely to get it again. Does the minister really believe that vaccinating three million children to prevent an average of four days of school or less is really reasonable?'

Fury has erupted over the plans, with experts and parents warning it may lead to unvaccinated pupils being 'bullied' and could even 'tear families apart'.

Teaching unions have claimed staff have already been threatened with legal action if they advise pupils on getting the Covid vaccine.

The Covid vaccine is set to be dished out through the existing school vaccination programme, which also manages the roll out of both HPV and nasal flu jabs in schools every year. Uptake of the HPV vaccine, which is given to 12 and 13 year olds, is usually around 85 per cent.

Children will likely receive the Covid vaccine in school halls, and will have it delivered by nurses, healthcare support workers, or administrative staff.

Parents will receive forms in the coming days laying out the details of the vaccination programme for children in their area, and asking them to consent to their child receiving the Covid jab.

In cases where the parent and child disagree with each other, they will be dragged into school for a meeting with a clinician to try to get both parties on board. However, children will have the final say as long as they are deemed competent enough.

Medics decide their maturity through the 'Gillick' test, which has been in place since the 1980s and involves a professional asking a child about their understanding of the advantages, disadvantages and long-term impacts of vaccination.

Meanwhile, a JCVI boss today said confusion over whether children should receive the Covid vaccine has sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families. The Government's vaccine advisory committee said at the start of September that it would not recommend jabs for the age group, although they did offer a 'marginal' health benefit to children.

A booster vaccination drive is also set to be finalised today, with all over-50s expected to be offered a third dose ahead of the winter. Boris Johnson will unveil details this afternoon when he publishes the Covid winter plan.

Around 3million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after a gloomy Chris Whitty endorsed the move, claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter. Cotswolds Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has told MPs he finds the the go-ahead for Covid jabs for secondary school-age children 'deeply troubling'.

The above image shows an example of a parental consent form for the human papillomavirus jab. Parents are expected to receive a similar form in the coming days asking them to consent to their child receiving the Covid vaccine

The above graph shows the percentage of girls in year eight who got a first dose of the HPV vaccine over the latest five years for each region of England. It reveals that uptake stands at almost 90 per cent for this jab

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

Mr Zahawi confirmed this morning that children will be able to get their first dose of the Covid vaccine from next Wednesday.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'The NHS has been making plans that will hopefully be able to see the first vaccinations take place after consent, because obviously you need the information and the letters to go out and to receive that consent, by the 22nd of this month.'

Mr Zahawi said children would only be able to choose to have the Covid vaccine against their parents' wishes following a meeting with a clinician.

The vaccines minister told Sky News: 'Children will have a leaflet that they can share with their parents and of course we have a consent form that will go to them either electronically and, in some schools physically, to their parents, and their parents will then read all the information, have to give consent if the child is to be vaccinated.

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

'On the very rare occasion where there is a difference of opinion between the parent and the 12-15 year-old, where the parent for example doesn't want to give consent but the 12-15 year-old wants to have the vaccine, then the first step is the clinician will bring the parent and the child together to see whether they can reach consent.

'If that is not possible, then if the child is deemed to be competent - and this has been around since the '80s for all vaccination programmes in schools - if the child is deemed to be competent, Gillick competence as it is referred to, then the child can have the vaccine.

'But these are very rare occasions and it is very important to remember that the School Age Immunisation Service is incredibly well equipped to deal with this - clinicians are very well versed in delivering vaccinations to 12 to 15-year-olds in schools.'

Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said there will be a 'grade of competency' based on age when considering whether a child's decision to take the vaccine against a parent's wishes can be honoured.

When asked whether he would feel comfortable about a 12-year-old child taking up their offer of a vaccine if their parent had not consented, he told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'I wouldn't feel comfortable about that.

'I think we have to be really careful that we go by the law, and the law clearly states that the child and parent should try to come to an agreed conclusion.

'But that if the child wants to go ahead or doesn't want to go ahead and the parent feels absolutely the opposite, then the clinician involved in administering the vaccine needs to be absolutely sure that the child is competent to make that decision.

'There will be a grade of competency from the age of 16 downwards, so 14 to 15-year-olds may be deemed competent to make that decision on their own, it's less likely that a 12 or 13-year-old will be deemed competent.'

Professor Harnden admitted this morning that the JCVIs decision not to recommend vaccines for children on health grounds had sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families.

He told the Today programme: 'What we tried to do right the way through the pandemic as a committee is to be open and honest with the public and give them the best advice possible

'I think the public in the end will appreciate our honesty and I think they will also appreciate the CMOs perspective, and the Government offering them choice.

'I agree it will cause uncertainty, hesitation and debate within families, but sometimes life isnt black and white, and this is one of those situations.'

He added that parents and children need to be 'properly informed' and their choices on whether or not to have the vaccine should be 'respected'.

Other experts have warned the 'mixed messaging' around jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds has made some families hesitant about jabbing their children.

Professor Devi Sridhar, the personal chair in global public health at Edinburgh University and a member of Independent SAGE, said 'mixed messaging hasn't helped'.

She told Good Morning Britain: 'I personally think part of it is because they were so late with a decision  we have just had the same evidence that other countries have had since May and June, and those countries ran ahead because they knew the school year was coming and started vaccinating their children.

'There hasnt really been new evidence thats come up in the UK shift in position, so I think part of that is why we have had mixed messaging  theyre trying to explain to people why theyre doing something now that they didnt do two months ago.'

She added: 'Every virologist I know, whether its in Germany or in France or in the States or Canada, have gotten their child vaccinated as soon as they become eligible, it hasnt been something they struggled with, its been, "actually I want to protect my child as fast as possible".'

Professor Sridhar added that Covid vaccines could be rolled out for children as young as five in the coming months.

She said: 'The exciting thing on the horizon to mention, even for parents of younger kids, it looks like Pfizer is going for approval of the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds in the United States in October.

'This is going to be the next issue on the horizon  once we deal with the 12-17 year olds whether we do that for the under-12s.'

Yesterday Professor Chris Whitty told a Downing Street press conference there were 'no plans at the moment' to inoculate under-12s against the virus.

He said: 'We certainly have no plans at the moment to re-examine this, there are some nations that are doing this.

'It hasnt even got to the point where this has been considered by MHRA, so were a long way even thinking about this, so lets not rush that one at all.'

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in a Tweet yesterday evening: '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 yesterday 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.

'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.'

Conservative MP Dr Caroline Johnson has said she is not 'comfortable' with vaccinating teenagers to prevent 'educational disruption'.

Fellow Tory MP Marcus Fysh has claimed it is a 'very dark day for our country' while Ian Duncan Smith said he is sure the vaccines diktat will cause disputes within families after Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed the plans

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

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

Confusion over Covid vaccines for children has sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families Confusion over whether children should receive the Covid vaccine has sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families, a JCVI boss said today. Yesterday Britain's chief medical officers recommended jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds to reduce any disruption to their education this winter. It came after the Government's vaccine advisory committee said at the start of September that it would not recommend jabs for the age group, although they did offer a 'marginal' health benefit to children. Professor Anthony Harnden, the deputy chairman on the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), admitted today that the varying advice had sparked uncertainty among families. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'What we tried to do right the way through the pandemic as a committee is to be open and honest with the public and give them the best advice possible 'I think the public in the end will appreciate our honesty and I think they will also appreciate the CMOs perspective, and the Government offering them choice. 'I agree it will cause uncertainty, hesitation and debate within families, but sometimes life isnt black and white, and this is one of those situations.' He added that parents and children need to be 'properly informed' and their choices on whether or not to have the vaccine should be 'respected'. Other experts have warned the 'mixed messaging' around jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds had damaged uptake. Professor Devi Sridhar, a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, told Good Morning Britain: 'I personally think part of it is because they were so late with a decision  we have just had the same evidence that other countries have had since May and June, and those countries ran ahead because they knew the school year was coming and started vaccinating their children. 'There hasnt really been new evidence thats come up in the UK shift in position, so I think part of that is why we have had mixed messaging  theyre trying to explain to people why theyre doing something now that they didnt do two months ago.' She added: 'Every virologist I know, whether its in Germany or in France or in the US or Canada, have gotten their child vaccinated as soon as they become eligible, it hasnt been something they struggled with, its been, "actually I want to protect my child as fast as possible".' Advertisement

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

Over-fives could be next group offered Covid vaccines, says expert Over-fives could be next in line for a Covid vaccine, an Independent SAGE member has said. Professor Devi Sridhar, who is a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, told Good Morning Britain jabs for this age group were the 'next issue on the horizon'. She said: 'The exciting thing on the horizon to mention, even for parents of younger kids, 'It looks like Pfizer is going for approval of the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds in the US in October, so this is going to be the next issue on the horizon  once we deal with the 12-17 year olds whether we do that for the under-12s.' Yesterday Professor Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers from the devolved nations recommended vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds, saying they would slash time off school due to the virus. But they said there were 'no plans' to expand the roll out to children in younger age groups. Professor Whitty told a Downing Street press conference: 'We certainly have no plans at the moment to re-examine this, there are some nations that are doing this. 'It hasnt even got to the point where this has been considered by MHRA, so were a long way even thinking about this, so lets not rush that one at all.' 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.'
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Dramatic video from southeastern Texas shows the moment Tropical Storm Nicholas made landfall as a hurricane before dawn on Tuesday, creating white-out conditions that flooded convenience stores and downed power lines as some 14 inches of rain were reported in Galveston while 4ft storm surge inundated the Gulf Coast.

The hurricane also cut offshore oil and gas output gradually recovering from the last storm and disrupting power to onshore pipeline, gas and chemical plants.

Royal Dutch Shell halted production its Perdido offshore oil platform due to heavy winds, and US liquefied natural gas producer Freeport LNG said processing at its Texas coast facility was halted, likely due to a power outage.

Siblings Brianna and Jonathan Werbil fish in flood waters surrounding a neighbourhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in League City, Texas on Tuesday

Houses stand in flood waters in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in Jamaica Beach, Texas on Tuesday

Parts of a roof sit on top of a car parked at Blessings Tire and Auto Care following Hurricane Nicholas in Bay City, Texas on Tuesday

Nicholas made landfall on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm. It was about 30 miles south-southwest of Houston, Texas, with maximum winds of 70 mph as of 4am local time on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami

Power losses briefly cut Colonial Pipeline's main gasoline and diesel lines out of Houston, with its gasoline line resuming some shipments midday. Outages also halted production at Lyondell Basell's plastics plant in Matagorda County, Texas.

Shipping at several Texas and Louisiana ports also ground to a halt on heavy seas and power outages.

Gulf Coast oil refiners were largely unscathed. Citgo Petroleum and Phillips Petroleum said their operations in Texas and Louisiana were continuing. Shell also said its Deer Park, Texas, plant ran through the storm.

More than 500,000 people were without power as of early Tuesday morning as officials warned of potentially life-threatening storm surge and flash floods across the Deep South.

Nicholas dumped more than a foot of rain along the same area swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, drenching storm-battered Louisiana.

Over 40 percent of the Gulf's oil output remained shut on Monday after Ida, a Category 4 storm, damaged offshore infrastructure and other critical energy facilities in Louisiana.

US gasoline futures were up slightly on Tuesday, at $2.1691 a gallon, while benchmark US oil futures were trading flat $70.33 a barrel.

Shell said it was ready to restart production at its offshore Perdido platform once power is restored to a receiving facility.

The company had no plans to return staff to the offshore facility on Tuesday.

Over 500,000 customers in Texas were without power due to the storm, including 150,000 in Houston, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Vessel traffic was idled on Tuesday morning at the Houston Ship Channel as pilots continued to suspend activity while Nicholas moved through the area, a pilot official said.

The ports of Houston, Freeport, Galveston and Texas City were open with restrictions, according to the US Coast Guard. The Port of Houston and Freeport Harbor Channel both reported power outages.

Vessel traffic on the Calcasieu Ship Channel was also suspended on Tuesday, the Lake Charles, Louisiana, Pilots Association said.

The image above shows flooding in Surfside Beach, Texas after the arrival of Hurricane Nicholas early on Tuesday morning

The Surfside Beach Fire Department structure is inundated with water after Hurricane Nicholas slammed into the Texas coast

Heavy rains lashed Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday as Hurricane Nicholas weakened into a tropical storm. The image above shows the moment Nicholas made landfall in Surfside Beach, Texas before dawn on Tuesday

A convenience store is completely flooded in Surfside Beach after Nicholas made landfall in the Lone Star State

Texas officials asked residents to stay off the roads on Tuesday and wait until the storm passes. The image above shows a vehicle on the road in Surfside early on Tuesday morning

A CITGO gas station roof is blown away by Tropical Storm Nicholas in Matagorda, Texas on Sept. 13

The pilots bring vessels delivering or loading at oil and chemical plants in the Port of Lake Charles.

Texas and Louisiana ports set restrictions while Nicholas passes through, and some shippers expect these to add to delays from infrastructure woes caused by Hurricane Ida for loading vessels with US crudes for exports and discharging oil imports for refining.

Nicholas made landfall on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm.

It was about 30 miles south-southwest of Houston, Texas, with maximum winds of 70 mph as of 4am local time on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Enrique Diaz checks on a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in San Luis Pass, Texas on Tuesday

Gary Goerner surveys the damage from Hurricane Nicholas as he walks through his neighborhood in San Luis Pass, Texas on Tuesday

Bubba Ferguson drags a boat through a flooded street in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in San Luis Pass, Texas on Tuesday

A flooded street is shown after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the area in Galveston, Texas on Tuesday

A flooded street is shown after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the area in Galveston, Texas on Tuesday

A man walks down Seawall Boulevard near 61st Street in Galveston, Texas on Tuesday

A carport hangs from power-lines after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the area in Houston on Tuesday morning

A worker restores power to traffic lights in the aftermath of Nicholas in League City, Texas on Tuesday

Adrian Bentancourt cleans up debris from a fence that was blow down by Hurricane Nicholas in Galveston, Texas on Tuesday

Debris and damaged road construction are left after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through Houston on Tuesday

A man fishes under a tree as flood waters surround a neighborhood in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in League City

Officials in Texas warned of potentially life-threatening storm surge and flash flooding on Tuesday

Debris lies in the pool of a home in the aftermath of Hurricane Nicholas in League City, Texas on Tuesday

Dallas Baines, 77, disposes of fallen tree branches after Tropical Storm Nicholas moved through the area in Houston on Tuesday

Nicholas was the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.

The storm was moving north-northeast at 9 mph and the center of Nicholas was expected to move slowly over southeastern Texas on Tuesday and over southwestern Louisiana on Wednesday.

Galveston has received nearly 14 inches of rain with the storm while the flood-prone Houston area saw more than 6 inches of rain, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service.

Nicholas could dump up to 20 inches of rain in parts of central and southern Louisiana.

Nearly all of the coastline in Texas was under a tropical storm warning that included potential flash floods and urban flooding.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said authorities placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast.

As of early Tuesday morning, more than 500,000 residents of southeastern Texas were without power

The center of Nicholas is expected to move slowly over southeastern Texas on Tuesday and over southwestern Louisiana on Wednesday

The storm is moving toward the northeast at just 9mph, raising concerns that it will dump excessive amounts of rain in its path

The biggest unknown about Nicholas was how much rainfall it would produce in Texas, especially in flood-prone Houston. A tornado or two may also be possible Tuesday along the upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coast

Flood watches are in effect along the Gulf Coast stretching from southeastern Texas toward Mobile, Alabama

In Houston, 50mph winds gusts were reported. The storm is expected to gradually weaken as it continues to make its way over land

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the southeastern Texas coast, the metropolitan Houston area, and southwestern Louisiana

In Houston, officials worried that heavy rain 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 Monday.

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.

The storm created near white-out conditions as it lashed the southeastern Texas coast early on Tuesday morning

The horizon is barely visible as torrential downpours pound the region before dawn on Tuesday

The Surfside Food Mart is flooded before dawn on Tuesday morning as the hurricane made landfall

Snapped tree branches line the roadways adjacent to the coast in Surfside Beach, Texas early on Tuesday morning

A home on the coast withstands the pounding rain and floodwaters caused by the hurricane early on Tuesday morning

Meteorologist Kent Prochazka of the National Weather Service told The Associated Press early Tuesday that Nicholas' winds downed trees in coastal counties and caused some gas stations to lose awnings.

Right before it made landfall, it abruptly intensified into a hurricane and as it moved inland, the pressures began to rise with it. The winds have relaxed slightly and now were getting down into tropical storm force (winds), he said.

CenterPoint Energy reported that over 300,000 customers lost power as the storm rolled through Houston and that it expected those numbers to rise.

Numerous school districts along the Texas Gulf Coast canceled classes Monday because of the incoming storm.

The Houston school district, the states largest, as well as others, announced that classes would be canceled on Tuesday.

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.

Six to 12 inches of rain were expected along the middle and upper Texas coast, with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches possible.

The image above shows I-45 North in Houston flooded as a result of the heavy rainfall brought about by the hurricane

Houston's roadways were mostly empty as the city expected to see significant rainfall on Tuesday

Hurricane Nicholas made landfall along the Texas coast on Tuesday, bringing the threat of up to 20 inches of rainfall to parts of the Gulf Coast

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says authorities have placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast (Pictured: Debris from high speed winds as Nicholas approaches Palacious, Texas on Monday, Sept. 13)

Frank Rivera streams a Facebook live as he fishes with a friend, while Tropical Storm Nicholas heads towards the Texas coast, Monday, Sept. 13, along the seawall in Galveston

Hurricane Nicholas slams Texas with rain and winds with speeds reaching 75mph

Strong winds from Hurricane Nicholas cause flooding in parts of Texas

Other parts of southeast Texas and south-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches over the coming days.

A tornado or two may be possible Tuesday along the upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coast, according to the weather service.

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 brought rain to the same area of Texas that was hit hard by Harvey.

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, including 36 in the Houston area.

After Harvey, voters approved the issuance of $2.5billion 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.

A surfer tries to paddle through the surf as wind and rain from Tropical Storm Nicholas batters the area Monday, Sept. 13 along the seawall in Galveston, Texas

People surf ahead of the Tropical Storm Nicholas on Sept. 13 in Galveston, Texas. A hurricane watch was in effect at the time as Nicholas was expected to make landfall later that evening

John Pittman, a nurse who works in emergency medicine, fishes to decompress as Tropical Storm Nicholas heads toward the Texas coast, on Monday, Sept. 13 along the seawall in Galveston, Texas

Transmission towers are shown ahead of the Tropical Storm Nicholas on Sept. 13 in Galveston, Texas

But University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said he expects that Nicholas will be magnitudes less than Harvey in every regard.

The worry with Nicholas will be how slowly it moves.

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 Governor 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.

Celbing Diaz is engulfed by a wave while fishing ahead of the Tropical Storm Nicholas on Sept. 13 in Galveston, Texas

Cheri Daigle, a retired teacher, takes a photo as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches the Texas coast Monday, Sept. 13, along the seawall in Galveston, Texas

A woman watches her friends swim as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches the Texas coast Monday, Sept. 13, along the seawall in Galveston, Texas

Local resident John Smith holds his 18-month-old son Owen as he stands near breaking waves on a pier ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Nicholas in Galveston, Texas on Sept. 13

People shield their faces from wind and sand ahead of Tropical Storm Nicholas, Monday, Sept. 13, on the North Packery Channel Jetty in Corpus Christi, Texas as lifeguards paroled the beach to warn people of the upcoming conditions

Vehicles make their way over the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge in Matagorda, Texas as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches on Monday, Sept. 13

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, Edwards said.

The storm was expected to bring the heaviest rainfall west of where Ida slammed into Louisiana two weeks ago.

Ida has been blamed for 86 deaths throughout the United States. Across Louisiana, about 95,000 customers remained without power Tuesday morning, according to the utility tracking site poweroutage.us.

Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach said via Twitter that only four other years since 1966 have had 14 or more named storms by Sept. 12: 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2020.
Another New South Wales region could face being locked down after coronavirus fragments were detected in the area, just a day after Yass plunged into a lockdown.

There are growing fears residents in the town of Young - just an hour's drive from Yass, could soon face stay-at-home orders.

At least 6,500 residents in the town of Yass, south-west of Sydney near Canberra, entered a two week lockdown on Tuesday after just one local case of Covid-19 was identified, and just three days after restrictions had been eased.

Health officials have now turned their attention to the area of Young, after coronavirus fragments were found in wastewater samples at the southern tablelands over the weekend.

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Residents in the town of Young, an hour drive from the locked down region of Yass, could soon be facing stay-at-home orders after health officials raise concern over wastewater testing (pictured, regional healthcare workers assist locals in the Wilcannia region)

'We've had some further sewage detections as part of our ongoing sewerage surveillance program in New South Wales, including at Young, where we have no known cases,' NSW Health's Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.

Dr McAnulty said there were no reported cases in the Murrumbidgee local health district, but urged residents to come forward for testing on Tuesday.

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.

The rest of NSW recorded 1,127 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Tuesday as Sydneysiders reach almost 12 weeks in lockdown.

Coronavirus fragments have been detected in wastewater samples in the area of Young in the Southern Tablelands over the weekend (pictured, stock image)

The region of Yass (pictured) in the NSW southern tablelands will go back into lockdown for at least two weeks after a local case emerged.

Of the new cases, the majority of new infections remain in Sydney's west and south-west areas.

Dr McAnulty said the suburbs of greatest concern are Auburn, Greenacre, Bankstown, Liverpool, Merrylands, Punchbowl, Riverwood, Yagoona, Condell Park and St Clair.

For western NSW, 14 new infections were recorded while another 14 were counted in the Hunter region and nine cases in the Central Coast.

The north-western suburb of Walgett recorded two new Covid-19 cases in the latest reporting period, while Dubbo recorded nine and Wellington two.



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 in the town of Yass have been urged to come forward for testing after confirmation of a positive Covid case (pictured, a health worker collects a Covid-19 swab)

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.

'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.

The Yass Hotel (pictured) will be forced to shut its doors again, two days after it reopened for the first time in a month

'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.

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.
A multi-millionaire former first lady of Australia has sparked outrage after calling for sunbathers to be arrested for going to the beach amid the country's draconian lockdown rules.

Therese Rein, the wife of former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, responded to a tweet about the 'insanely busy' Balmoral Beach near Sydney.

The 63-year-old, who lives in a waterfront mansion on Queensland's Sunshine Coast with its own 40ft pool and cinema room, asked: '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 areas of concern.

Australia is still in the grip of a surge in cases, with 1,578 new infections recorded on Monday, although the death toll has remained low.

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?'

Many packed the beaches on Sydney over the weekend as temperatures soared, with Balmoral Beach (pictured) full of sunbathers

What are Australia's harsh Covid rules? Australia was the envy of the world for much of last year after it managed to control the spread of Covid and carry on with relatively few restrictions. But the Delta variant has caused a huge surge in infections among the mostly unvaccinated population. In response, states have imposed harsh lockdowns in an effort to stop the spread until more people are jabbed. In Covid hotspots such as Sydney, outdoor recreation is allowed but local government areas of concern are subject to tighter stay-at-home rules. From Monday, residents in the 12 areas of concern are now able to leave home within 5km for recreation and exercise if they are fully vaccinated. Since the regions are in the west and south-west of Sydney, this makes most beaches and public places out of reach. In the rest of New South Wales, some areas have emerged from lockdown but others are under stay-at-home orders. One region was plunged back into a two-week lockdown after a single case was recorded. Other states are subject to different rules, with Victoria easing measures on Thursday, opening schools and allowing weddings for 10 people, apart from its capital of Melbourne. Residents of greater Melbourne have to stay home between 9pm and 5am and can only head out for essential shopping, exercise or work. Advertisement

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.

Thousands who have been living under stay-at-home orders in Sydney 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 Bondi and Coogee full of sunbathers.

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.

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 1,200 to 1,500 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.

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

The backlash was immediate from angry Twitter users blasting the former first lady of Australia

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 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.'
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Britain is set to bask in sunshine tomorrow with temperatures reaching up to 71F (22C), after London was lashed by 'biblical' downpours that left Tower Bridge underwater during rush hour today.

Heavy showers will clear eastwards overnight, making way for sunny spells and warmer conditions, particularly in northern England, said the Met Office.

The forecast comes in stark contrast to that of today, which saw commuters in London battle flash flooding on their way to work as parts of the North Circular and the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach and Underground services including the District Line were left submerged.

Dramatic footage showed buses and cars struggling to get across the landmark bridge, while photos shared by angry Londoners with MailOnline also showed the A41 by Brent Cross shopping centre and Euston Road left in deep rainwater.

The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning stretching for hundreds of miles from London as far north as Hartlepool and said heavy downpours may cause disruption across England throughout the day.

Parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also experienced wet weather today, but no warnings were issued for these nations.

Meanwhile, bookmaker Coral makes this month odds on at 1-2 to be the hottest September since records began, predicting temperatures of up to 77F (25C) this weekend.

Scroll down for videos.

LONDON TOWER BRIDGE: Biblical rainfall lashed London this morning, with torrential downpours leaving Tower Bridge underwater as flash flooding wreaked travel chaos across the capital

LONDON TOWER BRIDGE: Astonishing video footage showed buses and cars struggling to get across Tower Bridge, the famous London landmark which was practically underwater this morning

LONDON TOWER BRIDGE: Footage taken this morning shows Tower Bridge under water with vehicles swashing through deep streams of rainwater

NORTH LONDON: Cars plough through floodwater on the A41 in North London this afternoon

CAMBRIDGE: Treacherous driving conditions on the M11 near Cambridge on Tuesday afternoon

LONDON TOWER BRIDGE: Motorist drive through rain water on a flooded Tower Bridge road in London on September 14, 2021

LONDON VICTORIA: A woman wearing a facemask is seen walking through a big puddle in London Victoria this morning

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for most of England and said heavy downpours could cause disruption across the country throughout the day

London: What to do if the road is flooded Torrential rainfall today carries with it the risk of localised flooding. The Met Office has reminded motorists that if the road is flooded they should turn around and find another route. The number one cause of death during flooding is driving through flood water, so the safest advice is to turn back. The water can also damage your car, with just an egg-cupful of water sucking into your engine possibly leading to severe damage. Although the water may seem shallow, as little as 30cm of moving water can float your car, potentially carrying it into deeper water from which you may need rescuing. Advertisement

Much of the UK basked in sweltering sunshine at the start of the month, including Wales which experienced its warmest September night on record, while temperatures in Scotland reached the highest since 1906.

But grey skies and temperatures in the late teens hailed the end of summery weather towards the middle of the month. Cars were captured ploughing through floodwater in central London beneath a blanket of clouds on Tuesday morning.

Today's temperatures of around 64.4F in London and 59F in Edinburgh will climb to around 69.8F and 64.4F respectively on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

In its forecast for tomorrow, the Met Office said: 'Low cloud and fog lifting steadily during the morning, then dry for many with sunny spells developing.

'Showers in the northwest moving eastwards. Warmer than Tuesday, particularly in northern England.'

Meanwhile, temperatures in Cardiff and Belfast are predicted to remain constant at around 64.4F throughout the working week.

Ms Shuttleworth said that the long-range forecast for September is uncertain, but forecasters expect temperatures across the UK to be slightly higher than average for the time of year.

Transport for London (TfL) also indicated that the District Line was not stopping at Mile End due to flooding.

The Met Office issued the yellow weather warning this morning, affecting bus and train services with journey times taking longer and the chance of cancellations.

Drivers were also warned that spray and flooding on roads would make journey times longer with some difficult driving conditions and the chance of road closures.

Referring to today's weather, a spokesman for the forecasting service earlier said: 'An area of rain is expected to move northeastwards across much of England on Tuesday, with thunder in a few places.

LONDON: Photos shared with MailOnline show flooding on the A41 by Brent Cross shopping centre

EUSTON ROAD: Cyclist and cars battling the elements in North London as the Met Office issues a yellow warning

EUSTON ROAD: Cyclist and cars battling the elements in North London as the Met Office issues a yellow warning

EUSTON ROAD: Cyclist and cars battling the elements in North London as the Met Office issues a yellow warning

EUSTON ROAD: A cyclist ploughs through surface water on the Euston road in North London during heavy rainfall

CAMBRIDGE: Cyclists battle the elements in Cambridge this morning as rain lashes parts of England

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for large parts of the country today as heavy downpours batter the UK

'15-25mm of rain is likely quite widely with up to 40mm in a few places, leading to some flooding and disruption.

'However, there is a small chance that this rain will especially intense in a few places with 50-70mm possible, and more significant disruption where this occurs.'

Weather agency MeteoGroup UK said in its forecast for tonight: 'Rain will continue across northern and eastern England during the evening and will be locally heavy for coastal areas.

'Overnight will continue to slowly clear from the west to leave most areas dry with clear spells and patches of mist and fog will form. Rain will linger across the north-east to dawn.'

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, had urged people to report any flooding on the roads as a comment on a Facebook post in the group Walthamstow Life.

LONDON VICTORIA: Commuters splash through large puddles near London Victoria station as the capital is battered by rain

LONDON VICTORIA: A woman uses a folder to shelter herself from the heavy rain near London Victoria station

LONDON VICTORIA: Road and transport networks saw delays in London after heavy downpours began before 6am

CAMBRIDGE: Cyclists battle the elements in Cambridge this morning as rain lashes parts of England

CAMBRIDGE: Cyclists battle the elements in Cambridge this morning as the Met Office issues a yellow warning

Taking to Twitter, one person angrily wrote: 'I think it's fair to say that my first trip into London in over a year is awful. P***ing down with rain. Train delayed. Folk pulling out of the meeting I've travelled in especially for. Long queue for a taxi. Horrible grumpy people. Of which I am now one'

She said: 'Walthamstow Met office have issued warning of possible 'disruption' caused by the heavy rain today so have put post on Walthamstow life for reports of flooding - please use that to let me and my team know if any problems so can follow up! Fingers crossed not needed.'

Taking to Twitter, one person angrily wrote: 'I think it's fair to say that my first trip into London in over a year is awful. P***ing down with rain. Train delayed.

'Folk pulling out of the meeting I've travelled in especially for. Long queue for a taxi. Horrible grumpy people. Of which I am now one.'

Another tweeted: 'Having cycled 18miles in the rain, am pretty sure the last time London had adequate drains was when the Romans were here.'

Meanwhile, Coral's Harry Aitkenhead said: 'The sun is going to shine again this weekend and with temperatures set to soar back up towards 86F (30C), this month is now firmly odds on to be our hottest September since records began.'
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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

Travel firms have demanded the end of the 'overly cautious' traffic light system for foreign travel amid warnings that two-thirds of employers are planning redundancies once furlough ends this month.

A survey from travel association ABTA revealed that 69% of its members are planning to let staff go after September 30.

The body is now calling for the traffic light system to be scrapped, along with the widespread use of PCR testing.

It accused the government of wasting the success of the vaccine rollout and said that the restrictions hammered the travel sector during the peak summer season and inflicted huge damage on the industry's chances of post-pandemic recovery.

The association's call comes as ministers prepare to review restrictions on international travel this week - with 24 countries expected to be added to the green list.

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.

However, ABTA has warned the scrapping of the system will come too late.

The body said that it expected almost 100,000 people in the sector to have either lost their jobs or walked away during the pandemic once furlough ends.

ABTA chief executive, Mark Tanzer, said: 'The government's travel requirements have choked off this summer's travel trade - putting jobs, businesses and the UK's connectivity at risk.

'While our European neighbours have been travelling freely and safely, the British were subject to expensive measures which have stood in the way of people visiting family and friends, taking that much-needed foreign holiday and making important business connections.

'The government needs to wake up to the damage its policies are doing to the UK travel industry and the impact they will have on the wider economic recovery.

'It is the fares from leisure passengers that keep our planes flying and routes open - a diminished holiday industry is a diminished aviation industry with fewer routes and fewer flights. That's not how you achieve a global Britain.'

Meanwhile, 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.

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.'

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

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.

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.
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Boris Johnson's top medical and scientific advisers warned that 'winter is coming' and he might need to 'go early and go hard' with restrictions today - as the PM said compulsory masks and Covid passports are being 'kept in reserve' if booster jabs and vaccines for schoolchildren fails to keep the disease under control.

Fronting a press conference alongside Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the PM insisted that the UK was 'incomparably' better placed to deal with the disease this year.

He said he hoped the situation could be kept stable with more jabs and the public behaving sensibly - although ministers have made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out as a 'last resort'.

But Prof Whitty gave a more downbeat assessment, invoking the famous mantra from hit TV show Game of Thrones by warning that 'winter is coming'. He said that infections were 'high' relative to last year, and the NHS was under 'extreme pressure' even though vaccines were helping significantly.

Meanwhile, Sir Patrick seemed to send a thinly-veiled message to Mr Johnson by saying that when it comes to measures to stem cases the lesson was 'you have to go earlier than you want to, you have to go harder than you want to'.

The premier was addressing the nation just hours after it emerged his mother had died, and thanked people for their condolences.

But his winter plan has alarmed businesses and enraged Tory MPs, who heckled Sajid Javid in the Commons as he said it includes the 'Plan B' of making masks compulsory 'in certain settings', more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will stay on the table and could be introduced in England with a week's notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.

There was a boost for Mr Johnson this evening as cases fell 30 per cent week on week to 26,628 and deaths dropped 12 per cent to to 185 - although hospitalisations were up 2 per cent.

Despite the tough messaging on the need to be cautious, ministers packed into the Cabinet room this morning with no masks as they were briefed on the contents of the plan.

At his press conference in Downing Street, Mr Johnson insisted less drastic changes could control the outbreaks this time.

'When you've got a large proportion, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we don't have to go back to the lockdowns of the past,' he said.

He added: 'In the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.'

Prof Whitty said the data showed someone in their 30s and unvaccinated was running the same risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to provide an update on international travel ahead of the formal review point on October 1 - with hopes he will scrap the traffic light system and announce PCR tests are being phased out. He is expected to say fully-jabbed holidaymakers will be able to rely on lateral flow versions instead.

But as well as making their views obvious about the return of masks, Tory MPs demanded the government gives up more powers to impose restrictions on liberties.

There is also a widening split between the approach in England and Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon is bringing in Covid passports for nightclubs and large events. The SNP leader also says school pupils will need to wear face coverings indoors until at least the October holidays, and large in-person lectures will not be happening at universities.

Fronting a press conference alongside Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the PM insisted that the UK was 'incomparably' better placed to deal with the disease this year

Mr Johnson was joined by England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty (pictured far left), and the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance (pictured middle), at the press conference this afternoon

Javid slams GPs for failing to see patients face to face amid pandemic Sajid Javid today took aim at GPs for not doing face-to-face appointments. The Health Secretary delivered a warning that the government 'do a lot more' to ensure doctors go back to seeing patients in person. The comments came after Conservative MP Dean Russell raised concerns over some GP surgeries in his Watford constituency 'still not opening their doors' to see patients. 'Does he agree with me that we should encourage those GP surgeries to start opening up to help with the backlog and help see people face-to-face?' Mr Javid replied: 'Yes, I agree with (Mr Russell). He's right to raise this. 'I think everyone can understand why during the height of the pandemic that GPs couldn't provide access in the normal way. 'But we're way past that now, life is starting to return almost back to completely normal and as that is happening it should be happening in our GP surgeries too, and more GPs should be offering face-to-face access. 'We intend to do a lot more about it.' Advertisement

Sir Patrick said the UK is at a 'pivot point' in the pandemic and if the situation worsens quickly then ministers must 'go early'.

The chief scientific adviser said: 'If you look across the Channel, countries where you've got similar levels of immunity and some higher degrees of restrictions, what you can see is cases are going down.

'So, you can see we're sort of at that pivot point where things are flattish at the moment.

'If they go up quickly then, as I've said, you've got to go early in terms of getting on top of it  you can't wait until it's late because you've got to do more.'

Prof Whitty said: 'We're entering the autumn and winter period at a much higher level in terms of the number of cases, in terms of number of hospitalisations, in terms of number of deaths than we were this time last year.'

He said people do not need a medical degree to know that autumn and winter is a time when respiratory viruses, such as flu and others, are 'hugely advantaged'.

He added: 'If you've not had your vaccination, now is a very good time to do so.'

Prof Whitty said Public Health England data shows in every age bracket there is a 'very substantially smaller' risk of being admitted to hospital with Covid if someone is vaccinated compared to those who are not jabbed.

'If you just do a very crude look at the numbers, someone who is in their 30s and unvaccinated is running about the same risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated. It's that level of difference,' he said.

'One of the most depressing things for doctors, including myself, is talking to people who have just chosen not to get vaccinated because it wasn't convenient at that particular moment and you see them being wheeled down to intensive care, and you know this was a very serious problem as a result of them not being vaccinated.'

He said people must encourage 'everybody we know to get vaccinated' and that for most people it is not that they are anti-vaccination, but rather they just have not got around to doing it.

He added: 'We're about to enter winter. Winter is coming and people really should take this seriously.'

The Winter Plan document lays out the details of Plan A and Plan B. But although it does not go into detail about other contingencies, it states that further steps cannot be ruled out.

'While the Government expects that, with strong engagement from the public and businesses, these contingency measures should be sufficient to reverse a resurgence in autumn or winter, the nature of the virus means it is not possible to give guarantees,' the document said.

'The Government remains committed to taking whatever action is necessary to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed but more harmful economic and social restrictions would only be considered as a last resort.'

Mr Javid said the package is designed to give the 'best possible chance' of avoiding harsher restrictions, but he said that in a situation such as the emergence of an 'escape variant' the government would go further.

'Any responsible government must prepare for all eventualities,' he said, adding that he was determined to 'protect the progress' that had been made.

'The plan shows how we'll give this nation the best possible chance of living with Covid without the need for stringent social and economic restrictions,' the Cabinet minister said.

He said it is 'highly likely' that frontline NHS staff and those in wider social care settings will need to have Covid-19 and flu vaccinations in order to be deployed.

Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne, who was among those protesting when Mr Javid threatened mandatory face coverings, urged the Government to review the 1984 Public Health Act used to 'take away our liberties'.

'He retains all the powers of the 1984 Public Health Act, which we used to take away our liberties without parliamentary prior authority,' Sir Desmond said.

'Will he undertake to review and give us a new Public Health Act?'

Ministers were packed in the Cabinet room this morning with no masks as they were briefed on the contents of the plan

Sajid Javid made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out today as he unveiled the government's 'winter plan' - admitting that ministers can only give Britons the 'best possible chance' of avoiding brutal curbs

Mr Johnson (right), Patrick Vallance (centre) and Chris Whitty (left) leave No10 for the press conference at No9 today

ALL over-50s will get booster Covid jabs: 32m Brits will be offered Pfizer or Moderna as health chiefs sign off on rollout A mass Covid booster vaccine campaign for tens of millions of Britons will be launched next week in a race to avoid a winter lockdown, it was announced today. The Government's vaccine advisory panel finally signed off on the plans after weeks of deliberation, with third doses now being recommended for roughly 32million over-50s, as well as frontline health and care workers. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told a Downing Street press conference that the booster programme would provide 'very good' immunity and help 'keep the lid on' the epidemic this winter. The NHS will start inviting eligible Britons from next week. People are only being invited to come forward if they had their second injection at least six months ago, which officials said was the 'sweet spot' for boosters. Third doses will be rolled out to the top nine priority groups who were first in line during the initial Covid vaccination programme, with the elderly and vulnerable first in line. It took about four months to cover those groups with a first dose earlier this year, but officials expect the booster scheme to quicker now because the infrastructure and expertise is already in place. Members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) approved the plans on the back of growing real-world data in Israel and elsewhere, as well as a major British study, which showed vaccine-induced immunity wanes slightly within months. Britons who are eligible will be given the Pfizer vaccine in the first instance, no matter which jab they were originally immunised with. When there are supply constraints, the Moderna vaccine will be offered as a booster, but only as a half dose. Officials said there was more evidence that the mRNA vaccines were safe and effective when given as a third dose, which is why they are not recommending AstraZeneca's. Moderna's is being given as a half dose because the lower dosage is associated with fewer side effects and still produces a strong immune response, the JCVI said. The announcement comes ahead of what is widely accepted will be a challenging winter for the NHS with an unusually low amount of natural immunity to flu and other respiratory viruses due to more than a year of social restrictions. Advertisement

Mr Javid replied: 'We keep all rules and acts under review at all times.'

Conservative Steve Baker noted the public health powers 'are still there', as he asked: '(He) amongst other things is keeping Covid-status certification in reserve, he's leaving mass asymptomatic testing in place together with contact tracingthe public health powers are still there of course allowing him to lock us down at the stroke of his pen without prior votes or any formal way of justifying the proportionality of those powers.

'So when can we expect all of these things to be dealt with so that we can all have the certainty that will come from knowing that we're living with an endemic disease, living with the disease thanks to the vaccine in the way that we live with the endemic disease flu so that we can all get on with our lives.'

Mr Javid replied: 'I know (he) may not agree with every measure that the Government is keeping in place I hope he agrees that at least those measures are the right measures and the kind of things that need to be done as we live with Covid-19.'

Downing Street has refused to give any indication of what metric will be used to trigger restrictions in the plan.

'As we did with the road map, we never looked to one single metric to decide when to act,' the PM's spokesman said.

'It is important to take a holistic approach and consider a range of data.

'Obviously the number of patients in hospital is an important factor, as is the interaction with other indicators, such as the rate of increase in hospitalisations, things like the ratio of cases to hospitalisations, and the trajectory of new cases.

'All of those sort of things would need to be factored in alongside vaccine effectiveness, waning immunity, etc.

'It is right to look at a range of metrics and not be overly prescriptive and consider the latest advice we are getting from experts, like Professor Whitty and others.'

Ministers yesterday accepted the chief medical officer's advice that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered doses.

Secondary pupils are to be offered jabs at school from next week, despite concerns that the move could stigmatise those who refuse and lead to 'bullying'.

Mr Zahawi confirmed this morning that 12-year-olds will be able to override their parents' wishes in some circumstances, although he insisted it is likely to be a 'very rare occurence'.

Government scientists today also gave the green light for booster shots for the over-50s, starting this month.

The vaccine advisory panel recommended a third dose for roughly 30million people aged 50 and over who received their second injection at least six months ago.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told a Downing Street press conference that the jabs would help 'keep the lid on' the virus and make it more likely the country could have a normal winter.

Members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) approved the plans on the back of growing real-world data in Israel and elsewhere, as well as a major British study, which suggested vaccine-induced immunity wanes within months.

There had been mounting pressure for the UK to follow Israel, the US, and other nations which have been booster dosing their citizens for months.

Britons who are eligible will be given the Pfizer vaccine in the first instance, no matter which jab they were originally immunised with. When there are supply constraints, the Moderna vaccine will be offered as a booster in the form of a half dose.

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

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

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

Plans to vaccinate under-16s descend into chaos Plans to vaccinate all over-12s across the UK descended into further confusion and controversy today as Britain's vaccines minister admitted Year 7 children could ignore their parents' wishes  while Tory MPs warned the jab policy will 'tear families apart'. A gloomy Chris Whitty warned yesterday that schools faced another winter of disruption and advised those aged 12 to 15 should be offered single doses of Pfizer's jab from next week. No10's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS was ready to begin inoculations from next Wednesday. There are concerns that while parental consent will be sought, it will not be needed if the healthcare worker administering the jab considers the child is competent to make the decision themselves. Today Mr Zahawi admitted that 12-year-olds will be able to override their parents' wishes on Covid jabs but he admitted it is likely to be 'a very rare occurrence'. He also said parents shouldn't be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated, given that top advisers insisted the benefits only marginally outweighed the risks. But in more confusion, a senior member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), Professor Anthony Harnden, suggested there would be a sliding scale of competency, meaning that it would be easier for a 16-year-old to overrule a parent than for a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent' under the 'Gillick test', which has been in place for the medical treatment of minors since the 1980s. Cotswolds Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told MPs he finds Covid jabs for secondary school children  and the rows it will cause  'deeply troubling'. He said: 'It will pit parents against parents. Parents against teachers with a poor child stuck in the middle wondering what to do, for very little benefit for the child themselves, with a lack of long-term data of the potential harm. 'And, above all, what really concerns me about this is the Gillick doctrine of treating children without parental consent will become the norm for a whole range of medical procedures.' Fellow Tory MP Marcus Fysh has claimed it is a 'very dark day for our country' while Ian Duncan Smith said he is sure the vaccines diktat will cause disputes within families after Mr 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 last night. Advertisement

Officials said there was more evidence that the mRNA vaccines were safe and effective when given as a third dose, which is why they are not recommending AstraZeneca's.

Moderna's is being recommended as a half dose because the lower dosage is associated with fewer side effects and still produces a strong immune response, the JCVI said.

People who are invited for their booster Covid vaccine will be able to get their flu jab at the same time, in the opposite arm.

Professor Van-Tam said that as a 57-year-old healthcare worker, who will be eligible for a booster vaccine, he would be 'content' with getting a full Pfizer or half Moderna dose.

Downing Street has been relatively relaxed about high infection levels, pointing out that the average of 30,000 a day is well below the 100,000 predicted by some in July.

But they are increasingly concerned by rising hospital admissions. Another 1,000 were recorded yesterday and the total in hospital stands at 8,256  a 37 per cent increase over the past month.

Pressure on other NHS services is expected to start to become intense if the total hits 10,000.

Professor Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said current data suggest that 'we're not out of the woods' and the Covid-19 figures 'do not bode well for winter'.

He told Sky News: 'We can see from the figures that we're still nearing a thousand deaths a week and thousands of hospitalised patients that are challenging capacity in our hospitals  and of course making care for non-Covid patients extremely difficult as well because of the stretch of the staff that are in those hospitals who have been under pressure for 18 months now.

'So it's pretty clear I think, from the data and from individual sources, that we're not out of the woods and it doesn't bode well for going into winter at all.'

He added: 'If we cast our minds back to July 19, many scientists including myself, were saying that 'we need to take this slowly because we have the transmission rates are far too high to be removing all restrictions, and this will have a knock on effect  in other words we wouldn't get away with this as a country moving into winter'.

'And what we're seeing now is really the result of that advice not being heeded and now we're in a position where we're talking about lockdowns again.

'So I think that with the correct planning, this could have been avoided.'

Whitehall exercises conducted over the summer warned that schools and care homes, as well as the NHS, are both vulnerable to a surge in cases this autumn.

Today Mr Zahawi admitted that 12-year-olds will be able to override their parents' wishes on Covid jabs but he admitted it is likely to be 'a very rare occurrence'.

He also said parents shouldn't be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated, given that top advisers insisted the benefits only marginally outweighed the risks.

But in more confusion, a senior member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), Professor Anthony Harnden, suggested there would be a sliding scale of competency

That means it would be easier for a 16-year-old to overrule a parent than for a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent' under the 'Gillick test', which has been in place for the medical treatment of minors since the 1980s.

Cotswolds Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told MPs he finds Covid jabs for secondary school children  and the rows it will cause  'deeply troubling'.

He said: 'It will pit parents against parents. Parents against teachers with a poor child stuck in the middle wondering what to do, for very little benefit for the child themselves, with a lack of long-term data of the potential harm.

'And, above all, what really concerns me about this is the Gillick doctrine of treating children without parental consent will become the norm for a whole range of medical procedures.'

Fellow Tory MP Marcus Fysh has claimed it is a 'very dark day for our country' while Ian Duncan Smith said he is sure the vaccines diktat will cause disputes within families after Mr 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 last night.
Barack Obama's former CIA director believes that President Joe Biden has 'absolutely inspired' jihadists with his hectic exit strategy from Afghanistan.

Michael Morell, who twice served as acting director of the agency under Obama and then-Vice President Biden, spoke to CBS' Face the Nation Sunday to criticize the president's strategy to end the nearly 20-year war.

He believes that the pullout will allow the Taliban to 'flow back' into Afghanistan, making the region more dangerous than others on the planet.

Michael Morell, who twice served as acting director of the CIA under President Obama and then-Vice President Biden, spoke to CBS' Face the Nation Sunday to criticize the president's strategy to end the nearly 20-year war.

'I think that the Taliban winning the war in Afghanistan, and then the way our exit happened, has absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world,' Morell told Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan.

Morell said Sunday that President Biden's chaotic retreat from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover 'absolutely inspired' jihadists and gave hope to other terrorists.

'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.

'I think that the Taliban winning the war in Afghanistan, and then the way our exit happened, has absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world,' Morell said

He says that this will reverberate to other areas around the globe.

'I think, not only will the jihadists be inspired, but a lot of them are going to come to Afghanistan to be part of the celebration, to be part of jihadist central,' he said.

He believes that Afghanistan is going to become more dangerous than the rest of the world for the first time since those attacks.

'We are more at risk, without a doubt,' Morell said when asked if the country is now less safe without troops in the country.

Morell believes that Afghanistan is going to become more dangerous than the rest of the world for the first time since those attacks

'We haven't yet put together a strategy... to collect intelligence, and then the Department of Defense has to figure out this over the horizon capability,' Morell added.

Morell wasn't the only former Obama administration official to criticize the current president on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which were masterminded by the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta implored the president to take responsibility for his mistakes regarding the exit on Cavuto Coast to Coast.

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta implored the president to take responsibility for his mistakes regarding the exit

'The most important thing for this president to do is be willing to accept responsibility for the mistakes and move on, and to basically do what is necessary now to protect our national security,' Panetta said.

Panetta also served as former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff.

Panetta said Biden has a responsibility 'to do whatever the hell is necessary to get all U.S. personnel and Afghan allies who fought alongside us out of Afghanistan.'

Biden defended his decision in a speech of quiet fury at the White House in mid-August, defending his decision to bring home U.S. troops before blaming Afghan leaders for their failure to prevent the country collapsing.

'I stand squarely behind my decision,' Biden said. 'After 20 years I've learned the hard way. That there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That's why we're still there.'
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Restoration work at Stonehenge has begun today, with scaffolding erected inside the ancient Salisbury monument as the UNESCO world heritage site undergoes the first major repairs in more than six decades so cracks and holes in the stones can be refilled.

Strong winds buffeting the 4,500-year-old stone circle on Salisbury Plain just two miles west of Amesbury have taken their toll on its horizontal stones, called lintels, which may start rocking or become unstable, according to English Heritage.

Large-scale restoration this morning, with conservators seen scaling 22ft high scaffolding so holes, cracks and joints can be refilled. The last major job was conducted in 1958, when several fallen stones were hauled back into place by Aubrey Bailey.

His son Richard Woodman-Bailey, who was eight when he placed a 1950s halfpenny under one of the stones during the first repairs, is now due to place a commemorative 2021, 2 silver coin featuring Britannia within Stonehenge at an unveiling ceremony.

Before Aubrey Bailey's repairs, the last time Stonehenge underwent restoration was at the beginning of the 20th Century after the horizontal stones had fallen off the monument. It is hoped no further repairs will be needed for the rest of this century.

Scaffolding has been erected next to Stonehenge this morning as the ancient monument undergoes the first major repairs in more than six decades so cracks and holes in the stones can be refilled

A scaffold is erected inside the stone circle as specialist contractors from SSH Conservation fix defects from previous repairs

Conservator James Preston uses a pointing spoon on top of a scaffold erected inside the stone circle at Stonehenge as specialist contractors from SSH Conservation fix defects from previous repairs

The last major job began in 1958 when several fallen stones were hauled back into place within the UNESCO world heritage site whose origins have long remained a source of mystery and wonder

Man, 71, who sneaked a 1958 halfpenny under a sarsen stone during Stonehenge repairs in the 1950s as a child is due to place a commemorative 2021 coin within the monument Richard Woodman-Bailey, now 71, placed a 1958 coin under one of the sarsens when during his school holidays he joined his father Aubrey, who led the conservation project more than six decades ago A man who sneaked a halfpenny under a sarsen stone during Stonehenge repairs in the 1950s as a child is now due to place a commemorative 2021 coin within the monument. Richard Woodman-Bailey, now 71, placed a 1958 coin under one of the sarsens when during his school holidays he joined his father Aubrey, who led the conservation project more than six decades ago. He is now due to place a commemorative 2021, 2 silver coin featuring Britannia within Stonehenge. The conservation team will use a more flexible lime mortar to avoid further erosion to the stones. Heather Sebire, English Heritage's senior curator for Stonehenge, told The Times: 'Four and a half thousand years of being buffeted by wind and rain has created cracks and holes in the surface of the stone, and this vital work will protect the features which make Stonehenge so distinctive.' Speaking at the site this morning, Mr Woodman-Bailey joked that health and safety laws today would have prevented him from crawling under the stones and placing the penny underneath. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It would be frowned upon these days. I was here with my father, indeed mother, in the school holidays here and playing around the stones on the day that the lift was actually taking place. 'I had this coin I think rather in the spur of the moment thrust in my hand as the stone and the cradle around it weighing getting on for 60 tonnes was just 2ft above the ground. And I was asked to place this halfpenny coin under the stone as it was dangling above my head, but I didn't spend too long there, I can assure you. 'I had enough sense at the time to beat a hasty retreat.' He went on: 'I don't think any work very much had been carried out previously, I think they had done some works at the beginning of the last century. 'Generally speaking, my father was reerecting the stones that had fallen since the end of the 18th Century. So there were a number of trilithons reerected and certainly its a much better site now, to see Stonehenge as it is today, to get a much better idea of what it would have been like originally when it was built.' Advertisement

The new work, which will be done in full view of visitors, will be light-touch.

Heather Sebire, senior curator for Stonehenge with English Heritage, said: 'Stonehenge is unique among stone circles by virtue of its lintels and their special joints, which prehistoric builders fitted together almost like Lego or Ikea furniture today.

'Four and a half thousand years of being buffeted by wind and rain has created cracks and holes in the surface of the stone, and this vital work will protect the features which make Stonehenge so distinctive.'

To mark the new restoration, English Heritage has invited Mr Woodman-Bailey, who was eight years old when the stones were last repaired.

His father was chief architect at Stonehenge, and the repair team asked the schoolboy to drop a 1958 halfpenny beneath a giant sandstone called a sarsen during the works.

After unexpectedly seeing his picture in an English Heritage magazine, Mr Woodman-Bailey got in touch with the charity to tell them who he was.

He will now place a 2021 coin, struck at the Royal Mint, on top of the same sarsen, beneath a newly repaired lintel.

Mr Woodman-Bailey, 71, who went on to become a stonemason and later a chartered surveyor, and now lives in Epsom with his wife, Jenny, said: 'Dropping the coin below the 50 or 60-tonne sarsen hanging over my head has always been imprinted in my memory.

'I didn't think anybody else knew about it until the photograph turned up in the magazine, and didn't expect to be asked back to do the same again, which is a real privilege.'

Speaking at the site this morning, Mr Woodman-Bailey joked that health and safety laws today would have prevented him from crawling under the stones and placing the penny underneath.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It would be frowned upon these days. I was here with my father, indeed mother, in the school holidays here and playing around the stones on the day that the lift was actually taking place.

'I had this coin I think rather in the spur of the moment thrust in my hand as the stone and the cradle around it weighing getting on for 60 tonnes was just 2ft above the ground. And I was asked to place this halfpenny coin under the stone as it was dangling above my head, but I didn't spend too long there, I can assure you.

'I had enough sense at the time to beat a hasty retreat.'

He went on: 'I don't think any work very much had been carried out previously, I think they had done some works at the beginning of the last century.

'Generally speaking, my father was reerecting the stones that had fallen since the end of the 18th Century. So there were a number of trilithons reerected and certainly its a much better site now, to see Stonehenge as it is today, to get a much better idea of what it would have been like originally when it was built.'

The work was made possible after tiny cracks, some three feet in length, were identified by a laser scan in 2012, which also picked up prehistoric 'graffiti' of axe heads carved into the stones.

The new project will use lime mortar to replace concrete mortar previously used to fix lintels together, which is now disintegrating.

Conservators will fix nine lintels, with no work planned on the smaller bluestones, which suffered damage from Victorian visitors chipping away at the stone circle to take part of it home as a souvenir.

The conservation work will take place between September 14 and 25, with visitors encouraged to watch and ask questions.

According to the monument's website, Stonehenge was built in four stages. The first version of Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a ditch, bank and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100 BC.

The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about one metre (3.3 feet) wide and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle about 86.6 metres (284 feet) in diameter.

Excavations revealed cremated human bones in some of the chalk filling, but the holes themselves were likely not made to be used as graves, but as part of a religious ceremony. After this first stage, Stonehenge was abandoned and left untouched for more than 1,000 years.

Strong winds buffeting the 4,500-year-old stone circle in Salisbury Plain two miles west of Amesbury have taken their toll on its horizontal stones, called lintels, which may start rocking or become unstable

English Heritage began large-scale restoration this morning by putting 22ft scaffolding up so holes, cracks and joints can be refilled. It is hoped no further repairs will be needed for the rest of the century

How Stonehenge's stones have lasted so long: 20-tonne blocks are made up of interlocking quartz crystals that have stopped the monument weathering over the last 5,000 years, analysis reveals Stonehenge may have lasted so long because of the unique geochemical composition of the standing stones, a new study suggests. An international team of scientists analysed wafer-thin slices of a core sample from one of the great sandstone slabs, known as sarsens, under a microscope. The 3.5-foot-long sample, called Philip's Core, was extracted more than 60 years ago and only returned to Britain two years ago after being kept souvenir in the US for decades. Philip's Core has broken into six separate pieces since it was extracted  one of which, measuring just 2.6 inches (67mm) in length, the researchers borrowed for their analysis. The analysis shows the sarsen is made up of mainly sand-sized quartz grains that are cemented tightly together by an interlocking mosaic of quartz crystals. This explains the stone's resistance to weathering over the last 5,000 years and why it made an ideal material for building such a monument, according to the experts. Advertisement

The second and most dramatic stage of Stonehenge started around 2150 years BC, when about 82 bluestones from the Preseli mountains in south-west Wales were transported to the site. It's thought that the stones, some of which weigh four tonnes each, were dragged on rollers and sledges to the waters at Milford Haven, where they were loaded onto rafts.

They were carried on water along the south coast of Wales and up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland again near Warminster and Wiltshire.

The final stage of the journey was mainly by water, down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west Amesbury.

The journey spanned nearly 240 miles, and once at the site, the stones were set up in the centre to form an incomplete double circle.

During the same period, the original entrance was widened and a pair of Heel Stones were erected. The nearer part of the Avenue, connecting Stonehenge with the River Avon, was built aligned with the midsummer sunrise.

The third stage of Stonehenge, which took place about 2000 years BC, saw the arrival of the sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), which were larger than the bluestones. They were likely brought from the Marlborough Downs (40 kilometres, or 25 miles, north of Stonehenge).

The largest of the sarsen stones transported to Stonehenge weighs 50 tonnes, and transportation by water would not have been possible, so it's suspected that they were transported using sledges and ropes.

Calculations have shown that it would have taken 500 men using leather ropes to pull one stone, with an extra 100 men needed to lay the rollers in front of the sledge. These stones were arranged in an outer circle with a continuous run of lintels - horizontal supports.

Inside the circle, five trilithons - structures consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel - were placed in a horseshoe arrangement, which can still be seen today.

The fourth and final stage took place just after 1500 years BC, when the smaller bluestones were rearranged in the horseshoe and circle that can be seen today.

The original number of stones in the bluestone circle was probably around 60, but these have since been removed or broken up. Some remain as stumps below ground level.
US President Joe Biden claimed on Monday he received a 'first job offer' from a lumberjack company in Boise, Idaho - despite there being no records of such an application.

Biden was in Boise to a pay a visit to the National Interagency Fire Center, which is responsible for co-ordinating the States' response to wildfires, as part of a tour of the western states ravaged by recent blazes.

The President claimed that a local lumber and wood company, Boise Cascade, had offered him his first job, and insisted it was a regular topic of discussion between him and Frank Church, the late democratic senator from Idaho.

But company spokeswoman Lisa Tschampl declared Boise Cascade had no record of a job application from Biden, nor any record of him having worked for the company.

It is the latest in a series of failed memories, inconsistencies and errors made by the 78-year-old President, adding to suspicions that he may not be fit for office.

Biden was in Boise to a pay a visit to the National Interagency Fire Center, which is responsible for co-ordinating the States' response to wildfires

Biden, who is renowned for sharing memories that did not happen, said he spoke with his late senate colleague about his job with the lumber company Boise Cascade

Biden, who has built a reputation for sharing memories that are either inaccurate or wholly false, assured the audience at the National Interagency Fire Center roundtable that he spoke with his late senate colleague about his job with the lumber company.

'I used to tell Frank Church this, I got a  my first job offer, where I wanted  my wife, deceased wife and I wanted to move to Idaho because we  not a joke  it's such a beautiful, beautiful state. And I interviewed for a job at Boise Cascade,' Biden said.

He added: 'And in the meantime there was a war going on. Anyway. But the whole point was that I used to always kid Frank.'

But Boise Cascade spokeswoman Lisa Tschampl told The New York Post: 'We checked our system internally and nothing has turned up.'

But Boise Cascade spokeswoman Lisa Tschampl told The New York Post: 'We checked our system internally and nothing has turned up.'

Biden graduated in 1968 from Syracuse University's law school, and after being deferred from military duty during the Vietnam war due to asthma, he began working in Delaware as a law clerk and public defender before being elected to the US Senate to represent Delaware.

It is therefore unclear at which point the President and his first wife ha intended to move to Idaho, or when Biden could have supposedly interviewed for the company.

Boise Cascade spokesperson Tschampl went on to say it was possible Biden could have applied for a job in one of the company's ancillary operations in concrete, plastics or textiles, whose records were dropped.

'We had a diverse portfolio in the 60s and early 70s so my guess is any records have been purged or transferred for the businesses/projects we are no longer involved in,' she said, but added she 'would not want to speculate about what type of role he may have applied for'.

Biden, who has built a reputation for sharing memories that are either inaccurate or wholly false, assured the audience at the National Interagency Fire Center roundtable that he spoke with his late senate colleague about his job with the lumber company

Biden's latest memory mishap comes less than two weeks after he proclaimed he went to the Tree of Life synagogue after the mass shooting in 2018, but the White House press office later admitted the President had never visited in person.

Biden had told more than a thousand Jewish leaders during a virtual event to celebrate the start of the Jewish High Holidays in early September that he had visited the Tree of Life synagogue after the mass shooting.

'I remember spending time at the - you know, going to the - you know, the Tree of Life Synagogue, speaking with the - just - it just is amazing these things are happening - happening in America,' Biden said.

But a White House statement later said Biden's comment 'was referring to a call he had with the Tree of Life rabbi in 2019.'

The statement from the White House came after the synagogue's leaders declared Biden did not appear at Tree of Life in person in the aftermath of the deadly shooting spree.

Barb Feige, executive director of Tree of Life, told the outlet that, 'no,' Biden has never visited the synagogue - either before or after his inauguration as president.

Biden's latest memory mishap comes less than two weeks after he proclaimed he went to the Tree of Life synagogue after the mass shooting in 2018, but the White House press office later admitted the President had never visited in person

Tree of Life rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, pictured, said Biden had called him on his cell phone nearly a year after the massacre but never visited the synagogue
Three people were killed in a horror crash in west London today after a car speeding at 90mph smashed into a sheltered housing block and burst into flames.

Nine people from the retirement home near Notting Hill were rescued by firefighters following the crash at the junction of Great Western Road and Woodfield Road at 4.50am this morning.

A Metropolitan Police officer at the scene of the crash said that the driver had come north over a canal bridge before losing control of the vehicle, which witnesses thought could be a Seat Leon.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze but three people were pronounced dead at the scene, just a hundred yards from Westbourne Park station. A huge cordon is in place and expected to last several hours.

One horrified witness, who lives across the road and asked not to be named, told MailOnline that a man was seen trying to pull screaming victims to safety before their car was engulfed in flames.

'I heard a big smash and knew it was a car crash, but not how bad it was,' he said. 'I came out to see what had happened and two guys were trying to get their friend out of the car, but it was being engulfed in flames.

'They had the door open and the man was screaming 'get me out of here!' But they couldn't get him out and ran away.

The burnt out shell of a car at the scene on the Great Western Road, Notting Hill, west London, where three people have died after the vehicle collided with a residential block

Three people have died following a road traffic collision in Westminster

Emergency services at the scene at Great Western Road in Westminster

Nine people from the retirement home were rescued by firefighters following the horror crash in Great Western Road at 4.50am

'The next minute the car exploded in a fireball - there's not really anything anyone could have done.'

The huge impact sent bricks flying across the road and onto neighbouring houses before the car burst into 'yellow flames'.

Local residents told how they tried to assist those trapped inside, but were forced to stand back as the car 'exploded' in flames. They said firefighters battled the blaze for roughly 20 minutes as it kept reigniting.

Brian Waldy, 70, a retired chartered surveyor who lives in a basement flat in the building next door, said: 'I heard this big crash and at least 10 full sized bricks fell down onto the stairs outside.

'I put my dressing gown on and came out and saw the bright yellow flames enveloping the car - about a metre high.

'There was a man a couple of metres away shouting into the car something about the seatbelt buckle. But then someone else shouted 'move away, bro, it's going to blow', so the guy moved back and got out of the way.

'Then there were at least two explosions and so, to be safe, I went back to my front door.'

A woman who lives a few doors down said: 'I was woken up by a super-loud noise. By the time I had got dressed and come outside the emergency services had arrived.

'They we're just working on putting the fire out with their hose.

'This went on for maybe 20 minutes; it would go out, but then ignite again. I would say it was a dark car with what looked like some sort of design on it. It's really shocking and I'm sorry for the people who lost their lives.'

Emergency services at the scene on the Great Western Road, Notting Hill, west London

A number of residents were evacuated from the building as a precaution. A scene remains in place and enquiries are ongoing

A man called Evan, who lives 100 yards down the road, said: 'I'd woken up to go to the toilet and heard a big bang which sounded like someone slamming down a big metal bin - it was just one big, sharp snap.

'I don't think it was actually raining at 4.45am, although it started when the Fire Brigade arrived.

'I saw the blue lights passing, but I didn't know where they were going to, just that it was close by.

'Then I woke this morning and saw on the news that three people had died.'Maggie Bernardele, 33, from Argentina who lives a few doors down from the crash scene, said: 'I flew back from Italy yesterday and got home around 1am.

'My first thought when I woke up was that it was a garbage truck or something like that. But I would never have thought it was a car colliding into a building 50 metres away from our building.

'It's usually a really busy road, but this morning when we woke up it was silent.'

One witness who lives on the road told LBC they saw a neighbour run out to try to help the people in the burning car.

They said: 'It's a shock - you don't expect something like that to happen. There's no words. It'll stay with us for a while.'

Another said: 'There were flames shooting up from the car. There were people on the street and all the traffic stopped. It was like something out of a movie. My kids were crying. It was horrific.'

Emergency services at the scene on the Great Western Road, Notting Hill, west London

There are not believed to be any other injuries and at this stage no other vehicles are believed to have been involved. A number of residents were evacuated from the building as a precaution

Manuel Gaspar, manager of the Transparent World cleaning company, based opposite the crash, told the Standard: 'The impact was awful. There was debris spread all over the road.

'We saw a neighbour who was very brave. He had just woken up and didn't have a shirt on and was trying to get into the passenger door. All the other doors were stuck or too damaged.

'The smoke was going into the old people's home and then the fire started in the back of the car.'

A nearby coffee shop owner said some of the first witnesses on the scene of the Great Western Road crash were visibly shaken when they came to a get a drink from him on Tuesday morning.

Goao Santos, who runs the BICA coffee shop in Westbourne Park station, opened up at around 6am.

He told the PA news agency: 'The guy cleaning the street, the cleaner, he came to get an espresso. They said it's a really bad car crash.

'They went there, they said the car was on fire, they tried to rescue but could they could not rescue.'

Mr Santos added that someone in the man's group then called the police.

'He couldn't even tell how many people there were inside of the car. The blaze was probably so intense. He was a bit shaken, you know,' he said.

There are not believed to be any other injuries and at this stage no other vehicles are believed to have been involved. A number of residents were evacuated from the building as a precaution.

Detectives from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for witnesses and those with dash cam footage to come forward following the incident.

Anyone who saw the car before the incident, or who has information, video or images that could help police, is urged to call 101 ref CAD 917/14 Sept.
Russia's Vladimir Putin took a swipe at Biden and condemned 'illegitimate' US forces in Syria in a meeting with dictator Bashar al-Assad in Moscow last night.

The pair met in the Russian capital to discuss cooperation between their armies and how to continue operations to gain control of the last rebel-held areas in Syria in their first talks since a summit in Damascus last year.

Putin during the meeting blasted the presence of 'foreign forces' in parts of Syria as 'illegal' because they have no approval by the UN or Assad's government.

'This clearly violates international law and doesn't allow you to make maximum efforts to consolidate the country,' Putin told Assad.

Though Putin did not name US forces he appeared to be referring to hundreds of American troops stationed in eastern Syria working with Kurdish-led fighters battling the Islamic State group as well as Turkish forces in northern Syria.

Russia's Vladimir Putin took a swipe at Biden and condemned 'illegitimate' US forces in Syria in a meeting with dictator Bashar al-Assad in Moscow last night

In an apparent swipe at US President Joe Biden, Putin appeared to describe American forces in Syria as 'illegal' because they have no permission from the UN or Assad

Hundreds of American troops are stationed in eastern Syria working with Kurdish-led fighters battling the Islamic State group, and also Turkish forces in northern Syria

Syrian state TV described it as a long meeting and said the two were later joined by Syria's foreign minister and Russia's defense minister to discuss mutual relations and fighting terrorism.

Putin and Assad also discussed the political process in the war-torn country, the TV said, with the Russian leader congratulating his counterpart on winning a fourth term in office in a presidential election in May.

'Terrorists sustained very serious damage, and the Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90 per cent of the territories,' Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement.

Russia joined Syria's 10-year conflict in September 2015, when the Syrian military appeared close to collapse, and has since helped in tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, whose forces now control much of the country.

Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed across Syria and they also have a military air base along Syria's Mediterranean coast.

'I am happy to meet you in Moscow, six years after our joint operations to fight terrorism,' the Syrian TV quoted Assad as saying. Assad has made very few visits abroad since the conflict began.

However, significant parts of Syria remain outside of state control, with Turkish forces deployed in much of the north and northwest - the last major bastion of anti-Assad rebels - and US forces in the Kurdish-controlled east and northeast.

Russia's Putin and Syria's Assad met last night for lengthy talks and their first summit since they spoke in Damascus in January 2020

Syrian state TV described it as a long meeting and said the two were later joined by Syria's foreign minister(not pictured) and Russia's defense minister (not pictured) to discuss mutual relations and fighting terrorism

Russia joined Syria's 10-year conflict in September 2015, and has since helped in tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad (pictured, Russian forces in Daraa on September 1)

Hundreds of Russian troops (pictured in Daraa on September 1) are deployed across Syria and they also have a military air base along Syria's Mediterranean coast

In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists said that Russian warplanes have been carrying out strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country.

The region is home to some 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by the conflict.

Last week, a Russian-negotiated cease-fire deal went into effect to end a government siege and intense fighting in the southern city of Daraa.

The deal brought areas held by the rebels in the city under government control for the first time since 2013.

'We have the intention in Syria as a government and institutions to move in parallel between the liberation of land and the political process,' the TV also quoted Assad as saying.

In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists said that Russian warplanes have been carrying out strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country

Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in northern Syria, is home to some 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by the conflict

The Kremlin said Assad thanked the Russian leader for humanitarian aid to Syria and for his efforts to halt the 'spread of terrorism'.

He lauded what he called the success of Russian and Syrian armies in 'liberating occupied territories' of Syria.

Assad also described as 'antihuman' and 'illegitimate' sanctions imposed by some nations on Syria.

The United States tightened sanctions against Syria last year, saying they were aimed at forcing Assad to stop the war and agree to a political solution.

The TV said the during the meeting, the two leaders discussed cooperation between their armies 'in fighting terrorism and the continuation of liberating lands held by terrorists.'

Assad's government refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.

The visit was Assad's first to Russia since he visited the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2018 for talks with Putin.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million, including 5 million who are refugees outside the country.
A British doctor has led a successful operation to separate two twins conjoined at the head in Israel.

Dr Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, born in Kashmir, is considered a leading expert on separating conjoined twins and has spent the last six months working with an Israeli team to help the sisters.

The Israeli team was headed by Dr Mickey Gideon, director of pediatric neurosurgery, at the Soroka University Medical Centre in Beersheba, and the twins are now expected to lead normal lives.

Dr Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, born in Kashmir, is considered a leading expert on separating conjoined twins

One-year-old twin Israeli girls who were born conjoined at the head, back to back, can make eye contact for the first time after undergoing rare separation surgery

This photo shows the conjoined twins before they were separated (left) by British surgeon Dr Noor ul Owase Jeelani in a rare 12-hour surgery. While the right image shows the twins after the surgery

Dr Jeelani, who is Muslim, operated on the girls who are Jewish, saying: 'All children are the same, whatever colour or religion.'

The paediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital has carried out four separation operations on conjoined twins before.

Together with colleague Professor David Dunaway, both surgeons are considered leading experts of such procedures.

In each case, the children were joined at the head with intertwined brains, shared blood vessels, and fused skulls.

The complexity of the surgery meant that doctors had to begin their preparations months before the girls were brought to the operating table

The complexity of the surgery meant that doctors had to begin their preparations months before the girls were brought to the operating table

To carry out the procedure in Israel, Dr Jeelani reportedly agreed to operate outside of the UK for the first time.

As a Muslim, the doctor said it was 'fantastic' to scrub up alongside Israeli medics and help a Jewish family.

He added: 'A child is a child. From a doctor's point of view, we're all one.'

The doctor said that he has been working for around half a year in preparation for the operation on the Israeli twins.

He told The Times of Israel: 'We've been involved right from the start, talking to the team in Israel and planning it with them over a period of six months.'

The twins, who were born in August 2020, were conjoined at the head and faced away from each other, meaning they had never been able to look at one another.

'This was a rare and complex surgery that has been conducted only 20 times worldwide and now, for the first time, in Israel,' said Mickey Gideon, Soroka's chief pediatric neurosurgeon.

One of the conjoined twins is seen here sleeping after she was separated from her twin by the British surgeon

The other twin is seen sleeping with a bandage around her head after the 12-hour surgery in Israel

'To our delight, everything went as we had hoped.'

The complexity of the surgery meant that doctors had to begin their preparations months before the girls were brought to the operating table.

Firstly, a 3D virtual reality model of the twins was constructed to allow doctors to study the intricacies of the operation and plot the best course of action.

Then, inflatable silicone bags were inserted into the twins' heads and periodically expanded over the course of several months before the surgery to stretch their skin.

This excess skin was essential for sealing the incisions in the heads of each twin with a scalp graft after they were separated and their skulls were reconstructed.

The twins have not yet been identified but images published in Israeli media show them wearing bandages around their heads and gazing into each others' eyes.

'Any wrong decision could have been the difference between life and death,' said Dr Lazar, the director of the paediatric intensive care unit at Soroka University's medical centre.

'It was so delicate, as the surgery was performed between major blood vessels in the babies' heads. We all knew that any bleed could have catastrophic consequences,' he told the Times of Israel.

This photo shows the surgeons conducting the procedure to separate conjoined twins at the Soroka Medical Centre in Israel

A close up of one of the screens used by the medical team during a procedure to separate conjoined twins at the Soroka Medical Centre in Israel is seen here

Lazar said the twins were moved to the ICU following the operation where they were sedated and placed on ventilators as they recovered.

Kamal Rahman, one of the founders of Gemini Untwined, added: 'It's exciting that we have now helped three families from different countries with this lifechanging surgery.'

Mr Rahman said the prevalence of conjoined twins is higher in less developed communities where there is little foetal monitoring, which is where charities like Gemini Untwined can assist.

He said: 'Gemini seeks to provide not only research and technical support to the local medical teams but also financial support to facilitate the complex surgery and post-operative rehabilitation where needed.

'We are presently supporting other families that find themselves in this challenging situation.'

It is estimated fifty such sets of craniopagus conjoined twins, joined at the head, are born around the world every year. Of them, it is thought only 15 survive beyond the first 30 days of life.

With current technologies, which the charity aims to make more accessible, approximately half of these cases would be candidates for successful surgical separation

'They are recovering nicely. They are breathing and eating on their own,' Eldad Silberstein, the head of Soroka's plastic surgery department, told Israel's Channel 12 news.
A fed-up homeowner claims an 8ft high pile of 'stinking' rubbish next to his front door is so dangerous it is preventing him from entering his own home.

Charity worker Paul Stephenson, 63, says he has had to clear a safe passage to his 160,000 two-bedroom terraced house in Harbone, Birmingham, because of the pile of beds, bricks, plaster and furniture stacking up next door.

He said the debris has come from major refurbishment work taking place at an empty, neighbouring property and has been piling up for over a month.

Paul Stephenson says he an 8ft high pile of 'stinking' rubbish outside his front door, in Harbone, Birmingham, is so dangerous it is preventing him from entering his home

Paul claimed workmen have been flinging items onto the ground floor below while gutting the interior of the house next door to his.

As well as gathering at the side of his home, the rubbish is scattered on the pavement along his street.

Paul said: 'Thursday was the final straw. It just cascaded down. I actually had to move items to get into my own house.

'I had to move a heavy door, bed and other stuff. Thankfully, Im able bodied. If I wasnt, Id be in big trouble.

'It stinks as well and theres the constant problem of walking it through the house.'

Paul, who has lived in the house all his life, has complained to Birmingham City Council over fly-tipping and potential vermin problems.

A spokesman for the city council confirmed the incident is 'currently under investigation'.

Paul has also contacted the fire service over concerns the pile could become a 'public hazard', but was told nothing could be done as the pile is on private property.

The huge pile of rubbish, which includes beds, bricks, plaster and furniture, has been piling up for a month while major refurbishment takes place in a neighbouring property

He added: 'Thats one of my big fears. Late at night, you get people sitting on the wall and smoking cigarettes. I worry the whole lot could go up.

'Its a public hazard. Its a godsend the rain has dampened it down.

'Theres no skip. The workmen come and go at odd hours.

'I find it totally disrespectful and the problem is I cant find anyone who can do something about it. The stuff on the pavement is a safety issue.

'The fire service say they cant do anything because its a private property. Its nonsensical.

'The irony is Ive spent years taking part in voluntary litter-picks and Ive got this on my doorstep.'

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson today told the MailOnline: 'This matter is currently under investigation in an attempt to resolve the issues as soon as possible.'
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A mass Covid booster vaccine campaign for tens of millions of Britons will be launched next week in a race to avoid a winter lockdown, it was announced today.

The Governments vaccine advisory panel finally signed off on the plans after weeks of deliberation, with third doses now being recommended for roughly 32million over-50s, as well as frontline health and care workers.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, told a Downing Street press conference that the booster programme would provide 'very good' immunity and help 'keep the lid on' the epidemic this winter.

The NHS will start inviting eligible Britons from next week. People are only being invited to come forward if they had their second injection at least six months ago, which officials said was the 'sweet spot' for boosters.

Third doses will be rolled out to the top nine priority groups who were first in line during the initial vaccination programme, with the elderly and vulnerable first in line.

It took about four months to cover those groups with a first dose earlier this year, but officials expect the booster scheme to move quicker now because the infrastructure and expertise is already in place.

Members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) approved the plans on the back of growing real-world data in Israel and elsewhere, as well as a major British study, which showed vaccine-induced immunity wanes slightly within months.

Eligible Britons will be given the Pfizer vaccine in the first instance, no matter which jab they were given originally. When there are supply constraints, the Moderna vaccine will be offered as a booster, but only as a half dose.

Officials said there was more evidence that the mRNA vaccines were safe and effective when given as a third dose, which is why they are not recommending AstraZeneca's. Moderna's is being given as a half dose because the lower dosage is associated with fewer side effects and still produces a strong immune response, the JCVI said.

However, in the rare case that a person is allergic to the ingredients in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, they will be offered the AstraZeneca jab, which still stimulates an immunity boost, just not as well as the other two.

The announcement comes ahead of what is widely accepted will be a challenging winter for the NHS with an unusually low amount of natural immunity to flu and other respiratory viruses due to more than a year of social restrictions.

Sajid Javid was heckled by Tories today as he made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out - admitting that ministers can only give Britons the 'best possible chance' of avoiding brutal curbs.

The Health Secretary said the country must be 'vigilant' with the disease expect to surge with colder, wetter weather over the coming months. In a statement to MPs, he stressed that vaccines can help 'build defences' against the disease, with boosters for the over-50s and jabs for under-16s starting next week.

But Mr Javid was hit with howls of rage from Conservatives in the Commons as he said the blueprint includes the 'Plan B' of making masks compulsory 'in certain settings', more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will be kept 'in reserve' and could be introduced in England with a week's notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.

The above groups will be the first to receive doses of the Covid vaccine. Britain's vaccine advisers say the 'sweet spot' for boosters is about six months after the second dose is administered. Booster shots are set to be rolled out in descending order from group one  elderly residents in care homes  to nine

The above slide was shown at the Downing Street press briefing. It estimates that maximum protection from a second dose of the Covid vaccine lasts for six months, based on real-world data from Israel

Effectiveness of vaccines against hospitalisation drops slightly after more than 20 weeks in people aged 65 and over. The JCVI said that while the absolute effectiveness saw only a slight drop, the risk of waiting and hoping over winter was not worth it

Booster shots will be rolled out to groups in the above order, with the programme working down through the age groups

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told a Downing Street press conference that the programme would provide 'very good' immunity and help 'keep the lid on' the epidemic this winter

From left to right, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaving 10 Downing Street, London, today after revealing the winter Covid plan

Professor Van-Tam called on all over-50s to get their booster jabs today, saying they will make a 'very substantial impact' on tackling Covid over the coming year.

He told a Downing Street press briefing: 'I think if theres good uptake of the booster dose, and I have no reason to doubt that at all

'I think the booster programme will make a very substantial impact on keeping the lid on things Covid-wise in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, and keeping pressure off the NHS this winter.

'We want to live our lives as normally as possible from now on and we want a normal winter life too.

'A high uptake of the booster programme is going to give us a much increased chance of doing that in my view.'

England's deputy chief medical officer said the booster shots would give people 'optimal' immunity to the virus, saying he would not consider those who did not get them as having the best possible protection.

Professor Van-Tam also compared dishing out booster jabs early rather than waiting for more evidence on post-vaccination immunity to campers who prepare their tents against an incoming storm.

He told the briefing: 'I dont know if many of you are used to crawling into small tents on mountainsides?

Confusion over Covid vaccines for children has sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families Confusion over whether children should receive the Covid vaccine has sparked 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families, a JCVI boss said today. Yesterday Britain's chief medical officers recommended jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds, saying they would slash time off school due to the virus. It came after the Government's vaccine advisory committee said at the start of September that it would not recommend jabs for the age group, although they did offer a 'marginal' health benefit to children. Professor Anthony Harnden, the deputy chairman on the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), admitted today that the varying advice had sparked uncertainty among families. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'What we tried to do right the way through the pandemic as a committee is to be open and honest with the public and give them the best advice possible 'I think the public in the end will appreciate our honesty and I think they will also appreciate the CMOs perspective, and the Government offering them choice. 'I agree it will cause uncertainty, hesitation and debate within families, but sometimes life isnt black and white, and this is one of those situations.' He added that parents and children need to be 'properly informed' and their choices on whether or not to have the vaccine should be 'respected'. Other experts have warned the 'mixed messaging' around jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds had damaged uptake. Professor Devi Sridhar, the personal chair in global public health at Edinburgh University, said 'mixed messaging hasn't helped'. She told Good Morning Britain: 'I personally think part of it is because they were so late with a decision  we have just had the same evidence that other countries have had since May and June, and those countries ran ahead because they knew the school year was coming and started vaccinating their children. 'There hasnt really been new evidence thats come up in the UK shift in position, so I think part of that is why we have had mixed messaging  theyre trying to explain to people why theyre doing something now that they didnt do two months ago.' She added: 'Every virologist I know, whether its in Germany or in France or in the States or Canada, have gotten their child vaccinated as soon as they become eligible, it hasnt been something they struggled with, its been, "actually I want to protect my child as fast as possible".' Advertisement

'But if you do so and you know theres a storm blowing in the night, its better to put some extra guy ropes on there and then, than it is to wait until the middle of the night when its howling with wind and rain, and youve got to get out of your tent and make your tent secure. By the time you crawl back in, youre soaking wet.

'So its better to be pre-emptive and to be prepared and plan for the worst possibilities.'

Professor Van-Tam warned of a 'bumpy' winter ahead as he set out the findings of the review of Covid booster jabs.

He said vaccines had been 'incredibly successful' and had so far prevented an estimated 24million Covid-19 cases and 112,000 deaths.

He added: 'We know that this pandemic is still active, we are not past the pandemic, we are in an active phase still.

'We know this winter could be bumpy at times and we know that winter viruses such as flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) are highly likely to make their returns.

'So with that in mind, the aim if the game, the mantra, is to stay on top of things.'

Professor Wei Shen Lim, head of the JCVI's Covid vaccine unit, said the recommendation of at least a six-month gap between the second jab and a booster shot was an attempt to find an immunity 'sweet spot'.

'We want to suggest a six-month limit as a lower limit because we dont want people to feel they need to rush to have this booster dose,' he told a Downing Street press conference.

'Getting a booster dose too early might mean getting a dose when they dont actually need to have vaccination because they still have a high level of protection.

'And, as we have seen with the first and second dose, it may be that a longer interval to the third booster dose may actually be beneficial in the longer term.

'On the other hand, we dont want to wait too long before offering a booster dose, so trying to find a sweet spot between going too soon and going too late we are suggesting that the booster dose is given no earlier than six months after the second dose.'

He added: 'Hopefully, this will mean that the levels of protection people have will be highest during the coldest months of the winter.'

Professor Lim said the first groups to receive a booster vaccine would be those that got their first dose in December last year, at the start of the vaccination drive.

Elderly people in care homes were first in line for jabs then, followed by the over-80s and NHS staff.

Professor Lim said it was preferable for people to get an mRNA vaccine as a booster  Pfizer and Moderna  because there was more evidence compared to the AstraZeneca jabs that these are safe and effective.

He told the briefing: 'The AstraZeneca vaccine obviously is a very good vaccine for its primary cause.

'Weve seen data that suggests that the mRNA vaccines given, whatever the primary cause for the vaccination is, gives a very good boost.

'And for a range of reasons including simplicity and delivery of the programme, we felt that overall there was a preference for mRNA vaccines for the third booster dose.'

Moderna's vaccine has been recommended as a half dose booster due to concerns about side effects. Professor Van-Tam said that as a 57-year-old healthcare worker, who will be eligible for a booster vaccine, he would be 'content' with getting a full Pfizer or half Moderna dose because they produce similar immune results.

But Professor Lim said the JCVI does not want the UK to be in trapped in a cycle in which boosters are being dished out every six months.

There is a pressing need for boosters because we are in a 'very active phase' of the pandemic, he claimed, with high transmission and the risk of catching Covid remaining high.

It's hoped that as the pandemic progresses, there will be a lot less virus in the community meaning people are not exposed to the disease as often.

Professor Lim said it was likely that natural infection gives 'mini boosts to immunity, which he hopes will provide an extra layer of protection to people moving forward.

Data published today to justify the booster plan showed that vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease - after two doses - wanes quickest, although remains above the 50 per cent threshold

AstraZeneca's protection against hospitalisation appears to wane quicker than Pfizer's, dropping to around the 80 per cent mark compared to Pfizer's 90-plus per cent

But protection against death remained higher still. Officials say they are uncertain how quickly effectiveness will wane over the coming winter months so boosters have been recommended as a precautionary measure

Children as young as five could be next group offered Covid vaccines, says Independent SAGE member Children as young as five could be next in line for a Covid vaccine, an Independent SAGE member has said. Professor Devi Sridhar, who is a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, told Good Morning Britain jabs for this age group were the 'next issue on the horizon'. She said: 'The exciting thing on the horizon to mention, even for parents of younger kids, 'It looks like Pfizer is going for approval of the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds in the United States in October, so this is going to be the next issue on the horizon  once we deal with the 12-17 year olds whether we do that for the under-12s.' Yesterday Professor Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers from the devolved nations recommended vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds, saying they would slash time off school due to the virus. But they said there were 'no plans' to expand the roll out to children in younger age groups. Professor Whitty told a Downing Street press conference: 'We certainly have no plans at the moment to re-examine this, there are some nations that are doing this. 'It hasnt even got to the point where this has been considered by MHRA, so were a long way even thinking about this, so lets not rush that one at all.' Advertisement

Britian has ordered more than 135million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and 17million of Moderna.

The Government bought an additional 35million Pfizer jabs in August, to be delivered in the second half of 2022.

Official data shows more than 40million Pfizer doses and 2.3million Moderna doses have already been dished out. The NHS has also administered 48.9million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Officials said today's announcement did not mean that Covid booster doses would be needed every six months.

Professor Lim also urged everyone who was eligible for the Covid vaccine to also get their flu shots. He said these could be administered on the same day, although into different arms.

Britain was hit by flu jab shortages last week leaving several GP surgeries having to cancel vaccinations. Reports suggest the shortage was sparked by a lack of lorry drivers to get the jabs to the country.

The chief of Britain's medical regulator  the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)  said Covid booster jabs could be given to over-50s at the same time as flu vaccines.

She told a Downing Street briefing: 'The data reviewed showed that giving the booster jabs with flu vaccines at the same time is safe and does not affect an individuals immune response to either vaccine.

'Therefore, Covid booster doses may be given at the same time as flu vaccines.

'We have in place a comprehensive safety strategy for monitoring the safety of all Covid vaccines, and this surveillance includes the booster jabs.

'As with first and second doses, if anyone has any suspected side effects, please report using Yellow Card.'

She added that the Moderna, Pfizer, and Astra-Zeneca vaccines can safely be used as booster jabs.

'The regulatory position, having looked at all the data, is that it is a very safe and effective vaccine, so no-one needs to hesitate.

'If the decision is that you have it for your booster then no worry at all, be reassured that it will be effective.

'In terms of longer-term impact we, as JCVI, will be following Public Health Englands really helpful and impressive and timely work to make judgments.'

Professor Van-Tam also defended the decision to roll out booster vaccines in the UK while poorer countries lag behind in the numbers of vaccinations.

When asked whether the booster programme would undermine global vaccine equality, he said: 'Of course as public health people we take a very strong view that it is important that the whole world has access to vaccines, and that until everyone has access to them, none of us are fully safe.

'By the same token, the job given to us is to define what is best for the UK and that is what JCVI has done.

'Based on the information that my colleagues have given to me (at the end of August), nine countries have already announced that they are actively starting some form of booster campaign, and there is further intelligence that 18 others are also considering it.

'So from that perspective the UK is not alone in thinking that it will need to do this to give maximum protection to its population this winter.'

Austria, Ireland, Hungary and Israel are among the countries that have already announced booster programmes for their more vulnerable populations.

It comes as Boris Johnson is due to set out his blueprint for 'living with the virus' through the winter during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

There are concerns in Whitehall about an increase in coronavirus cases hitting at the same time as a flu outbreak, with experts warning 'were not out of the woods'.

Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said further lockdowns will be an 'absolutely last resort' under the plan.

He told the BBC the boosters could be the 'last piece of the jigsaw to allow us to transition this virus from pandemic to endemic' and by next year there could be a flu-style annual jab.

Earlier, Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) panel which advises ministers, warned of a tough time ahead for the NHS.

'Now that were opening up society, weve got to live with not just Covid but the flu will come back, RSV bronchiolitis will come back, so I think were going to have a bit of a rough winter,' he told the BBC.

He added: 'I can predict that the NHS is going to have a really tough time and it wouldnt surprise me if local directors of public health may be suggesting use of face masks in shops and on public transport.'

The winter plan will see vaccines as the first line of defence, supported by testing, public health advice and a new variant surveillance system.

It is thought ministers will retain the options of a return to wearing face masks in public places and restoring work-from-home advice if cases take off again.

However, other measures  such as requiring vaccine passports for people attending nightclubs or other crowded venues  have been shelved.

It is expected the Government will announce it is repealing a swathe of powers taken through the Coronavirus Act which are no longer considered necessary.

They include measures to close down sectors of the economy, apply restrictions to events and gatherings and powers to detain infectious people.

Some measures will be retained  including sick pay from day one for people who are self-isolating, powers to direct schools to remain open if they close against Government guidance, and helping the NHS get emergency resources.

It will remain a legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they test positive for the disease.
Home appliance giants Whirlpool are offering an incentive to employees for getting the COVID-19 vaccine that could probably help refurnish their own homes.

The company says it will pay workers $1,000 to get the shot in a new incentive to encourage vaccinations as of last week.

Whirlpool had previously been offering smaller incentives to try and entice workers into getting the jab.

Home appliance giants Whirlpool are offering a $1,000 incentive to employees for getting the COVID-19 vaccine

The company has nine manufacturing facilities, including five in Ohio, one in Tennessee, one in Iowa, one in Oklahoma and another in Massachusetts.

As of 2020, the company reported having 78,000 employees. They have not said how many are currently vaccinated.

The vaccine bonus comes as the Biden administration prepares an emergency rule that will require large companies, like Whirlpool, to ensure their entire workforce is vaccinated or subject unvaccinated staff to weekly testing.

The vaccine bonus comes as the Biden administration prepares an emergency rule that will require large companies, like Whirlpool, to ensure their entire workforce is vaccinated or subject unvaccinated staff to weekly testing

White House officials have said that companies that break those rules could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

'Our employees' health and safety remains our top priority,' Whirlpool said in a statement.

'Throughout this pandemic they have been working tirelessly to serve our consumers, who are depending on our products more than ever to clean, cook and provide proper food and medicine storage in their homes, and we are working to ensure we can deliver.'

White House officials have said that companies that break the vaccination rules could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation

Chad Parks, a company spokesman, said the stepped-up vaccine bonus will apply to workers who were previously vaccinated as well as newly vaccinated ones.

Parks declined to say how much the previous incentive was for.

Other companies have made similar promises to workers.

Kroger offered a one-time $100 payment, while Bolthouse Farms promoted a $500 bonus.
A civil service boss has suggested some government offices in Whitehall could shut because of a permanent shift to more working from home.

Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Alex Chisholm said more civil servants are now able to work flexibly - both from home and in the office - as a result of changes made during the Covid pandemic.

The Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service said in-person meetings are 'not necessary now to anything like the same extent' as before the coronavirus crisis.

He pointed out that Whitehall is 'expensive London real estate' and there are 'definitely some big opportunities there.

The mandarin's remarks will annoy many private sector workers who have been ordered to return to their desks as soon as possible to get the countrys economy back on track.

Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Alex Chisholm said more civil servants are now able to work flexibly - both from home and in the office - as a result of changes made during the Covid pandemic

Speaking to the Public Accounts Committee yesterday, Mr Chisholm was asked whether civil servants would be back at their desks for the Governments spending review on October 27.

He replied that it was not fixed at the moment, adding: What we have found is that overall at civil service level we have found that we can move to a greater number of people working more flexibly, both in some cases working from home and in many cases across offices across the whole of the UK - which is a huge positive.

Again, those of you whove been on this committee for many years will know how many times civil servants have felt its difficult and expensive to kind of bring everybody down to a meeting in London face-to-face.

That is not necessary now to anything like the same extent. As well as that expensive London real estate. So, definitely some big opportunities there.

Asked whether most of the staff in the Cabinet Office were back at their desks, he said it was pretty full yesterday but added: It will vary across the estate according to the nature of peoples tasks.

He said: Also were still in the presence of Covid and there needs to be health assessments done to each building, but weve done ours and weve got quite a buzz in the office I would say today.

Sir Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, said the number of staff returning has been rising and that guidance would be reassessed.

Official work from home Whitehall guidance was removed on July 19 and businesses have been told that the Government expects and recommends a gradual return over the summer

He said: Numbers have been on a steadily rising trend. Well be reassessing all of our guidance when we get the new government guidance tomorrow as part of the Prime Ministers announcement.

There is growing frustration among ministers that the Civil Service has failed to take the lead and order staff back to their desks.

Official work from home Whitehall guidance was removed on July 19 and businesses have been told that the Government expects and recommends a gradual return over the summer.

But insiders say Whitehall had only seen a slight increase in staff back at their desks, with the numbers in the office still pretty low.
A woman who was brutally kicked down an escalator in a Brooklyn subway station on Thursday has spoken out about her ordeal and said she is covered in cuts like she was 'clawed by a tiger'.

The 32-year-old mother and fashion design student, speaking on condition of anonymity, said she is covered in claw marks from tumbling down the metal stairs after being assaulted by the stranger at 7:15pm in the Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Center station.

'I was coming home from school. I didn't run into this man. I did not have any prior engagement with him,' she said.

The victim said she simply told the man who barged aggressively past her to say 'excuse me'.

Upon hearing this, the man turned around, 'And boom, he automatically kicked me in the chest,' she said.

'Oh my God, it was from the top of the escalator at Barclays Center all the way to the bottom.'

Surveillance cameras captured the chilling moment 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.

'This was more than stairs. Escalators are spiky and moving. They're bigger and sharp,' the victim said.

'All over my body. I'm covered [in cuts] like I was clawed by a tiger.'

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

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.

Police said the mother refused treatment for her extensive injuries at the scene.

'I just didn't want to sit in an emergency room. I just wanted to go home to my 9-year-old, my family,' she said. 'I've been limping for days.'

As for the attacker, she said, 'I've never seen him before, and I hope he's never seen me before. And I hope I never see him again.'

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).

WANTED for ASSAULT: Do you know this guy? On 9/9/21 at approx 7:15 PM, at the Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center Station in Brooklyn, the suspect kicked a 32-year-old woman in the chest, causing her to fall down the escalator. Any info? DM @NYPDTips, or anonymously call 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/j6yFToIlvU  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 13, 2021

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 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.

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

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 data 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 8.5 percent 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.'
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Thousands of students will be waking up with sore heads this morning after making the most of enjoying Freshers' Week carnage after last years cancellations due to the pandemic.

After completing their A-Levels under Covid restrictions, partygoers from the four Birmingham universities embraced their newly-returned freedoms alongside new friends as they partied into the early hours during bar crawls in Birmingham's Broad Street, famous for its strip of nightclubs.

Students from Birmingham City University, Aston University, University of Birmingham and Newman University were pictured in high spirits, enjoying a laser and neon rave, and making the most of 1 entry fees as they returned in their thousands to enjoy a night on the town.

A group of freshers pose for a picture in Birmingham's Broad Street as students returned, without restrictions, to celebrate the start of this year's Freshers' Week

Students were dressed in bright clothing ahead of a laser and neon rave as one of the city's nightclubs hosted a student night for this year's freshers

A group of students queue up outside a nightclub as they continue their Freshers' Week celebrations

A group of students let their hair down as they celebrated their first week at university with newly-returned freedoms after months of Covid restrictions

A young man stops to chat with friends while walking an inflatable blue dolphin through the streets of Birmingham

It was a double celebration for some students with birthdays coinciding with the start of Freshers' Week

The students were making the most of their freedom after lockdown limits cancelled last year's Freshers' Week, or restricted those events which did take place to groups of six and involved curfews.

But some took the celebrations too far with at least two people being stretchered away by paramedics to awaiting ambulances and another young woman needing support from friends after falling onto the pavement.

Others kept things jovial, posing for pictures in their brightly-coloured outfits and one even stopping for a chat with friends while carrying his inflatable blue dolphin.

A student hitches a ride from a friend after enjoying the first night of Freshers' Week

Students were back without restrictions after last year's Freshers' Week was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, with groups limited to six and curfews imposed

Groups of newly-formed friends posed for photographs while others held their friends' hand as they slept off the night's party and alcohol on the cold pavement, while bouncers were also on hand to check on their welfare.

Police officers were also present but the night passed off without much hassle. A West Midlands Police press officer confirmed there were no serious incidents.

Freshers' Week 2021 is continuing throughout this week and into the next with some universities returning later in the month than others.
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Boris Johnson's 15billion dream of building the 'world's most stupid tunnel' between Scotland and Northern Ireland looks to have been killed of by the Treasury.

Government officials have admitted the ambitious project - ridiculed by Tory MPs and many experts - is 'dead, at least for now' after fraught negotiations with Rishi Sunak ahead of the Budget next month.

The Chancellor has warned that he wants to 'put the public finances on a sustainable path in the medium term' after coronavirus wreaked havoc.

Former No10 chief Dominic Cummings seized on the briefing to the Financial Times, swiping that Mr Johnson would insist on feasibility studies continuing so Mr Johnson can 'pretend it will happen'.

The premier's bold hopes for the link to strengthen the union were previously derided with claims it could cost as much as 33billion and require clearing out a huge munitions dump.

Other estimates put the cost closer to 15 billion, which would still account for a major chunk of spending as the UK comes out of the other side of the pandemic.

Boris Johnson's 15billion dream of building the 'world's most stupid tunnel' between Scotland and Northern Ireland looks to have been killed of by the Treasury

Options mooted for the crossing include a 25-mile tunnel connecting Stranraer, Scotland, and Larne, Northern Ireland

Former No10 chief Dominic Cummings seized on briefing to the Financial Times, swiping that Mr Johnson would insist on feasibility studies continuing so Mr Johnson can 'pretend it will happen'

The UK Government appeared serious about the link, commissioning a union connectivity review which would, in part, assess its feasibility and cost.

Various options for tunnels and bridges have been mooted. A link running from Stranraer in Scotland to Larne would be a similar length to the Channel tunnel.

A spokeswoman for the UK Government did not deny that the plans had been shelved, but said: 'Boosting connectivity across the UK and improving transport infrastructure are at the heart of our levelling up agenda.

'That is why we asked Sir Peter Hendy to lead a Union Connectivity Review to look at future transport priorities, based on the wider strategic case for investment and the benefit it will bring to people and businesses across the UK.

'On the back of his interim report in March, we have committed 20m to develop plans that can assess options on road and rail schemes.

'We're now looking forward to his final recommendations ahead of the spending review, where we will consider and confirm funding plans for delivering improved connectivity between all parts of the UK.'

When the crossing emerged as a prospect again in February the Tory chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, Simon Hoare lampooned the idea.

Echoing comments that the Channel Tunnel took 30 years to get built, and the issue of weapons that were sunk in the Irish Sea after the war, he tweeted: 'The trains could be pulled by an inexhaustible herd of Unicorns overseen by stern, officious dodos.

'A PushmePullYou could be the senior guard and Puff the Magic Dragon the inspector.

'Let's concentrate on making the Protocol work and put the hallucinogenics down.'

He added: 'Also another ''minor hurdle'' is the NI railway gauge is an ''all Ireland'' gauge which is different to that used in GB. I'm not Brunel but I think this might be a bit of a problem.'

Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the idea, urging the Chancellor to send the funding to the devolved administrations to help deal with domestic issues.

In March last year, Ms Sturgeon said: 'If you've got 20billion available to build a bridge, I'm pretty sure me and I'm sure equally the First Minister of Northern Ireland would be able to find things to spend that on right now that actually would be really useful to accelerate the progress to net-zero.'

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has previously said his preference would be for a tunnel as opposed to a bridge, telling journalists last year: 'I think the best solution if we're going to bridge Scotland with Northern Ireland is a tunnel, and I've had conversations along those lines with the Prime Minister.'
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Children may get 'better' immunity from catching Covid naturally instead of getting one dose of a vaccine, a scientist said today amid a row over the UK's decision to jab 12-year-olds.

Professor David Livermore, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, claimed it was 'pretty pointless' to inoculate youngsters, who face such a vanishingly small risk of falling seriously ill with Covid.

He told MailOnline they would probably develop more protection from catching the virus, in a similar way as to how they build up immunity against other seasonal illnesses.

Covid vaccines work by teaching the immune system to recognise the virus and give it the power to fight it off in the future.

But some studies have suggested vaccine-triggered immunity starts to wane within six months, while some data has suggested people who have recovered from the virus may be protected for at least a year.

One Israeli study claimed people who get the vaccine are 13 times more likely to catch Covid than those who have recovered from a previous infection.

Professor Chris Whitty and the other chief medical officers in the UK yesterday said 12 to 15-year-olds should be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Children who are deemed 'competent' enough will be able to overrule their parents' wishes to get vaccinated, if they want to do so.

But fury erupted last night as experts and parents warned the decision could lead to unvaccinated children being bullied and could even 'tear families apart'.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said families must be supported with whatever decision they make, and 'no one should be stigmatised' for opting against vaccination.

It comes after the JCVI recommended today that over-50s should get a third dose of the Covid vaccine six months after their second shot.

Scientists are divided over whether 12 to 15-year-olds should get the Covid vaccine, with some SAGE members previously backing the move arguing it would help to head off a surge in infections later this winter.

But others have argued it would be ethically dubious to inoculate the age group when millions of people in poorer countries are still waiting to be vaccinated.

Professor David Livermore said it was 'pretty pointless' to vaccinate children. Professor Chris Whitty and the other chief medical officers have recommended Covid vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds

This graph shows the number of first doses dished out by age group. The NHS publishes age groups as periods of five years, and groups all those under 18 together. It shows more than 620,000 have already been inoculated among under-18s

Israel has seen its Covid hospitalisations tail off after it started to administer booster shots (shown in the above graph of weekly hospitalisations with the virus per million people)

Over-fives could be next group offered Covid vaccines, says Independent SAGE member Over-fives could be next in line for a Covid vaccine, an Independent SAGE member has said. Professor Devi Sridhar, who is a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, told Good Morning Britain jabs for this age group were the 'next issue on the horizon'. She said: 'The exciting thing on the horizon to mention, even for parents of younger kids, 'It looks like Pfizer is going for approval of the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds in the United States in October, so this is going to be the next issue on the horizon  once we deal with the 12-17 year olds whether we do that for the under-12s.' Yesterday Professor Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers from the devolved nations recommended vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds, saying they would slash time off school due to the virus. But they said there were 'no plans' to expand the roll out to children in younger age groups. Professor Whitty told a Downing Street press conference: 'We certainly have no plans at the moment to re-examine this, there are some nations that are doing this. 'It hasnt even got to the point where this has been considered by MHRA, so were a long way even thinking about this, so lets not rush that one at all.' Advertisement

Discussing the decision to sign off on jabs for all over-12s, Professor Livermore told MailOnline: 'I think what's been done is really pretty pointless. It is a bad use of vaccine.

'Children are at very, very low risk of severe infection, and we'd really be better off just building better immunity to this virus [through infection] as we do to a score of other circulating viruses.'

He added: 'Vaccinating children has been justified not to protect children from severe infection, but so schools can be kept open. This is based on a false premise. Schools here should not have been closed at all.'

Professor Livermore, who is also a member of the anti-lockdown Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) pointed to Sweden, which kept its schools open during the first wave despite no vaccine being available at the time.

And over last winter it managed to keep schools open except upper secondaries for 16 to 19-year-olds, which were closed from December to April.

Several studies from Israel  which is famed for having one of the world's leading inoculation drives  have already suggested vaccine triggered immunity wanes within six months of the second dose being administered.

Official data from the country showed Covid hospitalisations started to tick up in August, about six months after their inoculation programme had finished jabbing older adults in the country.

But admissions began to fall again just two weeks after the boosters were first rolled out  which is roughly how long it takes for a vaccine to spark immunity.

The fall in immunity is behind the decision to roll out booster vaccines in Britain, which was unveiled today by the Government's vaccine advisers.

Meanwhile, a study in the US published in April found the vast majority of people who were infected with the virus did not catch it up to a year later.

Of 9,000 patients who recovered from the virus after being hospitalised, only 63 (0.7 per cent) tested positive for it in the up to a year since.

Professor Livermore previously told MailOnline: 'It is clear the vaccine-mediated protection wanes significantly within four to six months. Even government advertising acknowledges this.

'On the other hand, reinfection remains rare among those infected in the first wave, over a year ago.'

Public Health England data suggests the jabs may be less effective against the Delta variant but do still drastically cut the risk of hospitalisations and deaths.

Their latest figures showed the jabs were 79 per cent effective at stopping an infection with the mutant strain after a second dose, but 96 per cent effective against hospitalisation.

Data published today showed that vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease wanes quickest, although remains above the 50 per cent threshold. The results are based on UK adults and look at two doses

AstraZeneca's protection against hospitalisation appears to wane quicker than Pfizer's, dropping to around the 80 per cent mark compared to Pfizer's 90-plus per cent

But protection against death remained higher still. Officials say they are uncertain how quickly effectiveness will wane over the coming winter months so boosters have been recommended as a precautionary measure

And an Israeli study published at the end of August found people who got two doses of the Covid vaccine were 13 times more likely to catch Covid compared to people who were previously infected.

The authors said in their conclusion: 'This study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hopsitalisation caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 compared to the [Pfizer] two-dose vaccine-induced immunity.

'Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant.'

Britain does not routinely survey Covid antibody levels in under-16s.

But Professor Paul Hunter from the University of East Anglia has said it is possible that up to half of the age group may already have some form of protection against the virus from previous exposure.

Scientists are divided over whether to vaccinate children with scientists pushing back against the move arguing it may be better for children to develop immunity from infection instead of relying on jabs.

But several high profile experts have backed the move to jab children warning the virus could 'rip through' the country again if children are not inoculated.

Professor Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, said the risks of side effects outweighed the dangers posed by Covid itself for most children.

And he added 'as much as half' of all teens would already have had the virus, referencing estimates from the Office for National Statistics, and therefore have natural immunity already and not need a jab.

Professor Hunter also said that vaccinating children would be purely for the benefit of adults, which could be seen as ethically 'dubious'.

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.

Other experts have, however, called for children to be jabbed. Professor Devi Sridhar, a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, said 12 to 15-year-olds should be offered the vaccine 'urgently' with the Delta variant set to 'fly through schools'.

The JCVI did not recommend Covid vaccines for children at the start of September because it found they only offered a marginal benefit on health grounds.

But they passed the decision to the country's chief medical officers, saying it was outside their committees role to consider vaccination in terms of wider societal benefits.

Professor Whitty has said children should be offered Covid jabs amid concern they could miss more school time due to the virus and to protect the mental health of those that are concerned.
A young Australian woman has described the debilitating symptoms she is left living with after contracting Covid-19 more than eight months ago, including crippling brain fog and sometimes even struggling to breathe.

Teaching student Maddy Bourke had contracted Covid last year in London while she waited for a repatriation flight to return her back home to Melbourne.

Struck with long Covid eight months on, the 24-year-old year old is still suffering from an array of neurological and physical symptoms including weakness, fatigue and shortness of breath.

Maddy Bourke, 24, (pictured) contracted Covid-19 over nine months ago but continues to suffer from weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath and brain fog

Ms Bourke said the most debilitating symptom she is experiencing so far is known as 'brain fog'.

'The best way I can describe the brain fog is I am sleepwalking 24/7, it's like I am constantly in that dream-like state,' she told 9News on Tuesday.

'I've said to people it feels like they are speaking a different language to me.'

Long Covid sufferers with neurological symptoms, like Ms Bourke, are sent to Epworth Hospital in Richmond for rehabilitation alongside concussion patients.

It is still not known if brain fog is caused from the virus attacking the brain or if it is brought on by other symptoms like fatigue and anxiety - but Ms Bourke was adamant her symptoms are very real.

'Take it from me, this virus is very real, very serious and there's a lot of long term repercussions you really don't want to deal with,' she said.

Patients can still experience the effects of Covid-19 for months after the virus has left their body, with approximately one in ten affected by 'long Covid'.

The teaching student contracted Covid-19 in London while waiting for a repatriation flight to Melbourne

'Think extreme tiredness and fatigue. Think 'brain fog', where forming clear thoughts is difficult. Think persistent shortness of breath,' Deputy chief medical officer Dr Michael Kidd said.

'Think lack of physical endurance. And, particularly worryingly, think depression. All these symptoms can occur after a person has recovered from Covid-19 infection.'

The deputy chief health officer encouraged vaccination rates were the key to reducing the number of people suffering from long covid, by limiting the spread of transmission.

'The more transmissible nature of the Covid-19 Delta variant means there is now a greater risk of more people becoming infected  and hence a greater risk of people developing the 'long covid' syndrome.'
It ethics chair said it will represent members 'views, interested and concerns'

Dr John Chisholm, chair of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said the neutral position means the association will not lobby for or against a change in the law, but represent the views, interested and concerns express by its members.

Britain's biggest union for doctors today dropped its 15-year stance opposition to assisted dying.

The British Medical Association, which represents around 150,000 members, held a landmark vote after a survey last year revealed the majority supported a change to the law.

More than 300 members of the BMA's representative body participated in the poll.

A slim majority backed the change to adopt a neutral stance on the issue.

Slightly fewer than half of the BMA members who voted did so in favour of holding a neutral stance on assisted dying. Another 48 per cent were against it and 3 per cent abstained.

But, it assisted dying becomes legal, they said they would support medics' right to refuse prescribing lethal doses of medication to patients if they object.

Assisted suicide is currently illegal. Anyone caught helping or encouraging someone to take their own life faces up to 14 years in prison.

But euthanasia, which is the act of a doctor deliberately giving a terminally ill patient a drug they don't need with the sole aim of ending their life, is regarded as either manslaughter or murder. Offenders face spending the rest of their life in prison.

Assisted dying sparks strong debate from both sides, with some arguing that no one should be intentionally deprived of their right to live.

But others say the blanket ban causes needless suffering for terminally ill patients and their families.

Dr John Chisholm, chair of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said the union's neutral position means the association will not lobby for or against a change in the law, but 'represent the views, interested and concerns' expressed by its members.

The move comes after more than 100 medics penned a letter calling for the BMA to end its opposition to assisted dying.

Some 302 members of the BMA's representative body, out of the 560 eligible, participated in the landmark vote. Some 49 per cent supported a change in stance, while 48 per cent were against it and three per cent abstained from the vote

Doctors and medical student representatives at the BMA's annual representative meeting, which was held virtually, debated the issue today.

Just 54 per cent of the 560 members of the union's representative body who were eligible to participate decided to vote.

While the body passed the motion to support people choosing to end their life, they also said they would safeguard healthcare workers right to refuse engaging in the act.

The vast majority (79 per cent) voted in favour of healthcare staff being given the right not to assist death if the law changes.

What is the law on assisted dying? There are two types of assisted dying. Both are currently illegal in England. Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering, such as a doctor deliberately giving a patient with a terminal illness a drug with the aim of ending their life. Offenders face spending the rest of their life in prison. Assisted suicide is when someone helps another person to kill themselves, such as providing a family member with a fatal amount of medication, while knowing they plan to use it to commit suicide. Anyone caught helping or encouraging someone to take their own life faces up to 14 years in prison. Assisted dying is also illegal in Wales under the Suicide Act 1961, and in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Justice Act 1966 which says anyone who 'encourages or assists a suicide' is liable to up to 14 years in jail. There is no specific crime of assisting a suicide in Scotland, but it is possible that helping a person to die could lead to prosecution for culpable homicide. A bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland was brought forward by a Liberal Democrat MP Liam McArthur in June. Advertisement

But 72 per cent said medics who object to assisted dying should still provide factual information to any decision-making body about the practice.

And doctors who would refuse to provide assisted dying services, if it becomes legal, should refer patients seeking that form of care to another medic, the majority said.

The series of votes follow on from a poll by the BMA last year on whether there should be a change in the law to permit doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to eligible patients.

Some 40 per cent said they think the association should actively support attempts to change the law, a third said it should oppose assisted dying and 20 per cent said the BMA should adopt a neutral position.

And in that poll, half of surveyed members said they personally believe the law should change to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs, while four in 10 were against it and 11 per cent were undecided.

Dr John Chisholm, BMA medical ethics committee chair, said: 'Assisted dying is a highly emotive and sensitive topic that inspires a broad spectrum of views and opinions both across the wider public and among the medical profession, for whom any change of law would have a profound impact.

'As evidenced by the results of our recent survey of the profession and in today's in-depth debate, doctors have a wide range of personal views on this important issue, and as such representatives have decided that the most appropriate position for the BMA, as the professional body which represents all doctors and medical students in the UK, to hold is to be neutral on the topic.

'This is an important day for the BMA and the medical profession, clearly demonstrating that we as an organisation are listening to our wider membership on such a crucial issue, and developing policy based on their valuable feedback.

'Moving to a position of neutrality means that the BMA will not lobby for or against a change in the law, but far from remaining silent on the issue, we will continue to represent the views, interests and concerns expressed by our members.'

On the need for healthcare workers to have the right to conscientiously object to participation, Dr Chisholm added: 'Indeed, as with many other issues that ignite such deeply held personal beliefs in healthcare staff, it is vital that these are respected and protected should there be any change in law.

'The need for the right of doctors to conscientiously object to participation in physician-assisted dying was something that was made overwhelmingly clear not just in today's discussions, but also in the results to our survey, which found that 93% of respondents supported this.

'As medical professionals, we believe that it is our first responsibility to preserve life.

'But that does not mean we should prolong it at any cost.'

They added that 'strong palliative medicine and the choice of an assisted death are not mutually exclusive'.

More than 100 leading doctors in the UK yesterday urged the association to no longer oppose assisted dying and adopt a neutral position.

In a letter published in the Guardian, the medics wrote: 'In an era when modern medicine can extend the length of an individuals life, but not necessarily its quality, we believe that those with terminal or incurable conditions deserve a choice about how, where and when they die.'

Dr Gillian Wright said: 'This motion is actually about euthanasia, the BMA defines physician-assisted dying as assisted suicide and euthanasia.

'We know that neutrality means tacit approval and has enormous political significance.'

The move was welcomed by some campaign groups, with Dignity in Dying chief executive Sarah Wootton branding it 'a victory for common sense'.

She said: 'This is an historic decision and a victory for common-sense.

'It brings the BMA in line with a growing number of medical bodies in the UK and around the world that truly represent the range of views that healthcare professionals hold on assisted dying.

'By adopting a position of engaged neutrality the BMA can now proudly and accurately advocate on behalf of its members, while sending a message to Parliament that assisted dying is, rightly, an issue for society, where the views of dying people and their loved ones should be heard loud and clear.'

But Care Not Killing chief executive Dr Gordon Macdonald said that current laws protect vulnerable people and do not need changing.

He added: 'We are naturally disappointed at the divisive nature of this vote as it exposes the divide between doctors who care for patients at their end of life, whether in hospitals or hospices, who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia and those medics who work in unrelated discipline such as child and adolescent psychiatry and occupational health.

'As the BMA's own survey found, doctors at the coal face who deliver care to the elderly and terminally ill, who work in palliative care, geriatric medicine and general practice continue to oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia, because they know it is not needed and the subtle pressure it could put on patients to end their lives prematurely.'
A man and woman were kicked off a JetBlue plane for refusing to wear masks, with the male passenger shouting curses - and lunging - at a flight steward in the presence of a crying five-year-old boy.

Footage captured at the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida shows the unidentified man pointing his fingers and yelling at flight crew after being ordered off the plane for failing to comply with the federal mask mandate.

This is what youre gonna do? the scowling man, who was not wearing a mask, told the employee before grabbing at his arm.

A second employee stepped between the men to prevent the scene from escalating to violence.

You made me wait four f****** hours for this flight, the passenger said. You made me wait four God**** hours. You gave me one c*** sucking warning. You gave me one f****** warning. I pulled it up the second he said something.

F****** bulls***.

His female companion encouraged passengers filming the scene to 'let it go viral,' after she failed to reason with another member of the flight crew.

A couple traveling on a JetBlue flight from Florida to California never made it off the tarmac after reportedly refusing to comply with federal mask mandates and being kicked off the plane

After being kicked off the California-bound plane, the man (left) shouted curses at staff, while the woman (right) vowed to sue. Before exiting the plane, she said: 'everyone I know is a lawyer'

The mans companion, who had a sleep pillow wrapped around her neck, attempted to reason with other flight attendants before herself turning to expletives.

Bulls***, she said, before pulling her mask off her face to address passengers filming the scene.

She appeared at times to be slurring her words.

The woman told passengers the ordeal started after her five-year-old son's mask slid off his face.

My son knocked his face mask off by accident, the woman said. He tried to put it back on, and they told us to get our stuff and get off. Thats all that happened.

The woman said she didnt know why she was getting the boot.

Were American, were civilian, everything, she said. It fell off his face and we apologized and fixed it. It wasnt good enough for them.

The unidentified blond woman told fellow passengers that the ordeal started when her son accidentally pulled his mask down, but JetBlue shared a different account of the situation

While exiting the plane, the woman hinted at legal troubles for the crew.

Were gonna sue the s*** out of all of you, she told an employee, before demanding to know his last name. Everyone I know is an attorney. '

The woman has not been identified by officials, but she at one point said: 'I'm Bacardi. Have you heard of that?'

The couple had been asked numerous times to comply with the federal mask mandate for air travel, JetBlue said in a statement provided to Mailonline.com.

Eventually the customers were asked to leave the aircraft at which time one customer became verbally and physically aggressive toward crewmembers before eventually exiting the aircraft, the airline said. The customers will not be allowed to fly JetBlue in the future.

It apologized to other passengers on the flight, and said its staff is trained to dreal with non-compliant customers.

'If a customer refuses to wear a face mask after being asked, crewmembers will work to de-escalate the situation to the best of their ability to gain compliance prior to removal,' the airline said. 'The safety of each customer and crewmember is our first priority, and we must work together to follow the federal mask mandate during the travel journey.'

JetBlue said in a statement that the couple became 'aggressive toward crewmembers' after being asked to leave the aircraft for refusing to follow the pandemic-induced rules

Passenger Alice Rusa pulled out her phone and began filming the unidentified couple when things started to get unruly ahead of takeoff.

I got the pleasure of boarding the plane behind this family and this lady took a boomerang on the way to her seat, wobbling around so I figured she was a lil drunk, Rusa said in the Instagram post. Her water bottle in her bag was without a top so I told her.

The flight attendant told her to fix her sons mask at the entry, which she didnt and her husband and her both had their masks on off the nose the whole time.

The incident was the latest in a string of passengers verbally  and sometimes physically  assaulting flight crews over mask mandates.

The trend prompted President Joe Biden to tear into unruly passengers who have defied federal mask mandates during air travel during a White House speech earlier this month.

The woman who filmed the incident said the woman was 'wobbling around' and drank a boomerang cocktail before boarding the flight without properly wearing her face mask

Biden said that the Transportation and Safety Administration would be doubling fines for travelers refusing to wear a mask.

The new penalties, which took effect September 10, range from $500 to $1,000 for first offenders.

'And by the way, show some respect, he said. Anger you see on television toward flight attendants and others doing their job is wrong, it's ugly.
The body of a man who mysteriously died of an alleged heart attack during a hair transplant operation in Turkey has been found covered in blood in a morgue.

Ibrahim Gul, 28, was found by a friend wrapped in a blood socked shroud in an Istanbul morgue after his wife received a call saying he had died before a routine hair transplant surgery on Saturday.

Doctors told Gul's wife he suffered a heart attack before the operation, forcing medics to perform an angiography and put in a stent.

Police are treating the death as suspicious as both procedures are considered minimally invasive and have arrested the doctor in charge of the operation.

Gul, his wife and child had recently moved to Italy, where he set up a barbershop.

The body of Ibrahim Gul, 28, who mysteriously died of an alleged heart attack during a hair transplant operation in Turkey has been found covered in blood in a morgue

Gul was found by a friend wrapped in a blood socked shroud in an Istanbul morgue after his wife (left) received a call saying he had died before a routine hair transplant surgery

Gul had travelled to Istanbul on Thursday to purchase barbershop supplies and decided to get hair transplant surgery at the same time. He was expected to return to his wife and child days later.

He went to the Medicine Hospital in the Istanbul district of Bagcilar for the operation on Saturday, local media reported.

But hours later, Guls' wife, who has not been named, got a call from the hospital saying her husband had died of a heart attack.

She said she found it hard to believe, and asked a friend of her husband's who he had previously worked for while he was training as a barber to confirm what had happened.

Gul, his wife and child (pictured together) had recently moved to Italy, where he set up a barbershop

The friend, Dilek Ozbek, was allowed to see the body in the morgue, where he found it covered in blood.

Dilek Ozbek said: 'Ibrahim's wife called me on Saturday at around 5pm. She said that Ibrahim had suffered a heart attack and asked me to go to the hospital to see him.

'I went to see him in the morgue where I found his body wrapped in a shroud [a traditional burial sheet] soaked in blood.

'The hospital said it was a heart attack but that's clearly not true. There was blood everywhere.'

Ahmet Yigit, Ibrahim's uncle, said: 'The hospital told us he had a heart attack. They said they did angiography and put in a stent.

'Whether they performed heart surgery or transplanted hair, nothing is certain. He was a young healthy man.'

Istanbul Police have opened an investigation into Gul's death and have confirmed the doctor in charge of the operation, Mehmet Albayrak, had been detained.

Albayrak will remain in custody while the police carry out their investigation.

Local media reports that Albayrak told the police: 'The patient reported no issue when he arrived for the operation. This situation could not have been foreseen by anyone.'
This is the moment an unarmed man was shot dead in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley - allegedly a civilian executed by Taliban fighters in a revenge killing.

The footage shows men who appear to be Taliban fighters marching another man to the side of a road before multiple gunshots ring out and he slumps to the floor.

It is thought that at least 20 people have been killed in a similar fashion in the valley since it was captured by the Taliban last week.

It is not clear why exactly this man was targeted. He appears to be wearing combat trousers and a military-issue t-shirt, though bystanders who appear in the footage insist he is a civilian.

Jihadist fighters have carried out revenge attacks against former government soldiers, workers and ethnic minorities elsewhere in the country - with Panjshir being a hub of anti-Taliban resistance.

Footage shows what appears to be Taliban fighters executing an unarmed civilian in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, after the Islamists claimed to have captured it last week

In the video, which was posted to social media earlier this week, a group of men wearing khameez shirts and lungee head-dresses can be seen leading their victim across a road.

Clutching rifles, the men drag him by the hand before ordering him to stand on the other side of the street.

The man can be seen wearing combat trousers and what could be a military-issue t-shirt, though onlookers insist that he is a civilian.

Multiple gunshots then ring out before the man slumps to the floor. The gunmen then climb into American-made Humvees and drive away.

Also among those killed in Panjshir Valley for helping the resistance is shopkeeper Abdul Sami, according to sources who spoke to the BBC.

Locals said Sami, a father-of-two, refused to flee as the Taliban advanced because he believed they wouldn't target him.

But within days of the valley being captured he was arrested, accused of selling phone SIM cards to resistance fighters, and then his body was found near his home.

Witnesses said there were signs he had been tortured before his death.

The Panjshir Valley was the sole region of Afghanistan not captured by the Taliban as they conquered the rest of the country in a lightning-fast offensive earlier this year.

The valley had never been captured by Islamists before - having successfully held out against them in the 1990s and against the Soviets before that.

Video shows several gunmen walk their victim across the street before opening fire (left) as he slumps to the floor (right). It is unclear why he was targeted

Earlier this week, more footage emerged of gunmen bundling four other men into car boots in the Afghan capital of Kabul

But last week the Taliban announced they had captured it and claimed resistance leaders including famed commander Ahmad Massoud had fled to Turkey.

Pockets of anti-Taliban resistance still exist within Afghanistan, however, with protesters taking to the streets in Kandahar province on Tuesday to demonstrate against the group.

Around 3,000 people - mostly the families of former army commanders - marched through the streets of the Taliban's ancestral home city in fury after they were evicted from their homes with just three days' notice.

Sporadic protests against the Taliban have ended in occasionally deadly clashes, although there were no confirmed reports of violence on Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch told the BBC that news of retaliatory killings in Panjshir mirror atrocities that have been reported in other areas captured by the Taliban.

On Monday, footage emerged that appeared to show Taliban fighters forcing four men into the boot of two cars in the capital 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.

It is unclear what ultimately became of the men.

The footage emerged as Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council that she has seen 'credible reports' of Taliban searching house-to-house to find and punish anyone who helped the deposed Afghan government.

'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.'

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.

The Taliban has raised its flag outside its new 'headquarters' in Panjshir province - the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan

Taliban members patrol after they took over Panjshir Valley, the only province the group had not seized during its sweep last month in Afghanistan on September 6, 2021

Ahmad Massoud (pictured centre in 2019), the leader of the Afghan National Resistance Front called on Afghans to 'begin a national uprising for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country'

'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.

But near-daily stories have emerged of horrors that Afghan people - particularly women and ethnic minorities - are being subjected to under their new 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.

Thousands of people - mostly the families of Afghan army commanders - protested against the Taliban in their ancestral home city of Kandahar on Tuesday

Demonstrators took to the streets in fury after being told they have three days to vacate their homes, despite some of them living there for decades
Vladimir Putin has entered self-isolation after a member of his entourage contracted Covid-19 despite extensive precautions.

The Russian president abandoned a scheduled trip to Tajikistan, and will not campaign in person for Sunday's parliamentary elections which many opposition politicians have been banned from.

Putin has been fully vaccinated with the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V - receiving his second jab in April.

Vladimir Putin has entered self-isolation after a member of his entourage contracted Covid-19 a day after meeting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad

On Monday, he attended several public events as he met with the Russian Paralympians, attended military exercises conducted in coordination with Belarus, and also met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin is 'absolutely healthy', but will self-isolate after coming in contact with someone who contracted the virus.

He did not clarify for how long Putin would remain in self-isolation, but assured that the president will continue working as usual.

Asked if Putin tested negative for the virus, Peskov said: 'Of course, yes.'

Peskov did not say who among Putin's contacts were infected, saying only that there were several cases.

During his meeting with the Paralympians yesterday, Putin hinted he may need to self-isolate but then went on to hold face to face talks with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad

The Russian president also attended military exercises conducted in coordination with Belarus on Monday

'Even in my close circle, people are having issues with COVID-19,' he told Russia's athletes on Monday.

'I myself may have to self-isolate soon. Many people are sick.'

Putin will work remotely, attending by videoconference a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council scheduled for this week in Dushanbe, and a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

His stepping back coincides with huge war games seen as signalling to the West his military power and readiness while sending shivers through Ukraine.

In new footage from the Zapad-2021 drills, Su-34 bombers are seen 'destroying' mock enemy control centres near St Petersburg.

Crews of Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft earlier flew missions over the Luga range in Leningrad region, which detected and transmitted the coordinates of ground targets for strike aircraft via closed communication channels, said reports.

Putin poses with swimmer Viktoria Ishchiulova during a state award ceremony for medallists of the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games yesterday

Bomber aviation flight crews then used aerial bombs supposedly testing a state-of-the-art computing subsystem.

During their meeting yesterday, Putin told Assad that the result of recent elections 'indicate that people trust you.

'And despite all difficulties and tragedies of the previous years, they nonetheless believe that the process of restoration and return to normal life is thanks to you.'

Putin told him: 'I know that you have been doing a great deal for this, including for the development of dialogue with your political opponents.

'I very much hope that this process will continue.'

During most of the pandemic, Putin shelved most of his regular trips around Russia.

Recently - with elections due at the weekend - he has toured Siberia and the far east but the self-isolation decision means an end to his campaigning.

However, surprises are unlikely in the parliamentary polls with foe Alexei Navaly in jail, and other opposition figures now in exile.
A male NHS midwife caught with hundreds of child sex abuse images walked free from court yesterday.

Scott Butler, 39, was found to have more than 400 indecent images of children as young as four on his devices, as well as extreme pornography depicting rape, strangulation and sex with animals.

Police dramatically swooped on Butler's workplace, St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London, to arrest him on December 3 last year.

Scott Butler, 39, (seen outside court yesterday) was found to have more than 400 indecent images of children as young as four on his devices

The judge who yesterday sentenced him to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months at Inner London Crown Court said a reference letter written by his partner had saved him from jail.

Butler had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of a child and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images.

The experienced midwife, who studied nursing at Coventry University in 2004, was caught after police traced sick internet uploads back to his personal devices.

Upon searching his flat in Lambeth, south London, detectives found 366 indecent videos of children and 77 photos on his mobile phone, a hard drive and a Toshiba laptop.

Some of the images were Category A  the most serious possible, the court heard.

Judge Mr Recorder Michael Wood QC said it was a shame Butler would never be able to work in his role again amid a shortage of midwives.

'This is a real tragedy for so many people,' he said.

'You qualified as a midwife and will never be able to work in this role again.

'It is a shame, not just for yourself but for the community as a whole as I understand there is a desperate shortage of midwives.'

He added: 'As you have said, you were falling down a slippery slope and things became worse and worse.

'These images are of real and vulnerable children and females who are threatened or coerced into these acts.

'There is a world out there in which women and girls are forced into performing extreme acts that are not only degrading but are painful and dangerous.'

A spokesman from St George's NHS Trust said Butler was suspended immediately when the allegations came to light, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council was notified

Mr Recorder Wood said the offences crossed the custody threshold but he took into account Butler's guilty plea, the fact that he is seeking help and the glowing reference from his partner  who he met working in the neo-natal unit.

'This case clearly crosses the custody threshold and I would be perfectly entitled to send you to prison,' he said.

'You owe your partner a huge debt for that letter written on your behalf.

'She stood by you and I would suggest you stand by her because she has made all the difference in keeping you out of prison today.'

The judge ordered that Butler's devices containing the images be destroyed, that he cannot have any unsupervised contact with children and gave him an 18-month community order.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Kate Shilton said: 'Butler was a registered NHS midwife who came into contact with young children every day in a London hospital. But unknown to anyone, he had a large collection of pornographic images of children as young as four years old.

'Butler was caught out after uploading images to a social networking website, which police were able to trace back to him. He was arrested while working. The prosecution case included evidence from a forensic analysis of Butler's devices, which showed the extent of his interest in preadolescent children.

'Crimes against children are abhorrent and the CPS will always seek to bring to justice those who fuel the sexual exploitation of children.'

In a 2010 interview with Coventry University's Health magazine, Butler said he had been mocked for becoming a male midwife but the positive responses outweighed the negative.

'I love the work  caring for pregnant women is such a special relationship and you need very different skills to the ones needed for looking after a person who is ill,' he added.

A spokesman from St George's NHS Trust said Butler was suspended immediately when the allegations came to light, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council was notified.

Butler had worked at the hospital as a midwife and resuscitation training officer since June 2017, and all employment checks were carried out at the time, the spokesman added.

An NSPCC spokesman said: 'Within many of the images viewed by Butler were children experiencing unimaginable distress and suffering; the effects of which can last a lifetime without the right help and support.

'The internet is consistently being used as a gateway to offending and shows why we need stronger legislation and regulation of online sites. The NSPCC will continue to lobby the government to ensure the proposed Online Safety Bill is not only robust and effective, but has the safety of children at its heart.'

Tom Scott, Interim Director of Professional Regulation at the National Midwifery Council, said: 'We successfully applied for an interim suspension order to be put in place during the police investigation, which means Mr Butler can't practise. We'll continue to take forward our own fitness to practise investigation into this deeply concerning matter.'
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Hunters in the Faroe Islands have slaughtered 1,428 dolphins this week in one of the largest ever recorded massacres, turning the sea red with blood as the beaches were lined with their corpses.

It is the biggest ever recorded death toll from the traditional century-old annual hunt known as the Grindadrap or Grind in Faroese.

Islanders usually kill up to 1,000 sea mammals a year, according to data kept by the Faroe Islands. Last year, that included only 35 white-sided dolphins.

Boats drive the Atlantic White Sided Dolphins towards a bay on the shore of the island of Skalafjrur where men wait to kill the animals in the shallows with hooks, knives and spears as part of the local tradition.

Faroese are divided on the Grind but many urge foreign media and NGOs to respect their traditional island culture where fishing retains a central place and the meat is kept for food.

Animal rights activists have condemned the 'barbaric' practice but others say it is an important part of their local tradition.

The Grindadrap dates back to the 9th century when Norsemen first settled on the North Atlantic islands.

Some people in the Faroes who defend the slaughter worry that Sunday's hunt will draw unwanted attention, because it was far larger than previous events and seemingly took place without the usual organisation.

Heri Petersen, the foreman of a group that drives pilot whales towards shore on the central Faroese island of Eysturoy, where the killings took place on Sunday, said he was not informed of the drive and 'strongly dissociated' himself from it.

He told the web-based news outlet in.fo. that there were too many dolphins and too few people on the beach to slaughter them.

Olavur Sjurdarberg, chairman of the Faroese Pilot Whale Hunt Association, feared the slaughter would revive debate on the practice and put a negative spin on the ancient tradition peculiar to the 18 rocky islands located halfway between Scotland and Iceland.

The islands are semi-independent and part of the Danish realm.

Mr Sjurdarberg told local broadcaster KVF: 'We need to keep in mind that we are not alone on earth. On the contrary, the world has become much smaller today, with everyone walking around with a camera in their pocket.

'This is a fabulous treat for those who want us badly when it comes to pilot whale catching.'

Hunters in the Faroe Islands have slaughtered 1,428 dolphins in one of the largest ever recorded massacres, turning the sea red with blood as the beaches were lined with their corpses

Boats drove the animals towards the shore of Skalafjrur where men waited in the shallows with hooks, knives and spears as part of the local tradition

The latest mass killing is the biggest ever documented in the Faroe Islands where locals take part in the carnage, known as the Grindadrap or Grind in Faroese

Faroese are divided on the Grind but many urge foreign media and NGOs to respect their traditional island culture where fishing retains a central place and the meat is kept for food

It remains the only form of aboriginal whaling still in existence in Western Europe.

According to Faroese law, pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises can also be hunted.

The meat and blubber from the animals is used for food and dates back to a time when locals were reliant on whale and dolphin meet to survive.

But a recent study found the meat contains mercury and is not recommended for regular consumption.

Whaling is governed by Faroese authorities and is not regulated by the International Whaling Commission because of disagreements over the body's power to control the cetacean hunts.

Falling whale numbers led to an international moratorium on whaling in 1986  but the International Whaling Commission still allows some 'subsistence' whaling.

Zero catch limits were established for all whaling but made an exception for aboriginal whaling because of its cultural importance and how the food is used exclusively by locals rather than being a commercial hunt.

There is also disagreement about whether smaller whales, among them pilot whales, should be covered by the ban.

Faroese law states the animals must die quickly and without suffering but that is not often the case.

Following mounting concerns over the practice, in 2015 the law was updated and hunters now have to attend a course where they learn how to properly slaughter animals with the spinal-cord lance.

Environmental charity Sea Shepherd regularly documents the killings which have resulted in the deaths of more than 8,000 whales and dolphins over the last decade.

The animal rights activists have been operating in the Faroes since the early 1980s, taking direct action against the Grind with their own boats.

Animal rights activists have condemned the 'barbaric' practice but others say it is an important part of their local tradition

The Grindadrap dates back to the 9th century when Norsemen first settled on the North Atlantic islands

The organisation's chief operating officer Rob Read, 47, said: 'This killing is of a whole other scale entirely - it is mind-blowingly unprecedented.

'There is no need for the meat in Faroe Islands nowadays and it shouldn't be happening, never mind in these numbers.

'There were too many to kill humanely, if that's even possible. These days it is little more than sport, using tradition as justification, and that's why we campaign against it.'

Part of the kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands are an archipelago which are situated 230 miles north-west of mainland Scotland.

Similar hunts are known to take place in Peru, Japan and the Soloman Islands.

Over the past three centuries, the Faroese have taken an average of 838 pilot whales each year, according to a 2012 study.

Rob said: 'Many people aren't even aware of this practice - it is such a cruel thing to do. In these killings, no animal is spared - adults, calves, and even pregnant mothers.

'But this particular hunt is completely unprecedented on a scale never seen before in recent hunting history all over the world.'

'It may well be the largest hunt ever, which is awful.

'This is why we will never give up opposing it and we're determined to raise awareness to make change.'

Environmental charity Sea Shepherd regularly documents the killings which have resulted in the deaths of more than 8,000 whales and dolphins over the last decade

The animal rights activists have been operating in the Faroes since the early 1980s, taking direct action against the Grind with their own boats

In 2015, changes to legislation prevented any Sea Shepherd boats from interrupting the hunt and so it launched a land-based crew to tackle the Grind by documenting it with photographers stationed on the shore and drones in the air.

Robert Read, chief operating officer at Sea Shepherd, said: 'The grindadrap is a barbaric relic of a bygone age. A needless hunt of hundreds of pilot whales and dolphins which should have ended a century ago which is not needed to feed anyone on the islands.'

After a pod is located, the Faroese drive the animals often for many hours with recreational boats, fishing boats and sometimes even jet-skis together creating a 'wall of sound' from their boat engines to force the pod towards the nearest designated killing bay.

Men waiting in shallow waters rush into the sea, dragging the whales alive with ropes attached to gaff-hooks which they ram through the whale's blowhole.

In 2015, changes to legislation prevented any Sea Shepherd boats from interrupting the hunt and so it launched a land-based crew to tackle the Grind

After a pod is located, the Faroese drive the animals often for many hours with recreational boats, fishing boats and sometimes even jet-skis

Men waiting in shallow waters rush into the sea, dragging the whales alive with ropes attached to gaff-hooks which they ram through the whale's blowhole

Killers closer to shore then attempt to sever the whale's spinal cord with a lance and then use a knife to cut down through the animal's neck

It can take a long time before the last of the whales and dolphins are killed, left thrashing around in blood-filled waters while boats block any escape

The Faroe Veterinary Service calculated the average duration of killing during grindadrap hunts at 12.7 minutes, though Sea Shepherd crew often record killing taking well over 20 minutes

Killers closer to shore then attempt to sever the whale's spinal cord with a lance and then use a knife to cut down through the animal's neck.

It can take a long time before the last of the whales and dolphins are killed, left thrashing around in blood-filled waters while boats block any escape.

The Faroe Veterinary Service calculated the average duration of killing during grindadrap hunts at 12.7 minutes, though Sea Shepherd crew often record killing taking well over 20 minutes.

Despite calls for the hunt to end, the Faroese insist that it is sustainable and regulated by law.

In September 2018, Sea Shepherd even offered the islanders one million Euros for 10 consecutive years with no whale hunts.
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The father of the missing van-life woman has said her family will 'do anything we can to find her' after her fiance's parents refused to let cops speak to him and police towed away the campervan the couple were traveling in.

Joseph Petito, father of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, told WPTV he needs help to find his 'amazing' daughter who was last heard from on August 25 during a cross-country trip with her fiance Brian Laundrie.

'We still don't know where she is. Pride isn't an issue right now. My only daughter is missing,' the dad said Monday.

'I'm going to do anything I can. The family, Gabby's mom, we're going to do anything we can to find her.'

Joseph Petito (pictured), the father of missing van-life woman Gabby Petito, said he will 'do anything we can to find her' after her fiance's parents refused to let cops speak to him

His daughter, originally from Long Island, New York, was reported missing by her mother in Suffolk County on September 11 after they hadn't heard from her in 13 days.

Petito and Laundrie had been traveling across America in their campervan since July 2 on an adventure they were documenting on YouTube.

Petito last spoke to her mom on August 25 from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and her last confirmed sighting was the day earlier when she was spotted with Laundrie at a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Laundrie returned alone to their home in North Port, Florida, where the couple moved two years ago, driving the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van. It is not known when he arrived back in the state.

Multiple law enforcement agencies across the US are now searching for Petito.

Suffolk County Police Department in New York launched an investigation after the missing person report was filed while North Port Police are also investigating and confirmed they recovered the campervan Saturday.

Grand Teton National Park spokesperson CJ Adams told Jackson Hole News and Guide the park authorities are working with 'multiple law enforcement agencies' to try to determine Petitos' whereabouts.

'We are conducting, with multiple law enforcement agencies, this part of the investigation into Gabrielle Petito's whereabouts,' said Adams.

'As the investigation is ongoing, we do not have any further information to provide at this time.'

North Port police confirmed to DailyMail.com they had seized the van late Saturday night from Laundrie's family home.

Police said they wish to speak with Petito's fiance but an attempt by officers to do so at the house was denied by Laundrie's parents.

Laundrie has lawyered up and has refused to tell Petito's concerned family or the public what he knows about his girlfriend's whereabouts.

Petito set out on a cross-country trip July 2 with fiance Brian Laundrie in the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van. Laundrie posted this photo of the couple on Instagram on July 16 at Zion National Park

Petito (seen in photos posted on her Instagram during their trip) last called her mom on August 25 from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and her last confirmed sighting was the day earlier at a hotel in Utah with Laundrie

Map showing the timeline of Petito's cross-country trip with her fiance Laundrie, her disappearance and the 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

Petito's father spoke from his home in Vero Beach, Florida - where he had moved to be closer to his daughter - pleading for help in finding her.

Joseph said the couple first drove from Florida to her mom's home in Blue Point on Long Island's south shore for the graduation of Petito's brother, before leaving July 2 for their cross-country trip.

'The trip started from there so it went to some various places,' he said.

'[They] stopped over in Colorado, worked their way up to Utah and were going up to Wyoming and she was going to end in Oregon.'

Joseph said he didn't want to share his thoughts on Laundrie but described his daughter as a free spirit.

'She saw beauty in everything and she's awesome, she really is an amazing, amazing person,' he said.

Petito's mom, Nicole Schmidt, and stepfather James also declined to speak about their daughter's fiance as they held an emotional press conference Monday.

'We can't comment on that,' they said, when asked about Laundrie.

North Port police told Dailymail.com Laundrie's parents refused to let authorities interview their son at their home Saturday and admitted that the sudden disappearance of the 22-year-old is 'odd.'

'We have not talked with him, we would love to talk to him,' said North Port Police spokesman Josh 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.'

Laundrie's father, 62-year-old Christopher Laundrie, was seen mowing his lawn on Monday, and refused to comment on his son's whereabouts.

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

'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

Forensic experts are now poring over the 2012 model van for fingerprints and any other possible clues as to what happened.

'We have the vehicle, we took it away very late Saturday night into Sunday,' Taylor told DailyMail.com.

'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.'

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.'

Petito's mom said she is trying to stay optimistic, telling reporters Monday afternoon: 'I believe she's gonna come home.'

Schmidt was teary-eyed as she held a picture of her daughter during a press conference, saying: '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.

'We just want her home safe with us.'

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

Laundrie and Petito in a post on his Instagram where he writes 'till death do us part or until I wake up' and 'Love you hunny'

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,' she said.

'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.'

In an interview with the New York Post, Joseph urged people 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, his daughter 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.

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

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

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.

Petito, 22, 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. They planned to reach Portland, Oregon, and visit a family friend for Halloween.

'[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 Schmidt filed a missing persons report just before 7pm on Saturday, cops said.

Petito was described as 5-feet5, around 110 pounds, with several tattoos, including one on her forearm reading 'let it be'.

North Port resident Keith Graves, 52, said Petito and Laundrie moved to his neighborhood 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.'

Petito's father described her as 'very, very free spirited'.

'Clothes didn't impress her. Cars didn't impress her. Experiences - that's what impressed her.'

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.'

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 nearly $24,000. 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
A teenager has appeared in court accused of killing a much-loved army veteran outside his home.

Frank Fishwick, 86, died hours after being punched in the face as he spoke to a gang of youths near an underpass outside his property in Preston, Lancashire last Friday afternoon.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be bleeding as a result of fractures to the nose, consistent with being assaulted, Lancashire Police said.

Mr Fishwick was thought to be living on flats in an area of Fulwood known as The Paddock where a group of young people were reportedly gathered.

A police spokesman said: 'Prior to the assault Mr Fishwick had gone outside to speak to a group of youths who were congregating in a stairway near to his home.

Retired serviceman Frank Fishwick (pictured here with one of his grandchildre), 86, died in hospital less than 24-hours after suffering a fractured nose in an incident outside his home

'During the interaction Mr Fishwick was punched to the face by one of the group who all then ran off.

'Officers attended and found Mr Fishwick with facial injuries. He later attended hospital but sadly died on Saturday morning.'

Syrian student, Mohammed Al Aaraj, 19, of Preston, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth when he made a brief appearance in the dock at Preston Magistrates' Court accused of the manslaughter of Mr Fishwick.

Holly Holden, prosecuting, told the court 'community tensions' had been raised in the area as the result of the death of Mr Fishwick, an ex-serviceman.

No pleas were entered and there was no application for bail.

District Judge Jane Hamilton told the defendant: 'This is a serious matter and can only be dealt with by a judge and jury at crown court.

Police say they were called following a report of an assault. Pictured: Police at the scene

Officers attended and found Mr Fishwick with a fractured nose and it was reported he had been remonstrating with youths nearby. Pictured: Police at the scene in Preston last week

'I'm transferring this matter now to the crown court where you will appear on October 12.'

In a tribute after his death Mr Fishwick's family described him as an 'adored father and grandfather'.

He had served in the Army Royal Corps of Engineers and later worked for Leyland Motors.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Haworth-Oates, of Lancashire Police said: 'First and foremost our thoughts remain with Mr Fishwick's family, who continue to be looked after by specialist officers.

'Our inquiries are very much ongoing and we have now charged a man in relation to this incident.

'However, we are continuing to ask witnesses to come forward.

'If you saw the incident or have any information about who was involved and what happened, please let us know.

'Similarly, if you have any dashcam, CCTV or mobile phone footage showing what happened, please tell us.'

Anybody with information is asked to get in touch on 101, quoting log 879 of September 10.
Elizabeth Warren is calling on Amazon to suppress books sold on the site that she says include 'misinformation' about coronavirus.

'Given the seriousness of this issue, I ask that you perform an immediate review of Amazon's algorithms and, within 14 days, provide both a public report on the extent to which Amazon's algorithms are directing consumers to books and other products containing COVID-19 misinformation and a plan to modify these algorithms so that they no longer do so,' Warren wrote in a letter to Amazon's new CEO Andy Jassy last week.

The progressive Massachusetts senator detailed in the letter that she and her team conducted test searches on Amazon.com with coronavirus, pandemic and vaccine-related terms.

Warren said that the search resulted in some 'top results consistently included highly-ranked and favorably-tagged books based on falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures.'

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Amazon demanding it stifle promotion of books that she claims includes 'misinformation' about COVID-19

Warren defended herself against attacks that she is promoting censorship, tweeting on Monday that Amazon is 'spreading dangerous misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines'

The progressive senator specifically called out 'The Truth About COVID-19', claiming author Joseph Mercola is the biggest 'spreader of coronavirus misinformation'

She specifically called out the book 'The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal' by Joseph Mercola and Ronnie Cummins.

'Dr. Mercola,' Warren wrote in her letter, 'has been described as 'the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online.''

'Not only was this book the top result when searching either 'COVID-19' or 'vaccine' in the categories of 'All Departments' and 'Books'; it was tagged as a 'Best Seller' by Amazon and the '#1 Best Seller' in the 'Political Freedom' category,' the senator lamented.

Mercola accused Warren of 'censorship', and claimed it is illegal for lawmakers to pressure private entities to stifle freedom of speech.

'Senator censorship?' the doctor and author wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday. 'Warren pushes Amazon to burn my best selling book with 5 star reviews. It is illegal for public officials to pressure private businesses to censor anyone in the USA!'

In a tweet Monday, Warren defended herself against criticism for her call on banning books from Amazon.

'We're in a critical moment in the fight against COVID-19, and Amazon is spreading dangerous misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. Amazon must review its online algorithms and take aggressive action to stamp out COVID-19 misinformation,' the senator posted.

Her call on Amazon to stifle books, however, has conservatives worried about continued suppression of right-leaning voices by tech companies.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Warren just wants Amazon to 'ban books that she disagrees with.'

'Here you have a self-described liberal, who is a law professor at our premiere law school, calling for book burning. Did you think you'd live to see that?' Carlson said on his show Monday night.

Before becoming a U.S. senator for Massachusetts, Warren was a law professor at Harvard.

'Warren's push for more censorship is yet another example of the growing symbiosis between Big Tech and big government,' Kara Frederick, a technology policy research fellow at conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, told Fox Business.

Dr. Mercola accused Warren of promoting 'book burning' in her bid to get Amazon to change its algorithm to not promote books with which she doesn't agree

She claimed Warren's letter shows a 'broader trend' toward progressive and the Biden Administration 'attempting to circumvent the Constitution by pressuring private tech companies to restrict freedom of expression under a broad definition of misinformation.'

Frederick noted that some tech suppressions have led to factual information being stifled  like the theory that coronavirus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.

'A healthy body politic depends on the genuine interrogation of ideas,' she said. 'Big Tech companies' eagerness to suppress specific points of view is already corroding our free societyand they don't need Elizabeth Warren's help to accelerate this.'

Possibly the most notable form of suppression was when Twitter banned then-President Donald Trump's account after the January 6 Capitol riot, claiming they were worried he would incite more violence. The former president is still not allowed back on the platform and now sends out his thoughts in email statements.

Warren's letter was sent to new Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy (left), who took over for founder Jeff Bezos (right) when he stepped down as CEO on July 5, 2021

Conservatives often say they feel their voices are disproportionately banned or stifled on big tech platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google.

Warren said in her letter last Tuesday that searches on the top online retailers website yielded results 'based on falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures, including those written by the most prominent spreaders of misinformation.'

'This pattern and practice of misbehavior suggests that Amazon is either unwilling or unable to modify its business practices to prevent the spread of falsehoods or the sale of inappropriate productsan unethical, unacceptable, and potentially unlawful course of action from one of the nation's largest retailers,' Warren wrote in the letter to Jassy.

'At a time when every step towards ending the pandemic could save countless lives, misinformation poses a substantial obstacle.'

Jassy officially took over for Jeff Bezos as Amazon's CEO on July 5, 2021. Bezos served as CEO for the company he founded for 27 years.
The National Guard has been mobilized in Massachusetts to ferry kids to and from school amid a nationwide shortage of bus drivers exacerbated by COVID.

Up to 250 members of the Guard will be activated to address the shortage, following a direct order from Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to deploy the servicemen, as school and state officials across the country have been forced to deal with the dearth of drivers.

'There are a bunch of communities that have expressed interest in this and we're glad to be able to help because it's important,' Baker told the public of his decision.

Baker added in a tweet, 'The safe and reliable transportation to school each day is critical to our children's safety and education.'

The COVID-19 crisis has worsened a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers. Its so bad that the governor of Massachusetts has activated up to 250 members of the National Guard to help. pic.twitter.com/1DyX4I9Q1b  TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 14, 2021

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker decided to deploy the Massachusetts National Guard to deal with the state's unprecedented bus-driver shortage

The Boston school bus drivers' union calls the shortage 'the worst fiasco we've witnessed in our careers'

Ninety Massachusetts guardsmen are set to begin training on Tuesday, a statement from the state's Office of Public Safety and Security announced

Ninety Massachusetts guardsmen are set to begin training on Tuesday, to help with transportation in the Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn school systems, a statement from the state's Office of Public Safety and Security announced.

Officials added that the deployment of the Guard to drive the buses will not interfere with the militia force's ability to deal with whatever other emergencies may occur throughout the state.

Baker said the federal government - not the state - would pick up the tab, but could not provide an estimate as to how much the assistance would cost.

School districts in Massachusetts have had a particularly tough start to the year in regards to drivers, the Boston Herald reported, due chiefly to the spread of the COVID-19 delta variant and mask requirements.

The Boston school bus drivers' union even went as far as to campaign to postpone the start of school the year, calling the situation 'the worst fiasco we've witnessed in our careers.'

The union also revealed that the district gave them more than 100 additional routes than they've had in prior years at the last minute.

During the first day of school last week in Boston, public school officials said that only 57 percent of the school's bus fleet completed on-time drop-offs - with some kids not even making it to school, according to district officials.

The Guard will be deployed in the Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Lynn school systems, since they were among the most affected by the driver shortage

The litany of issues across the state's capital comes despite promises from Acting Mayor Kim Janey that student transportation would be unaffected by countermeasures to the pandemic.

There has been a growing shortage of school bus drivers for years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, not only in Massachusetts but nationally - and the emergence of the virus has only exacerbated the already present issue to paramount proportions.

Bus operators often tend to be advanced in age, and at times even retired, so when the virus struck early last year, many left their jobs over concerns of getting sick.

What's more, after getting a commercial license, some drivers are lured to delivery services and trucking companies, in lieu of the split shifts and unruly children that often come with operating a school bus.

In New York, many districts have 15 to 20 percent fewer drivers than they need.

A school district in New Jersey was forced to cut its days short amid the lack of drivers, dismissing students nearly an hour earlier than normal.

The situation is so dire, one school in Delaware is even paying parents to drive their children to school.

Similarly, a Montana school district is offering $4,000 bonuses to lure in drivers.

In Chicago, at the start of the school year, 70 bus drivers - 10 percent of the city's overall pool - abruptly quit over the district's new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, WBEZ reported.

The move left some 2,100 students without a way to get to school.

Pittsburgh public schools notified families that they are short almost 650 bus seats for the first day of school on Friday, and one district even delayed the start of classes - saying hundreds more children would have to walk to school.

Schools across the U.S. are offering hiring bonuses, providing the training needed to get a commercial driver's license and increasing hourly pay to attract more drivers.

But the issue is still pressing - and the school year has just begun.

According to the National School Transportation Association, the nationwide need for drivers is expected to remain at 'critical levels' during the coming months, with impacts that will stretch well into the school year.
Young adult novelist Bennett Madison turned in 25 fake letters seeking advice from Slate's Dear Prudence column starting in 2018

A disillusioned novelist turned in fake letters to an advice column for fun - but stopped when Tucker Carlson shared one of his missives detailing a wife's despair at her COVID-conscious husband's insistence on wearing a mask during sex.

Bennett Madison used fake emails to submit 25 letters to Slate's Dear Prudence column starting in late 2018. Twelve of the letters were answered in the progressive online magazine's website, or its accompanying podcast.

The one that got Fox News host Carlson's attention - 'My Husband Wont Take His Mask Off - Even for Sex' - was published in May 2021 and describes a wife's frustration over her husband's seemingly permanent pandemic-era accessory.

Madison, writing as 'Maskless and Alone,' vents: 'He wears it to sleep, to do most of his bathroom activities, and, yes, even during lovemaking. To eat, he pulls it up to expose his mouth, and then quickly pulls it back down between bites.

'I want to kiss him on the lips romantically, like we used to, and not through a piece of fabric. (He does not change his mask very often and it is often smelly and soiled.)'

Columnist Tori Bosch suggested the husband seek medical and psychological care.

'Once he has committed to some sort of treatment, see if you can get him to promise to change his mask every day until he feels secure going without it,' Bosch answered.

Madison's most popular letter detailed a spouse's frustration of their husband's mask wearing

The absurd letter, published in May, said that the writer's husband would not remove his 'smelly and soiled' mask 'even during lovemaking'

Madison embarked in the long-term writing exercise after growing disillusioned with his career as a young adult novelist, he revealed in an essay for Gawker on Monday, where he suggested that the current culture of social justice in the writing world dampens creativity and free expression.

He's written young adult novels such as September Girls and The Blonde of the Joke.

'In my anonymous, fabricated letters to Prudence, I could follow the most demented threads of my imagination without having to anticipate the omnivalent flavors of opprobrium that might rain down on me from YAs brigade of cultural revolutionaries,' he explained.

He added: 'I can speak only for myself: at a moment when stories increasingly serve as delivery mechanisms for moral and political messaging, it felt like a tiny form of resistance to engage in fiction that was at its heart completely pointless.'

The novelist cut his experiment short after Carlson ranted about the letter on air. 'What I thought of as harmless trolling might actually have evil consequences,' Madison said

His unique hobby came to a halt after the Fox News host used his 'mask sex' letter to decry COVID hysteria on air, complete with a chyron reading 'TERRIFIED LIBERALS KEEP THEIR MASKS ON DURING SEX.'

'I had meant the letter as a mild comedy of manners set in the neurotic milieu of the Brooklyn middle class - a milieu that was, of course, my own,' Madison admitted in the Gawker article.

'While part of me was excited to have duped a dweeb like Tucker Carlson with such an obviously phony scenario, I was disturbed to have provided chum for the pro-Covid, bleach-drinking lunatics in his audience.

'Now, Tucker Carlson made me consider that what I thought of as harmless trolling might actually have evil consequences.'

In time, Madison learned that a good letter 'must be plausible, but it must also be ridiculous.'

The letters were submitted to the Dear Prudence column on Slate, which was run by Daniel Lavery (above) until early this year, when he migrated to the Substack newsletter platform

In November 2019, Dear Prudence published one of Madison's fake letters in which he detailed a spat with his partner over baby names.

'Ever since I was a little boy, I have known that I want to have a child someday and that I want to name her "Katrina Nicole." (I am not going to put her real name here, but it is something very similar.) I dont know why I felt so strongly about that specific name; it was just something I have always known in my heart, almost like fate. In a way, its like "Katrina Nicole" has always been a part of my life.'

His fabled partner, however, wanted to name their child after his grandmother Charlene.

'"Charlene" is not exactly fashionable," Madison complained anonymously.

'(It makes me think of the elderly woman from that old show The Facts of Life.) Who is right? We have agreed to follow your decision.'

In a letter published this past March, Madison, writing in character, said that a friend threatened to 'expose' him on social media for making an appointment for a COVID vaccine.

'Her reaction was not what I expected. She accused me of only wanting to go to sex resorts and blamed me for taking vaccines away from "African American grandmothers." (My friend is white.)'

Danny Lavery, Slate's main Dear Prudence columnist at the time, responded in earnest.

'Her accusation that all you care about is wild hedonism and not public safety or your parents' health is clearly baseless, but beyond that, it's not irresponsible to want to get vaccinated so one can resume enjoyable activities like going to the movies again someday. It's pleasurable, and it's unrelated to life-threatening concerns, but that doesn't make it irresponsible.'

In another fake letter, 'My Daughter Is Pretending to Be Demonically Possessed and I Cant Take It Anymore!' Madison's character emphasized that she feared 'dampening her daughters creative spirit by scolding her for crab-walking around the house and spitting on her family members.'

'This child is perfect, and has a great big imagination,' advice columnists responded in a podcast for Dear Prudence, according to Madison.

Madison's fake advice letter experiment recalls an experiment by a trio of researchers who submitted false 'grievance papers' to reputable social science journals in an effort to expose their lack of scientific rigor.

Professor Peter Boghossian and two others authored a 2018 study with a similar premise: mocking the moral and political righteousness of the current moment by publishing fake articles in reputable journals

Authors Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose wrote 20 papers based on fake theories like dog rape in an effort to prove how academic journals would publish anything they agreed with as long as it followed woke orthodoxy.

In the end, four were accepted and published online and three were pending publication when the authors had to cut the experiment short after they were found out by a Twitter user and reporters in 2018.

Boghossian, one of the authors of the prematurely ended study, resigned from his job as a philosophy professor at Portland State University this month, citing harassment and intolerance from people who disagreed with his research.

He accused the university of having 'transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division' in a letter published in Bari Weiss's Substack.
A journalist who forgot to press the mute button during an online press conference with John Barilaro was heard furiously ripping into the deputy premier after he dodged her question, prompting him to awkwardly tell her 'we can hear all of that'.

In scenes likely to strike fear into every Zoom-user, the NSW deputy premier was hosting his daily Covid-19 briefing for regional media outlets on Tuesday when he clashed with Central Coast News reporter Skaie Hull.

She was overheard ripping into him to a colleague off-screen, accusing him of turning off his camera while responding to her question as other stunned reporters listened in - admitting she was 'p***ed off'.

Quickly realising her comments were aimed at him, the deputy premier denied her allegations, saying 'we heard everything you said'.

After the video was shared on Twitter Ms Hull hit back with footage of her questions to Mr Barilaro demanding answers on behalf of her Central Coast community, which along with Sydney has now been in lockdown for three long months.

Central Coast News reporter Skaie Hull (pictured) made her feelings known about what she thinks of NSW deputy premier John Barilaro on Tuesday

The commotion began when Mr Barilaro told Ms Hull he didn't know about reports that Covid-19 patients from western Sydney were transferred to Gosford Hospital on Monday night for treatment, with city hospitals overwhelmed.

He refused to comment on the reports, claiming it would be 'scaremongering'.

As the deputy premier moved onto the next question, the furious reporter could be heard in the background ranting to a colleague about his response, not realising she hadn't turned on her mute button.

'Same thing, "scare-mongering freakin rumours". He turned his camera off on me, so I'm p***ed off,' Ms Hull fumed.

'He purposely did that. I caught him fiddling around and he turned it off while replying to my question.'

Mr Barilaro eventually interrupted to hit back at the claims and berate the journalist.

'Skaie, we can hear all that and that's not correct, I didn't turn off your camera. I was actually trying to find the next question,' he replied.

'So Skaie, with everything you've said, I'm disappointed. And everyone else heard it as well, just letting you know.'

He turned his attention to the next reporter, who cheekily promised to express his opinions to the deputy premier's face.

Skaie Hull later shared footage from the Zoom press conference showing John Barilaro turning off his camera while she was asking him a question

Ms Hull later added context to the saga by sharing footage of her news segment and her exchange with Mr Barilaro, while calling for transparency from the state government and NSW Health about local Covid-19 matters.

The segment shows Mr Barilaro turning off his camera - perhaps by accident - while Ms Hull was grilling him about claims western Sydney patients are being transferred to the Central Coast.

The Central Coast has recorded 278 cases since the current outbreak began in mid-June in Sydney, including nine new infections on Tuesday.

The local health district also released 13 new potential exposure sites across the region, including Wyong, Umina, Killarney Vale, Wadalba, Tuggerah, Toukely, Gosford and Kincumber.

'I have no idea, I'm sure that's happened in the past but currently, I don't know,' he said.

'I don't think it really matters. The reality is that we're a network of hospitals that are there to serve all of NSW.'

Skaie Hull (pictured) had a number of tough questions for the NSW deputy premier on Tuesday

Ms Hull then asked why the information isn't being disclosed to the local region as she inquired about reports of a quarantine hospital at West Gosford.

Mr Barilaro started his response but was quickly shut down by the reporter who reminded him his camera is still off.

'Firstly, I don't speculate on gossip and rumour, I go off the information I'm given from health,' he continued.

'This idea of a quarantine hospital, I don't know. I can't give you that answer.

'No one is deliberately hiding this information from the public but as I often find out when things are raised, it's nowhere near the truth.

'I don't see what the issue is in relation to case numbers, vaccination, and the ability to manage those cases in the local hospital network.

'Anything outside of that is negative scare-mongering.'

A bemused John Barilaro watched on as the reporter was overheard ranting about him to a colleague during his daily Covid briefing about regional NSW

Skaie Hull has hit back following her heated exchange with John Barilaro. 'I'm definitely not a rumour spreading journalist - I'm a community voice'

The online rant went viral after other regional reporters shared the awkward encounter.

'Hot Tip: When in John Barilaro's regional daily briefing with a few dozen other journos mute the mic before ranting to colleagues post questions,' a television reporter captioned the footage.

Ms Hull fired back later that night: 'Number one rule as a journalist - share all the sides to the story.'

She confirmed she was asked about patients being transferred from Western Sydney to Gosford Hospital before being shut down by the deputy premier.

'There's a bigger back story and I'm definitely not a rumour spreading journalist - I'm a community voice,' she tweeted.

Ms Hull's online rant went viral after other regional reporters shared the awkward encounter

Mr Barilaro has already caused a stir this week by hinting vaccination proof will only be needed at venues for several weeks once lockdown restrictions are lifted when NSW hits 70 per cent double vaccination, catching Premier Gladys Berejiklian off-guard.

He told 2GB the unvaccinated would also have the same freedoms once double vaccination rates hit 80 per cent.

On Sky News on Tuesday night, he reiterated that all staff must be vaccinated for businesses to be able to reopen at the 70 per cent vaccination rate.

'And they'll only be dealing with vaccinated patrons or customers,' he told host Paul Murray.

'It's a chance to open businesses earlier than what would be normally the 80 per cent or above that has been modelled previously.

'We want businesses to be able to open earlier.'

He also announced an additional $287.5million in Covid financial support funding to see emergency hardship payments, test and isolate support payments and community empowerment grants expanded across the state.
President Joe Biden has often shown pride in his Irish Catholic roots, but on another side of his ancestry, the progressive commander-in-chief's family lineage can be traced back to America's shameful past of slave ownership.

Jesse Robinett, Biden's great-great-great grandfather, owned two enslaved people in Maryland in the 1800s, according to a Politico story adapted from a bombshell new book, The Bidens.

Biden shares an apparent connection with Robinett through his full name - Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.

Another ancestor of Biden's also reportedly owned a slave in Maryland - a 14-year-old boy. That 3x-great grandfather is Thomas Randle, who held the child in 1850 in Baltimore County, according to census records and slave schedules at the time.

Slave schedules and census records were two separate headcounts of slaves that were conducted in 1850 and 1860.

The damning family history was uncovered by Alexander Bannerman, a West Virginia genealogist who organized the first complete genealogy of Biden for publication.

Census records resurfaced by Bannerman show that by 1860, Randle and his family moved to a different area of Baltimore County. The slave schedule for the same year shows he again enslaved a man.

Biden also shares a 'distant tie' to the wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

A new book has delved into President Joe Biden's sometimes fraught history on racial issues, revealing that in the 1970s he lived in a home with a racially restrictive deed

The genealogist revealed that Biden's distant ancestor Allen Robanet likely immigrated from England to Pennsylvania in the late 1600s. Robanet is his link to Davis' wife Varina Anne Banks Howell.

For someone with deep roots to colonial America, Bannerman said Biden's family records showed 'not a lot of ancestors, and not a lot of slaves.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House for comment.

But it's a past that Biden has infrequently - if ever - mentioned.

By contrast, the only Irish Catholic president since John F. Kennedy regularly invokes his Irish Catholic roots. Some of his most regular anecdotes involve growing up amongst his mother's Irish Catholic family and going to Catholic school in Delaware.

The book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger is due out next week

More recently he quipped at an event celebrating the Jewish High Holidays, 'my daughter married a Jewish young man. And you know, dream of every Catholic father that she marry a Jewish doctor.'

But at several points during his career, during attempts to woo southern voters, Biden has also appeared to boast of Delaware's history as a 'slave state' - seemingly before he was aware of his family's ties to the shameful tradition.

While campaigning for president in Alabama in 1987, Biden said incorrectly: 'We (Delaware) were on the South's side in the Civil War'.

In fact, Delaware was a slave state that remained loyal to the Union in the Civil War.

In 2006, Biden also touted Delaware as a 'slave state' when pressed on his chances in the 2008 presidential primary in South Carolina.

'My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast, liberal state,' he said in an interview.

The new book delves further into Biden's sometimes fraught history on racial issues, revealing that in the 1970s he lived in a home with a restrictive deed banning black owners or occupants.

The book by Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger, titled The Bidens, is due out next week, and one chapter explores the incident with the racist covenant, according to an advance copy obtained by Fox News.

Biden's father first purchased the home in Faulkland, Delaware in 1969, and Biden then swapped houses with his dad in order to remain within the council district he then served.

Biden, now 78, lived in the home from August 1971 to October 1974, during his first campaign for US Senate. The house came with a 'restrictive covenant' that said it couldn't be 'owned or occupied by any Negro or person of Negro extraction.'

From August 1971 to October 1974, Biden lived in this Delaware home which had a 'restrictive covenant' that said it couldn't be 'owned or occupied by any Negro'

The racist covenant was only revealed publicly in 1986, when Biden was holding hearings on Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist's nomination as Chief Justice, and accused Rehnquist of living in homes with similar covenants.

At the time, Biden batted back criticism, saying his parents had 'filed a declaration of disavowal saying they find the restriction morally repugnant and they are not bound by it,' according to the Associated Press.

Biden also claimed the deed his dad signed did not include the restrictive covenant.

For his part, Rehnquist acknowledged the racist deeds, saying they were morally offensive but legally unenforceable.

The 1948 Supreme Court Case Shelley v. Kraemer ruled that racially restrictive covenants were unenforceable.

It is far from the only embarrassing racial incident from Biden's half-century career in politics.

In the 2020 Democratic primary, Kamala Harris, now his vice president, attacked Biden over his opposition to using federally mandated busing to racially integrate schools in the 1970s.

It is far from the only embarrassing racial incident from Biden's half-century career in politics. Above, Biden is seen in the early 1970s, when he was the youngest US senator

In 1975, Biden called busing an 'asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me.' Biden defended his position in the debate and said it was ultimately little different from that of Harris.

Also during the 2020 campaign, Biden raised eyebrows when he told radio host Charlamagne tha God that black voters 'ain't black' if they don't vote for him.

Biden has also been criticized for his fond remembrances of segregationists including Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd, the former Democratic Senator from West Virginia who was a leader of the KKK, but later renounced the group.

In a 2003 eulogy, Biden called Thurmond a 'brave man, who in the end made his choice and moved to the good side.' He said they became 'good friends.'

It was also during the 2008 campaign that Biden drew scrutiny for his infamous characterization of Barack Obama as 'the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'.

More recently, Biden was dogged by controversy when he called top aide Cedric Richmond, who is black, 'boy' during a briefing on Hurricane Ida last month.

Biden introduced Richmond, a New Orleans native who quit Congress to serve in the White House, by saying he was 'here with my senior adviser and, uh, boy who knows Louisiana very well, man.'
New Zealand could have its name changed to Aotearoa if signatories of a controversial petition have their way.

Te Pati Maori, the nation's Maori Party, launched the campaign on Tuesday asking for Indigenous names to be restored for the country and including towns, suburbs and cities.

The petition calls on the government to 'identify and officially restore' the original Te Reo Maori - Indigenous place names, over the next five years in a process to be completed by 2026.

'It's well past time that Te Reo Maori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country,' Maori Party leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said in a statement launching the petition.

Leaders of the Maori Party Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (pictured) have launched a petition to restore New Zealand's place name to 'Aotearoa'

'We are a Polynesian country  we are Aotearoa.'

The petition urged the New Zealand government to do all that it can to 'restore the status of our language'.

'Tangata whenua are sick to death of our ancestral names being mangled, bastardised, and ignored. It's the 21st Century, this must change,' it read.

Mr Waititi and Ms Ngarewa-Packer said fluency rates for the Indigenous language have fallen from 90 per cent to 20 per cent in the last 90 years.

Mr Waititi (pictured) said the petition has already gathered 12,000 signatures since launching on Tuesday

'It is the duty of the Crown to do all that it can to restore the status of our language. That means it needs to be accessible in the most obvious of places; on our televisions, on our radio stations, on road signs, maps and official advertising, and in our education system,' it added.

The name change was initially raised by the Maori Party in 2017 which launched its language policy calling for state broadcasters to have basic Te Reo Maori fluency.

Aotearoa is used interchangeably across the country with the terminology used by state officials, political leaders and even some companies - but there has been no official change.

Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters slammed the name change as 'left-wing radical bull dust' on Twitter (pictured)

Former NZ Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of New Zealand first Winston Peters has already rebuked the name change as 'dumb extremism'.

'This is just more left-wing radical bull dust. Changing our country's name and town and city names is just dumb extremism,' Mr Peters wrote on Twitter.

'We are not changing to some name with no historical credibility. We are for keeping us New Zealand.'

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in September last year an official name change for the nation was 'not something we've explored' but encouraged the use of Aotearoa as a 'positive thing.'

'It's not something that we've explored but I am really encouraged to continue to see people use it more frequently and I hope to see it used more internationally as well,' she said.

As of Tuesday evening Mr Waititi announced the petition has already gather 12,000 signatures from supporters.

The campaign comes 49 years after the Maori language petition was first handed to parliament in a push that eventually lead to Maori recognised as an official dialect.
Thousands of Afghans have protested against the Taliban for evicting 3,000 families from their homes in Kandahar to house their fighters.

Protesters gathered in front of the governor's house in Kandahar after the families were given three days to vacate a residential army colony where they live, despite some of them living there for decades.

Footage posted online shows crowds of people marching through the streets of Kandahar chanting with some raising their hands as if to surrender.

Such is the volume of protesters on a main road and junction, traffic can be seen grinding to a halt.

Though protesters were predominantly male, separate video showed a group of at least 20 burka-clad women, as well as some without their faces covered, among the demonstrators.

Thousands of Afghans have protested against the Taliban for evicting 3,000 families from their homes in Kandahar to house their fighters

Footage posted online showed crowds of angry people blocking a main road and junction in Kandahar today

Thousands of Afghans, among them burka-clad women, protested against the Taliban in the southern city of Kandahar today after they were evicted from their homes

Protesters gathered in front of the governor's house in Kandahar after around 3,000 families were given three days to vacate a residential army colony where they live, some for almost 30 years

The residential army colony facing eviction is predominantly occupied by the families of retired army generals and other members of the Afghan security forces.

Taliban spokesmen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the evictions. It comes after the group allegedly also evicted families in the Panjshir Valley and threatened to do the same to people in Daikundi to house their fighters.

In other video posted online a member of the crowd, thought to be a journalist, shows his bruised and swollen arm and can be heard complaining about being beaten by the Taliban.

Footage then pans to five demonstrators sat or crouching in the middle of the road in apparent protest before the person holding the camera turns to reveal at least 20 more men sat in the street. Several children can be seen among the crowd.

Sporadic protests against the Taliban, who swept to power in Afghanistan with the capture of Kabul almost a month ago, have ended in occasionally deadly clashes, although there were no confirmed reports of violence today.

Taliban leaders have vowed to investigate any instances of abuse, but have ordered demonstrators to seek permission before holding protests.

Such was the volume of protesters on a main road and junction, traffic could be seen grinding to a halt in the centre of Kandahar

Anti-Taliban demonstrators march through Kandahar, furious that they have been forcibly evicted from their homes

Thousands of young men marched through the streets of Kandahar, blocking a main road and junction, to protest the forced eviction of their families

Thousands of people - mostly the families of Afghan army commanders - protested against the Taliban in their ancestral home city of Kandahar on Tuesday

On Friday, Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council the Taliban's response to peaceful protests was becoming increasingly violent.

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.

Thousands of angry Afghans protested against the Taliban today after they were evicted from their homes in a residential army colony in Kandahar

Protesters marched to the governor's house in Kandahar after around 3,000 families were given three days to vacate a residential army colony where they live, some for almost 30 years

Sporadic protests against the Taliban, who swept to power in Afghanistan with the capture of Kabul almost a month ago, have ended in occasionally deadly clashes, although there were no confirmed reports of violence today

Taliban have ordered people to seek permission before holding protests, but today's demonstration appeared to be an unplanned reaction to the eviction order

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.

But near-daily stories have emerged of horrors that Afghan people - particularly women and ethnic minorities - are being subjected to under their new rule.

Footage that emerged today appeared to show Taliban militants executing an unarmed civilian in a revenge killing in the Panjshir Valley.

The footage shows men who appear to be Taliban fighters marching another man to the side of a road before multiple gunshots ring out and he slumps to the floor.

It is thought that at least 20 people have been killed in a similar fashion in the valley since it was captured by the Taliban last week.

Footage shows what appears to be Taliban fighters executing an unarmed civilian in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, after the Islamists claimed to have captured it last week

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.

Ms Bachelet said she has seen 'credible reports' of Taliban searching house-to-house to find and punish anyone who helped the deposed Afghan government.

'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.'

Meanwhile 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.
No new date has been selected to restart construction until the city approves a plan

City officials suspect the holes drilled for the support beams were too wide, causing soil to move around and settle into newly-created space

The building has sunk 17-18inches, causing the building to lean toward Fremont Street

San Francisco's Millennium Tower halted the $100million plan to fix the 22-inch lean after the building sunk another inch due to construction

A ritzy San Francisco condo tower that leans 22 inches has had repair work halted after holes drilled to fix its tilt were allegedly made too large.

The 545-foot, 58-story Millennium Tower has been sinking since its completion in 2009, and has subsided more than 18 inches along its base.

But a $100 million attempt to right the tilt caused it to sink a further 1.3 inches on its northwest side, with San Francisco's Department of Building Inspections ordering work to stop last Friday.

The latest chapter in the leaning saga began after crews started to install two-foot-wide piles - which are support beams used to create a stable foundation for heavy buildings - into the bedrock.

Engineers have likened the technique being used to that of a jack being propped under a car to change a flat tire.

A total of 39 piles were installed between May and late August, with 250 planned for installation along the building's north and west perimeter to fix the tilt.

But during this time, the building sunk another inch, causing it to lean even further.

The issue has also caused the building to lean 22 inches toward Fremont Street.

The holes for the piles were allegedly drilled too big, causing soil underneath the building to shift to fill the newly-drilled voids, making its lean even more pronounced. This was the suspected cause for the accelerated sinking, according to city officials.

Despite the latest developments, city officials say the building, which has seen apartments sell for up to $13 million, it still structurally sound, and have not ordered it to be evacuated.

Residents were first informed of the issue in 2016, and launched a flurry of lawsuits, one of which resulted in the currently-paused remedial work.

San Francisco's 545-foot Millennium Tower construction is halted after it sunk another inch, causing the building to now lean 22 inches toward Fremont Street

The building has sunk 17-18 inches since 2009 and could sink as much as 31 inches or more. It sits to the right of San Francisco's tallest skyscraper, the Salesforce Tower

The building's well-off residents include former San Francisco 49er Joe Montana, Giants outfielder Hunter Pence and venture capitalist Tom Perkins, who died shortly after selling his penthouse for $13m in 2016.

In 2016, the geotechnical engineer leading the investigation, Pat Shires, suspected the building could sink between 24 to 31 inches.

Chris Jeffries, a founding partner at Millennium Partners, blamed the tower's structural issues due to the adjacent Transbay Join Powers Authority transit hub in 2016.

That site also includes San Francisco's tallest building, the Salesforce Tower.

Workers repair crumbling, water-damaged walls in the building in 2017. The 58-story building soil allegedly suffered from excess water after an adjacent transit hub pumped millions of gallons of water out

The luxurious high-rise has been suffering from many structural issues since it opened in 2009, including water-damaged (pictured) and stress fissures on the 38th floor

Stress gauges have been placed along the floor-to-ceiling cracks in the parking garage, that houses its ultra-rich residents' expensive rides

Jeffries said the soil was weakened when the transit hub dug a 60-foot hole to create a dry construction site and pumped out millions of gallons of groundwater that lead to the soil weakening until the Millennium Tower.

The Tower's General Manager James Zaratin insisted the construction would resume shortly in a September 5 bulletin, but no date has been selected.

'We have been assured that the building remains safe, and we anticipate that construction with some modifications, coupled with daily monitoring, will resume shortly,' said Zaratin.

The accelerated sinking has reportedly reduced to normal speed - equivalent to roughly an inch a year - since the construction stopped, Zaratin insisted.

Construction is expected to resume after engineers can find a solution that won't destabilize the foundation any further, according to NBC Bay Area.

Millennium Tower is the tallest residential building in San Francisco with beautiful amenities. The 419 apartments in the building quickly sold between $1.6million to more than $10million

The building houses a 75-foot pool, has a health club, in-house cinema, and a restaurant run by a celebrity chef

The gorgeous building offers its residents beautiful views of the city with luxurious, open space and unobstructed views over San Francisco Bay

Robert Pkye, a veteran geotechnical engineers in the San Francisco area, said three engineers warned of the potential issues with the proposed fix back in July 2019, but the plan went forward anyways.

'The overall fix that theyre engaged in is the problem -- its not a satisfactory fix for the long term condition,' Pkye told NBC Bay Area.

The glossy, 58-story, all-glass building, located at 301 Mission Street, was completed in 2009 and is the tallest residential building in the city.

Equipped with a 75-foot indoor lap-pool, a health club and spa, in-house cinema, and a restaurant and wine bar run by celebrity chef Michael Mina, all 419 apartments were quickly filled with wealthy residents when it opened.

Venture capitalist Tom Perkins sold his apartment for $13million in 2016 before he died, but many residents have not been so lucky. It is estimated 100 condos have lost $320,000 in resell value

The place has also seen the likes of Giants outfielder Hunter Pence (left) and San Francisco 49ers Joe Montana (right). Residents were told in May 2016 about the building sinking

Penthouse suites sold for more than $10million, with the cheapest apartment selling for $1.6million.

But the ongoing structural concerns have spooked many residents who have decided to sell, despite assurances from city officials that the tower remains safe.

An estimated 100 condos have lost $320,000 in resell values due to the sinking.

Residents of the high rise reported hearing creaking and popping sounds coming from the building in September 2018.

Former venture capitalist Tom Perkins bought his apartment for $9.4 million, and sold it for $13 million in 2016. But he spent $9 million on renovating it, and would likely have recouped more of that sum had the tower not suffered its well-publicized lean.

He died in June 2016.

A resident on the 38th floor later reported a window fissure.

The parking garage not only houses expensive cars, but floor-to-ceiling cracks. Stress gauges have been placed to measure the cracks.
Republican Larry Elder appears to be ready for defeat in Tuesday's gubernatorial recall election in California and is prepping for the next step - fighting the results with a website the declares Governor Gavin Newsom already has been 'reinstated.'

Elder's campaign launched a 'Stop California Fraud' website that asks his supporters to report incidents of voter fraud and sign a petition to investigate the election results.

His move comes before a single ballot is reported and is seen as laying the groundwork to argue that Democrats stole the election, a line used by Donald Trump in the wake of Joe Biden's victory in 2020.

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 Los Angeles Times poll shows 60.1% of likely voters surveyed oppose recalling Newsom compared with 38.5% in favor of ousting the governor.

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.

There are two questions on the ballot: Whether to keep Newsom as governor and, if not, to choose a Newsom replacement, which is where Elder leads among 46 candidates. That includes Caitlyn Jenner, who is polling in single digits but not ruling out another run for public office.

The language on the voter fraud website assumes the Democratic governor triumphed in the recall election and is staying in office. Elder's campaign is paying for the website.

'We implore youour fellow citizensto join us in this fight as you are able, primarily by signing our petition demanding a special session of the California legislature to investigate and ameliorate the twisted results of this 2021 Recall Election of Governor Gavin Newsom,' the site reads.

Elder's actions mirror those of Trump, who touts the 'big lie' - his false claim he won the 2020 presidential election instead of Joe Biden - and the conservative talk radio host has touted his ties to the former president as he worked the campaign trail.

The website also claims - without proof - voter fraud has been detected in the California contest: 'Statistical analyses used to detect fraud in elections held in 3rd-world nations (such as Russia, Venezuela, and Iran) have detected fraud in California resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.'

And it reminds voters they have the 'ammo box' as an option.

'They say that in America, there are four boxes of liberty. The soapbox, the ballot box, the jury box, and the ammo box,' the website reads. 'Will we now have to fight the California jury box, in the hope that the final box  the one most akin to Pandora's  remains closed?'

Republican Larry Elder appears to be ready for defeat in Tuesday's gubernatorial recall election in California

Elder's campaign set up a website to cast doubt on Tuesday's election results and to lay the groundwork to argue that Democrats stole the election

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is favored to stay in office

California Recall Election Polls open: 7 am Pacific time/10 a.m. Eastern time Polls close: 8 p.m. Pacific time/11 p.m. Eastern time Drop-off deadline: Voters dropping off ballots must do so by 8 p.m. Pacific time/11 p.m. Eastern time Mail-in ballots: All active registered voters were sent a ballot by mail last month and it must be post-marked by Tuesday, September 14 Two questions on the ballot: Should Mr. Newsom be recalled? And if that happens, who should replace him? Vying to replace Newsom: 46 candidates, about half of them Republicans What's next: Winner will serve out remainder of Newsom term; there will be another gubernatorial election in 2022 regardless of Tuesday's victor Advertisement

There was no evidence of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election and multiple recounts confirmed Biden's victory. There also has not been any evidence of massive voter fraud in California's election.

With Democrats more prone to use mail-in ballots and Republicans likely to vote on election day, initial results - which will come in shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. PDT - could show a wide margin of support for Newsom.

The margin could then narrow as in-person votes are counted - opposite of the dynamic that played out in the presidential race, which saw Trump's leads in swing states evaporate once mail-in ballots were counted.

In California, counties were allowed to start processing mail-in ballots one week ago.

Some political analysts worry casting seeds of doubt about election results could become the new normal for losing candidates.

'This is really becoming the standard GOP playbook,' Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the New America think tank who studies democracy, told NBC News. 'This is democracy 101. If you don't have elections that are accepted and decisive, then you don't really have a democracy, because the alternative is violence or authoritarianism.'

Elder told reporters in the state on Monday that 'there might very well be shenanigans' in the election.

He said his campaign is ready to file lawsuits.

'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,' he said.

Trump is also already questioning the recall results, pointing to California's use of mail-in ballots.

'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 wrote in a statement Monday.

More than 6 million ballots have been cast as of Wednesday in the California recall election with 53% of those coming from Democratic households.

'We should all be concerned about election integrity and we all want every proper vote to be counted. We've provided a link to an outside website that is providing an avenue for voters to document irregularities they encounter in this election,' Elder spokesperson Ying Ma of the site.

California has long used voting by mail but this is the first race every active, registered voters were sent a ballot, which has stroked rumors and conspiracy theories in the lead up to election day.

Polls show Newsom in a comfortable lead and his campaign sounds confident of victory.

'There's no scenario where we lose tomorrow,' Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters Monday night in Long Beach. '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.

The campaign's boast came after Newsom saw a steady five-week ascent in the polls after they appeared deadlocked in early August among those who wanted to keep Newsom and those who wanted to see him replaced.

A person casts a vote at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino, California Tuesday

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (left) campaign believes he'll sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race in the state. On Monday night he was joined at a Long Beach rally with President Joe Biden (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right)

Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder hugs a patron as he visits Philippe The Original Deli during a campaign for the California gubernatorial recall election on Monday. Elder is the most likely replacement for Newsom, polls show

Democrats want Californians to vote 'No' in Tuesday's recall election, which would keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in his job

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden went after 'Trump clone' Elder during a campaign rally for Newsom on Monday night.

'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' Biden warned at the event on the campus of Long Beach City College.

Biden won California in the 2020 election by almost 30 points.

In Tuesday's election, 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.

'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.'

Elder has remained the top choice on the Republican side, despite saying that he believed white slave owners could be owed reparations for slavery - a remark that got national attention.

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-vax 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.'

In California, 68% are fully vaccinated and there was anger in the state as mask mandates and other mitigation policies were reinstated after the Delta variant caused the infection rate to surge because of the unvaccinated.

Vaccine mandates are popular in the state with 61 per cent of California adults in favor of some kind of mandate according to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California conducted late last month.

Elder said, if he became governor, one of his first actions would be to eliminate Newsom's mandate for state workers to get vaccinated or else face weekly testing.

'We saw the Delta surge as a real inflection moment in this campaign. I think it was a turning point for us,' Clegg explained. 'What Delta brought into clear, clear focus was what the stakes are in this election. When one party has basically become an anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-public health party.'

'Our message and endgame here reduced to a single sentence: a vote for this recall is a vote for a pro-Trump, anti-vaxx Republican governor who is going to reverse vaccine mandates on day one,' Clegg said.

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.

Newsom has seen gains in the polls as he's nationalized the race - and gotten national political figures to come to California to stump for him.

Prior to Biden's visit - described by Clegg as 'the crescendo' - Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, campaigned in the Bay Area with Newsom Wednesday. Former 2020 Democratic primary candidates and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar made the trek the weekend before.

Some of Newsom's ads featured Sen. Bernie Sanders - popular with the progressive wing of the party - as well.

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.
Vili Fualaau, pictured in July 2020, was arrested on Saturday for alleged DUI after he nearly crashed into a Seattle police vehicle, a report said

Vili Fualaau, the man who once married child rapist teacher Mary Kay Letourneau after she abused him at the age of 12, was arrested for driving under the influence on Saturday in Seattle after he nearly crashed into a police vehicle.

According to a spokesperson of the Washington State Patrol, Fualaau, now 38, was driving erratically at 4a.m. on Saturday when he made an abrupt lane change and nearly crashed into a Seattle PD vehicle.

Fualaau was quickly pulled over before performing 'poorly' in a field sobriety test prior to his arrest. Cops say Fualaau had bloodshot and watery eyes at the time.

The result of the test was not disclosed in the police report, adding that Fualau was taken into custody at the Snohomish County Jail on a DUI charge.

Washington State Police has not yet released his mugshot.

Fualaau was previously charged with driving under the influence back in February 2018.

At the time, an officer from the King County Sheriff's Department told DailyMail.com that police cited Fualaau after he crashed his 2002 Mercury Mountaineer into three cars a little before midnight on February 2 that year in Burien, Washington.

The incident came a little less than a year after Fualaau filed for divorce. Similarly to his recent DUI arrest, the report of the old incident revealed that Fualaau had failed a field sobriety test before being taken to the station where has was booked and released on a charge of DUI.

Fualaau is best known for his bizarre relationship with his teacher-turned-wife Mary Kay Letourneau, who passed away from in July 2020 after secretly battling stage four colon cancer for nine months.

Letourneau made headlines around the world in 1997, when the then-34-year-old teacher and mother-of-four was found to be having an abusive sexual relationship with then 12-year-old and sixth grade student Fualaau.

They first met when Fualaau joined her second grade class in 1992, but they did not begin their sexual relationship until four years later when he was 12.

In 1996, after the school year had ended, the pair enrolled in summer classes at the same community college and began spending more time together.

One day after class, the pair went out for dinner. In a 2018 interview, Fualaau recalled that after the meal he asked to kiss Letourneau inside her car, which she accepted.

Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau in a 20/20 special in 2015. She was his teacher in the 1990s then they got married when she was released from prison. The pair married in 2005 and remained together for 12 years until Fualaau filed for separation in 2017. He cared for her until she died of colon cancer in 2020

Letourneau (above in 1997) was a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in 1996 when she was discovered to be having sexual relations Vili Fualaau, then 12

Letourneau then had sex with Fualaau first time later that summer, when her then-husband, Steve Letourneau, was out of town.

At about 1:20 a.m. on June 19, 1996, police found the pair in a minivan parked at the Des Moines Marina. Letourneau was seen jumping into the front seat as officers approached the vehicle, while Fualaau pretended to be asleep in the back.

Fualaau and Letourneau denied there had been any 'touching.' They initially provided false names and Letourneau told police that Fualaau was 18.

Letourneau then said she had been babysitting the boy at her home and took him away in her van after she and her husband had a fight.

They were taken to the police station but no further action was taken.

However, the true nature of their relationship was uncovered in February, 1997, when Steve Letourneau found love letters that the pair had penned to one another. He confronted Fualaau, demanding he end the relationship otherwise he'd inform his parents.

'He came to my house and confronted me about it and told me if I don't want my mom knowing about this or anyone knowing about this, it was going to end,' Fualaau explained in a 2018 interview. 'I was worried about everything, about Mary, myself and I said, 'OK, I don't want this to get out anywhere.'

'The fear of my mom's reaction and the thought of everyone being affected by it was one of my biggest fears, so I said, for the better of everyone, OK. It was kind of devastating.'

However, one of Steve's relatives had already alerted school authorities about their relationship and Letourneau was arrested on statutory rape charges.

Their illegal relationship was uncovered by Letourneau's husband at the time, Steve Letourneau who found love letters exchanged between his wife and Fualaau. Steve, pictured with Mary, left at their wedding, divorced her and moved to Alaska. Mary is pictured, right, at her statutory rape trial

Vili Fualaau, 15, is shown in court on October 25, 1998. He had just arrived in Seattle from London promoting a book he had written about his relationship with Letourneau

Former Seattle teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, whose affair with one of her ex-pupils caused a national scandal, breaks down February 6 as she is ordered to prison for 7-1/2 years for seeing the boy again

Shortly after, Steve then filed for divorce. He received full custody of their four children and moved the family to Alaska.

Letourneau was initially sentenced to three months in jail as part of a plea agreement in November 1997, in which she agreed to no longer have any contact with Fualaau.

She was pregnant with her former student's child at the time of her conviction.

Letourneau was then paroled in 1998.

However, shortly after her release from jail, she was once again found having sex in a car with Fualaau on February 3.

A judge then revoked Letourneau's prior plea agreement. She was ordered to serve seven years in prison on second-degree child rape charges for violating the no-contact order.

She gave birth to Fualaau's second child while in prison.

The young father had still not yet turned 15.

Letourneau with her first daughter, Audrey, in 1997. Fualaau opened up about the difficulties he faced trying to raise his two daughters alone when he wasn't even an adult yet himself. The teen was eventually forced to drop out of high school and slipped into depression and alcoholism

Upon her release from prison, Fualaau, who was by then an adult, petitioned in court for a judge to remove the no-contact order.

The restraining order against Letourneau was dropped, but the shamed teacher remained a registered sex offender in Washington state.

Letourneau and Fualaau then once again shocked the world when tied the knot in 2005.

They remained married for 12 years, until Fualaau filed for divorce in 2017.

The pair continued living together while the legal separation proceeded and were occasionally spotted out with one another in the Seattle area, with their two daughters, Georgina and Audrey.

Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their split in February 2019 and began living apart, according to King County court records.

Although they were separated, the former couple had previously described their relationship as one of love, and even wrote a book together called 'Only One Crime, Love.'

Their relationship was also the subject of a movie, 'All American Girl' produced by USA Network.

Letourneau broke down in 2018 as she discussed the media fallout from the couple's relationship.

The couple are shown in 2005, the year they got married. Their divorce would be filed 14 years later but they remained close

Letourneau is survived by her children, Steven Jr., Claire, Nicholas, and Jacqueline, whom she had with first husband, Steve Letourneau, in addition to the two daughters she had with Fualaau

'It's shock value. That's what it was all about. Shock. I call it media carnage. Road kill. Blood,' she said on the A&E special 'Autobiography'.

'Everybody wants to hear the story. Whether it's because they want to analyze it or criticize it. It's been 20 years but it's still there.'

Letourneau went on to claim the media's portrayal of their relationship was incorrect. She said that the relationship between the two did not start until after the school year was over, and that it quickly became physical.

'The incident was a late night that it didn't stop with a kiss. And I thought that it would and it didn't,' said Letourneau. 'I loved him very much, and I kind of thought, 'Why can't it ever just be a kiss?''

Fualaau, who also appeared, reflected on their relationship and said he 'wasn't thinking' when they started having sex when he was just 12 years old.

'The age difference, all of that stuff wasn't going through my mind,' he said. 'A lot of things that should have gone through my mind at the time, weren't going through my mind.'

Though the couple finalized their divorce last year, Gehrke said that Fualaau had been proving her 24 hour care in the final stages of her life. She died surrounded by family members, the attorney said (Pictured: The family on vacation together in New York in 2015, with their daughters Georgina, left, and Audrey ,right)

PICTURED: Fualaau with his daughters Audrey (left) and Georgia (right) in 2015

In a separate interview the same year, Letourneau claimed she had no idea it was illegal to enter a sexual relationship with a child at the time.

'If someone had told me, if anyone had told me, there is a specific law that says this is a crime,' she told Channel Seven's Sunday Night.

'I did not know. I've said this over and over again. Had I'd known, if anyone knows my personality. Just the idea, this would count as a crime.'

Fualaau was a troubled Samoan boy from a broken home living in a rough part of Seattle at the time of the scandal. His father served time in prison for an armed robbery, and he had a difficult relationship with his mother.

He also opened up on the program about the difficulties he faced trying to raise his two daughters alone when he wasn't even an adult yet himself.

The teen was eventually forced to dropout of high school and slipped into depression and alcoholism, he said.

PICTURED: Vili Fualaau, husband of Mary Kay Letourneau is seen for the first time since the death of his wife from cancer in 2020

'I don't feel like I had the right support or the right help behind me,' he said. 'From my family, from anyone in general. I mean, my friends couldn't help me because they had no idea what it was like to be a parent, I mean, because we were all 14, 15.'

'I'm surprised I'm still alive today. I went through a really dark time,' he added.

Fualaau's late wife, Letourneau is survived by the couples two daughters, Georgina and Audrey children, as well as Steven Jr., Claire, Nicholas, and Jacqueline, whom she had with first husband, Steve Letourneau.
The New York Times on Monday quietly deleted a now debunked claim that an October 2020 New York Post article critical of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, was 'unsubstantiated.'

The Times had reported on a recent Federal Election Commission decision that said Twitter had not violated election law when they blocked the sharing of the Post's article about the laptop.

The files on Hunter Biden's laptop indicated that Hunter had introduced his father Joe Biden to Ukrainian energy company executives while he was vice president.

The Times article had initially described the revelations as an 'unsubstantiated New York Post article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter Biden'.

But the story was heavily edited later in the day without any acknowledgement.

The updated article read: 'Twitter decided briefly last fall to block users from posting links to an article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter.'

The Post article in question concerned files discovered on a laptop hard drive that belonging to Hunter Biden, which was provided to the outlet by Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's personal lawyer at the time.

It reported that emails on the computer pointed to an effort by Hunter to set up a meeting in 2015 between Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser at a Ukrainian energy firm, and his father, who was vice president at the time.

Biden subsequently and successfully lobbied to have a Ukrainian prosecutor fired as he investigated the firm, Burisma, which Hunter held a position on its board from 2014 to 2019.

The Biden campaign had dismissed the revelations as a smear and a Russian disinformation campaign during the 2020 presidential campaign.

The New York Times quietly removed a claim Monday afternoon that a New York Post article on files found on a laptop believed to have belonged to Hunter Biden was unsubstantiated

The article had revealed emails indicating attempts in 2015 by his father, then vice-president Joe Biden, to protect a Ukrainian energy company on which Hunter sat on the board

At the time, liberal media outlets had cast doubt on the authenticity of the files contained in the laptop, which was found at a computer repair shop in Delaware.

That sparked Twitter to block sharing of the article, and their damaging revelations, ahead of the election.

However, a Daily Mail forensic analysis of the computer's hard drive revealed that the files were genuine, and subsequently published multiple exclusive stories regarding their contents.

Hunter Biden himself has also admitted that the laptop could be his.

Speaking to promote his memoir Beautiful Things on CBS earlier this year, he said: 'Certainly, there could be a laptop out there that was stolen from me. It could be that I was hacked, it could be that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me.'

The Biden campaign blasted the report, with spokesman Andrew Bates saying, 'We have reviewed Joe Biden's official schedules from the time and no meeting, as alleged by the New York Post, ever took place.'

Biden's advisors, however, would quietly concede later that it was possible informal meeting between the vice president and Pozharskyi could have taken place, Politico reported.

The Times continued to make the 'unsubstantiated' claim in a Twitter post sharing the article, but then heavily rewrote the report to remove all mention of it

The Post article in question made mention of a meeting set up by Hunter between Vadym Pozharskyi, an advisor for the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, and then-Vice President Joe Biden

Vadym Pozharskyi (pictured). Hunter sat on the company's board from 2014 to 2019, and his father successfully lobbied to have a prosecutor investigating the company fired

When the Post attempted to share the article on Twitter, however, the platform said the article violated its terms of service regarding the sharing of 'hacked' materials. Facebook also limited the sharing of the article as well.

Twitter claimed that at the time that the company believed the files may have been part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The Time's original report, written by reporter Shane Goldmacher, and published early Monday afternoon made mention that central to the FEC's decision clearing Twitter of wrongdoing was Republican accusations that the company, 'violated election laws in October by blocking people from posting links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter Biden.'

The Times' official Twitter account also shared the report with mention of, 'Twitter's decision in October to block an unsubstantiated article about President Biden's son, Hunter Biden.'

Hours later, however, in a change first flagged by the Washington Examiner, the article was heavily edited, with the byline of tech reporter Kate Conger added to the story removing all mention that the Post article was unsubstantiated.

'We regularly edit web storiesespecially breaking news storiesto refine the story, add new information, additional context or analysis,' a Times spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

'This story was completely revised to incorporate the news regarding Snapchat.'

Dealings of Hunter Biden outlined in the emails include a March 2015 effort to organize am exclusive dinner at Georgetown's Cafe Milano, where the meeting between Pozharskyi and Hunter's father may have taken place, the Daily Mail reported earlier this year.

International figures on the dinner guest list included Pozharskyi, and Michael Karloutsos, the son of the then-head of the Greek Orthodox Church with an email sent to them by Hunter saying, 'Dad will be there but keep that btw us for now.'

Other files on the laptop contained compromising photos of Hunter Biden, including those in which he appears naked and using hard drugs

Hunter Biden has not disputed that the laptop files were his, despite claims that they may have been part of a Russian disinformation campaign

After, Pozharskyi sent an email to Hunter thanking him for the opportunity, writing, 'Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together.'

The files on the laptop, which Giuliani said he obtained from a computer repair shop in Delaware, also contained compromising photos of Hunter, in which he appeared naked and using hard drugs with a number of women.

Both the Democrats, and a number of news outlets claimed the files were part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, however, would say that October that there was no evidence of foreign meddling

'Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,' he told Fox Business.

Emails on the laptop revealed an effort by Hunter to set up an exclusive dinner in Washington DC in April, 2015. The guest list included '3 seats for our KZ friends. 2 seats for Yelana and husband. 2 you and me. 3 seats for WFPUSA people. Vadym. 3 Ambassadors (MX, ?, ?)' and told guests that 'the reason for the dinner is ostensibly to discuss food security,' adding 'Dad will be there but keep that btw us for now'

Multiple news outlets picked up on the Times' unsubstantiated line, including the website for MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and the Lawfare Blog, the Washington Examiner reported.

Also deleted from the edited Times article was mention that the FEC in its decision reported that Twitter's head of site integrity had 'received official warnings throughout 2020 from federal law enforcement that 'malign state actors' might hack and release materials associated with political campaigns and that Hunter Biden might be a target of one such operation.'

The Times reported that the FEC, however, had found no evidence that Twitter had 'coordinated its decisions with the Biden campaign.'

The F.E.C. said it found 'no information that Twitter coordinated' its decisions with the Biden campaign. In a sworn declaration, Twitter's head of U.S. public policy said she was unaware of any contacts with the Biden team before the company made its decisions, according to the F.E.C. document.'

The full FEC decision has yet to be made public.

Two weeks after the Post article was published, Twitter eventually relented and unlocked the outlet's Twitter account.

Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee in November, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said:

'We made a quick interpretation, using no other evidence, that the materials in the article were obtained through hacking, and, according to our policy, we blocked them from being spread. Upon further consideration, we admitted this action was wrong and corrected it within 24 hours.'
A New York state doctor has been accused of using his own sperm to inseminate his patients in the 1980s, after a woman who took a DNA test found she had six half-siblings including one of the doctor's own children.

Morgan Hellquist has filed a lawsuit with the Monroe Supreme Court against gynecologist Dr. Morris Wortman claiming that he inseminated her mother with his own sperm, despite telling them that he was using a donor.

Wortman, who is married and works at The Center of Menstrual Disorders in Rochester, was paid $50 two-to-three times a month by Hellquist's mother for each insemination attempt between late 1983 and January 1985, the lawsuit says.

Hellquist, of Geneseo, NY, claims she discovered she had six half-siblings after taking an ancestry DNA test in 2016.

Hellquist is suing Wortman, the Genesee Valley Group Health Association, and the Center for Menstrual Disorders, and accuses them of fraud and malpractice.

Dr Morris Wortman has been accused of inseminating patients nearly 40 years ago, resulting in at least one birth

Wortman is the associate director of The Center for Menstrual Disorders in Rochester, NY

Her parents had approached Wortman after struggling to conceive, as her father had fertility issues.

Both of her parents were told by Wortman that the donor sperm would be coming from an anonymous student at the University of Rochester with a specific ethnic background and no history of medical issues, Hellquist claims.

Wortman was called a 'miracle' by Hellquist's parents after her mother became pregnant with her in 1985 after an unsuccessful line of previous attempts.

According to the lawsuit, Hellquist said she took a DNA test in 2016 to find out more about her biological father and her ancestry. Hellquist's parents told her that she was a donor baby when she was eight-years-old.

She previously attempted to discover the identity of her biological father when she was in high school, but Wortman claimed he did not have the records available from that time.

The lawsuit states that the consumer ancestry test revealed Hellquist was of 50 percent Ashkenazi Jewish descent, despite the doctor having told her parents that the donor was of a northern European background.

A year after she took the test, she discovered she had two half-sibling brothers that were of the same Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry that were born in 1984 and 1985.

She also discovered two other half siblings born in the same year as her and another half-brother that was born in 1983.

In 2020, she discovered she had a sixth half-sibling that was born in 1981.

As a result of these discoveries, Hellquist claims she has suffered from psychological issues and permanent physical injuries of her own.

'With each new half-sibling discovery, Plaintiff experienced increased anxiety, migraine headaches, shock and confusion, feelings of despair, stress and other physical manifestations of continuing to learn that her donor father had been a serial sperm donor. Plaintiff also feared there were other half-siblings who would continue to show up in her life,' the lawsuit reads.

During this time, Hellquist has been going to Wortman for treatment when she experienced gynecological issues after the birth of her two children.

She had seen Wortman for nine years, and had had pelvic examinations, transvaginal ultrasounds, and IUC placements under sedation.

Wortman was called a 'miracle' by Hellquist's parents after her mother became pregnant with her in 1985

She says she chose the doctor in 2012 because 'he was so highly regarded in her family'.

But the lawsuit states that Hellquist came to suspect the doctor might be her own biological father in April 2021, after a personal discussion with him where he said: 'You're a good kid. Such a good kid.'

The suit states that at one point Wortman's wife Rebecca came in to the room, and the doctor introduced the two of them.

The suit says that this was unusual, and claims that it could be because the doctor's wife was aware that he was her biological father.

It says: 'Rebecca came into the room at Defendant Wortmans request so that Rebecca could get a close look at Plaintiff to see Plaintiffs physical resemblance to Defendant Wortman because Rebecca and Defendant Wortman both knew Defendant Wortman was Plaintiffs biological father.'

The suit explains that in May 2021, Hellquist and one of her half brothers made contact with Wortman's biological daughter from his first marriage, who agreed to a DNA test to find out if they were related.

The test revealed with 99.99 percent certainty that they were siblings, and that Wortman is her father, the lawsuit says.

Hellquist claims that she found at least six half-siblings after performing a DNA test

The lawsuit also states that Wortman had been suffering from mental health issues including bipolar disorder.

The suit states: 'Defendant Wortman knew or should have known that plantiff having a biological parent, grandparent and uncle with schizophrenia, anxiety, and/or depression, created an increased risk that plantiff or her children could inherit these highly genetically inherited psychiatric disorders.'

The lawsuit also states that Wortman is liable for 'significant emotional and psychological trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, monetary damages, conscious pain and suffering, including pain and suffering akin to that experienced by survivors of sexual abuse and incest which is realized or remembered later in life, and she will continue to suffer these damages for the rest of her life.'

Hellquist is requesting monetary damages in trial as well.

DailyMail.com reached out to Dr Wortman at The Center for Menstrual Disorders for comment.
A path has been built using 50 hay bales to rescue a herd of mountain goats trapped on a rocky Welsh outcrop, the RSCPA has revealed.

The group of 19 Llandudno goats have been in an area known as Austin's Rock for at least four days, Conwy Borough Council claimed.

Yesterday, the Coastguard said the animals were 'safe' and 'just exploring a new part of the Great Orme'.

But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) today said there was a plan in place to create a 'path' for the goats to use to get back to more secure land.

Conwy Borough Council forked out 250 for the bales from a local farmer to help the animals - despite goats usually having prowess over extreme mountain passages.

An RSPCA spokeswoman added that the animals are usually 'sure footed' but were currently in an area they 'wouldn't normally go' - with some of the goats struggling to get from a lower ledge back up to dry land.

The group of 19 Llandudno goats have been stranded in an area known as Austin's Rock for at least four days

Yesterday, the Coastguard said the animals were 'safe' and 'just exploring a new part of the Great Orme'.

The Coastguard has asked people to stay away from the animals amid reports some were putting themselves in danger to take photographs.

A spokesman said: 'We urge you not to place yourselves in danger to view the goats and to stay on Marine Drive where it is safe and a great vantage point to see the goats.'

The Coastguard has asked people to stay away from the animals amid reports some were putting themselves in danger to take photographs

The history of the Kashmiri goats in Llandudno dates back to the 19th Century

Why are there Kashmiri goats in Wales? The history of the Kashmiri goats - whose ancestors once roamed the mountains of Northern India - in Llandudno dates back to the 19th Century. Queen Victoria was gifted a pair of Kashmiri goats by the Shah of Persia in 1837 and went on to give a pair to the then Lord Mostyn in the late 1800s. He kept them at Gloddaeth Hall until they were moved to the Great Orme where they have roamed ever since, with the herd swelling to around 130 goats today. They became world famous during the 2020 lockdown when they were pictured in publications world-wide for roaming through the streets of a ghostly Llandudno. Advertisement

Those worried about the animals took to social media to share their concerns.

One woman commented: 'Just as well there's no gales, be washed off.'

Another said: 'The tide has been in and out six times to date they are stuck.'

A man said: 'Wow never seen the goats going for a paddle.'

The history of the Kashmiri goats in Llandudno dates back to the 19th Century.

Queen Victoria was gifted a pair of Kashmiri goats by the Shah of Persia in 1837 and went on to give a pair to the then Lord Mostyn in the late 1800s.

He kept them at Gloddaeth Hall until they were moved to the Great Orme where they have roamed ever since, with the herd swelling to around 130 goats today.

They became world famous during the 2020 lockdown when they were pictured in publications world-wide for roaming through the streets of a ghostly Llandudno.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: 'We are aware of a small herd of around 15 male and female goats who are using two ledges on the Great Orme headland.

'Working with wardens, we are planning to put down hay bales over the coming days to try and create a "path" for them to use, which will enable them to get safely off the ledges themselves. We will be keeping an eye on the situation.'

MailOnline has contacted Conwy Borough Council for comment.
Virginia Republicans shrugged off internet outrage on Monday after suggesting progressive Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar become Washington, DC-based lobbyists for the Taliban.

Party officials made the comment in a reply to a BBC News report revealing the Taliban is 'broke.'

'Sign of the times: hearing the Taliban is in the market for a lobbyist in DC, offering a lucrative contract. The narrative around their financial situation, is that theyre broke,' BBC reporter Suzanne Kianpour wrote on Twitter.

To which the Arlington County GOP Twitter handle replied: 'Well, if @AOC or @Ilhan retire from Congress, there's a revolving door opportunity for them.'

The divisive tweet only got five 'Likes' but numerous angry responses.

'they'd probably prefer a rep without principles like... oh, i dunno, pick any GOP congressperson,' one Twitter user said.

Another person posted a photo of Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a room with Taliban officials, writing: '@mikepompeo already has that job.'

The comment was referencing a peace deal President Trump brokered with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government and secured a military withdrawal deadline of May 1.

But the Arlington Republicans dug their heels in.

The pair of tweets from the Arlington County Republican Party elicited outrage on Twitter

'Drawing out the Leftist trolls this afternoon. Ilhan Omar regularly makes anti-Semitic comments from her national platform,' they wrote later that day.

'This tweet isnt about race  its about the Squads constant support for anti-American sentiment abroad.'

The group goes on to share a Washington Post opinion piece titled 'Pelosi's excuses for the vile bigotry of Ilhan Omar are disgraceful.'

A Twitter user replying to that post pointed out that the story was written by a 'former Republican speech writer.'

And another person invoked Pompeo, adding, 'Where were you when your pres and his cabinet was cozying up to the taliban? Remember the picture of the Secretary of State? You should be offering him that revolving door!'

Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Omar have praised President Biden's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal

Both Ocasio-Cortez and Omar had praised Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left thousands of Afghan allies and dozens of American citizens stranded under Taliban rule.

'The level of evacuation that his administration has been able to undertake is really inspiring and theres important work thats getting done,' Omar said on MSNBC in late August as the chaotic withdrawal was nearing its end.

On Twitter in early September, Ocasio-Cortez praised Biden's 'courageous decision to leave Afghanistan when no other president would.'

But Minnesota lawmaker Omar has faced criticism in the past for her comments on the Taliban - like when she compared the insurgent group to the United States and Israel.

The Arlington GOP's comments were in response to a report that the Taliban is 'broke' and looking for a Washington, DC lobbyist

Taliban patrol the streets in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 11, 2021

'We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the US, Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban,' Omar tweeted in June.

Her words were used against her in an attack ad by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in August.

'Stand WITH America. Stand AGAINST terrorists,' reads an anti-Omar American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) ad.

'For Ilhan Omar, there is no difference between America and the Taliban. Between Israel and Hamas. Between democracies and terrorism.'

'Tell Rep. Omar, condemn terrorists, not America.'

'When Israel targets Hamas, Rep. Omar calls it an 'act of terrorism,' another of their ads states.

Omar's spokesperson Jeremy Slevin lambasted the ad on Twitter, writing that the 'language AIPAC uses in paid ads to smear and vilify [Omar] is virtually identical to the language used in death threats she gets.'

Slevin accused AIPAC of 'putting Rep. Omar's life at risk' with their advertisements.
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Boris Johnson today hosted a meeting of his Cabinet and unveiled his coronavirus winter plan to the nation just one day after the death of his mother.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl died 'suddenly and peacefully' at the age of 79 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on Monday according to a death notice in The Times.

Downing Street said Mr Johnson had started this morning's Cabinet by thanking his ministers for their messages of condolence.

Number 10 also said there are currently 'no plans' for the Prime Minister to take bereavement leave.

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: 'There is no plans for that at the moment. You have seen the Prime Minister chaired Cabinet this morning, he is doing the press conference today. There is no plans for that currently.'

Mr Johnson hosted a Downing Street press conference this afternoon as he set out his plan to stop the spread of coronavirus in the coming months.

Boris Johnson today hosted a meeting of his Cabinet and unveiled his coronavirus winter plan to the nation just one day after the death of his mother

Downing Street said Mr Johnson had started this morning's Cabinet by thanking his ministers for their messages of condolence

Mr Johnson hosted a coronavirus press conference in Downing Street at 3.30pm as he set out details of his Covid-19 winter plan

Charlotte Johnson Wahl died 'suddenly and peacefully' at the age of 79 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on Monday according to a death notice in The Times. Ms Johnson Wahl is pictured at an event in October 2014

Health Secretary Sajid Javid offered his condolences as he set out the coronavirus plan in the House of Commons at lunchtime today.

Referring to Mr Johnson and his brother Jo Johnson, Mr Javid said: 'Before I make my statement today I am sure the whole House will want to join me in offering our condolences to my right honourable friend the Prime Minister and my noble friend the Baron Johnson of Marylebone on the loss of their mother who sadly passed away yesterday.

'Our thoughts are with them and their whole family at this most difficult of times.'

Mr Johnson once described his mother as the 'supreme authority' in the family and credited her with instilling in him the equal value of every human life.

The notice in the Times said she was a 'Painter. Mother of Alexander, Rachel, Leo, and Joseph; grandmother of Ludovic, Lara, Charlotte, Milo, Oliver, Cassia, Theodore, Rose, Lula, William, Ruby Noor, Stephanie and Wilfred.'

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was among the first politicians to offer his condolences.

'I'm very sorry to learn of the Prime Minister's loss. My condolences to him and his family,' he tweeted.

Tory MP Conor Burns said: 'So sad to hear of the death of Boris Johnson's Mum. Thoughts and prayers are with him and the whole of the Johnson clan.'

Number 10 said at lunchtime that there are currently 'no plans' for the Prime Minister to take bereavement leave

Mr Johnson was joined by England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty (pictured far left), and the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance (pictured middle), at the press conference this afternoon

Fellow Conservative Angela Richardson added: 'Sad news for the PM tonight as well as the rest of the Johnson family. Thoughts with them all.'

Conservative Party co-chairman Amanda Milling tweeted: 'Thinking of Boris Johnson and his family this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.'

The daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett, who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s, Mrs Johnson Wahl studied English at Oxford University.

She interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson  who she married in 1963  before returning to complete her degree as the first married female undergraduate at her college, Lady Margaret Hall.

The couple had four children  Boris, journalist Rachel, former minister Jo and environmentalist Leo  before they divorced in 1979.

As an artist, she made her name as a portrait painter  her sitters included Joanna Lumley and Jilly Cooper  although throughout her life she painted other subjects, including landscapes.

Born Charlotte Fawcett, she was the daughter of the barrister Sir James Fawcett - who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s

The Johnson family pictured in London in 1972 with (left to right) Boris (aged 8) watching Jo, Rachel and Leo with their mother Charlotte and father Stanley

In the years following her divorce, she refused to accept any money from her former husband, eking out a living by selling paintings. She later recalled she was 'very hard up'.

In 1988, she married the American professor Nicholas Wahl and moved to New York where she began painting cityscapes  which were the subject of a sell-out exhibition in 2004  but returned to London following his death in 1996.

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease but she never allowed her illness to prevent her painting, steadying herself with a walking frame as she worked.
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Previously-unseen photographs from a soldier in the then newly-formed Irish Army in the 1920s are set to go up for auction.

The photos show Irish government forces during the civil war that followed the Irish War of Independence.

The collection includes an image showing the execution of an unknown man believed to be an IRA fighter in Cork in 1922 by Irish government forces.

The caption simply states: 'Firing squad - execution of a prisoner, Cork 1922.'

During the Irish Civil War the government forces of the Irish Free State and the IRA both used executions in a bitter struggle for power following the Irish War of Independence.

The collection of 200 images belonged to Private Dermot Foley of the Irish Defence Force. After passing down several generations of his family, the archive is now being sold at auction with a guide price of 800 to 1,200.

The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the IRA and British forces.

A ceasefire was agreed in July 1921 and an Anglo-Irish treaty signed that December, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State government.

This photos following the end of British rule in Ireland in 1921, and the new Irish Defence Force soldiers are still wearing British uniforms but with the new insignia of the Free Irish State.

Disagreement among Republicans over the Anglo-Irish treaty triggered the Irish Civil War of 1922 to 1923.

The conflict was waged between the pro-treaty Provisional Government and the IRA, who were opposed to the agreement because they believed it to be a betrayal of the Republic which was declared during the 1916 Easter Rising.

The civil war came to an end in May 1923, with Free State forces declaring victory. Their cause had been boosted by the provision of large numbers of weapons from the British Government.

This photo from the collection shows soldiers from the newly formed Irish Defence Force executing a prisoner, believed to be an IRA fighter. The caption to the photo simply states simply states: 'Firing squad - execution of a prisoner, Cork 1922'. County Cork was by far the bloodiest county of the civil war with clashes between the anti-treaty IRA and the new government. However some experts have suggested that the image is a staged propaganda photo and does not show a real execution

Soldiers pose for a photograph at Youghal barracks, located in the east of County Cork, with this picture dated March 15, 1924. The new army still wore British uniforms but the insignia of the crown was swapped for the new emblem of the Irish state. The soldiers are also holding a large tricolor

The collection of 200 images belonged to Private Dermot Foley of the Irish Defence Force. The photos show Irish government forces during the civil war of 1922-1923 that followed the Irish War of Independence. The Irish government forces fought against the IRA who believed that the Anglo-Irish treaty granting Ireland independence and home rule with the British Empire

This image of soldiers standing to attention while others watch from a doorway is one of 200 pictures in the archive, mostly taken in 1921 and 1922 . The civil war came to an end in May 1923, with the Irish government forces, of which Foley was a member, declaring victory. Their cause had been boosted by the provision of large numbers of weapons from the British Government.

The new Irish Defence Force soldiers are still wearing British uniforms but with the new insignia of the Free Irish State. Approximately 1700 people died during the Irish Civil War which ended with victory for leader Michael Collins in 1923. Collins was killed in an ambush on 22 August 1922

A soldier stands besides a Slievenamon armoured car in a picture stamped April 18, 1924, by T.J. O'Brien of Cork. The car was one of thirteen armoured Rolls Royce cars given to the Irish Free State by the British after the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The date stamp on the photo means it was taken after the civil war had ended

Independence and civil war: Bloodshed in Ireland in the 1920s The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the IRA and British forces. A ceasefire was agreed in July 1921 and an Anglo-Irish treaty signed that December, leading to the creation of the Irish Free State government. Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty the six northeastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained within the United Kingdom, creating the partition of Ireland. However, disagreement among Republicans over the treaty triggered the Irish Civil War of 1922 to 1923. The conflict was waged between the pro-treaty Provisional Government and the IRA, who were opposed to the agreement because they believed it to be a betrayal of the Republic which was declared during the 1916 Easter Rising. The civil war came to an end in May 1923, with Free State forces declaring victory. Their cause had been boosted by the provision of large numbers of weapons from the British Government. The conflict is believed to have killed between 800 and 900 members of the pro-treaty Irish National Army and at least 400 IRA fighters. A further 12,000 members of the IRA were taken prisoner. Advertisement

The conflict is believed to have killed between 800 and 900 members of the pro-treaty Irish National Army and at least 400 IRA fighters. A further 12,000 members of the IRA were taken prisoner.

Private Foley joined up aged 17 to fight the British and his records say he was 'honest, sober, industrious and of very good character'. After leaving the army in 1927, he emigrated to the US on White Star Line's RMS Baltic.

He settled in Chicago working for the Bell Telephone Company, and his archive also contains postcards of Irish revolutionary soldier and politician Michael Collins, a leading figure in the Irish independence struggle.

After passing down several generations of his family, it is now being sold by auctioneers Bonhams with a guide price of 800 to 1,200 at auction in London's Knightsbridge tomorrow.

Matthew Haley, books specialist at Bonhams, said: 'We believe many of the photos are previously unseen and they document a fascinating period of history.

'Private Foley fought against the British and he had photographic postcards of Michael Collins who he must of idolised, as well as other figures fighting for freedom.'

The Bonhams description refers to the album as containing 'approximately 200 private photographs, photo postcards, pictorial cards, and assorted ephemera, compiled by, and relating to Private Dermot Foley'.

It also said it was a 'good album of private photographs and real photo postcards relating to the service of Private Dermot Foley, who joined the Army Signal Corps of the Irish Defence Force aged 17, in January 1923.'

Bonhams said that about 25 images are 'commercial pictorial postcards', with several of these relating to Michael Collins, with the majority of these scenes at the Catholic Emancipation Centenary celebrations.

Amongst the printed and manuscript material is Private Foley's certificate of discharge from Collins Barracks on 15 March 1927, noting that his character was 'very good'.

Two typed letters signed by the chaplain and Major Adjutant of the Southern Command recommend Private Foley as 'honest, sober, and industrious' and 'never in almshouse or prison' to the American Consul in Dublin.

The set also features ten images of RMS Baltic showing the boat, groups of passengers on deck and a last view of 'Co. Dublin, 17th March 1927', as seen from the deck. There are also 26 images of his life in Chicago.

Kit inspection: Amongst the printed and manuscript material is Private Foley's certificate of discharge from Collins Barracks on 15 March 1927, noting that his character was 'very good'. After the war he emigrated to the US on White Star Line's RMS Baltic. He settled in Chicago where he worked for the Bell Telephone Company

This undated photograph has the caption 'The Fighting Fifth' and shows men in military outfits taking a break from what appears to be construction work. Given their relaxed demeanor and Free State uniforms, an expert who viewed the photos for MailOnline said it was likely taken after the civil war when the Free State Army was the official military of Ireland

Five soldiers wearing Free State Army uniforms, three of whom are carrying British-made Lee Enfield rifles, pose for the cameras somewhere in Ireland during this undated photograph. Free State uniforms largely mirrored British Army uniforms but with the badges changed, while their weapons were also largely supplied by the British

Four soldiers on horseback pose alongside two of their comrades who are leaning on the barrel of a cannon, in what appears to be the courtyard of Cork's old military barracks - which is today a military museum. The barracks dates back to 1806 when it was built to house British troops amid fears of war with Revolutionary France

Soldiers dressed in Free State Army uniforms and carrying British Lee Enfield rifles with the bayonets attached form up in front a flagpole during a parade in this undated photograph, taken somewhere in Cork. An expert who reviewed the photos for MailOnline said the image likely dates from after the civil war, which ended in 1923
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' chief of staff has submitted her resignation, as DHS works to tackle a migrant crisis at the southern border and a sudden influx of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees.

Karen Olick announced Monday she would be leaving for an undisclosed opportunity, according to Politico.

Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee, Asylum and International Operations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will step in as temporary chief of staff after Olick leaves at the end of the month.

Mayorkas told DHS officials in an email Olick 'has decided to resign her position and pursue new opportunities. We are grateful to Karen for her service during the critical first nine months of the new Administration.'

DHS is in the midst of not only helping to vet tens of thousands of Afghan refugees who were evacuated out of Kabul last month and handling an unprecedented flow of migrants at the southern border but also taking the lead on responding to the impacts of Hurricane Ida.

Karen Olick, above, chief of staff for DHS Sec. Mayorkas, announced Monday she would be leaving for an undisclosed opportunity

Jennifer Higgins, above, the current associate director of Refugee, Asylum and International Operations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will step in as temporary chief of staff after Olick leaves at the end of the month

Olick, in a farewell note, told her coworkers: 'Though too often underappreciated by our fellow citizens, I am continually struck by how many millions of Americans sleep in safety every night because so many at DHS do not sleep.'

Olick's replacement is a career civil servant who has worked in federal government for nearly 20 years, while Olick came from SKDK, a prominent Democratic strategic communications firm. She recently led the firm's ballot initiative practice, according to Politico.

Afghan refugees line up for food in a dining hall at Fort Bliss' DoAa Ana Village, in New Mexico, where they are being housed, Friday, Sept. 10

Dozens of people, part of the fourth caravan of Central American migrants, start their way from the city of Tapachula, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, 04 September

The number of apprehensions at the southern border hit a 21-year high in July, where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 212,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The figures bring Biden toward the 1 million mark as the encounter count hits 934,257 when counting the data between February and July.

Leaked audio from last month revealed Mayorkas saying the border crisis is 'unsustainable' and 'we're going to lose.'

'If our borders are the first line of defense, we're going to lose, and this is unsustainable,' he said in audio obtained by Fox News.

'We can't continue like this, our people in the field can't continue and our system isn't built for it.'
Two men who are thought to be British have fallen to their death while rock climbing without a rope on a huge sea cliff in Majorca.

The pair were climbing a cliff between two coves in Portocolom known locally as Cala Mitjana and Cala Sa Nau when the tragedy occurred.

The alarm was raised by a witness around 1pm today and Civil Guard, coastguards and local police based in nearby Santanyi were sent to the scene.

Police are understood to have found one of the dead men in a cave close to the spot where he fell. Coastguards recovered the other body from the sea.

Emergency responders said they were unable to do anything to save the men, although they practiced CPR on both of them, and they were pronounced dead at the scene.

Earlier reports said the men were aged between 40 and 50, though it is now understood both were in their late 20s.

Post-mortems, due to take place tomorrow, will seek to determine if the victims, died from drowning or head injuries linked to a rock fall or the if they landed on rocks as they fell.

The mens' bodies were taken to Portocolom Port near the scene of the tragedy.

Two men who are thought to be British have fallen to their death while rock climbing without a rope on a huge sea cliff in Majorca

The alarm was raised by a witness around 1pm today and Civil Guard, coastguards and local police based in nearby Santanyi were sent to the scene

Witnesses initially told emergency responders four men had been climbing the cliff and rescuers began looking for an injured third 'Brit' and a fourth missing person, although it subsequently transpired only two men had fallen.

Although initial local reports described the pair as British holidaymakers, they were subsequently described as 'English speakers.' Multiple media outlets in the Balearic Islands including Majorca reported the men were of 'British origin'.

There has not yet been any official confirmation from Civil Guard or police about the nationalities of the dead pair.

They were practicing deep-water soloing, also known as psicobloc, a form of solo rock climbing that relies solely upon the presence of water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from falls from the generally high-difficulty routes.

It is typically practiced on sea cliffs at high tide but can also be done on climbs above reservoirs, rivers and even swimming pools.

Often a dinghy or other small boat is kept on scene to pick up a fallen climber, as a fall from a taller route can still pose the risk of being knocked unconscious on impact with the water, which could lead to drowning.

The practice of deep-water soloing in Majorca has its roots in the late 1970s.

Police are understood to have found one of the dead men in a cave close to the spot where he fell. Coastguards recovered the other body from the sea

In 1978, Miquel Riera became frustrated with the aid climbing routes in his local area, so he went to Porto Pi, Palma with his friends Jaume Payeras, Eduardo Moreno and Pau Bover in order to find routes that they could free climb.

This became Majorca's first bouldering venue, and as time went Riera progressed onto the short sea cliffs near there.

It was named 'Psicobloc', which, when translated literally into English, means 'Psycho Bouldering'.

One of the mens' bodies was recovered by a boat belonging a local diving firm and the other with the help of coastguards.

A regional TV station broadcast footage of waiting Civil Guard patrol cars with their sirens flashing at Portocolom Port as they waited for the bodies to arrive.

Miguel Chicon, Head of the Balearic Maritime Rescue Centre in Palma, said a witness raised the alarm around midday.

He said: 'A witness rang the equivalent of the 999 service here in Spain to report two men were in difficulties in the water.

'It may well have been they were climbers practicing what's known here as psicobloc because of the type of footwear they had on but that is not something I can confirm at this stage.

'A Coastguard vessel called the Salvamar Illes Pitiuses was mobilised as well as a Coastguard helicopter called the Helimar 205 and a Civil Guard helicopter with specialist GEA officers who are trained to carry out sub-aquatic rescues.'

The pair were climbing a cliff between two coves in Portocolom known locally as Cala Mitjana and Cala Sa Nau when the tragedy occurred

Chicon added: 'In the end a privately-owned vessel that was in the area recovered the body of one of the men because the water was too shallow for our vessel to get near and took it back to Portocolom Port.

'The body of the other man was recovered in a joint operation between that same privately-owned vessel and the Salvamar Illes Pitiuses.

'CPR was practiced on both men but there was nothing that could be done to save their lives and they were pronounced dead at the scene.'

Local reports said a 'tourist witness' who saw one of the men fall practiced CPR on him while he waited for emergency responders.

Well-placed sources described him as British but said they could not confirm if he was with the two men that fell to their deaths.

The Civil Guard in Portocolom have launched an investigation which will be coordinated by a local court.
Mr Mason said his prankster son asked for sweets right after getting picked up

But footage shows Junior, two, telling his father that he is in fact absolutely fine

Mr Mason, from London, was told Junior was unwell and he had to be picked up

Andre Antony Mason, 27, was shocked after his son Junior skived off nursery

A cheeky toddler tricked his school teachers and his father by pretending to be sick to get the day off from nursery - and confessed to his prank on camera.

Andre Antony Mason, 27, from south London, was called to collect his son Junior from nursery on September 3 after the two-year-old told his teacher he was unwell.

But when Junior started asking for sweets as soon as he left nursery, the musician started to suspect that there was nothing wrong with his son.

Hilarious video footage shows Mr Mason interrogating his cheeky son as the toddler happily walks along the pavement after leaving pre-school.

Andre Antony Mason, 27, from south London, was called up to collect his son Junior from nursery on September 3 after the two-year-old told his teacher he was unwell

But when Junior (right) started asking for sweets as soon as he left nursery, Mr Mason (left) started to suspect that there was nothing wrong with his son

Mr Mason says: 'Do you not feel well?' to which the cheerful toddler replies: 'I do!'

The concerned father then asks: 'You do? So why did I have to pick you up?'

And Junior hilariously replies: 'Because you have to.'

Mr Mason jokingly calls his prankster son a 'wasteman', which is often used to describe a person who is acting poorly, for skiving off nursery.

An outraged Junior replies: 'Don't say that. I'm a good boy.'

But his father insists: 'You're not a good boy, you're a wasteman.'

The adorable toddler then rushes towards his father and lightly kicks him in the shins, prompting Mr Mason to shout: 'Oi! Don't kick me!'

Mr Mason insisted that his comedic son has never skipped school before, but he does cheeky things all the time at home.

He said: 'When they called, the school told me that Junior had not been himself and that I needed to come pick him up.

Hilarious video footage shows Junior telling his father that there is, in fact, nothing wrong with him, with Mr Mason saying the prankster had asked for sweets right after leaving nursery

'I had my doubts because I know how cheeky he can be but he'd never done it before.

'As soon as I got him, we left school and he started asking for sweets, so I knew he wasn't sick he was just being a naughty boy!'

Sharing the footage to Instagram, Mr Mason quipped: 'Where has he learned this behaviour?'

The sweet video left people in hysterics, with many viewers praising the young boy for his ingenious plan.

One person said: 'Why do they do this? All crying in the nursery office, asking for the park on the way home.'

Another wrote: 'He earned that day off, he smart.'

A third commented: 'This made my morning. The cutest.'

And a fourth penned: 'You have a genius on your hands, hope you know.'

A fifth said: 'It's the way he said "imma good boy" then kicked you right after. Good luck with secondary school.'
Donald Trump said in an interview published Tuesday terrorists were 'absolutely' airlifted out by U.S. forces during the chaotic and rushed withdrawal from Afghanistan last month and warned the Taliban could send equipment left behind to China or Russia.

'The people they are resettling  it's the worst. There was no vetting,' the former president told Fox News in warning Afghan refugees resettling in the U.S. could pose a national security threat.

'And it is probably a tough group of people, because they were able to get on the plane, so they were aggressive,' he said. 'What does that mean? Does that mean you have terrorists there? Absolutely you do.'

He also slammed the Biden administration for leaving billions of dollars worth of military equipment behind, including night-vision goggles.

Between 2003-2016, according to a Government Accountability Office report, the U.S. supplied Afghan defense and security forces with an arsenal including 208 aircraft, 42,000 pickup trucks, 22,000 Humvees, 9,000 MTV cargo and transport trucks, 1,000 mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, 200 armored personnel carriers, and hundreds of thousands of rifles, pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers, rocket propelled weapons and night vision goggles.

More has been provided since then.

Trump lambasted President Joe Biden for his efforts to resettle Afghans in the U.S. and insisted the vetting process was not adequate enough to prevent terrorists, sympathizers or other threats from Afghanistan from gaining entry.

'With respect to the resettlement of Afghan refugees, this is a significant concern,' Trump-era Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan told DailyMail.com.

Former President Donald Trump claimed the U.S 'absolutely' airlifted terrorists in the Afghanistan withdraw who are now being resettled in America as he slammed the Biden administration for its vetting process

He also warned that the Taliban will send the 'most sophisticated' U.S. military equiptment left behind to China, Russia and other adversaries to be 're-engineered'

'I'm gravely concerned about it, because what I'm seeing now is, you know, after the first couple of days you saw the flights go down dramatically  and that was actually a good thing from my perspective because that meant they were doing some sort of vetting in Afghanistan,' he explained. 'And then all of the sudden  the horrible political optics of that  and then you saw the numbers skyrocket.'

He noted that a swift evacuation leads to very minimal vetting before putting people on planes.

Biden's team announced in August that it airlifted more than 124,000 individuals from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital city of Kabul, including approximately 6,000 U.S. citizens.

Trump said in his interview with Fox News: 'There has never been a war  win, lose or draw  and you bring everybody into your country. That's a lot of people, and at a tremendous cost alreadythey're talking about billions and billions of dollars.'

At least eight military bases in the U.S. are making way to accommodate 50,000 Afghan refugees  mostly coming from third-party countries where they were airlifted to from Kabul during evacuations last month.

Trump also said it was an 'embarrassment' that so much U.S. military equipment was left behind in the withdraw, claiming the Taliban will ship the 'most sophisticated' resources to U.S. adversaries to be 're-engineered.'

'We had F-35 fighter jets  the greatest in the world  and they had knives,' Trump told Fox as he slammed the Biden administration for not 'disabling any equipment' before leaving.

'The equipment is perfect  and if it is not absolutely perfect, it will be fixed, very, very quickly, probably by China or Russia,' he said.

Here a plane of around 640 Afghan citizens was evacuated from he Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 15. There are concerns a lack of vetting could have led to terrorists slipping through the cracks

He also said that the Taliban will obtain U.S. military night-vision goggles that will enable them to fight in the dark.

'The goggles are the best in the world, they now have thousands of goggles,' Trump said. 'They are going to do night fighting, which they would have never done before.'

Before evacuating all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, troops destroyed or disassembled about 100 combat vehicles and dozens of aircraft. Still, the Taliban was able to inherit a number of other U.S. gear  including assault weapons and night-vision goggles.

Biden's handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal has been widely criticized by both sides as a disaster. The process resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in an ISIS-K suicide bombing outside the Kabul airport, which appears to have been met with no retaliation from the U.S.

The administration also decided to leave hundreds of American citizens behind in Afghanistan to meet the August 31 deadline for withdrawal that Biden set with the Taliban. The Islamic militant group, which took over Afghanistan in the matter of two weeks, said if U.S. forces were not gone by the 'redline' date there would be 'consequences.'

Many saw Biden sticking to that date rather than making sure all Americans and allies were out of Afghanistan before withdrawing as him bowing to the Taliban.

Since shifting away from a military mission in Afghanistan, Biden's team says it is now focused on a 'diplomatic' relationship. They have insisted this includes continuing to evacuate Americans left behind in the bungled withdrawal.
A majority of California voters want Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to stay in office, polling shows

A majority of California voters want Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to stay in office, polling shows as the election wraps up on Tuesday.

FiveThirtyEight.com's compilation of polls showed that 57 per cent of California voters wanted Newsom to stay in office, while 40 per cent planned to vote for his removal.

A Los Angeles Times poll shows 60.1% of likely voters surveyed oppose recalling Newsom compared with 38.5% in favor of ousting the governor.

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, which is where Republican Larry Elder is in the lead.

Voters arrive to cast their ballots at the Lincoln Park Senior Center in Los Angeles Tuesday

Newsom's campaign expects to sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race, where voters will decide whether to oust the Democrat and replace him with a Republican - the most likely being conservative radio show host Larry Elder.

'There's no scenario where we lose tomorrow,' Newsom campaign adviser Sean Clegg told reporters Monday night in Long Beach, before Newsom was joined by President Joe Biden for a final rally. '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.

The campaign's boast came after Newsom saw a steady five-week ascent in the polls after they appeared deadlocked in early August among those who wanted to keep Newsom and those who wanted to see him replaced.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (left) campaign believes he'll sail to victory in Tuesday's recall race in the state. On Monday night he was joined at a Long Beach rally with President Joe Biden (center) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (right)

Republican conservative radio show host Larry Elder hugs a patron as he visits Philippe The Original Deli during a campaign for the California gubernatorial recall election on Monday. Elder is the most likely replacement for Newsom, polls show

'We saw the Delta surge as a real inflection moment in this campaign. I think it was a turning point for us,' Clegg explained. 'What Delta brought into clear, clear focus was what the stakes are in this election. When one party has basically become an anti-science, anti-vaccine, anti-public health party.'

'Our message and endgame here reduced to a single sentence: a vote for this recall is a vote for a pro-Trump, anti-vax Republican governor who is going to reverse vaccine mandates on day one,' Clegg said.

Vaccine mandates are popular in the state with 61 per cent of California adults in favor of some kind of mandate according to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California conducted late last month.

That Trump link was broadcast Monday night by Biden, who appeared alongside Newsom at a rally at Long Beach City College.

'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' Biden warned.

'You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor or you get Donald Trump,' President Joe Biden warned at a Long Beach rally Monday night

California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on track to win a recall election, which threatens to boot him from office and put in the next top vote-getter, which polls show is conservative radio host Larry Elder

Serena Delgadillo casts her vote Monday morning in the historic Los Angeles Union Station Ticket Hall in California. Voters in the state have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to vote in-person or turn in their mail-in ballot

The president also called Elder 'the closest thing to a Trump clone that I've ever seen in your state.'

'That was our theory of the case, that we needed to name the villains and define the stakes,' Clegg said of Newsom using Trump as a boogeyman during the race.

Elder has remained the top choice on the Republican side, despite saying that he believed white slave owners could be owed reparations for slavery - a remark that got national attention.

A number of high-profile Democrats visited the state on behalf of Gov. Gavin Newsom (right) in advance of Tuesday's recall eletion including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (center)

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris (left) appeared at a rally in San Leandro, California with Gov. Gavin Newsom (right)

Newsom has seen gains in the polls as he's nationalized the race - and gotten national political figures to come to California to stump for him.

Prior to Biden's visit - described by Clegg as 'the crescendo' - Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator, campaigned in the Bay Area with Newsom Wednesday. Former 2020 Democratic primary candidates and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar made the trek the weekend before.

Some of Newsom's ads featured Sen. Bernie Sanders - popular with the progressive wing of the party - as well.

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.

Republicans were hoping low Democratic turnout could recreate this dynamic.

Newsom's campaign said that's not happening.

'I think we have a lot to be worried about and hopefully tomorrow we have a silver lining here that we can apply to the big, big problem we have nationally in 2022 - that you can wake up the base,' Clegg said.

'The base may start out asleep,' Clegg said, pointing to a close Berkeley poll from July. 'But you can wake up the base.'

Elder is planning to host a victory party in Orange County, a more Republican-friendly part of the state.

With Democrats more prone to use mail-in ballots and Republicans likely to vote on election day, initial results - which will come in shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. PDT - could show a wide margin of support for Newsom.

The margin could then narrow as in-person votes are counted - opposite of the dynamic that played out in the presidential race, which saw Trump's leads in swing states evaporate once mail-in ballots were counted.

In California, counties were allowed to start processing mail-in ballots one week ago.
Not a single troublesome Covid variant was spotted among travellers who flew into the UK last month, according to official data.

And fewer than one per cent of everyone who paid for a return PCR actually had the virus, amid calls for the traveller testing scheme to be scrapped.

Test and Trace statistics showed just 11,950 people (0.9 per cent) tested positive for the virus after arriving in the country in the last three weeks of August, despite more than a million tests being carried out.

About a a quarter were sent away for analysis to check for mutant strains of the virus. Not one came back positive for a variant of 'high priority' or 'very high priority'.

These include the South African Beta, the Colombian Mu and the Brazilian Gamma strains, all of which scientists fear make vaccines less effective.

It comes despite Britons being forced to shell out hundreds of pounds for the tests when returning to the UK from their summer holidays.

The swabs now cost 92 on average, which would leave a family of four 368 out of pocket before booking flights.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said at the weekend that he wanted to 'get rid' of Day 2 tests for double-jabbed travellers 'as soon as possible'.

Official figures showed that of the 11,950 Covid cases detected among travellers in the three weeks to September, 3,253 (27 per cent) were checked for variants.

But no swabs detected any variants of 'very high' or 'high' concern that are closely monitored by Public Health England.

Variants that were detected were considered to be 'standard priority', such as the Indian 'Delta' strain which is already dominant in the UK.

Ministers plan to axe costly travel tests Sajid Javid suggested over the weekend that he was planning to 'get rid' of Covid tests for travellers as soon as possible. The Health Secretary said he was looking to ensure double-jabbed travellers would no longer have to fork out for expensive Covid tests when returning to the UK. The change could potentially be brought in before the October half-term. Officials are working towards scrapping the requirement for green and amber list countries before the half-term holidays next month, The Mail on Sunday revealed. 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. Advertisement

The data covered all arrivals regardless of they were coming from a red, amber or green list country.

At the start of the pandemic experts believe the virus was introduced to the UK thousands of times by travellers returning from the ski season in Europe.

The third wave was triggered by the highly-transmissible Delta variant, which scientists say emerged in India.

People who arrive from a red list country are still required to quarantine in Government-managed hotels for 10 days.

Double-vaccinated travellers arriving from amber and green list countries are required to take a day two test to prove they are not infected. They also need to take a Covid test three days before they travel.

Unvaccinated arrivals from amber list countries are required to quarantine at home for ten days and take a Covid test on day two and day eight after arrival.

No quarantine is required for arrivals from green list nations.

The latest variant figures for the UK show that across the country the Delta variant was still behind almost every single infection in the week to September 1.

But a few cases of the Beta and Gamma variants that may make vaccines less effective were also detected.

The Beta variant has previously sparked surge testing in the UK, in an attempt to root out every case. Variant data shows it is still persisting in the country, but at very low levels.

Mr Javid has given a huge boost to holidaymakers after indicating that double-jabbed travellers will no longer need to fork out for PCR tests when they return to the UK  potentially in time for October half term.

Officials are working towards scrapping the requirement for green and amber list countries before the half-term holidays next month, The Mail on Sunday revealed.

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.

There have also been suggestions that the amber travel list could be abandoned, leaving just the green and red lists.

Heathrow airport yesterday demanded that the Government ended all Covid testing for fully-vaccinated travellers as it struggles to recoup losses sparked by Covid.

It also called for the amber list to be scrapped after figures revealed it had gone from being the busiest travel hub in Europe in 2019 to the tenth.

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.
Turkey does not have the capacity to deal with a possible new refugee wave from Afghanistan, according to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has called for other EU nations to 'bear the burden of the Afghan migration'.

In a call between heads of state on Tuesday, Erdogan told Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier that Turkey could not afford to offer refuge to more Afghans fleeing the Taliban and warned of a repeat of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis.

'President Erdogan underlined that Turkey does not have the capacity to handle a new migration burden,' said a statement from the presidential communications office.

Erdogan added that 'no one wants to relive an experience similar to the Syrian refugee wave of 2015,' in reference to the influx of hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians into EU countries via Turkey.

Turkey, which already hosts the world's largest refugee population, including 3.7 million Syrians, is concerned about a potential wave of Afghan refugees amid rising anti-migrant sentiments, economic woes, and high unemployment as the nation recovers from the pandemic.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly told Germany's new president Frank-Walter Steinmeier that Turkey could not afford to offer refuge to more Afghans fleeing the Taliban

Erdogan added that 'no one wants to relive an experience similar to the Syrian refugee wave of 2015,' in his call with Steinmeier (pictured), referencing the influx of hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians into EU countries via Turkey

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has displaced hundreds of thousands of Afghans who are looking to flee the brutally strict rule of the Islamists, with passage through Iran and into Turkey one of the most viable routes

Seen by many as the gateway to Europe, Turkey holds the world's largest refugee population

According to the Turkish presidential office's statement, Erdogan told the German president that the EU should 'rapidly take steps' to re-start Turkey's stalled membership talks, updating the customs union with Ankara and granting visa-free travel to Turkish citizens in return for Turkey welcoming migrants.

In 2016, Turkey and the EU signed a deal for Ankara to stem the flow of migrants heading toward Europe, in return for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens and substantial EU financial support, but elements of the deal were not upheld.

There was no statement on the call from the office of the German president, whose duties are largely ceremonial due to the office's diminished political powers in a nation where the Chancellor is seen as the leader of the country.

News of Erdogan's reluctance to take on more Afghan refugees came just two days after Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the nation is working with the UN's refugee agency to repatriate Syrians living in Turkey to their home country.

A migrant woman and her baby from Afghanistan who were caught by Turkish border security forces after crossing illegally into Turkey from Iran sit at the deportation centre near the Iranian border

Migrants from Afghanistan are seen in a house which smugglers used to transport refugees into Turkey. They were detained by Turkish security forces as border security is being increased to a higher level in order to prevent illegal crossings from Iran

Thousands of people fleeing Taliban-held Afghanistan are walking miles through the desert across the Pakistani border and into Iran, but many will seek to continue on to Turkey

Turkey already holds the world's largest refugee population and stepped up its border security in an attempt to stem the flow of oncoming refugees as the Taliban began their offensive in Afghanistan.

Cavusoglu's comments are at odds with the UN'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,' Cavusoglu said.

'We are working to repatriate refugees, especially in Syria, especially with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.'

Responding to those remarks, UNHCR spokesperson Selin Unal said only a political solution in Syria would allow people to return, adding that refugees should have the right to voluntarily return in 'safe and dignified conditions.'

'We are now receiving better support from the international community for the safe return and repatriation of refugees,' Cavusoglu (pictured) said. 'We are working to repatriate refugees, especially in Syria, especially with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.'

People lie down on shore like 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, who drowned on September 2, 2015 and washed up on Turkey's Mediterranean coast after his boat boat capsized. Their actions attempt to draw attention to the migrant crisis in which many have died at sea trying to reach the shores of Turkey and the EU

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 Erdogan.

Grandi thanked Turkey for hosting 3.7 million Syrians and 330,000 other refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly Afghans, but 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.'

The fallout from the Syrian Civil War during the 2010s drove millions of Syrians to flee their country, many of whom discovered that Turkey had open borders.

Though hundreds of thousands of Syrians fled through Turkey and into the EU, prompting the European bloc to sign a deal with Ankara to stem the flow of migrants, the overwhelming majority of refugees - close to 4 million - remained in Turkey.
The Taliban has thanked the world for pledging more than a billion dollars in emergency aid to Afghanistan, and urged the US to show 'heart' by donating more.

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the regime's acting foreign minister, told a press conference the hardline Islamist group would spend donor money wisely and use it to alleviate poverty.

He was speaking a day after the United Nations said a total of $1.2billion in aid had been pledged to Afghanistan, $64million of which came from the US.

Amir Khan Muttaqi (pictured), the regime's acting foreign minister, told a press conference the terror group would spend donor money wisely and use it to alleviate poverty

'The Islamic Emirate will try its best to deliver this aid to the needy people in a completely transparent manner,' Muttaqi said.

He also asked Washington to show appreciation for the Taliban allowing the US to complete a troop withdrawal and evacuation of more than 120,000 people last month.

'America is a big country, they need to have a big heart,' he said.

Muttaqi said Afghanistan, which is also facing a drought, had already received aid from countries such as Pakistan, Qatar and Uzbekistan, but did not give further details.

He said he had held discussions with China's ambassador on the coronavirus vaccine and other humanitarian causes.

Beijing last week promised $31million worth of food and health supplies, and on Friday said it would send a first batch of 3million coronavirus vaccines.

Pakistan sent food and medicine, and it called for Afghan assets frozen abroad to be released. Iran said it had dispatched an air cargo of aid.

'Past mistakes must not be repeated. The Afghan people must not be abandoned,' said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, whose country has close relations with the Taliban and would most likely bear the brunt of an exodus of refugees.

The Taliban asked Washington to show appreciation for the Taliban allowing the US to complete a troop withdrawal

Both China and Russia said the main burden of helping Afghanistan out of crisis should lie with Western countries.

'The US and its allies have a greater obligation to extend economic, humanitarian and livelihood assistance,' said Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

The United States pledged $64million in new humanitarian assistance at the conference, while Norway pledged an extra $11.5million.

Since the Taliban takeover, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have halted Afghanistan's access to funding, while the United States has also frozen cash held in its reserve for Kabul.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday said he believed aid could be used as leverage with the Islamist hardliners to exact improvements on human rights, amid fears of a return to the brutal rule that characterised the first Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001.

'It is impossible to provide humanitarian assistance inside Afghanistan without engaging with the de facto authorities,' the UN secretary-general told ministers attending the Geneva talks.

'It is very important to engage with the Taliban at the present moment.'

Since the Taliban takeover, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have halted Afghanistan's access to funding

The Taliban have promised a milder form of rule this time around, 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.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said she was 'dismayed by the lack of inclusivity of the so-called caretaker cabinet, which includes no women and few non-Pashtuns'.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously warned that the Taliban would have to earn legitimacy and support, after talks with allies on how to present a united front.

The caretaker cabinet, he said, would be judged 'by its actions'.

Meanwhile, Afghans are resorting to selling their household goods to raise money to pay for essentials, and bustling second-hand goods markets have mushroomed in most urban centres.

Ajmal Ahmady, former acting governor of the Afghan central bank, tweeted last week that the country no longer had access to around $9 billion in aid, loans and assets.

Even before the Taliban's seizure of Kabul last month, half the population - or 18 million people - depended on aid. That looks set to increase due to drought and shortages.

Around $200million of the new money is earmarked for the UN World Food Programme, which found that 93 per cent of the 1,600 Afghans it surveyed in August and September were not getting enough to eat.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley said 40 per cent of Afghanistan's wheat crop had been lost, the price of cooking oil had doubled, and most people anyway had no way of getting money.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously warned that the Taliban would have to earn legitimacy and support

While banks have started reopening, the queues for withdrawals are extremely long, and more importantly, no one who depended on the government for a salary - from civil servants to police - has been paid since July.

'Fourteen million people, one out of three, are marching to the brink of starvation. They don't know where their next meal is,' Beasley said.

'If we are not very careful, we could truly, truly enter into the abyss in catastrophic conditions, worse than what we see now.'

The UN World Health Organization, also part of the appeal, wants to shore up hundreds of health facilities at risk of closure after donors backed out.

Antonio Vitorino, head of the International Organization for Migration, said the Afghan medical system was 'on the verge of collapse', and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that gains made towards eradicating polio and vaccinating against Covid-19 could unravel.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned that there could 'very soon' be far greater displacement than the estimated half a million who have already sought refuge elsewhere in Afghanistan this year.

'The physical distance between our nations and Afghanistan shouldn't mislead us,' Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu added.

$2.3trillion spent in Afghanistan wasted through corrupt payments to private contractors and handouts of 'protection money' to Taliban warlords, study finds A private security contractor watches a NATO supply truck drive past in the province of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, in this October 2010 file photo. A new study shows that the United States wasted billions of dollars paying private contractors during their 20-year military intervention in Afghanistan Up to half of the $14trillion spent by the Pentagon since 9/11 went to for-profit defense contractors, a study released on Monday found. The war in Afghanistan, which ended last month with the American withdrawal of forces from the country, cost more than $2trillion - though much of it was squandered due to waste and corruption, according to a report. It's the latest work to argue the US reliance on private corporations for war-zone duties that used to be done by troops contributed to mission failure in Afghanistan. Often times, contractors risked their lives, so they would pay protection money to warlords, strongmen, commanders, corruption Afghan officials, and even the Taliban - the group that the US military was ostensibly fighting. In the post-9/11 wars, US corporations contracted by the Defense Department not only handled war-zone logistics like running fuel convoys and staffing chow lines but performed mission-crucial work like training and equipping Afghan security forces - security forces that collapsed last month as the Taliban swept the country. Within weeks, and before the US military had even completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban easily routed an Afghan government and military that Americans had spent 20 years and billions of dollars to stand up. President Joe Biden placed blame squarely on the Afghans themselves. 'We gave them every chance,' he said last month. 'What we could not provide them was the will to fight.' But William Hartung, the author of Monday's study by Brown University's Costs of War project and the Center for International Policy, and others say it's essential that Americans examine what role the reliance on private contractors played in the post-9/11 wars. A person shows US dollars outside an exchange office in Kabul on September 4 In Afghanistan, that included contractors allegedly paying protection money to warlords and the Taliban themselves, and the Defense Department insisting on equipping the Afghan air force with complex Blackhawk helicopters and other aircraft that few but US contractors knew how to maintain. 'If it were only the money, that would be outrageous enough,' Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Center for International Policy, said of instances where the Pentagon's reliance on contractors backfired. 'But the fact it undermined the mission and put troops at risk is even more outrageous.' At the start of this year, before Biden began the final American withdrawal from Afghanistan, there were far more contractors in Afghanistan and also in Iraq than US troops. The US saw about 7,000 military members die in all post-9/11 conflicts, and nearly 8,000 contractors, another Costs of War study estimates. The Professional Services Council, an organization representing businesses contracting with the government, cited a lower figure from the US Department of Labor saying nearly 4,000 federal contractors have been killed since 2001. A spokeswoman pointed to a statement last month from the organization's president, David J. Berteau: 'For almost two decades, government contractors have provided broad and essential support for US and allied forces, for the Afghan military and other elements of the Afghan government, and for humanitarian and economic development assistance.' A Taliban fighter stands guard as the sun sets in Kabul on Sunday US officials after the September 11, 2001, attacks embraced private contractors as an essential part of the US military response. It started with then-Vice President Dick Cheney, the former CEO of Halliburton. Halliburton received more than $30billion to help set up and run bases, feed troops and carry out other work in Iraq and Afghanistan by 2008, the study says. Cheney and defense contractors argued that relying on private contractors for work that service members did in previous wars would allow for a trimmer US military, and be more efficient and cost effective. By 2010, Pentagon spending had surged by more than one-third, as the US fought dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fahim Hashimy became a '9/11 millionaire' thanks to contacts he developed as an interpreter for the US military In a post-9/11 American, politicians vied to show support for the military in a country grown far more security conscious. 'Any member of Congress who doesn't vote for the funds we need to defend this country will be looking for a new job after next November,' the study notes Harry Stonecipher, then the vice president of Boeing, telling The Wall Street Journal the month after the attacks. And up to a third of the Pentagon contracts went to just five weapons suppliers. Last fiscal year, for example, the money Lockheed Martin alone got from Pentagon contracts was one and a half times the entire budgets of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development, according to the study. The Pentagon pumped out more contracts than it could oversee, lawmakers and government special investigators said. For example, a Florida Republican Party official made millions on what lawmakers charged were excess profits when the US granted a one-of-a-kind contract for fuel convoys from Jordan to Iraq, the study notes. The electrocution of at least 18 service members by bad wiring in bases in Iraq, some of it blamed on major contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, was another of many instances where government investigations pointed to shoddy logistics and reconstruction work. The stunning Taliban victory last month in Afghanistan is drawing attention now to even graver consequences: the extent to which the US reliance on contractors may have heightened the difficulties of the Afghan security forces. Jodi Vittori, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel and scholar of corruption and fragile states at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was not involved in the study, points to the US insistence that the Afghan air force use US-made helicopters. Afghans preferred Russian helicopters, which were easier to fly, could be maintained by Afghans, and were suited to rugged Afghanistan. When US contractors pulled out with US troops this spring and summer, taking their knowledge of how to maintain US-provided aircraft with them, top Afghan leaders bitterly complained to the US that it had deprived them of one essential advantage over the Taliban. Another Afghan contractor who made millions only to be accused by the US Justice Department of obtaining the funds through bribery is Hikmatullah Shadman. In 2019, Shadman reached a $25million settlement with the federal government. He has denied the allegations against him Hartung, like others, also points to the corruption engendered by the billions of loosely monitored dollars that the US poured into Afghanistan as one central reason that Afghanistan's US-backed government lost popular support, and Afghan fighters lost morale. The influx of cash created so-called '9/11 millionaires' in Afghanistan - a separate, small class of wealthy locals who used connections to the ruling US-backed government to secure lucrative contracts with foreign militaries. Fahim Hashimy was working as an English teacher in Kabul when the September 11, 2001 attacks took place. After the American invasion, he was hired as an interpreter, according to CNBC. He then used his newfound connections with the American military and started a company that supplied US bases with goods and fuel. That company eventually grew into Hashimy Group, a conglomerate that operates a television news station, manufacturing facilities, real estate investments, trucking, and an airline. After the Taliban took over the country, Hashimy has not been heard from. Another Afghan contractor who made millions only to be accused by the US Justice Department of obtaining the funds through bribery is Hikmatullah Shadman. Shadman, a trucking company owner, amassed more than $160million while servicing the US military, according to The New Yorker. Shadman has denied the allegations. Eight US soldiers pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the case. The federal government eventually agreed to a $25million settlement with Shadman. After the US invaded Afghanistan, Shadman worked as an interpreter with US Special Forces. Through his relationship with the American military, he started a company that provided goods and services. The Department of Justice alleged that Shadman and his firms benefited from 'fraudulent receipt of a disproportionate number of subcontracts for the transport of military supplies in Afghanistan, as well as the inflated prices that he charged the United States for such transport.' 'As a result of this falsification, the Government often paid Shadman for work that was never performed,' according to DOJ. Shadman's trucking company was among those who were paying off armed warlords, including the Taliban, as part of a protection racket. Hillary Clinton, while secretary of state under President Barack Obama, accused defense contractors at risk in war zones of resorting to payoffs to armed groups, making protection money one of the biggest sources of funding for the Taliban. Military transport planes bought for the Afghan air force were abandoned in a field after crews complained they were dangerous. They were bought for $549 million and sold for scrap The United States also relied, in part, on defense contractors to carry out one of the tasks most central to its hopes of success in Afghanistan - helping to set up and train an Afghan military and other security forces that could stand up to extremist groups and to insurgents, including the Taliban. Tellingly, Vittori said, it was Afghan commandos who had consistent training by US special operations forces and others who did most of the fighting against the Taliban last month. Relying less on private contractors, and more on the US military as in past wars, might have given the US better chances of victory in Afghanistan, Vittori noted. She said that would have meant US presidents accepting the political risks of sending more US troops to Afghanistan, and getting more body bags of US troops back. 'Using contractors allowed America to fight a war that a lot of Americans forgot we were fighting,' Vittori said. Advertisement

'A humanitarian and security crisis in Afghanistan will have direct implications across the globe. We should take collective action now.'

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan according to their strict interpretation of Islamic law from 1996-2001 and were toppled in an invasion led by the United States, which accused them of sheltering militants behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

They swept back to power last month in a lightning advance as the last U.S.-led NATO troops pulled out and the forces of the Western-backed government melted away.

With billions of dollars of aid flows abruptly ending due to Western antipathy and distrust towards the Taliban, donors had a 'moral obligation' to keep helping Afghans after a 20-year engagement, several speakers in Geneva said.

But UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, also in Geneva, underlined the Western misgivings.

She accused the Taliban of breaking recent promises by once more ordering women to stay at home rather than go to work, keeping teenage girls out of school, and persecuting former opponents.

The moment Taliban fighters execute an unarmed prisoner in the 'conquered' Panjshir Valley where 'at least 20' civilians have been killed for helping resistance

This is the moment an unarmed man was shot dead in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley - allegedly a civilian executed by Taliban fighters in a revenge killing.

The footage shows men who appear to be Taliban fighters marching another man to the side of a road before multiple gunshots ring out and he slumps to the floor.

It is thought that at least 20 people have been killed in a similar fashion in the valley since it was captured by the Taliban last week.

It is not clear why exactly this man was targeted. He appears to be wearing combat trousers and a military-issue t-shirt, though bystanders who appear in the footage insist he is a civilian.

Jihadist fighters have carried out revenge attacks against former government soldiers, workers and ethnic minorities elsewhere in the country - with Panjshir being a hub of anti-Taliban resistance.

In the video, which was posted to social media earlier this week, a group of men wearing khameez shirts and lungee head-dresses can be seen leading their victim across a road.

Clutching rifles, the men drag him by the hand before ordering him to stand on the other side of the street.

Footage shows what appears to be Taliban fighters executing an unarmed civilian in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, after the Islamists claimed to have captured it last week

The man can be seen wearing combat trousers and what could be a military-issue t-shirt, though onlookers insist that he is a civilian.

Multiple gunshots then ring out before the man slumps to the floor. The gunmen then climb into American-made Humvees and drive away.

Also among those killed in Panjshir Valley for helping the resistance is shopkeeper Abdul Sami, according to sources who spoke to the BBC.

Locals said Sami, a father-of-two, refused to flee as the Taliban advanced because he believed they wouldn't target him.

But within days of the valley being captured he was arrested, accused of selling phone SIM cards to resistance fighters, and then his body was found near his home.

Witnesses said there were signs he had been tortured before his death.

The Panjshir Valley was the sole region of Afghanistan not captured by the Taliban as they conquered the rest of the country in a lightning-fast offensive earlier this year.

The valley had never been captured by Islamists before - having successfully held out against them in the 1990s and against the Soviets before that.

But last week the Taliban announced they had captured it and claimed resistance leaders including famed commander Ahmad Massoud had fled to Turkey.

Pockets of anti-Taliban resistance still exist within Afghanistan, however, with protesters taking to the streets in Kandahar province on Tuesday to demonstrate against the group.

Around 3,000 people - mostly the families of former army commanders - marched through the streets of the Taliban's ancestral home city in fury after they were evicted from their homes with just three days' notice.

Sporadic protests against the Taliban have ended in occasionally deadly clashes, although there were no confirmed reports of violence on Tuesday.

Video shows several gunmen walk their victim across the street before opening fire (left) as he slumps to the floor (right). It is unclear why he was targeted

Earlier this week, more footage emerged of gunmen bundling four other men into car boots in the Afghan capital of Kabul

Human Rights Watch told the BBC that news of retaliatory killings in Panjshir mirror atrocities that have been reported in other areas captured by the Taliban.

On Monday, footage emerged that appeared to show Taliban fighters forcing four men into the boot of two cars in the capital 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.

It is unclear what ultimately became of the men.

The footage emerged as Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council that she has seen 'credible reports' of Taliban searching house-to-house to find and punish anyone who helped the deposed Afghan government.

'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.'

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.

The Taliban has raised its flag outside its new 'headquarters' in Panjshir province - the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan

Taliban members patrol after they took over Panjshir Valley, the only province the group had not seized during its sweep last month in Afghanistan on September 6, 2021

Ahmad Massoud (pictured centre in 2019), the leader of the Afghan National Resistance Front called on Afghans to 'begin a national uprising for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country'

'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.

But near-daily stories have emerged of horrors that Afghan people - particularly women and ethnic minorities - are being subjected to under their new 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.

Thousands of people - mostly the families of Afghan army commanders - protested against the Taliban in their ancestral home city of Kandahar on Tuesday

Demonstrators took to the streets in fury after being told they have three days to vacate their homes, despite some of them living there for decades
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'Communist' staff at an arms fair in London staged a surprise protest by setting off flares in front of visitors - after telling bosses they were happy to work the event.

The men were working at the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair at the ExCeL in east London when they set off the flares.

In footage posted by the Young Communist League, the protesters stood on a carpet outside a stall for security firm Lockheed Martin while dressed in high-viz jackets. They then lifted their arms in the air and set off their smoke grenades as men dressed in suits shuffled past.

A man who appeared to be a security guard talks to the men as one of them shouts against 'British imperialism'.

In a statement posted online, the group said it usually boycotts the event but decided to 'protest and disrupt' the fair this year.

It calls on supporters to 'fight back' and fight against the security industry across the world.

Another video posted online shows a group of 'communists' travelling to the event to protest. A photo of members of the Young Communist League showed them brandishing flares while holding a sign that read: 'Arms dealers? War criminals!'

Dame Vivienne Westwood was among a group of protesters who demonstrated outside the event this afternoon.

The Young Communist League group setting off smoke grenades during Arms Fair at London ExCeL. The protesters were workers at the event

In footage posted by the Young Communist League, the protesters stood on a carpet outside a stall for security firm Lockheed Martin while dressed in high-viz jackets. They then lifted their arms in the air and set off their smoke grenades as men dressed in suits shuffled past

The Young Communist League group setting off smoke grenades during Arms Fair at London ExCeL, which started today

A man fires a gun on the Ultimate Training Munitions (UTM) testing area on day one of the DSEI arms fair in London today

A military delegation from Saudi Arabia are shown an MBDA Land Ceptor ground based air defence system on day one of the DSEI

A member of the sales team cleans the wheels of a Rheinmetall HX10x10 truck based howitzer ahead of opening on day one of the DSEI

Vivienne Westwood speaks outside the ExCel centre where DSEI London is taking place today, joining dozens of protesters

Anti-war activists groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Stop the War Coalition are staging a number of protests against the event

A Leonardo AW149 helicopter is seen on day one of the DSEI. Thousands of people and delegates are attending the event

A display case of training grenades manufactured by Bristol Trust is seen on day one of the DSEI in London this afternoon

The DSEI arms fair sees thousands of guests visit, including delegates from all over the world invited by the Department for International Trade.

It sees exhibitors selling weapons from sniper rifles and tanks to combat aircraft and warships, presenting to more than 30,000 attendees.

The delegates mingle with more than 800 exhibitors, including 90% of the world's top 10 arms manufacturers, during the four-day event which is held bi-annually.

This year, invitations for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, and Iraq drew criticism as they are all listed by the Foreign Office as 'human rights priority countries'.

Those nations are among 61 that were invited to send delegates to the biggest arms fair in Britain.

Ahead of today's event, ministers approved a Red Arrows flypast on Tuesday lunchtime. The HMS Argyll will also dock in the nearby harbour.

The fair is about 70% the size originally planned countries such as Turkey unable to participate because of Covid travel protocols. The total number of exhibitors is roughly half the 1700 that set up stands two years ago.

The Milrem Robotics display stand is seen on day one of the DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) exhibition at ExCel

In a statement posted online, the group said it usually boycotts the event but decided to 'protest and disrupt' the fair this year. It calls on supporters to 'fight back' and fight against the security industry across the world

ARheinmetall Mission Master XT is seen on day one of the DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) exhibition at ExCel

Members of the Nigerian military listen to a presentation on day one of the DSEI, held in London this afternoon

Surveillance cameras are advertised on a large display screen on the Teledyne stand on day one of the DSEI

There will be a security zone at the event which is 'a showcase of security equipment, technologies, strategies and systems to counter priority threats, such as cyber-attacks as well as border, infrastructure, crowd and crisis security'.

A UK government spokesperson said: 'We always undertake strict checks before inviting foreign governments to export summits, including DSEI 2021.'

Last month, London Mayor Sadiq Khan wrote a letter to organisers of the event calling on them to cancel it and not come back to the city.

The mayor said the fair's presence in London was insulting to people who had escaped violence and fled to the capital, and that it was costing too much to police.

In 2019, the event cost over 2.5 million to manage and involved 5,609 police officers.

He said in a letter to Grant Burgham, the event's director: 'I strongly urge you to reconsider this year's event and any plans you have to host future events in the city.

'For [London] to be used as a marketplace for those who wish to trade in weapons to some countries that contribute to human rights abuses goes completely against our values.'

In response, Mr Burgham said: 'The event serves only the interests of the legitimate defence and security industry, which is the most highly and tightly regulated in the world.

A General Dynamics LX300 remotely piloted helicopter is seen on day one of the DSEI exhibition at ExCel

DSEI connects governments, national armed forces, industry thought leaders and the entire defence & security supply chain on a global scale

Mannequins display the effects of a bullet to the head while wearing different types of protective headgear on day one of the DSEI

Delegates walk past large scale display models of the .375 Swiss P sniper ammunition from Ammotec on day one of the DSEI

A man chats with a colleague as he sits on the display stand for the warheads for guided weapon manufacturer TDW

A row of Glock handguns are seen on day one of the DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) exhibition at ExCel

A display case of munitions is seen on the Sako display stand on day one of the DSEI event in London this afternoon

The four day event sees over 1,000 defence, technology and security manufacturers display their latest developments to Governments and security companies from around the world

'Teams from HMRC, BEIS [the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy], DIT-ECJU [the part of the Department for International Trade that deals with export control] and the other government agencies responsible for enforcing the law at DSEI are on site during setup and throughout the exhibition.

'We will be welcoming ministers from the UK government, as well as MPs from across parliament, who will meet British companies and underscore the important role that the defence and security sector plays. International official defence delegations are also invited to attend by the Department for International Trade, providing delegates with the opportunity to see equipment, much of it British-made, up close.'

He said the organisers 'respect the right to lawful protest'.

Kirsten Bayes, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, which campaigns against DSEI, said: 'The mayor is absolutely right that this arms fair should not be taking place in September.

'He is also right to point out that so many people fleeing conflicts globally have made their home in east London, where the fair is due to take place: it will have a huge impact practically and emotionally on local people.

'Our view is that holding arms fairs anywhere is wrong: the industry makes its profits through creating death and disaster around the world.

'Local communities have stood up against these fairs wherever they have been held across the country, whether that is Liverpool or Glasgow, Bristol or Birmingham. Our country needs to say no to the trade in dreadful weapons, stand up for peace and human rights, and put an end to these arms fairs.'
Footage of the terrifying 320km/h fire tornado which whipped smoke and flames 6km into the air before tossing a 10-tonne truck, killing a heroic young firefighter inside, has been released at an inquiry into his death.

Samuel McPaul, 28, died in the blistering blast of the deadly fire vortex, with two of his fellow Rural Fire Service volunteers also seriously injured, during the Black Summer bushfires on December 30, 2019.

Fire chiefs watched in horror as the devastating tornado formed near the NSWVictorian border and then sped towards them, incinerating everything in its path.

'As I looked up the hill I could see a large whirlwind or tornado starting to build up,' Captain John Hawkins told the NSW Bushfires Coronial Inquiry on Tuesday.

A terrifying 320kph fire tornado whipped smoke and flames 6km into the air before killing hero young firefighter Samuel McPaul, 28, (pictured here with wife Megan)

Fire chiefs watched in horror as the devastating tornado (pictured) formed near the NSWVictorian border and then sped towards them, incinerating everything in its path

'It was a large column of black smoke swirling in a clockwise direction and throwing burning logs and sticks out into surrounding paddocks.

'I hadn't seen anything like this tornado before.'

The whirling firestorm was sparked by a blaze spreading from nearby Green Valley fire which was started the day before by a lightning strike.

But as it came near Jingellic on the state border, it took on monstrous proportions.

'I could see the fire getting bigger and I could tell we were in for a s*** fight if it went on,' RFS member Mark Reeves told the inquiry in a statement, reported the ABC.

The whirling firestorm, on December 30, 2019, was sparked by a blaze spreading from nearby Green Valley fire which was started the day before by a lightning strike (pictured, RFS firefighters near Susse Inlet on New Year's Eve)

Low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds combined to create the rare but perfect conditions for the firestorm which killed firefighter Samuel McPaul (pictured here with his wife Megan)

Low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds combined to create the rare but perfect conditions for the firestorm to wreak havoc, the Bureau of Meteorology explained.

As the fire intensified, it created the vortex that ripped through the tinder dry bush - just 60m wide but taking flames and debris several kilometres into the sky and tossing trees like matchsticks.

'Trees in the damage path were torn out of the ground and thrown, in some cases, 100 metres to the south,' said a BoM report to the inquiry.

In a matter of minutes it whipped itself into a fire frenzy and then just as quickly disappeared after literally burning itself out.

The inquest into the death of Samuel McPaul will begin on Wednesday. His wife Megan is seen here receiving the Commissioner's Commendation for Service and a Commissioner's Commendation for Bravery on her husband's behalf

The BoM added: 'The fire tornado had burnt and sucked everything from the ground.'

The Green Valley fire would continue to burn for another 52 days, razing 46,000 hectares of bushland.

Australia's 2019/2020 bushfires were the worst the country has ever seen in recorded history, beginning in September 2019 and raging on until March 2020.

By the time the last ember was extinguished, 34 people had died, 3,500 homes were lost, thousands more buildings were razed and more than 19 million hectares of bush had been ravaged by fire, mostly in NSW.

Scientists have estimated up to a billion vertebrate animals were killed by the merciless infernos.

The inquest into the death of Mr McPaul will begin on Wednesday.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is beginning to dampen down transmission of the virus in NSW, health authorities believe.

The state reported an additional 1127 infections on Tuesday - the lowest number in nearly two weeks.

With almost 79 per cent of eligible residents at least partially vaccinated, NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty said immunisation is placing downward pressure on daily infections.

NSW is seeing a decline in cases with a higher uptake in vaccinations hoping to flatten the curve (pictured, a shopper in Sydney's Bondi on Tuesday)

He urged caution, however, saying daily infections had flattened in the past before surging again.

'We'd like to see a few more days before we can have confidence about whether there is a trend,' he said on Tuesday.

A high in daily infections is expected this week, with hospitalisations peaking in October and intensive care facilities soon afterwards.

'We're seeing pleasingly that cases haven't been increasing as fast as they had been, but that may be an effect of the weekend ... we'll see what's happening throughout the rest of the week,' Dr McAnulty said.

A man in his 50s and a woman in her 80s - both from western Sydney - died, taking the toll for the current NSW outbreak to 186, and 242 for the entirety of the pandemic.

Almost 79 per cent of NSW residents have now received at least one dose of the vaccine (pictured, resident receives their Pfizer jab)

There are 1253 COVID-19 patients in NSW hospitals, with 231 in intensive care and 104 on ventilators.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday met with the mayors from the 12 Sydney local government areas with the toughest restrictions, after previous requests were rejected.

Penrith Mayor Karen McKeown said the meeting was a 'welcome change' that allowed her to represent her constituents directly to the premier.

There is a push for suburbs with low case numbers removed from the list of hotspots, which are subject to heightened restrictions in NSW (pictured, residents enjoying eased restrictions in Sydney)

She asked Ms Berejiklian to lift the curfew on the hotspot areas, which she said was creating additional stress on suffering residents.

Ms McKeown wants suburbs with low case numbers removed from the list of hotspots, which are subject to heightened restrictions.

Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller said she told the premier the divide between the southwest and west and the rest of Sydney could be 'irreparable' even after restrictions are lifted.

The state recorded 1,127 infections on Tuesday - the lowest number in nearly two weeks

'Many members of the community have told me they no longer feel like we're all in this together,' she said.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro will meet with regional mayors on Friday.

Meanwhile, the state government has announced an additional $287.5 million in COVID-19 financial support to help workers and vulnerable communities in metropolitan, regional and rural NSW.

NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty said immunisation is placing downward pressure on daily infections

The funding will see COVID-19 emergency hardship payments, test and isolate support payments, and community grants expanded.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns told reporters Ms Berejiklian needed to again subject herself to media and parliamentary scrutiny, having ended her daily participation in COVID-19 press conferences.

The government scuttled an attempt by the opposition and crossbench to have the upper house sit on Tuesday.

The absence of any government minister meant the session could not proceed.

Mr Minns said voters needed 'a clear idea of the direction of the government' and that the state's leaders needed to be held to account.

Parliament is slated to return on October 12.

Elsewhere, Yass Valley Council area in the Southern Tablelands has gone back into lockdown following a positive COVID-19 case. Virus fragments were also uncovered in nearby Young.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be extending a pandemic program that grants $500,000 to the family of employees who die of Covid-related causes, but the death benefit will only apply to the vaccinated.

The authority, which runs NYCs subways, buses and commuter trains, had planned to end its program on August 31, but will now continue it through the end of 2021, a senior authority official told the New York Times on Monday.

Since last fall, the MTA has offered the benefit to all of its 68,000 employees. In April, however, the agency said that it would discontinue the program for employees who did not get vaccinated by June.

As of September 10, about 27,000 employees  one-third of the workforce  has not had the shot.

The MTA will be extending a program that provides families of employees who die of Covid-related causes with $500,000, but only for vaccinated employees

The MTA first rolled it out to all of its 68,000 employees, but discontinued the program for unvaccinated workers in June

I think these vaccination rates, in my opinion, are a disservice at this point, Neal Zuckerman said at the MTAs Safety Committee meeting on Sept. 13, as reported by AM New York Metro. I am concerned for their own safety, their families safety, and frankly, Im concerned for our customers safety.

Since the pandemic began, the authority has seen 171 employees die of complications relating to the virus. Since June, however, there have only been three.

Tim Minton, a spokesman for the authority, said that there was no indication that the three deceased employees were vaccinated and their families havent tried to claim the $500,000 benefit.

We want each of our employees to get every single benefit that they are entitled to, he told the New York Times. MTA officials have previously offered incentives to get vaccinated, including paid time off for doctors appointments, Minton added.

According to Minton, the MTAs rate of fully vaccinated employees is expected to rise as over 70percent have had at least one dose. However, rates are lower for employees of some of the transit divisions like subways and buses.

An MTA board member said that the authority is even more focused on getting its staffers vaccinated now that children under 12, who are not eligible for the shot, are back in school and many rely on public transportation.

As of September 10, 27,000  one-third of the workforce  have not had the shot. Tony Utano, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, is pictured above getting the shot in January when transit workers became one of the first eligible groups to get the shot

Starting October 12, employees must either show proof of vaccination of have weekly Covid-19 tests

I was on the subways during rush hour this morning and there were numerous little kids with their parents going to the first day of school, Bob Linn said to AM New York Metro. One thing you know for sure is everyone of those kids is not vaccinated. Its just not acceptable that were exposing those kids to workers who are not vaccinated  I felt absolutely terrified for those children, who because of other people exercising their view of freedom were exposing those children to potential mortal sickness.

MTA Chief Safety Officer Pat Warren echoed Linns concerns and told the news outlet, Getting the workforce vaccinated is and has been a priority for the MTA since the vaccines became available as it is the most effective way to protect oneself and those around you from Covid-19. We just introduced a program that calls for mandatory vaccinations or testing, which will strengthen our efforts.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo announced before leaving office that all state employees would need to be vaccinated or tested weekly by September 6. After Cuomos August 23 resignation, the MTA pushed the mandate back until October 12.

Beginning September 7, the authority has also bolstered its testing program and opened over 120 testing sites on MTA property  completing 1,432 nasal swabs in the following week.

The union representing MTA workers has stated that it supports the authority's efforts to increase vaccination rates and posted pro-vaccination pictures, like the one above, to its Facebook page when the shot rolled out in January. However, it said it would take legal action if the MTA removes the option for testing instead of getting the shot

Tony Utano, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, told the New York Times that he supports efforts the MTA is taking to ensure its employees get vaccinated. He and a number of employees posted proud photos of themselves getting the shot back in January, when transit workers became one of the first groups in the state to be eligible for the shot.

Nevertheless, the union has said that it will seek legal action if the MTA mandates its employees get vaccinated and removes the option for weekly testing. In an August 30 post on its Facebook page, the union wrote, Local 100 believes that you should not be forced to get the vaccine if you dont want it. If the State forces the MTA to reverse its current position on choice of vaccine or testing, we are prepared to go to court.

An MTA board member representing a Long Island Rail Road union also spoke out against the possibility of a more stringent vaccine mandate and said it could cause some employees to leave their job while transit authorities already contend with worker shortages.

Were all for the testing and taking precautions that are necessary, Vincent Tessitore told AM New York Metro. What we also have to understand is that  there are plenty of our workers in the field that do not want to be vaccinated. We have to be careful, because were receiving plenty of feedback that, you know, 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, struggling to fill positions.
Justin Trudeau has lashed out at a heckler who called his wife a 'wh*re' during an election photo-op in Canada today.

The Liberal Prime Minister was getting ready for an open-air sit-down with journalists when a man began hurling abuse - repeatedly swearing and threatening to fight him.

Trudeau mostly stood passive, but after his wife was mentioned he lost his cool and shouted back: 'Isn't there a hospital you should be going to bother right now?'

The 49-year-old, who called a snap election last month in the hopes of securing a third term in office, has been dogged by protesters who have hurled abuse and anti-vaccine slogans and him and his supporters on the campaign trail.

Just two weeks ago Trudeau had vowed to ignore them and 'meet anger with compassion', but lashed out amid polls that show he is neck and neck with Conservative challenger Erin O'Toole - 32 per cent to 31 per cent.

Justin Trudeau was heckled on the campaign trail by a protester who called his wife a 'wh*re', prompting him to shout back: 'Isn't there a hospital you should be going to bother?'

Mr Trudeau had been attempting to sit down for an interview with journalists at the time he was heckled, but had to move inside after the man continued to hurl abuse

The latest heckling took place outside the offices of the Global News network in Burnaby, British Columbia, as Trudeau was sitting down for a chat with journalists.

A man wearing a dark t-shirt and jeans began hurling abuse at the Prime Minister, telling him: ' Come on, I'm right here. F***. You f***ing chicken s***.'

At another point, he jibed: 'Where's your wife? I've heard she's a wh*re.'

Mr Trudeau then shot back, before the protester added: 'You need a third dose as well, let's go do it together.'

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau has accompanied her husband during several campaign stops, but was not present on Tuesday when the abuse took place.

Trudeau and the reporters eventually decided to move their interview inside after consulting with police, CBC reported.

Trudeau, who failed to win a majority at the 2019 election but held on to his job as head of a coalition government, called for a snap election in August this year with voting due to take place on September 20.

Mr Trudeau called and early election in the hopes of winning a majority, but is now in danger of losing his job to Conservative challenger Erin O'Toole

With polls showing him on a five-point lead, Mr Trudeau had been hoping to win a majority based on his handling of the Covid pandemic.

But instead he has been met at multiple campaign stops by angry anti-vax protesters and conspiracy theorists branding the virus a 'hoax'.

Moderate voters have also been angered that he called an election during a pandemic, and as medics were warning that a fourth wave of infections is underway.

His support has since plunged, with voters now putting him neck-and-neck with relatively-unknown conservative leader O'Toole.

The abuse has been so severe that one of Mr Trudeau's rallies even had to be cancelled because police were unable to guarantee the safety of his supporters.

Mr Trudeau had been due to appear on stage in Ontario on August 27 but the rally was crashed by a crowd waving 'F*** Trudeau' banners and chanting obscenities.

After a two-hour delay, it was announced that he would not be appearing on stage.

At another rally, he was pelted with gravel by yet more anti-vax demonstrators.

Mr Trudeau has been dogged by angry protesters on the campaign trail, who last week through gravel at him and have forced him to cancel a rally

Protest crowds have been partly made up of anti-vaxxers angry at laws that will make jab mandatory for government workers, alongside conspiracy theorists

He later addressed the outpouring of anger - saying it is the worst he has seen on the campaign trail, while vowing to 'meet that anger with compassion.'

Protesters have largely hit out at laws Trudeau has passed requiring federal workers to get vaccinated against Covid, along with transport workers and travellers.

He has also proposed laws that would make it a crime for protesters to block access to medical facilities, amid a wave of Covid demonstrations outside hospitals.

Insiders blame what they call an initially low-energy campaign and the inevitable political baggage that Trudeau has accumulated since he took office six years ago promising 'sunny ways.'

'I wish he hadn't called it,' a Liberal insider said of Trudeau's decision to seek an election two years before the end of his term.

Trudeau says he needs a new mandate to ensure Canadians approve of his plan for getting the country past the coronavirus pandemic.

The Liberals, whose fiscal policy for the pandemic already exceed 23 per cent of GDP, plan billions in new spending to support economic recovery if re-elected.
Keir Starmer suffered a blow today as an MP quit his shadow cabinet just weeks before party conference.

Equalities Secretary Marsha de Cordova said she was resigning to concentrate on her 'marginal' Commons constituency.

The Battersea MP insisted she would still be supporting Sir Keir and was taking the decision 'with much sadness'.

But it will still be a blow for the leader, who has been trying to get on the front foot after a difficult first year and a half in charge.

Ms de Cordova won the south London seat from the Tories in 2017 and held it with an increased majority of 5,668 in 2019.

She said: 'It has been an immense privilege to serve as the shadow women and equalities secretary for the past 17 months.

Equalities Secretary Marsha de Cordova said she was resigning to concentrate on her 'marginal' Commons constituency

'It therefore comes with much sadness that I am resigning with immediate effect.

'Having only been elected in 2017 for the historically marginal constituency of Battersea, I would like to focus more of my time and efforts on the people of Battersea.

'I will continue to support Keir Starmer from the backbenches.'

Sir Keir said: 'I would like to thank Marsha de Cordova for her service and in particular her work highlighting the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on black, Asian, minority ethnic and disabled people.

'Marsha has also laid the foundations for a new Race Equality Act that Labour would introduce to tackle the structural inequalities which have existed in our society for too long.'

The timing of the resignation will raise eyebrows in Westminster, with Labour's autumn conference due to begin on September 25
This is the moment an Afghan journalist was attacked by the Taliban for interviewing a woman at a protest in Kandahar today.

The Millat Zagh Radio reporter was attacked by a militant in a military fatigue while filming an interview with a woman who was protesting in Kandahar's Firqa district after the Taliban ordered her to leave her home.

She was one of hundreds of Afghans who gathered today in fury at a Taliban order to evict 3,000 families to house the group's fighters, despite many having lived there for several decades.

A witness speaking on condition of anonymity said the reporter 'was talking to a woman in front of the governor's house when a Talib came over and beat him'.

He explained the reporter had asked for permission to film an interview - a request the Taliban had accepted - but that he was accosted by militants as soon as he started the video.

'He got his phone out and started filming but the Talibs immediately shouted at him to stop.

'He kept telling them he was a reporter and he had permission to film but they shouted at him "why are you talking to this woman?" and hit him anyway.'

This is the moment an Afghan reporter was attacked by a militant in a military fatigue (left) while filming an interview with a woman (right) who was protesting in Kandahar's Firqa district after the Taliban ordered her to leave her home

The source explained the woman, a military widow, was telling the reporter she was penniless and she and her children would have nowhere to go if evicted by the Taliban when he was attacked.

'She told him [the reporter] "I don't have any money, I don't have on afghani, so I can't arrange another room. This is the only room I have in all Afghanistan."

'I have many children and I buy only one bread every day, that is it. What will I do if they evict me?'

The source added demonstrators had forced the governor to reconsider the evictions, due to take place in three days, telling families to stay put until a final decision was made.

But he said it was unlikely the group would be swayed 'because they rarely do anything that is good for the people'. Many of the families facing eviction are relatives of former army commanders, most of whom are believed to be dead.

Thousands of Afghans have protested against the Taliban for evicting 3,000 families from their homes in Kandahar to house their fighters

Footage posted online showed crowds of angry people blocking a main road and junction in Kandahar today

Thousands of Afghans, among them burka-clad women, protested against the Taliban in the southern city of Kandahar today after they were evicted from their homes

Meanwhile journalists have also complained of being kidnapped and beaten, though the Taliban insists it wants a free press to operate within the country.

Last week two journalists in Kabul were left with ugly welts and bruises after they were detained by the Taliban while covering protests.

The pair were picked up at a demonstration on Wednesday and taken to a police station in the capital, where they say they were punched and beaten with batons, electrical cables and whips after being accused of organising the protest.

Harrowing images emerged of two journalists with angry welts and bruises after they were detained by Taliban fighters while covering protest

Journalist Neamat Naqdi (right) was left with lash marks on his thighs after he was detained while covering protests in Kabul on Wednesday. Taqi Daryabi (left) was left with ugly welts and bruises on his lower back after spending hours in Taliban custody

On Friday, Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council the Taliban's response to peaceful protests was becoming increasingly violent.

UN staffers have also reported increasing attacks and threats, she added, without providing specifics.

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.

But near-daily stories have emerged of horrors that Afghan people - particularly women and ethnic minorities - are being subjected to under their new 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.
Florida officials are prepared to fine cities and counties $5,000 for each worker who is required to get a COVID vaccine, Governor Ron DeSantis announced at a news conference on Monday.

He said that vaccine mandates violate state law, pointing to a bill he signed in May that 'bans governmental entities in Florida from requiring proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from their operations,' according to MSNBC.

The law also imposes a $5,000 fine per violation for 'any entity, including government entities that ask to see proof of vaccination in Florida.'

DeSantis said at a news conference: 'If a government agency in the state of Florida forces a vaccine as a condition to employment, that violates Florida law, and you will face a $5,000 fine for every single violation.'

He said the fines could result in millions of dollars for the state, and Florida state officials are prepared to start enforcing the law on Thursday.

But county and city officials claim it is their responsibility to protect residents with these mandates, and say they will fight back against the fines.

At a news conference on Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the state would start fining municipalities that require their employees to be vaccinated $5,000 per employee

DeSantis first signed a law declaring vaccine mandates illegal in the state of Florida in May, but since then several municipalities have imposed vaccine mandates for their employees.

In August, Miami Mayor Daniella Lavine-Cava announced that all county employees would have to show proof of their vaccine, or submit to weekly testing.

The county has seen the highest number of cases in the state, with more than 58,300 new cases over the past month, according to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which has tracked COVID cases throughout the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

'Our community has endured too much,' Levine-Cava said at the time. 'By getting vaccinated, we can avoid any further pain, we can avoid losing any more of our fellow neighbors, co-workers and friends.

'We can avoid what is truly preventable.'

And in Orange County, officials are requiring all employees to be partially vaccinated by September 30 and fully vaccinated by October 31.

The city of Gainesville, in Alachua County, is also requiring its employees to be vaccinated against the virus. The county has seen more than 5,700 cases in the past 28 days, according to the data from Johns Hopkins.

The State Department of Education has already docked the salaries of school board members in Alachua and Broward counties for defying the government by implementing mask mandates.

A total of 13 school boards are currently ignoring the mask ban, according to News 4 Jax.

A Florida appeals court last week allowed the state to continue implementing an order banning mask requirements in schools while the issue is under review.

Meanwhile, the state has seen nearly 3.5 million cases and nearly 50,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

There were more than 100,000 new cases reported throughout Florida between September 3 and September 9, according to data from the state Department of Health, with a positivity rate of 13.5 percent.

COVID deaths in the state accounted for more than 20 percent of the virus related deaths throughout the United States last week, News 4 Jax reports.

About 69 percent of the state's population has received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 57 percent are fully vaccinated.

There were more than 100,000 new cases reported throughout Florida between September 3 and September 9 with a positivity rate of 13.5 percent

But at the news conference on Monday, DeSantis said the counties and cities that are mandating the employees be vaccinated will have to face a $5,000 fine for each employee, calling it an effort to 'stand up for freedom.'

'We're going to protect these jobs, we're going to protect their livelihoods and we're going to protect families,' he said. 'We are going to stand for the men and women who are serving us. We are going to protect Florida jobs. We are not going to let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate.'

'You don't just cast aside people who have been serving faithfully over this issue, over what's basically a personal choice about their personal health,' he added, noting that vaccines in the state are 'available for all, mandated for none.'

'This is political,' he said of the mandates. 'It's about using government power to control.'

DeSantis also said that many police, firefighters and other emergency responders 'have already had COVID,' and 'the ones who have recovered have very strong immunity.'

The Centers for Disease Control, however, says people should be vaccinated regardless of whether they have already had COVID because 'research has not yet shown how long you are protected from getting COVID-19 again after you recover from COVID-19.'

One study showed that unvaccinated people who had COVID are more than twice as likely than fully-vaccinated people to get COVID again, CBS News reports.

The news conference also included a slew of Gainesville and Alachua County employees who feared they would lose their job because they are not vaccinated.

One such employee said 'it's not about the vaccine, it's about mandatory vaccination.'

'No one should tell you what to put in your body,' he said. 'I choose what goes in my body. Of course, I eat hamburgers and french fries, but that's my choice.'

The Alachua County official also falsely claimed the vaccine changes the body's RNA. Instead, the mRNA vaccines like those produced by Pfizer and Moderna, teach the body how to make a spike protein that resembles what is on top of the coronavirus, so if it is detected, the immune system can recognize and attack it.

Others claimed, 'It's about our freedom and liberty,' and one woman used the pro-choice slogan 'My body, my choice' to defend her decision not to get vaccinated.

Willie Webb, 20, received a shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination at St. Thomas University in Miami on August 20. The governor said the vaccine is 'available for all, mandated for none'

Nurse Helene Leger gives FIorida International University student Vanessa Claude, her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 shot at a vaccination site on campus on August 24

A woman receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine during a vaccination event, in Key Biscayne on August 24

The press conference comes as the city of Gainesville is being sued by 200 employees who claim vaccine mandates violate the state law.

Shelby Taylor, a spokesperson for the city, said it is standing by its decision.

'It is our belief that as an employer, we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment,' she said in an emailed statement to News 4 Jax.

And at a news conference, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said he believed many of the decisions the governor made are politically motivated and the county 'would deal' with DeSantis' threat, potentially through the courts.

'It could be a lot of money, yes, no question about it,' he 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 the government.'

President Joe Biden announced last week that the federal government would require all employees and federal contractors to be vaccinated

The governor concluded his news conference by taking aim at President Joe Biden, who last Thursday announced the federal government would mandate COVID vaccines for federal workers and contractors.

He also announced an emergency rule requiring all employers with 100 or more employees ensure that their workforce is fully vaccinated or that unvaccinated workers produce a negative COVID test at least once a week.

'The fight with the Biden mandate is a real serious fight to defend the Constitutional system,' DeSantis said. 'He is so dismissive of anybody that disagrees with him. You hear how he talks about governors as if they should be cast aside, out of the way?

'I know the Founding Fathers created a system,' he said. 'We're the United States of America, and they created a system where the President doesn't get to boss people around.'

He claimed that governors like him are designed to push back against government overreach, and said for Biden 'to be so dismissive and act like that anybody standing up for jobs in their state should just somehow get out of the way, it shows the arrogance of him and it also shows how out of touch he is with the people of this country.'

DeSantis is running for reelection next year, and is widely seen as a potential candidate to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden argued in favour of the privatisation of Channel 4, saying it needs cash to compete with streaming giants.

But the broadcaster itself has cautioned the move could 'cause harm' to British audiences and the UK economy.

The Government is currently consulting on plans to privatise the channel, which could be sold off to a buyer.

At present, the channel, which was founded in 1982, is owned by the Government and receives its funding from advertising.

Channel 4 said in its response to the government consultation: 'Having considered all the available analysis extremely carefully, we have concluded there is no evidence that the irreversible transfer of Channel 4 from the British public into private commercial hands will be of benefit to either British audiences or the UK economy, and may indeed cause them harm.'

The channel said 'the evidence suggests that continued public ownership of Channel 4 would create the right conditions not only to overcome the audience and competitive challenges the Government has rightly identified, but also to ensure that public service broadcasting in the UK continues to thrive'.

It also raised concerns that moving Channel 4 into private ownership could result in 'reduced diversity and quality of content for UK viewers'.

The Government and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden (pictured) have said they are consulting on privatisation because it wants to ensure the long-term survival of the channel in the face of the streaming giants and growing pressure on advertising revenue [File photo]

The Government has said it is consulting on privatisation because it wants to ensure the long-term survival of the channel in the face of the streaming giants and growing pressure on advertising revenue.

However, Channel 4's submission claims the consultation failed to outline 'other options that could seek to bolster Channel 4 in the long term without the risks that will be caused by a change in ownership'.

According to the broadcaster, these include updating legislation on public service prominence to apply across digital platforms and reviewing the commercial relationships between platforms and publishers through the new digital markets unit.

The submission also includes research commissioned by the broadcaster suggesting the majority of Conservative viewers oppose the privatisation of Channel 4.

An audience survey of 2,000 people conducted by Tapestry in July 2021 found once Channel 4's model was explained to the sample, 82 per cent of UK adults aged 1875 said the channel should remain publicly-owned.

This included 75 per cent of Conservative voters and 75 per cent of people in Scotland.

Dowden announced the consultation into the sale by saying: 'The media world has changed immeasurably since Channel 4's creation in the early 1980s, but while we have more choice today, the need for a strong and successful Channel 4 continues.

At present, Channel 4, which was founded in 1982, is owned by the Government and receives its funding from advertising [Stock image]

'So in the face of rising global competition, now is the right time to strengthen UK public service broadcasters and consider releasing Channel 4 from the constraints of public ownership, enabling it to thrive for the next 40 years and beyond.'

Following Channel 4's response, a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said: 'We want Channel 4 to have a successful and sustainable future.

'Its public service broadcaster remit, its ability to make distinctive content and its work with independent producers are precisely the strengths we would protect and expect any potential buyer to develop through new investment, should we decide to proceed with a sale.'

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) also issued a statement, backing Channel 4's position.

'Ultimately, Channel 4 is a success,' The IPA's director general Paul Bainsfair said.

'Its purpose-driven programming is good for society and it's good for culture, and crucially, to the IPA, our members and their advertiser clients, it's good for business. We see no upside but significant downsides to privatization.'
Human rights groups condemned President Biden on Tuesday over his decision to supply Egypt with hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid, accusing him of sidestepping legislation to protect basic freedoms.

A day earlier, under growing pressure, U.S. officials said they would withhold a portion of $300 million destined for counterterrorism, border security and nonproliferation efforts.

But 19 human rights groups said that still meant the Biden administration had taken a weaker stance than the Trump administration in holding Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to account.

They accused Biden of forgetting his campaign promises.

'This administration has repeatedly vowed to put human rights at the center of its foreign policy and specifically its relationship with Egypt,' said the groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA.

'This decision, however, is a betrayal of these commitments.'

Human rights groups accused President Biden of hypocrisy on Tuesday for his administration's decision to withhold only $130 million of $300 million in security aid to the government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, accusing him of forgetting his promise that there would be 'no more black checks' for the Egyptian leader because of human rights concerns

Each year, the U.S. gives Egypt $1.3 billion in security aid - with some $300 million subject to human rights conditions. Last week, a Human Rights Watch report accusing Egyptian security forces of secret detentions and '

Since coming to power in the wake of a 2013 coup, Sissi has been accused of human rights abuses and the suppression of dissent.

As a result, Congress imposed human rights conditions on military aid to Egypt in 2014.

The conditions apply to $300 million of the $1.3 billion given to Egypt every year.

But both President Obama and Trump used national security waivers to bypass the restrictions.

Human rights groups have long wanted tougher restrictions while some Republican lawmakers see Sissi as a vital ally against militant Islamist movements in the region.

Last week, Human Rights Watch published a report describing allegations of secret detentions and 'probable extrajudicial killings' by Egyptian security forces.

On Monday, officials said they would withhold $130 million in assistance this year, only releasing the funds only if Sissi's government ended the prosecution of civil society organizations and drops charges against 16 individuals.

Biden had in the past been critical of support to Cairo and highlighted how Trump once called Sissi his favorite dictator.

He promised 'no more blank checks for Trumps favourite dictator' during last year's presidential election campaign.

In their statement, the human rights groups point out that the former president withheld $195 million in aid in 2017 after Sissi's government introduced a law cracking down on NGOs.

Biden celebrated the release of an Egyptian-American medical student (after spending more than a year in jail after being arrested at a protest) last year by promising 'no more blank checks for Trump's "favorite dictator"'

'The Biden administration has frequently sought to distinguish itself from the Trump administration by claiming to take a stronger stance on human rights and promising to be tough on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, whom Biden referred to as Trumps favorite dictator.

'With that context, it is especially dismaying to see this decision, a notably weaker position than that taken by the Trump administration in the same situation in August 2017.'

Other groups signing the statement included the Committee to Protect Journalists, The Freedom Initiative, Egyptian Human Rights Forum.

'If the administrations dedication to human rights were sincere, this decision would have been simple: withhold the $300 million in military aid as conditioned by Congress to incentivize al-Sissi to change course,' they concluded.

'Instead, the administration chose to ignore its commitment to human rights by evading the legislative conditions through a vague, previously unused provision in the law.

'Given the appalling scale of abuses committed since 2013 by the Egyptian government, one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid, it is imperative that congressional conditions on [Foreign Military Financing] be enforced to end the impunity around these systematic abuses.'
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Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for young girls and has done for at least two years but continues to add beauty-editing filters to the app, despite 6 percent of suicidal girls in America blaming it for their desire to kill themselves.

Leaked research obtained by The Wall Street Journal and published on Tuesday reveals that since at least 2019, Facebook has been warned that Instagram harms young girls' body image.

One message posted on an internal message board in March 2020 said the app revealed that 32 percent of girls said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies if they were already having insecurities.

Another slide, from a 2019 presentation, said: 'We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.

'Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression. This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.'

Another presentation found that among teens who felt suicidal, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced their suicidal feelings to Instagram.

The research not only reaffirms what has been publicly acknowledged for years - that Instagram can harm a person's body image, especially if that person is young - but it confirms that Facebook management knew as much and was actively researching it.

It is the latest in a string of scandals for Facebook. Yesterday, it emerged the company had a whitelist of celebrities, influencers and politicians who were exempt from its rules because they had so many followers.

Critics on Tuesday compared the site to tobacco firms which ignored science to jeopardize young people's health for the sake of profit.

Others say the company, which has a monopoly over young people and social media, is deliberately hiding important research.

This is some of the research Facebook was shown last March about how Instagram is harming young people

THE DATA FACEBOOK WAS SHOWN ON HOW INSTAGRAM HARMED YOUNG GIRLS AND BOYS Question of the things you've felt in the last month, did any of them start on Instagram? Select all that apply Not attractive 41% (US) 43% (UK) Don't have enough money 42% (US) 42% (UK) Don't have enough friends 32% (US) 33% (UK) Down, sad or depressed 10% (US) 13% (UK) Wanted to kill themselves 6% (US) 13% (UK) Wanted to hurt themselves 9% (US) 7% (UK) Question: In general, how has Instagram affected the way you feel about yourself, your mental health? Much worse US boys and girls: 3% US boys: 2% US girls: 3% UK total: 2% UK boys: 1% UK girls: 2% Somewhat worse US total: 16% US Boys 12% US girls: 18% UK total: 19% UK boys: 13% UK girls: 23% No effect US total: 41% US boys: 37% US girls: 43% UK total: 46% UK boys: 50% UK girls: 44% Somewhat better US total: 29% US boys: 32% US girls: 29% UK total: 28% UK boys: 31% UK girls: 26% Much better US total: 12% US boys: 18% US girls 8% UK total: 5% UK boys: 5% UK girls: 4% Advertisement

Parents and politicians reacted angrily to the data, calling it 'sickening' that Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have known how harmful Instagram is but have done nothing about it.

'This is appalling. Ill be demanding answers from Mark Zuckerberg,' Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey tweeted.

Facebook did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's inquiries about the research on Tuesday morning.

The slides also revealed how younger users had moved away from Facebook to using Instagram.

Forty percent of Instagram's 1billion monthly users are under the age of 22 and just over half are female.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been quiet in the past about the issues the app is blamed for causing among young girls.

He told Congress in March 2021 that Instagram has 'positive mental-health benefits'.

Instagram has a 'parental guide' which teaches parents how to monitor their kids' accounts by enabling features like screen time limits and who can comment on posts, but there's no way to verify someone's age before they join the site.

Instagram claims it only accepts users aged 13 and over but says many lie about it when they join.

Instagram also does not flag any photograph or image that may have been distorted or manipulated, despite flagging materials it deems to contain misinformation, political posts or paid advertising.

The group of teens who said they were negatively impacted by the app were aged 13 and above.

Zuckerberg even announced plans to launch a product for kids under the age of 13.

He told Congress that it would be safe, answering 'I believe the answer is yes' when asked if the effects of how safe it would be would be studied.

Facebook has not shared the research before.

In August, when asked for information on how its products harmed young girls, it responded in a letter to Senators: 'We are not aware of a consensus among studies or experts about how much screen time is "too much".'

Senator Richard Blumenthal told the Journal that Facebook's answers were vague which raised questions that it was deliberately hiding the research.

'Facebook's answers were so evasive - failing to respond to all our questions - that they really raise questions about what Facebook might be hiding.

'Facebook seems to be taking a page from the textbook of Big Tobacco - targeting teens with potentially dangerous products while masking the science in public.'

In the letter, the company also said it kept the research 'confidential to promote frank and open dialogue and brainstorming internally.'

Yesterday, it emerged that Facebook also has a list of elite users who are exempt from its strict and ever-changing rules.

As of last year, there were 5.8 million Facebook users covered by 'XCheck' - the program which exempts the users.

The list of protected celebrities and VIPs include Brazilian soccer star Neymar; former President Donald Trump; his son, Donald Trump Jr; Senator Elizabeth Warren; model Sunnaya Nash; and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself.

In 2019, a live-streamed employee Q&A with Zuckerberg himself was suppressed after Facebook's algorithm mistakenly ruled that it violated the company's guidelines.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg knew about the March 2020 research but still went before Congress virtually in March 2021 (shown above) and claimed Instagram has 'positive mental-health benefits'

Movie stars, cable talk show hosts, academics, online personalities, and anyone who has a large following is protected by 'XCheck' on both Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram. As of last year, there were 5.8 million Facebook users covered by 'XCheck.'

The program has been in place for years - well before Trump was banned from the platform after he was accused of fomenting the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

The Journal relied on internal documents provided to it by employees of the company who say that the program shields celebrities from enforcement actions that are meted out against the platforms more than 3 billion other users.

If a VIP is believed to have violated the rules, their posts arent removed immediately but are instead sent to a separate system staffed by better-trained employees who then further review the content.

XCheck allowed international soccer star Neymar to post nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape in 2019. The images were deleted by Facebook after a whole day, allowing them to be seen by Neymars tens of millions of his followers.

While Facebooks standard procedure calls for deleting nonconsensual intimate imagery as well as deleting the account.

But Neymars nude photos of the woman were allowed to remain for a full day and his account was not deactivated.

An internal review by Facebook described the content as revenge porn by Neymar.

This included the video being reposted more than 6,000 times, bullying and harassment about her character, the review found.

Neymar has denied the rape allegation and accused the woman of attempting to extort him. No charges have been filed.

The woman who made the allegation was charged with slander, extortion, and fraud by Brazilian authorities. The first two charges were dropped, and she was acquitted of the third.

Last year, 'XCheck' allowed posts that violated Facebook guidelines to be viewed at least 16.4 billion times before they were finally removed, according to a document obtained by the Journal.

The spokesperson, Andy Stone, said the company is in the process of phasing out its whitelisting policies as it relates to XCheck.

REVEALED: Facebook exempts secret 'whitelisted' elite from its rules and allows them to post banned content with special XCheck program: Tech titan is aware its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm

Facebook has a secret program in place that allows celebrities and powerful people to skirt the social networks own rules, according to a bombshell report.

The Silicon Valley giants program, called XCheck or cross check, created a so-called whitelist of celebrities who are immune from enforcement, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was initially designed to protect the company from bad publicity in the event that it moderated content from some of the more high-profile users. Instead, critics say that it has shielded those same users from the rules that apply to the general public.

The list of protected celebrities and VIPs include Brazilian soccer star Neymar; former President Donald Trump; his son, Donald Trump Jr; Senator Elizabeth Warren; model Sunnaya Nash; and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself.

In 2019, a live-streamed employee Q&A with Zuckerberg himself was suppressed after Facebook's algorithm mistakenly ruled that it violated the company's guidelines.

Movie stars, cable talk show hosts, academics, online personalities, and anyone who has a large following is protected by 'XCheck' on both Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram. As of last year, there were 5.8 million Facebook users covered by 'XCheck.'

XCheck allowed international soccer star Neymar (seen above in Brazil on September 9) to post nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape in 2019. The images were deleted by Facebook after a whole day, allowing them to be seen by Neymars tens of millions of his followers

The program has been in place for years - well before Trump was banned from the platform after he was accused of fomenting the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

The Journal relied on internal documents provided to it by employees of the company who say that the program shields celebrities from enforcement actions that are meted out against the platforms more than 3 billion other users.

If a VIP is believed to have violated the rules, their posts arent removed immediately but are instead sent to a separate system staffed by better-trained employees who then further review the content.

XCheck allowed international soccer star Neymar to post nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape in 2019. The images were deleted by Facebook after a whole day, allowing them to be seen by Neymars tens of millions of his followers.

While Facebooks standard procedure calls for deleting nonconsensual intimate imagery as well as deleting the account.

But Neymars nude photos of the woman were allowed to remain for a full day and his account was not deactivated.

An internal review by Facebook described the content as revenge porn by Neymar.

This included the video being reposted more than 6,000 times, bullying and harassment about her character, the review found.

Neymar has denied the rape allegation and accused the woman of attempting to extort him. No charges have been filed.

The woman who made the allegation was charged with slander, extortion, and fraud by Brazilian authorities. The first two charges were dropped, and she was acquitted of the third.

The Journal cites an internal review which acknowledges: We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly.

'Unlike the rest of our community, these people can violate our standards without any consequences,' according to the internal review cited by the Journal.

A spokesperson for Facebook told the Journal that the program 'was designed for an important reason: to create an additional step so we can accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding.'

An internal review found that even when Facebook does take action against protected accounts, it does so belatedly.

Last year, 'XCheck' allowed posts that violated Facebook guidelines to be viewed at least 16.4 billion times before they were finally removed, according to a document obtained by the Journal.

The spokesperson, Andy Stone, said the company is in the process of phasing out its whitelisting policies as it relates to XCheck.

'A lot of this internal material is outdated information stitched together to create a narrative that glosses over the most important point: Facebook itself identified the issues with cross check and has been working to address them,' he said.

The Journal interviewed dozens of current and former Facebook employees who say the company is aware of the flaws on its platform and the harm they cause but is either unwilling or unable to address them.

One person who is seeking federal whistleblower protection has turned over the documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as to Congress.

Facebooks own internal reviewers know that the platform has been used for illicit activity between Mexican drug cartels as well as for human trafficking.

The company is also aware of the effect that the social network has on teens mental health, according to the Journal.

But Facebook did not move to address those issues for fear that it would hurt its bottom line, according to the Journal.

Trump is currently banned from Facebook for two years, but company officials recommended taking disciplinary action against him as early as June of last year because of his post about the riots that broke out after the death of George Floyd.

Trump initially shared the post to both Twitter and Facebook shortly before 1am on the night of May 29, 2020 - following a third night of violent protests in Minnesota over the death of Floyd.

The post read in full: 'I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right

'These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!'

Within hours Twitter had hidden the post behind a warning to users, which stated: 'This Tweet violated Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to be accessible'.

However, Facebook left Trump's post up without any disclaimers, generating controversy.

Zuckerberg defended the company's decision to leave the post up, saying that it included a reference to the National Guard and Facebook users therefore had a right to know 'if the government was planning to deploy force'.

According to the Journal, Trump's tweet violated the company rules and should have been deleted.

'Making a manual decision like this seems less defensible than algorithmic scoring and actioning,' one company manager wrote.
White Americans without a college degree are almost twice as likely to kill themselves now than three decades ago as expensive healthcare and 'bleak' job prospects fuel drug addiction and higher rates of illness.

The suicide rate for white people rose from 17.6 per 100,000 people in 1992 to 31.1 in 2019, according to study by Princeton economists Ann Case and Angus Deaton.

So-called 'deaths of despair,' a term coined by Case and Deaton, also rose among black and Hispanic people without a degree in the 2010s.

The opioid epidemic and synthetics like fentanyl are not the root cause for the rise in white deaths, Case and Deaton stress, as there was no increase in the suicide rate of college-educated whites, they say.

'For many less-educated Americans, the economy and society are no longer providing the basis for a good life,' the husband-and-wife research due wrote in a paper published this month.

The suicide rate among whites without a college degree almost doubled between 1992 and 2019, fueled by what researchers say are 'bleak' economic prospects for the group

Economists and husband-and-wife team Angus Deaton and Anne Case authored the study

The top blue line shows how 'deaths of despair' have risen among people who completed their education before obtaining a bachelor's degree between 1990 and 2020, while the rise has been much less pronounced among people with a college degree

The economists cite the rise of automation, which has replaced some blue-collar workers with robots and computers, and globalization, which has sent employers looking overseas for cheaper workers.

They argue that historically low levels of union participation - which can ensure better wages and working conditions - lead to rising despair among white people without bachelor's degrees, contributing to drug addiction and suicide.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, which could advocate for the workers, has 'slowly oriented itself away from its traditional working-class and union base towards what it is today, a coalition of minorities and educated professionals.'

Case and Deaton are the authors of 'Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism,' released in 2020 by the Princeton University Press.

Black Americans continue to have higher mortality rates than white people, but white or black people with a degree fare far better than their counterparts without one

While the opioid epidemic contributes to the deaths, the researchers warn that it doesn't fully explain them given that there was no rise in suicides in college-educated whites

'In our book, we developed an account of the rising tide of despair, focusing on declining employment opportunities for those without a BA, especially the fall in "good jobs," those with a sense of belonging, meaning, purpose and prospects for advancement, aggravated by an ever more expensive healthcare system - more than twice as expensive as other rich countries - a fifth of which is financed by an approximately flat tax on workers in amounts that often make,' they wrote.

The decline in rates of cardiovascular disease have 'leveled off,' they say, reversing an upward trend in the last quarter of the 20th century and pitting the poor against an inaccessible health care system.

Higher suicides are usually linked to higher unemployment, but since 2010, unemployment has steadily fallen while suicides continue to climb, according to the study, suggesting that a lack of employment is not what's driving the jaw-dropping increase in suicides among non-college educated whites.

'Even if the opioid epidemic is brought under control,' the researchers wrote, 'the underlying despair is likely to remain. The prospects for less-educated Americans remain bleak unless there are fundamental changes in the way that the American economy operates.'

President Joe Biden, pictured above in California on Monday, has pushed to widen to social safety net and called for Congress to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, a Schedule I drug

Earlier this month, the Biden administration that it had recommended to Congress that fentanyl-related substances be permanently classified as a Schedule 1 drug, as drug overdoses in the nation soar.

In July, the White House released data that showed a record 93,000 overdose deaths in 2020, with the fastest driver of this trend being synthetic fentanyl.

The new policy would exclude the drugs from most instances of quantity-based mandatory minimum penalties, which civil rights groups had warned could exacerbate racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

The Biden administration has also worked to enact policies that widen the social safety net, including sending a check of up to $300 per child to every family in the US.

The rise in deaths of despair in black and Hispanic populations was led by drug-related mortality, which more than doubled between 2013 and 2019, the Princeton researchers found.

The suicide rate increased by a third for both groups.

The US suicide rate is at its highest level since 1938, according to the US Congress Joint Economic Committee.
Derek Chauvin and three other fired Minneapolis police officers have pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on federal civil rights charges in the death of George Floyd.

Chauvin, 45, Tou Thao, 35, J Alexander Kueng, 27, and Thomas Lane, 38, were arraigned Tuesday on charges of willfully violating Floyd's civil rights while working as government officials when the black man was pinned down by his neck under Chauvin's knee for more than nine minutes until he passed out and died back in May 2020.

The convicted killer and the three other cops were all slapped with federal charges in May of depriving Floyd of his civil rights by failing to provide him with medical care.

Chauvin was also charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure and force by a police officer, while Thao and Kueng were each charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure by failing to intervene to stop Chauvin using unreasonable force.

If convicted, all four disgraced officers could face the federal death penalty or life in prison.

The federal charges are separate to the state charges against the four cops who were all fired from Minneapolis Police Department the day after Floyd's murder.

Chauvin was convicted of Floyd's second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter at a state trial in Minneapolis in April. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.

Thao, Kueng and Lane are awaiting a state trial in March on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane left to right in booking photos in June. They were all arraigned on federal hate crimes charges Tuesday

Floyd (pictured) died Memorial Day 2020 when Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest over a counterfeit bill

Court sketch of the arraignment shows Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane with their attorneys, the prosecutor and the court judge

All four former cops entered not guilty pleas at Tuesday's hearing and waived their rights to have the charges read out to them in court.

It is usual for defendants to enter not guilty pleas at federal arraignment hearings.

The four defendants each appeared via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chauvin was asked to mute his microphone at one point due to background noise from Minnesota's maximum security prison Oak Park Heights where he appeared remotely via videolink.

The other three defendants appeared remotely alongside their attorneys.

The judge asked the prosecution and the defense about the number of experts they expect to present to the court at trial.

The prosecution said they will present testimony from medical experts and use of force experts but they were unsure about the number of experts at this time.

The attorneys for the defendants each said they would also call medical and use of force experts.

Around 40 pretrial motions were also argued during the hearing.

Thao, Kueng and Lane have asked that they stand trial separately to Chauvin, claiming they would be unfairly prejudiced if they went to trial alongside the convicted murderer.

Attorneys for Kueng and Thao filed a motion in August, saying evidence against Chauvin would confuse the jury and deprive them of their right to a fair trial.

Lane's attorney then filed a motion asking to join their request.

Prosecutors are arguing they should all be tried together because the charges stem from the same event and the evidence is similar.

Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes (above) until he died last May 25

US Magistrate Judge Tony Leung did not reach a decision on this motion Tuesday, instead hearing arguments on both sides and asked each of the defendants to submit additional evidence after the hearing.

Thao's attorney argued Tuesday that there would be 'grave prejudice' against his client if he stands trial with Chauvin.

He argued that Thao should also be separated from Lane and Kueng because the legal teams for those two co-defendants are arguing they were rookie cops whereas Thao was more experienced.

Prosecutors pointed out that Thao had only asked for severance from Chauvin.

Kueng and Lane's legal teams also argued there would be 'substantial prejudice' if their clients are tried together with Chauvin as jurors already know Chauvin has been convicted of murder for the same incident so will be unable to separate that from their clients.

The prosecution argued that the high-profile nature of the case means jurors will be aware of Chauvin's conviction over the incident whether or not he is present in court with them.

Prosecutors also said it will be clear to the jury 'this is not a murder case' but is a case about civil rights' violations.

Chauvin appearing remotely from Minnesota's maximum security prison Oak Park Heights

Fired Minneapolis police officer J. Alexander Kueng with attorney Thomas Plunkett

The court also heard arguments on another motion where attorneys for Lane and Kueng sought to strike some of the language from the indictment arguing it will mislead the jury about the extent of their experience as cops.

Lane's attorney Earl Gray argued over the wording which said he had been a cop since December 2019.

Instead, he said Lane had only worked four shifts on the job as a cop prior to the day of Floyd's murder - May 25 2020.

'The main issue in this case for Mr. Lane and I believe for Mr. Kueng also is that they're claiming he should have intervened on what Chauvin did in this case and the uniqueness of that is that Mr. Lane had four shifts as a police officer,' he said.

'The indictment said he started working as a Minneapolis police officer in December 2019,' he said, arguing they were still new recruits.

Gray said the language is 'very prejudicial', 'not correct and not necessary for the indictment' as the 'issue in the case is intervention'.

Tou Thao leaves the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis on July 21 2020 following a state hearing

Thomas Lane (right) and J. Alexander Kueng (second from right) in September 2020

Chauvin at his sentencing in June where he was sent to prison for 22 and a half years for George Floyd's murder

'Common law dictates that an officer with four days in the job would be less apt to intervene,' he said.

Kueng's attorney Tom Plunkett also told the judge his client had worked only three days, one of which he said was on the desk.

Prosecutors argued that the dates had come from Minneapolis Police Department records which showed that all four defendants were police officers from December 10 2019.

They said it was factual and that Lane and Kueng had been designated recruits from August 2019 but were then sworn in as police officers in December 2019.

Plunkett countered that, while they had taken their oaths as police officers, they were still only officers in a 'technical sense' because they had worked less than five shifts without a trainer's supervision.

For this motion, the judge again asked the parties to submit more information after the hearing.

The defendants have until October 12 to submit their briefings and the government has until October 26 to respond.

The federal indictment, unsealed in May, contained three counts relating to Floyd's death - one charging all four cops, one charging Thao and Kueng and the third charging only Chauvin.

Surveillance video shows Minneapolis police officers from left, Tou Thao, Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane while Floyd is on the ground under Chauvin's knee

Lane's bodycam footage shows Kueng and Chauvin restraining Floyd during his fatal arrest Memorial Day 2020

'Count One of the indictment alleges that on May 25, 2020, Chauvin held his left knee across Mr. Floyd's neck, and his right knee on Floyd's back and arm, as George Floyd lay on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, and kept his knees on Mr. Floyd's neck and body even after Mr. Floyd became unresponsive,' the indictment reads.

This violated Floyd's constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer and resulted in Floyd's injury and death, says the indictment.

The second count charges Thao and Kueng for failing to intervene to stop Chauvin's use of unreasonable force.

The indictment says the two officers were 'aware' Chauvin was holding his knee on Floyd's neck and continued to hold it there after he became unresponsive.

'This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, George Floyd,' it reads.

The third count alleges all four cops saw Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of medical care and failed to aid him.

Tou Thao with attorney Robert Paule. Attorneys for Thao, Kueng and Lane argued for their clients to stand trial separately to Chauvin, claiming they would be unfairly prejudiced

Thomas Lane with attorney Earl Gray. Lane and Kueng's defense argued about some of the language in the indictment

'By doing so, all four defendants willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee's right to be free from a police officer's deliberate indifference to his serious medical need,' according to the indictment.

'This offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, Mr. Floyd.'

Each of the three counts in this indictment fall under the federal civil rights statute 'Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law.'

Under this statute, if the crime results in death - which the indictment says each count did - punishment includes being 'fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death', the FBI website states.

Floyd, 46, died Memorial Day 2020 after Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Floyd, who was handcuffed, was heard repeatedly saying he couldn't breathe and calling out for his mom before he lost consciousness.

Kueng and Lane helped restrain Floyd, with Kueng kneeling on his back and Lane holding down Floyd's legs, according to evidence in state court.

Thao held back bystanders and stopped them from intervening during the deadly arrest.

Chauvin is led away in handcuffs after being convicted of all charges in his criminal case in the state of Minnesota in April

Chauvin was also charged in a second federal indictment, also unsealed in May, over a 2017 incident where he knelt on a black 14-year-old boy's neck for nearly 17 minutes and allegedly repeatedly hit him over the head with a flashlight.

Chauvin is charged with two counts over this incident.

The first count alleges Chauvin held the boy by the throat and struck him multiple times in the head with a dangerous weapon - a flashlight - causing him injury.

The second count charges that Chauvin held his knee on the neck and the upper back of the teen even after the 14-year-old was lying prone, handcuffed, and unresisting, also causing him bodily injury.

On each of these charges, Chauvin faces up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine.

This is the first time the convicted killer has ever faced charges over this incident. The 14 year-old involved in that incident has not been named.

The federal civil rights charges - akin to hate crimes - are separate to the state's charges which led to Chauvin's trial and murder conviction and which the other three stand trial on in March.

Bystander footage of Floyd's arrest and death sent shockwaves around the world and sparked protests nationwide demanding an end to police brutality and systematic racism.
Reputed street boss of the Colombo crime family Andrew 'Mush' Russo, 85, was arrested in an early-morning raid Tuesday

A sweeping federal indictment has charged the entire leadership structure of the Colombo crime family in a scheme involving labor union shakedowns, extortion, loansharking, drug trafficking and money laundering.

Reputed Colombo street boss Andrew 'Andy Mush' Russo, 87, and his underboss, Benjamin 'The Claw' Castellazzo, 83, were scooped up by federal agents and New York police, along with seven other members of the Colombo crime family, a U.S. attorney spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Russo's consigliere, Ralph DiMatteo, 66, was also charged in the indictment but remains on the run, prosecutors said.

Among those charged was 75-year-old capo Vincent 'Vinny Unions' Ricciardo, who was recorded during a phone call in June threatening to kill a labor union official if he didn't play ball, according to the 19-count indictment.

'I'll put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids, right in front of his f***ing house,' Ricciardo says in the disturbing recording described in the indictment.

'I'm not afraid to go to jail, let me tell you something, to prove a point? I would f***ing shoot him right in front of his wife and kids, call the police, f*** it, let me go, how long you think I'm gonna last anyway?'

Colombo underboss Benjamin 'The Claw' Castellazzo (left), 83, and high-ranking capo Theodore 'Skinny Teddy' Persico Jr. (right), were among the 13 arrested mobsters, feds said

The other captains, or capos, arrested include Richard Ferrara, 59, and Theodore 'Skinny Teddy' Persico Jr., 58, who is the nephew of the late Colombo boss Carmine 'The Snake' Persico.

Colombo soldier Michael Uvino, 56, and associates Thomas Costa, 52, and Domenick Ricciardo, 56 - Vincent's cousin - were also booked.

The indictment against the crime family members lays out multiple schemes in a long-running campaign to infiltrate and take control of a Queens-based labor union and its affiliated health care benefit program, and a conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with workplace safety certifications.

Capo Vincent 'Vinny Unions' Ricciardo, 75, allegedly threatened to kill a union boss

Russo, Castellazzo, DiMatteo, Ferrara, Persico, Uvino, and Vincent and Domenick Ricciardo colluded with fellow defendants Erin Thompkins, 53, and Joseph Bellantoni, 39, among others, to devise a scheme to launder money from union healthcare contracts and payments through various channels linked to Bellantoni, and eventually to the Colombo crime family's leaders, according to the indictment.

'Today's charges describe a long-standing, ruthless pattern by the administration of the Colombo crime family, its captains, members and associates, of conspiring to exert control over the management of a labor union by threatening to inflict bodily harm on one of its senior officials and devising a scheme to divert and launder vendor contract funds from its health care benefit program,' Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis said of the high-profile arrests.

'In addition, for their own enrichment, the defendants conspired to engage in extortionate loansharking, money laundering and fraud, as well as drug trafficking.'

'This Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to dismantling organized crime families, eliminating their corrupt influence in our communities and protecting the independence of labor unions.'

The feds also arrested a soldier for the Bonanno family, 59-year-old John 'Maniac' Ragano, who is charged with loansharking, fraud and drug-trafficking offenses.

Ragano is accused of leading a scheme to issue fraudulent workplace safety training certifications to construction workers, according to the indictment.

Rather than provide candidates the proper training, Ragano and fellow defendant and business partner, John Glover, 62, allegedly falsified federal paperwork, indicating hundreds of workers completed mandatory safety courses that they did not actually complete - or even attend.

Instead, various defendants used Ragano's pseudo-schools to conduct meetings involving Sicilian mafia members and to store stashes of illegal drugs.

Meanwhile they generated cash using the schools in Franklin Square and Ozone Park as 'certificate mills', charging $500 a pop for construction safety training certificates without providing any training or testing, according to the indictment.

The feds also arrested a soldier for the Bonanno family, John 'Maniac' Ragano, who is charged with loansharking, fraud and drug-trafficking offenses

Ragano allegedly operated a 'certificate mill' out of this storefront in Ozone Park and another in Franklin Square, charging $500 for OSHA cards without classes or legitimate testing

The final defendant, Vincent Martino, 43, was charged along with Vincent Ricciardo, Ragano, Costa, and Glover with conspiracy to distribute marijuana by transporting large shipments of the drug across state lines in vehicles from New York to Florida.

'Everything we allege in this investigation proves history does indeed repeat itself,' FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll said concerning the indictment. 'The underbelly of the crime families in New York City is alive and well.'

Biggest mafia busts in history November 14, 1957: State troopers raid a national meeting of mafia leaders at the home of mobster Joseph 'Joe the Barber' Barbara in Apalachin, New York. Dozens escape and the 58 taken into custody insisted they were there to deliver well-wishes to an ailing friend, and were eventually released. The incident raised major national awareness of the mafia. February 1985: US Attorney Rudy Giuliani indicted 11 Mafia leaders, including the heads of New York's five dominant crime families. The Mafia Commission Trial delivered a crushing blow to the mob. December 11, 1990: Detectives raid the Ravenite Social Club, arresting Gambino boss John Gotti Jr, his underboss Salvatore 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano and Gambino consigliere Frank 'Frankie Loc' LoCascio. January 20, 2011: Authorities arrested 119 organized crime suspects in what the FBI called the largest single-day operation against the Mafia in history. Advertisement

'These soldiers, consiglieres, underbosses, and bosses are obviously not students of history, and don't seem to comprehend that we're going to catch them. Regardless of how many times they fill the void we create in their ranks, our FBI Organized Crime Task Force, and our law enforcement partners, are positioned to take them out again, and again.'

According to the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators committed and are charged with a wide array of crimes  including extortion, loansharking, fraud and drug trafficking  on behalf of the Colombo organized crime family.

The document asserts that Russo, Castellazzo, and DiMatteo, as well captains Persico, Ferrara and Vincent Ricciardo, initiated direct threats of bodily harm, to control the management of the labor union that they were targeting, and influenced decisions that benefitted the family.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, Colombo captain Ricciardo and his cousin, associate Domenick Ricciardo, collected a portion of the salary of a senior union official for roughly 20 years, threatening the high-ranking official and his family with violence - and even murder - if he did not comply with the family's demands.

In 2019, the family sought to divert more than $10,000 per month from the union's healthcare system directly to the administration of the Colombo crime family.

The suspects were taken to federal court in Brooklyn Tuesday afternoon and will appear before a judge via videoconference to face the slew of charges against them.

Unlike the others, Vincent Ricciardo was arrested in North Carolina and will be arraigned in Charlotte, also Tuesday afternoon.

Carmine Persico, former boss of the Colombo Crime Family, and Russo's cousin, died in 2019

Russo, known as 'Mush,' is a cousin of Carmine Persico, and first rose to prominence in the family when he was promoted to acting underboss in 1973. Carmine Persico, nicknamed the Snake, died in 2019.

Russo was sentenced to 14 years in state prison in November 1986, until his release in July 1994, under special parole conditions.

He first ruled as street boss from 1996 to 1999, bringing the then-warring Colombos back from the brink after a devastating civil war, but was arrested again in 1996 by the FBI, who slapped him with racketeering charges, claiming he illegally controlled and oversaw Long Island's garbage hauling industry.

In August 1999, Russo was convicted of jury tampering and sentenced to 57 months in prison, compounded by 123 months for both parole violation and his involvement in the racketeering case.

After his release in 2010 at 76 years old, Russo again took over the family as street boss after his parole expired, succeeding the incarcerated Ralph DeLeo, while Persico's son, Alphonse 'Allie Boy' Persico, served as acting boss.

In 2011, he was arrested again on racketeering charges, garnering a 33 month sentence. He resumed his role as street boss on his release in 2013.

The Colombo family is one of five major mafia organizations in the northeastern United States. The others are the Genovese, Lucchese, Gambino and Bonanno families.

The latest indictments leave it unclear who remains to take control of the Colombo syndicate on the street.

The entire administration of the Colombo crime family, including Russo and Castellazzo, already pleaded guilty to a variety of mobster activities in 2012.

The New York mafia has been weakened by several blows in recent years, including arrests, fratricidal struggles and competition from other criminal organizations, but they are still considered active.

The reputed boss of the Gambino clan, 'Frank' Cali, was shot and killed outside his home in the New York borough of Staten Island in March 2019.
Her mother told MPs she needed an in-person appointment 'really early on'

Jessica Brady, 27, died from stage-four cancer in December after struggling to get an in-person appointment with her GP during the pandemic

The mother of a young woman who died from cancer has told MPs her daughter might still be alive if she was seen by her GP face-to-face.

Jessica Brady, 27, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, passed away from liver cancer in December after a series of virtual appointments over the course of five months failed to spot her tumour.

Her mother, Andrea, told the Health and Social Care Committee today that Jessica was repeatedly denied an in-person appointment after first complaining of abdominal pain last summer, despite the epidemic being largely under control at that point.

She was diagnosed with a kidney infection 'in the absence of any diagnostic testing or any physical examination at all' and prescribed with antibiotics.

When she became extremely fatigued and her symptoms worsened, she was only prescribed more antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler.

One set of blood tests even revealed Jessica had high D-dimer levels, which can be a signal of solid cancers, the mother told MPs.

And subsequent tests identified concerns regarding her liver function  which her mother said makes sense now as she had liver cancer  but medics decided to wait six weeks to see what happened.

Doctors didn't put 'the pieces of the jigsaw together' that it was cancer until five months later, by which point the cancer had spread around Jessica's body and become untreatable.

It comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanded 'more GPs should be offering face-to-face access' and 'we intend to do a lot more about it'.

Figures show a third fewer people in England are seeing a GP now than before the pandemic and tens of millions of appointments were 'lost' during Covid.

Andrea Brady, Jessica's mother, told MPs her daughter needed a face-to-face appointment 'really early on'. She was told to get a gastroscopy after in-person appointments, but if this happened a few months earlier, her cancer 'wouldn't have spread so aggressively', Mrs Brady said

Ms Brady revealed that Jessica was only finally seen in person by a GP when she bombarded her local surgery with more than 20 phone calls.

The family doctor told the family that Jessica 'probably needs a gastroscopy', her mother told the committee.

If this procedure  which involves a camera taking pictures inside the stomach  happened a few months earlier, her cancer 'wouldn't have spread so aggressively', Ms Brady said.

'Jess was a very gentle, sweet person, but she really did attribute her late diagnosis to the slow reaction of her GP surgery,' her mother added.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid fires a warning shot at GPs who are still not offering face-to-face appointments as he hints at crackdown Sajid Javid today fired a warning shot at GPs who are still not offering more face-to-face appointments as he hinted at a potential crackdown. The Health Secretary said 'everyone can understand' why GPs 'couldn't provide access in the normal way' during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. But he said 'we are way past that now' and doctors should be following society in going back to something close to 'completely normal' life. He said that 'more GPs should be offering face-to-face access' and 'we intend to do a lot more about it'. Virtual appointments were heavily encouraged throughout the Covid crisis in an attempt to keep social mixing low and hospitals virus-free. But trusts have continued to incentivise the practice, with GPs being offered bonuses to keep in person attendances low. There are fears that some people, particularly the elderly, are being left behind. Recent data from NHS Digital showed 57.2 per cent of appointments in July were conducted face-to-face. That is higher than the low of 46.8 per cent last April, as the first Covid wave swept across the UK, but much lower than the 80 per cent pre-pandemic figure. The issue was raised with Mr Javid in the House of Commons this afternoon as he set out the Government's coronavirus winter plan. Conservative MP Dean Russell highlighted concerns over some GP surgeries in his Watford constituency 'still not opening their doors' to see patients. He asked the Health Secretary: 'Does he agree with me that we should encourage those GP surgeries to start opening up to help with the backlog and help see people face-to-face?' Mr Javid replied: 'Yes, I agree with [Mr Russell]. He's right to raise this. 'I think everyone can understand why during the height of the pandemic that GPs couldn't provide access in the normal way. 'But we are way past that now, life is starting to return almost back to completely normal and as that is happening it should be happening in our GP surgeries too, and more GPs should be offering face-to-face access. We intend to do a lot more about it.' Advertisement

Even after seeing a GP in-person, it was not until she sought private health care that she was diagnosed with stage four cancer of the lungs, bones, spine and liver.

She went to hospital on the day of her diagnosis and died three and a half weeks later on December 20.

Asked about Jessica's challenge in getting a GP appointment, she said: 'It was incredibly challenging for Jess, just navigating the whole system of consult procedures.

'I think the most important thing is we feel, and Jess felt that no one listened, no one took it seriously and more than anything, she needed a permitted face-to-face appointment really early on, with people making notes.

'And also, during all that time, she wasnt seen by one designated doctor, four different doctors spoke to Jess and prescribed her medication. And we think that was really key.

'No one person was looking at the whole picture and putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. That didnt happen until two days before Jess received her diagnosis, when I think there was an element of panic, because she was receiving quite a lot of phone calls at that stage, and saying you probably need a gastroscopy.

'In fairness, if that had happened three months earlier, obviously her cancer would not have spread  well we think it wouldnt have spread so aggressively by then  so I think its fair to say that Jess was a very gentle, sweet person, but she really did attribute her late diagnosis to the slow reaction of her GP surgery.'

Her parents have launched a petition calling for a cancer specialist in every doctor surgery, a dedicated GP for each patient, frequent courses for GPs and a public health campaign on the warning signs of cancer in young people.

In response to Jessica's case, Dr Richard Roope, clinical adviser for cancer at the Royal College of General Practitioners, told MPs: 'In general practice we talk about learning events and this is the mother of all learning events.

'To state obvious, no GP gets up in morning to miss a diagnosis.

'We are there to help our patients and to enable access to the best treatment and diagnostics in a timely fashion and I think we can do things better than what has happened.

'And I think the narrative that weve heard is in a way a manifestation of essentially demand outstripping supply.

'That all GPs could do more if we had more time and if there was more GPs we could give more time to each patient.'

It comes as the Health Secretary said today that 'everyone can understand' why GPs 'couldn't provide access in the normal way' during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

But he said 'we are way past that now' and doctors should be following society in going back to 'completely normal' life.

He said that 'more GPs should be offering face-to-face access' and 'we intend to do a lot more about it'.

Virtual appointments were heavily encouraged throughout the Covid crisis in an attempt to keep social mixing low and hospitals virus-free.

But trusts have continued to incentivise the practice, with GPs being offered bonuses to keep in person attendances low.

There are fears that some people, particularly the elderly, are being left behind.

Recent data from NHS Digital showed 57.2 per cent of appointments in July were conducted face-to-face.

That is higher than the low of 46.8 per cent last April, as the first Covid wave swept across the UK, but much lower than the 80 per cent pre-pandemic figure.
Driver only let Mr Anderson and Barney in the car when a passerby intervened

Footage shows the driver tell him he cannot let Barney in the car due to his size

Mr Anderson had ordered an Uber from Harrow on the Hill station in London

Stephen Anderson was refused an Uber because his guide dog Barney was 'big'

This is the shocking moment an Uber driver refused to let a man's guide dog in his car and only changed his mind when a passerby intervened.

Stephen Anderson, who is visually impaired, was at Harrow on the Hill station in London with his guide dog Barney when he tried to get an Uber, only to be refused by the driver.

The Uber driver said that he only allowed small dogs in his car and claimed Barney was too 'big', despite Mr Anderson's insistence that he was a guide dog.

Footage of the incident, uploaded to Twitter on September 12, showed Mr Anderson asking the driver why he would not let his dog in the car, despite being legally required to accept guide dogs.

Stephen Anderson was at Harrow on the Hill station in London with his guide dog Barney when he tried to get an Uber, only to be refused by the driver (pictured) because his dog was 'big'

In the clip, Mr Anderson asks the driver: 'I'm not quite following you. I've just explained to you that he is a guide dog, so that's fine?'

But the driver says 'no', to which Mr Anderson clarifies: 'It's not fine?'

The Uber driver, who appears to be unaware of the law and the company's policy, yet again says: 'No, inside small ones.'

Mr Anderson again asks: 'So hang on a second, you're saying only small dogs inside? Is that what you're saying?'

He then asks the driver to confirm that he is 'not prepared' to take him as a passenger, due to his guide dog being too big.

Mr Anderson, who is a pianist and the director of music at St Thomas' Church in Kensal Town, explains: 'I'm just going to explain this very simply. As I've explained to you, he's a guide dog.

'Under Section 107 of the Equality Act, there is an obligation to take - as he's a guide dog.'

After the driver asks him if he has told Uber that he has a guide dog, Mr Anderson adds: 'I'm not required to tell anybody that I've got a guide dog with me, and that's part of Uber's policy, yes.'

He then confirms that it is both Uber's policy and the law to take him because he has a guide dog, before asking the driver again if he is 'refusing' to take him.

Footage, uploaded to Twitter on September 12, showed Mr Anderson, who is visually impaired, asking the driver why he would not let his dog Barney (both pictured) in the car

The driver again responds: 'It's big dog.'

A passerby then approaches the passenger window of the car and supports Mr Anderson, telling the driver: 'You can't deny him! You cannot deny him, that's a guide dog.

'You cannot deny him by law. You cannot deny him it's a guide dog. He can take his dog in a shop, anywhere he wants.'

After the passerby gets involved, the Uber driver then gets out of his vehicle and opens the door for Mr Anderson, allowing him and Barney in the car.

Mr Anderson says it will be easier for him to go in the passenger side of the car, so they can put the seat forward to make space for Barney, and the driver eventually lets him in the car.

Under the Equality Act, guide dog and other assistance dog owners have the right to enter the majority of services, venues and vehicles with their dog.

Uber's website also states: 'The ground rules: you must always allow service dogs in Uber rides to accompany their riders  it's the law.'

Sharing the footage to Twitter, Mr Anderson wrote: 'Just now at Harrow on the Hill station.

'Refusing to take a guide dog and only doing so when a kind member of the public intervenes.

'This has to stop, it's getting ridiculous. How I didn't flip my lid I'll never know!'

The Uber driver only gave in and let Mr Anderson and Barney travel in the vehicle when a passerby (pictured) intervened and told the driver he was not allowed to refuse him

Responding to his tweet, Uber Support said: 'Hi Stephen, thanks for reaching out. We are sorry to hear this.

'Please DM us your phone number, email address and pickup details (pick up, drop off, address, date, driver-partner name) so that we can look into this. We will be keeping an eye out for your response.'

In another tweet, Mr Anderson said it is the first time this has happened to him in all his previous encounters, saying it was 'interesting' that the driver listened to the passerby but not him.

Social media users were left outraged by the Uber driver's response, praising Mr Anderson for his calm reaction during the ordeal.

One person commented: 'I admire your self control. I nearly flipped my lid vicariously watching that.

'It was great that a member of the public helped out, but that should not have been necessary. Does Uber not provide any guidelines or training?'

Another said: 'You did really well keeping your cool.'

A third wrote: 'You should file a lawsuit against @UberSupport. It is against the law to discriminate against person with disability.'

And a fourth penned: 'Very well done. I noticed how you were calmly eliminating ambiguities and cutting off possible legal escapes.

'Obvious and well documented discrimination. It sucks that you can't just get where you're going.'

In a tweet, Mr Anderson said it is the first time this has happened to him, adding that it was 'interesting' that the driver listened to the passerby but not him. Pictured: Barney

An Uber spokeswoman said: 'It is totally unacceptable for drivers to refuse to take a guide dog and we investigate every report.

'Licensed private hire drivers must carry service animals in their vehicle. We highlight this obligation to all drivers before they start using the Uber app and often send reminders.

'Any driver who is found to have refused to take a service animal will permanently lose access to the app.'

Research from Guide Dogs showed that the places guide dog owners are most often refused access to are minicabs, taxis, restaurants and shops.

During a one-year period, 42 per cent of assistance dogs owners were refused entry to a taxi or minicab because of their dog, while 22 per cent said a minicab or taxi drove off without speaking to them, the research showed.

An Uber driver was convicted of breaching the Equality Act after he refused to give a ride to a blind man's guide dog at Watford junction station, Hertfordshire, in June 2019.

Footage showed Mohammed Hafiz Raja saying 'I ain't going to take your dog' before driving away in his blue BMW.

Colin Perreira, 24, from Hemel Hempstead, and his six-year-old guide dog Sid had booked a ride to his father's home in King's Lynn, six miles away. It marked the fifth time Colin had taken an Uber driver to court.

Raja, from Watford, was fined 1,700 at Westminster magistrates' court last year. He was also been banned from offering rides through the app.

Uber said in a statement that Raja's behaviour was 'totally unacceptable'.
Theranos boss Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial will resume after a COVID-related pause Tuesday - with three witnesses who back prosecutors' case against Holmes set to appear.

Danise Yam, Erika Cheung and Daniel Eldin, all former co-workers who have been backed by federal prosecutors to tell their versions of events, will appear in a San Jose, California, court later today.

The trial initially started with opening statements last Wednesday but was then put on hold after a juror said he potentially had exposure to Covid-19 shortly after first witness Danise Yam shared allegations about poor auditing practices there.

In previous media appearances or separate court cases tied to Theanos, the three witnesses backed up the government's key arguments on the former health tech company's secretive culture, as well as its alleged deception tactics and coverups. These claims include misleading investors about its finances and not following federal regulations.

If found guilty, Holmes will be charged with ten counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and up to 20 years in jail if convinced of the felony charges in a case that has captivated Silicon Valley and the biotech world.

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial resumes today after jury will hear from three former co-workers who've previously backed prosecutors' claims that Holmes lied: witness So Han Spivey, who also goes by Danise Yam (left) and Erika Cheung (right)

Elizabeth Holmes (L), founder and former CEO of blood testing and life sciences company Theranos, leaves the courthouse with her husband Billy Evans after the first day of her fraud trial last Wednesday in San Jose, California

The now-dissolved blood-testing corporation's controller, Danise Yam, whose legal name is So Han Spivey, is set to continue her testimony that began last week about the company's allegedly shoddy financial operations, which saw it ignore guidelines calling for regular audits followed by most other firms.

According to court filings, two other key witnesses will testify soon after Yam: Erika Cheung, a former Theranos lab worker who alerted federal regulators to problems at the company, and Daniel Edlin.

Edlin was Theranos' project manager who reported directly to Ms. Holmes. He is likely to be asked about technology claims Theranos made to the United States Defense Department and drugstore operator Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, the holding company of pharmacy chains Walgreens and Boots.

The firm is accused of lying that it was able to diagnose a multitude of health conditions with a simple blood test, and further lying to Walgreens in order to set up a partnership which saw testing deployed at the retail giant's drugstores.

In his opening statement, Robert Leach, one of the prosecutors and an assistant U.S. attorney, told the 12-person jury that Holmes lied to investors, business partners and patients to keep money flowing and continue to make the startup profitable.

'This is a case about fraud, about lying and cheating to get money,' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Leach. 'It's a crime on Main Street, and it's a crime in Silicon Valley.'

By contrast, Holmes's attorney described his client as a dedicated entrepreneur who may have been, naive but whose only crime was to believe in the mission of the startup, only to see it fall due to business obstacles.

'Elizabeth Holmes did not go to work every day intending to lie, cheat and steal. The government would have you believe her company, her entire life, is a fraud. That is wrong. That is not true,' Wade told jurors.

Federal prosecutor Robert Leach wasted little time vilifying Holmes in opening arguments

Defense attorney Lance Wade delivers opening arguments. Court documents suggest he will argue that Balwani abused and manipulated Holmes, which Balwani denies

A witness testifies during the trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes at Robert F. Peckham U.S. Courthouse in San Jose, California last Wednesday

Holmes was a Stanford University dropout who started Theranos in 2003 at age 19. She grabbed headlines with her vision of a small machine that could draw a drop of blood from a finger prick could run a range of tests more quickly and accurately than those in conventional laboratories.

However, the Wall Street Journal's investigative reporting uncovered the fact that Theranos technology didn't work - and that Thernanos bosses knew full-well of its shortcomings, but did not come flean.

The Journal also showed how the company was playing catch-up to cover up its failures. And included the manner in which the company's operations affected the lives of patients, many of whom had their health jeopardized by the unreliable blood test results.

Yam oversaw Theranos's technology for 11 years. Prosecutors say that the company lost significant amounts of money, around ten million dollars, during her time at the company, while misleading investors, saying it was having great success with its lab testing devices. At one point, Theranos lied about the products, saying that it could diagnose more than 200 conditions with a few drops of blood from a finger prick.

In her testimony last Wednesday, Yam said that her job included selecting which vendors to pay and moving money so that employee paychecks cleared due to the company not having any meaningful sources of revenue.

The company got through the period by taking out a loan, personally backed by Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani, the company's onetime number-two executive and Holmes's former boyfriend.

Smart has since sought to pin the blame on Balwani, calling him a bully. He faces a separate trial over the same fraud in 2022, and also denies the charges.

Yam added that Theranos hadn't requested a financial audit in seven years and that parts of the company's finances were hard to decipher, despite it being her job area. A detailed chart shown in court displayed the company's surging net losses over the years: $11.5million in 2009, $16.2 million in 2010 and $27.5 million in 2011.

In a previous deposition, taken for a civil lawsuit brought by Theranos investors that settled for an undisclosed sum, Yam discussed how Theranos booked revenue of $150,000 in 2014, yet that same year Holmes and her top deputy approached investors with projections of bringing in $113million in revenue in 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Theranos never turned a profit during its existence, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation interview Yam included in court records.

Theranos (whose former Palo Alto HQ is pictured) never made a profit, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation interview with Ms. Yam included in court records.

Erika Cheung, who made appearances in a documentary and TED talk about Theranos, notified The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to what she thought were constant safety and quality-standard violations in Theranos's laboratories.

In 2015, Cheung wrote a nearly 1,800-word letter to the main U.S. labs regulator alleging that Theranos had ignored standards for staff credentials, used expired lab supplies on a frequent basis and that its proprietary testing devices had 'major stability, precision and accuracy problems.'

CMS described similar findings after inspecting the company's labs. Theranos later cleared all of the test results performed on its machines, and reached a settlement with CMS under which Theranos voluntarily closed its labs.

Edlin was a friend of Ms. Holmes's brother, Christian Holmes, at university and he was also employed at Theranos. He was in charge of managing Theranos's client relationships, including pharmaceutical giant Walgreen, and its rapport with the Defense Department, according to court records filed by prosecutors.

In an earlier deposition in the investor lawsuit, Edlin said Holmes had staged a demonstration of its technology for Walgreens executives. After draw blood from several Walgreen officials, Theranos didn't conduct the blood test on the company's devices that were brought in for the demo, Eldin said. Instead, they brought them to Theranos's laboratory to test on different devices, Edlin added.

Elizabeth Holmes leaves the United States Federal Courthouse in San Jose with her husband Billy Evans last Wednesday

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans leave the Robert F. Peckham U.S. Courthouse last Wednesday after the delivery of opening arguments in her trial

Despite his high-ranking position and his close relationship with Holmes, Edlin said in the deposition that there were often times that he didn't know what the company was doing and didn't learn until 2016 that the company was using third-party devices for many tests, years after the company's foundation.

Prosecutors have also released doting text messages between Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her secret lover and chief operating officer.

The text messages between Holmes and Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani offer a window into their scramble to combat fraud allegations, and may undermine her defense that she was a pawn manipulated by an abusive lover.

The text messages were sent just before the Wall Street Journal published its explosive report exposing alleged fraud and misrepresentations at Theranos.

The messages show how Holmes and Balwani raged when they learned of the looming report, and schemed to identify and discredit the insider sources who had spoken to the Journal.

The two also fumed that the Journal asked whether they were living together as secret lovers, with Balwani slamming question as 'tabloid journalism.'

The text messages between Holmes and Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani (above in 2019) may undermine her defense that she was a pawn manipulated by an abusive lover

'You are breeze in desert for me. My water. And Ocean,' read the messages from Holmes to Balwani in May 2015, which were released by prosecutors on Tuesday

'Shocking this guy thinks he has the right to ask this question for wsj,' Balwani wrote in one message.

However, the messages also seem to confirm that Holmes and Balwani were living together, or at least shared a pet. One message from Holmes asks how their 'baby bird' is doing and whether a friend could feed it.

The messages could seriously undermine Holmes' claim that she was manipulated by Balwani and in an abusive relationship. Balwani, who faces trial on fraud charges next year, denies any allegations of abuse through his attorney.

Holmes' rise and fall has already been the subject of documentaries, books and podcasts, feeding the fervor that has built up around a trial that has been delayed twice since she was indicted nearly three years ago.

Once hailed as a billionaire on paper, Holmes is now facing a sentence of up to 20 years if convicted of the felony charges.
The price of fake vaccination cards has risen 100% since President Biden's announcement of a sweeping new vaccine mandate.

In the days before the president's announcement that all businesses with over 100 employees must require vaccinations or weekly testing, the cost of a fraudulent card ran about $100. The day after the announcement, the average cost spiked to $200.

The number of sellers cashing in on the anti-vax market also spiked, from around 1,000 to more than 10,000, according to data from Israeli security firm Check Point shared with the Daily Beast.

Biden last Thursday also strengthened a vaccine mandate for federal workers and contractors, requiring them to be vaccinated and eliminating the weekly testing alternative.

The number of subscribers in Telegram groups for fake vaccine cards increased five-fold, according to researchers at Check Point who monitor the darknet and deep web.

Counterfeit cards have for months popped up on Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Facebook, Instagram and other marketplaces.

In April, a bipartisan coalition of 47 state attorneys general sent a letter to the CEOs of Twitter, Shopify and eBay to take down ads or links selling the bogus cards.

Many of the sites have blacklisted keywords related to fake cards, but places to buy the documents are still popping up on messaging apps, chat forums and the dark web.

In July, the Department of Justice announced its first prosecution for fake vaccination proof, where a California naturopathic doctor, Juli Mazi, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of false statements related to health care matters.

Biden last Thursday signed an executive order forcing businesses with over 100 employees to require vaccinations or weekly Covid-19 testing

A photo of a hand using a magnifying glass to check the authenticity of s Covid-19 vaccine card, taken on August 15

Thousands of counterfeit vaccination cards, containing typos and misspelled words, have been seized in Memphis

And on Aug. 17, a Chicago pharmacist, TangTang Zao, was arrested for selling dozens of fake vaccine cards for just $10 a pop.

'To put such a small price on the safety of our nation is not only an insult to those who are doing their part in the fight to stop COVID-19, but a federal crime with serious consequences,' said Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. of the FBIs Chicago Field Office.

Zao allegedly sold blank but authentic CDC vaccination cards and was charged with 12 counts of theft of government property. If convicted, he faces a sentence of 10 years in prison per count.

On Aug. 31, a New Jersey woman, Jasmine Clifford, who went by @antivaxmomma on Instagram, was charged along with 14 others as part of a scheme that peddled over 250 fake vaccination cards for $200 on Instagram. For an extra $250, co-conspirator Nadayza Barkley, who worked at a New York medical clinic, would allegedly enter the buyer's name into the state's digital database for New York's digital vaccine pass.

Three Vermont state troopers, who have since resigned, are also under FBI investigation for running a fake vaccination card scheme.

Customs and Border Protection says it has seized thousands of fake vaccination cards coming into the US over the past few months.

Last month the agency uncovered a shipment from Shenzen, China to Memphis containing fake vaccine cards fraught with typos and misspelled words. CBP said it was the 15th such shipment of the night, though to all different cities, and none were even concealed inside their shipment container. CBP said Memphis alone had made 121 seizures totaling 3,017 of vaccination cards.
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A bizarre war of words has tonight broken out between US singer Nicki Minaj, Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty after she took to social media to share an anti-vax impotence myth.

England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Whitty, and the Prime Minister today criticised the US hit maker for spreading an 'untrue' and 'ridiculous' myth that coronavirus vaccines can cause impotence.

But things took an unexpected turn when the rapper and singer, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, responded to the 'diss' on social media minutes later.

The star posted a bizarre audio clip with a fake British accent mocking Mr Johnson after he criticised her post in a press conference today.

She later rowed with TV presenter Piers Morgan after he also took aim at her over her vaccine comments, while describing her as the 'rudest little madam I ever met'.

It comes after the Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani about the jab as he and the Chief Medical Officer both condemned the remarks by the star, who has not yet been vaccinated.

Minaj had been mocked after telling her 22million Twitter followers last night that her cousin will not get the vaccine because his friend allegedly became impotent after being jabbed and his fiance cancelled their wedding.

The 38-year-old tweeted yesterday: 'My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you're comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.'

Mr Whitty and Mr Johnson both criticised Minaj after being asked about what she said by a reporter during their press conference from Downing Street this afternoon. Minaj then took to Twitter again after watching a video of the two men speaking, saying: 'I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!'

Moment later she recorded an audio message for Mr Johnson in a comedic British accent, tweeting: 'Send this to the Prime Minister and let him know they lied on me. I forgive him. No one else. Only him.'

She said: 'Yes, hello Prime Minister, Boris, it's Nicki Minaj - I was just calling to tell you that you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I'm actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. I went to Oxford.

'I went to school with Margaret Thatcher. And she told me so many nice things about you. I'd love to send you my portfolio of my work, since you don't know much about me, I'm a big, big star in the United States.'

Minaj then called Laura Kuenssberg a 'dumbo' after the BBC News political editor quoted her 'diss' tweet, saying: '2021 everyone.' Minaj responded to this message by saying: 'Yes 2021 when jack asses hang on to my every tweet but can't decipher sarcasm & humor, and can't read. Go away dumbo.'

The singer then changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan, who she also became embroiled in a row with.

The presenter wrote: 'Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly Nicki Minaj (one of the rudest little madams I've ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today - but it's most welcome. She's peddling lies that will cost lives.'

Minaj then replied saying she had never met the former Good Morning Britain host - though Twitter users later posted pictures showing them appearing on America's Got Talent together.

She said: 'Sir I've never met you. I know we all look alike. 'Rudest little madam'. I like it. Has a special ring to it. Thanks Pierce. Love the accent. I'd love to come chat. Scones. Tea. Clown nose & big red shoes for you.'

But she also tweeted the wrong Piers - instead tweeting Protocal editor-at-large David Pierce, who joked: 'I get incorrectly tagged in a lot of wrong tweets but this one is going to be ... particularly bad.'

Mr Morgan, having found Minaj's Tweet, responded saying the Starships singer had blanked his three sons while appearing a guest on America's Got Talent - which he was hosting at the time - saying she was 'too busy'.

Nicki Minaj claimed that her cousin won't get the vaccine because his friend allegedly became impotent after being jabbed

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (left) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street this afternoon

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left)and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (right) speak at Downing Street this afternoon

The singer later changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan (pictured right), who she also became embroiled in a row with

Minaj was ridiculed over a tweet about her cousin's friend yesterday which was condemned by Mr Whitty and the PM

Minaj then took to Twitter again today, after watching a video of Mr Whitty and Mr Johnson speaking in London

Moments later Minaj recorded an audio message to Mr Johnson in a comedic British accent

Minaj called Laura Kuenssberg a 'dumbo' after the BBC News political editor quoted her 'diss' tweet, saying: '2021 everyone'

The singer then changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan, who she also became embroiled in a row with

Minaj then replied saying she had never met the former Good Morning Britain host - though Twitter users later posted pictures showing them appearing on America's Got Talent together.

What did Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty say? Boris Johnson 'I'm not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be, but I am familiar with Nikki Kanani, superstar GP of Bexley who's appeared many times before you who will tell you that vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them. So I prefer to listen to Nikki Kanani.' Chris Whitty 'There are a number of myths that fly around with varying some of which are just clearly ridiculous, and some of which are clearly designed just to scare. That happens to be one of them. That is untrue. 'My own strong suggestion to media present and not present is repeating them in public actually gives them credence which they don't need. They're untrue, full stop. If you think about where we are actually overall the great majority of people are getting vaccinated, so the great majority of people are ignoring these myths. 'And if you talking about people in their 50s and 60s and 70s, you're talking about over 90 per cent of people getting vaccinated, and very few people actually are actively in the anti-vaxx group. There are a few people who've got strange beliefs, and fine, and they make their own choices, and in a sense, also fine, people, adults are allowed to make their own choices. However strange that is a basic principle of medical ethics actually. 'But there are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves. And many of those people, I regret to say, I think know they are peddling untruths and, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed. And I'll leave it at that.' Nicki Minaj 'I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!' 'Send this to the Prime Minister and let him know they lied on me. I forgive him. No one else. Only him.' 'Yes, hello Prime Minister, Boris, it's Nicki Minaj - I was just calling to tell you that you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I'm actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. 'I went to Oxford. I went to school with Margaret Thatcher. And she told me so many nice things about you. I'd love to send you my portfolio of my work, since you don't know much about me, I'm a big, big star in the United States.' Advertisement

During the press conference, the Prime Minister said: 'I'm not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be.

'But I am familiar with Nikki Kanani, superstar GP of Bexley who's appeared many times before you, who will tell you that vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them. So I prefer to listen to Nikki Kanani.'

And Mr Whitty said: 'There are a number of myths that fly around with varying some of which are just clearly ridiculous, and some of which are clearly designed just to scare. That happens to be one of them. That is untrue.

'My own strong suggestion to media present and not present is repeating them in public actually gives them credence which they don't need. They're untrue, full stop.

'If you think about where we are actually overall the great majority of people are getting vaccinated, so the great majority of people are ignoring these myths.

'And if you talking about people in their 50s and 60s and 70s, you're talking about over 90 per cent of people getting vaccinated, and very few people actually are actively in the anti-vaxx group.

'There are a few people who've got strange beliefs, and fine, and they make their own choices, and in a sense, also fine, people, adults are allowed to make their own choices. However strange that is a basic principle of medical ethics actually.

'But there are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves.

'And many of those people, I regret to say, I think know they are peddling untruths and, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed. And I'll leave it at that.'

Reacting to Mr Whitty's comments, DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan tweeted: 'Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly @NICKIMINAJ (one of the rudest little madams I've ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today - but it's most welcome. She's peddling lies that will cost lives.'

It comes after Minaj revealed this week that she is unvaccinated and was not moved to receive the jab by the Met Gala's attendance requirements.

The chart-topping rapper said she caught Covid while preparing for the MTV Video Music Awards, which took place on Sunday.

Guests at the Met Gala - a glamorous event in New York City known as fashion's biggest night - were reportedly required to be fully vaccinated in order to attend.

Minaj, who pulled out of the VMAs, told fans on Twitter she was still researching vaccines.

She tweeted: 'They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won't for the Met.

'It'll be once I feel I've done enough research. I'm working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one.'

Top Trumps: Nicki Minaj, Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty Nicki Minaj Age: 38 Born: Port of Spain - Trinidad and Tobago Height: 5ft2in Education: LaGuardia, New York Children: 1 Platinum albums: 4 Movie credits: 4 General election wins: 0 Net worth: Estimated 60million Twitter followers: 22.6million Previous job: Waitress at Red Lobster Number of mugs sold with face on: Unknown Well known phrase: 'Let's go to the beach-each. Let's go get a wave.' Boris Johnson Age: 57 Born: New York - United States Height: 5ft7in Education: Eton College and Oxford University Children: 'At least 6' Platinum albums: 0 Movie credits: 0 General election wins: 1 Net work: Estimated 1.5million Twitter followers: 3.6million Previous job: (Before politics) Editor of The Spectator Number of mugs sold with face on: Unknown Well known phrase: 'Get Brexit Done' Chris Whitty Age: 55 Born: Gloucester, England Height: 6ft 2in Education: Malvern College and Oxford University Platinum albums: 0 Movie credits: 0 General election wins: 0 Children: 0 Net Worth: Unknown Twitter followers: 335,000 Previous job: NHS consultant physician Number of mugs sold with face on: At least 900 Well known phrase: 'Next slide please'

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Minaj, whose son will turn one later this month, said Drake, her close friend and superstar rapper, caught Covid despite being vaccinated.

She said: 'I was prepping for vmas then i shot a video & guess who got COVID? Do u know what it is not to be able to kiss or hold your tiny baby for over a week?

'A baby who is only used to his mama? 'get vaccinated' Drake had just told me he got covid w|THE VACCINE tho so chile.'

Minaj, who was criticised for her comments, said she would recommend the vaccine for anyone who needed it for work.

And she said she may need to receive the jab when she starts touring.

In the US, vaccine hesitancy is one of the biggest issues facing Joe Biden's administration.

Last week the president criticised the roughly 80 million unvaccinated Americans and announced sweeping new vaccine requirements.

There have been more than 41 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US, official figures show, with more than 660,000 deaths.

In Britain, it was announced today that booster Covid vaccines will be offered to millions of people from next week alongside annual flu jabs.

Those eligible include anyone aged 50 and over, people living and working in elderly care homes, and frontline health and social care workers.

All those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and anyone aged 16 to 65 in an at-risk group for Covid will also be eligible for a jab.

Impotence is not listed as a potential side effect of the vaccine on the NHS website.

The war of words comes as Mr Johnson's top medical and scientific advisers warned that 'winter is coming' and he might need to 'go early and go hard' with restrictions today - as the PM said compulsory masks and Covid passports are being 'kept in reserve' if booster jabs and vaccines for schoolchildren fails to keep the disease under control.

Fronting a press conference alongside Professor Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the PM insisted that the UK was 'incomparably' better placed to deal with the disease this year.

He said he hoped the situation could be kept stable with more jabs and the public behaving sensibly - although ministers have made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out as a 'last resort'.

But Prof Whitty gave a more downbeat assessment, invoking the famous mantra from hit TV show Game of Thrones by warning that 'winter is coming'.

He said that infections were 'high' relative to last year, and the NHS was under 'extreme pressure' even though vaccines were helping significantly.

Meanwhile, Sir Patrick seemed to send a thinly-veiled message to Mr Johnson by saying that when it comes to measures to stem cases the lesson was 'you have to go earlier than you want to, you have to go harder than you want to'.

The premier was addressing the nation just hours after it emerged his mother had died, and thanked people for their condolences.

But his winter plan has alarmed businesses and enraged Tory MPs, who heckled Sajid Javid in the Commons as he said it includes the 'Plan B' of making masks compulsory 'in certain settings', more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will stay on the table and could be introduced in England with a week's notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.

There was a boost for Mr Johnson this evening as cases fell 30 per cent week on week to 26,628 and deaths dropped 12 per cent to to 185 - although hospitalisations were up 2 per cent.

The Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani (above)

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (left), Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance (C) walk along Downing Street this afternoon

DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan is among those tweeting about the comments

Despite the tough messaging on the need to be cautious, ministers packed into the Cabinet room this morning with no masks as they were briefed on the contents of the plan.

At his press conference in Downing Street, Mr Johnson insisted less drastic changes could control the outbreaks this time.

'When you've got a large proportion, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we don't have to go back to the lockdowns of the past,' he said.

He added: 'In the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.'

Prof Whitty said the data showed someone in their 30s and unvaccinated was running the same risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to provide an update on international travel ahead of the formal review point on October 1 - with hopes he will scrap the traffic light system and announce PCR tests are being phased out. He is expected to say fully-jabbed holidaymakers will be able to rely on lateral flow versions instead.

But as well as making their views obvious about the return of masks, Tory MPs demanded the government gives up more powers to impose restrictions on liberties.

There is also a widening split between the approach in England and Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon is bringing in Covid passports for nightclubs and large events. The SNP leader also says school pupils will need to wear face coverings indoors until at least the October holidays, and large in-person lectures will not be happening at universities.
A four-year-old girl in Texas died of Covid-19 Tuesday after likely contracting it from her anti-vax mother, who now says she regrets the decision to not get the shot.

Kali Cook, of Bacliff, near Houston, had only just started showing signs of infection and had a fever early Tuesday morning, her mother Karra Harwood said.

But just hours later the young girl died in her sleep.

Harwood had been diagnosed with Covid-19 the previous day along with her fiance William Tucker.

Kali had just started pre-kindergarten at K.E. Little Elementary School, she is not believed to have come into contact with anyone with the virus there.

'I came home and was isolated,' Harwood told the Galveston County Daily News.

'I tried to stay away from her and didnt want her and my other kids to get it.'

Harwood was not vaccinated against Covid-19.

'I was one of the people that was anti, I was against it,' she told the outlet. 'Now, I wish I never was.'

Kali Cook, 4, became the youngest person in Texas' Galveston County to die of the coronavirus on Tuesday

Cool likely contracted the virus from her mother, who tested positive for Covid-19 the day prior

While Cook never tested positive while she was alive, the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office confirmed she was carrying the virus after an examination, and determined her death was due to Covid-19.

Cook is the only person under 20 in Galveston County to die from the coronavirus.

The virus has killed 465 residents in the county of 342,000, amid 50,000 cases since it first emerged last year, according to local health statistics.

'This is a terrible thing, but I think people need to know about it,' Galveston health official Philip Keiser said.

He noted that while children often do not suffer serious symptoms from infection, parents should seek medical attention immediately.

Cook died within hours of first showing signs of infection, and an autopsy is scheduled for Friday to determine the exact cause of death

'Its very important, if your kids are sick, not to say, "Oh, theyre going to be OK,"' Keiser told the Daily News. 'If your kids are sick, go seek out medical care.'

Galveston's vaccination rate is around 50 percent, which is roughly in line with the rate for the entire Lone Star State.

Both the county and state have seen an explosion of new infections in recent weeks since the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant, with its health services department recording 6,087 new cases on Tuesday, up from a low of 360 on June 5.

In Galveston, there were 72 new cases recorded Tuesday, up from a low of three on June 9.

Cook's death came as Galveston and the overall Lone Star State has seen an explosion of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks after the emergence of the contagious Delta variant

Children in Galveston have been particularly hard hit amid the spread of the Delta variant, with nearly 30 percent of all child cases under 12 occurring in August, the local health district reported.

Harwood said she first noticed her daughter had come down with an infection at around 2am Tuesday, and by 7am, she was dead.

'She died in her sleep,' Harwood said.

Because of how suddenly she died after first coming down with virus symptoms, she is due to undergo an autopsy Friday to determine a final cause of death.

'From our point of view, for a 4-year-old to die so quickly from COVID is unusual,' Kaiser said.

'If she were in the hospital, wed know a lot more,

'Kali was perfectly fine, and then she was gone,' Harwood told the Houston Chronicle.

Cook was known to be funny, and loved the outdoors her mother said

She said her daughter did not have any underlying conditions, but did tend to get sicker than her other siblings.

Keiser said contract tracing performed by the county health district determined that Cook had not come into contact with others who tested positive for the virus except her close family.

Harwood described her daughter as 'funny and sassy,' telling the Daily News, 'She wasnt your average little girl. Shed rather play with worms and frogs than wear bows. She was just so pretty and full of life.'

Harwood set up a Gofundme to help pay for funeral expenses, saying that her family was still out of work due to contracting Covid-19.

'Her heart was too pure for this cruel world and God decided he needed another beautiful angel on his side,' she wrote.

As of Tuesday, the campaign had raised more than $20,000.


A gang of motorcyclists forced a driver out of his car at gunpoint and beat him before driving off in his BMW in the streets of Manhattan, police said.

It comes as car thefts in the city have surged by more than 15 percent in the last year.

The shocking video, released by the New York Police Department, shows a 23-year-old driver about to leave his parking spot on Riverside Drive at around 2:30am on Sunday morning when a motorcyclist and his passenger block him in.

The passenger gets off the bike and pulls out a gun from his pants, before leaning through the passenger-side window and pointing it at the driver.

Two more motorcycles appear on the scene, as another member of the gang runs up to the drivers' side and opens the door.

Two attackers drag the driver out of the car as he desperately clings to his seat.

One of gang, wearing a gray hoodie, then jumps in to the driver's seat as the vehicle's owner is thrown to the ground.

A pair of motorcyclists stop a 23-year-old driver from leaving his parking spot as one them, pictured in a grey hoodie, pulls out a gun and points it at the driver

A whole gang appears to trap the driver in place and they begin pulling him out of the car

The driver, left, attempts to fight off one of the robbers who is trying to steal his gain jewelry before the robber sucker punches him in the face

One of the robbers then approaches the victim and tries to take his chain jewelry, The New York Post reports.

The victim tries to keep the robber away, but the thief sucker punches him.

The robber appears to yell at the victim, who assumes a defensive pose before the robber tries again to steal the chain.

When the victim resists once again, the robber punches him and yanks the chain away from the man before running back to his gang.

The motorcyclists drive off with the stolen BMW, and are still at large, police said.

The victim was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital and treated for a cut to his eye and a broken nose.

The driver takes up a defensive pose as the thief keeps trying to steal his chain

After a second punch, the robber steals the chain and continues to intimidate the victim

The motorcyclists drive off with the newly stolen BMW as they leave the driver behind

While violent crime overall had been slightly down in New York City this year compared to last year, by less than 1 per cent, the number of vehicle thefts has rocketed.

Grand larceny auto crimes are up 15.4 percent in the year to September 12, with 6,763 reported crimes this year compared to 5,862 in the same period in 2020.

Felony assaults are also up nearly six percent in the year to September 2021 to 15,395, compared to the same period last year.

Murders were down from 340 in 2020 to 325 in 2021. Robberies also saw a slight decrease from 8,846 to 8,718.

The number of shooting victims stayed nearly constants with 1,342 reported as of September 2020 to 13,41 by the same time this year.

But the number of shooting incidents is up by 2.6 percent, from 1,089 in 2020 to 1,117 in 2021.

While overall crime has seen a slight decrease, felony assaults and rapes are up this year

New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea has called for reform after crime surged over the summer, arguing that the 'soft on criminals experiment' has been a disaster.

'This city is built on public safety,' Commissioner Shea said during a Monday evening 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 York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who boasted that this summer was one of the city's safest and praised the NYPD's work for making a record number of gun-related arrests, blamed courts for the increases of some crimes.

He lashed out at the state's criminal justice system, the high crime rates in the Big Apple on a dramatically reduced number of trial verdicts, which he slammed as 'unacceptable.'

The mayor said courts have been lagging behind other institutions in reopening at full capacity, despite offers of help from the administration

A spokesperson for the court system responded by accusing the mayor of 'gaslighting' the public in an attempt to shift the blame for the crime epidemic.

Speaking during his daily remote press conference on August 31, 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.

'That isn't good enough,' the mayor said.

Lucian Chaifen, Director of Communications with the Office of Court Administration, responded to de Blasio's harsh criticism by accusing the mayor of engaging in finger-pointing.

'Yet again, the mayor demonstrates his glaring lack of understanding of the criminal justice process in this state,' Chaifen said in a statement. 'His gaslighting rhetoric regarding court operations is 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.

A spokesperson for the court system hit out at de Blasio, accusing him of using 'gaslighting' rhetoric' to shift blame

Chaifen, nevertheless, 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, as The NY Post reported.

State courts outside New York City have produced 118 trial verdicts during the first eight months of the year.

Lisa Ohta, president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, told NY1 that although the pandemic has delayed some trials, there is little evidence to suggest that it has resulted in elevated crime rates.

'It is the low-level offenses, the violations, the non-violent misdemeanors that have been delayed more than other things, as they should be, because these are not issues that are putting people at serious risk,' Ohta said.
The UK needs more Qs than James Bonds in the military, a British Army chief has warned.

General Sir Patrick Sanders called for more computer scientists and data engineers - like Ian Fleming's fictional tech whizz - to cope with foreign threats.

The Head of Strategic Command said the Armed Forces needed to shift its focus from traditional warfare to cyberspace.

Sir Patrick wants 'equal value and afford equal status to computer scientists, data engineers and cyber operators as we do on the traditional warrior elite'.

He told the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair: 'I have more need of Q, than I do 007.'

General Sir Patrick Sanders (pictured) called for more computer scientists and data engineers - like Ian Fleming's fictional tech whizz - to cope with foreign threats

The top soldier called for the military to adapt to the digital age, saying if it did not 'we will at best become exquisite but irrelevant, and at worst we will die'.

He said: 'Fundamentally, the source of battlefield advantage will not come from platforms.

'If we focus, as some commentary has done, on the number of grey hulls the Navy has, the number of Fighter Squadrons in the RAF and the strength of the regular Army, we will simply perpetuate a traditional, industrial age force that is costly, exquisite and vulnerable to being defeated in detail.'

The Head of Strategic Command said the Armed Forces needed to shift its focus from traditional warfare to cyberspace. Pictured: Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

But Sir Patrick noted soldiers need to be taught the skills to operate in the new form of warfare.

He said: 'We will have to address the skills gap through attracting far more diverse talent, by inward investment so that coding and data literacy are seen as being as much a core skill as weapon handling, by much greater use of a larger and more diverse reserve, and by enabling a much more porous and flexible flow of talent between defence, industry and academia.'

The general pushed back on the idea of the British Army being made up of aircraft carriers and jet fighters.

He told the DESI arms fair: 'I have more need of Q, than I do 007.' Pictured: Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre

He added: 'As important as these industries are, in a world in which capabilities are moving to the cloud and software and data can be as 'real' as any physical assets for a modern military, this image is dated.'

Sir Patrick warned enemies such as Russia and China would get a 'decisive advantage' if Britain did not engage with AI technology.

He praised the current military as 'brave, talented, inventive, resourceful and resilient' but said it did not have the 'diversity and skills needed to be competitive in the digital age'.

He added from now on the Armed Forces will put AI, autonomous systems, swarming, cyber defence, decision support and intelligence processing at 'the heart' of defence.
The family of a murdered disabled woman insist her released killer should 'rot in prison' - despite his heroics during the London Bridge terror attack.

James Ford tried in vain to help Saskia Jones, 23, who was killed along with Jack Merritt, 25, in the November 2019 terror incident.

The 44-year-old attended the same prisoner education event at Fishmonger's Hall as Islamist knifeman Usman Khan, who was shot dead by police after fatally wounding Ms Jones and Mr Merritt.

Ford, on day release, served 17 years after receiving a life sentence for murdering 21-year-old Amanda Champion during an unprovoked attack in July 2003.

Amanda, who had a mental age of 15, was randomly strangled and slashed across the throat in Ashford, Kent.

Ford admitted killing Amanda and was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 15 years,in 2004.

In May he was given day release after being cleared by the Parole Board to be freed from prison.

Her 'family now want to share Ford's picture far and wide in hope another family isn't put through the same trauma as they were.

Amanda's cousin Jo Champion told KentLive on behalf of the family: 'We are disgusted that James ford has been released back into the community by the parole board.

'We want James Ford's picture shared everywhere. He gets to walk and Amanda can't.

James Ford tried in vain to help Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, who were killed in the November 2019 terror incident. Ford, on day release, served 17 years after receiving a life sentence for murdering Amanda Champion (pictured right) during an unprovoked attack in July 2003

'Amanda was just walking home that day that Ford murdered her. A the time she was 21 but had the mental age of a 15-year-old.

'She never did any harm to anyone and this evil man took her life and to this day he has never given a reason why.

'Not that any reason can justify a person who set out on that day to murder someone, and sadly it was our Amanda.'

Amanda was found dead by someone walking on land off Mead Road, Ashford, on the night of 26 July in 2003.

She had been reported missing 11 days earlier and had not been at work for more than three weeks.

Within minutes of killing her, Ford called the Samaritans, told them what he had done and hung up.

He made a further 45 calls to Samaritans confessing his crimes. Their worker broke a confidential vow of anonymity to report it to the police.

Ford was present during Khan's knife rampage which spilled out on to London Bridge after beginning in a prisoner rehabilitation event at Fishmongers' Hall.

At an inquest earlier this year, Ford described how he met Khan at the start of the event.

Ford later told the inquest how he tried to help victim, Ms Jones after she was stabbed.

He said: 'She was lying on her side, she was bleeding, she wasn't really moving', adding: 'I can't bring myself to say it - I saw the attacker.'

After the factory worker walked free in May, the family of Amanda, from Ashford, believe Ford should 'rot in prison'.

Jo added: 'We wouldn't want another family going through what we have gone through.

'This man should rot in prison, life should mean life. Amanda can never have a life, so why should he?

Ford, 44, attended the same prisoner education event at Fishmonger's Hall as Islamist knifeman Usman Khan, who was shot dead by police after fatally wounding Ms Jones and Mr Merritt

A jury at an inquest into the terror attack at Fishmongers' Hall has found Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were 'unlawfully killed' during an attack by convicted terrorist Usman Khan (pictured)

'As a family this has brought it all back again, that dreadful day we found out Amanda got murdered.

'We as Amanda's family will continue to share his picture and hope to God he doesn't strike again.'

Despite Ford being described in a Parole Board document as 'willing to use violence and a weapon as a way of dealing with anger, rejection and stress' at the time of his offending, he was regarded as 'positive and compliant' while at an open prison following rehabilitation programmes.

The document read: 'After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the other evidence presented at the hearing, the panel was satisfied that Mr Ford was suitable for release when a suitable vacancy became available in designated accommodation.'

A Parole Board spokesperson said: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of James Ford in May following an oral hearing.

'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

'A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.

'Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.

'Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing.

'The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more.

'Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.'

Khan strapped knives to his hands and wore a fake suicide belt during his attack on London Bridge.

He was tackled by a group who charged him down with a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk.

One of the men, Steven Gallant, a convicted murderer, tackled Khan to the floor during the incident. Khan was later shot dead by police.

Steven Gallant (pictured here with Jack Merritt), a convicted murderer, tackled Khan to the floor during the incident. Khan was later shot dead by police

Gallant was jailed for 17 years in 2005 for the murder of ex-firefighter Barrie Jackson in Hull.

His sentence was reduced by 10 months by the Justice Secretary Robert Buckland because of his bravery on London Bridge.

Earlier this year the parole board cleared Gallant for release on licence.

Vicky Foster, the ex-partner of Gallant's victim, Mr Jackson, said she was 'struggling to process' the news of his release.
Cops hunting for an alligator suspected of killing a 71 year-old grandfather during Hurricane Ida have caught and killed one of the reptiles and found human remains inside it.

St Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office in Slidell, Louisiana, announced Monday that they'd found the remains - believed to be those of Timothy Satterlee - inside a 12 foot long gator that weighed 504 pounds.

Tests are now underway to see if the body found inside the creature is that of Satterlee.

The gator was captured after weeks of searches that began shortly after Satterlee was killed when Ida flooded the home he shared with his wife Sandy in the early hours of August 30.

Satterlee was attacked when he went out to check something in his shed, with Sandy saying she'd watched the creature rip her husband's arm off, before using its 'death roll' to drown him underwater.

Detailing the hunt for the gator on its Facebook page, the sheriff's office said: 'St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs deputies with the Special Operation Division, along with U. S. and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents, captured a 12 foot long alligator, weighing a startling 504 pounds in the area of Avery Estates.

'It was near the location where Timothy Satterlee Sr. went missing on Monday, August 30, 2021, one day after Hurricane Ida hit South Louisiana, creating destruction across the region.

'Sheriff Smith vowed from the beginning of the investigation into Satterlees disappearance that the agency would use all of the resources and manpower available to bring some sort of closure to the family.

'For the last three weeks, members of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office Special Operations Division, along with State and Federal partners, worked tirelessly searching the area in hopes of locating Satterlee, or the alligator that attacked him. This morning, their hard work paid off with the capture of the alligator that is suspected to be the one who attacked Satterlee.'

Explaining how the gator was captured, the statement added: 'This past weekend U.S. Wildlife agents observed a large alligator in a waterway near where the incident occurred.

'Deputies and agents, with the assistance of two Louisiana Department of Wildlife licensed nuisance hunters, Phillip Mc Clurke and Eric Dumas, set traps to catch the alligator. The alligator was caught this morning by one of the traps and brought to a secure sight to be searched.

'Once the alligator was searched, it was discovered to have what appears to be human remains inside its stomach. Investigators will work with the St. Tammany Parish Coroners Office to verify those remains belong to Timothy Satterlee.'

St Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office are pictured hunting for the gator they believe killed grandpa Timothy Satterlee, with human remains found inside one of the creatures Monday

Timothy Satterlee, pictured with his wife Sandy, right. He is suspected to have been killed in an alligator attack in Slidell, Louisiana, after Hurricane Ida

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office Special Operation Division deputies partnered with US and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents in their three week search for Satterlee's remains and the alligator that attacked him. Searchers are pictured during the hunt

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Smith shared his condolences with the family along with the announcement of the alligator's capture. 'This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,' he said in a statement.

'I know todays findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure. 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. We will continue to keep them in our prayers,' Smith continued.

Search crews have been working to recover Satterlee's body and capture the alligator that attacked him since he was reported missing after Hurricane Ida swept through Louisiana.

St. Tammany Parish sheriff's Capt. Lance Vitter said at the beginning of the search, 'There is a high probability that (Sattrerlee) is deceased, but we can't make that call until we recover the body.'

A flooded street is seen in Slidell, Louisiana, where Satterlee was attacked by a large alligator in the flood waters left behind by Hurricane Ida

Satterlee's wife, who is in her 60s, heard splashing outside her home on August 30, after he walked outside to check something in the shed behind the house, according to police.

She walked outside the risen home on Avery Road thinking that her husband may have fallen in the water but to her horror she witnessed her husband being attacked by a large alligator inside the flooded shed, Nola.com reported.

The home is located near Lake Pontchartrain in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell, authorities said. Satterlee's wife told deputies that she was able to pull her husband up a flight of stairs and ran to get help.

She told them that when she returned, the alligator had ripped her husband's arm off as he laid unconscious. After seeing the extent of his injuries she got in a canoe and went for help trying to find cell service to call 911, according to police.

Deputies eventually arrived on the scene but Satterlee was no where to be found at the bloody scene, police reported. The gator is believed to have returned to finish Satterlee off.

Searchers spent six hours that day looking for the missing man to no avail.

WWL news reporter Erika Ferrando said she'd been told by locals that Satterlee was 'a very kind and beloved father.'

According to Nola.com Satterlee was remembered for his volunteer work at his grandchildren's high school, Pope John Paul II Roman Catholic High School, and the St. Margaret Mary disaster response team, which traveled to disaster sites to cook and serve meals.

'He was a rare gem,' his friend Erik Schneider told Nola.com. 'You need a friend, you need a favor, call Mr. Tim. He'll be there with whatever you need and whatever he can give.'

The area where the attack happened is surrounded by marshland and is known to have large alligators (stock image)

Neighbors told WWL alligators are common in the area and are known to approach people because some feed them. Jeb Linscombe, the alligator program manager for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told Nola.com that an estimated 2 million alligators live in Louisiana.

Alligators average between 7 to 8 feet in length meaning that the reptile that attacked Satterlee was 'on the upper end of the size of alligators that live in the state,' according to Linscombe.

Hurricane Ida hit the area the night before with 150mph winds becoming tied as the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the mainland US. The storm caused widespread power outages and wrecked havoc on water systems, leaving 600,000 customers without running water.

At least 28 deaths were blamed on the storm in Louisiana, before the remnants of the weather system moved east, dumping record-breaking rain in a region that had not expected a serious blow and killing many more people from Maryland to New York.

The death toll continues to rise even weeks after the storm passed through the US.
Boris Johnson today risked a backlash after he urged the nation to consider wearing face coverings in crowded places despite Cabinet ministers ditching their masks at a packed meeting this morning.

The Prime Minister hosted a gathering of his Cabinet in 10 Downing Street as he and his colleagues agreed the Government's Winter Plan - a package of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus in the coming months.

Ministers were sat shoulder to shoulder around the traditional Cabinet table and photographs suggested no one in the room was wearing a mask.

Mr Johnson then formally unveiled the Winter Plan at a press conference this afternoon and urged people to 'consider wearing a face covering in crowded places'.

Boris Johnson today risked a backlash after he urged the nation to consider wearing face coverings in crowded places despite Cabinet ministers ditching their masks at a packed meeting this morning

Ministers were sat shoulder to shoulder around the traditional Cabinet table and photographs suggested no one in the room was wearing a mask

Mr Johnson urged people to 'consider wearing a face covering in crowded places' as he unveiled his Winter Plan at a press conference this afternoon

The Winter Plan sets out how the Government intends to 'manage' coronavirus this autumn and winter.

It contains suggestions on how people can adjust their behaviour to reduce the spread of the disease.

The document states that 'it remains important for everyone, including those who are fully vaccinated, to follow behaviours and actions that reduce transmission and help to keep people safe'.

Under a list of 'behaviours encouraged to prevent the spread', it states: 'Wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed settings where you come into contact with people you do not normally meet.'

Mr Johnson told the press conference this afternoon that the UK's vaccination rollout means 'we have one of the most free societies and one of the most open economies in Europe'.

He said: 'And that's why we are now sticking with our strategy.

'In essence we're going to keep going. We will continue to offer testing. We will continue to urge everyone to be sensible, to be responsible, wash your hands, use ventilation, consider wearing a face covering in crowded places with people that you don't know, stay at home if you feel unwell, download and use the app.'

The PM's remarks and the photographs of this morning's meeting of the Cabinet came after Tory MPs were last week accused of being 'cavalier' with the health of other parliamentarians after many stopped wearing masks in the House of Commons.

Only a small minority of Conservative MPs including former PM Theresa May wore masks at PMQs last week

The SNP's shadow Commons leader Pete Wishart warned there was an 'increased risk' from Covid in the chamber, and called for all MPs to continue to wear masks to protect one another.

But Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg defended his colleagues' decision not to wear face coverings, saying MPs were 'right to make a judgment for themselves' as the Commons chamber was 'not particularly full' of people.

When the chamber was full at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday last week, only a small minority of Conservative MPs including former PM Theresa May wore masks, while a majority of MPs on the opposition benches did.

In July, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle pleaded with MPs to continue wearing face coverings and 'not push the limits for the sake of it'.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley took a series of extraordinary actions after the Jan. 6th Capitol riot because he was concerned an 'unstable' President Trump might undertake military action in a desperate bid to stay in office, according to Bob Woodward's bombshell new book.

The efforts included Milley as the top ranking military officer meeting with top military officials in the Pentagon two days after the MAGA riot and telling them to keep him in the process for all military actions, including the use of nuclear weapons. It also involved outreach to Milley's counterpart in the Chinese military to provide reassurances the US would not strike its rival, according to the book.

'If you get calls, no matter who they're from, there's a process here, there's a procedure. No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I'm part of that procedure,' he told top US military officials inside the Pentagon's war room two days after the riot,' according to Peril, by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

'You never know what a president's trigger point is,' Milley told them, according to the book, which relies on Woodward's well-established methods of relying on 'deep background' information provided sources, some of them anonymously, as well as documents and interviews, to attempt to reconstruct events and conversations.

He feared Trump was suffering 'serious mental decline,' Woodward and coauthor Bob Costa reported.

Milley told them, according to the book: 'The strict procedures are explicitly designed to avoid inadvertent mistakes or accident or nefarious, unintentional, illegal, immoral, unethical launching of the world's most dangerous weapons.'

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley phoned his Chinese counterpart to give reassurances two days after the Capitol riot and cautioned US military leaders amid fears Trump might attack to keep power.

'Got it?' Milley asked his team members. 'Yes, sir,' they replied, in an exchange Milley considered 'an oath.'

Milley told CIA Director Gina Haspel: 'Aggressively watch everything, 360.' The authors write that Milley was concerned Trump might go 'rogue.'

Advance excerpts of the book were published by CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Just as stunning were Milley's reported actions that same date to the head of China's powerful military, to reassure his counterpart that the US was not going to attack China and set off a clash with a major nuclear power. His message, despite his own doubts about Trump's mental state, was that 'everything's fine.'

'Things may look unsteady,' Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng. 'But that's the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100 percent steady. Everything's fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.'

US intelligence concluded the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping was concerned about a potential US attack after the Jan. 6 riot

Milley was concerned Trump might take military action in a desperate move to retain power

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel

Milley called China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Li Zuocheng to provide reassurances

Milley was concerned Trump might go rogue, having run out of legal options to stay in office. Trump had called the election 'rigged' and spoke at a rally before supporters ransacked the Capitol

It was Milley's second call to his counterpart in the final months of the Trump administration. US intelligence concluded the Chinese believed Trump might launch a military strike in order create a basis to stay in power, after an election Trump claimed was fraudulent, despite a series of court and procedural defeats that had him running out of options.

Milley had earlier called Li in October amid ongoing tensions over the South China Straight, and Trump's rhetoric targeting China.

Milley feared Trump might seek to use such an attack to achieve a Reichstag fire type incident, where he would cite the dangerous new situation to cling to power. Milley afterward concluded Li was 'unusually rattled.'

According to the book, Milley even promised his counterpart there would be no surprises. They had reportedly established relations through a backchannel.

'General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we're going to attack, I'm going to call you ahead of time. It's not going to be a surprise,' Milley reportedly told him.

That revelation infuriated Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He wrote President Biden demanding he dismiss Milley 'immediately.'

'I write with grave concern regarding recent reporting that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People's Republic of China (PRC),' Rubio wrote.

'These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately.'

Rubio added: 'General Milley has attempted to rationalize his reckless behavior by arguing that what he perceived as the military's judgement as more stable than its civilian commander. It is a dangerous precedent that could be asserted at any point in the future by General Milley or others. It threatens to tear apart our nation's longstanding principle of civilian control of the military.'

The book quotes Milley expressing concerns Trump might launch a strike that could lead to war. Trump campaigned repeatedly ending Middle East wars he called a waste, and negotiated a departure date with the Taliban in Afghanistan before leaving office.

'I continually reminded him, depending on where and what you strike, you could find yourself at war,' the book quotes Milley as saying of Trump.

A president can only initiate a nuclear strike through a complex procedure that involves multiple layers of officials, coordinated through the National Military Command Center.

Milley reminded officers of the process involved in authorizing military strikes

The military did not want an incident to set off a war with the major nuclear power

Milley also spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had publicly raised her own fears about Trump's access to nuclear weapons immediately after the riot, which came on a day Congress met to count the electoral votes to make Joe Biden president.

'This is bad, but who knows what he might do?' Pelosi said. 'He's crazy. You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time. So don't say you don't know what his state of mind is.'

The authors cite a transcript of the call.

Milley responded, according to the book: ' Madam Speaker. I agree with you on everything.'

Pelosi told him: 'What I'm saying to you is that if they couldn't even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do? And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?'

'You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time,' she told him.

Milley's efforts to give himself the opportunity to potentially head off a strike or a war appears to have been triggered by his call with Pelosi. According to the transcript, she asked him 'what precautions are available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike?'

Milley then vouched for 'a lot of checks in the system.'

Haspel had raised her own concerns after Trump refused to accept the results of the November election. 'We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum,' she told him.

'This is a highly dangerous situation. We are going to lash out for his ego?' she told Milley in a call.

The maneuvering came at a time after Milley had first accompanied Trump during his infamous photo-op shortly before authorities cleared protesters from Lafayette Square during Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. He then apologized for having participated in the event in uniform.
Dramatic images captured the moment a suspected pedophile was arrested in Brazil after fleeing New Jersey following claims he'd sexually abused his cousin's underage daughters.

Julio Cesar Cuel, 44, was arrested in the Espirito Santo city of Cariacica last Friday. Photographs captured at the scene showed him being led to a police SUV in handcuffs.

Cuel was charged by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office on June 2 with two counts of the aggravated sexual assault of the girls, aged eight and 12. He was also charged with three counts of sexual assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The alleged incidents took place between May 2019 and May 2021, and were exposed after one of the victims recorded details of what she says happened to her.

A spokesperson with the Espirito Santo Federal Police told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that authorities are still waiting to get all of the evidence gathered by their counterparts in New Jersey to proceed with charges and try him under Brazil's justice system.

The South American country does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, meaning Cuel will be tried there if officials can collect sufficient evidence against him.

Julio Cesar Cuel, 44, was arrested in the Espirito Santo, Brazil, last Friday. A married father-of-one, Cuel was charged on June 2 by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office of sexually abusing his cousin's two daughter, aged eight and 12, between May 2019 and May 2021. He fled New Jersey and crossed into Mexico, where he boarded a flight to Brazil

Brazil Federal Police agents in Cariacica, Espirito Santo took Julio Cesar Cuel (pictured shirtless) into custody last Friday. A spokesperson with the Espirito Santo Federal Police told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that the 44-year-old will be tried in Brazil because the constitution prohibits Brazilian nationals being extradited to the United States

According to Brazilian news outlet Jornal de Brasilia, Cuel is also being investigated for possessing pornographic content of minors that was stores and distributed via the internet. Authorities were able to seize several items from his home.

One of the children recorded an audio recalling one of the times she was molested by Cuel and sent it to her friend, who showed it to her mother. The woman then alerted the victim's parents, who reached out to the police.

Cuel, who is married with a seven-year-old daughter, promptly fled his cousin's home where he had been living for three years and then crossed into Mexico.

In a June interview with Brazilian digital outlet G News USA, Cuel said the allegations were untrue.

'The police tested the girls and the test itself was negative for molestation. They took exams,' he said. 'From what I was told, it was negative. And that is 100 percent correct. I have never molested any children.'

Brazilian Federal Police officers in Cariacica, Espirito Santo, surround the home of Julio Cesar Cuel, a 44-year-old who fled from New Jersey in June after he was charged by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office for sexually assaulting his cousin's daughters, aged 8 and 12

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted authorities in Brazil who were able to track him down to his new residence located behind a family member's home in Cariacica where he was living with his wife and daughter.

His extradition to the United States is blocked by Brazil's constitution, which prohibits him being handed over because he is a Brazilian national.

'He knew that he was already wanted by the American authorities, so he fled across the border with Mexico, because he knew that in an American airport he would be arrested and would certainly spend his whole life behind bars,' Espirito Santo Federal Police chief Eugenio Ricas said, according to G1.

'He fled by land through Mexico. In Mexico he took it a plane and came to Brazil, but the American authorities shared this information with the Federal Police and the result is that in a very fast time he is already behind bars and will probably spend a lot of his life behind bars.'
An off-duty NYPD officer was held hostage by her husband who accused her of adultery and threatened her with her own service gun before firing at cops as they tried to rescue her, police officials said Tuesday.

The unidentified officer called 911 before escaping by jumping out of the second-story window of the couples home in Queens as the enraged husband exchanged gunfire with cops, police said Tuesday morning.

The officer, who works for the 101st Precinct, told the 911 dispatcher that her husband was threatening her with a loaded gun and that there were multiple guns in the house, sources told the New York Post.

Hes pulled a gun on me, the woman reportedly said. He will shoot.

The man shot at police multiple times before they fired back and struck his arm, said Chief of Department Rodney Harrison at a press conference Tuesday afternoon

A man is in custody after holding his NYPD cop wife hostage with her own gun outside their home in Queens, pictured above

The woman escaped by jumping out of the second-story window of their home while her husband engaged with police. He was eventually coaxed out of his home by hostage negotiators led by Detective Brenda Reddick, pictured above, before he was arrested

'You committed adultery, you cheated on me,' he allegedly said, while holding her at gunpoint.

Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said the off-duty cop was treated for what appeared to be a broken leg during a press conference outside the womans house at 130th Street and 133rd Avenue in South Ozone Park.

Cops raced to the scene at around 8:30 a.m. after the 911 call to find the woman's husband armed and threatening to shoot them, cops said. Officers with the NYPD Emergency Service Unit were called in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

However, the husband opened fire multiple times, cops said. While the suspect was engaged in the standoff with police, his wife jumped out a second-story window.

The husband was hit in the arm during the shootout, police said.

Harrison said the off-duty cop was treated for what appeared to be a broken leg. Above, cops were transporting one of the injured to a nearby hospital

Four officers were injured, one of whom was taken to Jamaica Hospital. The other three were treated at the scene

He immediately stopped shooting and a hostage negotiation team coaxed him into coming outside, where he was taken into custody, officials said.

Although someone did get shot, no one lost their life and thats whats most important, said Detective Brenda Reddick, who led the negotiation.

Unfortunately, we respond to a host of different domestics throughout the city, Harrison said. Very rarely do we get one where its one our own, but it was great work done by the men and women who responded to this location.

Four officers were injured, one of whom was taken to Jamaica Hospital. The other three were treated at the scene.
A former Royal Navy officer has admitted to having a sexual relationship with a woman who accuses him of grooming her as a teenager.

Ric Pallister described himself as a 'bit of a flirt and a bit of a tease' in court on Tuesday, where he is facing 36 charges including indecent assault and gross indecency.

The married 73-year-old denies all the charges, insisting that all sexual contact was consensual.

Pallister, who led South Somerset District Council between 2011 and 2018, also admitted to having an 'adulterous relationship' with a woman who was also married.

The charges relate to alleged incidents that took place over 21 years, from 1983 to 2004.

Two of his four accusers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were under 13 at the time of the alleged assaults.

Addressing Taunton Crown Court on Tuesday, Pallister admitted to having what he described as a 'consensual' sexual relationship with one of his accusers while she was a teenager.

Ric Pallister, a married 73-year-old, denies all 36 charges including indecent assault and gross indecency

The jury heard how Pallister admitted to touching the alleged victim inappropriately while they were in a jacuzzi at his home.

He said he believed that the alleged victim was 17 at the time and insisted: 'I did not engage in any sort of grooming'.

When asked if his alleged victim protested, Pallister responded: 'Quite the reverse.'

He described himself as being 'a bit of a flirt, a bit of a tease,' saying: 'I was attracted to women. I found it easier to be in the company of females than the company of men.'

The court heard that he would make a beeline for the prettiest women in the room and it became a bit of a joke.

'I was not conscious of it. I feel enormously stupid,' Pallister said. He also said he kissed women he greeted on the lips but said it was nothing sexual just a 'peck with lip to lip contact'.

He also admitted on Tuesday to having an 'opportunistic' extramarital affair with a married woman.

'This sexual liaison was a straight forward physical one. It started as light hearted fun then it became more serious but was opportunistic from day one.'

Addressing Taunton Crown Court (pictured) on Tuesday, Pallister admitted to having what he described as a 'consensual' sexual relationship with one of his accusers while she was a teenager

Pallister described the relationship as being 'wholly consensual' and claimed it took place over several years'.

However the complainant involved has alleged she only became sexually involved with Pallister after he 'persisted' with making advances.

Pallister, who was an air traffic controller at the Royal Navy Air Station base at Yeovilton, Somerset, during his Navy career, said this was 'not true in any respect'.

'Had [the accuser] at any stage indicated to me what was going on was unwelcome to her, it would have stopped dead.'

Prosecutor Charles Row said that Pallister was a 'trusted pillar of the community, a force of nature, a local character'.

But he said he 'used his power and presence to take advantage of four complainants in this case'.

He added Pallister 'consciously and deliberately forced himself on them with unwanted sexual attention' and 'groomed, manipulated, controlled and coerced' the victims.

The trial continues.
Florida will hash out its own abortion restriction bill after the Texas heartbeat bill was not blocked by the Supreme Court, but Gov. Ron DeSantis is not necessarily looking to follow suit of the Lonestar State by incentivizing abortion lawsuits.

DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw emphasized that 'nothing is off the table' in terms of what the 'best option might be in terms of legislation to protect life,' but the governor does not seem keen on following Texas' footsteps in enforcement.

'The type of enforcement action is being considered carefully to avoid any unintended consequences,' Pushaw told DailyMail.com. 'It is the case that Governor DeSantis does not want to turn citizens against each other, generally speaking.'

Florida is expected to take up new abortion legislation in the next legislative session, early next year.

The Texas law, championed by Gov. Greg Abbott, in addition to banning abortions after six weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest, allows any private citizen to sue Texas abortion providers who violate the law, as well as anyone who 'aids or abets' a woman getting the procedure.

DeSantis and Abbott are two of the nation's most recognizable GOP governors and both are thought to be considering higher office

On Monday protestors gathered in front of Kavanaugh's home in protest of his recent decision to reject a challenge to Texas' new abortion law

Protestors gathered outside of Justice Kavanaugh's home with signs to protest his recent rejection of a challenge to the Texas abortion law

The statute, which survived a Supreme Court challenge, sets minimum damages of $10,000 per banned abortion, to be paid out to the first person to prevail in a suit over the procedure.

Abortion patients themselves cannot be sued, but the 'aiding and abetting' clause is broad, and might even apply to a cab driver who knowingly takes a woman to get a banned abortion.

'Governor DeSantis has always been pro-life. Advances in science, technology, and medicine since Roe v. Wade was decided, have only bolstered the pro-life position,' Pushaw continued.

'With that said, the governor has not indicated that the same legislation recently enacted in Texas will be on the table in Florida. At the same time, nothing is off the table. All the Governor has said is that he's looking into what the best option might be in terms of legislation to protect life.'

DeSantis and Abbott are two of the nation's most recognizable GOP governors and both are thought to be considering higher office.

Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson said the Supreme Court's refusal to block the Texas law 'sent a signal' to states looking to restrict abortion, and promised to introduce a similar measure in the next legislative session.

But he said he did not favor Texas' financial incentive scheme and noted that past abortion laws had made exceptions for rape and incest.

'Certainly that's not something I would support, neighbor telling on neighbor or calling in, things of that nature,' Simpson said. 'We have privacy in this state for a reason.'

The Texas abortion bill has energized Democrats across the country who position themselves as the last stalwart against abortion bans.

Newsom sought to capitalize off the Texas law as he campaigned ahead of the recall election, decrying 'what's happening to those women in Texas.'

'Larry Elder's running away with it guys,' Newsom said, arguing that his most formidable opponent was celebrating the abortion restriction.

DeSantis in a press conference in West Palm Beach last week told reporters the Texas law is 'interesting,' but said 'I haven't really been able to look at enough about it.'

'They've basically done this through private right of action. So, it's a little bit different than how a lot of these debates have gone,' he said.

'I'm gonna look more significantly at it, but I would also say, I mean, what the court basically did is - I don't think they really even did a substantive ruling on it. They basically said it's not right yet for a decision, but if it ends up going, then you could consider it at that time. So, I wouldn't read too much into it.'

The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision earlier this month denied an emergency request to block the bill from taking effect, but did not rule on the constitutionality of it.

'In reaching this conclusion, we stress that we do not purport to resolve definitively any jurisdictional or substantive claim in the applicants' lawsuit. In particular, this order is not based on any conclusion about the constitutionality of Texas's law, and in no way limits other procedurally proper challenges to the Texas law, including in Texas state courts,' the court said in the unsigned order.
Haiti's chief public prosecutor has asked the judge overseeing the investigation into the assassination of President Jovenel Moise to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry as a suspect and ordered migration services not to let him leave the country.

President Moise was assassinated when gunmen stormed his home on 7 July.

In a letter to Judge Garry Orelien, prosecutor Bedford Claude said phone records show Henry twice communicated with a key suspect in Moise's killing on the night of the crime on July 7.

That suspect, Joseph Felix Badio, a former justice ministry official whom Henry has publicly defended, is now on the run.

Haiti's top prosecutor said on September 14, 2021 he was seeking charges against new Prime Minister Ariel Henry (pictured) for the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7th

Henry should be 'forbidden from leaving (Haiti) by air, sea or road due to serious presumption relative to the assassination of the president,' Claude wrote in a letter to the country's Migration Services.

Chenal Augustin, who works in the prime minister's communications office, said it did not have an immediate comment.

Moise was shot dead when assassins stormed his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince, plunging the impoverished Caribbean country deeper into turmoil and a political vacuum.

The 53-year old former provincial businessman had been governing by decree for more than a year after Haiti failed to hold legislative and municipal elections amid a political gridlock and had faced many calls to step down.

Haiti's 43rd President Jovenel Moise has allegedly been killed by a group of unidentified people who had entered his private residence on July 7th

Prosecutor Bedford Claude said phone records show Henry twice communicated with a key suspect in Moise's killing on the night of the crime. Joseph Felix Badio, a former justice ministry official whom Henry has publicly defended, is now on the run

Decades of political instability as well as natural catastrophes have plagued Haiti's development. Its aid-dependent economy is the poorest in the Americas, more than a third of Haitians face acute food insecurity, and gangs have turned swathes of the capital into no-go areas with high levels of dangerous crime.

Claude had invited Henry on Friday to meet with him to discuss the phone calls with the suspect.

But he also noted that he could only summon the premier on presidential orders, but that the country remained without a president.

Haiti's Office of Citizen Protection demanded on Saturday Henry step down and hand himself over to the justice system.

Henry retorted on Twitter that 'no distraction, invitation, summons, maneuver, menace or rearguard action' would distract him from his work.

The prime minister announced on Saturday that Haiti's main political forces had reached an agreement to establish a transition government until the holding of presidential elections and a referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution next year.

The agreement establishes a Council of Ministers under Henry's leadership.

A constituent assembly made of 33 members appointed by institutions and civil society organizations will have three months to prepare the new constitution.

Moise's own attempts at holding elections and a constitutional referendum were attacked for being too partisan. Critics called them veiled attempts at installing a dictatorship.

His supporters said he was being punished for going after a corrupt ruling elite and seeking to end undue privileges.

Security forces inspect Haiti's presidential palace in Port-au-Prince in the wake of the July 7 assassination of the country's president Jovenel Moise

Moise, 53, was shot dead inside his home in the Pelerin 5 neighbourhood, in the hills above Port au Prince, Haiti's capital. PICTURE: Play-by-play map that led to Moise's assassination on July 7
Three members of the first CIA teams sent to Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden and topple the Taliban after 9/11 have been told they face disciplinary action for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, DailyMail.com has learned.

Because of the clandestine role they cannot speak publicly but are understood to be furious that their careers are on the line because of the Biden's administration's vaccine mandates.

Details emerged from a group chat shared with DailyMail.com in which staff said they had been told they could face disciplinary action including being dismissed if they refuse.

It is part of wider unease about the mandate among paramilitary officers who are often encouraged to break rules to accomplish their missions, according to Toby Harnden.

His new book, 'First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11' details the story of the first teams sent to Afghanistan after the Al Qaeda attacks.

'I've heard a number of CIA officers express concern about the vaccine mandates,' he said in response to an enquiry by DailyMail.com.

'Some of these officers find it outrageous that some of those who put their lives on the line are now having to witness a catastrophic failure in Afghanistan and at the same time the prospect of their careers being ended because they believe they should have the option not to take a COVID vaccine.'

In this image taken eight days after 9/11, CIA officers are seen on board a flight guarding $3 million in cash in three cardboard boxes - money the authorities hoped would help spur anti-Taliban forces on to take Kabul and root out Al Qaeda. Twenty years later, three members of the CIA's early Afghanistan mission (not pictured) face disciplinary action for refusing COVID-19 vaccines

A Russian-built helicopter takes off from the Bagram Airbase, north of Kabul November 16, 2001 in Afghanistan. American special forces, CIA and other intelligence agencies were on the ground in Afghanistan to pursue Washington's declared war against terrorism

This photograph, released by the CIA, was taken on September 20 2001 and marked the first full day of travel for team Jawbreaker, one of nine units sent into Afghanistan to avenge the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban fled from the capital Kabul within two months

In line with other agencies, the CIA had adopted a policy of requiring that staff and contractors declare they are fully vaccinated or submit to testing.

That changed last week when President Biden signed an executive order mandating vaccinations for federal staff.

A spokesperson for the CIA said its procedures for complying were still being developed.

'We are developing procedures to implement the recent executive orders requiring COVID-19 vaccination for federal employees and contractors,' he said.

But the result has been ripples of anger through government departments among the vaccine hesitant.

Opposition has split along party lines, with many Republicans furious at such an aggressive move.

In the intelligence community, contractors - who will simply lose work if they fail to comply - have been the most vocal in online forums, while the vast majority of CIA staffers are already vaccinated.

A former CIA intelligence officer said: 'I have heard anecdotally that some contractors and paramilitaries are resisting taking the vaccine.

'I also know that COVID is being taken seriously at CIA headquarters and at overseas stations and bases.'

The two officers and one contractor caught up in the controversy were part of what then CIA Director George Tenet later called the agency's 'finest hour.'

Without a plan for military deployments in Afghanistan after 9/11, President Bush turned to the CIA to quickly take on Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Nine teams were dispatched to Afghanistan, along with Green Berets and air power. And by early November about 100 CIA officers and 300 U.S. Special Forces were on the ground.

Last week President Biden triggered anger with an executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for federal workers and companies with more than 100 staff. At the CIA, director William Burns said in July that more than 95 percent of employees were already vaccinated

They were tasked with working with anti-Taliban resistance fighters of the Northern Alliance to take the capital Kabul and hunt down Al Qaeda.

It worked. By mid-November, the Taliban had been ousted from Kabul in a swift victory.

'I feel for these 3 individuals,' said a retired paramilitary officer.

'Any health decision is a personal one. I was able to defer the anthrax shots until they were no longer required.

'However, with the politicization of this virus and the so-called vaccine I fear these three, along with untold others, will be forced to confront a hard decision to either stand firm in their beliefs or accede to dictate from the government.'

But some veterans of the agency said there were good reasons to insist staff were vaccinated.

'Vaccination is now mandatory for the military, and CIA has important responsibilities to work closely with the military, so its reasonable for the agency to make vaccines mandatory as well,' said former case officer Kevin Carroll.

'Also, someone not educated and public-spirited enough to take a proven vaccine, during a deadly pandemic that likely began in an adversarys bioweapons lab, may not be suitable for further service as a US intelligence officer.'

The CIA has been well ahead of national vaccination rates.

In July, CIA director William Burns told NPR: 'Navigating through the COVID pandemic  and we're still navigating through it, although, at CIA, we have fully vaccinated more than 95% of our officers, both at headquarters and overseas.'
The fiance of missing Long Island woman Gabby Petito has finally broken his silence to say 'he hopes she is reunited with her family' and 'understands a search has been organized in Wyoming'.

Brian Laundrie issued a statement through his attorney Steve Bertolino on Tuesday, after it emerged he had lawyered up and has been refusing to speak to police about his girlfriend's whereabouts.

Laundrie said in the statement, obtained by ABC7, he hopes the search for Petito is 'successful' but did not provide any explanation as to why he returned from their cross-country trip alone.

'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,' he said.

'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.'

The fiance of missing Long Island woman Gabby Petito has finally broken his silence to say 'he hopes she is reunited with her family'. Brian Laundrie posted this photo of the couple on Instagram on July 16 at Zion National Park

Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of missing Long Island woman Gabby Petito wrote a mysterious 'till death do us part' Instagram post one year ago

Map showing the timeline of Petito's cross-country trip with her fiance Laundrie, her disappearance and the investigation

Petito was reported missing by her mom in Suffolk County, New York, on September 11 after the family hadn't heard from her in 13 days.

She had been traveling on a cross-country trip with Laundrie since July in their campervan on an adventure they were documenting on YouTube..

Petito last spoke to her mom on August 25 from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and her last confirmed sighting was the day earlier when she was spotted with Laundrie at a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Laundrie returned alone to their home in North Port, Florida, where the couple moved two years ago, driving the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van. It is not known when he arrived back in the state.

North Port Police confirmed to DailyMail.com Sunday they had recovered the vehicle from Laundrie's family home and were poring over it for possible clues as to Petito's location.

Police were seen dropping off a pink envelope outside Laundrie's home Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

North Port police spokesman Josh Taylor told Dailymail.com Monday that Laundrie's parents refused to let authorities interview their son at their home Saturday and admitted that the sudden disappearance of the 22-year-old is 'odd.'

'We have not talked with him, we would love to talk to him,' he said.

'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.'

Laundrie's father, 62-year-old Christopher Laundrie, was seen mowing his lawn on Monday, and refused to comment on his son's whereabouts.

Laundrie atop the Ford Transit van the two took on their cross-country trip together, which is now in police custody

Taylor told Fox13 authorities were hopeful that nothing 'sinister' had happened.

'We're hopeful that she's out there somewhere, sometimes people just don't want to communicate so that's certainly still a viable option but we have to prepare for something more sinister,' he said.

While the hunt for the missing 22-year-old continues, it was revealed that Laundrie posted a mysterious 'til death do us part' message on Instagram about Petito around a year before she disappeared.

'My biggest fear is that one day I'll wake up and it will have all been a dream, because that is what every second has felt like since the moment we found each other,' Laundrie wrote in a July 2020 post.

The post included a photo of the couple and appeared to be celebrating their engagement.

'Till death do us part or until I wake up, I'm so happy the answer was yes, Love you hunny,' the post continues.

On Monday, Petito's father, Joseph, vowed to do whatever it takes to find her.

'We still don't know where she is. Pride isn't an issue right now. My only daughter is missing,' he told WPTV.

'I'm going to do anything I can. The family, Gabby's mom, we're going to do anything we can to find her.'

He spoke from his home in Vero Beach, Florida - where he had moved to be closer to his daughter - pleading for help in finding her.

Joseph said the couple first drove from Florida to her mom's home in Blue Point on Long Island's south shore for the graduation of Petito's brother, before leaving July 2 for their cross-country trip.

Joseph Petito (pictured), the father of missing van-life woman Gabby Petito, said he will 'do anything we can to find her' after her fiance's parents refused to let cops speak to him

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

'The trip started from there so it went to some various places,' he said.

'[They] stopped over in Colorado, worked their way up to Utah and were going up to Wyoming and she was going to end in Oregon.'

Petito's 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.

Also on Monday, Petito's mother, Nicole Schmidt said that she is trying to stay optimistic, telling reporters in a press conference pleading for the public's help: 'I believe she's gonna come home.'

Schmidt was teary-eyed as she held a picture of her daughter during a press conference, saying: '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.

'We just want her home safe with us.'

Petito, of Blue Point, and 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 (pictured)

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.

Neither parent would comment on their thoughts regarding Laundrie.

Multiple law enforcement agencies across the US are now searching for Petito.

Suffolk County Police Department in New York launched an investigation after the missing person report was filed and is leading the probe.

North Port Police are also investigating, with a spokesperson saying the department is working with the FBI on the case.

Grand Teton National Park spokesperson CJ Adams told Jackson Hole News and Guide the park authorities are working with 'multiple law enforcement agencies' to try to determine Petitos' whereabouts.

'We are conducting, with multiple law enforcement agencies, this part of the investigation into Gabrielle Petito's whereabouts,' said Adams.

'As the investigation is ongoing, we do not have any further information to provide at this time.'

Anyone with information about Petito's whereabouts is asked to contact Suffolk County police at 800-220-8477
Zafar Iqbal, 61, was charged today with the murder of 38-year-old Naziat Khan

A man extradited from Pakistan has been charged today with the murder of a woman in south London 20 years ago.

Zafar Iqbal, 61, was charged after landing in the UK with the murder of 38-year-old Naziat Khan, who was killed in Streatham in August 2001.

Iqbal is due to appear at Croydon Magistrates Court via video link tomorrow.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Ms Khan's family have been informed of Iqbal's arrest and are being supported by specialist officers.

Zafar Iqbal (pictured above), 61, was charged after landing in the UK with the murder of 38-year-old Naziat Khan, who was killed in Streatham on August 2001

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Ms Khan's family have been informed of Iqbal's arrest and are being supported by specialist officers (Ms Khan pictured)

In a statement, the public agency said: 'A man extradited from Pakistan has been charged in connection with the murder of Naziat Khan in Streatham in August 2001.

'Zafar Iqbal, 61, was extradited from Pakistan on Tuesday, 14 September.

'After arriving in the UK he was taken to a west London police station and has since been charged.'

The CPS added the successful extradition of Iqbal was the result of collaborative work between itself, the Metropolitan Police, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the National Crime Agency.
One lucky Mexico resident will this week win the $183,000 home that Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman escaped from in 2014 when the military came crashing through its doors.

The house will be among numerous properties and personal belongings that the Mexican government seized from drug lords and will give away in a national lottery Wednesday.

The home that is located on a quiet Culiacan, Sinaloa, street and was once surrounded by the marines has undergone changes in recent weeks.

For starters, the hole under a bathtub that Guzman had slipped through to reach a network of tunnels was covered with a concrete slab. Surveillance cameras that covered every angle of the modest home's exterior have been removed.

Mexico's Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People, known by its initials as INDEP, gave it a fresh coat of white paint inside and out and tiled over the spot in the bathroom where the tub and tunnel entry point had been.

The Mexican government is holding a lottery to give away a home (pictured) in Culiacan, Sinaloa, that was once owned by jailed drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. The property was interconnected by tunnels in the drainage system allowed El Chapo to evade authorities through an escape hatch. The property is expected to be given away Wednesday

A February 2014 raid at a home in Culiacan, Sinaloa, led the military to an elaborate tunnel system that was built beneath a bathtub. Pictured above is one of the bathrooms inside the $183,000 house

The Mexican military barged into this home in Culiacan, Sinaloa, the early morning of February 17, 2004, in hopes of arresting El Chapo. He managed to escape through a tunnel hidden underneath a bathtub before he was finally captured a week later

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been talking-up the lottery of seized properties, but gave no mention to the history of this particular house. An expansive home in one of Mexico City's swankiest neighborhoods and a private box at the famed Azteca Stadium have garnered more attention.

INDEP's website lists it only as 'Casa en Culiacan.' It's about 2,800 square feet and located, perhaps appropriately, in a neighborhood called Libertad, or 'Freedom.' The government values the two-bedroom home at $183,000.

The house had been abandoned for years and the marines did some damage when they searched it, so repairs were necessary.

The residence was initially listed in a November 2019 auction and didn't receive a winning bid. However, three other homes that had been confiscated from El Chapo did find buyers.

An unnamed bidder paid $107,530 for a Culiacan home El Chapo hid in after he escaped from prison in 2001.

A second buyer dished out $64,589 for a simple-looking home, also located in Sinaloa.

Another Culiacan home where El Chapo sought refuge was sold for $55,725.

Mexico was able to get $107,530 at a November 2019 auction sale for a home (pictured) that was confiscated from El Chapo

Lottery tickets are being sold by the Mexican government as part of a draw that will be held Wednesday to give away property seized from drug lords

Guzman escaped that time through the tunnels, but his freedom lasted only days. On February 22, 2014, the marines descended again, this time in a condo on the coast in Mazatlan.

By that time, Guzman already had a reputation for daring escapes. He had slipped out of one of Mexico's maximum-security prisons in 2001, allegedly in a laundry cart.

In July 2015, less than a year and half after his capture in Mazatlan, Guzman slipped through a tunnel dug up to the drain in his cell's shower and rode a motorcycle on tracks laid through a tunnel to escape another maximum-security Mexican prison.

The marines captured him again six months later in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he had been holed up in another unremarkable home.

Guzman was extradited to the United States, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in July 2019.

Mindful of his habit of escaping, the federal government sentenced him to life at the famous ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, famed as the most secure prison on Earth.

INDEP officials, who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak, said they were surprised the house was getting attention. It is not luxurious. There is no swimming pool, none of the ostentation that characterizes other narco properties in Sinaloa.

The Mexican government managed to receive a successful bid of $64,589 in November 2019 for a single-story home in Sinaloa that once belonged to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman

After escaping from prison in September 2001, El Chapo moved around six houses in Culiacan, Sinaloa, that were connected by a complex underground tunnel system. In November 2019, the Mexican government sold three of El Chapo's six homes, including the one pictured above that fetched $55,725

People nearby said they didn't know who their neighbor was.

'We never knew anything, we never knew who lived there, we never saw anyone,' said one neighbor, who quickly cut off the conversation. Many locals aren't interested in speaking of Guzman or even saying his name in a place where his Sinaloa cartel remains powerful.

The house was well located for its previous purposes. There is a neighbor only on one side. On the other is a subterranean storm sewer - Culiacan built hundreds of kilometers of them to deal with torrential rains - which is where the bathroom tunnel connected to make Guzman's escape possible. A school is across the street.

On the morning of February 17, 2014, the neighborhood was suddenly filled with the marines' grey trucks. They blocked traffic. There was no doubt they were interested in the seemingly unremarkable house.

But they didn't find Guzman there. In fact, during his U.S. trial, a witness testified that Guzman was not in any of the five houses marines searched, despite reports to the contrary at the time.

Five days later, the marines caught up to Guzman 125 miles to the south in Mazatlan, where he was staying with his wife Emma Coronel and their twin daughters.

Coronel is expected to be sentenced October 15 by a Washington, D.C. federal court and could avoid spending the rest of her life in prison if she decides to tell on her husband's sons, who reportedly share control of the Sinaloa Cartel with his old associate, the fugitive Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.

INDEP tried to auction off the home last year. It started the bidding at about $130,000. There were no takers.

A customer looks at a window displaying of lottery tickets for sale in Mexico City on Monday. The Mexican government will hold a draw Wednesday to give away property that in the past was seized from drug lords, among them a house belonging to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman

Now, Lopez Obrador is giving it away as part of the lottery, with the drawing scheduled for Wednesday, the day before Mexico celebrates its Independence Day. It's the first time Mexico's national lottery is giving away property. The proceeds are to go to Mexico's Olympic athletes.

'This raffle is very important and I call on all the people, those who can help buying a ticket, or two or three,' Lopez Obrador said at his daily news conference last week.

In downtown Mexico City, lottery ticket vendors said sales have been good.

Jorge Lopez said he's been selling 100 to 120 of the $12 tickets daily since last week. 'Right now, it's selling very well.' He said the value of the 22 prizes, many well above that of the Culiacan house, is drawing attention. Some people ask about who the properties previous owners were, but not many, he said.

Back in Culiacan, across town near the center, Ignacio Mariscal said he supports the lottery. 'Those houses didn't serve anyone; those people had them,' Mariscal said. 'I see it as perfectly fine. It's to help people in need.'
The Army unveiled its plan on Tuesday toward meeting the Pentagon's order that all servicemembers are vaccinated against coronavirus by mid-September.

Soldiers will be mandated by the Army, according to a Tuesday press release, to be fully inoculated by December 15  meaning they received all required doses of the vaccine and reach the two-week waiting period after the last dose.

Also required in the Army mandate is that National Guard troops are fully vaccinated by June 30, 2022.

'This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our Soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live,' Lieutenant General R. Scott Dingle, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, said.

'Case counts and deaths continue to be concerning as the Delta variant spreads, which makes protecting the force through mandatory vaccination a health and readiness priority for the total Army.'

The Army announced Tuesday that all active duty soldiers are required to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus by December 15 and all National Guard members must be full inoculated by June 30, 2022

The Pentagon announced in early August that all U.S. troops must get a COVID-19 vaccine by September 15.

At the time of the order on August 9, 73 per cent of active duty servicemembers had already received at least one shot, and 62 per cent were fully vaccinated. That number has obviously risen since then.

In September, President Joe Biden made remarks mandating most U.S. workers get vaccines. Employers with 100 or more employees now need to garner proof of vaccination from their workers or else require at least weekly coronavirus testing.

This order affects at least two-thirds of the U.S. workforce.

Military members, who sign a contract with the government, are also facing orders to get the vaccine as Biden faces clapback for declining rates and reimplementation of mask mandates in high case rate areas.

The Army's press release claims that soldiers who refuse the vaccine could be discharge or relieved from service.

'While soldiers who refuse the vaccine will first be counseled by their chain of command and medical providers, continued failure to comply could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment  to include relief of duties or discharge,' the release states.

'Soldiers have the ability to request an exemption from receiving the vaccine, if they have a legitimate medical, religious or administrative reason,' it continued. 'Soldiers who are pending exemption requests will not be subject to adverse actions until the exemption is fully processed.'

The Army already started implementing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's order on August 24 to try and get one shot into the arms of soldiers before September 15.

Before then, vaccines were optional for active duty Army troops.
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Nicki Minaj has gone to war with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, sending him a bizarre voice note on Twitter after he blasted her for claiming the COVID-19 vaccine may cause impotence.

The rapper, 38, posted a voice message for Johnson on Twitter Tuesday where she feigned an English accent and mockingly claimed she 'went to Oxford' and 'went to school with Margaret Thatcher'.

Her message for the PM came after he became the latest public figure to wade into the drama over a flurry of tweets sent out by Minaj where she questioned the safety of the vaccine - including one where she told her 22 million followers it had left a cousin's friend 'impotent' and with 'swollen' testicles.

Johnson condemned her comments and told reporters he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani about the 'wonderful' vaccine than the rapper.

The UK's Chief Medical Officer Chris Witty also slammed the star, who has not been vaccinated and revealed she has contracted COVID-19, for spreading an 'untrue' and 'ridiculous' myth about the shot.

The saga first erupted when Minaj confirmed she would not be attending Monday night's hotly-anticipated Met Gala, which mandated only fully vaccinated people could attend.

The rapper revealed on Twitter that she had not yet taken the vaccine and said 'if I get vaccinated it won't [be] for the Met'. She also revealed she had tested positive for COVID-19 while prepping for the MTV Video Music Awards, causing her to skip that event Sunday.

Her comments fueled a backlash from several media figures including DailyMail.com columnist Meghan McCain and MSNBC host Joy Reid - who Minaj then accused of being 'thirsty to down another black woman'.

Nicki Minaj has gone to war with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, sending him a bizarre voice note on Twitter after he blasted her for claiming the COVID-19 vaccine may cause impotence

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (left) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street this afternoon

Minaj took to Twitter moments after the interview with the British PM and chief medical officer aired, saying: 'I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!'

She then recorded an audio message for Johnson in a comedic British accent, tweeting: 'Send this to the Prime Minister and let him know they lied on me. I forgive him. No one else. Only him.'

In the audio, she says: 'Yes, hello Prime Minister, Boris, it's Nicki Minaj - I was just calling to tell you that you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I'm actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. I went to Oxford.

'I went to school with Margaret Thatcher. And she told me so many nice things about you.

'I'd love to send you my portfolio of my work, since you don't know much about me, I'm a big, big star in the United States.'

Johnson and Whitty had been asked about Minaj's comments during their joint press conference from Downing Street Tuesday afternoon.

The PM responded saying he was 'not as familiar' with Minaj's comments and prefers to listen to a different Nikki.

'I'm not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be,' he said.

The rapper, 38, posted a voice message for Johnson on Twitter Tuesday where she feigned an English accent and mockingly claimed she 'went to Oxford' and 'went to school with Margaret Thatcher'

Her message for the PM came after he became the latest public figure to wade into the drama over a flurry of tweets sent out by Minaj where she questioned the safety of the vaccine - including one where she told her 22 million followers it had left a cousin's friend 'impotent' and with 'swollen' testicles (above)

'But I am familiar with Nikki Kanani, superstar GP of Bexley who's appeared many times before you, who will tell you that vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them. So I prefer to listen to Nikki Kanani.'

Whitty warned people not to listen to people 'peddling untruths' and 'myths' about the vaccine, which he called 'clearly ridiculous.'

'There are a number of myths that fly around with varying some of which are just clearly ridiculous, and some of which are clearly designed just to scare. That happens to be one of them. That is untrue.

'My own strong suggestion to media present and not present is repeating them in public actually gives them credence which they don't need. They're untrue, full stop.

'If you think about where we are actually overall the great majority of people are getting vaccinated, so the great majority of people are ignoring these myths,' he said.

'And if you talking about people in their 50s and 60s and 70s, you're talking about over 90 per cent of people getting vaccinated, and very few people actually are actively in the anti-vax group.

'There are a few people who've got strange beliefs, and fine, and they make their own choices, and in a sense, also fine, people, adults are allowed to make their own choices. However strange that is a basic principle of medical ethics actually.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left)and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (right) speak at Downing Street this afternoon where they condemned her comments on the vaccine

The Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani about the shot (above) than the rapper

'But there are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves.

'And many of those people, I regret to say, I think know they are peddling untruths and, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed. And I'll leave it at that.'

DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan also got into a spat with Minaj, writing: 'Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly @NICKIMINAJ (one of the rudest little madams I've ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today - but it's most welcome. She's peddling lies that will cost lives.'

The rapper fired back: 'Sir Ive never met you. I know we all look alike. Rudest little madam. I like it. Has a special ring to it.

Minaj also went to war with DailyMail.com's Piers Morgan

'Thanks Pierce. Love the accent. Id love to come chat. Scones. Tea. Clown nose & big red shoes for you. Lmk babe.'

The war of words continued with Morgan reminding her of a meeting he said they had and correcting her spelling of his name.

'Madam, we met on @AGT when you appeared as a guest act - but you refused to say hello to my three young sons because you were too busy. Oh, and its Piers - I know, we Brit names all sound alike,' he wrote.

Minaj responded by accusing Morgan of lying: 'Stop fkng lying. I never turn down pics with kids. If a middle person told you that, they were out of line. dont blame me you stupid piece of s**t.'

The star has got into Twitter spats with a number of people following her controversial vaccine comments Monday.

Joy Reid, 52, called out Minaj on her show The ReidOut Monday for using her platform 'to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives'.

'You have a platform, sister, that is 22 million followers, OK? I have 2 million followers. You have 22 million followers on Twitter,' Reid said of Minaj on her show during a discussion about vaccine mandates.

'For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives, my God sister, you can do better than that!'

Reid said it is a 'blessing' for Minaj to have such a large platform that people 'listen to you'.

'You got that platform - it's a blessing that you got that! The people listen to you - and they listen to you more than they listen to me!' she said.

'For you to use your platform to put people in the position of dying from a disease they don't have to die from, oh my God, sister.

'As a fan, as a hip-hop fan, as somebody who is your fan, I'm so sad that you did that, so sad that you did that, sister. Oh, my God.'

Minaj hit back at Reid over her comments on Twitter Monday night accusing her of being 'thirsty to down another black woman'.

'This is what happens when you're so thirsty to down another black woman (by the request of the white man), that you didn't bother to read all my tweets,' she tweeted.

Joy Reid, 52, called out Minaj on her show The ReidOut Monday for using her platform 'to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives'

.@JoyAnnReid responds to @NICKIMINAJ's tweets on the #COVID19 vaccine: "For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives... As a fan, I am so sad that you did that." #TheReidOut #reiders pic.twitter.com/nmr85LSmug  The ReidOut (@thereidout) September 13, 2021

Minaj fired back at Reid accusing her of being 'thirsty to down another black woman' after the MSNBC host blasted her comments

Minaj went on to call Reid an 'Uncle Tomiana' and a 'lying homophobic c**n', sharing grabs of a 2018 article where Reid was accused of writing homophobic blog posts

''My God SISTER do better' imagine getting ur dumb ass on tv a min after a tweet to spread a false narrative about a black woman.'

Minaj, 38, took to Twitter Monday to brand Reid a 'lying homophobic c**n' and slam her for 'getting ur dumb a** on tv a min after a tweet to spread a false narrative about a black woman'.

Minaj went on to call Reid an 'Uncle Tomiana' and a 'lying homophobic c**n', sharing grabs of a 2018 article where Reid was accused of writing homophobic blog posts.

'A lying homophobic c**n,' she wrote.

'I guess I can join in the reindeer games too right? Ppl can go on tv & lie on me, I can report on them, too right? Doesn't have to be truths. It can be half truth.'

She added: 'Uncle Tomiana asked who on earth would trust the US FDA guys' alongside a grab of a tweet Reid posted last year where she had questioned trust in the vaccine.

'Who on God's green earth would trust a vaccine by the @US-FDA?' Reid wrote at the time.

Megan McCain, the DailyMail.com columnist and former host of The View, also fell foul to Minaj's fury.

Minaj fired back at Reid on Twitter and retweeted posts where people leaped to her defense over her Twitter posts

'That's entirely enough internet for today,' McCain tweeted in reference to one of Minja's posts.

Minaj responded writing: 'Eat s**t you.'

The rapper also retweeted several posts from friends defending her, with one person saying 'nicki CLEARLY stated she recommends ppl to get the vaccine.. do your research b4 u open your mouth.'

Earlier Monday, Minaj had voiced her hesitation towards the vaccine and criticized the Met for its mandate - despite testing positive for the virus.

'I was prepping for vmas then i shot a video & guess who got COVID?' she tweeted of her diagnosis.

'Do u know what it is not to be able to kiss or hold your tiny baby for over a week? A baby who is only used to his mama?

''get vaccinated' Drake had just told me he got covid w|THE VACCINE tho so chile.'

Minaj said she was open to getting the shot when 'I feel I've done enough research' but not because the Met Gala demanded it.

Megan McCain, the DailyMail.com columnist and former host of The View , also fell foul to Minaj's fury

'They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. If I get vaccinated it won't for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research,' she wrote.

'I'm working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one.'

Minaj went on to push the bizarre claim that it could cause impotence.

'My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen,' she tweeted.

'His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you're comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.'

Minaj insisted she wasn't discouraging others from getting the jab, especially those who need the shot to work.

'I know babe,' she wrote to one fan who said they were mandated by work.

'A lot of countries won't let ppl work w/o the vaccine. I'd def recommend they get the vaccine. They have to feed their families.'

She went on to add that she'll likely get vaccinated in the future when/if it is required for travel, saying: 'I'm sure I'll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour, etc.'

The rapper had hit out at the Met Gala for its vaccine mandate saying she won't get the shot to go to fashion's big night

She also revealed she had tested positive for COVID-19 while prepping for the MTV Video Music Awards, causing her to skip that event Sunday

Minaj told her followers Monday she will most likely get the vaccine sometime and insisted she was not discouraging others

Medical professionals were quick to push back at her claim, with Dr. Leana Wen telling People: 'It is just not true that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with infertility in either males or females.'

'In fact, we know that there are actually consequences, if somebody gets COVID-19, in terms of the impact on the male reproductive system,' she said.

'There have been studies that have linked scrotal discomfort and low sperm count to having COVID-19. In addition, there has been an association between scrotal swelling and congestion to having COVID-19. So, to emphasize, these are not associated with the vaccine but with the disease.'

Neither impotence or swollen testicles are side effects listed on the CDC website.

Her comments questioning the shot's safety come at a time when Joe Biden is trying to encourage unvaccinated Americans to get the vaccine.
China's ambassador to the UK has been barred from Parliament after MPs and peers sanctioned by Beijing expressed outrage at his scheduled visit.

Zheng Zeguang was told by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the upper chamber, Lord McFall, that he could not enter the estate for a talk scheduled for Wednesday.

He was due to meet the broadly pro-Chinese All-Party Parliamentary Group on China (APPG) - a cross-party MP group aimed at 'widening' the parliamentary contribution to UK relations with Beijing.

But Sir Lindsay argued it would not be 'appropriate' for the ambassador to meet at the Commons while seven parliamentarians remain sanctioned.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and other sanctioned politicians welcomed the 'strong principled stand' taken by the speakers.

But Richard Graham, the Tory MP who chairs the APPG on China expressed his 'regret' that he would have to postpone the talk.

Meanwhile, The Chinese Embassy in London tonight condemned the move as 'despicable and cowardly' and one that will 'harm the interests of both countries'.

Announcing the ban, Sir Lindsay said: 'I do not feel it's appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members'.

Zheng Zeguang was told by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and his counterpart in the upper chamber, Lord McFall, that he could not enter the estate for a talk scheduled for Wednesday

With the move likely to enrage Beijing, Sir Lindsay argued it would not be 'appropriate' for the ambassador to meet at the Commons while seven parliamentarians, including Sir Ian Duncan Smith (pictured right), remain sanctioned

'If those sanctions were lifted, then of course this would not be an issue,' he added.

'I am not saying the meeting cannot go ahead - I am just saying it cannot take place here while those sanctions remain in place.'

What is the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China (APPG) Established in 1997, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China (APPG) aims to widen the parliamentary contribution to the UK-China bilateral relationship. The group's mission is to ensure parliamentarians are kept well informed on China, and to act as a platform for discussions on all issues of importance to the UK-China relationship. The group contains MPs from across the various UK parties, and is chaired by Conservative Richard Graham MP. Its deputy chairs are Labour MP Catherine West, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP - who once said his family had been doing business in China since the 1920s - Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones CBE, and Labour MP Sir Mark Hendrick MP. Advertisement

Lord McFall's spokeswoman confirmed that the speakers of both houses 'are in agreement that this particular APPG China meeting should take place elsewhere considering the current sanctions against members'.

According to the Guardian, It is understood that the Speaker sought the advice of the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, but the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the decision was a matter for the Speaker, and not the government.

Hoyle, meanwhile, said he was not banning the Chinese ambassador permanently, but only while the sanctions existed.

Sir Iain and a group of his sanctioned colleagues - Crossbencher Lord Alton, Labour's Baroness Kennedy, and Tory MPs Tim Loughton and Nusrat Ghani - welcomed the move, saying allowing the diplomat onto the estate would have been 'an insult to Parliament'.

'We the sanctioned welcome the strong principled stand made by the Speaker and Lord Speaker in standing up for freedom of speech in the mother of Parliaments by supporting those parliamentarians who have been sanctioned by China,' they said in a joint statement.

Mr Graham had argued it was 'very important' for the group to engage with and hear from the new ambassador, who took on the role in June.

After the speakers' decision, the Tory MP said: 'I regret this long arranged event has now been postponed because the best way to discuss issues is to engage.

'This decision is of course the Speaker's prerogative and we will make new arrangements.'

In March, China imposed sanctions on seven parliamentarians, also including Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat and Neil O'Brien.

In March, China imposed sanctions on seven parliamentarians, also including Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat (left) and Neil O'Brien (right). They are all vocal critics of Beijing, having spoken out against the treatment of the Uighur people in Xinjiang.

They are all vocal critics of Beijing, having spoken out against the treatment of the Uighur people in Xinjiang.

China made the move shortly after Britain - along with the US, Canada and European Union - placed sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in the country's autonomous north-west territory.

Tonight a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said of the Parliament ban: 'The despicable and cowardly action of certain individuals of the UK Parliament to obstruct normal exchanges and co-operation between China and the UK for personal political gains is against the wishes and harmful to the interests of the peoples of both countries.'

In March, China's ambassador to Britain was summoned to explain the revenge sanctions slapped onto MPs and academics critical of the Beijing regime.

The Government reacted with fury as nine China hawks - plus four UK institutions - were targeted by the Communist regime for speaking out on its human rights abuses.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in March he stood 'firmly' behind them over the tit-for-tat move, which came four days after Britain, the US, Canada and the European Union placed sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the country's autonomous Xinjiang.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, one of those targeted, said in March he would wear the sanctions as a 'badge of honour' for speaking out against activities branded 'genocide' by the United States and others.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that month the Chinese ambassador would be summoned over the sanctions, branding them a 'sign of weakness' from Beijing.

Speaking to broadcasters in March, Mr Raab said: 'The ambassador here will be summoned and we will explain in very clear terms the position both in relation to the MPs and other figures who have spoken out, but also that we will not be silenced in terms of speaking out about these human rights abuses.

'And I think you'll see - as we saw only this week with 30 countries, including the UK, united in imposing sanctions on those abusing the Uighur Muslims and others in Xinjiang - that pressure continue to grow and to rise.'

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in March the Chinese ambassador would be summoned over the sanctions, branding them a 'sign of weakness' from Beijing

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, one of those targeted, said in March he would wear the sanctions as a 'badge of honour' for speaking out against activities branded 'genocide' by the United States and others. Pictured: Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region

The sanctions were declared in March after Mr Raab announced a package of travel bans and asset freezes against four senior officials and the state-run Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau (XPCC PSB).

He said the abuse of Uighur Muslims was 'one of the worst human rights crises of our time' and the global community 'cannot simply look the other way'.

But China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Mr Raab's move was 'based on nothing but lies and disinformation, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China's internal affairs, and severely undermines China-UK relations'.

The Ministry said it had sanctioned nine people and four British institutions 'that maliciously spread lies and disinformation'.

In March, Tory MPs Sir Iain, Neil O'Brien, Tim Loughton, Nusrat Ghani and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat were sanctioned, along with crossbench peer Lord Alton, Labour's Baroness Kennedy, barrister Geoffrey Nice and academic Jo Smith Finley.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visibly baffled on Tuesday when a Republican lawmaker quizzed him on claims that someone at the White House is controlling when and how President Joe Biden speaks.

Blinken was there to testify on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, ranking member Jim Risch grilled Blinken on how much control Biden had over decision-making in Afghanistan.

He seemed to doubt the president had much of a say, pointing to a Monday incident where Biden's livestream was cut off mid-sentence after the president went off-script to ask an audience member about the Idaho wildfires.

'Somebody in the White House has authority to press the button and stop the president - cut off the president's speaking ability and sound. Who is that person? Risch asked.

The chief diplomat chuckled at the claim.

'I think anyone who knows the president, including members of this committee knows that he speaks very clearly and very deliberately for himself. No one else does,' he defended.

But the Idaho lawmaker pressed on.

Senator Jim Risch grilled Secretary of State Antony Blinken over who was making the top calls in Afghanistan - and claimed it didn't even look like President Biden was calling the shots at the White House

'Well are you saying that there is no one in the White House that can cut him off because yesterday that happened and it is happened a number of times before that,' Risch said, referencing the Monday incident.

'It is been widely reported that somebody has the ability to push the button and cut off his sound and something from speaking. Who is that person?'

Blinken, laughing again, said 'There is no such person.'

'Again, the president speaks for himself. Makes all of the strategic decisions, informed by the best advice that he could get from the the people around him,' he said.

Biden was at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise on Monday for a round table with federal and state officials on on the wildfires - which Biden blames on global warming.

The meeting was being broadcast live but as the president went to pose a question to George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters, the White House appeared to cut him off mid-sentence.

'One of the things that I've been working on with some others is ' Biden said before the livestream ended abruptly prompting many viewers to question what had happened.

Risch continued to press Blinken at the Tuesday hearing, asking him if he was challenging the claim in front of the committee.

'That is correct,' Blinken said.

During a recent roundtable in Idaho, President Joe Biden blamed the wildfires engulfing parts of state and other western states on climate change - seconds before his feed was cut off

'So this didn't happen yesterday nor on the other occasions where the media showed the American people that his sentence was cut off in mid sentence. Are you saying that didn't happen?' Risch grilled.

The Biden official told Risch again that he didn't know what he was referring to.

'All I could tell you is having worked with the president for now 20 years, both here on this committee and in over the last nine months at the White House, the president very much speaks for himself,' he said.

The Monday moment was reminiscent of last month, when Biden's audio feed was cut moments before he was about to respond to a reporter's question on his administration's military withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan.

NBC's Peter Alexander asked, 'If Americans are still in Afghanistan after the deadline what will you do?'

Biden smirked just before the White House cut his feed.

In a follow-up tweet, backed by additional reporters at the briefing, Alexander noted that Biden answered, 'You'll be the first person I call.'

The Bootleg Fire burns through vegetation near Paisley, Oregon, U.S., July 20, 2021

A scoop plane drops water onto a burning ridge where a fire line had been created by crews of wildland firefighters, Monday, July 12, 2021, at the Lick Creek Fire, south of Asotin, Washington

Then in March, while speaking to Democratic lawmakers at a virtual event, the White House cut Biden's feed before he said he was 'happy to take questions.'

A recent Politico piece highlighted how White House staffers will 'either mute [Biden] or turn off his remarks' out of 'anxiety' the president will deviate from 'the West Wing's carefully orchestrated messaging.'

During a previous interview, White House press secretary Jen Psaki admitted that Biden is often advised by her staff not to take questions.

Just last week, Biden confused reporters when he told a crowd, 'I'm supposed to stop and walk out of the room' during a White House event following his carefully constructed remarks.

Also on Monday, Biden stopped off in Sacramento, California 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.

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.

Scientists say man-made global warming is changing the climate, making wildfires more destructive and more frequent.

President Joe Biden talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he arrives at Mather Airport on Air Force One Monday for a briefing on wildfires at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services

'We have to think big,' Biden told an audience near California's state capital, Sacramento.

'Thinking small is a prescription for disaster... We're going to fight this climate change.'

The president is focusing on what is becoming a familiar message on the urgency of an issue that has sparked huge fires and floods -- both of which have devastated different areas of the country in recent months.

'The reality is, we have a global warming problem,' Biden told firefighters earlier in Idaho, echoing the scientific consensus that human activity is affecting the climate.

'Things aren't going to go back to what they were. It's not like you can build back to what it was before.'

Biden, who has broken with the climate change skepticism of his predecessor Donald Trump, recently said the world faces a 'code red' on climate change and called for parties to put aside their political differences to address the issue.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it was banning federal law enforcement officers from using chokeholds in most instances and was severely limiting use of the 'no-knock' warrant.

Officers will no longer be able to deploy a chokehold or a 'carotid restraint,' caused by compressing the sides of the neck, unless deadly force has been authorized, or 'when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.'

'"No knock" entries will be allowed in situations "where an agent has reasonable grounds to believe that knocking and announcing the agent's presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or another person," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said 'no-knock' entries would only be allowed in situations 'where an agent has reasonable grounds to believe that knocking and announcing the agent's presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or another person'

Protesters have been vociferously demanding a ban on chokeholds since the death of George Floyd

At least 17 states ban chokeholds, up from two before the killing of George Floyd

Aside from life-threatening situations, no-knock warrants may be used as an exception when the agent first gets approval from the head of the law enforcement component and the U.S. Attorney or relevant Assistant Attorney General before seeking judicial authorization for a 'no knock' warrant.

The ban comes over a year after passionate and sometimes violent racial justice and police brutality protests racked the nation during the summer of 2020. George Floyd was killed after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes in May 2020 and Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by police officers in Louisville executing a no-knock warrant on the wrong house.

The restrictions apply to federal agents who work under the DOJ and local police departments who work with the DOJ through a joint task force.

Former President Trump signed an executive order requiring police departments to ban chokeholds to receive certification that allows them to access federal grants.

According to the Police Use of Force Project, which has reviewed use of force policies in 100 of America's largest police departments, 71 now prohibit chokeholds, up from 28 before the death of George Floyd.

At least 17 states ban chokeholds, up from two before the killing of George Floyd.

There are more than 130,000 members of federal law enforcement, according to Justice Department figures, and more than 460,000 on the state and local level.

'As members of federal law enforcement, we have a shared obligation to lead by example in a way that engenders the trust and confidence of the communities we serve,' Deputy Attorney General Monaco said in a statement.

'It is essential that law enforcement across the Department of Justice adhere to a single set of standards when it comes to 'chokeholds,' 'carotid restraints' and 'no-knock' entries. This new policy does just that and limits the circumstances in which these techniques can be used.'

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have both touted police reform measures but remain at an impasse. House Democrats' George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would explicitly ban chokeholds and end qualified immunity for officers. Senate Republicans' JUSTICE Act focuses on transparency and training, encouraging choke hold bans but not enforcing them.
A Supreme Court Justice who dissented against allowing Texas's abortion ban is now calling the Court out for its 'very bad' ruling.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer joined George Stephanopoulos to promote his new book The Authority Of The Court And The Peril Of Politics, but it wasn't long before the TV host brought up the controversial abortion ban.

'I thought it was a very bad decision and I dissented,' he told Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told George Stephanopoulos that he thought the Court's decision on the Texas abortion ban was a 'very bad' one

Breyer, 83, told Stephanopoulos that the court doesn't 'trade votes,' but did highlight that other Justices emphasized judicial philosophies such as greater emphasis on following the original texts of the constitution when deciding their rulings.

The liberal justice, who is the oldest member on the court, said he emphasized more purposes and late Justice Antonin Scalia was text-based.

He also emphasized the need for a 'rule of law,' citing other countries like Ghana, he cited, which does not, where citizens use guns and violence to solve problems.

He claimed a 'rule of law' is a 'treasure' that US citizens should value.

Breyer went on to say: 'The Supreme Court has had many ups and down,' before citing Plessy vs Ferguson - the case that upheld the "separate but equal" racial segregation stance - as a down, and Brown vs Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in education, as an up.

The court denied the request from Texas abortion providers to place a temporary hold on the state's proposed abortion law, which bans Texas women from getting an abortion as early as six weeks.

In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Breyer, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan dissented

When questioned about the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, Breyer admitted he 'was worried' about it, and implied it was symptomatic of ongoing tribal political divisions in the United States.

He said: 'I am worried. I am worried people don't understand it. I am worried that children in schools don't understand their government. I am worried if they don't teach what their government is about. And I'm very worried if they don't participate.

'If they don't participate in practice with other people, then they won't have trust with our institutions...And if they dont have trust in institutions, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to live in a society of 331 million people of tremendous diversity.'

Texas's abortion ban does not allow abortions after a heartbeat is detected, unless the mother's health is in danger. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

The Texas law drew even more controversy as it isn't enforced by the state but by Texas's own private citizens.

The law that took effect on September 2 allows any private citizen to sue Texas abortion providers who violate the law, as well as anyone who 'aids or abets' a woman getting the procedure.

The statute, which survived a Supreme Court challenge and Breyer's dissent, sets minimum damages of $10,000 per banned abortion, to be paid out to the first person to prevail in a suit over the procedure.

He also 'worried' people did not understand their government and citizens would eventually stop trusting the country's institutions

Abortion patients themselves cannot be sued, but the 'aiding and abetting' clause is broad, and might even apply to a cab driver who knowingly takes a woman to get a banned abortion.

By handing off enforcement to private citizens, Texas avoided the legal pitfalls that doomed similar efforts in other states - but critics say that the move amounts to a hack of the legal system.

'The most pernicious thing about the Texas law it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards,' President Joe Biden said on September 3. 'I know this sounds ridiculous. It's almost un-American what we're talking about.'

Known as the Heartbeat Act, the Texas law bans abortions after ultrasounds can detect a fetal heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks.

The abortion ban makes medical exceptions to save the life of the mother, but allows no exemptions for cases of rape or incest.

The new law allows anyone to bring a suit against abortion providers, regardless of whether they have been personally harmed.
The mother of 22-year-old 'van-life woman' Gabby Petito sent her daughter's boyfriend and his family desperate texts looking for her but was ignored.

Gabby's mother Nicole Schmidt told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that on September 10 she reached out to Brian and his mother Roberta Laundrie trying to reach her daughter after she had not heard from Gabby since August 25.

'I texted Brian's mom that I was trying to get in touch with Gabby. I also texted Brian. I got no replies,' Schmidt said.

'I knew something was wrong,' she said. 'I felt something was off and I needed to get her reported missing immediately.'

She went to report Gabby missing later that day but police initially blew her off. The next day, she was allowed to file a report with the Suffolk County police department.

'Detective Tracey Barry of the Suffolk County police department has been our angel taking on this case. She was the only one who listened and cared enough to take this on,' Schmidt said.

Brian's family have since 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.

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 tells DailyMail.com that on September 10 she texted Brian and his mother Roberta trying to get in touch with Gabby, but neither replied

Gabby set out on a cross-country trip July 2 with boyfriend Brian Laundrie in the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van. Brian posted this photo of the couple on Instagram on July 16 at Zion National Park

The gloves are off: Schmidt and Petito want answers The Schmidt and Petito family are going through the worst moments of their lives. Their beautiful twenty-two year old daughter is missing and the one person that can help find Gabby refuses to help. Brian Laundrie was traveling with Gabby in the Grand Teton  Yellowstone area. They were traveling together in Gabby's 2012 Ford Transit van. That is where we believe Gabby was last seen. Brian is refusing to tell Gabby's family where he last saw her. Brian is also refusing to explain why he left Gabby all alone and drove her van to Florida. These are critical questions that require immediate answers. The Schmidt and Petito family beg the Laundrie family to not 'remain in the background' but to help find who Brian referred to as the love of his life. How does Brian stay in the background when he is the one person that knows where Gabby is located? The Schmidt and Petito family implore Brian to come forward and at least tell us if we are looking in the right area. Advertisement

Schmidt said Brian's sister Cassie is the only member of Brian's family who has spoken to authorities.

She said she can't understand why neither Brian nor his parents have reached out to her in the aftermath of her daughter's disappearance.

'It's a very mysterious situation. We don't understand why he's doing this. Everybody's assuming the worst and thinking he's guilty of this. But I don't want to believe that. I want to believe she's just in need of help out there and that everybody needs to keep searching.'

Schmidt described how Brian's parents had been warm and welcoming to Gabby during their relationship. She recalled a time when his mother even knitted her future daughter-in-law gifts for Christmas.

'She loved her like a daughter,' Schmidt said. 'As far as I knew they were all very caring and treated her like one of the family. His mom was so excited about the engagement.'

The distraught mother also clarified that Gabby and Brian had been engaged, but decided to call it off and go back to just dating because they felt they were too young for marriage.

'I think they kind of put that on hold just because they felt it was a little fast. They were excited at first, but then they were like, let's just wait, we're very young. So they were really just boyfriend and girlfriend,' she said.

She said they'd been a couple for a little over two years, but met growing up in Long Island.

'They went to high school together. They were friends. They got back in touch and started dating,' she said.

In light of the disappearance, Schmidt says she's now viewing everything under a new lens.

'Maybe the relationship wasn't what I thought,' she said.

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. 'If they cared about her, they would want to find her,' said Schmidt. 'Why aren't you out helping find her?'

Above is the Laundrie family home in North Port, Florida, where Brian Laundrie returned in the couple's van without Gabby after their trip

Schmidt has recently seen photos in the news of Brian's father performing yard work.

'If they cared about her, they would want to find her,' she said. 'Why aren't you out helping find her?'

'I don't want to seem accusatory,' she said. 'It's confusing, my mind is turning right now.'

She's also questioning Brian's trip back to Florida in August to help his father move their things into a storage unit. She wonders why it was necessary to move Gabby's things during their road trip and what became of her stuff.

'Where are her things?' she asked.

Asked why Brian chose to lawyer up, she replied, 'You know I wish I knew that answer, why.'

'I know that's the reason this story is so sought after is because it's odd. The police have said it's very odd. We don't know what's going on, and where is my daughter. I just want to find her.'

Gabby, who grew up in Blue Point, New York, was last seen on August 24 checking out of a hotel with Brian in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The following day she made her final call to her family, telling them that she and Brian had traveled to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Her last Instagram post 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 Gabby's brother's graduation on June 17. She was reported missing by her mother to New York authorities on Saturday night.

Schmidt said they'd been a couple for a little over two years, but met growing up in Long Island. 'They went to high school together. They were friends. They got back in touch and started dating'

The couple had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram

Schmidt spoke of her daughter's love of adventure.

'She was starting with a van life channel. This was the beginning. That was her very first video posted. That was the start of her whole YouTube journey.'

'She just fell in love with that lifestyle and wanted to take journeys. She was a free spirit. Everybody was jealous, everyone was like, we want to do that too, but we all think we just have to get a job and go to school. But she was doing what we were all envious of.

'And I supported her on all of that, even every once and a while when she needed help moneywise and stuff, because it was a really expensive trip. I helped her out a little bit here and there. So did her father. But they were having a great time.'

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 daughter over the next five days.

She said she texted Gabby 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.

She said, 'It was just a text. I did not verbally speak to her. 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.'

She told DailyMila.com, 'It didn't sound stressed or anything like that. It was just a little bit weird, the things that she was saying.' She didn't elaborate further.

Schmidt said Gabby 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.'

Gabby was seen in a YouTube video eating a snack in the van as they made way on their cross-country journey

'I can't say much, but she's no longer with the van,' Schmidt said 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'

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

Gabby's father Joe, who lives in Vero Beach, Florida, is 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.

Asked whether she thinks her daughter may just be camping in an area with no cell phone service, Schmidt replied, 'I hope that's the case. And maybe she's off with some other drifters, hanging out. I would love for that to be what she's doing right now.'
Cops probing the disappearance of van-life girl Gabby Petito have appealed to her boyfriend Brian Laundrie to talk to them directly to help locate her, in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

'We want answers. The family wants answers,' said Josh Taylor, the information officer for police in North Port, Florida, where the young couple was living before their cross-country road trip.

Gabby, 22, was reported missing by her family on Saturday after they hadn't heard from her in 13 days. She had been traveling with Laundrie since July - and last spoke to relatives on August 25. Her last known location was Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Laundrie returned alone to their home in North Port, where the couple moved in with his parents two years ago. He was driving the couple's 2012 Ford Transit van, which police hauled away late Saturday night.

But he has refused to talk directly to detectives to help solve the mystery disappearance - and his family have directed officers to their family attorney.

Asked if police would appeal for him to speak to them, information chief Taylor told DailyMail.com: 'Of course. Certainly - at any point. We are ready to listen, we are ready to take that information.

'I would not say he's a person of interest at this point. We need to talk to him. We need to rule that out and move forward.

Scroll down for video

North Port Police are asking for Brian Laundrie (pictured left with Gabby) to cooperate in their investigation into girlfriend Gabby Petito's disappearance after his parents refused to let cops question him

North Port information officer Josh Taylor, pictured, told DailyMail.com Tuesday that Laundrie is not a person of interest but is being sought for questioning in hopes he could provide cops with information that would lead them to Gabby's whereabouts

'Most people would think this individual might have some details as far as the last time he saw her, the last whereabouts.

'It has not been helpful that he has not talked. We are doing everything we can to get answers for her family and to potentially bring her home safe.

'So anytime somebody is not fully cooperating to provide that it can be difficult. Anybody would assume that is frustrating for investigators.'

Taylor stressed that there was a channel for dialogue with Laundrie's New York-based attorney.

'At least there is an avenue to hopefully get some questions answered,' he said.

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed Laundrie's van was seized by North Port police late Saturday night for forensic tests - and that his parents Christopher, 62, and Roberta, 55, refused to allow officers to talk to their son when they arrived at their door at the same time.

'We have not talked with him, we would love to talk to him, He is under no obligation to talk to us - and he has not,' Taylor said.

Police officers went door to door in the Laundries' quiet road Tuesday afternoon to talk to the family's neighbors. They did not approach the Laundries' home and would not speak about the inquiry.

Earlier, cops were seen dropping off a pink envelope containing a receipt for the couple's van outside the family's house, DailyMail.com has exclusively learned.

Taylor said when officers first visited the Laundries' parents' single-story home in a quiet residential street in the town, 'they did not want to make him available.'

At least 12 detectives in North Port, located on Florida's west coast and 25 miles south of Sarasota - are involved in the investigation into Gabby's disappearance.

Police officers went door to door in the Laundries' quiet road Tuesday afternoon to talk to the family's neighbors. They did not approach the Laundries' home and would not speak about the inquiry

Taylor said when officers first visited the Laundries' parents' single-story home in a quiet residential street in the town, 'they did not want to make him available.' Pictured: Detectives visit neighbors home in North Port, Florida

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

Gabby's family's desperate plea The Schmidt and Petito family are going through the worst moments of their lives. Their beautiful twenty-two year old daughter is missing and the one person that can help find Gabby refuses to help. Brian Laundrie was traveling with Gabby in the Grand Teton  Yellowstone area. They were traveling together in Gabbys 2012 Ford Transit van. That is where we believe Gabby was last seen. Brian is refusing to tell Gabbys family where he last saw her. Brian is also refusing to explain why he left Gabby all alone and drove her van to Florida. These are critical questions that require immediate answers. The Schmidt and Petito family beg the Laundrie family to not remain in the background but to help find who Brian referred to as the love of his life. How does Brian stay in the background when he is the one person that knows where Gabby is located? The Schmidt and Petito family implore Brian to come forward and at least tell us if we are looking in the right area. Advertisement

The probe also involves the FBI and Suffolk County Police on Long Island, New York, Gabby's hometown and where her distraught mother Nicole Schmidt, who reported her missing, lives.

Meanwhile forensic experts continue to pore over the Transit van for anything that will help solve the mystery.

Taylor said: 'Our focus is providing answers for the family. And then if we do get to a situation where something more nefarious has happened, that we're able to provide a good packet of information to whatever other agency might be looking into this.

'That van, obviously, was something they were traveling in and it can give us some clues. It's a key piece of evidence. Anything could be in that van. So we've got it, it's in a safe location.'

The spokesman refused to say when Laundrie arrived back in Florida on his own.

He revealed detectives are scrutinizing the couple's social media pages as they catalogued their journey across America to try to determine a crunch point timeline for the disappearance.

And he confirmed there was 'a lot of concern by the details we know' although would not give any further information.

Gabby's mom 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 Gabby 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.

'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.

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

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

Taylor said of the couple: 'We are aware of some reservations they had for campsites at different locations, throughout the country. So you start following up on some of those.

'The goal is to pinpoint, when did activity stop? Where did they come to a screeching halt? We know on what date she stopped talking to her parents.

'We have the last date she Facetimed, or the mother definitely knew it was her talking with her daughter. And then we have this text deal where, yes  who sent the text? So that's a loose end.

'It's complex  multiple locations, people living off the grid. Anything is possible at this point. We are working through it.'

North Port police are also prepared to get warrants to unlock social media accounts.

'We'll look at any account we are able to get possession of,' Taylor told DailyMail.com. 'Certain accounts and certain apps have different types of meta data that can reveal locations.

'We will utilize every resource we have, whether that be search warrants for different companies or whatever, to ultimately to get that information to piece back where these folks have been.

'We are throwing everything we have got at it. Right now we have a missing person case. We are trying to get to the bottom of where she's at. Hopeful that she's OK and we can all move on with our lives.

'However there is a lot of concern here by the details that we know. Nothing definitive but certainly enough to rise concern.'

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

'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'

Taylor also appealed for members of the public to come forward with any information they believe could help the investigation.

'We're looking at everything from toll road readers to gas station sightings or payments  anything that would help us paint a picture of their travels. And there is a long trail here.

'It will continue to go as a missing person - and then we will have to act depending on what we find.'

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 boyfriend 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.'

Schmidt says that she believes her daughter will return home

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

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.'

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

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.'

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

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

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.'

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.

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 couple had documented their conversion of a 2012 Ford van into a camper and their life traveling in it on YouTube and Instagram

'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.

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 on September 11.

'[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.

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.
Disturbing footage has surfaced reportedly showing a care home worker mocking elderly residents with dementia.

In several videos, the worker films herself singing to Eminem and brandishing a soiled nappy in a resident's face, Liverpool Echo reported.

It was recorded at the Maple Lodge Care Home in Halewood, which houses residents living with dementia.

The Echo chose not to publish or share the videos 'out of respect for the residents shown' but named the care worker as Tasia Sewards.

The paper described footage showing Sewards waiving a soiled nappy in an elderly female resident's face and saying 'your wee, unless you've had a poo in that?'

She then throws the nappy on the floor as the woman walks away.

In another video, Sewards raps 'guess who's back, back again' at another elderly woman walking past her. The line is a lyric from the Eminem song Without Me.

The Echo said it had received the footage from a 'concerned witness' who had obtained it from a third party. This witness also sent the footage to the management of Maple Lodge.

The paper reported that staff at Maple Lodge and its parent company Dovehaven Care Homes are said to be 'sick to their stomachs' by the clips.

Sewards is believed to be in her early 20s and is not working at the home while an investigation is conducted. She has not responded to media requests for comment.

Dovehaven told the Echo that the families of residents seen in the footage have been informed.

Footage reportedly shows a care home worker waving a soiled nappy in an elderly female resident's face and saying 'your wee, unless you've had a poo in that?'

'On [Monday] morning it was brought to our attention that several videos had been taken of a member of our team behaving inappropriately to a number of our residents at Maple Lodge,' Dovehaven managing director Sam Jacob said in a statement reported by the Echo.

'Dovehaven has a zero tolerance of any behaviour which compromises the dignity and wellbeing of our residents. We have shared the videos we received with safeguarding Adults and have notified all relevant parties including the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

'The staff member in question is currently not at work and pending investigation following our HR process.

'We are extremely saddened and upset that this has occurred, and our thoughts are with the residents and family members who this affects most, but also with colleagues in the home who provide quality care and are as deeply shocked and affected by the actions of this one staff member.'

A CQC spokeswoman told the paper: 'The CQC has been made aware that a member of staff from Maple Lodge Care Home has been recording videos of people living in the home.

'The provider is carrying out a full internal investigation and working closely with Knowsley Council safeguarding team and Merseyside Police, to make sure everyone is in a safe environment and being treated with the respect they deserve.

'CQC will not tolerate this behaviour from any staff working in a health or social care organisation, and expect providers to address these claims immediately. Especially when people are vulnerable and put their trust in the people caring for them.

'We will monitor Maple Lodge closely and if necessary we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to keep people safe.'
Virginia's former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe was caught maskless violating federal COVID health rules during an Amtrak journey from New York to Washington, D.C., according to photos that surfaced on Tuesday.

McAuliffe ran Virginia from 2014 to 2018 and is currently campaigning for a second term in the state's upcoming November election.

But the pro-mask mandate Democrat was accused of an 'absolute double standard' by an anonymous Amtrak passenger who handed the photos over to Fox.

The photos purport to show McAuliffe on July 29 at Penn Station's Moynihan Train Hall in New York City.

He's seen walking through the train terminal while mid-conversation on his phone.

No sign of a face covering can be seen, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) January directive that requires everyone going through airports, train stations and other transit hubs to wear one at all times.

The CDC also recommends wearing masks regardless of vaccination status if you live in a COVID hotspot.

McAuliffe expressed strong support for sitting Governor Ralph Northam, also a Democrat, when he mandated masks for students and staff in school regardless of vaccination status.

In this photo obtained by Fox, McAuliffe appears to be speaking on the phone inside New York's Penn Station without a mask. The CDC ordered all travelers to wear masks in transit hubs beginning in January

'Terry believes we have to do everything we can to keep our children safe while they return to schools in-person this fall, and he believes everyone should follow CDC guidelines in wearing masks and getting vaccinated,' a spokesperson for his campaign said at the time regarding Northam's order.

The CDC guideline on face masks would apply to '98 percent of [Virginia] counties regardless of individuals vaccination status,' according to the New York Times coronavirus tracker.

The passenger who shared the photos with Fox told the outlet they didn't recognize McAuliffe at first but that he looked 'familiar.'

They said they snapped the picture while waiting in line to board the train.

The gubernatorial candidate was reportedly 'not wearing a mask on the escalator down to the platform' while he continued his call.

A second photo shows McAuliffe walking down an aisle of seats while on the phone. He was still maskless.

Behind a hunched McAuliffe Amtrak's mask guidance can be seen, which is generally displayed in each train car for all passengers to take note.

Another photo shows McAuliffe hunched over in the train aisles, still maskless, in front of a sign asking customers to wear masks

The sign is hung in most Amtrak train cars

Watch @karol highlight McAuliffe's hypocrisy...



"Yesterday a picture came out of @TerryMcAuliffe of Virginia, governor candidate and he is unmasked on an @Amtrak. I get kicked off for that I don't know about him." #vagov #vapol pic.twitter.com/XTcNanDu3p  Christian Martinez (@C_RMartinez) September 15, 2021

'Amtrak requires everyone to wear a face mask,' the sign reads. 'Face masks must fully cover the mouth and nose and secure under the chin. Face masks must always be worn unless actively eating or drinking.'

The train company's website notes that wearing a mask at all times when on the train and in the station is required by 'federal law.'

'We happened to be in the same train car, and I took the second photo. We took our seats, and I didnt get up for the rest of the trip, so I cant speak to what he did or did not do during the trip as far as wearing a mask,' the passenger said.

They noted that the few passengers sharing the train car as well were all in masks.

'I'm vaccinated, but Amtrak says put a mask on, so I put a mask on,' the person said.

They added that McAuliffe 'highlighted himself' by being the only person around without a mask on.

'You have an individual who wants to be a leader of a state here in the United States, and it is an absolute double standard. You have to lead by example,' they said. 'There is no accountability with politicians these days and it frustrates people.'

McAuliffe has been a staunch supporter of following CDC guidelines, particularly since he launched his campaign for re-election

When the train arrived at Washington, DC's Union Station McAuliffe wasn't wearing a mask, according to the passenger, though it was unclear if he put one on after or in-between the photos.

'I remember thinking I should say something to him, but didnt want to start some incident or viral issue,' they said.

One of the main issues separating McAuliffe from his Republican gubernatorial challenger Glenn Youngkin is the Democrat's embrace of COVID health restrictions.

McAuliffe's Twitter feed is full of statements urging Americans to get vaccinated against COVID. It also shows him wearing a mask at indoor events when not speaking.

His opponent, Youngkin, has been seen disregarding face covering rules as early as January - but he's always been a staunch opponent of COVID mandates.

Youngkin called Northam's mask mandate 'the first step towards returning to a full shutdown of our economy.'

When DailyMail.com reached McAuliffe's campaign for comment, spokesperson Renzo Olivari responded with a statement criticizing Youngkin for failing to follow CDC guidelines himself.

'Glenn Youngkin has shown Virginians he will be a failure when it comes to controlling this pandemic and rebuilding Virginias economy. Glenn has an extensive history of not following CDC mask guidelines dating back to the worst periods of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he peddles such dangerous anti-vaxx and anti-mask rhetoric that doctors in Virginia have begged him to stop undermining measures that will prevent the spread of this virus.

A statement sent to DailyMail.com by McAuliffe's team makes no mention of the photos but lambasts his opponent Glenn Youngkin's record on COVID and the economy

'Terry is the only candidate in this race who has a plan to get Virginians vaccinated, keep our kids in schools, and create a better future for all Virginians,' Olivari said.

The candidates are set to take the debate stage on Thursday.

Like many states around the country, Virginia is grappling with a summer coronavirus surge fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant.

In the last two week the Times tracker shows an 11 percent increase in the state's COVID cases. Deaths rose by 19 percent and hospitalizations have surged by a whopping 26 percent.

Virginia has seen more than 811,000 COVID cases and just over 12,000 Virginians have died of the illness.

Across the US as a whole, more than 41 million cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic. More than 660,000 people have died.

But hopeful signs have shown the summer surge is slowing down. Still, about 1,500 people are still dying per day - the most since the winter peak.
A Virginia high school teacher has sparked outrage on social media after posting a TikTok video in which he argues that expecting students to behave, follow directions and sit quietly is 'the definition of white supremacy.'

Josh Thompson, an English teacher at Blacksburg High School in Montgomery County, specifically referred to his district's use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a model educators use to keep students focused and respectful in school.

It is not clear how parents or students at the school are reacting to Thompsons video or if theyve seen it, but many Twitter users are asking that the district address it and some have even demanded that he be fired.

Josh Thompson, an English teacher at Blacksburg High School in Montgomery County, said in a TikTok video that expecting kids to behave is white supremacy

Josh Thompson, an English teacher at Blacksburg High School in Montgomery County, specifically referred to his districts use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a model educators use to keep students focused and respectful in school

In the since-deleted video, which was originally posted in May, Thompson says, I stated that PBIS is white supremacy with a hug and a lot of y'all wanted to know more about that . . . so if PBIS concerns itself with positive behaviors, we have to ask ourselves, Okay well what are those positive behaviors? And it's things like making sure that you're following directions, and making sure that you're sitting quietly, and you are in your seat and all these things that come from white culture.

He adds, The idea of just sitting quiet and being told stuff and taking things in, in a passive stance, is not a thing that's in many cultures. So if we're positively enforcing these behaviors, we are by extension positively enforcing elements of white culture. Which therefore keeps whiteness at the center, which is the definition of white supremacy.

Conservative author Brigitte Gabrielle shared the clip with the caption, FIRE this teacher, and Max Lugavere, also an author, shared it with the caption, This is actual racism. And condescending af to people of color.

Blogger Ian Miles Cheong shared the video with the caption, Where does he teach? Do the parents know? And Twitter user Jovon, a black athlete and alumnus from Florida A&M University, tweeted the clip with the caption, We are at the most comfortable period in human history.

Thompsons TikTok and Twitter accounts have since been set to private and the original TikTok has been taken down, but not before it was been shared on the Twitter page Libs of TikTok where it collected 192,100 views.

The satirical account, whose bio reads All things insane & hypocritical, mockingly shares various TikTok videos from left-leaning users. It posted two of Thompsons other TikTok clips, which have since received 23,500 and 18,200 views.

The Montgomery County School District said that they support Thompsons right to free speech, but asserted that his views are not their own and defended their use of PBIS.

District officials told Fox News that, "A teacher is entitled to their personal belief regarding any division program. The statements made by this teacher do not reflect our PBIS program or the behavioral expectations that we have of students in our schools."

The district added that it has used PBIS in our schools for eight years. We are proud of our PBIS work. This work helps create a standard for social-emotional learning and behavior expectations in the school building.

In another video of Thompson shared by Libs of TikTok, which yielded 23,500 views, he asserts that police brutality is directly connected to education

In another video of Thompson shared by Libs of TikTok, which yielded 23,500 views, he asserts that police brutality is directly connected to education.

He said, I want to remind educators that instances of police brutality and the murders of black and brown people by police officers is directly connected to the work that we do Because if any of those people had been white, chances are they wouldn't have been murdered. Chances are they wouldn't have been brutalized. And if you don't believe me, just take a look at all the instances of white people, especially white men, who oftentimes are brandishing weapons and who were taken into custody alive.

He adds, But much of this is wrapped up in implicit bias and we have incredible power to changes peoples biases when theyre young. We have to talk about these issues in school because every bit of it impacts our work. The ways in which we teach, the ways we interact with students, the practices and policies we have, the way in which theyre implemented. Theres so much. And many of us our talking about this, many of us are advocating for these changes, but not enough of us are.

Thompsons videos come after two teachers in California faced backlash for politicizing their classrooms earlier this month. In one case, an Orange County teacher was fired after admitting on TikTok that she hid her classrooms American flag and told students to say the pledge to a pride flag instead. And in another, a Sacramento teacher displayed an Antifa flag and Mao Zedong flag in his classroom and suggested that students were fascist if it made them uncomfortable.

Teacher mocks the American Flag and suggests to students they can say the Pledge of Allegiance to the pride flag: pic.twitter.com/1QTS5xjPln  Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) August 27, 2021

Kristin Pitzen of Newport Mesa School District in Orange County sparked outrage when she boasted she'd got her class to say the pledge of allegiance to the gay pride flag

Kristin Pitzen, of Newport Mesa School District in Orange County, said in her viral video, My room does not have a flag, before whispering to the camera, because it made me uncomfortable.

In the meantime, I tell this kid, We do have a flag in the class that you can pledge your allegiance to. And he like, looks around and goes, Oh, that one?' " and pointed to the pride flag.

She added of the American flag that she 'packed it away' but doesn't know where, laughing in a way that implied otherwise. 'And I haven't found it yet,' Pitzen added, as she put her hand over her mouth to stifle another laugh.

She has since been removed from the classroom and placed on administrative leave

AP Government teacher Gabriel Gipe, of Inderkum High School in Sacramento, was put on unpaid leave after he displayed an Antifa flag and Mao Zedong flag in his classroom

Meanwhile, AP Government teacher Gabriel Gipe, of Inderkum High School in Sacramento, was put on unpaid leave and will be fired by the school district for 'clear violations of political activity' after he was caught on video being interviewed by Project Veritas, a far-right media group, over his use of an Antifa flag in his classroom.

He said, 'I have an Antifa flag on my [classroom] wall and a student complained about that  he said it made him feel uncomfortable. Well, this [Antifa flag] is meant to make fascists feel uncomfortable, so if you feel uncomfortable, I don't really know what to tell you . . . 'I have 180 days to turn [students] into revolutionaries.'

The teacher also had posters of Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong in the classroom, had stamps with images of Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro and Kim Jung Un to mark student's school work, and had offered extra-credit to students who attended protests, the New York Post reports.
An Oklahoma university has to reinstate a transgender professor with tenure after she was fired when one of the school's VPs complained her 'lifestyle' was offensive to his religious beliefs, a judge has ruled.

The 10th US Circuit ruled in Rachel Tudor's favor on Monday, stating that Southeastern Oklahoma State University must reinstate the transgender professor who was fired in 2011 after a complaint regarding her gender identity.

An HR representative called to inform Tudor, an English professor at the time, that the university's former Vice President of Academic Affairs Douglas McMillian wanted her fired because her lifestyle went against his religious beliefs, according to NY Daily News.

A 10th Circuit appellate judge ruled that Rachel Tudor (pictured) was wrongfully fired in 2011 after a school official allegedly complained that her transgender 'lifestyle' was offensive

Former VP of Academic Affairs Douglas McMillian (pictured) complained to an HR representative in 2009

At the time of her firing, Tudor had been up for tenure, which would have given her a secure job for the remainder of her career.

But she was denied tenure in fall 2009, according to court records, and fired the following the 2010-11 academic year.

The US Department of Justice sued on Tudor's behalf for discrimination on the basis of sex in 2015.

In 2017, the professor was awarded $1.16million for being wrongly denied tenure, but was stripped of the full amount of her reward in the following year.

US District Judge Robin Cauthron in Oklahoma City lower the awarded amount to a mere $300,000. He cited a state caps under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Businesses with more than 500 employees are capped at a $300,000 payout.

In addition, she received $60,000 for lost earnings. Tudor had requested more than $2million for future earnings.

That judge also denied her request to be reinstated at the university, as there were claims that other members of staff were against her return.

Southeastern Oklahoma State University was found to have wrongfully fired Tudor on the basis of sex discrimination by a 10th Circuit appellate judge

The university went on to appeal the decision, and Tudor appealed the reinstatement denial and lost wages.

Tudor will go on to become the first tenured Native American professor in her department at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

In a statement attributed to her, it said: 'She's] looking forward to being the first tenured Native American professor in her department in the 100-plus year history of the Native American-serving institution that is Southeastern Oklahoma State University.'

The judge also ruled that her lost wages be recalculated, according to Tulsa World.
The Office of Congressional Ethics was asked by a conservative group to launch an investigation of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for accepting free tickets to Monday's Met Gala, where she wore a custom gown that said 'Tax the Rich.'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the the ultra-elitist, $35,000-a-head Met Gala as guests of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, DailyMail.com can confirm.

In an ethics complaint, Thomas Jones, founder of the American Accountability Foundation, said he believes Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, broke House rules by accepting 'an impermissible gift' of free tickets to attend the annual gala.

'[W]hile the individual's invitations may bear the name of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum has ceded control over the invitations to a for-profit company, specifically Conde Nast, and to its Chief Content Officer, Anna Wintour,' Jones wrote.

He added that 'the New York Times outlines that the Met does not have control over who is invited to the event, but rather the for-profit company, is in control of who gets invited.'

The Office of Congressional Ethics was asked by a conservative group to launch an investigation of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for accepting free tickets to Monday's Met Gala, where she wore a custom gown that said 'Tax the Rich'

In an ethics complaint, Thomas Jones, founder of the American Accountability Foundation, (pictured) said he believes Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, broke House rules by accepting 'an impermissible gift' of free tickets to attend the annual gala.

The Times reported that 'about 400 Chosen Ones' got to attend this year.

According to House ethics information available online, members of Congress can only accept $100 worth of items per year from a specific source.

In addition, Congress members can also borrow works of art  in this case the 'TAX THE RICH' dress AOC wore by Aurora James  as long as theres a written agreement with the owner specifying it will be returned.

The event was also attended by fellow New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The prominent Democrats attended Monday night's star-studded event as guests of the museum.

The $35,000 ticket proceeds go to the Met's Costume Institute, one of the only departments that doesn't receive government funding, to supports its exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements.

AOC with her boyfriend Riley Roberts (far right), her dress designer Aurora James and Benjamin Bronfman (far left), James' partner who is the heir to Seagrams Company Ltd. The group was pictured leaving at midnight. AOC claimed she'd been 'invited' as an elected official. DailyMail.com can reveal she was a guest of the Met Museum

AOC said she'd been invited to the event as an elected official. DailyMail.com can reveal the Met Museum comped her ticket and Bill de Blasio's

De Blasio's rep told Politico that he made the decision to attend the event, somewhat ironically, in an economic meeting 'months ago'.

'The mayor made the decision to attend months ago in one of his hours long economic recovery war room meetings led by Lorraine Grillo. He wanted to highlight a local designer who had been able to make it through the pandemic.

'It's a notable way to grab people's attention and highlight the return of the city's fashion industry jobs.'

AOC was spotted leaving with Aurora James, the designer behind her 'tax the rich dress' and her boyfriend, Benjamin Bronfman - the heir to the Seagram's fortune.

He is also the nephew of Clare Bronfman, who was accused of funding NXIVM sex cult with donations to Keith Raniere.

AOC also left the party with her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, and James.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, and Dante de Blasio attend the The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021

She boasted to the magazine: 'The Met Gala is seen as elite and inaccessible...As a working class woman, [I] wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry,' she proudly told Vogue at the event.

On Tuesday morning, AOC boasted about the surge in Google searches for the words 'tax the rich'.

She wrote on Instagram: 'Surge in people looking up and discussing our f****d up tax code is and how we fix it so we can fund childcare, healthcare, climate action and student loan forgiveness for all? Aurora James understood the assignment.'

But she has been slammed for supporting the event by many who say she simply wanted to enjoy the limelight while trying to pass it off as a political protest in yet another example of her tone-deaf hypocrisy.

AOC - who previously posed on the cover of Vanity Fair, drives a $35,000 Tesla and claims to be '100% grass roots from the Bronx' despite growing up in a wealthy NYC suburb.

She wore a borrowed dress from Brother Vellies, James' celebrity-adored NYC label.

Before the gala, AOC got ready at The Carlyle hotel on the Upper East Side, where rooms cost upwards of $1,000-a-night. She was escorted to a chauffer-driven car, with someone carrying the train of her dress, and she waved to screaming fans as she left the hotel

The only jewelry she wore was a pair of $450 gold hoops from Mejuri and a $65 ring from the same brand.

She didn't wear a mask, like many of the other guests.

The event was for fully vaccinated guests only but the celebrities in attendance - who regularly preach online about COVID rules - ignored the guidance of the CDC and liberal states like California, where masks are recommended indoors regardless of vaccination status.

In a proud Instagram post about the event and her choice of outfit, AOC said: 'The medium is the message. Proud to work with Aurora James as a sustainably focused, Black woman immigrant designer who went from starting her dream Brother Vellies at a flea market in Brooklyn to winning the CDFA against all odds - and then work together to kick open the doors at the Met. The time is now for childcare, healthcare, and climate action for all. Tax the Rich.

'And yes, BEFORE anybody starts wilding out - NYC elected officials are regularly invited to and attend the Met due to our responsibilities in overseeing our city's cultural institutions that serve the public.

'I was one of several in attendance. Dress is borrowed via Brother Vellies.'

Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who previously said he'd never attend the event, also attended the event.

In a statement in a press release by Brother Vellies, AOC said: 'There's no way I'd be doing this if it wasn't with a woman of color and with the intent to grow the table and empower women that look like me.

'Despite being held in New York City, the culture of the Met Gala is everything but.

'NYC is often synonymous with inclusivity, inviting millions of people from different walks of life to call this city home.

'The Met Gala, on the other hand, is seen as elite and inaccessible. I'm attending today because I want to change just that and spotlight women of color who are often not included during events like these.'

Donald Trump Jr led the criticism, blasting AOC as a 'fraud' while pointing out that she was also not wearing a face mask 'after spending the last 18 months as one of the biggest mask Karens in the country'.

Andray Domise, a writer and partner in black news network Rezistans Nwa, also pointed out that the gala was taking place just yards from where the NYPD were arresting 'defund the police' protesters - a cause that AOC has previously supported.

'Police were creasing people's heads outside while you and your friends were nibbling watermelon tarts with smoked yuzu soy on panipuri crackers,' he said

Greg Price, a writer for the Daily Caller, added: 'AOC grew up in a wealthy suburb, went to one of the most expensive colleges in America, makes a six figure salary, drives a Tesla, lives above a whole foods, and is currently at an event that costs more to attend than America's average personal income.'

AOC was slammed for attending the event with her boyfriend and lapping up the limelight

Actor and comedian Michael Rappaport also weighed in. He shared a picture of AOC in a dress fitting session and captioned it: 'Custom TAX THE RICH dress while at the most elitist event in the world.

'Will soon be rich with a ginormous production deal from somewhere & done with Politics, guarantee it.

'Stop treating ANY of these people like celebrities they are public servants that work for US.'

As she made her Met Gala debut, AOC will have passed crowds of BLM protesters clashing with police outside the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Brothers Vellies, James' luxury brand, is often worn by celebrities such as Beyonce, Meghan Markle, Zendaya, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, according to the brand's website.

It is AOC'S first time attending the gala, but her political message has already drawn controversy during this year's 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion' exhibit. It was also James' gala dress debut.

James and Ocasio-Cortez said they were inspired by their experiences as working women of color to make the political statement at the Met gala.

James is the founder of the 15percent Pledge, a nonprofit that asks brands to 'pledge 15percent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses.'

AOC yelling out on the steps of the Met Gala before going inside to mingle with the well-heeled, ultra wealthy guests

Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who leaves office in November, also attended the event with his wife Chirlane McCray - who is also the Co-Chair of the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity - and son Dante. His spokesperson said: 'The mayor made the decision to attend months ago in one of his hours long economic recovery war room meetings led by Lorraine Grillo. He wanted to highlight a local designer who had been able to make it through the pandemic. It's a notable way to grab people's attention and highlight the return of the city's fashion industry jobs.' It's unclear who paid for his ticket

While AOC and Bill de Blasio mingled with celebrities inside the star-studded event, Defund the Police protesters were arrested outside. Both de Blasio and AOC championed the Defund the Police movement and led to the NYPD having $1billion of its budget cut

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, 2021 while Rep. AOC and Mayor Bill de Blasio were inside

She designs mostly accessories and shoes listed on her brand's website retail around the $600 and $700 mark.

AOC has been very vocal in the past about her stance on taxing millionaires.

In 2019 she advocated to raising taxes of to 70percent for the wealthy in order to fund measures against climate change.

'As a working class woman, [I] wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry, Ocasio-Cortez told Vogue.

'When Aurora and I were first kind of partnered, we started having a conversation about what it means to be working class women of color at the Met,'

'And we said, you know, we can't just play along, but we need to break the fourth wall, and challenge some of the institutions.

'And while the Met is known for its spectacle, we should have a conversation about it,' she added.

In a 2019 Tweet, AOC wrote: When we say 'tax the rich,' we mean nesting-doll yacht rich. For-profit prison rich. Betsy DeVos, student-loan-shark rich.

'Trick-the-country-into-war rich. Subsidizing-workforce-w-food-stamps rich.

'Because THAT kind of rich is simply not good for society, & it's like 10 people.'

There was also uproar over the fact that the celebrities on the red carpet were not wearing masks but teachers and kindergarteners in public schools have to.

'Do as I say, NOT as I do. NYC mayor makes every single NYC public school student and teacher mask up all day in school.

'Guess the Met Gala ain't considered school,' said one angry Twitter user after seeing Mayor Bill de Blasio without his mask, attending the event with his wife and his son.
A former Dragons' Den star has sparked fury by saying Chris Whitty 'will hang' for recommending Covid jabs for children.

Ex-'Dragon' Rachel Elnaugh, 56, took to Twitter to call the decision to launch a UK-wide vaccination programme for children aged 12-15 as 'child abuse'.

Responding to a tweet by Good Morning Britain, which asked viewers if they were happy for their children to be vaccinated, the businesswoman wrote: 'Child abuse. Whitty will hang for this.'

The tweet, posted from the entrepreneur's verified Twitter account, sparked a huge backlash.

Many criticised the comment aimed at England's Chief Medical Officer - who earlier this year was assaulted by anti-vaxxers as he walked through a park in London.

It was the fourth time a report had been made to police alleging harassment against Professor Whitty - who has been thrust into the limelight during the Covid pandemic.

Ian Fraser, one of those to criticise Ms Elnaugh's tweet, wrote: 'What the former 'Dragon' Rachel Elnaugh tweeted here is vile, disgraceful and seemingly inciting violence against a Government official'. He also urged Twitter to review the Tweet.

Another wrote: 'Nothing to see here. Just Rachel Elnaugh - an investor from a BBC show most people know - Dragon's Den - insinuating that children receiving the vaccine is child abuse.

'These rotten views run deep and anyone can have them.'

A former Dragon's Den star has sparked fury by saying Chris Whitty (pictured left) 'will hang' for recommending Covid jabs for children. Ex-'Dragon' Rachel Elnaugh (pictured right), 56, took to Twitter to call the decision to launch a UK-wide vaccination programme for children aged 12-15 as 'child abuse'.

Responding to a Tweet by Good Morning Britain, which viewers if they were happy for their children to be vaccinated, the businesswoman, who is the founder of experience day firm Red Letter Days, wrote: 'Child abuse. Whitty will hang for this.'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Whatever your views are, and however ill thought through they are, there is absolutely no need for this inciting of violence towards someone doing their job.

The 'Dragon' who founded experience days firm Red Letter Days: Who is Rachel Elnaugh? Rachel Elnaugh is a British entrepreneur who founded the gift firm Red Letter Days - a firm which pioneered in the experience days industry Rachel Elnaugh is a British entrepreneur who founded the gift firm Red Letter Days - a firm which pioneered in the experience days industry. The 56-year-old businesswoman is best known for her appearance on the BBC show Dragons' Den. The businesswoman was one of the original investors - known as Dragons - on the show. She featured in series one and two during the mid-2000s. She started Red Letter Days in 1989. The company was one of the first to sell experience day gifts - such as motor racing days and hot air ballooning. The company went into administration in 2005. It is now owned by French firm, The Smartbox group. She has since written books about her experience in business. Of late she has regularly posted about Covid - and has been critical of the vaccine. She has posted videos titled 'The Great Covid Swindle' and referred to plans to vaccinate children in the UK as a 'mass toxic jab campaign.' Advertisement

'You should be ashamed of yourself. Reported.'

Others described the tweet as 'appalling and revolting', while one Twitter user, making reference to a recent case of assault against Professor Whitty, added: 'He has already been assaulted in the street. You are inciting violence. Reported.'

The tweet comes after Professor Whitty, along with the UK's other chief medical officers (CMOs), recommended the Government commit to the vaccine roll-out for healthy children-aged 12-15.

The CMOs say the vaccine programme will help reduce disruption to education.

Ministers yesterday said they would go ahead with the roll-out, but said the ultimate decision would be up to children and not their parents.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said yesterday that he hoped the first jabs in England would take place by 22 September.

For now, children will be offered a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Around three million children are set to be vaccinated under the scheme.

However there have move has been met with some scepticism, because healthy children are viewed as at low risk from Covid.

Though the vaccine has been approved for UK, there are also concerns about the incredibly rare chance of children developing the complication myocarditis - an inflammation of the heart muscle - from the Covid vaccine.

The condition was found to be more common in younger men and after a second dose.

Children won't be given a second dose until more data on myocarditis becomes available. Trials are currently being tested on children as young as six-months.

Professor Whitty said the move was a 'difficult decision' and should not be seen as a 'silver bullet'.

But he said it could be an 'important and useful tool' in reducing school disruption in the coming months.

Ms Elnaugh's tweet comes after Professor Whitty was assaulted in St James's Park in Westminster in June.

Lewis Hughes, 24, from Romford admitted one count of assault by beating when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in July.

Lewis Hughes (pictured), 24, from Romford admitted one count of assault by beating when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in July

He was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to pay 100 in compensation.

Kalsoom Shah, from the CPS, said of the conviction: 'This was a completely unacceptable act of targeting and assaulting Professor Chris Whitty.

'Lewis Hughes showed little regard for him or relevant social distancing rules when he accosted the Government's Chief Medical Officer in the street. His behaviour was both shocking and disgraceful.

'Like everyone else, public figures should be free to go about their day to day work without fear of being targeted and assaulted.

'The CPS will always work with the police to bring to justice those who break the law in this way.'

The incident was the fourth reported incident of harassment against Professor Whitty. He was also verbally abused by a teenager while buying lunch in London in Feburary.

Boris Johnson said at the time of the June incident that he was 'shocked at the despicable harassment', while Home Secretary, Priti Patel, criticised the 'terrible' behaviour directed at a 'remarkable public servant'

Others, including Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, called for Professor Whitty to be given police protection.

MailOnline has contacted Ms Elnaugh, who appeared as a Dragon in the BBC series Dragon's Den during its first two series in the mid-2000s, for a comment.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that he is not sure whether the target killed in a US drone strike was an aid worker or a terrorist, but assured the Biden administration is looking into the matter.

Blinken, in his second day of testimony over the Biden administration's chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, faced questioning from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

'The guy the Biden administration droned, was he an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative?' Paul asked. A New York Times report claimed that the vehicle struck by a US drone was driven by US aid group worker Zemari Ahmadi, identifying one of the 10 killed in the retaliatory strike after a suicide blast outside Kabul airport killed 170.

'The administration is of course reviewing that strike and I'm sure that a full assessment will be forthcoming,' Blinken said.

'So you don't know if it was an aid worker or an ISIS-K operative?'

'I don't know because we're reviewing it,' Blinken said.

'You'd think you'd kind of know before you off somebody with a Predator drone whether he's an aid worker or an ISIS-K,' Paul replied.

The drone strike reportedly killed 10 members of one family, including seven children.

A New York Times investigation that 43-year-old aid worker Ahmadi had been loading his car with water jugs, not explosives, when he and his nine family members were blown to bits.

The Pentagon still maintains that only three civilians died, but the family claims in the report their 10 relatives were killed.

Ahmadi worked for US-based aid group Nutrition and Education International, and spent the day running routine errands for the group, loading nothing into the car other than jugs full of water to bring home to his family, the Times reported, citing witnesses and surveillance video footage.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on September 14

'You'd think you'd kind of know before you off somebody with a Predator drone whether he's an aid worker or an ISIS-K,' Sen. Rand Paul, above, replied when Blinken admitted he wasn't sure who the US drone strike killed

'All of them were innocent,' Ahmadi's brother Emal told the newspaper, noting that Ahmadi had sought refugee status with the US based on his international aid work. 'You say he was ISIS, but he worked for the Americans.'

The Pentagon has insisted that Ahmadi's movements linked him to an ISIS-K safehouse, and that there were explosives in his vehicle intended to be used in a suicide attack on US troops in the final hours of the Kabul evacuation.

'This was a righteous strike,' said Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark A. Milley last week, claiming that Ahmadi was an 'ISIS facilitator'.

In a statement to DailyMail.com on Friday, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stood by the intelligence assessment that led to the strike, but did not deny there were civilian casualties.

'U.S. Central Command continues to assess the results of the airstrike in Kabul on August 29. We won't get ahead of that assessment,' said Kirby.

'However, as we have said, no other military works harder than we do to prevent civilian casualties,' he added.

'Additionally, as Chairman Milley said, the strike was based on good intelligence, and we still believe that it prevented an imminent threat to the airport and to our men and women that were still serving at the airport,' the spokesman said.

The drone strike occurred at the home where Ahmadi lived with three of his brothers and their families.

Notably absent from Blinken's testimony was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who was also invited to appear.

In his opening remarks on Monday, committee chair Sen. Bob Menendez said he was 'very disappointed' Austin declined to testify Tuesday.

'A full accounting of the US response to this crisis is not complete without the Pentagon. Especially when it comes to understanding the complete collapse of the U.S. Trained and funded Afghan military,' Menendez said.

He warned Austin's decision would affect his 'personal judgement' on nominees to other Pentagon positions.

The New Jersey senator threatened to subpoena the Defense chief if he didn't testify willingly.

'I expect the secretary will avail himself to the committee in the near future and if he does not, I may consider use of committee subpoena power to compel him and others over the course of the last 20 years to testify,' he said.

Ranking member Sen. Jim Risch shared Menendez's sentiment, calling Austin's refusal 'disheartening.'

'The debacle in Afghanistan is an interagency failure and the fact that you're the only one stepping up is disheartening,' Risch told Blinken.

After the US left Kabul, Republican lawmakers claimed the American military left the Taliban with $83 billion of military gear, citing known reports about how much was given over the 20-year mission.

Pressed on how much military equipment was left behind by the US military, Blinken estimated 'about $80 billion' was handed to the Afghan military over the last 20 years.

'Of that equipment that remains, as you know it was given to the Afghan security force and of course so that is now in the hands of the Taliban,' he said.

Senate Republicans seized on the figure.

'So the administration continued with their plans of withdrawal, of evacuation of surrender, knowing that Taliban would be in control of $80 billion worth of sophisticated equipment at the end of that, correct?' GOP Senator Ron Johnson asked.

Blinken echoed US Central Command chief General McKenzie, who said immediately after the withdrawal that a number of military jets and vehicles left at Kabul airport were rendered 'inoperable' before troops left.

'Other pieces of equipment will become inoperable because there is no ability on the the part of the Taliban to maintain it,' Blinken added.

At the hearing Blinken was hammered over the chaotic withdrawal and $80 billion in military equipment Republican senators now say is in the hands of the Taliban

Blinken repeatedly maintained that much of the equipment left behind was rendered 'inoperable'

'None of it to the best of my knowledge poses a strategic threat to us or any neighbors.'

Later in the hearing, Senator Rand Paul suggested the US deduct the $80 billion figure from the $10 billion in aid to Afghanistan currently being held, contingent on the Taliban's behavior in the eyes of the international community.

Paul added, 'Then they're minus 70 still.'

'The fact that you're entertaining good behavior that they'll get more money, I think, is a big mistake and a naive notion that we're going to somehow change this stone age philosophy by giving them more of our money.'

Senator Ted Cruz, D-Texas asked Blinken about reports of 'a list or multiple lists' of Americans and vulnerable Afghans being handed over to the Taliban - which Biden critics seized on as a 'hit list.'

But the secretary bristled at Cruz's accusation.

'Those reports and the idea that we would do anything to endanger our citizens or anyone else at time we were trying to save their lives is flat out wrong,' he said.

Blinken stopped Cruz from interrupting his answer, speaking over his attempts with a 'Let me be very clear, senator, if I may please - thank you.'

He continued, 'In limited instances, where we were seeking to get a bus or a group of people through a checkpoint, we gave them manifests to the people at the checkpoint to demonstrate those people -'

Cruz cut him off again.

'--Roughly how many names on the list?' Cruz asked.

Blinken tried to answer, 'Doesn't matter because they -'

The heated exchange continued until a visibly agitated Blinken pointed out that the 'limited instances' in which names were provided to the Taliban saw those individuals pass through their checkpoints successfully.

Cruz then turned his ire toward the US vetting process for refugees, which has come under fire amid reports that young girls arriving at staging areas and US bases with much older men told US officials they'd been forced to marry to escape the Taliban.

Ted Cruz scolded Blinken during the hearing, telling him he and Joe Biden 'own this' crisis

Some even told government officials they'd been sexually abused.

Cruz said the US's improper vetting process allowed a 'humanitarian crisis' to enter the US.

'Child, marriage and domestic abuse tragically are widespread in Afghanistan,' he said.

The Texas Republican referenced a late August report that revealed the State Department 'urgently requested guidance' from Homeland Security on what to do about child brides entering the US.

'My question follows, did you receive that urgent guidance? How many children have been subject to sexual abuse? What have you done to rescue young children from illegal and abusive relationships after being brought to America by the State Department?'

Blinken said he doesn't 'know the guidance' but maintained that officers stationed at Dulles Airport, US military bases and various staging areas and transit points across the world are at 'extreme vigilance' for such cases.

After further pressure he said there was 'a handful' of cases he was aware of in which US officials separated people over the concern.

Also during the hearing Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney asked if the Taliban still held their 'sympathy and collaboration' for terrorist groups like al Qaeda, amid fears Afghanistan would become a breeding ground for such cells.

Blinken said the militant groups' relationship 'has not been severed.'

'And it is a very open question as to whether their views an the relationship has changed in any kind of definitive way,' he explained.

But he appeared to issue a thinly veiled threat to the militants, whose previous regime was toppled by American forces in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks.

'They do know that the last time they harbored Al Qaeda and it engaged in an outwardly direct attack on our homeland, certain things followed which I believe they would have an interest in not seeing repeated,' Blinken said.

He added, 'And ISIS K is a different thing because the Taliban and ISIS-K are sworn enemies.'

But Blinken's confirmation of the Taliban and al Qaeda's active ties comes just days after al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared in a video commemorating 20 years after 9/11 - shattering the belief that he died months prior.

In his opening statement Blinken again blamed US citizens for getting stranded in Afghanistan, repeating that the State Department sent '19 specific messages' to Americans there, urging them to leave.

He added the department offered 'financial assistance to pay for plane tickets.'

'Despite this efforts, at the time of the evacuation began, there were still thousands of Americans in Afghanistan - almost all of whom were evacuated by August 31,' the Biden official said.

But after the US wrapped its military withdrawal at the end of August, Blinken revealed that at least 100 Americans had been left behind.

On Tuesday Blinken said a 'diplomatic mission' was still in place working to get those people out.

He revealed the US was working with Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to facilitate Americans 'crossing into their countries' as the evacuation continues.

'We would have consular officials surged in the necessary places to handle people coming out in that fashion,' he added.

He made similar comments earlier in September during a press briefing on that same 'diplomatic mission.'

'For many months, going back to March, we issued 19 different notices to those registered with he embassy, as I said encouraging them and then urging them to leave Afghanistan,' he said on September 3.

During a grilling from ranking member Sen. Jim Risch Blinken confirmed reports that the Biden administration was warned in mid-July that Kabul would rapidly fall to the Taliban.

'I certainly received this cable and in mid-July. I read it. I responded to it. I factored its contents into my thinking,' Blinken answered.

He denied that the cable warned how quickly the Afghan government and military would collapse though he conceded it expressed 'real concerns' over the government's durability after the US departure.

Blinken added that one 'very good recommendation' Biden officials took into consideration was to continue efforts expediting the evacuation of special immigrant visa applicants

'That is the problem with us not having access to the cable. We were told by others it was significantly different than what you are saying,' Risch replied.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio also grilled Blinken on what the government knew and when it knew it.

'We have every reason to believe and to plan for the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Afghan military,' Rubio said.

'This is not an argument in favor of staying. I think that ship has sailed. We're not debating the withdrawal. What I'm arguing is we have a terrible status quo and the Afghan government after billions of dollars and was not self-sustaining. And we should begin to know as we draw down, that we'll see the potential for a collapse, and that is what all of the pieces pointed to as well.'

Blinken said a Taliban takeover after the US left was a 'worst case scenario' in February and upgraded to a possibility 'by the end of the year' in July.

'Nothing that I saw, that I saw, that we saw suggested that this government and security force would collapse in a matter of 11 days. And you're right that I think we need to look back at all of this,' he said.

Romney piled on Rubio's questioning, telling Blinken that Kabul falling to the Taliban 'was a significant probability that should have been planned for.'

At another point in the hearing, GOP Senator Ron Johnson pressed Blinken on the US decision to withdraw but interrupted the Biden official's answer, dismissing it as 'bureaucratic speak.'

On Tuesday Blinken also urged the Senate to quickly confirm President Biden's State Department nominees involved in national security, citing the ever-present risk of attacks.

'It is essential that we accelerate the process for national security appointments since a catastrophic attack could occur with little or no notice,' Blinken told the committee.

Senator Bob Menendez, the committee's Democratic chairman, asked the Senate on Monday to confirm four of some 80 State Department nominees now pending before the Senate, many of them being blocked by Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Blinken sat before lawmakers after he was criticized by one Republican representative on Monday for testifying via video during his hearing before the House.

Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania asked Blinken if he 'couldn't be bothered to come down here and see Congress?' on Monday.

'All right, that's great,' he added.

Blinken replied that his understanding was the House was not in session.

'I'm right here, Mr. Secretary, so is the chairman and ranking member,' Perry interrupted. 'We're here!'
Arizona on Tuesday filed suit against President Biden's vaccine mandate by arguing it is unfair because migrants at the southern border are not required to get the jab.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is running in a crowded GOP primary to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, claimed the president is illegally favoring unlawful migrants, who are offered a jab but not required to take it.

Meanwhile, federal workers are required to get vaccinated and businesses with 100 or more employees must require a vaccine or a weekly Covid-19 test, according to Biden's order. Employers that do not comply could face a $14,000 fine.

In the suit, the attorney general argued that the vaccine mandate violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Arizona has filed suit against President Joe Biden's vaccination mandates

Biden's new vaccine rules for private employers will affect about 80 million workers in the US

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is running in a crowded primary to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, claimed the president is illegally favoring unlawful migrants, who are offered a jab but not required to take it

'Migrants who cross the southern border illegally are not subject to any vaccination requirements even when released directly into the United States,' Brnovich said in a statement

'Migrants who cross the southern border illegally are not subject to any vaccination requirements even when released directly into the United States,' Brnovich said in a statement.

'This reflects an unmistakable -- and unconstitutional -- brand of favoritism in favor of illegal migrants.'

Undocumented immigrants, too, would be required to take the vaccine or adhere to the testing scheme if they seek employment.

'The federal government cannot force people to get the Covid-19 vaccine,' Brnovich added. 'The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda.'

The attorney general of Arizona, which borders Mexico, asked a US District Court to declare the vaccination mandate unconstitutional.

Brnovich's suit is the first of many expected challenges to Biden's new vaccine rules, which some Republicans have deemed unconstitutional.

Asked last week about legal challenges to the strict new vaccination rules, a defiant Biden said: 'Have at it.'

The new vaccine rules for private employers will affect about 80 million workers in the US.

Roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated, as will another approximately 2 million federal workers. Congress and their staff are not required to take the vaccine as they do not fall under the executive branch, and neither are workers in federal courts.
anel concluded that at times a significant amount of cleavage would be visible

atika Lawrence, 28, tried to sue bosses at daycare centre in London but failed

A nursery worker who was told she was showing too much cleavage lost her sex discrimination claim.

Latika Lawrence tried to sue her bosses but failed after an employment tribunal concluded that a male colleague with too many undone shirt buttons would have been similarly chastised.

Miss Lawrence, 28, took offence after her manager said her tight fitting dress left too much breast on show.

The tribunal was told that staff at the Bundles of Joy daycare centre in Streatham, south London, were required to wear a conservative uniform including a pink polo shirt, black trousers and flat shoes.

Latika Lawrence, 28, tried to sue her bosses at a daycare centre in Streatham, south London, but failed after an employment tribunal concluded that a male colleague with too many undone shirt buttons would have been similarly chastised (file photo)

But the panel heard no polo shirts were available in Miss Lawrences size so she instead wore a figure-hugging black dress with a scoop neck, which was quite short.

The tribunal was told she had large breasts and wore large or extra large bras but that her build was far from unusual.

The panel concluded that at times a significant amount of cleavage would be visible.

They noted: Because of the nature of the dress, the amount of [her] body that it covered depended on what [Miss Lawrence] was doing. The dress could ride up her legs, making it quite short. It could also ride down on the chest thus appearing quite low-cut, revealing some of [her] cleavage.

They added that the job of a nursery nurse was an active one and involved bending over.

The tribunal heard that owner Zara Ahmed had recently taken over following a disappointing Ofsted report.

The tribunal was told that staff at the daycare centre were required to wear a conservative uniform including a pink polo shirt, black trousers and flat shoes (file photo)

A council specialist who visited in January 2019 advised her to speak to Miss Lawrence as the amount of cleavage visible was unprofessional at a nursery.

At a meeting, Mrs Ahmed told Miss Lawrence her dress was too low cut. But Miss Lawrence, who raised a grievance and resigned in May 2019, told the tribunal that her boss had said her boobs were too big. The panel rejected this along with her claims of victimisation and sexual harassment.

It found that Mrs Ahmed had simply said she had too much breast on show, a comment that employment judge Daniel Dyal said was entirely reasonable.

He said the conventional but conservative uniform was gender neutral and the nursery would have applied the same standards to a man.
Three former U.S. intelligence and military operatives have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described Tuesday as the first of its kind.

The defendants - Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke - are accused of working as senior managers at a UAE-based company that conducted hacking operations on behalf of the government. Prosecutors say the men provided hacking and intelligence-gathering systems that were used to break into computers in the United State and elsewhere in the world.

The case, in federal court in Washington, accuses the former U.S. officials of violating American laws related to export control and computer fraud. It appears to be part of a growing trend highlighted just months ago by the CIA of foreign governments hiring former U.S. intelligence operatives to bolster their own spycraft - a practice officials have said risks exposing information about U.S. secrets.

Three former U.S. intelligence and military operatives agreed to pay a fine of nearly $2 million and admitted they gave hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates

The charges were filed under a deferred prosecution agreement that, in addition to requiring a $1.68 million payment, will also force the men to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation and to sever any ties with any UAE intelligence or law enforcement agencies. If they comply with those terms for three years, the Justice Department will not move forward with any prosecution.

As part of the agreement, the three men did not dispute any of the facts alleged by prosecutors.

The Justice Department described it as the 'first-of-its-kind resolution of an investigation into two distinct types of criminal activity,' including providing unlicensed technology for hacking.

'Hackers-for-hire and those who otherwise support such activities in violation of U.S. law should fully expect to be prosecuted for their criminal conduct,' Mark Lesko, acting assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement.

'This agreement is the first-of-its-kind resolution of an investigation into two distinct types of criminal activity: providing unlicensed export-controlled defense services in support of computer network exploitation, and a commercial company creating, supporting and operating systems specifically designed to allow others to access data without authorization from computers worldwide, including in the United States,' said Lesko.

Prosecutors said the trio left a U.S.-based company that was operating in the UAE to joined an Emerati company that would give them 'significant increases' in their salaries.

Lori Stroud, a former National Security Agency employee, said she worked with the three men in the UAE at U.S.-based CyberPoint and then for UAE-owned DarkMatter

The trio did work in Abu Dhabi for the United Arab Emirates, after spending years learning about hacking technology in the US

The companies arent named in charging documents, but Lori Stroud, a former National Security Agency employee, said she worked with the three men in the UAE at U.S.-based CyberPoint and then for UAE-owned DarkMatter. The companys founder and CEO, Faisal al-Bannai, told The Associated Press in 2018 that DarkMatter takes part in no hacking, although he acknowledged the firms close business ties to the Emirati government, as well as its hiring of former CIA and NSA analysts.

Stroud said in a Reuters investigation the group ended up 'targeting US persons.'

'I am working for a foreign intelligence agency who is targeting U.S. persons,' she said. 'I am officially the bad kind of spy.

Prosecutors said that between January 2016 and November 2019, the defendants 'expanded the breadth and increased the sophistication' of operations being providing to the UAE government. They bought exploits to break into computers and mobile devices from companies around the world, including those based in the U.S, according to the Justice Department.

According to the government release, the trio got preapproval for their original work.

However, 'between January 2016 and November 2019, the defendants and other ... employees expanded the breadth and increased the sophistication of the ... operations that CIO was providing to the U.A.E. government. For example, over an 18-month period, CIO employees, with defendants support, direction and supervision, created two similar zero-click computer hacking and intelligence gathering systems that leveraged servers in the United States belonging to a U.S. technology company (U.S. Company Two) to obtain remote, unauthorized access to any of the tens of millions of smartphones and mobile devices utilizing a U.S. Company Two-provided operating system.'

That includes one so-called 'zero-click' exploit - which can break into mobile devices without any user interaction - that Baier bought from an unnamed U.S. company in 2016.

Lawyers for Adams and Gericke did not immediately return messages seeking comment, and a lawyer for Baier declined to comment.

The Justice Department described each of them as former U.S. intelligence or military personnel, and said their work for the UAE-based company began after they had left the government. Baier is identified in a 2019 Reuters news story as previously having worked in an elite hacking unit of the NSA.

The CIA warned in a letter earlier this year about 'an uptick in the number of former officers who have disclosed sensitive information about CIA activities, personnel, and tradecraft.'

The letter sent to former CIA officials was signed by Sheetal Patel, the agencys assistant director for counterintelligence. It described as a 'detrimental trend' a practice of foreign governments hiring former intelligence officers 'to build up their spying capabilities.' Some listed examples included using access to CIA information or contacts for business opportunities as well as 'working for state-sponsored intelligence related companies in non-fraternization countries.'

'We ask that you protect yourself and the CIA by safeguarding the classified tradecraft that underpins your enterprise,' Patel wrote.
In the summer of 1940, as the Nazi war machine marched its way across Europe and set its sights on Britain, the RAF braced for the worst.

Young men, in their late teens or early twenties, were trained to fly Spitfires and Hurricanes for the coming Battle for Britain, with others flying Blenheims, Beaufighters and Defiants, becoming the 'aces' who would secure the country's freedom from Hitler's grasp.

But Britain's defiance came at a cost. From an estimated crew of 3,000 pilots, roughly half survived the four-month battle, with 544 Fighter Command pilots and crew among the dead, more than 700 from Bomber Command and almost 300 from Coastal Command falling to secure Britain's skies.

The losses were heavy, but the Germans, who thought they could eradicate the RAF in a matter of weeks, lost more.

2,500 Luftwaffe aircrew were killed in the battle, forcing German Air Command to reconsider how easily Britain would fall to an invading Nazi occupation force.

The pilots who gave everything in the aerial fight for British freedom were named 'The Few', after a speech from Sir Winston Churchill, who said: 'The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion.

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'



'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' (pictured: An aerial photograph of Spitfires)

After the fall of France to the Axis in May 1940, German High Command considered how best to push the fight across the English Channel to take Britain out of the fight.

Up until mid-July the German campaign consisted of relatively small-scale day and night air raids, targeting towns, aerodromes, ports and the aircraft industry.

But the Luftwaffe was at full readiness, ready to ramp up attacks on ships and ports and eliminate the RAF in the air and on the ground.

After the Allies were defeated in western mainland Europe, the German Air Force set up bases near the Channel to more readily take on Britain, hurriedly establishing the infrastructure needed to co-ordinate an aerial conflict with the UK.

As the Battle of Britain begun, the Royal Air Force consistently downed more Axis aircraft than they lost, but British fighters were often overwhelmed by the greater number of enemy aircraft.

Pictured: One of the most iconic images of the summer of 1940 and the fight above Dunkirk, with Squadron 610's F/Lt Ellis pictured at the head of his section in DW-O, Sgt Arnfield in DW-K and F/O Warner in DW-Q

Fighting in France and Norway had left British squadrons weakened as the time now came to defend the homeland from Nazi occupation, but as the year went on, the RAF's fighting force increased in strength, with more pilots, aircraft and operational squadrons being made available.

The Luftwaffe started a mounting campaign of daylight bombing raids, targeting strategic targets such as shipping convoys, ports, and airfields - and probing inland to force RAF squadrons to engage in an attempt to exhaust them.

German air units also stepped up night raids across the West, Midlands and East Coast, targeting the aircraft industry with the objective of weakening Britain's Home Defence system, especially that of Fighter Command, in order to prepare for a full-scale aerial assault in August.

Heavy losses were sustained on both sides.

The main Luftwaffe assault against the RAF, named 'Adler Tag' (Eagle Day), was postponed from August 10 to three days later due to poor weather.

Hawker Hurricane planes from No 111 Squadron RAF based at Northolt in flight formation, circa 1940

Pictured: Squadron 610's fighter pilots, a unit which witnessed some of the most intensive aerial combat in the Second World War (taken at RAF Acklington, in Northumberland, between 17-19 September 1940)

The Germans' plan was to make RAF Fighter Command abandon south east England within four days and defeat British aerial forces completely in four weeks.

The Luftwaffe battled ruthlessly in an attempt to exhaust Fighter Command through ceaseless attacks on ground installations, which were moved further inland, with airfields in southern England facing intensive daylight raids while night attacks targeted ports, shipping targets and the aircraft industry.

But despite sustaining heavy damage across the south, Fighter Command continued to push back against the Germans in a series of air battles, which inflicted critical losses upon the enemy, who thought the RAF would have been exhausted by this point.

Both sides feared becoming exhausted through the constant engagements.

Pictured: German plans to invade Britain, if naval and air superiority was achieved

Focus of the German attacks then shifted to London, where the RAF would lose 248 and the Luftwaffe would lose 322 between August 26 and September 6.

By September London had become the primary target of Luftwaffe aggression, with large-scale round-the-clock attacks carried out by large bomber formations with fighter escorts.

German Air Command had still not exhausted the RAF as it had hoped to, and British forces continued to face off against their German counterparts, with Fighter Command pushing back Hitler's forces, forcing German invasion plans to be postponed.

By October, it had become apparent to the Germans that the RAF was still very much intact, and the Luftwaffe struck against Britain with single-engined modified fighter-bombers, which were hard to catch upon entry and still dangerous on their way out.

By the middle of the month German strategy had pivoted from exhausting the RAF to a ruthless bombing campaign targeting the Government, civilian population and the war economy - with London still the primary target.

But as of November, London became less of a target, with the Battle of Britain morphing into a new conflict - the Blitz.
Former President Trump on Tuesday said the United States' top military officer was guilty of treason if he went behind his back and promised to warn China of an impending attack.

He was responding to bombshell revelations in a new book claiming that Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, twice called his Chinese counterpart last year over concerns that then President Trump was ready to go to war.

'If it is actually true - which is hard to believe that he would have called China, and done these things and was willing to advise them of an attack or in advance of an attack - that's treason,' said Trump during an interview with Sean Spicer on Newsmax TV.

Excerpts from 'Peril,' by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, were published on Tuesday suggesting Milley feared Trump would launch a war in the wake of November's election defeat to Joe Biden.

Milley sought to assure Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army that the U.S. was not about to launch strikes in the calls.

In one call he said he would use backchannels to alert his counterpart if an attack were imminent.

The deadlines triggered a wave of condemnation from Republicans who demanded Milley's resignation and accusations of treason.

Senator Marco Rubio wrote a letter to President Biden demanding that he fire Milley 'immediately' for working to 'actively undermine' Trump while retired Lt Col Alexander Vindman argued that the alleged phone calls 'set an extremely dangerous precedent' that 'you can't simply walk away from.'

Tucker Carlson slammed Milley as 'treasonous'

He added: 'How do you describe this? "Deep state" isnt strong enough,' Its treason. Its a crime.'

'To those who say theyre worried about authoritarianism coming in America, well, its here.' 'Thats what this is. Authoritarian government. Government by unelected, unaccountable leaders willing to use violence to preserve their rule.'

An angry Trump said Milley was trying to distract from his own role in Afghanistan.

'I think he's trying to just get out of his incompetent withdrawal out of Afghanistan, the worst, the dumbest thing that anybody's seen ... probably the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to our country,' he said.

Former President Trump accused the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of treason as he responded to claims on Tuesday that Gen Mark Milley told his Chinese counterpart he would warn him of any impending US attack amid

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark Milley phoned his Chinese counterpart to give reassurances two days after the Capitol riot and cautioned US military leaders amid fears Trump might attack to keep power, according to a new book

US intelligence reportedly concluded the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping was concerned about a potential US attack after the Jan. 6 riot

The book's revelations triggered a wave of concern that Milley had violated the chain of command, endangering national security and breaking norms of civilian control of the military

'Peril,' by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa is published by Simon & Schuster on Sept 21

Trump repeated his frequent condemnation of the Biden administration's handling of Afghanistan before returning the allegations in the new book, excerpts of which were published by CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Trump said: 'Milley made it up. he made this story about me attacking China.

'Think of it, I'm going to attack China. What's the reason exactly, other than that they screw a certain trade?

'You don't attack them for that.'

And he described Milley's alleged behavior as 'a disgrace.'

'He was going to inform them when that will take place so they could be prepared,' he said.

'That is a treasonous statement and I cannot tell you how many people called up about it.'

Trump named Milley to the top military post in 2018. However their relationship soured and details of their clashes have seeped into public view with publication of several accounts of the final days of the Trump presidency.

Rubio wrote in his letter to Biden: '[Milley] worked to actively undermine the sitting Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces and contemplated a treasonous leak of classified information to the Chinese Communist Party in advance of a potential armed conflict with the People's Republic of China (PRC).

'These actions by General Milley demonstrate a clear lack of sound judgement, and I urge you to dismiss him immediately.'

He added: 'General Milley has attempted to rationalize his reckless behavior by arguing that what he perceived as the military's judgement was more stable than its civilian commander. You must immediately dismiss General Milley. America's national security and ability to lead in the world are at stake.'

Vindman tweeted: 'If this is true GEN Milley must resign. He usurped civilian authority, broke Chain of Command, and violated the sacrosanct principle of civilian control over the military. Its an extremely dangerous precedent. You cant simply walk away from that.'

Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said Milley 'should resign' if he negotiated with his Chinese counterpart and undermined Trump.

He told Fox Primetime host Lawrence Jones: 'You give me about 15 minutes with Gen. Milley under oath, in front of a committee of the United States Senate, and I will get to the truth.'

'If the truth is as alleged then, yes, he should resign.'

The latest account details how Milley took a series of extraordinary actions after the Jan. 6th Capitol riot because he was concerned an 'unstable' President Trump might undertake military action in a desperate bid to stay in office.

Milley met top military officials in the Pentagon two days after the MAGA riot and told them to keep him in the process for all military actions, including the use of nuclear weapons.

'If you get calls, no matter who theyre from, theres a process here, theres a procedure. No matter what you are told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I'm part of that procedure,' he told reportedly told them.

He feared Trump was suffering 'serious mental decline,' according to the book, which relies on Woodward's well-established methods of relying on 'deep background' information provided sources, some of them anonymously, as well as documents and interviews, to attempt to reconstruct events and conversations..

'The strict procedures are explicitly designed to avoid inadvertent mistakes or accident or nefarious, unintentional, illegal, immoral, unethical launching of the worlds most dangerous weapons,' he continued.

'Got it?' Milley asked his team members. 'Yes, sir,' they replied, in an exchange Milley considered 'an oath.'

Milley also told CIA Director Gina Haspel: 'Aggressively watch everything, 360.'

Just as stunning were Milley's reported actions that same date to the head of China's powerful military, to reassure his counterpart that the US was not going to attack China and set off a clash with a major nuclear power. His message, despite his own doubts about Trump's mental state, was that 'everything's fine.'

'Things may look unsteady,' Milley told Gen. Li. 'But that's the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100 percent steady. Everything's fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.'

The military did not want an incident to set off a war with the major nuclear power

Milley was concerned Trump might take military action in a desperate move to retain power

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel

Milley called China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Li Zuocheng to provide reassurances

Milley was concerned Trump might go rogue, having run out of legal options to stay in office. Trump had called the election 'rigged' and spoke at a rally before supporters ransacked the Capitol

It was Milley's second call to his counterpart in the final months of the Trump administration. US intelligence concluded the Chinese believed Trump might launch a military strike in order create a basis to stay in power, after an election Trump claimed was fraudulent, despite a series of court and procedural defeats that had him running out of options.

Milley had earlier called Li in October amid ongoing tensions over the South China Straight, and Trump's rhetoric targeting China.

Milley feared Trump might seek to use such an attack to achieve a Reichstag fire type incident, where he would cite the dangerous new situation to cling to power. Milley afterward concluded Li was 'unusually rattled.'

According to the book, Milley even promised his counterpart there would be no surprises. They had reportedly established relations through a backchannel.

'General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If were going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise,' Milley reportedly told him.

The book quotes Milley expressing concerns Trump might launch a strike that could lead to war. Trump campaigned repeatedly ending Middle East wars he called a waste, and negotiated a departure date with the Taliban in Afghanistan before leaving office.

'I continually reminded him, depending on where and what you strike, you could find yourself at war,' the book quotes Milley as saying of Trump.

A president can only initiate a nuclear strike through a complex procedure that involves multiple layers of officials, coordinated through the National Military Command Center.

Milley reminded officers of the process involved in authorizing military strikes

Milley also spoke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had publicly raised her own fears about Trump's access to nuclear weapons immediately after the riot, which came on a day Congress met to count the electoral votes to make Joe Biden president.

'This is bad, but who knows what he might do?' Pelosi said. 'He's crazy. You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time. So don't say you don't know what his state of mind is.'

The authors cite a transcript of the call.

Milley responded, according to the book: ' Madam Speaker. I agree with you on everything.'

Pelosi told him: 'What I'm saying to you is that if they couldn't even stop him from an assault on the Capitol, who even knows what else he may do? And is there anybody in charge at the White House who was doing anything but kissing his fat butt all over this?'

'You know he's crazy. He's been crazy for a long time,' she told him.

Milley's efforts to give himself the opportunity to potentially head off a strike or a war appears to have been triggered by his call with Pelosi. According to the transcript, she asked him 'what precautions are available to prevent an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or from accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike?'

Milley then vouched for 'a lot of checks in the system.'

Haspel had raised her own concerns after Trump refused to accept the results of the November election. 'We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum,' she told him.

'This is a highly dangerous situation. We are going to lash out for his ego?' she told Milley in a call.

The maneuvering came at a time after Milley had first accompanied Trump during his infamous photo-op shortly before authorities cleared protesters from Lafayette Square during Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. He then apologized for having participated in the event in uniform.
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Boris Johnson told weary Britons he could not rule out another winter lockdown yesterday as his doom-mongering advisors warned of a potential seven-fold increase in hospitalisations within weeks, despite cases currently remaining static.

Experts have told the PM he must be prepared to 'go hard, go early' if cases start to tick up, bringing back rules such as working from home with as little as a week's notice.

Mr Johnson said compulsory masks and vaccine passports could still be rapidly imposed if the jab programme fails to hold the virus at bay.

The PM claimed the 'smaller changes' in a new 'Plan B' should mean 'we don't need to go back to the lockdowns of the past'.

But he refused to rule one out, saying he would do whatever was necessary to 'prevent the overwhelming of the NHS'.

It comes as the Government's scientific advisers warned the number of patients being admitted to hospital with Covid could rise to 7,000 a day within weeks.

Despite the recent flattening off in cases and little sign of a post-summer surge, modellers from a Sage sub-committee claimed daily hospitalisations could reach almost double their January peak.

The predicted total is worse than last year and seven times that of the latest figures  which show the number admitted in England was just 1,009.

Yet the Sage modellers called on ministers to be prepared to abandon their 'light-touch' measures and bring in fresh curbs soon or risk a major increase in cases and hospitalisations, due to children returning to school and workers going back to the office.

The warnings came as:

Infections fell 14 per cent in a week despite schools returning. 26,628 new cases yesterday with 185 deaths;

Chris Whitty argued with Nicki Minaj after saying she should be 'ashamed' for spreading a vaccine scare story;

Sajid Javid said that it was 'highly likely' that frontline NHS staff would be required to have the Covid-19 jab;

He warned people to keep wearing masks and meeting up outdoors this autumn to help slow the virus' spread;

Mr Johnson hinted fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to get a costly PCR test when they get home;

Businesses were warned they may get a week's notice of the introduction of mandatory vaccine passports;

Employment rates jumped back to pre-pandemic levels.

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance (pictured from left to right) during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus on Tuesday

The number of patients being admitted to hospital with Covid could rise to 7,000 a day within weeks, the Government's scientific advisers warned in a gloomy prediction

The predicted total is worse than last year and seven times that of the latest figures  which show the number admitted in England was just 1,009

Pubs, shops and small business warn of the PM's 'Plan B' Pubs, shops and small businesses have blasted Boris Johnson's 'Plan B' to deal with the coronavirus pandemic over the winter. Experts said a return to working from home would cripple the economy and come at the worst possible time when companies are getting back on their feet. They welcomed Plan A of the document the PM outlined this evening but warned the alternative would have 'significant and drastic impacts'. UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: 'It's critical for the recovery of the hospitality sector and the wider economy that businesses are allowed to continue to operate in viable conditions throughout this winter. 'Hospitality venues are still in a fragile state with significant debts, making their first steps on the road to recovery and rebuilding broken balance sheets, any setbacks over the coming months will result in more businesses closures. The announcement from the Secretary of State, the continued focus on vaccination roll out and boosters, is much welcome, as their success has been critical to protecting our healthcare system while allowing for the reopening of the economy and businesses to trade without restrictions. 'However, we must caution Government that the introduction of those measures that are left in reserve for this winter, would have significant and drastic impacts on the sector. The use of vaccine passports, logistically unworkable and with questionable effectiveness, will have a devastating effect on nightclubs and large-scale events. 'These sectors have been hit hardest and have been at the very back of the queue for reopening and such measures would severely undermine their profitability and ability to recover over the winter months. Similarly, work from home orders or guidance would have a significant impact on our city and town centres, not only damaged by restrictions and enforced closures but also significantly reduced footfall.' Advertisement

Government scientists have urged the PM to move further and faster even though cases of the coronavirus are falling.

Speaking alongside the PM in Downing Street, Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance said: 'When you make a move, you have to go earlier than you want to and harder than you want to. It is important that measures are early enough and significant enough.'

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also issued a grim assessment, warning winter was on its way  with the health service already under 'extreme pressure'.

Mr Johnson said the success of the vaccine programme meant Britain was 'incomparably better placed' than before to deal with the virus.

He said his 'Plan A' was to focus on vaccinations  with top-up jabs for 33million over-50s by Christmas  while encouraging cautious behaviour day to day.

But ministers fear that, with more than five million adults in England unvaccinated, hospitals could still fill up with Covid cases in the coming months.

The threat of new curbs last night dismayed Tory MPs, who urged Mr Johnson to stick to his aim of helping Britain 'learn to live with Covid'.

Mr Javid was heckled by some MPs on his own side as he unveiled the threat of new Covid curbs in the House of Commons.

Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs, warned Plan B would 'cause significant disruption to businesses and costs to the economy'.

He added: 'The Government had an opportunity to set out how we can live with an endemic virus that will be with us for ever. Instead, we got a slippery slope towards more restrictions that many fear is already a foregone conclusion.'

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said Covid scientists appeared to be 'back in charge' of the Government's agenda.

Warnings of another clampdown came in the 32-page 'Autumn and Winter Covid Plan' published yesterday.

The official document stressed the huge benefits of virus vaccinations, reinforced by a massive booster programme for adults and jabs for 12 to 15-year-olds.

Sir Patrick said it was clear that immunity was 'waning' and that top-ups would have a 'very big knock-on effect' on curbing infection and hospitalisation rates.

Plan A included advising people on how to limit the risk of spreading the virus in their day-to-day lives. And mandatory isolation will remain in place for those who test positive. Mass testing will also continue.

Despite the recent flattening off in cases and little sign of a post-summer surge, modellers from a Sage sub-committee claimed daily hospitalisations could reach almost double their January peak (file photo)

Experts warn of confusion over Covid jabs for children Confusion over jabs for children deepened last night as experts admitted the issue was a 'grey area' that will cause 'uncertainty' among parents. Professor Anthony Harnden said the decision over whether to offer the vaccine to 12 to 15-year-olds 'isn't black and white'  and acknowledged that inconsistent advice on the benefits and risks will cause 'uncertainty, hesitation and debate' among families. The deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said it was important parents were 'properly informed' and that their decision should be respected. The UK's four chief medical officers gave the expanded rollout the go-ahead on Monday, but the JCVI had previously said the benefits were too marginal to justify the move. Advertisement

Downing Street declined to say when Plan B might be introduced. But scientists have previously suggested that the NHS would begin to struggle if total hospital cases top 10,000. Latest figures yesterday showed the total is 8,413 after dropping below 1,000 in May.

Professor Whitty and Sir Patrick both highlighted hospitalisation numbers as a critical factor.

The plan also makes the case for ordering millions of office staff to work from home again on a 'temporary' basis, although Government sources said this would only follow a review of the impact on the economy. The document also left open the door to another potential lockdown.

Kate Nicholls, of the trade body UK Hospitality, welcomed the initial focus on vaccinations, but warned that 'those measures that are left in reserve for this winter, would have significant and drastic impacts on the sector'.

She said vaccine passports were 'logistically unworkable' and would have a 'devastating effect' on sectors that had already been hit hardest by the pandemic.

The CBI gave a cautious welcome to the Plan A proposals, saying: 'Business is clear that the Government must leave no stone unturned in its efforts to keep the economy open.'

In a newly released document from the Sage sub-committee, they propose a basket of measures to keep the epidemic under control.

These include more mask wearing, continued home working, more widespread testing and a return to all contacts of cases self-isolating.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left)and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (right) speak at Downing Street this afternoon

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (left) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street this afternoon

Fully vaccinated people who get breakthrough infections are HALF as likely to develop long Covid as those who haven't had their shots, study finds In addition to protecting against severe disease and death from COVID-19, the vaccines also protect against long Covid, a new study suggests. Scientists in the UK found that fully vaccinated Brits who got breakthrough cases were about half as likely to report long Covid symptoms as unvaccinated people who were infected. In addition, the researchers found that just 0.2 percent of study patients who were fully vaccinated later tested positive for Covid - demonstrating the vaccines' ability to prevent infection. The study was based on self-reported symptoms from a Covid tracking app, and further research is needed to back up these findings. But Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), called the study 'encouraging' in a commentary article on Tuesday. Advertisement

Modelling by Sage  which has become infamous for its gloomy predictions  warned that hospital admissions could hit 2,000 to 7,000 in England next month.

This far surpasses the winter peak of 4,309 on January 11.

The warning comes despite the fact that the number of new Covid cases reported has fallen week-on-week, according to latest figures.

The Sage documents say: 'With the current levels of high prevalence combined with unknown behaviours, the burden on health and care settings could rise very quickly.'

While acknowledging that jabs have tamed the virus, they said 'it could be a very difficult winter ahead' if acute Covid combines with other pressures such as long Covid or other infections such as flu.

According to the document, the modellers expect R  the number of people an infected person infects  to rise from about 1 in England to between 1.1 and 1.5 as schools reopen and people return to work.

If so, daily hospitalisations in October could peak at around 2,000 if R is 1.1 and 7,000 if it is 1.5.

Extreme scenarios projecting many more cases are highly unlikely, the modellers add, unless there is a substantial waning of immunity or a new variant emerges.

Sage's models will not have factored in the effect of vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds or giving booster doses to 30 million vulnerable adults, policies that were only announced in the last two days.

Yesterday the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, appearing alongside the Prime Minister at a Downing Street press conference, said it was important to act early to combat the virus.

'The principles, which have been really clear, are when you make a move you have to go earlier than you think you want to, you have to go harder than you think you want to, and you have to have the right geographical coverage,' he added.

He said the UK was now at a 'pivot point' where, if the situation worsens, it could do so rapidly.

NHS Confederation chief Matthew Taylor told the BBC's World at One: 'It's something we have to keep a very careful eye on.

'We've also got to be aware the NHS is facing the backlog of care that's built up over the last 18 months. We are trying to manage Covid, and also address the backlog.'

Nicki Minaj v Boris: Surreal war of words breaks out as US singer sends PM bizarre audio clip with faux British accent after he blasted her for sharing anti-vax impotence myth - before spat with Piers Morgan who branded her 'rudest little madam I ever met'

Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani about Covid-19 jabs

Boris Johnson and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty condemned the pop star's remarks on impotence

Minaj was ridiculed after saying her cousin's friend allegedly became impotent after getting vaccine

After being criticised she hit back in a series of tweets including a message in a comedic British accent

A bizarre war of words has tonight broken out between US singer Nicki Minaj, Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty after she took to social media to share an anti-vax impotence myth.

England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Whitty, and the Prime Minister today criticised the US hit maker for spreading an 'untrue' and 'ridiculous' myth that coronavirus vaccines can cause impotence.

But things took an unexpected turn when the rapper and singer, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, responded to the 'diss' on social media minutes later.

The star posted a bizarre audio clip with a fake British accent mocking Mr Johnson after he criticised her post in a press conference today.

She later rowed with TV presenter Piers Morgan after he also took aim at her over her vaccine comments, while describing her as the 'rudest little madam I ever met'.

It comes after the Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani about the jab as he and the Chief Medical Officer both condemned the remarks by the star, who has not yet been vaccinated.

Minaj had been mocked after telling her 22million Twitter followers last night that her cousin will not get the vaccine because his friend allegedly became impotent after being jabbed and his fiance cancelled their wedding.

The 38-year-old tweeted yesterday: 'My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you're comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.'

Mr Whitty and Mr Johnson both criticised Minaj after being asked about what she said by a reporter during their press conference from Downing Street this afternoon. Minaj then took to Twitter again after watching a video of the two men speaking, saying: 'I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!'

Moment later she recorded an audio message for Mr Johnson in a comedic British accent, tweeting: 'Send this to the Prime Minister and let him know they lied on me. I forgive him. No one else. Only him.'

She said: 'Yes, hello Prime Minister, Boris, it's Nicki Minaj - I was just calling to tell you that you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I'm actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. I went to Oxford.

'I went to school with Margaret Thatcher. And she told me so many nice things about you. I'd love to send you my portfolio of my work, since you don't know much about me, I'm a big, big star in the United States.'

Minaj then called Laura Kuenssberg a 'dumbo' after the BBC News political editor quoted her 'diss' tweet, saying: '2021 everyone.' Minaj responded to this message by saying: 'Yes 2021 when jack asses hang on to my every tweet but can't decipher sarcasm & humor, and can't read. Go away dumbo.'

The singer then changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan, who she also became embroiled in a row with.

The presenter wrote: 'Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly Nicki Minaj (one of the rudest little madams I've ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today - but it's most welcome. She's peddling lies that will cost lives.'

Minaj then replied saying she had never met the former Good Morning Britain host - though Twitter users later posted pictures showing them appearing on America's Got Talent together.

She said: 'Sir I've never met you. I know we all look alike. 'Rudest little madam'. I like it. Has a special ring to it. Thanks Pierce. Love the accent. I'd love to come chat. Scones. Tea. Clown nose & big red shoes for you.'

But she also tweeted the wrong Piers - instead tweeting Protocal editor-at-large David Pierce, who joked: 'I get incorrectly tagged in a lot of wrong tweets but this one is going to be ... particularly bad.'

Mr Morgan, having found Minaj's Tweet, responded saying the Starships singer had blanked his three sons while appearing a guest on America's Got Talent - which he was hosting at the time - saying she was 'too busy'.

Nicki Minaj claimed that her cousin won't get the vaccine because his friend allegedly became impotent after being jabbed

The singer later changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan (pictured right), who she also became embroiled in a row with

Minaj was ridiculed over a tweet about her cousin's friend yesterday which was condemned by Mr Whitty and the PM

Minaj then took to Twitter again today, after watching a video of Mr Whitty and Mr Johnson speaking in London

Moments later Minaj recorded an audio message to Mr Johnson in a comedic British accent

Minaj called Laura Kuenssberg a 'dumbo' after the BBC News political editor quoted her 'diss' tweet, saying: '2021 everyone'

The singer then changed her Twitter bio to 'Rudest little madam' with a British flag in response to a Tweet by Piers Morgan, who she also became embroiled in a row with

Minaj then replied saying she had never met the former Good Morning Britain host - though Twitter users later posted pictures showing them appearing on America's Got Talent together.

What did Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty say? Boris Johnson 'I'm not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be, but I am familiar with Nikki Kanani, superstar GP of Bexley who's appeared many times before you who will tell you that vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them. So I prefer to listen to Nikki Kanani.' Chris Whitty 'There are a number of myths that fly around with varying some of which are just clearly ridiculous, and some of which are clearly designed just to scare. That happens to be one of them. That is untrue. 'My own strong suggestion to media present and not present is repeating them in public actually gives them credence which they don't need. They're untrue, full stop. If you think about where we are actually overall the great majority of people are getting vaccinated, so the great majority of people are ignoring these myths. 'And if you talking about people in their 50s and 60s and 70s, you're talking about over 90 per cent of people getting vaccinated, and very few people actually are actively in the anti-vaxx group. There are a few people who've got strange beliefs, and fine, and they make their own choices, and in a sense, also fine, people, adults are allowed to make their own choices. However strange that is a basic principle of medical ethics actually. 'But there are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves. And many of those people, I regret to say, I think know they are peddling untruths and, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed. And I'll leave it at that.' Nicki Minaj 'I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!' 'Send this to the Prime Minister and let him know they lied on me. I forgive him. No one else. Only him.' 'Yes, hello Prime Minister, Boris, it's Nicki Minaj - I was just calling to tell you that you were so amazing on the news this morning. And I'm actually British. I was born there. I went to university there. 'I went to Oxford. I went to school with Margaret Thatcher. And she told me so many nice things about you. I'd love to send you my portfolio of my work, since you don't know much about me, I'm a big, big star in the United States.' Advertisement

During the press conference, the Prime Minister said: 'I'm not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be.

'But I am familiar with Nikki Kanani, superstar GP of Bexley who's appeared many times before you, who will tell you that vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them. So I prefer to listen to Nikki Kanani.'

And Mr Whitty said: 'There are a number of myths that fly around with varying some of which are just clearly ridiculous, and some of which are clearly designed just to scare. That happens to be one of them. That is untrue.

'My own strong suggestion to media present and not present is repeating them in public actually gives them credence which they don't need. They're untrue, full stop.

'If you think about where we are actually overall the great majority of people are getting vaccinated, so the great majority of people are ignoring these myths.

'And if you talking about people in their 50s and 60s and 70s, you're talking about over 90 per cent of people getting vaccinated, and very few people actually are actively in the anti-vaxx group.

'There are a few people who've got strange beliefs, and fine, and they make their own choices, and in a sense, also fine, people, adults are allowed to make their own choices. However strange that is a basic principle of medical ethics actually.

'But there are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves.

'And many of those people, I regret to say, I think know they are peddling untruths and, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed. And I'll leave it at that.'

Reacting to Mr Whitty's comments, DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan tweeted: 'Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly @NICKIMINAJ (one of the rudest little madams I've ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today - but it's most welcome. She's peddling lies that will cost lives.'

It comes after Minaj revealed this week that she is unvaccinated and was not moved to receive the jab by the Met Gala's attendance requirements.

The chart-topping rapper said she caught Covid while preparing for the MTV Video Music Awards, which took place on Sunday.

Guests at the Met Gala - a glamorous event in New York City known as fashion's biggest night - were reportedly required to be fully vaccinated in order to attend.

Minaj, who pulled out of the VMAs, told fans on Twitter she was still researching vaccines.

She tweeted: 'They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won't for the Met.

'It'll be once I feel I've done enough research. I'm working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one.'

Top Trumps: Nicki Minaj, Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty Nicki Minaj Age: 38 Born: Port of Spain - Trinidad and Tobago Height: 5ft2in Education: LaGuardia, New York Children: 1 Platinum albums: 4 Movie credits: 4 General election wins: 0 Net worth: Estimated 60million Twitter followers: 22.6million Previous job: Waitress at Red Lobster Number of mugs sold with face on: Unknown Well known phrase: 'Let's go to the beach-each. Let's go get a wave.' Boris Johnson Age: 57 Born: New York - United States Height: 5ft7in Education: Eton College and Oxford University Children: 'At least 6' Platinum albums: 0 Movie credits: 0 General election wins: 1 Net work: Estimated 1.5million Twitter followers: 3.6million Previous job: (Before politics) Editor of The Spectator Number of mugs sold with face on: Unknown Well known phrase: 'Get Brexit Done' Chris Whitty Age: 55 Born: Gloucester, England Height: 6ft 2in Education: Malvern College and Oxford University Platinum albums: 0 Movie credits: 0 General election wins: 0 Children: 0 Net Worth: Unknown Twitter followers: 335,000 Previous job: NHS consultant physician Number of mugs sold with face on: At least 900 Well known phrase: 'Next slide please'

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Minaj, whose son will turn one later this month, said Drake, her close friend and superstar rapper, caught Covid despite being vaccinated.

She said: 'I was prepping for vmas then i shot a video & guess who got COVID? Do u know what it is not to be able to kiss or hold your tiny baby for over a week?

'A baby who is only used to his mama? 'get vaccinated' Drake had just told me he got covid w|THE VACCINE tho so chile.'

Minaj, who was criticised for her comments, said she would recommend the vaccine for anyone who needed it for work.

And she said she may need to receive the jab when she starts touring.

In the US, vaccine hesitancy is one of the biggest issues facing Joe Biden's administration.

Last week the president criticised the roughly 80 million unvaccinated Americans and announced sweeping new vaccine requirements.

There have been more than 41 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US, official figures show, with more than 660,000 deaths.

In Britain, it was announced today that booster Covid vaccines will be offered to millions of people from next week alongside annual flu jabs.

Those eligible include anyone aged 50 and over, people living and working in elderly care homes, and frontline health and social care workers.

All those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and anyone aged 16 to 65 in an at-risk group for Covid will also be eligible for a jab.

Impotence is not listed as a potential side effect of the vaccine on the NHS website.

The war of words comes as Mr Johnson's top medical and scientific advisers warned that 'winter is coming' and he might need to 'go early and go hard' with restrictions today - as the PM said compulsory masks and Covid passports are being 'kept in reserve' if booster jabs and vaccines for schoolchildren fails to keep the disease under control.

Fronting a press conference alongside Professor Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the PM insisted that the UK was 'incomparably' better placed to deal with the disease this year.

He said he hoped the situation could be kept stable with more jabs and the public behaving sensibly - although ministers have made clear another lockdown cannot be completely ruled out as a 'last resort'.

But Prof Whitty gave a more downbeat assessment, invoking the famous mantra from hit TV show Game of Thrones by warning that 'winter is coming'.

He said that infections were 'high' relative to last year, and the NHS was under 'extreme pressure' even though vaccines were helping significantly.

Meanwhile, Sir Patrick seemed to send a thinly-veiled message to Mr Johnson by saying that when it comes to measures to stem cases the lesson was 'you have to go earlier than you want to, you have to go harder than you want to'.

The premier was addressing the nation just hours after it emerged his mother had died, and thanked people for their condolences.

But his winter plan has alarmed businesses and enraged Tory MPs, who heckled Sajid Javid in the Commons as he said it includes the 'Plan B' of making masks compulsory 'in certain settings', more working from home and social distancing if the NHS is under threat.

Vaccine passports will stay on the table and could be introduced in England with a week's notice, even though they will not go ahead from next month as originally intended.

There was a boost for Mr Johnson this evening as cases fell 30 per cent week on week to 26,628 and deaths dropped 12 per cent to to 185 - although hospitalisations were up 2 per cent.

The Prime Minister said he would rather listen to NHS England's top GP Nikki Kanani (above)

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (left), Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance (C) walk along Downing Street this afternoon

DailyMail.com US editor-at-large Piers Morgan is among those tweeting about the comments

Despite the tough messaging on the need to be cautious, ministers packed into the Cabinet room this morning with no masks as they were briefed on the contents of the plan.

At his press conference in Downing Street, Mr Johnson insisted less drastic changes could control the outbreaks this time.

'When you've got a large proportion, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we don't have to go back to the lockdowns of the past,' he said.

He added: 'In the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.'

Prof Whitty said the data showed someone in their 30s and unvaccinated was running the same risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to provide an update on international travel ahead of the formal review point on October 1 - with hopes he will scrap the traffic light system and announce PCR tests are being phased out. He is expected to say fully-jabbed holidaymakers will be able to rely on lateral flow versions instead.

But as well as making their views obvious about the return of masks, Tory MPs demanded the government gives up more powers to impose restrictions on liberties.

There is also a widening split between the approach in England and Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon is bringing in Covid passports for nightclubs and large events. The SNP leader also says school pupils will need to wear face coverings indoors until at least the October holidays, and large in-person lectures will not be happening at universities.

NICKI MINAJ'S COVID VACCINE CLAIMS DEBUNKED What did she claim? The 38-year-old rapper said her cousin refused to get jabbed after his friend was vaccinated and suffered 'swollen testicles' and impotence. 'So just pray on it & make sure you're comfortable with ur decision, not bullied,' she told fans. Is there any truth to the claims? No. Not a single Covid vaccine currently being distributed is known to cause impotence (erectile dysfunction) or fertility issues. Medics can be sure of this because nearly 6billion doses have already been administered globally. Major surveillance schemes are in place around the world to pick up on any side effects or adverse reactions. There have also been no known reports of swollen testicles after getting the Covid vaccines. Even if these problems were happening on a minuscule scale they would be expected to be detected due to the sheer volume of jabs being administered. What risks do they vaccines carry? Vaccines do, however, cause a host of common, uncommon and extremely rare side effects, ranging from mild to serious. Most common side effects include muscle pain, fatigue, headaches, fever and chills and other flu-like symptoms. In extremely rare cases, adverse reactions can be deadly. Side effects include: Very Common (may affect more than 1 in 10 people) tenderness, pain, warmth, itching or bruising where the injection is given

generally feeling unwell

feeling tired (fatigue)

chills or feeling feverish

headache

feeling sick (nausea)

joint pain or muscle ache Common (may affect up to 1 in 10 people) swelling, redness or a lump at the injection site

feeling or being sick (vomiting) or diarrhoea

flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, chills, muscle aches, sore throat, runny nose, cough, feeling weak

pain in legs or arms

low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopaenia) Uncommon (may affect up to 1 in 100 people) feeling dizzy

sleepiness or feeling low in energy

lower appetite

abdominal pain

enlarged lymph nodes

excessive sweating

itchy skin or rash Extremely rare (fewer than 1 in 10,000 people) severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis)

blood clots occurring with low levels of platelets (see below)

swelling under the skin (angioedema)

heart inflammation (myocarditis)

capillary leak syndrome (a condition where fluid leaks from the smallest blood vessels, causing swelling and drop in blood pressure).

Guillain-Barre syndrome (a condition where the immune system damages nerve cells) Advertisement

There are days for whizzbang moods. This wasn't one of them: HENRY DEEDES sees a joyless Boris Johnson at the Downing Street press conference

One could hardly expect the Boris to be in one of his whizzbang moods yesterday.

After all, his dear old mum had died the previous day. Rotten thing about being PM sometimes. One of those jobs that requires you to Keep Buggering On (as Churchill put it) when your personal circs are far from tickety boo.

Sure enough, the figure standing before us at the Downing Street press conference really didn't seem like Boris at all. He looked joyless. Sounded it too. The usually buoyant voice was low and dull, as though he'd been gargling gravel.

It didn't help that he was swaying between those two hawkers of horror Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance. This often happens when the PM gets together with the boffins. A dark cloud descends over him. Scientists instil fear in him. He becomes sullen. Neutered. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest brought into line by cold-hearted Nurse Ratched.

One could hardly expect the Boris to be in one of his whizzbang moods yesterday

He had come to announce plans for dealing with coronavirus this winter. Should things turn sticky, there could be a return to working from home and ruddy face masks. Vaccine passports remain a distinct possibility. The irreversible road map? Not quite the one-way satnav route we were promised.

Quite why it was felt there was a need for such an announcement wasn't clear. Hospital admission rates remain eminently manageable. It felt like another exercise in keeping us on our toes.

I once had a teacher who tried to achieve the same effect by turning off the heating in class. He thought it focused minds. It didn't. The usual Boris might have kicked off by reminding us how far we had come since January. Instead, he pointed out that infection rates were higher than they were this time last year. 'Covid is still out there,' he warned.

The only vague Borisism came when he talked about turning 'jabs, jabs, jabs into jobs, jobs, jobs'. Even then, he gave a cowered look to his right as though expecting Professor Whitty to deliver him a sharp clip around the ear.

The chief medical officer was in one of his foreboding moods. His eyeballs flickered and did panicked little loop-the-loops. 'Winter is coming,' he remarked, his tone dark and gulpy, like the voiceover on a Hollywood trailer.

ITV's Robert Peston was among the journalists back in the room. We hoped he might have learned the subtle art of brevity. No such luck. Pesto reminded us he'd recently been struck down by the virus. But enough about me, why weren't tighter restrictions being brought in now, he asked. Wasn't he once a business journalist?

After all, his dear old mum had died the previous day. Rotten thing about being PM sometimes. One of those jobs that requires you to Keep Buggering On (as Churchill put it) when your personal circs are far from tickety boo

Things took an odd turn when a chap from The Times brought up Nicki Minaj. Whooo? She's a US rapper. Nuttier than a Lion bar. Yesterday she unhelpfully tweeted that the vaccine made men impotent. Whitty frowned. Boris pleaded ignorance of any of twerk-prone Miss Minaj's saucy oeuvre. A likely story.

Earlier, Health Secretary Sajid Javid had outlined the Government's plans in the Commons. The reaction to the Saj's statement from the Tory benches was something less than ecstatic. Not quite as stony as the reception MCC members gave Ian Botham back in '83 after getting himself out for a duck. But pretty close.

Backbench grandee Sir Graham Brady (Con, Altrincham) sat and stroked his jowls moodily.

When the possible reintroduction of face coverings was mooted, Sir Desmond Swayne (Con, New Forest W) let out an exasperated howl of 'Noooooooo!'

Sir Graham was disappointed PCR tests had not been scrapped for those returning from abroad. Not only were they expensive, they were pointless. Behind him, David Davis (Con, Howden) growled about the 'poor quality of decisions' made by ministers during the pandemic.

The Government ship is not quite mutinous. But there is grumbling down in the galley.

DAN WOOTTON: Why are we jabbing millions of kids who are at almost no risk of Covid simply to keep teachers at work after a year of doing almost nothing?

Something extraordinary happened yesterday but we're now so numbed by the consequences of this pandemic that many have shrugged it off.

A government which has been slavishly imploring us to 'follow the science' for months overruled one of the bodies it says we should trust to deliver the science in order to vaccinate en masse healthy children aged 12 to 15-year-olds from next week who have a miniscule chance of succumbing to Covid-19.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had said the vaccine should only be offered to teens if they are extremely vulnerable or live with someone at risk because the benefits didn't outweigh the risks and the chances of long Covid among the age group are low.

But the decision to ignore the JCVI's equivocal message and continue the quest to jab jab jab at almost any cost was made by Christopher Whitty  a man with no children himself who wants us to continue to live in fear of the coronavirus in perpetuity.

One of the main reasons behind such a worrying move, with real world health risks for our innocent youngsters, was a fear that the continued spread of Covid could see them miss out on even more education.

But the decision to ignore the JCVI's equivocal message and continue the quest to jab jab jab at almost any cost was made by Christopher Whitty (pictured in September 2020) - a man with no children himself who wants us to continue to live in fear of the coronavirus in perpetuity

The embattled Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and his department have been pushing for such a rollout, terrified of the militant teaching unions who refused to work at the height of pandemic and caused the young to miss an average of 107 days of education last year.

So, in essence, we are going to be jabbing millions of kids for no good health reason just to keep teachers happy, who will no doubt start gently (or not so gently) encouraging their pupils to get jabbed.

Meanwhile ministers have made plain that parents will NOT have the right to overrule the wishes of even 12-year-olds despite experts from the JCVI saying that a 12-year-old was less likely to be deemed competent to make the decision on their own.

It's almost unbelievable that we are pandering to such a degree to teachers who spent the vast bulk of 2020 doing everything possible not to teach.

And how is there such a conspiracy of silence around this highly controversial decision, with most politicians and media outlets accepting the unprecedented move was almost inevitable?

Why? Because it's what they're doing in Israel and Australia  two countries also desperately trying to jab five to 11-year-olds.

If we follow their path, new-borns will be jabbed the moment they leave the womb.

It was left to the brave Conservative MP Marcus Fysh to provide some political resistance, calling for the head of the CMO.

He tweeted: 'Sorry to have to say it but the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty does not deserve the confidence of the country in deciding to vaccinate teenagers without good clinical reason. He should resign.'

So much about Whitty's decision needs to be questioned.

The embattled Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (pictured in February) and his department have been pushing for such a rollout, terrified of the militant teaching unions who refused to work at the height of pandemic

It was left to the brave Conservative MP Marcus Fysh (pictured left, next to David Davis) to provide some political resistance, calling for the head of the CMO

What's happened to the benefits of natural immunity? Some studies claim that the best away to protect kids and the world long-term against Covid is to let them get it. Let them build a natural immunity that - over time - will turn Covid into just another cold.

Is the alternative jabbing children every year forever? Covid will never go away if that is the case.

Teens are only being given one dose of the jab, rather than two, because of the dangers posed.

The most worrying of those is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, which a new study in the US and Israel suggests impacts 162.2 cases per million for healthy boys aged 12 to 15 and 94 cases per million for healthy boys aged 16 to 17 after two shots.

That means boys aged 12 to 15 are four to six times more likely to suffer vaccine-related myocarditis than end up in hospital with Covid.

It's almost unbelievable that we are pandering to such a degree to teachers who spent the vast bulk of 2020 doing everything possible not to teach, writes Dan Wootton (pictured above)

Anyone battling a heart condition as an adult will tell you that myocarditis isn't something you want to encounter in your teens even though the experts assure us the cases detected so far are 'mild'.

Further, the CDC in the US is currently investigating the death of Jacob Clynick, a healthy 13-year-old from Michigan with no underlying health conditions who died in his sleep three days after receiving his second Covid jab in June.

In its report from earlier this month, the JCVI admitted there is 'considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the potential harms' of vaccinating teens.

No wonder JCVI member Professor Adam Finn of the University of Bristol said: 'I stand by the JCVI advice, which is not to go ahead at this time with vaccinating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds on health outcome risk-benefit grounds given the current uncertainty  as there is a small but plausible risk that rare harms could turn out to outweigh modest benefits.'

Don't tell me a 12-year-old can make this sort of serious health decision on their own, sometimes against advice from their parents.

There's a reason why this age group can't vote or fight for their country in a war.

I can only imagine the scenes at schools up and down the country. Woke teachers preaching that every student should be jabbed for the good of society and to save granny, while virtually every other classmate gets vaccinated in the school hall.

It would take a very strong youngster to stand up against that degree of societal influence and peer pressure.

Parents will also be, quite rightly, concerned about the consequences to their children's social lives and ability to travel in the future if they decide against the jab, given the government insists on keeping vaccine passports 'in reserve'.

Now to stress, I am not in any way opposed to the brilliant and groundbreaking Covid vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had said the vaccine should only be offered to teens if they are extremely vulnerable or live with someone at risk (file photo)

I'm double jabbed and think it's a no brainer for any adult, especially the vulnerable or those with underlying health conditions  but it is up to the individual to make the choice.

I despise the coercion culture that has developed around vaccination, given it's a fundamental human right to make informed decisions about what goes into our bodies.

Coronavirus is now becoming endemic.

Infection rates are not all that different amongst the vaccinated and unvaccinated  although deaths and serious disease are MUCH higher among the unvaxxed.

Avoiding Covid over the next 12 months is going to be very difficult  but the serious risks of hospitalisation and death have now gone for the vast majority of those who want to be vaccinated.

We need a commonsense approach like we have with the flu, so if you have symptoms and test positive then stay home.

Just because the rest of the world is vaccinating children doesn't make it right.

Is it going to take the death of a perfectly healthy British youngster  possibly even one who was vaccinated against their parents' wishes  for our officials to wake up to just how wrong this decision is?
A B2 Spirit stealth bomber, one of the most deadly weapons in the United States' military arsenal and worth $2billion, was damaged after an emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri today.

Officials said that pilots had to land after an in-flight malfunction during a routine training. Nobody was injured and there was no fire once the bomber landed.

The incident involving the B2 happened around 12.30am and unfolded in a temporary flight restriction six miles in all directions and 8,000ft from the ground up set by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said that the the restriction would allow 'to provide a safe environment for an accident investigation' and is set to be lifted September 17 at 8pm.

Only 21 B2 bombers have ever been manufactured, and there are only 20 remaining after one crashed in Guam in 2008.

It is not know yet to what degree the B2 bomber at Whiteman Base sustained damage. The aircraft has been stationed at the base since 1993, according to KMBC.

Three other B2s from Whiteman were part of a successfully joined operation with the Norwegian government and deployed to Iceland earlier this year.

A B2 Spirit stealth bomber was damaged after an emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri today (File picture)

A temporary flight restriction six miles in all directions and 8,000ft from the ground up has been issued

'A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit experienced and [sic] in-flight malfunction during a routine training mission and was damaged on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, after an emergency landing,' said Air Force Global Strike Command said to The Drive.

'The incident is under investigation and more information will be provided as it becomes available,' they added.

The B2 is manufactured with materials that could become highly toxic if exposed to an accident, the outlet reported.

Spanning an imposing 170 feet and capable of unleashing awesome destruction, the B2 Spirit aircraft are capable of carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads.

The model was developed under the Advanced Technology Bomber during Jimmy Carter's administration.

The only crash reported of a B2 bomber happened in 2008, when one aircraft of the model was departing from Guam.

The B2 is manufactured with materials that could become highly toxic if exposed to an accident, the outlet reported. (File picture) A B-2 Spirit bomber deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, conducts aerial refueling near Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii

At the time of the crash no munitions were on board and the two pilots survived the accident. All remaining 20 B2 were kept from flying for almost two months until an investigation was conducted.

It was found that the crash had been caused by heavy rains that affected sensors in charge of calculating speed and altitude.

In August, two B2s from Whiteman joined other aircraft flying over the North Sea as part of a Bomber Task Force deployment.

The B2s landed in the Keflavik Air Base in Iceland and as part of the joined operation with the Norwegian government also deployed to the UK.

'The mission demonstrates the value of our continued presence and relationships,'

'What our collective Airmen accomplish on these missions is vital to our alliance and maintaining agility as we move into the future,' said Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander.

A B-2 Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing lifts off of the runway as part of a training mission at Whiteman Air Force Base in 2013

The incident involving the B2 happened around 12.30am at Whiteman Base's only runway

A B-2 Spirit assigned to @Whiteman_AFB conducts air refueling operations with an @RAFMildenhall KC-135 Stratotanker over the Atlantic. U.S. forces operate across the globe, remaining flexible and agile for rapid response to changes in operational environments.@AFGlobalStrike pic.twitter.com/JRe7L4AoVL  U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) September 12, 2021

An user on Twitter highlighted that if the B2 had sustained irreparable damage during today's accident, it would leave the Air Force with just 19 remaining aircrafts of the model.

'So that takes us down to 19 of them then...I guess we still have 19 more than everyone else so we're probably doing ok,' they wrote.

The B2 Spirit stealth bomber was designed during the Cold War as the world's first ever 'low-observable or 'stealth' strategic bomber.'

It can deliver both conventional and nuclear ammunition, and brings massive firepower to bear anywhere on the globe through previously impenetrable defenses, according to Military.com.

Because of its small size, it's an strategic weapon to filter and penetrate air defenses.

Many details about the B2 design remain classified and have not been revealed to the public, but it is known that the model has a crew of two pilots.

The only crash reported of a B2 bomber happened in 2008, when one aircraft of the model was departing from Guam. It was found that the crash had been caused by heavy rains that affected sensors in charge of calculating speed and altitude
Scientists have reconstructed the face of a male Neanderthal called Krijn who lived and died up to 70,000 years ago, and had a curious facial disfigurement.

Krijn, a young man of with a 'fairly sturdy build' at time of death, had a conspicuous lump over his right eyebrow  the result of a small tumour.

This particular tumour has never before been seen among Neanderthal remains, and would likely have caused Krijn pain, swelling, headaches and even seizures, scientists claim.

But despite what would have been a painful growth from the tumour, Krijn has been reconstructed with a cheery smile.

During his lifetime, Krijn lived in Doggerland, an ancient land bridge connecting Britain with the rest of Europe more than 50,000 years ago.

The cheery reconstructed face of Krijn, a male Neanderthal called Krijn who lived and died up to 70,000 years ago

WHO WERE NEANDERTHALS? Neanderthals were a close human ancestor that mysteriously died out around 40,000 years ago. The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before moving across to Europe around 300,000 years ago. They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia around 48,000 years ago. These were the original 'cavemen', historically thought to be dim-witted and brutish. But in recent years, evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of 'caveman'. It now seems likely that Neanderthals buried their dead, painted and even interbred with humans. Advertisement

Neanderthals were a species that lived alongside humans tens of thousands of years ago and were very similar in appearance and size but were generally stockier and more muscular.

This primitive relative of humans existed for around 100,000 years  much of that time alongside people and breeding with them  before going extinct around 40,00 years ago.

The reconstruction of Krijn was based on a single bone fragment of the brow, found in 2001 in Zeeland by amateur palaeontologist Luc Anthonisin.

The fossil was removed from the North Sea floor off the coast of the Netherlands with a dredging vessel.

It was later presented to Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO)  the Netherlands' National Museum of Antiquities  in the Dutch city of Leiden  in 2009.

'There is an interesting indentation over the browbone,' said Luc Amkreutz, curator of prehistoric collections at RMO.

'Research showed it was caused by a subcutaneous tumour. It's the first one ever found in a Neanderthal.

'So this guy had a lump on his forehead  a benign growth.'

A 2009 study of the bone revealed that it came from the skull of a young man of a sturdy build with 'an intradiploic epidermoid cyst', a type of neoplasm diagnosed for the first time in Neandertal remains.

Pictured is one of the phases in the construction of Krijn's face, prior to the addition of skin and hair

The Zeeland Ridges specimen mirror-imaged and superimposed on the skull of another Neanderthal - La Chapelle-aux-Saints. The left sinus of La Chapelle-aux-Saints is segmented in red

Analysis of stable isotopes  varieties of nitrogen and carbon atoms  also revealed that he mostly ate meat and did show evidence to suggest he consumed seafood.

Two Dutch twin brothers  Adrie and Alfons Kennis, described as 'palaeo-anthropological artists'  have now used the fragment to create the reconstruction.

'Luckily it's a very distinctive piece,' said Adrie. 'It includes a very think, round browbone. Only Neanderthals had those browbones.'

Neanderthals had very pronounced brows and protruding facial features. Modern-day humans, in comparison, have much more forehead.

Krijn's fossilized orbital bone, which was found in 2001 in Zeeland, the Netherlands by amateur palaeontologist Luc Anthonisin

The reconstruction of Krijn, the oldest Neanderthal found in the Netherlands is, on display at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden

The Kennis brothers have made many previous reconstructions of Neanderthals and other prehistoric hominids, including Otzi the Iceman.

To reconstruct Krijn's face, they used the characteristics of the fossilised bone as well as digital matches with comparable Neanderthal skulls, and the latest findings about Neanderthals and their features, such as eye, hair and skin colour.

The completed bust, together with the fossil fragment, are now on display together until October 31, 2021 in RMO's exhibition, 'Doggerland'.

Doggerland existed when the sea level was then over 160 feet (50 metres) lower than it is today. It is now submerged beneath the North Sea.

Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago but have a reputation as being hulking, brutish beings who were tough and fearless

Doggerland's fate was thought sealed by the 'Storegga slide'  a submarine landslip in around 6,200 BC, believed to have submerged the land bridge through one or more tsunamis, likely killing thousands in the process.

'Mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, reindeer, horses, and Neanderthals roamed this steppe, which was cold but offered food in abundance,' RMO said.

RMO's exhibition tells the story of almost 1 million years of Doggerland's changing landscape and climate, as well as human habitation there.

'Krijn and the other finds show that further research and protection of the North Sea floor are of great scientific importance to Dutch and international archaeology and palaeontology,' said RMO.

Doggerland stretched from where Britain's east coast now is to the present-day Netherlands, but rising sea levels after the last glacial maximum and the Storegga Slide led to its disappearance
Extreme weather may become more common across Europe and North America by 2060 as climate change shifts the North Atlantic jet stream, a study has warned.

The North Atlantic jet steam is a band of prevailing, westerly winds that encircles the Arctic, and is known for giving a boost to aircraft flying from the US to Europe.

While the jet stream happens to blow hardest at airliner cruising altitudes, it also reaches down to the ground, and plays a key role in local weather conditions.

In fact, between 1050 per cent of the variation in annual precipitation and temperature in eastern North American and west Europe comes from the jet stream.

The heatwave this summer in the Pacific Northwest and the floods that hit Europe are just a couple of examples of how jet steam variations can impact the weather.

Despite its importance, however, not much is known about how the jet stream differed in the past and, by extension, how it might change in the future.

Experts led from the University of Arizona drilled into Greenland's ice sheets extract a record of past weather conditions going back some 1,250 years.

They found that, so far, the impact of human-caused warming on the jet stream has been less that the natural variations seen in the air current's recent history.

However, their projections suggest that business-as-usual greenhouse emissions will push the jet stream northwards, leading to significant changes in mere decades.

Extreme weather may become more common across Europe and North America by 2060 as climate change shifts the North Atlantic jet stream (depicted), a study has warned

Experts led from the University of Arizona drilled into Greenland's ice sheets extract a record of past weather conditions going back some 1,250 years. Pictured: one of the boreholes from which an ice core was sampled for the study. The ice comes from up to 1,000 feet deep

Between 1050 per cent of the variation in annual precipitation and temperature in eastern North American and west Europe comes from the jet stream. Pictured: the aftermath of heavy rainfall in Verviers, Belgium, earlier this year. Jet stream changes could make extreme weather events like this a more commonplace phenomenon

HISTORICAL IMPACTS OF THE JET STREAM Based on their reconstruction of the jet stream over the last 1,250 years, the team were able to connect shifts in the stream's strength and position with historical weather-related disasters. In 1374, for example, a northward shift in the jet stream led to drought and famine on the Iberian Peninsula. Similarly, two famines across Britain and Ireland in 1728 and 1740 coincided with 50 per cent reductions in wind intensity, which would have led to cooler temperatures and less rain. The latter is estimated to have led to the deaths of some half a million people, including 1320 per cent of the population of Ireland. According to Dr Osman and his team, shifts in the jet stream in the future could have similar weather, ecosystem and societal impacts. Advertisement

'For most places on Earth, direct climate observations typically do not span more than a few decades,' said paper author and climate scientist Matthew Osman of the University of Arizona.

'So, we haven't had a great sense of how or why the jet stream changes over longer periods of time.

'What we do know is that extraordinary variations in the jet stream can have severe societal implications  such as floods and droughts  due to its impacts on weather patterns,' he continued.

'So, in terms of thinking about the future, we can now begin to use the past as a sort of prologue.'

In their work, Dr Osman and colleagues analysed ice cores collected from nearly 50 sites across the Greenland ice sheet.

From these natural records, the team was able to reconstruct changes in windiness across the North Atlantic on a year-to-year basis going back to the eighth century.

They did this by looking at the amount of snowfall deposited each year as well as the chemical makeup of the water molecules that made up each snow layer.

'These layers tell us about how much precipitation fell in a given year and also about the temperatures that airmasses were exposed to,' explained Dr Osman.

The team found that, to date, fluctuations in the jet stream's intensity and position are within the limits of natural variation.

However, they calculated, should global warming continue apace, significant changes will manifest within a matter of decades, with the jet stream expected to migrate its average position northwards.

'Such variations have huge implications on the types of weather that people might experience at a given place,' said Dr Osman.

'For example, when the jet stream is situated further south, the normally dry Iberian Peninsula tends to experience milder, moister conditions.

'But, as the jet stream migrates northward, much of that moisture also moves away from Iberia towards already-wet regions of Scandinavia.

'A poleward-shifted jet stream in the future thus might have similar, but more permanent, consequences.'

That said, the team did find evidence of societally significant shifts in the jet stream's history, sometimes drifting north, only to be more than 10 south mere years later.

The North Atlantic jet steam (depicted above, over Canada) is a band of prevailing, westerly winds that encircles the Arctic  and is known for giving a boost to aircraft flying from the US to Europe . While the jet stream happens to blows hardest at airliner cruising altitudes, it also reaches down to the ground  and plays a key role in local weather conditions

Should global warming continue apace, significant changes to the North Atlantic jet stream will manifest within a matter of decades, the researchers warned  like the heat waves that struck the Pacific Northwest (causing wildfires in Canada, pictured) earlier this year

In their work, Dr Osman and colleagues analysed ice cores collected from nearly 50 sites across the Greenland ice sheet. From these natural records, the team were able to reconstruct changes in windiness across the North Atlantic going back to the eighth century. Pictured: Dr Osman (left) and U.S. Ice Drilling Program specialist Mike Waszkiewic (right) move an ice core

'Our results serve as a warning,' added Dr Osman.

'Although pushing the jet stream beyond its natural range would be problematic, its ultimate trajectory is still largely in our control.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

'Our results serve as a warning,' said Dr Osman, who is pictured here steadying an ice core drilling barrel on the Greenland ice sheet. 'Although pushing the jet stream beyond its natural range would be problematic, its ultimate trajectory is still largely in our control'
Xiaomi debuted its concept for a pair of smart glasses on Tuesday, just five days after Facebook and Ray-Ban announced their model.

The Chinese electronics company released a teaser video showing a sleek, black pair of glasses designed with a total of 497 components including miniature sensors and communication modules, which the firm says makes the device more than 'just a second screen.'

Users can snap photos with a push of button, see notification in the lenses and display AR graphics overtop real world images.

However, Xiaomi has yet to announce a launch date or pricing for their smart glasses.

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Xiaomi debuted it concept for a pair of smart glasses on Tuesday

DailyMail.com has contacted Xiaomi for more details and have yet to receive a response.

Many tech companies are working to be the first to market with a futuristic pair of smart glasses - and all aim to succeed where the first device, made by Google, failed.

Google unleased its Google Glass in 2014, but the device fell flat among consumers. Its creators failed because they neglected to define and validate the user market and what it was solving for them.

Snapchat parent company Snap also released its own smart glasses in 2016 called Spectacles but were never really picked up by consumers.

The Chinese electronics company released a teaser video showing a sleek, black pair of glasses designed with a total of 497 components including miniature sensors and communication modules, which the firm says makes the device more than 'just a second screen

Users can snap photos with a push of button, see notification in the lenses and display AR graphics overtop real world images

Companies seem to have learned from others' missteps and are designing smart glasses that could be widely accepted among the public.

Xiaomi's pair are designed to look like ordinary glasses but are packed with a trove of components that allow users to perform a range of tasks.

Weighing just one ounce, Xiaomi Smart Glasses displays messages and notifications, makes calls, navigates, captures photos and translate text right on lenses.

The glasses include a MicroLED system that provides 'higher pixel density and longer lifespan while having a simpler structure' when compared to OLED.

According to Xiaomi, MicroLED 'allows for a more compact display, as well as easier screen integration.'

The camera sits on the right corner of the glasses, which the wear pressers a small button on the side to snap a photo that is instantly uploaded to their paired smartphone

What really separates Xiaomi's innovation form Facebook's smart Ray Bans is the glasses include AR capabilities, which can provide wearers with a range of information overlaid on the real world

Graphic shows the features included in Xiaomi's smart glasses versus what Facebook's pair offers users

'Under a microscope, the display is roughly the size of a grain of rice, with individual pixels sized at 4menabling the display to be fitted perfectly within the frame of the glasses,' Xiaomi shared in a press release.

'To allow sufficient light to pass through complicated optical structures before reaching the eye even in harsh direct sunlight, we opted for an ultra-efficient monochrome display solution, which is capable of reaching a peak brightness of 2 million nits.'

The camera sits on the right corner of the glasses. The wearer pressers a small button on the side to snap a photo that is instantly uploaded to their paired smartphone.

The glasses also include a microphone for making calls and speakers, allowing them to hear the person on the other end.

What really separates Xiaomi's innovation form Facebook's smart Ray Bans is the glasses include AR capabilities, which can provide wearers with a range of information overlaid on the real world.

However, Facebook has revealed its smart glasses will cost $299  confirming that the device is set to hit the market. Facebook described the Ray-Ban Stories product as a way to seamlessly capture, share and listen through your most authentic moments

The social media giant worked with EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company.

RAY-BAN STORIES: FACEBOOK-POWERED SMART SPECS Ray-Ban partnered with Facebook to create smart specs based on their existing range of glasses frames. They are available in the Wayfarer, Meteor and Round types. The new technology adds a pair of cameras, speaker and microphone array to the frame. Unlike true 'smart glasses' that can share video directly or allow you to view content from the web in your line of sight, these record audio and video to be shared via a companion app. Specifications Weight : 50g (1.7oz)

: 50g (1.7oz) Camera : Dual 5MP

: Dual 5MP Sound : Open-ear speaker

: Open-ear speaker Microphone : Triple array

: Triple array Companion app : Facebook View

: Facebook View Price : From 299 ($299)

: From 299 ($299) Manufacturer : Ray-Ban/Facebook

: Ray-Ban/Facebook Available : September 9 Advertisement

However, Facebook has revealed its smart glasses will cost $299  confirming that the device is set to hit the market.

Facebook described the Ray-Ban Stories product as a way to seamlessly capture, share and listen through your most authentic moments.

The social media giant worked with EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company.

'Ray-Ban Stories is designed to help people live in the moment and stay connected to the people they are with and the people they wish they were with,' said Andrew Bosworth, VP, Facebook Reality Labs.

'EssilorLuxottica has been nothing short of stellar in this partnership and through their commitment to excellence we were able to deliver on both style and substance in a way that will redefine the expectations of smart glasses.

'We're introducing an entirely new way for people to stay connected to the world around them and truly be present in life's most important moments, and to look good while doing it.'

The glasses feature a Snapdragon processor and weigh just 50g (1.7oz) - about 5g (0.17oz) more than a standard pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses.

As well as cameras mounted on the top corners of frames, designed to replicate the human-eye view, they include a three-microphone array to 'deliver rich voice and sound transmission for calls and videos'.

The new glasses will work like a remote version of the camera already in a smartphone, with recorded video and photos shared via a smartphone app.

They will be available as sunglasses, prescription glasses, polarized, gradient, transition and clear lenses.
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The elaborate tomb of King Djoser, a pharaoh who lived more than 4,500 years ago in ancient Egypt, has been opened to the public following 15 years of extensive restorations.

The structure - known as the South Tomb - is largely underground and includes a labyrinth of corridors, decorated with hieroglyphic carvings and tiles.

However, the pharaoh was not buried in the South tomb, but was laid to rest in the famed Step Pyramid nearby, which was built by his personal architect Imhotep.

The South tomb, built between 2667 BC and 2648 BC, is thought to have been constructed for symbolic reasons, or perhaps to hold Djoser's internal organs, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

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The structure - known as the South Tomb - is largely underground and includes a labyrinth of corridors, decorated with hieroglyphic carvings and tiles

The two structures make up part of the Saqqara complex near Cairo - one of the countrys richest archeological sites.

The Step Pyramid is the oldest known pyramid and one of the first examples of monumental architecture from the ancient world, according to UNESCO.

And the massive structure is believed to have been the inspiration for the Pyramids at Giza.

The South tomb, however, features stunning turquoise stones lining the inside walls that also feature intricate carvings.

Kin Djoser, who ruled for about 19 years, is know for his use of stone architecture, which can be seen in the South tomb, along with the Step Pyramid and ancient ruins in Memphis - the capital city southwest of what is now Cairo

The South tomb, built between 2667 BC and 2648 BC. Pictured is a path leading to the opening of the massive tomb

The opening leads to a stairway that descends about 98 feet below the surface and leads to the burial shaft (pictured)and then to the labyrinth of corridors

A large structure sits above the desert landscape, in which visitors walk through to enter the tomb.

The opening leads to a stairway that descends about 98 feet below the surface and leads to the burial shaft and then to the labyrinth of corridors.

However, the burial vault, according to experts, is too small to hold adult human remains, revealing the tomb was never built as King Djoser's resting place.

The South tomb is thought to have been constructed for symbolic reasons, or perhaps to hold Djoser's internal organs

Kin Djoser, which ruled for about 19 years, is know for his use of stone architecture, which can be seen in the South tomb, along with the Step Pyramid and ancient ruins in Memphis - the capital city southwest of what is now Cairo

Kin Djoser, who ruled for about 19 years, is know for his use of stone architecture, which can be seen in the South tomb, along with the Step Pyramid and ancient ruins in Memphis - the capital city southwest of what is now Cairo.

The South tomb was crumbling due to neglect, fierce desert winds, and eventually damaged by an earthquake that hit the area in 1992.

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism said the opening of the South Tomb marked the completion of restoration work that started in 2006 and included reinforcing of the underground corridors, refurbishing the carvings and the tiled walls, along with installing lights throughout the once dark tunnels.

In addition to the South Tomb, the Saqqara plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, as well as hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).

Pictured are just some of the intricate hieroglyphics that line the inner walls of the massive South tomb

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism said the opening of the South Tomb marked the completion of restoration work that started in 2006 and included reinforcing of the underground corridors, refurbishing the carvings and the tiled walls, along with installing lights throughout the once dark tunnels

The inside of the tomb is designed like a labyrinth with corridors that and hallways throughout

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis of Egypts ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh.

The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.

Egypt has publicized a string of recent archaeological finds over the past year in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. The sector was also dealt a further blow by the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Step Pyramid, built around 4,700 years ago, measures 200ft high (60m) and is believed to be the first pyramid in Egypt and the oldest building in the world.

Egypt has publicized a string of recent archaeological finds over the past year in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. The sector was also dealt a further blow by the global coronavirus pandemic

The Step Pyramid (pictured), built around 4,700 years ago, measures 200ft high (60m) and is believed to be the first pyramid in Egypt and the oldest building in the world

It was built entirely out of stone by the ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep in the vast Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, and was believed to be the final resting place of King Djoser, founder of the Old Kingdom.

Dosjer's pyramid was a revolutionary concept, the pyramid prototype providing the blueprint for all future Egyptian developments, including the three that stand beside the Sphinx at Giza 12 miles to the northwest.

The step pyramid is made up of six mastabas (rectangular structures) stacked on top of each other.

Dating to 2,680 BC, the Djoser pyramid was designed and built under the direction of Imhotep, described by some as the world's first architect and Djoser's vizier.

The Step Pyramid had its own series of extensive renovations and reopened to the public in March 2020.
From James Bond to The Jetsons, jetpacks have been a staple feature in blockbuster movies for years.

Now, the technology is slowly but surely becoming a reality, with one company unveiling what it claims is the world's first hands-free jetpack prototype.

Maverick Aviation has developed a device called the Maverick Jetpack, which it claims will travel at speeds of up to 30mph and could be ready by 2022.

Unlike most existing jetpacks, which require intense training to get the hang of, the Maverick Jetpack has an in-built autopilot system and is intuitive to control, according to the team.

The developers believe the device could be used to enter structures that are difficult to access in the near future, including wind turbines and construction sites.

Maverick Jetpack is the brainchild of Hollywood animatronics expert Matt Denton (pictured left), and Royal Navy Commander Antony Quinn (pictured right)

Unlike most existing jetpacks, which require intense training to get the hang of, the Maverick Jetpack has an in-built autopilot system and is intuitive to control, according to the team

What could it be used for? The developers believe the device could be used to enter structures that are difficult to access in the near future, including wind turbines and construction sites. Mr Quinn said: 'I realised that the growing onshore and offshore wind industry really needed a solution like this. 'Their engineers climb up ladders inside these structures for hours each day and, in an emergency situation, it's almost impossible to get down quickly. 'Drones can be useful for inspections, but in many circumstances you need to get an engineer up there.' Advertisement

Maverick Jetpack is the brainchild of Hollywood animatronics expert Matt Denton, and Royal Navy Commander Antony Quinn.

Mr Quinn said: 'I realised that the growing onshore and offshore wind industry really needed a solution like this.

'Their engineers climb up ladders inside these structures for hours each day and, in an emergency situation, it's almost impossible to get down quickly.

'Drones can be useful for inspections, but in many circumstances you need to get an engineer up there.

'During tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, the number of possible use cases just kept on mounting and I realised how big the opportunity was. The potential is almost endless.

'Before, people would have used a 30m helicopter to perform some simple tasks, we can offer a more tailored solution at a fraction of the cost.'

Their device is built from light materials including alumnium, titanium and carbon fibre, and will travel at speeds of up to 30mph, depending on the task.

It will use a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) system, and is powered by miniature jet engines, around the size of a rugby ball.

However, what really sets it apart from other devices is the in-built autopilot system.

Their device is built from light materials including alumnium, titanium and carbon fibre, and will travel at speeds of up to 30mph, depending on the task

It will use a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) system, and is powered by miniature jet engines, around the size of a rugby ball

'What is unique about what we're doing is the computer-controlled autopilot system that makes flying effortless and easy to control with precision,' Mr Quinn explained.

'That's how we have changed jetpacks from exciting to useful.

'It's so intuitive to fly that the cost of training is going to be low, so you're going to have all sorts of professionals suddenly able to work in the most inaccessible environments safely and quickly.'

The first manned test flight is scheduled for next summer, according to the developers.

The first manned test flight is scheduled for next summer, according to the developers

The developers believe the device could be used to enter structures that are difficult to access in the near future, including wind turbines and construction sites

Karen Taylor, Group Head of Grants at Catax, which is helping fund the project, said: 'What Antony and Matt are doing is the stuff of dreams.

'When we think of jetpacks, plenty of Hollywood scripts come to mind but this is the first time such a versatile piece of equipment is being created with business use cases at the forefront.

'They've achieved an incredible amount so far, and it's fantastic that a British company is leading the way on such an important, game-changing piece of technology.'
A Champions League winner, a title winner and now a member of the Premier League's illustrious 100 club, Mohamed Salah wrote another piece of history into his Liverpool career on Sunday.

The forward brought up a century of goals in the Reds' 3-0 victory over Leeds, becoming the 30th player to reach the landmark since the top flight's re-branding in 1992.

Ninety-eight of his goals have been scored in the red of Liverpool while two came during his brief stint at Chelsea.

Mohamed Salah scored his 100th Premier League goal in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Leeds

The Egyptian King will soon overtake Matt Le Tissier, who ended his career with 100 goals, and he only needs 20 more to equal the total scored by former Reds skipper Steven Gerrard.

He has some way to go to overthrow all-time leading scorer Alan Shearer, who managed 260 during his career, while Tottenham's Harry Kane is 66 goals ahead of him.

But Salah is the fifth fastest player to make the 100 milestone, with the 29-year-old needing just 162 games to reach a century.

That puts him just behind Thierry Henry, who scored his 100th Premier League goal in 160 matches.

Sergio Aguero needed 13 fewer games, with the former Manchester City star netting his 100th in his 147th match.

That leaves Kane and Shearer in the top two. Kane took 141 games to reach 100 goals while Shearer needed just 124.

'Mo's records are crazy,' Jurgen Klopp said after the match at Elland Road.

'Since he joined us... what a player. And he's still hungry. He was still not happy for not scoring one or two others, that's how top class players are.'

Salah is the fifth fastest player to make the 100 milestone, with the 29-year-old needing just 162 games to reach a century

QUICKEST PLAYERS TO REACH 100 PL GOALS Alan Shearer - 124 games Harry Kane - 141 games Sergio Aguero - 147 games Thierry Henry - 160 games Mohamed Salah - 162 games Advertisement

Salah's achievement is even more impressive when you consider he plays on the right of a front three, rather than through the middle. The four players above him on the list are, or were, out and out centre forwards.

However, Salah has taken over from James Milner as Liverpool's regular penalty taker in the last two seasons and 14 of his goals have come from the spot.

But having said that, this is no more than Kane, who also scored 14 penalties on his way to 100 goals. It is also less than Henry (15) and Shearer (18).

In fact, the forward's most prolific season in the top flight came in 2017-18, when he took just one penalty for the club - which he missed.

That season he scored 32 goals in 36 games and ended the year with the golden boot.

His tally dropped by 10 goals in the following campaign as Sadio Mane stepped up with a greater contribution and in 2019-20, Liverpool's title-winning season, he netted 19 times.

While Liverpool struggled at times during the 2020-21 season, Salah still managed 22 goals and his efforts helped secure Liverpool a place in the top four.

Alan Shearer (left) needed just 124 games to reach 100 goals while Harry Kane (right) took 141

Salah's most prolific Premier League season came in 2017-18, with none of his goals coming from the penalty spot

The forward already has three in four games this season but his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations from January to February will disrupt his and Liverpool's campaign.

Salah's goal against Leeds saw Ian Wright drop out of the top five for fewest games needed to reach 100 goals.

The Arsenal legend took 173 games to bring up a century, with 15 of his goals coming from the penalty spot.

Below Wright is another Liverpool legend, Robbie Fowler, who needed 175 matches. There are several more former Reds in the 100 club including Michael Owen, Peter Crouch and Emile Heskey.

Owen scored his 100th goal in his 185th Premier League game and he managed a further 18 for the Reds before joining Real Madrid in 2004.

Sergio Aguero (left) took 147 games to reach 100 goals while Thierry Henry (right) took 162

Crouch's 100th top-flight goal came while he was playing for Stoke City in 2017, having managed 22 during his time at the Reds. He needed 419 games to reach the landmark.

Heskey also brought up his century after leaving Liverpool. The forward, who scored 39 goals for the Reds between 2000 and 2004, netted his 100th while playing for Wigan in his 414th top-flight game.

Gerrard, of course, scored all of his 120 goals for Liverpool and reached his century in 449 games. Out of the 30 players in the 100 club, only Ryan Giggs took longer to reach the landmark.

The former Manchester United man needed 534 games but did not score any of his goals from the penalty spot.

Other players in the 100 club who are still playing include Jamie Vardy, Romelu Lukaku and Jermain Defoe.

Vardy has a total of 120 goals, six more than Lukaku, who is on 114. Defoe, who is currently playing under Gerrard at Rangers, managed 162 during his time in the top flight.

Salah is 20 top flight goals behind former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard's total of 120

The Egyptian could still become Liverpool's all-time leading Premier League scorer if he commits his long-term future to the club

Salah still has some way to go to catch the former England international but if he commits his long-term future to Liverpool, there is every chance he could reach those figures.

Klopp confirmed the club are in talks over a new deal for Salah, whose contract expires in two years.

The Egyptian needs 64 more goals to overtake Fowler as Liverpool's all-time leading Premier League scorer. Across his four seasons for the Reds, Salah has averaged 23.75 goals in the league.

Three more campaigns of the same level of consistency and he could soon be breaking more records.
Formula One have revealed a horrifying new angle of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen's collision at Monza, showing just how close the Brit came to disaster.

The Italian GP was hotting up for a dramatic showdown between the titles rivals on lap 26 when a slow Red Bull pit-stop dropped Vertappen back into Hamilton's clutches.

The Dutchman was careering down the finish straight and into Turn 1 when Hamilton emerged from his own stop, and the Mercedes flicked wide to push Verstappen onto the outside.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided on Sunday and wiped each other out of the race

Hamilton was showered in carbon fibre and hit on the head by Verstappen's car in the crash

Both drivers held their ground, the chicane narrowed, Verstappen's car flicked off the curb and bounced dangerously over Hamilton's car  coming to stop with its tyres spinning in the air, beached on top of the Brit.

From a 360 degree camera mounted on the front of Hamilton's Mercedes it's possible to see the seven-time champion's head jolted forward as the Red Bull crashed onto his halo device, showering him in shattered carbon fibre.

Verstappen hopped out first, marching back to the pit after saying on the radio: 'This is what you get when you don't leave space.'

The Dutchman will carry a three-place grid penalty into the Russian GP after the FIA blamed him for the incident, despite Hamilton going unpunished after his desperate lunge at Silverstone caused their last incident.

The angle from Verstappen's car shows the Dutchman climbing out of his Red Bull car

Hamilton followed Verstappen to the pit-lane once the Red Bull machine was eventually hoisted off his Mercedes, and opened-up on a scary moment.

'Thank God for the halo. It saved me,' he said.

'I don't think I've ever been hit on the head by a car before. My head really is quite far forward.

'I've been racing a long, long time, I'm so so grateful that I'm still here. I feel incredibly blessed, like somebody was watching over me today.'

The halo device which saved Hamilton was only introduced back in 2018, and has saved Charles Leclerc and Romain Grosjean in near-fatal incidents.

Though the halo did prevent Verstappen's car from crushing the British driver, Hamilton revealed he'd been feeling the effects of being smacked on the head by a Formula One car.

He wrote on Twitter: It's days like today I am reminded of how lucky I am.

Hamilton and Verstappen will have plenty more incidents this season in a fiery title battle

'It takes a millisecond to go from racing to a very scary situation. Today someone must have been looking down, watching over me!

'My necks a bit sore as the adrenaline wears off - it was a bit of a hit on the head, so naturally I have one big headache but I'm doing okay!

'The halo stopped the crash from being a lot worse and I'm incredibly grateful to all those that work to make our cars and racing safer.'

Daniel Ricciardo took victory after passing Verstappen at the start and getting ahead of the carnage, with his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris is second ahead of the Alfa-Romeo-bound Valtteri Bottas.
Dan Ewing made quite an introduction in the premiere of SAS Australia on Monday.

Audiences got a kick out of the former Home and Away star as he bizarrely referred to himself in the third person while introducing himself and his reason for joining the show.

The 36-year-old said: 'Stepping into SAS selection is quite interesting undertaking. There's no acting. This is Dan Ewing.'

'I had zero idea who he was until he said his name multiple times': Former Home and Away star Dan Ewing has viewers in stitches as he speaks about himself in the third person during SAS Australia premiere

'So, what does Dan Ewing do when he is sleep deprived? What will Dan do when he hasn't eaten, when he is freezing cold, getting screamed at, called all sorts of things?

'What does Dan Ewing do when his back is against the wall?' he asked.

Viewers flocked to Twitter in stitches over the actor's monologue, including one who wrote: 'Why is Dan Ewing referring to himself in the third person?'

Bizarre: Viewers flocked to Twitter in stitches over the actor's monologue, including one who said: 'Why is Dan Ewing referring to himself in the third person?'

Another second: 'I had zero idea who Dan Ewing was until he said his name multiple times.'

'Dan Ewing likes to talk about Dan Ewing in the third person a lot,' one tweeted, while another said: 'Why does Dan Ewing speak in 3rd person? Answer: Because he's an actor.'

A fourth joked: 'First rule about Dan Ewing is you don't talk about Dan Ewing in the 3rd person. What a knob (and I've still never heard of him),' referring to a famous quote from the film Fight Club.

A fourth joked: 'First rule about Dan Ewing is you don't talk about Dan Ewing in the 3rd person. What a knob (and I've still never heard of him),' referring to a famous quote from the film Fight Club

Another tweeted: 'Dan Ewing is thinking about Dan Ewing being a winner. I can't wait until Dan Ewing is broken enough not to talk in the third person'

One viewer quipped: 'I think Dan Ewing is going to have to have a chat with Dan Ewing,' as another said: 'I get the feeling Dan Ewing is there to boost Dan Ewing's profile I may be wrong.'

'Dan Ewing is thinking about Dan Ewing being a winner. I can't wait until Dan Ewing is broken enough not to talk in the third person,' another tweeted.

'Rhi wonders why Dan Ewing is speaking in third person? Mate, only one man can pull that off,' one tweeted.

'I have nothing to prove doing SAS': Dan continued in his introduction: 'I'm doing SAS because I choose to. I'm really great at my mental health, my spiritual health, I keep my emotions in check'

Dan, like his fellow recruits, was exposed to tear gas in an enclosed tent and forced to strip down during Monday's premiere.

He continued in his introduction: 'I have nothing to prove doing SAS, I'm doing SAS because I choose to.

'I'm really great at my mental health, my spiritual health, I keep my emotions in check,' the actor added.
She recently moved in with her rumoured new boyfriend, Instant Hotel star and personal trainer, Jay Bruno.

And love certainly looks good on Home and Away star Sam Frost.

The actress, 32, stunned her fans on Tuesday when she showcased her washboard abs and endless pins in a bikini.

Abs-solutely incredible! Sam Frost, 32, (pictured) flaunted her washboard abs as she stripped down to a skimpy bikini on Tuesday, amid reports she is now 'shacked-up' with reality star

The soap star smiled in the photo, which appears to be have been taken during a recent holiday.

It comes after reports emerged Sam has moved in with Instant Hotel star, Jay.

On Sunday, Emerald City reported that Jay, who hails from Melbourne, recently moved into the Home And Away actress' townhouse in Sydney's inner west.

New roomie: Sam (left) has reportedly shacked-up with Instant Hotel star and personal trainer Jay Bruno (right) during Sydney lockdown

According to the report, Sam has insisted the pair are 'just friends', however pals of the pair say 'their relationship has taken a romantic turn during lockdown'.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out for comment.

Sam, who recently split from her boyfriend Dave Bashford, made a rare appearance on Jay's Instagram Story on Saturday night as he filmed her performing an interpretive dance in front of the TV while watching sport.

Home sweet home! On Sunday, Emerald City reported that Jay, who hails from Melbourne, recently moved into the Home And Away actress' townhouse in Sydney's inner west

'Totally unaware of the camera,' he wrote next to the hilarious clip, adding: '2021 Sportsperson losing by 4 points.'

Sam confirmed she was single in July during an appearance on Nova's Fitzy And Wippa, in which she joked about looking for an attractive male celebrity to join her 'singles bubble during lockdown'.

Meanwhile, Jay appears to be single after splitting from international model Leah Johnsen in late 2019.

Hmm: According to the report, Sam has insisted the pair are 'just friends', however, pals of the pair say 'their relationship has taken a romantic turn during lockdown

Spotted: Sam made a rare appearance on Jay's Instagram Story on Saturday night as he filmed her performing an interpretive dance in front of the TV while watching sport

Jay and Leah rose to fame in 2019 when they starred as a couple on season two of Channel Seven's Instant Hotel, in which they transformed a drab home into a stunning holiday rental.

He is also no stranger to the reality star social scene, having worked at Bachelor star Sam Wood's Melbourne gym The Woodshed.

Jay, a part-time musician, also previously hosted the Jay, Foz & Alex radio show with Bachelor reject Alex Nation.
All eyes were on actress Keke Palmer as she arrived to the 2021 Met Gala in New York City rocking a stunning floor-length Sergio Hudson gown.

While preparing to host the only livestream of the event for Vogue with Ilana Glazer on Monday night, the 28-year-old star looked incredible in her sequined gown, with a sexy backless design.

Her gorgeous, free-flowing afro looked absolutely gorgeous as she strutted into the event wearing a dramatic smokey eyeshadow and drop earrings.

Gorgeous: All eyes were on actress Keke Palmer as she arrived to the 2021 Met Gala in New York City rocking a stunning floor-length Sergio Hudson gown

The Scream Queens alum also sported a black nail polish and body glitter on her skin as she channeled a disco-inspired era.

Glazer also oozed glamour at the extremely exclusive event with a semi-sheer feathered-sleeve dress from Aliette.

She wore her brown tresses in a sleek updo and accessorized with a bold pair of statement earrings and beige clutch.

Beautiful: Ilana Glazer also oozed glamour at the extremely exclusive event with a sheer feathered-sleeve dress from Aliette

Turning heads: While preparing to host the only livestream of the event for Vogue with Ilana Glazer on Monday night, the 28-year-old star looked incredible in her sequined gown, with a sexy backless design

Earlier this month, news broke the women would be hosting livestream red carpet coverage of the event with 'unprecedented access' to the exclusive event.

The duo will interview 'A-list celebrities, designers and other high-profile guests' which will broadcast live on vogue.com, according to People.

Ilana, who starred on the cult classic Comedy Central show Broad City, recently gave birth to her first child with husband David Rocklin.

Hosting duties: Earlier this month, news broke she and Glazer would be hosting livestream red carpet coverage of the Met Gala with 'unprecedented access' to the exclusive event

Important role: The women will interview 'A-list celebrities, designers and other high-profile guests' which will broadcast live on vogue.com, according to People

The 34-year-old actress will mark her hosting debut at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday, September 13.

Keke, 28, has already dipped her toes into the world of hosting after leading the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, and has guest co-hosted The View and The Wendy Williams Show.

Last year's Met Gala was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour is bringing the star-studded event back, but with safety precautions in place.

Star power: Ilana, who starred on the cult classic Comedy Central show Broad City, recently gave birth to her first child with husband David Rocklin

'Currently, all attendees at The Met Gala on September 13 must provide proof of full vaccination and will also be expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking,' a spokesperson for The Met confirmed to the outlet in August. 'We will update these guidelines as needed.'

Billie Eilish will make history at the charity fundraiser by being the gala's youngest ever co-chair.

The theme for this year's New York social event is America: A Lexicon of Fashion, which is named after a new exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Star power: Billie Eilish will make history at the charity fundraiser by being the gala's youngest ever co-chair; seen last month

The pop star will join other celebrities including Naomi Osaka, inauguration poet Amanda Gorman and Timothee Chalamet as co-chairs, while Tom Ford, Adam Mosseri and Wintour will set as honorary chairs.

The Post reported that due to COVID-19 mandates, Wintour had to cut the guest list from 600 to 450 people.

Gala-mainstays Beyonce and Kim Kardashian are reported to be attending the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, however many of the galas familiar faces are not attending, including the likes of Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen and actress Sarah Jessica Parker.
They were once Australia's NRL golden couple, envied for their picture-perfect looks and luxurious lifestyle.

But behind closed doors, Sam and Phoebe Burgess' marriage was a time-bomb waiting to explode.

On Monday's episode of SAS Australia, retired footy star Sam, 32, lifted the lid on his four-year marriage to Phoebe, 32, sensationally admitting he cheated on the ex-WAG with a 'girl in Melbourne' during his playing days.

Inside the demise of NRL's golden couple: How Sam and Phoebe Burgess' marriage survived an affair and a 'sexting scandal' - before their split weeks after welcoming a baby boy Pictured together on February 11, 2016 in Sydney

While it was the first time Sam had admitted to the affair, it has been long rumoured the Burgess' marriage was fractured prior to their split in 2019.

Sam and Phoebe met at an Avicii concert in Sydney back in January 2014.

They kept their fledgling relationship a secret for eight months, before making their debut as a couple at the Dally M Awards in Sydney in September that year.

Breaking his silence: Sam, 32, discussed his failed marriage to ex-wife Phoebe, 32, during a bombshell interrogation on SAS Australia on Monday, admitting to cheating on her with a 'girl in Melbourne'

Their relationship progressed quickly and just a month later, in October 2014, Phoebe relocated to England to support her boyfriend after he signed with a rugby union team in Bath, Somerset.

By June 2015, they were engaged following a romantic holiday in Greece.

The couple returned to Sydney in November 2015, after Sam re-signed with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, and they married a month later in December 2015 at Phoebe's parents' home in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.

Fairytale romance: Sam and Phoebe met at an Avicii concert in Sydney back in January 2014

In January 2017, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Poppy Alice.

Their second child, son William 'Billy' Mark, was born in 2018.

But despite what should have been one of the happiest times of their lives, a difficult few months clearly took a toll on the couple.

Wedding bells: They married in December 2015 at Phoebe's parents' home in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales

Sam and Phoebe started 2018 with what appeared to be a fairytale marriage.

In a May 2018 interview with Stellar Magazine, Phoebe praised her husband, calling him quite simply 'a good man'.

However, by September, Sam was embroiled in a sexting scandal involving a Melbourne woman who claimed he'd cheated on his wife with her in 2017.

Love at first sight! Secret romance: They kept their fledgling relationship a secret for eight months, before making their debut as a couple at the Dally M Awards in Sydney in September that year. Pictured with daughter Poppy, four

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 supportive of her husband in the weeks that followed.

Sam was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing following an NRL investigation.

Speaking at a press conference at the time, the former South Sydney Rabbitohs player admitted the allegations against him had taken their toll on his family.

Making a move: Their relationship progressed quickly, with Phoebe relocating to England to support her boyfriend after he signed with a rugby union team in Bath, Somerset in late 2014

Scandal: In September 2018, Sam was embroiled in a sexting scandal involving a Melbourne woman who claimed he'd cheated on his wife with her the year prior

'I'm not angry. What hurts me the most is seeing my wife upset about what's out there,' he said at the time.

However, the couple finally ended their marriage shortly after Christmas in 2018, just a few months after the birth of their son Billy.

News of the separation also came just days after Sam announced his retirement from rugby league with immediate effect on October 30, 2019, due to a shoulder injury.

Rough patch: Speaking at a press conference following his sexting scandal in September 2018, Sam confessed the allegations against him had taken a toll on his family

Separation: The pair ended up separating in December 2018, just a few months after the birth of their son Billy, two (pictured front)

Split: By April 2019 the couple had reconciled, only to end things for good six months later

By April 2019 the couple had reconciled, only to end things for good six months later.

During Monday night's SAS Australia premiere, Sam confessed he had previously been unfaithful to Phoebe 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.

'I was away on tour, and regretfully that happened. Which would have been... it would have been a tough place for Phoebe to be.'
Indiana Jones filming is reportedly in jeopardy once again after an outbreak of norovirus spread across the site.

Up to 50 people had to be sent home from the Pinewood Studios in Iver, Buckinghamshire, following a spread of the winter vomiting bug.

This could prove to be yet another setback, which comes only days since leading star Harrison Ford, 79, returned following surgery on a shoulder injury sustained rehearsing a stunt, which put him out of action for three months.

Oh no: Indiana Jones filming is reportedly in jeopardy once again after an outbreak of norovirus spread across the site (filming taking place in Leaderfoot back in June)

Indiana Jones is not the only movie in peril, as the outbreak has also impacted the filming of the next Ant-Man movie at the Bucks site.

A source implied to The Sun that the likes of Harrison and other big names have not been affected.

'The crew have been dropping like flies. There's also a lot off with Covid, so it's been a double whammy.

Bumps in the road: Up to 50 people had to be sent home from the Pinewood Studios in Iver, Buckinghamshire, following a spread of the winter vomiting bug (pictured Harrison Ford, left, and Toby Jones, right)

Obstacles: Harrison, 79, only recently returned following surgery on a shoulder injury sustained rehearsing a stunt, which put him out of action for three months (pictured in 1984 in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom)

Big impact: Indiana Jones is not the only movie in peril, as the outbreak has also impacted the filming of the next Ant-Man movie at the Bucks site

'Over 50 people have been struck down, but luckily that doesn't include the big stars,' the source said.

MailOnline have contacted representatives for Harrison and Lucasfilm Ltd. for comment.

Norovirus outbreaks were reported to be three times higher than usual as top experts warned the bug could make a comeback this summer because of the easing of Covid restrictions.

The health fears on set come after it was revealed last week that Phoebe Waller-Bridge is being tipped to replace veteran actor Harrison as a female version of the fictional professor of archaeology in the adventure movie franchise.

Leading lady? The health fears on set come after it was revealed last week that Phoebe Waller-Bridge is being tipped to replace veteran actor Harrison as a female version of the fictional professor of archaeology

The film industry is awash with rumours that the Fleabag star will take over as the main Indiana adventurer, making her the first female lead since the Disney-made movies began in 1981 with Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

She is to star as Indiana Joness sidekick next year in Harrison's last outing as the gnarled adventurer.

Insiders claim Kathleen Kennedy, the Hollywood producer behind the franchise, is keen to make big, bold changes  with few bigger than switching the lead character to a woman.
Lisa Curry has shared a heartbreaking tribute to her late daughter, Jaimi.

On Tuesday, the former Olympic swimmer marked the first anniversary of her daughter's death with an emotional video.

Alongside the footage, which included a series of childhood photos, Lisa penned an emotional message and admitted that she's still 'drowning in pain' from the loss.

Paying tribute: On Tuesday, Lisa Curry marked the first anniversary of her daughter Jaimi's death with an emotional video. Pictured, Lisa (right) and the late Jaimi (left)

'I would never have thought my life would be like it is now,' the 59-year-old began.

'Today, 1 year ago, we lost our treasured first born, our blue eyed, chatty Jaimi.

'That gut wrenching, heart breaking moment where we had to say goodbye,' she continued.

Lisa went on to reveal that she and Jaimi's father Grant Kenny still feel 'broken' from the tragedy.

And despite feeling as though she'd lost herself, Lisa admitted that she'd dug deep inside herself to continue living without her precious daughter.

Baby girl: Alongside the footage, which included a series of childhood photos, Lisa penned a heartfelt message. Pictured, a young Lisa and baby Jaimi

Broken: Lisa (left) went on to mention that she and Jaimi's father Grant Kenny (right) still feel 'broken' after losing their daughter (centre)

She then told her followers that regardless of her efforts, her grief still comes to her in waves.

'Each day I try to continue on, one step at a time to get things done, to continue being a mother, a granny, a wife, a friend, a business owner at times distracting myself so much that I cant think of anything.

'But then the quiet times come and everything comes flooding back, every feeling, every memory and I feel like Im drowning in the pain and I just cant  do anything.'

Tribute: Lisa went on to say that her family honoured Jaimi by placing flowers by her 'favourite beach'. Pictured, Grant (left), Lisa (centre right) with the late Jaimi (centre left) and son Jett Kenny (right)

To conclude her heartbreaking post, Lisa said that her family honoured Jaimi by laying flowers by her 'favourite beach.'

Lisa announced Jaimi's death in a social media post on September 15 last year, one day after her passing.

'Our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday morning with her loving family by her side,' she wrote at the time.

'Keep fighting and don't give up': Lisa went on to encourage people who are struggling to seek the help they need. Pictured: Jaimi Kenny

It was later reported that Jaimi had battled alcoholism and an eating disorder before her death at a Sunshine Coast hospital.

Lisa and her ex-husband Grant, 57, are also parents to son Jett, 27, and daughter Morgan, 29.

For confidential support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au. Alternatively, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800
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Karlie Kloss was most certainly the lady in red, with the help of a stunning Carolina Herrera dress at the 2021 Met Gala.

The 29-year-old supermodel was accompanied by the gown's designer, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon, at the gala.

Kloss also took to her Instagram and Instagram story to share some snaps from her Met Gala preparations.

Lady in red: Karlie Kloss was most certainly the lady in red, with the help of a stunning Carolina Herrera dress at the 2021 Met Gala

The red gown features large ruffles over her shoulder that are fashioned to look like actual rose petals with a plunging neckline.

The ruffles flow over the red sleeves as well, with a minidress look in front with a long red train in the back.

The blonde bombshell completed her look with black pumps and a red handbag with a rose petal design on top.

Karlie Kloss: The blonde bombshell completed her look with black pumps and a red handbag with a rose petal design on top

Statement look: The long train had plenty of drama as it filled out on the floor

Busty: Karlie showed off her cleavage as she opted to go braless in the plunging minidress

Best angles: The runway star worked her best angles

Karlie and Wes: The 29-year-old supermodel was accompanied by the gown's designer, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon, at the gala

High spirits: Karlie and Wes appeared in high spirits

Linking arms: The friends sweetly linked arms

Strutting her stuff: Karlie put her supermodel legs on show as she walked up the steps in black Louboutins

Kloss wore her hair pulled back tightly in a bun, while also wearing elegant DeBeers Aria diamond earrings for the occasion.

She shared several snaps of the dress on her Instagram, captioned, 'Roses are red MET GALA 2021 Thank you @carolinaherrera + @wesgordon.'

She also took to her Instagram story to share a snap of her 'met essentials' snacks including a Perfect Bar, Pressed juice and fries from The Mark Hotel.

Strike a pose: The fashionista looked every inch the catwalk queen as she posed for photographers in the striking gown alongside Wes

Rose petals: The red gown features large ruffles over her shoulder that are fashioned to look like actual rose petals with a plunging neckline

Earrings: Kloss wore her hair pulled back tightly in a bun, while also wearing elegant DeBeers Aria diamond earrings for the occasion

She also shared a snap, seemingly from her room at The Mark Hotel, featuring a throng of fans waiting behind barricades to see their favorite stars.

Kloss also shared a snap on her Instagram story, tagging dress designer Wes Gordon, stylist Kara Welch, hair stylist Harry Josh and makeup artist Hung Vanngo.

The annual bash comes just a week after Kloss and her husband, Joshua Kushner landed a new home in New York City for a whopping $42.5 million.

Leggy: Karlie looked gorgeous as she posed on the steps in the statement gown

Walking up the stairs: Karlie was helped by men who ensured she was picture perfect

Essentials: She also took to her Instagram story to share a snap of her 'met essentials' snacks including a Perfect Bar and Pressed juice

Fans: She also shared a snap, seemingly from her room at The Mark Hotel, featuring a throng of fans waiting behind barricades to see their favorite stars

Glam squad: Kloss also shared a snap on her Instagram story, tagging dress designer Wes Gordon, stylist Kara Welch, hair stylist Harry Josh and makeup artist Hung Vanngo

Kloss and Kushner purchased the last remaining 'Puck Penthouse' in The Puck Building earlier this month.

The 7,200-square-foot penthouse comes with amenities such as a full gym and full home theater, nestled in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan.

The property also comes with a 5,100-square-foot exterior space along with a personal wine cellar and private terraces.

New home: Kloss and Kushner purchased the last remaining 'Puck Penthouse' in The Puck Building earlier this month

New home: The 7,200-square-foot penthouse comes with amenities such as a full gym and full home theater, nestled in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan
Chandler Powell is loving every minute of fatherhood.

The first-time dad and husband of Bindi Irwin shared a gorgeous father-daughter moment with six-month-old Grace Warrior to Instagram on Monday.

In the image, both Chandler and Grace wore huge smiles as they posed in front of an orange tree.

Doting dad: Chandler Powell shared a gorgeous father-daughter moment with six-month-old Grace Warrior to Instagram on Monday

Powell captioned the post, 'Our faces after having a conversation with an orange tree'.

'This little smile is my favorite part of every day,' he concluded.

The beautiful photo-op comes just days after he shared a heartfelt tribute to his wife Bindi.

The women in his life: The beautiful photo-op comes just days after he shared a heartfelt tribute to his wife Bindi (pictured with Grace)

On Saturday, the former professional wakeboarder shared a photo on Instagram showing himself cosied up with Bindi, 23.

Chandler, 24, joked in the caption: 'Loving photo or falling asleep standing up?'

He said: 'I love you more than anything, @bindisueirwin, and being on this adventure together is my favourite part of life.

Perfect for each other: The young couple are proud parents to Grace Warrior who they welcomed back in March

'We make the best team together,' the American added.

Bindi appreciated the sweet post and added a laughing emoji directed at his joke in the caption.

The Wildlife Warrior added: 'Love you babe. Forever and forever.'

First love: The couple met in November 2013 when Chandler, who hails from Florida, was touring Australia for a wakeboarding competition

Bindi first met Chandler in 2013, when the American ex-wakeboarder went on a guided tour of Australia Zoo in Queensland.

The pair married in a makeshift ceremony at Australia Zoo in March 25, last year.

They welcomed daughter Grace Warrior in March 2021.
Chris Hemsworth's plans to build a second 'Westfield-style' mansion on a massive 35 hectare site just a stone's throw away from his existing controversial Byron Bay megastructure has hit its first hurdle.

Daily Mail Australia revealed last month the Hemsworths hope to build a seven-bedroom home - each with its own ensuite bathroom - less than a kilometre from the mansion they currently call home.

The new development had been expected to get the green light on Monday, but will now need to be re-gazetted by Byron Shire Council after it incorrectly undervalued the development's true cost by more than a million dollars in a previous listing.

Chris Hemsworth and his children on Tuesday after picking up a kite from a local toy shop

Chris Hemsworth's new place has been playfully dubbed 'El Caballao Blanco'. It sits just a kilometre from his existing mansion in Byron Bay.

Plans for a new four level home on Chris Hemsworth's property have been lodged for final approval

Chris Hemsworth's new property already has a large stable built on it. He wants to add a further two buildings to the site

Detailed plans show the sprawling residence will have four levels and sport a butler's pantry and swimming pool.

A second building, adding another two bedrooms and two bathrooms, will sit next to a tranquil pond, which already has a cosy cabana and firepit.

A garage will comfortably hold three Ferraris for the Hemsworths or their Hollywood mates, who are expected to bunker down at the new pad should it get the all clear.

Hemsworth purchased the land for $4.25million in 2019, with the development forecast to cost the Hollywood giant $4.4million.

Daily Mail Australia has since learnt an internal bungle in gazetting the development to Byron Bay locals by the council has inadvertently delayed approval.

It is understood the Hemsworth development was gazetted with an expected cost less than $3million.

Even then, the council confirmed it had received four objections to the development.

Byron Shire Council director for sustainable environment and economy Shannon Burt told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday the development application had triggered a 'level 2' advertising criteria under the council's development control plans given the cost of development works.

'This was not picked up initially,' she said.

The development will now need to be re-gazetted declaring the actual projected development estimation of $4.4million.

It will also need to be brought before the council in a public meeting, which will open up debate among other possible objectors.

Sprawling: Originally estimated at $20million, property experts said in January the LA-style compound was now worth $30million.

Chris Hemsworth is pumped for a new development to get the go ahead in Byron Bay

Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have reportedly spent $17million on property in the Byron Bay area over the past five years.

Chris Hemsworth already has his own bowling alley in his existing Byron Bay mansion

'The development application will be reported to council for determination. Some matters for consideration fall outside staff delegation. No time frame as yet for when,' Ms Burt said.

Daily Mail Australia revealed development plans were first lodged with the council in March, with a final draft being submitted in July listing the planned development to cost a little over $4million.

On Tuesday, the development application had been removed from the council's list of current developments listed for public scrutiny.

The new dwelling is about a kilometre as the crow flies from his current mansion, which sits on a relatively modest four hectares on New South Wales' north coast.

The development of Hemsworth's existing home divided opinion in their hometown upon its construction.

The final draft of a four-story dwelling Chris Hemsworth hopes to build on land he owns near his existing mansion in Byron Bay

Chris Hemsworth celebrates a Bulldogs victory within the confines of his Byron Bay mansion. The Bulldogs will play off in the AFL Grand Final against the Demons

A new horse arena and stables has been built on the expansive property

Hemsworth and his family began construction on his current Byron Bay mansion, named Kooeloah, in late 2017.

The fortress like property, which sits high above Seven Mile Beach, boasts a gymnasium, butler's pantry, fire pit, change rooms, outdoor play area for the three Hemsworth children and walk-in wardrobes.

A 50-metre pool helps the family keep cool and stay fit and comes with a stunning view over the idyllic Broken Head Nature Reserve.

The Hemsworths first purchased the property in 2014 for $7 million and spent years building their dream mansion.

Angry neighbours were quick to say the brutalist architectural style reminded them of a suburban shopping centre, a refurbished RSL club or a regional airport terminal.

Others compared it to a multi-storey car park.

Originally estimated at $20million, property experts said in January the LA-style compound was now worth $30million.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Hemsworth's management for comment.
Former Home and Away star Pia Whitesell recently enjoyed a romantic holiday in Venice, Italy, with her new husband, Hollywood mega agent, Patrick Whitesell.

And on Monday, the 37-year-old actress shared a stunning throwback taken before what she described as a 'casual dinner' in the romantic city.

Prior to their special night out, Pia posed in a chic black gown while standing in the foyer of their hotel room.

Date night done right! Pia Whitesell stunned in a chic black strapless gown as she enjoyd a romantic dinner in Venice, Italy with her multimillionaire husband Patrick last week

The Chilean beauty accessorised her look with matching black strappy heels and a black bag by Dior.

It is likely that her husband was the photographer behind the beautiful snap.

Pia shared her photo alongside a caption which revealed the nickname she's given her spouse.

'Just a casual dinner in Venice with husby... loved this look,' she wrote on Instagram.

The couple stepped out on Friday to attend the Venice Film Festival.

Date night! On Friday, Pia stunned in a figure-hugging designer dress as she cosied up to her Patrick at the Venice film festival

For the ritzy affair, Pia dressed up in a figure-hugging black and white gown by Celine.

Ever the proud wife, she shared images of herself with Patrick, 56, looking gorgeous as they hit the red carpet.

Pia's frock featured white cut-out detailing on the shoulders and long sleeves.

She wore her long locks out and over her shoulders and natural-looking makeup, including dewy foundation and a pink lip.

Pia also shared a sweet selfie of the pair on the way to the event and captioned the post: 'Venice Film Festival with mi amore [my love]'

Patrick meanwhile, looked dapper in a black and white suit and bow tie.

At the time, Pia also shared a sweet selfie of the pair on the way to the event and captioned the post: 'Venice Film Festival with mi amore [my love]'.

She added in part of her post: 'So grateful to be able to travel from LA and to even be here!'

Stunning: She wore her long locks out and over her shoulders and natural-looking makeup, including dewy foundation and a pink lip

New digs: Earlier this month, Pia gave fans a glimpse into her and Patrick's Malibu beach house, after she relocated to Los Angeles from Sydney to be with her new husband

Earlier this month, Pia gave fans a glimpse into her and Patrick's Malibu beach house, after she relocated to Los Angeles from Sydney to be with her new husband.

She uploaded videos to her Instagram of the lavish home which is just mere meters from the sand.

The former soap star has travelled abroad with her sons, Isaiah, 18, and Lennox, 13.

Pia 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.
While her sister Kim Kardashian arrived at the Met Gala in a bizarre outfit and half-sister Kendall Jenner and mother Kris Jenner was also in attendance, Kourtney Kardashian opted for an evening with boyfriend Travis Barker.

The 42-year-old reality star was spotted heading into The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City on Monday afternoon with Barker.

While Kim, Kendall and Kris are regular staples at the annual gala, Kourtney and her sister Khloe have never attended the annual bash.

Kourt and Trav: While her sister Kim Kardashian arrived at the Met Gala in a bizarre outfit and half-sister Kendall Jenner and mother Kris Jenner was also in attendance, Kourtney Kardashian opted for an evening with boyfriend Travis Barker

Kourtney was seen arriving at The Ritz-Carlton wearing a brown tube top with a brown choker and a silver necklace with a cross pendant.

She also donned brown sunglasses with black wide-legged pants and black boots as she headed into the hotel.

She completed her look with a small black handbag as she walked into the hotel with Barker.

Hotel look: Kourtney was seen arriving at The Ritz-Carlton wearing a brown tube top with a brown choker and a silver necklace with a cross pendant

Barker stepped out with a plain white t-shirt and an elaborate silver necklace with black sunglasses.

He completed his look with black pants featuring several zippers on the side with black Dr. Martens boots.

The couple were later spotted leaving the hotel, with Kardashian swapping her tube top for a black DTP Records hoodie, while keeping the same pants and shoes.

Hotel look: Barker stepped out with a plain white t-shirt and an elaborate silver necklace with black sunglasses

New look: The couple were later spotted leaving the hotel, with Kardashian swapping her tube top for a black DTP Records hoodie, while keeping the same pants and shoes

Barker also changed into a grey skull t-shirt while adding a black stocking cap and keeping the same pants and shoes.

While it's unclear if Kourtney and Travis were invited to the Met Gala, Kourtney has never attended the annual bash, despite others in her family being regular fixtures there.

Kourtney reportedly got her first invite to the bash in 2019, but she opted not to go and stayed home with sister Khloe Kardashian, who has also never been invited, reportedly because Kourtney didn't want to leave Khloe alone (via Radar Online).

Change: Barker also changed into a grey skull t-shirt while adding a black stocking cap and keeping the same pants and shoes

That 2019 report also claimed that Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has 'blacklisted' Khloe from the event because Wintour thought she was, 'too C-List to be there.'

While Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kris Jenner are at the bash, another family member, Kylie Jenner, revealed earlier today she wasn't attending, even though she is currently in New York for New York Fashion Week.

'I'm so sad I couldn't make it this year. I can't wait to see all the looks,' Kylie Jenner revealed on Instagram.

C-list: That 2019 report also claimed that Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has 'blacklisted' Khloe from the event because Wintour thought she was, 'too C-List to be there'

No Kylie: While Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kris Jenner are at the bash, another family member, Kylie Jenner, revealed earlier today she wasn't attending, even though she is currently in New York for New York Fashion Week
Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa Pataky enjoyed a family outing with their three children, two days after Byron Bay's lockdown was lifted on Monday.

The Thor star, 38, and the Spanish beauty, 45, celebrated their first taste of freedom by taking their eight-year-old daughter India Rose and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, seven, to the beach.

Chris found an isolated spot and flew a colourful kite while his children watched on in amazement.

Family fun! Barefoot Elsa Pataky and husband Chris Hemsworth celebrated Byron Bay coming out of lockdown by taking their children to the beach to fly kites on Monday

He dressed casually for the outing in brown track pants, a white T-shirt and a pair of comfortable sneakers.

Before arriving to the beach, Chris' wife Elsa visited a local store to purchase a new kite with her children.

The brunette beauty looked stylish in blue jeans, and a grey jumper.

Elsa tied her long locks in a high ponytail and went barefoot, as she stopped by the store.

Family outing: The Thor star and the Spanish beauty celebrated their first taste of freedom by taking their eight-year-old daughter India Rose and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, seven, to the beach

First stop: Chris' wife Elsa was spotted visiting a local store to purchase a new kite with her children

Chris and Elsa met in early 2010 and married shortly after in December that year.

The family of five now live in Byron Bay on the New South Wales North Coast in a mega-mansion estimated to be worth $30million after relocating from Los Angeles.

They spent years renovating their home, which sits on 4.2 hectares of land, with the help of Sydney-based MCK Architects - but the development faced some resistance from locals, who compared it to a multi-storey car park or shopping centre.

Comfort: The brunette beauty looked stylish in blue jeans, and a grey jumper

Casual: Elsa tied her long locks in a high ponytail and went barefoot, as she held her daughter's hand

Doting dad: Chris found an isolated spot and flew a colourful kite while his children watched on in amazement

In March, Elsa told Sunday Life patience, communication and understanding are key for a successful marriage.

'You need to put a lot of work into marriage; I don't think every couple is perfect,' she said.

'It requires patience, understanding, a lot of conversation, getting to know the other person, to know yourself and what you do wrong.It's about not letting one's pride get in the way.'

Elsa also explained that it's important to spend time together as a couple without the children.

Style: He dressed casually for the outing in brown track pants, a white T-shirt and a pair of comfortable sneakers

No place like home! The family of five live in Byron Bay on the New South Wales North Coast in a mega-mansion estimated to be worth $30million after relocating from Los Angeles
It's been more than two years since some of the world's most high-profile people last graced the red carpet for the Met Gala in New York City.

Actress and television personality Whoopi Goldberg was among the stars who wasn't going to pass on the opportunity to attend the famed event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday.

And on this festive night The View co-host stepped out in a purple ruffled gown by Valentino Haute Couture - especially designed for her by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli - that had six layers that helped build its bell-shaped design.

Festive: Whoopi Goldberg, 65, stepped out in a purple ruffled gown by Valentino Haute Couture at the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday

The full-length gown came complete with short sleeves that fell to just above her elbows.

For color contrast, there was green fabric along the middle of the piece and around Goldberg's neck.

She also wore teal-colored gloves up that came up to the end of garment's sleeves.

Color contrast: The gown had green fabric along the middle of the piece and around the neck, wile Goldberg wore teal-colored gloves

Goldberg struck pose after pose, in front of the sea of photographers, by herself, but at one point she teamed up with actress Carey Mulligan, 36, who looked pretty in a pink Valentino gown and cape.

The two ladies then snuggled up next to Valentino designer Pier Paolo Piccioli for the cameras.

Piccioli, 54, went with a more traditional black tuxedo and bow tie for the event.

The Met Gala, which is formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City.

Designer worship: Goldberg and actress Carey Mulligan, who also wore Valentino, posed alongside Valentino designer Pier Paolo Piccioli

Considered the fashion world's equivalent of the Oscars, the event marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit.

Each year's event celebrates the theme of that year's Costume Institute exhibition

This go-around the Met Gala theme was 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.'

Goldberg is among just 16 entertainers to have won an EGOT: Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Awards, and a Tony Award.
Brynne Edelsten and her fellow recruits had to strip off their clothes and get hosed down in front of each other during SAS Australia's premiere on Monday.

And on Tuesday, she revealed to Nova's Fitzy and Wippa show that she had no qualms with getting her kit off and being nude among the other contestants.

The 38-year-old said: 'I think for me, that was like the least of my worries.

'Probably the easiest part of the show': Brynne Edelsten told Nova's Fitzy and Wippa show on Tuesday that stripping naked in front of the other recruits was the 'easiest part' of SAS Australia, before she quit just six hours into the selection course

'It wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing, but that was probably the easiest part of the show for me,' she added.

Brynne and her fellow recruits had to remove their clothes they were wearing after being exposed to tear gas.

They were each hosed down in water while dressed in their underwear by Mark Billingham.

Afterwards, they had to strip off their underwear and quickly change into their uniform in front of each other.

Uncomfortable: The 38-year-old said of having to strip down: 'I think for me, that was like the least of my worries'

There were plenty of bare bottoms on show, as the celebrities pulled on dry underpants while trying in vain to protect their modesty.

At one point, Brynne appeared to suffer a wardrobe malfunction as her ample cleavage fell out of her bra.

Byrnne quit SAS Australia on Monday, handing in her number after just six hours and telling the Directing Staff her 'body isn't strong enough' for the challenges.

Undressed: The recruits had to remove their clothes they were wearing and each had to get hosed down in their underwear by Mark Billingham. At one point, Brynne (right) appeared to suffer a wardrobe malfunction with her cleavage falling out of her bra

The socialite, who was married to the late disgraced businessman Geoffrey Edelsten, told the Herald Sun that 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 said.

'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.'

Too much: Byrnne quit SAS Australia on Monday, handing in her number after six hours into the course, telling the Directing Staff her 'body isn't strong enough' for the challenges

'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.

Brynne, a fitness instructor from California, met Geoffrey, 40 years her senior, in October 2008.

The then-couple wed in a lavish ceremony at The Crown in Melbourne in 2009, that reportedly cost $3million. He was 66 and she was 26.

Wedding: Brynne, a fitness instructor from California, met Geoffrey, 40 years her senior, in October 2008. The then-couple wed in a lavish ceremony at The Crown in Melbourne in 2009, that reportedly cost $3million. He was 66 and she was 26

The couple called it quits, separating in 2014 and finalising their divorce in April 2015.

Geoffrey, who died in Melbourne aged 78 on June 11, was a brilliant but disgraced medical entrepreneur and one of Australia's great self-publicists.

SAS Australia continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven
Elliot Page looked classy in a Balenciaga tuxedo as he walked the red carpet at the 2021 Met Gala in Manhattan on Monday evening.

The 34-year-old actor opted for classic style with some unusual touches for the event, which had an American fashion theme.

This was the first Met Gala in two years, after the 2020 edition was delayed due to the pandemic, and it also marked Elliot's first red carpet appearance since he came out as transgender in December.

Suited up: Elliot Page, 34, looked dapper in a black Balenciaga tuxedo as he made his Met Gala debut on Monday evening in Manhattan

Elliot appeared to be swallowed up by his outfit, which featured a oversize jacket with thick shoulders and extra-long sleeves.

The jacket's sleeves usually stop at the wrist, with the shirt just peeking out, but his flared sleeves reached down to his fingers and showed plenty of his sleeves.

The Juno star wore a crisp white shirt with a thick silver button at the collar in place of a tie.

He added a splash of color to the minimalist look with a green flower pinned next to his shawl lapels

Big on him: Elliot appeared to be swallowed up by his outfit, which featured a oversize jacket with thick shoulders and extra-long sleeves

Extra-long: The jacket's sleeves usually stop at the wrist, with the shirt just peeking out, but his flared sleeves reached down to his fingers and showed plenty of his sleeves

Elliot opted for comfort and dressed down his outfit a bit with a pair of chunky black Balenciaga trainers.

In addition to marking his first red-carpet appearance since coming out, Monday night was also the actor's Met Gala debut.

The famous fashion event was canceled in 2020 due to the raging coronavirus pandemic, and this year's edition had to be pushed back from its usual May date due to rising delta variant cases.

The inception star was doing his part to help slow the spread of Covid-19 by getting vaccinated, which was a requirement for attendance this year.

'Currently, all attendees at The Met Gala on September 13 must provide proof of full vaccination and will also be expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking,' a spokesperson for The Met said last month.

Elliot complied and showed off his simple black mask inside the event to match his tux.

No fuss: Elliot opted for comfort and dressed down his outfit a bit with a pair of chunky black Balenciaga trainers

Bit moment: The Inception star, who wore a mask indoors in accordance with the rules, was making his first red carpet appearance since coming out as transgender in December

Elliot must have made Game Of Thrones fans at home jealous when he stopped to chat with the show's stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie.

Kit contrasted Elliot's black tux with his white jacket with peaked lapels and a black bow tie.

Rose, who married her costar in 2018, looked glamorous in a voluminous off-the-shoulder yellow tulle dress.

In December, shortly after he came out, Elliot revealed to Time Magazine that he had always been uncomfortable on red carpets when he wore feminine clothing.

'I just never recognized myself,' he admitted. 'For a long time I could not even look at a photo of myself.'

Small talk: Elliot must have made Game Of Thrones fans at home jealous when he stopped to chat with the show's stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie

Colorful: Kit was Elliot's inverse with a white tuxedo jacket, while his wife and former costar Rose looked glamorous in a voluminous yellow tulle dress

Film roles also posed a challenge for him, as he often had to continue to present as a woman on set.

'Even though [I was] an actor, just putting on a T-shirt cut for a woman would make me so unwell,' Elliot said.

This year's gala will be a more intimate affair than recent editions, to be followed by a larger one on May 2, 2022. Both will launch a two-part exhibition, a survey of American fashion to be on view for almost a year.

In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, opening Sept. 18, will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the museums Costume Institute and 'explore a modern vocabulary of American fashion,' the spokesperson added.

Part two, In America: An Anthology of Fashion, will open in the museum's popular American Wing period rooms on May 5, 2022, and will explore American fashion, with collaborations with film directors, by 'presenting narratives that relate to the complex and layered histories of those spaces.' Both parts will close on Sept. 5, 2022.
Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Alli Dore and her boyfriend Benny Thompson welcomed their baby son, River George, in August.

And now, the new mum has shared an emotional update about her son after he was born premature.

Posting to her Instagram on Tuesday, Alli, 32, revealed she was struggling to say goodbye to her son every time she left the hospital as he was still under care.

Baby update: Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Alli Dore has shared an emotional update about her son who was born premature in August

Alongside a photograph with her baby, whom still have feeding tubes in his nose, she wrote: 'Soon I wont have to leave you each night any longer.'

Alli also shared a piece of writing which read: 'Mama, I can't see past you now, I'm so small and everything's a little blurry.'

She also mentioned a friend had sent her the thoughtful post, which makes her cry every time she reads. it.

On August 31, Alli told fans on Instagram that she gave birth to the little one on August 26 at 5:17 AM.

Alongside photos of the little tot hooked up to various machinery, Dore wrote, 'Hes come a little prematurely but is doing better everyday. We are so proud of our strong little man.

Distance: Alongside a photograph with her baby, whom still have feeding tubes in his nose, she wrote: 'Soon I wont have to leave you each night any longer'

Emotional words: Alli also shared a piece of writing which read: 'Mama, I can;t see past you now, I'm so small and everything's a little blurry'

'The last couple of weeks we faced challenges I never thought wed have to,' Alli continued.

'Its been really emotional but also the most special time in our lives because we have River at the end of it all.

'Im so grateful to have @bennithompson by my side because I couldnt have done this without him,' the new mum concluded at the time.

'Proud of our little family and counting the days until River gets to come home'.

Baby announcement: Below Deck Sailing Yacht star Alli Dore has welcomed a bouncing baby boy named River George with her boyfriend Benny Thompson

Seen here in a promo shot for BDSY season 2: Alli revealed the happy news early on Tuesday, telling fans that she gave birth to the little one last Thursday, August 26 at 5:17 AM

As for dad Benny, he took to his own social media to share a similar gallery of new baby photos.

The main photo saw Benny in a face mask smiling as he held his infant, who also seemed to be smiling.

'Dont listen to them! Bubs dont take 9 months,' he wrote in the caption.

Alongside photos of the little tot, Dore wrote: 'Hes come a little prematurely but is doing better everyday'

As for dad Benny, he took to his own social media to share a similar gallery of new baby photos: 'Dont listen to them! Bubs dont take 9 months' he wrote

'Our littlest man, River George Thompson, arrived Thursday morning. Its been an absolute journey and I couldnt be prouder of him or his incredibly strong mama @allidoreporfavor,' he continued.

'Born a few weeks early he has surprised everyone with how far hes already come. We are over the moon and think the absolute world of you, our little legend '

The couple gave birth to their son at the The Royal Women's Hospital outside Melbourne, Australia.

Cute kid: Several photos showed the baby seemingly smiling

Dore, meanwhile, had more details to share about her pregnancy when she stopped by the Unpopular podcast in June.

The reality star admitted at the time that she'd been on birth control when she became pregnant, taking a budget pill she purchased in Spain that had concerned Ben right off the jump.

She also said that her Below Deck co-star Dani Soares was on the pill as well when she fell pregnant last year.

New mom: Dore, meanwhile, had more details to share about her pregnancy when she stopped by the Unpopular podcast in June

'We must both be the most fertile women in the country!' Alli joked.

She also admitted that she made the mistake of not taking the pill at the same time each day, which led to her surprise pregnancy.

'I'm a bit slack...' she said with a laugh. 'I think you get a bit comfortable when you're in a relationship.'

Oops: The reality star admitted at the time that she'd been on birth control when she became pregnant, taking a budget pill she purchased in Spain that had concerned Ben

She added: 'My only form of contraception was relying on the pill. I would always try to take it as soon as I would wake up, but sometimes it wouldn't be until later in the day.

'I didn't realize that was such a sensitive thing. Now I've learned!'

Alli and Ben recently moved in together in Melbourne in preparation for the birth of their first child.
A news crew from A Current Affair has been fined $500 each and forced into isolation by police after breaching public health orders for failing to wear masks.

The incident occurred while ACA crime editor Simon Bouda was conducting an investigation and trying to interview pastor Marvin Osaghae of Christ Embassy Sydney, according to a report by the ABC's Media Watch on Monday.

Osaghae's church was heavily fined after his congregation gathered illegally and failed to wear face masks last month.

Trouble with the law: A news crew from A Current Affair has been fined $500 each and forced into isolation by police after breaching public health orders for failing to wear masks. Pictured, ACA crime editor Simon Bouda

A NSW Police spokesperson later confirmed that the Nine news crew involved in the incident was fined and subsequently placed into isolation.

'On Tuesday 24 August, 2021, officers from Mt Druitt Police Area Command were told a television news crew had breached the Public Health Order,' a police spokesperson said in a statement.

'The three men, 48, 58 and 60, self-reported to police after immediately identifying that they had breached the Order by not wearing masks while attempting to interview a man outside a house in Bidwill about 6am that day.

Breach penalty: The incident occurred while ACA crime editor Simon Bouda was conducting an investigation and trying to interview pastor Marvin Osaghae of Christ Embassy Sydney, according to a report by the ABC's Media Watch on Monday

Turning themselves in: It was later revealed by Media Watch host Paul Barry (pictured in Sydney in June 2019) that the crew had actually 'dobbed themselves in' because the Nine Network 'wanted to do the right thing'

'The men each received a $500 Penalty Infringement Notice for failure to comply with a direction to wear a mask.'

It was later revealed by Media Watch host Paul Barry that the crew had actually 'dobbed themselves in' because the Nine Network 'wanted to do the right thing'.

He added that the irony from the whole event was that the news crew were caught breaching a public health order while they were trying to investigate a breach in a public health order.

'On Tuesday 24 August, 2021, officers from Mt Druitt Police Area Command were told a television news crew had breached the Public Health Order,' a police spokesperson said in a statement. Pictured, Simon Bouda

'Whoops. Yes, in filming a report about breaching public health orders Nine's crew breached a public health order. Embarrassing,' reported Media Watch.

Darren Wick, Nines Director of News and Current Affairs, told Daily Mail Australia: 'We did have a crew who inadvertently conducted an interview while not wearing masks recently.

'They did not intentionally set out to breach the health orders but upon realising they had breached them instantly wanted to do the right thing, which was to report it and cop the consequences. We are no different to the public.

'They were not suspended, they were isolating at home and got tested on days 1, 5, 12 and 14 as per Nines COVID safe plan and health department protocols.

'They are now back at work after completing the 14 days isolation.'
Keith Urban hit the stage to perform a few of his songs as part of a benefit concert on Monday.

And his wife, Nicole Kidman, made a special surprise appearance alongside him at Loretta Lynn's Friends: Hometown Rising Benefit Concert in Nashville.

Following his set, the 53-year-old announced that he would be auctioning off the guitar he had just performed with to help raise funds for the victims of flash flooding that happened in the US state of Tennessee last month.

Still going strong: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban looked as loved-up as ever sharing the stage at a benefit concert in Nashville

He signed the acoustic guitar with a black marker, followed by his friend and fellow musician Breland.

Keith then called out his wife Nicole, 54, to come out on stage and sign the instrument.

She skipped toward her husband and gave him a kiss before waving to the cheering crowd.

Surprise! Keith called out his wife Nicole to come out on stage and sign the instrument. She skipped toward her husband and gave him a kiss before waving to the cheering crowd

A good cause: The actress looked incredibly chic in an all-black ensemble as she generously signed the guitar for charity

The actress looked incredibly chic in an all-black ensemble, consisting of a lace camisole and a suit by SMYTHE House.

She styled her blonde tresses in waves that appeared to be clipped up, while her fringe framed her face.

Before heading off stage, Nicole leaned into the microphone and excitedly told the audience, 'I've never been on stage at the Opry, wow!'

Exciting: Before heading off stage, Nicole leaned into the microphone and excitedly told the audience, 'I've never been on stage at the Opry, wow!'

Nicole and her country music superstar husband are doing parents to daughters Sunday Rose, 13, and Faith Margaret, 10, and celebrated 15 years of marriage in June.

Keith and Nicole were first introduced to one another in January 2005 at G'Day LA, following her 2001 split with fellow actor Tom Cruise.

The couple tied the knot at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's College in Manly, Sydney, on June 25, 2006.
Kim Kardashian and Irina Shayk were under the same roof on Monday night as they both attended the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The pair narrowly avoided an awkward encounter on the red carpet, with the event happening less than a month after the model, 35, split from Kanye West, 44.

It comes as reports emerged Kim, 40, is working on her marriage with the rapper, after the reality star appeared in a bridal gown at Kanye's DONDA listening event.

Red carpet battle! Kim Kardashian (L) and Irina Shayk (R) were under the same roof on Monday night as they both attended the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

And the rapper's exes certainly went for different looks on the red carpet for this year's Met Gala theme In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.

Irina walked the red carpet first in a sheer beige Moschino By Jeremy Scott strapless dress which had a corset design, thigh-high slit and flowers on the long train.

The show-stopping dress was designed for Irina by her friend Jeremy Strong, the creative director of Moschino.

Kim, meanwhile, surprised many as she went for a completely minimalist look inspired by her estranged husband Kanye.

Back on? It comes as reports emerged Kim, 40, is working on her marriage with the rapper (Kayne pictured last year)

Awkward: The pair narrowly avoided an awkward encounter on the red carpet, with the event happening less than a month after the model, 35, split from Kanye West, 44

Different looks: And the rapper's exes certainly went for different looks on the red carpet for this year's Met Gala theme In America: A Lexicon of Fashion

The television personality completely covered up her face in an all-black head-to-toe Balenciaga ensemble including balaclava as she arrived at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Being completely covered up seemingly did not stop the star from spending hours in the make-up chair as make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic took to Instagram to share a few snaps of their beauty regimen.

The design was reminiscent of outfits Kanye has worn during the creation of his Donda album.

Top of the world: Irina is coming off a strong New York Fashion Week showing

Stunning: Irina walked the red carpet first in a sheer beige Moschino By Jeremy Scott strapless dress which had a corset design, thigh-high slit and flowers on the long train

Match made in heaven: The show-stopping dress was designed for Irina by her friend Jeremy Strong, the creative director of Moschino

It takes two: The American designer wore a double-breasted black suit with a pink-lined tail that complement Irina's flowers

Pretty in pink: The two also posed with Karen Elson, who wore a sparkling jeweled off-the-shoulder top with a pink skirt to complement Jeremy's jacket

And so many had assumed the masked man accompanying Kim on the red carpet of the Met Gala was the rapper.

But turns out it wasn't the Yeezus artist under the mask but he was behind the statement making appearance.

The cosmetics mogul was joined by Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia as she arrived to the star-studded event.

Dynamic duo: Kim was joined by Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia as she arrived at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for the Met Gala on Monday

Mistaken identity: Many had assumed that the masked man accompanying Kim on the red carpet was her estranged husband Kanye but it was not, (pictured in 2013)

Back in black: Irina's look was a far cry from Kim Kardashian's edgy black ensemble

In the details: It was designed by creative director Demna Gvasalia for the Paris-based high-fashion label featured several matching dark pieces including a T-Shirt dress

Kanye's love life has hit the headlines in recent months.

Irina who shares a daughter with Bradley Cooper, had struck up a relationship with the chart-topping rapper in June, but it fizzled out by mid-August.

Kanye was first spotted with the stunning supermodel earlier this year on a romantic trip to Paris.

Glam: Being completely covered up seemingly did not stop the star from spending hours in the make-up chair as make-up artist Mario Dedivanovic took to Instagram to share a few snaps

Despite on-and-off reports, a source told PEOPLE their relationship 'was never a serious thing that took off.'

'Kanye has been busy working and spending time with his kids. This is his focus. He doesn't have time to date right now. He finds Irina amazing though,' another source noted to the publication. 'They remain friendly.'

Meanwhile, earlier this month reports emerged that Kim is 'open' to reconciling with the billionaire rapper.

A source told E! News: 'Kim is not rushing the divorce,' the source explained. 'She and Kanye are in a good place right now and she is not on a rushed timeline to push the divorce forward.'

Kim and Kanye's fans speculated that a reconciliation might be in the works after she made an appearance in a Balenciaga Couture wedding gown during his third public listening party for his new album Donda.

Artistic: Many believed that it was actually the Donda artist who accompanied his estranged wife down the carpet as he has been spotted in various balaclavas over the past few months

The exes were also seen together in Malibu earlier in August for lunch together, and they have continued to spend time with their four children as a family.

The source added that Kim and Kanye 'are finally in a great place and Kim wants to enjoy this time and be a family unit.'

The Jesus Walks rapper is also reportedly looking to get back together with his reality star wife.

Wow factor: The images had a dark and sinister look about them as they resembled comic book movie villains

'Kanye has expressed that he wants her back, and Kim is open to it, but wants to focus first on rebuilding their foundation and friendship back stronger,' the insider continued.

The shapewear mogul is apparently 'really happy' that they're coparenting so well at the moment, which is a necessity 'for the sake of the kids, who are really close to their dad.'

Kim and Kanye tied the knot back in 2014 at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence, Italy, where Kim was dressed in a custom-made gown by Givenchy Haute Couture.

The parents share four children: North, eight; Saint, five; Chicago, three; and Psalm, two.

Kim filed for divorce from Kayne in February.
She's not often seen with her Rizzle Kicks beau.

But Jade Thirlwall, 28, put on a loved up display with her boyfriend Jordan Stephens, 29, on Monday.

The musician duo walked hand-in-hand as they left the Tiff Calver party in London looking stylish as ever as they smiled at one another.

Loved up: Jade Thirwall, 28, put on a loved up display with her boyfriend Jordan Stephens, 29, on Monday

Hand-in-hand: The musician duo walked hand-in-hand as they left the Tiff Calver party in London looking stylish as ever as they smiled at one another

Showing off her usual chic style, Jade opted for an all black look including trendy leather trousers and a strapless Prada top.

She added a simple jacket and styled the outfit with silver chain embellishments.

Proving her easy glamour, she added a simply gold nose ring to a sultry make-up look.

Jade highlighted her natural beauty with a burnt orange lip and smokey eye, while adding a dramatic statement with long eyelash extensions.

Meanwhile Jordan opted for a more colourful look, pairing green tracksuit bottoms with an orange button down cardigan and leather jacket.

He finished the look off with a pair of box-fresh white trainers.

Style star: Showing off her usual chic style, Jade opted for an all black look including trendy leather trousers and a strapless Prada top

Stunning: Proving her easy glamour, she added a simply gold nose ring to a sultry make-up look

Cementing his style credentials, he added a green and orange backpack which perfectly complemented his outfit and added a touch of cool with a pearl chain and black cap.

The Little Mix star usually keeps her life with her actor man out of the spotlight but chose not to on this occasion.

Jade and Jordan celebrated their one-year anniversary in May, with Jade marking the day by telling her social media followers she 'slid in the DMs' before they grew close.

Jade moved in with her beau in October last year and she revealed at the time she thought they were perfectly suited.

She previously told the Metro: 'Anyone who has supported you through hard times is really important.

Easy style: Meanwhile Jordan opted for a more colourful look, pairing green tracksuit bottoms with an orange button down cardigan and leather jacket

'Its quite special seeing that. Its the one positive to come out of this. Me and Jordan we are a good match. We are so chilled out, we are horizontal!'

It comes after Jade vowed to stay on a different floor of the hotel when she resumes touring with Little Mix, now that Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards have three newborn babies between them.

Perrie welcomed her first child - a son named Axel - with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in August, while Leigh-Anne announced she had welcomed twins with fiance Andre Gray just a day later.

In an interview aired on Lorraine, which was recorded before the pop stars gave birth, Leigh-Anne told Lorraine Kelly: 'It's just nice to do it together [with Perrie] and just share this experience - it's just so beautiful and obviously Jade's been helping us out She's been cracking the whip for us!

Perrie continued: 'Jade's been amazing. She's been going first and finishing last, so we can get a bit more time at home.'

Jade then added: 'I'm very excited to be an auntie again Although I'll definitely be on a different floor of the hotel [on tour]!'

She went on: 'Can I just say, they're smashing it! We've been working so hard recently, I don't know how they've done it? They're goddesses.'
Winnie Harlow wasn't short of admirers on Monday evening as she made a dramatic entrance at Justin Bieber's Met Gala after-party in New York City.

The Canadian model, 27, turned heads in a sweeping orange gown, just hours after attending the main event in a black and white bodysuit by Iris Van Herpen.

With swirled embellishments and semi-sheer detailing, the sleeveless dress ensured she commanded attention while making her way inside Webster Hall shortly after Bieber's party got underway.

Stunning: Winnie Harlow wasn't short of admirers on Monday evening as she made a dramatic entrance at Justin Bieber's Met Gala after-party in New York City

The fitted outfit perfectly accentuated her slender physique, while matching orange stiletto heels served as an appropriately colourful finishing touch.

Other stars to attend the event included Kim Kardashian, her half-sister sister Kendall Jenner and pal Hailey Bieber - who was toting a bottle of Kendall's 818 Tequila during the boozy night.

Kim, 40, showcased her iconic curves in a form-fitting black catsuit, which featured a flowing skirt which followed her as she made her way into the swanky venue to continue the night.

Striking: The Canadian model, 27, turned heads in a sweeping orange gown, just hours after attending the main event in a black and white bodysuit by Iris Van Herpen

Lovely: The fitted outfit perfectly accentuated the Canadian model's slender physique

Kim channeled her inner Catwoman in the spandex bodysuit which covered her from her neck down to her toes, while she added an angular eye mask to complete the quirky look.

Having wowed earlier in the night in a sheer Givenchy gown lavished in glittering gemstones, inspired by 1964's movie My Fair Lady, Kendall soon ditched the look for a new look for the star-studded bash.

The 25-year-old put on a dazzling display as she slipped into a tiny red minidress which hugged her model frame and featured a chunky bow detailing at the rear.

Nice: Matching orange stiletto heels served as an appropriately colourful finishing touch

Glam: Kim Kardashian showcased her iconic curves in a form-fitting black catsuit, which featured a flowing skirt which followed her as she made her way into the swanky venue

Flawless: Kendall Jenner showcased her perfect complexion with light touches of make-up and a slick of red lipstick

She teamed this with a chunky silver necklace and added heels and bag that matched the red/silver theme.

The Met Gala took placeat the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City after a year-long hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic

The must-have accessory for all at this year's gala was a Covid-19 vaccine, a requirement to attend the event.

The theme for the evening was In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and the event featured a heavy-hitting contingent of celebrity co-chairs: actor Timothee Chalamet, musician Billie, poet Amanda Gorman and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Amanda Holden can't feel her face, after undergoing wisdom teeth removal four years ago.

'I can't feel anything!' she told The Mirror on Monday, talking about the procedure that left her with seemingly permanent side-effects.

'I can't feel a thing from here to here,' Amanda, 50, told the publication, referencing the left side of her bottom lip and jaw, having had all four wisdom teeth extracted.

Ouch! Amanda Holden can't feel her face, after undergoing wisdom teeth removal four years ago

The NHS list pain and mild bruising that can last for up to 2 weeks as side-effects, and complications such as dry sockets, nerve injury, infection, swelling and bleeding.

But Amanda appears to be in the one in 200 patients that are left with permanent after-effects.

'The numbness is on the side with the tooth that flipped out really easily. I've had scans of it and they showed that the nerve wasn't damaged, so they think the feeling may return. But it has been over 18 months now, so I'm not sure it will to be honest. It's bizarre but you get used to it,' she explained.

She also explained: 'I have TMJ. I don't even know what it stands for, but it's something to do with your jaw and I've got it.

'I can't feel anything!' Amanda has been talking about the procedure that left her with seemingly permanent side-effects

Exit strategy: Amanda was spotted sauntering out of Heart Radio following her breakfast show on Tuesday in a stunning white dress

'Most people who have it grind their teeth, but I don't. Instead I have a habit of doing a thing which means I unconsciously tense a muscle in my neck and it causes me headaches at least once a week.

'It's become like breathing and blinking  it is a reflex and I do it automatically, without even thinking about it. I even do it when I'm having a massage.'

TMJ stands for Temporomandibular joint disorder and is often a symptom of stress.

Amanda was spotted sauntering out of Heart Radio following her breakfast show on Tuesday in a stunning white dress.

Wet wet wet! The Britain's Got Talent judge was still proudly flaunting a Grecian glow after her recent holiday

The Britain's Got Talent judge was still proudly flaunting a Grecian glow after her recent holiday.

The dress featured a leg split and she teamed it with white heels and a clutch, leaving the building under a large black umbrella.

Amanda's outing comes after she revealed she loves to sunbathe nude on holiday.

Speaking on Alan Carr's Life's A Beach holiday podcast, Amanda branded herself a 'nudist' and admitted she never wears a bikini when vacationing.

She also stressed that she 'doesn't mix' with other nudists but has no problem baring all in her own private villa.

All aglow: The dress featured a leg split and she teamed it with white heels and a clutch, leaving the building under a large black umbrella

The star said: 'I'm a nudist. I never wear a bikini on holiday. But I wouldn't mix with other nudists. There's a difference. I'd never get my noonie out in public. In a private villa, yes.'

Elsewhere in the podcast, Amanda revealed that she was encouraged to steal food when she was a child as her family struggled financially while on holiday.

The star recalled a time when her mum Judith told her and sister Debbie to swipe cereal from the breakfast queue as they'd run out of money to eat.

She also explained: 'I have TMJ. I don't even know what it stands for, but it's something to do with your jaw and I've got it'

Looking back on the moment, Amanda, who is now a successful TV, music and radio star, told how her mother informed her if she wanted any breakfast 'you'll have to steal it.'

Discussing the moment with Alan, Amanda said: 'We'd spent all our money on holiday and we came back on a ferry and my mum told me to go and nick milk and Sugar Puffs from the breakfast queue.

'She said to me, 'Amanda if you want any breakfast you'll have to steal it''.

The Heart FM radio star then joked: 'My mum will kill me for admitting this.'
Sam Burgess couldn't resist flirting with Erin Holland during what can only be described as an awkward exchange on Tuesday's episode of SAS Australia.

As the 32-year-old model strolled past him in their dormitory, Sam pointed out that she'd tucked her T-shirt into her underwear.

But Erin appeared to have not heard the 32-year-old former NRL star as she continued her conversation with fellow recruit Dan Ewing.

Turning on the charm: Sam Burgess couldn't resist flirting with Erin Holland during what can only be described as an awkward exchange on Tuesday's episode of SAS Australia

Undeterred, Sam repeated: 'Do you always do that? Why have you tucked your T-shirt into your undies?'

Clearly taken aback by his comment, Erin paused and then laughed: 'Model secrets 101. Tuck your T-shirt into your undies!'

And their exchange didn't go unnoticed by fans, with one tweeting: 'Anyone else creeped out by Sam Burgess noticing Erin's tucked her shirt into her undies?'

Making a point: As Erin Holland strolled past him in their dormitory, Sam pointed out that she'd tucked her T-shirt into her underwear

'Creeped out': Their exchange didn't go unnoticed by fans, with one tweeting: 'Anyone else creeped out by Sam Burgess noticing Erin's tucked her shirt into her undies?'

Later in the episode, Erin quit the gruelling reality show after she was forced to carry Dan, 36, over her shoulders.

Chief instructor Ant Middleton had given Erin the near-impossible task as a chance to redeem herself, after she failed to complete some exercises earlier in the day.

But after a number of failed attempts to lift the actor, Erin announced that she couldn't go on - especially knowing the other recruits were being savagely punished with more gruelling exercises until she finished.

Stopped in her tracks: Clearly taken aback by his comment, Erin paused and then laughed: 'Model secrets 101. Tuck your T-shirt into your undies!'

Turning in her armband: Later in the episode, Erin quit the gruelling reality show after she was forced to carry Dan Ewing over her shoulders

'I can't do that to them. I can't,' she told Ant, 40, before turning in her armband and quitting the course.

'It's the f**king right thing. Look at them. They're going to f**king suffer until you get your f**king casualty home. You've done the right thing,' he responded.

SAS Australia continues Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven
Holly Willoughby found herself caught between two opinions over teenagers receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday's This Morning.

A live debate between two doctors left Holly admitting that 'it does make you think...' about whether it's the right move for children and teenagers to be jabbed, after Chris Whitty advised this week that those aged 12 to 15 should be offered single doses of Pfizer's jab in the coming days.

Holly, 40, pointed out that the announcement affects her and her 12-year-old son Harry.

Conflicting opinions: Holly Willoughby found herself caught between two opinions over teenagers receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday's This Morning

The presenter, who is also mother to Belle, 10, and Chester, six, chimed in as she and Phillip Schofield listened to Dr Renee Hoenderkamp's 'against' and Dr Philippa Kaye's 'for' arguments.

'This virus does very little harm, more people, more children under the age of 14 die from chicken pox and parents don't lock their children away or give them a vaccine,' Dr Renee said.

She went on to explain that the death of a 13-year-old is being investigated by the CDC in the US after they died after being vaccinated.

'Obviously, I've got a 12 year old son, so hearing some of those things it does make you think a little bit there...' Holly mused.

Pros and cons: A live debate between two doctors left Holly admitting that 'it does make you think...' about whether it's the right move for children and teenagers to be jabbed, after Chris Whitty advised this week that those aged 12 to 15 should be offered single doses of Pfizer's jab in the coming days

Debate: Holly, 40, pointed out that the announcement affects her and her 12-year-old son Harry

Dr Philippa said: 'The JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] figures are different to the figures that Dr Renee has just said, and they have said that per million children who are vaccinated, we would save 87 hospital admissions.'

Fury has erupted over the plans, with experts and parents warning it may lead to unvaccinated pupils being 'bullied' and could even 'tear families apart'.

Teaching unions have claimed staff have already been threatened with legal action if they advise pupils on getting the Covid vaccine.

Plans: The above image shows an example of a parental consent form for the human papillomavirus jab. Parents are expected to receive a similar form in the coming days asking them to consent to their child receiving the Covid vaccine

Earlier this month: Yhe 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

The Covid vaccine is set to be dished out through the existing school vaccination programme, which also manages the roll out of both HPV and nasal flu jabs in schools every year. Uptake of the HPV vaccine, which is given to 12 and 13 year olds, is usually around 85 per cent.

Revealed: The logistics of vaccinating over-12s in schools How will it work? The NHS has already been asked to prepare to offer Covid vaccines to 3million 12 to 15-year-olds. Doses will mostly be administered through the school vaccination programme, which manages HPV and flu inoculations in schools every year. Official figures showed almost 90 per cent of children offered the HPV vaccine every year take it. Children will likely receive their vaccines in suitable areas such as school halls. They will be delivered by nurses, healthcare support workers and administrative staff. Parents are set to receive a letter revealing the plans for jabbing kids in the coming days, No10's vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi revealed today. They will also be asked to consent to their child receiving the vaccine. Will it need parental consent? Under-16s are not automatically presumed to be legally competent to make decisions about their healthcare and, therefore, whether they should get the Covid jab. But the courts have previously ruled that under-16s are competent to give consent to an intervention if they have 'sufficient understanding and intelligence to understand fully what is proposed'. This is known as the 'Gillick test', and has been in place since the 1980s. The test is normally carried out by a medical professional or nurse, who assesses the child's maturity, and their understanding of the advantages, disadvantages and potential long-term impacts of vaccination. They then give a view on whether the child is competent to consent to vaccination. Can children overrule their parents? Mr Zahawi said today that children as young as 12 could be able to overrule their parents to get the vaccine. But he admitted this was likely to be a 'very rare occurrence' for the youngest children. He also said parents should not be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated. Mr Zahawi said children would only be able to choose to have the coronavirus vaccine against their parents' wishes following a meeting with a clinician. The deputy head of the JCVI Professor Anthony Harnden said there was 'sliding scale' of competency, meaning it would be easier for a 15-year-old to overrule their parents than a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent'. Professor Chris Whitty said, in terms of medical consent: 'In the majority of cases, children and their parents come to the same decision.' Advertisement

Children will likely receive the Covid vaccine in school halls, and will have it delivered by nurses, healthcare support workers, or administrative staff.

Parents will receive forms in the coming days laying out the details of the vaccination programme for children in their area, and asking them to consent to their child receiving the Covid jab.

In cases where the parent and child disagree with each other, they will be dragged into school for a meeting with a clinician to try to get both parties on board. However, children will have the final say as long as they are deemed competent enough.

Medics decide their maturity through the 'Gillick' test, which has been in place since the 1980s and involves a professional asking a child about their understanding of the advantages, disadvantages and long-term impacts of vaccination.

Plans to vaccinate all over-12s across the UK descended into further confusion and controversy on Monday as Britain's vaccines minister admitted Year 7 children could ignore their parents' wishes  while Tory MPs warned the jab policy will 'tear families apart'.

No10's vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS was ready to begin inoculations from next Wednesday, but there are concerns that while parental consent will be sought, it will not be needed if the healthcare worker administering the jab considers the child is competent to make the decision themselves.

Mr Zahawi admitted that 12-year-olds will be able to override their parents' wishes on Covid jabs but he admitted it is likely to be 'a very rare occurrence'.

He also said parents shouldn't be 'stigmatised' if they are hesitant about their children being vaccinated, given that top advisers insisted the benefits only marginally outweighed the risks.

But in more confusion, a senior member of the JCVI, Professor Anthony Harnden, suggested there would be a sliding scale of competency, meaning that it would be easier for a 16-year-old to overrule a parent than for a 12-year-old who is 'less likely to be deemed competent' under the 'Gillick test', which has been in place for the medical treatment of minors since the 1980s.

Cotswolds Conservative MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told MPs he finds Covid jabs for secondary school children  and the rows it will cause  'deeply troubling'.

He said: 'It will pit parents against parents. Parents against teachers with a poor child stuck in the middle wondering what to do, for very little benefit for the child themselves, with a lack of long-term data of the potential harm.

'And, above all, what really concerns me about this is the Gillick doctrine of treating children without parental consent will become the norm for a whole range of medical procedures.'

Fellow Tory MP Marcus Fysh has claimed it is a 'very dark day for our country' while Ian Duncan Smith said he is sure the vaccines diktat will cause disputes within families after Mr 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.

Conservative Dr Caroline Johnson added: 'I have given many vaccines in my time, including hundreds more recently of Covid vaccines. Half of children have already had coronavirus and are very likely to get it again. Does the minister really believe that vaccinating three million children to prevent an average of four days of school or less is really reasonable?'

This Morning airs weekdays at 10AM on ITV and ITV Hub.
Emotional Alice Evans exchanged numbers with a fellow driver on Thursday following a minor accident in West Hollywood.

The actress, currently in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from Ioan Gruffudd, emerged from her car after an apparent fender bender on the city's famous Melrose Avenue.

Evans, 50, added to the curious tableau by venturing onto the sidewalk in her bare feet while exchanging words with a blonde female, thought to be the driver of the second vehicle.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for further comment.

Upset: Emotional Alice Evans exchanged numbers with a fellow driver on Thursday following a minor accident in West Hollywood

Gruffudd filed for divorce from Evans 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.'

Face to face: The actress, currently in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from Ioan Gruffudd, emerged from her car after an apparent fender bender on the city's famous Melrose Avenue

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'.

Evans, 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 mother-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.

Let's talk: Evans exchanging words with a blonde female, understood to be the driver of the second vehicle

Here we go: On Monday evening the actress joked about getting ready for an appearance at the Met Gala, held annually at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art

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."

Split: Evans split from Liar star Gruffudd earlier this year, with the Welsh actor filing for divorce in March citing 'irreconcilable differences'

'It's a bit like, I'd like my daughter to stay with me on Saturday nights, "it's just not within our possibilities."'

Evans then insisted Gruffudd 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.

Family: The former couple 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.'

She was also seen hitting back at criticism over speaking about details of her divorce with Gruffudd so publicly and the impact it may have on their children, Ella, 12, and Elsie, eight.

She wrote: 'You know what they ARE upset about though? That their Dad walked out and abandoned them out of the blue. Without explanation.'

Evans and Gruffudd met on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000, when Alice was in a relationship with Pablo Picasso's grandson Olivier.

The former couple 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.
Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis will star alongside Idris Elba in the highly-anticipated Luther movie on Netflix which begins filming this month, it was announced on Monday.

Idris, 49, will be in good company alongside Widows actress Cynthia Erivo, 34, and King Kong star Andy, 57, in the upcoming feature film written by series creator Neil Cross.

There have been five series of the BBC crime drama, the first of which aired back in 2010 and Idris previously expressed his desire for there to be a film too.

Exciting: Cynthia Erivo (left) and Andy Serkis (right) will star alongside Idris Elba in the highly-anticipated Luther movie on Netflix which begins filming this month, it was announced on Monday

The streaming site said in a Facebook post on Monday: 'Luther is coming back! Idris Elba will reprise his iconic role - joined by Cynthia Erivo and Andy Serkis - in a new feature film written by series creator Neil Cross.'

Fans were quick to comment on the exciting news of two new actors joining, with one writing: 'Love Luther especially now Andy Serkis in it top actors the 2 of them.'

Someone else said: 'Oh my goddddddddddddd' while a third said: 'Best news ever!! Wonder if Alice will be back!'

Star: Idris, 49, (pictured) will be in good company alongside Widows actress Cynthia Erivo, 34, and King Kong star Andy, 57, in the upcoming feature film written by series creator Neil Cross

Luther followed Idris' character DCI John Luther - a passionate detective who ends up befriending a psychopath and murderer who he could not arrest due to lack of evidence - as they solve various cases together.

After the last series was released in 2019, the star said he felt things had been set up perfectly for a movie.

He told LADbible at the time: 'When you scale a movie up, you have to give it size - that means taking it into other territories, internationally, but I still think it will feel like the 'Gotham City' in London. But obviously, on a bigger international scale, it could take us anywhere.

'I'm really up for the movie now. I'm really up for it. And I think this season is set up to tee that up.'

Silver screen: Filming for the eagerly-awaited movie Luther - which follows on from the hit BBC series - will begin in September

'We've made varied seasons, one season was six episodes, one was four - Luther's adaptable.

'I think if we can figure out the formula to keep an audience captivated for an hour and a half, on a movie, I think Luther has definitely got the attributes to make that happen.'

Back in May Idris revealed that filming for the eagerly-awaited movie Luther will begin in September.

He confirmed he is 'so excited' to dive into the new project and he expects 'bolder' storylines which will span across the globe.

He said to Variety on Friday: 'We go into production, fingers crossed, in September.

'I'm so excited about it, it's been a long time coming. We're very, very close to pulling the green light on production.'

In another interview last month, Idris confirmed once more that a Luther film is 'definitely coming', while admitting his mum still believes he will take on the role of James Bond.

The actor has been repeatedly linked with the coveted role following Daniel Craig's confirmation that he will not return following the delayed release of No Time To Die - his sixth film as Bond.

Career: Cynthia has starred in dozens of films over the years including in Widows in 2018 (pictured)

But while Idris has previously admitted his chances of becoming the next 007 are remote, his mum Eve remains quietly optimistic.

He said on Capital XTRA: 'The Luther film is definitely coming, I'm very excited. For the fans that have watched five seasons of Luther, I owe it to them to take it to the next level, and that's where the film comes in.

'I know the rumours about Bond have always chased me. Listen, my poor mum is like, 'one day you're going to get it!' I was like, 'mum, I'm good, I've got Luther'. I'm definitely doing that.'

Looking ahead to his latest projects, he added: 'I've got Suicide Squad coming out this year, that's a good look. I'm really excited about that. Shout out to James Garner who directed that, and his whole team.

'And then I'm definitely doing more music. I've got a tune that's coming that I think is gonna be the biggest tune of the summer  just putting it out there, just saying. And I'm just having fun with the creativity.'

Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2019, Elba conceded he was not in the running to become the first black Bond in the franchise's 59 year history.

He said: 'Of course, if someone said to me "Do you want to play James Bond?", I'd be like, Yeah! That's fascinating to me.

'But it's not something I've expressed, like, Yeah, I wanna be the black James Bond.'
Model Elsa Hosk posed up for a rather unusual 'mommy and me' photo shoot on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old went completely naked while cradling her seven-month-old daughter Tuulikki Joan Daly for a series of Instagram pictures.

Naked photo shoot: Elsa Hosk posed completely nude with daughter Tuulikki for Instagram

She wrote in the caption: 'Let me tell you about the city where I fell in love with your dad...' adding a heart emoji.

The Swedish born model held her daughter in one arm while leaning onto the floor-to-ceiling windows featuring the Big Apple views.

The former Victoria's Secret model added two more images to the slideshow, including one of her and Tuulikki sitting on the bed looking outside.

The last image had the runway star lounging on the bed with a sheet covering up her body as her daughter played besides her.

Views: The former Victoria's Secret model added two more images to the slideshow, including one of her and Tuulikki sitting on the bed looking outside

Posing: The last image had the runway star lounging on the bed while her daughter played besides her

Mom and dad: She wrote in the caption: 'Let me tell you about the city where I fell in love with your dad...' adding a heart emoji; pictured with Tom

Elsa welcomed Tuulikki on February 11, 2021 with her longtime partner Tom Daly, whom she began dating in 2015.

She announced the birth with a sweet snap of the family of three adding in an explanation for the name: '2.11.21 Happiest day of my life meeting you. Proudest moment in my life giving birth to you. Named after two strong women, my mom and my grandma-in-law, you came into this world like super-woman with your fist next to your face.

Adding: We will love you forever, baby Tuuli.'

Family is everything! Elsa Hosk has welcomed her first child with partner of five years Tom Daly, a little girl called Tuulikki Joan

'Happiest day of my life meeting you': Elsa said giving birth to little Tuulikki was the 'proudest moment of her life'

Tom is the founder of Running Vision, which is a company hat makes sunglasses for running; he is Danish.

Elsa revealed her pregnancy news in September 2020 with a series of snaps taken by photographer Sante D'Orazio.

She wrote: 'Been keeping this angel in my belly a secret for a while. Feeling beyond excited and lucky to be having a baby and begin the next chapter of life with the man of my dreams!!!!'

Blessing! The supermodel announced she was pregnant in September as she posted a stunning photoshoot by photographer Sante D'Orazio (pictured in a behind-the-scenes snap)
Hotel heiress-turned-reality TV icon Paris Hilton stepped out in an all-black ensemble in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The 40-year-old celebutante looked chic in a collared mini-dress featuring sheer sleeves, which she paired with matching tights, bag, and Valentino Garavani studded heels.

Paris wore shades over her minimally made-up complexion and scraped her signature platinum locks into a faux-nytail hairpiece.

LBD alert: Hotel heiress-turned-reality TV icon Paris Hilton stepped out in an all-black ensemble in Manhattan on Tuesday

And while none of the Hiltons were invited to Monday's Met Gala, her mother Kathy Hilton hung out with nine-time Grammy winner Rihanna at her afterparty at Davide in the Meatpacking District.

The Cooking With Paris stunner famously modeled in the 33-year-old Bajan pop diva's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 last year.

Paris took part in Oscar de la Renta's SS/22 presentation on the final day of New York Fashion Week Sunday alongside the 62-year-old RHOBH star and younger sister Nicky Rothschild.

Hilton had an extremely busy Sunday having walked in The Blonds SS/22 runway presentation at Paradise Club in Times Square.

Black clad: The 40-year-old celebutante looked chic in a collared mini-dress featuring sheer sleeves, which she paired with matching tights, bag, and Valentino Garavani studded heels

That's hot: Paris wore shades over her minimally made-up complexion and scraped her signature platinum locks into a faux-nytail hairpiece

'Fun night in NYC!' And while none of the Hiltons were invited to Monday's Met Gala, her mother Kathy Hilton hung out with nine-time Grammy winner Rihanna at her afterparty at Davide in the Meatpacking District

Lingerie ladies: The Cooking With Paris stunner famously modeled in the 33-year-old Bajan pop diva's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 last year (pictured October 2)

The iHeartRadio podcaster then wore a silver-embellished mini-dress by the designing duo Phillipe and David Blond at the MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn that same night.

Last Saturday, Paris and her fiance Carter Reum glammed up to host their engagement party at Zero Bond in Lower Manhattan.

Hilton and the 40-year-old M13 co-founder's wedding happens 'in a few weeks' and they're including footage in her 13-episode docuseries Paris In Love for Peacock.

Family affair: Paris took part in Oscar de la Renta's SS/22 presentation on the final day of New York Fashion Week Sunday alongside the 62-year-old RHOBH star and younger sister Nicky Rothschild

Catwalker: Hilton had an extremely busy Sunday having walked in The Blonds SS/22 runway presentation at Paradise Club in Times Square

Red carpet: The iHeartRadio podcaster then wore a silver-embellished mini-dress by Phillipe and David Blond at the MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn that same night

'We're planning everything. It's very stressful,' the This Is Paris star confessed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on August 16.

'[The dress is] basically the only thing that I have done. It's a lot, but I am not a bridezilla.'

Paris and Carter - who've undergone egg extraction for IVF - celebrated their 21-month anniversary as a couple on August 29.

Fourth engagement: Last Saturday, Paris and her fiance Carter Reum glammed up to host their engagement party at Zero Bond in Lower Manhattan

Soon! Hilton and the 40-year-old M13 co-founder's wedding happens 'in a few weeks' and they're including footage in her 13-episode docuseries Paris In Love for Peacock
Kylie Jenner surprised her fans when she announced that she would not be attending the 2021 Met Gala.

And on Tuesday, an insider explained why the 24-year-old Kylie Cosmetics mogul skipped the star-studded event.

'She pulled out last minute because she is overwhelmed and just doesn't feel great,' the source told E! Online.

She needs to relax: Kylie Jenner surprised her fans when she announced that she would not be attending the 2021 Met Gala. And on Tuesday, an insider explained why the 24-year-old Kylie Cosmetics mogul skipped the star-studded event

'She did a lot this past weekend and pushed it. Kylie has been going back and forth for the last two months on if she wanted to attend or not and decided she doesn't really need to go.'

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star recently revealed that she was pregnant, which factored into her decision to miss the gala.

The insider said, 'Kylie is focused on her pregnancy right now and just wants to take it easy.'

Baby on the way: Jenner is expecting her second child with her boyfriend Travis Scott, 30. The couple are already parents to daughter Stormi Webster, three. Pictured in June 2021

Jenner is expecting her second child with her boyfriend Travis Scott, 30. The couple are already parents to daughter Stormi Webster, three.

A separate source told E! that the television personality initially planned to announce her pregnancy and debut her baby bump at the Met Gala, but it 'didn't work out the way she had hoped.'

On Monday, Kylie told her 267 million Instagram followers that she planned to skip the gala.

'I'm so sad I couldn't make it this year,' Kylie wrote her Instagram Stories. 'I can't wait to see all the looks.'

Too much: An insider explained that Kylie skipped the Met Gala because she 'is overwhelmed and just doesn't feel great.' Seen in 2018

'I'm so sad I couldn't make it this year': Jenner announced on Monday that she will not be attending the Met Gala, despite having attended every bash since 2016 (pictured in 2019)

Her decision to miss the gala came as a surprise since she had already attended numerous events during New York Fashion Week.

Though Jenner did not disclose the reason for her absence, she was obviously feeling sentimental for the experience as she posted a slew of snaps taken at previous Met Gala shows to her Stories.

Kylie has not missed the bash ever since she first started attending in 2016, where she dropped jaws in a dazzling silver Balmain dress.

Bummer: Jenner took to her Instagram Stories to break the news to fans

Fashion icon: Kylie has not missed a Met Gala ever since she first started attending in 2016, where she dropped jaws in a dazzling silver Balmain dress (pictured L in 2016 and R in 2017)

Jenner continued the sparkle trend the next year with a metallic Versace dress.

In 2018 she went for an edgier vibe with her jaw-dropping black floor length gown with metallic shades and was joined on the famous steps by Travis for their first red carpet appearance together.

Kylie brought out her most memorable look in 2019 when she rocked the Met Gala in an elaborate violet feathered ensemble that showcased her cleavage and legs.

Bump in the night! Since confirming her pregnancy, Kylie has not shied away from showing off her baby bump, in contrast to her first pregnancy with daughter Stormi Webster which she kept secret; seen on September 9 in NYC

Aww: Jenner enjoyed some quality time with her daughter Stormi in NYC last week; seen on September 10

This year's Met Gala was unlike any other with guests required to show proof of vaccination before entering. In addition, the show, which was themed In America: A Lexicon of Fashion this year, had a more pared-down guest list due to COVID-19.

Since confirming her pregnancy, Kylie has not shied away from showing off her baby bump, in contrast to her first pregnancy with daughter Stormi which she kept secret.

Meanwhile, Kylie's mom Kris Jenner said she 'excited' about her daughter's pregnancy.

The 65-year-old matriarch is thrilled her youngest child is expecting her second child and thinks it is 'great' she's going to become a grandmother for the eleventh time in the coming months.

Speaking to E! News at the Met Gala, where she was joined by boyfriend Corey Gamble, Kris gushed: 'I'm really excited. Number eleven, it's really great!'

Thrilled: Kylie's mom Kris Jenner told E! News that she was 'excited' about her daughter's pregnancy when she attended the Met Gala with her boyfriend Corey Gamble on Monday

Her sissy: Sister Kendall Jenner posed with longtime pal Gigi Hadid at the event

In addition to Stormi, Kris is also already grandmother to eldest daughter Kourtney Kardashian's three children with Scott Disick; Mason, 11, Penelope, nine, and five-year-old Reign, as well as Kim Kardashian West and estranged husband Kanye West's brood; North, eight, Saint, five, Chicago, three, and two-year-old Psalm, Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson's daughter, True, three, and four-year-old Dream, her son Rob Kardashian's daughter with former fiancee Blac Chyna.

Kris previously hailed Kylie's pregnancy as 'one of the happiest days of [her] life' in a video shared by the billionaire to break the news.

Jenner shared the clip to Instagram, in which she showed a positive pregnancy test to Travis.

Sweet: Kris previously hailed Kylie's pregnancy as 'one of the happiest days of [her] life' in a video shared by the billionaire to break the news

Reveal: Jenner shared the clip to Instagram, in which she showed a positive pregnancy test to Travis

Surprise: She then asked Stormi to hand Kris an envelope containing ultrasound images as a way to tell her mom her happy news

She then asked Stormi to hand Kris an envelope containing ultrasound images as a way to tell her mom her happy news.

Kris laughed with excitement as soon as she saw the photographs.

She said: 'What are you pregnant?' before turning her attention to granddaughter Stormi.

She gushed: 'Stormi! We're gonna have a baby! This is one of the happiest days of my life.'

Overjoyed: Kris laughed with excitement as soon as she saw the photographs

Members of the famous family were all quick to send their congratulations to Kylie upon her announcement of the pregnancy.

Kylie's older sister Kendall Jenner was excited at the news that she would become an aunt again.

The 25-year-old socialite and model commented on the Instagram post 'I can't handle it' alongside a heart emoji,

Hailey Bieber was also quick to weigh in on the happy news.

The wife of pop star Justin Bieber, 27, gushed 'I love you guys!!!!' upon seeing the news on Instagram.
She is always up for a laugh.

And Ulrika Jonsson played along with photographers at the Who Cares Wins awards as she pulled some incredibly animated poses.

The television presenter, 54, left onlookers in hysterics while maintaining a chic figure in a black midi dress for the event at The Roundhouse in Camden, London on Tuesday.

Scream and shout! She didn't care what anyone had to say about her that evening, when she appeared to scream at the photographers at the event

Chic: Ulrika Jonsson, 54, mastered the subtle art of not caring, whilst maintaining a chic figure in a black midi dress at the Who Cares Wins awards in Camden, London

The mother-of-four looked stunning in the mid-length dress, which boasted puff-sleeves, a tie-waist and dropped ruffle hem.

She stepped out in a pair of nude court heels, while she carried her essentials in a shiny gold purse.

The blonde beauty tied back her tresses into a sleek low ponytail with a centre parting, while she chose a full-face of makeup for the occasion.

Stepping out: She stepped out in a pair of nude court heels, while she carried her essentials in a shiny gold purse

Having fun: She seemed to be having a good time at the awards ceremony, sharing a few laughs and smiles after screaming her heart out

The Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins contender accessorised with a slew of gold jewellery, including a layered necklace and large hoop earrings.

The Swedish-British native seemed to be having a good time at the awards ceremony, sharing a few laughs and smiles after screaming her heart out.

The Who Cares Wins awards celebrates people who have looked after the nation, especially in these trying times.

Celebration: The Who Cares Wins awards celebrates people who have looked after the nation, especially in these trying times

The categories include: 999 Hero, Best Charity, Best Doctor, Best Midwife, Best Nurse, Ground breaking Pioneer, Mental Health Hero, National Lottery Award, Ultimate lifesaver, Unsung Hero and Young Hero.

The National Lottery and NHS Charities Together have teamed up to sponsor the event in Camden.

This year, the awards are honouring the late Caroline Flack by naming an award in her honour.

Although the award is taking place on Tuesday night, it will be shown on Channel 4 on Sunday at 7.30pm - with Davina McCall hosting the show.

Ulrika's outing comes after she was forced to withdraw from Celebrity SAS two weeks ago after medical experts stepped in.

The weather presenter had struggled to recover after getting mild hypothermia on the first challenge which saw the stars have to swim ashore and run up the mountainous terrain in Scotland with rucksacks on their back.
Erika Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi have dropped the price of their lavish Pasadena mansion yet again amid their ongoing legal battle and pending divorce.

The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star, 50, and disgraced lawyer, 82, slashed $1 million off the listing, bringing the price down to $8.9 million, according to the listing.

This comes just two months after the exes reduced the price of the mansion by over $3 million, a major markdown from when the property was first put on the market for $13 million back in May.

Slashing prices: Erika Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi have dropped the price of their lavish Pasadena mansion yet again amid their ongoing legal battle and pending divorce

The 1920s-crafted home is the image of luxury. The property welcomes visitors with a long pool and surrounding water features that lead up to the home.

Inside, there is a stunning staircase, sky-high ceilings, a cozy library, offices, and a world-class kitchen with chic fixtures and a French stove with a blue back splash.

All the good times the exes shared in the home, however, are a thing of the past, with the duo currently embroiled in controversy.

Erika filed for divorce from Tom in November 2020, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families.

Disgraced: All the good times the exes shared in the home, however, are a thing of the past, with the duo currently embroiled in controversy

Home sweet home: The 1920s-crafted home is the image of luxury

Stunning: Inside, there is a stunning staircase, sky-high ceilings, a cozy library, offices, and a world-class kitchen with chic fixtures and a French stove with a blue back splash

The lawsuit alleged that their divorce was merely a 'sham' to help protect their assets.

Last month, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case for Girardi's law firm sued Jayne for $25 million, claiming that she had spent around that amount in funds given to her by her husband from the firm's coffers.

'She attempts to create a distinction between handing her money directly versus paying all of her bills directly,' the suit said, according to Page Six. 'The distinction, like her prior motion for reconsideration, is meritless. Any payments made for her benefit are her responsibility.'

Making a splash: The property welcomes visitors with a long pool and surrounding water features that lead up to the home

The trustee also claimed that she had feigned 'willful blindness' and was aware of where the money came from.

Jayne's attorneys downplayed the accusations in a statement to the publication.

'Unfortunately, the amended complaint is another example of the trustee and her counsel jumping to conclusions without a full investigation, and bullying and blaming Erika for actions taken by Girardi Keese for which Erika does not have legal liability,' they said, claiming that the trustee was 'overreaching.'

'Erika will defend the case, and we will seek sanctions and all appropriate remedies for the claims brought in bad faith and without any legal merit.'

Scandal: Erika filed for divorce from Tom in November 2020, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Girardi had taken up residence in a senior living home in Burbank, California, last month amid reports he had been diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease earlier this year.

The Belmont Village Senior Living facility in Southern California costs more than $5,000 per month for a private suite and boasts chef-prepared dining with 24 daily choices of meals and staff that are on duty at all hours of the day.

Citing his 'major neurocognitive disorder,' Girardi's brother Robert recently instituted a conservatorship for him.

Last month on RHOBH, Jayne shared her opinions about her ex-husband ongoing legal troubles.

'I think what has happened to Tom here is that he's not mentally capable, and he's in sole control of his firm,' she said. 'And I think that it got away from him. I think that we're dealing with a man who is [at a] diminished capacity in control, and not doing the right thing. Because if he stole the money, I'd like to know where it is. You know, that's the truth.'
Emily Atack enjoyed a holiday romance with an accountancy graduate nine years her junior, MailOnline can reveal.

The former Inbetweeners star, 31, was pictured kissing 22-year-old Alex Dabner during a sunshine break at Marbella's Ocean Club on Sunday.

Her fling comes weeks after she split from boyfriend Jude Taylor, who she dated for five months and was a guest at her sister Martha's recent wedding.

Single and ready to mingle: Emily Atack enjoyed a holiday romance with an accountancy graduate nine years her junior, MailOnline can reveal

Alex, from Birkenhead, studied at Liverpool John Moores University and according to his LinkedIn profile, had a work placement in the Accounts Hub at finance firm BDO UK.

A source told MailOnline: 'Emily is single and enjoying herself. She thought Alex was attractive and didn't care about any age gap.

'She's back in the UK now and has no plans to meet up with Alex, it really was just a bit of holiday fun.'

MailOnline has contacted Emily's representative for comment.

'She thought he was attractive': The former Inbetweeners star, 31, was pictured kissing 22-year-old Alex Dabner during a sunshine break at Marbella's Ocean Club on Sunday

Fun in the sun: Emily's fling comes weeks after she split from boyfriend Jude Taylor, who she dated for five months and was a guest at her sister Martha's recent wedding

Emily, whose holiday in Marbella was her first trip abroad since 2019, posed in a leopard print bikini while sharing a series of snaps from her break.

She captioned the images: 'Four perfect days, six bloated heads' followed by multiple cocktail emojis.

The former I'm A Celeb star previously joked she was 'soaking in all the Marbella culture' while sitting poolside sipping margaritas at Ocean Club.

She also shared a souvenir from her girls' holiday on Instagram stories, a penis shaped bottle opener.

Emily's four-day trip has already come to an end, with the comedic actor already landing back in the UK to torrential rain.

Smooch: Emily's holiday fling Alex is an accountancy graduate from Liverpool who got lucky with the famous star during his break in Marbella

'Best gift I've received this year': Emily shared a souvenir from her girls' holiday on Instagram stories, a penis shaped bottle opener

In late August, Emily reunited with ex-boyfriend and former Strictly contestant Seann Walsh, 35, for a meal at Nando's in south London five years after they dated.

The pair reportedly met to discuss comedic material for the return of The Emily Atack Show, which is coming back to ITV2 for a second series this autumn.

She split from boyfriend Jude a few days later, with sources saying Emily struggled to see a long-term future with the fashion influencer.

Clearly making up for lost time during the pandemic, Emily has also attended the National Television Awards last week, as well as the GQ Awards at the start of September, all before jetting off to Marbella.
They were close earlier in the year, sparking romance rumors after they were pictured leaving the same London home - and then spotted arm-in-arm in New York

And Sunday, Jason Sudeikis, 45, and Keely Hazell, 34, reunited in Los Angeles for a sunshine stroll.

The hike comes after his ex Olivia Wilde, 37, was seen dancing and admiring boyfriend Harry Styles, 27, on stage during his Love on Tour shows.

Staying close: They were close earlier in the year, sparking romance rumors after they were pictured leaving the same London home - and then spotted arm-in-arm in New York And Sunday, Jason Sudeiki and Keely Hazell reunited in Los Angeles for a sunshine stroll

While the latest outing will no doubt reignite speculation about their relationship status, a source close to Jason insists they are simply 'platonic friends.'

Keeley showcased her toned abs in tiny black shorts with a white crop top, adding a hat, striped socks and sneakers.

Meanwhile the father of two opted for a long-sleeved shirt with shorts, wearing a headband, sunglasses and sneakers.

Jason was seen getting close to Keeley as she pushed the crosswalk button with her shoe.

Day out in the sun: While the latest outing will no doubt reignite speculation about their relationship status, a source close to Jason insists they are simply 'platonic friends'

Workout: They stayed very close to each other during their excursion

LA sun: Keeley showcased her toned abs in tiny black shorts with a white crop top, adding a hat, striped socks and sneakers

The duo also stood very close to each other during a break in their hike.

Jason and Keeley met in 2014 while filming the movie Horrible Bosses 2, where they became friends.

They worked together again on Jason's hit show Ted Lasso, where he plays the title character.

Keeley appeared briefly in three episodes of Ted Lasso during season one as the character Bex.

Stretching: Jason was seen getting close to Keeley as she pushed the crosswalk button with her shoe

Casual: Jason and Keeley met in 2014 while filming the movie Horrible Bosses 2, where they became friends

Duo: Meanwhile the father of two opted for a long-sleeved shirt with shorts, wearing a headband, sunglasses and sneakers

Former co-stars: They worked together again on Jason's hit show Ted Lasso, where he plays the title character

Twosome: Keeley appeared briefly in three episodes of Ted Lasso during season one as the character Bex

Keeley is known for her career as a glamour model in the UK - having found fame posing topless for The Sun's Page 3, and regularly appearing in men's magazines including FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo Weekly.

Jason and Keeley were seen with their arms around each other and as they enjoyed a stroll in NYC in June.

One day later, the duo shared a kiss and a tight hug while out and about together before enjoying lunch on the go.

In August 2021, Keeley reunited with ex-boyfriend David Walliams for Ant McPartlin's wedding to Ann-Marie Corbett but it was unclear if they were back on romantically.

Later that month she gushed about her 'friend' David in honor of his 50th birthday after they went on an Italian getaway.

Giggles: Keeley showcased her toned abs in tiny black shorts with a white crop top, adding a hat, striped socks and sneakers

Background: Keeley is known for her career as a glamour model in the UK - having found fame posing topless for The Sun's Page 3, and regularly appearing in men's magazines including FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo Weekly

Where the rumors began: Jason and Keeley were seen with their arms around each other and as they enjoyed a stroll in NYC in June

Focused: One day later, the duo shared a kiss and a tight hug while out and about together before enjoying lunch on the go

Jason reuniting with Keeley comes just one week after Olivia was seen having the time of her life at boyfriend Harry's concert in Las Vegas.

She looked chic in a white pantsuit while Harry hit the stage in a sparkly red waistcoat and coordinating trousers.

The actress-turned-director attended his packed show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first night of his Love on Tour.

Fangirl: Olivia Wilde couldn't hide her excitement while attending her boyfriend Harry Styles ' Las Vegas concert on last week

A bit more color: The Watermelon Sugar singer wore an all-red outfit which he left open, revealing his chest to the audience

She was pictured admiring him on stage before dancing enthusiastically, singing and taking photos of her man.

During his performance, Olivia stood near the stage and joined the crowd as she pulled out her phone to take a few photos of Harry performing.

The Booksmart director appeared to know the lyrics to all his songs as she was pictured dancing and singing along.

Harry and Olivia met while she directed him in the film Don't Worry Darling.

White hot: The actress-turned-director, 37, wowed while wearing a deep-cut, white pantsuit for the packed event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first night of his Love On Tour shows

Wilde in white: The actress was joined by a group of burly security men

Proud girlfriend: Olivia proved she was Harry's number one fan as she was pictured admiring him on stage before dancing enthusiastically, singing and taking photos

Watermelon Sugar: Wilde threw her hands in the air as she watched her beau perform

Sing out loud: Styles' 40-show tour ends in Los Angeles in November

Keeley previously dated Little Britain star David Walliams for nine months in 2020.

The new couple sent tongues wagging in March 2021 when Jason appeared via Zoom at the Golden Globes to accept the award Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Ted Lasso.

Eagle-eyed fans noticed that he was in the same living room where Keeley had posed in a recent social media post, sparking speculation they were already living together in London.

Former glory: Olivia and her husband Jason Sudeikis announced the end of their relationship in November 2020 after being engaged for seven years; seen at the Oscars in 2016 (Right, Olivia is pictured with Harry Styles)

The relationship is thought to have healed the reported 'heartbreak' that Jason has endured amid his split from Olivia.

While it emerged in November 2020 that Jason and Olivia had separated after seven years together, it was later reported that her relationship with Harry, 27, started as early as October 2020.

The former engaged couple share two children together: son Otis, seven, and daughter Daisy, four.
Vick Hope wowed on the red carpet in a sheer blouse, but it was Tom Hardy's dog who stole the show at the fan screening of Venom: Let There Be Carnage on Tuesday.

The presenter, 31, looked stunning as she flashed her toned midriff in the sheer number at Cineworld in Leicester Square, London, while actor Tom, 43, cut a casual figure in a yellow T-shirt and jeans.

Yet while Tom opted for a low-key look, his adorable dog Blue ensured all eyes would be on the actor as he hit the red carpet.

Wow! Vick Hope, 31, looked stunning as she flashed her toned midriff in a sheer blouse for the Venom: Let There Be Carnage screening at Cineworld in Leicester Square, London on Tuesday

Puppy love: Despite Vick's stunning ensemble it was Tom Hardy's French Bulldog Blue who stole the show at the event as they walked the red carpet together

Vick's swanky ensemble featured organza puff-sleeves and an oversized bow at her neck.

The Capital FM radio host teamed her daring number with a black silk skort - standing tall in a pair of black peep-toe heels.

The brunette beauty wore her gorgeous locks in two long French braids, sporting a glamorous-yet-natural makeup look.

Swanky: Vick's swanky ensemble featured organza puff-sleeves and an oversized bow at her neck

Gorgeous: The brunette beauty wore her gorgeous locks in two long French braids, sporting a glamorous-yet-natural makeup look, while she flashed her pins in shorts

Former model Tom looked comfortable-yet-stylish in his bright Fred Perry T-shirt , teaming it with a pair of colourful New Balance trainers.

Earlier on, Tom was also seen sporting a bright crimson hoodie - but it wasn't long before he removed it after the bright lights on the red carpet made him too hot.

The Hollywood star put his previous modelling experience to good use, gazing over his shoulder at the flashing cameras.

Comfort comes first: While Tom opted for a low-key look, his adorable dog ensured all eyes would be on the actor as he hit the red carpet

Three's company: Tom and Blue also posed for snaps with director Andy Serkis who looked dapper in a fitted navy suit

Tom looked chilled-out alongside his French Bulldog, bending down to be close to his canine friend.

Blue was extremely well-behaved on the red carpet, sitting patiently in front of Tom and posing for pictures.

The screening comes as the release date for the movie was pushed up two weeks from October 15 to October 1.

Bright lights: Earlier on, Tom was also seen sporting a bright crimson hoodie - but it wasn't long before he removed it after the bright lights on the red carpet made him too hot

Working together: The pair posed together on the red carpet after working together on the film

Venom: Let There Be Carnage follows Tom Hardy's character Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom, who tries to revive his career in journalism by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady.

Much like Eddie, Cletus becomes host to an alien symbiote, and transforms into the villainous Carnage.

Michelle Williams returns as Anne Weying in the sequel, along with Reid Scott as Dr. Dan Lewis, with new cast members including Naomie Harris and Stephen Graham.

The Sony Pictures sequel was originally scheduled for release on October 15, though there were rumours they were pushing it to January 22, 2022.

However, the studio decided to go the other way and capitalize on the buzz swirling around the movie and push it up two weeks to October 1, via Deadline.

New ventures: Vick was last seen at the Orelia & Vick Hope jewellery launch on Tuesday, promoting her collaboration

Taking to the stage: Vick took to the stage, presenting the highly-anticipated movie

Speaking up: He didn't shy away from his doting friends on the night, taking time to speak to his excited audience-members about the movie before it hit the big screen
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They began dating in 2019 after meeting and falling for one another while starring in a West End play.

And Tom Hiddleston looked more smitten than ever with his actress girlfriend Zawe Ashton as they put on a very affectionate display while frolicking on the beach in Ibiza on Monday.

The Loki actor, 40, looked lovingly over at his girlfriend, 37, as they stripped off into their swimwear on the shore before heading out for a cuddle and a peck in the crystal clear waters.

PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Shirtless Tom Hiddleston packed on the PDA with bikini-clad girlfriend Zawe Ashton as they enjoyed a romantic beach day on Monday while holidaying in Ibiza

Loved-up: They began dating in 2019 after meeting and falling for one another while starring in a West End play. And Tom looked more smitten than ever with girlfriend Zawe as they put on a very affectionate display while frolicking on the beach

Putting his muscular physique on display, Tom stripped down to a pair of black swimming trunks. Meanwhile, Zawe - who is best known for her role in Channel 4's Fresh Meat - put her phenomenal display as she slipped into a multicoloured string bikini.

The pair only had eyes for one another on the outing, laughing and joking together before puckering up a kiss as they treaded water.

After enjoying some quality couple time, the pair were seen returning to the shore where they chatted away with friends while towelling off.

Zawe later layered up in a black kaftan and accessorised with a beach hat, while Tom shrugged on a blue cotton shirt and grey shorts.

While the pair looked smitten on the outing, it was a far more low-key affair than Tom's famous beach outing with ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift back in 2016, in which he frolicked in the sea wearing an 'I heart T.S' shirt.

Adorable: Zawe and Tom made for an incredibly cute couple as they spent the day together on the beach

Fun in the sun: The couple are said to live in Atlanta but were enjoying a getaway on the White Isle with their friends

Wow: Putting his muscular physique on display, Tom stripped down to a pair of black swimming trunks. Meanwhile, Zawe put her phenomenal display as she slipped into a multicoloured string bikini

No personalised tops this time, Tom? While the pair looked smitten on the outing, it was a far more low-key affair than Tom's famous beach outing with ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift back in 2016, in which he frolicked in the sea wearing an 'I heart T.S' shirt

Best known: Zawe is best known for her role in Channel 4's Fresh Meat which aired between 2011 and 2016

While Tom and Zawe have never publicly confirmed their relationship status, the couple were first linked together in 2019 while starring in the West End play Betrayal in which they portrayed a strained couple.

Last year it was revealed the pair had moved in together after months of romance rumours, and they are now said to be living together in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sources close to the duo said The Night Manager star, and the actress are 'very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life'.

Taking his breath away: Tom held a hand to his heart as he looked over at his stunning girlfriend Zawe on their beach day

The look of love: The Loki actor, 40, looked lovingly over at his girlfriend, 37, as they stripped off into their swimwear on the shore before heading out for a cuddle and a peck in the crystal clear waters

Striking pair: The couple looked fantastic as they showcased their incredible figures on the beach

All eyes on her: Tom and Zawe locked eyes as they chilled out on the beach together

All eyes on them: The superstar couple made for the picture perfect couple on their beach outing

Chatting away: The pair were nattering away to one another as they explored the beach together

Laugh a minute: The couple were in high spirits as they enjoyed one another's company

An insider told The Sun: 'Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US.

'They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world.

'Their lives are typically very busy, so spending time together while not working has been something they have both embraced. Tom has made a home in Atlanta during lockdown and he is expecting to spend the rest of the year there.

Nice to sea you! The pair only had eyes for one another on the outing, laughing and joking together before puckering up a kiss as they treaded water

Cosy: The pair were giggling away as they cuddled up close to one another in the water

Wet wet wet: The pair looked lovingly into one another's eyes as they stopped swimming and cuddled up close

Race you! Tom and Zawe were seen frolicking together in the water as they worked on their front crawl

Smitten: The pair gazed lovingly into one another's eyes as they treaded water together

Splashing around: The pair seemed in great spirits as they cooled off with their refreshing dip

On the move: The pair were taking it easy with a leisurely swim through the crystal clear waters

Can't take their eyes off one another: The pair looked completely smitten as they chatted to one another and cracked jokes while enjoying their day out in the sunshine

Taking it easy: Tom was no doubt grateful for some downtime after promoting his Disney+ series Loki in recent months

Rub a dub dub! Zawe and Tom wrapped themselves up in cosy beach towels after enjoying their refreshing dip

Tom relocated to Atlanta last year to film his new Disney+ series Loki and was forced to remain there due to the coronavirus lockdown.

After growing close during their run in Betrayal in both New York and London, Zawe is now said to have flown to the US city to join him.

Production on Loki began in January, but was suspended in March due to the pandemic.

Chilling out: The duo seemed in good spirits as they relaxed while looking out over the beach

He's a gent: Tom carried Zawe's bag as he moved their belongings along the shoreline

Looking good: Tom showed off his muscular physique as he paraded along the shoreline in his trunks

Chilling out: The pair were enjoying some rare time off work for relaxing

Packing up: Zawe was seen sorting through her belongings as she towelled off in the sunshine

Zawe was due to fly to Toronto to film a role in the upcoming fourth series of The Handmaid's Tale, which was also delayed due to the virus.

Tom and Zawe were said to have struck up a romance as early as February 2019, however due to the attention his past relationship Taylor Swift drew, he has kept their relationship out of the spotlight.

A source told The Sun: 'Tom really has fallen for Zawe in a big way. They've actually been together for more than six months.

'But he is so paranoid about his private life since his relationship with Taylor that he has gone to great lengths to keep this under wraps.'

That's a wrap: The duo were seen packing up their things after enjoying a refreshing dip in the ocean

Catching up: The pair chatted away to one another as they sorted through their belongings

Take your hat off to him: Zawe later layered up in a black kaftan and accessorised with a beach hat, while Tom shrugged on a blue cotton shirt and grey shorts

On the move: The pair were keen to wrap up after their refreshing dip in the water

Layering: The duo sheathed themselves in comfortable clothing as they prepared to head home from the beach

Their play Betrayal followed a seven-year extramarital affair between two characters, Emma and Jerry, with the latter character being Emma's husband Robert's friend.

Tom played Robert in the play with Zawe starring as his on-stage wife Emma and Charlie playing Jerry.

Along with his highly publicised relationship with Taylor in 2016, Tom also previously dated his Wallander co-star Susannah Fielding, with the pair splitting up in 2011.

Keeping quiet? While Tom and Zawe have never publicly confirmed their relationship status, the couple were first linked together in 2019 while starring in the West End play Betrayal in which they portrayed a strained couple

Roomies: Last year it was revealed the pair had moved in together after months of romance rumours, and they are now said to be living together in Atlanta, Georgia

Keeping a low-profile: Tom and Zawe were said to have struck up a romance as early as February 2019, however due to the attention his past relationship Taylor Swift drew, he has kept their relationship out of the spotlight

More privacy: Tom told the New York Times after his romance with Taylor, 'Yes, Im protective about my internal world now in probably a different way. Thats because I didnt realise it needed protecting before'

Keeping quiet: Tom has vowed to keep tight-lipped on his personal life after his public romances

What happens in the sea, stays in the sea: The pair will be maintaining a low-profile relationship

Tom told the New York Times after his romance with Taylor: 'Yes, Im protective about my internal world now in probably a different way. Thats because I didnt realise it needed protecting before.'

During Tom's short-lived fling with Taylor the pair didn't shy away from showing off their romance with lots of public outings.

The couple got together shortly after Taylor's split from Calvin Harris after first meeting at the Met Gala in May 2016 , and during the first few weeks of their romance they travelled around the world together.

They even took the huge step of meeting one another's parents, with Taylor jetting to the UK to spend time with Tom's mother in Suffolk, while he went to her adopted home town of Nashville, before calling it quits in late 2016.
Paul Walker would have turned 48 on Sunday.

And on Monday, Vin Diesel shared an emotional tribute to his late Fast and Furious co-star, posting a photo from the one of the movies that they starred in together.

'So much to tell you... normally I would say you wouldnt believe how I spent your birthday... but by the safe outcome, I know you were there with me in spirit. Miss you. Always,' Vin, 54, wrote in the caption.

Remembering him: Paul Walker would have turned 48 on Sunday and on Monday, Vin Diesel shared an emotional tribute to his late Fast and Furious co-star, posting a photo from the one of the movies that they starred in together

Paul tragically passed away at the age of 40 in a car accident on November 30, 2013.

Diesel and Walker skyrocketed to fame after the massive success of 2001's The Fast and the Furious. They became close friends during filming and went to star together in the hit movie's many sequels.

Walker 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.

The movie gave Paul's character a happy ending with his love Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) and the franchise continues to honor his memory.

Success: Diesel and Walker skyrocketed to fame after the massive success of 2001's The Fast and the Furious. Seen in 2011

Brothers: They became close friends during filming and went to star together in the hit movie's many sequels

The ninth film in the franchise, titled F9, was released in theaters on June 25, 2021.

On the red carpet at the movie's premiere, 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.'

Sad: On the red carpet at the movie's premiere, Vin told People that he was missing his late co-star

'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.

Walker's daughter Meadow, who was only 15 when her father passed away, also paid tribute to the late actor on his 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.

'Daddy, I love you': Walker's daughter Meadow, 22, also paid 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.

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

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.

'I feel very protective. It goes beyond the movie.'

Meadow had also attended F9's premiere in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

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

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)
She was the belle of the ball during last night's Met Gala.

But Kendall Jenner was back to basics while making her way from her hotel to the studios of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday.

The IMG-repped stunner, 25, traded her barely-there Givenchy gown from the night before for a laid back khaki jacket, loose trousers, and a white baby tee.

Cool in khaki: Kendall Jenner went for casual elegance while heading to tape The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday in New York

The star coordinated her look to square-toed heels and a chic shoulder bag while adding a pop of color via a tomato red lip.

Rounding out the ensemble, Kenny popped on a pair of retro tortoiseshell glasses and wore her brunette tresses smooth and straight.

During last night's Met Gala, Kendall took her cues from Old Hollywood, slipping into a nearly-naked gown inspired by Audrey Hepburn's look in My Fair Lady.

Nice in neutrals: The model rocked a laid back khaki jacket, loose trousers, and a white baby tee

Brunette bombshell: She had her raven tresses down straight and smooth as normal

Kendall's 'naked' dress left little to the imagination, revealing all of her long legs while masking her mid-section with a nude bodysuit.

Rhinestones cascaded from her shoulders down towards the bustline, where a delicate layer of beaded fringe crossed her chest towards the top of her opera gloves.

The skirt swept towards the floor, glittering with every movement the elder Jenner sister made. Continuing to sparkle, Kendall wore a dramatic diamond collar.

Autograph: She signed a fan's bottle of her 818 Tequila

Sheer wonder: During last night's Met Gala, Kendall took her cues from Old Hollywood

Inspiration: Fans of film were quick to recognize the inspiration for Kendall's frock, which appeared to be a sexy version of Audrey Hepburn's ball gown from 1964's My Fair Lady

And she made sure her dress was the main event by donning nude heels which blended into the outfit completely.

Kendall continued to sizzle as she made her way to Justin and Hailey Bieber's after party in another look from the French fashion house.

There, the California girl looked like quite the treat in a little red Givenchy minidress with a giant bow billowing behind her.
Flawless co-founder Gabrielle Union emerged from The Carlyle in Manhattan's Upper East Side on Tuesday looking gorgeous in a patterned PVC pencil dress, black platforms, and a green bag.

The Nebraska-born 47-year-old was ready to kick off her nine-date You Got Anything Stronger book tour with a reading and Q&A at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.

Gabrielle's $22.39 256-page second memoir just hit shelves on Tuesday.

Chic: Flawless co-founder Gabrielle Union emerged from The Carlyle in Manhattan's Upper East Side on Tuesday looking gorgeous in a patterned PVC pencil dress, black platforms, and a green bag

Headed to the venue! The Nebraska-born 47-year-old was ready to kick off her nine-date You Got Anything Stronger book tour with a reading and Q&A at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn

In it, Union recalled a 'heartbreaking and terrifying' racist encounter she experienced while visiting the Republic of Croatia back in June 2019.

The L.A.'s Finest producer-star was in Dubrovnik promoting her Spectrum series alongside castmate Jessica Alba during the New Europe Market at the Palace Hotel.

At the time, Gabrielle gushed about Croatia to Dnevnik.hr: 'Beautiful! Absolutely stunning country, amazing food, beautiful people! Also, I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan, so to walk around King's Landing made my "fangirl" go nuts. But it was beautiful!'

Tell-all: Gabrielle's $22.39 256-page second memoir just hit shelves on Tuesday

Nightmare: In it, Union recalled a 'heartbreaking and terrifying' racist encounter she experienced while visiting the Republic of Croatia back in June 2019 (pictured)

Screening and Q&A: The L.A.'s Finest producer-star was in Dubrovnik promoting her Spectrum series alongside castmate Jessica Alba (R) during the New Europe Market at the Palace Hotel

At the time, Gabrielle gushed about Croatia to Dnevnik.hr: 'Beautiful! Absolutely stunning country, amazing food, beautiful people! Also, I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan, so to walk around King's Landing made my "fangirl" go nuts. But it was beautiful!' (pictured in 2019)

Yikes! But it all took a dark turn when Union and her glam squad (from L-R, pictured in 2019) - hairstylist Larry Sims, stylist Thomas Christos Kikis, and make-up artist Malika James - decided to visit a local bar featuring 'Jim Crow memorabilia and Neo-Nazi patrons'

But it all took a dark turn when Union and her glam squad - hairstylist Larry Sims, stylist Thomas Christos Kikis, and make-up artist Malika James - decided to visit a local bar featuring 'Jim Crow memorabilia and Neo-Nazi patrons.'

The UCLA grad said the menacing group followed them down the street when they left what she had initially believed was a gay bar.

'I've never experienced that level of hatred and the threat of physical violence,' Gabrielle told People on Tuesday.

Chased: The UCLA grad said the menacing group followed them down the street when they left what she had initially believed was a gay bar (posted Tuesday)

Gabrielle told People on Tuesday: 'I've never experienced that level of hatred and the threat of physical violence. It was such a jolt. And the fear and adrenaline of what happened left us all numb' (posted Tuesday)

'It was such a jolt. And the fear and adrenaline of what happened left us all numb.'

Union continued: 'There are microaggressions and there are all out assaults. That's what it is to be a person of color in this country. We think we're post racial but we're not. And that is beyond disappointing.

'I don't think people understand the violence that comes with racism, whether it's if you're being chased or you're having to watch someone wear blackface to collect a paycheck. It's violent.'

Morning sunshine! Earlier on Tuesday, the New York & Company collaborator looked cozy in a grey and blue cardigan while headed back inside The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel

Dimpled smile: Gabrielle paired the ombre knit button-up with roomy black pants and nude sandals

Busy day: Union had just taped her appearance on ABC panel talk show The View where she chatted with Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and guest host Mary Katharine Ham

Earlier on Tuesday, the New York & Company collaborator looked cozy in a grey and blue cardigan while headed back inside The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel.

Gabrielle paired the ombre knit button-up with roomy black pants and nude sandals.

Union had just taped her appearance on ABC panel talk show The View where she chatted with Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and guest host Mary Katharine Ham.
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At first glance one could be forgiven for thinking it's a scene from Jaws, the celebrated Steven Spielberg film about an enormous Great White shark terrorizing a small coastal community.

But the image of a menacing shark circling a paddleboard occupied by Hollywood star Orlando Bloom is in fact real, with the actor attracting its attention as he navigated Pacific waters off the coast of Malibu.

Bloom, 44, was with a friend when Carlos Gauna captured a clip of a 'large juvenile white shark' circling in the water below.

Amazing: Orlando Bloom proved to be fearless while paddleboarding in Malibu with a great white shark in an awe-inspiring video shared to Instagram on Tuesday

'Paddle Boarding With Great Whites,' he captioned the minute-long clip. 'When fear becomes your friend and @themalibuartist captures the moment.'

He made sure to tag Gauna, a local photographer who found fame on social media for his incredible sunset images around Malibu, only to dive deep into the world of sharks in the last year.

'Awesome day man,' Carlos wrote on Orlando's post. 'You got some good looks of a large juvenile white shark. Happy for you! Something you'll never forget. Very calm shark just chilling in Malibu!'

Peace and quiet: The 44-year-old actor was with a friend when Carlos Gauna captured a clip of a 'large juvenile white shark' circling in the water below

Insane footage: He made sure to tag Gauna, a local photographer who found fame on social media for his incredible sunset images around Malibu, only to dive deep into the world of sharks in the last year

'Awesome day man,' Carlos wrote on Orlando's post. 'You got some good looks of a large juvenile white shark. Happy for you! Something you'll never forget. Very calm shark just chilling in Malibu!'

Orlando, who once paddleboarded in the nude with then-girlfriend Katy Perry, knew his way around the soft-top board - and a few fans noted that the 'wild' clip was reminiscent of another at-sea adventure from his past.

'Yep we all remember the other paddle boarding picture,' Instagram user @zowie.oz reminded the room.

Orlando recently returned from a whirlwind European vacation with fiancee Katy Perry which began in July at the amfAR gala in Capri.

'Yep we all remember the other paddle boarding picture,' Instagram user @zowie.oz reminded the room

Orlando recently returned from a whirlwind European vacation with fiancee Katy Perry which began in July at the amfAR gala in Capri

Bloom and Perry first began dating in 2016 before parting ways, only to rekindle their romance in 2018.

They would announcement their engagement in early 2019 after the Pirates Of The Caribbean star popped the big question during a helicopter ride that his ladylove later called a very James Bond move.

'We landed on a rooftop [in Los Angeles] and my whole family was there, and all my friends. He did so well,' she confessed.
Tough midfielder Josh Dunkley believes the Western Bulldogs' AFL fairytale experience from five years ago will give them an edge over Melbourne in this season's premiership decider.

In 2016, the Bulldogs famously won four consecutive cut-throat finals, rising from seventh on the ladder to end a 62-year flag drought.

It left Melbourne nursing the competition's longest active streak without a premiership - the former VFL powerhouse's last grand final triumph coming in 1964.

But now the Demons are minor premiers and sentimental favourites for this year's flag, riding a wave of support similar to that enjoyed by the Bulldogs in 2016.

Dunkley was one of nine players from that premiership team who featured in last week's preliminary final trouncing of Port Adelaide.

He said that group's experience would serve the Bulldogs well in preparation for next week's grand final at Optus Stadium in Perth.

"To have those guys there and know what (Melbourne) are going through, I think, is really important, for sure, because you know what to expect from them," Dunkley said.

"They're going to come out with a full head of steam like we did in 2016 and it's going to be an arm wrestle.

"They're a great side, they've been one of the better sides all year, and we've had some great contests with them, so it's going to be a great game.

"We know what to expect from them and they're going to put their best foot forward."

While the Bulldogs now have a vastly different make-up to that 2016 premiership side, Dunkley said the current group has continued developing the tight-knit culture forged under Luke Beveridge.

It has served them well this season and was evident after the preliminary final, when vision of the players singing and dancing in the change room after the match became public.

"It's pretty special," Dunkley said.

"That vision, we've done that for quite a while, and we really like enjoying wins.

"After losses it's really hard, you see the huge disappointment, but after wins it's really important to celebrate together.

"We've built that culture not only over the past 12 months but over the past five or six years."

The Bulldogs have reached the grand final from fifth spot this season, winning three sudden-death finals in three different states to get there.
Three-time Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin is stepping down as the Tigers' AFL skipper.

Richmond's longest-serving captain will continue playing in 2022 but under a new leader.

Cotchin was appointed as the Tigers' permanent skipper at the end of 2012, aged just 22, with 188 of his 268 career games coming as captain.

The 31-year-old felt the time was right to quit the role after leading the club to flags in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

"The club has built a really strong leadership culture over the past five years and we have some excellent leaders at Richmond that will flourish in the captaincy role," he said.

"It's an awesome opportunity to continue our philosophy of pushing leadership deep through the organisation, and for me to continue to play a role both on-field and off-field."

Richmond's new skipper could be veteran vice-captain Jack Riewoldt, although he is close to the end of his brilliant career.

Superstar Dustin Martin has been lauded for his leadership attributes by those at Punt Rd, but is notoriously media shy and would struggle with the off-field responsibilities of the role.

Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale thanked Cotchin for his contribution as leader of the club during a golden era.

"Trent has been a magnificent captain of this club over a long period of time - we have been blessed to have someone of his character in the role," Gale said.

"He is such a selfless leader and this decision underlines that - he has always done what he thinks is best for the team.

"He will still be an enormously important part of our team moving forward and I know how driven he is to see this club bounce back in 2022."

Richmond missed finals this year for the first time since 2016.
Erika Jayne answered 'everything' about the controversies surrounding herself and estranged husband Tom Girardi on the upcoming Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills reunion.

'The drama kept coming up because there were tentacles of the drama that involved all the other ladies. I will say, we did a big chunk of her marital drama earlier in the day, and then I would say the last 90 minutes was a very spirited conversation about the case and what's going on,' host Andy Cohen revealed on his SiriusXM show, Radio Andy, on Monday. 'She answers everything.'

'I think that I asked her everything. I mean, the viewers had amazing questions and I feel that we represented the tenor of what the viewers were feeling,' he continued.

'She answers everything': Erika Jayne answered 'everything' about the controversies surrounding herself and estranged husband Tom Girardi on the upcoming Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills reunion (pictured May 2021)

'I thought it was fascinating, it was engaging, it was surprising. And we did, we spoke about everything. I mean, name a topic and I'll tell you if it was discussed,' he added.

No topic was left untouched, with Andy revealing the wide range of controversies addressed, which included the Lion Air Flight 610 scandal, Tom's Alzheimer's and dementia diagnoses, cheating allegations against Tom, and money.

Asked by John Hill if Erika addressed 'the future, what do we know about court and jail,' Andy said that was also discussed.

'I want to point out, she has not been charged with a crime,' Andy stressed.

'It was fascinating': Andy Cohen said Jayne answered a myriad of topics surrounding her controversial husband, including Lion Air Flight 610 and money

Erika's drama wasn't the only juicy gossip discussed during the show, with Scott Disick's relationship with Lisa Rinna's daughter Amelia Hamlin also explored.

Despite all the touchy subjects discussed, no one walked off the set.

'I will tell you this, which I loved. There were no walk-offs, which I loved,' Andy said. 'And Lisa Rinna was commenting at the end. She said, "You know what? Everybody sat there and took it today." And it was true. Everybody faced the music. They were all there, they were all engaged, they were all in it.'

Disgraced: Erika filed for divorce from Tom in November 2020, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families

And it wouldn't be a reunion without some waterworks, with everyone 'including Erika' shedding tears.

Erika filed for divorce from Tom in November 2020, but shortly afterward the two were sued by the family of victims of the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, who accused them of embezzling funs intended for the families.

The lawsuit alleged that their divorce was merely a 'sham' to help protect their assets.

Last month, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case for Girardi's law firm sued Jayne for $25 million, claiming that she had spent around that amount in funds given to her by her husband from the firm's coffers.

Emotional: It wouldn't be a reunion without some waterworks, with everyone 'including Erika' shedding tears

'She attempts to create a distinction between handing her money directly versus paying all of her bills directly,' the suit said, according to Page Six. 'The distinction, like her prior motion for reconsideration, is meritless. Any payments made for her benefit are her responsibility.'

The trustee also claimed that she had feigned 'willful blindness' and was aware of where the money came from.

Jayne's attorneys downplayed the accusations in a statement to the publication.

'Unfortunately, the amended complaint is another example of the trustee and her counsel jumping to conclusions without a full investigation, and bullying and blaming Erika for actions taken by Girardi Keese for which Erika does not have legal liability,' they said, claiming that the trustee was 'overreaching.'

Legal battle: Last month, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case for Girardi's law firm sued Jayne for $25 million, claiming that she had spent around that amount in funds given to her by her husband from the firm's coffers

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Girardi had taken up residence in a senior living home in Burbank, California, last month amid reports he had been diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease earlier this year.

The Belmont Village Senior Living facility in Southern California costs more than $5,000 per month for a private suite and boasts chef-prepared dining with 24 daily choices of meals and staff that are on duty at all hours of the day.

Citing his 'major neurocognitive disorder,' Girardi's brother Robert recently instituted a conservatorship for him.

Last month on RHOBH, Jayne shared her opinions about her ex-husband ongoing legal troubles.

'I think what has happened to Tom here is that he's not mentally capable, and he's in sole control of his firm,' she said. 'And I think that it got away from him. I think that we're dealing with a man who is [at a] diminished capacity in control, and not doing the right thing. Because if he stole the money, I'd like to know where it is. You know, that's the truth.'
33 years after the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito comedy Twins hit theaters, the long-gestating sequel Triplets is finally happening with Tracy Morgan.

Morgan will play the long-lost triplet brother of Julian (Schwarzenegger) and Vincent (DeVito) in the sequel, with Twins director Ivan Reitman returning to the helm, via Deadline.

The sequel has become one of the hotter properties being shopped at the Toronto International Film Festival, with filming said to start this coming January in Boston.

Sequel: 33 years after the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito comedy Twins hit theaters, the long-gestating sequel Triplets is finally happening with Tracy Morgan

Brothers: Morgan will play the long-lost triplet brother of Julian (Schwarzenegger) and Vincent (DeVito) in the sequel, with Twins director Ivan Reitman returning to the helm, via Deadline

The original 1988 comedy classic followed Schwarzenegger's Julius Benedict, a physically perfect but socially naive man who finds his long-lost twin brother in DeVito's Vincent.

Twins was the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1988, earning $111.9 million domestic and $216.6 million worldwide.

There had been talk for several years about Triplets, with Eddie Murphy originally slated to play the third triplet.

Brothers: The original 1988 comedy classic followed Schwarzenegger's Julius Benedict, a physically perfect but socially naive man who finds his long-lost twin brother in DeVito's Vincent

Big hit: Twins was the fifth highest-grossing movie of 1988, earning $111.9 million domestic and $216.6 million worldwide

Reitman revealed in an interview with Deadline that the sequel ideal stemmed from Murphy meeting Schwarzenegger.

'It was, "I should be a triplet, that could be a very funny comedy." We started a script with Eddie, and after the success he had with Amazon Prime on he got himself booked up heavily,' Reitman explained.

The director added they knew they were going to start production early next year, so he reached out to Tracy Morgan.

Arnold: Reitman revealed in an interview with Deadline that the sequel ideal stemmed from Murphy meeting Schwarzenegger

'Id been good friends with Tracy Morgan for a long time and always thought he was one of the funniest men in the world. I thought he would make a terrific triplet, and we rewrote the whole script for him. Now, well go out and try and put the money together and get it made,' Reitman added.

Universal Pictures made the original movie and had the rights to the sequel, but the original deal called for the rights to revert back to Reitman if the studio didn't make the sequel in a certain amount of time, which has since passed.

The director added the premise follows the third baby who was born in secret and was never in touch with the siblings, though they form an early bond after meeting.

Good friends: 'Id been good friends with Tracy Morgan for a long time and always thought he was one of the funniest men in the world. I thought he would make a terrific triplet, and we rewrote the whole script for him. Now, well go out and try and put the money together and get it made,' Reitman added

'Its really a film about family and, no matter how different we all are, we have to learn to get along. These guys have great chemistry together, and you can see that in the reel, and how much energy they bring out in each other,' Reitman added.

This will be Reitman's first directorial effort since 2014's Draft Day starring Kevin Costner, but he has been keeping busy as a producer on Space Jam: A New Legacy and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by his son Jason Reitman.

Morgan is coming off Coming 2 America while Schwarzenegger has Kung Fury 2 coming up and DeVito just debuted The Survivor at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Different: 'Its really a film about family and, no matter how different we all are, we have to learn to get along. These guys have great chemistry together, and you can see that in the reel, and how much energy they bring out in each other,' Reitman added

Director: This will be Reitman's first directorial effort since 2014's Draft Day starring Kevin Costner, but he has been keeping busy as a producer on Space Jam: A New Legacy and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by his son Jason Reitman
LONDON (AP) - Britain announced Tuesday it is delaying the start of post-Brexit border checks on food imports from the European Union, saying trade disruption from the coronavirus pandemic has already piled pressure on businesses.

The delay means paperwork and checks for EU agricultural and animal products that were due to start from October wont be introduced until next year.

The U.K. said the "pragmatic new timetable" would ease pressure on businesses grappling with supply chain disruptions from the pandemic.

Paperwork on plant and animal products that was due to start Oct. 1 has been pushed to Jan. 1, the government said. It said customs declarations and controls will be introduced on Jan. 1 as planned, but safety and security declarations wont be required until July 1.

Brexit minister David Frost said "we want businesses to focus on their recovery from the pandemic rather than have to deal with new requirements at the border."

He said the pandemic "has had longer-lasting impacts on businesses, both in the U.K. and in the European Union, than many observers expected."

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 file photo, UK Chief Brexit negotiator David Frost leaves 10 Downing Street, in London. Britain announced Tuesday Sept. 14, 2021, it is delaying the start of post-Brexit border checks on food imports from the European Union, saying trade disruption from the coronavirus pandemic has already piled pressure on businesses. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

"There are also pressures on global supply chains, caused by a wide range of factors including the pandemic and the increased costs of global freight transport. These pressures are being especially felt in the agri-food sector."

Britain has experienced sporadic but widespread supply problems in recent months, with gaps on supermarket shelves, fast-food outlets running out of chicken and some pubs running dry of a full selection of beer. Experts cite a perfect storm of factors, including Brexit and COVID-19, leading to worker shortages in key areas such as trucking.

Since Britain left the EUs single market at the end of 2020, imports from the bloc are supposed to be subject to the same checks as goods from everywhere else in the world.

This is the second time the U.K. has postponed introducing some of the checks agreed in its divorce deal from the EU. It las already indefinitely suspended checks on food products going to Northern Ireland from the rest of the country. That has triggered a spat with the EU, which threatened legal action.

U.K.-EU talks on resolving differences over trade rules have made little progress. Britains Conservative government has accused the 27-nation bloc of being needlessly "purist" in its approach to the rules, while the EU says Britain is failing to implement the deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to.

The British Chambers of Commerce called the latest delay to border checks "sensible." But the U.K.'s Food and Drink Federation accused the government of blindsiding businesses that had prepared for checks.

"This move penalizes those who followed government advice and rewards those who ignored it," chief executive Ian Wright said.

He added that "the asymmetric nature of border controls facing exports and imports distorts the market and places many U.K. producers at a competitive disadvantage with EU producers."

___

Follow APs Brexit coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/brexit
The second tower of the World Trade Center bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane, September 11, 2001. Photo: Reuters/Sarak K. Schwittek
Abihail Myrie, the daughter of Reggae and Dancehall titan Buju Banton had to swallow her words and apologize to the LGBT community after an inappropriate outburst on Twitter recently.

The 21-year-old Jamaican model took to the social media platform, hell-bent on criticizing government officials for the measures being taken to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

Last month, the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica sent out a statement calling on the Government to get tough on people who refuse to get vaccinated. Several entities of the lobby group sent memos to staff, requiring them to get vaccinated or take tests at regular intervals to prove they remain COVID-19 free.

Myrie caught wind of the development on a Twitter share that stated, Its CVM telling unvaccinated workers to provide a negative COVID test result every Monday or be sent home and pay deducted.

She re-posted the Tweet and wrote, this is what got me started.

this is what got me started pic.twitter.com/QyXt6ACLnR  AB (@abihailmyrie_) September 11, 2021

Abihails repulsion at the new policy drew comparisons to those expressed by her father, which some users sought to point out. Buju take up the wrong phone, said one Twitter user.

Another wrote, chip nuh fly far from the block, which triggered a heated response from Myrie.

She quickly clapped back, No it didnt at all. but u soon know wa else mever fly far. gwan run off yuh big dutty stinkin mouth btyman, she said.

After receiving backlash for her statements, Abi returned the following day to apologize to the LGBT community for the careless outburst.

I know when Im wrong. And especially in the age of awareness where we are pushing for inclusivity and togetherness, Allowing myself to use a slur we have long past is wrong. And I shouldnt have. But Im jamaican before anything else. To the lgbt community, I apologize you all, she tweeted.

She went on to explain why she got so upset, and further stated that it shouldnt matter if persons are vaccinated or not and most certainly shouldnt affect their means of making a living for their families.

How can you feel good knowing that if this week someone goes home their pay is cut because they have reservations about the vaccine? thats bullying and everyday unu sidung yasso and bully each other. what about their families? what about their kids? they have people to feed, she tweeted.

Right now the vaccinated are sitting high and mighty, and have turned their mouths at the unvaccinated-the ones they are trying to encourage. and you think cutting pay, shunning them out and ostracizing them is the way to do so? she continued.

Abihail enlightened everyone that shes neither provax nor antivax and to assume either role will create a divide among people. We have already started with lables. antivax, provax etc etc there is already a divide. people shouldnt feel uneasy if theyre asked their status -whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. at the end of the day, the decision is THEIRS.

She says taking the vaccine should be a personal choice so people shouldnt be judged on their decision. I love my people. I truly do. and chastising one another for the personal decisions we choose to make is outright plain and simple wrong. Taking the vaccine is right in your book but if it is not so in a next mans; who are you to judge?
Minister of Health Dr. Christopher Tufton, met the ire of Mr Lexx, who is now calling for his resignation, after seeing a video of the Minister in a rural community, suggesting that persons prioritise getting vaccinated instead of focusing on getting water in their pipes first.

Mr Lexx, who is a part of the Ministers Every Vax Counts campaign, made his comment on Sunday morning after getting wind of the exchange between the residents and Tufton which took place during the Ministers vaccination tour. The video of the interaction was posted on Instagram by Rebelution artiste Tanya Stephens.

Jus fi dat him fi step dung. Chang and Tufton tuh But unuh nuh ready fi dem reasoning deh, the Full Hundred artist wrote, including Security Minister Horace Chang in the mix.

In the video clip, Tufton and a few other persons are seen standing in the back of a pickup truck whilst interacting with some community members in rural Jamaica.

The villagers are heard lightheartedly heckling the politicians in the truck, telling them that they want water and they had not had the commodity for some time, and argued that it was more of a priority to them, than getting vaccinated.

Yuh nuh love wi, if yuh wae love wi, you woulda meck wi get wata, an elderly woman can be heard saying.

Amidst the shouts, Tufton, with a microphone in hand, can be heard trying to convince the residents that the virus was more of an emergency than getting water, which they could obtain at a later date.

Thank yuh very much MP and  hello, hello, hello. Betta yuh teck the vaccine and get di water after, Dr. Tufton said, resulting in an outburst of laughter from the people, one whom shouted back: wi naw teck no vaccine.

The Ministers response to the spirited bantering was not taken lightly by Stephens, who asserted that the Minister was being highly facetious.

WHAT THE BLOODCLAAT OONU REALLY A DEAL WID @andrewholnessjm @jlpjamaica ????????? she posted beneath the video clip.

She was joined by Count Tree artiste Spragga Benz, an ardent opponent of vaccination, which he has deemed among other things and attempt by governments to implement a New World Order.

Mi cant even begin fi say weh mi wish did happen to him fi say dat, Spragga said.

Over the course of the last week, Stephens has upped her opposition to mandatory vaccinations, and has questioned the manner in which the Government of Jamaican has been going about its vaccination campaign.

A few days ago she took umbrage the announcement that he Government in its bid to get 65 percent of the population vaccinated by early 2022, had established a National COVID-19 Vaccination Operationalisation Taskforce chaired by former University of the West Indies (UWI) Principal, Professor Gordon Shirley.

The other listed members of the committee include Dunstan Bryan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacqueline Bisasor-McKenzie, former CMO Dr Sheila Campbell Forrester and other persons spanning the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and persons from the private sector.

Stephens had shared the announcement about the task force and questioned the wisdom and motive of the Government setting up an entity.

Is the ultimate objective to get people HEALTHY? Or is it to get people vaccinated? the Its a Pity artist had written.

Has a task force been established to explore the persistent claims of DOCTORS treating covid patients successfully? Are these people volunteers? she added.

I know you believe the jab is the only way. Do you believe you arrived at that conclusion honestly? If you thought this could easily be cured with items already sitting in your housewould you still push it and force people out of work for not accepting it??? Start asking yourself the hard questions, she asked the Government.

In another post, she had rebuked employers and vaccinated persons whom she said have been trying to coerce persons who are hesitant, to take the jab.

Im going to stop talking when you all stop disregarding the other voices. To say: I took it and Im fine! makes you nothing more than an apathetic piece of excrement, she wrote.

Stop treating people like statistics. You cant force someone to gamble with their health and refusing them employment and access to basic amenities is forcing them. All of you who talk shit NEED to accept the liability for these kind of outcomes which are way too many for comfort, the St. Mary native had added.

A while later, in response to comments from some of her followers, Stephens had added: If people want to take it, fine. But they should let people know what theyre gambling. They keep saying miniscule side effects and downplaying people actual lived experience. Nope! That doesnt look suspect at all!
Its been quite a year for Jamaican musician and songwriter, Vision Alexander. We first highlighted him last year for his collaboration with Jesse Royal on Right Now. Since then, hes gone on to collaborate with Jesse several more times, including multiple Sean Alaric-produced features on the Royal album.

The 2x Billboard songwriter and artist has a No. 5 Hot Single under his belt and a Top 40 hit on UKs Weekly Pop Charts. One of his more recent and most notable accolades, however, comes with his independent single Birkin, which landed on the musical score for the film Catch A Fair One.

DancehallMag sat down to talk more about Visions recent success and future plans.

Youre Jamaican by birth but grew up in South Florida. How have those two cultures influenced your sound?

Being born in Jamaica and growing up in Birmingham England, and South Florida has definitely had a major influence on my sound. By being exposed to different cultures, genres of music. It has forced me to think outside the box when it comes to my songwriting and to appreciate different sounds of the world and what works and doesnt on an international scale.

How did you first get your start in dancehall?

My first start in the industry was with Reggae Music. I was signed to Record Label called Key Note Records based in South Florida and Jamaica. I owe alot to Warren Bloise who was my manager at the time. I recorded my first song called We Jammin which was produced by Warren and JonFx. The song caught the attention of Mojo Morgan of Morgan Heritage. He blessed the remix and the rest was history. I got the opportunity to tour with Morgan Heritage for the first time. And Im so grateful for the opportunity. Thank you to Mojo, Jemere, and Morgan Heritage for all the strength they have given me all these years. With that knowledge and encouragement, Ive used it to now be a 3x recording billboard songwriter /artist, also a top 40 weekly Pop chart recording artist /songwriter in the UK and recently earned my first motion picture movie music score here in the US. And Im just getting warmed up for the second half of my career with Gods help.

What was it like writing on Switch It Up with Protoje and Koffee?

I met Protoje at a writing camp in LA which Jesse Royal had invited me to be apart of for his upcoming album. I remember it like it was yesterday, myself Jesse and Sean had just returned from a last night studio session. This was around 5am Protoje was on his way to start his studio session. He invited me to be apart of it. That was when he played this amazing beat produced by Winter James. He told me Vision this one is going to be epic its my secret weapon for his album. This was way before Koffee had graced the track with her amazing verse of magic.

When Protoje played the record for me he had already written about four amazing bars that started the song. I remember when first hearing his delivery and lyrics. Thats when I knew that Protoje was the real genius everybody talked about. And I knew that I had to step my game up.

He told me he needed an epic hook for this song. So we both went through some melodies and ideas and in no time we found the hook that worked and the rest is history. Bless up Protoje anywhere him deh inna the world.

Out of all the songs you worked on with Sean Alaric for Jesse Royals Royal project, which is your favorite and why?

Out of the six songs that myself, Sean Alaric and Jesse Royal collaborated on for the Royal album, I would have to say Lion Order is my favorite because, it was the first song that Jesse heard from me and Sean.

That song brought three us together including Protoje to work on Jesses album. Lion Order was the genesis that set the pace, vibe, energy, synergy and overall lead single that rasied the bar for the other songs and gave the direction to where the album should go in a musical sense.

To date, I would honestly say its one of the best songs Ive ever written. And theres nobody in the world that could have delivered the song better than Jesse Royal. Hes an amazing artist and person. Sean Alaric is a musical genius for creating that beat and many more of that album. Im lucky to share a time in music history with those three geniuses on that song. Bless up Sean, Jesse and Protoje.

Your recent release Birkin was featured in a film premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. What inspired that song? Did you expect to see your music going that far?

Birkin was a song that myself and Sean Alaric had started before we worked on the Royal album. After working with Jesse on the project, we went back to fine tuning unfinished songs Birkin being one of them.

With the help of Lesile reggae music pioneer from Delicious Vinyl Records and Dina Juntila Music Supervisor for placing many songs in motion pictures. Birkin was the song that caught everybodys attention and then was chosen to be the song in the motion picture Catch A Fair One, directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka, whos the award-winning director of the popular Netflix series Narcos.

The movie then was premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. To myself and Sean surprise we had one idea that our song would get so much exposure much less to be in a motion picture movie. I can honestly say the song was inspired by my local strip club and all the amazing dancers that took my money that night. Lol

Where would you like to see dancehall and Jamaican music go in the future?

I would love to see Reggae/Dancehall music be more a part of the conversation when it comes to talking about which genre controls a huge piece on the market share in the music industry. Right now Jamaican music is not in the conversation like other genres that we influenced such as Reggaeton, Afrobeats, hip hop just to name a few.

We need to change our approach when it comes to the music industry and I mean all of us including myself. Im now a part of this genre representing Jamaican Music to the fullest. We need to overstand that this game is a numbers game and division keeps numbers in the red. We need our numbers to be green and unified. We need to stop saturating the marketplace with so many songs that dont do numbers. And concentrate on improving our business understanding of the industry. I want us to remember that this game is 90% business and 10% talent. Our business outlook has to improve and with that so will our music approach.
Chennai: Expressing concern over the future of thousands of workers and allied industries, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Tuesday sought Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's immediate intervention in the issue concerning the American auto major Ford Motor's decision to shut its operations and ensure the company's facility at Maraimalai Nagar is kept afloat.

Such a move, the former Chief Minister contended, would augur well for the industrial growth in the State and also safeguard jobs of the workers. "The news regarding the closure of the plants in India is shocking. It has come amid a move to bring new jobs to Tamil Nadu based on the fact that workers can survive if industries grow," Panneerselvam said. He appealed to the Chief Minister to provide relief to the employees by sustaining the industrial climate in the State.

On Thursday, Ford Motor announced that it will shut its two manufacturing plants (Maraimalai Nagar and Sanand in Gujarat) in India and sell only imported vehicles in the country, as part of a restructuring exercise.

In a statement here, Panneerselvam said Ford announced closure of its plant in Maraimalai Nagar in the second quarter of next year due to huge accumulating losses and lack of growth in a difficult market. "The move will affect the future of about 4,000 direct employees and also that of about 40,000 indirect workers. The future of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) dependent on Ford Motor is also very bleak," the AIADMK coordinator said.

Maintaining that the State government has a responsibility to protect the workers and industrial climate in Tamil Nadu, he said "therefore, I urge Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to intervene and resolve the issue."

Panneerselvam recalled that during her tenure, former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa took various steps to promote industries besides creating a conducive atmosphere in the State.
As the election date for the Movie Artistes Association (October 10) nears, the rivalry among actors is taking unusual turns. Actor Naresh, while wishing Sai Dharam Tej a speedy recovery after his recent bike accident, also said that he had cautioned Sai about speeding on his bike earlier. Going further, he noted that the sons of actors Kota Srinivas Rao and Babu Mohan had passed away in bike accidents due to speeding.

However, this did not go down well with actor Srikanth. He felt Nareshs mention of those who had lost their lives in biking accidents was uncalled for, and appealed to people not to make such comments.

Srikanth

Naresh retorted that he was referring to incidents that had happened in the industry in general. I am surprised at the way Srikanth responded to my video bytes, he said, adding that parents always caution their kids as a safety measure.

Naresh in his turn asked Srikanth to be careful in his comments, and also recalled that the latter had unsuccessfully contested against him in the MAA elections. Even actor-producer Bandla Ganesh expressed his disappointment over Nareshs comments. Well, things are certainly hotting up!
In the University of Madras, it was found that the sanctioned intake of students for the PG programmes could not be increased for want of faculty and facilities. (DC File Image)

Chennai: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for the year ended March 2020 has found, what it said, serious lapses in higher education in Tamil Nadu. The lapses include poor or nil research output by many departments in universities. The report detected diversion of funds for research and development by the University of Madras to pay salaries and regular non-plan expenditure.

The report said the salaries paid to guest lecturers were much below the UGC-recommended salary of Rs 50,000. The unfilled vacancies were filled up by appointing guest lecturers. As on March 2020, 4,084 guest lecturers were posted in government colleges with a salary of Rs 15,000 per month, the report, tabled in the State Assembly on Monday, said.

The audit said the delay by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) in recruiting teachers caused vacancies to increase. Guest lecturers were taken on a contract basis to cater to the need and were not recruited through transparent merit-based recruitment process, the report said. Against the total sanctioned strength of 10,079 teachers in government colleges, 4,889 permanent teachers were on roll, leaving 5,190 posts - about 51 per cent - vacant. The vacancies in aided colleges were 22 per cent (2,380 vacancies against sanctioned strength of 10,610). The large number of vacancies were managed mainly by engaging full-time guest lecturers.

During 2014-19, 17 programmes were newly started in 10 government colleges and 1,318 students were admitted without teachers for handling the programmes. The TRB planned to recruit 1,883 teachers for various subjects in 2016 but the government banned recruitment between April 2017 and June 2018 leading to non-completion of the recruitment process. The TRB recruited for 2,331 posts in October 2019 and the recruitment process remained incomplete as on February 2021, the report said.

In the University of Madras, it was found that the sanctioned intake of students for the PG programmes could not be increased for want of faculty and facilities. Due to low demand, the intake capacity of 63 programmes was reduced by 68 per cent during 2014 - 19. During this period, no admission was made to 27 approved masters programmes.

The University of Madras, the oldest in the State, continues to face financial crisis due to mismanagement and inadequate financial support from the government of Tamil Nadu. As a result, the funds meant for research and development activities were diverted for salaries and regular non-plan expenditure, the report said.

The State performed well in student enrolment, pass percentage, access and affordability. The audit, however, found issues mainly with student-faculty ratio in colleges, valuation of answer papers, poor research output and regional disparity in access and ineffective functioning of governance structures. The Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education did not play its envisaged roles due to non-constitution of its main organ viz. the Council. Also, the State Academic Audit and Accreditation Council has not started functioning since its establishment in 2010.

During 2014 -19, about 1.48 lakh students of Bharatidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, and University of Madras, Chennai, appealed for revaluation and 50 per cent of them got their marks changed on revaluation. The large number requests for evaluation and change of marks after evaluation cast doubt on the efficiency of answer-sheet evaluation system, it said.

Only a handful of university departments were active in research and majority had poor or nil research output.

The audit includes the departments of Adi Dravidar & Tribal Welfare, Agriculture, Health & Family Welfare, Higher Education, Revenue & Disaster Management, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, School Education and Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal, said R Ambalavanan, Principal Accountant General. He told reporters that the report detected poor planning and implementation of installation of bio-digesterio-tank toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) resulting in non-achievement of objective of improved sanitation in rural areas and also led to unfruitful expenditure of Rs 4.44 crore.

Failure of the revenue authorities led to unauthorised occupation of government lands worth Rs 14.16 crore in Madurai while the failure of the agriculture department to frame a comprehensive guideline and to enforce the existing guidelines resulted in misuse of subsidy of Rs 3.01 crore besides non-achievement of the intended objectives of agriculture mechanisation, the report said.
Health workers collect blood samples in the neighborhood for testing after a 12-year-old boy died of the Nipah virus in Kozhikode, Kerala state, India. (File Image/AP)

Kozhikode: A team of health officials from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune on Saturday collected samples from fruit-eating bats to find the source of the Nipah Virus in Kozhikode, informed the Public relation department of the state government.

The team of NIV arrived on Friday and visited the Nipah epicentre.

There has been widespread panic caused by the emergence of cases testing positive for the viral infection.

Earlier, on September 8, Kerala Health Minister, Veena George had informed that a total of 68 people are in isolation for the Nipah Virus in Government Medical College in Kozhikode district of Kerala.

Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus but it can also be transmitted from person to person and through contaminated food.

Earlier, on September 5, the Central government had rushed a medical team to the Kozhikode district of Kerala as the state reported the first death due to the Nipah virus.
As the October 14 deadline is just a month away, the MoJS has initiated the process to take over irrigation projects in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. (Representational image: PTI)

HYDERABAD: The union ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) has stepped up efforts to implement its gazette taking over irrigation projects on the Krishna and the Godavari rivers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as scheduled from October 14.

The MoJS held a meeting with chairmen of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) in Delhi on Monday to finalise the modalities for implementing the gazette issued on July 15. The ministry on Monday appointed two chief engineers each for two boards to oversee the implementation of the gazette.

Although both the Telangana and the AP governments have raised several concerns and doubts on the gazette and sought deferment of implementation of the gazette until their concerns and doubts are addressed, the MoJS did not give any hint on deferment, according to official sources in the irrigation department.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao sought deferment of implementation of the gazette when he met union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat during his recent visit to Delhi on September 6. But there has been no response from MoJS on the Chief Ministers request so far.

As the October 14 deadline is just a month away, the MoJS has initiated the process to take over irrigation projects in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Both the governments requested the MoJS to take control of only common projects in Krishna basins like Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala and to remove other projects which are under the territorial jurisdiction of respective states from the gazette.

Both the governments also requested to remove projects in the Godavari basin from the gazette since there are no common projects. They urged MoJS to allow respective states to operate projects on their own in consultation with the boards, which are not common projects.

However, the MoJS did not respond to any of the issues raised by the Telangana and the AP governments during the meeting held in Delhi on Monday. Official sources said the MoJS only asked the chairmen of the KRMB and the GRMB to go ahead with the implementation of gazette as scheduled from October 14.
More than 400 of the corporate CSR initiatives to combat the second wave of infections were aimed at procuring medical supplies, ventilators, and safety gear like PPE kits.  Twitter

Hyderabad: The Indian industry has spent over Rs 1,600 crore on combating the second wave of Covid-19 in the financial year 2020-21, a study of 350 public-listed companies revealed.

The study, which was conducted by CSR knowledge and impact intelligence portal CSRBOX, showed that Indian companies had launched over 750 corporate social responsibility initiatives in response to the second wave, and that 35 per cent of these interventions were implemented in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

Around 57 per cent of the CSR initiatives to combat the second wave of Covid-19 were targeted at direct beneficiaries, i.e. Covid-infected people. More than 400 of the corporate CSR initiatives to combat the second wave of infections were aimed at procuring medical supplies, ventilators, and safety gear like PPE kits.
Since the agitation involves the issue of human rights, whereas the right to agitate in a peaceful manner is also to be respected, the commission needs to take care of various human rights issues.(Representational Image/AP)

New Delhi: The NHRC has sent notices to governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajastan and their police chiefs, over allegations that the ongoing farmers protests have "adversely impacted" industrial units and transportation, and Covid safety norms have been breached at the agitation sites.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in a statement, said it has also asked the National Disaster Management Authority, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Union Health Ministry to submit reports with respect to the "adverse impact of farmers agitation on various aspects and observance of Covid protocols at the protests sites".

"The NHRC has received several complaints regarding the ongoing farmers protest. There are allegations of adverse impact on the industrial units, seriously effecting more than 9,000 micro, medium and large companies," it said.

Allegedly, transportation is also adversely impacted, causing the commuters, patients, people with disability and senior citizens to suffer due to the heavy congestion on roads occupied by the protesting farmers, the rights panel said.

There is an allegation that there is "breach of the corona protocols by the agitating farmers at the protest sites". There is further allegation that the inhabitants are not being allowed to move out of their houses due to the blockade of the passage, it added.

There are also reports that people have to travel long distances to reach their destinations due to the ongoing agitation, and barricades have been put on the state borders, it added.

Accordingly the commission has issued notices to the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi; and director generals of police, of the three states and Delhi police commissioner, asking them to submit their respective action taken reports, the statement said.

Since the agitation involves the issue of human rights, whereas the right to agitate in a peaceful manner is also to be respected, the commission needs to take care of various human rights issues, the statement said.

Hence, the Commission besides issuing notice to various states has also taken a few more actions, officials said.

The Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) had been asked to examine the adverse impact of the farmers agitation on industrial and commercial activities and production, and disruption of transport services on commercial and normal consumers, including inconvenience and additional expenditure, among others, and to submit a comprehensive report in the matter by October 10, the statement said.

The NDMA, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health, have been asked to submit reports with respect to the adverse impact of farmers agitation on various aspects and observance of COVID Protocols at the protests sites, it said.

"In the case of alleged gangrape of a human rights activist at the protest site, no report was received from the DM, Jhajjar regarding the payment of compensation to the NOK (next of kin) of the deceased. A fresh reminder was issued to the DM, Jhajjar, to file the report by October 10," the statement said.

Delhi School of Social Work, University of Delhi is requested to depute teams to conduct a survey and submit a report, assessing the disruption of livelihood, lives of people, impact on the aged and infirm persons due to protracted agitation by farmers, the rights panel said.

Farmers from various states have been protesting at Singhu Border and Tikri Border of Delhi-Haryana, Ghazipur border of Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, and have camped their since November 25 last year, seeking repealing of the three new agri laws.
Health workers collect blood samples in the neighborhood for testing after a 12-year-old boy died of the Nipah virus in Kozhikode, Kerala state, India. (File Image/AP)

Mangaluru: More than a week after a 12-year-old boy succumbed to the Nipah virus in Kerala's Kozhikode district, a person being treated at a hospital here is suspected to have the infection and his samples have been sent for test.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Dr K V Rajendra told reporters here Tuesday that it was only a suspected case, but cannot be neglected. The person is a native of Karwar and is working at Goa in an RT-PCR test kit manufacturing unit, he said.

The DC said his samples are sent for test to National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and the result is awaited. The person's family members have been kept in isolation.

The patient had not shown severe symptoms till the sample was sent for testing on Monday, he said.

The primary contacts of the person have been traced and detected. The district administrations of Udupi and Karwar are also alerted on the matter, Rajendra said.
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. (DC File Image)

Washington: 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 international 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.
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.

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 from men.

Women have staged several protests across 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.
The New York Stock Exchange said on Tuesday it was co-developing a new tradeable asset class based on sustainable enterprises that hold the rights to ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, produced by natural, working, or hybrid lands.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc , said "natural asset companies" (NACs) will be listed and traded on its exchange, "creating a new market whose assets generate trillions of dollars in ecosystem services annually."

Globally, natural assets produce around $125 trillion annually in ecosystem services, like water purification and biodiversity, the NYSE said.

"With the introduction of Natural Asset Companies, the NYSE will provide investors an innovative mechanism to financially support the sustainability initiatives they deem critical to our future," said NYSE President Stacey Cunningham.

Investments focused on environmental, social and governance factors have been in demand, with the assets of ESG-related funds rising 12% to $2.3 trillion from the end of March to late July, according to Morningstar.

The NYSE said it was developing NACs with the Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG), which pioneered the idea and works with natural asset owners to form and list NACs to convert natural wealth into financial wealth.

"This wealth is based on healthy ecosystems and nature's production of vital ecosystem services, rather than on extractive measures, e.g., mining, timber harvest, etc," IEG said on its website.

IEG, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is currently working with Costa Rica's government on forming NACs, and said it is also in discussions with other sovereign nations, private landowners, and public companies.

IEG said it expects to announce its first private sector partnership with an unnamed multinational corporation this fall.

The NYSE said it is a minority investor in IEG, which has also received funding from IDB, The Rockefeller Foundation and Aberdare Ventures.

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After being grounded for two years, Jet Airways is all set to soar high, piloted by Murari Lal Jalan. The airline will start its operations from the next financial year, the company said in a statement.

This comes after 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.

Also Read  Jet Airways to resume domestic flights in Q1 2022

Even though the airline seems to have survived the bad weather, the runway for the carrier to take flight again is not entirely clear yet. Here are some of the challenges that lie ahead of Jet Airways before its first flight takes off from New Delhi to Mumbai next year:

Missing fleet

Jet Airways 2.0 plans to have over 50 aircraft in three years and over 100 in five years, which also fits perfectly well with the short-term and long-term business plan of the consortium. However, it is yet to finalise the aircraft that it will operate, according to a report by The Indian Express.

The aircraft are being selected based on competitive long term leasing solutions, Murari Lal Jalan said. The airlines acting CEO Captain Sudhir 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.

The airline is still negotiating for slots and parking spaces with airport operators. The process of reviving the grounded carrier is on track with the existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) already under process for revalidation. The consortium is working closely with the relevant authorities and airport coordinators on slot allocation, required airport infrastructure, and night parking, the airline said in the statement.

The lost workforce

The airline has already hired over 150 employees and plans to induct more than a thousand in this financial year. The airline's human resource department could face some difficulties in hunting for critical staffers such as pilots, cabin crew, network planners, etc.

Meanwhile, the employees of erstwhile Jet Airways have approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking quashing of the NCLT's approval of the resolution plan of Kalrock-Jalan consortium. The employees had rejected the resolution plan. In the voting process of employees, only 35.1 per cent approved the plan while 3.2 per cent rejected it, and 61.6 per cent abstained from voting.

In a plea, the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and the Jet Airways Cabin Crew Association had cited concerns on unpaid salary dues and continuity. The admitted claims of employees stood at Rs 1,265 crore, while the consortium has proposed Rs 52 crore to settle their claims. Following which, the NCLAT had reportedly given time to the counsel of Kalrock-Jalan consortium to respond to concerns raised by employee associations around the resolution plan.

Following the airlines grounding, several hundred employees had dues pending ranging between Rs 3-85 lakh each, but as a part of the revival plan, the consortium offered employees a settlement of Rs 23,000 each, which several employee unions rejected. On a consolidated basis, employee claims worth Rs 1,265 crore were admitted and the consortium proposed Rs 52 crore to settle their claims.

Also Read  Jet Airways staff moves NCLAT against Kalrock-Jalan resolution plan

According to employees, the airline owes at least Rs 3 lakh to each employee which may well go up to Rs 85 lakh, while now each employee is being offered a total of around Rs 23,000.

Another challenge

Another challenge that lies before the airline is Punjab National Bank's (PNB's) plea at the appellate tribunal seeking to quash the rescue plan. The bank is aggrieved by the reduction in its claim amount by around Rs 202 crore by the Resolution Professional, which according to it is in complete violation of the processes as enumerated under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC). An NCLAT bench has issued a notice over the PNB's petition along with its interim plea seeking a stay over the execution of the resolution plan.

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Bengaluru witnessed a dip in vaccination in the last few days, which, though blamed on the festive season, has also been attributed to a drop in supplies.

From Friday to Monday, the state dispensed an average of 2.07 lakh doses per day  much below the average of 5.43 lakh doses it was dispensing between August 21 and September 9.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar acknowledged the dip. This was due to the Gowri-Ganesha festival and the long weekend associated with it, he said. It is a deserving break for healthcare professionals who have been relentlessly working on the vaccination drive for seven months. It is back to business from Monday.

He added that the vaccination supply from the Centre is normal.

Also Read | BBMP attributes drop in daily Covid tests to festival season

However, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that last week was a return to the vaccine-austerity days of July and August.

The whole of last week saw limited supplies of vaccines, said D Randeep, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP.

As per data, while municipal authorities received over 70,000 doses on September 5 and 6, deliveries began to drop afterwards.

On Thursday, September 9, only 28,323 doses were provided, followed by a low of 15,492 doses on Friday. On Saturday, 45,785 doses were provided.

Our closing stock on Sunday was 35,750 doses and we received 70,000 new doses, which brought the available number of doses on Monday to 1,05,760, Randeep said, adding that he expects most of these doses to be expended as public demand for vaccination remains high.

As of Monday night, the BBMP had administered over 73,000 doses.

Gauging coverage

The statewide dip means the governments ambitious goal of vaccinating the entire adult population by November will be delayed. Further, there have been problems gauging vaccination coverage in districts.

Bengaluru Urban district was deemed as having reached 100% first dose coverage on August 30. However, in the 13 days since, it has dispensed an additional 48,993 first doses.

Sudhakar said the variation is due to a floating population and people from neighbouring districts or the BBMP areas getting vaccinated in the district.

Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath said the discrepancy is because the target population figures were projections  in the absence of 2021 census data.

While this challenges how we track vaccination coverage, we can ultimately gauge the success of the drive by seeing how many new Covid-19 cases are recorded daily. Thanks to our vaccination coverage, our daily numbers are in single digits, he said.

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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.

Also Read  Mullah Baradar issues audio message to say he is alive

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 IS-K.

Also Read  India will stand by Afghans as it did in past: EAM Jaishankar

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.
The Quad leaders will next week review and add new momentum to an initiative they launched earlier this year for supplying Covid-19 vaccines to the countries across the Indo-Pacific region, where the coalition of the four democracies  India, Australia, Japan and the United States  have been trying to counter China.

The Government on Tuesday formally announced Prime Minister Narendra Modis forthcoming visit to the United States for the first in-person summit of the Quad in Washington DC and the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Prime Minister will take part in the Quads first in-person summit, which US President Joe Biden will host at the White House on September 24. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Prime Minister Scott Morrison will also participate in the summit, which will take place six months after the four-nation coalition was elevated to the level of leadership with a video conference among the four on March 12.

Read | Biden to host 'Quad' leaders Modi, Morrison, Suga on Sept 24

The leaders will review progress made since the first virtual summit of the Quad and discuss regional issues of shared interest, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi. As part of the ongoing efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, Modi, Biden, Suga and Morrison will review the Quad Vaccine initiative, which they had announced in March.

The US Development Finance Cooperation is supporting the Biological E Limited based at Hyderabad in India to increase capacity to produce by the end of 2022 at least one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including the one developed by Johnson & Johnson, for distribution among the Indo-Pacific nations. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also pledged to provide a concessional yen loan to the Government of India to expand manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccines for export.

Though the second Covid-19 wave prompted India to stop sending out vaccines to other nations, the Quad leaders will seek to ensure that the vaccine partnership does not get derailed.

The Quad is a coalition forged by India, Japan, Australia and the US in 2007 and revived in 2017  in order to create a bulwark of democratic nations to counter Chinas expansionist moves and hegemonic aspirations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Also Read | India rejects criticism of Quad as 'Asian NATO'

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, Jen Psaki, the Press Secretary of the White House, said in Washington DC.

The summit will help the US repair the dent its global standing suffered over the recent fiasco in Afghanistan, where the Taliban took advantage of the withdrawal of the foreign troops and took over Kabul on August 15 after occupying many provincial capitals in a swift blitz across the country.

DH had first reported the possibility of the Prime Ministers visit to the US on June 9.

It had also reported on the Prime Ministers visit to New York and Washington DC on September 3.

Modis visit to Washington DC will also offer an opportunity to him and Biden to hold their first in-person meeting after the change of guard in the White House on January 20.

Read | India, Australia emphasise on free, open Indo-Pacific

The Quad leaders on September 24 will also exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical and emerging technologies, connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, climate change and education, the MEA stated in New Delhi on Tuesday, adding that the summit would provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to address the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 in New York. The theme for this years UN General Assembly is building resilience through hope to recover from the Covid-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the UN.

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Top nuclear envoys from Japan, the United States and South Korea held talks in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss how to rein in North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes, a day after Pyongyang said it conducted a new long-range missile test.

North Korea's state media announced on Monday what it said were successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile that analysts said could be the country's first such weapon with nuclear capabilities.

"The recent developments in the DPRK are a reminder of the importance of close communication and cooperation from the three countries," Sung Kim, the US special envoy for North Korea, said in his opening remarks, using the initials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its official name.

Also Read  North Korea test-fires long-range cruise missile: Report

The three countries have been discussing ways to break a stand-off with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, which have drawn international sanctions.

In meeting with his Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi and South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk, Kim said Washington remained open to diplomacy to deal with North Korea issues.

The White House said they were still prepared to engage with Pyongyang despite the recent missile test, but US President Joe Biden's administration has shown no willingness to ease sanctions.

Pyongyang has said it sees no sign of policy changes from the United States, citing issues such as sanctions as well as joint military drills with South Korea, which it says are preparation for an attack.

While Washington is a close military and economic ally of both Japan and South Korea, ties between the Asian neighbours have often been strained over issues including sovereignty disputes, Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean peninsula, and their wartime history.
Once, Kabul's 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, US-backed government it had fought for 20 years.

The Taliban now run Pul-e-Charkhi Prison, a sprawling complex on Kabul's 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.

Also Read  Who benefited from the forever war'?

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, it's a moment to savour a victory after years of gruelling 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 they'd 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.

Also Read  India will stand by Afghans as it did in past: EAM Jaishankar

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 US-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 organisation 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 don't 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.

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By Nuraan Davids, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Stellenbosch University; Karolyn Tyson, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Kevin Driscoll, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia; Magali Della Sudda, Research scientist, Sciences Po Bordeaux; Veronica Terriquez, Associate professor, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; and Vivian Zayas, Professor of Psychology, Cornell University

The Conversation A prestigious, private school in Pretoria, South Africa, recently became a site of protest. Black learners and parents accused Cornwall Hill College of rejecting calls to make its whites-only board more representative of its diverse learner body.

In response, a right wing South African youth group called Bittereinders (the Bitter Enders), held an anti-transformation protest.Unhappy? build your own schools, was the response from one member.

Why is racial inequality perceivably so resistant to transformation? Some say it is because of a failure to acknowledge and confront white privilege.

The police killing of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis in 2020 ignited a wave of protests across the globe and intense discussions of anti-black racism.

From France to Columbia and South Africa, demonstrators used the term white privilege as a means of challenging people to confront the racial disparities evident in their own countries.

Amid the demonstrations, a group of international scholars brought together at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University in 2020 began discussing whether the concept of white privilege is useful for addressing systemic racial inequalities across national contexts.

Although it is clear that the term has become popular across diverse contexts, some have argued against it. They say that the term white privilege reinforces stereotypes, reifies conceptualisations of race, antagonises potential allies and creates even greater resistance to change.

As movements for racial justice have become more global in scope, the term has circulated across national boundaries. However, it does not always translate well to these new contexts.

A history

The term white privilege originated in the US in the 1980s, referring to both the obvious and the hidden advantages afforded to white people by systemic forms of racial injustice. Unlike terms such as racial injustice and systemic racial bias, the idea of privilege centres the discussion around individuals.

Focusing the discussion on the individual is especially effective for the purposes of anti-racist teaching and advocacy. Unpacking how whiteness operates to bestow privilege may allow us to understand how others are systematically denied those same rights.

By the mid-2000s, the term white privilege had been adopted by many educators and activists in the US. They were seeking to call attention to the myriad ways in which whites, regardless of their class, benefit from white supremacy and are, therefore, implicated in maintaining the system. For whites in the US, where many live in racially homogeneous communities, the concept of white privilege could spark individual self-reflection and motivate individual political action.

While scholars in some other countries have recently used the term to elucidate systemic patterns of inequality in their own societies, in other countries scholars have been more dubious about the concept.

In South Africa, white privilege is the legacy of apartheid, which subjugated and devalued anyone whose skin colour was not white. Despite the political dismantling of apartheid, white privilege persists. Calls to transform racialised organisations are viewed as threats by white people who, correctly, hear demands for racial justice as an end to white privilege.

In France, use of the term white privilege is relatively recent, introduced in the late 2000s by social scientists. The concept is particularly accurate to describe the legacies of slavery and colonial politics. And it captures the experience of structural racism many inhabitants of Frances social-housing neighbourhoods have shared.

Yet, with growing acceptance of the concept, there has also been resistance. Some decry white privilege as creeping Americanisation, ill-fit to Frances liberal tradition and universalism.

Others, echoing critics in the US, argue that a sole focus on racial inequity may entrench, rather than repair, racial divisions in the country. For example, the use of white privilege can backfire when it fails to resonate with whites disadvantaged by class, gender or religion. Consequently, the term can, at times, elicit defensive reactions and increased denial of racial disparities.

Race as a political category

Constructions of whiteness and its associated privileges are shaped by different  sometimes contradictory  histories of racial discrimination and racial justice activism. This is because understandings of race and racial categories, as socially constructed categories, remain inconsistent and unequally salient across space and time.

For example, a person from North Africa, from the Indian sub-continent or from Oceania could be considered white  in spite of a dark complexion  in many contexts.

Race as a political category is loaded with the histories of racial extermination and racist politics in some places and less so in others. In France white privilege could be perceived as provocative because it challenges the French universalist narrative and the modern conception of citizenship and a common will.

Thus, discussions of the material consequences of race as a category may occur more openly outside of Western Europe, in Africa and the Americas where native populations were exterminated, enslaved and subjected to various forms of social and political exclusion.

Still, the question of who counts as white, coloured, black, or indigenous remains deeply contested across the globe. As do the explanations for the disparate outcomes and treatment of people in these socially, and sometimes legally, constructed categories. Hence whiteness, and the privileges associated with membership in such a category, remains contextually defined.

For example, an individual of European descent may be treated differently based on where they are in the world. But, this does not negate the fact that someone of Black African origin will often be treated worse than a similarly situated person of European origin in many countries. White privilege persists, even in the absence of any universal definition of white.

Toward a goal of racial justice

There have been countless moves to maintain the status quo, such as the Cornwall Hill College anti-transformation protest, You Silence We Amplify, and the US capital insurgency.

Privilege is directly contingent on disfranchisement, measured in terms of who does and does not have access and opportunity. In countries with histories of white supremacy, the meaning of white privilege may seem self-evident to many. But for others there and in other countries, the term may prompt new questions and challenges.

Although the concept of white privilege has proved valuable to people advocating for social change in different national contexts, there is also resistance in many countries to the notion that white people are uniquely privileged by their race. Some critics seem unwilling to dismantle white supremacy whereas others point to the limitations of white privilege to capture the full range of inequalities that shape peoples lives.

A transnational movement for racial justice requires a shared commitment to ending racial inequality across national boundaries. It also requires a sensitivity to the specific, local conditions in which race and racism touch the everyday lives of people.

The concept of white privilege remains useful when presented in ways that both resonate with individuals and shed light on structural causes of racial inequality. Then, it has the potential to motivate those with advantages to combat injustices. It can undermine movements for racial justice, however, when it fails to raise awareness of the historical, structural, and political forces that confer some groups advantages over others based on skin colour, phenotype, hair texture and other physical characteristics attributed to race.

What is clear is that, as a tool for advocacy, 'white privilege cannot be an end but rather a beginning, one of many concepts that can lead individuals toward a critique of systemic racism and global anti-blackness.

(Davids is with Stellenbosch University; Tyson with University of North Carolina, Driscoll with University of Virginia, Sudda with Sciences Po Bordeaux, Terriquez with UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Vivian Zayas with Cornell University)
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 UK. 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 US-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 recognises 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 AD 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 idealise 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.

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US President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the "Quad" countries - Australia, India, Japan and the United States - which have sought to boost co-operation to push back against China's growing assertiveness.

The summit will be held at the White House in Washington on September 24, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The US visits of the prime ministers of Australia, India and Japan - Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga - will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on Sept. 21.

At an online meeting of the Quad leaders in March, they pledged to work closely on Covid-19 vaccines and climate and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing.

"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," Psaki said.

Also Read | India rejects criticism of Quad as 'Asian NATO'

Biden's Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell, said in July the long-planned in-person meeting should bring "decisive" commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure.

Biden, who is pushing big infrastructure spending at home, said in March he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China's massive Belt and Road Initiative, which features projects from East Asia to Europe.

Psaki said the Quad Leaders would "be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating Covid-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific."

A senior US official said infrastructure would be among a range of topics discussed at the in-person summit.

In Beijing on Tuesday, a foreign ministry spokesman said, "China believes any regional cooperation framework should go with the trend of the times and be conducive."

The spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told a regular briefing, "It should not target any third party."

The Quad meeting comes after Biden's image has taken a battering over the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan. US officials have said ending America's longest war will allow it to divert resources and attention to tackling China-related issues.

Senator Bill Hagerty, a Republican, and former US ambassador to Japan, welcomed the plan to host the Quad leaders.

"Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal debacle made India's neighborhood more dangerous & raises legitimate questions for Japan and Australia as well, so it's good we will be hosting Quad partners soon," he said on Twitter.

"We must repair and renew our alliances, and this one is key."

The vaccines initiative of the first summit stalled after India, the world's largest producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports.

At the March summit, the four leaders had agreed that Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd would produce at least a billion doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries.

Last week, Japan's Kyodo News said Suga would visit Washington this month for the Quad meeting even though his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and thus, as prime minister, ends on Sept. 30.

Suga became the first leader to hold a face-to-face White House summit with Biden in April, underscoring Japan's central role in US efforts to face down China.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Monday on Pakistan to deny legitimacy to the Taliban unless they meet international demands, acknowledging concerns that Islamabad has supported militants from Afghanistan.

Testifying before Congress on the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, Blinken heard from lawmakers across party lines who pushed for a harder line on Pakistan, an uneasy partner of Washington over the 20-year war.

"What we have to look at is an insistence that every country, to include Pakistan, make good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban-led government if it's to receive any legitimacy of any kind or any support," Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He said the priorities included ensuring the Taliban let out people who want to leave Afghanistan and respect the rights of women, girls and minorities, as well as adhere to promises that the country not again become "a haven for outward-directed terror."

Also Read | No evidence that staying longer would have made any difference in Afghanistan: Blinken

"So Pakistan needs to line up with a broad majority of the international community in working toward those ends and in upholding those expectations," Blinken said.

Blinken said Pakistan's policies have been "on many occasions detrimental to our interests, on other occasions in support of those interests."

Pakistan's actions have "involved hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan," he added.

"It's one that's involved harboring members of the Taliban, including the Haqqanis," Blinken said, referring to the group designated as terrorists by Washington that is now part of the caretaker government.

Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro, one of several lawmakers to criticize Pakistan, called on the United States to consider removing its status as a major non-NATO ally, which gives Islamabad privileged access to US weaponry.

Pakistani intelligence had close ties with the Taliban dating from the Islamist guerrillas' rise in the 1990s and Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognize its 1996-2001 government, which was notorious for its repression of women's rights as part of an ultra-austere interpretation of Islam.

Pakistan, a Cold War ally of the United States, quickly pledged cooperation in the US-led "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But Pakistan has frequently viewed Afghanistan through the prism of its historic rivalry with India, a major partner to the fallen Western-backed government.

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Egyptian scientists say the fossil of a four-legged prehistoric whale, unearthed over a decade ago in the country's Western Desert, is that of a previously unknown species. The creature, an ancestor of the modern-day whale, is believed to have lived 43 million years ago.

The prehistoric whale, known as semi-aquatic because it lived both on land and sea, sported features of an accomplished hunter, the team's leading palaeontologist, Hesham Sallam, told The Associated Press  features that make it stand out among other whale fossils.

The fossil was first found by a team of Egyptian environmentalists in 2008 in an area that was covered by seas in prehistoric times, but researchers only published their findings confirming a new species last month.

Sallam said that his team did not start examining the fossil until 2017 because he wanted to assemble the best and the most talented Egyptian palaeontologists for the study.

This is the first time in the history of Egyptian vertebrate palaeontology to have an Egyptian team leading a documentation of a new genus and species of four-legged whale," said Sallam.

The fossil sheds light on the evolution of whales from herbivore land mammals into carnivorous species that today live exclusively in water. The transition took place over roughly 10 million years, according to an article published on the discovery in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Egypt's Western Desert region is already known for the so-called Whale Valley, or Wadi Al-Hitan, a tourist attraction and the country's only natural World Heritage site that contains fossil remains of another type of prehistoric whales.

The newly discovered creature belongs to the family of Protecetids, extinct semi-aquatic whales that lived from 59 to 34 million years ago, Sallam said. It would have walked on land but also hunted in the water.

This is yet another new species of early whales from the time when they retained four functional limbs, said Jonathan Geisler, an expert on the evolutionary history of mammals with New York Institute of Technology.

He said that the location of the discovery in Egypt is also a clue as to when and how they spread around the globe. Geisler was not involved in the find.

The oldest fossil whales are about 50 million years old and are believed to have originated in modern-day Pakistan and India.

However, scientists have not been able to reach a conclusive answer as to when whales moved out of their point of origin to all the world's oceans.

This new species by itself cannot answer that question, but when viewed in the context of other fossil discoveries, suggests that this dispersal occurred 43 million years ago, said Geisler, adding the new find could possibly serve as a link between Indo-Pakistan and North American regions.

The fossil whale has been named Phiomicetus Anubis, after the god of death in ancient Egypt.

We chose the name Anubis because it had a strong and deadly bite, said Sallam, professor of palaeontology at Mansoura University in Egypt. It could kill any creature it crossed paths with.

The new species stands out for its elongated skull and snout that suggest it was an efficient carnivore capable of grasping and chewing its prey, he said. It was about 3 meters (9 feet long) and weighed around 600 kilograms, according to researchers. It is also believed to have had sharp hearing and sense of smell.

The discovery followed a four-year collaboration between Egyptian palaeontologists and US-based scientists, Sallam added.

His team has previously made headlines worldwide with their 2018 discovery of Mansourasaurus, a new species of long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs that lived in the Nile Delta province of Mansoura.
Heavy rains lashed Texas and Louisiana on Tuesday as Hurricane Nicholas weakened into a tropical storm, bringing the threat of widespread floods and power outages as it swept down the US Gulf Coast.

It is the second major storm to threaten the region in recent weeks after Hurricane Ida killed more than two dozen people in August and devastated communities in Louisiana near New Orleans.

Nicholas should weaken further and become a depression by Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. It could still cause life-threatening flash floods across the Deep South in the next couple of days, the agency warned.

Nicholas was about 10 miles (15 km) southeast of Houston by 10 a.m. Central Time (1400 GMT), heading northeast with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 km per hour), the NHC said in a bulletin.

The storm was expected to drench the US Gulf Coast with torrential downpours as it moves slowly to the northeast throughout the day, and then turns eastward-moving over Louisiana, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle through Thursday.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency for Louisiana and ordered federal assistance for local responders because of the effects of Nicholas, the White House said.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned against flash floods triggered by the heavy rain as drainage systems were still clogged with debris from Ida and other storms.

"Its vital that we have as many resources as possible to respond to the forecasted heavy rainfall, potential for flash flooding & river flooding across Central & South Louisiana. I urge everyone to be prepared," he said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The storm was expected to drop an 5 to 10 inches of rain across the region and possibly 20 inches in isolated areas across southern Louisiana through Thursday, the National Weather Service said.

Nicholas could knock out electricity and hamper restoration efforts after Ida knocked out power in Louisiana.

Early on Tuesday, more than 92,000 customers in Louisiana and 530,000 in Texas had lost power, according to a Reuters tally, while in the Houston area alone, more than 454,000 customers faced outages, utility CenterPoint Energy said.

A CenterPoint official told local media that there was no restoration timeline set yet as crews were assessing power lines and isolating affected areas.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared states of emergency in 17 counties and three cities, with boat and helicopter rescue teams being deployed or put on standby.

Some 14 inches of rain fell in Galveston while Houston got almost six inches of rain overnight and into the morning, the National Weather Service reported.

In Houston, many residents, especially on the south and southeast sections of the city, awoke to power outages, downed trees and water in their homes on Tuesday after Nicholas passed over the area.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a briefing that most emergency calls the city had received on Tuesday morning were related to issues involving emissions from emergency generators and not many related to high waters. He said there were no injuries or fatalities reported in Houston due to the storm.

Galveston Mayor Craig Brown told the Daily News that there was heavy street flooding in low-lying areas early Tuesday morning.

"What caught us a little by surprise was the speed of the winds," Brown said of the 55 mph winds that blew through his city of 50,000. "They were a little heavier with more force than we thought."

Galveston County spokesperson Tyler Drummond said officials were assessing the damage, but there was no reports of injuries.

"I suspect what we will find is a lot rooftop damage from sustained winds," he said. "It is all isolated. Some homes that had some tree limbs that fell in the yard or on the home."

In Clear Lake Shores, a community of 1,000 people some 25 miles north of Galveston, kayakers paddled along streets, surveying the damage to businesses, according to footage from KHOU TV in Houston.

Houston, the fourth most populous US city, was devastated in 2017 when Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, slammed Texas, dropping up to 40 inches (102 cm) of rain in some areas and killing more than 100 people.

The Houston Independent School District along with dozens of schools districts across both states cancelled Tuesday classes.

The METRO in Houston resumed limited light rail and bus service on Tuesday. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at airports in Corpus Christi and Houston.

Although Hurricane Ida knocked off significant amount of refining capacity in the Gulf Coast earlier this month, Texas refineries remained operating as of early Tuesday.

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Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea urged North Korea on Tuesday to return to talks over its missile and nuclear development, a day after it announced it successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles, indicating an advancement of its military capabilities.

The three-way meeting in Tokyo was attended by US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, South Korea's Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japanese Director-General for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.

US envoy Kim said the three countries were open to diplomacy with North Korea to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies." He urged North Korea to respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.

Washington and its allies will continue to work to fully implement all UN Security Council resolutions in addressing North Korea's missile development, he added.

All three agreed on the timeliness of their meeting Tuesday.

Our trilateral cooperation is essential for complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, Noh said.

On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the tests of the new missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) away.

Also read: Nuclear envoys from Japan, US, and South Korea meet after North Korea missile test

North Korea hailed the missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance, suggesting that they were developed with the intent of arming them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to deter what it says is hostility from Washington and Seoul.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday for talks with South Korean officials on bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday. Chung is expected seek a more active role from Beijing, North Korea's main ally and economic lifeline, in persuading the North to return to the negotiating table.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said before the trilateral meeting that it was a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Korea's weekend missile tests were a new threat to the region.

Japan and South Korea are both key allies of the US in the Asia-Pacific region.
Senators from President Joe Biden's own Democratic Party took the administration to task Tuesday over the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which a top lawmaker called "fatally flawed."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken heard criticism across party lines as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a day after a stronger partisan divide when he appeared before the House of Representatives.

Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and normally a Biden ally, recounted the beating of a reporter by the victorious Taliban and said, "The repression of the Afghan people is happening in real time."

"Mr. Secretary, the execution of the US withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed," Menendez said.

"This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administration's decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January. There has to be accountability."

Menendez, a fierce critic of Blinken's predecessor Mike Pompeo, was also scathing over the previous administration's signing of an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw US troops and end America's longest war.

Also read: US eyes bases in India to launch drones on terror infrastructure in Afghanistan-Pakistan region

"The chaos of (this) August is due in large part to the February 2020 surrender deal negotiated by Donald Trump, a deal that was clearly built on a set of lies," Menendez said.

Senator Ben Cardin, another Democrat, also blamed Trump for pushing for the release of Taliban prisoners and reducing troops under the accord.

But he said that Trump's actions did not "negate" that the Biden administration had information on the strength of the Afghan government and military which crumbled as US troops were still leaving.

"I think many of us are interested in knowing how intelligence got that so wrong," Cardin said.

Blinken staunchly defended Biden's decision to pull troops after 20 years, saying he did not believe in sending another generation of US troops into harm's way.

Under questioning, he said that the intelligence community said in February that the Taliban could capture Kabul "within a year or two" in a worst-case scenario.

But July, an updated assessment said "it was more likely than not that the Taliban would take over by the end of the year."

"Nothing," Blinken said, "suggested that this government and security forces would collapse in a matter of 11 days."
Russia fined Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday for not deleting banned content, adding to a slew of penalties the government has already imposed on foreign tech giants.

Russia has been tightening controls over US-based tech companies and last week accused them of interfering in parliamentary polls due later this month.

A court in Moscow slapped Facebook with five fines on Tuesday totalling 21 million rubles ($288,000), according to an official Telegram channel.

The same court fined Twitter five million rubles.

Facebook has so far been fined 90 million rubles in Russia and Twitter 45 million, the state-run TASS news agency reported.

Russia often takes legal action against internet platforms for not deleting content it labels illegal, such as pornographic material or posts condoning drugs and suicide.

The judicial authorities have also fined Google citing the same offences and for failing to store the data of Russian users on domestic services.

Nearly all Kremlin critics -- including allies of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny -- have been barred from running in parliamentary elections on 17-19 September.

Russia's foreign ministry said last week it had summoned the US ambassador in Moscow over US tech giants' "interference" in the polls.

Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked dozens of websites linked to Navalny, including a site that instructs Russians how to vote out politicians of the ruling United Russia party.

The media regulator has also urged Google and Apple to remove an app dedicated to Navalny's "Smart Voting" campaign from their stores.

The "Smart Voting" tactic led the increasingly unpopular United Russia party to lose a number of seats in local elections in 2019.
The United States and the European Union have agreed to aim to cut emissions of the planet-warming gas methane by around a third by the end of this decade and are pushing other major economies to join them, according to documents seen by Reuters.

Their pact comes as Washington and Brussels seek to galvanize other major economies ahead of a world summit to address climate change in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, and could have a significant impact on the energy, agriculture and waste industries responsible for the bulk of methane emissions.

The greenhouse gas methane, the biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide (CO2), is facing more scrutiny as governments seek solutions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, a goal of the Paris climate agreement.

In an attempt to jumpstart the action, the United States and the EU later this week will make a joint pledge to reduce human-caused methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030, compared with 2020 levels, according to a draft of the Global Methane Pledge seen by Reuters.

Also Read | Climate change could cause 216 million to migrate, World Bank warns

"The short atmospheric lifetime of methane means that taking action now can rapidly reduce the rate of global warming," the draft said.

A separate document listed over two dozen countries that the United States and the EU will target to join the pledge. They include major emitters such as China, Russia, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, as well as others including Norway, Qatar, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa.

The US State Department declined to comment and the European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the documents.

The agreement would likely be unveiled on Friday at a meeting of major emitting economies intended to rally support ahead of the COP26 Glasgow summit.

World leaders are under pressure from scientists, environmental advocates and growing popular sentiment to commit to more ambitious action to curb climate change in Glasgow.

Methane has a higher heat-trapping potential than CO2 but it breaks down in the atmosphere faster, so "strong, rapid and sustained reductions" in methane emissions in addition to slashing CO2 emissions can have a climate impact quickly, a fact emphasized by a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month.

Experts say the fossil fuel sector has the biggest potential to cut methane emissions this decade by mending leaky pipelines or gas storage facilities, and many of those fixes can be done at a low cost.

Yet satellite images and infrared footage have in recent years revealed methane emissions spewing out of oil and gas sites in countries including the EU.

The United States and EU are both due to propose laws this year to restrict methane emissions.

The US-EU pledge would cover key sources of methane emissions, including leaky oil and gas infrastructure, old coal mines, agriculture and waste such as landfills, the draft said.

Countries that join the pledge would commit to take domestic action to collectively achieve the target methane cut, "focusing on standards to achieve all feasible reductions in the energy and waste sectors" and reducing agricultural emissions through "technology innovation as well as incentives and partnerships with farmers," it said.

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The forecast was mathematically based, government-approved and deeply, tragically wrong.

In September 2020, eight months before a deadly Covid-19 second wave struck India, government-appointed scientists downplayed the possibility of a new outbreak. Previous infections and early lockdown efforts had tamed the spread, the scientists wrote in a study that was widely covered by the Indian news media after it was released last year.

The results dovetailed neatly with Prime Minister Narendra Modis two main goals: Restart Indias stricken economy and kick off campaigning for his party in state elections that spring. But Anup Agarwal, a physician then working for Indias top science agency, which reviewed and published the study, worried that its conclusions would lull the country into a false sense of security.

Also Read  Why Bengaluru is seeing a dip in Covid-19 vaccinations

Agarwal took his concerns to the agencys top official in October. The response: He and another concerned scientist were reprimanded, he said.

In the wake of the devastating second wave, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, many in India are asking how Modis government missed the warning signs. Part of the answer, according to current and former government researchers and documents reviewed by The New York Times, is that senior officials forced scientists at elite institutions to downplay the threat to prioritise Modis political goals.

Science is being used as a political weapon to forward the government narrative rather than help people, said Agarwal, 32.

Senior officials at Agarwals agency  called the Indian Council of Medical Research, or ICMR  suppressed data showing the risks, according to the researchers and documents. They pressured scientists to withdraw another study that called the governments efforts into question, the researchers said, and distanced the agency from a third study that foresaw a second wave.

Agency scientists interviewed by The Times described a culture of silence. Midlevel researchers worried that they would be passed over for promotions and other opportunities if they questioned superiors, they said.

Science thrives in an environment where you can openly question evidence and discuss it dispassionately and objectively, said Shahid Jameel, one of Indias top virus experts and a former government adviser who has been critical of the agency.

Also Read  ICMR, a controversial face of India's struggles with Covid

That, sadly, at so many levels, has been missing, he said.

The science agency declined to answer detailed questions. In a statement, it said it was a premier research organisation that had helped to expand Indias testing capacity. Indias Health Ministry, which oversees the agency, did not respond to requests for comment.

India is hardly the first country where virus science has become politicised. The United States remains far short of taming the disease as politicians and anti-vaccine activists, fuelled by disinformation and credulous media, challenge the scientific consensus on vaccines and wearing masks. The Chinese government has tried to obscure the outbreaks origin, and vaccine skeptics have won audiences from Russia to Spain to Tanzania.

India, a vast country with an underfunded health care system, would have struggled to contain the second wave no matter what. A more contagious new variant fuelled the spread. People had stopped wearing masks and socially distancing.

Prime Minister Modi has never, ever said to lower the guard, said Vijay Chauthaiwale, a member of Modis governing Bharatiya Janata Party.

Still, the government contributed to complacency. Modi boasted in January, just months before the devastating second wave hit, that India had saved humanity from a big disaster. Harsh Vardhan, then the health minister, said in March that the country was in the endgame of Covid-19. (Amid criticism over the governments response, Vardhan stepped down in July.)

The ICMR, which conducts and reviews research for the government, played a major role in shaping perceptions. India has not released granular data on the viruss spread, hampering the ability of scientists to study it. In that vacuum, the agency offered projections that often steered debate.

Politics began to influence the agencys approach early last year, according to scientists familiar with its deliberations.

In April 2020, in the midst of a nationwide lockdown ordered by Modi, the government blamed an early outbreak on an Islamic gathering, spurring attacks against Muslims by some Hindu nationalists, who provide the core of the prime ministers support.

Amid that anger, some officials within the science agency said the gathering had undermined containment efforts. The gathering has undone the benefits of lockdown, said one news outlet, citing an agency source. Raman Gangakhedkar, then its chief scientist, in an interview singled out the gathering as an unexpected surprise.

In an interview with The Times, Gangakhedkar said that he had expressed anguish over the governments statements targeting Muslims but said the science agencys director general, Balram Bhargava, told him that the matter should not concern him. Bhargava did not respond to requests for comment.

The lockdown did severe economic damage. Once it ebbed, Modi moved to rekindle the economy and start election campaigning  and government scientists, researchers within the agency said, helped pave the way.

In June 2020, a study commissioned by the agency concluded that Modis lockdown had slowed but would not stop the viruss spread. Within days, the authors withdrew it. The agency, saying the studys modeling had not been peer-reviewed, wrote in a tweet that it does not reflect the official position of ICMR.

One of the studys authors, along with a scientist familiar with it, said the authors had withdrawn it amid pressure from the agencys leaders, who questioned its findings and complained that it had been published before they had reviewed it. The move was unusual, the scientists said, adding that the agencys leadership would typically adjust problematic language rather than demand a paper be withdrawn.

In July 2020, Bhargava issued two directives to agency scientists that his internal critics saw as politically motivated.

The first called on scientists at a number of institutions to help approve, in just six weeks, a coronavirus vaccine developed by Indian scientists. In a memo dated July 2 and reviewed by The Times, Bhargava said the agency aimed to approve the vaccine by Aug. 15, Indias Independence Day, an event at which Modi frequently urges the country toward greater self-reliance. Kindly note that noncompliance will be viewed very seriously, the directive read.

The request alarmed agency scientists. Regulators in other countries were still months away from approving their own vaccines. The agencys top leaders backed off once the timetable became public. (The vaccine was approved by Indian authorities months later, in January.)

Bhargavas second directive, issued in late July 2020, forced scientists to withhold data that suggested the virus was still spreading in 10 cities, according to emails and scientists familiar with the work.

The data came from the agencys serological studies, which tracked the disease based on antibodies in blood samples. The data showed high infection rates in some neighborhoods, including in Delhi and Mumbai, despite containment efforts. In a July 25 email reviewed by The Times, Bhargava told the scientists that I have not got approval to publish the data.

You are sitting in an ivory tower and not understanding the sensitivity, Bhargava wrote. I am sincerely disappointed.

Naman Shah, a physician who worked on the studies, said withholding the data worked against science and democracy.

This is a government which clearly has a philosophy and history of trying to assert power by capturing every institution and making it an arena for political struggle, he said.

The data that ICMR did release helped officials argue incorrectly, to the country and the world, that the coronavirus wasnt spreading in India as virulently as in the United States, Brazil, Britain and France.

Then, last autumn, an agency-approved study wrongly suggested that the worst was over.

Known as the Supermodel in India, the study projected that the pandemic would ebb in India by mid-February. It cited Modis lockdown earlier in 2020. It said that the country may have reached herd immunity because more than 350 million people had already been infected or developed antibodies. The science agency fast-tracked the studys approval, said Agarwal and other people familiar with its progress.

Scientists inside and outside the agency picked the study apart. Other countries were nowhere close to herd immunity. Plenty of people in India still had not been infected. None of the studys authors were epidemiologists. Its model appeared to have been designed to fit the conclusion, some scientists said.

They had parameters which cant be measured, and whenever the curve was not matching, they changed that parameter, said Somdatta Sinha, a retired scientist who studies infectious disease models and who wrote a rebuttal. I mean, we dont do modeling like that. This is misguiding people.

Agarwal, the agency physician, said he took his concerns in October to Bhargava, who told him it was none of his business. Bhargava, he said, then summoned another scientist who had raised concerns about the study with Agarwal and reprimanded them both.

M. Vidyasagar, chairman of the committee that produced the Supermodel, declined to comment. Indian science officials said in May, as the second wave tore through the country, that the panels mathematical model can only predict future with some certainty so long as virus dynamics and its transmissibility dont change substantially over time.

One study, published in January 2021, did predict a second wave. Published in the journal Nature, it said that such an outbreak could strike if restrictions were lifted without any other mitigations in place and called for more testing. One of its authors worked for the ICMR, but its leadership pressured him to remove his affiliation with the agency from the paper, said people familiar with the matter.

The second wave struck in April. With hospitals overwhelmed, Indian health officials recommended treatments that the governments own scientists had found to be ineffective.

One was blood plasma. Agarwal and his colleagues had concluded months before that blood plasma did not help Covid-19 patients, a finding that echoed others. The agency dropped the recommendation in May.

The government still recommends a second treatment, the Indian-made malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that it is ineffective. Desperate families scrambled to find both during the second wave, creating black markets in which prices soared.

Current and former agency scientists said they didnt speak out because they considered the treatments politically protected. Modis party had organized plasma donation camps last year to mark his 70th birthday. The Indian government also used hydroxychloroquine as a diplomatic tool, winning points with Donald Trump, then the American president, and Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian leader, who both pressured New Delhi last year to lift its export limits on the drug.

If you want to work somewhere for the rest of your life, you want a good relationship with people, Agarwal said. You just be nonconfrontational about everything.

Agarwal resigned in October and later worked in Gallup, New Mexico. Now a physician in Baltimore, he said his experience with the agency had driven him to leave India.

You start questioning your work, you know, he said. And then, you get disillusioned by it.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on Tuesday accused the Assam government of side-lining the "crucial" clause 5 of the Assam Accord, which deals with cut-off date for identification of illegal foreigners by briniging in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi and general secretary Jagdish Bhuyan, in a press statement, alleged that the BJP party-led government was working to reduce the Assamese people to a minority status in their own state in order to appease "foreigners" who will be turned into voters through provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Clause 5 of the Accord specifies the cut-off date for identifying foreigners. But it will become irrelevant when the CAA is implemented. It will tantamount to killing the Assam Accord and its spirit, they said.

This vital clause has been ignored by the government when it recently formed a committee to implement the Accord, they added.

The state government had on September 7 announced a committee with its ministers and representatives of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which was a signatory of the Accord as member to prepare a roadmap within three months to implement the Assam Accord.

The Chief Ministers Office in a statement the same day had said that the meeting decided to prepare an implementation framework to implement the provisions of Assam Accord with special reference to Clause 6,7, 9 and 10. Clause 5 of the Accord sets March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal aliens from Assam.

The AJP alleges that the contentious CAA violates the Assam Accord as it seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.

The AJP leaders also alleged the percentage of Assamese-speaking population will decrease by 10 per cent over a 20 year period. The percentage of Assamese-speaking population in Assam was 47 per cent as per 2011 Census.

Also read: No objection if Assam CM is made mediator for peace talks: ULFA(I)

It is predicted to come down to 37 per cent by 2031. Once the Assamese-speaking population becomes a minority, it will be no good trying to protect their identity, they said.

They demanded action from the government in the form of proper implementation of clause 6, which deals with Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people, before it is too late.

The AJP leaders also said the recommendations of the Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma-led Committee on implementation of clause 6 are being ignored by the government.

On February 25 last year, the Justice Sarma-led High-Level Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs had submitted its report to the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for handing it over to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but no action has been taken on it yet.

Gogoi and Bhuyan also alleged that the BJP party has grabbed power by playing communal politics but is keeping mum on the matter of the Assamese speakers being on the verge of losing their mother tongue.

Pledging intensified agitations to protect the identity of the Assamese people, the AJP leaders said the Jatiya Garjan programme observed by the party and its supporters across the state on Tuesday was a part of this plan.

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A case has been filed against BJP president J P Nadda for allegedly insulting the national flag while paying his respect to the mortal remains of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in Lucknow on August 22.

Chandra Kishor Parashar, a resident of Sikandarpur, has filed the case in the Muzaffarpur chief judicial magistrate's court.

He accused Nadda of showing disrespect to the national flag as the BJP flag was placed over the Tricolour over the mortal remains of Kalyan Singh before the cremation.

The BJP did it deliberately... Naddas act was an insult to the national flag," the petitioner said.

Also read: Nadda challenges opposition leaders to give account of work done by them in Uttar Pradesh

He also submitted some pictures in support of his petition. The court is yet to take cognisance of the case or set the date for the hearing.

Uttar Pradesh Congress had also criticised BJP for placing the party flag over the Tricolour over the mortal remains of Singh.

UP Congress spokesman Amarnath Agarwal had said that the BJP leaders always acted as if they are above the nation and incident only reflected their mindset.

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The BJP has complained to the Election Commission (EC) alleging that Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee suppressed pending cases against her in her nomination for the Bhabanipur Assembly election.

The complaint was lodged by BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewals chief election agent Sajal Ghosh on Tuesday.

Writing to the EC, Ghosh alleged that Mamata in her nomination did not mention the five pending cases against her lodged in Assam. He also attached several links to news regarding the cases lodged against her in his letter to the EC.

I, Sajal Ghosh (Chief Election Agent) of Smt Priyanka Tibrewal (candidate of BJP) beg to object to the nomination/declaration filed by Smt Mamata Banerjee (Candidate), the candidate set up by the All India Trinamool Congress party for 159 Bhawanipur A C for the election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2021, on the ground that the candidate has failed to disclose in paragraph 5(ii) particulars of the following pending criminal cases against her, stated Ghosh.

He also stated that the pending cases against the TMC supremo were lodged at the Geeta Nagar, Pan Bazaar, Jagiroad, North Lakhimpur and Udhrabond police stations.

The cases were lodged under sections 121 (waging or attempting war against the government), 120B (criminal conspiracy),506 (criminal intimidation), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language) under the IPC.

Refuting the allegation, senior TMC leader and Minister Firhad Hakim accused the BJP of making false allegations to confuse voters.

This is a false complaint. They did the same thing during the Assembly election in Nandigram. The BJP leaders are ignorant of the fact that the EC had probed the matter and announced that the woman against whom cases are pending is not the same Mamata Banerjee, said Hakim.

During the Assembly election at Nandigram, BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari urged the EC to reject Mamatas nomination for the seat claiming that she had not disclosed five cases pending against her in Assam and one registered by the CBI.

However, the EC rejected the complaint stating that the cases were lodged against another person of the same name. By-election at Bhabanipur will be held on September 30.

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India on Tuesday expressed disappointment over "unwarranted remarks" made by the UN human rights chief on Jammu and Kashmir, saying her comments do not reflect the ground reality and any shortcomings in upholding human rights must be addressed in an impartial manner and anchored in non-interference in a countrys internal affairs.

"We take note of references to India in the oral update by the High Commissioner and express our disappointment over her unwarranted remarks on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which do not reflect the ground reality," Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs Reenat Sandhu said on Tuesday while delivering India's statement under the General Debate on Oral Update of the High Commissioner at the 48th Session of the Human Rights Council.

Sandhu said Indias approach to global promotion and protection of human rights is based on "our own experience as a pluralistic and inclusive society and vibrant democracy."

She said India believes that promotion and protection of human rights are best pursued through dialogue, consultation and cooperation among States and through the provision of technical assistance and capacity building.

Read more: UN human rights chief criticises India for temporary communication blackouts, use of UAPA in J&K

"Any shortcomings in upholding human rights must be addressed in a transparent and impartial manner, anchored in respect for national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of States," she said.

UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday described as "worrying" India's use of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act as well as "frequent" temporary communication blackouts in Jammu and Kashmir.

In her opening statement at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet acknowledged the Indian government's efforts to counter terrorism and promote development in Jammu and Kashmir but said such "restrictive measures can result in human rights violations and foster further tensions and discontent".

Sandhu said that Indias Constitution enshrines basic human rights as fundamental rights. Our Parliament, independent judiciary, vibrant media and civil society ensure full enjoyment of human rights by our people, she added.

On Afghanistan, Sandhu said the situation in the country continues to be of grave concern and added that the UN Security resolution 2593 should guide the international communitys approach to Afghanistan.

The resolution, adopted under Indias presidency of the Security Council in August, reaffirms the importance of upholding human rights incising those of women, children and minorities, allowing safe passage for those wanting to leave Afghanistan and ensuring unhindered access for humanitarian assistance, she said, adding that the international community must stand with the people of Afghanistan in their desire to live in peace and dignity.

The UNSC resolution, adopted on August 30 under India's presidency of the global body, talked about the need for upholding human rights in Afghanistan, demanded that Afghan territory should not be used for terrorism and that a negotiated political settlement should be found out to the crisis.

"India has been at the forefront of global action and discourse on promotion and protection of human rights and will continue to do so. We are seeking re-election to the Human Rights Council for the term 2022-24. We look forward to the continued support of the UN member states to India's candidature," Sandhu said.

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A Mumbai court on Tuesday allowed actor Kangana Ranaut's plea seeking exemption from personal appearance for the day in a criminal defamation complaint filed by lyricist Javed Akhtar, and said it will issue a warrant against her if she fails to appear on the next date of hearing on September 20.

As the matter came up for hearing, Ranaut's lawyer sought that she be exempted from appearance for the day as she was not keeping well. The lawyer submitted a medical certificate before the court and said the actor has been traveling for the promotion of her film and has "developed Covid-19 symptoms".

However, Akhtar's lawyer said this is an orchestrated tactic to delay the case proceedings. The lyricist's lawyer further said Ranaut has refused to appear before the court for one reason or the other since summons were issued to her in February this year.

Read more: Javed Akhtar defamation case: Kangana Ranaut's plea rejected

After hearing the submissions, metropolitan magistrate R R Khan allowed Ranaut to be exempted from appearance for the day. He then posted the matter for hearing on September 20.

The magistrate said if the actor fails to appear on the next hearing, a warrant will be issued against her.

Last Thursday, the Bombay High Court dismissed a plea filed by Ranaut seeking the quashing of proceedings initiated against her by the local court on the criminal defamation complaint filed by Akhtar. Justice Revati Mohite-Dere had said in the order that there was no procedural illegality or irregularity in the Andheri metropolitan magistrate's order initiating the proceedings.

Akhtar (76) filed a complaint in the magistrate's court in November last year, claiming that Ranaut had made defamatory statements against him in a television interview, which allegedly damaged his reputation. In his complaint, Akhtar claimed that Ranaut dragged his name during an interview while referring to a 'coterie' existing in Bollywood, following the suicide committed by actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June last year.

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The CPI(M) on Tuesday said the Indian Constitution has "stopped working" in Tripura, where it claimed the ruling BJP was unleashing violence against party cadre who are galvanising people's anger against the state government that is facing "growing discontent".

Demanding the arrest of BJP workers who indulged in violence against CPI(M) workers and damaged party's properties, the party also attacked the BJP government at the Centre, saying there could be "political reasons" for not even acknowledging general secretary Sitaram Yechury's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking action and not acting on a request to Rashtrapati Bhavan seeking an appointment with President Ram Nath Kovind.

The CPI(M) said 42 of its party offices, including the state committee office in Agartala, and 67 shops and houses of party workers were attacked. One cadre was killed and at least 24 others were injured in "violence unleashed by the BJP" on September 7 and 8. One office each of RSP and CPI(ML) were also targeted, it said.

Read more: Violent clashes erupt between BJP and CPI(M) activists in Tripura

Addressing a press conference, Yechury and former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar alleged that police stood like bystanders when BJP workers went on a rampage and targeted CPI(M) buildings and cadres. They also alleged that the CRPF guards at the state committee office were "mysteriously withdrawn" just an hour before the attack.

"The Indian Constitution is not working in Tripura. There is no protection of human rights. It appears that Tripura is out of India. This type of attack is not meted out to the Opposition anywhere else in India," Sarkar, also a senior Polit Bureau member said.

Yechury said the attacks on party cadres were "largescale, deliberate, unprovoked and pre-planned" and it showed the "naked violation of democratic values promised by the Constitution".

He said there is "growing discontent" against the BJP government in Tripura and that is why it is not allowing the process of galvanisation of anti-BJP sentiments. "That is why there is this sort of violence unleashed on the Opposition.

Yechury said they had requested an audience with the President to brief him about the violence in Tripura and seek his intervention to arrest the culprits.

"I had also written to the Prime Minister. There is not even an acknowledgement. There is no response from the Rashtrapati Bhavan too. Given that the Prime Minister has not even acknowledged the letter, there may be political reasons," he said when asked about the appointment with the President.

From 2018 when the BJP assumed power to the present, Yechury said, 21 supporters and members of the CPI(M) including a woman have been killed.

"In many of the attacks on September 7 and 8 by BJP people shouting Jai Sri Ram and armed with iron rods and petrol bombs, police were either bystander or refused to respond to calls regarding the attacks on homes and party offices. Some BJP leaders and ministers have also made provocative statements encouraging the attacks," he said.

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Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) on Tuesday found fault with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'Abba Jaan' remark, saying no one should use such language at a time the NDA ally is getting ready to fight the Assembly polls alone if it cannot enter into a seat sharing arrangement with the BJP-led coalition in the state.

JD(U) National president Rajiv Ranjan Singh, popularly known as Lallan Singh, said leaders and political parties should be careful in their language.

"We should be careful in the use of language. India is everybody's country. It is the country of Hindus as well as that of Christians, Muslims and others. That is why we say there is unity in diversity in this country. Nobody should use such language," he told a press conference.

Read | Yogi Adityanath's 'Abba Jaan' remark triggers massive political war

Singh, also a Lok Sabha MP, was responding to a question on Adityanath's repeated statements in public gatherings that those who say 'Abba Jaan' used to get ration meant for the poor but now everyone benefited equally from development under his administration. Adityanath's choice of words is aimed at portraying Muslims as beneficiaries of "appeasement politics" and an attempt at polarisation, as the state is heading to Assembly polls early next year.

The Munger MP also found fault with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's remark on the "Biharisation of Jharkhand", saying any citizen is free to go anywhere in the country and do jobs.

Singh's remarks came even as the JD(U) is getting ready to fight the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh either alone or in alliance with the BJP-led NDA in the state. In 2017, JD(U) did not contest the polls in the state while it polled 0.01% votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Also Read | In PM's UP appearance, praises galore for Yogi, eye on Jat votes

In Manipur too, he added, JD(U) will contest alone if the seat sharing talks go nowhere.

Indicating its resolve to make its presence felt in Uttar Pradesh, the party is planning to hold its National Executive in Lucknow in November in which Kumar will be present. Later, the JD(U) will hold a meeting of its national office bearers in Manipur, where it has a good presence.

The JD(U) has taken divergent stands with the BJP on caste census and Pegasus in recent times. JD(U) is also apparently upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving a second slot for the party in his Cabinet. Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha had also recently countered the claim that 14.6 million water connections were provided in the state by the Centre saying it was actually given by the JD(U)-led administration.

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Amid demands from the patry cadre to go alone in upcoming Assembly elections, Singh said the party would hold talks for seat sharing in both UP and Manipur, where it has a "robust" organisation and if not does not happen, then the party will fight it alone. Singh made it clear that JD(U) will not enter into any negotiations with any other party, if its talks with BJP fail.

On the possibility of Kumar attending the birth anniversary of late Devi Lal organised by his son and INLD patriarch On Prakash Chautala, Singh said the Chief Minister would not be able to travel to Haryana, as he has to be based in Patna to lead the Covid-19 preparations. Instead, he said, JD(U) National General Secretary K C Tyagi will attend.

Asked whether the decision was taken because the meeting was pitched as one intended to check the possibility of a Third Front, he said the JD(U) has been invited to a function related to the late former Deputy Prime Minister and they are not part of efforts for "any second, third or fourth front".
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As the farmers continue their protest at Delhi borders demanding repeal of three contentious farm laws, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought reports from the Centre, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments as well as other authorities on the impact the agitation has on commercial activities and inconvenience caused to travellers.

It has also asked the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Delhi School of Social Work (University of Delhi) to study various aspects of the farmers' protest and submit reports to the NHRC.

In a statement, the NHRC said it has received several complaints regarding the ongoing farmer's protest, related to its "adverse impact" on the industrial units, "seriously affecting" more than 9,000 micro, medium, and large companies. Transportation is also "adversely impacted, causing the commuters, patients, physically challenged people and senior citizens to suffer" due to the heavy congestion on roads.

The NHRC said there are also reports that people have to travel long distances to reach their destinations due to the ongoing farmers' agitation and barricades have been put on the borders.

Following this, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, Director Generals of Police of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi Police Commissioner asking them to submit their respective Action Taken Reports.

It also mentioned an allegation of breach of the Covid-19 protocols by the farmers at the protest site. It is also alleged that inhabitants are not being allowed to move out of their houses due to the blockade of the passage.

"Since the agitation involves the issue of human rights, the right to agitate in a peaceful manner is also to be respected. The Commission needs to take care of various human rights issues," it said.

The commission has asked the IEG to examine the "adverse impact" of the farmers' agitation on industrial and commercial activities and production and disruption of transport services on commercial and normal consumers, including inconvenience and additional expenditure. It has been given time till October 10 to submit its report.

The NDMA and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have to submit reports about Covid protocols during the agitation.

The Delhi School of Social Work has been asked to conduct a survey and submit the report assessing the disruption of livelihood, lives of people, impact on the aged and infirm persons due to "protracted agitation" by farmers.

In the case of alleged gang rape of human rights activist at the protest site, the statement said, it has not received any report from the District Magistrate of Haryana's Jhajjar regarding the payment of compensation to the next of kin of the deceased. A fresh reminder was issued asking the District Magistrate to file the report by October 10.

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Punjab Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju on Tuesday said a maximum of 1,200 voters per polling booth will be allowed in the upcoming state assembly polls due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier, 1,400 voters per polling booth were allowed.

With the reduction in the limit of voters, the polling booths will increase from 23,211 to 24,689, according to an official statement.

Read more: AAP seeks to make foothold in poll-bound UP with Ram Rajya call

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has given its concurrence to arrange additional electronic voting machines required for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab, the CEO said.

He said, 10,500 controlling units (CU) and 21,100 VVPATs are being transported from different districts of Madhya Pradesh to various districts of Punjab.

Raju said with the addition of these machines, Punjab will have 45,316 ballot units (BU), 34,942 CU, and 37,576 VVPAT (Voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines.

The CEO asserted the EVMs are being transported while duly adopting the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the ECI.

Raju said district-wise nodal officers are picking up the machines from Madhya Pradesh under tight security arrangements.

The EVMs and VVPAT have reached Punjab's 10 districts including Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana and these machines will reach the rest of the districts within two days, the CEO said.

He said the first level checking of these machines will be undertaken in the presence of representatives of recognised national and state political parties.

He also said a meeting with the state government officials was held to procure sanitisers and masks for the upcoming elections.

Punjab assembly polls are due early next year.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim about the crime situation in Uttar Pradesh, asking him to check data of the Home Department and other central agencies.

At a function after laying the stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, PM Modi earlier in the day said UP was run by gangsters and mafias before 2017. The Samajwadi Party (SP) was ruling the state then.

In a scathing attack at the BJP, Yadav told reporters at a press conference here that it is good to set up a university but the party "runs the best training centre of telling lies".

He asked the BJP to pick "bulldozer" as its election symbol, referring to the alleged demolition of houses of some Ayodhya residents.

Yadav also asked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to get his eyesight tested, replying to the CMs assertion that the Opposition leader lacked vision.

Yadav told reporters that the UP government is not working according to the law and warned officials that his party is preparing a list of those who violated the law, stressing that they wont be spared once his partys government comes to power.

When his attention was drawn to the PMs comment over the law and order, Yadav said, "He should ask for the data of the Home Department or Dial 100 to see who is increasing the crime."

He asked the PM to go through the NCRB report and also see which state has been served maximum notices by the National Human Rights Commission.

Yadav said the PM should also ask the Uttar Pradesh CM who are the top 10 mafia in the state.

All are aware how the CM withdrew cases against himself, he said.

He also accused the ruling party of failing to honour its own leaders, referring to the foundation laying of a university after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow in 2019 and asked about its status.

He alleged that the government uses the work of other governments to honour its own leaders and assured that if his party came to power, they will set up a university or college at Vajpayee's native Bateshwar village in Agra .

"Even after over four years, this government is changing names and colours, claiming the work done by the SP government as its own. As they know that their government is on its way out, the language of its head has changed," the SP chief said, apparently referring to CM Yogi's "Abba Jaan" jibe in Kushinagar recently.

He said a few years ago when the CM had gone to Kushinagar, children and the poor were given soaps and shampoos to first take a bath and then meet him.

Such a person cannot develop the state, he said.

To Yogi's assertion that Akhilesh Yadav lacked vision, the SP leader asked the CM to get his eyesight tested.

He also suggested that the BJP should pick "bulldozer" as its election symbol after two Ayodhya residents from the Ramkot area told him that their houses were razed by the administration.

Maniram Yadav told the former CM that they have been living in the area for the past three generations and believed that their "achchey din" will come once the Ram temple is constructed but now "feel like committing suicide".

Countering claims of the state government that unauthorised buildings have been demolished, the former CM said there are many houses, specially very old ones that do not have layouts passed by the authorities, citing the example of the official residence of the CM in Lucknow.

He assured that once his party comes to power, it will restore the dignity of those whose houses have been demolished by building new ones for them.

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Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have unearthed a Pakistani ISI-backed terror module planning explosions and targeted killings during Navratri celebrations and Ramlila with the arrest of six suspected terrorists, including two who went to Pakistan for training earlier this year.

The Special Cell, the elite anti-terror unit of Delhi Police that cracked the module, also claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim was funding the module through hawala operations and helping in logistics, including "safely" transporting the explosives from across the border and delivering it in various locations of the country.

Special Commissioner (Special Cell) Neeraj Thakur told a press conference that the simultaneous arrests in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on Tuesday morning came following investigations into inputs provided by central intelligence agencies about a conspiracy from across the border about the possible plans to unleash terror across various cities.

The arrested have been identified as Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kaliya (47), Osama (22), Moolchand alias Lala (47), Zeeshan Qamar (28), Mohd Abu Bakar (23) and Mohd Amir Javed (31).

According to Thakur, two of the six arrested -- Osama and Zeeshan -- were trained in Pakistan for 15 days in handling explosives and firearms, including AK-47. They had left India in April -- Osama left on April 22 and met Zeeshan in Oman -- for Muscat from where they reached Pakistan via ship and boat.

"The duo have told us that there were 14-15 Bangla speaking people who were travelling to Pakistan with them for similar training. This is closely coordinated from across the border," he said. While Thakur did not mention their nationality, a police statement said they were probably from Bangladesh.

They were taken to Jioni near Gwadar port in Pakistan from where they were taken to a farmhouse in Thatta.

Thakur also said the 'underworld' was also involved in the operations with Anees Ibrahim closely coordinating with the terror module. He has organised funds for the module through hawala operations besides getting the firearms across the border to India.

While one team focused on the transportation of the firearms, Thakur claimed, another team was tasked with finding locations for terror strikes and their plan was to target locations with heavy footfall during Navratri celebrations and Ramlila functions.

The recovery of sophisticated Italian pistols also showed that they were for targeted killings, Thakur said. A senior police official did not rule out the significance of the module ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in five states, especially Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwaha said Sameer, who was arrested from Rajasthan's Kota, is a close contact of Anees Ibrahim and was tasked to ensure the smooth delivery of IEDs, sophisticated weapons and grenades to different entities in India.

Osama, who was arrested from Jamia Nagar in Delhi and Zeeshan, who was apprehended from Allahabad in UP, were allegedly assigned to conduct the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and UP for placing the IEDs. Javed was apprehended from Lucknow and Moolchand from Rae Bareilly.

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The Delhi High Court Tuesday refused bail to two persons in a case concerning the alleged murder of Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal during the north-east Delhi riots in 2020, saying that the footage of the crime scene was quite egregious and sufficient to keep them in further custody.

However, Justice Subramonium Prasad, in two other orders, granted bail to two persons in the same case, saying their presence at the crime scene and participation in the unlawful assembly would be tested during the trial.

The court said the bail is subject to them furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs 35,000 with one surety of the like amount and other conditions including the accused not leaving the city and periodically reporting to the concerned police station.

While rejecting bail of other two, the court stated that there was clinching evidence to show the presence of the accused persons, Sadiq and Irshad, who were in custody since April 2020 and December 2020, respectively, at the scene of crime.

The clinching evidence that tilts this Court to prolong the incarceration of the Petitioner is his presence in the video wherein he is clearly identified at the Scene of Crime, holding a danda in one hand and pelting stones with his other hand at uniformed officials who at present around him, and are heavily and hopelessly outnumbered..The accused is not merely a curious onlooker, the court stated in one of the order while denying bail.

The fact that he actively participated and pelted stones at the Police Officials at the Scene of Crime justifies the invocation of Section 149 IPC read with Section 302 IPC in the instant case, it added.

On the other hand, for the accused, Mohd Ayub and Shahnawaz, both in custody since March 2020, who were granted bail in the FIR, the court observed that there was no electronic evidence to place them at the scene of crime as a part of the unlawful mob and there cannot be an umbrella assumption of guilt.

When there is a crowd involved, at the juncture of grant or denial of bail, the Court must hesitate before arriving at the conclusion that every member of the unlawful assembly inhabits a common intention to accomplish the unlawful common object, it said.

Stating that bail is the rule and jail is the exception, the court asserted that it was its constitutional duty to ensure that there is no arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty in the face of excess of state power.

The Supreme Court has time and again held that Courts need to be alive to both ends of the spectrum, i.e. the duty of the Courts to ensure proper enforcement of criminal law, and the duty of the Courts to ensure that the law does not become a tool for targeted harassment, it added.

The court also clarified that merely being one of the organisers of the protest as well as being in touch with others who participated in the protest is also not sufficient enough to justify the prosecution's stand that one of the accused who was granted bail was involved in the pre-planning of the alleged incident.

This Court has already opined that the right to protest and express dissent is a right which occupies a fundamental stature in a polity, and therefore, the fact that the Petitioner was part of the protest is not a sufficient ground to refuse bail to him, it said while giving relief to one of the accused.

Prosecution opposed grant of bail in the cases, contending that the death of head constable Ratan Lal was the first death in the North-East Delhi riots and the absence of an accused from a video footage does not translate into absence of the accused from the scene of crime.

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Pedestrianisation and rejuvenation of a historic stretch in old Delhi's Chandni Chowk has been welcomed by historians and other experts, who concurred that this architecturally sensitive redevelopment project is a good start for built heritage in the city.

A nearly 1.4-km stretch of Chandni Chowk, from the Red Fort area to Fatehpuri Masjid, has been made a non-motorised vehicle zone from 9 AM to 9 PM as part of a holistic initiative by the Shahjehanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC).

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday dedicated the revamped stretch to the people, and announced that the entire area will be transformed into a tourist hub by allowing street food joints to operate till midnight.

Red sandstones, complementing the aesthetic look of the 17th-century Mughal-era fort, have been used to carve out benches and other decorative material, while period-styled street furniture add to the cultural ethos of the area, steeped in history.

The project has received thumbs up from heritage experts and aficionados alike, who flock to the Walled City to admire iconic landmarks, old buildings and enjoy lip-smacking street food.

Historian and author Rana Safvi, who has written extensively on Shahjehanabad, termed the project a "very good start" when it comes to matters of heritage, more so in a rapidly urbanising city like Delhi.

"It is very welcoming to see, government authorities and various agencies, keeping heritage at the centre while devising a redevelopment project. Heritage often suffers in the name of development, and the Chandni Chowk project certainly raises the level of optimism one feels for heritage buildings," she said.

The author of 'Shahjehanabad: The Living City of Old Delhi' expressed delight over the pedestrianisation of the old street, which will allow visitors to now admire the "old architectural fabric" of the area, whose view was earlier marred by overhead electric cables and burgeoning traffic.

"You cannot admire such old streetscape when there are vehicles plying around you. Now, people will have the vantage point to see, admire and click pictures and take back memories home. Earlier, it was congested traffic and pollution and these were all one would face in this stretch of Chandni Chowk," Safvi said.

Historian and author Swapna Liddle also welcomed the project as a "very good move" and hoped the entire Shahjehanabad will get the kind of attention, the historic core of the city deserves.

"It is a good start but it will have to seen in totality, eventually. As in rejuvenation of whole Shahjehanabad should be taken into account rather than just in a piecemeal way. But this heritage-sensitive redevelopment project certainly means good news for heritage," she said.

The next stage of the project will involve facade rejuvenation and making the area more vibrant, officials said.

Delhi PWD Minister and SRDC chairman Satyendar Jain on Sunday had told reporters that the plan was to run a 'heritage-look' green vehicle on the stretch.

Suggestions are also coming that uniform shop boards, as in many other pedestrianisation projects abroad, could be used. However, there is no official confirmation on it.

Liddle, author of 'Chandni Chowk: The Mughal City of Old Delhi', who also conducts heritage walks, suggested that each signage should be in sync with the building it is mounted on.

"One signage or font used on it may look good on one building but not suit another building with a different architectural style on its facade. Also, multiple languages and calligraphic and other designs should be allowed to be explored by shop owners instead of hemming them in," she said.

Safvi said e-rickshaws and old-style horse carriages are very good options for plying on the pedestrianised stretch.

"A small write-up with a photo or artwork of a monument of Delhi can be embossed on the back side of an e-rickshaw, which would also enhance the knowledge of people about heritage of Delhi," she added.

Also, a signage with basic information about the old buildings should be installed in front of them to engage the visitors, the historian said.

Various other heritage experts and conservation architects also welcomed the redevelopment of Chandni Chowk that was built by Jehan Ara, daughter of Mughal Empire Shah Jahan.

"Earlier there were three markets, Urdu Bazaar, Johri Bazaar and Fatehpuri Bazaar. And, a square existed in the middle of it, so the name Chandni Chowk. The area has changed a lot, it has seen the glory of the Mughals, their fall, the 1857 First War of Independence and eventually rise of a free, democratic India in 1947. So, it deserves this special attention," Safvi said.

Kejriwal, after inaugurating the redeveloped stretch, had said that earlier broken roads, dangling wires, traffic congestion were synonymous with Chandni Chowk, but now it has become beautiful and aesthetically appealing.

"We have beautified almost 1.4 km stretch of the Chandni Chowk and made it extremely beautiful. Traffic on the stretch was improved, dangling wires were made underground, and CCTVs were installed under the redevelopment project, he said.

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Four civilians were injured when suspected militants hurled a grenade towards security forces in south Kashmirs Pulwama district on Tuesday.

Reports said the militants lobbed the grenade towards a vehicle of security forces at Pulwama chowk, 32 km from Srinagar. But the grenade missed the intended target and exploded on the roadside causing splinter injuries to four civilians.

The injured civilians were rushed to a nearby hospital, where their condition is stated to be stable, reports said. The area was cordoned off by police and security forces immediately to nab the attackers.

There has been a spurt in grenade attacks by militants in Kashmir in recent months in which dozens of civilians and security forces personnel have been injured.

A senior police officer involved in counter-insurgency operations said militants are targeting security forces just to create an impression that they were present and militancy is alive in the Valley.

After facing heat across Kashmir due to relentless operations by the security forces, militants are trying to revive the strategy of lobbing grenades at security forces and on busy roads. Throwing grenades at busy places is either aimed to provoke the security forces to fire indiscriminately or create a fear among them that they are vulnerable to such attacks, he said.

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With two more fatalities due to dengue in Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to the viral fever in the district rose to 60 on Monday, officials here said.

Additional Director, Health, Agar Divison, A K Singh said that a 14-year-old girl died in a medical college, while one child was brought there dead.

After the death of the girl, her sister squatted in front of a vehicle of Divisional Commissioner Amit Gupta but later somehow administration officials managed the situation.

Explained | All you need to know about scrub typhus, the disease adding to UP's worries

Meanwhile, District Magistrate, Chandra Vijay Singh said that keeping in view cognisance of newspaper reports regarding overcharging by pathologies, he has issued guidelines regarding rates to be taken.

Firozabad, around 50 km from Agra and 320 km from Lucknow, has been battling an outbreak of dengue and deadly viral fever for the past three weeks now, with most of the victims being children.

Some cases have also been found in neighbouring Mathura, Agra and Mainpuri, according to the officials.

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The real objective of politics is to bring about a change in the life of the common man standing last in the queue but unfortunately, it is considered nowadays a means to grab power, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

Gadkari made the remark reflecting Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy on making decisions and how they would benefit the last man in the queue at a seminar in the Rajasthan assembly on Parliamentary System and People's Expectations.

"Politics is an instrument to bring about a social and economic change. The real purpose of democracy is to make the people standing at the last rung of the society prosperous and improve their lives through this," Gadkari said.

"This should be the purpose of politics as well. But, unfortunately nowadays the meaning of politics is understood only to get into power," he added.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said it is the behaviour and character of a person that decides the future of democracy. "The better we are, the stronger and better our democracy will be. That is why we remain loyal to our ideology. Only on this basis, a strong nation can be built by effecting social and economic changes," he said.

Gadkari said problems are plenty but it is the responsibility of the legislature to bring about a qualitative change leading to the social and economic upliftment of the society. "Problems are there everywhere  within the party, outside the party, in the constituency  but overcoming the problem and bringing about a qualitative change is the quality of a successful leader," he said.

Gadkari subtly asked political leaders to be content with whatever position they have achieved and use it to serve the people.

The MLAs are unhappy because they could not become ministers, ministers are unhappy as they did not get the desired portfolio and those who got the desired portfolio are unhappy as they could not become the chief minister, the Union minister said.

And those who became the chief ministers are unhappy because they are not sure till when they will be on the post, he added.

Gadkari made the remark two days after Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani resigned and amid the Rajasthan chief minister facing pressure for a Cabinet reshuffle and political appointments.

Observing that many states, including Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand face the problem of scarcity of drinking water, Gadkari suggested improving the country's irrigation infrastructure as a way out of the problem.

Advocating for improving the irrigation facility, Gadkari said the country cannot be completely self-sufficient unless farmers become prosperous. He also urged legislators to improve the road infrastructure and water conservation, which, he said, would increase the country's GDP and boost its holistic growth.

The seminar was organised by the Rajasthan chapter of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). Assembly Speaker and CPA's Rajasthan chapter president CP Joshi, Leader of Opposition and CPA vice president Gulab Chand Kataria and independent MLA and CPA secretary Sanyam Lodha also addressed the session.

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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 introduced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on September 13 sought exemption for the state from this exam. With the Bill, the government wants entrance to happen on the basis of marks obtained in Class 12. This is to "ensure social justice."

What sparked an uproar and led to the Bill was the death of a 19-year old boy named Dhanush, who died by suicide, hours before he was supposed to take the exam for the third time.

Read more: CM M K Stalin introduces Bill seeking exemption from NEET for Tamil Nadu students

His death triggered a political furore in the state, with the Opposition AIADMK holding the Stalin government responsible. However, the state's ruling party DMK blames the Center over the issue.

In Tamil Nadu, NEET has been a sensitive subject where several students have allegedly died by suicide over the years after failing to qualify for the exam.

This is not Tamil Nadu's first attempt to get exemption from the exam; an effort was made in 2017 through ordinance but didn't get President's nod.

In 2020, ahead of the Assembly polls, DMK promised to do away with the exam.

When the assembly convened, Opposition leader K Palaniswami raised the issue of Dhanush's death and attacked DMK for not living up to its promises. Opposition MLAs came to the House wearing black badges in protest and also staged a walkout.

However, Stalin responded by saying that NEET was conducted for the first time in Tamil Nadu when Palaniswami was the CM.

In the assembly, while introducing the Bill, Stalin sought everyones support for social justice.

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Amid raging debate over controversial "narcotic jihad" remarks by Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Pala diocese, Kerala's ruling CPI(M) on Tuesday accused the BJP of trying to reap political benefits by dividing people on communal lines and said no one should make any offensive references to break the communal peace and harmony in the state.

"No statement should be made by anyone that would create religious polarisation in the society. People of Kerala longs for communal harmony & peace. No one should make any offensive reference to break that harmony. BJP is trying to communally exploit the issue," Acting Secretary of CPI(M) in Kerala, A Vijayaraghavan, said in a tweet.

Although he did not mention "narcotic jihad" in his statement, it came after the opposition Congress accused the state government of remaining "a mute spectator" over the issue and the BJP used the Bishop's statement to target both the Congress and CPI(M), alleging that they were adopting a soft approach towards religious extremist groups creating trouble in the state.

After meeting the Bishop in Pala yesterday, BJP national executive member P K Krishnadas had alleged that the Congress and the CPI(M) were taking a position in favour of extremist elements creating trouble in society, instead of addressing the issue raised by the senior Catholic priest.

Responding to Leader of Opposition (LoP) V D Satheesan's allegations that the CPI(M) had joined hands with Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a political offshoot of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), to unseat the UDF administration in Erattupetta municipal council in Kottayam district, Vijayaraghavan said the Congress had tied-up with communal parties like Jamaat-e-Islami to garner their votes in the Assembly polls held in April this year. "Congress has no moral basis to criticise the government in this matter. They contested the last assembly elections by garnering the votes of communal parties like Jamaat-e-Islami. Even the LoP got elected to the Assembly, after enjoying such advantages", the CPI(M) leader said.

Earlier in the day, Satheesan urged the state government to convene an all-party meeting to find a "permanent solution" to end the row over the 'narcotic jihad' remark by the Bishop and accused it of remaining a "mute spectator" while both the Christian and Muslim communities were heading towards a conflict. A group of people, who was not at all a party in the matter, were indulging in hate campaign in the social media platforms to add fuel to the fire and thus disrupt communal harmony in the southern state, Satheesan said here.

However, the Left government was doing nothing to end the conflict and remaining a mute spectator, he alleged. The Opposition leader urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to go through the social media posts on the 'narcotic jihad' remark by the Catholic priest and asked what his government, intelligence department and the cyber cell of the police were doing when vested interests were trying to trigger communal clashes over it. Stating that the Congress had taken a strong stand in the issue to prevent clashes between the two communities, he said they would support any government endeavour to end the tension. "The government should be ready to convene an all party meeting, participating all leaders concerned from both the communities, and find a permanent solution in the issue. There are those who are waiting to use the opportunity to burn Kerala down to ashes. We repeatedly request everyone not to fall into their trap," he added.

The BJP, which had supported the Bishop on the controversial remark, also brought the attention of the Christian community to the recent political tie-up between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the SDPI in the Erattupetta Municipality and tried to establish that the LDF and the CPI(M) would extend support to extremist groups. BJP state Chief K Surendran alleged that the SDPI councillors in the Erattupetta Municipality were the ones who had taken out a violent protest march towards the Bishop House over his 'narcotic jihad' remark and the CPI(M)'s decision to foster a political tie-up with them was its "arrogance" towards the "suppressed Christian community" in the state.

The LDF had toppled the UDF-led council of the Erattupetta Municipality with the support of the SDPI members and a Congress councillor, who turned hostile, on Monday. "The Marxist party is now moving towards a public political tie-up with the SDPI. The collaboration is a grave threat to the secular stand adopted by the state. The CPI(M) has joined hands with the anti-national forces for political gains. It is anti-democratic," he told reporters in Palakkad. He asked how the Left party, which always preaches about secularism, could collaborate with a group which had allegedly triggered several communal clashes in the southern state. "The Christian community and the secular mindset in Kerala should discuss this," Surendran said, adding that the 'narcotic jihad' was a usage mentioned in many conferences of the United Nations as 'narcotic terrorism' and it was not a new issue.

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Over two months after Chief Minister M K Stalin made an announcement in the Assembly, the Tamil Nadu government has issued an order to withdraw 5,570 cases registered during protests against Chennai-Salem Green Express Corridor, CAA, and farm laws.

The Government Order (GO) signed by Home Secretary S K Prabhakar said the cases have been withdrawn. The cases, which have now been withdrawn, relate to those against freedom of the press, protests against CAA, farm laws, Neutrino project, the Green Express Corridor and methane extraction project.

While 26 cases filed against free of media/press are being withdrawn, the same number of cases filed during protests against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant will also be taken back.

"The Government, after careful examination, hereby order for the withdrawal of 5570 cases against the freedom of media press (2011-2021) and protesters who protested against three Agricultural Amendment Laws, National Register of Citizens/Citizenship Amendment Act, Eight Lane/Methane/Neutrino and Koodankulam, Prabhakar said in the GO.

As many as 2,831 cases filed during the agitation against farm bills and 2,282 cases filed in connection with protests against CAA have been withdrawn. 405 cases filed during protests against Eight lane /Methane/Neutrino have also been withdrawn, the GO said. All the cases were filed during the AIADMK regime.

The public prosecutor had opined that in cases, where the investigation was still pending or the charge sheet not taken on the file, further action may be dropped by the police concerned.

In cases where the cases are pending trial, the assistant public prosecutors in charge of respective cases may be directed to move an application under section 321 of the CrPc for withdrawal of prosecution and follow the procedure prescribed therein, the GO added.

Stalin had on June 24 announced the cases mentioned above will be withdrawn. The Chief Minister had also withdrawn several cases filed against anti-Sterlite protesters in 2018.

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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.

Read | Why Bengaluru is seeing a dip in Covid-19 vaccinations

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.

Read | India worried about complacency over second dose of Covid-19 vaccine

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.

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The United States has subtly hinted that it has been in talks with New Delhi for using airfields in India as staging areas for carrying out aerial surveillance and launching attacks on terrorists in and around Afghanistan.

President Joe Bidens administration is deeply engaged with New Delhi, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said, testifying before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives  the lower house of the American Congress.

He was responding to Republican Partys Representative Mark E Green, who asked if the Biden Administration had reached out to New Delhi for using over-the-horizon capabilities from staging areas in north-west India for neutralising potential threats to the United States in and around Afghanistan, in view of the collusion between the Taliban and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan.

Also read: Taliban thank world for promised aid, urge US to show 'heart'

We are deeply engaged with India across the board, Blinken replied to Green.

He, however, did not share the details of the discussion between the two governments on the US launching drones from India for keeping watch on terrorist infrastructures in Afghanistan.

With regard to any specifics about over-the-horizon capabilities and the plans we put in place or continue to put in place, I would rather take that up in a different setting, Blinken replied to Green.

The Taliban of late returned to power in Afghanistan through a swift military campaign across the country taking advantage of the withdrawal of the US troops.

Biden and other senior officials of his administration in Washington DC repeatedly stated over the past few weeks that the US had sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and to neutralise the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda  the objectives, which had been achieved over the past two decades.

Though terrorism continued to remain a threat and spread around the world, the US no longer required to deploy a large number of soldiers overseas to combat the menace as it had now developed the over-the-horizon capabilities of carrying out aerial surveillance and launch drones to eliminate such threats, they argued, justifying the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

But what may limit the US' capabilities of launching drone attacks on the terrorists and terror infrastructures in the region is the fact that some of the airbases it had earlier used for the purpose are no longer available to it after its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The nearest airbases the US can use are in Qatar, Kuwait and other countries in the Gulf and far away from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region where the targets may be located  a fact Green pointed out while asking Blinken about the Biden Administrations discussion with New Delhi.

New Delhi did not officially make any comment on Greens query or the reply given by Blinken.

Also read: New Afghan FM says Taliban government won't allow militant attacks on others

The Commander of the US Special Operations Command, General Richard D Clarke, had visited New Delhi in July and held a meeting with the Indian Army chief Gen M M Naravane.

Admiral John C Aquilino, Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, also visited New Delhi and held a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, just about 10 days after the Talibans return to power in Afghanistan.

India is a major defence partner of the US and the two nations had inked a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, creating a framework to support each other's aircraft, ships and personnel with logistics, fuel and spares.

They also signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018 and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) in 2020 to enable the exchange of geospatial information between the two countries.

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The United States is communicating regularly with India in bilateral and multilateral channels to discuss the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and inquire about its timeline for restarting vaccine exports, a senior Biden administration official said.

The global pandemic will be a key topic on Sept. 24, when U.S. President Joe Biden will host the first in-person summit of leaders of the "Quad" countries Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Also read: WHO's approval for Covaxin likely this month

The visit by Prime Ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga to the United States will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on Sept. 21.

The Quad leaders met virtually in March and agreed to work closely on Covid-19 vaccines, but the initiative stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections, and halted vaccine exports.

The administration official said Washington was staying in close touch with India and other Quad partners about the vaccine partnership, and "any factors that may affect this project or global vaccine supply," but those discussions were not tied to a specific summit or engagement.

The official noted that Washington had diverted its own supply of raw materials for vaccine production to India in April, given its urgent needs, and global vaccine supply remained a key bottleneck to ending the pandemic.

"We commend India for being one of the largest manufacturers for safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines globally, and we note that COVAX and the world rely heavily on India's contributions," the official said. "It's important for the United States to engage all our allies and partners on these matters so we can take the necessary actions to end this pandemic together."

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Dismissed police officer and encounter specialist Sachin Vaze has procured gelatine sticks that were planted near the residence of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani through confidential sources.

Vaze, an assistant police inspector, who was later dismissed, is the accused no.1 (A-1) in the sensational twin cases of planting 20-odd gelatine sticks and a threat note in a Mahindra Scorpio near Antilia along the Carmichael Road, the residence of the Ambani-family, and murder of the SUV owner Mansukh Hiren.

Also Read  Antilia bomb scare 'secret operation', Vaze told driver: NIA charge sheet

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet states: It is further established that A-1 procured gelatine (explosive) and placed the explosive (gelatine sticks) in the Scorpio vehicle and also planted a threat note addressed to Mukesh Ambani and family

The charge sheet also appends a report of the District Collector and Magistrate of Mumbai City, which states: ...and whereas, it is further revealed that, Sachin Vaze procured gelatine sticks (explosive substance) through confidential sources.

Also Read  Manuskh Hiren murder case: Accused went to Nepal, Dubai

The gelatine sticks were originally manufactured at Solar Industries India Ltd in Nagpur, according to the report and charge sheet.

The Gamdevi police station, which has seized the Scorpio, sent the gelatine sticks to the Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories, Maharashtra State, Mumbai, for analysis. The forensic report stated: Ammonium and Nitrate radicals along with petroleum hydrocarbon wax, constituent of explosive mixture were detected in exhibits.

The NIA, which is investigating the twin cases, is trying to find out the chain of people responsible for helping Vaze in procuring the gelatine sticks.

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The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said its division bench (comprising two judges), instead of a single-judge bench, would hear the petition filed by Maharashtra's former home minister Anil Deshmukh against the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.

A single bench of Justice S K Shinde said the objection raised by the HC registry department that the issues raised in the plea ought to be heard by a division bench is correct.

Justice Shinde directed the registry department to place Deshmukh's petition for hearing before the appropriate division bench.

Read more: HC seeks CBI reply on bail plea of Deshmukh's lawyer in corruption case

Deshmukh filed the petition earlier this month, seeking to quash the five summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Last week, when the plea came up for hearing before Justice Shinde, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, brought to the HC's attention a note addressed by the registry department saying the plea has to be heard by a division bench.

Senior counsel Vikram Chaudhri and advocate Aniket Nikam, appearing for Deshmukh, said the single bench had the jurisdiction to hear the plea.

The court had then said it would consider the issue and pass orders.

The ED had initiated a probe against Deshmukh and his associates after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its FIR against the NCP leader on April 21 on charges of corruption and misuse of official position.

Deshmukh in his plea claimed the ED's action was a result of political vendetta. The petition also said the agency's whole case was based on malicious statements made by dismissed police officer Sachin Waze, who is presently in jail in connection the case of an explosives-laden vehicle found near the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani in February this year and the subsequent killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

The statements made by Waze, a tainted cop, are absolutely false and concocted with a malafide intention to defame and frame the applicant (Deshmukh) with ulterior motives, the petition said. Deshmukh refuted the claims made by the ED that while serving as Maharashtra's home minister, he had misused his official position and through Waze collected Rs 4.70 crore from various bars and restaurants in Mumbai.

The money was allegedly laundered to Nagpur-based Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha, an education trust controlled by Deshmukh's family.

The entire claim of Waze giving Rs 4.70 crore to the applicant (Deshmukh) and the same amount being routed by the applicant's family is factually incorrect, the plea said.

The petition also said the amount received by the Shri Sai Shikshan Sanstha was donations made before the period in which Waze alleged to have received illegal gratification from bars and restaurants.

There was never any cash received as illegal gratification from bar owners as claimed by Waze, the plea said.

The ED has so far arrested two persons in the case  Sanjeev Palande (additional collector rank official who was working as Deshmukh's private secretary) and Kundan Shinde (Deshmukh's personal assistant).

The agency last month submitted its prosecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) against the duo before a special court.

The CBI had lodged its FIR against Deshmukh after it conducted a preliminary enquiry against the NCP leader following an order from the HC on April 5.

Deshmukh resigned from the post of state home minister on April 5, but has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

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The replacement of Vijay Rupani with Bhupendra Patel in Gujarat is the third change of chief minister in a BJP-ruled state in the last two months, after the appointment of Pushkar Dhami and Basavaraj Bommai in Uttarakhand and Karnataka. The BJP also found a new chief minister in Himanta Biswa Sarma after the recent Assembly elections in Assam. These are states where the party is well entrenched and so the turnover sends some clear messages about the change in politics happening in the states and at the central level. The changes in these states have been made well in time for the Assembly elections to be held sooner or later, but before the next Lok Sabha elections, and the party wants the new leaders to settle down in government before the elections. But it will be noted that the new chief ministers are not leaders with any large political base and following.

The exit of Vijay Rupani was in the air for some time as his governments poor performance in Covid management was very obvious and would have created a strong anti-incumbency sentiment. But more importantly, the party wanted to appease the politically powerful Patel community before the elections. The community has provided a strong support base for the BJP but was aggrieved that there was no one from it as chief minister, except for a brief period. There were other grievances also and the party could not have gone to the elections with the community in a restive mood. But Bhupendra Patel is almost a greenhorn, a first-time MLA with no administrative experience. This underscores the high command culture that has taken hold of the BJP. Chief ministers are nominated and appointed, as in the Congress, and no longer elected. Being nominees, they will be beholden to the central leadership.

This is in consonance with the partys approach to elections in the recent past. Even state elections are fought with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the leader and with campaign strategies and themes decided at the central level. All state parties and governments are under the central leaderships control, except perhaps in UP, where the personalities and circumstances are different and it is risky for the party to upset the present arrangement. The party has also tried different experiments in social engineering, with castes as counters, in different states. While it has attempted to widen its caste base with helpful policies that addressed larger groups like the intermediate castes, it has also tried to give leadership positions to persons from smaller castes. These experiments have had indifferent and diverse results. In Gujarat, it has decided to go back to the partys base for leadership, too, leaving nothing to chance, though the leaders surname will only be in name.
The Talibans stunning takeover of Afghanistan in the aftermath of a bungled US departure has triggered a debate as to who really benefited from the forever war'?

The US spent $2.26 trillion on the war in Afghanistan, or $300 million a day, over the 20 years since 2001. About $800 billion was spent on direct war-fighting costs and $88 billion for training the now-trounced Afghan army. The US government also spent $145 billion in trying to rebuild Afghanistan. The second biggest line item of $530 billion in the US budget is the estimated interest payments on the money the US government borrowed to fund the war. A Brown University study projects that the cost of interest on the US' Afghan war debt will go up to $6.5 trillion by 2050.

Within weeks of the US withdrawal, the 300,000-strong Afghanistan armed force laid down arms in the face of the Talibans advances. The $145 billion spent by the US to rebuild Afghanistan has also turned out to be a damp squib. 90% of the Afghan population still lives on less than $2 a day. Afghanistan's economy grew 9.4% between 2003 and 2012, mainly driven by the aid-supported services sector. But between 2015 and 2020, economic growth slowed to about 2.5% per year.

The Afghanistan war effort was effectively a privatised endeavour, with the US military relying heavily on private contractors to power the logistics of Americas forever war. The workers of military contractors outnumbered US soldiers in Afghanistan three to one. There were nearly 7,800 DoD contractors in Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon report in July. These contractors were tasked with supporting the military with everything from lodging, laundry, and food to transportation, equipment maintenance, and fuel. The Pentagon has spent $107.9 billion on contracted services in Afghanistan since 2002, a Bloomberg analysis shows.

It turned out to be a profiteering exercise till the very end. A former CIA contractor and academic, Chalmers Johnson, says, I guarantee you, when war becomes that profitable, youre going to see more of it. Top US defence companies are other major beneficiaries of the war in Afghanistan.

Think about this: $10,000 invested in US defence stocks (evenly divided among Americas top five defence companies) when the War on Terror began in September 2001 is now worth about $100,000. This is a far greater return earned than the average in the overall US stock market over the same period. $10,000 invested in an S&P 500 index fund in September 2001 would now be worth $61,613.

The top five biggest US defence companies  Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics  are, of course, part of the S&P 500 index. It means that the top US defence stocks outperformed the overall US stock market returns by 58% during the period of the Afghanistan war. In addition to defence companies, oil companies like ExxonMobil, which shipped fuel for the US army, profited immensely from Washingtons lucrative defence contracts.

In fiscal 2020, US defence contract spending hit a record high of $447 billion  representing nearly two-thirds of overall federal contract spending. Lockheed Martin led the US defence companies by bagging contracts totalling more than $74 billion. Raytheon, General Dynamics and Boeing bagged contracts worth $27.4 billion, $22.6 billion and $21.5 billion, respectively, in 2020.

Corporate ties with the US defence companies have to rule the roost at Pentagon. According to Bloomberg, the current US Secretary of Defence, retired US Army General Lloyd Austin, may have received as much as $1.7 million when he divested his shares in Raytheon, of which he was a director in the four years between 2016 and 2020 (during the period after his retirement from the US Army and assuming his current post). He has also been a partner in an investment firm that has been buying small defence firms.

The decision by President Joe Biden to nominate Gen Austin as Secretary of Defence has drawn a new wave of questions about the corporate ties of the Pentagon boss. Gen Austin's move from the weapons business to a leadership role in the Pentagon continues a pattern begun by former President Trump. President Trump picked James Mattis, also a retired four-star general who later served on the board of General Dynamics, as his first defence secretary.

After 20 years and trillions of dollars flowing through the Pentagons war chest, the real winners of the 'forever war' were thousands of private military contractors, US defence companies, middlemen and go-getters that profited immensely. The Afghan people are not the winners. Osama bin Laden may have been killed, but terrorism has not been.

(The writer is a retired corporate professional)
The naming and shaming of Infosys, India's post-liberalisation poster child software company by Panchjanya, apparently has sent shockwaves in the industry.

A couple of press reports quote anonymous industry honchos that nobody seems to like this pushback for Infy as they are fondly and colloquially called in Bengaluru circles. But this is nothing new for a nation that has largely lost its voice and has stopped speaking truth to power.

Consider, for example, the farmers' protests where laws are being bulldozed through. Not once has the prime minister, the president, or most senior cabinet ministers cared to visit the farmers and check their condition when some 500 plus farmers have lost their lives. Nobody basically denies that India's agricultural sector does need reforms. But if structural changes are to be ushered in through such hectoring and Indian society decides to stay quiet, why should anybody be surprised with Infy being defamed?

For scientists, meanwhile, it is quite commonplace today to be told to suppress or reframe results if they are working on questions of policy interests. Should they be working with administrative datasets, there is always the likelihood of a nudge, most times gentle but firm, to get them vetted by relevant governmental authorities. If one doesn't, access to important data will remain out of reach is the unambiguous message.

Few examples. It's now many months since India's vaccination program for Covid-19 has started. Still, nobody yet knows where the data on adverse events is, if it is getting independently evaluated, or the status of the national genome sequencing data that track variants of interest for Covid-19 in India. Nobody also knows of the migrant database the government was supposed to create after the havoc ushered in with the first lockdown in India in March 2020.

Note that if you thought this was just a Delhi phenomenon, make no mistake. Quite a few conversations with bureaucrats working with state governments indicate a similar slant at the provincial level. We want to be evidence-based, they often say, but you know, "hush, hush - there's Pegasus and look around yourself, times are different. One has to be cautious more than ever before to make sure one doesn't get punishment posting and protect one's post-retirement perks and benefits. Are you not seeing the plight of that particular state's chief secretary who didn't toe the line."

Corporate entities and private data providers have also taken a leaf out of such kowtowing to power, asking researchers apriori, summaries of research papers and findings (even without analyses done) when selling data to them. When pushed back, they plead helplessness. Nobody wants to rub governments in India the wrong way anymore these days, it seems. Such a demand would have resulted in a polite but firm "thanks but no thanks" in more advanced economies. Not so anymore in India.

Of course, if the focal researcher refuses, there are enough compliant champions of marginal science sitting on the fence waiting to prune the bushes and present the particular government's coveted line. Policy and scientific eulogies related to work by certain state governments, amidst various research groups reporting gross discrepancies in mortality reporting with horrifying excess death statistics across states of India, bear testimony to this phenomenon.

Another easy approach is to capture universities and institutes through governmental endowments, land or special concessions to set up centres, let's say for data sciences, climate change, public policy or analytics, the buzz words of choice. These centres then will have special peekaboos to India's surveillance state championed highly multidimensional disaggregated digital data to showcase that a particular state or central policy is indeed generating positive welfare consequences.

In some cases, overseas researchers, either diaspora or foreigners (potentially with sentiments on certain sides of the political spectrum), will join hands with these compliant local researchers or centres to get the paper published; navigating a global, but many times fractured and captured peer review process in scientific journals of repute, thereby giving the evidence its required scientific veneer. Of course, the fruits of labour here can be multiplied if a local or multinational firm can join in this mega endeavour with matching financial support.

Thankfully though, not all of the international scientific community have given in. There is strong pushback yet from many worried about India from abroad. Many influential voices have stepped back too into a quiet corner witnessing the ghoulish turn of events in India as the Infy effect continues proliferating.

It is increasingly clear that it will leave no one untouched across society, be it industry associations, clinicians, medical associations, the average middle-class citizen, non-compliant incumbent firms or new entrepreneurs in the venture capital and startup ecosystem and the sundry. Today it is Infy, and tomorrow it may be (and will be) them. Their inner Martin Niemollers, meanwhile, continue on their Rip Van Winkle sleep undisturbed in peaceful slumber.

For a country that adopted Satyameva Jayate from the Hindu scripture Mundaka Upanishad on January 26, 1950, as its national motto, that is a tragic moral abyss from where there may be fewer and fewer paths of going back.

It is ironic and perhaps intriguing that Infosys was shamed in the journal Panchjanya, which is derived from the name of the demon that the Hindu God Vishnu killed, naming his conch after him. The great war of the Mahabharata began after blowing Panchjanya by Krishna, as the legend goes; perhaps a new Mahabharata is where India's society is now headed towards as the Infy effect loudly and clearly demonstrates.

(The author is a tenured faculty member at the University of Sussex, visiting fellow at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar has had his hands full since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Now, with an expected third wave in October-November, the minister spoke to DHs Suraksha P on his plans for the state in terms of vaccination, oxygen-readiness of private hospitals, Covaxin production and leveraging CSR funds for public healthcare systems. Excerpts:

The Centre has set a target of vaccinating Indias adult population by December 31. Karnataka has advanced this by a month to November 30. How doable is this?

We received more than 1.1 crore doses of vaccine in August and we have again received more than 33 lakh doses in the first 10 days of September. As a result, the supply has significantly increased. We have set a target to administer five lakh doses every day, which means about 1.5-2 crore doses per month.

We have already crossed 4.71 crore doses cumulatively as on September 9. On Monday, I held a detailed review with Deputy Commissioners and Zilla Panchayat CEOs. As many as 23 districts are lagging behind in targets. All of them have been instructed to achieve 100% first dose coverage by the end of this month. I am confident that by November, the entire adult population in the state will be jabbed.

What is the status of Covaxin production at the Malur plant in the Kolar district?

There were some hiccups initially in the Bengaluru plant of Bharat Biotech, which delayed the production of Covaxin. The test batches of that plant werent satisfactory and got rejected, which led to a delay in ramping up production. But now, the batches have been approved by the competent authority and will be available for public consumption. The company will be able to ramp up almost 7-10 crore doses of its Covid vaccine in the coming weeks.

In June, the Health Commissioner directed all private hospitals in the state to install oxygen plants in their premises within four months. The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) calls this unviable. Will there be action against private hospitals that do not comply with the directive?

As per the Centres mandate, hospitals with more than 100 beds should have the capacity to produce at least two times their oxygen requirement. Hospitals with 50 to 99 beds should meet at least their normal requirement. However, PHANA has raised concerns that the huge investment in the oxygen plant may be left underutilised as the demand is expected to be one-fifth during non-Covid times. They have demanded that the state government withdraw the circular. Since it is the Centres mandate, they may pursue it with the Centre through the Indian Medical Association or any other platform.

Paid vaccination for construction workers came under heavy criticism by labour unions. Will the state now recall its Rs 15.6 crore order for two lakh doses from private hospitals?

Since we have a sufficient supply of vaccines and we have already included construction workers in the priority group, the state will provide vaccines to all construction workers free of cost. In BBMP limits, we have already identified and prepared a list of construction workers through the CREDAI database. We are also conducting special camps at construction sites.

How will the state use private quota vaccines without attracting criticism? For example, in September, PHANA said the states private sector has a quota of 15 lakh doses but demand for paid vaccination from the public is negligible.

About two weeks ago, I met the representatives of pharma, medical devices manufacturing and other healthcare-related industries and urged them to explore the possibility of leveraging CSR funds for vaccination drives. If that is feasible, the private sector can purchase and donate vaccines to the state government for free distribution.

Geetanjali Kirloskar was appointed as the head of the state CSR panel. How much CSR funds are now flowing into public healthcare?

The main objective behind her appointment was to mobilise CSR funds of corporates to build primary health centres (PHCs) in Karnataka, with the government. The team has been getting the required support from the corporates. To begin with, they focused on Covid relief measures, procurement and distribution of oxygen and ventilators. The team coordinated with the government to get the support of JSW at Ballari to renovate the PHCs in that region and oversaw the completion of a 1,000-bed Covid Care Centre (CCC) in the district.

Is there any effort by the state to procure Sputnik V from Dr Reddys? The gap between doses is 21 days and its uptake was seen to be faster among the public...

There is no such proposal with the state government as of now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is predictable in his unpredictability. And so is the din, drama and drop-dead timing of his decisions to draw maximum mileage for himself.

Take the change of guard in Gujarat. On September 11, Prime Minister Modi e-inaugurated the Sardardham Bhavan built by the politically powerful and numerically abundant Patidar community. Hours later, Vijay Rupani puts in his papers, becoming the third Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister to do so in as many months countrywide.

A day later, he is replaced by an obscure Bhupendra Patel, a first-time legislator. It is a poll-time message for 15 per cent of the Patidar voting population with tilting influence in 69 of the 182 Gujarat Vidhan Sabha seats.

The timing makes it evident that it will be a Patidar (Patel). All key BJP Patidar leaders are called in attendance, flying in from Delhi, even the Andamans. The media goes berserk, bandying all manner of Patidar names, from Deputy CM Nitin Patel to Daman administrator Praful Patel and union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala to Gordhan Zadafia and former state party chief RC Faldu.

On Sunday, September 12, the state party goes through all the motions of democratic procedures that mark a chief minister's selection by elected legislators, albeit mechanically. The eventual surprise choice leaves the frontrunners fuming within and the party rank and file fumbling without, quite unable to understand the process. Nevertheless, everyone forces a smile, fully aware that the decision comes from Modi. He is the party; he is the government; the rest all is frills.

Also read: Rupani paid the price for BJP's failures: Congress, AAP

Nothing grows under a banyan tree. Gujarat has two of them, Modi and Amit Shah. Anandiben Patel, who succeeded Modi as chief minister in 2014, was a strong leader who took independent decisions but paid the price.

See the irony. A strong Patidar woman chief minister was ousted through a Patidar agitation for enhanced rights and placements and replaced by a non-Patidar lightweight, Vijay Rupani, in August 2016. Now, five years later, that same person is being replaced to bring in another lightweight Patidar, ostensibly to placate the Patel vote bank.

Anandiben Patel was the last of the Mohicans. No chief minister in Gujarat can function independently. A hawk's eye guards the prime minister's home state since any setback here would blight his image everywhere. There is Modi's imprint all over governance in Gujarat. Shah remains the quintessential eye-in-the-sky, guarding his boss' flock as well as his own.

On the ground, there is K Kailashnathan, an IAS officer of the 1979 batch who did duty in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) during Modi's tenure and continues thereon even after his retirement and Modi's move to Delhi, outlasting two chief ministers and going onto the third.

Modi's 12 years plus term as chief minister in Gujarat was marked by two loyal deputies in the cabinet who owed allegiance to him. Anandiben Patel looked after the brain and money (revenue, education, road and buildings) and Amit Shah, who took care of the brawn and muscle (police, jails and the like) - both sworn political opponents. Anandiben Patel took over from Modi in Gujarat, and Shah went to Delhi as national party chief. But back home, their wires continued to cross.

In August 2015, the Hardik Patel-led Patidar rally in Ahmedabad had passed off peacefully. But under prompting from someone other than the then chief minister, police went berserk late at night, attacking Patel majority residential societies and violence flared up, consuming the Anandiben Patel government. Rupani, a greenhorn Shah supporter, replaced her. Bhupendra Patel, who now takes charge, was her choice replacement for the Vidhan Sabha seat vacated by her and is her protege. The clock has now come full circle.

Also read: Why Rupani resigned as Gujarat CM and how it might help BJP

Rupani has been scalped for compulsions of electoral politics. He had no say beyond providing the infrastructure and organisation for the Namaste Trump rally in Ahmedabad on February 23, 2020, which led to the proliferation of coronavirus in the state. It was the prime minister's show for the then US President Donald Trump.

Vijay Nehra, the then Ahmedabad municipal commissioner who sought to identify Covid-19 cases to contain the contagion, was transferred out - not because Rupani wanted it - but because Delhi was perturbed at the rising cases which brought it infamy. Brushing under the carpet does not help, but the chief minister was held to account for it then and cashiered now.

Rupani would have gone earlier in June when Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, Arvind Kejriwal, visited the state to induct famous journalist Isudan Gadhvi into the party. However, the move to replace Rupani was stalled because of fears that it would have sent a wrong message. Kamalam, the state BJP headquarter was a hive of frenetic activity with the national party leadership on call, all key Gujarat leaders being bunched together and the intelligence wing on alert in the districts to check out for any likely desertions.

In April, the AAP's minuscule achievement - bagging 27-seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections to the BJP's 93 - in a 120 member house (the Congress drew a blank) has become a thorn in the BJP's side. More so because it is the home ground of state BJP chief CR Patil, Modi's go-to man, be it Gujarat, Bihar or Benaras.

The excellent work done in the AAP's Surat wards during the second corona wave and its widespread recognition has added discomfort. A top-notch Surat diamond merchant, a Patidar known for his philanthropy, joining AAP rang alarm bells in the saffron edifice, hastening the process of Rupani's departure.

The cause for consternation lies in the umbilical cord that binds a swathe of Saurashtra to Surat as the labour and fuel that energises this financial capital of Gujarat comes from the former region, including the Patidars. Saurashtra is the Achilles heel of the BJP, and echoes from Surat resound rapidly there, which underscores the additional need to appease the Patels.

Past lapses and lacunae, pasted on the chief minister who is now the past, may give the ruling BJP a new, clean slate for the ensuing 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, or so it believes. Still, the new chief minister Bhupendra Patel will have to deal with the same problems - remote control and fighting an electoral bout with one hand tied behind his back and his eyes looking Delhi-wards. It does not matter whose camp follower you are. Ultimately, you are the fall guy in an election fought under the name of Narendra Modi. Heads, I win, tails, you lose.

Old-time television sets had a feature called picture-in-picture. Thus there is also a bigger picture beyond Gujarat in the sequence of national events. The BJP's brinkmanship in Bihar elections 2020 aimed at outsmarting its coalition partner, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), saw it almost teetering on edge before retaining power. West Bengal polls where the BJP went hammer and tongs saw the might of Modi-Shah bruised by a leg bandaged Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

The hat-trick of setbacks was complete when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath resisted all attempts to impose Modi confidante, AK Sharma, an IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, as deputy chief minister of UP. Sharma hails from UP and is now doing duty as BJP vice president in the state. Adityanath also seems to have made it known to the party top brass that the ensuing UP elections will be fought with him as the mascot and not Delhi leading the charge.

Those who have covered Modi for a long time know that he has a way of getting even. The chief ministerial heads rolling in the BJP-ruled states - some which have and some more will - are an assertion of his authority.

(The writer is a veteran Ahmedabad-based journalist)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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Customs officers have seized 219 grams of gold from a passenger who arrived at Mangalore International Airport from Dubai in the wee hours of Tuesday.

According to the officials, the value of the seized gold is Rs 10,55,580.

The passenger hailing from Kasargod had concealed the gold in the packing boxes of toy kitchen sets. Further investigation is in progress.

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After an unprecedented year in education in the wake of the pandemic, students across the UK and Ireland are struggling to obtain university places more than ever before, despite receiving perfect grades.



With student numbers soaring across the two islands, set to grow by 25 per cent over the next decade, many organisations and representatives believe the demand amplifies the requirement for a new university in the Northwest of the island, either in Derry or Donegal.



The Derry University Group which actively supports a new, independent university for Derry and the North West tweeted: There has never been a greater need to build a new university in Derry or Donegal with a minimum starting point of 10,000 full time students as guaranteed by both governments in the New Decade, New Approach agreement.



On top of this, the MaSN cap that is placed on all Northern Irish universities is affecting the countrys ability to offer a place at university to all those who are eligible.



The MaSN cap is a mechanism, introduced by Stormont, for controlling the number of full-time undergraduate places in universities in Northern Ireland.



The Northwest of Ireland is double capped. Derry is doubly disadvantaged as a result as not only are the Northern Ireland university numbers capped, there is a further de facto cap imposed on Magee campus by Stormont and Ulster University. This means that university places in Derry are kept to a maximum of three thousand full-time students.



Universities UK president, Steve West warned: The stakes are high. The right policy decisions can ensure that anyone with the potential and ability to succeed at university can do so. But the wrong decisions may constrain, damage and set back the very towns, cities and regions that the government most wants to level up.



Garbhan Downey, former deputy-president of the Union of Students in Ireland and advocate for a new university said: The student cities across the island are overheating. 18-year-old students are leaving Derry and Donegal in record numbers, two thirds of them never to return and never to be replaced by incoming students, a new university has never been more needed.



Demand for a new university for northwest Ireland hasn't been so vocal in more than fifty years, when it was first a key civil rights demand - just as it still is today. The Irish and British governments are now openly supporting our proposal of a full, independent cross-border, Derry-Donegal university.



We must follow Steve West's example and challenge vocally any cap on student numbers, particularly at a time when demand for places is growing so rapidly.



Both Stormont and Ulster University intend to - and indeed will be forced to - divert all surplus Higher Education funding into North Belfast for the next decade at least.



Derry, as was apparent from the very first meeting of the Stormont Economy Committee after the parliament was restored, is not on the agenda.



Both governments expressed their commitment to 10,000 students in Derry by 2030 in the New Decade, New Approach deal, and both have reiterated their commitment since. The Irish government has suggested the cross-border university as a keynote project for Shared Island fund.



Downey continued: Within the past two months, the NI Secretary has published a command paper in which a cross-border university is proposed, and on the back of this Dublin has called for North-South talks on how to deliver it. This initiative is backed by academic, business, community and church leaders across the islands.



The issues are the same as they were 50 years ago, as is the demand - an independent university for the North West. Except this time, it is going to happen.
The event will see some of the world's most exciting supercars on display in Derrys city centre in aid of charity.



Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, is set to host the event which will take place on Sunday 3rd October between 12 and 4pm.



'The Mayor's Supercar Sunday' will be supported by car enthusiasts Gary McCaul and Keith Gamble as they will bring up to 15 cars.

The display of luxury cars will include supercars such as Lamborghinis, Ferrari and McLarens together with American Muscle cars such as Corvette and the Ford Mustang.



All the cars will be driven to Guildhall Square and Harbour Square for the public to get up close and personal with the luxury vehicles.



The event is being held to raise funds for his Mayor's charity, Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, and attendees will be invited on the day to donate to the charity, which supports and empowers children and young people with Down syndrome from birth to adulthood.



Mayor Warke said: "I'm really looking forward to this event at the start of October and having got a sneak peek of some of the cars that will be on display I can safely say this is something not to be missed.

"We've all seen the Lamborghinis and Mustangs on TV and in films, but this is an opportunity to get a close-up look at these magnificent cars.



"I can guarantee that it will be fun for all the family. It's not often that you get to see so many of these supercars all in one spot, so make sure you call down on Sunday 3rd October and have a look.



"This is all in aid of my chosen Mayor's charity, Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, who do fantastic work in this city and district. All donations will be hugely appreciated, and all proceeds collected on the day will go directly to helping FDST."



Donations can be made on the day to Foyle Down Syndrome Trust or you can donate online at https://bit.ly/MWCharity




SDLP Social Justice Spokesperson, Mark H Durkan, has challenged Sinn Fein Communities Minister, Deirdre Hargey, to find funding to retain the 20 weekly uplift for Universal Credit claimants.

The Foyle MLA was speaking in light of the British Government's plans to abolish the uplift next month  a move that will leave those in Derry on Universal Credit 1040 worse off a year.

The 20 uplift had been put in place last year to help people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But now it is being rescinded and Mr Durkan has urged the Minister to use her devolved welfare powers to find the money to continue the uplift if the situation cannot be resolved at Westminster.

He said: The consequences of removing this uplift will be catastrophic for the worst off in our society.

The 20 uplift was a welcome move during the pandemic, the extra 1,000 plus per year made a real difference to people, but now it is going to be cruelly taken away by the British Government at a time when utility costs are soaring and the furlough scheme is set to end.

This cannot be allowed to happen unchallenged, Boris Johnson wants to take money out of peoples pockets at a time when reliance on food banks is at an all-time high and homelessness is rising and Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has done little to stop him.

So far Minister Hargey has written a letter to the British Government calling for the uplift to be retained, while that's welcome it will provide little comfort to people who face having this much needed funding ripped away from them.

She can do more and she must do more. If Westminster insists on proceeding with this draconian cut we need to see action from the Communities Minister to work with her Executive colleagues, particularly Finance Minister Conor Murphy, to find the funding to continue the uplift for the rest of the financial year.

She must also commit to a long-term strategy to tackle the shameful levels of poverty across the North which remain among the highest in Europe.
Foyle MP, Colum Eastwood, has given his backing to the plan that will offer Derry schoolkids aged between 12 to 15, a singular Covid-19 vaccine dose.

The SDLP leader said that anything that could stop the Covid-19 virus from spreading was to be welcomed.

Moves to vaccinate children within that age bracket was announced by the United Kingdoms chief medical officers earlier this week.

However, the proposal will need to be rubber-stamped by UK Government ministers before being made available to school pupils.

Mr Eastwood said: I welcome the recommendation from the chief medical officers that healthy children aged 12 to 15 should be able to receive one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

We continue to see large numbers of new cases of the virus and sadly deaths reported in the North every day and the knock-on effect that has on our health service who were putting out distress calls for help at the weekend.

Anything that protects our young people and helps stop the spread of the virus will have huge benefits for society.

It is hoped offering a young people a vaccine dose will cut down on transmission of the virus of schools and the number of days our young people miss.

We have seen the recent chaos in schools caused by the virus and these vaccines could make a real difference.

Our young people have made huge sacrifices throughout the pandemic with many forced to miss large periods of school and spend time isolated away from their friendship groups.

Hopefully this recommendation will be the next step as we strive to return to normality for our young people and society as a whole.
The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, will be helping to showcase the business potential of the city as he travels to London to promote the north-west to the UK business community.

Mayor Warke is taking part in the NI Business Innovation Showcase event which is being hosted by the Northern Ireland Office, DIT and Invest NI.

The visit also provides the opportunity for the Mayor to continue to build on the City and Districts connections with City of London where he will meet with the Rt Honourable the Lord Mayor City of London, Alderman William Russell and representatives of the City of London Corporation.

Mayor Warke said: I am delighted that the North West will feature very strongly in this event that showcase the best of innovative businesses, start-ups and universities across Northern Ireland.

It is great to see representation from UU, Seagate, Allstate NI, FinTrU, Elemental and the Joule Group all taking part and promoting what we have to offer in terms of opportunities, skills, experience and expertise.

We will be reinforcing a strong message that the North West city region is very much open for business with a strong offering of skills and talent, complemented by good connectivity and a great location for work life balance.

The visit will also be a great opportunity for us to share our experiences of COVID and our planned recovery as well as outline our ambitious City Deal project plans.

Also on the agenda of the Mayor's visit will be to strengthen existing links between Derry and the north-west and the City of London.

He added: The Showcase event is an opportunity to build on the existing partnership between our two cities and regions and look at ways of exploring that partnership role further and to look at ways of how innovation can impact on our business growth.
Start your engines and rev up for a motorcar extravaganza as a fleet of classic automobiles will be cruising around in Derry next month.

The city's petrolheads will be pencilling Sunday, October 3 in their diaries where at Guildhall Square and on Harbour Square, car enthusiasts, Gary McCaul and Keith Gamble will parade some of the finest machines on four wheels.

Up to 15 cars will be on show, including supercars such as Lamborghinis, Ferraris and McLarens together with American Muscle cars such as Corvettes and the Ford Mustang.

Mayor Graham Warke is hosting the special event to raise funds for his charity, the Foyle Down Syndrome Trust (FDST), where collections will take place for turning up to see the supercars and also donate to a good cause.

Mayor Warke said: I'm really looking forward to this event at the start of October and having got a sneak peek of some of the cars that will be on display, I can safely say this is something not to be missed.

We've all seen the Lamborghinis and Mustangs on TV and in films, but this is an opportunity to get a close-up look at these magnificent cars.

I can guarantee that it will be fun for all the family. It's not often that you get to see so many of these supercars all in one spot, so make sure you call down on Sunday, October 3 and have a look.

This is all in aid of my chosen Mayor's charity, Foyle Down Syndrome Trust, who do fantastic work in this city and district. All donations will be hugely appreciated, and all proceeds collected on the day will go directly to helping FDST.

The Mayor's Supercar Sunday will take place on Sunday, October 3 from 12pm to 4pm in Guildhall Square and Harbour Square.

Donations can be made on the day to Foyle Down Syndrome Trust or you can donate online at: https://bit.ly/MWCharity
A Foyle MLA has accused the Department for the Economy of alienating Derry's young people with the High Street Voucher scheme.

Sinead McLaughlin, who is the SDLP's Economy Spokesperson, was speaking after the DUP's Economy Minister, Gordon Lyons, revealed the online application portal for the scheme will be open from September 27 to October 25.

Derry shoppers can register for a voucher online and upon receipt of it, head towards the city centre's shops and spend it away.

The scheme is designed to give High Street shops across Derry and the north of Ireland a boost ahead of the Christmas period.

However, Mrs McLaughlin has spoken out against the fact that only those aged 18 and over will be eligible leaving 16 and 17-year-olds out in the cold.

The Foyle MLA also highlight the length of time it has taken for the scheme to be unveiled and said such procrastination did not inspire confidence in how the scheme is to be administered.

She said: While its welcome that a date has finally been set for the rollout of this long-promised scheme, I am disappointed at how long it has taken us to get to this stage.

The Department for the Economy has encountered numerous issues just getting this far and it does not fill me with confidence for the administration of the scheme.

Our young people have once again been let down by the department and DUP Economy Minister Gordon Lyons after they decided to exclude 16 and 17-year-olds from the scheme.

Many of our young people have been hugely affected by the pandemic, having to put their education and social lives on hold.

I believe any issues with young people accessing the scheme could have been overcome.

If they are old enough to work and contribute to society then they should be eligible to benefit.

There are also issues around how older and vulnerable people will be able to access their voucher, with the registration process being mainly online.

While for some people this will be a much-needed boost to help them get by I would ask those who can afford it to consider spending this money in one of our local businesses who were affected so badly by the pandemic.

We are lucky to boast a wide range of bespoke outlets in our cities, towns and villages across Northern Ireland and they need our support if they are to survive as we emerge from this pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Chief-Executive of the Derry Chamber of Commerce, Paul Clancy, has welcomed the Economy Minister's announcement of the voucher scheme.

He said: Its positive to see dates confirmed for the roll-out of the High Street Scheme. This is an important and substantial scheme which will hopefully kickstart our retail businesses and breathe life back into our high streets and city centres.

We would encourage all those eligible to receive a 100 voucher to apply as soon as possible and, where they can, spend local and support local.

Our local retailers and traders have been among the worst hit during the pandemic and this scheme will go a long way to helping them get back on their feet.
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A County Derry pensioner whose grandson's trainer was shredded in the machinery of a Belfast sky diving experience has had to wait over a month for a promised refund.

Rosemary McLaughlin's grandson was left traumatised after his trainer flew off and was destroyed in the machinery of a sky diving experience at We Are Vertigo, Belfast.

The Greysteel pensioner, who is registered blind, contacted the County Derry Post to voice her displeasure that a promised refund had still not materialised over a month after the incident.

Due to her eyesight, Ms McLaughlin was initially unaware of what had happened and had begun to panic.

They'd shown a safety video and given them the helmet and glasses, but after we'd queued up and it was his turn, I heard all the spectators roaring, she said.

They had put him in the machine and his trainer had come off, flew up through the safety net and into a fan, which completely shredded the trainer.

He was so upset, because he had just bought them with his Holy Communion money the day before. I didn't know what had happened; I knew it was something to do with my grandson, but I couldn't see.

One of the spectators told me, and I was really upset. They brought the wee boy back and left him standing with me and went away again.

They were more interested in ringing the operations manager to get the machine up and running again than try and console him or anything.

I complained about the loss of the shoe and they said there was nothing they could do. They offered a free ride, but he was traumatised and didn't want to do it.

I tried to console him and they said they'd send me out a refund for the 45. I sent different emails back and forward and the last offer was that he could get in free to the sky diving next year.

To make matters worse, Ms McLaughlin's grandson then had to walk in his sock soles to alternative premises to arrange a taxi back to the hotel.

They never offered to get us a taxi; at this stage the wee boy was running around with one trainer on him, she said.

They knew I was blind, because I had dark glasses on and a lanyard saying I was blind, but I had to walk from there into another place with him in his sock soles in the rain to ask them to ring me a taxi.

They tried to palm us off with a voucher, but I really think they should have made a gesture towards his trainers too.

That net should be big enough so nothing goes through it. All I wanted was my money back; the 30 I overpaid for the inflatables and the 45 for the two minutes of sky diving.

A spokesperson for We Are Vertigo confirmed the company had since refunded the money Ms McLaughlin paid for the experience.

Following further correspondence between Ms McLaughlin and the operations manager, we can confirm a full refund has since been processed for her grandsons skydive, they said.

The safety of our customers is paramount and before any indoor skydive takes place, all participants are asked to watch a safety video demonstrating key safety procedures.

This is repeated in person by the skydive instructor, who will also check all protective clothing supplied by We Are Vertigo, including the flight suit, goggles and helmets, to ensure all items securely fit the participant.
A Derry company has been recognised for its management capabilities and practices after being named among the best managed companies in Ireland.

MPA Recruitment received the award, presented by Deloitte Ireland in association with Bank of Ireland, at a virtual awards ceremony on September 8.

The company, established in 1997, provide permanent, contract and temporary workforce solutions over five different continents.

Organisers have said this year's programme saw the highest number of new applicants in its thirteen-year history, with 26 counties and a range of sectors across Ireland represented.

There are now 139 companies that are recognised as Irelands Best Managed Companies, a network with a combined turnover of 8.5 billion and employing a total of 40,000 people.

Entrants to the programme compete for the designation in a rigorous process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices.

Paul McQue of MPA Recruitment paid tribute to the company's team throughout all of their branches.

The Team and I here at MPA are delighted to be recognised as a Deloittes Best Managed Company in Ireland 2021, he said.

After a difficult year for all, we would like to thank all those clients and candidates who maintained their faith in us throughout the pandemic.

As we adapted alongside the rest of the world, our main focus was to continue to invest in our people and on a relentless desire to provide best in class recruitment services to our global client base.

Receiving this Best Managed Company recognition is a wonderful achievement for all of our teams, and one which they ought to be extremely proud of.

Our hard work to maintain this standard is now the focus as we move forward.

Anya Cummins, Lead Partner for Ireland's Best Managed Companies Awards Programme at Deloitte Ireland, said a record number of applications had been received this year.

The quality of the applicants demonstrated the extraordinarily high-quality businesses operating across the island of Ireland today, she said.

In a relentlessly challenging year, the winning companies displayed true bravery in how they adapted to change, with many innovating and some even accelerating their plans for their businesses.
Varun Dhawan to make his digital debut with the Indian spin-off of Priyanka Chopras Citadel?

In the last few years, many Bollywood stars have either made or announced their digital debut. Shahid Kapoor, for instance, has joined forces with Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. for an upcoming quirky drama thriller series, which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video. Also starring Raashii Khanna and Vijay Sethupathi, the series will reportedly be dark and full of wry humor. Well, according to latest buzz, Varun Dhawan is also in talks for his web debut with the dynamic filmmaker duo.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

According to a report shared by The Quint, Varun will make his digital debut on Amazon Prime Video with the local Indian spin-off of Anthony and Joe Russos American drama series Citadel. The main action-adventure espionage series, starring global icon Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden is currently being shot in UK. PeeCee has also shared some exciting behind the scene snaps on her social media from the sets. Well, Varun will reportedly play the lead in the spin-off, helmed by Raj and DK, which is expected to go on floors early next year.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Priyanka Chopra Jonas (@priyankachopra)

Varun has had quite an exciting year so far. The heartthrob tied the nuptial knot with his longtime girlfriend Natasha Dalal in January and juggled two of his much awaited films-- Jug Jugg Jeeyo, co-starring Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor and Kiara Advani, and Bhediya opposite Kriti Sanon.
Sidharth Shukla's demise: Shenaaz Gill is ready to get back up, late actor's mother Rita is helping her

Sidharth Shukla passed away on the 2nd of September, 2021 after suffering from a massive heart attack. The actor was just 40 years old and his death came as a huge blow to all of us. But, everyone was worried about Shehnaaz Gill- the girl who loved Sidharth to bits. It was heartbreaking to see her. The girl who has always been seen as bubbly and chirpy looked pale. But now, reports suggest that she is all set to bounce back.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shehnaaz Gill (@shehnaazgill)

According to a report in BollywoodLife, she is slowly but steadily getting better. A source was quoted saying, "Shenaaz has been in a state of shock and totally broken. But Sidharth's mother Rita aunty has been her rock of Gibraltar. She has been strong herself and has been helping Shenaaz to mourn and move on. She also feels that the best way for Shehnaaz to come out of this loss will be to immerse herself in work and therefore she has been counselling her to get back to work soon, start meeting friends and lead a normal life."

Earlier, it was reported that Shehnaaz had not been keeping well- and she was eating or sleeping well too. But the same source added that Rita Shukla has been standing beside her, not leaving her alone. Now, she is helping her cope up with the loss. This is heartwarming. While we know that wounds like these might not heal even with time, we hope that Shehnaaz finds the strength to cope up with it.
Bigg Boss OTT- Raqesh's sister Sheetal on Karan Johars sexist remark: The language used for him is very strong

Last week, other than Raqesh Bapat and Nishant Bhat, the rest of the contestants of Bigg Boss OTT were nominated for evictions. But they got a fair chance to save themselves! Nishant and Raqesh got the power to select any two housemates for a disadvantage ahead of this task. While Nishant picked Shamita Shetty and Neha Bhasin, Raqesh selected Pratik Sehajpal as he was hell-bent on saving Shamita. In order to convince Nishant, Raqesh stated that Pratik is the only male contestant in the task and he should get the disadvantage because men are physically stronger than women. This did not go down well with the other contestants and even Karan Johar called the actor sexist on Sunday Ka Vaar.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Voot (@voot)

Raqesh was deeply impacted by this entire topic because he felt his words have been given a different meaning. Well, in a recent interview with Spotboye, his sister Sheetal reacted to KJos remark. She shared, His words were taken out of context and used against him. My brother and I have been working together in the field of girl child education, counselling and rehabilitation of domestic violence survivors, and various training for gender stereotypes and changing gender narratives in society. I know my brother and I know that the language used for him is very strong and he's being labelled for all the wrong reasons.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Raqesh Bapat (@raqeshbapat)

Sheetal further stated that its a fact that men, in most cases, are physically stronger than women. But the conversation was in the context of a task, and she felt that when taken out of context, the sentence has a very different meaning. Sheetal went on to add, Also, the context was about two housemates but the entire conversation has taken out of context and the facts change when they aren't in context. Raqesh has always believed in women empowerment.

In your opinion, was Raqesh only trying to convince Nishant or did he actually mean what he said?
Statement by Ambassador Byrne Nason at the UNSC on Sudan

Statement

Thank you Special Representative Perthes for your briefing. I also want to welcome Sudans representative with us today. And of course, I want to sincerely thank Ms. Hala Alkarib for your truly powerful testimony. Your work and voice, alongside those of so many Sudanese women, have played a vital role in Sudans historic political transition.

The leadership of Sudanese women in bringing about peaceful change is one of the most emblematic examples of women, peace and security in action in recent years. This is what we mean when we speak about the transformative power of womens participation. The courage of women in standing up against oppression was powerful in ways that no gun, bullet or bomb could ever be.



And in Sudan, we saw, as we see so often in our work here at the Council, that the cause of womens rights is the cause of peace and democracy. As Alaa Salah told this Council, women in Sudan spoke out against public order laws that restricted their rights and in doing so opposed a system built on quashing dissent.

Historic as it is, progress on Sudans transition is, as we have heard this morning, slow and uneven. Crucially, however, the power-sharing agreement at the centre continues to hold. I am also encouraged by the Prime Ministers new initiative to reinvigorate the process.

The success of this transition will ultimately be based on the Transitional Governments ability to maintain the power sharing agreement and strengthen Government institutions. As we heard today, much more needs to be done across the reform agenda, from human rights to the security sector. It is critical that key democratic institutions, such as the Transitional Legislative Council, are urgently established.

The success of Sudans transition will depend therefore on broadening the political agreement, and investing in the countrys marginalised and conflict-affected areas. We simply cannot expect real buy-in if those at the peace table and in the new institutions do not represent the diversity of the people of Sudan. Women were at the forefront of the protests that lit the spark of change. They must also be at the forefront of the government that will deliver that change. It is crucial that Sudan meets its own commitments, both on the full, equal and meaningful, as well as the safe participation of women.

The current representation of women in the transitional government is far below the 40 percent quota agreed. As Hala said, only one woman sits on the Sovereign Council. I want to underline that this representation is a right, not a request. Youth should also be represented in such peacebuilding processes.

Sudans transition is taking place against a backdrop of a stark economic crisis. The commitment to implement exceptionally difficult, but necessary, economic reforms is admirable. With the cost of many food commodities having doubled in one year, and 3 million children under five suffering from acute malnutrition, our support for Sudans response to humanitarian needs is vital.

We welcome progress on implementing the Juba Peace Agreement, including the formation of key Committees, such as the Darfur Permanent Ceasefire Committee. What is needed now is swift operationalisation of the work of these bodies. Meanwhile we continue to urge all remaining non-signatories to join the Juba Peace Agreement. I want to add that UNITAMS support to women peacebuilders in this negotiation process has also been commendable.

Despite some progress, the security situation in many parts of the country remains deeply concerning, especially in Darfur. The full implementation of the Governments integrated National Protection of Civilians Plan is therefore a matter of real urgency. While we welcome the establishment of state-level Protection of Civilians committees and deployments of the joint protection force in some areas, addressing the root causes of insecurity is the only way to break the cycle of civilian harm.

Finally, as we heard earlier and graphically from Hala, we are seeing alarming levels of sexual and gender based violence across Sudan, including evidence of targeting politically active women, intended no doubt to silence their voices. In this regard, I welcome the Governments enhanced cooperation with the ICC. Perpetrators must be held accountable if we are to end impunity  and this is a vital step in that direction.

Thank you.

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Ola Electric visualises a future factory run by 10,000-strong all-woman workforce

Ola Electric, the mega EV start-up of rideshare company Ola, is planning to run its electric scooter factory with an all-women shop floor, with the workforce of the worlds largest e-scooter factory eventually reaching 10,000 women.

The Ola Futurefactory has already on-boarded the first batch of employees and sales of electric scooter models Ola S1 and Ola S1 Pro have already started.

According to Aggarwal, chairman and group CEO, the Ola Futurefactory will be the "largest all-women factory in the world." Announcing the development, Aggarwal announced on social media,"Aatmanirbhar Bharat requires Aatmanirbhar women!" The first batch of women employees at Ola Electric's manufacturing plant have already been included on rolls.

"This is the first in a series of initiatives we are undertaking at Ola to create a more inclusive workforce and provide economic opportunities for women across the board. 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." Aggarwal said.

Enabling women with economic opportunities improves not just their lives but that of their families and the whole community, the Ola foundet said.

Spread across 500 acres, the Ola Futurefactory will initially start with 1 million annual production capacity, which will be scaled up to 2 million vehicles as per market demand, and growth of the segment. Once completed, the plant will have an annual capacity of 10 million units.

"For India to be the world's manufacturing hub, we must prioritise upskilling and generating employment for our women workforce. Ola Futurefactory is one step towards our vision of the world's future a world with clean mobility, a carbon-negative footprint, and an inclusive workforce. We will continue to take steps that get us closer to achieving each of these across Ola and encourage others to join us so we can accelerate India's progress," he added.

The Ola S1 electric scooter gets maximum range of 181 km with maximum top speed of 115 kmph in the S1 Pro variant

On August 15, 2021, Ola Electric launched its first EV, the Ola S1 electric scooter in two variants, with prices ranging from Rs99,999 (ex-showroom) for the base S1 variant tp Rs1,29,999 for the top-spec Ola S1 Pro variant (ex-showroom). Both variants differ in performance, range, colours, and riding modes, although the basic design is the same.

Ola Electric, which follows the direct (online-only) sales model, and had to postpone sales of its electric scooter as the website faced some technical glitches. Sales are expected to restart from 15 September, according to the company.
Local Fianna Fail Senator Erin McGreehan has hit back at Mail on Sunday columnist Niamh Walsh for her article about the appearances of Fianna Fail politicians during the partys think-in last weekend.

The article, which was published in the Mail on Sunday last weekend, commented on multiple Fianna Fail politicians, in particular on women within the parliamentary party, including Senator McGreehan.

Ms Walsh commented on what Senator McGreehan was wearing which she described as a tuxedo green dress and that if she was to wear it she should at the bare minimum run the iron over it because it had left some creased with laughter.

Senator McGreehan called out Ms Walsh for the article on Twitter, with a significant response from other elected representatives, including An Taoiseach Micheal Martin, who called it an article written in an attempt to demean women who take politics seriously.

Speaking to the Democrat, Senator McGreehan said it was like a knee in the gut when she first read the article on Sunday.

It was just a real knee in the gut, like it took my breath away that someone could come in with a wrecking ball and be so personal in print media, said Senator McGreehan,

She said that this kind of abuse would be received on social media platforms like Twitter, but that seeing it published in national media was surprising.

People act like this on Twitter, people are nasty on Twitter, the insults and throwaway comments on your outfit or your hair or your jumper or whatever.

This was a journalist who gets paid for her opinion in a national newspaper and that was like, How could you be so blatantly mean?

I dont think anybody should be treated like that, said Senator McGreehan.

Senator McGreehan said that she was upset by the story when it was published on Sunday

I got the article, I was rightly upset by it, really upset, like I really was genuinely upset, said Senator McGreehan.

Senator McGreehan said that she decided to collect her thoughts before reacting to the story and went for a 7k walk for SoSad, before tweeting her disappointment with the column.

I just collected my thoughts and I came back and tweeted with my head and my heart, instead of just my heart because I mightnt have been as clear if I had tweeted straight after I read it.

Senator McGreehan said that she wasnt just upset at her portrayal in the article, but upset for her colleagues in the parliamentary party who were mocked by Ms Walsh for their appearances.

Nobody knows anyones struggles, how hard it is for someone to get up in the morning and put that best foot forward on that day, said Senator McGreehan.

For someone to come in with a wrecking ball on people who are there not to look well, were there to dress appropriately and to give us a bit of confidence to feel well and to do our job well.

I dont get my empathy or my passion from my wardrobe, I get that from my want to do my job.

Local Fianna Fail Cllr John Sheridan said that politicians should be challenged and critiqued on their policies and decisions, but not on what they wear.

Cllr Pearse McGeough of Sinn Fein said that there was no excuse for the content contained in the Mail on Sunday article, and that politicians should not be judged on their appearances.

The Democrat reached out to the Mail for comment but none has been received as of publication.
The next instalment of the SEEK Urban Arts Festival is going to be legendary in more ways than one.

The fourth mural in this years line-up is going to be the tallest one in Ireland.

The location of this record breaking mural will be none other than the Crowne Plaza Hotel - an already instantly identifiable landmark in the Dundalk skyline that also holds the title of the 10th tallest building in Ireland.

The artistic theme chosen for this seismic wall is Lugh (Lu) one of the most ancient and prominent gods in Irish mythology, and is famed as the namesake of County Louth.

A mural of these epic proportions is ambitious, its hard to believe that the SEEK Festival in Dundalk is only in its third year when you look at what they have already achieved to date.

Martin McElligott, TCCM said: "Its exciting news, not only for the festival, but for the town. The grand scale of this location is something we could only have dreamed of three years ago.

The artist we have invited to undertake this monumental piece of work is known as SMUG One and is internationally renowned."

Australian artist Sam Bates aka SMUG One said: It's always a pleasure to visit cities and towns I haven't experienced before so I'm really excited to come to Dundalk. This wall might be the tallest I've painted so although there's always an amount of nerves approaching a mural of this size I'm really keen to get stuck in.

Speaking on behalf of the Crowne Plaza, Cormac McCann said: We are incredibly excited to be involved in this year's SEEK 2021 program.

The stunning murals created by the festival artists are something we in the wider community should take real pride in.

It will be great to now have the tallest mural on the Island of Ireland here in Dundalk, and with artwork that celebrates the ancient culture and historical significance of the county - to say we are excited is an understatement.

Project partner, Sarah Daly and the team from Creative Spark are very excited to see the work that SMUG will produce during this next phase of SEEK Dundalk and really pleased that the 2021 festival has been extended to include more elements and a longer timeframe.

This year for the first time as part of the extended festival we will provide mentoring and training programmes to TY and 5th year students who are considering careers in the creative industries, to allow them access to professional artists and cultural events coordinators.

We will shortly begin the development of a book commemorating the first three years of SEEK  featuring photographs of the wall murals, interviews with the artists, and essays on the local historical individuals depicted in the murals. The book will celebrate not just the festival but the town and its inhabitants past and present.
By The Staff of The News

CLOVIS  Eastern New Mexico residents with business  or pleasure  in Dallas-Fort Worth will have another travel option this fall.

Starting Nov. 1, the Clovis Regional Airport will offer passenger service to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

A news release from the city of Clovis states tickets will go on sale Oct. 1.

The Clovis airport, through Denver Air Connection, will continue to provide direct flights to Denver as well, the release said.

DAC currently provides 12 non-stop round trips per week to the Denver International Airport using its 30-passenger Dornier 328 Jet aircraft, according to the release. In November, flight schedules will be split evenly between Dallas and Denver.

Some area residents were disappointed last year to learn DAC would not be traveling to Dallas from Clovis as its predecessor, Boutique Air, had done since 2014. Officials said the U.S. Department of Transportation made the decision to change directions as part of the federally subsidized Essential Air Service operations.

Boutique made its final Clovis to DFW flight April 30 of last year, and DAC took over the following day.

Denver Air Connection is driven first by the needs and wants of the communities we serve; adding DFW to Clovis air service is part of our commitment to you, said Jon Coleman of Denver Air Connection in Tuesday's news release.

It wasn't immediately clear what times or days flights to Dallas might be offered. A woman who answered the phone for DAC on Tuesday said she didn't have any information on possible flight times. DAC's website  flyclovisnm.com  on Tuesday did not list Dallas options for scheduling.

DAC currently offers at least one flight daily to Denver.
Project will improve security and reliability of power supply, reduce losses

Prosumers to be integrated into the power distribution system

Significant reduction of CO 2 emissions

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a 40 million loan to Serbias electricity distribution company, Elektrodistribucija Srbije (EDS) to finance the roll-out of smart metering infrastructure.

The loan proceeds will be used for the first phase of smart meter deployment, such as the installation of software and hardware, and integration of the new system. Around 205,000 smart meters are expected to be installed in Serbias three cities of Kraljevo, Cacak and Nis.

The investment will improve the security and reliability of the power supply, reduce commercial losses and improve tariff collection rates. The expected reduction in technical losses, due to old equipment, will lead to CO 2 emissions savings of 5,000 tonnes each year.

Furthermore, the smart metering infrastructure will encourage new renewable energy projects and help to integrate prosumers into the power distribution system, in line with the new Law on Renewable Energy Sources.

Nandita Parshad, Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Group, EBRD, said: One of our key priorities for Serbia in the energy sector is to introduce technologies which can improve energy efficiency and reduce the countrys emissions intensity, and we are glad that this investment with EDS will bring us a step closer to reaching these objectives.

Sasa Stefanovic, Business System Director, EDS, said: We are very pleased to be starting the implementation of this important project which will lead to optimization of network and costs savings for our company. We look forward to seeing the results of the rollout of the first phase and to continue to work on improving and modernising our network and services.

Serbia, similar to other Western Balkans countries, suffers from high carbon intensity, low energy efficiency and a high level of energy losses. The country is set to work on improving energy efficiency governance, with smart metering as one of the priority projects.

This project is also aligned with EBRDs digitalisation agenda as it envisages the roll-out of smart meters which will support the digitalisation of the countrys power sector, enhancing the reliability and flexibility of supply and demand side management.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Serbia and has invested more than 6.7 billion across 289 projects in the country to date. The EBRD is focusing on support for private-sector development, the improvement of public utility services and on the overall transition to a green economy.
A WINTER plan is the key thing needed to help tackle problems with overcrowding at Cork University Hospital (CUH), a Government minister has said.

Speaking in Cork, Michael McGrath, the public expenditure and reform minister, said the overcrowding situation at the hospital was quite challenging and the key thing was for a winter plan to be brought forward by Stephen Donnelly, the health minister, and the HSE.

I expect that to happen quite shortly, he said, confirming that a plan would be in place within a matter of weeks.

The latest National Treatment Purchase Fund figures show an increase in the number of patients awaiting treatment in Cork with more than 31,000 adults awaiting outpatient treatment at CUH.

Speaking on RTE Radio 1s Today with Claire Byrne yesterday, HSE chief clinical officer Colm Henry said the waiting list from a clinical perspective is a big worry to me and to clinicians and to people who lead different clinical programmes.

What I want to see is the same intent and purpose and focus on the pandemic and the reaction to that onto waiting lists because what we proved during the pandemic was that with that kind of focus and energy we can respond in the most extreme of crisis and Ive no doubt if we approach the waiting lists with the same energy we can do the same thing, he said.

The number of adults waiting in the various timebands for outpatient treatment at CUH as of August 26 was 31,318, while 5,382 children awaited treatment at the hospital, an increase on the numbers waiting the month previous when 30,721 adults and 5,326 children were awaiting treatment.

A total of 1,951 adults and 44 were awaiting outpatient treatment at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH).

Elsewhere in the city, Mercy University Hospital had 6,993 adults and 522 children awaiting outpatient treatment, while at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital there were 21,240 adults and 1,925 children awaiting outpatient treatment.

At Bantry General Hospital, there were 1,602 adults awaiting outpatient treatment and at Mallow General Hospital there were 2,715 adults and 122 children.

The number of adults waiting for inpatient treatment at CUH as of August 26 was 1,118, while 152 children awaited treatment at the hospital.

A total of 594 adults were awaiting inpatient treatment at CUMH, while the Mercy had 1,105 adults and 107 children awaiting inpatient treatment and the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital had 2,527 adults and 129 children awaiting inpatient treatment.

At Bantry General Hospital, there were 127 adults awaiting inpatient treatment and at Mallow General Hospital there were 199 adults.

Commenting on the National Treatment Purchase Fund figures, IHCA president Professor Alan Irvine said it has been another sobering week in healthcare.

Meanwhile, the Irish Cancer Society has said that an investment of 45m is urgently needed in Budget 2022 to rebuild pandemic-hit cancer services so they can cope with an expected upcoming surge in demand.
GARDAI in Cork are investigating a fraud incident in which 5,000 was taken out of a persons bank account after responding to a text message.

The fraud incident is one of six reported to gardai in the Bandon district in the past week, along with four made the previous week.

In this incident, a person responded to a text message and ended up handing over PIN details for their bank account, enabling the fraudsters to siphon 5,000 from the account.

Investigations are underway but gardai say the fraud was committed outside the State.

Superintendent Brendan Fogarty said: Be very careful  nobody should be asking you for your PIN numbers or other bank details.




Thirty-three countries to aid Dominican Republic in combating ASF



A total of 33 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean have agreed to join efforts to aid the Dominican Republic in combating African swine fever (ASF) and prevent its spread.

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, agriculture and livestock ministers from the countries will, by resolution, support the country in the implementation of sanitary, economic and social actions and initiatives as it tackles ASF.

The ministerial commitment was established by Resolution No. 14 during the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2021 held in Costa Rica, within the framework of the 21st Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (JIA) of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The commitment includes management and communicating the risk for virus control, strengthening the updating and improvement of sanitary emergency plans with the respective development of ASF contingency plans, standardised operations manuals and recovery plans to protect production, trade and food.

- Ministry of Agriculture (Dominican Republic)
The Korea Fair Trade Commission has imposed a $177 million fine on Google, accusing the tech giant of using its dominant position in the market to hamper the development of Android rivals. According to Yonhap News, Korea's antitrust regulator has decided that the anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) Google makes manufacturers sign in exchange for using its Android operating system hampers competition.

The agreement prevents phone manufacturers, including Korean companies Samsung and LG, from creating and installing their own versions of the Android OS (or Android forks) on their devices. Yonhap News says the commission has been looking into whether the agreement stifles competition since 2016. In addition to slapping Google with a fine, the commission has also banned the company from forcing manufacturers to sign AFAs going forward and to modify existing ones.

In a statement sent to Bloomberg and CNBC, the tech giant argued that Android and its compatibility program sped up innovation and improved user experience, benefiting companies that include Korean manufacturers. "The KFTC's decision released today ignores these benefits, and will undermine the advantages enjoyed by consumers. Google intends to appeal the KFTC's decision," the spokesperson said.

The KFTC has revealed its decision on the same day Korea's amendment to the country's Telecommunications Business Act went live. That amendment adds a law that will require Google and Apple to allow third-party payments for the applications on their App Stores.
There are a number of autonomous boats under development, but we've seen few commercial self-driving ships plying waterways. Now, a company called Sea Machines has announced that it will send an autonomous, remotely commanded tugboat on a 1,000 nautical mile (1,150 mile) "Machine Odyssey" voyage around Denmark.

The tug ("Nellie Bly") will have "full onboard vessel control managed by autonomous technology," but be operated under the authority of officers located in the US. The aim is to show "global companies that operate the fleets of cargo ships, tugs, ferries, and the many other types of commercial workboats that they can integrate autonomous technology into their vessel operations for a host of technology-driven benefits."

Sea Machines

The tug will be steered by Sea Machines' SM300 autonomous system equipped with long-range computer vision. It's a "sensor-to-propeller" system that employs "path-planning, obstacle avoidance replanning, vectored nautical chart data and dynamic domain perception" to control a voyage from start to finish. At the same time, it shows the remote human commanders information like live augmented overlays of the mission, vessel state, situational awareness, environmental data and "real-time vessel-born audio and video from the many streaming cameras."

It appears that the Nellie Bly will set sail ahead of Yara's crewless electric cargo ship that's supposed to launch by the end of 2021. That vessel will use a 7MWh battery and 900kW propulsion system to steam at 13 knots from Herya to Brevik, Norway  a distance of around 13km (8 miles). Sea Machines' tug is built by the Dutch shipyard Damen and appears to be powered by a pair of outboard motors.

When Sea Machines' tugboat launches, you'll be able to follow it yourself as the voyage will be streamed 24/7, the company said. It's set to launch on September 30th from Germany.

Update 12:50PM ET: Updated this story to note that the boat will be taking off on September 30th, a day earlier than originally planned.
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Samsung may not have added to the Galaxy Note lineup this year, but you can still get last year's excellent Note 20 series if you prefer big, slab-like phones to foldables. Amazon's running a sale right now on the entire series, knocking the Galaxy Note 20 5G down to $750 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G to $900. That's an all-time-low price on the Note 20 and only $25 more than the record-low on the Note 20 Ultra. The online retailer also has a daily deal today on Samsung SmartTags, so you could pick up one of the company's tiny Bluetooth trackers for only $20 to go with your new smartphone.

These are some of the biggest and boldest smartphones Samsung has made in recent years, with the Note 20 including a 6.7-inch FHD+ AMOLED touchscreen and the Note 20 Ultra sporting a 6.9-inch Quad HD+ AMOLED screen. Both run on the same octa-core processor and support 5G connectivity, but the Note 20 Ultra has 12GB of RAM while the standard Note 20 has 8GB. Both also come with the Note series' signature S Pen for drawing, doodling and note-taking and that's one of the biggest selling point for these devices. The S Pen, while it hasn't changed much over the past few years, continues to be a solid stylus for Note handsets, with little lag time when writing on the smartphone's screen and gesture controls with features like Anywhere Actions.

While the Note series isn't for everyone, the Note 20 Ultra earned a score of 86 from us and we considered it to be Samsung's best big phone when it came out last year. It has excellent performance, a fantastic screen, a battery that lasted at least 12 hours on a single charge and a more thoughtful S Pen experience than previous generations. It's over the top in many ways, but a device like that is easier to justify when you can get it for much less than usual.

As for Samsung's SmartTags, they're the company's version of Tiles trackers and Apple's AirTags. You can attach one to things like your keys or slip one into your wallet to keep track of things via your smartphone. The companion app will show the tracker's last location and you can also use to to force the SmartTag to ring so you can follow the sound to your lost item. SmartTags are water-resistant and, unlike AirTags, they have a keyring hole so you can easily attach them to your things without buying additional accessories.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Tanya Fear, popularly known for her role Dr. Jade McIntyre from a 2018 episode of "Doctor Who," is found alive in Los Angeles, California, days after her disappearance sparked an online campaign in hopes of finding her.

According to The Sun, as reported by Daily Mail UK, the 31-year-old actress first went missing on Thursday last week, but the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that she had been located.

It was revealed that she was seen at a Trader Joe's grocery store over this weekend.

Fear's family and friends created a Twitter account called #FindTanyaFear also shared a statement to confirm the news.

"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." (read the complete statement below)

Tanya has been found!! We are extremely grateful to every single member of the public who helped in finding her. We couldnt have done it without you  pic.twitter.com/f74REMH9K7  #FoundTanyaFear (@FindTanyaFear) September 13, 2021

The account went on to thank the authorities and the public for their efforts in locating the actress. At the time of this writing, the reason why she took off remains a mystery.

Aside from the official Twitter account, KTLA 5 News, as reported by Express U.K., also noted that she's being "treated at a local hospital."

Tanya Fear's Family Left In The Dark?

According to the outlet mentioned above, the actress's cousin, Kudzi Manyande, said she spoke to Fear's mother, where she found out that the authorities did not reach out to them when her cousin was found.

"She's trying to call them as she has also seen similar news on social media. She says until she sees/speaks to her, she won't believe it." Manyande told the outlet.

READ NOW: Alex Rodriguez Reacts to Bennifer 2.0 Red Carpet Debut by Partying with Younger Boys and Posting About 'His Greatest Love'

She also mentioned that the situation left them "so distressed," and not being in the United States made it difficult for them.

Fear's father, currently living in Germany, told the outlet that he was also not notified after his daughter was found.

Tanya Fear's Situation Before She Vanished

Before Fear left her Hollywood Bowl apartment without her phone or purse on September 9, her manager, Alex Cole, revealed that the actress "seemed fine" when he saw her.

He mentioned that the "Doctor Who" star has had a great career, and "this is just the beginning." Cole hopes that the incident is just a "simple mistake."

Tanya Fear has been living in the U.S. for six years on and off. She grew up in the United Kingdom, where she studied at Kings' College University.

Her family members said she started working as a stand-up comedian at the time of her disappearance.

READ ALSO: Kanye West Makes Kim Kardashian Divorce Twitter and Instagram Official
2021-09-13

Maeci

Today marks the start of the 48th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the last regular session of Italy's current three-year term as a member of the HRC (2019-2021).

In 2018, Italy was elected as a member of the Council with broad support: 180 countries considered us qualified to sit on the United Nations' leading body for the promotion and protection of human rights globally. Over the past three years we have worked tirelessly to honour this mandate, helping to raise the international community's attention to the most serious human rights situations, with a special focus on priority issues, such as promoting gender equality, combating all forms of violence against women and combating all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Benedetto Della Vedova, will address the UNHRC tomorrow, in the framework of the General Debate, to reiterate Italy's full support to the work of the United Nations human rights bodies, especially the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and to ensure that Italy will continue in its future role as an observer  to attentively follow and take an active part in the work of the UNHRC. Deputy Minister Della Vedova's presence in Geneva will also allow us to continue to stress the importance of keeping the international community's attention focused on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: in line with the motto of our three-year term in the UNHRC, "Human Rights for Peace", we are convinced that full and universal respect for human rights is a fundamental condition for building peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies. With this in mind, the Deputy Minister will also meet with High Commissioner Bachelet at the Palais des Nations.

To UNHRC session will be streamed live at: https://media.un.org/en/webtv/
Enterprises to experience connected automation that will connect people, processes & data to unlock enterprise-wide benefits

BENGALURU, India, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, recently unveiled the latest version of its Automation platform AssistEdge 19.0. This new version of the platform is designed to support and scale large process automation programs for global enterprises. Enterprises can now get empowered with granular process visibility and sophisticated orchestration capabilities to seamlessly integrate bots, human experts, and AI technologies to meet key business objectives.

Intelligent Automation is fast becoming a catalyst in architecting the future of enterprise. However, the real benefits accrue only when Intelligent Automation is adopted at scale. As enterprises move along the automation maturity curve, many consistent barriers arising from disconnected automation implementation, continue to hold them back from adopting automation at scale. To derive sustainable value, organizations need to build capability to deliver personalized customer journeys on a foundation of hyper-efficient execution. This would reshape the enterprise to tap human expertise for empathy and innovation, while leveraging bots for productivity and quality.

AssistEdge 19.0 provides enterprises the opportunity to connect:

People  Wider connection of people into automation journey through low code platforms for citizen developers and enterprise personal automation assistants.

Process  Stronger connection of processes into automation journey with end-to-end process orchestration through workflows and auto-automation.

Data  Deeper connection of data into automation journey through contextual data discovery, intelligent document processing and advanced insights.

"The next frontier in digital transformation will be achieved by integrating business processes across multiple business units. AssistEdge 19.0, a platform best suited for large enterprises, will champion this shift by connecting people, process, data across business units, with insight led decision-making," said Sateesh Seetharamiah, Chief Business Officer and Global Head, Edge Products, EdgeVerve Systems Ltd.

About AssistEdge

AssistEdge offers a cohesive automation platform that enables enterprises to scale in their automation journey. It offers enterprises with a comprehensive suite of products enabling them to drive initiatives around process discovery, intelligent automation and digital workforce orchestration. AssistEdge has helped enterprises unlock value in the form of reduced service time, faster sales cycles, better resource allocation, accelerated revenue recognition and improved efficiency among others.

https://www.edgeverve.com/assistedge/

About EdgeVerve

EdgeVerve Systems Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infosys, is a global leader in AI and Automation, assisting clients thrive in their digital transformation journey. Our mission is to create a world where our technology augments human intelligence and creates possibilities for enterprises to thrive. Our comprehensive product portfolio across AI (Infosys Nia), Automation (AssistEdge) and Supply Chain (TradeEdge), helps businesses develop deeper connections with stakeholders, power continuous innovation and accelerate growth in the digital world. Today EdgeVerve's products are used by global corporations across financial services, insurance, retail, consumer & packaged goods, life sciences, manufacturing telecom and utilities. Visit us to know how enterprises across the world are thriving with the help of our technology.

https://www.edgeverve.com/

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect 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, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

For more information contact PR_Global@Infosys.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/847965/EdgeVerve_Infosys_Logo.jpg
To commemorate the launch of new Talent Value Proposition and reiterate the commitment to Make a Difference with its members, Marico Limited, an FMCG company, has planted one tree on behalf of all its members in India and other geographies. So far, over 2400 trees have been planted in partnership with Grow Trees in India, Greensavers in Bangladesh and Shahgra in Egypt to begin with. These trees have been planted in tribal and cyclone-prone regions to protect and support communities residing in the area as well as enhance the forest coverage.

Every member is given a certificate acknowledging the tree plantation with the geo-location for the tree. Further, to sustain the impact, each member will be given the opportunity to adopt/gift more trees through the partner organisations. The company plans to extend the initiative to its external stakeholders as well to multiply the effect. Through this unique initiative, the idea is to bring out the true essence of how an organisation and its members can create a positive and lasting impact.

Considering the evolving talent aspirations and business priorities of the 21st century workforce, Marico Limiteds brand new TVP centres around nurturing the growth of the members, who form the backbone of the organisation by fostering a diverse, autonomous and transparent work environment. In line with the new proposition, the company will recalibrate its employee engagement and culture to enable all members to Go Beyond, Grow Beyond and Be the Impact across all Marico offices in India and other geographies.

Speaking about this, Mr. Amit Prakash, CHRO, Marico Limited has said, Staying true to our core philosophy of making a difference, we have created our new TVP that actively realises our members aspirations of leaving a positive mark on the society, while also unlocking and nurturing their true potential and raising the bar of excellence with Marico. Therefore, we have chosen to mark the launch of our new Talent Value Proposition with the #MaricoGreenFootprints, while taking a step forward in our ongoing efforts towards building a carbon-neutral future.

To bring their Talent Value Proposition alive, Marico Limited will be rolling out several new initiatives undergo beyond, grow beyond, be the impact pillars, thereby enhancing the member experience promised through the new proposition by the company.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Tuesday, September 14, 2021

By Scott Lorenz

Westwind Book Marketing

Getting a rejection letter hurts. I know because I deal with authors all the time, and I have seen first-hand how it can take its toll on the confidence and motivation of an author.

The harsh truth is most writers will face some form of rejection throughout their writing career, and even some of the greatest writers of our time had to deal with rejection letters.

I have put together a list of well-known authors who were rejected by publishers but went on to become immensely successful. Some of the names on this list may really surprise you.

1. J. K. Rowling: A few years ago, J.K. Rowling posted rejection letters on Twitter that she received for her first novel, The Cuckoos Calling, a book written under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. I wasnt going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that would happen, says Rowling. The book was eventually published and the author then went on to write Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, which was also initially rejected, this time by 12 publishers. When the book was finally published, however, it sold more than 120 million copies. The famous Harry Potter series has now sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling series of all time!

2. Stephen King: Stephen King was told: We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell. for his book debut novel Carrie, which was rejected by 30 publishers. Later in his career, these rejections would inspire him to write some of his best-selling works. In his book On Writing, Stephen King says he pinned every single rejection letter he had received to his wall with a nail, By the time I was fourteen, the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing. Today, the best-selling author has published 63 books and sold more than 350 million copies.

3. Vladimir Nabokov: Over a five-year period, forty editors declined the offer to publish Lolita. In his book The Making of a Bestseller, Arthur T Vanderbilt mentions that one publisher said to Vladimir: I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years. Yet when the book was eventually published it became a literary sensation.

4. Jack Canfield: Canfields book, Chicken Soup for the Soul got rejected by 144 publishers! The book went on to become a bestseller. As of date, the series has sold more than 500 million books. Canfield said: If we had given up after 100 publishers, I likely would not be where I am now. I encourage you to reject rejection. If someone says no, just say NEXT!.

5. Dr Seuss: For his first story, And to think I saw it on Mulberry street, Dr Seuss was rejected by 27 publishers. Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling, one letter said. Luckily, the author did not give up and continued to write. Today, his books have made over 300 million sales, and the author is considered one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.

It is easy for writers to wallow in self-doubt and pity after receiving rejection letters from publishers or agents. That fear can be powerful, and it can deter writers from doing what they love. Sometimes, it can even be the reason they give up on their writing dreams altogether. I hope this list can help inspire you to keep writing and not give up.

Its also easy to forget that writing a book is an incredible accomplishment, and the undertaking itself deserves great commendation. Receiving rejection letters doesnt mean your book has failed or that it wont succeed. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to improve the chances of your book becoming successful. If you have finished writing your book, make sure its properly edited and proofread before sending it out to publishers. Editing, copyediting, and proofreading can truly make your book shine.

Once your book has finished the editing stage, the next step is to market it appropriately. This stage can prove pivotal for success. Check out my article on how you can generate buzz around your book to help your book get the attention it deserves. Another important element of book marketing that is overlooked at times is the author website. I have previously compiled a list of top author websites which you can use as inspiration to design your own.

The Bottom Line: Receiving a rejection letter shouldnt be the reason you give up on your writing dreams. Be inspired by the successful authors above who used rejection as fuel to keep going.

Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether its their first book or their 15th book. Hes handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Womans World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Ashley Elliott co-author of The DemonIn Disguise.





Ashley was raised inConway, Arkansas. A survivor and an advocate for victims, she devotedmore than a decade to her quest for justice after her fathersmurder and mothers kidnapping.

She holds a BS inOrganizational Communication from the University of Utah, and is anavid hiker, athlete, bodybuilder who has competed in and won medalsin various competitions. She lives in Utah with her husband andchildren.

Good day Ashley and thanksfor taking part in our interview.

Norm: What is the one thing other people always seem toget wrong about you?





Ashley: The one thingpeople tend to get wrong about me is that I am not a nice person andunapproachable. I am very direct in my speech and it can beoff-putting to most. I am also an introvert, shy, guarded and thatdoesnt help. It takes a while to get to know me.

Norm: If you could goback ten years and give yourself one piece of advice what would thatadvice be?

Ashley: I am a controlfreak so I would tell myself to relax. Life is much more enjoyable ifyou loosen the death grip on everything and relax. Its a practicethat I work on daily.

Norm: When did theidea for The Demon in Disguise first emerge?

Ashley: When MichaelCoffino, my co-author, and I set out on this journey it wasnt ourintent to publish a book titled The Demon in Disguise. It was towrite a book about the events in my life, it was an outlet for me andit was a form of therapy. It was cathartic.

Norm: What was thetime-line between the time you decided to write your book andpublication? What were the major events along the way?

Ashley: I believe Michaeland I started in February 2020. We then submitted The Demon inDisguise in December to about 10 different publishers. Michael and Idecided on a publisher in January 2021 and here we are with apublication date of September 24, 2021.

We did not encounter anymajor events. I believed we unearthed more injustice. For example,Dick died in prison but due to laws I was unable to find out whatcaused his death.



I simply cannot rectify in my head how a criminal,a murderer has rights even after he is dead. I tried to obtain adeath certificate and could not, even though I was, at one time, hisstep-daughter.

There are other questionsthat still remain unanswered. Why was my mother not notified byV.I.N.E ((Victim Information and Notification Everyday) of Dicksearly release or even by the state of Nevada?

Why was the state ofArkansas unaware of Dicks early release? Why was Dick receiving anearly release? Who made these decisions?

These are just a few ofthe many questions that will remain a mystery.

Norm: What purpose doyou believe your story serves and what matters to you about thestory?

Ashley: To me, thepurpose of my story was to know what happened to my family. I want mychildren to know what happened. I want them to know that despite allthat our family has been through that these things do not define usand we are resilient.

Norm: How did youcollaborate with Michael J. Coffino in the writing of the book? As afollow up, did you write more by logic or intuition, or somecombination of the two? Please summarize your writing process.

Ashley: I found Michael onguru.com. I went to his web page and checked him out. I reached outto him and we scheduled a phone call. I knew right away he was theman for the job. He was a lawyer, private investigator, straightforward, easy to talk to and a published writer.

I believe we wrote by bothlogic and intuition. In the beginning, I would email Michael myattempts to sit down and write. These were more like extremelyemotional journal entries.

Then Michael and I wouldspend an hour or two on the phone once or twice a week and talk aboutdifferent topics. He would record our call and have them transcribed.



We made a list of individuals to interview, submitted FOIAsrequests, and gathered everything we needed to construct a timelineof each crime.

As he wrote the chaptersof the book he would send them to me to review. I would make anychanges until we came to the end of the book. It was a very catharticprocess.



Norm: Can you share somestories about people you met while researching this book? What aresome of the references that you used while researching this book?

Ashley: I pretty much kneweveryone I was writing about. They had all been in my life at onepoint or another, therefore I dont really have any stories to tellper se.

Michael and I sent outFOIA requests to various offices to obtain all the files we needed todevelop and establish each crime.

The Faulkner CountyProsecutor's office was most helpful in supplying us with all thefiles from my father and Timmy Waynes murders and so was DouglasCounty for the kidnapping of my mother.



The state of Utah, I feel,was least help and that was a disappointment.

Lieutenant Barrett, of theConway Police Department, was the lead investigator on my dadscase and he agreed to be interviewed for the book. He is anincredible man. He helped me the most overcome so many unansweredquestions.



Norm: What was one of themost surprising things you learned in writing the book?

Ashley: The events of mymothers kidnapping were one of the most surprising things Ilearned about. In my head, I had my version of what happened.However, based on the files that I received from Douglas County, itwas nothing like I imagined.



Norm: Did you think aboutyour reading public when you write the book? Did you imagine aspecific reader when you wrote the book?

Ashley: I would imagineMichael had a reader in mind but I did not. I wrote this book formyself. I needed to process what happened to my family in the mostlogical format possible.



Norm: In your opinion,what was the most difficult part of the writing process?

Ashley: I think the mostdifficult part of the writing process was having to read The Demon InDisguise over and over again.



Each time I read it I relived the mostpainful days of my life. I also feel that publishing my story isdifficult.

I am literally putting the most vulnerable portion of mylife on display to anyone that wants to read it. It feels scary toput yourself out there.

Norm: Where did the titleThe Demon in Disguise come from?

Ashley: Dick Conte is TheDemon In Disguise. He came into my life disguised as a caretaker,loving husband to my mom, my uncle's best friend, an ER doctor,volunteer for the S.W.A.T. team, a military man and a mercenary.



Skeptical as I was, I allowed him to slither his way into our lives.In the end, Dick came into my life to kill, steal and destroy allthat I held so precious.





Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and The Demon in Disguise?

Ashley: Social Media. Itry to keep my content different on each platform. My WEBSITE, is the main hub of information. My FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE is mainly quotes, events and I do bookgiveaways.

My INSTAGRAM AUTHOR is more personal. Ilove pictures so I tend to post more on Instagram.

Norm; What is next forAshley Elliott?

Ashley: I would love toattempt to write another book but for right now I will be focusing onfamily.

Norm: As this interviewcomes to an end, if you could change one thing about the world whatwould it be? How would it change you?

Ashley: I would like tohave transparency within our government agencies. Transparency wouldhold those individuals who have power over me accountable for theirchoices and actions. They would no longer be able to hide behind aposition of power and cover up what I perceive to be wrongdoings.



Norm: Thanks once againand good luck with The Demon in Disguise.

Follow Here To Read Norm's Review of The Demon in Disguise


Jasper, Indiana Kevin Schewe, author of Bad Love Medicine, fourth in the Bad Love Gang sci-fi/history series, was featured on the Talk with Audrey Radio Show. Audrey opened the interview with interest on two topics. First, what type of creative process was involved in creating the science fiction involved in the series? Second, how does Schewe, who also works full time as a radiation oncologist, find the time to churn out so much material?

In a little over two-years, Schewe has managed to write and publish four books and pen an award-winning screenplay for the first book in the series, Bad Love Strikes. That is amazingly productive considering the amount of real-life history, based on World War II and the Cold War of the 1970s, which is a vital part of every book.

The screenplay recently won its 6th award in Korea after winning in Munich, Germany at the New Wave Short Film Festival, where it was chosen as a Special Jury Screenplay Selection. His screenplay has also won the Prix Royal Paris Silver Screenplay Award, the South Florida International Film Festival for Best Original Screenplay for Young Adults, the L.A. Film Awards Best Sci-Fi Screenplay, and a Gold Script Writing Award for Sci-Fi Adventure from the Depth of Field International Film Festival. "Great writing needs to be savored and rewarded," say the Prix Royal judges.

Expert Click Radio  Kevin Schewe, Author of 'Bad Love Medicine,' Featured on Talk with Audrey Radio Show

Bad Love Medicine is the fourth installment in the Bad Love Gang Series and takes readers from the deep-space beauty of Planet Azur back to a WWII Europe riddled with danger and espionage, bringing the time traveling heroes face-to-face with one of history's greatest villainsAdolf Hitler himself. The Bad Love Gang series is part history lesson and part sci-fi adventure. Schewe's engaging Bad Love Gang (based on his own friends in high school) once again set out to save historythis time, by stopping the Nazis from creating a time machine of their own.

The screenplay recently drew its 5th award in Munich, Germany at the New Wave Short Film Festival where it was chosen as a Special Jury Screenplay Selection. His screenplay has also won the Prix Royal Paris Silver Screenplay Award, the South Florida International Film Festival for Best Original Screenplay for Young Adults, the L.A. Film Awards Best Sci-Fi Screenplay, and a Gold Script Writing Award for Sci-Fi Adventure from the Depth of Field International Film Festival. "Great writing needs to be savored and rewarded," say the Prix Royal judges.

"If history was taught this way in school, everyone would be a scholar and educating ourselves not only about our accomplishments but the horrors of the past that should awaken and give insight to the path of a better future. A rare gem!" David Holladay, MD, 5-Stars

They also discussed exactly how Schewe picked the popular songs which are spread throughout all four of the books. The author talked about growing up with the songs of the 1960s and 1970s and how, during the writing process, those songs come to him in what he calls his "musical brain." This is really a fun part of the Schewe's interview with Mark Bishop.

In Bad Love Strikes, the Gang discovered The White Hole Project, a time machine created by President Franklin Roosevelt in case the atomic bomb failed. In the exciting first sequel, Bad Love Tigers, the gang used the White Hole Project to travel back to 1945 to thwart Russian spies and protect the secrets of Area 51. In Bad Love Beyond, the gang traveled not just through time but through space as well to learn the reason behind Blue Nova One's mysterious visit to earth. Now, in Bad Love Medicine, the gang has a two-fold mission: reunite a love-struck couple (while saving one of them from a future fate of cancer) separated by time and stop the Nazis from creating a time machine of their own.

Bad Love Medicine Book Trailer





Readers of all ages will love Bad Love Medicine, which also contains a soundtrack to guide you on your journey. Schewe, a lifelong WWII aficionado, has spent years researching the topics included in his books, including the nuclear physics behind the time and space travel, which makes the story that much more immersive. "These stories just come to life in such an organic way," says Schewe. "They combine my childhood memories with my love of history, music, military aviation, WWII, science fiction and time travel."

Whether you're a history aficionado, a time-travel buff, a sci-fi lover, or are just in need of a fun book to cheer you up, Bad Love Medicine is the adventure you've been waiting for. Grab your copy today!

About Kevin Schewe: Kevin L. Schewe, MD, FACRO, is a board-certified cancer specialist who has been in the private practice of radiation oncology for over 34 years. He is an entrepreneur, having founded Elite Therapeutics and Bad Love Cosmetics Company, LLC. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of a small, publicly traded, renewable energy and animal feed company called VIASPACE, Inc.

A long-time history buff, Schewe is the author of the Bad Love Book Series, a young adult sci-fi adventure that spans much of early 20th century history. The series includes titles such as Bad Love Strikes, Bad Love Tigers, Bad Love Beyond, and the newest in the series, Bad Love Medicine. His series has garnered international critical acclaim, including the Wishing Shelf Book Award Red Ribbon. He has also adapted Bad Love Strikes into a feature-length screenplay, earning him multiple accolades, including Best Original Screenplay for Young Adults from the South Florida International Film Festival, Best Sci-Fi screenplay from the LA Film Awards, and a Gold Script Writing Award for Sci-Fi Adventure from the Depth of Field International Film Festival.

You can connect with Kevin Schewe through his website KevinSchewe.com or on his Instagram, @realkevinschewe

Bad Love Medicine, ASIN: B098TN6GKC, Broken Crow Ridge Publishing, July 6, 2021, available on Amazon and www.jancarolpublishing.com in ebook and paperback, 258 pages. Be sure to watch the exciting book trailers for the first three books here: https://bit.ly/BadLoveStrikes-Trailer and https://bit.ly/BadLoveTigers_Trailer and https://bit.ly/BadLoveBeyondTrailer

Media Contact: For a review copy of Bad Love Beyond, or previous books in the series, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Kevin Schewe, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @abookpublicist
With four new entrants to downtowns hotel scene scheduled to open by the end of the year, the Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk is set for a $19.8 million makeover.

Plans call for renovating 629 guest rooms  including new flooring, paint, vanities, showers and tubs  according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Construction at the hotel at 123 Losoya St. is expected to start in November and conclude in April, the filing shows. A Hyatt Hotels Corp. spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry Monday.

The Hyatts renovation will join several other hotel projects in the works nearby. While downtown had not seen a new hotel since 2018, four are either open or scheduled to be welcoming guests by the end of this year.

VIEWS & VOICES: The newest newsletter you wont want to miss

The new Canopy by Hilton San Antonio Riverwalk and Thompson San Antonio-Riverwalk are already open. The Riverview Towers office building at 111 Soledad St. is being converted to an AC Hotel by Marriott and an Element Hotel by Westin, which are slated to open later this year.

Last month, the Historic and Design Review Commission gave conceptual approval to designs for an 11-room spa hotel, multiple restaurants and a rooftop bar at 112 Soledad St., next to the shuttered Mexican Manhattan restaurant.

And a group of investors recently bought the Wyndham San Antonio River Walk hotel and plan to plug $50 million into turning it into a luxury InterContinental Hotel, which is anticipated to open in early 2023.

On ExpressNews.com: New chief, more funding: Will it be enough for Visit San Antonio to boost city tourism, conventions?

The coronavirus pandemic decimated tourism, the citys third-largest industry, and downtown was hit particularly hard. Beyond the activity by hotel companies and investors, other signs suggest tourism in San Antonio is beginning to recover.

The number of leisure visitors has been rising since spring break in March and peaked in July. Overall hotel occupancy in July averaged 74 percent, the best month for hotels since the start of the pandemic and just shy of 76.6 percent overall occupancy in July 2019 before COVID-19, according to global hospitality data and analytics company STR.

In the citys central business district specifically, occupancy in July averaged 68.3 percent. That was down from 79.5 percent during the same month in 2019, STR noted.

Leisure tourism is slowing as usual this late summer as families wrap up their vacations and children return to school. And as the pandemic continues to rage, conventions and meetings have not returned en masse as is typical at this time of year.

Visitor levels year-round are not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, Visit San Antonio president and CEO Marc Anderson recently told the City Council. He said he hopes San Antonio will be host to 43 citywide convention events by 2024.

Staff writer Randy Diamond contributed to this report.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
Like a sommelier for fine books instead of wine, Camille Rosengren could pick the perfect work of fiction, Texana or other literature for even the most discerning reader.

She was carrying on a family tradition that made Rosengrens Books the most storied bookseller in San Antonio, starting in the 1930s with Frank and Florence Rosengren and continuing well into the 1980s with their bibliophile daughter-in-law, whom everyone called Cam.

Now the story of Rosengrens Books last matron has come to an end.

Camille Rosengren died Saturday from heart failure at her historic 18th century home in the citys River Road neighborhood, a bookmark at her bedside. She was 94.

Born Camille Sweeney in 1926, the San Antonio native previously was an assistant librarian at San Antonio College and a researcher for the Institute of Texan Cultures before taking up the Rosengrens mantle.

She was the smartest woman Ive ever known, said Rosengrens daughter Emily Ferry, a film and television props master in Los Angeles. And she loved the book world so much.

Many loved that world she maintained at Rosengrens. For 52 years, the downtown bookstore was the South Texas salon for the intelligentsia, drawing famous patrons whose own best-selling books lined the shelves.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio's Wonderland mall opened 60 years ago in 1961, a year of cosmonauts, the Cold War and the Bay of Pigs

Courtesy photo

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Robert Frost once called Rosengrens the greatest of bookstores, an endorsement he left on a signed photo of himself for the store in 1938. Lonesome Dove novelist Larry McMurtry was so inspired by his store visits that he opened his own antiquarian shop, and in the early 80s, Roots author Alex Haley frequented the store during his brief stay in San Antonio.

That framed photo of Robert Frost later hung in Rosengrens home, where she had architect Richard Mogas craft high shelves with rolling ladders to house the many books she loved.

Former Express-News business editor and columnist David Hendricks said, recalling the last time he was in Rosengrens home in 2017, said, I felt like I was back in the store.

Hendricks frequented Rosengrens during his 42 years at the newspaper. He said he sometimes played hooky at the store when he needed a little creative inspiration, only to return to the newsroom 20 minutes later knowing exactly how to write that next story.

And it usually happened under Rosengrens watchful eye.

She was one of the last great independent booksellers in America, Hendricks said. And she certainly was a bright light on the San Antonio literary scene.

San Antonio historian Mary Carolyn Hollers George celebrated the stores legacy in her 2015 book Rosengren's Books: An Oasis for Mind and Spirit.

Hollers George said Rosengren relished running the downtown store and made the most out of keeping it alive for as long as she did, as independent bookshops fell prey to chains such as Barnes & Noble.

It wasnt about selling books, Hollers George said. It was about loving books.

On ExpressNews.com: Illness forcing San Antonio-area record collector to find a new home for his 113,000 vinyl albums and singles

Technically, the Rosengren name in book retail started in early 20th century Chicago.

In 1919, former musician Knute Frank Rose Rosengren opened an antiquarian store on Chicagos North State Street. A handful of years later, he met customer Florence Kednay, whom he would later marry.

In 1926, the Rosengrens had a son Frank Jr., nicknamed Figgi, who later went by the name Frank Duane Rosengren and earned acclaim as a playwright. The family moved to San Antonio after Figgi developed bronchitis, then opened Rosengrens Books in 1935 on the sixth floor of the Milam Building.

Rosengrens initially specialized in rare first editions from scribes such as Henry Fielding and Oliver Goldsmith. A few months later, the store moved down to the Milams street level and added new releases to its stock of classics.

Frank Rosengren Sr. died in 1949, leaving his wife to cultivate the shops reputation for handpicked selections and hands-on service.

On ExpressNews.com: The new kayaking on the River Walk actually harks back to early 1940s, when canoes on then-new River Walk were a common sight

Camille Sweeneys induction into the family business was much like her mother-in-laws. In 1950, she was a young customer at Rosengrens while living in the St. Anthony Hotel. She later met Frank Rosengren Jr. while helping his mother with a book-signing party. They married in 1951.

The Rosengrens lived in Dallas and then New York, then returned to San Antonio in the early 1960s.

By then Rosengrens had moved to the Crockett Hotel, where the store made a name for itself with author book-signings and merchandise bearing gold-and-black stickers with the Rosengrens name.

I have lots of books with that gold-and-black sticker that says Rosengrens, Hendricks said.

Former Mayor Phil Hardberger found a second home at Rosengrens in the early 1970s, back when he was new in town with a law practice so slow he often filled his afternoons with trips to the store.

Those sojourns soon led to connections with fellow lawyers and other powerbrokers in town. But it was the contemplative and sophisticated quality of the store that most impressed him.

In his introduction to Hollers Georges book, Hardberger referred to Rosengrens as a salon of civilization and enlightenment that made us all better citizens.

Camille Rosengren gradually took over running the store from her mother-in-law until Florence Rosengren retired in the late 1970s. Renovations at the Crockett forced the store to move in 1982 to its final location at 223 Losoya St., where the back of the store overlooked the River Walk.

On ExpressNews.com: Precious metal: San Antonio band Wyzard's 1984 EP sells for $1,000s - if you can find it

Rosengrens closed in 1987, another independent bookstore lost to the wave of larger chains with deeper discounts. Florence Rosengren died the following year. Frank Duane Rosengren died in 2010.

Hendricks said Camille Rosengren used to have a saying: People dont think anything about spending $50 at a restaurant for a meal, but they wont spend $15 for a book that might change their lives.

Nevertheless, Rosengrens was the vanguard for independent bookselling in 20th century San Antonio, paving the way for later local stores such as Booksmiths and Red Balloon as well as the still-standing Twig Book Shop in the Pearl.

I always thought of Rosengrens as being just so connected with writers and the literary world, said Twig Book Shop buyer Susanna Nawrocki. (And Camille) was just so knowledgeable. Of course she worked with books forever.

Ferry said even in her mothers last weeks she was reading, poring over San Antonio author William Jack Sibleysnew book, Here We Go Loop De Loop, with a magnifying glass and keeping up with the latest headlines.

Even till the end, a couple of weeks ago, she was just so well read and so brilliant, Ferry said.

rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
Sandra Cisneros has described her latest genre-defying book as a long short story or a novella. The book is a bilingual edition published in English and translated to Spanish by Liliana Valenzuela.

Corina is our storyteller. She is living in Chicago, a place shed sworn in her youth that she would leave forever, but there she is, a wife and mother who works for the gas company  still. It was a summer job shed had before she moved abroad to Paris in her twenties to become a writer.

In Paris, she met Martita, from Chile, and Paola, from Italy. Together they survived a cold winter while passing the time with artists and performers seeking similar fortunes.

Cisneros has said she started writing this story back in the 80s. It was to be part of the 1992 collection Woman Hollering Creek, but her editor and agent agreed the story was not done.

In recent years, including during the pandemic, Cisneros was able to focus on the story and recall her own time traveling abroad and relying on the good will of other women who helped her during times of need.

Martita, I Remember You / Martita, Te Recuerdo By Sandra Cisneros Spanish translation by Liliana Valenzuela (Vintage Books paperback, 128 pages, $12.95) See More Collapse

On ExpressNews.com: 10 new books to read in September

As the story opens, Corina discovers a cache of letters from Martita in a closet in her Chicago home. They are there among the birth certificates and tax files  the documents of a life that are necessary, even irreplaceable in some way, but not immediately or urgently so.

We learn that the women have not written to each other in a long time, but that they have that rare kind of connection that means their friendship remains substantive even through long silences and absences. We also learn that Martita and Paola have christened Corina Puffina, a nickname based on an ad jingle.

The compression of the book  the tale is told twice in 128 pages  in no way deprives readers of a full experience. We get to know the eponymous Martita as she was in the past  a twentysomething expat trying to make her way toward a vague and unplanned future. She and her friends are naive but also practical in their many escapades and misadventures.

Life in Paris was very difficult. This was in the days before cellphones and ATMs, and Corina was hoping to hear from an arts foundation that could subsidize her stay as her summer job earnings were running out.

We are waiting for something to happen, Corina says. Isnt that what all women do until they learn not to?

Vintage Books

As we read the details of their experiences, it becomes clear that Corina and Martita were constants in each others lives. Neither woman was settled into life in Paris. They lived in makeshift spaces or depended on the goodwill of acquaintances who offered them a bunk or a cot. No one could really afford to pay rent or bills.

Corina and Martita also encountered men who wanted to take advantage of their vulnerabilities. Paris was not just inhospitable to a foreigner with very little money, it was dangerous.

In retrospect, though, those hazardous episodes help Corina appreciate the smaller moments of her everyday life in Paris, the last glimmers of the illusions of youth. In her recollections, those moments are the scenes she recalls more longingly than more rarified memories of the past, and they make the story of her Paris friendship complete and meaningful.

The third young woman, Paola, is something of a flat character who is perhaps less reliable a friend than Martita, but she is no less important in filling out the circle from that Parisian past. Corina also has corresponded with Paola and learns that she has not only survived their time in France but even thrived.

The marked differences between Paola and the other women might lead us to some assumptions about why that is.

Back in Chicago and making her life, Corina has shed the name Puffina. It had been, ostensibly, a moniker for a simpler time in her life. In reality, we see that she wore the name during a time that was far more fearsome. It was a name given to her by her friends and imbued with a kind of faith in her. Things were not ideal, but they were getting through it together.

On ExpressNews.com: Editor's picks: The best new fiction, nonfiction books to read include Stephen King thriller, Jeffrey Epstein expose

It is difficult to think of a more fitting story for today than one that harkens back to a past when women sought to make lives for themselves and had to survive all manner of obstacles. These were women who clung to each other and can perceive years later  even as their dreams have been deferred  that their full faith in the women who helped them along through the most uncertain of times was a kind of success, too.

Yvette Benavides is the host of the Book Public podcast from Texas Public Radio. She is a professor of English and creative writing at Our Lady of the Lake University.
Texas-based food critic and YouTube star Mikey Chen jumped into a Whataburger drive-thru line and embarked on an extraordinary feat: Eat almost every burger and chicken sandwich on the menu.



Visiting a Whataburger near his Dallas-area apartment on a Sunday morning, Chens order included a pico de gallo burger, the avocado bacon burger, the jalapeno and cheese Whataburger, the pico de Gallo Whatachickn sandwich, the honey butter chicken biscuit sandwich and pancakes.



Chen, whose full-time job is to post videos on YouTube from his food adventures all over the world, washed it down with a peach cream shake.

On ExpressNews.com: The best new San Antonio burger this year might be the Doc Holliday Monte Cristo Burger from new restaurant Gunslingers



Consuming far north of the recommended 2,500 daily calories for men in a 17 minute video, Chen came away largely unimpressed by the Texas companys chicken sandwiches.



Palming the honey butter chicken sandwich, Chen said: It already looks like the Crypt Keepers lunch, it looks so dry.



Only a few burgers made the cut, and the 15 minute drive from the Whataburger to his apartment did the food no favors.

Whataburger

The fries were cold but especially good dipped into spicy ketchup, he said. The peach cream shake almost made me forget about that super dry chicken sandwich.



Chen, who recently moved from Seattle to Allen, Texas, also quipped about the similarities between Whataburgers signature orange Flying W and Wonder Womans logo.



To Chen, the cinnamon roll tastes like Wonder Woman outsourced the baking to Aquaman. Aquaman lives in the ocean. He doesnt know how to bake.



Chens videos typically eclipse 1 million views. In July, he ate everything he could at the beloved Texas convenience store Buc-ees.



Heres the bad and the good from Whataburger, according to Chen.



"What a horrible sandwich"



I have a bad feeling about this, Chen said, preparing to eat the honey butter chicken biscuit. While it was not as bad as his expectations, Chan felt like it was a bit one-dimensional. It needs a bit of help.



Chen drizzled hot oil, a vegetable oil infused with chili peppers, onto the biscuit.



Looking at the unwrapped burgers, Chen said: They seriously look like they reverse Benjamin Buttoned themselves, just drastically aged. I really dont believe this was freshly made when I ordered it.

Chen attempted to perk up the burgers in the microwave. While the microwave salvaged the patty melt, it totally killed the avocado burger.



The Whatachickn Sandwich also failed to impress: "This thing looks like its been sitting out in the Texas sun for the last 20 years. There is zero moisture left in this chicken sandwich. What a horrible sandwich. This thing could live in Seattle for a year and not be any less dry.



One of my favorite fast food burgers



Chens Whataburger experience wasnt all bad. The mushroom swiss burger received high praise for its juiciness and how well the mushrooms integrated with the patty.



The mushroom flavor of this is just profound, Chen said. Some places you go to you get a mushroom burger and you taste the mushrooms but the mushrooms arent really integrated into the burger and are just sitting on top, minding their own business. But these mushrooms, they have moved in, decorated and signed a five year lease on this burger.



Chen blasted McDonalds for the size of their hamburgers and compared it to the portions found at Whataburger.

Whataburger

This is what McDonalds used to be like, you know, before they asked do you believe in magic and the trick was the burgers got smaller, he said.



He saved the classic Whataburger with cheese and jalapenos for last. After popping the burger in the microwave, Chen raved about the classic combination.



This is 100 percent one of my favorite fast food burgers, Chen said.



For dessert, Chen ate three pancakes, a few bites of cinnamon roll, an apple and lemon pie. After a light workout, Chen grabbed dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.

Timothy.Fanning@express-news.net
Healthy snacks, smoothies, salads and coffee will join the lineup at the Pearls Bottling Department food hall when Kineapple opens later this month.

Kineapple is a concept from Neesha and Robby Grubbs, the husband-and-wife team who started the Local Coffee Founders coffee shop at the Pearl. The name comes from their youngest sons charming way of pronouncing pineapple with a k, and the menu will include customizable smoothies, a kale salad, a free-range chicken salad sandwich, golden overnight oats, a housemade protein bar and coffee.
Texas Department of Public Safety

A convicted rapist, who was on the Texas Department of Public Safety's Most Wanted Sex Offenders list, was captured last week in Indiana.

Henry Anthony Taylor, 52, had been on the run since April 2020 when he left his San Antonio home and did not register as as sex offender. DPS placed the man on its Most Wanted Sex Offenders list in April 2021.
Nearly 400 Texas children  many with serious mental, behavioral or physical problems  spent at least one night in the care of the state without a place to stay last month, often sleeping in motels or in office buildings.

The steep rise in displaced children  in August 2020 there were 47  meant more and more of them were looked after by case workers whose training amounted to as little as a 60-minute video on how to care for troubled kids, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters acknowledged to a federal judge Tuesday morning.

Many of the children were abused while in the care of the state and had been in foster care for years, Masters said, and she had heard reports that some children had engaged in prostitution in the offices of case workers who were supposed to be protecting them. Almost a third  31 percent  of the children in temporary placements were from Bexar or Harris counties, the report said.

Masters also acknowledged that the case workers are not adequate for the tasks theyre assigned.

I do feel like I am failing children, Masters said, as a lawyer quizzed her on the depths of the problems.

U.S. District Judge Janis Jack retorted: I think weve got a clear record that you dont think these children youre stuffing into hotels and offices should be placed in a position where theyre free from increased risk of harm. I think were all clear on that.

Your days of looking the other way while children are warehoused, raped and abused, and fed psychotropic drugs are done, said the judge, who resolved Tuesday to ask Gov. Greg Abbott what he intends to do about it.

FROM 2019: Judge fines Texas $50k a day over broken foster care system

Tuesdays hearing before Jack was the latest development as the state struggles to implement reforms Jack has ordered as she presides over a 2011 class-action lawsuit against Family and Protective Services alleging that children were held in unsafe conditions. Jack also heard Tuesday from monitors who are charged with overseeing the states efforts.

A court monitors report filed Monday explores the standard of care for children in temporary housing, finding incidents of child-on-child sexual abuse, children being over-medicated, children not getting their prescribed medication, being unnecessarily physically restrained and meeting sex traffickers at state office buildings and then leaving with them.

The problem finding placements for foster children has grown more acute during the pandemic, as the state closed several foster facilities under pressure from the judge. The number of foster children without a place to stay nearly doubled from August to September of 2020, from 47 to 87, then shot upwards throughout the year and has hovered around 400 since June.

COURT EXHIBIT

Masters defended the decision to close those facilities, saying they were unsafe for decades. She said she doesnt regret the closure of a single one. Among them was Family Tapestry in San Antonio, which faced allegations of mismanagement and abuse and lost its contract with the state.

Yet those closures meant the state lacked placements for hundreds of additional children because new facilities were not opened. The state took over placement for Bexar County foster kids beginning in April, and the court-ordered report found that more of the foster children without placements came from Bexar County than any other in Texas.

Were cautiously optimistic. The safety of these children is our top priority, and right now everyone agrees that they are in dangerous, harmful placements, said Paul Yetter, the lead attorney in the case against the state. The prospect of working together on a real solution, especially with the blessing of the governor, is the best path forward. I look forward to getting started as soon as possible.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

A lawyer asked Masters if the state failed to plan ahead to anticipate the needs of children, causing the current problem.

It would appear so, Masters said.

The state issued its own report responding to the court monitors, saying the lapses in temporary care are the exception to the rule. There is nothing normal about it and it cannot continue in its current state. The Legislature has allocated an additional $90 million this summer to help foster care children with specialized behavioral, emotional or physical needs.

Now Texas is increasing its foster care capacity by shipping hundreds of its own foster care kids out to other states, particularly states that have chosen to accept federal Medicaid dollars and use them to bolster their foster care programs, Masters said.

The Republican-led Texas Legislature has resisted expanding Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers say the program is not financially sustainable and could leave Texas to foot a massive bill down the road.

Tuesdays hearing finished early in the afternoon, with Jack saying her focus has shifted away from sanctioning the state. In 2019, Jack leveled $50,000 daily fines for every day that foster care group homes went without 24-hour supervision.

She said Tuesday that she now wants to coordinate with the plaintiffs and the state to find solutions to the problems with Texas foster care system immediately. She asked a lawyer for Abbott to find out what Abbott is willing to do to address it, saying she wanted the governors blessing before proceeding.

A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won a temporary restraining order stopping Paris ISD in North Texas from enforcing its mask requirement for students; Paris had attempted to use its dress code policy to circumvent Gov. Greg Abbotts ban on such mandates.

Dennis Eichelbaum, lawyer for Paris ISD, said Paxtons office  despite the fact Paxton had sent multiple letters threatening lawsuits beforehand  didnt notify the district of the lawsuit until after the hearing was over, and the restraining order had been granted. Paris ISD didnt get to make its case against the restraining order as a result, Eichelbaum said, describing it as a cowardly move from Paxton.

First, its against the rules of civil procedure. So he doesnt care about the law when it applies to him, Eichelbaum said. Hes very brave to go to court when youre not there to defend yourselves.

A lot of times attorneys will get sanctioned for it if they do something like this, he added, saying he will ask the districts trustees if they want to pursue the matter with the judge.

THE BIG PICTURE: Whos enforcing Gov. Abbotts ban on school mask rules? Not Abbott.

Paxton blasted out a press release trumpeting his victory in court over Paris ISD, describing it as a win for the rule of law in Texas. The release doesnt mention that Paris attorneys werent present in court.

The law is clear, and this superintendent knows this, yet he has no issue continuing to waste precious state resources on impossible lawsuits instead of providing for his students, Paxton said in the release. This temporary restraining order is just the first step in restoring order to our great state and ending this disruption from rogue local officials.

Paxtons office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Statewide, implementation of Abbotts ban on local mask mandates has been patchwork. The federal government is pursuing investigations of several states with bans on mask mandates in schools, but not Texas because of inconsistent enforcement. Paxton has acknowledged in court that it will be left to local district attorneys to enforce the ban, and several prosecutors from the states largest counties  such as Bexar and Harris  have said they dont intend to do so.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Eichelbaum said Paris ISD will go along with the restraining order, although students, staff and visitors will still be encouraged to wear masks. He noted that Paris ISD and Lamar County have the lowest percentage of students who have missed class due to COVID-19 in the state.

Paris ISD got attention last month when it announced it would be modifying its dress code to include masks, a step that Eichelbaum previously told Hearst Newspapers would allow the district to argue for its authority to do so on different legal grounds than other districts. So long as Abbott didnt suspend the states education law, he said, he couldnt stop Paris ISD from making rules on its own turf.

A spokeswoman for the governors office previously disputed that interpretation of the law.

We are all working to protect Texas children and those most vulnerable among us, but violating the governors executive orders  and violating parental rights  is not the way to do it. Gov. Abbott has been clear that the time for mask mandates is over; now is the time for personal responsibility, Renae Eze, spokeswoman for Abbott, said last month in an email. Under Executive Order GA-38, no governmental entity or school district can require or mandate the wearing of masks. There is no loophole.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
A 40-year-old Iranian citizen was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in federal prison for plotting to obtain sensitive military equipment for shipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

A San Antonio federal jury in May convicted Mehrdad Ansari of one count of conspiracy to violate the Iranian Trade Embargo, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Treasury Department and two counts of aiding and abetting the making of false statements.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Roomberg and Bill Harris argued that Ansari played an important role with his accomplices, who were primarily behind the conspiracy to deliver more than 105,000 parts to Iran that could be used for the construction of nuclear weapons, guidance, missile development, secure tactical radio communications, electronic offensive warfare and electronic sabotage such as radio frequency jamming.

Ansari, who lived in the United Arab Emirates and Germany, and his co-defenants  Suzanne Yip, a citizen of Taiwan, and Mehrdad Foumani, an Iranian citizen  tried to deliver the cargo to Iran from the U.S. through Ansaris companies in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, between Oct. 9, 2007 and June 15, 2011.

The value of the parts is estimated at more than $2.6 million and they were purchased with more than 1,250 financial transactions. Half of the transactions were with 63 different companies, which were not informed that the defendants intended to ship the purchased goods to Iran, or obtain the necessary permits from the U.S. government to ship them to Iran. The defendants lied about the true destination, trial testimony established.

Among the parts were microwave absorbers from ETS-Lindgren in Cedar Park, near Austin, which is one reason the case was filed in the San Antonio-based Western District of Texas.

Roomberg said Ansari helped try to get the absorbers, a key part to test the 105,000 parts to make these other systems, and that makes this ETS shipment a threat to the national security of the United States and to our war fighters.

These were not humanitarian items; theyre not religious books, Roomberg told U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez. These are defense items only available to the U.S. military and our allies.

Ansari was arrested on June 16, 2019 in the country of Georgia, where he fought extradition, before being transferred to the United States in March 2020.

Ansari and his lawyer, Michael Gross, sought a sentence that would have released Ansari with time served  the 27 months hes already been incarcerated.

Ansari told the judge that he was held in solitary confinement for months in Georgia in deplorable conditions you cannot imagine. And when he was transferred to a Texas lockup, he faced discrimination and hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said he became ill and was not able to get recreation, but worked in the jails kitchen to be productive.

Please let me go back to my family, Ansari said, adding that he wanted to raise his 7-year-old daughter.

The judge agreed with the prosecutions request to give him 63 months in prison. Rodriguez also gave him credit for the time he has been behind bars.

Yip served two years in prison for her guilty plea to conspiracy charges. Foomani remains a fugitive.

guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
A San Antonio police officer was suspended for 15 days after officials said he repeatedly cursed at a couple and shoved one of them  even though they were following orders.

Officer Jacob Borroel also reportedly pointed his Taser at the couple, telling the man, Come on (expletive), now youre gonna go to jail.  Youre gonna get (expletive) tased, according to disciplinary records released Monday.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Borroel failed to use warnings, verbal persuasion and other tactics to deescalate the situation, the records state.

Borroel, who has been with the department for about 12 years, was one of 10 police officers suspended in June and July, the records show. While some were disciplined for minor infractions, such as negligently crashing a police vehicle, others were suspended for allegations of more serious misconduct.

Borroel, who works as a patrol officer at the Central Substation, was on his way to a call in the Olmos Park area around midnight on Jan. 21 when he encountered a man and a woman being dropped at their home.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio police chief disciplines two officers with history of domestic violence allegations

Borroel approached the couple, who appeared intoxicated, before getting back in his patrol vehicle, the records state.

Borroel then got out his vehicle after the man cursed at him and told him to leave, officials said.

Hey (expletive), you want to have a problem with me? the officer reportedly asked. I just came here to (expletive) ask if you needed help.

Borroel grabbed the man  who did not provoke the officer  by his right arm and led him toward the back of his patrol vehicle, the records state. He then shoved the man and told the couple to go inside.

The man again cursed at Borroel, who then withdrew his Taser and pointed it in the couples direction, the records state. Borroel later arrested the man and the woman on multiple criminal charges. It is not clear what they were arrested for.

Among the other officers who were disciplined:

Officer William Watson

Watson, a 17-year veteran of the department, was suspended for 25 days after officials said he failed to conduct a field sobriety test while investigating a car crash.

When Watson arrived at the scene, one of the drivers involved in the accident, a 17-year-old girl, was lethargic, had slurred speech and might have been impaired, the records state.

Instead of conducting a field sobriety test, Watson took the girl home, the records state. Hours later, the girl was taken to a hospital, where she reportedly had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.174 percent  more than double the legal limit.

On ExpressNews.com: Police oversight board in San Antonio lacks authority, investigative powers, researchers find

Officials said Watson, a patrol officer on the East Side, also made inappropriate comments about the 17-year-old, referring to her as an idiot.

At another point, the records state, Watson made fun of another persons accent.

McManus initially issued Watson an indefinite suspension, which is tantamount to firing, but later reduced the discipline to a 25-day suspension.

Det. David Pantoja

Pantoja, a 24-year veteran of the force, was suspended for 20 days after officials said he pulled a handcuffed suspect backward by his arms.

McManus said Pantoja failed to use sound judgment and that he should have moved the patrol vehicle to the spot where the man was arrested.

After being pulled by his arms, the man asked the detective for medical services. Pantoja, who works at the Northwest Substation, refused to get help, the records state.

On ExpressNews.com: Fired S.A. detective, accused of punching women, said he was trying to keep a crazy chick away

Officials said the detective issued a citation to the man for failure to identify, even though department policy prohibits officers from citing people for that offense.

Detective Pantoja did not thoroughly understand the laws and ordinances which he was enforcing when he issued the citation, the records state.

Det. Josef Piotrowski

McManus issued Piotrowski, a detective in the division that handles major overnight felonies, a three-day suspension for being disrespectful to colleagues.

McManus said Piotrowski, a 27-year veteran of the force, brought reproach and discredit on himself and the San Antonio Police Department after criticizing the homicide unit in an email to a prosecutor in the Bexar County District Attorneys Office.

As per usual, are [sic] Homicide Unit has failed to transfer these documents to you.  Maybe you can wake up these Kings and get them to do their job, the detective wrote, according to the disciplinary record. Im tired of explaining this to your office.

Det. Miguel Maldonado

Maldonado, who works at the East Substation, was suspended for 15 days after officials said he left a dead body unattended before the persons family arrived to take possession of it.

eeaton@express-news.net
The San Antonio Water Systems trustees on Tuesday approved a COVID-19 relief plan to help customers with overdue balances less than $2,000 and those with overdue balances who have repaired leaks.

Under the plan, SAWS will also suspend disconnecting service for six months for such customers who are enrolled in its affordability discount program. Outstanding balances will be placed on hold until March 15 and possibly longer.

To be eligible, customers must have been 60 days or more past due as of Aug. 1.

The city-owned water company wants to minimize service disruptions for customers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, while encouraging delinquent customers to resume making payments, said Mary Bailey, vice president of customer of experience and strategic initiatives at SAWS.

We also want to make sure we respond flexibly when and if federal disaster recovery funds become available, particularly for our low-income customers, she said.

On ExpressNews.com: SAWS: Certain customers with overdue balances will get another six months

SAWS plans to resume disconnections on Oct. 1 for customers with delinquent accounts, more than a year after the city placed a moratorium on them in response to COVID-19. The number of customers with overdue balances has increased significantly during the pandemic.

Lisa Krantz /Staff photographer

At the end of August, 60,088 accounts were eligible for disconnection, up more than 1,100 percent from 4,824 in March 2020.

To address the increasing number of overdue accounts, SAWS initially implemented payment plans that residents could sign up for online or by phone. But so far, only 12 percent of eligible customers have enrolled.

Now, the water company is taking further steps to minimize disconnections  for residential and commercial customers  and reduce the collective $53 million outstanding balance.

Under the new plan, customers with balances under $2,000 as of Wednesday will automatically be enrolled in a 48-month payment plan unless they have made previous arrangements with SAWS, Bailey said. Each month, customers will pay their current water bills plus a percentage of their past-due amounts for 18 months until 37.5 percent of the outstanding balance has been paid. Then, the remaining balance will be written off.

SAWS will also encourage customers to pursue financial assistance from the state, county or city, Bailey said.

More information on need-based financial help is available from the SAWS Uplift program and on SAWS website.

Residential and commercial customers with balances over $2,000 will not be automatically enrolled in payment plans and must contact SAWS to set one up  online or by phone  to avoid having their water disconnected.

Meanwhile, the newly approved leak adjustment program is available to all customers with outstanding balances who had leaks between October 2019 and June 30, 2021, Bailey said. Under the program, customers must provide proof that their leaks have been repaired, and SAWS will subtract the amounts attributed to such leaks from customers outstanding balances.

In cases where such an adjustment reduces a residential customers outstanding balance to less than $2,000, that account will be eligible for the 48-month automatic payment plan.

SAWS has a $41.2 million reserve, which Bailey believes will be enough to cover the cost of its COVID-19 relief plan, along with anticipated federal disaster recovery funds.

Bruess writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. elena.bruess@express-news.net
In the thicket of bad legislation churned out this year by Texas lawmakers, its easy for HB 20 to get overlooked.

While were concentrating on voter suppression, the practical banning of abortion, permitless carry of firearms and the mandate that teachers must deliver patriotic, noncritical assessments of U.S. history, we can lose sight of the way our elected leaders shredded the Constitution just to make an example of social-media companies.

The Freedom from Online Censorship Act, signed into law last Thursday by Gov. Greg Abbott, prevents digital companies from banning or restricting a user based on that persons viewpoint or the way the viewpoint is expressed.

Freedom of speech is under attack in Texas, Abbott said at last weeks signing ceremony. There is a dangerous movement by some social-media companies to silence conservative ideas and values.

Abbott said the law fights back against Big Tech political censorship and allows Texans who have been wrongly de-platformed or restricted to be able to file suit to get back on the site.

Just so theres no misunderstanding, the passage of this bill is purely and nakedly a message move to the GOP base, a theatrical display of retaliation against Twitter and Facebook for banning former President Donald Trump. Its also part of Abbotts ongoing attempt to keep up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed a similar bill into law back in May.

Hours before the Florida law was set to take effect, a federal judge blocked it. The Texas law could be headed for a similar fate.

HB 20 is wrong-headed on so many levels, its hard to know where to begin.

Lets consider Abbotts allegation that social-media companies are practicing censorship.

Few words in our society are misused as frequently as censorship, which tends to get thrown around every time a recording artist doesnt get as much radio airplay as theyd like.

Censorship occurs when a government entity restricts the free expression of private citizens. Its not applicable to cases where private social-media businesses decide they want to protect their users from rhetoric that they consider to be harmful. Thats the free market regulating itself, a concept which conservatives always claim to cherish.

It is Orwellian to define censorship the way these bills do so, said Matt Schruers, president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association.

CCIA and NetChoice, two trade associations for the tech industry, were co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Florida social-media law. Theyre in the process of determining how they want to respond to the Texas law.

When these companies are following through on commitments to protect users from hateful speech, foreign extremism, government misinformation efforts or people encouraging your kids to eat detergent pods, to suggest that that is censorship defies reason, Schruers said.

Some political conservatives make the argument that social-media platforms are public utilities, much like electric or water companies. Its an argument that doesnt hold up to scrutiny.

Public utilities build their infrastructure on government concessions, such as rights-of-way and easements. In exchange, they carry a responsibility to serve everyone.

Social-media companies dont  and shouldnt  work that way. They create a platform for people to communicate with each other and should reserve the right to bounce someone who is abusing the privilege, the same way a nightclub should have the right to bounce a drunken patron who is shouting racist profanities at other patrons.

If youre not happy with that policy, you can find a different digital platform to use, the same way a club-goer can find a different venue to visit.

Lets also consider the implications of the Texas laws loose language, which says that you cant be restricted by a platform for your viewpoint.

What does that mean exactly? Being a member of the Ku Klux Klan is a viewpoint. Being an anti-Semite is a viewpoint. Wanting to blow up buildings in the name of a religious jihad is a viewpoint. Should those viewpoints be protected on social media?

To compel companies to host that speech is, in my view, neither good policy nor good politics, Schruers said.

Theres also the fact that regulating interstate commerce is the province of the federal government and states such as Texas and Florida have no business regulating the practices of Big Tech companies that are not even based in their states.

Theres also the real-world component to be considered. Twitter and Facebook are loaded with conservative voices. Conservatives are not being banned based on their political opinions. In a few instances, political figures across the political spectrum have faced restrictions, but thats because they propagated falsehoods or encouraged dangerous behavior.

Preventing businesses from policing that sort of content is the true act of censorship.

ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
When the global pandemic reached San Antonio in March 2020, it forced us into our homes and upended our daily lives.

Even before COVID-19, we thought there was deep reliance on the virtual world and the ability to navigate the internet. Then, when we were forced to stay home and avoid face-to-face interactions, that reliance expanded tenfold.

It wasnt long before the media began to speculate about the negative impacts children would face attending school online. There were, indeed, struggles, starting with the most basic element: having the infrastructure to access the internet.

But it wasnt only our children. Older adults struggled with internet access and technology, too.

Over the course of the pandemic, weve never been more reliant on technology to meet basic needs: shopping for groceries and other household goods; paying bills and banking; applying for services; making reservations; seeking health care.

Now, its all done online. In fact, increasingly, businesses are cutting telephone access and requiring customers to communicate through online platforms.

Weve been thrust into this virtual world. And it can be a treacherous place for older adults who lack the familiarity and knowledge to navigate this new landscape.

According to the FBI, older adults lose more than $3 billion annually in fraud schemes. And the web is fertile ground for fraud. Older Latinos are particularly vulnerable, according to an AARP study released in August. Among the Latinos surveyed, older suburban men with college degrees and a household income over $50,000 were most likely to have lost money in a scam, and Latino women older than 50 were most likely to be unfamiliar with 17 common scams they might face.

With so much of our lives pushed online, its incredibly important that we provide older adults with the resources they need to combat all the issues they face in the virtual world. We wont be able to fully recover from the pandemic until every person in San Antonio can safely access products and services online from their homes.

Older Adults Technology Services, or OATS, from AARP is a nonprofit dedicated to providing seniors with free technology training to do just that. Its flagship Senior Planet program in San Antonio is working hard to make sure this happens locally through programming and by raising awareness. The former is about ensuring government funding helps older adults and they have equitable access to necessary resources. The latter offers online and in-person programs that help seniors learn new skills, save money, get in shape and make new friends.

We also believe its critical that San Antonio and Bexar County leaders demonstrate genuine concern for their aging constituencies. That starts with both ending the practice of othering older adults and breaking down ageism in the implementation of technology. We generally do a poor job of asking seniors what works for them, and then we make decisions without seeking their input. This perpetuates a vicious circle that leaves older adults struggling on the sidelines.

We encourage all our elected leaders to implement standard practices of connecting with their older constituencies to determine what they need from government. OATS can help inform those conversations.

And we also encourage our leaders to fund the work that Senior Planet in San Antonio is doing to build bridges into our communitys older populations. That work is critical to ensure older San Antonians continue to live independent and full lives amid an ever-growing virtual world. Organizations focused on helping older adults cant do it alone  nor can government. But if we work together, we can ensure aging adults can lead productive lives and be fully immersed in the virtual world.

The activist Gloria Steinem said: People now ask me if Im passing the torch. I always explain that no, Im keeping my torch, thank you very much. And Im using it to light the torches of others. Because the truth is that the old image of one person with a torch is part of the problem, not the solution. We each need a torch if we are to see where were going. And together, we create so much more light.

These are words we live by, and we hope youll join us in brightening San Antonio.

Rosemary Kowalski is founder of the RK Group. Pat Jasso is the former vice chair of the SAWS board of trustees and a part-time technology trainer for Senior Planet.
While we expect a few tweaks, City Council should approve the proposed $3.1 billion city budget.

City Manager Erik Walsh and Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez have done a solid job crafting a proposed budget that reflects community priorities, uses an equity lens and increases, but also contains, public safety spending.

Lets start with the community priorities. The proposed budget restores funding for streets to $110 million, up from $94 million last year. It also includes about $14.7 million for sidewalks.

In both instances these are budgeted across districts through an equity lens  meaning need gets prioritized to make up for historic imbalances. And that translates to slightly more funding for Districts 1, 2 and 3, which cover the city center and East and South sides, and have traditionally been underserved. But it also means slightly more funding for District 10 on the far Northeast Side.

The proposed budget also includes about $5.3 million in new funding for affordable housing (about $33 million in total, including federal grants), $5.7 million in new funding for streetlights, more than $5 million in new funding for the Metropolitan Health District to better address community health and domestic violence, and an additional $5.2 million to improve pedestrian safety through the Vision Zero program.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: Wolff earns gratitude, not harassment

All of this, Walsh has said, is in response to community feedback. That is, these spending increases reflect community priorities. All to the good.

The proposed budget also includes a 3 percent increase for the San Antonio Police Department, bringing the total to some $540 million.

Here, things get a bit sticky as District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez has raised concerns, pushing back against expanding a community policing program, the San Antonio Fear Free Environment, or SAFFE, by 12 officers. This would be in addition to three more bike officers for downtown, as well as a $1.7 million pilot program to create crisis response teams composed of a clinician, paramedic and police officer.

McKee-Rodriguez and others have argued that rather than expanding the number of SAFFE officers, the funds could be better spent on social support services. Others have said police should not be a part of the community response team.

We understand the argument, but its out of touch with the overall community, which has generally been supportive of more community policing, even as many want a new police contract that better addresses disciplinary concerns.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: Third special session won't be a charm for Texas

The underlying concerns about policing  the plague of police shootings nationally, high-profile shootings locally, a disciplinary system that is designed to avoid accountability, inherent inequalities in the criminal justice system  are better addressed in contract negotiations than in limiting community police presence. Besides, under this budget, public safety would account for about 63.5 percent of the $1.36 billion general fund. Thats well within the long-standing policy of limiting public safety spending to 66 percent of the general fund.

While we support the budget in broad strokes, were perplexed on the push to provide a 1 percent lump-sum bonus and 4 percent raise to all civilian city employees. We would much rather see raises based on merit and capped at certain salary levels, especially since so much of this budget is floated by federal dollars and the outlook on COVID remains uncertain. The city can afford across-the-board raises for staff but not an increase in the homestead exemption for residents? Seriously?

San Antonio residents want to feel safe, enjoy public parks, see attention given to affordable housing and animal welfare, and have roads paved, potholes filled and sidewalks and bike lanes expanded. They expect strong fiscal management, public safety costs to be controlled and bond ratings to be maintained.

This budget hits all those marks and complements the forthcoming city bond. It merits councils approval.
The Big Lie is a propaganda technique that postulates if you tell a big lie often enough, it becomes the truth. The White House, State Department and the Pentagon are engaging in a Big Lie right now.

Despite whats been shown and reported about our disgraceful retreat from Afghanistan and the leaving behind of American citizens, were being told, in the words of President Joe Biden, that it was an extraordinary success.

If this was a success, Id hate to see failure. All this failure and incompetence and not one resignation, firing or even an apology. Its said wise men admit their mistakes and fools defend them. Were being governed by fools, and their mistakes will cost us dearly for decades.

Liam Harvie

SB 8s implications

I am angry.

I am angry at the Texas politicians who so cleverly crafted an ingenious piece of anti-abortion legislation, SB 8. Whether one supports Roe v. Wade is not germane to my grievance. This is not about the merits of pro-life or pro-choice. Even those who fervently support pro-life should be enraged by SB 8s enforcement mechanism.

My anger stems from the Orwellian machinations of boneheaded politicians whose bit of cleverness amounts to a repugnant attack on the fabric of our society by encouraging fellow citizens to do the dirty work that Roe prohibits the state of Texas from doing. They have opened the door to measures that are destructive of a free society. Are we willing to accept this architecture of oppression? If so, be prepared for what future schemes await us.

I hope and believe SB 8 will meet its death in the U.S. Supreme Court. For now, I feel the need to mount a challenge against the perpetrators of this assault. I will be supporting others who might be better stewards of our trust in strengthening, not diminishing, the foundations that make America great.

Victor Rogers

Whats the plan, gov?

Wow, Gov. Greg Abbott and his fellow Republicans are now going to eliminate rape. Great! How come you didnt do it before now ? Cant wait to see your plan on this one. Or maybe this is yet another hollow statement to support your abortion bill?

By the way, how are you going to stop incest? Maybe you should try to address some other social issues, such as the level of poverty and hunger in this state. We are at the bottom of the nation in how we treat children. Way to go, governor.

Patricia R. Riggins
After a contentious debate, Bexar County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $2.8 billion budget and a reduction in the county tax rate that will shave a few dollars off property tax bills.

The budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, relies on federal stimulus funds to bridge a gap of at least $8.3 million between revenue and spending.

The budget includes a tiny cut in the countys property tax rate, a measure championed by Commissioner Trish DeBerry, who said it would give taxpayers a modicum of relief during a pandemic year. The resulting savings will total $1.7 million  less than $4 per year for the typical homeowner.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said the budget includes funds to launch a $617 million, 10-year program to build 87 capital projects, including roads, trails, parks and flood-control improvements.

He said a rush of last-minute funding requests  and differing views on the tax cut  made budget deliberations challenging.

This has been the most difficult budget Ive been through, said Wolff, a former San Antonio mayor and state legislator who has been county judge since 2001.

Robin Jerstad /Robin Jerstad

On ExpressNews.com: Bexar County proposes nearly $2.8 billion budget for 2022

Commissioners had planned to approve the budget with little discussion, after hashing out many of their differences in a work session Friday. But a request from district court judges, the sheriff and the district attorneys office for an additional $1.8 million for a new childrens court sparked renewed debate over the wisdom of the tax cut.

Wolff, DeBerry and Commissioner Tommy Calvert supported the cut. Commissioner Justin Rodriguez voted against it, and Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores abstained.

DeBerry, the only Republican on Commissioners Court, defended the tax cut, saying it did not come at the expense of children or women. She called it a first step in an effort to provide relief to Bexar County homeowners, whose appraisals rose an average of 9 percent this year.

This is not a county that is shrinking, by any stretch of the imagination, DeBerry said. We are going to continue to collect a record amount of property taxes because we continue to grow.

Clay-Flores, explaining her abstention, said she refused to be part of political games.

We believe in keeping finances in the general fund, so that we can have resources for things like childrens court and against domestic violence. I abstain from voting on this because I am not going to tell my constituents that Im saving you four measly dollars, said Clay-Flores, who represents a broad swath of the south and southwest sides of the county.

County Manager David Smith had recommended that commissioners leave the tax rate unchanged. But he said there was room in the budget for a reduction from 30.1 cents to 29.99 cents per $100 of valuation.

The new rate, which takes effect Oct. 1, is barely one-tenth of a penny lower than the current rate. Without exemptions, it would reduce the annual tax bill on an average-priced, $345,000 home by $3.78.

I think it continues our tradition of trying to keep as much burden off the taxpayers as we can, Wolff said, calling the budget a product of some passionate arguments.

The budget includes a 5 percent raise for county employees, with an additional $1,000 lump-sum raise for hourly workers. The lump-sum increase, proposed by Clay-Flores, is intended to give a boost to workers at the lower end of the pay scale.

Child welfare

Commissioners agreed last week to partially fund a $2.9 million request to bolster court staffing in response to a surge in child welfare and domestic violence cases.

On Tuesday, two district court judges, Rosie Alvarado and Monique Diaz, and Mauro Valdez, supervising attorney for child protective services in the District Attorneys Office, appeared before the commissioners again to ask for an additional $1.8 million for a third childrens court.

Family violence, including intimate partner violence, domestic violence, child abuse and elder abuse increase with natural disasters, and COVID-19 has proven no different, Diaz said.

Next month, commissioners will discuss ways to fund the new childrens court.

On ExpressNews.com: Police spending, merit raises debated in city budget

To close the $8.28 million gap created by the tax cut and last-minute budget requests, county staff recommended the commissioners use funds received under the American Rescue Plan Act. In all, the county has $389 million in ARPA funds to spend by the end of 2026.

But the countys financial backbone during the pandemic has been property taxes. The local property tax base rose by $9 billion, to $191.6 billion, a nearly 5 percent increase, in the past year. Just over half of that increase, $4.8 billion, stemmed from new development.

DeBerry, a board member of the Bexar Appraisal District, said shes seeking relief for homeowners who have struggled to pay their tax bills because of the pandemic.

People have been suffering countywide. And we have got to get the taxes going in a different direction, DeBerry said.

shuddleston@express-news.net
Juneteenth is officially a Bexar County holiday.

It commemorates the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in June, when President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamo holds its first Juneteenth event

The city of San Antonio observed Juneteenth as an official holiday for the first time this year.

Now, Bexar County is on board. County commissioners, acting on a proposal by Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, voted unanimously last week to make Juneteenth a county holiday.

Clay-Flores said the recognition was just a beginning, a gesture that had to be backed up with substance and action.

We need to continue to advocate for educational access, political representation, voting rights, health equity and bridging the wealth gap for people of color in Bexar County and beyond, she said.

On ExpressNews.com: Alamos ties to slavery stir debate

On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to announce that the estimated quarter-million slaves in Texas had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln. That was more than two years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Celebrations began immediately and have been occurring annually ever since. Though the holiday is rooted in Texas, Juneteenth long since has spread to other states. The drive to make it a national holiday gained momentum after the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked racial justice protests across the country.

shuddleston@express-news.net
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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Democrats on Tuesday began the serious work of trying to implement President Joe Bidens expansive spending plan, but getting there will require remarkable legislative nimbleness, since Biden has said the revenue to pay for it must come only from Americans who earn more than $400,000 a year.

Republicans, who have vowed lockstep opposition to the plan, turned their anger against proposed tax breaks they portrayed as subsidies for wealthy elites rather than help for the poor and middle class. Electric vehicles became a rallying symbol as class-warfare overtones echoed through a committee session.

The Democrats are proposing that the top tax rate rise back to 39.6% on individuals earning more than $400,000  or $450,000 for couples  in addition to a 3% surtax on wealthier Americans with adjusted income beyond $5 million a year. For big business, the proposal would lift the corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5% on companies annual income over $5 million.

Look, I dont want to punish anyones success, but the wealthy have been getting a free ride at the expense of the middle class for too long, Biden tweeted Tuesday. I intend to pass one of the biggest middle class tax cuts ever  paid for by making those at the top pay their fair share.

The reach for revenue from the wealthy was even billboarded at the ultra-chic Met Gala in Manhattan Monday night. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a leading House progressive, wore a white gown with Tax the Rich" in giant red letters emblazoned on the back (designer Aurora James).

For middle- and low-income people, tax help, not increase, is on offer as the House Ways and Means Committee digs into debate and drafting of tax proposals to both fund and buttress Bidens ambitious $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan that includes spending for child care, health care, education and tackling climate change.

Its an opening bid at a daunting moment for Biden and his allies in Congress as they assemble the Build Back Better package considered by some on par with the Great Society of the 1960s or even the New Deal of the 1930s Depression.

The proposals call for $273 billion in tax breaks for renewable energy and clean electricity, including $42 billion for electric vehicles and $15 billion for a green workforce and environmental items. Increases in the child tax credit to $300 a month per child under 6 and $250 monthly per child 6-17, which came in coronavirus relief legislation earlier this year, would be extended through 2025.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, meanwhile, advanced proposals promoting clean electricity, investments in electric vehicles and other climate provisions. The 30-27 vote along party lines sends the energy measure forward as part of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis goal to approve the huge overall package.

The energy panels $456 billion slice is the most consequential for dealing with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, along with the tax breaks debated by the Ways and Means Committee.

The Democratic proposals would invest $150 billion in grants to encourage power companies to provide clean electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Electricity suppliers would receive grants based on how much clean electricity they provide, as part of Bidens plan to stop climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions from U.S. power plants by 2035.

All GOP lawmakers are expected to vote against the overall legislation. 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 with the Senate split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, if there is no Republican support.

But one Democratic senator vital to the bills fate, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, says the cost will need to be slashed to $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion to win his support. Manchin also has said he will not support a number of clean energy and climate provisions pushed by Democrats.

A day earlier, Biden appeared to respond to concerns about the plans size, saying the cost may be as much as $3.5 trillion and would be spread out over 10 years as the economy grew.

Republican lawmakers, who have denounced the Democratic spending plan as socialist and job-killing, also went after proposed tax breaks on Tuesday.

The Democrats propose to extend to five years the current $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, with another $4,500 if a car is made by union workers, and $500 more for a U.S.-made battery. But Republicans painted electric vehicles as a bourgeois-bohemian accessory to be subsidized by taxpayers, the latest symbol of excess.

Speaking of outrageous green welfare, this bill allows a near-millionaire family to buy a $75,000 Beamer, Jaguar or Benz luxury electric vehicle  and their maid is forced to send them a $12,500 subsidy from her taxes, said Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the panels senior Republican. Why are blue-collar workers, nurses, teachers and firefighters subsidizing the wealthy and big business with a quarter of a trillion dollars in green welfare checks?

Hold on, said Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich. Were not going to subsidize the wealthiest buying luxury vehicles. The legislation does impose caps on the sale price of the vehicle ($55,000 for a sedan) and the income of the buyer ($600,000 adjusted gross income for a head of household.)

The proposal hits another nerve for Republicans  Democrats support of labor unions  by adding incentives for vehicles and batteries manufactured by union workers.

As they slogged through the legislation, members of the majority Democratic committee voted down a series of Republican amendments seeking to tighten the limitations on electric vehicle credits and to eliminate other tax breaks denounced as smacking of progressive Democrats proposed Green New Deal.

The House tax proposal is pitched as potentially raising some $2.9 trillion  a preliminary estimate  which 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 spending plan to generate an additional $600 billion to make up the difference.

To reach the Democrats' goal, 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%.

Targeting wealthy individuals, the Democrats propose 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 a 2017 Republican tax law to $11.7 million for individuals, would revert to $5 million.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
FAIRFIELD  A panel of law enforcement officials spent nearly two hours at a public forum Monday saying they dont have enough tools to address youth crime, specifically motor vehicle thefts.

But given the opportunity, they could not point to any evidence that a number of legislative changes they suggested would work.

In fact, solving the issue of auto thefts wouldnt require a special session of the legislature proposed by Republican lawmakers  despite auto theft rates at near historical lows.

When people ask me How do you stop it? now, I say Lock your car and dont leave your key fob in it, they wont know how to steal it, said Supervisory Assistant States Attorney John Capozzi, prosecutor for juvenile matters in Bridgeport, Danbury and Norwalk. And if you have a manual transmission, you could leave it running and they wont take it because they dont know how to drive it.

The forum, hosted by State Rep. Laura Devlin, R-Fairfield, took place at the Sacred Heart Community Theatre.

The venue has 400 seats. Eighteen of them were filled at the beginning of the event, which didnt bode well for the public buy-in the towns top cop said is necessary to address the problem.

There needs to be involvement from everyone, Fairfield Police Chief Robert Kalamaras said. There needs to be an education component where the community is locking their cars every night.

If our community as a whole is locking their cars and making our environment safe, then theyre going to move on to different communities to look to commit those crimes, Kalamaras said. Ultimately my responsibility is Fairfield. If they move to Westport, Im actually good with that.

The next speaker on the panel, Detective George Buckmir, showed surveillance footage depicting a February crash that killed a juvenile from Bridgeport minutes after the youth had stolen a vehicle from a Westport gas station.

These juveniles dont really have much fear for their own lives, never mind anybody elses, Buckmir said.

During his presentation, Buckmir detailed a case from last summer in which a 17-year-old youth from New Haven was arrested in Derby in a car stolen from Southington. The boy was released, stole three cars in Fairfield within hours and was eventually arrested after causing a crash while running from Derby cops, the detective said.

When I talked to him, he had no desire to talk to me at all, Buckmir said. The only thing he said in the presence of his mother is Sometimes this is the way it goes, meaning Sometimes I get caught and this is what I deal with.

The boy was eventually found incompetent and his record was wiped clean, according to the detective.

This is what we deal with. This is what we see. It can be very tiring and it can be very frustrating. As investigators, were losing the battle somewhere, and we have to find that ground where there are some consequences, Buckmir said. Because juveniles laugh at us as police officers. They know theyre going to be out in a few hours. Ive been laughed at, Ive been threatened, Ive been told Im going to stab you in the face. These are juveniles under 16. These arent your typical Fairfield kids that were dealing with.

Fairfield Judicial District States Attorney Joseph Corradino, who supervises prosecutions in greater Bridgeport, said there arent enough tools available for court officials to deal with kids who commit serious crimes.

Unfortunately, if a youth is 14 years old or younger, there is no way to move that case to adult court, he said, noting a homicide case involving a 14-year-old who cant be prosecuted for murder as an adult, and instead will face at most 18 months of probation. Thats a problem with the law in Connecticut.

Even those 15 and above can only be sent to adult court for the most serious offenses, which doesnt include crimes like possessing firearms, he said.

These young people keep going to juvenile court until they commit a serious offense that lands them in the adult court. Theres no intermediate step-up where we might salvage them at some point because they understand there are consequences for their actions, Corradino said.

The state of the law in Connecticut has created a consequence-free environment for many young people, the prosecutor said. We dont have a second-chance society...we have five, six, seven chances for young people and for adult offenders because of the multitude of diversionary programs we have before anyone ever faces a conviction.

We need the legislature to give us some tools to ratchet up the sanctions, Corradino said. Nobody wants young people to go to prison, but you need to have a carrot and a stick in addressing the problems.

Devlin also noted the multitude of diversionary programs available for those accused of crimes in Connecticut.

I support the approach of Lets do something else for these kids, but that seems to have been the approach over and over again, and honestly, I dont know if theyre either not functioning, not funded, (or) they are funded and arent performing, she said.

But when asked directly, nobody on the panel could offer evidence from other states to show that harsher penalties for juvenile crime suspects would result in less youth crime or auto thefts.

Im not familiar with any, Corradino said.

Bridgeport Public Defender Joseph Bruckman noted that auto thefts last year were down roughly 75 percent from their peak in the early 1990s, suggesting a shift in focus at getting to the root cause of youth crime.

The goals of helping youth achieve better outcomes and protecting the public are not mutually exclusive, because if we help youth achieve better outcomes, theyre not going to be offending, theyre not going to be a danger to the public, he said.

He suggested more attention on the need to help these kids before theres police contact.

By the time theyve done something wrong, for many of them the die has been cast, their character has been shaped, and what we need is more mentors, he said.

Corradino agreed.

One of the things thats missing in the lives of these young people is that sort of proper structure and role model behavior, he said.
New food labelling could be introduced to sway consumers to support British farmers and high animal welfare standards.

The new label scheme would give shoppers better information and more informed choices about the food they eat, Defra explained.

This would help them to better identify and support high welfare standards or more easily choose to buy products from British farmers.

The department has launched a call for evidence seeking public opinion on the post-Brexit labelling system.

The call for evidence will gather information on the potential scope, regulation, format, and enforcement of a new labelling scheme.

It also seeks views on the actual welfare standards that might underpin it, building on the existing voluntary assurance schemes in the UK.

Defra Secretary George Eustice said British farmers produced food to an 'exceptionally high' standard of animal welfare, and consumers had come to 'expect nothing less'.

"Now that we have left the EU, we have an opportunity to look at food labelling  and whether the information that we give to shoppers helps them make informed choices.

"This call for evidence is a first step in ensuring that we fully meet consumers needs, and fly the flag for the high standards for which our farmers are renowned," he said.

The call for evidence will be open for 12 weeks, and relates only to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Food marked as being produced in the UK, showing that it was made exclusively by British farmers, has been suggested by numerous industry groups.

A campaign was launched earlier this year calling for transparent and verifiable mandatory method of production labelling for food products.

The Consortium of Labelling for the Environment, Animal Welfare and Regenerative Farming (CLEAR) said that clear labels would respond to the public's desire for greater transparency over how food was produced.

CLEAR chairman, Fidelity Weston said with the labels, farmers would be able to distinguish themselves from others producing to lower standards.

This will allow food that is made to higher standards to be differentiated in the marketplace and eliminate any labelling that falsely conveys better levels of production.

"And food retailers and the hospitality sector can avoid the technical and financial challenges of having to devise their own labels, she added.

The NFU has also called for 'clear and unambiguous' labelling on food products to allow shoppers to make more informed choices.
Scottish farmers are being urged to bank a lamb to help tell the positive story of sheep farming as a St Andrews Day initiative reaches record numbers.

A Lamb Bank has been created to give schoolchildren the opportunity to taste and cook with Scotch Lamb on the patron saints day on 30 November.

It follows the success of the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland's (IAAS) project last year that saw 1.2 tonnes of lamb delivered into schools.

The marketing campaign was set up in 2010 to boost lamb sales among consumers by making it synonymous with St Andrews Day, similar to haggis on Burns' Night.

More than 175 schools - totalling 24,292 school pupils - have already signed up to benefit from the pioneering Lamb Bank for St Andrews Day 2021, a marked increase from the 11,600 recipients in 115 schools in 2020.

Neil Wilson, executive director of IAAS, said the ambition was to get lamb into at least one school in every town and in every rural school in Scotland.

There is no better way to market a product than to get it in front of people and this is an amazing opportunity to showcase lamb to the next generation of consumers, he said.

It creates conversation around it and gives teachers the springboard to talk about how sheep are reared in Scotland.

We have a great story to tell but its not always easy to find a platform.

Farmers selling sheep via an IAAS mart can donate the funds from the sale of one or more lambs, or other sheep, into the Lamb Bank.

This will then be used to supply lamb to Scottish schools during the week of the 30 November for Home Economics classes.

As well as marts donating, alongside John Scott Meat, IAAS will organise, pack and deliver the lamb.

With the initial response from schools already reaching 10,000 more schoolchildren than last year, and still two months to go, Mr Wilson is inviting the farming community to be part of the initiative.

If each farmer donated the proceeds of the sale of one lamb between now and 30 November, thousands more school children will benefit and well be able to fulfil our ambition.

One lamb will give approximately 180 children the chance to cook and taste lamb. If it costs the farmer 100 to yield that lamb, thats 55p per child, he said.

Lamb for St Andrews Day was kickstarted in 2010 by auctioneers, and has grown with the support of IAAS, NFU Scotland, National Sheep Association and Quality Meat Scotland.

Martin Kennedy, President of NFU Scotland, showed his support for the Lamb Bank: I would encourage all sheep farmers to be involved and support this initiative to help get our positive message across.

With climate change and the environment being at the top of the agenda, sheep grazing our hillsides are part of the solution."
Some of the worlds biggest food companies have joined an initiative to boost supplies of cage-free egg products.

The Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW), whose founders include Nestle, Tesco and Compass Group, has been running a consultation to improve the cage-free supply chain.

It has identified the procurement of cage-free processed egg ingredients as a key challenge in meeting global cage-free egg commitments in the years ahead.

In the UK, all major retailers have committed to abandoning eggs from cages by 2025. It started when a 14-year-old girl from Sheffield initially targeted Tesco with an online petition stop selling cage eggs.

After Tesco announced that it would move away from cage, other retailers, including Asda, Morrisons, as well as the discounters Aldi and Lidl, also made cage-free declarations.

Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose had already stopped selling eggs from cages some years ago.

This comes as the latest market survey is forecasting compound annual growth in world demand for liquid egg of 6% over the years ahead.

Fact.MR - a market research and competitive intelligence provider - estimates that the current global liquid egg market is worth $4.8 billion.

Now GCAW is looking into how the food industry can increase supplies of cage-free egg products as the market moves away form the use of eggs from cages.

Its initiative is looking at availability, cost and traceability of cage-free processed egg ingredients.

GCAW said: Since 2016, over 1,000 companies globally have committed to cage-free egg production, including more than 300 in North America and more than 800 across Europe. Most of these commitments are to be achieved by 2025.

In February 2021, the GCAW Laying Hen Welfare Working Group facilitated discussions with procurement colleagues from the member companies, with the aim of identifying barriers to the sourcing of cage-free eggs.

"The procurement of cage-free processed egg ingredients was identified as a key challenge in meeting global cage-free egg commitments.

"Specifically, the challenges centre on availability, cost and traceability of cage-free processed egg ingredients.

It added: The working group decided to hold a public consultation to seek wider views on the potential for alternative supply chain models to facilitate procurement of cage-free processed egg ingredients.

"The supply chain models to be considered in the consultation are based on those described by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): Segregated, Mass Balance and Book and Claim.

The focus of this consultation is to seek feedback on potential solutions for the procurement of cage-free processed egg ingredients.

"We are keen to hear from industry associations, egg producers, other food companies, and non-governmental organisations.

Consisting of thirteen companies, GCAW represents some of the largest names in global food production and food service.

They include Aramark, Compass Group, Elior Group, Hilton Food Group, IKEA Food Services, Maple Leaf Foods, Nestle, Sodexo, Tesco, the Cheesecake Factory, the Kroger Co., Tyson Foods and Unilever

With combined revenues of over $400bn, these firms say they have joined the coalition to collectively address systemic barriers to improving animal welfare, accelerate the development of standards, and drive progress on key welfare issues.

It comes as Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) recently produced its latest report on cage-free progress across the world.

It said that consumer demand for cage-free in the UK was increasing faster than industry conversion rates.

It has never been clearer that the future of egg production will be - and must be - cage-free," said Dr Tracey Jones, director of food business at CIWF.

"Although progress has been made, which is remarkable against the backdrop of the pandemic, there is still considerable work to be done."
The Sultanate of Oman is now welcoming Indians who have received both doses of a vaccine approved by the country



If youre looking for grand palaces, massive parks, centuries-old forts, traditional souqs and marine parks, Oman is the place to go. An ideal blend of global and local influences, this charismatic Arabian nation is now welcoming Indians again. Indians, that is, who present a COVID-19 vaccine certificate containing a QR code that confirms that they are double vaccinated with a vaccine approved in Oman (for now, this means Covishied).



Visitors from India and 20 other countries including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and Vietnam (all earlier on a travel red list) are now welcome.



The Civil Aviation Authority of Oman has issued the following guidelines for entry:

All passengers arriving in Oman will have to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result containing a QR code stating that they have received both doses of a vaccine approved in Oman, or one dose if a single-dose vaccine is approved. You should have received the last dose no less than 14 days ahead of your estimated arrival time.

All citizens, residents, visa holders and all those who do not require a visa are allowed to enter Oman, and they can obtain it upon arrival according to the previously established system. Indians need to apply for and receive a visa.

All travellers entering Oman on long international flights (with a period of no less than eight hours) with a pre-travel negative PCR test (within 96 hours) are exempt from quarantine, and so are travellers on short-haul flights with a negative COVID-19 PCR test.

All travellers without a negative COVID-19 PCR test result will be required to take a PCR test upon arrival at the airport and wear a Tarrasud+ (electronic tracking bracelet) and adhere to quarantine until a negative PCR test result is detected. If the result is positive, a quarantine of 10 days is mandatory.

Children below 18 years of age are exempt from these testing and vaccination requirements.











What awaits you in Oman

The capital of the country, Muscat (above) makes a perfect introduction to Oman. View the Al Jalali Fort, built by the Portuguese in the 1580s, from outside, then head to Mutrah Fort for a closer look at an Omani fort from within. Or get insights into local history down the centuries at the National Museum. Visiting the Mutrah Souq and Mutrah fish market is a great way to immerse yourself in local life. Nizwa, gateway to the Hajar Mountains, can be reached in a couple of hours. Fly, rather than drive to Salalah (main image) and the lush Dhofar region.



Images: Shutterstock

Also see: France is welcoming Indian travellers
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Kartik Aaryan has learnt the trick to jump from one film schedule to another smoothly. The star is busy juggling his movie projects. While last week he was shooting for a dramatic sequence for his horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, today we hear the actor moves to his next, Freddy.

Last evening, Kartik Aaryan took to his Instagram handle to share a video as he was enroute to Panchgani. The actor shared the beautiful visuals of his car driving through lush greens and captioned it Now back to Freddy. Alaya F too took a video from her car and informed the netizens that she is back on the sets of Freddy. Both the actors were earlier shooting for the film in Mumbai.This is the second schedule of this thriller helmed by Shashanka Ghosh. The film is backed by Ekta Kapoor.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fundsquire, a source of capital for startup and scale-ups globally, today announced they have received a strategic $75 million AUD (40 million) debt and equity investment from Fasanara Capital .

This investment will support Fundsquire's goals to launch new funding products in its existing markets in Australia, Canada, and the UK, as well as enable tech development and market expansion in the coming year.

"We are thrilled about this partnership," said Francesco Filia , CEO at Fasanara Capital. "Fundsquire is led by an extremely professional team with a unique offering on the market for R&D driven companies. We are looking forward to years of successful growth together."

Fundsquire was founded in 2016 by passionate entrepreneurs with a goal to offer simple, non-dilutive growth capital options to businesses. Transitioning from a startup to a scaleup, Fundsquire's own journey motivates it to create solutions that empower businesses to take control of their funding timeline.

Over the past year, Fundsquire has doubled it's investments in category-leading businesses that are conducting R&D. This rapid growth has been enabled by strategic expansion of the team and operations along with technology platform development.

Several leading advisors, investors, and accountants have developed partnerships with Fundsquire to enable seamless funding options for businesses. Fundsquire's expansive community of partners and perks offer clients a holistic network of support and connections.

"Our mission has been to invest capital into growing businesses across the world, and to make that process as straightforward, quick, and personalised as possible for our customers," said Damien Petty , CEO & Founder of Fundsquire. "This investment accelerates our global growth and expansion of game-changing funding solutions for cutting edge businesses."

About Fundsquire

Fundsquire is a global source of capital that invests in innovative businesses in Australia, the UK and Canada. We work closely with our customers to provide straightforward, non-dilutive capital to grow, accelerate and strengthen the value of their business. Visit fundsquire.com.au for more information.

About Fasanara Capital

Established in 2011, Fasanara Capital is a quantitative fintech investment company authorised and regulated by the FCA, offering access to inventive disruptive products and real-economy impact investment solutions, making extensive use of proprietary financial technology. Fasanara's unorthodox portfolio construction and unconventional investment strategy is a response to today's transformational financial markets, away from twin bubbles in public equity and bonds.

Media Contact: Scott Spence, Managing Director, Canada, scott@fundsquire.ca, (647) 569 4575

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1613301/Fundsquire_Fundsquire_raises__75_million_strategic_investment_fr.jpg
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 13, 2021 / Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. (CSE:YUM)(OTC PINK:KOMOF)(FSE:9HB) ("Komo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 1,000 units of the Company ("Units") at a price of $1,000 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000. Each Unit will consist of a 10% convertible unsecured debenture (the "Debenture"); and 7,000 common share purchase warrants of the Company ("Warrants").

The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum on an accrual basis from issuance, calculated and payable semi-annually in arrears on July 31 and January 31 of each year with such payment commencing on January 31, 2022 with a redemption date that is 24 months from issuance. The Debentures will be convertible in full or in part, at the holders' option, into common shares in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.14 per common share, at any time prior to their redemption. Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.16 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of issue.

The Company shall pay finders a cash commission equal to 8% of the gross proceeds of the Offering and a grant of such number of common share purchase warrants as is equal to 8% of the gross proceeds from the Offering, with each such warrant exercisable to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.16 for a period of 24 months from the date of issue.

The Units will be eligible for RRSP, RESP, RRIF, TFSA and DPSP accounts within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada) subject to certain qualifications, and will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months and one day from the closing date. The Units will be offered and sold by private placement in Canada to "accredited investors" within the meaning of NI 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions and other exempt purchasers under the applicable securities laws.

All amounts are in Canadian dollars. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used to scale up manufacturing, sales expansion throughout Canada and the United States, marketing and salaries.

About Komo

Komo Plant Based Foods Inc. is a premium plant-based food company that develops, manufactures and sells a variety of plant-based frozen meals that are always hearty, satisfying, and made with wholesome ingredients. At Komo, our mission is to help make plant-based meals a staple on every dinner table by sharing our love for feel-good food that connects the people to the planet. We believe plant-based eating is the future and - Change can start with a single biteTM. Our experienced plant-based innovation and development team recreates vegan versions of traditionally cheesy and meaty classics, with 100% plants. Komo's products are sold direct-to-consumer through our eCommerce website and a distribution network of online and brick and mortar grocery, convenience and natural retailer channels. Our operating subsidiary Komo Comfort Foods launched in 2021 with our flagship products: plant-based Lasagna, Shepherd's Pie and Chick'n Pot Pie and has recently launched a new line - Komo Plant-Based Meal HelpersTM - versatile meal starters to allow the creation of many dishes at home.



Learn more at: www.komocomfortfoods.com and follow on Instagram: @komocomfortfoods

For further information, please contact:

William White, President & CEO

will@komoeats.com

1-866-969-0882

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Joshua Lavers: jlavers@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (212) 812-7680

www.renmarkfinancial.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this news release.

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 unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or Komo's future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected","estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on Komo's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, Komo's product development plans, its ability to retain key personnel, and its expectation as to the acceptance of its products by consumers constitute forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The statements made in this press release are made as of the date hereof. Komo disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: KOMO Plant Based Foods Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663929/Komo-Announces-Non-Brokered-Private-Placement
Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee, author of UK Ministry of Defence report 'Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach,' suggests net zero commitment as a condition for awarding MOD contracts, as the UK government strives for net zero emissions by 2050

LONDON, Sept. 13, 2021, the membership organisation for UK businesses in aerospace, defence, security and space, release a trailblazing report from their broadcast on 'Sustainability - the New Defence Culture'.



Published ahead of the UN COP26 Conference to be held in the UK in November, the report shares mission-critical thinking from those at the forefront of how the UK can achieve net zero by 2050, including broadcast panellists Dr. Andy Clifton , Global Sustainability Manager, Engineering and Design, and Rolls-Royce Co-Chair of MOD-Industry Sustainable Procurement Working Group; and Dr. Sam Healy , BEM1, Group Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Director, QinetiQ and Chair of ADS Sustainability Working Group.

In discussions on how the MOD and Industry can collaborate to reach net zero emissions by 2050, Lt. Gen. Nugee insists, "I think we can be more sophisticated in what we expect from industry and give clear guidance. For instance, we may try to introduce a requirement that unless a company has its own route to net zero, we won't accept a bid from them".

In reviewing the ecosystem, Dr. Andy Clifton outlines the role of primes such as Rolls-Royce . "It's fundamentally about collaboration. As primes, we have a particular role to play in guiding the discussion on requirements for sustainability through the whole SME value chain and, with the MOD as an end user, provide more understanding, so we all know where we can contribute to reach net zero."

The Boyden/ADS Group report is based on a broadcast hosted by Francesca d'Arcangeli , Managing Partner UK and Global Practice Leader, Industrial Practice and Sameer Savani, at the time Head of Engineering & Innovation, ADS Group.

The next Boyden/ADS Group broadcast will take place later in 2021 with Lt. Gen. Richard Wardlaw , OBE, MOD Chief of Defence Logistics & Support, Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee and senior representatives of Industry. To request access, please contact abi.vickers@boyden.com .

Boyden/ADS Group full report from the broadcast 'Sustainability - the New Defence Culture' and executive summary .

MOD Strategic Approach by Lt. Gen. Richard Nugee.

____________

1 British Empire Medal







About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 75 offices in over 45 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked amongst the top companies on Forbes' Americas Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2021. For further information, visit www.boyden.com .

Contacts:

Francesca d'Arcangeli, Boyden

Managing Partner, United Kingdom

Global Practice Leader, Industrial Practice

T: +44 7879 359 306

E: Francesca.darcangeli@boyden.com

Marc Brooker, ADS Group

Senior Account Manager

T: +44 20 7091 7831

E: Marc.Brooker@adsgroup.org.uk

Andy Dunne, Boyden

Principal, United Kingdom

T: +44 7718 480 721

E: Andy.dunne@boyden.com



Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad8676be-2189-4911-821a-ccdd2e4bc08a

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/92aeed6e-64fc-4103-ae5a-5572f1dd0d13
LONDON, UK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Private aircraft charter company Eclipse Air Charter has enjoyed steady growth in 2021, attracting new clients looking for one-way flights to warm-weather destinations, and reliable, on-demand travel in uncertain times.

Particularly in Europe, where recent sudden changes or cancellations in airline services have thrown travel plans into chaos, Eclipse's brand of personalized, on-demand service and internationally recognized ARGUS Rated Charter Broker status presents a reliable and welcome alternative for clients wary of last-minute complications.

According to reports from aviation industry research company WingX, European business jet travel is up 25% in August compared to pre-pandemic August 2019. Surprisingly, even as more governments lift their pandemic-related travel restrictions, this industry trend shows no sign of slowing, suggesting that what travellers want above all else in 2021 is peace of mind. That and a warm locale in which to wait out the ongoing global malaise-Eclipse has seen a marked increase in the number of bookings to summer-climate destinations like Miami and Scottsdale in the U.S., Bahamas and Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean, and Nice and Mykonos in Europe.

"People don't want to 'just book' an important trip at the click of a button," says Lily Karapetyan, Director of Charter Sales at Eclipse. "They want to go through entry restrictions, double- and triple-check they have the correct vaccines, tests and documentation, and find out what happens if the rules change. We've become more like advisors rather than private jet brokers, because we're guiding our clients through the entire process."

As an ARGUS Rated Charter Broker, Eclipse Air Charter has undergone the globally recognized independent organization's rigorous Charter Evaluation and Qualification process, thereby furthering its commitment to quality and safety.

"Where, when and why our clients travel may change, but their comfort and safety should never vary," says Yasmin Alam, Eclipse Founder and Managing Director. "We're honoured to have achieved ARGUS Charter Broker Rating, especially at a time when health and safety is more important than ever."

About Eclipse Air Charter

Eclipse Air Charter is an on-demand, private aircraft charter company offering bespoke, private jet charter solutions. Dedicated account managers are available 24/7/365. Plan, book and fly anywhere in the world using Eclipse' expertise, experience and worldwide partnerships, no matter the number of passengers or how complex the itinerary.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1624200/Eclipse_Air_Charter_Eclipse_Air_Charter_expands_client_base_as_t.jpg
Potter Clarkson and ERS Genomics to join forces with eureKARE on the eureKAWARDS

Potter Clarkson to offer the winner a K ick -S tart i P consultancy



ERS Genomics to provide the most promising CRISPR/Cas9 team with a complimentary three-year CRISPR/Cas9 license

Luxembourg and Paris, France - 14 September 2021: eureKARE ("the Company"), a pioneering new company focused on financing and building next generation biotechnology companies in the disruptive fields of the microbiome and synthetic biology, today announces it has secured the support of Potter Clarkson, an intellectual property law firm, and ERS Genomics, the global CRISPR/Cas9 licensing leader, on the eureKAWARDS.

Supporting the development of synthetic biology, the first edition of the eureKAWARDS is an international competition designed with the aim to discover and identify the most promising synthetic biology projects and research across Europe. Together with eureKARE, both Potter Clarkson and ERS Genomics will be offering invaluable services to eureKAWARDS semi-finalists and the winning entry.

Potter Clarkson will be providing IP education to all eureKAWARDS semi-finalists, as well as one-to-one IP consultancy sessions for all finalists. Potter Clarkson will be awarding the winner with its Kick-StartiPconsultancy, which is designed to help businesses understand, identify, develop and document their IP strategies to start a business in the best possible way.

ERS Genomics will be offering a three-year license to the most promising CRISPR/Cas9 submission at the eureKAWARDS. This provides broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9intellectual property held by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, 2020 Nobel Prize winner. In addition, ERS will provide pitch training and mentoring to all semi-finalists.

Rodolphe Besserve, Chief Executive Officer of eureKARE, said: "We are thrilled to be working with Potter Clarkson and ERS Genomics, both specialists in their fields. For participants, this is a unique opportunity to gain access to our expert network of partners to gain real industry advice and insights on their business ideas and projects."

Sara Holland, patent attorney specializing in synthetic biology and biotechnology at Potter Clarkson, commented: "The research that is being done at universities across Europe has the potential to have a massive impact on the world and help solve many global challenges, but it won't have that impact if it stays between the pages of an academic journal.

"Naturally, the majority of academics don't think particularly commercially and often don't see the potential their research has, and so most of this potential is never realized. The pro-active approach taken by eureKARE, whereby the most exciting research in academic labs in the synthetic biology and microbiome space is identified and commercialized, is both necessary and inspired. Synthetic biology is such an exciting space to be in, and our team feel privileged to have the deep scientific technical backgrounds necessary to understand this emerging area of deep tech and help start-ups and spin-outs drag academic research out into the world."

Eric Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, ERS Genomics,added: "We are in the business of innovation. At ERS, we believe CRISPR/Cas9 will help deliver a better, more sustainable future for us and our planet. Already, use of CRISPR/Cas9 has provided solutions to previously insurmountable global issues. Across a host of life science disciplines, including agriculture, infectious disease and therapeutics, precision gene-editing is changing everything. Our vision is to enable an acceleration of life science breakthroughs through access to our patent portfolio. The eureKAWARDS are in perfect harmony with our goals. We want to see start-ups succeed, and we want new ideas brought to fruition. Working with eureKARE, we will play an active role in encouraging innovation in Life Science."

To be part of the first annual eureKAWARDS, please visit eurekare.eu/eurekawardsfor further information on how to submit your application. The application portal will remain open until 10 October 2021.

- End -

About eureKARE

eureKARE is a unique project development company dedicated to investing and developing next generation biotechnology companies in the cutting-edge fields of the microbiome and synthetic biology. eureKARE has a two-step investment approach to deliver long-term value creation. The Company supports translational research by creating and financing new companies out of high value European science through its biotech start-up studios eureKABIOME (Microbiome) and eureKASYNBIO (Synthetic biology). The Company also intends to invest in more mature biotech companies and will systematically propose to offer some liquidity to early investors, thereby addressing a critical need in the European biotech field. Guided by its influential founder, Alexandre Mouradian, and a pan-European team, eureKARE has a rapidly growing portfolio of companies that have the potential to disrupt the life sciences industry.

About Potter Clarkson

We help companies, organisations and individuals across all sectors of business to understand, create, protect and defend the commercial value of their innovations anywhere in the world through intellectual property rights. As a full-service intellectual property law firm with expertise in patents, trade marks, designs, litigation, licensing and consultancy, we can provide you with specialist support in all areas of IP. For additional information please visit https://www.potterclarkson.com

About ERS Genomics

ERS Genomics is a biotechnology company based in Dublin, Ireland. The company provides broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property held by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier. Non-exclusive licenses are available for research and sale of products and services across multiple fields including: research tools, kits, reagents; discovery of novel targets for therapeutic intervention; cell lines for discovery and screening of novel drug candidates; GMP production of healthcare products; companion animal and livestock health; production of industrial materials such as enzymes, biofuels and chemicals; and synthetic biology. For additional information please visit www.ersgenomics.com

For more information

eureKARE SA

Marina Shapochnik, Head Investor Relations

marina.shapochnik@eurekare.eu

Consilium Strategic Communications

Amber Fennell, Sukaina Virji, Carina Jurs, Genevieve Wilson

+44
Paris, September 14th, 2021 - Today, Ipsos announced the appointment of Lorenzo Larini as Chief Executive Officer for Ipsos in North America, succeeding Pierre Le Manh who decided to follow other professional opportunities.

Didier Truchot said: "We are excited to welcome Lorenzo to Ipsos. He brings a wealth of experience in the research and advisory fields leveraging data and technology to drive business performance. His vast experience partnering with clients to help them stay ahead of the unrelenting changes of technology and markets is a unique asset to the company".

With over two decades in the technology information industry, Lorenzo occupied senior leadership positions with Gartner before joining Ipsos. He was the Leader of the North American Consulting business and global Senior Vice-President, Executive Programs, providing tools, insights and knowledge to CIOs and their teams. He is based in Ipsos' New York office.

Lorenzo Larini said: "For over four decades, Ipsos has been a reliable partner to many leading organizations and institutions across the world. I am thrilled to join the most innovative player in its sector. As technology continues to affect more aspects of our lives, expectations of consumers, citizens and employees are constantly evolving. Ipsos is uniquely positioned to help every organization to act with more confidence, faster and smarter".

Biographical details:

Lorenzo Larini was born in 1974 in Tuscany. He is married and has one daughter. He has lived and worked in several countries including Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Before joining Gartner, Lorenzo held Product Management and Software Engineering positions. He studied Computer Engineering at University of Pisa, in Italy.

ABOUT IPSOS

Ipsos is the third largest market research company in the world, present in 90 markets and employing more than 17,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 business solutions are based on primary data coming from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

"Game Changers" - our tagline - summarizes our ambition to help our 5,000 clients navigate with confidence our world of rapid change.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and

is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com

Attachment
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Golden Dawn Minerals Inc., (TSXV:GOM)(FRANKFURT:3G8C)(OTC PINK:GDMRF), ("Golden Dawn" or the "Company"), announces that it has received final approval for its drilling plan on the Phoenix Property at the Greenwood Precious Metals project in southeastern BC, which is anticipated to be executed in October.

Photo showing Minnie Moore vein outcrop and previous assay results

The Phoenix Multi-Year Area Based permit is for a total of 25 drill sites, with 12 sites approved for this year. Multiple holes can be drilled from each of the sites, so the permit allows for approximately 7,200 meters to be drilled this year out of a total of up to 15,000 metres.

The Phoenix Property is extensively mineralized and covers 29 past producing mines and in excess of 70 mineral showings. Targets for this year are located in the northeast area of the property and include the Minnie Moore and Summit epithermal gold and silver prospects, and nearby gold-copper skarn deposits located northeast of the historic open pit Phoenix copper-gold mine.

Photo showing bladed calcite in epithermal gold-bearing vein from Summit showing.

The Minnie Moore showing is a silver-rich epithermal style breccia vein hosted in limestone. Sulfide content is generally low but can exceed 5% of pyrite, with lesser chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, and ruby silver. Native gold has been seen in thin section and in hand specimen. In 2017, Golden Dawn reported a check sample result of 1700 g/t silver and 2.68 g/t gold over 1.0 meters for the Minnie Moore (news release dated Oct. 18, 2017).

The Summit showing lies 75 m north of the main R. Bell skarn deposit and historic workings. The Summit is hosted within Brooklyn limestone and consists of discontinuous quartz veins carrying high gold values. Sampling results from 1997 were reported at 30.2 g/t Au over 7.3 meters. In 2017, Golden Dawn reported a check sample result of 85.9 g/t gold over 0.4 meters from the Summit (news release dated Oct. 18, 2017).

The BC Mine is one of several skarn deposits that occur in the northeast area of the Phoenix property where drilling is planned. Historic production at the B.C. Mine occurred 1900-1907, 1916-1918, 1938 when a total of 93,874 tonnes were mined grading 0.3 g/t Au, 71.0 g/t Ag, and 4.4% Cu. Mineralization occurred as massive to semi-massive lenses of chalcopyrite with subordinate pyrrhotite, pyrite and magnetite replacements in the Triassic Brooklyn Group, near the contact of the sharpstone conglomerate on the west (footwall) and a narrow band of marble/limestone on the east (hangingwall). Associated skarn gangue minerals include garnet (most abundant), quartz, calcite, epidote, actinolite and chlorite.

Historic BC Mine (left) and example of copper gold skarn mineralization with malachite (right).

The Phoenix permit is the first to receive final approval from the Ministry of Energy Mines and Low Carbon Innovation (EMLI) out of four permits being processed for Golden Dawn. Three of the four (Phoenix, Golden Crown and Lexington) are existing permits whereas one (Tam O'Shanter) is a new application.

Map of the Greenwood Precious Metal Project areas.

Readers are cautioned that historical records referred to in this News Release have been examined but not verified by a Qualified Person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this News Release are accurate.

Technical disclosure in this news release has been approved by Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., President of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101,

For more details, please see the most recent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Company's website at www.goldendawnminerals.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC.

Per: "Christopher R. Anderson"Christopher R. Anderson CEO

For further information, please contact:

Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. - Corporate Communications:

Tel: 604-221-8936

Email: Office@goldendawnminerals.com

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions: This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, preliminary plans for a consolidation of the Company's Shares. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include the possibility that the TSX Venture Exchange will not approve the proposed share consolidation, and that the Company may not be able to raise sufficient additional capital to continue its business. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of securities of the Company in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The Company's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY 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.

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

SOURCE: Golden Dawn Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663892/Golden-Dawn-Receives-Drill-Permit-for-Phoenix-Property-Airborne-Survey-to-Confirm-Additional-Targets--Greenwood-BC
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (FSE: DTC) (OTC Pink: DTCFF) ("Defence" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company working on cancer therapeutics and infectious disease vaccines, is pleased to announce the completion of a non-GLP study on rabbits demonstrating a potent humoral response with titer reaching 1:43 000 000 per average without any signs of toxicity.

Defence has previously developed and tested its AccuVAC-PT001 vaccine in mice. This vaccine is highly immunogenic, and the generated antibodies cross-reacted with all tested variants including the Delta strain. In addition to the mechanistic and neutralization studies, Defence re-tested its vaccine in rabbits with a Contract Research Organization (CRO), as a second non-rodent animal model. The rabbits vaccinated with our AccuVAC-PT001 developed a very strong humoral response, and physical inspection conducted over a 42-day period presented no change in body weight, behaviour, activity or appearance of any rashes at injection sites.

"Defence's next step is a GLP study that will enable us to present our product, AccuVAC-PT001, to Health Canada and the FDA. Once cleared, Defence can initiate a Phase I/IIa on its COVID vaccine in healthy individuals," says Mr. Plouffe, the CEO of Defence Therapeutics.

"Defence's Accum technology is highly versatile and can be applied to any protein. Results have demonstrated from past and current vaccine studies that the AccuVAC-PT001 platform enables the design of novel protein-based vaccines, that will amplify the immune response that can be generated by current vaccines," Mr Plouffe stated.

This virus is evolving very rapidly to escape the vaccine-induced immunity. The data obtained with AccuVAC-PT001 not only provides evidence that the vaccine is efficient against a wide range of currently circulating variants, but it also highlights the importance of continuing research and development to effectively neutralize new variants and future mutations.

Additional Information:

The Company makes no express or implied claims that it has developed a vaccine to treat COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus) at this time.

Dr. Moutih Rafei, Defence's VP Research and Development, has reviewed and approved the scientific disclosure contained in this press release. Dr. Rafei has a PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill University and received his post-doctoral training at Universite de Montreal. He is an immuno-oncologist who specializes in the fields of T-cell development, stem cell biology, cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases.

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUMTM technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

For further information:

Sebastien Plouffe, President, CEO and Director

P: (514) 947-2272

Splouffe@defencetherapeutics.com

www.defencetherapeutics.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information

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 events or developments that the Company 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 words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. 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 may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and 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 actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, 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/96364
Ancywax and Alida will together support organisations in enhancing customer experience through listening and acting on customer feedback

Alida, a leader in Total Experience Management (TXM), today announced Ancywax, a concept development company that provides creative solutions in media, marketing and consultancy, will join its Partner Network to deliver elevated customer experience (CX) and insights to organisations in East-Africa and beyond.

"Securing a partnership with Alida will go a long way in helping us leveraging our current core services to existing and new clients," said Ancel Ochino Bwire, CEO of Ancywax. "To us, obsession with customer wants and needs has been a traditional staple at Ancywax. Through Alida's technology, we are excited and thrilled that it will take us to another level in serving clients."

Ancywax will collaborate with Alida to support its clients and improve their insights capabilities to better understand the scope of their respective global markets. Both Ancywax and Alida believe in empowering their customers and making decisions with them, not for them.Together, they will provide organisations the tools to uncover their customers' ultimate truth and further develop their customer experience strategy using those rich and informative insights.

"We are thrilled to be expanding our partner network in Africa by embarking on this new partnership journey with Ancywax," said Ross Wainwright, CEO of Alida. "The consultancy team at Ancywax is known for providing cutting-edge and competitive services and solutions to their customers. We look forward to working together in helping organisations optimize the power of CXM and propel their customer experience initiatives."

The Alida Partner Network enables growth for organisations of all sizes by providing the software, enablement and expert support needed to put customers' truth into action. As the global authority in building engaged and online communities for ongoing customer feedback, partners entrust Alida's software to help them deliver powerful insights and a competitive advantage for their clients.

"Our partnership with Ancywax is exciting for us and all of our customers in Africa who will receive stellar consulting services from Ancywax empowered by Alida's TXM Platform," said Gary Smith, SVP Channel Partner Alliances, Alida.

To learn more about partnering with Alida, visit www.alida.com/partners.

About Ancywax

Ancywax is a tailored company that is aimed at serving you and your business. Our wide range of services ensures you are adequately served as our team tailors for you value addition as our customer. Our key selling point is creativity as our driving force at Ancywax which we simply refer to as Concept Development. We offer you this in form of Media. Marketing. Consultancy. Our intention is not only to serve you but ensure you get full focus from idea level up to its implementation.

About Alida

Alida believes in a world where customers are the ultimate source of truth. A world where the best business decisions are those made with customers, not for them. Alida created Alida TXM (Total Experience Management) to fuse the voice of customers and employees with the ability to innovate and deliver extraordinary customer, employee, product and brand experiences. Iconic brands like Twitter, Toyota, and J. Crew choose Alida, formerly Vision Critical, to build stronger brands, happier workplaces, winning product portfolios, and lasting customer relationships.

Follow us at www.alida.com and engage with us on social media @alidaCXM.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005080/en/

Contacts:

Media

Genevieve Raveau

Public Relations Manager, Alida

genevieve.raveau@alida.com
FY21 pro forma revenues of 480 million, up 53%, or 166 million growth on FY20

FY21 pro forma adjusted EBITDA of 180 million, up 65%, or 71 million growth on FY20

Continued high quality organic revenue of 10%, and 15% recurring revenue growth

Continued strategic M&A with 18 acquisitions completed

Achieved target of 1 million Access Workspace users

Formation of the 7 million Access Foundation expanding charitable support in UK and APAC.

The Access Group, a leading provider of business management software to mid-market organisations, has announced significant year-on-year pro forma revenue growth of 53%, leading to pro forma revenues of 480 million and pro forma adjusted EBITDA of 180 million for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 ("FY21"). These results represent 16 straight years of uninterrupted profitable growth for the company.

Organic revenue growth of 10% demonstrates the underlying power of Access technology and services. The total number of Access Workspace users, its global SaaS solution, grew to more than 1 million during FY21 and Access added approximately 20,000 new customers bringing the total to more than 55,000 customers across the company.

Commenting on today's announcements, Chris Bayne, CEO of The Access Group, said: "This year's outstanding financial results demonstrate the value our customers are receiving from Access. In what was the most challenging year for businesses globally, Access remained committed to assisting our people, our customers and partners. I'm very proud of how Access has shown, not only resilience, but also such progress and growth during the past incredibly challenging 18 months."

Bayne continued, "We have continued our significant investment in our Access Workspace digital workplace a simple and accessible way of joining the dots for an organisation's moving parts of people, processes and technology so they can address the challenges and opportunities ahead of them with confidence and certainty. ?We've spent a long time listening to our customers and they told us that a single view of their organisation coupled with a clear ability to take action would be the most valuable way to get more done so that's what we've built.? Access' organic growth of 10% demonstrates that Access is trusted by our customers to bring them the software and solutions they need as they move into growth mode out of the pandemic".

Access completed 18 acquisitions in FY21 which have contributed to the company's accelerated growth. These included "HAS Technology" in Health Social Care; "My School Portal" in the independent Education sector; "Eazipay" has been added as a fundamental element to Access PaySuite; "EasyBuild", "Ezitracker" and "Unleashed" support the growing ERP business in the UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand. "Acteol" expanded the Access Hospitality offering by bringing CRM and managed services capabilities, and "CPL Learning" added industry leading learning and development solutions at a critical time for the hospitality and retail sectors.

Access People launched in September 2020 by joining all existing Access Group HR operations with seven acquired companies, plus adding "Abintegro" in December, to improve candidate attraction, employee development, engagement and retention. The flexibility, unparalleled breadth, depth and scalability across all areas of HCM, payroll, learning development and compliance are a pivotal part of Access Group's growth across all sectors from small and mid-sized to upper mid-market organisations in the UK and Asia Pacific.

The largest acquisition of FY21 was of Sage Group PLC's local businesses in Australia and Asia, completed in May this year and continues Access' focus on the Asia Pacific region as a centre of growth. This significant acquisition followed the purchases of Attache and Unleashed in the Asia Pacific region and strengthens Access' global market presence. Bringing Access Workspace to the region connects payroll, finance, HR and digital learning applications to one platform and the union of Sage Group's local businesses in Asia and Australia, and The Access Group's established presence in the region presents a unique opportunity for customers and partners to leverage a leader in integrated people and financial management software services.

In April 2021 Access formally launched its new legal software division, Access Legal, promising to help the UK's most ambitious law firms achieve their potential through a powerful suite of technology. The launch followed the acquisitions of case and practice management providers Eclipse Legal Systems and DPS Software during 2020, as well as previous acquisitions of legal online training, compliance and risk management solution providers Riliance and Socrates. The acquisitions of "Select Legal" and "Oosha" in June 2021, both leaders in legal technology, accelerated the Access Legal division and further supports the approximately 3,500 law firms who use Access software.

Access PaySuite was launched in May 2021, delivering payment solutions to 5000+ mid-market organisations and has processed over 82 million transactions. FCA authorised, PaySuite is supporting organisations who during the last 18 months in many cases had to re-think their approach to implementing digital payment methods. Integrated or embedded payments are an increasingly popular solution, able to connect the payments system with existing financial and business management software. Access PaySuite drastically cuts the cost and time spent on manual duties such as invoice processing, chasing payments and providing a more flexible, efficient and less error-prone organisation.

Access has formed The Access Foundation, a charitable status entity with a 7M fund that will be launched later this year. It will support charities linked to employees in a meaningful way, and community causes close to its offices in the UK, Ireland, Romania and Asia Pacific. With the intention of striking the right balance between company, employee and customer, the Access culture is focused on giving back and devoting time to causes that are important to its people. Access has increased its fundraising total by 775% in the last three years and continued activities during the pandemic by adapting to online events to maintain momentum and commitment to its charity partners.

The Access team raised a total of 376,495 for the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) as its chosen Charity of The Year with more than 50 fundraising initiatives and events taking place during the partnership.

The Access Group global employee base has grown to over 3,850 with continued investment in hiring people expected in FY22. Access has continued to focus on embedding its values through "The Access Way" a platform of behaviours that supports personal and company success by uniquely developing and engaging its people. This was central to its COVID-19 response, driving strong teamwork and customer focus while colleagues continued to work largely from home.

Ends

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005089/en/

Contacts:

For The Access Group

Kate Hassler

The Access Group

kate.hassler@theaccessgroup.com

Martin Stone

Tank PR

martin@tankpr.co.uk
Early-stage startup investor plans to invest in 100+ European startups in 2022, following a $150 million fund close

36 startups will be selected for accelerator programs in Paris and Stockholm, each receiving up to $120k of funding

Programs will be fully funded by Techstars following the close of an oversubscribed $150M fund

Techstars plans to invest in more than 100 European startups in 2022 through programs in 7 countries

Applications open today; aspiring founders can apply here

Techstars, the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, announces the launch of two new accelerator programs in Paris and Stockholm. The launch showcases Techstars' commitment to investing in startup talent in Europe, where it plans to invest in more than 100 startups in 2022 through its various accelerator programs in seven countries. Both programs will be fully funded by Techstars, following the recent July close of a new $150 million fund, intended to support more local entrepreneurs looking for global exposure.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005314/en/

A Techstars Accelerator Office (Photo: Business Wire)

The Paris Techstars Accelerator and Stockholm Techstars Accelerator will each accept 12 startups per class, who will benefit from up to $120k in funding alongside evergreen access to Techstars' vast network of mentors, investors, alumni and corporate partners. The Paris accelerator will operate two classes per year, while Stockholm will run once in 2022 and twice per year from 2023 onwards. Applications for these accelerators open today and will close on 1 December 2021, with the first classes of both programs due to commence on 21 March 2022.

Applications will be accepted from startups across all high-growth sectors, both B2B and B2C, and successful applicants will have a strong founding team who are using technology to tackle complex problems, with a clear and scalable product-market fit.

The Paris and Stockholm Techstars Accelerator programs follow the recent appointment of French-born CEO, Maelle Gavet, in January 2021. An experienced French entrepreneur and former executive at Compass and Booking.com, Gavet's experience scaling companies across Europe will assist Techstars on its mission to help more entrepreneurs in more places transform the world through access to capital and a global network.

Techstars currently operates 47 accelerators in 33 cities and 12 countries around the world, and while it previously operated a Paris-based accelerator in partnership with corporate partners, the Stockholm Techstars Accelerator marks its first venture into Sweden as it eyes expansion opportunities across Europe. Since 2009 and 2010, the company has been actively supporting thousands of entrepreneurs in Paris and Stockholm, respectively, by hosting more than 90 Techstars Startup Weekend programs in both cities, in close collaboration with local ecosystem leaders. Additionally in Europe, Techstars operates programs in London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Oslo and Turin.

Since its inception in 2006, Techstars has invested in 2,589 companies, which today have a combined market capital valuation of $220.1 billion. It counts 15 unicorns among its accelerator graduates, including DigitalOcean, Chainalysis, PillPack and SendGrid. Techstars invests in approximately 500 startups and deploys approximately $130M per year, making it one of the largest investors in high-growth early-stage companies by volume in the world.

Maelle Gavet, CEO of Techstars, said: "We believe in the power of local ecosystems and that life-changing ideas can come from anywhere in the world you don't need to be in Silicon Valley to be a success. At Techstars, we meet the founders where they are and use our local networks to give them access to world-class capital and investing opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have. Paris and Stockholm are two of Europe's most rapidly growing yet underserved tech hubs, and we know there is a huge amount of talent there ready to be harnessed."

Applications to apply to the Paris Techstars Accelerator and Stockholm Techstars Accelerator are open now.

About Techstars

The Techstars worldwide network helps entrepreneurs succeed. Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas-entrepreneurs create a better future for everyone, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere. Now we are on a mission to enable every person on the planet to contribute to, and benefit from, the success of entrepreneurs. In addition to operating accelerator programs and venture capital funds, we do this by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to help build thriving startup communities. Techstars has invested in more than 2,589 companies with a combined market cap of more than $220.1B. www.techstars.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005314/en/

Contacts:

Ballou PR

Fiona Houston: +44 7935 105 338

Kelly Horn: +44 7767 649 727



Techstars

Jennifer Pakradooni: +1 305 772 3834
FRONICS super hearing machine, overcomes microphone limitations to recognize human sound!

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021, a technology company from South Korea, opens a new horizon for machine learning with the advancement of an artificial ear.

Most people know that various kinds of microphones are used to make voice or sound amplified, recorded or recognized by artificial intelligence. The mechanics of a microphone is vastly different from the human ear. This is why people using hearing aids have many difficulties in hearing from a distance or under noisy situations and why many are less satisfied with AI machines around us.

Fronics Inc. has developed the first and the only voice sensor extracting voice signals from resonance. This sensor works just like the human cochlear, enabling machines to hear like humans. What this means is that, compared to conventional microphones, Fronics' sensor can detect sounds up to eight times farther away and provide up to 22 times cleaner data. As the market demand grows for smart devices depending on human voice control, a sensor that works just like the human ear is needed to get the precision required to talk to machines like someone would their own family.

To enter into the global market, Fronics Inc. has established an entity named Fronics Technologies Inc. in the U.S. recently. On Sept. 9, seven people gathered in San Francisco to discuss next steps. They are Kisoo Kim, CEO of Fronics Inc.; Yobie Benjamin Franklin, Chairman of Fronics Technologies Inc.; Michelle Kim, board member of Fronics Technologies Inc.; Keonjae Lee, KAIST professor and an inventor; Jounghoon Lee, Vice President of Fronics Inc.; Jeremy McKane, founder of OCN.ai and tech entrepreneur; and Edmond Fong, a senior investment professional at a large institutional investment firm. The group will promote this amazing technology to the media and find companies in need. The group also plans to get a valuation report from a prominent law firm and to list specifications of Fronics on the market in the near future.

We all live in a world where machines can now listen and interact with human voice commands. Fronics is the first company in the world to develop technology that turns the analog process of hearing into the most advanced auditory data for machine learning applications. The team at Fronics believes that this is a new era in machine super hearing.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kisoo Kim

keith_kim@fronics.com

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Cloudreach Talent Academy, designed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), will discover and nurture new cloud talent and create more diverse technical community

Cloudreach, a leading independent multi-cloud services company, is proud to announce the launch of a new Cloudreach Talent Academy. This immersive program of accelerated, hands-on learning, aims to find a diverse range of candidates and help them launch their technical career in cloud computing.

The two-year course will be available to those who wish to pursue or start their journey with cloud technology. Cloudreach will focus on attracting those who are truly passionate about building a career in cloud, including non-graduates and those with a limited background in technology.

Cloudreach and AWS will collaborate closely to ensure Academy trainees receive the highest quality learning experience. The education program will pair best-in-class resources and content from AWS Training and Certification, with Cloudreach real-world customer experience, to give trainees an immersive experience that features a rich curriculum of cloud topics.

Amazon Web Services Vice President, Worldwide Training and Certification, Maureen Lonergan, said: "This element of our Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Cloudreach will help us bring the next generation of cloud expertise and best cloud services to an even bigger audience. Cloudreach's commitment to diversity and inclusion aligns with AWS Leadership Principles and our future workplace aspirations."

Cloudreach CEO, Brooks Borcherding, said: "We're proud to formally launch the Cloudreach Talent Academy intended to create hundreds of exciting technical career paths for candidates coming from diverse and underrepresented communities in the IT industry. We are drawing on our decades of expertise to build a two-year training program to ensure our new team members receive the ideal blend of formal education, technical certifications and mentor-based customer engagements to create a new generation of cloud rock stars."

Improving diversity in the tech industry

One of the key aims of the Cloudreach Talent Academy is to improve diversity in the tech industry. This has historically been a key challenge within the sector: in Europe, just 2% of the tech workforce are from Black, African or Caribbean backgrounds1 and just 17% of tech workers are women2.These represent just two minority groups among many others where there is significant room for improvement.

The candidate experience

Cloudreach is looking for candidates who share its values, show natural aptitude and who are eager to learn about technology and solve problems with code. The company will be expanding its talent pool to reach candidates that often get overlooked elsewhere in the industry. This includes those with legacy technology skills looking to switch to the cloud, those returning to work after time off, technology enthusiasts not currently in an IT role, and engineering graduates looking for a step up.

Candidates will have access to an extended team at Cloudreach, with recruiters, technical trainers and advisors on-hand to help them progress and guide them into a customer-facing role within the company. The Cloudreach Talent Academy will recruit candidates globally to join the 500+ technical roles Cloudreach already deploys on customer projects.

Better together

The Talent Academy is part of Cloudreach's Strategic Collaboration Agreement with AWS. The wide-ranging agreement will mean an acceleration of the companies' joint go-to-market proposition, along with investments in Cloudreach software innovation, and geographical expansion across North America and Europe.

- ENDS

Notes to editors

1 Source: State of European Tech 2020

2 Source: Women tech network

Additional resources

Explore the Cloudreach blog

Subscribe to the Cloudbusting podcast

Follow Cloudreach on Twitter and LinkedIn

About Cloudreach

Cloudreach is the world's leading independent multi-cloud services company. Our mission is to deliver the promise of cloud and drive extraordinary value for our customers. Cloudreach helps enterprises win competitive advantage through successful cloud transformation. We're the go-to strategic partner for Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. With more than 10 years of cloud native experience, we've built an unmatched depth and breadth of expertise in cloud technologies and their application to business. For more information about our work, visit www.cloudreach.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005591/en/

Contacts:

Rahim Hakimi

Email: rahim.hakimi@cloudreach.com
Company discovers critical cyber threats facing car manufacturers due to publicly accessible sensitive information, including exposed credentials, assets and blueprints

CybelAngel, a global leader in digital risk protection, today released its Global Cyber Investigation, "The Race Against External Threats in the Automotive Supply Chain," that shows the automotive industry is at severe risk of ransomware attacks due to the availability of hundreds of thousands of exposed credentials online. The company conducted a wide-ranging six-month investigation of leading automotive companies to understand their cyber exposure risk and vulnerabilities, analyzing assets that are publicly available without the need for authentication.

The investigation revealed that highly sensitive information was leaked, including trade secrets, personally identifiable information (PII), blueprints of engines and production facilities, confidential agreements, human resources (HR) documents and more. These leaks are due to both employee internal threats and external security weaknesses across the automotive supply chain.

Data was found across file servers, email exchange servers, databases, pastebins and IoT devices. Key findings include:

A single vendor leaked nearly 200 pages of blueprints detailing the facility infrastructure and security system specifications.

A single facilities supplier leaked IP and documents from six different brands including blueprints and facility diagrams.

Out of a sample group of 2.2 million employees, roughly one in 10 employees have exposed publicly accessible credentials available online.

Out of 14 manufacturers (2.2 million employees), 60 million keyword matches with 800,000 alerts of brand names in documents hosted on exposed servers, clouds and databases.

Companies from the United States and Western Europe suffered the most exposed credentials. These credentials represent a major risk, as stolen, exposed, or reused credentials are exploited in 30% of ransomware attacks.

Researchers found 26,322 exposed assets with open ports or vulnerable protocols that needed to be closed immediately or monitored closely.

"The risks of exposed data cannot be overstated. Ransomware attacks, leaks, exposed assets and credentials put companies at risk of intellectual property theft, data theft, corporate espionage, fraud and regulations fines," said Erwan Keraudy, CybelAngel CEO. "The automotive sector in particular is attractive to hackers because it has long, complex and interconnected supply chains with varying cybersecurity levels and therefore weak points. Now is the time for the automotive industry to take action to lock down data and safeguard credentials."

For more information on the threats targeting the automotive industry and how the adoption of a digital risk protection platform, such as CybelAngel, can help bring hidden threats to light, download today's report.

Follow CybelAngel for the latest details on research, events and other news:

Twitter: @CybelAngel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybelangel/

About CybelAngel

CybelAngel is the world-leading digital risk protection platform that detects and resolves external threats before they wreak havoc. Because more data is being shared, processed or stored outside the firewall on cloud services, open databases and connected devices, the digital risk to enterprises has never been greater. Organizations worldwide rely on CybelAngel to discover, monitor and resolve external threats across all layers of the Internet, keeping their critical assets, brand and reputation secure. To learn more, visit CybelAngel.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005200/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Carrie VanBuskirk

W2 Communications

cybelangel@w2comm.com
The exclusive relationship allows Intelex customers to manage the full life cycle of their ESG strategy, including Materiality Analysis and Risk Identification.

Toronto, Canada, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intelex Technologies, ULC, a leading global provider of cloud-based Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) management software, today announced it has entered an exclusive reseller partnership with Datamaran, the only automated solution available to achieve a data-driven business process for external risk and materiality analysis. Working together, Datamaran and Intelex are helping customers accelerate their strategic and operational goals with a single source, fully automated and data-driven process.

Justin McElhattan, President and CEO of Intelex said, "We are very excited to partner with Datamaran to provide our customers with Datamaran's industry-leading risk monitoring and materiality intelligence. Alongside Datamaran, we are able to offer our customers a superb experience that allows them to accelerate their ESG transformation by applying best-in-class data science and analytics."

With this exclusive reseller partnership, Intelex customers will use Datamaran to identify, monitor and gain insights into emerging business and social issues with a dynamic risk and materiality process. The partnership provides organizations with unique risk monitoring and materiality capabilities, including Datamaran for Executives, a comprehensive solution to ensure that the most complete set of material risks are accurately captured for risk management, transparently communicated in annual disclosures and consistently reported up to the board of directors.

Mirroring Intelex's own approach to providing scalable solutions that match customer ESG requirements, the Datamaran partnership offers customers the flexibility they need to achieve their strategic objectives. With Intelex and Datamaran together, organizations can seamlessly manage and monitor their ESG initiatives, reporting and strategy.

Companies worldwide use Datamaran's evidence-based approach to inform their materiality, risk management, board oversight and reporting processes. This approach allows them to stay ahead of the curve, in front of the competition and at the top of their game. For an actual use case, you don't have to look farther than Intelex parent company Fortive.

Pete Underwood, SVP and General Counsel of Fortive explains: "Datamaran continually anticipates and meets our needs, as our ESG and risk management processes evolve and mature. The platform enables a clear view of business-critical issues across the ever-changing landscape."

With Datamaran and Intelex, senior management communicate timely and relevant information to the board of directors, move materiality from an operational exercise to a strategic process and monitor emerging trends. Using AI, Datamaran's patented technology identifies and monitors over 400 external risk factors-including ESG, innovation and technology and geopolitical issues-on an ongoing basis by scanning the regulatory, media and corporate disclosure environments. It is the only software analytics platform available to improve risk management, annual reporting and board oversight of external risks and opportunities.

"For the past seven years, blue-chip companies have chosen Datamaran to seriously improve the way in which they go about ESG," said Marjella Lecourt-Alma, CEO and co-founder of Datamaran. "With Intelex, we're excited to reach an even larger group of companies. As a software provider with deep expertise in EHS, Intelex understands that ESG is now dominating the corporate market. Our full-suite ESG software solution enables companies to quickly move sustainability from project to process."

###

About Datamaran: Datamaran is the only software analytics platform in the world that identifies and monitors external risks, including ESG. Trusted by blue-chip companies and top tier partners, it brings a data-driven business process for external risk and materiality analysis. In house-at any time. Datamaran's patented technology offers real-time analytics on strategic, regulatory and reputational risks, specific to your business and value chain.

About Intelex Technologies, ULC: Intelex is a global leader in environmental, health, safety and quality (EHSQ) management software. Since 1992, Intelex employees across the globe have been committed to innovating and enabling organizations to send their employees home safely every day, leaving behind a more sustainable world to the generations that follow, and manage quality so that only the safest and highest quality products make it to market.

Intelex's scalable, web-based platform and applications have helped clients across all industries improve business performance, mitigate organization-wide risk, and ensure sustained compliance with internationally accepted standards (e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001) and OSHAS 18001) and regulatory requirements. Almost 1,400 customers in 195 countries trust Intelex to power their EHSQ initiatives.

Headquartered in Toronto with regional offices and employees around the world, Intelex became an Industrial Scientific company in 2019. In 2020, Intelex acquired ehsAI, provider of a SaaS-based next-wave compliance automation solution that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. For more information about Intelex, visit www.intelex.com.
Datalec's enhanced managed service capabilities include 24x7x365 support for European-based data centre operators

Datalec Precision Installations (DPI), a provider of world-class data centre design, supply, build, and support services to deliver seamless, integrated and unified end-to-end solutions for data centre operators, announces the addition of its Intelligent Hands Managed Services. Datalec's Intelligent Hands Managed Services provides end-to-end monitoring and management of data centre customer environments throughout several European countries, 24x7x365.

The company's Intelligent Hands Managed Services guarantees DPI engineering availability 24 hours a day. DPI engineers assist clients with routine work as well as unplanned business critical requirements. The solution offers customer support levels including expedited rapid response times. Customers can raise a trouble ticket through DPI's service desk and receive a response from a certified engineer within 15 minutes. This latest capability enhances operational efficiency for DPI's data centre customers, while providing flexible service options tailored to a client's specific requirements.

DPI utilises in-house design, engineering, installation and project management teams that are highly experienced and fully trained across a variety of data centre specialties. While reducing both the cost and risk for its customers, DPI ensures client projects are implemented correctly fully guaranteed. The company's latest Intelligent Hands Managed Services capability is powered by DPI's trained and experienced engineers who are proficient in structured cabling, repairs, testing, cross connect installations, hardware support, visual inspection, manual power cycles, equipment reboots, cable tracing, scheduled maintenance and more.

Inspired by the needs of major data centre operators and REITs throughout Europe, DPI launched its program with a leading global operator on 1 July 2021. Today, the global data centre operator leverages DPI's highly efficient team for 24x7 support to ensure their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the company's white space meet the exact requirements of its end-user customers. DPI's solutions include location-based engineers during the working day, supported by on-call engineers for critical requirements outside working hours. DPI's services provide data centre operators the flexibility and scalability needed to grow their business.

"Datalec has invested a great amount of time and care to properly integrate its Intelligent Hands Managed Services into its day-to-day operations. Our team has worked hard to develop enhanced capabilities within our fully integrated ticketing system, including an ability to monitor, tend to, and resolve data centre customer and end-user concerns any time of the day," said Steve Scott, CEO of Datalec Precision Installations (DPI).

For more information about DPI's Intelligent Hands Managed Services, please visit https://datalecltd.co.uk/.

About Datalec

Datalec Precision Installations delivers excellence in international data centre installations, partnering with clients to make their businesses successful while providing seamless, integrated, unified end-to-end results with a 'One Call, One Team' service. DPI's rigorous project management and supervision ensures projects are implemented to perfection the first time, every time, while mitigating risk and reducing cost for clients. DPI is focused on delivering a proactive and personal service that provides agility, flexibility and adaptability for substantial data suite construction and implementations. For more information visit: https://datalecltd.co.uk/.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005234/en/

Contacts:

Ilissa Miller

iMiller Public Relations

Email: datalec@imillerpr.com

Tel: 1.914.315.6424
The Canadian subsidiary of Prima Solutions, a global insurtech company for insurance and reinsurance professionals, is inching closer to Montreal with a move to the city of Brossard, famous for its vitality. After more than a year of 100% remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prima Solutions has adopted a hybrid work model that combines remote work with a collaborative workspace within the new premises. The goal is to promote the well-being and performance of its teams, while also meeting the company's staffing needs.

The company had operated out of Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu (Canada) for more than 15 years. Prima Solutions Canada is the research and development center for Prima L&H, the cloud platform for life, health, and loan insurance, which supports the entire lifecycle of individual and group life and health insurance products, with total security and traceability across the entire value chain.

"Coming together to collaborate and create a community is at the heart of our company culture. Since the start of the pandemic and working from home, there have been an abundance of personal and corporate initiatives to bring people closer together. We wanted to prepare for when COVID-19 was finally behind us, and this move reflects our desire to come back together, without a screen separating us. Brossard's extraordinary energy met our criteria for this new stage of development," explains Edouard Lefebvre, CEO of the Canadian subsidiary of Prima Solutions.

Prima Solutions Canada's new offices are located at: 4255 Boulevard Lapiniere, Bureau 208, Brossard (QC) J4Z 0C7.

Source: https://www.prima-solutions.com/en/news/prima-solutions-canada-moves-closer-to-montreal-and-adopts-a-hybrid-work-model/


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (TSXV: PTU) (OTCQB: PTUUF) ("Purepoint" or the "Company") today confirmed that it has contracted crews and resources to commence drilling later this month at its 100% owned Henday Lake project located within the eastern margin of Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin.

"With this year's strengthening of the uranium market and our deep portfolio of advanced uranium projects, we can now aggressively schedule ongoing exploration activity through the coming year," said Chris Frostad, President & CEO at Purepoint. Along with this market activity, however, comes a heightened demand for crews, equipment and permits. Our long-standing relationships in Northern Saskatchewan are assisting us in ensuring a smooth flow of work across all of our projects."

Henday Lake

The 100% owned Henday Lake property is 1,029 hectares in size and consists of 2 claims. This property is located nine kilometres northwest of Orano's Midwest Lake deposit (41 million lbs. U3O8) and ten kilometres west of Rio Tinto's Roughrider Deposit (57 million lbs. U3O8).

Only one drill hole is known to have been drilled on Purepoint's Henday property. Hole HLH8-71 was drilled by Cogema Resources (now Orano Resources Canada Inc.) in 1998 and encountered a steeply dipping, strongly graphitic fault gouge at the bottom of the hole. The claims rest within a magnetic low believed to represent pelitic basement rocks, a typical host rock for economic uranium mineralization. The depth to basement is locally less than 350 metres.

Denison's recently discovered Huskie deposit is located approximately 10 km due east along strike from Henday Lake. A NI43-101 technical report dated October, 2018 estimates the inferred resource of the Husky deposit to be 5.7 million Ibs. U3O8.

The Henday Lake property falls within the Mudjatik-Wollaston Tectonic Zone, a northeast trending structural zone along the eastern margin of the Basin. The Mudjatik-Wollaston Tectonic Zone is the NE trending high strain tectonic zone marking the boundary between the Archean gneisses and granitoids of the Mudjatik Domain to the west and Archean gneisses, metasediments, and pegmatite intrusions of the Wollaston domain to the east.

About Purepoint

Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (TSXV: PTU) (OTCQB: PTUUF) actively operates an exploration pipeline of 12 advanced projects in Canada's Athabasca Basin, the world's richest uranium region. Purepoint's flagship project is the Hook Lake Project, a joint venture with two of the largest uranium suppliers in the world, Cameco Corporation and Orano Canada Inc. The Hook Lake JV Project is on trend with recent high-grade uranium discoveries including Fission Uranium's Triple R Deposit and NexGen's Arrow Deposit and encompasses its own Spitfire discovery (53.3% U3O8 over 1.3m including 10m interval of 10.3% U3O8). Together with its flagship project, the Company's projects stretch across approximately 185,000 hectares of claims throughout the Athabasca Basin. These claims host over 20 distinct and well-defined drill target areas with advanced geophysical surveys completed, and in some cases, have had first pass drilling performed.

Scott Frostad BSc, MASc, PGeo, Purepoint's Vice President, Exploration, is the Qualified Person responsible for technical content of this release.

For more information, please contact:

Chris Frostad, President & CEO

Phone: (416) 603-8368

Email: cfrostad@purepoint.ca

For additional information please visit our new website at https://purepoint.ca, our Twitter feed: @PurepointU3O8 or our LinkedIn page @Purepoint-Uranium.

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

Disclosure regarding forward-looking statements

This press release contains projections and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96419
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Japan Gold Corp. (TSXV: JG) (OTCQB: JGLDF) ("Japan Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report high-grade gold-silver intercepts from its first drill holes at the Ryuo Prospect, within the Ikutahara Project, Figure 1. The Ikutahara Project is 100% held by Japan Gold and is not included in the Barrick Alliance.

The Ryuo Prospect hosts five areas of workings along a 1 km open ended trend of alteration and mineralization that were developed prior to the government-imposed closure in 1943. Three initial scout drill holes totaling 828.3 m were completed between May and July 2021. Figure 2 shows the geology of the Ryuo Prospect area, the location of the completed drill holes and the pads permitted for future drilling. Table 1 summarizes the drilling results.

Drill hole IKDD21-001 targeted down-dip extensions of high-grade gold-silver mineralization historically mined at the Jinja Vein. A broad mineralized interval was encountered (reported as downhole intervals) with the following results:

4.9 m @ 12.1 g/t Au & 33.0 g/t Ag from 60.6 m

(incl. 0.9 m @ 18.4 g/t Au & 115.8 g/t Ag from 60.6 m)

(and 1.95 m @ 20.5 g/t Au & 21.0 g/t Ag from 63.55 m)

(incl. 0.55 m @ 59.4 g/t Au & 49.5 g/t Ag from 63.9 m)

(incl. 0.25 m @ 125.0 g/t Au & 97.0 g/t Ag from 64.2 m)

The intersection in IKDD21-001 shows that high-grade gold and silver mineralization remains open to depth below the Jinja Vein workings and, having a true width of 4.74 m, is significantly wider than average vein widths reported historically in the underground workings (See Figures 3 and 4).

The intercepted vein zone exhibits multiple phases of hydrothermal brecciation, quartz and quartz-sulphide veining, including ginguro banding. The quartz vein textures are very fine-grained or chalcedonic, indicating the quartz veining is still high in the hydrothermal system and that mineralization should persist to depth.

Drill hole IKDD21-003, located 550 m southwest of IKDD21-001, on a separate parallel structure, targeted mineralization below the Ryuei historical workings. Four separate zones of hydrothermal breccia up to 20 m in down-hole width were intersected down the length of the 350 m drill hole (Figure 5). Zones of fine-grained or chalcedonic quartz and quartz-sulphide vein-fill within the breccias included the following mineralized intercepts (reported as downhole intervals):

2.12 m @ 6.3 g/t Au & 12.6 g/t Ag from 81.2 m

(incl. 1.32 m @ 8.9 g/t Au & 17.6 g/t Ag from 81.55 m)

(incl. 0.3 m @ 14.8 g/t Au & 27.8 g/t Ag from 81.95 m)

and

0.5 m @ 3.1 g/t Au & 7.2 g/t Ag from 119.7 m

These multiple phases of hydrothermal brecciation, quartz and quartz-sulphide veining in IKDD21-003 may represent the upper, flared portions of an epithermal vein system which could possibly coalesce at depth (Figure 5). Elevated path-finder element geochemistry including antimony, arsenic, and mercury associated with the hydrothermal breccias supports this model.

Drill hole IKDD21-002 targeted the northeast strike extension of the Shouei Vein and a coincident CSAMT resistivity geophysical anomaly, Figure 2. The drill hole failed to intersect a significant vein zone apart from a narrow quartz-stockwork / faulted zone which is interpreted as the northeast extension of the Shouei structure. Workings at the Shouei Vein were as extensive as those at the Jinja Vein, but no detailed underground sampling data exists. Historical reports however indicate two parallel veins were exploited at Shouei with shoots that carried gold and silver grades comparable to those at the Jinja Vein1,2. Based on the drill result at the Jinja Vein, 300 m to the northwest, further drilling will be required to test down-dip and southwest strike extensions of the Shouei Vein which remain open.

"The initial drill holes at Ryuo have confirmed wide, high-grade vein mineralization is continuous below the historical workings closed in 1943. The Ryuo prospect has never been drilled and these initial results provide strong encouragement to continue drilling at Ryuo, and the other similarly under-explored Ikutahara prospects." Commented, Japan Gold's Vice President of Exploration, Andrew Rowe.

Additional Drilling

Drilling recommenced on the 6th of September to test the lateral strike extensions of the intercept in IKDD21-001 at the Jinja Vein. A second drill rig is targeting a vertical CSAMT resistivity anomaly that lies below the Taisei workings. Up to five additional drill holes are planned to be completed by the end of November at the Ryuo Prospect.

Table 1: Significant Mineralized Intercepts

Drill Hole Number From (m) To (m) Interval (m) True Width (m) Au(g/t) Ag(g/t) IKDD21-001 60.60 65.50 4.90 4.74 12.1 33.0 including 60.60 61.50 0.90 0.87 18.4 115.8 and 63.55 65.50 1.95 1.89 20.5 21.0 including 63.90 64.45 0.55 0.53 59.4 49.5 including 64.20 64.45 0.25 0.24 125.0 97.0 IKDD21-002 No Significant Intersections IKDD21-003 81.20 83.32 2.12 - 6.32 12.6 including 81.55 82.87 1.32 - 8.94 17.6 including 81.95 82.25 0.30 - 14.75 27.8 119.70 120.20 0.50 - 3.05 7.2

The Ryuo Prospect

At the Ryuo Prospect, five areas of workings were developed along a 1 km long, open ended trend of alteration and mineralization prior to the government-imposed closure in 1943. Underground sampling carried out in the 1950's in the Jinja Vein workings revealed high-grade gold-silver mineralization including 'level 4' of the workings, which was sampled along a 72 m strike length giving an average grade of 40.8 g/t Au and 193 g/t Ag, average vein width approximately 0.5 m. Figure 3 illustrates a long-section of the Jinja vein workings with the underground sampling reported by the Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ)3 and the IKDD21-001 vein pierce-point. High-grade gold/silver quartz veins were mapped on all four of the lower levels of the Jinja vein system. Chip-channel samples were collected across the veins at intervals spaced between 0.3 m and 4.7 m along strike.

Refer also to the Company's news release dated May 26 ,2021 and Feb. 9, 2017, for more information on the Ryuo Prospect.

Table 2: Drill hole data

Drill Hole No. Location Easting Northing RL Azimuth Dip Length IKDD21-001 Jinja 700403 4873426 194 305 41 228.3 IKDD21-002 Shouei 700698 4873271 257 335 45 250.0 IKDD21-003 Ryuei 700137 4872960 256 340 40 350.0 TOTAL 828.3

1 Gold Mines of Japan, 1989. The Mining & Materials Processing Institute of Japan.

2 Bamba T. & Saito M., 1956. Geology and Gold-silver Deposits of the Kitano-o and Several Other Mines, Ikutahara Gold Mining District, Kitami Province, Hokkaido. Geological Survey Institute Monthly Report Volume 10. No. 7.

3 Metal Mining Agency of Japan, March 1990, Geological Survey Report for Fiscal Year 1989, Northern Hokkaido Area B-Metalliferous Deposits Overview.

On behalf of the Board of Japan Gold Corp.

"John Proust"

Chairman & CEO

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Japan Gold's Vice President of Exploration and Country Manager, Andrew Rowe, BAppSc, FAusIMM, FSEG, who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Note: The Company's compilation of underground sampling data at Ryuo has been based on data published by the MMAJ and the Company has not resampled the underground workings or re-assayed samples. The MMAJ report does not refer to QA/QC protocols followed historically.

Sampling Techniques and Assaying

The drilling results discussed in this news release are from drill core samples obtained by PQ, HQ and NQ-size triple-tube diamond core drilling using a PMC700 and PMC-400 man-portable drill rigs owned and operated by the Company. The drilling program was fully supervised by Company senior geologists at the drilling site.

Drill core was collected in plastic core-trays at the drill site and transported by road in Company vehicles to its core shed storage facility in the nearby Ikutahara Village, located centrally within the project area. The drill core was carefully logged, photographed and sample intervals marked-up along predicted mineralized and selected unmineralized intervals by Japan Gold KK senior project geologists and VP Exploration.

Sample lengths varied from 0.1 to 1.0 m; depending on the positions of geological contacts and variations in vein texture and composition. The core was split by diamond rock saw supervised by project geologists. Half-core sample was collected from the entire length of each designated sample interval and placed into individual-labelled, self-sealing calico bags for secure packaging and transport to the laboratory. The half-core samples weighed between 0.2 to 5 kg depending on the sample length and core size. A Chain-of-Custody was established between the Company and receiving laboratory to ensure the integrity of the samples during transportation from site to the lab. The samples were sent in batches to ALS Laboratories in Vancouver, Canada for sample preparation and assaying.

Samples were crushed, pulverised and assayed for gold 50 g charge Fire Assay/ AAS Finish (Au-AA24; 0.005 ppm lower detection limit) and a 48 multi-element by 4-acid digest with ICP-MS determination (ME-MS61L; Ag 0.002 ppm lower detection limit). Over-limit Au and Ag samples were re-assayed by fire-assay and gravimetric finish (GRA-22, LDL of 0.5 and 5 ppm for Au and Ag respectively).

Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) were inserted by Japan Gold KK at every 20th sample to assess repeatability and assaying precision of the laboratory. In addition, the laboratory applied its own internal Quality Control procedure that includes sample duplicates, blanks & geochemical standards. They report these results with the certified Assay Report. Laboratory procedures and QAQC protocols adopted are considered appropriate. The CRMs and internal QC-QA results fall within acceptable levels of accuracy & precision and are considered to lack any bias.

About Japan Gold Corp.

Japan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused solely on gold exploration across the three largest islands of Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu. The Company has a country-wide alliance with Barrick Gold Corporation to jointly explore, develop and mine certain gold mineral properties and mining projects. The Company holds a portfolio of 31 gold projects which cover areas with known gold occurrences, a history of mining and are prospective for high-grade epithermal gold mineralization. Japan Gold's leadership team represent decades of resource industry and business experience, and the Company has recruited geologists, drillers and technical advisors with experience exploring and operating in Japan. More information is available at www.japangold.com or by email at info@japangold.com

For further information please contact:

John Proust

Chairman & CEO

Phone: 778-725-1491

Email: info@japangold.com

Website: www.japangold.com

Cautionary Note

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results related to future partnerships and the Company's 2020 gold exploration program. These statements are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that include, but are not limited to, general economic, market and business conditions; competition for qualified staff; the regulatory process and actions; technical issues; new legislation; potential delays or changes in plans; working in a new political jurisdiction; results of exploration; the timing and granting of prospecting rights; the Company's ability to execute and implement future plans, arrange or conclude a joint-venture or partnership; and the occurrence of unexpected events. Actual results achieved may differ from the information provided herein and, consequently, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this News Release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forward-looking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable laws.





Figure 1: Ikutahara Project, simplified geology and historical mines and workings.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5665/96462_ad4ce5992448abb1_001full.jpg





Figure 2: Ryuo Prospect, alteration map with historic workings, drill holes completed and in-progress, permitted drill pads and gold in rock chip values

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5665/96462_ad4ce5992448abb1_002full.jpg





Figure 3: Jinja Vein workings long-section with composited back sample intervals from 1950's sampling and pierce point of IKDD21-001 mineralized intersection

To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5665/96462_ad4ce5992448abb1_003full.jpg





Figure 4: Cross section of drill hole IKDD21-001 on the Jinja Vein with mineralized intercepts, section looking northeast.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 4, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5665/96462_ad4ce5992448abb1_004full.jpg





Figure 5: Cross section of drill hole IKDD21-003 on the Ryuei structure with mineralized intercepts, section looking northeast. Hydrothermal breccias and vein fill may coalesce at depth, this concept will be the target of ongoing drilling.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 5, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5665/96462_ad4ce5992448abb1_005full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96462
THEALE, England, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This week Sense will demonstrate its innovative home energy monitoring technology at The Future of Utilities Summit in London, September 15-16. For the first time, decision-makers from the UK utility sector can see live demonstrations of Sense's AI capability and real-time load disaggregation. With the opening of offices in Theale, Sense is expanding its global operations and partnering with UK energy suppliers and network operators.

Said International Managing Director Michael Jary: "The drive toward decarbonisation and digitalisation are transforming the energy industry. As utilities address the extraordinary challenge of delivering on net zero by 2050, Sense's home energy intelligence can help them successfully and cost effectively accelerate the energy transition."

Sense shows users the electrical activity in their home as it occurs, breaking down consumption by appliance in real time, delivering personal, detailed insights that help utilities and their customers transition to a flexible, more distributed grid. Sense is available as a smart home energy monitor that's installed in electrical panels or integrated directly within the smart meter. With app engagement that is 1000x that of the typical utility portal, Sense provides unprecedented customer engagement, along with demand side flexibility and grid analytics.

Visitors to Sense booth #14 will learn how Sense can help them better engage their customers, manage domestic demand, and reduce operating, infrastructure, and power costs.

About Sense

Sense's mission is to reduce global carbon emissions by making homes smarter and efficient. We empower people to care for their homes and families while contributing to a cleaner, more resilient future. Founded in 2013 by pioneers in speech recognition, Sense uses machine learning technology to provide real-time insights on device behavior, even for those devices that are not "smart." Customers rely on Sense for a wide range of uses including monitoring their home appliances, determining whether they left appliances running and identifying how to reduce their energy costs. Sense has received investments from two of the world's largest energy technology companies, Schneider Electric and Landis + Gyr. Sense is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. To make sense of your energy, visit: https://sense.com .

Press contact: press@sense.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/754706/Sense.jpg
JYVASKYLA, Finland and MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trustmary, a leading testimonial marketing platform, today announces its first funding round to drive growth both in North America and Europe. The investment will be used to further intensify the company's market entry while also strengthening marketing and development teams in both the European headquarters in Finland and the US headquarters in Minneapolis. Since the launch of the first SaaS product, the company has rapidly gained hundreds of customers from USA, Canada, Germany, Finland, and Sweden. The $2.2m investment round consisted of a $1.34m equity investment from Vendep Capital, a Northern European SaaS focused venture capital company and a $888k loan from Business Finland, a Finnish governmental funding organization.

Trustmary was founded in 2016 to provide a global video testimonial service, but transformed into a SaaS company during 2020 with the launch of its first SaaS product. The Co-founders Johannes Karjula (CEO), Valtteri Ylimaki (Chief Financial Officer), Arttu Haho (Chief Marketing Officer), and Perttu Paukkeri (Board Member and Advisor) continue in their current roles and are excited to accelerate the company's growth both in Europe and in the North America.

"We are well positioned to become one of the leaders in this new market segment. Our customers have gained outstanding sales growth with Trustmary's testimonial marketing platform. The strong need to build deeper trust and close more sales online already exists across all industries and current global megatrends further boost this need," said Johannes Karjula, CEO of Trustmary comments. "We are happy to have Vendep join our journey. Their involvement and investment motivates our entire team to perform at an even higher level going forward."

"We immediately recognized the strengths of the Trustmary team when we met. I then closely followed their transformation from the first SaaS customer into a full-blown SaaS company over a year," says Jupe Arala, General Partner at Vendep Capital. "This really is a great example of our process and the type of team we look to support."

"Digital trust is in crisis today preventing conversion in the sales pipeline. All research confirms that people trust authentic peer reviews and testimonials when making purchase decisions. Trustmary testimonial marketing platform helps businesses regain digital trust using automated customer testimonials and produce measurable results for their customers," says Mikko Honkanen, Chairman of the Board of Trustmary and founder of Vainu.

Company will be publishing many new features in the Trustmary testimonial marketing platform during 4Q21, doubling the current team with new marketing and development employees, and speeding up the value proposition for customers.

For any additional information, please contact:

Arttu Haho

CMO & Co-Founder

+1 919 522 6846

arttu@trustmary.com

Jupe Arala

General Partner

Vendep Capital

+358 40 564 9730

jupe@vendep.com

Mikko Honkanen

Chairman of the Board

+358 40 833 0181

mikko@vainu.io

https://www.trustmary.com

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This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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Victoria, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Plurilock Security Inc. (TSXV: PLUR) (OTCQB: PLCKF) and related subsidiaries ("Plurilock" or the "Company"), an identity-centric cybersecurity solutions provider for workforces, has received a US$219,000 purchase order from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) program, a U.S. Government-Wide Acquisition Contract Vehicle (GWAC).

The MDA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense that provides missile defense support for U.S. deployed forces and allies.1 The purchase order is part of a new contract between Plurilock and MDA within the SEWP V program and the latest in a series of new business for Plurilock's Solutions Division. All contracts and orders announced by Plurilock since April 2021, including the latest order, represent a combined total of roughly US$10.7 million in sales.

Aligned with Plurilock's stated goal to expand within the government vertical, this order marks one of several recent orders with prominent government and defense agencies including the Naval Surface Warfare Center, U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Special Operations Command, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of the Navy.

According to the purchase order, Plurilock will provide the MDA with a renewal of their Dell maintenance support for existing server hardware.

About SEWP

The SEWP V program, launched by NASA in 2015, is the leading information technology (IT) contract vehicle, with government agencies spending $7.9 billion in fiscal 2020.2 Estimates anticipate that agencies will utilize SEWP V for $8.8 billion in contracted spending in fiscal 2021.3 The contract vehicle provides Plurilock with the opportunity to access downstream customers in the government sector.

About Plurilock

Plurilock provides identity-centric cybersecurity for today's workforces. The Plurilock family of companies enables organizations to operate safely and securely while reducing cybersecurity friction. Plurilock offers world-class IT and cybersecurity solutions through its Solutions Division, paired with proprietary, AI-driven and cloud-friendly security through its Technology Division. Together, the Plurilock family of companies delivers persistent identity assurance with unmatched ease of use.

For more information, visit https://www.plurilock.com or contact:

Ian L. Paterson

Chief Executive Officer

ian@plurilock.com

416.800.1566

Roland Sartorius

Chief Financial Officer

roland.sartorius@plurilock.com

Prit Singh

Investor Relations

prit.singh@plurilock.com

905.510.7636

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") related to future events or Plurilock's future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like "will", "intend", "anticipate", "could", "should", "may", "might", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "potential", "project", "assume", "contemplate", "believe", "shall", "scheduled", and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions, and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Plurilock's business. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, the impact of general economic conditions, the success of the Company in obtaining new or extended contracts or orders; the Company's ability to maintain existing customers or develop new customers; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of other businesses and/or companies or to realize on the anticipated benefits thereof; and unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Plurilock. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof, and Plurilock undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Information Form. They are otherwise disclosed in its filings with securities regulatory authorities available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

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

https://www.mda.mil/about/mission.html https://gov-acq.com/contracts/nasa-sewp-v-contract/ https://about.bgov.com/news/this-is-it-sewp-v-is-the-top-it-vehicle-in-fiscal-2020/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96415
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - US Copper Corp ("US Copper" or the "Company") (TSXV: USCU) (OTCQB: USCUF) (FSE: C730) is providing an update on the Dixie fire and its impact on the Company's activities at its Moonlight-Superior Copper Project in north-east California.

The evacuation orders for the Dixie Fire are slowly being lifted, but access to our Moonlight-Superior property is still restricted.

The Dixie fire has now burned over 950,000 acres across 6 counties and is the 2 nd largest forest fire in California history.

largest forest fire in California history. This fire burned across our entire property, but the drill rig, which remained on site, was not damaged. However, due to prior commitments, the drill contractor will be moving the rig to their next project. With only a couple of months remaining in the drill season it is unlikely that our current drill contractor will return this season. Alternatives are being considered.

Our core shed in Crescent Mills was untouched by the fire although power was interrupted. Power is expected to be restored this week permitting us to fully resume activity.

Seven holes (5,872 ft) had been completed on our Superior deposit up until the evacuation order of July 20, 2021. Five holes have been logged and split core sent to the lab for assay. Core from holes 6 & 7 still need to be logged, cut and sent to the lab in Reno. We expect all assays to be completed and received by late October 2021.

We initially planned 10-12 holes at Superior to be able to reclassify the Superior resource (60 million tonnes @ 0.41% copper as per our Technical report on Superior dated Nov 7, 2014 available on Sedar) from inferred to indicated. The 7 holes completed will allow us to only partially achieve this objective, but we will be able to quantify the gold and silver credits in the deposit that were largely ignored in assays by prior owners.

US Copper CEO Stephen Dunn commented: "We at US Copper have closely watched the incredible destruction caused by the Dixie Fire and wish to say to all those affected that we are very sorry for the loss and pain that many of you have endured. Our thoughts are especially with those who have lost homes and livelihoods in Greenville and surrounding areas. Also, we would like to pay homage to the dedication and outright heroism of first responders and firefighters who have kept up the fight for weeks on end.

About US Copper Corp

US Copper controls approximately 13 square miles of patented and unpatented federal mining claims in the Light's Creek Copper District in Plumas County, NE California; essentially, the entire District. The District contains substantial copper (silver) sulfide and copper oxide resources in three deposits - Moonlight, Superior and Engels, as well as several partially tested and untested exploration targets.

The Superior and Engels Mines operated from about 1915-1930 producing over 161 million pounds of copper from over 4 million tons of rock containing 2.2% copper with silver and gold credits.

The Moonlight Deposit was discovered and drilled by Placer Amex during the 1960's. Details of the resources on US Copper's property and the parameters used to calculate them can be found in the "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Moonlight Deposit, Moonlight-Superior Copper Project, California, USA" dated April 12, 2018, on both the company's website at www.uscoppercorp.com or on www.sedar.com under the US Copper Corp profile.

Mr. George Cole is the Qualified Person pursuant to NI 43-101 responsible for the technical information contained in this news release, and he has reviewed and approved this news release.

For Further Information Contact:

Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, US Copper Corp (416) 361-2827 or email info@uscoppercorp.com .

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

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", "hopes", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned", "intends" 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/96467
RDN Position Paper Published in Journal of Hypertension in Light of Growing Clinical Evidence

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- European Society of Hypertension (ESH), the leading hypertension (HTN) society in Europe, presented an updated position paper on renal denervation (RDN) during the 8th pre-ESH congress satellite symposium in Athens, Greece from September 10-11, 2021. The paper was recently published in the September issue of the Journal of Hypertension.

This position paper written by an ESH expert Working Group confirms that RDN is considered a safe endovascular procedure without significant short-term or long-term adverse effects based on data available up to three years.

"In light of the recent publication of several second-generation sham-controlled clinical trials, we thought it was important to provide an updated position paper on RDN and its role in treating uncontrolled hypertension," said Roland Schmieder, MD, professor of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Hypertension at the University Hospital Erlangen, Germany and chairman of the ESH Working Group on interventional treatment of hypertension.

RDN is a minimally invasive procedure intended to regulate overactivity of nerves that lead to and from the kidney, which play an important role in controlling blood pressure.

In recent sham-controlled randomized trials and registries, clinically favorable effects of RDN have been consistently demonstrated across a wide spectrum of patients with uncontrolled HTN, in the absence and presence of prescribed anti-hypertensive medications.

'RDN represents an evidence-based option to treat HTN, in addition to lifestyle changes and blood pressure lowering drugs. RDN expands therapeutic options to address the first objective of HTN treatment, to effectively reduce elevated blood pressure and achieve blood pressure targets,' said Konstantinos Tsioufis, MD, professor of Cardiology at the University of Athens and immediate past president of ESH. "Heightened cardiovascular risk such as evident organ damage or established disease like coronary artery disease or heart failure might be pointing towards treatment priority with RDN in hypertension. Additionally, patients who are unable or unwilling to take medication might be another RDN group, especially in the first stages of the hypertensive disease."

Arterial hypertension constitutes the most prevalent and important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality globally despite the availability of pharmacological treatments. In addition, approximately half of individuals with hypertension do not meet guideline-directed blood pressure (BP) goals.

'Many patients with uncontrolled hypertension struggle to adhere to lifelong drug therapy for a variety of reasons and may look to other options that complement traditional treatments," said Reinhold Kreutz, professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Hypertension at the Charite Universitaetsmedizin in Berlin, Germany and president of ESH. "We believe this advance could help clinicians work with patients to better manage their high blood pressure.'

RDN is emerging as the most advanced and efficacious device-based interventional approach to treat uncontrolled hypertension, by significantly reducing central sympathetic outflow. At the Athens pre-ESH meeting, experts discussed various hypertensive profiles that could benefit from RDN including those unable to achieve BP control despite application of guideline-recommended therapies, and those with high baseline cardiovascular risk or comorbidities or poor tolerance to medications.

'The shared decision-making process is important and it's during that process that patients could select RDN as a treatment option in addition to lifestyle changes and BP lowering drugs. In other words, RDN expands hypertension therapeutic options as an alternative and not as a competitive treatment," said Professor Schmieder.

About the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Interventional Treatment of Hypertension

The ESH Working Group Interventional Treatment of Hypertension serves as a forum of discussion, debate and exchange of scientific knowledge and clinical experience in the emerging field of interventional treatment of hypertension. The collaboration of scientists working in this field through the Working Group Interventional Treatment of Hypertension leverages past experience and help to set visionary and achievable future goals towards better treatment of hypertension.

About the European Society of Hypertension Meetings

The annual European Hypertension Meetings offer the highest quality scientific programs related to research in Basic and Clinic areas in Hypertension with State-of-the-Art Lectures, Satellite Symposia, Teaching Sessions and credits for qualifying as Hypertension Specialists of the European Society of Hypertension.

Media Contact:

Amy Burdick

aburdick@brgcommunications.com

+1-703-739-8343
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Finnish biotech companies - Abacus Diagnostica, Kaivogen and Labrox - are joining forces to form an international frontrunner in in vitro diagnostics. The new company will provide the global market with a unique total solution for point-of-care testing, including diagnostics for infectious diseases and cancers. The next-generation solution will enable testing anywhere and at any time, thereby speeding up the the correct diagnosis and care. Instead of sending samples to external laboratories, samples are taken and analysed near the patient. The launch of the new solution for point-of-care testing is scheduled for 2024.

The new company brings together some of the world's leading instrumentation and biochemical knowhow. It will offer healthcare providers and patients faster, easier and more cost-effective diagnostics. The three growth companies have years of experience in diagnostics. In 2020, the combined annual net sales of the three companies totalled EUR 12 million and the operating profit EUR 3.2 million. In 2021, the net sales is estimated to be EUR 14 million and the operating profit to increase from the previous year. The new company will employ about 90 employees. The name of the new company will be decided on during this autumn.

The combination of Abacus Diagnostica, Kaivogen and Labrox into a new company is a natural continuation of existing collaboration between the three companies. The companies have already worked on joint R&D and marketing initiatives, and acted as suppliers to each other. The combination will enable larger investments in R&D and sales, generate operational synergies, and expand the combined customer base. Together the companies will also be in a better position to meet international demand and profit from the market's extensive growth potential.

The new company will continue to be owned primarily by the current shareholders. About 95 per cent of the new company will be held by Finnish shareholders. A significant proportion of the company will continue to be owned by its employees. The transaction will be implemented through a share swap agreement. It is expected to be completed in October. The companies' largest shareholders support the transaction. The Board of Directors and the CEO of the new company are to be appointed during the autumn.

Instant and reliable results with point-of-care testing

"Our goal is to use advanced diagnostics to quickly identify pathogens and prevent their spread. Our objective is to help doctors confirm the patient's diagnosis with laboratory test at the very first appointment, avoiding days of waiting for test results - regardless of whether the patient has symptoms of cancer, coronavirus or any other infectious disease. By obtaining results for several pathogens quickly we can help break infection chains or detecting early-stage cancer. For point-of-care testing to be meaningful, the testing solution must be versatile, easy-to-use and cost-effective. That is exactly the solution that we are offering," said Erno Sundberg, CEO of Abacus Diagnostica.

One single device for diagnosis of several diseases

"Our total solution for point-of-care testing harnesses the expertise of all three companies. Together, we can offer a solution for future diagnostics that none of the three companies could provide on their own," said Henri Sora, CEO of Labrox.

The next-generation point-of-care testing solution under development will enable both antibody and PCR tests using one single device. There is currently no other point-of-care testing system on the market that combines these two technologies. The new device will make it possible to identify more than ten bacteria or viruses from one single sample with PCR . The device can therefore be used to determine whether a patient's symptoms are caused by coronavirus, a flu or a common cold. A past or prolonged infection or cancer can be detected using antibody tests.

Three future pillars: Diagnostics for infectious diseases and cancer, and contract manufacturing

The new company's growth is supported by a growing need for decentralised diagnostics as mobility of people and the spread of new epidemics increase, and populations are aging.

"Our future growth pillars are diagnostics for infectious diseases and cancers, and contract manufacturing. Supported by our comprehensive knowhow we can transform for instance diagnostics for cancer. We are developing more sensitive and more accurate tests that will provide a novel and highly effective way of conducting screenings by focusing on the early diagnosis of cancer from blood samples. Our test, which is currently at the most advanced stage of development, will improve monitoring of ovarian cancer," said Leena Kokko, CEO of Kaivogen.

Information about the companies

Abacus Diagnostica

Abacus Diagnostica is a frontrunner in molecular testing and rapid PCR tests, offering systems for diagnosis of infectious diseases such as coronavirus, influenza and intestinal bacteria. The automated test system developed and manufactured by the company consists of test chips, instrument, and software interpreting the results. Abacus Diagnostica's customers are typically hospital laboratories. The test system can also be used by any healthcare unit, as it is easy to use and requires no special expertise. The company's products are sold through distributors in more than 25 countries, mainly in Europe and Asia. Abacus Diagnostica was established in 2004. In 2020, the company's net sales totalled about EUR 6.6 million and it has about 30 employees. www.abacusdiagnostica.com

Kaivogen

Kaivogen specialises in immunoassays and antibody tests. The company develops tests for diagnosis of heart disease and coronavirus antibodies, among others, and manufactures components for a range of diagnostic tests. The company's first proprietary test for diagnosis of ovarian cancer is currently under development, and the company has patents for testing pancreatic, breast and intestinal cancer, among others. In collaboration with Labrox, Kaivogen has developed the Upcon point-of-care testing concept, which is based on nanoparticles. Kaivogen was established in 2007. The company's main customers are in vitro diagnostic companies, through which its products are sold globally to e.g. hospitals, as well as research organisations and pharmaceutical service companies. In 2020, Kaivogen's net sales totalled approximately EUR 1.7 million, of which about 70 per cent came from exports, mainly to the United States and the Nordic countries. Kaivogen employs about 30 people. www.kaivogen.com

Labrox

Labrox, an innovative developer of laboratory instruments, manufactures microplate readers and test instruments for point-of-care testing. The plate readers are complex laboratory instruments, which are based on measuring the amount of light. Thanks to the software in Labrox's readers, the devices are easy to use, fast and small-sized. All equipment sold by Labrox are designed and manufactured by the company, and they are typically sold to end users under the brands of leading life-science providers. In addition to this OEM sales, Labrox has together with Kaivogen developed an Upcon reader for point-of-care testing under its own brand. The company was established in 2011. About 90% of net sales derive from exports through Labrox's network of international partners. In 2020, net sales were approximately EUR 3.5 million. In 2021 net sales are estimated to increase to EUR 4.8 million. The company employs about 30 people. www.labrox.fi

For more information, please contact:

Erno Sundberg

CEO, Abacus Diagnostica

+358 40 727 8690

erno.sundberg(at)abacusdiagnostica.com

Leena Kokko

CEO, Kaivogen

+358 50 590 0853

leena.kokko(at)kaivogen.com

Henri Sora

CEO, Labrox

+358 40 534 0405

henri.sora(at)labrox.fi

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https://news.cision.com/abacus-diagnostica/r/abacus-diagnostica--kaivogen-and-labrox-joining-forces-to-form-a-global-diagnostics-pioneer---enabli,c3414333

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https://news.cision.com/abacus-diagnostica/i/sundberg-sora-kokko,c2953521 Sundberg Sora Kokko
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benjamin Hill Mining Corp. (CSE: BNN) (OTCBB: BNNHF) ("BHM" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that on September 14, 2021 it filed on SEDAR a National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report ("Technical Report") titled: 'NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Benjamin Hill Property' consisting of the Sonora Gold and Sonora Copper concessions in the State of Sonora, Mexico. The report's effective date is July 25, 2021. The report summarizes the geological setting, mineralization and exploration activities carried out by Benjamin Hill Mining Corp on the Benjamin Hill Property in the past year.



The Benjamin Hill project hosts an extensive hydrothermal system enriched in Au, Ag and Cu that is exposed at surface. Mineralization occurs as sets of vein systems, hydrothermal breccias, stockworks, sheeted veins, skarn pendants and areas of orogenic quartz, forming a geologically prospective area of more than 6 kilometers length with a general north-south strike and mineralization width of up to 800 meters, with a set of well defined vein breccias with intermediate disseminated presence of mineralization. In addition, the presence of a large hydrothermal system at surface and related geotectonic features are prospective for a Cu-Au porphyry system at depth.

The 6000ha property is divided into eight exploration areas, six of which are currently active:

Caracahui area has two historical mines named the Caracahui and Corralitos adits. These adits produced the highest gold values in rock chip samples;

area has two historical mines named the Caracahui and Corralitos adits. These adits produced the highest gold values in rock chip samples; Caracahui North area contains outcropping specularite veins and hosts the San Jorge historical mine that has produced anomalous gold concentrations in chip samples;

area contains outcropping specularite veins and hosts the San Jorge historical mine that has produced anomalous gold concentrations in chip samples; Sonora Copper area contains both the Sonora Copper adit, which is the largest and most developed of all the historical mines on the property and two additional adits, the Cascabel and Guadalupe adits that follow the same mineralized structure as the Sonora Copper adit. The area contains another main mineralized structure in addition to the Sonora Copper vein, called the Saguaro vein, which hosts a vertical shaft named Las Llantas. This adit will be further explored once underground safety measures have been initiated;

area contains both the Sonora Copper adit, which is the largest and most developed of all the historical mines on the property and two additional adits, the Cascabel and Guadalupe adits that follow the same mineralized structure as the Sonora Copper adit. The area contains another main mineralized structure in addition to the Sonora Copper vein, called the Saguaro vein, which hosts a vertical shaft named Las Llantas. This adit will be further explored once underground safety measures have been initiated; La Falsa area contains a stockwork structure that historically assayed elevated values of gold, silver, and copper;

area contains a stockwork structure that historically assayed elevated values of gold, silver, and copper; La Berrenda area contains a historical mine noted by the Mexican Geological Survey (SGM). The area also presented elevated values of Au and Cu detected in stream sediment samples.



Analytical results of mineralization and hydrothermal halos have identified areas enriched in gold, as well as enrichment in copper, lead, zinc, silver, barium, bismuth and antimony. A stream sediment sampling program has demonstrated that the metallic dispersion due to erosion is relatively low. Low erosional dispersion of metals facilitates the detection of in situ mineralization on the property. High concentrations of some elements such as molybdenum, copper, gold and bismuth lend inference to the proximity of a fertile unexhumed pluton.

Microthermometry analyses of mineralized rock samples have demonstrated that the mineral deposits present physicochemical characteristics of epithermal mineralization. Additionally, physicochemical parameters suggest both shallow and deep boiling; fluid mixtures within the deposits and different degrees of exhumation and erosion, indicating the likely continuity of the hydrothermal system at depth. The distribution, mineralogy, physicochemical and physical characteristics of mineralized structures observed on the property and the coincident hydrothermal alteration, together with an overlying magnetic anomaly implies that a fertile buried calc-alkaline plutonic complex contributed greatly to the development of the hydrothermal alteration and mineralization on the Benjamin Hill property.

The Technical Report recommends:

Completion of mapping and sampling at Caracahui, La Salada, Caracahui North and Sonora Copper areas;

Mapping and sampling the Cascabel and Guadalupe adits;

Target sampling for petrography and polished thin section analysis;

Dating studies of plutonic rock (U-Pb ablation on zircons);

Prospecting of new geochemistry targets (La Falsa, San Felix and La Berrenda);

Underground rock chip sampling on the main Sonora Copper structure (vein);

Advance most prospective mineral occurrences by diamond drilling.



The report was prepared by Mr. Lorne Warner, P.Geo. of Geocon Enterprises Inc., an independent geological consulting firm. Mr. Warner approves of the dissemination of the NI 43-101 technical report and approves the content of this news release.

Greg Bronson, President states, "Completing the Technical Report on the Benjamin Hill property ahead of our inaugural drill program, which is set to commence this fall, is a major milestone in our pursuit of a multi-million-ounce gold deposit. The Benjamin Hill property hosts large areas of strong surface gold mineralization that extend for a continuous strike length of up to 6km and can attain widths of up to 800 meters. Our work to date on the property has proven up some very impressive gold values in this yet to be drilled 6000Ha property,"

Qualified Person

Greg Bronson, P.Geo., President and Director of the Company is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

The Technical Report was prepared in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators NI 43-101-Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects; and is available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the Company's website at www.benjaminhillmining.com.

About Benjamin Hill Mining Corp.

Benjamin Hill Mining Corp. is a Canadian-listed junior gold exploration company focused on exploring and developing projects in Mexico. The Company's Benjamin Hill gold project covers 6,000 ha of highly prospective mineral concessions along the Mojave fault in the Sierra Madre gold belt of Sonora, Mexico in close proximity to Magna Gold Corp's San Francisco mine.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Cole McClay", CEO Benjamin Hill Mining Corp.

info@benjaminhillmining.com

www.benjaminhillmining.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may contain forward- looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, information concerning the Company's intentions with respect to the development of its mineral properties. Forward-looking information is based on the views, opinions, intentions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking information (including the actions of other parties who have agreed to do certain things and the approval of certain regulatory bodies). Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws, or to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of the Company, its financial or operating results or its securities. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. We seek safe harbor.

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Highlights

Favorable summer work program indicates a high potential zone which extends beyond the previously existing claims.

57 new and additional claims encompass this high potential zone and expand Doyle Property to 2,850 hectares in size.

Expanded area includes similar geological units to those seen on the original Doyle Property and typically fall into the category of "orogenic gold deposit" types in brittle-ductile structurally related regimes similar to the Timmins Gold Camp, the Hemlo Gold Deposits, and the gold deposits of the Doyon-Bousquet Camp in Quebec.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Advance United Holdings Inc. (CSE: AUHI) (FSE: 9I0) (the "Company" or "Advance United") is pleased to report that based on the results of the recent interpretation of the Terraquest airborne survey (see related press dated August 24, 2021) and on known and potential geological extensions of favorable geology the Doyle Property has been expanded by the addition of 57 additional claims.

The geophysical interpretation report identifies structural and geologic controls for gold mineralization on the Doyle Property which have were utilized to identify the new claim areas and the expansion of the property. The expansion is based on extension of VLF anomalies, similar topographic features, similar resistivity responses, and newly discovered favorable geological units.

The claims have been added in three general areas east, north, and west of the existing property (Figure 1). These extend the to cover extensions of potential gold bearing structures identified in the interpretation of the airborne survey.

Interpretation of the VLF-EM data shows many anomalies extending off the property, some of which are known to host mineralization. These are designated No 1, No. 2A and No. 2B on Figure 2. Also of interest is a resistivity high associated with a major fault - designated No. 3 on Figure 2 which is similar to the feature associated with the main gold occurrences found on surface and may be related to possible alteration by silica (quartz). This is thought to be a significant alteration feature. A similar resistivity high was identified on the northwestern boundary of the existing property and the decision was made to add additional claims in this area.

Other areas were added to cover proposed extensions of VLF-EM anomalies described in the interpretation report. In addition, a previously described "brecciated iron formation" with sulphide mineralization is located on property added to the northeast. These types of units are known to host gold mineralization in other areas.

Advance United CEO Jim Atkinson states, "We are pleased with the excellent results obtained from the airborne survey and are excited to expand our footprint to cover extensions of known trends. We are preparing a work program to include these new areas and will be completing follow-up work in 2022. This further exemplifies the value of the Company's business model to re-work data to document potential, quantifiable resources and reserves using current standards and modern technology, thus increasing the value of the property."

About the Doyle Property

The Doyle Property is located approximately 92 kilometers southeast of Wawa, Ontario within the Batchewana Volcanic Belt of the Abitibi Province. The structural and geological architecture of the Batchawana Greenstone belt is conducive to a variety of gold depositional environments similar in nature and significance to other gold bearing deposits in Archean-aged greenstone belts hosted within the Superior Province. Noteworthy, these typically fall into the category of "orogenic gold deposit" types in brittle-ductile structurally related regimes similar to the Timmins Gold Camp, the Hemlo Gold Deposits, and the gold deposits of the Doyon-Bousquet Camp in Quebec. Orogenic gold deposit types would be the focus of future exploration activities on the Doyle Property.

The Doyle Property lies within the Batchawana Greenstone Belt of the Wawa-Abitibi Terrane, both of which are well known for hosting orogenic gold deposits.

Three styles of orogenic gold mineralization occur on the property. These are, but not limited to:

Gold-enriched semi-massive to massive sulphide horizons in a felsic tuff volcanic pile Lode gold auriferous quartz veins, and Disseminated gold in silicified and pyritized shear zones

The entire Doyle Property consists of a total of 166 unpatented mining claim cells and covers an area of approximately 2,820 hectares.

The most significant and recent exploration on the Doyle Property was carried out by Tri-Origin Exploration which included drilling programs from 1990 - 1995. These programs are deemed significant, and their geological observations support deposit model types being sought. The Focus of the Tri-Origin work was on a model of similarity of the Doyle property geology and mineralization to the Hemlo deposit, which has produced over 21 million ounces of gold according to Barrick Gold's website. Tri-Origin completed geological, geophysical, and geochemical programs and drilled a total of 37 drill holes for 8,053 m. Anomalous gold values were intersected in numerous drill holes and visible gold was observed in two holes. Drill hole T94-22 intersected 49.58 g/t gold over one meter and drill hole T95-34 intersected 17.49 g/t gold over one meter.

Qualified Person

James Atkinson M.Sc., P. Geo., a Qualified Person ("QP") as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the geological information reported in this news release. The Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the Doyle Property, particularly with regards to historical sampling and regional government-mapped geology. However, the Qualified Person assumes that sampling and analytical results were completed to industry standard practices. The information provides an indication of the exploration potential of the Doyle Property but may not be representative of expected results.

About Advance United

Advance United, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange in Canada under the symbol "AUHI" and the Borse Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany under the symbol "9I0".

We are a different kind of Canadian junior mining company, one designed to succeed where other junior mining companies fail. We are involved exclusively in the acquisition and advancement of past producing gold mines - with no intent to bring them back into production or to mine them ourselves. Our expertise is in identifying and acquiring undervalued gold properties with significant historical work, which were uneconomic at the time, but we believe have economic value at today's price of gold.

We fund the development of re-working historic data and applying modern technology to underwrite new qualified reports, document quantifiable resources and reserves to current standards, thereby recognizing the current value.

Our purpose is to bring immediate and long-term value to our partners and shareholders while seeking to eliminate exploration risk, so that we can all advance united in the shortest possible time frame.

For additional information about us, our projects, or to find out how you can get involved please visit www.advanceunited.ca.

Contact Information

James Atkinson P. Geo., CEO

Email: jim.atkinson@advanceunited.ca

Tel: (647) 278-7502

Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to trading on the CSE and the focus of the Company's business. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company's ability to increase the value of its current and future mineral exploration properties and, in connection therewith, any long-term shareholder value, the Company's ability to mitigate or eliminate exploration risk, and the Company's intention to develop a portfolio of historic gold properties. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the Company will continue its business as described above. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and other periodic filings made by the Company with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances or actual results unless required by applicable law.

Figure 1: New claims added to Doyle Property.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8072/96429_a70c45af24d94b6a_001full.jpg

Figure 2: Location of features captured in expanded claim group.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8072/96429_a70c45af24d94b6a_002full.jpg

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96429
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the appointment of Raheila Nazir as Head of Cyber & Technology for Overseas General Insurance, the company's international general insurance business in 51 countries and territories.

In her new role, Raheila will lead Chubb's international Cyber & Technology practice and be responsible for overseeing underwriting, strategy, product and business development, and financial performance.

Raheila was previously Cyber Underwriting Manager, United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa and Chubb Global Markets, which comprises Chubb's London Market wholesale and specialty business including the company's Lloyd's platform. She will be based in London and report to Tim Stapleton, Executive Vice President, Financial Lines, Chubb Overseas General, and Mike Kessler, Vice President, Chubb Group and Division President, Global Cyber Risk. Her appointment is effective immediately.

Raheila has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. She joined Chubb in 2018 and has advanced the development and execution of its cyber underwriting initiatives in the UK and London wholesale markets. Prior to Chubb, Raheila held multiple leadership and underwriting roles at several major carriers.

Tim Stapleton said: "Raheila is a seasoned cyber practitioner and is widely recognised as a highly-respected leader in the cyber insurance market. Her insights and expertise make her perfectly placed to lead Chubb's Overseas General Cyber practice as we continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of our brokers and clients."

Mike Kessler said: "One of Chubb's many strengths is our ability to develop and promote from within and acknowledge talent across the company. The Cyber and Technology practice is a fundamentally important part of our Overseas General Insurance business and I am delighted that we have been able to promote Raheila to this key leadership position."

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The AES Corp. (AES) has increased its ownership to 100% of AES Colon with the acquisition of a 49.9% stake from Inversiones Bahia. AES Colon is comprised of a 381 MW liquid natural gas-fired power plant and an 180,000 cubic meter LNG storage and regasification facility. The company said the acquisition will contribute to maximizing the value of its regional LNG business through the development of important synergies and flexibility across its portfolio. 'This acquisition will position AES to incorporate new strategic partners into these LNG assets and continue unlocking the portfolio's value,' said Gustavo Pimenta, CFO. 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.
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HR tech firm, Cappfinity, has launched a global Talent Practice to support businesses through post-pandemic workforce transformation, with a range of solutions designed to strengthen key transversal skills and inform talent deployment.

Cappfinity's Talent Practice brings together market-leading expertise in leadership, development, and transformation to provide holistic support to clients wanting to align, energise, and focus their workforces as they recover from the pandemic.

With a 16-year history delivering strengths-based recruitment and development solutions to global companies, Cappfinity has responded to client needs to create transformational interventions for every level of an organisation, for both talent management and talent acquisition.

Headed by Directors Stephanie Hopper and Celine Floyd, the Talent Practice takes a collaborative, assertive, and data-led approach to people transformation. Director of Leadership Assessment, Celine Floyd, commented on the launch:

"We have seen our work in supporting clients to assess and develop their internal talent rise dramatically in the last 3-5 years. Based on our experience of working with global companies, it is so exciting to now bring to market a consolidated proposition that is easy and scalable for clients to buy and implement, and that leverages everything that is amazing about Cappfinity - our strengths-based approach, our technology, and our data capability."

Director of Development Solutions, Stephanie Hopper, added:

"Over the past 18 months we've seen a growing wave of interest from businesses who are looking for a dynamic approach to talent management that can shift with the needs of the business. We've worked with companies in industries that have been hit hard by the pandemic. The Talent Practice builds on this experience, enabling us to offer our clients effective, customised workforce transformation solutions that will make a real, measurable difference to recovery and growth."

Cappfinity's Talent Practice works alongside their Recruitment Practice, delivering specialist expertise in the design and management of strengths-based assessments and hiring processes. This move demonstrates the culmination and celebration of Cappfinity's whole People Agenda capability.

About Cappfinity

Cappfinity is the global leader in strengths-based assessment, providing award-winning recruitment and development solutions to forward-thinking companies. Our teams in the UK, US, Ireland and Australia are proud to be working with more than 200 organisations and millions of individuals in service of our shared purpose - Strengthening the World.

Contact:

Rachael Ramos

Cappfinity

rachael.ramos@cappfinity.com

+44 (0)7719 986909
AUSTIN, TX / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Business Warrior Corporation (OTC PINK:BZWR), the source for small businesses in America to get more customers, announced a new partnership with DeskTeam360 to deliver professional, custom built websites for Business Warrior subscribers.

DeskTeam360 specializes in website development for small businesses. In this strategic partnership, Business Warrior enriches its position as a robust, business development source for local businesses across the nation. Through software, training, and a growing number of marketing services, Business Warrior helps its clients improve their reputation, get found online, and convert website traffic into customers.

One of the biggest milestones for a new small business is developing and launching their website. Currently, 1 in 4 small businesses do not have a website for their business. According to the US Census, ?4.3 million new businesses were started last year, a 24 percent increase from the year before.

"We see as many as 50% of our Business Warrior leads do not have a website and the number of new small businesses continues to rise," stated Business Warrior President Jonathan Brooks. "This new solution connects our clients with a national partner that can affordably and easily launch a professional website while jump-starting their Business Warrior experience."

Business Warrior's website solution is now available at a special, low price for new and existing Business Warrior subscribers. Learn more about this strategic partnership and the special offering by visiting https://deskteam360.com/businesswarrior-websites?ref=BusinessWarrior.

"Together, Deskteam360 and Business Warrior have an immense concentration and understanding of the small business owner," said DeskTeam360 Founder Jeremy Kenerson. "Both of our teams have the passion, products and people to level up a small business needing a website to excel in the quickly evolving digital world consumers are looking for. Deskteam360 and Business Warrior complete the experience of how business owners get more customers."

About DeskTeam360

DeskTeam360 is a digital marketing integration team. They help small businesses with graphic and web design, technical website support, marketing software set up, and virtual assistant services all in one place.

With more than 15 years of experience and over 3000 websites created, DeskTeam360 is a trusted brand in the website development industry. They have been featured in news publications such as NBC, ABC, Fox News, and CBS News. For more information, please visit deskteam360.com

About Business Warrior

Business Warrior is the source for small businesses in America to enhance their brand and boost marketing results. The Business Warrior software takes a holistic view of a business's online reputation, listings, website search results and social media. Predictive algorithms are utilized to recommend the most imperative actions needed to drive new customers, positively impact daily operations and improve profitability. For more information, please visit businesswarrior.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release and the offering materials may contain forward-looking statements and information relating to, among other things, the company, its business plan and strategy, and its industry. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. They are based on the current beliefs of, assumptions made by, and information currently available to the company's management regarding the future of the company's business, future plans and strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. When used in the offering materials, the words "aim," "estimate," "project," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "envision," "estimate," "expect," "future," "goal," "hope," "likely," "may," "plan," "potential," "seek," "should," "strategy," "will" and similar references to future periods are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which constitute forward looking statements. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict (many of which are outside of the company's control) and could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the company, the offering or other matters, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. The company does not undertake any obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after such date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Investor Relations:

Jonathan Brooks

Investors@BusinessWarrior.com

(855) 884-5805

SOURCE: Business Warrior Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663931/Business-Warrior-Partners-with-Nationally-Recognized-Website-Builder
TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / GlobeX Data Ltd. (OTCQB:SWISF)(CSE:SWIS)(FRA:GDT) ("GlobeX" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, is pleased to announce that it is presenting at the Emerging Growth Conference on September 15th 2021 at 11:00am EST.

The Emerging Growth Conference is presenting on Sep 15th 2021. This live, interactive online event will give existing shareholders and the investment community the opportunity to interact with the Company's CEO, Alain Ghiai, in real time.

Alain Ghiai will perform a presentation and may subsequently open the floor for questions. Please ask your questions during the event and Alain Ghiai will do his best to get through as many of them as possible. GlobeX Data Ltd. will be presenting on September 15th 2021 at 11:45 AM Eastern time for 45 minutes, ending at 12:30 PM Eastern time.

Please register here to ensure you are able to attend the conference and receive any updates that are released: GlobeX Data Emerging Growth Conference Registration

If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available on EmergingGrowth.com and we will also release a link to that after the event.

Alain Ghiai, CEO of GlobeX Data said: "We are very happy to be invited to present at the Emerging Growth Conference and introduce GlobeX Data and our brand Sekur . The Company is now launching in the USA and we want everyone to know that we exist, and that privacy has finally arrived for all people and businesses looking at having private, secure and data mining free communications. Privacy and Security has become a very hot topic and a big problematic as consumers and businesses' data are being mined constantly, violating people's privacy and security and risking the theft of intellectual property of businesses in the USA. We look forward to introduce Sekur , and its many unique benefits, such as Swiss hosted data privacy and security, and the right for consumers and businesses not to have their data mined by third party service providers. As we are not connected, and never have been connected, to AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud platforms, commonly referred to as "Big Tech", we can offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications through secure messaging, secure voice record transfer and secure email and secure video conferencing, through our proprietary technology and our secure servers based in Switzerland. As we move forward, and our brand becomes synonymous with data privacy over the coming years, we look forward to offer true data privacy and no data mining to all Americans."

About the Emerging Growth Conference

The Emerging Growth conference is an effective way for public companies to present and communicate their new products, services and other major announcements to the investment community from the convenience of their office, in a time efficient manner.

The Conference focus and coverage includes companies in a wide range of growth sectors, with strong management teams, innovative products & services, focused strategy, execution, and the overall potential for long term growth. Its audience includes potentially tens of thousands of Individual and Institutional investors, as well as Investment advisors and analysts.

All sessions are be conducted through video webcasts and will take place in the Eastern time zone.

GlobeX's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.

About GlobeX Data Ltd.

GlobeX Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, secure communication tools, and secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management. GlobeX Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. GlobeX Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

GLOBEX DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@globexdatagroup.com

For more information, please visit us at https://globexdata.com .

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. GlobeX cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond GlobeX's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in GlobeX's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, GlobeX undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: GlobeX Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663939/GlobeX-Data-to-Present-at-Emerging-Growth-Conference-on-September-15th-2021
Investments by Northzone, Endeavor Catalyst and Fasanara will scale SellersFunding's international growth and investments in technology

NEW YORK, NY and LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / SellersFunding , a global fintech company empowering growth for ecommerce sellers, today announced it secured $166.5M in a combination of Equity and Credit Facility, with an investment round led by Northzone, and additional investments from Endeavor Catalyst and Fasanara. The funding will fuel the company's ambitions to help ecommerce sellers succeed in today's dynamic market environment and scale globally.

Northzone, an early stage venture capital fund partnering with founders at early-stage, across Europe and the US, was a lead investor on the funding round. SellersFunding joins Northzone's impressive portfolio of category-defining businesses including Klarna, Spotify, Hopin and Trustpilot, among others.

Endeavor Catalyst, a co-investment vehicle designed to support Endeavor Entrepreneurs with their equity financing rounds, also supported the funding round. SellersFunding is a member of the Endeavor Entrepreneurs Network, a global non-profit that has advised and helped scale more than 1,000 high-impact companies in 40+ growth markets around the world.

The investment will see SellersFunding enhance its technology and payments platforms, and support its operational and international expansion. As a U.S.-headquartered company, SellersFunding will continue to expand across North America, and also the United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Australia, to establish a presence for its growing global customer base. In addition, the investment will bolster sales and marketing efforts and help SellersFunding bring aboard even more talented professionals to the team.

The additional credit facility increase from European investment manager Fasanara comes after the company's $100 million funding program with Fasanara in January 2021. The funding will be used across USD, GBP, EUR and CAN currencies to enhance SellersFunding's liquidity.

"We are thrilled to complete our capital raise and have Northzone and Endeavor joining our company, and to see the renewed commitment of Fasanara in supporting the expansion of our portfolio," said Ricardo Pero, CEO of SellersFunding. "This underscores our dedication to providing world-class financial solutions for our clients and partners and is a testament to the overall growth of the global ecommerce space."

Northzone, Endeavor Catalyst and Fasanara share a word on their commitments:

"Ecommerce is exploding, but we are still lacking sufficient financial solutions that serve the small, international merchants driving this boom," said Jeppe Zink, General Partner at Northzone. "By offering seamless access to non-dilutive capital, SellersFunding is doing a superb job at meeting sellers' needs. We have been amazed by Ricardo and his team's ability to redefine business lending and become leaders in this category."

"We're excited to partner with Ricardo and his team on this next stage of growth for SellersFunding," said Allen Taylor, Managing Director at Endeavor Catalyst. "These are the building blocks of tomorrow's economy, and we can't wait to help SellersFunding expand globally."

"We believed in the potential of SellersFunding and its disruptive business model from early stage, and we are pleased to see the company continue to grow," said Francesco Filia, CEO and CIO of Fasanara. "We are eager to further our relationship with SellersFunding in the years to come."

About SellersFunding

SellersFunding is a global financial technology company on a mission to empower growth for ecommerce sellers. The SellersFunding digital platform delivers a suite of financial solutions that streamlines global commerce for thousands of marketplaces including working capital, cross-border cash management, tax solutions and business valuation. For more information, visit www.sellersfunding.com .

About Northzone

Northzone ( www.northzone.com ) is an early-stage venture capital fund built on experience spanning multiple economic and disruptive technology cycles and has over $1.7 billion under management. Founded in 1996 and with a team spread across three main hubs, New York, London and Stockholm, Northzone has to date raised nine funds and invested in more than 150 companies, including category-defining businesses like Spotify, iZettle, Avito, Kahoot!, Hopin, Klarna and Trustpilot.

About Endeavor Catalyst

Endeavor Catalyst? is the rules-based, co-investment fund of Endeavor ( www.endeavor.org ) that invests in the companies of Endeavor Entrepreneurs. With $250M in Assets Under Management (AUM) across three funds, Endeavor Catalyst has made 200+ investments in 32 markets to date and counts 27+ unicorns (private companies valued at $1B+) in its current portfolio.

About Fasanara Capital

Established in 2011, Fasanara Capital is a quantitative fintech investment company authorised and regulated by the FCA, offering access to inventive disruptive products and real-economy impact investment solutions, making extensive use of proprietary financial technology. Fasanara's unorthodox portfolio construction and unconventional investment strategy is a response to today's transformational financial markets, away from twin bubbles in public equity and bonds.

Media Contact

Alexandra Saville

Caliber Corporate Advisers

alexandra@calibercorporateadvisers.com

SOURCE: SellersFunding

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663386/Fintech-Leader-SellersFunding-Closes-Series-A-to-Power-Success-of-Ecommerce-Sellers
GoldSpot Discoveries Corp.'s proprietary approach of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and geological interpretation highlight lithium potential at Bourier claims within the Nemiscau greenstone belt;

A total of 15 high to moderate prospectivity lithium targets have been identified;

Preliminary Summer 2021 field exploration results have revealed the discovery of five (5) new sectors of spodumene-rich (Li) pegmatites, highlighting the potential of the Bourier project;

Critical Elements and Lomiko Metals (Option Agreement, see press release dated April 27, 2021) boast a unique and favorable land position for lithium exploration within the Nemiscau Belt.

MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (the "Company" or "Critical Elements") (TSX-V:CRE) (OTCQX:CRECF) (FSE:F12) and Lomiko Metals (TSX-V:LMR) mandated GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (TSX-V:SPOT) (OTCQX:SPOFF) ("GoldSpot") to conduct a remote targeting process for lithium, on the Bourier claims within the Nemiscau belt (Figure 1). GoldSpot uses cutting edge technology and geoscientific expertise to mitigate exploration risks and make mineral discoveries.

Methodology

The study hinged on digital extraction from an exhaustive collection of compiled data, including assessment files, government data and academic studies. This dataset provided outcrop/sample description, bedrock geology, geochemical analyses, and geophysical surveys. Original data was cleaned and combined to create a comprehensive data set for geological interpretation and machine learning processes.

Geological Interpretation

The compilation of discrete outcrop observations allowed a reliable update to existing geologic maps, resulting in a refined, lithium exploration-oriented pegmatite map. A total of 99 pegmatite bodies were added to the current geological map, highlighting previously unknown potential for economic lithium mineralization.

An up-to-date structural interpretation was created based on a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey commissioned by Critical Elements. This survey revealed structurally complex patterns, including large-scale folds and major ENE-trending ductile fault zones.

Lithium Target Generation

GoldSpot generated lithium targets using a knowledge-based approach with Artificial Intelligence (AI) data-driven methods.

Process: The AI data analysis trains machine learning algorithms to predict the presence of lithium using all variables (features), both numeric and interpreted on a 10 x 10 m grid cell datacube. Once the model performs to a satisfactory level, results produced include:

1) a series of zones with relatively high probability of containing lithium;

2) a ranking of feature importance for each input feature.

Performance: The best prediction model for lithium at Bourier was obtained using the Extended Euclidean Algorithm for which performance metric was at 75% precision. The updated lithology and structural interpretation were the dominant contributors to the targeting model.

Figure 1: Location of Critical Elements' projects, Eeyou Istchee, James Bay, Quebec. Critical Elements and Lomiko Metals' Bourier project on the Northeastern part of the Nemiscau belt.

Results: A total of 15 lithium exploration targets were identified (Figure 2), reducing the area of investigation to approximately 9.5% of the total claim holding. The newly interpreted pegmatite outcrops largely controlled the distribution of the lithium targets.

Figure 2: Lithium targets and location of new spodumene-rich pegmatites within Critical Elements and Lomiko Metals' Bourier claims.

Field Work and Preliminary Results

In preparation of field work, GoldSpot provided a map of probable outcrop zones, resulting from the AI analysis on high-resolution satellite imagery. The machine learning-assisted outcrop detection allows for time- and cost-efficient field exploration.

An exploration crew composed of Critical Elements' and GoldSpot's geoscientists conducted a 20-day prospecting program at the Bourier project, with focus on the high- to moderate-confidence lithium targets generated by GoldSpot. The highlights of this program include the discovery of five (5) new sectors of spodumene-rich (Li) pegmatite (laboratory analysis results are pending; Figure 2). These discoveries were made within, or the extension, of GoldSpot's targets.

The main discovery, located about 11 km NE of the Bourier Lake, consists of muscovite and garnet pegmatites showing 1-5% of centimetric-size spodumene crystals (Figure 3), over an outcropping area of 40 x 30 m. Additional spodumene-rich pegmatites were sporadically found within a 1 km trend from the main discovery, highlighting the potential for wider mineralization system. Four other spodumene-rich pegmatites zones were found elsewhere on the property.

Figure 3: Main discovery. Spodumene-rich pegmatite, with aureole of Li-mica.

Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, noted, "We are confident that continued exploration, benefitting from the deployment of GoldSpot's AI analysis and our joint geoscientific expertise, will continue to reveal the considerable potential of the Bourier property. We anticipate that this approach may yield similar results on the rest of the Company's exploration project portfolio, working towards our aspiration to be a large, responsible supplier of lithium. Our primary focus remains on the advancement of the Rose lithium-tantalum project, our first."

Qualified Person

The technical information in this press release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and reviewed and approved by Ludovic Bigot, professional geologist (OGQ - P.GEO No. 01655), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 guidelines.

About Critical Elements Lithium Corporation

Critical Elements Lithium Corporation aspires to become a large, responsible supplier of lithium to the flourishing electric vehicle and energy storage system industries. To this end, Critical Elements Lithium is advancing the wholly owned, high purity Rose lithium project in Quebec. Rose is the Company's first lithium project to be advanced within a highly prospective land portfolio of over 700 square kilometers. In 2017, the Company completed a robust feasibility study on Rose Phase 1 for the production of high quality spodumene concentrate. The internal rate of return for the Project is estimated at 34.9% after tax, with a net present value estimated at C$726 million at an 8% discount rate. Capital cost parameters were confirmed in 2019 by Primero Group in the context of a Guaranteed Maximum Price under an Early Contractor Involvement agreement, as a prelude to an Engineering, Procurement and Construction process. Detailed engineering for Phase I is expected to conclude this year as the Company plans to deliver technical studies for Phase II; the conversion of spodumene concentrate to high quality lithium hydroxide. In the Company's view, Quebec is strategically well-positioned for US and EU markets and boasts exceptional infrastructure including a low-cost, low-carbon power grid featuring 93% hydroelectricity. The project has received approval from the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change on the recommendation of the Joint Assessment Committee, comprised of representatives from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and the Cree Nation Government; we await similar approval under the Quebec environmental assessment process near-term. The Company also has a strong, formalized relationship with the Cree Nation.

About GoldSpot Discoveries Corp.

GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (TSXV:SPOT) (OTCQX:SPOFF) is a technology services company in mineral exploration. GoldSpot is a leading team of expert scientists who merge geoscience and data science to deliver bespoke solutions that transform the mineral discovery process. In the race to make discoveries, GoldSpot produces Smart Targets and advanced geological modelling that saves times, reduces costs and provides accurate results.

For further information, please contact:

Jean-Sebastien Lavallee, P.Geo.

Chief Executive Officer

819-354-5146

jslavallee@cecorp.ca

www.cecorp.ca

Cautionary statement concerning forward-looking statements

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian Securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "scheduled", "anticipates", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "scheduled", "targeted", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information contained herein include, without limitation, statements relating to the completion of the Project's approval, the completion of the provincial permitting process, mineral reserve estimates, mineral resource estimates, realization of mineral reserve and resource estimates, capital and operating costs estimates, the timing and amount of future production, costs of production, success of mining operations, the ranking of the project in terms of cash cost and production, permitting, economic return estimates, power and storage facilities, life of mine, social, community and environmental impacts, lithium and tantalum markets and sales prices, off-take agreements and purchasers for the Company's products, environmental assessment and permitting, securing sufficient financing on acceptable terms, opportunities for short and long term optimization of the Project, and continued positive discussions and relationships with local communities and stakeholders. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such statements are made. There can be no assurance that such statements 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.

Although Critical Elements 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. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from expected results described in forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: the completion of the Project's approval, the completion of the provincial permitting process, Critical Elements' ability to secure sufficient financing to advance and complete the Project, uncertainties associated with the Company's resource and reserve estimates, uncertainties regarding global supply and demand for lithium and tantalum and market and sales prices, uncertainties associated with securing off-take agreements and customer contracts, uncertainties with respect to social, community and environmental impacts, uncertainties with respect to optimization opportunities for the Project, as well as those risk factors set out in the Company's year-end Management Discussion and Analysis dated August 31, 2020, the Company's Annual Information Form dated August 3, 2021, and other disclosure documents available under the Company's SEDAR profile. Forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date of this news release and Critical Elements disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

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

SOURCE: Critical Elements Lithium Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663966/Critical-Elements-and-Lomiko-Metals-identify-Bourier-project-lithium-targets-and-report-discoveries-using-GoldSpot-Discoveries-Artificial-Intelligence-methods
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc. (TSXV:ISGI)(OTCQB:ISGIF) ("InsuraGuest" or the "Company"), through its wholly owned U.S. hospitality subsidiary InsuraGuest, is pleased to announce it has signed a vendor agreement with LMPM, one of the world's best property management systems for vacation rentals, and begun integration with their API.

InsuraGuest will soon be able to be purchased by users of LMPM, including professional hosts and property management companies. Once in use, the Host will use InsuraGuest's insurance coverages as their primary no fault medical policy with a property rider to address claims made by guests.

Reed Wright, President of InsuraGuest Technologies, stated, "The vacation rental sector grew eight-nine percent (89%) last year. So, our focus moving forward is to connect to as many vacation rental property management systems (PMS) as we can. The more PMS systems we connect to, the more properties listings we can access, and the more InsuraGuest's insurance products we can sell."

Vacation Rental Operators

The Vacation Rental property automatically attach the InsuraGuest coverage to each reservation, which activates the coverage at check-in and de-activates it upon check-out, covering the property if a guest is injured. The coverage is on a no-fault primary basis, which means InsuraGuest pays the claim first, if a guest is injured, no matter who's fault it is!

About InsuraGuest Technologies Inc.

Harnessing the Power of Technology to Reinvent Insurance

InsuraGuest Technologies (TSX.V: ISGI) is an insurtech (insurance + technology) company that is disrupting the insurance landscape by utilizing its proprietary software platform to automatically attach its short-term rental insurance products to vacation rental reservations.

CA / LIC: 6001686

For more information, visit the company's website at: www.InsuraGuest.com

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. There is no assurance that this new business product offering or other planned products will be successful. The insurance industry is intensely competitive, and the Company's competitors have significantly more resources than the Company. Acceptance by potential customers is difficult to predict, particularly in the case of new products and disruptive technologies. If the Company fails to achieve market acceptance, this will significantly impact its results and financial resources. Achieving market acceptance may require advertising budgets that exceed the Company's current resources and require the Company to seek additional debt or equity financing. There is no assurance that such financing will be available at reasonable prices or at all.

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.

Company Contact:

InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc.

Investor Relations

Investor@InsuraGuest.com

SOURCE: InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663800/InsuraGuest-Signs-Vendor-Agreement-with-Vacation-Rental-PMS-Lightmaker-Property-Manager-LMPM-and-Begins-API-Integration
MARIETTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Dinewise, Inc (OTC PINK:DWIS) (referred to as "Dinewise", "we", "us", "our" or the "Company")announced it has closed on funding for additional small business. Dinewise has entered into the retail spirits, beer and wine industry by funding neighborhood liquor stores. Dinewise, through its brand PawnTrust remains committed to the local entrepreneur. "We continue to look for areas to support our local business, while maintaining profitability. It was just a natural fit." Christina Moore, Director of Dinewise. This expansion will give PawnTrust the ability to double its receivables in 2021-Q4 and maintain the same profit margins it has garnered over the years.

PawnTrust makes small business loans to Pawn Shops and now Liquor Stores. PawnTrust with its innovative virtual funding model decreases cost while gaining market share and profitability. PawnTrust has become a unique dominating provider of capital to Pawn Shops and looks to duplicate that success in the retail Liquor, Beer and Wine space.

Contact

PawnTrust Investor Relations

(888) 243-2680

invest@pawntrust.com

Forward-Looking Information

This release includes statements that may constitute 'forward-looking' statements, usually containing the words 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'project,' 'expect' or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While the Company believes the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurances such expectations will prove to be accurate. Security holders are cautioned such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Certain factors may cause results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements made in this release. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, acceptance of the Company's current and future products and services in the marketplace, the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive regulatory approvals of such products, competitive factors, dependence upon third-party vendors, risks and uncertainties related to the current unknown duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.

SOURCE: Dinewise, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663849/Dinewise-Expands-its-Lending-to-Other-Small-Business-Retailers
MINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Broadleaf Books is excited to announce the release of a timely and important book from Sojourners President, Rev. Adam Russell Taylor. In his new book, Taylor shows a way out of the fear and hatred that divides our country by replacing polarization with redemptive patriotism and drawing on civic and spiritual values to complete the unfinished business of the civil rights movement. Part history lesson, part policy prescription, part moral reckoning, A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community, meets this moment of political polarization and systemic racism in a unique and profound way

"The topics in this book are extremely timely and relevant," said Lil Copan, Senior Acquisitions Editor for Broadleaf Books. "Taylor's take on where we are as a country and, more importantly, where we have the capacity to go, is a powerful dose of hope for a nation and a people in despair. What Taylor calls 'Redemptive patriotism' is a powerful antidote to the toxicity of our politics, our communities and even our churches."

Drawing from personal experience as a bi-racial Black man; professional experience at the World Bank, the White House Faith Initiative, and Sojourners; and religious reflections as an ordained Reverend, Taylor weaves together a powerful story of America. A More Perfect Union celebrates the beauty and promise of America's ideals while also calling for radical truth-telling about the need to confront and make amends for the ways in those ideals fail to be manifested for millions of people.

"We need a moral vision capable of inspiring and uniting Americans around a shared vision of the future. And the only way we'll get there is by co-creating a more just and inclusive America," says Taylor. "We must resurrect and recast the concept of the Beloved Community-the moral vision at the heart of the civil rights movement, which sought dignity and justice for all. Beloved Community does not start or end with our politics, but transforming our broken politics is an indispensable part of how we must co-create it."

Taylor digs deep into our nation's history; cites current studies on attitudes and beliefs; and highlights people, organizations and communities doing the work of the Beloved Community. This compelling chronicle addresses current issues, from immigration to criminal justice reform to combatting climate change and offers tangible and practical policy prescriptions to transform our broken political system and heal our nation

As Taylor writes, "The Beloved Community has arms wide and strong enough for all of America, including those known as Dreamers and others in immigrant communities, those from religious traditions considered outside the mainstream, and those who have been left out and left behind-from Midwestern towns and rural farms to Indigenous reservations and blighted cities or suburbs-red, blue, and everything in between."

Modern day 'Beatitudes' form an essential foundation of the book and include the concepts of equality rooted in imago dei (the image of God in everyone), radical welcome, e pluribus unum or unity in authentic diversity, ubuntu interdependence, restorative environmental stewardship, nonviolence, and dignity for all. These Beloved Community Beatitudes combine civic humanitarianism with the deep spiritual and religious values that inform the social justice, peace, and environmental stewardship work of Sojourners.

###

About Adam Russell Taylor - Rev. Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of Mobilizing Hope: Faith-Inspired Activism for a Post-Civil Rights Generation. Taylor previously led the Faith Initiative at the World Bank Group, served as the vice president in charge of Advocacy at World Vision U.S., executive Director of Global Justice, and senior political director at Sojourners. He was selected for the 2009/2010 class of White House Fellows and served in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and Public Engagement. A graduate of Emory University, the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Taylor is also ordained in the American Baptist Church. @revadamtaylor

About Broadleaf - Broadleaf Books is?committed to expanding?the mind, nourishing the soul, cultivating the common good.?Broadleaf books inspire transformation in readers and their communities to foster a more open, just, and compassionate world.? Rooted in the progressive Christian tradition and reflecting the diversity of human creativity, Broadleaf publishes books that engage readers in fresh, substantive, timely, and inspiring reflection on what it is to live with meaning and connection. www.broadleafbooks.com.??

About Sojourners - Sojourners, a faith-focused nonprofit, acts on the biblical call to social justice by, convening and mobilizing constituencies, and building alliances for effective advocacy. Sojourners envisions a future in which Christians put their faith into action in the passionate pursuit of social justice, peace, and environmental stewardship, working in partnership with people of other perspectives, for the common good of communities, families and individuals. https://sojo.net/

SOURCE: Broadleaf Books

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663602/Timely-New-Book-a-Bold-Call-for-a-Reimagined-Beloved-Community
Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / New Placer Dome Gold Corp. ("New Placer Dome" or the "Company") (TSXV:NGLD)(OTCQB:NPDCF)(FSE: BM5) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement and provide a corporate update in regards to its flagship Kinsley Mountain Gold Project (the " Kinsley Mountain Project "), located in southeast Elko County, Nevada.

Private Placement

New Placer Dome intends to complete a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") for aggregate gross proceeds of a minimum of $4,000,000 and a maximum of $5,000,000. The Private Placement will consist of units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.08 per Unit. Each Unit will be comprised of one common share and one transferable common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant is exercisable to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.12 per share for a period of three years from the date of issue (the "Expiry Date"), provided that, if after four months from the date of issue, the closing price of the common shares of the Company on any stock exchange or quotation system on which the common shares are then listed or quoted is equal to or greater than $0.20 for a period of ten (10) consecutive trading days at any time prior to the Expiry Time, the Company will have the right to accelerate the Expiry Time of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders of the Warrants by news release or other form of notice permitted by the certificate representing the Warrants that the Warrants will expire at 4:30 p.m. (Vancouver time) on a date that is not less than ten (10) days from the date notice is given.

In connection with the Private Placement, the company may pay finders' fees in cash or securities, or a combination of both, as permitted by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a four-month hold period. The Private Placement is subject to approval by the Exchange.

Corporate Update and Amendment to the Kinsley Option Agreement

The Company also announces that it is in discussions with Liberty Gold Corp. (LGD) ("LibertyGold") to amend certain payment terms under the purchase option agreement (the "Kinsley Option Agreement") dated November 29, 2019, as amended, between the Company and Liberty Gold, subject to the Company completing the Private Placement. The amendments would provide combined payments of US$1,250,000 in cash and US$1,250,000 in common shares of the Company on June 2, 2021, and June 2, 2022, respectively, instead of US$2,500,000 in cash on June 2, 2021 and US$2,500,000 in common shares of the Company on June 2, 2022, respectively. The first of these common share payments would be subject to a voluntary one year hold period from the date of issuance and upon their issuance to Liberty Gold and the completion of the Private Placement, Liberty Gold will hold in excess of 10% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company and become its largest shareholder. Liberty Gold will have the right to terminate the Kinsley Option Agreement if it provides written notice of default to the Company of failure to make the required payments under the Kinsley Option Agreement and the Company fails to make the necessary payment within 45 days from the date of receipt of such notice. If the Company and Liberty Gold proceed with the foregoing amendments to the Kinsley Option Agreement, the Company may be required to obtain a waiver of the right of first refusal from Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation. For further information, refer to the Company's filings on www.SEDAR.com including the annual information form for the year ended June 30, 2020, filed on May 26, 2021. Amendments to the Kinsley Option Agreement are subject to Exchange approval.

Kinsley Geophysics Program

The Company has engaged Las Vegas Nevada-based KLM Geoscience to begin an expanded, property-wide IP/resistivity geophysical survey program expected to commence on September 18, 2021 (Figure 1).

Geophysical surveys completed during 2020 at the WFZ and Shale Saddle target areas correlate with drill confirmed high gold mineralization. Expanded geophysical surveys for 2021 will target the Secret Spot target and under-explored Kinsley North frontier area. At Kinsley North soil geochemical surveys reveal broad arsenic in soil anomalies coincident with structures and the prospective Pogonip-Notch Peak contact (the same host horizon as Long Canyon1) and Dunderberg shale rocks at depth cut by late northwest trending structures that are important gold mineralization hosts within the Kinsley resource area.

Subject to the Company completing the Private Placement, exploration drilling will commence following completion of geophysical surveys to build on new discoveries and expansion of resources.

Highlights of the 2020 Kinsley Drilling include1:

Western Flank - West side resource expansion drilling yields

10.22 g/t gold over 6.1 metres within a broader zone grading

2.63 g/t Au (sulphide) over 38.10 metres in KMR20-017

Western Flank - Central yields second highest-grade Dunderberg shale intercept

15.1 g/t Au (sulphide) over 7.6 metres, including 24.1 g/t Au (sulphide) over 4.6 metres lower zone,

9.08 g/t Au (sulphide) over 6.1 metres upper zone in KMR20-026

Main Pit North Oxide Target yields high-grade intercepts 75 m outside current pit shell

9.83 g/t gold over 7.6 metres high grade shallow oxide

Secret Spot Target surface oxide New Discovery multiple intercepts including

1.77 g/t gold over 25.3 metres in new surface oxide discovery in KMD20-007B

3.81 g/t gold over 11.6 metres; including 11.3 g/t gold over 2.9 metres in KMD20-006

About New Placer Dome Gold Corp.

New Placer Dome Gold Corp. is a gold exploration company focused on acquiring and advancing gold projects in Nevada. New Placer Dome's flagship Kinsley Mountain Gold Project located 90 km south of the Long Canyon Mine (currently in production under the Newmont/Barrick Joint Venture, Nevada Gold Mines), hosts Carlin-style gold mineralization, previous run of mine heap leach production, and NI 43-101 indicated resources containing 418,000 ounces of gold grading 2.63 g/t Au (4.95 million tonnes) and inferred resources containing 117,000 ounces of gold averaging 1.51 g/t Au (2.44 million tonnes)2. The Bolo Project, located 90 km northeast of Tonopah, Nevada, is another core asset, similarly hosting Carlin-style gold mineralization. New Placer Dome also owns 100% of the Troy Canyon Project, located 120 km south of Ely, Nevada. New Placer Dome is run by a strong management and technical team consisting of capital markets and mining professionals with the goal of maximizing value for shareholders through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo. (BC), Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB, a Director of New Placer Dome and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects . Mr. Raffle has verified the data disclosed which includes a review of the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information and opinions contained herein.

Figure 2. Kinsley Mountain 2021 Exploration Plan

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

/s/ "Max Sali"

Max Sali, Chief Executive Officer

Contact Information:

Max Sali, Chief Executive Officer & Director

Tel: 604 620 8406

Email: msali@newplacerdome.com

Karl Mansour, Paradox IR

Tel: 514 341 0408

Email: karlmansour@paradox-pr.ca

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

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the " 1933 Act ") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

Forward Looking Information

This news release includes certain statements that constitute "forward-looking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities law, including without limitation, the completion of the Private Placement, completion of the amendments of the Kinsley Option Agreement with Liberty Gold, the geophysics program and subsequent drilling, other statements relating to the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company and its properties, and other matters.

Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved), and variations of such words, and similar expressions are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statement are necessarily based upon a number of factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements express or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of metals, anticipated costs and the ability to achieve goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms, and that third party contractors, equipment and supplies and governmental and other approvals required to conduct the Company's planned exploration activities will be available on reasonable terms and in a timely manner. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and regulatory uncertainties and risks. For further information concerning these and other risks and uncertainties, refer to the Company's filings on www.SEDAR.com including the annual information form for the year ended June 30, 2020, filed on May 26, 2021.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual events, level of activity, performance or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: (i) risks related to gold and other commodity price fluctuations; (ii) risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of exploration results; (iii) risks related to the inherent uncertainty of exploration and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; (iv) that resource exploration and development is a speculative business; (v) that the Company may lose or abandon its property interests or may fail to receive necessary licences and permits; (vi) that environmental laws and regulations may become more onerous; (vii) that the Company may not be able to raise additional funds when necessary; (viii) the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; (ix) exploration and development risks, including risks related to accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration and development; (x) competition; (xi) the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of geologic reports or studies; (xii) the uncertainty of profitability based upon the Company's history of losses; (xiii) risks related to environmental regulation and liability; (xiv) risks associated with failure to maintain community acceptance, agreements and permissions (generally referred to as "social licence"); (xv) risks relating to obtaining and maintaining all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations relating to the continued exploration and development of the Company's projects; (xvi) risks related to the outcome of legal actions; (xvii) political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; (xix) risks related to current global financial conditions; and (xx) other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business strategy. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to vary significantly.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, the loss of key directors, employees, advisors or consultants, adverse weather and climate conditions, increase in costs, equipment failures, government regulations and policies, litigation, exchange rate fluctuations, the impact of Covid-19 or other viruses and diseases on the Company's ability to operate, decrease in the price of gold and other metals, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations and fees charged by service providers. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date hereof and 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, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation.

[1] Long Canyon Mine is not necessarily indicative of mineralization within New Placer Dome Properties.True widths of the mineralized intervals are interpreted to be between 60-90% of the reported lengths.

[2] Technical Report on the Kinsley Project, Elko County, Nevada, U.S.A., dated June 21, 2021 with an effective date of May 5, 2021 and prepared by Michael M. Gustin, Ph.D., and Gary L. Simmons, MMSA and filed under New Placer Dome Gold Corp.'s Issuer Profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com)

SOURCE: New Placer Dome Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663933/New-Placer-Dome-Gold-Corp-Announces-Non-Brokered-Private-Placement-and-Provides-Corporate-Update
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) ("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 that it has engaged Ridley Doolittle, to serve as an advisor ("Advisor") to its Advisory Board. Mr. Doolittle brings over 15 years of high-quality strategic marketing and rate of sale commercial excellence in both the consumer packaged goods ("CPGs"), ready-to-drink ("RTD") and start-up spaces. Mr. Doolittle most recently exited Bacardi as a Senior Brand innovation officer working across the North American landscape, to focus on consulting with companies who are looking to grow via marketing and innovative products offerings with the clear goal of resulting in global exposure and increased sales. Ridley Doolittle joins a strong team of advisors, including the Chairman of the Advisory Board Bruce Linton, to provide strategic advice and support to Chief Executive Officer Todd Shapiro, with respect to marketing and product innovation due to his background, expertise, vision and proven success of brand growth and product creation with both General Mills and Bacardi.

"Ridley is perfect for the role of immediately helping with Happy Caps home grow kits, while also assisting us in the Netherlands and across Europe with our iMicrodose products as well," said CEO Todd Shapiro. "Ridley is someone I've personally worked with in the past when he was with Bacardi. Our working relationship was always very professional and respectful and his background and experience, especially with Bacardi and the ready-to-drink segment speaks for itself. I believe he'll instantly be a tremendous asset to the Red Light Holland team as he immediately helps contribute to exploring future product offerings, marketing exposure and reach focused on increasing sales of our Red Light Holland consumer packaged goods. We're pleased to have someone with his marketing know-how and work ethic," said Todd Shapiro, CEO of Red Light Holland

"I am honoured to join this incredible team," added Ridley Doolittle. "When I look across the wider North American consumer landscape today, it's clear to me that the next generation of consumers are behaving completely different than any generation prior to them - in terms of their social activities, enjoyment choices and their stance on health and wellness."

Mr. Doolittle goes on to say, "The opportunity to pull from my experience as a consumer- focused brand leader in the CPG and Premium Alcoholic Beverage category, and transfer this into the psychedelic and functional mushroom growth sectors with this incredible team, is hugely exciting."

In consideration for his services as Advisor, and subject to all applicable laws (including the rules and policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) ("Applicable Laws") and the approval of the board of directors of the Company (the "Board"), the Company intends to grant to Mr. Doolittle up to 200,000 incentive stock options (the "Options" and each individually, the "Option"). 100,000 Options will vest upon certain milestones being achieved with respect to sale of Happy Caps home grow kits. Each Option will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of Company for a period of three years from the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $0.25. The Options shall be subject to Applicable Laws and the terms and conditions of the Stock Option Plan of the Company, and will be subject to a hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance.

About Red Light Holland Corp.

The Company is an Ontario-based corporation positioning itself to engage 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, recreational market within the Netherlands, in accordance with the highest standards, in compliance with all applicable laws.

For additional information on the Company:

Todd Shapiro

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman, and Director

Tel: 647-204-7129

Email: todd@redlighttruffles.com

Website: https://redlighttruffles.com/

Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future benefits and or outcomes related to the Company's engagement of Mr. Doolittle. Although the Company believes in light of the experience of its directors and officers, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate and that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risk that the Company's engagement of the Advisory may not be as beneficial in the ways set out in this Press Release. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The Company assume no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96451
Focus on public power and electric cooperative utilities results in continued growth

Burnaby, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Smart grid technology leader Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID) today welcomed the multi-commodity utility servicing the City of Escanaba, MI to its user community, bringing the total number of utilities leveraging its solutions to 200.

Tantalus provides mission-critical smart grid solutions to the public power and electric cooperative utility market segment across North America and the Caribbean Basin. The company's dedication to this segment continues to yield growth and scale of its active user community-a community that includes more than 4 million endpoints capturing 30 billion consumption and power quality data points per year.

"Securing the 200th member of our user community is a tremendous milestone for our organization and the utilities that already rely on our team," said Tantalus President & CEO Peter Londa. "Throughout our history, Tantalus centered its purpose on developing technology solutions in support of the public power and electric cooperative market segment by transforming existing distribution grids into digital networks capable of resolving an increasing number of challenges confronting the utility industry."

As has been widely reported, utilities are under growing pressure to maintain operations despite disruptions from extreme weather, mandates to decarbonize and shifting consumer demand. Despite these disruptions, utilities are called upon daily to deliver safe, reliable and affordable services, all while relying on legacy distribution grids that are limited in their ability to withstand these challenges. By helping public power and electric cooperative utilities modernize their distribution grids and rise to these modern-day challenges, Tantalus has established a community of loyal customers through decades-long relationships.

"The one thing that stands out the most about Tantalus is how much they care about their customers. That makes a difference," said Greg Williams, General Manager of Appalachian Electric Cooperative. "We were early adopters of smart grid to automate our metering infrastructure, and we continue to partner with Tantalus to enhance our system, expand our services and improve the lives of our members. Working with Tantalus is more than just a technology match-it's a people match, too."

Chris Cable, from Inland Power & Light, an electric cooperative based in Spokane, WA recognizes the importance of partnering with a smart grid provider that prioritizes the needs of his utility and the members it serves. "Our fundamental goals are built around our community, and Tantalus just fit that mold. They come in, they're part of our community, they understand what we need. They're a partner. We can sit down at a table and have a very honest conversation about things that are going great, things that may be not so great. They engage and they respond."

There are nearly 3,000 public power and electric cooperatives in North America. The leadership team at Tantalus is focused on bringing even more of these utilities into its user community, and is building the momentum to do so through multiple initiatives going forward, including:

The launch of TUNet Grid Reliability Analytics, the company's first data-analytics solution, which is purpose-built for utilities. The analytics tool leverages data from Tantalus' solutions to provide utilities with visibility into power quality issues that can lead to outages. The analytics tool can also alert utilities to the premature failure of assets deployed across the distribution grid to mitigate disruptions from storms or potential fire hazards.

The introduction of the TRUSense Fiber Gateway, which is a next-generation Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) solution. Tantalus recently secured a nationwide sales channel partner to accelerate its adoption, enabling utilities to be better positioned to deliver incremental services and integrate distributed energy resources (DERs).

A license agreement integrating Neptune's R900 System water endpoint onto the Tantalus Utility Network (TUNet). This agreement provides access to daily water consumption data and critical alarms from Neptune R900 devices, improving the efficiency and reliability of delivering water through a utility's distribution system.

"We remain committed to this market and our user community, and we're just getting started," reflects Tantalus CEO Peter Londa. "It's important for these utilities to have dedicated vendors that are willing to support them as long-term partners. Tantalus prides itself on delivering purpose-built solutions that not only meet their near-term needs but also provide a foundation for long-term innovation for generations to come."

About Tantalus Systems Holding Inc. (TSX: GRID)

Tantalus is a smart grid technology company that transforms aging one-way grids into future-proofed multi-directional grids that improve the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of public power and electric cooperative utilities and the communities they serve. Our solutions are purpose-built to allow utilities to restore power quickly after major disruptions, adapt to rapidly shifting consumer expectations and population shifts, innovate new solutions based on the adoption of distributed energy resources and evolve their grid infrastructure at their own pace without needless cost or complexity. All this gives our user community the flexibility they need to get the most value from existing infrastructure investments while planning for future requirements.

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release includes information, statements, beliefs and opinions which are forward-looking, and which reflect current estimates, expectations and projections about future events, including, but not limited to, the development, functionality, usefulness and effectiveness of Tantalus' solutions and the adoption of those solutions by new and existing customers, and other statements that contain words such as "believe," "expect," "project," "should," "seek," "anticipate," "will," "intend," "positioned," "risk," "plan," "may," "estimate" or, in each case, their negative and words of similar meaning. By its nature, forward-looking information involves a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which is based on the information available as of the date of this news release and Tantalus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information contained in this new release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law. The forward-looking information included in this news release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement.

Contact Tantalus:

Jacquie Hudson

Marketing Communications Manager

613-552-4244 | jhudson@tantalus.com

Linda Armstrong

Investor Relations

647-456-9223 | larmstrong@tantalus.com

Website: www.tantalus.com

LinkedIn: LinkedIn/company/tantalus

Twitter: @TantalusCorp

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96373
Revenue growth hits 60% outside the Canadian market

Blackline Safety Corp. (TSX: BLN), a global leader in connected safety technology with a hardware-enabled software-as-a-service (HeSaaS) business model, announced its eighteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, achieving $12.7M total revenue in the fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2021. Product revenue grew 91% from the prior year's quarter with recurring service revenue up 11% to $7.4M from $6.7M, driven by a 19% increase in software services revenue.

"We are proud to deliver record quarterly revenue growth of $12.7M, while also reaching the $5M product revenue threshold for the first time since the pandemic started," said Cody Slater, CEO and Chairman at Blackline Safety. "Although this represents strong growth, the quarter was still impacted by delays in major procurement decisions as customers reacted to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 Delta variant."

"Since the onset of the pandemic five quarters ago, we have seen our overall quarterly revenue grow by 50% globally and 74% excluding the commodity-impacted Canadian market. This demonstrates how Blackline is playing an integral part in keeping workers safe, while contributing to digital transformation efforts. Despite the continued presence of COVID throughout the world, we've started to see a return to more normal business operations across our customer base as evidenced by four major contract wins announced at the start of Q4."

Recent G7 and G7 EXO product sales and strong retention and renewal activity has resulted in service-level increases, which contributed growth of $0.9M in the quarter. This increase was offset by customers who renewed fewer active devices due to workforce reductions of $0.4M and only $0.02M from customers who declined to renew this quarter. Overall, total service revenue was up 11% for the quarter over the prior year quarter with software services revenue up 19%.

Service margin improved to 70%, and although gross margin for the quarter was negatively impacted by global supply chain shortages, causing increased costs of inputs for the Company's manufactured devices, the Company maintained product gross margin of 13%. Blackline closed the third quarter with a solid working capital position including cash and short-term investments of $33.1M.

The Company continued to build on its strategic acquisition of Wearable Technologies Ltd. ("WTL"), investing $1.9M in the company focused on the product development road map and development of the sales team to accelerate our entry into the construction and light industrial markets.

Despite the challenging operating environment during the global pandemic, Blackline has managed to maintain strong growth and momentum in product adoption and revenue. The continued investments in innovation and sales expansion have positioned Blackline well to fuel our strong growth trajectory as the world navigates through the pandemic.

Third quarter highlights

Eighteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly revenue growth

Total revenue of $12.7M, a 35% increase over the prior year's Q3

Service revenue of $7.4M, an 11% increase over the prior year's Q3, comprised of: Software services revenue of $6.5M, a 19% increase over the prior year's Q3 Operating lease revenue of $0.8M, a 29% decrease compared to the prior year's Q3 Rental revenue of $0.1M, a 10% increase compared to the prior year's Q3

Product revenue of $5.3M, a 91% increase from the prior year's Q3

Total revenue grew by 115% in Europe, 29% in the United States, and 90% in Australia, New Zealand and other international markets compared to the prior year's Q3

Total revenue growth was 60%, excluding the commodity-impacted Canadian market

Total cash and short-term investments of $33.1M at July 31, 2021

Graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange and opened the market on June 11, 2021

Christine Gillies, MBA, joined the executive team as Blackline's first Chief Marketing Officer

Brian Sweeney, former Hulu Director and Amazon Global Head, was announced as a new executive, joining as Blackline's Chief Technology Officer

Issued first ever Environment, Social and Governance ("ESG") Report

G7 EXO awarded gold at INT Design's 2021 GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN awards and New Product of the Year by Occupational Health Safety Magazine

Added Kokosing Materials, Inc to Blackline Collective, a forum for businesses to share safety insights and best practices

Announced a partnership with the Calgary Zoo to provide a connected safety solution supporting its conservation efforts

Post-quarter highlights

Announced largest North American portable area gas monitoring deal ever with 150 G7 EXOs sold to a leading Texas based turnaround provider for $1.0M

Blackline Europe closed its fourth large water and wastewater utility customer in the United Kingdom for $2.2M on a four-year contract

Announced largest European portable area gas monitoring deal ever for $1.7M to a leading defense contractor

Announced fifth UK water and wastewater authority win and an expansion and upgrade of a prior deployment of G7 lone worker devices to include gas detection for an existing water authority, representing value of a total value of $2.2M

Financial highlights

The subsequent values in this release are in thousands, except for percentages and per share data.

Quarter Ended July 31 Nine-Months Ended July 31 2021 2020 Change 2021 2020 Change Revenue 12,693 9,437 35 35,046 26,827 31 Gross Margin 5,859 4,961 18 17,376 13,678 27 Gross Margin Percentage 46% 53% (7) 50% 51% (1) Net Loss (10,257) (1,762) (482) (23,699) (6,217) (281) Net Loss per Share (0.19) (0.04) (414) (0.44) (0.13) (236) Adjusted EBITDA (4,569) 1,448 (416) (6,443) 3,356 (292) Adjusted EBITDA per Share (0.08) 0.03 (367) (0.13) 0.07 (286)

Key Financial Information

Overall, third quarter revenue was $12,693, an increase of 35% from $9,437 in the comparable quarter of the prior fiscal year.

Service revenue during the third quarter was $7,411, an increase of 11% compared to $6,665 in the same quarter last year. Retention rates of our existing customers across geographic regions and industry sectors remained robust. However, the velocity of growth in service revenue during the third quarter was negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the Delta variant. This has caused delays in deployments by new customers as well as current customers renewing fewer active devices after experiencing workforce reductions.

Blackline's product revenue was $5,282, an increase of 91% compared to $2,772 in the prior year, as we saw the beginning of a return to more normal procurement processes, particularly in the United States and Europe. Notably, product revenue for the quarter was Blackline's second highest ever and marking the second consecutive quarter of greater than 115% in European product sales growth. The increase also reflects the Company's investment in its expanded sales network across North America, Europe and other geographies over the last twelve months. Blackline continued strong sales of its new G7 EXO area gas monitor which contributed $1,766 to sales during the quarter.

Service margin of 70% was a 1% increase quarter-over-quarter due to higher overall service volumes as well as lower carrier costs for the connectivity of the Company's devices. Product margin was flat at 13% due to increased margin from G7 EXO sales being offset by increased material, supply and freight costs resulting from global supply chain challenges. Overall gross margin percentage for the third quarter was 46%, a 7% decrease to that achieved in the comparable quarter of the prior year driven by a heavier product versus service mix.

Adjusted EBITDA was ($4,569) for the second quarter compared to $1,448 in the comparable quarter of the prior year. The decrease in the Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was attributable to $998 related to operating costs for the Company's new subsidiary WTL, an increase in general and administrative expenses and selling and marketing expenses, primarily as a result of higher salaries expense from additional new hires and reduced funding of $1,177 from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy. Adjusted EBITDA was also impacted as the Company incurred increased recruiting expenses of $380 in the quarter to support its growth strategy in sales and marketing.

Blackline's unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis on financial condition and results of operations for the period ended July 31, 2021 (including the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures) are available at www.sedar.com. All results are reported in Canadian dollars.

About Blackline Safety: Blackline Safety is a global connected safety leader that helps to ensure every worker gets their job done and returns home safely each day. Blackline provides wearable safety technology, personal and area gas monitoring, cloud-connected software and data analytics to meet demanding safety challenges and increase productivity of organizations with coverage in more than 100 countries. Blackline Safety wearables provide a lifeline to tens of thousands of men and women, having reported over 158 billion data-points and initiated over five million emergency responses. Armed with cellular and satellite connectivity, we ensure that help is never too far away. For more information, visit BlacklineSafety.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to, among other things, Blackline Safety's expectation to realize potential from its intended investment in organic growth opportunities in 2021, Blackline's intention to expand its product offerings to total workplace connectivity and management's expectation that Blackline will continue to focus on its comprehensive approach to connected devices, live monitoring, consulting and integration services. Blackline provided such forward-looking statements in reliance on certain expectations and assumptions that it believes are reasonable at the time, including expectations and assumptions concerning business prospects and opportunities, customer demands, the availability and cost of financing, labor and services and the impact of increasing competition. Although Blackline believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because Blackline can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including the risks discussed in Blackline's Management's Discussion and Analysis. Blackline's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking information and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Blackline will derive therefrom. Management has included the above summary of assumptions and risks related to forward-looking information provided in this press release in order to provide readers with a more complete perspective on Blackline's future operations and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and Blackline disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005545/en/

Contacts:

INVESTOR/ANALYST CONTACT

Cody Slater, CEO

cslater@blacklinesafety.com

Telephone: +1 403 451 0327

MEDIA CONTACT

Christine Gillies, CMO

cgillies@blacklinesafety.com

Telephone: +1 403 629 9434
-Financial tech provider will serve established banks and credit unions as well as new fintechs, simplifying digitization processes.

-FintechOS aiming to support more than 15 financial institutions on the continent.

-FintechOS forged a framework for operational success in the US with partners including Microsoft, Deloitte, Persistent and Capgemini.

-100 new US hires by 2022.

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FintechOS, the global technology provider for market-leading financial services brands, announces its launch into the US following success in its native Europe, as well as in Asia and the Middle East. FintechOS is forging links with American credit unions and traditional banks with a view to removing common obstacles to digitalization currently hampering the market.

The digital solutions provider, which already serves 40 multinational banks and insurers in addition to fintech scale-ups in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, forecasts intense demand for its US offering. FintechOS plans to roll out intensive support and consultancy to more than 15 new US bank and credit union partners by the end of 2022. To meet the demands of this rapid growth, 100 new US hires will be made across product management, sales, marketing and customer success within this period. By the end of 2022, total global headcount will surpass 400.

The FintechOS ecosystem allows its European members - banks, credit unions, community banks and insurers, to go to market with digital products faster than those outside of the ecosystem; meeting both customer and operational efficiency demands at-scale. With its low-code, modular approach that augments legacy systems, the tech firm allows institutions to build, test and scale new digital products and services in weeks rather than months.

As well as the desire to offer US banks and credit unions the tools to make digitalization happen more simply, quickly and on-budget, largely unrealized opportunities within the market drove the decision behind FintechOS' expansion. Market penetration of digital banking will increase from 75.4% of all US bank users to 80.4% of the 322.6 million people who use banks in the US by 2022. The legacy platforms that currently provide banks and credit unions with digital personal finance platforms in the US, do not offer the 'plug and play' capabilities that FintechOS specialize in.

FintechOS has forged a framework for operational success in the US, based on strong partnerships including Microsoft, Deloitte, Persistent and Capgemini and collaborations with US category leaders, analysts, consultancy firms and investors. Strategic hires for FintechOS' work in the continent so far include Senior Vice President of North America, Steve Rooney, as well 100 regional product, sales and marketing specialists, who will be recruited in the coming months.

"FintechOS's move into the US market means banks and credit unions now have the opportunity to innovate at-speed and solidify a strong position within the US market, during the current race towards digitization. By 2024, 4 in 5 US bank account holders will interact digitally with their bank at least once a month, which highlights the urgency for financial services providers to move just as quickly," said Steve. "Our technology will enable the rapid launch of digital-only customer interactions by established banks and credit unions as well as by new entrants in the fast-growing US fintech space."

"The US is reaching ever-growing levels of digital innovation within financial services. We are excited to enter the American market whilst the digitalization services available by banks and credit unions are still at ground floor level. Our customizable technology will allow institutions to start small, think big and scale fast, remedying the fact that many financial institutions who want to innovate quickly, are underserved or ill-served by current vendors," added Sergiu Negut, co-founder and Managing Director North America at FintechOS. "Our clients can break the chains of a traditional layered and siloed infrastructure, just like many native digital players did, but across broader use cases for multiple client segments."

About FintechOS

FintechOS is driving a paradigm shift in the way financial products and services are created by making banks and insurers truly customer-centric.

We consolidate critical data from multiple sources like existing databases and ecosystem APIs and these rich data insights are automatically plugged into every step of the customer journey to create truly personalized offerings. Our tech integrates seamlessly with existing IT systems and our low code tools quickly empower organizations to design valuable customer experiences.

These capabilities free our customers to tailor products, services, and interactions to a segment of one, increase ROI and decrease time-to-market.

FintechOS Lighthouse is designed to build end-to-end banking customer journeys that are fit for the future - it enables the delivery of smarter, personalized products and services. Pre-built functionality and low-code empower organizations to create value quickly. Move away from legacy systems or keep them in place - it's all possible.

FintechOS Northstar, our customer-centric platform for insurance lets insurers deliver clever products and services, at a faster rate. Our platform makes continuous innovation and fast go-to-market a reality. At the same time, it reduces cost via end-to-end digital customer journeys and increased efficiencies.

The FintechOS Innovation Studio opens up access to innovation through a low code framework. It's a space where your non-technical teams can create and launch personalized products and journeys - all driven by data and powered by automation.

More than 40 institutions run on FintechOS, including Erste Bank, Societe Generale, Scotiabank, Howden Group Holdings, Vienna Insurance Group and many more. Our reach spans 20 markets and four continents. We manage more than $100bn in assets and have offices in London, Amsterdam, New York and Bucharest.

Find out more, visit us at https://fintechos.com/

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1490503/FintechOS_Logo.jpg
RoboForex and RoboMarkets, two online trading platforms, have won the "Best Investment Products (Global) Award" and "Best ECN Broker (Europe) Award", respectively. The felicitation ceremony will be held at the Palm Jumeirah - Waldorf Astoria in early 2022 in Dubai.

LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Brand Awards is an annual event held by Global Brands Magazine (GBM), an international publication headquartered in the UK. The award aims to recognize global brands achieving excellence in performance across a broad range of sectors while keeping its readers updated on the branding world's key trends. Both RoboForex and RoboMarkets were evaluated based on customer service, satisfaction, digital innovation, strategic relationships and new business development.

Regarding both entities winning the awards, ShivKumar (CEO) of Global Brands magazine commented, "Both RoboForex and RoboMarkets have been recognized for their outstanding consistency in providing standout trading platforms for facilitating the exchange of various assets worldwide."

Commenting on winning the award, Robert Stephenson (Chief Business Officer at RoboForex) said, "We at RoboForex put a lot of attention to the development of our investment products, which help our clients to increase their earning potential. CopyFX, an investment platform we created, is unique in many respects and helps clients invest considering their knowledge and acceptable risk and profitability levels and earn from successful trading and commissions received for the transactions copied by their subscribers. This award both indicates that the direction we chose is successful and provides an incentive for further development."

Commenting on winning the award, Konstantin Rashap (Chief Business Officer at RoboMarkets) said, "For the second straight year, the event organizers named RoboMarkets the best ECN broker in Europe. On the one hand, it's a great honour for us to be recognized, but on the other hand, it's a quite expected result of the work we've accomplished. We put a lot of effort into improving trading conditions offered to our clients and believe that nowadays, our ECN accounts can be rightfully considered a "gold standard" for professional traders. However, despite this recognition, we're not planning to stop and will do our best to make every RoboMarkets product worthy of the highest honours from traders and experts."

About RoboForex

RoboForex is a company, which delivers brokerage services and provides traders who work on financial markets with access to its proprietary trading platforms. RoboForex Ltd has the brokerage license IFSC 000138/210. You can find more detailed information about the Company's products and activities on the official website at roboforex.com.

About RoboMarkets

RoboMarkets is an investment company with CySEC license No. 191/13. RoboMarkets offers investment services in many European countries by providing traders who work in the financial market with access to its proprietary trading platforms. You can find more detailed information about the Company's products and activities on the official website at www.robomarkets.com .

About Global Brands Magazine (England)

Global Brands Magazine (GBM) has been at the forefront, bringing news, views and opinions on brands shaping the future of their industry. The UK-based magazine provides its readers with the latest news and information on 'best-in-class brands across the globe. Each year, GBM develops a series of awards for companies that stand out, having a unique vision, exceptional service, innovative solutions and consumer-centric products among their industry leaders.

About Global Brand Awards

Global Brand Awards honours brands for their excellence in performance and rewards companies across different sectors for the quality of their services. The Brand Awards highlight accomplishments of organizations that have performed remarkably well in finance, education, hospitality, automotive, lifestyle, education, real estate, technology and several more. Global Brand Awards recognize vital players who progress towards excellence by providing a platform to acknowledge their efforts. In addition, GBM strives to create awareness concerning the significance of such organizations and rewards them for their notable efforts with the ultimate global recognition.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1508879/GBM_Final_Logo.jpg
ST. HELIER, Jersey, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Komainu ("the Company"), a regulated digital asset custody services provider built by institutions for institutions, today announced it has appointed Suzanne Hubble as Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer. Earlier this year, Komainu completed a $25M Series A funding round and this appointment is the latest move by Komainu as it continues to scale and add additional capabilities in a timely, secure and regulatory compliant manner.

Ms. Hubble brings over 20 years of industry experience to this role, with specific focus on ecommerce and clearing. Ms. Hubble joins Komainu from HSBC where she was instrumental in the delivery of their Bounce Back Loan platform. Ms. Hubble's extensive experience in post trade includes a tenure as Citi Bank's European Head of OTC Client Clearing and the design and delivery of ICE Clear Europe's CDS clearing house.

Henson Orser, President and Acting CEO of Komainu, commented on the news, "Suzanne is a widely respected, seasoned business strategist, and her unique and extensive experience in the institutional banking landscape is why she has been selected to further advance the business. Suzanne will play a pivotal role in expanding Komainu's reach in the industry, and I look forward to collaborating with her directly to drive our ambitious growth plans. Our focus is to continue to innovate and expand upon our current services and her expertise will be key to this process."

Ms. Hubble brings with her extensive experience in the banking and financial services sector that will enable the firm to better tailor its products to institutions in search of unrivaled digital asset custody services. Komainu has seen its Assets Under Custody (AUC) more than double since the end of 2020 and Ms. Hubble's main role will be to further develop and execute on the Company's growth strategy.

"Since its launch in 2020, Komainu has established a great business model and talented team that is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the evolving financial ecosystem as institutions move closer to fully adopting digital assets," added Ms. Hubble. "I look forward to advancing our operational excellence and further establishing our presence in the space as the best-in-class provider of custody services for institutions."

Ms. Hubble will be located out of the recently opened London office. As Komainu continues to grow its UK presence, it will look to fill roles within finance, risk, technology, human resources, sales, business development, legal and compliance.

About Komainu

Komainu is the first hybrid custodian for institutional digital asset investors created by the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, digital asset manager, CoinShares and digital asset security company, Ledger. Komainu is solving the problem of decentralized and secure digital asset custody by providing a single application-based solution to institutions allowing multi-asset support benefits, regulatory compliance and insurance. Headquartered in Jersey, Komainu merges best in class financial services with the highest security standards for the next generation of institutional custody.

For more information, please visit?https://www.komainu.com

Media Contact

Peter Padovano

M Group Strategic Communications (for Komainu)

+1 646 859 5953

komainu@mgroupsc.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Discovery Harbour Resources Corp. (TSXV: DHR) (OTC Pink: DCHRF) (FSE: 4GW) (the "Company" or "Discovery Harbour") is pleased to announce that the Company's Caldera drill program is progressing well with four holes completed. Each hole has reached the planned target depth with excellent recoveries. The Company currently plans to test six drill targets, each one to a depth 100 to 300 metres, deeper than any previous drilling on Caldera. Discovery Harbour will be the first company to test the boiling zone, typically found at approximately 300+ metres depth, where precious metals come out of solution and potentially develop into a high grade portion of a low sulphidation epithermal gold system. The Caldera gold property lies in a fertile gold region at the intersection of the Walker Lane and Northumberland Gold Belts northwest of Tonopah, Nevada.

The drill program is expected to be complete by the beginning of October. Selected drill core has been sent to the lab for analysis and will continue to be sent as further drill holes are completed. Results are expected to be available beginning the end of October and the Company will release the results in batches as they are available.

Mark Fields, the Company's President and CEO, stated "We are pleased that the drill program is proceeding smoothly and it is a tribute to our team that the program is being executed efficiently. We have done a series of videos describing our program and results to date and encourage everyone to view them on our website. The link is under "Videos" at: https://discoveryharbour.com/investors/media/. There are also videos describing Newcrest Mining Limited's progress, results and drill plans for this year on the Fortuity 89 property, which is immediately to the west of Caldera."

Mark Fields, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person for Discovery Harbour as defined in NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.

About Discovery Harbour

Discovery Harbour is focused on sourcing, exploring and developing mineral properties in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Its current primary focus is the drill program on Caldera, a low sulphidation epithermal gold project in Nevada. Additionally, Discovery Harbour has an agreement with Newcrest Mining Limited on its Fortuity 89 property in Nevada.

About Newcrest

Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) (TSX: NCM) (PNGX: NCM) is one of the world's largest gold mining companies. Its purpose is to create a brighter future for people through safe and responsible mining. Newcrest owns and operates a portfolio of predominantly low cost, long life mines and a strong pipeline of brownfield and greenfield exploration projects - predominantly in the Asia-Pacific and North and South America.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DISCOVERY HARBOUR RESOURCES CORP.

"Mark Fields"

Mark Fields, P.Geo., B.Comm.(Hon.)

President and Chief Executive Officer

Discovery Harbour Resources Corp.

Tel: (604) 681-3170

Fax: (604) 681-3552

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of Discovery Harbour, such as statements that Discovery Harbour intends to pursue the Caldera Project. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and Discovery Harbour's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: (i) adverse market conditions; (ii) exploration results, (iii) permitting requirements or (iv) the financial position of the Company. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, Discovery Harbour does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

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

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96468
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - PORTOFINO RESOURCES INC. (TSXV: POR) (OTCQB: PFFOF) (FSE: POTA) ("Portofino" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its geological team has re-mobilized to the Allison Lake North Lithium and Rare Elements Property (the "Property") located 100 kilometres ("km") east of the town of Red Lake in northwestern Ontario. The team is expanding on the initial exploration program and carrying out additional systematic channel sampling where encouraging Lithium ("Li") and Tantalum ("Ta") values were recently discovered.

Initial grab sampling by Portofino (NR Sept 7, 2021) returned values up to 398 ppm Li, 90.5 ppm Cesium, 1040 ppm Rubidium and 135 ppm Ta. This represents a two-fold increase in Li and Rb and a ten-fold increase in Ta over sampling results by the Ontario Geological Survey ("OGS") in 2003 which reported up to 190 ppm Li; 90 ppm Cs; 587 ppm Rb and 12.9 ppm Ta.





Figure 1. Allison Lake North property regional geological location.

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3751/96428_8ba33e2204799863_001full.jpg

The Allison Lake North Property

The 2003 Ontario Geological Survey ("Breaks") report described the Allison Lake batholith as the largest known peraluminous granitic body in northwestern Ontario. Breaks concluded that, "the Allison Lake batholith represents an important new exploration target for rare-element mineralization and is the largest such granite thus far documented in Ontario. This area has high potential for further discoveries of rare-element mineralization that occur in exocontact, metasedimentary-hosted pegmatites or as internal pegmatites within the parent granite". The Root Bay pluton which is host to the Root Bay lithium deposit of 2.3Mt @ 1.3% Li 2 O (OGS OFR 6160, Table 14) is also an S-type peraluminous granite which appears genetically linked to the southeast arm of the Allison Lake batholith (Breaks et al., 2003, OFR 6099).

Qualified Person

Mike Kilbourne, P. Geo, an independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company.

About Portofino Resources Inc.

Portofino is a Vancouver-based Canadian company focused on exploring and developing mineral resource projects in the Americas. Its South of Otter and Bruce Lake projects are in the historic gold mining district of Red Lake, Ontario, Canada proximal to the high-grade Dixie gold project owned by Great Bear Resources Ltd. In addition, Portofino holds three other northwestern Ontario gold projects; the Gold Creek property located immediately south of the historic Shebandowan Nickel-Copper mine, as well as the Sapawe West and Melema West properties located in the rapidly developing Atikokan gold mining camp.

Portofino's green energy projects include the Allison Lake North (Ontario) Lithium project, and the Yergo Lithium property which encompasses the entire Aparejos Salar, located within the world-renowned "Lithium Triangle" in Argentina.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"David G. Tafel"

Chief Executive Officer

For Further Information Contact:

David Tafel CEO, Director 604-683-1991

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

This news release may contain forward looking statements concerning future operations of Portofino Resources Inc. (the "Company"). All forward- looking statements concerning the Company's future plans and operations, including management's assessment of the Company's project expectations or beliefs may be subject to certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual performance and exploration and financial results may differ materially from any estimates or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96428
Highlights:

Celebrates a century of advancing UK defence and security needs globally

Signs Armed Forces Covenant to support military community and announces grant for veterans

Commits 20,000 to Combat Stress, UK's leading charity to support mental health of veterans

L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) marked 100 years of support for the United Kingdom's defence and security needs by signing the Armed Forces Covenant, a significant commitment to members of the armed forces community.

The pledge marks a new dimension of L3Harris's efforts to protect and advance the UK's interests at home and around the world through ground-breaking capabilities across all military branches and domains.

The Armed Forces Covenant aims to provide employees who are veterans, reservists or military family members with access to important services and opportunities, such as career development, flexibility in leave for training or deployment, and assistance with education, family well-being, healthcare and other areas. In signing the Covenant during the 2021 Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition, L3Harris pledges to be a 'forces friendly employer', welcoming the experience, skills and qualities of UK veterans and reservists to its workforce.

"As we mark 100 years in the UK, we are honoured to support the country's veterans, reservists and broader military community, both as a 'forces friendly employer' and a strong advocate for veterans," said Christopher E. Kubasik, Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer, L3Harris. "As the world grapples with an increasingly volatile geopolitical and military landscape, L3Harris will continue to lead the way in developing technologies and capabilities that protect and advance the UK's defence and security needs as we have for the past century."

Simultaneously, L3Harris has committed to a 20,000 donation to Combat Stress, the UK's leading charity to support the mental health of veterans. L3Harris is also making available scholarships of up to 10,000 to support cadets in pilot training.

L3Harris has served military, security and civil customers in the UK since 1921, with the company's 1,500 employees now based in 14 locations across the country. It works with nearly 2,500 UK suppliers with a supply chain impact of nearly $170 million as of 2020. The company's recent investments reflect its commitment to develop and advance the UK's capabilities, including $100 million in a Farnborough facility to modernise tactical radio communications and $100 million in a Crawley facility for aviation training. The company's global autonomous maritime development work is based in the UK, generating economic impact and technological innovation that supports the UK's aspiration for leadership in this area.

The U.S. based company is working closely with the UK to help accelerate the transition toward integrated, platform-agnostic programs that leverage data and information for more effective missions. This effort comes as part of the UK's commitment to build a more modern, technologically advanced defence force, alongside partners and alliances such as NATO and Five Eyes. This includes driving the shift toward digitisation and artificial intelligence that will be crucial to a future of electronic warfare, cyber-warfare and autonomous engagement, as set forth in the UK Integrated Review in spring 2021. The company is also focused on enhanced systems, networks and sensors to gather, manage, analyse and share information and intelligence to predict changing demands and enable better decision making.

The company's continued growth and investment in the UK aligns with the broader strategy of international expansion. L3Harris plans to grow its global business outside the United States from its current 20 per cent figure.

About L3Harris Technologies

L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space, and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 47,000 employees, with customers in more than 100 countries. L3Harris.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Such statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements about technologies and capabilities, financial commitments and global business growth are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. L3Harris disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005183/en/

Contacts:

Sara Banda

Media Relations

Sara.Banda@L3Harris.com

+1 321-674-4498



Jim Burke

Media Relations

Jim.Burke@L3Harris.com

+1 321-727-9131
PARK CITY, UT / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / NRP Stone, Inc. (OTC PINK:NRPI) is pleased to announce the appointment of management following the acquisition of Uplift Aerospace, Inc. Three new members have been appointed to the Board of Directors following the planned resignation of the previous Directors. The new Directors have been appointed to Officers in the company and include Josh Hanes, Jeff Johnson, and Eric Willeitner.

Josh Hanes will lead the company as President of the Board and CEO. Mr. Hanes graduated with honors from the University of Utah in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. While in the University's Atomic Force Microscopy Lab, his team successfully researched and implemented measures and practices to decrease thermal drift. His thesis for his honors program was a comparison of nuclear thermal propulsion versus traditional chemical rockets, developing trajectory analysis for low-orbit Earth to Mars missions. This paper was published in 2016.

Upon graduation, he was asked to write a trajectory model for an ion propulsion system for a NASA grant proposal and began his investigation of concrete, particularly for different environments and conditions on the Earth. This investigation resulted in applied knowledge from 2015 to 2020. Mr. Hanes owned and operated a multi-million-dollar equity fund for real estate projects in Texas. In 2019, he served as COO of Reef Life Foundation, successfully overseeing reef restoration projects in the Caribbean using an eco-friendly concrete formulation that would promote sea life while not degrading in saltwater and not damaging the environment. It was during this period that Mr. Hanes founded Uplift Aerospace as an entity that could provide the infrastructure for commerce in space.

Eric Willeitner will serve as the Secretary on the Board of Directors of NRP Stone and the Executive Director of Engineering of Uplift Aerospace. Mr. Willeitner received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Utah State University in 2014. As part of RAM Corporation, he designed and developed components for the US Military, space programs, and commercial aerospace. He has served as a Fluid Control Design Engineer, Engineering Lead of Tooling and Test Systems, and most recently has been a senior member of design reviews of the Manufacturing Group. He designed and manufactured fluid controls for propulsion systems and flight controls.

As a member of the Uplift team, Willeitner's work with cross-disciplinary engineering teams provides a strong foundation for Uplift's technology development. He will oversee the design and implementation of the company's planned Constellation VaultTM, Suborbital Triptych, and Luna-creteTM projects.

Jeffrey Johnson will serve as Treasurer on the Board of Directors and Executive Director of Operations. Mr. Johnson graduated with honors from the University of Utah in 2020 with a Master of Public Administration, with an emphasis on governmental and organizational management. He has been involved with public service since his high school days, which formed his professional life. After graduation, he has served as a Contract Analyst for a governmental agency. He has been responsible for contract negotiation, budget tracking and funding review, and contractor performance oversight. His experience in both public and private sectors will benefit the company as it deals with NASA, government contractors, and private space companies.

Mr. Hanes observed, "Both will play an integral part in the ongoing success of Uplift. Negotiating contracts and project management, as well as design, manufacture, and testing of proposed prototype systems will require both of their expertise to prepare Uplift for rolling out its business plan. We feel fortunate to have Jeff and Eric working with us."

Uplift Aerospace's 10-year development plan enables both short-term and long-term profitability and places Uplift at the forefront of in-space commerce. Our objective is to combine existing and next-generation technologies to provide solutions for governmental space agencies, as well as private enterprise, with a focus on applicable technologies for NASA's Artemis Program. A priority of NASA's Artemis Program is to again put humankind on the Moon by 2025. Mr. Hanes stated, "Uplift's resolve is to pioneer the technology for a multiplanetary economy. To ensure the long-term success of commerce in space, Uplift is focusing on three pillars required for viable commerce in space: 1. Products, 2. In-space manufacturing and 3. Access to customers. Our current research and development resources are devoted to innovating lunar regolith processing for a reliable source and supply of off-planet building materials. We are encouraged as the space community hears and embraces our plans. With the addition of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Willeitner to the Uplift team, we are confident that we will be able to meet our aggressive benchmarks on target with NASA lunar launch dates."

ABOUT UPLIFT AEROSPACE

Uplift Aerospace is a subsidiary of NRP Stone, a publicly traded company on the OTC under the symbol NRPI. As an emerging leader in the rapidly transforming space industry, Uplift Aerospace is pioneering revolutionary systems to manufacture, trade, and deliver products for commerce in space. For more information, visit https://www.upliftaerospace.com/investors.

MEDIA CONTACT: press@upliftaerospace.com

US OTC Symbol: NRPI; CUSIP: 62940J200. For the latest updates, visit upliftaerospace.com and follow @upliftaerospace on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Disclosures and Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Expressions of future goals and similar expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, economic and market factors, successful integration of acquisitions, the ability to secure additional sources of financing, the ability to reduce operating expenses and other factors. The actual results that the company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company, its management, or affiliates, undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

SOURCE: NRP Stone, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663946/NRP-Stone-Inc-Announces-Board-of-Directors-and-Management-Team
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - ApartmentLove Inc. (CSE: APLV) ("ApartmentLove" or the "Company"), a leading provider of online home and apartment rental marketing services to property managers, apartment building owners and operators, and private landlords around the world is pleased to announce its newest listing syndication partnership with Uniplaces, an online marketplace for booking student accommodations.

"Student housing has long been a major component of the residential rental landscape and a driving force for innovation and change in our industry," says Trevor Davidson, President and CEO of ApartmentLove. Mr. Davidson added, "Partnering with Uniplaces, a trusted provider of premium student accommodations throughout Europe, greatly expands our active rental listing inventory and value offering to renters from around the world. Integrating with Uniplaces underscores our commitment to growing our active inventory of high-quality and actionable rental properties in choice markets and exemplifies the work we are doing to further scale ApartmentLove.com in Canada, the United States, and Europe."

ApartmentLove now promotes more than 2,000,000 daily active rental listings in over 30 countries around the world. Listing syndication with Uniplaces was completed through an advanced tech open API integration which provides real time availability, full property descriptions, and a payment gateway. In addition to significantly expanding the scope and capacity of ApartmentLove.com, this new ApartmentLove / Uniplaces partnership provides a scalable "revenue per booking" model for the Company. More specifically, when renters complete an online reservation for a Uniplaces property being advertised on ApartmentLove.com, ApartmentLove will earn a referral fee.

"When researching the global marketplace for partners capable of promoting our many listings in multiple markets simultaneously, ApartmentLove.com quickly rose to the top of our list," explained Claudio Francese, Chief Compliance Officer at Uniplaces. Mr. Francese continued to say, "Catering to an international student audience means trustworthiness is of paramount importance. The beautifully styled and powerful ApartmentLove.com engine presents with the confidence and style our international clientele is seeking. With a shared goal of destressing the renting experience and providing a clean and efficient pathway for students to formalize their living accommodations online, we are very pleased to have selected ApartmentLove.com as a preferred listing partner of ours and are looking forward to growing with them for many years, and in many markets, to come."

Described as a "marketplace of unique places for students," Uniplaces was founded with the objective of making it easy and cool to rent a new place to live online and is among the fastest-growing international websites for booking mid and long-term rentals. ApartmentLove is traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol: APLV and is among the largest online home and apartment rental marketing websites in the world.

About ApartmentLove Inc.

ApartmentLove Inc. (CSE: APLV) is a leading provider of residential rental marketing services to landlords and property managers around the world. Home to more than 2,000,000 daily active rental listings, our mission is to develop the largest, most efficient, and most effective online residential rental marketing platform. Led by an experienced team of industry experts with a history of maximizing shareholder returns, ApartmentLove has proven its ability to scale as a fast-growing technology company in the PropTech industry. Visit: https://apartmentlove.com/

About Uniplaces

Uniplaces is building a trusted, global brand for students. We believe in empowering student mobility, and we have started by making the process of finding accommodations easier. To achieve this, we are backed by top tier investors such as: Atomico, Octopus Investments, Shilling Capital Partners, and Caixa Capital. Solving real life problems, we are an internationally minded company with an extremely talented team with global ambitions. Our decisions are driven by our core values of passion, impact, trust, and team spirit - with which we have developed a company where everyone is empowered to achieve their full potential. Visit: https://www.uniplaces.com/

For more information contact:

Trevor Davidson

President & CEO

ApartmentLove Inc.

tdavidson@apartmentlove.com

(647) 272-9702

Reader Advisory

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ApartmentLove | the feeling of home

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96141
Las Vegas, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Bhang Inc. (CSE: BHNG) (OTCQB: BHNGF) ("Bhang" or the "Company"), a global cannabis CPG brand company with an award-winning portfolio of products, is excited to announce the addition of Wes Eder as the team's Global VP of Revenue.

Based out of Connecticut, Mr. Eder's role is primarily focused on revenue generation, including licensee relationships across the U.S., Canada and Europe. More specifically, Mr. Eder's U.S. focus is to expand Bhang into more states, oversee product innovation and new product rollouts to access more shelf space and ultimately drive revenue growth for Bhang across the board.

"We are excited to have someone with Wes' experience focused on building Bhang's sales around the world," says Jamie L. Pearson, Bhang's President and CEO. "Bhang is already well-known as one of the oldest and most-respected cannabis brands, but as our reputation for quality product grows and we expand into other categories, having Wes on the team ensures we will continue to scale revenue globally as well."

With roots in a three-generation alcohol distribution business in Connecticut, Mr. Eder has extensive experience working in regulated industries. He moved to California in 2013 to focus on sales in the medical cannabis market before founding Shelf Life Distributing - a California cannabis-focused distribution company - with his wife, Courtney, in 2017. They sold Shelf Life Distributing to Gold Flora in 2019 and moved back to New Haven, Connecticut.

Mr. Eder has an MBA as well as a bachelor's degree in marketing.

About Bhang

Bhang is committed to making the fairly enjoyable ridiculously fun. For over a decade, Bhang has delivered exceptional sensory experiences to consumers through its extensive portfolio of over 50 master-chef created cannabis, CBD and terpene products including gourmet chocolates, pre-rolls, CBD isolate, and Hempsticks. Bhang's highly-awarded chocolates are among the top-selling edibles in 7 U.S. states and Canada. Bhang's CBD products are globally-distributed and are known for being safe, efficacious and delicious. Learn more at www.bhangnation.com and purchase our high-quality CBD products at www.bhangcbd.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities. Forward- looking information is often identified by the words "may," "would," "could," "should," "will," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect" or similar expressions and include information regarding: (i) statements regarding the future direction of the Company; (ii) the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business and financial objectives; (iii) plans for expansion of the Company into new jurisdictions; and (iv) expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect the Company's management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning the business of the Company's future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; in particular, in the ability of the Company to raise debt and equity capital in the amounts and at the costs that it expects; adverse changes in the public perception of cannabis; decreases in the prevailing prices for cannabis and hemp products in the markets that the Company operates in; adverse changes in applicable laws or adverse changes in the application or enforcement of current laws; the cannabis market is highly regulated and those regulations and enforcement priorities of governmental authorities may change; compliance with extensive government regulation and related costs; and other risks described in the Company's Listing Statement, dated July 9, 2019, and other filings on www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.

Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Investors contact:

J. Graham Simmonds

Executive Chairman of the Board

Bhang Inc.

(416) 843-2881

invest@bhangcorporation.com

Media contact:

pr@bhangcorporation.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96325
Information regarding upcoming merger of sub-funds VanEck Vectors ETFs N.V.

1. About the merger

VanEck Asset Management B.V. ("VanEck") is the management company of the umbrella fund VanEck Vectors ETFs N.V. VanEck intends to merge ('merger by conversion') a sub-fund of this umbrella fund; VanEck Vectors Global Equal Weight UCITS ETF ("Merging UCITS") into another sub-fund of the same umbrella fund; VanEck Vectors Sustainable World Equal Weight UCITS ETF ("Receiving UCITS") [1], each a "Sub-fund" where the context requires.

2. Rationale of the merger

There are a number of reasons why the management company intends to merge the abovementioned Sub-funds:

- The Merging UCITS experienced substantial outflows over the last years (the AuM decreased from EUR 520 million (December 2016) to EUR 309 million (24 August 2021) leading to higher costs for the investors given its degressive fee model. Combined with the AuM of the Receiving UCITS the total AuM will be approximately EUR 408 million (if the AuM's after the merger would remain the same).

- The Sub-funds have overlapping investment policies. Both Sub-funds are globally diversified equity ETF's consisting of 250 stocks that invest in and physically hold the underlying securities that make up a global index. Both Sub-funds have an equally weighted index with a cap on the North America, Europe and Asia regions of 40%. The universe of both Sub-funds overlap materially. The main difference between the two Sub-funds is that the Receiving UCITS tracks a global benchmark that has several restrictions of the universe based upon sustainability characteristics whereas the Merging UCITS tracks a benchmark without these limitations.

- Increasing demand for Sustainable investment solutions. VanEck experiences an increasing demand for sustainable investment solutions. These sustainable characteristics are becoming more and more the norm for investors leaving less room for mainstream products. VanEck expects that the demand for the Receiving UCITS will substantially increase going forward whereas the demand for the Merging UCITS will further deteriorate going forward.

- VanEck's ambition to improve its sustainable footprint by increasingly focusing product strategies on sustainable investment strategies.

In the light of the aforementioned reasons, VanEck believes that it is in the interest of the participants of both Sub-funds to merge the Merging UCITS into the Receiving UCITS.

3. The differences between the Receiving and Merging UCITS

Investment policy

Both the Merging UCITS and the Receiving UCITS are globally diversified equity ETF's consisting of 250 stocks that invest in and physically hold the underlying securities that make up a global index. Both Sub-funds track an index, but the respective index differs. The Receiving UCITS is tracking the Solactive Sustainable World Equity Index GTR and the Merging UCITS is tracking the Solactive Global Equity Index GTR. The main difference between these indices are exclusions based upon sustainable considerations that are applied to the benchmark of the Receiving UCITS. The exclusions are based on ESG screening performed by Vigeo Eiris based on the UN Global Compact principles and specific exclusions. These exclusions are not applied to the benchmark of the Merging UCITS. The portfolio will be aligned after the merger. VanEck will incur the cost of rebalancing and the transaction costs to ensure that constituents of the index of the Receiving UCITS are received.

Risks

The risk indicator (SRRI) according to the KIID of each of the Merging and Receiving UCITS is '6'. Given the overlap in investment policy and investment universe the risk profile of both funds is fairly similar.

Costs

The ongoing charges figure of the Merging UCITS is capped at 0.2% and the exact height of the fee depends on the total AUM. With AUM of more than  200 million, 0.17% is charged on the excess, and if  400 million is exceeded, 0.15% on the excess. 0.13% is charged on the excess above  1000 million. The ongoing charges figure of the Receiving UCITS is 0.3%. VanEck will reduce the fixed fee of the Receiving UCITS to 0.2% directly after the merger. No performance fees are applied to any of the Sub-funds.

Other aspects

The legal status of the Sub-fund, periodic reports, fiscal treatment, the auditor, the depositary (State Street Bank International GmbH), supervisory authority (Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets) and the management company (VanEck Asset Management B.V.) will not change as a result of the merger. After all, it concerns a merger of Sub-funds within an umbrella fund.

Tax consequences

The merger will not subject the Merging UCITS or the Receiving UCITS to taxation in the Netherlands. Participants may however be subject to taxation in their tax domiciles or other jurisdictions where they pay taxes.

Notwithstanding the above, as tax laws differ widely from country to country, participants are advised to consult their tax advisers as to the tax implications of the merger specific to their individual cases.

Benefits

VanEck is of the opinion that the size of the Merging UCITS has experienced too much outflows to successfully pursue the investment policy in the interest of the participants. The merger will ensure that the overall investment process of VanEck can be more profitable and guarantees a better spread of the investments and a more sustainable investment policy.

In the table below the differences and similarities between the Merging UCITS and the Receiving UCITS are summarized.

Receiving UCITS Merging UCITS General Name VanEck Vectors Sustainable World Equal Weight UCITS ETF VanEck Vectors Global Equal Weight UCITS ETF Management company VanEck Asset Management B.V. Depositary State Street Bank International GmbH Amsterdam Branch Auditor Ernst & Young Accountants LLP ISIN NL0010408704 NL0009690221

Size on 24 August 2021 EUR 147.964.887,00 EUR 309.496.829,81 Base currency EUR Main supervisory authority Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets Investment profile and risks Investment policy The VanEck Vectors Sustainable World Equal Weight UCITS ETF invests in the 250 most liquid, most highly capitalised (free float) companies around the world, which must first satisfy the strict sustainability criteria defined by VanEck's SRI policy and supported by the analysis of VigeoEiris.

 Investment criteria in three areas: environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)

 Globally equally weighted with a maximum allocation of 40% per region

 Long-standing track record

 Strict sustainability criteria defined by our independent research partner VigeoEiris The VanEck Vectors Global Equal Weight UCITS ETF invests in 250 of the most liquid, highly capitalised (free float) companies from industrialised nations around the world.

 Globally equally weighted with a maximum allocation of 40% per region

 Innovative fee model with declining costs as the assets under management rise Benchmark Solactive Sustainable World Equity Index GTR Solactive Global Equity Index GTR Risk profile 6 Participant profile The Sub-Fund may not be suitable for investors who plan to withdraw their money within 5 years.



Investors should be prepared to absorb significant, temporary or long-term losses. Investing in the sub-funds is suitable for investors who may incur a loss and are aware that they may get back less than they invested. Distribution policy Income is distributed Costs Ongoing charges figure 0.3% which will be reduced to 0.2% after the merger 0.2%*

* With AUM of more than  200 million, 0.17% is charged on the excess, and if  400 million is exceeded, 0.15% on the excess. 0.13% is charged on the excess above  1000 million. Performance fee N/a Tax consequences Corporate income tax treatment The sub-fund is subject to Dutch corporate income tax and can apply the special tax rate of 0% on its taxable profits. Withholding tax on dividend distributions In order to benefit from the special tax rate of 0% the sub-fund is obligated to distribute its taxable profits annually as dividend. These dividend distributions are subject to 15% Dutch withholding tax. Withholding taxes on portfolio income The sub-fund will in general meet the requirements to benefit from the Dutch double income tax treaties. In general the lower tax treaty rates for foreign withholding taxes on dividend income are applicable. In addition to that the sub-fund will in general get a tax credit for the remaining foreign withholding taxes and for the Dutch withholding tax on dividends received. Thus the impact of foreign and Dutch withholding tax on the performance at sub-fund level tends to be almost zero. Capital gains tax There is no Dutch capital gains tax applicable at sub-fund level. The sub-fund is in general also not subject to foreign capital gains tax on the securities due to local exemptions. If foreign capital gains tax would apply the sub-fund will in general meet the requirements to benefit from Dutch double income tax treaties and would in general be protected from foreign capital gains tax.

Consequences for participants of the Receiving UCITS

The participants of the Receiving UCITS will not be affected by the merger as the transaction costs and costs for the merger are not for the account of the participants of the Receiving UCITS. The inflow of assets is substantial, however this will not impact the ongoing charges figure negatively. The ongoing charges figure will be reduced from 0.3% to 0.2%.

Approval

According to the Articles of Association of the umbrella funds to which the Sub-funds belong and relevant regulations the board of directors of the respective UCITS should approve the merger of the Sub-funds. Additionally, approval of the merger by the supervisory authority, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) is required.

Process and timelines

- Participants can exit the Merging UCITS free of charge until 30 days after announcement of the merger.

- The portfolio of the Merging UCITS will be adjusted to the extent required to meet the parameters of the Receiving UCITS between 1 October 2021 and the date of the merger. During this time, trading in shares in the Merging UCITS will be suspended.

- On the date of the merger the participants will receive shares pro rata in the Receiving UCITS in accordance with the exchange ratio.

Important dates

- 7 July Approval request AFM

- 4 August Approval AFM

- 1 September Message to participants

- 1 October Final redemption possibility for participants

- 8 October Merger

- 15 October Participant announcement on completion merger

Costs

The legal and administrative costs of the merger are borne by VanEck. The participants of the Sub-funds will not be charged for these costs.

Possibility to exit

Participants can exit the Merging UCITS free of charge from the announcement of the merger until 5 business days prior to the merger.

The calculation method for the exchange ratio

The number of receivable shares in the Receiving UCITS will be calculated based on the NAV of the current shares in the Merging UCITS. Participants will receive the same value in shares in the Receiving UCITS. VanEck together with the auditor of both Sub-funds will validate the calculation on the merger date. All income receivable in the Merging UCITS after the merger will accrue to the Receiving UCITS.

More information

Additional information on the Receiving UCITS can be found in the key investor information document and the prospectus. The documents are attached to this letter and for participants it is desirable to read this information. A copy of the auditor's report on the merger is available upon request.

More information on the relevant Sub-funds can be found on the website: www.vaneck.com

[1] The merger is performed in accordance with article 4:62a sub c Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wft) and art. / 2 sub 1 ad p iii UCITS Directive.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (dpa-AFX) - On Tuesday, the Fair Trade Commission in South Korea has fined Google $177 million for not allowing device manufacturers to use modified versions of android operating system. The tech giant will no longer be allowed to compel manufacturers to sign anti-fragmentation agreement. Google plans to appeal the decision as it believes the ruling ignores the benefits enjoyed by customers. The Fair Trade Commission in South Korea noted that its decision provides an opportunity to restore competitive pressure in the mobile operating system markets. 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.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) announced Tuesday the acquisition of Bedford Hills, New York-based Lloyd Bedford Cox, Inc. (LBC). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. LBC is a fourth-generation retail insurance agency providing comprehensive insurance coverage, services and risk assessment tools to high-net-worth individuals and families throughout the United States, Europe, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. LBC brings in expertise in serving emerging affluent and high-net-worth clients, and provides Arthur J. Gallagher an opportunity to expand its high-net-worth practice in a key market. J. Jeffers Cox and his associates will remain in their current location under the direction of Patrick Kennedy, head of Gallagher's Eastern region retail property/casualty brokerage operations. 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.
Halifax, Nova Scotia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Fortune Bay Corp. (TSXV: FOR) (FSE: 5QN) ("Fortune Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce gold assay results for the first three step-out drill holes completed at the Box gold deposit ("Box"), located on the Company's Goldfields Project ("Goldfields" or the "Project") in northern Saskatchewan (Figure 1). The drill holes are part of the ongoing Phase 1 resource expansion program which is expected to include approximately 5,000 metres of drilling.

The three drill holes, completed on an approximate 50 metre spacing, returned significant gold intercepts outside of the extents of the current 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate ("2021 MRE") for Box, with highlights that included:

Drill Hole B21-336:

1.46 g/t Au over 32.0 metres, incl

3.39 g/t Au over 8.0 metres, incl.

17.54 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

8.00 g/t Au over 12.0 metres, incl.

88.58 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

1.46 g/t Au over 32.0 metres, incl 3.39 g/t Au over 8.0 metres, incl. 17.54 g/t Au over 1.0 metre 8.00 g/t Au over 12.0 metres, incl. 88.58 g/t Au over 1.0 metre Drill Hole B21-335:

1.34 g/t Au over 36.0 metres, incl.

7.19 g/t Au over 1.0 metre, and

18.02 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

1.90 g/t Au over 10.0 metres, incl.

14.07 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

10.36 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

1.34 g/t Au over 36.0 metres, incl. 7.19 g/t Au over 1.0 metre, and 18.02 g/t Au over 1.0 metre 1.90 g/t Au over 10.0 metres, incl. 14.07 g/t Au over 1.0 metre 10.36 g/t Au over 1.0 metre Drill Hole B21-334:

2.02 g/t Au over 21.0 metres, incl.

8.00 g/t Au over 4.0 metres, incl.

29.19 g/t Au over 1.0 metre

The assay results confirm expansion of Box mineralization down-dip of up to 220 metres outside of the extents of the 2021 MRE for Box, and mineralization remains open. The drill holes were oriented at moderate dips (-54 to -56 degrees) to the east to intersect the dominant mineralized vein-sets at high angles, and true thicknesses are estimated to be approximately 80% of the intersected lengths.

Dale Verran, CEO for Fortune Bay, commented, "The gold intercepts received for Box to date, from relatively widely-spaced drilling, represent a substantial expansion of mineralization outside of the current resource estimate, and furthermore demonstrate the presence of high-grades within this expansion. It is clear from these results that the mineralization remains open at depth and that the Goldfields Syncline, between the Box and Athona deposits, warrants further investigation to evaluate the potential for a broader mineralized system. Our reporting of mineralized intercepts which are closer to expected true thickness has been enabled by drilling at a moderate angle toward the east - a first for Box. This approach has also allowed us to further verify our geological model and provides the data necessary for targeting high-grade vein sets. The Phase 1 drilling program is continuing at the Box deposit with an additional three drill holes completed, and a final drill hole in progress. We look forward to reporting additional results in the coming weeks following the receipt of assay data."

Box Phase 1 Drilling Results

A summary of the assay results received from the first three drill holes completed at Box is provided in Table 1. Drill hole locations and down hole assay results are shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively.

Table 1: Box Resource Expansion Drilling Results for B21-334, B21-335 and B21-336.

Hole ID

From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Collar Location Azimuth / Dip B21-334

246.0 257.0 11.0 0.65









N6592924 E640175









084 / -56 incl. 246.0 249.0 3.0 1.81

273.0 312.0 39.0 1.38 incl. 287.0 292.0 5.0 6.38 incl. 291.0 292.0 1.0 15.04

346.0 348.0 2.0 3.38

363.0 365.0 2.0 1.81

373.0 394.0 21.0 2.02 incl. 375.0 379.0 4.0 8.00 incl. 375.0 376.0 1.0 29.19 B21-335

297.0 303.0 6.0 0.50









N6592909 E640209









085 / -54

312.0 348.0 36.0 1.34 incl. 319.0 320.0 1.0 7.19 and 327.0 328.0 1.0 18.02

357.0 376.0 19.0 0.71 incl. 373.0 376.0 3.0 1.32

486.0 496.0 10.0 1.90 incl. 486.0 487.0 1.0 14.07

545.0 546.0 1.0 10.36 B21-336

371.0 403.0 32.0 1.46









N6592874 E640185









080 / -55 incl. 395.0 403.0 8.0 3.39 incl. 395.0 396.0 1.0 17.54

438.0 453.0 15.0 0.68 incl. 445.0 449.0 4.0 1.12

463.0 471.0 8.0 0.60

509.0 521.0 12.0 8.00 incl. 514.0 515.0 1.0 88.58

528.0 537.0 9.0 0.63 incl. 530.0 533.0 3.0 1.08

Notes:

Results shown are assays from 1 metre samples composited into longer intervals using a minimum lower cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au, and maximum 5 metres of consecutive waste defined as < 0.3 g/t Au. Lengths shown represent core length. True thickness of the mineralized intercepts is expected to be approximately 80% of the core length based on the dominant mineralized quartz vein orientations at Box, however this may vary on an individual sample basis. Sample locations are provided in NAD83 UTM Zone 12N. Hole azimuths are true north.

Drill Hole Descriptions:

Drill hole B21-334 targeted a gap in the drilling coverage within target Zone A (see News Release dated February 26, 2021), initially intersecting the Box Mine Granite ("BMG", the mineralized unit), within the extent of the 2021 MRE and extending down-dip outside of the 2021 MRE. The purpose of this hole was to provide infill coverage, test for down-dip mineralization continuity and provide confirmation on mineralized vein set orientations at depth for ongoing drill hole planning.

targeted a gap in the drilling coverage within target Zone A (see News Release dated February 26, 2021), initially intersecting the Box Mine Granite ("BMG", the mineralized unit), within the extent of the 2021 MRE and extending down-dip outside of the 2021 MRE. The purpose of this hole was to provide infill coverage, test for down-dip mineralization continuity and provide confirmation on mineralized vein set orientations at depth for ongoing drill hole planning. Drill hole B21-335 provided an approximate 50 metre step-out down-dip from B21-334. All the mineralized intercepts from B21-335 are outside of the extents of the 2021 MRE. The hole was terminated at 572 metres in BMG locally characterized by a low intensity of veining.

provided an approximate 50 metre step-out down-dip from B21-334. All the mineralized intercepts from B21-335 are outside of the extents of the 2021 MRE. The hole was terminated at 572 metres in BMG locally characterized by a low intensity of veining. Drill hole B21-336 provided an additional 50 metre step-out down-dip from B21-335, entirely outside of the extents of the 2021 MRE. This hole shallowed with depth from a -55 dip at collar to -33 dip at the end of hole. The hole was terminated at 647 metres in mineralized BMG.

Significant Expansion:

Results for the three drill holes reported herein represent a significant expansion of mineralization, including up to 220 metres down-dip of the 2021 MRE for Box, and 100 metres down-dip of mineralization intersected previously across the strike of the deposit.

The results confirm the presence of high grades down-dip and indicate that mineralization remains open with depth.

Potential for a Larger Mineralized System:

At its final depth, drill hole B21-336 is approximately 450 metres west of the historical gold intercept of 4.02 g/t over 3.0 metres (493.5 to 496.5 metres) in lithology logged as "Mine Granite" in drill hole LB-88-3.

Drill hole LB-88-3 is located within the Goldfields Syncline between the Box and Athona deposits (see Figure 4) and suggests potential for a larger mineralized system.

Mineralization Characteristics:

Mineralization characteristics from the three drill holes are consistent with established mineralization characteristics for the BMG.

Gold is typically associated with strongly hematized BMG with a high intensity of pyrite-bearing quartz veins, with minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite associations. Where associated with gold, pyrite typically occurs as fine-grained disseminations in quartz veins as a minor overall component of the host lithology (<3 % based on visual estimates).

Individual veins are dominantly thin (<10 centimetres in true thickness) but can reach thicknesses of up to 30 centimetres, and typically occur as swarms ("vein-sets") which have pervasively flooded the BMG on a localized basis. The veins have a preferred structural orientation, dominantly striking approximately north-south and dipping steeply (75) to the west, which is consistent with known mineralized vein set orientations from surface measurements. Higher grades appear to be correlated with increased quartz vein density and size.

Drilling Orientation and Structure

Current drilling at Box is oriented towards the east, with dips as shallow as practically achievable (approximately -55) to intersect mineralized vein sets at the highest angle possible and maximise the internal coverage of the BMG for each drill hole. Drilling is being carried out with oriented core for the first time at the Box deposit. Structural measurements from oriented core are expected to enable correlation of mineralized vein sets between drill holes and will allow for planning of future step-out drilling and targeting of higher grade vein sets.

Phase 1 Drilling Operational Update

The ongoing Phase 1 drilling program at Goldfields is focused on expanding the mineral resources at the Box and Athona deposits through step-out drilling. In June the Company announced the successful expansion of the Athona deposit (see News Release dated June 15, 2021) from 1,170 metres of drilling in six holes. An additional ~4,000 metres is planned for Box in seven holes, with a total of 3,466 metres completed in six holes, and a final hole in progress. Drilling is expected to be completed in mid-late September. Assays for the first three holes at Box are reported herein, with assays for the remainder of the holes pending.

Regional Exploration Update

Work is ongoing to generate regional exploration targets on the 10,300 hectare Goldfields property. During June our technical team completed field reconnaissance of historical gold prospects and occurrences which included data verification and geological mapping. Historical gold grades were verified through rock grab samples collected from historical trenches, highlighted by 4.92 g/t Au at Triangle, 3.89 g/t Au at Frontier Lake and 2.18 g/t Au from the Gauthier Shaft. Field data, as well as all available historical assessment data relating to these occurrences, have been incorporated into the Company's regional geological models and will be integrated with a re-interpretation of the Titan Induced Polarization ("IP") survey that was undertaken over the Goldfields Syncline in 2010.

Goldfields Technical Disclosure

All drilling is being carried out with NQ diameter. Core trays are transported directly from the drill rig to the Company's logging facility in Uranium City. Sample intervals are selected for assay based on observations of lithology type, presence of quartz veins and sulphides. These intervals are marked up for continuous sampling with one metre sample increments (adjusted where necessary to not cross lithological boundaries). Core is sawn in half along the core axis for sampling, with the remaining half preserved and stored in the core box. Samples are bagged and placed in plastic pails sealed with security tags for export by air freight to Saskatoon (CA).

All sample processing is being carried out by TSL Laboratories Inc. (TSL) in Saskatoon using their screened metallics sample process method, which includes; (1) crushing of the entire sample; (2) pulverizing of the entire sample with 95 % passing 150 mesh; (3) screening the entire sample at 150 mesh; (4) assay the entire +150 mesh fraction; (5) duplicate assay of two 30 g splits of the -150 mesh fraction; and (6) calculation of the weighted average gold content (in g/t) for the entire sample. All assay is carried out by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Rock grab samples collected during field reconnaissance were assayed using the same sample preparation and analytical procedures as used for core samples.

Certified reference blank and standard material is being used by the Company for independent QAQC of assay results (in addition to internal TSL quality assurance protocols). QAQC samples are inserted into assay sample sequences and results are reviewed to assess for any potential laboratory contamination and to verify assay accuracy and precision. A selected suite of samples will also be sent to another laboratory for additional "umpire" assay testing to further verify the results.

Details regarding the current 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate ("2021 MRE") are provided within the National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") Technical Report titled "Technical Report: Resource Estimate for the Goldfields Project" with an effective date of May 4, 2021. The Technical Report was authored by Mr. Cliff Revering, P. Eng., and Dr. Ron Uken, PhD, P. Geo. of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. ("SRK"), both of whom are Independent Qualified Persons in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. The Technical Report supports the 2021 MRE for Goldfields, which includes the Box and Athona gold deposits, and is available on SEDAR and the Company's website.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Dale Verran, MSc, P.Geo, Pr.Sci.Nat., Fortune Bay's Chief Executive Officer, who is also a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101.

About Goldfields

The 100% owned Goldfields Project ("Goldfields" or the "Project") is the Company's most advanced asset located in northern Saskatchewan, approximately 13 kilometres from Uranium City. The Project is host to the open-pittable Box and Athona gold deposits which contain combined Indicated Mineral Resources of 975,000 oz of gold (22.6 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.34 g/t) and Inferred Mineral Resources of 176,000 oz of gold (6.0 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.92 g/t). Goldfields is endowed with established infrastructure including existing roads, a powerline to site, and nearby facilities and an airport at Uranium City. The Project has a history of gold production (64,000 oz Au produced between 1939 to 1942), numerous exploration drilling campaigns and various historical mining studies (including a 2007 Feasibility Study for the Box deposit and a 2011 Pre-Feasibility for the Box and Athona deposits that were prepared in accordance with NI 43-101). The Box open-pit mine and mill development is permitted having received Ministerial approval under the Environmental Assessment Act in May 2008. The 10,300 hectare Goldfields property presents numerous exploration opportunities, including the potential to expand the Box and Athona deposits and discover additional resources at several other gold prospects and occurrences.

About Fortune Bay

Fortune Bay Corp. (TSXV:FOR) (FSE: 5QN) is a gold-focused exploration and development company with 100% ownership in two advanced gold exploration projects in Canada, Saskatchewan (Goldfields Project) and Mexico, Chiapas (Ixhuatan Project), both with exploration and development potential. The Company has a goal of building a mid-tier gold exploration and development Company through the advancement of its existing projects and the strategic acquisition of new projects to create a pipeline of growth opportunities. The Company's corporate strategy is driven by a Board and Management team with a proven track record of discovery, project development and value creation. Further information on Fortune Bay and its assets can be found on the Company's website at www.fortunebaycorp.com or by contacting us as info@fortunebaycorp.com or by telephone at 902-334-1919.

On behalf of Fortune Bay Corp.

"Dale Verran"

Chief Executive Officer

902-334-1919

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Fortune Bay Corp. ("Fortune Bay" or the "Company") cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Fortune Bay's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to metal prices, changes in planned work resulting from weather, COVID-19 restrictions, logistical, technical or other factors, the possibility that results of work will not fulfill expectations and realize the perceived potential of Fortune Bay's mineral properties, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and other tests, the possibility that required permits may not be obtained in a timely manner or at all, risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions, the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in work programs, the risk of environmental contamination or damage resulting from the exploration operations, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to Fortune Bay, acceptable to it or at all. Fortune Bay is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Fortune Bay undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. Fortune Bay does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. For more information on Fortune Bay, readers should refer to Fortune Bay's website at www.fortunebaycorp.com.

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





Figure 1: Goldfields Project infrastructure and location map



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Figure 2: Box Phase 1 drill hole locations (B21-334, B21-335 and B21-336)



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Figure 3: Box Phase 1 down hole assay results (B21-334, B21-335 and B21-336)



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Figure 4: Simplified model of the Goldfields Syncline



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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96475
Elko, Nevada--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Lithium Corporation (OTCQB: LTUM) ("LTUM" or "the Company"), a North American corporation focused on energy metals for the growing energy storage sector and high-tech industries, wishes to update their shareholders with respect to recent events.

Negotiations continue with respect to the creation of a definitive option agreement with Altura Mining Limited regarding our Fish Lake Valley property. Progress on that account is slower than normal, mainly due to cross jurisdictional and regulatory issues; however, we continue to make progress with Altura paying all costs currently to maintain title to the land package. We fixed August 17th as the effective date of the agreement, and October 15th as the deadline for the consummation of the definitive agreement with interest accruing on the share portion of the consideration due to Lithium Corporation at a rate of 2.5% per month thereafter, should it not come to pass. The size of Lithium Corporation's mineral holdings at Fish Lake Valley has increased to approximately 6,800 acres (2,750 hectares), expanding the parcel to include a deeper, as yet untested paleobasin target.

Earlier in the summer Lithium Corporation submitted a sample of a low grade (33 mg/l) lithium enriched brine to Recion Technologies Inc. for bench tests to determine how amenable the Fish Lake Valley brine is to their proprietary Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process. Initial tests were positive with recoveries of up to 96% lithium at bench scale, with only modest consumption of ion exchange media. Lithium Corporation is pleased with these preliminary results, and LTUM and Altura are currently discussing the possibility of doing more bench scale tests on the higher-grade brines that occur on the prospect, with an eye to eventually prove the economic feasibility of using Recion's DLE process for extracting Lithium from our Fish Lake Valley brines.

At the Yeehaw prospect the Company identified areas to the west off the existing claim block which are possibly prospective for hosting Rare Earth Element +/- Titanium mineralization similar to that seen on our earlier acquired claims. An additional 1,255 acres (508 hectares) have been staked bringing our total holdings in this area to approximately 3,424 acres (1,385 hectares).

Lithium Corporation continues to evaluate and develop other Lithium/hi-tech/battery metals prospects and encourages all submissions from parties that hold prospective lands. The Company remains bullish on the short, medium and long term markets for energy metals, and is continually striving to position itself to benefit from such a robust market environment.

About Lithium Corporation

Lithium Corporation is an exploration company based in Nevada devoted to the exploration for energy storage related resources throughout North America, and looking to capitalize on opportunities within the ever-expanding next generation energy storage markets. The Company has maintained a strategic alliance with Altura Mining for the past eight years, and recently signed a Letter of Intent with Altura with respect to an earn-in on the Company's Fish Lake Valley lithium-in-brine prospect in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Website: www.lithiumcorporation.com.

Contact Info

Tom Lewis, CEO

Lithium Corporation

775-410-5287

info@lithiumcorporation.com

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This current report contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future.

Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. We are not in control of minerals prices and these could vary to make development uneconomic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our most recent annual report for our last fiscal year, our quarterly reports, and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lithium Corporation (OTC-LTUM) 1031 Railroad St. Ste 102B Elko NV 89801 (775) 410-5287 www.lithiumcorporation.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96356
Following a successful pilot with Bradford Teaching Hospitals, TytoCare to be utilised by 14 NHS organisations across Yorkshire and Humber in 26 projects to deliver high quality virtual care to patients

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TytoCare, the global health care industry's first all-in-one modular device and examination platform for AI-powered, on-demand, remote medical exams, today announced its expanded partnership with the NHS that will see the deployment of TytoCare's telehealth solution across 14 organisations and 26 projects in Yorkshire and Humber, including Leeds Children's Hospital, Sheffield Children's, and nearly 70 care homes. The integration of TytoCare into the NHS' current virtual care offerings will allow clinicians to diagnose and treat patients remotely with in-depth, physical examinations during video visits and the device will also be used offline for asynchronous exams.

After receiving CE Mark approval in 2018, TytoCare and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust partnered the following year to carry out remote examinations for chronic paediatric respiratory patients, paediatric patients with ENT conditions, as well as paediatric palliative care. Bradford was the first trust in the UK to partner with TytoCare and the pilot received a high commendation from the HTN Health Tech Awards for 'Most Promising Pilot.'

Starting with the success of the Bradford pilot and now building on the accelerated adoption of digital health during the COVID-19 pandemic, NHSX, a joint unit of the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and NHS Improvement, initiated a new Joined-Up Care Programme to accelerate the scale of using digital innovations to transform patient care. The expansion is currently being implemented in various use cases, including care homes, remote patient monitoring, post-discharge care, paediatric virtual wards, and respiratory care.

"We are honoured that the NHS has chosen to implement our telehealth solution across NHS trusts," said Dedi Gilad, CEO and Co-Founder of TytoCare. "TytoCare's solutions deliver convenient and accessible healthcare without compromising quality, all from the comfort of home. We look forward to continuing our work with the NHS to expand its incredible telehealth programs across the UK."

At Leeds Children's Hospital, TytoCare's solution is being used by the Cleft Lip & Palate Team, where cleft nurses can take high quality images and videos of babies' mouths in the maternity unit and when they visit the baby at home for follow ups. The images are then reviewed by a surgeon for diagnosis, the planning of surgical options, as well as post-op follow up, all virtually without the need for the baby and their family to travel to outpatient appointments.

Doctors at Sheffield Children's are using TytoCare devices for the NHS FT Home Ventilation Virtual Clinic to undertake physical checks on community visits and facilitate online remote consultations and examinations. Sheffield Children's plans on deploying the TytoCare devices to its NHS FT Paediatric Palliative Care Team so that more children and families can benefit from enhanced virtual support at home, avoiding travel to and from the hospital.

Almost 70 care homes and their linked primary care medical practices are also deploying TytoCare's solution. Due to the pandemic, care homes are limiting in-person doctor's visits and consultations to reduce the risk of transmission to residents, and due to high demand for primary care, doctors are also looking to minimise travel time to and from the homes. TytoCare's solution offers care homes enhanced capabilities for virtual consultations, enabling physicians to facilitate a more thorough level of clinical assessment and better clinical decision making, without the need for an in-person assessment of the patient every time. Additionally, this enables care homes to treat more patients, including those in rural areas, in a more cost and resource effective manner. The integration of TytoCare also empowers care home staff to better support the healthcare needs of their residents, while improving the residents' experience through better managing their health needs in the home.

The Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) has been working closely with TytoCare, maximising its knowledge of and relationships within the health sector to support the adoption and spread of the TytoCare solution across the healthcare system. After noticing the solution during its initial pilot in Bradford, the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN advocated for it to be part of NHSX's Joined-Up Care Programme.

"We're thrilled to provide the TytoCare solution to 14 different trusts, across 26 projects, ensuring patients are getting the best possible care. New digital tools like TytoCare help to design services around individual patient and family needs as well as reduce the need for hospital visits and admissions," said Kate Lodge, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Yorkshire & Humber Academic Health Science Network. "We look forward to continuing our journey of digital innovation with TytoCare, providing opportunities for many individuals, from babies to the elderly with comprehensive virtual care, as well as giving clinicians the tools needed to safely care for, diagnose, and treat more patients remotely."

Following the successful roll-out of these and other TytoCare projects, additional NHS trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups across the UK are currently integrating TytoCare into their virtual care pathways.

About TytoCare

TytoCare is a telehealth company using AI to transform primary care by putting health in the hands of patients. TytoCare seamlessly connects people to clinicians to provide the best virtual home examination and diagnosis solutions. Its solutions are designed to enable a comprehensive medical exam from any location and include a hand-held, all-in-one tool for examining the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and body temperature; a complete telehealth platform for sharing exam data, conducting live video exams, and scheduling visits; a cloud-based data repository with analytics; and built-in guidance technology and machine learning algorithms to ensure accuracy and ease of use for patients and insights for healthcare providers. Co-founded by Dedi Gilad and Ofer Tzadik in 2012, TytoCare has FDA and CE clearances and has partnered with over 150 major health systems, health plans, and strategic partners in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Israel. To watch a demo video, click here.

For more information, please visit https://www.tytocare.com/.

About Yorkshire & Humber AHSN

As one of 15 AHSNs located across England, the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN has a clear focus on transforming lives by driving the spread and adoption of health innovation and services across Yorkshire and the Humber, increasing economic growth and improving health and prosperity for people living and working in the region.

As the innovation arm of the NHS, the AHSN acts as a bridge between the health and care system, industry innovators, and academic researchers and connects these sectors across the entire product and service life cycle to ensure that the impact and benefits of innovation are realised by NHS and social care organisations.

TytoCare Press Contact

Sarah Schloss

Headline Media

sarah.schloss@headline.media

+1 914 506 5105
Gradiant demonstrated strong growth during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic

Gradiant won 26 new projects in 2021 YTD across the Asia Pacific region

Contract wins are in cleantech water treatment solutions with new clients, applications, markets, and geographies, including long-term DBOOM concession agreements

Since the onset of the pandemic, Gradiant has secured 56 new projects with a total contract value of over $514 million USD

Gradiant team has grown to 350 people, with almost all new headcount growth in the Asia Pacific region

Gradiant, an end-to-end cleantech water treatment solutions provider, announced that it has secured 26 new projects in 2021 year-to-date (YTD) across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Four of the projects will be delivered as design-build-own-operate-manage (DBOOM) contracts for long-term concession periods of up to 20 years. The business growth demonstrates increased demand for advanced water wastewater treatment during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The new contracts in 2021 YTD are a mix of high-profile clients in the industrial, municipal, and government sectors, including multinational brand owners. Eighteen of the 26 new projects in 2021 YTD are with new clients that have selected Gradiant for the first time to solve their complex water challenges. New applications for Gradiant's technologies this year have been in lithium mining, semiconductor fabrication, and high complexity industrial wastewater reuse.

"Our business has thrived this year at Gradiant, despite the challenging market dynamics brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Prakash Govindan, Co-Founder and COO of Gradiant. "We have adapted to the evolving needs of the market by taking on new clients to penetrate new strategic COVID-resistant market segments in semiconductors, mining, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Facilities equipped with Gradiant's SmartOps asset management and remote monitoring control systems continue to produce mission-critical water during the COVID-related travel and access restrictions. Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 until today, Gradiant has been awarded 56 new projects, delivering a total contract value of over $514 million USD. We are proud of these accomplishments while managing through the pandemic these results are only possible because of the commitment and passion of our team and our customers."

Gradiant is committed to the Asia Pacific region. Almost all Gradiant's growth in 2021 YTD has been in Asia Pacific, where the region's rapid urbanization and population growth have been driving the demand for clean and sustainable technologies. Gradiant won new contracts to build facilities for the first time in Indonesia, Vietnam, and even Antarctica. Gradiant's team has grown from 250 people at the end of 2020, to about 350 people in 2021 YTD almost all headcount growth has been in the Asia Pacific region, mainly in their Singapore Regional HQ and R&D Center.

Research from MSCI has indicated growing attention to sustainability among investors, who have recognized that companies with strong environmental, social, and governance practices in Asia are outperforming their counterparts. These regional trends suggest growing need for brand owners to adopt sustainable business practices, placing greater importance for cleantech solutions providers, such as Gradiant, to support their operations.

"We are experiencing another year of robust growth at Gradiant," said Luke Johnson, CFO of Gradiant. "Growth remains consistently strong across our strategic market segments in semiconductors, mining, and pharmaceuticals, and our new contract wins support the market's sustained demand for cleantech solutions and DBOOM concession agreements. We have proven this year that our acquisitions of Sigma Water (Malaysia) and CRS Water (Australia) in 2020 created synergies to access new customers, applications, and geographies, when married to Gradiant's clean water technologies and project development and financing capabilities."

About Gradiant Corporation

Gradiant is a leading solutions provider and developer of cleantech water projects for advanced water wastewater treatment. Gradiant's robust end-to-end solutions and proven technical, delivery, and operations expertise enable cost-effective and sustainable treatment of the most complex water challenges. Gradiant serves its clients around the world from their corporate headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, regional headquarters and R&D center in Singapore, and its operating subsidiaries Gradiant India (Chennai), Gradiant China (Shanghai, Ningbo), Sigma Water (Malaysia), CRS Water (Australia), Gradiant Energy Services (Houston, Midland, Texas, USA), and Gradiant Middle East (Saudi Arabia).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005547/en/

Contacts:

Media Inquiries:

Meghan Moore, Communications Manager

Gradiant International Holdings, Singapore

communication@gradiant.com



Sales Inquiries:

Kaarthic Madhavan, VP Sales and Business Development

Gradiant International Holdings, Singapore

kmadhavan@gradiant.com
A note issued by Norwegian analyst Rystad has hinted it may be time to consider abandoning the 1.5-degree average global temperature rise ceiling agreed upon in Paris six years ago, because the world will never be able to pump out enough solar panels in time.Norwegian energy consultant Rystad Energy has warned the global solar manufacturing industry will have to quadruple in scale by 2035 to keep the average temperature rise this century below 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Oslo-based data company said a 1.5C world would require the 330 GW of annual solar module manufacturing capacity recorded in the ...

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.
SUZHOU, China, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peijia Medical today announced the initiation of its multi-center clinical trial for TaurusNXT, the third-generation transcatheter aortic valve ("TAVR") system, following the first successful patient implant in Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University. Led by Professor Ge Junbo, the procedure was completed successfully with support from the medical team comprising Professor Zhou Daxin, Professor Pan Wenzhi, Professor Zhang Xiaochun, Professor Chen Shasha, and multidisciplinary teams including cardiology and cardiac surgery.

The patient was 71 years old, female, suffering from severe aortic valve stenosis. Analysis of imaging examination indicated aortic valve thickening and calcification, tricuspid aortic valve, severe degree calcification (HU850: 722 mm3) with aortic valve area of 0.7 cm2, mean pressure gradient of 53 mmHg and aortic valve peak velocity of 4.6 m/s. After evaluation by the team, the 20 mm Z-MED balloon was used for pre-dilatation. During the procedure, the valve was retrieved three times to ensure an optimal valve anchoring position before the AV26 TaurusNXT was implanted at zero position. Since there was mild and more PLV after the valve was fully released, the 22 mm Z-MED balloon was used for post-dilatation. Post-TAVR analysis was conducted immediately, indicating trace PVL, mean pressure gradient of 7 mmHg, aortic valve peak velocity of 1.9 m/s, aortic valve area of 2.0 cm2 as well as normal haemodynamics indicators.

TaurusNXT is Peijia's latest generation TAVR system with non-glutaraldehyde cross linked dry-tissue and pre-mounted prosthetic aortic valve ("PAV"). It is another major breakthrough building on the Company's technological competences in structural heart diseases for nearly a decade. A number of Peijia's patents including biomaterial processing as well as overall system design are pending approval. TaurusNXT incorporates the Company's world-leading non-glutaraldehyde treated anti-calcification technology. It results in the elimination or significant reduction of tissue calcification by removing residual aldehyde in the pericardium. The approach also optimizes the entire tissue functions through composite cross-link, decellularization, bio-degradation prevention and virus deactivation. The technology is expected to greatly enhance the durability and biocompatibility of the PAV. Furthermore, comparing to the traditional dry tissue technology using glycerin, Peijia adopts a low-temperature, freeze-drying technology to maintain the physical features of the tissue. The other significant benefit of dry PAV is to allow pre-mounted in the delivery catheter system ("DCS"), which greatly improves the operational efficiency.

The TaurusNXT valve inherits the balanced performance of TaurusOne, the Company's first generation TAVR system, and upgrades the design of stent structure, bioprosthesis position and double-layer skirt, in order to further improve the preformance of valve anchoring, sealing and hemodynamic. The DCS of TaurusNXT adopts a patented catheter design for reliable and stable retrieval without sacrificing its flexibility to go through the aortic arch. It also features distal steerable function, which is expected to further enhance its coaxiality, transvalvular ability, and to address complex aortic arch and transverse heart morphological challenges safely and effectively. The TaurusNXT system will hopefully further boost cardiologists' and surgeons' confidence with optimal implantation outcomes and better prognosis to patients.

The clinical trial is a multi-center, prospective, single-arm objective performance criteria ("OPC") study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the TaurusNXT TAVR system for treating calcific severe aortic stenosis for NMPA registration. The study is led by Professor Ge Junbo from Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, and involves participation from more than 15 top centers across China. "As TAVR indication expands toward younger patients with longer life expectancy, our TaurusNXT system concentrates on groundbreaking innovations to address the most pressing issues, including durability and optimal clinical outcomes," said Dr. Yi Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Peijia Medical. "Ever since the establishment of Peijia, we have been continuously exploring innovative biotreatment technology for valve leaflets. We keep investing in the pioneering technology and have established a leading position in the field. The non-glutaraldehyde treatment technology of TaurusNXT has the potential to become a platform technology in advanced materials for the next generation of heart valves with longer durability."

Peijia Medical has built a global R&D platform with a focus in the field of structural heart diseases, and has a comprehensive product pipeline targeting aortic valve, mitral valve, tricuspid valve diseases, including various surgical accessories. Sticking to its "dedication with passion, devotion for life" credo, the company will carry out its commitment to develop new technologies and innovative solutions, in order to benefit more patients fighting heart valve diseases around the globe.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Grid Metals Corp. (TSXV:GRDM)(OTCQB:MSMGF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce previously unreported drilling results for its Main Dyke lithium pegmatite target located immediately south of the Company's Mayville Cu-Ni-Co-PGM deposit in the Bird River greenstone belt of southeastern Manitoba. Results of the drilling identified high grade lithium, cesium and tantalum values (including 1.8% Li 2 O over 3.38m) in a continuous spodumene bearing pegmatite dyke with a minimum strike length of 775 meters. Highlights of the drilling and project are:

10 holes drilled by Grid (including 7 not previously reported) defined a continuous high grade lithium-bearing dyke with a minimum strike length of 775 meters.

Results largely confirm the results of historical drilling in 1955 and a historical resource estimate 1 of 3.8 million tons @1.28% Li 2 O (see below for details)

of 3.8 million tons @1.28% Li 2 O (see below for details) There are five lithium bearing pegmatites on the Mayvillle Lithium Property. Grid's chip sampling on a second spodumene-bearing pegmatite dyke(the NW Dyke) returned maximum values of 3.60% Li 2 O and 220 ppm Ta 2 O.

The Mayville pegmatites are part of the Cat Lake Pegmatite Field in the Bird River Greenstone Belt which also hosts the world-class Bernic Lake Pegmatite

Grid holds claims covering 10km of strike length along a favourable geological contact prospective for additional pegmatite discoveries.

The Mayville Lithium Property is located ~2 km south of the Grid's Mayville Cu-Ni-PGM deposit with potential for shared infrastructure costs in development

The project has excellent access, infrastructure ( including renewable power ) and potential for a low carbon footprint.

The Company's exploration objective at the property is to define a compliant mineral resource to support a ~150-250,000 per annum production volume of lithium spodumene 6% (SC6%) concentrate putting it on par with other significant lithium spodumene development projects .

New High Grade Lithium Drilling Results from the Mayville Lithium Property.

The property comprises five known spodumene-bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum ("LCT") pegmatites that belong to the Cat Lake pegmatite field located ~30 km north of the currently producing Tanco rare metal mining operation at Bernic Lake. The best documented of these dykes, the Main Dyke, was drilled by Grid in 2018. That drilling outlined a laterally continuous core zone of spodumene-related lithium mineralization over a minimum strike length of 775 meters and to a depth of up to 100 meters. Two step out holes to the north (MLI-18-04 and 09) appear to have intersected a second spodumene-bearing pegmatite that is also enriched in lithium and may be part of a cluster of subparallel dykes in this poorly exposed area. The Main Dyke remains open at depth and along strike to the south. Drilling highlights, including results from three previously reported holes and seven additional holes - reported for the first time here, are provided in the table, below.

MAYVILLE LITHIUM PROPERTY

2018 MAIN DYKE DRILL RESULTS Drill

Hole From

(m) To

(m) Interval

(m) Li2O

(%) Cs2O

(%) Rb2O

(%) Ta

(ppm) Fe

(%) Comment MLI-18-01 14.68 18.48 3.80 1.7 0.05 0.42 133.6 0.13 Previously released MLI-18-02 36.75 39.63 2.88 1.6 0.03 0.32 120.3 0.28 Previously released MLI-18-03 78.67 84.08 5.41 1.5 0.05 0.42 142.3 0.70 Previously released MLI-18-04 148.04 151.83 3.79 1.4 0.03 0.33 108.4 0.16 Initial disclosure MLI-18-05 85.2 85.77 0.57 1.6 0.02 0.19 152.0 0.36 Initial disclosure and 99.7 102.98 3.28 1.7 0.04 0.33 124.0 0.19 Initial disclosure MLI-18-06 81.24 83.9 2.66 1.8 0.03 0.30 143.1 0.17 Initial disclosure MLI-18-07 75.50 78.88 3.38 1.8 0.03 0.42 174.2 0.10 Initial disclosure MLI-18-08 66.98 69.88 2.90 1.5 0.03 0.45 179.9 0.12 Initial disclosure and 70.45 71.3 0.85 1.8 0.03 0.34 187.0 0.32 Initial disclosure MLI-18-09 50.47 53.03 2.56 1.3 0.04 0.30 196.8 0.21 Initial disclosure MLI-18-10 106.35 107.00 0.65 0.4 0.02 0.20 118.0 0.15 Initial disclosure

Notes: The reported width is the estimated true width. Drill hole specifications are provided in the Appendix.

Surface Sampling Results from the NW Dyke

A second spodumene-bearing pegmatite dyke, the NW Dyke, is part of the historical resource discussed above and is reportedly wider than the Main Dyke. The documented historical drilling at the NW Dyke (Manitoba Assessment Report 91769,Violamac Mines Limited) included four drill holes over ~350 meters strike length - all of which intersected significant lithium values. The best reported drill intercept was 1.79% Li 2 O over 36.3 ft . (Manitoba Assessment file 91769). In 2018 Grid conducted chip sampling from blast rubble from an exposed trench in the NW Dyke. Analytical results from this sampling are presented in the following table in which highly elevated lithium and tantalum abundances are highlighted.

Sample

Number Li2O

(%) Cs2O

(%) Rb2O

(%) Ta

(ppm) Fe

(%) 171337 1.44 0.03 0.25 54.9 1.71 171338 1.67 0.02 0.26 76.1 0.43 171339 1.52 0.02 0.35 71.9 0.64 171341 1.69 0.02 0.35 98.4 0.53 171342 0.93 0.03 0.48 103 0.48 171343 3.61 0.02 0.14 181 0.37 171344 1.16 0.03 0.38 88.2 0.54 171345 3.45 0.01 0.17 105 0.40 171346 1.61 0.03 0.33 62.2 0.47 171347 1.58 0.02 0.25 157 0.35

Note: Easting and Northing coordinates for the centre of the historical trench that was sampled on the NW dyke are 316038m east and 5610646m north - expressed in NAD83 UTM Zone 15 coordinate system.

Exploration Plans

The Company plans to resume exploration drilling on the Main Dyke and at least one other of the known spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes early next year in order to establish a maiden NI 43-101 resource on the property. Grid will also commence metallurgical test work to establish the potential for a quality lithium bearing spodumene concentrate from the Main Dyke. In light of the strong forecasts for lithium prices in the coming years. the Company believes the potential of the project is very high. This sentiment is bolstered by its excellent access, infrastructure, geological setting and potential to share infrastructure costs with the Makwa Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM-Cobalt project.

Above: Location Map of the Mayville Ni-Cu-PGM Deposit and Lithium Pegmatites showing exploration horizon for additional pegmatites

History of the Mayville Lithium Property

The Main Dyke is one of five known pegmatite dykes on the Mayville Lithium Property. The Property has a total historical mineral resource of 3.8 million tons @1.28% Li 2 O from the Main Dyke and the North Dyke ( Source: Manitoba Mineral Inventory File #229). This resource estimate is historical in nature and not NI 43-101 compliant. Grid does not consider the historical resource estimate as a current resource estimate and is not relying on the historical resource estimate as a current resource estimate until such time as a Qualified Person has reviewed and confirmed the data.

The pegmatite dykes are located at or near the lithological contact between the Maskwa Lake Batholith and mafic volcanic rocks. This favourable contact horizon has been mapped for approximately 10 kilometers along strike of the Mayville Lithium Property. Grid Metals acquired the Mayville Lithium Property from the Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada Ltd. in return for a 2% Net Smelter Royalty and a first right to purchase products produced from the property on commercial terms.

Drilling Plans on the Makwa and Mayville Ni-Cu-Co-PGE Projects

The Company is planning additional resource and exploration drilling at its Makwa and Mayville Ni-Cu-Co-PGM project, located 145 km north east of Winnipeg Manitoba. The focus of the drilling will be to upgrade resources, provide additional material for future metallurgical testwork and add new resources to the project inventory, which currently includes 26.6 Mt averaging 0.44% Cu and 0.18% Ni at Mayville and 7.2 Mt grading 0.61% Ni and 0.19% Cu at Makwa (see 2014 PEA report completed by RPA and available on the Company's website). In addition, the Company plans to test a new structural target at the Mayville PGE Zone (see map below) located 1 km south of the main Cu-Ni-PGE resource. Previously reported drilling completed by the Company suggests the presence of a high grade core that appears to follow a cross-cutting fault zone. Highlights for this core zone include a 9.1 metre intersection averaging 6.8 g/t Pd and 2.8 g/t Pt from drill hole May 11-07 and a second 9.1 metre intersection averaging 2.9 g/t Pd and 1.0 g/t Pt in hole May 11-27.

Dr. Dave Peck, Grid's Vice President of Exploration and Business Development, commented "With a very constructive outlook for energy metals due to EV adoption and Greentech applications Grid is at an excellent stage to add to its current nickel, copper, cobalt and PGE mineral inventory at Makwa Mayville. In addition, we believe the lithium potential of the belt is considerable given the results to date, multiple high grade pegmatite bodies located in limited exploration work and the proximity to the world-class Bernic Lake pegmatite. The Main Dyke drill results reported here benchmark favourably to other lithium projects in Canada at a similar stage of development. We are looking at various strategies to accelerate development of the lithium potential of our significant Bird River Belt pegmatite property without deviating from our efforts to expand and improve upon the existing magmatic sulfide resources at Makwa Mayville."

Update on Bannockburn Nickel and East Bull Lake Palladium Programs

At Bannockburn, nickel assay results from seven drill holes are expected to be received before the end of this month. The project is located south of Timmins Ontario and the target is a Crawford-type bulk tonnage disseminated nickel sulfide deposit.

At East Bull Lake, a field program of mapping and sampling is now complete. Approximately 500 samples from 5 discrete exploration target areas have been submitted for assay. The new assay results and geological information will assist in target generation for future drilling at the East Bull Palladium Project.

Above: Map of the Mayville Property with Grid claim boundary in red. The Mayville PGE Zone and Lithium Property are being permitted for additional exploration drilling.

The Company is hosting an online Presentation with Amvest on September 14, 2021 to discuss todays news and ongoing developments. Interested participants can register for the webinar at the following link. https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3407183/219FBB8EDF24975874CFB06DCC92D837

QA/QC, Analytical and Metallurgy Work

Core from the 2018 Main Dyke drilling program was logged and split at the Company's Makwa warehouse. Samples were sent to AGAT Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario for crushing and preparation with the final assays completed at the AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ontario. The samples were analysed using a Sodium Peroxide Fusion with a ICP-OES or ICP-MS finish.

Grid maintained a rigorous QA/QC program for the 2018 Main Dyke drill program including inserting of analytical blanks, duplicates and commercial standards at regular intervals.

Dr. Dave Peck, P.Geo., has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release for purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

Reference

1 Bannatyne, B.B. 1985: Industrial minerals in rare-element pegmatites of Manitoba, Manitoba Energy and Mines, Economic Geology Report 84-1.

About Grid Metals Corp.

Grid Metals Corp. is an exploration and development Company that has three projects focused on Nickel Copper-PGM-Cobalt and lithium. In addition to the East Bull Lake Palladium and Bannockburn Nickel properties Grid has a PEA stage Ni-Cu-PGM-Co project (Makwa- Mayville) in southeastern Manitoba. Grid has signed exploration agreements at all three of its properties with the affected First Nations.

To find out more about Grid Metals Corp., please visit www.gridmetalscorp.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Grid Metals Corp.

Robin Dunbar - President, CEO & Director Telephone: 416-955-4773 Email: rd@gridmetalscorp.com

David Black - Investor Relations Email: info@gridmetalscorp.com

We seek safe harbour. This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of the Securities Act (Ontario) (together, "forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements may include the Company's plans for its properties, the overall economic potential of its properties, the availability of adequate financing and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements to be materially different. Such factors include, among others, risks and uncertainties relating to potential political risk, uncertainty of production and capital costs estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, physical risks inherent in mining operations, metallurgical risk, currency fluctuations, fluctuations in the price of nickel, cobalt, copper and other metals, completion of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, the inability or failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis, and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the most recent financial period and Material Change Reports filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at www.sedar.com.

APPENDIX: Collar specifications for the 2018 Mayville Lithium Property Main Dyke drilling program. UTM coordinates are based on the NAD 83 datum and UTM Zone 15 projection.

Hole ID UTM East UTM North Azimuth Dip MLI-18-01 317613 5610125 135 55 MLI-18-02 317710 5610196 135 55 MLI-18-03 317502 5610130 135 55 MLI-18-04 317380 5610220 135 55 MLI-18-05 317411 5610965 135 55 MLI-18-06 317331 5610007 135 55 MLI-18-07 317239 5609950 135 55 MLI-18-09 317343 5610197 135 55 MLI-18-10 317765 5610277 135 55

SOURCE: Grid Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/663991/Grid-Provides-Manitoba-Project-Update-Releases-High-Grade-Lithium-Drill-Intercepts-from-the-Main-Dyke-Pegmatite-Announces-Drilling-Plans-for-Ni-Cu-Co-PGM-Lithium-and-PGE-Projects
Recognized for combining sustainable design and architecture

Designit, a Wipro company, and a leading global experience innovation firm, today announced that it has won the Red Dot: Brands and Communications Design 2021 award for its interactive visitor centre for Digital Hub Denmark.

The Red Dot Award, an international design competition founded in 1955, recognises the highest quality work in brand design, communication design, and product design. A jury of 24 renowned academics and design leaders select a fraction of all entries distinguished by their embodiment of the guiding principle, 'In search of good design and creativity'.

Digital Hub Denmark, a non-profit organisation connecting international tech talent, start-ups, investors, and delegations in Denmark, needed a dedicated space for an interactive showroom, theatre, lounge, and co-working space. Recognized for combining sustainable design and architecture, Designitreimagined an old sugar factory into an inviting and interactive visitor centre that showcases Denmark's best and latest digital innovations.

Centred around the theme of Re-interpreting Nordic Tech, the 1,400 square meter loft expresses Nordic values through historic architecture, natural wood, and craftsmanship while retaining a modern touch, with features like brushed steel, mirror effects, and accent colours.

"Designing an outstanding experience is at the heart of everything that we do for our customers at Designit," said Sunil Karkera, Global Managing Director, Designit. "I am very proud of the Designit team for bringing our strategic design philosophy, human-centricity, to life. Our creativity, focus on sustainability, and inspiration from our Nordic heritage shows."

"A strong brand and its strict management have always been important elements in creating customer loyalty. However, now more than ever, brands offer the opportunity to be different and identify with something," said Professor Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot. "As a winner of the Red Dot Design Award, Designit has proven this and created a consistent yet modern brand image that embodies authentic values that help guide Digital Hub Denmark and create trust."

Read the full case study here.

About Designit, a Wipro company

Designit, a Wipro company, is a global experience innovation firm. We use strategy, technology, marketing, and design to turn complex and systemic problems into new opportunities, thoughtful, holistic experiences. Together with progressive, long-term partners, we craft, launch and continuously optimize products, services, brands, and systems that turn change into progress throughout organizations, brands, and beyond. To learn more, follow us @Designit and visit www.Designit.com.

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.

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/20210914005809/en/

Contacts:

Wipro Media Contact:

Purnima Burman

Wipro Limited

purnima.burman@wipro.com

Designit Media Contact

Kathleen Ulrich

Designit, a Wipro company

kathleen.ulrich@designit.com
JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Conservation non-profit organization African Parks announced on Tuesday, September 14, a $100M commitment from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation (RMWF), providing one of the largest contributions ever made to the conservation of protected areas in Africa. This commitment will help to expand African Parks' impact to managing 30 parks over the next decade, preserving a significant portion of Africa's biodiversity for the long-term benefit of local communities, while helping to grow the organisation's endowment to ensure for reliable funding.

"The impacts of the climate crisis are undeniable, and we must act swiftly and boldly to protect communities so that people and nature can thrive together. In Africa, part of the solution is conserving more park lands to protect biodiversity and ensure communities receive the health and economic benefits these areas can provide when well-managed," said Rob Walton of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation and African Parks Trustee Emeritus. "We are proud to support the public-private partnership model that makes African Parks so successful, and to help accelerate the organization's ambitious 2030 goals."

Founded in 2000, African Parks takes on the long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments to protect wildlife, restore landscapes and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Currently managing 19 parks measuring 14.7 million hectares, they take on the complete responsibility and are accountable for all aspects of protected area management, including biodiversity conservation, law enforcement, community development, sustainable financing, infrastructure, and overall governance.

With more than 3,200 full-time staff, 98% of whom are from local communities, and thousands of part-time staff, African Parks has become the largest employer in many regions in which they work. Poaching has been curtailed and practically eliminated in most of the parks under their management, where more than 80% of key wildlife populations are on the rise. In the last year alone, 110,000 people received healthcare from the hospitals and mobile clinics they support, and over 100,000 children had access to education provided by the schools they support around the parks. Their goal is to directly manage 30 parks measuring over 30 million hectares by 2030. This would bolster African governments' efforts to help reach the global target of protecting 30% of the planet for nature.

Rob and Melani Walton are longtime supporters of sustainability and conservation efforts around the globe and have been invaluable partners to African Parks since its inception. "As global citizens, we have a responsibility to protect our planet and the people and species that create our dynamic, fragile ecosystems. We are honored to continue to work alongside African Parks, governments across the continent, and community leaders in support of their sustainability goals," said Melani Walton of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation and African Parks Board Member.

The $100M commitment will be allocated over the next five years, with $75M going to the creation of the Rob and Melani Walton Endowment, which forms the largest endowment gift in African Parks' history, significantly supporting its long-term resilience and growth. The remaining $25M will go to sustaining parks under African Parks' management that need it the most. A portion of these funds will be used for five-year matching grants in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund: One to Iona National Park in Angola, and one to Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo. This funding will leverage an additional $10M for each park over the subsequent 10 years.

"Rob and Melani Walton's commitment is uniquely visionary in providing a source of stable long-term funding that will contribute enduring protection for some of the most biodiverse, threatened landscapes on the planet. This could not come at a more important time, when investment in intact protected areas is urgently needed to address biodiversity loss, mitigate climate change, preserve invaluable ecosystem services, and create sustainable economic opportunities for people," said African Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead. "This extraordinary gift will help to realise our vision of protecting vast ecosystems and their ecological functions for humanity in perpetuity".

In an analysis conducted in 2020, African Parks identified 161 "anchor areas" in Africa that have the greatest chance of being viably functioning, large landscapes, capable of harbouring globally significant biodiversity and sustaining their flow of benefits to millions of people. However, of these, only 69 are currently adequately protected. If all 161 areas receive effective management solutions, they would provide a foundational step towards the broader vision of safeguarding 30% of Africa for nature.

With this funding commitment from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, African Parks will be able to continue to increase their impact by bringing more parks under management, continue to reduce poaching, increase wildlife populations, and improve livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people.


NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said Tuesday that its Chief Financial Officer Stephen Scherr has decided to retire from the firm. Denis Coleman III, co-head of the Global Financing Group, will become the firm's Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2022.



After a distinguished career at Goldman Sachs spanning three decades, including serving for the last three years as Chief Financial Officer, Stephen Scherr has decided to retire from the firm. Stephen will remain Chief Financial Officer until the end of the year and will retire from the firm at the end of January. Upon his retirement, he will become a Senior Director.



The company noted that Denis will serve as Deputy Chief Financial Officer effective immediately to ensure a smooth transition.



Denis has served as co-head of the Global Financing Group in the Investment Banking Division since 2018.



Denis joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 as an analyst in the Bank Loan Group. In 1998, he moved to Capital Markets in the then Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division. He transferred to the Investment Banking Division in 2004 and became co-head of U.S. Loan Capital Markets in 2005.



In 2008, Denis was named co-head of U.S. Leveraged Finance, in 2009 he became head of EMEA Credit Finance in London and was then named head of the EMEA Financing Group from 2016 to June 2018. Denis was named managing director in 2005 and partner in 2008.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

GOLDMAN SACHS-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de
ProManage's managed account solution, the ProManage PROgram, is now available through the Nyhart daily valuation recordkeeping platform

CHICAGO, IL & INDIANAPOLIS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / ProManage, a Chicago-based firm providing customized solutions for defined contribution plans, has rolled out its managed account service, the ProManage PROgram, through Nyhart, an employee-benefit consulting, actuarial, and administration firm.

The PROgram is offered through Nyhart's daily valuation recordkeeping platform in conjunction with the plan's investment adviser. It provides participant-level asset allocation oversight using the existing fund lineup within the plan.

By using readily available data-participant account balances, age, compensation, etc.-the PROgram crafts an investment allocation for each participant who uses the service. The PROgram is fully integrated with Nyhart's recordkeeping system and oversees participant balances totaling more than $30 million as of July 31, 2021.

"This is automatically implemented on behalf of the participants, so even reluctant investors can benefit from a diverse portfolio," said ProManage CEO Tony Sabos. "Plus, this approach doesn't require complex or expensive technical connections with recordkeepers."

"By partnering with ProManage, we can offer plan participants a valuable, cost-effective service that works entirely behind the scenes," said Nyhart CEO Carter Angell.

Participants utilizing the PROgram can also use ProManage's Vision product. Vision is a sophisticated online investment advice tool designed to help participants understand if they are on track for retirement.

Vision gives them the ability to model their long-term financial goals for retirement by adjusting levers and assumptions. Participants can choose to influence the PROgram allocation by implementing the adjustments and suggestions, including savings-rate changes.

About Nyhart

The Nyhart Company is an award-winning employee-benefit consulting, actuarial, and administration firm headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Nyhart's clients include states, cities, municipalities, professional services firms, public and private-sector entities, healthcare systems, religious organizations, and higher education institutions. Client assets exceed $20 billion. Nyhart is part of FuturePlan by Ascensus, a leading national retirement third-party administrator. Web: www.nyhart.com or https://www.futureplan.com

About ProManage

ProManage develops custom-crafted, defined contribution plan solutions to help participants save and invest for retirement. The Chicago-based firm offers three distinct services: managed accounts, guidance and advice, and metrics. Because plans, plan sponsors and participant populations differ, ProManage crafts solutions that fit sponsors' goals, participants' needs and sponsors' budgets. Web: https://promanageplan.com

Media contact: Henry Stimpson, Stimpson Communications, henry@stimpsoncommunications.com

SOURCE: ProManage

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/664002/401k-Plan-Participants-Have-Option-of-Automatic-Asset-Allocation-with-New-ProManage-PROgramTM-Service-Offered-Through-Nyhart
DGAP-News: Nostromo Energy Limited

Nostromo To Work with Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev to Advance Climate Action Goals Across its Facilities and Develop a Roadmap for Turning its Cooling Infrastructure Into Energy Storage Assets



14.09.2021 / 17:04

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Nostromo Energy Ltd. (TASE: NOST), which provides sustainable energy storage solutions to commercial and industrial customers based on its proprietary IceBrick technology, today announced a collaboration with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE: BUD), a multinational drink and brewery company (AB InBev), to create a long term plan that will provide solutions to meet the 'Climate Action' goal of the 100+ accelerator.

The 100+ Accelerator was launched in 2018 to help AB InBev reach its ambitious sustainability goals faster and was joined earlier this year by Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), Colgate Palmolive (NYSE:CL) and Unilever (NYSE:UL) as full program partners, to fund and pilot sustainable innovation in their supply chains. So far the 100+ Accelerator has worked with technology companies across 16 countries, with more than half of them securing long term contracts with AB InBev. Nostromo is one of 36 companies accepted to the program out of 1300 companies that applied.

In the course of the collaboration, Nostromo will map out the opportunity and develop a roadmap to implement Nostromo's IceBrick's cold-energy storage technology in InBev facilities to help AB InBev accelerate integration of renewable energy, reduce carbon emissions and enable the charging of more EVs within the facilities. The parties will collect and analyze data from different facilities related to energy use and cooling demands, in order to evaluate the potential environmental and financial benefits, and develop the tools and methodology for broad integration of the technology.

Maisie Devine, Global Director and Managing Partner of the 100+ Sustainability Accelerator said 'Our sustainability goals are ambitious and we know that we don't have all the answers. We view innovation as a key driver of progress towards our 2025 goals and the UN SDGs. To that end, we collaborate with passionate entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, investors and scientists who are working to solve some of the world's most pressing challenges. These partnerships are key to moving us forward. We go further together than alone.'

'Together, we are striving to supercharge adoption of sustainable solutions by funding and accelerating fantastic innovations that will change the world by making all of our businesses more sustainable at a global scale.' Said Carolina Garcia, Global Sustainability, Innovation & Operations.

Boaz Ur, Nostromo Chief Commercial Officer said: 'We are proud to work with a global leader in sustainability innovation as AB InBev, and excited about the partnering opportunities offered by the 100+ program. We welcome the opportunity to work with the world's greatest corporations and brands who are ready to embrace the vision of turning commercial buildings and manufacturing facilities from burdens on the grid, into energy storage assets. Nostromo's water based energy storage can truly contribute to these corporations' admirable climate action goals, while reducing costs, adding resilience to the operations and supporting the communities surrounding their facilities'.

For more details about the 100+ accelerator program see - https://www.100accelerator.com

About Nostromo Energy

Nostromo accelerates the renewable energy revolution, with its sustainable energy storage

solution that enables commercial and industrial buildings to do their part in stopping climate

change by becoming large-scale energy storage assets. Nostromo paves the way to a

carbon free electric grid, while offering a safe, clean and financially beneficial system to

building owners. Nostromo's revolutionary technology, the IceBrick, stores cold energy

during off-peak or surplus solar hours and uses it to power commercial space cooling, which

accounts for approximately 40% of power demand during peak hours.

https://www.nostromo.energy

Lea Berdugo

+972 54-297-3672

lea@reblonde.com

https://nostromo.energy/

News Source: News Direct
Perspectum's LiverMultiScan significantly enhanced patient understanding of chronic liver disease (CLD) care in a first-of-its-kind study published in the Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes, highlighting how it can help improve adherence to lifestyle interventions. Using a qualitative, interview-based approach, patients with CLD reported their first-hand experiences and perceptions of how LiverMultiScan's easy-to-understand information can educate and empower them towards self-management of their disease condition.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005839/en/

(Graphic: Business Wire)

The global burden of CLD is growing at an alarming rate, fueled by the increasing prevalence of obesity and related metabolic disorders, alcohol abuse and viral hepatitis. In the UK alone, deaths from CLDs have risen 400% since 1970.1 This crisis is compounded by patients and caregivers' poor understanding and management of these diseases and inadequate physician support. Liver biopsy, the current gold-standard for diagnosing and monitoring CLDs, is an invasive diagnostic involving significant health risks and patient discomfort.2 Hence, there is an urgent need for non-invasive diagnostics that not only provide clinical utility but are also complication-free. LiverMultiScan's proprietary diagnostic technology checks all these boxes, providing comprehensive information on liver health painlessly and in a format which can easily be comprehended by patients themselves.

In this study, 101 participants affected by liver disease received LiverMultiScan followed by a structured interview asking them to reflect on their experience of the procedure and their understanding of the results compared with their current standard of care. None of the participants were in favour of undergoing liver biopsies to monitor disease progression or treatment responses. Victor, a 36-year-old Hepatitis B patient, found undergoing a liver biopsy "excruciatingly painful" and "traumatic" and "wouldn't want to go through any liver biopsy again." The study participants also showed a strong desire to be actively involved in their disease care as highlighted by Jamie, a 58-year-old CLD patient, who said, "It's my body and I'm doing whatever I do to it so I want to be a partner. Whatever you (the doctor) know, I want to know as well.

The participants felt that LiverMultiScan provided them with clear and understandable information; central to this was the prominent color-scaled pictorial elements of the report. The liver images in the report have an embedded green-red color scale that depicts variation in a metric called cT1, which correlates with fibroinflammation3. cT1 values below the upper limit of normal are depicted towards green and cT1 values above the upper limit of normal are depicted towards the red end of the color scale (see figure 1). According to Lynne, 55-year-old suffering from Autoimmune Hepatitis, "The visual clarity (of LiverMultiScan) is just stunning, and so easy to understand. Because you haven't done anything fancy, you've just used red, amber, green. So I can see at a glance.

Patients' self-reported understanding of their liver disease as measured by a quantitative research questionnaire increased significantly, from 6.28 to 9.22 (on a scale of 1-10) after undergoing a LiverMultiScan. Many participants also explicitly stated that better disease comprehension can lead to better disease outcomes, reduced stress, and improved patient-physician relationship. This general perception of the group was aptly put across by James (60-year-old male suffering from Hepatitis C) who said, "As I said to you earlier, it's an encouragement to keep going with the lifestyle I've been leading for the last few years. That's fantastic.

Wayne Eskridge, liver disease patient advocate, CEO and founder of the Fatty Liver Foundation said, "As a cirrhosis patient and founder of the Fatty Liver Foundation, I have had many tests and communicate with thousands of other patients about testing. The value for patients of visual representations of their organ health is intuitively understood within the community. We respond to the images. I'm very pleased to see research seeking to quantify this important patient dynamic.

Read the full paper here.

References

Williams, R., et al. (2014). Addressing liver disease in the UK: a blueprint for attaining excellence in health care and reducing premature mortality from lifestyle issues of excess consumption of alcohol, obesity, and viral hepatitis. Lancet, 384(9958),1953-1997.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61838-9 Thomaides-Brears, H., et al. (2021). Incidence of complications from percutaneous biopsy in chronic liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Digestive Diseases and Sciences. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-021-07089-w Dennis, A., et al. (2021). Correlations between MRI biomarkers PDFF and cT1 with histopathological features of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 11, 575843. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.575843

About Perspectum

Perspectum, a global medical technology company with offices in the U.K., the U.S. and Singapore, delivers leading digital technologies that help clinicians provide better care for patients with chronic metabolic diseases, multi-organ pathologies and cancer. With a strong focus on precision medicine using advanced imaging and genetics, our vision is to empower patients and clinicians through quantitative assessments of health enabling early detection, diagnosis and targeted treatment. With a diverse team of physicians, biomedical scientists, engineers and technologists, Perspectum offers a way to manage complex health problems at scale.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005839/en/

Contacts:

For Further Information:

For Perspectum

Nellie Wild

VP Corporate Affairs

Perspectum

nellie.wild@perspectum.com
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT AB today announces that a dialogue has been initiated with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority regarding the handling of information given about EQT AB's revision of the lock-up-structure for EQT AB's Partners and the sale of shares that followed the revision.

EQT AB's assessment is that the company has handled the information correctly and has obtained external expert advice on the matters. EQT AB provides the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority with documentation and looks forward to a continued positive and constructive dialogue with the Authority.

Contact



Olof Svensson, Head of Shareholder Relations, +46 72 989 09 15

Nina Nornholm, Head of Communications, +46 70 855 03 56

EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT



EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization focused on active ownership strategies. With a Nordic heritage and a global mindset, EQT has a track record of almost three decades of delivering consistent and attractive returns across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies. Uniquely, EQT is the only large private markets firm in the world with investment strategies covering all phases of a business' development, from start-up to maturity. EQT today has approximately EUR 71 billion in assets under management across 27 active funds within two business segments - Private Capital and Real Assets.

With its roots in the Wallenberg family's entrepreneurial mindset and philosophy of long-term ownership, EQT is guided by a set of strong values and a distinct corporate culture. EQT manages and advises funds and vehicles that invest across the world with the mission to future-proof companies, generate attractive returns and make a positive impact with everything EQT does.

The EQT AB Group comprises EQT AB (publ) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, which include general partners and fund managers of EQT funds as well as entities advising EQT funds. EQT has offices in 24 countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas and has more than 1,000 employees.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-ab-in-dialogue-with-swedish-financial-supervisory-authority-regarding-information-given-in-conne,c3415063

The following files are available for download:
New CXO Seeks to Ensure Every Touchpoint is Creating a Lifelong Customer

BIRMIGHAM, AL / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / Autocar, LLC, carrier of North America's oldest specialized severe-duty vocational truck brand, has announced the hiring of Craig Antonucci as chief experience officer (CXO), a newly created position.

As the new CXO, Antonucci brings to the Autocar team decades of knowledge in delivering a superior customer experience. He joins Autocar after spending 12 years at BPA Quality, where he designed customer experiences for some of the best companies in the world, including Apple and Humana, and brings 25 years of experience in building businesses large and small.

As CXO, Antonucci will focus on Autocar's post-sales customer experience, identifying improvement opportunities, continually reviewing and evolving processes to align with our operating principles, focusing on outcomes and delivering results. Antonucci is responsible for customer care 2.0, working to design, build and execute the post-sales customer care experience to be best-in-class using cutting edge techniques, technology and data to ensure every touchpoint is creating a lifelong customer.

"Autocar is delighted to announce Craig as our newest CXO," said James Johnston, president at Autocar. "Working closely with our customers and improving our products based on their feedback is at the core of what Autocar is all about. Autocar works intimately with our customers as every single one of our trucks is purpose-built to fit their specific needs of their business and we remain engaged throughout the truck's lifecycle. Hiring Craig as our CXO is a commitment to our living up to our mission of keeping our trucks Always Up."

"Once I met the people at Autocar, I knew immediately this was the place to be," said Antonucci. "Their commitment to their customers, and one another, not to mention a fantastic product, made the choice to join Autocar an easy one."

Autocar is dedicated to its customer's success. Autocar's Always Up promise ensures that its trucks are built right the first time and extends throughout the truck's life with its Autocar Solutions 24/7 direct factory support center, staffed 24/7 by expert technicians who engineer and build Autocar's trucks. For more information on Autocar or its line of severe-duty vehicles, please visit AutocarTruck.com, or call 765-489-5499.

###

ABOUT AUTOCAR, LLC

Autocar, LLC, is proud to manufacture U.S.-assembled trucks carrying North America's oldest truck brand. Autocar, LLC is the only American-owned and -operated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of trucks. Autocar's severe-duty vocational trucks provide customers with the perfect tools for their job with the most uptime, support and impact to their bottom line. Autocar collaborates with customers to build trucks to their exact specifications and needs. Autocar's purpose-built, severe-service truck lines include ACMD and ACX cab-over trucks, the ACTT and ACTT-E terminal tractors and the DC-64 class 8 work trucks.

Autocar recognizes that performance and uptime are everything and offers every customer 24-7 access to its "Always Up" direct factory support center, staffed by expert technicians who engineer and build Autocar's trucks. Autocar promises to provide trucks that deliver the best value, provide the best service and provide a complete solution for customers' needs. The Autocar pledge is to do the work right the first time and to act proactively, in a timely manner and with simplicity.

For more information on Autocar, visit AutocarTruck.com, or call 765-489-5499.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Matthew Matyjek, TrizCom PR on behalf of Autocar Truck

Email: Matthew@TrizCom.com

Office: 972-247-1369

Cell/Text: 202-999-9455

Avery Cooper, TrizCom PR on behalf of Autocar Truck

Email: Avery@TrizCom.com

Office: 972-247-1369

Cell/Text: 972-743-4415

SOURCE: Autocar, LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/664021/Autocar-LLC-Hires-New-Chief-Experience-Officer
Bitcoin Suisse founding member and former Morgan Stanley Vice President to co-lead Fireblocks' Swiss expansion

NEW YORK and ZURICH, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fireblocks ( www.fireblocks.com ), announced today it will be dedicating significant resources toward expanding its presence and growth in the DACH market with the opening of a new office headquartered in Switzerland. Over the last six months, Fireblocks has doubled the size of its European team to support the increasing number of institutional customers in the region with close to 200 customers in the DACH market.

To support Fireblocks' customer-base in the region, the company has appointed Richard AstleandAna Santillanas co-Heads of Switzerland. Richard brings extensive knowledge of the Swiss financial services industry from top tier banks where he participated in launching Swiss Crypto Vault, and was a founding member of the Bitcoin Suisse Institutional Services and Products Division. Ana's background is in debt capital markets, having established Morgan Stanley's Swiss fixed income institutional service team. She held senior positions in Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse wealth management before transitioning to digital assets. With over a decade of financial experience, Richard and Ana have been advising hedge funds, banks, and corporate clients implementing trading and custody of digital assets.

"It is important for us to work with Switzerland-based companies because of the value they bring to the financial market, having established themselves as one of the world's leading financial centers," said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. "Now these financial institutions are seeking to rapidly deploy digital asset custody, trading, and tokenization products and are turning to vetted technologies to help them remain at the forefront of this space and securely tap into the global crypto-ecosystem."

After onboarding over 500 financial institutions and growing it's custody technology to support $1 trillion in digital assets, Fireblocks is solidifying its investment and focus in Switzerland, one of the most diverse, and fastest growing financial hubs in the world. Further expansion in the DACH region is fueled by an increase in demand from financial institutions worldwide to transition from traditional HSMs to an infrastructure that utilizes MPC and SGX confidential computing. Last year, Fireblocks' R&D team developed MPC-CMP , a new breakthrough MPC algorithm, released as an open source contribution to the digital asset industry in order to bolster digital asset security and transaction signing speeds. Today, Switzerland-native institutions have been the first to implement MPC-CMP, remaining at the forefront of digital asset innovation and adoption in Europe.

"Fireblocks was the first solution to bring confidential cloud computing and MPC technology into the digital asset space and we are glad to see this approach is being adopted among major financial institutions" said Andy Flury, Founder and CEO at AlgoTrader. "With Fireblocks now firmly entering the Swiss market and seamlessly integrating with our WIRESWARM solutions to provide a single, end-to-end experience from trading to settlement and custody, we look forward to our customers and any financial institutions being able to access the proven Fireblocks custody and settlement technology platform for their growing digital asset businesses."

In its effort to support the growth of digital assets in Switzerland, Fireblocks recently joined as a member of The Crypto Valley Association, an independent, government-supported association established to take full advantage of Switzerland's strengths to build the world's leading blockchain and cryptographic technologies ecosystem along with Bitcoin Suisse, Accenture, Ledger, Okex, PWC, Kraken among other leaders in the blockchain space.

"As an early backer of Fireblocks, we strongly believe the banks and institutions in the Swiss region are primed for onboarding its solutions as new products and services are gearing up to come to market," saidStefan Kuentz, Investment Partner at Swisscom Ventures. "Not only will Fireblocks enable Swiss-based banks and institutions an easy way to launch or expand their digital asset businesses, but will also serve as a straight path to plug into the global digital asset market and liquidity."

Switzerland is significant to the growth and development and adoption of digital assets because it was one of the first financial sectors to welcome cryptocurrency and decentralized finance with a full set of regulations governing the industry. The region is home to over 960 blockchain/cryptocurrency companies, which include 11 unicorns and employ over 5,000 people. In February, Switzerland ushered a tokenized Securities Law that backs the country to have one of the most advanced jurisdictions in the world for crypto.

Fireblocks has grown to support some of the largest global banks such as Siam Commercial Bank, SVB, and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), as well as many institutions based in the EU region like Revolut, Algotrader, GSR Markets, Woorton, Enigma Securities and Scrypt Asset Management powering the custody, transfer and issuance of digital assets.

About Fireblocks

Fireblocks is a leading enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables banks, fintechs, exchanges, liquidity providers, OTCs and hedge funds to securely manage digital assets across a wide range of products and services. The technology consists of the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 500 financial institutions and has secured over $1 trillion in digital assets. Fireblocks has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit and offers 24/7 global support. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com .

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/970649/Fireblocks_Logo.jpg
NOT FOR PUBLICATION OR RELEASE IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OR AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, OR ANY PROVINCE OR TERRITORY THEREOF OR TO OR FOR THE ACCOUNT OF ANY NATIONAL, RESIDENT OR CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OR ANY PERSON RESIDENT IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA.

For Immediate Release

14 September 2021

NET ZERO INFRASTRUCTURE PLC

("NZI" or the "Company")

Admission Announcement to the London Stock Exchange Main Market

The directors of the Company (the "Directors") are pleased to announce that an application has been made for the admission ("Admission") of the Company's ordinary shares to the London Stock Exchange ("LSE") Main Market under Exchange symbol 'NZI' and ISIN GB00BNK8T635. The Company's registered office is 1 Charterhouse Mews, London, EC1M 6BB, United Kingdom.

The expected date of Admission is 15 September 2021. On Admission, the Company will have an approximate market capitalisation of 1.82 million at 0.03 per share.

The Company is the process of conducting a placing of 50,000,000 shares at 0.03 to raise 1,500,000. Upon Admission, the Company will have net funds of approximately 1.227 million and there will be 60,700,000 ordinary shares of 0.01 par value in issue.

Company Information

NZI was established in 2021 through the issue of shares to the founders as a special purpose acquisition vehicle which will seek an acquisition target in the renewable and clean energy sector.

In 2019, the United Kingdom became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050 and, on 20 April 2021, the UK government announced a new target to reduce national emissions by 78% by 2035. This new target was enshrined into law in June 2021 pursuant to the Carbon Budget Order 2021 (SI 2021/750). It meets the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee, which advised on the net zero target for 2050. The Climate Change Committee also recommended that low carbon investment scale up to 50 billion each year for this purpose.

In light of this, the Directors consider there to be significant commercial opportunities in the renewable and clean energy sectors which, in their view, will play an increasingly significant role in meeting future energy needs. To date, the Directors believe that the majority of investment in these sectors has been made with a focus on delivering specific renewable technologies and projects rather than on the supply chain and infrastructure which enable such technologies and projects to operate. The Directors expect these infrastructure assets, which are critical to achieving the net zero target, to offer stable long term cash flows to investors.

Directors

The Directors of the Company, and their age and positions are as follows:

Michael Ellwood - Non-executive director and chairman (age 60)

Michael is an experienced corporate banker having previously been Managing Director of RBS Structured Finance. Most recently, as Head of Corporate and Commercial Banking at Santander U.K. Ltd in London, he assisted in establishing Santander in the U.K. corporate banking market, with a significant presence in the renewable and infrastructure sector.

He sat on both the U.K. Executive Committee and the Global Coverage Board for the Investment Bank and was also a senior member of the U.K. Credit Committee.

Brian Basham - Non-executive director (age77)

Brian Basham is a former investigative journalist, Mergers & Acquisitions communications specialist and entrepreneur. He started his career in journalism with City Press, then moved to the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and The Times. After a brief spell as a fund manager, he moved into public relations, joining John Addey Associates.

Brian has been a founding member of a number of companies, including Broad Street Group, Primrose Care, Equity Development and ArchOver. He has also advised the chairmen and chief executives of many large companies and organisations including British Airways, Hanson, Bae Systems, Tesco, Guinness, Safeway, Wimpy, Saatchi and Saatchi, Age Concern, and the British Association of Pension Funds.

Alejandro Ciruelos - Non-executive director (age 40)

Alejandro is a Managing Director at Sustainable Development Capital LLP ("SDCL") where he heads the renewable energy and power practice of the firm. He has 15 years of experience in structuring, financing, investing and raising capital for power and infrastructure projects and corporations. Alejandro has participated twice as an expert witness in the UK Energy and Climate Change Committee and co-authored Renewable Energy Finance: Powering the Future.

Prior to joining SDCL, Alejandro was a Managing Director and member of the executive leadership team of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in London where he was responsible for the origination, structuring and placement of private debt and equity products.

James Wharton - Non-executive director (age 37)

James is a British Conservative Party politician who entered the House of Lords as Baron Wharton of Yarm in September 2020. Prior to this, he served as the Member of Parliament for his home constituency of Stockton South from 2010 to 2017 and served as the Northern Powerhouse Minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government. He also served as the Minister for Africa at the Department for International Development. James' early career was as a solicitor working for a firm in the Northeast of England.

James now has a number of roles including Chair of the Office for Students, England's Higher Education regulator.

Reasons for Admission to the London Stock Exchange Main Market

The Company is raising capital to fund the acquisition of a company or business in the renewable or clean energy sector. The Directors consider that admission of the Company's shares to trading on the Main Market will be attractive both to investors under the Placing and to the vendors of potential target companies or businesses as the Company executes its investment strategy, relative to the listing or admission of the Company's shares on a different exchange.

Directors Interest

The interests of the Directors, their immediate families and any persons connected with them (within the meaning of section 252 of the Act) (all of which, unless otherwise stated, are beneficial) in the Company's issued share capital as at the date of this announcement and as they are expected to be prior to and immediately following Admission will be as follows:

Director Name Number of issued Ordinary Shares Percentage of Entire Issued Share Capital at Admission Michael Ellwood 1,250,000 2.06% Brian Basham 1,000,000 1.65% Alejandro Ciruelos 0 0% James Wharton 0 0%

Shares in Public Hands

Approximately 83.1 per cent. of the Company's share capital will be in public hands upon Admission.

Document Available for Inspection

Copies of the prospectus and this announcement are available from the Company's website, https://nziplc.com.

The directors of Net Zero Infrastructure Plc accept responsibility for this announcement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Company Contact Details:

Net Zero Infrastructure Plc

1 Charterhouse Mews

London, EC1M 6BB,

United Kingdom.

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8124 3630

https://nziplc.com



Corporate Adviser:

Alexander David Securities Limited

David Scott - Corporate Finance

James Dewhurst - Corporate Finance

49 Queen Victoria Street,

London, EC4N 4SA

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7448 9820

http://www.ad-securities.com



Placing Agent and Broker from Admission:

Axis Capital Markets Limited

27 Clements Lane

London, EC4N 7AE

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 3026 0320

https://axcap247.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement contains forward-looking statements which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, the Directors' current views, interpretations, beliefs or expectations with respect to the Company's financial performance, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations. These statements include forward-looking statements both with respect to the Company and the sector and industry in which the Company proposes to operate. Statements which include the words "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "projects", "anticipates", "will", "targets", "aims", "may", "would", "could", "continue", "estimate", "future", "opportunity", "potential" or, in each case, their negatives, and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature identify forward-looking statements.

All forward-looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events that may or may not occur in the future. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, prospects and performance to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. In addition, even if the Company's actual results, prospects and performance are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, those results may not be indicative of results in subsequent periods

These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement. Subject to any obligations under the Prospectus Rules, the Market Abuse Regulation, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules and except as required by the FCA, the London Stock Exchange, the City Code or applicable law and regulations, the Company undertakes no obligation publicly to update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or individuals acting on behalf of the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph.

The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. No reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information contained in this announcement or its accuracy, fairness or completeness.

Alexander David Securities Limited and Axis Capital Markets Limited, which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, are acting only for the Company in connection with the matters described in this announcement and are not acting for or advising any other person, or treating any other person as its client, in relation thereto and will not be responsible for providing the regulatory protection afforded to clients of Axis Capital Markets Limited or advice to any other person in relation to the matters contained herein.
Global Bioenergies launches lip make-up range for its LAST cosmetics brand

Paris, 14th September 2021: Global Bioenergies announces the launch of a lip make-up range for its LAST brand, in addition to the existing eye make-up offer. 14 shades of liquid lipstick are now available atwww.colors-that-last.com.

Like the 18 mascara, eyebrow mascara and liquid eyeshadow products on the market since June, the 14 liquid lipsticks are a ground-breaking combination of high performance and high naturalness. This combination is only possible thanks to Global Bioenergies innovative product: naturally sourced isododecane.

Muriel Morelli, in charge of product development, said: "The synthetic isododecane currently used by cosmetics makers has long been prized for its longwear, low-transfer and waterproof performance and its capacity to offer the best properties in terms of application and drying time. LAST's liquid lipstick formulation uses naturally sourced isododecane produced by Global Bioenergies, which means we are the first company to have created a product of over 90% naturalness while maintaining the top performance standards on the market, as blind consumer trials have shown. This is our brand signature!"

Romain Desfresnes, in charge of marketing and communications, added: "We have prolonged the colour identity already present in our eye products: classic tints combined with bolder shades that capture the spirit of the times, when everyone is dying to get out of the house and treat themselves to a bit of extravagance."

Marc Delcourt, co-founder and CEO of Global Bioenergies, explained: "Today, choosing naturally sourced products is a radical act of support for the environment. Our process has found its first application in the cosmetics industry, and its contribution to the environmental transition will only grow in future as it impacts entire segments of the materials and fuels industries."

AS A REMINDER

Shareholders of record as at 11 June 2021 can get a 50% discount valid for all LAST products until 19 September. Send an email to: actionnaires-du-11-juin@global-bioenergies.com.

Contact Global Bioenergies

Pauline Bayec

Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communication

Phone: +33 (0)1 64 98 20 50

Mail: invest@global-bioenergies.com

Press Contact

TG Communication - tessa.guilloux@tgcom.fr

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Media relations:

Sam Connatty

Tel.: +44 (0)370 904 3601

sam.connatty@capgemini.com

Investor relations:

Vincent Biraud

Tel.: +33 1 47 54 50 87

vincent.biraud@capgemini.com

Capgemini signs agreement to acquire IT services provider VariQ,

adding scalability and strengths to its Government Solutions capabilities

in the U.S.

Acquisition would reinforce Capgemini Government Solutions LLC, part of the Capgemini Group, with further software development, cybersecurity and cloud service capabilities for federal government clients

Paris and Virginia, September 14, 2021 - Capgemini announced today that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire VariQ pending U.S applicable regulatory approvals. VariQ would be integrated into Capgemini Government Solutions LLC, Capgemini's independent operating division working with U.S. government agencies. This acquisition would strengthen the company's position in the Federal market and build momentum for continued growth.

VariQ was founded in 2003 and serves as a provider of Software Development, Cybersecurity, and Cloud services for federal government departments and agencies across the United States. These services are delivered through multiple contract vehicles, including the Alliant 2 best-in-class contract vehicle. Additionally, the company holds a digital transformation entity (Rivet Logic, acquired in 2020) which serves a set of commercial clients and would join forces with Capgemini in the U.S. to expand digital capabilities and key technology partners.

"As a company we are continuing to find ways to expand our ability to serve U.S. government agencies and this acquisition would augment our digital and agile capabilities while growing our talent base," said Jim Bailey, CEO of Capgemini's Americas Strategic Business Unit and Group Executive Board Member. "This acquisition marks an important moment for Capgemini Government Solutions and our vision for growth in the Americas."

"The addition of strong talent and expanded best-in-class contract vehicles would advance Capgemini Government Solutions' ability to provide industry-leading solutions to the agencies we serve," said Doug Lane, CEO, Capgemini Government Solutions LLC. "As we look ahead, we are motivated by the ability to cultivate strong partnerships with those we serve to deliver on transformative digital initiatives."

"At VariQ, we have continued to prioritize digital-first, secure agile capabilities and build a highly skilled team to deliver on priorities that align well to Capgemini and Capgemini Government Solutions," said Ben Edson, Founder & CEO of VariQ. "Joining Capgemini would provide the scale and expansive capabilities to enable us to better serve our 20+ client agencies. We look forward to delivering end to end solutions in support of our clients' missions."

The completion of the acquisition is subject to Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) approvals. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to such regulatory filings.

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of 290,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50 year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fuelled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2020 global revenues of 16 billion.

Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

About Capgemini Government Solutions LLC

Capgemini Government Solutions is committed to working with government clients to support them in their strategic, tactical and transformation initiatives. Capgemini helps organizations create sustainable value by employing innovative business process improvement strategies and applied solutions that utilize a unique method of engagement: the Collaborative Business Experience

Attachment
LAS VEGAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- XCMG (000425.SZ), world top three construction machinery manufacturer, is bringing three new customized products - XE950G excavator, XDA45U articulated dump truck and GR3505T5 grader - to MINExpo 2021, which is being held from September 13 to 15 in Las Vegas, United States.

XCMG will be at booth 27021 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is XCMG's first time exhibiting at MINExpo, the world's largest mining event that brings together all the latest cutting-edge equipment, innovations, services and technologies.

All three new XCMG products to be unveiled during MINExpo 2021 are customized specifically for the U.S. market and are well-adapted to work under different and highly challenging construction conditions.

The 95-ton XE950G excavator is an efficient and energy-saving model applicable to global markets, featuring an advanced control system and behavior monitoring system, especially highlighting the industry-leading dual-pump independent technology. It also excels in comfortable and smart operation and is applicable to extreme mining environments.

The 45-ton XDA45U articulated dump truck adopts mature power matching technology and delivers strong passing and reliable braking performances, is also equipped with precise hydraulic control and is all-terrain adaptive.

The GR3505T5 grader has strong traction output and features a high-pressure, high displacement and load-sensitive hydraulic system. The all-gear rear axle can prevent wear effectively and the hydraulic lock is error preventive. The model also provides an upgraded operation experience with speed-sensitive steering and an assisted steering system, comfortable electronic double joystick control system and fresh air circulation with standard cab pressurization.

XCMG was the earliest manufacturer in the Chinese construction machinery industry to enter the U.S. market, and has not only launched products that meet local certification and standards, but also established a comprehensive sales and service network capable of providing complete construction solutions for customers.

"XCMG has accumulated a wealth of experience in mining equipment and solutions and is committed to providing highly reliable, efficient and safe products for our customers, and our customization strategy has enabled XCMG to compete with the world's best manufacturers in the high-end market," said Xie Bin, CEO of XCMG North America Corp.

For more information, please visit www.xcmg.com, or XCMG pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1625431/1.jpg
H1 2021 results: sharp increase in profitability including non-recurring items

Net income attributable to owners of the parent: 7.3 million, up 73.0% (0.18 per share on a diluted basis, up 67.4%)

Property Investment net income attributable to owners of the parent per share on a diluted basis: 0.11, up 18.8%

NAV per share on a diluted basis: 5.87, up 4.6% over 12 months

Robust balance sheet: LTV ratio of 45.7% and 32.1 million in cash

Outlook: resilience and confidence

Property Investment: development of 46 million in commercial assets, with work starting up on 24 million in projects during H2 2021

Property Development: Order and negotiations in progress backlog of 80.7 million

CBo Territoria's Board of Directors met on Friday, 10 September 2021 and approved its consolidated results for the first half of 2021.

Audited consolidated financial statements

in  millions, under IFRS H1 2021 H1 2020 % Chg. Revenues 36.4 37.8 -3.9% Income from operations 9.9 8.1 +21.8% Fair value adjustments 1.6 (1.2) n/a Gain/(loss) on disposal of investment properties 0.7 0.3 +116.6% Other operating income/(expense) 0.3 0.0 n/a Share in income from associates 0.8 0.8 -5.8% Operating income (including associates)(1) 13.2 8.0 +64.2% Net interest expense (3.1) (2.5) +25.4% Income before tax 10.1 5.6 +81.5% Income tax expense (2.8) (1.3) +114.9% Net income 7.3 4.3 +71.3% Net income attributable to owners of the parent 7.3 4.2 +73.0%

Operating income after share in net income from associates

The consolidated interim financial statements are currently being audited.

CBo Territoria relatively unaffected by Covid-19

As of 14 September 2021, La Reunion remains less affected by the pandemic than the French mainland (1,858 active cases and 354 deaths since the first case was reported - source: ARS). Given La Reunion's limited number of beds and its island location, tighter measures have been introduced than in mainland France, including the closure from 5 April to 19 May 2021 of non-essential stores in shopping centres with a surface area of over 10,000 m2. A 9pm curfew has been in force since 31 July.

To date, the pandemic's likely impact on CBo Territoria's 2021 income statement has been kept down to less than 0.2 million.

Property Development back to a normal business level and higher Property Investment rental income

In the first half of 2021, CBo Territoria's revenues totalled 36.4 million, down 3.9% given the return to a normal business level in Property Development from the 2019 and 2020 peak in line with the Group's forecasts.

Gross rental income from Property Investment's economic portfolio rose 8.6% to 12.6 million, with the boost provided by commercial assets, which recorded a 9.7% increase to 10.8 million. These now account for 86% of total gross rental income, up from 84% in the first half of 2020.

Property Development revenue was back at a normal level of 23.0 million in the first half of 2021 (down 10.2% relative to H1 2020).

The contribution from existing properties fell 15.8% to 14.9 million owing to the high comparative figure for the commercial portfolio (down 56%) in 2020, with delivery of the Leroy Merlin store a key factor

Sales of residential and commercial plots rose 2.2% to 8.1 million.

20.5% increase in recurring net income from Property Investment and surge in net income attributable to owners of the parent as a result of fair value adjustments

In the first half of 2021, Property Investment, including the share in income from associates, recorded 10.7 million in net rental income. This 8.1% increase was supported by the contribution from new assets at the Retail Park du Port development and the offices acquired in Ile-de-France (Paris region) in late 2020.

Through reductions in overheads (outsourced residential property management) and a tighter grip on interest costs*, the business posted recurring net income attributable to owners of the parent up 20.5% at 4.2 million. Recurring net income attributable to owners of the parent per share on a diluted basis moved up 18.8% to 0.11.

Property Development posted a 14.0% increase in its margin to 4.6 million given the spectacular contribution to the product mix made by the most recent commercial plots.

With the stronger performance of these two businesses and a non-recurring increase of 2.8 million in fair value adjustments, CBo Territoria's net income attributable to owners of the parent rose 73.0% to 7.3 million. Net income attributable to owners of the parent came to 0.18 per share on a diluted basis, an increase of 67.4%.

*excluding the measurement of the ORNANE derivative

Further shift in the focus of the economic portfolio to commercial assets

At 30 June 2021, the economic portfolio was valued at 383.6 million, up 3.8% on its end-2020 level as a result of the delivery of the Retail Park du Port. Commercial assets now make up 79% of the portfolio, compared with 74% of the total at end-2020, reflecting the shift to this asset class. Its valuation by independent appraisers, which remains conservative by comparison with the mainland market, has not been impacted by the pandemic given the resilience of the Group's assets.

The commercial economic portfolio rose 6.5% to 299.7 million with the addition of new assets. It is highly diversified (offices 33%, retail 56%, business premises 11%) and its vacancy rate is stable at 4%, reflecting its high-calibre assets. Its gross rate of return came to 7.5%.

In the first half of 2021, the Group pressed ahead with expanding its commercial portfolio, including:

Delivery of the final store (6,100 m2) at the Retail Park du Port developed by CBo Territoria

Launch of a major project at Combani in Mayotte, initially involving a 24 million investment in building a 7,400 m2 complex. These facilities, which have been awarded a commercial use permit, are currently 68% let, with tenants including a 1,920 m2 Carrefour supermarket and a 1,200 m Monsieur Bricolage home improvement store. Work is expected to start over the next few weeks, and the project is due to enter service in the second half of 2023.

During the period, CBo Territoria continued to pull out of residential assets with the sale of 17 homes. At 30 June 2021, its residential portfolio comprised 302 homes, up from 319 at year-end 2020, or 12% of the economic portfolio, down from 13% at year-end 2020.

Robust balance sheet providing a sound basis for further development

At 30 June 2021, the Group held 32.1 million in cash on its balance sheet. Net debt came to 197.9 million. The LTV ratio excluding transfer taxes rose slightly to 45.7% (up 1.3 points). Fixed-rate borrowings accounted for 80% of the total, up from 77% at year-end 2020. The average cost of debt was stable at 2.8%.

Net asset value of 5.87 per share on a diluted basis (up 4.6%)

At 30 June 2021, NAV rose 4.1% over 12 months to 216.3 million, or 5.87 per share on a diluted basis. The share's discount, based on the average share price between 1 and 10 September 2021, stood at 34% of its NAV per share on a diluted basis.

Outlook: continuing shift to focus on Property Investment

With its solid balance sheet and its diversified and resilient business model, CBo Territoria intends to continue expanding its Property Investment business out to 2023, with 46 million in commercial assets, including 24 million in projects starting up in H2 2021.

At the same time, the Group is continuing to sell down its residential assets under the agreement reached with SHLMR/Action Logement.

For 2021, the Group has set a target of a 2% increase in gross rental income to 23.8 million.

The Property Development business, which helps to provide funds for Property Investment, will continue to run at a normal level after pulling back from the record highs of 2019 and 2020, with an order and negotiations in progress backlog of 80.7 million.

"Our diversified business model has proven its resilience over the past 18 months amid the pandemic crisis", commented Eric Wuillai, CBo Territoria's Chairman and CEO. "Given the strength of our balance sheet and our major pipeline of tightly controlled property development and investment projects, we are confident about our development prospects thanks to our medium-term visibility."

About CBo Territoria

CBo Territoria is a leading real estate developer and developer in Reunion Island and Mayotte. It is listed on Euronext C (FR0010193979, CBOT) and eligible for the PEA PME scheme (the SME financing share savings plan).

For the past 10 years the Group has been selected by the Gaia Index for its ESG approach, and it relies on best practices for its governance.

CBo Territoria owns 2,950 hectares of land and aims to become a multi-regional property company whose development is co-financed by the results of its development activity.

www.cboterritoria.com

Contacts

Investor Relations

Caroline Clapier

Administrative and Financial Director

direction@cboterritoria.com Press relations Paris

dmorin@capvalue.fr Press relations Reunion

Driscoll Delalain

ddelalain@cboterritoria.com

Property Development operating margin: revenues less cost of sales, sales and marketing costs and allowances to provisions

Recurring net income: IFRS net income from ordinary and recurring activities

Associates: company accounted for under the equity method. Equity accounting is an accounting technique whereby the carrying amount of shares held in an entity by its parent company is replaced by a measurement of the portion that the parent company owns in the equity of that entity.

ORNANE - Bond redeemable in cash and in new or existing shares. Convertible bond, the principal amount of which is repaid in cash at maturity and, if the conversion option is in-the-money, the difference between share price and the conversion threshold may be redeemed in the issuer's shares.

Economic portfolio: investment assets and share in assets held by associates

Net income attributable to owners of the parent: net income attributable to owners of the parent is the share of net income payable to the Group's owners. Also known as net income, Group share.

Income from operations: development margins + Rental income net of property expenses - net management expenses +/- Income from ancillary activities.

Operating income: Income from operations + fair value adjustments + gains/(losses) on investment properties + other operating income and expenses + share in income of associates

Stock options: stock options at a given exercise price

Financial vacancy rate: ratio between the market rent of vacant space and rental income from the total space (actual rental income from space rented + market rent of vacant space)

Cash flow statement: shows how cash was generated and how the cash position changed during a financial year or a given period.

GLOSSARY



NAV - Net Asset Value: calculated based on consolidated equity, including unrealised capital gains and losses on the property portfolio. The property portfolio is measured at market value by means of an independent appraisal.

NAV per share: Net asset value per share excluding shares held in treasury

Diluted NAV per share: Net asset value per share reflecting the maximum number of shares that may be issued as a result of outstanding dilutive instruments

CFO - Cash flow from operations: All internal sources of funds generated by the activities of a business that can be used for funding purposes

Cash generated by operating activities: change in the cash position of a business resulting from the operating cash flows generated by its main activities

Average cost of borrowing = ratio of the amount of interest paid over the year, before capitalisation, to its average debt outstanding over the period

ICR - Interest Coverage Ratio: coverage of the cost of borrowing by net rental income

Deferred tax: Deferred tax is a means of recognising tax arising from a business profit generated during the period in respect of the operations of a business that may in the future incur a tax liability or tax saving that is not recognised under the current tax method.

Yield property: all existing property assets generating steady rental income

Investment property: existing yield properties (commercial + residential) + Investment land (excluding land held as inventory or for development)



Fair Value: this method of measuring assets is recommended by the IFRS international accounting standards and is applied in the consolidated financial statements.

It is defined as "the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date"

Property Investment's net rental income = Property Investment operating margin: Rental income net of direct property expenses reflecting allowances to provisions for doubtful receivables

LTV - Loan To Value: Amount of outstanding bank debt net of investment assets and cash/market value of Investment Properties excluding transfer taxes + net carrying amount of operational properties other than head office + inventories and outstandings (consolidated value).

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Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon stars as the brand's Global Ambassador

PARIS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has debuted a new and unforgettable chapter in its storied 100-year plus history, Experience The Grandest of Feelings , a global brand campaign that pays tribute to the tangible echoes of the luxury brand's historic origins while also imparting a refreshed vision and stirring images of adventures yet to come. The visionaries who made history in creating Fairmont's first hotels and those who continue to preserve and protect the abundant natural landscapes wherever Fairmont resides is a key theme throughout the creative of the campaign. The tradition of thoughtful hospitality amid spectacular scenery around the globe firmly roots the brand in nature and its preservation.

"Travel is truly one of the most unique unifiers and equalizers. The how, why, and where we travel is unimportant: the transcendent act of traveling - no matter how far - opens up the mind to diversity and inclusion that boldly drives society forward," said Mansi Vagt, Vice President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. "Experience The Grandest of Feelings celebrates just that and captures the essence of all things Fairmont no matter the destination - city center, island retreat, and everything in between. The overriding sensation is being in a place that has meaning and feeling."

Directed by world-renowned director Nathalie Canguilhem, the campaign showcases five iconic locations: Montreux, Switzerland / Fairmont Le Montreux Palace; New York City / The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel; Alberta, Canada / Fairmont Banff Springs; British Columbia, Canada / Fairmont Hotel Vancouver; and the breathtaking landscapes of South Africa. A transformative voyage takes hold through pristine nature and grand elements - connecting places of historic beauty with modern sensibilities and the dreams of a new generation of travelers.

Academy Award winning actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Susan Sarandon stars in the role of global brand ambassador. With a remarkable film career and reputation of being authentic, caring and promoting positive change, she was a natural choice for Fairmont, having a shared spirit of adventure, timeless sophistication, empowering purpose, and a passion for thinking globally and acting locally. Fairmont also shares Ms. Sarandon's commitment to environmental concerns, and her passion for exploration. Symbolically, she opens and closes the campaign, serving as a guide through the entire transformative journey.

Jean-Guilhem Lamberti, Chief Creative Officer, Accor, added: "Brands are never as strong as when they are true to their original vision. With this campaign, I wanted to go back to the brand's origins and to express the awe and enchantment that one feels when entering a Fairmont hotel. The grandest of feelings call for the grandest of expressions: the mighty architecture of the hotels meets the most pristine awe-inspiring nature in an effortlessly artistic parallel. Nature invades the spaces of the hotels and vice-versa in a symbiotic and visually arresting style. It all seems very relevant in today's environment as everyone is longing to set free on majestic journeys and rediscover the beauty and grandeur of our world."

Fairmont's pioneering approach to hospitality extends to its mission for preserving and protecting the landscapes it calls home. A remarkable 30 years ago, Fairmont became the first luxury hotel brand with a comprehensive and global sustainability program, that now forms part of Accor's Planet 21 program. Safeguarding the planet's star-studded skies, snow-capped mountains, treasured forests, and beyond blue waters so they remain spectacular is of the utmost importance to the entire Experience The Grandest of Feelings platform.

The campaign will debut in markets worldwide aimed at inspiring that collective curiosity that drives guests to journey in search of new surroundings: a new restaurant that transports them across the globe in one bite, a scenic view shared amongst strangers, an unexpected cultural experience that still proves how much we all have in common. Travel brings us all together and only Fairmont truly evokes those feelings of grandeur set amongst a determined purpose to preserving nature.

In the coming months, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts locations across the globe will also debut "The Grandest of Escapes Exclusively by Fairmont" offers that will bring to life the imagery and ethos of the creative through a series of exciting once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

About Fairmont

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is where the intimate equally coexists with the infinite - an unrivaled portfolio of more than 80 extraordinary hotels where grand moments of life, heartfelt pleasures and personal milestones are celebrated and remembered long after any visit. Since 1907, Fairmont has created magnificent, meaningful and unforgettable hotels, rich with character and deeply connected to the history, culture and community of its destinations - places such as The Plaza in New York City, The Savoy in London, Fairmont San Francisco, Fairmont Banff Springs in Canada, Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and Fairmont The Palm in Dubai. Famous for its engaging service, awe-inspiring public spaces, locally inspired cuisine, and iconic bars and lounges, Fairmont also takes great pride in its pioneering approach to hospitality and leadership in sustainability and responsible tourism practices. Fairmont is part of Accor, a world leading hospitality group consisting of more than 5,100 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues throughout 110 countries.

fairmont.com | all.accor.com | group.accor.com
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nobu Hospitality, the global luxury lifestyle brand founded by Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro and Meir Teper, is delighted to announce the launch of a new interactive mobile app in partnership with Alliants, available to download on iOS and Android. With the world of Nobu at their fingertips, guests can explore and reserve the expanding global portfolio of restaurants and hotels, access exclusive benefits, and enjoy a seamless, contact-free guest journey.

With the demand for touchless guest experiences, the new Nobu app offers guests a fully integrated experience - without losing sight of the brand's world-renowned heartfelt service. Features include mobile check-in and check-out, virtual room keys, itinerary at a glance and the ability to chat in multiple languages on a variety of platforms, including WeChat, SMS, and WhatsApp. Guests can also connect directly with hotel team members at the touch of a button for 24/7 requests, i.e., ordering Nobu in-room dining, special requests and to gain access to exclusive benefits, from priority restaurant seating to tailored local experiences.

The app also features a 'Nobu Recommends' section that provides a mobile concierge review of each hotel's destination and advice on booking local restaurants. A 'Meet the Team' platform introduces guests to the leadership team on their chosen property, while 'How We Roll' highlights exclusive brand partnerships. Users will also gain first access to private events and happenings at Nobu Hotels and Restaurants around the world.

Trevor Horwell, Chief Executive Officer for Nobu Hospitality comments, 'The Nobu app offers a truly user-friendly, contact-free and fully-integrated guest journey - a concept that has never been more important in an ever-changing travel landscape. We are thrilled to offer our guests a digital platform to interact with Nobu in new and immersive ways.'

Tristan Gadsby, CEO & co-founder, Alliants states, 'Alliants is delighted to partner with Nobu to deliver a digital experience for their customers that is worthy of one of the world's best experiential brands. Being able to connect and communicate with customers has proven to be vital in building loyalty and increasing revenue. These fundamentals have never been in sharper focus, and we look forward to working with Nobu as they build on their existing success.'

Full functionality on the app is currently offered at Nobu Hotels in London Portman Square, Palo Alto and Warsaw and will be in Chicago and Miami Beach as well as other locations soon.

Video

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1625335/Nobu_Hotels_QR_Code.jpg
Dynamic growth and increased profitability thanks to strong performance of cloud-based activities

Esker:

VALUE IN THOUSANDS OF 1H 2021* 1H 2020* CHANGE IN SALES 64,350 54,240 +19% OPERATING INCOME 9,128 6,206 +47% CURRENT INCOME 9,195 6,002 +53% NET INCOME BEFORE TAXES 9,873 7,028 +40% NET INCOME 7,575 5,423 +40% VALUE IN THOUSANDS OF 06/30/2021 12/31/2020 CHANGE IN

THOUSANDS OF SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY 71,579 65,412 +6,167 NET CASH POSITION 28,334 25,277 +3,057 *Accounts prepared under French accounting standards (CRC 99-02) and unaudited

Accelerated growth with global recovery and sales success

Esker's 2021 half-year sales revenue grew 22% based on constant exchange rates (+19% based on current rates). Growth continued to be driven by the continued success of cloud-based solutions, which grew 26% to 49.5 million euros, representing close to 77% of total company revenue. Professional implementation services grew 13% to represent 17% of the company's business. The high number of deals closed since Q4 2020 will result in an acceleration in implementation services growth. The performance of traditional license-based products and legacy products recorded a slight recovery (+6%) and now represent only 6% of total revenue.

The growth in cloud-based revenue comes from sales success achieved in 2020 and 2021, and the renewed use of Esker's platform by its customers as they gradually emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Contracts signed since July 1, 2020 accounted for 37% of cloud-based activity growth in the first half of 2021, with the remainder coming from contracts signed prior to this date.

At the geographic level, all regions progressed strongly. Europe and the United States recorded similar performances, with growth rates reaching 23% compared to the first half of 2020. The Asia-Pacific zone grew 18%, however the persistent strict sanitary restrictions slightly impacted volumes.

Bookings continue their dynamic growth

In the first half of 2020, the pandemic significantly slowed down the business development momentum initiated several years ago. The average Annual Recurring Value (ARR) of new contracts signed during the first half of 2020 only increased by 8% compared to the first half of 2019.

The strong upturn in new contracts signed in Q320, and reinforced in Q420, was confirmed throughout the first half of 2021. The ARR of contracts signed amounted to 6.5 million euros, an increase of more than 64% for the half-year.

Contracts won in 2021 still only contributed 1.1 million euros to the increase in cloud-base activity in the first half of the year (representing 2% of cloud-based revenue). They will be a strong revenue driver for Esker in the second half of 2021 and in 2022.

Strong increase in profitability and continued growth investments

Current operating income increased to 9.2 million euros (+53%). The strong growth in revenue allowed the company to increase its investments while recording a strong increase in profitability to 14% of revenues.

Average employee numbers this half-year were up 12% (85 employees) to reach more than 800 employees as of June 30, 2021. Efforts focused particularly on sales (+14%), consulting (+11%) and R&D (+12%) departments. In order to fuel future growth, Esker plans to intensify recruitment efforts in the second half of the year to exceed 900 employees by the beginning of 2022 (while respecting profitability standards).

Net income increased significantly (40%) to reach 7.6 million euros, in line with the activity of the first semester.

Strengthened financial structure

In 2020, Esker benefited from the French government's economic support measures in the form of state-guaranteed loans of 11 million euros. Given the evolution of the company's situation and that of its customers, these loans were fully repaid in 2020.

The company's net cash increased significantly to 28.3 million euros despite a 52% increase in the 2021 dividend. After a challenging 2020, Esker thanks its shareholders for their confidence and contribution to the company's success.

Positive outlook for 2021

Despite a less favorable base effect, the second half of 2021 should confirm the strong momentum of Esker's business, in both revenue and bookings. Annual growth at constant exchange rates is expected to exceed 17% and revenue to surpass the 130 million euro mark. In the absence of any significant external events penalizing the business (e.g., changes linked to the pandemic, unfavorable currency fluctuations, etc.), Esker's 2021 financial results will be in line with the performance of the first half of the year and in strong progression compared to 2020.

About Esker

Esker is a global cloud platform built to unlock strategic value for finance and customer service professionals, and strengthen collaboration between companies by automating the cash conversion cycle. Esker's solutions incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive increased productivity, enhanced visibility, reduced fraud risk, and improved collaboration with customers, suppliers and internally. Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France, and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit www.esker.com. Follow Esker on LinkedIn and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005945/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact: Alexis Diehl

Tel: (469) 999-4975 adiehl@ideagrove.com

Investor Relations Contact: Emmanuel Olivier

Tel: +33 (0)4 72 83 46 46 olivier@esker.fr
NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Sept. 14, 2021, a leading provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) software, data and consulting services, from Genstar Capital. The transaction, which values the company at $1.4 billion, continues Blackstone's thematic investment focus on the ESG sector and provides Sphera with capital to help accelerate its growth and product offerings.



Spanning over 80 countries with more than 3,000 customers, Sphera combines its software as a service solution with consulting services, underpinned by proprietary data, to support businesses globally to manage and mitigate ESG risk. This support is delivered through its three product lines: Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S); Operational Risk Management; and Product Stewardship.

As part of Sphera's strategic growth efforts, the company is also announcing the appointment of Kimberly Kolb as chief human resources officer (CHRO). As CHRO, Kolb will be responsible for developing and supporting Sphera's global workforce as the organization continues to grow its footprint worldwide. She brings over 30 years of human resources, consulting and marketing experience from technology, professional service and financial services firms to the position, and held senior leadership roles at Whittman-Hart, CME Group and XR Trading.

Paul Marushka, CEO and president at Sphera, said, "As we enter this new stage, we are excited to be able to partner with Blackstone. Our achievements to date are a result of the dedication, hard work and effort of the team at Sphera. I am proud to collaborate with such a dedicated team as we take Sphera, with Blackstone's investment and support, to the next level. This partnership with and capital injection by Blackstone will facilitate the next evolution of innovation, cementing our position as leaders and allowing us to push ahead with our vision for ESG software integration with extensive data and world-class consultancy services."

Eli Nagler, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said: "We are excited to partner with Paul Marushka and his team to build on Sphera's strong momentum as a trusted leader in the ESG solutions space. We look forward to supporting the company in the next phase of its growth journey as they continue to expand their product offerings and innovate to best serve their global customer base."

Note to editors

About Sphera

Spheracreates a safer, more sustainable and productive world. We are a leading global provider of Environmental, Social and Governanceperformance and risk management software, data and consulting serviceswith a focus on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn.



About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world's leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $684 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

Contact:

Sphera Solutions, Sphera@AspectusGroup.com
World leaders and experts renewed their calls for peaceful reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula during the virtual Rally of Hope September 12 (KST). The event, broadcasted live from South Korea and attended by millions of online participants from around the world, featured the Universal Peace Federation's (UPF) new initiative, Think Tank 2022, which seeks to build a global strategy for a major breakthrough for peace by the end of 2022.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005985/en/

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon addresses the online participants from around the world at the ThinkTank 2022 Rally of Hope (Photo: Business Wire)

"I truly believe that an extraordinary future awaits the people of North Korea and I have faith that if they pursue the path of denuclearization, they will make that future a magnificent reality," former U.S. President Donald Trump said in remarks prepared for the event. "Until that blessed day comes, the indispensable force for peace on the Korean Peninsula remains a strong America. As we have seen recently in other parts of the world, weakness only invites more violence and chaos."

The rally, the seventh such event since August 2020, is among the growing efforts of UPF Co-Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon to address worldwide challenges, including poverty, equality, and environmental degradation, as well as the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. "Now the time has come for Korea to fulfill its responsibility," Dr. Moon said at the event. "[T]he prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula are excellent. This will happen."

Dr. Moon and her late husband, the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, are both natives of what is now North Korea and dedicated their lives toward reunifying their homeland and building a more peaceful world. The online rally, which was live-streamed in the U.S. on September 11, included a solemn prayer engaging the global audience in honor of the thousands of lives lost in the 2001 terror attacks.

Other rally speakers included Samdech Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia; Jose Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission; Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former president of The Philippines; H.D. Deve Gowda, former Indian prime minister; Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona, former president of Trinidad and Tobago; and Natasa Micic, former Serbian president.

"As a country placing priceless value upon peace, Cambodia highly appreciates the organization of this rally to strengthen the culture of peace and mutual trust under the framework of international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific area," said Prime Minister Sen, whose Asian Vision Institute will serve as the Asia-Pacific Secretariat of Think Tank 2022. He recalled when Phnom Penh was captured by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 during the Cambodian Civil War, saying, "We remember the tragedy and are determined to prevent such a similar event from happening again... We vividly understand that peace and nation-building can only be achieved by the local stakeholders in the conflicting country."

Four governors of South Korean provinces, as well as newly elected Seoul Mayor Oh See-hoon, Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-sup, and Busan Mayor ??Park Heong-joon, congratulated Dr. Moon and UPF for the work to advance reconciliation and cooperation on the peninsula. Mr. Barroso, speaking from his longtime experience leading the European Commission, said he strongly supports Korean reunification. "What the global community can do, and I believe it should do even more, is to show strong support to facilitate [and] create the best external conditions for the Koreans themselves to find a way for true reconciliation and peace," he said.

In her remarks, Mrs. Arroyo said, "With leaders Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in exchanging letters since April and announcing the restoration of several communication channels in July including a military link demolished by the North last year let Korea's example teach the world that peace can thrive if humanity can dream together."

Mr. Carmona said, "Collaborative goodwill is the engine of any successful peace process. Reunification and reconciliation require genuine maturity rather than filibustering, a meeting of the minds and hearts, celebrating the common good not revisiting the painful past, but rather connecting to the intergenerational and intragenerational hope, ambition, and vision of a united Korean people."

Think Tank 2022, which is developing Expert Working Groups (EWGs) linked to UPF's seven international associations, will spearhead peacebuilding projects such as a UN Peace Park on the DMZ, building a Korea-Japan undersea tunnel, boosting Geumgang Mountain tourism development, helping separated Korean families find their relatives, and a call for the UN to establish an office in Korea. Think Tank 2022 has already hosted numerous webinars and will also carry out fact-finding consultations, international leadership conferences, and a major World Summit in South Korea implementing a "One Million People's Relief Association."

The work of UPF globally aims at promoting constructive dialogue among leaders from all sectors and with diversity of political, philosophical and ideological points of view. In a world characterized too often by polarization and an unwillingness to respectfully engage with those who represent "the other side," UPF seeks to foster a wider dialogue a political ecumenism that breaks down barriers and charts a path to mutual respect and understanding. Nowhere is such an approach more desperately needed than that of the Korean Peninsula. For this reason, UPF is engaging with leaders of nations and political parties that are allied with both North and South Korea and are guided by principles of respect, civility, and a commitment to reconciliation.

For additional information about Think Tank 2022, please click Here

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005985/en/

Contacts:

EUROPE THE MIDDLE EAST: Peter Zoehrer

media@europe.upf.org
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2021) - Mainstream Minerals Corporation (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a share purchase agreement dated September 14, 2021 (the "Share Purchase Agreement"), with Radio Fuels Resources Corp. ("Radio Fuels") and the shareholders of Radio Fuels (collectively, the "Vendors"), pursuant to which the Company has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Radio Fuels (the "Transaction"). Radio Fuels is a private company formed under the laws of Ontario, whose sole asset is a 100% interest in certain mineral claims and leases located in the Mining District of Sault St. Marie, Ontario (the "Property").

As consideration for the Transaction, the Company will issue an aggregate of 58,823,529 common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Consideration Shares") at a deemed price of $0.34 per Consideration Share to the Vendors. All securities issued pursuant to the Transaction will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the issuance thereof, as applicable, in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Property

The Property is located approximately 11 km east of the City of Elliot Lake, Ontario, and is 100% owned by Radio Fuels, a private Canadian mining company involved in acquisition, exploration, and development of uranium deposits, which acquired the Property in June of 2017. The Property consists of 38 mining claims totally 371 claim units and three mining leases covering approximately 7,822 ha in the Sault St. Marie Mining Division. The Elliot Lake camp has historically produced more than 270 million pounds of U3O8 from vast, strata-bound deposits. The Property was formerly held by Pele Mountain Resources, which commissioned a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") and associated National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects Resource Estimate which was completed by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. in 2012. The PEA indicates that positive economic results can be obtained for a portion of the Property, in a scenario that includes room and pillar mining, and uranium and rare earth recovery by conventional milling. The Base Case LOM plan for the Property indicates that 34.6 Mt, at average grades of 0.040% U3O8 and 1,455 g/t TREO, will be mined over 11 years at a nominal production rate of 9,000 tpd. Uranium production is projected to total 27.5 million pounds, and REO production is projected to total 44.1 million kilograms.

Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, the Company proposes to complete a non-brokered private placement of up to a maximum of 25,000,000 subscription receipts at a price of $0.40 per Subscription Receipt (the "Issue Price") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to a maximum of $10,000,000 (the "Offering"). The gross proceeds of the Offering (the "Escrowed Proceeds") will be held in escrow on behalf of the subscribers of the Subscription Receipts by Capital Transfer Agency ULC (the "Escrow Agent"), pursuant to the terms of a subscription receipt agreement (the "Subscription Receipt Agreement") to be entered into on or about the closing date of the Offering (the "Offering Closing Date") among the Company and the Escrow Agent. Each Subscription Receipt will be automatically converted, without payment of any additional consideration and without further action on the part of the holder thereof, for one unit (a "Unit") of the Company upon satisfaction or waiver of the escrow release conditions ("Escrow Release Conditions") set out below and in the Subscription Receipt Agreement and prior to a Termination Event (as defined below), subject to adjustment in certain events. The Units to be issued upon conversion of the Subscription Receipts will be comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Unit Share") and one-half of one whole common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable by the holder thereof for one common share of the Company (each, a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $0.50 per Warrant Share for a period of five (5) years following the date of issuance, subject to adjustments in certain events.

The Escrow Release Conditions are as follows:

(a) The receipt of all required corporate, shareholder and regulatory approvals in connection with the Offering and the Transaction;

(b) The completion or the satisfaction of all conditions precedent to the Transaction, substantially in accordance with the definitive agreements relating to the Transaction; and

(c) The Company having delivered a notice to the Escrow Agent, confirming that the conditions set forth in (a) and (b) above have been met or waived.

In the event that: (i) the Escrow Agent does not receive the release notice contemplated by the Subscription Receipt Agreement prior to 5:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on that date which is 180 days after the Offering Closing Date (the "Escrow Release Deadline"); or (ii) prior to the Escrow Release Deadline, the Company announces to the public that it does not intend to proceed with the Transaction and/or satisfy the Escrow Release Conditions (each, a "Termination Event"), the Escrowed Proceeds (plus any interest accrued thereon) will be returned to the holders of the Subscription Receipts on a pro rata basis and the Subscription Receipts will be cancelled without any further action on the part of the holders. To the extent that the Escrowed Funds are not sufficient to refund the aggregate Issue Price paid to the holders of the Subscription Receipts, the Company will be responsible and liable to contribute such amounts as are necessary to satisfy any shortfall.

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used for general corporate purposes. The Subscription Receipts issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a regulatory four month hold period.

The securities that will be issued in connection with the Offering will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

The Company has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. to act as its financial advisor for the Offering. The Company may pay certain eligible persons a commission in connection with the Offering.

Qualified Person

Kelly Malcolm, P.Geo., a Qualified Person, as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the geological information reported in this news release. The Qualified Person has not completed sufficient work to verify the historic information on the Property, particularly with regards to historical resource estimate set out above. However, due to the quality of the historical work competed with respect to the Property and the reputation of the previous owner of the Property the Qualified Person assumes that the historical exploration and resource estimate were completed to industry standard practices.

For further information, please contact:

Daniel Nauth

President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (416) 477-6031

Email: dnauth@nauth.com

Completion of the transaction contemplated by the Share Purchase Agreement, the issue price of the securities in connection with the Offering, the terms of the Subscription Receipts and the units (and securities being offered) and the closing of the Offering is subject to a number of conditions. The transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the contemplated transaction or the Offering will be completed as proposed or at all. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the contemplated transactions may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/96517
Key highlights

Exclusive Networks is a leading global specialist in innovative cybersecurity technologies.

Exclusive Networks has deep technical capabilities and innovative services that augment vendor and channel partner offerings, including DevSecOps, emerging technology validation and 'as-a-service' consumption platform.

Exclusive Networks provides specialist services to accelerate the sale of cybersecurity disruptive technologies on a global scale. Exclusive Networks helps vendors scale their businesses globally, and offers channel partners (such as value-added resellers, system integrators, telcos and managed service providers) expertise, disruptive technologies and services to fit the needs of their corporate customers.

The Group's growth strategy is centred on driving underlying growth with existing vendors, in current and new geographies; attracting new vendors and customers to complement its robust portfolio; expanding its services offering to meet customer and vendor needs; and pursuing value-accretive M&A.

Structure: A public offering in France to retail investors (the "French Public Offering"), and an international private placement (the "International Offering"), to institutional investors inside and outside of France.

Indicative offering price range: between 20 euros and 24 euros per share.

Size of the Offering: (i) sale of 5,295,307 existing shares (i.e. approximately 106 million based on the low end of the indicative price range) by Everest UK Holdco Limited (a Permira entity), HTIVB (a legal entity ultimately controlled by Olivier Breittmayer) and certain managers, employees and former employees of the Company and (ii) issuance of new ordinary shares (the "New Shares") by Exclusive Networks amounting to approximately 260 million (corresponding to a maximum of 13,000,000 new shares, based on the low end of the indicative price range).

Over-allotment option: sale of additional existing shares by Everest UK HoldCo Limited and HTIVB, representing a maximum of 15.00% of the total number of shares offered in the offering, corresponding to a maximum of 2,744,296 additional shares based on the low end of the indicative price range.

Subscription period: The French Public Offering is expected to close on 21 September 2021 at 5 p.m. (Paris time) for orders placed at branches of financial institutions and at 8 p.m. (Paris time) for orders placed online. The International Offering is expected to close on 22 September 2021 at 1 p.m.(Paris time).

The pricing of the Offering is expected to take place on 22 September 2021.

Conditional trading of the shares on the regulated market of Euronext Paris is expected to start on 23 September 2021.

Settlement and Delivery of the shares is expected on 27 September 2021.

Regulatory News:

Exclusive Networks S.A. (Paris:EXN) ("Exclusive Networks" or the "Company", ticker symbol EXN), a leading global specialist in innovative cybersecurity technologies, announces today the launch of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in view of the admission of its shares to trading on the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Compartment A).

Jesper Trolle, Chief Executive Officer of Exclusive Networks, said:

"Exclusive Networks is a global cyber security specialist, and has been at the forefront of disruptive innovation in cybersecurity and cloud technologies for nearly two decades. In that time, we have evolved from a small private company to a global cybersecurity specialist, with a 36% gross sales CAGR since 2013.

Our mission is to drive the transition to a totally trusted digital future. We believe our proposed IPO on Euronext will help us to accelerate our proven growth strategy which is centred around four key tenets: driving growth with existing vendors; attracting new vendors and customers; expanding our services offering; and acquiring companies that fit our culture and DNA, and complement our geographical presence or capabilities.

Exclusive Networks is ideally placed to deliver on this vision and take advantage of current market opportunities. Cybersecurity is a highly attractive market, estimated to be worth 58bn in 2020 and growing at a 9% CAGR from 2020 to 2026. The cyber ecosystem is getting more and more complex, the channel selling cyber products is fragmented, and technology is evolving very quickly to combat the growing sophistication in threats and cyber attacks. This creates demand for a cyber specialist like Exclusive Networks in the long-term, and we look forward to bringing even greater value to our vendors and partners in the future."

About Exclusive Networks

Exclusive Networks is a leading global specialist in innovative cybersecurity technologies, providing services to accelerate the sale of cybersecurity disruptive and digital infrastructure technologies on a global scale. Exclusive Networks helps cybersecurity vendors scale their businesses globally, and offering channel partners (such as value-added resellers, system integrators, telcos and managed service providers) expertise, disruptive technologies and services to fit the needs of their corporate customers. Exclusive Networks also works with several vendors offering solutions in specific sub-segments beyond cyber.

Exclusive Networks excels by combining global scale with local execution. With offices in 40 countries and the ability to service customers across five continents and in over 150 countries, Exclusive Networks, headquartered in France, offers a "global scale, local sale" model. This model enhances performance in local operations by providing both global and local support. This approach has enabled Exclusive Networks to (i) develop one of the world's broadest portfolios of cybersecurity solutions from over 240 leading vendors and (ii) develop a worldwide customer base, consisting of over 18,000 VARs, SIs, Telcos and MSPs, indirectly serving more than 110,000 end-customers. Over the period from 2018 to 2020, Exclusive Networks engaged in business in more than 124 countries.

Exclusive Networks' approach enables vendors to adopt a simple and agile go-to-market model in relation to their cybersecurity and digital infrastructure solutions, while benefitting from Exclusive Networks' local expertise and market knowledge in each jurisdiction where it operates. Exclusive Networks' scale is equally important to its customers as their own end-users may be located in multiple regions of the world. In addition, Exclusive Networks helps its customers through its expertise in vendor selection as cybersecurity and digital infrastructure solutions become ever more complicated and keep evolving in the face of increasing cybersecurity threats.

Structure of the Offering

It is expected that the offering of the shares will be carried out as part of a global offering (the "Offering"), including:

A public offering by way of an open price offer ( offre prix ouvert ) to retail investors in France (the "French Public Offering"); and

) to retail investors in France (the "French Public Offering"); and An international private placement (the "International Offering"), to institutional investors inside and outside of France, including in the United States of America to qualified institutional buyers as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and outside the United States of America pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act.

Should there be sufficient demand in the French Public Offering, the number of shares allocated to subscriptions in the French Public Offering will be equal to at least 10% of the total number of shares offered in the Offering (excluding the over-allotment option). The final allocation of shares between the French Public Offering and the International Offering will be determined at the time the results of the French Public Offering are known.

Size of the Offering

The initial public offering of Exclusive Networks will consist of:

The issuance of New Shares by the Company in connection with a capital increase for gross proceeds of approximately 260 million;

The sale of existing shares by Everest UK Holdco Limited, HTIVB and certain managers, employees and former employees of the group, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately 106 million based on the low end of the indicative price range, and of approximately 156 million based on the high end of the indicative price range; and

The sale of additional existing over-allotment shares by Everest UK HoldCo Limited and HTIVB, representing a maximum of 15.00% of the total number of shares offered in the offering, resulting in gross proceeds of approximately 55 million based on the low end of the indicative price range, and of approximately 62 million based on the high end of the indicative price range.

Indicative price range

The Offering price is expected to be between 20 euros and 24 euros per share, which is the range approved by the Company's Board of Directors on 13 September 2021. The price of shares in the French Public Offering and the International Offering will be the same.

The price of the Offering may be set outside this range and the range may be modified at any time, until and including the pricing date of the Offering. Should the top end of the indicative price range be increased or should the price of the Offer be set above this top end (including as increased), the closing of the French Public Offering will be postponed or a new French Public Offering period will open, as applicable, so that at least two trading days pass between the date of the press release announcing this modification and the new closing date of the French Public Offering. The orders placed as part of the French Public Offering before the aforementioned press release will be maintained, unless they are expressly revoked at the latest before the new closing date of the French Public Offering.

The price of the Offering may be freely set below the low end of the indicative price range and the low end of the range may be revised downward (absent a significant impact on the other parameters of the Offering).

Indicative timetable of the Offering

The French Public Offering opens on 15 September 2021 and is expected to close on 21 September 2021 at 5:00 p.m. (Paris time) for orders placed at branches of financial institutions and 8:00 p.m. (Paris time) for online orders. The International Offering opens on 15 September 2021 and is expected to close on 22 September 2021 at 1:00 p.m.(Paris time). The pricing of the Offering is expected to take place on 22 September 2021.

The Offering period may be reduced but will remain open for a minimum of three trading days.

Conditional trading of Exclusive Networks shares is expected to start on 23 September 2021 on the regulated market of Euronext Paris.

Settlement and delivery of shares offered in the Offering is expected to occur on 27 September 2021.

The timetable may be amended, an in particular accelerated in case the closing date of the Offer is earlier than expected, or delayed. If the closing date of the Offer is earlier than expected (which will reduce the subscription period of the investors), (i) a press release will be published by the Company and (ii) a notice will be published by Euronext Paris no later than the day before the new closing date of the Offer period. In any case, the Offer period will remain open for a minimum of three trading days.

Rationale for the IPO

The IPO mainly aims to support the Group's development and growth strategy focused on:

Continuing to drive the underlying growth of existing vendors in current geographies; Adding new geographies for existing vendors; Attracting new vendors to its existing services and solutions offering; Expanding its services and solutions offering to serve customers' needs; and Pursuing value-accretive M&A.

Financial intermediaries

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners.

BNP PARIBAS, Citigroup and Societe Generale are acting as Joint Bookrunners.

Lazard is acting as independent financial advisor.

Company and shareholder lock-up agreements

180 calendar days after the Offering Settlement Date for the Company, Everest UK Holdco Limited and HTIVB and 360 days after the Offering Settlement Date for the Managers, subject to certain exceptions.

Publicly available information

Copies of the French prospectus that has been approved by the AMF on 14 September, 2021 under the number 21-399, consisting of (i) a registration document approved on 3 September, 2021 under the number I.21-044, (ii) the supplement to such registration document approved on 14 September 2021 under the number I.21-050, and (iii) a securities note and a summary of the French prospectus (included in the securities note), are available free of charge upon request to the company at Exclusive Networks, 20 quai du Point du Jour, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, as well as on the website of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and Exclusive Networks (www.exclusive-networks-ir.com/ipo/

The Company draws the public's attention to the risk factors contained in Chapter 3 of the registration document and in Section 2 of the securities note. The occurrence of one or more of these risks may have a material adverse effect on the business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of the Group, as well as on the market price of the Company's shares.

Important Notice

This press release does not constitute a public offer to sell or purchase, or a public solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities in the United States or in any other country or jurisdiction. Exclusive Networks shares may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Exclusive Networks does not intend to register in the United States any portion of the offering or to conduct a public offering of the shares in the United States.

No communication nor any information relating to the planned offering described in this press release or to Exclusive Networks may be distributed in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution would require registration or approval of securities. No such registration or approval has been or will be obtained outside of France. The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be prohibited under applicable law. Exclusive Networks assumes no responsibility if there is a violation of applicable law and regulation by any person.

This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, as amended (the "Prospectus Regulation"), also forming part of the domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the "EUWA

With respect to the member States of the European Economic Area and to the United Kingdom, no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of the securities referred to herein requiring a publication of a prospectus in any relevant member State other than France. As a result, the shares may not and will not be offered in any relevant member State other than France except in accordance with the exemptions set forth in Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation, or under any other circumstances which do not require the publication by Exclusive Networks of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Regulation, also forming part of the domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of EUWA, and/or to applicable regulations of that relevant member State or the United Kingdom.

In France, an offer to the public of securities may not be made except pursuant to a prospectus that has been approved by the French Financial Markets Authority (the "AMF"). The approval of the prospectus by the AMF should not be understood as an endorsement of the securities offered or admitted to trading on a regulated market.Thes

This announcement is not a prospectus, a disclosure document or a product disclosure statement for the purposes of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Corporations Act"). The provision of this announcement to any person does not constitute an offer of, or an invitation to apply for, any securities in Australia. This press release is intended for distribution to, and any offer in Australia of the securities of the Company may only be made to, persons who are "sophisticated investors" or "professional investors" within the meaning of section 708 of the Corporations Act, and who are a "wholesale client" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act.

In Canada, the information contained in this announcement is only addressed to and directed at persons who are accredited investors and permitted clients as defined in Canadian securities legislation.

During a period of 30 days following the date on which the offer price is determined (i.e., until October 22, 2021 (inclusive)), J.P. Morgan AG, acting as stabilizing manager may, without any obligation, in compliance with laws and regulations in particular, in particular Regulation (EU) No. 59612014 of April 16, 2014 on market abuse and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016, effect transactions with a view to maintaining the market price of the Company's shares on the regulated market of Euronext Paris. In compliance with Article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation 2016/1052 of March 8, 2016, the stabilization activities shall not in any circumstances be executed above the offer price. Such stabilization activities may affect the price of the shares and may conduct to the fixing of the market price higher than the one which would otherwise be fixed. Even if stabilization activities were carried out, J.P. Morgan AG may, at any time, decide to stop such activities. Information will be provided to the competent market authorities and the public in compliance with Article 6 of the above mentioned Regulation.

Information for distributors

Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended ("MiFID II"); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the "MiFID II Product Governance Requirements"), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any "manufacturer" (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the Shares have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such Shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the "Target Market Assessment"). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, distributors should note that: the price of the Shares may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the Shares offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the Shares is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom.

The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Offering.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the Shares.Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the Shares and determining appropriate distribution channels.

The contents of this announcement have been prepared by and are the sole responsibility of the Company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006063/en/

Contacts:

Enquiries

For additional information, please contact:

Media:

FTI Consulting

Jamie Ricketts, Christina Zinck, Emily Oliver, Charlotte Stephen

+44 (0)20 3727 1000 exclusivenetworks@fticonsulting.com

Exclusive Networks

Hadas Hughes, VP Global Marketing and Communications

Hacene Boumendjel, Head of Investor Relations

Contact via IR@exclusive-networks.com
Experienced Business Owners Passionate About Holistic Health Take Over Existing Float Spa

FRESNO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 14, 2021 / True REST Float Spa Fresno is announcing new ownership. Britney and Mike Easton began their journey to True REST ownership upon discovering the Fresno location next to their yoga studio a few years ago. Since being introduced to floating by the previous owners, the Eastons are excited to expand their business portfolio in the health and wellness industry with True REST Float Spa, the world's largest float therapy brand. Britney and Mike are committed to providing the community with float therapy, alleviating stress, anxieties and worries for the ultimate form of rest and rejuvenation.

Falling in line with the couple's combined goal of offering healthier lifestyle opportunities, Britney and Mike are no strangers to the benefits of float therapy and have made a habit of floating, becoming more relaxed with a higher quality of life, including better sleep, less stress and more energy, especially in the wake of being parents to two children and small business owners.

True REST Float Spa Fresno will join the couple's two other business ventures that serve as a passionate pursuit of healthy lifestyles. From purchasing their yoga studio, Blue Moon Yoga, in 2013 and Mike leaving his firefighter career to focus on Juice Bar, a raw cold-pressed juice bar, in 2018, the couple are seasoned explorers of new avenues that broaden and strengthen their entrepreneurial goals and allow others to experience total body health and wellness.

"When we found out the owners, Kelly and Dave, were selling their franchise, we were immediately interested. Not only do we love floating, but the spa concept directly correlates with our current yoga and cold-pressed juice businesses; and we knew combining them would be a dream come true," said Britney Easton, the new owner of True REST Float Spa Fresno. "We believe in natural healing remedies and helping people live their best lives through floating, yoga, juicing and taking care of their bodies naturally. We couldn't be more excited to join forces and become part of the amazing True REST family."

With the belief that the holistic nature of float therapy fits alongside their other small businesses, Britney and Mike will unite the three industries and bring new perks to True REST Float Spa Fresno, with maximum benefits for customers to enjoy. In doing so, the couple will incorporate loyalty and rewards programs that members can use across their stores.

In addition to the new programs, Mike is excited to give back to his former community of first responders, including military and veterans. With a commitment to support a group of individuals who have sacrificed their lives, True REST Float Spa dedicates the eleventh day of every month to provide free floats to active-duty military and veterans. As a former 'fire-wife,' Britney is proud to also create a unique float program for firefighters and their wives to deal with the lifestyle's stress and promote recovery from California's long wildfire season.

True REST Float Spa offers a holistic and all-natural therapeutic experience with float therapy, combining a zero-gravity environment with sensory deprivation to create the most relaxing environment for the mind and body. With float pods filled with 180 gallons of water mixed with 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts, guests float away physical and mental ailments of the mind and body during a 60-minute session. By promoting inner peace and healing, floatation therapy from True REST is the perfect opportunity to ultimately relax, heal and rejuvenate.

Britney and Mike have formally take over ownership of True REST Float Spa Fresno in August 2021. The spa offers 4 float pods, individual showers, an oxygen bar and an oasis room. The spa will be open Monday through Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. True REST Float Spa Fresno is located at 1144 E. Champlain Dr. Suite 101, Fresno, California 93720.

To learn more about the Fresno spa and book a float therapy session, visit https://www.truerest.com/locations/fresno/. To learn more about the benefits of floatation therapy, find out more at https://www.truerest.com/float-therapy/.

About True REST Float Spa??

True REST Float Spa is the world's largest float spa brand. In 2021 True REST ranked No. 139 in Entrepreneur's Top 500. With over 85+ awarded locations, including 37 open locations and another 15 under construction, it is on its way to servicing 1 million floats. True REST Float Spa has created a luxury float spa experience in 10 inches of water and 1,000 pounds of Epsom salts. Members float effortlessly in their float suite. Each location is dedicated to providing pain relief, relaxation and better sleep through a 60-minute float session. True REST Float Spa offers monthly memberships, programs and packages. For more information, go to?www.TrueREST.com. Or visit Facebook:?https://www.facebook.com/TrueREST, Twitter:?https://twitter.com/truerest?or Instagram:?https://www.instagram.com/truerest. For franchising opportunities, go to?www.TrueRESTfranchising.com.??

Media Contact:??

Jo Trizila, TrizCom PR on behalf of True REST Float Spa

Email: Jo@TrizCom.com

Office: 972-247-1369

Cell/Text: 214-232-0078

Noel Hampton, TrizCom PR on behalf of True REST Float Spa

Email: Noel@TrizCom.com

Office: 972-247-1369

Cell/Text: 940-230-9316

SOURCE: True REST Float Spa

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/664101/New-Ownership-Announced-for-True-REST-Float-Spa-Fresno
Aviation Week's MRO Europe (MROE), the largest gathering of the aviation maintenance community in Europe, will be held in-person October 19-21 at the RAI Amsterdam. After a switch to virtual in 2020, the return to face-to-face networking is generating excitement, with attendees looking to reconnect with their industry colleagues during three days of conference sessions and two days in the exhibition hall.

Aviation Week Network is working closely with local authorities and suppliers to ensure a safe return to in-person events and will help registered attendees meet The Netherlands' travel requirements. Please visit our travel page for updates and guidance. Protecting the health and safety of our attendees is at the forefront as the industry returns to in-person events. Learn more about what to expect when you arrive onsite at MRO Europe.

With over 350 exhibitors, 30 expert speakers and a senior level attendee profile from airlines, OEMs, MROs, suppliers, lessors, and service providers, MRO Europe provides genuine opportunities for those looking to do business in the commercial aviation aftermarket. Airline buyers from over 30 global operators will be represented at the event, both as speakers at the conference and as attendees to the exhibition.

"Face to face networking has never been more important," said Lydia Janow, Senior Vice President of Events for Aviation Week Network. "We are here to ensure that our attendees and exhibitors have three days of successful and safe connections with their aviation industry colleagues."

The conference agenda will feature presentations by industry experts and top airline executives including:

Anne Brachet, EVP, Air France- KLM Engineering/MRO

Ivan Gonzalez Vallejo, Director Strategy and Supply Chain, Iberia Maintenance

Michael Grootenboer, SVP Engines Product, Air France Industries KLM Engineering Maintenance

Anne Larilahti, VP Sustainability, Finnair

Asgeir Bjarni Larusson, Director, Technical Operations, Icelandair

Saul Martin Alvarez, Line Maintenance Director, Iberia

Neil Russell, Chief Operating Officer, Aero Norway

Swaran Sidhu, Head of Fleet Technical Management, easyJet

Phil Wardlaw, Director of Engineering/VP Engineering Maintenance, Virgin Atlantic

Maciej Wilk, Chief Operating Officer, LOT Polish Airlines

MRO Europe features hosted sessions, product briefings and complimentary content in the Go Live Theatre located on the show floor. This content is open to all attendees.

See here to register for MRO Europe.

Platinum Sponsors include HEICO, Lufthansa Technik, Pratt Whitney, and StandardAero.

Exhibition Hall hours are:

Wednesday, October 20 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Conference hours are:

Tuesday, October 19, 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Wednesday, October 20 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

ABOUT AVIATION WEEK NETWORK

Aviation Week Network is the largest multimedia information and services provider for the global aviation, aerospace, and defense industries, serving 1.7 million professionals around the world. Industry professionals rely on Aviation Week Network to help them understand the market, make decisions, predict trends, and connect with people and business opportunities. Customers include the world's leading aerospace manufacturers and suppliers, airlines, airports, business aviation operators, militaries, governments and other organizations that serve this worldwide marketplace. Aviation Week Network's portfolio delivers award-winning journalism, data, intelligence and analytical resources, world-class tradeshows and conferences, and results-driven marketing services and advertising is helping our customers succeed. Aviation Week Network is part of Informa Markets, a division of Informa PLC.

ABOUT INFORMA MARKETS

Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade, innovate and grow. Our portfolio is comprised of more than 550 international B2B events and brands in markets including Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure, Construction Real Estate, Fashion Apparel, Hospitality, Food Beverage, and Health Nutrition, among others. We provide customers and partners around the globe with opportunities to engage, experience and do business through face-to-face exhibitions, specialist digital content and actionable data solutions. As the world's leading exhibitions organiser, we bring a diverse range of specialist markets to life, unlocking opportunities and helping them to thrive 365 days of the year. For more information, please visit www.informamarkets.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006107/en/

Contacts:

Elizabeth Kelley Grace

+1.561.702.7471

Elizabeth@thebuzzagency.net
DGAP Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



14.09.2021 / 22:03

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets) has informed us on September 10, 2021 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM. The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: Date of transaction: 8 sep 2021

Person obliged to notify: BlackRock, Inc.

Issuing institution: Qiagen N.V.

Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979

Place of residence: VENLO Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Ordinary share 32.175.231,00 34.540.308,00 Real Real Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. Contract for difference 117.211,00 117.211,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. In Cash Ordinary share 1.238.376,00 1.238.376,00 Potential Potential Indirectly - BlackRock, Inc. Physical Delivery

Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 14,53 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 13,94 % 0,59 % Voting rights 15,55 % 0,00 % 0,00 % 14,96 % 0,59 % QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has been taken from the relevant register of the AFM:

https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=115529

14.09.2021 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de




CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - China is scheduled to release a raft of data on Wednesday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are August figures for house prices, fixed asset investment, industrial production, retail sales and unemployment.



House prices were up 4.6 percent on year in July. FAI is tipped to rise 9.0 percent on year, slowing from 10.3 percent in the previous month. Industrial output is pegged at 5.8 percent on year, down from 6.4 percent a month earlier. Retail sales are expected to add an annual 7.0 percent, down from 8.5 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate in July was 5.1 percent.



South Korea will see August unemployment data; in July, the jobless rate was 3.3 percent.



Singapore will provide Q2 figures for unemployment; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 2.9 percent.



Indonesia will see August numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to jump 45.05 percent on year, up from 44.44 percent in July. Exports are called higher by an annual 37.15 percent, up from 29.32 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $2.4 billion, down from 2.59 billion a month earlier.



New Zealand will provide Q2 data for current account; in the previous three months, the current account deficit was NZ$2.895 billion.



Japan will release July figures for core machine orders and for its tertiary industry index. Machine orders are tipped to gain 3.1 percent on month and 15.7 percent on year after slipping 1.5 percent on month and gaining 18.6 percent on year in June. The tertiary industry index rose 2.3 percent on month in June.



Australia will see September results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac; in August, the index fell 4.4 percent on month to a score of 104.1.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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-The largest 500 family businesses generate US$7.28t in revenue, employing 24.1m people across 45 jurisdictions

-Family-owned enterprises have opportunity to diversify boards and build legacies

-Family businesses look to achieve new ESG goals

LONDON, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, family-owned enterprises have managed to stay resilient. The world's largest 500 family businesses generated US$7.28t in revenues, employing 24.1m people across 45 jurisdictions. These and other findings were published today in the 2021 EY and University of St. Gallen Family Business Index which reveals how the largest family-owned businesses have responded to the recent turbulence in the global economy.

While family businesses, especially those in the hospitality and tourism industries, have felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many took the opportunity to pivot. A number of organizations shifted their manufacturing capabilities to create essential items like face shields and ventilators, while others provided financial support to other businesses, displaying their commitment to innovation and an enduring sense of social responsibility. Consumer family businesses in particular endured, achieving on average US$15.39b in revenue. Overall, family-owned enterprises in the consumer sector remained a significant employer, employing on average 56,150 people.

In spite of the tumult of the past year, Europe continues to be a nurturing geographic environment for these organizations. Germany is home to 16% of the companies on the Index, reflecting the strength of the German economy and the historic nature in which family businesses tend to settle in the country - 90% of all businesses in Germany are family-run. One third of featured family businesses are based in the Americas, with the US boasting the highest number of family businesses (119 or 24%). These organizations contribute US$2.48t in revenue in the Americas, employing 6.4m people. Several of the biggest private family-owned enterprises by revenue globally are located in the US. Fifty-five of the businesses that hail from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, contribute 87% (US$835b) of the combined revenue in Asia-Pacific. Asia is home to three of the top 20 businesses, as well as the oldest family business in the Index - Japan's 400+ year-old Takenaka Corporation.

As a growing number of organizations make commitments to diversity and inclusion, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, family businesses continue to increasingly focus on these areas. The average family business board member is 61 years-old, and 80% of businesses on the Index do not have family board members under the age of 40. Bringing in the next generation's expertise, insights, technology and digital capabilities into the evolving customer landscape can help to sustain growth. And as boards continue to seek to diversify, the share of companies with female family members on boards has improved, reaching 31% in 2021. At the same time, only 5% (27) of the family businesses on the Index have female CEOs, similar to the 8% (41) of Fortune Global 500 companies.

Looking more closely at ESG commitments, family-owned enterprises are working to achieve new goals. At least 53% of family businesses on the Index are reporting against formal ESG metrics. Half of those (51%) are from EMEIA, followed by companies in the Americas (30%) and Asia-Pacific (19%). ESG reporting represents an opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact companies are already making, and potentially helps to attract new talent, win customers and grow revenues.

Helena Robertsson, EY Global and EY EMEIA Family Enterprise and Family Office Leader, says:

"Family-owned enterprises have shown incredible resilience through the COVID-19 pandemic, prioritizing sustained workforces and pivoting when necessary to overcome new challenges. As society continues to move forward through these tumultuous times, these businesses are well-placed to continue their legacy, further diversifying their boards, bringing the next generation into leadership roles and setting new standards when it comes to engaging with ESG issues."

Josh Wei-Jun Hsueh, Assistant Professor from the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen, says:

"As wealth grows over generations, the challenges business families face become more complicated. This increasingly requires a professionalized approach to portfolio and asset management. Families are also engaging more non-family directors on boards and top management roles."

Notes to Editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

About EY Family Enterprise

As trusted advisors to ambitious business-owning families, including more than 92% of the world's top 500 family enterprises, EY teams have the experience and know-how to help the entire family enterprise - families, their family business and their family office - pursue growth opportunities while preserving values and building the family legacy. Drawing from more than 100 years of experience supporting the world's most entrepreneurial families, EY Family Enterprise professionals are experienced in pinpointing and helping to optimize the drivers that impact family businesses' growth and longevity, preserve wealth and culture, and solidify multigenerational legacies. ey.com/familyenterprise

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/private

Rosie Izzi

EY Global Media Relations

+1 419 309 0443

rosie.izzi@ey.com

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British supermarket chain Morrisons has agreed to a new, increased takeover bid from a consortium led by American company Fortress Investment Group. The new takeover proposal from the Softbank-owned, New York-based Fortress Investment Group is worth 6.7 billion ($9.3 billion).

The new bid is made up of an offer worth 270 pence per Morrisons share, plus an additional 2 pence dividend per share.

Morrisons initially agreed to an earlier Fortress Investment Group public proposal worth 254 pence per share (total of 6.3 billion), however, this was rejected by major Morrisons shareholders for being too low an offer.

Fortress Investment Group

Fortress Investment Group is an American investment management firm based out of New York, responsible for managing $49.9 billion in assets as of Q3 2020. The investment groups portfolio includes retail chains, public transport, holiday brands, and more.

Fortress Investment Groups interest in the Morrisons brand became clear in May 2021 when the group made an unsolicited proposal at 220 pence per share. The investment group then made four following proposals, gradually increasing to reach the public 254 pence per share offer on the 5th of June.

This initial public bid made by Fortress Investment Group was worth 254 pence per share, giving a total value of 6.3 billion. At the time, Morrisons directors believed that this offer was a fair price for the takeover, one which did not undervalue the chains value at present, nor for where the brand projected to be in the future. However, when put to the shareholders, this deal was rejected by major shareholders for being too low.

As a result of this rejection, a new proposal was made by Fortress Investment Group totaling 270 pence plus a 2 pence dividend per Morrisons share. This new bid gives a total takeover value of 6.7 billion, and it is expected that Morrisons will unanimously recommend this offer to shareholders. This offer represents a premium of 52% on Morrisons 178 pence share price from the 18th June; the day before competing investor CD&R went public with their offer.

Fortress Investment Group-led consortium making the offer is supported by bodies such as the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC, and Koch Real Estate Investments. Under the current plans, the consortium would retain Morrisons current headquarters and existing management team based in Bradford so the existing strategy can be maintained. At the current time, material store sale or leaseback transactions are not expected to take place.

Morrisons

Morrisons is the UKs fourth-largest grocer, with nearly 500 stores and more than 110,000 staff across the country. Morrisons directors have stated that they believe this new offer from Fortress Investment Group to be in the best interests of the shareholders, and accordingly, the deal will be unanimously recommended to the companys investors.

Morrisons directors believe that the consortium is suitable owners for the business as they support the values that the company stands for. Morrisons is unique among supermarkets in the UK as they have a deeply integrated supply chain supported by their own meat and fish processing sites, leading to the chain making half of the fresh food on their shelves.

For this latest offer from Fortress Investment Group to be accepted, it needs to be approved by Morrisons shareholders representing at least 75% ownership and voting rights. A previous offer was rejected by major shareholders Silchester (who own more than 15%), M&G, and JO Hambro, and these investors will need to be swayed for the new deal to be approved.

Before news of the renewed offer became public, shares were priced at 269 pence each. After the news became public, Morrisons share prices closed 2% higher at 278.8 pence each, bringing forth speculation that investors are hoping a higher offer is yet to be made.

Since this date, the ongoing takeover bidding war and resulting debate have led to the share prices increasing steadily, reaching new highs as the days go by.

Initial reports that CD&R may be considering making a higher offer have led to some investors believing that the bidding war is not yet over, and this has seen the share price steadily increase throughout August.

Morrisons do have a partnership deal with Amazon, and so there are speculations that Amazon could still enter a takeover bid of their own, however, no such announcement of intent or public offer has been made yet.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) Bid

Both public offers from Fortress Investment Group come after a bid from the US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice had a proposal rejected by Morrisons on the 17th of June.

This initial offer was worth 230 pence per share, giving a total value of 5.52 billion. Britains Takeover Panel, the public body which regulates corporate takeovers, originally set a deadline of the 9th of August for CD&R to submit a counteroffer following the rejection of their initial proposal.

Following Morrisons preliminary acceptance of Fortress raised offer pending shareholder agreement and talks that CD&R may be considering a higher bid, both CD&R and Morrisons have asked the Takeover Panel for an extension of the original 9th of August deadline to allow CD&R to clarify their intentions and make a new offer if desired.

Pension Concerns

Despite the positive financial aspects of the proposed takeover, trustees of the Morrisons pension scheme are concerned that the pension funds could materially weaken without an additional support package agreed upon before the deal is finalized.

The chair of trustees for the Morrisons pension schemes, Steve Southern, has said that the takeover offers currently proposed could weaken the existing sponsor covenant that supports the pension unless additional support is provided.

This concern has been raised regarding a pension scheme currently holding 5.5bn of assets, with more than 80,000 members as of April 2019.

Whilst the pension schemes are currently in surplus, it is projected that it could end up facing a shortfall of 800 million if the scheme was wound up or the company supporting the scheme were to go bust.
PassFort, a London, UK-based SaaS RegTech platform, raised 16.2m USD in Series A funding.

The round was led by Level Equity, with participation from existing investors OpenOcean, Episode 1 and Entrepreneur First. $4.89m worth of venture debt was also provided by Shard Credit Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Charles Chen, Partner at Level Equity, will join PassForts board of directors.

The company intends to use the funds to expand its global growth plans.

Founded in 2015 by Donald Gillies and Henry Irish, PassFort provides cloud based solutions that automate financial crime and compliance processes. The platform supports multiple customer types and product lines, with effortless expansion across 211 jurisdictions. So far, the company has supported regulated financial services companies to onboard more than 5 million customers in 197 countries, then manage risk and compliance standards throughout the customer lifecycle.

Customer include Curve and WorldRemit.

FinSMEs

14/09/2021
After teasers, Samsung just announced that it has opened its One UI 4 Beta Program for Samsung Galaxy S21 series that includes Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra. This is based on Android 12 that brings new and improved customization and privacy capabilities. This also brings simplified and streamlined interactions and a clean and elegant design. Samsung said that some of the new features might not be supported when the beta program is open.

One UI 4 brings new theme options to configure home screens, icons, notifications, wallpapers and much more. Redesigned, upgraded widgets offer deep customization  from visibility to appearance. There are a robust and diverse array of emojis.

One UI 4 brings enhanced privacy and protection functions that lets users customize their settings and deliver a more personalized mobile experience. Indicators alert users to app camera and microphone usage, so they can instantly disable permissions if they dont want to grant access. There is also an option to view permissions history from the last seven days, option to check the current data usage of both permissions and the apps.

How to join One UI 4 Beta Program?

The One UI 4 Beta Program is available for Samsung Galaxy S21 series owners in China, India, Germany, Poland, South Korea, UK, and US, and the roll out might vary depending on the market. You can register for the beta program via the Samsung Members app. We can expect the beta roll out for Galaxy Note series and A series phones soon.

Participants will be able to preview the One UI 4 design and new features and submit feedbacks. Samsung said that it will use the information gathered from the beta program to fine-tune the One UI 4 user experience before delivering a final, optimized upgrade later this year.




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Karlstad, Sweden - September 14th, 2021 - Clear River Games and developer Elden Pixels have partnered together to bring the acclaimed retro metroidvania platformers Alwas Awakening and Alwas Legacy to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in the physical bundle Alwas Collection, that will be sold at retail later this year for $29.99 / 29.99 / 25.99. Alwas Collection standard edition for Nintendo Switch and PS4 will include three holographic stickers as bonus content.

A special Limited Edition with the deluxe versions of soundtracks on USB, a game scene diorama, art cards with early concept art sketches, and a keychain, delivered in a hard embossed collectors box that will be sold exclusively through



Additionally, Alwas Legacy will also be available as a standalone digital title on PS4, launching the same day as Alwas Collection. Find out why Nintendo Life called the Switch version the special sort of game that only comes around once in a great while, and awarded it a 9/10.



Thats not all! Alwas Awakening will also be premiering on the Nintendo Entertainment System! Thats right, Elden Pixels has partnered with Retro-Bit Publishing to make cartridge editions of the old school platformer for the hardware that inspired it in the first place. This will be an extremely limited and packed with exclusive content, so take notice, any retro game collectors! A special Limited Edition with the deluxe versions of soundtracks on USB, a game scene diorama, art cards with early concept art sketches, and a keychain, delivered in a hard embossed collectors box that will be sold exclusively through Limited Run Games for $69.99.Additionally, Alwas Legacy will also be available as a standalone digital title on PS4, launching the same day as Alwas Collection. Find out why Nintendo Life called the Switch version the special sort of game that only comes around once in a great while, and awarded it a 9/10.Thats not all! Alwas Awakening will also be premiering on the Nintendo Entertainment System! Thats right, Elden Pixels has partnered with Retro-Bit Publishing to make cartridge editions of the old school platformer for the hardware that inspired it in the first place. This will be an extremely limited and packed with exclusive content, so take notice, any retro game collectors! DIGI tal and physi CAL releases for those interested in playing the digital copy of the game via ROM without all the bonus extras found in the physical releases, while still supporting the developers. The game ROM and exclusive digital content come packed in a Zoe themed USB memory stick along with a display case that really stands out in any collection! Retro-Bit Publishing hopes that this concept can be embraced by the community so that more classics can be released in the future using this format. Retro-Bit Publishing has always looked at ways to preserve a games history while supporting the developers. Thanks to feedback from the community, Retro-Bit Publishing created a simple and groundbreaking method to provide gamers a new option to own a game with their new Digical version of Alwas Awakening: The 8-Bit Edition Digical combines aspects of bothtal and physireleases for those interested in playing the digital copy of the game via ROM without all the bonus extras found in the physical releases, while still supporting the developers. The game ROM and exclusive digital content come packed in a Zoe themed USB memory stick along with a display case that really stands out in any collection! Retro-Bit Publishing hopes that this concept can be embraced by the community so that more classics can be released in the future using this format.





Alwas Legacy is a standalone sequel that offers an expansion of its predecessors classic gameplay. Varnished with 16-bit inspired visuals, Alwas Legacy mixes classical pixel art aesthetics with new visual flourishes such as a realistic lighting system. It also adds some more modern game design principles, like a new character upgrade system that allows you to craft your individual playstyle, centered on offensive, defensive and explorative skill sets. Using magical upgrades, novel pathways can be found as you explore the nonlinear interconnected world by summoning blocks to climb on, bubbles to bounce off of, and lightning bolts to attack with.



We were so happy with how the Alwas games were received, so were very excited about letting PlayStation players check out Alwas Legacy, said Mikael Forslind, Game Designer for Elden Pixels. We couldnt be happier that Clear River Games and Retro-Bit are bringing our titles to physical collectors too, as we feel like thats the most fitting home for the Alwas series.



The Alwas Collection Limited Edition will be available exclusively through Limited Run Games, while Alwas Awakening: The 8-Bit Edition (NES and Digical) will be available at various e-commerce platforms throughout the NA and EU including Limited Run Games. These titles are a limited edition, available only during the pre-order window from 9/14 - 10/17.



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About Elden Pixels

Elden Pixels was founded in 2016 when a group of friends started making games together. A few years later with several of their own games developed and released and one externally developed game published, Elden Pixels is trying to cement themselves as purveyors of quality boutique game releases.



About Clear River Games

Founded in 2020, Clear River Games is a Swedish publisher located in Karlstad next to Klaralven. The company specializes in the packaged goods versions of games, such as Ys Origin and Huntdown. Clear River Games is part of the Embracer Group. For more information please visit



About Retro-Bit

Since 2007, Retro-Bit has been a pioneer of the retro-gaming community. One of its counterparts, Retro-Bit Publishing has brought gamers the physical form of many rare and exclusive titles in the retro-gaming industry. In order to provide this new way to play, Retro-Bit Publishing has re-created rare games into physical media and brought them to where they were never released. Retro-Bit Publishing gives gamers and collectors across the globe the opportunity to experience an alternative way to play, and own one-of-a-kind and limited-edition exclusives that include many extra collectible items.



MEDIA CONTACT

Plan of Attack on behalf of Clear River Games

Mateja Sop (EU & Oceania)

[email protected]



Jeffrey Matulef (Americas)

[email protected] Alwas Awakening is an 8-bit inspired contemporary take on the metroidvania genre. You play as Zoe, a heroine sent from another world to bring peace to the land of Alwa. Your journey will be fraught with peril, full of puzzles to solve, dungeons to explore, magical items to acquire and ancient secrets to discover. Alwas Awakening hearkens back to classic platformers with controls that are easy to learn, but difficult to master. Along this adventure, you will meet all manner of interesting characters, comb through dangerous dungeons, and uncover incredible secrets as you attempt to save the land from extinction.Alwas Legacy is a standalone sequel that offers an expansion of its predecessors classic gameplay. Varnished with 16-bit inspired visuals, Alwas Legacy mixes classical pixel art aesthetics with new visual flourishes such as a realistic lighting system. It also adds some more modern game design principles, like a new character upgrade system that allows you to craft your individual playstyle, centered on offensive, defensive and explorative skill sets. Using magical upgrades, novel pathways can be found as you explore the nonlinear interconnected world by summoning blocks to climb on, bubbles to bounce off of, and lightning bolts to attack with.We were so happy with how the Alwas games were received, so were very excited about letting PlayStation players check out Alwas Legacy, said Mikael Forslind, Game Designer for Elden Pixels. We couldnt be happier that Clear River Games and Retro-Bit are bringing our titles to physical collectors too, as we feel like thats the most fitting home for the Alwas series.The Alwas Collection Limited Edition will be available exclusively through Limited Run Games, while Alwas Awakening: The 8-Bit Edition (NES and Digical) will be available at various e-commerce platforms throughout the NA and EU including Limited Run Games. These titles are a limited edition, available only during the pre-order window from 9/14 - 10/17.Join our Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/65Y8YRN Visit the Elden Pixels website: https://eldenpixels.com/ Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EldenPixels Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/EldenPixels Elden Pixels was founded in 2016 when a group of friends started making games together. A few years later with several of their own games developed and released and one externally developed game published, Elden Pixels is trying to cement themselves as purveyors of quality boutique game releases.Founded in 2020, Clear River Games is a Swedish publisher located in Karlstad next to Klaralven. The company specializes in the packaged goods versions of games, such as Ys Origin and Huntdown. Clear River Games is part of the Embracer Group. For more information please visit https://www.clearrivergames.com Since 2007, Retro-Bit has been a pioneer of the retro-gaming community. One of its counterparts, Retro-Bit Publishing has brought gamers the physical form of many rare and exclusive titles in the retro-gaming industry. In order to provide this new way to play, Retro-Bit Publishing has re-created rare games into physical media and brought them to where they were never released. Retro-Bit Publishing gives gamers and collectors across the globe the opportunity to experience an alternative way to play, and own one-of-a-kind and limited-edition exclusives that include many extra collectible items.Plan of Attack on behalf of Clear River GamesMateja Sop (EU & Oceania)Jeffrey Matulef (Americas)
EDMONDS, Washington, Sept. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The USAF awarded Jetoptera, Inc. a Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Jetoptera will design, build out and test an Upper Surface Blown Wing (USB) equipped, powered high-lift test article integrating Jetopteras Fluidic Propulsive System (FPS), to characterize and further demonstrate the potential of FPSTM to create a signature managed propulsion for VTOL aircraft. The experimental data will be used to deliver a conceptual design of a High Speed Vertical Take Off and Landing (HSVTOL) aircraft.



This award builds upon the success of two previous Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract awards, both providing experimental data on the performance of the Fluidic Propulsive System (FPS). The first was to measure and characterize in an anechoic wind tunnel the aeroacoustics of the Jetoptera FPSTM and compare it to legacy propulsors. The second was conducted in a wind tunnel to characterize and collect aerodynamics data on a USB with integrated FPSTM and determine the lift and thrust augmentation of the combined solution.

During a previous SBIR as a subcontractor to Freedom Flight Works, Inc., Jetoptera proved that the FPSTM emits atonal noise. Through its STTR with the University of Washington, Jetoptera obtained experimental evidence that FPSTM can be adapted to provide high-efficiency thrust and lift augmentation to a wing to enable an aircraft to take off vertically and transition smoothly to wingborne flight. With Jetopteras new concept of 3-in-1 propulsion, the aircraft can also accelerate to jet speeds.

Jetopteras FPSTM technology continues to deliver positive results that surpass the capabilities of legacy propulsion methods while being safer, quieter, low observable and enabling far higher speeds than propellers or rotor driven aircraft.

The period of performance for this Direct to Phase II Contract is fifteen months.

For more information on AFWERX, please follow these links:

Twitter  https://twitter.com/AFWERX

LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/company/afwerx-usaf/

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DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release: distribution unlimited.

For information about this press release please contact Todd Newton todd@jetoptera.com
-- Advancing novel targeted therapeutics using its LYTAC protein degradation technology --



-- Plans to use $105 million in recent capital, including $35 million upfront payment from strategic collaboration with Lilly, to progress internal pipeline --

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lycia Therapeutics, Inc., a leader in extracellular protein degradation, today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $70 million Series B financing. Redmile Group led the round, with participation from founding investor Versant Ventures and new investors Cowen Healthcare Investments, Invus, RTW Investments, LP, Eli Lilly and Company and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Lycia is using its next-generation degradation approach to target the untapped extracellular proteome, including cell surface receptors and secreted proteins. The companys lysosomal targeting chimeras, or LYTAC, platform can be extended to several therapeutic modalities, including antibodies and small molecules, with the potential to inhibit many targets previously considered intractable across a spectrum of therapeutic areas and diseases.

The Series B financing follows Lycias announcement in August 2021 with Lilly that the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize novel targeted therapeutics using the LYTAC platform to address key unmet medical needs in Lillys therapeutic areas of focus, including immunology and pain. Lycia plans to use its $105 million in recent funding, including its Series B raise and a $35 million upfront payment from Lilly associated with the collaboration, to continue to progress its internal undisclosed discovery pipeline of LYTAC degraders.

Weve made significant progress since our Series A last year advancing our LYTAC platform, building our team, and forging a key strategic partnership with Lilly to further expand the opportunity of our technology to address unmet patient needs, said Aetna Wun Trombley, Ph.D., President and CEO of Lycia. We look forward to leveraging our recent $105 million capital influx to continue this momentum and advance our discovery pipeline of novel LYTAC degraders toward the clinic. Were thrilled to welcome Redmile and our other new investors and are grateful for Versants continued support.

Versant Ventures founded Lycia in 2019 within the firms San Diego-based Inception labs in collaboration with academic founder Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and HHMI investigator at Stanford University.

Lycias focus on the untapped extracellular proteome and the potential to leverage the LYTAC platform across therapeutic modalities, including small molecules and antibodies, has the potential to transform the protein degradation field, said Clare Ozawa, Ph.D., Managing Director with Versant Ventures and a Director on Lycias Board. We are very pleased with Lycias progress since its founding and look forward to working with Redmile and the rest of this high-quality investor syndicate on the companys next stage of growth.

Tim Anderson, Partner, Head of Research with Cowen Healthcare Investments, and an individual to be appointed by Redmile will join Lycias Board of Directors in connection with the Series B round of financing. Jeremy Caldwell, Ph.D., Venture Partner with Versant Ventures, will step down from Lycias Board. William J. Rieflin serves as Chair of Lycias board. Mr. Rieflin also currently serves as Executive Chairman of NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.s Board of Directors, as well as on the Board of Directors of RAPT Therapeutics, Inc., Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. and Kallyope, Inc. In addition to Dr. Ozawa, other Lycia Board members include Tom Woiwode, Ph.D., Managing Director with Versant Ventures; Laurent Fischer, Ph.D., CEO of Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc.; and Dr. Wun Trombley.

About Lycia Therapeutics

Lycia Therapeutics is a biotechnology company using its proprietary lysosomal targeting chimeras (LYTACs) platform to discover and develop first-in-class therapeutics that degrade extracellular and membrane-bound proteins that drive a range of difficult-to-treat diseases, including cancers and autoimmune conditions. Headquartered in South San Francisco, Lycia was established in 2019 within founding investor Versant Ventures Inception Therapeutics Discovery Engine in collaboration with academic founder Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and HHMI investigator at Stanford University. For more information, please visit www.lyciatx.com.

Media Inquiries:

Liz Melone

media@lyciatx.com

617-256-6622

Company Inquiries:

info@lyciatx.com
LAS VEGAS, NV, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GPO Plus, Inc. (OTCQB: GPOX), a publicly traded company of diversified industry-specific Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), today announced the Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) its Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended April 30, 2021 (the 2021 Annual Report) and also announced the launch of its social media content campaign .

Todays announcement follows the Companys recent press release that it has exited stealth mode and is starting to share the GPOX story with the investment community. Additionally, GPOX started publishing content on select social media platforms. Management invites interested parties to help GPOX kickstart its social media efforts by engaging with the Company via its social media channels. Company management encourages supporters to help build GPOXs social media by sharing the Companys content, following the Company, liking the Companys posts, and engaging with us on Social Media. Visit this link below to view our official social media accounts: GPOPlus.com/social

A copy of the Annual Report on Form 10-K is available to be viewed or downloaded at www.GPOPlus.com/ir in the GPOX Investor Portal. Through the GPOX Investor Portal, you can schedule a call with a Shareholder Success Team Member, to learn more about the company.

Sign up for your FREE account on the GPOX Investor Relations Portal:

Once you Activate your GPOX Investor Account you will have immediate access to real time information available on GPOX. Sign up for alerts (email and SMS) to be the first to know about news, SEC Filings, Investor Events, updated Investor Presentations, and more: www.GPOPlus.com/ir .

About GPO Plus, Inc. (GPOX)

Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, GPOPlus+ (OTCQB: GPOX ) is a publicly traded company of diversified industry-specific Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs).

Our Purpose is to create efficient GPOs and our Mission is to create value for our GPO Members, partners, and suppliers while creating long term shareholder value.

Our Mantra:

We Aggregate, Negotiate + Share!

Aggregate - We aggregate the purchasing power of our Members.

- We the purchasing power of our Members. Negotiate - We leverage buying power to negotiate discounts.

- We leverage buying power to discounts. Share - We share the discounts with our Members and save them money.

For more information, please visit www.GPOPlus.com . To activate your free GPOX Investor Account at www.GPOPlus.com/ir .

Information about Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that include statements regarding expected financial performance and growth information relating to future events. Forward-looking statements include statements with respect to beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions, and future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond the control of the Company and its officers and managers, and which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by which, that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or managements good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in, or suggested by, the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to; inability to gain or maintain licenses, reliance on unaudited statements, the Companys need for additional funding, governmental regulation of the cannabis industry, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the demand for the Companys products, and other risks that are detailed from time-to-time in the Companys filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. You can typically identify these forward-looking statements through use of words such as may, will, can anticipate, assume, should, indicate, would, believe, contemplate, expect, seek, estimate, continue, plan, point to, project, predict, could, intend, target, potential, and other similar words and expressions of the future. The Company expresses its expectations, beliefs and projections in good faith and believes that its expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions. However, there is no assurance that these expectations, beliefs and projections will prove to have been correct. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to its operations and future events, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to its proposed operations, including the risk factors set forth herein. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the Companys actual results may vary significantly from those intended, anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or planned. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, any favorable forward-looking events discussed herein might not be realized and occur. The Company has no obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting GPO Plus, Inc. GPOX, please refer to the Companys recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

GPO Pluss Contacts:



Investor Inquiries:

Brett H. Pojunis, CEO

Email: ir@gpoplus.com

Shareholders Line: 855.935.GPOX (4769)

Attachment
Pune, India, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global industrial sensors market size is projected to reach USD 33.56 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period. Increasing adoption of the industrial internet of things (IIoT) by diverse entities will play an instrumental role in propelling the growth of this market, shares Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled Industrial Sensors Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Temperature Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Pressure Sensor, Position Sensor, Motion Sensor, Level Sensor, Gas and Chemical Sensor, Humidity Sensor, Flow Sensor, Others), By End Use Industry (Discrete, Process), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. IIoT forms the core of Industry 4.0 as the integration of IoT technologies in the manufacturing sector have made processes and operations more data-driven and therefore, more accurate. Several end-use industries are rapidly adopting IIoT solutions to optimize their businesses and enhance the efficiency and productivity of their resources. For example, in May 2018, Missouri-based BJC HealthCare deployed IoT-based RFID technology to track and manage thousands of medical supplies. Similarly, in 2019, Bosch equipped its Automotive Diesel System Factory in Wuxi, China with sensors armed with IIoT and Big Data analytics to monitor the overall production process. Industrial sensors are thus enabling manufacturers and technology providers to automate their activities and establish smart working systems at their plants and facilities.

Request To Sample PDF Brochure: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/industrial-sensors-market-100591

List of Key Companies Profiled in this Market Report:

Texas Instruments (Texas, United States)

TE Connectivity (Schaffhausen, Switzerland)

Siemens (Munich, Germany)

Safran Colibrys SA (Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland)

PCB Piezotronics, Inc. (United States)

Omega Engineering (Biel/Bienne, Switzerland)

Microchip (Arizona, United States)

Honeywell (North Carolina, United States)

Figaro Engineering Inc. (Osaka, Japan)

Analog Devices, Inc. (Massachusetts, United States)

Amphenol Corporation (Connecticut, United States)

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (California, United States)

STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland)

Sensirion (Stafa, Switzerland)

Rockwell Automation (Wisconsin, United States)

Panasonic (Osaka, Japan)

NXP Semiconductors (Eindhoven, Netherlands)

Integrated Device Technology (California, United States)

First Sensor (Berlin, Germany)

Bosch Sensortec (Reutlingen, Germany)

Ams AG (Premstatten, Austria)

ABB Ltd (Zurich, Switzerland)

REPORT SCOPE & SEGMENTATION:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2020 to 2027 Forecast Period 2020 to 2027 CAGR 7.2% 2027 Value Projection USD 33.56 Billion Base Year 2019 Market Size in 2019 USD 19.29 Billion Historical Data for 2016 to 2018 No. of Pages 180 Tables, Charts & Figures 99 Segments covered Type; End Use Industry; and Region Growth Drivers Adoption of Wireless Connectivity in Manufacturing Units to Fuel Growth Surge in Adoption of Sensing Technology in the Process Industry to Augment Market Growth Growing Presence of Industry 4.0 Startups to Aid Market Expansion Pitfalls & Challenges High Installation Costs May Cause Reluctance in the Adoption of Sensor Technology

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has led to an explosion of uncertainty in the business world. While some businesses are in a relatively insulated condition, numerous others are experiencing unparalleled suffering because of the pandemic. We aim to provide businesses with thoroughly researched market intelligence reports regarding this crisis so that they can formulate well-informed market strategies.

Based on our experience and expertise, we will offer you an impact analysis of coronavirus outbreak across industries to help you prepare for the future.

Click here to get the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on this market.

Please visit: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/queries/industrial-sensors-market-100591

According to the report, the global market value stood at USD 19.29 billion in 2019. The salient features of the report include:

Detailed evaluation of all possible segments of the market;

In-depth assessment of the key players profiles and strategies;

Comprehensive analysis of the market trends, drivers, and constraints; and

Tangible regional insights and research into market opportunities.

Market Driver

Growing Presence of Industry 4.0 Startups to Aid Market Expansion

The proliferation of startups specializing in Industry 4.0 technologies is emerging as one of the most exciting factors augmenting the industrial sensors market growth. Manufacturers around the globe are actively searching for comprehensive solutions to bring about greater efficiency in their factory operations. To meet this urgent demand, several startups have emerged and are rapidly expanding. For example, Smart Industry Solutions, a Brazilian startup, develops information and operation technology solutions for industry 4.0 areas, encompassing activities in local factories to the end-use customer. Similarly, US-based Edge2Web offers Director, the companys tool suite for building, testing, and operating advanced industrial functionalities. Startups are also engineering IIoT solutions and industrial sensors to address the all-important maintenance issues faced by factory managers. For example, Vibrobox, a startup based in Belarus, develops vibration sensors for automated prescriptive maintenance for industrial equipment. Thus, the birth of industry 4.0-focused startups will ensure a highly-dynamic growth trajectory for this market.

Regional Insights

Asia Pacific to Hold Dominant Market Share; North America & Europe to Grow Stably

With a size of USD 6.70 billion, Asia Pacific dominated the industrial sensors market share in 2019 on account of the rapid industrialization in China and India. Furthermore, factories in the region are displaying growing acceptance of smart industrial technologies to bring down their costs, reduce equipment downtime, and optimize production operations.

North America and Europe are expected to hold a substantial share of the market during the forecast period owing to the well-established operations of the regions electronic and automotive industries, where industrial sensors and other automation solutions have a widespread presence. Moreover, industries in these regions have been the early developers and adopters of industry 4.0 technologies, which bodes well for the market.

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Competitive Landscape

Development of Advanced Sensing Technologies to Feed Competition

Prominent participants in this market are making massive investments in research and development to come up with novel and advanced sensor solutions to serve the constantly evolving needs of industrial automation. The other strategies adopted by the key players in this market include strategic product launches, acquisitions, and operational expansion.

Industry Developments:

June 2020: STMicroelectronics introduced the QST108, the maiden Integrated Circuit (IC) of the company under its lineup of capacitive touch-sense offerings. The QST family boasts of digital standard products based on the patented technology acquired from the Quantum Research Group.

STMicroelectronics introduced the QST108, the maiden Integrated Circuit (IC) of the company under its lineup of capacitive touch-sense offerings. The QST family boasts of digital standard products based on the patented technology acquired from the Quantum Research Group. March 2020: TE Connectivity successfully completed its acquisition of First Sensor AG, holding 71.87% of First Sensors shares. The takeover will allow TE to leverage First Sensors expertise in chip design & production and microelectronic packaging and strengthen its sensor portfolio.

Quick Buy  Industrial Sensors Market Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/checkout-page/100591

Detailed Table of Content

Introduction Definition, By Segment Research Methodology/Approach Data Sources

Key Takeaways

Market Dynamics Macro and Micro Economic Indicators Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities and Trends Impact of COVID-19 Short-term Impact Long-term Impact

Competition Landscape Business Strategies Adopted by Key Players Consolidated SWOT Analysis of Key Players PESTLE Analysis Porters Five Force Analysis Supply chain Analysis

Global Industrial Sensors Key Players Market Share Insights and Analysis, 2019

Key Market Insights and Strategic Recommendations

Primary Interviewees Key Responses

Companies Profiled (Covered for key 10 players only) Overview Key Management Headquarters etc Offerings/Business Segments Key Details (Key details are subjected to data availability in public domain and/or on paid databases) Employee Size Key Financials



Past and Current Revenue Gross Margin Geographical Share Business Segment Share



Recent Developments



TOC Continued 

Speak to Analyst: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/industrial-sensors-market-100591

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English French

HiPay: Availability of the 2021 first half financial report

Paris, September 14, 2021: HiPay (ISIN code FR0012821916  HIPAY), the fintech specialized in Omnichannel payment solutions, announces the availability of its legal document.

The french financial report for the first half of 2021 can be consulted in the Investors section of the company's website (https://hipay.com/en/investors).

Next financial communication: October 28, 2021  Q3 2021 results

About HiPay



HiPay is a global payment provider. By harnessing the power of payment data, we participate in our merchants growth by bringing them a 360 vision of their activities.



More information on hipay.com and find us on LinkedIn .





HiPay Group is listed on the Euronext Paris Compartment C (ISIN code: FR0012821916 - Mnemo: HIPAY).



Press Contact Investors Relations Jawad Khatib (Vae Solis Communications)



+33 (0)6 12 66 22 49



jawad.khatib@vae-solis.com Jerome Daguet (CFO HiPay)



+33 (0)7 86 53 93 93



jdaguet@hipay.com

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy HIPAY securities. If you would like more complete information about HiPay Group, please refer to our website hipay.com, Investors section. This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements. Although HiPay Group believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions as of the date of this press release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. HiPay Group operates in a highly evolving sector in which new risk factors may emerge. HiPay Group does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or other circumstances.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A.I.S. Resources Limited (TSX: AIS, OTCQB: AISSF) (the Company or AIS) announces Phase 2 exploration program beginning with an aggressive 1000 soil sample program to follow up on the high-grade antimony results at its Fosterville-Toolleen gold property. The multi-element results for the RC drilling program conducted at Toolleen have been processed using IoGas special-purpose software to measure the relationship between gold and the other elements such as antimony and arsenic to direct the soil sampling program.



Martyn Element, Chairman of AIS Resources stated: Given that antimony was the leading pathfinder element that led to the discovery of the Kirkland Lake Fosterville Gold Mine1, one of the worlds lowest cost high-grade gold producers, AIS is very encouraged by the exceptional antimony grade at its Fosterville-Toolleen gold property.

AIS is planning follow-up soil sampling and then a RC drilling program in the vicinity of the higher-grade antimony (Sb) results continuing the traverse to the east and in the area of elevated gold in the southern traverse. AIS will use its XRF gun, a portable lab quality analyzer that measures element composition, to assess results in real-time and further refine our direction of exploration. On-Site Laboratory is awaiting samples for prompt ICP assay.

Phil Thomas, CEO said, We have combined the RC drilling, soils and gravity structural geology to develop a robust rigorous exploration program for the coming months. This second phase of exploration will assist in developing our model of gold deposition in the Ordovician Permian lithology units around our Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project. Ordovician lithology is a key characteristic of the Kirkland Lake Fosterville Gold Mine.

Figure 1. A.I.S. Resources Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project map shows location of Phase 2 soil sampling.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1ff373a0-c82c-496a-820a-a0078de1d84f



1 Source Kirkland Lake: The Fosterville Mine is a high-grade, low cost underground gold mine features growing gold production at increasingly high grades, as well as extensive in-mine and district scale exploration potential. Fosterville commenced operation in 2005 and current Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2018, increased by a million ounces to 2.7 million ounces (2.7 million tonnes) at an average grade of 31.0 g/t, including a Mineral Reserve in the Swan Zone totalling 2.3 million ounces (1.47 million tonnes) at an average grade of 49.6 g/t.

About A.I.S. Resources Limited

A.I.S. Resources Limited is a publicly traded investment issuer listed on the TSX Venture Exchange focused on precious and base metals exploration. AIS value add strategy is to acquire prospective exploration projects and enhance their value by better defining the mineral resource with a view to attracting joint venture partners and enhancing the value of our portfolio. The Company is managed by a team of experienced geologists and investment bankers, with a track-record of successful capital markets achievements.

AIS owns 100% of the 28 sq km Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project located 12 km from Kirkland Lakes Fosterville gold mine (subject to completion of certain exploration expenditures), a 60% interest in the 58 sq km New South Wales Yalgogrin Gold Project (with the right to acquire 100%), and 100% interest in the 167 sq km Kingston Gold Project in Victoria Australia near Stawell and Navarre. It also has joint venture interests with Spey Resources Corp in lithium brines in Argentina at Incahuasi and Pocitos salars.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

A.I.S. Resources Ltd.

Phillip Thomas, President & CEO

Corporate Contact

For further information, please contact:

Phillip Thomas, Chief Executive Officer

T: +1-323 5155 164

E: pthomas@aisresources.com



Or

Martyn Element. Chairman

T: +1-604-220-6266

E: melement@aisresources.com

Website: www.aisresources.com

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

ADVISORY: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
French English





Issy-les-Moulineaux, September 14, 2021

2021 Half-Year Financial Report

SFIL announces that the French version of its 2021 Half-Year Financial Report was filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) on September 14, 2021 and that it can be obtained from its website: http://sfil.fr/infos-f i n a nc i eres / pub l ications/ (heading: Rapports financiers). The English version of the 2021 Half-Year Financial Report will be available by the end of September 2021 on the internet site: http://sfil. f r/ e n/financial-informations/publications/ (heading: Financial reports).

Attachment
Dublin, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Textile and Apparel Trade and Production Trends: South Asia, 2021" report from Textiles Intelligence Ltd. has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report contains 28 pages of statistical data, information and insight into the textile and apparel industries in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The report includes detailed information on textile and clothing production by country and it highlights the fastest growing markets for textile and clothing exports from each country by product category. Also, it provides analyses of developments in the South Asia region and government measures relating to the countries featured.

The report presents a wealth of information and is essential for anyone who is considering sourcing from, selling to, or investing in these countries. Textile and clothing exports from Bangladesh were down in 2019/20 and during July 2020-March 2021, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2020 as a whole there were declines in clothing exports to all of the country's major markets. Textile and clothing exports from India were also down in 2020, reflecting declines in sales to a number of geographical markets.

However, they were up during January-March 2021. Similarly, textile and clothing exports from Pakistan were down in 2020 but up during January-April 2021. The fall in textile and clothing exports from Pakistan in 2020 reflected, primarily, a decline in sales in the EU import market although there was also a sharp decline in exports to China. Textile and clothing exports from Sri Lanka fell in 2020, reflecting declines in exports to all of the country's major markets. In the case of textiles alone, however, exports shot up.

Key Topics Covered:

SUMMARY

BANGLADESH

Exports

Export markets

Exports from Bangladesh to the EU

Exports from Bangladesh to the USA

Exports from Bangladesh to other markets

Production

INDIA

Exports

Export markets

Exports from India to the USA

Exports from India to the EU

Exports from India to Bangladesh

Exports from India to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Exports from India to the UK

Exports from India to China

Exports from India to Pakistan

Production

PAKISTAN

Exports

Export markets

Exports from Pakistan to the EU

Exports from Pakistan to the USA

Exports from Pakistan to the UK

Exports from Pakistan to China

Production

SRI LANKA

Exports

Export markets

Exports from Sri Lanka to the USA

Exports from Sri Lanka to the EU

Exports from Sri Lanka to the UK

Exports from Sri Lanka to Canada

Production

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ugplux
Arlington, Virginia, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For 30 days, users can get four top-rated PDF accessibility solutions at no cost and with no commitment. The pack includes:

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The PDF Starter Pack is the first time CommonLook has provided such a rich offer to prospects. This announcement comes less than a month after CommonLook publicly revealed commercial prices on their top three solutions, CommonLook PDF, CommonLook Office and CommonLook Suite.

Having been involved in document accessibility work for the last ten years, one of the issues is the steep learning curve that many experience when learning how to do the work correctly, said David Herr, CommonLooks Vice-President of Marketing and Strategic Alliances. By offering our award-winning software tools, new module-based training and access to our remediation portal, new users can reach success quickly. In addition, the PDF Starter Pack gives users enough time to get an excellent understanding of how CommonLook can help them ensure fully accessible and standards-compliant documents.

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PDF Accessibility features comparison:

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The Training Department is excited to make available our online training options! says CommonLooks Vice-President of Training, Paul Rayius. The training is broken down by concept so clients can quickly and efficiently navigate to, and use, the information they need not only while they are taking the initial training, but they can also use this as a resource while working on real-life remediation projects.

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Since 1999, our document verification and remediation services have provided an accurate, comprehensive and cost-effective way to achieve standards-compliance for public-facing, popular or large volumes of PDF documents and forms, comments Monir ElRayes, CommonLooks CEO. Our revamped remediation portal makes this process even easier and more efficient. It is one of the many new improvements we are making to CommonLooks service and software offerings.

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Our mission is to make the world a better place through digital document accessibility innovation.

After focusing on PDF accessibility for over 22 years, we have a proven formula, and a streamlined process, for guaranteed compliance.

With industry-leading software, training and remediation services, CommonLook helps organizations comply with document accessibility standards, including WCAG, PDF/UA, HHS and Section 508.

CommonLook specializes in complex projects, high-volume capacity and cutting-edge automation.

Global clients are served through offices in Arlington, VA; Ottawa, Canada; and Melbourne, Australia. Customers include government departments and agencies, institutes of higher education, financial and healthcare enterprises, and major corporations.

Attachment
Arlington, Virginia, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atlas Networkthe nonprofit organization connecting 500 free-market organizations in almost 100 countries to advance the cause of libertyhas announced the six finalists for this years Templeton Freedom Award. Named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the prestigious award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The winning organization receives a US$100,000 grand prize and the runners-up each receive US$20,000. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Networks 2021 Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner on December 14 in Miami, Florida.

The six finalists for the 2021 Templeton Freedom Award are:

Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy (Charleston, West Virginia)

Initiating Education Choice Reform

Quality education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty, but for decades, West Virginia students have been trapped in a system consistently ranked at the bottom of national rankings, with no alternatives available. Leaders of the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy knew there was a better way, and in 2015 they began a journey to transform education in their state. As a result of their tireless efforts, West Virginia opened to charter schools in 2019, and this year the West Virginia legislature adopted the Hope Scholarship Program, a nation-leading education reform that provides funding directly to families and students rather than systems. Parents across West Virginia now have the agency they need to make the best decisions for their children, and by introducing competition into the education marketplace, Cardinal Institute has revolutionized educational choice, creating the gold standard for reform and bringing a West Virginia miracle closer to fruition.

Cato Institute (Washington, D.C.)

Working to Eliminate Qualified Immunity

Just a few years ago, qualified immunity was an obscure legal concept known only to a small handful of lawyers and legal scholars. Now, its a household term. Uniting advocacy groups and leaders from across the political spectrum, Cato Institute demonstrated how qualified immunity enables government officials to violate the civil rights of citizens with impunity. Their work to promote public awareness of the topic has been so successful that more than 60% of Americans now favor ending this abusive legal loophole, and legislative efforts to ban qualified immunity are picking up steam. Several jurisdictionsincluding Colorado, New Mexico, and New York Cityhave already banned the legal defense, clearing the way for citizens to bring lawsuits against officialsincluding police officerswho have violated their rights. Bills to that effect have also been introduced at the national level by members of Congress representing three political parties. Cato Institute's efforts aim to restore the civil rights of every American and give renewed energy to the creed liberty and justice for all.

Centre for Development and EnterprisesGreat Lakes (Bujumbura, Burundi)

Opening Borders to Increase Trade

In the landlocked Central African nation of Burundi, oppressive regulations, complicated bureaucracy and physical barriers at border posts force Burundians desperate for cross-border trade to enter the informal economy, condemning millions to lives marred by poverty and abuse by border officials. The Centre for Development and EnterprisesGreat Lakes, or CDE, is determined to reduce these barriers and create the conditions for formal, open tradeand, consequentlyfor a better life in Burundi. CDE launched their "Fungua Njia" or "Open Road" campaign in 2019, which has culminated in fewer required commercial documents, the elimination of 90% of non-tariff barriers; the establishment of a simple local travel document to replace costly passports; the reduction of regulatory agencies from 19 to 4; and, most importantly, the legal recognition of over 30,000 women traders, who have finally been extended protection against sexual harassment, illegal seizure of their goods, physical violence, and bribery at the border. These changes have cleared the way for explosive growth in trade that is not only more frequent, but also more affordable and secure. CDEs work demonstrates the power of free enterprise and trade to bring dignity and prosperity to millions of people across Africas Great Lakes region.

Centre for Civil Society (New Delhi, India)

Securing Legal Protections for Street Vendors

Street vendors are essential to Indias economy, accounting for over US$10 million in transactions each day. But these entrepreneurs often operate at the mercy of local authorities who arbitrarily extort, abuse, and threaten them, seizing their goods and charging them hefty fines. Centre for Civil Society, or CCS, has been a consistent champion for street vendors, securing the passage of the landmark Street Vendors Act in 2014. Sadly, implementation of the law has been fragmented and remains unfinished in states across the country. With sustained research and publicity campaigns on behalf of and in partnership with vendors, Centre for Civil Society has maintained pressure on government officials to protect street vendors economic rights. Moreover, CCS work to educate vendors about the law is enabling millions to stand up for their rights, ultimately allowing them to earn a livelihood free from the fines and fear that have prevented them from plying their trade in peace.

Institute of Economic Affairs (London, United Kingdom)

Revitalizing a Free Trade Champion

Just over forty years ago, the Institute of Economic Affairs, or IEA, laid the intellectual groundwork for sustained economic expansion across the United Kingdom, and today they have once again helped to lead the country out of crisis. Out of the uncertainty created by the Brexit referendum, the IEA worked to make the most of the opportunity to redefine economic policy in the United Kingdom. For four years they played a significant role in changing hearts, minds, and policy with a clear vision for advancing free trade. Their Plan A+ programme became a media sensation and was championed by a wide range of policymakers and UK leaders who have since implemented dozens of free trade deals worth over US$1 trillion. Overcoming immense opposition from think tanks, regulatory agencies, social media attacks, and even targeted burglaries, the IEA achieved their most monumental policy contribution in decades. Their steadfast commitment to open trade has helped to secure a more prosperous future for the people of the United Kingdom, rekindled Britains deep liberal tradition, and created a model to be emulated around the world.

Libertas Institute (Lehi, Utah)

Unleashing the Potential of Utahs Small Businesses

Red tape and bureaucracy often discourage aspiring entrepreneurs, overwhelm small businesses, and hinder established companies from reaching their full potential. Utahs Libertas Institute aims to change this stifling environment with the nations first comprehensive regulatory sandbox. This innovative system allows business owners to seek exemption from onerous regulations, giving entrepreneurs and enterprises time to innovate while providing lawmakers the opportunity to review and repeal outdated or restrictive policies. By decreasing unnecessary regulations, Libertas Institutes regulatory sandbox creates a welcoming environment for fresh business ideas. Sandbox programs in Utah have helped dozens of companies serve their customers more cost effectively and efficiently by reducing their regulatory burden. Libertas Institute is encouraging similar sandboxes across the country and hopes to see their policy proposals adopted on the national level. Libertas Institutes concerted deregulation efforts are allowing a new generation of entrepreneurs in Utah to achieve their dreams, making the state a beacon of innovation and opportunity in the United States.

To schedule an interview with any of the finalists, please contact AJ Skiera at Aj.Skiera@AtlasNetwork.org or (202) 449-8440. For more information, please visit AtlasNetwork.org.

###

About Atlas Network:

Atlas Network is a nonprofit organization that aims to secure for all individuals the rights to economic and personal freedom through its global network of strategic partners that operate independently in nearly 100 countries. Atlas Network does not receive funds from any government or quasi-government institutions. Its programs are entirely funded by voluntary gifts from those who cherish the principles of a free society and desire to help Atlas Network unleash individual ingenuity to enrich humanity.

About the Templeton Freedom Award:

Awarded since 2004, Atlas Networks Templeton Freedom Award is named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Networks Freedom Dinner on December 14 in Miami, Florida, at loanDepot (Miami Marlins) park. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize, and five additional finalists will each receive $20,000 prizes.

Attachments
Innovative Startups with Optics-, Photonics-, or Imaging-Enabled Applications Encouraged to Apply for Comprehensive Support and Funding

OPI Accelerator Competition is Supported Through Finger Lakes Forward  The Regions Comprehensive Strategy to Revitalize Communities and Grow the Economy

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Empire State Development (ESD) today announced that Luminate NY the worlds largest business accelerator for startup companies that have optics, photonics, and imaging (OPI) enabled applicationsis now accepting applications for round five of the innovative program. The accelerator brings visionary companies to the Finger Lakes Region to leverage a rich ecosystem of resources to speed the commercialization of emerging technologies within a range of industries, from quantum computing, medical devices, and LiDAR to augmented reality, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Round five of Luminate NY will add to the more than 400 companies that have applied to participate in the accelerator based on the unique programming and support that this region has to offer. Cohort five will expand on the novel technologies that are in Luminates robust portfolio, which is destined to advance the OPI industry in New York State. Luminate NY is administered by NextCorps .

Luminate NY brings the most promising companies from around the world to New York, connecting them with our regions top universities, talent, and manufacturing facilities to help them realize innovative vision, said Empire State Development Chief Operating Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner Kevin Younis. This strategic investment is just one of the many ways New York is creating solid opportunities for diverse business owners, helping to highlight all of the competitive advantages that New York has to offer.

Applicants for Luminate NY must be incorporated, have at least two full-time employees, and should have proven their core technology, preferably having developed a working prototype. Once admitted, companies will receive assistance, including capital, access to comprehensive lab facilities for technology development, education, and business mentoring. Applications will be accepted now through January 10, 2022.

Luminate NY is funded by the transformative Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative , a comprehensive strategy to foster economic development and revitalize communities. Located in the imaging capital of the worldRochester, NYthe Luminate accelerator provides immediate funding paired with a six-month mentoring program to help new companies scale both their businesses and technologies. Selected applicants will compete for one of 10 available slots for cohort five. At the completion of the program, the teams will compete for a total of $2 million in follow-on funding, including a $1 million investment to the winning team and other investments totaling an additional $1 million. Teams winning follow-on funding must commit to doing some aspect of their business operations or manufacturing in the region for at least 18 months.

Dr. Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director, Luminate NY said, This one-of-a-kind accelerator is helping emerging companies change the trajectory of their progress and the strength of their innovations. We encourage founders to apply to explore what Luminate can do for their business.



The recruitment for new OPI-enabled technologies comes just two weeks before Luminate NYs fourth cohort of companies competes for $2 million in follow-on funding during the Luminate Finals 2021 . This year due to COVID, the finals will be held virtually on September 30, 2021 beginning at 10:30 a.m. EDT via Zoom. Finals is free to attend but registration is required. In addition to seeing the teams compete for funding, the public will vote for their favorite startup, which will be awarded $10,000 as part of the annual New York State competition, and the public will have the opportunity to ask questions during a panel discussion on Women and Diversity in Entrepreneurship.

The Finger Lakes Region is home to an incredibly rich ecosystem for forward-thinking entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business. Rochester is home to the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics Test, Assembly and Packaging facility at Eastman Business Park, the University of Rochesters Institute of Optics, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and to more than 150 local OPI companies which employ more than 17,000 employees who are building on the regions legacy as a global imaging leader.



State Senator Jeremy Cooney said, Rochester has been at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and innovation. Programs like Luminate NY are important to keep Rochester, and New York State, as creative leaders as our worlds economy continues to change. When startups in industries like photonics, optics, and imaging grow and prosper, so do our economy and our families.

Assembly Member Harry Bronson said, I join the Governor in encouraging our great talented pool of young entrepreneurs to enter round five of Luminate NY. I know that the entrepreneurial spirit and creative minds of our community will provide future jobs and economic growth for our state and nation. This competition helps build a brighter future for our families.

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said, The Luminate NY initiative has already brought real results to Monroe County through investments in burgeoning high-tech businesses including SunDensity, Simulated Inanimate Models, and OVITZ. Our region is home to some of the best and brightest optics, photonics, and imaging minds in the world, and this program gives innovative entrepreneurs a platform to bring their ideas to the marketplace and grow our local economy. Thank you to Empire State Development for the work theyve done promoting and advancing the OPI industry in the Finger Lakes Region and good luck to all applicants in round five.

For additional information about Luminate NY, visit: https://luminate.org/ .

For additional information about NextCorps, visit: https://nextcorps.org/ .

Accelerating Finger Lakes Forward

Todays announcement complements Finger Lakes Forward, the regions comprehensive blueprint to generate robust economic growth and community development. The regionally designed plan focuses on investing in key industries including photonics, agriculture and food production, and advanced manufacturing. Now, the region is accelerating Finger Lakes Forward with a $500 million State investment through the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The States $500 million investment will incentivize private business to invest well over $2.5 billion  and the regions plan, as submitted, projects up to 8,200 new jobs. More information is available here. 

About Empire State Development

Empire State Development (ESD) is New Yorks chief economic development agency. The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the State and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, ESD strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State. ESD is also the primary administrative agency overseeing the New York State Regional Economic Development Councils and the marketing of I LOVE NY, the States iconic tourism brand. For more information on Regional Councils and Empire State Development, please visit www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov and www.esd.ny.gov .
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Silver Corp. (Apollo or the Company") (TSX.V:APGO, OTCQB:APGOF, Frankfurt:6ZF) is pleased to provide an update of its technical work program and exploration plans for its Waterloo and Langtry Silver-Barite projects located in San Bernardino County, California. Apollos technical program is well underway, and the Company anticipates the declaring of maiden resource estimates at its two cornerstone silver-barite projects to proceed as initially planned.



Highlights:

Increased confidence in the historic estimates of silver mineralization at both the Waterloo and Langtry projects made by previous operators based on; Completion of preliminary 3-D geology models of both projects by an independent consulting group; Creation of an independently verified drill and assay database combining data for both;



Planning underway for a comprehensive geophysical program; and

Engagement of Lilburn Corporation (Lilburn), of San Bernardino as permitting and environmental consultants and commencement of permitting application process.



"I am extremely pleased with the progress we are making," Apollo CEO, Tom Peregoodoff commented. "We remain on track to deliver against our objective of declaring a maiden silver and barite resource estimates for the Waterloo and Langtry projects. The work completed to date by our technical team including our highly-skilled consultants has confirmed the high quality of the data set we acquired as part of this transaction and increased our confidence in the silver mineralization estimates made by previous operators.

Cathy Fitzgerald, VP Exploration and Resource Development, added, The preliminary results of the data compilation and analysis work has provided further confidence in the quality of the historic data for the projects. This data, combined with our developing geological model, will provide a solid foundation for Apollo to optimize its strategy for defining its maiden resource estimation program and refine its upcoming drill program.

The Calico Silver District - Waterloo and Langtry Silver-Barite Projects

The Waterloo and Langtry Silver-Barite projects are located in San Bernardino County, California, USA, 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of the city of Barstow. The properties are easily accessed via the I-15 interstate highway in an area situated 230 kilometres (145 miles) northeast of Los Angeles, approximately halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Waterloo Silver-Barite Project (the Waterloo Project) comprises 21 unpatented lode claims and 27 fee land parcels, totaling approximately 1,770 gross acres (715 hectares) (collectively, the Waterloo Property). The Langtry Silver Barite Project (the Langtry Project) comprises 38 unpatented lode claims and 20 patented lode claims, totaling approximately 1,180 gross acres (477 hectares) (collectively, the Langtry Property). Prior to their acquisition by Apollo, these two projects have never been controlled by a single company.

The Calico Mountains host the historic Calico Mining District which has a lengthy history of exploration and mining, with silver-rich ore discovered here in 1881. The region was a prolific silver, barite and borax producer and is responsible for the majority of the silver production in the Mojave. Several past-producing mines and historical workings are situated in the vicinity of the projects, with most of the historical mining operations situated over a 19.3 square kilometre (12 square mile) area northeast of the Waterloo and Langtry properties. Five historical past-producing silver mines are located within the properties boundaries: the Waterloo, Voca, Union, Langtry and the Burcham mine, the only mine in the district that also produced gold.

Silver mineralization on the projects occur as discrete high-grade veins in the volcanic/volcaniclastic Pickhandle Formation striking generally northwest and as veinlet stockworks and disseminations in the sedimentary Barstow Formation. Mineralogy of all styles of mineralization are similar, composed primarily of barite, jasperoid/chalcedony, oxides, and sulphides with silver occurring commonly as either native silver or silver salts. Near surface vein exposures are often oxidized, enriching the silver grade. Alteration dominantly consists of silicification (chalcedony and jasperoid) and patchy propylitic alteration with some potassium feldspar alteration observed in the Barstow Formation associated with silver mineralization. Acid sulphate/steam heated leaching has been mapped across the projects.

Previous Technical Work at the Waterloo Project

Exploration on the Waterloo Property commenced in 1964 and consisted of numerous technical programs completed by two companies: American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) and Pan American Minerals Inc. (Pan American, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pan American Silver Corp.). Exploration by Asarco from 1964 to 1994 consisted of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys to characterize subsurface faults (gravity, magnetics, electromagnetic and induced polarization), surface trenching and drilling. This work culminated in the completion of comprehensive environmental impact and economic feasibility studies by Asarco in 1981. Due to a fall in silver prices at the time, the project was put on care and maintenance until 1994 when Pan American acquired an initial interest in the project and subsequently acquired 100% in 1996. Pan American completed two geological mapping programs, conducted by Dr. Warren Pratt, as well as reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling between 2008 and 2012. A total of 17,790 metres (58,366 feet) in 255 drillholes has been completed on the Property by the previous operators.

The initial historical resource estimate was calculated by Asarco in 1968, followed by a computer-calculated resource estimate in the late 1970s. Subsequently, Pan American calculated an internal resource based on the results of their 2012 drilling program and validated historical data from Asarco. This work yielded a historical resource estimate of 37.1 million tonnes grading 86 grams/tonne for a total of 103 million ounces of contained silver (refer to Table 1). The reader is cautioned that this resource estimate is historical in nature and the Company is not treating it, or any part of it, as a current mineral resource. Refer to footnote 1 below.

Table 1: Historical mineral resource estimate for the Waterloo Project.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/89c54735-bc2d-4ae5-9519-c6d31296a17f

(1). Reference to historic resources at the Waterloo project refer to an internal company document prepared by Pan American Minerals Corp., dated 2013, unpublished. Historic resources are reported here as documented in original documents. Abbreviations are grams per metric tonne (g/t) and tonnes are metric. The historical mineral resources discussed here were calculated using mining industry standard practices for estimating Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves (2005) which was prior to the implementation of the current Canadian Institute of Minings (CIM) standards for mineral resource estimation (as defined by the CIM Definition Standard on Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves dated May 10, 2014). The reader is cautioned not to treat them, or any part of them, as current mineral resources or reserves. An independent Qualified Person (QP), has not completed sufficient work to classify the estimates discussed as current mineral resources or reserves and therefore the estimates should be treated as historical in nature and not current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Apollos QP, Cathy Fitzgerald, has determined these historic resources are reliable, and relevant to be included here in that they demonstrate simply the mineral potential of the properties. A thorough review of all historic data performed by an independent QP, along with additional exploration work to confirm results, would be required in order to produce a current mineral resource estimate for either property. Effective February 25, 2019, the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new mining disclosure rules under subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the SEC Modernization Rules), with compliance required for the first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2021. These replace the disclosure requirements included in SEC Industry Guide 7 and as a result, the SEC now recognizes terms such as indicated and inferred with respect to mineral resources. U.S. investors are cautioned that while the SEC Modernization Rules are substantially similar to the CIM Standards, readers are cautioned that there are differences between the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards.

Previous Technical Work at the Langtry Project

Exploration on the Langtry Property commenced in 1960 and consisted of several technical programs completed by two companies: Superior Oil Company (Superior) and Athena Silver Corp. (now Athena Minerals Corp., Athena). Exploration by Superior from 1967 to 1984 consisted of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, surface trenching and drilling. Superior was subsequently purchased by Mobil Corporation and the Langtry Project sat dormant due to depressed silver prices until Athena acquired an interest in the Project in 2010. Subsequently Athena completed surface geological mapping, sampling, geotechnical work and drilling. A total of 213 drillholes (26,200 metres/86,000 feet) has been completed on the Langtry Property by the previous operators.

An initial historical resource estimate was calculated by Superior in 1970. Subsequently, Athena calculated a resource estimate based on the results of their 2012 drilling program, along with validated historical data from Superiors programs. This independent work was completed by SRK Consulting (SRK) in 2012 and yielded a historical resource estimate of 12.7 million tons grading 1.48 ounce per tonne for a total of 18.8 million ounces of contained silver in the Indicated category and 30.4 million tons grading 1.40 ounce per tonne for a total of 42.6 million ounces of silver in the Inferred Category as detailed below in Table 2.

The reader is cautioned that this resource estimate is historical in nature and the Company is not treating it, or any part of it, as a current mineral resource. See footnote 2 below.

Table 2: Historical mineral resource estimate for the Langtry Project.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ce2370e9-2548-4a32-9622-2179921206c2

(2) Reference to historic resources at Langtry refer to Moran et al, 2012, which was an internal report on the Langtry Silver Project, San Bernardino County, California: prepared for Athena Silver Corp, April 2012. [Accessed April 30, 2021]. Historic resources are reported here as documented in original documents. Abbreviations are ounces per short ton (opt) and tonnes are imperial. The historical mineral resources discussed here were calculated using mining industry standard practices for estimating Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves (2005) which was prior to the implementation of the current Canadian Institute of Minings (CIM) standards for mineral resource estimation (as defined by the CIM Definition Standard on Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves dated May 10, 2014). The reader is cautioned not to treat them, or any part of them, as current mineral resources or reserves. An independent Qualified Person (QP), has not completed sufficient work to classify the estimates discussed as current mineral resources or reserves and therefore the estimates should be treated as historical in nature and not current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Apollos QP, Cathy Fitzgerald, has determined these historic resources are reliable, and relevant to be included here in that they demonstrate simply the mineral potential of the properties. A thorough review of all historic data performed by an independent QP, along with additional exploration work to confirm results, would be required in order to produce a current mineral resource estimate for either property. Effective February 25, 2019, the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new mining disclosure rules under subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the SEC Modernization Rules), with compliance required for the first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2021. These replace the disclosure requirements included in SEC Industry Guide 7 and as a result, the SEC now recognizes terms such as indicated and inferred with respect to mineral resources. U.S. investors are cautioned that while the SEC Modernization Rules are substantially similar to the CIM Standards, readers are cautioned that there are differences between the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards.

Recent Work

Working with Apex Geoscience Limited, an independent, professional geological consulting company, Apollo has recently completed the development of preliminary three-dimensional (3D) geology models at both Waterloo and Langtry. The respective models were based on detailed surface mapping completed by Superior (at Langtry), and Asarco and Pan American (at Waterloo). All previous drilling completed on the projects was incorporated into these models. They are the first 3D geology models completed by Apollo on the projects and provide the foundation for increasing our geological understanding of the mineralization and will be important inputs into the calculation of a maiden resource estimate. For Waterloo, existing drill data was compared to the historic resource model in a geological context both spatially and statistically which has enabled Apollo to develop further confidence in the integrity and value of the historic data. The geologic models and historic drilling will also be used as the foundation for developing Apollos drilling and exploration plans for the two projects. For images of the 3D models please see Apollos website https://apollosilver.com/calico-district/.

In addition to this work, Apollo engaged experts at Minalytix Inc. to create a single validated drill assay database, coupled with their independent review and audit of the data, for both projects using their proprietary MX Deposit software. At Waterloo this includes the Asarco and Pan American data and, importantly, the results of the 824 check assays of the Asarco pulps that were completed by Pan American. At Langtry, the database includes data from Superior and Athena. Athena completed 13 drill holes (1,820 metres/6,000 feet), ten of which were for the purpose of validating the Superior drill data. Results from this work, as determined by SRK Consulting in 2012, showed that, on average, the 2011 Langtry silver assays corroborate the historic silver assays and thus, SRK determined that the historic assays were credible.

The outcome of these two work programs has been positive and verified the integrity of the drilling and assay data and confirmed our confidence in the quality of the historical data collection and QA/QC procedures at both the Waterloo and Langtry projects. This outcome may maximize the amount of information that Apollo may incorporate into a maiden resource estimate. Importantly, this work has increased Apollos confidence in the historical estimates of the silver mineralization made by the previous operators at both projects. The results of the work have provided valuable insight into Apollos upcoming technical work program and will ensure that the amount of re-drilling that may be required to declare the maiden resource at both projects is optimised ensuring savings in both capital and time.

Initial Site Visit Completed

In August, Cathy Fitzgerald, Vice President, Exploration and Resource Development, and Alan OConnor, General Manager-Waterloo and Langtry Projects, completed a visit to the Waterloo and Langtry projects and the city of Barstow. The visit was positive and verified that the project is easily accessible by paved and gravel roads. The visit also confirmed that most of the roads on the projects remain accessible and can be used for the Companys upcoming exploration and drilling program. Additionally, meetings were held with key local stakeholders, local services that could be provided from Barstow and surrounding communities were assessed and connections were made with several local businesses.

Appointment of Lilburn Corp

Apollo has engaged Lilburn, a consulting company based in San Bernardino, California, to assist with commencement of the permitting application process associated with drilling and other exploration activities. Lilburn is a multi-disciplinary environmental consulting firm with over 20 years of business practice in California and western states, providing a wide range of services in environmental management, permitting and natural resource management.

Waterloo and Langtry 2021 Exploration Plan

Apollos exploration program for 2021 will focus on completing technical work that will support its plan to declare a maiden resource estimate for both the Waterloo and Langtry projects. The program will also include geological and geophysical work for characterization and target generation purposes.

Maiden Resource Declaration Program

Based on the results of multiple independent reviews of drilling data from both Waterloo and Langtry (i.e. historical technical reports and recent work by independent consultants) Apollo is reviewing its initially proposed maiden resource declaration program, specifically the amount of re-drilling that may be required. Apollo believes that the amount of re-drilling required may be substantially lower than initially believed and, if confirmed by further independent review, this could have substantial implications to the time-line and capital requirements of the technical program. Until results of further independent review are received, the Company will proceed with its permitting to ensure maximum flexibility and to enable the Company to most effectively allocate its planned drill metres over geotechnical, metallurgical, resource definition and target testing components of its upcoming program.

Mapping and Geophysics Program

Apollo has secured the services of Warren Pratt, Ph.D., a U.K.-based professional geologist who worked with Pan American on the Waterloo Project and has deep knowledge of the geology and mineralization in the district. Dr. Pratt will focus his work on surface mapping and sampling at the Langtry Property and will undertake follow up mapping at the Waterloo Property. This work is planned to commence in late November subject to any travel restrictions that the U.S may impose due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the mapping, Apollo is finalizing details of an extensive geophysical program composed of both ground and airborne techniques. A 3D ground Induced Polarization/Resistivity Survey is planned to cover both the Waterloo and Langtry Project areas. Neither of these two projects have seen any modern geophysics and the application of this ground-based technology is expected to provide additional insights into the known mineralization, identify opportunities to expand that mineralization, and provide new targets that could lead to a significant greenfield discovery in this very prospective silver district.

The second component of the geophysics program will be an airborne magnetics survey, the results of which will enable a better understanding of the structural framework and controls on mineralization and will support Apollos mineralization expansion and new target generation activities.

It is anticipated that the geophysics program will commence in mid-November subject to any travel restrictions that the U.S may impose due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Further details of Apollos planned program will be provided in due course.

Qualified Person

Cathy Fitzgerald, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration and Resource Development, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43- 101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release.

For further information about the Waterloo Project historic mineral resource estimate, please see the 2012 N.I. 43-101 technical report NI 43-101 Technical Report Waterloo Project, California, USA prepared by H. Samari and L. Breckenridge of Global Resource Engineering, Ltd., with an effective data of May 12, 2021. Please visit www.apollosilver.com for further information on the Company and the Waterloo and Langtry projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Tom Peregoodoff

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Tom Peregoodoff

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +1 (604) 428-6128

tomp@apollosilver.com

About Apollo Silver Corp.

Apollo Silver Corp. has assembled an experienced and technically strong leadership team who have joined to advance world class precious metals projects in tier-one jurisdictions. The Company is focused on advancing its portfolio of three significant pure silver exploration and resource development projects; the historical Waterloo and Langtry projects, in San Bernardino California and Silver District Project in Arizona.

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



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements with respect to the potential of the Companys properties; the timing and completion of the anticipated declaration of resource estimates at the Companys silver-barite projects; the evaluation of the quality of the historical data collection, historical estimates, geological models, drilling and assay data, data sets prepared by and acquired from previous operators; timing and cost of future exploration, drilling and geophysical program plans and targets; success of exploration activities; the estimation of mineral resources; and conclusions of economic evaluations. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, potential, target, budget and intend and statements that an event or result may, will, should, could or might occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof.



Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of the management of the Company made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to known and unknown risks, significant operational, economic, and competitive uncertainties, contingencies 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, including but not limited to risks related to the Companys goal of creating shareholder value by concentrating on the development of the Waterloo project, the Langtry project, or the AZ Silver District project (the Properties); believing that the properties have the potential to contain economic silver deposits; the Companys assessment of future plans for the Properties; managements economic outlook regarding future trends; the Companys exploration budget for the Properties; and in particular, the availability of equipment, skilled labour and services needed, timing and the amount of the expected budget; the Companys ability to meet its working capital needs at the current level in the short term; expectations with respect to raising capital; sensitivity analysis on financial instruments may vary from the amounts disclosed; government regulation and environmental liability; relations with local stakeholders and the surrounding communities; general business and economic conditions; the timing and receipt of governmental permits and approvals; the timing and receipt of community and landowner approvals; changes in regulations; political factors; the accuracy of the Companys interpretation of drill results; the geology, grade and continuity of the Companys mineral deposits; currency fluctuations; and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.



There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations include actual exploration results, interpretation of exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, unknown impact related to potential business disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, or another infectious illness, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators, including those discussed or referred to in the Companys continuous disclosure filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, available at www.sedar.com .



Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward looking information, other factors could also cause materially different results. 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. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is presented for the purpose of assisting investors in understanding the Companys expected financial and operational performance and the Companys plans and objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
DENVER, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Throughout the United States, the cannabis industry has seen a dynamic and fast-paced shift as it becomes more mainstream for both medical and recreational purposes. In Colorado alone, the economic impact since the passing of Colorado Amendment 64 is staggering  impacting jobs, tourism, and tax revenue.

According to a July 2021 report, as of June 2020, 2,709 licensed marijuana businesses were registered in Colorado. Total revenue from taxes, licenses, and fees increased from $67 million in 2014 to $387 million in 2020. The amount of taxes transferred to the school capital construction fund and public-school fund increased 264%, from $33 million in 2015 up to $120 million in 2020. Additionally, House Bill 1090 passed in November 2019 has opened the door for out-of-state investors and publicly traded companies to invest in Colorados Cannabis industry. This has led to a flurry of consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions in the Colorado Cannabis market, a trend happening across the US.

As the highly regulated industry continues its rapid growth trajectory, solid strategies for consolidation, M&A activity, and IPO opportunities are more important than ever. Vaco, a talent solutions firm that provides consulting, contract and direct hire solutions around the globe, is hosting a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hybrid event, virtual and in-person, to discuss investor expectations, controls and processes, and financial pain points and viable solutions as part of the companys Blaze CPE Series.

Financial challenges are among the long list of growing pains that cannabis companies are facing, said Bea Sonnendecker, managing director of Vacos Denver office. As the industry matures, barriers to entry become higher, creating a need for collaborative problem solving and strategic networking that does not exist within other industries. Were excited to bring together the industrys top leaders for an insightful discussion.

The Sept. 21 event, Growing Pains: Financing Challenges as Cannabis Goes Mainstream, will be hosted both virtual and in-personand will be moderated by Sonnendecker. Industry experts participating in the panel discussion include Jared Benedict, executive director, accounting and transaction services, MorganFranklin Consulting; Terry Buffalo, CEO, American Cannabis Company; Wanda James, CEO and co-founder, Simply Pure Dispensary; and Frank Knuettel, CEO, Unrivaled Brands.

Participants are eligible to receive two CPE credits in the field of business management and organization. Register at: https://www.vaco.com/resources/webinars/growing-pains-financing-challenges-as-cannabis-goes-mainstream/.

About Vaco

Vaco delivers critical talent solutions to our clients by providing consulting, project resources, executive search, direct hire and strategic staffing solutions with expertise in accounting and finance, technology and operations. In addition to Vaco, our family of brands includes MorganFranklin Consulting, a methodology-driven global consulting platform; Pivot Point Consulting, a best in KLAS health care IT solutions provider; and Focus Search Partners, a retained executive search practice. Since its founding in 2002, Vaco has grown to serve more than 12,000 clients across the globe with 10,000 employees. Vaco has been named to Inc. magazines list of the fastest-growing private companies for the past 15 years and was named to Forbes 2018-2021 lists of Americas Best Recruiting Firms.

Attachments
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- To further its commitment in raising a minimum of $50,000 for the Williams-Franklin Foundation (WFF) during the next five years to support education expenses for students of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) who are interested in careers in natural health and healthcare, Organic & Natural Health Association will host a networking event to fundraise for the Organic & Natural Health Scholarship Fund at Old Soul Restaurant in Las Vegas. Informa Markets is the headlining sponsor for the event with a $5,000 commitment. The event will take place at the start of the SupplySide West conference .



Increasing diversity and promoting DEI initiatives among organizations in the natural products industry is a priority focus at Informa Markets, said Jon Benninger, vice president and market leader for SupplySide, Informa Markets. Having more diversity in leadership positions within the industry allows us all to serve a larger audience of consumers who need to know about natural products. We see the Williams-Franklin Foundation as a good vehicle to attract new talent into the industry.

Organic & Natural Health first announced its effort with the WFF to establish the Organic & Natural Health Scholarship Fund at the start of the year as an industry-wide cause, and this spring hosted its first virtual scholarship celebration and fundraiser on the SupplySide 365 Network platform, where more than $14,000 in donations were raised to fund seven scholarships for HBCU students this year.

Through our collective fundraising efforts with the natural products industry at large, we are opening new doors for talented students who didnt previously know the natural products industry existed, said Karen Howard, CEO and executive director of Organic & Natural Health. This is a systemic change that is necessary in our industry and we continue to invite all leaders to the initiative to help us expand it further. The next fundraising event at SupplySide West will be an opportunity to do just that.

Old Soul Restaurant , located at 495 S. Grand Central Parkway in Las Vegas, is a pre-prohibition-style restaurant led by executive chef Natalie Young , who has more than 20 years of experience working in some of the most celebrated and demanding kitchens in the United States. Old Soul Restaurant includes an elevated American classic kitchen with an emphasis on bourbon and whiskey, while you eat on grandmas good china. Organic & Natural Healths networking and fundraising event for WFF will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Oct. 26. Tickets are $200 with a $100 tax deduction and sponsorship packages are also available at: http://wffatsupplysidewest.rsvpify.com.

The Williams-Franklin Foundation is a 501(c)3 incorporated nonprofit that provides academic scholarships, business/career networking, and mentoring opportunities to HBCU students with extreme financial need. Led by husband and wife team, Dwight and LaShelle (Williams) Franklin, both HBCU graduates who used their own seed money to launch the foundation in 2014. In a short time, their organization has raised thousands of dollars that have impacted the lives of many HBCU students.

Organic & Natural Healths position as a leader in the natural products industry on the topic of diversity and inclusion has created a conduit between the students our foundation serves, and other leaders in the natural products industry, providing them with professional opportunities and critical financial support, said Dwight Franklin, co-founder of WFF. At the end of the day, our goal is to do our part to eliminate as much debt as possible for HBCU students and open as many doors for them as we can, so we appreciate anyone who can help us accomplish this goal.

For leaders and companies within the natural products industry who wish to donate a tax-deductible gift directly to the Organic & Natural Health Scholarship Fund, please visit https://www.wmsfranklinfoundation.org/donate/ and select Organic & Natural Health Fund in the drop box when donating.

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MJ Holdings, Inc. (MJ Holdings or the Company)(OTCQB: MJNE) is pleased to announce that the Company has received approval from the OTC Markets Group to begin trading on the OTCQB Market under the ticker symbol MJNE at the market open on September 14, 2021.



Trading on the OTCQB Market is a step forward for both the Company and stakeholders, giving us the comfort and confidence to meet our goals in 2021 and beyond," said Paris Balaouras, Founder and Chairman of MJ Holdings. Our standing with the SEC and relationship with our stakeholders is of utmost importance. With their support, we expect to be able to continue making strides to advance the Company.

The OTCQB is the premier venture marketplace for entrepreneurial and developing US and international companies that are committed to providing a high-quality trading and information experience for their US investors. To be eligible, Companies must meet high financial standards, including being current in their financing reporting, follow best practice corporate governance, have a professional third-party sponsor introduction, demonstrate compliance with U.S. securities laws, and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. The OTCQB is recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an established public market and provides current public information to investors that need to analyze, value, and trade securities. Investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com .

"The OTCQB listing is a fundamental component to our strategy to further acquaint U.S. stakeholders with MJ Holdings and our financial capabilities in cannabis ventures," said Roger Bloss, CEO of MJ Holdings. "Listing on the OTCQB enables us to enhance transparency for our shareholders and investors alike, providing us with a smooth transition as we expand our efforts to a global audience.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors:

Roger Bloss

CEO

Contact: +1 (702) 879-4440

info@mjholdingsinc.com

About the OTCQB:

The OTCQB Venture Market is a premiere public financial market that provides public information concerning the analysis and value of securities for early development stage U.S. and international companies. OTCQB listed companies undergo annual verification and management certification processes and must be current in their financial reporting. With more compliance and quality standards, the companies listed on the OTCQB enhance the transparency of available information, granting investors significant visibility while conducting trading decisions.

About MJ Holdings:

MJ Holdings Inc. (MJ Holding) (OTCQB: MJNE) is a highly diversified, publicly-traded, cannabis holding company headquartered in the greater Las Vegas area. MJ Holdings currently provides cultivation management, licensing support, production management and asset and infrastructure development. For further information about MJ Holdings, visit the Companys website at www.mjholdingsinc.com or by contacting us at +1 (702) 879-4440 or at info@mjholdingsinc.com .
MR GERARD PATRICK BRADLEY Officer of the Order of Australia in the General Division For distinguished service to public administration, to economic policy, and to the community of Queensland, in senior executive roles including Under Treasurer in Queensland and South Australia, and Chair of Queensland Treasury Corporation, Capital Markets Board, Queensland Treasury Holdings and QSuper, and through other executive and non-executive leadership and advisory roles with business, government and community organisations.

MR RICHARD KENT BLIGH Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to the community of the Darling Downs, in various executive, officeholder and leadership positions with the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland, Toowoomba and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller, and as a founding member of the Condamine Plains Water Board.

MR KENNETH JOHN SMITH Officer of the Order of Australia in the General Division For distinguished service to public administration, and to public sector leadership and education, including as Director-General of a number of Queensland Government Departments, including the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, as Queensland Agent-General and Trade and Investment Commissioner for Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, and as Dean and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government.

MR SOHEIL ABEDIAN Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to the community, and to the property development sector, as Founder and Chair of the Sunland Group Limited, the Sunland Foundation, and the Abedian Foundation, and by establishing Sunkids to advance childrens early learning, providing philanthropic support to a wide range of charities, and undertaking leadership roles in many community organisations.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL DANIEL LAWRENCE ANDERSON Conspicuous Service Cross For outstanding achievement as the Commanding Officer of the 1st Signal Regiment, and demonstrating exceptional leadership, skills, judgement and dedication to duty, significantly advancing and modernising the Australian Defence Force's deployable communications and support systems and enhancing our Pacific Island partner's communications capability.

SENIOR SERGEANT SEAN KENNET BAXENDELL Australian Police Medal For service to the Queensland Police Service, as an officer in Townsville and Collinsville, as a Dog Squad Officer and Officer in Charge of the Brisbane Dog Squad working with frontline police in tracking and locating offenders, and in developing dog handlers and handling methods with a focus on mentoring, community work and animal welfare.

MS JESSICA ISLA BALLINGER Public Service Medal For outstanding public service, through social support services for Indigenous and vulnerable people in Queensland, including through strategic leadership, strong consultation, communication and policy skills, the ability to identify emerging risks and opportunities for future support service needs, and effective community engagement, in the delivery of services for the Department of Social Services.

MRS VANESSA A FOWLER Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to the community through social welfare organisations, particularly as co-founder and chair of the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation and co-founder of Allisons Gift Training Workshop Program in conjunction with Griffith University, as well as through membership of a range of entities dedicated to reducing domestic and family violence.

MR DAVID MATTHEW EDDISON AND MR IAN HODDINOTT Commendation For Brave Conduct Mr Eddison and Mr Hoddinott are commended for brave conduct for their actions in rescuing a person from floodwaters at Murphy's Creek in Queensland on the 10th January 2011. In the afternoon a vehicle attempted to cross a flooded causeway. The driver began to drive slowly across the causeway before the vehicle stalled and the force of the water turned it sideways and carried it into the surging water. Two women inside the vehicle managed to scramble onto the roof as the vehicle was swept away. Mr Hoddinott, who had witnessed the incident, went to get help from his friend, Mr Eddison, who lived close by, and to also call emergency services. Mr Eddison, together with Mr Hoddinott, returned to the swollen creek. They ran through bushes and spotted one of the women at the creek's edge. After checking that she was alright, Mr Eddison and Mr Hoddinott continued running until they located the second woman clinging to a sapling in the surging waters. The strong water surge kept pushing her head under. Mr Eddison and Mr Hoddinott entered the turbulent water. Using a monkey grip hold they formed a human chain and stretched out towards the woman who let go of the sapling and was grabbed by Mr Eddison. Together the men pulled the exhausted woman out of the fast-rising water and took her to the safety of the bank. For their actions, Mr Eddison and Mr Hoddinott are commended for brave conduct.

MS MIEKE BRANDON Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to dispute resolution and mediation, as Director of Resolution Institute, as mediator and consultant with Relationships Australia  Queensland, and through a range of other mediation roles including as a community and family mediator, conference presenter, author, and teacher and researcher at Bond Universitys Dispute Resolution Centre.

MRS ANN BRETT Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to the Royal Life Saving Society, as a member of the Royal Life Saving Society Queenslands Heritage Committee, Editorial Committee of the Royal Life Saving 100 Year History publication and the Australian Water Safety Task Force, and as an examiner and Life Member of the Society.

MR GREGG BUYERS Public Service Medal For outstanding public service to infrastructure projects in Queensland, as a Senior Executive with the Brisbane City Council, playing a leading role in the successful planning, design and delivery of some of Brisbanes largest, most iconic and transformative infrastructure projects including the Inner City Bypass, the Legacy Way tunnel, the Clem Jones tunnel and the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

MR JAMES PETER DALE AND MR ANTHONY LEWIS Group Bravery Citation Mr Dale and Mr Lewis are recognised with the award of the Group Bravery Citation for their actions following a multiple vehicle collision and fire at Strathpine in Queensland on the 31st of December 2018. Just after midday on the 31st of December 2018 five members of the public went to the assistance of a trapped driver after a four vehicle collision on Gympie Road. One vehicle had rolled onto its side and was engulfed in flames. A motorist, whose vehicle was hit, grabbed a fire extinguisher, approached the burning vehicle, and attempted to put out the fire, but it intensified. Another motorist climbed up onto the passenger side of the vehicle and, with the assistance of another motorist, opened the door and reached into the vehicle to help the driver who was having a medical seizure. Smoke began to fill the cabin. Other motorists who had stopped then tried to rock the vehicle into the upright position, despite the increasing heat from the flames. Two motorists managed to kick in the windscreen and remove the aggressive and agitated driver from the burning vehicle and to safety. By their actions, Mr Dale and Mr Lewis are awarded the Group Bravery Citation.

MRS ELIZABETH JANE MARY CARRIGAN Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to community health, notably to pain management, as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Pain Management Association and through a range of initiatives and contributions, serving in leadership, advisory, representative and public relations roles on a wide range of committees and groups at national and state level.

EMERITUS PROFESSOR DAVID JOHN CARTER Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to tertiary education and to cultural and literary studies, through academic and management positions at universities in Australia and throughout Asia, as a contributing author to publications, authoring a range of book chapters, journal articles and conference papers, and undertaking editorial, honorary, consultancy and project management roles which promote cultural, educational and business exchange.

PROFESSOR SABINA MARGARET KNIGHT Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to rural and remote health, nursing and education, through senior positions with James Cook University and various rural health, education, and development entities, and through founding roles and a wide range of leadership, advisory and committee positions with governments and organisations at national, state and territory level.

DETECTIVE SENIOR SERGEANT MARGARET MAUREEN CASSIDY Australian Police Medal For service to the Queensland Police Service in achieving positive outcomes for the safety of vulnerable children and young people, demonstrating dedication and maintaining effective working relationships with stakeholders in positions including Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Coordinator for the Ipswich District, and through the successful introduction and implementation of the Absent from Care Reduction Strategy.

MR GREGORY THOMAS CHAMBERLIN Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to the print media through editorial roles, at the Bundaberg News Mail, the Courier Mail, the Sunday Mail and at Gold Coast Publications Pty Ltd, following a career as a journalist including as a Fellow of the World Press Institute.

MRS HEATHER CHRISTENSEN Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to the community of Beenleigh, through roles in Quota International of Beenleigh including President and Eisteddfod Coordinator, through involvement in the establishment of Junior Quota Clubs, and as a board member of the Beenleigh Yatala Chamber of Commerce and facilitator of the Beenleigh Yatala Junior Chamber of Commerce.

MR KENNETH GARY CLARK Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to surf lifesaving, in multiple senior positions in Surf Life Saving Queensland and for contributions to individual surf lifesaving clubs, and to the community, through roles in Rotary Clubs in Burleigh Heads and Cairns, and to other organisations including as Chief Executive Officer of Smart First Aid.

EMERITUS PROFESSOR DEBORAH JOY CLAYTON Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to tertiary education and to international study programs, through a range of academic and administrative roles for Central Queensland University, including as Dean of International Programs, and through other professional appointments and positions in Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

MR ANTHONY JOHN COCHRANE Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division For significant service to sports administration, through executive leadership of V8 Supercars, Gold Coast Suns Football Club and Aus-X Open, and as committee and board member for other sports organisations, and to entertainment production, in roles as founder, co-founder, director and chairman for businesses including International World Exhibition and Festival Organisation.

MR ARTHUR COGHLAN Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division For service to the performing arts as a magician and escapologist, including as co-host and co-organiser of the Gold Coast Magic Convention 2019, as co-organiser of the Music Magic and Mirth  Variety Spectacular 2015, as the former resident magician at the Magic Castle, Gold Coast, and as a fundraiser for a range of community organisations.

MR BRADLEY ANDREW COMMENS Australian Fire Service Medal For service to Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, demonstrating innovation and exemplary leadership and enhancing the operational capability of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services as leader of the Specialist and Technical Response Branch, as Team Leader for the Australia-1 Disaster Assistance Response Team, and through leading significant advancements in international accreditation standards in Urban Search and Rescue.

MR EVERALD ERNEST COMPTON Officer of the Order of Australia in the General Division For distinguished service to the aged welfare sector through advocacy and advisory roles to the Uniting Church in Australia and to the community including as Chair of National Seniors Australia, as an Elder in the Uniting Church in Australia, as Chair of the Aspley Caring Through Service charity, by contributing to fundraising and charitable bodies, and through vividly preserving the legacy of the man on the twenty dollar notes.
Researchers from the Monash Energy Institute, with colleagues from CSIRO, have used a saccharide-based binder system to develop a durable sulfur cathode with minimal polysulfide escape in a lithium-sulfur battery.

The saccharide-based binder system regulates polysulfides due to its reducing properties. The binder also promotes the formation of viscoelastic filaments during casting which endows the sulfur cathode with a desirable web-like microstructure.

In an open-access paper published in Nature Communications, the team reports 97% sulfur utilization with a cycle life of 1000 cycles and a high capacity retention (1106 mAh g1 even after 500 cycles and around 700 mAh g1 after 1000 cycles) while achieving >99% columbic efficiency (CE).

To demonstrate the robustness of the binder system, the researchers manufactured cathodes with a high loading of 10.5 mg cm2, achieving an areal capacity of 12.56 mAh cm2 with >98% CE. A pouch cell prototype showed an initial capacity around 1200 mAh g1.

 the viability of many emerging technologies, for example in aviation, require lighter-weight batteries. One such technology could be lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S): which theoretically store as much as five times the energy of Li-ion and have a realizable specific energy of 400600 Wh kg1. They can be made from materials that are readily and sustainably available around the world. Until now, the realization of Li-S batteries has been challenging, mainly due to the instability of both electrodes, which results in a short cycle life of the battery. The power performance of the Li-S system is also inherently slow, particularly when the sulfur cathode is loaded to the required levels, mainly due to poor ion diffusion across the thickness of the cathode.  Our cathode design concurrently provides expansion tolerance, strong polysulfide crossover limitation, and ion diffusion highways via nano-structuringand it can be fabricated at scale from commonly sourced materials. These beneficial properties holistically mitigate the damage to the lithium metal anode, from which short circuits typically originate, ending the cycle life. Huang et al.

In theory, lithium-sulfur batteries could store two to five times more energy than lithium-ion batteries of the same weight. However, in use the electrodes can deteriorate rapidly. There are two reasons for this: the positive sulfur electrode suffered from substantial expansion and contraction weakening it and making it inaccessible to lithium, and the negative lithium electrode became contaminated by sulfur compounds.

Last year the Monash team demonstrated they could open the structure of the sulfur electrode to accommodate expansion and make it more accessible to lithium. Now, by incorporating glucose into the web-like architecture of the electrode they have stabilized the sulfur, preventing it from moving and blanketing the lithium electrode.

While many of the challenges on the cathode side of the battery has been solved by our team, there is still need for further innovation into the protection of the lithium metal anode to enable large-scale uptake of this promising technologyinnovations that may be right around the corner. Dr Mahdokht Shaibani, second author

The process was developed by the Monash team with significant contribution from Dr Matthew Hills research group in CSIRO Manufacturing.

The Lithium-sulfur Battery Research Program at Monash University has been supported by the Commonwealth Government through the Australian Research Council and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. In addition, the work has also been supported by Cleanfuture Energy, Australia, an Australian subsidiary of the Enserv Group of Thailand.

Enserv Australia hopes to develop and manufacture the batteries in Australia, the worlds largest producer of lithium.

We would be looking to use the technology to enter the growing market for electric vehicles and electronic devices. We plan to make the first lithium-sulfur batteries in Australia using Australian lithium within about five years. Mark Gustowski, Managing Director of Enserv Australia

Resources
Roy Hill, the largest single iron ore mine in Australia, has purchased Wabtecs FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, the worlds first 100% battery-electric, heavy-haul locomotive (earlier post) for the region and the mining industry.

We are committed to transforming the next generation of transportation by adopting advanced technologies that improve energy efficiency, lower operating costs and improve our rail and mining network. The FLXdrive locomotive will be the first for the region and the first for the mining industry and will improve our rail operations from the mine to Port Hedland. Gerhard Veldsman, CEO of Roy Hill

Roy Hill will receive the newest version of the FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive in 2023 with an energy capacity of 7 megawatt hours (MWh). It is an upgrade from the 2.4-MWh prototype that was successfully tested in revenue service with a Class 1 railroad in the United States earlier this year. (Earlier post.)

Based on the route and Roy Hills rail operations, the FLXdrive is anticipated to reduce the companys fuel costs and emissions in percentage by double digits per train. The ongoing use of the FLXdrive will also reduce ongoing operational costs through maintenance spend.

Our analysis with Wabtec confirms the FLXdrive locomotive is ideally suited for our rail network. It has the horsepower to operate in a heavy haul train consist pulling loaded wagons with 35,000 tonnes of iron ore, while at the same time reducing the entire trains fuel consumption. The FLXdrive also is designed to function in the extreme heat of the Pilbara region. Simon Pascoe, General Manager of Engineering for Roy Hill

Today, Roy Hill uses four Wabtec ES44ACi Evolution Series diesel-electric locomotives in a consist to pull trains that are typically 2,700 meters (1.6 miles) in length. The FLXdrive will replace one of the diesel locomotives to form a hybrid consist, and recharge during the trip through regenerative braking.

The FLXdrive manages the overall train energy flow and distribution through its Trip Optimizer system, an intelligent cruise control system programmed through artificial intelligence to respond to every curve and grade of the track in the most energy-efficient way possible. It is also designed with a special liquid cooling system to withstand the Pilbara heat, where temperatures can reach 55 C (130 F).

Wabtecs goal is to develop the next generation of zero-emission locomotives. The company has a clear path to power new locomotivesand repower existing locomotiveswith batteries, hydrogen internal combustion engines, and hydrogen fuel cells. It is part of Wabtecs vision for the rail industry to play a key role in building a clean energy economy and will enable the reduction of up to 300 million tons of global carbon emissions.

Situated 344km south east of Port Hedland in Western Australias mineral-rich Pilbara region, Roy Hill is an independent iron ore operation. With integrated mine, rail and port facilities producing more than 62 Mtpa, Roy Hill is one of the worlds major resource-based operations.
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More than 15 inches of rain fell over August 21st in middle Tennessee, resulting in flash flooding throughout the counties of Humphreys and Dickson that claimed the lives of 20 people. Loretta Lynn lives in Humphreys County and was personally affected by the disaster: the foreman on Lynns Hurricane Mills ranch was swept away by the rushing waters. On Monday night, a benefit concert arranged by the country music legend will raise funds for the flood victims. Heres all you need to know.

What Is Loretta Lynns Friends: Hometown Rising?

Loretta Lynns Friends: Hometown Rising is a benefit concert to raise money for victims of the deadly flash floods that decimated parts of middle Tennessee in August. All proceeds from the concert and livestream will benefit the United Way of Humphreys County.

When Is Loretta Lynns Benefit Concert?

The Hometown Rising concert is Monday, September 13th, at 8 p.m. ET at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

Whos Performing at Loretta Lynns Benefit Concert?

Keith Urban, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Luke Combs, Luke Bryan, and Reba McEntire will all perform at the concert. Other performers include Little Big Town, Breland, Brittney Spencer, and Chris Janson. SiriusXMs Storme Warren and Apple Musics Nada host the evening. I am so honored that so many of our friends are coming together to show so much love for our neighbors and community after such a devastating loss, Lynn said in a statement. You know, weve all needed help from time-to-time, and thats why when we can give back, we do.

Will Loretta Lynn Appear at the Hometown Rising Benefit Concert?

Loretta Lynn is not expected to perform or appear in person at the concert, but she will participate in video packages like the one that announced the concert.

How Can I Watch or Stream Loretta Lynns Friends: Hometown Rising Concert?

Loretta Lynns Friends: Hometown Rising benefit concert will air live on the Circle Network at 8 p.m. ET. Dont have the Circle Network as part of your cable package? You can grab a 7-day free trial to PeacockTV.com and stream the Loretta Lynn concert on the Circle Network online for free. See more details here.

Fans can also stream the concert on Circle All Access via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

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UTICA, N.Y. (AP)  A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

The judge gave New York state until Sept. 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica. If the state opposes the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary court order blocking the vaccine mandate, a Sept. 28 oral hearing will occur.

The state issued the order Aug. 28, requiring at least a first shot for health care workers at hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27.

Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement that the state was considering all legal options.

Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccine rates across the State. Requiring vaccination of health care workers is critical to this battle, Crampton-Hays said.

Messages seeking comment also were sent to lawyers for the Thomas More Society who filed the lawsuit.

Dr. Joseph R. Sellers, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, said in a statement that the nonprofit organization for physicians, residents and medical students was greatly dismayed by todays decision.

We believe this step will result in a flurry of attempts to circumvent the well-reasoned vaccination requirement that was an important step towards reversing the recent surge attributable to the more easily spread Delta variant, Sellers said. No major religious denomination opposes vaccinations, and the Supreme Court has for over 100 years upheld vaccination requirements as a means to protect the public health.

In their lawsuit, health care professionals disguised their identities with pseudonyms such as Dr. A., Nurse A., and Physician Liaison X.

They cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation requiring workers to get the vaccine provided no exemption for sincere religious beliefs that compel the refusal of such vaccination.

The court papers said all of the available vaccines employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development or production. But religious leaders have disagreed over the issue and the Vatican issued a statement last year saying the vaccines were morally acceptable.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs wanted to proceed anonymously because they run the risk of ostracization, threats of harm, immediate firing and other retaliatory consequences if their names become known.

The plaintiffs, all Christians, included practicing doctors, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a physician's liaison who all oppose as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in abortion, the lawsuit said.

It added that they are not anti-vaxxers who oppose all vaccines.
Honor unveiled the MagicBook 14 and 15 with 11th gen Intel processors in May, the two laptops previously had Ryzen 3000 and Ryzen 4000 versions. Then back in July the company brought out Ryzen 5000 versions in China. Which brings us to today  the two laptops with the latest AMD APUs are now available in Russia too.

This brings hope that the 14 and 15 laptops will be available in Europe, though we didnt see any other countries after scouring HiHonor.com. Youre not missing too much, the two are only available with the Ryzen 5500U, which has six Zen 2 cores (with multi-threading), making it similar to the Ryzen 4600U.



This iteration of the MagicBook comes with the AMD Ryzen 5500U  Multi-screen feature

A quick overview of the laptops shows a 14 and 15.6 IPS LCD, both with 1080p resolution (16:9). The displays offer 300 nits of brightness, DC dimming and cover 100% of the sRGB color space. The chassis of the two are made out of aluminum and measure 15.9 mm/1.380 kg and 16.9 mm/1,540 kg. This is with 56 WHr batteries on both with 65W charging, which can hit 65% state of charge in an hour.

There are no memory options other than 8 GB of dual channel RAM on the smaller laptop and 16 GB on the larger one, both with 512 GB storage. These two are officially compatible with Windows 11, so you will be able to easily update the pre-installed Windows 10 Home. Honors multi-screen feature lets you run up to three apps from your Honor phone on the laptop.



Honor MagicBook 14 and 15 highlights

Right now the MagicBook 14 and 15 are on pre-order. The smaller one goes for RUB 60,000 (700), the larger one is RUB 70,000 (815). During the pre-order period you will also receive a free Honor MagicWatch 2 (46 mm) (nominally worth 190) and Honor Earbuds 2 Lite (70).

You can find the Honor MagicBook 14 on the Honor Russia store and the MagicBook 15 is here. The pre-order ends on September 28, the laptops will also be available through Honors partners.

Via
Realme may soon be launching a Google TV streaming stick in India Comments




Haiti - FLASH: The PM dismisses the Minister of Justice, the Government Commissioner and the SG of the Council of Ministers





Monday evening, September 13, 2021, Prime Minister ai Ariel Henry during a Council of Ministers in his official residence, convened to ratify the agreement made with Political Parties and representatives of Civil Society announced the dismissals of Rockefeller Vincent, the Minister of Justice, of Me Bed-Ford Claude, the Government Commissioner and Renald Luberice the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, despite the objections of the Council of Ministers on this decision.



Recall that the same day, the Minister Vincent in a letter addressed to Leon CHARLES, the Director General ai of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) had tried to regain control over the PNH specifying "The Minister of Justice and Public Security considers it appropriate to underline to all the agents of the National Police of Haiti whatever the specialized unit to which they are assigned [..] that, according to the provisions of the law of November 29, 1994 establishing, organizing and functioning of the National Police of Haiti, in particular in its article 4, the National Police of Haiti comes under the Ministry of Justice and is placed under the authority of the holder of the Ministry.



The Minister, direct superior from whom you receive all your instructions, specifies, to dispel any confusion of roles, that the Superior Council of the National Police (CSPN) basically only has an advisory power on the main orientations of the policy of action of the National Police. [...] the holder of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security instructs you to order all officers of the PNH not to execute any order of political authority that does not hold such competence, even less if this order is tainted with illegality. The personal and/or penal responsibility of any offender will be engaged, and administrative and/or penal sanctions will be demanded and taken.



In addition, let's recall that this Tuesday, Prime Minister Henry was to go to the prosecution at the invitation of Bed-Ford Claude, the Government Commissioner to explain the content of two phone calls made the night of the assassination of the President Moise, with Joseph Felix Badio [one of the main suspects in the assassination of Jovenel Moise on the run and actively wanted https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34225-haiti-notice-the-pnh-is-looking-for-3-dangerous-and-armed-individuals-including-a-former-senator.html ] as it appears on the telephone statements provided by Digicel https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34714-haiti-flash-the-prosecution-wants-to-hear-pm-henry-in-connection-with-the-assassination-of-the-president.html



As for Renald Luberice, these positions and his public statements, which largely exceeded his powers, bothered more than one, the Prime Minister included...



The decree confirming the decision of the Prime Minister formalizing these revocations should be published shortly in the Official journal "Le Moniteur". A decision that puts an end to the tensions that existed between these three people and the Prime Minister a.i.



to be continued...



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34714-haiti-flash-the-prosecution-wants-to-hear-pm-henry-in-connection-with-the-assassination-of-the-president.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34225-haiti-notice-the-pnh-is-looking-for-3-dangerous-and-armed-individuals-including-a-former-senator.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - AUFc: 1.4 million euros in support for the universities of Haiti in the Great South





Friday September 10 Marie Lucie Joseph the Minister of National Education accompanied by the Rector of the University Agency of La Francophonie (AUF) Slim Khalbous, announced that the Agency, as part of a solidarity plan, was offering an aid of 1.4 million euros intended to support the public universities of the Great South and the University of Notre-Dame in order to facilitate the start of the academic year and actions related to research and the empowerment of young people after the destructive earthquake of August 14 2021.



AUF, the world's leading university network (1,007 universities, large schools, university networks and scientific research centers using the French language in 119 countries including Haiti) in a spirit of solidarity, mobilized 60% of the amount in its own funds and the remainder will be financed by other actors and components of the Francophonie.



Rector Khalbous presented the three main components of this solidarity plan developed by AUF in consultation with the Ministry of National Education.



1. support of 500,000 euros for public universities in Les Cayes, Nippes and Grande-Anse and the University of Notre-Dame which should facilitate their return to university through a structuring online training system, also participating to the digital transformation of teaching in these universities.



To this end, 6 connected spaces will be open, powered by solar energy, outside the current university buildings, with a capacity of up to 600 simultaneous students. 2,000 tablets will also be made available to students. More than 300 teachers will benefit from workshops with certification training in the field of distance education, as well as a recording studio for educational videos;



2. The development of the financial autonomy of students and young graduates, mainly women, thanks to the strengthening of the Solidarity Network for Business Creation Support (ReSACE) program, which will give priority to the development of companies located in the South of Haiti.



For the next two years, AUF and its partners will finance more than 75 businesses led by young people, at the rate of 10,000 US dollars per company, and will welcome more than 300 young people from the Great South in the incubation workshops of ReSACE;



3. Continuation of support for action research in the field of seismic risks in Haiti through the installation, by young Haitian researchers, of so-called "citizen" seismological stations in dwellings located in the departments of the South.



Thanks to this network, created by the Geosciences Research Unit (URGeo) attached to the Faculty of Sciences of the State University of Haiti (UEH), data is made available to seismologists in real time and to permanently. The young Haitian researchers selected will participate, through their action, in high-level research in the field of reducing exposure to seismic risks in Haiti, in partnership with universities that are members of the AUF international network.



For Saulo Neiva, Director of the AUF Regional Office, "the official launch of this plan reflects AUF's commitment to Haiti" adding that this commitment is part of the emergency phase relating to the earthquake but also "in the agency's modus operandi, which places active solidarity at the heart of its projects for the development of universities, the sharing of academic experience and the professional integration of young people."



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2021/09/13 | Source

New stills added for the upcoming Korean movie "Changgeuk, Farewell my Concubine" (2019)

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Directed by Wu Hsing-kuo

With Kim Jun-soo, Jung Bo-kwon, Kim Geum-mi, Heo Jong-yeol, Yoon Seok-an, Cho Yoo-ah,...

Synopsis

The Chinese Imperial Dynasties two thousand years ago. King Hoe promised his disciples that the first person who entered Hamyang, the capital of Jin, would be king. The Cho Dynasty is led by the god of war Hang-woo, marched from the north, and the Han Dynasty led by a good man, Yu-bang, marched from the south to Hamyang. Yu-bang arrived in Hamyang first, but Hang-woo breaks through the Hamgokgwan at once and Yu-bang's life is on the line. Hang-woo holds a banquet when Yu-bang came and begged for his life. Hang-woo's schemer Beom-jeung tries to kill Yu-bang by setting a trap in Hongmunyeon, but Hang-woo rejects the advice, saying it is not a head-to-head match. Meanwhile, Yu-bang retreats. The end of the Korean War is coming to an end. After hearing The advice from Jang-ryang, Yu-bang gradually takes the lead in battle with various methods such as slowly moving and striking the enemy hard, being surrounded by enemy from all sides. Hang-woo's wife, Woo-hee is wondering if there is any way to help her husband, who seems to be losing...

Release date in Korea : 2021/09/23
Published on 2021/09/13 | Source

New stills added for the Korean omnibus movie "Short Bus: Memory Trip" (2021)

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Directed by An Da-hun, Kang In-suk, Park Gyeong-jin

With Lee Moon-kyu, Marie Francoise, Jung Yoo-min, Park Young-bin, Han Seo-yeon, Kim Ji-tae-II,...

Synopsis

An omnibus film about the scars and pains of real-life people and the process of sharing their worries.

"Instant Decisif" [Decisive Moment] ( , gyeol-jeong-han sun-gan) (30m) by Kang In-suk

So-yeong heads to the the center of the French city of Tours looking for traces of her dead brother. What kind of life did he live?

"Shakespeare and Company" (  , sye-ik-seu-pi-eo aen keom-pae-ni) (16m) by An Da-hun

Mi-hwa, who works part-time at a convenience store in Seoul, dreams of walking on the streets of Paris while on the phone with Yeong-bin who lives in Paris.

"Journey" (   , u-ri-neun sa-rang a-ni-myeon yeo-haeng-i-gett-ji) (46m) by Park Gyeong-jin

Jeong-ah is on a trip. She continues to work on music with Seong-hyeon whom she met there, and somehow she keeps on thinking about her ex-boyfriend who passed away.

Release date in Korea : 2021/08/19
There are contradictory reports about the supposed meeting between the two most top intelligence figures in Damascus and the Turkish occupation, namely, the head of National Security in Damascus, Major General Ali Mamlouk, and the head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan.

Intelligence communication went nonstop

An expert on Turkish affairs, Dr. Mehmet Noureddin, spoke to our agency about this, saying: "In relations between countries, there is no complete break even in the worst phases of relations between two countries, there is always a channel of communication through intelligence. This is a consistent principle in international relations. Therefore, intelligence meetings or meetings between elements of the Syrian and Turkish intelligence, is a normal and natural thing, and it has always happened in the distant and recent past. It happens and will happen, and therefore there is no surprise in this matter. Only with such intelligence communication channels can relations between two countries continue. This is the case for all countries.

Nour El-Din added: As for when the level of the meeting rises to a higher level than the intelligence level, for example, at the level of the Director General of Intelligence, or the Director General of the Ministry of Interior or Defense, and then at a higher level, up to the rank of Minister, this means that there is new and qualitative developments in the relations between the two countries.

He added, "So far, we have not found that the relations between Damascus and Ankara have moved to a higher circle, and therefore there is no indication or anything new regarding the relations between the two countries on a political, economic or other level."

Turkey announces and Damascus denies!

A Turkish newspaper reported last week that Fidan and Mamlouk will hold a meeting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to discuss "security issues and coordination in the field of combating terrorism."

Ismail Hakki, the former head of the Turkish Military Intelligence Department, considered that the meeting that will be held between Fidan and Mamlouk is "the beginning of a new process," noting that it is being sponsored by Russia and Iran.

And earlier on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said in statements to one of the Turkish channels, that "his country is communicating with Damascus on security issues and the fight against terrorism," and that the necessary negotiations are underway at the level of special services and intelligence.

He added, "There is a regime in Syria that is not recognized by the world, and a political meeting with the Damascus administration is not possible," but with that, "necessary negotiations are underway at the level of special services and intelligence only... and this is normal."

Turkey revealed these meetings. An expert on Turkish affairs, Dr. Muhammad Noureddine, said: This is indeed a somewhat exciting matter, and it may be an attempt for Turkey to put itself on the table of Middle Eastern meetings, not only with Syria, but among the countries of the region. Without being invited to do so, it means that such a signal from the Turkish Foreign Minister, that there are talks with Syria, is an attempt for Turkey to enter and be a party to meetings that it is not from, and therefore believes that it is intentionally excluded from those meetings.

He added, "Through these signs, Turkey is awaiting the reaction of the other party, and the reaction of the other party was very strong and high-pitched, so that it not only denied this information, but also accused Turkey of being a den of terrorism and a stronghold of it, and that it is one of the factors of unrest and lack of stability in the world.

Damascus, in turn, responded to Davutoglu's statements through its Foreign Ministry and said: "In response to the statements of the Turkish Foreign Minister about the existence of direct negotiations with Syria on security issues and the fight against terrorism, Syria categorically denies the existence of any kind of communication and negotiations with the Turkish regime, especially in the field of combating terrorism." terrorism".

The source added, "It has become known to far and wide that the ruling regime in Ankara is the main supporter of terrorism, and has made Turkey a reservoir for extremism and terrorism, which poses a threat to peace and stability in the region and the world, and flagrantly violates international legitimacy resolutions on combating terrorism."

Despite the Syrian denial of the supposed meeting with Mamlouk - Fidan, this meeting, if it happened, would not be the first of its kind. Mamlouk and Fidan held a meeting in early 2020 in the Russian capital, Moscow, the first announced meeting since 2011.

At the time, the official SANA news agency reported that a Syrian-Russian-Turkish tripartite meeting took place in Moscow.

The current Deputy Foreign Minister Bashar al-Jaafari and al-Assad's advisor, Buthaina Shaaban, also spoke in more than one media interview about security meetings between Damascus and Ankara, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed earlier, the occurrence of low-level security meetings.

In this context, Dr. Noureddine said: "As long as the relations are at the intelligence level, this is not considered an important development in these relations. Of course, at the intelligence level, all topics can be discussed, but you do not find anyone to reflect this and translate it into reality, except through political delegations or economic and others.

Lots of files on the table

On the outstanding issues between the two countries, Dr. Noureddine said: "If these meetings are held, many files will be discussed, including bilateral, regional and multilateral ones. But there is no doubt that from the Turkish part, one of the most important files is to raise the issue of preventing the arrival of the Kurds in Syria. To the stage of establishing an entity that Turkey considers separatist from Syria, and thus threatens the territorial integrity of Turkey.

He explained that "the first issue is security par excellence, and it is the Kurdish issue in Syria, and this is one of the priority files for Turkey. Then comes the security relations, apart from the Kurds between Turkey and Syria, which is still governed by an international legal framework, which is the Adana Agreement in October." October 1998, and Syria still adheres to it. Turkey mentions it from time to time, without being strictly committed to it. Therefore, the security file between the two countries is a fundamental issue.

As for Turkey, Dr. Noureddine believes, "There is a file of Syrian refugees in Turkey and how to solve it. This does not mean that Turkey is in a hurry to solve this file, because it is still exploiting it and blackmailing Syria and European countries with it."

He added, "Apart from that, there are bilateral relations, which are economic relations, and this is natural to discuss if the two sides meet. There is the issue of water, which constitutes a pressing element on the relations between Turkey and Syria and between Turkey and Iraq as well. In addition to the various regional files that concern the two countries are of interest to other parties, including oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, where both countries, Turkey and Syria, have exclusive offshore areas for exploration and oil extraction, and overlapping. In the region, stability, the nature of relations with the Israeli entity, and so on.

little luck

On the success of such meetings, Dr. Muhammad Noureddine said: "It is too early to talk about such meetings. First, because Turkey does not want these meetings to take place in light of Bashar al-Assad's continued presence in the presidency, because Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers the issue personal by not recognizing the Syrian regime. It refuses to talk and communicate with it directly. He believes that talking and communicating with Russia is sufficient in such a case. Of course, this is one of the factors that complicate communication between the two countries."

And he added: "But in politics, although the situation with Syria is more difficult not impossible. Just as the Turks sought normalization with Egypt, and to abandon their embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, although I see that these are just verbal positions rather than practical ones."

Noureddine added: "I think the main question is, will this meeting take place? I rule out such meetings in the near time, because this requires certain regional transformations, not only at the Turkish-Syrian level, but also at the international level. And from that the Russian position from the region and Russian-American relations in Syria and the region.

Regarding the choice of Baghdad for this planned meeting, Noureddine said: "This is not strange. Baghdad has a good relationship with Ankara, although Ankara interferes and violates Iraqi sovereignty every day. Likewise, Baghdad has a good relationship with Syria, although Baghdad is very reluctant to appear pro-Damascus, taking into account the American side. As the central authority in Baghdad is trying to appear as neutral, or at a distance from Iran and America, or the Gulf or Turkey. Whereas the government now in Baghdad is largely under American orders."

The Kurds are at the forefront of the planned discussions

And whether the supposed meeting would discuss the Kurdish file if it took place, Noureddine said: There is no doubt that in the event of a rapprochement between Damascus and Turkey without the Kurds in Syria being a party in one way or another, directly or indirectly, in such talks, they will be a victim for any agreement concluded between the two parties, they may be a target for the Turkish forces as well as for the Syrian forces, albeit to a lesser extent."

He added, "In light of the continuing divergence between the Kurdish positions in Syria, and both Damascus and Ankara, I think that any agreement between Damascus and Ankara will not be in the interest of the Kurds in any way. Therefore, I think that the Kurds should choose to side with the Syrian state, not on the basis of accepting what Damascus imposes on them, but rather on the basis of reaching common understandings between them.

The Kurds and Damascus must meet, even in the middle of the road

Noureddine stressed that "Syria's unity must be a constant strategic goal for all. The Syrian state should be an incubator and a fair policy based on justice towards all parties. It takes into account cultural, linguistic, educational rights and territorial privacy in one way or another."

Noureddine continued his speech by saying: "This is an urgent matter, as on the part of the Kurds in Syria, as well as on the part of Damascus. Because it is not possible in any alliance or conflict between Turkey and Syria, that the Kurds be neutral between these two parties, because the Kurds are within one Syria." Unified, taking into account the concerns they raise and ask the Syrian state to meet them, even in the middle of the road."

Russia is weaving relations between Turkey and Damascus at the expense of the Syrian homeland

In turn, the Kurdish writer and political researcher Hussein Omar said: "I think that the preliminary meeting preceded the announcement of the announced meeting, and this is not new. Intelligence relations between the Turkish and Syrian regimes have always been at the highest levels. The setback that occurred after 2011 was only a short period of stagnation, The Turkish belief was that the regime would fall quickly, so Turkish preparations were taking place on the basis of a new type of relationship synthesis.

He explained that "a dependent relationship if the coalition came to power or any of the armed groups came to power, but that did not happen. That is why Turkey turned around and tried to restore intelligence cooperation between the two sides. But the regime did not show its willingness after several preliminary rounds at the time after 2015 because the regime was not taking place." On the other hand, Turkey was asking for the regime's help in striking the People's Protection Units and women for free, and this is what the regime did not accept until Russia intervened on the line, and weaved a network of different relations with the Turkish regime at the expense of the Syrian homeland and its people, to conclude agreements on behalf of the Damascus regime. and the formation of joint committees. This is no longer enough for the Turkish occupier. That is why he wanted to restore intelligence relations again. The goal is the Kurdish people, as it is known."

Omar pointed out that "the Turkish promotion of the meeting, and Damascus' denial of it, is only a new beginning in the tense and separated relationship between the two parties. In my opinion, Turkey needs more to renew the relationship, and even to return to establishing normal relations with the regime. The Syrian mercenaries and the coalition dependent on their agendas, in order to please the regime to take joint steps against the Autonomous Administration and the Kurdish people in particular, and it is no secret to anyone that the only enemy of the Turkish regime, as it highlights, is the Autonomous Administration and the Kurdish people in particular.

Turkey will make many concessions

On the expected results, the Kurdish researcher Hussein Omar said: "I think that the meeting will not achieve what Turkey wants, unless it makes clear concessions to the regime, especially on the issue of Idlib. Because the other occupied areas, from Afrin to Ras al-Ain, do not matter much to the regime, but rather the first concern. His is to remove the threat to its forces concentration points and areas of control, thus Turkey will have to sacrifice most of the areas controlled by the so-called Nasra Salvation Government, until the regime is satisfied with intelligence cooperation at the highest levels with it, to strike at the Autonomous Administration, although one of the regimes most important goals is also Eliminate the administration, but he does not want Turkey to have a hand in it for free, which is evident after several rounds of intelligence and diplomatic negotiations between the two regimes.

Omar believes that "Erdogan will, as a result, make concessions that partially satisfy the regime, because the common goal of the two parties, which is the elimination of the Autonomous Administration, will bring them together. Unless the countries with the most powerful influence - America and Russia - interfere in reaching an agreement that leads in Syria to a peaceful solution. At that time. Turkey and the regime will abide by the agreement."

At the conclusion of his speech, the Kurdish researcher Hussein Omar said: "In any case, the previous Turkish, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi regimes had a joint intelligence work cell against the Kurdish people."

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ANHA
The Syrian Observatory said that factions affiliated with the "Men of Dignity Movement" surrounded the Military Intelligence branch in the city of As-Suwayda, after the latter attacked today one of its leaders".

According to the observatory, As-Suwayda has been witnessing great tension that has been going on for hours and at an escalating pace, and the tension began this morning, Sunday, after a group affiliated with the Military Intelligence Division kidnapped people from the town of Al-Qurayya and another person from As-Suwayda. Al-Qarya belongs to the State Security, on alert, and threatened the kidnapper to target the house of its leader with RBG missiles if the kidnapped were not released without a response from the latter, which led to the aggravation of the situation and the spread of the Giyari al-Qurayya group near the Al-Malab roundabout north of the city of As-Suwayda. They were shot dead by the military intelligence group, which led to the death of a person who was a relative of one of the kidnapped.

In this context, the members of that group closed the Damascus-Suwayda road near the Al-Shaer roundabout in the town of Attil, and started shooting randomly at cars, including the judge's car (MF), and tried to assassinate him.

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ANHA
Murray, the appointed D.A., will run for the job next year

Andrew Murray, the veteran prosecutor appointed to lead the district attorneys office here after D.A. Greg Newman was ousted, plans to run for the seat in next years election.



Murray, 59, announced on Tuesday that he plans to launch his campaign for the job that hes held since May.

After joining the Coast Guard straight out of high school, Murray earned his undergraduate and law degrees while on active duty. He served as Mecklenburg County district attorney from 2011 until November 2017, when President Trump appointed him as U.S. attorney for Western North Carolina.

Murray said that despite the turmoil of the office because of the circumstances leading to Newmans removal, he was impressed at the personnel he found.

First of all, I would say the district attorneys office has some excellent ADAs (assistant district attorneys) and support staff that are very dedicated and I was fortunate to find a staff that was capable and skilled and ready to work, he said. Obviously, with Greg and his circumstances, they were apprehensive about someone new coming in. Part of it was steadying the ship and using my talents and ability  Ive been a leader a long time.

He has streamlined and restructured the office to make it more effective and efficient, installing a chain of command that is clear to those inside and outside the office  law enforcement personnel, victims and defense attorneys.

Senior ADAs are handling just serious crimes  murders, rapes and armed robberies  and I have put a leader in charge of all the other cases in Henderson and one in charge of Transylvania and Polk, he said. Its more efficient when you have a point person and you have an appeal to the next level and you know who that is. Everyone understands their voice and their job.

A large part of the uprising of victims against Newman was fueled by families who complained that he either failed to bring charges in sexual offense cases or allowed defendants to make pleas that led to light sentences.

Sexual offenses were a significant issue with the administration under Greg, Murray said. Ive instituted what I call the roundtable policy that is all murder cases and sexual offense cases get roundtabled with four or five of the most senior assistant DAs that are available, including me, so its not just one person.

The prosecutors discuss the pros and cons, the merits of the case, whether more information is needed and other factors. Ultimately, its my decision but it brings more consistency as to how those cases are handled, he said.

Hes made progress, he said, and still aims to do more to deal with this massive Covid backup of crimes from the past three years. I dont want to see any 18 or 19 cases on our calendar going into next year, he said. No criminal case gets better with age. We had a great term in Hendersonville a week and a half ago. We disposed of many many cases and had a lot of very happy victims and families. Negotiating plea agreements that are acceptable to victims and their families is part of the process that moves cases, he added. We cant try every case or the system would be shut down.

Although the family of murder victim Thomas A. Tommy Bryson very much wanted to pursue the death penalty, Murray sat down with the Brysons and explained that the current legal landscape around capital cases presents multiple challenges and delays.

Im not sure they understood that no one has been killed (in North Carolina) since 2004 and right now the attorney general is not moving anything forward and theres litigation (nationwide) about the method of execution, he said. After four years of delays on procedural grounds and because of Covid-19, theres still no guarantee that the pandemic restrictions would not again delay major jury trials, he said.

At a news conference on Aug. 31 to announce the plea agreement that sent Phillip Michael Stroup II to prison for life, law officers stood behind Murray as Brysons widow and sons endorsed the resolution of the murder case.

I think they were ready for closure, the D.A. said. I think the family was doing really really well and it was time for them to move on with their lives.

When he first stepped into his role as the appointed district attorney in the aftermath of Newmans ouster, Murray wasnt sure he would run for the job when it came up in the 2022 election. Filing is in December. But he and his wife quickly became comfortable with the move.

First of all, Im running because this is an awesome community that Ive come to know, he said. My family and I love the area and I believe I can make a positive difference here based on my background and my experience. Im passionate about taking care of the community and victims. Hes done that as the top prosecutor in Mecklenburg County and as U.S. attorney for Western North Carolina, he said, but I also spent 36 years in the Coast Guard. Ive never not been a public servant since I was 18 and enlisted in the Coast Guard.

Apart from restructuring, the goal is to efficiently and effectively and fairly do the best job we can to take care of the community, the victims and defendants, frankly, without any external influence, without any political influence, without any media influence, he said. I tell my people every day we do the job and we do the right thing every time and the buck stops me with me every day. Our job is to do the best job we can every day.

He said he was not heard of other potential candidates in the 42nd Prosecutorial District. He plans to form a campaign committee and is able to launch the effort with a significant head start. He plans to reactivate a campaign account of around $100,000 that has been dormant since he moved from the Mecklenburg D.A.s post to U.S. attorney.
THOUSANDS of spectators headed to Greenlands Farm showground off Marlow Road on Saturday for the Henley Farm and Country Show.

The 129th annual event, which returned after being cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, saw trophies presented for livestock in a range of classes, including cattle, sheep and poultry.

Formerly known as the Henley Show, the Henley & District Agricultural Association which organises the show, changed its name in 2019 to promote the agricultural aspect and attract younger audiences.

Many of the exhibits were displayed in the open air rather than under large marquees to reduce the risk of covid spreading. Retailers were also asked to bring their own gazebos.

Differently from previous editions of the show, there wasnt a formal produce section because growers now dont have enough notice to prepare their entries.

Show manager Jo Taylor was celebrating her 11th show and she said it was fantastic to see it running again.

She added: Weve seen lots of happy faces  the new format of the show seems to be working really well and we have received great comments from our members but also from the public, everyone seemed to have really enjoyed it.

The weather was perfect and seeing the smiley and happy visitors, everyone having fun after the horrible 18 months we have been through, has been the highlight for me this year.

Richard Ovey, of Badgemore, founded the association and the show's roots can be traced back to 1891.

For the full story, results and a spread of photographs, pick up a copy of Fridays Henley Standard.
Now Open

14 September 2021

AC Hotels, part of Marriott Bonvoy's portfolio of 30 extraordinary brands, today announces the opening of AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport, the brand's newest South Florida property. AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport is set in an unparalleled location, within minutes of Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Port Everglades Cruise Terminals, and Las Olas Boulevard - Fort Lauderdale's top choice destination for everything from fashion and art galleries to memorable restaurants and nostalgic sidewalk cafes.

Guests staying at AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport can start every morning at the AC Kitchen, featuring a European-inspired breakfast, with signature French croissants and thinly sliced Italian Prosciutto from AC's iconic Berkel slicing machine. During the day and into the evening, the restaurant offers Spanish-inspired tapas paired with signature cocktails, local craft beer and wine for happy hour, lunch and dinner. Boozy libations include drinks like the tequila-based Pineapple Paloma; and the Patriota - a mix of Havana Club Anejo Blanco Silver Rum, Fernet Branca Menta, crema de cacao and Cuban coffee. AC Kitchen's food menu offers a variety of small and large plates, such as the Tortilla Espanola; a Hummus & Crudite spread; Shrimp & Chorizo Spanish Rice; and the signature AC Burger. AC Kitchen ends on a sweet note with the Cinnamon & Sugar Churros with chocolate dipping sauce.

AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport's design is purposeful, contemporary and elegant, staying true to the brand's aesthetic. Each guestroom is designed to maximize space with simple, modern design and sleek furnishings, applying a premium level of attention to even the smallest needs. AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Airport believes in giving their guests everything they need in a hotel experience, and nothing they don't. By removing the unwanted extras, guests can say goodbye to cluttered in-room marketing and hello to a perfectly open space designed to be whatever the guest would like it to be. Those looking for an outdoor experience can enjoy the hotel's elevated pool with sweeping views of the city, luxe cabanas and a full-service drink and food menu perfect for poolside sips and bites. Additional amenities include an AC Lounge lobby bar, 24-hour gym boasting views of the pool and city skyline, and various shared, flexible indoor and outdoor event space.

Throughout the hotel, guests will find art curated specifically for Fort Lauderdale, a library featuring books that exemplify AC's design sensibilities and signature moments such as a DIY lavender turn down service. The hotel will also offer a full array of their AC Unpacked programming to guests and locals. This unique series of curated and innovative property experiences include live music, fitness classes, mixology lessons, networking events, and more.
Appointment

14 September 2021

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the appointment of Philip Goh as its Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific with effect from today. Goh succeeds Conrad Clifford, who has been IATA's Deputy Director General since 1 July 2021.

Goh is a 34-year veteran of the airline industry. He has held various senior management roles at Singapore Airlines in Singapore and overseas, at Virgin Atlantic Airways in London, and has extensive experience working throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently, he was Regional Vice President for the South West Pacific for Singapore Airlines (2017 to 2021), based in Sydney.

Reporting to the IATA Deputy Director General, Goh will lead IATA's activities across Asia-Pacific, a region covering 37 countries and territories and home to 45 IATA member airlines. He is based in Singapore, where IATA's Regional Office is located.
Appointment

14 September 2021

The Supervisory Board has resolved on an early extension of Bernold Schroeder's mandate as Chairman of the Management Board of Kempinski AG and confirmed his role as Chief Executive Officer of the Kempinski Group. Mr. Schroeder has been leading the Group since December 2020, when he was appointed to his present positions.

Mr. Schroeder joined Kempinski in 2017 as Vice Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Operating Officer Europe. Previously, he held senior management positions in key growth markets with Pan Pacific Hotels (Singapore), Jin Jiang International (Shanghai) and Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts. With over three decades of experience in the international hotel industry, he draws on exceptional entrepreneurial and operational leadership skills that combine an astute understanding of a global best-in-class service approach with a sensitivity to the art of luxury and an acumen for managing successful stakeholder relationships.

The early extension of Mr. Schroeder's mandate reaffirms the Supervisory Board's long-term commitment to further strengthening the company's position as a leading independent international hotel luxury brand and trusted business partner.
Appointment

14 September 2021

Lisa Gohlke has joined Conrad Dubai as its assistant human resources director. In this capacity, she will play a pivotal role in the smooth operations of the HR department.

Gohlke is relatively new to the UAE's hospitality industry, graduating with a BA in tourism management in 2017. From there, she joined Hilton in Abu Dhabi a year later as HR coordinator. Here she was entrusted with the handling of recruitment, CV screening, interviewing new staff, payroll duties, internal event planning and various other jobs within the HR sphere.

Spending 10 months in this role, she moved on to the Waldorf Astoria DIFC as a recruitment executive during its pre-opening phase. A year later, she was promoted to HR executive at the five-star property. In this role, she was leading the recruitment functions of the hotel, while also assisting the wider HR department.

Her new role at Conrad Dubai is her most senior to date and marks her continuation with Hilton.
Supplier News

14 September 2021

London, Denver & Singapore - OTA Insight, the cloud-based data intelligence platform for the hospitality industry, is honored to announce its participation as an official exhibitor at the upcoming HITEC Dallas tradeshow, taking place September 27-30. Exhibiting its range of advanced market intelligence solutions at booth #1805, OTA Insight will significantly provide attendees with expert guidance over how they can leverage the latest technologies to accurately predict upcoming demand as well as ensure the maintaining of a competitive and profitable business.

New to HITEC this year is OTA Insights showcasing of Market Insight, hospitalitys first ever predictive market intelligence platform. A powerful analytical solution, Market Insight eliminates the uncertainty that comes with historical performance analysis by instead providing real-time metrics into future market demand projections. Aggregating data from a range of top funnel sources, including OTAs, GDSs, airlines and meta review sites, Market Insight serves as the industrys key to determining guest intent and monitoring progress of the industrys recovery by city and region. Market Insight even comes equipped with intuitive heat maps and alert capabilities to guarantee that hoteliers can instantly identify any new market opportunities before the time window to effectively respond is missed.

Now more than ever, the hospitality industry needs forward-looking data tools that can provide hoteliers with the crucial insight they need to successfully steer their business according to how market conditions continue to evolve, said Gino Engels, co-founder and CEO at OTA Insight. One thing that the pandemic has taught us is that it is insufficient to rely on historical trends, especially when dealing with new and previously unanticipated circumstances. We are therefore honored to demonstrate to this years HITEC attendees that there is a better, more accurate alternative to determining how they should adjust their business strategies in a way that always results in enhanced revenue opportunities, and no matter how conditions within the industry may ultimately unfold.

In addition to Market Insight, OTA Insight will also be providing attendees with demonstrations of Rate Insight, the industrys most advanced platform for identifying the pricing strategies of competitors. With Rate Insight, hoteliers can gain a fully comprehensive, real-time analysis of a competitors rates, ranking, reputation and OTB occupancy in granular detail. Using such metrics, properties can compare and contrast the long-term discounting strategies of competitors with their own, providing for always accurate benchmarking abilities that maximize success in attracting higher booking volumes.

To further educate attendees on how they can adopt the most optimal rate strategies for their business, OTA Insight is also set to provide booth visitors with its recently published rate strategy evolution report. Focusing on the North American market, this report details the evolution of the usage of non-refundable and semi-flex rates by hoteliers from the beginning of the pandemic to present day.

Other OTA Insight solutions to be demonstrated at HITEC Dallas further include Revenue Insight, the industrys leading platform for unlocking the true revenue-earning potentials of a hotels PMS data. Attendees can also learn details on Parity Insight, an end-to-end for hotel groups and chains that can instantly discover and resolve any parity issues across a portfolio.

To schedule a demo with OTA Insight during HITEC exhibition hours at booth #1805, please contact Adam Swart by emailing [email protected].

For further details on the full range of data intelligence solutions by OTA Insight, please visit www.otainsight.com.
Press Release

14 September 2021

BWH Hotel Group announced today that David Kong, President and Chief Executive Officer, will be retiring at the end of 2021. Kong, the industry's longest running CEO, joined Best Western Hotels & Resorts in 2001 and was named CEO in 2004. During this 20-year journey, Kong would transform the company, form BWH Hotel Group and shape it into a global powerhouse. He leaves an indelible mark on the entire hotel industry.

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"David Kong is a once in a lifetime leader whose contributions to Best Western and BWH Hotel Group are truly immeasurable," comments Ishwar Naran, Board Chairman, BWH Hotel Group. "It has been the honor of my career to work alongside David and witness first-hand his remarkable passion and dedication to our industry. David has always led by example and, most importantly, cared deeply about those he serves from hoteliers, to colleagues, associates, guests and communities."

"David Kong is recognized in our industry as a leader that truly cares about people," said Chip Rogers, President and CEO, American Hotel & Lodging Association. "He has been an amazing leader and among the most respected people in this industry."

"David has been a mentor to so many of us over the years," added Geoff Ballotti, President and CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. "He inspired me early in my career as he has so many others to get more involved in our industry, including the American Hotel & Lodging Association, AAHOA, and the U.S. Travel Association. He is someone I trust and greatly admire."

Kong's first step toward a lifelong career in hospitality began as a dishwasher and busboy. When he arrived in the United States from Hong Kong as a young adult, like many immigrants before him, he had no money, no job, and no connections to offer support. Despite these challenges, Kong leaned into the values and work ethic instilled by his parents to rise through the ranks of the hospitality industry, culminating in his role as President and CEO of BWH Hotel Group. These values have shaped David Kong into the leader he is today.

"David's legacy is the integrity of a promise, keeping your word and delivering on it," said Roger Dow, President and CEO, U.S. Travel Association. "He's a role model for how this industry leads to fulfilling careers, going from the frontline to CEO, as he's done."

Under Kong's leadership, BWH Hotel Group has evolved into a modern and innovative hotel company. Together with his leadership team, Kong spearheaded a number of initiatives that transformed the hotel brand into the global hospitality powerhouse it is today.

"What he has been able to do with Best Western is really create the consistency of the highest level of performance," added Rogers. "David has created an environment at Best Western that encourages its owners to be their best and to create the best products."

Kong's achievements at BWH Hotel Group include:

Growing BWH Hotel Group from one to 18 vibrant and exciting brands covering every chain scale segment and every type of accommodation including boutique/lifestyle and extended stay.

Setting successive records of RevPAR growth from 103 in 2004 to 112.4 in 2021.

Setting successive records of highest guest and hotel satisfaction ratings.

Setting new company record of highest EBITDA growth. Company cash reserves and net equity grew over 10-fold since becoming CEO.

Growing company loyalty program contribution to becoming the third highest in the industry.

Setting company record of industry awards and accolades.

AAA Lodging Partner of the Year 12 years in a row 2019 J.D. Power Best Upscale Brand (Best Western Premier  ) 2020 and 2021 J.D. Power Best Economy Brand (SureStay Hotel Group  ) 2018 Fast Company Top 20 Most Innovative Companies TTG Asia Best Midscale Brand 12 years in a row 2020 Business Travel News Best Midscale Hotel Brand and Second-Best Upper Midscale Hotel Brand

Leading unprecedented growth globally.

Leading acquisition efforts of a hotel company (WorldHotels Collection) and PMS provider (AutoClerk).

"This industry has empowered me to dream boldly about the future and to pursue those dreams without hesitation. I feel blessed to have been surrounded by exceptional teams throughout my career and through sheer passion and dedication, we have chased bold dreams and achieved what many might have considered impossible," said Kong. "I feel very fortunate to have played a role in building BWH Hotel Group into the brand it is today. I have always wanted to move on at my peak. With our caring culture, our extraordinary hoteliers, executive team, and corporate staff, I have no doubt the best is yet to come for BWH Hotel Group."

"David took the company through a significant transformation from a single brand to a multi brand family," said Pat Pacious, President and Chief Executive Officer, Choice Hotels International, Inc. "That required a lot of listening, a lot of partnership and a lot of persuasion, but created a great outcome for his company and his members."

"David brought a sense of family to life at Best Western," added Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. "Everyone affiliated with Best Western has a similar family feel and I think David did a great job of nurturing that even as he was navigating and leading a very significant transformation for the company."

Like many leaders today, Kong was faced with the greatest challenge of his career in 2020 when the global pandemic decimated the hospitality industry. From the onset of the pandemic, Kong was fiercely committed to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the brand's hoteliers, helping to ensure the survival of their businesses and protecting their family legacies. He immediately sprang into action, implementing a comprehensive strategy which included:

Extending over $65 million in fee rebates to its hoteliers since March 2020.

Adjusting operating standards and rolled out enhanced cleaning protocols with the launch of its industry-leading the We Care Clean SM program.

program. Becoming a prominent industry voice to advocate for the needs of hoteliers across the nation. Kong met with President Trump and government leaders and conducted interviews with many major TV network to cast a light on the hardships of hoteliers and advocate for much-needed federal support.

"David not only led the company through its most devastating time yet, but he inspired hope, encouraged those around him to not be defined by their hardships, and showed others the light inside each of them to continue fighting and enduring," added Naran. "Throughout the darkness of the pandemic, David led with caring, empathy, and a steadfast resolve to overcome. He set an example of leadership through crisis that will be remembered for generations to come."

BWH Hotel Group will announce a new CEO at the company's Annual Convention on October 7, 2021.
Press Release

14 September 2021

Radisson Hotel Group is proud to announce the signing of three hotels within the Thakher Makkah megaproject, an urban development in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Further strengthening its presence across two brands, the Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower West, the Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower East and the Radisson Hotel Makkah Thakher City are set to open in Q4 2022. The new signings will add a total of 992 rooms and apartments, doubling the Groups portfolio in Makkah, a key target growth market in Saudi Arabia. Despite the challenges due to the pandemic, Radisson Hotel Group is continuing its strong expansion as one of the fastest growing companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer EMEA, Radisson Hotel Group, says: We are delighted to announce this portfolio of three new hotels, as it not only accelerates our growing presence in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, but also reaffirms our commitment towards the country and its future. The Thakher Makkah megaproject is designed to attract millions of pilgrims every year and will positively contribute to the countrys ambitious plan that aims to host 30 million Umrah visitors, as well as, hosting 6 million Hajj pilgrims by the year 2030. We remain committed to the countrys Vision 2030 and their initiatives to significantly increase the contribution of leisure and business tourism to the countrys economy. We would like to thank our business partners for their trust in our brands and teams as we look forward to an exciting and rewarding journey.

The city of Makkah, situated 70 km southeast of Jeddah, is known as the holiest city in Islam. The main sources of economic activity in Makkah are the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage, with millions flocking to Makkah each year for worship and devotion. Since the seventh century, Muslims all over the world have visited Mecca, the birthplace of Islam. It is a pilgrimage that marks their observance of one of the Five Pillars of Islam and the fulfillment of a once-in-a-lifetime ritual. Holy sites in the city include the sacred Kaaba, located in the heart of the Masjid al-Haram, the Grand Mosque, or the historic Cave of Thawr.

Located within the Thakher Makkah megaproject, a mixed-use development comprising of hotels, residential and retail units, the hotels are just a stones throw away from the holy sites and offer a unique choice for travelers. Due to open in Q4 2022, the hotels will be another great addition to the existing portfolio across the Kingdom.

Eng. Abdulaziz Al-Aboudi, CEO of Thakher Development Co., stressed that: The keenness of international hotel companies to provide their services to the Thakher Makkah Project reflects the importance and value of the project as a prominent tourism destination in the Holy City. Such cooperation gives an indication that we are on the right path to providing new distinctive hospitality and housing options, which is in line with Vision 2030.

We are excited to announce today the launch of further cooperation with Radisson Hotel Group, which we anticipate will be a fruitful endeavor.

A combination of both hotel and residential options, the Radisson Hotel Makkah Thakher City will consist of 440 rooms and 206 branded residences, a lobby cafe, and all-day dining restaurant. For leisure and recreation, the hotel will feature separate ladies and male gym facilities, while the meeting and event spaces will include five meeting rooms as well as three conference rooms.

Known for its modern facilities and contemporary design, Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower West and Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower East will be great additions to the existing Park Inn portfolio in the region and are designed to facilitate the pilgrim travelers stay and experience in the Kingdom. With a clever use of color, contemporary design, and friendly, personalized service, guests can relax while fully embracing their pilgrimage.

Boasting 203 rooms, the Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower West offers its guest a lobby cafe and all-day dining restaurant. The upcoming Park Inn by Radisson Makkah Thakher City Tower East houses 143 rooms, a lobby lounge, and one restaurant.
Press Release

14 September 2021

Cayuga Hospitality Consultants is excited to announce that Olivier Gauthier, based in Paris, France, has joined their team of global consultants. The addition of his expertise will provide international clients specialized services relating to their markets and countries and provide extensive knowledge about international hospitality trends.

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We are excited to welcome Olivier and his expertise in construction services to our global consultant team, says Katherine Moulton, Partner and Executive Director. We are confident that he will be a great asset to our clients operating around the world as we continue to provide them with comprehensive services tailored for their needs.

After more than 20 years of working for an interior designer and leading construction consulting firms, Olivier Gauthier has created RealSense to combine his passion for remarkable buildings and stunning interiors with his cutting-edge expertise in project and cost management. From flagship stores to luxury hotels, at any stage of a project life cycle, he provides holistic, strategic and tailor-made project management solutions to meet the unique demand and complexity of high-end projects. His project experience includes Sofitel London Saint-James: Fairmont Le Montreaux Place, Switzerland; InterContinental Cairo Semiramis, Egypt; Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris, France; Louis Vuitton Malettier Cannes, France; Restaurant Bagatelle Monte-Carlo, Monaco as well as many others. In addition, Olivier provides a comprehensive range of construction consulting services to support investors, owners and hotel brands planning to refurbish existing or newly acquired luxury or upper-scale hotels in Europe. His key consulting services include project management, cost management, project audit and review, and Capex estimate and feasibility.

Olivier is currently pursuing a Master's degree in business Management from EM Lyon Business School. In 2019, he joined the board of the Project Management Group at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS). In 2015, he became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS) and in 1999, he graduated as a Quantity Surveyor from the University of Central Lancashire in England.

Olivier joins the global team that includes:

Luis Gallotti, Buenos Aires, Hotel Development & Operations

Romulo Vallejo, Caribbean/Latin America, Hotel Operations Specialist

Richard Williams, Caribbean, Resort Development & Management

Germinal Garcia, Cancun/Tenerife, Openings & Marketing Strategy

Frank Schuetzendorf, Paris, Restaurant Concepts & Management

Katie Benson, London, Asset Management & Development

Alex Moj, Munich, Financial Controlling & Data Analyst

Jens Busch, Hong Kong, Gaming Resorts Operations

Haydee Cruz, Bangkok, Sales & Marketing Expert

Aureliano Bonni, Italy, Tourism & Marketing

To learn more about the global team of consultants, visit Cayuga Hospitality Consultants.
Industry Update

Supplier News

14 September 2021

HITEC TV: A chat with Jason Floyd of Infor - How the Past Has Influenced the Future

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Jason Floyd started out his career serving in the US Army, then he was grasped by the hospitality bug. For over 24 years, Jason has been committed to the hotel technology industry assisting hoteliers to find better ways to utilize technology to enhance revenues, guest expectations and service. This 30-minute interview offers insights into Jasons background, his passion for our industry and how Infor is positioned to deliver primary multiple platforms (PMS, CRS, RMS, F&B, etc.) to the global hotel industry.

Visit us at HITEC Dallas 2021 September 27 - 30, 2021

Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas  Dallas, TX United States

Booth: 3005 event details

Related Video HITEC TV: Interview with Infor Hospitality Solutions' SVP & GM Jason Floyd 7 September 2021  Hospitality Net's Alan Young talks with Jason Floyd, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Infor Hospitality Solutions. Jason Floyd started out his career serving in the US Army, then he was grasped by the hospitality bug. For over 24 years, Jason has been committed to the hotel technology industry assisting hoteliers to find better ways to utilize technology to enhance revenues, guest expectations and service. View video

About Infor Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. Providing mission-critical enterprise applications to 67,000 customers in more than 175 countries, Infor software is designed to deliver more value and less risk, with more sustainable operational advantages. We empower our 17,000 employees to leverage their deep industry expertise and use data-driven insights to create, learn and adapt quickly to solve emerging business and industry challenges. Infor is committed to providing our customers with modern tools to transform their business and accelerate their own path to innovation. To learn more, please visit www.infor.com.

Aaron Stein
Opinion Article

14 September 2021

Have you ever visited a hotel website or saw any luxury product that made you feel:"I want this..."?

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That feeling is not a coincidence. That feeling of desire is triggered by precisely designed product presentations and brand experiences, tailored to your interests - and to other to people with interests and preferences similar to yours.

You can be sure that the company invested significant efforts to develop that desire-provoking first impression experience and went out of its way to make sure that you (among hundreds of thousands of similar people) will see it.

As you know, hotel sales and marketing channels overlap to varying extents. It is a truly omnichannel environment, where having a great product presentation benefit not only your website and direct booking business but also your OTA and travel agency channels.

Crafting a "wow" hotel brand experience starts with understanding the desires of your target guest segments

How could you communicate effectively without knowing what your audience is interested in, or how do they perceive you?

It is easy to come up with brand positioning and marketing communication ideas based on a few subjective opinions - that's what most independent hotel management teams do. And this is what makes them average and forgettable.

Understanding the public perceptions of your hotel is as essential as looking into the mirror every once in a while. And going one step further, understanding consumer expectations is the basis to craft brand experiences and product presentations that speak to the hearts of your potential guests.

Most hotel marketing people will agree to this, but there is a problem. Market research is expensive, and independent hotels are often on a tight budget. Expecting high costs, most independent hotels do not even think of carrying out professional market research and analysis. Because of this, hotels use less reliable information, such as generic market reports, "expert" opinions, web stats, social media insights, and guesswork.

Today there are various cost-effective approaches to do a proper hotel brand analysis. The SME focused market reserch company Brand Auditor offers a hotel and resort-specific solution:

https://brandauditor.me/product/hotel-resort-brand-audit/

The four categories of hotel brand management approaches

Not all hotel brand experiences are crafted equally. During our ten active years of working on hotel brand growth and digital marketing management projects, we noticed that most independent hotels fall into four categories based on their approach to branding and product presentation:

Hotels that put continuous, professional efforts into being impressive

It won't surprise anyone, but hotel management teams proactively seeking ways to improve their product presentation and brand experience make market-leading brands. In practice, this means regular market feedback analysis, photoshoots, frequent content updates, continuous website improvements, and following guest expectation trends to optimize their marketing communications.

Typically, these hotels work with progressive brand guidelines. They provide room for optimization, but the basics such as visual characteristics, tone of voice, and the overall brand identity will remain loyal to the initial concept.

This approach requires skills, dedicated attention, and resources. In return, the hotel will enjoy increased demand and ability to above market-average room rates, higher marketing ROI (return on investment) while also receiving organic media attention.

Hotels that rigorously stick to their opening concept and photos

Hotels in this category have opened with a proper brand strategy that worked excellently in the first few years. As time goes by and external factors change, these hotels start to seem increasingly outdated. A great example of this is The Langham, London. A fantastic hotel that looks miserably outdated online.

Such external factors are travel trends, product presentation trends, marketing communication trends. Or a new competitive environment that would require repositioning the hotel brand to remain attractive.

Hotels that are branded to look good to the owners

I guess lots of hotel GMs and hotel DOSMs will feel this. There are hotels where owners regularly interfere with how the hotel brand and marketing communications. They will demand abrupt changes based on their personal preferences instead of consumer insights. It is a sad, unfortunate situation.

Hotels that don't care at all

These are the ones who choose $400 websites, do the "photoshoot" in-house with mobile phones, and do everything as they feel. Typically, their management and marketing team seriously lack aesthetic skills and are even incompetent to realize that the product presentation of their hotel sucks.

Here are some examples of these horrible hotel brand implementations.

Getting started with crafting an impressive hotel brand experience

In this article, we discuss the steps and stages of crafting a powerful brand experience for your hotel - that grabs the attention of your ideal guests. Without going into too many details, we will cover the basic ideas of:

Definitions Your hotel won't attract everyone Segmentation Positioning Crafting a product presentation Creating a desire-inspiring brand experience

1. What is a hotel brand experience?

What do we mean by "hotel brand experience" in a branding and marketing context? In a nutshell, brand experience is how the viewer or potential guest feels when engaging or interacting with a brand.

By "hotel product presentation" we do not mean a sales presentation that you do for travel agent partners and tour operators.

Hotel product presentation in this context means how you demonstrate and communicate the unique features of your hotel product to potential guests. In practice, this is about photos, videos, content, PR, reviews, and other means of communication.

One might argue that brand experiences are subjective. This is true, as people have different experiences and associations about a brand or product. Others might go on and say that there is no "right" or "wrong".

2. Your hotel product is not for everyone - neither is your hotel brand experience

Some segments of your target guests will love the visuals and messages your hotel brand communicates, while others will reject it. And this is the very reason why crafting purposeful hotel brand experiences specifically for your target guests is so important.

Business-first city hotels will not attract vacationing families, meanwhile, super-fun family resorts with multiple kids pools, teenagers, and nightclubs will not attract guests who prefer peace and total relaxation. Simple as that.

A classic "boomer" luxury hotel with cigars and golden woodwork will not attract wealthy young adults who prefer modern, casual luxury - while a fancy nouveau-rich influencer playground resort will not attract people with class. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your hotel not being the best fit for everyone.

If you manage a 3-4 star hotel, there is nothing wrong with admitting that your hotel is not fit for "luxury guests" whatever it might mean. Simple and modest properties can also do amazing business and become popular by being good in something that has a market.

3. Define customer segments that you will focus on

As a first step, you need to think about what kind of people would appreciate your hotel product the most. Hotel marketing segmentation is a way of dividing potential guests into groups, based on a set of shared characteristics.

Basic marketing strategies will point to age and nationality. In reality, these are very irrelevant for branding and marketing communication purposes. Depending on your market and property type, you should define segments based on cultural affiliation, income, travel style, travel purpose, and general personality traits when creating these groups.

Your job at this stage is to identify which groups of guests would like your property the most, based on its location, features, facilities, and other unique variables proprietary for your hotel.

Who would enjoy your hotel concept the most?

Who would like the food in your restaurants?

Who would like the design and decor of your rooms?

For whom are the standards of your hotel suitable?

Is the price suitable for your target groups of guests?

These questions cannot be answered by you, your owners, neither the hotel marketing team. The best way to seek real answers to these questions is by doing market research, collecting thousands of product perception insights from your target groups.

As a result of your research, you will see that in which segments your hotel will have a strong product-market fit.

4. Define your internal positioning statement, and figure out how it will be communicated

Once your market research results are in, and you understand the brand and product perceptions of your target segments, it is time to work out your internal brand positioning statement. This will be the backbone of your brand, marketing as well as product presentation strategy.

A positioning statement has the following variables:

Your audience: Who are your ideal guests? Why do they travel, and what are their desires? Your market: What is your market category? How does your hotel product relate to your audience, in comparison to your competition? Your brand promise: In the eyes of your audience, what are the greatest benefits your hotel product or hotel brand offers? Your evidence: What irrefutable evidence can you offer to demonstrate that your brand delivers on its promise?

At this stage, you already know your ideal audience, as your market research previously answered that. The next step is the realistic evaluation of your competitors, and where you stand against them.

Which are the hotels in your region that try to attract the same guests? You will need to look better than them. This will require identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and see what features your property has that can become a differentiating factor.

Based on these, it is finally possible to craft a positioning statement that is true, valuable, and most importantly relevant to your potential guests.

A positioning statement sounds like this:

Your hotel is the best choice for (your ideal travelers) in (your destination), because of the (unique features) and (other qualities).

Until now, we have been talking about internal positioning statements. This statement should not surface from your offices in any form of public communication. This statement will be the cornerstone of your brand communications, and your hotel marketing will be centered around it.

As soon as you get settled with a positioning statement based on your insights, we can move on to explore how this will be communicated to the external world.

5. Crafting your unique hotel product presentation for your target guests

Product presentations consist of two primary elements: product description and visuals. Secondary and external elements are equally important, such as reviews and context.

Hotel product descriptions are slightly more different, as opposed to regular products, you not only need to sell the room, but also the hotel experience. Guests who might like your rooms but do not like your concept will not book, and the same applies in reverse. There are many great hotel concepts with underwhelming rooms.

Product descriptions

A product description is the marketing copy that explains what your hotel is all about, and why its worth choosing. The purpose of a product description is to supply guests with important information about the features and benefits of the hotel so theyre compelled to book.

When you write a product description with a huge crowd of travelers in mind, your descriptions become wishy-washy and you end up addressing no one at all.

The best product descriptions address your target audience directly and personally. You ask and answer questions as if youre having a conversation with them. You choose the words your ideal buyer uses. You use the word you.

Purposeful photography and visual storytelling

I was recently reviewing the photography brand standards of Audi. Although it's not a hospitality company, its photography and visual guidelines are excellent examples of how to plan your photo guidelines. It clearly shows how Audi drivers would like to imagine themselves. Young, dynamic, progressive, culturated and understated.

https://www.audi.com/ci/en/intro/basics/imagery.html

Arguably, photos and videos are among the most important elements of brand and marketing communications. Your imagery will be used on your social media platforms, on your website, blog posts, and also in press releases.

Hotel marketing teams often make the mistake of commissioning photos and videos that they like or think to be interesting. As we established earlier, photo compositions should be conceptualized for your target guests. Pay particular attention to various food items and alcohol, do not risk alienating groups of people by showcasing food that they don't eat. Risky choices are prawns, seafood, or pork.

Choose your models carefully and capture situations that your target guests want to imagine themselves in. Plan your photography concept well, as this will make or break your brand communication success.

Show similar people to your target guests

Show how people want to imagine themselves in your hotel

Show features and details that matter to them

Cut the cliche, be factual

When we are stuck for words and do not know what else to add to our product presentation, we often add something inauthentic and bland like "luxurious" or "pristine beaches". Travelers read the same expressions on every hotel website. These words won't impress anyone.

To enable a stronger connection between your brand and your future guests, eliminate all the cliche and give what they are truly interested in. That is valuable, honest, and useful information.

There is a fun little tool called "Blablameter". It is free to use to benchmark the nonsense in your content.

In general, a good practice is to use photos and videos for visual storytelling, and leave written content to be factual and information focuses. It's a well known fact that people don't read long paragraphs, and it is significantly more pleasing to process information from images.

Leave lengthy text content for blog posts.

6. Brand experience

Brand experience goes a bit beyond the product presentation. It is a mixture of UX design, a guided customer journey, and drip-feeding just enough information that keeps your viewers increasingly interested.

By definition, brand experience is conceptualized as sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand's design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments.

In the case of hotels, this can be broken down to:

First impression experience User experience Brand mood or "vibes" as Gen Z calls it Discovery experience Booking experience Pre-stay customer service

The internet has changed the way we interface with brands. Our interactions with the brands we loveand with new oneshave become much more complex than ever before.

In modern brand management, it is essential to maintain a uniform, consistent brand experience across all channels.

Conclusion

All the information in this article might be overwhelming. As a hotel manager, you might wonder why things need to be this complicated? The truth is that crafting a great brand experience is not so difficult if you follow the process.

I hope this opinion piece will inspire you to review your brand and marketing communication management. Based on our experience, even small efforts go a long way, especially considering that most independent hotels and resorts do not put any thought into these things.

What's next?

Stay tuned for more articles, in the next article we will see some insights about how luxury consumer philosophy has changed in the past years, and what luxury travelers expect today.

This will lead us to the new generation on the block. The Gen Z travel market share is growing rapidly, and they do things differently. They see hotel marketing as ridiculously outdated, so we need to brace for fundamental changes for the current decade.
Opinion Article

14 September 2021

For the first time, AHIC will house the four close-knit investment communities of the Arabian Hospitality Investment Conference (AHIC), Saudi Arabia Hospitality Investment Conference (SHIC), Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) and the Global Restaurant Investment Forum (GRIF) under one roof.

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Under the theme RISE TOGETHER, event organisers Bench and MEED have designed the three-day programme around the key themes of innovation, sustainability and the future . The highly-anticipated event will feature 100+ speakers with on-stage one-to-one interviews, roundtables, discussions and workshops as well as off-stage individual meetings, innovation pitches, networking experiences, and culinary tours.

Ahead of speaking at his year's event, Mr. Haitham Mattar reflects on how luxury travel in the Middle East is changing post Covid-19.

A year and a half of sensory deprivation and social isolation have primed people the world over to escape the COVID-19 inflicted restrictions of their homes and embrace the escapism of luxury travel.

The luxury travel industry anticipates a worldwide recovery, owing to many factors including the easing of COVID-19 restrictions on travel, vaccination program rollouts, and the excess of household savings. People previously categorized as budget travelers are now willing to splurge on the trip of a lifetime after a hard year and they have the savings to pay for it.

Moodys estimated as of the first quarter of 2021 that excess savings across the globe equaled more than six percent of the global gross domestic product. And many people are starting to choose to spend more on luxury travel, both to break away from the restrictions of COVID-19 and to guarantee the highest safety standards.

MENA, the luxury destination of choice

The Middle East, long viewed as a travel destination synonymous with luxury, is specifically positioned to ride a rising tide of recovery in the luxury travel and tourism sector, owing to the rebound in air passenger traffic in 2021 and the strength of the existing demand for domestic style staycations.

At IHG Hotels and Resorts, one of the worlds largest hotel chains, we are already seeing an improvement in occupancy and consumer sentiment across strategic markets in the MENA region. Markets such as the UAE, Qatar and Egypt have seen significant improvement with occupancy rates over 50 percent in 2021.

The new standards

The pandemic put health and safety at the forefront of priorities in the tourism sector, making it a necessity most tourists have become unwilling to compromise on. Many travelers have turned to luxury travel to ensure their safety. Rather than the unseen operation in the background that it once was, hygiene measures and housekeeping services have come under the spotlight, touted and clearly outlined by hotels for their guests.

QR-code menus have become the standard in all food and beverage outlets of a hotel, with socially distanced tables a necessity, not just to comply with health and safety standards but to put the customers mind at ease.

Hotels adopted integrated digital services to change the hotel experience to the new norm. People no longer have to wait in queues to check-in at reception desks - many hotels have adopted mobile check-in services.

At IHG, we are investing in the technology, tools and solutions that make the biggest difference to our guests, owners and teams. Our intuitive, cloud-based solution, IHG Concerto, is critical to the work we are doing in this space.

The digital platform reduces in-person interaction, giving guests a greater sense of autonomy and privacy, while keeping up with the shift to mobile and digital reliance dictated by the pandemics realities.

Another changing aspect of hotel bookings amid the pandemic is the ever-rising demand for flexible cancellation policies. Governments continue to update travel restrictions and peoples work commitments are precarious, changing their plans for a workcation  working while on vacation abroad.

Travelers now demand flexible cancellation policies from hotels and if refunds are not offered, hotels at least need to offer the option to re-book in the future.

Privacy and wellness

Theres a rising demand for slow travel, where people choose to visit one location and stay there longer. This creates the need for more leisure activities offered by the hotel and a solid network of transportation services including to and from airports and to tourist attractions. Travelers now look for hotels to offer more than just a comfortable stay, they are now the main point of contact for tour operators in the destination and must step up to offer clients privacy, exclusivity, and a wide range of experiences.

Wellness is also at the forefront of travelers priorities. This not only translates to relaxation of the body but mental health as well, including sunset yoga on the beach, meditation, or full-blown spiritual retreat programs.

Eyes on luxury travel

The pandemic may have hurt the travel and tourism industry worldwide, but the sector is also one of the few that has the potential to recover quickly. Millions of people around the globe have set luxury travel as a near-term goal and with many Middle Eastern countries opening up to tourists, its fast becoming one of the few safe luxury travel destinations around the world.

Hotels in the region can capitalize on their location if they can manage to adapt to the new norms and think creatively to offer new experiences to travelers looking to escape the hardships of life in COVID-19 times.
Q. Does the renter of a home have the right to make changes to the home, such as painting the walls and cabinets, building flower beds or digging up and leveling the yard to put in an above ground pool, without the consent of the landlord? What are the consequences of making changes to the home or lawn without approval?

A. Typically, what a renter can and cannot do would be spelled out in a written lease agreement. But if there is no written lease, or if the lease doesnt address these issues, then the renter should contact the landlord and ask for permission to do each of those things.

Most of the time, painting the walls and adding flower beds would be allowed. But painting the cabinets or installing an above ground pool might be going a bit too far without prior written approval.

Q. My father recently died from Covid complications, and his few personal belongings were destroyed. Most of his accounts passed to me by beneficiary designation or by rights of survivorship. I think he also has an account at Goldman Sachs, and I believe I am the beneficiary on this account. Unlike all the banks Ive dealt with, when I call the main phone operators at Goldman Sachs , they refuse to look up his account using his name. They want an account number or a brokers name to start the search. I have no statements available to me. What should I do?

On HoustonChronicle.com: More columns from Ronald Lipman

A. Go to www.goldmanpfm.com, and click on Find an advisor near you. There you will find the names and phone numbers of various advisers at Goldman who you can call directly. Maybe one of them will be willing to help you out, even if its just to give you the name and phone number of the adviser your father was using.

If that doesnt work, hire an estate planning attorney, preferably at a large law firm, and ask that attorney to use his or her connections to figure out whether your father had an account at Goldman Sachs. You can find one of these attorneys at www.tbls.org. Many estate planning attorneys at large law firms regularly work with advisors at Goldman Sachs as it relates to planning for their mutual wealthy clients.

Because Goldman Sachs private wealth management generally requires its clients to have at least $10,000,000 invested, you may want to take these steps sooner than later.

Note, if your father died this year with an estate in excess of $11,700,000, a federal estate tax return will be due and taxes will be owed nine months following his death. State death taxes may be due as well, depending on where he lived.

The information in this column is intended to provide a general understanding of the law, not legal advice. Readers with legal problems, including those whose questions are addressed here, should consult attorneys for advice on their particular circumstances. Ronald Lipman of the Houston law firm Lipman & Associates is board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Email questions to stateyourcase@lipmanpc.com.
Houston airports are seeing fewer flight cancellations Tuesday morning as Nicholas passes through the region.

Nicholas, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane southwest of Galveston early Tuesday, brought winds of up to 95 miles per hour to the Texas coast.

GULF COAST: Oil prices rise after Nicholas batters Texas Gulf Coast



At George Bush Intercontinental Airport, 162 arriving and departing flights have been canceled so far on Tuesday, according to the Houston Airport System.

That includes 70 United Airlines flights to and from George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the Chicago-based carrier said. United has issued a travel waiver for customers traveling through impacted airports across Texas Gulf Coast.



Both American Airlines and Delta Airlines began ramping up operations at Hobby Airport as of 10 a.m. Central Tuesday, according to the Houston Airport System.

Southwest Airlines said it has canceled all flights to and from Hobby Airport until 3 p.m. Central Tuesday, and expects to resume normal operations at that time.

The Dallas-based airline said its customers may request a refund or rebook flights within 14 days of their original date without paying any additional charge.
Houston airports have begun canceling flights Monday as Tropical Storm Nicholas barrels toward the Texas coast.

Nicholas, which has reached sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, could strengthen to a category 1 hurricane with sustained winds between 74 and 95 miles per hour before making landfall late Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

UPDATE: Oil industry braces for more disruption as Tropical Storm Nicholas barrels toward Texas

At Hobby Airport, 81 departing flights and 83 arriving flights have been canceled from between Monday at 4 p.m. and Tuesday at 11 a.m., according to the Houston Airport System, while 50 departing flights and 75 arriving flights have been canceled for that same time period at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.



That includes 35 United Airlines flights canceled Monday evening at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to and from Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Victoria, the airline said.

United has also canceled 50 flights to and from George Bush Intercontinental Airport Tuesday and expects at least a dozen more flights to be canceled by early Tuesday morning.



The Chicago-based carrier said it plans to resume operations at 10 a.m. Tuesday, at the earliest.



United has issued a travel waiver for customers traveling through the impacted airports across Texas Gulf Coast.

Southwest Airlines said it has proactively canceled about 150 flights of a total 3,400 total flights Monday among its operations along the Gulf Coast, including Harlingen, Corpus Christi and Houstons George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport.

Now Playing: Get the latest local weather news from the Houston Chronicle and ABC13 Houston. Video: Houston Chronicle / ABC13 Houston

The majority of the flight cancelations are out of Hobby, Southwests Houston hub, according to a spokesperson for the airline. An exact figure was not provided.

Southwest customers may request a refund or rebook flights within 14 days of their original date without paying any additional charge.



Southwest is encouraging customers to sign up for flight alerts on the company website to receive notifications for potential flight disruptions.



Were continuing to monitor the storm and will make operational adjustments as necessary," a spokesperson for the airline said.
Oil prices hardly budged Tuesday as U.S. offshore oil producers began assessing damage from Hurricane Nicholas.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, settled up 1 cent at $70.46 after rising earlier in the day to $71 a barrel, the highest in six weeks, after the Category 1 storm rolled up the Texas coast. The storm threatened to again halt oil and gas operations offshore and on the coast two weeks after Hurricane Ida ravaged Louisiana. More than 43 percent of oil production and about half of natural gas production in the Gulf remains offline after Ida.

Prices flattened in the closing as traders did not yet see any disruptions from Hurricane Nicholas but they could rise again in coming days as first reports of production outages arrive," said Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil markets for Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy. "Hurricane news are expected to monopolize trader interest in coming days and move prices depending on how much production is affected."

HURRICANE: Oil industry braces for more disruption as Nicholas heads for Texas

Oil producers, refiners, petrochemical manufacturers and liquefied natural gas companies on Tuesday began assessing damage from Nicholas, which brought torrential rain, wind gusts and widespread power outages.

Freeport LNG said all three of its natural gas liquefaction facilities are offline at its Quintana Island export facility near Freeport, likely due to power outages from Nicholas. The facilities, which super-cool natural gas into a liquid to be shipped overseas, have a combined capacity of about 15 million tons per year. The company said there were no other damage to its facilities.

LyondellBasell said its Matagorda complex in Bay City, with a capacity of about 1 million tons per year of polyethylene, has been temporarily shut down due to widespread power outages in the area. Polyethylene is used to make plastic bags and films. The chemical company with dual headquarters in Houston and Rotterdam said its other Gulf Coast facilities are operating as planned.

Houston refiner Phillips 66 said several of its midstream assets are temporarily offline due to area power outages including the companys pipelines in Southeast Texas as well as its natural gas liquids fractionators hub at Sweeny in Brazoria County, with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day. Fractionators separate raw natural gas liquids into hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butanes and pentanes. The companys refinery at Sweeny is operational, the company said.

Valero of San Antonio said it is restarting its Meraux and St. Charles refineries, and its 400-million-gallon renewable diesel expansion project called Diamond Green Diesel.

Kinder Morgan said most of its facilities that lost power due to Nicholas are back in service and/or are being powered by generators. The Houston pipeline operator said early indications are that there are no significant damages to its operations along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Meanwhile, Colonial Pipeline, the major fuel line connecting Houstons refineries to the East Coast, temporarily shut down two lines of its network Tuesday morning due to power outages in the Houston area in the wake of Hurricane Nicholas.



Colonial Pipeline said at around 12:25 p.m. Central that it has begun receiving product from shippers impacted by power outages in the Houston-area. While one pipeline remains temporarily offline, the second has resumed operations. The Georgia-based pipeline company, which carries nearly 3 million barrels of fuel a day between Texas and New York, said the rest of its pipeline network is operating normally.

Port Houston said all of its terminals will remain closed for most of the day Tuesday. Vessel operations will resume at 7 p.m., with normal operations expected to resume Wednesday. Meanwhile, Moda Ingleside Energy Center near Corpus Christi, one of the largest crude oil storage and export terminals by volume in the U.S., has opened its shipping channel and expects to load vessels Tuesday.

Port Freeport said it has opened two terminals, although vessel movements in the Freeport Harbor Channel have been suspended until conditions are determined to be safe. Due to widespread power outages in the Freeport area, emergency backup generators are being used to power critical operations, the port said.

Some companies reported no major damage from Nicholas.

Cameron LNG said there is "essentially no impact" to operations at its facility along the Calcasieu Channel in Hackberry, La., and Citgo said its Corpus Christi and Lake Charles refineries are operating normally.

Cheniere said its LNG terminals in Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass, located in Cameron Parish along the Louisiana coast, sustained no damage from Nicholas.

Exxon Mobil said its Baytown and Beaumont refinery and chemical complexes did not suffer significant damage or flooding, and are operating normally.

Royal Dutch Shell said it is assessing its equipment and systems at its Deer Park refinery and manufacturing complex. A company spokeswoman said the refinery doesn't appear to have suffered serious damage from wind, rain or storm surge, and operations at the facility remain normal.

Shell's Perdido offshore platform, which was shut down Monday as a precaution, is now ready to restart, but that is contingent on power being restored at a non-Shell downstream facility that lost power during the storm. There is no timetable for restarting, the company said.

Hurricane Nicholas is expected to have a limited impact of one to three days on the refining sector, docks and pipelines, according to Debnil Chowdhury, vice president, oil markets and downstream refining at IHS Markit.

It is unlikely the wind gust and rain levels from Nicholas caused extensive damage at any of the refineries in the path of the storm, although some may have reduced production rates as precautionary measure due to potential power outages, Chowdhury said.

We dodged a bullet because the heavy rainfall ended up mainly being off the coast, Chowdhury said.

While various ports in Texas temporarily halted operations prior to the storm and the Colonial Pipeline shut down part of its system as a precautionary measure, the impact of these closures on the market will not be as prolonged as Hurricane Ida, Chowdhury said.
WASHINGTON  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the creation of a temporary nuclear waste storage site in West Texas that was the brainchild of the late Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons.

In an order issued Monday, the federal commission said a joint venture between Simmons former company Waste Control Specialists and the French nuclear giant Orana Group could store up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel for 40 years at a site in Andrews County, about 40 miles northwest of Midland. The decision marked the end a yearslong federal review process, leaving the courts to decide whether the project moves ahead.

The interim storage facility would be the first of its kind in the United States and be used until a permanent solution is found for the stockpiles of nuclear waste scattered at power plants around the country. But there is stiff opposition in Texas, with Gov. Greg Abbott signing a bill last week that aims to block the project.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Plan to transport nuclear waste to West Texas draws concern

The proposed (storage) facility imperils Americas energy security because it would be a prime target for attacks by terrorists, saboteurs, and other enemies, Abbott wrote to the NRC last November. This location could not be worse for storing ultra-hazardous radioactive waste.

Abbotts office did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A spokesman for Waste Control Specialists, which was purchased by the New York private equity firm J.F. Lehman & Co. after Simmons died in 2013, also declined to comment.

The proposal to store nuclear waste in West Texass wide-open spaces has long divided Texans. While former governor and U.S. energy secretary Rick Perry backed the project, an unlikely coalition of environmentalists, ranchers and some in the oil industry, argued the plan was not worth the risk of radiation exposure en route to, or at, the storage site.

Under the NRC order, spent nuclear rods from around the country would be placed in specially designed casks and shipped by train to the site in Andrews County, potentially along rail routes running through major metropolitan areas like Houston and Dallas. In addition to the nuclear fuel, the site is authorized to store up to 231 metric tons of low-level radioactive waste, such as tools and equipment used at nuclear power plants.

The joint venture plans to potentially expand the site to hold 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, but that expansion also would need to be approved by the NRC. Holtec International, a Florida company, is also awaiting approval from the NRC on a similar temporary waste storage facility in New Mexico.

Environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Austin-based Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, as well as the Fasken family, which controls vast swaths of land in West Texas, have already filed federal lawsuits seeking to block the Andrews County project and are awaiting a hearing in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The message should be loud and clear: Texas doesnt want the nations deadliest nuclear waste and does not consent to being a dumping ground, said Karen Hadden, executive director of the SEED Coalition.

Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox

The order by the NRC on Tuesday marks a milestone in a decadeslong political battle.

In 1987 Congress designated a ridge in the Nevada desert about 90 miles north of Las Vegas called Yucca Mountain to be the nations repository. But decades of political opposition led by Nevada Democrat and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid kept the project from moving forward. In 2010, President Barack Obama scrapped the plan, and the Biden administration opposes it as well.

Instead, the administration plans to work with Congress and states to reach consent on storing nuclear waste, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Congress earlier this year.

But if the government cannot come to an agreement on a permanent storage site in the next 40 years, finding a new home for the nuclear waste that ends up in West Texas, New Mexico or other temporary sites could be difficult.

The NRC never should have even considered these applications, said Diane Curran, an attorney for Beyond Nuclear, one of the environmental groups suing to block the projects. Licensing the (Texas and New Mexico) facilities would defeat Congresss purpose of ensuring that nuclear waste generated by U.S. reactors will go to a deep geologic repository, rather than to vulnerable surface facilities that may become permanent nuclear waste dumps.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
4:16 p.m.: About 177,630 customers were still without power Tuesday afternoon as CenterPoint crews worked to restore power to those who lost it during Hurricane Nicholas. Throughout the day, workers were able to restore power to nearly 300,000 that had their lights go out after winds felled powerlines and knocked trees into them.

Officials tweeted that crews will continue working around the clock until more power is restored.

11:30 a.m.: CenterPoint crews began their damage assessments this morning, prioritizing critical infrastructure like hospitals, water treatment facilities and public utilities for power restoration efforts.

More than 337,000 customers remained without power late Tuesday morning, according to the company, down from a high of about 440,000 at 7:30 a.m.

CenterPoint Executive Vice President for Electric Utilities Kenny Mercado said in a statement that the company is working to restore power as quickly as possible

However, patience will be important as some areas of our system and equipment may be difficult to reach for our crews due to safety-related issues, such as downed trees, he said. Customers do not need to call us to report outages, our smart meters tell us which customers are out. We ask that everyone to please keep phone lines open for electric or natural gas emergency calls only.

The company said it has asked crews from outside the state to help and is prepared to activate four or more staging sites across Houston.

7:15 a.m.: The number of CenterPoint customers without electricity in greater Houston has risen to more than 420,000, according to the utility provider.

Much of the dense, urban core of the region showed partial outages, while some coastal areas were almost entirely without power. Surfisde Beach, a sparsely populated beach community about an hour south of Downtown Houston, reported more than 1,000 outages.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, said in a statement it has required power generators to stay online despite planned maintenance actions.

On HoustonChroncicle.com: Get updates with the Chronicle's Power Outage Tracker

"Any power outages caused by the storm will most likely be at the local distribution level. Local outages can be caused by factors ranging from high winds toppling power poles to tree limbs falling on power lines," officials with the grid operator said in a press release.

6:30 a.m.: More than 412,000 customers were without electricity across the Houston region early Tuesday morning as Tropical Storm Nicholas moved across the region, according to CenterPoint Energy.

CenterPoint, which provides power to more than 1.4 million across the region, reported outages from Baytown to Richmond on its outage tracker. It said about 82.7 percent of its customers still had power as of about 6:30 a.m.

Yesterday the company said more than 3,200 workers were ready to respond to outages once it was safe for crews to cut felled tree limbs and fix lines. While thousands are ready to respond, the utility provider said it could be difficult to dispatch workers due to road conditions.

Now Playing: Get the latest local weather news from the Houston Chronicle and ABC13 Houston. Video: Houston Chronicle / ABC13 Houston

"Our crews may be facing some hazardous road conditions, so we ask for our customers patience while we work to restore their service," said Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint's executive vice president of electric utility.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
When winemakers Regan Meador and wife Carey decided to build their forever home near Fredericksburg, they never considered doing so anywhere but on the grounds of their 62-acre vineyard, Southold Farm + Cellar.

Completed in 2019, the four-bedroom, 3-bathroom house is just a short walk from the winerys hilltop tasting room and within sight of the production building at the bottom of the hill.

The 2,800-square-foot home, which cost about $650,000 to build, is sited on the hills eastern slope and has a spectacular view over the Hill Country.

At night we can see the lights all the way from Johnson City, Carey said.

But the view wasnt the only reason the couple, who have two children, 6 and 8, decided to build their home on the vineyard property.

We like the idea that the kids would grow up on a working farm, Regan said. And because so much goes into farming and making wine on our site, we also wanted to live nearby to be able to work it.

One might expect a winemakers home to be decorated with corks, dark, heavy Italian furniture and wine-inspired art. Instead, the house is white, bright and airy, and the only reference to how the Meadors make their living is the partial living room wall, which is made from used barrel staves fitted together in a chevron pattern.

Theres a little bit of nuance there, Regan said. Its not like we have wine barrels all over the house.

They didnt even build a cellar in the house. Instead, they keep a reasonable selection of bottles in a pair of wine coolers in the kitchen pantry and run down to the production building if they need something special, according to Regan.

During planning, the couple, both 41, told architect Tim Brown they wanted the house to make maximum use of its interior space. That meant as few hallways as possible without settling for the default open-plan design.

Browns solution is a layout in which many of the individual living spaces are demarcated visually, with partial walls and ceilings of different heights.

The homes most dramatic space, the combination living and dining area, runs 40 feet from the front entryway to the massive windows in the back. Above, a cathedral ceiling made from rich, golden Douglas fir rises 23 feet and gives the room something of a Scandinavian feel.

The couple say the plan initially was to run a large support beam down the middle of the ceiling and several cross beams perpendicular to that. They changed their minds during construction, however.

We liked the cleaner look without all those beams, Carey said.

With its soaring ceiling and large windows letting in plenty of eastern light, the room would seem the perfect spot to watch the sunrise while enjoying the mornings first cup of coffee.

I wish, said Carey with a laugh. Our kids are 6 and 8, did we mention that? Were more interested in getting them to finish their cereal and getting them out the door in the morning.

Another of the homes simple design elements is the concrete flooring that runs through the house, broken up by the occasional area rug.

We had wood floors in our old house on Long Island, and they quickly got pretty scraped up, Carey said. We also like the look of concrete. The only thing we had them do was to add some gray dye to the pour to make it a little darker.

The Meadors moved to Texas in 2017 after several years of making wine in Southold, N.Y., on Long Islands North Fork.

In 2019 they began planting about 30 different varieties of grapes on 14 acres. While waiting for those vines to mature, theyve been crushing grapes from a nearby vineyard they farm and purchased from two other Texas growers. Regan is the Southold president and winemaker, while Carey is the companys board secretary. They make between 4,000 to 5,000 cases annually and hope eventually to produce estate-grown wines exclusively.

Located off the opposite side of the living/dining room, the kitchen is dominated by a large center island topped by a black soapstone countertop with subtle white markings. The top extends well over the edge of the base so family and visitors can easily gather around it like a large table.

When we entertain well throw some butcher paper over the top and put cheese and other stuff out so people can graze, Regan said. That way, the island becomes the focal point of the party.

Regan said they entertain every couple of weeks or so  and, of course, theres plenty of wine  but these events are usually limited to family and friends.

If were entertaining for business, well usually do it in the tasting room or the restaurant, Regan said, referring to The Kitchen at Southold Farm + Cellar, which serves a New American menu along with killer views.

The home kitchens metal-clad oven hood and the tile backsplash with its delicate black-and-white pattern combine to give it a country farmhouse feel.

I dont love super modern vent hoods, Carey said. I wanted something clean but that had some interest. Same thing with the tile. We didnt want the pattern to be overwhelming since the backsplash goes all the way up to the ceiling.

Around the corner from the kitchen is a pantry with large open shelves for storing food and small appliances.

This was kind of a big deal for me, to have everything right here where I need it, Carey said. Its hidden away, so I can have my clean kitchen countertops but still have easy access to my toaster oven.

The master bedroom echoes the living/dining room, with the same Douglas fir cathedral ceiling, albeit on a smaller scale. It also has the same view to the east.

We can lay in bed and look up at the stars at night and watch meteor showers, Regan said.

And then we can watch the sun come up in the morning, Carey added.

If theres one place in the house where the couple got bit playful, its the master bathroom floor, which shocks with green tiles in a wild geometric pattern. The tile also runs up one of the shower walls.

Our last house had those classic black and white hex tiles, Carey said. So we wanted to do something different. People whove seen it have been like, But what if you want to sell? And were like, Were probably not gonna be selling this house for a while.

After all, its the perfect live-work space for them.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
While many Texans spent Monday stocking up on storm supplies, groceries, water and other necessities in preparation for Tropical Storm Nicholas, one man had an early Halloween celebration.

An ABC13 reporter spotted a man, identified as Mark Metzger, walking down Galveston Beach just before the storm made landfall dressed as Michael Myers from the 1978 horror film "Halloween."

He called it the "calm before the storm" in hopes that his prank would bring laughter and turn a negative into a positive at a time when people needed to crack a smile amid a raging storm.

Some found it amusing. Metzger said some spectators stopped for a couple of photographs and Galveston Island Beach Patrol even played the "Halloween" movie theme song.

Others didn't find anything funny.

Adam Garrison, an island resident, told ABC13 he thought the man's stunt was stupid and that he was probably doing it for attention in the midst of a storm threatening Texas' coast.

FOLLOW NICHOLAS LIVE: Tropical Storm Nicholas leaves 420K without power, as center creeps toward Houston

Galveston police were also called to the scene, detained Metzger and learned the knife and blood were fake. Police told ABC13 that Metzger was cited for disorderly conduct and released.

Metzger said in a video that he questions whether what he did was illegal, but was cooperative with officers. He believes he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for "those meddling Karens."

"Bringing positive vibes to the gloom and doom out there, generating some laughter, helping people crack a smile, and restoring our faith in humanity through humor is 100% what Im about," he wrote on Facebook.

Metzger, who works as a lawyer, said with the courts closed he had some extra time on his hands. He is no stranger to pulling these stunts and has done a similar act when Hurricane Harvey struck Houston. But to him, it's much more than a stunt. He founded a nonprofit organization called Irreverent Warriors, which has a mission of bringing veterans together using humor and camaraderie to improve mental health and prevent veteran suicide, according to its Facebook profile.

The group regularly convenes and goes on hikes all over the U.S. with upcoming stops in Virginia Beach, Nashville, and Norwich Connecticut.

If he had to do it all over again, Metzger said he absolutely would.
A 15-year-old girl who was last seen last week in Houston has since been reported missing, according to authorities.

Officials on Tuesday issued an alert for the teenager, Kaniyah Lewis, who is described as having brown eyes and black hair, standing at 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds.

The girl reportedly texted her foster mother Sept. 7 telling her she was on a train, and when the foster mother contacted the train station, they told her someone bought a ticket for the girl but wouldnt say who it was, Houston Police spokesperson Jodi Silva said.

The foster mother reported the girl missing on Monday. Police issued the alert Tuesday after obtaining a photograph of her. The foster mother told officials Child Protective Services brought the girl, who was from California, to her on Sept. 5, Silva said. She believes the girl might have been returning to California, according to Silva.

When asked whether Houston Police had any sense of why it took so long for the girl to be reported missing, Silva said they didnt.

The teenager is listed in a national database as a missing person, meaning if she gets stopped or comes into contact with police in the U.S., shell be flagged as a missing person if she gives her name, according to Silva.

People who have seen or been in contact with Lewis are asked to call Houston Polices missing persons unit, 832-394-1840.
Safia held close her newborn baby girl, swaddled in a pink blanket, as she and her husband walked into their new apartment in Houston after a month-long journey from Afghanistan.

The family came through Qatar and Italy to Fort Bliss  where 5-day-old Ajwa was born  and are the first evacuated Afghan family coming to Houston through the refugee agency Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston under humanitarian parole. Hundreds more families are expected in the coming months, and will not be eligible for the same benefits and support as traditional refugees.

Midday Monday Atiqullah, 37, and Safia, 32, eyes heavy with exhaustion, arrived in their new home. Their four older kids, ages 4 to 7, wandered inside bewildered, wearing fuzzy pajama pants.

Ajwa was born in a local hospital while the family was being processed in Fort Bliss. Unlike the rest of her family, shes an American citizen.

I'm pretty happy that she is OK, everything is OK with her and shes healthy, said the girls father, Atiqullah, Im really excited that my daughter she (wasnt) born on the plane.

He spoke in Pashto through an interpreter provided by Interfaith Ministries and asked to use his familys first names only for security reasons. His mother and brothers are still in danger in Afghanistan.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

He said hes grateful that his wife was able to be in a hospital for the delivery. The family has spent the last month in less than ideal conditions, fleeing their home after the Taliban takeover. Atiqullah said he needed to leave the country immediately, having worked for a decade with the U.S. military as a member of Afghan special forces.

He said he and his family left their home in Jalalabad and traveled to Kabul in an armored convoy, knowing if the Taliban stopped them they could be arrested or killed. He said he was afraid but he kept telling his family everything was going to be OK once they were in the U.S. When they arrived at the Kabul airport he used his military contacts to access the airport gates and get on an evacuation flight. His family was flown to a camp in Qatar, then another in Italy and then Fort Bliss.

After several weeks bouncing from camp to camp, they were designated a refugee agency, Interfaith Ministries. The agency was notified on Saturday afternoon and in less than 48 hours, the familys new apartment was secured and filled with essentials such as toothbrushes, pots and pans and comforters, provided by individual donors.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

In some ways, Atiqullahs family arrived like any other refugee family coming to Houston. A case worker from a refugee agency drove the family to their partially furnished apartment with some basic supplies and showed them around. In the coming days and weeks, the agency will provide the family with health screenings, English classes, cultural orientation and other services.

But Atiqullahs family is not classified as refugees, nor are they coming in with Special Immigrant Visas, which protect Afghans and Iraqis who aided the U.S. military.

His family is here under a special designation called humanitarian parole. Its what enabled them to be quickly evacuated from Afghanistan and taken into the United States. But it also leaves the family members  and tens of thousands like them  in a more vulnerable position than their refugee and Special Immigrant Visa holder counterparts.

Though eventually parolees like Atiqullah will have the opportunity to work legally, many are not coming in with work permits, or the ability to quickly obtain them, which could delay their path to self-sufficiency by several months.

The family will likely be excluded from receiving many public benefits such as food stamps and cash assistance. They may be eligible for some form of public health care, but the familys caseworker Nar Baraili admitted it will take some time to parse out exactly what they will and wont qualify for.

It will be a learning stage for me. Also for the next family coming in the future, said Baraili.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

In Houston, refugee agencies such as Interfaith Ministries are footing the bill for much of the current costs of housing, medical services, English classes and other support for Afghan parolees. Though they are receiving some funding from the State Department to offset costs  $1,225 per parolee  Interfaith Ministries estimates additional costs to the organization are around $2,780 per individual to provide services for a period of six months.

When resettling refugees, those extra expenses are covered by the federal government.

Interfaith Ministries expects to resettle around 1,000 Afghan parolees and has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $1 million to offset the costs.

Refugee agencies in Houston expect to receive around 3,000 Afghan parolees by end-March, which is more than triple the total number of refugees, from all countries, resettled in the state of Texas in 2020.

The Atiqullah family, like other parolees, is also facing a pending immigration case. If they want a path to long-term residence, their barebones humanitarian parole designation will need to be upgraded. Its still unclear exactly how these immigration cases will be managed; for now refugee agencies are expecting parolees to need to seek asylum, a complicated legal process that can take several years.

President Joe Biden and some members of Congress are hoping to allocate more funds to help support arriving Afghan families. The White House has asked Congress to appropriate $6.4 billion to support Afghan evacuees, which includes funding that would provide paroled Afghans public health screenings and vaccinations along with full resettlement resources and a path to enable them to build successful new lives here.

In early September, a coalition of Democratic and Republican U.S. Representatives introduced the WELCOMED Act, which would make Afghan parolees eligible for the same benefits as other refugees.

Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Despite the limited access to benefits, Interfaith Ministries expects families like Atiqullahs to be self-sufficient within six months, which is typical of refugees they serve. Afghans and other refugees have a proven track record of hard work and upward social mobility when given the tools to succeed. Refugee agencies are hoping that with community donations, they can provide those tools without the usual robust federal aid.

Though Atiqullah isnt coming in with English-language skills, he said hes hoping to learn quickly and get his kids enrolled in school. Hed like to go to school himself and become a mechanic or work in another job that would allow him to come home in the evenings so he can spend time with his family at night.

As he discussed his future in Houston, rain outside splashed into the puddles forming on his first floor porch. When asked if hes worried about the incoming tropical storm, hes unfazed.

I was fighting (close to) Taliban, Atiqullah quipped. Hes not that worried about a little rain.

elizabeth.trovall@chron.com
MATAGORDA COUNTY  Shelly Steel and her husband Eddie were cooking red snapper and shrimp and drinking wine Monday after rain started striking their Sargent Beach house sideways. Gusts of wind rattled the windows. Their wine glasses trembled.

The couple splits their time between here and a home in Fort Worth. Steel, 58, wished theyd left their coastal home.

Nicholas became a Category 1 Hurricane just before making landfall around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday some 10 miles west of the Steels forest-green house. The couples power cut out. Tidal surge knocked over their exterior shower. But overall they were OK.

I'm relieved but exhausted, said Steel, who runs a concrete demolition company. Everyone was safe.

Across southeast Texas on Tuesday, weary residents such as the Steels awoke to begin assessing the damage. The greater Houston region fared better than feared after many prepped Monday and hunkered down. Coastal areas bore the brunt of the rain, winds and surge  which proved largely manageable  leaving the city of Houston mostly suffering from power outages and fallen branches.

Now Playing: Here's the damage Tropical Storm Nicholas left in the Houston area. Video: Houston Chronicle

No injuries or deaths were reported in Houston because of the storm, Mayor Sylvester Turner said. The fire department conducted one high-water evacuation in the Kingwood area. Regionally, Texas A&M Task Force 1 rescue crews picked up five people and a dog, and three people spent the night in Red Cross shelters.

This storm could have been a lot worse for the city of Houston, Turner said. I think we fared fairly well from Hurricane Nicholas.

Nicholas weakened to a tropical storm hours after landfall. By Tuesday evening, it was a tropical depression, with winds around 35 mph, centered near Winnie. The storm was expected to head toward Louisiana, stalling on Thursday. It was weakening, but forecasters still warned of potentially life-threatening flash-flooding in areas from southern Louisiana to the far western Florida Panhandle.

Houston officials and others throughout the area reported no significant damage, with businesses reporting few disturbances. The House of Pies on Kirby Drive lost its awning, while billboards along Texas 288 were tattered and torn. Homeowners in the Heights and Oak Forest neighborhoods were cleaning up branches and a few felled fences.

Some Tuesday morning flights were canceled. Houston ISD planned to resume classes at its campuses Wednesday, while schools with power outages assessed whether they could reopen; Galveston ISD said its schools would be closed Wednesday due to a lack of electricity. Metro buses and trains started operating again.

We say it every time: We dodged a bullet, said Mark Rossi, 44, as he helped his neighbor in Clear Lake clean up a downed limb. Until the times we dont say it, like Harvey.

Nicholas was erratic, a quality that ended up sparing the city from the worst rains. Its center kept developing, breaking down and redeveloping. Just before landfall, the lopsided Nicholas shifted east, with most of its heavy rain bands southeast of the storms center.

Jon Shapley/Staff photographer

This change kept the heavy rains offshore for longer, said Katherine Lenninger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services Houston/Galveston office.

Still, the storms impacts werent insignificant: Roughly 6 to 8 inches of rain fell in coastal communities. In Harris County, overnight rainfall averaged less than 2 inches in northwest areas and between 5 and 6 inches in southern ones, according to the flood control district. Some areas along Clear Creek reported 7 inches of rain.

Some channels such as Clear Creek overflowed banks, but no flooded structures were reported to the county as of Tuesday afternoon.

In Angleton, where ditches and drainage channels appeared inches from causing flooding, streets were instead littered with small twigs and pine needles. Those with electricity were forging ahead.

Dustin King, who lives just outside of the incorporated area, broke down a pine branch that had fallen in his friends yard.

They helped us during Harvey, so we are helping them now, said King, 48.

Forecasters had focused on flooding as the biggest risk, but Nicholas also brought wind and surge. Winds blew as fast as 78 mph around Magnolia Beach on Matagorda Bay, according to early National Weather Service reports. In southeast Harris County, winds were recorded between 30 and 40 mph, with gusts from 50 to 55 mph.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

So crews were at work Tuesday addressing the roughly 475,000 customers that CenterPoint Energy said were without power early that morning; as of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, around 110,000 customers were still without power. Kenny Mercado, CenterPoints executive vice president for electric utilities, said crews were being brought in from out of state. He asked for patience as they worked around issues such as downed trees.

The city of Houston opened community and multi-service centers for residents to charge devices.

Around Matagorda County, those high winds uprooted massive live oaks, snapped power poles and crumpled roof sheds like aluminum foil. An RV rolled over at the Pelican Point RV Park, said Greg Boyd, who returned Tuesday after evacuating to take stock and check on neighbors.

It went pretty well, Boyd said, To be honest it could have been a whole lot worse.

Storm surge along the coastline carried debris and driftwood  including huge fallen trees  and ripped outdoor stairways from homes. Three to six feet of surge inundated coastal areas, including about 5 feet in Galveston Bay.

To the west, in Surfside, Arely Gomez found pieces of trees, shingles and roofing outside of Surfside Food Mart when she showed up to work. Staff had prepped the night before, moving up chips, candy and canned goods from shelves near the ground. They unplugged electronics, too.

Elizabeth Conley/Staff photographer

Lacking running water Tuesday, they used gallon jugs to push the storm water out with mops. They did this in the dark because the power was out. About a foot and a half of water swept into the store at one point, Gomez estimated. On the nearby beachfront, a house was reduced to a pile of wood.

The lights flicked on.

Near San Luis Pass, Janet Coen and her 17-year-old son Carson picked up red lawn chairs and a paddle. They lived full-time there in the Treasure Island community. They stacked up their neighbors missing items.

When we came out this morning, the water was pretty much down, recounted Coen, an embroiderer, turning to a few feet of water behind her. This right here, this will stay flooded for a few days. This happens every time.

But surge and wind had done their damage: Half of the baby-blue outdoor stairs of one house ended up down the street. Massive chunks of pavement cracked in another section of the community. The fencing that enclosed another house was mostly gone, much of its wood nowhere in sight.

It felt a little apocalyptic, Carson Coen said. There is brush everywhere. There is rubble everywhere.

As the mother and son walked through swampy grass, they ran into a new neighbor.

Welcome to the coast, Janet Coen said.

Marcy de Luna, Zach Despart, Hannah Dellinger, Dylan McGuinness and Shelby Webb contributed to this report.

emily.foxhall@chron.com
SAN ANTONIO  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 HoustonChronicle.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 HoustonChronicle.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
Fort Bend County Libraries/Facebook

What's the difference between a watch and a warning when it comes to floods, hurricanes and tropical storms? As Tropical Storm Nicholas nears the Gulf Coast, the Fort Bend County library system explained it to us using tacos.

Seriously though, a flash flood watch is issued when conditions are favorable for flooding, according to the National Weather Service. A flash flood warning means flash flooding is imminent or occurring.
Sometimes its only after the storm that we really get to know our neighbors. Because suddenly we need them.

We may need their help moving a big limb off the car. We may need to run an extension cord from their house to ours because we havent gotten the power back yet. We may just need someone to talk to as we stand alone on the front porch, watching the water rising in the street, and not knowing when it will stop.

There isnt much good about a hurricane  or any storm or natural disaster, for that matter, except maybe the sense of community we feel afterward. For some reason, we humans need to be reminded that were part of a community, that we need other people and they need us, that our lives and fates and even extension cords are intertwined.

And sometimes, we need a visit from the Cajun Navy to remember that our circle is much larger than our own street or city. Complete strangers come by air, land and water to lend a helping hand for no reason other than the golden rule and a sense that were all, ultimately, in this together.

Even before Tropical Storm Nicholas made landfall Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott had issued a disaster declaration for 17 counties, including Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Harris, Matagorda and Montgomery.

School was canceled in school districts across the region. So were flights leaving from Bush and Hobby. So were concerts and dinner plans. Everyone was told to stay off the roads from sundown to sun up.

This is all part of the drill  this preparation, this disruption of our lives. And we put up with it. We even welcome it. Because we know it can save us.

But as we watch the rain, knowing full well that our hospitals cant handle much more strain from a new disaster when theyre barely treading water in the pandemic disaster, we must ask ourselves:

Why dont the same rules of preparation, prevention and community spirit apply to COVID-19, which has killed more than 57,000 Texans?

Pretty much the only way you can make a deadly, highly contagious virus worse is to mix it with a little politics.

But its a good day to stop and think about what it would be like if we responded to COVID-19 as a community, as people who breathe the same air, than as people who live in vacuum-sealed freezer bags.

What if we all took our duty to protect ourselves and our communities as seriously as the Cajun Navy took saving Texans after Harvey? They brought boats and life-preservers. We could bring bring masks. They rescued people stranded in attics. We could keep our distance in stores and restaurants. They delivered people safely to dry land and shelters. We could deliver ourselves to a nearby drugstore to get the vaccine.

Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

What would that pandemic Texas look like? Maybe a little like El Paso.

Texas western-most city seems to have learned something since November, when the virus surge filled hospitals and morgues beyond capacity. Peak hospitalizations hit just over 1,100 then, the Texas Tribune reported, but late last week, as Houston and many cities still struggled with the delta surge, El Paso had only 127 hospitalized with COVID-19  just 7 percent of patients.

The citys COVID-19 positivity rate is three times lower than the statewide figure.

In heaven, is how Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia, assistant professor of public health at the University of Texas-El Paso, described the situation, speaking in relative terms, of course.

What changed? Local officials and health experts list several factors. But one shining statistic cant be stressed enough: nearly 62 percent of all residents in El Paso County are fully vaccinated. Statewide, its only 49 percent. If you look at only the population eligible for vaccination  including children age 12 and up  El Pasos vaccination rate is 75 percent, the Tribune reported.

Local officials also cite near-universal masking, as residents voluntarily heeded pleas and store policies to cover up in public.

El Paso Strong was never just a slogan. But now it may be saving lives in addition to lifting spirits.

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego says the success belongs to the El Paso residents who, through tragedy, are used to looking out for one another.

Karen Warren, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

We know how to do this, he told the Tribune. We know how to come together. Weve done it before, and were going to do it again.

Houston knows how to do this, too. With our myriad disasters and floods and storms and explosions, we know how to come together.

Were doing it again this week, with this storm. And well do it with the next storm.

The lucky help the unlucky, thinking there but for the grace God - and good neighbors - go I.

We all know, though, true community doesnt ebb and flow. It isnt detected by radar and doesnt arrive from FEMA via disaster declaration.

True community is sure and steady and resilient  in all weather, and adaptable to any circumstance, pandemic included.
Regarding Grieder: New Texas abortion law is cleverly written, but doesnt respect the dignity of human life, (Sept. 8): At six weeks, a newly-developing human is an embryo, not a fetus. It is approximately a quarter of an inch long, and cells are just beginning to differentiate to form organs. I use it because sex is yet to manifest externally.

There is no fetal heartbeat, as there is neither a fetus nor a heart.

However religiously opposed to the concept of abortion one might be, and I am, imposing those religious beliefs on others is un-American. Trying to convince a potential mother to keep her child is entirely acceptable; forcing her to do so is quite another matter.

The constitution mentions rights conferred at birth. There is no mention of persons conceived, only of persons born. Talk her out of it if you can, but let her make her own decisions. A woman owns her own body and everything in it, whether anyone else likes it or not.

Bruce Ellis, Houston

Absolute strangers

Regarding Jim Crow tactics reborn in Texas abortion law, deputizing citizens to enforce legally suspect provisions, (Sept. 13): In January 1989 my sister, Nancy Klein, lay comatose following an auto accident; she was ten weeks into her second pregnancy. Doctors offered only a five percent chance that she would ever regain consciousness, but the people who loved her held onto hope.

We thought her chances would improve if her body could focus on healing. Sixteen years after Roe v. Wade, we didnt anticipate any obstacles to a therapeutic abortion.

We were wrong.

Two anti-abortionists sued to become my sisters legal guardians to forestall the procedure. Rather than spend every minute at her side, we had to go to court. At the appellate level a judge ruled that these absolute strangers to the Klein family, whatever their motivation, have no place in the midst of this family tragedy.

The anti-abortionists imposed additional anguish on a family that was already grief-stricken. They delayed Nancys procedure to later in the second trimester, increasing the risk of complications.

Shortly after the procedure, Nancy emerged from her coma. Can I prove that the abortion promoted Nancys recovery? I shouldnt have to.

I thought my familys nightmare was a throwback to the days before Roe v. Wade, or a warning of a dystopian future. In Texas that dystopia has arrived.

Under the Texas abortion law, absolute strangers are encouraged to meddle in any familys tragedy. They can be richly rewarded for doing so. The law has inverted the safeguards that protected my sister when she was helpless. Somewhere right now  or soon  another family is likely to face an equally desperate fight for the life and health of a woman they love.

Janet Smuga, Red Bank, NJ

Abbotts plan to get rid of rapists

Regarding Texas governor defends abortion law with no rape exceptions, (Sept. 7): Looks like the women of Texas were unduly concerned about the new law banning abortions beyond the sixth week of pregnancy, even as a result of rape or incest. Gov. Greg Abbott, has declared that any concerns about rape are unfounded. He will simply make all rapists disappear, so these women have no real concerns. Not sure what his plans were for incest and rape as a result of domestic violence, but hell think of something clever. His next card to play will be to remind those women that they now have the right to carry handguns, concealed or open carry, without the hassle of training or obtaining a license, which should definitely take care of the problem.

Chris Musemeche, Houston

If the governor now plans to eliminate rape, why did he wait so long to start that plan? Why has he kept that plan a secret all these years? If that statement is true, Abbott can return all his campaign contributions because he would win by a landslide.

Bill Turney, Houston

Regarding Thumbs: Governor Abbott dont know much about womens biology, (Sept. 11): Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets, Abbott said last Tuesday. If eliminating rape was a top priority, why wasnt it included in any of the 666 laws passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Abbott? Where is the bounty for turning in a rapist?

Abbott also said the law does not force victims of rape or incest to carry a pregnancy to term, but rather provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion. How many victims even know they are pregnant at six weeks? Someone enroll Abbott in a Health Ed class.

Joanie Weiner, Houston

Someone please explain to the clueless Texas governor that in order for him to clean Texas of all rapists, they would have had to rape first.

Please slowly and clearly, using small words, tell Abbott that he cannot have a person who he or his vigilantes just thinks may one day rape, be arrested, convicted and then incarcerated before the crime is committed. Pictures may help.

I guess women will have to go back to worrying about seeking legal abortions in the case of rape elsewhere.

Pansy Gee, Houston
WASHINGTON  Senate Democrats on Tuesday rolled out their latest proposal to rewrite the nations election laws, launching yet another long-shot bid to pass a voting bill that would target restrictions pushed by Republican in states like Texas.

The bill  now with support from key moderate Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia  is a slimmed-down version of an elections bill that Republicans have blocked before, most recently last month when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz objected as the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sought consent for the Senate to consider the bill.

The bill would make Election Day a national holiday, create a right to vote by mail in federal elections and spell out that governments may not diminish the ability to vote. It includes provisions aimed at preventing gerrymandering as states including Texas set about drawing new electoral maps and would establish new disclosure requirements for dark money groups that dont currently disclose their donors.

BACKGROUND: Sen. Ted Cruz blocks Texas Democrats voting rights blitz during all-nighter in U.S. Senate

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate may vote on the bill as soon as next week as Manchin has said he is meeting with Republicans to get them to sign on. He would need to convince at least 10 Republicans to vote for the legislation unless Democrats scrap or amend the filibuster, which Manchin and others remain opposed to doing.

The fact of the matter is that this legislation is critical for stopping some of the most egregious assaults on voting rights happening at the state level, Schumer said, specifically calling out Texas new elections bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month, which Schumer called one of the most sweeping voter suppression bills in the entire country.

Texas Republicans say Democrats are greatly exaggerating the possible effects of the new state voting laws, which they argue are necessary to protect against voting fraud, despite no evidence it is a widespread problem.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have remained unanimously opposed to federal legislation. Cruz denounced it last month as a federal government takeover of elections and a massive power grab by Democrats.

LAST WEEK: As Gov. Abbott signs hard-fought Texas elections bill, lawsuit decries it as draconian

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed confidence on Tuesday that Republicans would remain united against new voting legislation. He said not one of the GOP voting restrictions passed in states like Texas is designed to suppress the vote based upon race.

So theres no reason for the federal government to take over how we conduct elections, he said. It is a solution in search of a problem and we will not be supporting that.

The new Senate bill reworks one of two major elections bills that have passed the House. The other, named after civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died last year, would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court has chipped away at with a series of rulings  including the pre-clearance provisions that required Texas and other states with a history of discrimination to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before enacting new voting laws.

Custom-tailored for Texas

Many of the provisions in Senate Democrats new bill read like direct responses to restrictions set by Texas Republicans.

The bill prohibits states from imposing conditions or requirements to vote by mail, including ID requirements established by the new Texas law. And it would strengthen protections for voters who need assistance, including those with disabilities or with limited English proficiency, as the new Texas law limited who could help those voters.

The federal bill would also limit what partisan poll watchers are able to do, including setting an 8-foot buffer zone between the watchers and voters, and would establish new protections for elections officials. The states new voting laws expanded what poll watchers are able to do in polling places while restricting elections officials ability to deal with those they believe are out of line.

The bill aims to make it easier to register to vote and to cast ballots. It requires states to allow voters to register online and to register in person on Election Day. And it sets a 30-minute limit on wait-times to vote in-person.

In many ways Texas, even before the passage of SB1, was among the most restrictive states, said Sean Morales-Doyle, acting director of the Democracy Program at New York Universitys Brennan Center for Justice, one of several groups that has sued Texas over the new voting law. In many ways this bill applies more to Texas than many other parts of the country.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

The new version of the legislation leaves out some provisions Democrats had pushed, including requirements that states use nonpartisan commissions to draw congressional districts to prevent gerrymandering. Instead the new bill establishes federal rules for drawing those maps and gives courts the power to enforce them. It also creates federal standards for voter ID in states that choose to require it, allowing for a range of documents to be used.

Civil rights groups cheered the bill and urged the Senate to pass it.

Conservative, progressive or moderate, protecting the peoples right to vote is the most American thing anyone in congress can do, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Future generations will look back on this moment. Do the right thing. Get it done.

Texas Democrats, who decamped to D.C. this summer to lobby Congress for help while they stalled the new GOP restrictions in Texas, also applauded the new bill.

The Senate Democrats new Freedom to Vote Act marks great progress in the fight to pass federal voter protection legislation, and promises landmark expansions to voter access that Texas House Democrats have long been advocating for, state Rep. Chris Turner, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement.

ben.wermund@chron.com
Nearly 400 Texas children  many with serious mental, behavioral or physical problems  spent at least one night in the care of the state without a place to stay last month, often sleeping in motels or in office buildings.

The steep rise in displaced children  in August 2020 there were 47  meant more and more of them were looked after by case workers whose training amounted to as little as a 60-minute video on how to care for troubled kids, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters acknowledged to a federal judge Tuesday morning.

Many of the children were abused while in the care of the state and had been in foster care for years, Masters said, and she had heard reports that some children had engaged in prostitution in the offices of case workers who were supposed to be protecting them. Almost a third  31 percent  of the children in temporary placements were from Bexar or Harris counties, the report said.

COURT EXHIBIT

Masters also acknowledged that the case workers are not adequate for the tasks theyre assigned.

I do feel like I am failing children, Masters said, as a lawyer quizzed her on the depths of the problems.

U.S. District Judge Janis Jack retorted: I think weve got a clear record that you dont think these children youre stuffing into hotels and offices should be placed in a position where theyre free from increased risk of harm. I think were all clear on that.

Your days of looking the other way while children are warehoused, raped and abused, and fed psychotropic drugs are done, said the judge, who resolved on Tuesday to ask Gov. Greg Abbott what he intends to do about it.

FROM 2019: Judge fines Texas $50k a day over broken foster care system

Tuesdays hearing before Jack was the latest development as the state struggles to implement reforms Jack has ordered as she presides over a 2011 class-action lawsuit against Family and Protective Services alleging that children were held in unsafe conditions. Jack also heard Tuesday from monitors who are charged with overseeing the states efforts.

A court monitors report filed in court on Monday explores the standard of care for children in temporary housing, finding incidents of child-on-child sexual abuse, children being over-medicated, children not getting their prescribed medication, being unnecessarily physically restrained and meeting sex traffickers at state office buildings and then leaving with them.

The problem finding placements for foster children has grown more acute during the pandemic, as the state closed several foster facilities under pressure from the judge. The number of foster children without a place to stay nearly doubled from August to September of 2020, from 47 to 87, then shot upwards throughout the year and has hovered around 400 since June.

Masters defended the decision to close those facilities, saying they were unsafe for decades. She said she doesnt regret the closure of a single one. Among them was Family Tapestry in San Antonio, which faced allegations of mismanagement and abuse and lost its contract with the state.

Yet those closures meant the state lacked placements for hundreds of additional children because new facilities were not opened. The state took over placement for Bexar County foster kids beginning in April, and the court-ordered report found that more of the foster children without placements came from Bexar County than any other in Texas.

Were cautiously optimistic, said Paul Yetter, the lead attorney in the case against the state. The safety of these children is our top priority, and right now everyone agrees that they are in dangerous, harmful placements. The prospect of working together on a real solution, especially with the blessing of the governor, is the best path forward. I look forward to getting started as soon as possible.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

A lawyer asked Masters if the state failed to plan ahead to anticipate the needs of children, causing the current problem.

It would appear so, Masters said.

The state issued its own report responding to the court monitors, saying the lapses in temporary care are the exception to the rule. There is nothing normal about it and it cannot continue in its current state. The Legislature has allocated an additional $90 million this summer to help foster care children with specialized behavioral, emotional or physical needs.

Now Texas is increasing its foster care capacity by shipping hundreds of its own foster care kids out to other states, particularly states that have chosen to accept federal Medicaid dollars and use them to bolster their foster care programs, Masters said.

The Republican-led Texas Legislature has resisted expanding Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. They say the program is not financially sustainable and could leave Texas to foot a massive bill down the road.

Tuesdays hearing finished early in the afternoon, with Jack saying her focus has shifted away from sanctioning the state . In 2019, Jack leveled $50,000 daily fines for every day that foster care group homes went without 24-hour supervision.

She said Tuesday that she now wants to coordinate with the plaintiffs and the state to find solutions to the problems with Texas foster care system immediately. She asked a lawyer for Abbott to find out what Abbott is willing to do to address it, saying she wanted the governors blessing before proceeding.

A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
September 13, 2021 - Charges have been filed against three suspects arrested and a fourth suspect wanted in the fatal shooting of a man at 10155 East Freeway (East Interstate Highway 10) service road about 6:45 a.m. on August 10.



Suspects John Gallegos (H/m, 27), Erica Pererira (w/f, 30), and Elizabeth Luna (H/f, 30) are charged with capital murder in the 208th State District Court. Israel Ventura (H/m, 32) is charged with capital murder in the 174th State District Court and remains at-large. Photos of all four suspects are attached to this news release.



The are accused in the shooting death of Wilfredo Javier Rodriguez Almendarez, 34.



HPD Homicide Division Sergeants K. Daignault and M. Burrow reported:



Motel housekeeping staff at the above address entered a room just after 11 a.m. to clean and saw the victim unresponsive and lying on the floor. The employee immediately left the room, called 9-1-1, and then saw officers investigating an unrelated call at the same address. The employee then flagged the officers down.



The officers saw a bullet hole in the door and entered the room. The victim was found deceased with multiple gunshot wounds.



Further investigation identified Gallegos, Pererira, Luna and Ventura as suspects in this case. On August 17 Gallegos, Pererira and Luna were all arrested without incident. Suspect Ventura remains at-large.



Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Israel Ventura or with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.



Arrested



Arrested



Arrested



Wanted



Update: JKS/VHS 9-13-21

VHS/VHS 8-11-21

Inc. #107661221
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Carr Hardware's Bart Raser shakes hands with Joseph Scapin Jr., owner of Lee Hardware. Carr is purchasing the neighboring hardware store and Scapin will stay on to manage the transition.

Carr Hardware Expanding With the Purchase of Lee Hardware



Lee Hardware has been in business since the 1940s and will continue as True Value store. LEE, Mass.  Carr Hardware announced on Monday that it expects to close on its acquisition of Lee Hardware on Sept. 27.

Carr Hardware will continue operating as Lee Hardware True Value with no interruption in service.

In business since the 1940s, Joseph Scapin Jr. has owned and been running the Lee store since 1991 and will stay on to ensure a smooth transition.

"In making this decision, it was important that the qualities I value for my employees, customers and community continue. I am confident that uniting our two family business legacy will do just that. It has been an amazing 30 years with the support from the community and employees of Lee Hardware," Scapin said. "I am honored to have served your families and businesses over the years and am looking forward to some new life adventures, including seeing you while shopping at the store."

The store will retain management, store personnel, and shoppers will still find brands like Benjamin Moore, Scotts, Weber, Husqvarna and more.

Down the street, Carr Hardware will also continue to operate a sister location. With plans to increase and differentiate products in both hardware stores, customers will have a broader range of shopping opportunities, said Carr Hardware President Bart Raser

"I have enormous admiration for Joey, Courtney and their family's business. 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," he said. "Leveraging our strengths, the amazing staff and expanding the business will bring more offerings, a well-organized shopping experience, and even better pricing."
Womens Fund of Western Massachusetts Supports Flying Cloud Institute

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  Flying Cloud Institute (FCI) announced funding from the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts to support its Young Women in Science program in Southern Berkshire County and Pittsfield.

For over twenty years, FCI has offered Young Women in Science (YWIS) programs free of charge to underserved female-identified youth in Berkshire County in the form of after school Girls Science Clubs, youth mentorship programs, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Summer workshops, and conferences for Women in STEM.

"Coming out of this pandemic year, there has never been a more important time to engage our youth in empowering, hands-on investigations with authentic role models in order to build up their identities as capable, curious learners and to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders," said Executive Director Maria Rundle.

The programs focus on girls who might have an inclination for STEM but find little encouragement and little to no opportunity to interact with women STEM professionals who would serve as role models all while facing the social stigma that girls are not good at STEM.

The societal barriers for women and girls in STEM have been persistent, especially for minority women and in the fields of engineering, mathematics, and physics. FCI's program is built on the body of knowledge derived from research, using the strategies of mentorship, hands-on engagement, and intentional identity-building practices to create a pathway for girls from grade 3 to 12 that offers continual support and opportunities for leadership. These programs are life-changing and open doors to economic independence in lucrative careers as well as building up the voices of our future female leaders.

One graduate noted that because of her participation in YWIS from a young age, she never even considered that science wasn't for her and that by the time she got to college and found she was the only woman in her engineering class, "It was too late to be afraid because I already knew I belonged there."
Retired police officer Karen Kalinowsky is seeking one of the four at-large seats on the City Council this November.

Kalinowsky Seeks Improved Public Safety for Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Karen Kalinowsky is seeking an at-large seat on the City Council with a focus on ensuring that the city where she grew up, worked, and raised a family is a safe place for all.

"I have been trying to get back into public service because I don't like what's going on in our city," she said. "And I'm trying to see if I can make a change."

Kalinowsky was with the Pittsfield Police Department for almost 32 years and was a student resource officer at Reid Middle School for 13 of them.

After retiring three years ago, she ran in Pittsfied's 2019 mayoral race but lost in the four-way preliminary election.

Kalinowsky said she "figured she would start at the top."

"I just want to be there for the people, I know people say that but that's really why I'm doing this," she asserted.

"To be the voice of the people because it doesn't seem like we're being heard, or there's not enough of us to be heard that are willing to come forward to be heard, because I do see that that's how things get done, by there being lots of people coming together."

Her main focus is on improving public safety within the city. Earlier this summer, there were 13 shooting incidents over a period of about a month, most of them happening in the West Side.

"It's a mess up there," she said about North Street.

Kalinowsky was a beat cop nearly 30 years ago, patrolling the downtown corridor to address issues that plague the area today such as substance abuse.

"Back in the early '90s I was one of the first community policing officers for North Street and our whole philosophy was, get to know the store owners, the people that hang on North Street," she said. "It was interacting and seeing how we could help with everything that was going on and it was, at that time very open drug selling, and me and my partner cleaned it up."

Though helpful, she said a police presence isn't enough, as all entities involved in prosecution have to be on the same page.

"Unfortunately, the officers out there isn't enough. I'm going to go outside the realm of just city government, our local DA is not prosecuting any type of minor crime so if they arrest somebody for drinking in public, or anything like that she dismisses them," she said.

"To really fix the crime area here in the city, we have to have the Police Department, the district attorney, the courts, all on the same board, you know you can't just keep slapping people on the hand and send them out."

Kalinowsky added that access to mental health care is also an important aspect of addressing issues within the city.

Her other campaign focus is ensuring that even unaccepted streets are in good condition.

Pittsfield has about 24 miles of unaccepted streets and Kalinowsky lives on one of them, which she has tried to get repaired for three years now.

In preparation for her mayoral race, she spoke to the Lanesborough Board of Selectmen to gain insight into how the town handles streets like her own.

"I spoke for selectmen in Lanesborough about how they accept unaccepted streets, they have it surveyed, they don't have a city council so they bring it in front of the people that live in Lanesborough, ask them if they want to accept these streets, and if they vote yes on them, they send them to Boston," she said.

"And they said Boston has never turned them down, sent them back, they're now accepted streets and so now the [town] gets to Chapter 90 money, which is used to fix our roads."

With Kalinowsky's long history working directly with students at Reid, she wants to see improved authority in the public school system. She reportedly toyed with the idea of running for School Committee but wanted to be able to reach the whole city.

"It's sad that we have underperforming schools in our city," she said. "We have a lot of good teachers in our city. What I see is, the problem is lack of rules and follow-through by administrative."

Kalinowsky believes that Reid was a "model school" when it was equipped with resources such as an adjustment counselor and a mediator. Another important aspect, she said, was the rules and consequences of wrongdoings.

With her former hands-on roles in the community, Kalinowsky thinks she will be a comprehensive problem solver on the council.

"In law enforcement, we arrive at a scene, and a lot of times we're listening to an issue that somebody is having, multiple people are having, and we have to help them fix it," she said.

"So, I became very good at just sitting back and listening to what people have to say and basing a decision on what I hear."

Kalinowsky is on the ballot for councilor at large with four incumbents  Peter Marchetti, Earl Persip III, Peter White, and Yuki Cohen  and Hot Dog Ranch owner Craig Benoit. The top four vote-getters will be seated on the council.

Kalinowsky can be found on her campaign website and on Facebook.
The North Adams Public Schools are planning to have smartboards in all classrooms. The boards have numerous applications, including being able to record lessons written on them.

North Adams Schools Invest in Smartboard Technology

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The School Department has 53 new smartboards installed across all school buildings with the goal having one in every classroom by November.

The interactive panels function as both classic blackboards and as interconnected collaborative screens that can allow teachers and students to interact remotely, save lessons and access and edit documents on the fly.

"It was two years ago that we were talking about maybe having a couple of boards per school, and this was a request that teachers had made, can we look at adding smartboards to our classrooms?" said Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Roberts-Morandi at last week's School Committee meeting. "Now we're really looking at competitive classroom environments. We have teachers who work very, very hard, and they had to do so in times when the equipment in the past was a bit lacking.

"Now, I'm proud of how we've equipped our classrooms and proud to be a site where other districts have already contacted us and they want to see what it is that we have and how we're using it."

The decision to move to smartboards had come out of discussions last winter, she said, reminding the committee how she had spoken about the increase in laptops and need for additional technology to assist in instructing students in person and remote.

Most of the Drury High classrooms now have smartboards and the teaching teams in the elementaries have boards to share; by November, the goal is to have one in every classroom and she is negotiating the next round of purchases now.

"The boards are fully mounted either on top of the existing black or white boards. We opted not to use the rolling carts for both safety and durability purposes, but we also wanted to make sure that we kept as much of the whiteboard or blackboard space that teachers had been using in the classrooms as well," she said.

There will be professional development as well as extra training for some staff on what the boards are capable of doing but Roberts-Morandi said the teachers have been playing with them to get a sense of how they can be used and how they interact with devices the students already have.

"The boards really offer a whole new dimension in our teaching, and in the technology skills building for the teachers and the students," she said. "They also provide us, as Dr. Malkas had mentioned earlier, with another way to readily pivot across multiple instructional delivery methods."

The district also purchased a "very inexpensive" license for Otis for Educators that offers a virtual professional development course on teaching through these boards. There is a library of courses and while they do not meet state standards, Roberts-Morandi said the district can offer micro-credentialing based on outcomes  how they are being used in the classroom and between colleagues. It will also allow the schools to connect to others.

Roberts-Morandi said the cost was $295,065 for this particular round.

Committee member Tara Jacobs had earlier in the meeting asked for some clarification on the technology and software line items and where the district was in purchases. The monthly balance sheet showed that the line item had been expended above the amended amount budgeted by 16 percent.

"We purchased a lot of hardware this summer, and have already made some purchases with ESSER I and ESSER II," said Superintendent Barbara Malkas. "Then we're going to be sitting down to write as ESSER III within the next two weeks. We already have some earmarks for that as well so a lot of hardware has already been purchased through the stimulus funding sources, and therefore, we're using our local budget amounts to offset our subscriptions for software systems like PowerSchool."

The ESSER, or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grants, were authorized by Congress as part of the relief funding for schools to offset the impacts of the pandemic.

Business Administrator Carrie Burnett said the technology line was similar to the insurance line in that items were paid in full, upfront, at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Committee member Ian Bergeron noted that the $300,000 spent on the smartboards would "obliterate" the annual budget for technology that has been running about a third of that.

"How are we going to replace them? What's the plan? Grants don't come around like this very often," he said. Roberts-Morandi said the district was concerned about that as well but for the moment, the smartboards come with a 10-year warranty.
This is a contributed article by Kanwar Loyal, Regional Sales Director, UKI at CrowdStrike

Ransomware is rife. Attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, sometimes planned over months or longer, or burrowing deep into trusted components. Millions of working identities and passwords can be found on the Dark Web. New vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications are discovered continually. And while software vendors and the development community are normally very vigilant, of course, it would be unwise to assume any connected device is entirely protected.

Given an undiscovered chink in the companys armour, together with luck, skill and determination on the part of adversaries, no system is invulnerable to breaches, no matter what technology is in place. This might seem a bleak prognosis, especially from a cybersecurity provider, but its factually accurate, and recognition of the fact is required for companies to develop the resilience they will need to withstand this perfect storm of hazards.

As professionals in cybersecurity, we should not be thinking about instilling fear in our customers  though that remains a popular marketing tactic in the industry  but rather about enablement. How can we help ensure that businesses can withstand any storm and thrive regardless of a threatening landscape? While with cybersecurity, like everything else, prevention is better than a cure, developing a cure or effective treatment is eminently sensible regardless.

Creating institutional cyber-resilience is ultimately more important than any other measure a company can employ. Theres no shame in being breached: as weve discussed, thats part of the nature of IT and the world we live in. Where there might be questions is if theres no plan in place for responding to and recovering from that breach, or if the plan is not actionable because the necessary pieces arent in place. Theres less emphasis on technology, miracle products and three-letter acronyms in this approach to cybersecurity, but more on ideas like a journey towards preparedness, the outcomes we wish to achieve, and the programs (in the sense of organisational initiatives, rather than computer software) that will help deliver those outcomes.

Roots of resilience

Thoughts around the importance of establishing operational resilience have been gaining ground since the financial crisis of 2008, when it was established that many financial institutions had taken on more risk than they were able to cover. The resilience-reaction to that event has sought to create the opposite environment, that organisations have more checks, safeguards and back-up plans than the risk environment can possibly threaten. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority, the independent regulator for the countrys 48,000 businesses in the financial sector, issued new requirements for operational resilience in 2017, which will come into force in April 2022. These rules are intended to address any form of service disruption, and so are equally applicable to cyber-resilience as to the way businesses might respond to any other form of disruption - like fires, pandemics or earthquakes.

The first step is to identify the businesss important services and establish levels of tolerance, or risk appetite for disruption to those services. How much disruption is tolerable, and in which areas, without it impacting the long-term future of the business?

This can be an interesting test for cybersecurity solutions: often security software adds extra load to the network and endpoints. In some cases, this can add a significant level of disruption itself, both when in operation and in terms of how long it takes and how disruptive they are to deploy. When businesses start to look at avoiding and minimising disruption as their end goal, these more resource-heavy types of security software lose a lot of their appeal. This can be an argument in favour of cloud-based services, which do not create a measurable impact on existing network infrastructure.

The next step is to develop an understanding of how to identify, prioritise and invest in the businesss ability to respond and recover from disruptions as quickly and effectively as possible. Again, the business needs to leverage a combination of people, processes and technology to develop, test and rehearse a range of disaster response and recovery plans, not just one component in this list. People need to establish the processes that allow technology to work.

This type of approach to security has considerably more long-term impact and speaks much more directly to the overall concerns of the business than traditional, rather short-termist and one-dimensional approaches that focus all efforts on protecting the perimeter and guarding against malware. Many organisations will be best-advised to seek external help because well-qualified and experienced security professionals are hard to find and, in any case, the objectivity and experience brought to establishing and testing these processes by a third-party can be a very powerful asset.

A maturity around cybersecurity topics, one that acknowledges the facts around risks and takes a level-headed approach to how businesses can live with those risks and enables them to work through extremely difficult situations with confidence is a future to be valued. These conversations have yet to start, though, for many organisations which have been mis-sold an idea of security that doesnt really exist. The better news is that the sooner those conversations do begin, the sooner a more positive, enabled, confident future also starts.

Kanwar Loyal is the Regional Sales Director, UKI at CrowdStrike. Working in enterprise technology for over two decades, he is a seasoned business professional with a unique blend of extensive channel and enterprise sales management experience. At CrowdStrike he leads a team to build a world class client experience, ensuring clients meet their goals with the best possible outcomes.
The IFJ hosted the IFJ-ILO webinar on Reporting migration and forced labour- A European perspective on 14 September, which focused on why do so few journalists report on these topics and what key skills should they develop to portray migration without falling into stereotypes and bias. This was the first of a series of four regional webinars bringing together migration experts and specialised journalists .

Discussions covered issues such as international labour standards, terminology, legal channels and loopholes leading to exploitation loopholes and tips to improve journalists' reporting. The International Labor Organisation (ILO) also presented its toolkit on reporting forced labour and fair recruitment.

Speakers included Ariadni Agatsa (Journalists' Union of Athens Daily Newspapers - JUADN), Clara Van Panhuys (ILO), Jean-Rene Bilongo (Agro Food workers Federation in Italy-FLAI), Lam Le (Independent journalist), Tania Bozaninou (Greek To Vima daily), Kevin Burden (Independent media trainer and consultant)

Journalists Lam Le and Tania Bozaninou explained how terminology can strongly impact the way a story is received by readers. While journalists may choose to report on a specific aspect of the story, it is also important not to leave out key facts without which the report may contribute to resentment towards migrants.

In addition, they described how governments' responsibility towards forced labor isnt usually being covered. The main reasons behind this is that many governmental actors are reluctant to speak to journalists, and journalists know they need to stay in good terms with such sources to be able to access official data later on.

Jean-Rene Bilongo and Kevin Burden underlined the difficulty of accessing sources, noting the importance to go to the field and appreciate the slavery-like conditions migrant workers face. However, there are a number of barriers which often prevent journalists from doing so. They include the fact that most work behind closed doors and the anxiety of migrant workers of losing their jobs or being exposed for speaking out as well as language barriers and security issues.
Hundreds of Pakistani journalists participated a sit in demonstration from September 12-13, united in protest against the proposed controversial Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) bill. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) said the government must heed the calls of media and open a transparent and industry-engaged process of review of the existing regulatory framework before hitting the media with the brute force of a single regulatory government-created response.

Protesting journalists began gathering outside the National Press Club on September 12, before marching to Pakistans Parliament, where they urged the government to withdraw the proposed controversial PMDA bill. The rally continued through to the following day as a parliamentary session began discussions to approve the bill. The bill outlines plans to repeal all existing media laws in Pakistan, replacing them with a single PMDA ordinance. If enacted, the PMDA will have sole authority to regulate all film, electronic, print, and digital media.

Opposition to the PMDA has come from a spectrum of media workers and journalist bodies, including the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, Pakistan Broadcasters Association, Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association Pakistan, political parties and international media and human rights watchdogs. As well as protesting media workers from across the spectrum of the industry, also joining the protest were key leaders and senators from eaders of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the National Party, and PML-N, who boycotted the house-session.

Pakistans information ministry says fake news on social media needs to be addressed at all costs and PMDA is, in part, a response to a so-called genuine need. But the IFJ is gravely concerned that a clear and transparent process of industry consultation has not been followed, nor has a full draft of the proposed legislation been made publicly available for industry consultation and input.

In its annual South Asia Press Freedom Report, the IFJ has reported on the Pakistan governments penchant for excessive restriction and control of independent media in the country as being one of the most repressive in the region, while industry critics declare the controls as worse than when the country was under martial law. Parliamentary reporters were banned from sitting in the press gallery for the joint session this week.

The PMDA bill is criticized for its provisions that empower the government to nominate 12 members of the authority, including its chairperson and five ex-officio to be top bureaucrats. The proposed legislation also permits the government to issue directives directly to the PMDA. A third criticism of the bill is the concentration of all powers within one agency, with the PDMA having the power to grant, cancel or extend licenses to all kinds of media outlets in Pakistan, which would open the possibility of direct targeting at media houses critical of government.

In June, a joint meeting of Pakistans representative media organisations including All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA), Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), two factions of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and the Association of Electronic Media Editors and News Directors (AEMEND) rejected the concept of the PMDA.

The PFUJ said any revision or new media regulation must ensure job security and the regular payment of wages for working journalists.

The PFUJ said it would: Oppose the PMDA, if its provisions are found against the freedom of speech and expression. PFUJ also opposes any untoward restrictions to the media houses.

The IFJ said: The fact is that the industry and journalists have been shut out of a determination or clear process of any proposals to reform or strengthen the media industry in Pakistan is extremely worrying.

The IFJ says a full and transparent process is needed with the full proposal on the table for due discussion and engagement.

The IFJ said: It is little wonder the media is fighting to protect laws that have been so hard fought and won. At a time when Pakistan is facing declining media freedom in the eyes of the world, if this regulation is forced through it will only further blight the reputation of the country in terms of ever-increasing media control. The IFJ strongly urges Pakistans government to listen to the industry and take a step back in this process to consult and engage with the media on genuine needed reform to support a sustainable and strong media into the future.
Covid-19 has changed the restaurant industry forever. The National Restaurant Association found that roughly 14 percent of U.S. restaurants have shut down permanently due to the pandemic, according to May data. And many restaurants still struggle to replenish their staffs since a large number of professionals have chosen to leave the industry entirely.

In a fireside chat on Monday moderated by Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, chef and philanthropist Jose Andres weighed in on the future of the restaurant industry, and gave advice for small businesses on how to emerge from the pandemic stronger.

"Cooks, we are people that adapt. We are people that love to feed everybody. We are people who love to build big tables. And we are people who realize that very big problems have very simple solutions," says Andres.

The acclaimed chef has urged Congress to expand FEMA's emergency food program and renew pandemic funds for the restaurant industry. He also serves as the co-chair for the Bipartisan Policy Center's Food and Nutrition Security Task Force, which unveiled on Monday a set of policy recommendations for the White House and Congress that includes expansion of SNAP benefits and agricultural subsidies, in addition to the renewal of pandemic aid for farms and small businesses.

Andres noted that the restaurant industry will need more federal government assistance in the future. But he added that leaders in the business should keep in mind what they can do individually to make a difference.

"Everybody's always going to be asking more and more from the government. And that's what the government is there for," he says. "But at the same time, I believe everybody has to ask, 'What can I do myself?'" He urged business owners with good ideas to step up and work with their communities.

World Central Kitchen, the food charity Andres runs, has employed more than 3,000 restaurants as a part of its emergency pandemic response program. Private donations largely funded the effort, which he noted helped keep restaurants in business and their staffs on payroll. But since restaurants are a part of a complex ecosystem that includes local food suppliers, farms, and other small businesses, the benefits of this trickled down.

"Every dollar that touches a restaurant touches the economy in so many ways," says Andres.

Andres advised restaurant owners to come out of the pandemic better prepared for weathering uncertainty in the industry--but his tips easily could apply to a business owner in any industry. Know what you don't know, he says, and surround yourself with staff who can assist you in those areas. For example, it's okay to admit that finance or day-to-day management may not be your strong suit.

"To me the most important is to be highly aware of not only all the things you know, but be highly aware of what you don't know and recruit those people who will help you be better," says Andres.

He also added since the restaurant industry has changed from where it was 30 years ago, owners will need to refresh their approach to the business and work with different tools. He expressed support for young restaurant entrepreneurs at the beginning of their careers, who launch food trucks or small bagel shops. The methods might be different, but the outcome, which is the business of feeding people, remains the same.
Los Angeles has long been home to fast-growing startups. This year is no exception. Silicon Beach is home to 54 of the U.S.'s fastest-growing private companies, while the entire metro area counts close to 300 firms. That's according to the 2021 Inc. 5000, which spotlights the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

From varied industries including fintech and pet products, here is a closer look at the 10 fastest-growing private companies in LA:

10. Ashby & Graff Real Estate

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 541 | Three-year growth 886%

Founded in 2015 by John Graff, Ashby & Graff Real Estate is a real estate brokerage that charges a flat fee per transaction, saving sales agents commission they would otherwise pay to their broker. The company created its company culture around the idea of "Kaizen," which can be roughly translated from Japanese to mean "good change." Meaning, its team of 197 employees aims to make continuous efforts to improve its processes, culture, and services over time so the company doesn't turn static.

9. YENSA beauty

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 443 | Three-year growth 1,107%

Selling complexion cosmetics and skincare products made with ingredients inspired by her Chinese heritage, YENSA beauty was founded by Jennifer Yen in 2017 with a goal to create "clean" products without parabens, sulfates, mineral oil, or phthalates. Instead, YENSA's 12-person team sells products made with ingredients like black tea, shiitake mushrooms, and seaweed. Products are sold on its website and in retailers such as Nordstrom, QVC, Ipsy, Boxycharm and Birchbox.

8. Kitsch

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 370 | Three-year growth 1,304%

In 2010, Cassandra Morales Thurswell started what would become her $87 million beauty brand Kitsch by hand-making hair ties at home and then selling them door to door at boutiques and trade shows. Today, Thurswell and her 77-person team sell a variety of hair products like hair clips, pillowcases, shower caps and headbands in over 44 countries via Kitsch's website and in over 20,000 retail locations worldwide.

7. Vital Pet Life

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 348 | Three-year growth 1,364%

Run by husband and wife duo Donie and Kyle Yamamoto, the idea for pet product startup Vital Pet Life came from a frustrating experience trying to find a non-GMO, toxin-free product to relieve their dog Tuxedo's extremely dry skin and coat issues. The two began formulating their own coat oil, and in 2017 they started selling the wild Alaskan salmon oil through their then newly founded company. The duo has since added pet shampoo and glucosamine--a hip and joint supplement--to their product line, and sell via e-commerce retailers like Amazon, Chewy and Walmart.

6. AvantStay

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 332 | Three-year growth 1,411%

Catering to large groups looking to rent properties for getaways and events, short-term rental platform AvantStay helps rent and host reservations in estates ranging from three to 10 or more bedrooms with extravagant amenities such as ranches with horses and backyard private beaches. Founded in 2017 by Reuben Doetsch and Sean Breuner, AvantStay employees can also help customers book experiences like attending a music festival or riding a hot air balloon in addition to booking a home.

5. sourceM

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 322 | Three-year growth 1,433%

With offices in in LA and Guangzhou, China, product design and sourcing agency sourceM helps customers design and manufacture branded merchandise, packaging, retail goods, gifted items and private label products. Founded in 2016 by Rodney Moreh, he and his 15-person team also helps customers with logistics, like global distribution, warehousing and fulfillment.

4. Resecurity

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 317 | Three-year growth 1,446%

Founded in 2016 by Gene Yoo, cybersecurity company Resecurity offers businesses and government agencies with endpoint protection, risk management, and cybersecurity threat intelligence. In addition to protecting clients, the company works with cybersecurity research partners to gather data and learn more about the latest in online threats and hacking strategies to help better protect its clients and give back to the cybersecurity industry.

3. Yedi Houseware Appliances

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 309 | Three-year growth 1,484%

If you're wondering how air fryers became the latest kitchen gadget must-have, you can thank Yedi Houseware Appliances for the craze. Appearing on the Inc. 5000 for the second year in a row, the kitchen appliances startup sells products like air fryer ovens, pressure cookers, grills, and bread makers. Founded by Bobby Djavaheri and Matthew Revich in 2015, the company's $149.95 Air Fryer Rotisserie Oven was named to Oprah's Favorite Things in 2020.

2. Alpine Solutions Group

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 115 | Three-year growth 3,548%

The staffing and other services company, founded by Jonnie Wagner and Joe Monteforte, helps its customers with recruiting IT services, promises a 24 to 48-hour turnaround time from receiving a position request to finding a candidate to fill the role. Alpine Solutions Group specializes finding candidates for IT services like engineering, app development and technical support.

1. Dave

2021 Inc. 5000 rank No. 5 | Three-year growth 28,972%

Also featured by Inc. as Best In Business for helping its customers find local, flexible work to cover immediate expenses during the pandemic last year, financial services firm Dave helps more than eight million customers bank, budget, avoid overdraft fees, find work, and build credit. Known for making a pitch to Mark Cuban that led the billionaire Shark Tank star to back several of his endeavors (including this one), serial entrepreneur and founder Jason Wilk has led Dave to reach more than $122 million in revenue in 2020.

EXPLORE MORE Inc. 5000 COMPANIES
In the past few months, many business owners have grown to begrudge federal pandemic unemployment assistance, which they viewed as providing a disincentive for people to work and thus contributing to a dearth of would-be workers. With the expiration of that benefit on September 4, 2021, business owners may like what happens next even less.

While the jury is still out on the effect of this latest lapse in enhanced unemployment benefits, which clocked in at $300 a week, above what states pay out, history shows that there is a tradeoff.

When unemployment benefits are cut, in general, there is a slight increase in people looking for work, says Ben Zipperer, in economist for the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, but that number tends to be small. The largest result by far, he says, has been a massive decrease in spending among those who've lost benefits, which also cuts into a company's bottom line, making it potentially harder to justify bringing on new hires. It may also cut into the funds businesses can pay for certain positions, which doesn't inspire people to get back into the workforce, especially during a pandemic when people more aware of the costs of working at a particular job relative to all the other things that matter in their lives.

"Many low-wage employers are having trouble finding workers to work at [modest] because those jobs are much more dangerous now, and the working conditions are much worse than before the pandemic," says Zipperer.

In April of last year, the government kicked off its federal assistance program for unemployed Americans, providing as many as 7.5 million access to an extra $600 per week, an amount that was later reduced to $300 per week under the Biden Administration. Unemployment benefits were also offered to contract workers and the self-employed, who under normal circumstances do not qualify for assistance. Payments were extended beyond the traditional 26 weeks offered by most states.

While there are currently no immediate plans in Congress to reauthorize this relief, typical state unemployment benefits will continue, thanks in part to the $350 billion in federal assistance provided to the states under the American Rescue Plan. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has delivered more than $800 billion in unemployment benefits.

If you're looking for workers, Tom Sullivan, vice president of small business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, recommends staying local before all else, and putting the word out as much as possible that you're hiring. For instance, he notes that a restaurant owner he's been in contact with found employees by telling customers about job openings directly.
Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah has compared Bollywood to Nazi Germany by claiming that the recently released big-budget movies by big production houses had a jingoistic agenda.

Speaking to NDTV on Monday (13 September), the veteran actor asserted that production houses are being encouraged by the government to make pro-government films.

They [are] also being financed, [in addition to being] promised a clean chit if they make movies which are propaganda, to put it bluntly, the 71-year-old actor said.

You will find the biggest guys giving in to this. In Nazi Germany also this was attempted, he added. Filmmakers who were outstanding, world-class, were rounded up and asked to make films propagating the Nazi philosophy.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen star said that he did not have any definitive proof to support his claims but that it was obvious with the kind of big-budget films being put out lately.

The kind of big-budget films that are coming, the big ones cannot disguise the jingoistic agenda, he said.

Earlier this month, Shah also called out sections of Indian Muslims who are celebrating the Talibans return to power in Afghanistan, saying its dangerous.

In a video message on Twitter, the 71-year-old actor said: The Talibans return to power in Afghanistan is a cause of concern for the whole world. However, the celebration of the barbarians by some sections of Indian Muslims is no less dangerous.
Season 41 of hit reality show Survivor is almost here.

After not airing in 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic, the new season is scheduled to premiere on 22 September 2021.

Travel restrictions initially prevented the cast and crew from going to Fiji to film, but it is now returning to its longstanding home for the upcoming season.

Season 41 started filming back in April, longtime host, Jeff Probst, announced on social media.

He said: Hey, Survivor fans, I have some exciting news to share. Survivor is going back into production. Fiji has invited us back to their beautiful country to shoot Season 41.

Probst also detailed how the series would shoot in the pandemic: We have all of our Covid protocols in place so that everybody in Fiji will remain safe, all of our crew will be safe, and of course our players will be safe.

I cant remember a time Ive been this pumped to shoot Survivor and Ill tell you why. The past year has reminded me, and I hope its reminded you, that you gotta live your life like its one big, great adventure, and Survivor fulfills that.

Survivor first started in 2000 and during its over two decades on air, has been one of the most popular shows in the US. The winner of each series receives $1m (730,000).

There will be 18 new contestants for the new season: Brad Reese, Danny McCray, David Voce, Deshawn Radden, Eric Abraham, Erika Casupanan, Evvie Jagoda, Genie Chen, Heather Aldret, Jairus Robinson, Liana Wallace, Naseer, Muttalif, Ricard Foye, Sara Wilson, Shantel Smith, Sydney Segal, Tiffany Seely and Xander Hastings.

Season 41 of Survivor will start on 22 September on CBS at 8pm EST.
A dengue outbreak has swept across Indias most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, killing dozens of people even as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage.

Most infections were found in the western part of the state, especially in Firozabad, a city just 50 km from Agra and 300 km from state capital Lucknow. On Monday, two more deaths were reported in Firozabad, taking the total death toll to 60, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Dinesh Kumar Premi, the chief medical officer in Firozabad, told Reuters that children accounted for most casualties. We are taking preventive measures and 95 health camps across the district have been operating in order to contain the spread of this fever, Mr Premi said.

According to The Times Of India, at least 12,000 people are now bedridden in Firozabad due to the outbreak. In 2020, dengue deaths fell across the country, with Uttar Pradesh reporting only six casualties. It reported 42 dengue deaths in 2016 the highest since 2015.

Authorities have launched measures such as fumigation and checking for waterlogging to destroy mosquito breeding grounds.

This outbreak comes amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already put pressure on thely health infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh is now dealing with a surge in hospitalisation and deaths  mainly of children  reported from dengue and other illnesses such as malaria and scrub typhus, a bacterial illness spread to people through bites of infected chiggers (berry bugs).

Heartbreaking scenes of people racing to get medical care for their children are emerging, with opposition parties targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for poor handling of the outbreak.

On Monday, news channel NDTV reported that a young girl lost her life because the hospital refused to admit her despite recording a high body temperature.
Founder of electronic-sensor maker Keyence Corp Takemitsu Takizaki has taken over Uniqlo billionaire Tadashi Yanai as the richest person in Japan.

According to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, Mr Takizaki is worth $38.2 billion after his company shares almost doubled amid the pandemic. He is now the ninth richest person in Asia.

The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has adversely affected Mr Yanani, who now has a net worth of $35.5 billion after losing a fifth of his wealth in 2021.

Mr Takizaki founded his Osaka-based company Keyence in 1974 and is known for high-profit margins in the automation industry. Keyence's shares have risen 96 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic with a current market value of $167 billion.

The companys forthcoming inclusion in Japans blue-chip equity index Nikkei 225 Stock Average has also boosted its value.

Meanwhile, Uniqlo's shares fell 18 per cent through Monday's close, indicating the lower purchasing power among the masses amid fresh Covid-19 restrictions and a crippling economy. Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo reported a 12 per cent drop in annual revenues to the tune of $19 billion for the year ended 31 August 2020. Last year, the company was forced to shut half of its stores in China, Forbes reported.

Established in 1984, the company operates on a fast-fashion business model and has a chain of over 3,600 stores spread across Asia, Europe and North America.

In November last year, Mr Yanani in a message featured on the company's website said, "The spread of Covid-19 has spurred a change in values and encouraged us to scrutinize the way that we live". "The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed customers' lifestyles and what they want from their everyday clothing," it added.

A month later the retail mogul's worth touched a peak of $41.6 billion following the shopping frenzy for the company's targeted pandemic-friendly clothes that ranged from loungewear to masks. In February, it toppled clothing giant Zara to become the world's most valuable retailer.

Uniqlo suffered the worst overseas sales drop to 3. 6 per cent over protests in Hong Kong and the South Korea boycott. The retail faced backlash in the West following allegations of being part of forced labour in China.

The companys apparels were blocked at the United States border in January due to concerns they violated a ban on cotton products produced in the Xinjiang region of China, where Uyghur Muslims are allegedly facing genocide. The Senate in July passed legislation to ban the import of products from Xinjiang.

Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank Group Corp, is Japans third-richest person with a net worth of $26.9 billion.
The UK should accept the new reality in Afghanistan and deliver immediate aid to the Taliban-run country, Pakistans foreign minister has urged, warning that isolating the Taliban authorities would lead to economic collapse, anarchy, and chaos.

Speaking to The Independent, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the UK and its western allies were not doing enough to engage with the Taliban administration or to avert a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, and urged the west to provide supplies with no political conditions attached.

Last week, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the UK would not recognise the new militant cabinet but that he did see the need to be able to have direct engagement, and admitted that the UK should adjust.

On Sunday, Mr Qureshi said that concrete steps now needed to be taken, including sending food and medical supplies to the war-ravaged country. He warned that Pakistan would not be willing to take in any more Afghan refugees as it is already hosting several million from decades of past conflicts.

My message [to the UK] is that there is a new reality in Afghanistan. Accept the new reality and let us work to achieve our objectives Shah Mahmood Quereshi, Pakistans foreign minister

Afghanistan is almost entirely reliant on international donations, which have abruptly halted since the Taliban takeover. The situation is so grave that the United Nations warned on Monday that the country was on the verge of collapse, and that food supplies could run out by the end of this month. The World Food Programme said 14 million people were on the brink of starvation.

My message [to the UK] is that there is a new reality in Afghanistan. Accept the new reality and let us work to achieve our objectives, Mr Qureshi, who has twice been Pakistans foreign minister, told The Independent in Islamabad.

Isolation will not help. It will lead to a humanitarian crisis, it will lead to an economic collapse, and it will create space for elements who have not been helpful for you, me or anyone.

Anarchy, chaos will facilitate their presence there. Dont do that. Engagement, we feel, is a better option. If [the Taliban] are saying positive things, nudge them in that direction. Do not push them into a corner.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres talks to the media about the crisis in Afghanistan (EPA)

One of the first steps, he said, was delivering immediate aid. There should be no strings attached, there should be no political conditions attached to humanitarian assistance, the top diplomat added.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from the mid-1990s to 2001 with an iron fist, and according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which saw minority groups persecuted and women barred from education and work. They were toppled in an invasion led by the United States, which accused them of sheltering the militants who had planned and carried out the 9/11 terror attacks.

Twenty years on, they stormed back to power in a lightning advance amid the chaotic withdrawal of US-led allied forces last month. After promising an inclusive government, they formed a new interim cabinet made up exclusively of Taliban figures, including those who are on UN blacklists or wanted by the FBI.

Meanwhile Pakistan, which shares a 2,500km-long border as well as cultural, ethnic and religious ties with Afghanistan, is positioning itself as a potentially powerful regional mediator.

The country of more than 215 million people (many of whom have families on both sides of the border) had a rocky relationship with the previous Afghan administration, which was led by Ashraf Ghani, and sees the rapid collapse of his government and the countrys security forces as vindication of its past warnings.

Pakistan has faced criticism for its deep ties with the Taliban, and has been accused of supporting the group as it battled the US-backed government in Kabul for 20 years. Lately, its critics have alleged that it actively facilitated the Talibans recent rapid rise to power, a point that Mr Qureshi vehemently dismissed as absurd, lies and propaganda.

Pakistan has been criticised for facilitating the Afghan Talibans rise to power (EPA)

In statements made after The Independent interviewed the foreign minister, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said late on Monday that the US was currently reassessing its relationship with Pakistan, warning that some of the countrys interests were in conflict with those of the US.

But he added that Islamabad had cooperated with Washington on counterterrorism.

Islamabad is fighting a major domestic security threat in the form of local Taliban offshoot the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or the TTP, as well as al-Qaeda and factions of Isis, complicating its relationship with the new administration next door. Mr Qureshi told The Independent that Pakistan had received verbal assurances from the Afghan Taliban that they would not allow any group to stage terror attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan, but he added that Islamabad was waiting to see if they act on what theyve said.

And so Pakistan has not formally recognised the new Taliban cabinet, but senior Pakistani officials, including the countrys spy chief, have visited Kabul, where Pakistans embassy remains open providing a potential gateway into and out of the country.

Pakistans foreign minister said he had received assurances from the Afghan Taliban that they would not stage terror attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan (Bel Trew)

In the days before the full withdrawal, western forces scrambled to evacuate their citizens, along with at-risk Afghans who had worked with them, via Kabul airport. Hundreds of British nationals and thousands of eligible Afghans were left behind in the chaos.

Mr Raab spoke last week about the need to secure safe passage for those who did not make it out. The Independent met a British taxi driver from Wembley at the Afghan border last week, who said that after being abandoned in Kabul he had eventually managed to leave with his family via the treacherous land route to Pakistan.

Mr Qureshi said Pakistan would continue to facilitate the departure of those with valid documents who wished to exit Afghanistan via Pakistan, but drew the line at allowing an influx of refugees. He also rejected the notion of building refugee camps or resettlement processing facilities on Pakistani soil, in light of reports that the UN was exploring the idea.

At an aid conference in Geneva on Monday, the UNs high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, accused the Taliban of breaking promises by once more ordering women to stay at home rather than go to work, keeping teenage girls out of school, and persecuting former opponents.

There have also been well-documented incidents of journalists and women being beaten and detained during anti-Taliban rallies. Aside from safety worries, there are mounting concerns that soaring hunger and poverty levels might drive people to try to flee the country.

Thousands of people, including former members of the security forces alongside the countrys most impoverished, have already gathered on the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan. The Independent spoke to members of the persecuted Hazara community, which is majority Shia, who had managed to cross into Pakistan where they hoped to seek asylum.

Afghan people wait at the Torkham border crossing to enter Pakistan (Anadolu via Getty)

Mr Qureshi claimed there had been no rush on Pakistans borders ,and said there was no need for people to flee Afghanistan as he said the country was peaceful and stable. He cited Taliban statements on a general amnesty, as well as the groups promises not to prohibit women from going to school, university or work, as reasons why people should stay put.

We have our limitations. [Pakistan has] been hosting now over 3 million, almost close to 4 million refugees for so many decades without any international help or assistance. We do not have the capacity to absorb more, honestly, he told The Independent.

Our preference is that [Afghans] stay within Afghanistan and they are provided security and safety within Afghanistan.

As things stand at the moment, I see no reason why they cant stay in Afghanistan.

He added that any processing facility where Afghan citizens can apply for asylum should be in Afghanistan. It has to be over there  that is where they belong, that is their country, he added.

Let it evolve. Judge them not by European standards; judge them in line with their traditions and their culture Shah Mahmood Quereshi, Pakistans foreign minister

He did say that the Pakistani authorities would consider on merit formal requests from the UK for British representation in their embassy in Kabul to help with applications  an idea senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood told The Independent the government should pursue with its allies, such as Qatar and Turkey.

But Mr Qureshi maintained that the behaviour of the new Taliban leadership was quite distinct and different from that seen in the 1990s, saying that, for example, protests in Kabul had by and large been tolerated.

These are initial signs which are not discouraging. Lets see if this is the direction that they follow, he concluded.

Let it evolve. Judge them not by European standards; judge them in line with their traditions and their culture, he implored the west.

Do not repeat [the mistakes of the] past. Lets learn from them and not repeat them.
The Taliban has reportedly killed at least 20 civilians in Afghanistans Panjshir valley, the only province still claiming to hold out against the Islamist militant group since it seized power in Kabul.

While the Taliban has denied claims that it is targeting civilians, reports of the Talibans extrajudicial killing and human rights abuses continue to emerge.

One of the alleged victims was a shopkeeper in the region, the BBC reported, citing sources. Taliban fighters arrested him after he was accused of selling SIM cards to resistance fighters. Days later, his body was found near his home with signs of torture.

According to a report by the Washington Post, the Talibs have imposed a blockade in Panjshir province, denying food to residents and forcing many to flee. My people pressed me to leave the area, a man told the Post on the condition of anonymity, saying that his family feared the group would kill him.

The reports follow claims by a senior diplomat in the previous government who voiced concerns over the human rights situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.

Ambassador Nasir Ahmad Andisha called for action before the UN human rights council in Geneva, demanding the establishment of a fact-finding committee to monitor violations of human rights by the Talibs.

In August, Amnesty International issued a report saying that The Taliban massacred and brutally tortured several members of the Hazara minority in Mundarakht, Malistan Afghan district.

Evidence of the killings in Panjashir emerged immediately after UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday her office had received credible allegations of reprisal killings by the Taliban of former Afghan security forces, former officials and their family members.

Panjshir, located about 125 km northeast of Kabul in the Hindu-Kush mountain range, has long remained a focal point of resistance in Afghanistan, having previously been the home for battles against Soviet forces in the 1980s.

Last week, the Taliban claimed that its fighters had gained control of the valley and that Afghanistan Resistance Front leader Ahmad Massoud had fled the country. But the resistance group has denied this claim.

Qassem Mohammadi, a member of the resistance group and reportedly close to Massoud, told Irans FARS News Agency: In recent days, the Taliban has entered Panjshir, and now 70 per cent of the main streets and passages are under their control, but the valley of Panjshir is still under the complete control of the popular forces.

He added that Massoud is in a safe place and the rumours that he has left Afghanistan and gone to Turkey or another country are not true, and he is in contact with Panjshir Valley.
Speculation has been mounting over the whereabouts of the Talibans most senior leader and acting deputy prime minister following their prolonged absence from public view.

The Talibans co-founder Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, also referred to as the supreme leader, who is in charge of running the Taliban government, has been missing from the public view since 15 August when the Islamist group came to power.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is on the UN sanctions list and is first deputy of the prime minister, has not been seen since reports that he was injured in a shootout with rival Taliban factions.

Taliban officials attempted to quell the rumours by calling them baseless propaganda, and swiftly released a video, allegedly of Baradar in a meeting, along with a hand-written letter by the deputys aide.

The group also released an audio message, purported to be a recording of Baradar, alongside an old photograph of him.

The Talibans swift move to dispel the rumours surrounding the mens absence has prompted comparisons with the cover-up of Taliban founder Mullah Omars death. Back then, the group continued to release audio messages and written statements in his name for two years after his death, before finally confirming that he had died.

Mullah Baradar, deputy prime minister, Islamic emirate of Afghanistan, in a voice message rejected all those claims that he was injured or killed in a clash. He says it is lies and totally baseless, said a Taliban spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, on Twitter.

The video footage released by the Taliban ostensibly showed Baradar at meetings in the southern city of Kandahar. But the videos did not show anything to confirm the time or date when they were recorded.

The audio message also raised questions given its release at a time when the Taliban is no longer a group in hiding but is officially in control of Afghanistan.

Baradar was also the Talibans key official who oversaw peace talks with the US in Doha.

There had been news in the media about my death. 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, a voice claimed to be Baradars said in the audio clip.

Media always publish fake propaganda. Therefore, reject bravely all those lies, and I one hundred per cent confirm to you there is no issue and we have no problem.

The speculation has been fuelled by a report on Twitter by the Panjshir Observeragencythat Baradar had sustained wounds during a violent clash with members of the Haqqani network in Kabul.

The clashes between supporters of Baradar and those of Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network, reportedly erupted as a result of internal rivalry following the announcement of key roles in the new cabinet last week.

The Haqqani network is designated a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO) by the US, and its head, Sirajuddin, has been given the position of acting interior minister despite the FBI placing a $10m bounty on his head.

Baradar, who was one of the three deputies of the supreme leader and tipped to be the next prime minister, did not secure any major ministry.

He was also absent from the ministerial delegation that met with Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Kabul on Sunday.

Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent non-profit policy research and analysis organisation, said Akhundzadas absence from public events suggested that he might have died.

It noted that even the one-eyed founder of the group, Mullah Omar, gave radio statements and interviews and met with foreign officials, even if he was not filmed or photographed.

It would be strange, therefore, if Haibatullah, now that the movement is in power, were alive and still so secluded. For the moment, he appears to function as a symbolic figurehead who can unify without actually appearing or speaking (as was also the case for Mullah Omar, who continued to be cited as supreme leader for two years after he had died).

The Taliban admitted to covering up the death of Omar for more than two years while official statements continued to be released in his name, according to the BBC. Omar died in Pakistan on 23 April 2013 following an illness, but the statements were released until 2015.

The group said the news was suppressed because 2014 was expected to be the final year of foreign forces operating in Afghanistan.
Boat drones have been designed to sail directly into the eye of hurricanes in hopes to study the environment.

Silicon Valley startup Saildrone sent five of its autonomous boats into hurricanes into the Atlantic Ocean over the course of this summer.

While planes are able to fly through hurricanes, sailing boats through them is dangerous because of the violent waves.

Scientists hope the sturdy and unmanned boats will provide new information about the environment.

The director of engineering at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Chris Meinig, told CNN: If youre in the centre 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.

I cannot imagine purposely flying a plane or a ship into a hurricane. Id much rather send these robots in there and have them do their work, he added.

The company has initiated a partnership with NOAA to study how hurricanes begin to form and the speed at which they intensify.

Hurricane Ida which recently hit Louisiana, and later New Jersey and New York at a diminished level, went from a category one hurricane to a category four in less than a day.

Equipped with four cameras, the 23 feet long drones can measure the temperature of the water and wind.

The CEO of Saildrone, Richard Jenkins, told CNN that theyre concentrating on the spray and foam of the water in a hurricane, hoping to figure out how energy and heat interact between the water and the atmosphere.

Data can be accessed live from the companys Alameda, California offices.

No ones ever observed what happens to waves of froth to spray in the centre of [a] hurricane. So were hoping that we can see with the camera what the water looks like, Mr Jenkins said. He added that so far, all of the companys boat drones have lived to tell the tale of the hurricane season.

Being in the Atlantic Ocean, the drones were not in the eye of the storm as Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana from the Gulf of Mexico. The storm has killed at least 78 people in the state and across the Northeast.

The company has said that they also plan to study storms on the other side of the US in the Pacific Ocean.

Both Saildrone and NOAA have previously examined storms in Alaska, and Saildrone told CNN that its vessels have sailed more than 500,000 miles so far. They said they became the first unmanned vehicle to go around Antarctica after the journey was completed in 2019.

NASA, the US Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, and universities have also worked with Saildrone, which has made around 100 boats so far.

The oceans are really driving our global weather and climate, Mr Jenkins told CNN. Understanding the rate of change is going to really give us deep insights into our future and how we might need to change things.
Tropical Storm Nicholas stalled over Texas on Tuesday, tipping a deluge of water onto an area battered by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and leaving half-a-million people without power.

Nicholas made landfall in Texas as a Category-1 hurricane in the early hours with warnings of heavy rain, high winds and dangerous tidal surge.

The storm moved slowly inland, dumping more than a foot of rain and bringing maximum winds of 40 mph south of the city of Houston.

Utility company, CenterPoint Energy, reported on Tuesday afternoon that 180,000 customers remained without power.

Galveston, Texas, saw nearly 14 inches of rain from Nicholas, while Houston reported more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain. Harvey dumped more than 60 inches of rain in southeast Texas over a four-day period, the Associated Press reported.

Category-4 Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas and Louisiana in August 2017 with widespread flooding. More than 100 people died in what was one of the costliest disasters on record.

Houston emergency response officials deployed high-water rescue vehicles and barricaded more than 40 locations likely to flood, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

This city is very resilient. We know what we need to do. We know about preparing, the mayor said.

Forecasters warned that Nicholas could bring life-threatening floods to Louisiana and parts of the Deep South in the coming days.

Nicholas made landfall early Tuesday on the Matagorda Peninsula on the southeastern Texas coast with winds of up to 75 mph (120 kph) but was soon downgraded to a tropical storm.

A number of schools closed along the Gulf due to the incoming storm. Multiple Covid-19 testing and vaccination facilities in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas were also shuttered.

Nicholas is the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.

The climate crisis is creating conditions which are driving more powerful storms with greater rainfall.

While its unclear whether the climate crisis will mean an increased number of hurricanes in the future, scientists have long warned that increased global heating will likely make the storms that we do experience more destructive.

The ocean absorbs over 90 per cent of excess heat caused by greenhouse gas emissions  largely caused from the burning of fossil fuels  and that warm water feeds into hurricanes.

And as the planet heats up, more moisture is held in the atmosphere, meaning storms hold the potential of a lot more rainfall. Global sea level rise is compounding the danger of storm surge.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency for Louisiana on Tuesday and ordered federal assistance to supplement local response efforts, the White House said.
A 670,000 square metre food base has been launched in southwest China for migrating elephants amid hopes the dining hall will help resolve conflicts between local residents and wild elephants.

Officials in Jinghong, in Yunnan province, launched the food court for migrating elephants after a herd of 14 Asian elephants  originally 17 in number  trekked almost 500 kilometres across the country this summer.

The Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday that the construction of the food base  also known as Elephants dining hall  was launched in December last year and completed in May at the cost of $15 million.

Cha Wei, the deputy director of Jinghong Nature Reserve Management Office told Xinhua that the dining hall has a large number of plants and five salt pools to meet the needs of wild Asian elephants.

Mr Cha was quoted as saying that the food base was established with the customary tracks of wild Asian elephants in mind. We finally chose the nation-owed forest where Asian elephants regularly pass by.

Mr Cha added that if provided with enough food, the elephants will not break into villages and croplands to forage, which can help resolve conflicts between local people and wild elephants.

The herd of Asian elephants, whose year and a half trek across the country captured everyones imagination, is now living in the woodland in Mojiang county of Puer city, a part of their traditional habitat, local authorities confirmed last month.

Officials said that all the elephants are within the monitoring range and in stable condition.

Meanwhile, the Elephants dining hall is stocked with at least 38,000 banana trees and saltwater ponds. Mr Cha said: The project is meant to improve the quality of Asian elephants habitat, enrich their food sources and provide them with more to eat.

After the completion of the project, elephants will be able to eat at the base. This can stop them from foraging in villages and damaging farmers crops, he added.

The Asian elephant is a Grade-1 species of wild animal under Chinas priority conservation. The Global Times reported that the number of Asian elephants in Jinghong has increased from 85 at the end of the last century to 185, causing an overlap in living area between elephants and local residents.

Experts have predicted that the herd of Asian elephants that returned home last month is highly likely to hit the road again in the future.

Elephants have no sense of boundaries, nor do they know the boundary of a [human defined] natural reserve, Shen Qingzhong, an expert with the management bureau of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, home of the stray elephants was quoted as saying by the Shangyou News. Attracted by food or others, they are highly likely to migrate again.

The herd of elephants started their journey in March last year. Three of them left the group and headed back halfway, and a baby elephant was born during the journey in December.
Scientists have hatched a plan to bring woolly mammoths back to the Arctic  ten thousand years after they became extinct.

Renowned Harvard geneticist George Church and tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm have set up Colossal, a new bioscience and genetics company which intends to bring several extinct species back to life.

Backed by 11m in initial funding, their first mission is to create a hybridised elephant resembling the prehistoric giant that would thrive in the cold Arctic climate.

Researchers plan to do this by taking skin cells from Asian elephants, which are threatened with extinction, and putting them into stem cells with frozen mammoth DNA to create an embryo.

These embryos will then be carried to full term by a surrogate mother or in an artificial womb in a laboratory.

The team hopes to have its first set of calves within the next six years if all goes to plan.

Dr Church and Mr Lamm believe the elephant-mammoth hybrid could help slow climate change by stomping out thin, low-oxygen trees and exposing healthy, carbon-trapping grasses to restore the Arctic tundra.

Our goal is to make a cold-resistant elephant, but it is going to look and behave like a mammoth, Dr Church told the Guardian.

Members of Japan customs inspect a 39,000-year-old female baby woolly mammoth named Yuka from the Siberian permafrost upon its arrival at an exhibition in Yokohama, Tokyo, in July 2013 (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

He added: Not because we are trying to trick anybody, but because we want something that is functionally equivalent to the mammoth, that will enjoy its time at -40C, and do all the things that elephants and mammoths do, in particular knocking down trees.

However, not everyone in the scientific community is convinced.

Dr Victoria Herridge, an evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum, said the idea the Arctic environment could be restored using a herd of mammoths was not plausible.

She said at their peak 21,000 years ago, there were an estimated 200 million mammoths in Eurasia, therefore the scale at which the scientists would have to do the experiment would be enormous  and mammoths take 22 months to gestate and 30 years to grow to maturity.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney made a political statement at last nights Met Gala with an outfit inspired by the suffrage movement.

Maloney, who represents New Yorks 12th Congressional District, wore a purple, white, yellow, and green dress with sashes stating equal rights for women.

The 75-year-old also showed off a green purse that read "ERA YES while walking the red carpet at the annual exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute.

Maloneys outfit was a reference to the Equal Rights Amendment, designed to provide the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.

The proposed constitutional amendment has been waiting on state ratification since Congress passed it in 1972.

In 2020, the House of Representatives voted to remove the 1982 deadline for state ratification and reopen the possibility for the amendment to pass.

Maloney explained the importance of the dress in a Tweet before attending the gala.

Across the country, womens rights are under attack, she wrote.

I have long used fashion as a force [for] change.

As the Met Costume Institute reopens [with] their inaugural exhibit celebrating American designers, I am calling [for] the certification of the ERA so women can be equal once and for all.

This years Met Gala theme was In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, looking at how US fashion has changed in recent years and how it has been influenced by politics and social justice.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was another attendee who made a strong political statement with a white gown that bore the words Tax The Rich in red lettering.

According to Aurora James , founder and creative director of Brother Vellies and the founder of the 15 Percent Pledge, the outfit was about pushing forward.

She told Vogue: Fashion is changing, America is changing. And as far as this theme goes, I think Alexandria and I are a great embodiment of the language fashion needs to consider adding to the general lexicon as we work towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and empowered future.
Dan Levy made his debut at the 2021 Met Gala with a flamboyant costume containing an important message.

The Schitts Creek star collaborated with Loewes Jonathan Anderson and Cartier to create a look that not only turned heads, but was politically powerful.

The 38-year-old multihyphenate stepped on the red carpet in an outfit comprised of pastel blue, pink and green shades, dramatic puffed sleeves, a world map print, beading and an hand-embroidered portrait of a queer couple kissing in the centre of his chest.

Inspired by the Costume Institutes In America: A Lexicon of Fashion exhibit and the galas theme, Levy worked with Anderson to create a costume that celebrated the resilience and the love and the joy of the LGBT+ community.

I had asked Jonathan if he would be into dressing me just becauseI just love his perspective on fashion and thought that hed be a really great person to collaborate with on this, the actor told Vanity Fair.

Hes so thoughtful, unexpected, and artful in his approach to what he wants to say with the clothes that he designs. fortunately, he said yes, and fortunately he did have some great ideas.

Dan Levy and Loewes Jonathan Anderson took inspiration from gay artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz (Getty Images for The Met Museum/)

The pair took inspiration from American artist and Aids activist David Wojnarowicz, whose work focused on civil rights and LGBT+ identity.

In an Instagram post, Levy elaborated on the vision behind the costume.

Jonathan and the design team built upon an image of two men kissing from Wojnaroviczs work, F*ck You F*ggot F*cker, named after a homophobic cartoon the artist had come across.

But rather than feed on the message of hate, we wanted to celebrate queer love and visibility - acknowledging how hard artists like Wojnarovicz had to fight, while also presenting the imagery in a way that offered a hopeful message.

Tonight, were celebrating the resilience, the love, and the joy of the community while honoring a crucial American voice that was taken from us too soon.

The comedian added that Loewe had made a donation to Visual AIDS, an organisation Wojnarovicz supported, that continues to promote AIDS awareness and education, adding that theres a lot more that needs to be done [in terms of LGBT+ equality].

Anderson described Dan as our gay superhero.

He said: Through his comedy, he is able to knock down cultural barriers. We wanted to make something that allows him to make queer love visible and we found that through the seminal works of David Wojnarowicz.

Levy added: Jonathan described [the look] as a superhero for the community, and when I put it on, I definitely feel that.

And to me, thats an America that I want to be a part of.

The Canadian native admitted that attending the star-studded event was a big step out of his comfort zone.

Im a pretty introverted person, and I tend to avoid big parties, he revealed.

Despite his nerves, Levy acknowledged that his iconic Schitts Creek Character, David Rose, would be absolutely ecstatic at the opportunity to attend one of the fashion worlds biggest events.

Absolutely nobody would want a Met Gala invitation more than sweet David Rose. Just desperate for it, Levy said.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made quite a statement with her 2021 Met Gala look, with the congresswoman arriving on the red carpet in a tax the rich gown.

On Monday, the 31-year-old politician arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for her first-ever Met Gala appearance in a white strapless gown by Brother Vellies, which featured the slogan emblazoned on the back in red.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez paired the bold look with a pair of red lace-up heels and a purse which also read: Tax the rich.

According to Aurora James , founder and creative director of Brother Vellies and the founder of the 15 Percent Pledge, the outfit is about pushing forward.

We can never get too comfortable in our seats at the table once theyve been given, James toldVogue. We must always continue to push ourselves, push our colleagues, push the culture and push the country forward.

Fashion is changing, America is changing. And as far as this theme goes, I think Alexandria and I are a great embodiment of the language fashion needs to consider adding to the general lexicon as we work towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and empowered future.

While speaking with Vogues livestream host Ilana Glazer on the red carpet about the look, the Democratic congresswoman said that she and James came up with the outfit after having a conversation about what it means to be a working class woman of colour at the Met.

And we said we cant just play along, but we need to break the fourth wall and challenge some of the institutions, she added.

On social media, the statement dress has been popular among viewers, with many praising Ms Ocasio-Cortez for using the opportunity to send a message while surrounded by some of the most wealthy and influential people.

AOC showing up to the Met Gala, which is an event crawling with rich people and having tax the rich in bold on her dress??? As. She. Should, one person tweeted.

Another said: AOC having tax the rich on her dress is so iconic for the Met Gala.

AOC wearing tax the rich to an event full of multi-millionaires is absolutely hilarious, someone else wrote.

Others were critical of the look, with some pointing out that tickets to the Met Gala, which functions as a fundraiser, reportedly cost about $30,000 a person.

However, as many acknowledged in response, Vogue previously revealed that those invited to attend the exclusive event do not pay for their tickets.

If youre lucky enough to be on the guest list then you dont pay to attend. If youre not on the list, but have managed to secure a chance of attending, tickets are priced at around $30,000 each, with tables costing about $275,000, the outlet explains.
Apple has released a critical software patch to fix a major security vulnerability, after researchers found spyware could exploit it to hack directly into iPhones and other Apple devices without so much as a click from the user.

Researchers at the University of Torontos Citizen Lab said they found malicious image files being transmitted to the phone of a Saudi activist, who wished to remain anonymous, via the iMessage instant-messaging app. The device was then hacked by the Pegasus spyware developed by Israels NSO Group, they alleged.

Calling the iMessage exploit Forcedentry, Citizen Lab said that the security vulnerability makes the phones susceptible to eavesdropping and remote data theft, and that it applied to all Apple devices. Forensics revealed that the activists phone had been infected back in March, adding that the malicious files caused the phone to crash.

The vulnerability was found in the activists iPhone on 7 September, following which Citizen Lab said it immediately alerted Apple. The NSO group licenses its Pegasus spyware tool to government agencies and police forces to investigate criminal activity, but Citizen Lab researcher Bill Marczak said: Were not necessarily attributing this attack to the Saudi government.

Issuing a statement, the NSO Group said that it will continue providing tools for fighting "terror and crime".

Also a zero-click exploit, Pegasus doesnt require users to click on any suspected link or open infected files and is considered the pinnacle in surveillance technology, as it allows hackers to break into a persons phone without alerting the victim.

Apple, in a blog post, said that it was issuing a security update for iPhones and iPads because a "maliciously crafted" PDF file could lead to hacking. Apple security chief Ivan Krstic also issued a statement saying that after identifying the vulnerability used by this exploit for iMessage, Apple rapidly developed and deployed a fix in iOS 14.8 to protect our users.

He added that in the past, such exploits typically cost millions of dollars to develop and often have a short shelf life. Though it is unclear at the moment how many Apple users might have been attacked using this vulnerability, Mr Krstic said such exploits are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users.

Users should get alerts on their iPhones prompting them to update the phones iOS software. The critical update comes ahead of an Apple event on Tuesday where the tech firm was slated to unveil a new product.

Citizen Lab alleged that their findings undermine the Israeli firms assertion that it sells software to law enforcement officials for use against criminals and terrorists and audits customers to make sure Pegasus is not misused.

"If Pegasus was only being used against criminals and terrorists, we never would have found this stuff," said Mr Marczak.

Earlier in July, a global media consortium published a series of reports about the use of Pegasus to spy on journalists, activists, opposition leaders and political dissidents.

The reports revealed that the phone of the fiancee of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was infected with the software just four days after he was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. The CIA held the Saudi government responsible for the murder.

The revelations also led to protests in parliament against Indian prime minister Narendra Modis government for allegedly using the spyware against political opponents. The government has so far neither accepted nor denied the allegations of snooping.

In Hungary, the reports of spying led to calls for an investigation against the right-wing government, while in France the government is also trying to probe the allegations that an unidentified Moroccan security service used Pegasus to target president Emmanuel Macron and members of his government in 2019. Morocco, a French ally, has denied the allegations.

Additional reporting from the agencies
Police have arrested multiple people after a large group of Black Lives Matter protestors began to demonstrate outside of the Met Gala.

On Monday, as the high fashion event took place on the steps of and inside New York Citys Metropolitan Museum of Art, a group of protestors clashed with police in the street in front of the iconic building.

In footage of the encounter shared to Twitter, officers can be heard yelling at members of the crowd to back up, while some protestors can be seen being detained.

According to the DailyMail, which viewed a flyer from the protest, the demonstrators, who were chanting: Black Lives Matter, were part of a protest organised 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 $11bn 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.

Prior to the arrests, the protestors seemed to be peacefully demonstrating in the street, with additional video footage showing the large crowd chanting: If we dont get no justice, then they dont get no peace, and people hanging on the traffic light posts.

However, around 6pm ET, police began arresting individuals who had ignored warnings to clear the street, according to The New York Times, which noted that a police spokesperson said that there had been a handful of arrests, mostly for minor offences.

The protest to defund the police took place as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio attended the exclusive high fashion event among some of the worlds most influential and famous individuals.

According to the mayors spokesperson, Bill Neidhardt, who spoke to Politico, Mr de Blasio decided to attend the gala in a suit by Brooklyn designer Dreu Beckemberg because he wanted to highlight a local designer who had been able to make it through the pandemic.

The mayor was not the only politician in attendance during tonights gala, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a statement of her own when she arrived in a white gown emblazoned with tax the rich.
Google is to be fined at least US$177m (127m) for allegedly preventing smartphone makers like Samsung from using customised versions of its Android operating system.

South Koreas competition watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has taken issue with the tech giants use of anti-fragmentation agreements that have prevented hardware partners from making changes to its operating system. It ruled that Google will be prohibited from forcing manufacturers to sign these in the future, and that existing agreements must be modified.

Google has said that it plans to challenge the ruling and has accused the South Korean authority of failing to take into account the ways that its software policy actually benefits manufacturers as well as consumers.

The commissions chairwoman, Joh Sung-wook, said in a statement: The Korea Fair Trade Commissions decision is meaningful in a way that it provides an opportunity to restore future competitive pressure in the mobile OS and app markets.

She said that Google has impeded competition in the country since 2011 by requiring its hardware partners to sign anti-fragmentation agreements, which prevent hardware companies from installing modified versions of Google operating systems on their smart devices. The FTC says that these agreements enabled Google to abuse its dominant market position to fortify its leadership across mobile software and mobile applications.

Currently, Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world, installed on more than 80 per cent of smart phones globally.

Ms Joh added that manufacturers like Samsung and LG were forced to accept these terms in order to access app store licensing or receive early access computer codes, which allow the smartphone and smart watch makers to build compatible devices ahead of new releases of Android and other Google operating systems.

In one instance in 2013, under these agreements, Samsung, the maker of Galaxy Android phones, was forced to cancel its plan to use customised Google software on its Galaxy Gear smartwatches. The company then briefly switched to a little-known operating system called Tizen, but was ultimately unsuccessful due to its lack of applications and abandoned the venture.

All Samsungs smartwatches are now powered by Googles Wear operating system.

Similarly, LG was also prevented from releasing smart speakers based on customised Google software.

In an emailed statement, Google told AP News that Koreas competition watchdog was ignoring the benefits offered by Androids compatibility with other programmes. The company claimed that Androids compatibility program, which defines requirements for hardware manufacturers, led to incredible hardware and software innovation and enormous success for Korean hardware manufacturers and developers.

KFTCs decision released today totally ignores these benefits, and will undermine the advantages enjoyed by consumers. Google intends to appeal the KFTCs decision, Google said.

A second FTC official, Kim Min-jeong, said that although the fine that Google was facing would be the ninth largest sum ever imposed by the competition watchdog, it could actually grow even larger.

She said that the current fine is tentative, as it is based on revenue Google generated in the country from 2011 through to April 2021. The finalised figure, which is expected to be released in the coming months, could be slightly higher than the anticipated US$177mn.

South Korea has also begun to enforce a revised telecommunications law that bars app market operators  like Google and Apple  from requiring smartphone users to pay using their in-app purchasing systems. For years the tech giants have forced app developers to use only built-in payment processes for in-app purchases, which provided Apple and Google commissions of up to 30 per cent of all transactions.

But the revised law requires major platform owners, like Google and Apple, to allow developers to install third-party payment systems in their apps.

On Tuesday, the Korea Communications Commission announced that the revised law had entered into force, making South Korea the first country in the world to adopt this kind of regulation.

With additional reporting from agencies
Most people do not need a third Covid booster jab, according to a new study.

Those already vaccinated continue to have such good protection against severe coronavirus infection, even with the more infectious Delta variant, that a top-up third dose is unnecessary.

That is the conclusion of a review by an international group of scientists assessing evidence from a series of trials and studies already published.

After averaging the results reported from several observational studies, vaccination provided 95 per cent efficacy against severe disease from either the Delta variant or earlier Alpha variant of Covid.

The jabs were also more than 80 per cent effective at protecting against any infection from these variants, the scientists found.

Vaccines are less effective against asymptomatic infection and transmitting the virus than at stopping people having severe cases, but the unvaccinated minority remain the major drivers of transmission as well as also being personally more at risk of falling seriously ill from Covid.

The government is reportedly on the cusp of announcing its booster vaccination programme, with its scientific advisors recommending offering a third jab to millions of fully vaccinated Britons from as early as later this month.

It is not yet clear if the boosters will only be available for the elderly and other groups most at risk, or if they will be rolled out more widely.

However, Dr Ana-Maria Henao-Restrepo from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the lead author of the new review published in The Lancet, said the available evidence did not support the idea those already vaccinated had declining protection against severe infections.

"The limited supply of these vaccines will save the most lives if made available to people who are at appreciable risk of serious disease and have not yet received any vaccine, she said.

"Even if some gain can ultimately be obtained from boosting, it will not outweigh the benefits of providing initial protection to the unvaccinated.

"If vaccines are deployed where they would do the most good, they could hasten the end of the pandemic by inhibiting further evolution of variants."

This echoed the position of the head of the global vaccine-sharing initiative Covax, who said it would be counter-productive for the UK to roll out booster jabs to millions of Britons, arguing the countrys excess supplies would be put to better use in protecting people in poorer countries who remain unvaccinated.

The government has said the UKs booster programme is probably the most important piece of the jigsaw yet to fall into place for ending the pandemic  yet Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of the Covax Facility, said a more holistic approach needed to be adopted in tackling Covid-19.

The difference between giving a third dose to a healthy young adult or a first dose to an ICU worker or elderly or immunocompromised person in a developing country  clearly one has a higher benefit to it, she told The Independent.

I understand the drive to offer absolute maximum protection but actually its counter-productive [to administer third doses], in the sense that while the virus is still circulating and mutating across the world, then ultimately thats going to affect the UK as well.

The Lancet studys authors also noted that even if antibody levels do wane in vaccinated people over time, this does not necessarily mean the efficacy of vaccines against severe disease will be reduced, as other immune response can still be triggered.

Co-author Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the WHOs chief scientist, added: "The vaccines that are currently available are safe, effective, and save lives.

"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.
Ministers have been recommended by the UKs four chief medical officers (CMOs) to offer a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine to all children aged 12-15.

After the UKs vaccine watchdog deferred its review to the CMOs, Professor Chris Whitty and his counterparts have concluded that the vaccination of this age group will help to reduce Covid-19 transmission in schools and minimise educational disruption.

This advice has been passed to the government and its expected an announcement will be made later today confirming the decision to press ahead as soon as possible with the rollout of vaccines among more than three million 12 to 15-year-olds.

Under the CMOs recommendation, children will be offered just one dose. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will be consulted next spring, when more data is available internationally, to determine if a second dose is needed.

Doses will be largely administered within schools, health officials said, and children considered competent will be given the final say on whether they want to be vaccinated.

Given the low risks posed by the virus to children, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) had originally said that the individual advantage of vaccinating children against Covid was marginal, and asked the CMOs to assess the wider public health benefits.

The JCVI also suggested that education should be taken into consideration and examined by the CMOs, the top medics in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In their advice to the government, the CMOs said they were recommending vaccines on public health grounds and it was likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid-19 in schools.

They added: Covid-19 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.

The CMOs warned that although school closures due to lockdown are much less likely to occur in the future, its expected the UKs epidemic will remain prolonged and unpredictable.

The vaccination of 12- to 15-year-olds will seek to minimise the impact of disruptive local surges of infections, including in schools, that should be anticipated for some time, the chief medics added.

There can be lifelong effects on health if extended disruption to education leads to reduced life chances, they said.

The government must formally indicate whether it will follow the CMOs advice, though some ministers have already expressed support for vaccinations for children. The NHS had also been asked to prepare in advance of any recommendation issued by the CMOs.

The JCVI has already recommended that children and young people aged 12 to 17 with specific underlying health conditions, and those who are household contacts of immunocompromised individuals, are offered two doses of a vaccine.
The day after Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana Delaney Nolan spent hours biking around New Orleans handing out money to people who needed to pay for supplies or for the hotel rooms where they'd taken shelter.

Once the cash ran out  banks were closed, and ATMs were empty or no longer running without electricity  Nolan Venmo'd people the money they needed. As site coordinator for the mutual aid group Southern Solidarity in Louisiana, she and her team also handed out free meals from restaurants that were cooking up their food stockpiles before they spoiled.

Nolan is among the faces of philanthropy that are tending to the immediate personal losses inflicted by the hurricane. Mutual aid networks like hers spring into action to supplement the more established relief services from federal and local governments, as well as larger charities.

The networks, in which community members pool resources and distribute donations to care for one another, seek to avoid the traditional charity model of giver and receiver. They grew in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as communities across the country faced dire needs. And now they are mobilizing in the wake of other disasters like Hurricane Ida.

Mutual aid is the most effective help right now, Nolan said. It's built on communications with a lot of neighbors and existing relationships, from personally knowing what people need.

Established philanthropic groups are joining to support the mutual aid groups, too. Jasmine Araujo, the founder of Southern Solidarity, said that days after the hurricane hit, the organization GlobalGiving had called her and said there would be donations coming to her group quickly.

Most of our funds, though, come from individual donors, she said. We dont usually get a lot of grants from bigger groups right away.

GlobalGiving launched its Hurricane Ida Relief Fund over the weekend to speed distribution of funds for those in need, said Donna Callejon, who leads the group's disaster response effort.

The funds come in, and we mobilize quickly, said Callejon, adding that because GlobalGiving has worked in the area for years, it has a list of partners that have already been vetted to receive funds. We have experience working in Louisiana with a lot of historically disenfranchised groups.

Another Gulf is Possible, a collective of 11 organizers and artists based in Louisiana, Texas and Florida had stored up 30 kits of solar panels, batteries, lanterns, power banks, iPads and water filters in preparation for the storm. They are gearing up to distribute the items to community organizers in New Orleans and the predominantly Native American communities of Grand Bayou and Grand Bois. But reaching people in some areas has been difficult because of the power outages, said Bryan Parras, a member of the group.

People need everything, said Anne White Hat, a Louisiana resident who's part of the group, which has been collecting masks, googles, and gloves to protect communities from mold or lead during clean-up efforts.

Mutual aid efforts allow everyone, no matter their status, to contribute what they are able, said Tanya Gulliver-Garcia, a director of the Washington-based Center for Disaster Philanthropy. The pandemic showed us that even in a cash-dependent society, people and their stuff are still a valuable resource."

Most of the nation's 800 formal mutual aid groups formed during the pandemic, according to the group Mutual Aid Hub. Community fridges, for example, have sprung up in many cities since last year, allowing anyone to donate and take food.

Members of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, another group, have been circulating an online form where people sign up to help remove trees, share meals, host spaces for donation collections, provide counseling and perform other services for those impacted by Ida. About 90 new people have signed up to contribute in the past few days, a regional coordinator estimates.

Help has also come from grassroots rescue groups. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Paul Maiddendorf, a volunteer disaster responder from Houston, traveled across hard-hit LaPlace, driving home to home in a high-water vehicle in an effort to rescue Louisianans from chest-deep floodwater.

Most of those rescued were in shock, Maiddendorf said, with some stationing themselves in their attics, fearful of rising waters and with nowhere to go. Many sought help from CrowdSource Rescue, a Houston-based disaster response group that connects people seeking help with trained volunteers. Along with Maiddendorf, it has aided dozens of other volunteers do rescues or wellness checks during the disaster response.

By the time Maiddendorf arrived at the homes, most of the floodwaters had receded. But some residents still feared leaving their attics. A couple of the families, I literally coaxed down the attic as the waters receded, Maiddendorf said.

CrowdSource Rescue, which launched in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, directs people seeking help to call 911 before contacting them. The group says it provides assistance when local officials are overwhelmed with requests. Matthew C. Marchetti, the group's executive director, says its average donation size is $60. So far, Marchetti says he's confirmed that the volunteers have rescued 364 people from floodwaters using boats and high-water vehicles.

Volunteers connected with CrowdSource had been fielding requests for help since Ida made landfall, but the fierce winds had initially made it impossible for them to respond. Maiddendorf, of Houston, rode out the storm at a parking lot in Baton Rouge, before heading 56 miles (90 km) southwest to LaPlace, where he found many trapped by floodwaters. Requests for help also came in for Lafitte, another town that suffered major flood damage.

Despite coordination efforts amongst different rescue groups, Marchetti says there were overlaps in responses. Similar concerned pleas for help had flooded into Cajun Navy Relief, a group of Louisiana volunteers who help with search and rescue after hurricanes and floods.

Owen Belknap, a student at Louisiana Tech University who leads one of the rescue teams, said his team managed to rescue one person in Laffitte. Belknap and his friends, also volunteers with Cajun Navy, began helping with disasters three years ago when a tornado swept through their hometown of Ruston, Louisiana. They joined the Cajun Navy last year as Hurricane Laura pummeled southwest Louisiana, killing 27 people.

Once a business major, Belkanp transitioned to studying nursing as he grew more passionate about rescue efforts. With a few more days before the school year begins, he has time, he said, to help cut knocked-down trees and distribute supplies to the affected communities.

Amid the devastation, institutional funders have also opened their pocketbooks. Among them, the family foundation of Arthur M. Blank, the co-founder of The Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons, has pledged $500,000 each to a community foundation in New Orleans and The American Red Cross, whose volunteers are on the ground working on recovery efforts. Verizons company foundation has said its donating $100,000 to the Baton Rouge-based Foundation for Louisiana to aid those impacted by Ida.

My inbox is really full right now with queries from the funder community asking where to really pitch in, said Regine Webster, the vice president of Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SEOUL, South Korea  South Korea has reported more than 2,000 new cases of the coronavirus, approaching a one-day record set last month, as officials expressed concern about an erosion in citizen vigilance amid prolonged pandemic restrictions.

The 2,050 cases reported Wednesday was the sixth time the daily increase came over 2,000 in a span of a month, including a record 2,221 on Aug. 11.

The capital Seoul and the nearby metropolitan area have had the countrys toughest social distancing rules short of a lockdown for nine consecutive weeks. The measures force night clubs and churches to close and prohibits private social gatherings of three or more people after 6 p.m. unless the participants are fully vaccinated.

The Health Ministry said peoples exhaustion and frustration with virus restrictions are becoming an increasing challenge. Highway traffic, credit card usage and other indicators of activity and movement are all rising, said Park Hyang, a senior ministry official, during a briefing.

Theres concern that transmissions would worsen during the Chuseok holidays, the Korean version of Thanksgiving that comes in two weeks.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

 Bulgaria, EUs least vaccinated nation, faces deadly surge

 Idaho hospitals begin rationing health care amid COVID surge

 Read AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

RALEIGH, N.C.  North Carolina health officials are reporting 170 ongoing COVID-19 clusters in K-12 schools or child care settings.

The state health department says school districts that dont require masks are seeing substantially more spread of the virus and hours of lost learning.

Union County Public Schools, the states sixth largest district, had about one in eight of its more than 41,000 students under quarantine as of Friday, after the district voted down a mask requirement last month. The more than 5,200 students were placed under quarantine after 337 pupils tested positive for the virus last week.

Meanwhile, the Wake County Public School System, where masks are mandatory and which is four times larger than Union County Public Schools, has less than a fourth the number of students quarantined. Data from the Wake County district shows less than 1,300 of its more than 161,000 pupils were quarantined last week.

The weekly report state health officials updated on Tuesday shows the Union Academy Charter School in Monroe has the worst cluster in North Carolina, with 111 cases, including 98 among children. About one in 20 of the charter schools students were infected. Charter Day School in Brunswick County has the next highest cluster of 81 infected children.

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ATLANTA  Another Georgia school district is switching to virtual learning, after three school bus employees died from COVID-19.

The 9,700-student Griffin-Spalding County school system made the announcement late Monday, citing a disruption in student transportation.

Districts across Georgia are struggling to line up enough drivers and monitors to keep buses running. In Savannah, some bus drivers staged a sickout for the second day on Tuesday after a similar protest Friday.

At least 210,000 Georgia students in 54 districts and charter networks have had their school schedules disrupted because of COVID-19. Some districts have taken days off, some shifted to every-other-day schedules and some sent home individual schools or grades. Thats more than 12% of Georgias 1.7 million public school students.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Georgia hospitals remains above 6,000, the highest level since the start of the pandemic. The number of newly reported cases has decreased in recent days, although cases remain near all-time high levels.

More than 34,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported among Georgia children aged 5-17 in the two weeks ended Sept. 2, according to state data, with more than 125 infection clusters reported in K-12 schools during that period.

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SEATTLE  Fans attending most pro sporting events in Seattle will soon be required to show proof theyve been vaccinated against COVID-19 or that theyve tested negative for the virus.

The NFLs Seahawks MLSs Sounders, NHLs Kraken and MLBs Mariners, along with the University of Washington and Washington State University all announced updated policies Tuesday for fans attending games this season.

The Seahawks will be the first to implement the requirements, starting with their Sept. 19 home opener against Tennessee. Fans will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test taken within 72 hours of the event to be granted entry.

Team president Chuck Arnold said in a statement that the measures will allow for a full stadium while keeping the experience safe.

Washington will begin an identical verification process for fans with its Sept. 25 home game against California. The Sounders will begin with their Oct. 3 match against Colorado. Washington State said its verification process will begin in October.

The Mariners said fans should plan to provide proof of vaccination for any potential postseason games the team hosts. The team also said all front office, event staff and Mariners employees at team operated facilities in the U.S. were told in late August they must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 4 as a condition of employment.

While the other Seattle teams are permitting a negative test to gain entry, the Kraken will only allow vaccinated fans at games.
Three people have died after a car crashed into a residential block in west London, the Metropolitan Police said.

Officers and emergency crews were called to Great Western Road, Westminster, at around 4.50am and found the vehicle on fire.

Three people in the vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene after the flames were extinguished.

Police are working to inform their families, and have asked for any witnesses or those with dashcam footage to come forward.

No other cars are thought to have been involved in the crash, and a number of residents from the supported housing block were evacuated as a precaution.

The car appears to have smashed into the railings outside the building on the corner of Great Western Road and Woodfield Place.

Pictures show Great Western Road cordoned off from a bridge  situated after Westbourne Park Station  that goes over the Grand Union Canal, with the road closed up to Harrow Road.

London Fire Brigade said firefighters tackled the fire and led nine people to safety from the sheltered housing block via an internal staircase.

Four fire engines  from North Kensington, Kensington and Paddington fire stations  were at the scene along with two fire rescue units, it added.

Manuel Gaspar, manager of the Transparent World cleaning company, which is situated opposite the site of the crash, said he was woken by the awful sound of the car smashing into the care home.

He told the Standard that smoke from the car was going into the sheltered housing block.

It is not clear whether the housing association-run sheltered housing block is for people aged over 60, or for people with learning disabilities  but Mr Gaspar said that elderly people live there.

Mr Gaspar added: The impact was awful. There was debris spread all over the road.

We saw a neighbour who was very brave. He had just woken up and didnt have a shirt on and was trying to get into the passenger door. All the other doors were stuck or too damaged.

He was shouting asking the people inside if they could untie their seatbelts but he was getting no response ... [but] they might have been dead already.

Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting the reference CAD 917/14 Sept.
The British Medical Association has decided to take a neutral stance on the subject of assisted dying, abandoning its previous opposition to the issue.

In its annual representative meeting on Tuesday, the leading doctors union concluded a debate with the decision to amend its official position. The BMA has opposed assisted dying since 2006.

The landmark change follows a pivotal survey last year involving 29,000 BMA members. It revealed that 40 per cent of members said the BMA should support a law change to allow assisted dying, 21 per cent said it should take a neutral position, and 33 per cent thought the medical body should maintain its stance.

The BMA joins the Royal College of Nursing as well as the Royal College of Physicians, Englands oldest medical college, which dropped its opposition to assisted dying in 2019.

Polls suggest that the majority of doctors agree that there should be a law change to allow assisted dying.

Prospective legislation in relation to assisted dying will be debated in the House of Lords next month, the first time in six years that the topic has been debated in the Lords.

Assisted dying is currently prohibited in England and Wales under the Suicide Act (1961), and in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Justice Act (1966), which states that anyone who encourages or assists a suicide is liable to up to 14 years in prison. There is no specific crime of assisting a suicide in Scotland, but it is possible that helping a person to die could lead to prosecution for culpable homicide.

In 2019 Dr Jacky Davis, chair of Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, proposed a successful motion calling on the BMA to survey its members for their views on assisted dying for the first time.

Another motion passed on Tuesday called for robust conscience rights to be included in any future legislation on assisted dying in the UK, meaning that healthcare workers should be able to conscientiously object to participating in assisted dying.

The move to a neutral position on assisted dying was welcomed by some campaign groups, with Dignity in Dying chief executive Sarah Wootton saying: This is a historic decision and a victory for common sense.

It brings the BMA in line with a growing number of medical bodies in the UK and around the world that truly represent the range of views that healthcare professionals hold on assisted dying.

Last years BMA survey, the largest ever of medical opinion on assisted dying, proved that its stance of opposition was unrepresentative and undemocratic, silencing great swathes of its membership. It also revealed that more doctors now personally support law change than oppose it.

However, Care Not Killing chief executive Dr Gordon Macdonald said that current laws protect vulnerable people and do not need changing.

He said: We are naturally disappointed at the divisive nature of this vote as it exposes the divide between doctors who care for patients at their end of life, whether in hospitals or hospices, who oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia, and those medics who work in unrelated disciplines, such as child and adolescent psychiatry and occupational health.

As the BMAs own survey found, doctors at the coal face who deliver care to the elderly and terminally ill, who work in palliative care, geriatric medicine and general practice, continue to oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia, because they know it is not needed and the subtle pressure it could put on patients to end their lives prematurely.
All children aged 12 to 15 in England will be offered one dose of Covid-19 vaccine as early as next week, ministers have confirmed, hours after the UKs chief medical officers said the jab would help reduce disruption to education.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said three million eligible teenagers will be offered a first Pfizer jab as soon as possible as part of in-school vaccination services, and that children will be able to overrule parents who do not want them to get the jab if they are deemed competent.

The issue of consent drew anger from backbench Tory MPs, with one even calling for the resignation of Englands chief medic Chris Whitty.

Mr Zahawi added: The consent process will be handled by each school in their usual way and will provide sufficient time for parents to provide their consent.

Children aged 12 to 15 will also be provided with information usually in the form of a leaflet for their own use and to share and discuss with their parents prior to the date of the immunisation and that scheduled time for it.

Mr Zahawi told MPs in the House of Commons that the rollout would move with the same sense of urgency weve had at every point in our vaccination programme.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to confirm exact plans.

The decision comes despite the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) previously refusing to recommend the rollout of the vaccination for children aged 12 to 15. In their ruling, the JCVI claimed that the virus presents a very low risk for children and that inoculation would offer only minor benefits.

However, the chief medical officers told a Downing Street press conference on Monday that there were other benefits, including reducing the disruption to the school term.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, from the JCVI, said there was no conflict between the two positions as the JCVI had looked at jabs from a purely clinical perspective.

Contrastingly, the decision by the CMOs had taken into account the extremely powerful evidence on the impact of the pandemic on childrens education, as well as the risks to their mental health from missing school, he said.

Professor Whitty told the news conference it had been a difficult decision regarding vaccinating children but CMOs would not be recommending the jabs unless we felt that benefit exceeded risk.

Mr Zahawi said further JCVI guidance was needed before any decision on a second dose.

He added: In a sense, what were not trying to do is say to children you must, must, must, must, must but what were saying is that we think on balance the benefits both at an individual level and in terms of wider indirect benefits to education and through that to public health are in favour, otherwise we would not be making this recommendation.

The question of vaccinating teenagers has proved controversial within the Conservative Party. A letter sent to Professor Chris Whitty - signed by three former ministers and the chairman of 1922 Committee Graham Brady - warned him to make a recommendation based on the potential harms and benefits to children of the vaccine itself.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former Tory minister, told the Commons on Monday night that the decision risked sparking family disputes if parents do not consent to their child being vaccinated.

This is a real problem for us, it will lead to disputes in families and real problems about childrens mental health in the opposite direction as they are put under pressure, he said.

Marcus Fysh, Conservative MP for Yeovil, even called on Professor Whitty to resign following the decision.

He tweeted: Sorry to have to say it but the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty does not deserve the confidence of the country in deciding to vaccinate teenagers without good clinical reason. He should resign.
All adults in Northern Ireland will receive 100 to spend at local high street shops as part of a country-wide scheme to boost businesses that were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gordon Lyons, Stormonts economy minister, announced the 145m scheme during a visit to Ormeau Road in Belfast on Tuesday.

He said: The objective of the 145m high street scheme is to boost local businesses following the drop in footfall brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

By giving everyone aged 18 and over in Northern Ireland a pre-paid card worth 100 to spend on local high street businesses, we will encourage many more customers back through the doors of local retail, hospitality and services.

An online application portal will open from 27 September and remain open until 25 October, through the NI Direct website. Applicants will be required to provide their name, address, age, gender, disability status, National Insurance number, telephone number and email address  which will all be checked against government databases for identity verification.

For those unable to access online services, a phone service will be launched on 11 October.

Applicants are expected to receive their Spend Local cards within 10 days, with the first vouchers being issued during the week of 4 October.

Before they can be used, the cards will need to be verified through a computer-oriented phone system or text message, and the first purchase made on each card will require the use of a pin code before it can be used for contactless payments.

Minister Lyons encouraged all adults to apply for their card, but also called for patience as he expected high demand could lead to long wait times on the online portal.

We expect demand to be high, so please be patient if the online portal is busy just after it opens. It is important to remember that everyone will have at least four weeks to spend their card.

He added: By applying, receiving and ultimately spending your card with local businesses such as shops, hospitality and other services before 30 November, you will be doing your bit to support your local businesses.

The Belfast Chamber of Commerce welcomed the voucher scheme. Simon Hamilton, the chambers chief executive said it would give local businesses a much-needed and very timely boost.

It has been an immensely challenging period for retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses and this 100 card will give local people the opportunity to actively help those businesses, he said.

It is also a great way to support everyone who works in our local shops, cafes, bars, restaurants and other services.

This scheme will provide a much-needed and very timely boost to those hard-hit sectors and make a massive difference to businesses as we emerge from the pandemic and edge towards recovery.

The plan was also celebrated by the Ormeau Business Association. Chris OReilly, chair of the Association, said: Like many other local high streets across our towns and cities, the Ormeau Road is home to a diverse range of shops, restaurants and pubs which have felt the impact of the pandemic through a reduced number of customers coming through our doors.

The high street scheme will deliver just the boost we need right now. I am sure I speak for many traders across Northern Ireland when I say we are looking forward to seeing customers using their Spend Local Cards.

The pre-paid cards will be accepted by any shops and businesses that accept credit and debit cards for payments but will not be valid for online purchases. Similarly, the cards cannot be used for gambling.

The balance on the cards will remain valid until 30 November when the scheme is set to end.
Police officers have launched legal action against the government over pensions as relations sour with ministers.

The Police Superintendents Association (PSA) alleges that female officers who worked part-time or took career breaks will be discriminated against, and is challenging the lawfulness of the governments consultation on changes.

The High Court has granted permission for a judicial review of pension plans, and the PSA is also contesting employment tribunals in support of female superintendents on the basis of potential sex discrimination.

The group, which represents senior officers in England and Wales, is separately withdrawing from an official remuneration body following a pay freeze announced in July.

A vote of no confidence in Priti Patel was previously held by the Police Federation, which represents 130,000 rank-and-file officers and said the current system for deciding pay was not fit for purpose.

Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths, president of the PSA, is to announce upcoming action at the associations annual conference on Tuesday.

No one enters policing to get rich, he will say. It is a vocation and a career that provides challenge and demands sacrifice like no other  something clearly demonstrated amidst the pandemic.

However, with very few employment rights, it is essential that police officers have fair and transparent processes in place to determine their pay, and that they have a clear voice within this.

The government direction on public service pay has overridden these processes, making decisions around pay in advance of the evidence it requests from stakeholders right across the service.

Ch Supt Griffiths will also question why there has been an increase of just 25 police superintendents in the last year to manage the recruitment of 20,000 extra police officers.

The uplift was announced by Boris Johnson shortly after he became prime minister in 2019 and has been championed by Priti Patel, amid concerns over implementation and criticism of the Conservatives previous cuts to policing budgets.

 Theresa May raises concerns about controversial new policing bill

The home secretary had been expected to address the PSA conference on Tuesday, but she was unable to attend and sent a pre-recorded video message instead.

She will defend the police pay freeze, saying the chancellor could not justify an across-the-board pay increase for public sector workers because of a disparity with public sector wages affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

He asked the advice of the pay review bodies, proposing to raise pay in the NHS but pause pay rises elsewhere in order to protect jobs, she will say. None of us wanted to be in this situation.

Ms Patel will hail a new police covenant, contained within the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill, as a means of reducing demand and protecting the mental health and wellbeing of officers.

However, police leaders have voiced opposition to other parts of the bill amid concerns that a crackdown on protest will stoke conflict with demonstrators, and that Traveller communities will be discriminated against with new laws criminalising trespass.

The Independent previously revealed that policing bodies were not formally consulted on the governments new Beating Crime Plan, which was revealed unexpectedly in July.

The home secretary will tell the PSAs conference that the plan and PCSC Bill will work in tandem to cut crime.

A critical element to beating crime is ensuring the police have all the powers they need to do their jobs, she will say. We gathered the views of police officers and community scrutiny leaders throughout.

Other speakers at the conference will include Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick and Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council.
A rare gold coin minted by Charles I during the English Civil War could fetch as much as 50,000 when it is sold at auction later this month.

Known as a Triple Unite, the coin was the worth 60 shillings or three pounds and was only minted for three years while the king had set up court in Oxford during his war with Parliament.

The large coin, which weighs almost 27g, dates from 1643 and features an image of Charles holding a sword and olive branch.

On the other side it has in Latin the slogan The religion of the Protestants, the laws of England and the liberty of Parliament, emphasising how Charles was trying to curry favour with those supporting the parliamentary side in the Civil War which had been sparked in part by fears the king might turn the country to Catholicism and rule as a tyrant without parliament.

It will be sold as part of a collection of 220 historical coins by auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb on 22 September.

Christopher Webb, from Dix Noonan Webb, said: "Far exceeding the size and value of any previous denomination struck in the British Isles, the Triple Unite was as much a propaganda piece for the King as it was a means of meeting the enormous expenditure of the war.

"Despite his Catholic origins, the reverse proclaims his defence of the Protestant religion, English law and the liberty of Parliament.

"Furthermore, having been forced to leave the vast resources of London behind, it proved he still had the authority and financial wherewithal to produce a numismatic masterpiece, made by one of the countrys finest engravers, at his new war headquarters in Oxford."

The coin collection being sold at auction belongs to Michael Gietzelt and focuses on pieces from the Civil War era.

German-born Mr Gietzelt opened an antique shop in Berlin in 1977 and he started collecting coins after receiving presents from his mother and great-grandfather.

The auctioneers said they expect the whole collection to raise as much as 420,000 when sold.

Among the other notable coins being sold are a broad coin worth 20 shillings minted during the reign of Oliver Cromwell in 1656 which is expected to sell for at least 20,000, and a very rare Rebel Money Crown issued by the Catholic Confederacy of Kilkenny which could fetch between 3,000 and 4,000.

Two unusually shaped, crude-shaped shillings or siege pieces from Carlisle and Pontefract, are estimated to sell for around 12,000 and 6,000 respectively.

Mr Webb said: "Carlisle was defended by the Royalist forces under Sir Thomas Glemham from October 1644 until the following June, when it was surrendered to the commander of the investing Scottish army, David Leslie, later Lord Newark.

"The city was never assaulted, the siege being rather in the nature of a blockade, and the surrender was brought about in part by the scarcity of food, and in part by the hopelessness of relief."
Britain is facing the twin spectres of atrocities carried out by jihadis, who have been emboldened by the triumph of the Taliban, and hostile states seeking to suppress freedom on a scale not seen since the 1930s, a senior military officer has warned.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has given Islamist groups around the world greater confidence, resulting in terrorist attacks being more likely, while giving a boost to political Islam, said General Sir Patrick Sanders.

At the same time, he continued, authoritarian regimes in countries like Russia and China are seeking to subvert and challenge the international rules-based order using strategies that have the same effect as a modern day blitzkrieg.

Gen Sanders, the chief of Strategic Command, said that the outcome in Afghanistan may not be the one we were seeking but we made a difference while we were there. The need now, he said, was to adjust to what had happened and act accordingly.

Speaking at the DSEI ( Defence and Security Equipment International) conference in London, Gen Sanders said it was imperative to focus on the threats Britain faces in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain time.

The threat isnt diminishing. In fact, the security outlook is more perilous than it was 2 years ago, he said.

We are now facing the twin spectre of emboldened jihadi terrorists and something not seen since the 1930s  a growing authoritarian zeitgeist that celebrates the suppression of political and individual freedom as a better way to govern.

This ideology is intersecting with geopolitics, and driving great power competition, as these autocratic regimes subvert and challenge the international order and adopt bold risk-taking strategies.

Gen Sanders continued: What links these authoritarian regimes  lets name them: Russia and China  are two things. First, he said, was a drive to achieve victory without fighting by using political warfare, and the second was a desire to expand warfare into the domains of space and the cyber world.

The adversaries, said Gen Sanders, are following an approach to modernisation that pursues the exploitation of disruptive information-age technologies, and allying that with winning operational concepts that seek to have the same impact as blitzkrieg. It is nothing less than a race for advantage in the defining technologies of the future.

Under its Made in China 2025 strategy, China has openly and explicitly declared the ambition to dominate these technology frontiers, said Gen Sanders.

Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in 2019 (Getty)

This includes artificial intelligence, advanced computing, quantum technologies, robotics, autonomous systems and commercial space technologies, along with new generations of mobile telecommunications.

Chinas PLA [Peoples Liberation Army] has concluded that the centre of gravity in military operations has shifted from concentration of forces to information systems, said Gen Sanders. They look to dominate a system of systems confrontation, creating new operating concepts: cross-domain, autonomous swarms and precision attacks to achieve persistent paralysis.

The UK needs to take a more forward posture to counter this, said Gen Sanders.

Lets step up the pressure. We need to be prepared to conduct precision soft strike. Sometimes this will be avowed, to deter; sometimes not, he said.

We may wish to target adversarial media campaigns, as we have in the past, or disrupt  even neutralise  military systems, such as a supply chain. These activities take potentially years to plan, so we need to think ahead, [and] ensure that they are nested within enduring campaigns.

Failure to counter the new technology offensive of adversaries would have consequences, said Gen Sanders.

The risks are clear: it is a recurring pattern of great power behaviour that interests expand with power, that the appetite grows with the eating, and risk-taking increases the potential for escalation and miscalculation, unless this behaviour is challenged and contained, he said.

We will find ourselves in a world where the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must, he added.
The government has advised people against making family reunion applications for their loved ones in Afghanistan to join them in the UK.

The move has been described as devastating by charity Safe Passage, which campaigns for safe routes to the UK for refugees.

The charity has said that is has received more than 200 enquiries from people in Afghanistan or their families, and that more than half the enquiries are specifically about for family reunion.

The scheme, which has been closed for the time being, is one of the few safe routes available to people fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power last month after 20 years.

Furthermore, making applications has been made almost impossible by the closure of the British embassy in Kabul and diplomatic staff having been evacuated after the Talibans takeover.

To complete an application for family reunion, family members must attend a Visa Application Centre (VAC) to have biometrics taken, submit a passport or identity document, and collect the decision.

With the embassy in Kabul closed, the closest VACs are hundreds of miles away in other countries.

Safe Passage is urging the government to keep this vital safe route open, and support families to reunite.

It advises the government to do this by accepting applications, and being flexible in when and how biometric data is received.

The charity suggests that the government makes decisions on any applications first and, if an application is provisionally approved, then requiring biometric data to be sent via mobile biometric units or through a third country.

Beth Gardiner-Smith, CEO of Safe Passage International, said: Stopping family reunion now is a betrayal of Afghan refugees in their time of need.

Every day, were hearing from families in Britain desperate to help their loved ones trapped in Afghanistan.

Without family reunion, we will see many more children forced to risk their lives attempting dangerous journeys to reach safety and family in the UK in the coming months.

The government must urgently re-think this position and provide the flexibility in the application process needed to allow families safe passage to reunite with their relatives here.

Currently, the government is asking Afghan people to not make applications or pay application fees, because it says they will not be considered until biometrics are provided  according to a Home Office policy statement published on Monday.

However, it acknowledges the difficulty of making applications by saying that there is currently no option to give biometrics in Afghanistan.

In the House of Commons on Monday, Labour MP Diane Abbott pressed Victoria Atkins on the issue, saying that many British passport holders would be very shocked to learn that the government cannot offer them help for their relatives trapped in Afghanistan.

Ms Abbott said: Perhaps she should write to us and say she has no information. At least that would help shed some light for constituents.

Ms Atkins, minister for Afghan resettlement, said: For those people in Afghanistan at the moment, it is a very fast-moving situation.

At this point in time, I am not able to signpost constituents and parliamentarians in the way that I would normally be able to do, and that is one of the tough messages I have had to deliver today from the Dispatch Box.

That does not mean that that will remain the case forever, and that is why the work of the FCDO, the Ministry of Defence and others in trying to secure safe passage out of Afghanistan is so critical.

It comes after Ms Atkins told MPs to stop asking for help on behalf of people stranded in Afghanistan as the government will not be able to respond to their requests.

In a letter to MPs, seen by The Independent, the Home Office minister told her parliamentary colleagues to tell people to instead visit the government website.

The move was described as utterly disgraceful by the Liberal Democrats, who warned that Afghans trapped in their homes in fear of the Taliban had lost one of their last lifelines.

But Ms Atkins said that Britains lack of troops or an embassy in Afghanistan represent a new reality, and that the government cannot provide to MPs assessments or updates on those individuals who remain in Afghanistan and whose cases they have raised.

Just a fortnight ago, Ms Atkins had urged Afghan people to come to the UK via legal routes if they want to access support in Britain.

Our message has been, please, please do not travel here illegally, she said as she set out the resettlement plans  named Operation Warm Welcome by the Home Office.
Workers have been promised a higher minimum wage, collective pay bargaining and basic rights from day one in a job, if Labour wins power.

In a highly-personal speech to trade unions, Keir Starmer stressed the importance of dignity at work  referring to his own father and how people looked down on him because he worked on the factory floor.

The Labour leader also said sick pay would rise if he was in Downing Street, as part of a new deal for workers, although he declined to say by how much before a consultation.

Zero-hours contracts would be banned, parental leave extended and fire and hire  the practice of sacking staff before rehiring them on worse terms  would be outlawed.

Of his own upbringing, Sir Keir told the Trades Union Congress: When I think about a new deal for workers I think of my dad. He worked on the factory floor all his life. Going to work at eight in the morning, home for tea at five, back to work six till 10 oclock at night, five days a week. He did that to provide for our family.

So the starting point is a job to raise a family on. That means a real living wage. Dignity at work, the theme of this congress, runs through our new deal. This is personal to me.

The package of policies reiterated by the Labour leader included:

* Increasing the minimum wage to at least 10 per hour  up from 8.91, for over-22s  giving a carer on the minimum wage a pay rise of at least 2,500 a year.

* Expanding collectively-agreed pay deals to more workers  to boost their bargaining power.

* Giving workers basic rights from day one in the job.

* Replacing zero-hours contracts with regular working terms.

* Making parental leave and the right to flexible working available to workers from day one.

On sick pay, Sir Keir said: We have one of the lowest rates of sick pay in Europe. Thats not good enough, so as well as guaranteeing sick pay, Labours new deal will increase it as well.

The speech, to a TUC conference held online due to the Covid pandemic, comes ahead of the leaders first, crucial in-person address to Labours conference later this month.

The TUC passed a motion to campaign for a three-day weekend and a four-day working week, following the announcement that the Scottish Government will launch four-day week trials.

It was tabled by the University and College Union (UCU) with supporting amendments added by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT).
Al-Qaeda could regroup in Afghanistan in as little as one to two years and have the capacity to threaten the American homeland, according to a top US intelligence official.

In comments that underscored the growing concern in western capitals about the ability for al-Qaeda and other militant groups to again make use of Afghanistan as a base of operations, Lt Gen Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, said his assessment was conservative.

The current assessment, probably conservatively, is one to two years for al-Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland, he said, addressing the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.

The New York Times said the thrust of Lt Gen Berriers comments were echoed by David Cohen, deputy director of the CIA.

He said a major challenge in seeking to determine the threat timeline was knowing when Al-Qaeda or Isis-K, would have the capability to go to strike the homeland before they could be detected.

When Joe Biden last month pulled out the last of the thousands of US troops that had been part of a 20-year occupation, he claimed Washington would retain its over-the-horizon counter-terrorism ability, even without boots on the ground.

 Anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul, Afghanistan

We conduct effective counterterrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where we dont have a permanent military presence, he said in an address from the White House.

If necessary, we will do the same in Afghanistan. Weve developed counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region and to act quickly and decisively if needed.

But that assertion was rapidly questioned. In the very last days of the US evacuation from Kabul, which had to be completed by 31 August, a suicide bomber set off an explosion close to the gates of Kabul airport, killing more than 100 Afghans and 13 US Marines.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Isis-K, an offshoot of the extremist group that had sought to create a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and it raised pressing questions about the ability of the Taliban, which now rules the country, to counter groups such as Isis.

In 2001, Osama Bin Laden and other members of Al-Qaeda, used Afghanistan, which was run by the Taliban, to launch the 9/11 attacks, the 20th anniversary of which the world marked last weekend.

In the days after the Kabul attack, the US had responded by use of unmanned drones, one of which destroyed a vehicle in Kabul. The US claimed the car contained Isis planners, but media investigations have suggested it killed 10 Afghan civilians with no links to the group.

While a majority of Americans had supported the Mr Bidens plan to withdraw US troops  deal that had actually been signed by Donald Trumps administration  most thought the evacuation was badly handled.

Many commentators could not understand how, given the US had spent $80bn (58bn) to train and equip the Afghan armed forces, the country fell to the Taliban with barely a fight.

Congress has opened hearings to try and understand what happened, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has called secretary of state Antony Blinken to give evidence.

New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez described the withdrawal as a debacle.

The execution of the US withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, said Mr Menendez. This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administrations decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January. There has to be accountability.

Mr Blinken claimed the administration had done the best it could under difficult circumstances.

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while US forces remained, he said. They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward.

Additional reporting Associated Press
A federal judge in Arizona has declared a mistrial in the case against six former employees of the lucrative online classifieds platform Backpage, who were accused of facilitating prostitution and money laundering through the site. US District Judge Susan Brnovich held that prosecutors had made too many references to child sex trafficking as they argued their case, even though none of the six people on trial were accused of that crime, prejudicing the jury as a result.

Prosecutors mentioned trafficking in their opening statements, and various witnesses mentioned the subject as well, something the judge said she cant overlook and will not overlook.

If the government can prove that the defendants  knowingly facilitated prostitution, then they will be punished. But it should be done correctly, she added.

Last week, the case featured emotional testimony from Jessika Svendgard, who said that after running away as a teenager, she and a series of pimps used the site to sell ads for prostitution.

I would be raped for money, Ms Svendgard told the court, over objections from defence attorneys. Prior to the trial, it was agreed that prosecutors and their witnesses could show evidence they were trafficked on the site, but not linger for too long on details unrelated to the case. It seemed the government abused that leeway, Judge Brnovich said on Tuesday.

None of the executives in the case are accused of knowing about Ms Svendgards specific story, and she admitted that her posts broke the sites rules about posting graphic photos and sexual solicitations. Ms Svengard previously filed a civil suit against Backpage in Washington, the subject of the film I Am Jane Doe, which was settled out of court.

All six Backpage personnel, including the sites co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin, pleaded not guilty to the prostitution charge, and four did so in relation to the money laundering charge. The two founders have said the site never allowed ads for sex, and that it used a combination of employees and technology to scrub posts from the site which broke the rules.

Backpage made $500 million in prostitution-related revenue alone between its founding in 2004 and 2018, when the site was shut down by the government, according to prosecutors. They accuse the site of ignoring warnings to stop running ads by prostitutes and child trafficking victims, as well as giving free ads to prostitutes and seeking out new clients in the sex work industry.

Backpages former marketing director has pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate prostitution charges and admitted to being part of a scheme to give sex workers free ads. Backpages CEO at the time of its closure, Carl Ferrer, also pleaded guilty in a separate federal case in Arizona, as well as a state money laundering case in California.

A new trial in the Arizona case against the six executives is set for the beginning of October.
A 12-year-old boy was killed during a car crash involving a Georgia state trooper, according to reports.

Leden Boykins, 12, died after the car he was in flipped during a car chase with on the highway with the Georgia State Troopers. The driver was a family friend of Leden, named as Charles Moore.

Leden Boykins (WXIA)

It is believed that the state trooper deployed a Pursuit Immobilization Technique manoeuvre to put a halt to the chase. This when a police vehicle deliberately hits another vehicle to make the driver lose control and spin out.

Ledens mother, Toni Franklin-Boykins said that the tactic should never have been used because children, such as Leden, were in the car. Mr Moores 14-year-old son was also in the car and survived.

He was robbed of his life. It was a very bad decision on their part, she told NBC News. They could have called that off.

Leden was in the seventh grade and turning 13 at the end of the month.

Ms Franklin-Boykins also said that Mr Moore was scared by the number of police, a fear she attributed to being a Black man.

He told the 911 operator, he said, I need for yall to get a supervisor out here, theres too many police cars and Im in fear of my life, she told WXIA.

Ledens father Anthony Boykins told the same outlet:They could put a roadblock up and protect those kids. They couldnt figure out any other way than to flip that car over?

According to the Georgia State Patrol, Mr Moore, 35, was stopped by authorities for speeding at approximately 1am on 10 September.

They told NBC News that Mr Moore would not lower his driver window or produce any kind of identification so the trooper, who was not named by the agency, requested help. Officers from the Paulding Countys Office came to the scene.

A deputy from the sheriffs office is said to have smashed the window. Following this, Mr Moore drove away.

The Georgia State Patrol told NBC News that the pursuit continued which they said was at a high rate of speed and the driver was driving recklessly.

After they did the PIT manoeuvre, Mr Moores car exited the roadway and overturned into a ditch.

They said that the Leden was unrestrained and suffered fatal injuries and that Mr Moore and his unnamed son were given medical attention for minor injuries

The state authorities also revealed that the Georgia Department of Public Safetys Office of Professional Standard is carrying out an internal investigation.

Mr Moore has been charged in connection to the incident. These include murder during the commission of a felony, first degree homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault against a police officer.

In addition, he was charged with DUI, having an open container in a motor vehicle and driving on a suspended licence. According to NBC News, he was still in custody on 13 September.

Ledens parents told WXIA that they had not been contacted about their sons death. They said they were at a funeral in Michigan at the time. In response, Lindsey Eberhart Fuller, the Paulding County Coroner said this was untrue.
Authorities in Wyoming are expected to formally identify a body which the FBI believes is Gabby Petito once an autopsy is completed on Tuesday.

On Sunday, the FBI announced that a body discovered in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming matches the description of missing van-life blogger Gabby Petito.

Family members and police had been searching for the woman, who was travelling across the United States with her partner before being reported missing. Her partner returned home without her and no one had heard from her in weeks.

Ms 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, 23. 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.

Last week, 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 1 September, 10 days before his girlfriend was reported missing.

On September 14, Mr Laundrie also went missing, although his family did not report his absence to the police for several days. He was believed to have headed to Floridas Carlton Reserve with just a backpack, and an intense manhunt was also begun for him in this area.

That same day, the FBI removed Mr Laundries parents from their home and began investigating the house as a crime scene.

While law enforcement was searching for Mr Laundrie in Florida on 19 September, investigators announced they had located a body believed to belong to Ms Petito in the eastern portion of Grand Teton National Park. The discovery was aided by another travel YouTuber who spotted Ms Petitos van in a video they were editing.

Here is everything we know about the case:

Last contact

According to her mum Nichole Schmidt, Gabby would FaceTime with her around three times a week. But after speaking with her on August 25, she received several worrying text messages in the next few days. She could not be sure they were from her daughter.

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie (Instagram/GabsPetito)

Those text messages sent by Ms Petito to her mother in the days before her disappearance showed growing strain between her and Mr Laundrie, a police search warrant will later reveal.

Ms Schmidts suspicions were further raised when she received a final odd text in which Ms Petito mentioned her grandfather by his first name Stan on 27 August, the warrant stated.

Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls, the text said, according to the warrant.

Ms Schmidt said the text was concerning because her daughter never called her grandfather by his first name.

The mother was concerned something was wrong with her daughter, the warrant said, and provided probable cause that a felony crime had been committed.

Prior to the last communication, Ms Petito is believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Ms Petitos mother Nichole Schmidt told Fox News the pair were heading for Yellowstone National Park next, but Ms Petito did not arrive.

 Questions surrounding case of missing Gabby Petito

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.

Ms Schmidt now believes the final text message she received from her daughter claiming she was in Yosemite was a fake.

The text message sent from her daughters phone on 30 August said: No service in Yosemite. Her phone was switched off on 31 August or 1 September.

Yosemite, in Californias Sierra Nevada mountains, is 800 miles from her last known location in Wyoming.

Ms Schmidt told the Daily Mail she was certain the text was faked and suspected her Mr Laundrie may have sent it to intentionally mislead the family.

She wouldnt reveal the contents of other messages she received from her daughter, but said it didnt seem like something Ms Petito would say.

That text was NOT from Gabby I know it! she said.

Ms Schmidt she texted Brian and his mother Roberta Laundrie on 10 September 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 returned to his Florida home on 1 September without Gabby. Police seized the couples 2012 Ford Transit van on the day she was reported missing.

Police in Florida, where the couple had lived previously, said the circumstances of her disappearance appeared odd.

In the last post to her Instagram account on August 25, Ms Petito wrote Happy Halloween' (Instagram/GabsPetito)

Brian Laundrie named person of interest and goes missing

On 15 September, North Port Police named Brian Laundrie as a person of interest in the case.

As a father, I can imagine the pain and suffering Gabbys family is going through, North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison says in an accompanying press release.

The lack of information from Brian is hindering this investigation. The answers will eventually come out.

A day earlier on 14 September, Mr Laundrie left home telling his parents he was going for a hike in the nearby Carlton Reserve, and has not been seen since.

Crucially, his parents didnt inform investigators that he had left the house and was missing until three days later on 17 September.

A major search also began for him in the swampy area on 18 September, as police said it was possible he could survive there hiding out for months.

On Monday North Port Police said it was suspending its search for Mr Laundrie in the Carlton Reserve, saying it had exhausted all avenues for finding the man in the swamp.

The same day FBI and North Port Police execute a search warrant at the Laundrie family home in North Port, as hundreds of onlookers and members of the media are gathered outside the address.

They remove parents Christopher and Roberta and place them in a police vehicle in the driveway as they conduct an six hour search of the house.

A search warrant revealed they were particularly interested in examining devices including phones, computers and external hard drives for any clues to Mr Laundries whereabouts of involvement in his girlfriends death.

Internet browsing history, text messages and other data stored on those devices was of particular focus, the search warrant said.

In establishing probable cause of a felony crime, police reveal text messages sent by Ms Petito to her mother in the days before her disappearance showed growing strain between her and Mr Laundrie.

Ms Schmidts suspicions were further raised when she received a final odd text in which Ms Petito mentioned her grandfather by his first name Stan on 27 August, the warrant stated.

Can you help Stan, I just keep getting his voicemails and missed calls, the text said, according to the warrant.

North Port police, the FBI and several other law enforcement agencies resume their search of the gator and snake-infested Carlton Reserve on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, authorities in Alabama received several sightings of Mr Laundrie in the state on , 600 miles (965kms) from his home in North Port, Florida over the same weekend.

North Port Police released photographs of the van they seized from Mr Laundries home (North Port Police)

The domestic incident and an eerie connection to a double homicide

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 911 at about 4:45pm on 12 August to say he feared the worst after witnessing the couple come to blows in their van.

Im right on the corner of Main St by Moonflower Id like to report a domestic dispute, the caller says in the 49 second audio recording, which was released on 20 September.

The gentleman was slapping the girl they ran up and down the sidewalk, he proceeded to hit her and then they drove off.

The incident happened outside the Moonflower Community Cooperative, where newlywed Kylen Schulte worked.

The bodies of Ms Schulte, 24, and her wife Crystal Turner, 38, were found days later in a nearby camping ground, with multiple gunshot wounds. The double homicide remains unsolved, but the Grand County Sheriffs Office has said the two incidents were not connected.

Police in Utah also released body camera footage of the incident showing officers separating Ms Petito and Mr Laundrie

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.

 Police release body camera footage of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie together

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 centre 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 12 August, 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.

Its a bit overwhelming

Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner were last seen at a bar in Moab on 13 August , and their bodies were found five days later at a campsite in the South Mesa area of the La Sal Mountains.

After the Moonflower Co-op connection emerged, Maggie Keating, the stores marketing and community outreach coordinator told The Independent the connection to another high-profile case was troubling.

Its a bit overwhelming, she said.

Were definitely still grieving the loss. Its only been a month and weve had to keep trucking along and then this brings it back to the forefront of our minds.

There is no evidence to connect the two incidents, but the timing and proximity to each other has prompted further unease in the town.

Seeking answers

North Port 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.

At the point that their desperation is turning to anger

Ms Petitos parents increased the pressure on the Laundrie family on Thursday afternoon, releasing an open letter to Brians parents Christopher and Roberta begging them to tell the police what they know.

The open letter, signed by Jim and Nichole Schmidt, Ms Petitos stepfather and mother, and Joe and Tara Petito, her father and stepmother, was read out to a press conference by their attorney Richard Stafford.

The full text reads: We are writing this letter to ask you to help find our beautiful daughter. We understand you are going through a difficult time and your instinct to protect your son is strong.

We ask you to put yourselves in our shoes We havent been able to sleep or eat and out live are falling apart.

We believe you know the location of where Brian left Gabby. We beg you to tell us. As a parent, how could you let us go through this pain and not help us. As a parent how could you put Gabbys younger brothers and sisters through this.

Gabby lived with you for over a year. she was going to be your daughter in law. How can you keep her location hidden?

You were both at Jim and Nicholes house. You were both so happy that Brian and Gabby got engaged and were planning to spend their lives together.

Please, if you or your family has any decency left, please tell us where Gabby is located. Tell us if we are even looking in the right place.

All we want is Gaby to come home. Please help us make that happen.

After reading the letter, Mr Stafford told media the parents were at the point that their desperation is turning to anger.

They know that the Laundries know where their daughter is. Thats infuriating.

Family search

As media and public interest in Ms Petitos disappearance grew, her family harnessed that attention to repeatedly call for help in finding their daughter.

Gabbys mum, Nichole Schmidt, at a press conference on 13 September, says: 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.

Using social media, the family continues to share updates and photographs of Ms Petito, and her father Joe tells a press conference: Finding her is all that matters.

But looming over the search is the silence of one person: her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie.

Ms Petitos mother and stepfather, father and stepmother issue a direct appeal to his parents Christopher and Roberta on 17 September.

An open letter from the family of Gabby Petito to Mr Laundries parents Christopher and Roberta (Petito family)

We are writing this letter to ask you to help find our beautiful daughter. We understand you are going through a difficult time and your instinct to protect your son is strong, they wrote in the open letter read to media by their lawyer Richard Stafford.

We believe you know the location of where Brian left Gabby. We beg you to tell us. As a parent, how could you let us go through this pain and not help us. As a parent how could you put Gabbys younger brothers and sisters through this.

It may have had some effect as North Port Police went to the Laundrie residence that night, and were informed by Mr Laundries parents that he left the family house on Tuesday, heading for the Carlton Reserve, and has not been seen since.

Mr Laundrie remains missing, and police in several states are actively following up possible sightings.

As the police ramp up their hunt for Mr Laundrie, the search for Ms Petito begins to hone in on an area where their Ford Transit van was spotted in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

YouTuber Jen Bethune was driving through the Spread Creek Campground on 27 August, recording from a dashcam as she went.

It was only after Ms Petito was declared missing that she realised the significance of a white Ford Transit Connect Van parked on the side of the road.

Once this video evidence was relayed to investigators searching for Ms Petito, they escalated search efforts in the area.

 Travel blogger describes driving past Gabby Petitos van in Wyoming and capturing it on video

Body found

On Sunday, 19 September, the FBI announced that a body had been found in the area they were searching, in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming - where Ms Petito was last believed to have been prior to her disappearance.

Following the discovery of a body, police called a press conference and announced that the body they had recovered matched the description of Ms Petito. However, the authorities added that while Ms Petitos family had been informed of the development, the discovery had not been confirmed by forensics.

Ms Petitos body was found near the spot where the van was parked in the YouTubers video.

An autopsy is expected to be completed on Tuesday.

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 $73,000

(YouTube/ Nomadic Statik)

Social media posts

The couple had saved their money and quit their jobs to travel across the US, part of a growing movement of van-lifers who eschew a normal lifestyle in search of freedom and adventure.

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.

It was these posts that inspired enormous interest in the case, and were seized on by an army of online sleuths who joined the effort to help locate Ms Petito.

They pored over her Instagram posts, searching for any inconsistencies or signs of concern.

Ms Petito last posted a photo on her Instagram account on 26 August.

The post shows her in front of a butterfly mural with a small knitted pumpkin with the caption happy halloween.

Her previous post, on 19 August, showed the view of a park from inside her van.

Unlike her usual posts, these two did not have a location tag.

Some Instagram users pointed out that this was not her usual style, and that her hair appeared to have been freshly dyed in the photo.
The fiance of missing YouTuber Gabby Petito has broken his silence on her disappearance, issuing a statement through his lawyer to say he hopes the search for her is successful.

Ms Petito, 22, of Long Island, hasnt been seen since she checked out of a Salt Lake City hotel on August 24 with her partner Brian Laundrie. Her last known whereabouts was the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Mr Laundrie returned alone to his home to North Point, Florida, and the couples van was seized by law enforcement at the weekend.

The family refused to allow him to speak to police, and instead gave them a contact for their attorney.

In the last post to her Instagram account on August 25, Ms Petito wrote Happy Halloween' (Instagram/GabsPetito)

On Tuesday afternoon, the familys attorney Steve Bertolino released a statement 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.

Mr Laundrie and Ms Petito left her home in Long Island on July 2 for a cross-country trip visiting national parks in a van.

They had been documenting their trip across the United States on their YouTube channel Nomadic Statik, but fears grew for Ms Petitos safety after she failed to contact her family for several weeks.

She was reported missing by family on September 11.

On Tuesday, North Port Police spokesman Josh Taylor told The Independent 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 told The Independent.

Mr Taylor said the FBI was assisting with examining the couples van, and that process would last as long as it takes.

The family have set up GoFundme and Facebook pages to help with the search efforts, and Ms Petitos father stepfather is travelling to Wyoming to look for her.
A man has been charged with murdering a woman and shooting her husband because they voted for President Joe Biden.

Joseph Angel Alvarez, 38, was arrested on September 8, almost a year after the shootings took place.

Authorities say that Mr Alvarez staked out the couples home ahead of the shootings, and discovered a pro-Biden flag and a doll of Trump hanging" outside.

He shot and killed Georgetta Kauffman in her garage on November 14, 2020, and then shot her husband Daniel Kaufmann, in the head, shoulder and wrist, reports CBS4. Mr Kaufmann crawled to his bedroom, and then managed to escape the attack by running out of his front door to a neighbours house to call 911.

Mr Alvarez allegedly emailed the 902nd Military Intelligence Group, a counterintelligence unit, saying that he targeted the Kauffmans because they voted for Mr Biden and demanding that people "stop all murder of babies," reports the El Paso Times.

He also emailed the military unit to say that pro-choice supporters were a part of the "Jewish Satanist" party and that the Kauffmans neighbourhood was a "ritualistic satanic ground to conduct abortions by the manner of magic.

A police officer wrote in an affidavit: The defendants belief was to end the Satanic activity near the crime scene [and he] acted out his manifesto by killing and shooting the Kaufmanns.

He is currently being held at the El Paso County Jail with bail set to $2.5 million.
A homicide investigation has begun after four bodies were found in an SUV in Wisconsin, say authorities.

Dunn County Sheriffs Office said that emergency services had received a call informing them about an incident in Sheridan, at roughly 2pm on 12 September, according to a statement.

When police officers arrived at the scene, four bodies were found in a black SUV parked in a cornfield next to a country road.

The vehicle has a Minnesota licence plate.

A man, whose identity was not made public, told News 18 that he had discovered the car during his time spent working in the cornfield, roughly 50 yards into the patch. After venturing nearer to the car, he said that he saw people he thought were dead.

Initially, Dunn County Sheriff informed the public to be cautious, reminding people to lock their doors and to be mindful of their environment.

However, in a later statement, they said that their investigation has led them to believe the victims had no involvement with the local area, saying there was little chance of danger to the community. However, Dunn County Sheriffs Office is treating it as a homicide investigation. They also said potentially a second car was involved in the incident.

Law enforcement said they were collaborating with the Dunn County Medical Examiners Office, the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, the Wisconsin State Patrol and Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab.

They are also appealing for anyone with information about an individual potentially looking for a ride on either late Saturday night or in the wee hours of Sunday.

Authorities said there was no further information at this time but may share more developments as the investigation carries on.

Dunn County Sheriffs Office requested anyone with knowledge connect to the incident or if anyone local witnessed a black SUV with a Minnesota licence plate to contact them on 715-232-1348.
Police are investigating how an inspiring Boston University professor fell six metres to his death from a rusted subway stairwell that had been closed for the past 20 months.

David K Jones, 40, an associate professor at the universitys Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at the School of Public Health, was found dead near the JFK/UMass Boston Metro station in Dorchester on Saturday afternoon.

Dr Jones wife Sarah Sacuto posted on a public Facebook page that he had gone out for a run and never returned.

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 badly rusted stairwell had been closed for 20 months to the public (NBC Boston)

The couple had three young children, and Ms Sacuto said her husband was the proudest father to his kids.

The void he leaves behind is unspeakable, she wrote.

We must go on carrying the light he gave us.

Dr Sandro Galea, the School of Public Healths dean, said the university community had been devastated by the news.

Our heart breaks at the news that Dr David Jones ... passed away yesterday in an accident.

It is difficult to imagine our community without David. Our thoughts are with his family and his loved ones, he wrote on Twitter.

Our heart breaks at the news that Dr. David Jones, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management, passed away yesterday in an accident. David was a much-loved member of our community. This is truly devastating news. [1/4] @BUSPH @BUSPH_HLPM  Sandro Galea (@sandrogalea) September 12, 2021

In a statement to the Boston Globe, Massachusetts state police said troopers had been notified that a person had fallen near the Metro station at 1.30pm on Saturday.

His body was found under a badly-rusted stairway on Old Colony Road and pronounced dead at the scene.

The stairwell had been closed for about 20 months, and state police were not sure if warning signs were visible.

According to a biography on the Boston University website , Dr Jones earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Health Services, Organizations, and Policy and held Masters degrees in arts and public health science.

He was the editor-in-chief of Public Health Post, an online forum for public health policy that he launched in November 2016.

His research examines the politics of health reform and the social determinants of health.

Students and colleagues gathered to hold a memorial for the inspiring associate professor on Monday.

The Suffolk County District Attorneys Office and state officials are continuing to investigate the circumstances of his death.
A new, bizarre coronavirus treatment is being touted by vaccine sceptics.

For some anti-vaxxers, the new hot  but still utterly ineffective  coronavirus countermeasure is gurgling a liquid used as a vaginal douche and cut disinfectant.

Anti-vaxxers on Facebook and Twitter have reportedly been singing the praises of povidone iodine, often sold under the brand name Betadine.

Betadine is an iodine-based topical treatment that is most often used as an antibacterial to treat cuts and scrapes.

Kenneth Weinberg, an ER doctor in New York, told Rolling Stone that the liquid is a relatively common cleaner in hospitals.

If youre in the ER and someone has a wound to sew it up, you use it to clean with," he said.

When Rolling Stone's EJ Dickson told the doctor that anti-vaxxers were gargling it to try to prevent coronavirus infections, he said F*** me! Of course they are.

The product is also used in some countries as a vaginal douche to treat itching, although doctors noted that it kills good bacteria as well as bad, so its use is not universal.

Gargling, nasal spray and eye drops with 1 percent providone iodine (betadine) results in dramatically better outcomes with Covid infections. I do this every time Ive been exposed, one Facebook user wrote.

What's troubling beyond the fact that Betadine does not prevent coronavirus  when asked if it had any preventative use, a doctor told Rolling Stone f*** no  is that the solution is meant as a topical treatment and is toxic if ingested.

There have been no studies suggesting that Betadine is useful in preventing the coronavirus, though some promoters have circulated a 2020 paper written by a Bangladeshi plastic surgeon that claims to support its use.

The company that produced Betadine has addressed the fad on its website, stating directly that its products are not useful in stopping the coronavirus.

Under it's Covid-19 response section of its website, the company lists a response to the question Can I use Betadine Antiseptic First Aid products to kill the coronavirus?

The response listed says: No. Betadine Antiseptic First Aid products have not been approved to treat coronavirus. Betadine Antiseptic First Aid products should only be used to help prevent infection in minor cuts, scrapes and burn, the company states. Betadine Antiseptic products have not been demonstrated to be effective for the treatment or prevention of Covid-19 or any other viruses.

Betadine does produce a sore throat gargle, but the company notes that product is also not useful in preventing the coronavirus. The sore throat gargle only includes 0.5 per cent povidone-iodine. The first aid cleaner contains 10 per cent povidone-iodine.

Mouthwashes like Betadine and Listerine are currently being studied and have shown some success in disrupting three strains of coronavirus, however those studies have only dealt with tissue samples  not actual humans. Listerines manufacturer has also stated that its product has not been proven as an effective coronavirus preventative.

Side effects from iodine poisoning can include kidney failure, abdominal pain, potentially bloody diarrhea, fever, coughing and delirium.
A woman who threatened to assassinate Vice President Kamala Harris in a series of videos could be sentenced with up to five years years in prison.

Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, made six recordings in which she said she was going to kill Ms Harris, just a few weeks after the vice president and President Joe Biden were sworn into office earlier this year.

According to an affidavit, Phelps said Kamala Harris, you are going to die, in the first video she recorded, continuing: Your days are numbered already.

She said someone had paid her $53,000 to kill Ms Harris and added: Im going to do the job, okay.

The Florida nurse made five more threatening videos and sent them to her husband in jail, using JPay, an app inmates use to communicate with those on the outside, reports The Washington Post.

Phelps, a mother of three, pleaded guilty on Friday to six counts of making threats against the vice president. She is due to be sentenced on November 19 and faces up to five years in prison.

Phelps told investigators that one reason for her threats was that she considered Ms Harris, who has a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, to not be actually Black.

She also believed the discredited conspiracy theory that Ms Harris put her hand on her purse instead of a Bible on Inauguration Day, an idea she found disrespectful.

Her attorney, Scott Saul, told the Miami Herald that Phelps would not have followed through on her threats but was just venting as she was going through a tumultuous time in her life.

In other videos, Phelps said she was going to the gun range and according to to court records, told Ms Harris: 50 days from today you will die.

Court documents show that after sending the videos to her husband, Phelps applied for a concealed weapon permit.

In March this year, Phelps was interviewed by a federal agent, who she told she was over it now. However, when asked what she would have done had officials not been made aware of her videos, she replied, I dont know.
A Florida girl who was abducted as a six-year-old has been found safe and well after vanishing 14 years ago, say police.

Jacqueline Hernandez, who disappeared in 2007 and is now 19, has been reunited with her mother.

Ms Hernandezs mother, Angelica Vences-Salgado, was contacted via social media by a female claiming to be her abducted daughter, according to the Clermont Police Department.

Investigators say she told Ms Vences-Salgado she was in Mexico and wanted to meet her at the US border in Texas on September 10.

The women arranged to meet, and were then intercepted by authorities at the border entry point of Laredo, Texas, as officials sought to confirm whether Jacqueline Hernandez was who she was claiming to be.

Based on the documentation provided to [...] agencies by Angelica and Clermont Police Department, they determined that the female was indeed Jacqueline Hernandez who was abducted from her mother in 2007, said the police report, continuing, At approximately 4.55pm, Jacqueline was successfully reunited with her mother.

Police later released a photo of the two embracing.

Ms Vences-Salgado told Fox News that spending so much time without her daughter was hard, but now her house is filled with signs and balloons celebrating her return. Ms Hernandez told the channel she had a good childhood but always missed her mother.

In 2007, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Ms Hernandez was allegedly abducted by her father, Pablo Hernandez, on December 22 of that year.

A felony warrant for kidnapping was issued against him and investigators suspected at the time that he might have taken Ms Hernandez to Mexico. Clermont Police are now working with the FBI to apprehend Mr Hernandez.

Clermont Police Chief Charles Broadway said in a statement. In this case, several agencies in different counties and states across the nation were able to create a force multiplier and aid in reuniting the victim with her mother after 14 years.
Justin Trudeau quickly responded to a heckler who called his wife a wh**e, during a campaign trail interview.

The Canadian prime minister was getting prepared for a media appearance when a man started throwing abuse at him, and while he initially ignored the man, Mr Trudeau hit straight back when he made the sexist comment about his wife.

The man-made threats: Come on, Im right here. F***. You f***ing chicken s**t. The man continued: Wheres your wife? Ive heard shes a wh**e.

Isn't there a hospital you should be going to bother right now? Mr Trudeau snapped back outside the Global News network in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau has been on parts of Mr Trudeau's campaign trail, ahead of Canadas 20 September election.

Prime minster Trudeau has recently plunged in the polls, and is currently neck and neck with Conservative candidate Erin O'Toole.

Anti-vax protesters and coronavirus deniers have turned up at many of the prime minister's campaign stops. The country has been divided over the prime minister's hard-line on vaccinations. His mandatory vaccination policies require public servants, transport workers and travellers to get a Covid shot.

We're unequivocal that civil servants must be vaccinated. If anyone doesn't have a legitimate medical reason for not getting fully vaccinated  or chooses to not get vaccinated  there will be consequences, Mr Trudeau said at his stop in Markham, Ontario.

Mr O'Toole has said if elected he would only require workers to pass a rapid test before going into work.
Republican congressman Brian Mast of Florida laid into secretary of state Antony Blinken on Monday during a hearing on Afghanistan in an angry rant, accusing him of treason and suggesting the top diplomat manipulated intelligence about what would happen when the US left the country, often speaking 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. We deserve to have better answers, have better hearings on this. I dont not believe a word that youre saying on this.

His tirade 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 and taking actions that provided aid and comfort to the enemy.

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.

The questions were inspired by a Reuters report detailing a leaked transcript of a call between Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistans ousted president, and President Joe Biden from earlier this year. In the transcript, which Mr Blinken and other officials have refused to verify, Mr Biden tells Mr Ghani that the perception of his governments stability and strength must be maintained whether true or not.

The secretary, for his part, denied any such allegation.

Simply put congressman, what you said is dead wrong, Mr Blinken said. There was no manipulation of intelligence, period. You were kept regularly apprised of the intelligence assessments.

Other Republicans lashed out at the Biden administration for pulling the military out of the country before it was able to evacuate every American who wanted to leave.

The majority of Americans wanted to leave Afghanistan, but not like this, added Steve Chabot of Ohio said.

The secretary had his own criticisms to offer, namely for the Trump administration, which he said set the US rushing towards the exit in Afghanistan with its 2020 drawdown deal with the Taliban.

We inherited a deadline, Mr Blinken said. We did not inherit a plan. He noted the administration successfully airlifted 124,000 people out of Kabul, one of the biggest airlifts in history, and that perhaps even more people would have gotten out if the Trump administration hadnt paused visa applications for Afghan allies of the US military.As of the end of last week, about 100 American citizens remained in the country who wished to leave Afghanistan, Mr Blinken added. Overall, the official described a situation where even the best plans would be undone, since the Afghan government was far less stable than it seemed.

As General Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said, Nothing I or anyone else saw indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days, Mr Blinken told the hearing.

Elsewhere, GOP questioners asked Mr Blinken about Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm which had as a client Ukrainian energy company Burisima, where the presidents son was a board member. The firm is now under federal investigation. Mr Blinken appeared baffled by the questions, and said he wouldnt comment whether he had been interviewed by the FBI in relation to the matter.

Outside of the made-for-TV clashes in the hearing room, the Biden administration announced a $64 million assistance package meant to help Afghan citizens, which would be distributed through NGOs, rather than the Taliban. On Monday, at a UN-sponsored aid conference in Geneva, various countries pledged more than $1 billion to the country for humanitarian purposes.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing a second day of tough congressional questions about the Biden administrations much-criticized withdrawal from Afghanistan

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Blinken sought to parry a new wave of bipartisan lawmaker anger over the operation that resulted in the complete takeover by the Taliban and has left many American citizens, green card holders and at-risk Afghans stranded in the country.

The top two members of the committee, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez and Idaho Republican James Risch, both assailed the withdrawal as a debacle in their opening remarks.

The withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, said committee chairman Menendez, who has been generally supportive of President Joe Biden s foreign policy but has taken issue with several of its aspects, including Afghanistan.

The withdrawal was a dismal failure, said Risch, the ranking GOP member of the panel, accusing the administration of ineptitude that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on U.S. troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.

Much as he did on Monday in an often contentious hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken tried to deflect the criticism and maintained the administration had done the best it could under extremely trying and chaotic circumstances.

Blinken again blamed the Trump administration for its Feb. 2020 peace deal with the Taliban that he said had tied Biden's hands, as well as the quick and unexpected collapse of the Afghan government and security forces that led to the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained," he said. They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward.

The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get people out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul, cementing its hold on the country before the completion of the U.S. withdrawal on Aug. 30.

Blinken defended the withdrawal and the end of America's longest-running war as the right thing to do" after 20 years. And, he noted that despite severe difficulties the U.S. and its allies had managed to evacuate some 124,000 people.

The evacuation was an extraordinary effort  under the most difficult conditions imaginable  by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals, he said.
Joe Biden, in a last-minute bid to fend off the recall election of California governor Gavin Newsom, said that a vote for Republican candidate Larry Elder would be a vote for Donald Trump.

The US president urged voters on Monday night to reject Republicans efforts to oust Mr Newsom from office.

Mr Newsom is the fourth governor in US history and the second in California to face a recall election. In a recall election, voters have the power to remove an elected official and decide who should replace them.

The only other time a recall election was held in California was in 2003, when voters removed Democratic governor Gray Davis and replaced him with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

You can either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor, or youll get Donald Trump, Mr Biden said on Monday. He compared Mr Elder to a clone of the former president and said: It is not a joke.

Mr Biden addressed a rally on Monday evening in Long Beach where Mr Newsom was also present. The polls so far show a comfortable lead for the incumbent, Mr Newsom.

Mr Newsom took office in January 2019 but in early 2020, some Republican organisers began the recall election drive against him.

Mr Newsom tweeted: We can show the rest of the nation that we wont let Republicans drag our state backwards. Make sure your voice is heard. VOTE NO.

The president also warned voters at the rally that the elections outcome would have an impact beyond California. Its going to reverberate around the country and, this is no joke, its going to reverberate around the world, Mr Biden said.

Nr Newsom went on stage before the president and said: We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism.

Meanwhile, Larry Elder, the Republican leading candidate, said on Monday that there was 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.

He also falsely accused Mr Newsoms team of election rigging.

On Monday, Mr Elder appealed to voters to use an online form to report fraud, which claimed that it had detected fraud in the results of the California recall election resulting in governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.

Though the online form was available on Monday, the election had not yet taken place at that time.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs Washington DC-area home was surrounded by protesters on Monday as the backlash over the decision to allow Texass restrictive abortion ban to take effect continues nationwide.

Video tweeted by a number of news outlets showed dozens of demonstrators gathered at a park near the Chevy Chase, Maryland home of the courts second-newest addition and participating in a demonstration moments later in a residential area where they chanted slogans through a loudspeaker.

Our message was loud and clear at Brett Kavanaughs house yesterday: We will not allow *anyone* to deny our rights and our humanity. Respect our existence or expect resistance, Shutdown DC, which organised the protest, said in a statement.

Protesters end the night back in the Chevy Chase park where they started, marching to Were Not Gonna Take It playing from a loudspeaker on a cart. pic.twitter.com/RxHbO7571v  Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) September 14, 2021

Mr Kavanaugh was one of five conservative justices on the Court who voted earlier this month to allow a law passed by Republicans in Texas banning abortion after six weeks and deputising state residents to file lawsuits against offenders to go into effect. The decision elicited scathing reactions from liberals as well as some of the courts dissenting justices.

The Texas law bans all abortions after six weeks into the pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant, and is enforced via a bounty system that rewards citizens for filing successful lawsuits against anyone accused of participating or aiding in an abortion after the six-week threshold.

The Courts order is stunning. Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of Justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand, wrote Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent.

Mr Kavanaughs nomination to the court was one of the most controversial and politically-charged nomination fights in the modern history of the court; after his initial hearings were held, several women came forward with claims of sexual assault allegedly committed by Mr Kavanaugh during his time at school, which the now-confirmed justice furiously denied.

Despite the furious liberal resistance to his nomination, Mr Kavanaugh became the second of three Supreme Court justices to be confirmed to the court under former President Donald Trump.

The third, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed in the height of the second wave of Covid-19 cases in the US and became involved in a superspreader event when the White House event celebrating her confirmation resulted in numerous Covid-19 infections among guests and attending press.
Republicans in California are likely to face a stinging defeat on Tuesday as Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom appears on track to beat back a recall effort after Republicans failed to coalesce around an electable candidate.

The campaign to boot Mr Newsom began in earnest after the governor was caught at a restaurant with a lobbyist friend without a mask while also ordering restrictions in the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic. But conservative firebrand talk show host Larry Elder emerged at the front of a crowded pack, which some say killed any chance of Republicans beating Mr Newsom.

Part of the challenge for Republicans for decades at this point is that none of them are provided a platform to build up statewide name ID and recognition, said Jason Roe, a Republican consultant who previously worked for former Republican San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

Mr Faulconer is one of many candidates running, but hes struggled to gain traction in the way Mr Elder has.

Mr Roe said a major difficulty for Republicans in the state is there just arent that many of them, making it difficult to build broad name recognition and raise a war chest sufficient to run for statewide office in California.

For Kevin, its an uphill slog. Larry Elders got decades of conservative talk radio credentials, Republican activists know who he is, they know him, they at least know the name, Mr Roe said. Hes a conservative firebrand so, with the Republican base, hes a known commodity and it doesnt take long for him to kind of make the sale.

But Mr Elders appeal among conservatives has often been limited outside of the party faithful.

Hes a guy who has a loyal following based on his years as a talk radio person, said Andrew Acosta, a Democratic consultant in California. In the old days, one or two of these hits would have knocked him out.

California gubernatorial candidate and former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer and his wife, Katherine Faulconer, arrive on a charter bus at a campaign stop to promote his "women's empowerment plan" at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles Monday, Aug. 30, 2021. The Republican is among 46 candidates seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall election. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (AP)

Similarly, Mr Acosta said it is not clear that Mr Faulconer would have raised the levels of money that Mr Elder did, and noted how devoted his supporters were.

Hes a guy that has a loyal following based on his years as a talk radio person and its been hard to shake people off of him, Mr Acosta said.

Garry South, a Democratic political consultant who worked for former Gov Gray Davis, noted that Republicans today make up a smaller segment of the lectorate than when Arnold Schwarzenegger beat Mr Davis in his own recall election, making the GOP effort a tough climb from the start.

Republicans can be so enthused they all get hypertension, Mr South said, adding that no amount of Republican excitement could overcome the fact Republicans make up just a quarter of the electorate.

Mr South added that the California GOP made a strategic mistake by not endorsing Mr Faulconer.

They would have been better off to bite the bullet, endorse Faulconer, put some money behind him, he said. They basically chickened out.

But Mike Madrid, who previously worked on Latino outreach for California Republicans and co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said the circumstances of the state are also very different from the era of Mr Schwarzeneggers victory.

But even then, Schwarzenegger was getting the majority of the Latino vote, he said, adding that Mr Davis approval levels were in the 20s when Mr Schwarzenegger beat Mr Davis because of rolling blackouts from an energy crisis, an unpopular car tax and a budget deficit. Comparatively, Mr Newsom has a budget surplus.

Gavin Newsoms never been anywhere near that range of support levels, Mr Madrid said, adding that he didnt think the GOP was more about messaging than mounting a serious bid.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a rally against the California gubernatorial recall election on Sunday, Sept. 12, 2021, in Sun Valley, Calif. (AP)

Its in the business of righteous indignation, he said. Its just trying to find a mouthpiece for its anger.

Mr Madrid pointed to Republicans peddling ideas about voter fraud, which former president Donald Trump repeated on Monday.

They cant believe they actually lost because theyre so busy consuming their own nonsense and channeling back to themselves that theyre no longer trying to speak beyond their base, he said.

On Monday, the day before the recall, as if to bolster the point, Mr Trump released a statement decrying the California election as rigged.

Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isnt rigged, Mr Trump said. 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!
Challenged on Washingtons commitment to Taiwan in the face of Chinese aggression, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the disputed territory as a country  and not for the first time.

Appearing in front of the the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Monday, Mr Blinken told members of Congress that Washington was committed to both countries, when asked about Taiwan and Ukraine.

Brian Fitzpatrick, a House Republican, had asked Mr Blinken about the fears in Ukraine and Taiwan of aggression from Russia and China  amid concerns that in the wake of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US was backing away from other overseas commitments.

The committee convened following accusations that the Biden administration failed to anticipate the return of the Taliban within weeks of US troops leaving Afghanistan in August.

Mr Firzpatrick asked Mr Blinken: "Can we get you on the record here today, sir, to tell this committee, this Congress and our nation, that we will, unequivocally and unapologetically, do whatever it takes  whatever it takes  to have the backs of our friends in Ukraine and our friends in Taiwan?

He continued: "Our friends in Ukraine, in the event of Russian aggression; our friends in Taiwan, in the event of Chinese aggression.

Members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were informed by Mr Blinken that that Washington "absolutely stood by our commitments to both countries, and referred to Americas commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act [TRA].

The TRA, which was signed into law in 1979, instructs Washington on how to continue relations with Taiwan  which is claimed by China  in the absence of formal ties, or official recognition of Taiwan as a country.

Mr Blinken added that US President Joe Biden had recently met with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to offer his support  almost seven years after the Crimea and Donbas regions of Ukraine were invaded by Russian-backed separatist forces.

It was not the first time Mr Blinken risked irking China on Taiwan, after referring to the territory as a country in March. Biden administration officials, meanwhile, have been critical of Beijings military operations overseas.

The Independent approached the US state department for comment.
The US Department of Justice has announced it will ban chokeholds and no-knock entries throughout the department.

The change will prevent federal law enforcement officers from conducting unannounced raids and from using carotid restraints unless deadly force is authorised.

Building trust and confidence between law enforcement and the public we serve is central to our mission at the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The limitations implemented today on the use of chokeholds, carotid restraints and no-knock warrants, combined with our recent expansion of body-worn cameras to DOJs federal agents, are among the important steps the department is taking to improve law enforcement safety and accountability.

Both carotid restraints and no-knock raids have been the focus of public scrutiny in recent years.

Breonna Taylor was killed when police in Louisville were executing a no-knock raid at her apartment. Chokeholds and other restraints meant to restrict blood flow to the brain drew widespread criticism after the death of George Floyd, who died after former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.

As members of federal law enforcement, we have a shared obligation to lead by example in a way that engenders the trust and confidence of the communities we serve, Deputy Attorney General Monaco said. It is essential that law enforcement across the Department of Justice adhere to a single set of standards when it comes to chokeholds, carotid restraints and no-knock entries. This new policy does just that and limits the circumstances in which these techniques can be used.

Federal agents generally have to announce their presence before conducting raids. However, if agents have legitimate reason to believe announcing their intention to enter will create a situation leading to imminent violence, they can execute a no-knock raid but just breaking down a door and entering a building. Under the new policy, the conditions under which no-knock raids are acceptable will be limited.

The department noted that it was not eliminating the raids altogether as they may still be circumstances where a no-knock raid is necessary.

The policy does recognize, however, that there may be rare circumstances when there is justification  other than physical safety  to execute a no-knock entry, the press statement said. If an exception is sought when there is no imminent threat of physical safety, the agent must first get approval from the head of the law enforcement component and the U.S. Attorney or relevant Assistant Attorney General before seeking judicial authorisation for a no knock warrant.
Fearful of Donald Trump s actions in his final weeks as president, the United States' top military officer twice assured his Chinese counterpart that the two nations would not go to war, according to a forthcoming book.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Gen. Li Zuocheng of the Peoples Liberation Army that the United States would not strike. One call took place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days before the election that defeated Trump. The second call was on Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing chief executive.

Milley went so far as to promise Li that he would warn his counterpart in the event of a U.S. attack, according to the book Peril, written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay, Milley told him in the first call, according to the book. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.

If were going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise," Milley reportedly said.

Selections from the book, which is set to be released next week, were first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.

The second call was meant to placate Chinese fears about the events of Jan. 6. But the book reports that Li wasnt as easily assuaged, even after Milley promised him, We are 100 percent steady. Everythings fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.

Milley believed the president suffered a mental decline after the election, according to the book, a view he relayed in a Jan. 8 phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Pelosi has previously said she spoke to Milley that day about available precautions to prevent Trump from initiating military action or ordering a nuclear launch, and she told colleagues she was given unspecified assurances that there were longstanding safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book, called the admiral overseeing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the military unit responsible for Asia and the Pacific region, and recommended postponing upcoming military exercises. He also asked senior officers to swear an oath that Milley had to be involved if Trump gave an order to launch nuclear weapons, according to the book.

Milley was appointed by Trump in 2018 and later drew the president's wrath when he expressed regret for participating in a June 2020 photo op with Trump after federal law enforcement cleared a park near the White House of peaceful protesters so Trump could stand at a nearby damaged church.

Requests for comment from Milley were not immediately returned. Milley's second warning to Beijing came after Trump had fired Secretary of Defense Mike Esper and filled several top positions with interim officeholders loyal to him.

The book also offers new insights into Trump's efforts to hold on to power despite losing the election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump refused to concede and offered false claims that the election had been stolen. He repeatedly pressed his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the election results at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the event that was later interrupted by the mob.

Pence, the book writes, called Dan Quayle, a former vice president and fellow Indiana Republican, to see if there was any way he could acquiesce to Trump's request. Quayle said absolutely not.

Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away, Quayle said, according to the book.

Pence ultimately agreed. He defied Trump to affirm Joe Biden's victory.
Guinea's junta is expected to face more pressure Tuesday to set a timeframe for new elections as the military rulers open a four-day series of meetings about the West African nation's future following the coup just over a week ago.

Concerns are growing about how quickly the junta led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya will give up power to a civilian-led transitional government as called for by regional mediators and the international community.

The coup has been cautiously welcomed by other longtime opponents of deposed President Alpha Conde including Guinea's most prominent opposition figure, Cellou Dalein Diallo, who had lost to the ousted leader in the last three presidential elections.

Anger over Conde's quest for a third term last year led to violent street demonstrations, and many in the capital, Conakry, have shown support for the military takeover. How long that lasts could depend on what deals are struck at this week's meetings.

Among those taking part are leaders from Guineas mining industry, whom the junta leader has sought to reassure in a bid to prevent the destabilization of critical bauxite and gold exports that hold up the country's economy.

On Tuesday, the junta kicks off talks by meeting with officials from Diallo's party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, and other critics of Conde. Later it will welcome religious leaders to the People's Palace, where earlier it summoned officials from the ousted government and demanded they hand over their passports and keys to government vehicles.

After wrapping up a visit to Conakry on Monday, the head of the U.N. Office for West Africa and the Sahel said he was placing a lot of hope on this week's meetings.

"Because whatever the international community will say or do, the fate of Guinea is what the Guineans themselves will decide," Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh said.

Diallo, the three-time presidential candidate, has made clear he'd like to run if new elections are organized. In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday he called the ousted president a dictator who brought about his own demise because of his defiance of constitutional term limits.

The West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS already has threatened sanctions unless the junta releases the deposed president, as it did last year when a military coup took place in neighboring Mali

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, the longtime Guinean opposition leader told the AP.

After Mali's August 2020 coup, ECOWAS imposed sanctions and proposed a one-year deadline for the political transition. Regional mediators later acquiesced to the junta leaders and accepted an 18-month timeframe that now appears in doubt as February 2022 approaches. After agreeing to a civilian transitional government following the coup, Col. Assimi Goita effectively staged another coup nine months later by firing the president and prime minister and later declaring himself president of the transition.

Both Guinea and Mali had gone years without military coups, leading some to think they might have become a thing of the past. Even if a deal is struck this week in Guinea, observers say the Mali situation underscores the fragility of such agreements with military juntas.

Some fear that if left unchecked, the coups in West Africa could encourage militaries elsewhere to stage takeovers of their own. Earlier this year, the military in Chad also seized power after longtime President Idriss Deby Itno was slain, putting his son Mahamat Idriss Deby in charge even though Chads constitution had called for power to be transferred to the National Assembly president.

Niagale Bagayoko, chair of the African Security Sector Network who focuses her research on West and Central Africa, said the threat extends beyond military coups to include presidents who try to change their country's constitutions to remain in power.

What it is at stake today is: Do we continue to support democratically elected authorities, and what does it mean to be democratically elected?" she said. The problems that we do have in the sub-region, not only in countries where a coup happened, is that you have both unconstitutional civilian kinds of coups and military coups. And its difficult to fight against the latter when theres not been really any condemnation for the former."

___

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press journalist Yesica Fisch contributed.
About 700 Trump supporters are expected to rally in Washington, DC this weekend to protest the prosecution of accused Capitol rioters, the Department of Homeland Security says.

Melissa Smislova, a deputy undersecretary at DHS, told NBC News that law enforcement is much more ready for Saturdays rally  named Justice for J6, after the riots 6 January date  than it had been for the insurrection itself.

While the Stop the Steal rally that precipitated the Capitol riot brought out tens of thousands of people, Ms Smislova said, the 18 September protest is likely to only bring hundreds. Several other protests for the same cause, however, are also expected around the country.

The Department of Justice has charged more than 600 people in the January assault on the Capitol, when a mob of then-president Donald Trumps supporters stormed the building, assaulted several police officers, and sent Congress into hiding.

The organisers of Saturdays protest see those defendants as political prisoners. Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign aide and director of Look Ahead America, calls the rally an effort to raise awareness of this tragedy, of this grave violation of civil rights of hundreds of our fellow Americans.

According to DHS, a number of the expected protesters are connected to the same groups that stormed the Capitol in January. The protesters plan to gather in DCs Union Square, a short walk from the Capitol steps.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has condemned the rally.

What happened on January 6 was such an assault on this beautiful Capitol, the speaker told reporters last week. And now these people are coming back to praise the people who were out to kill members of Congress.

Ms Smislova, however, says law enforcement groups are much better prepared this time around, particularly because theyve been more vigorously sharing intelligence.

What we realised after January 6 is that we had gotten a little bit lax in some of the aggressive conversations, the DHS official told NBC. Some of it was a lack of discipline, complacency maybe even  The information was still out there, but you had to actually seek it out as opposed to having it brought to you.

The Justice for J6 rally is scheduled to start at 12 noon this Saturday.
Melania Trump reportedly went to bed before hearing the results of the 2020 election, her former chief of staff Stephanie Grisham has claimed in an upcoming book.

Ms Grisham, who also served as White House press secretary for former US president Donald Trump before working for the former first lady, reportedly says in her tell-all book about the Trump White House that she found Ms Trump asleep in the middle of election night.

According to Politico, who obtained a copy of Ms Grishams upcoming title Ill Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House, Mr Trump was watching the 2020 results coverage with his aides while his wife was asleep.

Ms Grisham writes that she knocked a few times, quietly at first but louder at each attempt, as the results were announced throughout election night.

She finally opened the bedroom door only to find that Melania Trump was sound asleep, it was reported.

Both Ms Trump and Ms Grisham had been in Florida the day before, according to Politico, and had stayed at Mar-a-Lago so Mr and Ms Trump could cast their ballots in Florida. The group then returned to Washington DC for election night.

Ms Grisham was apparently still surprised that Ms Trump went to bed, before finally waking up and appearing on stage with her husband at 2.30am. During that speech, Mr Trump alleged that the 2020 election was fraudulent, and also that he was ahead of Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent.

I knew by now how much sleep meant to her, but still, I couldnt imagine being asleep at a time like that, Ms Grisham reportedly wrote. Maybe she thought that someone would wake her up if Trump won.

According to reports, Ms Grisham also alleges in her tell-all book that her boss refused to denounce rioting outside the Capitol before it was assaulted. She resigned from Ms Trumps office in the aftermath of 6 January,

Ms Trump, who appeared reluctant to appear in public during her husbands presidency, has disputed that account and accused Ms Grisham of trying to redeem herself after a poor performance as press secretary, failed personal relationships, and unprofessional behaviour in the White House.

The Independent has approached Ms Trumps office for further comment.
Former vice president Dan Quayle has emerged as an unlikely hero in the saga of the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Peril, a new Bob Woodward book detailing the chaotic final days of the Donald Trump presidency, reveals for the first time a private conversation between Mr Quayle and Vice President Mike Pence before the certification of the 2020 election.

Mr Pence was under pressure from Mr Trump and his allies to refuse to certify the results of the election, and was searching for a legal avenue to delay or deny Joe Bidens victory.

In late December, Mr Pence asked Mr Quayle, George HW Bushs former vice president, if there was any way he could stop the results of the 2020 Presidential election from being certified on 6 January.

According to the book, Mr Quayle told him: Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away.

Mr Pence then asked if he could delay the certification, citing bogus reports of widespread voter fraud in Arizona.

Mr Quayle reportedly responded by saying he was in Arizona, and Mr Biden had won fair and square.

Mr Quayle was responsible for certifying the results of the 1992 presidential election when Bill Clinton defeated his former boss, Mr George Bush senior.

Former vice president Mike Pence presiding over the certification of election results on January 6 (REUTERS)

Mr Woodwards book, co-written with the Washington Posts Robert Acosta, details a tense encounter in the Oval Office on 5 January where Mr Trump tries to convince his vice president to block certification of the election.

Mr Pence refuses, saying: Ive done everything I could and then some to find a way around this. Its simply not possible.

A furious Mr Trump says he doesnt want to be friends anymore, according to CNN , who obtained an advance copy of Peril.

Mr Pence was targeted by rioters during the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, who chanted Hang Mike Pence as they stormed the building.

Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman told MSNBC that Peril recasts Mr Pences role in the failed plot.

The book depicts Pence as much more mealy-mouthed about January 6 than we thought he was, Mr Sherman said.

It just shows you that Pence was either struggling deeply to deal with the pressure he was facing from Trump or he was more open to this.

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell responded by saying: Wow, Dan Quayle comes to the rescue of the republic.

Peril is the third book written about the Trump presidency by Mr Woodward after 2018s Fear and the 2020 release Rage.
Members of former President Donald Trumps administration were warning privately of a serious spread of Covid-19 in the US while the president was publicly bashing his political opponents for warning of the exact same scenario, according to emails obtained by Congress.

The House select committee to probe the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic released emails on Tuesday between Peter Navarro, the former White House trade adviser, and Steven Hatfill, a pathologist and outside adviser to Mr Trump. In the emails, Mr Hatfill warns the White House: [i]n truth we do not have a clue how many are infected in the USA, adding that the first major wave of infections would begin in the US within the next 7 days.

The [Centers for Disease Control (CDC)] has made a series of critical mistakes in implementing the most basic measure in infectious disease control, when it distributed infective test kits for coronavirus diagnosis. This served to limit our ability to screen individuals for Covid-19 infection and containment, Mr Hatfill said in an email dated 29 February 2020.

This will be accompanied by a massive loss of credibility and the Democratic accusations are just now beginning. This must be countered with frank honesty about the situation and decisive direct actions that are being taken and can be seen in the broadcast news, he warned.

The panels chair, Rep James Clyburn, said that the exchange was proof that the Trump administration failed to heed early warnings about the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the time, Mr Trump was both touting the speed of his administrations response to the outbreak, as well as the efficacy of Covid-19 tests that were being pushed out by the CDC despite his own advisers warnings that they were ineffective for detecting the virus.

Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. Theyre there. And the tests are beautiful ... the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good, Mr Trump said on 6 March, after Mr Hatfills warning was received by the White House.

The warnings about ineffective tests werent the only attempts made by Mr Hatfill to get the White House to take further action to prepare the US for a wider outbreak. In early March, Mr Hatfill warned in draft memos obtained by the committee that the US could face a shortage of medical ventilators, and urged the White House to ensure an adequate supply as quickly as possible.

Ventilator shortages in some states would soon be reported just weeks after that memo was sent. Several governors including New Yorks former governor Andrew Cuomo publicly battled the White House after calling for more federal assistance to obtain ventilators and facing criticism in response from the president.

Documents recently obtained by the Select Subcommittee reveal new details regarding the Trump Administrations awareness of the looming coronavirus crisis in the early weeks of the pandemic and failure to execute an effective strategy to contain the virus, said Mr Clyburn in a statement.

These exchanges add to the growing body of evidence that the Trump Administration knew the significant risk posed by the coronavirus but failed to execute an effective strategy to reduce the loss of American lives. The Select Subcommittee seeks to understand what the leaders in the Trump Administration knew, when they knew it, and how their decisions may have contributed to the catastrophic loss of life, he continued.
Donald Trump joked that he would love to run for mayor of New York City on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Trump was on Saturday fielding questions while meeting with a group of officers of the New York Police Department and firefighters to commemorate the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

If you decide not to run for president, if you decide not to, would you consider running for mayor of New York City? Mr Trump was asked.

Well, thats an interesting question, he replied in a mock tone, amid laughter. I would love that. We could straighten it out, he added.

I'd say, Fellas, good luck, go to town. They'd be announcing in one week, There's no crime in this city.

New Yorks current mayor Bill de Blasio has been facing low approval ratings and is unlikely to run again in November over term-related restrictions.

Despite not making a formal announcement, Mr Trump has kept the door open for his presidential run in 2024 through crowdfunding and rallies. Mr Trump's team had over $100 million in hand, with over $82 million raised in the last six months.

He had a positive response on hand, when asked if he would run for president again.

Oh, that's a tough question, Mr Trump said.

Actually, for me, it's an easy question. I know what I am going to do. But, we are not supposed to be talking about it yet from the standpoint of campaign finance laws, which frankly are ridiculous if you want to know the truth. But we have to live with it. But I think you're going to be happy, he added.

Several of Mr Trumps allies, including Republican senator Lindsey Graham, had earlier hinted he was going to run again in 2024.

Once a New York native, Mr Trump shifted his residency to Florida, where he now lives in Palm Beach at his Mar-a-Lago resort with his wife Melania and 15-year-old son Barron.

In a prerecorded statement screened on Saturday at the National Mall in Washington DC, he said: 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.
Republican senator James Risch of Idaho engaged in a bizarre exchange with secretary of state Anthony Blinken about whether someone in the Biden administration has a button to cut the presidents mic when hes speaking.

Mr Risch, who is the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said somebody in the White House has the authority to press a button and cut off the audio from the presidents microphone.

Mr Blinken, who was testifying about the United States exit from Afghanistan, seemed to laugh when hearing the question.

I think anyone who knows the president, including members of this committee, knows that he speaks very clearly and very deliberately for himself, no one else does, he said. Mr. Blinken said.

Mr Risch responded by saying he saw it happen on Monday and that it has happened numerous times before, which has even ignited media reports.

Its been widely reported that somebody has the ability to push the button and cut off his sound stop him from speaking, he said. Who is that person?

The Republican added that it happened as recently as Monday when Mr Biden spoke at the Interagency Fire Center in Mr Rischs state of Idaho.

Are you telling this committee that this does not happen? That theres no one in the White House that pushes a button and cuts him off in mid-sentence, he asked.

Mr Blinken repeated what he said during his testimony.

Loading....

Senator, I really dont know what youre referring to, Mr Blinken said.

The conspiracy reached the news just hours before when Biden appeared to be cut off during a briefing on wildfires.

On a visit to Boise, Mr Biden said he wanted to hear more from George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters.

Can I ask you a question? Mr Biden asked.

Of course, Mr Geissler answered.

One of the things that I have been working on with some others is... the president was heard saying, before the telecast was cut off mid-sentence.

A clip shared by the research arm of the Republican National Committee on Twitter showed the live-stream was ended abruptly with a Thank you for joining message.

It is not the first time the White House has been accused of editing the President mid-speech.

A report by Politico earlier this month quoted White House officials and claimed that when Mr Biden gives public remarks, some staffers will either mute him or turn off his remarks.

Staff are allegedly nervous of the Presidents off-the-cuff remarks.

I know people who habitually dont watch it live for that reason, one official told the website.
At a press conference with Florida governor Ron DeSantis , a city employee falsely said Covid-19 vaccines change your RNA.

Governor DeSantis said nothing.

The governor had been speaking in Gainesville, Florida on Monday to voice his opposition to vaccine mandates, which he says violate peoples rights. Then he invited up several Gainesville employees, many of whom are suing the city over its requirement that they get the shot.

Darris Friend, a plaintiff in that lawsuit, took the stage.

The vaccine changes your RNA, so, for me, thats a problem, Mr Friend said, incorrectly.

The two mRNA vaccines, produced by Pfizer and Moderna, do not change a recipients DNA or RNA. A popular conspiracy theory that they do so has been repeatedly debunked .

As Mr Friend went on, Governor DeSantis did not correct the misinformation. Later, however, a spokesperson told The Independent that the governor does not believe this.

The governor has never said the vaccine changes your RNA, and nobody who has seen his 50+ public appearances promoting vaccination throughout Florida this year would think that is the governors position, said Mr DeSantis press secretary, Christina Pushaw. The speaker whose remarks included that comment, was at the press conference in his capacity as a member of a lawsuit against the city governments extreme overreach.

As President Biden enacts new federal vaccine mandates over Republican objections, the city of Gainesville has become a microcosm of the political clash over the shots. In August, the Gainesville City Commission adopted a new rule that all city employees must get vaccinated for Covid by mid-October, or risk losing their jobs. Two hundred of those employees fought back by suing the city  with Mr DeSantis emphatic support.

Were here today to make it very clear that we are going to stand for the men and women who are serving us, the governor said on Monday. Were going to protect Florida jobs. We are not going to let people be fired because of the vaccine mandate.

Mr DeSantis also said he would impose $5,000 fines on cities and counties that attempt to enforce vaccine mandates on their workers.
Democrat and Republican senators alike grilled Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about the Biden administrations chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Mr Blinken spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, a day after testifying before the House, and defended the administrations approach. But he faced bipartisan criticism on the Hill.

Mr Secretary, the execution of the US withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said in his opening remarks. This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administrations decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January.

Senator James Risch, the ranking Republican member on the committee, criticised the fact that Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin did join Mr Blinken and testify.

Theres questions that we really need to have answered, and its disheartening that they decline to testify. The debacle in Afghanistan is an interagency failure, and the fact that you are the only one stepping up is disheartening, Mr Risch said in his opening remarks.

 Blinken confirms 100 still await evacuation from Afghanistan

Throughout the hearing, members of both parties asked Mr Blinken pressed Mr Blinken on the drawdown, which operated under a deadline set by previous President Donald Trump. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida railed against the administration for not realising how quickly the Afghan government and security forces would fall to the Taliban.

It doesnt take some exquisite piece of intelligence or brilliant analysis to conclude that if you radically change an already bad status quo by removing US and NATO forces, by ending enablers and air support, the status quo was going to collapse and enable to Taliban, Mr Rubio said.

Mr Blinken responded that as of February, the overall intelligence assessment indicated the worst-case scenario was that the Afghan government would fall to the Taliban within a year or two. By July, Mr Blinken said, the assessment was that it would fall by the end of the calendar year.

Youre right that I think we need to look back at all of this because, to your point, we collectively over 20 years invested extraordinary amounts in those security forces and found that government, he said. Based on that, as well as based on what we were looking at real-time, again, we did not see this collapse in a matter of 11 days.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with criticising the administrations use of a drone strike against supposed ISIS-K targets, said the fatal mistake of the US operation was to abandon Bagram Air Force Base.

But leaving Bagram Air Force Base I think is an unforgivable sort of mistake, he said. Its going to be remembered in history. But if you do nothing about it, you leave all these people in place and say oh, well we all agreed, its like, well maybe everybody needs to go.

But Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said objections like holding onto Bagram were made because they knew saying that staying in Afghanistan longer was politically untenable.

The defence establishment, political appointees, so-called think tank experts, are complaining loudly about tactics because its their strategy that failed, he said. They are complaining about how Americas longest war ended because they didnt want it to ever end.

Mr Blinken agreed with the sentiment.

We went to Afghanistan for one reason, and that was to deal with the people who attacked us on 9/11, to bring them to justice and to the best of our ability, make sure that would not happen again in Afghanistan, he said, pointing to the death of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda being degraded in the nation.

Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said that Mr Biden calling the evacuation a success was beyond the pale and noted he had visited the United Kingdom and NATO.

And their sense of surprise and enragement is palpable, he said. We have a very significant failure thats taken place here, a failure of global proportion. And its placed our allies in the position of questioning Americas resolve, of questioning our nations integrity.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said she had opposed the withdrawal but also railed against Republicans for opposing her and the late Sen John McCains efforts to process more special immigrant visa applicants.

I do think we need an accounting, thats important for history and for us going forward, but lets stop with the hypocrisy about whos to blame, theres a lot of people to blame and we all share in it, he said.
The general leading the fight against cyberattacks on America has announced a surge to defend against a wave of malicious operations.

In an interview on Tuesday with the Associated Press, General Paul Nakasone said government specialists would be stepping up efforts to gather information about cyberattacks and impose costs when necessary.

He told the AP that authorities planned to publicly expose adversarial countries who carry out high-profile attacks on the US and uncover the means by which they were carried out.

Even six months ago, we probably would have said, Ransomware, thats criminal activity, Mr Nakasone said. But if it has an impact on a nation, like weve seen, then it becomes a national security issue. If its a national security issue, then certainly were going to surge toward it.

In July, President Joe Biden pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin to crack down on cyber attackers, telling reporters, We expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is.

Serious hacks have compromised sensitive government records and led to the shutdown of energy companies, hospitals and schools in recent times. The SolarWinds espionage campaign in 2020 exposed the emails of 80 per cent of the accounts used by the U.S. attorneys offices in New York, while a separate hack of Microsoft email server software in 2021 affected thousands.

Mr Nakasone heads up the National Security Agency and the Pentagons US Cyber Command, both of which have been part of a Biden administration strategy to publicly identify those behind attacks.

The White House accused the Russian foreign intelligence service, known as the SVR, of being behind the SolarWinds breach to Russia and blamed the Microsoft attack on hackers affiliated with Chinas Ministry of State Security.

Mr Nakasone, who is also in charge of efforts to prevent foreign interference in US elections, said intelligence agencies were generating insights which will move to sharing information in the not too distant future about Russia.

Mr Biden said in July that Russia had already attempted a pure violation of our sovereignty with efforts to spread disinformation about the 2022 midterm elections.
A student at Washington University is facing potential expulsion after he removed nearly 3,000 flags from the campus' 9/11 memorial.

Fadel Alkilani, who serves on the school's student government, was recorded by a classmate removing the flags and placing them in a trash bag. The flags were part of the school's memorial commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Alkilani said he planned to leave the flags at Mudd Field, the site of the memorial, in the trash bag as a way of "explaining the human cost of 9/11 in the past 20 years.

According to the Kansas City Star, the student said his protest was fueled in part by a lack of recognition for the Islamophobia that occurred in the US shortly after 9/11 and because the memorial did not acknowledge the more than 200,000 civilians who were killed as a direct result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 9/11 memorial was erected by the college's Republican student group.

The school is investigating the incident. The campus Republicans have asked for Mr Alkilani to be expelled from the university.

The university's chancellor, Andrew Martin, issued a statement saying Mr Alkilani's act was a "reprehensible" "affront" to many people and to the ideals of the college.

Mr Martin did not include Mr Alkilani's name in the statement, but did say that "the student involved has access to campus resources that are regularly available to students as he navigates the consequences of his actions, both on campus and beyond."

The chancellor said the flag memorial was an act of free speech by the campus Republicans, and that while Mr Alkilani has the right to his own free speech, he also must respect others' rights as well.

"Students have the right to express their viewpoints, but they also have the obligation to respect others' expressions," Mr Martin said.

The chancellor does not make clear what punishments Mr Alkilani will face as a result of removing the flags.

One of the campus Republicans, Nathaniel Hope, captured the video of Mr Alkilani removing the flags and notified the police. He told a local radio station, KMOX, that the flags were confiscated by law enforcement and returned to the college Republicans.

"These flags were not put in place for any political reason," Mr Hope said. "They were for the lives lost. For anyone, I don't care if you're right-leaning, left-leaning, to remove those flags before Sept. 12 is inappropriate."

The university's student union issued a statement distancing itself from Mr Alkilani's actions, but also condemned the hate he has received for his protest.

We also unequivocally condemn the Islamophobic rhetoric and slurs that have been used against him and other Muslim students on campus. It is never right for students to be threatened, doxxed, targeted with hate speech, or expelled because of political expression. Free speech and political protest are central tenets of higher education, and calls to attack and persecute activists attack the foundation of a free democracy, the statement, which was posted to Instagram, said.

The student union said it stands with "all students on campus who have experienced hate as a result of the increased Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence in the years since the attacks, and reject all forms of violence and discrimination.
The Italian family of a six-year-old boy  the only survivor of a cable car crash  has petitioned an Israeli court after the child was taken to Israel by his grandfather in a suspected kidnapping.

Eitan Biran was the only survivor of the cable car crash in Piedmont that killed 14 people in May, including his parents, his two-year-old brother, and two of his great-grandparents.

Following the tragedy, and a lengthy recovery in hospital, an Italian youth court ruled that Eitan could live with his paternal aunt, Aya Biran, near Pavia, in northern Italy.

Ms Biran said that on Saturday, Shmuel Peleg, Eitans paternal grandfather, picked the boy up for a pre-planned visit but failed to return him by dinner time. She then proceeded to file a police report.

Italian media reported that Mr Peleg drove Eitan across the border into Switzerland where a private jet was waiting to fly them to Israel.

Israels Channel 13 reported that Eitans family in Italy filed a petition with the Tel Aviv family court for the boys return, but no further details were available.

Eitans grandfathers lawyers issued a statement acknowledging that Mr Peleg had taken the boy to Israel. It said that Mr Peleg acted on impulse out of concern for his grandsons health, after he had been excluded from legal proceedings related to Eitans custody.

A source has said that prosecutors back in Pavia have opened a kidnapping investigation, but the prosecutors office declined to comment, Reuters reported.

Lawyer Armando Simbari, who is representing Ms Biran in Pavia, said he was confident that the boy would be returned.

We know there are legal instruments to bring back a child who was taken from his home in this fashion There are international norms  signed by Israel, he said.

But Gali Peleg, Eitans maternal aunt in Israel, has claimed that the boy was being held hostage in Italy, and has denied that any crime has been committed.

We did not abduct Eitan, she told an Israeli radio station. What happened is that we brought Eitan home  I am only speaking to clarify that we have acted for the good of Eitan.

Ms Peleg refused to say exactly where the boy was but confirmed that Eitan had arrived in Israel on Saturday.

She added: We are caring for his emotional state and health.

On Monday, Italys foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said: We are investigating what happened and will then take action.

The cause of the cable car crash that killed much of Eitans immediate family is still under investigation, but prosecutors believe the emergency breaks may have been tampered with.

Fifteen people were aboard the car in the town of Stresa, next to Lake Maggiore, when the lead cable of the car snapped. The emergency break then failed to prevent the car from sliding backwards down the support line. The car then came off the line entirely before colliding with a support pylon and crashing to the ground.

With additional reporting from Reuters
Vladimir Putin will go into self-isolation after cases of the new coronavirus were detected in his entourage.

This means that the 68-year-old Russian President will not travel to Tajikistan this week for regional security meetings, the Kremlin said.

He was due to travel to meet Tajikistans President Emomali Rakhmon to talk about the rapid deterioration of security in Afghanistan.

The meetings are to involve regional alliances in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The Kremlin said in a statement that Mr Putin called Mr Rakhmon to explain he could not travel due to self-isolation, and that he would take part in the meetings via video link instead.

Putin said that due to cases of coronavirus in his entourage, he has to observe a self-isolation regime for a certain period of time, the Kremlin said..

The Russian leader has had two doses of his countrys Sputnik V Covid vaccine.

The self-isolation comes after Mr Putin met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad yesterday (13 September) in Moscow.

Mr Putin congratulated him on beating the terrorists to win Mays presidential election.

The Kremlin quoting him as saying to Mr al-Assad: Terrorists had sustained a very serious damage, and Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90 per cent of the territories.

The meeting between the two leaders was their first since a summit in Syrian capital Damascus in January 2020, and was the first meeting in the Russian capital since 2015.
The slaughter of more than a thousand dolphins as part of a traditional hunt in the Faroe Islands has sparked outrage from animal rights campaigners.

Almost 1,500 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed with knives and harpoons during the hunt, known as Grindadrap by residents of the Danish islands, activists say.

The Sea Shepherd Campaign group shared footage of hundreds of dolphins with slash wounds on their bodies lying dead on a beach as the sea runs red with blood.

The video also shows people grappling with dolphins that are not yet dead in the shallow water as boats try to block others from escaping.

Yesterday the Faroe Islands slaughtered the biggest super pod ever recorded in Faroese history in one go, the group wrote on Facebook.

What will it take for the locals to demand a shut down of all hunts of this sort? We believe it takes a good honest look at the truth.

The Sea Shepherds shared images of hundreds of dolphins lying dead on a beach in the Faroe Islands after the hunt (Sea Shepherd/SWNS)

Others also took to social media to express their disgust.

Online campaign group Blue Planet Society tweeted: Some people in the Faroe Islands are calling yesterdays reprehensible hunt of 1,428 white-sided dolphins the biggest grindadrap in history.

If correct, that is truly appalling as the records date back to 1584.

The hunts date back further, however, to the ninth century and are considered indigenous whaling  the only remaining example of this in Western Europe.

Traditionally, boats surround either a group of dolphins or whales and drive them into a bay or the bottom of a fjord where they are killed for their meat.

Today, the practice is regulated by the government and hunters must undergo training and stick to certified bays.

Whaling in the Faroe Islands has been regulated for centuries, the archipelagos government states on its website.

The law explicitly states that the hunt is to be conducted in such a way as to cause as little suffering to the whales as possible.

Nevertheless, activists have sought to bring about an end to the practice which they say is unnecessary and cruel.
When Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch got his turn to question Secretary of State Antony Blinken at Tuesdays hearing on how Americas longest war came to an end last month, he chose to lead with a query about the status of the thousands of Afghan refugees now making their way to the United States.

He did not ask about whether intelligence failures led the Biden administration to overestimate the Afghan security forces ability to fight the Taliban. Nor did he ask about how the administration plans to bring thousands of Afghans who worked for US-backed news outlets out of the country.

Instead, the Idaho Republican  who served as the committees chairman until Democrats took control of the Senate in January  decided to ask the 71st Secretary of State about the operations of the White Houses livestream broadcasts.

Weve all seen this somebody in the White House has pressed a button to stop the president, cut off the presidents speaking ability and sound  who is that person? asked the top Republican on the committee charged with oversight of the countrys foreign policy.

Secretary Blinken, appearing slightly confused by the line of questioning, replied that no such person has the ability to prevent President Biden from speaking, and stressed that the nations chief executive very much speaks for himself.

What Risch was referring to was the White Houses practice of ending its broadcast of the president when he has finished making his public remarks, before a subsequent closed press event. It is neither a new phenomenon nor one unique to the Biden administration. During the Trump administration, the White House regularly stopped their broadcasts when President Trump had concluded public remarks and was engaging with attendees at White House events that were not intended to be broadcast in their entirety.

When asked to confirm that the Secretary of State is not in charge of livestreaming the presidents events, White House spokesperson Mike Gwin replied: Senator Risch is cheapening this hearing by peddling baseless and bizarre conspiracy theories. Secretary Blinken and the administration will continue to engage in good faith with Congress in hopes of having a serious conversation about the presidents decision to end our military presence in Afghanistan  instead of re-escalating it  after 20 years and more than American 2,400 servicemembers lost.

Although Rischs inquiry had nothing to do with the US exit from Afghanistan, it was consistent with a general theme that has been present in right-wing media since Biden assumed office in January. This theme posits that the president is not in charge of the country and is beholden to unnamed handlers. Indeed, much of Secretary Blinkens time at both Tuesdays hearing and his Monday appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee was taken up by members who chose to expound on themes, memes, and tropes about Biden and the end of the Afghanistan war that are in wide circulation on social media and in right-wing news outlets but otherwise bear no relationship to reality.

The Republicans have recycled talking-points that they tell each other and are caught in their own inner feedback loop on their own disinformation platforms, said Joel Rubin, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.

Rubin, whose portfolio included preparing State Department officials to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, noted that Secretary Blinken had shown far more respect for Congress role than his predecessor did. Blinken, after all, agreed to stay long enough to be questioned by all 52 members of the House committee. In return, he was treated to angry rants by junior House members in search of social media fame rather than substantive questions.

One such GOP member, Florida Representative Brian Mast, shouted at the Secretary about his supposedly providing aid and comfort to the enemy and spreading what he called lies to the point where Chairman Gregory Meeks had to repeatedly gavel him down to allow for Blinkens response to be heard. Another, South Carolinas Joe Wilson, used his allotted five minutes of questions to read from a New York Post op-ed detailing more alleged lies and demanding that the Secretary resign his office  a demand repeated by many of his colleagues.

Representative Wilson was subsequently rebuked by Democrat Gerald Connolly of Virginia, who recalled his colleagues disruption of then-President Obamas 2009 address to Congress on healthcare. I would say to my friend from South Carolina: If I were the member of Congress who committed one of the most grievous acts in a State of the Union address... to shout out, You lie, I might take more care about enumerating other alleged lies in a hearing with the Secretary of State, he said.

Rubin said such shenanigans reflect Republicans lack of interest in conducting serious oversight of a withdrawal that even many Democrats see as having been executed in a less than elegant manner. They didnt want to have a real conversation  they just wanted to try to use [phrases like] betrayal and left Americans behind and other stuff that was all just pure right-wing gotcha memes that nobody in the real world agrees with, he said. Theyre looking for some kind of way to frame it as some scandal, and they didnt land a punch.

One GOP consultant who works with House and Senate Republican candidates said many of Rischs Senate colleagues conducted themselves well during Tuesdays session but lamented what they called a general lack of seriousness on the part of his partys members. Theyre trying to rerun the Benghazi playbook and turn Blinken into Susan Rice or Hillary Clinton, they explained. The problem with that is no one really knows who Blinken is outside of Washington, and hes not the president or a candidate for office. Plus hes a pro and doesnt lose his cool, so they end up looking like a bunch of clownish screaming hyenas when they dont get a rise out of him.

While Rubin described Blinkens performance as a master class in congressional testimony, Brett Bruen, a former National Security Council official who has been critical of the Biden administrations execution of the Afghanistan withdrawal, was more critical.He didnt blink and didnt give them much, which on the one hand could be seen by the administration and Democrats as a minor victory, he said. But on the other? I think that it cant be said that he acquitted himself well when the American public still wants answers to these questions. So stonewalling and stubbornly sticking to the same talking-points, I dont think thats the answer.

Although Bruen said Blinkens intransigence could damage the administration by giving Republicans fuel for the fire that they are trying to stoke with the notion that theres something there to hide, he, too, had harsh words for Republicans performance.

I think it is absolutely reprehensible that youve got members of Congress trying to use the committees time not to get answers to questions, but simply to try and increase their own Twitter following by creating a viral moment or using their time to pompously pontificate on points that have nothing to do with accountability, he said. Obviously, many of the Republicans didnt even feign an effort at engaging with the Secretary  they simply wanted to yell and talk and use the Secretary as backdrop for their own political propagandizing  but thats not the point of a congressional hearing.
It has become commonplace to talk about the climate crisis as the greatest threat to the planet. It is certainly right to focus on an existential issue which we can do something about. But I fear there are other problems which could  at very short notice  prove even more pressing. Pandemics we know about. But the risks around nuclear war and weapons proliferation have slipped out of public consciousness. They mustnt.

My awareness of this set of issues was triggered by two things. The first was the reappearance of Little Rocket Man in North Korea. He seems to have been slimming his own girth but increasing his nuclear capability. The country has been developing a cruise missile described as strategic and capable of delivering nuclear weapons around 1000 miles  to Japan as well as South Korea and to US bases and aircraft carriers. North Korea is also reported to have restarted a nuclear power station capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium.

I am also one of the millions gripped by Vigil on BBC on Sunday evening. Like Line of Duty, its predecessor series, the plot doesnt bear too much analysis. But, in a very compelling way, it brings to life something we have rather taken for granted: the fact that, operating out of a base in Argyll in Scotland, there is a fleet of submarines carrying Britains nuclear deterrent  one of which is continually patrolling at sea.

Each submarine has 40 warheads (eight operational) out of our stockpile of 180: a number which is currently being lifted to 260. Each warhead has 100 kiloton destructive power: about six times the Hiroshima bomb. I suspect, and sincerely hope, that the safety arrangements are rather better than on Vigil, which seems to be permanently on the brink of disaster. The series reminds us of the awesome duty of those politically and operationally responsible.

Yet Britain is a nuclear minnow (even with the new and bigger Trident programme of submarines and missiles currently approved and on order). We are a merely intermediate member of the family of known nuclear powers (the US, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea), which was supposed to diminish not increase in numbers.

In the rosy, optimistic days after the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, there were hopes that nuclear disarmament would be agreed. The numbers of warheads and missiles in the US and Russia was greatly reduced. The Ukraine and Kazakhstan gave up the nuclear weapons left behind by the Soviet Union. South Africa and Brazil, which had embryonic programmes, renounced nuclear weapons. A strict non-proliferation regime was put in place to stop new states joining the club  which seemed to have been enough to deter Iran from converting its nuclear technological capability into weapons.

In the last few years, however, this progress has been reversed. Russia and the US have been modernising and expanding their nuclear arsenals, while technological advances, like autonomous AI based systems, are making the old treaties obsolete. In the increasingly toxic environment in East Asia there are reports that China has deployed more missiles and as yet there appears to be no direct engagement with the US to calm the atmosphere. I explore the poisoned relationship between the two powers in my book released this week, The Chinese Conundrum: Engagement or Conflict.

Meanwhile, the withdrawal of the Trump administration from the non-proliferation agreement with Iran has threatened a revival of Irans nuclear programme. Trumps face-to-face diplomacy with Kim Jong-un produced headlines but no agreement, as we are reminded this week.

As President Biden dusts himself down after the political disaster of the evacuation of Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation should be close to the top of his agenda. He is trying to revive the multilateral talks with Iran. The stakes are high since failure to check the Iranian programme could lead to unilateral military action by Israel. And there is the risk of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia, and possibly Turkey joining the club.

The Middle East is a haven of stability compared with the volatile and dangerous situation in South Asia. One of the big unknowns is how the Taliban victory will affect Pakistan, which has had its own Taliban and its own religious fanatics. The Pakistan military is sitting on a nuclear stockpile and, while Pakistan has an impressively disciplined army, the nightmare scenario of terrorists getting hold of nuclear weapons is a risk that has to be contemplated.

East Asia is more complex still and no less dangerous. The erratic behaviour of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is profoundly destabilising not just for South Korea but also for Japan. Both countries rely on US military protection, but the protection is less explicit than in Nato and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has sowed doubts about its reliability, especially in a nuclear confrontation. Japan has the technological capability to proceed quite quickly to nuclear weapons if necessary; it is largely its own history which acts as a restraint. South Korea is also technologically very advanced.

For both those countries a key uncertainty is China. No one is sure if and how Xi acts as a constraint on its ally North Korea. Moreover, there are simmering disputes between China and Japan over offshore islands. China would certainly regard a move by Japan to nuclear weapons as a provocation. And regional factors are to be seen against the background of growing political tension between China and the US.

When we consider that nuclear China is also a close ally of Pakistan and that nuclear India is nervously watching developments across the border, there is a real witches brew of geo-political toxins. My novel, Open Arms, which fantasised about the dangers in those relationships five years ago is beginning to read like non-fiction.

In a worst-case scenario, it is possible to see conflict breaking out between several pairs of adversaries: Iran and Israel; Iran and Saudi Arabia; India and Pakistan; India and China; China and the US; China and Japan; North Korea and several of its neighbours and the US. In each case there would be one or more parties with nuclear weapons. In several cases there is no no first use policy and minimal risk mitigation to stop nuclear war breaking out by accident.

Thinking the unthinkable is not conducive to peace of mind or a good nights sleep. But someone has to do it. We have had several very improbable events recently  Trump; Brexit; Covid; the Taliban victory. There will be shocks to come. It is profoundly to be hoped that the use of nuclear weapons isnt one of them. But time spent now on nuclear proliferation issues, risk reduction and nuclear disarmament would be a very good investment.
Just like every year, Met Gala outfits of celebrities are making all the noise on social media. The memes and jokes have flooded the internet.

Bad girl RIRI has also become a target of trolls. Rihanna's floor-sweeping jacket caught the fancy of fans. While the Barbadian beauty's quirky and dramatic outfit was in line with American Fashion theme and she was one of the best-dressed celebrities, people still couldn't get over her oversized black cape that looked like a bath robe to them.



Twitter

Rihanna: Im an immigrant and thats my take on American fashion.  #MetGala2021 pic.twitter.com/OIt0UToriq  Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) September 14, 2021

The memes are all over the internet.

Security catching me after trying to get Rihanna to take off her coat #MetGala pic.twitter.com/XNFKUtOOVi  cocoapuffs (@Shearewatching) September 14, 2021

Me checking every 2s if Rihanna take that coat off #MetGala pic.twitter.com/fCRrBfRJAf  M (@lorxnem) September 14, 2021

Rihanna babe I beg you have a dramatic reveal under that massive coat and hat of yours  #MetGala #MetGala2021 pic.twitter.com/bMELz1XCfE  Holli  (@Holliaietan) September 14, 2021

Rihanna not doing a reveal is my villain origin story #MetGala #MetGala2021 pic.twitter.com/0YLpUoTWUI  Holli  (@Holliaietan) September 14, 2021

an album better be underneath that #Rihanna #MetGala pic.twitter.com/2JLay9hIqf        (@y_aldariii) September 14, 2021

Im sorry Rihanna but that was a miss #MetGala pic.twitter.com/9VwRUe2s5a  hadija | DANNY RIC REDEMPTION ERA   (@F1DownUnder) September 14, 2021

Me waiting to see if Rihanna going to drop that big black trench coat for the final look:#MetGala pic.twitter.com/5EBjJA3WdP  A Blessing (@BLM_004) September 14, 2021

Rihanna please for the love of God tell me you have a secret outfit underneath that robe #MetGala2021 pic.twitter.com/HGrX7mOJg9   (@j8z1yn) September 14, 2021

Rihanna had me waiting up for hours, only to come to met gala looking like a big bedspread? pic.twitter.com/aFO8rBHiuY  - (@thenubiabrand) September 14, 2021

So let me understand. Rihanna is late to the Met Gala because she had to stop at Bed Bath & Beyond to purchase a black bedspread to wear to the event? #MetGala2021 #MetGala #fashionista #FashionWeek pic.twitter.com/IS6z2LlTPB  MARTY (@WALSTGUY) September 14, 2021

why is rihanna wearing a bedsheet  bandit (@highitsina) September 14, 2021

Rihanna has been one of the best dressed celebrities at Met Gala -- be it her pope moment in 2018 to her yellow gown with a huge trail in 2015.



Last year, the diva had admitted she has often felt overdressed.



"That night, the choreography of getting in the car and getting out, like we had to choreograph it. Who sits at the door? Where does the coat go? Where do I sit?"



"I remember being so scared to get out of that car because I felt like, 'Im doing too much. I was driving past the red carpet, and I was just seeing like gowns, and I was like, Oh my god, like, Im a clown. People are going to laugh at me. This is like, too much. I thought that. I circled like, three times, Im not even joking, and finally, I was like, Whatever, lets go. Lets just go. Lets just go. I know. I dont regret it," she told Access.






The Tamil Nadu assembly on Monday passed a Bill that attempts to bypass the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical students in the state, instead allowing admissions to be made based on marks obtained by students in Class XII or Plus Two.

All parties, except the BJP, supported the Bill. Since the Bill attempts to bypass a Central law, it will only come into effect with Presidential assent.

BCCL

NEET has been a politically sensitive issue in the state for many years. The death by suicide of Anita, a 17-year-old girl who was from a Dalit family, in 2017 resulted in numerous protests across the state. She had scored high marks in Class XII but was unable to clear NEET.



The demand for scrapping the exam escalated on social media platforms yesterday when a 19-year-old had allegedly died of suicide fearing failure in medical entrance exams. After the demise of the NEET aspirants, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said that the legal battle to scrap NEET will continue".



Why is only NEET scrapped?

Many students also question why the state government wants to scrap the NEET while is not against JEE Mains which is a centralised entrance exam for engineering. The state government claims that the centralised, single-day exam puts pressure on students.

PTI

Unlike engineering aspirants who have state and central level exams, for medical aspirants there is only one exam - NEET - for admission to both centre and state level colleges.



What will its impact be on admissions?

Tamil Nadu had earlier set up a committee to study the social and economic impacts of NEET. The committee had found that students who get admissions to medical colleges based on NEET perform poorer than those who get admissions based on class 12 scores.

The report also suggested that students from affluent families tend to score better in the exam. NEET, within its purview, also does not seem to ensure the merit or standard of students who are eventually offered MBBS seats, it said.

bccl

The findings indicate that NEET has only enabled and empowered comparatively low performing (in NEET score and Class XII score) students to get admission to MBBS. Therefore, the question of NEET ensuring quality and merit of students is to be ruled out. Comparatively, it has been observed that admissions based on Class XII marks during the pre-NEET period ensured the entry of quality and meritorious students.



What has changed?

To ensure that students from across social and economic backgrounds stand a chance to become doctors, the government has also introduced reservations for EWS and OBC candidates.

Unsplash

This is in addition to existing reservations for SC, ST candidates. In addition to 15% reservation offered to SC and 7.5% to ST category students, 27% seats will be reserved for OBC and 10% for EWS category students in medical admissions under All India Quota (AIQ).
1) India logs 25,404 new Covid cases, down by 6.8% from yesterday

India has logged 25,404 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours and saw a decline of 6.8 per cent from yesterday. With the new infections, the total case tally has reached 3,32,89,579. A total of 339 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, increasing the total reported death count to 4,43,213. Top five states which have registered maximum cases are Kerala with 15,058 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 2,740 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,580 cases, Mizoram with 1,502 cases and Andhra Pradesh with 864 cases.

2) Red alert issued in 7 Odisha districts due to heavy rains

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued a red alert in seven districts, an orange alert in six districts and a yellow alert in eight districts for the next 24 hours due to heavy rains. IMD predicted heavy to very heavy rains in 1-2 districts and flash floods as well. "Odisha IMD issues red alert in 7 districts, orange alert in 6 districts, yellow alert in 8 districts for next 24 hours due to heavy rains. There are chances of heavy to very heavy rains in 1-2 districts. There are also chances of flash floods," Umashankar Das, a scientist at IMD Bhubaneswar told ANI.

3) Green card for a fee, proposes US Bill; Indians may benefit

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.
President Joe Biden meets virtually with the Quad  Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia  in the State Dining Room at the White House March 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Solar power panels in India. President Bidens Special Climate Envoy John Kerry has 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. (IANS photo)
An employee cost a New York county at least $6,000 in electricity bills by allegedly secretly installing dozens of machines at his workplace in a cryptocurrency scheme, authorities said Wednesday, announcing charges against him.

Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said Christopher Naples, who worked in the county clerks office as a supervisor of information technology operations, is charged with counts including public corruption, grand larceny, and computer trespass.

An email seeking comment was sent to Naples attorney. He appeared in court on Wednesday and was released on his own recognizance.

Sini said Naples, 42, who has worked for the county since 2000, had put 46 devices throughout the county center in Riverhead, New York, in locations like an unused electrical wall panel or underneath floorboards. At least some of the devices had been in place since February.

Naples, of Mattituck, New York, is accused of using the devices to mine Bitcoin and other types of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency units are created by computers solving complex math equations, and the process can result in heavy electricity usage and high cooling costs.

Mining cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of resources, and miners have to navigate how to cover all of those electricity and cooling costs, Sini said in a statement announcing the arrest. Naples found a way to do it; unfortunately, it was on the backs of taxpayers.

Naples faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top count against him.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Abuse Molestation New York Mining
RT Specialty Promotes Fagan Within Environmental and Construction Professional Practice

Joseph Fagan has been promoted to account manager within the environmental and construction professional (ECP) practice of RT Specialty. He is based in RT ECPs Hamilton, New Jersey, offices.

Since joining the company in 2019, Fagan has focused on the development of client proposals, coverage assessments and insurance policy comparisons primarily in the construction world.

RT ECP is part of the RT Specialty division of RSG Specialty LLC, a Delaware limited liability company based in Illinois. RSG Specialty LLC, is a subsidiary of Ryan Specialty Group LLC. RT ECP provides wholesale insurance brokerage and other services to agents and brokers.

Source: RT Specialty

Dennis M. Baez Joins Berkley Construction Professional as SVP of Underwriting

Dennis M. Baez joined Berkley Construction Professional, a division of Berkley Company Berkley Alliance Managers, as a senior vice president of underwriting.

He is responsible for underwriting primary and excess business within the retail and wholesale insurance communities, fostering strong broker relationships and achieving profitable growth for Berkley Construction Professionals contractors and owners professional liability portfolio.

Baez joins Berkley Construction Professional with more than 20 years of professional liability brokering experience. During that time, he has worked with design firms, contractors, project owners and developers providing advisory and broking services for various practice and project professional liability programs.

Based in Berkley Construction Professionals midtown New York City office, Baez is a licensed insurance agent in California and New York.

Source: Berkley Construction Professional

Topics Construction
LONDON  Theres no free lunch in finance  except when banks are wooing workers back to the office.

Londons financial sector, keen to return to a semblance of normality after the worst of the pandemic, is leading the charge to encourage employees back to their old lives, with some companies even offering free food and social events.

It seems to be working; Londons transport operator said this week it recorded its busiest day since the pandemic hit in March 2020, as workers filled once-deserted trains into the capitals twin financial districts of the City and Canary Wharf.

Canary Wharf Group, which runs that district, also said it was busier than at any time since last March. Crowds of office staff thronged its plazas, while City workers bustled on London Bridge and lounged by Tower Bridge in the resurgent September sun.

It feels like London offices post the summer-holiday period should be starting to get back to normal in September and October, said Ian Williams, who works at investment bank Peel Hunt and was traveling back into his office in the City of London this week for the first time.

Indeed Standard Chartered said that about 33% of staff were in the office this week, up from 20% last week and from a few dozen during lockdowns this year and last.

The bank is among those getting creative in rewarding staff who make it into the office, in its case by providing free food.

Meanwhile Goldman Sachs, whose CEO has called home working an aberration, is offering sweet temptation with a free gelato ice cream bar.

The investment bank said around 3,000 workers came in to its Plumtree Court offices in Londons City this week. That was roughly 50% capacity, and up six times from the peak of lockdowns when the bank operated with just 400-500 staff in per day, it added.

Daily occupancy at HSBCs headquarters in Canary Wharf rose to 1,800 people out of a possible 3,500 this week, from a recent average of 1,000-1,500, the bank told Reuters, and more are expected to join the crowd in the next few weeks.

Theres no such thing as a free lunch there, though.

The bank has not prioritized offering incentives like free food, its UK CEO Ian Stuart told Reuters, in recognition of the fact that some 10,000 branch staff have come in to work every day through the pandemic without such lures.

We are trying to communicate very effectively that the offices are safe, the first hurdle is getting people to come in and try it and more and more are doing that, he said.

BACK GETTING CRUSHED ON TRAIN

A similar office influx is happening in the United States, albeit cautiously amid fears about the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant. Citigroup expects staff to come back to offices in New York and other big cities two days a week from Sept. 13, but only if they have been vaccinated.

Senior executives face a tricky task in encouraging staff back to work at a time when cases of COVID-19 are still on the rise in Britain and commuter trains above and below ground are baking under near-record temperatures for September.

Its a bit crazy, suddenly were back to getting crushed on the train and not everyone is wearing a mask, Rob, who works for a financial firm, told a Reuters reporter on Tuesday on a train into Londons City district.

Id had enough of sitting at home, to be honest.

Investment bank executives have been among the most vocal on the need for staff to return to the office.

They hope that the novelty of office working after a year and half at home, plus the lure of mingling with senior executives who might open the door to promotion, will outweigh health concerns among young City staff.

JPMorgan has seen about 35% of its staff in its Canary Wharf office this week, the highest proportion since the first UK lockdown began and a number it expects to rise.

Other companies are poised to follow suit, including retail bank NatWest, which is planning a phased return from next week starting with 50% occupancy in its offices in England and Scotland.

Insurer Phoenix Group has adopted another novel strategy for helping staff readjust to returning to its offices, including in the City.

It has run safely social events this week, where employees were offered free food and soft drinks as well as colored lanyards to show how comfortable they were with levels of interaction  ranging from Im keeping my distance to Im OK with high-fives.

(Reporting By Lawrence White, Iain Withers and Rachel Armstrong; Additional reporting by Patrick Graham, Devik Jain, and Noor Zainab Hussain; Editing by Pravin Char)

Topics London
Trumpeting a message that he conceded might be different from peers, Stefan Golling, a member of Munich Re Board of Management, said that Munich Re remains bullish on the cyber insurance and reinsurance markets.

In fact, if insurers and reinsurers shy away from the cyber market, they will not survive, said Golling, Munich Re board member for Global Clients/North America, during a presentation the European reinsurers virtual Rendez-Vous presentation.

Unlocking the Mysteries of Cyber Reinsurance (webinar) Volatile Cyber Market Struggles to Boost Reinsurance Capacity

He noted media reports of a hardening cyber insurance market, reduced available capacity and narrower carrier and reinsurer appetites for cyber risk. Those shouldnt scare insurers and reinsurers away, Golling said.

If we want to remain relevant in this industry, relevant for our clients, then we need to find solutions for cyber. And we will, he said. We are here to stay in the cyber insurance market, he said.

In 2020, Munich Re wrote $850 million in cyber premiums, with roughly half of the total in primary insurance and half in reinsurance, Golling said, and his presentation pointed out that Munich Re wrote only about $150 million in cyber insurance and reinsurance six years earlier in 2014. Golling reported that Munich Res cyber premium volume is set to soar past the $1 billion mark in 2021 (remaining 50% in primary vs. reinsurance).

We have more than 130 colleagues at work on this. We have collected millions of data points We have developed specific coverages for specific market segmentspersonal lines, small SMEs, mid-market, or larger industrial accounts. And of course we need to control our accumulation risk, he said.

We focus on primary insurance and reinsurance in a similar way. We want to be very close to the business, he said, explaining why Munich Re participates in the primary cyber insurance market. On the reinsurance side, we focused on proportional reinsurance. We need to see the trends, the data firsthand. If we would only learn every 10, every 20 years, from a cyber hurricane, then presumably that wouldnt be good for us, he said.

Golling and Munich Re are not blind to the emerging cyber losses that have fueled a hardening market and competitors increased wariness about providing coverage. In fact, Golling, citing research figures from publisher Cybersecurity Ventures, noted that global economic losses from cyber crime amounted to $6 trillion in 2021double the $3 trillion figure registered in 2015, and projected to balloon to more than $10 trillion by 2025.

Referring to one component of the jumpsransomware lossesGolling said that while only $20 billion of the $6 trillion is attributed to ransomware, the trend in ransomware losses from 2015 to 2021 actually increased by more than 50 times. The $20 billion of economic losses for ransomware, he said, is more than the size of the cyber insurance market for the next couple of years.

The economy really needs more cyber resilience, needs more investments in cybersecurity, and more cyber insurance. We need to increase the density of cyber insurance, he said.

The Value of Cyber Insurance

At one point during his presentation, Golling referred to the idea advanced by some critics of the cyber insurance market suggesting that the insurance industry, by insuring ransom payments, is fueling the increase in such attacks. It is important to note that we do not only insure the ransom payments under cyber insurance [policies], but we especially also respond with our cyber insurance products to business interruption losses to recover costs [and] to potential liability questions that come with ransomware attacks.

I would even argue [that] cyber insurance is presumably one of the biggest levers to reduce the consequences of ransomware attacks, he said, explaining that buyers of cyber insurance have to fulfill some basic cybersecurity requirements in order to secure coverage. So, with the starting point of purchasing cyber insurance, usually you first become more resilient, and this should decrease the overall frequency in ransomware losses, he said, adding that cyber insurance comes wrapped up with post-incident services that come into play in the event of attack. Such services, he said, help them reduce the severity in case of loss.

While Golling affirmed that the ransomware trend is a clear challenge for the insurance industry, he added, that such challenges have been mastered many times in other classes of business by insurers who refine their risk appetites, introduce deductibles and adjust limits of coverage. So [it is] nothing that should be a major concern for us.

You cannot blindly underwrite a cyber risk. Then you will fail, he said.

The cyber insurance market will stay and we, as Munich Re, want to stay as one of the cyber market leaders, and especially as an opinion leader in this important segment for the future. We want to be the preferred partner for our reinsurance clients in this field of business, he emphasized.

Beyond Ransomware: Uninsurable Cyber Wars

Golling clearly differentiated between insurable ransomware risks, systemic cyber risks and cyber wars, noting that the private insurance market cannot tackle the last two categories alone.

Everybody accepts that the risk like war cannot be covered by the private market, and can only be possibly covered by state-backed pool solutions, Golling said.

Is there a common understandingis there an industry alignment about what constitutes actually a cyber war? How would our policies respond to a cyber war event, or an event that someone call cyber war some would maybe argue its not?

He argued the same is true for cyber attacks on critical infrastructure.

The failure of the Internet, the failure of telecommunication networks, the failure of power grids after cyber attackscannot be insured by the private insurance market because the accumulation will be by far too big, he said, noting that this idea is also widely accepted. But the topic of cyber war is presumably not addressed enough yet.

Golling added: Is there a common understandingis there an industry alignment about what constitutes actually a cyber war? How would our policies respond to a cyber war event, or an event that someone call cyber war some would maybe argue its not?

Drawing from lessons of the global pandemic, Golling warned that the industry needs to be crystal clear about what is covered and what is not. Wording ambiguity is what we have to avoid by all means. We cannot risk again, like maybe last year that we have a situation where our customers have the belief that they are covered, and the insurance industry, we have the firm belief that such systemic risk was excluded.

He concluded: Let me emphasize, we need to have clear wordings in place, and we need to develop government-backed pool solutions, private-public partnerships for systemic risks also in cyberand not just after the first big event, but beforehand.

Unique Coverage: Insuring AI

Systemic risks aside, Munich Re is willing to offer unique coverage in the world of cybersecurity, as evidenced by a policy written for a company called Deep Instinct, which describes itself as a leader in deep learning-based cybersecurity that detects cyber attacks in milliseconds, preventing them from causing harm.

In March, Deep Instinct announced that it would back its service with a performance guarantee that ensures an incredibly low false positive rate, alongside a ransomware warranty that it said was three times higher than any other cybersecurity companyup to $3 million per company for a single breach. (With dramatically lower levels of false positive alerts, security teams can be much more efficient, Deep Instinct said, explaining the performance guarantee component of the coverage.)

The Deep Instinct guarantee and warranty are backed by an insurance policy purchased from the Munich Re Group, which carried out extensive due diligence on Deep Instincts technology. The policy is an example of a product line that Munich Re refers to as aiSure for startups using artificial intelligence.

Fabian Winter, Head of Data and Analytics-Munich Re, spoke about the entire class of aiSure products, without specifically referring to the Deep Insight example, during a presentation following Golling at the Rendez-Vous event last week.

Munich Re has started to protect AI startups from an underperformance of the promised solution. To do this, Munich Re has to understand all relevant data and AI risk within the solution being offered. This builds trust, lowers POC [proof-of-concept] times and enables startups to grow faster, he said, highlighting expertise that Munich Re has built in data and analytics

According to Munich Res media statement, in addition to writing the aiSure policies to guarantee the performance of algorithms, Munich Re provides advice to AI providers in designing their performance guarantees, relieves them of significant balance-sheet risks and thus makes them more attractive to investors and clients relying on the performance of algorithms.

Winter also spoke about other data and analytics initiatives, including Munich Res work on an Insurance Analytics Platform that enables insurers to collate their own data with sector-specific external data provided by Munich Re. Using far greater and more relevant data volumes provides the basis for enhanced portfolio management and smarter decision-makingfrom distribution and pricing to claims handling, he said.

In addition, he mentioned work that Munich Re is doing with leading academic research institutions such as the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, and the reinsurers participation in a recently established Quantum Technology & Application Consortium (QUTAC), together with nine leading German corporations, which aims to identify future applications of quantum computing. Quantum computing, he said, will enable Munich Re and other companies to execute new AI use cases, he said, adding that it will also come with new risks. (Editors Note: Some reports about quantum computing in recent years have raised concerns about potential cyber-security threats.)

This article first was published in Insurance Journals sister publication, Carrier Management.

Related Reinsurance Articles:

Topics Cyber
Aon plc announced that the facultative reinsurance broking team within Aons Singapore Broking Centre and Reinsurance Solutions APAC facultative team have combined to create a united facultative reinsurance broking team to serve Aons clients in the Asia Pacific region.

The newly combined team is part of Aons Reinsurance Solutions.

Geoff Lambrou has become CEO, Facultative  Asia Pacific, to lead the newly combined team, reporting to George Attard, APAC CEO of Reinsurance Solutions. Lambrou is also aligned to Andrew Laing, global CEO of Facultative for Reinsurance Solutions. In his new role, Lambrou is responsible for developing and executing APACs facultative reinsurance growth plan in conjunction with Reinsurance Solutions country leadership teams and global solution line objectives.

Aon said the combined Asia Pacific facultative reinsurance operation allows:

Focused investments in expertise, data, analytics and trading solutions to better address clients evolving needs.

A coordinated approach to working with reinsurer partners, positioning Aon to innovate and grow in an expanding market.

The united platform will allow Aon to develop further opportunities arising from the continued and robust growth in facultative reinsurance in the APAC region, as insurers demonstrate confidence in the solution to manage earnings volatility and capital.

Source: Aon

Topics Reinsurance Aon
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at three brokers: BMS, Oneglobal Broking and Miller.

A summary of these new hires follows.

BMS Australia Names Gallaghers Van Dugteren, Aons McKenzie for Financial Lines

BMS, the independent specialist insurance and reinsurance broker, announced the appointment of Guy Van Dugteren as national claims and technical manager, financial lines, in Australia. Additionally, BMS confirmed Andrew McKenzies appointment as head of financial lines, Northern Region, in Australia.

McKenzie and Van Dugteren are based in Brisbane and report to Stuart Davies, head of financial lines at BMS Australia. Both assume their roles effective immediately.

Van Dugteren will lead BMSs Australian Financial Lines Claims and Technical function and brings with him more than 15 years experience as an admitted insurance lawyer. Prior to joining BMS, Van Dugteren worked at Gallagher, where he held the role of manager, national technical claims. Before this he served as a solicitor at Colin Biggers & Paisley, where he gained extensive experience in corporate governance, D&O risk advisory services, insurance policy advisory services, construction disputes, claims management audits and professional indemnity claims.

McKenzie joins BMS in Australia from his most recent role as director of specialties at Aon, where he also led Aons Financial Services Group. With more than 25 years experience in the insurance sector, McKenzie brings to BMS in Australia a wealth of industry experience and a deep understanding of the risks facing financial institutions, professional service providers and the boardrooms of corporate Australia. Prior to McKenzies 19 years at Aon, he was the specialty insurance lines leader at Marsh for eight years.

Guys technical legal skills will be key to enhancing our marketing and risk management expertise as brokers and Andrews extensive client and placement experience will be a significant boost to our financial lines business, commented Davies. Its great to officially welcome Andrew to the team and to announce Guys appointment, I look forward to working with them both.

***

elsecos Warren Named CEO of Oneglobals Middle East Operation

Oneglobal Broking, the London-based specialist international broker, has appointed Matthew Warren as CEO of Oneglobal Middle East and will operate from Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai, UAE.

Warren will report directly to Oneglobals Group CEO Mike Reynolds.

Warrens appointment will contribute to Oneglobals strategy to build out its operations across the region and will be another step towards its growth plans following the opening of the Netherlands and Bermuda this year.

Warren is a highly experienced business leader with more than 35 years in the insurance industry and will shortly be leaving his current employer, elseco Ltd., having held the position of chief operating officer. Warren has also held senior leadership positions at Talbot Underwriting, Investors Guaranty Group, Lloyds of London, Marsh and more, having begun his career at English & American, ILU London.

Mike Reynolds, Group CEO, Oneglobal commented, Oneglobal is delighted to be opening an office in the dynamic market of the Middle East. This has been an important objective of ours since our launch in 2020. With this office opening and the appointment of Matthew as CEO, Oneglobal can continue to provide high quality and comprehensive services to our clients around the globe. I look forward to working with Matthew and the team he will be onboarding shortly.

Owned by financial services private equity firm JC Flowers, Oneglobal Broking was founded in 2018 following the merger of the SSL and Endeavour insurance broking houses. The broker focuses on the placement of open market and delegated authority business, across marine, aviation, property, casualty and specialty lines.

***

Miller Names Willis Goreham as Head of Construction

Miller, a London-based independent specialist re/insurance broker, announces the expansion of its construction practice, targeting growth in UK, international/wholesale and renewables construction and surety lines. To lead this expansion, Pauline Goreham has joined Miller as head of Construction with immediate effect, with Steve Cox and Jon Burke joining later in September.

Goreham brings 30-plus years of insurance industry experience, of which more than 20 have been dedicated to construction with experience across UK construction, infrastructure and renewables.

Goreham joins Miller from Willis Towers Watson, where her most recent position was UK Construction and Project Risks Practice Leader.

Cox will be joining as an account executive/producing broker and will focus on UK construction business, working alongside Dave Cahill to further expand this specialty area, which was launched at the end of 2020. Cox has 40 years experience in construction and joins Miller from WTW where he held the position of Deputy Leader of the UK Construction Practice.

Burke will join as account executive/broker focusing on UK construction in support of Cox and Cahill. Burke joins from WTW where he was account director in the UK Construction Practice. His expertise includes experience across contractors, standalone projects and energy from waste projects in the UK.

Cox and Burke will report to Goreham, who will report to Martin Henderson, head of Energy.

Topics Auto Aon Willis Towers Watson Construction A.J. Gallagher Australia
Authorities said on Sept. 12 that a vast majority of the Greenwood Lake wildfire in northern Minnesota is contained, one month after lighting ignited the blaze in the Superior National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service reported that the nearly 27,000-acre fire was 67% contained as of Sunday morning. The Forest Service had said last week that the fire was nearly half under control as hundreds of firefighters were still being dispatched to the area.

I think the team is feeling really good about how things are looking out there. Theres been a lot of great work done and progress made taking advantage of this cooler weather, Fire Service spokeswoman Stefani Spencer said. The containment is pretty much growing every day.

Spencer added that the public is happy to have roads open, including all traffic opened along Highway 2. She said the closure was an inconvenience and frustration for folks traveling to Ely and the popular Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Star Tribune reported.

The fire started was by lightning on Aug. 15 about 10 miles southwest of Isabella. It has destroyed 14 cabins and homes along with 57 outbuildings. Some residents in the affected area who were evacuated have recently been allowed to return to homes and cabins after the fire lost intensity.

Authorities said the fire is not expected to grow now that cooler weather is moving into the Great Lakes region.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Minnesota
Radford Joins Indianas DOXA Insurance

DOXA Insurance Holdings in Fort Wayne, Indiana, hired seasoned insurance veteran, Kellam Radford, as national program director.

Radford has broad experience on both the carrier and MGA sides of the business, specifically in program management, distribution and underwriting.

Doxa Insurance Holdings is a Midwest-domiciled holding company that acquires specialty niche-focused insurance distribution companies such as managing general agencies, wholesale brokers, program administrators, and retail agencies.

Michigans AF Group Names Hicks Sr. VP

Lansing, Michigan-based AF Group added Mike Hicks as senior vice president of digital experience. Hicks will be responsible for providing key leadership of the innovation, customer experience, business transformation and information technology teams, further strengthening AF Groups focus on best serving the rapidly changing needs of its valued customers.

Hicks formerly served as senior vice president and chief information officer for Emergent Holdings Inc., with technology oversight for AF Group, Advantasure, Senior Health Services and Covantage Health Partners.

During his 25-year career, Hicks has held senior-level positions with Guardian Life, MassMutual Financial Group, The Hartford Life Insurance Co., The Phoenix Life Insurance Company and Lincoln Financial Group.

Topics Indiana
Firefighters were still battling a blaze on Sept. 13 at a Grand Island meatpacking plant 12 hours after first arriving on the scene.

Fire crews were first called to the JBS plant just before 10 p.m. on Sept. 12, Battalion Chief Scott Kuehl said, and arrived to find flames in the rendering area of the plant.

The six-alarm fire kept firefighters at the plant all night and into late Monday morning as the fire spread in concealed spots within the plants ceiling and walls. No injuries have been reported.

The fire interrupted work at the plant, with workers told not to report to work Monday.

The cause of the fire was not yet known by late Monday morning, officials said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Nebraska
If anyone should be attuned to the real-world impacts of global warming, its the policy makers and business heads that have to deal with the fallout. But even the most well-intentioned can fail to grasp just how bad things could get if climate goals arent met.

At least thats the impression I get. Thats why I reached out to Andy Pitman and Sonia Seneviratne, two of the worlds top experts on the most catastrophic effects of climate change. Their fields of study focus on extremes and compound events. Both worry that institutions are too focused on outcomes we can predict with high confidence. There isnt enough appreciation of the risks associated with new weather patterns we dont yet understand.

Warming of about 1.2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels has already had devastating consequences. Once we get around 2C we are getting to a climate regime which hasnt been seen for as long as the human species has been at work, said Seneviratne, a professor at ETH Zurich who oversaw the chapter on extremes in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. The document, published every six to seven years, is the pinnacle of scientific knowledge about global warming.

Decision makers dont fully comprehend the second-order effects, after physical destruction, that increasingly extreme weather events will have on our social and economic systems. Some of these outcomes are hard to predict and that uncertainty will only grow the more fossil fuels we burn.

Thats one of the reasons why economic policy makers focus their analysis around what is best known, such as mean temperature changes and historical correlations between gross domestic product and climate.

A seminal paper published by the Bank for International Settlements warned that the Knightian uncertainty and epistemic break created by climate change present a deep challenge to monetary policy. But in practice the unknowns are still being overlooked. New scenarios produced for the central banks climate network in June, for example, only consider the effects of increases in temperature, excluding other factors such as extreme weather and sea-level rise.

Pitman, director of a multi-university center on climate extremes in Australia who has also contributed to previous IPCC reports, points to financial stress tests and macroeconomic modeling as one example of where this kind of thinking goes wrong.

The instruments are meant to estimate the effects of higher levels of warming, but if it tells you you are resilient at 4C, that doesnt mean youll be okay. It means your analysis is crap, he said. Its like asking what would happen if you jumped off a 50-meter cliff and then finding youd land at the bottom and youd be fine.

Economists might disagree, he says, but their modeling systems, the way they utilize information, only gives them a bit of the picture about what 4C means.

Seneviratne, meanwhile, says industry and economic analysts might be missing how different climate change impacts will interact with each other. Different regions risks are interconnected and this means much more risk altogether to society, she said.

For example, consider the face mask shortage early on in the pandemic or the delays still plaguing the global shipping industry. We dont perceive that a few critical areas are responsible for economic supplies, Seneviratne said. I see it in Switzerland. We are a rich country but we are quite dependent on supply chains because we rely on imports.

Compound events, she says, are still not well understood by the public, either. On top of sea-level rise you have more heavy precipitation and tropical cyclones, said Seneviratne. So many coastal communities maybe dont understand that the risk will be much higher.

To make matters worse, that narrow understanding of climate risks is often accompanied by an overconfidence in the ability of modeling to produce very granular forecasts. Pitman says central banks that are beginning to test financial institutions on climate risk assume degrees of precision that simply arent yet possible. The argument I hear is that its better than nothing, he said. That is profoundly false, it is just plain wrong.

Rainfall is a case in point. Heavy rainfall events are becoming more frequent globally, and will get worse. But this doesnt mean that every place will experience more flooding. The effect of background warming on local phenomena resulting from changes in storm tracks mean some areas will likely experience much less rainfall, which can be disastrous in a very different way to flooding.

It is better than nothing to be told we think rainfall will intensify, where it might intensify 10%, 15% or 20% and were not sure exactly how much, said Pitman. But if we say rainfall will intensify 15% to 30% and instead it stops happening over a region, that could be catastrophic. You havent adapted and youve wasted money.

Talking about that uncertainty and the limits of what modeling can currently show has long been a double-edged sword. Climate deniers have pounced on it as a way to discredit climate science.

In fact, the opposite is true. For me, the remaining uncertainties should be used as an argument for acting as fast as we can, said Seneviratne.

Photo: Offshore oil supply containers are strewn about after Hurricane Idas storm surge swept through Port Fourchon, Louisiana, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021. More than a million customers in New Orleans and beyond face days or even weeks without electricity during the summer heat after Hurricane Ida devastated the power infrastructure.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Climate Change
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 couldnt be sent back after authorities moved the residents from the warehouse to shelters and other sites.

Louisiana Nursing Homes Lose Licenses After Ida Deaths

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 hadnt 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 Katrinas 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 Katrinas floodwaters.

Kanter said that before Katrina, some nursing homes didnt 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.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Windstorm Senior Care
On Aug. 25, the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, which dumped about 50 inches of rain on Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that the city is safer today as it prepares to move forward.

Now comes Tropical Storm Nicholas as a test. Nicholas, which is strengthening and may become a hurricane, could drop as much as 20 inches in the region starting Monday night.

Since Harvey, Harris County, home to Houston, passed a $2.5 billion bond program to build and strengthen flood-control infrastructure, and the federal government authorized four major projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Jim Blackburn, an environmental law professor at Rice Universitys Baker Institute for Public Policy, wrote a report on flood preparedness after Harvey. He said the city, which sprawls near sea level across a network of bayous and wetlands, still isnt ready, and that 20 inches of rain in 24 hours could still overwhelm it. Houston still hasnt fully reacted to the ways that climate change is altering the environment.

Weve done a lot better than we have done in the past, Blackburn said, but it may not be good enough for what we are facing.

For example, he said, Harris County is updating flood maps with 2017 data, which includes Harvey, but not later storms like Imelda and Delta that dropped lots of rain. If those were included, the area of highest risk  where residents are subject to tougher building codes and higher insurance rates  would increase still further.

The reality is horrifying to politicians, Blackburn said. The implication is that more people will need to be relocated than want to be, and that is one of the hardest things a politician has to do.

Turner and Lina Hidalgo, Harris Countys top elected official, have been eager to highlight their accomplishments. Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for Hidalgo, said the county has completed 27 flood mitigation projects valued at $221 million, removing about 11,000 homes from the floodplain. Harris acquired 660 flood-prone lots, 615 of which have already been returned to green space, through voluntary buyouts. An additional 662 are being bought and converted.

Error! Filename not specified.Traffic passes over Brays Bayou in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston in 2018. Photographer: Loren Elliott/Getty Images

The county also says that improvements done with the Army Corps to Brays Bayou, which runs 31 miles (50 kilometers) through the county, already prevented flooding that would have occurred from Tropical Storm Beta last year.

Still, both Turner and Hidalgo acknowledge there is more to do. Rices Kinder Institute for Urban Research released a report this year that found homes were still being built in the floodplain, and were still underinsured.

The city and county have around $15 billion and $30 billion of residential home value built in these floodplains, according to the report. Units in the floodplain outnumber insurance policies by a ratio of 4 to 1, meaning that a massive amount of residential wealth is vulnerable to washing away in the next storm.

Blackburn said that most of what the county has constructed amounts to better retention ponds. Thats good, he said, but no community in the metropolitan area of 6.5 million has completed work enough to be entirely protected.

Politics has hindered the effort. Infrastructure takes a long time to complete and there has been a bitter partisan battle to get the Texas General Land Office, run by a Republican, to release federal funds to the Democrat-dominated city.

Meanwhile, the number of extreme weather events caused by climate change is rising. Nicholas is the 14th storm of the 2021 Atlantic season, half of which have hit the U.S. The worst was Hurricane Ida, which crashed into the Louisiana coastline before devastating New York and killing more than 40 people. An average Atlantic season produces 14 storms by the time it ends on Nov. 30, so 2021 is ahead of pace.

I dont think we are doing a good job of looking forward to where climate change is going, in terms of the engineering methods that are utilized, Blackburn said. We are playing catch-up. And as long as we are playing catch-up, we are always behind.

With assistance from Brian K Sullivan.

Photo: Traffic passes over Brays Bayou in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston in 2018. Photographer: Loren Elliott/Getty Images

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm
COVID-19 has inflicted significant damage on Floridas events industry, costing revenue, forcing changes in how the states venues operate and limiting options for how conventions, trade shows and concerts are insured.

Before the pandemic, event planners in Florida and around the country could easily purchase insurance protecting them from losses if they were forced to cancel conferences, sporting events or festivals because of factors ranging from hurricanes to terrorism to communicable diseases.

In most cases, industry experts say, communicable disease coverage was a relatively inexpensive add-on to event cancellation insurance. For policies on some smaller events, like weddings or book signings, insurers might even include the coverage as a freebie in an event cancellation policy.

After all, what were the odds that an infectious illness would cause massive shutdowns? It had been 100 years since the last worldwide pandemic.

Then COVID hit and for a time, every non-essential activity was shuttered around the country. Even Florida, which became known for its relative openness during the pandemic, restricted bars and restaurants and implemented a statewide stay-at-home order for residents for most of April 2020. Theme parks, including Disney World, closed for several months. Starting at the end of March 2020, the governor required travelers from states including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-quarantine for two weeks.

After statewide restrictions were lifted, local limits remained in the hardest hit areas; The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to advise caution. People from other states faced travel limits that prevented them from attending events.

In places where government restrictions didnt hinder activities, many people chose to avoid travel and large gatherings for their own safety.

Research showed that consumer traffic fell 60% nationwide between March 1 and the week of April 12, 2020, according to Robert P. Hartwig, director of the Center for Risk and Uncertainty Management at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. Just 7% of that drop was attributable to legal restrictions.

All of this combined to force the cancellation of conventions, conferences and trade shows costing venue and event operators in Florida alone billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Rethinking Event Cancellation Market

Event planners and operators with event cancellation policies turned to their insurance agents in the hopes of filing claims. Those who had added communicable disease coverage before anyone ever heard of COVID were in luck. Many others were not.

Nationally, insurers paid an estimated $6 billion to $10 billion in claims for COVID-19-related losses in 2020, according to Mark Friedlander, director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute.

But the amount of money paid on claims was significantly below insurers worst-case scenarios as most venues and event organizers absorbed a substantial amount of the losses, according to Hartwig, former president of the Insurance Information Institute.

Still, the experience was enough to convince insurers to rethink the event cancellation market. For starters, insurers no longer offer any kind of communicable disease coverage on event cancellation policies, industry experts say. And the coverage that remains available for things like weather disruptions is significantly more expensive.

Now policies come with higher deductibles and lower coverage limits, as insurers make up for losses both from COVID-related claims and business revenue lost to the fact that fewer events were held and fewer policies were purchased during the pandemic.

Some insurers have left the event cancellation market altogether, while some others see opportunity and are newly entering the market.

Orange County, Florida, home to Orlando, lost more than $2 billion because of canceled and rescheduled events at the Orange County Convention Center, according to Nadia Vanderhoof, marketing and communications manager for the convention center.

Specifically, between March and December last year, 59 events were canceled at the center, with an economic hit the county of $1.3 billion. Vanderhoof also said another 38 events were rescheduled, with an economic impact of $445 million.

Since January of 2021, an additional 20 events worth $667 million have been canceled, with another 25 events rescheduled, costing more than $635 million.

The Convention Center is just one venue in Orlando, which has a large hotel industry that serves as venues for conferences, trade shows and other business events.

Hotels and other venues, too, faced massive cancellations. Among them was the 2020 annual conference for the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) that had been booked at an Orlando hotel, according to the association President and CEO Kyle Ulrich.

The conference planners had expected about 1,000 insurance agents and 300 vendors that would have brought an average of about five employees each, for a total of about 2,500 people.

While the association did have event cancellation insurance, it did not have communicable disease coverage so, Ulrich said, it couldnt file a claim or recover losses.

But the association has a longstanding relationship with the hotel and was able to invoke the force majeure clause of its contract. So, it wound up saving what could have been more than $1 million in costs, according to Ulrich.

The association was not able to make up for hundreds of thousands of dollars in anticipated revenue from vendors at the conference. If it had had communicable disease coverage sufficient to cover the losses, the association would have been able to file a claim for the lost revenue.

The association had to cancel another, smaller event last September, a young agent sales and leadership conference that would have involved 150 to 200 attendees. Again, the association was able to avoid out-of-pocket losses with the hotel. And that event would not have generated vendor revenue, so there were no losses, Ulrich said.

Communicable Disease Coverage

Those event organizers who purchased event cancellation insurance with communicable disease coverage before the pandemic were in luck. In most cases, industry officials say, they were able to file successful claims to recover lost revenue and out-of-pocket expenses up to their policy limits.

Bob Skelton is chief administrative officer for the association management association ASAE, also known as the Center for Association Leadership. Skelton said conferences are the organizations lifeblood and where the organization makes its money.

In Florida alone, ASAE had to cancel six different meetings from March 2020 to January 2021. All the events scheduled through October 2020 had communicable disease coverage, according to Skelton.

If it didnt have the coverage for those events and others around the country, Skelton said, ASAE would have lost more than $6 million.

Skelton said the communicable disease add-on cost less than 5%. On a $10,000 policy, the coverage added maybe $500, he said.

ASAE purchases its event cancellation insurance policies in September. So, coverage for most of its events in 2020 was locked in before anyone ever heard of COVID.

Once COVID became a known threat in early 2020, however, insurers excluded the virus from coverage under new policies, and shortly thereafter, underwriters stopped writing new coverage for communicable diseases altogether, according to Hartwig.

Mary Beth Ryan, senior vice president at Risk Strategies, a Boston-based brokerage firm, said a lot of her clients are associations and events are significant portions of their budgets. Usually, they view insurance as protection against weather-associated cancellations.

We always advise to buy as much insurance as is available, Ryan said. Ultimately, that is the clients decision.

According to Ryan, before COVID, clients in Florida paid 0.2% to 0.25% of the insured amount for event cancellation coverage when it wasnt hurricane season and 0.35% to 0.45% during hurricane season.

Before the pandemic, the cost to add communicable disease coverage ranged from 0.025% to 0.15% depending on when the event was taking place, Ryan said.

About half of her clients purchased communicable disease coverage with their event cancellation policies last year. Everyone who did was able to file a successful claim.

Among the clients who benefitted from taking the advice, Ryan said, was a large trade show with a $15 million budget scheduled to be held in Florida in 2020. The show was canceled, but the operators managed to recoup at least $12 million through an insurance claim.

Getting these claims paid took longer than usual, however, because of the volume of cancellation. Under normal times, she said, an event cancellation claim takes an average of 90 days to settle. That has extended to six to 12 months during COVID.

After COVID, the cost for an event cancellation policy rose to 0.35% to 0.5% when it wasnt hurricane season and 0.8% to 1% during hurricane season, according to Ryan. Communicable disease coverage is no longer available.

According to IIIs Friedlander, the insurers that have left the event cancellation market altogether because of the scope of the losses in 2020 include Swiss Reinsurance Co., Munich Reinsurance Co., Chubb, Market and Talbot Underwriting. W.R. Berkeley is in the process of exiting the market, Friedlander said.

On the other hand, Friedlander added, Cincinnati Global, a unit of Cincinnati Financial Group, and some London-based insurers have entered the market, citing new opportunities.

Weddings and Other Small Events

Among event cancellation offerings, wedding insurance is one of the most popular kinds of coverage purchased in the U.S., Friedlander said.

Luis Gazitua, an agent with JAG Insurance Group in Coral Gables, Florida, said his company insures mostly small events like weddings, book signings and other short-duration events with budgets ranging from $350 to $3,000.

Gazitua said his clients that had coverage including communicable disease filed claims for four or five events last year. Every one of the claims was denied. One of the events was a wedding; another was a small, outdoor concert.

The insurers, Gazitua said, concluded that the events could have been conducted despite the pandemic, and therefore, refused to cover the losses. That may be because these events largely attract people who live within the state and dont have to travel far.

Before the pandemic, Gazitua said, these policies cost 3% to 5% of the covered amount. Now, the cost is about 20% to 30% higher. Deductibles have also increased slightly.

Kaliff Insurance offers event cancellation insurance for things like festivals, fairs and carnivals or any special event across the country, according to Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Olivares.

Nationally, Kaliff covers about 7,500 events a year, about 800 to 1,000 of which are in Florida.

About 75% of clients didnt purchase communicable disease add-on coverage when it was available, Olivares said. Consequently, they were out of luck when they had to cancel their events because of the pandemic.

Olivares said about 20 policies in Florida wound up paying out because of COVID-related cancellations. These involved smaller, indoor events with maybe 200 people expected to attend.

One of the covered events was a software conference that had been scheduled to take place in Orlando with about 500 attendees.

Many clients without communicable disease coverage called the agency to see if they were covered when they were forced to cancel their events, Olivares said. Some people that thought they had the coverage didnt have the communicable disease part, he said. There was quite a bit of that  hoping and praying that they would be covered.

Olivares said getting event cancellation insurance for larger events is now more challenging, even without communicable disease coverage. For example, if an event needs $7 million in coverage, Olivares said he must approach several different underwriters to purchase several policies covering part of the amount. Before all these issues, he said, It wouldnt be uncommon for them to write at 100%.

Demand for Coverage Higher

At the same time, the coverage is more in demand than before. It is a popular product, Olivares said. A lot of people are trying to navigate to make it fit within their budgets  A lot of people are disappointed that we cant offer communicable disease because its not available to the market.

As event operators navigate insurance issues and the country ventures a return to life beyond the pandemic, venues are welcoming the business while taking precautions.

The Orange County Convention Center is doing better business than usual, according to Vanderhoof, who said some events were conducted even during the pandemic. Over the last year, the center has hosted nearly 100 events, she said. This was aided by a Recovery and Resiliency Plan that incorporated safety and security guidelines. The guidelines called for 50% occupancy through June 2021 and 100% occupancy in July for ballrooms and meeting rooms.

The convention center also obtained an accreditation from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council attesting that it implemented criteria for cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention.

Moreover, it collaborated with the local health care system to provide medical services and resources to meetings and convention groups.

Vanderhoof added that the OCCC was the first convention center to host large-scale conventions and trade shows like the Surf Expo, with touchless, digital QR code registration.

Other events used on-site Rapid COVID-19 testing and still others, including the Central Florida International Auto Show, used mass temperature screenings, Vanderhoof said.

Moving forward, planners at the convention center have designed a touchless registration process with a focus on self-service and pre-determined arrival times.

Attendees passing through temperature checks are given wristbands. The center is also encouraging physical distancing and has increased the number of hand washing and hand sanitizer stations. When clients request, they continue requiring masks.

In addition to using high-efficiency filters on air handling units, the center uses an ultraviolet light system for disinfection in offices, meeting rooms and restrooms.

For several months, a parking garage at the north side of the center was used as a drive-through vaccination site. That concluded on May 21, allowing the center to resume hosting events in that end of the center.

FAIA 2021

After last years cancellation, the Florida Association of Insurance Agents had its 2021 annual conference in Orlando in June. Ulrich, the association president and CEO, said attendance was about 85% of the 2019 numbers, and there was a significant drop off in the number of exhibitors  only 190 exhibitors, compared to the average of about 300. Thats because many of the vendors are from different states or work for companies that still banned employees from traveling.

The association members, on the other hand, are largely small business owners in Florida who get to make their own decisions and tend to be social in nature, Ulrich said. After an extended time cooped up, many of them were eager to get together with friends and colleagues.

Although the association considered having a hybrid in-person and virtual event, it ultimately offered only the in-person option to members.

About two weeks before the conference, the CDC issued guidance allowing vaccinated individuals to gather indoors without masks. And so, the association allowed members to make their own decisions about whether to cover their faces, Ulrich said.

We didnt think we had to be the enforcement authority for any sort of rules, Ulrich said. Although members were encouraged to wear masks, most did not. The hotel encouraged social distancing, and hand sanitizing stations were ubiquitous.

The conference also hosted fewer hospitality events like cocktail receptions than it had in the past, according to Ulrich.

Ulrich said he doesnt think events in the future will be conducted differently once the pandemic is over. I dont think we will see any lasting changes, he said.

One exception is an annual legislative day that the association has in March for members to meet in Tallahassee with their state representatives to talk about issues.

The 2021 in-person three-day event was canceled because the capitol was closed, according to Ulrich. Instead, the association had an engagement month during which virtual get-togethers featured speakers and interaction with legislators.

Ulrich said the virtual event attracted members who had not traveled to Tallahassee for past legislative days. It was so successful, he said, that future political engagement events will include a virtual component. If providing a virtual platform makes a difference, he said, then well continue to do that.

Moving forward, Ryan said, the main concerns for insurers offering event cancellation policies are wind and hurricanes, civil commotion, blackouts and the potential that the president could die because of his age, sending the nation into mourning.

The lesson from the pandemic for event operators and insurers, said Olivares of Kaliff, is, Plan for the unexpected.

Ryan added, Purchase all insurance that is available in the marketplace at the time.

Topics Trends Florida Market
A Georgia nonprofit may not be able to press criminal charges against an executive accused of improper credit card charges because of an earlier agreement.

The Telegraph of Macon reports that Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia wants former Chief Financial Officer Tim Ligon prosecuted, accusing him of more than $76,000 in personal, unauthorized transactions on a company credit card.

A non-criminal complaint that Goodwill filed Aug. 23 in Morgan County said that Ligon, who lives there, made the purchases over the last seven years. Ligon was fired this spring, the complaint said.

A report written after the original complaint, states that Goodwill was not seeking criminal prosecution of this case, but simply needed a law enforcement incident report to provide to their insurance company.

Goodwill had earlier sent Ligon a letter giving him until Aug. 7 to repay the $76,593. The report said that Ligon signed and returned the letter to Goodwill, however he has not made any payments.

Macon-based Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the Central Savannah River Area serve 31 counties in Georgia and four in South Carolina. The group initially said it was working with its insurance company and law enforcement, It said Tuesday that its executive committee now wants criminal charges against Ligon in addition to restitution.

But Morgan County sheriffs deputies say prosecutors have concluded that the letter Ligon signed setting the Aug. 7 repayment deadline is a civil contract that shields Ligon from criminal charges.

That is not a criminal matter, Morgan County Chief Deputy Keith Howard said Wednesday. That is a civil matter. They had a contract with Mr. Ligon.

Macon-based Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the Central Savannah River Area serves 31 counties in Georgia and four in South Carolina.

Ligon did not return a message seeking comment.

Goodwill President James K. Jim Stiff told The Telegraph that the organization filed its complaint in Morgan County because thats where Ligon lives and is where most of the allegedly improper purchases were made.

So weve got now the interest in going to another (jurisdiction) within our territory that might prosecute him. So I think thats kind of the next step, Stiff said.

He declined to specify any of the items that Ligon is said to have bought using Goodwills credit card.

Its things, Stiff said, that when you look at it you go, `Thats obscenely obvious that thats got nothing to do with Goodwill.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Georgia
An explosion collapsed part of a building Sunday at an apartment complex in suburban Atlanta, news outlets reported.

The Dunwoody Police Department wrote on social media that they received a report of an explosion at Arrive Apartments shortly before 1:30 p.m. Photos from the scene show part of a building collapsed into heaps.

This is a very active scene and the cause of the explosion is under investigation, police wrote. They did not immediately release any information about injuries.

Eboni Thornton told WSB-TV that she was in a moving truck outside the building when it felt like something fell on top of the vehicle. She said the whole vehicle shook. She was shocked at what she saw when she got out of the truck.

The leasing office was collapsed on the left side, the double doors were blown out and I could hear a lady screaming her head off, Thornton said.

Thornton said she saw a couple people limping and bleeding and being carried out of the rubble.

Police said they are working with fire departments to determine the cause of the blast. They asked complex residents not impacted by the explosion to remain in their apartments.

Dunwoody is a suburb just north of Atlanta.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A federal judge wants PG&E Corp. to explain why it didnt turn off power sooner to a utility line suspected of causing the second-largest wildfire in California history.

At a hearing Monday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who oversees PG&Es criminal probation, questioned a PG&E troubleman who initially discovered that a tree had fallen on the line near the origin of the Dixie Fire. Alsup asked the worker, who the court wants to remain unidentified, why he didnt consider shutting off power to the line while investigating the cause of the outage that occurred in a high-fire-risk area.

The troubleman said he initially didnt see a tree on the line or signs of flames and needed to drive several hours before getting closer to the scene to investigate. When he arrived, he saw a tree leaning into wires and a small fire, which he tried to put out.

It took PG&E almost 10 hours to respond to the initial sign of trouble on the early morning of July 13.

Wouldnt it have been the prudent thing to do to turn that power off in case there was a tree on the line, Alsup asked during the hearing. Alsup said it was possible that the tree could have caused a ground fault with electricity flowing through it and eventually igniting it.

He directed PG&E to identify the individuals who made the decision to respond to the event and answer his additional questions about the blaze by Friday.

We share the courts focus on safety and recognize that we must take a leading role in preventing future catastrophic wildfires, PG&E said in a statement. We also recognize the devastation caused by the Dixie Fire, and we are grateful to the first responders who continue to fight and work to contain the blaze.

High Stakes

The stakes are mounting for PG&E if its found at fault for the Dixie Fire and others that have ravaged Northern California in recent years. The company is fighting criminal charges for a 2019 fire and facing a criminal probe for a 2020 blaze. Alsups scrutiny could put additional pressure on state regulators to escalate their oversight of the company. Meanwhile, if PG&E is found to have willfully disregarded public safety, it may be denied protection in a California wildfire insurance fund.

Since its ignition, the Dixie Fire has consumed more than 960,000 acres while burning most of the Gold Rush-era town of Greenville. It was the first blaze in state history to burn from one side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the other. The wildfire has destroyed 1,329 structures and resulted in one death, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The cause of the fire, which is 75% contained, remains under investigation.

Alsup has been scrutinizing PG&Es role in sparking wildfires as part of his oversight of the company that stems from a 2010 deadly natural gas explosion. PG&E emerged from bankruptcy last year after its equipment was blamed for starting some of the worst blazes in California history, including the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.

Your company is a convicted felon that poses a safety hazard to the state of California, Alsup said to PG&E attorneys on Monday. He said his job is to rehabilitate the company until its probation ends early next year.

The case is U.S. v. PG&E, 14-cr-00175, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

Top photo: Flames consume trees during the Dixie Fire in Genesee, California, on Aug. 21. Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Legislation Wildfire
State Sen. Pat Woods saw a lot of it over this past year  cows culled from a herd and sent to the slaughterhouse because their owners couldnt afford to feed them anymore.

It was awfully dry, said the longtime rancher and Republican lawmaker from Broadview, a ranching community on New Mexicos eastern plains. They were forecasting it would never rain again and it was going to be such a tough year that a lot of ranchers didnt want to put their money into the cow.

The drought strikes again  and its effects are having a significant impact on the states cattle ranching industry, according to a new report from the New Mexico State University Department of Animal and Range Sciences.

The report, which was presented to Woods and other members of legislative panel, laid out in stark terms how drought conditions are hurting ranchers.

Some climate experts have called the drought enveloping the southwestern part of the country one of the worst in centuries. About two-thirds of the state has been experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions in recent weeks. And that was after a healthy monsoon season in many areas.

Among other outcomes, drought conditions decrease animal growth, diminish forage opportunities for livestock, increase the cost of production and decrease calf prices, the report says.

That in turn leads to extra costs when it comes to restocking herds that have been thinned out.

Calling the situation the perfect storm of drought and pandemic, Loren Patterson, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said the industry is reeling under all of the above pointed out in the study.

It has a pretty big impact on us economically, he said by phone following the presentation of the report. It raises our cost of production. Not only do we have to reduce cow numbers, we have to supplement more for the cows we keep.

Economically speaking, the cattle industry is a meaty, if not mighty, force. A 2019 report, from the environmental publication Sustainability, said its role in the state economy is substantial. Using 2012 data, it said about 44 percent of revenue from the states agricultural industry is derived from cattle.

Patterson said while those who work in agriculture are accustomed to dealing with problems brought on by longterm drought, its always a little tougher than you prepare for.

Ultimately, consumers will feel the brunt of the impacts at meat markets, grocery stores and restaurants, Patterson said.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index reports the price of beef and veal went up 6.5 percent between July 2020 and July 2021  though it does not provide an explanation for the increase.

And there may be less beef to go around. Patterson said ranchers who have thinned herds are now trying to restock them by keeping female cows so they birth calves. Those cows are not headed into the food supply chain anytime soon. That can affect the beef supply for up to three years, he said.

Restocking is expensive, the report says.

Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, who is a rancher and a member of the interim committee, said she has experienced that cost firsthand, noting in an interview she had to sell off more than 100 of her herd at the end of 2019 because of the effects drought had on her operation.

Now, trying to restock, she finds cows once worth $700 going for nearly twice that price as demand outpaces supply.

Thats a scarcity of a commodity that we as ranchers need, Ezzell said.

Carla Gomez, a small cattle rancher in Mora County, said the drought has had a devastating impact on fellow ranchers in her area, despite a season of really good rainfall.

Here in Mora, a lot of people who have had cattle in the past dont anymore because of this continual drought cycle, she said. People sell their cattle. some people build the herd back up and some dont.

The report offers a number of recommendations for easing the droughts effects, such as weaning and selling offspring early to reduce grazing fees; providing supplements to replace milk and grass for feed purposes; culling both old and young low productivity animals out of herds; keeping animals in a pen to feed them stored-up food products.

Some of these options are expensive, the report noted.

While Patterson said these options will absolutely help, selling off livestock or sending them to the slaughterhouse is economically devastating for cattle ranchers.

And, he said, it will cost the state and local counties in tax revenue because cattle ranchers pay taxes on every head of livestock, so obviously the counties and state will realize less taxes.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Profit Loss Mexico
Additional felony charges have been filed against Robert Andrew Lotter, 64, of Newport Beach, Calif., and Charles Albert Major, 72, of Irvine, who were arrested in November after allegedly defrauding their clients with high-risk investments.

The additional charges include multiple counts of securities fraud violations with aggravated white collar and financial elder abuse enhancements after allegedly defrauding an additional 23 victims. The collective loss from Lotters and Majors alleged fraud is more than $10 million to 64 victims.

On Nov. 24, 2020, Lotter and Major were arrested on similar charges of securities fraud and burglary after allegedly defrauding more than 20 victims out of over $4 million. On May 17, 2021, the California Department of Insurance announced additional charges were filed.

With the new charges announced this week, Lotter is charged with a total of 64 felony securities fraud violations and Major is charged with 29 felony securities fraud violations and six charges of residential burglary.

An investigation by the CDI alleges that Lotter and Major fraudulently solicited and sold victims stock certificates in Lotters companies, eAgency Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog Inc. Following announcements of the arrests and charges, additional consumers contacted the Department and identified themselves as victims who also purchased stock in Lotters companies.

Lotter owned and operated an insurance agency, R.A. Lotter Insurance Marketing, Inc., and Major is a licensed insurance agent. Lotter and Major contacted clients of R.A. Lotter Insurance Marketing and used various schemes to fraudulently obtain victims private financial information in order to identify potential investors for Lotters high-risk investments including leading some victims to believe Lotters insurance agency was affiliated with the California State Teachers Retirement System.

Lotter also owns The TDS Group, a 403(b) plan administrator for school districts throughout California. Some TDS Group clients were victimized after they were contacted by TDS Group representatives, who are also insurance agents for R.A. Lotter Insurance operating under doing business as TDS Benefits & Insurance Services.

A continued investigation reportedly identified an additional 23 victims who lost more than $3 million and were solicited in the same manner and using similar tactics as discovered during the previous investigation. These include Lotters and Majors failure to disclose pertinent information that investors should have known prior to investing, such as disclosures that eAgency and MyMobileWatchdog were high-risk investments.

Victims who did not have enough liquid assets to invest were reportedly encouraged by Lotter and Major to withdraw money from their 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and rollover their retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs, which were used to invest in Lotters companies. At least one educator was convinced to withdraw money from their pension to invest in Lotters companies.

Both eAgency Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog Inc., had poor financial statuses including unpaid financial obligations to prior investors. Lotter and Major did not make their clients aware of the poor financial statuses of the companies and they did not notify victims when the alleged lucrative partnerships fell through. Victims were led to believe their investments in eAgency, Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog, Inc. were still viable.

Lotter and Major are currently out on bail. The case is being prosecuted by the Major Fraud Unit of the Orange County District Attorneys Office.

Topics California Agencies Fraud Abuse Molestation
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Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Medical experts are split on the risks to children from the Delta variant of Covid-19, as thousands of pupils remain out of school.

An infectious disease specialist expressed fears that most children under the age of 12 in Ireland will contract Covid-19 by early next year if more is not done to make schools safer.

However, other experts, including those on the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), have said the risks can be mitigated.

We had schools open before, so what's different?

Professor Cliona Ni Cheallaigh, an infectious diseases consultant, warned: If I were a betting woman, I would probably be betting that most kids in Ireland under 12 will be getting Covid before the spring, the way were going on now.

However public health consultants working with the schools, including Dr Abigail Collins, say data from educational settings over the summer is less worrying.

She said: The picture that we have seen over the summer in terms of close contact positivity has not changed. The reason for that is how good people are with their mitigation measures.

New data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre shows rising rates of summer infections slowed when schools reopened.

Test results up to last Thursday showed a decreasing positivity level at 6%, even though children made up 45% of swabs taken by the weekend.

How many Irish children have contracted Covid-19?

Up to September 6, there were 70,620 cases, including 13,553 under fours, 25,570 five to 12-year-olds and 31,487 teens. Altogether, this is 5.6% of under-18s.

The latest advice indicates infection carries immunity for nine months. Last week, just over 67% of cases were adults, with children aged five-12 making up the next largest group at 14.2%.

Are there children in hospital with Covid-19?

On Sunday, there was one Covid patient in Crumlin and one in Temple Street, but not in ICU.

The previous Sunday there were three Covid patients in Temple Street and two in Crumlin, none in ICU. The same HSE data shows one child in a paediatric ICU bed in the last two weeks, but in smaller hospitals, children are sometimes placed in adult beds.

Social media has lit up with heartbreaking stories of children in American ICUs. Vaccination rates and public health measures are significantly lower in the US than here, with the HSE saying this should mitigate the situation.

What is being done to help schools?

Yesterday, HSE testing lead Niamh OBeirne said the process for principals has now been simplified, which will speed up contact tracing.

The Department of Education will have delivered 35,000 carbon dioxide monitors to schools by the end of September.

Dr Collins said even though Delta is more transmissible, the same public health measures work. Schools are in many ways unrecognisable, with strict drop-off times and pods.

But writing in the Irish Examiner in July, paediatrician Dr Niamh Lynch said: Opening a window in a classroom will not provide the ventilation needed to keep Delta at bay. Children need more space, better ventilation, better mitigation.

What about masks?

Secondary school students wear masks, but the current advice for under-12s is not to wear masks.

An expert advisory group told Nphet in April, before the Delta wave, that the drawbacks of wearing masks outweighed the benefits. This remains counter-intuitive to many parents as they send masked 13-year-olds to school but younger siblings appear less protected.

What symptoms mean a child should stay at home?

There is confusion about this as advice slightly differs.

The Department of Education listed 11 symptoms advising, if your child has any of the following symptoms do not send them to school.

However, the HSE and many GPs advise if the child only has a runny nose without other symptoms they can go to school.

What happens next?

One thing every expert agrees on is keeping thousands of asymptomatic children out of school is not tenable, neither for the children nor their parents.

Nphet meets this week to discuss whether asymptomatic children could continue going to school even if they are a close contact, as vaccinated children already do.

This week, Northern Ireland eased rules around close contacts in schools, saying "there is a balance to be struck in terms of risk".
The great resignation could be about to hit companies, as new research has found almost half of Irish workers are planning on quitting their jobs.

A new study has found 42% of Irish workers intend on resigning within the next 12 months  a figure that has jumped from 21% prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Workhuman Fall 2021 International Survey Report tracked 3,500 employees in Ireland, the US, Canada and the UK and found that Irish people are not alone in wanting to hand in their notice.

Some 48% of people in the UK have plans to quit while the figure falls to 36% in the US and Canada.

The drive for a new job has been spurred on by a desire for better pay and greater flexibility.

For women, pay was a key issue with 36% saying their reason for wanting to move jobs was that their salary was too low. This compared to just under a quarter of men (24.5%).

Some 36% of men said that more flexibility was their main reason for seeking change, compared to 27% of women.

Better work culture and a better job title were also cited as reasons for change by 16% of men.

For women, work culture (19%) was seen as more of a reason to change jobs than a better title (13%).

The survey indicates strong relationships with superiors, with just 3% of men and 5% of women saying they no longer wanted to work for their manager.

Blended office work is a key factor for people with just one-in-five saying they want to work in the office all of the time.

Just under half said they want to split their time between the office and working from home, while 32.5% want to work remotely full time.

Working parents are amongst the most likely to leave their job, the survey found  52.5% of which said they intended to resign within the next year and of those, just over one-third (35.5%) said they wanted more flexibility at work.

Burnout

Burnout is also having a serious effect on employees. Some 65.5% of women and 59.5% of the men revealed that they had experienced burnout during their careers.

Of those, 81.5% of women and 78% of men said this had occurred during the last 12 months.

Derek Irvine, senior vice-president of client strategy and consulting at Workhuman, said employers must take action now to prevent unprecedented levels of staff turnover.

He said after a year and a half of uncertainly and strain, Irish workers "now have a very strong idea of what they will and will not tolerate at work", with many now seeking new opportunities.

Unless organisations take preventative steps, they could soon be facing unprecedented levels of employee turnover. Sectors suffering from acute skills shortages, such as construction, technology and engineering, probably have the most cause for concern.

Mr Irvine said the number of people looking to move jobs could cost business in the long run.

Citing data from US analytics company Gallup that says the cost of replacing a member of staff is somewhere between one-and-an-half and two-times their annual salary, Mr Irvine said costs can add up for businesses.

Its clear that organisations need to make employee retention a strategic objective, creating environments where employees are recognised and rewarded for their contributions, and where employee needs are front and centre of the decision-making process.
There had been much anticipation of yesterday's Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) hearing of the appeal by Graham Dwyer in relation to his conviction for murder in 2015.

The key question out of the CJEUs eventual ruling, which will likely take at least three months to be delivered, is not whether or not the court will rule in Dwyers favour. It would be very surprising if it does not, on foot of its own decisions in previous cases.

The real issue will be whether or not the Irish Supreme Court, which requested the CJEU review in the first place, is told that the ruling should be applied retrospectively. Should that turn out to be the case, the Irish court must then decide if that means the Dwyer conviction itself should be overturned.

The former architect is one of Irelands most infamous criminals, having murdered 36-year-old Elaine OHara, a woman with a history of mental health problems, in cold blood in August 2012.

While his crime is notorious, the methods by which he was convicted, while ingenious, is now under the microscope.

All evidence against him was circumstantial  with the State building a forensic case tying Dwyers whereabouts on specific dates to a mobile phone which had been used to contact OHara thousands of times.

However, that relied upon the use by investigating gardai of historical phone data, provided by the mobile phone companies.

This is where things get tricky for the State. The law in Ireland governing the use of such phone records is the 2011 Data Retention Act, which mandates that phone records should be retained for up to two years. This is the piece of legislation used to convict Graham Dwyer.

However, in 2014  after Elaine OHaras murder, but prior to Dwyers conviction  the CJEU delivered a judgement which in effect rendered the Irish 2011 Act invalid, on foot of a case taken by advocacy group Digital Rights Ireland. The court ruled that Irish law surrounding the retention of phone records and other personal data amounted to mass State surveillance.

That European ruling has since been reaffirmed on at least three occasions by the CJEU in other judgements concerning privacy complaints from across Europe.

Indeed, the Supreme Court was reportedly informed in November of last year that any referral to the CJEU regarding the Dwyer case would likely result in his case being upheld.

Referral concerns three points of law

The Supreme Court elected to do so given the issue is one of European law. The Irish courts have already upheld Dwyers appeal that his conviction had been obtained by unlawful means.

The referral to Europe concerns three specific points of law  whether or not the universal retention of data, such as phone call and location data, is allowable; whether or not a police force can legally intervene in order to make the acquisition of such data legal; and whether or not historic convictions should be affected by the final Supreme Court decision.

The CJEU ruling will only serve to advise the Supreme Court on the aforementioned points of law  it will then be up to the Irish court to decide upon the appeal.

Whether or not Dwyers conviction will be overturned will not be known for some time, though legal sources are largely of the opinion that it will not be affected  with the precedent for its exemption likely to be the Supreme Court having previously ruled that unconstitutional evidence should be admitted if the prosecution had been unaware it was doing anything inadmissible.

However, while following that precedent would preserve the Dwyer conviction  which was largely investigated prior to the 2014 DRI decision  the same cannot necessarily be said for many thousands of similar convictions arrived at in recent years via mobile phone evidence being disclosed to the State.

Whatever the ruling will be, one thing which will certainly happen in the near future is the publication of an updated data retention bill, which has been in the works for five years, with the Department of Justice previously stating it would wait on the ruling of the CJEU before finalising the bill.

Meanwhile, the fact that Irelands prevailing data retention law is itself not lawful has largely, finally, been taken on board by the Irish bodies which had primarily made use of it  the Defence Forces, Revenue, and the gardai.

Disclosures of communication data to State agencies dropped by 63% between 2018, when Dwyers High Court appeal succeeded, and 2020.
The University of Limerick (UL) has been funding garda patrols in estates near the Casteltroy campus for the past week, to help keep local residents safe, following a number of violent incidents and parties involving large gatherings of students, a University spokesman has confirmed.

UL had previously financed garda patrols in the estates after a massive street party last March, which allegedly breached Covid-19 public health guidelines. A number of arrests were also made for alleged drugs and public order offences.

The patrols ended later, however UL confirmed that they began funding extra garda patrols in the same flashpoint areas last week, following a number of incidents.

UL is working with An Garda Siochana and funding extra Garda patrols of the estates in the vicinity of the campus to help keep everyone safe, a UL spokesman said.

Read More Partying Limerick students could face expulsion

They added that while UL cannot be a responder to off-campus incidents, which are the jurisdiction of An Garda Siochana and other relevant agencies, any student who has been officially reported, investigated and found to have broken the UL Code of Conduct will face sanction.

It comes as gardai appealed for witnesses after a concrete bollard was thrown through the front window of a house in the College Court estate, the same area where the massive street party took place last March.

A number of youths picked up a large concrete bollard and hurled it through the front window of a house at Carysfort Avenue in College Court, Castletroy, at 2.31am last Saturday morning. The window was completely smashed, the incident was quite frightening to the residents in the house who were asleep at the time, a garda spokesman said.

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, please contact the Gardai at Henry Street Garda Station at 061 212400, they added.

Local Green Party councillor Sean Hartigan, said thousands of students have partied in the estates in the past week.

A video circulating online, purports to show a house in the College Court estate, destroyed after a student house party. In the video a chair is seen stuck in a wall, and a glass door smashed and a bathroom also destroyed.

Its horrific for people living there. Last Tuesday and Wednesday nights there were huge parties in there, thousands. The streets afterwards looked like the aftermath of St Patricks Day on OConnell Street in Dublin, Cllr Hartigan said.

Not alone had we the bollard thrown through the window of the house in Carysfort, we also had a house that was destroyed; it had chairs stuck through walls, windows smashed, toilets and sinks smashed - its like Armageddon - the whole house was wrecked. More than 50 fines were issued for alleged breaches of public health guidelines following a street party in the estate last March.

Cllr Hartigan, who is a UL graduate, said: As far as Im concerned UL haven't taken enough notice of this problem down through the years, and Id like them to do the same thing UCC (University College Cork) have done.

UCC seem to have more respect for the local residents there, and thats reflected in their student rules. They have a 30-page document called student rules, that requires all students to conduct themselves in an appropriate and reasonable manner at all times.

Gardai on a checkpoint at College Court, Limerick, last March. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

It specifically refers to older residents and members of the public. Whereas, UL has a handbook of academic regulations and procedures, which is very lofty toned and it goes to 90-pages but there is no mention of (off-campus) residents in it, Cllr Hartigan claimed.

The only mention of anything off-campus in the UL handbook is to say that engagement in disorderly conduct off-campus is a minor offence, which puts it in the same league as littering and smoking in non-smoking areas on-campus.

In response, the UL spokesman said the university spent the summer planning for a return to as near normal teaching as possible this September, while also recognising the need to keep the community safe.

UL appreciates that there is understandable concern in the surrounding community about the return of large numbers of young people from across the country. Appeals have been made to those living in off-campus rented accommodation to be responsible and a good neighbour to those around them, they said.

The University takes any behaviour that disrupts the campus and local community very seriously and will address matters in accordance with existing procedures outlined in the UL Student Code of Conduct.

Meanwhile, ULs Interim Provost and Deputy President, Professor Nigel Healey, appealed 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.

We want students to enjoy coming to college, but the University will firmly address behaviour that disrupts the campus and local community in accordance with procedures outlined in the UL Student Code of Conduct, Professor Healey said.
Burma Civilians Arrested as Myanmar Military Cracks Down in Kayah State

The photo of two teenage detainees widely circulated on social media.

Almost 30 civilians in Kayah State have been detained recently by the Myanmar military on suspicion of anti-regime activities, the Karenni Human Rights Group (KHRG) told The Irrawaddy.

26 people were arrested between August 27 and September 12 in Demoso and Loikaw townships. Military tensions are running high between junta troops and Karenni resistance forces in those areas, according to the KHRG, an independent civil society organization that monitors the human rights situation in Kayah State for the United Nations and international human rights agencies.

On September 9, four timber truck drivers were detained in Demoso. Prior to that, 12 farmers were arrested in Tee Lon village in Loikaw, according to Ko Banyar of the KHRG. Another five men were detained in Loikaw after junta forces found anti-regime photos on their phones.

A photo widely circulated on social media recently shows two teenage boys making a three-finger salute  a sign of opposition to military rule  with their hands tied and the rope being held by a man in Myanmar military uniform who was sitting beside them.

Reports said that the photo was taken before the teenagers were shot dead by junta troops. However, the two were later identified as 14 and 15 year-olds from Demoso who were subsequently sent to a junta interrogation center, said Demoso residents.

In August, regime troops detained seven men, including a 15-year-old, in Demoso, and eight villagers including a woman in Hpruso. Four men, including the 15-year-old, were released in the first week of September. The others are believed to still be under detention.

The KHRG reported that junta troops had tortured detained civilians and also used them as human shields when travelling in conflict zones.

Military regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun denied arresting civilians in Kayah State.

We havent arrested anyone who is not a member of a Peoples Defense Force (PDF). We have only arrested those who were involved in clashes. We dont arrest people if we have no evidence. All those who were detained were caught along with weapons and ammunition. There might have been interrogations [of civilians]. But it is done for security, said the regime spokesman.

Kayah State is largely stable except in certain villages that are rebelling, added Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun.

Karenni resistance forces from the Karenni Army, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force and local PDFs have been fighting regime troops in Demoso and Loikaw since late May. Clashes intensified after the parallel National Unity Government declared a nationwide war against the junta on September 7.

Fighting broke out on the evening of September 7 between local resistance forces and junta soldiers stationed in Daw Poe Si village at the border of Demoso and Loikaw townships. Six houses in 5th Mile and 6th Mile villages burned down after junta forces fired artillery following the clash, forcing residents to flee their homes.

Clashes have ceased since September 12, but locals are not yet returning to their homes as military tensions remain high in the area. Junta troops have been making surprise checks on travellers in Loikaw and Demoso, as well as detaining and beating suspects, said a displaced woman from Ngwe Taung Village.

Men are checked more especially. Previously, they only asked you where you are going and what you are going to do. But now they are asking your name, your ID number, phone number, and they note down your motorbike or car number plate. They even check the gallery and contacts on your phone. You can get arrested if they find a photo that they think is suspicious. So many people are not returning to their villages. The checks and inspections are quite tight, she said.

Kayah State has a population of over 280,000 people, according to 2019 statistics, and half of them have been displaced by the recent fighting in the state, the Karenni State Consultative Council told The Irrawaddy.
Burma Intl Community Cant Be Relied on for Myanmar Democracy Movement or Peoples Safety: NUG

Myanmar people rally in New York on Sunday to support the NUG and Myanmars ambassador to the UN ahead of the General Assembly. / Kyaw Soe Latt

Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG) said it could no longer rely on the international community to support the countrys democracy movement or to protect the people of Myanmar from the brutality of the military junta.

In its first press statement since its declaration of war on the countrys regime last week, the NUG said the regime was not interested in a peaceful political settlement but will continue to use violence in an attempt to gain power eight months after the coup.

Immediately after the coup on Feb. 1, millions in Myanmar joined nonviolent resistance movements and peaceful protests but the military responded with violence, killing more than 1,000 unarmed protesters, and arresting more than 7,000 people. The regimes killing spree, arbitrary arrests, looting and destruction of civilian properties continue across the country.

The international community obviously cannot be relied upon to intercede on behalf of the democracy movement and secure the safety and well-being of the people of Myanmar from the frontal and brutal assault of the military junta, it said.

For that reason, the shadow government said, the last seven months have clearly shown that national solidarity and collective action will be the most effective way to end the coup, chaos, and instability caused by the military, referring to peoples actions against the regime like the Civil Disobedient Movement (CDM) and guerrilla warfare organized by civilian resistance forces known as the Peoples Defence Force (PDF). As a result, the regime still cant run the country properly.

The NUG, formed by elected politicians and legislators who won seats in the 2020 general election as well as ethnic and civil society leaders, said in a statement released on Monday that as the legitimate government of Myanmar it has the solemn responsibility to protect the interests and security of the people and bring stability back to the country.

With the failure of various political and diplomatic efforts to stop the militarys brutality in the past eight months, local communities are forced to form defense forces and to defend themselves from continuous military atrocities, said the statement released on Monday, referring to the formation of PDFs.

The parallel governments Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung told The Irrawaddy that the NUGs call for war was an alert to the existing revolutionary movement as the international pressure and sanctions [on the regime] have proved to be ineffective in the seven months since the coup.

While the NUGs declaration of war was heartily embraced by people at home, it has not impressed the international community. The UK and the US just said they supported peaceful efforts to restore democracy in Myanmar and called on all parties to engage in dialogue, meaning they didnt support the shadow governments call for a war to topple the junta. It seemed to make no difference at all to China, which just said that all parties and factions in Myanmar should find a proper way to address problems through political dialogue under the constitutional and legal framework.

Following the international response to their declaration of war on the regime, the NUG pledged in its statement that it is committed to ensuring that a unified chain of command is created amongst the Peoples Defense Forces, and that the NUGs Code of Conduct, which is in line with International Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws, is respected, along with the Geneva Conventions.

The NUG has also accepted the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, meaning that all actors in Myanmar can now be held accountable for their actions under the Rome Statute, it said.

For all its popularity at home and among Myanmar people overseas, as well as unofficial engagements with some democracies, the NUG so far hasnt won diplomatic recognition from any foreign countries.

In its statement on Monday, it further called on the international community to recognize it as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

As such, the NUG will listen to the demands of the people of Myanmar and respond to their need for protection from the militarys brutality, it said.

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Burma Myanmars Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Attends Court as Health Improves

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as Myanmar State Counselor in late January 2021, when she delivered a public speech on her governments COVID-19 vaccination program. / Myanmar State Counselors Office

Myanmars detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attended a hearing at a special court in Naypyitaws Zabuthiri Township on Tuesday, as she was feeling better. She was feeling unwell from car sickness on Monday, and had to skip the proceedings, which were due to resume after eight weeks of holidays designated by the military junta since mid-July.

Lawyers said they met with all three defendantsDaw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and Dr. Myo Aungtogether for 30 minutes before the proceedings started at 9 a.m.

A member of her legal defense team said, Today Daw Aung San Suu Kyi seemed quite relieved, but she said she was still somewhat dizzy.

Her legal team said she was allowed to see a doctor, and everyone in the house where she is being detained was tested for COVID-19 again.

She asked the public to take care of their health and said she is worried about the peoples health, amid the ongoing COVID outbreak, the lawyer said.

The lawyer said arguments in the sedition cases against all three were heard under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, and the court will give its decision at the next hearing.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior leaders of the National League for Democracy were detained in the wee hours on Feb. 1, when the military staged the coup, overthrowing the countrys democratically elected NLD government.

She is facing six charges for alleged violation of COVID restrictions, possession of walkie-talkies, sedition and violating the Official Secret Act. The junta has also filed four corruption charges against her. She faces a potential prison sentence of 75 years.

In another case against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law for alleged violation of COVID-19 restrictions during the election campaign, prosecution witnesses didnt appear on Tuesday.

The lawyer said the hearing was adjourned to next Tuesday.
Burma Myanmars UN Ambassador to Stay On: UN Sources

Myanmar people rally in New York on Sunday to support U Kyaw Moe Tun, the Myanmar Ambassador for the UN, ahead of the UNGA and Credential Committee meeting on Tuesday. / Kyaw Soe Latt

The United States and China have brokered an agreement that will effectively block Myanmars military rulers from addressing the United Nations General Assembly next week, according to diplomats, dealing a blow to the juntas quest for international legitimacy after it took power in a coup earlier this year, Foreign Policy reported.

This will be a big blow to the junta and coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. At the same time, U Kyaw Moe Tun will not represent the countrys National Unity Government, made up of ousted Burmese leaders and anti-coup protesters, and must refrain from denouncing the militarys power grab. The move will also delay any effort by Myanmars rulers to press for UN membership to recognize it as the legitimate government in Myanmar, at least until November.

What we are hearing, and this seems to be increasingly solid, is that the credential committee will defer. They will say they cant draw a firm conclusion now, and that will encourage [U Kyaw Moe Tun] to stay on, said Richard Gowan, the UN representative at the International Crisis Group.

Apparently, there has been a quiet gentlemans agreement that the current ambassador will keep a low profile during [this] high-level week and wont use it as an opportunity to attack the regime, Gowan added.

The arrangement has been informally endorsed by representatives of the European Union, members of ASEAN and Russia, according to Foreign Policy.

Several members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which led Myanmars government before it was ousted by the military on Feb. 1, have said that China was quietly lobbying at the UN to keep U Kyaw Moe Tun in the UN seat but not allowing him to speak. Chinese diplomats also indicated that they are not sure to back the regime at the United Nations on this issue.

China has in the past backed the regime at the United Nations Security Council.

Chinas special envoy Sun Guoxiang made a discreet visit to Myanmar in late August. He met with Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and the regimes Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin and Minister for the Union Government Office Lieutenant General Yar Pyae.

During a weeklong visit, the Chinese envoy encouraged the military junta to talk to the detained ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and also appealed to it not to disband the NLD.

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Burma Over 1,700 Myanmar Junta Soldiers Killed in Past Three Months, Civilian Govt Says

Junta weapons and ammunition seized by PDF members during a shootout in Kayah State in August. / KNDF

A total of 1,710 junta soldiers were killed and more than 630 wounded during 1,171 shootouts and assassinations involving ethnic armed groups and civilian resistance fighters over the past three months, according to Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG).

Based on media reports and sources, the NUGs Ministry of Defense said that more than 431 civilians had also been slain and 184 wounded by junta forces during the incidents.

Since late March, people across Myanmar have taken up available weapons including slingshots, homemade air-guns and firearms to resist the junta in response to an escalation by regime forces of their killing of peaceful anti-coup protesters across the country.

In the past three months, about 180 shootouts between junta forces and ethnic armed groups across the country were reported. During the firefights, 509 junta soldiers were killed and another 214 were injured, while 14 civilian resistance fighters were killed and 17 wounded, said the Ministry of Defense (MoD).

Also, there were 157 defensive actions conducted by the civilian resistance fighters of the Peoples Defense Forces against the junta across the country within the three months.

During the defensive actions, 994 junta troops were killed and almost 350 were wounded, while 85 civilian resistance fighters were killed and 34 were injured.

A total of 102 junta soldiers were also killed and 19 wounded during 227 assassinations targeting military regime forces. During the assassinations, 14 civilian fighters were killed and seven were injured. The highest number of assassinations was reported in July, with 87.

Also, there were 280 explosions killing 56 junta soldiers and injuring 47 troops within the three months, said the MoD. In the explosions, 15 people were killed and 35 wounded.

During the period, the junta has escalated its violence against civilians, the MoD said. Junta forces committed 309 acts of violence killing 302 civilians and injuring more than 90 people.

Myanmar has also seen 18 incidents in which junta troops fired on each other, leaving 37 dead and two wounded.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has also been reporting growing and increasingly intense violence between junta forces and PDF members across the country except in Rakhine State following the declaration of a peoples defensive war against the junta by the NUG on Sept. 7.

Since the declaration, the Myanmar junta has escalated not only its inspections and arrests, but also its raids and violence including burning down and bombarding villages across the country especially in Kayah State and Magwe and Sagaing regions.

At the same time, the PDFs civilian resistance fighters have stepped up their operations targeting junta forces both in rural and urban areas.

As of Monday, Myanmars junta forces had slain almost 1,090 people during their crackdowns, raids, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary killings, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.

A total of 8,100 people including elected government leaders have also been detained by the junta or face arrest warrants.
Guest Column Chinas Infrastructure Projects in Myanmar, Nepal and Tibet Threaten to Encircle India

The rail line opening ceremony on the Chinese side of the border on August 25. / Chinese embassy in Myanmar

On August 25, when the international media was busy covering the Afghan crisis, China quietly opened a strategic rail link through civil war-hit Myanmar to access the Indian Ocean. This is the first rail link between western China and the Indian Ocean and will significantly reduce the time needed to import cargo to Chinas landlocked Yunnan Province.

If anything, the newly-created rail line is Beijings gift to Myanmars military regime as it is expected to provide a source of income for the latter. China has remained undaunted in its support for Myanmars coup leaders since the military takeover on February 1.

The trade route was opened exactly two months after China operationalized a fully-electrified high-speed train service between Tibets capital Lhasa and Nyingchi, a strategically-located border town opposite Indias Arunachal Pradesh State.

Last year, there were reports that China was doing the groundwork for a proposed railway line connecting Lhasa to Kathmandu, and then on to Lumbini close to the India-Nepal border.

These developments, seemingly unrelated, are all part of massive infrastructure projects that Beijing is planning in order encircle India strategically. Some of these projects are linked to Chinas President Xi Jinpings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global connectivity project, but they nevertheless have significant security implications for New Delhi.

China and India  nuclear-armed neighbors  have been locked in a border standoff for more than a year now. The 3,488km disputed border, known as the Line of Actual Control, that runs east to west from Indias Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh has remained hot since June 2020, when Chinese and Indian soldiers clashed in a violent brawl that left 24 troops dead.

Beijing claims Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese territory, referring to it as southern Tibet, in a tit-for-tat assertion against New Delhi offering shelter to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, and allowing a Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala.

Chinas new high-speed train link to a border town opposite Arunachal Pradesh is seen as a direct threat by Indian analysts. Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) used its newly-inaugurated bullet train to transport troops to a remote location in Tibet, according to a report by The Eurasian Times.

The significance of this railway project lies in the fact that President Xi Jinping travelled from the border town of Nyingchi to Lhasa by this train during his historic visit to Tibet in July this year.

While India has also ramped up border infrastructure such as roads, bridges and tunnels in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, these regions lack railway connectivity. In 2014, Arunachal Pradesh joined the railway system, but the existing line caters only to the capital city.

Commenting on these developments, China analyst Kalpit A. Mankikar said, Regarding the Myanmar project, it seems to be a trade-focused project, giving China its first road-rail transport link to Indian Ocean. This circumvents the need to use the Malacca Straits.

The newly-launched railway line from the Myanmar border will service the important commercial hub of Chengdu in western China, the analyst told this writer.

The development of rail infrastructure in Tibet is tied to Xi Jinpings need for the PLA to be able to transport troops quickly to the restive regionYes, its a cause of concern for India because improved rail infrastructure means that China has the edge in troop deployments there, added Kalpit A. Mankikar, a Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation think tank.

If that were not enough, Beijing is also planning a railway track connecting the Nepalese capital Kathmandu with Shigatse in Tibet as part of the BRI. Under the plan, the proposed rail line could be further extended to Lumbini close to the India-Nepal border. Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The move seems to be aimed at boosting trade and tourism prospects for Nepal, while easing its reliance on India.

Long-term goals

Beijing sets its eyes on long-term strategic goals, unlike New Delhi, and it is pursuing them vigorously in Indias neighbourhood through trade diplomacy. Its latest targets are Nepal and Bangladesh, which have traditionally remained loyal to India. For instance, China has made efforts to boost its trade with Bangladesh which is now twice that of India  about US$10 billion annually.

Nepal, which is a signatory to the BRI, is drawing Chinese investment in sectors such as infrastructure and hydropower. China is the largest foreign investor in the Himalayan nation; it has pledged US$188 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year. China has maintained this position six years in a row, according to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.

Its worth mentioning that Beijing maintained close contacts with the Nepalese communists, who were ruling the country until a few months ago. It is believed China was instrumental in the merger of two Left-wing parties to form the Nepal Communist Party in 2018.

Its another matter that Nepals communists are now in disarray after three and half years in power, due to an internal feud and then Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis loss of credibility. But the forthcoming elections could turn the tide in favour of the communists again, one faction or the other. And if that happens, China could once again try to reap benefits.

Giving what he calls a broad picture of the BRI, Professor Srikanth Kondapalli, a leading scholar in China studies, says the mega infrastructure initiative is based on five connectivity plans  policy coordination, physical infrastructure, trade promotion, internationalisation of the Chinese renminbi currency to counter the dominance of the US dollar, and people-to-people contacts [tourism, education, culture].

This policy has been placed in the party [Communist Party of China] constitution, which means that this has become one of Chinas long-term objectives, the professor told this writer.

The second broad picture, according to Professor Kondapalli, is that last year China produced 800 million tons of steel by importing iron ore from countries like India, Australia, Brazil and South Africa. That amounts to almost half of all global steel production. China also produced 24,000 million tons of cement last year  which was almost 54 percent of global cement production.

The country also produces six million graduates a year. Last year, China had eight million graduates and they all had to be employed. So China thought of the BRI as a panacea for all these issues, added Professor Kondapalli, who teaches Chinese Studies at the Centre for East Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

The expert said that Chinas BRI projects in Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, stem from its desire to utilize its own resources. The enormous quantity of cement and steel that China has produced will be used in infrastructure projects such as roads and railways, while those projects also open up employment opportunities for its new engineering graduates.

China also plans to lay a 1,920 km railway line from Kunming in Yunnan Province to Yangon and this could be commissioned soon given Chinas close ties with Myanmars military regime, said Professor Kondapalli.

Jayanta Kalita is a senior journalist and author based in New Delhi. He writes on issues relating to Indias northeast and its immediate neighborhood. The views expressed are his own.
Shelton, CT  September 14, 2021  TMC today announced the newest Exhibitors who signed on to join us at the #TECHSUPERSHOW, being held February 8-11, 2022 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ITEXPO Exhibitors include:

HoduSoft

Skyetel

UCX

MSP Expo Exhibitors include:

Devolutions

Keeper

Through its in-depth education, showcase of innovative solutions, robust exhibit floor and unique audience, ITEXPO has become the leading event for IT professionals, C-levels and business owners, developers, and the channel to gather and learn about digital transformation. Resellers, enterprises, service providers, media, manufacturers and developers come to ITEXPO to make their purchasing decisions and select new partners.

For more information or to register for ITEXPO, contact events@tmcnet.com. For media inquiries, contact Michelle Connolly. Companies interested in exhibiting, sponsorship or advertising packages for ITEXPO should contact TMC's Joe Fabiano at 203-852-6800 x132 or Maureen Gambino at 203-852-6800 x109.

For the latest ITEXPO news, updates and information follow the event on Twitter at @ITEXPO.

About TMC

Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMC's content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all participants. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360-degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet.

Media and Analyst Contact:

Michelle Connolly

Marketing Manager

TMC

203-852-6800 x 170

mconnolly@tmcnet.com

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GUEST OPINION by Danny Lessem CEO ELMO Software: Australian tech solutions can facilitate the next step in reopening the economy through secure information sharing of employees COVID-19 vaccination and test status between Government, business and the tech sector.

As the Federal Government and its State Government counterparts announce new check-in and vaccination status app integrations, ELMO Software is hoping to work with governments to make it easier for employers to manage the record keeping of employees vaccination and test status.

The Government and business already share information about workers taxation, superannuation and salary through highly secure payroll software solutions that simplify single-touch payroll. Similar protocols, such as using APIs for businesses to connect and determine an employees vaccination status, should be explored to share information with employers through secure tech solutions.

While the check-in app integrations are crucial to reopening hospitality and retail venues, these and other industries will need different technology to help them keep across the vaccination status and test status of their workforce.

Industries such as construction, manufacturing, education and aged-care will be the first to face compliance challenges to manage employees vaccination and test status.

ELMO Software has recently released a new software solution, COVIDsecure, to help businesses automate record keeping of the COVID-19 testing and vaccination status of their workforce.

ELMO Software CEO Danny Lessem says securely sharing information will be an integral part of helping businesses reopen safely and securely.

The Government already works with employers to share information about an employee's salary, superannuation and taxation via payroll software solutions. Its not too great a stretch of the imagination to think this type of information sharing could take place for an employees vaccination and test status too.

Just like there are payroll solutions in the market, there are tech solutions such as COVIDsecure to automate record keeping of employees vaccination and test status.

Figuring out how government, industry and tech solutions can work together to reopen the economy safely while keeping information secure is an important conversation we all need to be having.

There are entire industries that are going to need to keep track of employees vaccination and test status information to remain compliant with Government regulation. Using software will make it easier for them to do so, using software with vaccination and test status information securely flowing in from the Government will make it even easier.

While the country is moving ahead with the vaccine roll-out, its important that we look to the tools we will need in the near future to manage COVID-19 in the community and the workplace.

Its been exciting to see the Governments across Australia embrace technology to manage COVID-19. The next step in their journey is to work with tech players and with businesses to share information.
The event the entire tech industry and the world has been waiting for has concluded, with a powerful new entry-level iPad that blows away the competition, a new iPad mini with iPad Air stylings, crazy good new iPhones and the best Apple Watch with biggest screen yet!

With iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and tvOS 15 due to arrive on Monday, September 20 in the US, which is sometime on Tuesday for Australians, the majority of Apple product owners are going to get a huge upgrade in capabilities and functionality, whether they buy new Apple hardware or not.

See iTWire's article on WWDC 2021 for all the new operating system goodness and to watch the WWDC video which really showcases in excellent detail the new features, which I've been enjoying via the public betas that will soon become full release versions.

The only OS still yet to get an official launch date is macOS 12 Monterey, which we expect to see this month or likely next as Apple launches expected new MacBook Pro models.

But all of the attention is on Apple's new hardware, and despite no folding iPhones as yet, Apple has delivered where it actually counts, with hardware, software, design, battery and sheer power.

Here's Apple's one hour and 20 minute September 2021 keynote, which has ALL the details you need to know right now, and you'll definitely enjoy watching this!

Now, before I get to the new iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and Apple Fitness+ features, benefits and prices, one of Apple's biggest competitors, with the only ecosystem that even starts coming close to the Apple colossus, is Samsung, and that company has recently launched its new Fold3 and Flip3 models.

What is better value, a two-in-one folding smartphone tablet from Samsung, or a separate iPhone and iPad?

For example, you can get a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G, and have a device that transforms from smartphone into tablet, with the 256GB model in Australia costing $2499, or $2649 for the 512GB model.

That's a fair chunk of change. In Apple's world, you can get a 128GB iPhone 13 for $1349, and the new 256GB Cellular iPad mini for $1209, which is $2558. Don't need 5G on the iPad mini because you can get it from your iPhone? The price is then just $979, which makes the two $2328.

Or you can get the 256GB iPhone 13 for $1519 and the same iPad mini for a total of $2728. With a 256GB iPhone 13 and a 256 iPad mini without 5G, you get to $2498.

If you actually want a smartphone and a tablet, would you prefer one device, or two? Two distinct devices linked via Apple ID and iCloud, with a million iPad-specific apps in addition to the two million iPhone apps?

What about double the battery life? There's a LOT to be said to having two distinct devices that are at the top of their game!

Want something bigger than an iPad mini or Samsung Galaxy Fold3 screen size without breaking the bank? Even Apple's new "entry-level" iPad is astonishingly powerful, astoundingly affordable, and has access to the same one million iPad-specific apps that Android tablets can only cry into their cornflakes about not having.

Of course, you can get the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max for even more power, with the Pro models costing more than the iPhone 13 and 13 mini, but with Apple's newest devices sporting the A15 Bionic, which absolutely blows away every Android processor on the planet - I'll bet that many people will find two is vastly better than one - and you can use both at the same time!

Even Apple's still-on-sale iPhone 12 and 12 mini model are massively powerful compared to most Androids, and are now cheaper too, as are the iPhone 11 models, so there's plenty of choice at a big range of price points for everything Apple, right down to widely available refurbished iPhones from the 6s up that will run iOS 15 perfectly well, at incredibly affordable pricing.

The new 9th-gen iPad

Apple started with the new iPads, with the full Apple press release on the 9th-gen 10.2-inch iPad here, and the awesomely expressing iPad page at Apple here.

Featuring the new "Centre Stage" front facing camera that is like having a camera person filming you as you move around, whether you're using the in-built camera app, Zoom, TikTok or something else, the new 9th-gen iPad delivers an absolutely incredible amount of power, starting at just AUD $499, and now with 64GB as standard.

The A13 Bionic is 3x more powerful than most Chromebooks and 6x more powerful than most Android tablets, and much more powerful that Windows PCs at this and higher price points, so it will play demanding games, run educational apps, do augmented reality and plenty more with aplomb, with iPads vastly more fun to use than boring, anemic and underpowered Windows PCs at this price point.

Yes, the price can go up if you buy an Apple keyboard or Apple Pencil, but with the biggest and most impressive ecosystem out there, finding alternatives to Apple's own accessories is effortlessly easy - and even more affordable.

With better cameras, a TrueTone display, iPadOS 15 and so much more, including up to 10 hours of reliably battery life, this iPad is going to fly off the shelves, and its starting price of $499 doubles the storage with so many other improvements, it's amazing Apple can pack so much inside so affordably.

The new iPad mini

Then there's Apple's great new iPad mini, with the press release here and the full, expressive web page here, and you have a device that looks like a mini version of the 2020 iPad Air, with an 8.3-inch screen, but better specs!

You get the same Touch ID in the power button, but you get the A15 Bionic processor, the Centre Stage camera, full Apple Pencil 2.0 support and more, including the ability to work on 5G network. It also welcomes USB-C, which is great!

Coming in multiple colours as you'd expect, this is a premium iPad experience in its smallest expression, and with its starting at $749 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model, this too is going to sell like hotcakes!

The iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max

Ok, so right out of the gate, Australians will be disappointed to discover that the Australian versions of these phones still don't support mmWave 5G in Australia, so this will presumably be something we'll see with the iPhone 14 models in 2022.

That said, although Telstra has the biggest non-mmWave 5G footprint of all, with Optus slowly catching up and Vodafone needing to really get a move on with, there just isn't that much mmWave 5G coverage in Australia as yet.

Given it obviously costs Apple extra to include 5G mmWave chipsets in phones for countries that won't have a great deal of mmWave coverage over the next year, it was obviously a business decision.

However, there are still TONS of great features on all four models. We have excellent camera upgrades with the new "Cinematic Mode" filming capability, faster CPU, GPU and NPU processors, more battery, brighter screens, double the entry level storage on the iPhone 13 models and a new 1TB option with the Pro models, amongst other amazing features, and you have the very best iPhones yet!

Now, granted, there is no wireless reverse charging you can do for other people's phones or devices, and my wish for Pencil support for iPhones is not yet granted, although every iPad is stylus capable.

The iPhone 13 and 13 mini press release is here, and the webpage with all the glorious graphics and details is here.

The iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max press release is here and the powerhouse webpage that unveils it all graphically is here.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max now has 3x optical zoom, up from 2.5x on the iPhone 12, which was up from 2x on the Xs down to the iPhone 7 Plus, so this optical zoom is absolutely welcome.

All four new iPhones also have a smaller notch, so the notch hasn't disappeared yet, but it is getting smaller.

The new Cinematic Mode on all four new iPhones is one which delivers the technique that filmmakers called rack focus  shifting focus from one subject to another  to guide the audiences attention in their movies.

iPhone 13 models makes it easy for anyone filming video to bring the same storytelling technique to their video creations.

Here's Apple's video to showcase Cinematic mode:



iPhone 13 Pro models will be able to film in ProRes 4K video at 30fps as well, making the iPhone 13 Pro and Max true end-to-end movie studios, limited only by your own imagination.

Here are two Apple videos that talk about the fully pro video capabilities:



And here's the second:

The Pro models also have a new screen which offers up to 120Hz frame rates for ultra smooth scrolling, while also being able to cycle down to 10Hz as needed to preserve battery life, while also being brighter.

I personally cannot wait to try out the new iPhone 13 Pro Max and record video with it!

Then there's the new Apple Watch Series 7.

Coming later this year, here's the press release and here's the web page.

Although rumours suggested the Apple Watch Series 7 would have flat sides like the iPhone 12 and 13 models, that could have been a bit of clever misinformation from Apple to ferret out leakers.

Instead we get a refined version of the existing design, one that is barely bigger than before, but which, on the Series 7, delivers nearly 20% more screen space over the Series 6 by reducing the borders by 40%, This is over 50% more screen area that the original Apple Watch through to the still-on-sale Apple Watch Series 3, so this truly is BIG.

Apple Watch Series 7 now has a tap and swipe-capable new QWERTY keyboard on its screen when typing messages or other info, although you can still use scribble or voice dictation, with the watch an incredible 70% brighter indoors, with 33% faster charging than Series 6 to go from zero to 80% in 45 minutes, while 8 minutes of charging before bedtime is enough to deliver 8 hours of sleep tracking.

The 50% thicker front crystal is more crack-resistant than ever through a studier, redesigned flat base, it has new IP6X certification, has WR50 water resistance - and more!

Here are two cool videos:

Here's the second:

Finally, Apple has expanded Fitness+ with workouts for every fitness level, from 5 mins to 45 mins, new Meditation sessions and, later this year, expanded availability to 15 new countries.

The press release is here but the video below has all the important stuff you need to know.

So... there will be a zillion takes today, and there will be a lot of excitement with consumers worldwide.

Android makers will be starting up the photocopiers in their R&D departments, with Apple's sales super cycle just receiving a massive boost that will make competitors quake in their boots.

Forget Christmas - this is the most wonderful time of the year - although with all this Apple goodness on offer, it may well be the most unforgettable Christmas for a lot of lucky recipients yet!
Ecommerce platform provider Shopify has unveiled a new solution - Shopify Markets - which says is designed to help Australian businesses leverage massive global cross-border commerce opportunities.

Shopify claims its new solution will help remove the complexity of international commerce and empowers independent merchants to sell to consumers around the world - and reach a global ecommerce market of nearly US5 trilion this year.

Shopify Markets is positioned by Shopify as a centralised hub with all the tools needed for merchants to manage global commerce, with merchants able to use it to identify, set-up, launch, and optimise international markets, all from a single Shopify store.

Shopify already powers cross-border commerce for our merchants with solutions like international domains and multicurrency, empowering merchants to generate US$20 billion in cross-border sales in 2020 alone. But we know that the appetite for international commerce is only growing: in July 2021, 30% of all traffic to Shopify stores in Australia came from international buyers, with close to 30% of Shopify Australia merchants like Penny Skateboards already selling cross-border.

For merchants, selling outside of their home country can still be daunting. Complexities like currency conversion, language localisation, providing local payment methods, and duty and import taxes can all act as barriers to effectively selling internationally, especially if you dont know where to start.

We're solving that and making Shopify global by default. Enter Shopify Markets: a centralised hub with all the tools needed for merchants to manage global commerce, Shopify said on Tuesday.

Shaun Broughton, Managing Director APAC, Shopify said, At Shopify, we are proud to power more than 100,000 Australian retail businesses and support them through every step of their business lifecycle. The pandemic and resulting lockdown regulations have pushed Australian merchants to reimagine the possibilities of retail and bring forward their plans to sell into new overseas markets.

Shopify Markets is designed to lower the barriers and resolve the inherent complexities of cross-border commerce, allowing Aussie merchants of all sizes to easily tap into international markets and unlock the true potential of borderless commerce.

Shopify says that with Shopify Markets merchants can:



Enter new markets easily: With just a few clicks, merchants can enable new markets and open their business to more global customers. Merchants can then manage these markets from a central dashboard for a unified view of their entire business.

Increase buyer trust and conversion with tailored experiences for each market: Weve seen that the conversion rates for storefronts with localised languages and currencies is up to 1.13x and 1.40x higher, respectively. To help merchants deliver meaningful experiences to their customers across regions, Shopify Markets will help merchants easily customise:

- Local currencies and payment methods

- Pricing and price rounding rules per market

- Product availability per market

- Local languages

- Local domains with automatic SEO optimisation

- Automatically show the right currency / language based on buyer country

- Duties and import taxes on behalf of the buyer to eliminate surprise costs at product delivery

Optimise cross-border operations with actionable insights and smart settings : Insights surfaced by Shopify will help merchants determine where, when, and how to most effectively sell in a new region based on aggregate data from Shopifys more than 1.7 million merchants globally. Smart settings let merchants automatically optimise for the best results, without needing a dedicated global operations team. For example, merchants wont need to keep track of what local payment methods are most popular in each market. Shopify knows what converts best, and will automatically surface the best payment methods at checkout.

Save time with a central global management platform: Merchants can seamlessly create localised storefronts from one store, which means they can manage all cross-border commerce in a single place in the Shopify admin with tailored consumer experiences in each marketwhether that market is a country, like the United States, or a region, like all of Europe. Merchants will have a unified view of their entire business and monitor how their business is performing in activated marketsboth domestic and internationalthanks to Shopifys centralised commerce platform.

Shoify says Shopify Markets will be available in early access globally starting now, rolling out to all merchants in the coming months.
Microsoft-focussed digital and cloud service provider Avanade has appointed Laura Malcolm to the role of Australia general manager.

"We are thrilled to have Laura lead our Australian team and business. Her deep experience and expertise across the Microsoft ecosystem, combined with her passion for people and innovation, make her the perfect person to lead our next phase of growth," said Avanade growth markets area president Rodrigo Caserta.

Malcolm joined Avanade seven years ago as Australia CTO, and has also worked for the company as United Kingdom digital lead, COO for UK and Ireland, and global advisory practice lead before returning to Australia in 2020 as growth and strategy lead for growth markets (APAC and LATAM).

She previously worked as a key account director at Oracle, director at Capgemini, and solution architect at IBM.

Malcolm holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Bristol (UK).

"I'm excited to step into this new role - helping our people realise their full potential, supporting our clients through a period of accelerated digital transformation and helping them prepare for the future through digital innovation," she said.

"Together with the entire Avanade Australia team, I'm really looking forward to bringing our purpose to life, working with our clients, partners and communities to make a genuine human impact."

Mac Ghani, Malcolm's predecessor, is taking on the role of global growth and strategy executive.

Caserta said "I'd also like to thank Mac for the tremendous impact that he has made on our Australian business over the past three years. I look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as our global growth and strategy executive."
Police announced Wednesday that the boyfriend of Gabby Petito is a person of interest in the case of the 22-year-old woman who has been missin
Today

A steady rain. The rain will be heavy at times. High 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.

Tonight

Rain. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near an inch.

Tomorrow

Showers and thundershowers likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 76F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Just a week before handing over, on August 1, UN High Representative for Bosnia Valentin Inzko of Austria used his so-called Bonn powers under the 1995 Dayton Agreement to amend the Bosnian Criminal Code. The goal is to penalize those who publicly approve, deny, grossly minimise or attempt to justify the crime of genocide, crime against humanity and war crime, and make them liable to jail sentences of six months to five years. In practice, this would relate to denials of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Muslim Bosniaks by Serb forces, which has been deemed genocide by both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Emir Suljagic, director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, says Inzkos move is a relief in a climate of increasing genocide denial by some Bosnian Serbs and in Serbia. If youre a survivor, what you hear in genocide denial is we will do it again and, by the way, what we did last time wasnt really genocide, he told Justice Info. I hear it as a threat, and a promise of more violence.

But for many Serbs, the idea of criminalizing genocide denial is an affront to their very identity. This legal term of genocide has a lot of political weight, Luka Steric, a researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told Justice Info. The [Serb] population are very unwilling to accept that, and you cant impose a narrative, you have to try to change it slowly. Steric says it will only deepen the existing constitutional and institutional crisis in Bosnia and fuel the narrative among some Serbs that what happened in Srebrenica involved serious crimes but was not genocide. Otherwise, he says, Bosnian Serbs fear their entity will be seen as founded on genocide. In Republika Srpska, very few people will accept the decision by the Hague tribunal several times that there has been a genocide in Srebrenica, because in their heads that would delegitimize the whole notion of existence for Republika Srpska.

Serb backlash

Backlash from leaders of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska was swift. Since August, they have been boycotting federal institutions and refusing to talk to the new High Representative, Christian Schmidt of Germany. In addition, the Bosnian Serb assembly has passed amendments to the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska introducing criminal punishments for anyone who presents the entity as genocidal, and some hardliners have said that police will, in the event, prevent imprisonment of any Serbs accused of genocide denial. Steric says it has deepened not only political but also legal instability in the country, with two criminal codes that are diametrically opposed, and this will not serve victims. He thinks Inzkos decision is very unproductive. If the goal was to serve transitional justice and change the narrative in Bosnia, it has actually had the completely opposite impact, he told Justice Info.

Inzkos decision was hailed as historic by the leaders of Bosnias Muslim-Croat entity. Bakir Izetbegovic, leader of the main Bosnian party (SDA), congratulated Inzko for having ended his term of office in Bosnia with dignity.

But the hardline Serb member of Bosnias tri-member presidency Milorad Dodik called Inzkos move a red line. In an act of provocation, he reiterated that what happened in Srebrenica was not genocide and challenged federal prosecutors to come and get him.

Will the new ban be applied?

In this fraught context, Steric doubts the criminal penalties will be applied, or only to some very limited extent just to demonstrate that theyre alive. The courts will be aware of the political and social consequences of jailing Serbs for genocide denial, he believes.

Suljagic is not confident either that the new penalties will be applied. There is more than enough material for the prosecutor of Bosnia-Herzegovina to move on this. But were not seeing it, because the Bosnian judiciary and the office of the Bosnian Prosecutor are deeply, deeply corrupt, he told Justice Info.

Climate of genocide denial

Inzko justified his last minute move in a statement, saying he decided to use his powers after waiting years for Bosnias politicians to act. He cited a refusal by the Bosnian Serb assembly to withdraw decorations awarded to three convicted war criminals. The situation has gotten worse and is now getting out of hand. Therefore, I believe it is now necessary to regulate this matter with legal solutions, he stated.

In June, the Srebrenica Memorial Centers latest report noted that genocide denial, including the glorification of war crimes and criminals, remains widespread in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and neighbouring countries. Over the course of the past year, the Center identified 234 instances of genocide denial in the regional public and media discourse. The vast majority occurred in Serbia (142), followed by BiH (60), and Montenegro (19). The three most common rhetorical tactics used, according to the report, are disputing the number and identity of victims, conspiracy theories which challenge the rulings and integrity of international courts, and nationalist historical revisionism. The Center published its first report on genocide denial in 2020 but did not quantify cases in the same way, making a comparison difficult.

Suljagic says the Bosnian Serb entity has invested political efforts and money in its genocide denial strategy. Notably, in an attempt to convince the international community, it mandated a nominally independent International commission of inquiry on the sufferings of all peoples in the Srebrenica region between 1992 and 1995, led by an Israeli. Although nuanced with an understanding that heinous crimes were committed and should be punished, the report of that commission concludes that neither an individual crime of genocide nor genocide in general took place in Srebrenica.

Suljagic dismisses the authors of this report as mostly anti-Muslim extremists. Steric thinks the credibility of the commission is not even an issue, as it is just part of ongoing Serb efforts to get their narrative heard.

Whats next?

Steric thinks Inzkos belated move might signal a desire of the international community to get tougher on Bosnia, with its institutional fragility and eternal existential tensions, not only between Bosniaks and Serbs but amongst Serbs and between Bosniaks and Croats. The Bonn powers conferred on the High Representative give him the right to act in case of a political stalemate and impose his will to break it, explains Steric. These powers were used a lot during the 1990s, just after the end of the Bosnian war when the new institutions were young. But until July 2021, they had not been used for 12 years. The fact that this precedent has been set and the powers have been used after all this time maybe demonstrates that the international community is sick and tired of this political crisis in Bosnia, he says. Maybe theres an attempt to create change, to revive this mechanism of action to try and overcome the dysfunctions of the institutions.

But he still thinks it is counterproductive. The genocide denial ban is likely to fuel more rhetoric on all sides, adds Steric, but all political sides are aware of the consequences of taking this further. I dont think that Republika Srpska has the support of any significant international actor to push forward with some kind of independence, he says, while pointing out that crises in the Balkans are nevertheless unpredictable.

Meanwhile the new High Representative, in office since August, seems to be taking a rather neutral and conciliatory stance so far, say both Steric and Suljagic. But it remains to be seen.
Gambian President Adama Barrow has stirred anger and confusion ahead of a December 4 presidential poll, after forming an electoral alliance with ex-dictator Yahya Jammehs political party.

The pact has proved deeply controversial: Barrow himself ended Jammehs brutal rule in a 2016 election, sparking hopes of a new democratic era in the tiny West African state.

There are also fears it will undermine findings from a truth commission on Jammeh-era abuses that are expected to be published this month.

Details of the agreement between Barrows and Jammehs parties have not been disclosed.

However, the former autocrats Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) party announced its existence on September 4 and said that it would back Barrow in the polls.

NGO Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violations said the pact represented the worst betrayal of public trust.

The victims (of the former regime) find it quite disheartening and treacherous, the group said in a statement.

Jammeh seized power in The Gambia in 1994 as part of a bloodless military coup. He was then repeatedly re-elected in disputed circumstances until he was defeated in December 2016 by Barrow, then a relative unknown.

After a six-week crisis that led to military intervention by other West African states, Jammeh was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea.

Human-rights activists have accused him of committing a litany of crimes during his 22-year rule: from using death squads, to raping a beauty queen and sponsoring witch hunts, among others.

Jammeh nonetheless retains significant political support in The Gambia.

 Our supreme leader 

When announcing the pact, APRC Secretary General Fabakary Tombong Jatta said: our objective is for former president Yahya Jammeh to return home peacefully.

It is not clear whether Jammehs return is a condition of the agreement between the APRC and Barrows National Peoples Party (NPP).

But the prospect remains dear to those faithful to the former dictator.

Ansumana Gibba, an APRC supporter, told AFP that he approved of his partys decision.

This will pave the way for the return of our supreme leader, he said.

For its part, the NPP has stressed that the alliance is designed to strengthen national security and stabilise the polarised country.

The alliance is between two legally registered political parties and not individuals, it explained in a statement.

 No moral qualms 

Barrows latest move follows years of apparent manoeuvring to secure his political future in The Gambia  the smallest country on mainland Africa.

He secured victory in 2016 after a coalition of parties backed him, on condition that he quit his United Democratic Party (UDP) to stand as an independent, and that he step down after three years.

But the president reneged on the promise  serving the full five-year term allowed under the constitution instead  triggering sometimes violent protests.

Barrow also formally registered the NPP in December 2019, with himself as leader, in a move seen as a way for him to contest future elections unhindered.

The NPP-APRC alliance has come as blow to many in the nation of about 2 million people who are hoping to see Jammeh put on trial.

After Barrow took office, The Gambia set up a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to investigate alleged abuses under Jammeh.

The truth panel heard several hundred witnesses between 2019 and May, who offered harrowing testimony on murder, torture and rape committed on the former leaders orders.

The TRRC is due to publish its findings, with recommendations, in late September. The report is highly anticipated by rights groups to see whether it will recommend pursuing criminal charges against Jammeh.

The UDP said that Barrow lacks empathy for the many victims of Yahya Jammeh.

This alliance demonstrates that President Barrow has no moral qualms, it said in a statement.
BATON ROUGE La. - As the southeast portion of the state continues to recover from Hurricane Ida, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development would like to remind residents to keep hurricane debris out of the roadway and out of line of sight for motorists. Do not put debris in ditches because this could lead to flooding during rain events or on street corners because of line-of-sight issues.

Due to the large amount of debris, crews will need to make more than one pass. Residents are asked to not obstruct the right of way with additional debris they may be seeking to remove from their property.

Residents are encouraged to follow the below tips to assist in the debris removal process:

 State contractors are only able to remove debris from state right-of-way.

 Do not push debris into the roadway. Multiple sweeps will allow debris that cannot fit at one time to be removed.

 Please dont put debris on power lines, fire hydrants, utility stub-outs, or anything that would hinder the claw that grabs the debris. Multiple sweeps will pick up what may not fit initially.

 Construction and demolition debris, as well as vegetative debris, are some of the items traditionally picked up first.

 Debris on commercial, agricultural, and undeveloped properties will not be removed.

 Dark-colored bagged debris will not be removed.

 Certain debris, such as refrigerators and freezers, engines, and other materials that have to be disposed of in a different manner may be picked up at a separate time and/or sweep.

Citizens are asked to be patient as crews pick up more than 10,000 miles of debris in the impacted areas. More information on the latest statistical information, debris routes where there has been a pass, and where planned debris pickup is scheduled can be found at www.511la.org.
LAFAYETTE, La.  A partnership between Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana and South Louisiana Community College will give distinguished youths and BGCA employees within the colleges footprint financial help to pay for college.

BGCA employees attending SLCC will now be able to access an additional $500 per semester from the college, for up to four semesters. The nonprofit also selects a distinguished youth from each of its sites, or clubhouses, to compete for its top Youth of the Year. Each clubs distinguished youth will receive a $1,000 scholarship to attend SLCC.

2021 distinguished youths from each club include:

 Aziana Gobert, Granberry Club, Lafayette

 Devin Segura, Jackie Club, Lafayette

 Mckinsey Nicholas, Vermilion Club, Abbeville

 Zykeiveyun Narcisse, Iberia Club, New Iberia

Zykeiveyun, BGCAs Acadiana Youth of the Year, enrolled in SLCC in August majoring in Business Administration. He will receive the $1,000 tuition assistance as a result of this new partnership.

Thanks to SLCC and their leadership, we are thrilled to be able to offer our youth and employees the opportunity to further their education with tuition assistance, said Rhyan Wheeler, chief executive officer of Boys and Girls Clubs of Acadiana. The partnership opens doors for our youth who may not have considered a degree and allows our biggest asset, our staff, the opportunity to further their education. Its a win-win!

So much of the work and mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs align with ours at SLCC, said Dr. Vincent June, SLCC chancellor. As we both work to give individuals opportunities to build great futures, this partnership in promoting education just made sense. We cannot wait to welcome BGCA youths and employees at any of our nine campuses in Acadiana.

The tuition assistance, which applies to SLCCs for-credit courses that lead to technical diplomas and associate degrees, will begin for the current Fall 2021 semester. Part-time students working for BGCA will be able to access an additional $250 per semester for up to four semesters.

SLCC has solidified similar educational partnerships with MacLaff, Inc., and Miller Management, Inc., family-owned businesses of local McDonalds restaurants throughout South Louisiana.
In response to Tropical Storm Nicholas, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has announced the following instructional and operational changes for Tuesday, Sept. 14.

This email includes information related to:

Courses;

Students;

Faculty;

Employees;

Early closures;

Student events;

Transportation Services; and

University plans for Wednesday, Sept. 15.

Courses

Classes that begin at 3 p.m. or later should switch to remote learning.

Students

Students who are unable to attend classes on Tuesday, Sept. 14, or Wednesday, Sept. 15, should contact their instructors directly.

Faculty

Faculty who cannot provide instruction should contact their department heads. Any instructional or schedule changes should be communicated to students through Moodle.

Employees

Employees who live in low-lying areas or have concerns about traveling on Tuesday, Sept. 14, should make arrangements with their supervisors to leave at 3 p.m.

Early Closures

Please note the following early closures for Tuesday, Sept. 14.

All dining locations, except for Cypress Lake Dining Hall, will close at 3 p.m. The dining hall will remain open until 8 p.m.

Bourgeois Hall will close at 3 p.m.

The Covid-19 testing and vaccination sites will close at 3 p.m.

Student activities will not be held on campus beginning at 3 p.m. Events may be held virtually.

Transportation Services

Students and employees are advised to use caution when traveling. Do not drive through flooded roadways or go around barricades.

Residential students, especially those residing in The Legacy and Heritage apartments, who have vehicles parked near the coulee should move them to the third floor of the Girard Park Circle Parking Tower. Students will receive an email when they should move their vehicles back to their appropriate permit zones.

University buses and shuttles will run until 8 p.m. and the On-Call Shuttle service to The Legacy and Heritage apartments and the Student Union and Bourgeois Hall will run from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.

University Plans for Wednesday, Sept. 15

Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to pass the Acadiana area by 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15, and the University expects to remain open. Updates will be emailed to your University account and posted on the Universitys website and official social media accounts.

If you have not signed up to receive alerts via the University's emergency notification system, please do so. View directions on how to sign up for ENS alerts on the Office of Environmental Health and Safety website.
The highly-rated coming-of-age romance comedy series "Police University" released stills featuring the heart-fluttering romantic moment of Kang Seon Ho and Oh Kang Hee, played by B1A4 Jinyoung and f(x) Krystal, as a couple at the beach.

After a series of events that hindered the two freshman students from showing their affection for each other, they are now finally able to express their love freely.

The much-awaited 11th episode of "Police University" is slated to air on Monday, September 13 on KBS2.

'Police University' Episode 11 Spoilers: Kang Seon Ho, Oh Kang Hee, Jo Joon Wook, and Lee Dal Go On a Summer Beach Trip Together

Previously, Seon Ho and Kang Hee, together with their fellow freshmen Beom Tae (Lee Dal) and Joon Wook (Youngjae), as well as their beloved professors Dong Man (Cha Tae Hyun), Hyuk Pil (Lee Jong Hyuk), and Hee Soo (Hong Soo Hyun) finally caught the culprit who hurt Dong Man's subordinate and mastermind of the illegal gambling gang.

In the 11th episode of "Police University", the exciting summer vacation of the students begins.

The four best friends known as "Kang Seon Ho's Investigation Unit" go on a beach trip, after their successful investigative operation together.

Broadcast company KBS released new stills, which showcase the pleasant memories created by the squad in their summer vacation. The freshman students exude vibrant and youthful energy, which makes the viewers and fans smile as they look at their phones' screens.

Kang Seon Ho and Oh Kang Hee Finally Show Their Love For Each Other Freely

In particular, the captured moment between Seon Ho and Kang Hee draws attention. The two couples, who are obviously enjoying their first date as a couple, hold hands, creating a heart-fluttering atmosphere.

The "solo corps" (aka "singles") Beom Tae and Joon Wook look at the two with bitter expressions, causing laughter.

Fans expressed their excitement and anticipation about the "Police University" latest episode, which contains the sweet time and spontaneous trip of the four freshmen students.

The "Police University" production team encouraged the viewers to anticipate the new episode by saying, "The latest episode depicts a happy time of youth that is surrounded by romance. We want to show the heart-pounding excitement of the shy Kang Seon Ho and brazen Oh Kang Hee's first romantic moment together. Please look forward to seeing the two in "Police University"."

'Police University' Episode 11 Release Date and Where to Watch

Yoo Kwan Mo and Min Jung's masterpiece "Police University" will air its much-awaited 11th episode on Monday, September 13 at 9:30 p.m. KST on KBS2.

It is also available for online streaming on Viu.

Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates!

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Fans would get to see Kim Rae Won show off his combat skills in the upcoming K-drama "The Police Station Next To The Fire Station."

According to an exclusive report cited by a local media outlet, the "Doctors' star is set to appear in the upcoming series under SBS.

The 40-year-old actor took on the role of Jin Ho Kye, a police detective team inspector known for his killer instinct and excellent negotiation skills.

On top of it, he is determined to succeed in his mission and never let go once he starts an arrest operation.

Set to broadcast in the first half of 2022, "The Police Station Next To The Fire Station" depicts the story of a joint operation between the police and the fire department, headed by a driven detective, Jin Ho Kye.

The upcoming K-drama stimulates the viewer's curiosity by delivering thriller scenarios illustrating the operation of the authorities in the middle of an emergency.

Kim Rae Won on Action Sci-Fi Series 'L.U.C.A.: The Beginning'

Interestingly, the upcoming SBS series is the A-lister's return to the small screen after the success of his 2020 action sci-fi K-drama "L.U.C.A.: The Beginning" alongside Lee Da Hee and Kim Sung Oh.

In the drama, the 40-year-old actor portrays Ji Oh, a man with an extraordinary power created from the greedy ambitions of people who have a strong desire for power.

His performance in the tvN drama drew the viewers' attention as they saw how Kim Rae Won got deeply involved with his character portraying confusion, loneliness, and wrath.

Prior to the drama finale, he shared his experience and insights filming the sci-fi series.

In a report obtained by a South Korean outlet, the "Punch" star explained that he did his best, adding that he "deeply appreciates all the actors and staff members who worked hard and the viewers."

Kim Rae Won Transform as a Navy Commander in New Movie 'Decibel'

Apart from Kim Rae Won's new drama, the versatile actor has confirmed his appearance in the upcoming action movie "Decibel."

He is working alongside the star-studded cast, including Jung Sang Hoon, Park Byung Eun, Jo Dal Hwan, Lee Sang Hee, Lee Jong Suk, and ASTRO's Cha Eun Woo.

Helmed by "Love Phobia" PD Hwang In Ho, the forthcoming action film began its production on April 20; however, there is no announcement regarding its official release date.

Kim Rae Woon is set to play Navy commander Kang Do Young, whose primary responsibility is to stop the terrorist attack in the heart of the city.

"Decibel" is his comeback to the big screen after starring in the 2019 rom-com movie "The Most Ordinary Romance" with award-winning actress Gong Hyo Jin.

After debuting in 1997, the Korean star made a name for himself after being cast in a slew of notable dramas.

He gained massive fame in the 2003 series "Attic Cat" followed by "My Little Bride," "Love Story "Punch," and the mega-hit medical K-drama "Doctors" with Hallyu star Park Shin Hye.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
"Police University", KBS2's coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama, aired its much-awaited 11th episode on September 13.

In the latest episode, the new couple Kang Seon Ho and Oh Kang Hee, played by B1A4 Jinyoung and f(x) Krystal, fought for the first time, which put their relationship in a rocky situation.

On the other hand, professor Yoo Dong Man, played by Cha Tae Hyun, believed that the illegal gambling case was not fully closed yet, and proceeded to investigate further.

'Police University' Episode 11: Kang Seon Ho, Oh Kang Hee, Jo Joon Wook, and Lee Dal Spend Their Summer at the Beach

In the last episode, Seon Ho and Kang Hee, along with their friends Beom Tae (Lee Dal) and Joon Wook (Youngjae), worked together with professors Dong Man, Hyuk Pil (Lee Jong Hyuk), and Hee Soo (Hong Soo Hyun) to catch the Go Deok Bae (Shin Seung Hwan), the mastermind of the illegal online gambling gang.

To celebrate their success, the four freshmen students decided to go on a beach trip together. Seon Ho, Kang Hee, Joon Wook, and Beom Tae enjoyed their leisure time at the beautiful beach under the riveting sun.

Interestingly, Seon Ho and Kang Hee, who have been so busy with the investigation, finally had their alone time together as a couple.

The two basked in each other's warmth and made sure that the two of them felt the love that they have been longing to give to each other.

Yoo Dong Man Shows Invaluable Care For Kang Seon Ho and Returns to the University

In the previous episodes, Dong Man never failed to show his care and love for his student, Seon Ho. Though he doesn't admit it, he treats the young police aspirant as his best friend, friend, and son.

In the latest episode, Dong Man decided to return to the university after Seon Ho asked him to stay.

Truth to be told, Dong Man has been Seon Ho's sole inspiration and biggest motivation to become a police officer. Aside from their great bond as a team, they also have immense respect they have for each other and their craft.

Kang Seon Ho Gets Insecure Over Park Min Gyu

Seon Ho and Kang Hee started their quirky relationship with a huge investigation case, which made it difficult for them to show their affection for each other straightforwardly, considering that the two of them attend the same university.

However, Seon Ho wants to relay his love for his beautiful girlfriend through small gestures. With his hands clutching his heart, he prepared a small gift for Kang Hee, a red coral bracelet that he bought at the flea market.

On the other hand, Park Min Gyu (Chu Young Woo), who is now Seon Ho's roommate after a shuffle on the first day of the second semester, bravely continues to pursue Kang Hee, despite her multiple rejections. He then bought an expensive luxury bracelet with numerous crystals in it.

Seon Ho accidentally sees the sophisticated bracelet on Min Gyu's bed, which intimidates him.

The following day, Seon Ho is crestfallen when she sees Kang Hee, his girlfriend, wearing Min Gyu's gift with a huge smile on her face. Throughout the day, he avoided Kang Hee, which confused the latter.

However, Dong Man advised Seon Ho to stall and not be intimidated by money, for Kang Hee will appreciate anything as long as Seon Ho is the one who gave it.

To Seon Ho's surprise, Kang Hee loved the bracelet and even promised she'll only wear the one he gave her.

The red coral bracelet symbolizes safety and luck. Seon Ho swore to protect her with his life so she doesn't have to worry anymore, and all Kang Hee needs is luck.

Yoo Dong Man Continues To Investigate Further

Dong Man decides to visit his good friend and former partner Chul Jin (Song Jin Woo) in his jail cell to relay the news. However, Dong Man discovers that Go Deok Bae is the last person they needed to arrest.

The real dangerous culprit is still on the loose, and it's lurking inside the police university.

At the same time, Seon Ho logs in on his laptop and a stranger, who knows him and his hacker persona "Yoon", sends him a message. His eyes widened in fear as the stranger revealed that they knew about Seon Ho's unfortunate past.

Because of this, Dong Man takes suspicion on the three officials who run the administration of the school: professors Seo Sang Hak (Kang Shin Il), Kwon Hyuk Pil (Lee Jong Hyuk), and Choi Hee Soo (Hong Soo Hyun).

Follow KDramastars for more Kdrama, KMovie, and celebrity news updates!

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
MEDFORD, Ore.  The Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team (SOCET) joint inter-agency task force arrested six separate suspects Thursday on 61 Encouraging Child Sex Abuse felony charges at locations throughout the Rogue Valley.

Jackson County Sheriffs Office (JCSO) deputies and the US Marshals Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force (PNVOTF) along with Central Point Police Department (CPPD), and Grants Pass Department of Public Safety (GPDPS) assisted with the operation that included warrants served throughout Jackson and Josephine County.

Although the cases are not connected, in total investigations uncovered nearly 7000 images of child exploitation among the six suspects. Felony charges include 44 first-degree, and 17 second-degree Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse. Out of those arrested, one-third had local child victims.

Investigations led the task force throughout the Rogue Valley including addresses in Ashland, Central Point, Grants Pass, Medford, Talent, and White City. These locations included where suspects uploaded child exploitation images, as well as their residences and places of employment.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) tips started each investigation, which led to subpoenas, followed by search warrants at the respective residences. Digital devices were seized, additional warrants were obtained, and the digital devices were forensically examined at the Southern Oregon High Tech Crimes Task Force (SOHTCTF) where evidence was located.
BAKER CITY, Ore.  Oregon State Police says that an Ashland man died on Monday after crashing on his motorcycle near the northeastern Oregon town of Baker City.

State troopers and emergency personnel responded to reports of a single-vehicle crash along Highway 7 southwest of Baker City shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday. The officers found a motorcycle rider, identified as 78-year-old Lawrence Drake of Ashland. He sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene.

OSP's initial investigation found that Drake had been riding a KTM 950 motorcycle southbound on Highway 7 when he failed to negotiate a curve and veered off the roadway, crashing.

Troopers were assisted at the scene by the Baker Fire Department, Powder Rural Fire Department, Life Flight, and ODOT.
Kelly McCleary, CNN

(CNN) -- California's Dixie Fire is burning its way toward the record books as it nears the devastating milestone of one million acres scorched.

The fire, which has been burning across five counties in Northern California for 60 days, had consumed 960,335 acres as of Sunday evening, fire officials said. It was 67% contained.

That's a growth of more than 60,000 acres in just a week.

If the Dixie Fire continues to spread as expected, it will become a "gigafire," a rare designation given to wildfires that consume more than a million acres.

California recorded its first gigafire last year as the August Complex Fire chewed through 1,032,648 acres and more than 900 structures on its march to becoming the state's largest ever fire. The August Complex Fire began in August 2020 as a series of separate fires sparked by lighting that eventually morphed into the gargantuan blaze.

While historic, the designation likely won't change much for those whose lives are directly impacted by Dixie's flames. Evacuation warnings and orders are already in place in Plumas, Lassen and Shasta counties.

So far, 1,329 structures have been lost to the flames, residential, business or otherwise. Last month, the small community of Greenville, about 150 miles north of Sacramento, was all but wiped out by the Dixie Fire. In the community's commercial center at Main Street and State Route 89, nearly every business appeared to have collapsed or been gutted by the flames.

More than a dozen large fires burning across the state

While the Dixie Fire is California's largest active blaze, it's not the only one challenging firefighters across the state: 13 larges fires are currently burning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

The Caldor Fire in the Lake Tahoe region is the second-largest currently burning in the state. It measured 219,267 acres Sunday evening and was 65% contained, according to Cal Fire. The flames prompted the evacuation of South Lake Tahoe late last month, but improving conditions allowed residents to return home about a week later. Officials cautioned, though, that residents should be ready to leave again at a moment's notice.

Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter warned last week that California's fire season is "far from over" and forecasters predicted dry and windy weather conditions will continue to create the ideal environment for wildfires to ignite and expand.

Overall, there are 80 large wildfires actively burning across the US, according to the NIFC. Idaho has the most fires, with 22 currently burning. More than three million acres have been torched by the active fires nationwide.
MEDFORD, Ore.  With less than a week to go before fall classes begin at Rogue Community College, the school's policy will not require students or faculty to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to appear on campus.

"RCC joins all community colleges in Oregon in encouraging employees and students to receive the vaccine for COVID-19 to protect themselves, the RCC learning environment, and our communities at large," the community college's COVID-19 policy reads. "Likewise, we join the majority of Oregon community colleges in not mandating vaccines for employees or students."

As of now, RCC is indeed following the trend among Oregon's higher education institutions. While Oregon's public universities adopted vaccination requirements early  Southern Oregon University instituted one in May  community colleges have largely avoided making similar mandates, Lane Community College representing a significant exception.

RCC says that it will prioritize sharing resources and information about the vaccine's availability and efficacy, and vaccination clinics will be available at the Table Rock and Redwood campuses on Wednesday during the student Welcome Days. Masks are required indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces due to the statewide mandate, and disposable masks will be available at RCC as needed.

Under Governor Kate Brown's subsequent vaccine mandates, COVID-19 vaccinations are required for healthcare workers and K-12 educators. Broadly speaking, this does not apply to community college faculty, except where they overlap with certain healthcare programs or if they also work in a K-12 setting. More information about what RCC programs would be covered by the mandate can be found on their website under the vaccination policy.

At present, even Portland Community College has resisted implementing a vaccination requirement for students or staff, citing the different landscape of vaccine access and hesitancy in historically disadvantaged communities, and indicating that mandates could be ineffective.

"Based on surveys, vaccination rates for PCC employee and student communities far exceed 70%, the vaccination target rate set by Governor Kate Brown," PCC said in a June statement. "The vaccination rate will never be 100%. Oregon law allows individuals to request exemption from vaccination requirements for personal, religious, or medical reasons. As such, some members of the colleges community would not be vaccinated, even if it were required."

PCC's Board of Directors has since considered implementing a vaccine mandate, but has yet to follow through.
SALEM, Ore. -- On Friday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown called for a special legislative session to redraw Oregon's political districts. That session will start Monday, September 20, and the deadline to vote on a final district map is September 27.

When District 5 Rep. Pam Marsh for the Southern Jackson County area spoke to Newswatch 12, she said, "What I am looking for is what the law asks."

"Once districts are an equal size, they are intended to group people of common interests, to the degree possible, to keep people in the same city lines or the same county lines, the same school district lines, to look at the transportation connections, and to figure out how people work and live together," Rep. Marsh continued.

Redistricting is a requirement under the Oregon constitution, triggered by the US census every new decade. Districts are then redrawn to reflect how the state's population has changed  though the details of how that is achieved can vary.

This year, the Oregon legislature agreed to form redistricting committees that were made up of equal parts Democrats and Republicans, but the ultimate decision on which plans to adopt may remain the topic of much debate up to and including the special session.

"This special session is an opportunity for legislators to set aside their differences and ensure Oregon voters have their voices heard at the ballot box," said Governor Brown last week. "Based on my conversations with legislative leaders, and the ongoing public testimony we are hearing from Oregonians across the state this week, I believe the Legislature is ready to begin the next step of the redistricting process.

RELATED: Lawmakers release first glimpse of Oregon's redrawn Congressional districts

Right now Oregon House District 5 includes Talent, Phoenix, Ashland, the southwest corner of Medford, Jacksonville and Ruch.

Marsh tells Newswatch 12 that with this redistricting process there are still questions around what the northern part of District 5's map will look like.

Members of the public are invited to participate during one of the virtual hearings to provide feedback on the draft maps created by the committees.

To sign up to provide oral testimony during the hearings, register for the date and time youd like to testify found on the Legislatures website. You can testify on video or by phone. You may sign up for the hearing for your congressional district or for either the 1:00 PM or 5:30 PM hearings on September 13, which are open to all Oregon residents.

To provide written testimony, email your comments to Oregon.Redistricting@Oregonlegislature.gov. Be sure to include which congressional district you live in in the subject line of the email. The deadline to submit written testimony for these public hearings is September 14 at 5:30 PM.
TALENT, Ore. -- One year post the devastating events of the Almeda Fire in Southern Oregon, Democratic Representative Pam Marsh for District 5, Southern Jackson County, is hosting "Our Path to Recovery: A Report for District 5" Tuesday, September 14, 6:30-8:00 PM.

Rep. Marsh included in her invitation to community members, "One year after the devastating losses caused by the Almeda Fire, our community has begun to reboundand much more work lies ahead."

The virtual forum is meant to provide area residents with an account of the progress that has been made and what is still to come.

Local leaders involved with the restoration will share their perspectives on the past year, as well as plans for the next phase of rebuilding and response.

Those leaders include, Talent Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood, Phoenix Mayor Terry Baker, Phoenix-Talent School District Superintendent

Brent Barry, Long Term Recovery Group President Lucy Brossard, District 3 State Senator Jeff Golden, Jackson County Administrator

Danny Jordan, Unete Center for Farmworker Advocacy Program Coordinator Kathy Keesee, and Oregon Housing and Community Services Deputy Director Caleb Yant.

After speaking to community members and leaders, Marsh said housing remains the highest priority around recovery.

"Nothing moves as quickly as we would like. There is still much work ahead, and the actual process of recovery means responding to the full breadth of our population that was displaced. There are still many people who don't have any idea of where their permanent home may be."

From each community participant tomorrow, Marsh says she wants to know the important moments over the past year that need to be acknowledged, the taks that have been checked off on the restoration list, and what work still needs to be done.
By Melanie Zanona, CNN

(CNN) -- The US Capitol Police board has approved the department's request to re-install temporary fencing around the Capitol ahead of a planned right-wing rally Saturday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told reporters Monday.

Manger said the fence will start going up a "day or two" before the event, and if "everything goes well," it will come down "very soon" after.

Fencing was erected around the Capitol following the deadly January 6 riot though it was eventually pared back and removed over the summer.

Law enforcement officials are bracing for potential clashes and unrest during an upcoming right-wing rally in Washington, DC, on Saturday, as violent rhetoric surrounding the event has increased online and counter-protests are being planned for the same day, according to an internal Capitol Police memo reviewed by CNN last week.

A Capitol security source told CNN last week the board was "likely" to approve the request, but the proposed temporary fencing footprint is expected to be smaller than previous fencing and is not expected to obstruct traffic.

Manger briefed the top four congressional leaders on Monday about security preparations for the September 18 rally, which is being organized by a former Trump campaign staffer in support of the jailed January 6 rioters. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all attended the security briefing.

"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.

Manger added that the department will also host a press briefing a "day or two" before the event.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Pelosi said the planning "seems much better." But Pelosi also noted she doesn't "have anything to compare it to, because we weren't briefed before," referring to the January 6 insurrection.

"So it's not like I can compare it to before but.. I'm sure we'll have ongoing communication," she added after leaving the briefing.

The department, under new leadership, vowed to improve communication and intelligence sharing with officers and other law enforcement agencies following the deadly January 6 insurrection. Internal reviews conducted by the department partly blamed intelligence sharing failures for the lack of preparedness.

Asked by CNN whether the National Guard would be brought in for the September 18 rally, Pelosi responded: "You'll have to ask the police board."

Manger's announcement also came hours after police say they arrested a California man who had multiple knives in his truck, which had a swastika and other White supremacist symbols painted on it, near the Democratic National Committee headquarters early Monday morning.

Last month, multiple buildings around the Capitol were evacuated amid an hours-long standoff with a suspect who claimed to have an explosive device. The man was arrested and no bomb was found in his truck, but Capitol Police did say at the time that the suspect possessed suspected bomb-making material.
There was a tense encounter in the doorway of the Kelly O'Bryans restaurant on Monday afternoon when an irate customer refused to produce a COVID-19 vaccine card and the restaurant manager called Kelowna RCMP after the woman refused to leave.
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. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
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During these solemn high holy days of repentance and reckoning, millions of Jews around the world beseech God to stop COVID-19 from spreading and ending lives. Although it can be soothing and reassuring to believe that the universe is governed by a supreme being who listens and responds to the prayers of sentient human beings, the last 19 months suggest to me that no one up there is listening or responding.

Are we any better off if we narrow our focus to the human species on planet Earth? Probably not. Although each of us is a citizen of a political entity with a government and a leader, outside the island nation of New Zealand, there is little evidence that heads of state possess the right stuff to conquer our implacable viral adversary. Success would require them to cooperate effectively with one another, and, in most cases, take risks on the home front that would be politically dangerous.

Tip ONeill famously stated that all politics is local, a misguided perspective in this era of worldwide infectious disease and viral spread. Humankind is now a global tribe comprised of millions of overlapping and interacting clans. We are desperately in need of a well-functioning tribal council, on the national as well as the international level. We have none.

Here in the United States, some of us look to the free market and the so-called health care system for answers. Our performance, to date, is less than reassuring.

There is no public health system. Health professionals are dedicated and mission-driven but work for organizations that do not focus on prevention. Their primary orientation is to cure illness, especially when it is severe, and the afflicted patients are nearing their deaths. Industrialized medicine, also referred to as the medical-industrial complex, is a haphazard, patchwork quilt of government agencies, academic institutions, non-profits, health plans, hospital systems, and corporate entities that develop proprietary products (think: pharma and medical devices). Health care is the largest sector of our economy, where market share and profitability, not the health of the public, reign supreme. No one is in charge of the free-for-all that is U.S. health care.

A few years ago, three billionaires co-founded Haven, a well-funded venture that aimed to disrupt and reform the health care industry by building a better medical mousetrap for the 1.2 million employees of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase. Earlier this year, Haven was shuttered; Mr. Bezos has moved on to making a splash with stratospheric space shots; and, Dr. Atul Gawande, the brilliant thinker who was tapped to lead Haven as its CEO, now serves the U.S. government as assistant administrator of the Bureau for Global Health. The U.S. sick care system has triumphed.

As a connected and global species, our health, as well as our planets viability, would seem to depend on an aspirational model of inspired leadership that does not currently exist. Rome burned while the fiddlers fiddled. Can you imagine learning to play a new score on different instruments?

Steve Adelman is a coaching and consulting psychiatrist and can be reached at his self-titled site, AdelMED.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Thanks for gathering today in this anonymous detached space. Since its unlikely that well ever publicly convene in a circle on metal folding chairs, Im reaching out through this letter. You can peruse this in private and perhaps see a piece of yourself here.

As a non-practicing physician who speaks openly about my decades of suicidal ideations, I know theres a thirst for connection on this topic. Colleagues pull me aside to whisper that they, too, have felt that way. See this letter as my way of firing a flare into the dark cavernous topic of physician suicide in order to faintly shed light and, above all, signal that you are not alone.

First off, I believe suicidal thoughts are natural human reactions to intense stressors. For some, suicide presents itself as a straightforward rational remedy for unrelenting psychological torment. There is no shame in considering death.

For others, however, suicide is never a genuine threat. Those blessed humans are constitutionally incapable of considering suicide, no matter the degree of stress. In a recent meeting about physician suicide, a tone-deaf internist extolled the benefits of a silent namaste when meeting each patient. Well-meaning but condescending comments like that only suppress meaningful discussion. Facebook memes and kindergarten platitudes are no match for the vicious fury, self-loathing, and anguish of suicide.

Out of respect for the dead, speak with great care and listen without ego. Lives depend on it.

Like many, I chose medicine for a handful of external factors. As the firstborn of an immigrant family, my female gender was an open disappointment. The passing of my mother and the entrance of a stepmother and half-brother further unsettled my place in the family. To cope, I played the role of caregiver and connected with my parents through external achievements.

Although the details may differ, Im sure many others come to medical school severed from their emotions and uncertain of why they are alive. If youre smart enough to get in, medicine is a great place to hide a broken person. Eternal usefulness erects a solid facade of belonging.

Of course, my shadow motives eventually led to resentment. A lifetime career commitment needs to engage both my heart and mind. Medicine, however, only stimulated my intellect, and the hospital was a mismatch to my disposition. I tried for years to settle into that logical but neutered life, only to have my thoughts perpetually drift back to suicide.

We witness the similar demise of lifetime personal commitments all the time. Professionally satisfied physicians who are unequally yoked in their marriages bray, overspend, cheat, drink and on occasion, drive alone into the woods. Two years ago, one sat in his car, pondering if life had to go on like this. The financial dependence of four mouths compelled him to drive home that night, but hes still figuratively in the woods.

That friend was in imminent danger, which brings me to another point. Though laced with death, suicidal ideations do not all convey the same meaning. In my case, they are varied and nuanced, corresponding to distinct moods and circumstances. Some ideations flare like a patch of plaque psoriasis. Not actively life-threatening, they instead serve as a barometer of my stress level. My body can reliably get my attention this way, and I still occasionally have these whispers.

Another type is a desire for control ideation. Although loud and painful, those lack a sincere craving for physical death at their core. They carry a wish for escape. As a performative people pleaser with limited conflict resolution skills, intense helplessness used to generate these ideations. Along those lines, one classmate carried a lethal dose of opioids in her backpack throughout fourth year. Their mere presence gave her comfort.

Then, of course, there are the flat-out, active ideations. Our medical expertise makes these especially troublesome. Other people mask their cries for help with a mix of pills and alcohol or superficial slashes to a wrist. Not us. We are functional and effective people. By and large, were found dead.

This is why I find the credentialing query of Have you ever considered taking your own life? inappropriate and offensive. The binary question implies that a yes response is indicative of moral deviance or deficiency. That claim is based on the outdated notion that people commit suicide as a criminal act against God. No. We now respectfully say that people die by suicide.

For my Gen X peers in distress, I want to add a bit of social context. Daniel Golemans seminal book Emotional Intelligence wasnt published until 1995. Growing up, no one noticed if a parent tossed out smacks and contemptuous put-downs. Fast forward, and we met a few attendings who were also bullies. In residency, one took pride in his ability to make male residents cry. Negative self-talk doesnt even come close to describing how many of us see ourselves after all that scrutiny and scorn.

To us, the new millennial mantra, Always be kind, can feel like whiplash. Turning the emotional corner involves a reckoning with all those years when we were unabashedly unkind. Furthermore, we wonder and grieve who we might have become if we had lived in a kinder world. Its a lot for an employed adult to process, not to mention the strain of RVUs, parenthood, COVID wars, hospital administration, sexual decline, electronic medical records, personal diagnoses, malpractice, online physician reviews, and on and on. No wonder some of us believe its too late to change course, that only failure lies ahead.

Unlike others, you and I are still alive. As someone who suffered greatly, I assure you that inner peace is attainable, no matter how long you have secretly wished for death. The path to peace is granular and personal, and in that sense, you will be alone. But on a higher plane, I sense you, I see you, and your pain matters to me.

Identifying details have been altered to protect the privacy of individuals.

Eliza Shin is an actor and former radiologist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
COOS BAY, Ore.  A Coos Bay police officer is facing a long list of charges alleging he sexually abused a child over the course of many years.

Court documents claim that Terry Rogers, 51, started abusing a child under the age of 12 in 2012, and the abuse continued until 2018.



Officer Terry Scott Rogers Officer Terry Scott Rogers

Rogers faces 20 counts, including multiple charges of first and second-degree unlawful sexual penetration, first and third-degree sex abuse, and luring a minor.

In a document seeking Rogers release, possibly with bail, his lawyer says he has served as a police officer in the city for 22 years and has significant ties to the community.

KEZI 9 News reached out to Police Chief Chris Chapanar, who said he could not comment at this time.
LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- As of Aug. 31, more than 400 PeaceHealth caregivers have been placed on unpaid administrative leave after not getting vaccinated.

According to PeaceHealth officials, this includes some who got their exemption approved.

PeaceHealth doesn't break down numbers by location, but they confirmed 270 caregivers at their four Lane County hospitals didn't get a COVID-19 vaccine. If you add clinics and other settings, that number jumps to 420.

Officials told KEZI when possible unvaccinated caregivers with approved exemptions can work 100% remotely. They can also use their paid time off hours until it runs out.

Medical assistant Christina Williams was put on unpaid administrative leave on Aug. 31, just like other unvaccinated PeaceHealth workers who can't work remotely.

RELATED: NURSES UNION SAYS OVER 100 PEACEHEALTH NURSES ON UNPAID LEAVE

"It took all I had not to just break down in front of everybody because it was really sad," Williams said. "I made it through the end of the day, and I gave my co-worker a hug and I just lost it."

Williams is now looking for a new job but said it's hard because of her vaccination status.

"A lot of the job offers that I've gotten, I've had to decline because of my vaccine status, and I feel like that's not fair because we paid to go to school, we paid to get educated," Williams said.

Even though they lost hundreds of employees, PeaceHealth officials said they remain confident in their ability to provide safe, high-quality care to their patients.

"I feel like we are indispensable, and they can just toss us to the curb whenever they wanted to, and that's not fair; that's not nice," Williams said.

In order to help hospitals that are already stretched thin with COVID-19, the National Guard is assisting with non-clinical roles. Traveling nurses have been filling in, even before the vaccine requirement took effect.
EUGENE, Ore.  McGee is a large, pit bull terrier mix who is looking for a family with a yard where he can run around outside and play in the sunshine.

Staff members at Greenhill Humane Society describe him as a big, lovable, goofy dog who is one-of-a-kind and full of joy.

McGee can go to a family with older children and he should be the only pet in the home. He will need regular exercise and mental stimulation, plus some obedience training to work on basic skills. Ideally his new family will have some experience with bully breeds and be willing to commit to his training to help him learn how to be a great dog.

He is 2 years old and weighs about 80 pounds. His fee is $200, which will help pay for shelter expenses such as spaying and neutering, vaccinations, permanent microchip identification, a certificate for a free veterinary exam, post-adoption support and more.

McGee was Tuesdays Pet of the Week on KEZI 9 News. Every Tuesday, KEZI showcases a homeless pet on the Midday newscast at 11 a.m. and again at 4 p.m.

If you are interested in McGee or the other animals at Greenhill Humane Society, more information is available here. A video of McGee can be watched here.

Greenhill Humane Society is located at 88530 Green Hill Road and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its phone number is 541-689-1503. Appointments are available.
Kilkenny Chamber has announced it will be bringing back its much-acclaimed Business Awards this November.

The annual Kilkenny Business Awards in Lyrath Estate Hotel is a highlight of the business calendar and an important networking event in the lead up to Christmas socialising. Like much of Irish business life it had to adapt in 2020 because of Covid-19.

Last year, the Chamber awarded the two awards in its gift: The Presidents Award went to Bobby Kerr, and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Kitty Donohoe of Goresbridge Horse Sales. This year, the Chamber is planning to return to a Gala Awards Night in the Lyrath Estate Hotel on Saturday, November 20.

"While some businesses struggled during the various lockdowns, and indeed some companies never traded and have only recently re-opened, the Chamber has been constantly amazed by the resilience of Kilkennys businesspeople and their employees," says Chamber President Colin Ahern.

"We seek to celebrate this resilience by returning to the Kilkenny Business Awards."

Nominations are open until September 29, and people can nominate a business they admire, or nominate their own business. There are 19 categories open to the public and these are:

1. Agri-Business, Food and Drink Producer of the year

2. Exporter of the year

3. Social Media and Digital Marketing Excellence Award

4. Technology in Business and E-commerce Excellence award

5. Innovation in Business award

6. Service provider / customer service excellence award

7. Retailer of the Year award

8. Employer of the Year award

9. Employee of the Year award

10. Culture, Heritage and Tourism award

11. Excellence in Hospitality award

12. Craft Producer of the year

13. Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility

14. Emerging New Business award

15. Environmental Excellence award

16. Small Business of the Year award

17. Family Business of the year award

18. Investment in Skills, Training and Eevelopment award

19. Best Business Pivot in the Pandemic Award.

Businesses may be nominated for up to three different categories. Nominations and applications can be made by logging on to the Chambers website, www.kilkennychamber.ie.

All plans are being made in line with Government guidelines and will be subject to change should the guidelines be changed.
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.
Covid-19 vaccines for children between the ages of 5 and 11 could get the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration sometime this fall, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

"If you look at the studies that we at the (National Institutes of Health) are doing in collaboration with the pharmaceutical companies, there will be enough data to apply for an emergency use authorization both by Pfizer, a little bit later by Moderna," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

"I believe both of them -- with Pfizer first -- will very likely be able to have a situation where we'll be able to vaccinate children. If the FDA judges the data sufficient enough, we could do it by the fall," he added.

Also Tuesday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said data on how the company's Covid-19 vaccine works in children between 5 and 11 should be submitted to the FDA by the end of this month or the first week of October. Vaccine data for younger children will soon follow, he added.

"We are working also on younger kids actually all the way down to 6 months old, between 6 months all the way to 5 years old," Bourla said at an event hosted by the ResearchAmerica Alliance. "Those data will be available a month, month and a half later. So it will be end of October, beginning of November."

Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock and Dr. Peter Marks, who heads FDA's vaccine division, said in a Friday statement the agency will carefully review data for a vaccine for children 5 to 11 once it's available and is "prepared to complete its review as quickly as possible, likely in a matter of weeks rather than months."

But "the agency's ability to review these submissions rapidly will depend in part on the quality and timeliness of the submissions by manufacturers," they added.

How to keep children safe

The United States has averaged 171,394 new Covid-19 cases every day over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That's a 33% increase from one month ago.

And over the past week, an average of 1,843 Americans have died every day from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins data. That's almost triple the average daily death rate from one month ago.

Covid-19 cases are surging among children, too, as schools have welcomed students back -- in many cases without mask mandates. The latest weekly count of new pediatric cases -- 243,373 -- marks about a 240% increase since July, the American Academy of Pediatrics said Monday.

Factors including school reopenings without proper masking have likely contributed to the increase, Fauci said Wednesday.

"Also, we've got to realize that this is happening in the context of the Delta variant, which is remarkably more transmissible, so we're getting more cases in everyone," Fauci said. "When you get a highly transmissible virus that's going around the community, you're going to see a lot more children get infected.

Masks and vaccines are key to keeping children safe in schools, he added.

"If you surround the kids with vaccinated people and you have everybody wear a mask, you can get a situation where the children will be relatively safe in school," Fauci said.

But putting mask mandates in schools remains a heavily debated topic. In New York, two Long Island public school districts are suing the governor and state health commissioner over a statewide school mask mandate imposed ahead of the school year's start.

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday children's hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid and respiratory cases and encouraged schools to issue mask mandates. Just over 54% of the state's public school students are under a mask requirement. The governor said he hasn't implemented a statewide mandate because the state's legislature made it clear they will "take it off" and create further confusion.

"Reasonable people may disagree about a lot, but we can all agree that we must keep our children in the classroom," DeWine said.

In Iowa, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday that will allow the state's school districts to mandate masks in classrooms. The state will appeal, said Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed a law in May that bans local entities and school districts from issuing their own mask mandates.

"Today, a federal judge unilaterally overturned a state law, ignored the decision by our elected legislature and took away parents' ability to decide what's best for their child," Reynolds said.

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Ahart called the court's decision "welcome news." Effective Wednesday, students, staff and visitors will be required to wear masks in Des Moines schools, the district said a news release.

Local leaders at odds against mandates

There has been tension in various states over mandates for both vaccines and masking.

Despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's restrictions on who can mandate vaccinations, the San Antonio Independent School District has required district employees to be vaccinated against the virus. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against the district and Superintendent Pedro Martinez over the mandate.

"The decision to openly violate state law and devote district resources to defending Superintendent Martinez's unlawful actions is irresponsible," Paxton said in a news release. "But if school districts decide to use their limited funding to try to get away with breaking the law, my office will oppose them and uphold the rule of law in Texas."

Following President Joe Biden's announcement that businesses of more than 100 employees must require their workforce to get vaccinated or regularly tested, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that cities and counties in Florida requiring employees to show proof of vaccination or post-infection recovery will face $5,000 fines per violation.

The mayor of Orange County, Florida, said that although the consequences could be costly, the county will not overlook the well-being of its community.

"It could be a lot of money. There is no question about it," Mayor Jerry Demings said at a news conference in reference to the fines. "At the end of the day, it is all of our goal to protect the greater collective of the people in our community, to keep them safe. That's the fundamental role of government."

Debate over booster doses

There is also is a debate over the need for -- and the timing of -- vaccine booster doses.

The Biden administration had announced plans to roll out a third dose as early as next week, pending FDA approval, but some experts say it is not needed yet.

But an international group of vaccine scientists, including some from the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, published a paper Monday in The Lancet saying the current evidence does not appear to support a need for booster shots in the general public right now.

The authors of the paper include two senior FDA vaccine leaders, Dr. Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, who will be stepping down in October and November, the FDA announced late last month.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said he has seen evidence that boosters may "keep people out of the hospital, prevents long Covid ... and could restore interrupting asymptomatic transmissions."

"From the data from Israel, I come out strongly in favor of the boosters," Hotez said.

The FDA is scheduled to meet about boosters Friday, though the agency has been late in getting data to its panel of outside vaccine experts, two sources told CNN.

Committee members will receive materials ahead of the meeting, FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo told CNN.

"Our vaccine team is working around the clock on many priorities, including preparing for Friday's (Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee) meeting," she said.

The-CNN-Wire

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The British government has once again delayed the introduction of checks on imports from the European Union as the food and drink industry warns that shortages caused by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic could become permanent.

Checks on food products from the European Union have been pushed back by another six months, and will now start in July 2022, Brexit minister David Frost said in a statement on Tuesday. A requirement to notify border staff of food products arriving from Europe that was set to take effect on October 1 has also been delayed to January 2022.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government was originally planning to introduce checks on EU imports following the conclusion of the Brexit transition period on January 1, 2021. But it was forced to announce the first postponement last year in the middle of the pandemic to avoid piling on the pain for British business and choking off vital food supplies.

The new delay comes as supermarkets in the United Kingdom struggle to keep their shelves fully stocked amid a supply chain crunch caused by the pandemic and worker shortages that have been partly caused by the country's departure from the European Union. Some EU workers left after Brexit, and farms, food processing factories and trucking companies can no longer recruit from the European Union because of new UK immigration rules.

Retailers are now scrambling to secure supplies needed for sales over the crucial holiday shopping season.

Europe is the most important source of food for Britons, with 30% of all food eaten in the United Kingdom produced there, according to the British Retail Consortium. The country is especially reliant on Europe for fresh food during the winter months.

Following Brexit, the UK government introduced its own system of regulations for human, plant and animal health. The split means both sides now need to conduct "sanitary and phytosanitary" controls at the border  checking specialist paperwork and making some physical inspections  adding new barriers to trade.

Frost said the government's new timetable for border checks was "pragmatic."

"We want businesses to focus on their recovery from the pandemic rather than have to deal with new requirements at the border," Frost said in a statement on Tuesday. "Businesses will now have more time to prepare for these controls."

The food and drink industry blasted the government for the last-minute change, saying it penalizes businesses that prepared for the new import regime on October 1 and rewards companies that ignored official guidance.

"Many food and drink manufacturers will be dismayed by the lateness of this substantial change," Ian Wright, CEO of the Food and Drink Federation, said in a statement: "With just 17 days to go, the rug has been pulled."

The delay also gives EU producers an advantage over UK companies whose products are already subject to full post-Brexit checks when exported to Europe.

"The repeated failure to implement full UK border controls on EU imports since 1 January 2021 undermines trust and confidence among businesses. Worse, it actually helps the UK's competitors," Wright said, citing the "asymmetric nature of border controls."

Industry groups have blamed worker shortages on a tight labor market and an exodus of EU nationals. The Road Haulage Association says the United Kingdom is short around 100,000 truck drivers, 20,000 of whom are EU nationals that left the country after Brexit.

There were a record 1 million UK job vacancies in June to August, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. Many employers have been unable to hire replacement workers from the European Union because of tighter immigration rules brought in by the UK government following Brexit.

Supermarkets and restaurants have been caught in the middle. McDonald's was forced to take milkshakes off its menu earlier this summer and Nando's closed 45 restaurants after running out of its signature dish peri peri chicken. Suppliers have warned of further disruption that means Brits may have to go without holiday staples such as turkey and pigs in blankets later this year.

Wright has warned that product shortages could be here to stay. The food and drink industry is short 500,000 workers, he estimates.

"The result of the labor shortages is that the just-in-time system that has sustained supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants  so the food has arrived on shelf or in the kitchen, just when you need it  is no longer working," he said last week during an event organized by the Institute for Government.

"And I don't think it will work again, I think we will see we are now in for permanent shortages," he said.

The Confederation of British Industry said Tuesday that delaying border checks could help relieve pressure on supply chains ahead of the busy holiday period. But it warned the impact will be "fleeting" unless the problems faced by businesses are addressed.

"Where supply bottlenecks are caused by labor shortages, the UK should use the immigration levers within its gift to alleviate short-term pressures," Sean McGuire, Europe Director at the CBI, said in a statement.

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OLMSTED COUNTY, Minn. - A burglary early Monday resulted in a tense situation on an Olmsted County road before two people were arrested.

The Olmsted County Sheriff's Office said it happened at 3:30 a.m. in the 9900 block of County Rd. 3 SW. in Rockdell Township when a 43-year-old male victim saw taillights by his shed with people trying to attempt to steal wood.



Shawn Clement Shawn Clement

Michael Pies Michael Pies

He located two trucks before he followed one of them on County Rd. 3.

The second truck then came up behind him, got into the oncoming lane of traffic and started to swerve toward him, authorities said.

A short time later, a 911 call was received from the 9300 block of County Rd. 126 SW. where a 24-year-old female reported an unknown person in her driveway.

The Minnesota State Patrol showed up and took Shawn Clement, 36, of Dodge Center, into custody. The second person, Michael Pies, 58, of Minneapolis, was taken into custody just before authorities were going to release a K9 into the woods to locate him.

Both are facing charges of third-degree burglary and second-degree assault with a weapon.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  Two men accused of shooting someone in the leg have now entered different pleas.

The Rochester Police Department says Davoren Lanell Broussard, 30 of Coon Rapids, and Dashaun Earl Pittman, 22 of Winona, shot a 22-year-old victim in the leg on March 19, 2020, in the 600 block of Circle Street SW. Investigators say an argument over a woman escalated into violence.

Broussard pleaded not guilty Monday to second-degree assault, threats of violence, possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. No trial date has been set.

Pittman previously pleaded not guilty but has now entered a guilty plea to possession of a firearm after being found guilty of a crime of violence. He is due to be sentenced on October 4 in Olmsted County District Court.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A federal judge has 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. Several parents with children that have various medical conditions sued the state.

Pratt says he has looked at data on the effectiveness of masks to reduce the 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.

Governor Kim Reynolds released the following statement in response:

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. 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.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa  A man accused of stealing from his grandmother is pleading not guilty.

Casey Lee Olson, 33 of Charles City, is charged with first-degree theft and dependent adult abuse.

Investigators say Olson improperly withdrew about $15,000 from his grandmothers accounts, cashed in around $17,000 in CDs, and wrote checks and used a debit card belonging to his grandmother for numerous personal purchases.

Olsons grandmother is a resident of a local nursing home and authorities say he was her caretaker, but only had permission to pay her bills and taxes.

A trial is now set to begin on December 7 in Floyd County District Court.
AMES, Iowa (AP)  Iowa State University has announced that its student crew club must stay off the water at least for now after an inquiry faulted the university and the clubs leaders in the drowning deaths of two members.

The Ames Tribune reports that Iowa State made the announcement Monday when it released the preliminary findings of a pair of investigations into the March 28 deaths of 20-year-old Yaakov Ben-David and 19-year-old Derek Nanni.

The suspension of the crew club will last for at least the remainder of the current school year while health and safety measures are adopted.
MASON CITY, Iowa  A North Iowa man is admitting to stealing catalytic converters.

Jeremy Nicholas Mulford, 41 of Mason City, was arrested in July after a 90 mile per hour chase that ended with Mulford being found by law enforcement hiding under a mattress at his home. Authorities say Mulford stole catalytic converters off four vehicles in Clear Lake on February 19 and then stole another off a vehicle in Mason City on February 23.

Mulford has now pleaded guilty to second-degree theft and second-degree criminal mischief. His sentencing is scheduled for October 27.
GARNER, Iowa  A violent outburst in Hancock County results in jail time for a Cerro Gordo County woman.

Amanda Jo Seely, 33 of Mason City, pleaded guilty to willful injury and assault on a peace officer for an incident on July 13 in Garner. Authorities say Seely entered a home in the 300 block of E 6th Street, grabbed a woman around the neck, threw her to the side, and then stomped a person lying on the couch.

Court documents state the person on the couch was taken to the hospital with possible broken ribs. Police say Seely then kicked an officer in the leg as she was being arrested.

She was sentenced Tuesday to seven days in jail, 180 days in a residential correctional facility, five years of probation, and a $430 fine.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Minnesota is pushing forward a plan to host a specialized World Expo in 2027.

The proposed 2027 World's Fair's tagline, "healthy people, healthy planet," underscores the intention of organizers to showcase innovations in health and wellness. It would be the first expo focused on health, which accounts for a sixth of the world's spending each year, and those behind the bid say there's no better place than Minnesota to talk wellness.

The expo would take place in Bloomington's south loop district, with other locations across the metro area mixed in. The fair could attract over 13 million visitors, according to organizers, along with more than 1,000 participants from across the world.

Such an event would bring plenty of attention to the cutting-edge work being done at Mayo Clinic and other regional institutions. Senator Amy Klobuchar tells KIMT the North Star State is ready to share the progress it has made with the rest of the planet.

"We can save lives not just in our state, but all across the country, all across the world," Senator Klobuchar said. "The technology has improved so much for cancer, and the surgeries, and the treatments, and to make them more manageable for so many people, that we want to have that happen everywhere."

Senator Klobuchar and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley announced the introduction of a bill to create an American pavilion at the 2025 World's Expo in Osaka Monday, a requirement to secure Minnesota's 2027 event.

Theres no better place to showcase the exchange of ideas and American ingenuity than Minnesota, said Klobuchar. This legislation helps us get one step closer to highlighting our states strong offerings in health and wellness to the world. Im proud of Minnesotas leadership in this sector, and I will continue working to ensure we have the opportunity to show off the very best Minnesota and the country has to offer.

President Biden is also backing Minnesota's expo bid, and has granted it federal recognition.
CRESCO, Iowa  A Rochester man is sentenced for stealing catalytic converters in North Iowa.

Tyler Jeffrery Schacherer, 33, pleaded guilty in Howard County District Court to second-degree theft and was ordered Monday to spend three to five years on supervised probation as well as one year in a residential treatment facility.

Schacherer was caught by Howard County sheriffs deputies removing catalytic converters from a home outside Lime Springs on May 7. Court documents state seven converters were recovered.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Sen. Amy Klobuchar is opening up about her cancer diagnosis and treatment in the Med City earlier this year.

"I mostly just want to thank people in the Rochester area that work," Klobuchar told KIMT. "I tried to thank whoever I could when I was at Mayo, but it just literally saved my life."

Senator Klobuchar's experience with cancer in many ways started at Mayo Clinic, where doctors found evidence of cancer during a routine mammogram last February. She later underwent surgery and radiation treatment at Mayo for Stage 1A breast cancer.

"I just remember being scared when I got that call, no one wants to get that call. I didn't know, the thought of telling my husband and my daughter, all of that went through my mind. But every time I walked into Mayo, I knew I had the best care, and they were so wonderful. It made all the difference," the senator said.

While grappling with her diagnosis and treatment, Senator Klobuchar continued working on major pandemic legislation, economic initiatives and led the Senate's investigation into the storming of the Capitol Building on January 6th. Her treatment also coincided with the death of her father in May, which Klobuchar calls the hardest part of the past several months.

"It was a long goodbye, all through the first five months of the year," Klobuchar shared. "I wanted to have the focus be on him and not on me. I wanted the focus of his friends and our family to be remembering his life. And I felt like it was not even a question, the decision, as long as I could keep doing my job and I was doing it."

Klobuchar hopes sharing her story will encourage everyone to show up for routine screenings and mammograms, as health experts report many Americans have delayed or declined care since the start of the pandemic.

"Thousands of women have undetected breast cancer because they haven't gone in for a mammogram. One out of three Americans, one study showed, have put off doing routine exams, not just on cancer, on anything. So I just hope my experience will help other people."

Reflecting on lessons learned while battling cancer, Senator Klobuchar tells KIMT it was incredible seeing so much support from loved ones and total strangers alike.

"You really start to appreciate the people you love, it gives you some perspective. And then people I didn't know as well - the nurses at Mayo giving me the red, white, and blue mask on Memorial Day weekend when I finished radiation, the incredible strangers that didn't even know I had cancer and didn't know who I was. I'm on a plane with my mask on, and at the time, I couldn't lift up my luggage for months because of having had the surgery. I wasn't supposed to lift stuff, but I keep flying back and forth between Washington and Minnesota, and some guy would always stand up because I'd be looking at my suitcase, and he goes 'let me do that. Let me take it down.' And it just lifted my spirits because people were helping me and they didn't even know it."
CHARLES CITY, Iowa  A Floyd County man accused of robbery is pleading not guilty.

Maxwell Louis John Vanderwerf, 25 of Charles City, is charged with second-degree robbery for an incident on July 27. Authorities say Vanderwerf struck someone in the face while trying to stealing money and other property from them in the 500 block of Allison Street in Charles City.

Vanderwerf is set to stand trial starting on October 26.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - As several employers are still struggling to find enough workers, they could soon face another challenge.

There are roughly 80 million Americans who have yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. President Joe Biden's way of increasing that number is by implementing a vaccine mandate for federal workers, large employers and health care staff.

There are six main parts to President Biden's plan: vaccinating the unvaccinated, further protecting the vaccinated through booster shots, keeping schools open, increasing testing and requiring masks, protecting the economic recovery and improving care for covid-19 patients.

With this being the strongest push yet to require vaccines for much of the country, it also includes employers with more than 100 workers to require the COVID-19 vaccine or weekly testing.

In Minnesota, the new order will affect about 4,800 businesses that employ nearly 1.4 million Minnesotans. This is about half of the state's total workforce. Several employers were hesitant to have a vaccine mandate, thinking it could push some people to leave their jobs. While others think it'll make the hiring process a little easier now that it's required by federal officials.

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb has some concerns about this. "I don't think the federal government should be dictating this," he explained. "I also don't think governors should be preventing small businesses from making these determinations on their own."

At the end of the day, President Biden said getting vaccinated will move us out of the pandemic. "It's not about freedom or personal choice, it's about protecting yourself and those around you," he explained. "The people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love."

Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don't comply with the new order.

Several companies have tried to promote vaccinations in recent months, but only gained more traction after the FDA approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
KIMT NEWS 3.- As many Minnesota public schools enter their third week back in session, state officials are prioritizing Covid-19 safety measures to ensure a healthy school year.

Linda Sorensen has a grandson who isn't able to receive the Covid-19 vaccine yet. While she's glad the Walz-Flanagan administration is taking the virus seriously, she feels more could be done.

"I would like to see all the schools especially in this area require masks for people under 12 who are not vaccinated and maybe all the way up through senior in high school."

Brianna Dibble is a mother. Just like Sorensen, she feels more could be done to protect children from catching Covid-19.

"I think there should be a state mandate for masking in the schools. In my previous experience, everything we can do possible right now to offer protection and health measures in the schools is imperative."

According to Walz and Flanagan, 54.6 percent of Minnesota children ages 12-15 have one dose of the vaccine along with 60.5 percent of 16 and 17-year-olds. State officials also report Minnesota leads the midwest in the percentage of adults fully vaccinated. While the numbers have grown since July, Amanda La Vigne says she will not get her child vaccinated.

"We don't believe in the vaccine. It's my personal opinion."

La Vigne doesn't believe there's enough information for it to be given to children. She also believes that the vaccine has no research behind it.

Although the statistics show more people getting the Covid-19 vaccine, Walz and Flanagan urge more people to roll up their sleeves. Support for Covid-19 vaccinations and safety measures comes in tandem with the governor's historic investments in education overall.
Livestock farming technology can replace some labor on the farm, including technology to do repetitive work and do it in more detail.
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.

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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.
COLUMBIA - President Joe Biden made an announcement last week explaining that companies that have 100 employees or more would have to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing.

The decision affects millions of employees throughout the country as the Delta variant continues to drive cases up.

Over 3,700 Missouri businesses, according to the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, would be affected by the mandate. Here are the top 20 companies in Columbia in terms of employees, according to Zippia, a job resource website. All would fall under the vaccine mandate issued by the President.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce stated on Sept. 9 that the federal vaccine plan is the wrong approach and that the federal government should encourage vaccination.

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Sen. Rick Brattin (R- District 31) and 15 other senators sent a letter to Gov. Mike Parson on Sept. 10 calling for the veto session to be held concerning the vaccine mandate issued by the President.

Gov. Parson said last week that his administration will reject the Biden admin's plan, calling it an "assault on individual liberty and free enterprise." He also told the Kansas City Star that the state will oppose the White House initiative on "multiple fronts."

The PCR positivity rate in Missouri is currently 11.4% with 3,282 antigen cases reported in the last week, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
United Airlines, pictured here in Dulles, Virginia on August 14, told employees that they will be placed on indefinite unpaid leave if they refuse to get a Covid vaccine for religious reasons.
MoDOT is considering the possible removal of the Interstate 70 westbound exit ramp at Business Loop 70, alongside the removal of the 64-year old bridge over eastbound I-70 in the city of Columbia, west of the I-70/U.S. Route 63 connector.
This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Tropical Storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, September 12.
Temporary fencing will surround the US Capitol ahead of the September 18 right-wing rally.




South Korea said Tuesday it plans to implement or launch negotiations for a set of new free trade agreements (FTAs) with trading counterparts from Southeast Asia and Latin America this year, as part of efforts to reduce its reliance on major economies.







The country plans to officially sign the pending FTA with Cambodia in October, seven months after completing related negotiations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.







The ministry said the deal is set to help South Korean firms diversify their assembly lines in the Southeast Asian regions beyond China and Vietnam.







Cambodia is South Korea's 60th-largest export destination. Major exports include beverages, textiles and cargo trucks. South Korea mostly imports clothes and shoes from the Southeast Asian nation.







South Korea is also awaiting the implementation of a free trade deal with Indonesia, which is pending at the Indonesian assembly for approval. Seoul completed its domestic procedures in June.







The ministry added it wishes to produce significant results from the ongoing negotiations with the Philippines as well.







Other major pending deals with Asian partners include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is expected to be ratified in October before being fully implemented as early as January 2022.







The mega trade pact, which accounts for one-third of the world's gross domestic product, was inked in November last year, with participants covering ASEAN, South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.







South Korea has been making efforts to diversify its trading partners portfolio by joining forces with emerging nations. Forty percent of the country's exports currently depend on China and the United States.







South Korea currently has pending negotiations with the Pacific Alliance, a regional trade bloc comprising four countries: Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Seoul currently wishes to become an associate member, which will grant free trade access to other members.







Separate negotiations are under way with Mercosur, made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The bloc accounts for around 70 percent of the population in South America and 68 percent of the region's economy. South Korea and Mercosur launched their first negotiations in 2018. (Yonhap)


New Belgian Ambassador Francois Bontemps began his post in South Korea early this month, the Belgian Embassy said Tuesday, months after his predecessor's return to the country over assault incidents here involving his wife.







Bontemps, accompanied by his Korean wife, arrived in Seoul on Sept. 3, according to the embassy.







Bontemps succeeds Peter Lescouhier, who returned home in early July amid mounting public criticism over his wife's involvement in two assault incidents.







Lescouhier's wife was questioned by police earlier this year for allegedly assaulting two employees at a clothing store, and she later got into an altercation with a street sweeper in a park. She did not face any charges for either of the cases on grounds of diplomatic immunity and because she settled the case with the victim.







In his inaugural message to Seoul, Bontemps said he will work hard to "correct mistakes" and for the two countries to elevate the bilateral partnership further based on the long history of diplomatic relations.







"For our part, we will strive to be strong and united enough to navigate through crises, address common challenges and correct our own mistakes; to be sharp and smart enough to identify and develop shared opportunities," Bontemps said.







It is the second time for Bontemps to serve as the ambassador to Seoul. His first term was from 2012-2016. In the meantime, he was the ambassador to Bulgaria and worked as the director of mediation at Belgium's foreign ministry. (Yonhap)


By Alejandro Rodriguez Zamora





Alejandro Rodriguez Zamora, ambassador of Costa Rica to Korea / Courtesy of Embassy of Costa Rica in Korea
Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, center, and Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole participate in the federal election English-language Leaders debate in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, Sept. 9. AFP-Yonhap




Garrett, IN (46738)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain during the afternoon. High 73F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 52F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Periods of rain. High 73F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 52F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
ROME, SEP 14 - Premier Mario Draghi told the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna on Tuesday that it is necessary to stand up to those who seek to exploit religion. "Religion must never be exploited," Draghi said. "In the worst cases, it has been used to justify violence, the deprivation of basic rights or to direct people's support towards highly earthly political ends. "We must oppose the terror and the sometimes subtle abuse of those who want to deprive us of our values in the name of religion". (ANSA).


Human Rights Council 48th Regular Session

Agenda Item 2: Oral update on Sri Lanka by the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Statement by Hon. Prof. G.L. Peiris Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka (Geneva, 14 September 2021)

Madam President,

Let me begin by reiterating our strong and continued cooperation with this Council and the United Nations mandated human rights system, in keeping with our Constitution and our international obligations voluntarily undertaken.

Twelve years ago, Sri Lanka eradicated LTTE terrorism on its soil. We have restored peace, security and stability for the benefit of our people. We held firm to our democratic traditions and elections were held at regular intervals with high levels of voter participation  most recently at the 2019 Presidential and 2020 Parliamentary polls. The Government is committed to holding the Provincial Council elections at the earliest.

We are dealing with post-conflict recovery from the perspective of healing. Most recently, 16 LTTE cadres convicted of serious terrorist crimes were granted Presidential pardons. The success of post conflict demining, reconstruction and resettlement programs has contributed immensely to national reconciliation.

Despite the daily challenges of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, let me highlight the progress made in the domestic processes:

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) as its core function, is finalizing the list of missing persons in collaboration with other agencies.

The Office for Reparations (OR)has processed 3775 claims this year.

The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR)continues its 8 point action plan.

The National Human Rights Commissionis carrying on its mandate.

A steering committee on SDG 16 is working towards enhancing peace, justice and strong institutions.

A Cabinet Sub Committee was appointed to revisit the PTAand to bring it in line with international norms and best practices. A report will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers at the end of this month. An Advisory Board was appointed to look into cases of detention under the PTA and to make recommendations to deal with such cases expeditiously. Speedy disposal of cases under the PTA is also taking place.

A Commission of Inquiryheaded by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court was established to address issues on accountability and missing persons and to revisit recommendations by previous Commissions. The COI submitted its Interim report to the President. The final report will be submitted within the next 06 months.

We are maintaining vigorous engagement with civil societyto obtain their insights and to harness their support in achieving reconciliation and development.

Madam President,

Sri Lanka continues to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the appalling terrorist attack on Easter Sunday in 2019 complying with due process of law in all respects. As always, we will remain vigilant in combatting terrorism and protecting Sri Lankans of all religions.

Madam President,

We reject the proposal for any external initiatives purportedly established by Resolution 46/1 while domestic processes are vigorously addressing the relevant matters. This will polarize our society, as we experienced with Resolution 30/1. The Council must adhere to its founding principles. External initiatives embarked upon without the cooperation of the country concerned cannot achieve their stated goals, and will be subject to politicization. The resources expended on this initiative are unwarranted, especially when they are urgently needed for humanitarian and other constructive purposes in many parts of the world.

Madam President,

Under the current and pressing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we consider it a basic duty of a government to ensure the uninterrupted supply of commodities essential to the life of the community. We are open in acknowledging our challenges and as a responsible and democratic government, we are committed to achieving tangible progress on the entire range of issues relating to accountability, reconciliation, human rights, peace and sustainable development.

I thank you, Madam President.

View Full Statement PDF





The video can be viewed through the following link: https://youtu.be/x1E0-kOsiTc
Video-sharing platform TikTok has gained leverage against video giant YouTube with users spending more average watch time each month viewing content on TikTok than YouTube.

A new study from App Annie provided the new data, according to a Fox Business report.

App Annie noted that the average monthly hours per TikTok user was about two hours more than YouTube. The app market and advertising analytics data also showed that TikTok had been leading YouTube for most of the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, the average monthly hours per user for TikTok is about 10 hours more than YouTube in June in the United Kingdom.

App Annie said that the landscape has changed from text and chat features to photo sharing. It has transformed into video sharing and ultimately live streaming.

App Annie said that live-streaming is the main reason behind engagement for social media apps. The company added that these trends highlight the importance of video, live streaming, and creator economy.

YouTube, on the other hand, maintained to be on the top spot in time spent overall. This was particularly due to its two billion users.

TikTok's users were around 700 million, according to The Verge report.

In addition, users spend more money on YouTube as compared to TikTok in both iOS and Android around the world.

Jamie MacEwan, from Enders Analysis, said that YouTube's mass audience means that it is getting more demographics that are "comparatively light internet users," according to a BBC News report.

MacEwan also noted that TikTok was spending big to attract users.

However, he said that TikTok was not necessarily hanging around for long compared to other social media.

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TikTok Ban in The United States

Former U.S. President Donald Trump had issued executive orders against TikTok and messaging app WeChat. The said orders deemed that the two apps would be blocked from having transactions for U.S. citizens and from being downloaded in the U.S. app stores for 45 days.

Trump administration lawyers said that it is in the interest of national security to ban TikTok due to the connection between the Chinese government and ByteDance, which is the app's parent company, according to The Guardian report.

ByteDance was accused of being a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party. They were also alleged to promote the communist party's agenda.

However, TikTok has denied the said accusations. The company also said that U.S. user data is not handled in China.

In addition, the video platform company said that it does not give the Chinese government access to U.S. users' personal information.

Trump had also claimed that WeChat can be a tool for disinformation campaigns. However, the messaging app had denied the claims and said that the ban was "racist in nature."

WeChat said that filing the order "singles out people of Chinese and Chinese American ancestry."

The Chinese messaging app also said that it subjects those to disparate treatment on the basis of race, nationality, and alienage.

A judge blocked an order from the Trump administration on September 27.

READ MORE: TikTok Under Fire for Its 'Blackout Challenge' Linked to 12-Year-Old Boy's Death

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Trump says he'll ban China's TikTok video app in US - from DW News






President Joe Biden on Sunday signed California's disaster declaration, a day before he kicks off in a tour to the west coast, as the region faces damaging wildfires in the recent months.

On late Sunday, the White House confirmed that Biden confirmed that a "major disaster exists in the State of California." Furthermore, the White House underscored that the president ordered, "federal assistance to support the state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas which are affected by the Caldor fire."

It can be recalled that the president also approved disaster declarations for the Dixie fire and the River fire, ABC 10 reported. The outlet furthered that Governor Newsom sent a request to President Biden to approve a disaster declaration for the Caldor Fire.

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President Joe Biden to Stop in California to Survey Caldor Wildfire Damages in the State

On Monday, the president is scheduled to stop in Sacramento, California to survey the damages caused by the wildfires in the state.

Officials from the California Office of Emergency were reported to brief President Biden about the fires. A schedule of Biden's itinerary from the White House revealed that the president planned for an aerial tour of the area that was ravaged by the Caldor fire.

The president was expected to end his wildfire tour with a speech on rebuilding, infrastructure plans, and climate change.

The schedule of Biden's itinerary was announced by the White House, as the Caldor fire, which was marked as the 15th biggest wildfire in the state's history, charred at least 218,950 acres as of Sunday, and is now 65 percent contained, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Also on Sunday, a part of Highway 50 and more evacuation orders were lifted for the Caldor fire in El Dorado County. However, officials confirmed that the said highway remained closed from 36 Mile Stone new Kyburtz to Sawmill Road, which is located about a mile and a half from South Lake Tahoe.

The Caldor Fire was not the only wildfire that wreaked havoc across California. It can be recalled that the River fire charred at least 2,400 acres of land, while the Dixie Fire was responsible for the blackening of land at least 960,000 acres.

More than 6,800 wildfires, large and small, in California alone, charred an estimated total of 1.7 million acres of land this season.

President Joe Biden's Other Businesses in California

Apart from surveying the ravaged lands caused by the wildfires, the president has other agendas to tackle in the state of California.

White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy shared in an interview that the president would discuss his "Build Back Better" agenda and promote clean energy jobs as a solution to climate change.

Moreover, President Biden would also join Gavin Newsom in a rally to show support for the California governor as the state's recall election nears. On September 8, Vice President Kamala Harris also joined the Democratic governor to urge the Californians to vote "No" in the upcoming elections.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Gets Booed by a Crowd at 9/11 Anniversary Event in New York City

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Biden to Campaign for California Governor Gavin Newsom Amid Recall Election - From CBS Evening News
Former U.S. President Donald Trump said that it is getting to a point where he has no choice but to run as president again when asked of his plans for election in 2024.

Trump noted that "it is disgraceful" in an exclusive interview, according to a Fox News report.

The former president then slammed U.S. President Joe Biden's administration regarding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. He dubbed the evacuation efforts as the "greatest embarrassment" in U.S. history.

Trump also cited how the loved ones of the victims of the suicide bombing at Kabul airport do not want to see Biden, but instead they want to speak to the former president. One mother of a killed Marine even invited the former Republican president to the funeral of her son.

Trump also said that Biden is an incompetent leader of the country, even describing his administration as divisive.

READ NEXT: U.S. Pres. Joe Biden's Administration Called on Trump Appointees to Resign From Military Service Academies Advisory Boards

Hypothetic Election Poll

If Trump and Biden were to go against each on 2024 presidential race, Trump would be slightly favored with 47 percent against Biden's 46 percent, according to a Newsweek report.

The Emerson College poll also showed 60 percent of the Democrats polled said that they would see Biden as the presidential nominee, while 39 percent noted that they wanted it to be someone else.

Meanwhile, sixty-seven percent of the Republican voters said they would vote Trump in a hypothetical line of Republican candidates. The other candidates include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are also seen to be included in the lineup.

Meanwhile, a majority of Republicans believe that Trump should be the leader of the GOP, but remains divided on whether the former president would be a strong candidate, according to The Hill report.

Fifty-one percent of respondents said that the Republicans would have a better chance at winning the office in 2024 with Trump as its candidate, according to a survey. Forty-nine percent of Republicans claim that the party would have a better chance with someone else leading the party.

Biden Over Afghanistan Withdrawal

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be facing questions from the House, particularly from the Foreign Affairs Committee over the Afghanistan evacuation.

Blinken is said to defend the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal, claiming that the president was faced with two difficult questions such as ending the war or escalating the situation, according to a CNBC report.

The exit of the United States' troops had ended the almost two-decade war in Afghanistan. However, before the troops had fully pulled out, the Taliban had managed to seize the capital.

The Taliban seizing Kabul led to the collapse of the Washington-supported government and chaos at the Kabul airport.

More than 124,000 people, including 6,000 U.S. citizens had got out of Afghanistan, according to State Department's figures last week.

However, it is still not clear how many Afghans who worked with the U.S. were evacuated.

Blinken told House lawmakers that the administration will continue to aid Americans and Afghans exit Afghanistan, adding that there is no deadline to that goal.

READ MORE: Sen. Mitch McConnell Says Pres. Joe Biden Won't Be Impeached Over Afghanistan, Says Hold Him Accountable at 'Ballot Box'

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WATCH: Trump Teases Possibility Of A 2024 Presidential Run - from Bloomberg Quicktake: Now






After the discovery of multiple knives inside his vehicle, including a bayonet and machete with him, a California man was arrested by Capitol Police close to the Washington headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, authorities said Monday.

Capitol Threat Near DNC

According to NBC News, the U.S. Capitol Police stated that the 44-year-old Oceanside, CA resident, Donald Craighead was booked on suspicion of possession of prohibited weapons. Authorities said that the Dodge Dakota pickup truck of Craighead was decorated with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols. The vehicle was spotted by authorities near DNC headquarters at around midnight.

Moreover, after Capitol police pulled over the truck along the 500 block of South Capitol Street, SW, officials noticed that the truck did not have a license plate. Instead, the vehicle had the photo of an American flag where the plate should have been, the New York Post reported.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said that the discovery was good police work, plain and simple. Manger applauded the officers' keen observation and the teamwork that they have displayed which resulted in the arrest.

Once the officers spotted the bayonet and the machete inside the vehicle of Craighead, authorities immediately arrested him because it was illegal in Washington D.C. During the inspection, Craighead allegedly claimed that he was "on patrol" and expressed to the Capitol police white supremacist ideology.

Meanwhile, the Capitol Police department said that they were investigating whether Craighead was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations in the area or if he had previous ties to any protests near the Capitol.

It was not immediately clear on Monday whether Craighead had been assigned or hired an attorney yet.

READ MORE: Florida Students Apprehended After Planning to Carry Out a Mass Shooting Imitating the Columbine Massacre

California Man's Background

The brother and the father of the 44-year-old Oceanside resident shared to NBC News that the suspect has been estranged from his family for years. The family members even stated to the news agency that even his loved ones didn't know where he had been living.

Furthermore, years ago, Craighead's father, also named Donald Craighead shared that the suspect was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The father said that the suspect responded well to the medications, but he stopped taking them.

Craighead's father added that his son is now homeless and he's not well.

On the other hand, the executive director at the DNC, Sam Cornale thanked the Capitol Police for containing the threat.

This suspect's apparent views are despicable, and violence and white supremacy have no place in our country," Cornale said in a statement.

Based on the spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the 44-year-old California man, Donald Craighead is expected to make his first appearance in front of a federal judge on Tuesday.

READ NEXT: Texas Baby Found Dead in the Back of Her Mom's Hot Car After Being Left for Nearly 10 Hours

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WATCH: California man armed with multiple knives arrested outside DNC headquarters-WUSA9


Former aide Stephanie Grisham detailed in her book how former first lady Melania Trump declined to condemn rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

Grisham also said that Melania had believed former president Donald Trump's claims that his defeat in the presidential election was the result of electoral fraud, according to The Guardian report.

Grisham's book entitled "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House," also likened Melania to Marie Antoinette.

Grisham reportedly wrote that Melania was "dismissive, defeated, and detached."

A report circulated that Grisham had texted Melania if she wanted to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, adding that there is no place for lawlessness and violence. However, the former first lady reportedly replied "no."

Grisham added that the first lady was more concerned with a photoshoot for a rug.

The former aide also wrote that she tried to persuade Melania that the election was not stolen for her husband. However, the former first lady said that "something bad happened" with the results, according to a USA Today report.

A source said that Grisham has secrets about the former president that even Melania does not know.

Meanwhile, Melania's office released a statement regarding the book that will be released on October 5.

The office's statement said that the intent behind the book was obvious, noting that it was an attempt to redeem Grisham after a poor performance as a press secretary, according to a Business Insider report.

The statement added that Grisham seeks to gain relevance and money at the expense of the former first lady. It also noted of Grisham's "failed personal relationships."

The mention of her relationship seemed to be referring to Grisham's "turbulent and abusive" 18-month relationship with former White House official Max Miller.

Miller is now a candidate for Congress in Ohio.

READ NEXT: "She Has Receipts": Melania Trump's Former Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham to Publish a Memoir, Says She Expects Trump to Retaliate

Grisham's Book

One source said that Grisham will be opening doors to the secrets that the Trump administration had during their time of leadership.

The source said that she had been warned that the Trumps are going to retaliate once she releases her book, according to a Daily Mail report.

Grisham and Melania were reportedly close and would text often. The former aide then quit the White House in protest after the Capitol riot, where a mob of Trump supporters had breached the Capitol.

Grisham had started working with Trump in 2015 for the presidential campaign as a press wrangler.

She is also the only person to have served as a top to not just Melania but also to the former president, where she was White House press secretary and communications director.

Her time during a press secretary in the White House wasn't widely marked by camera press briefings.

She was then forced out by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows last April and returned to the East Wing.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was also among the former aides to release what it was working with the Trump administration. Winston Wolkoff secretly recorded the former first lady saying "give me a f---ing break" regarding the border crisis.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Admits Donald Trump's Deal With Taliban Resulted in a Year Without Combat Death in Afghanistan

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WATCH: LEAK: Melania's Capitol Riot Reaction - from The Damage Report






Apple had released emergency security updates after finding a flaw in its products that allows the highly invasive Israeli spyware to infect anyone's iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac computer.



Researchers at Citizen Lab discovered that a Saudi activist's iPhone had been infected with an advanced form of spyware from NSO Group, prompting Apple's security team to work and develop a fix, according to The New York Times report.

The spyware was known as Pegasus. It uses a method to invisibly infect Apple devices without the victims' knowledge, which is known as a "zero-click remote exploit."

In addition, it is also considered the Holy Grail of surveillance as it allows governments, mercenaries, and criminals to secretly break into someone's device without the victim knowing it.

Citizen Lab said in a report that chat apps have become a major target for the most sophisticated threat, including nation-state espionage operations, according to a CNET report.

Apple thanked Citizen Lab for giving a sample of the exploit.

Ivan Krstic, who runs Apple's security engineering and architecture operations, said that despite not being a threat to the overwhelming majority of their users, they continue to work to defend all their customers, as well as adding new protections for their devices and data.

Meanwhile, NSO released a statement that did not directly respond to Apple's update.

The company said that it will continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terror and crime.

READ NEXT: Rights Group Wants to Stop Spyware Use in Mexico, Says Mass Surveillance Violates Right to Privacy

NSO Group Spyware

The technology company said that the spyware is only meant to be utilized by licensed law enforcement agencies to focus on criminals and terrorists, according to The Guardian report. However, investigations have revealed the ways in which spyware has been used by government clients to target journalists and human rights activists globally.

Citizen Lab said that it was able to make a contribution that the exploit had been created by the NSO group.

The cybersecurity watchdog organization based at the University of Toronto said that they believe the bug is distinctive enough to be redirected back to NSO.

NSO noted that it cannot reveal the identity of its clients. However, previous reports had said that the company had dropped Saudi Arabia as a client after it was found that it was likely the culprit behind dozens of attacks against Al Jazeera journalists in 2020.

Bill Marczak, part of Citizen Lab, said that the findings put importance on putting security in known messaging apps.

The Pegasus Project, composed of international media outlets, had leaked a list of around 50,000 phone numbers, showing governments around the world used NSO's cellphone hacking technology, according to an NPR report.

Political dissidents, human rights activists, and around 180 journalists in around two dozen countries were included in the numbers selected for surveillance.

A Dubai princess escaping her father, as well as 14 heads of state were also included in the list.

READ MORE: 4 of Haiti President Jovenel Moise's 'Presumed Assassins' Killed, 2 Arrested by Police

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WATCH: Apple Rushes to Block Spyware - from Bloomberg Markets and Finance






After a year of reckoning over racial justice terms linked to their name, a famous California ski resort replaced a derogatory term for Native American women in its name, to offer a fresh start, Monday.

Ski Resort Name Change Welcomes Positivity

According to ABC News, resort officials of the former Squaw Valley Ski Resort decided to change its name to Palisades Tahoe on Monday. Palisades Tahoe President and COO Dee Byrne stated that the name change was the right thing to do and it would create a difference. The officials believed that they were going to be seen as a more welcoming, inclusive resort and a community.

The word "squaw," which simply meant "woman" in the past, evolved as a misogynist and racist term to disparage Indigenous women.

Byrne stated that after studying the issue for more than a year, the researchers of the resort concluded that the word is indeed very offensive not only to Indigenous women but to all women.

Moreover, the resort which is in Olympic Valley, was formerly known as the Squaw Valley until it hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. For decades, tribes in the region had been asking the resort for a name change.

Meanwhile, Darrel Cruz of the Washoe Tribe Historic Preservation Office said in a statement that the valley is within the ancestral homeland of the Washoe people.

Cruz added that the word inflicted them, especially in time periods.

Also, Washoe Tribal Chairman Serrell Smokey relayed information that the tribal council expressed great appreciation about the name change as it is a positive step forward, NBC Bay Area reported.

"We need to continue to capitalize on that progress and continue to push forward," Smokey added.

Furthermore, resort officials said that the resort's new logo honors the two legendary mountains that are part of it. Palisades Tahoe's logo also featured an eagle, which is a symbol of the spiritual world for Native Americans after getting approval from the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.

READ MORE: Capitol Police Arrests California Man With Bayonet and Machete Near DNC Headquarters; Man's Vehicle Decorated With Supremacist Symbols

California Ski Resort Partners with Washoe Tribe

Beyond changing its name, the company said it is partnering with the Washoe Tribe to educate resort guests about the culture of the tribe and the resort would be launching the Washoe Cultural Tour series which will offer a monthly talk by Cruz. The resort will also install an exhibit on the Washoe way of life to deepen the connection to the tribe.

The Washoe Tribal Chairman said that the tribe plans to work with the resort and officials in Placer County to rename other public places and features in the Olympic Valley that used the derogatory word throughout the years.

On the other hand, the renaming of the Squaw Valley Ski Resort is only one of many efforts in the United States to address a history of colonialism and oppression against Native Americans.

READ NEXT: President Joe Biden Approves California Disaster Declaration Ahead of State Visit to Survey Wildfire Damages

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Written By: Jess Smith

WATCH: Squaw Valley Ski Resort Changes Name to Palisades Tahoe- NBC Bay Area
An Idaho lumber company said there is no record of President Joe Biden being offered a job at their company or working for them. The president on Monday claimed that the Boise Cascade Company in Idaho had given him his "first job offer" during the Vietnam war.

Speaking at a roundtable in Boise, Idaho, Joe Biden has talked about how he and his deceased former wife had once wanted to move to Idaho because "it's such a beautiful state."

Fox News reported that the president was in Boise to be briefed on the efforts against the wildfires by federal and state fire officials at the National Interagency Fire Center.

The president cited the Boise Cascade Company as the first company that offered him a job. The company is a manufacturer of wood products and a wholesale distributor of building materials.

Joe Biden noted that he was previously interviewed for a job at Boise Cascade. The president said there was a war going on at the time, "but the whole point was that I used to always kid Frank (Church)," who was a Democratic senator from Idaho that served from 1957 to 1981.

However, Boise Cascade spokeswoman Lisa Tschampl told the New York Post that they have no record of the president's application or having worked for the company.

The spokeswoman noted that they checked their system internally, and nothing turned up. She added that the application could have been lost over the course of 50 years as the firm dropped certain aspects of its business, Washington Examiner reported.

The spokeswoman noted that they had a diverse portfolio in the 60s and early 70s, adding that records might have been purged or transferred for the businesses or projects they are no longer involved in.

READ NEXT: Majority Believes Joe Biden Unfit to Be President and 'Others' Are Secretly Running the White House: Poll

Joe Biden's Working at the Idaho Lumber Company

New York Post reported that it could not locate any prior record of Joe Biden mentioning the Idaho lumber company. In his 2007 memoir "Promises to Keep," he did not mention the Boise Cascade Company or a desire to move to Idaho.

Joe Biden noted in his autobiography that he and his late wife moved to his home state of Delaware in 1968, shortly after he earned his law degree.

The president also wrote that he and his deceased wife had not settled on where they were going to live during his final year in law school, so he has not accepted a job.

However, his father had set him up for a meeting with a local judge in Wilmington, Delaware, referring him to a lawyer whose firm offered him work.

Joe Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972. Biden's first wife died in a car accident shortly after his Senate election victory.

The New York Post reported that Joe Biden has records of inaccurate or embellished claims, including claims he made about his academic record and controversy involving plagiarism of speeches.

In addition, there were questions about his mental ability being the oldest president in U.S. history. It also prompted public arguments.

Earlier, Joe Biden claimed that he remembered "spending time" and "going to" the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the mass murder in October 2018. But the synagogue said the president did not visit.

The White House then released a statement, saying the president misspoke and he's talking about a 2019 phone call with the congregation's rabbi.

Last year, Joe Biden said he was arrested when he was trying to see imprisoned Nelson Mandela at Robbens Island in South Africa in the 1970s. Biden claimed he was arrested with then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, Washington Post reported.

But Young, the U.N. ambassador from 1977 to 1979, said he was never arrested in South Africa, adding that he does not think Joe Biden either. The president later recanted the story and admitted that it was untrue.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Would Win and Beat Pres. Joe Biden if Next Presidential Election Were Held Now, New Poll Shows

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WATCH: Joe Biden on Possibly Moving to Idaho - From KTVB






Eight months after the January 6 Capitol attack, the building would be placed in tight security again, and the fence would be put back up ahead of a planned weekend demonstration.

According to WFLA, the U.S Capitol Police released a statement on Monday regarding the demonstration planned for September 18 in support of the people arrested during the January 6 riot.

Associated Press reported that the September 18 demonstration is being organized by Matt Braynard, a former campaign strategist for former President Donald Trump. Braynard has recently been focusing his attention on what he calls the "prisoners" being unfairly prosecuted for their involvement in the January 6 Capitol riot.

Although the information gathered by the AP on the projected crowd size and the intensity of the planned rally is still unclear, the Capitol Police said they are prepared for any possible situation.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger noted that they would be there to protect everyone's First Amendment right to peacefully protest. He also urged anyone thinking about causing trouble to stay at their home, saying they would enforce the law and would not tolerate violence.

On Monday, the Capitol Police Board approved the establishment of a fence surrounding the U.S. Capitol. The fence was first put up after the January 6 riot, but it was taken down in July.

Manger said if everything goes well, the fence will only go up a day or two prior to the rally, and they will take it down as soon as everything goes well.

Aside from the fence around the Capitol, the Capitol Police Board also issued an emergency declaration last week that would allow the department to "deputize outside law enforcement officers as United States Capitol Police Special Officers." The declaration is set to go into effect around the time of the demonstration.

Manger said they wanted to reassure everyone that these measures were just temporary and would only be utilized to ensure everyone's safety. Manger also expressed his gratitude to the local community and stakeholders for their help.

The Capitol Police noted that meetings and plannings regarding the September 18 demonstration had been held since last month.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Eyes Presidential Race 2024, Says He Doesn't Have a Choice

Capitol Police Arrest California Man with Knives

The Capitol Police arrested a 44-year-old Oceanside, California resident on Monday morning due to possession of prohibited weapons.

Authorities spotted Donald Craighead's vehicle near DNC headquarters at around midnight, and they noticed that the Dodge Dakota pickup truck of Craighead was decorated with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols.

When the Capitol Police officers spotted the bayonet and the machete inside Craighead's vehicle, they immediately arrested the California man because it was illegal in the Capital.

During questioning, Craighead allegedly claimed that he was "on patrol" and spoke about white supremacist ideology to the authorities.

The Capitol Police department said they would also investigate if Craighead was planning to attend the upcoming September 18 demonstration.

READ MORE: President Joe Biden Approves California Disaster Declaration Ahead of State Visit to Survey Wildfire Damages

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WATCH: U.S. Capitol Fence to Return for Rally in Support of Rioters - From Reuters
After spending six days sailing from Haiti in hopes of reaching the United States, 104 Haitian migrants on a boat were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in Florida waters on Sunday.

According to DailyMail, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the 35-foot sailboat just 18 miles off the coast of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami, in Florida.

The 104 migrants from Haiti were initially spotted by a good samaritan who alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Estrada told WPLG that there were way too many individuals on board.

The dangerous attempt of the Haitian migrants prompted the U.S. Coast Guard's 7th District to remove them from the overcrowded boat and transferred them to the Coast Guard vessel, Cutter Richard Etheridge.

Coast Guard officials noted that once aboard the cutter, all migrants received "food, water, shelter, and basic medical attention."

Despite their long and dangerous Atlantic voyage, the Coast Guard said none of the migrants showed signs of medical issues.

Estrada warned other migrants not to take the sea due to its danger. Estrada said water and weather conditions could change at a moment's notice and advised migrants not to proceed on the voyage.

Coast Guard officials noted that each Haitian migrant is being interviewed to determine whether they qualify for asylum or they would be repatriated to Haiti.

They added that the boat the migrants from Haiti were on was brought to land and destroyed.

The interception came days after the Coast Guard interrupted a 24-foot vessel around Juno Beach last Tuesday. They have transferred the 12 Haitian migrants on the boat to the authorities in the Bahamas.

Based on the Coast Guard's database, a total of 502 migrants from Haiti have been intercepted in U.S. waters since October 1, 2020 - the beginning of the fiscal year 2021. It increased compared to the numbers in the 2020 fiscal year, wherein around 418 Haitians were stopped,

Joe Biden Extends Deportation Relief for Migrants From Selected Countries

Based on last week's announcement of the administration of President Joe Biden, the country would be extending the deportation relief and work permits of not less than 300,000 individuals from different countries, including El Salvador and Honduras in the U.S. They were enrolled in the TPS program or the Temporary Protected Status.

The latest information from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services noted that the renewals for six countries, namely El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan, Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua, will last until December 31, 2022.

On August 5, Joe Biden also announced that he would be offering deportation relief to thousands of Hong Kong residents in the U.S. after citing the anti-democratic actions by China in Hong Kong.

READ NEXT: U.S. Coast Guard Seizes $51 Million Worth of Cocaine Near the British Virgin Islands

Search for More Haitian Migrants in Florida

After coming ashore in the waters of South Florida on Monday, four migrants also from Haiti were detained by U.S. authorities.

While several others were apprehended, some made a run after the group made it onto dry land, prompting authorities to launch a search at Virginia Key.

Authorities believe that the boat carrying at least 10 men from Haiti made it ashore near the Central District Wastewater Treatment Plant, WPLG reported. It was the second day in a row since Sunday that authorities spotted people coming from Haiti.

READ MORE: 3 Arrested After Stealing Identities of Several Florida Condo Collapse Victims for Shopping

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WATCH: Officials Intercept Boat With More Than 100 Haitian Migrants Onboard - From WPLG Local 10
A Laois event this Culture Night celebrates the extraordinary life of Mountmellick native, Anne Jellicoe born in 1823 into a Quaker family.

A video-mapped animation of her life will be projected onto the front wall of Mountmellick Community School on Fri Sept 17, from 8.30pm to 11.30pm. This 7 minutes animation work is created by artist Caroline Conway and will play on a loop throughout the evening, illuminating the significance of Jellicoe's historical achievements and contemporary relevance to Laois. Special thanks to Mountmellick Community School for hosting this event and to Deputy Principal Frances Kerry  La Rosa for her support.

Jellicoe was an Educationalist and Social Reformer. She was strongly influenced by her father, William Mullin who was a Quaker schoolmaster and ran his own school for boys. She was also influenced by Johanna Carter who provided vocational training for girls and invented Mountmellick Embroidery, proving to Jellicoe that work could liberate women socially and economically. Her most notable achievements include setting up an embroidery and lace school to provide employment for young girls in Clara, Co. Offaly (circa 1846-1858).

In 1861 Jellicoe, along with Barbara Corlett, founded the Dublin branch of the London-based Society of Promoting the Employment of Women in order to educate women for work outside the home. She was a noted Irish educationalist and is best known for the founding of Alexandra College, Dublin in 1866.

This event is part of a series of outdoor projections on pioneering Laois women. An animation created by artist Caroline Conway on the life and work of Helen Roe (1895  1988) was projected as part of Culture Night 2020 at Fitzmaurice Place Portlaoise in 2020. Artist, Caroline Conway has been generating Heritage related video-mapped projections, Vintage Luminaries for the past four years with Offline Film Festival.

Working with Caroline is technical expert John Johnston, bringing 3D wizardry and design support to the artworks.

Both artworks are commissioned by Laois County Council Library Services, Heritage Office and Arts Office and supported by Creative Ireland Laois as part of the Creative Ireland Programme 2017-2022 in partnership with Laois County Council. Special thanks to Laois Libraries Historian in Residence (2019/2020), Regina Dunne for contributing her research and knowlege on both Anne Jellicoe and Helen Roe.

For full details on Laois Culture Night 2021 programme, go to www.culturenight.ie. Culture Night is brought to you by The Arts Council in partnership with Laois County Council.

W: www.culturnight.ie @CultureNight, | Twitter | Facebook @CultureNight facebook.com/culturenight

Note: All live in person events are subject to Covid-19 related guidelines at the time of events & are subject to change*

Culture Night is brought to you by The Arts Council in partnership with Laois County Council.
A man facing a money laundering charge will have his case heard in the district court, after jurisdiction was accepted by the court last Thursday.

Peter Graham of 56 Lime Street Avenue, Kilminchy is facing a money laundering charge at Permanent TSB, Main Street, Portlaoise on March 10, 2020.

In order to decide jurisdiction, Sgt JJ Kirby told the court it was alleged that on March 20, 2020 there was a targeted attack on the online banking of Portlaoise TSB customers with fraudulent texts.

One man had 3,415 taken from his account. A new payee had been added to his account.

It was alleged that the TSB account of Peter Graham had been used as a mule account to launder the proceeds of fraudulent transactions.

It was alleged that Mr Graham had provided the bank account details to a third party.

Sgt Kirby said he was not the alleged mastermind but was allegedly aware of what was happening.

Judge Bernadette Owens said she accepted jurisdiction. The case was adjourned to November 4.
The Irish Prison Service is inviting views and submissions on Prison Rules which apply to running of Irish jails including the regulations governing prison officers who work Portlaoise and other prisons in Ireland.

Solitary confinement, use of restraints, staffing levels are on the agenda of the review which is being carried out to update the code in Ireland to a new European template for rules in jails.

The services says the current Prison Rules were enacted in May 2007. The IPS says the existing regime sets out the rules and regulations with regard to the various conditions in prisons in Ireland, including: admission, registration, accommodation, visiting rights, health, discipline, education, etc.

The IPS adds that they include specific rules on the role of the Prison Governor, the role of Prison Officers and the operation of regimes and services within prisons on a daily basis.

The Service says it has now opened the public consultation on the "Review of Prison Rules" and has called on interested parties to submit their view and opinions.

The IPS says the drafting of the 2007 Prison Rules was influenced by the publication of the European Prison Rules which were published the preceding year (in 2006). In July 2020 an updated version of the European Prison Rules was published by the Council of Europe.

The IPS says the updated rules, which contain the key legal standards and principles related to prison management, staff and treatment of detainees and are a global reference in this field, guide the 47 Council of Europe member states in their legislation, policies and practices. MORE BELOW LINK

"The revision concerns the rules on the record keeping of information about inmates and the management of their files, the treatment of women prisoners, foreign nationals, as well as the use of special high security or safety measures such as the separation of prisoners from other inmates, solitary confinement, instruments of restraint, the need to ensure adequate levels in prison staff, inspection and independent monitoring," says the IPS.

In reviewing the Prison Rules, the Service says it wishes to take account of the updated European Prison Rules and also consider changes within the Irish Prison Service, the prison system and also changes that have occurred within the wider criminal justice system over the past 14 years.

It lists these as organisational developments in the prison system including security and operational developments; societal and prison demographical changes; technological advancements and changes to processes and procedures.

The Service says the review of Prison Rules 2007 aims to ensure that the revised Prison Rules reflect the changing nature of European penology law and recommendations by taking account of the European Prison Rules and Council of Europe recommendations introduced since the introduction of Prison Rules 2007.

The Service submissions may include views and opinions on areas for updating outside of the changes made in the European Prison Rules. The IPS adds that ubmissions which suggest significant amendments to the rules including the complete removal of a rule or the addition of a new rule should include a rationale for same.

If you wish to make a submission on the Review of Prison rules you should send your submission by email to prisonrulesreview@irishprisons.ie or by post to:

Prison Rules Review, Irish Prison Service, Ballinalee Road, Longford town, Co Longford, N39 A308.

The closing date for submissions is 5pm September 30, 2021.
Sinn Fein spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane, has called on the Minister for Health to prioritise maternity services for investment in the Budget this year.

The Waterford TD said Sinn Fein would invest an additional 60m primarily in advancing upgrade works for maternity units in response to quality reports showing that services are lacking.

"Maternity services must be prioritised for investment in the Budget this year and Sinn Fein would invest an additional 60m next year in upgrading maternity services.

"We have heard reports from HIQA that standards are not being met in this sector, and we know that maternity units are well behind on the changes set out in the Maternity Strategy2, said Mr. Cullinane.

"This strategy, like many others, has not received the investment it needs to succeed but because of the lack of investment in upgrading maternity units, they are severely constrained by space. Maternity visitation restrictions have been far too harsh in response, and this is ultimately a political failure to make the investments to re-open hospitals safely.

"We also need swift movement on the new National Maternity Hospital. The concerns I raised previously with the Minister are clearly shared by the HSE Board, and Government must act decisively in this controversy to move the project along and ensure the site is in public ownership." the TD added.
CPL, Europes largest manufacturer of low-smoke fuels, issued a cautious statement today following Minister Ryans statement with regard the potential banning of smoky coal.

Our principal concern is that the present ban is not being enforced and that a new ban will be rendered useless without effective enforcement. Additionally, we are also concerned that the Minister has come out with this statement without proper and detailed discussions with the trade in general, said Niall McGuinness, MD of CPL Ireland.

As we stand, the powers that be are allowing a situation whereby High Sulphur ovoids are being sold into the market, improperly labelled as being smokeless, and no one is doing anything about it.

Last Winter saw enormous spikes in air pollution in areas where a ban is supposed to be in force. PM2.5 pollution in Rathmines in Dublin, in Mahon in Cork and right across the control zones was down to the uninhibited sale of dirty coal, according to the CPL.

McGuinness, has called on the Minister to go further: We broadly welcome the announcement and the Ministers stated commitment that it will take effect with no ifs or buts a year from now, however, we urgently need the Minister to publish an action plan to accompany the regulations, and to take effective enforcement measures now against fuel smuggling.

We need regional task forces with coordinated action from the Department of the Environment, the Revenue Commissioners and local authorities. We need a hotline for citizens to report incidences of smuggling or illegal sale. Our view is that well in excess of 100,000 tonnes are smuggled into Ireland. This is squeezing out legitimate traders and needs to be tackled immediately.

The legitimate trade the length and breadth of Ireland feel abandoned by the authorities employed by the state to enforce the laws of the land, and I expect, indeed I demand, that they are now protected and that a proper enforcement of the present and indeed future legalisation happens.

"If the Government arent prepared to tackle this issue with millions of euro being lost to the exchequer annually, are you telling me we will now track smoky coal being sent across the border, to be delivered under the cover of darkness across the state?, he concluded.
A Senator from Kildare has called for the establishment of safe access zones at abortion clinics to be hastened.

On behalf of the Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus, its Chair Senator Fiona OLoughlin has directed her appeal to the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

Minister Donnelly recently said that insisted he is "fully committed" to legislating for safe access zones around clinics that provide abortion services, and later restated his 'commitment' after The Irish Examiner revealed that the Department of Health stated current public order legislation was adequate to police anti-abortion protests outside hospitals and GP practices.

Speaking on the need for safe access zones, Senator O Loughlin said, We need to legislate for safe access zones at abortion clinics as a matter of urgency.

"Peoples right to protest is of paramount importance, and I believe we need to support that, but there is a distinct difference between registering your protest to something and hiding behind your right to protest in order to intimidate people out of accessing healthcare."

She continued: "Safe access zones are needed to protect both the right to protest as well as peoples right to access healthcare."

The Fianna Fail politician added that safe access zones are already used in other countries, including parts of Canada, Australia, and the US, and stressed that "we need to follow suit here in Ireland."

"I am concerned that protests at these clinics will deter people from exercising their right to healthcare, many of whom are in crisis pregnancy situations and do not need any extra pressure or stress."

She concluded: "As Chair of the Womens caucus, I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that peoples access to healthcare is protected."

Fiona O' Loughlin recently also made headlines when she hit out at a controversial Irish Mail on Sunday article criticising her dress sense, as well as the dress sense of other members of Fianna Fail at last week's party outing in Cavan.
A former soldier and whistleblower has claimed that more allegations are on the way against the Irish Defence Forces (IDF) in the next few weeks.

Dr Tom Clonan spoke to KFM Radio, where he discussed the recently released RTE Radio programme Women of Honour, which focused on four women who detailed their alleged experiences of sexual abuse and bullying within the army.

Clonan, who first blew the whistle on alleged abuse in the army between 1995 and 2000, commended the bravery of the women featured in the programme, and also discussed how his Doctoral Thesis prompted an Independent Government Enquiry.

He also detailed the alleged "character assassination" campaign that was targeted towards him, including physical threats against him and also threats against his family members, and at one point even tried to frame him as a criminal, claiming that he was breaching a security act through his thesis.

"All officers involved in the campaign against me have since been promoted."

He added: "Quite proud of what they did... the level of reprisal is very, very high."

When asked about whether or not he thinks about the IDF has improved in dealing with bullying, sexual assault and rape allegations, Dr Clonan expressed "serious doubts" over the current state of the army.

He claimed: "The level of victim blaming and victim shaming is still high (in there)."

Dr Clonan added that he believes that many predatory soldiers use the fact that a lot of army camps, such as the one on the Curragh, are isolated to their advantage.

He was also critical of the Department of Defence's latest statement commending survivors in light of the Women of Honour programme (the full statement can be read at the end of the article).

In response, Clonan said: "They haven't even met with the survivors of abuse; they have never consulted survivors."

"I was involved in a legal battle with a survivor just a few weeks ago."

"These are not claims, they are facts," he emphasised.

Dr Clonan continued: "There is a toxic culture present in the IDF. All the good soldiers have to call out the bad behaviour. Senior officers think that Oghlaigh na hEireann belongs to them: it doesn't."

"Oghlaigh na hEireann belongs to the people, and we want it back," he added.

Dept of Defence statement:

The original statement from the Department of Defence issued yesterday in response to the Women of Honour programme read as follows:

"The Minister would like to express concern for the welfare of the women who recounted their experiences on the Women of Honour programme on RTE Radio on the 11th of Sept, and express significant concern about the allegations made."

"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."

"The Minister receives information on such matters both formally by way of regular reports from the Chief of Staff and by correspondence provided to him in a confidential manner by individuals who wished to have their identity protected. The Minister has a statutory duty to comply with that wish. It would be inappropriate for him to discuss individual cases, as it would be in relation to those cases which are within an independent adjudication process."

"The Minister was aware of some of the complaints profiled in the programme, but not the specific details of all. Senior officials have personally met and interacted with some of the people who were profiled on the programme, to facilitate them in bringing their complaints forward for investigation to the appropriate competent authority, An Garda Siochana."

"Minister Coveney is committed to meeting with the women profiled, should they wish to do so and will be taking steps to make contact."

"The Minister and the Defence Organisation is committed to providing a safe place of work for all employees. This is done by putting in place processes and procedures developed with professional guidance and reflecting best practice. These processes and procedures educate personnel, facilitate formal and informal complaint procedures and provide support for those affected. The criminal prosecution of those responsible for serious offences also plays a part in highlighting the unacceptable nature of such behaviour and provides for due process and fair procedures."

"Reforms have been introduced, but it is recognised that further work needs to be done. These reforms continue to be developed and actioned. A number of specific actions have been in progress over the past few months with a view to shaping future reforms."

"In light of the programme, the Minister will ask for the content of the programme to be reviewed and that these planned actions be assessed to ensure that they address fully all issues raised."

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.
A therapeutic farm is seeking planning permission from Kildare County Council to build a new facility in Straffan.

Kyrie Therapeutic Farm CLG is seeking planning permission for the project, which will house 40 people at the former Portree Stables in Boston, Straffan.

The proposal, which has been described as a therapeutic farm, includes a new two storey communal building, eight single storey residential buildings, a reception building and also a shop with a cafe.

According to the description:

"Development will consist of: Use of the site as a therapeutic farm for the provision of a healthcare facility for up to 40 guests to operate as a step down mental health facility. The therapeutic farm will provide therapeutic services with the farm as an essential element of the overall programme of healing and recovery."

"The application proposes the demolition of an existing farm building on site and other structures. The new build elements will comprise: A new two storey communal building (c. 1,564 m) centrally within the farm comprising of kitchen/dining, office, therapy, meeting, yoga and meditation and various other rooms."

"Erection of eight single storey residential buildings to the west of the communal building to provide accommodation for up to 40 guests. These will comprise 4 x 4 bedroom buildings and 4 x 6 bedroom buildings. Erection of a single storey reception building (c. 318 m) to the west of the site, adjacent to the existing farm buildings, to provide reception and ancillary facilities associated with the proposed use."

"Erection of a single storey shop/cafe building (c. 327 m) to provide a small scale shop and cafe which will be linked to the overall use of the site. The proposed buildings will be clad in vertical timber cladding at regular spacing; the roofs will be vertical timber cladding at regular spacing or dark grey/black zinc roofs. 41 car parking spaces are proposed for the therapeutic farm use and 20 car parking spaces are proposed for the shop/cafe."

"The remainder of the site will be used as agriculture, with which the therapeutic use will be intrinsically linked. This will include general planting and laying out of the farm and informal landscaping, including the provision of a lake for irrigation and ecology, internal farm tracks and roads, fencing and planting. On site wastewater treatment is proposed. And all other associated works."

Kildare County Council is due to issue a decision on November 4, while the submission date has been listed for October 14.
A Kildare Senator has welcomed the announcement that agreement has been reached between the Department of Education and school secretaries at the Workplace Relations Commission.

Previously, school secretaries were due to stage a one-day strike on Wednesday, September 15 at the premises of the Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Senator Fiona OLoughlin, who is also the Fianna Fail Education Spokesperson said about the news: "I am delighted that a resolution has been reached between the Department and representatives of school secretaries, and that tomorrows planned strike action has been called off."

"School secretaries are the heartbeat of our schools, and for too long their pay and conditions have not reflected that."

She added that the school secretaries that she has been in touch with for years" always felt that there was a real lack of recognition of the work" they do every day keeping their schools running.

"Pay parity is essential, and we had to see an end to the two-tier system of pay between ETB and non-ETB schools, and todays announcement achieves this."

Senator O' Loughlin concluded: "I want to pay tribute to my Fianna Fail colleagues Ministers Norma Foley TD and Michael McGrath TD for their tireless work in finding a resolution here."

"They have delivered for our local school secretaries and have given them the recognition they deserve."

Fiona O' Loughlin recently also made headlines when she hit out at a controversial Irish Mail on Sunday article criticising her dress sense, as well as the dress sense of other members of Fianna Fail at last week's party outing in Cavan.
The Maudlin mausolea in Kildare have been conserved in a successful operation led by Naas Union of Parishes and Kildare County Council (KCC).

Naas Green Party councillor Colm Kenny shared a photo of the newly refurbished monuments on his Twitter account, where he said: "Pleased to welcome Minister Malcolm Noonan on a return visit to the restored pyramid mausoleums at Maudlins Cemetery, Dublin Rd, Naas, today."

According to Cllr Kenny, the doors to the pyramids were restored by Bushy Park Ironworks and are now in place and the overall work on the pyramids was completed in 2020 by Vernacular Conservation.

He added that the Follies Trust, who oversaw the project, worked with KCC, the Department of Housing, the Heritage Hub and Kildare Heritage.

Pleased to welcome Minister @noonan_malcolm on a return visit to the restored pyramid mausoleums@ Maudlins Cemetery, Dublin Rd, Naas, today. The Follies Trust worked with @KildareCoCo @DeptHousingIRL @HeritageHubIRE @NaasUnion @KildareHeritage amongst others to complete the work. pic.twitter.com/4AbN5Xv6S1  Colm Kenny (@ColmKennyGreen) September 10, 2021

Speaking on the project, KCC said in a statement: "The conservation of the Maudlin Mausolea is a great example of how community groups, interested individuals and Kildare County Council can work together to support the protection and conservation of heritage"

"In 2019 Primrose Wilson approached the Nass Union of Parishes with a view to conserving these unique structures. Funding was secured from a number of different sources for the project involving the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, Creative Ireland and the Naas Municipal District under the LPT allocation in 2020," it explained.

The council confirmed that the project was supported by the elected members of the Naas Newbridge Municipal District, and that in 2021, further funding was secured from the Heritage Council to restore the two doors.

"Without Community support, structures like these are at risk of falling into disrepair," KCC added.

According to a public PDF document published online by Naas Local History Group, Maudlins Cemetary features some unique pyramid shaped vaults, in addition to one enclosure which was erected in memory of the wife of Walter Hussey Burg, grandson of the famous 18th Century patriot and MP of the same name, whose seat was at Donore House, Caragh.

There are also vaults and enclosures containing the remains of many local titled families on the grounds, including the Earls of Mayo, the Earls of Clonmel, the De Robecks of Gowran Grange and the deBurgs of Oldtown.

One very interesting resident of the graveyard is the famous cartographer, Lieutenant Alexander Taylor, who produced a well known map of Kildare in 1783 and referred to the land as burial ground.

Taylor was later buried in Kildare in 1828.
The Minister of State with special responsibility for New Market Development has recently led Bord Bia's "Driving Growth in West Africa" Client Seminar.

Martin Heydon, who is a TD for Fine Gael, led the virtual event, which featured insights from senior commercial stakeholders on trading with West Africa, with particular emphasis on the dairy, alcohol and seafood sectors.

Speaking ahead of the seminar, Minister Heydon said: "Ireland has consistently supplied quality, safe and sustainable food worldwide: with a population of 320 million, markets in West Africa provide a significant opportunity for our agri-food exports."

"Bord Bia plays a critical role here in ensuring that Irish suppliers and customers continue to build and foster strong and enduring relationships in this region."

The Newbridge politician added: "My Department (of Food, Agriculture and the Marine) is strongly engaged in the Governments strategic approach to Africa in terms of both trade and development."

"One example is the Africa Agri-Food Development Programme (AADP), jointly funded by my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs, which supports Irish agri-food companies to partner with African companies in the development of sustainable local food enterprises."

Minister Heydon also claimed that this will support the growth of markets for local produce, along with facilitating mutual trade between Ireland and Africa.

According to his Dept, West Africa is an important export destination for Irish food and drink, generating 415 million in Irish exports in 2020.

The region includes 16 countries with a combined population of 320 million.
Vape Business Ireland (VBI) has warned that increasing the cost of vaping through an excise tax will prevent current smokers from making the switch to a less harmful alternative and could push ex-smokers back to smoking.

In its Pre-Budget 2022 Submission to Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, VBI claimed that such a move would be contrary to the Governments overall objective of achieving a Tobacco Free Ireland by 2025.

Commenting, VBI national spokesperson Eoin OBoyle said: We are aware of the Governments intention to bring in a targeted taxation regime to specifically discourage vaping and e-cigarettes. However, it is our belief that placing an excise tax on vaping products is the wrong approach for Government to take and we are keen to stress to Minister Donohoe how this will hold up achieving the ambitious target of five per cent smoking prevalence by 2025.

On a daily basis, our members are seeing first-hand the seismic and positive impact vaping continues to have on the lives of those who made the switch from smoking and their families and friends. What we are seeing on the ground is supported by Irish based research which continues to demonstrate how vaping products are a successful less harmful alternative to smoking. An example of such findings includes the latest Irish National Drug and Alcohol Survey which revealed that 95.5% of vapers are ex or current smokers.

Furthermore, we know from Healthy Ireland research that 41% of people who successfully quit smoking did so using vaping products, making vaping the most successful tool for quit attempts after willpower alone. Therefore, vaping must be embraced and encouraged, and not taxed, by Government if we are anyway serious about pushing smoking rates in downward direction again.

The European Commission is currently completing a review of the EU Tobacco Excise Directive aimed at ensuring the proper functioning of the internal European market and a harmonised approach, indicating that this is likely to deal with the taxation of vapour products on an EU-wide basis.

Mr OBoyle added: Vaping products are not the same as smoking and should be considered as an entirely separate category to smoked tobacco products, especially when it comes to taxation. For over 240,000 Irish people vaping has played a pivotal and successful role in their quit journey.
A JUVENILE was among those arrested during a garda operation targeting antisocial behaviour at a centre for people with intellectual disabilities.

The operation was put in place over the summer after numerous complaints were made about repeated incidents of criminality by non-residents at the Brothers of Charity in Bawnmore.

In recent weeks, a number of high-level meetings have taken place involving, management of the centre, gardai, public representatives and other stakeholders.

The Limerick Leader has learned there have been repeated incidents of trespassing on the grounds of the centre and that staff have also been subjected to threats as they were arriving or leaving.

During one incident, stones were thrown at cars while on another occasion a fire extinguisher was thrown. There have also been some also problems with horses and dogs being brought onto the grounds.

At the quarterly meeting of the Limerick Joint Policing Committee, Superintendent Dermot OConnor of Roxboro Road garda station told Cllr Kevin Sheahan the situation has improved.

We have provided additional patrols there over the last five to six weeks. The number of incidents up there has reduced considerably, he said.

We did have a small number of detections  in one case, we had a child who was arrested as a result of stones being thrown at a car, he told the virtual meeting.

Superintendent OConnor said gardai continue to engage with management at Bawnmore as well as other stakeholders.

The matter is still receiving appropriate attention from our end, he told members of the JPC.

Cllr Sheahan, who attended a recent meeting with gardai at Bawnmore, welcomed the progress that has been made while Cllr Sarah Kiely agreed that things have improved.

We have had serious incidents I would like to thank the gardai for what they have done because the incidents have decreased, she said.

Supt OConnor thanked the members for their feedback.
THE Minister for Housing has rejected suggestions that landlords are pulling out of providing accommodation to students due to alleged instances of anti-social behaviour.

On a visit to the city, Darragh OBrien pointed to the low number of landlord-tenant disputes, and where problems do occur, he feels its very unfair to link that to students.

Limerick letting agent Kersten Mehl had suggested the behaviour of some students had resulted in landlords selling up or renting to professionals instead.

It comes after this newspaper highlighted a surge in demand for student accommodation units.

Suggestions were made it had spiked 30% since 2016, while the supply of property has fallen.

I dont believe there should be a distinction between a tenant and a student who is a tenant. Where real anti-social behaviour happens, I wouldn't categorise that to students, I think that's a very unfair thing to do. Across society, there will always be a couple of people who cause difficulties, whether they are students, whether they are whatever their background.

He said if any student feels they are being discriminated against, they can make a complaint to the Residential Tenancies Board.

In legislation presented just before the Dail recess, Mr O'Brien announced it would be illegal for a landlord to collect more than a months rent as a deposit, something Mr Mehl says is another reason landlords are stepping away from student supply.

It's a significant change in protecting students. I think the vast majority of landlords understand it. We have over 300,000 tenancies in this country. Less than 2% of them end in any kind of dispute at all, he added.
A FARMER from County Limerick has been named in the latest List of Tax Defaulters which has just been published by the Revenue Commissioners.

According to the list, Senan Burns of Montpelier, O'Brien's Bridge was fined 1,250 when he appeared before the district court over his failure to file income tax returns.

No further details relating to the case, which was concluded during the second quarter of this year, have been published.

The only other Limerick person named on the List of Tax Defaulters is Bridget McCarthy who has an address at 20 Johnsgate Village in the city.

According to Revenue Commissioners, she was fined 2,500 after she was convicted by a court over the misuse on Marked Mineral Oil (green diesel).

Again, no further details relating to the prosecution have been published.

Separately, The Revenue Commissioners says there were no recorded tax settlements by Limerick-based customers between April and June of this year.

However, details of 18 cases relating to settlements totaling 3.39 million have been published.

Details of settlements are published each quarter when the extensive voluntary disclosure options are not availed of and the default arises because of careless or deliberate behaviour.

The single-highest settlement of 1.5m was agreed by Veneris Consulting Unlimited (Formerly Dr Hugh O'Connor Unlimited) - a medical service provider based at Upper Water Street, Newry, County Down.
THE airwaves in Limerick city are set to welcome a new radio station when it begins broadcasting this weekend.

Freedom FM, which has been granted a temporary licence by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, will be available on 105.5FM from Saturday.

Promising to cater for the musical taste of Generation Y, the backers of Freedom FM say the station will play a mix of chart,

dance, R nB and rock which first hit the airwaves between 1990 and 2009

The station, which will broadcast to several other cities, will also air specialist music programmes and features helping listeners to relive the 90s and noughties.

Established as an online station in August 2020, Freedom FM has been able to use modern technology to allow DJs broadcast from studios in their own homes - anywhere around the world - with shows coming from as far afield as Vancouver, New York, and Sydney, as well as closer to home in Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Louth.

Like many people last year during the extended lockdowns I found I had more time on my hands than I wanted, said Sean Power, station manager so I roped in two friends, Paul Kavanagh and Ralph McGarry, to establish an online radio station.

"Before we knew it, we had over 24 people from around the world playing music from the 90s and noughties. All of our presenters and DJs are in their late thirties and early forties. They are having fun on the radio and enjoying the music of their youth. This feeds into the sound of the station; it is all about reliving your youth for people who grew up during those two decades. I think one of our station promos says it perfectly: Freedom FM - broadcasting to Generation Y. Why? Because someone has to!," he added.

The success of the online station during lockdown and since encouraged the team to consider bringing the music of their

youth to the FM band, and so they submitted an application to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in May.

The 30-day temporary licence was subsequently approved and contracts were signed earlier this month.

Freedom FM will broadcast to Limerick on 105.5FM and will also be available on other frequencies in Cork, Galway, and Dublin.

The station continues to broadcast around the world online so those living in outside of the citys reception area can still tune in across County Limerick via freedomfm.ie or through a smart speaker.
CHENNAI : A section of employees at the manufacturing facility of auto maker Ford India near here on Tuesday staged a protest against the decision of the US-based company to close the factory and sought the intervention of the Tamil Nadu government, Union sources said.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, Industries minister Thangam Thennarasu and senior government officials reportedly held a meeting at the Secretariat to decide on further course of action.

In a statement, the Chennai Ford Employees Union expressed 'shock' over the decision to shut the manufacturing unit and demanded that the management take alternative steps towards ensuring that the livelihood of the nearly 2,700 employees does not get affected.

The Union urged the company not to close the facility and in the exigency of a closure, it should ensure the management accommodates the employees to another production unit so that livelihood of the employees does not get affected.

A meeting between the employees and management held over the last two days did not yield desired results which lead to the protest by the employees in front of the factory at Maraimalai Nagar situated about 50 km from the city.

Some employees wearing factory uniforms, backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), resorted to protest by raising slogans demanding the state government's intervention and not to close the plant as announced.

According to industry experts, following the closure of the facility, several thousands of jobs were at stake as several ancillary companies that supply auto parts to Ford India tend to get affected.

Meanwhile, in response to query from PTI, Ford India said the company was committed to working closely with the employees and union to care for those impacted by the restructuring of its business.

On September 9, Ford said it would shut its two manufacturing facilities in India and would sell only imported vehicles in the country as part of a restructuring exercise.

The company, which invested about $2.5 billion at its Chennai and Sanand (Gujarat) plants, would stop selling vehicles such as the EcoSport, Figo and Aspire produced from these factories.

Meanwhile, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam sought Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin's immediate intervention in the issue and ensure the company's facility at Maraimalai Nagar is kept afloat.

In a statement, he said the company announced the closure of its plant here in the second quarter of next year due to huge accumulating losses and lack of growth in a difficult market. "The move will affect the future of about 4,000 direct employees and also that of about 40,000 indirect workers. The future of micro, small and medium enterprises dependent on Ford Motor is also very bleak," the AIADMK coordinator said.

He appealed to the chief minister to provide relief to the employees by sustaining the industrial climate in the State.

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NEW DELHI : Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is in talks with Chinas Hualu Engineering and Technology Co. Ltd to make polysilicon, a key ingredient in manufacturing solar panels, two people aware of the matter said.

The talks come after RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani unveiled a 75,000-crore push into clean energy over three years in June. RIL plans to spend 60,000 crore on four so-called giga factories. One of the four factories will make solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.

Polysilicon is used to make ingots, which are cut into wafers to manufacture solar cells, from which modules are assembled. China dominates the global polysilicon market, leaving India at a disadvantage.

Hualu Engineering is majority controlled by state-owned China National Chemical Engineering Co. Ltd and provides engineering design, technology research and development, and consulting services. Separately, RIL is looking to buy solar module maker REC Group, as reported by Mint on 8 July.

Polysilicon is required for solar PV manufacturing. RIL is in talks with Hualu for polysilicon manufacturing," one of the two people cited above said, requesting anonymity.

As a policy, we do not comment on media speculation and rumours. Our company evaluates various opportunities on an ongoing basis," a spokesperson for RIL said.

The company, which generates more than half of its revenue from refining and chemicals, is pivoting to clean energy with plans to set up the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex on 5,000 acres in Jamnagar, as announced by Ambani at RILs annual general meeting. In addition to an integrated solar PV module giga factory, RIL also plans to set up giga factories for electrolyzer, fuel cell and energy storage, respectively. RIL has been firming up its green energy push and, as part of this green energy pivot, also plans to help set up 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy by 2030.

Our first integrated solar photovoltaic giga factory will create solar energy. We will start with raw silica and convert this to polysilicon, which we will convert to ingot and wafers. These wafers would be used to make high-efficiency solar cells and finally assembled into solar modules of highest quality and durability," Ambani said in his speech at RILs annual general meeting on 24 June.

Queries emailed to Hualu Engineering and China National Chemical Engineering Co. on Sunday remained unanswered till press time.

Despite running the worlds largest green energy programme, India has a domestic manufacturing capacity of only 3GW for solar cells and 15GW for solar modules. Chinese solar equipment manufacturers such as Trina Solar Ltd, Jinko Solar, ET Solar, Chint Solar, and GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd dominate the solar equipment space.

To check imports from China as part of its economic strategy, India has imposed a basic customs duty on imported solar cells and modules from 1 April next year. Also, the ministry of new and renewable energy has issued an order enforcing a list of approved solar PV models and module manufacturers for government-supported schemes, including projects from where distribution companies procure electricity for supply to their consumers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier said India aims to end its import dependence on all equipment, including solar panels, as part of its self-reliance campaign. On Monday, vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu also called for increasing the production of solar PV cells and modules in the country.

Because climate change is a global problem, the clean energy transition calls for the widest possible global cooperation in technology development, investments and fair market access," Ambani said at the International Climate Summit recently, where he also said the company will bring down green hydrogen cost to under $2 per kg by 2030.

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A U.K. panel recommended giving Covid-19 booster shots to people aged 50 and over and other vulnerable groups as the government aims to bolster the immunity of its population and avert a potential surge in cases this winter.

An extra dose of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine is the preferred option and should be administered no earlier than six months after the second shot, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said on Tuesday. It recommended that the rollout begin this month. Alternatively, a half dose of the Moderna Inc. shot will be offered.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to confirm later on Tuesday that the booster roll out will begin in the autumn. The shots should be given to people more at risk from serious disease, including those living in residential care homes, frontline health workers, and younger people with underlying health conditions, the committee said.

The move follows months of debate over the need for third shots. Some countries are moving ahead with them amid an increased threat from the delta variant and studies suggesting waning antibody levels in vaccinated individuals. Yet World Health Organization officials have urged governments to wait at least until the end of the year so that poorer countries get better access to vaccines, adding that the scientific evidence on boosters is insufficient.

A review published this week by a panel of scientists from around the world concluded that governments should focus on immunizing the unvaccinated and wait for more data on which boosters would be most effective and at what doses. Vaccination has shown an average of 95% effectiveness against severe disease, including against variants such as delta, and more than 80% effectiveness at preventing any infection, according to the report in the medical journal The Lancet.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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A prizewinning microscopy image of a tick's head rendered in psychedelic colors may change the way you look at bloodsucking parasites.

The intense magnification  combined with glowing hues that illuminate the creature's protruding head, internal structures and armored, spiky exoskeleton  make the tick seem more like a bizarre (or beautiful?) visitor from another world.

The image offers a perspective of the tiny arthropod that you've probably never seen before. And that's exactly the point of this and other standout entries that were recently honored in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition , now in its 47th year. The tick photo, and more than 100 others chosen for the contest's top awards, showcase the science and beauty of organisms, minerals and other objects that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.

Related: Magnificent microphotography: 50 tiny wonders

However, for a microscopy image to really stand out from the pack, it's not enough for it to just look beautiful, said contest judge Alexa L. Mattheyses, an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birminghams School of Medicine.

Instead, an image also has to trigger your curiosity. "Does it spark something in you; do you want to know more about it?" Mattheyses told Live Science. "The subject matter is so diverse; that's where having a diverse panel of judges comes into play, because we're all drawn to different things," Mattheyses said.

On one level, judging the photos required looking at them "like any other kind of art," said contest judge Hank Green, a YouTube content creator, author and science communicator.

"We talked about how the images made us feel, their composition, the stories they told, the techniques that were used," Green told Live Science in an email. "There was special attention paid to things that anyone could enjoy, but that enjoyment would get deeper when you understood it more deeply."

An image of a sensory neuron from an embryonic rat took fourth place. (Image credit: Photo by Paula Diaz/Courtesy of Nikon Small World)

For the contest, five judges evaluated nearly 1,900 submissions from 88 countries, awarding the tick image seventh place overall. It was captured by researchers Paul Stoodley, director of Ohio State University's Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility (CMIF), and Tong Zhang, CMIF's associate director and senior microscopist, using confocal microscopy, which focuses laser light on a subject while a pinhole lets in a very small amount of light and blocks the parts of the image that are out of focus.

"People can see some fine details in this tick head, and especially its mouth region with [an] inverted-arrow-like structure. Ticks use this kind of structure to anchor them on animals," Zhang told Live Science in an email. The image's color scheme made the mouth region stand out from the rest of the head, he said.

The competition's first place award went to Jason Kirk, technical director of the Optical Imaging and Vital Microscopy Core at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, for his image of the underside of an oak leaf and its delicate, protective structures called trichomes. The photo shows the leaf's white trichomes nestled among pink pores, where they resemble tentacled sea anemones.

Photographer Jason Kirk's image of trichomes (white appendages) and stomata (purple pores) on a southern live oak leaf won first place in Nikon's annual microscopy contest. (Image credit: Photo by Jason Kirk/Courtesy of Nikon Small World)

"This photograph is really the result of an experimental microscope system that I was building at home," Kirk told Live Science. When Kirk's daughter brought in an oak leaf to test the equipment, he was intrigued by the trichomes on the leaf's underside. For the contest photo, Kirk collected newly sprouted oak leaves in which the trichomes were just starting to emerge.

"The biggest technical challenge was lighting," he said. Illuminating the tiny structures required delicately balancing the color and temperature of three light sources: one on top of the leaf, one underneath and one on the side that lit up the trichomes.

The oak leaf "was something that was in our backyard and something that we interact with every day, but you don't really have an appreciation for what it really looks like up close," he said. "I hope that it makes people look a little bit harder at the things that are right under their feet."

Twelfth place went to Jakub Sumbal of Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, for this image of a breast organoid showing contractile myoepithelial cells (blue) crawling on secretory breast cells (red). (Image credit: Photo by Jakub Sumbal/Courtesy of Nikon Small World)

"Being able to see all the beautiful images that scientists as well as amateur scientists took and submitted, it does open your mind up to different ways to acquire images, and different types of information you can get out of them," Mattheyses said. "I found it really inspiring and energizing to be able to do that judging, and then go back to my own work and see some new stuff!"

For those of us who don't regularly peer through microscopes at tiny wonders, seeing these images can still be a transformative experience, Green said.

"I think the more time you spend in the microcosmos, the better your appreciation for everything," he said. "If you pay enough attention it can take you from, 'Why doesn't anything work in this broken world?' to 'It's so awe-inspiring that anything works at all.'"

You can see all of the contest's top 20 winners and honorable mentions on the Nikon Small World website .

Originally published on Live Science.
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After a circus of a summer spent hearing appeals from a motley crew of gubernatorial candidates, Californians will decide on Tuesday whether to recall Gavin Newsom. If they do, the man who replaces him will probably be Larry Elder, a libertarian radio host who rose to the top of a crowded field of small-time Republicans, including a guy who has been touring the state with a live Kodiak bear (we werent kidding about the circus).

The problem with the 69-year-old Elder is that hes no better equipped to run a state of 40 million than the man-bear duo, and more dangerous to Californias future than either of them. Current polling indicates Newsom will prevail, but to have someone as inexperienced, regressive, and bigoted as Elder come this close to assuming control the nations most populous state is a terrifying prospect for the people of California  and for the rest of the nation.

How close is this close? Californians will be asked two questions on Tuesday: Should Newsom be recalled and, if so, who should replace him? If more than 50 percent of voters say yes to the first question, whichever candidate voters bubble in most for the second will be the new governor. There are 46 (!) candidates on the ballot, and polling puts Elders support at around 28 percent, more than 20 points ahead of his closest competitor, a Democratic YouTube influencer named Kevin Paffrath. This means that if enough disaffected voter decide its time for Newsom to go, Elder will likely be on his way to Sacramento despite being favored by only around 25 percent of the 50 percent of voters who want Newsom recalled. Itd be a small miracle given Elders rap sheet, which weve broken down for you below:

Hes said he wouldnt have voted for the Civil Rights Act

The self-proclaimed Sage of South Central, Elder made a career as a Black man espousing conservatives views in a liberal state. Hes railed against Black Lives Matter. Hes claimed repeatedly that racism doesnt exists, or at least that its not a problem in America. Hes said the idea of voter suppression is a Democratic con job. Hes argued Barack Obama had less to overcome in running for president than did white candidates like Mitt Romney and John McCain, and that police are more inclined to shoot white Americans than Black Americans.

Hes also said that if he were in the Senate in the 1960s, he would have voted against the Civil Rights Act, the landmark anti-discrimination bill passed in 1964. To the extent that those laws mandate any kind of interference in the private sector, I would have voted against it, Elder said at a Libertarian convention in 1998.
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Sahraa Karimi, film director (Hava, Maryam, Ayesha) and head of the Afghan Film Organization, has been named as head of the jury at the next edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival.

The festivals 32nd edition will run Nov. 10-21, 2021 in the Swedish capital. It expects to put on 100 film premieres in both cinemas and online via Festival on Demand. The jury will decide the winner of the Bronze Horse for best film, and Aluminium horses for best director, first film, cinematography, script, actor and actress.

Karimi, who escaped from Afghanistan and the advancing forces of the Taliban in August, will also participate in a panel that aims to raise awareness about the threat towards artists and women in the country today.

She recently wrote an open letter to the worlds media about the repressive forces in her country and the particular danger to women and girls.

[The Taliban] will strip womens rights, we will be pushed into the shadows of our homes and our voices, our expression will be stifled into silence. When the Taliban were in power, zero girls were in school. Since then, there are over 9 million Afghan girls in school. Just in these few weeks, the Taliban have destroyed many schools and 2 million girls are forced now out of school again, she said in her letter.

At a panel discussion at the Venice Film Festival this month she explained the potential impact on the film industry. In the 21st century there is a group of people coming to your country from nowhere and telling you that music is forbidden, cinema is forbidden, artistic work is forbidden, and female artists are just someone who should go to a corner and be isolated, she said.

We stand behind brave filmmakers like Sahraa Karimi and will use our platform to share her message about the crisis in Afghanistan. We are honored that Sahraa Karimi has accepted our invitation as the head of jury of the Stockholm XXXII competition, said festival director Git Scheynius.

The Stockholm festival has previously highlighted and supported other filmmakers who are victims of oppressive regimes including Chinese artist and filmmaker Ai Wei Wei and Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil, Iron Island).

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British novelist Roald Dahl influence in literature is undeniable, having birthed some of the most iconic characters in history, from the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka and telekinetic Matilda to the cunning Mr. Fox. Throughout his life, his more than 30 works set an imaginative backdrop for children across the globe to tap into their own creativity, now immortalized in a slew of films based on his stories in the years since his passing.

For Roald Dahl Story Day, in celebration of the authors own birthday on Sept. 13, here are the best Roald Dahl books that have made it to the big-screen.

The BFG

The BFG, which was made into an animated film in 1986 and later a live adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg in 2016, packs some of Dahls most impressive wordplay in its pages. The heartwarming story, which follows an orphan girl who befriends a big, friendly giant isnt without some of the authors more disturbing imagery (such as giants munching on humans like popcorn), but is doubled up with enough whimsical fantasy to make up for it. Plus, the BFGs language Gobblefunk includes some of Dahls best nonsense terms (telly-telly bumkum box: television, delumptious: delicious, swizzfiggling: deceiving).

Buy: The BFG by Roald Dahl $6.78

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

One of Roald Dahls most influential works came to life with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the beloved 1971 adaptation, soon to be played by Timothee Chalamet in the 2023 film, which just like the original story, follows a young Charlie Bucket as he tours the chocolatiers mysterious factory alongside a group of fellow, very eccentric contest winners. Once there, all of the wonderful weirdness packed in Dahls head makes its way onto the page (and screen), from the iconic oompa loompas to magical candies such as Everlasting Gobstoppers and Snozzberries  all part of Willy Wonkas master plan to teach about the dangers of greed and narcissism.

Buy: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl $6.78

Revolting Rhymes

Nothing is a better showcase for Dahls twisted sense of humor than Dahls 1982s Revolting Rhymes, which includes singsong retellings of six famous fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and The Three Little Bears. But instead of their famous fairytale endings, Dahl offers his own more gruesome retellings, such as Jacks greedy mother being eaten by a giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Buy: Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl $7.79

Fantastic Mr. Fox

George Clooney and Meryl Streep star in the 2009 live-action adaptation, directed by Wes Anderson, in which Mr. Fox gives into his animalistic instincts when he steals food to provide for his family. The thin volume is rich in messaging as readers are propelled into a captivating story that covers everything from Farmer Beans addiction to alcoholic cider to the blurred ethical lines surrounding greed.

Buy: Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl $7.76

James and the Giant Peach

Henry Selicks musical fantasy film is based on Dahls novel of the same name, following the orphaned James as he makes his out of the oppressive and sadistic home run by his domineering aunts Spiker and Sponge. The fantasy comes when he eats his way through a colossal peach where he finds human-sized anthropomorphic insects, such as Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede and Ms. Spider, who help make his escape to New York City.

Buy: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl $7.79

Danny, the Champion of the World

Like Fantastic Mr. Fox, Danny, the Champion of the World was partly inspired by Dahls upbringing in the Buckingham countryside, giving way to a fanciful setting that that unlike the eerie surroundings of Wonkas chocolate factory and Mr. Foxs murderous farmland, couldnt be more inviting. The 1975 book, adapted for the screen in 1989, centers on a young boy Danny who lives in a Gypsy caravan with his family as they make a living fixing cars and poaching pheasants.

Buy: Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl $7.99

Matilda

An ode to intellect and curiosity, Matilda is a must-read for any imaginative kid looking for an outlet that tells them its okay to fight back against the indignities put forth by the adults around them. Mara Wilson stars as the titular role in the 1996 film, directed by and also starring as the secondary villain, Danny Devito. The story comes to life when Matilda realizes her telekinetic powers, using them to fight back agains the wrath of her parents, principal and bullies.

Buy: Matilda by Roald Dahl $6.68

The Witches

The Witches might be one of Dahls most memorable books, if not for the captivating and horrific witches that prey on innocent children, but also the elegant facades they put on to hide their evil intentions. The book has inspired two movie adaptations including a recent translation by Anne Hathwaway and the classic 1990s version with icon Anjelica Huston.

Buy: The Witches by Roald Dahl $6.11

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Influencer marketing company CreatorIQ announced that it closed a new $40 million funding round, looking to enhance tools for e-commerce and measurement of campaigns featuring internet-famous stars.

The funding came from from existing investors TVC Capital, Kayne Partners Fund (the private equity group of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors), Affinity Group and Unilever Ventures (which is also a Creator IQ customer). In addition, Silver Lake Waterman, a division of Silver Lake that focuses on later-stage growth companies in the technology sector, joined the round as a new investor. The new investment brings the companys total capital raised to more than $80 million to date.

More from Variety Influencer-Marketing Startup CreatorIQ Taps Dan Murray as President

CreatorIQs customers include Disney, AB InBev, Unilever, Calvin Klein, CVS, H&M and Sephora. The company said it will use the funding to further develop its Creator Intelligence Cloud software solution, with a focus on e-commerce and measurement. The product is designed to let global teams collaborate on a single system of record and streamline workflow.

This new funding will allow CreatorIQ to invest in our data, commerce and measurement technologies to better solve customer outcomes, CreatorIQ founder and CEO Igor Vaks (pictured above) said in announcing the funding. From high-growth brands to Fortune 500 companies, our customers rely on creator partnerships to grow their businesses  from building brand loyalty to co-launching new e-commerce solutions together.

Shawn ONeill, managing director and group head, Silver Lake Waterman, commenting on his firms investment in the company, said: Influencer marketing is a key area of opportunity and differentiation that brands and agencies are eager to address with next generation analytics and automation. CreatorIQs strength in data analysis and management is driving its leadership position, and we are excited to partner with them to help drive their continued growth and market adoption.

Founded in 2014, CreatorIQ (formerly known as SocialEdge) is based in Culver City, Calif., with offices in San Francisco, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Miami, New York City, London, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and Auckland, New Zealand.

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The annual Met Gala may be the pinnacle of east coast entertaining, but make no mistake, Hollywood shows up in full force.

Thats certainly the case this year for the guests of Thom Browne, the American classic gentleman designer who ushered in bare-ankle suiting and continues to up his game in streetwear.

His table at this years gala, themed In America: An Anthology of Fashion, includes: actors Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Sharon Stone, MJ Rodriguez and Lee Pace; musicians Lil Uzi Vert and Erykah Badu; and comedian and late-night host Jimmy Fallon.

Variety has an exclusive look at the group all rocking Thom Browne just ahead of their debut on the iconic, red-carpeted steps of the Met. For Mondays big in-person return, largely considered the Oscars of fashion and also a fundraiser for the museums prestigious Costume Institute, Browne invited the smattering of top creatives as they represent his idea of authentic American style.

Everyone is almost like family. Theyve worn me in the past, seen my collections, and Im very familiar with what they do. Theres a mutual respect, for me thats where it starts, Browne told Variety. What you see at my table is very representative of American fashion and how its viewed around the world.

Brownes partner is Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, the subject of the beloved 2016 Met Gala documentary The First Monday in May. Browne says his guests are aligned with the larger theme of the exhibit, which proves the American aesthetic is diverse, bold and a good mix of people who are so true to themselves.

Browne presented his Spring 2022 ready-to-wear collection on Saturday in New York City, which observed the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but also saw hope in the return to public events.

Were still in the throes of it, but its nice to get back to how we used to do things, Browne said.

For several recent collections, Browne has been promoting his work through short film in collaborations with stars like Minari breakout Alan S. Kim and performance artist Moses Sumney. We asked if hell ever go the Tom Ford route and cross over into Hollywood filmmaking.

My day job is keeping me very busy. The last year and a half Ive been showing the collections through film. I love telling stories and that was a small way of diving into it a bit, but Id love to tell a story via film some day, he said.

Check out all the Met Gala 2021 red carpet arrivals here.

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Ranging from La Rochelle in France to near Zaragoza in the South, well into Spain, Euroregion NAEN  Nouvelle Aquitaine, Basque Country, Navarre  has extraordinary locations and a rich historical heritage.

It has hosted shoots from The Longest Day to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in Nouvelle Aquitaine to Game of Thrones, which lensed in both Navarres Bardenas Reales and on the Basque isle of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, its Dragonstone.

In geographic terms and film-TV drive the three members are already considerable powers. All three members have instruments, which theyre using to support the sector, says Izaskun Goni, director general for economic development of the government of Navarre.

All three members are looking to drive into premium drama series production. That said, each region has its own specificity and strengths, says Conecta Fiction director Geraldine Gonard.

Briefly, some of the many things each region brings to the table:

Nouvelle Aquitaine

Established as late as 2016, but the giant of the three, Nouvelle Aquitaine is Frances largest region, bigger than Austria, and ranging across the West and Southwest of the Gallic mainland. It runs its own film-TV fund, with a cultural mandate, and hosts Cartoon Movie, Europes main animated feature projects meet. Nouvelle Aquitaine has experienced a significant boost in animation studios, the number of companies being second only to Paris by 2019. Its talent pool is encouraging foreign companies to set up there, which allows them to tap CNC French film board financing or Frances powerful Tax Rebate for International Productions (TRIP). One case in point: Denmarks Sun Creature. Part of French national pubcaster France Televisions, France 3s regional center in Bordeaux, the capital of Nouvelle Aquitaine, is now looking to ramp up its original drama series production.

The Basque Country

Boasting a historic commitment to film, instanced by the establishment of a film festival in San Sebastian in 1953 and the strength of its film club movement from the 1950s, the Basque Country saw a new Basque-language movie industry burst onto the scene from 2005s Aupa Etxebeste! building with San Sebastian Festival competition berths from 2014s Loreak (Flowers). Under a new management team, Basque pubcaster EiTB is looking to prime premium TV production of international reach. Produced by Txintxua Films and sold by Filmax, Mouths of Sand, from Koldo Almandoz, looks like an early achievement.

A new training and development ecosystem  linking San Sebastians Tabakalera culture center, Elias Querejeta Zine Eskola and the San Sebastian Festival  is swelling a next generation of Basque talent and attracting courted young foreign creators.

Navarre

Consolidating as a film/TV hub, building industrial fabric as part of a Plan of Smart Specialization 2030, Navarre started to attract animation and post-production firms in 2015, driven by a 40% tax deduction for R&D and tech innovation activities. Historically, Navarre has levied its own tax regime which led to its launching a competitive 35% tax credit for Spanish shoots and co-productions which spend at least 40% of their budgets in the territory in 2015. Shoots can also tap national rebates.

This year, significant drama series have shot, or will roll, in the region. These include Netflixs Tu no eres especial, from Oria Films; Amazons El Internado: Las Cumbres, from Atresmedia Studios and The Mediapro Studio; and Tornasols ANA.All In, for Spains RTVE and Germanys ZDF.

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BOSTON (AP)  For the first time in 200 years, Boston voters have narrowed the field of mayoral candidates to two women of color who will face off against each other in November.

The question is, which two?

Democrat Michelle Wu emerged the top vote-getter in Tuesday's preliminary election, but the race to decide her opponent in November remained too early to call early Wednesday.

Wu, a city councilor, easily won Tuesdays preliminary balloting. But three other candidates  acting mayor Kim Janey and fellow councilors Annissa Essaibi George and Andrea Campbell  were in a tight race for the No. 2 slot. Essaibi George declared victory late Tuesday night, and both Janey and Campbell conceded defeat. The Associated Press has not yet called the second finisher because of the close margin of votes separating the three women.

All four are candidates of color, as is John Barros, Bostons former economic development chief and the only man in contention. Barros trailed well behind the four women.

No matter who joins Wu on the Nov. 2 ballot, history has already been made in a city that has never elected a woman, Black resident or Asian American as mayor. For the past two centuries, the office has been held by white men.

Wu and Tuesday's other winner will face off against each other on Nov. 2, ushering in a new era for the city which has wrestled with racial and ethnic strife.

Im overjoyed that we are confident weve made the top two and are moving on to the final election, Wu told her supporters earlier in the evening. I just want to take a moment to honor and thank this historic field of candidates, an amazing moment for the City of Boston.

Essaibi George said shed won enough support to challenge Wu in November.

I am so grateful to you showing up not just tonight but showing up for the last eight months, she told supporters, adding that while every vote needed to be counted, it doesnt mean we cant celebrate.

Earlier this year, Janey became the first Black Bostonian and first woman to occupy the citys top office in an acting capacity after former Mayor Marty Walsh stepped down to become President Joe Bidens labor secretary.

I want to congratulate Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George on their victories this evening," Janey said in a statement. This was a spirited and historic race, and I wish them both luck in the final election.

There had been an effort among some leaders in the Black community to rally around a single candidate to ensure that at least one Black mayoral hopeful could claim one of the two top slots.

All of the candidates are Democrats. Mayoral races in Boston do not include party primaries.

The candidates hail from a range of backgrounds. 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 was elected to the Boston City Council in 2013 at age 28, becoming the first Asian-American woman to serve on the council. In 2016, she was elected city council president by her colleagues in a unanimous vote, becoming the first woman of color to serve as president.

Essaibi George won a series of key endorsements during the race including from unions representing firefighters, nurses and emergency medical technicians. She also won the backing of former Boston Police Commissioner William Gross.

Essaibi George grew up in the citys Dorchester neighborhood and taught in the Boston Public Schools. She was elected to the city council in 2015. Her father immigrated to the United States from Tunisia in 1972. Her mother was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany of Polish parents.

The November contest could also be a test of whether voters in a city long dominated by parochial neighborhood and ethnic politics are ready to tap someone like Wu, who grew up in Chicago.

Wu moved to Boston to attend Harvard University and Harvard Law School and studied under U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, then a law professor. She's the only candidate not born in Boston.

Boston has changed radically since the 1970s, when the city found itself in the national spotlight over the turmoil brought on by school desegregation, and in the late 1980s, when the case of Charles Stuart again inflamed simmering racial tensions.

Stuart is believed to have shot and killed his pregnant wife in 1989 while trying to blame the killing on an unknown Black man, prompting police to search Black neighborhoods in vain for a suspect. Stuart later jumped to his death from a bridge.

The latest U.S. Census statistics show residents who identify as white make up 44.6% of the population compared to Black residents (19.1%), Latino residents (18.7%) and residents of Asian descent (11.2%).

Among the challenges facing the city are those brought on by gentrification, which has forced out many long-term residents, including those in historically Black neighborhoods.

Added to that are a host of other challenges that will face the new mayor, from transportation woes, racial injustice and policing to schools and the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  The Rev. Cho Yong-gi, whose founding of South Korea's biggest church was a symbol of the postwar growth of Christianity in the country before that achievement was tainted by corruption and other scandals, died Tuesday. He was 85.

Cho, an emeritus pastor at Seouls Yoido Full Gospel Church, died at a Seoul hospital where he had been treated since he collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage in July 2020, the church said.

He conveyed the gospel of hope to the Korean people who fell into despair after the Korean War, the church said in a statement. He was instrumental in growing the Korean church, particularly developing Yoido Full Gospel Church as the worlds largest church.

Better known as David Yonggi Cho or Paul Yonggi Cho abroad, the late pastor started his church in Seoul with five worshippers in 1958, when South Korea was still struggling to rebuild itself from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War. Under his leadership, the church achieved explosive growth and become a symbol of the rapid growth of Christianity in what was then a deeply Confucian country.

In 1993, the church had more than 700,000 members, making it the worlds biggest church congregation according to Guinness World Records, the church said. Church officials said its membership has since declined to about 600,000 and that they cannot confirm whether their church remains the worlds largest.

Its still the largest Protestant church in South Korea. Church officials said it has 400 pastors and evangelists in South Korea and 500 missionaries abroad.

Despite his achievement, Cho and his family have been embroiled in scandals in recent years.

In 2017, he was convicted of breach of trust and causing financial losses to the church but avoided jail as he received a suspended prison term. In 2013, a female politician filed a paternity suit against one of his sons. His family has also faced long-running criticism that they dominated key posts at the church and other church-related organizations.

In 2008, Cho stepped down as the churchs top pastor and a non-family member succeeded him in what the church called an unprecedented, democratic power transition. In South Korea, many church founders hand over their leadership positions to their children.

Lee Hunjoo, secretary-general of the Christian Alliance For Church Reform, a Seoul-based NGO, said the fast rise of Chos church led other churches in South Korea to push excessively to expand their own congregations.

Its true that the Rev. Cho did meaningful work for Korean churches, Lee said. But in some sense, megachurches in South Korea began with Chos Yoido Full Gospel Church.

According to a 2015 government census, Protestantism was the biggest religion in South Korea, followed by Buddhism and Catholicism. There were about 9.7 million Protestants at the time, accounting for nearly 20% of the countrys then 49 million people.

Cho is survived by three sons. His funeral is set for Saturday, and the church will receive mourners from Wednesday, according to the church.
In the ghastly rubble of ground zero's fallen towers 20 years ago, Hour Zero arrived, a chance to start anew.

World affairs reordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death.

In Iran, chants of death to America quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn the American dead. Vladimir Putin weighed in with substantive help as the U.S. prepared to go to war in Russia's region of influence.

Libyas Moammar Gadhafi, a murderous dictator with a poetic streak, spoke of the human duty" to be with Americans after "these horrifying and awesome events, which are bound to awaken human conscience.

From the first terrible moments, America's longstanding allies were joined by longtime enemies in that singularly galvanizing instant. No nation with global standing was cheering the stateless terrorists vowing to conquer capitalism and democracy. How rare is that?

Too rare to last, it turned out.

___

Civilizations have their allegories for rebirth in times of devastation. A global favorite is that of the phoenix, a magical and magnificent bird, rising from ashes. In the hellscape of Germany at the end of World War II, it was the concept of Hour Zero, or Stunde Null, that offered the opportunity to start anew.

For the U.S., the zero hour of Sept. 11, 2001, meant a chance to reshape its place in the post-Cold War world from a high perch of influence and goodwill as it entered the new millennium. This was only a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union left America with both the moral authority and the financial and military muscle to be unquestionably the lone superpower.

Those advantages were soon squandered. Instead of a new order, 9/11 fueled 20 years of war abroad. In the U.S., it gave rise to the angry, aggrieved, self-proclaimed patriot, and heightened surveillance and suspicion in the name of common defense.

It opened an era of deference to the armed forces as lawmakers pulled back on oversight and let presidents give primacy to the military over law enforcement in the fight against terrorism. And it sparked anti-immigrant sentiment, primarily directed at Muslim countries, that lingers today.

A war of necessity  in the eyes of most of the world  in Afghanistan was followed two years later by a war of choice as the U.S. invaded Iraq on false claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. President George W. Bush labeled Iran, Iraq and North Korea an axis of evil.

Thus opened the deep, deadly mineshaft of forever wars." There were convulsions throughout the Middle East, and U.S. foreign policy  for half a century a force for ballast  instead gave way to a head-snapping change in approaches in foreign policy from Bush to Obama to Trump. With that came waning trust in America's leadership and reliability.

Other parts of the world were not immune. Far-right populist movements coursed through Europe. Britain voted to break away from the European Union. And China steadily ascended in the global pecking order.

President Joe Biden is trying to restore trust in the belief of a steady hand from the U.S. but there is no easy path. He is ending war, but what comes next?

In Afghanistan in August, the Taliban seized control with menacing swiftness as the Afghan government and security forces that the United States and its allies had spent two decades trying to build collapsed. No steady hand was evident from the U.S. in the harried, disorganized evacuation of Afghans desperately trying to flee the country in the first weeks of the Taliban's re-established rule.

Allies whose troops had fought and died in the U.S-led war in Afghanistan expressed dismay at Biden's management of the U.S. withdrawal, under a deal President Donald Trump had struck with the Taliban.

THE HOMELAND

In the United States, the Sept. 11 attacks set loose a torrent of rage.

In shock from the assault, a swath of American society embraced the us vs. them binary outlook articulated by Bush  Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"  and has never let go of it.

You could hear it in the country songs and talk radio, and during presidential campaigns, offering the balm of a bloodlust cry for revenge. Well put a boot in your ass, it's the American way," Toby Keith promised Americas enemies in one of the most popular of those songs in 2002.

Americans stuck flags in yards and on the back of trucks. Factionalism hardened inside America, in school board fights, on Facebook posts, and in national politics, so that opposing views were treated as propaganda from mortal enemies. The concept of enemy also evolved, from not simply the terrorist but also to the immigrant, or the conflation of the terrorist as immigrant trying to cross the border.

The patriot under threat became a personal and political identity in the United States. Fifteen years later, Trump harnessed it to help him win the presidency.

THE OTHERING

In the week after the attacks, Bush demanded of Americans that they know Islam is peace" and that the attacks were a perversion of that religion. He told the country that American Muslims are us, not them, even as mosques came under surveillance and Arabs coming to the U.S. to take their kids to Disneyland or go to school risked being detained for questioning.

For Trump, in contrast, everything was always about them, the outsiders.

In the birther lie Trump promoted before his presidency, Barack Obama was an outsider. In Trump's campaigns and administration, Muslims and immigrants were outsiders. The China virus was a foreign interloper, too.

Overseas, deadly attacks by Islamic extremists, like the 2004 bombing of Madrid trains that killed nearly 200 people and the 2005 attack on Londons transportation system that killed more than 50, hardened attitudes in Europe as well.

By 2015, as the Islamic State group captured wide areas of Iraq and pushed deep into Syria, the number of refugees increased dramatically, with more than 1 million migrants, primarily from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, entering Europe that year alone.

The year was bracketed by attacks in France on the Charlie Hebdo magazine staff in January after it published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and on the Bataclan theater and other Paris locations in November, reinforcing the angst then gripping the continent.

Already growing in support, far-right parties were able to capitalize on the fears to establish themselves as part of the European mainstream. They remain represented in many European parliaments, even as the flow of immigrants has slowed dramatically and most concerns have proved unfounded.

THE UNRAVELING

Dozens of countries joined or endorsed the NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan. Russia acquiesced to NATO troops in Central Asia for the first time and provided logistical support. Never before had NATO invoked Article 5 of its charter that an attack against one member was an attack against all.

But in 2003, the U.S. and Britain were practically alone in prosecuting the Iraq war. This time, millions worldwide marched in protest in the run-up to the invasion. World opinion of the United States turned sharply negative.

In June 2003, after the invasion had swiftly ousted Saddam and dismantled the Iraqi army and security forces, a Pew Research poll found a widening rift between Americans and Western Europeans and reported that the bottom has fallen out of support for America in most of the Muslim world. Most South Koreans, half of Brazilians and plenty more people outside the Islamic world agreed.

And this was when the war was going well, before the world saw cruel images from Abu Ghraib prison, learned all that it knows now about CIA black op sites, waterboarding, years of Guantanamo Bay detention without charges or trials  and before the rise of the brutal Islamic State.

By 2007, when the U.S. set up the Africa Command to counter terrorism and the rising influence of China and Russia on the continent, African countries did not want to host it. It operates from Stuttgart, Germany.

THE SUCCESSES

Over the two decades, a succession of U.S. presidents scored important achievements in shoring up security, and so far U.S. territory has remained safe from more international terrorism anywhere on the scale of 9/11.

Globally, U.S.-led forces weakened al-Qaida, which has failed to launch a major attack on the West since 2005. The Iraq invasion rid that country and region of a murderous dictator in Saddam.

Yet strategically, eliminating him did just what Arab leaders warned Bush it would do: It strengthened Saddams main rival, Iran, threatening U.S. objectives and partners.

Deadly chaos soon followed in Iraq. The Bush administration, in its nation-building haste, failed to plan for keeping order, leaving Islamist extremists and rival militias to fight for dominance in the security vacuum.

The overthrow of Saddam served both to inspire and limit public support for Arab Spring uprisings a few years later. For if the U.S. showed people in the Middle East that strongmen can be toppled, the insurgency demonstrated that what comes next may not be a season of renewal.

Authoritarian regimes in the Middle East pointed to the post-Saddam era as an argument for their own survival.

The U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq killed more than 7,000 American military men and women, more than 1,000 from the allied forces, many tens of thousands of members of Afghan and Iraqi security forces, and many hundreds of thousands of civilians, according to Brown Universitys Costs of War project. Costs, including tending the wars unusually high number of disabled vets, are expected to top $6 trillion.

For the U.S., the presidencies since Bushs wars have been marked by an effort  not always consistent, not always successful  to pull back the military from the conflicts of the Middle East and Central Asia.

The perception of a U.S. retreat has allowed Russia and China to gain influence in the regions, and left U.S. allies struggling to understand Washington's place in the world. The notion that 9/11 would create an enduring unity of interest to combat terrorism collided with rising nationalism and a U.S. president, Trump, who spoke disdainfully of the NATO allies that in 2001 had rallied to America's cause.

Even before Trump, Obama surprised allies and enemies alike when he stepped back abruptly from the U.S. role of world cop. Obama geared up for, then called off, a strike on Syrian President Bashar Assad for using chemical weapons against his people.

Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong, Obama said on Sept. 11, 2013.

THE NEWISH ORDER

The legacies of 9/11 ripple both in obvious and unusual ways.

Most directly, millions of people in the U.S. and Europe go about their public business under the constant gaze of security cameras while other surveillance tools scoop up private communications. The government layered post-9/11 bureaucracies on to law enforcement to support the expansive security apparatus.

Militarization is more evident now, from large cities to small towns that now own military vehicles and weapons that seem well out of proportion to any terrorist threat. Government offices have become fortifications and airports a security maze.

But as profound an event as 9/11 was, its immediate effect on how the world has been ordered was temporary and largely undone by domestic political forces, a global economic downturn and now a lethal pandemic.

The awakening of human conscience predicted by Gadhafi didnt last. Gadhafi didnt last.

Osama bin Laden has been dead for a decade. Saddam was hanged in 2006. The forever wars  the Afghanistan one being the longest in U.S. history  now are over or ending. The days of Russia tactically enabling the U.S., and China not standing in the way, petered out. Only the phoenix lasts.

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Rising reported from Bangkok; Knickmeyer and Woodward from Washington. AP National Security Writer Robert Burns contributed to this report.

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For an in-depth look at APs coverage of 9/11 and the events that followed, read September 11: The 9/11 Story, Aftermath & Legacy, available now.
SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP)  Tropical Storm Nicholas continued weakening Tuesday night after being downgraded to a tropical depression and slowing to a crawl over southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, drenching both states with flooding rains.

The downgrade earlier Tuesday evening came the same day Nicholas blew ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to a half-million homes and businesses and dumping more than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain along the same area swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Nicholas could potentially stall over storm-battered Louisiana and bring life-threatening floods across the Deep South over the coming days, forecasters said.

Nicholas made landfall early Tuesday on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm. By Tuesday night, its center was 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) west-northwest or Port Arthur, Texas, with maximum winds of 35 mph (55 kph) as of 10 p.m. CDT, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. However, weather radar showed the heaviest rain was over southwestern Louisiana, well east of the storm center.

The storm is moving east-northeast at 6 mph (9 kph). The National Hurricane Center said the storm may continue to slow and even stall, and although its winds will gradually subside, heavy rainfall and a significant flash flood risk will continue along the Gulf Coast for the next couple days.

Galveston, Texas, saw nearly 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Nicholas, the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, while Houston reported more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain. That's a fraction of what fell during Harvey, which dumped more than 60 inches (152 centimeters) of rain in southeast Texas over a four-day period.

In the small coastal town of Surfside Beach about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Houston, Kirk Klaus, 59, and his wife Monica Klaus, 62, rode out the storm in their two-bedroom home, which sits about 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) above the ground on stilts.

It was bad. I wont ever do it again, Kirk Klaus said.

He said it rained all day on Monday and, as the night progressed, the rainfall and winds got worse.

Sometime around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, the strong winds blew out two of his homes windows, letting in rain and forcing the couple to continually mop their floors. Klaus said the rainfall and winds created a storm surge of about 2 feet in front of his home.

It looked like a river out here, he said.

Nearby, Andrew Connor, 33, of Conroe, had not been following the news at his family's rented Surfside Beach vacation house and was unaware of the storm's approach until it struck. The storm surge surrounded the beach house with water, prompting Connor to consider using surfboards to take his wife and six children to higher ground if the house flooded.

The sea never made its way through the door, but it did flood the family sport utility vehicle, Connor said.

When I popped the hood, I had seaweed and beach toys and all that stuff in my engine, he said.

Nicholas is moving so slowly it will dump several inches of rain as it crawls over Texas and southern Louisiana, meteorologists said. This includes areas already struck by Hurricane Ida and devastated last year by Hurricane Laura. Parts of Louisiana are saturated with nowhere for the extra water to go, so it will flood, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

Its stuck in a weak steering environment, McNoldy said Tuesday. So while the storm itself may weaken that wont stop the rain from happening. Whether its a tropical storm, tropical depression or post-tropical blob, itll still rain a lot and thats not really good for that area.

More than a half-million homes and businesses had lost power in Texas, but that number dropped below 200,000 by late Tuesday afternoon, according to the website poweroutage.us that tracks utility reports. Most of those outages were caused by powerful winds as the storm moved through overnight, utility officials said. Across Louisiana, about 89,000 customers remained without power Tuesday afternoon, mostly in areas ravaged by Hurricane Ida.

Nicholas brought rain to the same area of Texas that was hit hard by Harvey, which 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.

McNoldy, the hurricane researcher, said Nicholas is bringing far less rain than Harvey did.

Its not crazy amounts of rain. It isnt anything like Hurricane Harvey kind of thing with feet of rain, McNoldy said. Harvey not only stalled for three days over the same area, it moved a bit back into the Gulf of Mexico, allowing it to recharge with more water. Nicholas wont do that, McNoldy said.

Nicholas, expected to weaken into a tropical depression by Tuesday night, could dump up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain in parts of southern Louisiana. Forecasters said southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle could see heavy rainfall as well.

On Tuesday, heavy rains from Nicholas pelted blue tarps that covered roofs damaged by Ida all over southern Louisiana.

Ida destroyed one building and left holes in the roof of the main plant at Motivatit Seafoods, a family-run oyster wholesaler in Houma, Louisiana. With rain from Nicholas pouring in on high-pressure processing equipment, owner Steven Voisin said he didnt know whether the machines could be saved after the latest round of tropical weather.

And many people from here to New Orleans have this or more damage, he said. Theyre not going to recover quickly or easily.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Sunday night, ahead of the storms arrival in a state.

In southwestern Louisiana, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said Monday that crews were scouring the drainage system to keep it free from debris that might clog up and cause flooding. But after multiple natural disasters in such a short period of time, he said hes worried about residents state of mind.

Last year, Category 4 Hurricane Laura caused substantial structural damage across the city of nearly 80,000 residents. Weeks later, Hurricane Delta ripped through the same area. Freezing temperatures in January burst pipes across the city, and a May rainstorm swamped houses and businesses yet again. Some residents have had to gut houses multiple times over one year.

With what people have gone through over the last 16 months here in Lake Charles, they are very, understandably, despondent, emotional. Any time we have even a hint of a weather event approaching, people get scared, he said.

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Associated Press writers Terry Wallace in Dallas; Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jay Reeves in Houma, Louisiana; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; Julie Walker in New York, and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
AKRON, Ohio (AP)  A man who was granted temporary release from a life prison sentence in Mississippi to attend a funeral in that state, but who overpowered his guards and escaped, was found hundreds of miles to the north Tuesday at a home in Ohio, authorities said.

Garnett Hughes, 33, was arrested at a home in Akron, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. A woman living at the home has been charged with obstructing official business, authorities said.
TOKYO (AP)  Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea urged North Korea on Tuesday to return to talks over its missile and nuclear development, a day after it announced it successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles, indicating an advancement of its military capabilities.

The three-way meeting in Tokyo was attended by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, South Koreas Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japanese Director-General for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.

U.S. envoy Kim said the three countries were open to diplomacy with North Korea to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies." He urged North Korea to respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.

Washington and its allies will continue to work to fully implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions in addressing North Korea's missile development, he added.

All three agreed on the timeliness of their meeting Tuesday.

Our trilateral cooperation is essential for complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, Noh said.

On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the tests of the new missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away.

North Korea hailed the missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance, suggesting that they were developed with the intent of arming them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to deter what it says is hostility from Washington and Seoul.

On Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told member nations that North Koreas nuclear activities continue to be a cause for serious concern. Its continuation of its nuclear program is a clear violation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable, he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday for talks with South Korean officials on bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday. Chung is expected seek a more active role from Beijing, North Korea's main ally and economic lifeline, in persuading the North to return to the negotiating table.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said before the trilateral meeting that it was a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Koreas weekend missile tests were a new threat to the region.

Japan and South Korea are both key allies of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  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. In most cases, the law requires that officers must knock and announce themselves before entering a private home to execute a search warrant.

But the Justice Departments new policy, enacted by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Tuesday, is more limiting than what is permitted by law. And obtaining such a warrant would require approval from both federal prosecutors and a supervisory law enforcement agent.

Under the updated policy, federal agents would be limited to using a no-knock warrant only in situations when an agent has reasonable grounds to believe that knocking and announcing the agents presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or another person. There are limited exceptions to that rule, but agents seeking a warrant in those circumstances would need approval from the agencys director and the U.S. attorney or an assistant attorney general before seeking the warrant from a judge.

There have been growing calls to ban no-knock warrants since Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was killed in her Louisville, Kentucky, home by officers. She was shot multiple times after being roused from her bed by police during a no-knock warrant as part of a drug investigation. Taylor's boyfriend was in the apartment and fired at police because he heard banging on the door but thought it might be an intruder, he said. Louisville police have said they announced themselves at the door, though some witnesses have disputed that. No drugs were found, and the warrant was later found to be flawed.

Police generally seek a no-knock warrant if the situation might be extraordinarily dangerous or if a suspect is likely to destroy evidence when police knock on the door. But critics have said their use has increased dramatically in recent years and some departments use them routinely in cases that dont merit such an exception.

As members of federal law enforcement, we have a shared obligation to lead by example in a way that engenders the trust and confidence of the communities we serve, Monaco said.

The Justice Departments new policies also prohibit the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints unless the situation allows for the use of deadly force by police.

Several states have prohibited or severely limited the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers since the death of George Floyd, who was seen on video pleading for air as a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyds neck. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in state court, and he and other officers also face federal criminal charges.



AP reporter Dylan Lovan contributed to this report.
Born on July 10, 2001, just a few months prior to the attacks of Sept. 11 and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, one of the last military members killed on the frontlines in Afghanistan was laid to rest Monday.

A funeral was held at St. Patricks Church before Laredo Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Lee Espinoza was buried in the military section of the city cemetery, concluding a weekend of remembrance throughout the city for its fallen hero.

The streets of McPherson, Del Mar, Bartlett and all others throughout south Laredo were filled with flags as locals gathered for one last moment to honor Espinoza. The final farewell began at 11:15 a.m. and ended just past 4 p.m.

During the afternoon, the final farewell to Espinoza began with a noon mass at St. Patricks headed by Bishop James Anthony Tomayo that allowed the family and other invited guests to provide religious services to their son. After mass, Espinoza was then taken to his former high school, Lyndon B. Johnson, where he was known to be active in school, spend time with friends and eventually where his love for the military came to be.

Tears were in the eyes of many people witnessing the military procession at his former high school.

It was a heartfelt, bittersweet moment to see one of our own Marine's funeral procession, United ISD staffer Mari Lee Paez said. Yet it was a great honor for our local residents and veterans to join for his last farewell. Our hearts go out to his family and friends for this honorable day.

The weather was at times gloomy, and even a rain shower occurred just seconds before the cortege entered the school grounds. And fittingly moments later, a large ray of sunlight appeared and shined directly on where Espinoza was being processed.

It was something very moving to see how even the weather also permitted for this to happen, Paez added.

Students were in awe as they saw the casket of the alumnus arrive as they heard a tribute to him played by members of the schools band.

It was just an honor seeing this as he died for this country and did something that many people would never do, Jacquelin Vasquez said. He became a legend in such a short life, and that is something that many cannot do.

Vasquez was one of many standing outside LBJ as the schools exterior was packed with individuals who wished to pay their respects and state they were in disbelief that such a young life had to be taken away.

What is more sad about this is that David was not in combat there, we were already going to go out and he was just there to help some people get out and live a better life, Martha Sanchez said. Never did I think that ... these soldiers would be in direct threat as the war had practically been over.

As Espinozas coffin arrived at the cemetery, Marines performed their ceremonial protocols. They took the American flag from the coffin and provided it to Elizabeth Holguin, Espinozas mother. The Marines allowed her to put in a crystal-like base as a token of his service.

At the cemetery, various local leaders including Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina and others spoke during a small presentation to honor the fallen Marine.

Days ago, a U.S. Marine fell, and today his body was blessed and will be buried, Saenz said. There will be memories of him through his legacy and they will ring true for generations to come as his soul was released to the ages till the mysteries of heaven. He was a son, a brother, a friend, but more importantly, he was a proud U.S. Marine. He served and died true to the motto of Semper Fidelis.

The mayor proclaimed that Espinoza is a Laredo hero and a brave young man who was courageous, resilient and a role model for many.

This community is deeply, deeply grateful for everything he did -- his commitment, his service and more importantly his sacrifice, Saenz said. David Lee, we salute you. You are indeed an inspiration.

The mayor also offered a few words in Spanish thanking Espinoza for his service and for his sacrifice, stating that he will live on forever.

Tijerina quoted some scripture by Isacc and also spoke on behalf of the Rio Bravo, El Cenizo and Laredo stating that we are deeply indebted to Espinoza for his sacrifice and his family that he left behind.

The principal of LBJ, Armando Salazar, also spoke during the cemetery ceremony prior to the burial beginning.

I would like to thank the Holguin-Dominguez family for sharing David with the Johnson High School community, with the City of Laredo, with the City of Rio Bravo, Webb County and the United States, Salazar said. I would like to express how proud we are of this soldier who unselfishly left his family to fulfill his call of service that he heard from a very young age. He is a national hero, he will and always will be in our hearts and minds.

David, you have completed your duty. I know you always did your best, and now with our heads right up high, we cry for your courage and valor, and today we stand united and give thanks to you and countless other soldiers who fought for freedom.

After the ceremony from various local officials ended, the procession moved to the gravesite where the family was allowed to say their farewells in private.

Concluding days of events, locals from around the community showed an outpouring of support for the fallen Marine. And many veterans present stated that Espinoza was like a brother to them that they lost following his passing.

He died for a war older than himself, Former SPC. U.S. Army Joshua Alvarez said. He entered service knowing his nation was at war, and he joined openly and without reservation. He and his comrades deserve my highest respects. I honor them, and I pray that their sacrifices are not made in vain. May he rest with God, and may his family have peace.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
With the assistance of authorities in Laredo, a mother was recently reunited with her daughter who was abducted in 2007.

Authorities identified the daughter as Jacqueline Hernandez, 19, of Chilpancingo, Mexico, who is also a U.S. citizen. Hernandez reached out to her mother, Angelica Vences-Salgado, through social media in June 2021 and the mother and daughter arranged to meet on Sept. 10 in Laredo.

Vences-Salgado is a Mexican national residing in Mascotte, Fla. She contacted the Clermont Police Department to let them know about the Sept. 10 meeting in Laredo. Clermont police worked with federal partners through the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, or CPIX, to help ensure a smooth reunification at the border, according to HSI.

An Enforcement and Removal Operations officer assigned to the CPIX was instrumental in the cross platform communications, HSI said.

At the request of HSI Orlando and the CPIX, HSI Laredo special agents arrived at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge and informed U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the situation to facilitate the reunification.

In an interview with special agents, Hernandez stated that she had been living in Chilpancingo, Mexico, with her father. She stated she was able to contact her mother three months ago via social media and managed to escape from her father before traveling to Laredo to meet with her mother.

HSI Laredo also interviewed the mother, Vences-Salgado. She stated Hernandez had been abducted in 2007 by her father and that she and her daughter were able to make contact three months ago. In addition, Vences-Salgado provided several documents about the abduction case and Hernandez Illinois birth certificate.

HSI Laredo confirmed that Clermont police had an open missing person case for Hernandez.

HSI Laredo agents contacted the Laredo Police Department and informed them about the situation and provided them with Hernandezs and Vences-Salgados information. The LPD was able to immediately compare Hernandez fingerprints taken in 2007, by a school in Florida, with the fingerprints obtained by CBP on Sept. 10, 2021, and produced a 100% match, HSI said in a statement.

Authorities in Florida said this case is a great example of how they worked together.

A kidnapped daughter was reunited with her mother as a result of law enforcement working together, said HSI Orlando Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Pezzutti. This is a great example of how strong partnerships in law enforcement can work to solve problems no matter the complexity or distance.

Clermont Police Chief Charles Broadway added, This is a prime example of what can be accomplished when multiple law enforcement agencies and their respective communities work cooperatively together and maintain open lines of communication. In this case, several agencies in different counties and states across the nation were able to create a force multiplier and aid in reuniting the victim with her mother after 14 years.
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.

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Follow Grant Schulte on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrantSchulte
ISLAMABAD--- Members of Afghanistans women soccer team and their families arrived in Pakistan after fleeing their country in the wake of the Taliban's takeover, local media said Wednesday.

It was unclear how many Afghan women players and their family members were allowed to enter in Pakistan.

According to Pakistans information minister Fawad Chaudhry, the Afghan women soccer players entered in Pakistan though the northwestern Torkham border crossing holding valid travel documents.

"We welcome Afghanistan women football team, Chaudhry tweeted, providing no further details.

However, Pakistans English-langue The DAWN newspaper Wednesday reported that the Afghan female footballers were issued emergency humanitarian visas following the Taliban takeover of Kabul. The Taliban reportedly dont want women to participate in sports.

The Taliban has not commented, but an official confirmed that under the government's interpretation of Islam, women are not allowed to play any sports where they could potentially be exposed. The official was not authorized to speak with media before any official announcement by the government.

Last week, the Taliban announced an all-male interim government for Afghanistan stacked with veterans of their hard-line rule from the 1990s and the 20-year battle against the U.S.-led coalition. The move seems unlikely to win the international support the new leaders desperately need to avoid an economic meltdown.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands  The Dutch foreign ministry says it is evacuating nearly 150 people from Pakistan who fled from Afghanistan.

The Dutch government says Wednesdays flight will pickup nearly 50 people with Dutch nationality and their Afghan families as well as Afghans who worked closely with the Netherlands in Afghanistan -- mainly translators.

The government in The Hague has faced criticism in recent weeks for not acting earlier to evacuate Afghans who worked with the government over the past 20 years.

Many such Afghans fear persecution following the Talibans swift march to power.

The charter flight also will pick up nearly 100 other people who will fly on from Amsterdam to other European nations.

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

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UNITED NATIONS  A U.N. official says 4 million Afghans are facing a food emergency, with the majority in rural areas where there is a critical need for funding for planting winter wheat, feed for livestock and cash assistance for vulnerable families, elderly and disabled.

The director of the Food and Agriculture Organizations Office of Emergencies and Resilience said Tuesday in a video briefing from Kabul says 70% of Afghans live in rural areas and agriculture is indispensable to the Afghan population.

Rein Paulson says it represents just over 25% of Afghanistans GDP, directly employs 45% of the work force, and most importantly it provides livelihood benefits for fully 80% of the Afghan population.

He says a severe drought is affecting 7.3 million people in 25 of the countrys 34 provinces and rural communities also have been hurt by the pandemic. He says 4 million Afghans are facing a humanitarian emergency characterized by extreme gaps in food consumption, very high levels of acute malnutrition and excess mortality.

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MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:

 UN seeks $606 million for Afghanistan after Taliban takeover

 Once inmates, Taliban now in charge in a Kabul prison

 Taliban: Women can study in gender-segregated universities

 Kabul flag shop that started in Soviet era retools yet again

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WASHINGTON  American intelligence officials say al-Qaida could begin to threaten the homeland from Afghanistan within one to two years, echoing warnings that were issued prior to the U.S. withdrawal ending its 20-year war.

Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave that estimated timeframe Tuesday while speaking at the Intelligence & National Security Summit.

David Cohen, deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the U.S. already had detected some of the indications of some potential movement of al-Qaida to Afghanistan.

Experts have long said the Taliban still maintains ties to al-Qaida, which took sanctuary in Afghanistan prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Counterterrorism experts estimated prior to the withdrawal that al-Qaida had several hundred fighters in Afghanistan.

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KABUL, Afghanistan  The foreign minister in Afghanistans new Taliban-run Cabinet says the government remains committed to its promises not to allow militants to use its territory to attack others.

In his first press conference since the Taliban formed an interim government a week ago, Amir Khan Mutaqi on Tuesday would not give a timeframe for how long the government would be in place or whether it would eventually be opened up to other factions, minorities or women.

When asked about the possibility of elections, Mutaqi demanded other countries not interfere in Afghanistans internal issues.

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ROME  Italian Premier Mario Draghi says how Europe treats refugees from Afghanistan will test the continents integration process.

In remarks Tuesday to an interfaith gathering in Bologna of participants from the Group of 20 made up of representatives of industrial and emerging-market nations, Draghi referred those who recently fled Afghanistan.

The European Union must not ignore the drama of these persons, nor the historic dimension of these events, he said.

The European Union for years has been incapable of building a common approach on the migratory theme, and in particular on the distribution of who arrives and seeks asylum, the Italian leader said.

Italy, where hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers have arrived via traffickers boats launched from Libya, has largely lobbied its EU partners in vain for years to take in many of the migrants.

Some EU countries have indicated they wouldnt accept Afghans who flee their homeland beyond those they evacuated in the final days of the U.S. military presence in Kabul.

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ISLAMABAD  Pakistans prime minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed the latest situation in neighboring Afghanistan in a phone call.

Imran Khan, who received the call Tuesday from Putin, also exchanged views about bilateral cooperation and collaboration in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. That's a security pact dominated by Russia and China that also includes the ex-Soviet Central Asian countries.

According to a government statement, Khan underscored the importance of peace and stability in Afghanistan for regional security and prosperity.

It said Khan emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and the imperative of averting an economic crisis. The statement said Khan also underlined the need for the international community to remain engaged in Afghanistan.

It said Khan stressed that close coordination and consultations between Pakistan and Russia on the evolving situation in Afghanistan were of crucial importance.

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The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks!

Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics.

The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc.

The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics.

The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates.

Access to college recruiters and advisors  its harder to line up higher education.

Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family.

Vote

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Ireland West Airport has welcomed the launch by Ryanair of their two new services to Edinburgh and Manchester.

Both services will initially operate twice weekly and operate on a year round basis.

These new services will provide a major boost for the airport and the region as it restores critically important connectivity between the West of Ireland and Manchester and Edinburgh.

Ryanair now offer passengers a choice of 13 destinations across the UK and Europe to and from the airport in 2021.

The past week also also saw the return of Ryanairs seasonal service to Milan, which commenced on Friday, and will now operate twice weekly all year round and further good news is the return of the East Midlands service on Friday, for the first time in almost nine months, which will be a welcome boost for users of the service.

Welcoming passengers from Edinburgh off the inaugural flight, Joe Gilmore, Managing Director, Ireland West Airport commented, The airport are delighted to launch these two new services with Ryanair to Manchester and Edinburgh - two long standing services which the airport are thrilled to have been able to secure the return of.

Mr Gilmore added, We thank Ryanair for their continued unwavering support for the airport in expanding their route network during this challenging period. Following the continued successful roll out of the vaccination programmes, both here and in the UK, and the implementation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate, we are pleased to have seen a very strong recovery in passenger numbers for the month of August and the trends are looking positive for a busy winter season.

Mr Gilmore concluded, The addition by Ryanair of these two new services and the extension of both our Malaga and Milan services through the winter for the first time is very welcome and a strong vote of confidence by Ryanair in the airport.

Ryanairs Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said: We are pleased to launch these two new routes from Ireland West Airport to Edinburgh & Manchester, flying twice weekly as part of our Irish Summer 2021 schedule.

Mindful that Covid restrictions change regularly, customers can now book flights for a well-deserved break knowing that if they need to postpone or change their travel dates, they can do so up to two times with a zero-change fee until the end of October 2021.

For airport information log onto www.irelandwestairport.com ; and for information on fares and to book flights log onto www.ryanair.com
An ambitious new fundraiser is underway in County Longford to build on a landmark achievement by an international school feeding charity.

Marys Meals now serves over two million children in 19 of the worlds poorest countries every day.

Marys Meals Ireland are celebrating this amazing achievement by asking Irish supporters to raise enough funds to feed the entire 2 million children for a day.

It costs just 9c on average to feed a child a nutritious school meal, in some of the poorest communities in the world. This amounts to just 18.30 for an entire school year!

Longford Mary's Meals branch Chairperson, Dolores Kiernan, describes the joy of everyone involved as contagious.

Its simple, she said, we dont just want your two cents worth  we want your nine cents! If every person in Longford gave just nine cents, we could provide a nutritious school meal for 40,873 children!

The campaign runs from Wednesday, September 8 to October 31, 2021.

Full details can be found on the website www.marysmeals.ie.

There are many ways to get involved; from sponsored walks to scrap metal collections, and everything in between, the ingenious supporters of Marys Meals have come up with hundreds of ways to get to this extraordinary milestone.

With such a small amount having such a large impact, it is a great cause for schools, families and businesses to get behind.

The charity had humble beginnings to say the least: a one-off good deed from a shed in the Highlands of Scotland eventually led to a small school feeding programme in Malawi, aiming to bring vital meals to around 200 children.

Now more than 30% of the primary school population of Malawi enjoys the nutritious meals, served in schools by local volunteers to help the next generation build a brighter future.

Magnus MacFarlane -Barrow, founder and CEO of Marys Meals, said:

Today we celebrate an amazing moment in the Marys Meals story. Today, two million children ate Marys Meals in a place of education.

When we set out on this path, nearly 30 years ago, we were overwhelmed by peoples goodness in donating  and thats been the story ever since. I thank you with all my heart on behalf of each of those children.

Marys Meals not only feeds huge numbers of children attending government-run schools in Africa, but also brings daily meals to children finding hope in non-formal education centres in India; the sons and daughters of vulnerable migrant workers in Thailand; young people engaging in education while awaiting trial in prisons in Niger and Madagascar; children affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria  through feeding programmes in Aleppo and neighbouring Lebanon; and many thousands of young learners in Haiti, which has been plagued by years of political unrest and damage from natural disasters.

To find out more about the work of Marys Meals and how to get involved visit www.marysmeals.ie.
The Irish public are generally in agreement that we all have an obligation to reduce carbon emissions to protect the planet and our way of life.

The Irish Government have given binding commitments in this regard and this has resulted in the publication of climate action plans and policies to meet their targets.

One major policy area that is being pursued is the development of renewable energy projects.

Tormeys Solicitors have significant first-hand knowledge of the implications for landowners whose property may be impacted by these projects, more specifically wind and solar energy.

We have acted for many landowners who have been approached by energy companies and we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we secure the best possible deal for our clients and fully protect their interests.

There is a degree of complexity involved in the documentation furnished at the outset of a proposed renewable energy project.

Ultimately, the energy company wants to use a landowners property to facilitate the construction and maintenance of equipment and the ongoing use of the lands to produce energy.

At the outset, the energy company will look to secure an option to enter into a long term lease with the landowner, which will give the energy company the time and space to secure planning permission and a grid connection to the electricity network.

This period would also give the energy company the opportunity to negotiate with other landowners, outside the immediate project area, for the right to place cables, ducts, and wires to gain a physical connection between the project and the nearest sub-station.

It is our job to make sure that our clients are fully aware of the contractual obligations prior to them committing to signing the option.

The option and lease agreements will cover a multitude of issues relating to the rights and covenants affecting both the energy company and the landowner. Each project will have different conditions and criteria and it is our duty to outline to our clients, in the clearest possible terms, the legal and practical implications, not only during the option period, but the proposed lease period.

The main issues of importance include the following:

1. Option fee payment.

2. Rent

3. Bonus payments

4. Rights of way

5. Security fencing.

6. Restrictions on agricultural activity.

7. Insurance and indemnities.

8. Maintenance of hedgerows, ditches and drains.

9. Impact on farm payment or forestry grants.

10. Tax implications.

11. Restrictions on the development.

12. Consents from third parties (eg Bank)

13. Restoration funds

14. Location of substations and battery storage facilities

We have found that representing all of the landowners involved in a specific project, leads to significant efficiencies in progressing the transactions.

We can communicate with the legal representatives of the energy company in a manner that allows the landowners to act in a unified and co-ordinated manner.

At the outset of a project, there are often title issues which the landowners have to rectify, and we can look after this in a quick and speedy manner to avoid any chance of the landowner losing out on the prospect of agreeing a deal with the energy company.

The energy companies cover the landowners legal costs relating to the option agreement and lease.

On occasion, we have negotiated with these companies to secure their agreement to make a contribution in relation to any title upgrades that are required to the landowners property. Initially, the details of the scheme can be a little daunting for landowners and we take great pride in our ability to clarify, in a concise and easy to understand manner, all of the legal implications of the proposed arrangement.

If you have been approached by an energy company, please do not hesitate to contact us for guidance. We would welcome the opportunity to give you the benefit of our knowledge and experience in this area. We cannot overstate the importance of getting the right advice.

*The above article consists of general recommendations and should not be interpreted as legal advice. You should contact a Solicitor to secure advice specific to your individual requirements. In contentious business, a Solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement. Tormeys Solicitors have been serving the people of the midlands for almost a century, specialising in *Personal Injury, *Medical Negligence, *Conveyancing, *Probate, *Commercial Law, *Employment Law and *Family Law.
Community, Charity & Cause

By Chris Boyle Published: September 14 2021

We all wish these eight men and one woman God speed and good health on this historic journey to our nations capital!

The National Honor Flight Networks iconic trips  provided free to Veterans  have been on hold since March 2020 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. National just lifted the pandemic restrictions on August 15th and now Honor Flight Long Islands (HFLI) Board has unanimously decided to officially re-institute their biannual D.C. flights, beginning in the spring of 2022.

However, after a long hiatus which saw HFLI flights cancelled for 2020 and 2021, the Board had a waiting list of nine World War II era Veterans requesting a trip to D.C. After outreach to the Veterans and their families, all expressed a strong desire to go this fall,so HFLI booked a special one-day flight for Sunday, October 3, 2021. Several of their family members will accompany the Veterans as Guardians. We all wish these eight men and one woman God speed and good health on this historic journey to our nations capital!

Our gallant band of heroes are: Dominick Critelli, 100, Army, Floral Park; Vincent DePalo, 98, Army Air Corps, Bethpage; Constantine Efthimiades, 95, Army, Whitestone; Robert Harms, 95, Navy, Carle Place; Louis Peretz, 100, Army Air Corps, Commack; Eleanor Rizutto, 99, Army, Franklin Square; Stephen Samsel, 94, Navy, Fairfield, CT; Vincent Tolve, 98, Army Air Corps, Mastic Beach; Eugene Zanger, 93, Army, Massapequa.

This special Honor Flight gives nineof our Greatest Generation Americans an opportunity to contemplate their military memorials, meet representatives of their service branches, commiserate with fellow Veterans and exchange WWII stories, said Bill Jones, President of Honor Flight Long Island. What the flight reallyrepresents is a Big Hug to these Veterans from Honor Flight, their families and all our supporters who make such flights possible, Jones added.Contact Jones for more quotes at: (631) 276-8825. Visit the HFLI website at: www.honorflightlongisland.org

Thanks to HFLI, nine WWII Veterans will take a free, early-morning Southwest flight to Washington, D.C. Departing from Islip MacArthur Airport at 10:40 a.m., Veterans and Guardians will visit the WWII Memorial, then on to Arlington National Cemetery for the Changing of the Guard,next a special Wreath Laying Ceremony and lastly the Iwo Jima Memorial. They return to Islip at 10:45 p.m. for a rousing welcome by the Long Island Bagpipe Band and thunderous applause from hundreds of supporters! Questions or pre-flight interviews? Contact Robert F. Salant, (516) 328-3959 orrsalant123@outlook.com

The Honor Flight Network (HFN) requires all their hubs to follow strict health precautions before resuming travel. At this time, all 2021 participants must be fully vaccinated or receive a negative PCR test within 72 hours of a trips departure. HFN is also following health recommendations from the CDC, the District of Columbia, and each hubs state and local jurisdiction, and the masking guidance of all trip venues.

About Honor Flight Network
Business & Finance

By Chris Boyle Published: September 14 2021

After attending a Long Island Regional Planning Council meeting, I was made aware of the need for this website, said Legislator Anker.

In anticipation of the passage of Introductory Resolution 1551-2021, to be voted on September 9th, Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker announces the creation of a Suffolk County small business website. The resolution, sponsored by Legislator Anker, would direct the Department of Economic Development and Planning and the Department of Information Technology to develop a website that would provide resources to Suffolk Countys local small businesses. In addition, a printable resource guide to provide information to local small businesses will be available.

After attending a Long Island Regional Planning Council meeting, I was made aware of the need for this website, said Legislator Anker. Covid has created incredible challenges for small business, and while large corporations have received substantial government support, our small businesses have not been given as many opportunities. I am looking forward to working with our local small business owners and Chamber of Commerce organizations to provide guidance in the creation of this website, including the web address and the website content.

A small business website would provide our local businesses with the vital information that is needed in our towns, now more than ever, said Holly Bottiglieri, President of the Mount Sinai-Miller Place Chamber Alliance. It would provide a one-stop resource to obtain current and relevant information on where to reach out for help when our businesses need it most.

The website information will include; grant and loan opportunities, potential funding sources, business administration information, small business related rules and regulations, relevant government department contacts, and COVID-19 related guidance information. A printable resource guide in PDF format will complement the website. The website and resource guide will be designed and operational within 180 days of the resolutions adoption.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: September 14 2021

Defendant allegedly ran 46 cryptocurrency mining devices in county building; cost county thousands of dollars in electricity.

Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini today announced the arrest of a Suffolk County information technology supervisor for allegedly running an unauthorized cryptocurrency mining operation out of County offices, costing the County thousands of dollars in electricity over the past seven months.

Mining cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of resources, and miners have to navigate how to cover all of those electricity and cooling costs, District Attorney Sini said. This defendant found a way to do it; unfortunately, it was on the backs of taxpayers. We will not allow County employees, who are already on the publics payroll, to steal taxpayer money or illegally use government resources for their own personal gain.

Christopher Naples, 42, of Mattituck, is charged with Public Corruption as a class C felony; Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class D felony; Computer Trespass, a class E felony; and Official Misconduct, a class A misdemeanor. Naples, whose current title is Assistant Manager of Information Technology Operations for the Suffolk County Clerks Office, has been employed by Suffolk County since 2000.

An investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorneys Offices Public Integrity Bureau revealed evidence that since at least February 2021, Naples has allegedly been utilizing County electricity, internet access, and other resources to run a mining operation for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency out of the County Center, located at 300-310 Center Drive in Riverhead.

Pursuant to the investigation, investigators executed search warrants at the County Center on Aug. 19, which resulted in the seizure of 46 cryptocurrency mining devices. The devices were found hidden in six rooms throughout the building in various spaces, including underneath removable floorboards, on top of or inside server racks, and inside an unused electrical wall panel.

One of these rooms housed critically important computer servers, secure data storage systems and communications equipment for the entire County government, and when investigators entered the room, an alarm was going off that indicated the temperature was too high, District Attorney Sini said. Within hours of the devices being shut down, the temperature in the room dropped 20 degrees. So not only was this operation being paid for with thousands of dollars of taxpayer money, but it also put the Countys infrastructure at risk. The defendant also had to bypass the Countys internet security protocols in order to get these devices online, which could have potentially jeopardized the security of the Countys network.

The investigation determined that at least 10 of the machines had been running since February 2021 at a total cost of more than $6,000 to the County, according to an audit of the buildings energy bills; however, the investigation into the operation and associated costs of the additional devices is ongoing. The devices are estimated to cost approximately $4,200 per month each in electricity based on the minimum kilowatts required for their operation and the average cost per kilowatt hour in Suffolk County.

The investigation is also ongoing into the amount and nature of any proceeds of Naples alleged cryptocurrency mining operation.

Naples was arraigned on the charges today in Southampton Town Justice Court before Justice Barbara Wilson and was released on his own recognizance. He is being represented by William Keahon and is due back in court on Sept. 16.

If convicted of the top count, Naples faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

This case is being prosecuted by Public Integrity Bureau Chief Marc Lindemann with assistance from Assistant District Attorneys Kevin Ward and Laura de Oliveira, of the Public Integrity Bureau, and Financial Investigations and Money Laundering Bureau Chief Jeremy Glicksman. The Suffolk County Comptrollers Office and the Suffolk County Clerks Office also assisted in the investigation.
Kazera Global PLC - investment company - Receives two reports on economic suitability of lithium and feldspar in Namibia in which Tantalite Valley mine pegmatites were featured as samples for the study.

Study demonstrates that the lithium samples taken from the mine are of a chemical composition which deemed them chemical grade for the battery industry and technical grade for the glass industry.

In addition, the feldspar samples taken from the mine indicate high quality feldspar which a composition suitable for glaze, pottery and colour glass.

"We are extremely appreciative and excited to have received support from both the Namibia Minister of Mines and BGR. Both groups made multiple site visits to our Tantalite Valley Mine accompanied by very senior geologists from both groups," says Joint Chief Executive Officer Larry Johnson.

"TVM continues to demonstrate multiple value opportunities for the company and, with mining due to restart again shortly, we look forward to realizing potential this in the very near future," Johnson adds.

Current stock price: 1.34 pence, down 12%

Year-to-date change: down 6.3%

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Xtract Resources PLC - copper-gold projects in Australia, Mozambique and Zambia - Reports upbeat results from phase 2 drilling programme at the Eureka copper-gold deposit on small scale mining licence number 22134-HQ-SML in Zambia. Says further assaying from the Phase two drilling programme at Eureka confirms continuity of the copper deposit over approximately 300 metres strike extent - open to the west-northwest.

Chief Executive Officer Colin Bird says: "Results to date from the drilling programme have been successful in extending the deposit strike to about 300m, with potential for expansion of the planned open pit. We are pleased to note that the deposit appears to occur as a single zone and that the previously postulated deposit split appears not to be the case. This represents a much better outcome for mine planning purposes. We look forward to receiving and reporting on the final batch of assay results shortly."

Separately, Xtract reports continuing progress on the phase two diamond drilling programme at the Bushranger copper-gold porphyry exploration project in New South Wales, Australia, with the completion of BRDD-21-015 and BRDD-21-016 holes.

Bird says: "I am very pleased with the results of these two holes, both of which intersected long runs of mineralisation of varying strengths. Hole 15 intersected a long run of mineralisation in an area of low resistivity within the interpreted high-grade crown of the intrusion and we are pleased that this interception has demonstrated prospectivity at shallower depths. Hole 16 intersected two limbs and strong mineralisation in the proximity of the crown and has provided extensions of the mineralisation to the southeast. I am pleased that we report that hole number 17 has commenced and we have already intersected mineralisation at 118m."

Current stock price: 3.90p, up 7.1% on Tuesday

Year-to-date change: doubled

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:







Boku Inc - mobile payment and identity company based in California, US - Launches its Verify and Authenticate solutions in Germany. Says both solutions are integrated with O2, Telekom Deutschland, and Vodafone service providers. Expands total global coverage for its verification and authentication services, which have launched in 20 countries. Says it final earn-out payment, related to the acquisition of Fortumo Holdings Inc, totals USD2.2 million. This payment is based on Fortumo's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation performance in the year ended June 30, the company notes. Receives USD3.2 million balance in escrow for Fortumo acquisition last Friday. Boku acquired Fortumo and its subsidiaries on July 1, 2020.







Focusrite PLC - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire-based music and audio products company - Provides a trading update that indicates positive trading in its current financial year. Says revenue, profit, and cash flow have increased significantly in the year ended August 31. Expects revenue to total around GBP173 million in financial 2021, up from GBP130 million a year prior. Says improved performance is primarily due to strong customer demand and includes four-months of contribution from Sequential LLC, which the company acquired in April. Notes net cash balance of around GBP17 million on August 31 and says cash generation remains a priority.







Sumo Group PLC - Sheffield, England-based video games company - Acquires Bristol-based video game developer and publisher Auroch Digital for a GBP6.0 million cash consideration. Plans to pay further deferred consideration, continent on Auroch's performance in the financial year due to end on March 31, 2024. Says the acquisition enhances its publishing capability. Notes Auroch's pipeline of original intellectual property and track record for developing innovative, high-quality games. This follows the launch of the company's publishing division, Secret Mode, in March. Sumo Group's chief executive Carl Cavers says that: "While this is a relatively small acquisition, it is a highly significant one for us strategically."







Mercia Asset Management PLC - West Midlands-based asset manager - Says its fund management operations continue to perform well. assets under management total GBP940 million. Non-executive chair Ian Metcalfe says the company's "Group-wide strong liquidity position is enabling us to deploy capital into new and existing attractive investment opportunities, both through our managed funds and balance sheet. We have a differentiated business model which is now delivering incremental shareholder value and we are increasingly optimistic about our future."







N4 Pharma PLC - Derbyshire-based pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec for cancer treatments and vaccines - Says initial testing of SARS-COV-2 plasmid and Nuvec cancer treatment show improved response in terms of transfection. Adds that the combination of these treatments showed a dose-related SARS-COV-2 Spike protein production. The company says: "These in vitro results provide a positive platform for the commencement of the in vivo work beginning this month which is expected to last six to eight weeks with an additional two to three weeks for analysis."







Silver Bullet Data Services Group PLC - marketing consulting company based in London - Wins new contract to design and deploy a data strategy for Irish broadcasting company RTE. Plans to "optimise" RTE's business infrastructure to speed up its digital transformation. Says the contract will draw on Silver Bullet's experience assisting broadcasters to move towards digital advertising spending and away from linear TV advertising. Chief executive of Silver Bullet, Ian James, says: "We are delighted to be at the centre of the broadcaster and audio data-driven transformation industry...We look forward to seeing the results of this years' work as the digital video and audio market looks set to bounce back in 2022."







IronRidge Resources Ltd - minerals exploration company with projects in Chad, Ghana and the Ivory Coast - Reports final high-grade lithium drill intersections at new targets adjacent to the Ewoyaa Lithium Project in Ghana. Notes highest metal content intersection discovered to date, specifically 53 metres at 1.3% lithium oxide from an 80 metre deep GRC0392 hole. Chief Executive Vincent Mascolo says: "The resource expansion drilling programme has now been completed and we will maintain momentum with five drill rigs currently active on site for the resource infill programme. The board remains confident the additional exploration targets will increase resource scale and improve project economics, where we have defined Ghana's first lithium JORC compliant resource of 14.5 [million tonnes] at [1.3% lithium oxide]."







By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Altus Strategies Plc / Index (EPIC): AIM (ALS) TSX-V (ALTS) OTCQX (ALTUF) / Sector: Mining

14 September 2021

Altus Strategies Plc

("Altus" or the "Company")

First Royalty Income Payment Expected from Caserones Copper Mine in Chile

Altus Strategies Plc (AIM: ALS, TSX-V: ALTS, OTCQX: ALTUF) announces that it expects to receive its first royalty income payment this month, from its effective 0.418% net smelter return royalty ("NSR") interest on the Caserones copper mine in Chile. The royalty receivable is projected to be in excess of US$1 million (before tax) for the quarter ending 30 June 2021. Due to strong copper prices during the period, it is believed this may represent the highest quarterly royalty payment from Caserones since production commenced in 2015.

Highlights:

 First quarterly royalty income payment of over US$1M (pre-tax) expected this month

 Payment of 0.418% NSR royalty in respect of Q2 at Caserones copper mine in Chile

 Altus' interest in Caserones NSR was acquired in August 2021 for US$34.1 million

 Mine in operation since 2015 with an estimated 17 years of production remaining

 Additional royalty transactions under review globally with a focus on gold and copper

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:

"Having only recently closed the acquisition of the NSR on the Caserones copper mine in Chile, we are delighted to already be advising shareholders that the first royalty payment is expected imminently. The payment will relate to the receivable royalty for the second quarter of 2021 and, being our first royalty income, will represent a landmark event for Altus. Given strong copper prices during the period, the royalty is expected to be the highest on record, since production commenced at Caserones in 2015.

"We expect demand for copper to remain strong in the years ahead, as the global economy seeks to decarbonise in parallel with continued infrastructure development, urbanisation and wealth creation in emerging markets.

"Altus is currently assessing a number of other potential royalty acquisitions globally and I look forward to updating shareholders on these activities and the receipt of the Caserones royalty income in due course."

Recent Acquisition of the Caserones NSR

Altus acquired the Caserones NSR interest in August 2021 for US$34.1 million through a strategic 50:50 partnership with NYSE American and TSX Venture exchanges-listed EMX Royalty Corporation ("EMX"). Altus and EMX created a Special Purpose Vehicle ("SPV"), incorporated in Chile, that is owned jointly by Altus and EMX. The SPV acquired an effective 0.836% NSR royalty interest for US$68.2 million (attributable as 0.418% to Altus and 0.418% to EMX), by purchasing 43% of the issued and outstanding shares of Sociedad Legal Minera California Una de la Sierra Pena Negra ("SLM California"). SLM California holds a 1.944% NSR royalty on Caserones. Altus principally financed the acquisition with a US$29 million acquisition loan facility agreement provided by its largest shareholder La Mancha Fund SCSp (See Altus news releases dated 17 and 23 August 2021). Altus expects the Caserones NSR will provide it with long-term cash flows, in line with its stated growth strategy.

Caserones Royalty Background

Compania Minera Caserones ("CMC") and SLM California originally staked the mineral claims that overlie the current Caserones deposit. The 2.88% Caserones NSR was created in a 2009 agreement between Minera Lumina Copper Chile S.A. as purchaser and CMC and SLM California as the vendors of the Caserones claims. SLM California and CMC own a 67.5% and 32.5% share of the 2.88% royalty respectively, equating to an attributable 1.94% NSR interest for SLM California. Under the agreement, the NSR interest will be reduced to 2% and 1% if the London Metal Exchange ("LME") quoted copper price falls below US$1.25 and US$1.00 per pound respectively. The LME copper price is currently US$4.27/lb (as at 16 August 2021).

About the Caserones Mine

The Caserones mine is a large, open-pit porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit, located within a 17,000 hectare land package at an elevation of approximately 4,300m above sea level in the borough of Tierra Amarilla, in the Atacama region of northern Chile. The mine is approximately 15km from the border with Argentina, 162km southeast of the city of Copiapo and 800km north of the capital, Santiago.

Located at the southern end of the well documented Maricunga mineral belt, the geology of Caserones comprises an Early-Miocene porphyry system associated with a cluster of dacite porphyries and breccias intruding Palaeozoic granitic, volcanic, and metamorphic rocks. Caserones has a well-developed supergene enrichment profile of oxide copper and secondary chalcocite that overlies hypogene sulfide (chalcopyrite-molybdenite) mineralisation.

The mine is owned and operated by Minera Lumina Copper Chile SpA, an indirect 100% owned subsidiary of JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation of Japan. It produces copper and molybdenum concentrates from a conventional crusher, mill and flotation plant, as well as copper cathodes from a dump leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning plant.

The mine has been in operation for five years, following a capital investment of approximately US$4.2 billion. It has a reported average waste to ore strip ratio of 0.47, and in 2020, reportedly produced 104,917 tonnes of copper and 2,452 tonnes of fine molybdenum in concentrates, as well as 22,056 tonnes of fine copper in cathodes. Caserones has an estimated 17 years of operation remaining under its current mine plan, along with excellent exploration potential. In a news release dated 9 November 2020, JX Nippon announced plans for "stepping up exploration efforts in areas around the mine" in an effort to expand production and further extend the mine life.

Qualified Person

The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has been approved by Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology (Hons), he also holds a Master's degree from the Camborne School of Mines (Exeter University) in Mining Geology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules and NI 43-101.

For further information you are invited to visit the Company's website www.altus-strategies.com or contact:

Altus Strategies Plc Steven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0) 1235 511 767 E-mail: info@altus-strategies.com SP Angel (Nominated Adviser) Richard Morrison / Adam Cowl Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 SP Angel (Broker) Grant Barker / Richard Parlons Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0471 Shard Capital (Broker) Isabella Pierre / Damon Heath Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9927 Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR & IR) Charles Goodwin / Henry Wilkinson Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512 E-mail: altus@yellowjerseypr.com

About Altus Strategies Plc

Altus Strategies (AIM: ALS, TSX-V: ALTS & OTCQX: ALTUF) is a mining royalty company generating a diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of assets. The Company's differentiated approach of generating royalties on its own discoveries in Africa and acquiring royalties globally through financings and acquisitions with third parties, has attracted key institutional investor backing. The Company engages constructively with all stakeholders, working diligently to minimise its environmental impact and to promote positive economic and social outcomes in the communities where it operates. For further information, please visit www.altus-strategies.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this announcement, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of the Directors or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programmes on schedule and the success of exploration programmes. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this announcement and the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as at the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or any forward-looking statements contained in any other announcements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law or regulations.

TSX Venture Exchange Disclaimer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Market Abuse Regulation Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

**END**
Auto Trader Group plc ("Auto Trader" or the "Company"),

1 September 2021

Appointment of Independent Non-Executive Director

Auto Trader, the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jasvinder Gakhal as an Independent Non-Executive Director to its Board, with effect from 1 January 2022. Jasvinder will also join the Audit, Remuneration, Corporate Responsibility and Nomination Committees.

Jasvinder is Managing Director of Motor at Direct Line Group, prior to which she held a number of roles within Direct Line including most recently Chief Strategy Officer and before that Managing Director of Direct Line for Business. Before joining Direct Line Group in 2005, Jasvinder was a maths teacher.

Following Jasvinder's appointment, the Board comprises five Independent Non-Executive Directors, three Executive Directors and a Non-Executive Chairman.

Commenting on the appointment, Ed Williams, Chairman of Auto Trader, said:

"I am delighted to welcome Jasvinder to the Board. Her range of strategic and operational experience is a valuable addition. Jasvinder's appointment is the first step in the renewal of our board, given that three Independent Non-Executive Directors are due to step down by 2024, having served three 3-year terms, starting around the time of Auto Trader's 2015 IPO."

Commenting on her appointment, Jasvinder said:

"I am excited to be joining the Auto Trader Board. Auto Trader is a progressive, digital business that is well placed to build on its success as the UK's largest automotive platform and I look forward to being part of that journey."

There are no further disclosures required in respect of this appointment under paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority.

Enquiries:

PowerscourtRob Greening / Lisa Kavanagh autotrader@powerscourt-group.com +44 (0)20 7250 1446

About Auto Trader

Auto Trader Group plc is the UK and Ireland's largest digital automotive marketplace. Our marketplace sits at the heart of the vehicle buying process, with the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock. Auto Trader exists to grow both its car buying audience and core advertising business. It will change how the UK shops for cars by providing the best online car buying experience, enabling all retailers to sell online. We aim to build stronger partnerships with our customers, use our voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices and lead an inclusive and diverse culture in our industry. Auto Trader listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.

For more information, please visit: https://plc.autotrader.co.uk/
Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust plc (BGCG)

Legal Entity Identifier: 213800KOK5G3XYI7ZX18

Appointment of Director

The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Tim Clissold as a non-executive Director of the Company with effect from 1 October 2021.

Tim qualified as a Chartered Accountant and has worked in Australia, Hong Kong and extensively in China, where he was co-founder of one of the first private equity groups in the country. He later ran Goldman Sachs China's distressed investment business in Beijing. He co-founded another business to originate UN carbon offsets from GHG emission reduction projects in China. Tim is Chief Resolution Officer at Peony Advisors Limited, a company which helps foreign investors recover value after being disenfranchised by Chinese companies and is a non-executive director of Henderson Far East Income Limited. He was a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of Braemar Energy Ventures, a New York venture capital fund focused on energy efficiency technologies. He is the author of Mr China and Chinese Rules and speaks, reads and writes Mandarin Chinese.

Susan Platts-Martin, Chair of Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust, commented:

"My fellow Directors and I are delighted to welcome Tim to the Board. Tim brings to the Board a wealth of experience relating to China having lived and done business there for many years."

Mr Clissold has a beneficial interest of 10,000 shares in the Company.

The appointment of Mr Tim Clissold falls to be ratified by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2022.

There is no information required to be disclosed under section 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.

Baillie Gifford & Co Limited

Managers and Secretaries

16 June 2021

Regulated Information Classification: Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under relevant laws.
REACH

14 September 2021

Boku Inc.

("Boku" or the "Company")

Boku streamlines & secures online transactions in Germany

Boku Inc (AIM: BOKU), a leading global provider of mobile payment and identity solutions, is pleased to announce that Boku Identity has launched its Verify and Authenticate solutions in Germany, with both solutions integrated with O2, Telekom Deutschland, and Vodafone. Now, 120 million German mobile subscribers will have access to more seamless and secure digital account creation and transactions.

The launch in Germany increases Boku's global coverage for Verify and Authenticate to 20 countries. Leading global companies including banks and other financial services companies, social networks, marketplaces and government agencies work with Boku to enhance their digital customer experience while ensuring world-class security for their users.

Verify uses signals from mobile operators to streamline digital customer onboarding while preventing identity theft, money laundering, and social fraud.

Authenticate uses mobile operator SIM-based authentication to secure digital account access without SMS one-time passwords, delivering greater security in a fraction of the time. Authenticate features SIM Swap detection to eliminate this fraud vector quickly and easily.

With increasing digital transformation and swift competition for consumers, these solutions give digital service providers a competitive edge. Boku's mobile identity suite protects consumers from fraud while maintaining personal privacy, fully compliant with GDPR regulations.

Stuart Neal, General Manager for Identity, Boku, commented: "We are honoured to partner with Deutsche Telekom, O2 and Vodafone to bring German businesses and consumers better, safer online experiences. Today, consumers expect seamless and secure online experiences, and Boku along with our partners make this possible."

Enquiries:

Boku, Inc. Jon Prideaux, Chief Executive Officer Keith Butcher, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)20 3934 6630 IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR & IR) Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Florence Chandler +44 (0)20 3934 6630

Notes to Editors

Boku Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is a leading global provider of mobile payment and identity solutions. Its Mobile First Payments Network 'M1ST' features 330+ mobile payment methods, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time payments schemes, reaching 5.7 billion mobile payment accounts in 90 countries - all through a single integration.

Customers that trust Boku to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Sony, Spotify and Tencent.

Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in the US, India, Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and Vietnam.

To learn more about Boku Inc., please visit: https://www.boku.com.
14 September 2021

Boku, Inc.

("Boku" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Release of final earn-out amount - Acquisition of Fortumo Holdings Inc.

Boku (AIM:BOKU), a leading global mobile payment and mobile identity company, acquired the entire issued share capital of Fortumo Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries ("Fortumo") (the "Acquisition") on 1 July 2020.

As part of the terms of the Acquisition, 12% of the total maximum consideration, equating to approximately USD$5.4 million (4.3 million), was held in escrow, subject to Fortumo's EBITDA-earn-out, working capital and indemnity conditions.

A final earn-out payment of USD$2.16 million based on Fortumo Adjusted EBITDA performance for the 12 months to 30 June 2021 has been released from escrow and paid on 10 September to Fortumo's selling shareholders. The balance of USD$3.24 million was returned to Boku.

For further information, please contact:

Boku, Inc. Jon Prideaux, Chief Executive OfficerKeith Butcher, Chief Financial Officer 020 3934 6630 Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker)Edward Knight / Paul Gillam / James Smith 020 7418 8900 IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR & IR) Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Florence Chandler 020 3934 6630

Notes to Editors

Boku Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is a leading global provider of mobile payment and identity solutions. Its Mobile First Payments Network 'M1ST' features 330+ mobile payment methods, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time payments schemes, reaching 5.7 billion mobile payment accounts in 90 countries - all through a single integration.

Customers that trust Boku to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Sony, Spotify and Tencent.

Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in the US, India, Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and Vietnam.

To learn more about Boku Inc., please visit: https://www.boku.com.
Cora Gold Limited / EPIC: CORA.L / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

08 September 2021

Cora Gold Limited ('Cora' or 'the Company')

US$25m Term Sheet for the Construction of Sanankoro Gold Project, Mali

Cora Gold Limited, the West African focused gold company, is pleased to announce that it has signed a new US$25m Mandate and Term Sheet (the "Term Sheet") with investment firm, Lionhead Capital Advisors Proprietary Limited ('Lionhead'), to fund the future development of Cora's flagship Sanankoro Gold Project ('Sanankoro' or 'the Project') in Southern Mali (the 'Project Financing'). This is conditional on, among other matters, the completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study ('DFS') on the Project before the end of June 2022. This new Term Sheet replaces the previous one with Lionhead, which was announced on 18 June 2020 and was for US$21m.

Highlights

 US$25m Term Sheet to finance the development of Sanankoro on completion of a positive DFS

 US$12.5m Equity Financing

 US$12.5m Convertible Financing

 Term Sheet requires Cora to deliver a DFS before the end of H1 2022 with minimum key objectives (together the 'Project Milestone') including:

 35% Internal rate of Return ('IRR') based on a US$1,500/ oz gold price; and

 8 years mine life and production of 40,000 ozs/year, or equivalent production over a different time period and delivering the minimum IRR threshold, in a US$1,700/oz gold price pit shell

 Updated Mineral Resources Estimate on target for Q4 2021 and completed DFS targeted for H1 2022

 Lionhead prepared to syndicate +30% of the Term Sheet on the same terms with other investors

Bert Monro, CEO of Cora, commented, "The updated Term Sheet with Lionhead is a fantastic demonstration of their support for Cora and importantly, further de-risks the Sanankoro Gold Project. With an increased focus on a CIL processing route to enable the development of a larger and longer life gold mine with better economics, there is an expectation of a larger capex than the January 2020 heap leach scoping study. In light of this, the increased equity and convertible commitment in this Term Sheet gives great support to the Company and significantly de-risks future project financing as we move towards an updated resource estimate and DFS completion."

Term Sheet Details:

Lionhead is acting as lead investor and arranger on behalf of a consortium of investors including the founders of LionOre Mining International Ltd (which was bought by Norilsk Nickel for US$6.3bn in 2007), as well as the initial investors in Mantra Resources Limited (which was bought by ROSATOM for AUD$1.2bn in 2010). Paul Quirk, a non-executive director of Cora, is a founding partner and director of Lionhead. The Quirk Family are potential beneficiaries of trusts that own 34.55% of Cora through Brookstone Business Inc and Key Ventures Holding Ltd.

The Term Sheet envisages:

 Equity Financing: US$12.5m subscription for new ordinary shares of no par value each in Cora at the lower of (i) an 10% discount to the 30-day volume weighted average price ('VWAP') at the date that Cora announces achievement of the Project Milestone and (ii) the lowest price at which Cora has issued new ordinary shares in the 60 days prior to the date that Cora announces achievement of the Project Milestone (the 'Equity Financing')

 Convertible Financing: US$12.5m investment in a Convertible Loan Note:

 Coupon: 8% per annum.

 Conversion: The total amount outstanding under the Convertible Loan Note (including interest) shall be converted, at the election of Lionhead at any time prior to the 5th anniversary of the issue of the Convertible Loan Note, into ordinary shares in Cora at the lower of (i) a 30% premium to the 30-day VWAP at the time of the Equity Financing or (ii) the 30-day VWAP at the time of conversion.

 Net Smelter Return Royalty ('NSR'): 1% until 250,000 ozs of gold have been produced from the Project. Cora may purchase and terminate the NSR at any time for US$3m payment.

 Repayment: Repayable on the fifth anniversary of advance date if not converted, or earlier, at the option of the holder, in the case of: (i) a change of control of Cora; or (ii) the merger or sale of Cora (including the sale of substantially all of the assets of the Company) at a 30% premium to the total amount outstanding under the Convertible Loan Note.

Lionhead acknowledges that Cora intends to undertake private placements to enable existing shareholders to subscribe +US$3.75m in the Equity Financing and +US$3.75m in the Convertible Financing such that Lionhead's participation in the Project Financing may be reduced by such amounts.

A fee equal to 3% on up to US$25 million Project Financing shall be paid by the Company to Lionhead on receipt of the proceeds in respect of the Equity Financing and Convertible Financing by Lionhead.

Related Party Transaction

The entry into the Term Sheet is deemed to constitute a related party transaction for the purposes of Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Cora's independent directors for this purpose (being all those save for Paul Quirk) consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, that the terms of the Term Sheet are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

Further Details

The Company is developing the Sanankoro Gold Project in Southern Mali where SRK has a target of between 1-2Moz gold to a vertical depth of 100m and an initial Scoping Study on the Project has indicated a 107% IRR and Annual Free Cash Flow of US$24m at a gold price of US$1,500/oz.

The Company is now focused on resource growth and upgrading of existing Inferred resources to Measured & Indicated at the Project ahead of developing a standalone mine. To this end, it is undertaking a +35,000m drilling programme, which is its largest single drill programme ever undertaken and is expected for completion in September 2021. Top drill results from the 2021 programme include:

49m @ 15.55 g/t incl 8m @ 89.12 g/t 19m @ 31.56 g/t incl 6m @ 95 g/t 2m @ 146.43 g/ 32m @ 7.83 g/t incl 4m @ 53.86 g/t 32m @ 6.92g/t 56m @ 3.54 g/t incl 21m @ 8.17 g/t 8m @ 19.11 g/t 32m @ 4.43 g/t 21m @ 5.75 g/t 14m @ 8.54 g/t 54m @ 2.07 g/t incl 2m @ 17.71g/t 66m @ 1.58g/t

Market Abuse Regulation ('MAR') Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

** ENDS **

For further information, please visit http://www.coragold.com or contact:

Bert Monro / Norm Bailie Cora Gold Limited +44 (0) 20 3239 0010 Christopher Raggett / Charlie Beeson finnCap Ltd (Nomad & Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Andy Thacker / James Pope Turner Pope Investments (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 3657 0050 Susie Geliher / Selina Lovell St Brides Partners (Financial PR) +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes

Cora is a gold company focused on two world class gold regions in Mali and Senegal in West Africa. Historical exploration has resulted in the highly prospective Sanankoro Gold Discovery, in addition to multiple, high potential, drill ready gold targets within its broader portfolio. Cora's primary focus is on further developing Sanankoro in the Yanfolila Gold Belt (Southern Mali), which Cora believes has the potential for a standalone mine development. Cora's highly experienced management team has a proven track record in making multi-million-ounce gold discoveries, which have been developed into operating mines.
Cora Gold Limited / EPIC: CORA.L / Market: AIM / Sector: Mining

09 September 2021

Cora Gold Limited ('Cora' or 'the Company')

Updated Corporate Presentation and Investor Event

Cora Gold Limited, the West African focused gold company, is pleased to announce that an updated Corporate Presentation is now available on the Company's website at www.coragold.com. The presentation has been updated following a number of positive news releases on the Sanankoro Gold Project in August and early September 2021.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it will host two investor presentations: the first in London on 22 September 2021 and the second in Manchester on 27 September 2021.

To register your interest in attending either of the presentations, please email info@stbridespartners.co.uk, stating which city you wish to attend in the subject line, by 6.00pm on 15 September 2021. Further details on time and location will be shared via email to attendees no later than the 20 September 2021.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit http://www.coragold.com or contact:

Bert Monro / Norm Bailie Cora Gold Limited +44 (0) 20 3239 0010 Christopher Raggett / Charlie Beeson finnCap Ltd (Nomad & Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 Andy Thacker Turner Pope Investments (Joint Broker) +44 (0) 20 3657 0050 Susie Geliher / Selina Lovell St Brides Partners (Financial PR) +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

Notes

Cora is a gold company focused on two world class gold regions in Mali and Senegal in West Africa. Historical exploration has resulted in the highly prospective Sanankoro Gold Discovery, in addition to multiple, high potential, drill ready gold targets within its broader portfolio. Cora's primary focus is on further developing Sanankoro in the Yanfolila Gold Belt (Southern Mali), which Cora believes has the potential for a standalone mine development. Sanankoro has a positive Scoping Study published on it showing an 107% IRR and US$41.5m NPV8 at a US$1,500 gold price. Cora's highly experienced management team has a proven track record in making multi-million ounce gold discoveries, which have been developed into operating mines.
REACH

7 September 2021

CAP-XX Limited

("CAP-XX")

CAP-XX Supercaps Power Spire Health's Remote Respiratory Monitoring for Patients with Chronic Respiratory Diseases

Supercapacitors handle peak power role to keep Spire Health Tag's battery small and form factor thin

Sydney, Australia - September 7, 2021 - CAP-XX Limited (LSE:CPX), the leading manufacturer of ultra-thin prismatic and cylindrical supercapacitors, announced that Spire Health, the leading provider of respiratory remote patient monitoring (RPM), has selected the CAP-XX supercap to provide the peak power needed to deliver respiratory and pulse rate monitoring for pulmonary patients in the company's new Health Tag garment-adhered sensor. The company's original Health Tags used CAP-XX supercapacitors to deliver wellness alerts to consumers. The new Health Tag's core focus is now healthcare, where the CAP-XX supercapacitors are used to notify a patient's care team of changes in their health in an effort to enable early interventions and prevent hospital admissions.

Offloading the peak power role to the thin, flat supercapacitor allows Spire to keep the battery small to achieve the ultra-thin form factor of its wearable biosensor. The tag's 3V coin cell battery continuously trickle charges the CAP-XX HA114T supercapacitor (0.7mm thin, 120 millifarads, 130 milli-Ohms), which then provides the pulses of 660mW to power LED pulse rate notifications.

Spire Health Tags adhere to a patient's existing clothing, can be washed and dried as normal, need no charging and last up to 12 months. The Health Tags use advanced algorithms and proprietary respiratory sensors to continuously measure, with medical grade accuracy, a patient's respiratory effort, pulse rate and activity. This data is displayed on the patient's mobile app. Deviations from clinical baselines are automatically detected and shared with the patient's care team through the healthcare professional dashboard. Changes in patient health are often detected many days before a patient reports symptoms or experiences physiological decline.

The CAP-XX HA114T supercapacitor's features include:

 120 mF / 2.75 Volt

 20 x 20 x 0.7 mm

 Very low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) of 130 m

 Up to 10 year life

"Spire Health Tags are the only commercial solution for remote long term, continuous monitoring of respiratory effort," said Phil Golz, Vice President, Spire Health. "The 100% passive sensor requires no interaction or engagement from patients, and research has shown that our algorithms can detect subtle changes in respiratory patterns days before patients are hospitalized due to acute exacerbations. This is tremendously exciting for the future of care for patients living with chronic respiratory conditions."

"CAP-XX's thin, prismatic supercaps address the size, weight and cost challenges of designing thin, sometimes disposable electronic IoT devices like wearables and portables," said Alex Bilyk, VP, Research and Development at CAP-XX. "They help IoT device manufacturers add peak-power features, extend battery life, avoid oversized batteries, or even replace batteries when paired with an energy harvester."

For further information contact:

CAP-XX Limited Anthony Kongats (CEO) +61 (0) 2 9428 0139 Kreab (Financial PR) Robert Speed +44 (0) 20 7074 1800 Allenby Capital (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) David Hart / Alex Brearley (Corporate Finance) Tony Quirke (Sales and Corporate Broking) +44 (0) 20 3328 5656 Cenkos Securities plc (Joint Broker) Neil McDonald / Pete Lynch +44 (0) 13 1220 6939

About CAP-XX

CAP-XX (LSE:CPX) is a world leader in the design and manufacture of ultra-thin prismatic and compact cylindrical supercapacitors. Its prismatic supercapacitors are manufactured in Australia and Malaysia and its cylindrical supercapacitors are manufactured in China. The company's strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio includes 21 patents worldwide. CAP-XX's ultra-thin prismatic supercapacitors are ideal for space-constrained electronics applications where small energy storage device size and thickness are important. The unique feature of CAP-XX supercapacitors is their very high-power density and high-energy storage capacity in space-efficient thin prismatic and compact cylindrical packages. For more information about CAP-XX, visit https://www.cap-xx.com/ or email sales@cap-xx.com.

About Spire Health

Spire Health is the leading digital healthcare company for continuous respiratory monitoring and actionable feedback. The Spire Health Tag enables remote patient monitoring with unparalleled adherence and clinical-grade accuracy. Spire Health's remote patient monitoring approach has the potential to identify and predict health events, enable early interventions, and prevent hospital admissions. Spire is backed by leading medical health investors and has received a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services. For more information visit: www.spirehealth.com.

About Reach announcements

This is a Reach announcement. Reach is an investor communication service aimed at assisting listed and unlisted (including AIM quoted) companies to distribute media only / non-regulatory news releases into the public domain. Information required to be notified under the AIM Rules for Companies, Market Abuse Regulation or other regulation would be disseminated as an RNS regulatory announcement and not on Reach.
Empire Metals Limited / AIM: EEE / Sector: Natural Resources

7 September 2021

Empire Metals Limited ('Empire' or the 'Company')

Appointment of Key Personnel to Our Exploration Team

Empire Metals Limited, the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the appointments of Ed Baltis, as Exploration Consultant, and Louisa Stokes as Exploration Geologist.

In this newly created role, Mr. Baltis will assist Empire with exploration strategy and targeting, business development, and project evaluation, specifically looking within the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, as the Company moves to advance its two Australian based gold projects, at Eclipse and Central Menzies.

Ed Baltis has an extensive knowledge on the geology within the Archaean Yilgarn Craton and its mineral potential with expertise in orogenic gold systems, as well as notable operational experience having managed and led exploration campaigns for a diverse range of commodities throughout Australasia, Africa and the Americas.

Amongst other positions he was previously Regional Exploration Manager for Australasia and subsequently Vice President Project Generation for Gold Fields Limited, where he was integral to the successful acquisition of Barrick Gold assets in Australia in 2013 and provided oversight of the exploration programmes that led to discovery of >2.5Moz Invincible deposit at St Ives.

Prior to joining Gold Fields, he had a long and distinguished career with Western Mining Corporation ("WMC"), where he achieved the position of Principal Geologist within the WMC Global Gold exploration team. The team developed robust gold targeting parameters that successfully predicted the locations of several subsequent gold discoveries, parameters which have been further developed and remain relevant today.

More recently he established consulting company Gold Vector Pty Ltd and has been closely involved in an emerging gold discovery at Mandilla, 60km south of Kalgoorlie.

Louisa Stokes is a PhD Candidate (Applied Geology) at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. She graduated from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London with a MScs Geology (1st Class with Honours) in 2010 before embarking on a career as an Exploration Geologist working in places such as Armenia, Liberia and Mali for gold explorers and producers.

Amongst other responsibilities and achievements, Louisa was involved in the discovery and development of the 3.56Moz Dugbe Gold Project in southwest Liberia for Hummingbird Resources plc, where she:

 conducted detailed lithological and structural logging of core from the orogenic gold deposits on the Dugbe Shear Zone;

 integrated the geology and regolith mapping, topographic surveying (LiDAR) and airborne geophysical surveys;

 designed, implemented and managed regional soil sampling and trenching programmes in over 2,355km of the Dugbe licenced area; and

 managed various mineral resource, geotechnical and hydrological drilling programmes.

Louisa joins the Company in the role of Exploration Geologist where she will provide technical guidance to a small team of exploration focused geologists and field assistants as well as analysing belt-scale geological, geochemical and geophysical datasets and providing input into developing mineral exploration models and strategies to find future orebodies.

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said: "The appointment of not just one, but two highly regarded and experienced professionals such as Ed and Louisa is a significant milestone for the Company. I am delighted that our core exploration team is continuing to grow and it comes at a time when we are advancing our understanding of the gold mineralisation at both our Eclipse and Central Menzies Gold Projects. Both assets remain under-explored and have significant potential to develop into viable development projects."

The Eclipse Gold Project

Empire Metals has a 75% interest in the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project comprising a mining licence located 55km north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, together with an option to acquire the remaining 25%.

The project lies within the highly concentrated gold mining region of Western Australia, north-west of famous gold operations such as Kanowna Belle and Paddington (Figure 1).

The Central Menzies Gold Project

The Company recently announced the signing of an Option Agreement to acquire a 75% interest in the Central Menzies Gold Project, located in the Menzies Shire, approximately 115km north of the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and 10km south of the township of Menzies. The prospect is accessible from Kalgoorlie-Boulder via the sealed Goldfields Highway and then by a 2km unsealed road.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, as incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.empiremetals.co.uk or contact:

Shaun Bunn Empire Metals Ltd Company Tel: 020 7907 9327 Mike Struthers Empire Metals Ltd Company Tel: 020 7907 9327 Ewan Leggat S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nomad & Broker Tel: 020 3470 0470 Adam Cowl S. P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nomad & Broker Tel: 020 3470 0470 Damon Heath Shard Capital Partners LLP Joint Broker Tel: 020 7186 9950 Susie Geliher St Brides Partners Ltd PR Tel: 020 7236 1177 Selina Lovell St Brides Partners Ltd PR Tel: 020 7236 1177

About Empire Metals Limited

Empire Metals is an AIM-listed (LON: EEE) exploration and resource development company with a project portfolio comprising gold interests in Australia and Austria.

The Company strategy is to develop a pipeline of projects at different stages in the development curve. Its current focus is on the high-grade Eclipse Gold Project and the Central Menzies Gold Project in Western Australia, with the goal to expand through the addition of further projects in the region to develop a viable and compelling portfolio of precious metals assets.

Empire also holds a portfolio of three precious metals projects located an historically high-grade gold production region comprising the Rotgulden, Schonberg and Walchen prospects in central-southern Austria.

The Board continues to evaluate opportunities through which to realise the value of its wider portfolio and reviews further assets which meet the Company's investment criteria.
Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. - Appointment of Non-executive Chairman

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.(Falcon or Company)

Appointment of Non-executive Chairman

13 September 2021 - Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (TSXV: FO, AIM: FOG) is pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Nally as Non-executive Chairman and to the Board of the Company, with immediate effect, replacing Joachim Conrad who will remain on the Board as a Non-executive Director.

Mr Nally has over 45 years experience in Londons capital markets including 18 years at Cenkos Securities PLC, a firm he co-founded in 2004. Mr Nally was an Executive Director and Head of Natural Resources at Cenkos, where he helped to build, develop and give strategic advice to a number of successful companies in the oil and gas sector. Prior to this, Mr Nally was a partner and director at Williams de Broe and an individual member of the International Stock Exchange of London.

Philip O'Quigley, Falcons CEO said:We are delighted to welcome Joe onto the board of Falcon as Non-executive Chairman. Joes strategic insight and vision gained from his extensive experience in oil and gas in the UK and North American markets will be a huge asset to the Company. I look forward to working with Joe as we enter the next stage of development following the exciting Amungee NW-1H test results announced on 3 September 2021. I would like to sincerely thank Joachim Conrad for his stewardship of the Company as Chairman since 2015 and I am delighted that he will remain on the board as a Non-executive Director.

Joe Nally, Non-executive Chairman said:I am delighted to be joining the Board of Falcon at this exciting time with the recent significant development providing a line of sight to gas commercialisation of the Beetaloo in the Northern Territory, Australia.

The Company provides the following disclosures in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Regulatory Disclosures

Full name (age)

John Joseph (Joe) Nally (69)

Current directorships:

Southern Energy Corp.Tennyson Court LimitedWaverton Property LLP

Previous directorships / partnerships (in the last five years):

Cenkos Securities PLC

There are no further disclosures pursuant to Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies to be made in respect of Mr Nallys appointment.

Granting of stock options Following Mr. Nallys formal appointment by the Board on 10 September 2021, the Company granted Mr. Nally share options (Options) to purchase an aggregate of 3,000,000 common shares of Falcon at an exercise price of GBP0.10 under the stock option plan approved at Falcons annual shareholders meeting held on 10 December 2020.

The Options have a vesting schedule allowing for 1/3 of the Options to vest immediately with an additional 1/3 vesting on each subsequent anniversary until the Options are fully vested on 10 September 2023. The Options have an expiry date of 9 September 2026.

After this grant, there are 47,000,000 Options outstanding, representing 4.79% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Falcon.

Appointment of Communication AdvisorFalcon is also pleased to announce the appointment of Capital Market Communications Ltd (Camarco) as communications advisor. Camarco is a communications firm based in London that provides investor relations and corporate communications services. It does not have any direct or indirect interest in Falcon or its securities. The fee payable to Camarco is GBP6,000 per month, until terminated by either party in accordance with the terms of the engagement. The appointment of Camarco is subject to TSXV approval.

Ends.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. +353 1 676 8702 Philip O'Quigley, CEO +353 87 814 7042 Anne Flynn, CFO +353 1 676 9162 Cenkos Securities plc (NOMAD & Broker) Neil McDonald / Derrick Lee +44 131 220 9771 Camarco James Crothers / Rebecca Waterworth / Billy Clegg +44 (0)20 3781 8331

The information below is disclosed in accordance with Article 19 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities/person closely associated a) Name Joe Nally 2 Reason for notification a) Position/Status Non- Executive Chairman b) Initial notification/Amendment Initial Notification 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. b) LEI 213800KQY87Z1KNPIM76 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrumentIdentification code Options in respect of common shares in the CompanyCA3060711015 b) Nature of the transaction Award of Options in respect of common shares in the Company c) Price(s) and volume(s) Date Price(s) Volume(s) 10 September 2021 GBP0.10 3,000,000 d) Aggregated information Aggregated volumePrice N/AN/A e) Date of the transaction 10 September 2021 f) Place of the transaction Outside an exchange

About Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is an international oil & gas company engaged in the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas assets, with the current portfolio focused in Australia, South Africa and Hungary. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a technical team based in Budapest, Hungary.

Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited is a c. 98% subsidiary of Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Limited (ASX: ORG) (Origin) are joint venture partners in respect of the Beetaloo project.

For further information on Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. please visit www.falconoilandgas.com

Advisory regarding forward looking statementsCertain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as may, will, should, expect, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, projects, dependent, potential, scheduled, forecast, outlook, budget, hope, support or the negative of those terms or similar words suggesting future outcomes. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, information relating to the 2021 work programme, Amungee NW-1H test results and the prospect of the exploration programme being brought to commerciality. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. The risks, assumptions and other factors that could influence actual results include risks associated with fluctuations in market prices for shale gas; risks related to the exploration, development and production of shale gas reserves; general economic, market and business conditions; substantial capital requirements; uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of reserves and resources; extent of, and cost of compliance with, government laws and regulations and the effect of changes in such laws and regulations; the need to obtain regulatory approvals before development commences; environmental risks and hazards and the cost of compliance with environmental regulations; aboriginal claims; inherent risks and hazards with operations such as mechanical or pipe failure, cratering and other dangerous conditions; potential cost overruns, drilling wells is speculative, often involving significant costs that may be more than estimated and may not result in any discoveries; variations in foreign exchange rates; competition for capital, equipment, new leases, pipeline capacity and skilled personnel; the failure of the holder of licenses, leases and permits to meet requirements of such; changes in royalty regimes; failure to accurately estimate abandonment and reclamation costs; inaccurate estimates and assumptions by management and their joint venture partners; effectiveness of internal controls; the potential lack of available drilling equipment; failure to obtain or keep key personnel; title deficiencies; geo-political risks; and risk of litigation.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive and that these factors and risks are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Falcon assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to Falcon. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Falcons filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com, including under "Risk Factors" in the Annual Information Form.

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.
Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. - Notice of Annual General and Special Shareholder meeting

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Notice of Annual General and Special Shareholder meeting

9 September 2021 - Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (TSXV: FO, AIM: FOG,) (Falcon) announces that its Annual General and Special Shareholder meeting will be held via teleconference on 12 November 2021 at 4:00 p.m. (Dublin time).

A complete notice and related documents will be sent to the shareholders of record as at 5 October 2021 and will also be filed on the Canadian System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com and Falcons website at www.falconoilandgas.com.

The Notice of the Annual General and Special Shareholder meeting and record date has been filed on SEDAR.

For further information, please contact:

CONTACT DETAILS:

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. +353 1 676 8702 Philip O'Quigley, CEO +353 87 814 7042 Anne Flynn, CFO +353 1 676 9162 Cenkos Securities plc (NOMAD & Broker) Neil McDonald / Derrick Lee +44 131 220 9771

About Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is an international oil and gas company engaged in the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas assets, with the current portfolio focused in Australia, South Africa and Hungary. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a technical team based in Budapest, Hungary.

For further information on Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. please visit www.falconoilandgas.com

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

14 September 2021

KAVANGO RESOURCES PLC

("Kavango" or "the Company")

KSZ drilling update

Kavango Resources plc (LSE:KAV), the exploration company targeting the discovery of world-class mineral deposits in Botswana, is pleased to announce that Kavango's senior geologist on site has reported that diamond drilling on Hole TA2DD002 intersected what appears to be sulphide and chromite mineralisation in pyroxenite at 651m from surface.

Hole TA2DD002 is currently being drilled in the northern (Hukuntsi) section of the Company's project in the Kalahari Suture Zone ("KSZ").

Highlights

 The geological diamond drill Hole TA2DD002 was designed to intersect the Proterozoic (Tshane Complex) mafic/ultramafic intrusion that lies beneath Karoo sediments intruded by gabbros to obtain supplementary geophysical and geological data

 Kavango previously estimated that the Proterozoic rocks would be intersected at between 600m and 700m

 The principal objectives of the hole were to collect physical data from the Karoo and Proterozoic intrusives to support and refine Kavango's 3D geophysical model of the KSZ in the Hukuntsi Section

 At 651.78 the drill passed from Karoo tillites (glacial sediments) through an unconformable contact into fresh Proterozoic pyroxenite (ultramafic magmatic rock)

 Visual inspection of core has been carried out by the Company's senior geologist at the drill site

 The very coarse (pegmatitic) pyroxenite appears, on visual inspection, to contain disseminated chalcopyrite (copper sulphide) and chromite, as well as section of coarse anorthosite

 Hole TA2DD002 is currently at 701m and remains in Proterozoic ultramafic magmatic rocks

 On completion of the hole, core samples will be cut and samples sent to an internationally accredited laboratory in South Africa for a suite of relevant assays.

Ben Turney, Chief Executive Officer of Kavango Resources, commented:

"We made immediate contact with ultramafic magmatic rocks and visible sulphides, as the Proterozoic was intersected at 651m. The presence of chalcopyrite (copper sulphide) is an indicator of further potential mineralisation in the system, though quantities and grades are yet to be determined.

While this is an encouraging development in our efforts to prove the concept of the Kalahari Suture Zone, important steps remain for us to evaluate thoroughly what we have discovered.

We expect to continue drilling Hole TA2DD002 further into the Proterozoic structure and are in discussions with Mindea and Equity Drilling about the further depth that can realistically be achieved. Once drilling is complete on Target Area A we will mobilise the rig to Target Area B. In parallel to this we will send core samples collected from Target A for relevant assays and whole rock analysis."

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Further information in respect of the Company and its business interests is provided on the Company's website at www.kavangoresources.com and on Twitter at #KAV.

For additional information please contact:

Kavango Resources plc

Ben Turney

bturney@kavangoresources.com

+46 7697 406 06

First Equity (Joint Broker)

+44 207 374 2212

Jason Robertson

SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)

+44 1483 413500

Nick Emerson

Kavango Competent Person Statement

The information in this press release that relates to "geological and/or geophysical results" for the KSZ Project is based on information compiled or reviewed by Mr Mike Moles BSc (Geology) & BSocSci (African Studies), a competent person who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy. Mr Moles has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity, which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Moles consents to the inclusion in this release of the exploration results for the Project in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Moles is a beneficial shareholder of Kavango Resources plc.

Note to Editors:

THE KALAHARI SUTURE ZONE

Kavango's 100% subsidiary in Botswana, Kavango Minerals (Pty) Ltd, is the holder of 14 prospecting licences covering 7,573.1km2 of ground, including 12 licences over a significant portion of the 450km long KSZ magnetic anomaly in the southwest of the country along which Kavango is exploring for Copper-Nickel-PGM rich sulphide ore bodies. This large area, which is entirely covered by Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous Kalahari Sediments, has not previously been explored using modern techniques.

The area covered by Kavango's KSZ licences displays a geological setting with distinct similarities to that hosting World Class magmatic sulphide deposits such as those at Norilsk (Siberia) and Voisey's Bay (Canada).

The Norilsk mining centre is about 2,800km northeast of Moscow and accounts for 90% of Russia's nickel reserves, 55% of its copper and virtually all of its PGMs. Kavango's licenses in the KSZ display a geological setting with distinct geological similarities to the magmatic sulphide deposits at Norilsk. Magma plumbing systems are a key feature of these deposits.

KSZ DEFINITIONS

EM Super Conductors: are bodies of highly conductive minerals such as graphite, magnetite and metal sulphides, which conduct electricity very rapidly provided the mineral grains are in contact with each other.

Gabbro/gabbroic: A coarse grained, medium to dark coloured rock, formed from the intrusion of mantle derived molten magma into the earth's crust. Gabbroic rocks (or "gabbros") are formed as the molten magma crystallizes and cools.

Gabbroic sills: Relatively thin, planar, horizontal bodies of solidified gabbroic magma that intruded into layers of sedimentary rock whilst still molten.

Karoo: The Karoo System covers 1.5 million km2 of the semi-desert region of Southern Africa. Rocks in this system formed 180-310 million years ago.

Massive sulphide: When a deposit consists almost entirely of sulphides it is termed "massive". When it consists of grains or crystals of sulphide in a matrix of silicate minerals, it is termed "disseminated".

Metal/Magmatic sulphide: Deposits of sulphide mineral concentrations in mafic and ultramafic rocks, derived from immiscible sulphide liquids. To view a video of how metal/magmatic sulphides form please visit -

https://twitter.com/KavangoRes/status/1316004057895645186?s=20

Norilsk Style: copper/nickel/PGE mineralisation associated with the intrusion into the upper parts of the Earth's crust of mafic magma, which form magma chambers that sit below volcanic vents or fissures that extrude basaltic lava onto the surface (Hawaii is a possible modern equivalent). The Norilsk intrusions tend to have distinct morphologies, combining thin gabbro sills (wings) with deep keels (thought to be associated with feeder dykes) at the base.

Norilsk Model: a genetic geological model similar to that pertaining to the Norilsk/Talnakh deposits in Siberia. Traditionally, it was thought that, during emplacement, the magma incorporated sulphur rich country rock (e.g. coal measures) or evaporites into the melt, which allowed the molten magma to become sulphur saturated. The free sulphur would then combine, preferentially, with Cu/Ni/PGE metal ions to form metal sulphides, which, being heavy, tended to accumulate in traps or into the keel of the magma chamber. However, modern research suggests that the process might be more complex and may also involve changes of the chemical and physical properties of the magma during the introduction of new pulses of molten material from below. Such sudden changes may have caused rapid segregation of metal sulphides within and above the feeder dykes within the keel of the intrusion.

Sulphide mineralisation: If there is sufficient sulphur in the molten magma, it will tend to combine with metals (Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, Pb, PGEs etc.) to form metal sulphide complexes, which may coalesce to form massive sulphide deposits. If the melt is sulphide poor, the metals will be taken up into the silicate minerals that form as the magma cools and will not usually form economic deposits.
14 September 2021

Power Metal Resources PLC

("Power Metal" or the "Company")

Tati Project Botswana - Large Scale Gold Anomaly Confirmed

Rock and Soil Samples from Sikukwe Zone Return High-Grade Gold Results including up to 26.5g/t Gold from Rock Sample

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the London listed exploration company seeking large-scale metal discoveries across its global project portfolio announces the confirmation of a large scale gold-in-soil anomaly at the Tati project located in the Tati Greenstone Belt near Francistown, Botswana (the "Project").

The gold anomaly was confirmed following receipt of laboratory assay testing results of soil and rock samples collected during the Company's Phase I exploration programme at the Project, further information in respect of which is provided below.

HIGHLIGHTS

 The second batch of samples, including 49 rock and 380 soil samples, were collected and sent for laboratory fire assay testing for gold in Perth, Australia.

 Results have confirmed a large scale gold-in-soil anomaly with coincident high-grade rock assay results up to 26.5g/t gold.

 Soil sample assay results returned up to 1,614 parts per billion ("ppb") gold ("Au"), including 10 soil samples that returned >75ppb gold, representing an extremely high-tenor result.

 Overall, the results encountered confirm a large scale gold-in-soil anomaly further providing support for the company's accelerated exploration on the Project.

 Phase II exploration, which was launched on August 26 2021, continues at pace and is focused on delineation of targets for drill testing, which is expected to commence by the end of September 2021.

Figure 1, which highlights the soil and rock results analysed by fire assay for gold from the Phase I programme can be viewed on the Company's website through the following link:

https://www.powermetalresources.com/sikukwe-zone-soil-rock-results/

Paul Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of Power Metal Resources plc commented:

"The Tati Project in Botswana continues to deliver, with the multiple large scale nickel and arsenic-in-soil anomalies announced on 19 August 2021, and now followed up with the confirmation of a large scale gold-in-soil anomaly confirmed at the Sikukwe Zone from gold fire assay testing.

The new results, including up to 26.5g/t gold in rock samples, are very encouraging and the team are increasingly thrilled with the findings to date and the exploration potential offered by the Tati Project.

Since Power Metal exercised its option to acquire the Tati Project in July, we have conducted extensive accelerated exploration on the ground and that work continues today, as we vector in on targets for drill testing expected to commence later this month.

Our thanks go to the ground operational teams and those withwhom we are working in Botswana for moving the Project to the cusp of potentially high-impact drilling in just two months from option exercise, which is quite a remarkable acheivement."

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Power Metal exercised an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Project on 28 July 2021, through its local wholly owned operating subsidiary Power Metal Resources Botswana Pty Ltd. Details of the option exercise can be found below.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/tati-project-botswana-option-exercised/15075700

PHASE I EXPLORATION - RESULTS

A total of 1,107 soil samples and 49 rock samples were collected across five select areas as part of the Phase I programme at the Project which was orginally announced by the Company on 28 June 2021:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/tati-project-botswana-exploration-commences/15036117

The first batch of results were analysed utilising a portable field X-ray Fluorescence ("XRF") spectrometer, and from this work multiple large scale nickel and arsenic soil anomalies were announced by the Company on 19 August 2021:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/tati-project-large-scale-anomalies-confirmed/15104018

The second batch of results presented herein represent the 380 soil samples from Grid 1 (or the "Sikukwe Zone"), and 49 rock samples which were analysed by fire assay for gold at Intertek Group plc's laboratory located in Perth, Australia.

 The Sikukwe Zone geochemical results highlight a roughly 2100m long northwest-southeast trending high-tenor gold-in-soil anomaly which ranges in width from 1400m to 800m along its extent. The anomaly remains open in all directions. Of the 380 samples collected from the Sikukwe Zone, 10 returned greater than 75ppb Au. Of particular interest is an individual soil sample which returned 1614ppb Au (1.6g/t). Historic widely spaced soil sampling over the Sikukwe Zone returned a maximum result of 34ppb Au; the results presented herein returned 14 samples (34.8ppb - 1614ppb Au) which were above the previous highest result of 34ppb Au.

 The Sikukwe Zone is mostly overlain by Kalahari sand cover, which made prospecting and rock sampling difficult. One area with limited rock exposure located near the southern portion of the gold-in-soil anomaly was prospected and rock sampled as part of the Phase I programme. Very encouraging results were obtained from the newly discovered Goldsource Zone, where two samples returned high-grade gold including 23.6g/t Au, and 26.5g/t Au. All rock samples were taken from an exposed variable quartz-stockwork veined outcrop over a 35m strike-length.

 Due to extensive Kalahari sand cover, soil sampling within the Tati Greenstone Belt has proven to be an extremely valuable exploration tool historically, as it has led to the discovery of several gold mines within the district. Further analysis of the Sikukwe Zone soil and rock sample results were undertaken by the Company. It was determined that the highest soil result obtained proximal to the newly discovered Goldsource Zone was 78.2ppb Au. As the intensity of gold anomalism generally coorelates with underlying bedrock gold mineralisation, Power Metal is extremely encouraged by the several other areas within the Sikukwe Zone which returned significantly higher Au-in-soil results (including 1614ppb, 265ppb, 235ppb, 164ppb, 131ppb, 120ppb, and 110ppb Au), that are associated with no known rock exposures.

 Prior to Power Metal acquiring PL126/2019, the Sikukwe Zone was subject to minimal historic exploration, despite its proximity to several nearby gold mines within the Tati Greenstone belt, including Map Nora and Golden Eagle, which are located less than 5km away. The Company is extremely pleased with the Phase I results obtained and presented herein. The Sikukwe Zone is proving to be a extremely exciting target for the discovery of greenstone hosted gold mineralisation for the Company. As a result, a Phase III programme that will include at least 1000m of reverse circulation ("RC") drilling is being planned at pace. The planned drill programme represents the first ever known drilling campaign undertaken within the Sikukwe Zone.

PHASE II EXPLORATION

The phase II geophysics programme is underway and progressing at pace. The results of this programme as well as an update on planned drilling activities across the Tati Project will be released to the market within the coming weeks.

Further information in respect of the Phase II programme is available in the Company's announcement dated 26 August 2021:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/POW/tati-project-botswana-exploration-update/15112960

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Power Metal Resources PLC to provide technical support.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information please visit https://www.powermetalresources.com/ or contact:

Power Metal Resources plc Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer) +44 (0) 7766 465 617 SP Angel Corporate Finance (Nomad and Joint Broker) Ewan Leggat/Charlie Bouverat +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Nick Emerson +44 (0) 1483 413 500 First Equity Limited (Joint Broker) David Cockbill/Jason Robertson +44 (0) 20 7330 1883

NOTES TO EDITORS

Power Metal Resources plc (LON:POW) is an AIM listed metals exploration company which finances and manages global resource projects and is seeking large scale metal discoveries.

The Company has a principal focus on opportunities offering district scale potential across a global portfolio including precious and base metal exploration in North America, Africa and Australia.

Project interests range from early-stage greenfield exploration to later-stage prospects currently subject to drill programmes.

Power Metal will develop projects internally or through strategic joint ventures until a project becomes ready for disposal through outright sale or separate listing on a recognised stock exchange thereby crystallising the value generated from our internal exploration and development work.

Value generated through disposals will be deployed internally to drive the Company's growth or may be returned to shareholders through share buy backs, dividends or in-specie distributions of assets.
1 SEPTEMBER 2021

STANDARD LIFE PRIVATE EQUITY TRUST PLC ("THE COMPANY")

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): 2138004MK7VPTZ99EV13

DIRECTORATE CHANGE

APPOINTMENT OF NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

The Board of Standard Life Private Equity Trust plc ("the Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Dugald Agble and Yvonne Stillhart as additional independent Non-Executive Directors, with immediate effect.

Christina McComb, the Chair of the Board said "The Board regularly considers succession planning and is delighted to announce the appointment of Dugald and Yvonne. Both Dugald and Yvonne have extensive private experience and the Board looks forward to working with them."

Dugald holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London and has over 20 years direct investment experience in Private Equity. He started his career at Nomura Principal Finance Group, which later evolved into Terra Firma Capital Partners. More recently, Dugald has been involved in investing in emerging and frontier markets at Helios Investment Partners and 8 Miles. Dugald is a Supervisory Board Member at FMO, the Dutch finance institution.

Yvonne is an accomplished Board Director, Chair and Board Committee Member (Audit & Risk, ESG, Finance) of private and public entities with technology and finance expertise. She has 30 years' executive experience in business building and transformational leadership, governance, private equity and infrastructure investment, finance, banking, risk- and investment management across broad industries and geographical regions. She is a currently director of EPE Capital Ltd and UBS Asset Management Switzerland AG.

There are no other disclosures required under Section 9.6.13 (1) to (6) of the Listing Rules in respect of Dugald's and Yvonne's appointments.

For further information please contact:-

Paul Evitt

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC

Company Secretary

Tel: 0131 528 4270
Well, the hot, muggy air has given way to some rain as well now on Mallorca - my recent column the rain falls on Mallorca touches on some of the storms to be encountered here. Things are moving now wildlife wise. The summer breeders will soon be leaving the island to return to their wintering grounds (Eleanoras Falcons to Madagascar), Swallows, House Martins and Swifts to Africa.

It is always a sombre time when I see flocks of Bee Eaters overhead heading back, and there are some great moments too when there can be hundreds if not thousands of House Martins and Swallows lined up on electricity wires and along fence lines, fuelling up with food to help them on the next stage of their return journey. But no longer have the summer breeders gone, then the bird watcher is on the lookout for autumn migrants - and with the waders this will be happening now. An upcoming article will look at the autumn migration more in-depth - this week though, I want to share with you a few special late-summer species on Majorca - the Iberian Marbled White, Barbury Nut, Autumn Buttercup and Painted Lady.

The Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis) has one generation from June through to August with some seen into September as well. They mostly live in the mountainous regions where there are forests and thick pockets of vegetation.

Stony areas, grassland and pastures also form their habitat. Their caterpillars feed on grass plants such as Cocksfoot. They are a strong flier with forewings 25-28mm in size. When the wings are open, the black discocellular anguliform spot on the forewing is constricted where it is bent with the hindwing entirely white (apart from the submarginal band), and the markings of the underside are particularly noticeable in the males. Closed wings see a white background with veins with black, grey or grey-yellowish shapes.

A small black spot can be found on the forewing close to the apex. A series of black eyespots are surrounded by white rings. They do not usually stretch the open wings. I have seen this species a number of times around Arta but it is not one of the species I tend to see often, so when seen, it is an enjoyable moment.

With warm weather continuing into September, and providing it is not raining, then the butterflies will be out on the wing giving the observer something relaxing to look at, and at this time of year, the fields can turn a beautiful yellow, carpeted by the aptly named Autumn Buttercup (Ranunculus bullatus). These flowers will certainly attract butterflies and species of Hoverflies amongst others, but a field full of buttercups evokes childhood memories and makes for a beautiful scene.

The picture I have included in this article was taken on the narrow road leading off towards Ternelles on the old Pollensa road, but there are plenty of fields all over the island that hold similar scenes. It is a small perennial which dies down in the spring with the leaves appearing in early autumn, bright green and glossy with toothed margins.

The flower stalks, which are hairy, stand around 20cm tall with the solitary flowers 3.5cm across, and so shiny that they appear to be lacquered. Abundant in open fields, they can get grazed by cattle, but they are actually poisonous to them. They can also thrive in Olive groves as well as fields, from the coasts to the mountains.

Most parts of this plant are poisonous, yet it is a very old medicinal herb once used by country people in mainland Spain. Autumn Buttercups are a welcome sight at the end of the summer, and they can grow in such vast colonies that the yellow flowers in the field can look like concentrated sunshine.

Now, although I will be looking specifically for the birds at the Albufereta Marsh, at this time of year I would also be looking at the ground, for here several years ago is where I found a new species for my plant list, one which at first, I thought was an Iris grazed shorter by the local Rabbits.

But something didnt look quite right when I found several smaller groups - surely they couldnt all have been nibbled? I looked through my books later and was pleased to see they were in fact the Barbury Nut.

In fact, in September at this site, I look for birds closely followed by this plant and the last of the Clouded Yellow butterflies, and always while serenaded close by from the local Corn Bunting, giving of the familiar jangling keys call and usually from the top of one of the Tamarisks.

A member of the Iris family, the Barbury Nut (Gynandiris sisyhinchium) has one to several stems which vary in their colour. They stand between 15 -35cm with the leaves just over a centimeter wide, flat, long, arching and a pale green. The small eye-catching flowers range from pale lilac to lilac-blue or even violet, with or without a yellow patch on the falls, and really stand out once seen with several to each stem. They like dry, sandy ground, grassy fields and even roadsides with the flowers not opening until around 2 -2.30pm, so they can be easily missed in the morning.

They differ from the Iris by the rootstock being a corm which resembles a bulb. This is swollen at the base. Sometimes, the plants grow in their hundreds and can transform an afternoon grassy landscape. Flowering usually from November to December, in some years I have started to see them towards the end of September and especially in early October, possibly because the spot at the Albufereta is more of a micro-climate? The flowers only last one day but are replaced daily over a long period.

For me, a mid-morning to early afternoon visit to some rocky areas will see Rosemary in flower, and Alburcutx Tower on the Formentor road always entices me there for migrating raptors and warblers in the scrub, but like anywhere else I visit, not only do I find myself looking up to the sky, or along the tops of bushes, but on the ground too usually for plants or snakes.

Scrambling amongst the rocks will see Rock Rose and Cistus growing, with Rosemary bushes in between, and the smell as you brush past the plant is beautiful. I always run my hands along the stems to get the scent of the flowers on me. I tend to find they attract butterflies in good numbers, in fact butterflies seem to prefer flowers that are blue or purple as these tend to have stronger scents and can be good for pollen. Red Admirals can be seen on Rosemary quite commonly, but there is one butterfly that is always a pleasure to see - mainly because it impresses me that this species migrates from Morocco and other regions, and cross a large body of water on delicate wings, averaging about 8 - 10mph as it goes. This is the Painted Lady.

The Painted Lady (Cynthia cardui) will when not migrating, happily settle for long periods on a variety of nectar bearing flowers including the Thistles. They skim over meadows and hedgerows, groves and open fields. In some years they can be scarce and in others very common. I have watched several feeding at once in areas around Bee Hive Lane near Puerto Pollensa and around Cala San Vicente in most years. They will happily move on other butterflies when feeding and are quite powerful fliers.

The white marks on the forewings distinguish them from the tortoiseshells. Once settled, the males establish themselves in a territory which they investigate any object that attracts their attention. Both sexes feed frequently on flowers which explains why at times feeding numbers can be quite high. They tend to avoid woodlands but will feed in dry, open areas particularly where there is rough ground covered by Thistles, and on Majorca there are a variety of Thistles that will suit them including the Spear, Slender, Rough Star, Galactites and the very common Creeping Thistle.

They are an easy butterfly to identify with a combination of a fast, powerful flight and distinctive colouring. However, colours can vary quite a lot in the adults, with the beautiful salmon-pink of a freshly emerged individual fading to an orange-brown during its long life. Tatty looking, faded individuals are not uncommon either. So, although the summer is slowly coming to an end, there is still a good variety of wildlife and plants to be enjoyed, and with the autumn migrants joining the resident bird population, there will be the excitement of something new or unusual turning up on our shores.
Editor

Darren Marcy, a journalist since 1992, is the editor of the Manchester Journal. A New Mexico native, he previously worked for newspapers in the Land of Enchantment before moving to Vermont in 2004. He joined the Journal in October 2018.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the US to attend the Quad Leader's Summit and the high-level segment of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

On September 24, PM Modi will attend the Leaders Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington which will be hosted by US President Joe Biden.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga will also attend the summit.

This will be the first in-person Quad summit hosting the leaders of the four nations. In March, Joe Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format.
Fardeen Khan, who was once the national crush, has been completely away from the glittery life of Bollywood for a long time. In 2016, his pictures sent fans into a tizzy as they never expected Fardeen to be out of shape but he gave it back to all the haters by shedding off the extra kilos. Now, he is making a comeback after a decade.

Heres all we know about his comeback movie:

1: He has signed a film with director Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay Gupta's next production also stars Riteish Deshmukh and has been titled Visfot.

2: Fardeen and Riteish will be pitted against each other in this drama, which is the official remake of the Venezuelan film, Rock, Paper, Scissors (2012) that was selected as the Venezuelan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards.

3: According to a report in TOI, the movie will be shot in Mumbai and will show the contrast between the chawls of Dongri and the high-rises.

4: Another report in Spotboye that suggests the film is set in London. In the movie, Fardeen will be seen playing the role of a taxi driver and an ex-drug dealer, while Deshmukh will be seen in the role of the commercial airline pilot. We have to wait for the trailer or teaser before jumping to any sort of conclusion.

5: Talking about the movie, Sanjay said, You will see Fardeen and Riteish in the kind of characters they have never played before. Im looking forward to teaming up with them.

About his comeback, Fardeen had said in an interview earlier, "The plan to produce and direct films is very much on. But for now, I return to acting with full focus and energy. There are opportunities and I am testing the waters. What all comes my way and what I will take up, to start with, is still not finalized."

With this announcement, his fans have expressed their excitement to see Fardeen making his comeback.

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Are you excited to see Fardeen back on the big screen? Let us know in the comments section below.


Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who is often in the news over his political views, recently slammed the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. He also bashed Indian Muslims who were celebrating the rule of the Taliban. In the video, Naseeruddin Shah said, Even as the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan is a cause for concern for the whole world, there are celebrations among some sections of Indian Muslims. This celebration of the barbarians is no less dangerous.

He was bashed for it and in an exclusive interview with NDTV, Shah clarified what he meant by Hindustani (or Indian) Islam and also about the rise of propaganda films in Bollywood. He also spoke about how the three Khans have always chosen to stay mum on international or national issues.



He told NDTV, They also being financed, also promised a clean chit if they make movies which are propaganda, to put it bluntly. In Nazi Germany also this was attempted. Filmmakers who were outstanding, world-class, were rounded up and asked to make films propagating the Nazi philosophy. The kind of big-budget films that are coming. The big ones cannot disguise the jingoistic agenda.

He also addressed why Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan have always kept mum on sharing their views about any national or international politics. Shah said, Obviously theyre worried because of the extent of harassment they will be subjected to.

I cannot speak for them but I can imagine they have so much to lose. They would be subjected to all manner of harassment, not just financial. Also, the fact is it's not only the Muslims who receive flak, a person like (filmmaker) Anand Patwardhan is getting threats and constantly receiving flak and abuse from the right-wingers for the opinions he holds, he added.

He also felt that his previous statements in the video were reasonable and there was nothing to get offended by. Giving back to his haters, he said, It's not an ordinary time. There is an atmosphere of bottled hate just waiting to be released. People are waiting to take offense to anything. If people had listened to my first statement carefully they would have realized there is nothing to get their knickers in a twist about. What I said was perfectly reasonable because the history of Taliban tells us to be wary, no matter how many promises they may now make for moderation, which I dont think they will live up to."

Do you agree with his statements? Let us know in the comments section below.
1.23 million tonnes of material were imported to the Philippines in January-June 2021, down from 1.39 million tonnes over the first half of 2020, according to statistics compiled by the Philippines' Department of Trade and Industry.

Continued battles with the Covid-19 pandemic, including lockdowns in...
MDHHS issues quarantine guidance for asymptomatic students

Prevention measures, including universal masking, reduce COVID-19 transmission and days away from school due to quarantine

MDHHS issues quarantine guidance for asymptomatic students

Prevention measures, including universal masking, reduce COVID-19 transmission and days away from school due to quarantine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 8, 2021

Contact: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112

LANSING, Mich. - To help ensure Michigan students and educators are as safe as possible in the classroom and keep students in school for in-person learning, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has issued updated quarantine guidance.

"When layered prevention strategies such as masking, distancing, testing, isolation and quarantine are applied consistently, school-associated transmission of COVID-19 is significantly reduced - which keeps kids in the classroom so they can learn," said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director. "However, if someone is exposed to COVID at schools, it's important for them to follow quarantine guidance to prevent spread to other children."

MDHHS recommends local health departments and schools work together to quickly isolate COVID-19 cases among students and staff, identify close contacts of those cases and adopt quarantine policies that reduce the risk of transmission in schools while allowing in-person learning. When evidence-based prevention measures, including universal masking, are in place, modifications may be made to the 10- to 14-day at-home quarantine.

"The best protection against COVID-19 are the three safe and effective vaccines we have available, and we urge all eligible Michiganders to get vaccinated," said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health. "As many of our students are too young to be vaccinated, masks are an important tool to prevent the spread of the virus and allow for in-person learning to continue uninterrupted."

School quarantine guidance for asymptomatic students who were exposed to a student infected with COVID-19 varies depending on a variety of circumstances. In all cases, the student who has tested positive for COVID-19 should isolate and follow directions from their local health department. Any individual that displays COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of vaccination status, should be tested and isolate as directed.

Under the new guidance, a student exposed to COVID-19 can remain in school under the following scenarios:

A fully vaccinated student (regardless of whether they wore a mask) who came in close contact with a COVID-positive student. The exposed student can remain in school if they wear a mask and monitor symptoms for 14 days after their exposure. They should test for COVID-19 three to five days after their last exposure to the COVID-positive student. If the exposed student tests positive, then the student should isolate and follow directions from their local health department.

The exposed student can remain in school if they wear a mask and monitor symptoms for 14 days after their exposure. They should test for COVID-19 three to five days after their last exposure to the COVID-positive student. If the exposed student tests positive, then the student should isolate and follow directions from their local health department. An unvaccinated student who was masked and exposed to a COVID-positive student who was also masked in an indoor school setting, so long as the students remained at least three to six feet apart. The exposed student can remain in school if they wear a mask, but they should monitor symptoms for 14 days following the exposure.

The exposed student can remain in school if they wear a mask, but they should monitor symptoms for 14 days following the exposure. An unvaccinated student who was masked and exposed to a COVID-positive student who was also masked in an indoor school setting, but the students were less than three feet apart and the student tests daily. The exposed student can remain in school if they wear a mask. They should monitor symptoms for 14 days and test daily before coming into the school building for the seven days following the exposure. They should continue to monitor for symptoms for a total of 14 days following the exposure. The exposed student should work with their school district and local health department to determine options available for daily testing. If the student cannot complete daily testing for seven days following the exposure, the student should not remain in school and should follow the guidance below.



An unvaccinated student exposed to COVID-19 should not remain in school under the following scenarios:

If the exposed or COVID-positive student, or both were not wearing a mask. Unvaccinated students who are unmasked are more likely to become ill because they are more likely to have been exposed to larger amounts of virus. The exposed student should not remain in school, and instead the student should quarantine at home for 10 days following the exposure. They may return after day 10 if they have not had any symptoms during those 10 days. They should continue to monitor for symptoms for a total of 14 days following the exposure. The student may return after day seven if they test negative that day and do not have symptoms. They should continue to monitor for symptoms for a total of 14 days following the exposure.

Unvaccinated students who are unmasked are more likely to become ill because they are more likely to have been exposed to larger amounts of virus. A student who was masked and exposed to a COVID-positive student who was also masked in an indoor school setting, but the students were less than three feet apart and the student does not test daily.

MDHHS is providing schools antigen testing supplies free of charge through the MI Safe Schools Testing program. Schools and individual school districts can request antigen test kits through the Mi Safer Schools: School Antigen COVID Test Ordering form. MDHHS will be leveraging our partnership with Intermediate School Districts to help distribute COVID-19 antigen tests based on the orders placed in the School Antigen COVID Test Ordering Form. Questions about test supply orders can be sent to your Intermediate School District and any other school testing related questions can be sent directly to MDHHS at MDHHS-COVIDtestingsupport@michigan.gov

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine, visit Michigan.gov/COVIDVaccine.

For more information about COVID-19 in Michigan, visit Michigan.gov/coronavirus.

# # #
MDHHS Senior Deputy Director for Public Health Dr. Alexis Travis announced as de Beaumont Foundation 40 under 40 award honoree

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 14, 2021

Contact: Chelsea Wuth, 517-241-2112

LANSING, Mich. - Dr. Alexis Travis has been recognized as one of the "40 Under 40 in Public Health" in recognition of her work at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The de Beaumont Foundation announced its 2021 list Tuesday, Sept. 14 after reviewing applications from hundreds of rising leaders in public health. The cohort was selected by a distinguished panel of public health professionals for their leadership and impact on their community's health.

"Dr. Travis is a champion of public health and has driven measurable positive change in her time at MDHHS. She continues to be an integral asset in reducing health disparities and increasing health equity for Michiganders," said MDHHS director Elizabeth Hertel. "She is well-deserving of this award and we are pleased to celebrate her accomplishments."

"I am grateful for this award which gives me an additional opportunity to highlight the critical work we are doing to help Michiganders lead healthier lives. We have seen the importance of public health throughout the pandemic, and I'm honored to be part of such an amazing group of honorees," said Travis.

Travis joined MDHHS in 2018 and most recently served as senior deputy director of MDHHS's Aging & Adult Services Agency (AASA), where she provided statewide leadership, direction and resources to support Michigan's aging, adult services and disability networks. In this role she advanced health equity for older adults and led efforts to address the need to expand the direct care workforce. She led Michigan to become the fifth state in the nation and first in the Midwest to join the World Health Organization and AARP age-friendly initiative.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Travis worked with the AASA team and the state's aging network to launch many innovative programs to address food insecurity, social isolation and support risk mitigation in one of the highest risk populations of older adults in Michigan.

"At a time when health professionals are being required to adapt and take on monumental challenges, we are incredibly proud of these leaders," said Brian C. Castrucci, DrPH, president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation. "We created the 40 Under 40 program to recognize and tell the stories of rising leaders who are making a difference in communities across the country. By promoting their work and accomplishments, we hope to attract and inspire a new generation of leaders."

Prior to that to her work with AASA, Travis served as director of MDHHS's Bureau of Health and Wellness within the Population Health Administration where she managed the Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Control and the Division of HIV and STD Programs. In that role, she collaborated with stakeholders to develop a state dementia plan and established a state-level public health workgroup on healthy aging, which she continues to lead.

Travis holds a doctorate in public health from Walden University in Minnesota, a master's degree of pharmacy with honors from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and was a participant in the Socrates/Erasmus Student Exchange Program at the University of Salamanca in Spain. She is a graduate of the Local Public Health Institute of Massachusetts/Boston University School of Public Health Managing Effectively in Today's Public Health Environment Class of 2017.

For more information about the 40 Under 40 in Public Health, including a full list of honorees, visit debeaumont.org/40Under40.

# # #
Sept. 14, 2021

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources was honored Monday for an environmental investigation led by conservation officers in the DNR Law Enforcement Division revealing that Flint-based Oil Chem illegally disposed of more than 47 million gallons of environmentally harmful liquid in the City of Flint's sewer system over an eight-year period.

DNR Law Enforcement Division Chief Gary Hagler, together with Lt. Vence Woods, accepted the 2021 Chief David Cameron Leadership in Environmental Crimes Award at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference, held virtually this year.

"It is fantastic to see the DNR's Law Enforcement Division and Environmental Investigations Section recognized with this prestigious IACP award," said Hagler.

The DNR's environmental investigation detectives are funded by, and conduct criminal investigations for, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

"Our partnership with EGLE is mutually beneficial and very productive for the residents of our state," Hagler said. "This is an honor that law enforcement agencies around the world compete for."

This short video posted to the IACP website takes a look at the investigative work of DNR conservation officers.

Case background

In October 2015, Detective Jan Erlandson, conservation officer in the DNR's Environmental Investigations Section, received a complaint from an employee at the Flint Wastewater Treatment Plant. The employee believed that Oil Chem was receiving leachate from area landfills and illegally dumping it into the sanitary sewer, which flows into the Flint River. The treatment plant's discharge point for the treated wastewater was downstream of the location where drinking water was taken from the Flint River in 2014 to 2015.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, leachate is formed when rain water filters through wastes placed in a landfill. When this liquid comes in contact with buried wastes, it leaches, or draws out, chemicals or constituents from those wastes.

Oil Chem is a global company that specializes in the formulation and custom blending of metalworking lubricants, industrial cleaning chemicals and maintenance oils. Consistent with a permit issued by the City of Flint under the Clean Water Act, the company was not permitted to accept leachate or to discharge any amount of polychlorinated biphenyl waste. PCBs have been shown to cause a variety of adverse health effects, notably cancer in animals. Noncancer effects include impacts to the nervous, immune, reproductive and endocrine systems, among others.

Erlandson's investigation revealed that Robert Massey, Oil Chem's owner, authorized from 2007 to 2015 for the company to accept leachate from eight different landfills - including People's Landfill, a garbage dump in Saginaw County, which contained PCB waste. This put Oil Chem and Massey in direct violation of laws prohibiting discharging on-site wastewater into state waters and disposal of liquid industrial byproducts.

Resolution and penalties

Based on Erlandson's investigation, the case was pursued by the EPA's Criminal Investigations Division, which resulted in Massey's indictment.

In December 2020, Massey signed a plea agreement for violating the Clean Water Act, and, in May 2021, he was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Oil Chem paid a civil fine of $250,000 to the City of Flint and EGLE revoked the company's waste hauler license.

Detective Erlandson, now retired, served the DNR Law Enforcement Division from 2000 to 2021.

"The Michigan DNR Environmental Investigations Section would like to thank the EPA Criminal Investigations Division, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy's Materials Management and Water Resource divisions and Michigan State Police for their assistance with this criminal investigation," said Lt. Vence Woods, DNR Environmental Investigation Section supervisor.

Known for its commitment to enhancing community safety by shaping the future of the police profession, the International Association of Chiefs of Police is the world's largest and most influential professional association for police leaders. Since 1893, IACP has been serving communities worldwide by speaking out on behalf of law enforcement and advancing leadership and professionalism in policing worldwide. With more than 31,000 members in over 165 countries, IACP is a recognized leader in global policing, committed to advancing safer communities through thoughtful, progressive police leadership.

Michigan conservation officers are fully commissioned law enforcement officers who protect natural resources, ensure recreational safety and protect residents by providing general law enforcement duties and lifesaving operations in the communities they serve. Due to the nature of their job, these officers often work with federal, state and local law enforcement officers to ensure public safety. Learn more at Michigan.gov/ConservationOfficers.
LANSING  Emergencies can happen when they are least expected.

Thats why Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (MSP/EMHSD) is encouraging Michigan residents to take steps to prepare for emergencies during Michigans Preparedness Month.

Throughout September, the MSP/EMHSD is joining federal, state and local governments, as well as private and public organizations, in supporting emergency preparedness initiatives, according to a news release.

Agencies nationwide are uniting under the theme Prepare to Protect to encourage everyone to create a family emergency plan and to learn life-saving skills like first aid and CPR to help themselves and others until first responders arrive.

The last year in Michigan has shown us that disasters can happen without warning, and can impact or delay critical services, including police, fire and EMS response, said Capt. Kevin Sweeney, state deputy director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and commander of the MSP/EMHSD. Thats why we encourage households to create emergency preparedness kits with food, water and a first-aid kit that allows them to be self-sustaining for at least 72 hours.

To learn more about preparing for emergencies and disasters and making an emergency preparedness plan, or for more information about the 2021 Prepare Fair visit michigan.gov/miready or follow the MSP/EMHSD on Twitter at @MichEMHS.
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.

 Free Concert and Dinner: 5:30 p.m. (dinner), 6:30 p.m. (concert) Thursday, Sept. 16, at Trinity Lutheran Church and School, 19778 U.S.-10, Reed City. AriSon recording artist Jennie Williamson will perform a free family concert. A freewill offering will be gratefully accepted.

 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.

 Cub Scout Pack 174 Registration Night: 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23, 223 E. 5th Ave., Reed City. Reed City Cub Scout Pack 174 will kick off its 2021-22 season with a Pack Meeting. All new and returning Scouts are invited to attend, and new Scouts can register to join the Pack during the meeting. Open to boys in grades 1-5.

 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.
NEW YORK (AP)  Three companies linked to a Chinese businessman who is a prominent critic of his countrys ruling Communist Party have agreed to pay $539 million to settle charges they conducted an illegal securities offering, according to regulators.

The New York- and Arizona-based companies linked to Guo Wengui raised $487 million from 5,000 investors who bought stock in GTV Media Group Inc. and a digital asset called G-Coins or G-Dollars, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.

Guo, who lives in New York City, left China in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown led by President Xi Jinping that ensnared people close to the businessman, including an intelligence official. Chinese authorities have accused Guo, also known as Miles Kwok, of rape, kidnapping and bribery.

The companies were accused of failing to register the securities with regulators, according to the SEC. It said they sold stock and the digital asset through videos on GTVs and Saracas websites and on YouTube, Twitter and other social media.

GTV and Saraca Media Group Inc. agreed to disgorge $434 million plus $16 million interest and to pay a civil penalty of $15 million each, according to the SEC. It said Voice of Guo Media Inc. agreed to disgorge $52 million plus $2 million in interest and to pay a civil penalty of $5 million. The SEC said the companies also agreed not to participate in any offering of a digital asset security.

The remedies ordered by the Commission today, which include a fair fund distribution, will provide meaningful relief to investors in these illegal offerings, said the director of the SECs New York office, Richard R. Best, in a statement.

A former civil servant turned real estate developer, Guo has rankled China's ruling party by launching accusations of corruption on social media. His lawyer said in 2017 he had applied for political asylum in the United States.

Last year, Guo and Steve Bannon, a former political strategist for then-President Donald Trump, announced the founding of the Federal State of New China, an initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.

Guo was one of Chinas richest businesspeople, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.1 billion in 2015. His current net worth is unclear.

___

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: www.sec.gov
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Authorities in Greece on Tuesday opened an investigation into the crash of a private plane from Israel that killed a prosecution witness in the corruption trial of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Haim Geron, a former senior official at Israel's ministry of communications, and his wife Esther, were killed in the crash late Monday off the island of Samos. The Israeli Foreign Ministry identified the victims, both 69, adding that consular officials and the ministry were working with the family to return the bodies.

Geron was one of more than 300 witnesses that prosecutors listed for Netanyahus trial on corruption charges. He is on trial for allegedly accepting expensive gifts from wealthy associates. Netanyahu, now the opposition leader in Israels parliament, has denied all the accusations and mocked the size of the witness list.

Greece's Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Board is investigating the causes of the crash, officials said Tuesday.

The single-engine Cessna 182 took off from Haifa, Israel, and crashed near Samos Airport.

Shortly before landing, communication with the control tower on Samos was lost and the Civil Aviation Authority informed the search and rescue center about the loss of communication, the authority said in a statement.

The bodies of the two Israeli occupants were recovered by the coast guard several hours later with the help of divers. Fishing boats as well as vessels from the European Union's border protection agency, Frontex, joined Greek coast guard vessels in the recovery effort.

Witnesses on the island interviewed by local news media said the crash occurred as the plane made an unsuccessful approach to land at Aristarchos International Airport.

As Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu spent a total of 15 years in office, but recent years were marred by the corruption allegations and a string of deadlocked elections. The trial resumed Monday after a three-month break.

___ Laurie Kellman reported from Jerusalem.

___ Follow Derek Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Laurie Kellman at https://twitter.com/aplauriekellman
The start of the new school year for Harbor Beach Community Schools featured the unveiling of a newly renovated computer lab, which is used for the high schools popular computer science classes.

The new lab space featured 48 classroom computers, 12 computers designated for advanced courses and the districts esports club, three televisions, six recliners, and new carpeting.

Superintendent Shawn Bishop said that over the last couple of years, the school district was looking at how to upgrade the technology in the computer lab, which had existed for over 20 years, to handle the advanced classes that Technology Coordinator David Roggenbuck teaches his students.

Over the last five years, he and I had good conversations about how to be more on the cutting edge of technology rather than being reactive, Bishop said, and the need to transform from an early-2000s looking lab.

Voters passed a bond issue in August 2020 that was primarily designated for roof repairs, but any leftover money from bond sales would be used to fund the lab upgrades. The roof repairs ended up coming in at just under $1 million and there was approximately $98,000 left over for the computer lab.

Bishop said he and Roggenbuck worked to visit the computer labs of other districts to see what worked and what they could incorporate into the Harbor Beach lab.

Two walls that had previously divided the lab into three spaces were removed so the whole lab is in one space. There are sections of computers designated for what theyre used for, one for robotics, one for advanced technology classes and some animation courses, one for regular computer classes, and one for esports.

The wiring in the room is all concealed underneath the floor instead of running along the ceiling and poles in the room.

The classes offered in the lab include advanced placement technology, advanced placement computer science, graphic design, computer animation, robotics, game design and regular computer science. Bishop said such classes can provide experience directly linked to the jobs of today and the future.

Currently, Harbor Beach has over 100 students that are enrolled in technology classes that utilize this space, with the district requiring that all students take at least one such class before graduating.

Its rare that a students takes only one class, Bishop said. Its frequent for students to take multiple technology classes.

The schools esports club also uses the space for practices and it works to compete against school districts across the country in competitive video games.

It does fit a theme we promote of kids being involved in a structured environment, Bishop said. The kids seem to care for each other and feel connected, instead of disjointed. Esports falls into that category.
MENOMONIE, Wis. (AP)  Four people found slain in an abandoned SUV in a western Wisconsin cornfield had been shot and were all from Minnesota, authorities said Tuesday of a case they described as a mystery.

Preliminary results of autopsies performed Monday by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office showed the two men and two women all died of gunshot wounds, the Dunn County Sheriff's Office said.

The victims were identified as Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26, Loyace Foremann III, 35, and Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, all from St. Paul; as well as Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater.

Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd said during a news conference Tuesday that authorities dont believe the person or people responsible for the killings are local or still in the area. He said investigators do not have a motive.

That one is a mystery, he said.

Authorities believe the four Twin Cities-area residents died less than 24 hours from the time they were found and the location was a place these victims were randomly brought, Bygd said.

Everybodys a suspect at this point, he said. Were looking at everybody and every possibility.

Plug-Presleys father, Damone Presley Sr., told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the four victims were at a St. Paul bar Saturday night and they got in someones vehicle when they left.

Why would this happen? he said Tuesday.  It just doesnt make sense.

A 911 caller alerted deputies Sunday to the black SUV that was off a rural road in the Town of Sheridan, according to the Dunn County Sheriffs Office.

Sheriff's officials said earlier that there may have been a second dark-colored SUV traveling with the vehicle that was abandoned.

The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Patrol are assisting in the investigation.
Contributed / Getty

Two men have been arrested in connection with a May shootout in the Traverse Square housing complex after a monthslong investigation by Middletown police, authorities said Monday.

Police said Denzel Teart, 28, of Middletown and Messiah Stewart, 23, of New Haven, were arrested last Friday and Monday, respectively. Both are being charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, reckless endangerment and criminal attempt of assault. Teart, who has a prior arrest record, is also being charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
PHOENIX (AP)  A judge was considering whether to overturn several new Arizona laws that restrict the power of cities, counties and school districts to impose COVID-19 restrictions like mask mandates after hearing arguments in the case Monday.

A coalition of educators, parents and childrens advocacy groups argue in a lawsuit that the provisions were unconstitutionally tucked into several unrelated budget measures and that the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19 makes the need for masks more pressing.

The laws prohibit public school districts and local governments from imposing mask mandates, bar universities from requiring vaccinations for students and prevent requirements that people to show they are inoculated to get into businesses. Similar legislation has passed in several other Republican-led states.

At least 29 Arizona public school districts have enacted their own mask requirements despite the laws. The districts account for more more than a third of the approximately 930,000 students attending more than 2,000 public schools.

The coalition's attorney, Roopali Desai, said the laws run afoul of the state Constitution, which requires that the titles of legislation properly identify their contents. They were only given the bare-bones description needed for the state budget. The mask ban is particularly concerning, Desai said.

Unless the laws challenged in this case are declared unconstitutional and enjoined, a great many children in Arizona will get COVID-19, Desai told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper. They will get sick. They will suffer from long COVID. They will be hospitalized, and they may die. This is not hyperbole.

Desai said three measures that direct how to spent money in the main budget legislation were not described properly and should be struck down. She also argued that a fourth bill should be blocked as unconstitutional because it had virtually nothing to do with directing spending and contained unrelated policy items.

They include stripping the Democratic secretary of state of the duty to defend state election laws, allowing anyone to refuse to get vaccinated even during a major health emergency, letting the state Game and Fish Department register voters and setting up a special legislative committee to review the results of the state Senate's partisan audit of the 2020 election.

This hodgepodge legislation is so bad that the state has not even attempted to address in its response the miscellany of topics in the bill, Desai said of SB1819.

The coalition also is trying to block a law prohibiting the use of state money for teaching critical race theory, a way of thinking about Americas history that centers on the idea racism is systemic in the nations institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

The Legislature routinely has tucked unrelated items into budget legislation, but this year crammed many more than usual.

Patrick Irvine, an attorney for state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, said the Constitution does not require lawmakers to specify each item they include in so-called budget reconciliation bills that direct spending.

What we're saying is the definition of budget reconciliation bill cannot be narrowed down as they are seeking to do, Irvine told the judge. "To the extent a budget reconciliation bill is necessary to implement the budget, that is something that the Legislature gets to decide."

Irvine said in court papers that a ruling agreeing that the Legislature violated the Constitution could upend years of budget measures that added unrelated policy items. Irvine said if the court is concerned about the Legislatures practice, it should ban it going forward, not block current laws.

Potentially upsetting the practice without warning "would be highly inequitable to the democratic process in Arizona over the last several decades, Irvine wrote.

The judge said she will issue a ruling before the laws are set to take effect Sept. 29.

Meanwhile, the state on Monday reported 2,278 new COVID-19 infections but no new deaths, bringing the total since the pandemic began to over 1.05 million cases and 19,187 deaths.

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 the option, giving a more accurate picture of the positivity rate in the community.
MIDDLETOWN  The city man accused of a fatal shooting in May appeared in court briefly on Tuesday, where the judge continued the case to early October.

Matthew O'Banner, 20, is facing charges of murder and first-degree assault for the May 16 shooting that killed 25-year-old Tylon Hardy and injured a 17-year-old, police said.

His attorney, Walter Hussey, waived the requirement of a hearing of probable cause to allow the states attorneys more time to go through details in the case. The case was continued to Oct. 5.

After the shooting, O'Banner originally agreed to turn himself in to Middletown police, but then vanished for two months before being apprehended in New Jersey, court documents show.

Michelle Sanders, O'Banners 54-year-old mother, and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Alexandra Vazquez, have also been charged with interfering with the police investigation. Sanders is also charged with second-degree hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence and drug possession, records show.

Sanders warrant provides insight into the moments leading up to the shooting and the manhunt that led to her sons arrest.

According to court records released last week, Middletown detectives and U.S. Marshals secretly tracked Sanders car to an apartment in North Bergen, N.J., where marshals took him into custody in early August. O'Banner was extradited to Connecticut and arraigned on Aug. 24. A judge ordered him held on $2 million bond.

According to the arrest warrant for Sanders, police were dispatched to a shooting that occurred in the area of Stirling Street just before 11 a.m. on May 16. When they arrived, they found Hardy unresponsive, suffering from a gunshot wound, the warrant said.

The warrant said Hardy was pronounced dead approximately 15 minutes later. Police were also notified of a second victim, who was 17 years old, who arrived at Middlesex Hospital in a private vehicle. He had two gunshot wounds in his back and one in his forearm, according to the warrant.

According to the warrant, the teen was flown to Hartford Hospital, where he later told a detective he was on Stirling Court when he heard an argument involving multiple people. As he walked closer, the warrant said, the teen heard gunshots and he was shot as he ran from the area.

Detectives later spoke with Vazquez, who told investigators that a person threatened her and O'Banner, telling her they were all pulling up on her boyfriends house, according to the warrant. She told investigators that she, O'Banner, their child and Sanders were at the Stirling Court home, but claimed she did not know where he went after the shooting, the warrant shows.

Police were also given video evidence from nearby residents, the warrant said. One video showed a group in a verbal dispute in the area when a man emerged from the Stirling Court home and opened fire, the warrant stated. The warrant said the videos showed Hardy get shot, the crowd scatter and cars, including a Honda registered to Vazquez, peel out of the area.

Investigators also obtained the video and corresponding audio from security cameras inside Sanders home, which show Vazquez and Sanders knew O'Banner was responsible for the shooting, according to the warrant.

In the video, both women pleaded with O'Banner to not confront the person who made the threat after he called to warn that he and his acquaintances would be coming to the house, the warrant said.

One of the women, the documents said, could be heard yelling from another room that O'Banner should ditch the gun in the river, another referenced erasing everything.

This is crazy, I feel like Im living in a movie, Sanders said before the video feed cuts out, the warrant stated.

Video footage stops at 11:42 p.m., which detectives believe is because the rest of the security camera video was erased manually from one of the control hubs inside the home, according to the warrant.

While OBanner originally agreed through an attorney to surrender himself to police on June. 14, arrest records show, he did not show up, the warrant stated.

On June 22, the warrant said, Middletown police asked the U.S. Marshals for help locating him. Sanders, who owns an Audi Q5, was given a loaner vehicle from a New York dealership while hers was being serviced, the warrant read.

Marshals learned the loaner vehicle regularly transmits its location whenever the engine is shut off. Those transmissions showed Sanders visited the North Bergen, N.J., address of an acquaintance of O'Banner at the end of June.

Marshals secretly placed a GPS tracker in Sanders vehicle in July while it was at the dealership and began tracking it when she picked it up, the warrant said. Meanwhile, marshals set up a camera for a live-surveillance feed at the New Jersey address.

Early the next day, marshals spotted O'Banner, Vazquez and Sanders entering the apartment. The warrant said marshals took O'Banner into custody later that morning.

Sanders has been released on $250,000 bond and Vazquez was released on a promise to appear in court. Both are scheduled to appear in court later this month.

joshua.labella@hearstmediact.com
MIDDLETOWN  A local teen accused of fatally stabbing his mother was ordered Tuesday to the states mental illness hospital after he was found not competent to stand trial.

Alicia Medina, a 53-year-old mother of six and grandmother of seven, was stabbed 10 times on May 20 during a domestic violence incident.

Medinas son, 18-year-old Eugenio Vela III, a Middletown High School student, was taken into custody that day and has remained held on more than $1 million bond on charges of murder, first-degree assault and violation of a protective order.

Judge Julia Dewey ordered immediate family only in the courtroom on Tuesday, at the request of the public defender and the states attorney.

Audra Beauregard, a licensed social worker, testified about Velas competency to stand trial.

Public defender Angela Anastasi said her client was found was not competent to stand trial based on a recommendation from the mental health professionals who evaluated him.

She said the court found his competency can be restored, and so he is being sent to Whiting Forensic Hospital for 60 days of restoration. At that point, the hospital will reevaluate his competency and determine if he needs more time for restoration or if he can proceed in court.

Anastasi said Whiting can continue this process for up to 18 months, according to state statutes. Velas next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9.

Police said Vela was taken into custody shortly after the incident, which they said occurred on East Street between Tuttle and Ridgewood roads.

Vela got into a domestic dispute with a woman inside a car, leaving her severely injured, according to his arrest warrant. Medina was rushed to Middlesex Hospital, where she died from her injuries.

Police declined to release the name of the victim because they said she was killed in a domestic dispute, but family members later identified the woman to Hearst Connecticut Media as Medina.

Vela, who was taken into custody that day with a blood-like substance on his hands and clothing, admitted to investigators that he stabbed the victim during an argument in the car, the warrant stated.

He claimed Medina was slapping him while driving and tried to stab him with what he described to police as a kitchen knife, according to the warrant. Thats when, Vela told investigators, he used a 4-inch knife and started to stab her, the warrant said.

Vela told authorities that he tried to pull Medina out of the car to finish the job on East Street, but she got caught in the seat belt, the warrant said. When detectives asked for clarification, the warrant said Vela told investigators he was trying to kill her.

The teen initially told authorities he did not know the victim, the warrant said. But he is the subject of two protective orders involving Medina, and had an active arrest warrant for allegedly violating one of those orders, police said.

Survivors of domestic violence should call 911 if they are in immediate danger. The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence can be reached at 888-774-2900. The U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233 (TTY for the deaf and hard-of-hearing: 800-787-3224).
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.
Active-duty soldiers have three months to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face a possible discharge from the force, the Army announced Tuesday.

The 485,900 soldiers on active duty must be vaccinated by Dec. 15. But the 336,500 National Guard and 189,800 Reserve troops have until June 30, 2022, to be fully inoculated.

As of Tuesday, about 80% of active-duty soldiers had received at least one vaccine dose, according to an Army spokesperson. However, the National Guard and Reserve dont have accurate numbers for how much of their forces are vaccinated, given many of those troops receive vaccines outside of the military.

"This is quite literally a matter of life and death for our Soldiers, their families and the communities in which we live," Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, the U.S. Army surgeon general, said in a statement. "Case counts and deaths continue to be concerning as the Delta variant spreads, which makes protecting the force through mandatory vaccination a health and readiness priority for the total Army."

Read Next: Marine Corporal Discharged over Refusal to Wear a Mask

The military's largest branch issued its mandate after the other services announced similar timelines. For now, only Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine has received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration and, as such, is the one officially mandated. But troops are allowed to seek out the other available vaccines if they prefer.

That means that if troops receive one of the two-shot varieties of the vaccine they will need to have had their second shot and passed the two-week post vaccine waiting period before the December deadline.

Along with other vaccines, the Defense Department has a long list of health-related mandates for troops. Service members being unvaccinated can cause many complications for commands, as they may become undeployable.

Soldiers who refuse vaccinations will be counseled by their chain of command. Such counseling typically involves starting a paper trail and having a discussion with the service member about the orders they are violating; it isn't always followed by a punishment.

But continued failure to comply with the order "could result in administrative or non-judicial punishment -- to include relief of duties or discharge," according to a statement from the Army.

Commanders will request a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand, which are largely seen as career killers, to be initiated for any soldier who refuses inoculation without an exemption.

A discharge can cost a soldier their benefits, including the GI Bill.

Military.com recently reported on a Marine corporal who refused to comply with an order that mandated unvaccinated troops wear a mask indoors. She was kicked out of the force within a week of violating the order and given a general discharge under honorable conditions.

Those seeking waivers to avoid immunization essentially have two options: medical or religious exemptions, according to Sean Timmons, an attorney with the Houston-based law firm Tully Rinckey.

The military is a relatively young, healthy community whose members already have received numerous vaccines, so most people are "not going to have the ability to be granted a medical waiver," Timmons said.

A religious exemption may be more likely, he said, if the person can demonstrate that their religious practice compels them to be morally opposed to vaccination. However, no major religion has come out against the COVID-19 vaccine or vaccines in general.

Joe Seiner, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, said soldiers will need to demonstrate that the vaccine conflicts with a sincere religious belief or have received prior waivers.

"You'd probably want to show them that you haven't gotten certain vaccinations or, if you are new to the service, that this would be consistent with your prior history," Seiner said during an interview.

Still, if a religious exemption request is denied by the military, the rejection may provide a basis for a lawsuit, Timmons said.

"It's possible for attorneys to work with an admission to say there's a good faith objection," he explained.

Timmons said his firm has been approached by service members expressing interest in filing lawsuits against the mandate.

Seiner said he expects lawsuits to be filed but warned troops who are hesitant about the vaccine not to expect any immediate injunctions or temporary rulings to halt the program.

"There's no guarantee a judge will do that, he said. For a judge to actually issue that order, it has to be a lawsuit that is likely to succeed, at least in the federal judge's mind."

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

Related: Lawmakers Try to Ban Dishonorable Discharges for Troops Who Refuse Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccines
[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.

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[September 14, 2021] Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies to Improve Licensing Management with Tyler Technologies Solution Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) announced today it has signed a 10-year agreement with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies ("DORA"), Division of Professions and Occupations, for Tyler's ETK Regulatory solution. Tyler will provide the agency with an integrated licensing regulation management platform to help it offer as many licensing services online as possible to expand public access without compromising the quality of data. "We are excited to upgrade our licensing regulation management with the help of Tyler's technology," said DORA's Ronne Hines, division director, Division of Professions and Occupations. "By offering more licensing services online, it will put our customers in control of accessing these crucial services. Additionally, it will free up some of our staff resources to focus on other critical tasks." DORA's Division of Professions and Occupations was an existing Tyler client who conducted a formal RFP process and ultimately re-selected Tyler. Tyler will bring together multiple solutions to create a single, comprehensive, cloud-based system. This includes Tyler's ETK Regulatory platform, its Socrata insights solution for analytics, its mobile inspection solution, and NIC (News - Alert) Payments, an electronic paymet solution. Nearly 250 users and an additional 70 field inspectors will use the platform to manage 233 different license types, which includes electric and plumbing permitting, currently managed on an in-house legacy system. DORA is the state of Colorado's umbrella regulatory agency, charged with managing licensing and registration for multiple professions and businesses, implementing balanced regulation for Colorado industries, and protecting consumers. The department is charged with administering more than 50 regulatory programs comprising over 886,000 individual licensees and approximately 65,000 businesses and institutions. The Division of Professions and Occupations is DORA's largest division. Tyler will partner with the state to provide the initial investment to implement the solution. DORA will then collect transaction fees from its constituents to fund the system over the term of the contract. "We are pleased to continue our relationship with DORA, bringing them a new, cloud-based system that will help manage more than 230 different license types," said Kris Collo, president of Tyler's Federal Division. "Our billing model with DORA is unique in the regulatory market. It can help agencies who might not have the capital funding available to access the technology upgrades they need. This model helps us bring innovative solutions to more agencies and expand public access to important licensing services." About Tyler Technologies (News - Alert) , Inc. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler has more than 27,000 successful installations across more than 11,000 sites, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. Tyler has been named to Government Technology's GovTech 100 list five times and has been recognized three times on Forbes' "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list. More information about Tyler Technologies, an S&P 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at tylertech.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005079/en/

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This story was originally published by ProPublica.

A long-suppressed FBI report on Saudi Arabias connections to the 9/11 plot has revealed that Saudi religious officials stationed in the United States had more significant connections to two of the hijackers than has been previously known.

The 2016 report was released late Saturday night under an executive order from President Joe Biden, who promised to make it public no later than the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks that killed 2,977 people and injured more than 6,000 others. The 16-page document was a final inventory of circumstantial evidence and leads from the FBIs investigation of Saudi ties to the plot; it was heavily redacted.

Nonetheless, lawyers for families of the 9/11 victims, who are suing the Saudi kingdom in federal court, said the document provided important support to their theory that a handful of Saudis connected to their government worked in concert to assist the first two Qaida hijackers sent to the United States in January 2000.

This validates what we have been saying, said James Kreindler, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs. 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.

The Saudi government has always denied any role in the attacks, noting that al-Qaida and its former leader, Osama bin Laden, were sworn enemies of the royal family. But the 2016 report shows that FBI agents found evidence that several Saudi religious officials working in the United States had connections not only to people who assisted the hijackers but also to other Qaida operatives and suspected extremists. At the time, there were many Saudis in the country who had diplomatic credentials but were mainly involved in religious activity. The FBI later investigated many of them for extremism.

The FBI agents investigating possible Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks were part of a largely secret second phase of the bureaus examination of the plot, called Operation Encore. The story of that inquiry, and the obstacles it faced, was first revealed last year by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine.

The report released on Saturday was written by a senior analyst on the Encore team, John Nicholson, after the leader of the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, Carlos Fernandez, decided with federal prosecutors to reassign Nicholson and the rest of his New York team, effectively shutting down their work.

Although the FBI stopped investigating the case, officials said, it kept the Encore file nominally open until earlier this year. The Justice Department repeatedly cited the continuing inquiry as a primary reason why it could not disclose Encore files to families of the 9/11 victims. But relatives of the victims say the U.S. government has maintained a shield of secrecy to protect the Saudi kingdom from embarrassing revelations.

There is no reason this shouldnt be brought to light, said Christopher Ganci, a battalion chief in the New York Fire Department, whose father, Peter, was the highest-ranking fire official to die in the attacks. The American people deserve to know this information. The ground troops, the FBI agents on the street, have been chomping at the bit to have this come out. Its been so frustrating for them and for us.

Among the pieces of new evidence cited in the 2016 report are telephone records showing that a Saudi graduate student who helped the two first hijackers to settle in San Diego was in contact with a Saudi religious official stationed in the United States, who in turn had connections to other Qaida operatives and later became a target of a new investigation.

The Saudi student, Omar al-Bayoumi, was a middle-aged man who rarely attended classes and was being paid surreptitiously by the Saudi Defense Ministry, where he had previously worked. Starting in 1998, the FBI had investigated him for suspected extremist activity, but that inquiry was inconclusive.

An FBI official who was a case agent for the bureaus initial investigation of the attacks, Jacqueline Maguire, testified to the bipartisan 9/11 Commission in 2004 that by all indications Bayoumis first meeting with the hijackers was a random encounter. Maguire and other FBI officials have described Bayoumi as an unwitting accomplice.

But the Encore team came to believe that Bayoumi not only gave extensive help to the two Qaida operatives, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, but later lied about his dealings with them and others.
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.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
The Kolkata-headquartered SREI group, which includes SREI Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and SIFLs wholly-owned subsidiary SREI Equipment Finance (SEFL), has been under stress for about a year now. In December 2020, the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had issued an order stating that any non-payment by SREI will not be recognised as an event of default, till a scheme of arrangement is signed by all creditors. On 7th September, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside this earlier order. Options are quickly running out and emergency debt restructuring might well be the only option left for the group and its lenders.

In yet another setback, SIFL's chief executive officer (CEO) Rakesh Kumar Bhutoria has resigned even as the company is going through the debt resolution process. His last working day is yet to be decided but the company has hired a head-hunter to look for a suitable candidate as the new CEO.

Credit rating agencies CARE Ratings and Acuite Ratings & Research have already downgraded the company rating and since its a known stressed account, many lenders are now getting ready to have it appropriately recognised (downgrading to non performing asset (NPA) or stressed pool) or provisioning for it in this month as the second quarter draws to a close on 30th September.

The forensic audit of SREI Infrastructure Finance and SREI Equipment Finance is still going on and the report is expected by this month-end.

It may be recalled that a lot of retail investors, including many senior citizens, have invested in non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of SREI (both group companies) in the hope of earning better interest on their investment corpus. Since, SREI has been a non-deposit taking non banking finance company (NBFC), the retail investors investments are restricted to only NCDs.

Since October 2019, the SREI group has been pursuing a merger of its two group companies, SREI Infrastructure Finance and SREI Equipment Finance.

In December 2020, NCLT granted relief to SREI by directing banks and financial institutions to not take any coercive action against the company after it had approached the NCLT bench requesting moratorium on loan payments (including interest on NCDs) and postponement of redemption dates until the merger is complete.

In March 2021, UCO Bank, along with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), had appealed against the order in NCLAT. Credit rating agencies too had moved NCLAT against the NCLT order.

Debenture trustees Axis Trustee Services Ltd and Catalyst Trusteeship had also approached NCLAT on behalf of the bondholders. Many retail investors have repeatedly highlighted the utter failure on the part of the debenture trustees to protect investors interests. Questions have been raised on their monitoring and tracking mechanism and how they almost always wake up when it is too late and the company is doomed.

Meanwhile the SREI group is in the midst of raising equity capital from foreign investors.

Earlier in June, the company's board gave an approval to raise up to Rs2,500 crore through various means, including qualified institutional placement. Even before this, its subsidiary SREI Equipment Finance Ltd attracted a total investment proposal of Rs4,200 crore from the US- and Singapore-based investors.

Sources said that while many banks have already categorised the loans granted to the SREI group as stressed loans in the previous quarter, they will initiate accelerated provisioning in the September quarter. Under the accelerated clause of a contract, a lender can demand the borrower to repay all of the outstanding loan if the latter fails to fulfil certain requirements.

According to reports, public sector lenders like Indian Bank and Canara Bank have credit exposure (potential loss due to default by borrower) of around Rs2,000 crore and Rs1,200 crore, respectively, to SREI, while private sector banks like ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have Rs800 crore each.

In February 2021, lenders to SREI Infrastructure hired consultancy firm KPMG to do a transaction audit on the firm as the lenders evaluate a loan restructuring proposal by the NBFC, which is struggling to meet repayment obligations due to cash-flow problems engendered by the pandemic. SREI had requested its lenders to reschedule loan repayments citing liquidity mismatches during the pandemic. As per the scheme of arrangement, the NBFC had proposed a structure where they would make repayments in a manner which is aligned to their customers' cash flows.

Back then, a core committee of banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), Indian Bank, Union Bank of India and UCO Bank, had expressed concerns that a part of the total debtabout Rs31,000 crore - may not be sustainable immediately. Bankers had said that a final decision would be taken after considering the KPMG report.

Based on the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) website and the debt prospectus of SREI (August 2019), we have tried to collate exposure of banks to this stressed group. Again, the data is of charges and may not represent or be equivalent to actual fund-based exposure.

SREI group's bank loans as per debt prospectus (August 2019) are as follows:

Note: There is a consortium loan of Rs105bn, but bank-wise details are not available (not included in above)

Top 10 Debenture Holders on cumulative basis for all outstanding secured NCDs: (as on August 2019)

SREI group exposure as per MCA portal (as of September 2021)

Note: UCO Bank & Axis Bank are lead bankers among a consortium and hence charges are reflected against them. However, it may not represent their actual fund-based exposure.

Source: MCA portal

In June 2021, SREI had revealed in regulatory filings that RBI had detected under-provisioning against stress and had also (in FY 2019-2020) flagged off lending to probable related and connected parties by the SREI group.

RBI had initiated an audit of its books in November 2020 and RBI had identified certain borrowers with loans worth Rs8,576 crore as 'probable' connected or related parties. This corresponds to almost 30% of the groups total loan assets amounting to Rs28.794 crore.

Several top-level executives have quit the SREI group since December 2020 as the lenders have taken control of company finances and have put a cap of Rs50 lakh salary for top-level officials. Some of these employees are even said to be exploring the option of taking legal recourse for release of their salary arrears, which has been held by banks controlling the TRA (Trust and Retention Account).

The chief operating officer (COO) of SEFL quit in April 2021. The company secretaries of SIFL and SEFL had resigned in March and May 2021, respectively. In the past few weeks, the head of treasury and head of corporate communications have also quit.

Additionally, on 13 September 2021, SIFL announced that it has entered into an agreement of sale of shares in subsidiary company Trinity Alternative Investment Managers Limited (TAIML) to Backbay Investment Managers Private Limited (BIMPL). The company will receive a consideration of approximately Rs1.33 crore, i.e., Rs166.23 per equity share.

BIMPL is into the business of an asset management company acting as manager, operator and administrator of alternative investment funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

SIFL has three main categories of business, namely, fund based, fee-based, and strategic investments. The company, listed under public financial institution (PFI) by the MCA, was incorporated on 29 March 1985. The companys first public issue was in 1992.
September 14, 2021 What Was Biden's Diktat The Saudis Are So Furious About? Two seasoned commentators, Abdel Bari Atwan and M.K. Bhadrakumar, note the recent snag in U.S. - Saudi relations. Writes Atwan: The past two weeks have seen an unprecedented rise in tensions between the two sides, which could lead to political and economic standoffs in the days and months to come. Several recent developments attest to this. Last week the Associated Press, well known for its connections to Washington decision-makers, confirmed that the Biden administration has withdrawn all its Patriot and (more sophisticated) THAAD air defence systems from the kingdom.

...

Then it was announced that a visit to the kingdom by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin  as part of a Gulf tour that included Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain  had been postponed or cancelled, ostensibly due to scheduling issues. That was an unprecedented snub reflecting official Saudi anger at the US. A minor Saudi prince, Sattam Bin-Khaled Al Saud, was assigned to explain that it was Saudi Arabia that called off the visit. The great kingdom, he tweeted, would not be dictated to, and would only conduct relations on the basis of shared interests and mutual respect. No ruling family member has spoken about the US this way previously. The young royal, who is close to Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman, went on to contrast the cancellation of Austins visit with the very warm reception the kingdom accorded to Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian Dumas international affairs committee. This was intended as a warning to Washington that Riyadh potentially has an alternative ally in Moscow  a brave but potentially risky and very costly challenge. There was also the recent publishing of FBI findings about Saudi involvement in 9/11. And on Afghanistan the U.S. worked with Qatar instead of using Saudi channels. But both issues are neither new nor do they justify such a response. Bhadrakumar opines: The incipient signs of a US retrenchment from Saudi Arabia have appeared in a series of moves in the past 2-3 weeks.

...

Without doubt, the Biden Administration has just made a big statement in its regional strategies in West Asia by the removal of the most advanced US missile defence system and Patriot batteries deployed to Saudi Arabia to counter Iran and face down air attacks from Yemens Houthi rebels. Riyadh showed its displeasure already by abruptly cancelling a scheduled visit to the kingdom by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. I doubt that this snag is really about the two Patriot batteries and one THAAD system which the U.S. brought into Saudi Arabia after the 2019 attack on the Saudi oil installations in Abqaiq. Everyone knows that those systems are pretty much useless against the drones the Houthi (or Iran) had used in that attack. The removal of these system has been anticipated for some time. In April the Saudis rented a Patriot battery from Greece in anticipation of the removal of the U.S. systems. The actual removal of the U.S. systems was announced in early June. Back then a Saudi spokesman said that his country had no problem with it: US military assets downsizing in Saudi Arabia will not affect the kingdoms defense capabilities, a Riyadh-led coalition told local press, Sunday. In a statement to the reporters, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said that the tactical withdrawal of the United States troop and Air Defence units in the Arab Gulf region will not affect Saudi, adding that there is a strong understanding between the kingdom and its allies and partners in the region and that the country is capable to defend itself. I doubt that the military view on the Patriot issue has changed much since then. But on September 9 the Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal mentioned the Patriots in an interview with CNBC: He was responding to a question on what the Middle East needs from the U.S. in the wake of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. "I think we need to be reassured about American commitment," the prince, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, told CNBC's Hadley Gamble last month. "That looks like, for example, not withdrawing 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," he said. For Turki Al-Faisal the Patriots are a symbolic, not a military issues. The core problem is a lack of 'assurance about U.S. commitment'. Pulling Patriot missiles from the kingdom is "not indicative of America's declared intention to help Saudi Arabia defend itself against outside enemies," Al-Faisal said, adding that he hopes the U.S. will give assurances of its commitment to deploy "whatever is needed" to help. Who are the Saudis outside enemies? The Houthi in Yemen? Biden had announced to end support for Saudi attacks in Yemen back in February. He correctly believes that the Saudis have lost that war and should end it. His position on that is not a surprise and has not changed. Why would the Saudis now make an issue out of it? So what is the Saudi concern really about? Bhadrakumar seems to thinks that the U.S. is ready to find a new agreement with Iran and that this is the issue the Saudis are disturbed about. But the door on a nuclear deal with Iran is closing and there is no sign from the Biden administration that it really wants to reactivate it. In my view the real issue here can not be the Patriot missiles, the Houthi, or an Iran deal. None of those issues is new or is coming as a surprise. What else might it have been that would justify to cancel, on very short notice, a planned visit by a U.S. Secretary of Defense? Such a move is unprecedented in its outright hostility. There must be a really big and current issue behind it. The minor Saudi prince Atwan quotes lamented about the 'great kingdom' being 'dictated to'. What was the 'diktat' about? The harsh reaction lets me presume that it was something very personal to Clown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who runs the daily business in Saudi Arabia. Did Biden order him to fully retreat from Yemen, a war the crown prince had started? Might Biden even have asked the King to replace the crown prince with a more agreeable figure? Or are there other issues I have not thought about? Posted by b on September 14, 2021 at 18:08 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
MISD COVID-19 vaccine clinics

In partnership with Midland Memorial Hospital, MISD is hosting vaccine clinics for all eligible students and staff ages 12 and above. The district encourages all families to follow the advice of their personal health care provider and to get the vaccine if eligible. A person may register for the vaccine clinics here at the MISD Fall 2021 COVID-19 Vaccine Registration page on the districts website.
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."
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia is forecast to reap record farm revenues this year despite pandemic challenges, a mouse plague and a trade dispute with China.

Australian farmers are expected to sell 73 billion Australian dollars ($54 billion) in produce in the current fiscal year that started in July thanks to favorable weather and grain prices inflated by drought in the United States and Canada, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Agriculture Departments research branch.

That compares with AU$66 billion ($49 billion) earned in 2020-21. That was also a good year for agriculture that followed a prolonged, crippling drought and devastating wildfires across southeast Australia.

The latest forecast is the first time the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences has forecast a return exceeding AU$70 billion ($51 billion).

The biggest contribution to growth in agricultural exports would be crops, which are forecast to rise by 17% to AU$30 billion ($22 billion).

A mouse plague across much of the eastern Australian cropping land reduced grain and hay production toward the end of the last fiscal year.

With bumper crops of wheat, barley and canola ready to be harvested soon, there are concerns about how many mice survived the Southern Hemisphere winter and how big the mouse population might grow to this year.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said a lack of seasonal workers caused by COVID-19 restrictions was a bigger threat to a successful harvest.

Thats the biggest constraint were seeing on agriculture as we move forward, Littleproud told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to labor shortages.

Australian agriculture relies heavily on international backpackers to provide a seasonal workforce. But Australia has closed its borders to tourists since early last year.

Some Australian states also require farm laborers to go into quarantine if they cross state lines to find work, which worsens labor shortages.

Under a new agricultural visa to be introduced this month, the government expects the number of Pacific islander and East Timorese laborers working in Australian primary industries will double to 24,000 by early next year.

The record financial returns from agriculture are forecast despite disruptions of exports including wine, beef and barley to China due to a souring of relations.

Australia angered China by requesting an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wine exports suffered the most due to the loss of the Chinese market after steep tariffs were introduced in late 2020.

Export volumes are expected to rise slightly with increased shipments to Britain, but the unit value will fall 13% in the current year, the report said.
Texas officials vowed to fight a federal regulator's decision to approve plans to allow thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste to be stored in oil fields in the state.

"Texas will not become America's nuclear waste dumping ground," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Twitter Tuesday. Abbott last week signed into law legislation that attempts to block the project from moving forward.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license Monday to Orano CIS LLC and its joint venture partner, J.F. Lehman & Co.'s Waste Control Specialists LLC, to establish a repository in the heart of Texas' Permian Basin oil fields for as many as 40,000 metric tons of radioactive waste.

Texas' blowback underscored the federal government's decades-long, futile hunt for a permanent disposal site for spent nuclear fuel. A political logjam over the issue has stranded tons of waste on site at several dozen power plants and other sites across the country including at two nuclear power plants in Texas.

The joint venture, known as Interim Storage Partners, plans to have waste shipped by rail from around the country and sealed in concrete casks where it would be stored above ground at a site about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) from Andrews, Texas, near the New Mexico border.

Local officials once embraced the Texas project as an economic boon, but it now faces stiff opposition from the local community, the state, and oil companies that fear a leak could taint a region that produces millions of barrels of oil a day. The waste can remain radioactive for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have opposition to this project on every level," said Karen Hadden, executive director of the Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Coalition, an Austin, Texas-based environmental group fighting project. "We do not consider this fight over. We will continue to battle these dangerous plans."

The Andrews County Commissioners' Court, which functions as the county's board of commissioners, had previously backed the plan as a means of diversifying the area's fortunes from the boom and bust of oil cycles. But it reversed course earlier this year and voted unanimously to oppose the project.

"The concerns are what if there was a leak, if there an was an attack, if there was a transportation accident," County Judge Charlie Falcon said in a phone interview. "It could affect our entire area and we are a very large oil producer in the state."

Congress in 1987 designated a ridge in the Nevada desert about 90 miles north of Las Vegas called Yucca Mountain to be the nation's repository. But decades of political opposition led by Nevada Democrat and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid kept the project from moving forward. In 2010, President Barack Obama scrapped the plan and the Biden administration opposes its use as well.

Instead, the administration plans to work with Congress and states to reach consent on storing nuclear waste, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Congress earlier this year.

A similar nuclear waste storage project, proposed in New Mexico by Holtec International Corp., is also awaiting approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The agency said it expects to make a decision on that proposal in January 2022.
Midland County Records

Jeffrey Marmaduke Johnston, a Midland oil and gas attorney, was arrested last Thursday after allegedly threatening to kill TxDOT contractors who were redirecting traffic after a collision.

Johnston allegedly drove around traffic cones and vehicles blocking a fatal accident on State Highway 349, according to an arrest affidavit. He then drove toward three TxDOT contractors who were near the barricade and told them to get out of his f---ing way I will kill you, the affidavit states.
Midland College Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society students are gathering up support for Midland Health employees directly dealing with COVID-19 patients.

Three of the chapter officers, including me, are Emergency Medical scribes at the hospital and see first-hand how the staff is working around the clock to deal with the crisis, Marisol Tarin, PTK vice president of Service and MC student, said. Even more of our members have family who work at Midland Heath, and they know the toll the virus is taking on their loved ones. I hope this fundraiser can show the medical staff our appreciation for their service during this pandemic.

The PTK students started a fundraiser at the end of August with the goal of supplying 110 Midland Health employees with boxed lunches. Students, faculty and staff answered the call raising more than $ 1,880. Jasons Deli is partnering with special pricing, so the students are able to use the extra money to purchase $10 gift cards to Starbucks to help keep Midland Health employees going.

We were blown away by the generosity of MCs students, faculty and staff, MC Government Professor and PTK Advisor Terry Gilmour said. I am so proud of these students for thinking beyond themselves and beyond the campus to help the community in such a time of need. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and all health care workers deserve a huge thanks for all they have endured during this pandemic.

PTK is the international honor society for two-year colleges. It recognizes and encourages scholarship by providing opportunities for leadership development and service. MC students must have a 3.5 GPA and a minimum 12 hours toward an associate degree to become members. Typically, 300 MC students meet these eligibility requirements. Benefits include recognition at commencement with regalia, the seal of PTK placed on students college diploma and notation of membership on students college transcript. PTK members also have access to $48 million in scholarships  $1 million in competitive scholarships through the PTK Foundation and more than $46 million in transfer scholarships to over 850 four-year colleges.

MCs chapter is continually recognized nationally and internationally. The chapter was named a 2021 REACH Chapter for excelling in membership development, and this past April, PTK International named the Midland College chapter as one of the top 100 chapters worldwide. They are also one of the top 10 chapters in Texas.
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.
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DALLAS (AP)  Southwest Airlines President Tom Nealon, who was once seen as a leading candidate for CEO but was passed over this year, has retired.

Southwest said Monday that Nealon, 60, will still serve as an adviser focusing on environmental issues, including plans to reduce carbon emissions. In a statement issued by the airline, Nealon said he was honored to have served Southwest in several jobs, especially president, and looks forward to taking on a strategic role.
A new state law is intended to ensure school districts are limiting negative impacts on students mental health during emergency drills.

Mike McGiles, director of operations for Jacksonville School District 117, said House Bill 2400 will not have much impact on how the district conducts emergency drills.

A lot of this really applies to how active-shooter drills are conducted, McGiles said.

The main change is in the notification process, he said.

The law requires schools to provide parents with five days notice ahead of any drills, to notify staff and students about the drills, and to let parents decide if they want their children to opt out of the drills.

Local emergency agencies involved in the drills also will see limited impacts.

Jacksonville Police Chief Adam Mefford said the new legislation will have minimal impact on his department, because his officers have never done a live simulation with students present.

Another change stemming from the new law include having no live simulations, such as live-fire simulations, while children are present.

We dont do huge training simulations with students present, Mefford said. We do these within ourselves or scenario-based situations with staff members. Its not necessary to have active-shooter training with students.

Mefford said his department has a good relationship with JSD 117 and works with the district to develop active-shooter plans and to prepare staff and students for those scenarios without live simulations.

A mental health professional also has to be available for students in case they are upset by a drill.

The purpose of the requirements is to reduce any traumatization for the students, McGiles said. It really isnt going to impact us that much. Any changes for us should be pretty minimal.

Jacksonville Fire Chief Doug Sills said his department is required to witness a fire drill at each school in the district annually.

We schedule the drills with the school and we observe the alarm system, make sure it can be reset, see how quickly they can conduct a drill and how orderly it is, Sills said. This new law doesnt really impact us any.
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.

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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.
ATLANTA (AP)  The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a statewide civil rights investigation into Georgia prisons, citing particular concern about violence.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the department's civil rights division, said the investigation will be comprehensive but will focus on harm to prisoners resulting from prisoner-on-prisoner violence. It will also look into sexual abuse of gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners by both prisoners and staff.

Under the Eighth Amendment of our Constitution, those who have been convicted of crimes and sentenced to serve time in prisons must never be subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, Clarke said during a video news conference. We must ensure the inherent human dignity and worth of everyone, including people who are incarcerated.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's office referred a request for comment on the investigation to the state Department of Corrections.

The GDC is committed to the safety of all of the offenders in its custody and denies that it has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating their civil rights or failing to protect them from harm due to violence," Corrections spokeswoman Lori Benoit said in an email. "This commitment includes the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault.

If the investigation reveals reasonable cause to believe there is a systemic constitutional violation, the Justice Department will provide written notice of any violations, along with supporting facts and minimal remedial measures, Clarke said. She added that the department would work with the state to establish solutions.

Clarke said the Justice Department is committed to trying to address the effects of prison staff shortages, inadequate policies and training and the lack of accountability.

Understaffing is a particularly devastating problem, Clarke said, noting that it can lead to inadequate supervision and violence. It can also keep people from being able to get necessary medical and mental health care. Without adequate mental health care, people experiencing mental health issues may harm themselves or commit suicide, risks that are compounded if they're locked up and isolated in solitary confinement, she said.

The Justice Department's investigation was prompted by an extensive review of publicly available data and other information, Clarke said. Among the things considered, she said, were concerns raised by citizens, family members of people in prison and civil rights groups, as well as photos and videos that have leaked out of the state's prisons that have highlighted widespread contraband weapons and open gang activity in the prisons.

Clarke pointed to at least 26 deaths in Georgia prisons by confirmed or suspected homicide as well as a reported 18 homicides so far this year in Georgia prisons. She said there have also been reports of other violent acts, including stabbings and beatings.

People of color are disproportionately represented among the nation's prison population, Clarke said, adding that Black people make up 61% percent of the people held in Georgia prisons but only about 32% of the state's population. She also said investigators would continue a current investigation into whether Georgia adequately protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people held in prisons from sexual abuse by other prisoners and staff.

The Justice Department in April filed a brief in a lawsuit filed by a transgender woman held in a men's prison in Georgia. The department didn't take a position on the facts of the case but said the Constitution requires prison officials to keep transgender people reasonably safe from substantial risk of harm and provide them with adequate medical care.

Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the solitary confinement conditions at a Georgia prison, said she is grateful for Justice Department intervention.

While this is a first step, it is an incredibly significant one in our struggle for accountability and safety inside Georgia prisons," she said, adding that she's been involved in advocacy work around prisons for two decades. "In my 20 years, I have never seen the prisons in such crisis. I have never seen this level of violence, of illness and of apathy from management.

State Rep. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat, has been vocal about problems in Georgia prisons and said he's been frustrated by a lack of information and cooperation from the Department of Corrections. He welcomed the federal investigation, but said it can take a long time for such actions to bear fruit.

Im very pleased about the trajectory but I want to stress that there are still crisis conditions in prisons that Georgia officials should be addressing immediately with any tool at their disposal," he said in a phone interview after the announcement.

To that end, he appeared before a meeting of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles Tuesday morning just before the federal investigation was announced and said the state prison system is melting down, with the coronavirus pandemic contributing to a staff shortage that allows more deaths and violence.

He said the board needs to be in an emergency mode that allows it to release more people in response to conditions.

___

Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP)  Members of a New York City crime family threatened violence, pressured workers and pocketed phony pension payments in a two-decade plot to seize control of a city construction union and its lucrative employee health insurance program, prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Ten members of the Colombo crime family, including 87-year-old boss Andrew Mush Russo, were charged in connection with the scheme, which prosecutors said had all the major trappings of Mafia-type shakedowns seen in TV shows like The Sopranos and movies.

Prosecutors said crime family members pressured the union to steer health plan business to pals, sought at least $10,000 per month in kickbacks and threatened to kill a union official if he didn't comply, telling an associate on a recorded telephone call in June: Ill put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids."

Acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the charges describe a long-standing, ruthless pattern by Colombo crime family leaders and underlings to exert control over the union, which was not identified in the indictment or by prosecutors.

Four other people were also charged, including a Bonanno crime family soldier accused of falsifying government workplace safety certifications for hundreds of construction workers.

Several defendants were accused of other crimes, including loan sharking and conspiring to distribute large amounts of marijuana.

Most of the defendants were arrested Tuesday in New York and New Jersey and arraigned by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl in Brooklyn federal court. One defendant was arrested in North Carolina and was scheduled to be arraigned there. Another remained at large, prosecutors said.

They each face up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Russo appeared at his video arraignment from a hospital bed, with an FBI agent by his side. He pleaded not guilty as medical equipment beeped periodically.

The Colombo boss was taken to the hospital after his arrest Tuesday for a medical evaluation prior to being jailed, in part because of concerns about his age and injuries he suffered in a car crash about three weeks ago.

After being deemed medically fit to be detained, Russo was expected to be sent Tuesday night to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He's been locked up several times before, including a 33-month stint in federal prison after a 2011 racketeering arrest, court records show.

Russo's lawyers did not immediately seek his release on bail Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left with Russo's lawyers.

According to prosecutors, the scheme to infiltrate the union dated to 2001, when Colombo mobster Vincent Ricciardo, known as Vinny Unions started squeezing a union official to fork over a portion of his salary as a pension" he falsely claimed was owed.

Online court records did not list a lawyer who could speak on Ricciardo's behalf.

Russo and other Colombo leaders, including the underboss and consigliere, got involved in 2019, overseeing a plan to force the union to make decisions beneficial to the crime family, including driving contracts to vendors associated with the family, prosecutors said.

Ricciardo and another Colombo mobster went to the union official's home in January 2020 to threaten him and his family, while Vinnys cousin followed up with threatening text messages, prosecutors said.

A few months later, police stopped Ricciardo and the other mobster after they went to the union office and repeatedly banged on a locked door, prosecutors said.

They told the officers they were there to collect a check, prosecutors said.

In the recorded telephone call in June, Ricciardo was heard fantasizing about killing the union official, no matter the cost.

You laugh all you want pal, Im not afraid to go to jail, he said, according to prosecutors.

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Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak
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.
Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine could be authorized for use in children aged 5 to 11 by Halloween, according to top U.S. health officials. That timeline is based on the belief that Pfizer will have enough data from clinical trials to seek emergency use authorization for that age group from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toward the end of September.

The FDA could make a decision about whether the shot is safe and effective in young children within three weeks of the EUA submission, according to Reuters.

Moderna will take about three weeks longer than Pfizer to collect and analyze data, with a decision for the Moderna vaccine in children aged 5 to 11 coming in November. Moderna told investors to anticipate data from its childrens study by the end of 2021.

Pfizer has previously announced it would have data on children aged 5-11 ready in September and that the vaccine maker planned to submit for an EUA after that data was ready. On Friday, the FDA said it would work to approve the COVID-19 vaccines for children quickly once the companies submitted their data.

Emergency use authorizations require companies to submit two months of safety data on trial participants, versus six months required for full licensure.

Dr. Peter Marks, the FDAs vaccine chief, told The Associated Press he is hopeful that vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds will be underway by years end. Marks said the FDA could analyze Pfizers data in a "matter of weeks."

Results for children as young as 6 months will come at a later date.

"In a best-case scenario, given that timeline they've just laid out, you could potentially have a vaccine available to children aged 5 to 11 by Halloween," former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who serves on Pfizers board of directors, said in an interview with "Face the Nation." "If everything goes well, the Pfizer data package is in order, and FDA ultimately makes a positive determination, I have confidence in Pfizer in terms of the data that they've collected. But this is really up to the Food and Drug Administration to make an objective determination."

Pfizer has been conducting clinical trials of its two-dose vaccine in children 2 years and older, and its approval could be crucial to helping combat the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in schools. Children represent 25% of new COVID-19 infections, according to CBS News.

In Illinois, there were 3,804 COVID-19 cases in children aged 5-11 for the week ending Sept. 4, up from 3,462 the week prior. The number of COVID-19 cases in the age group has been rising week over week since late June. There have been 128 outbreaks in schools over the last 30 days, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The Biden administration took a much-needed step toward protecting the health and wellness of Americas schoolchildren and educators last month by directing U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to take all necessary legal steps to ensure governors are facilitating a safe return to in-person learning. With the school year under way, this is the right move at a critical moment.

Despite the virulent Delta variant attacking our nations young people, some U.S. governors are relying on science fiction versus actual science while risking the lives of children and adults who are unable to be vaccinated. Thankfully, local leaders have aggressively worked to take head to CDC guidance for protecting students  only to be undermined by their state leaders. In more extreme cases, some are going as far as giving more resources to districts that refuse to mandate masks  incentivizing schools to not practice evidence-based strategies for limiting the spread of COVID-19.

The Biden administration can take several legal steps to address barriers governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Doug Ducey of Arizona are creating against safely reopening schools. First, they can rely on the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to file suit against state governments on any of several grounds. Jurisdiction for protecting public health rests with the federal government  not with states  under the Public Health Service Act to control the spread of disease. Further, the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution rests the right to ensure the economy still functions across state lines with the federal government, which arguably gives grounds to ensure school operations are not disrupting the ability to continue interstate commerce. Additionally, the 14th Amendment requires equal protection under the law for all Americans. Violation of rights of a protected class, which includes race, requires a judicial response. The pandemics outsize impact on communities of color is a ready argument to make with the courts when some states have sent students back to in-person learning without mask mandates, reverting to school closures based on COVID outbreaks and a need to quarantine. Based on what we know about reducing viral spread, these crises were avoidable through masking, if not wholly preventable by more targeted quarantine and vaccination standards.

The U.S. Department of Education should also take a more targeted and aggressive approach to support school districts establishing permanent hybrid strategies for learning. This work must prioritize options for virtual learning that keep students connected to educators in their communities and brick-and-mortar schools, to maintain their social and emotional well-being. Some students thrived in the hybrid model; most working families cannot afford homeschooling or private schooling; and, as the past 18 months has shown, future health and weather emergencies should not disrupt our students ability to continue their education. The administration must act now if a continuation of quality learning is the goal.

The Biden administration must also revisit its decision not to push for budget dollars supporting the modernization of Americas public school buildings and the availability of new childcare centers. While the purpose of schools is not primarily to provide children with a place to be while parents and guardians work, the absence of safe and affordable options affects young peoples well-being, particularly those who face financial instability or food insecurity if their caregivers cannot work.

The American public has experienced conservative regimes so confident in their priorities that they have been unyielding and strategic in positioning themselves to legislate. Whether it be filling judicial vacancies while deriding political opponents not to do the same, attacking voting rights to preserve electoral power, or calling for restricting quality teaching and learning for the sake of denying a history of injustice, they do not waver. Building back better must prioritize people over politics. As governors in states like Washington and Oregon are demonstrating by requiring educators to be vaccinated  with no opt-out testing loopholes  political will is what is needed most to protect students from COVID-19 to ensure their continued learning.

Khalilah M. Harris is acting vice president for K-12 Education Policy at the Center for American Progress. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.
As the country sadly marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on Saturday, I was thinking about where America was 20 years ago and where its headed.

In the weeks and months following the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans at the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Americans were united in a way its hard to imagine today.

Patriotic country songs were written about America and what it stands for  positive, uplifting songs  and everyone in New York City and Washington promised to rebuild the fallen towers even taller.

Politically, we were all singing from the same bipartisan hymnal: We had to strike back quickly and severely punish the Islamist terrorists who did us harm.

Every politician in Washington  even career non-interventionist Ron Paul  called for kicking al-Qaidas butt by destroying their training camps and headquarters in Afghanistan.

Our great military quickly did just that and, for good measure, dethroned the brutal Taliban government that was providing safe harbor for al-Qaida.

Then, for the next 20 years, America pretty much went to hell.

Today, after a series of botched Middle East wars, the deaths of thousands of our soldiers, and the spending of trillions of our dollars, were a politically divisive, unhappy and humiliated country.

Its bad enough that the Taliban are back in charge of Afghanistan, hunting down and killing their enemies, prohibiting girls from going to school, and forcing women to look and act like its the seventh century.

The last 20 years have been one big American foreign policy blunder after another.

In Afghanistan, we wasted lives and money on a tribal, backward, corrupt, ungovernable and historically unconquerable country that our leaders in Washington apparently thought we could turn into Switzerland.

Between them, Bush II and Obama and their third-string generals mismanaged the war for 16 years, kicking the Afghanistan war tin can down the road, and leaving it for first Trump and then Biden to figure out how to end it.

Biden, not surprisingly, did the worst possible job in the shortest time, screwing up the American evacuation of Afghanistan in every way imaginable.

President Biden deserves all the criticism hes gotten  and much more. But the Afghanistan debacle is not entirely his fault. Its what happens when you dont fight a war to win  or when you fight and win a war but then dont know when its time to get out.

In case you havent noticed, with the exception of maybe Grenada, the last war America actually won was World War II. We won it because FDR and his generals knew we had to totally crush Germany and Japan and we did it unconditionally.

If youre going to take your country to war, if youre going to risk your countrys precious blood and treasure, you better crush your enemy.

We didnt crush the Taliban.

And we didnt win in Afghanistan because the war there became a political issue, not a military one, and our politicians of both major parties were more interested in winning elections.

So while America mourned 9/11, the Taliban were celebrating it.

While we were mourning our 20-year failure in Afghanistan, the Taliban were having a victory party.

Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to reagan@caglecartoons.com.
In the days since the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has reiterated that it will judge the Taliban by its actions, not its words. But the Talibans actions are already failing to live up to the groups flowery promises of reform.

It has cracked down on protests in Kabul, assaulting women with rifle butts, tear gas and metal clubs. It cemented its stranglehold over the country by overcoming resistance forces in Panjshir Province. Reports have emerged that the Taliban is preventing a handful of charter flights with Americans and Afghan allies from leaving Mazar-i-Sharif because, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters, there are some people without valid documents aboard that the Taliban says at this point cant leave.

The starkest reminder that this is still the same old Taliban, however, came when the group announced a governing team headed by many figures from its past.

The Talibans emir is Haibatullah Akhundzada, who has led the group since 2016. He ascended to power after a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan killed former leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Akhundzada is a shadowy, reclusive figure, and is one of the Taliban leaders not on the United Nations sanctions list. The group tapped U.N.-blacklisted Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund as prime minister of the council of ministers. Akhund served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister when the group was last in power from 1996 to 2001.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar  who became its No. 2 after the death of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar in 2013  will serve as acting deputy minister of the council. Baradar spearheaded negotiations with the United States and signed the February 2020 Doha agreement.

Perhaps most controversial among the picks is the groups choice of Sirajuddin Haqqani as minister of interior. Haqqani, who authored a New York Times op-ed in February 2020 as deputy leader of the Taliban, is wanted by the FBI for his connection with a January 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul that left six dead, including one American.

He is also leader of the Haqqani Network, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization with deep ties to al-Qaida. And those ties dont stop with Haqqani. There are other Taliban leaders with links to al-Qaida, said Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. [Haqqanis] just the most obvious.

The announcement is almost assuredly the final nail in the coffin of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. There is nothing really new about the new government: Its primarily composed of longtime Taliban leaders, many of whom were at the helm or in the leadership pipeline when the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was last in power.

Baradar told Al Jazeera the government will be inclusive, and spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has claimed that the interim government wont be based on ethnicity.

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 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 wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Japan, US, S. Korea urge N. Korea to return to arms talks View Photo

TOKYO (AP)  Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea urged North Korea on Tuesday to return to talks over its missile and nuclear development, a day after it announced it successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles, indicating an advancement of its military capabilities.

The three-way meeting in Tokyo was attended by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim, South Koreas Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and Japanese Director-General for Asian and Oceanian affairs Takehiro Funakoshi.

U.S. envoy Kim said the three countries were open to diplomacy with North Korea to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States and our allies. He urged North Korea to respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.

Washington and its allies will continue to work to fully implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions in addressing North Koreas missile development, he added.

All three agreed on the timeliness of their meeting Tuesday.

Our trilateral cooperation is essential for complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, Noh said.

On Monday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the tests of the new missiles showed they can hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away.

North Korea hailed the missiles as a strategic weapon of great significance, suggesting that they were developed with the intent of arming them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to deter what it says is hostility from Washington and Seoul.

On Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told member nations that North Koreas nuclear activities continue to be a cause for serious concern. Its continuation of its nuclear program is a clear violation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable, he said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was to arrive in Seoul on Tuesday for talks with South Korean officials on bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Wang is scheduled to meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday. Chung is expected seek a more active role from Beijing, North Koreas main ally and economic lifeline, in persuading the North to return to the negotiating table.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said before the trilateral meeting that it was a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Koreas weekend missile tests were a new threat to the region.

Japan and South Korea are both key allies of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region.

___

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and HARUKA NUGA

Associated Press
Tuolumne Public Health reports two deaths due to COVID-19 a man in his 60s and a woman in her 70s. There are 72 new COVID-19 cases since Fridays report and 235 active cases including 12 who are hospitalized and one is a Sierra Conservation inmate case. The total current case rate, a 14-day average for Tuolumne County is up to 52.8 from 49.1 100,000 population Friday. A total of 4,143 have been released from isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, 235 are currently active, there have been 98 deaths and 1,619 inmate cases for a total of 6,095 total cases.

Todays newly reported cases include 13 cases age 17 or under and 21 cases age 60 and older. The gender and age breakdown is; 2 girls and 1 boy age 0-11, 6 girls and 4 boys age 12-17, 5 women and 9 men age 18-29, 7 women and 3 men age 30-39, 4 women and 4 men age 40 to 49, 5 men age 50-59, 5 women and 2 man age 60 -69, 1 woman and 8 men age 70 to 79, 1 woman and 3 men age 80 to 89, and 1 woman age 90 or older.

Of the 71 new community cases, 59 were unvaccinated, and 12 were vaccinated, and the two deaths were unvaccinated. There was one new Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) inmate case, the California Department of Corrections reports 19 active inmate cases, there are two correctional facilities in the state with more active Covid cases.

Calaveras County Public Health reports a new Covid related death, a male in his 50s, no other details were provided. There are 53 new Covid cases since Fridays report and 64 active cases including 4 Covid hospitalizations. There are 14 new cases age 0-17 and 8 new cases in individuals age 65 years old or older. Since the pandemic began Calaveras has had 451 Covid-19 positive people who are 17 and under and 570 Covid-19 positive people 65 and over.

Youth Activity COVID-19 Mandatory Order On Friday September 10, the Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, and Mariposa Counties updated the youth activity rules. The order goes into effect today, Monday, September 13, and will remain in effect until it is rescinded. Adherence to the order applies to all extracurricular and organized youth activities that occur before or after school, on school campuses or in the community, public or private. Details are in the Health Officer Order here.

COVID-19 Testing Public Health officials say, If you have more serious symptoms such as pain or pressure in your chest, trouble breathing, bluish lips or face, sudden confusion, having a hard time staying awake, dizziness, contact your healthcare provider or urgent care.

If you believe you have been exposed to COVID, schedule an appointment to get tested 5 days after exposure. If you are having any symptoms, please get tested right away. The State testing site is open 7 days a week beginning from 7 AM to 7 PM at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds. Appointments should be made rather than walking in. Appointments can be scheduled at www.lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123. Testing is also available through, some pharmacies, at Rapid Care or the hospital emergency department if you are experiencing any symptoms, or contact your healthcare provider.

COVID-19 Vaccines Vaccine appointments can be made at local pharmacies and through myturn.ca.gov or by calling 833-422-4255. Anyone 12 and older is eligible for a COVID vaccine, Pfizer is approved for anyone age 12 or over. As detailed here healthcare workers are required to be vaccinated by September 30. The Pfizer vaccine requires 3 weeks between doses and the Moderna requires 4 weeks. The J&J vaccine requires only one dose. Call or email with any questions you may have Tuolumne is available at (209) 533-7440 Health@tuolumnecounty.ca.gov, Mariposa at (209) 259-1332 or mariposacovid19@gmail.com more numbers are available on our COVID-19 page here.

Public Health continues to strongly encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated, as the most important step to reduce the spread of disease and prevent serious illness and death, as well as to reduce the impact on the healthcare system. In addition, the continued practice of other preventive actions like wearing a mask in public, keeping your distance, avoiding crowds, washing hands, and staying home when sick will help slow the spread of the virus. The vaccination rate for Tuolumne county is 54% of eligible people.

Health Officials detail, Choosing to help the Public Health Department slow the spread of COVID-19 helps protect you, your family, and your community. We all need to work together to slow the spread of COVID-19. We strongly encourage everyone to be part of the solution and answer the phoneit may be the health department calling to let you know your test result came back positive for COVID-19, or that you have been in close contact with someone who has it. For more information on contact tracing click here, for isolation and quarantine information go here.
Yosemite, CA Yosemite Search and Rescue is asking for help in locating a missing man. Joel Thomazin is a 31-year-old white male, 5 ft 10 in with buzzed brown colored hair. Joel planned to solo hike from Hetch Hetchy to Lake Eleanor and then return to Hetch Hetchy. He began his hike on September 6th and was due to return on September 9th. Joel has a Kelty brand yellow and gray backpack, green sleeping bag, bright red inflatable kayak, blue/green hammock, and tan or blue zip-off pants.

If anyone saw someone fitting that description during those times, they are encouraged to call Yosemite Search and Rescue at 209-238-7046.
Israel PM in first official trip to Egypt in over a decade

Israel PM in first official trip to Egypt in over a decade View Photo

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. Egypts state television showed both leaders sitting side by side in front of both of national flags, with the Israeli armys chief of staff and Egypts 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 Ethiopias dam on one of the Nile Rivers 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 countrys role in stabilizing Gaza and its help with Israeli missing and captives from Israels 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 Israels 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.

By NOHA ELHENNAWY

Associated Press
EXPLAINER: How California could recall Gov. Gavin Newsom View Photo

LOS ANGELES (AP)  The California recall election that could remove first-term Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office wraps up Tuesday. Just over 8.5 million mail-in ballots  the form of voting most Californians use  were returned prior to Election Day out of 22 million sent to registered voters.

The contest unfolded this summer as the nations 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 the 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 Californias 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 told residents to stay home.

HOW DOES THE ELECTION WORK?

There are two questions: Voters were asked if Newsom should be removed, yes or no, and then who should replace him. There were 46 replacement candidates on the ballot.

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.

Newsom was successful in discouraging any fellow Democrats with political standing from entering the race and offering themselves as an alternative should the recall be successful. He urged his supporters to vote no on the recall but leave the second question blank.

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 states 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

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD

AP Political Writer
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP)  A California man who went on a solo hiking trip at Yosemite National Park is missing, park officials said.

Joel Thomazin, 31, of Denair, set out to hike Sept. 6 from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Lake Eleanor, 9 miles (14 kilometers) away and planned to return to Hetch Hetchy by Sept. 9. He was declared missing on Saturday, Yosemite National Park officials said in a statement.

Thomazin is 5 feet, 10 inches, and has buzz-cut brown hair, officials said. They said he was carrying a yellow and gray backpack, a green sleeping bag, a blue and green hammock, and a red inflatable kayak.

They urged anyone who has been in the area of Miguel Meadow, Lake Eleanor or on the trails around Hetch Hetchy since last Monday, or who might have any information regarding Thomazin, to contact Yosemite Search and Rescue.

Thomazins wife, Amanda Thomazin, said in a Facebook post Sunday that at least 16 National Park Service search and rescue crew members were looking for her husband along with a search dog. She said Tuolumne County search and rescue would also join the search, which includes a helicopter, kayaks and a boat.

Please join the thousands of people praying for Joel, she wrote. Pray for todays efforts as they begin again this morning. Pray for every person, dog, boat, and helicopter who searching. Pray for Joels safety and strength. Pray that he is ok. Pray that he has water. Pray that he can get to a place to be seen.
DOVER, Del. (AP)  One of the primary insurers of the Boy Scouts of America announced Tuesday that it has reached a tentative settlement agreement with the organization and with attorneys representing tens of thousands of men who say they were molested decades ago by scoutmasters and others.

Under the agreement, insurance company The Hartford will pay $787 million into a fund to be established for the men, the company said in a news release. In exchange for the payment, the Boy Scouts organization and its local councils have agreed to release The Hartford from further liability regarding sexual abuse claims.

Under a separate settlement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to pay $250 million into the fund for abuse claimants, said church spokesman Eric Hawkins. The denomination, commonly known as the Mormon church, was the largest single sponsor of Boy Scout troops before ending its partnership with the BSA at the beginning of last year.

The proposed settlements are part of an ongoing effort by the Boy Scouts, which declared bankruptcy in February 2020, to forge a reorganization plan that must win approval by a majority of abuse victims and the court. Attorneys are still trying to negotiate a settlement with the Boy Scouts' other major insurer, Century Indemnity.

The proposed settlements are opposed by the official victims committee appointed by the U.S. bankruptcy trustee, as well as law firms separately representing hundreds of men who have filed sexual abuse claims. Representatives of the official victims committee described the proposed settlements as grossly unfair.

The only winners in this latest proposal are the Boy Scouts, their local councils, the Mormon Church, and the Hartford insurance company, Michael Pfau, an attorney whose firm represents more than 1,000 abuse claimants in the bankruptcy, said in a prepared statement.

The Boy Scouts are offering abuse survivors a fraction of what their cases are worth and the assets available to pay them, Pfau added. The Mormon church is reported to have roughly $100 billion in assets, but it is offering a paltry $250 million to compensate the thousands of abuse survivors who were abused in Mormon Boy Scout troops by Mormon Scout leaders.

The proposed settlements will be incorporated into a new reorganization plan that attorneys for the Boy Scouts were expected to file late Tuesday night.

The new agreement with The Hartford was negotiated after the bankruptcy judge last month rejected two key provisions of an $850 million deal that the BSA had reached with attorneys representing a majority of abuse claimants.

Judge Laura Selber Silverstein denied the BSAs request as part of that deal for permission to withdraw from a previous $650 million settlement it had reached with The Hartford. The Boy Scouts sought to withdraw from that April agreement after attorneys for abuse claimants repeatedly insisted that their clients would never vote for a reorganization plan that included it.

Silverstein also rejected a proposal for the Boy Scouts to pay millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses of attorneys hired by a coalition of law firms that represent tens of thousands of abuse claimants. The judge noted that any such payment would come out of the pockets of abuse claimants themselves.

The new settlement with The Hartford was the product of negotiations that included attorneys representing an ad hoc group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. Law firms affiliated with the group represent more than 60,000 sex abuse claimants.

These are very significant developments, said Ken Rothweiler, whose law firm is affiliated with the coalition and represents roughly 16,800 abuse claimants.

The proposed settlements, coupled with the $850 million contribution from the BSA and local councils, would bring the fund for abuse claimants to almost $1.9 billion. If the plan is approved, it would represent one of the largest sex-abuse settlements in U.S. history.

Meanwhile, the official victims committee has estimated the total liability exposure of Boy Scouts insurers for abuse claims at more than $100 billion.

The committee supported the previous arrangement, which called for the earlier settlement with The Hartford to be scrapped and for the Boy Scouts and local BSA councils, which run day-to-day operations for Boy Scout troops, to contribute $850 million and their rights to insurance policies to the fund for abuse claimants. The committee noted that the primary value for abuse survivors under that deal would come from available insurance coverage.

Insurance companies pushed back hard against that plan, arguing that the proposed transfer of insurance rights unlawfully stripped them of their ability to question claims and improperly allowed the trustee overseeing the victims fund to determine what insurers owed without being challenged. Insurers also questioned a provision allowing expedited payments of $3,500 from the fund to resolve abuse claims, no questions asked.

___

Sophia Eppolito, a Report for America corps member based in Salt Lake City, contributed to this report.
CONAKRY, Guinea (AP)  Guinea's longtime opposition leaders voiced support Tuesday for the country's new military rulers as a four-day summit got under way that is aimed at charting the West African nation's future following a coup just over a week ago.

Pressure, though, is expected to mount this week for Col. Mamady Doumbouya to set a timeframe for holding new elections. Regional mediators and the international community are calling for the junta to hand over power to a civilian-led transitional government.

Opposition party leaders who came to the heavily guarded People's Palace for the Tuesday meeting, however, publicly backed the coup and laid more criticism on ousted President Alpha Conde. The 83-year-old leader was detained by the junta during the Sept. 5 coup and his exact whereabouts have not been disclosed.

Conde sparked violent street protests last year after he pushed forth a constitutional referendum he said allowed him to extend his rule to a third term.

Ousmane Kaba, leader of the opposition Party of Democrats for Hope, called that bid by Conde to stay in power beyond his mandate a coup as well.

That was not legal, you know, so thats why we had a military coup to stop the institutional, constitutional coup," he told reporters Tuesday. "And I think the international community should help us, should help Guinea to have a good transition.

Guineas most prominent opposition figure, Cellou Dalein Diallo, already has spoken out against Conde, calling him a dictator who had brought on his own downfall. Diallo, who had lost to the ousted leader in the last three presidential elections, has signaled that he intends to run whenever a vote is next held.

But the opposition's request for support and not punishment may not sway the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS. It already has threatened Guinea with economic sanctions unless the junta releases the deposed president immediately.

The bloc took a similar move in August 2020 when it imposed sanctions on neighboring Mali after mutinous soldiers there overthrew a longtime president who had become increasingly unpopular. Regional mediators called for a one-year deadline for new elections in Mali but later acquiesced to the junta leaders and accepted an 18-month timeframe instead.

Even that now appears in doubt as February 2022 approaches, since Col. Assimi Goita effectively staged a second coup in Mali nine months after the first by firing the civilian president and prime minister and later declaring himself president of the transition.

In Mali's case, the junta had overthrown a president who came to power through a democratic election supported by the international community and who had not sought to change the country's term limits.

Guinea's ex-leader, though, had lost credibility with many in Conakry after he won his third term in October. That appears to have muted the public backlash against the junta so far in Guinea's capital, where opposition figures said Tuesday they were optimistic about what the coming days would bring.

Sidya Toure, leader of the Union of Republican Forces party, said conditions already appear to have improved since the military takeover. He recalled how security forces had tried to kidnap me in my home during Conde's regime.

We can see it all around the town in Conakry, absolutely the change amongst the military and policemen," he said. "I think we are going in the right way for the moment.

___

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal.
Covenant Health will host a job fair in Lubbock at its Lubbock campus next week.

The event is set for 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at the Knipling Education & Conference Center on the sixth floor of the west parking garage off 21st Street and Louisville.

The hospital system is looking to hire several positions across Lubbock, Plainview, Levelland and Hobbs, New Mexico.

Positions available include:

Registered nurse

Scrub tech

Social work

Health screeners

Housekeeping/environmental services

Respiratory therapist

Certified surgical tech

Certified nurse aids

Food and nutrition

Licensed vocational nurses

Pharmacy tech

EMT-Paramedic

Childcare assistants

Certified medical assistants

Telesitter/constant care attendance

Job seekers will have a chance to drop off their resumes. Computers will be on-site so those interested can fill out applications on-site.

Temperature screenings will be done at the door, masks are required and hand sanitizer will be provided. Social distancing will also be enforced and the number of attendees allowed in at once will be restricted.
The Texas Llano Estacado Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society will host an educational symposium on Oct. 2 titled Unmasking Cancer Through The Life Span.

The symposium is for nurses and other healthcare professionals. Its set from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the McInturff Conference Center at University Medical Center, 602 Indiana Ave. in Lubbock.
Want to grab a breve latte with a splash of vanilla while checking on your bank account?

San Antonio locals can do that at a new cafe from Capital One coming to the Shops at La Cantera, according to a recent filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations.

Capital One Cafe will renovate the old Microsoft Store at La Cantera, according to the filing, for a projected cost of $3.9 million. The filing says construction is set to start in November and finish in May 2022.

The venture dates back to 2016 and now includes locations throughout the country including several near San Antonio in Austin, Georgetown, Cedar Park and Plano.

MySA reached out to Capital One for more information.

Capital One Cafe is a fully functioning coffee shop that offers coffees, teas and bakery sweets, according to post on its website.

The location is meant to be a welcoming space "where banking meets living" even if a person doesn't bank with Capital One. But if someone does bank with Capital One, they can get 50 percent off their purchases at with a debit or credit card from the bank.

Customers can access ATMs where they can deposit cash and checks and withdraw money. Where banks have tellers, Capital One Cafe has "ambassadors," who will offer financial advice, look into opening a bank account and shop credit card products.

Like every modern cafe, there will be free Wi-Fi, and power outlets to charge laptops or phones.
Boeing said Tuesday that the airline industry is showing signs of recovering from the pandemic, and it raised its bullish prediction about demand for airline and military planes and other aerospace products and services.

The company predicted that the aerospace market will be worth $9 trillion over the next decade. That is up from Boeing's prediction of $8.5 trillion last year and $8.7 trillion in 2019, before the pandemic torpedoed demand for airline jets.

Separately, Boeing reported a small gain in new airliner orders during August, underscoring the fragile nature of the recovery in air travel. The company posted net orders for 23 commercial jets after accounting for 30 cancellations  28 of them for the 737 Max.

As recently as 2018, Boeing booked more than 1,000 orders. That was followed, however, by two deadly Max crashes that led regulators around the world to ground the plane for nearly two years, crippling Boeing's commercial-planes business. Since then it has also struggled with production flaws on another plane, the larger 787.

Boeing delivered 22 planes last month, trailing the 40 deliveries by European rival Airbus. Deliveries are a crucial source of cash for the companies.

Boeing officials said the last year shows that air travel can rebound quickly, which was reflected in their upbeat long-term forecast.

We lost about two years of growth, said Darren Hulst, Boeing vice president of commercial marketing. However, we see recovery to pre-virus levels by the end of 2023 or early 2024.

An average of 1.85 million passengers boarded planes in the U.S. each a day in August, up from about 700,000 per day last year. However, that was still down 23% from the 2.4 million daily average in August 2019, according to government figures.

In the U.S. and around the world, air travel within countries is picking up faster than cross-border travel, as many countries maintain high barriers to international travel. In July, global domestic travel was 84% of July 2019 levels, but international travel was only 26%, according to the International Air Transport Association, the main trade group for global airlines.

Despite the setback from the pandemic, Chicago-based Boeing's long-term outlook is little changed from a year ago. By 2030, the company predicts that airlines will need 19,000 new planes to replace old ones and for growth fueled by increasing demand for travel, especially in Asia.

By 2040, the company forecast that the global fleet of airline planes will top 49,000, with nearly 40% of that in the Asia-Pacific region, led by China.

To fly those planes, Boeing Co. predicted the world will need 612,000 more pilots, 626,000 technicians and 886,000 flight attendants over the next 20 years.
San Antonio based beauty brand, Chica Beauty, is expanding its reach this Hispanic Heritage Month by joining Qurate Retail Group's Small Business Spotlight.

The multi-platform retail circuit helping to boost the Latina-owned company, features shopping networks like QVC, HSN, Zulily.

Chica Beauty began surfacing on QVCs and HSNs websites and social pages this month. As part of the extended relationship, the company will be officially highlighted on air on September 17, 2021 at noon and 6 p.m. Central time on QVC

and at 1:55 p.m. and 7:55 p.m. on HSN. Zulily is set to promote the brand across its social media.

The brand was founded in 2020, by Incarnate Word alumnae and sisters, Mei-Lon and Toni Lee Jimenez. From the onset, the sibling duo wanted to create sleek, on-the-go beauty staples that serve to uplift women.

Courtesy, ChicaBeauty

"Toni and I started this business together as a way to empower women through beauty. We are committed to making a positive difference in the lives of real girls and women - chicas like us. We are proud of our culture and we are so honored and grateful to be selected as one of six small businesses to represent the Latinx community!" says co-founder Mei-Lon Jimenez in a press statement.

Previous to the joint venture, Toni Lee had her hands in a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors, including ChicaGirl, a digital magazine uplifting the stories of San Antonio girls.

My sister, Mei-Lon, and I are excited and thankful to Qurate and NRF for recognizing Latina-owned, small businesses,

like ours, who are making a positive impact on our community. The opportunity for us to share our story of resilience and

passion on a national platform is a dream come true! We promise to continue to inspire and empower women through

Chica Beauty," says Toni Lee Jimenez.

The Small Business Spotlight is in collaboration with the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation, and intends to strengthen diverse small businesses through increased exposure and other measures of support. The program will run throughout 2021.

If you already know you're interested, you can visit the Chica Beauty website to purchase matte liquid lipstick, blush, tinted moisturizer and more by the San Antonio makeup purveyors. Or, follow them on Instagram.
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.
Each year, our nation comes together in September to celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. What began as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 was expanded in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on Sept. 15 and ending on Oct. 15, now known as Hispanic Heritage Month.

With 85% of Palo Alto College students self-identifying as part of an ethnic or racial minority group, we encourage our community to embrace diverse perspectives. The Alamo Colleges Districts mission is to empower our diverse communities for success. In an effort to join the national celebration and to honor the indigenous heritages of South Texas, Palo Alto College kicks off the newly renamed Latinx Heritage Month with a series of free virtual events featuring many special guests.

The month-long series kicks off Sept. 15 with a keynote address from Cherrie Moraga, a internationally recognized poet, essayist and playwright. Moragas professional life began in 1981 with her co-editorship of the groundbreaking feminist anthology, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color.

On Sept. 16 we will honor Diez y Seis de Septiembre and Hispanic Serving Institutions Week with a panel/platica discussing the current political movement challenging the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our K-12 classrooms. This panel will explain what critical race theory is, the impact of this recent legislation on teachers and students, and the role of Hispanic Serving Institutions of higher education.

Were also excited to hear from Lalo Alcaraz during a second keynote address on Sept. 21. Alcaraz is an award-winning visual/media artist and television/film writer who has been chronicling the ascendancy of Latinos in the U.S. for over a quarter-century. A busy Chicano artist, Alcaraz served as a cultural consultant on the Oscar-winning 2017 Day of the Dead-themed film Coco.

On Sept. 28, Palo Alto College commemorates National Voter Registration Day by hosting a panel focused on Latina civic engagement through public service. Panelists will discuss strategies and personal experiences related to voting mobilization, community organizing and public service. On Sept. 29, PAC will continue to highlight the work and successes of Latinas by hosting a Latinas in STEM panel, which will highlight the importance of increasing the representation of Latinas in STEM fields.

On Oct. 7, we will celebrate National Poetry Day with Lupe Mendez, a writer, educator, activist and 2022 Texas Poet Laureate. Mendez is the author of Why I Am Like Tequila, winner of the 2019 John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. This event also will feature a student reading from the Palo Alto College student literary journal Eleven Rivers Review.

Finally, we will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day in honor of the heritage and contributions of our indigenous ancestors on Oct. 11. Latinx Heritage Month will end with a panel on the award-winning 2021 documentary film Truly Texas Mexican: The Native American Roots of Texas Mexican Food, which explores the regional indigenous roots of contemporary Texas Mexican food.

All events are free and open to the public; a full list with links to join the events can be accessed at alamo.edu/pac/heritage-month.

As we take time to learn about our nations history, its important to recognize the achievements and remember the challenges of our ancestors. By doing so, well all gain a better understanding of our differences and backgrounds that ultimately make us one community.

Robert Garza, Ph.D., is president of Palo Alto College, part of the Alamo Colleges District.
When vaccines were first rolled out last year in Texas, Syed Raza received an unusual text message from a fellow doctor practicing in the Houston area.

The doctor had just received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and was scheduled to get his second shot later that month, but he was texting Raza to note he had been reading on the internet that he had enough protection from the first dose and didnt need to get the second dose.

Im not sure what stuff he was reading, but it was inaccurate. It doesnt matter if people are fully trained physicians or have no training in science, it seems that we are all able to be fooled by these ruses, said Raza, the vice president of medical operations at St. Lukes Health in Houston, who is responsible for all aspects of isolating, treating and stabilizing patients with COVID-19 at two area hospitals.

This is science. Vaccines work, and they work much more effectively if people get both doses, he added. Using emotions, or opinions people get off of nonreputable sources, is not helping.

But a large number of Texans apparently have decided to stick with one dose of the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines: 1.89 million have missed their second dose as of Sept. 6, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. More than 1 million of them are more than 90 days overdue for their second dose.

That means that of those who received a first dose, 11% havent gotten their second shot within the recommended time frame.

Those numbers [confirm] a lot of what we have been seeing. We knew it, said Dr. James McDeavitt, the executive vice president and dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. It's problematic. It always has been, but its even more problematic with the delta variant.

Doctors were already fearful about Texas lagging vaccination rate. As of Sept. 11, roughly 49% of Texans were fully vaccinated, according to DSHS. Nationally, just under 54% are fully vaccinated.

But second-shot hesitancy is equally concerning, especially as the highly contagious delta variant has sparked a new surge in cases and a sharp increase in hospitalizations and deaths. Against the delta variant, McDeavitt said, the effectiveness of one dose is akin to not being vaccinated at all.

One dose originally gave you a degree of immunity, but it was probably in the 50 to 60% range, McDeavitt said. When delta started to emerge, it became very clear that one dose provides minimal protection. So if you've only gotten one dose of Pfizer or Moderna in the face of the delta variant, you are not much better off than if you weren't vaccinated at all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people receive their second dose three weeks after their initial shot of the Pfizer vaccine and four weeks after their first Moderna shot. But people who are more than 90 days past due for their second dose dont have to start over: Other countries have allowed their citizens to go three or four months between doses, Raza said.

CDC guidance says a person receiving their second dose earlier or later than recommended is not cause for restarting the vaccine series. DSHS says a second shot will bring increased protection from the virus even if it is given more than 90 days after the initial dose.

You just need to get the second shot. Your bodys immune system will remember you got the first shot and you should have a pretty significant immune response, Raza said.

Raza was originally surprised by how prevalent second-shot hesitancy was. But as the pandemic has worn on, doctors flagged several reasons that it exists.

A small number, McDeavitt says, have been told by their doctors to not get a second shot because of a severe reaction to the first shot.

A larger portion of the partially vaccinated population, McDeavitt says, havent made time to do it or have other barriers like transportation to vaccination sites.

McDeavitt and Raza said others havent come back for a second shot because of growing apathy as COVID-19 cases declined in the late spring and early summer; the state vaccination rate plateaued late into the summer.

Misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines online also has contributed, they said.

I think there was pandemic fatigue, to a large extent, Raza said. And so [people] basically said, Well I'm not going to come back for my second dose. I already got my first, and based on that I have a certain amount of protection. In the interim, weve also had very intense anti-vaccine misinformation throughout the internet.

During the current delta-fueled surge, 90% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas have been unvaccinated people.

The Biden administrations order last week to mandate vaccines for federal employees and private companies with more than 100 employees could help overcome second-shot hesitancy for many people. The new policy requires more than 80 million workers nationally to be vaccinated or submit to a weekly COVID-19 test.

All those factors combined I think are going to push people to become a little more compliant with a full vaccine regimen, McDeavitt said.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/14/coronavirus-texas-vaccine-second-dose/.



The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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.
Its tougher these days for homebuyers in the San Antonio area to get their moneys worth, but theyre still better off than their counterparts in Austin.

Professors at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University recently examined the nations most overvalued housing markets based on current and past pricing trends. They ranked San Antonio 48th, with homes selling for 20.99 percent above anticipated prices based on long-term pricing patterns.

That was better than the situation in Austin, which the study found has the nations second-most overvalued residential real estate, with homes selling at a premium of 50.72 percent. It was better than Dallas-Fort Worth, too, which ranked 19th at a premium of 31.57 percent. Houston was 57th at 17.99 percent.

Homebuyers in the hottest markets are paying top dollar and could wind up having to hold onto their property for a while before theyre able to see a return, said Ken H. Johnson, a real estate economist and associate dean at FAUs College of Business.

In the top 10 markets, potential buyers might want to consider renting and reinvesting money that they otherwise would have put into homeownership, he said. Renting and reinvesting has been shown to often outperform ownership in terms of wealth creation.

Johnson and Eli Beracha of FIUs Hollo School of Real Estate based their research on data from Zillow and other real estate companies from January 1996 through July 2021. Of the 100 metro areas they examined, 95 were overvalued to some extent.

They ranked Boise, Idaho, as the most overpriced city in the country, followed by Austin and Ogden, Utah.

Urban Honolulu, Virginia Beach and Baltimore landed in the last three slots.

New center for Rim owner

Big V Property Group is expanding its San Antonio holdings with the recent purchase of much of the Alamo Ranch shopping center on the far West Side.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based companys acquisition encompasses more than 60 acres at the shopping center, which includes Best Buy, Dicks Sporting Goods, Ulta and J.C. Penney stores. Some retailers, such as Target and Lowes, own their stores there.

The purchase price was unclear, but Big V borrowed $70 million for the deal, deed records indicate. The shopping center at 5503 W. Loop 1604 N. was previously owned by ShopCore Properties, an affiliate of private equity firm Blackstone.

Last winter, Big V bought much of the Rim shopping center on the Northwest Side for $219.7 million. Its properties are primarily located in the Southeast United States. The Rim was its first acquisition in Texas.

Complexes sold

Minneapolis-based NorthMarq recently purchased the 5Fifty Apartments complex near San Antonio International Airport for $22.75 million, according to an announcement by Austin-based seller Casoro Group.

The 204-unit complex at 550 Heimer Road was built in 1984. Casoro Group renovated it prior to the sale, which included upgrades to apartments, pools and parking facilities.

Moody National Cos. of Houston recently bought a 120-unit complex near the Pearl from a company affiliated with local attorney George W. Mauze II, property records show.

The Mosaic on Broadway was built in 2012 and valued at $25.9 million this year by the Bexar Appraisal District. The purchase price is unclear, but Moody borrowed $15 million for the acquisition, deed records indicate.

VIDA project progressing

Construction is underway on VIDA, a 600-acre master-planned community developed by New Braunfels-based SouthStar Communities on the South Side near Texas A&M University-San Antonio.

Builders Lennar, Perry Homes and Highland Homes are constructing 285 single-family homes for the projects first phase.

Prices will start in the high $100,000s for smaller homes and the low $300,000s for bigger move-up homes, according to a recent announcement by SouthStar. Those homes are expected to be finished early next year.

VIDA will be built over 10 to 12 years, with its 4,000 residential units including single-family homes, apartments and student housing. Shops, restaurants, services, a pedestrian plaza for events and a greenway with trails, seating areas and public art also are part of the plan.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.

Eighteen international vaccine experts published a review in The Lancet yesterday, Considerations in boosting COVID-19 vaccine immune responses, saying current evidence does not support a need for boosters for the fully vaccinated general population at this time. The authors include Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, two top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists who two weeks ago announced their sudden and imminent departures from the agency, reportedly over frustration with how the FDA had been undermined on Biden booster policy and other issues.

In this post, Ill quote at length directly from The Lancet. Yet I should mention that interested readers might start by reading the complete article rather than relying only on the passages Ive included. Its short and clearly-written.

From The Lancet:

A new wave of COVID-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible delta variant is exacerbating the worldwide public health crisis, and has led to consideration of the potential need for, and optimal timing of, booster doses for vaccinated populations.1 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. 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. 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 [Jerri-Lynn here: citations omitted; my emphasis].

Publication of this mere days before an FDA advisory committee is to decide whether to approve booster doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for individuals aged 16 and older, according to The New York Times in In Review, Top F.D.A. Scientists Question Imminent Need for Booster Shots. In August the Biden administration announced plans to start offering boosters to previous recipients of mRNA vaccines from September 20 before either vaccine manufacturer, BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna, had made a formal application to authorize a third dose, according to The Financial Times in Scientists who quit FDA criticise plan for widespread Covid vaccine boosters. The agency is expected to consider Modernas booster application in coming weeks.

The NYTs account highlights the significant disagreement between career scientists at the agency and top Biden health officials, who have already started planning a broad booster campaign for this fall:

Dr. Krause and Dr. Gruber, who lead the F.D.A.s vaccine office and have regulated vaccines for decades, were not writing on behalf of the agency; the article stated that opinions expressed are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of their respective organizations. Still, the arguments they put forth suggested that regulators might raise objections to Pfizers application for approval of a booster dose at the advisory panel meeting, scheduled for Friday. An F.D.A. spokeswoman emphasized that the views of the authors do not represent the views of the agency, adding: We are in the middle of a deliberative process of reviewing Pfizers booster shot supplemental approval submission, and F.D.A. as a matter of practice does not comment on pending matters before the agency. We look forward to a robust and transparent discussion on Friday about that application.

Last week, Yves posted about the shambolic rollout of the Biden booster campaign innFailed State: Covid Booster Shot Mess. I encourage those coming to this topic anew to read her post first.

The NYT provides further details:

Dr. Gruber and Dr. Krause were said to have disagreed with the Biden administrations push for boosters before federal scientists could review all the evidence and make recommendations, a conflict that factored into their decisions to depart this fall. The two are likely to be crucial to any decisions the agency makes about boosters; Dr. Gruber would be expected to formally sign off on them. But other top F.D.A. officials, including Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting agency commissioner, and Dr. Peter Marks, a career regulator who oversees the vaccine office that Dr. Gruber and Dr. Krause lead, could overrule them. The publication of the Lancet article raised questions about whether Dr. Woodcock, who signed on to the Biden administrations booster announcement last month, had consulted Dr. Gruber or other career experts in the F.D.A. vaccine office before advising the administration and making clear her own position on the issue. Some public health experts said Dr. Woodcocks endorsement of the plan boxed in her regulators. The Biden administration announced in August a proposal to begin administering vaccine boosters eight months after peoples second shots, contingent on authorization from the F.D.A. and a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the pandemic plan that Mr. Biden announced last week included booster-shot readiness, stating, A booster promises to give Americans their highest level of protection yet.

Many scientists, including the authors of the Lancet Review take issue with Bidens plan:

But many scientists have opposed the plan, saying the vaccines continue to be powerfully protective against severe illness and hospitalization. The authors of the Lancet article included a compendium of dozens of studies from around the world that shows such a trend.

Why then has the Biden administration apparently gone all in on a booster strategy at this time? The simple answer appears to be that the administration doesnt want to get behind the curve again, as has happened time and time again throughout this pandemic. Per the NYT:

Federal health officials have said that one reason they announced the booster plan was to stay ahead of the virus and be ready for when vaccines may no longer protect as well against severe cases of Covid-19. Those officials, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Mr. Bidens chief medical adviser, have relied heavily on data presented to them by Israeli officials, who have defended that countrys early, aggressive booster campaign. Their data, Dr. Fauci and other administration officials have said, show a clear waning of immunity against infection, with enhanced protection from booster doses, but show only hints of waning immunity against hospitalization in people under 65.

Lancet Review Lays Out Arguments for Delaying Launching a Booster Campaign

The key issue as I understand is whether this clear waning of immunity matters, or whether public health officials should rely more on how effectively the vaccines protect from severe illness, even in the face of overall declining immunity against all infection. The Lancet reviews main point is that

Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high. Even if humoral immunity appears to wane, reductions in neutralising antibody titre do not necessarily predict reductions in vaccine efficacy over time, and reductions in vaccine efficacy against mild disease do not necessarily predict reductions in the (typically higher) efficacy against severe disease. This effect could be because protection against severe disease is mediated not only by antibody responses, which might be relatively short lived for some vaccines, but also by memory responses and cell-mediated immunity, which are generally longer lived The ability of vaccines that present the antigens of earlier phases of the pandemic (rather than variant-specific antigens) to elicit humoral immune responses against currently circulating variants indicates that these variants have not yet evolved to the point at which they are likely to escape the memory immune responses induced by those vaccines. Even without any changes in vaccine efficacy, increasing success in delivering vaccines to large populations will inevitably lead to increasing numbers of breakthrough cases, especially if vaccination leads to behavioural changes in vaccinees [Jerri-Lynn here: citations omitted].

These behavioural changes are of course one of the major flaws in the administrations policy of relying on vaccines alone to control and ultimately overcome the pandemic. Vaccines are seen as a magic bullet  the magic bullet  and this administration  just like its much maligned predecessor  hasnt devoted nearly enough attention to other remedies, including effective treatments, standard public health measures, and systems to quarantine and support the sick. Instead, we waste resources on hygiene theater.

The Lancet review notes that providing boosters isnt risk-free:

Although the benefits of primary COVID-19 vaccination clearly outweigh the risks, 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). If unnecessary boosting causes significant adverse reactions, there could be implications for vaccine acceptance that go beyond COVID-19 vaccines. Thus, widespread boosting should be undertaken only if there is clear evidence that it is appropriate [Jerri-Lynn here: citations omitted].

The Lancet review specifically mentions the risk that endorsement of a booster strategy, in the absence of robust data and analysis, could further undermine public health messaging:

The message that boosting might soon be needed, if not justified by robust data and analysis, could adversely affect confidence in vaccines and undermine messaging about the value of primary vaccination. Public health authorities should also carefully consider the consequences for primary vaccination campaigns of endorsing boosters only for selected vaccines. Booster programmes that affect some but not all vaccinees may be difficult to implementso it will be important to base recommendations on complete data about all vaccines available in a country, to consider the logistics of vaccination, and to develop clear public health messaging before boosting is widely recommended [Jerri-Lynn here: my emphasis].

WHO Calls for Holding Off on Booster Campaigns

Even more shambolic than U.S. deliberations on boosters is the woeful state of play in getting enough doses of COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries so they can vaccinate their populations. Last Wednesday, Covax cut its forecast for vaccine deliveries to the developing world by 25%, citing Indias April export ban, manufacturing problems, and delays in regulatory approvals, as the main reasons for the shortfall, according to the FT in Covax cuts vaccine delivery forecasts to developing world by 25%:

Deliveries under the scheme to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries are ramping up, with 1.1bn doses set to be available for the rest of the year. But the World Health Organization-backed programme will fall short of its target of delivering 2bn vaccines this year, with a total of 1.4bn shots. Some 200m of the doses are reserved for so-called self-financing countries with higher-income populations. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the WHO, said there were still about 10,000 deaths a day from Covid-19 that she called entirely preventable if vaccines were shared more equally.

These numbers are woeful. Experts estimate that 11 billion does are needed to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to the New York Times in Covax, a global program to distribute Covid vaccines, cuts its 2021 forecast for available doses by a quarter. Only two% of Africas population has been vaccinated, according to Human Rights Watch, Sharing Knowledge, Technology Critical to Curb Covid-19.

Shortly after the Covax announcement, the World Health Organization (WHO) extended its moratorium on boosters from September 30 until the end of the year, to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 per cent of its population, according to the FT in WHO extends moratorium on Covid booster following Covax forecast cuts. Truthout reports in WTO Set to Meet as Rich Nations Continue to Block Vaccine Patent Waivers:

During a press conference last week, [WHO] Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus estimated that 80% of the 5.5 billion vaccine doses administered globally thus far have gone to people in upper-income countries. Tedros is demanding a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of the year in order to free up vaccine supply for poor nations. Almost every low-income country is already rolling out the vaccines they have, and they have extensive experience in large-scale vaccination campaigns for polio, measles, meningitis, yellow fever, and more, Tedros said. But 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. There has been a lot of talk about vaccine equity, Tedros added, but too little action.

Last months rapid collapse of the Afghan government occasioned much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth over the decline of U.S. power in the mainstream media. The pandemic has provided the opportunity for the United States to do the right thing and  if vaccines are seen as solution  to vaccinate the world. Such a soft power scheme would yield huge dividends. What has the U.S. done?Nothing much. And Biden has been president since January, so this lack of attention cannot be laid at Trumps feet alone.

Getting the world vaccinated requires much more than merely sharing extra vaccine doses  the current desultory approach. Whats needed is a more ambitious plan to transfer technology and construct new production facilities. Although the public funded the research that produced these vaccines, governments have been unwilling to press companies to share the technology more widely  despite the significant benefits granted to vaccine makers, e.g. liability waivers, for example.

Its been nearly a year since South Africa and India proposed a temporary patent waiver for COVID-19 vaccines under the World Trade Organisations (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). More than a hundred countries now support the proposal, including France and at least in theory, since May, even the United States. Yet the opposition of Big Pharma, channeled through Canada, the European Commission representing European Union member states, especially Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, among others, has thus far managed to block the plan. The WTOs TRIPS Council convenes today to consider the proposed waiver in meetings that will continue throughout the week. According to Truthout:

Despite the groundbreaking medical innovations delivered in the past year, and tall commitments by some powerful nations promising global solidarity and equity, access to these innovative Covid-19 medical tools remains scant in too many low- and middle-income countries, Candice Sehoma, South Africa advocacy officer with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Access Campaign, said in a statement Monday. People in these countries, facing life or death in this pandemic, can no longer rely merely on charitable or voluntary measures dictated by only a small number of high-income countries and the pharmaceutical industry they host, Sehoma added. We demand the countries opposing the TRIPS Waiver to stop blocking the will of the majority of the world to obtain this additional legal tool in the pandemic to achieve self-reliance in producing Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests. Yuanqiong Hu, senior legal and policy adviser to MSFs Access Campaign, said that adoption of the patent waiver would represent a critical and historical step to remove monopoly barriers hindering increased global production and diversity of supplies  and all peoples access to desperately needed Covid-19 medical tools.

In August, Human Rights Watch has published a paper on the subject, according to the Human Rights Watch link included above:

The paper, COVID-19 Exposes Warped Global Health Power: The System Needs a Course Correction, published on August 31, 2021 in the Business and Human Rights Journal, discusses how a handful of high-income countries that were lobbied by powerful pharmaceutical companies have stalled a proposal to temporarily waive global trade and intellectual property rules to expand access to lifesaving vaccines and other health care products. Drawing upon Human Rights Watch research and analysis on Covid-19 vaccine supply issues, it shows how governments have abdicated their responsibility to regulate pharmaceutical companies. Governments funding Covid-19 vaccine development with public money failed to condition these funds on affordability and sharing technology, leaving companies to decide how, when, and where they will manufacture, distribute, and price vaccines, Human Rights Watch said. Instead of sharing knowledge and technology, some governments are redistributing an inadequate amount of vaccines to poorer countries while letting companies set prices. Waiting for the benevolence of wealthy governments and pharmaceutical companies has dealt a deadly blow to basic rights, said Aruna Kashyap, associate business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch and a co-author of the paper. Its unconscionable that wealthy governments are reducing life-saving health care to a tradeable commodity and using their power at the WTO to make the right to health subservient to pharma and trade interests.

Will the WTO panel achieve anything anytime soon? Australias decision last week to throw its support behind the waiver provides some cause for optimism to those who see the need for vaccine equity. I hope so  but alas, I fear that nothing fundamental will change.
As the UK government prepares to pass its Fire Safety Act, concerns are growing that it could leave even more apartment owners in limbo.

One of the most brutal aspects of the Grenfell fire disaster is the sheer number of victims it has left in its wake, who now count in their millions. First and foremost, of course, are the 72 residents who perished in the blaze on June 14, 2017, and the loved ones they left behind. Then there are the hundreds of residents who managed to survive the inferno but lost their homes. Many had to wait years for rehousing. Then came the legions of indirect casualties: the millions of leaseholders* who discovered after the disaster that the buildings in which they own their flats may have also been rigged with flammable cladding and insulation materials.

Through no fault of their own, they have found themselves trapped in apartments they cannot sell. In buildings that could be highly inflammable. Since the introduction of the External Wall Fire Review form, or EWS1, in December 2019, banks have refused to offer mortgages for the purchase of any properties in high-rise apartment buildings (above 18 metres) that do not have one of the forms. Then, in January 2021, the government issued a poorly conceived advice note that extended the crisis to 1.3 million flats in 88,000 blocks taller than 11 metres high.

Making Matters Worse

Ostensibly intended as a means of recording what assessment has been carried out for the external wall construction of residential apartment buildings, the ESW1s most notable impact has been to trap millions of leaseholders  including many first time buyers  in financial hell.

In a recent survey conducted by BBC Newsnight, 16% of respondents said they have either been directly affected by the crisis or know someone who has. Many have had to pay hundreds of pounds a month to cover the costs of round-the-clock fire-patrols. Home insurance costs have exploded. Many have also paid for a safety inspection, so that their building can finally qualify for an EWS1. But if their building didnt make the grade, they have had to pay tens of thousands more to have the flammable insulation and cladding materials replaced and other fire risks remediated.

One first-time buyer was recently landed with a bill of more than 200,000 to rectify fire safety defects  almost as much as the price she paid for her flat. According to a recent article in The Times (behind paywall), around 3 million people are currently stuck in limbo as a result of the crisis. That number could be set to grow even larger, if the UK governments Fire Safety Act (FSA) passes in its current form, warns independent cladding expert Jonathan Evans, who blew the whistle on the cladding crisis just after the Grenfell fire.

A former technical committee chairman of the Metal Cladding and Roofing Manufacturers Association and CEO of the cladding company Ash & Lacy, Evans is scheduled to address MPs and peers at an all-party parliamentary group on Thursday, where he will warn them that this document must not come into effect. Rather than streamlining processes, the new bill could end up making the crisis even worse, as a new code of practice for checking walls for fire risks  the so-called PAS9980  risks lumbering even more people with homes they cannot sell and bills they cannot pay, Evans told The Times.

In the next few months the Fire Safety Act will make it a legal requirement to check the external walls of all blocks with two or more flats  even sub-divided period homes. The PAS 9980 is due to replace the government advice that triggered the mortgage crisis later this year. If most assessors choose to use the new PAS, or publicly available specification, which the government commissioned from the British Standards Institute (BSI), it could affect almost 12 million people in all 4.9 million flats in England, of which two thirds are private leasehold. There will be a huge queue. There will be people who cant afford the assessments. There will be people who are stuck in limbo. It will jeopardise property sales, Evans says. He adds that PAS 9980 is terrible news for people in smaller blocks, who pinned their hopes on the July announcement by Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, that buildings under 18m would no longer need an EWS1 form Evans believes this code, which is voluntary, will be a catastrophe for residents and property owners that could lock up the market for flats for years. On Thursday he will warn MPs and peers in a speech at an all-party parliamentary group that this document must not come into effect.

Ripple Effects

The cladding crisis has already triggered a collapse in sales of a significant slice of the UK housing stock. If sold for cash, affected properties  and there are up to 1.3 million of these flats  sell for as little as one third of what the owner had paid. As flats are often the first step on the UK housing ladder, this has set off ripple effects across the whole housing market. For instance, most first-time buyers who had purchased property using the UK governments help to buy scheme are now unable to sell their properties. If their parents served as guarantors on the mortgage, they too are now in trouble.

The Bank of England has already voiced concerns about the banks sitting on loans backed by those properties. Behind the scenes private banks are saying that its in no ones interest to seize up the housing market. They are also pressuring the government to withdraw its controversial advice note, and exempt smaller blocks from fire safety checks.

Another major flaw with the new 183-page document (PAS 9980) is its lack of clarity. Despite laying out in exhaustive detail what could be wrong with walls, it does not say say what is acceptable, says Evans. Instead, it should focus on what is most important: identifying the buildings with external walls that could be prone to rapid and disproportionate fire spread. After all, this is what made the Grenfell fire so deadly and destructive:

Another big problem is that there simply arent enough qualified personnel to conduct the extensive fire safety surveys on the scale that will soon be needed. The UK has faced a dire shortage of fire safety assessors ever since Grenfell and theres little sign of that shortage being plugged any time soon. Last year, just 291 engineers were qualified to carry out such checks. A government-funded scheme to train up an additional 2,000 has apparently failed to fill all the slots. Doing the checks could take years, Evans says. And that means even more uncertainty in store, potentially for more people.

Current State of Play

The UKs cladding crisis, now in its fifth year, has already uncovered a litany of fire safety problems afflicting high-rise and medium-rise buildings. And its the apartments leaseholders  who hold zero responsibility for the problems  who are having to foot the lions share of the bill to rectify them. The estimated cost of remediation per property is between 40,000 and 50,000 but it can rise a lot higher than that.

Ministers have offered just over 5 billion in funding to fix inflammable cladding on high rises in England (but not Scotland or Wales). Much more is needed. The assistance does not cover all of the costs for those in high-rise buildings (over 18 metres high), nor has any money been made available to leaseholders in blocks of flats less than 18 metres high, many of whom will have to take out tens of thousands of pounds in loans to cover the costs. As the UK Law Society recently warned, the UK governments Fire Safety Bill will do little to change that, and could even make matters worse:

The bill lacks measures to protect such leaseholders against increases in insurance premiums or to cover the costs of safety precautions, such as waking watches.

Where the bill does require developers to cover the costs of cladding removal, it does not go far enough.

It introduces a targeted levy on developers seeking permission to build certain high-rise buildings, which it is hoped will generate 2bn over 10 years to fund the removal and replacement of combustible cladding. However, the full cost is estimated at as much as 15bn.

UK government should provide additional financial support to leaseholders to help cover the costs associated with managing and rectifying the dangerous cladding on their homes.

The Law Society is also concerned that rather than directly requiring developers to rectify dangerous cladding, the bill instead opts to grant leaseholders with new rights to bring their own litigation against developers. A major drawback of this approach is that it only gives leaseholders the right to take action via potentially costly and time-consuming legal proceedings, rather than offering them direct support, added I. Stephanie Boyce. While the liability cut-off date for developers would be extended from six to 15 years, many developers responsible for developing buildings with unsafe cladding have already gone out of business, making any new legal rights worthless. In addition, UK government has previously stated that issues relating to unsafe cladding began around 20 years ago, which makes the 15-year cut off insufficient.

As more and more leaseholders  many of them first-time buyers  slide into bankruptcy, succumb to mental health issues and face the prospect of being fleeced by profiteering landlords, the government continues to resist calls to provide more assistance. At the same time, it shields developers, investors and freeholders, including (as Harry Shearer pointed out in a recent post) Londons top landowners, such as the Queen, the Duke of Westminster and the Earl of Cadogan, from the economic fallout of the cladding crisis. These, ultimately, are the governments prime constituency, having provided a large chunk of the Conservative Partys funding, and they have a big voice.

The leaseholders do not wield that sort of influence. But they do have a certain strength in numbers. And they hope to leverage that strength on Thursday, as thousands of cladding victims converge on London to vent their anger and frustration at a government that has hung them out to dry. They also appear to have plenty of public support. Just 1% of the people polled by Newsnight said they believe leaseholders should shoulder the costs of the cladding crisis.

In the meantime, the residential fire safety industry remains in disarray with widespread confusion relating to regulatory compliance, safety, insurance and mortgages, says Evans. Decades of corporate influence, weak legislation, inadequate fire test and classification standards overarched by a regulatory determination to ensure that buildings can be delivered as profitably as possible, has manifested itself in a mess that may take many years and an uncharacteristic display of leadership to resolve.

* Leasehold arrangements are still commonplace in England, particularly when it comes to apartment buildings with some common land and building use. When an apartment is bought as a leasehold, the buyer is essentially no more than a tenant, albeit one with a tenancy agreement that often lasts for up to a century. The freehold  the building and the land  belongs to someone else who is able to extract annual rent on those assets. The freeholder can be the developer, an entity that the developer sold it, a well-heeled private landlord or an institutional landlord such as the insurance behemoth Aviva, which manages pension funds that own dozens of buildings caught up in the cladding crisis and which recently warned the government against taking any action that would make it unviable for institutional investors to remain in the private property market. The terms of the leases have become increasingly onerous as global investors have bought up the freeholds.
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#COVID-19

WTO Set to Meet as Rich Nations Continue to Block Vaccine Patent Waivers Truthout

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Anthony Fauci says he would support vaccination requirement for air travel NY Post

New pandemic rules for NYC restaurants, city workers, schools in effect Fox 5 New York

As COVID cases rise, so do hospital-related infections Ars Technica

***

New wave of Covid predicted as UKs return to school and social mixing hit FT

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Chinese vaccines value clarified by real-world data as exports near 1 billion South China Morning Post
When American troops did engage on the ground, it was most commonly through night raids and kill/capture missions that violated local cultural and religious norms and frequently led to civilian casualties. Those who were lucky enough to be captured and not killed during the night raids were often detained, tortured and interrogated by coalition personnel. Each of these operations relied heavily on intelligence, in many cases misinformation obtained extrajudicially. This technologically sophisticated apparatus was supposed to surgically remove the insurgency while limiting the cost of war. Defined by its precision firepower and electronic remote weaponry, it was termed by retired Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl Americas industrial-scale counter-terrorism killing machine.

Word of the humiliation and devastation of night raids travelled quickly, however. The killing and capture of community leaders upended social structures and resentment proliferated from civilian massacres and their cover-ups. In a matter of a few years, US counterinsurgency had managed to reinvigorate the Taliban, increasing its legitimacy, and providing fresh recruits eager to join its ranks. By late 2005, the Taliban had regained prominence and the US was rapidly losing the support of the people. Despite this, the US largely persisted with these same tactics for the entirety of the two decades.

Counterinsurgency did not fail in Afghanistan because it was poorly executed. Instead, it failed precisely because counterinsurgency is incapable of accomplishing its purported aim: to win the support of the population by engaging with it politically.

The Central Contradiction

The logic of counterinsurgency, as it is conceived by its designers, is contradictory. It is a strategy that purports to be political in nature, as it attempts to win hearts and minds, yet as political theorist Laleh Khalili has argued, Counterinsurgency refuses politics transform[ing] political conflicts and contestations, revolts and insurgencies, into technical problems to be solved. This renders the political battlefield as zero-sum terrain  either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists  whereby the legitimacy of the counterinsurgency is contingent upon the insurgencys illegitimacy.

The political inflexibility inherent to the counterinsurgency doctrine negates and demonises the opposition, resulting in a misunderstanding of what the insurgency is seeking to achieve and how it will go about doing it. As the US manual states, The insurgent succeeds by sowing chaos and disorder everywhere [and is] constrained by neither the law of war nor the bounds of human decency. This leads to a fundamental misrepresentation of the insurgencys goals and tactics. In fact, rather than being some inexplicably malevolent force, an insurgency  which is always under-resourced and under-manned  relies on its ability to gain the support of the people and morally isolate the counterinsurgent effort.

The result is that counterinsurgency oversimplifies and misjudges the relationship between the insurgency and the general population, since its strategy and tactics are based on a clear distinction between the two. Mao Zedong famously characterised the relationship between guerrillas and the people as that of fish to water. The counterinsurgencys tactical response is to drain the water. But the line between the two constitutive groups, people and insurgents, is indistinct.

The artificiality of this line is reflected in the experience of the counterinsurgent soldier, who is constantly unsure whether the local stranger walking towards him should be shot or embraced. The people are simultaneously viewed as passive, desperate and self-interested as well as suspicious, conniving, and dangerous. Trust the people and risk being killed by the insurgents; shoot the people, and create more insurgents. The safest move for the soldier is usually at odds with the aim of the mission. Thus, it is no accident that counterinsurgency tends to reproduce the very enemies it aims to eliminate.

The great strength of counterinsurgency is supposed to be its adaptiveness and dynamism. It employs military tactics as well as capacity-building ones. Yet its political rigidity leads to an obsession with order, control, obedience and stability over participation, consent and change, which makes people the objects of policy in such a way that renders the incorporation of contextually specific and well-intentioned tactics largely irrelevant.

Counterinsurgencys contradictory nature sheds light on how this limited form of warfare so often reproduces the conditions of its own downfall and relies on brutality, destruction, and terror for success.

A Genealogy of US Counterinsurgency

Western media coverage of the Afghanistan withdrawal gives the impression that violence and brutality throughout the war merely reflected the difficulties and insufficiencies of the situation, rather than being the logical result of counterinsurgency warfare. However, four centuries of American counterinsurgency, waged at home and abroad, reveal similar patterns that lay bare its central contradiction and propensity for extreme violence.

The founding of the US took place through a genocidal campaign of decentralised war waged on indigenous peoples and their way of life. A war tradition that saw non-professional soldiers pursue unlimited objectives, often through irregular means, in the words of military historian John Grenier, cohered, he suggested, around three central pillars: unlimited or total war; the creation of special forces, known as rangers, used to penetrate and harass indigenous groups deep in their territory; and the privatisation of the war effort, in the form of scalping bounties, to mobilise the civilian population with economic incentives. These nascent counterinsurgency techniques, which Grenier termed Americas first way of war, ensured the settler-colonial project achieved its agenda of conquest and erasure.

Chattel slavery provided a sufficient internal threat to ensure the development of the other side of early counterinsurgency tactics: policing. A regime of surveillance and terror was developed by white settlers  outnumbered by slaves in the southern states  and carried out by slave patrols, groups of citizens who enforced the institution of slavery through physical and psychological brutality.
(Natural News) The worlds biggest carbon-sucking machine, called Orca, is a $15 million device that can capture 4,000 tons of CO2 per year and is billed to reverse climate change (but actually harms rainforests and food crops by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere).

The direct air capture (DAC) machine was created by Zurich-based company Climeworks and it was launched at the Hellisheii Power Station in Iceland on Wednesday.

Orca uses a filter to extract and permanently remove CO2 from surrounding air. It is estimated to capture 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year  equivalent to the annual emissions from 790 cars.

While the feat is notable, this total is a mere fraction of global CO2 emissions, which totaled 34.7 billion tons in the last year, as per the International Energy Agency.

Orca has a stack of metal air scrubbers that suck in CO2 from surrounding ambient air using fans. It is then be extracted using a chemical filter. The CO2 is stored underground, reducing the amount of greenhouse gas that reaches the atmosphere. The gas can be stored permanently in deep geological formations, or used to make fuels, chemicals, building materials and other products.

Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks said that Orca has provided a scalable, flexible and replicable blueprint for the companys future expansion.

Achieving global net-zero emissions is still a long way to go, but with Orca, we believe that Climeworks has taken one significant step closer to achieving that goal, he said. (Related: Go Zero program allows consumers, businesses to offset carbon dioxide emissions.)

Wurzbacher did not comment on the global famine that would result from reducing CO2 levels, harming food crops and rainforests.

Climeworks also commissioned the opening of the first commercial-scale DAC plant in Switzerland in 2017, and was based on working prototypes from labs at research university ETH Zurich.

Iceland also previously used the technology, but the one at Hellisheidi is the largest one yet. The stark design is meant to embody an interconnection between nature and technology in the Icelandic landscape.

Orca makes a dent in emissions

Orca started construction in May 2020 and is formed with eight large container-size collector units that are stacked in twos. Each of the stacks is more than 20 feet long. The collector units capture CO2 by drawing in air using a fan. inside the collectors are chemical filter materials that collect the CO2, and lets clean airflow out the other side.

Once the filter is saturated with CO2, the collector is closed so that no air could get in. Inside the collector, the captured CO2 is heated up using power from the Hellisheii geothermal power plant, and CO2 from the filter is released and extracted in a concentrated form. Through natural mineralisation, the CO2 reacts with the basalt rock and turns into stone within a few years, Climeworks explained.

This removes CO2 from the air and returns it to Earth, depriving food crops, trees, grasses and other plants access to the carbon dioxide they need to survive.

Climeworks noted that the technology can be replicated at different locations worldwide on even larger scales to increase the amount of CO2 being captured.

The plant is a long way from Climeworks original goal of capturing one percent of annual global CO2 emissions, or more than 300 million tons by 2025; however, it is still targeting 500,000 tons by the end of the decade.

The company still hopes to reach its 300 million ton target, but noted that the timeline has changed as it took them longer than they originally anticipated to build up an entire industry.

The demand for carbon removal at Orca is so high that the company decided to scale up the plant and build one roughly ten times larger in about three years. Investments are already pouring in as companies and governments find ways to mitigate global warming.

The main challenge for Climeworks is lowering the cost of its service. Individuals who want to purchase carbon offsets can pay the company up to $1,200 per ton of CO2. For bulk purchases, the cost is closer to $600 per ton.

Climeworks want to lower the cost to $200 to $300 per ton by 2030, and to $100 to $200 by the middle of the next decade, when operations are at a full scale.

When fully operational, this means its customers will be greenwashing their own emissions by hiring Climeworks to burn electricity to run massive carbon scrubbing machines that alter the atmosphere in a way that harms food crops and makes the planet less green (and colder). Only in an insane world could this be considered good for the environment.

Get more updates at Climate.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Bloomberg.com
(Natural News) Do you enjoy traveling? In order to do so in the new normal, you may first need permission from the government, according to CNN medical analyst Leana Wen.

Unless you agree to get vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), Wen says you should not be afforded the privilege of being able to move about freely. This includes visiting another state from the one you live in, she says.

There are privileges associated with being an American  that if you wish to have these privileges, you need to get vaccinated, Wen alleges, directly contradicting the U.S. Constitution.

Travel, and having the right to travel in our state, its not a constitutional right as far as I know to board a plane. If you want to travel, youd better go get that vaccine, she added during a recent appearance on CNN  watch below.

Science: Getting vaccinated for covid actually reduces your chances of survival

This is the same Leana Wen, by the way, who used to work for Planned Parenthood as a baby murderer.

Wen has repeatedly come out to suggest that Americans should be forcibly injected by the government with Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed injections. Those who refuse, she says, should be deprived of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

While this is certainly how things are done in communist China where Wens ancestors come from, it is not the way things are done here in the United States. Perhaps Wen needs a refresher course in how the Constitution works.

Wen also apparently needs a refresher course in the latest Fauci Flu shot science, which clearly shows that getting injected for Chinese Germs massively increases a persons risk of serious illness or death.

Natural immunity, it turns out, is far greater than vaccine-induced immunity, which has not even been proven to exist. In fact, getting vaccinated increases ones risk of a Chinese Virus infection by at least 2,700 percent.

In Israel, vaccinated individuals had 27 times higher risk of symptomatic COVID infection compared to those with natural immunity from prior COVID disease [95%CI:13-57, adjusted for time of vaccine/disease], tweeted Martin Kulldorff. No COVID deaths in either group.

In Israel, vaccinated individuals had 27 times higher risk of symptomatic COVID infection compared to those with natural immunity from prior COVID disease [95%CI:13-57, adjusted for time of vaccine/disease]. No COVID deaths in either group.https://t.co/hopImCD1D0  Martin Kulldorff (@MartinKulldorff) August 25, 2021

Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, formerly of The Intercept, also tweeted about the situation, pointing out that Wen actually made the suggestion that Americans be deprived of interstate travel privileges for refusing injection with covid jabs.

Did she actually just say that inter-state travel is not a constitutional right for American citizens??? Greenwald asked on Twitter. I believe she did.

Did she actually just say that inter-state travel is not a constitutional right for American citizens??? I believe she did. https://t.co/6nJywW6XyE  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 10, 2021

There is simply no denying that Wen and everyone else like her are an existential threat to our American way of life. They hate freedom and want to try to force you to comply with their demands or else face the loss of your constitutional rights and civil liberties.

CNN and other fake news outlets like it are also complicit  meaning they, too, must be stopped before it is too late. Do not sit idly by, America, and let these creeps steal every last freedom that our ancestors fought to protect. What a shame it would be to lose all that to the likes of Leana Wen and CNN.

Shes a disgusting piece of filth, wrote one Citizen Free Press commenter about Wen. She is complicit in the covid jab depopulation scheme.

Shes CCP for sure, wrote another, CCP referring to the Chinese Communist Party. I cant wait until this is all over and these types are gone.

The latest news about Chinese Virus injection tyranny can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

CitizenFreePress.com

NaturalNews.com

Archive.is
(Natural News) As you may recall from the early days of the plandemic, 27 scientists penned a letter published in The Lancet that claimed the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) did not originate in a Wuhan laboratory. Well, it turns out that 26 of these scientists have direct ties to the Chinese lab in question, making their claims entirely untrustworthy.

That letter, which was published on March 7, 2020, strongly condemned conspiracy theories related to the Chinese Virus that suggest it did not come about by chance from bat soup at a wet market. Chinese Germs, they insist, are a product of nature, not of genetic tampering.

This declaration was intended to be the end of the conversation, except for the fact that inquiring minds decided to look into the matter further. What they found is that almost all of the scientists in question have major conflicts of interest when it comes to telling the truth.

The Daily Telegraph discovered that 96 percent of the research team that authored the article for The Lancet have links to Chinese researchers or their colleagues or benefactors at the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), Chinas only known level-four biosafety lab.

One of the authors is Peter Daszak, the British president of an organization called EcoHealth Alliance that was caught funneling money directly to the WIV to conduct illegal gain-of-function research on coronaviruses. Another is Sir Jeremy Farrar, a U.K. government scientific adviser.

The only scientist without any obvious ties to the WIV is Ronald Corley, a microbiology expert from Boston University.

The orchestrator of the letter, British zoologist Peter Daszak, was already found to have a conflict of interest through him being president of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance, which has funded research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, reported the DailyMail Online.

Despite declaring no conflicts of interest at the time the letter was penned, The Lancet was forced to publish an addendum to the letter acknowledging Daszaks connection to EcoHealth Alliance.

Covid is a bioweapon that was developed to unleash a new world order

The reason why this is all still important now is because this letter in The Lancet played a critical role early on in the suppression of all inquiry into the true origins of the Chinese Flu, which is still being debated to this very day.

There have been efforts from the very beginning to distance China from carrying any of the blame. The powers that be also want to distance Tony Fauci from the Chinese Virus as well, even though we now know for a fact that Fauci sent American taxpayer dollars to Wuhan to develop it.

Several of the letters Wuhan-tied signers also hail from Britains Wellcome Trust, which was exposed for also sending cash to the WIV to develop genetically modified (GMO) coronaviruses capable of infecting humans.

A full rundown of each signatory and his or her ties to Wuhan is available at this link if you are interested in learning more about what the investigation uncovered.

Suffice it to say that the Chinese Virus was not a random occurrence in nature. It is a contrived bioweapon that was unleashed for the purpose of dismantling the current world order and replacing it with a new world order, among other things.

Conflicts of interest were not reported for any of the other 26 signers of the letter  not even those with obviously material undisclosed conflicts such as EcoHealth employees and Predict contractors, says Rutgers University molecular biology Prof. Richard Ebright about the depths of this heinous conspiracy.

More related news about Chinese Virus deception can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) House Democrats are proposing almost $3 trillion ($3,000,000,000,000) in tax increases including tax increases on small businesses and working families. This is the largest tax increase since 1968 compared to the size of the economy and the largest tax increase ever in nominal dollars.

(Article by Alex Hendrie republished from ATR.org)

Some of these tax increases include:

Raising taxes on working families by increasing the federal corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 26.5 percent. This tax increase will be passed along to working families in the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, and lower wages. This will give the U.S. a combined state-federal rate of 30.9 percent, higher than our foreign competitors including China, which has a 25 percent corporate tax rate, and Europe which has an average rate of 21.7 percent. The developed world average (OECD) is 23.5%.

U.S. Federal + State Tax Rate Under Democrat Plan: 31%

Chinas Corporate Tax Rate 25%

Developed World (OECD) Average National + Subnational Rate: 23.5%

According to the Stephen Entin of the Tax Foundation, labor (or workers) bear an estimated 70 percent of the corporate income tax in the form of wages and employment. Similarly, a 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 31% of the corporate tax falls on consumers.

A corporate tax increase will threaten the life savings of families by reducing the value of publicly traded stocks in brokerage accounts or in 401(k)s. Individual investors opened 10 million new brokerage accounts in 2020 and at least 53% of households own stock. In addition, 80 million to 100 million people have a 401(k), and 46.4 million households have an individual retirement account

Raising the corporate income tax rate will hit Americans with higher utility bills as the country tries to recover from the pandemic. Customers directly bear the cost of corporate income taxes imposed on utility companies. Investor-owned electric, gas, and water companies must get their billing rates approved by the respective state utility commissions. Therefore, if Democrats raise the corporate tax rate, they will have voted to raise utility bills. [Americans for Tax Reform has compiled 300 examples of utilities passing tax savings along to customers.]

Raising taxes on small businesses by raising the top income tax rate to 39.6 percent, limiting the 20 percent small business deduction, expanding the Obamacare net investment income tax, limiting the ability of passthroughs to deduct excess business losses, and raising the corporate tax rate.

This would likely increase taxes on several million small businesses across the country  earlier this year, the Biden administration admitted raising the top income tax rate would raise taxes on one million small businesses. This does not include the other tax increases  a study by the Chamber of Commerce found that there are 1.4 million small businesses organized as C-corporations, while almost 900,000 small businesses could be hit with the limitation of the passthrough deduction based on 2018 IRS SOI data.

Increasing the capital gains tax rate to 28.8 percent and increasing the holding period for carried interest capital gains to five years. Communist Chinas capital gains tax is 20 percent.

A 16.5 percent global minimum tax. The Biden administration has been pushing a global agreement locking in high taxes and a 15 percent global minimum tax in order to end the race to the bottom and make all citizens fairly share the burden of financing government.

Increasing the death tax by cutting the exemption level in half and modifying valuation rules. This will raise taxes on family-owned businesses and farms across the country.

Retroactively raising taxes on taxpayers claiming the conservation easement deduction. It would apply this retroactively back to Notice 2017-10 released on December 23, 2016, so would impact taxpayers in tax years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and for future years. If lawmakers want to make changes to the conservation easement deduction, they should do so as part of a net tax cut and prospectively, not retroactively.

A new 95 percent excise tax on medicines and socialist healthcare policies. This legislation creates a 95 percent excise tax on manufacturers and imposes an international reference pricing scheme that directly imports foreign price controls into the U.S.

This proposal will reduce access to new, lifesaving and life-preserving medicines. According to research by the Galen Institute, the U.S. had access to 90 percent of new cures launched between 2011 and 2018, a rate far greater than comparable foreign countries. For instance, The United Kingdom had access to 60 percent of medicines, Japan had 50 percent, and Canada had just 44 percent.

It will also threaten high-paying manufacturing jobs across the country at a time when we are just emerging from the economic wreckage from the pandemic. Pharmaceutical manufacturers invest $100 billion in the U.S. economy every year, directly supporting 800,000 jobs including jobs in every state.

$80 billion in new IRS funding to hire 87,000 new agents. This would allow the IRS to audit and harass small businesses and American families for an additional $787 billion. It would hire enough new IRS agents to fill Nationals Park twice.

It would help implement the Biden plan to create a new comprehensive financial account information reporting regime which would force the disclosure of any business or personal account that exceeds $600. Not only would this include the bank, loan, and investment accounts of virtually every individual and business, but it would also include third-party providers like Venmo, CashApp, and PayPal.

New IRS funding will also be a boon to the union that represents IRS employees. This union, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), shovels 97 percent of their money into Democrat campaign coffers. IRS employees also regularly perform union work on the taxpayers dime. In 2019, 1,421 IRS and other Treasury Department employees spent 353,820 hours of taxpayer-funded union time (TFUT), costing the federal government $17.27 million.

Read more at: ATR.org
(Natural News) Solar energy offers a way for aquaculture farms to become sustainable. But for many oyster and algae growers, going solar is also a viable solution for some of aquacultures peskiest problems, such as extreme tides and waterfront conflicts. Below are some of the ways aquaculture companies use solar energy to improve oyster and algae farming:

Streamlining oyster harvesting

Canadas DEon Oyster Company was able to streamline their operations and generate excess the amount of energy they needed after going solar. The firm originally wished to address extreme tides at its fishing location because these caused delays to its operations.

We have some of the worlds highest tides and at low tide our boat cant get to the wharf. Sometimes its low tide all day, and we werent able to harvest or process our oysters, said operations manager Colton DEon.

The companys previous system for harvesting and transporting oysters was also labor-intensive. Workers had to wait for high tide before they can bring in the oysters and transport them to the wharf. They then had to drive the oysters to a processing plant down the road.

We thought, what if we didnt have to depend on the tide, and what if we could just harvest and process the oysters right in the channel where theres all this water? DEon recalled.

The firm thought that installing an oyster grader in a barge could solve the problem but it needed a reliable power supply. To that end, the company installed solar panels and a battery storage system in a 1,200-square-foot barge. The solar power system generated so much power that the firm was able to install more machinery. In addition, the solar batteries provide enough storage so that the equipment could run at full power for three days without sunlight.

In the end, DEon Oyster was able to eliminate about 25 percent of its non-value-added steps, according to DEon.

Avoiding waterfront conflicts

Bayside aquaculture can lead to conflict with other waterfront property owners who consider farming operations an eyesore. American aquaculture technology start-up Solar Oysters was able to address this problem by building a floating, solar-powered prototype platform that grows oysters using rotating cages.

The prototype measures five by eight feet and is equipped with solar panels that power the rotation of oyster cages through a 20-foot water column once a day. Rotating the cages increases oysters exposure to nutrients and allows the use of an automated cleaning system, which means less backbreaking labor.

The fully-developed system would be able to produce 250 kilowatt-hours of solar energy per day. And because the system can be used to extract nitrogen and phosphorus from the water, it can also generate additional revenue from nutrient credits.

Plus, the platform would allow water farmers to conduct operations offshore, therefore preventing conflicts with waterfront neighbors.

Were hoping that by putting these in 20 feet of water  which for a lot of estuaries means its very far from shore  that we will mitigate those complaints and make it a lot easier for aquaculturists to do the work they really want to do, said Elizabeth Hines, vice president of Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, the joint owner of Solar Oysters.

Producing alternative protein supplies

British algae manufacturer SuSeWi produces protein supplies by harvesting solar energy using algae, which is the most efficient organism when it comes to converting sunlight into energy and capturing carbon.

The firm took inspiration from the massive algal blooms found in the worlds oceans. According to co-founder Keith Coleman, algae in nature grows abundantly and rapidly using only carbon dioxide, sunlight and seawater.

With that in mind, the company scaled-down the sea by developing an inland pond that replicates oceanic conditions at a smaller scale. Besides producing algae-derived proteins and lipids as sustainable alternatives to fishmeal, the pond also generates human food ingredients, supplements and pigments, among other products. (Related: Microalgae and seaweed farming: The answer to sustainable food and waste management for fish farms?.)

Now, SuSeWi operates an 8,000-square-meter pond on the coast of Morocco, which Coleman said is the largest algae pond in the world. The company is currently raising funds to build a 100-hectare system made up of 12,000-square-meter ponds by the end of 2022.

Harnessing solar energy is a smart and sustainable solution to some of the most significant challenges in aquaculture, including extreme tides and waterfront conflicts. But besides being clean and renewable, solar power is also available for free.

Learn more about innovative uses of solar technology at SolarPanels.news.

Sources include:

AquaCultureAlliance.org

VOANews.com
(Natural News) A husband from Georgia shared his experience advocating for his wife and getting her the budesonide treatment in the Thrive Time Show with Clay Clark Tuesday, Sept. 7, on Brighteon.TV.

The husband named Mick told Clark that his wife got out of the intensive care unit two days after getting the budesonide treatment and was able to go home in a week. Mick said his wife was in really bad shape after a week of battling symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Shes 57, has a partially collapsed lung and has preexisting conditions. Her blood oxygen was 50 and her blood pressure was 100/50, said Mick. The normal blood oxygen level is between 94 to 99 percent. Anything below 90 is considered to be low blood oxygen.

I went on battle mode immediately. I thought this is it,' said Mick, fearing that his wife would be put on a ventilator in which very few patients had survived.

He contacted Dr. Richard Bartlett personally to seek advice about the budesonide protocol that the latter has been promoting since the early days of the pandemic. (Related: Pastor David Scarlett talks to Dr. Richard Bartlett about how COVID-19 is 100% treatable  Brighteon.TV.)

After talking with Bartlett, Mick sent the hospital a fax message asking to put his wife under the budesonide protocol  which is 1 milligram of budesonide every eight hours. He copy furnished the doctor treating his wife, as well as a lawyer whom he didnt actually hire.

Mick cited several studies and a magazine article about the budesonide protocol, but he thought that what caught the hospital and the doctors attention was his threat of escalating the matter to the ethics committee if they dont grant his request.

Everything Mick and his wife went through had been captured in Bartletts remarks during the Grand Rapids, Michigan leg of the Reawaken America Tour last month.

There are people right now who are getting their loved ones off the ventilator; there are people who are getting their loved ones out of the ICU [intensive care unit] and back to the regular floor; and there are actually patients coming out of the hospital and going back home to their loved ones recovering from COVID, because there are treatment strategies that work, Bartlett said.

Budesonide significantly reduces COVID-19 hospitalization

Bartlett said researchers at the University of Oxford found that early treatment of inhaled budesonide reduced the need for urgent care and hospitalization in people with COVID-19 by as much as 90 percent. The study also found that inhaled budesonide given to patients with COVID-19 within seven days of symptoms also reduced recovery time.

Participants allocated the budesonide inhaler also had a quicker resolution of fever, symptoms and fewer persistent symptoms after 28 days. The study also demonstrated that there was a reduction in persistent symptoms in those who received budesonide.

I want people to be equipped and prepared. I want them armed and dangerous against the virus. I want the people to win against the virus, Bartlett said.

Unfortunately, not all doctors do. Many of them are scared of doing something thats not in line with the CDCs [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] protocol, he said.

Thats why Bartlett encouraged people to take their stand now.

This is not the time to just sit on the sidelines. They [the doctors] might not be listening to the right voice, so you have to stand up for your loved ones. Youre the advocate for your loved one in the hospital right now, he said.

Doctors have prescribed budesonide for more than 20 years as preventive medicine for asthmatics. Bartlett has written a paper with case reports describing favorable outcomes for two of his patients with the regimen. A lab study in the U.S. also showed that budesonide inhibited the ability of a coronavirus to replicate and inflame the airways.

Remdesivir causes multiple organ failure

The only treatment for the disease approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involves remdesivir. It is approved for use in adults and children at least 12 years old who weigh at least 88 pounds (40 kilograms).

Remdesivir is an antiviral medication that targets a range of viruses. It was originally developed over a decade ago to treat hepatitis C and a cold-like virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Remdesivir wasnt an effective treatment for either disease, but it showed promise against other viruses.

It works by interrupting the production of the virus. Coronaviruses have genomes made up of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Remdesivir interferes with one of the key enzymes the virus needs to replicate RNA, preventing the virus from multiplying.

According to reports, up to 31 percent of patients who received remdesivir have developed multiple organ failure and/or acute kidney failure. (Related: Dr. Ardis reveals hospitals COVID death protocol to Jeff and Shady  Brighteon.TV.)

Midazolam kills COVID-19 patients

Many hospitals were also giving COVID-19 patients with midazolam, which Clark said was questionable at best because it depresses your ability to breathe. It is most frequently used before surgeries or procedures to decrease anxiety, cause drowsiness, and help with anesthesia in patients who need tubes or machines to help them breathe.

Midazolam has an FDA black box warning, which notes that the medication has been associated with respiratory depression and arrest because it can slow or stop breathing.

Watch the full episode of Thrive Time Show with Clay Clark here.

You can catch Thrive Time Show live from Monday to Friday at 3:30-4 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Follow Pandemic.news for more news and information related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com 1

Brighteon.com 2

Fortune.com

NIH.gov

Health-Desk.org
(Natural News) The crazy authoritarianism in Australia is worsening as tyrannical leaders continue using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to crack down on a once-free society, even to the point of monitoring and limiting purchases of alcohol by residents of housing and apartment units controlled by the government.

According to News.Com.Au, the countrys largest news agency, locked-down residents in housing complexes in the Aussie state of New South Wales have been targeted for limited alcohol consumption by the NSW Health authorities as part of a policy to limit the number of drinks being consumed each day.

The health agency put the rules limiting alcoholic drinks in place for residents of NSW Health controlled buildings so officials could ostensibly ensure the safety of health staff and residents.

One of the most recent building complexes to fall under the mandate, the news outlet reports, is Mission Australias Common Ground building in Camperdown.

And as you might imagine, the drinks limit is being lamented by residents of the government-controlled complexes who say that state health officials have taken to searching care packages and other bags sent to them by relatives before they are permitted to be delivered to their intended recipients.

They are searching all bags and things coming into the building  They confiscated a series of gifts. So things like bottles of spirits, we werent allowed to have those and we still (arent), Common Ground resident Robin Elhaj told News.Com.au.

The report added that residents are permitted to have the following rationed beverages: A half-dozen beers or premixed drinks; a single bottle of wine; or a 375 ml bottle of spirits. And whats more, alcohol rations in excess of the limits are being confiscated by health authorities until the coronavirus lockdowns are rescinded.

There is some good news for drinkers: They have been allowed to consult with a doctor if they believe they are in need of more than the allowed limit, news.com.au added.

The outlet confirmed the alcohol limitations with a Sydney Local Health District official, who said they are linked to NSW Healths Special Health Accommodation, where COVID-positive patients and close contacts are sent for isolation.

But whats less clear is what authorities the health agency is acting under in order to limit alcoholic drinks; the current public health orders make no mention of them for residents who have been ordered to isolate in their homes.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police said that officers are not involved in the confiscation of alcoholic beverages and have not been authorized to carry out such actions, according to a report from BizPac Review.

Rather, in all residential lockdown locations, NSW Police are there to ensure compliance with the Public Health Orders and assist NSW Health if required, the spokeswoman told the Australian news agency.

The alcohol limitations are just the latest authoritarian measure from an increasingly tyrannical democracy (or former democracy).

Natural News reported previously that its all due to the political exploitation of COVID-19:

Australia is busily building new camp compounds for Wuhan Flu patients to live indefinitely until the government decides that it is safe for them to rejoin society.

If and until that happens, residents of these camps will be held there against their will, almost like a prison or a concentration camp. They are not allowed to leave or see visitors and must remain confined inside the compound until the government says otherwise.

Never mind that Australia  a nation of 26 million  has only experienced a total of one thousand deaths over the 19 months of this charade, noted a user at Citizen Free Press.

Instead, just know that its for his health that [an] obviously fit man is taken away by a dangerously overweight government worker in protective costume. If this makes sense to you, get tested for a mental disease.

Sources include:

BizPacReview.com

NaturalNews.com

News.com.au
(Natural News) President Joe Biden murdered an innocent family when the US military conducted a righteous strike on Aug. 29 against a vehicle that American officials thought was an ISIS bomb that posed an imminent threat to thousands of people at the Kabul airport.

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)

In a late Friday afternoon report, the New York Times reveals that Military officials said they did not know the identity of the cars driver when the drone fired, but deemed him suspicious because of how they interpreted his activities that day, saying that he possibly visited an ISIS safe house and, at one point, loaded what they thought could be explosives into the car.

In reality, they were filling water bottles.

Biden and Milley claimed this was an ISIS attack in the making They were filling water bottles And their entire family was murdered so Joe Biden could get a headline pic.twitter.com/kSXn0cbW3d  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) September 10, 2021

More via the New York Times:

Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence, including extensive interviews with family members, co-workers and witnesses, suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family. While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block. Mr. Ahmadi, 43, had worked since 2006 as an electrical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, a California-based aid and lobbying group. The morning of the strike, Mr. Ahmadis boss called from the office at around 8:45 a.m., and asked him to pick up his laptop.

Scroll down for a lengthy recap by one of the NYT journos

Milley lied. He murdered a US ally and his entire family. War crime.

pic.twitter.com/oMbYH0e0pi  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) September 10, 2021

The Biden administration lied about who it killed with its drone strike. They had no idea who they hit. The media mindlessly repeated the false claim that they killed "terrorists" when, in fact, they just killed innocent people. A perfect summation of the US Endless Wars: https://t.co/1qNbQZWrYQ  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 10, 2021

As we noted last week, NBC News spoke with members of the Ahmadi family who said they were hoping to make it onto an evacuation flight out of Kabul before the United States ended its withdrawal from the country.

Ramal Ahmadi is supported by family members during a mass funeral in Kabul on Monday.Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

They were 10 civilians, said Emal Ahmadi, whose 2-year-old toddler, Malika was among those killed. My daughter  she was 2 years old, he said.

Malika Ahmadi, 2, was among those killed in Sundays U.S. drone strike in Kabul, her father, Emal Ahmadi, told NBC News.Courtesy / Emal Ahmadi

More via NBC News:

That day, Ahmadis cousin, Zemari Ahmadi, 38, had just pulled up at home from work, with his 13-year-old son, Farzad, his youngest of three, racing to greet him. (Other reports have said Farzad was 12, but both Ahmadi and another relative told NBC News he was 13.) Farzad, who had just learned to drive, wanted to park his fathers car, a wish Zemari was happy to oblige as other family members gathered around. It was in that moment that Ahmadi said an explosion tore through the vehicle, killing Zemari, Farzad and eight other family members, as was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, Washington is not in a position to dispute reports that the Sunday drone strike killed civilians, however he claimed that one of the family members belonged to radical Islamic group, ISIS-K.

Malika and two other toddlers were the youngest family members killed, along with Ahmadis nephews Arwin, 7, and Benyamin, 6, and Zemaris two other sons, Zamir, 20, and Faisal, 16, Ahmadi said. Zemari was a technical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, a nonprofit working to address malnutrition based in Pasadena, California. Just a day before his death, he had been helping to prepare and deliver soy-based meals to women and children at refugee camps in Kabul, Steven Kwon, president of NEI, told NBC News in an email.

One colleague and friend of six years to Zemari said he was devastated, while also describing Ahmadi as a good man with good ethics.

Residents and family members gather next to a damaged vehicle a day after the drone strike. Wakil Kohsar / AFP  Getty Images

Also killed in Bidens drone strike was Ahmad Naser  a former officer in the Afghan Army and contractor with the US military, according to his cousin. Naser was days away from his wedding when he was killed.

Instead, there will be a funeral.

They were all buried, said 31-year-old Yousef. Were all ruined. The family is gone.

A relative throws himself on Farzads casket.Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

According to an evidence-free statement by US Central Command, however, there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, suggesting that there was a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties.

* * *

We now know that was utter bullshit.

Times journalist Evan Hill recaps the entire event in the following Twitter thread:

Ahmadi was a 14-year employee of Nutrition & Education International, a U.S. NGO that fights malnutrition. He helped start up soy factories, repair machinery, transport his colleagues and distribute food from his Corolla to displaced Afghans. pic.twitter.com/S7r1TyHBs0  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

But the U.S. military was on high alert. Three days earlier, an Islamic State suicide attack at the Kabul airport had killed 13 troops and more than 170 Afghans. All threat warnings are flashing red, a senior official told us. They expected another attack. pic.twitter.com/2haQhzhhHo  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

But @mattaikins interviewed all 5 men who were in the car with Ahmadi that day. They said that what the military interpreted as a series of suspicious moves represented a typical day in his life. He drove his colleagues around town, where they made plans for food distributions. pic.twitter.com/qD08rGmomI  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

At 2:35pm, Ahmadi and a colleague fill several large plastic containers with water. The footage shows Ahmadi bring them to the office earlier that day. His brother told us his neighborhood suffered from a water shortage and that he routinely filled up containers at the office. pic.twitter.com/GqzL8NeXmy  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

The location of the "unknown compound" overlaps with the location of the NGOs office, and the military told us that they only saw the white sedan at one location that afternoon. We believe that what the military called an unknown compound was in fact the NGOs office.  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

Ahmadi drops his colleagues off and turns onto his street. His and his brothers children surround the car, his relatives said. The family has a habit of letting kids steer the car into the courtyard of their home. Somehow, the military said, the drone team sees none of this. pic.twitter.com/HjRbHxN5QX  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

The decision to strike does not flow down the typical chain of command. Because of the chaos of the Kabul airport evacuation, an official told us, President Biden and the military have delegated the authority to approve airstrikes to lower-level commanders.  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

We gathered photos and videos of the scene taken by journalists, and @mattaikins visited the courtyard multiple times. We shared that evidence with three experts. All three agreed that the damage was consistent with a single Hellfire strike, and not large secondary explosions. pic.twitter.com/HUXcZFHwCL  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

The morning after the U.S. drone strike killed Ahmadi and 9 others, the Islamic State did launch rockets at the airport, firing from an area that Ahmadi had driven through the previous day, and using a white Toyota to do so. pic.twitter.com/TPVu9Mwv0O  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

Four days before Ahmadi was killed, his employer had applied for his family to receive refugee resettlement in the U.S. At the time of the strike, they were still awaiting approval. Looking to the U.S. for protection, they became some of the last victims in Americas longest war. pic.twitter.com/3IcgTyc5ca  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

This story began with the core and essential work of our team, a quick and accurate geolocation from @heytherehaIey: https://t.co/EuqimJpxyr. We followed that up with thorough reporting, expert consultation, and tireless on-the-ground work by @mattaikins.  Evan Hill (@evanhill) September 10, 2021

Read more at: ZeroHedge.com and JoeBiden.news.
(Natural News) Steel Truth host Ann Vandersteel talked about the recent Arizona election audit and President Joe Bidens blunders in Afghanistan on her show. She touched on these topics during the Sept. 8 edition of her program on Brighteon.tv, alongside former intelligence operative Dr. Keith Rose. Vandersteel also called on people to stand up and reclaim their rights in the episode.

She began by acknowledging that former President Donald Trump won in the state of Florida during the 2020 elections. However, Vandersteel noted that Trumps lead over incumbent President Joe Biden in the state was not in the margins reported by the mainstream media. We need to demand full state forensic audits, even here in Florida, to prove that the margin of victory was a lot bigger, she said.

Vandersteel called on Americans to demand these forensic audits by means of peaceful protests. We are allowed to peacefully assemble at our public property, which is our state capitols,  to start demanding these forensic audits. She continued: The reason we need to do it is because President Trump reminded us that he was returning the power to the rightful rulers of the land, which is We The People. We The People are the government, you are the government.

She then reported news from the Gateway Pundit saying the results of an independent audit in Arizona were released. The audit was organized by Maricopa County resident Liz Harris and other volunteers. Their audit revealed that 173,104 votes are missing or lost, as verified by volunteers who painstakingly visited residents of the county to verify registration.

These are American citizens living in Maricopa County who cast a vote primarily by mail in the election, and yet theres no record of their vote with the county and it was not counted in the reported vote totals for the election, Vandersteel said.

Furthermore, the audit by Harriss group found 96,389 mail-in votes to be ghost votes. Vandersteel said these votes were cast under the names of registered voters, but unknown to the true residents of the addresses they gave. She added that these ghost votes also included those who were verified as having moved away from Maricopa County before October 2020.

[There were clearly] more than enough votes to prove that were fake, stolen or what-have-you to overturn and decertify [the election results], Vandersteel said. (Related: HUGE: Maricopa County volunteer Liz Harris says audit of 2020 election has turned up 176,000 missing votes.)

Rose: US spent 20 years to replace Taliban with the Taliban

Vandersteel then shifted her topic to Afghanistan and the Biden administrations blunders there. Weve got Americans being held hostage, we have [Afghan] womens lives [on the line]  being enslaved and killed. [It] looks bleak over there and its making us look bad, she said.

We have a gentleman whos now hot a bounty on his head for a long time  but [is] seemingly the minister of the interior running Afghanistan for the Taliban, the Steel Truth host also mentioned. Vandersteel referred to Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has a $10 million bounty put on his head by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Haqqani was appointed to lead the Afghan Ministry of the Interior following the Talibans takeover. (Related: Steel Truth: Ann Vandersteel talks Afghanistan and vaccines  Brighteon.TV)

According to the FBI, Haqqani was wanted for a January 2008 attack on a hotel in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed six. He was also involved in the assassination attempt on former Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the same year.

She then turned to Rose, who said the Biden administration and the mainstream media were conflating the U.S.s departure from Afghanistan with the actual August 2021 departure of military personnel. He said: We had 20 years, four presidents [and] trillions of dollars placed in Afghanistan to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.

Rose continued: [The] way we exited not only [deprived] the Afghans [of] even a fighting chance to remain free and keep the liberties they have developed over the past 20 years. [We also] made sure  and are now trying to shut the door on them  [that they will not have] that opportunity.

He referenced Bidens press conference where the president mentioned that the post-Taliban Afghan government had a well-trained army and that it could take care of the situation. However, Biden omitted the fact that the State Department elevated the Taliban on the world stage, Rose argued.

US created and supported a terrorist superstate

Rose told Vandersteel: We actually left  over $80 billion in weapons for the Taliban at Bagram Airfield. [At] the same time, we blew up the [ammunition] depots that the Northern Alliance and the actual people that we trained in Afghanistan could have used to fight the Taliban.

When we left the base in the middle of the night in Bagram, the [U.S.] military  did not even tell the Afghan military that they were leaving. They found out about it the next day. Rose said. While the Afghan forces were not informed of the departure, the Taliban were aware of U.S. forces leaving the country. This enabled the terrorist group to head to Bagram and pick up the weapons left behind.

The former intelligence operative ultimately remarked: We basically created a terrorist superstate and, at the same time, hamstrung and have almost completely prevented any [grassroots] support for the actual Afghan military we trained and [the] actual, legitimate government.

Traitors.news has more articles about Joe Bidens treachery during the 2020 elections and in Afghanistan.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

FBI.gov
(Natural News) Pioneering researcher, author and publisher Steve Quayle is now issuing his more dire warning yet. In an interview we conducted late last week, Quayle warns that an imminent catastrophic collapse now threatens America, and that we are unlikely to survive long enough as an intact nation to even conduct the 2022 mid-term elections.

The interview covers the vaxssassination of humanity via covid death shots, and how globalists are working to cleanse planet Earth and replace the human race with something else entirely. What Quayle accurately points out is that humanity has been targeted for termination, and the covid plandemic is a dual-track attack to both mass murder as many humans as possible while enslaving the survivors under global government tyranny.

Steve Quayle has been writing about genetic warfare, fallen angels and globalist-run genocide for nearly 30 years. Hes widely considered one of the key founders of the survivalist movement, and his early books (in the 1990s) accurately predicted the biological / genetic experiments now being openly conducted on the entire world via trans-fection mRNA covid vaccine injections.

While considered a fringe theorist for the last several decades, Steve Quayle has been proven correct again and again as his worst nightmares are unfolding by the day for all the world to see. Almost everything being rolled out right now in the name of the covid plandemic was foreseen by Quayle over the last twenty years, and the nightmare scenarios he has predicted have now only just begun.

In the months and years ahead, Quayle predicts, the American people are going to experience total warfare at all levels, including spiritual warfare, food scarcity warfare, economic warfare and kinetic warfare as the corrupt, criminal establishment hunts down and mass murders anyone who resists the vaccine death shot. Those who obey and take the shot, in contrast, will be slowly killed off by the spike protein.

Those are your choices: Comply and DIE, or disobey and be HUNTED.

Full details in todays bombshell interview with Steve Quayle:

Brighteon.com/fa06f2c1-02b0-4318-b60c-dcb73eb873df

Find more interviews and podcasts each day at:

https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport
(Natural News) A new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott allows Texans whose free speech rights have been infringed by Big Tech to sue for damages.

Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter are no longer immune to lawsuits in the Lone Star State when they silence or otherwise violate the free speech rights of Texans.

We will always defend the freedom of speech in Texas, Abbott announced while signing the legislation into law.

Social media websites have become our modern-day public square. They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely  but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas, he added. That is wrong, and we will not allow it in Texas.

Texas remains at the forefront of states that are challenging First Amendment violations by Big Tech. Since the federal government refuses to act, Texas has decided to take matters into its own hands.

House Bill 20, which was passed during a special session, requires social media companies with 50 million or more users to publicly disclose all of their content management practices and policies. The legislation also expressly prohibits said companies from targeting users based on political or ideological beliefs.

The law states that:

 social media platform may not censor a user, a users expression, or a users ability to receive the expression of another person based on: (1) the viewpoint of the user or another person; (2) the viewpoint represented in the users expression or another persons expression; (3) or a users geographic location in this state or any part of this state.

Based on these provisions, the Texas attorney general will be tasked with intervening on behalf of any plaintiff who files a suit.

Why do Democrats love censorship so much?

Florida passed similar legislation prohibiting social media platforms from banning political candidates, however a federal judge has temporarily blocked that one in favor of continued Big Tech censorship.

Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for more social media censorship in an effort to silence their political opponents and prevent their voices from ever being heard in the digital public square.

Even though the Constitution clearly delineates that free speech is a critical tenet of a free and fair society, the left would rather erase the First Amendment entirely. In other words, the left would prefer to have fascism rather than freedom.

The Democrats full-fledged hatred for free speech is anomalous since those who identify as such are constantly whining about how all voices need to be heard in order to preserve democracy.

These same folks also want the government to forcibly penetrate you with Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) needles, even while they scream in the streets about my body, my choice.

It is nothing but hypocrisy from these people, who claim to champion civil liberties while trampling them every chance they get. And conservatives, for the most part, just put up with it rather than fight back, which is their own fatal flaw.

Cant trust these politicians, wrote one commenter at Natural News about the false left-right political paradigm. Both sides are wings of the same bird and elections are rigged. They all say one thing and do another. Its all smoke and mirrors. Dont fall into believing otherwise.

Another noted that all the major tech platforms, including Amazon and Apple, are guilty of antitrust and RICO violations, and yet nothing is being done to punish these corporate criminals for stomping all over the Constitution while amassing ever-more wealth on the backs of the working class.

For more related news about free speech issues, visit FirstAmendment.news.

Sources for this article include:

JustTheNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Climate change advocates have long claimed that the Earths temperature rose by a minimum of 1 C on an annual basis. However, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted in its Climate Change 2021 report that this was not the case. The reports findings strike a serious blow to climate alarmists and their global warming agenda.

According to the report, surface temperatures from 1850 to 1900 and from 2010 to 2019 ranged from 0.8 C to 1.3 C. It added that the best estimated temperature increase caused by humans since 1850 was 1.07 C. Furthermore, the report noted that surface temperatures over land were higher than the temperatures over large bodies of water.

Terrestrial temperatures ranged from 1.34 C to 1.83 C with an average of 1.59 C. Meanwhile, ocean temperatures ranged from 0.68 C to 1.01 C, with an average temperature of 0.88 C.

The IPCC report also noted that global average sea levels increased by 1.3 millimeters per year (mm/year) from 1901 to 1971. It rose to 1.9 mm/year between 1971 and 2006. Sea levels worldwide had an almost two-fold increase from the current measure between 2006 and 2018  at 3.7 mm/year.

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. penned an op-ed following the IPCC reports findings. His Sept. 3 op-ed criticized media outlets for climate change fearmongering based on inconsistent computer simulations. Jenkins wrote: After 41 years of promoting a fuzzy and unsatisfying estimate of how much warming might result from a doubling of atmospheric CO2 [carbon dioxide], the worlds climate science arbiter has finally offered the first real improvement in the history of modern climate science.

Jenkins noted that earlier UN reports predicted a worst-case rise of 4.5 C. The IPCC report now stated that using real world data, a 4 C rise would happen to be the worst and any temperature increase beyond 5 C would be very unlikely. The UN walked back on its earlier dire emissions scenario it pushed for 20 years, the WSJ columnist wrote. (Related: UN official claims global warming hoax is all about eliminating capitalism, suppressing the economy.)

Government agencies appear to be manipulating temperatures to show warming

The release of the IPCC Climate Change 2021 report debunks claims of intense temperature increases. But prior to the report, some people expressed concern that authorities were manipulating daily temperature readings to push the global warming sham.

Francis Menton wrote in a July 2019 piece for the Manhattan Contrarian: [When] not so many people are looking, the temperature adjusters have been beavering away in the bowels of their collections of data, continuing to send inconvenient readings of the past down the memory hole  and to adjust the temperatures of the past down, and of the present up.

Menton cited the work of Japanese climate skeptic Kirye, who pointed out the manipulation that happened to data from Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN). In her Twitter posts, Kirye noted how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched version four of the GHCN temperature data that had minor changes compared to version three. However, she pointed out that the NASA labeled version 3 data as unadjusted when it released the GCHN graphs for version 4. (Related: PROOF that NASA is faking global temperature data to push the false global warming science fraud.)

The Japanese climate skeptic noted that a small cooling trend in the version 3 data was manipulated to reflect an increase in temperature in the version 4 graph. Although the magnitude of the change in trend may vary, the direction of the change in trend created by the now-memory-holed adjustments is always the same  the warming trend is enhanced, Menton described Kiryes findings.

Furthermore, Menton cited findings by independent British blogger Clive Best from the HadCRUT surface temperature series. The University of East Anglias Hadley Center was responsible for compiling this data. Best then traced several adjustments to the HadCRUT data in recent years and found strong evidence of manipulation.

The independent blogger pointed out that from 1998 to 2013, temperatures failed to rise as predicted  which was dubbed as the hiatus. However, Best found that in the most recent HadCRUT data set that 2005, 2010 and 2014 turned out to be warmer than 1998  effectively erasing the hiatus. Similar measurements for the three years showed that they had lower temperatures than what HadCRUT showed.

ClimateAlarmism.news has more about the agenda to push the global warming sham.

Sources include:

GlobalResearch.ca

WSJ.com

ManhattanContrarian.com
(Natural News) Because too many people are being helped by taking it, the government of Australia has imposed a new ban on the prescription of ivermectin for treating the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19).

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), a division of the Australian governments Department of Health, issued an announcement explaining that from here on out, general practitioners are only allowed to prescribe ivermectin for TGA-approved conditions.

These include scabies and certain parasitic infections  and nothing else. The only exception is for certain specialists including infectious disease physicians, dermatologists, gastroenterologists and hepatologists (liver disease specialists), the announcement specifies.

Such specialists, it adds, will be permitted to prescribe ivermectin for other unapproved indications if they believe it is appropriate for a particular patient.

For the Fauci Flu, though, no ivermectin will be distributed. The government has decided that only face masks, vaccines, and faith in Fauci are approved remedies for the Chinese Virus.

These changes have been introduced because of concerns with the prescribing of oral ivermectin for the claimed prevention or treatment of COVID-19, the TGA insists.

Ivermectin is not approved for use in COVID-19 in Australia or in other developed countries, and its use by the general public for COVID-19 is currently strongly discouraged by the National COVID Clinical Evidence Taskforce, the World Health Organisation and the US Food and Drug Administration.

Allowing people to take safe and effective ivermectin is risky, Australian government alleges

One of the TGAs biggest worries is that too many people will be healed by ivermectin, and thus will not rush out and roll up their sleeves for one of Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed injections.

 there are a number of significant public health risks associated with taking ivermectin in an attempt to prevent COVID-19 infection rather than getting vaccinated, the TGA maintains.

Individuals who believe that they are protected from infection by taking ivermectin may choose not to get tested or to seek medical care if they experience symptoms.

The TGA further says it is worried about people taking what it considers to be too much ivermectin, which could in some rare cases cause a person to feel a little bit nauseous. The TGA wants to protect such folks, it insists, by having them get injected instead.

Hilariously, the TGA also says that there is not enough ivermectin to go around for scabies and parasite infections because too many people with covid are using the cheap, off-patent medication to cure their symptoms quickly.

Such shortages can disproportionately impact vulnerable people, including those in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the government agency said, pretending to care about minorities.

The simple solution would of course be to produce more ivermectin for everyone. After all, it is off-patent and costs pennies to manufacture. But no: The government would rather withhold this lifesaving treatment and instead let people die while they get endless booster shots for Chinese Germs.

There is only one TGA approved oral ivermectin product, Stromectol ivermectin 3mg tablet blister pack which is indicated for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis), threadworm of the intestines (intestinal strongyloidiasis) and scabies, the death agency further explained.

Keep in mind that Australia has imposed some of the harshest lockdown and mask rules anywhere in the world. Australias politicians are obsessed with fascism, so it only makes sense that they are now eliminating access to lifesaving ivermectin.

To keep up with the latest news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) tyranny, visit Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

tga.gov.au

Archive.is

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Conservative author and host Daniel Bobinski says that a free, unbiased press is fundamental to a free society. He declares this during the Sept. 9 episode of his program The Voice of Conservative Values (TVOCV), which airs on Brighteon.TV. Bobinski cites the website Uncover DC, which he is a part of, as a media outlet embodying the values of a free press.

Bobinski begins by quoting the second President John Adams, who wrote how the Constitution was drafted for a moral and religious people. The Founding Father wrote in 1798: Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

The TVOCV host also says that a free press is part of the values in the mindset put forward by Adams in his 1798 statement. Bobinski, however, laments how most Americans took the concept of press freedom for granted. A lot of folks use that phrase  just as if its taken for granted, he says.

Many people dont realize that prior to our country becoming free [in 1776], printing presses had to be licensed. You had to have [a] license to operate [a printing press]. If the government [is going to license] something, [then] the government [is going to] control [it]. Thats why a free press was mandatory for a free society  and thats how our founders viewed that, says Bobinski.

He then welcomes his guest Tracy Beanz, the editor-in-chief and founder of Uncover DC, who talks about how the conservative news outlet set itself apart from other mainstream outlets. Beanz shares that she was an independent journalist for a long time  focusing on the Spygate scandal. The plot involved a spy planted by former President Barack Obama in the administration of his successor, former President Donald Trump.

Beanz eventually reached out to two of her publicist friends, who suggested that she reach out to other media outlets. But she realized: Ive always wanted to start my own organization, to bring in actual journalists who do the right thing with integrity. [I wanted to] really have a handle on what comes out and how it is presented, and I dont want to be told I cant report on something. Thus, she established Uncover DC for this purpose.

Journalistic honesty and integrity sets Uncover DC apart

Beanz tells Bobinski: We need more people to become active. We need a certain standard set with our information because you cant make an informed decision unless you have good information. She also believes that more Americans have woken up to the truth because of the blatant propaganda espoused by mainstream media outlets. (Related: That didnt age well: Wuhan propaganda from MSM laid bare.)

I think that there is a large percentage of the public now that is becoming more informed about issues because of how blatant the propaganda has become. If we  can be the place where people know they can get actual, factual information they can share with their friends, I am overjoyed. I guarantee you  were constantly working to make sure were doing the right thing for people that come to us for good facts.

Bobinski mentions two rules Uncover DC had in place for its journalists. The TVOCV host had his start with the website back in its infancy, subsequently having his own show on Brighteon.tv. These two rules were citing sources to back up arguments and giving more prominence to any corrections for stories.

Bobinski says on the first rule: [You] want us to cite our sources. We cant just offer an opinion without citing some sort of data to back it up. [We] want people to see: This is not just our opinions here. Were basing our presentation on the news [at] Uncover DC on facts. The host even shares an instance where Beanz returned a piece he made in a hurry, asking him to cite a few more sources  something he lauded.

He then moves on to the second rule and asks Beanz to elaborate more on this. She replies: I made this rule for us: If we ever make a mistake  which we try very hard not to do  were going to give the correction more attention than we gave the original story. [We] try not to make any mistakes and Ive never had to do this yet. But Im sure one day we will and when we do, we will make sure everyone knows it.

Beanz mentions recent news stories about Oklahoma hospitals being filled to the brim with patients who overdosed on animal-grade ivermectin as an example of why these two rules were important. These news stories also report that victims of gun violence are being pushed to the side of the line to accommodate those who suffer from high strength ivermectin intake.

However, Oklahoma physician Dr. Jason McElyea later clarified that the story was false and that he was misquoted by these mainstream media reports. As the story ran, it sounded like all of Oklahoma hospitals were filled with people who have overdosed on ivermectin and thats not the case, he said.

The Uncover DC editor-in-chief says the stories received much attention from mainstream media outlets at first. When the stories were later debunked as false, mainstream sources did not even issue an apology or retraction. We have to do better than that, obviously, and Ive vowed to do that, says Beanz. (Related: Fact check: Oklahoma hospitals NOT backed up due to ivermectin overdose it was all a lie pushed by the fake news media.)

Biased.news has more articles about the mainstream media eschewing facts in favor of lies and propaganda.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Founders.Archives.gov

NewsOn6.com
(Natural News) Bob Sisson and his guests on CLO2TV talk about chlorine dioxide being used as a treatment for COVID-19 in different countries such as Bolivia and Honduras.

Bolivians are now ingesting chlorine dioxide, known by its advocates as Miracle Mineral Solutions, to treat COVID-19. This chemical was approved by the senate as a treatment for the disease that has affected people from around the globe.

In the Bolivian City of Cochabamba, the provincial government has approved its use, and many believe that the substance can help treat COVID. Pharmacies are selling chlorine dioxide and it is made available for the prevention and healing from COVID-19.

MMS supporters claim that the substance can treat virtually any illness, including COVID-19.

While it is illegal in Bolivia to promote MMS as a medical substance, the country is in a vulnerable position, and the legislature passed a bill that would authorize its use.

MMS is already in production at university laboratories and is ready for distribution to COVID-19 patients. Across the country, there have been numerous injuries and a single death reported among those who used the chemical as a drug. (Related: Chlorine dioxide to treat COVID? YES, says Dr. Manuel Aparicio.)

Chlorine dioxide treatment backed by a group of doctors

Andreas Kalcker, a German researcher, claimed that chlorine dioxide offers a cheap and accessible solution to COVID-19. He was interviewed on the Bolivian national TV channel, RED Gigavision, about MMS, where he said it was effective against the disease.

Kalcker is backed by a group of doctors from the World Coalition for Health and Life (COMUSAV) led by La Paz pediatrician Dr. Patricia Callisperis. Callisperis advocates for the use of chlorine dioxide to treat COVID-19 because of its oxygenating action at a mitochondrial level.

Callisperis said that Comusav was testing everything as there was no scientific evidence for any medicine or substance proposed in the world that could treat COVID-19.

She also described MMS as a natural cure that taps into the roots of Bolivians.

Bolivian media reports also said that Comusave has previously used MMS to treat patients in Oruro, eastern Bolivia, with the backing of local authorities. Callisperis herself confirmed that Bolivian legislators consulted Comusav about MMS.

She also dismissed reports of harm caused by the substance, saying that media reports were insufficiently rigorous  she would stop promoting MMS herself if it were shown to have conclusive evidence.

Kalcker also said that Comusavs support for chlorine dioxide is compelling evidence that supports its effectiveness.

A country in political crisis

Kate Centellas, a Croft associate professor of anthropology and Latin American studies at the University of Mississippi said that Bolivia is a country in crisis. She shared that the high level of COVID-19 cases in Bolivia induced panic, and advocating for chlorine dioxide is a way to signal disaffection with political and scientific establishments.

The coronavirus also put additional pressure on the government itself.

Chlorine dioxide, regardless of whether it is effective or not, is a great thing to fit into that narrative because its cheap, it makes it look like theyre defending the people, and obviously the executive has to block it because its not healthy, Jhanisse Vaca Daza, a human rights activist. Her group, the Standing Rivers charity, organized efforts to distribute essential medical supplies to Bolivians who dont have access to medical treatment.

There is so much desperation. We see it firsthand because we are often delivering protective equipment and food. Weve seen how desperate people are. So having something that is not only cheap but also accessible seems like the perfect thing you would want to find right now.

Learn more about this issue on CLO2TV: Bob The Plumber, which airs Thursdays at 11 AM on BrighteonTV.

Get more news and updates about COVID-19 at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

BusinessInsider.com
(Natural News) Resident Biden has signed an Executive Order that requires all federal executive branch workers to be vaccinated, except the House, Senate, himself, and all judges. The elitists enforcing everything Covid keep saying they cant make anyone take the jabs, but youre fired from your government job if you dont, and theyre not taking them because they cause massive heart strain (myocarditis) and blood clotting in your blood vessels and organs. Only stupid peons get the clot shots, not people who are trying to rob the country for all its worth, destroy all medical choice, and dismantle the constitution. The elite exempt themselves from the deadly, dirty Covid clot shots (they take saline jabs for show).

The demented Left wants all American conservatives and natural health advocates to join the dementia bandwagon, and get the clot shots that destroy your heart and brain, sometimes overnight. Its not happening. Vaccination for Covid has come to a screeching halt, and thats why the CCP/Biden Regime has resorted to forcing federal employees, military members and every employee at every corporation to succumb, or else.

The Biden Regime and the Leftist judges have been cozying up to the VIC, the vaccine industrial complex, since before they stole the election. This dates back. So it should come as no surprise that the Executive Order for clot shots excludes them. The only jabs theyre taking on TV or for some shilling CNN press video are saline shots. Surely Congress would never allow the President to sling vaccines on all government workers and forget to exempt them.

Not in a million years would Nancy Pelosi take a clot shot  which makes her a Super-Spreader

In America, right now, the demented leader has ordered, by Executive Order, that every federal employee, contractor and private employer (with over 100 employees) MANDATE VACCINES, but not Congress, their entire staff, or any federal judges. Wait, what? But, Covid? That means Congress, Biden and Pelosi could be the ultimate super-spreaders, causing the whole world to die (by their logic), just to be elitists whos vaccination status is a matter of privacy (thats Nancy Pelosis response when asked).

The Labor Departments Occupational Safety and Health Administration is behind this all the way, and plans to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard of forced vaccination for all employees. Temporary? Where have we heard that before?

Failure to comply results in a $14,000 fine, per incidence, virtually bankrupting any business overnight that doesnt have every single employee fully vaccinated with billions of blood-clotting, heart-inflaming prions.

Legislative and Judicial Branches are NOT included in the Mandatory Covid Vaccine Executive Order on purpose to spare the lives of the insidious, filthy elite

The clot shot Executive Order only applies to federal workers and contractors for the government, because the clot shots are deadly. Follow the bouncing ball. If the President and Congress made them mandatory for everyone, that would be like committing suicide through legislation.

The CDC has determined that the best way to kill off 70 percent of the population is to threaten everyone with their job if they dont get vaccinated, and were talking about some very high-paying salaries for those well dug in. Not any more. Not after the clot shots and boosters further clog those blood vessels and stress the heart and cleansing organs.

Watch out though, because these orders, once enforced at gunpoint (which is coming soon), will never be lifted. This is people control, not medicine. This is how the US government is going after guns, because if all the 80 million federal workers are dying from blood clots and heart failure, their weapons will be of no use to them.

Vaccines are for depopulation, thats why Congress and the President wont get them, and declare their own vaccination status a private matter

Heres Biden reading the depopulation script word for word: The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.

Sure, and even Resident Biden knows the PCR tests show Covid positive for common head colds and the flu, so every federal worker will get caught who tries to avoid the death jabs. Off to Covid Concentration camp for you! Maybe the CCP/Biden Regime will team up with Australia and make that whole continent the prison for Covid lepers, and it will be the real life version of two movies combined, Escape from New York meets World War Z.

Tune your truth news dial to Pandemic.news for updates on the war against dirty vaccines and communism, and how to keep your family happy, healthy and safe.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

NaturalNews.com

TruthWiki.org

NaturalNews.com

ZeroHedge.com

ChristianPost.com
(Natural News) As new infections and breakthrough cases continue to rise across the globe, it is fast becoming clear that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine experiment is a massive failure.

Israel is perhaps the biggest proof of that. The country has one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in the world. Nearly 80 percent of eligible Israelis ages 12 and above have been vaccinated. Approximately 2.35 million Israelis have also received booster doses.

Yet, new data from the University of Oxford reveals that Israel has the highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita.

On Sept. 3, Israel had a rolling seven-day average of 1,143 COVID-19 cases per million people  more than double the rate reported in the U.S. on the same day, which is 501 per million.

The Jerusalem Post recently reported that since the beginning of August, nearly 200,000 Israelis have tested positive for COVID-19 and 564 people have died with a COVID-19 diagnosis. In early August, Israels Ministry of Health reported that 64 percent of the countrys 400 COVID-19 patients in serious condition were fully vaccinated.

Its not really surprising as Israels preliminary vaccine data published in July found that Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine was just 40.5 percent effective on average at preventing symptomatic infections. (Related: All of the evidence is in: The covid vaccine is a failure.)

The analysis, which was carried out as the delta variant became the dominant strain in the country, appeared to show a waning effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine. It was only 16 percent effective against symptomatic infections for those who had two doses back in January. For people that had received two doses by April, the efficacy rate against symptomatic infection stood at 79 percent.

Vaccine does nothing to reduce COVID-19 transmission

In a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal, neurologist Dr. Michael Segal explained why people vaccinated against COVID-19 are still contracting and spreading the disease at a high rate.

Segal wrote that the vaccines only stimulate internal immunity but do nothing to address mucosal immunity. Internal immunity protects the inside of the body while mucosal immunity provides the first line of defense by protecting the nose and mouth, and by doing so also reduces spread to others.

He said that all COVID-19 vaccines are largely ineffective at stimulating the secretion of a particular form of antibodies called Immunoglobulin A (IgA) into our noses that occurs after actual infection with a virus.

Meanwhile, those who have contracted and recovered from the disease have both mucosal and internal immunity. They have what they call a natural immunity from the disease.

Thats the reason why some experts are now recommending that the virus be allowed to circulate throughout the population, with precautions taken for vulnerable individuals.

We really cannot do anything else but allow the virus to take its course in order for the population to achieve herd immunity, said Porolfur Gudnason, chief epidemiologist of Icelands Directorate of Health. We need to try to vaccinate and better protect those who are vulnerable but let us tolerate the infection. It is not a priority now to vaccinate everyone with the third dose.

Some are asking whether catching COVID-19 now is better than more vaccines. (Related: COVID-19 natural immunity vs vaccine-induced immunity guide.)

If you had a real humdinger of an infection, you may have better immunity to any new variants that pop up as you have immunity to more than just spike [protein], said Eleanor Riley, an immunologist from the University of Edinburgh. We could be digging ourselves into a hole, for a very long time, where we think we can only keep COVID away by boosting every year.

Recovered COVID-19 patients retain broad and durable immunity

Multiple studies found that most people who have recovered from COVID-19 retain a broad and durable immunity to the disease.

After people recover from infection with a virus, the immune system retains a memory of it. Immune cells and proteins that circulate in the body can recognize and kill the pathogen if its encountered again, protecting against disease and reducing illness severity.

An Emory University study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine found that most of the patients who recovered mounted a strong and wide-ranging immune response to the virus for at least the 250-day duration of the study.

The study involved 254 COVID-19 patients between 18 to 82 years old, who provided blood samples at various points for a period of over eight months beginning April last year. About 71 percent of the patients had mild disease, 24 percent experienced moderate illness and five percent had severe disease.

Another study, which was published on Jan. 6 in Science, analyzed immune cells and antibodies from almost 200 people who had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and recovered.

Antibodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 were found in 98 percent of participants one month after symptom onset. The number of antibodies ranged widely between individuals, but their levels remained fairly stable over time, declining only modestly at six to eight months after infection.

Follow Immunization.news for more news and information related to coronavirus vaccines.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

CNBC.com

WSJ.com

TheEpochTimes.com

NIH.gov
(Natural News) King Joe Biden did something he said he would not do as president-elect: Impose a mandate on Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last week, Biden broke his promise in an address to the nation in which he blamed about 80 million unvaccinated Americans for the lingering pandemic even though vaccinated Americans are also catching the virus and likely spreading it.

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, Biden said.

This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And its caused by the fact that despite America having an unprecedented and successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million Americans who have failed to get the shot, Biden lectured before singling out Republican governors for daring to respect our constitutional system and Americans individual right to not put something into their bodies.

And to make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against COVID-19. Instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up, theyre ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying from COVID in their communities. This is totally unacceptable, Biden continued.

This is not about freedom or personal choice, Biden said. Its about protecting yourself and those around you, the people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love. My job as president is to protect all Americans.

Weve been patient but our patience is wearing thin and your refusal has cost all of us, he added.

This infuriated scores of GOP governors, as did his vaccine mandate, which requires businesses with more than 100 employees to mandate employees be vaccinated or subject to weekly COVID testing  or face a $14,000 fine per infraction.

Well I would just say generally when youre taking action thats unconstitutional, that threatens the jobs of the people in my state, many, many thousands of jobs, Im standing for them, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in response to a question about the issue from a reporter over the weekend about the mandate.

Were going to protect their jobs against federal overreach. This is a guy who criticizes the state of Florida for protecting parents rights, DeSantis continued.

Oklahoma Attorney General John OConnor released a statement announcing that he and his team are preparing litigation to defend state residents from overreach of the federal government.

We respect the right of Oklahoma businesses and individuals to make healthcare decisions for themselves and their families, OConnor said.

My legal team is standing by ready to file our lawsuit the minute @joebiden files his unconstitutional rule. This gross example of federal intrusion will not stand, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem noted on Twitter. Joe Biden see you in court.

My legal team is standing by ready to file our lawsuit the minute @joebiden files his unconstitutional rule. This gross example of federal intrusion will not stand.  Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) September 9, 2021

Bidens vaccine mandate is an assault on private businesses. I issued an Executive Order protecting Texans right to choose whether they get the COVID vaccine & added it to the special session agenda. Texas is already working to halt this power grab, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also said on Twitter.

I will pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said.

The GOP governors defiance ruffled the feathers of former Rep. Cedric Richmond, now Bidens senior advisor.

The one thing I admire about this president is the fact that we are always going to put people above politics. And were going to fight for those who really need our help, Richmond told CNN in response to a question about how GOP governors are pushing back on the wholly unconstitutional mandate. And those governors that stand in the way, I think, it was very clear from the presidents tone today that he will run over them, he added.

And it is important. Its not for political purposes. Its to save the lives of the American people. And so, we wont let one or two individuals stand in the way. We will always err on the side of protecting the American people.

Game on.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

USAFeatures.news

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Shortly after an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacks Abbey Gate outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, just days ahead of the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, killing 13 U.S. military personnel, General Joe Biden okayed a drone strike on a suspected terrorist operative in the capital city.

Because U.S. weaponry is lethal and precise, the target was obliterated. But because our intelligence isnt so great on many occasions, it turns out that the man who was killed was actually an ally of the United States and an employee for a U.S. contractor.

But that targeted suspect wasnt the only casualty: In addition to him, six of his family members, including two small children, along with three others, were murdered as well, his vehicle and their dwelling decimated by a drone-fired missile.

According to U.S. intelligence, the suspect was deemed, well, suspicious, because he was putting containers into his vehicle. It turns out they were containers of water, not explosives, as The New York Times actually reported, accurately, for once.

Military officials said they did not know the identity of the cars driver when the drone fired, but deemed him suspicious because of how they interpreted his activities that day, saying that he possibly visited an ISIS safe house and, at one point, loaded what they thought could be explosives into the car, the paper reported.

The paper added:

Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence, including extensive interviews with family members, co-workers and witnesses, suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family.

While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.

The Times noted further that Ahmadi, 43, had been employed as an electrical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, an aid and lobbying group based in California. On the morning he was killed, Ahmadis boss called from the office around 8:45 a.m. and asked him to pick up his laptop.

Biden getting a headline a day after he was responsible for the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in Kabul is the ultimate act of evil #ImpeachBiden  J.D. MAGA Heyes (@JDHeyes) September 13, 2021

But why? Was this really an intelligence screw-up? Maybe, but what it did was give Biden a better headline a day after his botched pullout got 11 Marines, two U.S. Army soldiers, and a Navy corpsman killed by a suicide bomber, as former Navy intelligence officer Jack Prosobiec, now the editor of Human Events, noted on Twitter.

Biden and Milley claimed this was an ISIS attack in the making They were filling water bottles And their entire family was murdered so Joe Biden could get a headline, he wrote.

Biden and Milley claimed this was an ISIS attack in the making They were filling water bottles And their entire family was murdered so Joe Biden could get a headline pic.twitter.com/kSXn0cbW3d  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) September 10, 2021

Prosobiec followed that tweet up with another casting aspersions at Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

Milley lied. He murdered a US ally and his entire family. War crime, he wrote.

Milley lied. He murdered a US ally and his entire family. War crime.

pic.twitter.com/oMbYH0e0pi  Jack Posobiec  (@JackPosobiec) September 10, 2021

The Biden administration lied about who it killed with its drone strike. They had no idea who they hit. The media mindlessly repeated the false claim that they killed terrorists when, in fact, they just killed innocent people. A perfect summation of the US Endless Wars, added investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, who quoted NY Times writer Evan Hill, who described the papers findings regarding the attack.

The Biden administration lied about who it killed with its drone strike. They had no idea who they hit. The media mindlessly repeated the false claim that they killed "terrorists" when, in fact, they just killed innocent people. A perfect summation of the US Endless Wars: https://t.co/1qNbQZWrYQ  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 10, 2021

Last week, NBC News spoke to members of Ahmadis family who expressed hope that they would be able to board a U.S. flight out of Afghanistan back to the states, which they most certainly earned like others did after being an in-country asset for the vast majority of the war.

Now, theyll never leave.

Sources include:

NBCNews.com

NationalSecurity.news
(Natural News) Several senior doctors at Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., were caught on Zoom admitting that they lie about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) case numbers to try to manipulate more people into getting vaccinated.

Dr. Mary Rudyk was seen telling Director of Marketing Carolyn Fisher that the goal is to inflate the real covid numbers so that things seem more scary to the public. Doing this, Rudyk explained, will instill fear into more people, causing them to roll up their sleeves for an injection.

If you dont get vaccinated, you know youre going to die, Rudyk further explained about the type of false rhetoric used at Novant to scare patients into permanently altering their DNA.

Thats better still, and thats something that I can take to someone else, but I think those are important numbers, Rudyk went on to admit. The patients that are still in the hospital, that are off the covid floor, but still are occupying the hospital for a variety of reasons.

I think that that needs to be highlighted as well, because once youre off isolation you drop from the covid numbers, thats exactly right, she went on to state.

At this point in the conversation, a male doctor interjected to discreetly warn Rudyk to keep her mouth shut because of her damning admissions. Rudyk just kept on blabbing, though, outing herself as a world-class fraud.

Carolyn, we can talk offline about how we run that up to marketing, the male doctor stated, to which Rudyk laughed and continued on in foolishness.

So, I just want to say we have to be more blunt, we have to be more forceful, we have to see something coming out: If you dont get vaccinated, you know youre going to die,' Rudyk said.

I mean, lets just be really blunt with these people.

The Branch Covidians are screeching and howling over non-compliance

There must be something in the water over there in Wilmington because another doctor said even worse things on Twitter about people who refuse Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed injections.

Dr. Brian Legere unprofessionally wrote on his social media accounts the following message to his community:

To all you who are unvaccinated by choice. F*** YOU!!!

Legere works at New Hanover Regional Medical Center and Coastal Pulmonary Medicine as a pulmonary disease and critical care medicine specialist. He can be reached at (910) 662-8550.

According to Legere, the time to be nice is over. Instead, he wants to shake people, he says, and force them to get injected in order to save lives.

If you cant do it for society, do it for yourself, Legere further wrote. I dont want anybody to die of this. They shouldnt be dying of this.

Pulling the usual line about full hospitals, Legere went on in a defense response to the media to claim that hospitals all around him are full and having to get extra ventilators because of all the sick and dying patients, which he falsely blames on the unvaccinated.

What we dont have is extra people to take care of all these folks, Legere whined.

So, the nurses are working, taking care of more patients than they normally would and Im sure the ED is full, and then some of our people are getting sick  thankfully because they are vaccinated, they didnt get that sick, but they did get sick.

Legere claims that he wants unvaccinated people, whom he calls complete idiots, to f*** themselves only because he cares about saving their lives.

More news stories about Branch Covidians going off the rails in violent tirades can be found at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

Infowars.com

WECT.com

Archive.is

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Los Angeles Police Department has been instructed to collect social media information on every civilian that they interview, including those who havent been arrested or accused of a crime.

According to the report, field interview cards that are used by LAPD officers have instructions to record a civilians Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and any other social media accounts, together with their basic biological information. This information will be used for investigations, arrests, and prosecutions. Moreover, the cards will be audited by supervisors to ensure that theyre properly filled out.

Rachel Levinson-Waldman, a deputy director at the Brennan Center for Justice said that there are real dangers about the police acquiring these data.

Monitoring of social media accounts began in 2015, when the LAPDs interview cards contained a line for social media accounts.

Former LAPD Chief, Charlie Beck said that a persons online persona or identity used for social media can be very beneficial to investigations.

The LA Times noted that over half of civilians stopped by the LAPD, who have had their personal details taken were not arrested or cited. Last October, criminal charges were also filed against three officers in the LAPDs metro division for using cards to falsely label civilians as gang members when they were stopped.

Privacy concerns

When police obtain social media information from civilians, it invites the possibility that officers will monitor peoples friends and other online connections, creating additional privacy concerns.

Levinson-Waldman noted that authorities have historically used Facebook photos and likes to accuse people of criminal gang activity.

Hamid Khan from Stop LAPD Spying Coalition noted that the police force shares data with federal law enforcement agencies through fusion centers, and have used predictive policing technologies that rely on data collected from the field and could criminalize communities of color.

Khan compared this protocol to a stop and frisk with a clear goal of surveillance, especially considering that the LAPD allowed officers to pose undercover to investigate groups  and create fake social media accounts in the process.

The Brennan Center also said that the LAPD is now looking into technology from Media Sonar, a social media tracking company that provides services to police departments. In the LAPDs 2021 budget, as much as $73,000 was allocated to purchase the software to help address a potential threat or incident before its occurrence.

This means that the software can be used to stay on top of violence-related slang keywords and hashtags, and that offers pre-built keyword groups that will help jumpstart implementations of threats. (Related: China is expanding its surveillance police state system to monitor all corporations just like the left-wing virtue signaling conformity police in the USA.)

Potential for abuse

There is also potential for abuse as internal records show that officers tracking people and their connections are given little guidance on how to do so without violating privacy and the First Amendment rights. Oversight is practically nonexistent, according to the Brennan Center.

The surveillance does not end there. Brennan outlined the use of several deep-dive tools that are designed to extract information from a wide range of resources. They said that there are few limitations to offset authority. Officers do not need to document the searches they conduct, the purpose of such searches, or their justification.

They are not required to seek supervisory approval and there are no standards for the types of cases that warrant social media surveillance. Officers are instructed not to conduct social media surveillance for personal, illicit, or illegal purposes, however, they seem to have their discretion over whom to track, how broadly to track the online activity and how long to monitor them.

The Brennan Center also obtained documents related to Geofeedia, which is a private social media intelligence platform that partners with law enforcement and has previously marketed itself as a tool to monitor Black Lives Matter protests.

Read more about this issue on PoliceState.news.

Sources include:

WeAreChange.org

NYDailyNews.com

LAMag.com
(Natural News) On the latest episode of CLO2TV on Brighteon.TV, Bob the Plumber plumbs deeper into the truth about chlorine dioxide, the treatment for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) that authorities have tried to suppress, putting many advocates behind bars.

With this in mind, Bob talks to Andreas Kalcker, one of the proponents of chlorine dioxides use against COVID-19  and one of those persecuted for speaking about it. Kalcker was recently charged in Argentina for the death of a patient who supposedly suffered an overdose of chlorine dioxide.

You can watch the full episode below or on Brighteon.TV.

Chlorine dioxide in use in Latin America, but Washington doesnt want you to know

Coming on to the show, Bob and Kalcker discuss the fact that chlorine dioxide is actually being used in some Latin American countries. This includes Bolivia, where Bob points out that theres a law that allows its use.

Its a law in Bolivia, that you can use chlorine dioxide to treat COVID, Bob points out. And its being made in the universities down there.

Kalcker follows this up by stating that its also seeing use in other countries. He points out that in Honduras, chlorine dioxide is used even by government officials, such as the Minister of Health. He also noted that the country now has a law that expressly allows the use of any substance against COVID-19 and that those who do so cannot be pursued by law enforcement for using it.

So its basically the same in an elegant way, not speaking about chlorine dioxide, but permitting this and many, many people are using it with lots of great success, he adds.

That these Latin American countries have been more open to chlorine dioxides use against COVID-19 raised the question of what it would take for other countries around the world to follow suit.

Well, we know that theres hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions of people using it all over the world, certainly as millions by now, Bob says. So, but what do you think its going to take to get other governments to come around? Finally?

To this, Kalcker pointed out that, based on his own dealings with various government officials, many of the latter are under pressure from multiple sources to keep quiet about alternative treatments like chlorine dioxide. This includes pressure from the U.S. government itself.

Basically, when I was speaking with senators in Ecuador, that have been healed with chlorine dioxide too, he said. So weve been speaking I asked them whats going on? Why cant you make the law to permit it and they said, well, Washington doesnt let us.

Washington doesnt permit it.

Chlorine dioxide supporters persecuted

Pressure to silence any discussion about chlorine dioxide has led to many of its proponents facing legal action around the world. Kalcker himself faces charges in Argentina after a 5-year old boy supposedly died after taking the treatment.

While Kalcker and Bob did not discuss the case in the show, the former has, in the past, denied recommending that people take chlorine dioxide in large enough doses to cause harm.

Washingtons influence in trying to stop the use of chlorine dioxide is more easily seen in the case of Mark Grenon. The latter currently sits in a jail cell in Colombia, along with one of his sons, at the behest of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Two more of his sons are in jail in Miami for the same reason. (Related: Medical political prisoner Mark Grenon reveals the truth behind chlorine dioxide and COVID-19  Brighteon.TV.)

The struggles faced by chlorine dioxide advocates like Grenon and Kalcker illustrate the lengths authorities will go to suppress the truth about the treatment, as well as the disease it treats. Its only through the efforts of people like Bob the Plumber, the Health Ranger Mike Adams and others on Brighteon.TV that these people are given a chance to continue to have their voices heard.

For more on the truth about chlorine dioxide and COVID-19, tune in to CLO2TV every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

Follow Pandemic.news for more on the truth about COVID-19.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

BusinessInsider.com
The Illinois Senate had adopted an energy policy reform to move the state toward a carbon-free future, with a major component of the package keeping the Byron nuclear power station operational only hours before Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) said it would begin shutting it down.

Senatorial Approval

Senators approved the measure 37-17 on Sept. 13; 36 votes were required for approval. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker supports the bill, which gives Byron and the state's other nuclear power facilities a respite for the time being.

ComEd announced on Monday that it was planning to refuel its 2,300-MW Byron and 1,800-MW Dresden nuclear reactors after filing decommissioning plans with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year.

The company also stated that it will "move to fill hundreds of empty posts and resume capital projects necessary for long-term operations."

Related Article: OPEC Member Calls for Change, Urges Oil Producers to Invest More on Renewable Energy



Million Dollars' Worth of Carbon Mitigation

The measure enacted on Monday includes over $700 million in carbon mitigation credits for three ComEd facilities, all of which were built more than 40 years ago. Exelon, ComEd's parent company, stated that Byron might be shut down as early as Monday. The firm had said that the Dresden facility would be shut down in November and that its 2,350-MW Braidwood plant would also be shut down.

POWER awarded the Byron facility a Top Plant award in 2020.

With Pritzker's signing, Illinois will be the first Midwestern state to have a binding 100% carbon-free energy requirement in place by 2045. Clean energy supporters hailed the bill as a step toward making the state a leader in what they called a fair, clean energy strategy.

Advocating Clean Energy

In a statement provided to POWER, J.C. Kibbey, Illinois clean energy advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said, "Illinois is the first state in the country with a climate action plan that centers equity and economic investments in clean energy to help communities that need them the most..The Climate and Equitable Employment Act may serve as a national model for how a clean energy transition can generate jobs, protect communities, and hold utilities accountable."

At least five states, including Illinois, have established clean energy goals and credit schemes to encourage nuclear power reactors to provide zero-carbon electricity. For example, in 2016, Illinois approved a bill granting Exelon's Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear reactors ten years of zero-emissions certificates.

Zero-Carbon Goals

In recognition of nuclear power as the country's greatest zero-carbon resource, the Biden administration and Congress have indicated an interest in launching a government program that would provide tax credits or other incentives to nuclear power facilities.

A $6 billion four-year credit scheme for nuclear reactors is included in the bipartisan Senate infrastructure package. In addition, as part of their infrastructure and social program investment package, Democrats want to have production tax credits for nuclear reactors.

Also Read: Biden's American Jobs Plan to Put Millions of Workers in Green Energy Industry

For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
The remnants of Hurricane Larry, the unusual tropical storm to stay intact thus far north, are expected to dump up to four feet of snow on Greenland just a month after rainfall was recorded at the island's highest point for the first time.

At Kulusuk Airport on Greenland's southeast coast, hurricane-force winds gusted to above 100 miles per hour. Sustained winds of 55 miles per hour were recorded in Tasiilaq, the region's main town, with gusts exceeding 90 miles per hour.

Summit Camp, a meteorological station at the island's highest point, more than 10,000 feet above sea level, experienced blizzard conditions, with gusts and snow so intense that vision was limited.

The Danish Meteorological Institute said, "Hurricane Larry is still haunting us."

Continuing Precipitation

Winds and precipitation - rain near the coast, snow deeper inland - were predicted to continue into Monday.

The "post-tropical cyclone," the Atlantic hurricane season's longest-lasting storm, approached Greenland a day after making landfall as a Category 1 storm in Newfoundland, Canada, where it ripped down trees and knocked out electricity for tens of thousands of people.

Related Article: Melting Glaciers Due to Global Warming is Slightly Warping Earth's Crust, Scientists Warn



Cold End to a Warm Summer

The strong winds and rains on Sunday came as Greenland's scorching summer drew to a conclusion.

This year, there were three significant melts, two in July and one in August. Thus, despite not reaching the ice melt totals of 2012 and 2019, the total melt across the island in 2021 was much greater than average totals over the previous several decades.

In an interview with NPR's Here & Now, Josh Willis, a lead scientist with NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland program, said, "Any way you cut it, this is going to be one for the record books."

It is exceedingly uncommon to record even a temperature over freezing, much alone rain, at the Summit weather station, located more than 10,000 feet above sea level.

Historical Rainfall

So the rain in August - a continuous drizzle that lasted many hours rather than a single shower - was the first since the weather station was established in the 1980s. Likewise, this summer's melt was just the fourth ever documented there, three occurring in the previous decade.

Willis, who flew over the damaged region immediately after the thaw last month, said, "There were enormous lakes, hundreds of small rivers moving this water around." "Our pilot, who has been flying over Greenland for over a quarter-century, said he'd never seen something this huge, this high on the plateau this late in the year."

Climate Change and Greenland's Ice

Climate change manifests itself through higher temperatures and longer-lasting hurricanes.

Between 1979 and 2006, summer melt increased by 30% on Greenland's ice sheet, the biggest in the northern hemisphere. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, higher elevations have received more snowfall, but not enough to balance the melt.

"In the last 15 years or so, Greenland has melted enough ice - 5 trillion tons - to raise world sea levels by almost an inch, a small fraction of an inch," Willis said. "What's going on here has a global impact."

Also Read: Can "Refreezing" Arctic Ice Reverse the Effects of Climate Change?

For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Officials in Texas and Louisiana have issued a warning ahead of the newest tropical cyclone to threaten the Gulf Coast. On Monday night, Hurricane Nicholas was closing in on the Texas coast, and experts warned that the storm might cause severe flooding in the Houston region. On the AccuWeather RealImpactTM Scale, Nicholas received a 1 rating.

Nicholas was moving erratically approximately 20 miles southeast of Matagorda, Texas, at 11 p.m. CDT Monday. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and traveled at a pace of 10 mph to the north-northeast. Nicholas is a large storm with hurricane-force winds reaching up to 25 miles from its center.





Weather Alerts

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane warning for Port O'Connor north to Freeport, Texas, and a hurricane watch for the Texas coast from Freeport to San Luis, Texas. In addition, tropical storm advisories and storm surge warnings were in effect for sections of the Texas coast.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced a state of emergency on Sunday, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott upped the state's emergency alert level and prepared event management teams, including swift water rescue boat squads.

Related Article: Meteorologists Predicts that the Atlantic Hurricane Season Will Inevirably Be More Aggressive



Erratic Behavior

According to Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, the center of Nicholas formed and re-formed several times Sunday night and Monday as the National Hurricane Center described its behavior as erratic, with the latest center appearing farther east and offshore of the Texas coast Monday morning.

Despite Nicholas' erratic behavior early Monday, forecasters expect the storm's general northward movement to continue, with landfall likely over the next few hours along the middle part of the Texas coast, near the eastern part of Matagorda Bay. However, additional shifts in the storm's center and changes in exact timing and landfall are possible.

Wind Shear

While wind shear and closeness to the Texas coast will likely restrict Nicholas' total strength, waters in the western Gulf of Mexico are well into the 80s F, which is more than warm enough for a tropical cyclone to flourish.

Dangers of Flooding

Flooding will pose a significant danger to people and property. According to the projected trajectory, the rain will fall over a vast region to the north and northeast of the storm's core, which encompasses a significant chunk of southeastern Texas and part of Louisiana.

Abbott stated that Texas had mobilized resources ahead of Hurricane Nicholas, which was already dumping heavy rain on coastal regions Sunday night and Monday morning. "We'll keep an eye on this storm and take all necessary steps to keep Texans safe," he added. "I urge Texans to heed local officials' advice and warnings and to be aware of the possibility of severe rain and flooding."

Moving from Texas to Louisiana

Nicholas is anticipated to travel a curving route northward to the central Texas coast Monday night, then northeastward over part of the upper Texas coast and into western Louisiana on Tuesday.

Although Nicholas is expected to move slowly on Tuesday, the storm will bring a massive amount of moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in torrential rain along and inland from the coast, including the areas from Corpus Christi to Beaumont, Texas, including the Houston metro area, as well as Lake Charles and Alexandria, Louisiana.

During Monday night and Tuesday, the heavy rainfall over the Gulf of Mexico will rotate northwestward relative to the center of Nicholas.

Also Read: Storm Anxiety: How to Handle Extreme Weather Phobias During Hurricane Season



For more climate and weather updates, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Four former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd's civil rights pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a federal hearing that included arguments on several pretrial motions, including requests to hold separate trials.

A federal grand jury indicted Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao in May for allegedly depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority on May 25, 2020, as Floyd, 46, was held face-down, handcuffed and not resisting in a restraint that was captured on bystander video. His death led to worldwide protests and calls for change in policing.

All four of the men appeared at the hearing remotely via videoconference. Chauvin, wearing a plain T-shirt, appeared from a small room in the state's maximum security prison, where he is serving a 22 1/2-year sentence for murder in Floyd's death. The other three men appeared remotely alongside their attorneys.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung asked each man separately how he would plea, and each clearly responded: Not guilty."

The hearing also addressed roughly 40 pretrial motions, though many were similar. Most of the motions were routine, such as agreeing when names of witnesses would be disclosed. But Leung heard oral arguments on two issues, and ordered attorneys to file additional written arguments on those motions.

Attorneys for Lane and Kueng asked the judge to remove language from the indictment that says their clients had been police officers since December 2019. Earl Gray, Lane's attorney, said his client was still in training and remained under supervision for months. Gray said Lane was working his fourth shift without supervision when he encountered Floyd. Tom Plunkett, Kueng's attorney, said his client was on his third shift without supervision. Both attorneys said language in the indictment that indicates otherwise would be unfair.

Common sense dictates that a law officer with four days on the job would be less apt to intervene, Gray argued.

Prosecutor Manda Sertich said the men were officers as of December 2019  they graduated from the police academy and were sworn in.

Kueng, Thao and Lane are also asking that their federal trials be separated from Chauvins, saying they would be unfairly prejudiced if they went to trial alongside him.

Plunkett wrote in court documents that evidence against Chauvin would confuse the jury and deprive Kueng of his right to a fair trial. Gray argued in court that everybody knows Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder so a jury would have a hard time presuming the other former officers' innocence.

Attorney Robert Paule argued that much of the evidence against Chauvin would not come into play against his client, Thao. Paule also argued that since it appears Lane and Kueng intend to use their lack of experience as a defense, Thao, who had been an officer for more than eight years, should be tried alone.

Leung gave no indication of how he would rule. He said this case has video evidence, which shows what each defendant did or did not do. He also said separating trials in federal court is not common, but it does happen. He asked prosecutors why the men should be tried together.

Sertich said the state's case against the men was separated due to space restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but federal court has more space. She also said jurors will know about Chauvin's murder conviction whether he is sitting in the courtroom with the other three former officers or not.

As Floyd was being arrested, he repeatedly said he couldnt breathe as Chauvin pinned him to the ground. Kueng and Lane helped restrain Floyd; Kueng knelt on Floyds back, and Lane held Floyds legs, according to evidence in state court. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

While all four officers are charged broadly with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, the indictment breaks down the counts. A count against Chauvin alleges he violated Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer.

Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. All four officers are charged with depriving Floyd of his rights when they failed to provide medical care.

The four former officers were also charged in state court, where Chauvin was convicted in April of murder and manslaughter. The other three former officers face state trial next March on aiding and abetting counts.

Chauvin is also charged in a separate federal indictment alleging he violated the civil rights of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Meanwhile, the federal government is investigating policing practices in Minneapolis. The investigation known as a pattern or practice  examining whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing  includes a sweeping review of the entire police department. It may result in major changes to policing in the Minnesota city.

___

Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
KENT  On Saturday, Sept. 11, Kent First Selectman Jean Speck was joined by three former First Selectmen, the Kent Volunteer Fire Department, Kent American Legion Post 153 Color Guard, bagpiper Don Hicks, and Pastor John Heecht of the First Congregational Church of Kent for a special ceremony to honor the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

First Selectman Jean Speck welcomed approximately 75 attendees. At the ceremony, community members shared their personal remembrances and a special tribute was paid to first responders and to the memory of those lost and those who continue to suffer.
LONDON (AP)  The U.K. announced Tuesday it will offer a third dose of coronavirus vaccine to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people to help the country ride out the pandemic through the winter months.

The booster shots, which will be rolled out beginning next week, were approved a day after the Conservative government also backed plans to offer one vaccine dose to children 12 to 15 years old.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, which advises the government, recommended that booster shots be offered to everyone over 50, health care workers, people with underlying health conditions and those who live with people whose immune systems are compromised. They will be given no earlier than six months after a person received their second dose of vaccine.

Around 30 million people will be eligible for the booster shots, which aim to protect against a modest waning in immunity among those who have received two jabs.

"The result of this vaccination campaign is we have one of the most free societies and one of the most open economies in Europe," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. "Thats why were now sticking with our strategy.

Although the number of people now contracting COVID-19 is way higher than this time last year  over 30,000 new infections a day  the British government has opted not to re-introduce further virus restrictions for England, as the vaccine drive this year has reduced the number of people requiring treatment for COVID-19 and subsequently dying.

However, Johnson said the government was ready to re-introduce measures over the coming weeks and months if the pressure on hospitals becomes acute. The number of people in U.K. hospitals with COVID-19 stands at around 8,500, way down from the near 40,000 that were hospitalized earlier this year during a catastrophic second wave of the pandemic.

Measures held in reserve include mandatory mask-wearing, vaccine certifications for nightclubs and other large-scale events, though not pubs, and a requirement for people to work from home.

When youve got a large proportion, as we have now, with immunity, then smaller changes can make a bigger difference and give us the confidence that we dont have to go back to the lockdowns of the past, Johnson said. In the meantime, we are confident in the vaccines that have made such a difference to our lives.

The JCVI said the Pfizer vaccine should be the primary choice for booster shots, with a half-dose of Moderna as an alternative. It said these messenger RNA vaccines are more effective as booster shots. The AstraZeneca vaccine shot, which is based on a different technology, will be offered to anyone who cant receive an RNA vaccine for clinical reasons.

The decision to offer booster shots is not one that's being recommended by the World Health Organization, which has asked wealthy nations to delay giving them out until every country has vaccinated at least 40% of their people. Only a few other wealthy countries have recommended their use. In the United States, the FDA is publicly debating booster shots later this week.

England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said it's hugely important that developing countries get the jabs they need but pointed to the difficulties in transporting the Pfizer vaccine, which has a relatively short shelf-life and needs to be kept at super-chilled temperatures.

Appealing to everyone eligible for a vaccine to get one as soon as possible, Whitty said there is a very substantially smaller risk of being admitted to a hospital with COVID-19 if someone is vaccinated compared to those who are not. He said someone in their 30s who is unvaccinated is running the same level of risk as someone in their 70s who is vaccinated.

One of the most depressing things for doctors, including myself, is talking to people who have just chosen not to get vaccinated because it wasnt convenient at that particular moment. And you see them being wheeled down to intensive care, and you know this was a very serious problem as a result of them not being vaccinated," he said.

Whitty also took aim at those who spread misinformation about the vaccines after being asked about comments from rapper Nicki Minaj, saying anyone peddling untruths to discourage others from getting the vaccine should be ashamed of themselves.

On Monday, Minaj sent a series of sometime conflicting tweets to her more than 22 million followers, including an unsubstantiated story regarding her cousin's friend being rendered impotent after being vaccinated. However, she also said that she was sure she would end up getting a shot in order to go on tour but wanted to do more research.

When asked about the impotency remark, Whitty sought to stress that most people are ignoring baseless claims and are getting the vaccines  81.2% of people 16 and older in Britain are fully vaccinated.

There are a number of myths that fly around, some of which are just clearly ridiculous and some of which are clearly designed just to scare," Whitty said. "That happens to be one of them. That is untrue.

___

Follow APs pandemic coverage at:

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy early, then off and on rain showers for the afternoon. High 68F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low near 55F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona has today launched Europe's first continent-wide PhD training programme for medical doctors. The 4.5-million-euro programme will help bridge the gap between laboratory research and clinical practice by providing doctors with biomedical research training at one of seven research institutes across Europe. The call for applications opens today.

Despite rapid advances in biomedical research, new discoveries do not always find their way to clinical practice, which would improve diagnostics or result in new and better treatments. Bridging this gap, known as the 'valley of death', is key to tackling global health challenges such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Physician-scientists, medical doctors with a PhD in biomedical research, are uniquely placed to overcome this gap through their clinical insights, scientific knowledge and academic experience, helping identify where innovative research is most urgently needed and expand that knowledge for the benefit of patients.

We urgently require scientists with a medical background who will play a crucial role in applying advances in omics, big data, artificial intelligence or high-resolution microscopy to address patient needs in the 21st century. However, the fragmentation of healthcare systems in Europe means that the development of European MDPhD programmes have been historically isolated, often lacking in collaboration and cross-border mobility." Michela Bertero, Head of International and Scientific Affairs, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)

Now seven biomedical research institutes will overcome this challenge by joining efforts to create EMERALD, the first European-wide physician-scientist training programme of its kind. Funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme, EMERALD will provide medical doctors with unique opportunities to move to a different country to conduct a cutting-edge PhD research project, participate in tailored summer schools, benefit from peer-mentoring and explore and establish new collaborations.

The new programme is based on the previous success of PhD4MD, an innovative programme that trained 9 medical doctors in Catalonia, launched jointly by the CRG, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) and the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) in Barcelona. In 2018, the PhD4MD programme also inspired a similar programme promoted by the Catalan Health Department.

Moreover, EMERALD will receive support from a highly prestigious Advisory Board, including international experts from academia and pharma, as well as the recently nominated Secretary General for Research, in the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Dr. Raquel Yotti.

The first EMERALD call, for a total of 12 positions, opens today. Each position will be based at one of the seven host institutes, each with strong experience in research training programmes and with most of them having previously run training programmes specifically for physician-scientists. Alongside the host institutions, there are more than 30 partners from 10 European countries, including universities, hospitals, patient associations, pharmaceutical companies and publishers, with each partner offering internship opportunities, collaborations and bespoke training for the medical doctors.

The host institutions are:

The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain

The Institut Curie in Paris, France

The Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC) at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian - Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia (IGC) in Lisbon, Portugal

The Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) in Berlin, Germany

The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) in Ghent, Belgium

Further details on the application process can be found on the EMERALD project's website. The initial deadline for applications is 14th November 2021.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly infectious and positive-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus that was first reported for the first time in Wuhan, China in 2019. Since then, SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 225 million people across the world and, to date, has claimed more than 4.6 million lives.

Study: Detection of SARS CoV-2 contamination in the Operating Room and Birthing Room Setting: Risks to attending health care workers. Image Credit: UfaBizPhoto / Shutterstock.com

Frontline healthcare workers at a high risk of COVID-19

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at a high risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 while treating patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is facilitated through known vectors such as respiratory droplets, aerosols, and fomites, the infection may also be passed via exposure to the virus from surgery or obstetrical delivery. It is not clear if a specific type of surgical/obstetrical procedure presents more risks to HCWs than others.

Researchers have reported the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Hence, surgeries associated with opening the GI tract may pose a risk to medical teams. SARS-CoV-2 is also found in the peritoneal fluid from COVID-19 patients undergoing surgery. In females, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found to be present in the reproductive tract.

The presence of SARS-CoV-2 on peritoneal surfaces, the female reproductive tract, or the myometrium poses a high risk of it being aerosolized through cautery smoke or from the release of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gas from laparoscopic procedures. Although there is no evidence that shows the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the surgical smoke/plume, previous studies have indicated the presence of other viruses such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus -1, human papillomavirus (HPV), and Hepatitis B virus in surgical smoke.

Previous studies have also documented the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital ward settings. However, there is a gap in research related to the assessment of the risk of SARS-CoV-2 viral contamination in the operating room (OR) and birthing settings.

A new study

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* assesses the risk of contamination in the OR and birthing suite environment. In this study, the authors evaluated the risk of aerosolization from the respiratory tract or the surgical or obstetrical settings during surgery, labor, and delivery.

The main significance of this study is to determine the likelihood of HCWs contracting COVID-19 during vaginal delivery or cesarean section, as well as other surgical procedures. This study provided HCWs best practices regarding the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safety measures in the OR and birthing rooms that would protect them from COVID-19.

The main objective of this study was to determine if the viral RNA from patients with COVID-19 undergoing surgery or obstetrical care is present in the peritoneal cavity, the female reproductive tract, the entire surgical environment including the instruments, air, floors of the surgery room, and inside the masks of the attending health care workers. Herein, the researchers used a real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. In this study, researchers obtained the air samples using both active and passive sampling techniques.

Study findings

In the current study, the researchers detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in non-respiratory patient samples such as peritoneal fluid, vaginal fluid, myometrium, and the placenta. SARS-CoV-2 was also found in the surgical equipment/instruments such as endotracheal tubes, gastroscope, laparotomy surgical clamps, and scissors, as well as in the air and floor of the surgical room. Interestingly, no trace of the virus was found in the surgical masks worn by the HCWs.

The researchers did not detect any viral RNA in the equipment used by orthopedics such as saw blade and drill bits, or in the equipment of cardiac/thoracic surgeons (e.g., retractors), and burn surgeries (e.g., dermatome). This result indicates that SARS-CoV-2 is less likely to reside in these types of tissues.

As the frequency of positive tests was low, the researchers suggested aerosolization of the virus does not occur in surgery. Further, the researchers could not find any evidence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the smoke evacuator filters tested. However, this result is not sufficient to conclude that viral contamination does not occur via surgical smoke.

Conclusions

One of the limitations of this study is that the researchers excluded data associated with the development of infection in HCWs from hospital settings and their vaccination status. In the context of obtaining samples from the air, despite two detection methods being used in this study, there is a chance that some viral contamination was undetected.

The authors revealed that no trace of SARS-CoV-2 was found inside the masks worn by the medical teams. Therefore, the proper use of PPE would ensure a low risk of COVID-19 infection.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Outbreaks of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are a frequent occurrence in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, as physical distancing is difficult to achieve despite all infection prevention and control measures that are implemented in these settings. Early case detection allows individuals to be isolated and secondary transmissions better prevented, though pre- or asymptomatic cases that may still be transmitted between both healthcare workers and patients must also be considered.

In a paper recently published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the researchers study the dynamics of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections on a geriatric hospital ward by whole genome sequencing. Herein, the researchers find the considerable secondary transmission to occur between patients and healthcare workers.

Study: Unexpected details regarding nosocomial transmission revealed by whole-genome sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Image Credit: tele52 / Shutterstock.com

Evidence of nosocomial transmission

Individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasopharyngeal samples collected on a 30-bed hospital ward in Sweden over a one-month period were included in the study. Taken together, this included 32 patients and 15 healthcare workers.

The median age of patients was 84, with around half being male. Importantly, 44% of patients died during the course of the study, all of which bore significantly higher viral loads as compared to those who survived. The authors note that many of these individuals had suffered hip fractures, which were thus reported to be major comorbidity for COVID-19.

Whole-genome sequencing was subsequently performed on the samples, which revealed that cases on the ward were represented by three distinct clades of 20A, B, and C, with cases known to have been acquired during the hospital stay being more genetically similar.

The ward that housed the patients was separated into 8 rooms, and the group tracked each outbreak case by proximity. All patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 clade-20A1 shared rooms A or C, while clade-20A2 and 20C were limited to rooms E and H, respectively. Clade-20B was most widespread, present in all but room C, and was also most commonly found amongst healthcare workers, followed by clade 20A1 and A2.

The authors suggest that this represents four separate introductions of the virus onto the ward, clades 20A1, A2, B, and C, the former three of which then underwent secondary transmission to at least one other individual.

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 introductions

The first and only case of clade 20C was detected in a patient four days following their admission, well within the presymptomatic period of COVID-19, and thus was likely obtained as a result of community transmission. This patient was discharged the following day and appears not to have transmitted the virus to any other patient or healthcare worker during this time.

Clade 20A1 may have been introduced to the ward by a patient, as other patients sharing room A were quickly diagnosed with the same strain. Around one week later, the residents of room C became infected, thereby suggesting intermediate transmission by a healthcare worker.

Clade 20A2 was first detected in a healthcare worker and later in just one patient, also suggesting secondary transmission to a patient. The most common clade, B, was detected in two patients who were physically separated early in the study. Thus, these patients also likely obtained the infection from a healthcare worker before widespread secondary transmission to other patients took place.

Overall, the researchers of the current study indicate that there is strong support for healthcare-associated infections, from both healthcare workers and other patients, occurring in 78% of patients. Of these, six are thought to be patient-to-patient; however, the majority may still originate from healthcare workers.

The authors highlight that determining the direction of transmission is often difficult given the high number of asymptomatic cases likely to have occurred, particularly as detailed clinical information was not available for healthcare workers in this study.

While the healthcare workers involved in this study utilized appropriate protective equipment and engaged in infection prevention and control measures, the rate of adherence is not known. It is therefore difficult to rate their efficacy in preventing secondary transmission.

Regular testing that can identify infectious COVID-19 before symptoms manifest is likely the most effective method of preventing healthcare-associated infections, as it allows individuals to be quarantined before outbreaks occur.
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 blocked - about 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 techniques  conventional 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." Shengshou Hu, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and president of Fuwai Hospital in Beijing, China

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."
How can a summer camp run successfully during a rapidly spreading viral pandemic like the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)?

A new report in the Journal of Public Health describes measures to ensure that youth activities at such residential camps can continue safely, based on sound epidemiological and infectious disease guidelines.

Study: Rapid Return to Normal Activities at A Residential Summer Camp During The COVID-19 Pandemic. Image Credit: sydarikova_foto / Shutterstock.com

Background

Previous studies indicate that COVID-19 primarily spreads through the respiratory route in the form of aerosols or respiratory droplets containing infectious particles. Touching an infected person or contaminated surfaces, and carrying the virus to ones eyes, nose or mouth can also lead to infection.

Asymptomatic transmission appears to be a real event in a significant proportion of cases. This means that containing viral spread by quarantining exposed individuals for the duration of their incubation period is not possible for a large number of cases.

A recent residential summer camp in Georgia ended badly, with 44% of camp participants exposed to COVID-19 and 76% of individuals eventually testing positive. Conversely, four camps in Maine used mitigation measures along with infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies to host over a thousand people without reporting any SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks.

In these camps, a missing but significant feature was the resumption of normal camp activities, with the relaxation of IPC measures. The current study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of a three-step IPC strategy of serial testing, putting people into cohorts, and mandatory use of face masks, to allow a rapid return to normal camp activity.

What measures were used?

The researchers used this protocol to protect the camp staff and campers at a New Hampshire residential summer camp. Serial testing represents sequential testing that covers the incubation period, during which exposed campers are assumed to be in quarantine.

Testing began 1-8 days before arrival at the camp, on arrival, and 5-6 days after arrival. At the end of this period, a negative test implies that the person is uninfected. This would not only help identify incubating infection early on in its course but also allow camp staff to promptly initiate isolation measures to prevent viral spread among people in a residential setting.

Meanwhile, the campers and counselors were grouped by ten, and the groups were handled in isolation from each other. All staff were quarantined for two weeks on campus before the first camper arrived, with all three tests before, upon, and after arrival being negative. No potentially exposed staff were allowed on campus thereafter.

Staff groups were based on those who had been exposed to each other before arrival and by location and contained 10 or fewer staff. While cohort members could interact without masking at mealtimes and during their sleep periods, they had to wear masks when they were near others outside their cohort. This lasted for 5-6 days after arrival, after which all cohorts were allowed to mix freely.

Among the campers, age-, exposure-, and location-based cohorts were set up for the first six days or the third negative test. At mealtimes and sleep time, masks were not required within each cohort. Like the camp staff cohorts, campers did not have to wear masks after 5-6 days.

Infection control measures including temperature screening, hand washing, social distancing, and disinfection were also put into practice for the first 5-6 days. For the rest of the camp duration, hardly any IPC measures were required as long as no new COVID-19 cases were detected.

Families were required to help identify cases among their children before arrival, have a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 completed prior to their arrival, and take travel precautions according to state guidelines.

Study findings

Of approximately 430 individuals at camp, including 126 staff that was almost equally divided between male and female, one tested positive before arrival at the camp. This member self-isolated at home.

One camper also tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival and was isolated and sent off the campus within 24 hours of arrival. All contacts with this individual were quarantined until two negative tests were obtained. All campers were negative.

Four individuals were tested for potential infection, either because of contact with the infected staff member or because of suspicious symptoms; however, all were negative for COVID-19.

Ultimately, all IPC protocols were able to be lifted within 6 days of the arrival of the campers, except for frequent disinfection, handwashing, and screening by temperature and symptoms. All campers remained negative for SARS-CoV-2 throughout the duration of the camp.

Implications

This outcome shows that with appropriate IPC and testing, it is safe and feasible to conduct a residential summer camp that draws from a wide swath of the United States, including areas with high positivity rates, without SARS CoV-2 transmission.

The findings of the current study advance beyond the reports from the Maine camps, where IPC measures were continued throughout the camp, unlike the relaxation of most components of the protocol in the current setting.

The essential conditions for this outcome include involvement of the families of the campers at a close level via virtual visits, as well as an explanation and emphasis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, looking for symptoms and temperatures, and selectively quarantining camper family members at home.

Taken together, these measures helped ensure that campers were virus-free upon arrival. This was bolstered by serial testing and cohort formation, both of which were designed to limit exposure within small groups, even if an asymptomatic case were present in any cohort.

These findings could be helpful for boarding schools as well as colleges, nursing homes, and military bases once they are tweaked for the degree of isolation from the outside community that is possible in the latter settings as distinct from a summer camp. Finally, the current report strengthens the role of asymptomatic surveillance testing in environments without intensive control.

Future studies of SARS-CoV-2 infection in educational settings should explore the impact of effective serial testing, social distancing, and cohorting among students to allow them to return to the classroom.
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.
Researchers at Umea University, Sweden, now demonstrate a method by which specific cell types in human organs can be studied with micrometer precision. The method can be used to reveal previously unrecognized alterations in the pancreas, but it can also be used to study other human organs and diseases.

This method may contribute to an advanced understanding of how cellular changes are related to different disease conditions." Ulf Ahlgren, Professor of Molecular Medicine, Umea University

What the researchers have done is to divide the organs by the use of a 3D-printed matrix, creating portions of tissue with the optimal size for optical imaging using 3D technology. These pieces can then be labeled to visualize essentially any cell type or protein of choice. Since each bit of tissue has known coordinates, the individual 3D images can be pieced together using a computer into a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle to form an intact human organ.

This method makes it possible to create high-resolution 3D images of human organs in practically any size, with maintained micrometer precision - which is smaller than a dust particle. Previously, it has been possible to create high-resolution images of biological material with the use of technology such as optical projection tomography and light sheet fluorescence microscopy, which is something the researchers have used also in this study. Instead, the problem has been that previous methods have offered no usable way of labeling the various cell types or proteins you wish to study, for instance using fluorescent antibodies, when you are studying specimen on a larger scale, such as an entire organ. This is the problem that the new method has now solved.

The Umea researchers have used the method to study the human pancreas. Inside the pancreas, you will find hundreds of thousands of insulin-producing cells called the Islets of Langerhans. These islets hold a key function in the production of insulin and are hence a key element in diabetes when the production is disturbed. Using this new method, the researchers are able to demonstrate previously unrecognized features of the human pancreatic anatomy and pathology, including areas with extremely high islet density. Their results may have implications for anything from preclinical to clinical areas, for instance to improve islet transplantation protocols for people with diabetes, or when developing non-invasive clinical imaging to study the pancreas in people with diabetes.

"Beside using the new method to study diabetes, it can also improve understanding of other pancreatic diseases, not least pancreatic cancers, and we have initiated collaborations with clinical researchers in Umea to look into that. But the technology itself should be possible to use to study other organs and diseases in similar ways since it enables the study of where cellular changes take place in a full organ context, their amount and relationship to nearby tissues and cell types" says Ulf Ahlgren.

The published study was performed in collaboration with researchers at Uppsala University and was funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Childhood Diabetes Foundation, Diabetes Wellness Sverige, the NovoNordisk Foundation, the Kempe Foundations and Umea University. The study was published in the journal Communications Biology.
A new study by researchers at University of Illinois Chicago suggests that when the protein optineurin, or OPTN, is present in cells it restricts the spread of HSV-1, the herpes simplex virus type 1.

In a "first of its kind" study, researchers also found a potential direct connection between neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), glaucoma, and the herpesvirus, said Dr. Deepak Shukla, the Marion H. Schenk Esq. Professor in Ophthalmology for Research of the Aging Eye, and vice chair for research at UIC.

The research paper, "OPTN is a host intrinsic restriction factor against neuroinvasive HSV-1 infection," led by Shukla, was published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

Researchers sought to discover why HSV-1 can become fatal for individuals who are immunocompromised but not for healthy individuals. Herpesviruses naturally infect the central nervous system and can result in degenerative brain and eye disorders, as well as encephalitis. However, in most individuals, the virus is suppressed during a primary infection before it can significantly damage the central nervous system.

The new research suggests why HSV-1 is suppressed: OPTN, a conserved autophagy receptor, selectively targets HSV-1 proteins to degradation by autophagy, explained Tejabhiram Yadavalli, a co-author of the study and visiting scholar at UIC's department of ophthalmology and visual science.

OPTN stops the virus from growing and it stops it by autophagy -; engulfing the virus particles inside tiny vesicles called autophagosomes. The autophagy that happens is very selective. That has meaning for other viruses as well." Dr. Deepak Shukla, the Marion H. Schenk Esq. Professor in Ophthalmology for Research of the Aging Eye

The researchers believe the results from this study will apply to all eight different human herpesviruses.

For the study, mice with removed OPTN genes were infected with ocular HSV-1. The virus growth was much higher in the brains of animals without OPTN, killing local neurons and eventually leading to animal death. This shows there is a faster degeneration of neurons when OPTN is not there. Additional studies are being planned to examine naturally occurring mutations in OPTN, such as the ones reported in glaucoma and ALS patients, and how they may affect neuronal health and HSV-1 infection, Shukla explained.

"Where you have mutated OPTN plus herpes, you have the recipe to create a disaster in terms of neurodegeneration," Shukla said.

"The study also shows there is an impairment of immune response when there is a deficiency in OPTN. OPTN is needed to signal an influx of proper immune cells at the site of infection. When you don't have it, you have issues," said Chandrashekhar Patil, also a co-author of the study and a visiting scholar at UIC's department of ophthalmology and visual science.

Some of those issues could include neurodegenerative disorders, which researchers believe further research may show.

"We think we will have data to show other viruses, such as Epstein-Barr, Kaposi's sarcoma, varicella-zoster, are all going to share this mechanism because they share homologous proteins," Shukla said.

Because the herpesvirus sits in neurons forever, there is speculation it is connected to neurodegenerative diseases. The immune system requires inflammation to constantly fight off the virus, and neurons have some degree of damage because of this continuous immune response, according to Dr. Tibor Valyi-Nagy, professor of pathology, director of neuropathology at UIC and research collaborator on the study.

The study also showed that animals without OPTN and infected with HSV-1 after 30 days lost the ability to recognize objects. Shukla said this could be an indication that having HSV-1 along with a mutation of OPTN could accelerate neuronal damage, which would translate into cognitive impairment.

"Part of our translational research can be how can we correct the problems with OPTN so that we don't have issues with neurodegeneration," Shukla said.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by a highly infectious novel coronavirus known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As the rate of transmission of this ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus is extremely high, about 225 million individuals around the world, to date, have been infected.

Scientists and policymakers are trying extremely hard to formulate strategies to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. These strategies include medical approaches, such as COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, as well as non-medical approaches that involve the use of masks, social distancing, frequent hand wash, travel restrictions, and lockdown measures across countries

Study: SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the school setting: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Image Credit: Prostock-studio / Shutterstock.com

The global impact of prolonged school closures

One of the common strategies that have been implemented internationally to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is the closure of schools. This policy is based on the assumption that children may become an important vector for the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), reported that countrywide school closures had been imposed by 188 countries. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to March 2021, regular schooling has been disturbed for about 25 weeks worldwide and has thus affected approximately 1.5 billion children and youth.

According to UNESCO, the consequences of a prolonged closure of schools could be disturbing, as schools not only provide instruction on education but also contribute to the development and overall wellbeing of school-age children. Some of the adverse consequences of a prolonged closure of schools also include predictions that more than 100 million children could fall behind the minimum proficiency level in reading. Additionally, children with special needs, those living in low-income countries, or those residing in areas with poor digital connectivity, would not benefit from remote schooling and are also likely to fall behind.

The United Nations reported that over 300 million children worldwide depend heavily on meals provided by schools, which serve as their regular source of daily nutrition. Hence, the risk of an increase in malnutrition is expected among the most vulnerable groups.

Additionally, some children are at a high risk of witnessing domestic violence or suffering domestic abuse or violence while away from school. The UN also claimed that subjecting children to online platforms for remote learning has also heightened the risks of being exposed to inappropriate content and online predators.

The debate surrounding school closures

Scientists have claimed that, as compared to adults, children and young adults are less prone to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, the role of children being a vector to transmit COVID-19 is under question.

However, as this group has been mostly found to be asymptomatic or contract mild COVID-19, symptom-based testing may show a false result. This means that there is a high chance that infected children will remain undetected and unrecognized, thus increasing the chance of viral circulation in schools. This could increase the rate of community infection.

A new study

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* discusses existing evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in an educational setting. Here, the researchers conducted systematic review and meta-analysis studies to evaluate COVID-19 transmission in schools.

In the present study, scientists included available reports on serosurveys and research on the point of incidence of SARS-CoV-2 to estimate the silent circulation of the virus in schools. The authors have also included studies on contact tracing to understand the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 and the vulnerability of students and school staff exposed to the virus.

Researchers obtained a total of 1088 publications and followed Meta-analyses Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) guidelines. All data were analyzed using random-effects models.

Study findings

The screening studies included around 120,000 students and staff in school settings. The researchers estimated the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in schools to be 0.31%.

A total of 112,622 contacts of children and adults were included in the contact tracing studies, which revealed limited onward viral transmission of 2.54%. Assessment of the studies on seroprevalence, which included a total of 17,879 subjects, estimated that children were 43% less likely to be seropositive as compared to adults.

The current study further revealed that schools are not hotspots for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Even though SARS-CoV-2 infection can occur in schools, the rate of viral spread is extremely minimal when mitigation measures are properly followed. Further, researchers observed a reduced circulation of the virus and rare child-to-adult transmission occurring in school settings.

Conclusion

The authors of this study suggested that teachers and educational support staff, especially those with comorbidities, should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination. This initiative would protect teachers and students from being infected. Further, testing all students and staff, irrespective of the presence of any COVID-19 symptoms, would enable early detection of the disease and thereby prevent further spread of the infection.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
It's a struggle for Joe Gammon to talk. Lying in his bed in the intensive care unit at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, this month, he described himself as "naive."

"If I would have known six months ago that this could be possible, this would have been a no-brainer," said the 45-year-old father of six, who has been in critical condition with covid-19 for weeks. He paused to use a suction tube to dislodge some phlegm from his throat. "But I honestly didn't think I was at any risk."

Tennessee hospitals are setting new records each day, caring for more covid patients than ever, including 3,846 of the more than 100,000 Americans hospitalized with the virus as of Sept. 9. The most critical patients are almost all unvaccinated, hospital officials say, meaning ICUs are filled with regretful patients hoping for a second chance.

In hospitals throughout the South as well as in parts of California and Oregon, more than 50% of the inpatients are being treated for covid, an NPR analysis shows.

Gammon is a truck driver from rural Lascassas in Middle Tennessee who said he listens to a lot of conservative talk radio. The daily diatribes downplaying the pandemic and promoting personal freedom were enough to dissuade him from vaccination.

Gammon said he's not an "anti-vaxxer." And he said he's a committed believer in the covid vaccine now. He's also thankful he didn't get anyone else so sick they're in an ICU like him.

"Before you say no, seek a second opinion," he advised people who think the way he did before being hospitalized. "Just to say 'no' is irresponsible. Because it might not necessarily affect you. What if it affected your spouse? Or your child? You wouldn't want that. You sure wouldn't want that on your heart."

Gammon's lungs are too damaged from covid for a ventilator. He is on the last-resort life support ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Unlike previous generations of life support, people on ECMO can be fully conscious, can speak to their loved ones (or even reporters), and can even move around with the help of a team of nurses and technicians.

But it is an intense treatment, with a machine doing the work of both the heart and the lungs. Thick tubes run out of a hole in Gammon's neck, and pump all of his blood through the ECMO machine to be oxygenated, then back into his body through other tubes. A mask over his nose forces air into his lungs as they're given time to heal.

Even for patients who survive ECMO, many face months of rehabilitation or even permanent disability or dependence on oxygen.

This Saint Thomas West ICU is treating covid patients only, and that data point should be pretty convincing to vaccine holdouts, said critical care nurse Angie Gicewicz.

"We don't have people in the hospital suffering horrible reactions to the vaccine," she noted.

If all the patients on this hall could talk  and some can't because they're sedated on ventilators  Gicewicz said they'd tell people to learn from their mistakes. She recounted the story of an elderly woman who was admitted in recent weeks and spent her first days in isolation to control infection.

Gicewicz said she'd wave at the nurses from her sealed room, desperate for anyone to talk to. "The first day I took care of her, she said, 'I guess I should have taken that vaccine.' I said, 'Well, yeah honey, probably. But we're here where we are now, and let's do what we can for you.' "

That woman, like so many who didn't take the vaccine, never recovered, Gicewicz said. She died at this hospital, which averaged more than one covid death every day during the month of August.

This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR and KHN.
Natural severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or COVID-19 vaccination both result in the production of antibodies in the body. However, the amount of antibodies present in the population is still in question since the virus continues to spread rapidly and vaccine uptake is decreasing.

A collaborative team, led by principal investigator Dr. Eric Boerwinkle, at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health is conducting a survey designed to assess the frequency of antibody-positive individuals across Texas. The TEXAS Coronavirus Antibody REsponse Survey (CARES) aims to look for antibodies in the blood made in response to natural SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination.

A preprint version of the ongoing research is available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

Why test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies?

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are induced by the COVID-19 vaccine or by SARS-CoV-2 infection or both. The presence of antibodies is not a direct measure of protection. An immune response includes a cellular response and a humoral or antibody response with complex dynamics. So why measure the antibodies induced? These tests are essential to detect previous infections in people who were asymptomatic or had mild COVID-19 disease. They also provide population data regarding the segments of populations producing antibodies.

This latest survey data provides pertinent information regarding:

The number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Texas.

The number of people vaccinated and developed antibodies.

How long do SARS-CoV-2 antibodies last in the body.

The characteristics of people who develop SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

The characteristics of people who never develop SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

How will this data help?

The scientists have undertaken this survey to provide answers to the following questions. First, do people with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have immunity against future infection? Second, if the antibodies provide immunity, then what amount of antibodies are required for protection? Third, how long does the protection last? Finally, can the people with antibodies still infect others?

The scientists propose that this data will be useful to inform local and state policies. In addition, it will be helpful for clinical and public health recommendations and practice.

Boxplots of S-test values for each group. This figure shows a traditional boxplot for the S-test values for each group. The N-test status (+ or -) denotes prior infection (N+) or no prior infection (N-). Each box represents the data falling between the 25th and 75th percentiles. The horizontal bar within the box represents the median, and the whiskers extend 1.5 times the interquartile range below the 25th and above the 75th percentiles. The points that lie beyond the whiskers can be considered extreme values. Note that for the groups who had a prior infection and either partial or full vaccination, over 80% of the values are greater than or equal to 2,500 U/mL, so the box part of the boxplot collapsed to the bar at the top of the graph.

How to test for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies?

The TEXAS CARES is a statewide program designed to estimate the frequency of antibody-positive individuals across the state of Texas. It is a large and diverse population consisting of employees of various retail and industrial sectors, K-12 and university students and educators, and patients and staff at Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Two different immunoassays or antibody tests are being used in this survey: Roche S-test and Roche N-test. The Roche S-test identifies antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein - a result of natural infection or COVID-19 vaccination.

The Roche N-test identifies antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein - a result of natural infection. Two different tests aid in monitoring the combined impact of prior infection and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Whole blood samples are used for the tests.

Currently, the survey reports data from 8,846 individuals. The individuals answered a questionnaire to inform the vaccination status.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody data

The Roche N-test identified participants that either had a prior infection (N+) or no prior infection (N-). According to the infection and vaccination status, participants were grouped into five categories:

N+/not vaccinated N-/partially vaccinated N-/fully vaccinated N+/partially vaccinated N+/fully vaccinated

Of the participants, 80.95% of N+/partially vaccinated, and 83.07% of N+/fully vaccinated individuals had the highest S-test value indicating a high amount of antibodies. The S-test values were not significantly different between the individuals with prior infection and partial vaccination and individuals with prior infection and full vaccination. Conversely, unvaccinated participants with prior infection had low S-test values indicating less protection.

Conclusions

According to the data obtained so far through this survey, individuals with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and partial or fully vaccinated status have a high amount of antibodies in their blood.

On the other hand, individuals infected and not vaccinated have a low amount of antibodies in their blood. Thus, there is a combined impact of prior infection and vaccination on antibody presence.

The TEXAS CARES project is still underway and is continuously updating. There is a possibility of over or underestimation of antibody data because the participation in this survey is volunteer-based. Therefore, currently, it is a convenience-based sample size. The data will reflect accurate values when more people from the entire population of Texas participate in the study.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
The Justice Department has accused an upstate New York health insurance plan for seniors and its medical analytics company of cheating the government out of tens of millions of dollars.

The civil complaint of fraud, filed late Monday, is the first by the federal government to target a data mining company for allegedly helping a Medicare Advantage program game federal billing regulations to overcharge for patient treatment.

The suit names the medical records review company DxID and Independent Health Association, of Buffalo, which operates two Medicare Advantage plans. Betsy Gaffney, DxID's founder and CEO, also is named as a defendant. DxID, which shut down in August, is owned by Independent Health through another subsidiary.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, pays the health plans using a complex formula called a "risk score," which is intended to render higher rates for sicker patients and less for those in good health. The data mining company combed electronic medical records to identify missed diagnoses  pocketing up to 20% of new revenue it generated for the health plan.

But the DOJ alleges that DxID's reviews triggered "tens of millions" of dollars in overcharges by exaggerating how sick patients were or by submitting charges for medical conditions the patients did not have.

In an email, Frank Sava, a spokesperson for Independent Health, wrote:

"We are aware of the DOJ complaint filed late yesterday and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously against the allegations. Because this is an open case I cannot comment further."

Gaffney's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

The DOJ complaint expands on a 2012 whistleblower suit filed by Teresa Ross, a former medical coding official at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious health plans.

Ross alleged that Group Health hired DxID in 2011 to boost revenues. The company submitted more than $30 million in new disease claims to Medicare on behalf of Group Health for 2010 and 2011, many of which were not valid, according to Ross.

For instance, she alleged that the plan billed for "major depression" in a patient described by his doctor as having an "amazingly sunny disposition." Group Health, now known as the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington, denied wrongdoing, but in November 2020 settled the case by paying $6.3 million.

Now DOJ is taking over the case and targeting DxID for its work on behalf of both Group Health and Independent Health. DOJ alleges that DxID submitted thousands of "unsupported" medical condition codes on behalf of Independent Health from 2010 to 2017.

"Hopefully the case sends a message that coding companies that exist only to enrich themselves by violating many, many CMS rules will face consequences," said Max Voldman, an attorney who represents Ross.

Timothy Layton, an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School who has studied Medicare Advantage payment policy, said he has not seen the government take legal actions against data analytics companies before.

"They are often the ones doing a lot of the scraping for [billing] codes, so I wouldnt be surprised if they came under more scrutiny," he said.

In the complaint filed Monday, DOJ alleged that Gaffney pitched DxID's revenue-generating tools as "too attractive to pass up."

"There is no upfront fee, we don't get paid until you get paid and we work on a percentage of the actual proven recoveries," she wrote, according to the complaint.

The 102-page suit describes DxID's chart review process as "fraudulent," and says it "relied on 'trolling' patient medical records to gin up, in many cases, 'new' diagnoses exclusively from information derived from impermissible sources."

The complaint cites medical conditions that it says were either exaggerated or weren't supported by the medical records, such as billing for treating chronic depression that had been resolved. It also cites allegedly unsupported claims for renal failure, the most severe form of chronic kidney disease. The suit alleges that Gaffney said these cases were "worth a ton of money to IH [Independent Health] and the majority of people (over) 70 have it at some level."

The complaint says that CMS would have tried to recover money paid to the health plan improperly had it known about DxID's tactics and "has now done so via this suit."

The DOJ is seeking treble damages in the False Claims Act suit, plus an unspecified civil penalty for each violation of the law.

Medicare Advantage, a fast-growing private alternative to original Medicare, has enrolled more than 26 million people, according to AHIP, an industry trade group.

While popular with seniors, Medicare Advantage has been the target of multiple government investigations, Department of Justice and whistleblower lawsuits and Medicare audits. One 2020 report estimated improper payments to the plans topped $16 billion the previous year.

At least two dozen whistleblower cases, some dating to 2009, have alleged fraud by Medicare Advantage plans related to manipulating patient risk scores to boost revenues.

In July, the DOJ consolidated six such cases against Kaiser Permanente health plans, while in August California-based Sutter Health agreed to pay $90 million to settle a similar fraud case. Previous settlements have totaled more than $300 million.
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 back -- or frustrated -- when 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.

But I was fascinated because the correlation of the growth rate to the concentration of peptides in the solution carries loads of information. It helps to measure the rate constant, a quantity which is easy to model." Peter Vekilov, UH chemical and biomolecular engineer

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.

"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."
Gary Popiel had to drive more than 200 miles round trip to visit his adult daughters in separate behavioral health facilities as they received psychiatric and medical treatment.

It was 2000, and the family's only options for inpatient psychiatric beds were in Helena and Missoula  far from their Bozeman, Montana, home and from each other. Fast-forward 21 years, and Montana's fourth-largest city still lacks a hospital behavioral health unit.

"This would be just as traumatic now as it was then. We still would have to leave Bozeman," Popiel said. "Why should families have to witness their loved one being hauled off or take them themselves to another facility  or outside the state  to receive help?"

For years, health care workers and people such as Popiel who've had to travel for family members' mental health hospitalizations have been pushing the city's major hospital system, the nonprofit Bozeman Health, to add a behavioral health unit at its Deaconess Hospital. On Sept. 30, the system's board plans to consider whether to add one as part of an expansion of its mental health services.

Hospital leaders have said initial talks have been broad so far, without specifics on the number of potential beds and whether they're designed for adults or kids.

But even if Bozeman Health adds inpatient psychiatric beds, the gaps in emergency mental health care could continue. Across Montana, such units routinely hit capacity and some struggle to find enough workers to staff them.

Montana's quandary reflects a national shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds that can leave people with serious mental illnesses far from the services they need when a crisis hits. Ideally, patients would have treatment options to prevent such a crisis. But more than 124 million Americans live in mental health "professional shortage areas," according to federal data, and the country needs at least 6,500 more practitioners to fill the gaps.

The national nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center, which aims to make care for severe mental illness more accessible, recommends a minimum of 50 inpatient psychiatric beds per 100,000 people. It is still debated, though, who should provide those beds and where they're prioritized on a long list of stretched-thin mental health services.

Given the patient capacity of Montana State Hospital and private hospital behavioral health units, Montana comes close to that recommendation. But those beds are concentrated in pockets of the state, so access isn't uniform.

For example, Bozeman Health sits in a city of 50,000 in a county of 120,000 and also serves two neighboring counties. The city has 10 crisis beds at the Western Montana Mental Health Center's facility there  the only beds for roughly 100 miles in any direction. The crisis center cares for roughly 400 people a year, providing nurses and psychiatrists who can offer safety plans and medication management, but it can't treat children or offer full medical services as a hospital could. The center also faced criticism for closing its two involuntary beds for six months last year because of a worker shortage amid the pandemic.

Bozeman Health's leadership estimated that on average 13 people who live in its primary three-county service area of Gallatin, Park and Madison counties are admitted to behavioral health units elsewhere each month.

Some patients leave handcuffed in the back of a law enforcement vehicle. Last year, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office transported 101 people experiencing a mental health crisis  85 of whom were taken to crisis centers hours away or the state hospital. That's up from 2019 when authorities took 36 out of 45 people in crisis outside the county.

"Every other major city in Montana besides us has managed to get inpatient care" at their hospitals, said Dr. Colette Kirchhoff, a physician in Bozeman.

One man went to Bozeman Health to have a cancerous tumor removed in early August, and the next day he had panic attacks that turned into suicidal thoughts. He was driven two hours in the back of an ambulance to the Billings Clinic. His wife, who asked KHN not to publish their names since her husband wasn't in a condition to give his consent, said she wished they'd had a closer option.

"I was there when he got strapped into a gurney and taken away," she said. "I had to book a hotel and get money from the bank and pack clothes."

Bozeman Health leaders have said the hospital hadn't actively considered a behavioral health unit until now because it had prioritized outpatient mental health services. In recent years, it added mental health treatment into primary care, including hiring licensed clinical social workers. It started telepsychiatry to help local providers with patient assessments. It also plans to provide short-term crisis stabilization and medication management.

"The gold standard is let's make the need for high-acuity inpatient care go away completely," said Jason Smith, Bozeman Healths chief advancement officer. "Getting there may be impossible. At the very least, it's going to be difficult."

Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq, director of research for the Treatment Advocacy Center, is skeptical that would be possible. "Efforts to intervene as early as possible are an important step forward, but that doesnt mean that inpatient beds will become obsolete," she said.

Smith said creating inpatient psychiatric services isn't as simple as adding beds. A construction project would be years away. Adding a unit also would mean ensuring discharged patients have access to additional services and recruiting mental health workers to Bozeman amid the national shortage.

"Whether we're going to be able to recruit the behavioral health professionals that are necessary to lead it and provide that care on a day-to-day basis is a major question mark," Smith said.

Dr. Scott Ellner, CEO of the Billings Clinic, said the number of patients who travel to his hospital for care is evidence the state needs more beds. Last year, the hospital treated 161 psychiatric patients from Bozeman Health's service area. Ellner said Billings Clinic loses money on its psych unit, but the service is part of the hospital's job.

"Theres so few resources across the state," Ellner said. "We strongly recommend that there be inpatient beds in Gallatin County."

Where the services do exist, they're often stretched.

Benefis Health System in Great Falls has 20 inpatient psychiatric beds. In an email, spokesperson Kaci Husted said those beds hit capacity a few times a week. When that happens, the hospital puts patients in overflow beds until a spot opens.

And in Helena last year, St. Peter's Health turned away 102 patients because its behavioral health unit was out of space or because a patient needed more care than the hospital could manage. Gianluca Piscarelli, the unit's director, said the system's eight adult beds are often full. The hospital also has 14 geriatric psychiatric beds  the only inpatient program in the state designed for seniors who may have dementia and a serious mental illness  but Piscarelli said the unit may deny someone a spot if it already has too many high-needs patients to manage.

Shodair Children's Hospital in Helena has 74 beds for kids in a crisis but, because of a shortage of mental health workers, the facility could admit only 40 patients as of mid-August, said CEO Craig Aasved. In May, a 15-year-old patient died by suicide there, with a state report blaming understaffing as a contributing factor.

The hospital is working on an expansion with a new building design that would make it easier to group patients by diagnosis, but staffing will still be a strain. He said that while more beds are always needed, some kids come from towns where they don't even have access to a therapist.

Having every hospital add psychiatric beds isn't a perfect solution, Aasved said. "The end result is well just have a lot of beds and no staff."

NEED HELP?

If you or someone you know is in a crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Release liners are a key component in medical products overall development and performance, for example, transdermal drug delivery systems, medical devices, advanced wound care dressings and pharmaceutical packaging products.

Release liners are required to offer consistent release performance and inertness in the end-use application while simultaneously adhering to increasingly strict regulatory criteria around performance, quality, purity and cleanliness.

It is imperative that careful evaluation and analysis be conducted to ensure the most appropriate release liner is chosen for a specific drug or medical product under development.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Adhesive formulations may contain a range of wetting aids, viscosity modifiers, tackifiers, fillers and other additives, any of which could affect release performance.

The drug loaded into the adhesive adds further unknowns and complications, meaning that it is important to determine the compatibility of the release liner materials with the pharmaceutical ingredients as early as possible.

The sheer range of factors involved in this process means that it is advisable to evaluate several candidate release liners as part of the medical liner selection process.

Figure 2. Schematic views of liners holding (a) a drug-loaded adhesive product, and (b) drug-filled reservoir. Image Credit: IEEE Globalspec.

Release liners fulfill several key roles in medical device manufacturing and pharmaceutical packaging  release liners package and protect a diverse array of products (Table 1).

Table 1. Release liner applications in drug delivery, medical device and pharmaceutical packaging products. Source: IEEE Global Spec

Medical / Pharmaceutical Applications Product Examples Diagnostic & Point of Care Diagnostic Test Strips (blood glucose, cholesterol, urinary tract infections)

Point of Care / Diagnostic Devices Drug Delivery & Pharmaceutical Packaging Transdermal Drug Delivery System (TDDS)

Drug Loaded Monolithic Matrix

Resevoir with Rate Controlling Membrane

Transdermal / Medicinal Patch

Transmucosal Drug Delivery System (TMDS)

Buccal Mucosal System

Oral Thin Films (OTF) / Oral Strips

Pharmaceutical Packaging Tapes Fixation, Surgical & Wound Care Advanced Wound Dressing (extended wear, burn treatment, MVTR, etc.)

Catheter Placement

Incise / Opthalmic Incise Films

IV Holders

Medical Fixation Tapes

Ostomy Pouches / Components

Surgical & Isolation Drapery Medical Sensors & Electrodes Disposable Electrodes

ECG, EKG and TENS Pads / Electrodes

Grounding Pads

Oxygen Sensors OTC / Consumer Healthcare Cosmetic Patches ( Face strips, acne pads, etc.)

Eye Patches

First Aid Bandages & Tape

Hygiene Products (diapers, sanitary napkins, incontinence pads)

OTC Therapeutic Patches Process Carrier Liner Enables Handling, Conversion & Assembly of Pharmaceutical & Medical Products

They often act as process carriers, allowing easier handling, conversion and assembly by ensuring that adhesive medical products do not stick together.

Medical liner construction and manufacturing

Release liners are comprised of a release coating on a paper or cloth substrate or a plastic film (Figure 4)  the latter being the most commonly used in medical release liners.

Figure 4. Sketch of medical release liner construction. Image Credit: IEEE GlobalSpec

These medical release liners are manufactured to precise coating weights on high-speed web coating or roll-to-roll machines in cleanroom environments. Once it has been deposited onto the substrate, UV light is used to set or dry the release liner coating.

The plastic films and substrates utilized in medical release liners are generally polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polyester (PET), polypropylene (PP) or made from various fabrics.

It is important that the liner substrate offers appropriate mechanical properties such as elongation percentage, tensile strength and tear resistance in order to avoid breaks during handling and conversion processes. The film must be cut cleanly during any slitting, die-cutting and related converting steps.

Polyethylene and polyester substrates typically offer improved tear resistance. Polyethylene and polyester carrier films tend to be available in wider gauge ranges (100 to 2300 and 92 to 1400 gauge, respectively) than polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride films (~800 to 1000 gauge).

The release liner substrate must be rigid enough that healthcare professionals or patients can easily peel off the liner. Polyester typically offers improved die-cutting and kiss-cutting performance over PP, PVC and PE.

Some applications may require consideration to be given to other properties such as thermoformability, optical transmission or optical clarity.

For example, the optical clarity of the release may impact a medicine-filled dressings ability to be properly positioned over a wound while still allowing this to be monitored for any allergenic response.

Other designs may require the creation of a reservoir well by thermoforming the substrate material. Both polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride films can be thermoformed, while polyester substrates offer exceptional smoothness and optical clarity.

Table 2 details thicknesses, key properties and application suitability for a range of films employed in NORFILM medical grade release liners.

Table 2. NORFILM medical release liner film types, liner gauge availability and their key properties for drug delivery, medical device and pharmaceutical packaging applications. Source: Saint-Gobain FILMS & FABRICS

Film Gauge Application Key Properties Polyester (PET) 92 - 1400 Pharmaceutical, Toiletries, Health & Beauty

Transdermal, Hydrogeis, Wound Care, EKG Hygiene High Tensile & Tear Resistance

Excellent Smoothness

High Clarify

Gauge Control

Temperature Resistanace

Recyclable

Back side Printable

Mechanically Stable

Spliceable Polystyrene (PS) 750 - 1000 Hydrogeis, Wound Care, EKT Piggyback Thermoformable

Good Stiffness

Back Side Printable Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) 800 - 1000 Transdermal, Hydrogeis, EKT Thermoformable` Polyethylene (PE) 100 - 2300 One / Two Side, Transfer Wound Care, Hygiene Tear Resistance

Conformable

High Yield

* Represents typical performance properties and should not be used for specification purposes.

A release liners functionality greatly depends on the release coating, which provides its non-stick or release characteristics. Silicone and fluorosilicone are the most used release coatings for medical release liners.

Release liners must possess consistent coating thickness levels to avoid silicone skip (too thin) and over-coating of silicone (too thick). Inconsistencies in coating thickness may result in issues with dispensing, patch or device movement and conversion.

It is important that the medical release liner avoid pre-dispensing  the liner must retain the drug delivery product or medical device until the liner is manually peeled off.

Release coatings may be UV-cured or thermal-cured. An optimum release coating will exhibit slow degradation and long shelf life, coupled with a high degree of chemical stability. It must also maintain consistent release properties throughout the medical products lifetime.

UV-cured release coatings offer a warranty and shelf life of 12 months, while thermal-cured coatings offer a 6-month warranty and shelf life.

Both UV- and thermal-release coatings offer good optical clarity, while release coatings may be water-based and solvent-free, solvent-based or completely solid.

It is possible to adjust a release liners release properties from easy, to moderate, to tight  while an easy release liner may be removed using minimal low peel force. A tight release liner necessitates the use of a higher peel force in order to remove the adhesive medical product.

Numeric peel or release force values are provided in force per length (g/in, cN/m or N/m). These values can be determined through the measurement of peel force at a controlled peel rate (in/min, cm/min).

Medical release liners can be provided with peel release levels between 5 to 200 g/in. Differential release liners feature release coatings on either side, which possess varying levels of release  a potentially useful feature for more sophisticated multilayer medical product constructions.

Single-coated release liners are suitable for the majority of medical applications, such as wound care dressings, transdermal drug delivery patches, surgical tape and electrodes.

The easy release is ideal for applications that use a soft silicone gel adhesive or delicate drug-loaded adhesive, as this helps reduce any risk of damage to the gel or adhesive.

Adhesives are viscoelastic materials, meaning that the peel or stripping rate can influence the effective release force.

A release profile can be used to plot the release force for a range of peel rates, though it is recommended to ensure a flat release profile so that release force is consistent when working with changing manufacturing processes or differing end-use peel forces.

Release properties can also be impacted by peel speeds, the adhesive used, temperature, time at temperature (Keil aging) and surface roughness.

Each manufacturer employs its own distinct release-level designations and test methods, so working with the same supplier throughout the selection process is recommended.

The adhesive must not transfer to the release coating or otherwise be retained, and the release coating must not transfer to the adhesive. The release coating is required to keep the adhesive tacky because any transfer could inhibit the adhesives stickiness or impair drug delivery.

The release liner is discarded in the majority of applications, but specific medical applications may necessitate its reuse, repositioning or reapplication, for example, sensors or TENS electrodes. In these applications, it may be necessary to peel an adhesive-coated medical device on and off the release liner.

A range of release coatings can be provided to accommodate specific medical adhesives or drug-loaded adhesives.

For example, silicone release coatings are suitable for use with polyisobutane (PIB), acrylic (polyacrylate) and polyisoprene (synthetic rubber) adhesives.

Silicone and soft silicone gel adhesives are seeing increased use in wound dressing applications and medical devices due to their gentler action, which results in less trauma on injured tissue or other delicate skin. Silicone adhesives do require the use of a fluorosilicone release coating, however.

Table 3. Suitability of silicone and fluorosilicone release coatings for several adhesives commonly used in medical applications. Source: IEEE GlobalSpec.

Medical Release Liner Coating Compatible Adhesive Silicone

(Polysiloxane) Acrylic (Polyacrylate)

Polyisobutane (PIB)

Polyisoprene (Synthetic Rubber) Fluorosilicone Acrylic (Polyacrylate)

Polyisobutane (PIB)

Polyisoprene (Synthetic Rubber)

Silicone PSA

Drug Master File (DMF) and compliance factors

A medical liner with appropriate film type, thickness, release level and other relevant properties can ensure a products operational and technical success, but regulatory success is a more complex issue.

A medical product is not permitted to go to market without appropriate regulatory compliance and approval.

Release liners employed in a medical product are required to meet relevant food and drug contact regulations and standards; for example, FDA CFR 177.160, USP, Ph.Eu. and EDQM.

There are also regulations like USP 467 in place that legislate a liners purity or levels of contaminants (including metal, monomer and solvent residuals) to ppm concentrations (Table 4).

Table 4. UPS 467 Class 2 residual solvents ppm levels. Source: Table 2 in USP 467

Solvent PDE (mg / day) Concentration Limit (ppm) Acetonitrile 4.1 410 Chlorobenzene 3.6 360 Chloroform 0.6 60 Cumene 0.7 70 Cyclohexane 38.8 3880 1,2-Dichloroethene 18.7 1870 1,2-Dimethoxyethane 1.0 100 N,N-Dimethylacetamide 10.9 1090 N,N-Dimethylformamide 8.8 880 1,4-Dioxane 3.8 380 2-Ethoxyethanol 1.6 160 Ethylene glycol 6.2 620 Formamide 2.2 220 Hexane 2.9 290 Methanol 30.0 3000 2-Methoxyethanol 0.5 50 Methylbutylketone 0.5 50 Methylcyclohexane 11.8 1180 Methylene chloride 6.0 600 N-Methylpyrrolidone 5.3 530 Nitromethane 0.5 50 Pyridine 2.0 200 Sulfolane 1.6 160 Tetrahydrofuran 7.2 720 Tetralin 1.0 100 Toluene 8.9 890 Trichloroethylene 0.8 80 Xylene* 21.7 2170

* Usually 60% m-xylene, 14% p-xylene, 9% o-xylene with 17% ethyl benzene.

BSE/TSE requirements state that the release liner must be free of animal-based raw materials. It should also be able to withstand EtO, UV or thermal sterilization regimes designed to meet microbial limits without suffering any property degradations.

It is also important that the release coating does not transfer, leach out additives or otherwise contaminate medicine in a reservoir, a drug-loaded adhesive or monolithic matrix.

The release liner should also be able to avert medicine leakage from a drug reservoir, and it should not extract or react with any of said medicine in a reservoir or a monolithic matrix.

Manufacturers and users of medical liners must be aware of additional compliance restrictions around REACH and the liner being free of allergens, latex, phthalates and melamine.

A specific medical packaging product may be awarded permitted status or a broader approval status. FDA approval affirms testing of the raw materials for compliance. Permitted materials have been reviewed and are considered to be free of harmful effects for certain FDA categories.

Medical release liners should be able to demonstrate an FDA DMF (Type III Packaging) status before being incorporated into pharmaceutical packaging or a medical device.

A Drug Master File (DMF) includes comprehensive documentation on the raw materials, formulation, processing, testing and analysis of a medical release liner, confirming that this meets all required FDA regulations and standards.

The Drug Master File often features proprietary information, so its contents remain confidential between the FDA and the liner OEM. Any medical manufacturer OEM incorporating a release liner into a medical product will refer to the DMF for the liner in its drug application to the FDA or other notified body.

Within this reference, the release liner OEM will provide a Letter of Authorization, allowing the medical manufacturer OEM to reference the DMF numbered product as part of the drug application.

Manufacturers of medical release liners frequently partake in thorough audits of quality management systems and facilities to ensure compliant processes.

Full GMP manufacturing is not required because release liners are deemed an inactive packaging product by the FDA. Despite this, medical release liners must be manufactured in cleanrooms that are free of pests and microbial contamination.

Recommendations and next steps

There are several factors that must be considered when selecting a medical release liner. The release liner must be strong enough to withstand conversion, handling and assembly throughout the various stages of medical device manufacturing.

The correct degree of rigidity allows the release liner to be peeled off the pressure-sensitive adhesive with ease, while the optimum release coating type will be influenced by the desired release level, the adhesives in use and the medicine being released.

All medical release liners are required to have FDA DMF status. The use of a release liner without DMF status is not recommended, as this can impede or disrupt the regulatory approval process for a medical product.

Figure 6. Factors for medical release liner selection. Image Credit: IEEE GlobalSpec.

Medical liner selection should begin with the sampling and testing of several release liner samples in product assemblies. This should be completed using the actual adhesive or drug-loaded adhesive formulations.

Once the range of challenges around design, approval and implementation of products using a medical liner has been fully considered, a liner can be selected.

It is advisable to work with a competent, experienced release liner OEM such as Saint-Gobain Films and Fabrics from the beginning of the development process in order to maximize performance, reduce costs and better troubleshoot problems.

There are several recommended steps for selecting a medical release liner. These include:

Evaluate adhesive or drug-loaded adhesive formulations with an appropriate release liner supplier

Choose appropriate FDA-approved medical liners with DMF status

Screen a diverse array of release liners prior to shortlisting candidate liners

Evaluate and thoroughly test UV-silicone release systems first because these liners exhibit a longer shelf-life

Be patient  approval for new drugs and medical devices can take between 3 and 5 years

The selection of a widely-recognized, reliable and robust release liner supplier is essential. The supplier should ideally offer a broad product portfolio and custom engineering capability and should be able to rapidly respond and provide a solution to any medical liner implementation issues throughout the product development process.

When a suitable, reliable, high performance medical release liner system has been selected for an application, it is also important to maintain product quality and minimize product variability by working with a single release liner OEM, such as Saint-Gobain Films and Fabrics.

About Saint-Gobain FILMS & FABRICS

We are a leading multi-materials solutions company focused on solutions that enable better outcomes across the industry and daily life of us all. Leveraging cutting-edge process technologies and customer insights, we use a broad range of advanced materials to develop high-performance polymer composites. We manufacture products, develop multi-material solutions or help our customers to integrate their systems, whether our customers: look for consistent release and efficiency improvements; build components for energy efficiency; want to protect against harmful conditions; maintain purity of their products or are looking to design equipment with highest level of signal integrity.

Saint-Gobain FILMS & FABRICS has a worldwide footprint with 7 industrial sites and a commercial and technical presence in all six continents; we also benefit from Saint-Gobain group's state-of-the-art Research & Development facilities located in France, USA, China, and India on top of the specific development capabilities we have in our Films & Fabrics manufacturing plants. We leverage on those capabilities to design multi-material solutions suited to your local or global needs in multiple markets and applications that withstand the most extreme conditions.

Specialties

Composites, Polymers, Multimaterials, and Engineering

Produced from material originally authored by IEEE GlobalSpec.

Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
(Newser)  Litecoin, a longstanding but relatively little-used cryptocurrency, surged in value Monday on reports that it had entered a partnership with Walmartthen dived back down again after the reports turned out to be a well-orchestrated hoax. Experts believe the 25% surge was the result of a "pump and dump" scam, in which fake news is used to drive up an asset's price before it is sold for a fast profit, reports CNN. Litecoin's rollercoaster ride Monday started with a press release from GlobeNewswire that was picked up by major media outlets. It claimed that Walmart planned to accept payments from shoppers in litecoin.

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After around an hour, the newswire company issued a "notice to disregard" and said the release, which include fake quotes from Walmart execs, was issued by a "fraudulent user account." "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," a spokesperson said, per CNBC, promising that there would be a full investigation and cooperation with any criminal probe. Walmart said in a statement that the press release was inaccurate and that the company has no relationship with Walmart. According to Coinbase, several billions of dollars of litecoin was traded Monday, a much higher total than usual.

This may have been the "PR hoax of the decade," according to Fast Company. The press release appeared legitimateand it was retweeted by litecoin's verified accountbut there were a few clues that it wasn't genuine. Walmart had never issued a release on GlobeNewswire before, and it listed a nonexistent websitewalmart-corp.comas the email address for company execs. The bogus release also used the first two of its six paragraphs to tout the benefits of litecoin over bitcoin. (Read more cryptocurrency stories.)
(Newser)  Repeatedly criticized by Republican lawmakers, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday defending the US handling of the end of the war in Afghanistan. Blinken, in turn, put blame on former President Trump's administration, Politico reports. "We inherited a deadline," Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We did not inherit a plan." The Biden administration was limited by Trump's deal with the Taliban, which cut the US deployment to 2,500 by the time Trump left office, Blinken testified. When President Biden took over, he "immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it," the secretary of state testified.

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Had Biden broken Trump's deal, Blinken said, the Taliban would have attacked US troops and Afghanistan's cities. That could have renewed the war for as long as 20 years, Blinken said, per CNN. Republicans on the committee were not placated by his answers. "I never thought in my lifetime that I would see an unconditional surrender to the Taliban," said GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, per the Washington Post. "The American people don't like to lose, especially to the terrorists." The chairman, Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, answered Republican criticisms, saying the withdrawal was bound to be problematic. "For my friends who presume a clean solution for the withdrawal existed  I've yet to hear the clean withdrawal option because I don't believe one exists," he said.

As of last week, Blinken said, about 100 Americans are still in Afghanistan who want to get out. He said each has been assigned a US team, which is in contact with those people. Meeks also said he wants answers on how the State Department will evacuate them, along with the Afghans who worked with US forces. Among the successes of the mission that Blinken cited was the progress women in Afghanistan have made in the past 20 years, especially concerning education, health care and entrepreneurship, and in the workforce. "Those gains were significant. And we were the leading contributor," he said. Blinken said he plans to name a senior official to coordinate efforts to support women there. (Read more Afghanistan war stories.)
(Newser)  At a "haunted hayride" event in the Pittsburgh area Saturday, the blood and horror were real. Police say one 15-year-old boy was shot dead and another was wounded at the opening night of the Haunted Hills Hayride in North Versailles, WPXI reports. The slain teen, Steven Eason, was a student at Central Catholic High School. Police say Eason was with a group of friends who saw the second victim arguing with the shooter and went to help. The shooter then fired three times, hitting Eason twice and the other teen once, police say. The other teen was shot in the shoulder and was hospitalized in critical condition.

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Lt. Venerando Costa of the Allegheny County Police says police are still trying to identify the shooter, who fled toward the event's parking lot, ABC reports. Witnesses described the shooter as Black, 15 to 17 years old, and 5 foot 9 with a slender build. Police say there were 50 to 100 people in the area when the shooting happened around 8:15pm. They have urged anybody with information on the shooter or video of the incident to come forward.

Police say the shooting happened near the charity event's ticket booth. "When the shooting occurred, half the people ran toward the parking lot, half ran toward the trail. It was chaotic, but the staff tried to get people out of the area, Costa said, per WPXI. "I think its a terrible shame. You come to an area to have fun. Its innocent people around. Anyone could have gotten hurt." (Read more Pennsylvania stories.)
(Newser)  Security officials have stepped up their preparation for the rally planned for Saturday in support of the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. The temporary fencing around the building that was taken down over the summer will be back up by then, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said Monday, after the police board gave its approval. Provided "everything goes well," he said, the fencing will come down again quickly, CNN reports. And congressional leaders have been briefed. It's part of security officials' effort to be better prepared than they were for the insurrection in January, per the AP. Capitol police "will enforce the law and not tolerate violence," Manger said in a statement.

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Police don't know how many people to expect at the rally, but they say online talk about the event has become increasingly threatening. Some of it has referred to "justice" for the jailed rioters, as well as for Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot to death by a Capitol Police officer. The officer has been cleared of wrongdoing, but officials worry that those motivated by her death could be planning violence this weekend, though an organizer has said the event will be peaceful. Lawmakers are not expected to be in the building over the weekend; Congress won't be in session, per the Washington Post.

Manger briefed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on the preparations Monday. "They are better prepared than people were before January 6th," Schumer said afterward. Pelosi said she "feels much better" now. Organizers of the "Justice for J6" event asked on their permit application to gather at Union Square, which is a park near the Capitol Reflecting Pool. "We will be using this time to make our voices heard in asking that all charges be dropped for nonviolent detainees and they be released from solitary confinement," the application says. (Read more Capitol riot stories.)
(Newser)  Update: Lawyers for an accuser of Prince Andrew say they he has again been served with a sexual assault lawsuit, this time in the US. Attorneys for Virginia Giuffre sent the papers to Andrew's attorney in Los Angeles, Andrew Brettler, via email and FedEX, and both were received on Monday, reports Reuters. Andrew must respond in 21 days or face a possible default judgment. The prince's legal team disputes that he was properly served earlier in the UK. A story from earlier this month follows:

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Virginia Giuffre's sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew had its first day in court Monday, with the British royal's new lawyer calling it "baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful." Giuffre's filing says she was coerced into having sex with Andrew by the prince, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell when she was 17. The pretrial hearing in Federal District Court in New York provided Andrew's first public response in the case, the New York Times reports. "We have significant concerns about the propriety of this lawsuit," Andrew Brettler told the judge. The prince has denied the accusations.

Brettler was referring to his argument that the suit might be precluded by a settlement Giuffre agreed to years ago in connection with her accusations against Epstein, per CNBC. The judge cut off that argument, saying it wasn't the time to discuss whether the suit is legal. Brettler also argued that Andrew was not legally served with the lawsuit last month in England, as Giuffre's lawyers contend. Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would hear arguments on that point, though he couldn't say it would be worthwhile. "I can see a lot of legal fees being spent and time being expended and delay, which ultimately may not be terribly productive for anyone," Kaplan said.

A British court should have a say on whether Andrew was properly served, Brettler told the judge, citing Hague Convention rules. Kaplan told him that adherence to the Hague Convention is not required, per the Wall Street Journal. The back-and-forth on how the suit was or wasn't served eventually will be resolved, the judge said. "I think we are making this a lot more complicated than it really is," Kaplan told both sides, per the AP. "Let's cut out all the technicalities and get to the substance." The case will be litigated, he said. (Read more Prince Andrew stories.)
(Newser)  First it was school districts requiring masks; now local governments requiring vaccines are in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' crosshairs. DeSantis on Monday announced the state will fine municipal governments with COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their employees, WFLA reports. Some cities and counties could be on the hook for millions, the Tampa Bay Times reports, since they will be fined $5,000 per employee affected by the mandates. Under state law, neither businesses nor local governments can require proof of vaccination "to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the governmental entitys operations." However, that law does not cover vaccine mandates for workers, and it's not clear how the fines will be enforced.

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"We are not going to let people get fired because of the vaccine mandate," DeSantis said in announcing the fines. "You dont just cast aside people who have been serving faithfully over this issue, over whats basically a personal choice over their individual health." Localities including Orange County, where Orlando is located and which has thousands of employees, have instituted vaccine mandates. It's not clear whether the fines will apply to other counties, including Miami-Dade, that require either vaccination or weekly testing. It's also not clear how the fines will apply to private businesses with vaccine mandates for employees, such as Walt Disney World and some cruise lines, but a DeSantis rep says, "Regarding private businesses, were looking at all legal options to protect the rights of employees."

As Insider reports, a city employee in Gainesville, which is requiring workers be vaccinated, spoke at DeSantis' press conference announcing the fines and said, "The vaccine changes your RNA, so, for me, that's a problem." The COVID vaccines that use mRNA technology do no such thing, but DeSantis let the false statement, which was met with cheers, stand. Asked by the media outlet later about the comment, which is linked to a conspiracy theory, one of his reps said the governor "has never said the vaccine changes your RNA, nor is that his opinion." DeSantis has been vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson shot. (Read more Florida stories.)
(Newser)  A high-speed chase in Georgia ended in tragedy Friday when the car police were chasing flipped, killing a 12-year-old passenger. The boy, Leden Boykins, was in a car with a neighbor and the neighbor's 14-year-old son when it was pulled over for speeding, 11 Alive reports. Police say Charlie Moore, the driver, refused to show his driver's license and then fled, with police in pursuit as he drove recklessly for three and a half miles. Ultimately a police car clipped the rear of the vehicle to cause it to spin out and stop, known as the PIT maneuver, NBC News reports. But the car overturned as a result, and Boykins was killed. Moore and his son survived. Moore is facing charges including murder during the commission of a felony, first-degree homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault against a peace officer, DUI, having an open container in a motor vehicle, and driving on a suspended license.

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According to Boykins' family, Moore's wife told them that Moore was concerned, as a Black man, when he was pulled over, and had his son call 911. "He told the 911 operator, he said, I need for yall to get a supervisor out here, theres too many police cars and Im in fear of my life,'" Boykins' mother says. The family says that troopers started to break the windows when he refused to roll them down, and Moore drove away because he was scared. Boykins' devastated family is questioning why police didn't take a different course of action, knowing there were children in the car: "Couldnt they put a roadblock up and protect those kids?" Boykins' father says. "They couldnt figure out any other way than to flip that car over?" Boykins' parents say it was Moore's wife, not police, who informed them of their son's death. (Read more Georgia stories.)
(Newser)  A woman who was involved in the ivermectin debate died Monday at a Chicago-area hospital. Veronica Wolski, 64, a QAnon follower who had been outspoken against masks and the COVID-19 vaccine, was hospitalized with the virus and made headlines after her husband announced she had requested to be treated with ivermectin and her supporters raised the issue on social media platforms. AMITA Health, which does not use ivermectin to treat COVID, said it had "hundreds of phone calls and emails associated with one patient's care," NBC Chicago reports.

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"At AMITA Health, our first priority is the health and safety of our patients," it said in a statement on the case earlier this month. "Our physicians and clinicians follow the full guidance of the FDA and the CDC in the treatment of COVID-19." The FDA does not authorize ivermectin, a parasite medication often used on livestock, for use in treating COVID, and warns that such use can be dangerous. Some of Wolski's supporters had demanded the hospital release her over the weekend so she could get the drug elsewhere, the Chicago Tribune reports. In another case in Illinois that actually went to court, a judge blocked a man from receiving the drug. And in Ohio, a court ruled a hospital could stop providing it to a patient who wanted it. (Read more COVID-19 stories.)
(Newser)  Nicki Minaj was not at the Met Gala on Monday night, and there was much Twitter drama over why exactly she declined to attend. It started when she tweeted Monday, "They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it wont for the Met. Itll be once I feel Ive done enough research. Im working on that now." Media outlets picked up on the tweet, which went on to encourage her fans to wear masks, and reported the news as Minaj skipping the gala due to its requirement that attendees be vaccinated. Quite a bit of back-and-forth ensued, with Minaj pointing out she'd earlier that day tweeted about having "an infant with no nannies during COVID. ... Not risking his health to be seen," and that that's the actual reason she decided not to travel to the event.

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She also pushed back against critics of her stance on the COVID vaccine, and retweeted followers supporting her. Included in the brouhaha was the revelation that she herself contracted COVID and had to isolate from her newborn for more than a week. Then came the tweet the internet really seized on, per Deadline:

Her cousin's friend: "My cousin in Trinidad wont get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure youre comfortable with ur decision, not bullied."

"My cousin in Trinidad wont get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure youre comfortable with ur decision, not bullied." Reaction: "Minaj" was soon trending; the Hill rounds up mockery of the rapper's testicle story.

"Minaj" was soon trending; the Hill rounds up mockery of the rapper's testicle story. From social media to primetime: MSNBC host Joy Reid took Minaj to task on her show, The ReidOut. Reid accused her of encouraging the Black community to skip the vaccine, Yahoo News reports. Minaj in turn slammed Reid as an "uncle tomiana" and accused her of not bothering to learn the whole story. "They got someone with black skin for a reason," Minaj added. "They always use us against us."

MSNBC host Joy Reid took Minaj to task on her show, The ReidOut. Reid accused her of encouraging the Black community to skip the vaccine, Yahoo News reports. Minaj in turn slammed Reid as an "uncle tomiana" and accused her of not bothering to learn the whole story. "They got someone with black skin for a reason," Minaj added. "They always use us against us." As for that whole story: Minaj's later tweets included one acknowledging she would recommend the shot to people whose jobs require it; another saying it's "the norm" to be protected from COVID after vaccination (as opposed to getting a breakthrough case, which she had talked about in earlier tweets); and one asking fans to take a poll regarding which vaccine Minaj should get.

Minaj's later tweets included one acknowledging she would recommend the shot to people whose jobs require it; another saying it's "the norm" to be protected from COVID after vaccination (as opposed to getting a breakthrough case, which she had talked about in earlier tweets); and one asking fans to take a poll regarding which vaccine Minaj should get. Parting shot: As of this story's posting, one of Minaj's two most recent tweets involved a vulgar message to Meghan McCain after McCain, too, commented on the controversy.

(Read more Nicki Minaj stories.)
(Newser)  Hurricane Nicholas made landfall along the Texas coast on Tuesday, bringing the threat of up to 20 inches of rainfall to parts of the Gulf Coast, including the same area hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and storm-battered Louisiana. Nicholas touched down on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles west southwest of Sargent Beach, Texas, with maximum winds of 75mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Nicholas was the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, the AP reports. The biggest unknown about Nicholas was how much rainfall it would produce in Texas, especially in flood-prone Houston.

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Nearly all of the states coastline was under a tropical storm warning that included potential flash floods and urban flooding. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said authorities placed rescue teams and resources in the Houston area and along the coast. In Houston, officials worried that heavy rain expected to arrive by 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. Numerous school districts along the Texas Gulf Coast canceled classes Monday because of the incoming storm. The Houston school district, the states largest, as well as others, announced that classes would be canceled on Tuesday.

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. Six to 12 inches of rain were expected along the middle and upper Texas coast, with isolated maximum amounts of 18 inches possible. Other parts of southeast Texas and south-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see 4 to 8 inches over the coming days. One worry with Nicholas will be how slowly it moves. 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.

(Read more hurricane stories.)
(Newser)  An Englishman who traveled to the Netherlands to take in a Formula One race got more excitement than he bargained for when he was mistaken for an Italian Mafia boss, wanted for more than 50 murders. The 54-year-old, identified by his attorney as Mark L., was seized at gunpoint by heavily armed police, who pulled a hood over his head, while dining with his son at a restaurant in the Hague around 5pm local time on Wednesday, report the Guardian and BBC. He was then taken to a maximum-security prison, where he stayed until Saturday.

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Italian authorities had asked Dutch police to arrest the man, who'd attended the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort the previous weekend, believing him to be Matteo Messina Denaro, a godfather of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and subject of a European arrest warrant. The 59-year-old Mafia boss, who reportedly claimed to have "filled a cemetery" with his victims, has been on the run since 1993, when he allegedly organized bombings and the murder of a 12-year-old boy, whose body was dissolved in acid, per Reuters. He was convicted in absentia for his involvement in dozens of murders and sentenced to life in prison in 2002.

But "the man arrested, earlier this week, in a Hague restaurant, is not the man sought by Italian authorities," Dutch prosecutors said in a statement, per the Guardian. Mark was "more than surprised" by the mistake, which was only realized after he went before prosecutors, lawyer Leon van Kleef tells the Washington Post. He has a thick Scouse accent, specific to Liverpool and Merseyside, while Messina Denaro speaks strictly Italian, according to Europol.

Van Kleef tells the Guardian that his client's wife, who was initially worried, "couldn't stop laughing" when she learned of the mix-up. But "it's like a bad movie," he adds, per the BBC, noting his client may seek compensation. "Imagine one moment you are having a bite to eat and the next you are ... in a maximum-security Dutch prison," he says. Authorities have no recent photos of Messina Denaro and have therefore relied on digital reconstructions. (Read more mistaken identity stories.)
(Newser)  It's Election Day in California. Voters will decide whether Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom gets to stay in office, and the latest polls suggest his job his safe. An average of polls at FiveThirtyEight has Newsom up 57 to 41 on the should-he-stay or should-he-go question. Not a single poll has his lead under double digits. More:

Biden's plea: The president visited California on Monday for a rally on behalf of Newsom, telling California voters, "The eyes of the nation are on you," per USA Today. Biden called conservative radio host Larry Elder, who has emerged as the GOP frontrunner, a "clone of Trump" and said it would be disastrous for the state and the nation if he were elected.

The president visited California on Monday for a rally on behalf of Newsom, telling California voters, "The eyes of the nation are on you," per USA Today. Biden called conservative radio host Larry Elder, who has emerged as the GOP frontrunner, a "clone of Trump" and said it would be disastrous for the state and the nation if he were elected. The shift: The polls had been much tighter before Elder became the frontrunner among dozens of challengers. An analysis by Maeve Reston at CNN says this was a gift to Newsom because it gave him a "perfect foil." Elder opposes Newsom's mask and vaccine mandates, and his rise seems to have energized Democratic voters.

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Big Lie, II: Figures on the right already are raising unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California, echoing former President Trump's allegations of a "Big Lie" in the 2020 outcome, reports Sara Fischer of Axios. Trump's Save America PAC called the election "rigged" in an email to supporters Monday, adding that "millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam." Google searches for "voter fraud" in the state increased five-fold in the last week.

Figures on the right already are raising unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California, echoing former President Trump's allegations of a "Big Lie" in the 2020 outcome, reports Sara Fischer of Axios. Trump's Save America PAC called the election "rigged" in an email to supporters Monday, adding that "millions of Mail-In Ballots will make this just another giant Election Scam." Google searches for "voter fraud" in the state increased five-fold in the last week. Political impact: If the polls are correct, Andrew Romano of Yahoo News suggests that the politics of COVID may be tipping in Democrats' favor. "No Republican running for governor could possibly have defeated Gavin Newsom in the recall election, but COVID could have, says Dan Schnur, a former spokesman for GOP Gov. Pete Wilson. Most Californians now approve of his handling of the virus. If Newsom wins, expect other Democratic candidate to borrow Newsom's "playbook."

If the polls are correct, Andrew Romano of Yahoo News suggests that the politics of COVID may be tipping in Democrats' favor. "No Republican running for governor could possibly have defeated Gavin Newsom in the recall election, but COVID could have, says Dan Schnur, a former spokesman for GOP Gov. Pete Wilson. Most Californians now approve of his handling of the virus. If Newsom wins, expect other Democratic candidate to borrow Newsom's "playbook." Rarity: This is only the fourth gubernatorial recall election in the nation's history, notes ABC News. Only one governor has been recalled in the last century, though that just happened to be in California when Arnold Schwarzenneger replaced Gray Davis in 2003.

(Read more Gavin Newsom stories.)
(Newser)  Yet another conservative radio host has joined the growing lineup of COVID-19 skeptics who have succumbed to the disease. Colorado's Bob Enyart, whom 9News describes as a "self-proclaimed 'right-wing religious fanatic'" who railed against vaccines and face masks, has died from coronavirus. The news was confirmed by Fred Williams, Enyart's co-host on the Real Science Radio podcast, on which the pair would "talk about science to debunk evolution" and, more recently, discuss COVID.

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Enyart, believed to be in his early 60s, had successfully sued the state of Colorado last fall over mask mandates and how many people could attend in-person church, in what the Denver Post calls "a rare legal victory against broad public health mandates instituted during the pandemic." Enyartwho once headed up Colorado Right to Life and has been a pastor at Denver Bible Church for more than two decadesand his wife, Cheryl, had said they were opposed to getting the vaccine due to their fears on how it was tied to abortion (more nuance on that here.)

The couple urged others to boycott the Moderna, Pfizer, and J&J vaccines to "further increase social tension" around that issue. Enyart has also been known to call for the death penalty for women who've had abortions, while Denver's Westword notes he used to "gleefully" read the obits of AIDS victims on the air while playing Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust."

Enyart's wife has also reportedly come down with COVID, though her condition remains unclear. "Bob Enyart was one of the smartest, and without question the wisest person I've known," Williams wrote in tribute on Facebook. "Heaven's gain has left an enormous hole here on earth." (Read more anti-vaxxers stories.)
(Newser)  The police department in Clermont, Fla., has taken the unusual step of releasing a photo of a mother hugging her daughter. But this was no ordinary hug. It shows Angelica Vences-Salgado embracing 19-year-old Jacqueline Hernandez in Laredo, Texas, near the border with Mexico, reports CBS News. The two hadn't seen each other in 14 years. In a 2007 missing-child flyer, authorities accused the girl's father, Pablo Hernandez, of abducting her in Florida and said he might take her to Mexico. The case remained cold until earlier this month, when Jacqueline Hernandez reached out to her mother from Mexico via social media, per the Orlando Sentinel.

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She asked to meet her mother at the border, and state and federal authorities made it happen last week after verifying the young woman's identity. "A kidnapped daughter was reunited with her mother as a result of enforcement working together," says Homeland Security official Davide Pezzutti in Orlando, per CBS. Authorities didn't provide details about exactly where Hernandez had been living in Mexico or on the whereabouts of Pablo Hernandez. However, a warrant for his arrest is still active, per Click Orlando. It wasn't immediately clear if Jacqueline Hernandez planned to live permanently in the US. (Read more cold cases stories.)
(Newser)  The Wall Street Journal is out with a damning story about Instagram, pointing to research that it causes real harm to some teenage girls. The kicker: The research obtained by the newspaper comes from the company itself, and executives of parent company Facebook have known about it for a few years, according to the Journal. The gist of the story can be captured in snippets of the research:

"Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse," company researchers wrote in a 2020 slide presentation. "Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves."

"We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls." This slide was written in 2019.

"Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression," said yet another slide from 2019. "This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups." Of teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% in Britain and 6% in the US blamed Instagram.

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In public: The story contrasts stats such as those (there are more) with public statements made by Mark Zuckerberg and other execs. For example, in March 2021, Zuckerberg told a congressional hearing "the research that weve seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental-health benefits"; he had specifically been asked about children. And Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in May that the app's impact on teens' well-being is probably "quite small."

The story contrasts stats such as those (there are more) with public statements made by Mark Zuckerberg and other execs. For example, in March 2021, Zuckerberg told a congressional hearing "the research that weve seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental-health benefits"; he had specifically been asked about children. And Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in May that the app's impact on teens' well-being is probably "quite small." First person: The story includes interviews with teens who share their own experiences of how the app made them feel bad about their bodies and about their lives in general. It suggests that Facebook is reluctant to tinker with addicting aspects of Instagram because the audience of teen girls is so vital to its business.

The story includes interviews with teens who share their own experiences of how the app made them feel bad about their bodies and about their lives in general. It suggests that Facebook is reluctant to tinker with addicting aspects of Instagram because the audience of teen girls is so vital to its business. In response: In a blog post responding to the article, Instagram's head of public policy, Karina Newton, said the company is actively working to steer users away from harmful content. "Were cautiously optimistic that these nudges will help point people towards content that inspires and uplifts them, and to a larger extent, will shift the part of Instagrams culture that focuses on how people look." She also said the story "focuses on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light."

In a blog post responding to the article, Instagram's head of public policy, Karina Newton, said the company is actively working to steer users away from harmful content. "Were cautiously optimistic that these nudges will help point people towards content that inspires and uplifts them, and to a larger extent, will shift the part of Instagrams culture that focuses on how people look." She also said the story "focuses on a limited set of findings and casts them in a negative light." Another scoop: On Monday, in another story based on internal communications, the Journal found that Facebook exempts millions of celebs, politicians, and other elite users from the community standards it imposes on others. "We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly, said the confidential review obtained by the Journal.

(Read the Instagram story in full here . )
(Newser)  The top military officer in the US was seriously worried about the mental state of then-President Trump in the final months of his presidency, according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. So much so that Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, even made two secret calls to his Chinese counterpart, according to Peril. Details, via the Post and CNN:

Milley called Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army in late October and again on Jan. 8, just after the Capitol riot. Milley feared Trump might try to strike China militarily, and he promised the general that would not happen under his watch, according to Peril, which is out next week.

"General Li, I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be okay," Milley told him. "We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you."

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At another point, Milley went even further: "General Li, you and I have known each other for now five years. If we're going to attack, Im going to call you ahead of time. Its not going to be a surprise."

The book says Milley also gathered senior officers because he feared Trump might try to launch nuclear weapons. He made each officer individually pledge to notify Milley if any such order came from the White House, so he could stop it. "Milley considered it an oath," the book says.

In a phone call with Nancy Pelosi after the Capitol riot, Milley told the House speaker he agreed with her assessment that Trump was "crazy." The book says Milley "was certain that Trump had gone into serious mental decline" after the election.

(Read more Mark Milley stories.)
(Newser)  Update: Haiti's prime minister has fired a prosecutor who asked a judge to charge him in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Chief prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude was replaced on the orders of Prime Minister Ariel Henry just hours after he asked for the indictment Tuesday, the AP reports. Some officials are now distancing themselves from Henry. Renald Luberice, secretary general of Haiti's Council of Ministers, resigned Wednesday and accused Henry of obstructing justice. "May each minister put himself at the height of his mission at this historic crossroads," he said. Our original story follows.

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A huge development in Haiti: The country's chief prosecutor has asked a judge to indict the country's leader in connection with the July assassination of President Jovenel Moise and ban him from leaving the country. Prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude says records show that Prime Minister Ariel Henry was in phone contact with one of the chief suspects on the night of the killing, the Washington Post reports. "There are enough compromised elements against the prime minister to indict him, pure and simple," Claude said Tuesday. He says Henry spoke to suspect Joseph Badio for a total of seven minutes in two calls shortly after Moise was shot dead.

Henrywho was named prime minister by Moise days before the killingcame to power less than two weeks after the assassination but has struggled to maintain authority amid a power struggle with members of Moise's inner circle, the New York Times reports. The investigating judge now has three months to act on Claude's request and determine what happens next in the case. Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent has ordered police to ramp up security for Claude because the prosecutor has received "disturbing threats." The country's Office of Citizen Protection has urged Henry to step down.

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, tells the AP there is clearly a conflict between the Moise and Henry factions in the government. "We have a very confusing situation, a power struggle at the moment, and we will see who will win it," he said. "Its not clear where we are going, and its not clear what the international community thinks about everything." More than 40 suspects have been arrested in connection with the assassination, but Badio, a former intelligence officer, and several others are still at large. (Read more Haiti stories.)
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His Majesty the Kings initiatives consolidate culture of tolerance among religions and cultures

His Majesty the Kings initiatives consolidate culture of tolerance among religions and cultures

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Arab Parliament (AP) Speaker Adel bin Abdulrahman Al Asoomi has highlighted the pioneering role played by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in promoting dialogue among various religions and cultures at all levels.

This came as Al Asoomi addressed the Parliamentarians Session, organised by the G20 Interfaith Forum in collaboration with the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace (GCTP0 in the Italian city of Bologna.

In his speech, Al Asoomi indicated that the landmark initiatives launched by HM the King in this field have laid global foundations for promoting dialogue and consolidating a culture of tolerance among religions and cultures.

He cited the Kingdom of Bahrains Declaration on religious tolerance, which was launched in 2017, as a global document committed to promoting religious freedom for all, as well as the establishment of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence in 2018.

The Arab Parliament Speaker added that Arab countries have launched and embraced numerous initiatives in this regard, such as the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, signed in the UAE between Al Azhar Al Sharif and the Vatican, and the establishment of the Interfaith Dialogue Centre at the Egyptian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

The session was moderated by Pier Ferdinando CASINI, former president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and current Chairman of the Italian Group at the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain ranked first in the Arab region and second in the Middle East, for the second year in a row, on the Basel AML Index is an independent annual ranking that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) around the world.

Bahrain scored 4.5 points according to the report, which is the only independent indicator issued by a non-profit organisation, rating countries worldwide according to the risk of money laundering, said Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) Deputy Governor Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, also Chair of the committee in charge of setting policies to prohibit and combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

In a statement yesterday, the CBB Deputy Governor said that Bahrain ranked second, after Israel, among Mideast countries, for combating money laundering. He praised the support of the Interior Minister, Chairman of the Committee to Combat Extremism, Terrorism, Its Financing and Money Laundering. He highlighted Bahrains role and efforts to combat money laundering and drying up terror financing, which consolidated the Kingdoms standing on the international map.

Head of the Interior Ministrys Financial Investigation Unit, Deputy Chair of committee in charge of setting policies to prohibit and combat money laundering and terrorist financing, Shaikha Mai bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, stressed the departments keenness on bolstering Bahrains regional and international role in combating money laundering and drying up terror financing.

Published by the Basel Institute on Governance since 2012, the Basel AML Index provides risk scores based on data from 17 publicly available sources such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Transparency International, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
DANBURY  A political newcomer who says her conservative values stem from her immigrant parents work ethic, her Christian faith, and her love of the Constitution is running to represent Connecticuts Fifth Congressional District.

I dont have experience in elected office, but I am dealing with children, I am dealing with the elderly, and I am dealing with the people in my community, said Michelle Botelho, 51, a mother of two college-age kids, who has worked as a paralegal and a tutor in Danbury public schools. Dealing with people is my political experience.

Botelho, who describes herself as an America First advocate, is the second Republican to challenge two-term Democrat Jahana Hayes. Republican George Logan, a former two-term state senator from Ansonia, announced he was running for Connecticuts most competitive congressional seat in July.

A spokesperson for Hayes campaign on Tuesday said until a single GOP candidate emerges from the primary, the Republicans are racing against themselves.

Candidates announcing does not change the trajectory of Congresswoman Hayes work, said campaign manager Barbara Ellis.

Logans campaign did not return a request for comment on Tuesday.

Botelho and a local Republican leader conceded on Tuesday that while it was important to get an early start against a candidate like Hayes who has a national profile, it will be hard to generate much Republican support for Botelho over the next six weeks, when the focus here and across the 5th District is on municipal elections, such as Danburys mayoral race.

Yet Botelho said she felt it was important to get the word out now that she doesnt want to be just another Republican in Congress that shies away from issues.

I want to be a voice for people who feel they are not being heard  because thats how I feel, Botelho said. Unfortunately, the Republicans in Congress right now dont want to rock the boat. I have no issue doing that.

Botelho said she would fight big government, invest in the military and border patrol, promote fiscal conservatism, and bring back more manufacturing jobs to America.

On Tuesday Botelho said she wasnt sure how to assess her chances in a Republican primary against a former elected leader such as Logan, or in a general election contest with Hayes, the 2016 national Teacher of the Year, who already has $1.2 million her reelection campaign for 2022.

All I know is I want to do right by the Fifth District and I want to do right by my community, because people want a voice, Botelho said. Right now I have a lot of people on my side who are willing to volunteer, and although I dont have the money Jahana Hayes has, I am willing to do the footwork.

It remains to be seen how successfully a political newcomer will be able to get the word out to voters in a district that reaches as far north as the Massachusetts border and as far east as New Britain.

In Botelhos own city, where she has lived for 21 years, Republican Party chairman Michael Safranek says he doesnt recognize her name.

I dont know her, but right now I am 110 percent focused on the municipal elections in six weeks, Safranek said on Tuesday.

Botelho, whose parents emigrated to the United States from Italy, said she was as qualified as any incumbent to run for a seat in Washington, D.C.

If you look at our state government and our federal government, the experience (politicians) have is not really holding its own, Botelho said. My experience is being with people and knowing their needs and wants.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
As the first week of the 38th season Jeopardy! finishes, Yale University Ph.D. student Matthew Amodio defended his crown and carried on his quiz show conquest to a 22nd consecutive game won, tallying a $35,400 victory. The artificial intelligence student previously told Hearst Connecticut that hes still getting used to all the attention hes received during his time on the show.

I have been very uncomfortable! he said in an email of his newfound fame. Im an introverted person at heart, and maybe over enough time I would get used to this amount of attention, but that time has certainly not come yet. I still get chills when I see an article written about me. Me? Me, me?
NEW FAIRFIELD  Local officials are amplifying their efforts to reduce the towns COVID-19 infection rate and increase the number of vaccinated residents.

As of last week, New Fairfield had the highest infection rate in the area with an average of 21 cases per 100,000 residents.

We are the only town in the area that is in the red zone. All of the towns surrounding us are back in the orange zone, First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said Thursday following the release of the states weekly COVID-19 update.

Del Monaco said New Fairfields red zone status corresponds to the towns low and stagnant vaccination rate.

While most of the towns around us are over 70 percent fully vaccinated, we are still lagging, she said.

To date, at least 65 percent of New Fairfield residents have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine and nearly 61 percent are fully vaccinated.

Since the state started reporting vaccination rates among children as young as 12 in June, the percent of fully vaccinated residents in New Fairfield rose roughly 12 percent.

That increase pales in comparison to that of nearby Danbury which saw a 20 percent increase in fully vaccinated residents between June 23 and Sept. 9, according to state COVID vaccination data.

At this point, our vaccination numbers are increasing at 1 percent per week, Del Monaco said. We are making some progress  but not the kind of progress we would like to see.

As of last week, all New Fairfield residents 65 years and older were fully vaccinated, compared to roughly 66 percent of 45- to 64-year-olds, 58 percent of 25- to 44-year-olds, nearly 73 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and 49 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds.

All three New Fairfield selectmen continue to urge eligible residents to get vaccinated if they have not already done so.

We are making it as easy as we can to get a vaccination, Selectman Khris Hall said, adding that Griffin Hospital and the state Department of Public Healths mobile vaccination team comes to New Fairfield twice a week.

The mobile clinic can be found at St. Edward Church on Wednesdays from noon to 7 p.m. and in the middle and high school parking lot Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m

Hall said not only are the vaccines free with no appointments required, but those who get vaccinated get ice cream from The Goodie Shoppe.

The vaccination van is scheduled to be at Memorial Field on Saturday during the Parks and Recreation Departments New Fairfield Day event.

Selectman Kim Hanson continues to express concern about the lack of compliance with the townwide mask mandate implemented last month.

I understand that its hard for business owners to enforce the mandate on patrons, he said, but I dont think its that difficult for business owners to enforce the mandate on themselves and their own employees.

Hanson said he would like to see ramped-up enforcement in the form of warnings and follow-up checks for businesses that fail to enforce compliance among employees.

I would personally hope that we issue warnings and that when we issue a warning, we tell them there will be another spot-check and if your employees are in violation again, youre automatically shut down for 24 hours starting right now, he said. I know its drastic, but I think this is a drastic situation.

According to state data, New Fairfield has has 1,076 confirmed and 216 probable cases of COVID-19 since March 2020.
NEWTOWN - A bankrupted gunmaker says the bad press it received after it subpoenaed kindergarten and first grade records of five kids killed in the Sandy Hook massacre was unwarranted, arguing such publicity could jeopardize its right to a fair trial. Remington lawyers argue in a court filing the requests for those records could aid the evaluation of wrongful death damages.

Remington, the once-powerful gun manufacturer being sued for unlawful marketing by nine families that lost loved ones in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, argues in court papers that it had already agreed with the families attorneys to keep private the school records of five slain children and the employment records of four slain educators involved in the lawsuit.

Moreover, the former gunmakers attorneys argued, as records of that sort are regularly requested in such cases, there was no need for the families attorneys to question Remingtons motives earlier this month in state Superior Court in Waterbury.

These arguments are not intended to persuade the court regarding the entry of the protective order - particularly since Remington already consented to treat the educational and employment records as confidential under the existing protective order - but instead only to inflame the public and demonize Remington and its counsel, wrote Remingtons attorneys in a motion filed Friday. (This) has received nationwide coverage in the press and on social media, inciting a national uproar against Remington and its counsel.

Remington, which is no longer a manufacturer but four insurance companies and their lawyers who are defending the estate in court, argued that there was nothing unusual or intrusive about subpoenaing all of the Newtown School Districts records for the nine victims.

The employment records were subpoenaed to learn information about the adult decedents employment history that may be relevant to an experts evaluation of wrongful death damages, Remingtons attorneys explained in Fridays motion. Similarly, the childrens educational records were sought to learn whether there is anything in their family, social, and/or developmental background that might be relevant to an expert evaluating damages.

Remingtons explanation is in contrast to the reaction by the families lead attorney Josh Koskoff earlier this month.

We have no explanation for why Remington subpoenaed the Newtown Public School District to obtain the kindergarten and first-grade academic, attendance and disciplinary records of these five school children, Koskoff said in a Sept. 2 statement, after filing a motion to change the protection order in court. The records cannot possibly excuse Remingtons egregious marketing conduct, or be of any assistance in estimating the catastrophic damages in this case. The only relevant part of their attendance records is that they were at their desks on December 14, 2012.

Remington attorney James Rotondo in Fridays motion called Koskoffs argument gratuitous and listed news reports from media organizations around the country about Remingtons subpoenas, some of which Rotondo called inflammatory.

Rotondo argued that such press could prejudice the trial of this matter.

Counsel for the parties in this case have a clear ethical obligation to not make extrajudicial statements regarding matters that are likely to be inadmissible because such statements create a risk to the parties right to a fair trial, Rotondo said.

The dispute comes as both sides prepare for trial in the highest-profile lawsuit of its kind in the country. At issue is the defunct companys marketing of an AR-15-style rifle used by a gunman to kill 26 first graders and educators. The company claims it manufactured a legal firearm that was lawfully sold, and that the company is protected from most liability when firearms are misused.

The lawsuit was in the national headlines last in July, when two of Remingtons four insurance companies offered each of the nine families a $3.6 million settlement. The families have yet to respond.

A week before that partial settlement offer, Remington was accused of handing over 18,000 random cartoons and 15,000 irrelevant images as part of its pretrial data requested by the families.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
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.

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Catch up with AP's recall coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall
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.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 population in Rhode Island has gone up in the past week, to 213 for the week that ended Saturday from 207 the prior week, the state Department of Health said Tuesday.

Two other key weekly metrics used by the department to measure the spread of the disease have declined, however.

The weekly positive rate went to 2.5% for the week that ended Saturday, down slightly from 2.6% the prior week.

The number of new hospital admissions fell to 93, from 148 the previous week.

Rhode Islands level of transmission remained in the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions high category.

The department reported more than 430 new confirmed cases of the disease and six additional virus-related deaths. More than 698,000 people in the state have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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BROWN UNIVERSITY RESTRICTIONS

Brown University has paused in-person dining and placed a limit of five people for undergraduate social gatherings in response to a recent rise in confirmed coronavirus cases on campus.

The Ivy League school had 82 confirmed positive COVID-19 tests, primarily among undergraduate students, in the past seven days, according to a statement Monday.

The increase in positive asymptomatic test results is a reflection of the transmissibility of the delta variant, our significant increase in the number of tests conducted at Brown, and an increase in our student population, some of whom have been engaging with other students in multiple smaller groups outside the classroom, especially indoors without masks, the schools statement said.

Those testing positive generally remain asymptomatic and there are no indications of serious illness and no hospitalizations, the school said.

There is no evidence of spread in classrooms, and classes will continue, the school said.

The "short-term" restrictions also include increased undergraduate student testing from once to twice per week and an indoor mask requirement.

Brown requires vaccinations for students and employees.

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLOSES

A Rhode Island elementary school has closed for the day because of what the superintendent calls a number of positive COVID cases."

Johnston Superintendent Bernard DiLullo in a message to the school community said Winsor Hill Elementary will remain closed Tuesday to allow for complete contact tracing to insure the safety for all, WJAR-TV reported.

DiLullo said the school will be in touch with families to inform them of a plan going forward.
As Connecticut continues to be one of the most vaccinated states in the country, focus has begun to shift to the looming next wave of inoculation efforts: Giving boosters to those who have already finished their initial course of vaccine.

While health officials believe the boosters will play an important role in sustained immunity, the future remains uncertain. President Joe Biden, along with top federal health officials, had set a potential start date for Sept. 20, eight months after the first doses began going into the arms of health care workers. With that date fast approaching, crucial approvals still hang in the balance.

Despite no official word from regulators, the state and its providers continue to prepare for the next massive round of vaccines.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is actively working with our federal partners, vaccine providers, and other stakeholders to be sure that Connecticut is ready to provide boosters when they are recommended, said Christopher Boyle, a department spokesperson.

In a recent DPH communication, vaccine providers were told there may be some movement on approvals this week.

DPH highlighted that the Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet on Friday to discuss data on boosters. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet to discuss the same information and could make a recommendation on boosters.

While these regulators are reviewing boosters for mRNA, which include Pfizer and Moderna, there has been little news about the future of boosters for Johnson & Johnsons vaccine, which is far less widely used in Connecticut.

We know that (vaccine) providers are actively planning for booster dose administration once recommended. We still do not know exactly what the booster dose recommendation will be, but will continue to provide updates as we learn more, DPH said in the memo last week.

Discussion about the booster come as COVID-19 metrics have started to retreat slightly from recent highs. Through the weekend, the positivity rate for new COVID tests was 2.34 percent  a recent low. Hospitalizations dropped by a net of 37 patients statewide for a total of 327  the lowest since mid-August.

Officials have said the states vaccine rate, one of the highest in the nation, may have helped avoid dramatic increases of cases seen this summer in other parts of the country.

With more than 77 percent of eligible residents fully vaccinated in Connecticut, the vast majority of whom receiving either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, a booster approval could mean providers will have to administer millions of more shots.

But unlike the initial vaccine rollout, which started last December with roughly 15,000 doses per week allotted to the state by the federal government, demand is not an apparent concern should boosters get approved.

DPH stresses that there is a more than adequate supply of vaccine available as well as an ample supply of providers who will administer the boosters. At this point in time, Connecticut has a network of vaccine providers that includes more than 500 pharmacy locations and over 200 other health care providers. In addition, many of our leading hospitals and health systems are ready to set up dedicated COVID vaccine clinics when boosters may be recommended, Boyle said.

Hartford HealthCare, one of the states largest vaccine providers, said Monday it was well prepared to offer any booster shot should it gain approval.

We have capacity, from acute settings to our existing clinics. We are looking at expansion in our community clinics, as well. I think one important thing to note is that Hartford HealthCare has had a very robust mobile platform to provide vaccinations to individuals who have had difficulty getting ... vaccinations. We will continue to meet the demand as the boosters are rolled out across Connecticut, said Dr. Ajay Kumar, Hartford HealthCares chief clinical officer.

The push for boosters from federal officials came amid a surge in new cases from the delta variant, along with an emerging rise in breakthrough infections, which involve people who have been fully vaccinated.

However, the surge in delta infections and the increase in new breakthrough infections have leveled off in recent weeks in Connecticut.

And, with limited information about boosters, a debate has surfaced over whether they are medically necessary.

An opinion piece authored by a number of experts, including two FDA scientists that was published in the medical journal, The Lancet, asserted that boosters are not yet needed as the research shows the current regimen still offers a strong level of protection against severe COVID-19 infections.

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, the article read.

Amid this uncertainty, Dr. Ulysses Wu, the chief epidemiologist for Hartford HealthCare, stressed Monday that these vaccines overall are safe and an important tool to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

The vaccine works. Regardless of whatever needs to be done, whether its boosters or its waiting for approval, or uncertainty over J&J, Moderna or Pfizer, whatever it may be, the vaccine work, Wu said. This is our pathway forward if we are going to beat this disease.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP)  A candidate for a Tennessee House seat is facing rape allegations on the heels of the special election in his race, prompting his resignation from a local Democratic Party position and a denial in which he called the relationship consensual yet inappropriate.

On the day of the special election held Tuesday, DeAngelo Jelks posted an apology to his wife in a social media response in which he also claims he did nothing illegal. He said he is focused on restructuring my personal life, and reconnecting spiritually." Election results had not yet begun coming in yet.

As far as the elephant in the room, I know that I have let down my supporters, family and friends by having a consensual yet inappropriate relationship," Jelks, a 40-year-old U.S. Army Reserve captain from Ooltewah, posted on Facebook. "This matter was personal and private between two consenting adults, and I accept full responsibility for my actions.

A Chattanooga Police spokesperson confirmed to news outlets that a rape report was filed Sunday and cannot be shared until the investigation is completed.

Jelks resigned Sunday as Hamilton County Democratic Party vice chairman, county party chairman Rodney Strong told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He does not currently face any charges over the allegations.

Chattanooga Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod told news outlets the alleged victim  a woman who had worked with Jelks during his campaign  reached out to her. Coonrod told the Times Free Press she encouraged the woman to go to the police, saying the woman did so Sunday and got a DNA swab.

Coonrod said in a statement Sunday that allegations of rape and sexual misconduct were made against an up-and-coming leader of the Hamilton County Democratic Party. Coonrod, who said she's a survivor of sexual assault, wrote that it's the party's moment to rise to the occasion by standing for true democratic values and supporting women.

Jelks' social media response says what shouldve been handled privately has become public because a local politician chose to martyr me for her own positioning."

Jelks faces Republican Greg Vital in the House District 29 race in northern and eastern parts of Hamilton County. The winner will replace Republican Rep. Joan Carter, who has temporarily replaced her late husband Mike Carter, who died in May after battling pancreatic cancer. He had served in the Tennessee House since 2013.
Contributed / Getty

RIDGEFIELD  Police are reminding residents to secure their vehicles after two cars were stolen from local homes early Sunday morning.

A green 2018 Toyota Rav4 and a blue 2012 Acura MDX were stolen from homes in the Circle Drive and North Salem Road areas, Ridgefield police said. Neither of the vehicles were secured at the time they were stolen.
Over the past year, a flock of brands have launched or reinvented their chicken sandwich leaving consumers to perhaps question what a great chicken sandwich should be. From dealing with soggy, dry or bland chicken patties, to sad buns, consumers may have had their fair share of chicken sandwich woes. But consumers need look no further as the Jollibee Chickenwich is here to serve up a deliciously crispy and juicy chicken sandwich, providing joy in each bite.

The Original Jollibee Chickenwich starts with a slow-marinated, crispy, juicy double hand-breaded chicken breast fillet, spread with umami mayo and served on a toasted brioche bun. For those craving a spicier experience, the Spicy Jollibee Chickenwich features a sriracha mayo and is served with fresh jalapenos for added crunch and heat. Both the Original and Spicy Jollibee Chickenwich retail for $5.99 each and are also available in deluxe versions with added lettuce and tomatoes for $6.79 each (prices may vary).

"We are so excited to be introducing our Jollibee Chickenwich to Canada and offering our customers something new from us that we hope will become a new favorite dish for them," said Maribeth Dela Cruz, Business Group Head, Honeybee Foods Corporation dba Jollibee. "After months of refining the recipe, we are proud to say that our Jollibee Chickenwich strikes that perfect balance of crispiness and juiciness, features that should be the foundation of any great chicken sandwich. Finally, consumers across Canada can experience how joyfully delicious a chicken sandwich should be with the launch of our crispy, juicy and tasty Jollibee Chickenwich."

For more information and to order the Jollibee Chickenwich for in-store pick-up or delivery, visit JollibeeFoods.com or order through the Jollibee Ordering mobile app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Google Play is a trademark of Google Inc.

About Jollibee

Jollibee Foods Corporation is one of the fastest-growing Asian restaurant companies in the world. It or its affiliates operate in 33 countries, with over 5,800 stores globally with branches in the Philippines, United States, Canada, the People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, Italy, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Panama, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and India. It has eight wholly-owned brands (Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal, Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan, Smashburger), five franchised brands (Burger King, Panda Express, and PHO24 in the Philippines, Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Ho Wan in certain territories in China), 80% ownership of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and 60% ownership in the SuperFoods Group that owns Highlands Coffee and PHO24 brands.

Jollibee Foods Corporation is a significant investor in Titan Dining LP, a private equity fund and the ultimate holding entity of the Tim Ho Wan (THW) Brand and has a joint venture with the THW Group to open THW restaurants in Mainland China. The Group will also establish a 50/50 joint venture to operate and expand Yoshinoya in the Philippines. Yoshinoya is one of the largest and most recognized Japanese restaurant brands globally.

Jollibee Foods Corporation was named the Philippines' most admired company by the Asian Wall Street Journal for ten years. It was also honored as one of Asia's Fab 50 Companies and among the World's Best Employers by Forbes. In 2020, Gallup awarded Jollibee Foods Corporation with the Exceptional Workplace Award, making it the first Philippine-based company to receive the distinction.

Jollibee Foods Corporation has grown brands that bring delightful dining experiences to its customers worldwide, in line with its mission of serving great tasting food and spreading the joy of eating to everyone.

SOURCE Jollibee

For further information: Francesca Lee, Ogilvy, [email protected], http://JollibeeFoods.com

Related Links

http://JollibeeFoods.com


Blinken made the remarks during his first testimony before Congress since the Taliban took control of Kabul. The top US diplomat laid out the Biden administration's posture toward the Taliban in remarks to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The US is going to be looking at its ties with Pakistan in the coming weeks to formulate the role America wants Islamabad to play in the future of Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Congress. During his first testimony in Congress after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Secretary of State Blinken noted that Pakistan has harboured members of the Taliban including the terrorists from the proscribed Haqqani network.

Asked by lawmakers if it is time for Washington to reassess its relationship with Pakistan, Blinken said: We are going to be looking at in the days and weeks ahead, the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years, but also the role that we would want to see it playing in the coming years.

Blinken made the remarks during his first testimony before Congress since the Taliban took control of Kabul. The top US diplomat laid out the Biden administrations posture toward the Taliban in remarks to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

When asked about how the US sees Pakistans involvement in Afghanistan, Blinken said Pakistan has a multiplicity of interests, including some that are in clear conflict with that of the United States. He added that Indias involvement in Afghanistan has influenced some detrimental actions by Pakistan.

Pakistan has been accused of providing overt and covert support to the Taliban. Early this month, former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh asserted that the Taliban are being micromanaged by Pakistan notorious intelligence agencythe ISI, adding that Islamabad is in charge of the war-ravaged country effectively as a colonial power.

During the testimony, US lawmaker Bill Keating reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khans remarks after the Taliban seized control that Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery. He said that Pakistans ISI had such strong ties in cooperation with the Haqqani Network, responsible for so many things including the deaths of some of our soldiers, and even recently when the Taliban took over in the last month.

Prime Minister Khan claimed Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery. So we used to always hear diplomatically that we have a complicated relationship with Pakistan. I would say its often duplicitous, he said.

Keating asked Blinken: How do we reassess that relationship how we, how we learn from their actions? And when we go forward. What do we do, what are some of the big issues that we should have stakes in the ground that we should have in dealing with Pakistan and the way theyve acted over these decades?

To which, Blinken said Pakistan is involved in hedging its bets constantly about the future of Afghanistan.Its one thats involved harbouring members of the Taliban, including the Haqqanis. Its one thats also involved at different points, cooperation with us on counterterrorism, and so there are a number of things that have come into play it. It has a multiplicity of interests, some that are in conflict, clear conflict with ours, he said.

When it comes to Afghanistan, its focused, of course as well, on India and the role that India is playing in Afghanistan, and it looks at it through that prism as well. All of these things, I think, have influenced what it has done on many occasions detrimental to our interests. On other occasions in support of those interests, he added.
ATLANTA (AP)  At least 18 of the 20 gorillas at Atlanta's zoo have now tested positive for COVID-19, an outbreak that began just days before the zoo had hoped to obtain a veterinary vaccine for the primates, officials said Tuesday.

Zoo Atlanta had announced the first positive tests among the western lowland gorillas on Friday after employees noticed the gorillas had been coughing, had runny noses and showed changes in appetite. A veterinary lab at the University of Georgia returned positive tests for the respiratory illness.

Zoo Atlanta says the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, confirms that at least four of the samples from the gorillas so far have tested positive for the delta variant of the virus.

The zoo says it is using monoclonal antibodies to treat the gorillas at risk of developing complications from the virus.

Officials say theres no evidence that the gorillas can pass the virus back to humans and visitors are too far away to be infected by gorillas.

Because the gorillas live close together in four troops, zoo officials say its impossible to keep infected animals isolated.

Zoo officials say they believe an asymptomatic employee who cares for the gorillas passed on the virus. The employee had been fully vaccinated and was wearing protective equipment such as a mask and gloves.

According to our guidelines for animal care staff, if they have the slightest symptoms of a cold they are to stay home, said Dr. Sam Rivera, the zoo's senior director of animal health. "It so happens that the animal care team member, the following day she developed signs that she suspected might be consistent with COVID and was tested and was positive.

Senior Director of Animal Health at Zoo Atlanta Sam Rivera said the zoo will vaccinate the gorillas with a veterinary vaccine that it had been on the waiting list for prior to the gorillas' positive tests.

Eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park were treated for the virus in January. One San Diego silverback received an experimental antibody regimen, and all recovered.
NEW HAVEN  A series of confidential witnesses led New Haven police to make an arrest in connection with the death of a West Haven man and the shooting of a city police captain, according to court records.

Albert Eaddy, 59, is charged with murder, felony murder, first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree robbery in connection with the Aug. 12, 2019, incident. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

An affidavit written by Detective Kealyn Nivakoff seeking a warrant for Eaddys arrest was released by the state judicial branch Tuesday.

New Haven Police Department

In the document, Nivakoff recounts that officers were called to the intersection of Dixwell Avenue and Henry Street by then-Capt. Anthony Duff, as well as four emergency calls, according to the warrant affidavit. The officers found Troy Clark, 46, and Duff suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Both were hospitalized. Duff recovered from his life-threatening injuries; Clark did not, and was pronounced dead. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of Clarks death was gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities and deemed his death a homicide.

Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media

The Central District Major Crime Squad of the state police responded to the scene, which stretched more than a block, Nivakoff wrote.

Among other items, officers found 13 .40-caliber shell casings on Henry Street, Duffs off-duty firearm and a Glock 27 .40-caliber handgun, which state police determined through forensic analysis had fired all 13 shots, Nivakoff wrote in the warrant affidavit.

A day after the shooting, Nivakoff wrote in the warrant affidavit, New Haven police received information from multiple confidential sources identifying Eaddy as the alleged perpetrator.

Between Jan. 31 and March 5, 2020, four confidential witnesses and Duff testified in confidential (proceedings) before a Superior Court judge, Nivakoff wrote. Four more witnesses then testified in 2021, beginning in January.

Duff testified he had been driving on Dixwell Avenue with two passengers on the evening of Aug. 12, Nivakoff wrote in the warrant affidavit.

As Duff approached a stoplight, he heard a potential gunshot; searching for the source of the sound, he saw two people moving quickly, then, as he inched into the intersection, a person standing over another individual, who was lying on the ground with his arm raised. The person allegedly fired, striking the other individual, according to the warrant affidavit.

Duff began to call in the incident, according to the affidavit, then got out of his car with radio and off-duty firearm.

Contributed Photo /

Duff approached the suspect with his gun drawn, identified himself as a police officer, and gave verbal commands to drop the gun. There was a momentary standoff, where Duff was able to see that the suspect had something in his arms. The suspects hands were somewhat folded or covered by something, thus obscuring the weapon, Nivakoff wrote, recounting Duffs testimony. Duff testified that he knew the suspect had a gun, and focused his attention on where the gun would be. Therefore, he did not get a good look at the suspects face.

The suspect individual took off running on Henry Street, with Duff giving chase, according to the affidavit. During the pursuit, the suspect allegedly turned and fired multiple shots at Duff, who, upon realizing he was wounded, stopped running, but kept his eyes on the fleeing individual as he cut through two houses, appeared on Townsend Street, then disappeared from sight.

Multiple witnesses, none of whom are named by police, described seeing portions of a confrontation, according to the affidavit. The third witness said they heard two men arguing with one crying out in pain, Why did you shoot me?..., and the other demanding money, threatening to fire again, then firing another shot.

The seventh unnamed confidential witness, testifying in January 2021, said hewas with Clark near the intersection of Dixwell and Henry before the shooting, according to the affidavit.

Initially, the witness said he had not seen the gunman wield a firearm during the incident, Nivakoff said. He also had said the same to New Haven police, who had interviewed him about the matter in September 2019.

However, as (the witnesss) testimony before the Superior Court Judge developed, he began to make admissions which he stated he was uttering for the first time. Most importantly, he...subsequently identified as a man known to him as Kleiko, fire a handgun at Troy Clark, Nivakoff wrote.

According to the warrant affidavit, Eaddy also is known as Kleiko.

The witness said he had handed over his own money when threatened by the alleged perpetrator, spotting a gun in his left hand, then testified he had seen the perpetrator shoot Clark, Nivakoff wrote.

The witness also identified Eaddy as the perpetrator from a photo array, Nivakoff said. Another witness, testifying Feb. 9, did the same.

Further, another witness said he had seen Kleiko around New Haven for years and was 100 percent sure that he was the man fighting with Troy (Clark), Nivakoff wrote. 

The witness said he had consulted with his pastor after receiving the subpoena, who encouraged him to tell the truth. When asked whether his testimony was truthful, CW8 stated yes it is the truth. The God honest truth. Nivakoff wrote in the warrant affidavit.

Eaddy was charged with the alleged crime in late August.

He was held in lieu of a $2 million bail and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
FREMONT, Ind. (AP)  A highway in northeastern Indiana and southern Michigan reopened Tuesday afternoon after a chemical leak forced its closure.

Interstate 69 in Steuben County and adjacent southern Michigan has reopened, Indiana State Police said. The only area that remained closed was the southbound ramp of I-69 to Baker Road.

A tanker truck leaked about 6,000 gallons (22,712 liters) of liquid nitric acid after a valve broke at a truck stop in Fremont, Indiana, Steuben County Emergency Management Director Randy Brown told WANE-TV.

Interstate 69 in both states was shut down about 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Brown said the chemical flowed into a ditch along the highway. Lime was being applied to the liquid in the ditch.

Some nearby side roads also were closed temporarily.

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This story has been corrected to show the material spilled was nitric acid, not nitrous acid.
LONDON (AP)  Chinas ambassador to Britain has been barred from Parliament and told he could not enter the building for a talk he was scheduled to give on Wednesday.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said Tuesday it was not appropriate for the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, to enter Parliament because China imposed sanctions against seven British parliamentarians over their criticism of Beijings human rights record.

Zheng was due to attend a reception in the House of Commons organized by a cross-party parliamentary group on China.

John McFall, Hoyles counterpart in the upper chamber, the House of Lords, agreed that the scheduled meeting should take place elsewhere, considering the current sanctions against members.

China imposed sanctions on seven British politicians in March, including senior Conservative lawmakers Iain Duncan Smith and Tom Tugendhat, who have spoken out against Chinas treatment of its Uyghur minority in the far-west Xinjiang region.

The move came shortly after Britain, the U.S., Canada and the European Union sanctioned Chinese officials over Xinjiang.

The sanctioned parliamentarians welcomed the ban, saying allowing Zheng in the Parliament building would have been an insult.

The Chinese Embassy in the U.K. condemned the move and said it will harm the interests of both countries.

The despicable and cowardly action of certain individuals of the U.K. Parliament to obstruct normal exchanges and co-operation between China and the U.K. for personal political gains is against the wishes and harmful to the interests of the peoples of both countries," the embassy said in a statement.
A former Waterbury resident was sentenced to five years in federal prison in connection with his role in trafficking heroin and fentanyl in some of the states major cities, prosecutors said.

Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven sentenced 47-year-old Wilton Reynoso  also known as Manuel Jose Echevarria-Lugo  to 60 months in prison. He pleaded guilty on June 19 to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, 400 grams or more of fentanyl.

Reynoso, a citizen of the Dominican Republic with a last known address in Waterbury, faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term.

In late 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administrations New Haven Task Force launched an investigation into the distribution of heroin and fentanyl in New Haven and Waterbury.

The investigation, which prosecutors said included thousands of intercepted communications via wiretaps, indicated Renoso was receiving large amounts of heroin and fentanyl from a source in New York. Prosecutors said he would then sell the drugs to others who would distribute it.

On June 13, 2020, investigators sought to arrest Reynon and Tyson Quinones, also of Waterbury, after intercepting a series of calls about a 200-gram heroin sale, prosecutors said. That day, Quinones was arrested at the planned meet-up. Reynoso fled in his vehicle, which investigators found abandoned nearby. He was arrested soon after when he returned for the vehicle.

When investigators searched a location in Waterbury that Reynoso used to store narcotics, they found more than a kilogram of a mixture of heron and fentanyl, as well as items used to process and package narcotics, prosecutors said.

Reynoso has been detained since his arrest.

Quinones pleaded guilty on July 23 to related charges and awaits sentencing.
Just ahead of the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly that opens on Tuesday, leaders of the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations  grant makers that have committed billions of dollars to fight the coronavirus  are warning that without larger government and philanthropic investments in the manufacture and delivery of vaccines to people in poor nations, the pandemic could set back global progress on education, public health, and gender equality for years.

The calls from philanthropy leaders for more action from wealthy countries comes as President Biden plans to call for a COVID Summit to coincide with the meeting, according to news reports.

In an annual analysis of progress made toward development goals set by the United Nations on poverty, access to clean water, gender equality, and other indicators of well-being, the Gates Foundation found that the spread of the pandemic had significantly reversed progress made in recent years.

A big reason is that the disease disproportionately hit poor countries that did not have access to COVID vaccines. More than 80 percent of COVID vaccines have been administered to people in wealthy countries, according to the report. The entire continent of Africa, the report noted, has a population about 30 times that of California. But the number of people vaccinated was roughly the same through the first half of the year.

The health crisis cast a shadow over many measures of well-being. During the pandemic, childhood immunizations over all dropped 7%. Health officials last year predicted it was going to be even worse, but the decline still represents 10 million children who have fallen behind immunization schedules. While mens employment is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, 13 million fewer women will have jobs than in 2019, according to the report.

The lack of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines is a public-health tragedy, said Bill Gates, in statement accompanying the report. We face the very real risk that in the future, wealthy countries and communities will begin treating COVID-19 as yet another disease of poverty. We cant put the pandemic behind us until everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to vaccines.

While the Gates Foundation has been one of the biggest philanthropic supporters in the fight against COVID, pouring $1.8 billion into a range of global health efforts to curb the spread of the disease, it has also attracted significant criticism. For much of the first year of the pandemic, it so staunchly defended the intellectual property rights of the pharmaceutical companies that developed the vaccines that experts say it slowed the delivery of vaccines to people in need.

In May, the foundation seemed to reverse course and said it would back a narrow waiver of intellectual property rights to help get vaccines to poor countries. Writing on the foundations website, Mark Suzman, the CEO, wrote that no barriers should stand in the way of equitable access to vaccines, including intellectual property.

Rockefellers president, Rajiv Shah, has called for a COVID Charter, in which rich countries would peg international development and climate assistance to 1% of their gross domestic product and require middle- and low-income nations to devote more money to public health and climate-change mitigation. His plan would tap funds from emergency accounts held by the International Monetary Fund and enlist philanthropy to increase its support for international development.

Writing in the journal Foreign Affairs, Shah identified the impact of climate change and COVID-19 on vulnerable populations as a near-term threat to global stability. Failure to address the inequitable impact of those crises could have a lasting effect, according to Shah.

Without significant development interventions, increased poverty and suffering will be a decades-long problem, wrote Shah, who was director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Obama administration.

The Rockefeller Foundation in October 2020 committed $1 billion over three years to respond to COVID and prevent future outbreaks.

The Gates Foundation is the largest private philanthropy, with nearly $50 billion in assets.

The nearly $2 billion the foundation has committed to fighting the pandemic has gone toward developing tests and vaccines, financing the procurement of medical supplies by poor countries, and softening the pandemics economic blow.

The report Gates released Monday did not include new commitments to COVID but called on other foundations and governments to make long-term, global investments in health care research and the logistics required to get a vaccine from a factory to a clinic and into a patients arm.

The damage caused by the pandemic has been somewhat mitigated by the speed with which researchers developed successful vaccines, said Suzman. The rapid development of protection against the virus, he said, was possible because of large investments over several years by the Gates fund and others.

This is also now an opportunity for both responding to the current crisis, but making sure that we are building a ... set of national and regional infrastructures that make sure we never face this kind of crisis again, Suzman told reporters on a conference call last week.

The Gates Foundations protection of pharmaceutical companies intellectual property rights during much of the first year of the pandemic attracted criticism from some public-health leaders.

When the vaccines became available, rich countries rushed to gather supplies for their own populations. One reason low-income countries werent able to procure their own supplies is that patents on the vaccines hampered the development of low-cost generic batches of the immunizations. In his announcement backing an intellectual property waiver, Suzman said the details of such a waiver should be negotiated at the World Trade Organization.

More than 100 countries favor such a waiver. The Biden administration announced its support in May, but agreement has been stalled because of opposition mainly from European nations. After a nearly two-month hiatus, talks on the issue resume Tuesday at the World Trade Organization.

The Gates Foundations Suzman stressed the bottlenecks in delivering vaccines at the country and local level.

So much focus is on the vaccine procurement, which is critically important, that often we dont focus as much on the need for the vaccine-delivery infrastructure, he said.

Kyle Knight, a senior health researcher at the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, said the focus on the local manufacturing and distribution capabilities is largely misplaced. He called the international response to COVID an inadequate charity-based response that put commercial interests before human rights obligations.

When you have that much power, you also have a moral responsibility to pay attention to the power dynamics that are causing harm, he said.

He called the Gates Foundations focus on expanding local vaccine-manufacturing plants and distribution to medical centers disingenuous. Health ministries around the world have no reason to make those investments, he said, as long as large companies hold patents on the vaccines.

The idea that the problem is lack of infrastructure in poor countries is ridiculous, he said. The problem actually exists upstream. It exists at this debate on a global health crisis that is happening at a multilateral trade agency.

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An earlier version of this article misstated the population of Africa in the fourth paragraph and has been corrected.

__

This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Alex Daniels is a senior reporter at the Chronicle. Email: alex.daniels@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for all content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
NEW HAVEN  Chris George, head of the largest refugee resettlement agency in the state, said his clients stuck in Afghanistan feel like bargaining chips in some high stakes game of international diplomacy.

George is head of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services in New Haven.

George, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and others say there is a need for more resources to house and resettle the estimated 1,000 refugees and humanitarian parolees headed to the state over the next year.

Outside First and Summerfield Methodist Church, George this week also spoke of the 45 U.S. citizens and green card holders who went to Afghanistan to see family and found themselves trapped there after the quick takeover by the Taliban this summer.

New Haven chef wants family out of Afghanistan; saying 'there is no work, no food over there'

George said they were beaten, bruised and terrified as they tried to evacuate given the chaos at the airport in Kabul as the U.S. ended its 20-year war in that country.

He said they are hunkering down in safe houses, running out of food ... running out of hope.

Some of them feel like hostages, George said. The State Department has not been doing enough to bring these U.S. citizens and green card holders home.

George said the extended family members of the 45 now trapped in Afghanistan is probably five times that number and he would like to see them all brought to the U.S.

He said the State Department found that some citizens are opting to stay in Afghanistan. He said that is not because they feel safe there.

George said a client called him and explained their dilemma.

It is an agonizing decision that Afghans need to make. Do I take a seat on a plane and come to the United States for my safety and freedom or do I stay and protect my brothers and my sisters and my parents, George said, recounting the conversation.

George requested that Blumenthal ask Secretary of State Anthony Blinken what he would do in those circumstances. Would he leave his parents behind, George asked.

This decision is driving me crazy, Mr. Chris. Can you please help me decide? George said the client told him. What do I say? George said.

Both George and Blumenthal said the U.S. should use its considerable leverage with the Taliban, now head of a failed state, to get those left behind out of Afghanistan.

The senator said the hearings this week with Blinken are only the beginning of holding accountable officials who bear responsibility to bring those Afghan allies to safety.

He praised the U.S. veterans of the Afghan war for their relentless advocacy for the Afghans who helped them in the conflict and who now have a target on their backs.

Blumenthal said the Connecticut delegation will fight for more federal resources to properly resettled the refugees and those on humanitarian parole who traditionally have not been given the same financial support.

He said he will have tough questions for Blinken and officials at the Pentagon on what it will take to get out those left behind. He said it was a moral imperative that the U.S. step up.

George said the response to the crisis has been overwhelmingly positive from Connecticut residents who have been generous in their support.

IRIS has resettled 500 Afghans in Connecticut in the past five years. This year there will be an estimated 300 more out of 700 from all countries that the agency is expecting by next September.

He said the federal infrastructure supporting refugees was decimated under the Trump administration when the number was cut to 15,000 nationwide. It is now expected to increase to more than 100,000.

George said IRIS, unlike other resettlement agencies in the country, remained strong because of Connecticut residents support.

Blumenthal said for those who have no sympathy for the humanitarian nightmare that is unfolding in Afghanistan, he asked that they look at it as an opportunity to bring the talents and energy of the refugees here.

He said the U.S. should also do what it can to avoid refugee camps growing out of the crisis in Afghanistan given that they are breeding grounds for terrorists and would threaten our security.

The senator said he was heartened by the bipartisan support that appears to be in place to help the Afghan allies in Congress and is hopeful that the resources needed will be found.
NEW HAVEN  There was a new energy on Grand Avenue Tuesday night, a vibe that even got Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson up and dancing.

Jacobson and Fair Haven District Manager Lt. Michael Fumiatti were among about 50 adults and children from the Fair Haven area listening to drumming and singing in a parking lot near East Pearl Street.

Borrowing from a program in Minneapolis, Fair Haven residents used the space to fight violence.

The area was the scene of a shooting of a West Haven man on Sept. 7, one of five shootings in Fair Haven in recent weeks.

Jacobson said he appreciated the community coming together.

We are short handed at the Police Department. For them to come here and (reclaim it as a) safe space. We totally support that, he said of the crowd.

The Rev. Steven Cousin from Bethel AME Church, also stopped by.

He said he was impressed that the community took ownership of the problem, not waiting for others to address it.

Tuesdays event was influenced by a church in Minneapolis that declared 21 Days of Peace, by sending volunteers to sit at spots to interrupt the violence. It found there was a drop in crime.

Just like that example, residents here brought their own chairs, fighting violence by taking a seat.

Fair Haven District Manager Lt. Michael Fumiatti said there were five incidents of shots fired within one-block radius of the plaza through August and three more since then.

Statistics kept by police show 42 confirmed gunshots fired in all of Fair Haven through the end of August, compared to 19 for the same period last year, a 121.1 percent increase.

As of Aug. 29, there had been 78 nonfatal shootings in New Haven this year, according to New Haven police. At the same point in 2020, there had been 71.

The city has had 21 homicides across all neighborhoods this year, compared to 20 in all of 2020.

More on violence in New Haven:

Three homicides were reported in Fair Haven: Luis Gonzalez-Sandos on Sept. 6 on Popular Street; Tyshaun Hargrove, 14, Aug. 25 on Chatham Street; and Kevan Bonilla, July 10, on Lombard Street.

Kica Matos, a resident of the area, said they are looking to put a schedule together of residents playing dominoes, chess and other games this month and through October from 6 to 9 p.m. in the parking lot.

Through this community gathering, our aim is to bring peace to our neighborhood and interrupt violence. It will also be an opportunity for us all to be in community and get to know each other better, Matos wrote in an email to residents.

Carol Lueng, a resident of New York City and the owner of the parking lot property where the chairs were be set up, said she got a gist of what is going on there in Fair Haven in conversations with Fumiatti, but has no firsthand validation.

Lueng said she gave the organizers of the chairs event, Matos, Sarah Miller and Karen DuBois-Walton, permission to carry out their plans to call attention to the increase in crime in 2020 and this year.

DuBois-Walton ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor, but dropped out before the primary; Miller is running for the Board of Alders. All three are residents of Fair Haven.

Fumiatti said historically there has been significant drug and gun violence around the block radius of the parking lot.

The organizers of the New Haven anti-violence civic action, who brought their neighbors together on the issue last week, outlined a number of things they want to see happen.

They are seeking concrete plans to shut down alleged open air drug sales and prostitution. .

The city is using a social services approach to the issue of prostitution. It is using Project Longevity and Project Safe Neighborhoods to help lure youths away from crime. This is in addition to stepping up the confiscation of illegal guns and undercover work to solve homicides.

The organizers last week said community-level engagement means: knocking on doors and talking with people on the street, especially in the context of solving crimes.

They suggested a citywide brain trust activated to assist city leaders with field-tested knowledge and expertise, including retired New Haven Police Department personnel who have successfully addressed prior spikes.

The city is working to fill a depleted police force as it looks to attract a new class of recruits.

Mayor Justin Elicker and police officials Tuesday updated the public on successes it has had and will do this on a regular basis.
(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.
HOUSTON (AP)  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 storm's arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year's 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
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has signed the anti-open grazing bill into law, at the Government House, Enugu. The bill wh...

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has signed the anti-open grazing bill into law, at the Government House, Enugu.

The bill which is for a law prohibits open grazing, regulates cattle ranching, and for connected purposes was recently passed by the Enugu State House of Assembly.

Recall that the Leader of the House, Rt. Hon. Ikechukwu Ezeugwu, had explained after the passage of the bill, that it would be cited as the Prohibition of Open Grazing and Cattle Ranching Law of Enugu State, after the governors assent.

Gov. Ugwuanyis assent to this bill is expected to improve security and peace in the state.
Yoruba Nation agitators and other self-determination groups have arrived at the United Nations Headquaters in New York. One of them ...

Yoruba Nation agitators and other self-determination groups have arrived at the United Nations Headquaters in New York.

One of them disclosed that the atmosphere has started bubbling.

Eaier, the Chairman of Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, Professor Banji Akintoye, has declared that a Million-Man Freedom March would hold opposite the United Nations Headquaters in New York, United States of America from 14th to 24th September, 2021, .

Akintoye said the Protest is meant to show to the world the genocide being perpetrated by murderous herdsmen in the name of grazing in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria.

The renowned Historian said the people of the South and Middle-Belt want to show to the world the crimes against humanity, attacks on press freedom, free speech and other criminalities being aided by the Buhari led government of Nigeria.

The octogenarian scholar stated that the indigenous people within the NINAS Territories shall also be demanding the conduct of a regional referendum so that the people can decide on their nationhood.

NINAS is the umbrella body for self-determination Groups in the South and Middle-Belt of Nigeria with Ilana Omo Oodua representing the Yoruba Land, Lower Niger Congress representing the South South and South East and Middle-Belt Rennaissance Movement representing the Middle Belt Region.

Details later
As Nigeria continue to face the influx of small arms and light weapons, President Muhammadu Buhari has written the Senate to legislate on ...

As Nigeria continue to face the influx of small arms and light weapons, President Muhammadu Buhari has written the Senate to legislate on The Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons bill, 2021.

A copy of the letter sighted on Tuesday indicated that the bill, when passed into law would transmit the current Presidential Committee into a National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons to be domesticated in the Office of the National Adviser.

Citing provisions of the Constitution Buhari said: Pursuant to Section 58(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), I forward herewith, the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Bill 2021 for the kind consideration by the Senate.

The Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons 2021 seeks to transform the Presidential Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons into a National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons under the Office of the National Security Adviser.

National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, when fully operationalized, would go a long way at expressing Nigerias optimism and practical commitment to the global fight against the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, including the mopping up of existing Small Arms and Light Weapons which have become a significant driver of insecurity across the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While hoping that this submission will receive the usual expeditious consideration of the Senate, Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration.

The upper and lower Chambers on Tuesday resumed seating after a two-month annual recess.
About four persons were feared dead as flood wreaked havoc at Trademore Estate in the Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory on Sund...

About four persons were feared dead as flood wreaked havoc at Trademore Estate in the Lugbe area of the Federal Capital Territory on Sunday night.





Also, about 166 houses and 26 vehicles were destroyed by the flood.





According to the residents on Monday said the flood was as a result of the downpour which occurred all through the night on Sunday.





A resident who gave his name as Oladipo said some cars were swept away by the flood.





He blamed the incident on the promoters of an estate in the area who chanelled water towards their area.

Oladipo said, It rained heavily yesterday (Sunday) and before we knew it, houses were flooded. A man who came to buy drugs from the pharmacy here stayed inside his car for the rain to subside. The car later got submerged. He was one of those who died.

Three bodies were also evacuated today (Monday). I was able to count 11 cars that were swept away; many houses were not spared. I cannot put figures to this.

I am trying to salvage my belongings. The flood was caused by an estate promoter who chanelled its water towards our side. If something is not done quickly to address this, what has happened is a tip of the iceberg.

The acting Director, Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency, Mrs Florence Wenegieme, told newsmen that four persons died in the incident.

The General Manager, FCT Emergency Management Agency, Abbas Idriss, in a statement on Monday night, said 166 houses and 26 vehicles were destroyed by the flood.




Pastor David Yonggi Cho, a cofounder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God) in South Korea is dead. The popular minister of the...





Pastor David Yonggi Cho, a cofounder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God) in South Korea is dead.

The popular minister of the gospel died on Tuesday morning at the age of 85 after battling with complications from a stroke.

Prior to the emergence of Glory Dome in Abuja, owned by the Dunamis Church International Gospel Centre, Pastor Yonggi Cho had the highest church auditorium in the world.

Prophet Joshua Iginla who confirmed the death via a post on his verified Facebook page on Tuesday, refered to Younggi Cho, who was regarded as Gods General, as his spiritual father.

Iginla, who expressed sadness over the demise, described the deceased as a generational icon, trailblazer, pathfinder and a man wrapped in the immortality of God.

The post reads, Death is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity for your warm embrace as a true father who gave me wings to fly limitlessly.

A South Korean yet spiritually available to father me regardless of tribe, distance and country. Your wisdom, teaching and instructions will abide with me forever.

One may think with the millions of congregation under your care you may not be available for mentorship but that was never the case with you Dear Father, you could identify the few chosen among the thousands that were called and you mentored through every available means. Oh father my heart bleeds but I know some day we will meet and not part again at the feet of our Heavenly Father.

In the channels of Divinity, mankind is a creature of Divine appointment (Job 7:1). Yet, men wrapped in the immortality of God dont die, they only transit to another realm of GLORY. On this day, my spiritual father, a generational icon, trailblazer, pathfinder and a man wrapped in the immortality of God, in the person of PASTOR PAUL YONGI CHO has answered to his GLORIOUS HOME CALL.

I will forever miss you Daddy, the world can never recover from the supernatural handwritings of your Divine impact and impartation. Myself and the entire family of CHAMPIONS ROYAL ASSEMBLY celebrate your life well lived to the Glory of God.

You have fought a good fight and will forever be in my heart. REST IN PEACE DAVID YOUNGGI CHO.
Senator representing Nasarawa West Senatorial district and former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, said government owes it a d...

Senator representing Nasarawa West Senatorial district and former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, said government owes it a duty to treat herdsmen the other citizens were being treated.

He spoke at a media parley with Senate Press Corps in Abuja on Monday, saying that the hullabaloo about herders in Nigeria were unnecessary given that they are also Nigerians and should be protected by government at various levels.

He lamented that herders because of their calling dont enjoy infrastructure like good road, electricity, pipe borne water etc, yet their rights were being stampeded.

According to him, government should make funds available to herdsmen pursuing their legitimate business the same way businessmen across the country have access to funds from the national treasury.

He said: This government has a duty like the way its treating businessmen in Alaba, Onitsha, Kano, and Port Harcourt to treat herdsmen too because they are Nigerians. These provisions are public funds. They are not from the private fund of any governor or senator. The funds are from the treasury of this country and every Nigerian has a stake in that treasury.

So the government has a duty to find a wherewithal to make it possible for herdsmen not to go astray in the course of pursuing his legitimate duty.

Abdullahi, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Agriculture and Rural Development, expressed disappointment at how governors are legislating on anti-open grazing law, saying that the right to movement of herders were being inhibited.

While reacting to questions on national issues, he added: When I read the meeting of southern governors and the issue of open grazing and how they kicked against it and threatened to make law against it. I replied them in a manner that you recalled.

I believe as governors, as members of the executive, operating in the different tier of government, they have a constitutional responsibility, the constitution upon which they take an oath of office.

One of the fundamental rights there is every Nigerian, no exception. Every Nigerian has a right of free movement. Every Nigerian has a right to pursue a legitimate business. Right of association is enshrined in the constitution. You cannot under any pretence take away these rights.

I dont know under any condition which government can say, yes, we can take away this right. When they came up with this, I was wondering. First and foremost, a week earlier before the meeting the governors had here in Abuja and there was no such announcement like that. I was taken aback when I read about their meeting in Asaba.

Responding to questions that anti-grazing law was gaining traction in the North, he said: I still stand by that. The fact that one or two governors in the North have said something like that does not take away the right of herdsmen.

The question here is nature has closed vacuum. You cant build something on nothing. The duty to protect herdsmen and farmers rest squarely on the national government, State Government and the Local government administration.

The question here is, has the government done what it is supposed to do to protect Nigerians who are in that calling, in that profession and in that trade? The answer is no and you cannot blame the person who is desperately looking for means of livelihood.

However, this does not excuse somebody who is pursuing his right from doing harm to somebodys right. I must be very clear on this, a farmer has right to farm, if you dare carry your cattle and and damage his farm crops, he has right to make claims in the Court of law. Thats the law as I understand it.

So, it doesnt matter. If the whole Northern governors make the same pronouncement that the Southern governors did, that doesnt shake my fundamental position on this. Government owes herdsmen a duty to protect their calling and I dare repeat that if you go to Wuse Market here, you will see how many infrastructure have been provided by the FCT and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) like water, and electricity. These are for Nigerians. These herdsmen are Nigerians.
Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra, says other forces might be hiding behind the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to enf...

Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra, says other forces might be hiding behind the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to enforce the sit-at-home order in the south-east.

On August 9, IPOB had announced the enforcement of a lockdown every Monday until Nnamdi Kanu, its leader, is released.

The sit-at-home order is to protest the arrest and detention of Kanu.

On August 13, the group announced the suspension of the order and modified it to whenever Kanu appears in court.





But many residents of the south-east still observe the order despite its suspension.

Over the past few weeks, violent attacks have been unleashed on those who were found flouting the order.

Recall that on Monday, gunmen harassed students of Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume in Njaba LGA of Imo state. The students were writing the 2021 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The gunmen also burnt down motorcycles belonging to teachers and students.

Speaking with some journalists on Tuesday at the Lagos airport, Obi said attacks on schoolchildren is an out-of-place behaviour of Igbo people, adding that it is borne out of misguided aggression.

Obi said the education of children is sacred because they are the leaders of tomorrow.

The former governor wondered why the sit-at-home still continues despite countless statements from IPOB suspending it.

Since IPOB has announced suspension of sit-at-home, it is reasonable to suspect that other forces might be hiding behind IPOB to draw back the south-east through such acts as well as the needless call for stay at home on Mondays, a critical day for business/official work, which is only hurting the economy of the south-east, he said.

Would investors come to the zone under the present condition? Would established businesses not think of leaving the south-east under such a condition?

Would traders from neighbouring countries that flock Aba and Onitsha on Mondays not seek and stick with alternatives? Would some industries not think of relocating?
Gunmen on Monday stopped students from taking English Language paper in the ongoing WASSCE being written by senior secondary school studen...

Gunmen on Monday stopped students from taking English Language paper in the ongoing WASSCE being written by senior secondary school students at the Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkume in the Njaba Local Government Area of Imo state.

Sources disclosed that the students were preparing to begin the examinations when the attackers came and chased them away.

As the gunmen started shooting, students and teachers, including their supervisors, fled.

An indigene of the community told newmen that the gunmen also set ablaze some motorcycles belonging to some of the staff and students of the school.

Although there were

no report of casualties, a viral video of the incident showed the students and staff shouting and running for their lives.

The source said, Gunmen came to the school and chased out the students this morning.

They started shooting repeatedly and insisted that no examination would be allowed to go on.

They destroyed some motorcycles and shot continuously until the students and teachers ran away.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 74F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Franks Lounge was dark and hot as Reva Kramer worked inside, mucking out mud that Hurricane Ida had pushed across the bar's floor. And yet, more than once, a would-be bar patron ducked in to ask if she could make a bloody mary.

I wish I could, she told one. Just remember to come back and see us when were open.

With relief, Kramer is sure that wont be long now.

Franks Lounge is a bar with an A-frame entrance and unofficial landmark status in Des Allemands. The tiny fishing village is known for the catfish that flourish in the waters that surround it, and as a way station for travelers driving between bayou country and New Orleans.

The bar, meanwhile, is known for bloody marys, and Kramer is confident they'll be flowing again soon after the electricity is restored to Des Allemands.

The path of Hurricane Ida took the powerful Category 4 storm right through the middle of Des Allemands, which sits about halfway between New Orleans and Houma, straddling the line between Lafourche Parish and St. Charles Parish.

Damage was severe, and two weeks after the storm many are still struggling with the early phases of recovery.

However, a few well-known businesses here are already working to get back in action.

Just down U.S. 90 from Franks Lounge, at the famous catfish house Spahrs Seafood Restaurant, co-owner Brent Roger was counting his blessings and also sharing some encouragement with passersby. The letter board sign facing the highway that usually advertises special dishes now spells out keep moving forward.

Large metal trailers had been flung across the highway in the storm, and camps near the restaurant had been flattened. But Spahrs itself was still standing, and by the grinding hum of generator power rebuilding work was already underway.

Roger estimates that once insurance claims move ahead, hell be able to reopen Spahrs in three to four weeks.

Just three days after Ida hit, the Spahrs crew set up cooking stations around the restaurant to prepare meals for first responders and others working in the area, an early hospitality amid the devastation.

Weve been around a long time and we have certain values that we adhere to. Thats whats gotten us through COVID and what is going to get us through this, Roger said.

Between three Spahrs locations in the bayou region and their sibling restaurants Alumni Grill and Malt & Burger, Roger and his partners employ 140 people. He said they plan to reopen all of the restaurants and are eager to get their people back to work. Many are helping now with the rebuild.

The Spahrs location in Thibodaux was able to reopen Sunday, Sept. 12, after the electricity was restored. Roger said patrons coursed back in.

This is a minor setback for a major comeback, said Roger. We have a long history  people have been coming here for generations. We will be back.

Building back

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The restaurant took only a few inches of floodwater, despite its location just steps from the edge of Dufrene Pond.

In fact, during normal times many customers make a habit of walking along the pond to look for alligators and pose for photos by a gigantic catfish sculpture in the yard. Storm winds blew that catfish down, but its still there (and so are the alligators, one of which carefully watched a pair of people visiting Monday afternoon).

Bill Spahr founded his namesake restaurant in 1968 as a store with hunting and fishing supplies and gas pumps out front to fill up boats or trucks. It had a bar and eventually evolved into a full-service restaurant. That restaurant was rebuilt on the same spot following a fire in 2006. It's been known for many years for thin-fried catfish chips, shrimp etouffee, and for its own bloody marys.

Des Allemands is synonymous with catfish, and the town name is called out on restaurant menus across the New Orleans area.

The town has also long been known as a stop for people off to hunting camps or fishing docks down the road, or for people from bayou country headed to New Orleans. Good bloody marys just go with the territory.

The anytime drink is the calling card of Franks Lounge, which Kramers father-in-law Frank Kramer started in 1977.

Despite the storm's ferocity, the bar seemed to have escaped with relatively light damage. After using metal sheeting from a fence to patch the bars metal roof, Kramer got down to cleaning. She believes shell reopen a few days after power is restored, after getting a chance to restock and clean more thoroughly with the lights back on.

"I can't wait for people to come back," she said. "We have regulars from all across the state and we miss them."

Fish on

Some fishermen in Des Allemands were getting back on the water this week, and some of the small seafood docks were busy with crews sorting crabs just hauled in. The charter company Safari Unlimited even bagged a pair of very large alligators, measuring over 12 feet each, which were being skinned for their valuable hides on Monday.

Des Allemands is the home of Joey and Jeannie Fonseca, a fishing family whose brand Outlaw Katfish has long been a staple at area farmers markets and a supplier to local restaurants.

Walking around his property at the edge of Bayou des Allemands, Joey Fonseca took inventory of the fleet of small boats he and his sons use to harvest crab, catfish and alligators from the productive local waters. All of them made it through the storm. He had taken up his nets just before the storm, so they are in good shape too.

The couple had just donated the last 75 pounds of fish they had in cold storage to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff Department to feed officers assisting from other communities.

But Fonseca was in no rush to get back to fishing. With his operation still running on power from a clutch of portable generators, hes not ready to start resupplying.

At 68, Fonseca and his wife are now officially semi-retired, he said, and scaling down their retail seafood business to whatever they can sell from their home in Des Allemands.

Now you got to come down to the swamp to get it from the source, he said. But Im not going to stop fishing. Why would you stop when you can still fish?

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+12 'We cant stop.' Inside the community kitchen cooking with heart for Louisiana after Ida The aromas of roasting meat and simmering gravy spreading through the kitchen were hearty and homey. But the pace around the long, bright, cro

+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

+9 With lights or no, New Orleans bars get back open, serving something stronger than drinks The blaring afternoon sun provided most of the illumination inside Three Palms Bar & Grill on Tulane Avenue, but the bartender had a heavy
It looks like getting all the trash and debris picked up post Ida is going to continue to be a slow  and stinky  process for the foreseeable future.

Two weeks after the storm, the city and its waste contractors had picked up around 5% of the 54,000 tons of trash and debris left behind by the storm, said Ramsey Green, deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure, at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Matt Torri, the citys sanitation director, said the citys solid waste contractors are reporting theyre about two-thirds of the way through their first pass of the city since the storm. Currently, trucks are making their way through New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward.

Because theres so much trash  both from storm damage itself and the backups created by landfills that were down, as well as ongoing labor shortages  trucks are filling up three times faster than usual, according to city officials. That means a lot more trips to the River Birch Landfill in Avondale, which can be a bit of a trek.

Depending on where you are in a city, it can take anywhere from an hour and a half to two and a half hours to make it round trip, Torri said. If you're going from New Orleans East to Avondale during traffic, it's a long, long ride to get back on that route."

For comparison, trucks usually can pick up four or five blocks of traffic before having to empty at the landfill, according to Green. Now, theyre filling up after a block.

If you're a resident and you see your neighbor's trash getting picked up and then the truck drives off, that truck is full, Green says. It's got to go dump it.

In the first pass, garbage collectors are prioritizing picking up waste in trash carts. So if you have particularly putrid trash, put it in those bins rather than outside a full cart.

If we picked up the carts as well as bags that were at every household location right now ... it might take us six times longer to run around, which means we wouldn't get back to certain areas even longer, Torri said.

Help is on the way, as the city has secured two supplemental emergency procurements to get more trucks on the ground in the city by Wednesday or Thursday, according to Torri.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Nicholas is complicating matters even further. Heavy rains in the area could pose a risk of flooding. Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday that South Louisiana is predicted to receive six to 10 inches of rain and in isolated areas, it could be much higher.

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans said that four of its drainage pumps were down ahead of the storm, including pumps in New Orleans East, Lakeview near Metairie Road and near Lake Marina Drive, and on the Westbank.

Areas that normally flood during heavy rain events could take longer to drain, depending on rain intensity and coverage, said Grace Birch, S&WB press secretary in a statement. We will increase staffing to ensure that all teams are working cohesively in order to ensure a swift and appropriate response to any unforeseen situations.

Edwards said clogged drains and catch basins could increase the risk of flooding. City officials recommend making sure your trash and debris piles arent blocking storm drains and ditches.

One of the things that could exacerbate the threat of flooding are all the ditches, catch basins and the storm drains," he said. All these drainage systems have debris from previous storms that hasn't yet been cleaned up, and that could enhance the threat for flash flooding.

Tiong Aw, a Tulane University public health microbiologist, said contaminated floodwaters also could cause both public health risks and environmental hazards.

For example, debris from home damage could include sharp materials, and food waste may attract rodents and cockroaches, which are the source of some infectious diseases, he said.

For those reasons, Aw recommends avoiding floodwaters at all costs, and if you do come into contact with them, wearing protective gear and washing your skin thoroughly with soap and water to prevent rashes and wound infections.

Additionally, contaminated floodwaters could cause longer-term effects on the environment. Aw said there is a risk floodwaters could carry debris into nearby waterways, such as Lake Pontchartrain or the Mississippi River, causing pollution or potential harmful algae blooms. This could make the water unsafe to swim in and decrease oxygen levels in the lake, posing danger to fish and shellfish.

There is always a risk of river and also lake pollution due to a washout from contaminated floodwater from the city and all the trash," he said.

+4 Hurricane Nicholas to drop heavy rain on Texas and Ida-battered swaths of Louisiana Louisiana remains in a state of emergency and parts of Texas are under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Nicholas continues its erratic nort
The latest federal indictment over a brazen scheme to crash vehicles into 18-wheelers for insurance money names seven new defendants accused of participating in fraudulent wrecks  while claiming that several attorneys with a New Orleans law firm were in on the conspiracy.

So far, those lawyers have not been identified by name, nor has their firm, in any of the indictments in the case. Other court records, however, indicate they were with The King Firm.

The indictment alleges that lawyers at the unnamed firm knew that Damien Labeaud and Roderick Hickman, two admitted slammers and ringleaders in a yearslong insurance fraud, were delivering them bogus injury crash victims.

One of them, identified only as Attorney A, would sometimes discuss the staging of accidents before they happened, often using coded language, the indictment states. Three lawyers with the unnamed firm employed Labeaud to complete various tasks as another way to conceal payments to him for staged accidents, the indictment states.

The four-count indictment, which was handed up Aug. 26 but released by the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Orleans on Monday, marked the first charges to emerge in almost a year from the sprawling federal investigation, dubbed "Operation Sideswipe."

The last in a slew of previous charges came in November, when attorney Danny Patrick Keating Jr. became the first lawyer indicted in the case. Keating has pleaded guilty to a wire and mail fraud conspiracy, admitting he coordinated crashes with Labeaud, and awaits a January sentencing.

The latest indictment brings the total number of defendants to 40, over a half-dozen indictments. More than half of them have pleaded guilty.

Keating remains the lone attorney to publicly admit his role in a scheme that involved a network of slammers and spotters" who allegedly pulled off more than 100 local staged accidents with big rigs, starting in 2015 or earlier, according to the feds.

The latest indictment suggests that those guilty pleas have netted prosecutors additional evidence against lawyers and others.

My view is theyre looking at the professionals: doctors or health care providers, and at least several attorneys, said former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg, who has closely followed the case. Its apparent that the U.S. Attorneys Office is taking it seriously.

The two New Orleans crashes cited in the latest indictment were typical of the scheme alleged by prosecutors. All seven defendants were charged with a conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Each also faces one or two counts of mail fraud, depending on the crash.

According to the indictment, defendants Herbert Allen, Troylynn Brown, Jarvis Brown and Dion Ridley piled into Allens 2007 Chevy Impala on June 28, 2017, with Hickman behind the wheel as the designated slammer.

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Hickman smashed into a Freightliner tractor-trailer at Tchoupitoulas and Calliope streets, then fled as Allen slid into the drivers seat. Hickman later drove the passengers to the law firm, the indictment alleges.

A year earlier, defendants Lertrice Johnson, Davienque Johnson and Ashley McGowan met with Labeaud before the Johnsons became passengers in a wreck with a tractor trailer at Chippewa and Louisa streets.

McGowan wasnt there for the crash, but she entered the wrecked Mazda afterward, to make it look as if she were injured in the wreck.

The law firm then provided a luxury vehicle for McGowan to travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for some of her treatment, and subsequently deducted the cost from her settlement.

That crash netted the three defendants a total of about $545,000 in a mediated settlement, including about $300,000 for McGowan, the indictment states.

Helping to arrange it was 67-year-old Anthony Robinson, who along with his wife, Audrey Harris, pleaded guilty while admitting theyd undergone surgeries to increase their own insurance paydays from a different wreck. The two received 4-year prison terms in July, the stiffest punishments yet doled out in the case.

Some of the language of the indictment echoes a federal civil racketeering lawsuit filed by insurance defense attorneys.

Doug Williams of the Baton Rouge law firm of Breazeale, Sasche & Wilson, which filed that civil RICO suit, said the new indictment expands the number of lawyers and appears to suggest that there is a factual basis for saying that lawyers did more than just work on cases; that they had knowledge of the fraud.

Several lawyers outside of The King Firm were involved in pursuing lawsuits on behalf of some crash participants. Partner Brian King said Monday that no one at the firm has been told theyll face criminal charges.

This indictment charges a number of people, some of whom were represented by other law firms. No one at our firm did anything wrong in these cases, he said in a statement.

The indictment also indicates that one of the attorneys identified as having worked at the firm may be cooperating with federal prosecutors.

The lawyer, who is referred to only as Attorney D," recorded a phone call last year with one earlier crash participant, the indictment states.
Carnival Cruise Line said Tuesday that Carnival Glory will sail from Port of New Orleans on Sunday, Sept. 19 on a seven-day cruise to The Bahamas, the first cruise ship sailing from the port since the COVID-19 pandemic began in spring 2020.

The week-long voyage will visit Bimini, Freeport and Nassau and it is expected to be at about 70% of normal capacity in compliance with the cruise industry's agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allowed resumption of sailing in the U.S. earlier this year.

The ship's normal capacity is around 3,000 passengers, with 2,000 staff.

To mark the resumption of sailing, Carnivals Vice President of Guest Operations, Sarah Beth Reno, and Carnival Glory Captain, Nicola Iaccarino, will host a "BackToFun event" in the Erato Street terminal on Sunday, cutting a ceremonial ribbon and officially welcoming the first guests onboard, Carnival said.

For the past week, Glory has been used as temporary housing for first responders and other workers dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

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The ship's resumption of sailing was delayed from an originally intended date of Sept. 5 because of the hurricane, when it sailed west into Mexican waters for several days to wait out the storm.

Carnival Cruise Line's Valor, which also can accommodate about 3,000 passengers in normal times, is expected to resume sailing in November. Carnival's two ships accounted for about 80% of the 1.2 million cruise ship visits to New Orleans in 2019.

Before sailing to Miami last month, the Glory was in Marseilles to make physical preparations for CDC protocol requirements, such as distance barriers and sanitization arrangements, as well as to screen crew members, many of whom are foreign nationals from countries with lower rates of vaccination than the U.S.

Carnival has resumed some U.S. sailings under restrictions, even while the COVID-19 pandemic surges again, including most recently sailings from the Baltimore port.
An employee of the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office barged into a Warehouse District condominium Sunday where his ex-lover was with another man, fired a gun at one of them, then shot himself to death, authorities said.

Few details have been released about the attempted murder-suicide that occurred inside the Cotton Mill condo complex in the 900 block of Poeyfarre Street. But law enforcement sources on Tuesday identified the assailant as 29-year-old Jermaine Martinez Green, a trial assistant in the juvenile section of the DAs Office.

It was about 9:15 p.m. Sunday when Green  holding a pistol  went into a first-floor apartment to confront two men, including a man with whom he previously had a romantic relationship, a source said.

After seeing the gun, one of the men locked himself in a bathroom and called 911 while the other ran outside to notify the buildings security guard, the source said.

Green allegedly fired a number of rounds into the bathroom before exclaiming, I shot myself, the source said.

The man inside the restroom heard one final gunshot before a prolonged, unsettling silence. He emerged to find Green dead, the source said.

Once police arrived, officers detained at least one of the men as a possible murder suspect. But after examining the apartment, questioning both men and interviewing the buildings security guard, police classified the encounter as an attempted murder-suicide.

A handful of Cotton Mill residents said Monday they had been given few specifics about exactly what happened the previous night. A couple of the residents cited an email from the buildings management which called Sundays events a domestic incident  that turned tragic.

Please rest assured that the proper authorities are handling the investigation and that no one elses safety is at risk, the email added. We are fully cooperating with the authorities but cannot discuss this private matter.

An uncle of Green, Kyle Banks, said Tuesday that authorities had also given his family little information about his nephew's death. Banks said his relatives were considering retaining their own private investigator and attorney to review the facts of the case, which to him didn't sound like anything Green was capable of doing.

The last time they spoke, Banks said, Green checked on his uncle to make sure he was doing OK after Hurricane Ida.

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"He was a loving person, a sweet person, loved by his community, and loved by the people he went to school with  he had a huge heart," Banks said. "We want to make sure whatever happened is being investigated and is brought to light  and not in the press."

Green joined the DA's Office in April and had been working there as a trial assistant in the agency's juvenile division as of July 21, according to public records obtained by The Times-Picayune. Generally, trial assistants provide administrative support to prosecutors.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends of Jermaine Green," DA Jason Williams said in a written statement Tuesday. "He was a valued, positive member of our team who was dedicated to serving the people of New Orleans and supporting the DAs Offices mission of securing justice and increasing safety in this city. It is incredibly unfortunate that he is no longer with us; his presence and impact will certainly be missed."

Williams said he couldn't comment further because the investigation into Green's death remained ongoing Tuesday but asked that the public respect his family's privacy "and allow them space to mourn."

Green had previously spent two years working in the New Orleans Police Departments crime lab and forensics division, according to a profile under his name at the professional networking website LinkedIn. Before that, he served as a corrections officer at the Jefferson Parish jail in Gretna.

He earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice and communications from Southern University at New Orleans in 2017 and a masters in criminal investigations and law enforcement leadership this year, according to the profile.

Word of Green's death produced an intense reaction on social media, where a flood of condolences were posted for his family.

I know we shouldnt question God but this I cant help but to question, read one tribute. Why him, God? (He was) an amazing person who bothered no one.

Another added: This is truly a devastating loss for not only our community but the city as well.

Staff writer Matt Sledge contributed to this report.

Editor's note: This post was updated since it was first published to include remarks from Banks and Williams.
The union that represents the Regional Transit Authority's employees is demanding extra pay for city bus drivers who shuttled seniors out of hot apartment buildings after Hurricane Ida.

The Amalgamated Transit Union 1560 is also demanding the resignation of the RTA's chief executive, Alex Wiggins, and the reinstatement of union President Valerie Jefferson as an RTA employee.

Union officials said in a Monday statement that Wiggins has a history of retaliating against those not on board with his policies. They say Jefferson, a 28-year veteran of the agency, was fired recently for demanding that the RTA pay its employees what they are owed.

+5 New Orleans health department evacuates 8 senior living complexes, announces 4 new deaths City officials evacuated eight senior apartment complexes and deemed them unfit for occupancy on Saturday, while reporting four new deaths the

ATU represents the majority of the RTA's staff of roughly 550 people. The RTA operates buses, streetcars, ferries and paratransit services in New Orleans and Kenner.

"This agreement with hurricane pay was a fair deal, but they dont want to pay them now," Jefferson said in a statement. They were down drivers. Half left the city. Others were dealing with damage to their homes. The operators who came sacrificed to do so.

The RTA, however, claims that Jefferson was fired for reasons unrelated to her advocacy on behalf of drivers, though they wouldn't detail specifics. An agreement a spokesperson provided, which Jefferson signed Sept. 5, states the RTA will pay its workers the equivalent of 22 hours of salary for each day they show up to work after the storm.

"This agency is clear that our transit workers provide reliable transportation to doctors appointments, work, and to other critical destinations all year round," RTA officials said in a Wednesday statement. "The additional 'hurricane pay' will be included in the regularly scheduled pay date, September 17."

The agency did not specifically address the union's claims about Wiggins.

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New Orleans' transit workers featured prominently in the city's response to Ida: Public buses were used to transport hundreds of senior citizens from sweltering apartment buildings to cool shelters after the massive storm knocked out the local power grid. Before that plan was enacted, seniors were suffering in the heat, and five people died.

+6 With power slowly returning after Ida, New Orleans offers rides out of town and a medical shelter Six days after Hurricane Ida severed New Orleans from the electric grid, a smattering of residents on Saturday took the city up on its offer f

Those buses also were key in another facet of the local response. Touted as "mobile cooling centers," bus drivers staged their air-conditioned vehicles in centrally located spots in various neighborhoods, offering a cool space for all who desired it.

The union said Monday that the RTA lacked enough staffers to put those plans in motion before Jefferson and its other members went to work recruiting bus drivers. The drivers the union persuaded to come in worked 12-hour shifts, union representatives said.

Firing Jefferson because she spoke up for her colleagues is wrong, added union international President John Costa in a statement. "We won't stand for it," he said.

In calling for Wiggins' resignation, union officials referenced his work history. Before coming to the RTA in 2019, Wiggins was the chief of security and law enforcement at Los Angeles' public transit agency. A public investigation against him there that wrapped shortly before his departure found he had behaved abusively toward subordinates, according to WVUE-TV.

At another transit job in Chicago, Wiggins was placed on administrative leave with pay, WVUE reported. An employee urged the board that governs Metra, Chicago's commuter rail system, to investigate Wiggins, adding that workers were "being outcast by those in power" at the agency.

Union members were slated to hold a rally at their office on 4230 Marigny St. in Gentilly at 6 p.m. Monday, they said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated Wednesday, Sept. 15, with additional information from the RTA.
Hurricane Nicholas reached hurricane strength before making landfall late Monday on the central Texas Gulf Coast, but its major threat remains rainfall rates of as much as 20 inches in Texas and more than 8 inches across much of Louisiana through Thursday morning, according to forecasters with the National Hurricane Center.

UPDATE: Hurricane Nicholas forms in Gulf of Mexico before landfall in Texas

Gov. John Bel Edwards and other Louisiana and parish officials warned Monday afternoon that the storm's heavy rains would begin dousing the state's coastal and central parishes overnight Monday, even as it makes landfall in Texas. But they're most concerned about what happens when Nicholas, weakened to depression strength, but still loaded with precipitation, cuts across the center of Louisiana on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"I know that bracing for another storm while were still responding to and trying to recover from Hurricane Ida is not the position that we wanted to be in," Edwards said during a Monday afternoon news conference. "But it is a situation that we are prepared for.

"But we are asking individuals and families living across south Louisiana to be similarly prepared," he said.

Edwards said he has requested a second, pre-landfall disaster declaration from the White House in advance of Nicholas to help the state reposition federal emergency assets that were deployed across the state for Ida, in the event of new flooding and other damage.

In its 4 p.m. forecast, the hurricane center included Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Kenner and the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain within its forecast path cone of error for Nicholas's eye.

Nicholas's rainfall threat will pose problems both in areas devastated by Hurricane Ida two weeks ago, and in southwest Louisiana, which is still cleaning up from last year's Hurricanes Laura and Delta, Edwards said.

"One thing that exacerbates the threat of flooding are ditches, catch basins, storm drains, and so forth, all these places have debris from previous storms that have not yet been cleaned up," Edwards said.

A further complication: Ida damaged roofs across a wide swath of the state, and a federally funded program to cover leaks with temporary tarps is still just getting off the ground.

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Numerous parishes across the state on Monday urged their residents to clean hurricane debris out of ditches wherever possible, and offered them sand and sandbags to fight potential flooding from Nicholas.

Officials with local offices of the National Weather Service warned that as much as 8 inches of rainfall, with higher amounts possible in some locations, was likely across the coast from Lake Charles to New Orleans, with flash flood watches in effect across the coast until at least Thursday morning.

"Rainfall will be efficient and could come down very heavy at times, quickly leading to draining issues," said a Monday afternoon forecast discussion message issued by the Slidell office of the National Weather Service. "Combine that with the amount of debris still across the region, drainage systems may be blocked, leading to additional flooding concerns."

The message warned that in southeast Louisiana, the heaviest rain could occur overnight Tuesday, while it's likely to fall earlier in the southwestern part of the state.

Storm surge of as much as 4 feet is possible from the Texas border to Rutherford Beach in Cameron Parish, and surge of up to 3 feet was possible from there east to Intracoastal City, in Vermilion Parish.

Forecasters also warned that Nicholas may spin off tornadoes on Tuesday and Wednesday as it moves across Louisiana. On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service announced it has identified eight tornadoes that occurred during Hurricane Ida, all on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which was on the eastern side of the storm.

At 4 p.m. Monday, Nicholas was 70 miles south of Port O'Connor, Texas, with sustained winds of 65 mph. It was moving north northeast at 12 mph, a jump in speed from earlier in the day.

Nicholas was expected to make landfall just south of Matagorda, Texas, at 1 a.m. Tuesday with winds of 70 mph, just under Category 1 hurricane strength. The storm is forecast to then move northeast to the Houston area at 1 p.m., where it will still have winds of 45 mph. It will weaken into a tropical depression before entering Beauregard Parish after 1 a.m. Wednesday, and then continue across the state until reaching the Mississippi border just before 1 a.m. Thursday.

Nicholas struggled unsuccessfully on Monday to become better organized. At times, the system seemed to be creating a new eye to the north of its original center, and satellite imagery identified "at least three small but very tight swirls revolving counter-clockwise around a mean center," said Senior Hurricane Specialist Stacy Stewart in a 4 p.m. message.

"An eye feature has tried to form on multiple occasions, only to dissipate after less than half an hour," he said.

But Stewart warned that the storm's unusual structure could still deliver dangerous winds as it reached the Texas coast, as Houston's Doppler radar identified a large swath of hurricane-force wind speed northeast of the storm's center at 12,000 feet and higher in its clouds.

As a result, he said, Nicholas could still reach hurricane strength, with winds of at least 75 mph, by landfall.
Clara Wemer isnt from here, but she understands the pain and she wants to help. Shes experienced natural disasters and seen many challenges and frustrations from them.

Wemers desire to help relieve pain and to help people piece their lives together after tragedy has led her to rush from her Millersport, Ohio, home to Atlanta to prepare for a hurricane that didnt happen, and to trudge through waist-deep snow in freezing weather to help flood victims in South Dakota. Now shes in Louisiana, helping people recover from Hurricane Ida, helping survivors determine how to take advantage of available government help with as little drama as possible.

Wemer is one of the Federal Emergency Management Agencys reservists, people who sit at home  with no pay and no benefits  waiting for disaster to strike so they can do their work. Once its clear disaster is likely, they spring into action. Theyre a part of our Department of Homeland Security and there are thousands of reservists and full-time FEMA employees, including Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) who know pain and suffering will come.

Wemer is one of more than 1,500 FEMA workers helping people during the ongoing recovery stretch in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houma, Gretna and elsewhere in Louisiana. They are working from near and far. Others are in call centers. Some are at the Texas regional office in Dallas. There are more than 1,000 home inspectors in Louisiana. There are FEMA contractors, doing the kind of work Wemers husband, James Wemer, did for many years. Theyve been married for 22 years, and much of that time theyve been helping others get through tough times. Wemer is one of more than 300 who are part of Disaster Survivor Assistance teams in our state.

There were more than 2,400 FEMA people in Louisiana and five other states before Ida hit. FEMA liaison officers were sent to three states so they could be close to the action and close to the state decision-makers. Three Incident Support Bases were established, including one in Alexandria. Nine urban search and rescue teams were staged and ready to work.

Every day, Wemer leaves a hotel and travels about 20 minutes to meet her 10-person team at the Jefferson Parish health facility on Ames Boulevard in Marrero. Just down the street are businesses and homes with blue tarps, fences blown down and large tree limbs on the ground. With a gray folding table serving as a headquarters just inside the facility, Wemer oversees an operation that includes some tables in the lobby and several tables with chairs inside a large meeting room.

On Sunday afternoon, she was checking in with Bronte Segura, Ricardina Miata, Hunter Hoffman and other FEMA employees working to help survivors. Occasionally, one of them would walk someone to Wemer with a sense of disappointment, a denial or a complication that needed another pair of eyes, another set of ears. Someone else willing to listen and help. They help survivors get online accounts set up, tell them which documents are absolutely necessary and teach them how to upload them. They talk them through the steps, often through sighs, drooped shoulders and tears.

Wemer said their face-to-face service makes a difference during troubling times. Thats important to a survivor, she said, to know someone cares.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has talked about FEMA regularly since before the storm struck and nearly every day since. Make no mistake about it, Edwards and the state are in charge of the recovery. FEMA is here to assist. But much of the recovery is happening with help from FEMA.

Louisiana suffered a great deal of damage to business property and personal belongings. The amounts are still being tallied, but we know its staggering. We didnt have as much loss of life as we might have had. Scores died across several states, including more than 25 in Louisiana.

Ive been in the FEMA family for roughly 20 years, Wemer told me in between making sure people were assisted. Ive seen and heard a lot. ... When people lose everything, its extremely sad. This is a way of helping them get back on their feet, to encourage them that its going to happen.

Thank goodness, its going to happen because Wemer, and people like her, arent the bureaucrats we might think of when we think about FEMA. Thank goodness shes a caring person with a heart to serve.
Windows 11 will ship on October 5, but support is not forthcoming for Apple Silicon hardware. Instead, Microsoft treats Apple M1 devices as an 'unsupported scenario' both for Boot Camp and Parallels.

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Microsoft has confirmed to The Register the state of Windows 11 support for Apple M1 machines. As it stands, Microsoft only licenses Windows on ARM to OEMs, with Apple claiming that it is 'really up to Mircosoft' to provide native Windows support for the M1 SoC.

According to The Register, Microsoft considers Windows 11 on an M1 SoC an 'unsupported scenario'. This applies to Parallels and Boot Camp, for reference. By 'unsupported scenario', Microsoft means that it will not provide official support, as is also the case for running Windows 11 on older processors.

Parallels can still virtualise Windows 11 though, as the company confirmed last month. However, support can break, as it did when Windows 11 decided that Parallels used unsupported hardware. Parallels promptly addressed this with Parallels Desktop 17.0.1, albeit without disclosing what it changed to regain Windows 11 compatibility.
Xiaomi has reportedly stated that users affected by the recent bout of remote phone locking can now start using their devices again. Apparently, the locking of Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phones out of the blue in prohibited countries such as Cuba and Iran was carried out as part of an investigation into grey market practices.

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It was recently reported that Xiaomi had started randomly locking phones without warning that were being used in prohibited countries and regions: Crimea (region of Ukraine), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. Unsurprisingly, the news caused quite a furor among fans, as Xiaomi and Redmi are popular brands in many of those areas, with strict economic sanctions leaving very limited options for smartphone users. Xiaomi has now stated that the remote locking of phones was a temporary measure as part of an investigation into smuggling and illicit grey market business.

In a statement published by the Global Times, Xiaomi claimed that it was not targeting any specific market and that remote locking of Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phones had occurred as a response to potentially damaging grey market practices. Xiaomi seemingly wanted to protect user data and consumer rights by not allowing those same "protected" users to operate their smartphones. However, for those who were affected by the remote phone locking, there is good news, with Xiaomi also saying, The investigation has achieved significant results, and the affected devices can be unlocked now.

Users with locked Xiaomi phones simply need to activate a Wi-Fi connection to unblock their device. While Xiaomi has tried to put some distance between itself and this contentious issue by claiming the phone locking was only temporary and part of a investigation against those who practice grey market smuggling for a living, it can also be presumed that the Chinese OEM went into damage control mode and wanted to quickly douse a growing fire before it got out of hand. According to Statistica, Xiaomi is currently the second-most popular smartphone brand in Cuba (18% share) and Iran (15.8%) while being the third-most popular brand in Syria (8.3%).

Buy the Xiaomi Redmi 9 on Amazon
Xiaomi has surprised with the unveiling of its new Smart Glasses. The new device features bleeding-edge technology including a microLED display that the company claims can achieve a peak brightness of 2 million nits.

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Xiaomi likes to reveal its technology pipeline before it is ready for commercialization and its new Smart Glasses stick with that familiar script. Just about any tech fan who takes a look at the embedded video below will want to get their hands on this device or something similar. However, while a completely working product, the company has not revealed any pricing or availability at this stage.

The Xiaomi Smart Glasses employ some truly bleeding-edge technology. While the glasses include a camera like the recently revealed Facebook x Ray-Ban sunglasses, they go much further and cross well into the territory Google once explored with its Google Glass. The glasses incorporate optical wavelength technology in the right hand lens to refract light from its tiny display that is, according to Xiaomi, about the size of a grain of rice.

As if that wasnt already impressive enough, the display itself is made using state-of-the-art microLED technology -- this is not to be confused with the mini-LED technology that Apple and others have used in IPS LCD panels recently. Instead, it is more akin to OLED technology with each pixel being self-lit. Each pixel, in this case, is a miniscule 4m that combines to produce a monochrome image for maximum efficiency. Incredibly, Xiaomi claims the display can reach retina scorching 2 million nits.

The Xiaomi Smart Glasses are powered by a quad-core Arm-based chip and weigh in at just 51 grams. Xiaomi says it imagines a future where smart glasses could replace smartphones by offering much of their functionality. In this case, Xiaomi says its Smart Glasses can display messages and notifications, make calls, navigate, capture photos and translate text. We will certainly be keeping our eyes peeled for more news from Xiaomi regarding any launch plans and pricing details.

Buy the Xiaomi Poco X3 smartphone unlocked from Amazon for US$230.25.
We have a special bond with the Marines. The first person that you see when you visit an American embassy is a marine. They guard our diplomatic missions. They keep us safe around the world. We couldnt do our jobs without them. And we will never forget their sacrifice, nor will we forget what they achieved. The most exceptional among us perform a lifetimes work of service in a short time here on Earth. So it was for our exceptional brothers and sisters who died last week.

Finally, I want to thank our allies and partners. This operation was a global endeavor in every way. Many countries stepped up with robust contributions to the airlift, including working by our side at the airport. Some are now serving as transit countries, allowing evacuees to be registered and processed on their way to their final destinations. Others have agreed to resettle Afghan refugees permanently, and we hope more will do so in the days and weeks ahead. Were truly grateful for their support.

Now U.S. military flights have ended. And our troops have departed Afghanistan. A new chapter of Americas engagement with Afghanistan has begun. Its one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission is over. A new diplomatic mission has begun. So here is our plan for the days and weeks ahead:

First, we built a new team to help lead this new mission. As of today, we suspended our diplomatic presence in Kabul and transferred our operations to Doha, Qatar, which will soon be formally notified to Congress. Given the uncertain security environment and political situation in Afghanistan, it was the prudent step to take. And let me take this opportunity to thank our outstanding charge daffaires in Kabul, Ambassador Ross Wilson, who came out of retirement in January 2020 to lead our embassy in Afghanistan and has done exceptional, courageous work during a highly challenging time.

For the time being, we will use this post in Doha to manage our diplomacy with Afghanistan, including consular affairs, administering humanitarian assistance and working with allies, partners and regional and international stakeholders to coordinate our engagement and messaging to the Taliban. Our team there will be led by Ian McCary, who served as our deputy chief of mission in Afghanistan for this past year. No ones better prepared to do the job.

Second, we will continue our relentless efforts to help Americans, foreign nationals and Afghans leave Afghanistan if they choose.

Let me talk briefly about the Americans who remain in Afghanistan.

We made extraordinary efforts to give Americans every opportunity to depart the country. In many cases, talking and sometimes walking them into the airport. Of those who self-identified as Americans in Afghanistan who are considering leaving the country, weve thus far received confirmation that about 6,000 have been evacuated or otherwise departed. This number will likely continue to grow as our outreach and arrivals continue.

We believe there are still a small number of Americans, under 200 and likely closer to 100, who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave. Were trying to determine exactly how many. Were going through manifests and calling and texting through our lists, and we will have more details to share as soon as possible. Part of the challenge with fixing a precise number is that there are longtime residents of Afghanistan who have American passports and who are trying to determine whether or not they wanted to leave. Many are dual citizen Americans with deep roots and extended families in Afghanistan who resided there for many years. For many, its a painful choice. Our commitment to them and to all Americans in Afghanistan and everywhere in the world continues.
THERE ARE FEWER scents in our lives now, and fewer opportunities to learn them. As the American philosophy scholar Larry Shiner writes in Art Scents: Exploring the Aesthetics of Smell and the Olfactory Arts (2020), advances in science in the 1860s and 1870s revealed that odors were neither the cause nor cure of sickness. After that, we began to resist powerful scents, as if resisting our more primitive, animal selves. In increasingly crowded cities, we demanded sanitized spaces, offices that banned perfume, free of any troubling aroma that might betray our proximity to others, how closely were all packed in. We chose to live in a cleaner, emptier world.

Yet sales of incense rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, even as  or perhaps because  a number of us temporarily lost our sense of smell to the virus (with some having yet to regain it), making it abruptly precious. The desire to perfume the air we breathe might seem like a return to superstition, hoping to keep death at bay; but for those in quarantine, confined at home, incense offered a kind of escape, opening up increasingly claustrophobic spaces and rendering them, if only for a moment, beautifully unfamiliar.

There are fewer scents in our lives now, and fewer opportunities to learn them.

The incense of today bears little resemblance to the New Age accessories of the 1970s or the perpetual fog of patchouli in college dorms. Now theres an emphasis on natural ingredients and Old World craftsmanship sustained over time  as well as proper compensation for it, via fair-trade producers, as with the dark, rugged sticks of Breu resin from the Amazon rainforest, imported by the Brooklyn-based Incausa from the owners home country of Brazil, and twisty ropes of incense rolled by hand in Nepal, sold by Catherine Rising in Rochester, N.Y. The delicate incense sticks of the Parisian house Astier de Villatte are made on the Japanese island of Awaji, in the way that artisans there have made them for generations, from resins, woods and herbs crushed into paste, kneaded and left to rest until the scent ripens, then cut and dried in the western winds that sweep off the ocean.

Modern incarnations, less bound to history, are explicitly posed as design objects. The incense cones of Blackbird in Seattle are monoliths in miniature  eerily symmetrical and uniformly black, whatever their fragrance (among the selections is the vaguely hung-over scent of whiskey and cigarettes after a bleary night). Cinnamon Projects in New York packs its skinny sticks in black-corked vials and boxes stamped with gold foil; youre meant to prop them up in lustrous concave burners or lean blocks of brass designed with nowhere to catch the ash. The online description is crisp: The ash falls where it may.
More than 500,000 student borrowers  with nearly $10 billion in student loan debt  had their loans erased this year, Stacy Cowley reports for The New York Times.

President Biden has so far fended off calls for the kind of blanket debt cancellation that is a top priority of many progressive lawmakers, but a parade of relatively modest eligibility and relief enhancements adds up to a significant expansion of support for beleaguered borrowers. And more may be coming: The Education Department said it was planning regulatory changes to programs aimed at helping public servants and those on income-driven repayment plans.

There is plenty of incentive for the federal government  the primary lender for Americans who borrow for college, holding $1.4 trillion in debt owed by 43 million borrowers  to fix faltering relief programs soon. Since the pandemic took hold in March 2020, virtually all of those loans have been on an interest-free pause, which is scheduled to end Jan. 31. And every loan discharged is one fewer for the agency to service.

The departments actions so far have generated little controversy  few oppose giving military personnel, disabled borrowers and defrauded students the relief to which theyre legally entitled  but the idea of more broadly canceling student debt is a lightning rod. Republicans dislike the idea of saddling taxpayers with the cost, and its critics on the left see it as a subsidy for those with expensive professional degrees.
But for all the planning, the online health screening survey that parents are required to fill out each morning temporarily crashed as hundreds of thousands of people logged on simultaneously.

Still, the day went off with few major hitches. Across the city, students expressed excitement and uncertainty about the new year.

On a subway car with broken air-conditioning in East New York, Brooklyn, Neriyah Smith, who is 8, said she was nervous and excited about seeing her classmates again after learning remotely for all of last year. I made a lot of friends before I was on computers, she said.

In the Bronx, Jazlynn Gonzalez, 14, hugged herself and stared wide-eyed at the students pouring into Herbert H. Lehman High School. Ooh, Im so scared, she said. I dont know what to do, like people come up to me and I dont know if I should say hi, I just get confused.

New York, which always starts and ends its school year later than most other districts, is the last major system in the country to reopen. Los Angeles and San Francisco have seen very few outbreaks in the weeks schools have been open, while other districts that do not require masks or other safety measures have seen mass student quarantines. In Mississippi, for example, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, there were 69 outbreaks at schools in the first few weeks of classes.

Mr. de Blasio has long said that the city, once an epicenter of the pandemic, would not be able to fully recover without the complete restoration of its school system, which will allow many parents to return to work. There are indeed encouraging signs: The citys Delta wave, which was modest compared with much of the rest of the country, appears to be plateauing just as the school year begins.
A lawyer for Prince Andrew, who was sued last month by a woman accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor, said in a Manhattan court on Monday that the lawsuit was likely to be invalid under the terms of an earlier confidential settlement  one that the princes lawyers have said the woman reached with Jeffrey Epstein.

The hearing, coming in the closely watched lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, one of Mr. Epsteins most prominent accusers, was the first public response from Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and suggests that his legal team will seek to beat back any attempt to allow the suit to proceed. Prince Andrews lawyer also argued on Monday that his client had not been properly served with legal papers in Britain.

The lawyer, Andrew B. Brettler, said Ms. Giuffres lawsuit was baseless, nonviable and potentially unlawful.

We have significant concerns about the propriety of this lawsuit, Mr. Brettler said at a hearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
In Texas, teenagers who need abortions must get their parents consent, but for many young people, thats not an option. Maybe theyre in foster care, or theyre unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, in which case the government has legal authority over them. Maybe their parents are abusive, or adamantly opposed to abortion.

The Supreme Court has ruled that parents dont have absolute power to make their children continue unwanted pregnancies, so Texas, like many other states, has an allowance for whats called a judicial bypass. If a pregnant minor can prove to a judge that shes mature enough to make her own decision, or that notifying a parent is not in her best interest, she can get a waiver allowing her to have an abortion.

But Texas six-week abortion ban, which the Supreme Court has refused to stay, has all but put an end to judicial bypasses. Even if a girl finds out shes pregnant the moment a home test can pick it up, getting through the judicial bypass process and the states 24-hour waiting period before six weeks of pregnancy is extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible. As long as the law, known as Senate Bill 8, stands, abortion is going to be unavailable to some of the states most vulnerable teenagers. It doesnt matter, under the law, if they were raped, or if telling their parents theyre pregnant will put them in danger. It doesnt even matter if their father was the one who impregnated them.

Janes Due Process is an organization that helps pregnant minors obtain waivers. Rosann Mariappuram, its executive director, told me that before S.B. 8, at least one teenager a day would typically seek the groups help. Ten percent to 15 percent of its clients are either in immigration detention or foster care, meaning theres no way for them to get an abortion without a judge signing off on it.
Except that Ms. Eilishs hair hasnt looked like that for quite some time. This summer, she introduced a new blond bombshell mien on the cover of British Vogue, wearing pink lingerie and nude latex. In her Met Gala debut, she sought out another traditionally feminine aesthetic, providing Oscar de la Renta with reference images of Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe during the design process.

She was super excited to wear a beautiful gown, said Laura Kim, the labels other creative director  a statement that would have been somewhat unbelievable two years ago. But when she stepped on the museums red carpet Monday night as the youngest ever co-chair of the gala, Ms. Eilish looked every bit the glamorous starlet.

Her corseted gown had a gargantuan skirt with a 15-foot train. Seeing Ms. Eilish in such a grown-up ensemble, its easy to forget that she is still a teenager. When she first met the designers, she brought her mom, who took so many photos that her phone froze, Ms. Kim said.

Ms. Eilish is also perhaps the only Met Gala guest in history to elicit an ethical policy change from a company as a condition of wearing its gown to fashions version of the Super Bowl.

Oscar de la Renta will terminate all fur sales at the urging of Ms. Eilish, who is a vegan and animal rights activist. Mr. Garcia and Ms. Kim havent used fur in their designs for a few years now  ever since they told Alex Bolen, the brands chief executive, that they didnt find fur chic, modern or relevant. Mr. Bolen disagreed, he said, but told them it was fine to stop using fur on the runway. The company still sold fur products in stores, however. While declining to provide figures, Mr. Bolen said fur made up a meaningful amount of sales and profit for Oscar de la Renta.
What exactly those ambitions are was not always clear to me. Playing a woman called only You in the program, Anyanwu delivers a furious comic diatribe to an absent lover shes apparently ambivalent about leaving. Theres no question shes angry about how he has bent her into the image he wanted: I put on the perfect lip color / I wore the clothes you liked, she intones in the quasi-poetic cadences of the script. But she just as often flips into admitting, with a sly grin, her own accountability:

Okay if Im being honest, I liked being the thing you needed, she grants, later adding: I would be lying if I said it didnt feel good / To withhold sometimes / A lot of times / Most of the time.

The alternation between these two modes, though amusingly rendered by Anyanwu, is somewhat schematic, and might be even more so were it not for bold staging choices by the director, Patricia McGregor. Bringing physical life to the oscillations of the bare text, she at one point has Anyanwu pour what looks like a fifth of Patron into the sound hole of the exs guitar and threaten to light it. At another point, indulging happier thoughts, the character is directed to make pleasurable use of that bed.

But the is-she-really-leaving love story, it turns out, is only the bait for what follows. After 20 minutes of You, when a jarring reconfiguration of Yu-Hsuan Chens set brings us to another world entirely, we get You No. 2. The next 50 minutes take place in a high-security cell, the kind you might imagine housing the most dangerous, psychotic inmates.

The man inside it, played by Daniel J. Watts, is clearly mad, in both senses. But he does not seem dangerous, even when fed medications by an orderly (Xavier Scott Evans). Rather, he seems emotionally bereft, desperate to reconnect with a woman who has unilaterally ended things with him. As we begin to wonder whether the woman in question is the same one we got to know earlier  or, for that matter, an actual woman at all, or many  his confinement, no less than his longing, begins to seem more allegorical than real.
Afghanistan is not the most pressing terrorism threat for the United States, even after the takeover by the Taliban, the Biden administrations top intelligence official said Monday.

The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the collapse of the U.S.-backed government has created challenges for collecting intelligence in the country, said Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence. But she added said that Afghanistan is not the top global terrorism threat facing the United States.

In terms of the homeland, the threat right now from terrorist groups, we dont prioritize at the top of the list Afghanistan, she said. What we look at is Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Iraq for ISIS. And thats where we see the greatest threat.

Yemen is the base for a Qaeda offshoot that has attempted attacks on the United States. Somalia has Al Shabab, a terrorist group which regularly attacks neighboring Kenya. While diminished, the Islamic State still operates in Syria and has mounted attacks in Iraq.
The high-profile election that thrust Arnold Schwarzenegger into power in 2003 was the first time that many Americans heard of a recall.

The idea that California voters could remove their governor from office before the end of his term  and replace him with a movie star  was unfamiliar, if not unbelievable.

But recalls have a long, storied history in the United States.

In 1776, after declaring independence from the British, some of the original 13 colonies wrote recall provisions into their state constitutions as a way to guard against the power of elected officials, said Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at Wagner Colleges Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform. But the idea of the recall did not make it into the U.S. Constitution, and instead went into hibernation for more than a century.

It took a Philadelphia-born doctor in Los Angeles to truly revive the recall, Spivak writes in his book, Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom.
Biden Campaigns for Newsom at California Rally The president called Larry Elder, the leading Republican candidate, a clone of Donald Trump. Voters must decide by Tuesday night whether to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office. Gavin Newsom wins the California Recall Election. Follow our live results coverage.

On the eve of the election, Biden rallies voters for Newsom in California. Image At a rally in Long Beach on Monday night, President Biden urged Californias Democrats to turn out for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Election Day. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times LONG BEACH, Calif.  In a final push to maintain Democratic leadership in California and fend off the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Biden encouraged voters at a rally in the state on Monday night to reject the Republican-led effort to push Mr. Newsom from office. Mr. Bidens visit, his first to California as president, came the day before the election on Tuesday. The presidents arrival underscored the alarm within the Democratic Party at the possibility of losing the governorship of the nations most populous state, where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one. You can either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor, or youll get Donald Trump, warned Mr. Biden, who compared the leading Republican candidate, Larry Elder, to a clone of the former president. Its not a joke. At the rally Monday evening in Long Beach, Mr. Biden appeared with Mr. Newsom, who polls show is likely to prevail, after a nervous summer for Democrats in which polls showed the recall had a good shot of succeeding. But since those early projections, millions of dollars have flooded the state on Mr. Newsoms behalf, campaign money the Democratic Party has used in get-out-the-vote efforts. In Mr. Newsom, the president sees not just a member of his own party whose job is in jeopardy, but an ally on policy who has been pushing vaccine mandates and aggressive efforts to combat climate change, two issues that have defined the early days of Mr. Bidens presidency. On the pandemic, Mr. Newsom has positioned himself in opposition to Mr. Trump, repeatedly describing the recall as a matter of life and death rather than a question of his popularity. His top rival, Mr. Elder, a conservative talk radio host, has said that lifting mask rules and vaccine mandates would be his top priority if elected. Mr. Newsom has focused voter attention on the states strict pandemic rules as the Delta variant has surged, filling hospitals in states led by Republicans who have imposed fewer restrictions. California was the first state to mandate that all teachers in both public and private schools be vaccinated or else face regular testing, and the governor has toured the state and implored residents to get vaccinated. Seventy percent of Californians have received at least one shot, a higher rate than many other large states, including New York, Texas and Florida. Mr. Biden told voters at the rally that the elections outcome would have an impact far beyond California. Its going to reverberate around the country and, this is no joke, its going to reverberate around the world, he said. Mr. Newsom, who took the stage before the president, similarly framed the election as a contest between Californias proud progressivism and what the Democrats characterized as the divisive politics that Mr. Trump represented. We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism, Mr. Newsom said. Mr. Newsom has struggled to connect with the states growing core of young and Latino voters, many of whom have said that they do not find the governor particularly compelling and that they are weary of partisan tribalism. On Monday, the choice to host a rally with the president at Long Beach City College, where 53 percent of the student body is Hispanic, appeared to be an attempt to dispel the notion that he has failed to engage Latino voters. Were in Long Beach, one of the most diverse cities in the most diverse county, Los Angeles County, in one of the most diverse states in the most diverse democracy in the world, Mr. Newsom said on Monday night. The president and the governor appeared alongside Long Beachs mayor, Robert Garcia, who is the first Latino and openly gay man to lead the diverse city of almost half a million people just south of Los Angeles, and was one of the speakers who introduced the president. Before the rally began, a smattering of supporters of Mr. Trump gathered near campus waving signs that read unvaxxed lives matter and Trump won, drawing chants of Biden won! from those heading to see the president. Among those in the crowd was Daniel J. St. Jean, a student who turned 18 in the months since the presidential election last year. Supporting Mr. Newsom in the recall was the first time he had voted in his life. I like that he speaks his mind, that hes cool, calm and levelheaded, Mr. St. Jean said. Mr. Biden, who before traveling to Long Beach visited Northern California to tour areas devastated by wildfires and promote his climate agenda, won the presidential election in California last year by a wide margin, with the fear of four more years of Mr. Trump driving large numbers of Californians to the polls. Mr. Bidens approval in the state has dropped slightly, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll, but is still high: About six in 10 Californians approve of his performance as president. The campaign stop for Mr. Newsom was the presidents second in-person campaign event since taking office. In July, he made a fiery campaign appearance with former Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, who is running this year for his old office. Asked why Mr. Biden had chosen to visit California now, rather than weeks ago, when many voters in the state had yet to cast their ballots by mail, Karine Jean-Pierre, a White House spokeswoman, pointed to the wildfire- and climate-related stops he had made earlier on Monday. Presidents, she said, must often do several things at the same time. She added, But Im not going to go into any reasoning why hes going now instead of two, three weeks ago. Jill Cowan, Tim Arango, Annie Karni and

Volunteers have been knocking on the doors of often-ambivalent Latino voters. Image Karen Diaz, an electoral field manager for an immigrant rights group, canvassed in Palmdale, Calif., last month. Credit... Rozette Rago for The New York Times SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.  The handful of volunteers gathered on Monday in the small office of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, one of Southern Californias largest Latino and immigrant rights organizations. Karen Diaz, a lead organizer, reminded them just how important the recall election would be. Without Gov. Gavin Newsom, she warned, undocumented immigrants could lose their rights to health care services and drivers licenses. Latino essential workers, who have died from Covid-19 and have been sickened by the coronavirus at disproportionately high rates, would lose what protections they do have. And money set aside to help renters and public school students would soon evaporate. Latinos have been some of the most ambivalent voters in the weeks leading up to the recall, turning in ballots at a lower rate than Black, Asian and white voters. While Mr. Newsoms standing with Latino voters has improved in recent polls, some see grim warnings for Democrats and have urged the party to do more to reach out to them. This is a fight for us, Ms. Diaz reminded the volunteers just before they took off in blazing 99-degree heat to knock on doors of Latino voters who had yet to cast a ballot. Ms. Diaz and Ma Carmen Rodriguez headed to a cul-de-sac in San Bernardino, a working-class city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. They knocked on nearly a dozen doors before their first success: Lina Luna, an 18-year-old who would be a first-time voter. Ms. Luna said that though she had yet to turn in her ballot, she planned to support Mr. Newsom and to vote against the recall on Tuesday. But she seemed confused about just how to do so. I cant mail it in anymore? Ms. Luna asked. Well, you can, but its better to turn it in person, because then it gets counted right away, Ms. Diaz replied, showing her the nearest location where she could drop off the ballot. You dont even have to wait in line, she added. But go early. Dont forget and wait until the evening and the polls close, then its too late. Ms. Luna assured them she would take their advice.

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Talking to voters in the San Gabriel Valley: The alternatives were not appealing. Image Californians cast their ballots at Beverly Hills City Hall on Monday. Credit... Allison Zaucha for The New York Times ROWLAND HEIGHTS, Calif.  Election Day is more like election month in California, since registered voters across the state received their ballots by mail weeks ago and more than a third have already sent them back. But Elliot Chang was not one of them. Instead, Mr. Chang waited until Monday morning to drop off his ballot at John A. Rowland High School in Rowland Heights, a heavily Asian American suburb east of Los Angeles. The polling site, like hundreds of others around the state, was open for early in-person voting. Theres something about casting your vote live that I dont want to give up, said Mr. Chang, 56, who wore an I voted sticker on his button-down shirt. Mr. Chang is not registered with either party, a trait he shares with roughly a third of voters in Californias 39th Congressional District, southeast of Los Angeles. And while he said there was plenty about Gov. Gavin Newsom he did not like, he never considered voting him out of office. The alternatives were not appealing, Mr. Chang said, adding that he thought Mr. Newsom had done a good job managing the pandemic  the most important issue determining his support. I want there to be someone in charge who believes in vaccines, who believes in masks, he said. Mr. Changs viewpoints were the type of support Mr. Newsom has counted on throughout the recall campaign. In the closing days of the election, with residents concerned about the Delta variant as children return to schools, Mr. Newsom and his supporters sought to portray the choice as a matter of life and death.

Capturing scenes from the polls as Californians cast their ballots. Los Angeles Allison Zaucha for The New York Times San Francisco Jim Wilson/The New York Times Monterey Park Alex Welsh for The New York Times Los Angeles Allison Zaucha for The New York Times South Pasadena Ryan Young for The New York Times Los Angeles Allison Zaucha for The New York Times

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When will Californians know who won the recall? Image Voters turned in their ballots outside the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Monday. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times Californians have been voting early for weeks in the election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. But it is unclear how long it will take to get a definitive answer on whether he will keep his job. Depending on the number of early ballots and the amount of in-person voting on Tuesday, the math could be clear within a few hours of when the polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific time, election experts say. But if the race is tighter than expected, weeks could pass while the counting drags on. Recall attempts are a fact of political life for governors of California. But they do not usually make it onto the ballot, and Californians have gone to the polls only one other time to determine whether the states top officeholder should be ousted. That was in 2003, when Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then, the states voting rules and electorate have changed substantially. Because of the safety concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic, ballots were mailed early to all of the states 22 million or so registered and active voters in the 2020 election. Voters can return their completed ballots by mail, deposit them in secure drop boxes, vote early in person or vote at a polling place on Tuesday. Nearly 40 percent of registered voters have already cast ballots, but many Republicans have indicated that they plan to vote in person, citing  without evidence  a concern that election officials in the Democrat-dominated state will tamper with their ballots. Studies after the 2020 election found that the system had worked smoothly, with no systemic voter fraud. Early Democratic ballots have outnumbered Republican ones by two to one, with overwhelming majorities of voters in both parties telling pollsters they plan to vote along party lines. Mr. Newsom is a Democrat, as is about 46 percent of the electorate. But that margin is expected to tighten as Republican voters  who represent fewer than a quarter of registered voters  head to the polls. Vote counts are notoriously slow in California because the state is so massive. The law for this election allows county officials to open and process early ballots as they come in, but those results cannot be shared with the public until the polls close, said Jenna Dresner, a spokeswoman for the California secretary of states office. California has 58 counties, and each processes its ballots differently. Results often land later in larger counties, such as Los Angeles County. Officials have 30 days to complete their official canvass and must give vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on Election Day a week to arrive. The certified count is not expected until Oct. 22. Significant partial counts should be available within a couple of hours after polls close in some key areas, such as the Bay Area and Orange County. And the electoral math in California should offer some strong clues about the outcome, said Paul Mitchell, a vice president of Political Data Inc., a nonpartisan supplier of election data. Because so many voters are Democrats, he said, the higher the turnout, the better Mr. Newsoms chances are of beating the recall. If the overall turnout hits 60 percent, he said, the proposed ouster of Mr. Newsom is almost mathematically impossible.

Why does California have recall elections? Image Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigning for governor in San Bernardino, Calif., during the 2003 recall election. Credit... Monica Almeida/The New York Times The high-profile election that thrust Arnold Schwarzenegger into power in 2003 was the first time that many Americans heard of a recall. The idea that California voters could remove their governor from office before the end of his term  and replace him with a movie star  was unfamiliar, if not unbelievable. But recalls have a long, storied history in the United States. In 1776, after declaring independence from the British, some of the original 13 colonies wrote recall provisions into their state constitutions as a way to guard against the power of elected officials, said Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at Wagner Colleges Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform. But the idea of the recall did not make it into the U.S. Constitution, and instead went into hibernation for more than a century. It took a Philadelphia-born doctor in Los Angeles to truly revive the recall, Spivak writes in his book, Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom. In 1898, a Los Angeles physician named John Randolph Haynes proposed adding a recall measure to the citys charter as a way of rooting out corruption. Five years later, the city became one of the first places in the nation to adopt the recall. In the seven years that followed, 25 other California cities passed similar measures, according to Mr. Spivak. And in 1911, California voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that made the state the third to allow recalls. Now, 110 years later, most states allow local officials to be recalled; 19, including California, allow the removal of state officials as well.

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Newsoms lead is large enough to withstand major polling errors. Image Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigning in Oakland on Saturday. Credit... Jim Wilson/The New York Times After the polls overestimated Democratic candidates in 2016 and 2020, it is reasonable to wonder whether Gov. Gavin Newsoms lead in the California recall election might prove as illusory as Hillary Clintons lead in Wisconsin or Joe Bidens in Florida. Its not impossible. But Mr. Newsoms lead now dwarfs the typical polling error and is large enough to withstand nearly every statewide polling miss in recent memory. Opposition to recalling Mr. Newsom leads by 17 points, 58 to 41 percent, according to the FiveThirtyEight average. Polls in 2020 overestimated the Democrats by an average of about five percentage points. There was no state in either the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections where the final polls missed by 16 percentage points. Perhaps the worst recent polling miss  Senator Susan Collinss comfortable nine-point victory after trailing in the polls by three points  is in the ballpark, but would still fall five points short of erasing Mr. Newsoms lead. Many of the most embarrassing and high-profile misses for pollsters, such as the seven-point polling errors in Wisconsin in 2016 and 2020, might still leave Mr. Newsom with a double-digit victory. It is hard to find many precedents for such a large polling error. According to Harry Enten, a writer at CNN, there are only four cases in the last 20 years where the polling average in a race for governor was off by at least 15 percentage points. Mr. Newsoms opponents can hope that the idiosyncrasies of a recall election might make it more challenging for pollsters than a typical general election. Special and primary elections often have larger polling errors. But the polls were fairly accurate in the last California gubernatorial recall and dead-on in the high-profile effort to recall former Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin in 2012. The high turnout in early voting in California so far tends to reduce the risk that an unusual turnout would contribute to a particularly large polling error. And California is not a state where the polls have missed badly in recent election cycles. The largest polling errors have been in Wisconsin, Maine and other states with large numbers of white working-class voters. Thats not California. Just 22 percent of California voters in 2020 were whites without a four-year college degree, the second lowest of any state, according to census data. Perhaps as a result, statewide polling in California has generally been fairly accurate. Joe Biden led the final California polls by 29.2 points, according to FiveThirtyEight. He won by 29.2 points.

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Who are the Republican candidates? Clockwise from top left: Kevin Faulconer, John Cox, Kevin Kiley, Caitlyn Jenner and Larry Elder. Dozens of Republicans are running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. But only a handful of them have registered any meaningful support in the polls or raised the kind of money needed to run a statewide campaign. They include political veterans like Kevin Faulconer, the former mayor of San Diego, and Kevin Kiley, a member of the State Assembly from Rocklin. There are business leaders, including John Cox, who has run for office several times before, and first-time candidates, including Larry Elder, a talk radio personality, and Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian. Their vast differences reflect the disjointed nature of Californias Republican Party  an institution that has been hollowed out over the years and is now so small that it is practically a third party. Here is the complete list of challengers from the California secretary of states office.

The first governor to lose a recall election was not in the Golden State. Only twice in U.S. history has a governor been recalled. You probably know about the second: In 2003, Gov. Gray Davis of California was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. But you might not know about the first, which happened 100 years ago, on Oct. 28, 1921. Gov. Lynn Frazier of North Dakota narrowly lost that recall election to Ragnvald Nestos, 107,332 votes to 111,434, just two years after signing the amendment in the State Constitution that made recalls possible. Image Lynn Frazier lost the recall election by about 4,000 votes. Credit... Alamy The immediate catalyst was a conflict over a state-run bank and a state-run mill. The larger issue was an ideological divide between two factions of the Republican Party: the progressive and socialist Nonpartisan League, to which Mr. Frazier belonged, and the conservative and capitalist Independent Voters Association, to which Mr. Nestos belonged. North Dakota was going through a rough time: Farm prices were down, crops were poor because of weather, and the state was left in an economic depression following World War I, according to the State Historical Society of North Dakota. It was in that context that Nonpartisan League candidates had been elected, pledging to create a state-owned bank and state-owned mills, elevators and packing plants. The Frazier administration managed to push through several progressive priorities, including womens suffrage, an income tax system with higher rates for higher earners, an inheritance tax and the very recall mechanism that would be used against it. But, while it created the Bank of North Dakota and a state homebuilders association and began building a $2 million mill, its state ownership platform went south quickly. The recall campaign  which targeted Mr. Frazier; the North Dakota attorney general, William Lemke; and the state agriculture commissioner, John Hagan  was bitter from start to finish. In a statement quoted in The New York Times, the secretary of the Independent Voters Association said the stakes were no less than whether or not public officials shall be required to render honest public service and not be permitted to appropriate public property for their personal gain. On the other side, the editor of The Fargo Daily Courier-News, a newspaper aligned with the Nonpartisan League, wrote on Oct. 3 that the Independent Voters Association was counting on whipping their halfhearted supporters into line, through the use of the big campaign funds they expect to get from the railroads, the grain trade and the big bankers. Mr. Lemke survived the vote, but Mr. Frazier and Mr. Hagan were removed from office. It was not the end of Mr. Fraziers political career, though. He was elected to the U.S. Senate just a year after being recalled from the governorship, and served in Washington for 18 years.

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Many voters in California still dont know theres a recall election. Image Volunteers canvassing and encouraging voters to vote against the recall, in Los Angeles earlier this month. Credit... Andrew Cullen for The New York Times The recall election of Californias governor has been unusual for a lot of reasons. But one of the first things that set it apart was that just a month before Election Day  even as ballots began to hit mailboxes  many Californians didnt even know a vote was taking place. That was especially true in predominantly Latino communities, where advocates worried that voters would be too preoccupied by work and family to learn about what was at stake. Young people and immigrants may be voting for the first time, and the ballot is confusingly different from other elections; there is no runoff. Covid-19 has continued to ravage those communities, where many essential workers are struggling to recover from the worst of the pandemic and its economic fallout. Were asking people to vote by Sept. 14, and they might get evicted by Sept. 30, said Christian Arana, vice president of policy for the Latino Community Foundation. Now, though, after millions of text messages have implored voters to cast their ballots, and recognizable Democrats like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former President Barack Obama have appeared on television screens, Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping that voters will be motivated to turn out. With one day of voting left, more than twice as many Democrats have returned their ballots as Republicans, according to Political Data, Inc., an election data supplier. But some signs suggest that Mr. Newsoms message might not have reached some of the voters most important to Californias political future. There are more registered 18- to 34-year-old voters than any other age group, but just 20 percent of them have cast ballots, compared with 57 percent of voters 65 and older. And just 23 percent of Latino voters have returned their ballots, compared with 42 percent of white voters. Some may vote in person this week. But many young and Latino voters have said theyre ambivalent about Mr. Newsom and about a Democratic Party that has long relied on their support.

How do you give 46 candidates a fair shot on the ballot? Image Forty-six candidates are running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom if California voters recall him on Tuesday. In what order should their names appear on the ballot? It may sound like a frivolous question, but it isnt: Research suggests that the order in which candidates are listed can affect who wins. Because of that, it is considered a best practice in election administration to randomize the order of names rather than list them alphabetically, to avoid disadvantaging candidates whose names begin with letters late in the alphabet. Methods vary from state to state and sometimes from county to county. In Minnesota, major-party candidates are listed in reverse order of their average vote in the last election, minor-party candidates are subject to a random drawing, and nonpartisan candidates are subject to a formula enshrined in state law, according to the Minnesota secretary of states office. In South Carolina, candidates are listed according to their party, and the party order is rotated every two years. In Whatcom County, Wash., candidates are listed on primary ballots by random draw, and on general election ballots by the vote share they received in the primary. And then there is California, which doesnt randomize candidate names  it randomizes the entire alphabet. As decreed by a drawing conducted 82 days before the election, the alphabet on Tuesdays ballot will be X-K-T-V-F-N-R-G-J-Y-Z-L-M-B-A-Q-H-D-I-E-P-C-W-S-O-U. Candidates names will be alphabetized according to that drawing. That means Caitlyn Jenner will appear before Larry Elder (J before E), and Sam Gallucci will appear before Ted Gaines (L before I). But wait! Theres more. The names will appear in that order in Californias First Assembly District  but in the Second Assembly District, the candidate who appeared first in Assembly District 1 drops to the bottom and the other candidates move up one position and so on throughout the 80 districts, according to the California secretary of states office. That means, depending on where in California you live, the names on your ballot might start at, say, B  like on the sample ballot pictured above  and wrap back around according to the alphabet drawing, ending at M. Its as easy as XKT.

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Frustrated farmers may be a force in the recall election. Image Craig Gordon, a dairy farmer in Ontario, Calif., has been urging voters to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. Mr. Gordon is unhappy with dairy taxes, coronavirus restrictions and water curtailments. Credit... Rozette Rago for The New York Times Farmers are a key constituency in California, where the $50 billion agricultural sector makes up about 3 percent of the states gross domestic product. During this year of exceptional drought, they are feeling the pinch of water restrictions, prompting many to support the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday and choose a successor who they feel supports small businesses and will fight hard for their water needs. In interviews in recent days, several farmers said Mr. Newsom hadnt responded as urgently as they would like to their pleas for more water storage, such as dams, reservoirs or water banks, as a way of helping them through this drought and future ones. Hes not there for the state of California, Mr. Gordon said of the governor. Were angry, and the people of the state want this guy gone. Mr. Gordon, the owner of several dairy farms near Los Angeles, is a lifelong Democrat who voted for Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, in 2018. But lately, he said, high taxes on milk, coronavirus shutdowns that have cut into his sales and state-imposed limitations on water for agriculture have made him so angry at the governor that he has paid for seven billboards throughout the state  most of them in the Central Valley, which produces a quarter of the nations food  urging people to remove the governor. Mr. Gordon said he has spent about $44,000 for the billboards. If I had to spend my last dime to get rid of this guy, I would, he said. School closings during the pandemic have inflicted losses in milk sales of roughly $15,000 a day, he said. Between that financial blow and his taxes, he said, hell have to sell his cows and close the business by next year. Some farmers expressed sympathy for Mr. Newsom. Hes the governor at a very difficult time, and I believe hes done the best job that hes been able to do, said Don Cameron, the general manager of Terranova Ranch, about 30 miles southwest of Fresno, and a supporter of the governors in the recall election. There are a lot of farmers who dont agree with that position, but its down political lines, unfortunately.

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What does the rate of removal from office tell us about recall elections? Image Larry Elder campaigning in San Diego earlier this month. Credit... Mike Blake/Reuters The common wisdom in politics is that elections favor the incumbent. The candidate already in office has more name recognition, and can often raise more money than the challengers. But thats not the way recall elections have played out in recent years in the United States. Between 2011 and 2020, there were about 1,000 recall elections of state and local officials held nationwide, with a removal rate of 60 percent, said Joshua Spivak, a senior fellow at Wagner Colleges Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform. And in California, the numbers are even less favorable for the incumbent. During that same time frame, there were 110 recall elections in the state, with a 78 percent removal rate, Mr. Spivak said. In general, recalls work against the sitting official because the people most motivated to vote in the recall election are those interested in ousting them, experts say. Gov. Gavin Newsoms success, for example, hinges on whether enough Democrats will vote to counteract enthusiasm among Republicans. But its unclear why California recalls are particularly difficult for incumbents to survive. There may be an element of chance at play, Mr. Spivak said. Or it could be that Californians are more familiar with the concept of recalls, and therefore more likely to vote to remove someone, he said. California was one of the first states to legalize recalls, and is the only place where a recall of a governor has made the ballot twice. This year alone, dozens of recall efforts against state and local officials are underway. Im not sure that its anything more than that they just got these recalls on the ballot, and theyre pretty comfortable using the recall, Mr. Spivak said.

Sabo, the guerrilla street artist, gives the Elder campaign a push on the Sunset Strip. Image A Netflix billboard on Sunset Strip was wrapped in sheets featuring an ad for Larry Elder's campaign for California governor on Monday. Credit... Sabo 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. In a text message, he said he had chosen the billboard because the chairman of Netflix, Reed Hastings, had contributed $3 million against the recall, and because of the impact of the governors coronavirus restrictions on the local economy. A half-dozen friends had helped, he said. The Viper Room was closed all weekend, he wrote. The shutdowns have hurt them and the staff, along with most of the businesses on the strip. But, Sabo added, I did this hit in the name of PUNK ROCK. By 8 a.m. Pacific time, the installation had been removed, and the Netflix advertisement was restored. That was the fastest Ive had a billboard taken down, Sabo texted.

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Californians have been voting early for weeks in the election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom. But it is unclear how long it will take to get a definitive answer on whether he will keep his job.

Depending on the number of early ballots and the amount of in-person voting on Tuesday, the math could be clear within a few hours of when the polls close at 8 p.m. Pacific time, election experts say. But if the race is tighter than expected, weeks could pass while the counting drags on.

Recall attempts are a fact of political life for governors of California. But they do not usually make it onto the ballot, and Californians have gone to the polls only one other time to determine whether the states top officeholder should be ousted. That was in 2003, when Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then, the states voting rules and electorate have changed substantially.

Because of the safety concerns arising from the coronavirus pandemic, ballots were mailed early to all of the states 22 million or so registered and active voters in the 2020 election. Voters can return their completed ballots by mail, deposit them in secure drop boxes, vote early in person or vote at a polling place on Tuesday.
MANILA  As jubilant students across the globe trade in online learning for classrooms, millions of children in the Philippines are staying home for the second year in a row because of the pandemic, fanning concerns about a worsening education crisis in a country where access to the internet is uneven.

President Rodrigo Duterte has justified keeping elementary schools and high schools closed by arguing that students and their families need to be protected from the coronavirus. The Philippines has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Asia, with just 16 percent of its population fully inoculated, and Delta variant infections have surged in recent months.

That makes the Philippines, with its roughly 27 million students, one of only a handful of countries that has kept schools fully closed throughout the pandemic, joining Venezuela, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Agency for Children. Other countries that kept schools closed, like Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, have moved to reopen them.

I cannot gamble on the health of the children, Mr. Duterte said in June, rejecting recommendations by the health department to reopen schools.
A dance is never just about the steps. But what if Gwen Verdon hadnt happened to Bob Fosse?

Nicole Fosse, their daughter, has a suspicion that her mother had a good deal to do with Fosses steps. Nicole was there when he would ask Verdon to show him a few. He would rearrange them, change the angle. He would connect them.

Hed be trying to find something in his body, and she would get next to him and start imitating him, Nicole said. Hed look at her and then all of a sudden there was this symbiotic thing that happened between them: And then there was the step.

This October, as part of the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, Nicole is giving her mother credit where she believes credit is due. In a festival commission, the Verdon Fosse Legacy  which Nicole formed in 2013 to promote, preserve and protect the work of her parents  presents Sweet Gwen Suite, a trio of short dances originally performed on The Bob Hope Special in 1968 and The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. Each featured Verdon, who will be credited, alongside Fosse, with the choreography. (Verdon died in 2000; Fosse in 1987.)
Its not yet clear if New York is out of the coronavirus woods, but if all goes well, October will bring chances for us to see how recent and new art has fared during the pandemics siege. That month the city will witness the unprecedented coincidence of three ambitious and recurring surveys  Greater New York at MoMA/PS1, the New Museum 2021 Triennial and the Performa 2021 Biennial. All were established this century to capture the zeitgeist in one way or another.

This convergence seems auspicious  and needed  offering a chance to take stock after one of the most tumultuous, and for better but also for worse, most transformative periods in American history.

The last year and a half sharpened the view of art as a weapon for social justice, but it also renewed appreciation for arts contemplative side, its ability to comfort and relieve in times of crisis. These two qualities are often seen as mutually exclusive, but are both present, however subtly, in the best work.
Time during the first year of the pandemic was a continuous present: that was what was worst about it. Days became shapeless, dislodged from the past, divorced from the future; nothing stuck, nothing had endurance; whole months washed over me in a nebulous babble of posts and pics. Rediscovering ourselves means rediscovering time  not the time of push notifications and 14-day infection rates, but a deep, evolutionary time, where who we were informs who we are and who we will be.

How? Where? In a museum, for example: a compression chamber of past, present and future. Across the United States this autumn, exhibitions and collection displays of historical treasures promise to elucidate our own darkling age.

Im hoping to go back to the future this fall at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which four years ago received a transformative gift of over 100 Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 17th century by Rembrandt, Rubens, and some less familiar names. On Nov. 20, the MFA inaugurates its new Low Countries galleries, along with a Center for Netherlandish Art that will be the U.S.s first such research institution, which both promise to foreground these paintings reflections of commerce, slavery, exploration, and environment.

Dutch art has a reputation for tranquillity, but these painters in Amsterdam, Haarlem or Antwerp were hardly taking it easy. They were working in economic boomtowns, at the dawn of shareholder capitalism and imperial expansion  and in their still lifes and portraits you can see a whole new society, nourished by the flow of goods and people from Brazil to Indonesia. (And the dawn, too, of the art market: in Holland, most artists painted on spec for middle-class collectors.)
Nairy Baghramian is the winner of the 2022 Nasher Prize, an award given by the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas to a living artist who elevates the understanding of sculpture and its possibilities. As a part of the honor, Baghramian, who is based in Berlin, will receive $100,000.

She will also be celebrated at a ceremony in Dallas next spring, where she will receive an award designed by Renzo Piano, the architect of the sculpture center. Previous recipients of the prize include Michael Rakowitz, Doris Salcedo, Isa Genzken and Pierre Huyghe.

Jeremy Strick, the director of the sculpture center, said that the virtues of Baghramians work were particularly evident amid the social isolation of the pandemic. After these many months of reduced personal contact with beloved people, places and things, Strick said in a statement, it was of the utmost importance to the jury to champion an artist who deals in realms of the physical  the tangible  and Nairy Baghramians work stood out for its deep commitment to the object-based traditions of sculpture.

The artist Phyllida Barlow, one of nine jurors who made the selection, highlighted Baghramians way of engaging with the history of sculpture. Baghramians visual language is rooted in traditions of sculptural form and shape, she said in a statement, but she transforms those traditions into profoundly personal relationships with diverse references  from the architectural to the anthropomorphic.
Much has been made of Musgravess experimentation at the edges of country music. But praise for her omnivorousness has often read instead as exasperation with the assumed boundaries of the genre shes perceived as distancing herself from. Sometimes those agitating for change from outside the genre are just as conservative as those agonizing about boundaries from within.

That was always a head fake. Musgraves came up as a traditionalist, and even when shes poking at orthodoxy, shes at least lightly invested in heritage: On this album, Keep Lookin Up is a lovely country song. That Musgraves arrived in Nashville during one of its most restrictive eras isnt her fault; her closest analog is Sturgill Simpson, who also retreated into soft psychedelia as a reaction to what everyone within earshot was doing.

Star-Crossed isnt as belabored, production-wise, as Golden Hour, which could feel overly woozy. (She worked with the same team here, the writers and producers Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.) In places, its almost breezy, and has a few callbacks to the light schlock of the 1970s and 1980s  the John Hughes-film gloom of Easier Said nods to Drive by the Cars, and the melancholic Angel, with a literal rainstorm arriving midway through, feels casually indebted to Jim Croces Time in a Bottle.

These relatively minor production gestures speak loudly because Musgraves comes from a world in which they are perceived as more radical than they actually are. (That said, this album is indeed more at home alongside, say, Phoebe Bridgers or Japanese Breakfast.) But they also resonate so loudly because Musgraves lets them say things her voice does not.

She never appears to be singing to convince you  her voice, which is modest in scale but deadly precise, connotes the power of malaise and exhaustion. It is regret embodied.

Sometimes  and often on this album  Musgravess resignation appears to extend to the actual act of singing itself. When shes seething, shes calm. When shes calm, shes verging on bored. Sometimes, at the end of a relationship, youve simply said everything there is to say. To give more would be to give too much.

Kacey Musgraves

Star-Crossed

(Interscope/UMG Nashville)
The Tony winner Sarah Jones plays Yasmin, a mother and wife who gave up her career and is desperate now to reclaim something for herself. Alexia Landeau (who co-wrote several episodes and executive produced) plays Ell, a jobless single mother of three children by three different dads.

Despite the characters struggles, On the Verge is very much a comedy, and Delpy isnt afraid to crack jokes about serious topics like the stresses endured by working mothers, toxic masculinity or ageism. In one early scene, Yasmin is interviewed by a woman half her age and is told that she is, basically, too old. When Yasmin starts to panic and clutches her chest, the young interviewer asks if she is having a heart attack.

The scene details an experience that will resonate with many women; Delpy gives the audience permission to laugh, even as theyre cringing.

Im 46, not 96! Yasmin shoots back.

Its a comic, cerebral sensibility has been honed throughout Delpys career. Her parents, Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet, were both actors (they played her onscreen parents in Delpys 2007 feature, Two Days in Paris), and she grew up in France surrounded by artists, theater actors and writers. Her first big onscreen role came when Jean Luc Godard cast her in his 1985 film Detective, when she was 14. She went on to work with Agnieszka Holland on the Golden Globe-winning film Europa Europa and with Krzysztof Kieslowski on his Three Colors trilogy.

She spent much of her childhood backstage at her parents experimental theater shows or dancing, making music and writing on her own; later, she studied filmmaking at N.Y.U. Its that mix of experimentation and structure (Delpy is quick to point out that the show is meticulously scripted) that she brings to On the Verge.

Its sophistication obliterated by absurdity, said Giovanni Ribisi, who plays Justines endearing yet infuriating boss, speaking about Delpys sensibility. Julie has made a mark with her own style. Shes a craftsman. Shes got personality. Like they had in the 1970s.
LONDON  Patricia Lockwood, Richard Powers and Maggie Shipstead are among the six novelists shortlisted this year for the Booker Prize, one of the worlds most prestigious literary awards.

Powers is a finalist for Bewilderment, his novel about a widowed astrobiologist struggling to care for his son; Shipstead for Great Circle, an epic about a woman who devotes her life to flying and the Hollywood actress set to play her onscreen; and Lockwood for No One Is Talking About This, her debut novel written partly in internet speak.

The other authors and books to make the shortlist, announced in an online news conference on Tuesday, are Anuk Arudpragasam for A Passage North, about the death of a caregiver set against the backdrop of Sri Lankas civil war; Nadifa Mohamed for The Fortune Men, about a miscarriage of justice in Wales; and Damon Galgut for The Promise, about a white family in post-apartheid South Africa.

Some of the years highest-profile novels, including Kazuo Ishiguros Klara and the Sun, made the 13-strong longlist in July but were not among the six finalists.
TRAVELS WITH GEORGE

In Search of Washington and His Legacy

By Nathaniel Philbrick

Early in his first term as president, George Washington visited every state in the Union. The United States was relatively new, having won its independence half a dozen years earlier; the presidency and the Constitution were brand-new. Think of Washingtons trips as test-drives.

Nathaniel Philbrick is a prizewinning maritime historian who has recently turned his attention to the founding period. Travels With George is an account of his retracing Washingtons footsteps  and carriage tracks  accompanied by his wife, Melissa, and their Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, Dora. The book is a hybrid: part history, part travelogue.

Philbricks survey of Washingtons journeys draws on his own knowledge of the period, and on his eye for detail. He begins with Washingtons eight-day trip in April 1789 from Mount Vernon to New York City, then the nations capital, to be inaugurated. Washingtons election had been unanimous, and his journey through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey was a rolling ovation. The crowds that greeted him when he arrived in New York, one congressman wrote, were thick as ears of corn before the harvest. In the fall of 1789 he spent a month traveling in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. (Rhode Island, still hesitating to ratify the Constitution, was pointedly excluded; he picked up that state in August 1790 after it had seen the light.) In April 1790 he toured Long Island, possibly to thank the members of the Culper Ring, the spies who had kept watch on British-occupied New York during the Revolution; protective of his assets, like all good spymasters, he never admitted that this was what he was doing. His journey through Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia in the spring and early summer of 1791 was a bear, taking three months to cover more than 1,800 miles.

Washington, according to a French diplomat at the time, had the advantage of uniting great dignity with great simplicity of manner. This gift enabled him to embody both the monarchical and populist yin and yang of the presidency. In Boston, homeowners rented their windows so that admirers could get a glimpse of him; in Charleston he was greeted by the intendant (mayor) carrying a six-foot-tall gold crowned staff. In Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, by contrast, he stopped to help raise a rafter of a one-room schoolhouse, led the workmen in three cheers and left a dollar to treat them. He made a point of staying in inns and paying his own way, so as not to be beholden to anyone, but this independent-mindedness caused difficulties of its own. Twice in New England, hostelries turned him away; once in North Carolina his entourage, after a dawn start, enjoyed a big breakfast at a roadside house only to discover that they had barged into a private dwelling.
OF FEAR AND STRANGERS

A History of Xenophobia

By George Makari

Over the summer and fall of 1900, as the Universal Exposition was underway in Paris, French newspapers published a series of reports on a fearsome threat suddenly emerging from China: la xenophobie, they dubbed it. At the same time that their capital feted the dawn of globalization and the earths inexorable flattening, readers in France were informed that conflict with les xenophobes was a dangerous part of the new reality.

The trouble had begun the previous winter when a group of pauperized villagers from Shandong Province, with an aptitude for martial arts and believing themselves impervious to gunfire, chanted destroy the foreigners as they mounted a hopeless insurrection against the European missionaries and colonizers taking over their country. The Boxer Rebellion, George Makari argues in Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia, his riveting, painstaking and at times maddeningly overextended meditation on a subject that has vexed human society at least since the dawn of consciousness, marked a new and ironic turn in a previously obscure terms trajectory. Xenophobia no longer applied to some rare medical illness or a broad rivalry between Western nations, he observes. It now served as an explanation of the fearsome trouble Western globalists might encounter in the East, where an irrational, violent hatred of all outsiders might take hold.

The lack of self-awareness and defensive projection exhibited by the European powers throughout the period of colonial expansion is considerable. As are Makaris efforts to trace the evolution of his elusive and ambiguous descriptor. This was not the first instance of the ancient Greek terms for stranger and fear being connected, but the Francophone framing of the Boxer Rebellion was the moment the concept went mainstream and xenophobia became a clarifying word to name a phenomenon increasingly relevant in numerous colonial contexts.

Makari, a psychiatrist and historian, weaves together a fascinating if powerfully disturbing series of examples of stranger hatred (and exploitation) alongside the internal dissent such encounters have always prompted. Long before the British, French, Russians, Germans, Americans and Japanese divided up the Qing empire, the Spanish crown had brutalized the Native inhabitants of Hispaniola, excusing the aggression with strikingly similar justifications. The humanizing spirit animating this book and anticipating whatever hard-won progress we can claim looking backward from the 21st century was birthed in this genocidal calamity.
10. And finally, this ones for the wine lovers.

When our wine critic, Eric Asimov, began his Wine School column seven years ago, his first impulse was to go the traditional route and focus on tasting. Then he realized that the far better approach was to drink rather than taste (preferably with family or friends) as a means for ordinary customers to develop comfort and ease with wine.

Among 10 of the most important lessons so far: Dont be afraid to explore; find the best value for the price; pair wine with food; and return to the classics. This month, Asimov and readers are drinking Chablis from the 2019 vintage and learning about how and why winemakers blend.

Cheers to a great evening.

Bryan Denton compiled photos for this briefing.

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A most perilous hour for Afghan children

Millions of Afghans, including a million children, are at risk of starvation and death amid a most perilous hour, Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, warned at a conference addressing Afghanistans humanitarian crisis.

The World Food Program estimates that 40 percent of crops have been lost during a severe drought. The price of wheat has gone up by 25 percent, and hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless after being forced to flee fighting. The countrys health care system is teetering on the edge of collapse.

More than $1 billion in aid pledges were made at the meeting by the international community, which is still grappling with how to work with an organization like the Taliban, with a history of brutality and human rights abuses. World Bank funding is presently frozen, threatening an effective end to medical services in 31 of Afghanistans 34 provinces.

Related: Albania is housing several hundred Afghan refugees in beach resorts on the Adriatic coast in what are perhaps the worlds most luxurious refugee shelters. We dont put people in camps, Edi Rama, the prime minister, said. They are dehumanizing and where all the problems start psychologically.
The problem of surplus federal property dates back decades, well before the Public Buildings Reform Board was created. By 2003, the Government Accountability Office had placed the management of federal real property on a high risk list, in part because of longstanding difficulties unloading unneeded property.

The General Services Administration functions as the federal landlord, managing the buildings the government owns. But it cannot sell a building unless the agency occupying it declares it excess. And agencies have had little incentive to do that.

It might cost an agency less to maintain a building on an annual basis than to relocate employees to a smaller space and prepare the old building for sale, even if it makes sense in the long run to get the property off its books. And agencies may not benefit financially from a sale because the proceeds often go directly to the Treasury Department.

If an agency does deem a building excess, there are additional hurdles: The property must first be offered to other agencies and, if there are no takers, made available for homeless services and other uses. The process can take years, leading to a backlog.

In the federal governments 2015 fiscal year, agencies reported more than 7,000 excess or underutilized properties, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Attempts have been made, through Republican and Democratic administrations, to remedy the problem. A bipartisan breakthrough came in 2016 with the passage of the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act, known as FASTA, modeled on a successful process of whittling down Defense Department installations after the Cold War. FASTA, it was hoped, would do for civilian properties what the Base Realignment and Closure process had done for military sites.
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Theranos whistle-blower testifies she was alarmed by companys blood tests. Image Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder, with her husband, Billy Evans, outside the federal courthouse in San Jose, Calif., last week. Credit... Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times SAN JOSE, Calif.  A key whistle-blower against Theranos, the blood testing start-up that collapsed under scandal in 2018, testified on Tuesday in the fraud trial of the companys founder, Elizabeth Holmes. The whistle-blower, Erika Cheung, worked as a lab assistant at Theranos for six months in 2013 and 2014 before reporting lab testing problems at the company to federal agents at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2015. Her first day of testimony revealed to a jury what those following the Theranos saga most likely already knew: The companys celebrated blood testing technology did not work. Her testimony is expected to continue on Wednesday. In a crowded courtroom, Ms. Cheung said she had turned down other job offers out of college to join Theranos because she was dazzled by Ms. Holmess charisma and inspired by her success as a woman in technology. Ms. Holmes said Theranoss machines, called Edison, would be able to quickly and cheaply discern whether people had a variety of health ailments using just a few drops of blood. She was very articulate and had a strong sense of conviction about her mission, Ms. Cheung said of Ms. Holmes. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Carlos Chavarria for The New York Times Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of the blood testing start-up Theranos, stands trial for two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 10 counts of wire fraud. Here are some of the key figures in the case  Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Stephen Lam/Reuters Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 as a 19-year-old Stanford dropout. She raised $700 million from investors and was crowned the worlds youngest billionaire, but has been accused of lying about how well Theranoss technology worked. She has pleaded not guilty. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Ramesh Balwani, known as Sunny, was Theranoss president and chief operating officer from 2009 through 2016 and was in a romantic relationship with Holmes. He has also been accused of fraud and may stand trial next year. He has pleaded not guilty. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times David Boies, a prominent litigator, represented Theranos as its lawyer and served on its board. He tried to shut down whistle-blowers and reporters who questioned the companys business practices. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Getty Images The journalist John Carreyrou wrote stories exposing fraudulent practices at Theranos. His coverage for The Wall Street Journal helped lead to the implosion of Theranos. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, via Getty Images Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung are former Theranos employees and were whistle-blowers. They worked at the start-up in 2013 and 2014. Shultz is a grandson of George Shultz, a former secretary of state who was on the Theranos board. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Eric Thayer for The New York Times James Mattis, a retired four-star general, was a member of Theranoss board. He went on to serve as President Donald J. Trumps secretary of defense. Whos Who in the Elizabeth Holmes Trial Erin Woo Reporting from San Jose, Calif. Edward Davila, a federal judge for the Northern District of California, will oversee the case. Kevin Downey, a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, is the lead lawyer for Holmes. Robert Leach, an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of California, will lead the prosecution for the government, along with other prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office. Read more about Elizabeth Holmes: They Still Live in the Shadow of Theranoss Elizabeth Holmes

Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes Indicted on Fraud Charges Copy story link Aug. 30, 2021















Item 1 of 9 But Ms. Cheungs excitement faded after she witnessed actions she disagreed with in Theranoss lab, she said. In some cases, outlier results of the blood tests were deleted to ensure that Theranoss technology passed quality control tests. Ms. Cheung was also alarmed when she donated her own blood to Theranos and tests on the companys machines said she had a vitamin D deficiency but traditional tests did not, she testified. Ms. Cheung, who viewed a menu of around 90 blood tests offered by Theranos, said that despite Ms. Holmess promises about the Edison machines, they could process only a handful of the tests listed. The rest had to be done by traditional blood analyzers or sent out to a diagnostic company, she said. Ultimately, Ms. Cheung resigned over her misgivings about Theranoss testing services. I was uncomfortable processing patient samples, she said. I did not think the technology we were using was adequate enough to be engaging in that behavior. During Ms. Cheungs testimony, Ms. Holmess lawyers objected to a wide variety of emails and other internal communications submitted by the prosecution as evidence. The two sides sparred over the rules of the arguments that could be used and the relevance of Ms. Cheungs testimony. The C.E.O. is not responsible for every communication that happens within a company, said Lance Wade, a lawyer representing Ms. Holmes. John Bostic, a prosecutor and an assistant U.S. attorney, argued that documents showing Theranoss internal issues were relevant to the case, regardless of whether Ms. Holmess name was on them. Mr. Wade countered that Ms. Cheung had been an entry-level employee and hardly interacted with Ms. Holmes. To the best of our knowledge, the interview you just heard was the longest conversation she ever had with our client, he said. Through it all, Ms. Holmes sat quietly in a gray blazer and black dress, watching the proceedings from behind a medical mask. Ms. Cheungs 2015 letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlining problems with Theranoss testing triggered a surprise inspection by the agency that led the company to close its labs. Tyler Shultz, another young employee in Theranoss lab, also shared details about the lab problems with The Wall Street Journal, which published exposes of the company. Mr. Shultz is also listed as a potential witness in the trial. (An earlier version of this item misspelled his name as Schultz.) Since her role in Theranoss demise, Ms. Cheung has become an advocate for ethics in technology. She has delivered a TED Talk about speaking truth to power and helped found Ethics in Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit that provides ethics training and workshops to start-up founders, workers and investors. Read more

Activision hires new executives after a workplace culture lawsuit. Activision Blizzard, the company behind popular games like Call of Duty, said on Tuesday that it was hiring two executives, including a new head of human resources, as part of an effort to build a more inclusive workplace and grow revenue. Julie Hodges, a senior vice president at the Walt Disney Company, will become Activisions new chief people officer, the company said in a statement. Ms. Hodges will replace Claudine Naughton, who will leave this month to pursue other interests, the company said. Sandeep Dube, a senior vice president at Delta Air Lines, will fill the role of chief commercial officer. That job has been vacant since March. In July, Activision was sued by a California employment agency, which said the company had fostered a frat boy workplace culture in which women were routinely harassed and discriminated against. The lawsuit caused an uproar, with current and former employees speaking out online against misconduct and rallying outside an Activision office. Activisions chief executive, Bobby Kotick, apologized for failing to provide the right empathy and understanding in the companys initial response to the lawsuit. J. Allen Brack, the head of Activisions Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary, where many of the accusations in the lawsuit were centered, stepped down in August. Blizzards head of human resources, Jesse Meschuk, also left. Activision said Ms. Hodges would lead all aspects of human resources, including diversity, equity and inclusion, talent acquisition, employee experience, learning and development, compensation and benefits, and work force planning. Ms. Hodges said in the statement that she shared the companys belief that a work environment should welcome all perspectives, experiences and backgrounds. Also in the statement, Mr. Dube said, I couldnt be more excited to join this team and work together to continue building our inclusive culture and to expand our audiences. Activision is under continued scrutiny. The Communications Workers of America, a labor union, filed a complaint last week with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Activision of violating labor law by making coercive rules, actions and statements, as well as through interrogation. The complaint was reported earlier by Bloomberg. Activision did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read more

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Apples new iPhone 13 is better, but not by much. Image Credit... Apple It is a story that now happens just about every September: Apple introduced new iPhones that have slightly bigger screens, faster speeds and better cameras  but no new major advances. In a prerecorded infomercial, Apple executives framed the improvements in the new iPhone 13 as significant innovations, but they result in a device that looks and performs much like the iPhones that Apple touted last year. Apple said the new iPhones have a brighter screen, longer battery life and more powerful cameras and computer processors. Having already pushed the screen nearly to the edge of the device, Apple slightly increased its size by reducing the small notch at the top of the screen. Apple kept the same flat-edge design of the phone that it has used in other recent models. Apple is hoping that by adding new features and making slight design improvements, customers will keep shelling out more money. It is a strategy that has worked for a long time. The iPhone, now in its 14th year, remains one of the worlds best-selling products and the centerpiece of Apples business. Over the first half of the year, the latest period available, Apple said iPhone sales rose 58 percent to $87.5 billion over the same period a year earlier. That success is partly because Apple has built an intensely loyal customer base, and also because it has designed its products in a way that makes it difficult for customers to switch to the competition, like Samsung and Google. The iPhone also remains among the best smartphones on the market in several areas, including camera technology and screen resolution. Apple spent much of its advertisement showing off the iPhones new cinematic mode, a camera technology that can automatically follow and focus on a subject, resulting in videos that more closely resemble professional movies. Apples emphasis on advanced camera technology in its iPhones is a reflection of its hefty investment in artificial intelligence to compete with Google. A few years ago, Googles Pixel smartphones used the search giants prowess in artificial intelligence to leapfrog the iPhones camera capabilities. But over the last few years, Apple made several aggressive moves to catch up, acquiring several A.I. start-ups and hiring a top A.I. executive from Google, John Giannandrea. Partly as a result, its newer iPhone cameras have received higher ratings than the Pixel. As in past years, Apple unveiled two separate versions of the new iPhone: the entry-level iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, and the more expensive and advanced iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Apple largely kept prices flat from last years models. The dominance of the iPhone has also brought Apple increased scrutiny and criticism from app developers, regulators and lawmakers. Having an iPhone app has become a necessity for many companies, which has enabled Apple to build an enormous business by charging a commission of up to 30 percent on some app sales. But that practice has been at the center of legal and regulatory challenges in recent years. Last week, a federal judge ordered Apple to let app developers direct customers to other payment methods in their apps, which could enable them to avoid Apples commission. Regulators in the United States, Europe and India are also investigating Apples App Store practices. Brian X. Chen contributed reporting. Read more

Prices for new iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches are mostly unchanged. Image Credit... Apple Apple on Tuesday unveiled an array of new hardware offerings  including an update to its flagship iPhone  improving on previous models. But one metric remained mostly the same: the price. The new iPhone 13 will cost $800, the same as last years iPhone 12, while the iPhone 13 Mini will cost $700, identical to last year. The more expensive models of the new phones, the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, will cost you $1,000 and $1,100, respectively, the same as last years premium versions. Apple has raised its phone prices over the years, with the increases sometimes spooking consumers. Sales of the more expensive iPhone X models that began at $1,000 in 2018 were slower than expected, for instance, causing Apple to mark down revenue estimates and cut prices in China. The company responded in 2019 with a cheaper offering: $700 for the iPhone 11, down from $750 for the comparable iPhone XR the prior year. And last spring, it unveiled a new budget iPhone SE for $400. Some analysts thought the strategy might be shrewd during the pandemic, as people tried to save money. Recently, iPhone sales have been through the roof, in part because the pandemic has furthered peoples reliance on technology. The new Apple Watch announced on Tuesday, the Series 7, will cost $400, the same price as its last few models. Apple also introduced a cheaper watch last year, the SE, for $280. Apple also unveiled a new iPad, which will cost $330, the same as last falls version. The only price jump announced at the event was for the new iPad mini, for $500, up from the companys most recent $400 mini that came out in 2019. Read more

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The iPad lineup gets a revamp. Image The company now offers five models of the iPad in various screen sizes with prices ranging from $300 to $2,400. Credit... Brooks Kraft/Apple Apple on Tuesday introduced the new version of its entry-level $300 iPad with a 10.2 inch screen. At its annual product event, which the company holds to set the stage for its holiday sales, the iPad was the first gadget to be showcased. The new tablet emphasizes video calls, a popular use for the devices during the pandemic. The new version includes improved cameras and special software to make video calls more pleasant by detecting people and automatically following their movements. Apple also updated the iPad Mini, its smaller $500 tablet, giving it a new design and larger, brighter screen. It now includes flat edges, matching the aesthetic of newer iPhones, and the home button was removed to make more room for the 8.3-inch display. The new tablets join an already crowded iPad portfolio. The company now offers five models of the iPad in various screen sizes with prices ranging from $300 to $2,400. The iPad has been Apples fastest-growing product segment over the past 12 months, as more people bought the device while having to work, learn and socialize from home during the pandemic. Apple earned $30.4 billion from iPad sales in the 12 months ending June 30, up 41 percent over the same period a year earlier. Jack Nicas contributed reporting.

The new Apple Watch once again emphasizes fitness. Image Credit... Apple The Apple Watch has posted steady growth for Apple in recent years, which the company wants to grow further. On Tuesday at its annual product event, Apple unveiled new versions of the Apple Watch  called the Apple Watch Series 7  with slightly larger screens. The new watches, which come in two sizes, are roughly the same size as last years models, but their screens have been stretched to the edges of the glass to make the display areas 20 percent larger. They also have a new design to make them more durable, with stronger dust resistance. The company left the prices of the devices unchanged from last years models, with a starting cost of $400. While Apple Watch is one of the companys smallest product segments, it would be an enormous stand-alone business for other companies. Apples so-called wearables business, which also includes its AirPods wireless headphones, grew 28 percent to $37.5 billion in the year ending June 30 over the same period a year earlier. Apple Watch is the No. 1 smart watch, with 36 percent of the worldwide market, according to Canalys, a research firm. Apple has consistently emphasized the Watchs health benefits, including incorporating the ability to measure your bloods oxygen saturation. This year, Apple announced some new features of its Fitness Plus subscription, a digital fitness service with workouts. The company said it was introducing five-minute workouts, winter sports and Pilates workouts and a group option that allows up to 32 people to exercise simultaneously and interact. It also created a time to walk mode that gets people outdoors while listening to Camila Cabello, Dolly Parton and others. Apple said it would roll out Fitness Plus, which costs $10 per month, to an additional 15 countries this fall. To compete with the Apple Watch, Google acquired the wearables company Fitbit this year for $2.1 billion. Last year, Amazon introduced the Halo, a fitness band that tracks movements and uses a microphone to detect peoples moods. Jack Nicas and Kellen Browning contributed reporting. Read more

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Install the latest Apple security update right away. Heres how. Apple issued emergency software updates on Monday after security researchers uncovered a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware to infect anyones iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac computer without so much as a click. Apple has urged customers to run the latest software updates for the fixes to take effect, by installing iOS 14.8, MacOS 11.6 and WatchOS 7.6.2. How to Fix Your iPhones Security Flaw  Nicole Perlroth Reporting from Silicon Valley How to Fix Your iPhones Security Flaw  Nicole Perlroth Reporting from Silicon Valley Gabby Jones for The New York Times Apple issued a software update on Monday to fix a critical flaw in its products that had allowed governments to invisibly spy on Apple users without so much as a click. Heres how to update your iPhone with the software patch  How to Fix Your iPhones Security Flaw  Nicole Perlroth Reporting from Silicon Valley First, make sure your iPhone is plugged in or has at least 50 percent battery life. Then: Go to Settings.

Click General.

Click Software Update.

Click Install Now to update to iOS 14.8. How to Fix Your iPhones Security Flaw  Nicole Perlroth Reporting from Silicon Valley Updating the software closes the flaw, which had let highly invasive spyware from Israels NSO Group infect peoples Apple devices. The spyware was able to: Turn on a users camera and microphone.

Record their messages, texts, emails and calls.

Track someones location.

Steal passwords.

Access encrypted messages. How to Fix Your iPhones Security Flaw  Nicole Perlroth Reporting from Silicon Valley The discovery of the spyware means that more than 1.65 billion Apple products in use worldwide have been vulnerable to NSOs spyware since at least March. Because of how sophisticated the software was, its hard to know whose devices had been compromised. It is critical to update your iPhone and other Apple devices  iPads, Mac computers and Apple Watch  with the new software as soon as possible. Read more on the Apple software flaw that was patched. Buy or Wait? Heres a Guide to Phone Upgrades.

A Nick to Apples Profits Could Be a Windfall for App Developers 2h ago







Item 1 of 5 This spyware can do everything an iPhone user can do on their device and more. READ MORE 

Prices climbed more slowly in August, welcome news for the Fed. Image Increases in airfares, a key factor in inflation earlier this year, began to reverse in August amid a surge in Covid-19 cases. Credit... Joe Raedle/Getty Images A recent run-up in consumer prices cooled slightly in August, signaling that although inflation is higher than normal, the White House and Federal Reserve may be beginning to see the slowdown in price gains they have been hoping for. Policymakers have consistently argued that a surprisingly strong burst of inflation this year has been tied to pandemic-related quirks and should prove temporary, and most economists agree that prices will climb more slowly as businesses adjust and supply chains return to normal. The major question hanging over the economys future has been how much and how quickly the jump will fade. Data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday suggested that a surge in Delta-variant coronavirus cases was weighing on airfares and hotel rates, but it also showed that price increases for key products  like cars  were beginning to moderate, helping to cool off overall inflation. The Consumer Price Index rose 5.3 percent in August from a year earlier, the data showed. That was a slightly slower annual pace than the 5.4 percent increase in July. On a monthly basis, price gains moderated to a 0.3 percent increase between July and August, down from 0.5 percent the prior month and a bigger slowdown than economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected. The news on core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel prices to try to get a cleaner read of underlying price trends, was even more encouraging for policymakers hoping to see signs that price increases are slowing. That index picked up 0.1 percent on the month and 4 percent over the past year, down from 0.3 percent and 4.3 percent in the July report. Were seeing the unwinding of a lot of factors that pushed inflation prints higher early in the summer, said Guy Lebas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Capital Management. Well see these rolling supply and demand imbalances gradually diminish into 2022. White House economists greeted the report as confirmation of their view that prices should stop climbing so quickly headed into 2022. We view the report as consistent with the story we, the Federal Reserve and the vast majority of forecasters have been talking about, said Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Its one month, and were going to continue to vigilantly watch the data. Inflation has been running hot this year as the economy has reopened from the pandemic, causing airline fares and hotel room rates to bounce back from depressed levels. At the same time, supply chain snarls have pushed shipping costs higher, feeding into prices for all sorts of products, from lumber to toys. Labor costs have climbed for some companies, nudging inflation up around the edges, and rents are rising again as workers return to cities after fleeing during 2020. But policymakers are betting that annual price gains will settle down toward the Feds 2 percent average target over time. Officials define their target using a different index from the data released on Tuesday, a measure known as the Personal Consumption Expenditures index. That gauge has also picked up this year, but by less, climbing 4.2 percent in the year through July. The rapid reopening of the economy has brought a sharp run-up in inflation, Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, acknowledged in a speech last month. But the baseline outlook is for continued progress toward maximum employment, with inflation returning to levels consistent with our goal of inflation averaging 2 percent over time. Central bankers are hoping that quick inflation will dissipate before consumers learn to expect steadily higher prices, which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy as shoppers accept loftier price tags and workers demand higher pay. A closely watched tracker of household inflation outlooks released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday showed that expectations rocketed up to 5.2 percent in the short term and 4 percent in the medium term. That data point is disquieting, but market-based inflation expectations have been relatively stable after moving up earlier this year, and real-world prices may begin to ease in important categories in the months ahead. The price index for airline fares declined in August, the Labor Department report showed, which may have been partly because a virus surge affected travel and advance bookings. But the price index for used cars also fell, a signal that inventories were returning to more normal levels, helping to restore some regularity to the pre-owned vehicle market. Cars have been in short supply this year amid a computer chip shortage tied to shipping snarls and factory shutdowns overseas, and a surge in prices for used vehicles has been a major contributor to overall inflation in the United States. Prices are still picking up for new cars, and a measure of housing costs tied to local rental conditions  which makes up a big chunk of the overall price index  continued to climb at a steady pace. Mr. Lebas said he thought those housing costs would help keep inflation slightly elevated into next year, perhaps in the mid-2 percent range. Thats higher than its been historically, but not scary high, he said. If that happens, its a win for the Fed. The central bank is closely watching inflation as it considers when and how to reduce the big bond purchases it has undertaken to help cushion the economy against the pandemic shock  a move that officials have repeatedly signaled could come this year. The report most likely confirmed expectations among key officials, keeping policy on its measured and heavily communicated course. At the margin, the recent data will dampen some of the more excitable inflation forecasts in the markets and at the Fed, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note after the release. Read more

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Spain moves to reduce rising electric bills. Image A protest in Madrid against rising electricity rates in June. Credit... Manu Fernandez/Associated Press Spains government approved emergency measures on Tuesday to help households pay for the spiraling cost of electricity, and promised to cap profits made by electricity companies as a result of the recent jump in the price of natural gas. Wholesale prices for natural gas across Europe have soared to levels almost five times where they were in 2019. The rising price is causing electric bills to jump, because gas is often used to generate electricity. Some other European governments have also recently outlined plans to help consumers, including Greece, where the government is setting up a fund to subsidize the electricity bills paid by households. In Spain, the steep rise has become a political problem. Pedro Sanchez, the Socialist prime minister, leads a minority left-wing coalition government that relies on support from Unidas Podemos, a party committed to protecting the most vulnerable households. The package of emergency measures would, among other things, protect poorer families that cannot pay their bills by extending the grace period before utilities can cut off their power. The governments action was announced after Mr. Sanchez outlined his plans in a television interview on Monday night. Without providing details, he said about 650 million euros (about $770 million) of extraordinary profits would be taken from energy companies and redirected to consumers. Some welcomed the governments decision. No Spanish government had ever dared to take on the energy companies that control our market as an oligopoly, so I consider this to be historic, but obviously its going to create a lot of anger in these companies, said Javier Garcia Breva, a former Spanish lawmaker and an expert on renewable energy. But an opposition politician from the Ciudadanos party, Edmundo Bal, said Mr. Sanchez was hurriedly applying a patch on the energy problem, rather than seeking a long-term solution. Electric companies said the moves would be counterproductive. Natural gas prices have risen across Europe because of a variety of factors, including a resurgence of global demand after pandemic lockdowns and a late-winter cold snap that drained storage levels. Iberdrola, one of Spains three main electric companies, said energy prices were rising because of international factors and would not be restrained by the governments action. The association representing Spains nuclear power producers threatened to suspend operations in response. Mr. Sanchez pledged to reduce electric rates paid by consumers to the level of 2018, excluding inflation. The measures approved Tuesday include a cut on the electricity generation tax, which is paid by consumers, until the end of this year. In June, the government reduced the value-added tax paid on electric bills to 10 percent from 21 percent. The latest data from the national statistics office shows that Spaniards last month paid about 35 percent more than a year earlier for their electricity, while the wholesale price of electricity has continued to climb in recent weeks. Teresa Ribera, Spains minister for ecological transition, told reporters that the emergency measures would help reduce the monthly electricity bill paid by households by 22 percent. To achieve this goal, the government will cap profits made by energy companies from the worldwide rise in natural gas prices until at least March, when the situation will be reviewed. The forecast for the coming months points to a spiral without precedent, Ms. Ribera said, which in turn impacts the well-being of families and the whole of the Spanish economy. Read more

Amazon will hire 125,000 workers and raise starting wages ahead of the holidays. Image An Amazon delivery truck in Philadelphia in April. The pandemic has supercharged the growth of online shopping, but it also made the competition for workers more intense. Credit... Matt Rourke/Associated Press Amazon announced Tuesday that it planned to hire 125,000 people in its U.S. operations in advance of the holiday shopping season. It said the average starting wage would be $18 an hour, a $1 increase from the increased average pay during the spring. Amazons minimum wage remains at $15 per hour. The company already employs about a million people in the United States, almost doubling since the start of the pandemic, which supercharged the growth of online shopping. But the pandemic also made the competition for workers more intense. Amazon typically reviews its wages each fall, but this spring, it said it was moving those changes earlier in the year and announced a round of pay increases. In May, Amazon said it was hiring 75,000 workers with an average starting wage of $17 an hour. But that hiring and pay boost was not enough to satiate Amazons labor needs, leading to the announcement on Tuesday of more hiring and wage increases. Weve known for a long time that we have to be competitive on compensation and benefits, Andy Jassy, Amazons chief executive, told CNBC on Tuesday, adding that the companys average hourly salary was $18.32 an hour. Amazon has been investing heavily in the warehousing and delivery infrastructure for its e-commerce business, to meet demand and speed up delivery times. It has opened more than 250 new facilities this year, with another 100 slated to open this month. It typically opens new building and hires in the fall before the holiday rush. UPS last week announced it was hiring 100,000 temporary workers for the holiday season. Amazons expansion is not just in operations. This month, it said it was hiring for 55,000 open corporate and technology jobs globally as well, for roles in cloud computing, advertising and other growth initiatives. We have a lot of businesses that are growing really rapidly, Mr. Jassy said. Read more

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Chevron will invest $10 billion in lowering emissions by 2028. Image Cars lining up for gas at a Chevron station in Gretna, La., on Aug. 31, two days after Hurricane Ida hit the region. Credit... Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate, via Associated Press HOUSTON  Chevron announced on Tuesday that it would more than triple its modest spending on green energy by 2028, including investments in renewable fuels, hydrogen and capturing carbon before it can warm the atmosphere. The announcement appears to be aimed at forestalling challenges from activist investors like Engine No. 1, the hedge fund that was able to elect three members to the Exxon Mobil board this year. It was not clear whether Chevrons move would satisfy activists who are pushing American oil and gas companies to commit to achieving net zero emissions from their operations and the use of their products by 2050 as concerns over climate change grow. The company pledged to spend roughly $10 billion on cleaner fuels and technologies. That is still a small portion of its total annual capital spending, which is projected to be $14 billion to $16 billion through 2025. A fifth of the new spending will go to lowering emissions from Chevrons exploration, production and refining operations. Renewable fuels, hydrogen and carbon capture target customers such as airlines, transport companies and industrial producers, Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, said in a statement. These sectors of the economy are not easily electrified, and customers are seeking lower carbon fuels and other solutions to reduce carbon emissions. Chevron, the second-largest American oil and gas company after Exxon Mobil, and other U.S. oil companies have fallen behind their European competitors in investing in clean energy in recent years but are slowly trying to catch up under growing pressure from investors. Harvard said last week that it would not make any new investment in fossil fuels. Chevron said it hoped to finance its emission-reducing efforts with improved cash flow from higher oil and gas prices as the economy recovers from the pandemic. Chevron intends to be a leader in advancing a lower carbon future, said Mike Wirth, the companys chief executive. Read more

Democrats proposed tax cuts would help the poor and middle class more than Trumps did, a new analysis finds. Image Proposed Democratic legislation would raise taxes on high earners to pay for social programs like child care. Credit... Audra Melton for The New York Times A sweeping bill that Democrats are assembling to spend heavily on education, child care, low-carbon energy and health care would also amount to a much larger tax cut for the poor and the middle class in its early years than the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that was President Donald J. Trumps signature legislative accomplishment in office, according to estimates released by Congresss tax scorekeeper on Tuesday. The proposal, introduced by House Democrats this week, would spend up to $3.5 trillion on social policy and other programs that are at the center of President Bidens economic agenda. To help pay for that spending, the bill would raise taxes on high earners. It would cut taxes for lower- and middle-income families, the analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found. Households with income below $75,000 a year would see a total of $90 billion in reduced tax liabilities in 2023 under the Democratic proposal, largely driven by the temporary extension of an expanded child tax credit that Mr. Biden has pitched as a boon to parents and a means to halve child poverty. Middle-income families would then see a slight increase in their tax liabilities in 2027, after the increased benefit is set to expire, the analysis projects. Households earning less than $20,000 a year would typically have a negative tax rate  effectively, they would receive payments from the federal government worth at least 10 percent of their annual income, on average, in 2023. The Democratic plan would also increase taxes by more than $100 billion in 2023 for households earning $500,000 a year or more. Almost all of that increase would fall on households earning $1 million or more. Their average tax rate would rise from 30.2 percent to 37.3 percent. The tax overhaul would reverse many of Mr. Trumps tax cuts, which totaled nearly $2 trillion over the course of a decade by many estimates. That included $260 billion worth of benefits for individuals in the laws second year, 2019, according to 2017 estimates by the joint committee. Three-quarters of those benefits went to households earning $100,000 a year or more. About $35 billion went to households earning $75,000 or less. Tax cuts for individuals passed under Mr. Trump are set to expire in 2025. Democratic leaders and Biden administration officials have pitched the tax components of their package as a way to finance social spending programs and a weapon to fight poverty. They have also stressed that the proposed tax increases on the rich will make the tax code more progressive, even as liberal groups have pushed party leaders to do more to tax large fortunes and the growing wealth of billionaires. Republicans have criticized the legislative proposals and have refused to support any package that rolls back the 2017 tax cuts. Democrats are attempting to pass their tax and spending plan along party lines, without any Republican support, using the fast-track budget reconciliation process. But given the thin majorities in both chambers, Democrats can afford to lose no more than three votes in the House and not a single vote in the Senate. Read more

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Job vacancies in Britain break a record as furlough program nears an end. Image Serving customers at a restaurant in London in August. Data showed that food businesses were among those most in need of employees in Britain. Credit... Andy Rain/EPA, via Shutterstock Job vacancies in Britain climbed to a record in August, rising above one million for the first time, as the labor market continued its uneven recovery, according to data released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. As Britain has emerged from lockdowns, the demand for workers has soared. Every sector is seeking more workers, with restaurants, bars, hotels, and other accommodation and food businesses trying to hire the most over the summer. It has helped push the unemployment rate down, to 4.6 percent, and has shrunk the number of people who are out of the work force. Nearly a quarter of a million people were added to company payrolls in August, returning this part of the labor market (which doesnt include the self-employed) to its prepandemic size, the statistics office said. But not every region had fully recovered. The number of employees was still down in London, in southeast England and in Scotland. And some of the workers on payroll were still receiving wage subsidies from the governments furlough program. The soaring vacancy rate has highlighted mismatches in the labor market. Even as people return to work, lots of businesses report they are struggling to hire. The workers they are looking for have either moved into different industries or left the country. And job seekers dont have the right training or experience. Growth in the manufacturing sector has been hampered by the challenge of filling open positions. And businesses across Britain are running low on supplies because there are too few truck drivers. Analysts predict that some of the gains in the labor market will be reversed when the furlough program ends this month and employers can no longer rely on the government to top up staff wages up to 80 percent for the hours they dont work. At the end of July, there were 484,000 employers with 1.6 million workers still on furlough. Layoffs are expected; a group representing the travel sector said more than two-thirds of businesses with staff on furlough expected to cut jobs when the program ended. With the furlough scheme ending in little over two weeks time, we should expect a fresh rise in unemployment this autumn, particularly among furloughed staff that arent able to return to their previous jobs, Nye Cominetti, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, a think tank studying living standards, wrote in a note. Samuel Tombs, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the end of the furlough program would increase unemployment and underemployment, as people cant find as much work as they would like, despite the high number of vacancies. About 60 percent of staff on furlough are attached to small businesses employing fewer than 20 people, who are unlikely to have the financial strength to re-employ them for all their pre-Covid hours, he wrote in a note to clients. Businesses with high vacancies are different from the ones using the furlough program, so people will need to retrain before they return to employment, he added, predicting that the unemployment rate would rise to 5 percent later this year. Read more

Asian Americans feel blocked from the highest levels of the investment industry. Asian American investment professionals are getting stuck in middle management. More than 90 percent of respondents to a new poll said they had reached a ceiling that blocked them from climbing the corporate ladder. And about two-thirds said Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were stereotyped as lacking leadership skills, according to a series of interviews and a survey of 100 finance professionals in the United States published on Tuesday by the Association of Asian Americans in Investment Management. At investment firms, Asian American and Pacific Islanders fill middle management ranks, but their percentages plummet in senior management and C-suites, the organization wrote in the report. Our research shows that this bias and these racial assumptions are a deep-seated obstacle for some of the industrys most accomplished professionals. Respondents said they were often tapped as technical experts and benefited from the perception that they are good workers. But their advancement stalled as they sought more senior roles that emphasize networking and communication skills. One senior executive said colleagues often mistook her for other women of Asian descent and treated them as interchangeable. Another investment manager said she received the nickname Stephanie 2.0, because white male co-workers preferred her over another Asian American woman who had worked there before. There were tons of personal comments and stories about discrimination and bias at work, Jim Park, the head of the organization, said in an interview. Were at a moment in time in our community where people are beginning to say, You know what? We do need to start to speak up.

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The S&P 500 falls for the sixth time in seven sessions. U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 declining 0.6 percent, erasing Mondays gains, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 percent lower.

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose 5.3 percent in August from a year earlier, in line with economists expectations. The rise in prices from July to August, of 0.3 percent, was slower than forecast and could ease pressure on Federal Reserve as it weighs the risks from elevated inflation.

Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell to 1.29 percent from 1.33 percent.

European stock indexes were flat, with the Stoxx Europe 600 little changed. Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday.

Shares for Apple fell about 1 percent its annual product event on Tuesday, where the tech giant unveiled the latest iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch The new iPhone 13 will cost $800, the same as last years iPhone 12.

Goldman Sachs has picked its next chief financial officer. Denis P. Coleman III will be the next chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs, succeeding Stephen M. Scherr, who will retire at the end of January, the bank said Tuesday. Mr. Coleman, 47, has served as co-head of Goldmans global financing group in its investment banking arm since 2018. He joined the company in 1996 as an analyst and moved up the ranks to run loan businesses in the United States and Europe. His strong foundation across capital markets and risk management position him well to succeed, Goldmans chief executive, David M. Solomon, said in a statement. Mr. Scherr, 57, has been with Goldman for 28 years and has served as finance chief since 2018. He formerly ran the consumer and commercial banking business. The announcement came days after Bank of America named Alastair Borthwick as its chief financial officer on Friday in a sweeping overhaul of top management. The biggest U.S. lenders are reshuffling their leadership ranks as bosses who steered the companies out of the 2008 financial crisis get closer to retirement.

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The latest: Boeing reports a net gain in new sales in August. Boeing sold 23 planes in August after cancellations and accounting adjustments, its seventh straight month of net new sales. Separately, the company said it expected aviation to grow substantially in the years ahead, estimating a $9 trillion market for aerospace products and services over the next decade and predicting that travel will fully return to prepandemic levels by 2023 or 2024.

Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax and QuickBooks, will acquire Mailchimp, a company best known as a provider of email marketing services, the companies announced on Monday. The cash-and-stock deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will value Mailchimp at about $12 billion. The deal is Intuits largest to date and is a notable expansion into customer-relationship management for a company largely know for its finance software. Intuit hopes to combine Mailchimps digital marketing services with QuickBooks, its accounting program, to help small businesses manage their customers as well as their books.

Fox Corporation announced on Monday that it had bought the celebrity gossip brand TMZ from AT&Ts WarnerMedia. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Three people with knowledge of the discussions said the deal valued TMZ under $50 million. Harvey Levin, who co-founded TMZ in 2005, will continue in his role as managing editor, Fox said in a news release. Under the deal, Fox will run TMZs flagship website and culture website TooFab.com, as well as its syndicated television programs and celebrity bus tours.

James N. Gianopulos was ousted as chief executive of Paramount Pictures on Monday, with his status as the consummate Hollywood insider having curdled into a liability, at least to ViacomCBS, the conglomerate that owns Paramount, where streaming, streaming, streaming is the new currency of the realm. Brian Robbins, 58, who runs Viacoms childrens television business, will succeed Mr. Gianopulos, 69, ViacomCBS said. Mr. Gianopulos, or Jim G as everyone in Hollywood refers to him, will remain a consultant until the end of the year, ViacomCBS said.
The idea of revoking the banks financial holding company license was first proposed two years ago by Jeremy Kress, an assistant professor of business law at the University of Michigans Ross School of Business. He argued in an academic paper that, since the Fed requires institutions seeking such a license to have a high regulatory rating  a 1 or 2 out of 5 on a scale that federal regulators use to assess whether a bank is well managed  any bank whose rating subsequently sinks lower should lose it.

In her letter, Ms. Warren pointed to a report from early 2018 revealing that Wells Fargos regulatory rating, normally kept secret, had fallen below the level at which the bank could be considered well managed. She added that it was inconceivable that Wells Fargo could have recently improved its rating given its continuing problems.

Last week, federal regulators announced another set of fines and restrictions on the bank, stemming from its inappropriate handling of some of its home loan customers portfolios. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found that Wells Fargos management of its mortgage accounts had been so sloppy that it might have improperly foreclosed on some borrowers homes. The regulator fined the bank $250 million, ordered it to halt some foreclosures in progress and gave it five months to get its management systems on track.

Ms. Warrens suggestion would be a much more significant penalty and would involve significant challenges, said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst for Cowen Washington Research Group.

The banking system has evolved considerably since Congress allowed investment banks and commercial banks to get together 25 years ago, Mr. Seiberg said. These operations are now interwoven, and its not as simple as saying, You have to sell half the bank. Breaking up is hard to do.

But immediately revoking the banks license is not Mr. Powells only option.

In an interview on Tuesday, Professor Kress said Mr. Powell could direct Fed officials to issue a new rule setting a limit  two or three years, for example  on the length of time a company could operate with a low management rating and maintain its license.

It could set a precedent that this is a tool that the Fed can use to hold banks accountable for financial misconduct, Mr. Kress said.
My first impulse, when we began Wine School seven years and 87 columns ago, was to offer an easy, enjoyable alternative to the classes and books that focus on tasting and breaking wine down to its component aromas and flavors.

Whats wrong with that method? Nothing, if you are a professional with the goal of identifying wines in blind tastings. But thats not the aim of most ordinary consumers, who simply want to develop comfort and ease with wine and to feel confident in their own taste.

A far better approach, I thought, was to drink rather than taste, preferably with a meal shared by family or friends. This is the natural environment of wine, where it will fulfill its function of refreshing, intriguing and delighting, rather than a tasting in a more clinical setting. Under such pleasant conditions, we can all learn to evaluate wine by asking the simple but important questions: Do I like the wine? Why? and Why not? The answers can help anybody become a more confident wine consumer.

[Learn more about wine at Wine School.]

This method has the further advantage of allowing a bottle of wine to unfold over the course of a meal. Good wine is not static. From the time you pour a glass until you drain the last drop, the wine is changing, as its exposed to air, as it warms in the glass and as you add food and social interaction to the equation. Opinions about a wine evolve almost as fast, especially with the opportunity to try it as it changes.
Headliner

Wau

The Upper West Side has just gained a significant addition to its dining lineup. This latest venture from the chef Salil Mehta looks mainly to Southeast Asia, featuring dishes often inspired by street food. (Food from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand figure into the menu.) Mr. Mehta, who is Indian and also owns Laut and Laut Singapura downtown, says he has long been attracted to the regions flavors. He calls the cooking at Wau kampung, the Malaysian term for village, implying humble and homey. Much of the food is served family-style. Starters include chicken satays, Thai tom kha mussels in coconut broth, barbecue ribs, and savory doughnuts with chicken and shrimp in a panko crust. There are various curries and noodle dishes like Singaporean hawker-style noodles and curry laksa, and rice preparations like Indonesian nasi goreng and Hainanese chicken rice from Singapore. Tropical fruit drives many of the drinks, like the banana leaf old-fashioned, by Colin Stevens, the restaurants beverage director. Its a compact space, with booths seating 45, and a bar for 10, all done with vintage latticework and colorful upholstery. An enclosed sidewalk area, with 65 spots, is strung with sparkly lights and little Malaysian moon kites called wau, the inspiration for the name.

434 Amsterdam Avenue, 917-261-5926, waunyc.com.

Opening

Coco Pazzo

Pino Luongo has moved his SoHo restaurant, Coco Pazzo, into the former Giorgione in Hudson Square, a space he took over for one of his Coco Pazzerias. Mr. Luongo said he wanted a larger restaurant with an area for private dining, which the new location affords. The menu will combine Coco Pazzo dishes with some popular Coco Pazzeria items. The Coco Pazzeria in Midtown East remains in business.

307 Spring Street (Greenwich Street), 646-850-1003, cocopazzonyc.com.

La Rotisserie

Francis Staub, who founded the French cookware company Staub, was an original partner of Le Coq Rico on East 20th Street in Manhattan with the chef Antoine Westermann. (Mr. Westermann owns Le Coq Rico in Paris.) The chef withdrew his direct involvement with the New York restaurant two years ago and, though he is still a partner, its Mr. Staub whos running the show. After a pandemic hiatus, Mr. Staub has turned it into this French rotisserie restaurant where poultry, beef, pork and vegetables will burnish on vertical and horizontal spits. The restaurant consists of two rooms, each with bars, that meet in a rear dining room. In addition to the rotisserie items, the star of which is the Sasso-breed chicken served with a choice of sauces, there are appetizers like foie gras terrine, duck crackling salad and oeufs mimosa. A sampler menu is $22 at lunch, $42 at dinner.

30 East 20th Street, 212-267-7426, larotisserienyc.com.

Three of Cups

The tarot card symbolizing revelry and feasting is brought to life at this new SoHo restaurant where the dinner options include festa boards for tables of up to six people. The boards are loaded with items like salmon, homemade bratwurst, vegetarian meatloaf made from vegetables, and rotisserie chicken, plus salads, grains and vegetables, all for sharing. Michael Polesny is an owner of the restaurant, open for breakfast through dinner, and Santo Vicenzino, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, is the chef and co-owner. Rachel Lauginiger, the consulting chef who was at Marlow and Daughters, collaborated with Mr. Polesny and Mr. Vicenzino on the menu. A liquor license is pending; the restaurant is not related to the pizzeria of the same name that was in the East Village.

150 Sullivan Street (West Houston Street), 646-649-4221, threeofcupssoho.com.
It was a sweltering afternoon in August when I first came to Soothr, and I was wishing Id visited several months earlier. Thai noodle soups are the restaurants specialty, and while summers in New York City are not kind to anybody, they are especially harsh if you happen to love noodle soups. When the city seethes under temperatures in the 90s, thinking about a scalding bowl of soup sets off an internal battle of anticipation and fear that can make you feel like Alex in A Clockwork Orange after his reconditioning.

Of course, summers in Thailand are no picnic, either. The country has an ingeniously simple solution to the hot-soup-in-August problem: ladling the broth into a separate bowl, where it can cool while you eat everything else. This style is called, oxymoronically, dry noodle soup. It figures heavily on the menu at Soothr, taking the dread out of my first bowl of soup that afternoon and helping lure me back for several more meals.

The particular dry noodle soup I ate was a variation on tom yum. Sour and deeply aromatic, tom yum with shrimp is a takeout staple thats fairly uniform across the United States. Thailand, though, offers dozens of variations on the theme, including one from the central province of Sukothai that incorporates salty pink commas of dried shrimp. This is Soothrs version.
MESA, Ariz.  Helen Obando, 18 and soon to be a high school senior, nibbled french fries at a cafe and chatted about her future. Dressed in a halter top and shorts, her toenails painted turquoise, she described her plans to enroll in community college, teach hip-hop dance and become a trauma nurse someday.

For most of her life, such modest dreams would have been unattainable. Helen was born with sickle cell disease. Since babyhood, she had experienced episodes of searing pain, hospitalization and organ damage, and would have been expected to die in her 40s.

But in 2019 she became the first American teenager with sickle cell to be declared free of the disease six months after undergoing an experimental gene therapy meant to cure her. Her symptoms have vanished. She assures teenagers she met at a camp for children with sickle cell: One day they can have what I had.

Such therapies are years off unless the federal government finds a way to speed progress.

This is a time of great promise for Americans with the disease, who are mostly Black. In recent years, clinical trials of three gene therapies for sickle cell have produced astonishing results for a few dozen lucky participants like Helen, raising hopes that a cure could be at hand for some, if not many, of the 100,000 people in the United States who have the disease. And in the midst of a pandemic that has laid bare profound racial inequities in health care, President Biden has pledged to combat them.
Democrats are likely to take aim at the lone Republican-leaning seat in New York City, the 11th District, anchored on Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. Representative Nicole Malliotakis, a first-term congresswoman, holds the seat now, but adding more liberal sections of Brooklyn or even Lower Manhattan could make it untenable for a Republican.

The most significant gains could come upstate, the most likely region to lose a district altogether. Mr. Wasserman suggested mapmakers could try to pool voters into two conservative mega-districts. At the same time, the party could shore up two of its incumbents in Hudson Valley swing seats, Mr. Maloney and Representative Antonio Delgado.

One red seat could be created in western New York by combining the vast Southern Tier district held by the retiring Republican Tom Reed with territory between Buffalo and Rochester, represented by Chris Jacobs, also a Republican. A second could be rooted in the Adirondacks, combining areas of central and northern New York represented by Republicans Claudia Tenney and Elise Stefanik, a rising star who is now her partys top-ranking woman in Washington.

Targeting the regions other remaining Republican, John Katko, would be less straightforward. One of the few remaining moderate Republicans in the House who voted to impeach former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Katko has repeatedly won his Syracuse-based district despite Democratic advantages there.

The commission will also propose new lines for the State Assembly and Senate, but lawmakers in Albany could just as easily toss them out to produce a result more favorable to Democrats looking to lock in their dominance for years to come. Democratic senators, in particular, are eyeing changes to districts that they say Republicans gerrymandered last cycle when they still controlled the chamber.

State Senator Robert G. Ortt, the Republican leader, said he was troubled by signs that Democrats would undermine the process chosen by voters before it began. He suggested that Democrats, led in Washington by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had few other options to cling to power: They know that the only way that she remains speaker is if they do this type of gerrymandering, he said.
The suspensions threatened by the mayor would go only so far. Had the plan been in place in August, only 3.5 percent of the more than 2,670 officers who were either out sick or otherwise unable to work with detainees that month would have been considered absent without approval and subject to suspension.

In interviews, detainees, jail staff members and medical workers said the situation at the jail complex was worsening with each passing day.

Some units that were once secured by up to four correction officers now have none, as nearly a third of the departments roughly 8,400 uniformed staff members are either out sick or otherwise not showing up for work. Gang members and other detainees have taken to managing the comings and goings of dozens of incarcerated people in jail dormitories, breaking up fights and administering medical care.

Mounds of trash line the hallways and staircases. Soap and cleaning products are often unavailable. Some units are without toilet paper; in others, worms inch out from drains. Many incarcerated people have not been outside in months and spend their hours in dorms without activities and services. The timing of meals  if they come at all  is unpredictable, a public defender said. The barbershop is closed. The medical clinic is backed up, a staff member said.

Fear and tension run high.

We have no minimum standards whatsoever, no medical services, no recreation, no religious services or law and library services, one detainee, Reginald Wiggins, 58, said in an interview. We have not had an officer on this unit in three weeks. I am in fear of my life.

In May, Mr. de Blasio named a new correction commissioner, Vincent Schiraldi, and pledged to hire more officers, although they are unlikely to bring relief to the system until next year.
The mayor had said that helping to advance safety and habitability in basement apartments was a top priority for him, said Jessica Katz, executive director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a nonprofit housing group that is evaluating the citys basement apartment program. The basement pilot was a small but serious step in the right direction  which was promptly defunded.

Ms. Katz, who worked for several years in the citys housing department until 2017, said theres been very little progress from this administration on making basements better to live in.

The citys stumbles on addressing illegal basement and cellar homes  many of both lack basic requirements like more than one exit  are just one piece of New Yorks housing affordability crisis. (Both basements and cellars are at least partially underground, but cellars, in which at least half of the space is below curb level, are always illegal to rent out, while some basements can be legal.)

The coronavirus pandemic, which left hundreds of thousands of people out of work, has made the situation worse, while climate change has heightened the threat of more frequent and fierce storms.

At its core, the challenge is a matter of supply and demand. The number of low-income New Yorkers far exceeds the number of affordable homes, prompting many to seek refuge in dangerous but relatively inexpensive basement homes.

The prevalence of illegal units extends beyond New York. In Utah this year, the State Legislature passed a bill making it easier for people to rent out their basements. In Boston, a pilot program to help homeowners rent their basements has been expanded citywide.

But in few places is the problem as pressing as in New York, where the number of illicit units probably far outstrips those in any other American city. There is no official count, but Mr. de Blasio estimated that there were at least 50,000 illegal units housing more than 100,000 people.
On a 2005 trip to Iraq, I wrote a column about spending a night on the U.S.S. Chosin, which commanded the U.S. Navy task force off the coast of Iraq. There I interviewed Mustapha Ahansal, a Moroccan American sailor who acted as the Chosins Arabic translator when it stopped ships suspected of carrying pirates or other hostile actors.

The first time I boarded a boat, he told me, we had six or seven people  one Hispanic, one Black person, a white person, maybe a woman in our unit. Their sailors said to me, I thought all Americans were white. Then one of them asked me, Are you in the military? It shocks them actually. Ahansal told me that an Iraqi Coast Guard officer once expressed astonishment to him that people from so many different religions and races could produce such a strong navy, while here we are fighting north and south, and we are all cousins and brothers.

Leadership matters: The American population has diversity similar to the U.S. militarys, but the ethic of pluralism and teamwork shown by many of our men and women in uniform reduces the tribal divisions within the armed forces. Its not perfect but it is real. Ethical leadership based on principled pluralism matters. That is why our military is our last great carrier of pluralism at a time when more and more civilian politicians are opting for cheap tribalism.

What is most frightening to me is how much this virus of tribalism is now infecting some of the most vibrant multisectarian democracies in the world  like India and Israel, as well as Brazil, Hungary and Poland.

India is a particularly sad story for me because, after 9/11, I offered up Indian pluralism as the most important example of why Islam per se was not responsible for motivating terrorists from Al Qaeda. Everything depended, I argued, on the political, social and cultural context within which Islam, or any other faith, was embedded, and where Islam is embedded in a pluralistic, democratic society, it thrives like any other religion. Although India had a large Hindu majority, it had had Muslim presidents and a Muslim woman on its Supreme Court. Muslims, including women, had been governors of many Indian states, and Muslims were among the countrys most successful entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, today, Indian nationalism based on pluralism is being weakened by Hindu supremacists in the ruling B.J.P. party, who seem hellbent on converting a secular India into a Hindu Pakistan, as the eminent Indian historian Ramachandra Guha once put it.

That democracies all over the world are being infected by this tribalism virus could not be happening at a worse time  a time when every community, company and country is going to have to adapt to the accelerations in technological change, globalization and climate change. And that can only be done effectively within and between countries by higher degrees of collaboration among business, labor, educators, social entrepreneurs and governments  not rule or die, not my way or the highway.
The parents we talked to felt a tension between the obvious benefits a monthly benefit could bring but still wanting some kind of work requirement. Work made a family deserving of government support; without it, family benefits were seen as welfare. A Hispanic mom in her late 30s ticked off her monthly expenses  food, rent, car  and admitted that an extra $300 to $400 per month would be really beneficial. But, she added, it could also coddle people that dont want to work and are playing the system.

Not all working-class parents were against the idea of a child allowance. One Atlanta mom in her 30s noted that a dichotomy of working or not working does not cover other situations, such as being unable to work because of family obligations or disability. Regardless of whether you work or not, you should be able to get that help, that extra supplemental income for your kids, she said. Other participants pointed out that for some moms in low-wage jobs, child care expenses can eat up what they earn.

There is good reason for policymakers to prefer the administrative simplicity and egalitarianism of universal benefits. One Texas mom noted a strict work requirement would leave out parents who were most in need: Some people are working and doing their best, but theyre working at, like, McDonalds, you know? Theyre still low-income. But among most of the working-class parents we talked to, fairness was seen not in uniformity but in more actuarial terms: If you want to receive a benefit, you have to pay into it.

We also heard parents wish government benefits would be flexible instead of one size fits all, especially when it comes to the trade-off between work and family life. Even the more self-described progressive parents tended to not want government-run child care programs, preferring vouchers or tax credits. Our participants also recognized trade-offs; most were in favor of raising the minimum wage but were quick to note the negative effects too large an increase could have on the economy.

Some parents expressed frustration with tax benefits or safety-net programs that can provide more assistance to cohabiting couples than to married ones. One participant in Georgia shared that she and her partner had chosen not to marry because marriage penalties in the tax code and the child support system would leave their household financially worse off. Another participant spoke for the group: Its sad that she has to choose between marrying a man she loves or losing the benefits that she has.

Working-class parents feelings on work and parenthood dont comfortably fit a partisan script, frustrating the attempts of political opportunists hoping to harness their energy to advance their favored policies. Progressive agendas tend to reflect the cares of college-educated, dual-career couples in big cities. (The Biden administrations proposed American Families Plan, for example, polls much stronger among highly educated voters than those without a college degree.) Meanwhile, too many politicians on the right offer cultural red meat in lieu of a meaningful pro-family economic agenda.

These blind spots are real and endemic. They are what could undermine the political future of an expanded child tax credit. But they also point the way forward for a political movement that would devote time to open-ended discussions with parents from all walks of life and craft an agenda that responds accordingly.
Ready or not, here come the election results.

The polls close this evening in the recall vote to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should keep his job.

Already, there are some clues as to how things may play out: Nearly 40 percent of ballots were in as of Monday evening, with votes from registered Democrats outnumbering votes from Republicans by more than two to one. And polling increasingly suggests that Newsom wont be kicked out of office.

But, as we all know, there are no guarantees.

So as Newsoms campaign entered its final hours on Monday, he made a last pitch to voters with the help of President Biden.

At a rally in Long Beach last night, Newsom warned that Californians may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism.
SACRAMENTO  California voters will decide whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, concluding an idiosyncratic election that has been held in the middle of a pandemic and closely watched as one of the first big indicators of the countrys political direction since President Biden took office.

Democrats feel increasingly confident, predicting that Mr. Newsom will prevail and avert what would be a disaster for the party in California, the nations most-populous state. If Mr. Newsom is recalled, his likely replacement would be Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host who has made a career bashing liberal causes.

But the fact that the Democratic governor of a state Mr. Biden won by nearly 30 percentage points is being forced to fight to hold on to his post has highlighted the vulnerabilities of leaders who seemed well positioned before the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats are trying to energize voters without former President Donald J. Trump on the ballot, and a loss  or even a narrow victory  would raise questions about the political clout of Mr. Biden, who campaigned with Mr. Newsom on Monday night.
WASHINGTON  The prospect of the largest overhaul to the global tax system in a century took a step forward this week as top Democrats introduced a plan to rewrite tax rules for multinational companies in a way that would allow the United States to join the rest of the world in an effort to crack down on tax havens.

Passing such legislation will be critical for the Biden administration, which is leading global negotiations aimed at limiting the ability of companies to minimize their tax bills by setting up offices in low-tax jurisdictions. The White House says this corporate strategy deprives economies of much-needed revenue.

Finance ministers from around the world have been working for months to complete a plan to end what they describe as a race to the bottom on corporate taxation before an October deadline. More than 130 countries have agreed to adopt a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent and are discussing a change in how taxing rights are allocated so that large businesses, including technology giants like Amazon and Facebook, pay taxes in countries where their goods or services are sold, even if they have no physical presence there.

House Democrats, as part of their plan to raise as much as $2.9 trillion to finance President Bidens social safety net package, proposed raising the tax rate on companies overseas earnings to 16.6 percent from 10.5 percent and calculating the tax on a country-by-country basis. The plan would meet the primary commitments of the global agreement that is being negotiated through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Follow the latest on Tropical Depression Nicholas.

Tropical Depression Nicholas could produce dangerous flash flooding in parts of the Deep South, unleashing heavy rain in Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and southern Alabama before moving toward the northeast, the National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday.

Forecasters warned that the storm, which was downgraded after it came ashore as a hurricane early Tuesday, could bring life-threatening flash floods across the Deep South, with up to 20 inches of rain possible in isolated spots across southern Louisiana, the center said.

Nicholas is forecast to churn eastward and arrive over Louisiana by Wednesday, the hurricane center said.

Though it will weaken as it moves over land in the coming days, the storm is still expected to generate tropical storm strength wind gusts and driving rains, according to the center.
You barely see people here anymore, said Darrayal Jenkins, 40, as he walked past several burned buildings in July. Its like a ghost town.

City officials have promised a renewed focus on Uptown, planning developments of apartments and businesses that would breathe life into it once again. Whether they will follow through has become a test of the citys commitment to change after Mr. Blakes shooting  and how far it will go to heal a neighborhood that is the home of so many African American families who say that they are still on the margins of civic life in Kenosha.

Theyre never going to rebuild it, said Lonnie Stewart, 61, a former ironworker who lives in the neighborhood. He nodded in the direction of a wall of empty, boarded storefronts. All this time later, it still looks like this.

It shook the foundation

Kenosha is not Minneapolis, or Portland, Ore., or Chicago, bigger cities with long and familiar histories of protest, activism and street marches.

So it came as a shock to much of the town, a mostly white former industrial and car-making hub whose voters lean Democratic, when the unrest exploded one Sunday last August. Police officers had arrived at an apartment in response to a domestic complaint and tried to arrest Mr. Blake, who is Black. As Mr. Blake, who was holding a knife, tried to climb into an S.U.V., one of the officers, Rusten Sheskey, who is white, grabbed him and fired seven times into his back, leaving him crumpled on the ground. Americans, still shaken by the killing of Mr. Floyd in Minneapolis, responded with horror after watching cellphone video of the episode, captured from across the street.

Protesters amassed in the city by the hundreds, and on the third day of marches a 17-year-old from Illinois, Kyle Rittenhouse, fatally shot two people during a scuffle, according to the authorities; he is set to stand trial for murder in November.
Al Qaeda could rebuild inside Afghanistan in one to two years, top intelligence officials said Tuesday, noting that some members of the terrorist group had already returned to the country.

Earlier in the year, top Pentagon officials said Al Qaeda could reconstitute in two years, then told lawmakers after the fall of the Afghanistan government they were revising that timeline.

The new timeline is not a drastic shift, but reflects the reality that the Taliban have a limited ability to control the borders of Afghanistan. While the Taliban have long fought the Islamic State affiliate, they are established allies of Al Qaeda. Though the Taliban pledged in the February 2020 peace agreement with the United States not to let Afghanistan be used by terrorist groups, analysts have said such promises ring hollow.

The current assessment probably conservatively is one to two years for Al Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland, Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said Tuesday at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit.
The U.S. militarys largest service branch has announced an extensive timeline for troops to get vaccinated against Covid-19, and what they can expect to have happen if they dont.

Army officials said Tuesday that all active-duty units are expected to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, and Reserve and National Guard members by June 30. Those who refuse to be vaccinated and have not been given an exemption will face suspension or even dismissal, according to the guidelines.

While soldiers who refuse the vaccine will first be counseled by their chain of command and medical providers, the Army guidelines say, continued failure to comply could result in administrative or nonjudicial punishment  to include relief of duties or discharge from the service.

Since the Pentagon mandated coronavirus vaccinations last month, the percentage of all military service members with at least one shot has risen to 83 percent from 76 percent, according to Defense Department data. By comparison, in the general American population only 63 percent have gotten at least one shot and 54 percent are fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.
ARVADA, Colo.  President Biden warned on Tuesday that the United States had only a decade left to confront a global climate crisis, using his second day touring a wildfire-ravaged West to try to rally the public, and congressional Democrats, to support measures that his administration hopes will reduce the burning of fossil fuels.

Mr. Bidens stops this week in Colorado; Boise, Idaho; and Long Beach and the Sacramento area in California amounted to more than an opportunity to call attention to the severe destruction of wildfires and other natural disasters that have been exacerbated by climate change. The visits were a last-ditch opportunity to sell the importance of measures aimed at mitigating climate change, some of which appear increasingly at risk in his spending packages.

A drought or a fire doesnt see a property line, Mr. Biden said during remarks at a federal renewable energy laboratory. It doesnt give a damn for which party you belong to. Disasters arent going to stop. Thats the nature of the climate threat. But we know what we have to do. We just need to summon the courage and the creativity to do it.

Underscoring the urgency, Mr. Biden added: We dont have much more than 10 years.

Democratic leaders drafting a $3.5 trillion spending bill are struggling to match the urgency of Mr. Bidens pleas with pushback from energy lobbyists and some key Democrats, who want a far less expansive effort than what Mr. Biden has in mind.
WASHINGTON  Three former American intelligence officers hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out sophisticated cyberoperations admitted to hacking crimes and to violating U.S. export laws that restrict the transfer of military technology to foreign governments, according to court documents made public on Tuesday.

The documents detail a conspiracy by the three men to furnish the Emirates with advanced technology and to assist Emirati intelligence operatives in breaches aimed at damaging the perceived enemies of the small but powerful Persian Gulf nation.

The men helped the Emirates, a close American ally, gain unauthorized access to acquire data from computers, electronic devices and servers around the world, including on computers and servers in the United States, prosecutors said.

The three men worked for DarkMatter, a company that is effectively an arm of the Emirati government. They are part of a trend of former American intelligence officers accepting lucrative jobs from foreign governments hoping to bolster their abilities to mount cyberoperations.
WASHINGTON  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff twice called his Chinese counterpart in the final months of the Trump administration to reassure him that Donald J. Trump had no plans to attack China in an effort to remain in power and that the United States was not collapsing, according to Peril, a new book by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

Things may look unsteady, the chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, told Gen. Li Zuocheng of China on Jan. 8, two days after Mr. Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of his election loss and in the second of two such calls. But thats the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100 percent steady. Everythings fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.

Yet despite his assurances, General Milley was so concerned about Mr. Trump that later that day he convened a meeting with top commanders to remind them that the procedures for launching a nuclear weapon called for his involvement in such a decision.

The book also reveals how Vice President Mike Pence struggled more than was publicly known over how to navigate Mr. Trumps demands that he upend the election certification. Speaking privately to former Vice President Dan Quayle, who oversaw the certification of the 1992 election in which he was on the losing ticket, Mr. Pence appeared open to going along with Mr. Trumps plan, pushed the false claim that Arizonas voting results were wrong and asked whether there was any way he could delay certification.
Senate Democrats united on Tuesday around a pared-down voting rights bill, escalating their efforts to build a case for aggressive action by Congress to push past Republican opposition and counter a rash of new G.O.P.-written ballot restrictions in states around the country.

The measure, the product of painstaking negotiations to bring progressives and moderates together on legislation that Democrats regard as crucial to preserving voting access and their own political competitiveness, faces steep odds in the Senate. The changes are highly unlikely to persuade Republicans to drop their opposition to legislation they have argued is an egregious overreach and a threat to their party.

But it represents a bid by leading Democrats to demonstrate to holdouts within their ranks that Republicans will never accept any measure to protect ballot access, and that the partys only option for doing so is to weaken the filibuster so that a new law can be rammed through without Republicans.

Republicans formed a wall of total opposition against any progress on voting rights in the United States Senate, said Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, who began the process on Tuesday of forcing a vote on the measure as early as next week. But Republicans refusal to work with us is no excuse for not getting something done.
Cuba will begin vaccinating children as young as 2 against the coronavirus this week, making it the only country so far to immunize children that young.

The United States and many European countries currently allow Covid-19 vaccinations for children 12 and older. U.S. regulators could authorize a vaccine for children 5 to 12 later this year.

Chile has begun vaccinating children 6 and older. China and the United Arab Emirates are now vaccinating children as young as 3.

Cubas health regulator, the Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Devices, approved pediatric vaccination at the beginning of September. Last week, the country started immunizing 13- to 17-year-olds.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  Haitis chief prosecutor said on Tuesday that there was evidence linking the acting prime minister to the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, and prohibited him from leaving the country until he answers questions about it.

Last week, the prosecutor issued a police summons for the prime minister, Ariel Henry, requesting that he testify about contact he had with one of the chief suspects in the killing. Phone records show that Mr. Henry spoke with the suspect  Joseph Badio, a former intelligence official  in the hours after Mr. Moise was killed in July in his home in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

Mr. Henry, who swiftly removed the prosecutor from his post, is by far the most prominent figure to be swept up in a murder investigation that has resulted in the arrest of more than 40 people but has shed little light onto who ordered and paid for the presidents killing  and why.

The detained include Mr. Moises security officers, businessmen, three Haitian Americans and 18 Colombian mercenaries accused of leading the assault on Mr. Moises residence. And the police have issued at least a dozen more arrest warrants, including one for Mr. Badio, whom the Haitian authorities accuse of arming and directing the Colombian mercenaries on the night of the attack.
One was blood plasma. Dr. Agarwal and his colleagues had concluded months before that blood plasma did not help Covid-19 patients, a finding that echoed others. The agency dropped the recommendation in May.

The government still recommends a second treatment, the Indian-made malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that it is ineffective. Desperate families scrambled to find both during the second wave, creating black markets where prices soared.

Current and former agency scientists said they didnt speak out because they considered the treatments politically protected. Mr. Modis party had organized plasma donation camps last year to mark his 70th birthday. The Indian government also used hydroxychloroquine as a diplomatic tool, winning points with Donald J. Trump, then the American president, and Jair M. Bolsonaro, the Brazilian leader, who both pressured New Delhi last year to lift its export limits on the drug.

If you want to work somewhere for the rest of your life, you want a good relationship with people, Dr. Agarwal said. You just be nonconfrontational about everything.

Dr. Agarwal resigned in October and later worked in Gallup, N.M. Now a physician in Baltimore, he said his experience with the agency had driven him to leave India.

You start questioning your work, you know, he said. And then, you get disillusioned by it.
The Myanmar soldiers attacked the village of Yay Shin, deep in the furrows of the Himalayan foothills, just after dusk, descending with flamethrowers and heavy weaponry.

Clutching aging AK-47s smuggled from India and Thailand, members of a self-proclaimed Peoples Defense Force returned fire so the rest of the villagers could scramble into the hills, several residents said by phone.

Eight bodies of villagers were later found, along with those of eight soldiers who were killed in battle. By the time the 77th and 99th Battalions left Yay Shin this month, little of the village in northwestern Myanmar remained, just smoldering ruins of a hamlet that had dared to take up arms against the militarys February coup.

Seven months after ousting Myanmars elected government, the countrys fearsome army, known as the Tatmadaw, is ramping up attacks on a largely improvised armed resistance, and on the villages where its members live. It is a pattern of slaughter that the Tatmadaw has inflicted for decades on various ethnic minorities, such as the Rohingya, whose forcible expulsion from the country the United States considers to be ethnic cleansing.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain announced a plan on Tuesday to offer all those age 50 and older a booster vaccine as part of a winter coronavirus strategy  plunging Britain into a growing debate over whether lower-income countries should get shots first.

The prime minister is taking the step to try to prevent a new surge in cases from overwhelming the National Health Service, and to avoid another lockdown in a country wearied by the pandemic and earlier measures that included some of the strictest restrictions in the world.

The additional vaccine doses will start being offered next week to older members of that group, health workers and those with underlying health conditions across Britain, with the aim of giving all those over 50 a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, regardless of which vaccine an individual received previously, by the end of the year. Most people in Britain have received the two-shot vaccines of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines. The decision follows an announcement on Monday that one vaccine shot will be offered to healthy children aged 12 to 15.

Speaking at a Downing Street media conference, Mr. Johnson hailed the vaccination campaign for producing, he said, one of the most free societies and one of the most open economies in Europe.
They always get there, just later than they should, said Devi Sridhar, head of the global public health program at the University of Edinburgh.

Britain, she said, was heading in the same direction as other countries, but with a major delay in vaccinating those aged 12 to 15, drawing up contingency plans for mandatory mask wearing and vaccine passports, and boosting testing to get the country through what is likely to be a difficult winter.

Mondays decision to vaccinate children as young as 12 was contentious, though many other countries, including the United States, France, Italy and the Netherlands began doing so months ago. The British governments advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, had previously concluded that the health benefits for those aged 12 to 15 were marginal. That prompted a debate over the ethics of vaccinating children to prevent the spread of a virus that is a health risk to the adults with whom they live and meet.

On Monday, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, argued that, by reducing the disruption in schools, a vaccination campaign would bring other benefits to young people.

Similarly, the decision on boosters puts Britain among a growing group of countries that are offering additional shots to their own citizens before many people in large parts of the world have received even one dose, provoking criticism from David Nabarro, a special envoy on Covid for the World Health Organization.

Im a bit upset, frankly, to hear that Britain is going into boosters, when this is simply going to take really precious vaccine away from people in other parts of the world who cant get their basic two doses, and therefore going to be at risk of death, he told Times Radio.

The question for Mr. Johnson is whether vaccines and his light-touch approach to other restrictions will be enough to forestall more draconian measures.
LONDON  When the Dutch police arrested a man last week on suspicion of being a fugitive Sicilian Mafia boss, at the request of the Italian authorities, the mans Liverpool accent should have been a dead giveaway that they had collared the wrong person.

The 54-year-old British man, identified only as Mark L., had traveled to the Netherlands from Liverpool to attend a Formula One car race, the Dutch Grand Prix, in Zandvoort on Sept. 5. He was having dinner with his son at a restaurant in The Hague last Wednesday, when according to several local news media reports, armed police officers arrested him, believing him to be Matteo Messina Denaro, a mobster who has been on Italys wanted list since 1993.

Blindfolded, Mark L. was then transferred to a maximum-security prison, where he was held in isolation.

The following day, Leon van Kleef, a criminal defense lawyer in Amsterdam, was approached by local police officers, who said a man they suspected of being a Mafia boss and had arrested had specifically asked for him to be his legal representative.
PARIS  Its the news network that claims it tells viewers what the woke mainstream media wont. It says it fights for endangered freedom of expression, even as it has been fined by the governments broadcast regulator for inciting racial hatred.

It is CNews  which in four short years became Frances No. 1 news network for the first time in May by giving a bullhorn to far-right politicians, opponents of fighting climate change and a high-profile proponent of the discredited idea of using the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19.

The model is Fox News  including the clashing talking heads and incendiary cultural topics  and it has worked. Owned by the French billionaire Vincent Bollore, former chairman of the media group Vivendi, CNews increasingly helps shape the national debate, especially on hot-button issues like crime, immigration and Islams place in France that are expected to sway next years presidential election.

The networks extraordinary influence and contentious role in France were made even clearer this week, when its most popular host was forced off the air because he is regarded as a likely candidate for president  and one with a real chance of upending the race.
ROME  Pope Francis on Tuesday rejected in stark terms the use of the cross as a political tool, an apparent swipe at nationalist forces in Europe and beyond that have used the imagery of Christianity for personal gain.

Let us not reduce the cross to an object of devotion, much less to a political symbol, to a sign of religious and social status, Francis said in eastern Slovakia during a four-day visit to that country and to Hungary, his first trip since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.

The remarks came two days after Francis stopped in Budapest, where he met Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has made Hungarys Christian roots and identity a hallmark of his political messaging and policies, including anti-immigrant and nationalist measures.

The cross is not a flag to wave, but the pure source of a new way of living, Francis said, adding that a Christian views no one as an enemy, but everyone as a brother or sister.
MOSCOW  Sitting in the cramped kitchen of her suburban Moscow headquarters, Alyona Popova pointed to the five-story brick complex next door and explained why domestic violence is at the center of her campaign for a seat in the Duma, Russias lower house of Parliament.

In each entrance, we have a story of domestic violence, she said. Right there, we have two grandmothers who were just beaten by their relatives. In the one after that, we have a mother with three kids. She is beaten by her husband. And there, we have a mother who is beaten by her son.

As she stumps across the 205th electoral district, a working class area on Moscows eastern fringe, Ms. Popova implores women to turn against Vladimir Putins ruling party, United Russia, which has rolled back protections for women over the last several years. Leading up to this weekends election, she has presented the issue in urgent terms, and a proposal to make all acts of domestic violence subject to criminal penalties tops her campaign platform.

According to Ms. Popovas analysis of data collected by Russias national statistics agency, there are more than 16.5 million victims of domestic violence every year. More than 12,200 women, or two thirds of those murdered in Russia between 2011 and 2019, were killed by their partners or relatives, according to one study.
Jaime Gardner

Novitas Communications hires Jaime Gardner as a business development and communications director. For the past 12 years, Gardner has run her own communications firm, High Plains Communication. She was previously public information officer for the Bureau of Land Management and also worked at the Department of the Interior. She also spent eight years as executive director of the Colorado Resource Alliance, a membership-based regulatory monitoring service serving counties, trade associations, individuals and companies interested in natural resource policy. In her new role, Gardner will drive new business initiatives as well as manage key accounts. With her successful record over many years of work in the public affairs and communications space and her ability to quickly form positive relationships, Jaime is perfectly positioned to drive success across Novitas broad portfolio of communications and media services, said Novitas CEO Michelle Balch Lyng.

Marni Kottle

Kronos Bio, a company focused on transforming the lives of those affected by cancer, appoints Marni Kottle as senior vice president of corporate communications and investor relations. Kottle comes to Kronos Bio from Gilead Sciences, where she served as vp of corporate communications, and was responsible for the companys corporate brand, financial communications, media and social media strategies, and employee communications. She previously covered business news, including the biopharmaceutical and health care industries, at the San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. With her expertise in corporate public relations, industry background and experience as a reporter, she will be instrumental in shaping our communications strategy, as we advance our pipeline of oncology drug candidates, said Kronos Bio president and CEO Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D.

Carmen Bell

Hill+Knowlton Strategies appoints Carmen Bell as a director in Brussels. Bell comes to H+K from Portland Communications (formerly GPLUS), where she was a director. She has also spent several years representing industry body Insurance Europe in EU-level expert groups and helping steer its 2015 campaign for the UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change. "Her international profile and unique blend of skillsets, expertise and education are a superb addition to our advisory capabilities," said H+K Belgium CEO and senior vice president, Continental Europe, Melanie Faithfull Kent.
A charity shop in Tullamore is set to be 'taken over' for a unique event to raise funds to support five Offaly families.

On Friday, September 24, Glenveagh staff will take on a unique fundraising community challenge, when two teams will go head-to-head in a takeover of two of the Jack & Jill Charity Boutiques, with one team located in the Tullamore store and the other, in Newbridge. Glenveagh is a leading Irish homebuilder.

There are currently five children in Offaly under the care of Jack & Jill.

The Apprentice-style takeover will see the teams competing to achieve the highest sales on the day, all in aid of one of Glenveaghs charity partners for 2021, the Jack & Jill Childrens Foundation.

Jack & Jill provides specialist home nursing care, respite support and end-of-life care for very sick children up to the age of six in communities across Ireland.

The teams have been busy planning how they are going to make impact on the day in a bid to outdo each other to secure those all-important sales  and the bragging rights! From high value items such as pre-loved designer shoes and bags, to collectables such as signed jerseys and unique gifts; a trip to the Jack & Jill Charity Boutique at 3 O'Moore St, Tullamore, Co. Offaly on Friday, September 24 is a must for anyone looking for some fun and a bargain on the day.

Midlands 103 will broadcast Midlands Today (9am-12pm) and The Afternoon Show (12-3pm) from outside the boutique to add to the excitement on the day and there will be prizes and giveaways galore!

Carmel Doyle, CEO of Jack & Jill said: With less than 20 per cent of our funding coming from Government, we rely hugely on the support of the public and corporate partners for the continued provision of our critical service, which is a genuine lifeline for so many families. There are currently five children under our care across Offaly and this exciting fundraising event, in partnership with Glenveagh, will help drive our Donate Local, Support Local initiative. Were hugely proud of our partnership with Glenveagh and thank them for their enthusiasm, creativity and real sense of community.

Stephen Garvey, CEO Glenveagh Homes said: The Glenveagh team are delighted to be participating in this fun and innovative challenge as part of our Building Lasting Communities initiative. Our volunteers have worked hard over the last few weeks encouraging donations and promoting the Staff Volunteer Day at Jack & Jill with the aim of driving footfall to the store. We are hoping to raise some much-needed funds for the vital service that Jack & Jill provides across communities in Ireland.
The Garda wing that chases down the profits made by criminals was on the tail of nearly 50 targets in Laois and Offaly at the end of last year.

So reports the annual report from the Criminal Assets Bureau for 2020 which reveals some of the work done in cracking down on criminals.

The report says that there were 47 persons and organisations in the Laois Offaly Garda Divisional area by the end of the year.

CAB were after 68 cases in Kildare which is linked to Laois and Offaly.

A total of 48 targets were being pursued in Kilkenny Carlow. Mayo has just five cases.

Outside Dublin, CAB was pursuing 1,731 what it terms targets around Ireland. Limerick at 134 has the highest number of cases being targeted by CAB outside the capitial.

A total of 754 cases were being pursued in the Dublin Divisions. West Dublin has the highest number of cases in Ireland and Dublin with 284 targets being pursued.

CAB returned over 5m to the State in 2020 as a result of investigations into criminal activity around Ireland.
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Appollo is the only all-in-one low-code development platform for business analysts and IT-specialists to realize highest complex mobile, web or core enterprise applications on one common platform. Prospects will be able to experience the platform and meet its creators at the 3rd European Business-Analysis Day in Frankfurt on the Main on September 23rd & 24th. The European BA-Day is one of the most important annual events for business analysts in Europe, 
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Shri Ram Nath Kovind, the Honble President of India and the Supreme Commander of Indian Armed Forces, presented the Presidents Colour to Indian Naval Aviation at INS Hansa, Goa on September 6, 2021. The Presidents Colour is bestowed on a military unit, in recognition of exceptional service rendered to the Nation, both in peace and in war. Naval Aviation has distinguished itself with notable and gallant service to our Nation over the past seven decades. The arm came into being with acquisition of the first Sealand aircraft on January 13, 1951 and commissioning of INS Garuda, at Kochi on 11th May 1953. Over the past seven decades, it has transformed into a modern, technologically advanced and highly potent force, with more than 250 aircraft comprising Fighters, Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft, Helicopters and Remotely Piloted Aircraft. CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF, BANGLADESH ARMY VISITS INDIA General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed, Chief of Army Staff, Bangladesh Army paid a three-day visit to India this week. During the visit, he called on the CDS, the three service Chiefs and the Defence Secretary; and discussed contemporary issues of mutual interest and ways to enhance avenues for bilateral defence cooperation.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale: Gandhi's Political Guru

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Hindutva The universal brotherhood

At the Worlds Parliament of Religions, Chicago, September 11, 1893 Sisters and Brothers of America, It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of the millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects. My thanks, also, to some of the sp ...
So what did this so-called conference achieve? Nothing. They couldn't convince Hindus of their iconoclastic attempt to dismantle one of the world's oldest philosophies.

On September 11, 2021, the United States mourned and remembered victims of 9/11 on its 20th anniversary. Every 9/11 anniversary has become remembrance day and an undeclared day of reflection of the fateful day in the history of the United States. On this specific date, but during different eras, America and the world saw three unique events. It will be worth pondering and understanding what they achieved then and what they sustained.

September 11, 1893

It was the day of Swami Vivekanandas famous Chicago address in the Parliament of World Religions. He represented Hindu Dharma and philosophy. Despite several challenges he faced to attend the conference, he finally got to talk only for a few minutes. He thanked the august assembly on behalf of millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

While talking about Hindu Dharma, he said, I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world, both tolerance and universal acceptance. Then he brought to the attention of common evils for humanitySectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, and fanaticism.

Swamijis subsequent speeches, writings, and actions reflect that he encouraged Hindu society's modernity while sharing the best Hindu philosophy and practices with the West. It was his long-term action plan to eliminate the fanaticism while preserving the best. Today, America has active 36 Vedanta Centers, an order established by Swami Vivekananda. Nothing dismantled but builtbuildings and philosophical platforms to bring Universal acceptance and tolerance.

September 11, 2001

Violence is the last refuge of incompetentIsaac Asimov

A memory of 9/11 makes everyone recall the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, photos of the damaged Pentagon, and the civilian heroes of Flight United 93. The passengers and flight attendants of United 93 fought on air with the terrorists, despite knowing that they wouldnt be surviving. Still, they ensured that the most potent symbol of democracythe White House or the U.S. Capitol would remain unharmed, and it remained so. We should eternally thank these fallen heroes of United 93.

A lot has been said and documented about this fateful day in the history of the United States. However, it shows two distinct traits of humankind. One shows that the terrorists dismantled the physical infrastructure and killed innocent lives. Apart from spreading hate, being incompetent, they couldnt develop something constructive for their country, before or after.

Despite claiming to be an academic meeting, they didnt publish details other than hate-filled negativity towards Hindus and a violent title coupled with a violent depiction of uprooting Hindus by a hammer.

The other trait showed the commitment of values to the free world. Fallen heroes of United 93 ensured that the importance and the symbols (Capitol or White House) they cherished would not be dismantled and would sustain beyond their lifetime. Their value was to preserve, not to destruct what the American society follows.

September 11, 2021

By and large, anti-Hindu activists, including some of them from the Communist Party of India (Lenin-Marxist), organized a virtual conference titled Dismantling Global Hindutva. They garnered support from a few individuals and departments from some of the American Universities. They falsified such support as the universities support, only to fall flat on the face and remove all university logos. While exploiting the benefits of the free world, this conference was like a close secret behind the iron wall of the communist regime.

Despite claiming to be an academic meeting, they didnt publish details other than hate-filled negativity towards Hindus and a violent title coupled with a violent depiction of uprooting Hindus by a hammer. Almost until the day of the event, no organizers and sponsors were announced. Even later, there was only an ad hoc organizing committee published on the website. However, they made sure to religiously use their propaganda machinery to falsely blame anyone who opposed them. There were no research papers, no opposite views to discuss, nor reference to the original writings on the topic, as suggested reading.

The false and vicious portrayal of Hinduism was not well received by practising Hindus, regardless of their personal political or social ideology. For these Hindus, their practice adheres close to the word Hinduness or a phrase with Sanskrit suffix -tva thus Hindutva. However, for the conference organizers, what is known as the way of life of billion people was not meaningful. For them, signature support of some intellectuals misinterpreting thoughts was enough to validate their anti-Hindu activist-ideological stand.

In the spirit of Evelyn Halls famous quote, I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it, Hindus exercised their right to ask universities for their institutional involvement against such anti-Hindu conferences. But individually or organizationally, Hindus publicly maintained their faith in freedom of speech. While opposing intellectually such a conference, they asked their supporters to follow tolerance and respect.

So what did this so-called conference achieve? Indeed, nothing other than a failed attempt They couldnt convince Hindus of their iconoclastic attempt to dismantle one of the worlds oldest philosophies.

Simply put, they couldnt damage Hindutva by their smear tactics, just like terrorists couldnt dismantle the White House or Capitol on 9/11. But unfortunately, these activists dismantled the academic standards and values that the eminent universities cherished for years. Or, with due respect to Asimov, it can be said, Intellectual incompetence brings intellectual violence.



The author lives in Boston, Massachusetts, area. He writes on social and political topics in Marathi and English. He actively volunteers within the Indian American and American Hindu community, organizations in the field of religion, culture, language, and entrepreneurship. He is on the boards of directors for nonprofits working for the environment and yoga and meditation.

Courtesy: Americankahani


Aman Ullah, during the interrogation, revealed that Bangladeshi and Rohingya youths are infiltrated through hidden tunnels below the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Guwahati: A group of Indian Muslims are trying to set up a Rohingya Jihad network in Assam. The sensational revelation has come up during the investigation of a case related to the arrest of 24 Rohingya in Assam in the month of June-July. In June, the Government Railway Police personnel (GRP) had arrested nine Rohingya refugees, including three women and a child, in Assam's Guwahati. They were allegedly carrying fake UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) ID cards. An Indian citizenAman Ullah of Jammu's Narwal, accompanied the group. The group of Rohingyas were on their way to Jammu. Ullah was monitoring the illegal entry of the Rohingyas via Bangladesh through Tripura or Assam borders. Railway police also arrested 15 Rohingyas along with three Indian agents from Badarpur in Assam in July. All the arrested Rohingyas were travelling to Tripura by rail.

In the investigation carried out by GRP, it was found that the arrested Indian agent from Narwal, Jammu, Aman Ullah, had direct links with a Jihadi group identified as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and under whose direction, Aman Ullah was setting up secret Jihadi camps and sleeper cells in Assam.

Assam police transferred Aman Ullah's case to the NIA for further probe last week. Highly placed NIA sources told the 'Organiser' that they had taken over the investigation on Friday. The agency will investigate the Jihadi angle of the case.

Aman Ullah, during the interrogation, revealed that Bangladeshi and Rohingya youths are infiltrated through hidden tunnels below the Indo-Bangladesh border. The youths are then sent to designated areas to further the purpose of Jihadi training.

In January this year, the Assam police had found a 200-metre-long hidden tunnel connecting India and Bangladesh in the Karimganj district. A Bangladeshi youth arrested by Karimganj police revealed the secret tunnel. He entered India through this tunnel before arrest. Karimganj district shares a 92 km long border with neighbouring Bangladesh. Police suspected that the secret tunnel was used for illegal infiltration, smuggling and other illicit activities belonging to the fencing.

Assam police also arrested two Indian handlers (middlemen) who assisted Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in entering India from Bangladesh from the Badarpur area of Karimganj district. Three other Bangladeshis were also arrested along with the handlers. The kingpin of the handlers racket, Sahabuddin, revealed that handlers from Bangladesh sent Rohingyas to Assam and paid 30 to 40 thousand per person. After receiving the Rohingyas in Assam, Tripura, the Indian handlers sent Rohingyas to various parts of the country using forged documents.
25,404 New Cases reported in the last 24 hours with Recovery Rate at 97.58%. India's Active Caseload (3,62,207) is 1.09% of Total Cases and Weekly Positivity Rate (2.07%) less than 3% for the last 81 days.

With the administration of 78,66,950 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the country's COVID-19 vaccination coverage surpassed the cumulative figure of 75.22 Cr (75,22,38,324) as per provisional reports as of 7 am today (September 14). This has been achieved through 76,12,687 sessions.

The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country.

The recovery of 37,127 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,24,84,159. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 97.58%.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the States/UTs continue the trend of less than 50,000 Daily New Cases that is being reported for 79 consecutive days now. 25,404 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The Active Caseload is presently 3,62,207. Active cases presently constitute 1.09% of the country's total Positive Cases.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 14,30,891 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 54.44 Cr (54,44,44,967) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, Weekly Positivity Rate at 2.07% remains less than 3% for the last 81 days now. The Daily Positivity rate reported to be1.78%. The daily Positivity rate has remained below3% for the last 15 days and below 5% for 98 consecutive days.

Courtesy: PIB
EAM Dr S. Jaishankar asserted it is essential that humanitarian assistance providers are accorded unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access to Afghanistan.

New Delhi: India's approach to Afghanistan has always been guided by its "historical friendship" with its people, and this will "continue" to be the case, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said on Monday, Sept 13.

In his address at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, Dr Jaishankar maintained: "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. To ensure that this happens speedily and effectively, we believe that the international community must come together to create the best possible enabling environment."

He asserted it is essential that humanitarian assistance providers are accorded "unimpeded, unrestricted and direct access" to Afghanistan.

"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," he said.

Dr Jaishankar said - "We believe that the UN Security Council resolution 2593 should guide the international community's approach in the coming days. Afghanistan is passing through a critical and challenging phase. There has been a sea change in its political, economic, social and security situation."

"As an immediate neighbour, India is monitoring developments with understandable concern," he remarked.

The Minister said it is important that travel and safe passage can emerge as an obstacle to humanitarian assistance, which should be sorted out immediately.

"Those who wish to travel into and out of Afghanistan should be granted such facilities without obstruction. The normalisation of regular commercial operations of Kabul airport would not only assist in that regard," he remarked.

Dr Jaishankar said, only the United Nations can 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 said.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25, 2021, in New York.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the United States on September 24 and 25 to attend the Summit of the Quad Leaders and address the U.N. General Assembly.

According to an MEA release, he would be participating at the Summit meet along with his counterparts in Australia and Japan Scott Morrison and Yoshihide Suga, respectively and U.S. President Joe Biden in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington D.C., on September 24, 2021.

The Leaders will review progress made since their first virtual summit on March 12, 2021, and discuss regional issues of shared interest.

As part of their ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, they will review the Quad Vaccine initiative, which was announced in March this year.

They will also exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical and emerging technologies, connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, climate change and education.

The release said that the Summit would provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the Leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25, 2021, in New York.

The theme for this year's General Debate is 'Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations'.

This will be Prime Minister's first visit to the United States since Joe Biden-led Democratic regime has taken over the charge of affairs in the U.S.

The U.S. to review ties with Pak:

Meanwhile, in a major development, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his testimony to U.S. Congress, said that Pakistan has "harboured" members of the Taliban, including the terrorists from the proscribed Haqqani network.

Asked by lawmakers if it is time for Washington to reassess its relationship with Pakistan, Blinken said: "We are going to be looking at in the days and weeks ahead, the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years."

He also said Washington would also review the Biden administration's role to see Pakistan playing in the coming years.


The police investigation has revealed that the 21-year-old civil defence volunteer, who was brutally murdered on August 27 in Faridabads Surajkund, was murdered by her husband Nizamuddin.

"The family of the accused had sent marriage-related documents to Surajkund police station through speed post following his arrest last month. The documents and nikahnama were verified in Saket court; it has been found through documents that the accused and deceased had married in Saket court in June, 2021, The Indian Express quoted the Faridabad Police spokesperson Sube Singh.

He added The accused was taken on three days police remand. During questioning, he said he suspected her of infidelity and got upset whenever she spoke to other people. They frequently argued over the issue and had been living in their respective houses after the marriage. He has confessed that following an altercation on August 27, he killed her. He had procured a knife and took it along with him (when he went to pick her up) that day.

Since the victim was from the minority community, fake news peddlers tried to project it as a hate crime against the minority community.

Senior TV journalist Padmaja Joshi posted on Twitter A young lady was found brutally murdered in Faridabad in the end of August. Protests from Delhi to Tamil Nadu against 'fascist', 'Islamophobic' India. But...

She added Everyone melted away quietly when the investigation threw up a fact check. On to the next outrage.
The Quad leaders will review progress made since their first virtual Summit on March 12, 2021, and discuss regional issues of shared interest.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the US to attend the first-ever in-person Quad Leaders Summit hosted by President Joe Biden on September 24.

Prime Minister is also scheduled to address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25 in New York.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be participating in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington and his US, Japanese and Australian counterparts on September 24, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday (September 14).

The theme for this year's General Debate is 'Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the planet's needs, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations.

As part of their ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, PM Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and their Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga will review the Quad Vaccine initiative, which was announced in March this year, the statement added.

The leaders will review progress made since their first virtual Summit on March 12, 2021, and discuss regional issues of shared interest.

They will also exchange views on contemporary global issues such as critical and emerging technologies, connectivity and infrastructure, cyber security, maritime security, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, climate change and education.

The Summit would provide a valuable opportunity for dialogue and interactions among the Leaders, anchored in their shared vision of ensuring a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.

Courtesy: ANI




It is quite significant that the Apex Court as recently as on September 6, 2021 in an extremely learned, laudable, landmark and latest judgment titled The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors vs Pujari Utthan Avam Kalyan Samiti & Anr in Civil Appeal No. 4850 of 2021 (arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 33675 of 2017) has observed clearly, cogently and convincingly that the presiding deity of the temple is the owner of the land attached to the temple and Pujari is only to perform puja and to maintain the properties of the deity. This was so observed while upholding the circulars issued by the Madhya Pradesh Government to delete the names of Pujari from revenue record pertaining to temple properties. It must be mentioned here that these circulars issued by the Government under MP Land Revenue Code, 1959, were earlier quashed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. As we clearly see, the Madhya Pradesh State Government thus stands fully vindicated on the stand that it took on this vexed issue by none other than the Apex Court itself!

To start with, this brief, brilliant, balanced and bold judgment authored by Justice Hemant Gupta for himself and Justice AS Bopanna sets the ball rolling by first and foremost observing in para 1 that, The order dated 14.06.2016 passed in an intra-court appeal by the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court is the subject matter of challenge herein at the instance of State of Madhya Pradesh. The learned Single Bench allowed the writ petition filed by Association of Priests registered under the M.P. Society Registrikaran Adhiniyam 1973. Such society has 251 members in the Districts of Dhar, Indore, Ratlam, Shajapur, Ujjain, Jhabua etc.

To put things in perspective, the Bench then envisages in para 2 that, The challenge in the writ petition was to quash the circulars dated 21.03.1994 and 07.06.2008 whereby the names of Pujari were ordered to be deleted from the revenue record. The said writ petition was allowed on 20.11.2013 relying upon the judgments of the High Court in Ghanshyamdas v. State of M.P [1995 Revenue Nirnaya (RN) 235 (Hereinafter referred to as the Ghanshyamdas I)] and Kashi Bhatti through LRs v. State of M.P (2009 R.N. 179) . The learned Single Bench held that the circulars dated 12.11.1992 and 21.03.1994 were already quashed by the High Court in the year 1995 and 1999 respectively and therefore there was no justification on the part of the State Government to issue circular dated 07.06.2008 directing the Revenue Commissioner to follow the circular dated 21.03.1994. Learned Single Bench held as under:

The name of Collector is being mentioned as manager. It is true that by mentioning the name of Collector as manager, properties owned by the Temple were saved but at the same time the properties could not be managed properly as it is not expected from the Collector to manage the properties of the Temple. To protect the interest of Pujaris who are entitled to get the benefits of the scheme which are being introduced by the Government for the benefit of the agriculturist. To protect the interest of making the law in that regard by suitable legislation as the problem is lying in the Court in number of cases for last 30 years. In result the impugned order dated 07/06/08 (Annexure P/21) is quashed.

As it turned out, the Bench then puts forth in para 3 that, In an intra-court appeal against the aforesaid findings, the High Court referred to a judgment of Division Bench in State of M.P. v. Ghanshyamdas [1999 R.N. 25 (Hereinafter referred to as the Ghanshyamdas II)] , an order passed against the order in writ petition reported as Ghanshyamdas I. The Court inter alia held that Pujaris had no right to alienate the properties of the temple. They have rights only with respect to either cultivate the land or get it cultivated through servants. The High Court further held that if the temple was managed by the Pujari, then keeping in view the law laid down from time to time, his name was required to be mentioned as Pujari along with the name of the deity. The Court held as under:

The learned Writ Court relying on the decision of the cases of State of M.P. & others v. Ghanshyamdas & Others v. (supra), Kanchaniya v. Sheoram (supra) and Pancham Singh v. Ramkishandas (supra) has held that right of Pujaris continued from their forefather, cannot be taken away by executive instructions. There was no justification on the part of the State Government to advice to Revenue Commissioner to follow circular dated 21.03.1994, when the same was quashed. It is not in dispute that as per Clause 5 of the Land Records Manual in Column No.3 of Khasra Entries deals with the name of occupier; Column No.4 deals with name of bhumiswami or lessees or his representatives while Column No.12 deals with the remarks. Undisputedly, the land, which is owned by the temple or deity or the land owned by temple or by the trust, name of the deity/temple or trust, as the case may be, is required to be mentioned in Column No.3. If the temple is managed by the Pujari, then keeping in view the law laid down by this Court from time to time, his name is required to be mentioned as Pujari along with the name of the deity.

Be it noted, the Bench then enunciates in para 7 that, We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and find that there is lack of clarity in the High Court in regard to the legal jurisprudence. Different judgments have been referred to in respect of rights of the priests as to whether they can be treated as Bhumiswami or if they only hold the temple land for the purpose of management of the property of the temple, which actually vests with the deity.

Furthermore, the Bench then observes in para 16 that, A circular dated 21.03.1994 was issued wherein it was directed that the name of the Pujari should not be recorded in any of the column of the Panchnama (revenue record). The Collector was directed to maintain a separate register for maintaining the records of the priest. The High Court in Shri Krishna held that all those persons who were granted land or were recognised as Inamdar (in the erstwhile Indore State) for religious services rendered by them as Pujari have been recognised as Bhumiswami under the Code. The Pujaris were holding land for rendering religious services; therefore, a right had been created in their favour which could not be withdrawn by an executive instruction. The Court held as under:

5A. From the discussion above, it is evident that all those persons who were granted land or were recognised as Inamdar (in the erstwhile Indore State) for the religious services rendered by them as Pujari of the Temple have been recognised to be a Bhumiswami under the Code and their names appeared as such in Revenue Records, since they were holding land for rendering religious services as Pujari of the Temple and the land was granted specifically for that purpose, the name of the Collector as Manager along with these pujaris was directed to be shown. This long possession and recording of their names in revenue records as Bhoomiswami or Managers has definitely created a right in their favour. It is an established principle of law that if any right has been vested in a person by certain statutory provisions, the same cannot be withdrawn by an executive instruction. Even if a person is required to be deprived of his vested right in a property, a legal procedure for the same will have to be adopted. If the Stat

e Government of MP feels that the recording of name of such persons as Bhoomiswami is non-est, then too it will have to give a notice to the person and an opportunity of hearing and after making due enquiry followed by a reasoned order (if it is found as such), the order for modification, corrections and change in the record can be done.

Whats more, the Bench then points out in para 17 that, On the other hand, there are some judgments taking different view within the High Court including the one reported as Sadashiv Giri & Ors. v. Commissioner, Ujjain & Ors. 1985 RN 317 wherein an argument was raised that the temple is in possession of land. However, the Court held that how could the temple have such possession, therefore, it was the Pujari who had been conferred the right to upkeep and perform puja by the then Jagirdars. The Pujaris were the Inamdars of the land in question and thus became Bhumiswami when the Code came into force on 02.10.1959. The said judgment is clearly erroneous as the presiding deity of the temple is the owner of the land attached to the temple. The Pujari is only to perform puja and to maintain the properties of the deity. In fact, the Constitution Bench in a judgment reported as M. Siddiq (Dead) Through Legal Representatives v. Mahant Suresh Das and Others (2020) 1 SCC 1 held as under:

511. .. A pujari is merely a servant or appointee of a shebait and gains no independent right as a shebait despite having conducted ceremonies over a period of time. All the evidence relied upon to support the claim of late Baba Abhiram Das is restricted to his having performed puja at the disputed premises and does not confer any shebaiti rights.

As we see, the Bench then brings out in para 18 that, Hence, the Division Bench judgment in Shri Krishna has conferred the status of Bhumiswami on the priest but without bringing the judgment in Pancham Singh before the notice of the Court. Such Judgment has been rendered in ignorance of the binding Division Bench judgment which is supported by the law laid by Supreme Court in Mst. Kanchaniya. The judgment in Sadashiv Giri is in respect of action of auction without the authority of law. The judgment in Pancham Singh was cited but question was not examined as the petitioners were said to trespassers by the State. The High Court found that the petitioners being in possession can be deprived of possession only in accordance with law.

Quite pertinently, the Bench then points out in para 19 that, In the present case, the question which is required to be decided is whether a priest can be treated as Bhumiswami under the Madhya Bharat Land Revenue and Tenancy Act, Samvat 2007 (Act No. 66 of 1950) and as a consequence under the Code. The reliance of the respondent is on Gwalior Act. In some of the judgments mentioned above, the provisions of Gwalior Act have been described as Regulations and in some as Sections. Since it appears to be issued by the then ruler of Gwalior, the same has to be treated as a statute, having a force of law applicable in the erstwhile State of Gwalior.

While continuing in the same vein, the Bench then quite significantly postulates in para 20 that, This question has already been considered by the courts in Pancham Singh, which has further been affirmed by Kanchaniya. The Law is clear on the distinction that the Pujari is not a Kashtkar Mourushi, i.e., tenant in cultivation or a government lessee or an ordinary tenant of the maufi lands but holds such land on behalf of the Aukaf Department for the purpose of management. The Pujari is only a grantee to manage the property of the deity and such grant can be reassumed if the Pujari fails to do the task assigned to him, i.e., to offer prayers and manage the land. He cannot be thus treated as a Bhumiswami. The Kanchaniya further clarifies that the Pujari does not have any right in the land and his status is only that of a manager. Rights of pujari do not stand on the same footing as that of Kashtkar Mourushi in the ordinary sense who are entitled to all rights including the right to sell or mortgage.

It cannot be glossed over that the Bench then mentions in para 21 that, In a judgment reported as Ramchand (Dead) by Legal Representatives v. Thakur Janki Ballabhji Maharaj and Another AIR 1970 SC 532, it was held that if the Pujari claims proprietary rights over the property of the temple, it is an act of mismanagement and he is not fit to remain in possession or to continue as a Pujari.

It also cannot be lost on us that the Bench then puts across in para 22 that, The contrary view expressed by the High Court in Ghanshyamdas I, Sadashiv Giri and Shri Krishna does not lay down good law in view of binding precedent of the Division Bench of the High Court in Pancham Singh as also of this Court in Kanchaniya. All these judgments presenting a contrasting view had not noticed the said binding precedents dealing with the rights of priest under the Gwalior Act.

As a corollary, the Bench then observes in para 23 that, Taking into consideration the past precedents, and the fact that under the Gwalior Act, Pujari had been given right to manage the property of the temple, it is clear that that does not elevate him to the status of Kashtkar Mourushi (tenant in cultivation).

Quite forthrightly, the Bench then points out in para 24 that, The ancillary question which arises is whether the priest is Inamdar or Maufidar within the meaning of Section 158 (1)(b) of the Code. Such provision contemplates that the rights of every person in respect of land held by him in the Madhya Bharat region i.e. area of erstwhile Gwalior and Holkar as a Pakka tenant or as a Muafidar, Inamdar or Concessional holder shall be protected as Bhumiswami. The priest does not fall in any of the clauses as mentioned in Section 158(1)(b) of the Code. The maufi was granted to the property of temples from payment of land revenue. Such maufi was not granted to a manager. Even Inam granted by the Jagirdar or the ruler to a priest is only to manage the property of the temple and not confer ownership right on the priest. Therefore, in view of the judgment in Pancham Singh and also of this Court in Kanchaniya, the priest cannot be treated to be either a Muafidar or Inamdar in terms of Madhya Bharat Land Revenue and Tenancy Act, Samvat 2007 (Act No. 66 of 1950) or in terms of Gwalior Act. Since the priest cannot be treated to be Bhumiswami, they have no right which could be protected under any of the provisions of the Code.

By the way, the Bench then makes it clear in para 25 that, Another question which arises is whether the State Government by way of executive instructions can order the deletion of name of Pujari from the revenue record and/or to insert the name of a Collector as manager of the temple. In Ghanshyamdas II, it was held that even if temple was being managed by the Pujari, his name is required to be mentioned as Pujari along with name of deity. We do not find any man date in any of the judgments to hold that the name of Pujari or manager is required to be mentioned in the revenue record.

Most significantly, the Bench then makes it crystal clear in para 27 that, In the ownership column, the name of the deity alone is required to be mentioned, as the deity being a juristic person is the owner of the land. The occupation of the land is also by the deity which is carried out by the servant or the managers on behalf of the deity. Therefore, the name of the manager or that of the priest is not required to be mentioned in the column of occupier as well. In Ghanshyamdas II, it was held that if the name of the Pujari is recorded in the column No. 12 i.e. column of remarks, it will not affect the rights of the Pujari so long as he is performing his functions properly and cultivating the land or getting the land cultivated through servants. Therefore, the name of the Pujari cannot be mandated to be recorded either in the column of ownership or occupancy but may be recorded in the remarks column.

While clearly vindicating the stand of the Madhya Pradesh State Government, the Bench then puts forth quite vividly in para 28 that, No rule has been brought to the notice that the name of the manager has to be recorded in the land records. In the absence of any prohibition either in the statute or in the rules, the executive instruction can be issued to supplement the statute and the rules framed thereunder. Such instructions do not contravene any of the provisions of the Code or the rules. Therefore, they cannot be said to be illegal or in excess of the authority vested in the State Government.

Briefly stated, for the sake of clarity, the Bench then makes it clear in para 29 that, However, we find that the name of the Collector as manager cannot be recorded in respect of property vested in the deity as the Collector cannot be a manager of all temples unless it is a temple vested with the State.

Adding more to it, the Bench then hastens to add in para 30 that, Another argument was raised that such circulars of the State Government shall be applicable to the public temples and not to the private temples. A bare reading of the circulars does not make out such distinction. However, a temple in a house or which is not open to the public cannot be treated to be a public temple. However, it will be a question in each case whether it is a public temple or a private temple which can be decided in the appropriate proceedings. For the purpose of the present appeal, we find that the circular is applicable to all temples unless a particular temple is able to satisfy the competent forum of it being a private temple.

Finally, what came as a body blow to the Madhya Pradesh High Court is that the Bench then holds in para 31 that, In view of the above observations and discussions, the order of the High Court cannot be sustained. The Circulars dated 21.3.1994 and 7.6.2008 cannot be said to be illegal in any manner. The Writ petition is thus dismissed and the appeal is allowed.

Quite clearly, the Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice AS Bopanna have laid down elaborately as to why the Madhya Pradesh High Court order cannot be sustained and the circulars issued by the Madhya Pradesh State Government cannot be said to be illegal in any manner. We have already discussed hereinabove in detail. The Apex Court has also made it clear that it is the presiding deity that is the owner of land attached to temple and not pujari whose job is only to perform the puja and to maintain the properties of the deity.
Agartala: In a major show of strength, the Tripura BJP on Monday organised a march for development at RKAI Maidan in Unakoti districts Kailashahar town. Lashing out at the opposition CPI (M) and its leader Manik Sarkar, chief minister Biplab Dev said, he waa the state chief minister for long 20 years and I respected him a lot. But that day I saw another face of the man. Sarkar and his party had planned violence in Dhanpur to defame a particular community. We never discriminate between Hindu and Muslim, Biplab Dev or PM Narendra Modi Ji never does this.

Dev further said, " If you do development and work, there is a chance of making some mistakes, but if you don't work no chance of making mistakes. The left didn't do anything in the state for 25 years. We all are safe because BJP came to power in 2018. Under the patronage of the previous left government, hundreds of BJP workers were murdered in various parts of the state. Our government has provided government jobs to 7 victims' families."

Attacking the left parties for the recent violence in the Dhanpur area of the state, CM Dev said, "Politics of blood and murders don't happen in our state now. It hasn't stopped automatically, the people of Tripura have recognised the true character of the left. The original character of the left parties came out in the Dhanpur violence." Targeting the TMC who is trying to set its foot in poll-bound Tripura, Biplab Dev said," Another set of selfish people has come from West Bengal to our state. They come in the morning flight and go back by evening. These people are pretending to be the saviour of minorities and provoking people. Beware of these people, they are trying to disrupt the progress of Tripura."

In another significant development, close to 2,500 people belonging to TMC and the CPM today jumped ship and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Targeting Mamta Benarjee and her nephew, Chief minister Biplab Deb also stated that the people of Tripura will never accept Goonda Raaj or Bhatija Raaj as only Jaanta Raj is prevalent in the state.




There has been a constant move by some splinter Sikh groups living outside India that Sikhism is closer to Islam than it is to Hinduism. Few eminent Sikhs have also mentioned that Sikhs are culturally closer to Muslims.

Veteran muslims who have witnessed the era of partition of India in 1947 have claimed that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was in favour of a combined Punjab where Sikhs were invited to remain back in Pakistan, but Hindus were asked to leave, so that Pakistan would have complete Punjab, and the offer was to also to have an alternate Muslim and Sikh Prime Minister every year.

I am not sure how accurate that information is, and more importantly how genuine and sincere the proposition was to have a Sikh and Muslim bonhomie and annual sharing of political power by Mr Jinnah. Because the systematic mapping of non Muslims in Rawalpindi followed by their targeted massacre was planned several months before August 47, a process similar to the genocide of Jews.

Although it is an undeniable fact that Sikhism rose as a buffer between Hindu and Muslims as was envisaged by Guru Nanak, but it wasnt a replacement of Hinduism either.

The Sikhism was created to keep core concepts of Hinduism intact but allow a reform in the ritualistic practices, and there was influence of the Bhakti movement as well as of Sufism.

Sikhism in its current form has its core value as a written compilation of Gurbani which was giving Guru Granth Sahib eternal Gurudom, but the intent was to permanently embed the teachings and not allow dilution or adulteration of any kind. One of the major differences between Quran/Bible/Torah versus Guru Granth Sahib is that the former were revelation based religion where the author themselves were not Moses, Christ or Muhammad. Those were compiled by followers and captured to the best of their ability. Which is why there are various versions of Hadiths and Bible. However, Guru Granth Sahib was directly written by the Guru himself, and not by disciples. And the reason behind this was that the Guru wanted the intended teachings to be delivered from the source itself without a risk of dilution or unintended bias.

If we look at the core teachings of Guru Granth Sahib, it teaches about experiencing Naam, or Shabad, which is the eternal name and essence of Timeless Infinity. And the teachings advice that it will be easy to obtain that Naam, or Divine Enlightenment through a Guru. Guru Gobind Singh ji passed on the permanent Gurudom to the holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

The concept of an interceptor Guru is a core and fundamental concept of Hinduism as well, and has been passed on from ages. It is called Diksha. This is not the case with Islam. The last Prophet was Muhammad sahib, and Holy Quran is not a living Guru. Guru Granth Sahib is a living Guru.

The entire history of ancient Hinduism is replete with the story of Gurukuls and the various Rishi/Muni were the Guru who taught students. The word Sikh means disciple- as a learner- for Seekhna. In fact, what the Sikh Gurus had done was similar to the Gurukul method of teaching, but brought this into the mainstream populace. And more importantly the Guruji brought a social reform to eliminate the injustices due to divisions in the name of casteism, and other prevailing social evils of that time. The famous argument made by some Sikhs that Guru Nanak rejected Hinduism when he rejected to wear a Janeu is incorrectly interpreted. He refused the Janeu as a ritual but propagated that the actual Janeu should be like a permanent sacred thread for the soul which guides one permanently for having control over ones evil vices and guides towards liberation. With death, the thread will get destroyed by the body, but the eternal thread of Janeu will not wither away.

Likewise, there is a mention of prohibition of idol worship in Sikhism, but this has also been misinterpreted. The concept was to bring out a realisation that the essence of divine was to be instilled into a point of worship as otherwise the prayer to the infinite Almighty got limited to worshipping a piece of stone unless one had done the conscious effort to remember the Divine during idol worship. The Guru realised that the idol worship at that time had become a mere lip service where the connection was simply from a human to a piece of earth, but with a big disconnect of the religious feelings towards the Infinite through that idol. Therefore the Guru was not against the idol, but against the superficial and ritual practice that it had become in the absence of the Divine connection whilst idol worship.

This is what has been stressed by Guru ji as well as Sant Kabir in Guru Granth Sahib.

However, some Sikh scholars have wrongly interpreted this and misconstrued the teachings and intentions of Sikh Gurus to create a Hindu Sikh divide.

Hinduism is very vast, and not about Brahmins or idol worship alone. Brahmins are less than 5% of Hindus. The voice of reform against the social vices prevalent in Hindu society was also raised by Hindu reformers as well such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy, who started the Brahmo Samaj which was also supported by Swami Vivekanand. Initially Swamy Vivekanand was not a big proponent of idol worship. The actual concept of idol worship to connect with divine was taught to Narendra Nath Dutta by his Guru Swamy Rama Krishna Paramhansa who being an enlightened Guru was able to give Narendra the experience of God. Rama Krishna Paramhansa himself used to have vision of divine Shakti- Maa Kaali, during worship of her idol. In the presence of his Guru, Narendra was able to have a similar experience, and thus, Narendra Nath Dutta understood the essence of linking divinity to idol, and became Swamy Vivekanand, and gloriously upheld the valued treasures of Vedanta before the world.

Later, Arya Samaj movement was started by a group of Hindus themselves under Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati. This group advocated monotheism, rejected idol worship- but still they remained Hindus. The initial Satyartha Prakash written by Dayanand Saraswati did not mention any great opinion about Sikhism either, but after he visited Punjab, he had a change of heart, and the criticism written against Sikhism were removed by him. Unfortunately, on a trip to Rajasthan, Dayanand Saraswati was poisoned to death by a Muslim cook as a retribution for him having written against Islam. Dayanand forgave the assassin before his death, but his modifications in Satyarth Prakash to remove criticisms against Sikhism were not incorporated by successors. This was more of a political and ignorant issue, and an unfortunate happening that created a wedge between the Sikhs and the Arya Samajis, and was one major factor that led to the debacle of 1984 and the Punjab turmoil. The Arya Samajis opposed the Punjabi Suba movement. Sikhism

was also borne out of a religious reform, just as they were, but perhaps the Arya Samajis were not in favour of the Khalsa, which was created by Guru Gobind Singh. They did not realise that this concept of Saint- Warrior by Guru Gobind Singh was a resurrected ancient Hinduism itself as was done by Parshuram, by Ram or by Krishna. As mentioned in hukamnana by Guru Gobind Singh- when all peaceful means to destroy evil fail, then it if justified to raise the sword.

It is sad that this philosophy of the 10th Guru was not appreciated by the Arya Samajis in Punjab. But a coin always has 2 sides. Some Hindus and Arya Samajis had opinions that mainstream Sikhs tried to impose their staunch Sikh beliefs in Punjab and that threatened the belief system of Hindus in Punjab during the Punjabi suba movement, and as a result, all Hindus opposed the Punjabi Suba movement at that time out of fear for dilution of their ideology and domination by Sikhs. However a review of the Anandpur resolution never suggested any sinister intent by Sikhs and this can be verified as it was and is a document in public domain. Therefore an unnecessary fear and division was created between Arya Samajis and Sikhs in Punjab. The small RSS group in Punjab also sided with the Arya Samajis to oppose the Punjabi Suba movement, which was never a Khalistan movement. Over a period of time, the entire Arya Samajis became synonymous as RSS for the Sikhs world wide. And over a period of time, all Hindus became synoymous as Brahmins and RSS for the worldwide Sikh community. Not many are aware that the main body of RSS in Nagpur and outside Punjab and sent strong recommendations to the small RSS faction in Punjab to support the Punjabi suba movement. Sadly the Punjabi RSS chose to side with Arya Samajis, both of whom had unnecessary fears of the intentions of Sikhs who wanted the Punjabi Suba movement which was merely a drive to safeguard Punjabi language and culture, and not to impose Sikhism on Hindus.

What failed notice was that all are a continuation of the same Indo Vedic concept but became victims of misinformation and gossip.

There have been efforts to split Sikhism from Hinduism based on misconstrued and distorted aspects of the message of Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh by some Sikhs who have been affected during the turmoil of the 1980s and the political disaster by the then ruling party.

The entire Guru Granth Sahib teaches us to take the name of Hari, Gobind, Raghunath, Ram, Jagdish- as various names of God. Again, with no disrespect to any other religion, there is no mention in Granth Sahib to worship God using any name used in the terminology of any Abrahamic religion.

Mardana was a close friend and disciple of Nanak, but he was not a fanatic Islamist either, and was a low caste Muslim. When Guru Gobind Singh was supported by Pir Budhu Shah, or his 5000 followers- all of them were Shia Muslims who were disowned by Aurangzeb as being non Muslims. These 5000 Shia Muslims were a part of the Royal Mughal army, but were disbanded by Aurangzeb when he became the emperor. These 5000 Shias then came and joined Guru Gobind Singh. Therefore the clear message here is that the Guru were all encompassing and their main aim was to be all inclusive, eliminate caste based discrimination among humans and to treat the whole humanity as one- Vasudevan Kutumbhakan- a concept of ancient Indo Vedic followers.

The golden temples foundation was laid by Muslim Fakir Mian Mir, but the name of the Gurudwara was still Har Mandir Sahib- and Hari is the commonest name of God, and mentioned most number of times in Guru Granth Sahib.

Ram was also the name prescribed by Guru- and the concept goes well beyond Lord Sri Ram Chandra to the times when Valmiki, a petty thief who at one time was asked by Sapta Rishi to recite - Mara Mara, and years later when they recovered him from inside the anthill in which he was covered, still reciting Mara Mara, to now recite it correctly as Ram Ram, and he became the revered sage Valmiki who wrote Ramayan. Lord Ram Chandra was an incarnation of Vishnu, but concept of Ram by Guru Gobind Singh goes back to pre Valmiki times when the name Ram was synonymous of Lord Almighty as suggested to Valmiki by the Sapta Rishis (7 sages- of whom Rishi Agastya was the seventh).

Sikhism was a reform movement of Hinduism and need of the hour due to the existential threat to mainstream Hinduism from external invaders. The Hindu religious fervour was replaced by casteism and blind practices at that time, and the division in Hindu society was a perfect recipe that allowed a handful of Muslim invaders to loot and plunder India. In line with that, from the 1st through to the 10th Guru, the evolution of Sikhism to Nihang Sikhs was an appropriately poised series of reforms addressed to stop the spread of fanaticism and forced conversions to Islam.

Sadly with times, the contributions of Sikhs was unsung and efforts by Sikhs to protect their heritage was instead met with fear and skepticism by others, which need not have been the case. If Sikhs had strong feelings that they were not of Hindu origin and had severed off their emotional bonds with Hindus, clearly they would have either accepted Jinnahs supposed offer or to have an independent Sikh state. They could not have an independent Sikh state with Muslims because clearly Muslims wanted Pakistan as an Islamic state. When Sikhs were driven to Indian side, all left of Punjab was a tiny strip from Amritsar to Jalandhar. The area beyond river Satluj was never a part of Punjab as it was a part of British dominion ruled by vassal kings such as Maharaja of Patiala, Jind, Nabha and Kapurthala. After partition of India, these were called as PEPSU states- Provinces of East Punjab States Union. The original Punjab was West Punjab, and is now Pakistan. If Islam were closer to Sikhism than Hinduism, then clearly

Sikhs would have still been flourishing in West Punjab aka Pakistan. Clearly that acceptance wasnt shown to Sikhs at that time from the fanatics in Islam who cannot accept any moderate and true version of Islam.

The Hindu and Sikh being a collective brotherhood was obvious during the partition of India in 1947 when both Sikhs and Hindus were asked to leave Pakistan and both were murdered with equal ruthlessness by Islamic fanatics who wanted to divide the nation. No Sikh was shown any leniency in Pakistan despite the claim by some Sikhs that Sikhism is a monotheistic religion just like Islam. Because Islamists never had any doubts of the exclusive distinctiveness of their religion from Sikhism.

It was not evident to the Sikhs that the monotheism of Sikhism was not the same as that of Islam because Sikhism believed in immanence whereby Creator and Creation are intertwined and were one and inseparable from each other, akin to the IndoVedic concept of a Single Unifying Force of Aadishakti which also finds a mention in the teachings of Sikh Gurus. This is in sharp contrast to the monotheism of Abrahamic religions where the monotheism is transcendental, meaning that Creator and Creation are separate, and God is distinctly separate and remotely controls the creation from a distance.

The olive branch that is being shown to Sikhs aggrieved and affected in the turmoil of 80s by Pakistan is welcome, but one may wonder if it is not simply with a politically driven agenda and motive.

What will help would be for the mainstream Hindu society to understand where things have gone wrong, remove their unnecessary misconceptions about Sikhs, incorporate historical details of Sikhism and its selfless valour and sacrifices in the school curriculum, put a legal ban on jokes targeting the Sikh community or showing them in poor light in the Film, TV and social media platforms and in day to day life.

It was Hindus only who transformed to Sikhs. That has stopped now, and Sikhs are now derived from Sikhs themselves as a progression through progeny. The need of the hour is for more Hindus to adopt the Khalsa brotherhood- especially for the eldest son of the family to be encouraged to become a Sikh, as used to be the case during and after Banda Singh Bahadur.

At the same time, it is imperative that Sikhs worldwide understand the true message of the Guru Gobind Singh which hoped to unite all humans as one- Manas kee jaat sab ek pehchanbo, and this cannot come by severing bonds from Hinduism. Sikhs should not become victims of political driven misinformation where some vested interests put the concept of Hinduism in bad light. They should educate their children about the true aspects of Hindu-Sikh history, their common heritage, roots and principles, and the true concepts of both Hinduism and Sikhism instead of having a myopic view. Hindus and Sikhs are an inseparable part of each other, and are communities in continuity.

It will be very useful if government policies and legislation are put in place and adopted at national and international levels to spread this message and also to discourage and convict mischievous elements who try and disrupt the Hindu-Sikh unity and brotherhood.


The Midland Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will host its fall used book sale from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 24 and Saturday, Sept. 25, and 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Midland Mall.

Book lovers will find hardcover and paperback books sorted into several categories including mystery/suspense, romance, general fiction, history, cookbooks and childrens books. Most books are priced from $1 to $2. Recent publications, cookbooks and collectables are individually priced.
On Tuesday, Amazon boosted its average starting wage to $18 per hour said it plans to hire more than 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers in the United States, per a press release from the company.

The world's largest online retailer also said it would pay a sign-on bonus of $3,000 in some locations and the hourly wage could go up to $22.50. Amazon was among the first few retailers to set a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2018.

Amazon had said in May it would pay around $17 in average wages.

The company is hiring to run the 100 logistics facilities it will launch this month in the United States, on top of the more than 250 that opened earlier this year.

Amazon plans to hire in both Illinois and Michigan. The company said it will also provide full-time employees with benefits from the first day of work, including health, vision and dental insurance.

"Amazons job creation efforts will be welcomed by job seekers across America  especially in more rural locations, which are traditionally not the focus of strong retail investment," said Neil Saunders, managing director, retail, for Global Data, an intelligence and analytics research firm, in a statement.

The additional staffing will also help roll out one-day delivery for Amazon's Prime loyalty club members.

In 2021, Amazon opened over 250 new fulfillment centers, sortation centers, regional air hubs, and delivery stations in the U.S., and will open over 100 more buildings in September. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Amazon has hired more than 450,000 people in the U.S.

Amazon is now the largest job creator in the U.S.

"We are proud to offer opportunities for people from a range of backgrounds, from furloughed workers to former military personnel," said Dave Clark, CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, in a statement. "We take our responsibility as an employer seriously and want our employees to succeed and thrive. That's why we offer an average starting wage of over $18 per hour, provide a great range of comprehensive benefitsincluding healthcare coverage, parental leave, career training, and ways to save for the future  and have a team of thousands working to build a safe and inclusive work environment. Whether you're looking for a short-term job to make money for the holidays or a long-term career, you're welcome here, and we look forward to having you on our team."

Retailers are scrambling to hire hourly workers in a national labor shortage and have been offering benefits and sign-on bonuses to entice them.

Walmart, Inc. said earlier this month it planned to hire 20,000 workers at its supply chain division ahead of the busy holiday season, according to Reuters.

In addition to hiring employees for its operations, Amazon will also support the growth of small and medium-sized businesses and help to create tens of thousands of additional jobs. Amazon works with more than 2,500 Delivery Service Partners, enabling these aspiring entrepreneurs to build their own delivery companies by leveraging Amazon's experience in operations and logistics. These partners plan to hire more than 50,000 delivery associates by the end of the year.
History is getting a breath of fresh air as the annual cemetery tour, hosted by the Midland County Historical Society, returns to the area. This time, however, the tour will be conducted at two new venues: Warren Township and Old Edenville Cemeteries.

The Midland County Historical Society has been hosting cemetery tours in Midland for over 20 years. This year, the staff decided to partner with the Coleman Historical Society and Edenville Township to shed light on other areas of the county and its history.

We wanted to come out throw some spotlight on our friends at different historical societies because we have a number throughout the county, said Jake Huss, historical programs and exhibitions manager of the Midland County Historical Society.

When word of the collaboration reached the ears of Richard Tesman of Alma  who is a member of the Coleman Historical Society  he proposed for the tour to include his great-grandfather and Civil War veteran, Abram VanVoltenburg. As neither of the historical societies had information on VanVoltenburg, Tesman provided his own research.

I grew up knowing of his existence from family stories about him, but I got much of my information from his Civil War records, Tesman said, adding he researched petitions for pensions, discharge and marriage records from the National Archives and census records.

As Tesman investigated his ancestors background, he discovered that VanVoltenburg lied about where he was born. While his descendants believed he was originally from San Francisco, California, VanVoltenburg was actually a native of Canada.

Tesman will not only have his ancestor included in the Warren Township Cemetery Tour but will also portray him. This will be a first for Tesman, as he has never attended Midland Cemetery Tours in the past.

Its exciting for me. I really saw it as an opportunity that I wanted to participate in, Tesman said. Id like people to come and hear the whole story.

History is human, Huss said. When you get to be a person and tell your life experiences, it quite literally gives history a pulse.

During his talk, Tesman will set the record straight about his great-grandfathers origins as well as what jobs he held, his family  including his nine children  as well as his time during the Civil War. VanVoltenburg was only in the military from August 1961 to the following August, as he was seriously wounded in the first battle he was in. In addition to being in costume, Tesman will also present the cane VanVoltenburg used after his injury.

When he was baptized, he threw away his cane and never needed it again, Tesman said. That caused some controversy that played out in newspapers at the time.

Tesman will join six other presenters from across the region, each stationed among the grave makers. While five of the speakers will be dressed in period costumes provided by the Midland Center for the Arts Center Stage costume department and talking about specific Civil War soldiers, Floyd Andrick of Midland will present an introduction about the cemetery while Al Selesky of the Coleman Historical Society will talk about a Civil War cannon that is stationed in the Coleman park.

(Coleman is) one of two places in the state that during World War II when they were doing metal drives the mayor said, No, you cant have our cannon. The city of Midland had two cannons. No more, Huss said. Its really a big thing for Coleman because Richard grew up playing on the cannon, I grew up playing on the cannon, and my kids have played on that cannon.

Proceeds from the Warren Township Cemetery Tour will be split between the Midland and Coleman historical societies. The Coleman Historical Society will use the funds to help renovate the oldest business building and turn it into a museum.

We need some help, financially, to do some renovations and get it to be a building people like to enter into and enjoy, Tesman said.

The Warren Township Cemetery Tour will take place from 1 to 4:40 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at the cemetery, 4262 N. Coleman Road in Coleman. Guided tours will take place every 20 minutes. Tickets are $8, $5 for museum members. To purchase tickets and to learn more about the Old Edenville Cemetery Tour on Saturday, Oct. 16, visit www.midlandcenter.org/museums/museum-events/ or call 989-631-8250.
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.
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.
On Monday, Northwood University was listed as having the largest outbreak of COVID-19 cases in schools across Michigan, according to the states website.

Northwood University was among 71 schools  elementary through college  that reported new outbreaks; an outbreak is two or more cases. While most of the schools have less than 10 cases, Northwood University has 25 student cases. According to Northwoods website, which was updated shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, the university has 21 current positive student cases, six pending tests and 14 recovered.

Chip Reeves, vice president of finance and administration at Northwood, further highlighted the conditions on campus, stating the number of cases reported encompasses on-campus and off-campus students. Additionally, nine of the 21 positive student cases are isolated at the N.A.D.A. Hotel and Conference Center, and a little less than a third of the case-positive students have been vaccinated. Currently, there are no cases of COVID-19 among staff members.

Were fortunate that most of those cases have mild or moderate symptoms, Reeves said.

The university currently does not require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19, wear masks or socially distance, but plays an active role in encouraging and promoting such measures to mitigate the virus, said Reeves. He reported that around 58% of undergrad students are vaccinated.

Reeves explained that Northwood administration personnel is meeting regularly to review three different criteria in relation to their pandemic protocols: what trends are going on at the campus, what local conditions are in the community, and what are the current state and federal regulations. If conditions worsen in a notable way, the university is considering a possible, temporary mandate for wearing face masks indoors. In the meantime, the university is recommending students and staff receive the vaccine through their own informed choices and making the doses accessible. Vaccination clinics for COVID have been held in the past, with another clinic on Sept. 24 for both COVID and flu vaccinations.

We continue to monitor the campus on a daily basis to make informed decisions, Reeves said.

Northwood administration is also waiting to receive more guidance on President Joe Bidens COVID-19 action plan, which was announced last week. Under the plan, businesses with 100 or more employees will be required to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work.

Northwood employs under 300 full-time employees across its campuses, said Reeves, 82% of which are vaccinated. Reeves is confident that Northwood can establish access to weekly testing for the remaining 18% of staff who remain unvaccinated.

Were waiting on more clarification and timelines on that piece of that (plan), Reeves said.

MidMichigan Health not panicking about number of COVID patients

Chuck Sherwin, president of MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena and chair of MidMichigans COVID Task Force, reported that while the healthcare system has seen an increase in the number of COVID-positive patients in the past several weeks and hospitals are seeing younger patients being admitted for the virus, more incidents of COVID are less severe than the original surge in 2020, thus less ICU beds and ventilators are being put to use.

Were not panicking on the current number of COVID-positive patients in our system, Sherwin said.

The main concern for MidMichigan Health, however, stems from President Joe Bidens action plan. Currently, a little over 65% of MidMichigan Healths 6,500 employees have been vaccinated. At this point, vaccines are not mandated for the health systems staff and its leadership team is waiting to receive direction from MIOSHA and OSHA about their unvaccinated employees. Sherwin says he expects several lawsuits to come forward in response to the presidents plan, which also states that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement. Sherwin doesnt want employees to leave over the new requirements, which might leave hospitals under-staffed.

Were being cautious. We want to provide a safe work environment for employees and great care for the communities we serve, Sherwin said. This is a balancing act of trying to meet the needs of employees and providing safe, effective care to our communities.

Another issue is the question of supplies. While hospitals have enough vaccines to administer and plenty of care supplies for COVID patients, Sherwin is concerned that there will be a shortage of testing supplies if Bidens plan goes through as is.

We care deeply for our community and employees. Were utilizing the science available to us to make the best decisions.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the presence of foreign troops in Syria, saying they are there against the will of the Syrian government and are blocking the consolidation of the war-torn country, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Putin was referring to hundreds of U.S. troops stationed in eastern Syria and working with Kurdish-led fighters in battling the militant Islamic State group, as well as Turkish forces in northern Syria. Speaking during a rare meeting in Moscow on Monday night with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad, he said the presence of the foreigners is illegal because they don't have permission to be there from the United Nations or Syria's government.

Russia joined Syrias 10-year conflict in September 2015, when the Syrian military appeared close to collapse, and has since helped in tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, whose forces now control much of the country. Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed across Syria and they also have a military air base along Syrias Mediterranean coast.

Assad has rarely made trips abroad in the past decade since Syria's conflict began, except to visit key allies Russia and Iran. Assad and Putin discussed cooperation between their armies and ways to continue operations to gain control of the last rebel-held areas in Syria, state media in Damascus reported.

Putin later announced he was going into self-isolation because of coronavirus cases in his inner circle. Assad and his wife tested positive to coronavirus in March, and recovered three weeks later.

It was the first meeting between the two allies since they held a summit in the Syrian capital in January last year. The two also met in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2017 and in Moscow in 2015. Syrian state TV described Monday's meeting as long and said the two were later joined by Syrias foreign minister and Russias defense minister to discuss mutual relations and fighting terrorism.

This clearly violates international law and doesnt allow you to make maximum efforts to consolidate the country, Putin was quoted as telling Assad about the foreign forces, according to a statement released by the Kremlin.

"Only a consolidation of all forces in Syria will allow the country to get on its feet and start steady development, moving forward, Putin said.

Putin and Assad also discussed the political process in the war-torn country, the TV said.

In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists said that Russian warplanes have been carrying out strikes on the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country. The region is home to some 4 million people, many of them internally displaced by the conflict.

Last week, a Russian-negotiated cease-fire deal went into effect to end a government siege and intense fighting in the southern city of Daraa. The deal brought areas held by the rebels in the city under government control for the first time since 2013.

We have the intention in Syria as a government and institutions to move in parallel between the liberation of land and the political process, the TV also quoted Assad as saying.

The TV said the during the meeting, the two leaders discussed cooperation between their armies in fighting terrorism and the continuation of liberating lands held by terrorists. Assad's government refers to all armed opposition groups as terrorists.

The Russian president said our joint efforts have liberated the main, overwhelming territory of the Syrian Republic. Speaking to Assad, Putin added that the terrorists have suffered very serious, significant damage, and the Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90% of the territory.

In Geneva, a team of U.N. investigators gave a strikingly different view of the situation. They said that after Assad won a fourth seven-year term this year, there seems to be no moves to unite the country or seek reconciliation and that the country was not safe for refugees to return.

In a report, the U.N. Syria Commission of Inquiry said that arbitrary and incommunicado detentions by government forces have continued and the economic situation has deteriorated dramatically, along with a recent surge in fighting.

The overall situation in Syria looks increasingly bleak, Commissioner Karen Koning AbuZayd said.

Syrias conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed half a million people and displaced half the countrys pre-war population of 23 million, including 5 million who are refugees outside the country.

___

Litvinova reported from Moscow. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report from Geneva.
MANISTEE  Emergency personnel were dispatched on Monday afternoon after a truck struck a pedestrian.

Manistee police and fire departments were called out at about 2:52 p.m. on Monday to the intersection at 12th and Oak Streets near Manistee Middle/High School for a truck striking a pedestrian.

"Manistee City Fire Department personnel transported the pedestrian to the hospital where they were treated for non-life threating injuries," according to a news release from the Manistee Police Department.

The incident remains under investigation, however, police said "there is no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved."
Coleman Faith United Methodist Church is pleased to present the Viva Jazz trio at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, as the final program of the summer concert series outdoors under the church portico. Guests can bring their lawn chairs and enjoy a wonderful evening of great music outdoors where there is plenty of space and fresh air.

Viva Jazz was founded by flutist Lauren Rongo in 2016 with pianist Arlene McDaniel and bass player Terry Newman. All three are acclaimed performers and have extensive experience playing with first-rate musicians, groups and orchestras around the country such as the New York Sinfonia, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony.

Rongos music credentials include Michigan State University and the Manhattan School of Music. She branched into jazz while living in New York where she was principal flutist in the New York Sinfonia and Brooklyn Philharmonia. Since returning to Michigan, she taught flute at Saginaw Valley State University, and played with the Midland Symphony, Valley Wind Quintet, Flutee and Nova Jazz.

McDaniel has been performing and teaching jazz piano for over three decades since graduating from MSU. She performs at a variety of venues as a soloist, combo leader, and side woman. She is part of the music faculty at the MSU Community Music School and at Hillsdale College. Arlenes CD (Timeless, 2009) contains original compositions and has received airplay.

Newman studied at the Julliard School of Music in New York City with symphonic and jazz musicians. His professional engagements include concerts, clubs, and festivals such as Detroit/Montreux Jazz Festival, New York and Greenwich Village Jazz festivals, Kassel Jazz Festival, Germany and the Blue Note, New York City. He has toured Europe with Shanghai Blue and the Schlicht/Romano Group, recorded for off-off Broadway productions and has been a musical production director and leader. Since returning to Michigan in 2002, he has been active in the Latin jazz/salsa music scene performing with Orquesta Ritmo, Groupo Ire, Armando Vega and Mariana Risquez. Newman has been the double bass/electric bass instructor at the Flint School of Performing Arts since 2003.

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, at the parking lot of Coleman Faith United Methodist Church. Admission is by donation, $10 per person suggested, with the proceeds to benefit the ongoing flood recovery work facilitated through the church. Additional donations can be made online via the church Facebook event, GoFundMe link or by checks made out to the church and marked as Concert. Address donations by mail to Faith UMC, P.O. Box 376, Coleman, MI 48618.

Faith United Methodist Church is located at 209 E. Jefferson St. in Coleman, at the corner of Fifth Street and Jefferson. Patrons are asked to bring their own lawn chairs for seating. Details are available at the event page on Facebook, through the church office at 989-465-6181, online at www.faith-umc-coleman.com, or by calling Ann Sigsby at 989-615-2599. Find more information on Viva Jazz on the groups Facebook page.
Volunteers often act as a foundation for a communitys response to a crisis.

And two local groups are calling on community members to continue the volunteer pace as Midland County looks toward upcoming fall recovery efforts after the dam failures of May 2020.

In Midland County alone, over 4,000 homes were impacted by the recent flooding event, according to the Midland Area Community Foundation. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared 155 homes as destroyed. Some homeowners and families are still in need of help.

Disaster recovery is a very long process, said Bre Sklar, volunteer coordinator for United Way of Midland County during the September event on Zoom. It takes time, it takes collaboration  its not something that any one person or organization can do on its own.

The Midland Area Community Foundation and Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group, a collaboration with community partners including United Way, held their 17th Zoom call to connect volunteers with upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Just under 10 people attended the monthly virtual meeting to hear about upcoming volunteer opportunities from painting to landscaping. Sklar estimates nearly 1,000 people need direct assistance.

The presenters said Midland County is in the long-term recovery phase where collaborative and systematic structure is being made for relief efforts. Construction manager with Habitat for Humanity Erich Ostrander said with recovery projects, more on site volunteers allows donation monies to be spread farther.

The Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group is still identifying recovery projects in the community. Volunteer opportunities are toward rebuild and repair efforts, however, individuals can volunteer with any skill level. Other areas where volunteers are needed include siding, framing repairs and everything in between.

This has been probably one of the biggest challenges for us because flood recovery is not fluid, Sklar said. "It's an incredibly dynamic process and there's only so much that you can anticipate. One tiny thing can completely shift the needs of the homeowner in terms of what their construction rebuild looks like.

Ostrander said volunteers are asked to follow COVID-19 protocols to ensure safety while rebuild and repair efforts are taking place.

Sklar said initially, agencies like the National Guard were called on to provide immediate assistance during the emergency phase. And community members stepped up to set up various distribution sites.

We were really blessed to witness firsthand a community that loves each other and shows up well, when we need it most, Sklar said. We had just had an outpouring of love and support right away from our community members, showing up to help with the mitigation pieces.

Future flood recovery sessions will continue to be held on the second Thursday of each month. Potential attendees are required to register for sessions at midlandfoundation.org/zoomintoflood.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Andrew Mullin.

Tuesday, Sept. 7

11:07 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to the city of Coleman to speak with a 15-year-old female. The 34-year-old mother stated her daughter was smoking marijuana and she wanted deputies to speak with her. Deputies spoke to the 15-year-old female about the incident.

10:38 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Mount Haley address for a domestic between a 29-year-old Mount Haley Township male and a 59-year-old Mt. Haley Township male. The parties were separated and interviewed, and the 59-year-old male was subsequently arrested for domestic violence and transported to the Midland County Jail without incident. A report was sent to the Midland Prosecuting Attorneys Office for review.

10:07 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Larkin Township residence in reference to a 13-year-old male who sent a suicidal message. Deputies spoke with the child and his parent about the situation and options.

8:41 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Hope Township residence regarding a 22-year-old male stating a 23-year-old male is sending him threatening messages on Facebook Messenger. Deputies spoke with the 23-year-old male, who agreed he would leave the other male alone.

7:58 p.m. Officers responded to a case of domestic violence on Willow Street.

2:54 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to an Ingersoll Township residence for a 43-year-old female who was having suicidal thoughts. The information came in from a third party, and deputies spoke to the female who denied being suicidal.

2:35 p.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence reference a possible assault that occurred two months ago, along with a possible conditional bond violation. The deputy arrived on scene and discovered that the assault occurred in the City of Midland, and that there was only one party at the residence. There was no conditional bond violation.

12:18 p.m.  A 72-year-old male requested extra patrol due to a speeding vehicle near his residence. Deputies will provide extra patrol.

10:42 a.m.  An animal control deputy received a call referencing a man being possibly scratched by a bat that was in the bedroom of his home. Bat was collected and submitted to the Michigan Department of Health for rabies testing and test results are pending.

3:36 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to M20 reference a white Hyundai that left the casino headed eastbound. The caller advised that the driver was possibly intoxicated. A deputy checked the area, but the vehicle was not located.

1:25 a.m.  Officers responded to a warrant arrest on East Lyon Road.

Monday, Sept. 6

9:48 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to speak with a 34-year-old Lee Township female about her ex-boyfriend, a 34-year-old Lee Township male, who violated his bond conditions. A report was completed and forwarded to the prosecutor's for review.

8:45 p.m.  A deputy responded to a Coleman residence for a death investigation of a 66-year-old Coleman male. The death appeared to be of natural causes.

8:38 p.m.  Deputies conducted a traffic stop at a Jerome Township location. Deputies contacted the 19-year-old male driver. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the male didn't have any insurance on the vehicle. The male was cited for no insurance. A report is being sent to the prosecutor's office.

8:00 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township location in reference to a 69-year-old male stating quads were tearing up the roadway in his neighborhood. Deputies contacted the 47-year-old male who was driving the quad. The male agreed that he wouldn't drive carelessly any longer.

2:34 p.m.  Officers responded to a vehicle crash on East Haley Street.

11:39 a.m.  Officers responded a malicious destruction of property on Noeske Street.

9:29 a.m.  A deputy responded to a Jasper Township residence for a death investigation of a 57-year-old female. The death appears to be of natural causes.

9:18 a.m.  Deputies responded to a Jerome Township residence to check the wellbeing of a 70-year-old Jerome Township male. Deputies contacted the male, who appeared to be having a medical issue. EMS responded to the scene and provided aid to the male.

9:01 a.m.  Officers responded to a malicious destruction of property on Lingle Lane.

6:35 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Lee township trailer park for a verbal dispute. One of the subjects, a 25-year-old Midland City resident, left the scene of the verbal dispute and drove his vehicle while he was intoxicated. Deputies stopped the vehicle, and the 25-year-old male was arrested for operating while intoxicated and was lodged at the Midland County Jail.

3:12 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to check on a suspicious person sleeping along the roadway. The previous shift already contacted the male who is crossing the country on foot. Contact wasn't made due to it previously being investigated.

3:03 a.m.  Deputies conducted a traffic stop at a Lee Township location. Deputies contacted the 31-year-old male driver. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the male didn't have a valid drivers license, or any insurance on the vehicle. The male was cited for driving with a suspended drivers license, and no insurance.

1:33 a.m.  A deputy was dispatched to a horse running down the roadway. The deputy located the horse and notified the owner of the horse and it was secured in its pen without incident.

12:24 a.m.  Officers responded to a case of domestic violence on Hillgrove Parkway.

12:17 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence to speak with a 71-year-old Jerome Township male regarding a fraud complaint. The male advised he gave his Social Security number over the telephone to an unknown male, and he had $1,000 taken from his bank account. This incident is under investigation.
To the editor:

I was sorry to read about our county clerk having to deal with the reverberations of the Trump cult big lie. Trump used Hitler's playbook often and one of those plays was if you repeat a lie often enough people will begin to believe it. The big lie was the reason there was a riot in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6. Trump even called the rioters very special people.
Director of Content and Operations

Spencer McKee is OutThere Colorado's Director of Content and Operations. In his spare time, Spencer loves to hike, rock climb, and trail run. He's on a mission to summit all 58 of Colorado's fourteeners and has already climbed more than half.
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali has strongly condemned the "cowardly and barbaric attack" by unidentified armed people on Saturday against a Moroccan trade convoy in Didieni town, Kayes region, resulting in the loss of human lives including two Moroccan nationals, the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on Monday
Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - Guinea's junta, the National Committee for Reconciliation and Development (CNRD), on Monday asked the security forces and health authorities to assess the situations at the country's land borders with a view to gradually reopening them before Thursday
Metsa Fibre Lays Foundation Stone for Its Kemi Bioproduct Mill in Finland

Preparing the masonry foundation stone for Kemi bioproduct mill in Finland: (l-r) Jari-Pekka Johansson, Project Director of the Kemi bioproduct mill project; Ismo Nousiainen, CEO of Metsa Fibre; and Mika Vuoti, on-site contact person. Preparing the masonry foundation stone for Kemi bioproduct mill in Finland: (l-r) Jari-Pekka Johansson, Project Director of the Kemi bioproduct mill project; Ismo Nousiainen, CEO of Metsa Fibre; and Mika Vuoti, on-site contact person.

Sept. 14, 2021 - Metsa Fibre said that the Kemi bioproduct mill project in Finland is progressing according to plan and the mill's foundation stone was laid yesterday, September 13. The foundation stone was laid to the area of fibre line of the new mill by Ismo Nousiainen, CEO of Metsa Fibre, Jari-Pekka Johansson, Project Director of the Kemi bioproduct mill project, and Mika Vuoti, the on-site contact person. To ensure safety in terms of the coronavirus, the foundation stone was laid without the presence of guests.

Totaling EUR 1.6 billion, the investment in Metsa Group's Kemi bioproduct mill is the largest in the history of the Finnish forest industry. Through its direct value chain, the new bioproduct mill will employ around 2,500 people in Finland once it is completed. This translates into some 1,500 more than the employment effect of the current Kemi pulp mill.

The bioproduct mill project has a high degree of Finnish origin, approximately 70 percent.

"The impact of this large-scale industrial investment is significant. The Kemi bioproduct mill will increase Finland's annual exports by around EUR 0.5 billion and its annual positive income effect through the value of the wood raw material and the purchasing of Finnish labour is likewise roughly EUR 0.5 billion," Nousiainen said.

Johansson explained, "We are proceeding purposefully towards the start-up of the new mill in the third quarter of 2023. At the moment, the project is focused on earthworks and this autumn, we will be moving on to the first equipment installations. Some 450 people are currently working on the site."

Operating entirely without fossil fuels, the Kemi bioproduct mill will produce annually some 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp, as well as many other bioproducts. It will also produce 2.0 TWh of renewable energy a year, which is equal to approximately 2.5% of Finland's total annual electricity production.

Metsa Fibre, part of the Metsa Group, is a leading producer of bioproducts and bioenergy. Metsa Fibre produces pulp and other bioproducts at four mills in Finland: Joutseno, Kemi, Rauma and Aanekoski; and also has six sawmills: Kyro, Lappeenranta, Merikarvia, Renko and Vilppula (in Finland) and in addition, Metsa Svir sawmill in Russia. To learn more, visit: www.metsafibre.com.

SOURCE: Metsa Fibre
Photo: (Photo : ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

A New York hospital announced that its baby deliveries and other maternity services would be unavailable beginning September 25 following the mass resignation of 30 workers protesting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

In a statement to the press, Lewis County Health System CEO Gerald Cayer said that the general hospital would not have enough staff workers to help mothers deliver their babies due to the resignations. Of the 464 employees, about 73 percent have complied with the requirement, and 165 have yet to get the jab.

Two weeks ago, the Lewis County General Hospital imposed an emergency regulation change that informed its employees of the vaccine mandate, which will only honor medical and not religious exemptions. New York has scrapped religious exemptions for vaccinations since the measles outbreak in 2019.

Read Also: Doctors Sound the Alarm on Rise of Stillbirths in Unvaccinated Pregnant Women

Contingency Plans in Place

The change in the policy comes after then Gov. Andrew Cuomo also imposed a vaccine mandate for all health workers, requiring at least a partial vaccination by September 27. Cayers further said that he supports the vaccine mandates for all health workers since they need to ensure a healthy workforce to deliver essential services to the public.

Cayers reminded the general hospital workers that COVID-19 vaccines work to protect the community at the highest level. As healthcare workers, they have the obligation not to put patients and their co-workers at risk.

The hospital's administrators are currently working out a contingency plan in the event of more resignations. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Harney said they still have a functioning women's health center for outpatient services.

"We'll try to offer as much of the women's health services that we can right at the health system," Harney said. "It's just the maternity department and newborn nursery that are not going to be fully staffed."

Reports cited that 21 of the 30 employees who quit have clinical roles as nurses, medical technicians, and therapists. While three staff members have presented their medical exemptions, Cayers understood that at least a dozen workers will still submit their documentation.

Fines to Be Imposed for Non-Compliance

Meanwhile, as vaccine mandates are now officially underway across the state beginning September 13, workers who have yet to comply before the deadline will have to submit to weekly COVID-19 testings. New York establishments, offices, and schools with no new requirement could be slapped with fines beginning at $1,000.

In-person classes and full-time office work, including city staff members, have also resumed on September 13. Every New Yorker must wear a mask indoors and in communal areas, while certain public spaces will only be open to vaccinated visitors.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that this Monday is a major "recovery day" despite many businesses saying they have turned away other customers, thus losing potential sales because of the mandate. However, some residents, especially those who frequent the gym, have welcomed the new rule and said they now feel safer in vaccine-only sites.

Related Article: Piano Child Prodigy, Age 4, Denied Carnegie Hall Debut Because She Can't Be Vaccinated
Photo: (Photo : FERENC ISZA/AFP via Getty Images)

Missouri teacher John Wallis quit his job at the Neosho Junior High after school administrators told him to remove the LGBTQ Pride flag in his classroom and was threatened with termination if he didn't comply.

Wallis, 22, who taught speech and drama, was also informed that some parents complained about his "personal agenda" as they were concerned that he could influence his students to become gay. The school administrators asked the Missouri teacher to sign a waiver agreeing to never "discuss human sexuality" or his own sexuality in the classroom.

While Wallis signed the letter and removed the Pride flag and other LGBTQ signs, he resigned from his job a few days later. He then filed a civil rights discrimination lawsuit against Neosho Junior High with the Department of Education.

In a statement, Wallis said that the school administrators sided with the "bigotry of the parents" and imposed a "different set of rules" for LGBTQ educators versus heterosexual teachers. He said that he sought permission to display the flag. While he was advised against doing so, he did not take this as an instruction not to put up the flag.

Read Also: Children's Museum in Nebraska Cancels Drag Queen Story Hour Due to Death Threats

Not a Political Issue

The administrators of Neosho Junior High met with Wallis in August to discuss the flag and inform him not to push his political issues. However, Wallis believes that this is not political but a "human rights issue."

Students later asked the Missouri teacher about the missing flag, and he told them of the school's order. Wallis said that before he met with the officials, at least ten kids had come up to him to thank him for the flag since they didn't know who to talk to about issues surrounding the LGBTQ community.

"They instantly knew that my classroom was an environment where they could learn and where they could feel safe," Wallis told NBC News.

Though the Missouri teacher resigned, he originally planned to stay on until September 30. Yet in the first week of September, the school said that his replacement was ready to take over and gave him until the end of the day to pack up his stuff.

Superintendent Jim R. Cummins declined to comment on Wallis' case except to confirm that he was hired in mid-August and filed his resignation on September 1.

Support for Students of All Orientation

Wallis told Kansas City Star that he was once a closeted high school student in the same school who didn't have any teachers who accepted openly gay students. He didn't want his students to go through the same experience and felt that he was doing the best thing for them when the students privately approached him that they identify as LGBTQ.

The Missouri teacher's fight against discrimination has the support of the state's House Minority Leader, Crystal Quade, who thanked Wallis on Twitter for his dedication to the students of all orientations. Wallis said his lawsuit isn't to get back at the school but to ensure that policies are in place, especially for public school teachers who support all types of students.

Related Article: American Medical Association Wants To Remove 'Sex' on Birth Certificates
Photo: (Photo : NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Salesforce, a software company specializing in cloud-based technology, has offered to relocate employees and their families if they do not have access to reproductive care services.

In a message on Slack, the company said that issues directly impacting the staff, especially the women, should be addressed. Though Salesforce did not specifically mention the Texas abortion law, the memo came out following the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against the state's prohibitive mandate on women's reproductive health.

"We recognize and respect that we all have deeply held and different perspectives," the company stated. "As a company, we stand with all of our women at Salesforce and everywhere."

Read Also: Texas Abortion Law: Supreme Court Won't Block Six-Week Abortion Ban

Salesforce has over 1,000 workers in its Uptown Dallas office. CEO Marc Benioff also personally retweeted a link to the new abortion law in Texas and directly addressed his work family who may need help in leaving the state.

Ohana if you want to move well help you exit TX. Your choice.https://t.co/y5IKpm5fNs  Marc Benioff (@Benioff) September 11, 2021

The Texas abortion law or Senate Bill 8 (SB8) bans almost 85 percent of abortion procedures from the sixth week of pregnancy. It has also deputized citizens, not state officials, from carrying out lawsuits against the women and the people or providers who have helped them with the abortion.

Other Companies Offering Support

It's not just Salesforce that has extended their support for workers who may be legally liable for the Texas abortion law. Uber and Lyft also announced that they would cover 100 percent of the legal costs of drivers who could be sued if they help Texas women get an abortion.

Lyft CEO Logan Green said they are establishing a "driver legal defense fund" and donating money to Planned Parenthood so that transportation won't be a barrier to better healthcare. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi followed Lyft's lead and offered to shoulder the drivers' legal fees as well, should they find themselves in court over abortion.

Dating sites Bumble and Match Group, the owner of Tinder, have created a relief fund for its female Texas workers who may need to get an abortion outside of the state. In a memo to the staff, Match Group's CEO Shar Dubey said she doesn't usually take a political stand for the business, but she can't keep quiet over this issue as a Texas woman. She noted that Texas's new law is "highly punitive and unfair" as there are no exceptions even for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape.

Injunction Sought to Stop Enforcement

The law took effect on September 1, 2021, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill in May. The Supreme Court decided not to block the enforcement, but the Justice Department filed for an injunction on September 8.

The Texas abortion law comes under heavy scrutiny because the sixth week of pregnancy is still too soon for the mother to know that she may be pregnant. States with abortions usually impose a 20th to 24th pregnancy week cut-off.

Concerns about the law's impact also stem from the fact that individuals and groups may also target providers, pro-life activists, or the friends and family members of the women. Planned Parenthood said their patients are getting more scared and confused as access to reproductive health care in Texas has been curtailed. They said that this problem would lead to abandonment, abuses, and unplanned trips to emergency hospitals.

Related Article: Texas Abortion Law: Biden Justice Department Sues for 'Unconstitutional' Ban
Yesterday Patently Apple posted a report titled "The technology behind Next-Gen OLED Panels for iPads and MacBooks is in the works that will deliver thinner sharper Displays." The report covered next-gen OLED displays for tablets and notebooks using a new Fine Metal Mask (FMM) process. Today we're learning that Apple has requested a sample of fine metal mask (FMM) from APS Holdings for a virtual reality (VR) application.

More specifically, Apple has requested a sample of the South Korean companys laser patterning FMM. Apple requested a resolution of 3000ppi (pixels per inch) to meet their specifications for a VR device.

Apple will likely test the FMM sample to see if it can be applied to production, then form a more concrete plan for the VR devices development. FMM is used to deposit the red, green and blue organic materials during the production of OLED panels.

Currently, the holes in the FMM that the organic materials go through are made using wet etching. This method can offer up to 600ppi with the current level of technology. Apple likely wanted a laser patterning FMM as laser drilling for the holes will make 3000ppi more achievable. APS Holdings has been developing laser patterning FMM for application in MicroOLED panels.

MicroOLED panels uses a silicon substrate instead of glass like conventional OLED panels. This allows it to offer more precise and higher resolution.

MicroOLED also has microseconds response time and is a likely candidate to be used for VR and augmented reality (AR) applications.

In May, APS Holdings was chosen by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to develop a MicroOLED display technology for high luminance and high resolution AR application. The national projects aim is to develop a AR glass with 4000ppi resolution by 2024.

If Apples same test of its FMM goes well, APS Holdings will likely be able to expand its laser patterning FMM business. However, it will still need to secure productivity in the production of the FMMs.
Joshua 3:13, 15-17 (RSV) And when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be stopped from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap. . . . [15] and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), [16] the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off; and the people passed over opposite Jericho. [17] And while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. Joshua 4:18, 23 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.. . . [23] For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,

The Scottish evangelical Protestant Egyptologist and archaeologist Kenneth A. Kitchen (b. 1932), is author of the magisterial On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003). He wrote in this book:

[T]he rivers flow stopped, leaving a dry crossing, as the waters had piled up at a town named Adam near Zarethan (3:16). . . . This phenomenon directly reflects known reality, and is not fantasy. Some sixteen miles north of a crossing opposite Jericho, Adam is present-day Tell ed-Damieh. It is specifically in this district that the high banks of the Jordan have been liable to periodic collapses, sufficient to block the river for a time. Thus in December A.D. 1267 a high mound by the rover collapsed into it, stopping its flow completely for sixteen hours. In 1906 a similar event occurred, and then during the earthquake in 1927. That time the west bank collapsed, taking the road with it, while just below this a 150-foot section of riverside cliff fell across the river, damming it completely for twenty-one hours. Such an event in antiquity would have readily facilitated the crossing by the early Israelites. (p. 167; for further documentation of these three events, see J. Garstang, Joshua Judges [London: Constable, 1931], 126, 136-138)

The Israel Tours web page, Earthquakes in History and Archaeology observed in agreement: Historically known quakes have dammed the Jordan River repeatedly, sometimes for several days, in 1160CE, 1267, 1534, 1834, 1906 and 1927.

Robert M. Bowman, Jr. comments on this naturalistic explanation:

By the way, the fact that the river was stopped by an earthquake and mudslide does not in any way undermine the Bibles giving God the credit for it. There is nothing wrong with thinking that at least some of the Old Testament wonders may have involved natural processes over which the Lord exercised dramatic sovereign control. Mudslides damming the Jordan did not happen every day; from what we can tell such an event happens there on average once every couple of centuries or so. Yet the river was stopped at just the right time for the Israelites to cross over into the Promised Land and march on Jericho. Ironically, by using such natural processes to bring about some of his dramatic provisions for the people of Israel, God left behind clues to the veracity of the biblical accounts that we can examine and verify millennia later.

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Related Reading

Bible & Archaeology / Bible & Science (A Collection)

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Photo credit: Joshua passing the River Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant (1800), by Benjamin West (1738-1820) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

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Summary: At least six known times in history (1160, 1267, 1534, 1834, 1906, and 1927), the parting of the Jordan River (or obstruction of its flow) occurred, on the basis of entirely natural causes.
Windows 11 wont be officially supported on Apple M1 Macs, dashing the hopes of those who hoped to pair Apples new M1 Arm hardware with the new operating system.

Microsoft called running Windows 11 on an Apple Mac powered by an M1 chip not a supported scenario late last week in a statement to The Register. Microsoft issued that report after the publication found hardware compatibility errors while running the latest build of Windows 11 on Parallels, an app that lets you run third-party operating systems on Macs.

As anyone who has followed the Windows 11 upgrade path understands, supported and unsupported are subtly complicated terms that refer to whether or not the Windows 11 operating system will run as expected. Support depends on whether the PC platform meets Microsofts Windows 11 hardware specifications, which the company has aggressively set in an effort to assure the PC is secure. Microsofts Windows on Arm program has ensured that Windows 11 will run on Arm PCs like the Surface Pro X, just not on Apples Arm-based M1 Macs.

Microsoft Pictured: Windows 11. Not pictured: An M1 Mac.

Microsofts declaration doesnt necessarily mean that Windows 11 wont run on an M1 Mac, via Parallels; it does mean, for now, that Parallels will have to do the engineering work required to essentially trick Windows 11 into accepting that all is well. As AppleInsider noted, VMWare has also issued a private beta of VMware Fusion, allowing its virtual-machine tool to run Windows 11 on top of an M1 Mac without official support. The publication noted that VMware went ahead without official support, citing a lack of clarity in Microsofts end-user agreement.

In August, Parallels told Engadget that Parallels Desktop 17 would run on top of M1 Macs the day that Windows 11 is formally released. Will that still be the case when Windows 11 releases on October 5? Well have to wait and see.
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.









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The Ministry of Education, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and other stakeholdersare are putting in place measures to curb examination malpractice in the country through the serialisation and digitisation of question papers.

The sector Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, explained that through the serialisation and digitisation process, 10 versions of the same examination paper would be set and that will make it difficult for students to cheat.



It will include setting the same questions but with different numbers on the question papers of each candidate.



Event



The minister said this at a media briefing after touring some selected centres in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Accra yesterday.



Some of the centres visited were the Frafraha Community Senior High School (SHS), West Africa and Kwabenya SHSs.



Dr. Adutwum said the measures formed part of efforts by the government to ensure the eradication of examination malpractices in the country.



Rogue websites



According to the minister, some people, out of the crave for money, set up rogue websites through which they sold fake WAEC questions to unsuspecting students who out of ignorance also patronised such sites for a fee.



He said with that and other measures being put in place, it would be difficult for candidates to patronise such sites.



At the Frafraha Community SHS, Dr. Adutwum interacted with some of the candidates before they started their English II examination.



He urged the candidates to remain focused and be disciplined during the examination since anyone caught cheating would be prosecuted because it was against the laws of the land.



Dr. Adutwum also urged them to be confident, focused and avoid any action that would affect the sanctity of the examination.



Recall



Earlier this year, the minister told the Anglican Bishops Conference during a courtesy call on him in Accra that the new measure would start in this years edition of the Basic School Certificate Examination (BECE), after which it would be piloted in WASSCE in subsequent years.



Deputy ministers



In a related development, the two Deputy Ministers of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour and Mrs. Gifty Twum Ampofo, also visited some WASSCE examination centres in the Eastern Region.



Whereas Rev. Ntim Fordjour went to Mount Sinai, Mamfe Methodist Girls, Mampong Secondary Technical for the Deaf, Mampong Presbyterian and Aburi Girls SHSs, Mrs. Gifty Twum Ampofo visited Saviour and AME Zion SHSs, all in Kukurantumi.







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A member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr Clement Apaak, has indicated that the work of the Committee in a modest way is yielding dividends for the country.



He explained that before the various heads of public institutions appear upon the invitation by the Clerk of the Public Account Committee (PAC) to answer to queries that have been captured in the Auditor-Generals report, most of the monies that were not accounted for in the report are paid to the government chest, they appear before the Committee with receipts of payment.



Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Dr Clement Apaak posited that the Public Account Committee is going to start compiling monies that have been paid back to the government chest as a result of the letters and the sittings of the Committee as these monies would not have been paid if the public institutions had not been called to appear before the Committee.



He, however, supported the call that Ghanaians deserve the right to know what happens to the people who commit a crime in the public sector as per the various sittings of the Public Account Committee, it has been reported that some individuals pocket some of the monies that should have been used for developmental projects.



He noted that the Auditor-Generals report for 2020 indicates that 12 billion Cedis have been diverted to somewhere the Public Account Committee (PAC) does not understand; thus, the said amount could have solved most of the pressing needs of the country.



He reiterated that the work of the Public Account Committee is not being effective due to the structures of the constitution, constraining the ability of the Committee to initiate instant action to hold those who have misused, misapplied and misappropriated or even embezzled public resources accountable.



In a modest way, the work of the public account committee is yielding dividends, but we need to make sure that we can exert the maximum punishment to bring to account those who have the tendency to misuse and misappropriate and embezzle public resources, he suggested.



Citing the common practice in other parts of Africa like Uganda and Rwanda, Dr Clement Apaak suggested that there should be a police unit just as the constitutions of these African countries have provided for their Public Account Committees to arrest public officials who will be found guilty before the Committee.







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The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, has decried the attitude of some lawyers to denigrate the judiciary when court decisions do not favour them.



He said the trend, including the employment of personal attacks on judges on social media, is a far cry from their professional calling and urged to refrain from it, saying technologies do not eradicate etiquettes.



Speaking on Monday, September 13 at this years Ghana Bar Associations Annual General Conference which held in the Upper East regional capital, Bolgatanga, the Minister expressed concern that some legal practitioners have made it their behaviour to use social media to tarnish the image of senior colleagues and judges in the profession.



He said some lawyers also run commentaries on issues before court and predict how such issues should be adjudicated, stressing that when judgements in such instances did not go their way, they use social media to castigate the judges.



For him, crucifying judges and senior colleagues on social media ought to be stopped by all lawyers in order not to lower the image of the legal profession in the country.



The 2021 GBA Annual conference is on the theme: Ensuring an increase in revenue mobilization through taxation for the purpose of accelerated national development The role of the lawyer.



The annual conference enables GBA to take stock of its activities and also plan for the coming years.



Many speakers have been slated for the conference. Among the speakers on Monday morning included President Akufo-Addo and the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anim-Yeboah.











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The National Media Commission has appointed a committee of experts to examine ways to transform GBC into a more efficient public service broadcaster.



The Committee is to consult a wide range of stakeholders including past and present GBC board, management, staff, union and other identifiable groups in Ghana in order to make recommendations to the Commission.



This was contained in a statement signed by the Executive secretary of NMC on Monday, September 13, 2021.



Members of the Committee are:

1. Mr. Yaw Asamaoh (Investment Banker)  Chairman

2. Mrs. Wilna Quarmyne (Media Development Expert) - Member

3. Dr. Gilbert Tietaah, (Academic and media researcher)  Member

4. Ms. Rita Sraha (Management Consultant)  Member

5. Mr. Daniel Owusu Nyanmpong (Lawyer)  Member

6. Mr. Kofi Yeboah Kodie (Communications Engineer)  Member

7. Mr. Berifi Apenteng (Media Expert and Lawyer)  Member

8. Ms. Cecilia Eduful, (former Manager of NMCs Media Monitoring Centre) - Secretary.

The Committees specific Terms of Reference are to:

1. Examine GBCs Public Service Broadcasting functions within the context of

a. Pluralistic media in Ghana

b. Socio-cultural, political and economic considerations.

c. Government, professional, public interest and private sector competitive demands.



2. Examine the current state of GBC

i. mandate and governance,

ii. funding and revenues

iii. product portfolios and values,

iv. institutional culture and operational challenges

v. current and future technological needs within the framework of evolving communications technology

and make recommendations for the enhancement of its operations.



3. Recommend a vision for a transformed GBC that responds to considerations of Ghanas national interest and development aspirations.



4. Define a future for GBC [by Considering issues of scope and scale; balance of costs and benefits; media and journalism professional development; pluralism and the public interest; social inclusion and cultural identity; democratic governance and national development.



The Commission calls on all stakeholders to cooperate with the Committee for the betterment of GBC.



GEORGE SARPONG



EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

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The Road Safety Advocates of Ghana (RoSAG) is encouraged by the posture of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) for demanding positive action from Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly (MMDAs) in respect of unlawful use of tricycles.



Last week, the Authority had issued directives to six municipalities to cease their endorsement of unlawful and unsafe use of tricycles for fare-paying or passenger purposes forthwith.



While the Authority is ordinarily exercising its mandate, it bears mentioning that it is uncommon in our kind of environment for a public institution to bare its teeth at another public agency for unsafe practices or wrongdoing.



This singular act by the Authority led by Ing. Mrs May Obiri-Yeboah, gives us the comfort that the NRSA will give meaning to its new mandate of holding institutions accountable to road safety standards.



RoSAG commits its support to the Authority as it embarks on reforms to help turn the curve on road traffic casualties. RoSAG will seize the opportunity to urge well-meaning corporate citizens including the Ghana Journalist Association(GJA), Ghana Institution of Engineering(GhIE), Ghana Institution of Safety and Environment Professionals (GhISEP) and particularly Ghana Medical Association (GMA) for their exposure to the burden associated with managing road traffic crash victims, to speak up in support of efforts at operationalizing the new agenda or mandate for road safety.



RoSAG will continue to advocate for global best road safety standards, including safer vehicles for public transportation to help improve road safety for all.



Thank you.



-SGD-



Nana ANNOR AMIHERE II

CHAIRMAN

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Internal vigilance will be enhanced to prevent anti-democrats from subverting the established system, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has declared.



We shall not let our guard down and allow the clammy embrace of the people by anti-democrats, who are disdainful and incapable of effective popular mobilisation through accepted channels but who want shortcuts to power without the express support of the people, he said.



Delivering the opening address at the 2021 Annual General Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in Bolgatanga yesterday, the President said the nation had derived enormous benefits from democracy and it was important that internal vigilance was enhanced to prevent any incursion from persons who had no belief in democratic governance.



Democracy has been beneficial for the continent and for our country. We know, however, that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and vigilant we shall be here in Ghana, he said.



The five-day conference is on the theme: Ensuring an increase in revenue mobilisation through taxation for the purpose of accelerated national development: The role of the lawyer.



For the first time in the history of the GBA, the conference was held both physically and virtually.



While 600 members of the GBA are attending the conference physically, about 700 are participating in the event virtually.



Fourth Republic



President Akufo-Addo said Ghanaians should be proud that the Fourth Republic had ushered the nation into the longest, uninterrupted period of stable, constitutional democratic governance in the countrys history.



Under the Fourth Republic, there have been three peaceful transfers of power through the ballot box on three separate occasions.



The anti-democrats, who are always looking for occasions to sneer at democratic governance, should also bear the data in mind, he said.



The President traced the role played by members of the GBA in the return to constitutional rule and added that with next year marking 30 years of the outcome of the 1992 Referendum, there was ample demonstration of the commitment of the people to democratic governance.



Improved national life



He observed that the decision by the citizenry to choose the path of democratic governance had ushered the country into the longest and uninterrupted history of stable constitutional and democratic rule.



Providing data, President Akufo-Addo said there was no doubt that all aspects of national life had seen significant improvement under democratic dispensations, compared to the periods of military rule.



The 1970s and 1980s, the periods of unbridled authoritarian rule on the continent, were the eras of economic decline, worsening poverty, collapsing infrastructure and insecurity on our continent. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 1970, for example, according to the World Bank, stood at $220.



The third wave of democratisation in Africa, beginning in the 1990s, saw GDP per capita rise, substantially, to $605 in 1995, declined marginally to $547 in the year 2000, and, in 2017, increased to $1,550, he said.



Back home, he said, GDP per capita, which was $398 in 1990, declined to $258 in 2000 and was now $2,223.



President Akufo-Addo said life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa, which was estimated by the World Bank at 45 years in 1970, moved to 50 years in 1990 and 61 years in 2019.



For Ghana, it was 49 years in 1970 and 64 years in 2019, he noted.



Education, health and other areas of national life had all seen appreciable growth, he said, and backed his claim with statistics.



Denigrating judges



Earlier, when he mounted the podium to address the conference, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame, had taken issue with some lawyers who had the tendency to denigrate the Judiciary and undermine public confidence in the system.



Even when applications duly filed in accordance with law and procedure are pending before the highest court of the land, some legal practitioners do not spare the effort to prejudice the minds of the public with mischievous analysis on public radio, television and social media, all calculated to force the hands of the judge to deliver the verdict in a particular manner or whip up sentiments of the public against the particular court hearing the matter in the event of an outcome not favourable to them.



These practices are vicious and misguided, to say the least. It holds true that the arena for the lawyer to test the strength of his reasoning or the validity of his argument is in the courtroom, not the airwaves or modern-day social media, he stated.



Tax system

Mr. Dame said the professional and ethical training of lawyers placed them in a position to play a fundamental role in the proper functioning of the Ghanaian tax system.



Sad to say, many lawyers are caught in the phenomenon of tax evasion, as they unjustifiably avoid being caught in the tax net, either by understating their profits or concealing their true income.



The luxurious lifestyles of lawyers in riding in the most plush of vehicles and acquiring top-end properties are hardly commensurate with the amount of taxes they pay, he said.



Preventing corruption



The minister said he was continuing with the process of strengthening the systems in place for preventing corruption by ensuring that a set of far-reaching and perhaps a more fit-for-purpose set of regulations for the conduct of public officers was laid down through the enactment of a Conduct of Public Officers Law.



The proposed Conduct of Public Officers Bill, which has already gone through discussions by various stakeholders at a forum organised over a month ago, will follow the example of legislation in other jurisdictions.



The bill also seeks to address matters relating to sexual harassment and provides a gamut of stringent administrative measures and sanctions to deal with violations of the law, ranging from a bar against holding public office to penal measures, he said.



ADR



The Chief Justice, Mr. Kwasi Anin Yeboah, called on lawyers to advise their clients to resort to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) method to resolve disagreements and misunderstanding, as it was less expensive and more rewarding.



He noted that there were minor cases that could easily be resolved through the ADR method and it was imperative for legal practitioners to explain to their clients the more convenient and less stressful options available for them before heading to the law courts.



More lawyers



The President of the GBA, Mr. Anthony Forson Jnr, observed that 7,866 lawyers had been produced in Ghana between 1877 and 2021, out of which 4,882 were practising actively.



He warned social media users not to hide behind their anonymity to trade unsubstantiated allegations".













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A Senior Lecturer at the School of Mines and Built Environment of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Sunyani, Dr. Wadood Moomen, has called for the proper structuring, monitoring and regulation of artisanal small-scale mining (ASM), saying it has proven to have the potential to emancipate many rural people from poverty.

He said the current nature of small-scale mining made it difficult for authorities to appraise its negative and positive impacts to economies of African countries where they were practised.





Dr. Moomen made the call in a paper delivered on his behalf at a symposium to discuss the need to use smart technologies to control illegal mining and illegal logging in the country.



Last Fridays "Smart Systems Symposium 21", organised by the School of Sciences of UENR, brought together academics, industry players and students to brainstorm on illegalities associated with the mining of gold and harvesting of wood, and how technologies could be used to control such activities.



Dr. Moomen observed in his paper that in the last three decades, there had been relevant discussions on small-scale mining at various international, regional and national platforms due to its closeness to poverty.



"In both historical, present and future terms, the ASM sub-sector has proven to have the potential to emancipate many rural folks out of poverty, if properly structured, monitored, regulated and orchestrated responsibly," he stated.



Mining and modernity



Dr. Moomen said the call for the use of smart technologies in mining and logging in the country should be considered since they had unique capabilities to address problems associated with the two areas.



He said smart technologies were necessary since they had prospects of monitoring and mapping a comprehensive understanding of resource potential, production and cumulative economic and environmental impacts of illegal mining operations at the national and local scales.



He added that international, national and non-governmental organisations had realised that the integrating tools such as smart sensors in the monitoring of small-scale mining activities could help governments and communities by increasing security, creating path towards socially responsible mining, and ensuring that safer and environmentally sustainable mining was employed.



"If the government embraces technological developments and encourages the engagement of the youth within the mining sector, there is an assurance of bright future for our mining industry," he said.



Dr. Moomen, however, called for more to be done at the regulatory level to increase affordable internet access so that more people could participate in the economy of information.



Uncontrolled mining



The Vice-Chancellor of UENR, Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, observed that the uncontrolled activities of small-scale miners had caused an enormous destruction to the beautiful landscape in mining areas of the country.



"I have observed with much deep concern the increasing rate at which individuals engage the service of foreigners to destroy the national reserves of the country. If care is not taken to address the spate of forest depletion in Ghana, the future leaders of our dear nation will rise to blame us," he lamented.



Prof. Asare-Bediako added that since the uncontrolled activities of illegal miners were adversely affecting water bodies, vegetation, wild animals, human health and safety, there was the need for the regularisation or abolition of such activities, while abandoned mining sites across the country should also be restored.



Digitised Ghana



The acting Pro Vice-Chancellor of UENR, Professor Felix Adebayo Adekoya, explained that the Smart Systems Symposium series was to stir and stimulate ideas, innovations and discussions towards a digitised Ghana.



"Succinctly, we hope to inform, shape and influence social, economic and government policies, as well as researches through the symposiums, he stated.













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Chairman for the National Prophetic And Apostolic Council (NPAAC), Archbishop Elisha Salifu Amoako, has on behalf of the Council pleaded with the IGP, the Court and especially President Akufo-Addo to assist in granting bail to Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah.



According to the Founder and Leader of the Alive Chapel International, the NPAAC is concerned with the remand of the co-chair of the Council in police custody by the Court.



He was speaking at a press conference in the wake of the arrest of Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah and three of his junior pastors.



The controversial man of God and his junior pastors are currently in the custody of the Ghana Police Service, following their arrest in the creation and circulation of multiple videos containing threats and the brandishing of weapons, and the assault of some police personnel.



The police say they arrested the suspects after critically analyzing the said videos and based on intelligence gathered.



Rev Owusu Bempah and his junior pastors were put before court on Monday, September 13, 2021. He pleaded not guilty to charges including offensive conduct conducive to breach of peace, the threat of death, and assault of office public officers proffered against him, and has been asked by the court to be kept in police custody for a week.



Addressing the media on Tuesday, Elisha Salifu Amoako pointed out that the Council is not out to fight the country's laws except to court the sympathy of appropriate authorities to grant Owusu Bempah bail.



National Prophetic And Apostolic Council (NPAAC), we cannot just sit down and be quiet and watch what is going on and so as a chairman, I have decided to make a statement about the arrest of Rev. Owusu Bempah. We are not trying to fight the system but we are here to just plead with the IGP, to the police and the court to grant Rev. Owusu Bempah bail.



"He is a great man of God and everybody knows his impact on the country. But we will be so grateful if the court can grant him bail so that he can come home and take care of himself," he pleaded.



He reiterated that since investigations are still on-going, the authorities should tamper justice with mercy by granting him bail so that he can prepare for court from home as he is not a hardened criminal.



NPAAC is here to plead with the IGP, and the Court to grant Rev. Owusu Bempah bail. The police are doing their works and the court of the land is doing its part but we will continue to plead with the authority to grant him bail. We are pleading even to the President because Rev. Owusu Bempah has contributed to the elections of this country, he begged.



He is a leader, and overseer over a great congregation and he has no criminal record to run away from the country. We are pleading if our leaders can help us to secure bail for Rev. Owusu Bempah, he insisted.

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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

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Former President John Dramani Mahama has called members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be vigilant at polling stations and collation centres in the next general election.



That, he said, was the only way to ensure victory for the NDC.



Tour ends



He made the call at a stakeholder meeting at Juaboso in the Western North Region at the end of his thank you' tour to that part of the country.



Former President Mahama has been on a thank you tour of the middle belt; namely, Bono East, Bono, Ahafo and Western North regions.



Mr Mahama commended residents of the region for their unflinching support for the NDC and said the party would win any election that was free and fair.



He 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.



No intimidation



For her part, the 2020 NDC Running Mate to the presidential candidate, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, urged supporters at the grassroots to ensure that the party won all parliamentary seats in the region.



She lauded the leadership of the party for recognising the role of women in society and accepting her as the running mate to Mr Mahama in the past election.



The General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, called on the people to bring the NDC back to power to fight corruption.





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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









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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









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The National Organiser of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joshua Hamidu Akamba says he is fed up with the first and second gentleman of the land with their constant lies.



He claimed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia have forgotten why they are leaders of the country.



To him, the duo are experts in deceits and lies  Akamba was discussing Nana Akufo-Addos refund of salary increment to the state in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie'.



How long did it take him [President Nana Addo] to refund that money? he quizzed.



Listen to interview





President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has refunded almost GHS238,000 given him as a salary increment for the year 2021.This was revealed by the Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, September 7, 2021,Addressing journalists, Mr. Arhin said the President has refunded the money to the Accountant-Generals Department.He explained that the move is in relation to a directive he gave indicating that all members of the Executives will not have their salaries increased.The President had made it clear on May Day, even before the recommendations from the [Emolument] Committee, that he, the Vice President, Ministers, and Deputy Ministers of State were not going to take any salary increment. He has refunded his, close to the tune of GH238,000.He also indicated that the president has instructed the Chief of Staff to ensure that other officeholders, including some staff members at the Jubilee House, follow suit.With respect to the others, Deputy Ministers, Ministers and also the Vice President as well, all of those refunds will be made. The President made his on the second of this month, that is, last week Thursday and other appointees will also follow suit, he saidThe Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu Emoluments Committee last year recommended an increment in the Presidents salary from GHS29,899 to GHS47,277, as well as an increase in the salaries for Members of Parliament and Ministers, among other Article 71 Officeholders.Article 71 Office holders include the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, and Justices of the Supreme Court.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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Former President John Dramani Mahama has admonished the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) to use the 2024 elections to redeem its image given the circumstances under which the 2020 polls were held.



A lot of things didnt go well especially the discovery of extra ballot papers, he said in an exclusive interview with Media Generals William Evans-Nkum on Monday, September 13.



Weve held elections, weve had ECs  from [Dr Kwadwo] Afari Gyan and all that. Ive never seen people in possession of such authentic ballot papers, same format, everything. Theres no difference. You cannot tell the difference between that ballot paper and what the EC had and they had in possession of the stamp that the EC had.



The three-time Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) observed it appears the EC is not bothered about the irregularities that characterised the 2020 elections.



We will just make sure that it doesnt happen again, he warned.



The former president was speaking from the Ashanti Region, where he has been in the past couple of days as part of his two-day tour to thank his supporters for the votes in the 2020 elections.



He increased his votes in the Region by almost a double of the votes in 2016.





Former President, John Mahama says the Electoral Commission of Ghana has 2024 to redeem its image.#TV3GH pic.twitter.com/xKWc0psMTO

 #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) September 13, 2021

Source: 3news.com









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An Elections Canada voter information card is shown on Tuesday, Aug 31, 2021. The 2021 federal election is likely going to be decided by turnout and strategic voting, Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says as his firm's latest poll results show the leading two parties in a dead heat. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Students walk across campus at Western University in London, Ont., on September 19, 2020. A local gender-based violence shelter will set up a safe space on Western University campus in London, Ont., to help students in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations in recent days. The school said it has received four formal complaints of sexual violence from students over the past week, even as it looks into additional allegations made on social media over the weekend. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Robins
On August 16, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the United Nations to investigate the enforced disappearances of activists, opposition political activists and businessmen in Bangladesh.

The report profiled 86 alleged victims, several of whom were affiliated with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Most were last seen in custody of Bangladesh security forces. HRW also called for sanctions on members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Bangladeshs elite paramilitary squad, for their involvement.

In response, A.K. Abdul Momen, Bangladeshs foreign minister, called the allegations fabricated.

Some people dissociate themselves from their families, and then they come back home after some days, Momen said.

But based on the extensive evidence that HRW collected, that statement is misleading. Furthermore, Bangladesh has a long history of such disappearances, notwithstanding complaints from relatives, homegrown rights groups and U.S. politicians.

In one example, Tariqul Islam Jhontu, the joint secretary of Chhatra Dal, the Bangladesh Nationalist Partys student wing, was abducted near Dhaka International Airport in 2013, HRW said.

Jhontu had been the target of three criminal investigations for alleged involvement in organizing hartals, or national strikes. His brother told HRW that since Jhontu was picked up, law enforcement continued to harass his family, and new cases alleging hartal-related violence were filed against Jhontu in 2017.

Another example: In April 2019, Abul Haider, secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was picked up by a group of men who identified themselves as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers, in his hotel room in Dhaka, HRW said.

Bangladeshs law enforcement agencies have told Haiders family they have no information concerning his abduction.

Haider and Jhontu still are missing.

According to HRW, when Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party became Bangladeshs prime minister for a second time in 2009, there were just three reported cases of enforced disappearance. By June 2021, however, more than 600 people in Bangladesh had disappeared, according to Odhikar, a Bangladesh rights group.

In 2014, several opposition parties boycotted the general election after alleging enforced disappearances of their members. The Awami League won 232 out of 300 seats in the countrys parliament, giving Hasina a third term as prime minister. That outcome led to violence and mass arrests of protestors, including children.

According to the Geneva-based World Organization Against Torture, ahead of the 2018 Bangladesh general election, there were at least 98 reported cases of enforced disappearances by security forces. International observers raised serious questions about whether the 2018 election  which brought the Awami League to power for a third consecutive term  was free and fair, given reports of attacks on the opposition, including through enforced disappearances.

Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion has come under intense scrutiny for alleged rights violations and abusive tactics. The RAB consists of police and military officers and was created in 2004 to fight major crimes and terrorism.

In 2017, Swedens Sveriges Radio revealed secretly recorded tapes of a high-ranking RAB officer providing grotesque details of their violent methods. Claiming involvement in dozens of killings, the officer said victims suspected of serious crimes but, too difficult to convict in a trial, or impossible to rehabilitate.

The officer alleged corruption within the RAB.

More allegations of corruption came in February, when an investigative documentary by Al Jazeera, All The Prime Ministers Men, alleged that a criminal gang is colluding with Bangladeshs security forces to extract bribes for state contracts and job positions.

Al Jazeera identified as key figures Gen. Aziz Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh military and two of his brothers, who in 2004 were found guilty in the killing of a man believed to be political opponent of Hasinas. The two are fugitives living in Budapest and Kuala Lumpur, Al Jazeera said. A third brother also was convicted in the killing.

The latest Human Rights Watch report was denounced by Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who called it a smear campaign against Bangladesh and its government. The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry used similar language to reject the Al Jazeera investigative report.

The United Nations and the Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission have documented cases of state-sponsored disappearances in Bangladesh and urged the government to investigate the issue.

In October 2020, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators called for sanctions against RAB officers accused of human rights violations.

The senators cited reports of extrajudicial killings that spiked in 2018 amid the countrys purported anti-drug war. Their letter to the administration of then-President Donald Trump stated:

In nearly all cases, the RAB claims that such extrajudicial killings result from 'gunfights' or 'crossfire,' but documentation from reputable human rights organizations demonstrates that victims were often in RAB custody when they were killed, and many of their bodies show signs of death by execution, rather than a 'gunfight.'

Amnesty International has also documented alleged witnesses to RAB 'gunfights' saying they did not witness any such thing and that they were coerced into providing fabricated statements. In one well-known case, an audio recording of the killing of municipal councilor Ekramul Haque reveals RAB officers giving directions to stage a 'gunfight' after they executed him.

Directions from RAB officers included planting drugs and bullets in Mr. Haques pockets, untying his hands, scattering empty bullet shells around the scene, and shooting at a nearby vehicle.
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Boeing Co. secured seven new orders in August for the 787 it assembles in North Charleston  the highest monthly order total so far this year for a program that's grappling with production problems and delivery delays.

Though it marked a strong month for the Dreamliner on the orders side, delivery issues still haven't been resolved. The latest look at the figures, posted online Sept. 14, showed August was the second month in a row and the fourth this year when no customers picked up a 787.

The Federal Aviation Administration has to approve Boeing's methods for inspecting undelivered 787s for production flaws that came to light in the last year before the company can start releasing the roughly 100 aircraft it has waiting in inventory.

The Dreamliner delivery hiatus could drag on until late October, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

The locally based program employs about 5,100 workers in North Charleston, where Boeing consolidated all 787 manufacturing earlier this year while shutting down the original assembly line near Seattle in a cost-cutting move.

But, despite continuing uncertainty from COVID-19 and the Dreamliner woes, the company expressed long-term confidence in that and other jet programs in its newly released projections of commercial aircraft demand for the next two decades.

Boeing Orders & Deliveries The number of Boeing jets ordered from January through August: Total orders: 683

683 787 orders: 21 The number of Boeing jets delivered from January-August: Total planes: 206

206 787 deliveries: 14 Source: Boeing Co.

Overall, the forecasts released Tuesday showed a brighter outlook than a year ago, thanks in part to the fragile recovery in the domestic air market.

Boeing predicted the global aerospace industry will grow into a $9 trillion market in the next 10 years, up $500 billion from from last year's projections and up $300 billion from pre-COVID estimates from 2019.

By 2030, the company forecast that airlines will need 19,000 new planes to replace old ones and for growth fueled by increasing demand for travel, especially in Asia.

By 2040, Boeing projected that the global fleet of planes operated by airlines will nearly double to about 49,000, with nearly 40 percent of the demand coming from the Asia-Pacific region, led by China.

To fly and maintain those planes, Boeing predicted the world will need 612,000 more pilots, 626,000 technicians and 886,000 flight attendants over the next 20 years.

Marc Allen, chief strategy officer for the planemaker, said the predictions reflect how the company remains "confident in long-term growth for aerospace."

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"We lost about two years of growth," Darren Hulst, Boeing vice president of commercial marketing told reporters. "However, we see recovery to pre-virus levels by the end of 2023 or early 2024, so, pretty resilient recovery in the medium term and, then, after that, we see growth at or around pre-virus trends."

Projected demand for twin-aisle jets like the Dreamliner was also bumped up slightly. Boeing's 20-year outlook for those aircraft stands at 7,670 deliveries, up from 7,480 a year ago.

Hulst pointed to the fact that airlines are "still innovating in their long-haul networks," even though demand for international travel is a fraction of pre-pandemic levels right now.

The focus for new long-haul routes added in the last two years has been "overwhelmingly on airplanes like the 787," he said.

International air travel, which will dictate demand for aircraft like the South Carolina-made 787, will be the last to recover, and Boeing predicts that will happen "by the middle of the decade."

New orders for 787s have been rare during the pandemic. No Dreamliner orders were booked after the pandemic began in 2020. Four of the first eight months of this year had no 787 orders, too. July and August were the first consecutive months since early 2020 with new commitments for 787s.

Boeing didn't identify the buyer or buyers for the five jets ordered in July or the seven purchased last month.

So far, 21 Dreamliners have been ordered this year. In 2019, the company had 63 orders for 787s over the same pre-pandemic period.

August was the seventh straight month with net positive orders for Boeing, with a total of 53 orders and 33 cancellations. Most of the scuttled deals were for 737 Max aircraft, and two were for 787s.

With the Dreamliner embattled by production and delivery issues and the single-aisle Max back online since late 2020, the Max has accounted for the vast majority of Boeing's 683 total orders and 206 total deliveries this year. The plane drew 35 new orders in August, including commitments from Alaska Airlines and United Airlines and the first direct order from Griffin Global Asset Management.

Boeing delivered 22 jets total in August, lagging behind competitor Airbus, which handed over 40.

Airbus also bested Boeing's monthly orders, netting 99 after cancellations, but it trails Boeing's year-to-date order total.
COLUMBIA  Richland County will consider whether to require county employees get the COVID-19 vaccine as officials also look more broadly at how to encourage more people to be vaccinated countywide.

County officials have talked for two months about the possibility of requiring employees to get the shot, County Administrator Leonardo Brown told a county coronavirus committee Sept. 13. The county employs about 2,500 people in full-time and part-time positions.

"Unfortunately, Richland County is not immune to the effects of COVID," Brown told the committee. "We have very high numbers."

The coronavirus committee, led by Councilwoman Gretchen Barron, asked Brown to determine how President Joe Biden's federal vaccine mandate might affect what the local government should do and that the county should act quickly with any decision.

The discussion comes as County Council is poised to consider another mask requirement in a vote Sept. 14, joining the city of Columbia, West Columbia, Cayce and other local governments in the state in reinstate face coverings as the COVID-19 delta variant sweeps through South Carolina.

County officials are grappling with how best to incentivize and encourage vaccinations in the general public, including the possibility of giveaways for getting shots and producing a professional infomercial promoting vaccines.

The City of Columbia will require employees to be vaccinated beginning Nov. 1 and until then will offer $500 to those who get the vaccine. The city will also pay workers on the front lines during the pandemic a $2,500 bonus and other employees a $1,250 stipend.

Richland County already approved a $5,000 stipend for utility workers, law enforcement, paramedics and other first responders who worked face-to-face with the public during the pandemic and a $2,500 one-time payment for county workers who worked in-person but had less public exposure.

After requests from offices of elected officials and others within the county with employees who worked remotely part of the time who had been left out of the bonus pay.

The county will propose for council's approval that those employees who worked in person part of the time during the pandemic receive $1,250, Brown told the coronavirus committee.
SUMMERVILLE  As Dorchester School District 2 students prepare to return to in-person classes Sept. 16, some officials fear a repeat of high numbers going into quarantine.

"We're going to be back in the same exact situation," said DD2 board member Justin Farnsworth at a Sept. 13 meeting.

During the meeting, DD2 staff members walked board members through some of the changes they can expect when students return.

Parents will now have the option of requesting plexiglass for their child's desk. Air purifiers were installed in all classrooms and staff offices.

Other additions include deep cleanings, an altered bell schedule to help with bus delays, more kiosks in lunchrooms to help with social distancing, assigned classroom seats in rows and the removal of nonessential classroom items.

Some high school culinary students will help with work in the lunchroom, while other students will assist with media and technology concerns. The district is also offering reduced quarantine time for staff and students.

A staff member's quarantine period can now be reduced to sevens days and a student's to 10. But officials said they will have to meet specific requirements to get the reduction.

Students must be symptom free from the time of their exposure to the end of the 10-day period. With staff, a negative test result will be required.

When the DD2 school board voted to send the district into a seven-day virtual learning program on Sept. 1, staff were reporting more than 4,500 students in quarantine from being close contacts.

The purpose of the temporary program was to give district staff a chance to reset and recover from the high quarantine count. At the time, more than 250 staff members were out and nine teachers had resigned.

Amanda Santamaria, DD2's nurse coordinator, said only four staff members and around 320 students will be quarantining when schools reopen on Sept. 16.

During the board's most recent meeting, members decided to still take the position of strongly recommending the use of face coverings versus issuing a mask mandate.

Superintendent Joseph Pye said they would continue to follow state law, or, more specifically, a state budget proviso that prevents districts from using appropriated funds to create any kind of mask requirements.

"Even though it's very tempting to do otherwise," he said.

Farnsworth said he is concerned by the lack of any new masking procedures. He and Santamaria said that quarantine protocols come from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, not DD2.

Mask usage and three feet of social distancing can be an exception to a child having to quarantine.

Very few students were wearing masks in schools, Santamaria said. So there is some fear among officials that to align with DHEC quarantine protocols, the quarantine numbers might rise again.

According to DHEC, Dorchester County also still has the highest COVID incidence rate in South Carolina as of Sept. 12. Nearly 2,500 cases have been reported in the county.

"It's troubling to be able to try and figure this out," Pye said.

During the Sept. 13 meeting's executive session, the board also received legal advice regarding board member conduct.

Members of the public and media are barred from executive sessions of public meetings. However, the board's discussion followed one of its board members, Barbara Crosby, recently being charged with two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child and one count of statutory misconduct in office.

The charges were in regard to an incident during the Sept. 1 workshop meeting where Crosby allegedly left her two great-grandchildren in her running SUV for 20 minutes, according to the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office.

The initial court date for the case is on Nov. 5 in St. George.

Crosby also received a lot of attention following a statement to the media where she said "God decides who lives or dies" in relation to school COVID prevention.

Following the executive session, Chairwoman Gail Hughes spoke on behalf of her colleagues and said that no sitting board member has the authority to remove another from office. But she said Crosby's statements did not reflect the sentiment of the board.

"We will try and do our very best as a board," Hughes said.
Icons of the civil rights movement in South Carolina, like Septima Clark and Lucille Whipper, smashed social and legal barriers to help end segregation in the state, organized voter registration drives, protested exclusionary policies and established schools.

Among those titans of the movement were thousands of other African Americans who played their part, too, albeit in smaller roles.

That includes Henry Bennett, who celebrated his 90th birthday in August.

Bennett's alma mater is an elementary school.

That's because from the age of 10, he has always worked, first sweeping up at a clothing store before running errands for two drug stores. Bennett worked for a toy store, where he delivered items for assembling toys and baby cribs, and also worked at a department store.

He quit school as a child to support his mother and two sisters. The family lived together on Sumter Street in downtown Charleston. Bennett's parents divorced when he was young, leaving him to help care for the family.

Now a resident of the Ladson area, he grew up under segregation.

"I don't know how to explain it, but it was a struggle," he said.

In 1959, a few years after marrying his second wife, Juanita Chisolm, Bennett began working for S.C. Electric & Gas Co.

SCE&G traces its origins to the Charleston Gas Light Co. founded in 1846. Through a series of mergers, it became one of the dominant electric utilities in the 20th century. The year Bennett started at the company, SCE&G partnered with three other utilities to build the first electric-producing nuclear power plant in the Southeast, in Parr, Fairfield County.

The company was no stranger to controversy. In 1954, Sarah Mae Flemming would sue the utility after she was expelled from a company-owned bus in Columbia for sitting in the "white-only" section. Flemming eventually lost the case at trial, but by then Rosa Parks had sparked the Montgomery bus boycott through a similar protest.

Bennett began working for SCE&G as a janitor, but after taking a three-year course to become a trained electrician, he was promoted to lineman assistant.

Bennett then enrolled at the Linemen Training Center in Denmark, one of the first African Americans to attend the school. Outside of the classroom, he was separated from his White peers, forced to eat and sleep at a boarding house while the White employees stayed in a hotel.

The father of four graduated and continued working as a lineman assistant, riding on a utility truck and fixing power lines in the region.

Segregation persisted at work sites, too. Black assistant linemen were forced to sit in the back of the utility trucks while the White linemen were in the cab. Bennett said they were exposed to the elements on the back of the truck, suffering through brutal heat, rain, sleet and cold.

On one particularly cold and rainy day in the mid-1960s, Bennett complained to his boss. He said he would rather go home than sit on the back of the truck.

Bennett was sent home for the day. He intended to file a formal complaint for discrimination with the central office in Columbia, but by the time he called, the bosses upstairs had already heard about him.

He was told to meet with his supervisor the next day.

"How you feel about the company now," his supervisor asked.

"I don't feel nowhere bad about the company," Bennett replied. "But how would you feel if your son was on that truck that morning, as cold as it was?"

Bennett said his supervisor did not respond, but he told Bennett whenever he wanted to get in the truck, he was was welcome to do so.

"From then on, it was smooth sailing," Bennett said.

It was a small act of defiance, but an important one for the company's black assistant linemen. No longer would they suffer the indignity of riding in the back of the trucks.

Bennett said he suffered retaliation from the company for raising his voice, however. He was passed over for promotions to become a full lineman, he said. Eventually, he asked to be transferred to the company's shipping and receiving department, where he worked as a clerk and served as a union steward.

He retired from SCE&G in 1994 after 35 years with the company.

Gail Fludd Washington, Bennett's niece, said she is proud of her uncle for helping to improve conditions at the company, even if it was not acknowledged at the time. She said there were a lot of people who helped chip away at segregation laws and practices, and she was happy her uncle got at least some recognition for the risk he took.

"He was one of the people who spoke out," Washington said. "And because he spoke out at SCE&G, that actually paved the way for how things are now. People are still talking about that."
North Augusta City Council held its first study session of the month after a brief hiatus.

During the meeting, the council and the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department announced the cancellation of the Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee festival.

The annual festival, usually held around Halloween, features a musical artist and other fall activities. This is the second year in a row the event has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was an unanimous decision. It wasnt what we wanted and all of us are sad, but you look at all the factors involved and things that have happened, you look at the numbers in South Carolina, you look at employees that have been affected  there is just no way around it in our decision, the city's PRT director, Rick Meyer, said. We feel that we have made the best decision and, honest to goodness, I hope that everything changes faster than expected and things get better, but safety is always the first and foremost thing to keep in mind.

Other Halloween and fall festivities within the city are still planned in North Augusta. SRP Park is hosting a Dugout Theater Movie Experience on the field to watch Disneys Hocus Pocus movie.

Well I think it is disappointing for a lot of folks. It is something that we would hope to be able to do, City Administrator Jim Clifford said. I think right now the health conditions are such that we wanted to ensure the safety of our community and our employees.

In addition, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety is hosting a Trunk or Treat drive-thru event on Oct. 16 at Riverview Park. In addition, Third Thursdays are planned for the months of September and October and are put on by North Augusta Forward.

Meyer is looking forward to future events in North Augusta, with a potential festival in the spring.

If we couldnt do the event all the way, the way that our people now have become accustomed to it, we didnt want to do it halfway ... Our hope is that this gives us time to prepare and make 2022 the best Jack-O-Lantern Jubilee ever.

Council also heard that Clifford and Finance Director Cammie Hayes will be the contact individuals for the American Rescue Plan Act. The city of North Augusta is slated to receive $11 million in federal coronavirus funds and is expected to put it toward infrastructure projects.

All decisions made about ARPA money spending will be voted on by the council.

Council member Jenafer McCauley was not in attendance.

Other business

 A resolution for designing a boat dock for Riverside Village will start a design process within the next 60 to 120 days. The document allows the Cranston Engineering firm out of Augusta to start the process.

 A resolution about renegotiating a parking operation agreement was brought to council. The current agreement was made with Greenstone in 2017. We are focused on the next build within Riverside Village. We believe the apartment complex and Parcel K will be the next one to go and in order to incentivize that to move forward, we have to work out something when it comes to parking because there are not enough parking spaces that would be able to fit on a parcel going forward, Clifford said.

 A resolution on improving streetscape amenities was discussed by council during the study session. The resolution would include the addition of planters, bike racks and benches to downtown North Augusta.
Increasingly, employers are requiring employees to vaccinate against COVID-19 because they recognize the social and economic benefits of a fully vaccinated workforce. Employers hope to free their workplaces, their employees and our economy from the continuing devastation of the pandemic.

But as is the case with all things COVID, social media and politicians seem never at a loss for misinformation, as they vow to protect our freedom and liberty to go unvaccinated.

Of what liberty do they speak? Our Constitution is the bedrock for the protection of all our liberties. Nothing there. The Constitution protects us only from governmental actions. Private employers are not governmental actors. As far as the Constitution is concerned, private employers are completely free to require their employees to get vaccinated.

As for public employers, with precedent dating back more than 100 years to Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that the Constitution allows mandatory, governmentally required vaccinations  even for individuals who object on the basis of sincere religious beliefs.

In 2011, the 4th Circuit, our federal appellate court, upheld statutorily mandated vaccinations for schoolchildren despite their parents religious objections (Workman v. Mingo County Board of Education). Per the court: The right to practice religion freely does not include any liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease, ill health or death.

There are a couple of federal statutes that place some limitations on employer-mandated vaccinations. These limitations are rational, discrete and manageable. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to private employers with more than 15 employees and all governmental employers; it protects employees from discrimination on the basis of religion. And the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to private employers with more than 15 employees and most governmental employers; it prohibits discrimination against employees with disabilities.

These laws allow employers to mandate employee vaccinations if reasonable accommodations are made for employees with sincerely held religious beliefs or with disabilities. In other words, theres no wholesale liberty to be free from vaccination. Rather, there are a limited number of employees to whom the employer must provide a limited, reasonable accommodation.

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Under Title VII, the test for accommodation is whether an employees sincerely held religious belief would cause the employer to incur more than de minimis (minimal) cost. That is to say, an employer doesnt have to incur much cost before rejecting accommodation.

Consequently, Title VII is unlikely to require much accommodation for employees who interact with the public, or their co-employees, but want to continue working while refusing to be vaccinated. The potential costs of COVID infection are more than de minimis. Unvaccinated employees are more likely both to become infected and to suffer serious illness. Because of their higher likelihood of infection, they are more likely to infect others  co-employees and customers. This analysis is the sort that empowers employers to remove the unvaccinated from the active workforce  hence United Airlines recent decision to require employees to take unpaid leave after they successfully claimed a religious exemption from vaccination.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employee must have a disability that prevents the employee from getting vaccinated. The term disability is given an expansive meaning under the ADA, but if we ignore the outlier kooks (mostly found in YouTube videos or Facebook comments), the consensus of medical experts is that there are very few medical conditions that contraindicate COVID vaccination. Without such a medical condition, there is no potential ADA claim.

Accommodations such as frequent testing, constant wearing of face masks, social distancing and modified working hours might be sufficient to meet the needs of employers who want a fully vaccinated workforce but who also need to accommodate employees qualifying for an exemption. These types of accommodations likely will weed out anti-vaxxers without legitimate exemptions.

Compliance with Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act will not be an insurmountable hardship for employers. It never has been. Mandatory vaccination programs are being, and will be, successfully implemented without violating any employees lawfully protected interest.

We remain in a severe health crisis that threatens our economy and the livelihoods and lives of workers. More and more employers realize that a fully vaccinated workforce is the best way out. It is past time for politicians to cease their destructive demagoguery and begin to support employer-mandated vaccinations.

Attorney Allan R. Holmes of Gibbs & Holmes is a certified specialist in employment and labor law.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
Russian exports of natural gas to Europe this summer were 75% below normal. Combined with a collapse in wind-driven electricity production, its caused gas prices to more than double and left utilities braced for major shortages of gas for electricity and heating this winter. Britain, which buys much of its gas from Russia, responded by restarting a coal-fired power plant, marking a setback in its environmental and climate policies.

The reasons for the unexpected Russian cutback are opaque. Gasprom, the Russian gas monopoly, says it is due to topping off its gas reserves to meet winter demand while performing annual service on its equipment. But Russia might have other, more political objectives in this case. It's been suggested that it wants to prod Germany to speed up the paperwork required before the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline can begin deliveries this year. Or as it has in the past, Russia might be angling for a higher price for its regular deliveries. But there also could be darker reasons.

There have been plenty of warnings in the past two decades that Russia is willing to use its control of natural gas supplies for Europe as a political weapon. In 2009, Russia cut gas deliveries to Ukraine, allegedly over a pricing dispute, but with painful political and physical consequences for Ukrainians. It is widely assumed that Russia was applying pressure on Ukraine to distance itself from Europe and submit to Russian dominance.

When that didnt work, Russia seized the Ukrainian province of Crimea in 2014, with its naval port Sevastopol, and backed pro-Russian separatists seeking to merge the Donbas region of Ukraine with Russia, igniting a war that continues today.

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This years gas crunch may have its origins in a stubborn European determination to depend on Russian gas despite the political risk. That appears to be the case with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who since 2005 has persistently followed a policy of disregarding most Russian provocations in the belief that stronger economic ties between Germany and Russia will lead to smoother political relations and reduce the danger of any new European war.

The underlying assumption is that Russia will approach its export trade as a business proposition and be a reliable supplier. But the evidence against that is now more than a decade old.

It is notable that the gas crunch in Europe has occurred before the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Critics of Russian policy have long warned against the pipeline for two sobering reasons: Once it is in place, Russia can cut off gas to Ukraine and other bordering states without interrupting Western Europe. And Europe as a whole will be even more dependent on Russian gas  a less-than-ideal position.

In 2019, Congress with then-President Donald Trump's strong backing passed the Protecting Europes Energy Security Act, in effect authorizing sanctions on companies engaged in building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Last year, the State Department announced that sanctions would be imposed. But President Joe Biden waived the proposed sanctions, suggesting that he was not alarmed by Europes dependency on Russia for its energy supplies. Senate Republicans on Monday vowed to block Treasury nominations until the firm managing the pipeline project is sanctioned.

We hope the concerns about Russia's darker motivations are misguided, but the time is fast approaching when we will learn whose view of Russias reliability as a natural gas supplier was right.
Gov. Henry McMaster has taken COVID to its political apogee when he reacted to President Joe Bidens vaccination mandate, saying he will fight it to the gates of hell.

Heres what Ive been reminding my patients for the past 18 months: When politicians run a medical pandemic, all of us are doomed.

Not a single one of my patients, whether Democrat, Republican or independent, has disagreed with that statement.

Its not politics that had 11 South Carolina children on ventilators as of last Thursday; its COVID. Its not politics that created vaccines that prevent death from COVID; its scientists.

The politics of the virus in South Carolina are toxic and the antithesis of life-saving.

Lets start with the recently misappropriated idea of freedom. Is it the freedom of a child too young to receive a vaccine to be infected by an unmasked COVID-infected child in the classroom?

If, like me, you are reading medical journals and getting your hard data from Johns Hopkins, then you will know that vaccines are safe and effective, and prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID.

The delta variant has resulted in an enormous spike in state COVID cases. We have more than 10,000 deaths in our state now. Whose child must die to move us to get vaccinated?

Finally, if you dont think your local doctors are suffering enough from the politics of misinformation and this conflation of medical freedom, I suggest you watch Dr. Kent Stocks recent YouTube video.

As for Gov. McMaster, perhaps he can be relegated to Cerberus.

DR. EVELINE WARING

Royall Avenue

Mount Pleasant

Worse than Vietnam

The recent evacuation in Kabul had a similar ring to that of Vietnam, possibly worse.

Audacious radical ISIS-K militants moved in and killed our soldiers as they attempted to leave. When the Vietnam situation was going full blown, I happened to be in the Army serving in Korea.

On one particular occasion, I was engaged in a conversation with a high-ranking intelligence officer of the ROK Army. His question to me was why America would allow the Viet Cong to push us around.

He said with words to such effect, Make me president of the USA for two weeks, I will end the war and have all U.S. troops home by Christmas. (It was October at the time).

What would you do? I asked. The first A-bomb would be dropped on Hanoi, the second on Pyongyang, he said.

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Well, that may bring the Chinese in, I replied. He said no, notwithstanding the fact that in his mind the Chinese and Vietnamese are not good friends, the Chinese would worry that a third bomb may be reserved for Shanghai or Beijing.

What I learned in my 13 months in Korea was that Asian people in general have contempt for those with power and who are afraid to use it.

Is there a similar blueprint to Afghanistan here?

Does the Taliban view America through a similar lens? Could we have taken the ROK officers advice a generation ago and have had our troops home for Christmas?

How many would have come home alive and not with some permanent injury?

We will never know.

So today, our damaged ship of state flounders in an angry sea without a captain who has the necessary nautical experience needed to guide us through the storm.

THOMAS P. LOWDNES JR.

Rutledge Avenue

Charleston

Spend money wisely

These days, the media has ample material to supply news stories for some time to come.

Earthquakes in Haiti, wildfires in California, flooding and power outages caused by Hurricane Ida, our withdrawal from Afghanistan fills the pages.

That leaves many lesser issues under the radar. One I feel needs some attention is the Tiny Stories ad campaign sponsored by The South Carolina Educational Lottery.

These messages are based on humor that is of the lowest level.

But most distressing, there is nothing regarding the mission of lottery  funding education.

Whatever these snippets cost could surely be better spent providing funds to improve the educational opportunities of our underserved youth.

BUCK ERDNER

Hopeman Lane

Mount Pleasant
Spartanburg City Council is moving forward with prohibiting the open carry of firearms at events in the city that require a permit.

A first reading was held Sept. 13 to amend city code for all events to ban open carry at permitted events. The proposed ordinance amendment needs another reading and a council vote for final approval.

The Open Carry and Training Act, which became state law earlier this year, allows concealed weapons permit holders to openly carry firearms. South Carolina was the 46th state to enact a version of the law.

City Attorney Robert Coler said the state law allows municipalities to regulate open carry at permitted events. The proposed ordinance would prohibit open carry at organized festivals, parades and special events on sidewalks, streets and public rights of way. It would also prohibit open carry for permitted events taking place on public property, including during protests.

"The law that passed in Columbia placed a clause that allows cities to have authority to prevent open carry at permitted events," Coler said.

Coler said the city already prohibits the carrying of firearms at events. However, the city's code needed to be amended to include open carry.

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City Councilwoman Meghan Smith asked if the proposed ban on open carry would apply to Morgan Square where West Main Street has been closed since early 2020 to vehicle traffic, creating a pedestrian zone for outdoor dining and other activities. Coler said that since it is not a permitted event area, the proposed ordinance would not apply to Morgan Square's outside dining area.

City Marketing and Communications Manager Christopher George told The Post and Courier on Sept. 14 if the city designated Morgan Square as a park it could be regulated the same as other city parks which prohibit firearms. George also said the city's permitting process for larger events is more extensive.

While the proposed ban on open carry was approved on first reading, several City Council members said they did not want the new requirement that all city events be permitted to prohibit freedom of assembly.

"I am in favor of limiting open carry, but I am concerned about adding a regulatory layer to an event that may have not been traditionally permitted and limit the ability to spontaneously gather," City Councilman Rob Rain said.

City Manager Chris Story said the proposed requirement to have all city events permitted was not meant to limit the freedom of assembly or complicate the process of holding events. Story explained the permit application allows the city to be aware of what events are taking place for public safety reasons.
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Archdiocese of Agana Archbishop Michael Byrnes called a federal judge's recent decision on telemedicine abortion a setback for those who advocate for the rights of the unborn.

"Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewoods decision in the District Court of Guam on Friday, Sept. 3 was another blow to opponents of abortion. The judges decision opens the door to so-called telemedicine which would assist women and girls locally in procuring abortions guided remotely by doctors from afar. The judges ruling grants a preliminary injunction on local laws that had made it more difficult for women to seek abortions," according to Byrnes in a pastoral letter issued over the weekend.

"It wont be the last setback for all in Guam who recognize the urgent need to stand up for our helpless brothers and sisters in the womb," Byrnes wrote.

Byrnes commended Guamanians "who fight for the lives of our unborn children, including members of the Guam Catholic Pro-Life Committee, the Esperansa Project, Knights of Columbus and those from other religious denominations."

"The Safe Haven organization also provides invaluable assistance to pregnant women and girls in Guam. As well, Ohala Adoptions offers a compassionate option through adoption while bringing peace, hope, and stability to the women and children of Guam, he wrote.

"We are naturally disappointed and upset about this latest legal effort that impedes the work to protect the unborn. However, especially for we baptized children of God, remember that our hope is forever in our Lord. As now Saint John Paul II, urged, 'Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.'

The telemedicine issue

Tydingco-Gatewood's decision could lift a major hurdle for women on Guam who are contemplating undergoing abortion by taking a set of pills with the guidance of a doctor through telemedicine.

Hawaii-based doctors Shandhini Raidoo and Bliss Kaneshiro, who are licensed to practice on Guam, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, have sued the government of Guam to challenge the "in-person" requirement for a woman to be informed and given 24 hours to think about her decision.

The doctors are not challenging the content of the information that's required. They are asking the court to clarify if the consultation with the doctor can be conducted legally via telemedicine, such as through video calls.

Tydingco-Gatewood stated in her decision that GovGuam officials "failed to offer any evidence that supports their position that in-person communication is superior to live, face-to-face video conference" when it comes to consulting with a doctor.

The last doctor who performed abortions on Guam left the island nearly three years ago, according to information provided by court documents in the case.

Tydingco-Gatewood's decision states GovGuams "argument is completely detached from the reality that there is no abortion provider in Guam since the last one retired in 2018."

(Daily Post Staff)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified to the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. He gave a 15-minute opening statement and responded in his fashion to questions posed by members. The State Department transcript and video of Blinkens opening statement are posted here. The State Department video of the entire hearing is posted below. The hearing commences at about 45:00 of the video. The New York Times account of the hearing is here.

Blinken appeared at the hearing remotely. Its not a proud moment for him or for the department. He prefers to phone it in, and he wasnt the only one.

Cmon man. That background for a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing? pic.twitter.com/J6qnzbIxRy  Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) September 13, 2021

The hearing was devoted to our historic departure from Afghanistan and surrender to the Taliban. Although he claims they were a great success,  he blamed Trump, as always. Trump allegedly tied the administrations hands. This is getting old: We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan. However, Blinken also bragged that Biden made a decision that none of his predecessors made to end the Afghan war.

Its a deeply shameful and incredibly destructive episode. Shamelessness comes in handy. It also helps that hes an idiot, mouthing shibboleths about the Talibans failed inclusivity. Blinken finds that the Taliban have fallen very short of the mark in recruiting women to government positions. The Taliban  theyre sticking with the Taliban. (Andrew McCarthy comments here.) Someone should get them a copy of the Supreme Courts Bakke decision.

This comes from the Times story:

I know there have been night letters that have been posted on doors marking people for interrogation or assassination, said Representative Abigail Spanberger, Democrat of Virginia. She added that murders and beatings have been documented against those who have helped the United States. Mr. Blinken agreed that such episodes are deeply, deeply disturbing and suggested that the Biden administration was preparing consequences for the Taliban should their leaders renege on their assurances. They are expected to include economic sanctions against the government, and an end to Taliban hopes for international funding and legitimacy.

Blinken also acknowledged that the the Afghanistan governments acting Cabinet includes members with very challenging track records, such as FBI-wanted interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.

About our drone strike that appears to have taken out a friend of the United States as we departed, our claims to the contrary notwithstanding: That is being looked at very, very, very carefully by others in the administration. No country on earth takes more precautions to ensure that no one other than the terrorist target is struck by a drone. Someone will get back to us on that some time.

The biggest news out of the hearing must be that thousands of lawful permanent residents were left behind in addition to 100 citizens: I think the best estimates are that theres several thousand green card holders in Afghanistan[.] The Examiner picks up this thread of Blinkens testimony.

Hunter Biden cropped up as a sidebar via the questions posed by Rep. Scott Perry. Blinken had no scripted answer to Perrys queries about a recent FBI interview. The New York Post quotes Blinken: I-I-I-I-Im not sure what youre referring to, and Im happy to take that up with you offline. I infer that Blinken had a pretty good idea what Perry was referring to.

Blinken testifies again this morning at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern) before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The song will remain the same, but perhaps someone can follow up on the questions raised by Blinkens testimony yesterday.
Nikuyah Walker is the mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. She was elected to the city council in 2017 on a BLM-style platform and was selected by the council to be mayor in 2018 and 2020.

Charlottesville knew what it was getting in Walker, and thats what it got. She insisted that the city was racist, going so far as to tweet out a graphic poem that compared the beautiful-ugly college town to a rapist. She says she spent time every day trying to convince people that there is racism in our city government.

In terms of policy, Walkers anti-white ideology manifested itself most acutely on the issue of policing, as one would expect. She backed unstintingly the citys radical police chief, RaShall Brackney, a self-described expert in the areas of harm reduction, procedural and restorative justice practices, and community-police relations.

Like Walker, Brackney is African-American. And like Walker, she delivered what the city must have known it was getting when it appointed her. She disbanded the citys SWAT team, hired a Fourth Amendment analyst to review body-camera footage regularly, fired several white officers, and disciplined others.

Brackneys conduct alienated her department. The local chapter of the Police Benevolent Association declared that officers had lost confidence in Brackney. It cited a survey of 65 employees, many of whom expressed concern about her leadership. A majority said she made them feel insecure in their careers and that she didnt have the best interests of the department in mind.

On September 1, the city manager announced that he would fire Brackney. At a city council meeting to discuss the firing, Walker moved to bring the subject up for public discussion. No one seconded the motion.

The next day, in protest, Walker announced she would not seek reelection as mayor. She accused the city council that appointed her of taking racist actions, and called two particular city council members consistent advocates of white is right, white power, and the power of whiteness.

City council members, in turn, called Walker a divisive force, a characterization that seems difficult to dispute. They blamed her for the unusual amount of turnover, including the departure of two city managers, that has plagued the city since she became mayor.

In a way, I sympathize with Walker and Brackney. They did what they were hired to do. Its not their fault that the city council liked the concepts the two were peddling far more than they liked the phenomena that flowed from those concepts.

Id like to credit the city council for finally waking up, but Im not sure its members have. I suspect they now favor Walker/Brackney lite. That seems to be the position of one of the two council members accused by Walker of being a racist (see the end of this link).

But there is no Walker/Brackney lite because there is no BLM lite  just as there is no communism lite.

The Charlottesville city council played with fire. It got burned. I hope its response wont be to set the flame at a lower temperature.
Yesterday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new rules governing the federal monitors who impose their leftist views of policing on police forces trying to cope with skyrocketing criminality. These monitors exercise the authority of the federal government through consent decrees imposed on localities.

Under Donald Trump, the Justice Department wisely stopped pursuing consent decrees. However, the Biden DOJ, under the leadership of BLM-supporting Vanita Gupta and racist Kristen Clarke, is diving back into the consent decree business with a vengeance.

But these intrusive consent decrees are unpopular, so Garland needs to sell the Biden administrations version as kindler, gentler, and more reasonable than the regime Gupta herself administered when she had that power during the Obama administration. Hence, the rollout of reforms.

The Washington Post does its part to sell these lipstick-on-a-pig revisions. In David Nakamuras report, we learn that federal monitoring teams will be subject to unspecified term limits and periodic performance reviews by the federal judge in charge of the decree.

That sounds good. No one wants these monitors to enrich themselves by dragging out their terms indefinitely. And who can oppose performance reviews?

But the real issue is the extent to which the monitors will impose ideas and practices that are inimical to strong, effective policing. Term limits dont speak to that issue. Performance reviews by judges can cut either way, depending on the ideology of the reviewing judge. They can also be perfunctory, as most people who have supervised or been supervised can attest.

If one reads Nakamuras article carefully, it becomes clear that the Biden DOJ reforms will serve the Departments BLM-oriented agenda. They will enhance the ability of the two leading DOJ race radicals  Gupta and Clarke  to force police departments to do their bidding.

For example, we learn that the monitors would have to meet federal standards before being hired and undergo training once on the job. If Gupta didnt require this during the Obama years, its surprising. In any event, this reform seems calculated to ensure that Gupta, Clarke, and other DOJ ideologues have more power over local police departments, not less.

Another rule would allow the Justice Department and the judge to slim down the scope of the consent decrees  which, says the Washington Post, typically mandate that jurisdictions meet hundreds of requirements before the federal oversight is lifted (emphasis added). This slimming down would make the decrees less onerous as law enforcement agencies demonstrate progress, the Post explains.

This reform sounds good, but its a double-edged sword at best because it increases the ability of Gupta and her gang to coerce departments into agreeing to and implementing measures they deem demonstrative of progress. To switch metaphors, this is the classic carrot-stick approach, and the carrot can be as poisonous as the Gupta-Clarke team choose to make it.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, says he likes the DOJs reform. He notes that his group has lobbied for nearly two decades for the Justice Department to provide greater oversight of federal monitors.

Two decades ago, greater federal oversight of federal monitors would have been welcome. But these days theres no basis for perceiving any ideological distance between left-wing, defund-the-police favoring monitors and Kristen Clarke who, until her confirmation conversion advocated defunding the police.

Touting the reforms that enhance her power, Gupta bragged that her team conducted more than 50 meetings with stakeholders, (am I the only person who dislikes this overused word?) including local political leaders, law enforcement officials, former and current monitors, and community members. The Post says she emphasized the importance of community input in the consent decree process and instructed monitors to engage with residents, including through the use of town-hall-style meetings and social media.

This is an invitation for left-wing BLM activists to enhance their influence over policing. To be sure, there are plenty of residents who would like to see a larger, more forceful police presence in their crime-ridden neighborhoods. But the left is far better organized than ordinary residents, and thus more able to mobilize for town-hall-style meetings.

The Biden administration faces a mounting crisis in the form of rampant criminality. Even the leftists in my suburb are suddenly complaining on local message boards about crime, and wondering why the police force isnt doing more to prevent it.

A kinder, gentler approach to coercing local police forces  even a genuine one, which the Garland/Gupta/Clarke is not  still swims against the current, both in political terms and in terms of public safety. Police departments need to be entirely free from federal government coercion.
Dozens of protesters have carried through on their threat to demonstrate at the home of Justice Kavanaugh because of his vote in the case challenging Texas anti-abortion bill. Newsweek reports:

Around 50 to 60 people gathered outside Kavanaughs home in Chevy Chase, holding placards demanding that he resign and protesting against the new restrictive abortion law. . . . The demonstration was largely peaceful and no arrests were made. . .There were a number of police officers present outside Kavanaughs home during the protest.

I assume that largely peaceful means some demonstrators were not entirely peaceful.

Should these protesters have been arrested? In my view, that depends on what non-peaceful things they did.

However, given the way federal prosecutors are treating non-violent demonstrators who participated in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, it can easily be argued that all of the demonstrators at Kavanaughs house should have been arrested for violating federal law.

As I discussed in this post, the Jan 6 protesters face federal felony charges for obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. The government seems to be leveling, or at least contemplating, this charge even against protesters who did nothing more than mill around peacefully in the Capitol.

The prosecutors thus seem intent on stretching the federal statute criminalizing the obstruction of official proceedings beyond its reasonable contours.

It would require no such stretch to charge those who protested at Kavanaughs home with violating 18 U.S. Code  1507. It states that anyone who with the intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer, in the discharge of his duty, pickets or parades in or near a building housing a court of the United States, or in or near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge. . .shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both (emphasis added).

Im not saying the anti-Kavanaugh protesters should be fined or imprisoned, or even arrested. Im saying that not taking these actions against them seems inconsistent with the treatment of most January 6 protesters being prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department.

To be fair, I should point out that Senate Judiciary Committee members from both parties have denounced the protest at Justice Kavanaughs home. They say, correctly in my view, that the families and homes of government officials are not fair game.

Sens. Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy both took this position. Durbins comment was interesting. He said:

When it comes to criminal trespass, we got a belly full of that on January 6th. I dont care whether youre right or left, that is unacceptable as far as Im concerned in expressing your political feelings.

Criminal trespass, or something along those lines, is all the vast majority of January 6 protesters should be charged with.

I hope Im not being too cynical when I wonder whether Durbin and Leahy are themselves acting with the intent of influencing Justice Kavanaugh. After all, he, not Chief Justice Roberts, is now the swing vote on the Supreme Court.

Condemning a demonstration at Kavanaughs home seems like a good way to get on the Justices good side, or at least off of his sh*t list, where Durbin and Leahy both belong based on their unconscionable stance during Kavanaughs confirmation proceedings.
The era of covid hysteria has been clarifying in some respects. We have learned that a great many liberals are in fact proto-fascists who derive an unseemly satisfaction from bossing the rest of us around through emergency decreesa classic fascist tactic, especially when the alleged emergency is a respiratory virus with something like a 99.8% survival rate.

On CNN, one Leana Wen baldly set out the Lefts agenda for the rest of us: dont leave home unless you have submitted to our demand for vaccination! There are crackpots everywhere, but Wens extremism comes from a place of great privilege:

Leana Wen is a visiting professor of health policy and management at George Washington University, a Washington Post columnist, the former president of Planned Parenthood, and a medical analyst for CNN.

Wens theory is that Joe Bidens unconstitutional executive decree mandating vaccinations does not go far enough:

We need to start looking at the choice to remain unvaccinated the same as we look at driving while intoxicated, she told CNNs Chris Cuomo Thursday night. You have the option to not get vaccinated if you want, but then you cant go out in public.

Other than that, though, you are perfectly to make your own decisions about your own body!

Wen elaborated that society has an obligation to prevent the unvaccinated from leaving their homes and infecting others, in the same way that society has an obligation to deter drunk drivers. The vaccinated should not have to pay the price for the so-called choices

So-called choices! We see the totalitarian mask coming off.

of the unvaccinated anymore, she continued.

As we and others have pointed out countless times, the unvaccinated pose no risk to the vaccinated if the vaccines actually work, as I believe they do. On the other hand, if the vaccines dont work, then government obviously has no business trying to make people get them. Proto-fascists like Wen, Joe Biden and numerous governors make no attempt to explain the contradiction inherent in their current campaign to demonize the unvaccinated. That is typical of fascists: they dont explain, they issue orders.

I think we really need to make it clear that there are privileges associated with being an American, said Wen.

Like the privilege of not being subjected to unconstitutional executive orders. Or waitmaybe that isnt a privilege, but a right.

If you wish to have these privileges, you need to get vaccinated. Travel, and having the right to travel interstateits not a constitutional right as far as I know, to board a plane.If you want to stay unvaccinated, thats your choice, but if you want to travel, you better go get vaccinated.

Actually, the Supreme Court has long recognized a constitutional right to travel among the states. That pesky Constitution keeps getting in the way of our fascists Democrats! But given that Wen doesnt think you should be permitted to leave your house, her further proposed ban on interstate travel is more or less moot.

Somewhere in America there may still be a few actual liberals. (Many would point out, of course, that American conservatives are in fact liberals in the classical sense.) But where are they? The last year and a half of covid opportunism has revealed that what we conventionally call liberals are, with perhaps a few exceptions, would-be fascists who will seize even the most feeble pretext to start issuing orders to the rest of us. Up to and including orders not to leave our houses without their permission, as Ms. Wen urged and, to name just one example, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz did.
Citing FBI statistics, Tevi Troy informs us that hate crimes in 2020 reached their highest level in 12 years. Of religion-based hate crimes, 57.5 percent of them were targeted at Jews, even though Jews make up only 2 percent of the U.S. population.

Thats what I call disparate impact. Yet, nearly everything I read in the mainstream media about hate crimes focuses on other minority groups.

Tevi writes:

Though American Jews have long been comfortable in America, the sad history of world Jewry suggests that no home for the Jews can be considered permanent. Yet, as the countries that have expelled Jews or encouraged them to leave have learned, things usually got worse, not better, after Jewish populations departed.

Tevi cites examples of the deleterious effects of expelling Jews on the ex-host countries. The clearest example occurred in Spain after Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews out in 1492:

Spanish Jews until then had been a flourishing community, producing poets, philosophers, and physicians. All that ended, to the eventual regret of both Christian Europe and Spain. Many of the expelled Jews moved to the Ottoman Empire, which, at the time, took a more welcoming attitude toward Jews.

The Ottoman Empire benefited significantly:

In 1571, when Venice weighed expelling the Jews, a Venetian diplomat named Giovanni Soranzo successfully argued that doing so would benefit an enemy. As Soranzo put it, Do you know what it may cost you in years to come? Who gave the Turk his strength, and where else would he have found the skilled craftsmen to make the cannon, bar, shot, swords, shields and bucklers . . . if not among the Jews expelled by the Kings of Spain?

I wrote about a striking example of how the Turk profited from the Spanish Inquisition in this post about Salonika (Thessaloniki).

My family has no roots in Spain or Greece. Those ancestry tests confirm this.

Thus, when I visit the Jewish quarter in Spanish cities and towns and in Thessaloniki, I have no special personal feelings. Yet, it sometimes seems to me that, even after so many centuries (in the case of Spain), theres a hole where the Jews once thrived.

In modern times, Tevi points out, Jews were expelled from countries throughout the Middle East and were driven out of the Soviet Union due to poor treatment. The results?

The Jews [in the Middle East] were often multilingual business owners, with ties to Western countries and economies. The Jews had made Arab societies more open, and their departures brought with them significant losses in human capital and connectivity to the rest of the world, with damaging consequences for Arab economic development. . . . [M]ore than 1 million Jews [left the USSR/Russia] in the late 1980s and 1990s for Israel, where they have helped create Israels Startup Nation economic miracle. Israeli tech leaders with Soviet origins include Demistos Slavik Markovich, Twistlocks Dima Stopel, Luminate Securitys Leonid Belkind, Guardicores Pavel Gurvich, and Lightrickss Zeev Farbman. Another Soviet Jew, Sergey Brin, came to America and cofounded Google.

The situation of Jews in America today is nothing like the examples cited above. But neither was the situation in Quebec in the 1970s. Yet, Tevi notes that fear of rising anti-Semitism caused a migration of Canadian Jews from Quebec to other parts of Canada, to Quebecs detriment.

Thus, its reasonable for Tevi to conclude:
Yes, no matter what

Yes, but it depends on variety

No, for medical reasons, uncertainty

No, principle

Vote

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A very common part of the proceedings of a parliament is the echo of words like aye and nay.

Just hearing phrases like those in favour, say aye or those against, say nay, one could easily guess that it is the plenary session of either the Senate or the House of Representatives. It is one of the ways the lawmakers vote during such proceedings.

Voting is a vital part of deliberations by the lawmakers. It marks the end of discussion on a topic. No issue can be concluded or resolved without the voting exercise.

In Nigerias National Assembly, there are different methods of voting; the voice vote, electronic voting and the division method  mostly done verbally or by signing in a register.

Order 72 of the Senate Standing Rule prescribes that the modes of voting in the Senate shall be: a) by voice vote b) signing a register in a division or c) through electronic voting device installed in the Senate.

After the vote, the Senate President or Chairman of the chamber rules in favour of the side with the most votes and in the case of a voice vote, in favour of the loudest voices.

The voice vote is the primary system adopted by the legislature, being the fastest means, while other voting methods are used on rare occasions.

The electronic voting for instance has not been used by the Senate since 2016 when the lawmakers approved the nominations of Ejembi Eko and Amina Augie as justices of the Supreme Court; and in 2017 when the constitution was amended.

The division method on the other hand, was also not used for a long time, until recently.

Voice vote and unfair ruling

Although the voice vote is the easiest, many have argued that it is not always fair, reliable and effective especially in the ninth assembly and the Senate in particular.

In fact, some lawmakers have challenged the ruling of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on voice votes.

Some political analysts have cited instances of the Senate President allegedly ruling against the loudest voices.

This renders the voice voting system totally unreliable, especially under Lawans Senate, Akinloye Oyeniyi, a legislative expert, told PREMIUM TIMES.

It has happened before. Not once, not twice. The proof is there. The video of all the proceedings where he gave unfair and biased ruling after the voice vote is out in the public, he said after the plenary session of July 15 where the Senate confirmed Sani Adams as an INEC commissioner  despite opposition from some senators.

The Senate had initially stood down Mr Adams nomination because of a petition written against him. PREMIUM TIMES reported the controversial past of the now INEC commissioner which prompted the petition that was written against him.

Mr Adams had been sanctioned more than once for physically assaulting his colleagues  which led to the termination of a previous appointment. This and other allegations in the petition had caused many lawmakers to oppose his nomination.

But on the day he was to be confirmed, the leader of the Senate INEC committee, Kabiru Gaya, told the chamber that the petition against him was paltry and that the reason for the termination (not dismissal as alleged by the petitioner) was not based on gross misconduct but on the rationalisation policy of the federal governmentand has nothing to do with his integrity or moral uprightness.

When Mr Lawan put the question of his confirmation to vote, the echo of nay was louder than aye (signifying that more lawmakers were against his confirmation) but Mr Lawan ruled that the ayes had it.

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This can be considered one of the instances of misjudgement by the Senate President during proceedings.

MORE CASES

 AMCON bill

Another instance was on April 28 when the senators passed the bill that empowers the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to seize the assets of loan defaulters that were not included as collateral when the loan was approved.

Some lawmakers like the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, had raised concerns about some provisions of the bill which they said will empower AMCON to go beyond their mandate.

This newspaper reported how the senators complained that if AMCON goes beyond its mandate, it would bring legal issues.

But Mr Lawan simply told his colleagues that it was not the time to make corrections to the bill. He ignored their complaints and ruled in favour of the clause even when the voices against the clause were louder yhan of those supporting it.

This prompted Akwa Ibom senator, Albert Bassey, to raise Point of Order 73 (the division method) but he was talked out of it.

 PIB

The recently signed Petroleum Industry Bill was probably the most controversial subject to be deliberated upon in both chambers of the National Assembly this year.

A major part of the bill that caused chaos in the chamber was the allocation to host communities.

While the legislation proposed 2.5 per cent, the Joint Committees on Petroleum (Upstream and Downstream) recommended five per cent.

However, during the final consideration of the bill, a new proposal of three per cent was made. And then followed Mr Lawans ruling in favour of the new proposal despite resounding nays in the chamber.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how his ruling was followed by chaos in the chamber and eventually, another call for Order 73 by Rivers State senator, George Sekibo.

And like in the previous time, an appeal was made for him to withdraw his motion for a division. He did.

 Electoral Act

The memories of the event of that day are still fresh in the minds of political watchers.

It was July 15, the day senators considered and passed the much anticipated Electoral Amendment Bill. The consideration and passage of the bill was preceded by calls for a total reform of Nigerias electoral system and attempts by some lawmakers to omit proposals and key priority amendments canvassed by citizens during the public hearings  some of which include the use of electronic transmission of results of an election and campaign spending limit for presidential candidates.

During the consideration, an amendment was made to a section of the legislation to empower the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly to determine the use of electronic transmission in an election.

As usual, the proposal was followed by murmurings and when Mr Lawan put the question to vote, the nays sounded louder than the ayes but he ruled in favour of the amendment. PREMIUM TIMES reported the hour-long argument and executive session that followed.

This prompted the Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, to call for a division and he rejected appeals by Mr Lawan and the Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya, to withdraw his motion.

An unmoved Mr Abaribe said the act of voting individually was necessary for Nigerians to know where each lawmaker stands. Fifty-two senators eventually voted in support of the amendment.

Order 73, the Division method

Although the third method of voting recognised in the Senates Standing Rule, this process is usually preceded by a call or challenge from a lawmaker unsatisfied with the ruling of the Senate President after a voice vote.

Order 73 of the Senate Standing Rule states that any senator may challenge the opinion of the Senate President or the Chairman by claiming a division.

While it remains a rare part of proceedings, Mr Lawan has been challenged with Order 73 three times already in two years.

This goes to show you that many lawmakers, especially the minority, do not have confidence in the Senate President and his ruling. It is one thing to vote and another thing to rule and that is the one that he has been misusing.

He only rules as it favours him or their political interest. Ruling from the chair, Mr Oyeniyi said.

More calls for division imminent

The events of July 15 shows that there will be more calls for division in the chamber, Mr Abaribe told PREMIUM TIMES.

The lawmaker said the last call for division showed Nigerian where their lawmakers stood on the improvement of Nigerias electoral process.

He expressed satisfaction that some Nigerians queried their senators for the way they voted or being absent.

He also stressed the need for lawmakers to use the electronic voting system, describing the voice vote as anachronistic and no longer necessary.

So, you can see that it is an improvement in our democratic system because you are beholden to your people. And you can see that that singular action of insisting that everybody must now vote openly will now give us how we should go. And that should be for us to simply use the electronic voting system that is already in the chamber.

We are in a democracy and in the 21st century. Ideally, what we should be doing is voting electronically while you are in your seat. Which would mean that, first of all, your privacy is guaranteed. Secondly, you rule or vote according to your conscience and no longer as part of a herd mentality.

So you can now see that this is just for people to get away with things that are undemocratic. So we want a change and maybe we will have to push for the electronic system to be used. It doesnt cost you anything. It is already there.

Although he could not tell if there are immediate plans to initiate the electronic voting system, he was, however, positive that there would be more open voting.

I dont know if there will be moves to start using the electronic voting system soon but one thing I can assure you is that there will be more calls for division as we go on. Because what it means now is that we now want Nigerians to know who their real representatives are and what they are doing.

He further said whether or not future divisions swing the way of the minority, there is satisfaction in knowing that the constituents are aware of the activities of their lawmakers.

A change does not mean that you have to win. You can also win by losing. That is what has happened. On the transmission of results, even though those of us who wanted direct transmission put in the law, lost, we won because the tide of public opinion swung against those who voted against it and they could see clearly that they were not doing what their constituents wanted.

So you could see all those who voted yes who now had to take time out to explain themselves to their constituents and so many of them were thoroughly embarrassed by their constituents. And many could not face their constituents. I think that is the way to go.

Bias rulings as evidence in court

Although the Senate President has the power to rule, a biased ruling could be used in court, Mr Oyeniyi explained.

With reference to Mr Adamus confirmation, the legislative expert said in instances where the petitioners approached the court to challenge his confirmation, a video of the days plenary could be used as evidence  to show that majority of the lawmakers were opposed to his confirmation.

It flouts the law actually. Although it is in his power to make the final ruling after a vote, cases like that of the INEC nomination consideration, one can get the video of the proceedings and use them in court.

You could argue that despite the choice of the people during the vote, the Senate President ruled it in his favour, practically making him the only one who made that decision.

He further said Mr Lawans allegedly unfair rulings reflects poorly on the ninth Senate.

There is disunity in the Senate, under Lawan. It is one thing to vote and another thing to rule and that is the one that the Senate President has been misusing. He only rules as it favours him or their political interest.

We see how Lawan will put the question and even when you hear the people voting a particular way, he will rule another way. There are many instances. The videos of these proceedings are there, online, for people to check and see.

He, however, said the voice voting system should not be entirely discarded but suspended in the ninth Senate.

They should use either electronic voting or individual voting. That way everyone sees whos voting. Counting is done and no ruler is able to rule against the main vote.

The ninth Senate, now over two years old, already has three records of calls for division.

In the past, there were appeals to lawmakers who invoked Order 73. Will there be more calls for Order 73? Will there be appeals in the future? Will the rulings be fairer? Will the imminent calls for division reintroduce electronic voting? Are the lawmakers willing to subscribe to that method?

As some questions remain unanswered, many hope that the next two years of the Lawan-led Senate will provide the answers. Positive answers.
Lawmakers of the ninth assembly will resume legislative activities Tuesday, after a nine-week-long recess.

The break, observed annually, is majorly for the lawmakers to travel to their constituencies to interact with their constituents on varied issues of national interest.

They embarked on the annual recess on July 15 after a lengthy and controversial plenary session which saw them pass crucial legislations.

Some of the legislations include the approval of Buharis $8.3 billion external loan request, passage of the Electoral Amendment Bill as well as the conference committee report on the Petroleum Industry Bill.

The senators also confirmed the nomination of Sani Adams as a commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Although some committees held crucial meetings during the recess, other issues of national importance arose in this period  most of which required the attention of the entire Senate.

As the lawmakers gear up to resume legislative activities, here are a few things to expect:

2022 budget

This, perhaps, will be the main focus of both the Senate and the House of Representatives upon resumption.

The ninth assembly brags about returning the annual budget cycle to January-December, as one of its biggest achievements. Already, plans are underway to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari presents the 2022 budget to the parliament latest by October.

Both the Senate and House Committees on Finance have held public hearings on the 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) forwarded to the National Assembly in July  where lawmakers reviewed the budget performance and revenue generation of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The lawmakers are, therefore, expected to consider and pass the report of the committees upon resumption, receive the 2022 Appropriation bill from the president, hold budet defence sessions with MDAs as well as pass the budget by the end of the year.

Constitution review

An attempt to alter the constitution for the fifth time is underway.

And at the moment Nigerians are eager to see the changes that will be made to Nigerian laws when that is done.

The lawmakers had commenced the constitution review process months ago and public hearings were held across all the geo-political regions of the state.

PREMIUM TIMES reported key recommendations that were made by Nigerians at the hearings ranging from restructuring, to gender equality and a new constitution.

Although the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who doubles as the chairman of the constitution review committee had said the report will be ready in July, it is yet to be submitted.

Nigerians are expecting the panel to submit its report for consideration and passage.

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Insecurity

It would be shocking if the lawmakers do not discuss the rising spate of insecurity across the country. As a matter of fact, they are expected to resume with motions and bills to that regard.

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In the course of the break, reports of clashes and kidnappings and banditry were rampants. There were also reports of insurgents surrendering to the military  an act that the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, commended.

As a major and recurring subject in both chambers of the National Assembly, Nigerians are hoping there will be more conversations this time to find lasting solutions to the menace.

Other crucial issues

A lot of other issues came up during the recess that Nigerians are hoping will be legislated upon by the lawmakers.

One of such, is the controversy surrounding the Value Added Tax and states like Rivers and Lagos insisting they collect their taxes and not the federal government.

This newspaper reported how a court in Port Harcourt ruled that it was the right of the Rivers State Government to receive VAT in the state and how the Federal Inland Revenue Service wrote to the National Assembly seeking to repeal the law that the federal government collects all tax.

Although Nasarawa senator, Abdullahi Adamu, refused to comment on the issue when he spoke with journalists on Monday, many would want to know the stand of the Senate (or the House) upon deliberation.

Another crucial matter is the Electoral Amendment Bill. Although passed but not yet signed law, there are still controversies surrounding some provisions and amendments made to the bill.

The National Assembly had empowered the Nigerian Communications Commission and itself to determine where electronic transmission of results can be used during elections. The electoral umpire, INEC, on the other hand, says the legislature does not have the power to do so.

It has been a back and forth between the two parties and many are eager to see how this will be resolved.

Just as Nigerians are expecting legislative action and intervention on the VAT and electoral amendment controversies, the same goes for the resident doctors strike which has been on for over a month.

Possible defections

Prior to the recess, some lawmakers defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress. Some of these lawmakers are Delta senator, Peter Nwabaoshi; all Zamfara senators; Adamawa senator, Elisha Abbo.

During the break, Anambra senator, Stella Oduah, also joined the party.

In the build up of the 2023 general elections and party crisis in both the APC and the opposition party, PDP, more defections are expected.
The idea of zoning political offices is not democratic and not a part of the Nigerian constitution, a former governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Adamu, has said.

Mr Adamu, who is currently the senator for Nasarawa West senatorial district on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, said instead of clamouring that positions be rotated among zones, parties should be allowed to produce candidates and campaign based on merit.

He made the comment during a press briefing with journalists at the National Assembly on Monday.

His comment comes amidst clamour for power shift from the North to the South.

It also comes about a week after former Borno governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, said Nigerias next president can come from any part of the country.

Nowhere in the Nigerian constitution that says we should zone any public office. There is federal character. But not that parties must zone positions for presidency during election, the former governor said.

The constitution is being reviewed. If you want a specific provision that presidential positions be zoned, you say it  and tell us how you want it to be zoned. You cant just wish away, a situation that is fundamental to a country. You cant talk of merit and talk of zoning. You cant.

The issue of rotation is Lets just go by merit. Let every party find a way of selling itself in a manner that will garner the kind of votes that will win the election. Its as simple as that.

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While he symphathised with political players in the South-east who are asking that the presidential position be zoned to the region come 2023, Mr Adamu said such practice is not in the American constitution which Nigeria tries to emulate.

It is democracy. Why do you want to change it? Wishful thinking only. How do you zone it?

Yes, somebody is saying the East has not had a president. I agree. And I sympathise. But the constitution says you can only become president through the ballot box. And we have been saying it during elections that every vote must count. So, why do you want to zone?

Zone your mind if you want to zone, he said.

Anti-open grazing laws unfair

The lawmaker also berated the Southern governors for calling for, and in some states, enacting an anit-open grazing law.

This comes on the heels of famers and herders clashes in the South-west and South-east.

Every Nigerian, he said, has a right to free movement and the right to pursue any legitimate business as enshrined in the constitution.

This is even as he blamed the governors for failing to protect the herdsmen in the southern region of the country.

The fact that a governor or two in the North has said something similar, does not take away the right of the herdsmen.

The duty to protect the herdsman and the farmer rests squarely on the table of the national government, the state government and the local government. The question is, has the government done what it ought to do to protect the people in that category or in that trade. The answer is no.

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You cannot blame the person who is desperate and looking for a means livelihood from going to pursue his own goals. The government owes these herdsmen a duty to protect their calling.

He, however, said this does not excuse anybody, in the course of exercising his right, harm another persons right.

A farmer has the right to farm. If you take your cattle to his farm and cause damage, he has a right to claim and he can claim in the court of law. If all the northern governors echo the same thing that the southern governors did, it doesnt change it.

Yes, there is modernisation but it is not the fault of the herdsman that he still grazes the same way he has been doing. We have misdirected our political thinking and activism by refusing to tackle the main issue.

If you can protect a spare parts dealer, why cant you protect herdsmen? If the government and CBN can protect failing banks, why cant you protect herdsmen?

The lawmakers also scored high, the nations progress since independence till date.

While he maintained that the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has not failed, he said current challenges like insecurity and food crisis, ravaging the country were inherited from the past administration.
The Zamfara Government will reinstate the disbanded Civilian Joint Taskforce (CJTF) and a volunteer security group known as Yansakai to support security forces in the onslaught against criminals in the state.

The Chairman of the Committee on Security and Prosecution of Armed Bandits in Zamfara, Abdullahi Shinkafi, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Gusau.

The state government took the decision to sustain the gains being recorded in the ongoing offensive against banditry and kidnappings in the state.

The governments decision is coming with a new condition. Applicants are expected to present three sureties before being reinstated, Mr Shinkafi, who is also the special adviser to Governor Bello Matawalle on Intergovernmental Affairs, said.

The reinstatement of the CJTF is with a view to help security operatives in the frontline to sustain the effort to flush out all bandits and their collaborators, he told NAN.

Mr Shinkafi appealed to the people to sustain their support for the fight against crimes in the state.

We must commend residents who had been patient, prayerful and supportive of the new security measures put in place by the state government to curtail banditry and kidnapping in the state.

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Security forces have so far recorded tremendous success in ongoing airstrike and land bombardment of the bandits camps and their collaborators in the state, he said.

The adviser noted that the federal governments suspension of telecom activities in Zamfara and other security measures by the state government had impacted positively in the ongoing counter- banditry effort in Zamfara.

The closure of cattle markets has shut out cattle rustlers as they do not have access to markets anymore, he added.

Mr Shinkafi praised Governor Matawalle for the new security initiative of taking the fight to the bandits camps.

He said that several bandits had been neutralised by the security forces as law and order is gradually returning to the state.

The state government is being challenged by paucity of funds. We appeal for more support from public-spirited individuals and groups, he said.

NAN reports that Governor Matawalle disbanded the CJTF and the volunteer group shortly after he assumed office in 2019.

Mr Matawalle alleged that some of them were responsible for the violent conflict between the Fulani and Hausa in Zamfara.

On September 2, the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) in a letter titled Re: Shutdown of All Telecom Sites in Zamfara State said the pervading security situation in Zamfara necessitated an immediate shut down of all telecom services in the state from September 3.

The NCC said this was to enable relevant security agencies to carry out required activities towards addressing the security challenges in the state.

(NAN)

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The Coalition of Civil Society Groups has condemned the call for resignation of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, by the Arewa Youth Assembly over the nations challenging economy.

The President of the Coalition of Civil Society, Etuk Williams, in a press briefing in Abuja, stressed that the Arewa youth claim that the policies of the apex bank have plunged the countrys economy into comatose is baseless.

According to him, it is common knowledge that expanding export is the surest way to make Naira regain value.

He explained that Nigeria gained most of its foreign exchange from the sale of crude oil, adding that the implication of the above fact is that the over-reliance on crude oil which accounts for more than 90% of Nigerians foreign exchange determines the value of the Naira.

The official said the argument against the CBN Governor is false and meant to derail the economic and monetary policies of the Governor.

He commended the continuous efforts of the CBN Governor in repositioning Nigeria economy into an export driven one to complement the earnings from the sales of crude oil, to create wealth and employment for the youth through loan, and his recent move to end the dubious activates of BDC operators.

We condemn in strong terms the call for resignation of the CBN Governor by the Arewa Youth Assembly over an unsubstantiated and frivolous claim that the policies of the CBN has plunged the countys economy into comatose is laughable and uncharitable. It is unfortunate that some individuals will derive joy in an attempt to pull an achiever down.

We observe the insincerity and question the genuineness of the claim that the economy is bad today by the same people who asserted that President Muhammadu Buharis administration inherited an economy that was in a shambles and worsened by a sharp drop in the prices of oil crude at the international market, empty treasury that resulted in the inability of many state governments to pay salaries of worker, depleted foreign reserves, dilapidated infrastructure and long-standing insurgency/internal security challenges.

Mr Williams praised the CBN Governor for making outstanding effort to stimulate the SMEs so as to produce goods that can be exported to enable the country increase foreign exchange earnings as well improves the living standard.

Today we have witnessed massive support and motivation to rice, cocoa, and groundnut farmers with Agric Loans. He has also assisted the manufacturing industries with loans so as to help them produce quality goods that meet the global standard for exportation.

He alleged that politicians are exploring the same tactics used against the previous government just to have their way to power by accusing the CBN Governor for plotting to contest for the presidency in 2023 or his connivance with politicians to defraud the Government.

He enjoined all Nigerians to jettison the mischievous call for the resignation of the Governor of CBN, as it is the handiwork of evil doers who are committed to destroying every effort of Mr President Muhammadu Buhari and his lieutenants to improve and stabilise the economy.

We hereby call on Nigerians to support the Government and also implore the media to use their profession to enlighten the public of the achievements of the Government so as not to allow mischief makers to wrongfully influence the idle and un-informed public, he stated.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Oludotun Odubona, on Tuesday, told the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the investigation of the Lekki shooting incident that the police do not shoot to kill people but to maim them.

Mr Odubona, who represented Hakeem Odumosu, the Lagos State police commissioner, was before the panel to continue his evidence on the role played by the police during the October last year #EndSARS protests.

At his first appearance before the panel last week, Mr Odubona explained why many police divisions were burnt and several officers killed during the protests.

The highest level of gladiated force is to make use of live ammunition and that cannot be done unless there is superior directive, Mr Odubona said on Tuesday while being questioned by a lawyer.

Even when such directives are given, the police dont shoot to kill, they shoot to maim.

Mr Odubona said there was a breach of police armoury in different police divisions in the state.

He tendered videos and pictures of police divisions that were attacked during the #EndSARS protest, which led to the loss of arms and ammunition.

Mr Odubona said he could not disclose the number of police rifles and ammunition that were carted away by hoodlums.

Referring to one of the hoodlums in a video tendered, the ACP said he carted away a box of ammunition that had a twin container and each contained 1,500 rounds of live ammunition.

Cross-examination

While being cross-examined by Abiodun Owonikoko, a counsel representing the Lagos state government, Mr Odubona said when there is an event for the police to shoot, they do so to maim and not to kill.

Mr Owonikoko had asked the ACP to identify the empty shells tendered by one of the #EndSARS protesters, which they claimed to have been picked up at the Lekki toll gate.

Sarah Ibrahim, one of the #EndSARS protesters testifying at the panel, said the shells were picked up at the Lekki toll gate after the army opened fire on protesters.

She also said police officers from Maroko Division, led by the DPO, who was dressed in mufti, came after the army had left and also opened fire on the protesters.

Responding to the question by Mr Owonikoko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the police representative said they are empty shells of 7.62mm ammunition.

Confirm that when police had to engage some of these criminals and had to use live bullets, cartridges that are released can be picked up from places of incident, Mr Owonikoko asked.

Mr Odubona responded in the affirmative, saying that cartridges can be picked up by people from any location, even when they are used by the wrong persons.

Cartridges can be picked from anywhere, no matter who fired it. They will still remain empty shells, Mr Odubona said.

He further said the police were not deployed to the Lekki toll gate on 20 October,2020 and had no cause to be in the axis.

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Speaking on the activity of the police to stop Oriental Hotel at Lekki from being burnt down, Mr Odubona said some police officers were stationed at the hotel to protect lives and property around.

Mr Owonikoko also asked whether there was a report by police officers within the jurisdiction warranting the use of live ammunition on the night of 20 October .

Mr Odubona said there was no such report.

The assistant police commissioner also disclosed that the police are still searching for weapons that were stolen from the police armoury during the #EndSARS protest.

Rotimi Seriki, the counsel to the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), asked if the police received any complaint from any member of the public with regards to the Lekki shooting incident.

There was no such report of anyone coming to the station to report that he was shot or witnessed the shooting of another, he said.

Other lawyers at the panel could not cross-examine the police representative on the premise that they didnt see the police evidence (videos and pictures), prior to the Tuesday sitting.

Doris Okuwobi, a retired judge, heading the panel, adjourned the matter till 17 September for further hearing.
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Students in Ogun State have dragged Abdul-Hakeem Agboola, the suspended professor of Mathematics at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, over allegations of age falsification.

In a petition submitted to the ICPC on Monday, the students alleged that the university is planning to clear Mr Agboola of all allegations.

We have it on good record that the powers that be have perfected plans to extricate and absolve Prof. AbdulAkeem Agboola of all charges. They, therefore, plan to present the measly suspension as enough punishment for his corruption charges without following due process, stated the petition.

Consequently, plans are now in place to restore him to his former position while all charges are dropped, it added.

The petition was jointly signed by Damilola Simeon, the Ogun State chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS); Gbemileke Ogunrounbi, the National President of the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS); and Adebowale Adeniran, the Vice President of the National Association of University Students.

Kola Adepoju, the FUNAAB spokesperson, did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Mr Agboola had been suspended by the university over alleged inconsistencies in the age and names on the documents he submitted to the management.

The Mathematics professor had joined the institution in 1994 using a To Whom It May Concern letter to authenticate his MSc certificate, according to the university. He then proceeded with it to pursue his Ph.D.

This newspaper gathered that Mr Agboola celebrated his 58th birthday in 2018, and then his 60th last year; however, the date of birth on the credentials he submitted to the university reads 1965, indicating he is 56 years old as of 2021.

Demands

According to the petition dated 13 September , 2021, and addressed to the ICPC Chairman, the students stated that the university don was indicted in age falsification, result manipulation and other unimaginable diabolism by Staff Establishment Unit of the institution.

The students maintained that plans were underway to pardon Mr Agboola and clear him of all allegations and called on the ICPC to ensure the matter is not swept under the carpet.

It is on this note that we demand that the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission wade into this matter by engaging in thorough investigation and due process so as to forestall the looming institutional collapse, the petition continued.

We further demand that within three working days, a public or private response to this petition be issued with a message of hope and assurance that this issue will not be swept under the carpet and that the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission will do everything within its constitutional powers to ensure that justice is fully served.
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The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has enjoined all Nigerians to emulate the presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, Mike Okonkwo, for his undiluted love for Nigeria and detribalised disposition towards every Nigerian. Speaking at a thanksgiving service held yesterday in honour of Mr Okonkwo, who is a Trustee, member of the National Advisory Council and former National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria on his 76th birthday, Francis Oke, who is the current national president, described Mr Okonkwo as a global icon, and a true father with the heart of a good shepherd. He saluted him as a worthy example to Nigerians on multiple fronts: an exemplary patriot, peace-maker, voice of grace and a man of impeccable integrity.

Leading a delegation of Pentecostal leaders in Nigeria, which included the National Vice President, South West, John Osa-Oni, the Lagos State Chairman, Enyinnaya Okwuonu, the General Overseer, GOFAMINT, Emmanuel Oluwayemi, Alex Bamgbola, Tunde Akin-Akinsanya, among others, to celebrate Mr Okonkwo, Mr Oke reiterated the need for people to imbibe the culture of celebrating icons and leaders while still alive rather than resorting to eulogies after their death. He celebrated Mr Okonkwo for the force of his vision, being one of the founding fathers of the PFN, his strength of character and unceasing support for the Fellowship over the years, with an unblemished record of service. He also prayed for long life and renewed strength for Mr Okonkwo.

On Saturday, the national president of the PFN had attended the inauguration ceremony of the Gracelife Ministry set up by the former national treasurer of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the immediate past general overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Felix Meduoye, with the objective of providing mission support, capacity building, meeting the needs of the underprivileged and resource development. Mr Oke expressed appreciation to Mr Meduoye for his exemplary dedication, humility, wisdom and commitment to service, which again is on display in this new vision of his.

He pledged his support and that of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria towards the realisation of the vision of Gracelife Ministry. Goodwill messages came in from the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Samson Ayokunle, and the immediate past National President of the PFN, Felix Omobude. Present at the occasion was the Senior Special Adviser to the President (Media), Femi Adesina.
Celia Suites, Abeokuta, one of the hotels invaded by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Monday in Ogun State has accused the agency of harassing their guests.

Idowu Mosope, the hotels compliance officer, told journalists in Abeokuta on Tuesday the operatives of the commission threatened their staff at gunpoint.

Mr Mosope said the operatives, numbering about 25 and fully armed, stormed the hotel in a commando-like manner, went to the hotels front office and threatened workers, at gunpoint, to lead them to the CCTV.

He also said the operatives went to the hotels server room and seized their gadgets and DVR.

After that, they collected hotel master cards, they did not allow our staff to lead them, they were opening the rooms one after the other with the master cards, he added.

The operatives of the anti-graft agency had stormed some hotels in Abeokuta in the early hours of Monday and arrested 56 lodgers who they claimed were suspected internet fraudsters.

Our reporter who visited Mitros Hotel, one of the hotels invaded by the agency, observed broken doors, shattered plates, and damaged furniture on the premises.

The EFCC in a statement on Tuesday accused hotel owners of providing an enabling environment for internet fraudsters and blocking their operatives from arresting them.

Hotels account

Mr Mosope said some of their lodgers lamented that the EFCC operatives forcefully entered their rooms and met many of them naked, adding that the guests had threatened to press charges against the hotel over the invasion.

He said the operatives went away with three guests who arrived in Nigeria from Dubai.

He also faulted how the EFCC operatives carried out their operations, adding that they stormed the hotel at 3 a.m.

They invaded the privacy of these guests without allowing our staff to guide them in line with the international standard and hotel practices. That was not what they told us during the training, he said.

They did not knock. they did not spend more than 20 minutes here, it is like they are tracing somebody. If they had told us, we would have shown them and other guests would not have known. They opened all the rooms and some guests were naked. They were scared.

Now, the guests want to sue the hotel and not the EFCC. They said why did we allow their privacy to be intruded on? Why did we give them master cards? We did not say they should not work. Our boss hates anything like internet fraud. We dont take them (fraudsters) in.

Mr Mosope said the EFCC operatives entered all the 15 rooms in the hotel before taking away the three guests.

The guest came in on Saturday with his pregnant wife from Dubai and two of his friends. We collected his profile when he came and kept it.

On his luggage, we called the police because the EFCC did not take his luggage away and his wife left the second day. We called the police and they came to document it before we packed the load so that anytime he comes, we can hand over this luggage to him.

They should have come with a warrant of arrest of somebody they are tracing, we are partners in progress.

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They have told us that we should cooperate and we are cooperating. Anybody they are tracking should show us so that other people will not be affected. This has given us a bad image. Our reputation has gone bad. This is demarketing on its own.
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The National Security Adviser, (NSA) Babagana Monguno, on Monday in Abuja convened a meeting of the Cybercrime Advisory Council in apparent response to concerns over its seeming inactivity over the years.

The council was set up in 2016 and tasked with checking rising cybercrimes and formulating programmes for implementing the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention) Act 2015.

PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported how some experts had raised concerns over Nigerias inability to respond to possible cyberthreats, questioning the efficiency of the countrys lead advisory team and the management of its dedicated fund.

While Nigeria is yet to face a significant cyber attack, experts say the country does not need to wait until that happens before it takes action. They argue that with growing incidents of cybercrimes globally, structures put in place to address such threats need to be functional and funds judiciously used.

Concerns

The newspaper had reported concerns raised over the (in)efficiency of the council and the management of the multibillion naira cyber-security fund set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2018 which is funded by levies from online transactions made by Nigerians.

For instance, while the legislation mandates the council to meet four times a year, the council only met six times since they were constituted in 2016.

The last time the council met was on July 20, 2020. By the provisions of the law, the council should have met about 20 times at the time. There are also questions surrounding the lack of transparency in the management of the funds.

The CBN is yet to respond to requests from PREMIUM TIMES for information on the status of the funds including disbursement.

A member of the council, who had asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the council has not been serving the purpose for which it had been set up. The source said since the council has only been able to meet about six times since it was set up in 2016, its efficiency has been called to question and members are not happy.

The NSA later responded to the news report in a lengthy piece outlining efforts being made to make the council functional and also battle imminent cyber-threats in Nigeria.

NSA bows to pressure

Sources said the NSA has since the report made moves to reactivate the council and make it more effective and efficient. He had also reportedly promised to hold regular meetings with the council as stipulated by the enabling act and also take actions transparently.

Mr Monguno on Monday took a step further by convening a meeting of the council which an aide of his said is the first in a series of actions to implement the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy (NCPS) 2021, especially in the academia and educational sectors.

The meeting, the aide and sources said, was aimed at briefing the council on the steps taken so far to not only implement the strategy but also measures to protect the nation from cyber threats.

An awareness and sensitisation workshop on the National Security Policy and Strategy 2021 is scheduled to take place at the end of September. The NSA summoned the meeting of the advisory council today (Monday) to brief them on the measures taken so far and programmes concerning the timelines in the NCPS 2021 and also brainstorm with them, the aide told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday. In the next couple of months, the NSA will also be rolling out series of programmes specifically on the implementation of the strategy signed by Mr President recently and the public will be informed about these activities.

Some of the initiatives that participants are expected to brainstorm on at the workshop include cybersecurity incident management, strengthening its legal and regulatory framework and promoting a thriving digital economy.
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The Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, has disclosed that Nigeria was expecting to receive a total of 52 million doses of vaccines by the second quarter of 2022.

Speaking at the national briefing of the PSC in Abuja, on Monday, Mr Mustapha who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said: The most portent way of getting out of this situation is through vaccines, which science and research has presented to us. I call on every eligible person to come out and be vaccinated.

There are various choices now. We have AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and we expect Pfizer to be delivered very soon. There will be enough vaccines to go round soon. By the second quarter of 2022, we would have received about 52 million doses of the vaccines, he said.

The SGF also said: efforts are ongoing to implement the policy on Vaccine Mandate for all Federal public servants. This is to ensure safety in the workplace and at home.

Travels, other matters

On travels, Mr Mustapha further said: To ease travels for fully vaccinated Nigerians, we are exploring the principles of reciprocity between Nigeria and other nations. For easy access, especially for those travelling outside the country.

The ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation will continue to dialogue with the representatives of the UAE to resolve the issue of Emirates flights between Nigeria and the UAE. The protection of the interest of Nigerians remains our primary focus.

READ ALSO:

The PSC Chairman also said the committee would likely review current protocols laid down for quarantine, as control had remained a source of worry.

Compliance with protocols laid down for quarantine, to ensure control, remains a source of worry to the PSC. 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 also said.

He called on health workers to call off their ongoing strike, stating that on the heels of Mr Presidents intervention in the health sector,

I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our Health workers to consider the health situation in our country and call off their strike while government continues to look into all matters that will improve the system, processes and welfare.

(NAN)
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President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking the approval of the National Assembly to borrow another $4 billion ($4,054,476,863) and 710 million loan from bilateral and multilateral organisations to fund the deficit in the 2021 budget.

The president, in a letter to the Senate, said the loan request is an addendum to the 2018-2020 borrowing plan.

He also asked the lawmakers to approve grant components of $125 million.

His request was contained in a letter read out by Senate President Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary on Tuesday.

Mr Buhari also explained that the need to borrow more funds is to meet emerging needs of some critical projects.

I write on the above subject and submit the attached addendum to the proposed 2018-2020 external rolling borrowing plan for the consideration and concurrent approval of the senate for the same to become effective.

The distinguished senate president may recall that u submitted a request on 2018-2020 borrowing plan for the approval of the senate in May 2021.

However, in view of other emerging needs and to ensure that all critical projects approved by FEC as of June 2021 are incorporated, I hereby forward an addendum to the proposed borrowing plan.

The projects listed in the external borrowing plan are to be financed through sovereign loans from the World Bank, French Development Agency, EXIM Bank and IFAD in the total sum of $4,054,476,863 and 710 million and grant components of $125 million, part of the letter read.

The president said the loans, when obtained, will stimulate the economy and create job employment.

His recent loan request comes barely two months after the National Assembly approved his earlier request to borrow $8.3 billion and 490 million loans contained in the initial 2018-2020 borrowing plan.

The lawmakers had said the needed funds were meant for projects geared towards the realisation of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan that cut across key sectors such as infrastructure, health, agriculture and food security, energy, COVID-19, among others.

With the current $1 to N550 exchange rate, the new loan of $4 billion will amount to about N2.2 trillion.

Already, the 2021 budget has a deficit of N5.6 trillion.
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The Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, is meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Defence behind closed-door.

The meeting is on the defence agreement between Nigeria and Russia which was announced in August.

The Nigerian embassy in Moscow had announced the pact on the 21 August.

According to the report, the military agreement consists of training of personnel, supply of equipment and after-sales services.

In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari at the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi Russia, harped on the need for stronger ties between Nigeria and Russia in the areas of defence against the Boko Haram insurgents.

At the hearing on Tuesday, the Chairman of the Committee, Babajimi Benson (APC, Lagos), said the meeting seeks to shed light on the implication of the agreement on National Security.

The minister is here today to brief us on the technical agreement between the Russian Federation and the Nigerian government, and its implication on banditry, insurgency and national security in general,

As usual, the committee decided to discuss the agreement behind a closed door.

We will need to excuse you now because some of the details may be of top national importance and we may not want them to cascade into the press, he said.

NDA attack

Earlier, the Committee also met with the Commandant of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Ibrahim Yusuf, on the recent attack at the institution, which resulted in the death of some personnel of the Nigerian Army.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the attackers gained entrance into the academy.

The session was also held behind a closed door.
The PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF) has urged the National Assembly to immediately set up its Conference Committee to harmonise the different versions of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill passed by both chambers.

The forum made the appeal in a statement by its Chairman and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The Senate and the House of Representatives reconvened on Tuesday after about two months of recess.

Before proceeding on the recess in July, both chambers passed the Electoral Bill with some differences, especially on the controversial Section 52 which stipulates the electronic transmission of election results.

While the Senate passed its own version empowering the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly to determine the use of electronic transmission, the House of Representatives left the section as recommended by its committee to allow INEC to determine what to do.

The PDPGF said the harmonisation committee should be set up with a clear mandate to hearken to the wishes of Nigerians and be guided by national interest, particularly on the issue of electronic transmission of results.

It said any further delay in passing and assenting to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill would do grievous and irreparable damage to preparations for the conduct of the 2023 elections in Nigeria.

The forum requested the Senate and House of Representatives Conference Committee, when set up, to adopt the House version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on the issue of electronic transmission.

It should be noted that Section 52(2) of the House version says:

Voting at an election and transmission of results under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission.

The forum recalled that Section 52 (2) of the Senate version provides that:

Commission may consider electronic transmission of results provided that the national coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and approved by the National Assembly.

The forum said that the senate version which subjects the decision of INEC to deploy electronic transmission to the decision of the NCC and NASS was manifestly usurpation of the powers of INEC.

It added that such also negated relevant provisions of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantees INECs autonomy and independence.

The forum added that it recognised that INEC had demonstrated the capacity to transmit votes electronically.

It stated that such was demonstrated both in recent off season elections and with the introduction and deployment of the Bio model Voters Accreditation System (BVAs), used in the recent bye-election in Delta State.

Furthermore, it is necessary to remind the Senate and House Conferees that both Chambers had already approved in S.63 (5) of the Bill as follows:

The Presiding officer shall transmit the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.

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It is obvious that S.52 (2) of the Senate version is manifestly inconsistent with S.63 (5) contained in the same Bill.

No doubt, S.63 (5) which both Chambers approved is consistent with S.52 (2) of the House version and should be upheld by the Conference Committee.

The Conference has no choice but to adopt the House version as to do otherwise would lead to unnecessary complications and conflicts even within the Bill.

The PDP governors also requested the National Assembly conference committee to jettison the House of Representatives decision that had the effect of forcing all political parties to adopt only one method of conducting primaries.

It recalled that the House amended S.87 (1) of the Act, by deleting indirect primaries and mandating only direct primaries.

The Forum is of the view that political parties should be allowed discretion to adopt either direct or indirect primaries in their Constitutions and in practice.

The Senate version that retains the original provision in the Electoral Act should be adopted in the interest of the growth of our political parties and freedom of choice, the hallmark of a functional democracy.

It stated that the intervention of the PDP governors was predicated on the need to ensure a free, fair and credible election that will strengthen Nigerias democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law.

Only a credible election will guarantee accountability and good governance which Nigeria so desperately needs today.

Nigerians should rise and demand no less from their politicians. It is only credible elections that put the power in the hands of the people.

This is not a partisan issue. It is not a regional or religious matter. The National Assembly should act in a patriotic manner as representatives of the people of Nigeria, the governors said.

(NAN)
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused hotel owners of providing an enabling environment for internet fraudsters across the country.

The commission said in a statement Tuesday that the action of the hoteliers amounts to deliberate sabotage and obstruction of law enforcement officers and is punishable by Section 38 (2) (b) of the EFCC Act.

The commission has observed a worrying pattern of cold complicity by hospitality entrepreneurs who appear to be hands-in-gloves with suspected fraudsters by housing them over long spells and making internet facilities available to them.

While the argument is being made in certain quarters that hoteliers as business people have no means of determining who a fraudster is before allowing them to lodge in their facilities, that position runs counter to the law.

Section 3 of the Advance Fee Fraud And Other Related Offences Act, 2006 provides for a prison term of between five and 15 years without option of fine for any person who permits his premises to be used for any offence under the Act.

The anti-graft agencys statement came a day after it broke into guests rooms at MITROS Hotel and two other lodges in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and arrested 56 persons whom they accused of being internet fraudsters.

Our reporter who visited Mitros Hotel had observed broken doors, shattered plates, and damaged furniture on the premises.

In its statement on Tuesday, the EFCC accused hotel owners and managers of not only allowing their facilities to be used by fraudsters but also deliberately shielding them from arrest by frustrating law enforcement on such premises. The commission said it would no longer tolerate such situations.

If the hoteliers are not enablers of the alleged crimes, as some have demonstrated by offering information to the Commission, they are under obligation to cooperate with law enforcement officers carrying out their lawful duties. To act otherwise would be tantamount to willingly becoming enablers to fraud.

Arrested lodgers

The agency listed the names of those arrested during the raid in Abeokuta to include Garfar Olamide Taiwo, Fadimaye Habeeb, Badmus Idris, Samuel Victor, Seun Fuad, Alli Isaac, Oyeleke Mubarak, Bolu Soetan, Koleosho Eniola, Saheed Abidemi, Olaewe Tosin, Ayedun Idowu, Oniyitan Ayomide, Akinlabi Precious, Gbadebo Sultan, Adeyemi Habeeb, Balogun Hassan, Sulaimon Ayub Damilare, and Akinsola Usman.

Others are Ajibola Femi Sodiya, Ridwan Alani, Olusesi Lanre, Eniatimo Oludare, Taiwo Opeyemi, Akindele Kabiru Johnson Hammed, Idowu Gabriel, Adekanmi Adejumo, Peter Babatunde, Okeowo Sunday, Abudu Habeeb, Sabair Rasaq, Ademuyiwa Basit, Toriola Opeyemi, Babayode Abiola, Agbaje Habeeb, Sorinola Oluwatobiloba, Abiodun Elegbede, Kayode Daniel ,Lawal Alabi, Oyewole Korede, Aberuagba Gafar, Adekunle Emmanuel, Okunade Azeez, and Ojediran Sodiq.

They were apprehended at their hideouts which happened to be popular hotels in the ancient city, the commission said.

The operation which was based on verified intelligence backed by weeks of surveillance was nearly frustrated by the hotel owners who employed various antics, including shutting down power supply, to enable some of the suspects to escape arrest.

Despite the lack of cooperation by the hotel owners, the operatives demonstrated professionalism in ensuring that no one was hurt nor property damaged during the operations, contrary to the narrative in a section of the media.

The agency said ten exotic cars, dozens of mobile phones, laptops and several incriminating documents were recovered from the suspected fraudsters.

They will be arraigned in court as soon as the investigation is concluded.
An anti-corruption group, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has said a police report accusing it and its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, of peddling falsehood against a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, is fake.

An immediate reach-out to the IGP Monitoring unit dismissed the existence of any such report, HEDA Executive Secretary, Suleiman Arigbabu, said in a statement.

When contacted last Friday for comments on Mr Surajus allegations, Tunji Wusu, a member of the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT), asked our reporter to forward him a copy of the indicting police report against the HEDA boss.

But he had yet to respond to the report after calls placed to him as of Tuesday evening.

Mr Adoke, one of those accused of fraud in the OPL 245 scam, loosely referred to as Malabu scandal, had petitioned the police, accusing Mr Suraj and his organisation of circulating fabricated evidence against him to unduly incriminate him.

In a two-page report earlier reported by PREMIUM TIMES, the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit alleged that Mr Suraju circulated false information about Mr Adoke via his organisations social media accounts without verifying its authenticity.

The police also alleged Mr Surajus organisation was unregistered, a claim this newspaper found to be false after carrying out checks on the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

HEDA, reacting in a statement, said the circulated report did not emanate from the police.

The copy of the report seen by our reporter was signed for the IGP Monitoring Unit by Ibrahim Musa, an assistant commissioner of police.

Although dated 2 September , the report carried the date of certification of 3 September .

But HEDA insisted the report was fake, adding that it was sponsored by those who intended to distract public attention from the subject matter of an investigation that is already receiving professional attention from the IGP Monitoring Unit, the Interpol and Cybercrimes Unit of the Police Force.

According to the group, the IGP Monitoring Unit had invited Mr Suraju on 27 March , 2021, after receiving Mr Adokes petition titled, Forgery of Document for Unlawful Purposes of Interference with the Course of Justice.

It said though, the name of HEDA Resource Centre or Mr Suraj was not mentioned in the petition, the invitation was received by the organisation in good faith and as it saw as an opportunity to assist the police in its investigation.

Contrary to the claims of non-appearance before the police, the group said Mr Suraju had honoured the IGP Monitoring Units invitation at his own personal flight and hotel accommodation expenses, and made statements six times between 1 April and Friday, 27 August , 2021.

On each of these occasions, he has had to bear the cost of flights, taxis and hotels for his trip. The first visit, wherein Mr Suraju was detained and eventually released on bail, is in the public domain the group stated.

It is important, as a reminder to the public, that the subject of the petition was a forgery of an email in which Nigeria, as a sovereign State was shortchanged to the tune of $1.1billion and HEDA and its international partners, have been involved in the advocacy for recovery of this money and prosecution of principal actors behind the heist, the group added.

It also stated that to the delight of HEDA and its partners, Nigeria had recovered $75m of this money and the processes for the recovery of the balance are subjects of judicial processes in both the United Kingdom and Italy.

Every other fabrication of cyberstalking, giving false information to misled public officer, injurious falsehood and criminal defamation with intent to incite can only exist in the imagination of the purveyor of the fake report and their collaborators in and out of government, Mr Arigbabu said.

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It added that the legal status and background of the organisation was not the subject of investigation as contained in the petition.

It argued that since its registration on February 24, 2004, HEDA in its legal capacity as an incorporated body of trustees had instituted several legal actions at local and international levels, reserved for only organisations with a legal status conferred.

Malabu controversy

The Malabu case, in which the email evidence complained about by Mr Adoke had featured, involved the transfer of about $1.1 billion by Shell and ENI through the Nigerian government to accounts controlled by a former Nigerian petroleum minister, Dan Etete.

Investigators and activists suspect Mr Etete fronted for top officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, in the Eni and Shells controversial acquisition of OPL 245, one of Nigerias richest oil blocks, which Mr Etete had awarded to his Malabu Oil and Gas Limited while serving as the petroleum minister in the late Sani Abacha regime.

Being the AGF who advised then Goodluck Jonathan administration on the OPL 245 transactions at the time, Mr Adoke has allegedly been linked to bribery of officials and individuals connected with the deal.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also indicted Mr Adoke accusing him of accepting N300 million from Abubakar Aliyu, a controversial businessman and one of Mr Etetes cronies, as a bribe in connection with the transaction in September 2013.

While Shell and Eni, alongside their managers, were the main defendants in the case in Italy and have been acquitted, Messrs Adoke, Etete and Aliyu have pending cases filed against them by the EFCC in Nigeria.
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Gunmen attacked the residence of a Kaduna State University lecturer, Ahmed Buba, in Zaria, Kaduna State, on Monday and seized his six children.

The gunmen also fatally shot a soldier, Ebuka Okechukwu. The soldier died of gunshot wounds in a hospital.

They then abducted Rabi Isya, Mr Bubas neighbours wife and two of her children.

The bandits were, however, intercepted on Tuesday.

A highly reliable source said the bandits numbered about 30; they were armed

with sophisticated weapons with which they shot sporadically into the air as they attacked the community.

The joint personnel of Kaduna State Vigilance Service, the military and the police swiftly responded to a distress call.

On sighting the security personnel, the bandits opened fire and in the process killed the soldier, the source said.

ALSO READ: Pastor murdered in Kaduna

Haruna Shika a resident of the area, said six of the kidnapped children were rescued at Kasuwan Daa in Zaria local government area.

Reacting to the incident on Tuesday, Joy Abah, Acting Assistant Director, Army Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Army Depot, Zaria, said the information on the death of the soldier had not reached her.

Attempts to get the police to react were not successful as the police spokesman in the state did not respond to calls and text messages. (NAN)
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I was in no doubt that Osun State has a lot to celebrate, not simply because it emerged as a State, but for its historical significance and enormous resources. Osun is the heartland of Yoruba history, the home of so many landmarks  Ile Ife, the cradle of Yoruba civilisation; Osogbo, a cultural epicentre and a global destination for tourism; Ilesa; Ede; Igbajo; Oke Ila; Ila Orangun; Iree  major theatres of war in Yorubaland, especially the Kiriji War (18771893), and home of iconic legends

On Thursday, September 9, I participated in a Colloquium titled Osun at 30: Celebrating a Milestone, Building a Prosperous Future, which as the title indicates was a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of Osun State. On August 27, 1991, the Babangida administration created nine additional states: Abia, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Osun, Taraba and Yobe, bringing the total number of states in Nigeria to 30. The states were carved out of existing states; Osun, for example, was part of the old Oyo State; Delta was carved out of the defunct Bendel State; Jigawa used to be part of the old Kano State; Yobe State was carved out of Borno State; Enugu State from Anambra State; Taraba State from the old Gongola State; and Kebbi State from Sokoto State. Four years earlier, the same Babangida administration had created two States: Akwa Ibom and Katsina.

The politics of state creation has been one of the most volatile issues at the heart of the national question in Nigeria. From Gowon, who created 12 states in 1967, to General Murtala Muhammed who added seven more states in 1976, then General Ibrahim Babangida who increased the number  first to 21 and later 30, and General Abacha who added six more states in 1996, giving us the present 36-state structure, the argument has always been anchored on the need to bring government closer to the people at the grassroots level, address the concerns of ethnic minorities who feel marginalised or dominated by numerically stronger neighbours, promote national unity, and ensure a more equitable distribution of national resources. Today, there are still many groups demanding the creation of more states. A cost-benefit analysis shows that states creation may have generated more problems than it has solved. It has heightened the politics of difference, disunity, and protests about the distribution of resources and advantages. But for me, the bigger challenge is the viability or non-viability of the states.

The invitation from Professor Niyi Akinnaso, the moderator of the Colloquium, was accompanied with an explanatory note about objectives and expectations. The keynote speaker was identified as Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun State. The panelists  10 in all, from the U.K., U.S.A and parts of Nigeria -were asked to interrogate issues raised in the keynote address and feel free to go beyond Chief Akandes submissions. The chair of the occasion was His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto. It all looked enticing enough, more so as Professor Akinnaso made it clear that the Colloquium would have Professor Niyi Akinnasoboth physical and virtual participation. I opted for the latter.

In his keynote address, Chief Bisi Akande, who had been part of the history of the development of Osun State, as a local government councillor in Ila Orangun, secretary to the government of Old Oyo State, and as deputy governor of Oyo State, and later governor of Osun State (1999  2003) provided a historical background to the creation of the State. But his central argument was about the concept of the Optimum Community, with emphasis on people-oriented development using education  primary and secondary schools in rural and urban centres  as catalysts for the creation of optimum communities, even, all-round development within the State, and the provision of basic infrastructure: potable water supply, electricity and energy, health facilities, housing, and agro-allied activities. Chief Akandes submission was a subtle reminder of the original purpose of state creation in Nigeria, as earlier defined, and the imperative of people-centred development.

There were echoes, in this regard, of the concept of OptiCom developed by Dr Akin Mabogunje, Africas first Professor of Geography and his friend, Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, the renowned economist. In the 80s, Mabogunje and Aboyade launched The Awe Opticom Plan in a rural community in Oyo State, called Awe as titled. Their focus was on access to credit. It was an attempt by the two scholars to move beyond classroom theory to demonstrate that there is indeed a connection between theory and praxis, and between ideation, abstractions and quotidian reality. Their key message was that development energies should be redirected in a manner that would result in the empowerment of the people through decentralised governance and poverty reduction initiatives. The Awe Opticom Plan was later adopted for the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure, a rural development framework established in 1986, in which Mabogunje was a major player. It also inspired the establishment of community banks by the Babangida administration. Professor Mabogunje was executive chairman of the National Board for Community Banks (1991-1994). Years later, Professor Mabogunje, in his autobiography,A Measure of Grace would state that he felt the Opticom development option met with minimal success. But the problem was not with the concept. The problem is with Nigeria itself: Our tendency to politicise everything, the lack of continuity in governance, policy somersaults, and endless opportunism around the common good. Chief Bisi Akande did well to remind us all of the value of optimum development for the peoples benefit. Most of the discussants took their cue from his keynote address.

The Colloquium took place at a time in Nigeria when there is a great war going on between States and the Federal Government over the collection of value added tax (VAT). Revenue sharing has always been a problem in Nigeria. Nobody talks seriously about adding value or the value chain or a serious commitment to GDP growth at sub-national levels; the people just want to share any part of the proverbial national cake

I was in no doubt that Osun State has a lot to celebrate, not simply because it emerged as a State, but for its historical significance and enormous resources. Osun is the heartland of Yoruba history, the home of so many landmarks  Ile Ife, the cradle of Yoruba civilisation; Osogbo, a cultural epicentre and a global destination for tourism; Ilesa; Ede; Igbajo; Oke Ila; Ila Orangun; Iree  major theatres of war in Yorubaland, especially the Kiriji War (18771893), and home of iconic legends: Timi Agbale  Olofa Ina of Ede, Ogedengbe Agbogungboro, Ogunmodede of Ilesa. Oduduwa, the eponymous progenitor of the Yoruba race is from Osun State. In more contemporary times, the State has also produced some of the most prominent figures in Nigeria, in virtually every field of human endeavour: it is the State of Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God; General Alani Akinrinade, a civil war hero and pro-democracy activist; the late Chief Bola Ige; Orlando Owoh; Duro Ladipo; Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin; Davido; Christopher Kolade; Femi Fani-Kayode; and labour leaders, the Sunmonu brothers. Stepping on every piece of land in Osun State is an imprint on the sands of history.

It is also a State rich in culture: the Osun Osogbo grove, the Erin Ijesha waterfall, the annual Olojo festival in Ile-Ife. There was so much talk about education and the development of the human potential. Osun State is where the Obafemi Awolowo University, formerly University of Ife, is located. Other institutions of higher learning in the State, many of which were established post-state creation in 1991, include the Osun State College of Education, Ilesa; Osun State Polytechnic, Ila Orangun; Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke; Osun State University; Adeleke University, Ede; Bowen University, Iwo; Joseph Ayo Babalola University; Oduduwa University; Redeemers University; Kings University I pointed out that given the milestones of Osun State in the education sector and its reputation as an incubator of skilled labour, there is no reason why going forward, the State should not continue to invest in human development through education, as pointed out by Chief Akande. Incidentally, while the COVID-19 pandemic raged in 2020, the first major genome sequences research in Africa was carried out at the Redeemers University in Ede, Osun State by a team led by Professor Christian Happi.

The Colloquium took place at a time in Nigeria when there is a great war going on between States and the Federal Government over the collection of value added tax (VAT). Revenue sharing has always been a problem in Nigeria. Nobody talks seriously about adding value or the value chain or a serious commitment to GDP growth at sub-national levels; the people just want to share any part of the proverbial national cake, be it proceeds from crude oil sales or multiple taxation. Compared to the other states created along with it in 1991, Osun State gets a comparatively low share of federal revenue. Internally generated revenue in the State may have increased over the years, and is currently about N13 billion per month, owing perhaps to increased population and economic activities, but whereas a State like Akwa Ibom gets more than N34.8 billion, Osun could receive something as low as N1. 7 billion, due to deductions at source for inherited loans. While the controversy over fiscal federalism, restructuring and VAT rages on, I argued that there is no reason why a State like Osun, blessed with abundant natural resources, should be at the mercy of the politics of the national cake. Beyond its rich agricultural space of over 9,000 kilometres, Osun is also rich in mineral prospecting potentials: Gold, Kaolin, Talc, Iron Ore, Columbite.

The people of Osun State have riches beneath their feet, including over 15.3 million ounces of minimum gold deposit. But all the resources beneath their feet in Atakunmosa East and West, Ife East, Ifewara, Ibodi, Iperindo have been left at the mercy of illegal and artisanal miners, I said, at great cost to the State. I was aware of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the present Adegoyega Oyetola administration in the State and a company called Badger Mines. I wanted to know the status of the MOU. I also drew attention to tourism as a major revenue earner for the State, post-COVID. The resources are available as low-hanging fruits but they have not been properly harnessed. Nigeria is one of those unlucky countries in the world, where the people sit on great wealth that can transform their lives but they are happy doing nothing about it. They talk about it, they quarrel about it, but they lack the motivation to act on it. Governor Oyetola would be seeking a second term in office in 2022. I wanted him to pay attention to the take-aways from the Colloquium. We had very useful conversations.

I had hardly signed out of the event when my phones began to ring. It was Funke Egbemode, Osun State commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation on the line. Before going to Osun to serve her State, Egbemode was Managing Director of the New Telegraph newspaper, and President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. She wanted me to join other participants at the Colloquium and some media stakeholders for a physical inspection of how Governor Oyetola was already addressing some of the concerns raised and the significant progress made. After much persuasion about the security situation in Osun State, I agreed. And so, I spent a part of the weekend in Osun State.

For me, however, the high point was our visit to the Omoluabi Badger Mines Gold Buying and Refining Centre at Osu. Osu in Osun State is known for its special bean cake  Akara Osu. But today, it has been turned into a gold refinery centre by the Oyetola administration. Osun State has always been known for its vast gold deposits in the Segilola Gold mines, the Ife Schist Belt, Iperindo and the Eastern Ilesha Belt.

Very early in the morning, we joined the governor, and some of his key staff, on a journey. I am often reluctant to praise a governor for constructing roads for his people. It is part of his job to do so. But I saw in Osun State an unusual level of commitment to infrastructure development. From Alekuwodo in Osogbo, to the Olaiya flyover Bridge at the centre of the town (which the governor said was prompted by an accident scene that he witnessed and to which he decided to address the problem on the spot), to the newly rehabilitated Osogbo- Kelebe-Iragbiji road, Ada to Igbajo, Ikirun to Eko Ende, and other roads in the State, the Oyetola touch was evident. We visited the Osogbo General Hospital, now being reinvented and expanded, and primary healthcare centres across the State that have been revitalised transformed from being abandoned units into new facilities, which are now being used for COVID-19 vaccination in the communities. The commissioners of Works and Commerce and the Chief Press Secretary were very detailed in their explanations. We also visited the Dagbulu International Trade Centre/Customs Bonded Terminal, a dry port/free trade zone initiative of the Oyetola government. Everywhere we went, the governor was received by crowds chanting Leekan si, 4 plus 4. If that was meant to be a road show or show boating, it worked.

For me, however, the high point was our visit to the Omoluabi Badger Mines Gold Buying and Refining Centre at Osu. Osu in Osun State is known for its special bean cake  Akara Osu. But today, it has been turned into a gold refinery centre by the Oyetola administration. Osun State has always been known for its vast gold deposits in the Segilola Gold mines, the Ife Schist Belt, Iperindo and the Eastern Ilesha Belt. About 25 years ago, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola (as he then was) got 17 mining titles from the Obasanjo federal government  12 of which are for exploration. For 25 years, the licenses were kept in the files. One month left for the titles to expire, the Oyetola government waded into action. In 2019, it entered into a joint venture with Badger Mines. Twenty months later, Badger Mines, working on 73 exploration belts, has found gold at between 200  300 metres. The CEO of Badger Mines and his officials took us through the gold refining process. High grade technology at work! And right there in our presence, a 25 kilogramme gold bar worth about $120,000 was produced. We asked all the necessary questions: Alignment with the federal government, community and regulatory issues, derivation, and security for the gold refinery. I was impressed.

But I was also worried. The moment Osun State begins to talk about its gold refinery, its future elections could become war by another name. Everyone would struggle to lay their hands on the gold. Oyetola, a man of few words and a quiet mien, seems to be more interested in development, job creation, making sure salaries are paid and his continuous affirmation that he has not borrowed a kobo. We asked him to talk about his reported conflict with his predecessor and former boss, Rauf Aregbesola. He refused. He said they are brothers! Oyetola wants a second term, of course. But he should be ready to put up a serious fight to achieve that 4 plus 4 ambition. You cant build a gold refinery and expect your opponents or the Federal Government not to show interest. And that is how politics spoils everything. On our way back to Osogbo, we saw the Osogbo Steel Rolling Mill, now in a decrepit state, overgrown with weeds. We also saw the Nigeria Machine Tools  now a shadow of its former self. The gold refinery wias an indication of new possibilities and a statement about the future of Osun State, but the once flourishing industrial efforts now in ruins are painful reminders of the past.

On my way back to Lagos, I could not but get upset seeing the poor state of the Ibadan-Ife road, a Federal Government road leading to the heartland of the South-West, in such terrible condition.

Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.
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Taking a stand takes courage and demands the full strength of your convictions When you decide what you are willing to stand for, it costs you everything. It may cost you your job, your friends, hopefully it wont cost you your family and your life Doing nothing is the same as allowing evil to reign. The sin of silence and inaction by the righteous, allows the wicked to rule. Take a stand! For freedom and liberty.

Everyday, every new evil, every mass abduction, kidnapping for ransom, herdsmen killing, has become a test of what we can tolerate. When evil visit To purge evil from this land and to rid all antecedents that fed it, our best is what we have to do by every legal, constitutional, and moral means.To purge evil from this land and to rid all antecedents that fed it, our best is what we have to do by every legal, constitutional, and moral means. as a people and we are astounded by how acceptable it seems to be, often the question from the mouths of those with conscience is: How did we get here? Wanting to know how we got to this sorry pass is like wanting to know when a child turns into an adult. The journey is cumulative and gradual; it happens before you know it. Tipping points are hard to pinpoint as they occur. By the time you are looking for a tipping point, you are already past it. The destinies of over two hundred million people is in the hands of unaccountable government forces, who rule by impulse instead of strategy. It is obvious that we are in a mess. But what can you do as a citizen?

Do you have a principle or value worth defending? Do you seek to represent an idea, a principle that may be unpopular with those in power? Are you disturbed by all the atrocities, violation of norms, lowering of standards, desecration of institutions, abuse of power, shameless cronyism, erosion of values, in your face stealing, incompetence, mediocrity, rank idiocy, mass slaughter and all kinds of evil happening nationally? Rather than flowing with the tide, instead of submitting to fate by rationalising the current state of affairs, do you wish to take a stand?

What options do you have as a citizen, when terrorists, nationalists and politico-religious groups employ tactics that are connected to the drivers of political violence, to achieve their aims and objectives? What lawful means can you, as an individual or group deploy when faced with acts taken for political, religious or ideological purposes, which kill you or your group, intimidate you or your group, with respect to your physical security, and economic security?

As a committed patriot, I believe we have to work towards rebuilding the fractured society we live in. However, that is not achievable under a cloak of lies. We must be ready to tell ourselves the truth, hear the truth, face the hard realities and resolve our differences. We must be ready to reconstruct any sense of shared purpose

You have the power. Those behind these atrocities can be made to face the consequences of their actions if you do your part. Do not allow intimidation, fear or manipulative dramatics drive you to quiet acquiescence. Take pictures of dead bodies, destroyed farmlands, torched homes, abandoned villages and farmsteads. When under siege as we have been, the cost is not only about lives lost, but also in the gravity of crimes committed during these times. Document every atrocity. Documentation and evidence collection is an important step in seeking justice for victims and survivors of these atrocities and a pathway to justice, truth, and accountability in the future.

As a committed patriot, I believe we have to work towards rebuilding the fractured society we live in. However, that is not achievable under a cloak of lies. We must be ready to tell ourselves the truth, hear the truth, face the hard realities and resolve our differences. We must be ready to reconstruct any sense of shared purpose that we may have enjoyed to this point. To purge evil from this land and to rid all antecedents that fed it, our best is what we have to do by every legal, constitutional, and moral means. Be a voice of reason. Be humane and defend humanity. Stand up for the right to freedom and liberty. Let your voice be heard through marches, protests, letters and articles, phone calls and text messages to your elected representatives, and through your social media updates. Take a stand and give other people the courage to stand up for what they believe in, and the knowledge that others are standing up for them.

Hard as I try, I have been at a loss about what President Buhari could be thinking or feeling, with the country getting torn apart under his leadership Is he truly concerned? Does he want Nigeria as a theatre of armed invasion (foreign and domestic) after fighting a bloody civil war? Why did he fight so hard to be president again?

I am ashamed that children can no longer visit their parents. I am pained that I can no longer have the joy of a road trip. This wasnt our bargain for electing a retired General. Hard as I try, I have been at a loss about what President Buhari could be thinking or feeling, with the country getting torn apart under his leadership. I have wrestled with a number of questions. Is he truly concerned? Does he want Nigeria as a theatre of armed invasion (foreign and domestic) after fighting a bloody civil war? Why did he fight so hard to be president again? Is his taciturnity a way of avenging his humiliating removal of 1984? If yes, arent we mere onlookers in the power game? Why is he making us pay? Does he understand that the destiny of Africa and indeed the black race rests on Nigeria? What is his political ideology? What are his views of a modern nation, if any? Why am I asking these questions? I ask because I am confounded. I ask because I have not found answers privately. I have not heard, read, or felt a Buhari doctrine on anything. I refuse to believe his, is a doctrine of terror and usurpation. Can a leader seek to fail as a deliberate act?

President Buhari will not be in power forever. We have to develop courage and stamina for waiting him out. While we are waiting him out, we must act to protect ourselves. Taking a stand takes courage and demands the full strength of your convictions. How can you be certain you are right when some around you are certain they are right? When you decide what you are willing to stand for, it costs you everything. It may cost you your job, your friends, hopefully it wont cost you your family and your life. Keep the company of those who sense what you sense. Doing nothing is the same as allowing evil to reign. The sin of silence and inaction by the righteous, allows the wicked to rule. Take a stand! For freedom and liberty.

Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, an advocate, strategist and political analyst writes this weekly column, Bamidele Upfront for PREMIUM TIMES. Twitter: @BamideleUpfront; Facebook: facebook.com/Bamidele. BAO
The Gombe State Government and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have resolved to support each other in the fight against illicit drugs in the state.

This was part of the outcome of a meeting between the governor, Inuwa Yahaya, and the NDLEA chairman, Buba Marwa.

The governor on Tuesday paid a visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja, where he advocated for synergy.

His visit coincides with the intensity of the fight against drug abuse and drug trafficking embarked upon by the NDLEA recently.

The new NDLEA boss had, since his appointment, taken the fight against drug abuse and trafficking more seriously compared to his predecessors.

Several drug barons and pushers are being arrested almost on daily basis in various parts of the country.

During the visit, Mr Yahaya observed that there is a strong correlation between the use of illicit drugs and the probability to commit crime and criminality in any given society.

He noted that one of the ingredients fuelling crime and criminality, particularly the ongoing insurgency in the North-east, can be attributed to the use of illicit drugs which often distort the sanity of the human psychology.

In the last two years, I saw a lot of development with regards to these issues and being the governor, naturally all issues tend to end up on my table and we can put a good percentage of all these negative developments in our society to issues that have to do with drugs.

Mr Yahaya said depite having a good presence in Gombe, there is the need for the state and the NDLEA to re-strategize and collaborate more in the fight against the use of illicit drugs, their peddlers, more so that the state sits at the centre of the North-east and easy access for all manner of people including the good and the bad.

Gombe being at the centre is now a transit route for drugs and sometimes even weapons. I have made several trips to the Defence Headquarters where I met the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Army Staff and eventually ended up seeing the National Security Adviser and Mr President. I know when we have control over illicit drugs every other issues can be controlled as well.

The governor said his visit to the NDLEA headquarters was to solicit more support from the agency so that together with the effort of the Gombe State Government, they could eradicate the use and trade of illicit drugs.

He commended the agency on its high profile arrests of drug dealers across the country and other successes achieved in the war against drug abuse.

Mr Marwa said the drug scourge is an unacceptable situation considering the damage it has done to the psyche of the country.

He said with 13.6 per cent prevalence the North-east ranks fourth among the six geo-political zones of the country.

The NDLEA boss thanked Mr Yahaya for partnering with the agency at the state level to combat the use and trade of illicit drugs.

I am in constant touch with our commander in Gombe and she has mentioned that His Excellency has been given us support and we really appreciate your efforts so far, he said.

He equally thanked the governor for doing everything necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the state despite being at the centre of the insurgency-stricken North-east.

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I must use this opportunity to commend you for the excellent work you are doing in Gombe, the infrastructure, agriculture and security; I dont know if you have a military or paramilitary background somewhere but in the current climate in the North, Gombe is relatively peaceful.

Here the leadership has a very important role to play and you have mentioned yourself how you have interacted with the President, the Chief of Defence Staff and other service chiefs.

This is really the way to go in this matter so that all hands must be on deck; we wish you more peace and prosperity without which the developmental work will be very difficult at the state level, he said.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari had recently launched a campaign, War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), not just as a slogan, but a call for civil action for all Nigerians at all levels to take an active part in the war.
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The member representing Jos North/Jos South Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Dachung Bagos, has described the killings in the state as a genocide.

The lawmaker, at a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, said the attacks should not be referred to as crises but a genocide committed against the people of the state.

Mr Bagos said the people of the state are being killed while their lands are grabbed by non-state actors.

He, however, failed to reveal the identities of the non-state actors, saying it is the responsibility of the State Security Service (SSS) to name the perpetrators.

Stating that a clash would involve two sides having casualties, Mr Bagos said: I have not seen where the people that are having clashes  farmer-herder clash  when it is farmers that are always chased from their land, killed on the land. Their lands are being grabbed and you call it clash, I dont understand .

The real situation, the real issue on the ground is genocide. So if we dont start looking at these angles very well, I know that  how many of the people that have been killed on daily basis  I know how almost a tribe is almost being extinct as a result of these killings on a daily basis and you call it a crisis? We call it clash?

Mr Bagos called for state and community policing to resolve the issue of insecurity in the country.

He said though the crisis is not new, land grabbing is at the heart of the killings.

The lawmaker blamed the inability of the government to dispense justice on the killings, noting that security agents are arresting youth of the affected communities after attacks.

Justice is the answer. Bringing the perpetrators to book is the answer. The youths that come out to defend themselves are always the ones that are always arrested. Where is justice?

Imagine that a community is attacked and at the end of the day the people that are being arrested, youths from that same community, which means they are the one that attacked their own communities, which is irrational, Mr Bagos said.

Renewed killings

There have been renewed killings in Plateau State in the recent months.

In August, PREMIUM TIMES reported the killing of 35 persons in Yelwa Zangam, which prompted mourners to take the corpse of the deceased to the State House of Assembly.

Earlier, 20 persons were killed along Rukuba Road in Jos. The victims of the attack were returning from Bauchi State to Ondo State after a religious programme.

About 20 suspects were arrested in connection with the incident.

The attack was condemned by Christian Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), and President Muhammadu Buhari.
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A former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, failed to report to the EFCC last week following an invitation by the anti-graft agency, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. The politician was invited to answer questions from investigators working on allegations that he abused public office, diverted public funds, and unjustly allocated public houses to his cronies.

Mr Kwankwaso, a chieftain of the main opposition party, PDP, was asked to appear at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja last Thursday, sources said. But he shunned the invitation.

Mr Kwankwaso did not respond to a text message seeking his comment on this report on Monday. He also did not answer calls. Sources within the EFCC said the politician could be arrested if continues to shun the request that he appear for questioning.

The provenance of the investigation was a 2015 petition by Concerned Kano State Workers and Pensioners, who alleged that Mr Kwankwaso violated the Kano State Pension and Gratuity Law of 2007 in the management of pension remittances amounting to about N10 billion contributed between 2011 and 2015.

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Mr Kwankwaso was Kano governor from 2011 to 2015. Previously, he held the position between 1999 and 2003.

According to the petitioners, Mr Kwankwaso had directed that pension remittances be used for housing development, largely to favour the pensioners. Then, a tripartite deal was reached between Kano State Pension Trust Funds as the investors and Kano State Investment and Property Limited and Kano State Housing Corporation Limited as developers on a 60:40 sharing ratio.

However, after contracts for the construction of 1,579 houses were awarded for the development of  Kwankwasiya, Amana, and Bandarawa Cities, the petitioners alleged, Mr Kwankwaso manipulated the process to terminate the term of the agreement and made outright allocations in favour of his aide and cronies.

The alleged manipulation happened in May 2015, the month Mr Kwankwaso left office as Kanos governor.

Mr Kwankwaso is not the only politically exposed person who shunned an invitation by the EFCC last week, findings by this newspaper show.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Hafsat Ganduje, the wife of Mr Kwanwansos successor in Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, also shunned EFCCs invitation last week. Mrs Ganduje is wanted over a case of alleged bribery and land fraud reported by her son, Abdulazeez Ganduje.

EFCCs spokesperson, Wilson Uwajuren, did not comment on both cases when contacted on Monday.

However, in separate interviews, sources familiar with the two cases said Mr Kwankwaso and Mrs Ganduje could be arrested should they continue to shun the invitations extended to them.
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An official of the Kano Road Traffic Agency (KAROTA) has been killed in a hit and run incident while trying to stop a speeding truck.

The spokesperson of the agency, Abubakar Nabulisi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the incident occurred on Tuesday at about 11: 45 a.m. at a junction on BUK road in the Kano metropolis.

Mr Nabulisi said the speeding driver was arrested and the truck impounded.

Mr Nabulisi identified the deceased official as Zaharaddeen Ismail, a resident of Sagagi quarters.

He said his remains were evacuated to Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital.

The truck driver drove at high speed, violating traffic rules and crushing the official to death, he added.

The spokesperson said the suspect has been handed over to the police for investigation.

Mr Nabulisi appealed to motorists to obey traffic rules as no driver would be unjustly treated.

A similar incident occurred in 2019 when a KAROTA official was killed in a hit and run incident while trying to remove the number plate of a traffic offenders vehicle.
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A former traditional ruler in Anambra State, Nigerias South-east, has been shot dead.

The slain chief, identified as Alexander Edozieuno, was the traditional ruler of Mkpunando community in Aguleri, Anambra East Local Government Area, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He was deposed in December, alongside other traditional rulers, for accompanying Anambra business mogul, Arthur Eze, on a visit to the Presidential villa, Abuja, without the state governments permission.

The chief had joined the All Progressives Congress a few weeks ago.

He was killed on Friday, September 10 on Ezu Bridge, Otuocha, in Anambra East Local Government Area, alongside his driver, identified as Chukwuemeka, NAN quoted the Commissioner for Information in the state, C Don Adinuba, as saying.

It is disheartening that Edozieuno should die gruesomely when crime has been reduced to its lowest level since the creation of Anambra in August 1991, the commissioner said.

Mr Adinuba said the state government was shocked about the incident and appealed for calm from the public.

He said the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano has directed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Tony Olofu, to ensure that the killers were brought to justice.

The Police spokesperson in Anambra, ASP Tochuchwu Ikenga, said no arrest has been made.

Mr Ikenga, an assistant superintendent of police, assured that the police were serious about the safety of all residents in the state.

Anambra, which is ruled by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is scheduled to hold its governorship election on November 6.

It is unclear, for now, if the killing of the traditional ruler has any connection with politics.

Charles Soludo, a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria and governorship candidate of APGA in the state, was attacked in April and three police officers attached to him shot dead, while he was holding a political meeting in the state.

Anambra, like other states in the South-east region, has witnessed several killings and destruction linked to the activities of the pro-Biafra group, IPOB.

Two police officers were killed in the state in April when gunmen invaded and set ablaze a police facility.

(NAN)
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The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, in the early hours of Monday raided three hotels in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and arrested 56 lodgers.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the raids began at 4 a.m. and the arrested lodgers were alleged internet fraudsters.

When our reporter visited MITROS hotel, one of those raided by the operatives, on Monday evening, there was an unusual silence on the premises. Workers were seen hanging around in groups and discussing in hushed tones.

PREMIUM TIMES observed that some of the hotel doors were broken, while broken plates could also be seen within the hotel premises.

A worker at the hotel, who didnt want his name published because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told PREMIUM TIMES that the operatives raided the hotel in a commando-like manner.

Broken doors, shattered plates, damaged furniture among others were seen on the premises of the hotel.

The worker, who pointed at the damaged doors to our reporter, noted that they were broken by the operatives to forcefully gain access into the rooms.

A lady, who identified herself as Romoke Adisa, met our reporter when she revisited the hotel around 8:00 a.m. in search of her bracelet. She said the operatives were heavily armed.

We did not hear anything, it was when they put off the generator that we discovered that there was a problem. It was the cry of someone that we heard.

Like six phones were taken in our room. Those people are acting thieves, bros they enter different residences in the midnight (sic).

The person I slept with escaped, but his vehicle was taken away.

Contacted, Tokunbo Odeniyi, Head of Public Affairs, Ibadan Zonal office of the EFCC, confirmed the incident.

He added that 10 cars were confiscated among other gadgets

They were arrested in three different places so I cant tell you how many was (were) arrested at at the government owned hotel, Mitros.

56 suspected internet fraudsters were arrested in three different hotels in Abeokuta with items such as laptops, mobile phones and cars were confiscated from the suspects.

The raid came two weeks after the commissions mode of operation came under severe criticism following the 4 a.m. raid on former Big Brother Naija housemate, Dorathy Bachor.
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Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Tuesday approved the appointment of the Deji of Akure, Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, as chairman of the Ondo State Council of Obas.

This is contained in a statement issued in Akure by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the appointment of Deji of Akure followed the expiration of the two-year single-term tenure of the immediate past chairman of the council, Fredrick Akinruntan.

Mr Akinruntan, the Olugbo of Ugbo, was appointed chairman on 13 September , 2019, and his tenure lapsed on 12 September , 2021.

Mr Olatunde stated that Governor Akeredolu expressed appreciation to the council members under the leadership of the erstwhile chairman.

He said Mr Akinruntan did well and gave all the necessary support to ensure that the people of Ondo State enjoyed good governance.

The governor urged the new chairman to improve on the record of his predecessor by working in harmony with his brother Obas and the government in ensuring the development of the state.

Mr Aladelusi ascended the throne of his ancestors as Deji of Akure on 17 July , 2015, as the 47th Deji of Akure.

(NAN)
The receipt of the Licence is the final requirement for Materia Malta to begin commercial production and export of medical cannabis. Materia Malta's facility, which is already EU GMP certified, has an annual throughput capacity of 6,000kg, representing a potential sale value of 36MM based on a blended average sales price across several key European markets.

Deepak Anand, CEO of Materia, said, "We are delighted to be fully licensed and to begin generating revenues from our Malta facility. I'd like to congratulate our entire team for helping realize our vision of a state-of-the-art processing facility, especially in working through the circumstances presented by the pandemic over the last 18 months."

Malta Enterprise, the government's economic development agency, also applauded the work of Materia. Malta Enterprise's CEO Kurt Farruga said, "We are delighted to see Materia achieve this milestone. We have been working closely with Materia since the beginning and the calibre of the team exemplifies the type of company we are proud to support here in Malta. We fully expect Materia to be one of the industry's long-term leaders."

Materia Malta has already begun the process of importing its first batch of raw material for commercial production and will begin fulfillment of its supply commitments imminently, starting with the initial target markets of Germany, Malta and the UK. The first product has already been successfully registered on the narcotics licence of Materia Deutschland GmbH ahead of its import into and across Germany.

"As happy as we are to secure our licence, we immediately begin execution on the next phase of our plan," commented Nick Pateras, Managing Director, Europe, at Materia. "We now have a fully built and licensed pathway into the European market for cultivation partners all over the world. This encompasses our in-house processing expertise in Malta on top of our distribution capabilities into and across Germany, Europe's biggest market, through Materia Deutschland."

About Materia

Materia is a leading independent processor and distributor of medical cannabis and CBD wellness products. Materia has developed a robust EU-GMP manufacturing and distribution ecosystem to grow the legal cannabinoid market across Europe. With its research-driven team and regulatory expertise, Materia focuses on the high-margin downstream activities of processing, formulation and distribution into markets wherever there is a patient in need of cannabis medicine or CBD consumers seeking innovative new products.

For further information, please contact:

Deepak Anand, CEO

Email: investors@materiaventures.com

Website: http://www.materia.global/

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1624361/Materia_Ventures_Materia_Receives_Commercial_Production_Licence.jpg

Related Links

http://www.materia.global/



SOURCE Materia Ventures
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Every professional that was spoken to for this article has said the same thing  Latvia has a strong history in life sciences. From being an early Roche manufacturing location to being the home of a chemistry Nobel laureate, the foundation has been favourable to continue the scientific tradition. Now, Latvian universities' biomedical programs are internationally sought after, with students from 61 countries in medical programs alone. As a result, there are over 13,000 employees in the biomedicine sphere, and over 1,000 companies in the industry.



The international biomedical industry is starting to catch on. With a flourishing innovations ecosystem and several major players establishing themselves in Latvia, we're seeing a rise in companies that are commercializing and capitalizing on the local scientific talent base.



But what do they see in Latvia?



We've spoken to various professionals from the biomedical industry that have chosen to establish presences in Latvia, to uncover what makes Latvia a particularly welcoming environment for life sciences and biomedical commercialization.



MGI Latvia - EU headquarters sequencing 2000+ full human genomes per week



MGI Latvia is the EU headquarters of the global genetic sequencing conglomerate, MGI. Established in 2017 but unveiled at the end of 2019, in just over a year, MGI Latvia has grown from 9 employees to over 50 (that's over 455% growth), many of which are lab technicians, engineers, and R&D personnel.



Based in Riga, MGI Latvia has built an 8,000m2 lab facility, where they're currently sequencing on average 2,000 full human genomes per week (compared to the average lab, which might be able to sequence 100). As a result, they've become a strong local and international scientific and industrial research partner.



Latvia was chosen as MGI's EU main branch as a result of a combination of geography, cost-efficiency, and genetic sequencing background. By establishing in the EU, MGI is able to participate in a variety of European research programmes, including Horizon 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund. It is physically closest to the East  and thus best-suited for frequent communication and shipping between Europe and Asia. At the same time, the highly-qualified workforce and reasonable salary bases mean that conducting this scale of operations can be done at a fraction of the cost when compared to Western Europe.



MGI business development manager Rolando H. Delgado highlights that MGIs existing collaboration with local partners  the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Center and various universities  has already laid the foundation for the development of gene sequencing knowledge and capacity in Latvia. As a result, it was easier for MGI to come into a country that already had a background in the field.



"Gene sequencing is still a fairly new field. The first human genome was sequenced in 2003. As the field of precision medicine takes off, in say, about 5 years, Latvia will be in an excellent position to offer companies a location to develop and will be fully prepared to make precision medicine a part of a basic healthcare service. Not only are we already here as a major gene sequencing player, but the background and human capacity is here." - Rolando Delgado, MGI business development manager

Delgado emphasizes that their facility was strategically built within 1km of the Riga International Airport and key shipping companies. As their shipments require highly precise -20 degree-Celsius conditions, MGI Latvia has the advantage to significantly reduce their transportation costs.



Roche Latvia - incubating local scientific knowledge for the public good



Roche Latvia is a global name and is present in more than 90 countries. But it's the only one in Northern Europe (in its widest possible definition, including Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Poland) with an incubator.



Director and Purpose Lead of Roche Latvia, Rauls Velins, says that this was a choice to make use of the talented scientists in Latvia, to give them the freedom to innovate and improve the lives of people. Currently, they're incubating a company called AIMuno, which is a project aimed at using artificial intelligence to improve the outcomes of lung cancer patients.

"In creating successful products to help save lives, the key is collaboration. Not only among regulators and ourselves, but also among academia, scientists, lawyers, and more. Our incubator is geared towards fostering this collaboration. Because there is no lack of strong scientists and individuals in Latvia, but they require a collaborative environment to structure and nurture their innovation, to eventually bring it to the market." - Rauls Velnis, Purpose Lead of Roche Latvia



Velins emphasizes that Latvia has a strong chemistry history, with the Baltics leading pharmaceutical manufacturers based in Latvia. He mentions that for Roche specifically, this history stretches back far. While Roche was founded in 1895, Riga was mentioned in the company's history just one year later  Riga was an early manufacturing location for the healthcare company. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the re-establishment of Roche Latvia in 1996, the company has now regained their original building, and has invested more than 5M EUR to renovate it as a state-of-the-art facility.

Biomaterial manufacturing - an opportunity for growth



The biomaterial research field in Latvia is one that is particularly well-developed. With various organizations and strong academic involvement, the sector is filled with highly-qualified scientists and practitioners, ready to be harnessed for commercialization.

The Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence (BBCE) drives research in the biomaterial field as well as local and international collaboration. The Centre's expertise is in the area of biomaterials bone regeneration, and is currently developing new dental implants in collaboration with Riga Technical University, the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS), Riga Stradins University and the Riga Stradins University Institute of Stomatology.

Synthesized biomaterial is a major future opportunity for foreign investment, according to LIAA biomedical technology scout Anna Janberga.

"Every step of research and development is available, and strong, in Latvia. The one thing missing is a manufacturing partner. This is an opportunity for an investor to come in and to take advantage of the scientific and research potential of Latvia." - Anna Janberga, LIAA biomedical technology scout

Latvia currently is home to a strong academic foundation, with the University of Latvia, Riga Stradins University, Riga Technical University, as well as the various research institutes, such as the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis and Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre. LIOS is a European-level player in the research and development of new medicine. Of the many Latvian institutes, LIOS is one whose budget is considerably made up through collaboration with the industry. Meanwhile the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre is the leading scientific institute in molecular biology and biomedicine in Latvia. Research at the institute is performed in five major directions: human genetics and disease mechanisms, cancer research, biotechnology and structural biology, molecular microbiology and virology, molecular pharmacology and drug targets.

Considering the strong academic and research foundation in the biomedical field, the opportunity for investors to make use of the academic and research output is the highest in the region.



Startups growing out of a thriving biotech innovations ecosystem



With a strong innovation ecosystem in place, there are several home-grown startups already taking advantage of the local benefits.



TechChill, the largest tech event of the Baltics, in its annual Fifty Founders Battle crowned Latvian startup Longenesis as the winner. The startup develops software for streamlined clinical research. Another local startup is Ferterex, focusing on men's health using Monochromatic Light waves to increase testosterone levels, sperm mobility, and sperm count. Meanwhile Exonicus, the virtual reality trauma simulator, is an award-winning innovation that has secured contracts with the US army.



What these startups have in common is that they are borne out of a very specific environment  a combination of the ever-growing startup ecosystem, and the already strong academic and biomedical sphere. Having already secured various awards and funding, we see the sector continues to bloom as increasingly more startups take up the risky road to startup success  because in Latvia, there's a significantly higher rate of success in this area.

Latvia  Europe's biomedical talent source



With its historical roots in the biomedicine area, a scientific environment ripe for innovation and available, highly-qualified scientific workforce, Latvia will continue to attract investment and cultivate ground-breaking medical solutions.

As the field of biomedicine has been defined as a priority sector under the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, any related investors, businesses, or professionals are particularly invited to get in touch. They will receive priority support for entering Latvia, both from a financial and coordinating perspective.

Investors who want to jump on the bandwagon and support research, development or manufacturing phases of biomedical solutions, can check out more information at investinlatvia.org and enquire about the respective opportunities by contacting Anna Janberga, the LIAA biomedicine technology scout, at anna.janberga@liaa.gov.lv.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/10425/3414602/1467900.pdf Press release (PDF) https://mb.cision.com/Public/10425/3414602/8e772cb0ff0c7a32_org.jpg MGI Latvia is the EU headquarters https://mb.cision.com/Public/10425/3414602/a848735f8b48b2f7_org.png Roche Latvia https://mb.cision.com/Public/10425/3414602/b013add935be3545_org.jpg Startups growing

SOURCE Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA)
NEW DELHI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortune Education, established in 2004, is the pioneer and leading educational consultant, providing counseling to prospective students who would be interested in MBBS and considering higher education opportunities in Bangladesh and Abroad. An authorized representative of Medical, Dental colleges and private universities all over the world, Fortune Education offers MBBS, BDS & others' admission, application, guidance, documentation, and other required services such as scholarships (up to 4000$) to eligible students regarding medical and higher studies.

Dream Careers Consultancy (SUBSIDIARY OF Fortune Education) invites students to register for MBBS & various academic programs for the academic year 2021-22. The registration for the MBBS, BDS & other courses has already been initiated through online as well as offline mode. Aspirants looking for MBBS studies from top-ranked medical colleges in Bangladesh should apply before the deadline.

The list of Medical colleges offered by Fortune Education

Sylhet Women's Medical College

Diabetic Association Medical Collage

International Medical College

Brahmanbaria Medical College

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And more than 50+ medical colleges

Apply online for application/registration: https://www.mbbsbd.com/application-for-admission/

The candidates must check the eligibility criteria before applying through the online mode.

The eligibility criteria for MBBS courses in different disciplines:

A candidate who has passed 10 + 2 pattern examinations with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology as compulsory subjects will be eligible.

Achieved minimum 60% marks,

Qualified for the NEET exam, is eligible to pursue an undergraduate degree in MBBS.

Candidates' maximum study gap of 2 years accepted after 10+2.

For more details, contact us, apply online or visit one of our authorized centers:

Fortune Education | Dream Careers Consultancy

Mobile & WhatsApp:

Bangladesh : +8801995529533,

India: +919903355537

Head Office: 23/C, Zigatola, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Local authorized Offices in India:

Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam & UP.

Visit to our websites: -

www.mbbsbd.com

www.dreamcareersbd.com

www.fortuneedu.org

About Fortune Education

As our CEO, Md Shah Alam believes, in these times when we must stay close yet physically distant, irrespective of which students Carrier are always concern and getting their carrier guide is now so simple with FORTUNE EDUCATION. Their vision, mission and values are to leverage that our team's core potential towards serving students in the best possible way. And for this, they are constantly innovating to deliver the best they can do to evolve and revolutionize in the arena of Education Sector. So, they urge to continue trusting our team for what they strongly believe in "We provide the best consultant service that builds the students carrier and keep the parent happy'' and that they delve deeply on the concept of "Our student's success story is our success stories".

Follow us for our day to day update

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/mbbsinbangladeshfortune

Twitter : https://twitter.com/FortuneEducati7

You tube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDhCfpcpL8_xjJVbc0PxCg

SOURCE Fortune Education
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AirPop, the innovative consumer PPE company founded in 2015, announced today its Pocket mask and Kids mask are the first consumer masks to have been awarded the Parent Tested Parent Approved (PTPA) Seal of Approval.

The Parent Tested Parent Approved community of more than 200,000 North American Families provides honest and unbiased reviews that empower millions more consumers to make informed purchasing decisions in products they can trust. The community had this to say about the AirPop masks:

AirPop Kids Face Mask AirPop Kids Face Mask

93% of reviewers would recommend AirPop to someone else they know

93% we ' re impressed with the design and fit of AirPop Pocket and Kids Masks

re impressed with the design and fit of AirPop Pocket and Kids Masks 79% of people would rate AirPop kids masks much better than the competition

100% thought the AirPop Pocket and Kids Masks are fairly priced

The reusable & washable AirPop Pocket and Kids masks feature a "metal free" memory foam nose seal to ensure a snug fit that minimizes leaks. The 3D "Air Dome" design won't collapse onto the lips which makes speech difficult and can exacerbate skin/lip irritation. The shape also allows air circulation for easy breathing & superior comfort even all day long.

For total quality assurance, in recent laboratory testing by Intertek N.Y. according to the latest CDC/NIOSH approved ASTM F3502-21 face covering standards, the AirPop Pocket Mask achieved >98% sub micron particle filtration efficiency and 8mm H2O inhalation breathing resistance.

"We are proud to be awarded the PTPA Seal of Approval," said Chris Hosmer, Founder of AirPop. "The PTPA Seal is one of the most credible and influential consumer product awards out there so we're delighted that AirPop has had the chance to prove we walk our talk on high standards and deliver on our customers expectations."

The AirPop Pocket mask is suitable for ages 12 years and up and is available in black or white retailing at $12.99 for a 2-pack and $19.99 for a 4-pack. The Pocket case comes in black or white sold separately retailing for $6.99. The AirPop Kids mask are suitable for ages 3-12 years and are available in pink or blue retailing at $12.99 a 2-pack and in a 4-pack retailing at $19.99. These and a wider range of AirPop masks are available for purchase at aipophealth.com, amazon.com and bestbuy.com.

About AirPop

AirPop empowers you to take control of the air you breathe anytime, anywhere you need it. Since 2015, our material and design innovations have delivered comfortable fit and daily wearability for millions of people, while exceeding all professional mask standards for filtration and breathability. AirPop masks deliver superior performance by solving three critical issues: fit, filtration and breathability. The revolutionary mask design includes a patented seal ensuring a secure fit, while the 3D Air Dome increases airflow for better breathability and comfort. Furthermore, AirPop masks combine a 4-layer filter material to create a barrier down to 0.3 microns achieving greater than 97% efficiency in accredited laboratory tests. For more information visit: www.airpophealth.com.

Media Contact

Monica Rohleder

Strax Director of Public Relations

[email protected]

(847) 606-1973

Press release assets available here

SOURCE AirPop
CALABASAS, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) (the "Company"), a leading provider of high-quality single-family homes for rent, announced today that members of the Company's management team will participate in a roundtable discussion during the BofA Securities 2021 Global Real Estate Virtual Conference (the "Conference") taking place September 21-22, 2021.

The Company's roundtable discussion will begin at 11:15 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. A live audio webcast will be available on the Company's website at www.americanhomes4rent.com under "Investor relations." A replay of the webcast will be available through Oct. 6, 2021.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is a nationally recognized brand for rental homes, known for high-quality, good value and resident satisfaction. We are an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. As of June 30, 2021, we owned 54,785 single-family properties in selected submarkets in 22 states.

Additional information about American Homes 4 Rent is available on our website at http://www.americanhomes4rent.com.

Investor Relations Contact:

Nicholas Fromm

Phone: (855) 794-2447

Email: [email protected]

Media Relations Contact:

Megan Grabos

Phone: (805) 413-5088

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Homes 4 Rent

Related Links

https://www.americanhomes4rent.com


PLANO, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Just two weeks after BEB announced that its technology platform, Children First Software (CFS), would expand to the country of Panama, the Texas-based non-profit signed a Memorandum of Understanding to formalize an agreement with the Government of Paraguay, specifically El Ministerio de la Ninez y la Adolescencia de Paraguay (MINNA).

The Minister of MINNA, Attorney Teresa Martinez commented, "We welcome BEB's initiative and its efforts to improve the lives of children in vulnerable situations. This strategic alliance will enable the application of technological tools to improve the coordination of actors involved in the process of children and adolescents in alternative care."

Minister Martinez further noted, "Thanks to the technology made available by BEB, it will be possible to monitor compliance with public policy, as well as systematize and monitor the actions carried out by each of the institutions that make up the National System of Integral Protection of Paraguay".

The expansion from six to eight countries in less than a month indicates a momentum in BEB's work for children, specifically in Latin America. The growth was brought on by a multi-year agreement with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a principal and autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS). The partnership with IACHR is a welcome endorsement of CFS.

BEB and IACHR leadership have had the opportunity to partner in virtual meetings, as a result of the COVID-19 work environment, with child welfare administrations throughout Latin America to demonstrate the impact that CFS can have on a country's work for its most vulnerable children, those living in institutions.

Millions of children around the world live as orphans needlessly. In 2014 at a global symposium hosted by BEB at Harvard University, child welfare leaders indicated that countries lack the digital infrastructure designed to create visibility into who their institutionalized children are, where they come from and how they might be moved to a better future. As a result, BEB developed CFS to help bring an end to the systemic challenges that keep these children languishing in institutions, ensuring every child the chance to grow and flourish in a loving family. Collaborating with country authorities around the world, BEB is able to bridge the technology gap with CFS.

CFS follows the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, guiding authorities through a five-phase process that begins with the creation of a child's digital profile and continues even after the child is reunited with relatives or adopted.

BEB President Mark Schwartz expresses, "Each new country that chooses to use CFS validates the time and energy that our talented BEB team has contributed to ensuring that a first-class technology solution is available to solve one of the world's most important challenges: providing all children the opportunity to grow up in a loving family and realize their best futures. We are proud to partner with Paraguay and look forward to strong collaboration benefiting their children."

About MINNA Paraguay

MINNA is the governing body for public policies aimed at the comprehensive protection of the rights of children and adolescents, through the implementation, coordination, articulation of plans, programs and projects among the actors and institutions that make up the National System for the Promotion and Protection of Children and Adolescents. The Ministry is the central authority responsible for the design, implementation and monitoring of the National Policy on Special Protection for children and adolescents separated from their families or at risk of being separated; and in this context, its function is to authorize and supervise the operation of alternative care entities.

About BEB

BEB was founded in January 2010 as a 501(c)(3) organization to promote systemic change for vulnerable children. BEB works to capture comprehensive digital profiles of children through Children First Software (CFS), a technology-driven advocate designed to identify a child's best opportunity for family-based care. Partnering with countries around the world, we transform the process to move children to their best future, a chance to grow and flourish in a loving family.

Margaret Elizabeth McKissack

Vice President, External Affairs

BEB

[email protected]

214-850-7532

SOURCE Both Ends Believing

Related Links

www.bothendsbelieving.org


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Local bars are more than just a place to grab a drink. They are the lifeblood of the communities they serve, providing a place to connect, to share, to create memories, all while providing jobs for the local community. With the launch of Local Bar Sundays, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey is on a mission to inspire consumers to support their unique local bars and restaurants and make every Sunday a Local Bar Sunday.

Bulleit is on a Mission to Rally Consumers to Support their Local Bars with Local Bar Sundays Movement Make Every Sunday Local Bar Sunday Make Every Sunday Local Bar Sunday

Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8950651-bulleit-frontier-whiskey-launches-local-bar-sundays-hospitality-mission/

Since the best way to support our local bar communities is to order from your favorite spot, Bulleit will reimburse the cost of consumers' first drink with the "First Drink's on Us" rebate fund through the end of 2021.

Adult consumers (+21) who enjoy Bulleit Frontier Whiskey (costing at least $10.01, pre-tax) from their favorite local bar or restaurant in qualifying states will be reimbursed online for any Bulleit drink they order, from a Bulleit Rye Manhattan, to a Bulleit Bourbon Old Fashioned, or even Bulleit on the rocks. Consumers will be reimbursed via Venmo** by simply uploading their drink receipt to LocalBarSundays.com after purchasing a qualifying Bulleit drink during the designated period***. Participating consumers are also encouraged to remember to tip their favorite bartenders as a thanks for their great service.

"Local bars and restaurants are a reflection of the vibrant and diverse communities they serve and have been the backdrop to some of life's most important celebrations," said Ricky Collett, Global and US Brand Director of Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Diageo North America. "We're proud to launch an initiative that reminds consumers of the importance of supporting their local establishments and communities, by making every Sunday, a Local Bar Sunday."

The Local Bar Sundays mission will be brought to life across the nation with a variety of additional activations and touchpoints:

New National Creative Campaign : will appear across TV, digital and social, starring real bartenders.

will appear across TV, digital and social, starring real bartenders. Interactive Media and Bar Finder: interactive digital and local media will help consumers visit their local bars by directing consumers to the Bulleit website where they can find local bars in their neighborhood.

interactive digital and local media will help consumers visit their local bars by directing consumers to the Bulleit website where they can find local bars in their neighborhood. Experience Bulleit back at the bar: consumers will have the opportunity to enjoy Bulleit through an estimated1,300 on-premise sampling events across the country (where legal; restrictions apply).

consumers will have the opportunity to enjoy Bulleit through an estimated1,300 on-premise sampling events across the country (where legal; restrictions apply). Touring the Country: Bulleit Ambassadors and the Bulleit Woody will bring immersive experiences to bar communities across the country (where legal; restrictions apply).

Bulleit Ambassadors and the Bulleit Woody will bring immersive experiences to bar communities across the country (where legal; restrictions apply). Equipping the Trade Community: Bulleit will bring back Frontier Bar Labs  the brand's educational platform  to arm the trade community with the support and tools they need.

Bulleit will bring back Frontier Bar Labs  the brand's educational platform  to arm the trade community with the support and tools they need. The Sunday Special: in partnership with the United States Bartenders' Guild (USBG), Bulleit will launch a social content series with bartenders sharing a cocktail inspired by the cocktail culture and flavors from their respective cities, to highlight new ways to enjoy Bulleit at the Bar.

The Local Bar Sundays mission was first introduced at this year's Tribeca Festival and comes on the heels of the brand's initial commitment of $250,000 to support the North American Hospitality Industry as part of the Bulleit Frontier Fund.

While enjoying Local Bar Sundays at your favorite neighborhood spot, Bulleit encourages consumers 21+ to take proper precautions to safely visit bars and to always drink responsibly.

*Based on Maximum consumer redemption. Local Bar Sundays Offer available while supplies last in AK, AR, CA, CO, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IA, MD, MA, MI, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, NY, ND, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, VT, WA, WV, WI, and WY.

**Venmo is a service of PayPal, Inc. which is NOT responsible for and does NOT endorse Local Bar Sundays.

***Consumer must make qualifying purchase by 12/15/2021 and complete rebate redemption by 12/31/2021. Receipt of payment is subject to verification of consumer's compliance with Offer terms. Limit 1 redemption ($10 payment) per consumer. Not to be combined with any other Diageo offer. A U.S. bank account is required for Venmo. Subject to Offer terms at website.

ABOUT BULLEIT FRONTIER WHISKEY

Bulleit, founded in 1987, is one of the fastest-growing whiskeys in America. The brand attributes that growth to bartenders and cultural partners who have adopted it as their own. The Bulleit Frontier Whiskey portfolio is distilled and aged in the Bulleit family tradition, using a distinctive high rye recipe, which gives them a bold, spicy, yet distinctively smooth taste. The award-winning Kentucky whiskey most recently won a Double Gold medal for Bulleit 10 Year Old and Gold Medals for Bulleit Bourbon and Bulleit Rye at the 2021 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In 2017, Bulleit celebrated its 30th anniversary with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art distillery located in Shelbyville, KY. Constructed with a focus on sustainable practices including natural habitat protection, water conservation and local ingredient sourcing, BDC received the Highly Commended award for Sustainable Distillery of the Year at the 2020 Icons of Whisky Awards from Whisky Magazine. In 2019, a Visitor's Centre at the Bulleit Distilling Co. in Shelbyville opened to share our modern, technological and sustainable approach to making great whiskey. For more information, visit www.bulleit.com or follow @Bulleit on Instagram.

ABOUT DIAGEO NORTH AMERICA

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: DGE) and their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world.

For more information about Diageo, their people, brands, and performance, visit www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice. Follow at Twitter and Instagram for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.

MEDIA CONTACTS

[email protected]

SOURCE Diageo

Related Links

https://www.bulleit.com/


LARKSPUR, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Catalyst Housing Group partnered with the California Community Housing Agency to purchase Summit at Sausalito, its 14th Essential Housing property. The acquisition marks Catalyst's fifth of the summer, all part of their statewide push to permanently transition market-rate housing to rent-restricted communities serving middle-income households.

"Our unique financing model, and partnership with multiple state agencies, enable us to protect existing tenants from the threat of displacement while providing communities with an immediate supply of desperately-needed middle-income housing," said Catalyst founder Jordan Moss. "The long-term community benefits will prove to be as impactful, where all economic upside is transferred directly to our portfolio's underlying municipalities."

Launched in 2019, Catalyst's innovative model spawned California's first governmental entity focused exclusively on middle-income housing production. This entirely new asset class, which Catalyst coined "Essential Housing," provides affordable rental housing to California's essential workforce - the nurses, teachers, first responders, civil servants and others who increasingly earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing, yet not enough to live directly within the communities they serve.

With picturesque views of the Bay, Summit at Sausalito (198 units) joins Fountains at Emerald Park (324 units, Dublin), The Breakwater Apartments (400 units, Huntington Beach), Elan Huntington Beach (274 units, Huntington Beach), and The Exchange at Bayfront (172 units, Hercules) as Catalyst's most recent acquisitions. Over the past two years, Catalyst's Essential Housing acquisitions total more than $2 billion and 4,000 units of premier multifamily rental communities purchased to address California's growing income inequality and the related middle-income housing crisis.

"We are proud that Marin is home to two Catalyst properties," said Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters. "It is crucial for Southern Marin to take care of our renters, especially given the impacts of the pandemic, and this an important strategy to further racial equity in our county while helping us meet our affordable housing goals."

To complement its acquisition in Sausalito, Catalyst has formed a partnership with the Marin City Sausalito School District and seeded it with a $100,000 contribution to Essential Housing Fund, Catalyst's nonprofit arm. The donation will provide additional rental subsides to local elementary and middle school teachers, as well as other District employees.

"We are thrilled to partner with Catalyst and appreciate their recognition of how teachers and other essential workers are so integral to our communities," said Itoco Garcia, Superintendent of the Sausalito Marin City School District. "A key part of our strategy to successfully desegregate the District is our Culturally Responsive Educator Equity Development Teacher of Color pipeline program. This partnership with Catalyst will allow us to attract and retain high quality teachers of all backgrounds, and especially teachers of color and bilingual teachers, to our community. It's untenable for teachers to spend so much of their income on rent and so much of their time commuting from lower cost regions. Many of our staff spend up to two hours a day in the car to serve the students and families of our community. This partnership will keep SMCSD employees out of their cars and placing them directly within their community, two key factors for a climate & social justice focused school district."

SOURCE Catalyst Housing Group
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In the past year, many schools and colleges were compelled to adopt alternative learning models such as remote and hybrid learning. In response, zSpace, Inc. , a Silicon Valley education company, shifted its focus to provide even more augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) learning opportunities for students, particularly in STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) and CTE (career and technical education). Research shows students using zSpace achieve gains averaging a 16-percent improvement (pre-/post-test) in elementary, middle, and high school courses.

zSpace AR/VR Laptop with Anatomy content Student uses zSpace AR/VR Laptop for automotive mechanic training

"Now, students can access powerful, hands-on learning experiences when they're not in a physical classroom or even if they don't have specific zSpace computers," said Michael Carbenia, senior executive director of workforce at zSpace. "Wherever students are learning, zSpace technology can provide a close approximation to being in-person. We want to help educators reach out to students who need that experience and content the most, so they can continue learning no matter what the circumstances."

zSpace is an evidence-based, comprehensive learning solution consisting of zSpace laptops or desktop computers, software, standards-aligned content, and professional development that can be implemented as a part of a remote, in-person, and/or blended learning strategy. Content is available for both K-12 learning and higher education, and is particularly useful for subjects in which hands-on experiments and practice would otherwise be too dangerous, impossible, counterproductive, and expensive.

For example, students can practice welding or conduct an experiment with electricity using specially designed hardware and software in an AR/VR environment.They can also learn complex and abstract concepts by exploring models and environments using the zSpace stylus to zoom in and out, manipulating objects as small as atoms or as large as planets, and discovering how things work by taking objects apart and putting them back together virtually.

New Apps, Content for Blended and Remote Learning

Based on educator feedback, zSpace created a new application, StudioA3 , which can be used Anytime, Anywhere and Anyplace (A3) on any device, including non-zSpace devices such as Chromebooks and Apple-based computers. zSpace StudioA3 is an application in which teachers can build lessons for almost any subject using thousands of pre-made models, and students can learn and explore. StudioA3 for non-zSpace devices is accessible through zCentral.

, which can be used (A3) on any device, including non-zSpace devices such as Chromebooks and Apple-based computers. zSpace StudioA3 is an application in which teachers can build lessons for almost any subject using thousands of pre-made models, and students can learn and explore. StudioA3 for non-zSpace devices is accessible through Students have access to more CTE content than ever before. New applications include dental , HVAC , construction and alternative fuels .

than ever before. New applications include , , and . New experiential learning lessons for math and science includes activities like Exploring Geometry , Fossils and the Changing Environment as well as math activities for primary grades that focus on concepts like counting, adding, subtracting, using base-10 blocks, and simple geometry.

For more information on how zSpace is supporting educators and students in all learning environments, please visit zspace.com/edu/blended-learning or participate in any of our upcoming or on-demand webinars at https://zspace.com/webinars .

About zSpace

zSpace is the leading evidence-based augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) platform providing innovative hands-on, experiential learning to improve achievement in science, math and career and technical education credentialing. Over 2,500 school districts, technical centers, community colleges and universities use zSpace to provide equitable access to instruction for millions of learners preparing for success in college and careers. A privately held, venture-backed company located in San Jose, California, it has more than 60 patents. zSpace was named "Cool Vendor" by Gartner, Inc., "Best in Show at ISTE" by Tech & Learning Magazine for three consecutive years and ranked two years in a row on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies. Visit www.zspace.com, or follow @zSpace on Twitter.

Contact:

Amanda Austin

408-498-4050

[email protected]

SOURCE zSpace, Inc.

Related Links

https://zspace.com


New North American grant program will address environmental inequality and promote community-level innovation and climate adaptation.

MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation ( CEC ) is launching a first-of-its-kind US$2 million grant program, EJ4Climate, to support environmental justice and climate resilience for underserved, vulnerable communities, and Indigenous communities across North America.



Initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the CEC established this new grant program to support underserved and overburdened communities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States as they prepare for climate-related impacts. This program will provide funding directly to Indigenous communities and community-based organizations to deliver environmental justice and advance local solutions to adapt to climate change.

"Climate change touches every aspect of our lives and it acts as a threat multiplier for our most vulnerable communities," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan who chaired the recent 2021 CEC Council Session . "That's why I'm honored to join our partners to announce the EJ4Climate grant program, as the CEC expands its work to deliver environmental justice and foster climate resilience across North America. The program announced today will help elevate environmental protections for all people  regardless of the money in their pocket, color of their skin, or community they live in."

The CEC is now accepting applications for grants and cooperative agreements to be funded under the EJ4Climate grant program. Proposals are due by 14 November, 2021 and projects will begin implementation in February 2022.

For this inaugural grant cycle, the CEC is calling for initiatives that:

Support community resilience to climate change and climate-related impacts;

Yield tangible, equitable benefits for local communities by addressing or adapting to climate change impacts;

Consider local knowledge and transform that knowledge into an innovative action or solution; and

Build partnerships that respond to community-identified challenges.

Possible projects under the grant program could include addressing extreme weather impacts, transitioning to clean energy and/or transportation systems, or utilizing traditional ecological knowledge to address climate change impacts.

Eligible applicants include non-profit and non-governmental organizations, environmental groups, community-based associations, tribal nations, and Indigenous Peoples and communities.



For more information on this new environmental justice and climate resilience grant program go to cec.org/EJ4Climate .

About the CEC

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement parallel to the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous People, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America's shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations. Find out more at: www.cec.org.

The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.

SOURCE Commission for Environmental Cooperation
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Copper Sulfate Market by Type (Anhydrous, Pentahydrate, and Others) and Application (Chemicals, Agriculture, Construction, Mining & Metallurgy, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030." According to the report, the global copper sulfate industry was worth $0.8 billion in 2020, and is anticipated to reach $1.3 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 5.4% from 2021 to 2030.

Prime drivers of the market growth:

Increase in the demand for electrical & electronic and textile products and rise in demand for food across the world that raised the demand for agrochemicals are the key factors boosting the global copper sulfate market.

On the other hand, intake of copper sulfate will create health issues. The growth in the production of eco-friendly agriculture products will also create restraint to the copper sulfate market. Moreover, rapid development in electrical and construction technology will open many doors of opportunities to the global copper sulfate market.

Request PDF Brochure: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13499

Covid-19 Scenario:

Copper sulfate prices stayed high owing to high sulphuric acid costs along with a limited regional supply of the needed raw material. Due to lowering demand, supplies of copper oxide and sulphuric acid were low.

Outbreak of Covid-19 halted the infrastructure projects in the developing countries, which also lead to a decline in demand.

Outbreak of pandemic led to increase in demand of copper sulfate from the health care industry.

The Pentahydrate segment will maintain the leading position throughout the forecast period:

Based on type, the Pentahydrate segment contributed to the highest market share in 2020, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global copper sulfate Market, and is projected to maintain the leading position during the forecast period. This growth is due to increase in population, demand for food, and rise in use in the agriculture sector to manufacture insecticides, fungicides, to recover the copper deficiency in the soil and animal. On the other hand, the anhydrous segment is anticipated to manifest the highest CAGR of 5.4% from 2021 to 2030.

Get Detailed COVID-19 Impact Analysis on the Copper Sulfate Market @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/13499?reqfor=covid

The agriculture segment will maintain the leading position throughout the forecast period:

Based on application, the agriculture segment contributed for the highest market share in 2020, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global copper sulfate market, and is anticipated to lead the market during the forecast period. Rise in the need for high-quality food is helping agrochemical companies to invest and develop high-quality, chemicals in order to boost the crop yield. Copper sulfate is vital to growing plants. On the other hand, the chemicals segment is anticipated to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.5% from 2021 to 2030.

Asia-Pacific, followed by North America, to maintain its lead by 2030:

Based on region, Asia-Pacific, followed by North America, held the highest market share in 2020, contributing to nearly one-third of the global copper sulfate market, and is expected to dominate the market by 2030. The region is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.7% from 2021 to 2030. The Asia-Pacific dominates this market due to the presence of huge consumers of copper sulfate. China and India have a huge population, and hence need copper sulfate-based agrochemicals to improve and increase crop yields.

Leading Market Players:

Blue Line Corp.

Beneut Enterprise Co. Ltd.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd.

Changsha Haolin Chemicals Co. Ltd.

Highnic Group

Noah Technologies Corp.

MEEK Industrial Group

Old Bridge Chemicals Inc.

Univertical LL

JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corp.

Interested in Procuring This Report? Visit Here:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/copper-sulfate-market/purchase-options

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About Us:

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.



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United States

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A joint effort between the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has made AACN's free "COVID-19 Pulmonary, ARDS and Ventilator Resources" online course available in Spanish. (Haga clic aqui para leer en espanol.)

The Spanish version of the course will bring vital respiratory care education to nurses and other healthcare providers providing care to critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Central America, in addition to other USAID COVID-19 response-related efforts.

Throughout the 4.5-hour course, learners are immersed in real-world intensive care unit scenarios, while interactive elements encourage the development of safe and effective practices. The course consists of four modules that cover:

Analyzing arterial blood gas (ABG) and managing patients' oxygen delivery including oxygenation and ventilation Caring for patients with acute respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) Administering care for patients requiring endotracheal intubation or invasive mechanical ventilation, and troubleshooting ventilators Managing patients on mechanical ventilation, including spontaneous awakening trials, neuromuscular blockade, prevention of complications, weaning from ventilation, and extubation

The course was translated into Spanish and will be offered free of charge as part of the work by the USAID-funded Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project and is being hosted by Sustaining Technical and Analytical Resources (STAR) project partner, the University of California, San Francisco, Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia. The Spanish-language version of "COVID-19 Pulmonary, ARDS and Ventilator Resources" is available on the Open Critical Care Learning Management System site.

"COVID-19 Pulmonary, ARDS and Ventilator Resources" was initially developed by teams of experts at AACN. Since its launch in March 2020, more than 139,000 healthcare professionals have accessed the English-language course.

The English-language version of the course and other COVID-19 resources are also available at no cost, after registering for a free account, on the AACN website:

About STAR: The Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) project is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under Agreement No. 7200AA18CA00001, beginning May 1, 2018. It is implemented by the Public Health Institute (PHI), in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH).

About EpiC: EpiC is a global cooperative agreement (7200AA19CA00002) led by FHI 360 with core partners Right to Care, Palladium International, Population Services International (PSI), and Gobee Group.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization's vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world's largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 130,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

SOURCE American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)

Related Links

http://www.aacn.org


MONCTON, NB, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Today, the Canadian credit card comparison website creditcardGenius announced the launch of a $10K Tesla Giveaway alongside their new GeniusCash rewards program.

GeniusCash pays Canadians up to $100 in bonus cash back to their PayPal account when they apply and are approved for eligible cards through the creditcardGenius offers page . Each GeniusCash payout will also give Canadians automatic entry into the $10K Tesla Giveaway, which will end May 31, 2022.

The $10K Tesla giveaway works on a tiered structure beginning with a $10,000 cash prize. Once the giveaway reaches 5,000 valid entries, the prize will be boosted to a brand new Tesla Model 3. All GeniusCash payouts delivered before the draw date will be counted towards the final prize, even if they were cashed out before the giveaway began.

"Cash is tight these days, so we wanted to give Canadians an extra boost on their new card's welcome bonus," said Stephen Weyman, Co-Founder of creditcardGenius. "Cards often have high spending requirements that consumers must reach in order to get the full bonus  but GeniusCash cash back is based on credit card approval alone, making it much easier to get. We've also added the fun of a Tesla giveaway  so you can essentially get paid for the chance to win a Tesla."

The GeniusCash bonuses work in tandem with the card's regular welcome bonuses and rewards, giving users up to $1,272 in first-year total rewards value.

Preview of 7 GeniusCash offers

Card Offer BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard $100 Scotiabank Gold American Express $100 Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card $100 Scotia Momentum Infinite Card $100 Tangerine Money-Back Mastercard $75 Tangerine World Mastercard $75 MBNA True Line Mastercard $20

All above offers end on October 31, 2021. To learn more about each card and their regular welcome bonuses, visit the creditcardGenius offers page .

About WeyMedia:

WeyMedia is a personal finance company that brings well-researched content and fintech products to consumers. Starting with HowToSaveMoney in 2010, WeyMedia began helping Canadians learn how to make every dollar count. Then creditcardGenius.ca was launched in 2017, providing Canadians with the only credit card matchmaker that compares 126+ features of close to 200 Canadian credit cards using math-based ratings and rankings that respond to consumer's individual needs.

SOURCE Weymedia Inc
Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is pleased to announce that it has finished testing of well #4 and those results show that the company was successful in discovering another new helium field in Arizona. Gas samples from testing were sent to independent laboratory for gas chromograph analysis which confirmed the presence of commercial quantities of helium. During drilling operations, the Company encountered helium in a total of 14 zones at various depths with an inferred and confirmed total thicknesses of helium bearing zones at 378'. The Company's geologic team has gained further excellent insight into water free production from naturally fractured formations. This may result in lowering the long-term production costs in excess of 43%. This understanding of the granularity of overall costs to produce a product are key to any successful company.

The use of mass spec coupled with specific samples then being run through chromograph during drilling operations correlated directly to the NMR open hole and cased hole logs. The open hole logs showed high resistivities and secondary perms which must be present for helium production. Bottom hole pressures within helium bearing zones, varied with depth, from a low of 953#psi to a high of 2,349#psi. Two zones were flow tested with sampling and we will begin production from the deepest and most highly pressured pay zone. This provides the Company the opportunity to maintain a constant even production of product from this and offsetting wells. The Company feels confident in its selection of leases that will maximize shareholder return not only from this well but from 5 to 6 offsetting wells.

It is the Company's position that there may be a number of small single well leases whereby helium production may be possible. However, it is the Company's goal not to produce any water with helium production in Arizona. Therefore, we have no interest in trying to produce helium from those leases. Some limited water productions may come from the future operation of the production facilities.

An external reserve study prepared for the Company takes into account the fact there has been no known close production from the perforated zone and as such different effective drainage scenarios have been utilized. The "expected case" reserve estimate suggests 1.9 BCF of gross recoverable gas in place from the two of the tested zones in well #4. Helium is estimated to be about 1.137% of the gross recoverable gas in place. Calculations of expected case reserves for well #4 used the following parameters: area - 497 acres, thickness - 17 feet, porosity - 6%, water saturation - 15%.

The reader is cautioned that disclosure of helium in place volumes is not included in NI 51-101 guidelines. In addition, the above estimate of recoverable gas in place for this wildcat well drilled into a fractured reservoir and done prior to long term testing is very uncertain.

The Company's geologic team has identified 5 to 6 developmental wells at this location and anticipate drilling three more wells between now and the time the processing facility will be brought on-line in 2022.

Pricing on both crude and processed grades of helium vary with market conditions. At this time, crude helium is $269mcf and processed helium ranges from $580 to $2,350mcf dependent upon grade and delivery. "While the percentage of helium at 1.137% in the deepest zone was not as great as we had previously discovered, the makeup of the gas containing over 94% nitrogen, combined with a lack of other gases significantly reduces the size and complexity of the processing plant. With regards to final engineering and procurement of the processing plant, this will help to regain some of the time lost with the issues encountered during drilling operations of this well. Additionally, the reduction in procurement of additional processing equipment will reduce the cost of the first plant," said Desert Mountain Energy Corp. CEO, Robert Rohlfing. The Company's relatively clean helium will be more cost effective to deliver to end user's.

The Company is also pleased to announce the addition of Mr. James Hayes as VP of Operations & Engineering. James received his BS in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University. His 14 years of experience includes both engineering design and on-site field operations in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado North Dakota and the north Slope in AK.

ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded exploration and resource company focused on the discovery and development of rare noble gas fields in the U.S. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries.

We seek safe harbor

"Robert Rohlfing"

Robert Rohlfing

Executive Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp.

Related Links

https://desertmountainenergy.com/


WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Promise and Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) are excited to announce the launch of the Ciena Solutions Challenge , a new global design challenge where educators around the world can submit student-led projects for funding and exhibition.

The Ciena Solutions Challenge invites middle and high school students globally (i.e. education level equivalent to ages 11-19) to design solutions that address the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals within their communities. Digital Promise and Ciena will provide professional learning and mentoring opportunities to educators and students participating in the Challenge. Starting on September 15, educators can apply for a Sustainability Award of $2,500 USD to sustain and scale student projects. If selected, the funding will be granted to the educator's educational institution.

"The next generation of problem-solvers need opportunities to design solutions that tackle real world challenges in their local communities. The Ciena Solutions Challenge aims to engage and inspire students to reimagine a better world while gaining critical hands-on experience with digital skills and advanced technologies." said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. "This collaborative partnership with Digital Promise is a key part of our Digital Inclusion program and we look forward to seeing the creativity and innovation that students bring to this initiative."

"The Ciena Solutions Challenge offers learners opportunities to connect to their learning in ways that are authentic and personal, to learn through inquiry, collaborate with their community and take positive action to make a difference in their local communities," said Jean-Claude Brizard, president and CEO of Digital Promise. "The Ciena Solutions Challenge exemplifies what Powerful Learning experiences can look like, and offers educators and students support and recognition for making a positive impact in their communities."

Learn more about the Ciena Solutions Challenge by joining the educator roundtable on Wednesday, September 15 at 12 p.m. ET . Educators from the United States and Canada will share how the Challenge supported them to build positive relationships with students, engage students in virtual learning, and help students find an authentic purpose for learning.

Press Contact:

Crystal Williams

Digital Promise

240-494-6382

[email protected]

About Ciena

Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking systems, services and software company. We provide solutions that help our customers create the Adaptive Network in response to the constantly changing demands of their end-users. By delivering best-in-class networking technology through high-touch consultative relationships, we build the world's most agile networks with automation, openness and scale. For updates on Ciena, follow us on Twitter @Ciena , LinkedIn , the Ciena Insights blog , or visit www.ciena.com .

Ciena's Digital Inclusion Program

Ciena's Digital Inclusion program aims to mobilize the company's global workforce, leverage its innovation leadership, and collaborate with customers, suppliers and other partners to bridge the digital divide. Ciena has committed to fund $10 million (USD) over a five-year period on programming that promotes digital inclusion through greater connectivity, access to technology and digital skilling, with a goal of expanding opportunities for 100,000 underserved students in our global communities.

About Digital Promise

Digital Promise is a nonprofit organization that builds powerful networks and takes on grand challenges by working at the intersection of researchers, entrepreneurs, and educators. Our vision is that all people, at every stage of their lives, have access to learning experiences that help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and continuously learn in an ever-changing world. For more information, visit the Digital Promise website and follow @digitalpromise for updates.

SOURCE Digital Promise

Related Links

https://digitalpromise.org


LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dignity:Liberia is building on its ten-year history of creating access to maternal healthcare in West Africa. Its new maternity waiting home, House of Hope and Dignity, will address a common but preventable injury  obstetric fistula. They seek donors and advocates for the project through their Big Push fundraising campaign.

QR Code for more information

Obstetric fistula impacts about 1,200 Liberian women annually. It is a severe tear between a woman's birth canal and her bladder or her rectum, typically resulting from obstructed labor or from sexual assault. On average, Liberian fistula patients are seventeen years old and have had their fistula for five years. Without prevention or treatment of fistulas, they can expect lifelong suffering from physical pain, social shame, and chronic symptoms like incontinence.

Dignity:Liberia's House of Hope and Dignity will help prevent fistula by providing regular obstetric appointments to identify high risk patients and provide attended births. Close to the local hospital, patients will also experience lower birth mortality. Partnership with the Liberian government and its citizens will be critical to ensuring the facility's sustainability. Fortunately, Dignity:Liberia has worked with a Liberian architect on the building design; it will be constructed by Liberians and, once operational, it will be staffed by a local workforce.

DIGNITY:LIBERIA

Dignity:Liberia is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization with ten years of experience providing maternal care, specifically the prevention and treatment of obstetric fistula. Its board members either grew up in Liberia or have developed close ties to the country as adults. Dignity:Liberia is also a registered Liberian NGO. The organization partners with the local medical and business communities, and those working closest with fistula survivors. Dignity:Liberia has launched a fundraising campaign, The Big Push.

Dignity:Liberia

Kathi Gutierrez

Founder, President and Executive Director

(816) 217-8751

[email protected]

https://www.dignityliberia.org

SOURCE Dignity:Liberia
DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Employer Direct Healthcare, a leader in healthcare solutions for self-funded employers, today announced a new partnership with Jasper Health, an intelligent digital engagement platform that provides end-to-end care guidance for people diagnosed with cancer. Both Jasper Health and Employer Direct Healthcare have a proven track record of bringing about positive change in the complex and crowded healthcare space. This groundbreaking oncology solution is designed to improve the lives of those with cancer by enabling access to quality care while providing personalized engagement and guidance through a smart digital platform.

Under the partnership, Jasper Health's digital platform will be offered exclusively to the employer market through Employer Direct Healthcare's oncology offering. Employer Direct Healthcare will immediately make the combined offering available to its client base that covers over 2 million lives. The combined offering will also be marketed to health systems, health plans and administrators or other health entities seeking a complete end-to-end oncology solution.

Jasper Health has nearly 10,000 recently diagnosed Members on its platform today tracking symptoms, medications, treatments, and appointments. Its personalized guidance capabilities contextually surface educational materials, recommended actions and digital interventions. A recent study showed that approximately half of Jasper Members reported a reduction in distress and 67% claimed better medication adherence when using the platform.

Regarding the partnership, Dickon Waterfield, Chief Strategy Officer at Employer Direct Healthcare said, "Our mission is to democratize best-in-class specialty care. This includes providing access to leading cancer institutes, while helping to keep patients close to their families, communities, and support systems. Doing so requires providing empathetic, human-led support and personalized digital guidance that engages members at each step in their journey. We believe Jasper's digital platform will be a key component in supporting patients and their families."

John Zutter, CEO of Employer Direct Health shared "We're thrilled to be joining forces with the team at Jasper Health. Adam and Greg are seasoned veterans at engaging consumers, and they've demonstrated impressive growth in a short period of time. We particularly appreciate their belief that everyone's experience is different and the key to success is personalizing to the individual."

Adam Pellegrini, CEO and Co-Founder of Jasper Health commented, "At Jasper we continue making digital oncology care transformation a reality. We have already seen significant interest in Jasper from self-insured employers wanting to offer employees experiencing this horrible disease an end-to-end resource for guiding and navigation. This is a game-changing partnership and will accelerate our ability to offer Jasper to the employer market. We are delighted to partner with Employer Direct Healthcare in the continued pursuit of providing a consumer-centric healthcare experience."

Speaking of the need for the solution, Mike Adams, former VP, Benefits & HR Systems for Dean Foods and active advisor to the Employer Health Innovation Roundtable and various Private Equity / Venture Capital firms said "cancer is a complex, emotional and often overwhelming condition and yet the support we're able to offer today is limited and desperately in need of innovation. The combination of Jasper's digital engagement platform with Employer Direct Healthcare's virtual care team, remote 2nd opinion and access to world class centers of excellence when needed, is a truly differentiated offering and one that is much needed."

About Employer Direct Healthcare and SurgeryPlus

Employer Direct Healthcare is a market-leading health care services business providing high-quality and cost-efficient solutions for self-funded employers and their members. The company's solutions democratize healthcare for its members, facilitating access to top-quality care at fair prices nationwide. Employer Direct Healthcare's first product, SurgeryPlus, is the market-leading surgical benefit, providing full-service concierge and network services to millions of covered members across hundreds of employers. In early 2022, the company will be launching a first of its kind, comprehensive oncology solution.

About Jasper Health

Jasper is a digital guiding, navigation and engagement experience that improves the lives of members and caregivers. Jasper Health is an all-in-one connected oncology platform providing psychosocial support interventions while enabling connected care with the broader healthcare system. Our team includes seasoned industry digital health and consumer leaders along with world class clinicians all with decades of experience. We believe that powerful technology and passionate people can relieve some of the stress of organizing care. To learn more, visit https://www.hellojasper.com/solutions.

Media Contact:

Dickon Waterfield

917-544-3058

[email protected]

SOURCE Employer Direct Healthcare
BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Reggora , an appraisal software company, improving residential real estate valuation, announced today that Envoy Mortgage has adopted its appraisal management system to help process all loans requiring an appraisal. Envoy will leverage Reggora technology to deliver a fast and efficient appraisal, supporting their customers through the home buying journey.

Envoy is undergoing a digital transformation and providing extensive investment in technology optimization to improve its overall lending solution, resulting in a modern mortgage experience. Envoy recognizes that an appraisal management update will yield a faster time-to-value.

"We recognize Envoy must improve our lending process to deliver an online loan application quickly and efficiently," said Dan Mulberry, Chief Information Officer for Envoy Mortgage. "Because Reggora integrates with our current financial technology, we felt it was the right solution toward modernization of the customer experience. We have configured the Reggora software to meet industry standards and ensure Envoy's technology is working seamlessly to support faster appraisal turn times during the lending process."

By utilizing Regorra's appraisal technology, Envoy's turn-times will be faster and more efficient. The software removes the need for manual processes and follow-ups, as well as supports automated appraisal ordering and delivery, customer milestone notifications, and increased transparency for all stakeholders.

"We're excited for Envoy to experience the same successes that our other customers have achieved," said Brian Zitin, CEO and Co-founder of Reggora. "By replacing manual tasks with automation in Reggora, our customers have reported saving up to 20 minutes of work per loan file, increasing overall efficiency by 213%, and decreasing appraisal turn times by an average of three days."

The software is an integral part of Envoy's overall vision and scope to provide their customers with the modern mortgage experience they expect.

"Reggora is an important component of our enhanced digital strategy and will allow our branches to optimize the customer experience and provide valuable insights to stay ahead of the current challenges in the appraisal process," said Keith Becher, Chief Operating Officer for Envoy Mortgage.

Reggora's mission is to make two-day appraisal turn times a reality. Of course, the company recognizes achieving this reality while maintaining appraisal quality will take more than just technology. Read about the company's vision for the future of valuation here .

About Reggora

Reggora is driving appraisal innovation with a modern, two-sided platform for mortgage lenders and appraisal vendors. Through advanced and configurable workflows, Reggora streamlines the entire appraisal process for everyone involved, while improving the overall borrower experience. Lenders and appraisers benefit from payment processing, algorithmic appraisal ordering, automatic rule-based reviews, appraisal delivery, status updates, and more, creating unprecedented operational efficiency.

Media Relations Contacts:

Lindsey Flynn

339.222.1434

[email protected]

Alyson Austin

Gaffney Austin LLC

949.403.0484

[email protected]

SOURCE Reggora

Related Links

https://www.reggora.com/


"Travel is truly one of the most unique unifiers and equalizers. The how, why, and where we travel is unimportant: the transcendent act of traveling - no matter how far - opens up the mind to diversity and inclusion that boldly drives society forward," said Mansi Vagt, Vice President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. "Experience The Grandest of Feelings celebrates just that and captures the essence of all things Fairmont no matter the destination - city center, island retreat, and everything in between. The overriding sensation is being in a place that has meaning and feeling."

Directed by world-renowned director Nathalie Canguilhem, the campaign showcases five iconic locations: Montreux, Switzerland / Fairmont Le Montreux Palace; New York City / The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel; Alberta, Canada / Fairmont Banff Springs; British Columbia, Canada / Fairmont Hotel Vancouver; and the breathtaking landscapes of South Africa. A transformative voyage takes hold through pristine nature and grand elements - connecting places of historic beauty with modern sensibilities and the dreams of a new generation of travelers.

Academy Award winning actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Susan Sarandon stars in the role of global brand ambassador. With a remarkable film career and reputation of being authentic, caring and promoting positive change, she was a natural choice for Fairmont, having a shared spirit of adventure, timeless sophistication, empowering purpose, and a passion for thinking globally and acting locally. Fairmont also shares Ms. Sarandon's commitment to environmental concerns, and her passion for exploration. Symbolically, she opens and closes the campaign, serving as a guide through the entire transformative journey.

Jean-Guilhem Lamberti, Chief Creative Officer, Accor, added: "Brands are never as strong as when they are true to their original vision. With this campaign, I wanted to go back to the brand's origins and to express the awe and enchantment that one feels when entering a Fairmont hotel. The grandest of feelings call for the grandest of expressions: the mighty architecture of the hotels meets the most pristine awe-inspiring nature in an effortlessly artistic parallel. Nature invades the spaces of the hotels and vice-versa in a symbiotic and visually arresting style. It all seems very relevant in today's environment as everyone is longing to set free on majestic journeys and rediscover the beauty and grandeur of our world."

Fairmont's pioneering approach to hospitality extends to its mission for preserving and protecting the landscapes it calls home. A remarkable 30 years ago, Fairmont became the first luxury hotel brand with a comprehensive and global sustainability program, that now forms part of Accor's Planet 21 program. Safeguarding the planet's star-studded skies, snow-capped mountains, treasured forests, and beyond blue waters so they remain spectacular is of the utmost importance to the entire Experience The Grandest of Feelings platform.

The campaign will debut in markets worldwide aimed at inspiring that collective curiosity that drives guests to journey in search of new surroundings: a new restaurant that transports them across the globe in one bite, a scenic view shared amongst strangers, an unexpected cultural experience that still proves how much we all have in common. Travel brings us all together and only Fairmont truly evokes those feelings of grandeur set amongst a determined purpose to preserving nature.

In the coming months, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts locations across the globe will also debut "The Grandest of Escapes Exclusively by Fairmont" offers that will bring to life the imagery and ethos of the creative through a series of exciting once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

About Fairmont

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is where the intimate equally coexists with the infinite  an unrivaled portfolio of more than 80 extraordinary hotels where grand moments of life, heartfelt pleasures and personal milestones are celebrated and remembered long after any visit. Since 1907, Fairmont has created magnificent, meaningful and unforgettable hotels, rich with character and deeply connected to the history, culture and community of its destinations  places such as The Plaza in New York City, The Savoy in London, Fairmont San Francisco, Fairmont Banff Springs in Canada, Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and Fairmont The Palm in Dubai. Famous for its engaging service, awe-inspiring public spaces, locally inspired cuisine, and iconic bars and lounges, Fairmont also takes great pride in its pioneering approach to hospitality and leadership in sustainability and responsible tourism practices. Fairmont is part of Accor, a world leading hospitality group consisting of more than 5,100 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues throughout 110 countries.

fairmont.com | all.accor.com | group.accor.com

SOURCE Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Related Links

http://www.fairmont.com


MADISON, N.J., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Century 21 Real Estate LLC, a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), announced today that its fifth largest U.S. franchise and the CENTURY 21 Brand's largest company in Indiana, CENTURY 21 Scheetz, has partnered with CENTURY 21 Rasmussen Co., Inc., a leading brokerage in Carmel, Indiana. By joining forces, CENTURY 21 Scheetz increases its market share throughout the Hoosier state, and the impact its family of 400 affiliated relentless sales professionals will have on the lives of Indiana's homebuyers, sellers, property investors and the communities it serves.

"Growth is certainly one of the most important things we focus on, but even more important is the quality of the companies we affiliate, like Rasmussen, who choose to remain affiliated with our brand," said Michael Miedler, president and chief executive officer of Century 21 Real Estate LLC. "Our industry-leading focus on the consumer experience and delivering personalized outcomes are gaining in relevance as industry professionals and consumers respond favorably to our growing momentum here in the U.S. and around the world."

"Larry (Rasmussen) and his wife Cathy are industry leaders, who for over 40 years have helped bring a higher-level of professionalism and goodwill to the market. For decades they and their outstanding affiliated agents have had a great reputation in our market area and have been community impact makers," added Tracy Hutton, broker-owner, CENTURY 21 Scheetz. "Mick (Scheetz) and I couldn't be prouder that Larry made the decision to continue to grow with us."

"From the first day I started my company, I created an office environment of independence and professionalism and held my team of agents accountable to going above and beyond and giving 121% to their clients," added Rasmussen. "Our plans are to build on the successes we've had over the years helping our clients get to the real estate outcomes they desired. We couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Tracy, Mick and the entire team at CENTURY 21 Scheetz."

Led by seasoned management teams, CENTURY 21 Scheetz now consists of approximately 400 relentless sales professionals in 9 offices in Indianapolis, Avon, Bloomington, Carmel, Fishers, Greenwood, Zionsville and a Commercial office serving Indiana. The main headquarters for CENTURY 21 Scheetz is 270 East Carmel Drive, Carmel, IN 46032.

To learn more about the CENTURY 21 value proposition, or to consider joining the ranks of the relentless, please go to century21.com/about-us/contact/media.

About CENTURY 21 Scheetz

CENTURY 21 Scheetz is the fifth largest franchise in the CENTURY 21 System of independent brokers and the number one CENTURY 21 franchise in Indiana. Founded in 1976, CENTURY 21 Scheetz and its owners Mick Scheetz and Tracy Hutton operate their company with a corporate mindset and a customer-centric and family-friendly focus, building the company on a strong foundation of giving back to the community in which they serve. Additional information is available at c21scheetz.com.

About Century 21 Real Estate LLC

Approximately 155,000 independent sales professionals in 14,250 offices spanning over 86 countries and territories in the CENTURY 21 System live their mission every day to defy mediocrity and deliver extraordinary experiences. By consistently chasing excellence, giving 121% and always elevating, the CENTURY 21 Brand is helping its affiliated brokers and agents to be the first choice for real estate consumers and industry professionals worldwide. Century 21 Real Estate has numerous websites to help answer specific consumer needs. They are century21.com, century21.com/global, century21.com/commercial, century21.com/finehomes and century21.com/espanol.

2021 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. CENTURY 21, the CENTURY 21 Logo and C21 are registered service marks owned by Century 21 Real Estate LLC. Century 21 Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each office is independently owned and operated.

Contact:

Peter L. Mosca

Century 21 Real Estate LLC

Phone: 973.407.5180

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Century 21 Real Estate LLC

Related Links

https://www.century21.com


"Historically, we launch a bedroom group first, and then build on its success over time with the addition of correlated dining and home office collections at subsequent Markets," relates Tim Newlin, vice president of product management. "Our goal with Chevron is to make it easier for retailers to make a major impact on their floors, refreshing their assortment with pieces that work cohesively throughout the home. At the same time, feedback from our dealers throughout the past year-and-a-half has made it clear that consumers now are seeking better quality goods across the board, and we know they equate solid wood with higher quality."

In line with current design trends driven by consumers' need to connect with nature, Newlin says "it was important to choose finishes that would allow them to see and feel the natural wood grain." As such, Chevron is available in a choice of two finishes, Stone and Ebony, which play well with each other and are meant to mix and match across categories. "The key to Chevron's appeal was to bring the beauty of the organic materials to life with low-sheen finishes," he notes.

Loaded with quality features like soft-close drawers, and light sensor switches built into headboards, which Flexsteel has not previously offered in its case collections, Chevron is nonetheless designed to be surprisingly competitively priced. "The mission of the design team from the get-go was to create in Chevron a clear value in solid wood furnishings, that would stand out and apart on retailers' floors."

Eye-Opening Values in Bedroom and Dining

In the bedroom category, Chevron is set to retail from $1850 to $2400 for a four-piece set with a queen bed, while the queen and king beds themselves will range from $620 to $890. "All of the case tops feature the chevron design, which adds visual interest while keeping the drawer fronts clean and simple," Newlin describes. "Nightstands also feature power and USB ports on the backs for added function."

Dining options play to consumers' desire for less formal spaces with plenty of options, and in particular, smaller-space solutions. "In the past, we've largely focused on very traditional looks with leaf extensions, but the goal here was to create a more casual collection that suits the way we live today," Newlin reports.

"Trendwise, we're finding that consumers are loving mixing design elements and style stories, classical and contemporary, modern and traditional, as well as high-contrast looks with dark tables and light seating, or vice versa," he notes. Chevron addresses this inclination, with multiple chair styles (some covered in performance fabrics), a bench option, and thicker tabletops that play up the rustic, natural appeal. "Of course, we've built power into the serving buffet for added function and ease when entertaining," he adds.

According to the executive, a five-piece dining group with a round table will range from $1200 to $1600, and larger, seven-piece group with a rectangular table in the $1500 to $2400 range. Again, the choice of two finishes is meant to encourage shoppers to personalize the looks to suit.

"We're really excited about the new occasional groups because we believe the solid wood option at value price points will be unique to us in the marketplace," Newlin continues. "Additionally, getting the scale right was very important because we wanted to ensure that Chevron occasional pieces would work well with our core seating in both apartments and condos, as well as larger, suburban homes." With solid wood coffee tables ranging from $300 to $370 and end tables from $200 to $260, "a number of the occasional pieces are outfitted with hidden casters underneath to make them easy to move around a space as needed."

Home Office that Really Works

In the home office category, Newlin says the design team set out to create an offering scaled for those without large, dedicated home office spaces. "It became apparent that as more and more people worked remotely during the pandemic, not everyone had an empty guest room that they could easily convert," he reports. "So too many people ended up working at their kitchen tables and have the aching backs that came along with that. Plus, we know that many parents who are also home-schooling children, want to keep an eye on their students while they are working. Chevron is designed to solve those needs, with desks that can be tucked virtually anywhere in a home, up to and including a hallway.

"Even more important, in designing Chevron, we wanted to solve the ergonomic issues consumers have been facing," he continues. "We've found that a lot of the desks currently in the marketplace include storage underneath that precludes proper knee clearance. And, unlike commercial office furniture, you are either sitting too low or too high to type easily or to see your monitor without straining your neck and shoulders." With a number of Flexsteel's executive team hailing from the office products world, the team was determined to enable consumers to build their office up or down, personalizing the configuration for their needs with movable storage pieces that work for either the right or left-hand, and to make everything ergonomically correct. As a result, "Chevron's well-thought-out designs make them ideal for a home office that is as good-looking as it is functional, with solid wood desks in the collection priced to sell from a very workable $400 to $500," Newlin sums.

SOURCE Flexsteel Industries, Inc.

Related Links

www.flexsteel.com


RAIPUR, India, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Floor Adhesives Market by Material Type (Epoxy Adhesives, Polyurethane Adhesives, Acrylic Adhesives, Vinyl Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by Application Type (Tiles & Stone, Carpet, Wood, Laminate, Resilient Flooring, and Others), by Technology Type (Water-Based Adhesives, Solvent-Based Adhesives, and Other Adhesives), by End-User Type (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial) and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2021-2026.

This strategic assessment report, from Stratview Research, provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today's floor adhesives market realities and future market possibilities for the forecast period of 2021 to 2026. The report segments and analyzes the market in the most detailed manner to provide a panoramic view of the market. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for the market participants as well as investors in the identification of low-hanging fruits available in the market as well as formulate growth strategies.

Floor Adhesives Market: Highlights

Flooring adhesive is a type of strong, permanent glue for adhering flooring materials to a subfloor or underlayment. Different types of adhesives are recommended for different types of flooring, although some multi-purpose solutions can be used effectively with multiple materials as per the requirements of the area where flooring needs to be completed. The floor adhesives market has been affected badly in 2020 due to the pandemic. As a result, the market recorded a massive decline of -8.2% in 2020.

Based on primary results coupled with the study of the recovery trajectories of previous downturns, it is forecasted that the market will hit back its pre-pandemic levels by 2022 only, creating healthy growth opportunities for market participants in the near future. In the coming five years, the global floor adhesives market may record a promising CAGR of 5% to reach US$ 7.2 billion in 2026. Several factors may help the industry stakeholders to heal up the losses endured due to the pandemic. Some of which are an expected recovery in the economy, increasing infrastructure development and construction spending, increasing penetration of adhesives over mechanical fasteners, and increasing demand for water-based adhesives in order to reduce VOC emissions.

Click Here to Browse Through the TOC of the Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/toc/333/Floor-Adhesives-Market.html

Based on the material type, acrylic adhesive is expected to remain the largest material type in the market during the forecast period, owing to its faster-curing capability and price sensitivity. Acrylic adhesives are highly preferred in luxury vinyl tile flooring, carpet, and carpet tile flooring applications.

On the other hand, polyurethane adhesive is expected to remain the fastest-growing material type in the market during the forecast period due to its high preference for wood flooring applications. Its excellent properties, such as long-lasting surface finish, superior chemical, solvent and scratch resistance, fast-drying, and resistance to UV light damage, water-and-tear and extreme temperature variations are likely to drive the material's market.

Based on the application type, resilient flooring is expected to remain the most dominant segment of the market during the forecast period. Resilient flooring includes Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT) and Vinyl Composite Tiles (VCT) wherein LVT is the growth engine of the segment. LVT is gaining popularity, being a versatile and durable flooring option with endless designs using advanced photo technology. Wood flooring is the next biggest application type in the market due to its high significance of polyurethane adhesives.

Based on the technology type, water-based adhesive is expected to remain the most preferred technology type in the market during the forecast period. Water-based technology has been a popular replacement for solvent-based adhesives, driven by a host of factors, such as environmental safety, zero VOCs, and low odor. Increasing concern over reducing VOC emissions and stringent regulations regarding solvent usage have been pushing the demand for water-based adhesives in the market.

Based on the end-user type, commercial flooring is expected to remain the dominant as well as the fastest-growing end-user type in the market during the forecast period. The demand for floor adhesives for commercial flooring applications largely comes from corporate buildings, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants, and hotels. Increasing government spending on infrastructure development for the non-residential sector is fueling the segment's growth.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/Request-Sample/333/Floor-Adhesives-Market.html#form

In terms of regions, Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest market for floor adhesives during the forecast period. This region has presence of a large number of flooring and construction contractors coupled with growing demand from the commercial and residential sectors. Despite lower adhesive per capita consumption compared to North America and Europe, Asia-Pacific holds the lead due to enormous infrastructure projects and gigantic construction industry economy/spending.

Key Players

Most of the major players are providing adhesives for all the major applications. Following are the key players in the floor adhesives market are 3M, Ardex GmbH, Arkema Inc. (Bostik), BASF SE, Bona AB, H. B. Fuller, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Huntsman Corporation, MAPEI Corporation, Pidilite Industries Limited, Roberts Consolidated Industries Inc., Sika AG, The DOW Chemical Company, W. F. Taylor Co. Inc., and Uzin Utz AG.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies the floor adhesives market and has segmented the market in five ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the five ways in which the market is segmented:

Floor Adhesives Market by Material Type:

Epoxy Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Acrylic Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Polyurethane Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Vinyl Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Floor Adhesives Market by Application Type:

Tile & Stone (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Carpet (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Wood (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Laminate (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Resilient Flooring (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Floor Adhesives Market by Technology Type:

Water-based Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Solvent-based Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Other Adhesives (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Floor Adhesives Market by End-User Type:

Residential Use (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Commercial Use (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Industrial Use (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Floor Adhesives Market by Region:

North America (Country Analysis: USA , Canada , and Mexico )

Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , UK, Italy , and Rest of Europe )

Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , India , Japan , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Rest of the World (Sub-Region Analysis: Brazil , Saudi Arabia , and Others)

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the chemicals and materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

https://www.stratviewresearch.com/market-reports/Chemicals-Materials.html

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.

For enquiries,

Contact:

Stratview Research

E-mail: [email protected]

Direct: 1-313-307-4176

SOURCE Stratview Research
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation will partner with University Settlement to provide free self-defense classes for their neighbors, many of whom are Asian, on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Responding to the rise in unprovoked violent assaults on Asian New Yorkers and other minority groups, the free classes seek to empower participants with the skills needed to protect themselves if attacked. The classes will primarily be geared toward older people, who are often targets of racially motivated violence.

"No one should be afraid to leave their house or live in constant fear of being assaulted because of what they look like," said founders Alicia Lee and Jason Lee in a joint statement. "We hope that the skills that these classes teach will help our community members to feel secure in walking down the street and confident in the event of an unprovoked attack."

"As racist violence directed toward the diverse Asian communities of New York City has increased over the last 18 months, we've stood in solidarity, rage, and grief with our neighbors targeted by xenophobia," said Melissa Aase, CEO of University Settlement. "We are grateful to partner with the Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation to offer self-defense classes to interested community members. This resource meaningfully contributes to our efforts to build community strength."

The curriculum for the self-defense classes has been created by New York City-based fitness expert Lamar McKay in conjunction with wellness expert Pam Rosenberg and trainer/artist Sammy Yuen .

Classes will be taught in English and Chinese and will begin in October 2021. Initially, two classes will be offered, each taking place across five weeks  one for all interested participants, and one more appropriate for adults over 60. Registration will be limited to University Settlement program participants.

About The Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation

The Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation was founded in 2020 by Alicia and Jason Lee. Alicia and Jason Lee formed the New York City-based foundation to support a wide range of philanthropic endeavors relating to criminal justice reform, financial literacy, and community initiatives. https://aliciaandjasonleefoundation.org/about-us/

About University Settlement

University Settlement partners with 40,000 New Yorkers on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn every year to build on their strengths as they achieve healthy, stable, and remarkable lives. For 135 years, we've collaborated with our neighbors to pioneer highly effective programs that fight poverty and systemic inequality. Established in 1886 as the first Settlement House in the United States, we bring the values of that movement into the 21st century by meeting New Yorkers where they live, listening deeply to all perspectives, engaging with every individual holistically, and creating space for people to organize. Joining together with our neighbors to advocate for justice and equality, we help build community strength.

We work with New Yorkers of all ages. We infuse a commitment to civic engagement, equity, and communal action into each of our programs, which include early childhood education, mental health and wellness, benefits assistance and eviction prevention, adult literacy and education, healthy aging, community and recreation centers, performing and visual arts, and youth development.



Learn more at www.universitysettlement.org .

Contact:

Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation:

David Schwarz

[email protected]

917 545 7823

University Settlement:

Dave Hughes

[email protected]

619 709 4043

SOURCE Alicia and Jason Lee Foundation

Related Links

https://aliciaandjasonleefoundation.org/


The nearly 70 objects in the exhibition span from 1230 to 1400, from the first great flowering of manuscript illumination in Bologna to the beginnings of the construction and decoration of the ambitious Basilica of San Petronio in the city's Piazza Maggiore. On view will be many illuminated law textbooks, which are fascinating for their distinctive page layouts and iconography as well as their notable size and heft. The works are drawn primarily from American libraries, museums, and private collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Library of Congress, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the New York Public Library, and Princeton University Library. Loans are also being sought from the Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna.

The exhibition explores how medieval Bologna, with its porticoed streets, towers, communal buildings, main piazza, and mendicant churches, became a center for higher learning at the end of the Middle Ages. Home to the oldest university in Europe, Bologna fostered a unique artistic culture with its large population of sophisticated readers. The city became the preeminent center of manuscript production south of the Alps, and it helped bring about a revolution in the medieval book trade. Manuscripts circulated in a thriving market of scribes, illuminators, booksellers, and customers operating mostly outside traditional monastic scriptoria. The university initially specialized in law, and many law books were illuminated in Bologna with brightly colored narratives. Professors enjoyed high social status and were buried in impressive stone tombs carved with classroom scenes.

A highly respected curator in the field of medieval and renaissance art, Kennedy also organized the award-winning exhibition Sanctity Pictured: The Art of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders in Renaissance Italy, on view at the Frist in 201415, and edited the companion catalogue of the same title. The research that originated with the exhibition was the basis for an honors seminar at Tulane University.

Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a 256-page lavishly illustrated hardback catalogue titled Medieval Bologna: Art for a University City, published by Paul Holberton Publishing (London). Edited by Frist Art Museum senior curator Trinita Kennedy, the publication includes seven essays and is the first major study in English about manuscript illumination, painting, and sculpture in Bologna between the years 1200 and 1400. The essaysby academics, a conservator, curators, and a museum educatorcreate a rich context for the works in the exhibition, many of which have never been studied in depth or published before. The book aims to expand our understanding of art and its purposes in the medieval world.

The authors describe the bookmaking process in Bologna, including the pigments used by illuminators. They also discuss the illustrious foreign artists called to work in the city, most notably Cimabue and Giotto; the devastating impact of the bubonic plague; and the political resurgence of Bologna at the end of the 14th century that led to the construction of the Basilica of San Petronio, one of the largest churches in the world, in honor of the city's patron saint.

In addition to Trinita Kennedy, the catalogue contributors are Lyle Humphrey, associate curator of European art and collections history, North Carolina Museum of Art; Bryan C. Keene, assistant professor, Riverside City College; Susan L'Engle, professor emerita, Saint Louis University; Areli Marina, associate professor, University of Kansas; Michael Byron Norris, retired museum educator, the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Nancy K. Turner, conservator of manuscripts, department of paper conservation, The J. Paul Getty Museum.

The catalogue will be available for purchase in the Frist Art Museum Gift Shop and through booksellers in October 2021.

Programs

Thursday, November 11

Curator's Perspective: Art and Learning in Medieval Bologna Presented by Trinita Kennedy, senior curator

6:00 p.m.

Presented on Zoom

Free; registration required.



Thursday, January 13

Bologna Redux: A Fresh Look at the Beginnings of Legal Manuscript Illumination presented by Susan L'Engle, professor emerita, Saint Louis University

6:00 p.m.

Frist Auditorium

Exhibition Credit

Organized by the Frist Art Museum

Supporter Acknowledgment

The exhibition was made possible in part by NEA Art Works, the Anne and Joe Russell Family, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and the Frist's Picasso Circle members.

The exhibition catalogue is published with the assistance of The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, with additional support from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and NEA Art Works.

The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by The Frist Foundation, the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Read about the Frist's Health and Safety Procedures.

Connect with us @FristArtMuseum #TheFrist #BolognaAtTheFrist

About the Frist Art Museum

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. Information on accessibility can be found at FristArtMuseum.org/accessibility. Gallery admission is free for visitors ages 18 and younger and for members, and $15 for adults. For current hours and additional information, visit FristArtMuseum.org or call 615.244.3340.

SOURCE Frist Art Museum

Related Links

https://fristartmuseum.org


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) is celebrating its 2021 class of Gold Award Girl Scouts: over 3,500 teen world-changers who have created lasting impact on issues that are important to them. Gold Award Girl Scouts identify the root cause of a problem, plan and implement innovative solutions that address that problem, and lead a team of people who support their success.

The Gold Award is a Girl Scout's highest achievement, available to girls in high school who drive sustainable change on issues in their communities and beyond. This year's class of Gold Award Girl Scouts invested over 350,000 hours in taking action to destigmatize conversations about mental health, raise awareness about racism in the healthcare system, organize a youth movement for environmental advocacy, document teens' experiences of the pandemic in state archives, increase LGBTQ+ inclusion, and more.

2021 Gold Award Girl Scouts demonstrate the breadth of issues that American teens feel are pressing. Topics these Girl Scouts addressed most frequently include:

Health: including mental health, suicide prevention, drug abuse, nutrition, and self-esteem Environmental sustainability: including climate change, pollution, alternative energy, clean water, and farming Education: including literacy, career training, and financial know-how Arts, culture, and heritage: including cultural awareness, historic preservation, performing arts, visual arts, and music Children's issues: including foster care, infant care, and mentoring

As they take action to transform their world, Gold Award Girl Scouts gain tangible skills and prove they're the leaders our world needs. Members of the 2021 class say they've become focused project managers (89%), confident public speakers (84%), strong decision-makers (67%), and empathetic leaders (59%). To help finance their Gold Award projects, the majority generated funds, including from their Girl Scout Cookie earnings, which they learned how to budget. These skills give them an edge personally and professionallyresearch shows that 99% of Gold Award Girl Scout alums take on leadership roles in their everyday lives. Also according to recent research, most Gold Award Girl Scouts get a boost in earning scholarships, in the college admissions process, and in professional advancement.

"We are so proud of our 2021 Gold Award Girl Scouts for the incredible work they have done driving lasting, positive change," said GSUSA Interim CEO Judith Batty. "Gold Award Girl Scouts set themselves apart from their peers through their perseverance and passionand they build their resumes and open up scholarship opportunities in the process. In addition to changing the world around them for the better, they transform their own lives by building skills for academic, career, and personal success."

GSUSA is also proud to announce that one Gold Award Girl Scout from nearly every local council has been awarded a scholarship thanks to sponsorship from Arconic Foundation and Kappa Delta Foundation. Each Girl Scout council was able to nominate one of their outstanding Gold Award Girl Scouts, whose project exemplifies the core components of the Gold Award, to receive a scholarship.

The 2021 class of Gold Award Girl Scouts will be celebrated at the organization-wide Girl Scouts Change the World virtual event on October 9, sponsored by the LEGO Group, a partner that inspires the builders of tomorrow and believes creativity will rebuild the world. Current Girl Scouts grades 412, plus parents and volunteers, can register by October 5 to be inspired by the 2021 Gold Award Girl Scouts and discover how they themselves can make the world a better place. Attendees will be able to engage in sessions about mental wellness and girls' rights.

To join or volunteer, visit www.girlscouts.org/join.

We Are Girl Scouts

Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challengeswhether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends. Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors, and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. To join us, volunteer, reconnect, or donate, visit girlscouts.org.

SOURCE Girl Scouts of the USA

Related Links

http://www.girlscouts.org


MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Guardian Dentistry Partners ("GDP" or "Guardian") today announced that it has secured more than $100 million in debt financing from Twin Brook Capital Partners, a leading direct lending finance company.

Guardian, which has seen its dental partnerships across the country grow exponentially since its founding in 2018, is now well-positioned to continue to forge powerful strategic partnerships in the months and years to come.

Mark Censoprano, Guardian Dentistry President

"This financing is reflective of confidence in our business plan and in our incredible dental entrepreneur founders and partners," said Mark Censoprano, GDP's President. "With Twin Brook's support, we are now primed to grow even more quickly, and we're confident we will achieve our objectives."

In fact, in the coming months Guardian is expected to announce new partnerships with nearly 30 dental practices across the Eastern United States, including partnerships in two new states.

"2021 is proving to be a hallmark expansion year for Guardian," said Dr. Hisham Barakat, Chief Clinical Officer at GDP. "We're proud, and humbled, to have the opportunity to support so many amazing partners in their journeys to build the practices of their dreams."

Danny Kawas, Partner at NKP Capital, GDP's family-office sponsor, said, "It is with great pride that we support our founding doctors who were looking to build their own group or be part of a group, but were not optimally served by the typical corporate structures. With GDP, doctors benefit from our infrastructure, talent, and access to capital, but have the advantage of a warm, purpose-driven, family-like experience of an intimate partnership. Now, with this financing, we are able to provide our alternative partnership solution to even more dental entrepreneurs."

"We have been thoroughly impressed with the Guardian team and with the company's track record over the past several years under Danny Kawas and NKP's leadership," said Pete Coffin, Vice President at Twin Brook Capital Partners. "We are pleased to provide financing to support Guardian's growth strategy and look forward to working with the team as the platform continues to scale and expand into new markets through partnerships with high-quality doctors, capitalizing on the favorable tailwinds that remain prevalent in the dental market."

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. served as financial advisor to NKP Capital and GDP on the financing.

About Guardian Dentistry Partners

Founded by a group of passionate dentists and a family office, Guardian Dentistry Partners is an emerging Dental Partnership Network dedicated to providing world-class support services and growth opportunities for its network of dentist partners. Founded in 2018, Guardian has expanded rapidly and now supports dental entrepreneurs in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Guardian's mission is to help its dental partners and teams build the practices of their dreams. For more information, visit guardiandentistry.com.

About NKP Capital

NKP Capital, led by Nayan Pathak and Danny Kawas, is a family office based out of London, Miami and Dubai. NKP is highly experienced in building-out operational businesses, structuring financing solutions, roll-ups, and sponsoring teams, as well as managing M&A, finance, and capital market activities on behalf of its sponsor companies. For more information, visit nkpcapital.com.

Nick Serb, Director of Marketing

[email protected]

412 401-4526

SOURCE Guardian Dentistry Partners
Company Achieves Record YTD Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA

MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Haivision Systems Inc. ("Haivision" or the "Company") (TSX: HAI), a leading global provider of mission critical, real-time IP video solutions, today announced its third quarter fiscal financial results for the three months and nine months ended July 31, 2021.

Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Financial Results, Company Highlights and Subsequent Events

Revenue for the period ended July 31 , was $20.7 million , a record for third quarter performance

, was , a record for third quarter performance YTD Revenue in functional currency exceeds 15% YoY growth

Operating profit for the quarter was $3.9 million

Adjusted EBITDA* for the quarter was $3.4 million representing an Adjusted EBITDA Margin*

of 16.3%

representing an Adjusted EBITDA Margin* of 16.3% Cash at quarter end was $51.6 million

Our SRT open-source initiative celebrated its 4th anniversary and welcomed its 500 th member

member Closed on the acquisitions of CineMassive Displays, LLC a leader in visual collaboration solutions for mission critical environments

Closed on a $35 million revolving credit facility with Bank of Montreal which includes an accordion feature to expand the line to $60 million

revolving credit facility with Bank of which includes an accordion feature to expand the line to The PPP loan granted under the CARES Act was forgiven by the Small Business Administration

Since going public we have added three outside Board members including our most recent addition, Major General Lee K. Levy II , USAF (ret).

Mirko Wicha, Chairman and CEO of Haivision, said "I want to welcome CineMassive to the Haivision family. Their products aggregate content from multiple real-time sources for display and interaction within mission critical operations centers that support defense command, cybersecurity threat response, and public safety. Their exceptional installed base is a testament to the quality of their products." Mirko added, "Our ability to generate Adjusted EBITDA and net income has exceeded our expectations for the year thus far, as we continue to focus on operational efficiency."

The Company generated record third quarter revenues of $20,7 million exceeding the exceptional performance of last year, and revenues for the first nine months ended July 31, 2021 were

$65.5 million, an increase of $4.5 million or 7% when compared to the same period in fiscal 2020. After an impressive first half of the year, there continued to be strong overall demand for our products and services.

Adjusted EBITDA* for the nine months ended July 31, 2021 was $10.6 million an increase of 31% compared to the same period in the prior year. Dan Rabinowitz, Chief Financial Officer and EVP Operations, stated, "As we begin the process of integrating CineMassive, we intend to exploit the synergistic opportunities to introduce their product sets to our customer base, expand their base of business internationally, and take advantage or our combined scale in reducing cost and expanding our operating margins."

The Company recorded net income of $1.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared to net income of $2.1 million for the same period in fiscal 2020. Net income in the third quarter was positively impacted by the forgiveness of the PPP loan, but was negatively impacted by share-based payments and the additional costs of being a public issuer.

Mirko Wicha added, "With the addition of CineMassive to the Haivision family, an enhanced line of credit, and significant cash on hand, we intend to continue to focus on the organic growth opportunities that present themselves while pursuing our acquisition strategy".

Conference Call Notification

Haivision will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter financial results on Tuesday,

September 14, 2021 at 5:30 pm (ET).

To register for the call, please use this link http://www.directeventreg.com/registration/event/4638827. After registering, a confirmation will be sent through email, including dial in details and unique conference call codes for entry.

* Represents a non-IFRS measure. For the relevant definition, see "Non-IFRS Measures" below. As applicable, a reconciliation of this non-IFRS measure to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measure is included in the tables at the end of this press release and in the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three months and nine months ended July 31, 2021.

Financial Statements, Management's Discussion and Analysis and Additional Information

Haivision's consolidated unaudited financial statements for the three months and nine months ended July 31, 2021 (the "Q3 Financial Statements"), the management's discussion and analysis thereon and additional information relating to Haivision and its business can be found under Haivision's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The financial information presented in this release was derived from the Q3 Financial Statements.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's growth opportunities and its ability to execute on its growth strategy. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, nor guarantees or assurances of future performance but instead represent management's current beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events and operating performance.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Haivision as of the date of this release, are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risk factors identified under "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest annual information form, and in other periodic filings that the Company has made and may make in the future with the securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities in Canada, all of which are available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Haivision. However, such risk factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Haivision undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable securities laws.

In addition, Haivision's guidance on revenue is considered forward-looking information. The foregoing demonstrates Haivision's objectives, which are not forecasts or estimates of its financial position, but are based on the implementation of its strategic goals, growth prospects and growth initiatives. Management's assessments of, and outlook for, revenue set out herein are generally based on the following assumptions: (a) Haivision's results of operations will continue as expected, (b) Haivision will continue to effectively execute against its key strategic growth priorities, (c) Haivision will continue to retain and grow its existing customer base and market share, (d) Haivision will be able to take advantage of future prospects and opportunities, and realize on related synergies, including in respect of acquisitions, (e) there will be no changes in legislative or regulatory matters that negatively impact Haivision's business, (f) current tax laws will remain in effect and will not be materially changed,

(g) economic conditions will remain relatively stable throughout the period, and (h) the industries Haivision operates in will continue to grow consistent with past experience. Haivision considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances, given the time period for such projections and targets. The achievement of target revenue set out above is subject to significant risks including:

(a) that Haivision will be unable to effectively execute against its key strategic growth priorities, and (b) Haivision will be unable to continue to retain and grow its existing customer base and market share. These estimates have been prepared by and are the responsibility of management. Haivision's independent auditor has not conducted a review of, and does not express an opinion or any other form of assurance with respect to, these estimates.

Non-IFRS Measures

Haivision's consolidated financial statements for the third quarter ended July 31, 2021 are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures, including "EBITDA", "Gross Margin", "Adjusted EBITDA" and "Adjusted EBITDA Margin". These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Accordingly, these measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our financial information reported under IFRS. Rather, these non-IFRS measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of our operating performance and thus highlight trends in our core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. We also believe that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers. Our management also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation.

Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental measure used by management to assess the financial performance of our business. Adjusted EBITDA is also a key metric that management uses prior to execution of any strategic investing or financing opportunity. "EBITDA" is defined as earnings (loss) before income taxes, depreciation, amortization and financial expenses and "Adjusted EBITDA" is defined as EBITDA, as adjusted for stock-based compensation and certain non-recurring expense items. Adjusted EBITDA Margin represents Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. "Gross Margin" represents gross profit divided by revenue.

About Haivision

Haivision is a leading global provider of mission-critical, real-time video streaming and networking solutions. Our connected cloud and intelligent edge technologies enable global organizations to engage audiences, enhance collaboration, and support decision making. We provide high quality, low latency, secure, and reliable live video at a global scale. Haivision open sourced its award-winning SRT low latency video streaming protocol and founded the SRT Alliance to support its adoption. Awarded an Emmy for Technology and Engineering from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Haivision continues to fuel the future of IP video transformation. Founded in 2004, Haivision is headquartered in Montreal and Chicago with offices, sales, and support located throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Learn more at haivision.com.

Thousands of Canadian dollars







Three months ended

July 31,

Nine months ended

July 31,

2021

2020

2021

2020

($)

($)

($)

($) Revenue 20,695

20,346

65,531

60,988 Cost of sales 5,152

4,710

15,373

14,152 Gross profit 15,543

15,636

50,158

46,836































Expenses













Sales and marketing 4,036

4,679

13,988

14,604 Operations and support 846

1,162

3,334

3,807 Research and development 3,638

4,479

12,877

14,856 General and administrative 2,313

2,185

8,934

6,823 Share-based payment 821



16,015



11,654

12,505

55,148

40,091















Operating Profit (loss) 3,888

3,132

(4,991)

6,745 Financial expenses 60

77

248

267 Income (loss) before income taxes 3,829

3,055

(5,239)

6,478















Income taxes













Current 1,934

780

3,715

1,697 Deferred 

216



471

1,934

996

3,715

2,168















Net income (loss) 1,894

2,059

(8,954)

4,310















Other comprehensive income (loss)













Foreign currency translation adjustment 161

(460)

(778)

222 Comprehensive income (loss) 1,733

1,599

(9,733)

4,533































Net income per share













Net income (loss) per share (basic and diluted) $0.07

$0.13

$(0.36)

$0.28 Weighted average number of shares outstanding













Basic 26,634,916

15,340,749

24,754,126

15,385,827 Diluted 27,316,136

15,340,749

24,754,126

15,385,827























Thousands of Canadian dollars



As at

July 31,

2021

October 31,

2020

$

$







Assets





Current assets





Cash 51,590

15,715 Trade and other receivables 14,981

12,763 Investment tax credits receivable 937

2,275 Inventories 5,216

5,988 Prepaid expenses 2,058

908

74,782

37,649







Property and equipment 946

898 Right-of-use assets 3,396

3,184 Intangible assets 1,869

2,283 Goodwill 13,966

14,745 Non-refundable investment tax credits receivable 2,795

3,861 Deferred income taxes 1,606

147

24,579

25,118

99,361

62,767







Liabilities





Current liabilities





Trade and other payables 9,322

12,892 Income taxes payable 3,207

2,484 Current portion of lease liabilities 507

570 Deferred revenue 8,156

8,102 Current portion of term loans 467

1,180

21,659

25,228







Lease liabilities 3,479

3,075 Deferred revenue 1,960

1,641 Term loans 1,402

2,749 Deferred income taxes 

 Deferred lease inducement 



28,500

32,693







Equity





Share capital 71,096

20,934 Stock Option 1,890

 Retained earnings (3,173)

7,313 Cumulative translation adjustment 1,048

1,827

70,861

30,074

94,361

62,767

Thousands of Canadian dollars







Three months ended

July 31,

Nine months ended

July 31,

2021

2020

2021

2020

($)

($)

($)

($) Net Income 1,894

2,059

(8,954)

4,310 Income Taxes 1,934

996

3,715

2,168 Income before income taxes 3,828

3,055

(5,239)

6,478















Depreciation 298

140

885

459 Amortization 138

288

414

842 Share-based payments 821





16,015

 Financial expenses 60

77

248

267 Non -recurring expenses:













PPP loan forgiveness (1,772)





(1,772)



Adjusted EBITDA(1) 3,374

3,560

10,552

8,046















Adjusted EBITDA Margin(1) 16.3%

17.5 %

16.1%

13.2 %























































___________________ Note: (1) Non-IFRS measure. See "Non-IFRS Measures".

SOURCE Haivision Systems Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hayden AI Technologies, Inc. ("Hayden AI"), a leading smart city solutions provider that developed the world's first autonomous traffic management platform, today announced the appointment of Bryan Shea, a US Government trained intelligence officer, as Vice President of Data Security and Privacy.

In his new role, Shea will provide leadership and strategic direction for all cybersecurity efforts, including security frameworks, technology governance and policies, data privacy and security programs, and incident response plans. He will also oversee guidelines and procedures to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and standards.

"We value our customers' trust in us and are deeply committed to protecting their sensitive data. As an intelligence officer with over a decade of experience across multiple domains, Bryan is well positioned to take the lead," said Chris Carson, Co-Founder and CEO of Hayden AI. "He will build a team of cybersecurity professionals and spearhead our security and privacy initiatives to ensure that our products and customers' data remain safe and secure."

Prior to joining Hayden AI, Shea served as lead Criminal Intelligence Analyst at the Chicago Police Department where he oversaw the largest police district at Strategic Decision Support Center (SDSC). Prior to that, Shea served as a Special Skills Officer-Targeting, supporting global counter-terrorism intelligence operations. In his previous role at BAE Systems, Shea directed a team of analysts on a $25 million Homeland Security contract focused on intelligence issues and information sharing policies.

"We are undergoing a global re-ordering with asymmetric warfare in the cyber realm. Hayden AI is emerging in this national and global context as a potential target of foreign espionage. This underscores the critical need for a robust security program," said Shea. "As a victim of identity theft, I've been at the forefront of national privacy debates. I look forward to leveraging my expertise to help Hayden AI foster a truly collaborative ethos to advance forward-looking privacy policies."

Shea has also held several managerial positions and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, closely aligned with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). On the side, Shea works as an analyst for DeliverFund, a nonprofit intelligence organization combatting human trafficking nationwide.

About Hayden AI

Hayden AI was founded on the belief that by combining mobile sensors with artificial intelligence, we can help governments bridge the innovation gap while making traffic flow less dangerous and more efficient. Led by a team of experts in machine learning, data science, transportation, and government technology, we've developed the world's first autonomous traffic management platform  simultaneously serving citizens and multi-agency missions to help cities become safer and more sustainable.

To learn more about Hayden AI, visit www.hayden.ai

SOURCE Hayden AI Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

www.hayden.ai


RENO, Nev., Sept.14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - i-80 GOLD CORP. (TSX: IAU) (OTCQX: IAUCF) ("i-80", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that initial rehabilitation of the underground workings has been completed at the Company's Granite Creek Mine ("Granite Creek" or "the Property") property located in Humboldt County, Nevada and an underground test mining program is now underway.

Granite Creek hosts both open pit and underground resources and is located proximal to Nevada Gold Mines' ("NGM") Twin Creeks and Turquoise Ridge mines at the north end of the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend at its intersection with the Getchell gold belt in Nevada. The underground deposit at Granite Creek represents one of the highest-grade gold deposits in North America with resource grades in excess of 10 grams per tonne gold (see Table 1 below).

Table 1  Granite Creek Underground Resource Estimate

Tonnage

(kt) Au Grade

(g/t) Gold

(Koz) Measured & Indicated 562 10.49 190 Inferred 1,520 11.90 581 Notes: CIM Definition Standards (2014) were used for reporting the Mineral Resources.

Ms D. Nussipakynova, P.Geo., of AMC takes responsibility for the Mineral Resources.

The Mineral Resource COG is based on a metal price of $1,550/oz Au. (cost and other assumptions shown in Table 14.13).

Underground Mineral Resources as stated are constrained within modelled underground stope shapes using a nominal 15' minimum thickness, above a gold cut-off grade of 0.15 opt Au.

Drilling results up to 31 December 2015.

Drilling database provided 18 April 2019.

Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The numbers may not compute exactly due to rounding.

See technical report titled "Getchell Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Premier Gold Mines Limited and i-80 Gold Corp" effective date July 23, 2020 and filed on sedar January 22, 2021. Source: AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd.

The primary goal of the 2021 program is to advance underground drilling and test mining with a target to make a production decision. Underground drilling and advancements will be focused on delineating sufficient resources for near-term mine development and initial mined material from Granite Creek is expected to be trucked for processing at the nearby Twin Creeks processing facility via an interim processing arrangement with Nevada Gold Mines that was announced as part of a transaction announced on September 7, 2021.

"The interim processing arrangement with Nevada Gold Mines represents a key milestone event for i-80, removing uncertainty of our ability to process refractory material from the Granite Creek Mine Project," stated Matt Gili, President and Chief Operating Officer of i-80. "As a partner of NGM for several years at South Arturo, which will be transferred to NGM as part of the broader transaction, we have built a strong working relationship and we look forward to continuing to build on this relationship as we realize our plan to develop multiple projects in the State of Nevada."

The test mining program at Granite Creek is verifying the appropriate mining methods, cycles, and sequences for advancing the underground ore headings, while controlling open excavations and maintaining safe mining conditions. Testing will include both mechanical cutting and conventional mining methods.

In addition to the underground drill program at Granite Creek, the surface drilling program testing nearsurface mineralization for metallurgical purposes and open pit definition is now complete. This part of the program was competed primarily to advance permitting for open pit mining including heap leach processing on-site. A Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Granite Creek Mine Project is nearing completion and expected to be released in the near future.

Technical Information

Tim George, PE, is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and a Qualified Person within the meaning of NI43-101.

About i-80 Gold Corp.

i-80 Gold Corp. is a Nevada-focused mining company with a goal of achieving mid-tier gold producer status. The Company expects to close the acquisitions of the Lone Tree Complex and the Ruby Hill Project in H2 2021 and is advancing an underground development program for the Granite Creek Project. i-80 is well financed with more than $70.1 million (as at June 30, 2021) in cash and has recently signed financing agreements with Nevada Gold Mines and a non-binding term sheet with Orion Mine Finance.

Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to, completion of the transactions contemplated by the Exchange Agreement, completion of the transactions contemplated by the Ruby Hill Agreement, completion of the equity private placement with NGM, Equinox Gold Corp. and/or other subscribers, completion of the financing transaction with Orion, completion of refurbishment and development activities at the Long Tree project, commencement of mining operations at the Lone Tree project or the Ruby Hill mine or mineral resource and reserve estimates and exploration, development and production potential. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release.

Forward-looking statements and information involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or information, including, but not limited to: failure to satisfy of the relevant conditions to the completion of the transactions described herein, failure to obtain the relevant regulatory approvals, material adverse changes, exercise of termination rights by any relevant party, unexpected changes in laws, failure to complete the Orion financing transaction on satisfactory terms, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; and the failure of exploration, refurbishment, development or mining programs or studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Concerning Estimates of Resources: This press release uses the term "inferred resources." "Inferred resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of a feasibility study or prefeasibility study, except in rare cases. Information contained in the press release containing descriptions of any mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder that disclose mineral reserves and mineral resources in accordance with Industry Guide 7 or the SEC's new mining disclosure rules in Regulation S-K 1300. SEC Industry Guide 7 does not recognize the existence of resources. Under Regulation S-K 1300, reserve and resource definitions are substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Definition Standards; however, there are differences between NI 43-101 and Regulation S-K 1300 and therefore information contained in the press release may not be comparable to similar information made public by public U.S. companies pursuant to the Regulation S-K 1300 or SEC Industry Guide 7.

SOURCE i-80 Gold Corp

Related Links

www.i80gold.com


PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Inland Vessel Market by Vessel Type (Passenger Vessel and Non-Passenger Vessel), Fuel Type (LNG, Diesel Oil, Heavy Fuel Oil, and Others) and Application (Oil Tankers, Bulk Carriers, General Cargo Ships, Container Ships, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030." According to the report, the global inland vessel industry generated $1,698.24 billion in 2020, and is estimated to reach $2,500.40 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 3.9% from 2021 to 2030.

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in demand for cargo transportation through ships, surge in trade-related agreements, and technological advancements in boats and boat engines drive the growth of the global inland vessel market. However, fluctuations in transportation & inventory costs and environmental concerns related to recreational boating hinder the market growth. On the other hand, trend of automation in marine transportation and surge in marine safety norms present opportunities in the coming years.

Download Report (246 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, Figures) at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13457

Covid-19 Scenario

Owing to considerable impact on supply chains globally, there has been huge losses incurred by boats and engine manufacturing companies during the first & second quarter of 2020. This led to reduced business revenue during the period.

Ban on cargo and container transportation activities in many countries led to reduced demand for inland vessels during the lockdown. However, the ban has been uplifted during the post-lockdown and activities would increase.

Request for Customization at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/13457

The non-passenger vessel segment to continue its lead position during the forecast period

Based on vessel type, the non-passenger vessel segment accounted for the highest share in 2020, contributing to nearly 93% of the global inland vessel market, and is expected to continue its lead position during the forecast period. Moreover, this segment is estimated to manifest the largest CAGR of 4.0% from 2021 to 2030. This is due to increased trade & transportation activities through ships across the globe. The research also analyzes the passenger vessel segment.

The bulk carriers segment to continue its leadership position throughout the forecast period

Based on application, the bulk carriers segment held the largest share in 2020, accounting for more than one-third of the global inland vessel market, and is expected to continue its leadership position throughout the forecast period. This is due to its ability to carry a large amount of cargo from one location to another. However, the general cargo ships segment is projected to portray the fastest CAGR of 6.6% from 2021 to 2030. This is attributed to safer & securer mean of transportation of goods than others.

Interested to Procure The Data? Inquire here at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/13457

Asia-Pacific, followed by Europe and North America, to maintain its dominance by 2030

Based on region, Asia-Pacific, followed by Europe and North America, contributed to the highest market share in 2020, holding more than two-fifths of the global inland vessel market, and is estimated to maintain its dominance in terms of revenue by 2030. This is due to increased transportation activities carried out by Asian countries to different parts of the globe. However, LAMEA is projected to register the largest CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, owing to increase in investments by vessel manufacturers across LAMEA countries.

Leading market players

Alnmaritec Ltd.

Groupe Beneteau

CMA CGM Group

Damen Shipyards Group

EURO-RIJN B.V.

Hodder Tugboat Co. Ltd.

DSME

Viking Shipping

SANMAR

Windcat Workboats BV

Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts to Find Solution for Your Business at https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/13457

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About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:J) was awarded a contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to provide mission-driven and data-centric solutions in support of Geospatial-intelligence Enterprise OpenDataStore (GEODS) services. The single-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract value is estimated at $302 million across a seven-year ordering period.

"Jacobs will provide wide-ranging cyber, digital services and modern software engineering that support geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) for accessing and delivering digital intelligence and collection automation," said Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions Senior Vice President of Cyber & Intelligence Caesar Nieves. "This contract represents how we are helping our clients meet the demands of the digital evolution and revolution by ensuring data continues to be a strategic asset for GEOINT dominance and modernizing NGA from the current on-premise software baseline data center architecture to a hybrid cloud-based set of data services with OpenDataStore (ODS)."

NGA delivers world-class geospatial intelligence for the Department of Defense, with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security.

At Jacobs, we're challenging today to reinvent tomorrow by solving the world's most critical problems for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing, turning abstract ideas into realities that transform the world for good. With $14 billion in revenue and a talent force of approximately 55,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of professional services including consulting, technical, scientific and project delivery for the government and private sector. Visit jacobs.com and connect with Jacobs on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements as such term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor provided by the same. Statements made in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on management's current estimates and expectations as well as currently available competitive, financial and economic data. Forward-looking statements, however, are inherently uncertain. There are a variety of factors that could cause business results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the emergence and spread of variants of COVID-19, and the related reaction of governments on global and regional market conditions and the company's business. For a description of some additional factors that may occur that could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended October 2, 2020, and in particular the discussions contained under Item 1 - Business; Item 1A - Risk Factors; Item 3 - Legal Proceedings; and Item 7 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 2, 2021, and in particular the discussions contained under Part I, Item 2 - Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations; Part II, Item 1 - Legal Proceedings; and Part II, Item 1A - Risk Factors, as well as the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is not under any duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform to actual results, except as required by applicable law.

For press/media inquiries:

Kerrie Sparks

214.583.8433

SOURCE Jacobs

Related Links

http://www.jacobs.com


PHOENIX, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tesis Labs, a leader in targeted genetic sequencing, has named life sciences lab veteran Jonathan Stein, Ph.D., HCLD(ABB), as the company's first chief science officer and medical director.

Tesis uses a genetically integrated medical platform for targeted genetic sequencing and comprehensive genetic data collection to support many medical specialties. The company collaborates with hospitals, health systems, value-based care organizations, medical device companies, research organizations and others to offer next-generation genetic sequencing designed to improve patient care and quality outcomes.

As chief science officer, Dr. Stein will be responsible for assay development, budgeting, contracting, accreditation, staffing and supervision across the company's diagnostics laboratories. Tesis currently has labs in Denver, Lafayette, Colo. and Houston and will be opening its new state of the art facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., in December 2021

"Dr. Stein's extensive experience in genetics labs will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand our pipeline of new and innovative test panels," said Ron King, chief executive officer of Tesis Labs. "He has a proven record as a chief science officer and hands-on lab researcher."

Prior to joining Tesis Labs, Stein was chief science officer at Spectracell Laboratories in Houston, where he was responsible for project planning, quality assurance and regulatory compliance, assay development, and management. He also served as lab director for Spectracell before becoming CSO. In addition, Stein has worked as medical director and clinical consultant at Apex Molecular Laboratories, associate DNA lab director at Identigene, and research investigator at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"Tesis is doing some amazing work and brings great energy and vision to the industry," Dr. Stein said. "I have a solid background in next-generation sequencing, so the company's strong focus on NGS made it an ideal fit."

Dr. Stein received his Ph.D. in molecular and cancer genetics and holds a master's degree in population and biomedical sciences from the University of Texas Health Science Center. He received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

For more information on Tesis Labs, visit www.tesislabs.com.

About Tesis Labs

Tesis Labs' genetically integrated medical platform has revolutionized targeted genetic sequencing. Our mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with the tools to help patients treat and overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer, and diabetes through advanced genetic testing. Tesis offers healthcare providers and physicians access to our unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases  individually and across generations. We also enable medical device companies and pharmaceuticals to bring new products to market and create a robust repository of genetic data and research. Visit tesislabs.com to learn more.

SOURCE Tesis Labs
VILNIUS, Lithuania, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kilo Health, one of the leading digital health and wellness companies globally, is experiencing astounding growth during the waves of the global pandemic. The company is successfully adapting to today's world by offering remote work with flexible hours and has no plan in slowing down expansion. Kilo Health has hired 295 employees between October 2020 and July 2021  an exponential 250% increase from the previous year.

Juste Vizinyte, Chief People Officer at Kilo Health

Making Proper Adjustments and Ensuring Safety

In order to grow successfully during Covid, changes had to be made to the processes of recruiting and onboarding. Juste Vizinyte, Chief People Officer at Kilo Health, explained, "As HR, we have adjusted and developed a new core capability. During Covid, we paid more attention and focused on interpersonal relationship-building remotely (online team-building, online activities, and temperature checks). As a company, we provide flexible hours and remote systems to support employees and make them feel safe." Taking proper steps with this approach is what has ensured the company's success during these unprecedented times.

The Recent Advances

Within two years of the pandemic, Kilo Health has invested 2 million into new products and has opened two new offices. Since March 2020, they have hired over 350 employees in different fields of expertise: 51 in tech, 46 in products, 81 in marketing, 45 in operations, 9 in wellness, 1 in health, 47 in creative, and 43 in support. The company plans to keep offering these and even more opportunities for future employees as well.

Future Plans for Recruitment

Kilo Health is looking to push forward as a leading global company in digital health and wellness. The team is growing and is invested in further developments and expansions. "Today, we are one step closer to a tectonic shift in the health and wellness market. Data is being shared on a whole new scale, integrations with state digital health platforms are being created, and new sensors are allowing us to bring the physical and digital worlds together to get the best of both. It's a new industry being born."  says Tadas Burgaila, Co-Founder and CEO of Kilo Health.

About Kilo Health

Kilo Health is one of the leading digital health and wellness companies globally, not only attracting talents to join its fast-growing team but also co-founding and accelerating start-ups in a rapidly growing digital health industry.

With 4+ million paying users worldwide (the majority in the United States), strong technology, and a digital marketing platform, Kilo Health provides unparalleled opportunities for entrepreneurial talents and visionaries to build digital health products of the future.

Kilo Health was founded to design the most engaging and effective digital lifestyle interventions that lead to a healthier life by preventing, managing, or treating various health conditions.

Continuously seeking new opportunities, co-founding, and accelerating prospective next-gen products, Kilo Health has grown from 7 to 500 bright talents in three years and aims to become the most loved digital health and wellness product suite globally.

https://kilo.health/

For more information, please contact

Monika Jura, [email protected]

+37068226773

SOURCE Kilo Health

Related Links

http://kilo.health/


LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Hill Foundation, the leading social justice foundation in Los Angeles, announced today a historic investment in the local grassroots and community organizing ecosystem and its leaders of color in L.A. County.

The Foundation's Board of Directors enthusiastically approved an unprecedented endowment withdrawal of 14% to expand the scope and impact of the Foundation's Fund for Change and Liberty Vote! grantmaking programs, which provide general operating support grants for community and electoral organizing in L.A. County. This investment will enable Liberty Hill to distribute more than $3.34 million in two-year general operating grants to 65 grassroots organizing groups this yearmore than tripling the previous Fund for Change disbursementand expanding the Foundation's total overall grantmaking portfolio to more than $19 million this year so far. These grants will support ongoing efforts to advance crucial campaigns, provide direct relief for frontline communities, and support the longevity of partner organizations during the pandemic and beyond.

This is the largest investment in organizing in the Foundation's history.

"Liberty Hill is taking a bold step by committing 14% of our endowment to community organizing, greatly exceeding the national standard of 5%," said Liberty Hill Board Co-Chair Amelia Williamson. "We did not make this decision lightly. In the midst of a global pandemic that has upended both lives and livelihoods, we know that our greatest asset is the people power we built by investing in the critical work of movement leaders on the ground. We appreciate the generous support of the entire Liberty Hill community of donor activists and foundation partners as we commit these additional funds to fuel grassroots activism and ensure the people closest to the pain are closest to the power."

Founded in 1976, Liberty Hill is a public foundation whose mission is to leverage the power of community organizers, donor activists and other allies to advance social justice. Liberty Hill works to raise funds to support community organizationsled by people in low-income communities of colorthat build power through grassroots community organizing, coalition building, partnerships, and advocacy.

This year's cohort of grant recipients also represents an incredibly diverse groupincluding Black, Native-led, and transgender-led organizations spanning a wide area of Los Angeles Countyincluding areas like Pomona, the Antelope Valley, Long Beach and other regionswith a focus on racial justice, youth and transformative justice, economic and housing justice, environmental and climate justice, and LGBTQ and gender justice.

Along with funding a strong group of longstanding community organizations, this expanded strategy also underscores Liberty Hill's commitment to supporting emerging organizations at various levels of development. With a unique focus on "Rising Activist'' organizations that have formed within the last 10 years, with annual budgets of less than $500,000 and fewer than three full-time staff membersthese partners represent underrepresented communities and geographies with limited existing nonprofit infrastructure. Investments in these groups are particularly critical as low-income people of color continue to be displaced from central areas of the County to neighborhoods where fewer institutions exist to advocate for historically oppressed communities.

While Liberty Hill is prioritizing Rising Activist groups, the Foundation remains committed to funding activism at all stages, including through their Liberty Vote! Grantmaking program designed to fuel electoral organizing through 501c4 organizations.

"Unprecedented times call for bold choices. In this time of great struggle in Los Angeles and beyond, Liberty Hill's leaders have intentionally decided to make a historic investment in community organizing," said Liberty Hill President/CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith. "We know it works. Frontline community activists are leading the fight toward a just recovery and we are proud to remain fully committed to our mission of building people power and fighting for a future where Justice for All is realized. We encourage our allies in philanthropy to join us in moving money to low-income communities of color in these crucial times with as few restrictions as possible."

Liberty Hill Foundation is a laboratory for social change philanthropy. We leverage the power of community organizers, donor activists, and allies to advance social justice through strategic investment in grants, leadership training, and campaigns. We envision a society in which all people have a powerful voice, including those currently shut out of our democracy, people cut off from opportunities because of their skin color, gender or sexual orientation, where they live, or where they were born. We will not rest until society provides justice and equality for all.

SOURCE Liberty Hill Foundation

Related Links

http://www.libertyhill.org


DES MOINES, Iowa, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Webspec is getting ready to host four local nonprofits for "What the Hack," an inaugural hackathon event to celebrate 20 years of business. The hackathon is a weekend-long sprint of Webspec employees donating their time to help four organizations with their online needs and will include a combination of website, app, and digital marketing services.

The four nonprofit organizations that will receive free web help include On With Life, an organization with a mission to help those living with brain injuries; Creston Arts, an organization aimed to help all phases of the arts in Creston, Iowa, and the surrounding area; Foster Squad, a nonprofit centered around providing resources to Polk County foster families; and USS Iowa, a submarine being built in Connecticut with a crew aspiring to raise awareness of its namesake.

"We're honored to be working with the four organizations that were selected," said Jeremiah Terhark, founder and CEO of Webspec. "They already make such a great impact in our communities, and the goal is that with the web help, they'll be able to reach even more Iowans and make the online experience smoother for everyone involved."

"What the Hack" will kick off on Friday, September 24, at 9 a.m. Representatives from each organization will be present at the office or remotely to get acquainted with the team and give further information and direction on their project needs.

After the kickoff, the nonprofit partners are welcome to stay and participate as the Webspec team gets to work. The team will work day and night to complete the four projects in the approximately 48-hour timespan.

On Sunday, September 26, at 10:30 a.m., Webspec will host a wrap-up showcase with the nonprofit partners to enjoy food and drinks as they present the completed projects.

To find out more information about What the Hack, visit hack.charity. You can also follow "What the Hack" on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates as the event approaches and to stay in the loop as Webspec plans to continue making this event even bigger and better in the years to come.

About Webspec:

Webspec is a leading team of web designers, web developers, software developers, content writers, SEO strategists, project managers and marketing professionals based in Des Moines, Iowa. At Webspec, we believe in a partnership, not just a project. Our team works to partner with clients by thoroughly listening to your vision and bringing creative web design solutions while carefully planning out your web and software development needs.

SOURCE Webspec
The Colombian rebel gangs and drug trafficking groups have used Panamanian rainforests as their hideouts for decades, but in recent years their strongholds have extended to the local governments. Reports of human rights violations, corrupt officials and violence against women and LGBTQ+ people have led US State department to assign Panama a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory (source: travel.state.gov).

Some areas to particularly avoid when traveling to Panama are listed below:

Madden Dam and Colon for their drug activity and street crime

Darien Gap, close to the Columbian border, for its guerrilla groups, drug traffickers, and limited police force

The Mosquito Gulf for its inaccessibility by American authorities to provide support to American citizens on visit

Panama City: El Chorrillo, Curundu, and San Miguelito, which have strict curfews due to its high crime rates

The nearby water bodies, especially if you find floating packages while on a boat trip, which are likely to be drugs or other illicit materials

Poor Political Scene and Human Rights Regulations

Inefficient law enforcement and poor regulations, an under-educated workforce, labor issues, and corruption have created socioeconomic issues in this Presidential Republic.

Political demonstrations around the University and Parliament in Panama City are common and are known to get violent. Bribes, and inadequate property titling prove the judicial system to be lacking. Panama has a history of violations of basic human rights, especially against vulnerable members of society like women and the LGBTQ community.

Same-sex marriages are not generally accepted in society and displays of same sex affection can attract unwanted attention and, in some cases, police intervention. In recent times, people who are transgender have reported various forms of harassment by security forces and the government, and many have been forced to shelter at home for several months due to fear of public humiliation and ridicule.

10 things to consider before traveling to Panama

Panama is rife with muggers who lurk around busy public areas like tourist hot spots and shopping hubs like Avenida Central and Casco Viejo in Panama City, looking for gullible tourists. Pickpockets are also commonly found at public transportation stops. Ensure you keep your wallets in your front pockets and hold your bags in front of your chest to have it in view at all times. It pays to be vigilant with your cash and credit cards. Use your hotel's safe, money belts and dummy wallets for safety. If you need to withdraw cash, use an ATM preferably within a bank in a populated area and during the day. Avoid looking and acting like a tourist. Lock your vehicle's doors when you're driving. Never leave cash or other expensive items in your vehicle when you're not in it. Account for heavy traffic when in Panama City. Very few people follow rules, infrastructure is poor and construction work is commonplace. Always opt for registered companies when hiring cabs and dissuade the drivers from helping hitchhikers. Travel in big groups when possible and always carry your passport as you'll never know when you need it and could be jailed for not having it on your person. Be very cautious of who you talk to or move with. Getting caught with even a tiny amount of drugs or with someone who has drugs in their possession can get you jailed for up to 15 years. The Panama Bay is polluted with industrial waste and sewage. It is best to avoid swimming there. Besides the pollution, dangerous tides and a lack of warning signposts make swimming a risky affair. Do not leave your home without the necessary documents. When traveling to Panama , all Americans need to have a three-month valid passport from the date of arrival into the country and a two-way ticket back home. An American traveler will also need to show cash of $500 , a clean record of zero criminal activity, and a negative HIV result.

Additional resources:

Transparency.org Global Corruption Barometer: https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/panama

TradingEconomics.com Corruption Rank: https://tradingeconomics.com/panama/corruption-rank

Panama's Director of Seized Assets Charged with Illegal Use of Assets: https://dineroynegocios.mx/querellan-a-director-de-bienes-aprehendidos-del-mef-de-panama-por-uso-ilegal-de-vehiculos/

SOURCE North American Travellers Association
is a next-generation semiconductor technology that runs up to 20x faster than legacy silicon and enables up to 3x more power and 3x faster charging in half the size and weight. Navitas' GaNFast power ICs integrate GaN power and drive plus protection and control to deliver simple, small, fast and efficient performance. With over 130 patents issued or pending, and significant trade secrets including a proprietary process design kit (PDK), Navitas believes it has a multi-year lead in next-generation GaN power ICs.

Navitas' co-founder and CEO, Gene SHERIDAN and Sr. VP Finance Todd GLICKMAN, will review GaNFast power IC technology and the $13.1B market opportunity in a live presentation with Q&A. To participate, investors should register online via the Mesh Ventures website.

"This VIP Investor Meeting is an excellent opportunity for Taiwanese investors to access this next-generation GaN technology and interact with Navitas management in real-time," said Edward CHYAU, Managing Partner at Mesh Ventures. "As an existing investor, we can speak from experience about how the Navitas team is dedicated to both company revenue growth and ensuring that customers benefit from this leading-edge, environmentally-beneficial technology."

GaN power ICs have up to 10x lower CO 2 footprint than legacy silicon chips. The higher efficiency and smaller size of the end equipment mean that customers can accelerate progress on their own carbon net zero plans. As Navitas helps to "Electrify Our World", GaN is forecasted to address over 2.6 Gtons of CO 2 annually by 2050.

"Taiwan is an important focus for Navitas, with a strong manufacturing base for our GaN power IC wafers, test and package assembly, plus an established customer base," said Gene Sheridan, Navitas' co-founder and CEO. "This VIP meeting is an excellent chance to talk with members of the Taiwanese investment community to highlight our aggressive revenue ramp and expansion into new markets, such as consumer electronics and data centers. Overall, it's a $13 billion GaN electrification opportunity  and we are grateful to Mesh for this platform to meet with future-thinking investors."

About Mesh Ventures

Mesh Ventures is a leading venture capital investor, based in Taipei, Taiwan, with a global ecosystem of cross-industry partners spanning corporations, industry leaders, subject matter experts, academia, financial institutions, and professional services. Our network helps us discover new technologies and businesses, analyse technology landscapes, verify supply and demand, and act on opportunities. Our network helps our portfolio companies to address product development issues, align supply chain partners, develop vital strategic relationships, and identify key customers. For our corporate partners, comprised of leading Asian & US semiconductor, electronics, automotive, and industrial companies, we help them engage with cutting-edge enabling technologies and applications.

About Navitas

Navitas Semiconductor Limited is the industry leader in GaN power IC's, founded in 2014. Navitas has a strong and growing team of power semiconductor industry experts with a combined 300 years of experience in materials, devices, applications, systems and marketing, plus a proven record of innovation with over 200 patents among its founders. GaN power ICs integrate GaN power with drive, control and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density and greater energy savings for mobile, consumer, enterprise, eMobility and new energy markets. Over 130 Navitas patents are issued or pending, and over 25 million GaNFast power ICs have been shipped with zero reported GaN field failures. On May 7th, 2021, Navitas announced plans to "Go Public at an Enterprise Value of $1.04 Billion via Live Oak II (NYSE: LOKB) SPAC Business Combination.

Navitas Semiconductor, GaNFast and the Navitas logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Navitas Semiconductor Limited. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding the proposed transaction, the ability of the parties to consummate the transaction, the benefits of the transaction and the combined company's future financial performance, as well as the combined company's strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projections of market opportunity and market share, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "plan," "seek," "expect," "project," "forecast," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words.

Live Oak II and Navitas caution you that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the expected growth of Navitas' business will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period, due to, among other things: (i) Navitas' goals and strategies, future business development, financial condition and results of operations; (ii) Navitas' customer relationships and ability to retain and expand these customer relationships; (iii) Navitas' ability to accurately predict future revenues for the purpose of appropriately budgeting and adjusting Navitas' expenses; (iv) Navitas' ability to diversify its customer base and develop relationships in new markets; (v) the level of demand in Navitas' customers' end markets; (vi) Navitas' ability to attract, train and retain key qualified personnel; (vii) changes in trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs; (viii) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Navitas' business, results of operations and financial condition; (ix) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy; (x) the ability of Navitas to maintain compliance with certain U.S. Government contracting requirements; (xi) regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; and (xii) Navitas' ability to protect its intellectual property rights. Forward-looking statements are also subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including (i) changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; (ii) the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transaction, including the risk that any required regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction or that the approval of the stockholders of Live Oak II is not obtained; (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Live Oak II or Navitas following announcement of the proposed transaction; (iv) the risk that the proposed transaction disrupts Live Oak II's or Navitas' current plans and operations as a result of the announcement of the proposed transaction; (v) costs related to the proposed transaction; (vi) failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; (vii) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Navitas; (viii) risks related to the rollout of Navitas' business and the timing of expected business milestones; (ix) the effects of competition on Navitas' business; (x) the amount of redemption requests made by Live Oak II's public stockholders; (xi) the ability of Live Oak II or the combined company to issue equity or equity-linked securities in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future; and (xii) those factors discussed in Live Oak II's registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-256880) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on September 10, 2021 (the "Registration Statement") and Live Oak II's final prospectus filed with the SEC on December 4, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and other documents of Live Oak II filed, or to be filed, with the SEC.

If any of the risks described above materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by our forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that neither Live Oak II nor Navitas presently know or that Live Oak II and Navitas currently believe are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Live Oak II's and Navitas' expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Live Oak II and Navitas anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments to change. However, while Live Oak II and Navitas may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Live Oak II and Navitas specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

Important Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction, Live Oak II has filed the Registration Statement with the SEC, which includes a proxy statement/prospectus of Live Oak II. Live Oak II also plans to file other documents and relevant materials with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. After the Registration Statement has been cleared by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the stockholders of Live Oak II. SECURITYHOLDERS OF LIVE OAK II AND NAVITAS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS AND RELEVANT MATERIALS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Stockholders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about Live Oak II and Navitas once such documents are filed with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

Participants in the Solicitation

Live Oak II and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Live Oak II in connection with the proposed transaction. Navitas and its officers and directors may also be deemed participants in such solicitation. Securityholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of certain of Live Oak II's executive officers and directors in the solicitation by reading Live Oak II's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 25, 2021 and the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction when they become available. Information concerning the interests of Live Oak II's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Live Oak II's stockholders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed transaction when it becomes available.

Contact Information

Stephen Oliver, VP Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE Navitas Semiconductor

Related Links

navitassemi.com


CARROLTON, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Chair of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and CEO of Propelled Brands, parent company of NerdsToGo, FASTSIGNS, and MY SALON SUITE, Catherine Monson says the time is now to get back out to a trade show in person, and the International Franchise Expo (IFE) at The Javits Center in NYC Sept. 24-25, is the perfect place to do so with her hottest growing franchise opportunity, NerdsToGo .

Known as the largest exhibit hall gathering of franchise opportunities in the country, leading computer and technology repair service franchise, NerdsToGo , will be exhibiting at Booth # 115 answering the demand for self-employment in a post-COVID world.

"In a recent survey, 63 percent of Americans declared they have no problem with leaving their current jobs to pursue self-employment. We're thrilled to attend our first in-person trade show in a long time and showcase the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity and the services we can provide to other businesses," said Mark Jameson, Chief Support and Development Officer at Propelled Brands. "Providing professional tech assistance for small and medium-sized businesses is more important than ever, especially with more companies moving to remote work."

The franchising sector forecasts to grow by seven percent by the end of 2021, with business services one of the sectors expected to accelerate that growth.The initial investment for a NerdsToGo franchise is approximately $146,200 - $217,050, including a $49,750 franchise fee. Ideal candidates have a networth of $300,000 of which $80K is liquid. Additionally, NerdsToGo offers a special incentive for veterans and first responders, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, police officers, sheriffs and firefighters, which includes a 50% reduction on the franchise fee  a savings of $24,875.

For information about the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679)

For more information about the International franchise expo, visit https://www.franchiseexpo.com/ife/

For more information about the NerdsToGo franchise, visit https://www.nerdstogo.com

About NerdsToGo, Inc.

NerdsToGo, Inc. launched its original location in Guilford, CT in 2003 and quickly became the emerging leader in providing computer and technology-based services to both the small and medium-sized business market and the residential market. NerdsToGo began franchising in 2017 and quickly grew to 25 independently owned franchise locations in 16 states. In 2020, Fastsigns Holdings Inc. acquired GTN CAPITAL GROUP, LLC, the parent company of NerdsToGo.

In 2021, Propelled Brands was formed, the corporate umbrella that includes FASTSIGNS, SIGNWAVE in Australia where FASTSIGNS centers operate under the SIGNWAVE brand, NerdsToGo, an emerging IT services franchise brand acquired in September 2020, and Suite Management Franchising, LLC, the parent company of MY SALON Suite and Salon Plaza in June 2021. With a focus on business-to-business franchises and the people behind those businesses, Propelled Brands will help each franchise confidently navigate forward based on their unique position, momentum and purpose.

NerdsToGo locations provide the total solution in computer and technology support to customers, and the company's signature service is delivered by sending a Nerd onsite to customer locations in a well-branded, eye-catching Nerd Van. Customers can also receive service through remote support or by visiting a local NerdsToGo service center. NerdsToGo acts as the IT department for small to medium sized businesses by helping to design, implement and support IT networks, provide data backup & continuity services, cybersecurity solutions, cloud services, remote support, vendor management services and overall routine maintenance.

For information about the NerdsToGo franchise opportunity, contact Mark Jameson ([email protected] or 214-346-5679).

Media Contact:

Clarissa Rios | BizCom Associates

972.352.7601 | [email protected]

SOURCE NerdsToGo
TAMPA BAY, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading cybersecurity companies KnowBe4 and OneLogin have partnered with Security Serious in a bid to set a brand new Guinness World Records title for the Most views of a cyber security lesson video on YouTube in 24 hours. The record will be attempted on the 14th of October 2021, during European Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Security Serious Week, with the video available to view for a 24-hour period. This record has never been attempted before and will be an official Guinness World Records title if the minimum 1,500 views is met.

"We are absolutely thrilled to have both KnowBe4 and OneLogin help us attempt a new Guinness World Records title," said lead organizer of Security Serious Week and founder of Eskenzi PR, Yvonne Eskenzi. "Security Serious Week is dedicated to making the online world safer and there is no better place to start than by getting the community together for what could be the biggest virtual cybersecurity training in the world. Despite the global limitations over the past 18 months, we always try and push the boat out; and this year, with the help of our sponsors, we are really offering the security community something fun and exciting to further the spread of cybersecurity awareness."

Security Serious Week was started by Eskenzi PR and Smile on Fridays as part of the Security Serious initiative that takes place during European Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October each year. Security Serious, which is in its seventh year, has developed into a series of fun, entertaining, informative events that get the industry together while also educating the general public to be more security savvy.

The Guinness World Records attempt will take place during this week on the 14th of October at 4 pm BST and will see KnowBe4 and OneLogin provide a 45-minute training session that will be live-streamed via YouTube. The training will be split into three parts, with KnowBe4 and OneLogin each providing expertise on a specific area relating to ransomware before opening the session for Q&A with the viewers. It will be short, to-the-point, and, most importantly, informative. The complete recording will then be made available on the Security Serious YouTube channel for a further 23 hours for security professionals around the world to view.

The target audience will be C-level execs, such as CISOs and CIOs, as well as system administrators and other security professionals in order to help them further security awareness within their own organizations. The aim is to bridge the gap between security professionals and the rest of the workforce.

With reports claiming the cost of ransomware to businesses will rise to $20 billion, and with 2021 already seeing many high-profile attacks, the workforce needs to be made aware of the severity of this threat. Therefore, the education provided is designed to help cybersecurity experts train non-security professionals in the working environment on how to prepare for a ransomware attack.

The training is open to all members of the public who must register in advance to have a chance to win an official Guinness World Records participation award! *.

"Given the dramatic rise in cybersecurity attacks around the world, building up organizations' human firewalls with security awareness training has never been more critical. Being a part of setting a Guinness World Records title for a security awareness training session is such a thrill for KnowBe4, especially when we have the opportunity to partner with companies like OneLogin and Eskenzi PR to achieve such an accomplishment. We are very much looking forward to contributing to this record-setting event." - Javvad Malik, lead security awareness advocate, KnowBe4.

"As the omnipresence of ransomware and other security incidents in our culture has shown us, there has never been a more important time to guide enterprises through the processes of planning for such an event. OneLogin is honored to have the opportunity to partner with KnowBe4 on this first-of-a-kind project and look forward to helping organizations across the globe to prepare for the worst security outcomes," - Niamh Muldoon, Global Data Protection Officer at OneLogin.

To register, please click here: [ https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/biggest-virtual-cybersecurity-lesson-tickets-166314899341 ]

To view the progress of the event, please click here: [ https://www.securityserious.com/biggest-virtual-cybersecurity-lesson/ ]

*Only the first 5000 people that register ahead of the event will receive an official Guinness World Record participation certificate!

About KnowBe4

KnowBe4, the provider of the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 41,000 organizations around the globe. Founded by IT and data security specialist, Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud, and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. Kevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized cybersecurity specialist and KnowBe4's Chief Hacking Officer, helped design the KnowBe4 training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Tens of thousands of organizations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilize their end users as their last line of defense. To learn more, visit https://www.knowbe4.com.

About OneLogin

OneLogin is the number one value-leader in Identity and Access Management. Our Trusted Experience Platform provides everything you need to secure your workforce, customers, and partners at a price that works with your budget. Headquartered in San Francisco, OneLogin secures over 5500 customers worldwide, including Airbus, Stitch Fix, and AAA. To learn more visit https://www.onelogin.com.

About Eskenzi PR

With over 26 years of experience, Eskenzi PR is an award-winning PR and Marketing agency that specializes in cybersecurity. Founded by Yvonne Eskenzi and Neil Stinchcombe, Eskenzi PR is at the forefront of the industry and is renowned for building startups into household names and creating global brands. With a presence in the U.K., US, Singapore, Australia, France and Germany no time zone is left unmanned. Eskenzi PR is also the creators and host of industry-renowned events like the European Cyber Security Blogger's Awards, Security Serious Week, IT Security Analyst & CISO Forum as well as founding the highly regarded news site itsecurityguru.org. To learn more visit https://www.eskenzipr.com.

Media Contact

Amanda Tarantino

Public Relations Officer

KnowBe4

[email protected]

SOURCE KnowBe4

Related Links

www.knowbe4.com


CHANDLER, Ariz., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Primavera Online School, a public charter school that educates more than 22,000 students each year, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Founded in September 2001, Primavera Online provides a tuition-free, accredited online education for students throughout Arizona. Since opening its doors two decades ago, Primavera Online has grown; it brought its 20-year history of quality education to grades K-5 in partnership with Sequoia Choice during the 2020-21 school year when students needed access to high-quality online learning more than ever. Primavera Online also graduated 1,300 students last school year.

When Primavera Online was founded, it was with the conviction that every child deserves a great education. With an award-winning digital curriculum, Primavera Online accomplishes just thatand moreby offering students a high-quality, online education that is fully accredited and courses approved by the NCAA. Courses are filled with interactive videos, live teacher-led lessons, instructional videos and animations, and educational games. By providing a supportive educational environment that is engaging, Primavera Online prepares students to be college and career ready.

In addition to providing students with a quality online education, Primavera Online offers a unique alternative to the traditional model and serves students with different needs. Its student body includes alternative students, those at risk of not graduating on time, and those looking to excel in their classesall of whom can enroll in 1-2 classes while still being enrolled at another school. At Primavera Online, students have the option to enroll full-time or part-time, depending on whether they want to catch up on credits, get ahead in their schoolwork, or earn an accredited diploma that is recognized by universities, colleges, and employers nationwide.

Families who are interested in switching their children to Primavera Online School can now enroll in grades K-12 at ChoosePrimavera.com.

For More Information, Contact:

Cody Bendix

(480) 490-8414

[email protected]

ABOUT PRIMAVERA ONLINE

Primavera Online School is a tuition-free, public charter school providing Arizona students in grades K-12 a rigorous, award-winning curriculum, a flexible schedule and personalized attention from highly qualified instructors. Primavera is Cognia accredited and NCAA-approved. Visit www.chooseprimavera.com for more.

SOURCE Primavera Online
QardioDirect (Qardio's all-inclusive service for RPM) now includes ambulatory Cardiac monitoring to help diagnose atrial fibrillation along with a large range of other arrhythmias. Multiple short duration recordings can identify symptomatic and asymptomatic periods of cardiac activity. Then as a more detailed analysis is needed, a full 24/48 hours Holter analysis can be prescribed with rapid turnaround and reporting. QardioDirect empowers clinicians to manage a full range of cardiovascular conditions in a fast, accurate and scalable solution.

Qardio's Holter monitor, QardioCore, is the most patient-friendly Holter device available. No skin preparation is needed, there are no gels, no patches, and no wires, which provides optimum patient comfort. This ensures high patient compliance and high diagnostic yields, which results in better patient outcomes.

QardioDirect user George Fahnbulleh from Gold Canyon Internal Medicine, Arizona said, "Thanks to Qardio, we've been able to catch at least three patients who had heart arrhythmias. We were then able to send them immediately to a cardiologist. The benefits of using QardioDirect are phenomenal." George Fahnbulleh, Gold Canyon Internal Medicine, AZ

Qardio's Co-Founder, Rosario Iannella says, "Qardio's history of innovation continues as we launch RPM & Holter analysis services in a single, unified workflow. QardioDirect is the only platform that enables practitioners to remotely identify changes in the patient baselines across multiple key vital signs and also diagnose a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias."

QardioDirect with ECG is the future of RPM and Qardio are proud to be the pioneers of this exciting move in RPM history.

About Qardio

Qardio is a medical technology company that operates at the intersection of cardiology and remote monitoring. Qardio's suite of solutions provide improved outcomes for care providers and their patients across a range of care modalities via improved workflows and diagnostic yields, reduced cost, and ease of use. Founded in 2012, Qardio's primary mission is to improve outcomes for adults living with a chronic heart condition, through simplified monitoring and diagnosis. QardioDirect, the remote patient monitoring service is equally suited to primary care and to discrete applications in hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, post-surgical care and other chronic care conditions. Our award-winning solutions are available via medical channels and select consumer channels, to deliver the greatest impact. Learn more at www.qardiomd.com.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Qardio, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.qardio.com/qardiomd/


SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhumbix , the mobile-first platform helping General Contractors, Trade Contractors, and Owners digitize their field workflows, reporting, and analytics, today announced Bill Smith had joined the organization as the President of Commercial Operations. Smith, who has a background driving growth in both the tech and construction industries, will lead the go-to-market strategy focusing on marketing, partnerships, revenue, and sales operations.

"Over the past two years, Bill has added a ton of value through his positions as both a company advisor and board director, so it's a dream come true to have the opportunity for Bill to join the Rhumbix Team full-time," said Rhumbix co-founder and CEO Zach Scheel. "He brings an extensive background in construction tech that will help Rhumbix strengthen channel partnerships, develop strategic alliances, and expand our sales presence. His strong leadership experience will be a driving force in the next stage of Rhumbix's growth, and we could not be more pleased he has accepted the position of President of Commercial Operations."

Smith brings over 15 years of executive leadership experience at some of the nation's most respected computer software companies, including Taleo, Oracle, and PlanGrid, an Autodesk company.

"By bringing Bill Smith on as President of Commercial Operations, Rhumbix has now assembled arguably the top product and go-to-market leadership teams in the current construction tech ecosystem," said Ray Levitt, Operating Partner at Blackhorn Ventures. "I have worked with Bill and always greatly appreciated his superb advice and guidance to Rhumbix in his roles as a Strategic Advisor and then as a Board Member. As an early investor in PlanGrid, I witnessed how he and his team helped power PlanGrid through its explosive growth phase. After the acquisition of PlanGrid by Autodesk, Bill and his colleagues could likely have joined any construction tech startup. I view this as a strong endorsement of Rhumbix's potential for success, and I am delighted that he has chosen to join Rhumbix's executive team. My partners and I at Blackhorn Ventures are very excited to be part of the next phase of Rhumbix's growth that Bill and his colleagues will help to generate."

Having successfully scaled sales organizations within the technology space for multiple startups, including Taleo and Plangrid, Smith brings the necessary expertise required to navigate Rhumbix through its latest growth phase. "I am honored to assume this responsibility, and I look forward to working with an outstanding group of people at Rhumbix and strengthening the value we deliver to our clients," said Smith. "Rhumbix offers a unique set of easy-to-use products that improve field to office connectivity and provide the real-time data needed to increase efficiency and productivity across projects, regions, and companies."

Smith's proven record of assembling and driving exceptional go-to-market teams corresponds perfectly with Rhumbix's expanding product capabilities. He will play an integral part in the go-to-market strategy for Rhumbix as the business continues to establish itself as the market leader in construction timekeeping & payroll, production tracking, time & materials tracking, daily construction reports, and real-time project analytics.

About Rhumbix

Rhumbix is a mobile-first construction platform designed to connect field and office with data-driven reporting. Founded in 2014 by Navy veterans with deep experience in the construction industry, Rhumbix's technology is the first to close the gap between the field-level workforce and project management in the home office by providing real-time data and insights for all project stakeholders. Rhumbix is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and backed by investors including Greylock Partners, Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures, Eric Chen of UJ Ventures, and Ray Levitt, Professor at Stanford University. For more information, visit www.rhumbix.com .

Media Contact:

Evan DeWalt

Director of Marketing

[email protected]

254.644.6424

rhumbix.com

SOURCE Rhumbix

Related Links

http://www.rhumbix.com


DUNEDIN, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bananas $31B annual international trade, supports millions of smallholder farmers and workers and their families around the world. However, a new variant of the banana wilt disease, FOC TR4 is rapidly spreading globally, destroying banana plantations and rendering the soil useless for decades to come. According to FAO, there are no known fungicidal solutions. Until now.

At Texas A&M University greenhouse trials, Tectus Matrix was proven as a preventative and curative for FOC TR4, the first product in the world to accomplish this most important goal. Salveo Agro's patented Tectus Matrix formulas are natural biostimulants, biocides, bactericides and viricides. Future field tests are contracted on banana wilt in the Philippines and the company is exploring benefits of the formulas on other crops and pathogens.

Jack Bracewell, CEO and Chairman at Salveo Agro is pleased to announce the appointment of four new board of directors.

Jordi Ferre

CEO of Alvinesa Natural Ingredients, previously CEO of AgroFresh Solutions, Jordi comes to Salveo Agro with global skills: strategic orientation, coupled with a practical approach to problem solving and goal driven commitments.

"I am honored to join Salveo's Board and advisory team made of high-level experienced agriculture professionals who will support Jack in his vision to "save one farm at a time" from the threat the TR4 pandemic poses to the banana industry."

Raul Fernandez

Raul has 35+ years' experience in the Agro industry spanning a wide range of responsibilities. From his 15 years with Chiquita Brands, he brings invaluable expertise and network to Salveo Agro.

"As someone who values the hard work of farmers and the positive social impact of the banana industry around the world, I was fascinated by the possibility of rehabilitating lost banana lands, creating jobs and saving the Cavendish variety from the devastating effects of the banana wilt FOC TR4."

Gustavo Merino Juarez

Gustavo has a PhD from Harvard and is a Professor of Economic Development and Public Policy in Mexico. He is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience from strategic roles in organizations including FAO of the United Nations and governmental positions in Mexico.

"The possibility of effectively combating the devastating effects of TR4 will have an enormous impact on the livelihoods and economic opportunities of farmers around the world."

Henriette J. Cataldo

Henriette is Chief Marketing Officer and member of the board. She is a skilled business and marketing executive with an entrepreneurial mindset. As a director of Zentia, she oversees its investments in start-ups and is involved in the management of its agricultural assets.

"I have a particular passion for the agri-food sector and am excited to help commercialize the Tectus Matrix product line from Salveo and support it on its special mission: delivering natural formulations, that will make a real sustainable difference to food security and the future for the farmers."

"The new board members will provide world-class leadership and guidance for our global growth," says CEO, Bracewell. "With a breadth of global expertise and relationships, this team is not afraid of rolling up their sleeves and getting to work to make a significant difference."

The new members will join the co-founding board members Chad S. Parrack and John Hardy Brown, who continue to support the development of Salveo Agro.

About Salveo Agro

Salveo Agro, a Florida corporation founded in July 2016, USA whose mission is "Changing the world  one farm at the time" develops natural biostimulants, biocides/fungicides and bactericides. Bioassays and field tests over four years with its primary focus to kill, control and mitigate the banana wilt, FOC TR4 that is rapidly spreading in banana plantations globally.

More information: www.SalveoAgro.com

About Tectus Matrix

Tectus Matrix are natural formulations and will be certified organic prior to commercialization. While initially developed to target pathogens affecting bananas, ongoing tests show, that the potential is larger, that Tectus Matrix can be effective against the most economically important plant pathogens affecting food crops as well as ornamental plants.

Contact: Henriette Cataldo

Company: Salveo Agro

Phone: +1.512.518.1341 X301

Email: [email protected]

Additional Media Materials: www.SalveoAgro.com/press

SOURCE Salveo Agro
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Swedish Match today announced that it intends to separate its cigar business via a spin-off to shareholders and to completely exit the manufacturing of combustible tobacco products. Swedish Match has initiated preparations for a separation and a subsequent listing on a major US securities exchange, with a final decision on execution subject to various considerations. The separation is expected to be completed during the second half of 2022, at the earliest.

For more than 20 years, Swedish Match has been a pioneer in the transformation of its business model away from combustible tobacco, starting with the divestiture of its cigarette business in 1999, and later with its divestitures of pipe tobacco, premium cigars, and its non-US machine made cigar business. After conducting a thorough strategic review of its businesses, today's announcement of the planned separation of the US cigar business marks the next chapter in this transformation, where smokefree products such as nicotine pouches and snus will play the leading role in building a stronger Swedish Match in line with societal trends. The intended separation of the cigar business provides even greater focus on building Swedish Match's presence in the growing modern oral category, while also providing opportunities and greater flexibility for the stand-alone cigar business to execute its own strategic plans toward delivering strong value as an independent company. As a stand-alone company, the cigar business will be able to explore a broader scope of growth opportunities, and to optimize its operational set-up and capital structure, among other benefits.

The cigar business has solid positions in both the natural leaf and homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) segments of the US mass market cigars category and holds the number two market position with approximately 23 percent of the market measured by number of sticks1). Since 2015, volumes have grown at a compounded annual rate of close to 10 percent from more than 1.2 billion sticks to more than 1.9 billion sticks in 2020, driven by robust growth for natural leaf varieties. During the same period, revenues have also grown by close to 10 percent on a compounded annual basis from 313 to 493 MUSD, while operating profit has grown by 54 percent to 195 MUSD. During the first six months of 2021, compared to the same period of 2020 and measured in local currency, sales grew by 25 percent as a result of improved pricing and double-digit volume growth and operating profit increased by 44 percent.

The natural leaf cigar portfolio includes such iconic brands as Garcia y Vega, Game, and 1882, while its White Owl brand of HTL cigars is recognized nationwide for its quality and heritage. Its portfolios of both non-flavored and flavored cigars are among the broadest in the industry. The business has efficient and modern manufacturing presence in both the US and in the Dominican Republic.

In addition to its cigar business Swedish Match operates its Smokefree and Lights product segments. For the full year 2020, the Smokefree and Lights product segments reported combined revenues of 11,799 MSEK (10,115) and combined operating profit of 5,364 MSEK (4,235). Measured in constant currencies, sales and operating profit for these segments combined grew by 21 and 32 percent respectively for the full year 2020. For the first six months of 2021, these segments combined reported revenues of 6,404 MSEK (5,787) and operating profit of 3,062 MSEK (2,574). Measured in constant currencies, sales and operating profit for these segments combined grew by 20 and 30 percent, respectively, during the six-month period. Growth continued to be driven by the strong momentum for nicotine pouches. In the US, the ZYN brand of nicotine pouches is the clear market leader and has enjoyed tremendous growth, with volumes exceeding 140 million cans for the twelve-month period ending June 30, 2021.

Lars Dahlgren, President and CEO of Swedish Match says: "This announcement is another milestone toward achievement of our aspiration to become an entirely smokefree organization with a clear leadership position in oral reduced risk products, including ZYN, the largest modern oral brand in the US and globally. The cigar business continues to perform very well and is seeing positive industry dynamics, which we believe will make it an attractive stand-alone company, balancing strong cash flow generation with attractive growth. The new cigar company will have the ability to explore a wider scope of growth opportunities within its autonomous and focused strategic agenda and to establish efficient and tailored operational and legal structures, geared for long-term value creation. Subject to market conditions, we expect that the new stand-alone cigar business, with its strong cash flow profile, could be capitalized at a higher level of leverage than has been the case for Swedish Match historically, which would create the opportunity for Swedish Match to use financing proceeds upon separation to further enhance shareholder returns. Until a separation is complete, Swedish Match will continue to operate as a single company and will continue business as usual for our customers and employees."

Swedish Match expects to conclude the intended separation in the second half of 2022, at the earliest. Following the potential separation of the cigar business into a new stand-alone company, Swedish Match expects to provide commercial and administrative support to the new stand-alone entity during a transitional period. The completion of the intended separation, the resulting structures, and other related considerations are subject to final board and shareholder approvals, a thorough review of market and other business conditions, required documentation, and other customary and necessary approvals and consultations.

Goldman Sachs is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Swedish Match on the intended spin-off of its cigar business.

1) Based on MSA distributor shipments of mass market cigars (excluding little cigars).

CONTACT:

Contacts:

Lars Dahlgren, President and Chief Executive Officer

Phone +46 8 658 0441

Anders Larsson, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Group Finance

Phone +46 10 139 3006

Emmett Harrison, Senior Vice President Investor Relations

Phone +46 70 938 0173

___________

This information is information that Swedish Match AB (publ) 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 above, at 6.00 p.m. CET on September 14, 2021.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/swedish-match/r/swedish-match-announces-planned-separation-of-its-cigar-business,c3415104

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/2004/3415104/1468218.pdf Swedish Match press release Sep 14, 2021 ENG

SOURCE Swedish Match
GREENSBORO, N.C., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (NYSE: SKT) announced today that it will participate in the BofA Securities 2021 Global Real Estate Conference on September 21, 2021. The roundtable presentation by Stephen Yalof, President and Chief Executive Officer, is scheduled for 10:30 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. A live audio webcast can be accessed at investors.tangeroutlets.com . A replay will be available through September 30, 2021 and can also be accessed via the company's website.

About Tanger Factory Outlet Centers

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. (NYSE: SKT) is a leading operator of upscale open-air outlet centers that owns, or has an ownership interest in, a portfolio of 36 centers. Tanger's operating properties are located in 20 states and in Canada, totaling approximately 13.6 million square feet, leased to over 2,500 stores operated by more than 500 different brand name companies. The Company has more than 40 years of experience in the outlet industry and is a publicly-traded REIT. For more information on Tanger Outlet Centers, call 1-800-4TANGER or visit the Company's website at www.tangeroutlets.com.

Contact:

Cyndi Holt

SVP, Finance & Investor Relations

336-834-6892

[email protected]

SOURCE Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tangeroutlets.com


LONG BEACH, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Miller Law Firm has recovered $140,000 per unit for the Oceanside Homeowners Association only 10 months after filing a complaint for construction defects.

The Long Beach condo association completed in 2012 by LB Cypress Properties, LLC, and Global Construction Inc., was 8 years old when the Board of Directors hired The Miller Law Firm, specialty defect counsel, to preserve their investments against sub-standard construction. The defects included significant distortions of window frames, major water intrusion at window locations, corrosion of doorframes, elevated deck waterproofing issues, cracked tiles at private decks, reverse sloping at private decks resulting in interior unit flooding, water intrusion at various locations of the building resulting in corrosion, rusting and staining, and excessive cracking throughout the building.

According to Senior Partner Rachel M. Miller, "Boutique, luxury condo buildings are not immune to shoddy workmanship and construction defects. Had these beachfront owners and its Association Board of Directors not held the builder and its insurance responsible, they would have faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in special assessments or the use of HOA reserve funds for significant repair needs. They now have the funds to restore their community and preserve their owners' investments."

Says Founding Partner and CEO Thomas E. Miller, "By focusing on expert investigations and early mediation efforts via video conferencing during the Covid pandemic, our firm was able to resolve this case in less than 1 year. The settlement payout from TIG Insurance Company will be used to restore this beachfront property to the luxury units that the Oceanside owners believed they were buying."

Celebrating 40 years of practice, The Miller Law Firm (www.constructiondefects.com) continues to be California's construction defect authority and leading resource for homeowners, Boards of Directors, and community management. The newly released 3rd Edition of, Home and Condo Defects: A Consumer Guide to Faulty Construction (2021), was written to aid and assist homeowners, board members and association management companies in pursuing legitimate claims against builders and their insurance companies. Contact Communications Director Sara Brown for more information on how to receive a copy. ([email protected])

The Miller's legal treatise, Handling Construction Defects, now in its fourth edition, remains the definitive practice guide for lawyers, mediators, arbitrators and judges.



Media Contact: Rachel Miller

(800) 403-3332

[email protected]

SOURCE The Miller Law Firm

Related Links

http://www.constructiondefects.com


MILPITAS, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Silicon Andhra (UofSA) is excited to announce its plans to build a world class campus in San Joaquin County and its inclusion in the proposed Golden State Logistics Hub. Dhan Sukh, LLC has submitted a preliminary application to San Joaquin County to begin development of The Golden State Logistics Hub - a proposed 1,500-acre development with a university, logistics hub, and VFW Post.

UofSA Logo UofSA Proposed Campus Plan

The project includes 67-acres of land for the private, nonprofit, four-year and graduate university to expand its degree offerings and its reach within the community. Mike Sandhu, the project's proponent, was instrumental in working with community leaders and UofSA to recruit the accredited bay area university to San Joaquin County. The Sandhu family generously agreed to gift the 67 acres to the UofSA.

"The University of Silicon Andhra will bring new energy and educational innovation to the region," exclaimed Manii Sandhu, a mechanical engineer speaking on behalf of the Sandhu family. "We see this project creating tangible opportunities for locals to study, learn and earn for their families."

UofSA President, Anand Kuchibhotla expressed his enthusiasm for the new project and all the support it has garnered in the community. "UofSA is an inclusive and diverse learning community that provides an opportunity to the students to actualize their potential as scholar-practitioners and to contribute to their local and global community with excellence, professionalism, and integrity," Kuchibhotla explained. "Being able to expand our high-quality academic and research programs on the 67-acre site will allow us to uplift underrepresented students and the community."

A private nonprofit, WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) accredited University serving as the only university in the Nation that is primarily serving Indian-Americans, the University of Silicon Andhra will now have the ability to expand to 5,000 students and 300 faculty and staff, provide Vocational Training, as well as Language Arts, Engineering, Business, Pharmacy, Medical and other degrees.

UofSA Provost, Raju Chamarthi is excited about the societal, academic, and economic opportunities this new partnership will provide. He noted, "We plan to bring an expanded educational experience that is both rigorous and relevant to the people of this community."

Community and elected leaders are excited about the proposed project. In support of the project, Asm. Carlos Villapudua said, "Having the University of Silicon Andhra make its permanent home here in San Joaquin County is a major win for everyone. It will provide a high-quality education to a broad base of students from underrepresented populations."

San Joaquin County Supervisor Robert Rickman declared his excitement about the potential new University saying, "We live in a country where everyone should have an opportunity to receive a great education. Higher education and vocational training are a necessity to prepare our children for the future. Education, training, and investing in our future workforce will attract heads of households and long-term sustainable jobs to San Joaquin County,"

Chairman of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, Tom Patti was optimistic about the potential University campus saying, "We are passionate about providing multiple pathways to success in San Joaquin County. Whether that be via a University-degree program or trade school, we want to see local residents equipped to provide for their families and compete in the 21st century."

Media Contact:

Joshua Wood

i Street Public Affairs

916-767-2483

[email protected]

SOURCE University of Silicon Andhra
BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year the country's largest regional antiquarian book fair comes to Brooklyn. Last year, for the first time in its history, the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair (BABF) moved online to a new virtual platform. The online fair was so successful that this year it will also be presented virtually allowing people from across the globe to participate.

The Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair Opens September 23rd at Noon

Book lovers everywhere are invited to visit the virtual booths and peruse an eclectic selection of more than 2,000 rare and vintage books, manuscripts, ephemera, vintage photographs and autographs, on every subject, curated by more than 100 dealers from all over the world.

The event opens at noon on Thursday, September 23 and continues around the clock through Sunday September 26 at 8 pm; admission to the Fair, and the online presentations, is free. For more information on the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair and register to receive updates, visit https://www.brooklynbookfair.com/

With a virtual show, collectors will be able to visit the booths of every exhibitor in the fair one by one, or just select their favorites. A robust search feature allows visitors to browse by category, subject, or any search term to find specific items of interest. To keep the online shows fresh, exhibitors will be asked to only feature items not available on any other book selling site.

The show will appeal to new collectors looking to start a collection with an item under $50 as well as seasoned pros on the search for a rare signed first edition worth thousands of dollars, there will be something for everyone at the Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair.

The presentations will be posted on BABF's YouTube Channel during the fair and will remain after the fair closes.

Presentations will include:

Dawn Aquarius on Psychedelic Pop-Art Design: It was all the rage in 1967-69, when the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, and many others hired the likes of art collective the Fool, designer Milton Glaser, painter Peter Max, and others to create rainbow-colored album covers and posters infused with references to tarot, paganism, and the gypsy lifestyle. By the early seventies, however, the style was considered cliche and quickly forgotten. Dawn Aquarius has not only revived the look and genre in her own artwork but has become an authority on the original progenitors of Psychedelic Pop.

Erik Davis on Psychedelic Spirituality in the 1970s: America's leading scholar of high strangeness, Erik Davis, examines in this seminar/interview the writings of iconoclastic authors Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, and Terrence McKenna, and by extension explores the complex lattice of radical technological, political, and social upheaval in America's West Coast in the 1970s. Davis is the author of several books including "TechGnosis" (1998) and "The Visionary State" (2005), and has taught at UC Berkeley and Rice University, and is the host of the "Expanding Mind" radio podcast.

Domenic Priore on the Beat Generation in Los Angeles: The history of the Beats in Southern California is an understudied subject heretofore which author/historian Priore brings to life in this comprehensive slideshow of locations, ads, posters, and other ephemera. In the process he shows how the beatnik subculture merged into the folk-rock and early psychedelic scene on the Sunset Strip with the Byrds, Frank Zappa, the Doors, and many others. Priore is the author of ten books, including "Riot on Sunset Strip" (2007), "Pop Surf Culture" (2008), and "Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier" (2014).

Paige Zaferiou on the World of Seance and Mediumship: Zaferiou is a practitioner of mediumship which has its roots in the Spiritualist movement of the 19th century and played a seminal role in Suffragism and early Feminism. She explains in this interview the unique role given to women historically and why it has become a relevant calling again in our times. The label she gives to herself is "eclectic sacred artist," and includes painting, clairvoyancy, and other types of healer. She is currently working on a tarot deck based on the original "Star Trek" series.

John Gwatney on the Making of Kenneth Anger's 'Lucifer Rising': One of the most mysterious and legendary films in Hollywood history is finally uncovered by author Gwatney in his comprehensive new tome about filmmaker Kenneth Anger's magnum opus. This slideshow/interview features many never-before-seen photos and rare objects from the film, its surrounding media, and the many enigmatic figures involved in it (including Marianne Faithful and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin). Gwatney is an artist, songwriter, and the first author to write a definitive book on Kenneth Anger's artistic process.

Tayannah Lee McQuillar and Tony Kail on Folk Magick in Black America: She is an actual root worker (or voodoo practitioner). He is a historian of the subject. Together McQuillar and Kail take us on a journey through the strange history of folk magick in the African-American experience via objects and ephemera and also through some oral traditions that date back to ancient African practices. McQuillar is the author of several books and divination decks, including "Rootwork" (2003) and "The Hoodoo Tarot" (2020), and lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kail is an ethnographer and the author of "A Secret History of Memphis Hoodoo" (2017) and has lectured on the subject magico-religious culture on radio, TV, and at many universities.

All programming for the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair has been curated by Brian Chidester, art historian, author, documentarian, and collector of lost artistic worlds. He has been producing art exhibitions and seminar programs for Getman's Fairs since 2018. Video production on the Brooklyn seminars by Full Moon Films.

For more information on the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair and register to receive updates, visit

https://www.brooklynbookfair.com/

Media Contact: Risa B. Hoag, GMGPR 845-627-3000, [email protected]

SOURCE Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair
"Hospitals are places of hope and healing," said Sohail. Tweet this

Orange Nasso Hospital

Akkar Governmental Hospital

Siblin Governmental Hospital

Dar Assalam Hospital

Al Hamshari Hospital

Der Al Saleeb Hospital

Al Makassed Hospital

Dar Al Ajaza Hospital

Al Tabbaneh Polyclinic

Ankoun Polyclinic

Al Nahda Polyclinic

According to Elizabeth Sohail, program manager at Baitulmaal, a significant number of patients at these facilities struggle with chronic illnesses as well as acute diseases such as COVID-19.

"Hospitals are places of hope and healing," said Sohail. "It's just not right that people suffer or even die because a hospital runs out of oxygen or other medical supplies."

Approximately 33 percent of Lebanese households do not have access to healthcare, and more than half are unable to obtain medicine, according to a UN study by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Eighty-two percent of the Lebanese population has fallen into poverty since 2019  one of the sharpest declines in modern times.

The Lebanese currency has depreciated by more than 90 percent, and food prices have surged 557 percent according to the World Food Programme. The World Bank recently declared that the country is "likely to rank in the top 10, possibly top three, most severe crisis episodes globally since the mid-nineteenth century."

Baitulmaal was on the ground in Lebanon shortly after the August 4, 2020, explosion, helping to clear debris, feed the hungry and help the homeless. Since then, Baitulmaal began reconstructing homes and buildings and provided over 2 million meals to impoverished families in Lebanon. In addition to this $1.1 million medical shipment, Baitulmaal previously sent $1.2 million in medical supplies and hard-to-find medications to hospitals in Beirut.

Baitulmaal is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides lifesaving, life-sustaining and life-enriching aid to people in need around the world. With headquarters in Dallas, the charity has offices in Kenya, Somalia, Jordan and Pakistan.

Media Contact:

John M. Janney, APR

[email protected]

(972) 823-0136

Photos available at https://baitulmaal.org/1-1-million-medical-shipment-distributed-in-lebanon/

SOURCE Baitulmaal, Inc.

Related Links

https://baitulmaal.org


SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Strive for College today announced a new collaboration with nineteen colleges and nine leading employers to create career opportunities for millions of low-income students as they enter an unprecedented labor market. The partnerships grant students access to a virtual mentoring platform that pairs students from low-income backgrounds with working adult mentors who can help them identify career opportunities and gain the sorts of workplace-ready skills that employers need.

"Strive for College allows our students to virtually explore careers and expand their professional networks, far ahead of graduation day," said Sarah Scott, Associate Dean and Director of the Grissom Scholars Program at Centre College. "By connecting students with trained mentors and working adults at leading employers, we are expanding their career options."

Participating universities include: Bates College, Case Western Reserve University, Centre College, Coastal Carolina University, Concordia University Texas, Framingham State University, Huston-Tillotson University, Indiana University Bloomington, Louisiana College, Monroe College, Old Dominion University, Sacramento State, Spokane Falls Community College, St. Olaf College, St. Edwards University, Stanford University, Texas State University, Walsh University, and Webb Institute.

Participating employer partners include: Alight Solutions, American Express, Amgen, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Clearsulting, Deloitte, Palo Alto Networks, UBS, and UPS.

"Our participation in Strive On will help the next generation of diverse innovators access meaningful pathways to a college education," said Eduardo Cetlin, President of Amgen Foundation. "At the same time, we know that employees are eager to give back to underserved communities, and this virtual program allows them to do so in an impactful way, no matter where in the country they are working from."

In the wake of the pandemic-induced recession, college graduates are facing a tight labor market. Nearly half of spring 2020 college graduates are still looking for work. And although overall unemployment numbers are down from March 2020, youth unemployment has remained at nearly double the national average . Employers like Amgen, Deloitte, and UBS are taking steps to attract early talent through partnerships with Strive, while encouraging employees to help diverse students expand their networks.

"Strive for College is giving students access to great jobs and the supportive network needed to achieve economic mobility," said Michael J. Carter, CEO of Strive for College. "Through the power of technology, we are connecting the nation's leading employers with diverse students at some of our country's foremost universities."

Strive for College helps students gain the skills--and connections--they need to succeed after they graduate. The platform, which includes one-to-one virtual mentoring, has reached over 1.2 million students total. In the midst of the pandemic, Strive has seen a massive increase in demand: in May 2020, 19 times more students picked a mentor than in May 2019 and user engagement has increased 600% since the pandemic started in March 2020.

About Strive for College

Strive for College has helped over 1.2 million students get to college, graduate, and achieve living wage jobs. Our all-virtual platform, UStrive, matches students with trained volunteer mentors and allows them to securely communicate, collaborate, access resources and share guidance as they navigate the path to and through higher education. 97% of Strive students go on to college and take on little or no debt for tuition as a result of scholarships or financial aid that their mentors help them secure.

SOURCE Strive for College
BERLIN, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AUCTA, the German technology company behind the leading interactive 3D visualisation platform, has today announced ALPHR Technology, a recognised leader in innovative automation solutions, as their latest customer.

ALPHR intends to use AUCTA's 3D visualisation platform to radically change the way they communicate both internally and externally. The platform gives ALPHR full autonomy in creating 3D visualisations, which will be used both directly and remotely to support their clients. AUCTA visualisations will be used to strengthen ALPHR's offerings across design, manufacture and support of complex automation for the manufacturing sector, enabling them to showcase functionalities and processes in an intuitive and easy to access way.

This ability to share knowledge and skills effectively at scale across an entire organisation is proving to be a major challenge for companies. The limitations of sharing knowledge and skills by traditional methods such as PDF documents or videos has been brought into sharp focus over the past 18 months, with companies having to rely on more and more remote solutions.

"Industrial companies need to be able to engage with potential clients and partners in a digital, remote and efficient way that they quickly understand. It is one of the key drivers of successful industrial growth in the 21st Century," says Henri Huselstein, CEO at AUCTA. "Our platform helps clients like ALPHR to stay competitive and to strengthen their position as market leaders for decades to come!"

Tom Ross, Head of Sales at ALPHR says, "Our experience over the past 18 months of COVID and the restrictions it has caused, has shown that we need to adapt how we deliver for our clients by using new and innovative methods. When AUCTA approached me I very quickly saw the value of their platform and how it offers ALPHR the opportunity to be transformative in our proposal, delivery and support globally."

"Working with ALPHR is an important step for AUCTA to start our expansion into the collaborative robotics market," says Huselstein. "Their innovative approach to growth and expansion makes ALPHR an excellent fit as a partner and customer. This is one of the most disruptive and fastest-growing sectors of European manufacturing and we could not be more excited to deploy our platform with more and more clients in the space."

About AUCTA:

AUCTA is the award-winning German technology company behind the leading interactive 3D visualisation platform. Built for enterprise from the ground up, the platform provides the easy-to-use tools companies need to unlock the full power of their CAD data.

For more information visit www.aucta.io

AUCTA email contact: [email protected]

About ALPHR Technology:

ALPHR Technology has 30 years of global experience in providing an industry-leading range of test solutions, innovative complex assembly, portable test equipment, standard products and capturing complex data, to deliver flexible and bespoke automation solutions.

For more information visit www.alphrtechnology.com

ALPHR Technology email contact: [email protected]

SOURCE AUCTA

Related Links

www.aucta.io


JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Conservation non-profit organization African Parks announced on Tuesday, September 14, a $100M commitment from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation (RMWF), providing one of the largest contributions ever made to the conservation of protected areas in Africa. This commitment will help to expand African Parks' impact to managing 30 parks over the next decade, preserving a significant portion of Africa's biodiversity for the long-term benefit of local communities, while helping to grow the organisation's endowment to ensure for reliable funding.

"The impacts of the climate crisis are undeniable, and we must act swiftly and boldly to protect communities so that people and nature can thrive together. In Africa, part of the solution is conserving more park lands to protect biodiversity and ensure communities receive the health and economic benefits these areas can provide when well-managed," said Rob Walton of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation and African Parks Trustee Emeritus. "We are proud to support the public-private partnership model that makes African Parks so successful, and to help accelerate the organization's ambitious 2030 goals."

Founded in 2000, African Parks takes on the long-term management of protected areas in partnership with governments to protect wildlife, restore landscapes and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities. Currently managing 19 parks measuring 14.7 million hectares, they take on the complete responsibility and are accountable for all aspects of protected area management, including biodiversity conservation, law enforcement, community development, sustainable financing, infrastructure, and overall governance.

With more than 3,200 full-time staff, 98% of whom are from local communities, and thousands of part-time staff, African Parks has become the largest employer in many regions in which they work. Poaching has been curtailed and practically eliminated in most of the parks under their management, where more than 80% of key wildlife populations are on the rise. In the last year alone, 110,000 people received healthcare from the hospitals and mobile clinics they support, and over 100,000 children had access to education provided by the schools they support around the parks. Their goal is to directly manage 30 parks measuring over 30 million hectares by 2030. This would bolster African governments' efforts to help reach the global target of protecting 30% of the planet for nature.

Rob and Melani Walton are longtime supporters of sustainability and conservation efforts around the globe and have been invaluable partners to African Parks since its inception. "As global citizens, we have a responsibility to protect our planet and the people and species that create our dynamic, fragile ecosystems. We are honored to continue to work alongside African Parks, governments across the continent, and community leaders in support of their sustainability goals," said Melani Walton of the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation and African Parks Board Member.

The $100M commitment will be allocated over the next five years, with $75M going to the creation of the Rob and Melani Walton Endowment, which forms the largest endowment gift in African Parks' history, significantly supporting its long-term resilience and growth. The remaining $25M will go to sustaining parks under African Parks' management that need it the most. A portion of these funds will be used for five-year matching grants in conjunction with the Legacy Landscapes Fund: One to Iona National Park in Angola, and one to Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo. This funding will leverage an additional $10M for each park over the subsequent 10 years.

"Rob and Melani Walton's commitment is uniquely visionary in providing a source of stable long-term funding that will contribute enduring protection for some of the most biodiverse, threatened landscapes on the planet. This could not come at a more important time, when investment in intact protected areas is urgently needed to address biodiversity loss, mitigate climate change, preserve invaluable ecosystem services, and create sustainable economic opportunities for people," said African Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead. "This extraordinary gift will help to realise our vision of protecting vast ecosystems and their ecological functions for humanity in perpetuity".

In an analysis conducted in 2020, African Parks identified 161 "anchor areas" in Africa that have the greatest chance of being viably functioning, large landscapes, capable of harbouring globally significant biodiversity and sustaining their flow of benefits to millions of people. However, of these, only 69 are currently adequately protected. If all 161 areas receive effective management solutions, they would provide a foundational step towards the broader vision of safeguarding 30% of Africa for nature.

With this funding commitment from the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation, African Parks will be able to continue to increase their impact by bringing more parks under management, continue to reduce poaching, increase wildlife populations, and improve livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of people.

SOURCE African Parks

Related Links

african-parks.org


PRAGUE, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AhoyConnect, a new platform that enables organizations to understand, scale, automate, and derive value from its community, today announced it has secured a $3 million seed funding round. The round was led by Inovo Venture Partners and KAYA as well as additional funding from pre-seed investor Lighthouse Ventures.

The remote-first startup is building a category-defining solution for the community-led-growth market. The recent "State of Community" report from CMX found that more than 86 percent of companies surveyed believe that community is critical to their business, yet nearly half struggle to measure its value, often using a foundational metric such as active monthly users as its key indicator of engagement and success.

"What used to be a Product-Led Growth is now becoming Community-Led Growth. The problem is that organizations lack the understanding of what happens inside their community and the value it brings to the business," said Tomas Jasovsky, founder and CEO of AhoyConnect. "Our platform maximizes the value of community data offering visibility and actionable insights to improve customer acquisition, aid in retention, and inform product decisions."

The AhoyConnect platform leverages powerful metrics that quantify how community impacts sales, marketing, support, and other departments. The product integrates with existing community tools like Discourse, Slack, InSided, Discord, Twitter, and GitHub, plus offers a custom API to connect to internal data sources, giving organizations one centralized dashboard of all its members, their actions, and behaviors.

The data is further translated into valuable analytics, allowing community managers to discover which platforms drive new customers, identify sales prospects and product champions with the most influence, and automate repetitive community management tasks.

AhoyConnect allows organizations to:

Integrate with the tools they already use and enable a 360 view of the entire audience across all of the channels and platforms in one place.

Build member segments with various entry points and funnels to collaborate with other departments.

Use pre-made workflows or build their own automations for routine processes that will increase engagement and streamline member onboarding, polls, and surveys.

Get tangible metrics and understand how community impacts sales, marketing, support, success, and other company departments and goals.

"Like many others in tech, we're convinced that community-led growth is the next big thing. AhoyConnect is a solution that not only addresses the confluence of all the workplace and collaboration tools but also the manner in which we work and communicate in 2021 and beyond," said Michal Rokosz, Partner at Inovo Venture Partners. "Having the best solution to a widespread problem is a great start, but you still need the right people to put the pieces together. Tomas has managed to get fantastic people on board and form a great foundation for a world class team."

For more information or to schedule a demo, please visit www.ahoyconnect.com .

About AhoyConnect

AhoyConnect is an all-in-one community data intelligence platform that empowers organizations to fully understand their customers across all online platforms and analyze true engagement. AhoyConnect enables organizations to understand, scale, automate, and derive value from its members by leveraging powerful metrics that quantify how community impacts sales, marketing, support, and other departments. AhoyConnect is a fully distributed company, with plans to scale rapidly by the end of 2021. The company has raised more than $3 million in funding from leading European investors including Inovo Venture Partners, KAYA, and Lighthouse Ventures. Learn more at www.ahoyconnect.com .

SOURCE AhoyConnect Inc.

Related Links

https://www.ahoyconnect.com/


BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, applauds the Burlington City Council's decision to withdraw a non-binding resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. The resolution will be sent back to the Council's Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee for further discussion.

"This resolution was based on carefully curated information, deprived of context and designed to create a false and deceptive portrait of Israel and its supporters. Such tactics feed polarization, defeat prospects for peace, and inspire hate," said Robert Leikind, AJC New England Director. "Thousands of people appealed to members of the City Council to reject this morally troubling BDS resolution. It appears that they were heard."

A majority of the approximately 60 people who spoke during the City Council's Public Comment session opposed the resolution. More than 2,000 people contacted Council members directly, and more than 1,000 signed on to a letter organized by Jewish Communities of Vermont with support from AJC New England, ADL New England, the Israeli American Council, Stand With Us and numerous other organizations and synagogues in the region, opposing the resolution. This outpouring of opposition to BDS took place despite the hearing having been scheduled during Aseret Yemei Teshuvah (the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), which made it more difficult for many Jewish constituents to participate.

AJC thanks Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, who called for the Council to reject the BDS resolution, and those City Council members who went into the hearing with an open mind and rejected the resolution.

"It is our hope that others will come to appreciate both the complexities of the issues and the effect that such resolutions have on the Jewish community, which is experiencing an alarming rise in antisemitic incidents and hate crimes in the region and nationally," said Leikind. In a letter to the Burlington City Council on Sept. 11, Leikind directly addressed the relationship between BDS and antisemitism, explaining why, according to a recent survey, 80% of American Jews believe BDS is antisemitic.

"The outcome of the Burlington City Council hearing on this BDS resolution was a constructive step that we hope will cool extreme rhetoric and contribute to a more productive climate where difficult issues can be discussed. This is needed in Burlington, across our country and in the Middle East, where we can only hope that the conversation will turn from rejection to a discourse that advances peace," Leikind added.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


SHANGHAI, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alebund Pharmaceuticals ("Alebund" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing innovative therapies for the treatment of renal diseases and related chronic conditions, today announced that it has secured $54.5 million in its Series B+ financing round. This round was led by 3H Health Investment, Loyal Valley Capital and Morningside Ventures, followed by YuanBio Venture Capital, Octagon Capital, Verition Fund Management and HT Capital. Existing Shareholders including Lilly Asia Ventures, Quan Capital, a prominent sovereign wealth fund, 3E Bioventures Capital and Sherpa Healthcare Partners also took part in the financing. Proceeds raised in this round will help accelerate the development of Alebund's clinical programs, the construction of the manufacturing site, the research of pre-clinical assets, and the expansion of Company's talent pool.

As China's first biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel renal therapies, the latest extension of capital injection came only four months after the $60 million B round, highlighting the global investors' confidence in renal disease drug innovation and their recognition of Alebund's robust capabilities and deep expertise.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), which poses growing threat to public health worldwide, has great potential in patient demand due to a lack of diagnosis and treatment. The Company has built a diversified and balanced pipeline of drug candidates after three years of rapid growth, targeting a range of major renal diseases, including CKD/Dialysis complications, IgA nephropathy, diabetic kidney disease, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The most clinically-advanced product in the Company's pipeline, which has best-in-class potential in the treatment of hyperphosphatemia, is currently under Phase II clinical trial and is expected to start Phase III registrational study next year.

Dr. Gavin Xia, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alebund, said, "The B+ financing round once again shows global investors' strong belief in Alebund's capabilities to develop novel kidney disease drugs. We are very grateful to the new and existing investors who support us to maintain our leading position in renal therapy innovation and to provide global renal patients with safe and effective therapies soon."

Dr. Minchuan Wang, Partner of 3H Health Investment commented, "Renal diseases are among the most prevalent chronic diseases and there're huge unmet needs. Alebund has established impressive pipeline, and more importantly, has built a team with outstanding clinical development experience and highly efficient execution. We are pleased to co-lead the Series B+ financing and are excited to join force with Alebund and other investors to bring innovative therapies to renal diseases patients in China and globally. We look forward to contributing our clinical, business, and policy resources to further strengthen the company's capabilities, and are confident that Alebund is well-positioned to be a leader in renal disease therapeutics."

Roy Xie, Partner of Loyal Valley Capital, said, "We have been paying attention to the field of nephropathy for a long time, and believe that there is an immense unmet need in this field in China and even internationally. Specifically, patients with nephropathy have enormous base and huge complications, and effective drugs are limited. Alebund Pharmaceuticals has been deeply involved in nephropathy and has established a luxuriant and distinct new drug pipeline. The rich R&D experience and efficient execution of Alebund's team also greatly impressed us. In the future, Loyal Valley will continuously support Alebund including the development of innovative drug products which could bring benefit to patients with nephropathy."

Jacky Chen, Founder and Managing Partner of YuanBio Venture Capital, noted, "There is huge unmet demand in Chronic Kidney Disease and in China, innovative biopharmaceutical companies dedicated to renal diseases are quite rare. Alebund has built extensive product pipelines driven by its high efficiency and rich industry experience. We believe Alebund will grow into a unique flagship company in this field in China and even globally, benefiting more patients."

Dr. Marietta Wu, Managing Director of Quan Capital which led the B funding round, said, "Alebund has made significant progress and demonstrated strong growth potentials. We are pleased that the company has been recognized by numerous investors. We also look forward to working with other investors to continue to support the growth and development of the company."

About Alebund Pharmaceuticals

Alebund is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company and is dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapies and to providing better clinical solutions to patients with kidney diseases and related chronic conditions.

Alebund has built a diversified and balanced pipeline of drug candidates targeting a range of renal diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD)/dialysis complications, IgA nephropathy, diabetic kidney disease, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Alehund's pipeline comprises both small-molecule and biologic assets.

About 3H Health Investment

3H Health Investment is a dedicated healthcare venture firm. It focuses on unmet medical needs and invest in emerging fields of science and medicine to deliver breakthroughs to patients. Leveraging our extensive resources with clinical institutions, industry partners and policy institutes. It builds leading innovative healthcare companies together with our partners.

About Loyal Valley Capital

Loyal Valley Capital was founded in 2015 by Andy Lin, an experienced investor and accomplished entrepreneur. LVC is a thematic, research-driven private equity firm with strong entrepreneurial culture that invests in companies positioned to benefit from the secular industry transformations in China. With over $3.2 billion of assets under management, LVC mainly focuses on the following segments: New Consumer, Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing.

About Morningside Ventures

Morningside Ventures was founded in 1986 by the Chan Family of Hong Kong. Since its establishment, Morningside has been focusing on trends of the forefront life science and healthcare industries over the world, spreading its business scope and investment footprint over North America, Europe and Greater China. Morningside comprises a group of investment professionals who are entrepreneurial, have deep industry knowledge and profound experience in venture capital management.

About Yuanbio Ventures

Established in 2013, YuanBio Venture Capital is a venture capital firm focusing on early and growth stage companies in the healthcare industry. With a global vision, the firm is headquartered in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and has offices in Beijing and Shenzhen. Currently it manages 8 funds in total, including 3 RMB funds, 2 USD funds and 3 angel funds, with an aggregated asset of USD 1.1 billion. There are over 120 companies in our portfolio, covering biopharma, medical devices, IVD and healthcare services.

About Octagon Capital

Founded in 2019, Octagon Capital Advisors LP is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in both public and private healthcare companies, specifically in the United States and China. Octagon Capital strives to build concentrated long-term investments and work with our portfolio management teams as partners. Octagon Capital manages capital on behalf of global institutions such as university endowments, non-profit foundations, family offices, pension funds and established asset managers.

About Verition Fund Management

Verition Fund Management LLC is a $4.2 billion investment manager founded in 2008 by Nick Maounis (CEO) and Josh Goldstein (COO). Verition's main focus is a multi-strategy, multi-manager hedge fund focused on global investment strategies including Global Credit, Global Convertible, Volatility & Capital Structure Arbitrage, Event-Driven Investing, Equity Long/Short & Capital Markets Trading, and Global Quantitative Trading.

About HT Capital

HT Capital is an independent, single family-controlled financial organization specializing in Private Offerings, Fund of Funds and Asset Management, with 20 years of investment track record in over 100 direct and co-investment opportunities across healthcare and technology deals.

About Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV)

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a leading biomedical venture capital firm established in 2008. Our vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.

About Quan Capital

Quan Capital is a life sciences venture capital firm with strong China expertise and global capabilities. We discover, incubate, and grow next-generation life science companies in early and growth stage, worldwide. Our portfolio companies pioneer differentiated therapies and enabling technologies to address major human diseases with high unmet medical needs.

Quan has offices in Shanghai, Menlo Park and Boston. Our investment professionals combine their strong expertise in both science and business with their diverse experiences in global drug development and healthcare investments, and they leverage their broad network worldwide to help maximize the company's value across geographies and development stages.

About 3E Bioventures

3E Bioventures Capital is dedicated to investing in cutting-edge life sciences and biomedical technologies, with a focus on breakthrough first-in-class therapies and disruptive cross-disciplinary innovations in medical devices and diagnostics. 3E Bioventures takes on a science-driven, entrepreneur-friendly investment philosophy by working closely with companies and research institutions to develop drugs or products that have strong unmet medical needs. With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and the San Francisco Bay Area, 3E Bioventures leverages its experience, capabilities, and network to help companies tap into markets and resources across the Pacific and advance with greater speed and capital efficiency.

About Sherpa Healthcare Partners

Sherpa Healthcare Partners ("Sherpa") was founded in 2018. The founders previously worked together in one of China's leading venture capital firms, built and led its professional healthcare investment team since 2011, set up the dedicated healthcare investment fund and responsible for healthcare investment. The founders have been teamed together in close co-operation, built on shared values, mutual trust, and complementary capabilities. Sherpa has invested in leading companies in many key areas, such as Pharma, GeneTech, MedTech and Medical services. From 2011 to 2020, the team has gone through 4 vintage year cycles and made over 100 investments. Sherpa has the honor to work with many outstanding entrepreneurs and grow together with them.

SOURCE Alebund Pharmaceuticals
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rochester-based sign company and signage industry leader ID Signsystems has created and installed enhanced exterior gateway and wayfinding sign markers across Alfred University in Alfred, New York. Alfred is located in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, 90 minutes south of Rochester.

ID Signsystems created an updated exterior gateway sign for Alfred University in Alfred, New York. A collection of wayfinding marker design prototypes featuring the University's crest were created. Using the chosen design IDS developed a complete sign family for application across campus.

University officials and faculty requested that their new campus sign program reflect their 185-year tradition. The IDS design team assumed the task of creating a custom sign program that blends the history and heritage of the college with a modern approach that appeals to the needs of today's contemporary environment.

IDS completed an in-depth on-location photo survey of previous signage. They then translated the information into a specialized online tool, Wayfindit, to create a mapping plan for the new signs. The team devised a collection of prototypes that highlighted the University's brand in a variety of styles. The result is a set of sleek modular wayfinding signs , donning Alfred's collegiate crest, placed throughout the 232-acre campus.

"Faced with a fast-approaching school reopening deadline the ID Signsystems team designed, prototyped, fabricated and installed a complete wayfinding system in a protracted project 3-month period," said Paul Dudley, President, ID Signsystems.

For more information on ID Signsystems, visit www.IDSignsystems.com and stay up-to-date with ID Signsystems on LinkedIn .

About ID Signsystems: ID Signsystems has been designing and building innovative sign solutions nationally and internationally since 2005. Headquartered in Rochester, NY, IDS offers client-focused solutions in architectural signage, design, and lighting. United by a multi-layered understanding of materials and industry best practices, the IDS team is a powerful partner for businesses and organizations to develop their brand and environment.

Contact: Paul Dudley

(585) 266-5750 x 208 (office)

(585) 245-2189 (cell)

[email protected]

SOURCE ID Signsystems
ELKHART Ind. and CHICAGO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Technology Components (ATC) and NuCurrent announced today a partnership which will combine NuCurrent's superior wireless charging solutions and ATC's expertise and quality in manufacturing electronic subsystems. The partnership signals transformative innovation of new product categories including RV, marine and boating.

ATC wireless chargers outperform the competition. ATC wireless chargers are well-suited for the RV, marine and boating product categories.

"ATC strives to be responsive to the advancement of technology, especially when we see how beneficial it can be for our customers," said Ross Nusbaum, Director of Sales and Marketing at ATC. "Because of the industry-leading charging speeds and range, this is going to transform how RV and boat manufacturers deploy wireless charging."

The new product line includes two EPP 15W Qi Extended Range Wireless Chargers. The wireless chargers leverage NuCurrent's MP-A17 transmitter design specification and their intellectual property for a production product that triples both the charge height and volume (compared to previous Qi standards) to provide a faster, more reliable charging experience for end-users.

ATC's charging solutions can be mounted under 9mm of non-metallic surfaces, opening up a host of sleek, durable and never-before-seen product integrations, including dashboards, bedside tables and kitchen countertops.

"The adoption of wireless power is growing at an exponential rate - and NuCurrent is proud to integrate our wireless power technologies into ATC's new line of products," said Tim Tumilty, EVP of Sales and Marketing at NuCurrent. "The potential for innovation in the RV, marine and boating space is particularly exciting - and just plain fun."

Historically, wireless charging has been an after-market feature added by customers themselves. Today, integrated wireless chargers manufactured by leading competitors are only able to charge with up to 3mm to 5mm of separation distance, leading to high manufacturing costs, increased likelihood of water and debris ingress, and more. ATC's wireless chargers are superior to the competition, as shown in the chart below.

For more information on ATC's new offering of wireless chargers, visit shop atcomp.com.

ABOUT ATC

American Technology Components, Inc. is an innovative, custom manufacturer providing products and services across multiple industries. ATC manufactures Audio/Video Controls, Switch Controls, Electronic Controls, RF Controls, Interior and Exterior 12V Lighting, Wiper Systems and Components, 12V Accessories and Molded Convenience items.

The sales, engineering and production teams at American Technology Components, Inc. design and manufacture from concept to circuit design, and then from tooling to a tested and finished quality product. American Technology Components, Inc. is your one source manufacturer. With over 30 years in the custom electronics business, we have the experience and resources to achieve your product requirements.

ABOUT NUCURRENT

NuCurrent supplies Fortune 1000 companies and other high-flying product developers with wireless power technologies and product integration expertise. Our core technologies span magnetics, software and systems simulation. We have generated over 150 patents granted and pending globally, and unparalleled internal tools that enhance speed to market, improve product performance and mitigate major development risks. Our broad systems integration expertise supports manufacturers of appliances, smartphones, wearables, hearables, consumer electronics, medical devices, robotics, IoT, sporting equipment and other emerging product categories.

NuCurrent solutions are based on inductive and inductive resonant wireless power transfer which offers convenience, safety, efficiency, and enhanced user experience. Founded in 2009, we are a venture-backed company based in Chicago with offices in Hong Kong, San Diego and Bangalore. More information at www.nucurrent.com

Media Contact

Amaya Adams

312.637.3511

[email protected]

SOURCE NuCurrent
PHOENIX, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Assisted Living Locators, the leading nationwide senior placement and referral franchisor, is proud to celebrate National Small Business Week (NSBW) 2021, a time to salute America's 30 million small businesses for their perseverance, ingenuity, and contributions to their communities. This year's Small Business Administration NSBW Virtual Summit, Sept. 13-15, will spotlight the resilience and resolve of the nation's entrepreneurs and their role in building back from the pandemic economic crisis.

"At Assisted Living Locators, we would like to say an emphatic "THANK YOU!" to all of our hardworking franchise owners that navigated the coronavirus pandemic to continue growing their businesses," said Angela Olea, RN, Assisted Living Locators CEO. "Our franchisees quickly adopted a high-tech and high touch approach to meet the challenges of COVID-19."

Olea stated that franchisees used ingenuity with virtual consultations and online tours of senior communities to provide care when most facilities closed their doors to tours. "By leveraging technology, our franchisees created joint videos with communities for safe virtual tours, zoom call meetings for in-take interviews, and utilized state health department databases for the latest COVID19 information to protect older adults," she explained.

Olea noted that Assisted Living Locators franchisees persevered during the pandemic by upgrading personal service and guidance. "Our 140 Assisted Living Locators franchisees became dementia care certified, making us the first nationwide senior placement service to achieve system-certification," Olea explained. "Using this knowledge, along with high tech tools, our franchisees are providing a new standard of solution-based alternatives for families."

Throughout the pandemic, Assisted Living Locators franchisees reached out to their communities to help in many meaningful ways. "From letter writing campaigns to isolated seniors, to countless hours of Meals On Wheels volunteering, to collecting and donating iPads to ensure senior veterans connect to their families, our franchisees have worked tirelessly to support and improve the quality of life for seniors," Olea added.

"As we battle back from the pandemic, we are proud of the resiliency of our franchisees and the part they play in the renewal of our nation's small business economy," said Olea. "We encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to join our business community and consider the Assisted Living Locators franchise opportunity."

To learn more about Assisted Living Locators franchising, call 800-267-7816 or visit: www.assistedlivinglocatorsfranchise.com.

SOURCE Assisted Living Locators

Related Links

http://www.assistedlivinglocators.com


PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Assisted Reproductive Technology Market by Product (Instrument, Accessory & Disposable, and Reagent & Media), Technology (In Vitro-Fertilization, Artificial Insemination, and Others), and End User (Fertility Clinic, Hospital, Surgical Center, and Clinical Research Institute): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20212030". According to the report, the global assisted reproductive technology industry generated $2.3 billion in 2020, and is anticipated to generate $12.2 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 19.3% from 2021 to 2030.

For Right Perspective and Competitive Insights, Get Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13442

Prime determinants of growth

Surge in prevalence of infertility rate, technological advancements in assisted reproductive technology, growth in disposable income, and rise in awareness regarding infertility treatment drive the growth of the global assisted reproductive technology market. However, high cost of ART procedures and risk associated with IVF treatment hinder the market growth. On the other hand, growing opportunities in emerging markets and rise in fertility tourism present new opportunities in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to impact positively on the global assisted reproductive technology industry, owing to multiple strategic steps made by organizations.

The government authorities across different countries have approved assisted reproductive technology for the treatment of infertile couples, which in turn, has offered lucrative opportunities for the growth of the market, during the pandemic period.

Moreover, in the post COVID era, the market is anticipated to witness exponential growth, majorly due to the success rate of assisted reproductive technologies.

The Accessory and Disposable segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on product, the accessory and disposable segment held the highest market share in 2020, accounting for more than half of the global assisted reproductive technology market, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This is due to rise in prevalence of infertility, surge in demand for in vitro fertilization procedures such as retrieval of oocytes, analysis & screening of sperms, handling gametes, and others. However, the instrument segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 23.10% from 2021 to 2030, owing to increase in demand for frozen embryo transfer, rise in prevalence of infertility, and surge in number of IVF procedures.

Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/13442

The fertility clinics segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period

Based on end-user industry, the fertility clinics segment accounted for the largest share in 2020, contributing to more than half of the global assisted reproductive technology market, and is projected to maintain its lead position during the forecast period. This is due to rise in prevalence of fertility cases, the surge in sedentary lifestyle, and growth in number of fertility clinics. Moreover, this segment is expected to portray the largest CAGR of 20.5% from 2021 to 2030.

Europe, followed by North America, to maintain its dominance by 2030

Based on region, Europe, followed by North America, held the highest market share in terms of revenue 2020, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the global assisted reproductive technology market. This is due to increase in utilization of novel technology equipment service, surge in incidence of infertility cases, high disposable incomes, rise of funds from government and private organizations for in-vitro fertilization (IVF), and advancements in technology for infertility. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 21.3% during the forecast period, owing to increase in incidence of infertility cases, rise in awareness about surrogacy, and surge in demand for assisted reproductive technology.

Leading Market Players:-

Cook Medical Inc.

Fujifilm Holdings Corporation (Irvine Scientific Sales Company, Inc.)

Genea Biomedx

Merck KGaA (EMD Serono, Inc.)

Millendo Therapeutics, Inc.

Oxford Gene Technology

Progyny Inc.

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (CooperSurgical, Inc.)

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Vitrolife AB

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"We have also published few syndicated market studies in the similar area that might be of your interest. Below are the report title for your reference, considering Impact of Covid-19 Over This Market which will help you to assess aftereffects of pandemic on short-term and long-term growth trends of this market."

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About Us

Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

Pawan Kumar, the CEO of Allied Market Research, is leading the organization toward providing high-quality data and insights. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

Contact:

David Correa

5933 NE Win Sivers Drive

#205, Portland, OR 97220

United States

USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022

UK: +44-845-528-1300

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Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/reports-store/life-sciences

Follow Us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/life-sciences-industry-research/

SOURCE Allied Market Research
TOKYO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., "Astellas") reports that the ASPIRO clinical trial participant, who developed a serious adverse event as described on September 1, passed away on September 9. The cause of death is still pending.

Astellas is gathering the relevant clinical information and incorporating such information into the ongoing investigation regarding other serious adverse events observed to date in the ASPIRO trial. This was the first and only participant dosed following the December 23, 2020, release of the earlier FDA clinical hold.

On September 1, Astellas announced that it had paused screening and dosing of additional participants in its ASPIRO clinical trial evaluating AT132 in patients with X-linked Myotubular Myopathy (XLMTM). Thereafter, the FDA informed Astellas via email that the ASPIRO trial had been placed on clinical hold and a written letter is expected over the next several weeks. Following receipt of the official FDA clinical hold letter, Astellas will review its contents and have further dialogue with regulators on the path forward.

"On behalf of Astellas, we extend our deepest sympathies to the participant's family, said Nathan Bachtell, M.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Gene Therapy, Medical & Development at Astellas. "We will investigate and review all findings with our independent data monitoring committee, our expert liver advisory panel and the ASPIRO site investigators. We remain committed to the development of AT132 and the XLMTM patient community."

About X-linked Myotubular Myopathy

XLMTM is a serious, life-threatening, rare neuromuscular disease that is characterized by extreme muscle weakness, respiratory failure and early death. Mortality rates are estimated to be 50 percent in the first 18 months of life. For those patients who survive past infancy, there is an estimated additional 25 percent mortality by the age of 10. XLMTM is caused by mutations in the MTM1 gene that lead to a lack or dysfunction of myotubularin, a protein that is needed for normal development, maturation and function of skeletal muscle cells. The disease affects approximately 1 in 40,000 to 50,000 newborn males.

XLMTM places a substantial burden of care on patients, families and the healthcare system, including high rates of healthcare utilization, hospitalization and surgical intervention. More than 80 percent of XLMTM patients require ventilator support, and the majority of patients require a gastrostomy tube for nutritional support. In most patients, normal developmental motor milestones are delayed or never achieved. Currently, only supportive treatment options, such as ventilator use or a feeding tube, are available.

About AT132 for the treatment of X-linked Myotubular Myopathy

Astellas is developing AT132, an AAV8 vector containing a functional copy of the MTM1 gene, for the treatment of XLMTM. AT132 may provide patients with significantly improved outcomes based on the ability of AAV8 to target skeletal muscle and increase myotubularin expression in targeted tissues following a single intravenous administration. The preclinical development of AT132 was conducted in collaboration with Genethon ( www.genethon.fr ).

AT132 has been granted Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Therapy (RMAT), Rare Pediatric Disease, Fast Track, and Orphan Drug designations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Priority Medicines (PRIME) and Orphan Drug designations by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

About ASPIRO

ASPIRO is a two-part, multinational, randomized, open-label ascending dose trial to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of AT132 in XLMTM patients less than five years of age. Primary endpoints include safety (adverse events and certain laboratory measures) and efficacy (assessments of neuromuscular and respiratory function). Secondary endpoints include the burden of disease and health-related quality-of-life, and muscle tissue histology and biomarkers.

About Astellas Gene Therapies

Astellas integrated its wholly owned subsidiary, Audentes Therapeutics, Inc. as of April 1, 2021 and established "Astellas Gene Therapies" within the organization as an Astellas Center of Excellence developing genetic medicines with the potential to deliver transformative value for patients. Based on an innovative scientific approach and industry leading internal manufacturing capability and expertise, we are currently exploring three gene therapy modalities: gene replacement, exon skipping gene therapy, and vectorized RNA knockdown and hope to also advance additional Astellas gene therapy programs toward clinical investigation. We are based in San Francisco, with manufacturing and laboratory facilities in South San Francisco and Sanford, North Carolina.

About Astellas

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+ healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/en.

Cautionary Notes

In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas' intellectual property rights by third parties.

Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.

Related Links

https://www.astellas.com/en/


MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Better Tomorrow Project provided ATMOFIZER Pro Units to HealthCorps' annual benefit on September 13, 2021 in New York City. The Pro Units along with ATMOFIZER ONE units will also be donated to schools across the country where HealthCorps operates its program.

HealthCorps

HealthCorps is a national 501c3 organization founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lisa Oz that addresses health inequities in at-risk communities by educating and empowering teens. The organization will hold its annual benefit on September 13 outdoors at the Central Park Zoo where the ATMOFIZER Pro Units will be utilized to provide an added layer of air purifying protection for guests attending event. HealthCorps' annual event will follow all recommended CDC, New York Department of Health and venue Covid 19 protocols.

Olivier Centner, CEO of the revolutionary Atmofizer air purification technology, said, "Introducing the Atmofizer technology into the US is another step in demonstrating The Better Tomorrow Project's commitment to creating a safer environment to help people return to schools, return to work, and return to normal life. Through more effectively improving the air we breathe and reducing energy required to do it, we believe our technology represents one of the most significant breakthroughs in air purification in the last forty years."

Mr. Centner continued, "Partnering with HealthCorps to provide units to schools across the country is such a natural fit for both organizations. The work that HealthCorps has been doing is so important, and we are glad to be a part of that effort with them."

HealthCorps CEO, Amy Braun agreed, "The health and safety of the school communities we serve is vitally important to HealthCorps, as is the comfort and peace of mind of our benefit guests. We are grateful to The Better Tomorrow Project and their generous donation to our schools and our event."

The Better Tomorrow Project's inventions have been demonstrating their pioneering disinfection power since the SARS pandemic of 2013. The ATMOFIZER brand was created in 2020 after 16 years of research and development efforts on clean-tech and one simple, yet crucial mission: to help the world breathe safely again. Ultra-fine particle exposure poses a seriously underestimated, global threat to human health. The spread of viruses, industrial chemicals, bacteria, airborne pathogens, pollutants, and allergens of all aspects are regularly occurring indoors. ATMOFIZER is the first and only, highly efficient, filter-free, air-purification clean-tech expertly engineered to eliminate ultra-fine particles and kill small viruses with proven efficiency of 99.9% which supports facilities to operate safely and free from airborne pathogens.

ABOUT THE BETTER TOMORROW PROJECT & ATMOFIZER

The Better Tomorrow Project LLC is a revolutionary clean-tech company that researches, develops, manufactures, and distributes proprietary and patented anti-viral products under the brand ATMOFIZER. The products are manufactured in THE USA with world-wide patents developed by world renowned German scientists. Their clean tech is disruptive in nature and solves the real-world problems.

More than a company, The Better Tomorrow Project and ATMOFIZER are about creating a better tomorrow by doing good. Through their corporate responsibility division, they believe it is a fundamental responsibility to support the communities where we live, work, and play to transform and better the lives of those who need it most. The Better Tomorrow Project is a company that is focused and driven to protect the planet and improve the lives of those in need.

ABOUT HEALTHCORPS

Since its founding in 2003, HealthCorps (www.healthcorps.org), a national 501c3, has addressed health inequities in at-risk communities by educating and empowering teens  encouraging them to become change agents within their family, their school, and their neighborhood.

Believing that limited access to health education can lead to a lifetime of social, emotional, and physical challenges. HealthCorps strives to strengthen teens with innovative approaches to health and wellness, providing today's youth with the tools to become more physically and mentally resilient through educational programming, leadership experience and service learning.

HealthCorps' programming is operating in schools and organizations in AZ, CA, TX, NY OK, PA, and TX and will expand to NJ and FL in the upcoming school year.

Teens Make Health Happen is HealthCorps' latest program designed to activate youth change makers and healthier communities in the process. HealthCorps is supported nationally by USANA Health Sciences. You can find health tips for teens from HealthCorps on the @teensmakehealthhappen Instagram and TikTok channels.

Atmofizer: Lauren Malis 917-609-8017 [email protected]

HealthCorps: Karen Johnson 703-362-7572

SOURCE Atmofizer
DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global cybersecurity leader Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704) announced today that it blocked 40.9 billion email threats, malicious files, and malicious URLs for customers in the first half of 2021, a 47% year-on-year increase.

To read a full copy of the report, Attacks from All Angles: 2021 Midyear Security Roundup, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/research-and-analysis/threat-reports/roundup/attacks-from-all-angles-2021-midyear-security-roundup.

Ransomware remained the standout threat in the first half of the year as cyber criminals continued to target big-name victims. Working with third parties to gain access to targeted networks, they used Advanced Persistent Threat tools and techniques to steal and encrypt victims' data.

The banking industry was disproportionately affected, experiencing a 1,318% year-on-year increase in ransomware attacks in the first half of 2021.

Ransomware was a major threat to global organizations in the first half of 2021, but it was not the only one. Trend Micro's report also reveals:

Business email compromise (BEC) attacks increased by 4%, potentially as a result of new COVID-19 opportunities for threat actors.

Cryptocurrency miners became the most detected malware, having surged ahead of WannaCry and web shells in recent months.

The Zero Day Initiative detected 770 vulnerabilities, a slight (2%) drop from 1H 2020.

A total of 164 malicious apps related to COVID-19 scams were detected, 54% of which impersonated TikTok.

"The first step towards effectively mitigating cyber risk is understanding the scale, complexity, and specific characteristics of the threat landscape," said Jon Clay, vice president of threat intelligence for Trend Micro. "In addition to comprehensive protection against fast-evolving threats like ransomware, phishing and BEC that Trend Micro offers, our biannual roundup reports provide global organizations and stakeholders invaluable insights to help them build a more secure connected world."

The report's overall findings highlight the effectiveness of  and increasing need for  a holistic and scalable cybersecurity solution at the enterprise level. As threats continue to increase in frequency and sophistication, enterprise SOC teams will require a platform that can streamline security processes without sacrificing reliability.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.TrendMicro.com.

SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated

Related Links

www.trendmicro.com


RADNOR, Pa., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR) ("Avantor," "we" or the "Company"), a leading global provider of mission critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and advanced technologies & applied materials industries, today announced the pricing of the previously announced underwritten offering by the Company of 20,833,334 shares of its common stock pursuant to a registration statement filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), at the public offering price of $42.00 per share.

The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,976,190 shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions. The offering is expected to close on September 16, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from this offering, along with the proceeds from certain debt financing transactions, to finance its previously announced acquisition of the Masterflex bioprocessing business and related assets of Antylia Scientific. To the extent the acquisition is not consummated, the Company anticipates using the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Citigroup and BofA Securities are serving as the joint book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Barclays is also serving as a bookrunner. Bancroft Capital, Centerview Partners, HSBC, PNC Capital Markets LLC, R. Seelaus & Co., LLC, RBC Capital Markets and Siebert Williams Shank are also acting as co-managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC and has become effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a 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.

The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus for the offering may be obtained from: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department at 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282 or by telephone at 1-866-471-2526; Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone 1-800-831-9146 or by email at [email protected]; or BofA Securities, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department or by email at [email protected].

About Avantor

Avantor, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. Our portfolio is used in virtually every stage of the most important research, development and production activities in the industries we serve. Our global footprint enables us to serve more than 225,000 customer locations and gives us extensive access to research laboratories and scientists in more than 180 countries. We set science in motion to create a better world.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements discuss our current expectations and projections relating to our announced transaction with Masterflex and the related financing, as well as our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "likely," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "project," "projection," "seek," "can," "could," "may," "should," "would," "will," the negatives thereof and other words and terms of similar meaning.

Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions; they are not guarantees of performance. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Although we believe that our assumptions made in connection with the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that the assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could contribute to these risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, our current expectations and assumptions regarding capital market conditions, our ability to successfully integrate Masterflex into our operations and achieve anticipated synergies and our ability to execute related financing on favorable terms, as well as the factors described in "Risk Factors" in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligations to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise other than as required under the federal securities laws.

Media Contact

Allison Hosak

Senior Vice President, Global Communications and Brand

Avantor

+1 908-329-7281

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Tommy J. Thomas, CPA

Vice President, Investor Relations

Avantor

+1 781-375-8051

[email protected]

###

SOURCE Avantor and Financial News

Related Links

https://www.avantorsciences.com/site/


Key Highlights Offered in the Report:

Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices.

Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation of the pros and cons of prevalent pricing models.

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Fetch actionable market insights on post COVID-19 impact on each product and service segments.

Some of the Top Aviation Fuel suppliers listed in this report:

This Aviation Fuel procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

ExxonMobil Corp

BP Plc

Royal Dutch Shell

Fetch actionable market insights on post COVID-19 impact on each product and service segments:

www.spendedge.com/report/aviation-fuel-procurement-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Related Reports on Utilities Include:

Oil Spill Solutions - Forecast and Analysis: The oil spill solutions will grow at a CAGR of 3.12% during 2021-2025. Prices will increase by 2%-3.5% during the forecast period and suppliers will have a Low bargaining power in this market. Diesel Sourcing and Procurement Report: This report evaluates suppliers based on location of supplier operational facilities, production capacity and utilization rate, inventory management solutions provided, and assess logistics and distribution capabilities of suppliers. Click the above link to read more about this report. Crude Oil - Sourcing and Procurement Intelligence Report: The crude oil will grow at a CAGR of 2.49% during 2020-2024. Prices will increase by 2%-4% during the forecast period and suppliers will have a moderate bargaining power in this market. Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc, TOTAL SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are among the prominent suppliers in crude oil market.

To access the definite purchasing guide on the Aviation Fuel that answers all your key questions on price trends and analysis:

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Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions.

Contacts:

SpendEdge

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Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

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SOURCE SpendEdge
VANCOUVER, BC, September 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE AMERICAN: BTG) (NSX: B2G) ("B2Gold" or the "Company") announced on September 10, 2021 that its Board of Directors (the "Board") declared its third quarter of 2021 cash dividend of $0.04 per common share. The Company has updated the payment date for the dividend as such that the shareholders of record as of the close of business on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, will now be entitled to receive payment on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. All dollar figures are in United States Dollars unless otherwise indicated. This dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada). Dividends paid by B2Gold to shareholders outside Canada (non-resident investors) will be subject to Canadian non-resident withholding taxes.

About B2Gold

B2Gold is a low-cost international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Mali, Colombia, Burkina Faso, Finland and Uzbekistan. B2Gold forecasts total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021.

On Behalf of B2GOLD CORP.

"Clive T. Johnson"

President & Chief Executive Officer

For more information on B2Gold, please visit the Company website at www.b2gold.com or contact:

Ian MacLean Katie Bromley Vice President, Investor Relations Manager, Investor Relations & Public Relations +1 604-681-8371 +1 604-681-8371 [email protected] [email protected]

The Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American LLC neither approve nor disapprove the information contained in this news release.

Production results and production guidance presented in this news release reflect total production at the mines B2Gold operates on a 100% project basis. Please see our Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2021 for a discussion of our ownership interest in the mines B2Gold operates.

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, including: projections; outlook; guidance; forecasts; estimates; and other statements regarding future or estimated financial and operational performance, gold production and sales, revenues and cash flows, and capital costs (sustaining and non-sustaining) and operating costs, including projected cash operating costs and AISC, and budgets on a consolidated and mine by mine basis; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on B2Gold's operations; future or estimated mine life, metal price assumptions, ore grades or sources, gold recovery rates, stripping ratios, throughput, ore processing; statements regarding anticipated exploration, drilling, development, construction, permitting and other activities or achievements of B2Gold; and including, without limitation: total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces in 2021; the potential payment of future dividends, including the timing and amount of any such dividends, and the expectation that quarterly dividends will be maintained at the same level. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made.

Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond B2Gold's control, including risks associated with or related to: the duration and extent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effectiveness of preventative measures and contingency plans put in place by the Company to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including, but not limited to, social distancing, a non-essential travel ban, business continuity plans, and efforts to mitigate supply chain disruptions; escalation of travel restrictions on people or products and reductions in the ability of the Company to transport and refine dore; the volatility of metal prices and B2Gold's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; not achieving production, cost or other estimates; actual production, development plans and costs differing materially from the estimates in B2Gold's feasibility and other studies; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; the ability to replace mineral reserves and identify acquisition opportunities; the unknown liabilities of companies acquired by B2Gold; the ability to successfully integrate new acquisitions; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities, including potential restrictions imposed on B2Gold's operations as a result thereof and the ability to generate sufficient cash flows; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines, Colombia and Burkina Faso and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally, including in response to the COVID-19 outbreak; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; the lack of sole decision-making authority related to Filminera Resources Corporation, which owns the Masbate Project; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for B2Gold's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and B2Gold's reputation; risks affecting Calibre having an impact on the value of the Company's investment in Calibre, and potential dilution of our equity interest in Calibre; as well as other factors identified and as described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in B2Gold's most recent Annual Information Form, B2Gold's current Form 40-F Annual Report and B2Gold's other filings with Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which may be viewed at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively (the "Websites"). The list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect B2Gold's forward-looking statements.

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to B2Gold's ability to carry on current and future operations, including: the duration and effects of COVID-19 on our operations and workforce; development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; B2Gold's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry.

B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. B2Gold does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities B2Gold will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE B2Gold Corp.
DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Game-changing immigration firm Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL) has been honored by the Law360 Glass Ceiling Report once again for its industry-leading strides in gender equity. BAL ranked second in its size category for percentage of female attorneys and partners, and bested all other firms in its category for the percentage of female nonequity partners.

Law 360 praised BAL for "leading its peers by posting more than a 3-to-1 ratio of women to men at the nonequity partner level" and scoring a robust 11.2 points above the industry benchmark, just 0.3 points shy of the highest score. BAL remains among an elite class of only four firms in its category to meet or beat the benchmarks. Today, women make up 65% of BAL's associates, 79% of nonequity partners, and 50% of equity partners. The ranking reinforces BAL's leadership across the legal industry on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

"Every day, we help clients from all over the world pursue better opportunities," said BAL Managing Partner Jeremy Fudge. "And we want no less for our employeesthat means recruiting a diverse and talented staff and showing them they are valued as we do exceptional work together. We're proud of this ranking, but we don't rest on our laurels. We're continuing to learn and grow from one another so we can make positive change in our firm and the world."

Besides hiring many women, promoting them to positions of leadership and offering flexible work policies that enable employees to balance family responsibilities, BAL has become a thought leader in gender and diversity. Three female BAL leadersPartners Frieda Garcia and Kortney Gibson and Senior HR Director Julie Daltonspoke on "Women, Diversity & Inclusion: Tools to Achieve a Collaborative Workplace Culture" at the recent Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

"During this past year and a half, women have shouldered enormous stress and many challenges. Even in these difficult circumstances, BAL accomplished incredible things for clients all over the world," said Garcia. "The resilience and determination of the women in our firm inspires me each day. Without the unified effort that defines our oneBAL culture, we couldn't accomplish half as muchour diverse and inclusive environment makes us a stronger firm."

About Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL)

BAL, the world's leading corporate immigration law firm, is the Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" in U.S. Immigration Law for 2019, ranks #1 on the Diversity Scorecard by The American Lawyer (2020 and 2021), #1 on Law360's Diversity Snapshot (2020 and 2021), and the #1 Law Firm for Women according to the National Law Journal (2019, 2020 and 2021). BAL's Cobalt digital immigration services platform won the 2020 CODiE Award for Best Legal Tech Product, the prestigious CIO100 award for Innovative Use of Intelligent Automation in Immigration Services, and Legalweek's Most Innovative Law Firm Operations Team of 2021. BAL is singularly focused on meeting the immigration challenges of corporate clients around the world in ways that make immigration more strategic and enable clients to be more successful. Established in 1980, BAL has consistently provided immigration expertise, top-notch information security and leading technology innovation. The firm entered into a strategic alliance with Deloitte UK to create the world's first global immigration service delivery model. BAL and its leaders are highly ranked in every major legal publication, including Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, and Who's Who Legal. See website for details: https://www.bal.com.

SOURCE Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP

Related Links

http://www.bal.com


HOUSTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Houston plastic surgeon Dr. Bob Basu's practice, Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery, won "Best Mommy Makeover" in this year's Houston Chronicle Best of the Best Houston Awards. The practice was also a top-three finalist in five other aesthetics categories, including "Best Cosmetic or Plastic Surgeon," "Best BOTOX Center," "Best Medical Spa," "Best Non-Surgical Facial Procedure," and "Best Place for Facial."

Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery wins "Best Mommy Makeover" in Houston Chronicle's Best of the Best Awards.

"My staff and I are grateful to our wonderful patients for nominating us in six categories for this year's Best of the Best Awards. Whether helping women transform their bodies through a mommy makeover procedure or helping men and women look and feel their best with our medical spa treatments, my experienced aesthetics team and I are devoted to improving the confidence and lives of our patients," says Dr. Basu.

Not only a highly respected member of the Houston medical community, Dr. Basu is also a national leader in aesthetic plastic surgery. He serves as Board Vice President of Finance for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. He was recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of "America's Best Plastic Surgeons." In addition, he is a published author and recently co-authored Cosmetic Breast Surgery, a seminal textbook on state-of-the-art techniques in aesthetic breast surgery.

Dr. Basu is also the host of the podcast Behind the Double Doors, which examines the world of plastic surgery through interviews with former patients and other physicians. Back in May, Dr. Basu interviewed his former patient and star of 90 Day Fiance, Brittany Banks, about her revision breast surgery with his internal bra technique, which he performed. She opened up about how the procedureincluding a breast lift, implant exchange, scar revision, and internal mesh brahelped increase her self-confidence and improve her mobility.

With over 16,000+ cosmetic procedures performed, Dr. Basu and his staff work diligently to provide each patient with the highest possible level of personalized care. From their initial consultation, Dr. Basu thoroughly listens to his patients' goals and concerns to help ensure their safety, comfort, and satisfaction are fully met. He encourages his patients to ask questions and always provides them with a comprehensive understanding of their procedure options, details, and recovery.

Dr. Basu performs a variety of aesthetic procedures, including cosmetic breast surgery, body contouring, mommy makeovers, facial rejuvenation, and plastic surgery after weight loss.

Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery announces second location

Dr. Basu is excited to announce the opening of a second location for Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery in the fall of 2021, conveniently located in Houston's chic Post Oak Uptown Park neighborhood. This location, which will offer the full complement of medispa services, will complement the practice's flagship 11,000 square ft. waterfront aesthetics center in Towne Lake, Cypress.

"By opening our second location in Uptown Park, our practice will help patients with more ways to access safe, world-class aesthetic and plastic surgery treatments in Houston," says Dr. Basu.

About Dr. Bob Basu

Dr. C. Bob Basu is a nationally-recognized board-certified plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas. His practice, Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery, is located at 9899 Towne Lake Pkwy Suite 100, Cypress, TX 77433. They can be reached by phone at (713) 799-2278.

Media Contact: Dr. Bob Basu, www.basuplasticsurgery.com or (713) 799-2278, [email protected].

SOURCE Dr. Bob Basu

Related Links

http://www.basuplasticsurgery.com


VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BioVaxys Technology Corp. (CSE: BIOV) (FRA: 5LB) (OTCQB: BVAXF) ("BioVaxys"), announced today that global CDMO partner WuXi Biologics, has completed the synthesis of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 s-protein for BVX-0320, the company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and CoviDTH, its immunodiagnostic product. Both are headed for clinical trials, with BioVaxys having begun preparing an IND submission to the US Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") for a combined Phase I/II clinical study of CoviDTH as a diagnostic for evaluating T-cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2.

Under the terms of the March 11th, 2021 agreement, WuXi Biologics synthesized high yields of fully characterized, SARS-CoV-2 s-protein for BioVaxys' Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) preclinical safety study of its CoviDTH which will begin this month. In its official Written Response in July to the Company's request for a Pre-IND Type B review of CoviDTH, the FDA has indicated that BioVaxys' planned animal toxicity study is discretionary and not required for IND submission. However, the Company is continuing with this study of CoviDTH as it does not interfere with the IND submission and may in fact provide useful data.

BioVaxys President & Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Kovan commented that "The production of the recombinant s-protein using WuXi Biologics' proprietary cell expression system is a significant milestone for Biovaxys, as we not only have a high production yield of protein, but also now have the ability and know-how to produce protein in large scale with the level of purity, consistency and protein characterization required by the FDA for our clinical studies and commercial-scale yields."

For greater certainty, BioVaxys is not making any express or implied claims that it has the ability to treat the SAR-CoV-2 virus at this time.

About BioVaxys Technology Corp.

Based in Vancouver, BioVaxys Technology Corp. (www.biovaxys.com) is a British Columbia-registered, clinical stage biotechnology company that is developing viral and oncology vaccine platforms, as well as immuno-diagnostics. The Company is advancing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on its haptenized viral protein technology, and is planning a clinical trial of its haptenized autologous cell vaccine used in combination with anti-PD1 and anti-PDL-1 checkpoint inhibitors that will initially be developed for Stage III/Stage IV ovarian cancer. Also in development is CoviDTH, a diagnostic for evaluating the presence or absence of a T cell immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. BioVaxys has two issued US patents and two patent applications related to its cancer vaccine, and pending patent applications for its SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) vaccine and diagnostic technologies. BioVaxys common shares are listed on the CSE under the stock symbol "BIOV" and trade on the Frankfurt Bourse (FRA: 5LB) and in the US (OTCQB: BVAXF).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "James Passin"

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, completion of the murine model study, regulatory approval for a Phase I study of its BVX-0320 Vaccine Candidate in humans and the overall development of BioVaxys' vaccines, including any haptenized SARS-Cov-2 protein vaccine. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, primarily the assumption that BioVaxys will be successful in developing and testing vaccines, that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies including, primarily but without limitation, the risk that BioVayxs' vaccines will not prove to be effective and/ or will not receive the required regulatory approvals. With regards to BioVaxys' business, there are a number of risks that could affect the development of its biotechnology products, including, without limitation, the need for additional capital to fund clinical trials, its lack of operating history, uncertainty about whether its products will complete the long, complex and expensive clinical trial and regulatory approval process for approval of new drugs necessary for marketing approval, uncertainty about whether its autologous cell vaccine immunotherapy can be developed to produce safe and effective products and, if so, whether its vaccine products will be commercially accepted and profitable, the expenses, delays and uncertainties and complications typically encountered by development stage biopharmaceutical businesses, financial and development obligations under license arrangements in order to protect its rights to its products and technologies, obtaining and protecting new intellectual property rights and avoiding infringement to third parties and their dependence on manufacturing by third parties.

The Company does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

James Passin, CEO

+1 646 452 7054

Media Contacts BioVaxys Technology Corp.

Nikita Sachdev

Luna PR

[email protected]

SOURCE BioVaxys Technology Corp.
SEATTLE, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blo Blow Dry Bar, North America's original blow dry bar and the world's largest blow dry bar franchise, announced today the signing of a franchise agreement in Washington to expand the brand in the Northwest. With this agreement, Blo Blow Dry Bar solidifies its entrance into a new state and builds off its growth momentum with more than 130 locations open and in development across North America.

Leading this growth and Washington expansion is Jennifer Schallmann, a former healthcare professional who aspired to own her own blow dry bar. Five years ago, Schallmann got her first blow out and it sparked something inside of her. She decided to make the switch from healthcare to entrepreneurship to open her own business in the haircare industry. After thorough research, she learned franchising was the way to go and immediately felt at home after her first visit to Blo Blow Dry Bar. Schallmann's favorite Blo feature is the Mane Squeeze Membership that provides easy access to signature styles anywhere in the country. Washington's first bar is slated to open at the Mill Creek Plaza located at 16036 Bothell-Everett Highway & 164th Street SE Unit 19 in Mill Creek, WA 98012 by years end.

"If you know me, you know I love a good blowout," said Schallmann. "I am so excited to roll out the pink carpet in the Seattle area and to be able to service and pamper every generation of guests that walk through our door. After my first visit, joining the Blo team seemed like the perfect fit. The company is backed by immense corporate support and the team is so passionate and knowledgeable  I can't wait to build Blo into a neighborhood name."

With a favorable real estate landscape and vast opportunity for market growth, company executives are actively seeking franchisees to continue to expand in key markets across the country.

"Adding passionate franchisees like Jennifer who believe in our brand will be a vital piece to the overall puzzle as Blo Blow Dry Bar continues to grow," said, Patrick Pantano, Vice President, Franchise Development, Blo Blow Dry Bar. "This will be our first unit in the Seattle area, which is a strong city from a demographics standpoint for the brand. The combination of a strong franchisee and a ripe market creates great growth opportunity."

Blo Blow Dry Bar creates a space where people of all ages, ethnicities and orientations are welcomed, represented and made to feel gorgeous while emphasizing the need for self-care and wellness. Combining a sophisticated design with a fun and energetic environment, the blow dry bar cultivates a seamless and enjoyable experience for guests upon their arrival, during and after their services. Expertly trained bloers are available for consultation seven days a week to meet the needs of all guests. The brand's hair menu includes their signature styles, ranging from sleek and straight to lively and bouncy curls, with customizable options such as braids, ponytails and updos for any occasion. Blo also offers makeup services from expert artists on-hand to help guests look and feel amazing for any occasion.

The growing franchise is just at the start of the runway, staking its claim as a leader in the $47 billion a year industry and continues to expand at a rapid rate. Every year, more cities across the globe are painted pink. Every day, a new guest discovers how wonderful the Blo Blow Dry Bar experience is. Superior service and consistent results are a top priority for all guests as well as franchisees. The brand goes beyond beauty  it is strategically positioned to meet growing customer demands within the wellness and self-care industries with an established foundation for business success.

"We're eager to build on the momentum of this partnership to make our catwalk-quality blow outs accessible to women across the Northwest" said Vanessa Yakobson, CEO of Blo Blow Dry Bar. "Our proven business model, strong culture and exceptional franchisees means great growth opportunities for our sector-leading brand."

Blo Blow Dry Bar is currently seeking single- and multi- unit operators to join the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities visit https://franchise.blomedry.com/.

About Blo Blow Dry Bar

Blo Blow Dry Bar is North America's original blow dry bar and the world's largest blow dry bar franchise. The company transformed beauty norms and reinvented the salon industry when it launched the "no cuts, no color" concept: only blow outs. Since opening its first location in Canada in 2007, Blo has grown to over 130 locations across the U.S. and Canada and continues to expand rapidly. With a mission to enhance the lives of those in the community through the power of flawless blow outs and beauty services, Blo Blow Dry Bar offers perfectly styled hair and exceptional customer experiences seven days a week. For more information visit www.blomedry.com.

Media Contact: Marisa Beaumont, Fishman Public Relations, (414) 366-3317, [email protected]

SOURCE Blo Blow Dry Bar

Related Links

http://www.blomedry.com


MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cano Health, Inc. ("Cano Health") (NYSE: CANO), a leading value-based primary care provider for seniors and underserved communities, today announced the appointment of Christine Cannella as Vice President of Investor Relations, effective today.

"Christine brings a wealth of experience with sell-side and buy-side equity analysts, deep knowledge of capital markets, and a strong network across the investment community," said Brian Koppy, Chief Financial Officer of Cano Health. "Her strong financial and analytical skills, coupled with her expertise in developing best-in-class investor relations functions, will be instrumental as we continue to advance our vision of becoming America's Primary Care provider and driving long-term value for our shareholders."

Cannella has more than two decades of leadership experience across investor relations and communications. She most recently served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Fresh Del Monte Produce, where she played an integral role in driving the company's overall investor relations framework and successful evolution to a robust, market-driven organization. She began her career at NationsRent, a company within the former H. Wayne Huizenga investment portfolio, where she was instrumental in designing and implementing investor relations and communications functions following the company's public listing.

Cannella graduated from Barry University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business and earned her MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

About Cano Health

Cano Health operates value-based primary care medical centers and supports affiliated medical practices that specialize in primary care for seniors in Florida, Texas, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico, with additional markets in development. As part of its care coordination strategy, Cano Health provides sophisticated, high-touch population health management programs including telehealth, prescription home delivery, wellness programs, transition of care, and high-risk and complex care management.

Cano Health's personalized patient care and proactive approach to wellness and preventive care sets it apart from competitors. Cano Health has consistently improved clinical outcomes while reducing costs, affording patients the opportunity to lead longer and healthier lives. Cano Health serves a predominantly minority population (80% of its patients are Latino or African American) and low-income population (50% of its members are dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid). For more information visit www.canohealth.com or www.canohealth.com/investors/.

Contacts

Media Relations

Patricia Graue

Brunswick Group

(212) 333-3810

[email protected]

Media Relations  Local (FL)

Barbara Ferreiro

Cano Health

(305) 790-6731

[email protected]

SOURCE Cano Health, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Canvas , the world's first Diversity Recruitment Platform, announced today a Series C round of $50 million led by Owl Ventures , with participation from Sequoia, Lachy Groom, Zoom Apps Fund, HighSage Ventures, BAM Elevate and Fifth Down Capital. Coupled with the Series C is the launch of a new product, Canvas Diversity Analytics & Benchmarking , which will set the industry standard for increasing diversity in Corporate America. Already adopted by prominent companies including Airbnb, Bloomberg, Lyft, Pinterest, Roblox, and more, Canvas offers a differentiated approach for understanding, benchmarking and evolving diversity in the workplace through access to the largest ever pool of self-reported candidate diversity data.

Valued at $400M, Canvas is trailblazing a new industry category in recruiting that helps companies take action on their diversity goals by utilizing candidates' self-reported data to identify talent, rather than inferred data that might be inaccurate or illegal.

"The biggest problem in recruiting right now isn't talent or opportunity, it's data," said Ben Herman, CEO of Canvas. "Every company may have good intentions to spearhead diversity initiatives, but research shows that most diversity programs aren't increasing diversity. We want to change that for businesses by improving accessibility to the best underrepresented talent with insights based on self reported data - while creating systems of accountability that actually move the needle."

Diversity and inclusion has remained a front-and-center theme in the workforce. And now, for the first time in over 30 years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission modified its disclosure rules, requiring that public companies provide a far greater window into their human capital management than ever before. Previously, organizations only had to disclose their number of employees. Today, they must divulge human capital metrics considered to be material to an understanding of the company's business, including diversity and inclusion .

"Canvas is providing best-in-class recruiting tools that will revolutionize the way companies hire exceptional and diverse talent. We believe self-reported data is the new gold standard in modern day recruitment and Canvas is poised to take the lead in this category. We are incredibly impressed with the passion and dedication of the Canvas management team and cannot wait to support them as they become the industry standard for diversity recruiting in the US and around the world," said Jenny Wang, Investor at Owl Ventures.

Canvas' new Diversity Analytics & Benchmarking product provides companies with detailed data insights and diversity benchmarks, so hiring teams can uncover diversity disparities, identify biases and track progress in real time. Additionally, the product allows companies to get visibility into their own diversity hiring metrics relative to companies of similar industries and sizes. Recruiters can now view at-a-glance how their top-of-funnel compares, grouped by ethnicity or gender from the analytics dashboard, and spot and prioritize equity efforts more confidently to achieve diversity hiring goals.

With 3x revenue growth YOY, Canvas plans to use the Series C proceeds to expand its product into other industries and verticals outside of technology, and address later stages of people's careers. The company will also make new R&D investments to further develop the Canvas platform's insights and recommendation systems.

About Canvas

Canvas is the #1 Diversity Recruitment Platform (DRP). It's the new way to hire diverse teams with confidence and gain full transparency into the diversity of applicants in your hiring process. Companies like Lyft, Headspace, Airbnb & Dropbox use Canvas to understand the diversity of their recruiting pipeline, source underrepresented talent, run engaging virtual events, enhance employer brand, and measure the ROI of their diversity recruiting initiatives.

SOURCE Canvas
BERLIN, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- castLabs , secure digital video delivery solutions provider, has been selected by Formuler to validate and certify their Widevine DRM device integration through Google's new Third Party Labs (3PL) program as a licensed and authorized third party.

The 3PL program allows a small selection of authorized partners, like castLabs, to conduct independent testing and compliance on behalf of Google for Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM) integrations into Android open source project (AOSP) device platforms, as well as Verified Media Path (VMP) signing for apps using the Chromium or Electron frameworks.

On behalf of Google, castLabs performed Widevine certification for three models of Formuler set-top boxes according to the Widevine requirements. This new process allowed Formuler to receive full guidance throughout the procedure where castLabs transparently communicated all steps and helped to obtain certification in the shortest time possible based on their integration needs. This was achieved through the knowledgeable expert team at castLabs who were able to answer questions and guide Formuler without the otherwise necessary help from Google.

"The rapid growth of over-the-top content delivery platforms and shifting consumer content consumption patterns requires secure end-to-end delivery of premium contents to any connected device. Widevine provides standardized, multi-platform, multi-format, industry-leading secure content protection trusted and used by all major OTT service providers and broadcasters. Formuler has chosen to implement Widevine Level 1 content protection in its products and castLabs, a Google 3PL partner, played an integral role in the Widevine certification process for Formuler OTT devices," said Andrew Kim, General Manager at Formuler.

Widevine certification through a 3PL program allowed Formuler to get assistance with their implementation and approval of Widevine integrated devices to securely deliver protected content to their clients. Formuler focuses on rapid and agile product development that allows it to remain on the cutting-edge of ever-changing technology trends. castLabs is happy to support them on the journey to be the recognized performance leader of the IPTV-OTT industry.

"We have been continuously working and partnering with Google on many projects and we are honored to be a part of their 3PL program. This program helps customers to quickly and securely enable and certify Widevine implementations. We make sure that our technical development team assists in this process with a hands-on approach to help organizations successfully achieve a certified and secure implementation. castLabs is excited to elevate our partnership with Google Widevine to the next level and help remove friction for an ever-growing number of Widevine implementers," mentioned Michael Stattmann, CEO at castLabs.

About castLabs

castLabs pioneers software and cloud services for digital video markets worldwide. Their solutions enable the playback of secured premium content over a large selection of consumer devices and platforms for high-quality video experiences. castLabs' range of applications and services include DRMtoday DRM and CAS licensing, PRESTOplay player SDKs, and Video Toolkit processing. castLabs is based in Berlin, Germany.

About Formuler

Formuler specializes in the development, design, production, and support of OTT and digital linear broadcast customer-premises equipment. Their wide array of advanced products allow end-users to consume a variety of content from a multitude of sources including IPTV, OTT, and traditional digital broadcast mediums such as DVB and ATSC. Formuler's mission is to provide end-users with a premium device that is easy-to-use, and a user experience that makes it enjoyable to find and experience high quality content on the big-screen. FORMULER and the FORMULER logo are trademarks of Aloys Inc. Aloys Inc. is based near Seoul, Korea.

https://www.formuler.tv/

SOURCE castLabs GmbH
AVIGNON, France, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The third Friday of every September marks International #GrenacheDay http://www.grenache-association.com/grenacheday/ -- an online social media event celebrating one of the most widely planted grapes in the world.

Take part in International #GrenacheDay on Friday September 17th 2021. The Great Grape of Grenache as producer by winemaker Peter Fraser at Yangarra Estate in McLaren Vale Australia shows the global diversity of the grape. Photo courtesy of photographer Milton Wordley and Peter Fraser at Yangarra Estate

This year the Grenache Association is asking all wine lovers to raise a glass of Grenache and toast wine savant and entrepreneur Steven Spurrier who passed on March 9, 2021. As an Englishman in Paris, Spurrier is perhaps best known for putting Californian wines on the map in 1976 when he included them in a blind tasting with French wines  a moment captured in film ("Bottle Shock"), an upcoming documentary ("Judgement of Paris") by Jason Wise, numerous books, and wine lore.

Spurrier was keen to also put Grenache on the map and was a force behind the 2010 International Grenache Symposium in Provence which he co-chaired with French wine critic Michel Bettane. According to Spurrier, "Grenache has more "old vines" than any other variety and is a "noble grape"  the hero of the wine world." He brought together 256 participants over 3 days with panels, workshops, and a tasting with 1600 Grenache wines from 12 countries.

Spurrier attracted attendees such as Philippe Cambie from France, Randall Grahm and Doug Margerum from the the US, Eben Sadie and Michael Fridjhon from South Africa, Chester Osborn and Stephen Henschke from Australia, Alvario Palacio and Pancho Campo MW from Spain, and many others.

His co-founders Nicole Rolet of Chene Bleu and Walter McKinley of Domaine de Mourchon donated their time tirelessly to create the not-for-profit social media phenomenon #GrenacheDay with the help of top wine aficionados, wineries, producers, wine writers, and a team of ambassadors like Andy Abramson of Comunicano in the USA and Russell Gallagher, from Serafino Wines, in Australia.

"Steven triggered a groundswell of interest in Grenache based on the force of his personality and cult," smiles Nicole Rolet. "The symposium was an extraordinary meeting of the minds; he thought it was mostly spurned by the French since it was run by an Englishman at a vineyard owned by an American." I think he liked the challenge it was his Judgement of Provence!"

Grenache (aka Garnacha, Garnaxta, Alicate, Aragones, Cannonau) is cultivated for its ability as a stand-alone velvety wine expressing its deep-rooted terroir and umami mouthfeel in every sip; it has a supreme blending capability to make great wines greater.

#GrenacheDay Fun:

Celebrate Steven Spurrier's life and watch "Bottle Shock" with friends (Prime Video, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube Movies).

life and watch "Bottle Shock" with friends (Prime Video, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube Movies). Share your celebration with the world on the #GrenacheDay Google MyMap which brings together a Global Gathering of Grenachistas. List Your Event Here

which brings together a Global Gathering of Grenachistas. Join the conversation with #GrenacheDay and post your photos and videos on Twitter @grenache_global , Facebook Facebook.com/GrenacheDay or Instagram .

and post your photos and videos on Twitter , Facebook or . Download a #GrenacheDay image http://www.grenache-association.com/grenacheday/

EDITORS NOTES:

HOW IT ALL BEGAN!

CONTACT:

Marlene Angelloz [email protected], +33 6 61 60 95 96

Jane Silverman [email protected], +1 305-587-8570

Media: http://www.grenache-association.com/media

SOURCE Grenache Association
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mika Tienhaara, CEO of Rocsole Ltd, has received two accolades in the 2021 Business Worldwide Magazine CEO Awards.

The awards identify and celebrate the most respected executives and business leaders from around the world, across a wide range of business sectors and industries. Unlike many other business awards that celebrate organisations as a whole, here the emphasis is on the outstanding individuals at their helms. The aim of the awards is to give these individuals the recognition they deserve, while encouraging others to achieve similar successes. Mika Tienhaara was the outright winner in two categories; 'Growth Strategy CEO of the Year - Finland' & 'Most Innovative CEO in the Oil & Gas Industry'.

The oil and gas sector is continuously under scrutiny. From the impact of oil prices on national economies to the pressures of climate change, the list of challenges is long and complex. Technology offers a range of solutions to these problems, but the industry has been slow to adopt new ways of working. As a fierce advocate for technological innovation, Mika Tienhaara is at the forefront of the revolution, inspiring many others in the process.

Until Rocsole Ltd entered the market, leaders have struggled to weigh up the pros and cons of adopting new technologies in an industry that's been working perfectly well for years. The motto until now has largely been "if it ain't broke don't fix it", but with environmental, financial and safety issues becoming more prevalent by the day, it was time for a radical change. With Tienhaara's passion for innovation and deep understanding of how to implement changes in a positive way, Rocsole Ltd has been able to deliver products to the oil and gas sector that are delivering impressive returns for their clients and partners.

Rocsole's range of solutions include separator, pipeline and tank profiling solutions that are based on providing operators with a way of accurately measuring the changing state of substances within the equipment at any given point, leading the way for digital transformation for the next level of operational excellence. Using electrical tomography, Rocsole solutions are able to carry out forensic analysis of what is happening in the equipment, facilitating crucial adjustments in the process to ensure that risks and carbon footprint are reduced and effective production is kept at the highest levels of efficiency.

Speaking to Business Worldwide Magazine, Tienhaara said, "At Rocsole there is a great emphasis on our people, who are the beating heart of our company. Our passionate team is committed to change, and dedicated to pursuing our aims. As we grow, it's crucial that we keep supporting our people and bringing new experts onboard to join us on our journey.

For further information on this innovative organisation and its technology please visit the company website at https://rocsole.com Further information about

An article on the company can be found on the Business Worldwide Magazine website: https://www.bwmonline.com/2021/08/15/bringing-innovation-back-to-oil/

Further information on the individuals and companies which picked up titles in the CEO Awards 2021 can be found at https://www.bwmonline.com/ceo-awards-winners-2021/

About Business Worldwide Magazine

Business Worldwide Magazine is the leading source of business and dealmaker intelligence throughout the world. Our quarterly magazine and online news portal enables an established audience of corporate dealmakers to track the latest news, stories and developments affecting the international markets, corporate finance, business strategy and changes in legislation. This readership includes of CEO/CFO - Banks, Corporate Lawyers and Venture Capital/Private Equity Companies to name a few.

Contact

David Jones

Awards Department

E: [email protected]



W: http://www.bwmonline.com

SOURCE Business Worldwide Magazine
MIRAMAR, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Claro Enterprise Solutions , a leading global technology services company, today announced that Cybersecurity industry expert Myrna Soto will provide advisory services to strengthen and expand the firm's suite of Security offerings.

Soto is Founder and CEO of Apogee Executive Advisors LLC, a consulting firm specializing in the areas of Corporate Governance, Technology Risk Management, Cybersecurity, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Development, Public & Private Board Service and Capital Investments. She also serves as a Board Member for several publicly traded organizations and a number of private companies. Prior to founding Apogee, Soto held a range of senior executive IT management positions, including nine years as Global Chief Information Security Officer at Comcast Corp. She also served as the COO of a Managed Security Services (MSSP) organization and a venture capital investor for early-stage Cybersecurity companies.

"Engaging a cybersecurity guru of Myrna's stature will deliver significant benefit to our customers," said Jorge Rodriguez, President and CEO of Claro Enterprise Solutions. "Her insights and expertise will be essential to aligning our Cybersecurity service offerings to the challenges of today's continually evolving risk landscape."

A key focus area will be to evaluate Claro Enterprise Solutions' portfolio of Security offerings, which currently includes Security Awareness Training, Vulnerability Analysis, Penetration Testing, Cyber Intelligence Services and Perimeter Security Services. In addition to identifying target markets and industry sectors for these products and services, she will leverage her expertise and insights to optimize the value that Claro Enterprise Solutions' Security offerings deliver to customers.

"In today's challenging environment, Security strategies must increasingly be tailored to specific business requirements," said Soto. "With its breadth and depth of resources, Claro Enterprise Solutions is ideally positioned to deliver the right mix of capabilities in a cost-effective manner. I'm looking forward to working with the team."

About Claro Enterprise Solutions

Claro Enterprise Solutions , LLC is a global technology services company that provides proven, tailored solutions and a seamless customer experience to help businesses evolve and adapt to constant change. The company has two decades of experience across 25 countries and focuses on continually developing new approaches to enterprise solutions for businesses of all sizes. From digital innovation to streamlined operations, from enhanced security to guaranteed reliability, our products and services help businesses run better, faster and more efficiently.

Media Contact:

Claro Enterprise Solutions

Alex Kozlov

[email protected]

617-620-4180

SOURCE Claro Enterprise Solutions

Related Links

https://www.usclaro.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice ("Coalition") announced today settlements valued at $1.037 billion with one of Boy Scouts of America's insurers, Hartford Financial Services Group, for $787 million and one of its chartered organizations, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (TCJC), for $250 million. This agreement is supported by Coalition members, as well as Boys Scouts of America, local Boy Scouts councils, and the future claims representative.

Today's settlement follows an $850 million settlement announced on July 1st, consisting of a value of $250 million from Boy Scouts of America and $600 million from its more than 250 local councils. This brings the total amount of monetary compensation available thus far to survivors to $1.887 billion, with additional settlements expected in the coming weeks. Negotiations with other insurers and sponsoring and chartered organizations are actively ongoing.

Coalition co-Founder Ken Rothweiler of Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, P.C., stated: "Our goal from the start has been to build the largest compensation fund possible. I represent thousands of survivors of horrific sexual abuse inflicted upon them when they were children. These settlements represent the start of a series of anticipated multi-billion-dollar settlements with insurers, sponsoring and chartered organizations."

Coalition co-Founder Anne Andrews of Andrews & Thornton stated: "The Coalition's refrain from the beginning has been, 'No survivor left behind, compensation at the earliest time.' While the sexual abuse inflicted upon the brave survivors in this case occurred, in some instances, many decades ago, it still feels as fresh as ever. There is no reason to further prolong the trauma."

Coalition member Adam Slater of Slater Slater Schulman LLP stated: "This series of settlements delivers these survivors the justice they deserve. We want to make sure they are able to see payment and accountability from their abusers within their lifetimes."

Through the efforts of the Coalition over the past year, the Survivors' Compensation Trust has grown from an $850 million settlement with Boy Scouts of America and local councils to include settlements with Hartford Financial Services Group for $787 million, and TCJC for $250 million, bringing the total compensation to fund the Survivors' Trust to date to $1.887 billion. Survivors will eventually have the opportunity to vote on the broadly supported restructuring plan, which is expected to include settlements with additional chartered and sponsoring organizations, insurers, and other third parties, further increasing the size of this historic, multi-billion-dollar settlement.

The Coalition is comprised of 27 law firms who collectively represent more than 65,000 childhood sexual assault abuse survivors nationwide.

Media Contact

Andrew Merrill / Brian Schaffer / Joan Vollero

[email protected]

SOURCE The Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Compass, the real estate technology company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire LegacyTexas Title Co., a leading title insurance company serving Dallas-Fort Worth. The acquisition will significantly strengthen the company's growing portfolio of title and escrow businesses.

"At Compass, when we hear that agents love something, we take notice, and when we look at the Dallas market, it's clear that Compass agents are overwhelmingly choosing to work with LegacyTexas Title," said Compass Founder and CEO Robert Reffkin. "We're thrilled to welcome LegacyTexas Title to Compass, their incredible reputation and their track record of impeccable service makes them an ideal partner for Compass as we grow our adjacent services business throughout all our markets."

LegacyTexas Title is a leading provider of title insurance services for purchase and refinance transactions throughout Dallas-Fort Worth. The company's experienced and dedicated team of title professionals are among the most trusted in the region. The Compass acquisition of LegacyTexas Title will build upon the many existing relationships between Compass agents and this respected provider of title services.

"Compass and LegacyTexas Title approach customer service the same way  we both believe that when you combine a reliable process with exceptional customer service you're able to create a best-in-class experience for your customers," said Laurence Henry, President of LegacyTexas Title. "We're excited to join Compass during this pivotal time in the real estate industry and we look forward to taking our company to the next level."

The transaction is contingent upon regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of the year. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed. In February of this year Compass announced the acquisition of Washington D.C. area title insurance and settlement services company, KVS Title. In October of 2020 the company acquired the title and escrow software startup, Modus. The addition of LegacyTexas Title will further extend Compass' fast-growing title and escrow services portfolio, which now serves California, Florida, Washington State, Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Texas.

About Compass

Founded in 2012, Compass is a leading real estate technology company, providing an end-to-end platform that empowers its residential real estate agents to deliver exceptional service to seller and buyer clients. The platform includes an integrated suite of cloud-based software for customer relationship management, marketing, client service, brokerage services and other critical functionality, all custom-built for the real estate industry. Compass agents utilize the platform to grow their business, save time and manage their business more effectively. For more information on how Compass empowers real estate agents, one of the largest groups of small business owners in the country, please visit www.Compass.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release that refer to future events or other non-historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect Compass' current perspective on existing trends and information as of the date of this release. Statements containing words such as "could," "believe," "expect," "intend," "will," or similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from Compass' current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting Compass' business, including, but not limited to, expansion into new markets, prevailing market conditions, the impact of general economic, industry or political conditions in the United States or internationally, and risks related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative, but is not exhaustive. For information about other potential factors that could affect Compass' business and financial results, please review the "Risk Factors" described in Compass' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on August 10, 2021, and Compass' other filings with the SEC. Except as may be required by law, Compass undertakes no obligation, and does not intend, to update these forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

Contact: Chris O'Brien, [email protected]

SOURCE Compass

Related Links

http://www.compass.com


MEMPHIS, Tenn., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Concorde Career Colleges, a national leader in health care education, has announced a new Associate of Science in Nursing Practice (ASN) program at its Memphis campus that will provide a pathway for students who want to start as quickly as possible in an in-demand career.

Enrollment is now open and classes will begin November 8, 2021.

The employment of registered nurses (RN) is estimated to grow 7% from 2019 to 2029 because of the aging of the baby boomer population and increased emphasis on preventive care, according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, there could be about 100,000 registered nursing jobs available per year by 2022, far more than other professions, according to the American Nurses Association.

Concorde's Associate Degree in Nursing Practice program provides students with hands-on training in hospital, clinical and private practice settings, and the skills required to practice competently and safely as an RN. The ASN program is fast-paced, with 77 credit hours to be completed in as few as 21 months.

"The ASN program is an ideal opportunity for students who want to serve as a nurse during a time of increased need in this profession," said Concorde President and CEO Jami Frazier. "Students can pursue a rewarding career that has many opportunities for academic and clinical advancement."

With an ASN, students can pursue many career opportunities including:

Acute care nursing

Geriatric nursing

Pediatric nursing

Clinical nurse liaison

Home care nursing

Nursing courses will be a mixture of classroom learning, hands-on learning in the skills lab and simulations lab, as well as real-life experiences in a clinical setting. Concorde-Memphis has enthusiastic faculty dedicated to helping students gain the skills they need to obtain entry-level positions in the field of nursing.

The program prepares students to apply to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses and to the Tennessee Board of Nursing for licensure.

The Concorde-Memphis campus offers a variety of healthcare programs and is at 5100 Poplar Ave., Suite 132, between Mendenhall and White Station. For more information, visit the campus website or call 901-881-2694.

About Concorde Career Colleges, Inc.

Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., which operates 17 campuses in eight states under the brands Concorde Career College and Concorde Career Institute, prepares America's next generation of health care and dental professionals for rewarding careers. The Concorde hybrid/blended education model combines online coursework with in-person lab classes and clinical experiences. Concorde's 25 student-focused academic programs and personalized support prepares graduates for in-demand careers in nursing, dental, respiratory, diagnostic and other health care roles. Concorde is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and the Council on Occupational Education (COE). For more information, visit www.concorde.edu.

Contact:

Devyn Raver

CBD Marketing

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 312.661.1050

SOURCE Concorde Career Colleges
HACKENSACK, N.J. and ADDISON, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Panaya, the industry leader for SAP S4/HANA Change Intelligence and Test Management solutions, and Worksoft, the industry's leading provider of end-to-end enterprise automation for packaged applications, announced today that their joint solution has been selected by Shiseido, one of the world's largest cosmetics manufacturers, to accelerate and de-risk their SAP S/4HANA implementation as part of their unified global e-commerce strategy. The Cosmetics powerhouse Shiseido chose Panaya and Worksoft's fully integrated solution delivering market-leading automated process discovery and testing, Impact Analysis and test management to futureproof and expedite their move to S/4HANA at a significantly higher ROI than other leading testing solutions the company considered. The Panaya and Worksoft solution seamlessly links changes to automated testing of business processes, resulting in up to a 99% reduction in defect risk, 98% reduction in test scope and 85% reduction in testing time.

The implementation of the joint solution from Panaya and Worksoft aligns with the goals of Shiseido's worldwide business transformation program, known as the FOCUS Program ("First One Connected & Unified Shiseido"), a digital transformation initiative to centralize the management of global IT operations and standards across its 38 countries to drive growth in a post-digital era with a focus on superior customer experiences.

"The ability to change and adapt our IT systems with maximum speed has become imperative to keeping pace with an evolving marketplace and shifting consumer demands for digital experiences. With deep SAP expertise and superior functionality, the joint solution from Panaya and Worksoft is an ideal fit for our FOCUS Program to help us analyze our changes, get real-time reporting, and accelerate and automate our testing", said Venkatesh Somasundaram, Global Business Solution Lead of the Focus Program at Shiseido. "The solution allows us to accelerate transformation while maintaining the superior quality our customers expect from Shiseido. Given our six-year relationship with Panaya and after evaluating other leading testing tools, the fully integrated solution from Worksoft and Panaya was the clear choice to match the velocity of our program by keeping risks of deployment under control."

"Panaya and Worksoft were key enablers to accelerate our testing automation as we migrating to a single global IT platform in Shiseido, under the FOCUS program", added Francois Keet, Vice President, Business Transformation at Shiseido.

"We're pleased to continue to assist multinationals like Shiseido to keep one step ahead of their SAP S4/HANA rollout," said Zinette Ezra, Chief Product Officer at Panaya. "With so many unknowns in an S/4HANA migration project, ensuring zero defects when going live while optimizing cost and quality can make a tough project that much easier," she concluded.

"Change Intelligence from Panaya combined with our Connective Automation delivers the industry's most robust and effective way for enterprises to futureproof change and eliminate risk in major digital transformation projects like S/4HANA," said Worksoft chief product and strategy officer, Shoeb Javed. "With the join solution in place, Shiseido has the ability to analyze changes, get real-time reporting, and automate testingat the pace of innovation their forward-thinking strategies requires."

About Shiseido

Founded in 1872, Shiseido is a Japanese multinational personal care company, and one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world. Operating in over 120 countries and regions, with over 33,000 employees worldwide, Shiseido is the fifth largest cosmetics company in the world. For more information, please visit www.shiseido.com.

About Panaya

Panaya enables organizations to accelerate application change and continuously deliver innovation with its Change Intelligence Platform. Panaya, a certified SAP partner, provides cloud-based application delivery and testing solutions to ensure collaboration between Business and IT. Enabling enterprise agility with faster release velocity and uncompromising quality, Panaya delivers an optimized user experience with end-to-end visibility of the application lifecycle. Since 2008, 3,000 companies in 62 countries, including a third of the Fortune 500, have been using Panaya to deliver quick quality change to enterprise ERP and CRM applications. For more information, contact Panaya at [email protected] or visit www.panaya.com. For media inquiries, contact Dana Averbouch, [email protected].

About Worksoft

Worksoft, a certified SAP partner, provides Connective Automation for the world's largest organizations, automating the full lifecycle of a business process from discovery to testing to RPA. Our codeless automation empowers QA teams and global leaders to deliver flawless applications faster and more efficiently with the ability to repurpose automation for RPA in production for maximum scalability. This enables Fortune 1000 companies to accelerate delivery for their mission-critical business applications like SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, Workday, SuccessFactors, ServiceNow, and more. Recognized by global enterprise customers and top system integrators as the gold standard for SAP testing, Worksoft automation is embedded into their ERP practices to support their Agile, DevOps, and SAFe methodologies and accelerate digital transformations. For more information, contact Worksoft at [email protected] or visit www.worksoft.com. For media inquiries, contact Liz Blackman, [email protected], or +1 (972) 993-0425.

SOURCE Panaya; Worksoft
DENVER and NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Crownpeak, the leading digital experience platform, today announced the launch of the Crownpeak Experience Optimization Engine, powered by Dynamic Yield. With this solution, companies can create, optimize and deliver individualized digital experiences across channels, at scale  increasing revenue, loyalty and engagement. The solution comes as part of a strategic partnership, aimed at helping more companies harness the power of personalization, between Crownpeak and Dynamic Yield, the Experience Optimization platform.

In today's digital world, tailoring online content, recommendations and experiences to each buyer turns prospects into customers, and buyers into repeat buyers. For B2B and B2C marketers alike, personalization is an important and strategic part of their toolkit. In fact, according to Gartner, "32% of digital marketing leaders say that 'creating and delivering personalized experiences for customers' is among their top three digital marketing objectives for 2021."1

"Buyers today are more empowered, independent and online  often preferring to navigate their journeys themselves, rather than engage with sales upfront," said Lacey Ford, CMO, Crownpeak. "That's why it's incredibly important to provide tailored, relevant and easy-to-navigate digital experiences that draw prospects to you and keep them engaged. Our experience optimization engine and partnership with Dynamic Yield enable companies to make the most of their content  using personalization and A/B testing to create cohesive buyer journeys and impactful customer experiences that ultimately increase sales."

Positioned as a Leader in the Gartner "Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines" four times in a row,2 Dynamic Yield algorithmically matches content, products and offers to each individual based on their online activities, historical behavior and more. And its advanced AdaptML system uses a self-training deep learning model to predict and recommend products that are most likely to drive engagement and purchases.

The Crownpeak Experience Optimization Engine integrates Dynamic Yield's technology into Crownpeak's digital experience platform (DXP) and hybrid headless CMS. Companies can build, test and deploy experiences that are maximally relevant and useful across the customer journey  taking advantage of capabilities including:

AI-powered content recommendations that evolve as individuals' preferences do, for real-time, one-to-one relevance.

that evolve as individuals' preferences do, for real-time, one-to-one relevance. Advanced segmentation and analytics , for the identification of, and personalization to, key audience segments.

, for the identification of, and personalization to, key audience segments. Personalization everywhere , such as the layout, menu bars, display ads, pop-ups, calls-to-action (CTAs), text and more.

, such as the layout, menu bars, display ads, pop-ups, calls-to-action (CTAs), text and more. Cohesive cross-channel experiences , enabling customers to pick up where they left off, whether on desktop, mobile or email.

, enabling customers to pick up where they left off, whether on desktop, mobile or email. Unified profiles , based on a single view of each customer or prospect, for personalization using the most up-to-date data.

, based on a single view of each customer or prospect, for personalization using the most up-to-date data. Automated testing and optimization to improve workflows, maximize content performance and achieve incrementality.

to improve workflows, maximize content performance and achieve incrementality. Cross-functional application that's easy for both non-technical marketers and developers to use.

"The combination of Dynamic Yield and Crownpeak is incredibly powerful for organizations," said Anoop Vasisht, VP of Partnerships at Dynamic Yield. "Dynamic Yield determines the optimal content or offer to show each individual or microsegment, and Crownpeak orchestrates the experience delivery to any device, across any digital channel. All this happens in real time  maximizing the impact and likelihood of conversion."

Crownpeak and Dynamic Yield will hold a webinar on Thursday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. ET, to provide more information on their complementary technologies, the power of personalization and how to use the Crownpeak Experience Optimization Engine.

To register for the free event, titled "Where Content and Personalization Meet in the World of DXPs," please visit https://www.crownpeak.com/resources/webcasts/where-content-and-personalization-meet-in-the-world-of-dxps.

1Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant for Personalization Engines, Jason McNellis, Claire Tassin and Jennifer Polk. July 19, 2021.

2Ibid.

Disclaimer

GARTNER and MAGIC QUADRANT are a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Crownpeak

Crownpeak provides the leading digital experience platform. The industry's only true SaaS-based solution, Crownpeak offers best-in-breed capabilities that empower companies to create, deploy and optimize omnichannel digital experiences  faster and easier than ever, and with zero infrastructure to maintain.

Removing the barriers to managing digital experiences, Crownpeak's built-in tools address content management, experience optimization and governance, personalization, web accessibility and privacy UX. Companies can deliver high-impact, trust-building experiences at scale that are brand-consistent and compliant with global privacy laws  improving loyalty, engagement and revenue. For more information, please visit www.crownpeak.com.

About Dynamic Yield

Dynamic Yield helps enterprise brands quickly deliver and test personalized, optimized, and synchronized digital customer interactions. Marketing, Product, Development, and eCommerce teams from more than 350 global brands are using Dynamic Yield's Experience Optimization platform as the technology layer on top of existing CMS or Commerce solutions to iterate faster and algorithmically match content, products, and offers to each individual for the acceleration of long-term business value.

Media Contacts:

Sara Card

Crownpeak

703.327.4866

[email protected]

Shana Pilewski

Dynamic Yield

516.441.0967

[email protected]

SOURCE Crownpeak
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cumulus Neuroscience (Cumulus, The Company), a leading global innovator providing real-world clinical trial data and AI-powered insights to accelerate the development of life-changing CNS therapies, announces that Dr Ruth McKernan CBE, a Founder and Director of the company, has been appointed as Chair.

Dr McKernan, neuroscientist, is a Venture Partner at the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a specialist venture capital fund managed by SV Health Investors, where she has been involved in co-founding DDF companies Loqus23 and AstronauTX. Immediately prior to joining DDF, she spent three years as CEO of the UK Government's Innovation agency, InnovateUK and played a key role in creating the Industrial Strategy Challenge and supporting Technology centres and SMEs.

Ruth has 25 years of research and development experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including heading up research units in the UK and the US. Ruth's previous roles include Senior Vice President at Pfizer and Head of the Merck Neuroscience Research Centre. She has been a member of the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and is a trustee at Alzheimer's Research UK. Ruth is an active and enthusiastic entrepreneur who currently chairs the UK BioIndustry Association and adds Cumulus to her other Board roles at Cerevel and AstronauTx.

Ruth's awards and achievements include a CBE in 2013 for services to Business, Innovation and Skills, a Fulbright Scholarship and a Glaxo/ABSW Science Writers' Award. Ruth is the author of more than 120 scientific papers and 15 patents as well as a book for non-scientists, "Billy's Halo".

Cumulus Neuroscience CEO Ronan Cunningham commented: "We are delighted that Ruth has agreed to become Chair of Cumulus Neuroscience. She has played an instrumental role in the founding and early development of the company, helping to bring together the suite of technologies that enable our integrated platform. Her considerable experience and broad knowledge of the field will be invaluable in the further development and clinical application of our technology."

Ruth McKernan, newly appointed Chair added: "The formation of Cumulus Neuroscience, represents a significant opportunity to address some of the current limitations of clinical trials in dementia and other brain disorders. There are many new therapeutics for dementia now in research and clinical studies. A broad-based fully integrated platform that accurately reports disease progression will accelerate getting those medicines to patients. I look forward to continuing to work with Cumulus  it is an exciting new company with wonderful ambition."

About Cumulus Neuroscience

Cumulus Neuroscience is the next generation integrated physiological and digital biomarker platform for brain health. It provides critical insights and data to clinical trial, to accelerate the development and delivery of central nervous system (CNS) therapies to patients.

Our innovative platform has been designed to greatly improve the robustness of neuroscience clinical trials by allowing better and timely assessment of drug candidates earlier in development, with the aim in time to provide an industry-wide standard for real-world measurement of disease progression and treatment response.

Our platform has been developed to capture large amounts of real-world lab-quality data through time across multiple behavioural and physiological domains by tracking physiology, functions and symptoms in the patient's home. The platform also provides cutting-edge AI-based data analysis allowing it to provide the best and most cost-effective assessment of CNS treatment outcomes.

Cumulus Neuroscience is confident that it can play an important role in assisting its pharma and biotech partners to develop transformational therapies to address multiple important neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, where treatment options are extremely limited.

The Company is supported by highly experienced specialised investor DDF/SV Health Investors as well as LifeArc and Future Fund together with a world-class Scientific and Technical Advisory Board.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Cumulus Neuroscience

Ronan Cunningham, CEO & Co-Founder

[email protected]

Tel: +44 28 9264 6600

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

Frazer Hall, Evelyn McCormack, George Underwood

[email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

SOURCE Cumulus Neuroscience
KIRKLAND, Wash. and TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyberpion , a cybersecurity pioneer in external attack surface management (EASM), today presented research showing that nearly three quarters of Fortune 500 companies' IT infrastructure exists outside their organization, a quarter of which was found to have a known vulnerability that threat actors could infiltrate to access sensitive employee or customer data.

Key research findings:

73% of Fortune 500 companies' total IT infrastructure is external to the organization, of which 24% is considered at risk or has a known vulnerability

The total IT infrastructure includes the IT assets that are owned and operated by vendors the Fortune 500 enterprises incorporated into their online footprint



These IT assets include servers, cloud storage, CDNs, DNS (Domain Name Servers), email servers and other online elements

71% of total cloud-based IT assets are external to the organization, of which 25% failed at least one security test

An example of cloud vulnerability includes cloud storage configured to allow anyone to read or write its contents

On average, a Fortune 500 company's infrastructure contains 126 different login pages for either customer or employee portals or services - the highest number was over 3,000

Nearly 10% of these login pages are considered insecure due to the transmission of unencrypted login data, or issues with SSL certificates, which helps ensure that the submission is being sent to the authorized destination



30% allow transmission over HTTP



12% have invalid certificates/encryption



Hackers exploiting these logins could access a wealth of sensitive employee or customer data

Fortune 500 organizations connect to an average of 951 cloud assets, of which nearly 5% are vulnerable to severe abuse

For example, a misconfigured AWS bucket could allow hackers to read or overwrite the data which could be customer PII or application code



The largest exposure was well over 30K cloud assets

Cyberpion collected these results by performing a cursory single-pass scan of the public and internet-facing assets of every Fortune 500 company in the first half of 2021.

According to Gartner1, "EASM is an emerging concept that is growing quickly in terms of awareness within the security vendor community but at a slower pace within end-user organizations...They help security professionals identify exposed vulnerabilities from known and unknown enterprise assets and prioritize the most critical issues to be tackled...EASM should be part of a broader vulnerability and threat management effort aimed at discovering and managing internal- and external-facing assets and their potential vulnerabilities."

Traditional third-party risk management solutions have focused exclusively on the vendors and the IT infrastructures that are directly connected to the enterprise. This approach ignores the true scale of the problem and represents only the tip of the iceberg. Third-party vendors have also adopted a distributed IT infrastructure, and have built their applications and services using their own vendors and third-parties. Those in turn build their solutions upon even more partners. This extensive ecosystem creates an external attack surface that is uniquely appealing to hackers to attack, and extremely complicated for enterprises to manage securely.

Hackers are finding it easier to takeover or exploit the vulnerabilities in the third-party assets within the enterprise's ecosystem in order to carry out attacks such as: malicious code injection (Magecart-style attacks), DNS hijacks, or abusing the branded assets of an enterprise. These breaches ultimately lead to data loss, brand reputation damage, and stolen customer data for the enterprise.

"Security teams often can't effectively defend against attacks stemming from third-parties because they lack visibility into the total inventory and volume of assets they are connected to," said Cyberpion CEO Nethanel Gelertner. "They are unaware of the exposure to these external vulnerabilities, and can't identify and mitigate against these risks. In addition, the growth of these interconnected assets continues to explode due to trends in cloud-first architectures and digital transformation initiatives, meaning that assessing and protecting the attack surface has become even more challenging over time."

About Cyberpion

Cyberpion solves the rising cybersecurity challenge of understanding the risks and vulnerabilities of your connected online assets that form an external attack surface. Knowing how your organization is vulnerable, where those threats come from, and what infrastructures are at risk, is critical to preventing an attack before it happens. Cyberpion helps organizations mitigate these advanced threats by continuously monitoring, discovering, and assessing the threat vectors present throughout online ecosystems that exist outside the traditional security perimeter. With an R&D team based in Israel, the company is funded by leading cybersecurity venture capitalists. To learn more, visit cyberpion.com.

For more information, please contact:

Josh Turner

Si14 Global Communications

josh. [email protected]

1 Gartner, "Emerging Technologies: Critical Insights for External Attack Surface Management" by Ruggero Contu, Elizabeth Kim and Mark Wah, March 19, 2021

SOURCE Cyberpion
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Neosec today announced that it has emerged from stealth mode and completed its Series A fundraise with a total investment of $20.7 million from True Ventures, New Era Capital Partners, TLV and SixThirty in addition to security visionaries Mark Anderson, Gary Fish, Mickey Boodaei, Rakesh Loonkar and Shailesh Rao.

The company is taking a different approach from today's traditional application security tools that typically rely on protecting a perimeter using signature-based methodologies. Instead, Neosec brings established techniques from XDR (Extended Detection and Response) security products, including precise behavioral analytics, to reveal threats and business abuse hiding inside APIs.

"Today's new applications are all API-driven, which creates a new attack surface that puts business fundamentals at risk," said Brian Sack, principal at TLV Partners. "Traditional application security techniques are scarcely relevant in a cloud and API-first world."

APIs are the building blocks of digital business and help speed up innovation and software development by easily connecting businesses, partners and services. While APIs already represent a substantial portion of an organization's traffic, their rapid adoption has made them a conduit for misuse, manipulation, theft and attack. Most enterprises underestimate the risk, because they lack a comprehensive inventory of APIs and are unaware of the scale of unknown shadow APIs. They also have no way to assess what is being done within an API. Industry analysts have predicted that API abuses and attacks will soon become the most common vector for stealing from or impairing enterprises.

While some security solutions today claim to protect APIs, most rely on traditional signatures, and allow API calls to pass without any practical checks of their usage. These systems have no ability to recognize bad behavior within APIs, and they allow authenticated clients to freely interact with them, assuming they are safe and authorized. Without the ability to behaviorally assess APIs, organizations are unable to know if, for example:

Partners are abusing invoicing APIs or if a bad actor is producing fake orders

Attackers are scraping data from inventory APIs or conducting espionage

Regulated data is being accessed by unauthorized parties or moved out of certain geographies

Money is being diverted to criminals by an API accessed by a compromised partner

Business processes are being exposed or manipulated.

"Today, APIs contain both money and data as well as govern key interactions within a business and to customers, partners and suppliers," said Puneet Agarwal, partner at True Ventures. "Every API is a window into an organization's business systems and potentially exposes key business logic and processes. Ignoring this blind spot is no longer an option, so the need for a new approach to API security is critical."

Neosec's revolutionary data analytics approach discovers all APIs involved with an organization, based on existing logs without the need to install any sensors. The platform establishes and constantly maintains a complete inventory of APIs in use and even generates missing documentation for ones that are previously unknown. Neosec audits the risk posture of all discovered APIs and identifies those transferring sensitive data. The platform reveals any discrepancies between existing API documentation and the parameters of the API. It then flags those APIs that are vulnerable or misconfigured and require fixing.

Neosec automatically learns the baseline behavior of every API user and client, correlating and profiling for multiple entities, including users, customers, business processes and partners. It enables the ability to see, investigate, and threat hunt using detailed timelines of behavior of each user entity.

Neosec provides the unique ability to:

Reduce abuse and data theft from API scraping

Minimize fraud and unauthorized business transactions

Prevent threats and abuse hiding in APIs

Identify compromised users and credentials

Pinpoint risky APIs

Prevent expensive data leakage and compliance violations

Improve partner and customer experiences through better API performance

Neosec is led by co-founders CTO Ziv Sivan and CEO Giora Engel. The technology builds upon Engel's previous experiences in developing precision security behavioral analytics. Engel serves as the chair of the fraud prevention task force at Financial Data Exchange FDX within FS-ISAC , and worked in the elite Unit 8200 of the Israeli Intelligence Corps. Engel co-founded LightCyber, which invented the core Extended Detection and Response (XDR) technology by performing behavioral analytics on network and endpoint data to eliminate attacks. LightCyber was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2017. Mark Anderson, former President of Palo Alto Networks, is also a founding investor and Chairman of the Neosec board.

"One of the greatest challenges facing cybersecurity is the severe lack of logical visibility and behavioral assessment of APIs," said Engel. "Existing technologies were not created to address the incredible exposure organizations now have through their APIs. We created an entirely new approach based on data analytics to provide a complete understanding of all API interactions. It is fully automated, SaaS delivered and able to protect increasing exposure through digital business."

Investor Quotes

"When businesses pursue critical digital transformation initiatives, the common problem is that security is a point of friction that delays projects," said Ziv Conen, partner at New Era Capital Partners. "Neosec helps minimize this friction and enable new digital business initiatives."

"Gartner stated that "By 2022, API abuses will move from an infrequent to the most-frequent attack vector, resulting in data breaches for enterprise web applications."1 Together, with the explosion of the API economy, this threat will only increase, and is not contained to a specific industry," said David Fairman, Venture Partner, SixThirty and Chief Security Officer, APAC, Netskope. "It will have ramifications across every digital business."

1 Gartner, "API Security: What You Need to Do to Protect Your APIs", Mark O'Neill, Dionisio Zumerle, Jeremy D'Hoinne, 1 March 2021.



Gartner Disclaimer: 1GARTNER is registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Neosec

Neosec is re-inventing application security with a powerful platform that unifies security and development teams to protect modern applications from threats. The foundation of the SaaS platform is built on data and analytics to manage security at scale. Neosec prevents threats from abusing the complex network of APIs that connect today's businesses. The platform helps organizations discover every API and audit risk. Neosec has pioneered the use of behavioral analytics to understand normal versus abnormal API usage and delivers powerful threat hunting capabilities. Neosec prevents threats and stops abuse hiding within APIs and brings new intelligence to application security. Neosec is based in Palo Alto, California with R&D in Tel Aviv, Israel. To learn more, visit Neosec.com.

SOURCE Neosec

Related Links

www.neosec.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Financial Stability Ratings (FSR) of A, Exceptional, assigned to Lighthouse Property Insurance Corporation and Lighthouse Excalibur Insurance Company have been affirmed by Demotech, Inc. This level of FSR is assigned to insurers who possess exceptional financial stability related to maintaining positive surplus as regards policyholders, sufficient liquidity of invested assets, an acceptable level of financial leverage, reasonable loss and loss adjustment expense reserves (L&LAE) and realistic pricing, to name some critical metrics.

Demotech founder and President, Joe Petrelli, noted that "Additional information was considered to supplement the Q2 2021 financial statements and operating results. We obtained information, through conversations and meetings with executive management, that was not available at the time of the most recent statutory financial statements. Given our current understanding of the revisions in corporate business model, in anticipation of the favorable impact of the efforts on the Company's operating plan and future operating results, in conjunction with the Company's immediate access to sufficient capital to honor or defend meritorious claims as they come due, including the recent catastrophe losses and loss adjustment expenses, we issue this affirmation of the Financial Stability Rating based upon the totality of our review of the June 30, 2021 operating results and actions of management. Any future affirmations will require demonstrable evidence of the impact of the revisions on the company's financial stability."

Sharon Romano Petrelli, CPCU, AIAF, CCP, ARC, co-founder of Demotech, noted "Demotech rated insurers have addressed the needs of claimants despite the frequency of natural disasters. Thus far, insurers meeting or exceeding Demotech's horizontal reinsurance requirements have adequately addressed the onslaught of events in a single storm season."

Patrick White, representing Lighthouse, added: "The past two years have broken numerous industry records for severe weather and hurricane season activity in our five states. With additions of capital, significant rate action and broad exposure management, along with the continued support from Demotech's comprehensive rating methodology, Lighthouse has been able to respond to all of our policyholders after these major events and will continue to now after Uri, Ida and Nicholas so far in 2021."

Petrelli added, "Put in place in 2002, our rigorous horizontal catastrophe reinsurance requirements have protected millions of property owners, insurers and the stakeholders of those insurers on a countrywide basis. Although this type of catastrophe reinsurance protection is expensive, aggressive horizontal programs are necessary. Capital infusions can be used to back fill losses related to multiple carrier retentions in a single season."

ABOUT DEMOTECH, INC.

Demotech, Inc. is a financial analysis firm specializing in evaluating the financial stability of regional and specialty insurers. Since 1985, Demotech has served the insurance industry by assigning accurate, reliable, and proven Financial Stability Ratings (FSRs) for Property & Casualty insurers and Title underwriters. FSRs are a leading indicator of financial stability, providing an objective baseline of the future solvency of an insurer. Demotech's philosophy is to review and evaluate insurers based on their area of focus and execution of their business model rather than solely on financial size. Demotech was the first to review and rate independent regional and specialty insurers. Demotech's consistently increasing list of accreditations and acceptances has resulted in rating and reviewing more than 400 insurers operating in the US. Visit www.demotech.com for additional information.

ABOUT LIGHTHOUSE PROPERTY INSURANCE CORPORATION

Established in 2008, Lighthouse Property Insurance Corporation (Lighthouse) is an admitted property and casualty insurance company authorized to write in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. In 2019, Lighthouse acquired Excalibur National Insurance Company and relaunched it as Lighthouse Excalibur Insurance Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lighthouse. As of June 2020, Lighthouse acquired Prepared Insurance Company, allowing the company to enter the state of Florida and expand its geographic footprint further. Lighthouse sells and distributes its policies through an exclusive network of licensed, independent professional agencies. They have been assigned a Financial Stability Rating of A, Exceptional, from Demotech, Inc.

SOURCE Demotech, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.demotech.com


In Trump Time is a must-read, riveting account of the worst year of our lives from the top Trump advisor who sounded the alarm about Chinese Communist Party, the coronavirus, Dr. Fauci's harmful recommendations, and the election tumult. The book tells the story of a President who worked night and day for the American people, who built the strongest economy in modern history, and with the private sector delivered PPE, therapeutics, and vaccines literally at warp speed.

"My promise to the reader is to hold nothing back and speak only the truth as I have seen it," said Peter Navarro. "History and the American people deserve no less."

Preorder now on Amazon here .

Contact:

Jean Anne Rose (727)

474-0772

[email protected] www.allseasonspress.com

www.peternavarro.com

About Dr. Peter K. Navarro

Peter Navarro holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and was a professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the University of California-Irvine for more than 20 years. He served as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy at the White House during the Trump Administration. He is the author of numerous books, including his China Trilogy: The Coming China Wars (2006), Death By China (2011), and Crouching Tiger (2015).

About All Season Press

All Seasons Press was launched earlier this year by Louise Burke and Kate Hartson, publishing veterans with long careers in the book business, to take head-on the cancel culture that is destroying the publishing industry and the country. All Seasons Press is publishing the best writers, politicians, and pundits in the conservative movement. The company is open to welcoming those authors who are being attacked, bullied, banned from social media, and, in some cases, outright rejected by politically correct publishers. In Trump Time: A Journal of America's Plague Year by Dr. Peter Navarro is the first book by All Seasons Press.

SOURCE All Seasons Press

Related Links

https://allseasonspress.com/


TORONTO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eco Depot, Inc. (OTC Pink: ECDP), a Nevada company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Hadelin Carlos Diericx Trouyet as President and Chief Executive Officer. He will provide the necessary experience to establish an international network to acquire Companies related to energy efficiency and carbon reduction.

Carlos Diericx attended the Universidad Ibero Americana in Mexico City, Mexico for his studies in industrial engineering. Mr. Diericx is a results-driven serial entrepreneur with 25 years of experience. He brings strong leadership skills, dedication and discipline, with broad experience in international business development. He has charted growth paths for several successful startups & SMEs in Mexico, the United States and Latin America.

From 2006 to date, Mr. Diericx has acted as Founder/CEO of several companies in Mexico, LATAM and the United States of America. He has created successful startups from the ground up using his management skills to fully deliver on the return and performance expectations of venture capital investors and shareholders.

Mr. Diericx currently serves as managing partner SouthLand Group Corporate Finance, an Investment Banking Services Company with offices in Houston (Texas USA), Mexico City (Mexico), Madrid (Spain) and San Jose (Costa Rica).

His focus at Eco Depot is to build the business internationally by establishing partnerships in different regions and with new clients, suppliers, institutions, governments, and NGOs for a strengthened value-added network to extend our reach beyond North America.

The Company would like to simultaneously announce that Daniel Gosselin has resigned from the Board of Directors and as the Company's President effective September 14th, 2021. This will allow him to join the Board of Directors and fulfill the role as Vice President of Operations at Bronya Canada Group.

Mr. Gosselin would like to solely focus his efforts towards the vision of building Bronya Canada Group into an industry leader. The Board of Directors would like to thank Mr. Gosselin for his leadership. "I am resigning to join the management team and Board of Directors at Bronya Canada Group. I appreciate the opportunity to work with the team at Eco Depot and they are making great strides though these challenging times. Keep up the good work." stated Gosselin.

ABOUT ECO DEPOT

Eco Depot, Inc. acquires, manages, and develops eco-friendly real estate assets and consumer brand products. Their focus is to provide investments, funding, and support for acquisitions, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and green companies dedicated to protecting the environment. Eco Depot is a development stage distributor of eco-friendly consumer brand products and is publicly traded Over the Counter at OTCMKTS: ECDP.

ABOUT BRONYA CANADA GROUP

Bronya Coatings Group, Inc. ("the Company") is based in Montreal and intends to commercialize a Multi-Purpose liquid thermal insulation paint Bronya Climate Shield product line in North America. The Company's mission is to establish third-party production facilities globally to reduce the costs associated with the business' supply chain. The Company also has established relationships with major home improvement stores on a worldwide basis.

ABOUT BRONYA CLIMATE SHIELD

Bronya Climate Shield increases energy efficiency, energy savings, and reduces carbon emissions through energy conservation. Product website: www.bronyaclimateshield.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This Press Release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "potential" and similar expressions. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it.

Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise in the event of any change, addition, or alteration to the information catered in this Press Release, including such forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:

Eco Depot, Inc.

2001 Sources Boulevard Unit 2001

Pointe-Claire, QC H9R5Z4, Canada

WEBSITE:

ecdp.co

+1-(844)-427-6692

[email protected]

PRODUCT INQUIRIES:

[email protected]

SOURCE Eco Depot, Inc.
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Edgemesh , provider of an AI platform that delivers the fastest online web experience, today announced a free upgrade to its Edgemesh Server product line that enables automatic dynamic rendering to increase search ranking. The new feature is available less than 30 days after the launch of Edgemesh Server, indicating that the new model for eCommerce performance is advancing faster than its complex headless counterparts.

Dynamic rendering is a technical SEO practice suggested by Google in 2018 to increase index speed for modern JavaScript heavy websites. With dynamic rendering, Edgemesh customers now serve a pre-rendered and optimized static HTML version to bots while keeping highly interactive and client-side rendered versions for human customers. In a sense, dynamic rendering allows Edgemesh customers to deliver websites in the language bots understand best: easily indexable static HTML.

Although dynamic rendering has been available for years, the costs and complexities associated with it have reserved its use for large scale sites. With Edgemesh Server, customers now get automatic dynamic rendering across their entire site at zero cost.

"As advertising costs continue to increase, and competition heats up heading into the holiday shopping season - free, high quality organic traffic has never been more important," said Jacob Loveless, CEO of Edgemesh. "Dynamic rendering, or SEO prerendering, was the top request we saw from customers. With this release, we help companies increase their search ranking by using the same model suggested by Google. Our cloud backend infrastructure, combined with our edge capability, made this an easy addition to the product line and we're excited it's now in customers' hands."

To support the new feature, Edgemesh Server offloads the site rendering process to a fleet of servers running at Google.

"We're using the latest Google Chrome instances to pre-render every custom page, and optimize it specifically for search engines. Once the backend fleet completes the rendering, we then store the content at the edge network for faster retrieval by the search crawlers, social media engines and other bot-based systems on the fly. Customers don't have to do a thing as the entire process is fully automated," said Randy LeBeau, Edgemesh CTO.

Edgemesh Server's Dynamic Rendering product benefits include:

Faster page loads for more frequent and consistent indexing, enabling new content to be available to search engines more frequently.

Up to 80% increase in rankings of keywords and more targeted organic keyword matching.

Increases in impressions, and clicks. The improved crawling experience leads to organic channel growth, with an increase in click rates by up to 60%.

Edgemesh Server is available now. For more information, visit https://edgemesh.com/edgemesh-server .

About Edgemesh

At Edgemesh ( @edgemeshinc ), speed matters. Edgemesh is a global web acceleration company that empowers e-commerce brands to deliver faster, more streamlined websites for the optimal user experience. With just one line of code, Edgemesh's AI-based platform enables ecommerce brands to accelerate their websites up to 50 percent, resulting in increased conversion rates of 20% or more. Customers include Lenovo, Peacock Alley, Dr. Squatch, Kitsch and more. The company is based in Laguna Beach, CA. For more information, please visit https://edgemesh.com/ .

Media Contacts

Market Street Group for Edgemes

Missy Somers

+1 (503) 735-5354

[email protected]

SOURCE Edgemesh

Related Links

https://edgemesh.com/


BENGALURU, India, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, recently unveiled the latest version of its Automation platform AssistEdge 19.0. This new version of the platform is designed to support and scale large process automation programs for global enterprises. Enterprises can now get empowered with granular process visibility and sophisticated orchestration capabilities to seamlessly integrate bots, human experts, and AI technologies to meet key business objectives.

Intelligent Automation is fast becoming a catalyst in architecting the future of enterprise. However, the real benefits accrue only when Intelligent Automation is adopted at scale. As enterprises move along the automation maturity curve, many consistent barriers arising from disconnected automation implementation, continue to hold them back from adopting automation at scale. To derive sustainable value, organizations need to build capability to deliver personalized customer journeys on a foundation of hyper-efficient execution. This would reshape the enterprise to tap human expertise for empathy and innovation, while leveraging bots for productivity and quality.

AssistEdge 19.0 provides enterprises the opportunity to connect:

People  Wider connection of people into automation journey through low code platforms for citizen developers and enterprise personal automation assistants.

Process  Stronger connection of processes into automation journey with end-to-end process orchestration through workflows and auto-automation.

Data  Deeper connection of data into automation journey through contextual data discovery, intelligent document processing and advanced insights.

"The next frontier in digital transformation will be achieved by integrating business processes across multiple business units. AssistEdge 19.0, a platform best suited for large enterprises, will champion this shift by connecting people, process, data across business units, with insight led decision-making," said Sateesh Seetharamiah, Chief Business Officer and Global Head, Edge Products, EdgeVerve Systems Ltd.

About AssistEdge

AssistEdge offers a cohesive automation platform that enables enterprises to scale in their automation journey. It offers enterprises with a comprehensive suite of products enabling them to drive initiatives around process discovery, intelligent automation and digital workforce orchestration. AssistEdge has helped enterprises unlock value in the form of reduced service time, faster sales cycles, better resource allocation, accelerated revenue recognition and improved efficiency among others.

https://www.edgeverve.com/assistedge/

About EdgeVerve

EdgeVerve Systems Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infosys, is a global leader in AI and Automation, assisting clients thrive in their digital transformation journey. Our mission is to create a world where our technology augments human intelligence and creates possibilities for enterprises to thrive. Our comprehensive product portfolio across AI (Infosys Nia), Automation (AssistEdge) and Supply Chain (TradeEdge), helps businesses develop deeper connections with stakeholders, power continuous innovation and accelerate growth in the digital world. Today EdgeVerve's products are used by global corporations across financial services, insurance, retail, consumer & packaged goods, life sciences, manufacturing telecom and utilities. Visit us to know how enterprises across the world are thriving with the help of our technology.

https://www.edgeverve.com/

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE,NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on our employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect 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, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

For more information contact [email protected]

SOURCE EdgeVerve
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EquiFi Corporation, a premier provider of shared equity home financing, today announced an agreement with The Palisades Group, a global residential credit and real estate asset manager, to fund its EquiFi Funding Instrument (EFI) Equity Access product originations. EquiFi brings together homeowners and investors in a unique shared equity contract, allowing both parties to benefit from the future appreciated value of a home. EquiFi offers homeowners financial solutions that are debt free, charge no interest, have no monthly payments, and no fixed term that would force the homeowner to sell or refinance their home.

The funding agreement with The Palisades Group strengthens EquiFi's financial foundation as it accelerates EFI Equity Access originations in California and expects to begin originations in Washington, Arizona, and Florida shortly. EquiFi has previously raised $7 million in equity from a range of private and venture capital investors. "We're excited about this space and thrilled to be part of EquiFi's journey to help homeowners," said Jack Macdowell, managing member and Chief Investment Officer at The Palisades Group. "Our funding will enable EquiFi to continue to address the large demand for intelligent, alternative home financing and home equity access strategies."

The EquiFi Equity Access EFI allows existing homeowners to tap into their home equity as a means of meeting their financial needs without the need to pay back a traditional mortgage loan or HELOC (home equity line of credit), or the accruing interest obligation and limited market scope of reverse mortgages. The growth of shared equity as an alternative to debt resembles the early interest in other industries that have been disrupted through the shared economy. EquiFi accelerates that trend with unique consumer protection features designed to ensure a balance in the cost to the consumer and the return for the investor.

EquiFi has plans to introduce the EFI to provide an opportunity for homebuyers to purchase their ideal home by dramatically reducing monthly payments through the EFI co-investment. "The EquiFi platform preserves the dream of home ownership by working with investors who share EquiFi's belief that the home is the cornerstone of wealth creation," said David Shapiro, EquiFi Founder and CEO. "EquiFi is committed to the principle of home ownership for everyone, which will enable entire generations to create wealth and accumulate the financial resources to live comfortably today and retire with dignity tomorrow."

"To align the investor with the capital needs of the homeowner, EquiFi works with a wide variety of institutional investors, including insurance companies and pension funds," continued Shapiro. "Through the EFI these investors can access the $36 trillion residential real estate asset class with $24 trillion in home equity."

About EquiFi

EquiFi's mission is to transform the way that consumers create and manage wealth starting with their most important asset  their home. Organized as a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation, EquiFi is committed to fairness across its entire homebuying ecosystem. Based on a powerful, proprietary technology platform, EquiFi's Equity Funding Instrument (EFI) matches consumer housing needs with investor interests. For more information, please visit www.EquiFi.com.

About The Palisades Group

As an alternative asset manager in the global residential credit markets having managed in excess of $17.4 billion of loans and real estate since 2012, the Firm invests in, and actively manages, real estate-backed loans throughout the business cycle. Palisades currently manages a diverse portfolio of residential loans and real estate with notional balance of approximately $5.1 billion with underlying properties located in the United States, Europe and Latin America, please visit www.palisades.us.com.

SOURCE EquiFi Corporation, PBC / Walt & Company

Related Links

http://www.EquiFi.com


LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EY today announces EY Accelerate, a suite of accelerators, tools and services that will support clients on their journey to the cloud with RISE with SAP, a comprehensive, intelligent and customer-specific SAP offering.

EY Accelerate includes EY Phase 0, a detailed digital transformation and business case development offering, EY solutions from tax, cyber, risk and other lines of business, as well as accelerators, such as the EY Intelligent Transformation Platform and EY Intelligent Industry solutions, and technical migration tools and services that help organizations build intelligent enterprises and innovate for the future. EY Accelerate combines services, assets and solutions to support clients in driving their cloud strategies and vision. Leveraging the EY Intelligent Delivery Platform, EY Accelerate helps clients align their strategy and move their intelligent enterprise into the cloud.

RISE with SAP provides clients with a simplified approach to creating an intelligent enterprise. Aligning EY Accelerate with SAP's offering combines EY industry knowledge and business transformation experience to help clients establish and implement cloud strategies via RISE with SAP to accelerate digital transformation.

Hanne Jesca Bax, EY EMEIA Markets & Accounts Leader and EY Global SAP Executive Sponsor, says:

"The transformation imperative is urgent, challenging and opportunity rich. Leaders are reframing their businesses to adapt to a new landscape by innovating their business model, elevating their customer experience, and finding new ways to leverage data and technology. Transformative change creates exponential value that lasts. EY believes successful transformations place humans at the center of their organization, leverage technology at speed and innovate at scale. EY Accelerate for RISE with SAP supports our clients' vision and accelerates positive change, from fast tracking the adoption of intelligent technology and new ways of working, to pivoting quickly to evolve with changing consumer expectations, while creating more engaging experiences."

By positioning EY capabilities to RISE with SAP, EY teams are building flexible value chains, innovating with industry best practices, and providing clients the ability to understand and act on the sentiments of their customers, employees and ecosystem. These processes help organizations manage their environmental impact, grow more resilient, profitable and sustainable.

Brian Duffy, President of Cloud, SAP, says:

"There is no RISE with SAP without the support of our vast ecosystem. We have been so impressed with the way in which EY is embracing the offering through the launch of EY Accelerate, designing a way for our customers to both embark on, and advance, their business transformation journeys. The focus and resources that EY has invested in this move shows the value of RISE with SAP and the impact it can have on organizations, regardless of industry or cloud readiness. With the right expertise and experience from collaborators such as the EY organization and with the momentum continuing to build as RISE with SAP evolves and matures, together we will power an acceleration of cloud adoption and business growth, globally, like never before."

EY also recently announced a collaboration with SAP on the innovation of industry cloud solutions, including insurance, banking, life sciences and energy, to help drive clients' digital transformation.

Notes to editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. SAP cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which SAP has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates.  2021 SAP SE. All rights reserved.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE Ernst & Young LLP
ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tropical Smoothie Cafe joins the exclusive club of restaurant brands with a four-digit location count this week with the grand opening of its newest  and 1,000th systemwide  cafe in Flower Mound, Texas.

The milestone comes at a time when the company is experiencing record growth and is on pace to open 130 new franchised locations in 2021. So far this year, Tropical Smoothie Cafe has signed agreements for an additional 249 future franchised locations, adding to an already extensive pipeline of future commitments. These agreements position the brand nicely in its progress toward its goal of 1,500 cafes by the end of 2024.

"I like to say we're the biggest brand you've never heard of," said Charles Watson, CEO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe LLC. "We've been quietly crushing sales and growth records, thanks to our incredible franchisees who have a passion for this brand and want to open more locations across our target markets."

Franchisee DYNE Hospitality Group, which owns the new Flower Mound location, has 13 other Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Texas and 70 more across Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. DYNE Hospitality Group opened its first two locations in 2011 and will open 10-12 new cafes in 2021.

"Since we opened our first location, we've seen the enormous potential of this brand, and we've wholeheartedly supported the Tropical Smoothie Cafe mission to 'Inspire Better' in the communities we serve through our amazing food and smoothies," said DYNE Hospitality group Co-CEO Nick Crouch. "It's an honor that we are opening the 1,000th cafe, but what's even more exciting is the growth and awareness we're experiencing across the entire system. It's an extraordinary time to be a Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchisee."

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is designed for growth, and its franchisees benefit from an award-winning franchise offering and a business model with multiple dayparts built into the mix. A key differentiator from other smoothie concepts is the brand's extensive food menu that includes made-to-order wraps, flatbreads, sandwiches, bowls and quesadillas, plus sales-driving LTOs such as the hearty, healthy Green Goddess Flatbread that comes with a choice of chicken, shrimp or plant-based proteins.

For more information on menu, locations, hours and franchise opportunities, go to www.tropicalsmoothiecafe.com.

About Tropical Smoothie Cafe 

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a national fast-casual cafe concept inspiring a healthier lifestyle with 1,000 locations nationwide. Serving better-for-you smoothies, wraps, sandwiches and flatbreads, Tropical Smoothie Cafe also offers upgraded app technology and enhanced mobile ordering capabilities to further elevate the digital and dine-in cafe experience and emphasize the brand's focus on convenience. The rapidly growing franchise has received numerous accolades, including FRANdata's 2021 TopScore FUND Award, plus rankings in Entrepreneur's Franchise 500, Forbes' Best Franchises, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious list and the Franchise Times' Top 200. Notably, the franchise was also recognized on Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers and Shakers, Nation's Restaurant News' Top 200 and Top 10 Fastest-Growing Chains, and Restaurant Business' America's Favorite Chains.

For information on franchising, please visit https://www.tropicalsmoothiefranchise.com/.

Media Contact:

Ashley Bain

[email protected]

817-329-3257

SOURCE Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Related Links

http://www.tropicalsmoothiecafe.com


MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Finback Investment Partners announced today that is has successfully closed on its debut private equity fund, Finback Investment Partners 2021 Fund. The Fund, which was oversubscribed, closed at its hard cap of $350 million, exceeding its initial $250 million target. Finback's fund, raised in three months, includes $38 million in general partner commitments.

Finback's leadership team consists of Co-Founders and Managing Partners  Jeb Bush, George Huber, Jack Oliver, and Jeb Bush Jr. The Partners, complemented by a team of private equity professionals, have successfully invested together since 2017, deploying approximately $250 million across 10 portfolio companies. This legacy portfolio has achieved current net returns for investors of 2.5x MOIC and 52.1% IRR.

The new fund expects to make between 10 and 12 investments, each averaging between $20 million and $40 million in equity size, alongside leading private equity firms. Finback will pursue a diverse set of business verticals including business services, information technology, education, healthcare, industrials, digital infrastructure, and financial services.

Across these verticals, Finback will pursue investments that align with a positive societal impact. While it is not the only investment criteria, contributing private capital to address complex social problems will be a key tenet to Finback's decision-making. Through the investment process and portfolio management, the firm is confident it can drive successful outcomes for all stakeholders  investors, portfolio companies, employees, and communities.

Jeb Bush, Chairman and Managing Partner of Finback, said of the new fund, "In these extraordinary times, we thank both our existing and new limited partners for their strong support. We now look forward to putting this capital to work in partnership with world class private equity firms to drive value for our portfolio companies, our partners, and our LPs. Our goal is to do all of this while making an important positive impact on society."

Managing Partners George Huber and Jack Oliver added, "Building on the success of our legacy portfolio, we will continue to focus on our competitive edge as it relates to sourcing deals, delivering needle-moving priorities for our portfolio companies, and generating outsized returns to all investors."

About Finback Investment Partners

Finback Investment Partners is a private equity firm that makes active minority investments, alongside leading private equity managers, across middle-market and growth equity companies. Finback targets a wide range of industries and companies that will benefit from the firm's strategic expertise and business development execution. The firm employs an outcomes-orientated approach that leverages its deep relationship network and extensive experience to help unlock value for portfolio companies.

Contacts:

Jeffrey Taufield/Todd Fogarty

Kekst CNC

[email protected]

[email protected]

212-521-4800

Andrea Brezing

Finback Investment Partners

[email protected]

919-475-5409

SOURCE Finback Investment Partners

Related Links

https://www.finbackpartners.com


EAST LANSING, Mich., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, fraud and dispute SaaS provider Quavo, Inc. announced the company completed a third-party Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard Requirements and Security Assessment Procedures. Completing this assessment reinforces Quavo's commitment to security and compliance, confirming that all requirements were achieved based on the security standards set by the PCI council. The announcement comes as part of Quavo's dedication to executing the magnitude of their client's security and safety.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements intended to ensure that companies that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. In August 2021, the Quavo infrastructure team dedicated time to achieving the Attestation of Compliance for Self-Assessment Questionnaire D  Service Providers for use with PCI DSS Version 3.2.1. As of August 20, 2021, Quavo received validation that the company demonstrated full compliance with the PCI DSS.

Nick Facca, Quavo's Director of Technology, detailed the significance of accomplishing the attestation of compliance for PCI DSS and what this means for the company. "By securing our PCI compliance report, we have emphasized the separation of duties and controls in place for who is accessing cardholder data and making changes in our production environments. We have increased controls around cardholder data, ultimately reducing fraud within our organization and the opportunities for outsiders to infiltrate our environment. Our infrastructure team works diligently to assure the importance of client's data security."

The Quavo team has stressed the significance of confirming procedures and security protocols are in place. In addition to the recent completion of their SOC 2 Type 1 Compliance Certification and verification of PCI Compliance, the company is currently devoting time to fulfilling their SOC 2 Type 2 Observation Period.

"After completing our SOC 2 Type 1 compliance, we continue to improve our brand reputation. We are incredibly excited to announce we have received our PCI Data Security Standard Attestation of Compliance. PCI DSS serves as a globally accepted standard for security frameworks and will further assist us in protecting against potential data breaches. We look forward to putting the new framework to good use and giving our clients the peace of mind that their data continues to be safe in our hands," said Co-Founder and Managing Partner Daniel Penne.

Quavo is the world's leading provider of cloud-based dispute management solutions for financial institutions and Fintech organizations. Quavo offers turnkey, automated software solutions for disputes with complete Reg E and Reg Z compliance. Quavo's premier software solutions are QFD and ARIA. QFD automates fraud and dispute processing workflows, from intake to case resolution. Our fraud management AI, ARIA, conducts the investigation process to reach decisions as a human would, in a matter of seconds. Quavo also provides add-ons to the QFD software, namely Dispute Resolution Experts, our human intelligence service.

For more information about Quavo, visit www.quavo.com.

Contact: Jennifer Marshall

Marketing Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE Quavo, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.quavo.com


NEW YORK and ZURICH, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fireblocks ( www.fireblocks.com ), announced today it will be dedicating significant resources toward expanding its presence and growth in the DACH market with the opening of a new office headquartered in Switzerland. Over the last six months, Fireblocks has doubled the size of its European team to support the increasing number of institutional customers in the region with close to 200 customers in the DACH market.

To support Fireblocks' customer-base in the region, the company has appointed Richard Astle and Ana Santillan as co-Heads of Switzerland. Richard brings extensive knowledge of the Swiss financial services industry from top tier banks where he participated in launching Swiss Crypto Vault, and was a founding member of the Bitcoin Suisse Institutional Services and Products Division. Ana's background is in debt capital markets, having established Morgan Stanley's Swiss fixed income institutional service team. She held senior positions in Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse wealth management before transitioning to digital assets. With over a decade of financial experience, Richard and Ana have been advising hedge funds, banks, and corporate clients implementing trading and custody of digital assets.

"It is important for us to work with Switzerland-based companies because of the value they bring to the financial market, having established themselves as one of the world's leading financial centers," said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. "Now these financial institutions are seeking to rapidly deploy digital asset custody, trading, and tokenization products and are turning to vetted technologies to help them remain at the forefront of this space and securely tap into the global crypto-ecosystem."

After onboarding over 500 financial institutions and growing it's custody technology to support $1 trillion in digital assets, Fireblocks is solidifying its investment and focus in Switzerland, one of the most diverse, and fastest growing financial hubs in the world. Further expansion in the DACH region is fueled by an increase in demand from financial institutions worldwide to transition from traditional HSMs to an infrastructure that utilizes MPC and SGX confidential computing. Last year, Fireblocks' R&D team developed MPC-CMP , a new breakthrough MPC algorithm, released as an open source contribution to the digital asset industry in order to bolster digital asset security and transaction signing speeds. Today, Switzerland-native institutions have been the first to implement MPC-CMP, remaining at the forefront of digital asset innovation and adoption in Europe.

"Fireblocks was the first solution to bring confidential cloud computing and MPC technology into the digital asset space and we are glad to see this approach is being adopted among major financial institutions" said Andy Flury, Founder and CEO at AlgoTrader. "With Fireblocks now firmly entering the Swiss market and seamlessly integrating with our WIRESWARM solutions to provide a single, end-to-end experience from trading to settlement and custody, we look forward to our customers and any financial institutions being able to access the proven Fireblocks custody and settlement technology platform for their growing digital asset businesses."

In its effort to support the growth of digital assets in Switzerland, Fireblocks recently joined as a member of The Crypto Valley Association, an independent, government-supported association established to take full advantage of Switzerland's strengths to build the world's leading blockchain and cryptographic technologies ecosystem along with Bitcoin Suisse, Accenture, Ledger, Okex, PWC, Kraken among other leaders in the blockchain space.

"As an early backer of Fireblocks, we strongly believe the banks and institutions in the Swiss region are primed for onboarding its solutions as new products and services are gearing up to come to market," said Stefan Kuentz, Investment Partner at Swisscom Ventures. "Not only will Fireblocks enable Swiss-based banks and institutions an easy way to launch or expand their digital asset businesses, but will also serve as a straight path to plug into the global digital asset market and liquidity."

Switzerland is significant to the growth and development and adoption of digital assets because it was one of the first financial sectors to welcome cryptocurrency and decentralized finance with a full set of regulations governing the industry. The region is home to over 960 blockchain/cryptocurrency companies, which include 11 unicorns and employ over 5,000 people. In February, Switzerland ushered a tokenized Securities Law that backs the country to have one of the most advanced jurisdictions in the world for crypto.

Fireblocks has grown to support some of the largest global banks such as Siam Commercial Bank, SVB, and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), as well as many institutions based in the EU region like Revolut, Algotrader, GSR Markets, Woorton, Enigma Securities and Scrypt Asset Management powering the custody, transfer and issuance of digital assets.

About Fireblocks

Fireblocks is a leading enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables banks, fintechs, exchanges, liquidity providers, OTCs and hedge funds to securely manage digital assets across a wide range of products and services. The technology consists of the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 500 financial institutions and has secured over $1 trillion in digital assets. Fireblocks has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit and offers 24/7 global support. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com .

SOURCE Fireblocks
PLEASANT GROVE, Utah, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortem Technologies , leaders in airspace security and defense for detecting and defeating dangerous drones, announced successful performance in detecting small UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) before a team of U.S. Government evaluators based on an Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) requirement in May 2021. The event focused on testing various counter UAS systems including the Fortem SkyDome system, TrueView radar and DroneHunter. Already a Fortem customer, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) created a test environment to determine how well various counter drone systems would perform in urban environments that make it difficult to detect potential threat UAS. The results of the event proved that Fortem's technology provides the U.S. Government with a scalable end-to-end solution for detecting, tracking, identifying, and mitigating unlawful drone activity.

This five-day event, which took place near the New Orleans Super Dome Champion's Walk Plaza and along the Mississippi River, was executed by a combined team of the U.S. Army's C51SR Center Unique Mission Cell (UMC), IWTSD, and DIU. The Fortem SkyDome System and TrueView radar successfully detected and tracked multiple small UAS targets maneuvering around high-rise buildings with real-world vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the background, all within a noisy radio frequency environment. This "clutter environment" put the TrueView radar sensors to the test, having to isolate the signatures associated with a small UAS and present them to an operator. This environment, along with periods of rain and wind, allowed Fortem Technologies to showcase the capabilities of its technology and to deliver the most accurate results of its real-time performance.

"The ability to have the SkyDome system filter out a vessel traffic on the water as it moved across the field of view, was impressive to watch and really underscored the true power of our sensors," said George Mayor, Fortem Technologies' lead engineer. "It was also great to see the DroneHunter reliably capture target drones over the Mississippi in a scenario that would easily challenge other detection and mitigation systems."

To support the event, Fortem Technologies Inc. deployed their SkyDome System and the DroneHunter. The SkyDome System consists of their low-cost and small form factor TrueView Radar. Fortem's TrueView radar is the world's most advanced, compact, high-performance radar system for detecting airborne objects. SkyDome system software provides real-time intrusion detection to identify, monitor, classify, and, if necessary, provide physical remediation of malicious or uncooperative drones while avoiding collateral damage. Deep integration between DroneHunter and TrueView radar makes it possible to autonomously detect, pursue, capture, and tow away any dangerous or malicious drones with no collateral damage.

The results of the experiment will inform the Department of Defense on the progression of detection technology in the urban environment while also providing valuable data to the commercial companies that support their technology development.

About Fortem Technologies

Fortem Technologies is the leader in airspace awareness, security, and defense for detecting and defeating dangerous drones. Through an end-to-end system of distributed radar, AI at the Edge, deep sensor integration, and autonomous drone capture, Fortem monitors and defends the world's venues, infrastructures, cities, and regions. The same system is accelerating the safety of the world's airspace for urban air mobility. Based in Pleasant Grove, Utah, the company is privately held and backed by Toshiba, Boeing, DCVC, Mubadala Investment Company, Signia Venture Partners and others. For more, please visit www.fortemtech.com .

Contact:

Amanda Mieczkowski

BAM for Fortem Technologies

[email protected]

SOURCE Fortem Technologies

Related Links

https://fortemtech.com/


VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Galiano Gold Inc. ("Galiano" or "the Company") (TSX: GAU) (NYSE American: GAU) announces the appointment of Ms. Dawn Moss to the Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director effective September 15, 2021.

Ms. Moss is a senior mining executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience with publicly traded companies on the TSX and the NYSE, most recently as Executive Vice President, Administration, at Eldorado Gold Corporation. She has served as a director on private and public boards of domestic and international companies, serving most recently as a Board and Committee member for Roxgold Inc. before its acquisition by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. Ms. Moss is a Fellow of the ICSA (The Chartered Governance Institute) and an Accredited Director.

Paul Wright, Chair of the Board of Directors of Galiano Gold, commented, "We are very pleased to welcome Dawn to the Board of Galiano Gold. Dawn is a well-known and respected executive with an exceptional track record and diverse and extensive experience. This appointment represents a continuation of our Board renewal process."

About Galiano Gold Inc.

Galiano is focused on creating a sustainable business capable of long-term value creation for its stakeholders through organic production growth, exploration and disciplined deployment of its financial resources. The company currently operates and manages the Asanko Gold Mine, located in Ghana, West Africa which is jointly owned with Gold Fields Ltd. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. For more information, please visit www.galianogold.com.

SOURCE Galiano Gold Inc.

Related Links

https://www.galianogold.com/home/default.aspx


ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) announced today that members of its leadership team will host a webcast providing a deep dive on the Company's industrial business on September 15, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Interested parties can access the live webcast on the Company's investor relations website. A replay of the webcast will be available after the event.

About Genuine Parts Company

Founded in 1928, Genuine Parts Company is a global service organization engaged in the distribution of automotive and industrial replacement parts. The Company's Automotive Parts Group distributes automotive replacement parts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australasia, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium. The Company's Industrial Parts Group distributes industrial replacement parts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Australasia. In total, the Company serves its global customers from an extensive network of more than 10,000 locations in 15 countries. Genuine Parts Company had 2020 revenues of $16.5 billion. Further information is available at www.genpt.com.

SOURCE Genuine Parts Company

Related Links

http://www.genpt.com


DETROIT, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gilbert Family Foundation, a private nonprofit established by Jennifer and Dan Gilbert to accelerate a cure for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), today announced funding of a new $5.4 million clinical study. The study, to be led by investigators at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Stanford University School of Medicine, aims to understand the mechanisms of vision loss caused by NF1-associated optic pathway gliomas, or NF1-OPGs.

Nearly 20% of children with NF1 will develop an OPG, a tumor located along the visual pathway, which can cause permanent vision loss ranging from mild deficit to complete blindness. In April 2019, the Gilbert Family Foundation launched its Vision Restoration Initiative to fund research focused on developing innovative therapies that either repair or replace damaged visual systems caused by NF1-OPGs.

"One in five NF1 patients develop OPGs, and many end up with chronic vision loss, a symptom that can have devastating effects on quality of life. We're working to put an effective cure for NF1-OPG-related vision loss and blindness within reach," said Jennifer Gilbert, co-founder of the Gilbert Family Foundation. "This study is a major milestone for our Vision Restoration Initiative as we strive to unlock life-changing therapies and support future research."

Through a combination of established and novel visual function testing methods, this study will define the functional, structural, metabolic and patient-reported components of NF1-OPG-induced vision loss. Findings are expected to inform the development of future therapies, validate existing models of the disease, and help identify new metrics for evaluating the efficacy of vision restoration treatments, including those developed within the Gilbert Family Foundation's Vision Restoration Initiative and in both pre-clinical animal models and human clinical trials.

The study, formally titled 'Identifying Biomarkers for Visual Restoration Strategies in NF1-OPGs,' will be led by Robert Avery, DO, Pediatric Neuro-Ophthalmologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine. As members of the Gilbert Family Foundation Vision Restoration Initiative 'Dream Team,' both study leaders not only have extensive experience with the techniques used in the study, but also understand the direct connection to and impact on the strategies being developed within the Vision Restoration Initiative.

"Our data on variance and test-retest reliability will be critical to powering endpoint analyses in early-phase clinical trials for new candidate therapies for NF1-OPG vision neuroprotection and restoration anticipated in the coming years," describes Goldberg. "Our novel and broad approach should identify biomarkers that are relevant in humans and can subsequently drive animal testing by using those biomarkers in pre-clinical therapeutic studies."

This study will last approximately 3 years, with patient recruitment beginning in late 2021 or early 2022. A forthcoming press release will announce the start of patient recruitment after establishing the preliminaries of the project.

"As the Vision Restoration Initiative's first comprehensive human study, this project will provide a new understanding of vision loss from NF1-OPGs," says Avery. "We're moving closer to our goal of ultimately preventing and even reversing the lifelong vision loss from these tumors."

About the Gilbert Family Foundation

The Gilbert Family Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation founded by Jennifer and Dan Gilbert to accelerate a cure for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and build economic opportunity and equity in the city of Detroit. The Gilbert Family Foundation supports groundbreaking, cutting-edge research in hopes of eradicating NF1, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves anywhere in the body. Additionally, the Foundation supports the economic stability and mobility of residents in Detroit by investing in wealth-building opportunities and breaking down systemic barriers such as inequitable property tax debt among low-income homeowners. For more information on the Gilbert Family Foundation, please visit gilbertfamilyfoundation.org .

SOURCE Gilbert Family Foundation

Related Links

http://www.gilbertfamilyfoundation.org


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 7; Released: September 2021 Executive Pool: 5211 Companies: 266 - Players covered include AbbVie, Inc.; AstraZeneca PLC; Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Eli Lilly and Company; F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; GlaxoSmithKline PLC; Pfizer, Inc.; Sanofi; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (Innovative, Generic); Synthesis (Synthetic, Biotech); Application (Cardiovascular Diseases, Endocrinology, CNS & Neurology, Oncology, Gastroenterology, Orthopedic, Other Applications) Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Market to Reach US$265.3 Billion by the Year 2026

APIs represent biologically-active substances and primary components for drug manufacturing. The production of APIs globally is mainly concentrated to developing nations due to their capability to scale production as per customization and low-cost manufacturing. The API market is slated to gain from increasing focus on generic and branded drugs as a result of rising prevalence of non-communicable and chronic medical conditions due to lifestyle changes and rapid urbanization. The market growth is anticipated to be augmented further from the transition away from conventional manufacturing techniques, rising investment in drug discovery, and strong adherence to product quality. The market is also benefitting from increasing influx of generic drugs that are produced following permission of a pharmaceutical company for creating the own version of the medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruptions in supply chain are driving various governments to boycott sourcing of APIs from China. Despite these challenges, the API market is bound to progress ahead swiftly due to positive factors like pending approval of various generic and blockbuster drugs that rely on APIs.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) estimated at US$177.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$265.3 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% over the analysis period. Innovative, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 6.4% CAGR to reach US$190.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Generic segment is readjusted to a revised 7.4% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 30.2% share of the global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) market. As patents for branded APIs expire, opportunities for generic APIs increase, resulting in an augmented API market demand.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $71.5 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $35.4 Billion by 2026

The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) market in the U.S. is estimated at US$71.5 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 36.3% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$35.4 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.6% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6.1% and 6.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 6.1% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$37.5 Billion by the end of the analysis period. China is a leading producer and exporter of APIs, accounting for about 20% of global API production. The country's strong presence in API production could be attributed to factors such as low cost of utilities and strong government support. COVID-19 has highlighted various vulnerabilities associated with sourcing of APIs from other regions or countries, such as fractured supply chain and limited scope for immediate response to changes. These challenges are now prompting a number of European nations and the US to focus on relocation of pharmaceutical and API production back to home country. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp



Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./



Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes



Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 18; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 2721 Companies: 102 - Players covered include Agfa-Gevaert NV; BenQ Corporation; Canon, Inc.; Eastman Kodak Company; Fujitsu Ltd.; IBM Corporation; Inotec GmbH; NCR Corporation; Nikon, Inc.; Nuance Communications, Inc.; Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Seiko Epson Corporation; SMART Technologies ULC; Sony Corporation; Unisys Corporation and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (Flatbed Scanners, and Other Document Scanners Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT-



Global Document Scanners Market to Reach $7.2 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Document Scanners estimated at US$3.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$7.2 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 12.7% over the analysis period. Flatbed Scanners, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 13.3% CAGR and reach US$4.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Other Document Scanners segment is readjusted to a revised 11.8% CAGR for the next 7-year period.



The U.S. Market is Estimated at $1.1 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $1.6 Billion by 2026

The Document Scanners market in the U.S. is estimated at US$1.1 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$1.6 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 16.7% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 8.9% and 11.1% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 10% CAGR. More



MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.



Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android



About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.



CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]



LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp



Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./



Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes



Journalists & Media

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.strategyr.com


DUBLIN, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Iron & Steel Directory 2021" directory has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Iron & Steel Directory 2021 is an indispensable global directory - an instant authoritative source for producers, distributors, technical providers and end users within the iron and steel industry. The directory provides extensive details of the producers, both large and small operating in this important sector.



The directory is the leading source for data on steel producers and iron ore miners. The directory details capacities, production volumes, product and plant details and key contact information. It is the most comprehensive buyers' guide available in the industry.



As you will be aware the past few years has seen unprecedented change in the global iron & steel industry. Company mergers, acquisitions, new start- ups, plant openings and closures and technological advances occur on a daily basis. With world steel producers continuously revamping and expanding capacity, it's vital to be able to track these companies and access key plant and product information.



Whatever your position in the iron and steel supply chain, you should have your own copy.

The fully cross-referenced buyers guide allows you to search for a particular product by country. The index section lists key personnel in A-z order so you can go straight to your contact and company anywhere in the world. In addition to this, the abbreviation section is a handy source for terminology used throughout this directory and is particularly useful for those new to the industry.



Don't waste any more of your valuable time searching the Internet or using an address book that's out of date. Purchase this directory today and save yourself both time and money. The easy way to save time and make profitable new contacts in the ever-changing iron and steel industry.



The directory allows you to search based on any combinations of criteria. You can refine your search using different friends according to your particular needs - whether its location, company, plant, or product information or number of employees. Search results can be saved to other applications.



If you do business within any part of the iron and steel trade around the world, then this directory is a must-have for you. Where else will you find such a broad depth of both key contact and production information for the industry in one handy reference source?

For more information about this directory visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/s4t0pt

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


For the first time ever, the iconic NUTMOBILE vehicle will transform into the nuttiest living quarters that transports you into an overnight, immersive PLANTERS brand experience, of course filled with plenty of PLANTERS brand products for guests to enjoy. The stay also includes a $1,500 travel stipend and can- nut miss activities where guests can enjoy the beautiful scenery in Minnesota. The best part? This one-of-a-kind, nutty stay is available for $3.59, the cost of a jar of PLANTERS peanuts.

"As the PLANTERS brand makes Minnesota home, we want our fans to experience the state like never before with this unique stay," said Rafik Lawendy, head of marketing for the PLANTERS brand. "We are always looking for ways to add substance to fans' lives and what better way to do that than with this unforgettable experience at the INN a NUTshell."

On September 17 at 12 p.m. CDT, one fan will be able to book a two-night stay at the INN a NUTshell from October 1 through October 3 by visiting MrPeanutInnANutshell.com. You'll have to be quick, because only one fan and a guest will be able to stay in the iconic 26-foot-long peanut on wheels waterfront in Duluth, Minn.

In addition to opening his vacation home, the MR. PEANUT character and the makers of the PLANTERS brand will continue to reward Little Acts of Substance in his new home state, the land of 10,000 lakes, with a $10,000 donation to Conservation Minnesota. The PLANTERS brand recognizes the organization's continued efforts to add substance to the community by working with local residents, leaders and legislators to protect Minnesota's land and wildlife.

To learn more about this nutty stay, visit MrPeanutInnANutshell.com and don't forget to follow along on Twitter (@MrPeanut), Instagram (@mrpeanutofficial) and TikTok (@mrpeanutoriginal) as the MR. PEANUT character settles into his new home!

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS  Inspired People. Inspired Food. 



Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters, SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly, Hormel Black Label, Columbus and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on Corporate Responsibility Magazine's "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 12 years, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement  Inspired People. Inspired Food.  to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/ .

Contacts: Media Relations Taylor Higgins

Hormel Foods 507-434-6352 ICF Next 312-577-1773

[email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation

Related Links

http://www.hormel.com


Farmigo was founded in 2009 by Benzi Ronen and Yossi Pik as a cloud-based software system for farms to manage their CSA subscriptions. Farmigo has provided technology to hundreds of CSA farms in 25 states and has connected them to more than 3,000 communities. Since 2009, Farmigo has helped CSA farms deliver more than 30 million pounds of produce to over 100,000 families. Farmigo food communities leverage their existing relationships with farms to accelerate the adoption of an "alternative food system" beyond the 1 percent of American people participating in CSAs. Since July 2016, Farmigo's business focuses exclusively on its CSA Software Management platform.

"We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by GrubMarket's strong network and technology team. We are constantly striving for the best software product for farmers. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same goals. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket Team and bringing Farmigo to the next level of success." said Benzi Ronen, Founder and CEO of Farmigo.

According to Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket: "Farmigo is a pioneer in building the business-to-consumer (B2C) eCommerce platform for farms. As a profitable cloud-based software platform, it serves hundreds of farms in the U.S. and is a major player in this space. Benzi and team have built a terrific software product that farms and their customers love. This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further deepen its software domain knowledge in working with growers and offer our producer partners additional software to help reach more customers and grow their profits. Moreover, this acquisition opens the door for GrubMarket to become a software platform for B2C side of the American food supply chain industry. This completes our software offering to power up both B2B and B2C activities in this industry. We are excited to welcome the Farmigo team to the GrubMarket family. Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger producer network in the food ecosystem nationwide."

Farmigo's CSA software will become an addition to GrubMarket's software product family which already includes the innovative proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, the company's B2B Software-as-a-Service platform providing food industry suppliers and vendors with seamless financial management, easy-to-use online ordering and sales, precise inventory management, and engaging CRM tools.

About GrubMarket

Founded in 2014, GrubMarket is a San Francisco-based food technology company operating in the space of food ecommerce both to business and to consumer as well as providing related software-as-a-service solutions to digitally transform the American food supply chain. Currently, GrubMarket operates in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and British Columbia (Canada), with plans to expand to other parts of the U.S. and Canada.

For Media Inquiries:

GrubMarket Media Team

[email protected]

(510) 556-4786

GrubMarket

1925 Jerrold Ave.

San Francisco, CA. 94124

SOURCE GrubMarket

Related Links

http://www.grubmarket.com


The Hennessey engineers have almost doubled the output of the F-150's 5.0-liter V8, adding 375 bhp to the stock model's 400 bhp. A 3.0-liter twin screw supercharger and new intercooler system, plus upgrades to the air filtration, throttle body, and engine management systems are just a few of the enhancements that HPE has made. The new model, which is now in production at Hennessey's Sealy, Texas, headquarters ramps up the torque to 685 lb-ft a full 275 lb-ft above the stock V8's 410 lb-ft.

Thanks to aluminum-intensive construction, the F-150 has a significant weight advantage over the TRX (it's about 2,000 lbs. lighter depending on specification). The Venom 775 is nimbler on- and off-road, plus it puts the power down more quickly  the Ford is also capable of both RWD and 4x4 modes. The Hennessey team also elevates the F-150's off-road performance with an off-road upgrade that adds integrated front and rear Venom bumpers, a front LED bar, a 6-inch lift, and 20-inch Hennessey 10-spoke wheels wrapped in 35-inch off-road tires.

John Hennessey, company founder and CEO: "Our dedicated Ford customers have been eager for a showroom stock 'TRX killer' since Ram unveiled the truck. HPE engineers have delivered with more horsepower, more torque and more capability  I could not be more pleased. Our new Venom 775 F-150 is faster and lighter than the factory TRX, and our order books are filling fast with F-150 fans determined to regain the high-ground."

Just 100 of the Ford-based supertrucks will be built by HPE engineers in Texas. The result of intensive R&D and decades of expertise sees the new Hennessey Venom 775 sprint to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, while a  mile sprint takes just 12.0 seconds @ 117 mph.

Backed by Hennessey's three-year / 36,000-mile warranty, customers can be confident in exploring the full extent of the Venom 775's performance both on- and off-road. In addition, the Hennessey modifications retain all the manufacturer driving modes enabling comfortable cruising or high-power performance at the flick of a switch.

Customers buying the Hennessey-tuned F-150 will typically spend a total of $90,000-$110,000 (including the stock V8 Ford F-150). The new truck is available with global shipping and can be ordered through Hennessey directly (+1 979.885.1300 or visiting HennesseyPerformance.com)

About Hennessey

Based in Sealy, Texas, the Hennessey business comprises Hennessey Special Vehicles, Hennessey Performance (HPE), Tuner School, and the Lonestar Motorsports Park. The company has re-engineered more than 12,000 vehicles for performance enthusiasts from around the world to deliver unparalleled driving thrills. Alongside modifying a diverse range of sports, and muscle cars since 1991, the company also applies its high-performance expertise to trucks and SUVs  and boasts its own hypercars  the Venom GT and the Venom F5.

Every Hennessey product is dyno-proven, fully track-tested, street-legal and warrantied. Customers can choose from road-ready performance-enhanced cars by Hennessey from a wide variety of brands including Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Jeep in addition to benefitting from a host of high-performance upgrades.

With its own test track, engineering curriculum for aspiring tuners, more than 50 team members and capacity to work on 40-50 vehicles at a time, Hennessey Performance is one of the world's leading specialist vehicle engineering companies. The new 6.6-litre V8 Venom F5 hypercar is set for customer deliveries in 2021. Boasting 1,817 hp and a +311 mph top speed, the company is guaranteed to deliver like never before on its mission of 'making fast cars faster'. HennesseyPerformance.com

About John Hennessey

As the company founder and CEO, John Hennessey lives and breathes fast, fun cars. John developed a passion for performance while competing at world-renowned motorsport events including Pikes Peak, the Silver State Classic and the Bonneville Salt Flats (where he set a class world record).

What started in 1991, modifying imports out of his garage, soon morphed into building 1,000-horsepower twin-turbo Dodge Vipers that gained international recognition in car magazines such as Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Top Gear, and Road and Track.

Viewed as an American icon of speed, John has achieved his vision to be the top automotive tuner and builder in the U.S. With a global sales footprint covering the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East, he continues to find ways to engineer greater performance from some of the world's most iconic cars alongside the creation of the company's new world-class hypercar  the Hennessey Venom F5.

Social media

YouTube: hpedesign | Instagram: hennesseyperformance | Facebook: @hennesseype | Twitter: @HennesseyPerf

SOURCE Hennessey Performance

Related Links

http://hennesseyperformance.com/


This is the first time Hyundai Mobis has participated in a motor show held in the US although they have consistently attended CES. In addition to participation in IAA Mobility held earlier this month in Germany, the company has expanded its scope to North America, and will display new technology while also increasing touchpoints with clients in order to win contracts from global automakers.

Motor Bella is held at Pontiac's M1 Concourse near Detroit from the 21st to 26th, while the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), one of the world's biggest motor shows, takes a pause for 2021.

Detroit is symbolic of the US automotive industry as it is home to the headquarters and strategic bases of the leading US global automakers, known as the Big 3. The area is a focal point for North American global automakers expanding new mobility offerings.

During the show, Mobis will be holding 'Mobis Tech Days' presented by Key Account Executive (KAE) from Mobis North America (MNA) and Advanced Engineering representatives from Mobis Technical Center America (MTCA). Clients will be invited to experience its latest autonomous driving, electrification, and infotainment technologies.

At Motor Bella, Hyundai Mobis will emphasize its new Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technology on the GV80, which is receiving good reviews from US consumers. The company will also show off other new autonomous driving technologies specialized for North American customers, such as Driver Status Monitoring (DSM), Driver Status Warning (DSW), and the Head-Up Display (HUD) developed at Tech Center.

In line with the great shift to EV with large-scale investments by the government in North America, Hyundai Mobis is also exhibiting its most advanced electrification components like 3-in-1 system(integrating motor, inverter and reducer in a single housing), Battery System Assembly (BSA), and Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU). Since 2009, the company has accumulated more than 12 years of electrification system know-how and produced about 1.9 million electrified vehicle systems.

In addition, Hyundai Mobis will install kiosks for its clients and visitors in order to introduce a total 24 technologies, such as infotainment, electrification, chassis, and lamp. The company plans to offer a full portfolio of its diverse products ranging from ADAS to electrified automotive components.

Hyundai Mobis has been striving to increase its touchpoints with global clients and win more contracts since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the global logistics disturbance and semiconductor shortage problems, the company is maintaining a strong supply system and is a trusted partner with clients.

Mobis North America

MNA operates 3 major facilities in the Greater Detroit area. Since 2009, the Detroit module assembly plant has been a strong supplier of chassis modules for Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The Plymouth Tech Center with 200 employees develops US customized products, such as autonomous driving, safety, lamp, and more. The Novi warehouse and logistics center, with over 80,000 square feet, is the perfect location for logistics, quality control, transportation and inventory for our clients.

For Mobis Tech Days, please contact Scott McEwan ([email protected]) and Paul Jurewich ([email protected])

About Hyundai Mobis

Hyundai Mobis is the global no.7 global automotive supplier, with annual sales of nearly $30 billion USD. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Hyundai Mobis aims to become a lifelong technology partner for vehicles and people. The company has outstanding expertise in sensors, sensor fusion in ECUs and software development for safety control. The company's products also include various components for electrification, brakes, chassis and suspension, steering, airbags, lighting and automotive electronics. Hyundai Mobis currently employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and has its own production facilities in North America, Europe, China and India. In addition to its research and development headquarters in Korea, Mobis has 4 technology centers in Germany, China, India and the United States.

For more information, please visit the website at http://en.mobis.co.kr/

Media Contact

Jihyun Han (+82-2-2018-6026, [email protected])

Choon Kee Hwang (+82-2-2018-5519, [email protected])

SOURCE Hyundai Mobis
WAKE FOREST, N.C., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iDEAL Hospitality Partners today announced a partnership with Nightfood, the company pioneering the night snack category, providing hotels a new opportunity to further support better sleep for their guests.

Following a successful "grab-and-go" pilot test with a leading hotel brand, award-winning Nightfood ice cream is expected to be introduced in thousands of hotels nationwide in the coming months.

Hotels continue investing heavily in sleep, upgrading mattresses, pillows, linens, blackout curtains, white noise machines, and more. Hotels can now extend their sleep-supporting efforts from guestrooms into their "grab-and-go" lobby shops with sleep-friendly Nightfood snacks.

Unlike the sleep disruptive snacks commonly found in hotel shops, Nightfood snacks are formulated by sleep and nutrition experts to provide the nutritional foundation for better quality sleep. Nightfood ice cream contains more sleep-supporting tryptophan, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, zinc, prebiotic fiber, and casein protein, with less sugar and fat, and a lower glycemic profile.

"Nightfood is perfect for hotels," commented Jill Rigsbee, iDEAL CEO. "We believe every hotel wants to support better sleep for their guests in every way possible. That includes sleep-friendly snacks."

"Nightfood has a proven track record of strong sales in hotels," stated Sean Folkson, Nightfood CEO. "iDEAL is the perfect partner to accelerate and manage Nightfood's national hotel rollout."

Nightfood will soon be available through all Vistar distribution centers. Interested parties can contact iDEAL at 984-235-5855. Popular flavors include Cookies n' Dreams, Midnight Chocolate, and Cold Brew Decaf.

ABOUT NIGHTFOOD

Nightfood is pioneering the night snack category. Nightfood snacks are uniquely formulated by sleep and nutrition experts to satisfy unhealthy nighttime cravings in a better, healthier, more sleep-friendly way, providing the nutritional foundation for better sleep.

ABOUT iDEAL HOSPITALITY PARTNERS GROUP

iDEAL Hospitality Partners Group, based in Wake Forest, NC, provides outsourced marketing and business development services for companies eager to grow sales in the hospitality sector. The iDEAL team knows the key decision makers and stakeholders that consider and purchase products for all areas of a hotel or resort. Through long-standing relationships with hotel owners and management companies, the iDEAL team presents clients' innovative, unique products and services for the lodging industry to hotels and resorts throughout North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

iDEAL Hospitality Partners Group

Media Contact: Tobi Bowen

[email protected]

SOURCE iDeal Hospitality Partners Group

Related Links

https://www.idealhpgroup.com/


SOUDERTON, Pa., Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Indian Creek Foundation ("ICF") provides notice of a data event.

On February 6, 2021, ICF discovered that portions of its computer network were infected with malware that encrypted certain systems. ICF promptly took the affected systems offline, initiated other containment measures, and with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists, launched an investigation into the nature and scope of the incident. The investigation confirmed that certain folders may have been accessed or removed from ICF systems without authorization on February 6, 2021. ICF therefore undertook a lengthy, time-intensive, and thorough review of the potentially impacted folders and its internal files and systems in order to identify the information that was potentially impacted and to whom it related. In conjunction with this review, on or about April 15, 2021, a third-party firm was engaged to programmatically and manually review the information at issue in order to identify impacted individuals and the types of data associated with those individuals. Concurrently, ICF internally reviewed its databases. and, on or about July 14, 2021, first determined that one or more of the potentially impacted folders included protected information related to individuals. ICF continued to diligently review and reconcile the information with its internal records in furtherance of identifying the individuals to whom the data related and the appropriate contact information for those individuals. Those efforts were completed on or around August 24, 2021, at which time ICF determined the scope of impacted individuals and the types of data associated with those individuals as a result of the extensive internal review. ICF thereafter worked to provide notification to potentially impacted individuals as quickly as possible.

Although the information varies by individual, the involved ICF systems contained the following types of information at the time of the incident: name, Social Security number, driver's license number, health insurance information, medical treatment/diagnosis information, and financial account information.

Information security is one of ICF's highest priorities. Upon discovering this incident, ICF took steps to respond. Further, ICF notified federal law enforcement regarding this event. Moreover, ICF is reviewing and enhancing existing policies and procedures and implementing additional safeguards to further secure the information in its systems and reduce the likelihood of a similar future event. ICF is also notifying relevant regulatory authorities as required. As an added precaution, ICF is offering complimentary access to credit monitoring and identity restoration services to potentially impacted individuals.

Should individuals have questions regarding this event or wish to inquire as to their eligibility for the complimentary credit monitoring and identity restoration services, they may call ICF's dedicated assistance line at 800-974-0685, which is available Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Individuals may also write to ICF at 420 Cowpath Road, Souderton, PA 18964, or via email [email protected].

ICF encourages individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing account statements and explanation of benefits and monitoring free credit reports for suspicious activity.

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. You may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of your credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended "fraud alert" on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer's credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer's credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer's identity before extending new credit. If you are a victim of identity theft, you are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any one of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a "credit freeze" on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer's express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in your name without your consent. However, you should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application you make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, you cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on your credit report. To request a security freeze, you will need to provide the following information:

Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.); Social Security number; Date of birth; Addresses for the prior two to five years; Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill; A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver's license or ID card, etc.); and A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if you are a victim of identity theft.

Should you wish to place a credit freeze, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/ https://www.transunion.com/credit-help 888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 833-395-6938 Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016 Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov ; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Individuals can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Individuals have the right to file a police report if they experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, you will likely need to provide some proof that you have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and your state Attorney General. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

SOURCE Indian Creek Foundation

Related Links

https://indcreek.org/


HONEOYE FALLS, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- KJT is proud to announce the launch of its new brand identity, including a new visual language and updated key messaging that reinforces the brand's core attributes: Expertise, Collaboration, Confidence, Approachability, Authenticity and Transformation.

"Our business has grown a lot over the years, and we felt our brand could better express the company," said Michaela Gascon, the company's new CEO.

KJT Brandmark KJT Mission and Vision

"The brand journey is all about finding and sharing your company's authentic narrative, which takes time and thoughtful input from a diverse set of stakeholders. It has been a collaborative effort resulting in a more modern look that captures our mission to deliver insightful business recommendations through a co-creative process with our healthcare clients," she added.

KJT began the re-branding process by partnering with Sprout Growth Services.

"When we embark on corporate branding projects with our clients, we start with a deep dive on their business," said Peter Simpson, Sprout's Creative Director. "During this discovery phase, we determine and define brand attributes, which will drive the visual direction for the brand."

According to Simpson, without going through the rigors of this strategic discovery phase, many aspects of the creative process are left up to personal preference, resulting in a brand image that's not as authentic or relevant as it could be.

"A business can be a lot of things to a lot of people," said Simpson, "However, the strategic branding process forces companies to be intentional about who they are and how they want to be perceived."

The results of the KJT discovery process, distilled down to their core essence, became the foundational starting material for the company's new brand identity, which highlights KJT's thinking and methodology, its technology solutions, the ease of doing business with KJT, and the company's ability to turn complexity into simplicity for its clients.

"At its heart, KJT represents a group of smart employee-owners who are agile, hardworking and ambitious," said Melissa Lippa, KJT Design Manager. "We invested in a more fully-developed brand to better communicate these unique attributes, and I really think we landed on a cleaner, more contemporary look that focuses on the future without losing our past  and one that truly represents the differentiated value we bring to our clients."

Lippa further stated that a big part of the brand refresh project is a redesigned KJT website, reflecting the new brand presence while improving SEO and the UX experience. "Visitors to our site will see our new logo, colors and type  as well as new team portraits, showing the warmer, more human side of our brand," she said.

Lippa added that the brand work supports a broader content marketing strategy, with the company publishing articles, posts, opinion pieces and educational material on a regular basis. The effort aligns all the company's digital platforms and properties to provide holistic support for that dynamic content.

To learn more about the KJT brand, and its recent brand journey, please visit https://kjtgroup.com/blog/ for an in-depth interview with Michaela Gascon, Melissa Lippa and Peter Simpson.

About KJT Group: KJT Group (www.kjtgroup.com) is an evidence-based healthcare consulting firm. We transform and empower business through evidence, insight and collaboration. Founded in 2007, KJT Group employs more than 60 full-time staff across the United States and is 100% employee owned.

Press Contact:

Melissa Lippa

Marketing Communications

KJT Group Inc.

Six East Street

Honeoye Falls, NY 14472

www.kjtgroup.com

+1 585-624-8050

SOURCE KJT Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.kjtgroup.com


CHICAGO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) today announced it will host a webcast for investors and analysts featuring a conversation with Greg O'Brien, CEO, Markets, on Thursday, September 29 from 10 - 11 a.m. Eastern time. The webcast program will consist of a brief business overview followed by a live Q&A session.

O'Brien is a member of Global Executive Board with responsibility for strategic leadership and oversight of all regional and local market operations including the Leasing, Property and Asset Management, Consulting and Project & Development Services businesses.

O'Brien joined JLL in 2008 during the acquisition of The Staubach Company, where he was CEO. He was named CEO, Americas in 2014 and assumed his current role in January 2021. Based in Washington D.C., he works closely with JLL's clients and teams in cities around world.

The link to register for the webcast can be accessed at the Investor Relations website, ir.jll.com. Registration is open throughout the call.

The webcast replay will be available for 90 days following the event on the Investor Relations website.

For further information, please contact JLL's Investor Relations department at: [email protected]

About JLL

JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. JLL shapes the future of real estate for a better world by using the most advanced technology to create rewarding opportunities, amazing spaces and sustainable real estate solutions for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $16.6 billion in 2020, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 92,000 as of June 30, 2021. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit ir.jll.com.

Contact: Gayle Kantro

Phone: +1 312 450 5948

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JLL-IR

Related Links

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WICHITA, Kan., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The proposed Kansas Health Science Center  Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KHSC-KansasCOM), currently under construction in downtown Wichita, recently appointed three additions to its administration: Diana Gordon, CFRE, as director of philanthropy; Kimberly Long, Ph.D., as professor and director of research and scholarly activity; and Rosemary Niedens as professor and director of community scholars program.

Diana Gordon is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) with 25 years of experience working for nonprofits. She most recently served as president and chief development officer for the historic Orpheum Theatre. Prior to that she served as director of development at Exploration Place and Wichita State University Foundation where she led the successful fundraising campaign to restore an iconic outdoor mural by artist Joan Miro. She was named a 2018 Women in Business honoree for her successes at the Orpheum Theatre and for her commitment to mentoring young women professionals in her field.

Kimberly Long, Ph.D., most recently worked at Newman University where she was provost and vice president for academic affairs, and professor of psychology. In 2017 she led the university's 10-year comprehensive reaffirmation of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission, resulting in the first "no-finding/no-monitoring" report in the history of the institution. She continues to serve as team chair and a peer evaluator for the Peer Reviewer Corps of the Higher Learning Commission and was professor of psychology and assistant vice president for academic affairs at the University of Mary before moving to Wichita. In 2020, she was recognized in the Wichita Business Journal's "Women Who Lead in Education" issue.

Rosemary Niedens also comes to the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM from Newman University where she has served as associate vice president of academic affairs for 14 years. She has been with the Wichita-based university since 1999 and held various titles including academic services and student development, dean of students, and assistant professor of sociology. Niedens also owns her own consulting business, working with higher education institutions regarding assessment practices, student retention, and student success. She continues to work with the Higher Learning Commission Quality Services, where she has been for 12 years, providing guidance for multiple schools.

With the goal of opening for the 2022 academic year, the proposed KHSC-KansasCOM is working through the accreditation process. The campus is currently under construction to transform 116,000 square feet of the iconic building at 217 N. Douglas in the heart of downtown Wichita. Nearing completion, the campus features clean inspirational design, innovative state-of-the-art technology and learning spaces, an osteopathic skills training center, standardized patient teaching rooms, large lecture halls, small group study rooms, a virtual anatomy lab, and much more.

###

About Kansas Health Science Center:

Kansas Health Science Center is a nonprofit organization committed to training well-prepared physicians and health care leaders who will positively contribute to the overall well-being of our communities. With the goal of opening the proposed Kansas Health Science Center - Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2022, KHSC strives to positively impact the health landscape in Wichita and the state of Kansas through directly addressing the disparity in access to healthcare. Learn more.

SOURCE Kansas Health Science Center

Related Links

https://kansashsc.org/


Law360 honored Postman for his leadership of Keller Lenkner's pioneering arbitration practice, in which the firm pursues individual arbitrations for clients whose claims are subject to arbitration clauses with class-action waivers. Keller Lenkner has won precedent-setting trial and appellate victories requiring defendants to comply with their own arbitration clauses, securing more than $375 million in settlements over the last two years for more than 150,000 employees and consumers.

"In bringing the resources necessary to arbitrate claims at a large scale, we provide access to justice for thousands of individuals who are contractually barred from participating in a class action," Postman said. "I'm grateful to Law360 for this honor and to our team at Keller Lenkner that works to prevent defendants from using arbitration as a tool for evading liability for wrongdoing."

Keller Lenkner's arbitration practice has won a number of landmark decisions, including:

In Adams v. Postmates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district ruling that required Postmates to arbitrate with thousands of its workers who alleged they had been misclassified as independent contractors.

the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district ruling that required Postmates to arbitrate with thousands of its workers who alleged they had been misclassified as independent contractors. In Abernathy v. DoorDash , a federal district court compelled DoorDash to arbitrate with thousands of its underpaid couriers. Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California berated the company for objecting to the terms of its own arbitration clause, stating: "This hypocrisy will not be blessed."

, a federal district court compelled DoorDash to arbitrate with thousands of its underpaid couriers. Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of berated the company for objecting to the terms of its own arbitration clause, stating: "This hypocrisy will not be blessed." In Postmates v. 10,356 Individuals , Postman successfully defended the first challenge to California's Senate Bill 707, which imposes penalties on companies that use delay tactics to stop consumers and employees from bringing claims against them in arbitration.

, Postman successfully defended the first challenge to Senate Bill 707, which imposes penalties on companies that use delay tactics to stop consumers and employees from bringing claims against them in arbitration. In In re Intuit Free File Litigation, a California State Court ordered Intuit to arbitrate with nearly 10,000 Keller Lenkner clients, denying the company's attempt to redirect the arbitration demands into small-claims court, where, under California law, only corporations and not consumers can be represented by a lawyer.

Law360 editors reviewed nearly 900 submissions to determine this year's MVPs  182 attorneys from 77 firms spanning 37 practice areas.

ABOUT KELLER LENKNER: Keller Lenkner LLC represents plaintiffs in complex litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout the nation. The firm acts for clients in many types of cases, including class and mass actions, arbitrations, and multi-district litigation matters. Its team includes four former law clerks at the Supreme Court of the United States and former partners and associates from the country's leading law firms. Since its founding in 2018, the firm has secured results for more than 150,000 clients.

Related Links: www.kellerlenkner.com

SOURCE Keller Lenkner LLC

Related Links

http://www.kellerlenkner.com/


NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors (KoCAA)today announced the launch of its new, organically developed investment advisor representative (IAR) program, which allows clients to align their finances with their faith. Launched in 2014, after over a century of service to its parent organization Knights of Columbus (K of C), KoCAA currently manages over $29 billion for institutional investors and high net worth investors. The new IAR program offers individual investors access to this faith-based investment approach.

Clients of the new program will have access to KoCAA's exclusive fund lineup, which is the most diversified and largest total number of funds available within the Catholic values space  totaling nine mutual funds and over 85 model portfolios. KoCAA is committed to working with clients that have over $10,000 to invest, including K of C members and nonmembers, as well as Catholics and non-Catholics. In addition to its breadth of investment choices, the IAR program offers competitive advisory fees.

"We believe that investors do not need to sacrifice their values for performance," said Tony Minopoli, KoCAA's president and chief investment officer. "With the launch of the program, we are extending the opportunity set to individual investors who can access both a full-service wealth management platform and the ability to invest in accordance with their faith so they can be secure in the knowledge that their investments firmly support what they believe in."

As of Sept. 15, 2021, KoCAA has over 100 advisors across 33 states overseeing approximately $28 million in assets. Each Advisor is registered to provide investment advice and has completed a rigorous, multi-step training process and many have been serving members' needs with other financial services for years. The firm's goal is to employ 200 financial advisors by the end of 2021.

KoCAA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the K of C, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. With a focus on serving the nation's 70 million Catholics and the faith-based investment market, KoCAA aligns its products and services with the guidelines set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops while adhering to a values-based approach to investing. The guidelines include respect for life, respect for human dignity, and the Catholic doctrine on war and peace.

As a wholly owned subsidiary, KoCAA's profits help to support K of C, an organization that provided $185.7 million in direct donations and 75.7 million volunteer hours to help build stronger communities in the last year alone.

About Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors is an SEC registered investment adviser that maintains a principal place of business in the State of Connecticut. For further information about KoCAA's business operations, please consult the Firm's Form ADV disclosure documents, the most recent versions of which are available on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. KoCAA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, with over $29 billion in assets under management. Please visit: KofCAssetAdvisors.org for additional information.

You should consider the investment objectives, risks and charges and expenses carefully before investing. Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice and no investment decision should be made based on any information provided herein. Nothing presented herein should be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell a particular type of security or follow any investment technique or strategy. No guarantee of investment performance is being provided and no inference to the contrary should be made.

SOURCE Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors
The touchstone for this body of work is Virginia Woolf's warning that women must reject paternalistic notions of "the Angel in the House," the idealized woman of great beauty and purity who adopts male desires about what a woman should be and say. Proving herself to be a capable inheritor of Woolf's occupation, McNulty has meticulously constructed large-scale, cinematic images that reveal the interior lives of modern women as they know themselves.

Working in the tradition of artists like Julia Margaret Cameron, Gertrude Stanton Kasebier, and Lady Clementina Hawarden, the series builds on an era when female artists embraced domestic themes and were excluded from "important" art subjects such as history and nudes. By staging her images of life on the home front in close collaboration with her subjects, in what she calls "photo improv," McNulty's images are designed to be as unscripted as possible. Behind the scenes, immense deliberation and exploration go into developing each visual metaphor, turning her subject's homes into densely detailed sets. The images each communicate their own narrative and collectively offer insights into the "women question" at a time when the pandemic year has revealed the outsized role women play holding our families and communities together.

"We are at an inflection point," said photographer and activist Lanie McNulty. "The Trump era, #MeToo movement, and now the pandemic have pulled back the curtain on the myth of a level playing field for women. We now have a chance to set a new course, but first we need to take a closer look at women's lives beneath perfected facades. That's what my subjects and I set out to do with The Angel in the House."

For the first time, fourteen photographs from the series will be on display at Planthouse Gallery (55 West 28th Street, New York, NY 10001) where viewers will have the opportunity to cultivate their own conclusions about how modern women are faring. Each image will be on display beginning September 14 through October 23.

"Planthouse Gallery is a collaborative project space with a non-traditional gallery model," said Katie Michel, Founder of Planthouse Gallery. "With a strong focus on social justice, we work with a lot of social activists, so we are honored to work again with Lanie and showcase such a revelatory and timely series."

An opening reception with McNulty in attendance will be held on September 14 from 6:00 p.m.  8:00 p.m. followed by cocktails next door at Barn Joo Nomad. A limited-edition publication, The Angel in The House, signed by the artist, accompanies the exhibition. The monograph includes a foreword by Deirdre Donohue and interview by Kate Walbert.

ABOUT LANIE MCNULTY

Lanie McNulty is a New York-based artist and social activist. Her photography projects include Lifted Up in New York City, From the Ashes of Rwanda, and The Angel in the House. Working in other media, she has created a series of tapestries called Say a Little Prayer for U.S. In her most recent work, McNulty has developed a collaborative process for creating staged, narrative images. She calls this process: "photo improv."

McNulty's work has been presented in several solo and group exhibitions and is included in the permanent collections of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Collection at New York Public Library, and several private collections. She has received the Bronx Borough President's Citation for Outstanding Contribution by an Artist and the International Art Movement's Encounter Award. Interviews with McNulty about her work as an artist and activist are available on "Tastemakers with Pauline Brown," "That Black Girl Radio Show," and the International Art Movement's "I AM IAM" podcast.

Upcoming, McNulty will participate in two artists' panels, one with 10x10 Books in September and one with David Campany and The International Center of Photography in October.

For more information, please visit www.laniemcnulty.com.

ABOUT PLANTHOUSE GALLERY

Founded in 2013 by Katie Michel, Planthouse Gallery is a project space located on 28th street in New York City. Planthouse took its namesake from its original home located on the storied block between Sixth and Seventh Avenues that represents the vibrant center of city's flower district. In 2015, the gallery relocated nearby, to 55 West 28th Street, trading in tulips and trees for the wholesale shops that now populate Tin Pan Alley, the strip between Fifth and Sixth Avenues which historically housed the city's musicians, shops, and musical publishers in the early twentieth century. Planthouse is located on the parlor floor of a brownstone dating back to this period, and we hope the (colorful) ghosts of the past will continue to inspire our future and our commitment to exhibiting and publishing the contemporary work of emerging and established artists.

Currently, Planthouse publications are on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

For more information, please visit www.planthouse.net.

SOURCE Planthouse Gallery
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, family-owned enterprises have managed to stay resilient. The world's largest 500 family businesses generated US$7.28t in revenues, employing 24.1m people across 45 jurisdictions. These and other findings were published today in the 2021 EY and University of St. Gallen Family Business Index which reveals how the largest family-owned businesses have responded to the recent turbulence in the global economy.

While family businesses, especially those in the hospitality and tourism industries, have felt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many took the opportunity to pivot. A number of organizations shifted their manufacturing capabilities to create essential items like face shields and ventilators, while others provided financial support to other businesses, displaying their commitment to innovation and an enduring sense of social responsibility. Consumer family businesses in particular endured, achieving on average US$15.39b in revenue. Overall, family-owned enterprises in the consumer sector remained a significant employer, employing on average 56,150 people.

In spite of the tumult of the past year, Europe continues to be a nurturing geographic environment for these organizations. Germany is home to 16% of the companies on the Index, reflecting the strength of the German economy and the historic nature in which family businesses tend to settle in the country  90% of all businesses in Germany are family-run. One third of featured family businesses are based in the Americas, with the US boasting the highest number of family businesses (119 or 24%). These organizations contribute US$2.48t in revenue in the Americas, employing 6.4m people. Several of the biggest private family-owned enterprises by revenue globally are located in the US. Fifty-five of the businesses that hail from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, contribute 87% (US$835b) of the combined revenue in Asia-Pacific. Asia is home to three of the top 20 businesses, as well as the oldest family business in the Index  Japan's 400+ year-old Takenaka Corporation.

As a growing number of organizations make commitments to diversity and inclusion, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, family businesses continue to increasingly focus on these areas. The average family business board member is 61 years-old, and 80% of businesses on the Index do not have family board members under the age of 40. Bringing in the next generation's expertise, insights, technology and digital capabilities into the evolving customer landscape can help to sustain growth. And as boards continue to seek to diversify, the share of companies with female family members on boards has improved, reaching 31% in 2021. At the same time, only 5% (27) of the family businesses on the Index have female CEOs, similar to the 8% (41) of Fortune Global 500 companies.

Looking more closely at ESG commitments, family-owned enterprises are working to achieve new goals. At least 53% of family businesses on the Index are reporting against formal ESG metrics. Half of those (51%) are from EMEIA, followed by companies in the Americas (30%) and Asia-Pacific (19%). ESG reporting represents an opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact companies are already making, and potentially helps to attract new talent, win customers and grow revenues.

Helena Robertsson, EY Global and EY EMEIA Family Enterprise and Family Office Leader, says:

"Family-owned enterprises have shown incredible resilience through the COVID-19 pandemic, prioritizing sustained workforces and pivoting when necessary to overcome new challenges. As society continues to move forward through these tumultuous times, these businesses are well-placed to continue their legacy, further diversifying their boards, bringing the next generation into leadership roles and setting new standards when it comes to engaging with ESG issues."

Josh Wei-Jun Hsueh, Assistant Professor from the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen, says:

"As wealth grows over generations, the challenges business families face become more complicated. This increasingly requires a professionalized approach to portfolio and asset management. Families are also engaging more non-family directors on boards and top management roles."

Notes to Editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

About EY Family Enterprise

As trusted advisors to ambitious business-owning families, including more than 92% of the world's top 500 family enterprises, EY teams have the experience and know-how to help the entire family enterprise  families, their family business and their family office  pursue growth opportunities while preserving values and building the family legacy. Drawing from more than 100 years of experience supporting the world's most entrepreneurial families, EY Family Enterprise professionals are experienced in pinpointing and helping to optimize the drivers that impact family businesses' growth and longevity, preserve wealth and culture, and solidify multigenerational legacies. ey.com/familyenterprise

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/private

Rosie Izzi

EY Global Media Relations

+1 419 309 0443

[email protected]

SOURCE EY

Related Links

http://www.ey.com


"More and more legal departments and law firms are looking at flexible legal talent as part of new ways to deliver legal services, and our ability to fill those needs has been fuel for our growth," said Latitude CEO Ross Booher. "The tech, healthcare and financial services industries are drivers of that change, and given our roster of former in-house counsel and Big Law attorneys with sophisticated experience in those areas, Austin and Boston are natural new office locations."

Jeff Lilly, who will lead Latitude's Austin office, was most recently the co-managing partner of the Austin office of Am Law 100 firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP. Joe Turo, Jr., who will direct Latitude's Boston office, was most recently the deputy general counsel of Boston-based global investment management firm Loomis, Sayles & Company, which manages more than $350 billion in assets.

"We are thrilled Jeff and Joe are joining our team as they both have exactly the background to best serve our clients and the legal professionals we provide. Both bring a deep understanding of their specific priorities and goals, as they have been in those roles themselves," Booher added.

Before joining Gordon & Rees, Lilly was a partner at Clark, Thomas & Winters, at one time the largest firm in Austin. A Texas native, Lilly is a graduate of the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin and earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law.

Turo began his legal career as an attorney at global law firm Ropes & Gray in Boston where he was a member of the corporate and investment management practice groups. He was then assistant general counsel with FleetBoston Financial and its successors before joining Loomis, Sayles & Company. Turo earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a bachelor's degree, with high honors, from Providence College.

About Latitude

Latitude is a legal services company that specializes in employing and providing former in-house counsel and Big Law attorneys, in addition to paralegals, legal operations professionals and compliance officers, to legal departments and leading law firms nationwide. The company attracts outstanding legal talent for contract and contract-to-hire roles  as well as for permanent positions  by offering sophisticated work, great clients and competitive pay and benefits along with a refreshing combination of flexibility and boundaries. Our clients range from Fortune 500 corporations to small companies and Global 50 law firms to boutiques.

For more information, visit latitudelegal.com.

SOURCE Latitude
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Legacy Collective, a giving community dedicated to solving systemic issues with sustainable, innovative solutions, announces that it has given $25,000 to border relief organizations providing assistance at the United States-Mexico border. Mision de Caridad received $15,000 and Al Otro Lado received $10,000. These grants bring Legacy Collective to giving 34 grants so far for 2021, totaling $992,129.

Legacy Collective donors join a Giving Circle, committing to monthly donations from $35 to $1,000+ per month. All donors then vote where they want their collective donations to be given.

Mision de Caridad provides programs and resources for refugee, migrant and vulnerable women and children on the Mexico side of the U.S. border. Mision de Caridad's mission is to advocate, support, facilitate and implement programs to improve the lives of women and children refugee asylum seekers, migrants and local populations living on the Mexico side of the U.S. border. The organization helps them live self-sufficiently and free of the fear of persecution, violence and extreme poverty. Read more about the grant here.

Al Otro Lado provides direct, free, legal services on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border and beyond. They engage in zealous individual representation, medical-legal partnerships, and impact litigation to protect the rights of immigrants and asylum-seekers. Al Otro Lado leverages vital partnerships and engages thousands of volunteers to increase their capacity and help build a broad-based immigrant justice movement. The clients they serve include medically vulnerable and disabled migrants, people in detention, and all families who have been separated by unjust US immigration policies. Read more about the grant here.

"Our founder, Jen Hatmaker, and our community are deeply invested in what is happening at the border," says Erin Arnheim, CEO of Legacy Collective. "We are honored to support Al Otro Lado and Mision de Caridad in the important and great work they're doing. These organizations are doing an incredible job supporting the needs of the immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking communities on both sides of the border meeting immediate health and legal needs."

Legacy Collective monthly donors combine their investment with hundreds of others to fund sustainable world-changing initiatives. Legacy offers four Giving Circle Levels for individuals. Donations from the Giving Circle are combined to provide grants to organizations nominated by and voted on by Legacy Giving Circle donors.

About Legacy Collective

Legacy Collective works to engage systemic problems related to social issues by resourcing what we believe to be the most innovative efforts and funding the most critical projects. Follow Legacy Collective online:

Contact: Whitney Otstott, (512) 699-7730, [email protected]

SOURCE Legacy Collective
ANAHEIM, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Levoit, the #1 selling air purifier brand in the United States*, released the Levoit VeSync Dual 200S, a 2-in-1 diffuser and humidifier featuring ultrasonic technology, timers, and smart capabilities compatible with the VeSync app, Google Assistant, and Alexa. The Dual 200S is now available for ($54.99) at Levoit.com or on Amazon.

New Dual 200S Now Available at Levoit.com for $54.99

Levoit

Download Images Here

Images Courtesy of Levoit

The Dual 200S offers all the benefits of a humidifier soothing sore throats and coughs, moisturizing skin, helping plants thrive, along with its diffusing capabilities of natural aromatherapy. In addition to its sophisticated design, easy-to-use technology, and innovative features, the Dual 200S is fully equipped with:

Smart Control: Set timers and schedules, set a target humidity level, connect to voice assistants, and more.

Auto Mode: Set a target humidity level or let the humidifier adjust mist levels to maintain 4050% relative humidity.

Long Run Time: Humidify a 290 square-foot space for up to 25 hours on the lowest setting before refilling.

Aromatherapy: Add essential oils directly into the base chamber for soothing fragrance.

Spill-Free Design: Refill the top-fill tank without having to flip anything over.

The user-friendly settings allow you to control humidifier settings, check humidity levels, set timers and create usage schedules as well as connect to voice assistant features through the VeSync app. The Dual 200S has a 3-liter tank which can produce a continuous mist for up to 25 hours on the lowest setting, allowing your living room, bedroom, and nursery to maintain healthy humidity levels throughout the day and night.

"Humidifiers are important home products to help combat dryness that often causes coughs, sore throats or dry skin that come along with the cold winter months," said Grace Yang, Founder, Chairperson, CEO, and Executive Director of parent company VeSync. "Whether it's air purification or humidification, Levoit is committed to helping families stay healthy by taking control of what happens in their own homes. Our new Dual 200s is the perfect product for everyone, and the smart features make one aspect of life just a little bit easier to control."

The 360-degree nozzle, coupled with the 2.4MHZ Atomizer, allows for the production of a fine mist at fast speeds, diffusing a refreshing and naturally fragrant mist throughout the designated living space. Equipped with a hydraulic fan and muffler technology, the Dual 200S is designed to support an uninterrupted night's sleep. Additionally, automatic settings turn the humidifier off once it reaches the set target humidity level, creating the ideal sleep environment.

For additional information on the Levoit VeSync Dual 200S Smart Top-Fill Humidifier, visit Levoit.com.

*Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service, US unit sales, 12 months ending October 2020. Based on Amazon sales.

"Alexa is a trademark of Amazon.com Inc. and Google Assistant is a trademark of Alphabet Inc. neither of which are associated with this product."



About Levoit:

Launched in 2016, Levoit connects homes with smart products to create clean and comfortable atmospheres. The brand's collection of air purifiers and humidifiers features industry-leading technologies and smart home applications. As part of the VeSync Family of Brands, Levoit has received worldwide recognition for its continued innovation in reliable, intuitive designs. To learn more, visit www.levoit.com.

Media Contact:

Jackie Dadas-Kraper, Director

[email protected]

(347) 206-5651

SOURCE Levoit
The eco magnet minimized the use of heavy rare-earth (HRE) metals that have high scarcity values. This magnet is an essential component for vehicle motors, smartphone cameras, audio speakers, and wind power generators. It is installed in products that require driving and provides power with its magnetic pushing and pulling force.

This product significantly reduced the use of HRE metals, a key ingredient of magnets, by 60% compared to the previous product. This is especially good news since the industry is struggling to find alternatives of HRE metals due to their lack of supply, high price, and environmental pollution caused. LG Innotek's development of the eco magnet is particularly significant in that South Korea imports most of the HRE metals from China.

The product has raised the magnetic performance for home appliances and vehicle steering motors to 14.8 kG (in kilogauss, magnet strength), which is the world's highest level. This beats the products of Japanese companies that have led the industry for nearly 40 years. The industry believes that the technical performance limit of this magnet is 15kG. The magnetic performance of products commercialized so far is only 14.2 to 14.3 kG.

The advantage of the eco magnet is that it uses only 40% of the HRE metals compared to the previous one. This minimizes the risk of production interruption due to a lack of raw material supply.

Automakers and vehicle components companies are showing interest in this magnet, because they have been struggling to reduce the proportion of HRE metals in their products. These companies are sensing the increasing risk of production interruption by a shortage of HRE metals supply. HRE metals can only be produced in certain countries, however the demands have soared recently due to the increase of electric vehicles. In addition, their supply is expected to get even tighter as these materials are becoming "weaponized" over diplomatic disputes.

Applying the eco 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; the high magnetic power enables high motor output with a small size. This product is suitable for electric and hybrid vehicles that need weight reduction to improve mileage range (fuel economy of electric vehicles) due to an increase in battery weight. This magnet can also cut the cost of raw materials such as copper used in motors as it decreases the motor size.

When the eco magnet is applied to a high-pixel smartphone camera, it produces clearer photos and videos by increasing the driving force of the actuator (the part that moves the lens to focus).

As the specifications of smartphone cameras have enhanced, the size and weight of lenses have increased. And this now requires actuators to have stronger magnetic power. At the same time, as smartphones get slimmer, the demands for small but powerful magnets are increasing.

The eco magnet generates a stronger magnetic force than other magnets of the same size. This can increase the driving power of an actuator by about 10% without an increase in size. Therefore, even if a lens becomes heavier, the actuator can move the lens as quickly and accurately as needed.

The development of Eco-magnet is also significant in terms of sustainability since it minimized the use of HRE metals that cause pollution. HRE metals seriously pollute the environment by generating lots of radioactive materials, heavy metals, toxic gases, and acidic wastewater during production.

Until now, Japan, with its cutting-edge technology, and China, with its price competitiveness, have dominated the magnet market. In particular, China is dominating the global market by deciding on the global supply of HRE metals.

As a result, companies around the world such as automakers have been adversely affected by shortage of magnets with HRE metals when trade or diplomatic disputes arose. High prices and environmental pollution issues also need to be handled.

To solve such problems, LG Innotek began developing the eco magnet with reduced HRE metals in 2017 and has been focusing on securing the best magnetic performance since 2019. To this end, LG Innotek also joined hands with SGI, which has an HRE metal reduction technology.

HRE metals are an essential component to maintain magnetic force at high temperatures. Reducing these metals may decrease the durability of a magnet. Therefore, it was technically difficult to enhance the magnetic force while minimizing the use of HRE metals.

By adding new compounds, the two companies have developed a coating liquid for the eco magnet that uses less HRE metals however produces the strongest magnetic force in various products and temperatures. In addition, the companies also secured a new magnet material optimized for the coating liquid. LG Innotek's eco magnet is made by applying this coating liquid to the magnet and heating the magnet to absorb the liquid evenly.

LG Innotek knew that it could not catch up with Japanese competitors' technologies in a short period of time with the existing development method. To speed up the process, the company introduced a simulation technique using machine learning (a technology that a computer automatically determines and results in outputs by learning from data). Using this technique, the development period, which takes at least two years, has been halved.

With the machine learning computer, LG Innotek has significantly reduced the number and time of experiments by automating the process of deriving optimal process conditions such as the ratio of HRE metals and heat treatment temperature. Previously, researchers had to repeat experiments hundreds of times, which made the development period long and incurred errors.

LG Innotek plans to strengthen its competitive edge in the market by applying the eco magnet to the company's other products such as steering motors for vehicles and smartphone actuators.

At the same time, LG Innotek plans promotions targeting global automakers, vehicle components manufacturers, and smartphone companies. And it will quickly expand the magnet's applications to air conditioners, refrigerators, drones, urban flying cars, and generators.

In addition to solidify its technical leadership in magnet, the company has a plan to develop a 'non-rare-earth magnet' that does not contain rare-earth metals at all.

CTO Minseok Kang said, "It is meaningful that LG Innotek supplies the new product with the best performance and quality by developing its core materials in a short period of time using innovative technology. We will continue to provide differentiated values to customers with the eco magnet."

For more information about LG Innotek, please refer to the website: www.lginnotek.com

SOURCE LG Innotek
BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lovepop, leading designer of beautiful pop-up cards and gifts, is on a mission to create one billion magical moments across the globe. Charging towards this goal, the brand announced today an exclusive distribution partnership with HVM Heaven Sales and Marketing Gmbh (HVM) to serve customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH region) for the first time.

With thousands of unique designs, Lovepop combines art and engineering to stretch the boundaries of the imagination and develop creative, meaningful, and fun ways for people to share love.

Soon customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will have access to Lovepop's collection of 3D cards and gifts. Tweet this Lovepop combines art and engineering to stretch the bounds of the imagination and create magical cards and gifts that make it easy to share love.

"We have built a brand and suite of products that appeals to all people, no matter their language or location," says John Wise, Co-Founder and President at Lovepop. "With an impressive industry background and passion for creating a better, brighter world, HVM will be an invaluable partner in launching our international distribution efforts in the DACH region. We are beyond excited to take this next step towards becoming a global brand."

Beginning fall 2021, customers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will have access to Lovepop's collection of 3D cards and gifts for every occasion through a dedicated website (www.lovepop.de), equipped with pricing, customer support, and shipping options all localized for the DACH region. Retail distribution is anticipated in early 2022.

"When we first spotted the Lovepop store in New York's Hudson Yards, we were immediately blown away," says Oliver Kalkreuter, CEO at HVM. "We are impressed, not only by the great design and creativity with which the cards are made, but also by the feeling of love and community that the brand embodies. We are thrilled to be joining the Lovepop family and to distribute these wonderful cards and gifts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland."

About Lovepop

Lovepop is on a mission to create one billion magical moments. Founded by naval engineers, Lovepop combines art and engineering to stretch the bounds of the imagination and create magical cards and gifts that bring people together. Whether you're celebrating a holiday, an important milestone, or an everyday moment, Lovepop's thousands of unique designs make it easy to share love with meaning, creativity, and fun. For more information visit lovepop.com.

SOURCE Lovepop
DALLAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, readers of Texas Lawyer magazine have selected the trial firm of Lyons & Simmons, LLP, among the top Dallas-based personal injury law firms.

Fighting for the rights of their clients is the hallmark of Lyons & Simmons. With a focus on large, complex personal injury, wrongful death, and high-exposure business dispute cases, the trial firm's founders, Michael Lyons and Christopher Simmons, are devoted to representing those whose lives have been torn apart by the actions of others.

"Without a doubt, I take on my clients' problems as if they are my own. I have a hard time not thinking about their situation and how it has impacted them. It's what drives me every day," said Lyons. "I am consumed not only with what needs to be done to help them move on with their lives but also how to prevent it from ever happening to someone else."

Each year since 2013, the editors of Texas Lawyer have surveyed members of the legal community to identify the top industry support companies in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. The firm's focus on results led to Lyons & Simmons' selection when personal injury firms were added to the survey in 2020.

Most recently, Lyons and Simmons secured the largest-ever verdict in Midland County, Texas, for a personal injury case, representing a woman whose three children died in a highway collision caused by a worker speeding to a jobsite in inclement weather. The firm also successfully represented the family of one of five victims of the worst oilfield accident in Oklahoma history and the deadliest in the U.S. since the 2010 Macondo Deepwater Horizon blowout.

Earlier this year, the firm was honored among the 2021 National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers finalists. Lyons and Simmons also have earned multiple individual honors from Texas Super Lawyers, Lawdragon 500, and D Magazine.

Results of the "Best of 2021" survey are published in the September/October issue of Texas Lawyer and can be found online at www.texaslawyer.com.

About Lyons & Simmons LLP

Dallas-based Lyons & Simmons, LLP is a trial boutique representing clients in wrongful death, personal injury, products liability, and complex "bet-the-company" business litigation matters across the country. To learn more, visit http://www.Lyons-Simmons.com.

Media Contact:

Rhonda Reddick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Lyons & Simmons

Related Links

https://www.lyons-simmons.com


MEXICO CITY, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- m8 Pharmaceuticals and Biocodex have signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the Mexican and Brazilian market for Diacomit (stiripentol). Diacomit is approved for adjunctive treatment with clobazam and valproate in Dravet syndrome in over 27 countries, including North America and Europe. Dravet syndrome, also known as severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI), is a catastrophic early onset epileptic syndrome that is thought to affect approximately 1,000 to 2,000 patients in Mexico, and approximately 2,000 to 4,000 patients in Brazil. In most cases, the first seizures occur during the first year of life. Dravet syndrome is characterized by severe epilepsy, psychomotor retardation, and often ataxia. Status epilepticus is frequent and is thought to be in part responsible for the high premature mortality rate reported in these patients, ranging from 15.9 to 18%.

The addition of Diacomit to the m8 portfolio further reinforces the company's position as a Latin American leader in the CNS space.

"We remain committed to bringing products to Latin America. Actively partnering with neurologists to address the unmet needs of patients and their families, as is the case of this devastating orphan disease which mainly affects children" said Joel Barlan, m8's CEO.

"We are pleased to have entered into this collaboration with m8 which is a major step forward to Diacomit development in Latin America. With this partnership in Mexico and Brazil, we are aiming at providing access to Diacomit to a large number of patients suffering from this severe condition" adds Nicolas Coudurier, CEO of Biocodex

About Diacomit (stiripentol)

Diacomit is an antiseizure medication developed by Laboratories Biocodex. Possible mechanisms of action of its anticonvulsant effect in humans include increase of GABAergic inhibition, inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase and blockage of sodium and calcium channels.Diacomit is now approved by FDA in two formulations (capsules and powder for oral suspension). Biocodex received orphan-drug designation for Diacomit from the FDA in 2008 and full approval in 2018.Diacomit is also approved for adjunctive treatment with clobazam and valproate in Dravet syndrome in 27 countries in the EU (January 2007), Canada (December 2012), Japan (September 2012), Australia (September 2019), Argentina (December 2020) and Taiwan (June 2021).

About Biocodex

Biocodex is an independent multinational pharmaceutical company founded in France in 1953. It is headquartered in Gentilly (France) with its American subsidiary in San Mateo (CA). The company is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics relating to the central nervous system (epilepsy, pain management, psychiatry), gastroenterology (microbiota) and women health.

For any information please contact:

Thomas Courousse

Head of Neurology division

T: +33 (0)1 41 24 46 69

[email protected]

About M8 PHARMACEUTICALS

m8 is a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on licensing, marketing and distributing innovative and established therapeutics in the two largest Latin America markets: Brazil and Mexico. m8 aims to become the preferred pharmaceutical partner for the licensing of high-value innovative and proven therapies across our main therapeutic areas CNS, Respiratory, Cardiometabolic, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology, Onco-hematology and Orphan Diseases. m8 is a Montreux Equity Partners portfolio company.

For more information, please visit: www.moksha8.com

For more information please contact:

Joel Barlan

Chief Executive Officer

T: +52 (55) 4431 2933

[email protected]

Rafael Ferrer

Vice President of Corporate Development

T: +1 (305) 299 6998

[email protected]

SOURCE m8 Pharmaceuticals
TSX andOTCQX: MPVD

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) (OTCQX: MPVD) announces that the nominees listed in the management proxy circular for the 2021 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders ("Annual Meeting") were elected as directors of the Company. Detailed results of the vote for the election of directors held at the virtual Annual Meeting on September 14, 2021 are set out below.

Nominee Votes

For % For Votes

Withheld % Withheld Jonathan Comerford 113,817,178 99.35% 739,202 0.65% Stuart Brown 75,490,073 65.90% 39,066,307 34.10% Dean Chambers 80,500,129 70.27% 34,056,251 29.73% Ken Robertson 81,269,699 70.94% 33,286,681 29.06% Brett Desmond 114,044,241 99.55% 512,139 0.45% Karen Goracke 81,918,830 71.51% 32,637,550 28.49% Tom Peregoodoff 80,602,909 70.36% 33,953,471 29.64%

Mr. Peregoodoff tendered his resignation from the Board on September 8, 2021, after his nomination for re-election to the Board as a management nominee had been included in the Company's proxy material. As a result, his nomination was put forward and he was re-elected to the Board, however his resignation as a director took effect immediately following his re-election. At the Annual Meeting, Chairman Jonathan Comerford thanked Mr. Peregoodoff for his valuable contributions to the Company on Board committees, and in the areas of exploration, operations and business development. The Board has begun the evaluation process to find a suitable replacement for Mr. Peregoodoff.

At the Annual Meeting, KPMG LLP were re-appointed as auditor of the Company at remuneration to be fixed by the directors.

****

About the Company

Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls 106,202 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases surrounding the Gahcho Kue Mine that include an Indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and Inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites. Kelvin is estimated to contain 13.62 million carats (Mct) in 8.50 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.60 carats/tonne and value of US$63/carat. Faraday 2 is estimated to contain 5.45Mct in 2.07Mt at a grade of 2.63 carats/tonne and value of US$140/ct. Faraday 1-3 is estimated to contain 1.90Mct in 1.87Mt at a grade of 1.04 carats/tonne and value of US$75/carat. All resource estimations are based on a 1mm diamond size bottom cut-off.

For further information on Mountain Province Diamonds and to receive news releases by email, visit the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com.

Qualified Person

The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding Mountain Province's mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Matthew MacPhail, P.Eng., MBA, and Tom E. McCandless, Ph.D., P.Geo., both employees of Mountain Province Diamonds and Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as COVID-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be," "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may," "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to COVID-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated.

These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Although Mountain Province has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Mountain Province 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. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator. Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province. Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

SOURCE Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mountainprovince.com


While industry-rough Covid conditions have had a tremendous effect on international moves, Able's International Division is posting record revenues since its inception in 2014. Able International Corporate Sales and Business Development Executive Wayne Chenault is inundated with pent-up demand for relocations. "We are benefitting from a huge uptick in Embassy moves that were on hold for some time, and the demand for overseas corporate moves is keeping us extremely busy at the moment," says Chenault. "We are especially concentrated in areas of Europe and South America right now, and we do not expect this to let up any time soon."

Able recently became a member of The Latin American and Caribbean International Movers Association (LACMA) at the behest of one of its largest clients, and Chenault predicts more business will result from that. "Interaction with more of our industry peers active in this region will only allow the quality work Able does to be more recognized and sought after," he says.

Able Sales and Business Development Manager Kim Dize admits to some unpredictability about how the Commercial Division at Able would perform this year amidst the pandemic but has been pleasantly surprised to see the year over year growth once again achievable. "We are benefitting from a resurging interest in corporate relocations that is volatile," says Dize. "Some companies are moving back into office space while others are moving out because of covid variant concerns."

Able Commercial Customer Service Manager Melissa Carrano is seeing record billing for the company. "In June and July, we recorded all-time revenue highs for the division and September will probably top both figures," she says, "and we do not see this slowing down any time soon."

Typically, the residential sector of the industry is quiet at this time of year as fall descends, but the interest Able is seeing in home relocations is anything but quiet. Able Operations Manager Len Jones is forecasting a busy few months. "Whatever has caused families to speed up their decision-making process regarding relocations has had a huge impact on long distance moves," says Jones. "We have stayed in hiring mode throughout Covid but will be stepping up efforts to accommodate the irregular seasonal trends we are seeing."

Director of International Michele Eckert is looking forward to Able participation in the upcoming International Association of Movers (IAM) Conference in Orlando October 13-16th in order to share best case practices with colleagues and hear how others are doing. "While the conference will have virtual aspects to it, we feel comfortable attending with the rigid safety procedures that will be employed by IAM," she says, "and we want to share what is working for us with others and hear their strategies for the challenges that lie ahead."

Able Co-owner Joe Singleton is overwhelmingly pleased with what he knows is the most competent Leadership Team in the industry and makes expressing regular gratitude for this a priority. "I know not everyone is faring as well as we are right now, so I am thankful for who we have at Able and for what they have achieved in this climate."

Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram or visit our website at www.ablemoving.com

SOURCE Able Moving & Storage

Related Links

http://www.ablemoving.com


JUPITER, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Reflecting its commitment to find the best and most innovative ways to serve its members, My State MLS has partnered with MLS Affiliate, Inc. to create the MLS Affiliate program. This partnership will reward real estate professionals for what they're already doing: using the best tools for their business and recommending those tools to their colleagues.

My State MLS My State MLS has partnered with MLS Affiliate, Inc. to create the MLS Affiliate program.

MLS Affiliate shares revenue with its members by rewarding them with direct payments for referring real estate products and services to their network. Influential members of the real estate community have a unique opportunity to share revenue with MLS Affiliate, Inc. and its partners through this referral program.

Affiliates are paid when they refer qualified members who purchase MLS and other services from My State MLS. Affiliates receive referral fees for their direct sales, as well as for sales made by affiliates who join the program under them.*

My State MLS is a Nationwide Multiple Listing Service that allows you to list property anywhere you are licensed in the United States. With members in every state, My State MLS is poised to be the national database for the real estate industry. There is no need to join a board and there are no fines. The software is simple and intuitive; entering and searching listings is easy. Even better, My State MLS is full of features that many real estate agents pay extra for, such as CMA creation, CRM tools, social media sharing, education and advice, and much more.

"We are pleased to offer a unique new revenue source for our members and help them become even more successful through our MLS Affiliate program," said Dawn Pfaff, founder and president of My State MLS . "As the real estate industry and marketing trends continue to evolve, we at My State MLS pride ourselves on being at the forefront of these advancements."

*Rules apply.

To find out more about My State MLS's MLS Affiliate Program, visit www.mlsaffiliate.com or call 1-888-769-7657.

About My State MLS

In 2009, Dawn Pfaff founded NY State MLS, a full multiple listings service (MLS) serving all 62 New York counties. Born from a desire to create a common-sense MLS solution, New York's statewide Multiple Listing Service quickly garnered agents across the state, as well as nationwide attention and demand for the company's services. In 2015, My State MLS, the first nationwide Multiple Listing Service of its kind, was created and today it has agents in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. LA State MLS debuted in October 2020. In December 2020, Pfaff and My State MLS launched MHAuthority.com, a premier website for manufactured housing listings. In addition to its MLSs, My State MLS's services and products have expanded to include direct feeds to all major sites (Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, Realtor.com and ListHub), international syndication, IDX feed, branded virtual tours, access to Professional Search, website design, private MLS administration and much more. For more information visit, www.mystatemls.com.

Media Contact:

Duree & Company, Inc.

954.723.9350 / [email protected]

SOURCE My State MLS
MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nakisa, a cloud-based business operations platform for global enterprises, today announced that Robert Nardi has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Nardi spent over 25 years at Deloitte advising clients of all sizes, with the last 11 years as a Partner.

With deep experience in the technology industry, Nardi is poised to help Nakisa capitalize on its recent growth and continue global expansion. He will play a key role in the development and implementation of Nakisa's business plans and strategy, as well as other aspects of operations.

Nardi spent his entire career advising technology clients and brings over a decade of experience as the managing partner of Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) industry group, where he helped organizations navigate rapid growth, raise financing, support mergers and acquisitions and drive business strategy. For the last five years, Nardi managed an advisory practice focused on delivering solutions to finance organizations.

"I am very excited to welcome Robert to our executive leadership team," said Babak Varjavandi, CEO of Nakisa. "He brings extensive experience in our industry and has played a pivotal role in the growth of many Canadian companies. Robert will be essential in helping us expand our capabilities globally and deliver our enterprise cloud solutions to the Fortune 1000".

Nardi joins Nakisa during a period of global growth and industry expansion for the company. Late last year, Nakisa acquired Montreal-based IMNAT Software, a cloud-based real estate management solution, to extend Nakisa's existing lease accounting product line. The company has welcomed 40 new staff members across its global offices this year, including several key roles on the executive team, as part of their growth strategy.

"It's a great time to join Nakisa considering their leadership position in the B2B cloud software market and impressive customer base," said Robert Nardi. "Nakisa has built a solid foundation and has grown the company organically for the most part. I am very excited to join Nakisa's strong leadership team and be part of Nakisa's next growth cycle."

To learn more about Nakisa, visit Nakisa.com.



About Nakisa

A global leader in enterprise business solutions for Organization Design and Accounting and Compliance, Nakisa delivers innovative, forward-thinking and robust human resource and financial management solutions that advance your business strategies.

Working with a global network of partners Nakisa serves 900+ enterprise customers and over 4 million subscribers in 24 industries. ERP-agnostic, cloud-based software allows Nakisa to meet the needs of organizations with complex business challenges. Nakisa is proud to work with some of the world's most renowned brands. To learn more visit Nakisa.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Pam Anderson

[email protected]

SOURCE Nakisa

Related Links

http://Nakisa.com


BEDFORD, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoscope researchers were awarded a $1.5 million Phase 2b Small Business Research Innovation (SBIR) grant by the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance the company's ambient light activatable optogenetic gene therapy for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

"Winning the NIH grant via a highly competitive review process is a testament to the innovativeness and clinical significance of our first-in-class optogenetic therapy based on our Multi-Characteristic Opsin (MCO), which is a patent-protected ambient light activatable protein for restoration of vision in people with AMD," said Sulagna Bhattacharya, CEO of Nanoscope. "Our goal is to apply our therapy to relieve the suffering of millions of people worldwide with AMD."

Nanoscope's lead MCO gene therapy, MCO-010, is in a late-stage Phase 2b trial for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in the US. MCO-010 has orphan drug designations for RP and Stargardt disease from the US Food and Drug Administration. A Phase 1/2a trial of MCO-010 showed patients blinded by RP experienced clinically meaningful vision restoration.

Nanoscope's optogenetic gene therapy uses a proprietary AAV2 vector to deliver MCO genes into bipolar retinal cells where they express MCOs engineered to be fast and polychromatic, enabling vision in different color environments. The MCOs reprogram bipolar cells to act like photoreceptor cells damaged not only by AMD, but also the full range of inherited retinal disorders (IRDs) regardless of underlying disease-causing gene mutations. The therapy involves a single intravitreal injection and can be administered in a medical office setting.

"Our preliminary data show MCO therapy can be applied in a mutation-independent manner for specific IRDs and can serve as a retinal disease-agnostic platform therapy," said Samarendra Mohanty, PhD, Principal Investigator of the recently awarded NIH grant and Nanoscope's President and Chief Scientific Officer. "With this grant we can accelerate advancement of our MCO therapy for geographic atrophies of the macula for juveniles as well as adults."

About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc.

Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing optogenetic therapies for giving sight to the millions of blind individuals suffering from retinal degenerative diseases, for which no cure exists. The company's pipeline includes optogenetics based retinal regeneration therapy for patients with RP, Stargardt disease, and other IRDs as well as age-related macular degeneration.

Contact:

Charles Craig

Opus Biotech Communications

[email protected]

404-245-0591

SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics

Related Links

http://www.nanostherapeutics.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs is disappointed that Gravity Defyer Medical Technology Corporation declined to participate in the industry self-regulation process. As a result of the advertiser's failure to participate, NAD has referred advertising claims for their Gravity Defyer shoes to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for review.

Through its routine monitoring program, NAD challenged the claims:

"Clinically Proven to Relieve Pain: Back, Knee, Ankle & Foot Pain. According to a 2017 double-blind study conducted by Olive View UCLA Medical Center."

"And ease discomfort associated with: arthritis; joint pain; heel spurs; and more"

"85% -- less knee pain"

"91% -- less back pain"

"92% -- less ankle pain"

"75% -- less foot pain"

During the inquiry, the advertiser permanently discontinued the challenged claim "Live Life Without Pain: Plantar Fasciitis; Arthritis; Joint Pain; Heel Spurs; Back & Knee Pain" and the reference to "plantar fasciitis" in the claim ". . . ease discomfort associated with: fasciitis; arthritis; joint pain; heel spurs; and more," as well as the testimonial "I've had lower back pain for years. Walking in these shoes was life changing for me. I feel like I'm walking on air." Therefore, NAD did not review these claims on the merits.

In 2019, NAD requested that Gravity Defyer Medical Technology Corporation provide evidence that it complied with a 2011 NAD decision to discontinue certain health-related claims for Gravity Defyer shoes. After the advertiser referred to new clinical evidence in support of the 2011 challenged claims, NAD closed that compliance inquiry and granted the advertiser's petition to reopen the case.

After initially agreeing to participate in the reopened case, and shortly before the issuance of NAD's decision, the advertiser stated that it will no longer participate in the NAD process. Thus, NAD has referred the matter to the FTC for possible enforcement action.

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs is where businesses turn to enhance consumer trust and consumers are heard. The non-profit organization creates a fairer playing field for businesses and a better experience for consumers through the development and delivery of effective third-party accountability and dispute resolution programs. Embracing its role as an independent organization since the restructuring of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in June 2019, BBB National Programs today oversees more than a dozen leading national industry self-regulation programs, and continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-directed marketing, and privacy. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.

SOURCE BBB National Programs

Related Links

www.bbbprograms.org


ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions today released the findings of its latest Cybercrime Report, which covers the first half of 2021. This edition of the biannual report reveals that bot attack volumes grew 41% year over year with human-initiated attacks falling 29%. The report confirms earlier trend patterns showing the financial services industry and media businesses bear the brunt of increased automated bot network attacks.

The Cybercrime Report is an analysis of transaction data from the LexisNexis Digital Identity Network. It analyzed 28.7 billion transactions over the six-month period, up 28% year over year, attributed to increased transaction volumes from existing customers and an increased customer base within the Digital Identity Network. The increased shift to digital payments seen across advanced economies during the pandemic appears to be a permanent change, while accelerated digital transformation in emerging economies and industries continue to drive transaction growth as well as catch the attention of fraudsters.

The first half of 2021 saw geographical shifts in attack volume observed across transactions occurring within the Digital Identity Network. Based on bot IP addresses, Mexico joins Brazil on the top ten list of largest originators of bot attacks by volume, further establishing Latin America (LATAM) as a hotspot for both automated and human-initiated attacks. Attack rates originating from North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) have historically been similar and lower than the other regions. Since March 2021, however, North America recorded higher daily attack rates that now exceed those in EMEA, marking a sustained change in cybercriminal behavior in the U.S. and Canada, which may be linked to an earlier transition towards a post-pandemic world.

Key findings from The LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report, January to June 2021:

Bot attacks increase globally  All regions have recorded growth in bot volume between January- June 2021 in comparison to the same period last year. This was most marked in the Asia Pacific (APAC) and LATAM regions, with EMEA experiencing the smallest growth.

 All regions have recorded growth in bot volume between January- in comparison to the same period last year. This was most marked in the (APAC) and LATAM regions, with EMEA experiencing the smallest growth. Industry innovations altered risk profiles  The online payment market continues to proliferate and diversify. Buy now pay later (BNPL) services and digital wallets are becoming an increasingly popular payment method, with BNPL transactions growing 182% year-over-year. This growth is likely to continue as it caters to the increasing population of consumers who are transacting more online. However, it also creates new avenues of attack for cybercriminals.

 The online payment market continues to proliferate and diversify. Buy now pay later (BNPL) services and digital wallets are becoming an increasingly popular payment method, with BNPL transactions growing 182% year-over-year. This growth is likely to continue as it caters to the increasing population of consumers who are transacting more online. However, it also creates new avenues of attack for cybercriminals. Financial services institutions deployed new methods to track money mules  Advances in beneficiary intelligence within the Digital Identity Network are making it less complicated for banks and other payment service providers to track payment transfers involved in money mule activity. This includes when the beneficiary tries to hide their tracks by splitting the initial payment and routing it via other entities in the payment network.

"Today's report not only confirms cybercriminals' reliance on automated processes, but also highlights that fraudsters are further establishing sophisticated and expansive networks to conduct fraud," said Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "Explosive transaction and user growth rates in industry sectors such as virtual banks and buy now pay later are likely exposing emergent risks for these newer businesses as they grab the attention of fraudsters. The digital businesses that survive and thrive will be those that deploy layered cybercrime prevention solutions as they scale."

Download a copy of the LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report, January through June 2021. Join Stephen Topliss in a global webinar on Tuesday September 14th 11am ET, 4pm BST, 5pm CET, when he will highlight the latest Cybercrime Report findings.

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions harnesses the power of data and advanced analytics to provide insights that help businesses and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. We provide data and technology solutions for a wide range of industries including insurance, financial services, healthcare and government. Headquartered in metro Atlanta, Georgia, we have offices throughout the world and are part of RELX (LSE: REL/NYSE: RELX), a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. For more information, please visit www.risk.lexisnexis.com and www.relx.com.

Media Contacts:

Marcy Theobald

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

678.232.0948

[email protected]

SOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Related Links

http://www.lexisnexis.com


FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 19; Released: September 2021 Executive Pool: 11592 Companies: 675 - Players covered include Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.; Alfa Laval AB; API Heat Transfer; Barriquand Technologies Thermiques; Danfoss; Doosan Corporation; Enerquip, Inc.; Funke WArmeaustauscher Apparatebau GMB; Guntner U.S. LLC; Hamon Group; Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers; Hisaka Works, Ltd.; HRS Heat Exchangers Ltd; Johnson Controls; Kelvion; Koch Heat Transfer Company; McDermott; Mersen; SmartHeat Inc.; SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc.; SPX FLOW, Inc.; SWEP International AB; Tranter Inc.; Vahterus Oy; Xylem Inc. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Product Segment (Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers, Cooling Towers, Air Coolers, Gasketed PHE, Welded PHE, Brazed PHE, Other Product Segments); End-Use (Chemicals, HVAC & Refrigeration, Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Food & Beverage, Other End-Uses) Geographies: World; USA; Canada; Japan; China; Europe; France; Germany; Italy; UK; Spain; Russia; Rest of Europe; Asia-Pacific; Australia; India; South Korea; Rest of Asia-Pacific; Latin America; Rest of World.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-

Global Heat Exchangers Market to Reach US$22.1 Billion by the Year 2026

Heat exchangers are devices that transfer heat energy from one fluid/gas to another fluid/gas without mixing the two. The heat exchangers market is anticipated to receive a boost from industrialization and increasing use of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC) for optimal utilization of the equipment. The need to refurbish HVAC systems is expected to drive the use of cooling equipment and heat exchangers in the residential sector. The market growth is facilitated by technological advances and increasing adoption of heat transfer equipment for heat recovery, process cooling and condensation applications. While consistent demand from various end-use industries such as energy and petroleum is likely to boost adoption, the requirement to control temperatures in manufacturing units is poised to impel heat exchanger demand. On the other hand, stringent regulations curb carbon emissions as a result of rising concerns over environment and air pollution are likely to present new growth opportunities. The market growth is also driven by the need for centralized heating systems in residential and commercial segments along with global warming and the resulting change in weather conditions. Increasing investments by various companies for improving the commercial infrastructure is expected to create huge growth opportunities for heat exchanger providers.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Heat Exchangers estimated at US$16.4 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$22.1 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 5.2% over the analysis period. Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 4.2% CAGR to reach US$5.6 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Cooling Towers segment is readjusted to a revised 5.5% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 20.8% share of the global Heat Exchangers market. The shell & tube heat exchanger market is driven by increasing adoption of sophisticated equipment across the pharmaceutical, power generation and petrochemical industries owing to their superior corrosion-resistance and energy efficiency. Cooling towers are defined as open water re-circulation devices that use natural draft or fans to extract or push air to cool water through evaporation. Environmental concerns will expedite the markets' adoption of energy efficient products like closed circuit cooling towers. New innovations and updates to product standards are continuously being made in attempts to enhance the performance, energy efficiency and eco-friendliness of cooling towers.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $3.8 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $3.7 Billion by 2026

The Heat Exchangers market in the U.S. is estimated at US$3.8 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 22.56% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$3.7 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 6.9% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.6% and 4.4% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 4.2% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$4 Billion by the year 2027. Europe dominates market growth driven by stringent regulations and ambitious plans to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. These regulations are driving member states in the region to promote energy-efficient products to curb carbon emissions and their impact on the environment. The European market is also benefitting from increasing adoption of heat exchangers in the oil & gas industry along with consistent focus of various players on research activities to develop new products to satiate consumer needs. The North American market is driven by strong contribution from the US and Mexico. While the former remains the leading market in the region, the latter is gaining from rapid urbanization and expansion of mechanical activities, creating strong demand for heat exchangers. Growth in the Asia-Pacific region is supported by growing industrial operations in developing regions such as India and China.

Air Coolers Segment to Reach $3.9 Billion by 2026

Air coolers use atmospheric air to cool and condense fluids. There is an increased interest in air coolers as a cost effective, alternative to cooling towers. The chronic shortage of freshwater is expected to become intense in the coming years, a factor that will help drive growth in the air coolers market. In the global Air Coolers segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 4.8% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$2.2 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$3.1 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$400.9 Million by the year 2026. More

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Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

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Email: [email protected]

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FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 15; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 6383 Companies: 732 - Players covered include 3M India Ltd.; Altuglas International; American Durafilm Co., Inc.; Bemis Co., Inc.; Biaxis Oy Ltd.; Covestro AG; Eastman Kodak Company; Evonik Industries AG; Honeywell's HydroBlock barrier films; Penn Fibre, Inc. and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Resin Type (Polyester, Nylon, Fluoropolymers, and Other Resins); End-Use (Packaging, Personal Care, Electrical & Electronics, Transportation, Construction, and Other End-Uses) Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa.

Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an obligation to purchase our report. Preview Registry

ABSTRACT-

Global Specialty Films Market to Reach $42.1 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Specialty Films estimated at US$31.2 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$42.1 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% over the analysis period. Polyester, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 5.5% CAGR and reach US$16.3 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Nylon segment is readjusted to a revised 3.7% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $9 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $8.4 Billion by 2026

The Specialty Films market in the U.S. is estimated at US$9 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$8.4 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.5% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 2.7% and 4.4% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3% CAGR.

Fluoropolymers Segment to Reach US$9.1 Billion by the year 2026

In the global Fluoropolymers segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 3.8% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$5.4 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$7 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. More

MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide.

Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years.

CONTACTS:

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Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

Video Version

Audio Podcast

On the new episode of the Let's Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, the founder of STEM Global Action (SGA) and Dr. Joyce Baynes, a lifelong educator, discuss actionable options for helping children of color overcome barriers that impede their learning of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and becoming STEM professionals.

In an engaging conversation, they noted that parents must be more engaged in their children's education, teachers need improved professional development, K-12 students should have STEM activities outside the classroom and parents should be guiding their children towards summer programs that can provide additional STEM learning opportunities.

"What we've done is bring STEM to the community," said Dr. Mackie, citing SGA programs in New Orleans and around the country. "We do STEM after school, we do STEM at churches, whoever wants STEM outside of schools, we make sure that webring STEM to them."

Dr. Baynes added: "What you're doing with STEM Global Action is right on point because students really do need to see how this affects their lives and how they can move along the career track and be something that they thought they could never be." Further, Dr. Baynes called on more professional development for teachers, especially at the elementary school level. She also urged parents to learn more about STEM, such as facts like STEM jobs pay more than other fields, so they can better guide their children to successful careers.

Dr. Mackie and Dr. Baynes acknowledged these measures are necessary because of the discrimination still rampant today that stigmatizes girls and minorities. "In the 12th grade, I took calculus as well as physics. The first day I went to my physics class I looked at the teacher, he looked at me, and he said, 'I don't think you belong here,'" recalled Dr. Baynes. Similarly, Dr. Mackie described being confronted by a professor in a college thermodynamic class. "Are you in the right place?" the Black student was asked.

Both overcame racial and gender stereotypes. Dr. Baynes has an undergraduate mathematics degree from Swarthmore College, an M.A.T. in mathematics from Harvard University and an M.Ed. in Administration and a Doctorate in Mathematics Education from Columbia University. Dr. Mackie holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Morehouse College, as well as a Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Dr. Mackie is a former tenured engineering professor at Tulane University, and Dr. Baynes is a retired teacher, administrator and superintendent of schools of two school districts in New Jersey.

(For print or broadcast interviews with Dr. Calvin Mackie, please contact Michael K. Frisby, [email protected] or 202-625-4328.)

Contact:

Michael K. Frisby

[email protected]/202-625-4328

SOURCE SGA
In 2018, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences convened a Commission on the Arts to examine the state of arts education in the United States, and to assess the need for greater support. The Commission ultimately focused on the challenges of access to arts education in public schools.

The resulting report, Art for Life's Sake: The Case for Arts Education, finds ample evidence for the attributes, values, and skills that come from arts education, including social and emotional development, improvements in school engagement, as well as more vital civic and social engagement. It also offers concrete recommendations to improve educational policy at the local, state, and national levels.

The Commission is chaired by three Academy members: actor and author John Lithgow , Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts President Deborah Rutter , and two-time United States Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey . They led a group of 38 other artists, scholars, and activists, all of whom contributed their time and expertise to this multi-year effort.

Art for Life's Sake documents a persistent decline in access. While 88% of Americans agree that arts education is an essential component of a well-rounded education, there has been a persistent decline in support for arts education, particularly in communities that cannot finance it on their own.

"Americans understand the value of an education that includes the arts," says Rutter, "but we as a nation have not established sustainable educational policies that make it possible for all students to receive the education they need."

"We want every child to have access to music, paintings, writing, theaterall the artsregardless of their socio-economic circumstances," says Lithgow. "We want all American children to learn how to express themselves and to understand the ways in which others express themselves."

To reverse negative trends, the Commission on the Arts is issuing a set of policy recommendations in six key areas for local, state, and national elected leaders to embrace.

Make the Arts an Important Part of Every Child's Education by offering a diverse set of arts classes and including arts among the core distribution requirements.

by offering a diverse set of arts classes and including arts among the core distribution requirements. Elevate the Role of the Arts through Data, Research, and Accountability at the federal, state, and school district levels, and reform accountability systems to incorporate arts education into the range of outcomes schools cultivate.

at the federal, state, and school district levels, and reform accountability systems to incorporate arts education into the range of outcomes schools cultivate. Ensure Arts Education Funding Is Adequate and Equitable through substantial economic support for public education and adequate funding mechanisms at the state and local level.

through substantial economic support for public education and adequate funding mechanisms at the state and local level. Recruit, Develop, and Support Arts Educators by establishing policy and funding priorities to increase the availability of arts educators, especially those from underrepresented groups.

by establishing policy and funding priorities to increase the availability of arts educators, especially those from underrepresented groups. Foster Collaboration within the Arts Education Landscape through adequately funded arts-based school-community partnerships.

through adequately funded arts-based school-community partnerships. Restore Federal Leadership in the Arts through increased funding, the reinstatement of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and a national celebration of arts education.

"Ultimately, arts education must be a group effort, a partnership in every community," says Trethewey. "Art for Life's Sake offers strong recommendations to our policymakers and calls on our public institutions to make a greater effort. At the same time, it acknowledges that museums, community centers, and other stakeholders have an important role to play in the dissemination of the arts in our public schools."

"Arts education is not simply a training ground for future artists. It is a critical element in the education of every American, an important window on the wider world," said Academy president David Oxtoby. "The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is grateful for the work of the commission members who produced this report and determined to help find a way to make arts education more accessible to every student."

The Commission is funded by the Barr Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Getty Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and Roger and Victoria Sant.

SOURCE American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Related Links

http://www.amacad.org


LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to a dramatically changing global landscape, with business and talent relocation on the rise for a host of factors  from the US-China trade wars, to Covid-19 and remote work, and the G20 proposal for a global minimum corporate income tax  Henley & Partners in partnership with Deep Knowledge Analytics has launched the Best Residence-by-Investment Cities for Business Index.

This unique new index ranks the leading 25 capitals and cities around the world that international entrepreneurs, company owners, professionals, and high-net-worth individuals can acquire residence in through investment migration programs. Using an interactive tool, users can select the different factors that matter most to them to make strategic, data-driven decisions about where best to locate their headquarters, executives, employees, and themselves and their families in the post-pandemic landscape.

Spanning five regions, the Best Residence-by-Investment Cities for Business Index taps into over 1,000 data points and more than 40 different parameters and sub-parameters to rank the cities according to 10 main categories that represent the most pressing relocation considerations: lifestyle, tax, education, real estate, healthcare, security, infrastructure, and stability, as well as Covid safety and the relevant investment migration program.

Dr. Parag Khanna, FutureMap Founder and author of upcoming book MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us, says that at a time when nations are plagued by great disparities in wealth and culture, the focus on leading cities rather than countries is very welcome. "Technological connectivity is creating new vectors of mobility for millions of people. Though we are evolving towards a world in which ever more work is conducted in the cloud, management and employees still have to be somewhere, and given the diverse risks businesses face, from pandemics to conflict to climate change, they must think very carefully about where to expand or relocate, seeking hubs that offer a high degree of reliability in their capacity for business continuity under diverse scenarios."

The five cities that take the top spots in the index  London (1st), New York (2nd), Sydney (3rd), Singapore (4th), and Zurich (5th)  all score highest in security, infrastructure, and stability, with Sydney taking the number one spot overall for security.

Highest scoring in terms of residence-by-investment program offerings are Vienna (9th) and Lisbon (14th), followed by Rome (16th) and Zurich (5th), and then Athens (20th).

CEO of Henley & Partners Dr. Juerg Steffen says the index is invaluable to those considering investment migration as a means of creating optionality in terms of where they and their families can live, work, study, and invest. "Residence-by-investment programs provide a channel for building a migration portfolio of multiple complementary residence and citizenship options to hedge against volatility and take advantage of new opportunities in the pandemic world order."

When it comes to value for money, Dubai (11th), Riga (17th), Limassol (19th), Bangkok (23rd), and Port Louis (24th) all offer tax-friendly, affordable, high-standard-of-living options for residence through investment.

Dominic Volek, Group Head of Private Clients at Henley & Partners, says the key takeout from the Best Residence-by-Investment Cities for Business Index is that there are abundant opportunities for affluent and talented individuals who are considering moving in the wake of Covid-19. "Along with seeking out new domicile options for their families, more and more investors are considering relocating their businesses. This trend had begun pre-pandemic, but it is accelerating. All 25 cities are proactively welcoming foreign investors, and while some are clearly leading the pack, each has its strengths and particular appeal."

SOURCE Henley & Partners

Related Links

https://www.henleyglobal.com/


CAMPBELL, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Barracuda Secured.21 Customer Conference 2021 --

Highlights:

Organizations are experiencing breaches, and ransomware makes up a significant portion of the attacks.

Despite fast connectivity, employees working from home are still experiencing operational and quality-of-service challenges.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technologies are looked at as solutions to prevent security breaches and overcome work-from-home challenges.

Organizations are investing in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) technologies.

Barracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, today released key findings from a report titled "The state of network security in 2021." Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed 750 IT decision makers responsible for their organization's networking, public cloud, and security to get their perspectives on cloud adoption, working from home, security concerns, and a variety of issues and challenges related to cybersecurity risks.

Read the full report: http://www.barracuda.com/netsec-report-2021

Overall, the research shows that network breaches, ransomware attacks, and remote-work challenges underscore the need for cloud-native Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) deployments. Highlights from the report include:

81% of respondents said their organization has been the victim of a security breach once in the last year.

Companies with staff working predominantly from home had a significantly higher network security breach rate (85%), compared to companies with staff working predominantly in the office (65%).

A full 74% of those surveyed said their organization has been the victim of at least one ransomware attack in the last year.

On average, only 14% of employees at the businesses surveyed currently work in the office all the time.

A full 97% of respondents with company-issued devices share their home internet connection with other members of their household, so the risk of breach remains.

73% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have already deployed SD-WAN, twice as many as companies with only a few apps in the public cloud (37%).

68% of companies with all apps in the public cloud have deployed Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), while just 38% of companies with only a few apps in the public cloud have deployed it.

On average, organizations have 31 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps deployed.

On average, respondents said 64% of their traffic is directed to public cloud providers.

"Organizations are experiencing a high level of network breaches and facing ongoing connectivity and security challenges as they adapt to hybrid work environments," said Tim Jefferson, SVP, Engineering for Data, Networks and Application Security, Barracuda. "But, they are realizing that moving to SaaS applications and the public cloud improves both the user experience and security, so they're starting to embrace new SASE technologies."

Resources:

Download the full report: http://www.barracuda.com/netsec-report-2021

Download The state of application security in 2021: https://www.barracuda.com/appsec-report-2021

Download Future shock: The cloud is the new network: https://www.barracuda.com/cloud-market

Download Secure SD-WAN: The launch pad into cloud: https://www.barracuda.com/sdwan-report-2020

Read the blog post: http://cuda.co/49771

About Barracuda Secured.21

Barracuda Secured.21 Customer Conference, happening this week September 14 to 16, is the first global virtual conference hosted by Barracuda for its customers. Barracuda Secured.21 is an informative event covering a wide range of topics including security threats and trends, hands-on technical sessions, new product announcements, and the latest innovations in email protection, application and cloud security, network security, and data protection. For more information, please visit: https://barracuda.events/secured-21/.

About Barracuda

At Barracuda we strive to make the world a safer place. We believe every business deserves access to cloud-enabled, enterprise-grade security solutions that are easy to buy, deploy, and use. We protect email, networks, data and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt with our customers' journey. More than 200,000 organizations worldwide trust Barracuda to protect them  in ways they may not even know they are at risk  so they can focus on taking their business to the next level. For more information, visit barracuda.com.

Barracuda Networks, Barracuda and the Barracuda Networks logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Barracuda Networks, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.

Contacts

Anne Campbell

Barracuda Networks, Inc.

978-328-1642

[email protected]

SOURCE Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.barracuda.com


The report finds that hospitals participating in the 340B Drug Pricing Program charge an average of 3.8 times their acquisition costs for pricey cancer drugs and do not provide lower prices for uninsured or cash paying customers. One drug used to treat anemia caused by chemotherapy, Epogen, was priced at 11 times its cost to the hospital.

Prepared for COA by consultancy firm Moto Bioadvisors, led by industry analyst Aharon "Ronny" Gal, PhD, the report is the first of its kind to use hospitals' own price transparency data to explore differences in hospital contractual prices for drugs, as well as the impact of the 340B program.

Founded in 1992, 340B is a federal program that requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs at significantly reduced prices to eligible health care organizations that are supposed to treat high numbers of uninsured and low-income patients. Hospitals claim the savings are used to reduce the price of drugs for patients and expand health services, but the report makes clear the discounts are being captured by the hospitals as profits rather than being passed on.

The report took an unprecedented look at 52,180 individual hospital-reported prices for 59 oncology drugs that reflected the highest expenditures for Medicare in 2019. The results reflect a unique combination of hospital-payer-drug charges.

The Moto researchers found that 340B hospitals overwhelmingly fail to fully comply with federal hospital transparency regulations that went into effect this year. Working from the entire list of 1,087 acute care, disproportionate share 340B hospitals, the researchers found that only 123 facilities  11 percent of the total published all the required data on drug prices, despite a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulation effective on January 1, 2021, requiring publishing price data to avoid a relatively minor $300 per day fine. The others either failed to comply with the January 1, 2021 mandate or published data that was difficult to analyze or was incomplete.

The report highlights the infused multiple myeloma drug Darzalex as a stunning example of how 340B hospitals profit enormously from different patients and payers:

Considering various discounts, a community oncology practice, for example, would pay $116,876 for a year's treatment of Darzalex and be reimbursed by Medicare at $123,889 , making $7,013 to cover costs for administering the drug.

for a year's treatment of Darzalex and be reimbursed by Medicare at , making to cover costs for administering the drug. A 340B hospital  a so-called non-profit charity hospital  would buy the same amount of the same drug for $76,320 and be reimbursed by Medicare at $90,579 , making $14,259 for administering the drug.

hospital  a so-called non-profit charity hospital  would buy the same amount of the same drug for and be reimbursed by Medicare at , making for administering the drug. That same 340B hospital treating a patient with commercial insurance would also buy the same amount of Darzalex for $76,320 . But the hospital will charge the insurer 3.8 times that or $290,016 , making a profit of $213,696 for a single patient, fifteen times that of a Medicare patient.

The study's lead author, Aharon (Ronny) Gal, PhD, concluded that "non-profit 340B hospitals charge both commercial payers and uninsured patients extraordinarily high prices and use an aggressive form of price discrimination between payers." The report also identifies "several points where 340B hospital strategies conflict with public policy goals, like encouraging price competition and adoption of biosimilars."

"It's no wonder the analysts found that nearly 90 percent of the 340B hospitals they attempted to look at either buried their data, paid a modest fine to the government, or published gibberish that even a team of PhDs could not decipher," said Ted Okon, executive director of COA.

"This report reveals how 340B hospitals are dramatically fueling drug costs for Americans and employers who fund health benefits, which is the largely unreported story of why drug costs are so high in this country," Okon continued. "The 340B program is critically important to helping Americans in need, especially those with cancer, which is why Congress needs to fix this broken government program in a way that ensures the discounts go to patients, not fat hospital systems excessively profiting off of expensive drugs."

The report is released as policymakers in Washington need to continue to demand increased transparency from hospitals and the ever-growing 340B program, including how much patients and insurers are charged for drugs. Congress needs to make program changes to ensure that 340B truly benefits uninsured or underinsured patients.

Further exemplifying the perverse economics of 340B hospitals and drug prices, the report also found that hospitals participating in the program favored innovator biologic cancer drugs instead of lower-cost biosimilar versions because they pocket higher profits. In fact, according to researchers, many 340B hospitals don't even seem to have adopted biosimilars, with "between 25 percent and 56 percent of hospitals list prices for only the innovator product and essentially none carry all the biosimilars," the report said.

To access the full report "Examining Hospital Price Transparency, Drug Profits, & the 340B Program" on the COA website visit https://communityoncology.org/hospital-340b-drug-profits-report.

About the Community Oncology Alliance

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for community oncology practices and, most importantly, the patients they serve. COA is the only organization dedicated solely to community oncology where the majority of Americans with cancer are treated. The mission of COA is to ensure that patients with cancer receive quality, affordable, and accessible cancer care in their own communities. More than 1.5 million people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer each year and deaths from the disease have been steadily declining due to earlier detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Learn more about COA at communityoncology.org.

SOURCE Community Oncology Alliance

Related Links

http://www.communityoncology.org


CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Animal Agriculture and Climate Change, a Cape Town, South Africa-based nonprofit, has launched a global campaign and petition targeting influential environmental activists to publicly acknowledge that animal agriculture is the primary cause of climate change and support veganism as a solution to saving the planet.

Animal Agriculture and Climate Change, a global nonprofit.

Several prominent environmental activists and influencers continue to fail speaking out about the enormous negative impact animal agriculture has on our environment, despite a major report on climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) proving animal agriculture is fueling global warming, and a recent analysis published in Journal of Ecological Society revealing that animal agriculture is responsible for 87 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

The petition, which has already garnered nearly 200,000 signatures at the time of writing, calls on eight climate change influencers with outstanding green credentials who have the potential to shift the conversation in the right direction within public discourse: Pope Francis, Prince William, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sir Richard Branson, Greta Thunberg, Leonardo Di Caprio, Naomi Klein, and Bill Nye.

While a few of the above activists have mentioned the impact animal agriculture has on climate change, such as Di Caprio and Thunberg, the nonprofit says they do not go far enough to consistently address the correlation.

"At a time when countries across the globe are battling the worst heat waves, wildfires and flooding seen to date, the world can't afford to wait for people to finally view climate change as a pressing crisis impacting our everyday lives," said Marda de Wet, Founder of Animal Agriculture and Climate Change. "We need to make this actionable and personal and that means accurately addressing the factors influencing climate change, like animal agriculture most importantly, and convincing those with the biggest voices to help universally spread this pressing message."

Animal Agriculture and Climate Change will present the signed petition to the UN Summit on Climate Change in Glasgow, England Monday, November 1st. The organization has made it its mission to curb greenhouse-gas emissions through public awareness campaigns proving that a shift to a vegan lifestyle has the potential to generate co-benefits, such as a stable climate, cleaner air, better human health, solve food insecurity and end unneeded animal cruelty. Additionally, the organization is strongly concentrated on raising awareness about animal agriculture's role in the destruction of the world's ecosystems as the main reason for destroying forests and grasslands is for animal agriculture, and as a result, global biodiversity is a grave concern.

To learn more about the organization, campaign and sign the petition, please visit www.animalagricultureclimatechange.org .

About Animal Agriculture and Climate Change

Animal Agriculture and Climate Change is a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about the negative impact animal agriculture and the consumption of animals has on the environment. The organization has taken the lead on a global petition aimed at convincing high-profile individuals to publicly address the correlation.

Media Contact:

Lucas Seiler, Propulsion Agency

[email protected]; 312-340-8576

SOURCE Animal Agriculture and Climate Change
CHICAGO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE: ORI) today announced the appointment of Veronica Romano as Senior Vice President, Underwriting & Distribution of the Old Republic General Insurance Group, Inc. (ORGIG), effective September 27, 2021. Veronica joins Old Republic's senior leadership team in Chicago after 18 years at Zurich Insurance, where she held leadership roles in underwriting, business development, and distribution.

In making this announcement, Craig Smiddy, Old Republic's President and CEO, noted that "Veronica brings strong underwriting acumen, as well as experience leading teams and managing distribution in several regional markets in the U.S. Veronica's leadership skills will add greater depth to our team, and we look forward to her contributions as ORGIG continues down the path of growth and profitability."

About Old Republic

Chicago-based Old Republic International Corporation is one of the nation's 50 largest shareholder-owned insurance businesses. It is a member of the Fortune 500 listing of America's largest companies. The Company is organized as an insurance holding company whose subsidiaries actively market, underwrite, and provide risk management services for a wide variety of coverages mostly in the general and title insurance fields. A long-term interest in mortgage guaranty and consumer credit indemnity coverages has devolved to a run-off operating mode in recent years. Old Republic's general insurance business ranks among the nation's 50 largest, while its title insurance operations are the third largest in its industry.

The nature of Old Republic's business requires that it be managed for the long run. Its consistent and reliable cash dividend policy reflects this long-term orientation. The current annualized dividend rate of $0.88 per share marks the 40th consecutive year that Old Republic has boosted this rate, and 2021 becomes the 80th year of uninterrupted regular cash dividend payments. Here's a summary of recent years' total book and market returns, which includes the addition and reinvestment of cash dividend payments, in comparison with the financial performance of three selected indices similarly developed.



ORI Selected Indices' Compounded

Annual Annual Total Annual Returns

Book Value Market Value Nominal

S & P

Compounded Compounded Gross S & P P&C

Total Total Domestic 500 Insurance

Return Return Product Index Index











Ten Years 2001 - 2010 8.0% 1.9% 3.9% 1.4% 1.0% Ten Years 2011 - 2020 8.8% 9.9% 3.3% 13.9% 14.3% Twenty Years 2001 - 2020 8.4% 5.8% 3.6% 7.5% 7.4%























First Six Months 2020 - only 0.6% -25.4% -10.2% -3.1% -13.5% First Six Months 2021 - only 11.0% 35.8% 5.8% 15.2% 8.9%













For Old Republic's latest news releases and other corporate documents:

Please visit us at www.oldrepublic.com

Alternatively, please write or call: Investor Relations

Old Republic International Corporation

307 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601

(312) 346-8100

At Old Republic: At Financial Relations Board:



Craig R. Smiddy, President and CEO Analysts/Investors: Joe Calabrese 212/827-3772

SOURCE Old Republic International Corporation

Related Links

http://oldrepublic.com


ZURICH, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss performance sportswear brand On announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 31,100,000 Class A ordinary shares at a public offering price of $24.00 per share. On is offering 25,442,391 Class A ordinary shares and certain selling shareholders are offering 5,657,609 Class A ordinary shares. In connection with the offering, On and the selling shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 4,665,000 Class A ordinary shares at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments. The Class A ordinary shares are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2021 under the symbol "ONON."

The closing of the offering is expected to occur on September 17, 2021 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the proposed offering, with Allen & Company LLC, UBS Investment Bank, and Credit Suisse acting as joint book-running managers. Baird, Stifel and Telsey Advisory Group are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering.

A registration statement on Form F-1 relating to the proposed offering has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was declared effective on September 14, 2021. The proposed offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the preliminary prospectus relating to the proposed offering may be obtained from Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, by telephone at 866-471-2526 or by email at [email protected]; Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014; or 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 [email protected].

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any 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. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

About On

On was born in the Swiss Alps with one goal: to revolutionize the sensation of running by empowering all to run on clouds. Eleven years after market launch, On delivers industry-disrupting innovation in premium footwear, apparel, and accessories for high-performance running, outdoor, and all-day activities. Fueled by customer-recommendation, On's award-winning CloudTec innovation, purposeful design and groundbreaking strides in sportswear's circular economy have attracted a fast-growing global fanbase  inspiring humans to explore, discover and dream on.

On is present in more than 60 countries globally and engages with a digital community on www.on-running.com.

SOURCE On Inc.

Related Links

www.on-running.com


WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 14, 2021, the Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy sent an open letter to President Joe Biden, asking for the American administration's strong and immediate actions to reflect that Raisi does not represent the people of Iran.

In this letter, more than 400 Iranian-American scientists, scholars, professors, physicians, industry executives and professionals, urged the President to highlight in his address to the UN General Assembly, the views reflected by a large bi-partisan voice in U.S. Congress, U.N. experts, and the Amnesty International that Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian regime President should stand trial before international tribunals for crimes against humanity, for his key role, as a member of the 'death commission' in the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran, mostly affiliated with the main Iranian opposition, the MEK.

The co-signers of this letter asked that President Biden stresses that the Iranian people's rejection of the regime, is evident in unprecedented boycott of Iran's sham elections, and the nationwide uprisings of the people who seek a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran. The Iranian scholars further asked: "We expect that your administration would take the lead at the UN to establish an international investigation to hold Raisi accountable for crimes against humanity. This is an important step for the U.S. to make human rights and democracy a central element of its policy on Iran"."

Professor Kazem Kazerounian, one of the organizers of the letter said: "The Iranian-American scientists and professionals are deeply troubled that Ebrahim Raisi who is responsible for torture and murderous execution of as many as 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 and many thousands since then, is addressing the UN General Assembly while the Iranian people have already rejected him."

Jila Andalib, an IT executive, stated: "We hope that President Biden and the US administration recognize the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom, and pursues policies that side with the Iranian people and their legitimate desire for a free, secular and democratic republic that can co-exist in peace with other countries in the region."

Professor Ali Parsa, professor of History at California State University-Fullerton added: "Hamid Nouri  a deputy prosecutor in the Gohardasht prison, and a subordinate to Raisi's death commission, is currently undergoing trial in Sweden for crimes against humanity. Allowing Raisi to address the UN General Assembly will be an insult to humanity and in particular to the families of his victims."

SPONSORED BY: Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy

SOURCE Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy

Related Links

https://ipacip.wordpress.com/


"We are so excited to work together with Save the Children to bring A Million Meals to light," said Once Upon a Farm's cofounder Jennifer Garner. "My work with Save the Children over the past 15 years has deepened and informed my advocacy for early childhood nutrition, and in many ways, is what led me to co-founding Once Upon a Farm. As John, Cassandra, and I, along with the entire Once Upon a Farm team, have built this company, we've always had big ambitions, chief among them to bring healthy, nutritious food to kids everywhere. With this incredible initiative, we hope to deliver on this promise in an impactful way. We look forward to the important work we have to do with Save the Children over the next two years."

An estimated 13 million kids are struggling with hunger in America, 2 million more than before the start of the pandemic. Studies prove that hunger can negatively impact children's academic performance and behavior in school, preventing them from developing to their full potential. To help kids reach their full potential, Once Upon a Farm's Million Meals pledge will consist of financial investments, product donations, company-wide volunteer opportunities and other programming that support Save the Children's early education and food programs delivering nutritious meals to kids in need.

"All across America, more children are hungry than before COVID, putting their growth, development and well-being at risk  and one hungry child is one too many," said Betsy Zorio, Save the Children's Vice President of U.S. Programs. "We're proud to partner with Once Upon a Farm to help nourish our nation's children, giving them a healthy foundation to thrive as learners and in life."

In addition, Once Upon a Farm's second limited-edition, give-back blend  Farmer Jen's Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie  is now available to purchase online. With every Farmer Jen pouch purchased, $0.25 will be donated to Save the Children, up to $50,000. This new blend is part of a growing Once Upon a Farm & Save the Children product line with a third charitable blend set to debut next year.

Farmer Jen's Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookie is inspired by Farmer Jen's favorite oatmeal cookie recipe and the pumpkins grown on the century-old family farm of Cofounder Jennifer Garner in Locust Grove, Oklahoma. The no sugar added recipe is the perfect combination of organic pumpkin, silky coconut milk, and sweet vanilla.

To learn more about Once Upon a Farm, visit www.onceuponafarmorganics.com and hi-res imagery assets available here .

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Since our founding more than 100 years ago, we've changed the lives of more than 1 billion children. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children  every day and in times of crisis  transforming their lives and the future we share. Follow us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and YouTube .

About Once Upon a Farm

At Once Upon a Farm , a better story starts here. We're on a greater mission in providing organic, crave-worthy, refrigerated snacks for children of all ages. Our recipes are crafted with only the best organic ingredients  whole fruits and veggies picked, blended and cold-pressed to lock in nutrients, taste and texture  to support your growing kids at every stage. Each of our non-GMO, non-dairy fruit & veggie blends, smoothies and dairy-free yogurts have no added sugar, and are free from artificial flavors, colors and preservatives  just simple, real, nutrient-rich snacks your entire family will love. Follow us on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , and Pinterest .

Press Contact:

Matthew Avento

[email protected]

Sarah Maguire

[email protected]

SOURCE Once Upon a Farm, PBC

Related Links

https://onceuponafarmorganics.com


SAN FRANCISCO, September 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacaso , the leading real estate platform that helps people buy and co-own a second home, today announced $125 million in Series C funding, bringing the company's valuation to $1.5 billion and total equity funding to more than $215 million. This round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2*. Additional funding was provided by Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm focused on technologies for the global real estate industry, and Gaingels, a leading investment syndicate supporting diversity and increased representation of the LGBTQ community and allies. The round also included participation from prior investors Greycroft, Global Founders Capital, Crosscut, and 75 & Sunny Ventures.

Consumer interest in the Pacaso brand and the new category of second home co-ownership it is pioneering continues to grow. The company has doubled its domestic market reach and now operates in 25 top second home destinations, including Napa, Lake Tahoe, Aspen, Malibu, Miami, and Vail. Pacaso has an annualized revenue run rate of $330 million and manages nearly $200 million in real estate on its platform. In Q2, the website and mobile app saw 1.8 million website visits, a 196% increase from Q1 2021.

Additionally, the company is announcing that it will commence European expansion in Spain by the end of the year. The company is actively recruiting a dedicated local team to support global efforts, and plans to expand swiftly into other European markets. In June, Pacaso added Razor Suleman as President of Pacaso Global.

"The ability to work remotely is transforming how people think about home. Pacaso is perfectly positioned to support families looking to own a second home," said Austin Allison, CEO and co-founder of Pacaso. "We continue to grow at an incredible pace, which is a testament to our team, the resonance of co-ownership, and the company's ability to provide a modern and more sustainable way to own real estate in second home destinations."

Pacaso has experienced record-setting growth since launching in October 2020. Pacaso's permanently distributed workforce of more than 120 employees has increased 364% since January 2021. The team has worked remotely from day one with crew members based in more than 20 states, six time zones and five countries. Additionally, Pacaso was ranked #10 on the Fortune Top 100 Small Workplaces list for 2021 and is Great Places to Work certified.

"Pacaso has pioneered an offering that brings more joy and accessibility to second home ownership, while reducing the burden of empty housing stock and increasing the economic contribution of second home owners to towns across America" said Lydia Jett, Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. "We're excited to be long-term partners to Pacaso and support the company's mission to bring second home ownership to more people around the world."

"As the leading venture capital firm focused on investing in real estate disruptors, we have been impressed by the strength of the Pacaso team, the way that homebuyers are embracing the innovative concept of co-ownership, and the growth of the company in a short period of time," said Fifth Wall Partner Dan Wenhold. "We are thrilled to invest in Pacaso as it pioneers a new category of homeownership in the U.S. and around the world."

About Pacaso

Pacaso  (pronounced like "Picasso") modernizes the decades-old practice of co-ownership by creating a marketplace that makes buying, owning, and selling a luxury second home easy. From curating the best listings in top second home markets to offering integrated financing and sales from as little as  to as much as  ownership; upscale interior design; and professional property management, Pacaso provides owners with all the benefits of owning a second home with less hassle. After purchase, Pacaso manages the home on an ongoing basis and supports a frictionless resale process in partnership with a licensed real estate professional.

Pacaso was co-founded by former Zillow executives Austin Allison and Spencer Rascoff.

*As of the date of this press release, SoftBank Group Corp. has made capital contributions to allow investments by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 ("SVF 2") in certain portfolio companies. The information included herein is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy limited partnership interests in any fund, including SVF 2. SVF 2 has yet to have an external close, and any potential third-party investors shall receive additional information related to any SVF 2 investments prior to closing.

SOURCE Pacaso

Related Links

www.pacaso.com


SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sitecore, the global leader in digital experience management software, today released its Holiday Shopping Trends 2021 report exploring how consumers worldwide intend to recuperate, reflect and experience the holiday this season. More than half (53%) of consumers surveyed plan to make bigger and more mindful holiday purchases this year, fueled in part by the fact that 50% of consumers say they have more savings set aside for the holidays this year compared to last year. Americans are also valuing their mental health following a rough pandemic year, and 43% see self-gifting as a form of therapy.

Sitecore's Holiday Shopping Trends 2021 report surfaces insights from consumers around how they're feeling this holiday season, and their thoughts on gift giving, holiday shopping, and spending. The data arms marketers in categories like retail, travel, automotive, and others with the intelligence they need to deliver winning experiences that satisfy the evolving tastes and demands of consumers.

Shift in perspective:

78% of consumers say the pandemic has made them more aware of their own mental health needs, and those of family, friends, and colleagues



71% value travel and appreciate other cultures more now than before the pandemic



86% appreciate time at home and simple pleasures more because of the pandemic



Retailers failing minority-owned businesses:

62% of consumers believe it is essential that retailers offer more products from minority-owned businesses, but only 28% report seeing more of them when shopping



Buying local and being mindful with purchases is a priority for most:

63% of consumers are willing to pay more for locally made gifts



62% of consumers are annoyed when they find a purchase was made in China when they thought it was a local purchase

when they thought it was a local purchase

78% of consumers stated that the pandemic has made them think more carefully about how they spend their money



Self-care now includes self-gifting:

43% of those buying a gift for themselves cite "therapy" as the main reason



36% of consumers would like to emerge from the pandemic with a new wardrobe



22% of consumers would like to gift themselves travel this year



Young consumers bringing spending back:

75% of Gen Z and 69% of Millennials are more willing to make big life enhancements post-pandemic



58% of Gen Z will spend more this year; with Boomers (67%) and Gen X (65%) spending about the same as last year



76% of those under the age of 44 stated that following their experiences during the pandemic they now "value travel and appreciate other cultures more"

"The past 18 months have been extremely challenging  while many are hopeful that a return to normalcy is within reach, the world is still in a state of concern," said Sitecore CMO Paige O'Neill. "As consumers try to cope and brace for what's next, they are hopeful that Holiday 2021 will be a bright spot, if not a catalyst for things to come. It's also heartening to see that all types of consumers want to support their local community, including minority-owned businesses. The industry will need to respond with more offerings from these businesses."

Certified Futurist and author Crystal Washington added, "The magic word for retailers this 2021 holiday season is 'Experience.' Americans have spent the last 18 months reevaluating their priorities. Consumers are focusing on meaningful gifts, future travel, and self-care. As part of this value realigning, consumers are increasingly shopping with brands based on shared values. There is a renewed call to buy local and minority-owned businesses, and buyers are willing to pay more to support these enterprises. Many are willing to pay a premium for the experience of 'doing good' while buying gifts for others and themselves. Savvy retailers can leverage this trend by partnering with values-based artists, organizations, and brands. The trick is to create a seamless user experience that makes these items or brands easy to identify and navigate on retail platforms."

About Sitecore's Holiday Shopping Trends 2021 Report

Sitecore conducted survey research among consumers and marketers about the 2021 holiday season, querying 1,000 U.S. residents and 400 U.S. marketers (consumer brands, 100+ employees) who completed a 10-minute survey conducted June 7-14th, 2021. Participants were recruited from an actively managed online panel and were incented using rewards points offered by their online panel. Consumer data was weighted to reflect the general population (age/gender/country). Marketer data was not weighted. A mix of company size and responsibility level is present in the survey responses. For more information, visit sitecore.com.

About Sitecore

Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at Sitecore.com.

Sitecore is a registered trademark of Sitecore Corporation A/S in the USA and other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact

Shannon Lyman

Senior Director of Communications

[email protected].com

SOURCE Sitecore

Related Links

http://www.sitecore.net


Expanding our worldwide footprint and hiring best-in-class talent in mobile networks

NASHUA, N.H., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Parallel Wireless, Inc., the U.S.-based Open RAN software company delivering the world's leading All G (5G 4G 3G 2G) cloud-native, Open RAN solutions, is expanding its footprint across the globe with Open RAN Research and Development Centers in the U.S., U.K., Israel, and India.

Legacy Radio Access Network (RAN) vendors had to develop both the RAN hardware and software. This approach limited the amount of innovation and the speed of development, resulting in high deployment costs for mobile operators. It was also difficult for new entrants to break into the industry. The Open RAN movement allows newer players to develop innovative products by leveraging open interfaces between the components, thus enabling cost-effective, agile, and scalable mobile networks.

Parallel Wireless was founded in 2012 and in recent years has become a proven leader in Open RAN wireless networks with the most Open RAN deployments across the globe. Over the last two years the company's global team has doubled in size in Engineering, IT, Quality Assurance, and Program and Project Management.

Parallel Wireless Research and Development Centers continue to expand across the globe to accelerate Open RAN development and testing capabilities, as Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) upgrade their networks to 5G and beyond. The following are highlights of each location:

U.S.

Corporate headquarters are in Nashua, NH , just outside of Boston, Massachusetts , known worldwide as a premier technology innovation hub.

, just outside of , known worldwide as a premier technology innovation hub. Best-in-class Open RAN testing facility, bringing a broad ecosystem of suppliers for hardware and software together to ensure interoperability and state-of-the art mobile networks.

Expansion plans are underway in Quality Assurance and Systems Engineering areas to strengthen and continue to grow our best-in-class, leading edge portfolio of All G - 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, O-RAN compliant, Open RAN networks which are disrupting the wireless industry.

U.K.

New state-of-the-art Open RAN office and lab in the heart of Bristol .

. Rapidly growing team with deep expertise in wireless infrastructure product architecture, design, implementation and integration and a rare specialization in high performance commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) compute platforms and applications.

Parallel Wireless was recently awarded an Innovate U.K. grant and is participating in additional technology competitions delivering 5G O-RAN innovations to the communications network.

Israel

New state-of-the-art 5G labs and testing capabilities in the Atir Yeda in Kfar Saba Israel.

This team was formed in 2018 and is currently hiring for 4G and 5G - engineering, cloud-native software development and testing.

Parallel Wireless recently joined the Israeli 5G WIN Technology consortium in Israel , focused on important advancements based on Artificial Intelligence 5G telecommunications technologies.

, focused on important advancements based on Artificial Intelligence 5G telecommunications technologies. Leading automation development in Open RAN networks, utilizing tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to provide intelligent management and operations of the wireless network.

India  Pune and Bangalore

Parallel Wireless invested in leading-edge Open RAN R&D centers which opened in 2013 and continue to expand, currently there are two Open RAN R&D centers India in Pune and Bangalore .

in and . The Research and Development Centers are expanding in India to develop and test cloud-native RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs), 4G and 5G DU and CU software and 2x2 and 4x4 O-RAN Alliance compliant radios.

to develop and test cloud-native RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs), 4G and 5G DU and CU software and 2x2 and 4x4 O-RAN Alliance compliant radios. In Pune and Bangalore labs, team members have deep expertise in designing and developing best-in-class cloud-native Open RAN software and hardware - Centralized Units (CUs), Distributed Units (DUs), and RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICS).

and labs, team members have deep expertise in designing and developing best-in-class cloud-native Open RAN software and hardware - Centralized Units (CUs), Distributed Units (DUs), and RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICS). Ambitious growth plans are underway in Research & Development, Systems Engineering and Customer Support areas.

Parallel Wireless solutions enable next generation applications such as e-learning, digital health, e-banking, Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous driving, robotics and much more. Check out our career opportunities webpage and join us as we disrupt the future of wireless broadband networks.

Keith Johnson, President at Parallel Wireless said, "With state-of-the-art Open RAN Research and Development Centers across the globe, we are disrupting the future of mobile wireless networks by enabling Mobile Network Operator (MNO) customers to offer cost-effective, easily scalable, All G broadband connectivity. Join Parallel Wireless and drive the future of mobile communications."

About Parallel Wireless

At Parallel Wireless, we believe that software has the power to unleash amazing opportunities for the world. We disrupt the ways wireless networks are built and operated. We are reimagining how hardware, software, and the cloud work together to change deployment economics for our customers. Our ALL G (2G 3G 4G 5G) O-RAN compliant software platform forms an open, secure, and intelligent RAN architecture to deliver wireless connectivity, so all people can be connected whenever, wherever, and however they choose. We are deploying with leading global MNOs and have been recognized with over 80 industry awards. At the core of what we do is our team of Reimaginers who value innovation, collaboration, openness, and customer success. For more information, visit: www.parallelwireless.com. Connect with Parallel Wireless on LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE Parallel Wireless
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightline, the leader in virtual behavioral health care for children and families, announced today the results of its 2021 Pediatric Behavioral Health Needs Survey , conducted on their behalf by The Harris Poll among more than 500 parents of children under 18. The first annual study paints an alarming picture of the state of pediatric behavioral health in the United States and highlights how these challenges can create ripple effects for both working families and employers.

"Long wait lists, high out-of-pocket expenses, hard-to-navigate systems, lack of measurement-based care, and a pervasive social stigma have all conspired to block kids from receiving the care they need," said Naomi Allen, co-founder and CEO of Brightline. "To address today's children's mental health crisis, we must provide solutions for families that address all of these barriers to care."

Key findings from the study include:

Large numbers of children are in need of behavioral health care. More than two-thirds of parents and caregivers (69%) report their children suffered from a behavioral health challenge in the last five years.

More than two-thirds of parents and caregivers (69%) report their children suffered from a behavioral health challenge in the last five years. Parents and caregivers are overwhelmed by their kids' behavioral health concerns. Most parents and caregivers (59%) have experienced their own mental health challenges due to the stress of trying to manage their kids' behavioral health needs.

Most parents and caregivers (59%) have experienced their own mental health challenges due to the stress of trying to manage their kids' behavioral health needs. Parents and caregivers aren't getting the support they need for their kids and teens. Among parents and caregivers whose children experienced behavioral health challenges in the last five years, 92% sought support, but only 47% say they received all the help they needed. A worrying 12% did not receive any support at all despite seeking it.

Among parents and caregivers whose children experienced behavioral health challenges in the last five years, 92% sought support, but only 47% say they received all the help they needed. A worrying 12% did not receive any support at all despite seeking it. Parents and caregivers are quitting their jobs due to their kids' behavioral health needs. More than one in five parents and caregivers (21%) have voluntarily quit their jobs in the past year or are planning to quit their jobs in the coming year to better care for their children's behavioral health needs.

These findings raise important questions about what employers and health plans are doing to support working parents and caregivers.

"Providing mental health support only to employees themselves doesn't address the whole issue," said Dr. David Grodberg, Brightline's Chief Psychiatric Officer. "Parents and caregivers also need comprehensive behavioral health care for their children. Considering the changing work landscape and the growing crisis in children's mental health, employers and health plans can no longer afford not to invest in pediatric mental health."

For the full results of the study, download Brightline's 2021 Pediatric Behavioral Health Needs Survey .

Methodology

The 2021 Pediatric Behavioral Health Needs Survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Brightline between July 27-29, 2021 among 596 parents of children under 18, among whom 403 have children who experienced behavioral health issues in the last 5 years. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact [email protected] .

About Brightline

Founded in 2019, Brightline is the first comprehensive behavioral health solution built specifically to care for children, teens, and their families across a range of common challenges. With multidisciplinary care teams, a family-focused approach, evidence-based care delivery, and innovative technology, Brightline is able to support families with whatever challenges they're facing and help them thrive long-term. Founded by leading digital health entrepreneurs Naomi Allen and Giovanni Colella, MD and backed by leading investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), Oak HC/FT, and Threshold Ventures, Brightline is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA and expanding nationwide. Learn more at hellobrightline.com.

Media Contact

Amanda D'Ambra, Senior Director of Marketing

[email protected]

SOURCE Brightline

Related Links

hellobrightline.com


"We're honored to be recognized by Inc. and included among this incredible roster of inspiring businesses." Tweet this

Pet Releaf began in the early 2000s and has helped more than 2.5 million pets on their health journey. Since Pet Releaf's inception, it has grown every year. In 2020, it was ranked among Denver Business Journal's "Fast 50 Growing Businesses," recognizing its 486% growth rate over the previous three years. Packaged Facts notes that Pet Releaf products account for approximately 45% of the market's retail pet CBD sales.

Due to this growth and its established spot as a category leader, Pet Releaf has bolstered its leadership team this past year with key roles that include a chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, vice president of product development and supply chain, vice president of marketing, and vice president of Pet Releaf Professional sales.

Pet Releaf has also increased access to its high quality CBD products by focusing on its ecommerce business, expanding into more than 7,000 retailers nationwide, and taking a step toward international distribution through its partnership with Alphagreen, the leading marketplace for cannabis and wellness products in Europe. During this past year, it focused on new product innovations stemming from science-based research and customer preferences, as well as bringing more product offerings to market so it can serve various pet needs and desires. The company is launching SENTESA, the first offering in its Professional product line exclusively for veterinarians to help support their patient's inflammatory response, calmness, joint flexibility and mobility, and occasional discomfort. It also upgraded its line of CBD-Infused Edibites to target specific health concerns, while also expanding the product portfolio to include a peppered bacon flavor.

What seals the company's fate as a top choice among consumers is its achievement of two of the highest industry certifications: US Hemp Authority and the National Animal Supplement Quality Seal. The NASC Quality Seal ensures that its CBD pet products are properly labeled, have accurate ingredients listed, and meet all of the supplement requirements. Its USHA Certification ensures safe and trustworthy products by guaranteeing traceability in its manufacturing process from seed to sale, from plant to pet.

The company's success directly feeds into its mission to change what healthy means for pets, including rescue animals. During the pandemic, Pet Releaf spearheaded the Rescue Releaf initiative that supported local rescue organizations all across the United States by donating its CBD-infused Edibites from The Barking Dog Collection inspired by Keith Haring. With its customers' support, rescue and foster dogs were able to have an easier and less stressful transition as they adjusted to new homes. In eight short months, Pet Releaf was able to donate $250,000 worth of product to 170 rescue organizations.

About Pet Releaf

Pet Releaf began in the early 2000s with a mission of changing what healthy means for pets, and has helped over 2.5 million pets on their health journey. Its products support a healthy immune system, situational stress, occasional hip and joint discomfort and more. All of the products incorporate hemp sourced from U.S. farms using sustainable and regenerative practices and is grown with no herbicides or pesticides. By extracting their oils with cutting edge Terpex technology, Pet Releaf provides the highest-quality, all-natural products that have shown positive results for animals. Pet Releaf products are sold in more than 7,000 retail stores nationwide and online. For more information about Pet Releaf, please visit: https://petreleaf.com/about-us.

Media Contacts:

David Martinelli| [email protected]

Apryl Ash| [email protected]

SOURCE Pet Releaf

Related Links

petreleaf.com


HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency today is issuing a Request for Proposals soliciting applications from organizations for projects to improve the availability and affordability of housing across the commonwealth. Funding for this RFP is being provided through the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) Fund. The total PHARE funding available this year exceeds $45 million.

PHARE receives its funding from the impact fee levied on natural gas drilling companies and a portion of the Realty Transfer Tax. Funding is available for housing initiatives in all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. PHFA is charged with administering the allocation of PHARE dollars.

"Over the past nine years, the PHARE program has grown to become one of our most successful programs for funding the preservation and addition of affordable housing in the commonwealth," said PHFA Executive Director and CEO Robin Wiessmann. "Organizations in all 67 counties have been excellent partners for their use of PHARE dollars to effectively address local housing needs."

PHARE applications can be completed entirely online, eliminating the need for paper submissions and simplifying the process for applicants. The RFP is located on PHFA's website at https://www.phfa.org/legislation/act105.aspx, and the application is accessible on the PHARE webpage at https://phare.phfa.org/. Applications are due to PHFA no later than 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 19.

PHFA is planning two, 90-minute informational webinars for organizations interested in applying for PHARE funds. Both webinars will cover the same information. Webinar dates and times are:

Sept. 21 at 10 a.m.

at Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.

Interested groups are encouraged to watch the PHARE webpage, noted above, for links to be posted for webinar registration. Questions also may be directed to Bryce Maretzki at PHFA via email at [email protected] or by phone at 717.780.1867.

The PHARE fund has been allocating money for local housing initiatives since 2012. These funds have resulted in significant benefits that include:

More than 7,200 individuals and families have received rental or utility assistance

More than 2,000 homes have been rehabilitated and preserved for continued use

More than 2,600 new rental units have been created

180 new single-family homes have been constructed

420 future home sites have been prepared through site acquisition and demolition

More than 250 new residents have received assistance to purchase their first home

PHARE funds have been used to leverage an additional $800 million investment in housing across Pennsylvania

About PHFA

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency works to provide affordable homeownership and rental housing options for older adults, low- and moderate-income families, and people with special housing needs. Through its carefully managed mortgage programs and investments in multifamily housing developments, PHFA also promotes economic development across the state. Since its creation by the legislature in 1972, it has generated more than $15.4 billion of funding for more than 183,500 single-family home mortgage loans, helped fund the construction of 138,000 rental units, distributed approximately $191 million to support local housing initiatives, and saved the homes of nearly 50,400 families from foreclosure. PHFA programs and operations are funded primarily by the sale of securities and from fees paid by program users, not by public tax dollars. The agency is governed by a 14-member board.

Media contact:

Scott Elliott

[email protected]

717-649-6522 (cell)

SOURCE Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency

Related Links

www.phfa.org


SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinecone Systems Inc. , a machine learning (ML) cloud infrastructure company, today announced Pinecone 2.0 to combine the power of vector search with traditional metadata storage and filtering. Together with the other new features introduced, including hybrid memory/disk storage, Pinecone 2.0 provides granular search control, ultra-low latencies, and up to a 10x infrastructure cost reduction, making it viable for companies to replace their common keyword-based search and recommendation systems with Deep Learning powered vector search.

Deep Learning (DL), as part of Machine Learning (ML), represents everything as vectors, from documents to videos, to user behavior. This representation makes it possible to find more relevant information from large amounts of data than traditional text-based or rule-based retrieval. Vector search already powers the retrieval and recommendation systems inside tech giants such as Google, Spotify, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Pinterest as well as other products/services known for the quality of their search results and recommendations.

Beyond a handful of tech hyperscalers who already use vector search, though, even large enterprise companies can struggle to implement vector search in production. One of the biggest hurdles those companies face is combining filters or business logic with vector-search algorithms without severely degrading results or performance. For example: Enterprise software companies can make their users more productive by helping them find what they need quickly, but not if it creates a laggy experience; media platforms want to provide better content recommendations to drive engagement and retention, but only if it works as fast as their users can scroll. Based on overwhelming demand from the market and its customers, Pinecone has developed low-latency filtering capabilities for more accurate search and recommendation systems.

Pinecone 2.0 allows companies to store metadata (e.g. a topic, author, and category) with each item and to filter vector searches by this metadata in a single stage. This provides a much higher degree of control over search results and eliminates the need for slow pre- or post-filtering. End-users see substantially more accurate results and recommendations, at lightning speeds. The metadata engine powering the filters is built into Pinecone's proprietary vector index, which lets it apply text (strings) and numerical (floats) filters directly onto vector-search queries with minimal overhead.

Another key enhancement in Pinecone 2.0 is the newly introduced hybrid storage option. This addresses the other major hurdle for companies eyeing vector search: high operational costs. Vector searches typically run completely in-memory (RAM), and for companies with millions or even billions of items in their catalogs, the memory costs alone can make vector search prohibitively expensive. With a hybrid of RAM and disk, Pinecone cuts compute infrastructure costs for customers by up to 10x while maintaining low latency and the same high degree of accuracy.

"The worlds of search and databases have been fundamentally changed by machine learning and deep learning," said Edo Liberty, Founder and CEO of Pinecone. "Companies are looking at the hyperscalers and waking up to the value of vector search. Pinecone 2.0 will help them realize that value at a fraction of the cost and effort."

Additional updates in the V2.0 announcement are:

REST API - The new REST API makes Pinecone more flexible and even easier to use for developers.Users can query vectors using HTTPS and JSON without the need to install anything. The Pinecone REST API also provides maximum flexibility to use the Pinecone service from any environment that can make HTTPS calls without the need to be familiar with Python.

The new REST API makes Pinecone more flexible and even easier to use for developers.Users can query vectors using HTTPS and JSON without the need to install anything. The Pinecone REST API also provides maximum flexibility to use the Pinecone service from any environment that can make HTTPS calls without the need to be familiar with Python. New architecture - Pinecone now provides fault tolerance, data persistence, and high availability for customers with billions of items or many thousands of operations per second. Before, enterprises with strict reliability requirements either had to build and maintain complex infrastructure around vector search libraries to meet those requirements or relax their standards and risk downgraded performance for their users. The new architecture is designed to use Kafka and Kubernetes to make the vector database as reliable as any other enterprise-grade database.

Pinecone now provides fault tolerance, data persistence, and high availability for customers with billions of items or many thousands of operations per second. Before, enterprises with strict reliability requirements either had to build and maintain complex infrastructure around vector search libraries to meet those requirements or relax their standards and risk downgraded performance for their users. The new architecture is designed to use Kafka and Kubernetes to make the vector database as reliable as any other enterprise-grade database. SOC2: Pinecone is now SOC2 audited. Now enterprises with even the strictest security requirements can deploy Pinecone to production with confidence and assurance that their data is safe.

About Pinecone

Pinecone has built the first vector database to enable the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the cloud. Its engineers built ML platforms at AWS (Amazon SageMaker), Yahoo, Google, Databricks, and Splunk, and its scientists published more than 100 academic papers and patents on machine learning, data science, systems, and algorithms. Pinecone is backed by Wing Venture Capital and operates in Silicon Valley, New York and Tel Aviv. For more information, see http://www.pinecone.io .

Pinecone Media Contact:

Lazer Cohen

[email protected]

347-753-8256

SOURCE Pinecone Systems Inc
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PNC Bank announced today the launch of Project 257: Accelerating Women's Financial Equality, an initiative designed to help close the 257-year economic gender gap and expand on PNC's decades-long track record of supporting female financial decision makers. "Project 257" was derived from the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Gender Gap Report that found at the current pace of progress, it will take another 257 years for women to catch up to men from an economic perspective.

"I don't know anyone who thinks this is an acceptable timeline," said Beth Marcello, director of PNC Women's Business Development. "As a financial institution that prospers when our customers prosper, it makes perfect sense that we would want to help tackle the economic gender gap. Project 257 aligns with our brand purpose  when we accelerate women's financial equality, we are making a positive difference, leveraging the power of our resources to help all move forward financially."

Coinciding with the launch of PNC's Project 257 is the bank's partnership with SheEO, a global nonprofit whose mission addresses one of the major factors driving the 257-year gap: women's lack of access to capital. SheEO provides interest-free loans to businesses, or "Ventures," owned and led by individuals who identify as women or nonbinary and crowdfunds capital from "Activators" who fund the loan pool and play an active role in evaluating and selecting the Ventures. To date, SheEO has crowdfunded $7 million to support more than 100 Ventures in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

PNC Bank's three-year, $1.257 million commitment is the largest contribution that SheEO has received from a U.S. company. Through this partnership, PNC will work with SheEO to drive awareness and help increase the number of Activators who support SheEO Ventures. Fifty PNC employees who identify as women or nonbinary will serve as Activators on behalf of PNC  one per market in which PNC has a presence -- and play a significant role in the selection, mentorship and success of SheEO Ventures.

SheEO recently opened the 2022 Venture nomination process. Businesses owned and led by individuals who identify as women or nonbinary can visit pnc.com/women or SheEO's website to apply to be a SheEO Venture and learn more about the organization's evaluation, community selection process and global network of support.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with PNC and look forward to what we can accomplish together," said Vicki Saunders, SheEO founder. "As a large financial institution that already does so much for women, PNC's reach, reputation and values will help to support our Activator and Venture growth and create the conditions for women in business to thrive."

PNC's long-standing support of women can be seen across the organization, from Women's Business Development's executive Advisory Board to its nearly 4,000 PNC-certified women's business advocates, who are active in their communities and committed to providing valuable resources to female decision makers. This support is also evident in Women Connect, PNC's employee business resource group with 11,000 members; Men As Allies, a program through which male employees support the advancement of their female colleagues; and Women's Leadership Development program, which helps prepare high-performing female employees for leadership roles. These and other resources have contributed to PNC having the most diverse executive committee and board of directors in the company's history.

"Project 257 and our partnership with SheEO are two great examples of PNC's support of women across our footprint," said Lou Cestello, PNC's head of Regional Markets and regional president of Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania. "Whether we're working with a woman who runs a major business or one who has just opened her first checking account, we strive to have a positive impact. And as a Main Street Bank that succeeds when our customers and communities succeed, accelerating the financial achievement of roughly 50 percent of the population who are women can have a macro effect on the economic wellbeing of the markets we serve."

At SheEO we are here to transform ourselves and systems by working on the World's To-Do List. Our collective project is to get resources to women and non-binary folk with innovations that address critical global priorities. To date, we have funded 100+ brilliant innovators; 45% of whom are Black, Indigenous, and women of colour. With a 95% payback rate on loans, SheEO is modelling a whole new way of organizing resources to build inclusive economies and communities. For more information, visit www.sheeo.world.

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.

CONTACT:

Katie Kirby

(216) 222-8725

[email protected]

SOURCE PNC Bank
WINNIPEG, MB, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) ("Pollard Banknote") is proud to announce that its legal team has been shortlisted in the category of In-House Counsel/Legal Team of the Year at the 2021 Global Regulatory Awards hosted by VIXIO Gambling Compliance.

The Global Regulatory Awards are the largest and most influential awards that recognize businesses, teams, and individuals that have excelled and set new standards in the compliance and responsible gambling industry. The In-House Counsel/Legal Team of the Year category celebrates an individual or team who upholds the company's reputation by ensuring that regulatory guidelines are strictly followed and by proactively advising management to help guide the business.

The Pollard Banknote legal team, led by Riva Richard, Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, was nominated and subsequently selected as a finalist for In-House Counsel/Legal Team of the Year following an exceptional year. In addition to its regular wide-ranging portfolio of legal matters and the successful appeal of the Wire Act litigation to the First Circuit of the US Court of Appeals, the legal team deftly managed multiple strategic transactions for Pollard Banknote, including acquisitions, joint ventures, and other commercial partnerships.

To bring four large-scale acquisitions to completion, the team masterfully navigated the complexity of compliance regulations across multiple international jurisdictions. For instance, the acquisition of Next Generation Lotteries AS ("NGL"), a leading provider of lottery management and iLottery technology in Europe and Asia, involved retaining local counsel and addressing local regulatory requirements in six jurisdictions. Pollard Banknote's legal team met this challenge by leveraging its extensive transaction experience and keen judgment while working within the confines of an ambitious overall timeline.

"On behalf of Pollard Banknote and our family of companies, I congratulate our hardworking legal team on this well-deserved acknowledgement by the prestigious Global Regulatory Awards," said Doug Pollard, Co-Chief Executive Officer. "Last year was a busy and exciting one for us, a highlight of which was the completion of several important strategic acquisitions. Our legal team managed and consulted on these acquisitions through their entire life cycles, demonstrating their strong understanding of our business and supporting our continued growth. The newly acquired companies are recognized leaders in the lottery and charitable gaming industries and will enhance the support we provide to our lottery clients to help increase revenue for the good causes they support."

The winner of the In-House Counsel/Legal Team of the Year award, along with 19 other categories, will be announced on October 21, 2021 at the fifth annual Global Regulatory Awards.

About Pollard Banknote

Pollard Banknote is a leading lottery partner to more than 60 lotteries worldwide, providing high quality instant ticket products, licensed games, Schafer Systems and Fastrak retail merchandising solutions, and a full suite of digital offerings, ranging from world-class mkodo game apps to comprehensive player engagement and iLottery solutions, including strategic marketing and management services. The company is a proven innovator and has decades of experience helping lotteries to maximize player engagement, sales, and proceeds for good causes. Pollard Banknote also provides pull-tab tickets, bingo paper, and its Diamond Game and Compliant Gaming electronic games and devices to charitable and other gaming markets in North America. Established in 1907, Pollard Banknote is owned approximately 64.3% by the Pollard family and 35.7% by public shareholders and is publicly traded on the TSX (PBL). For more information, please visit our website at www.pollardbanknote.com.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking" statements and information, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. When used in this document, such statements include such words as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "plan," and other similar terminology. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this document. There should not be an expectation that such information will in all circumstances be updated, supplemented, or revised whether as a result of new information, changing circumstances, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Pollard Banknote Limited

Related Links

www.pollardbanknote.com


"Workers are often drowning in a multitude of digital tools which also often leaves IT teams frustrated having to implement and manage them all," said Matthieu Silbermann, Chief Product Officer, Powell Software. "This leads to inefficiency as small businesses, often with limited resources and no dedicated departments, battle with effective employee communications."

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 model," Silbermann continued. "Powell Software's Together, which unites the entire company, leverages the power of Microsoft Teams to help employees work more effectively remotely and feel part of the company culture."

Because Together is integrated with Teams, the scalable solution can be deployed in minutes. 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. Together leverages Microsoft's security to keep all data safe.

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. Its podcast, Welcome to the New Normal, launched in 2021 to explore the future of work.

SOURCE Powell Software
PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Princeton Equity Group ("Princeton"), a private equity firm focused on franchise and multi-unit companies, announced today that Brandon Haire has joined the firm as an Operating Partner and will be based out of Princeton's Dallas office. In this role, Haire will work closely with the Princeton investment team to evaluate acquisition opportunities and enhance portfolio companies' franchise development efforts.

Before joining Princeton, Haire was Senior Vice President of Development at Neighborly, the world's largest home services franchisor, a role he has held for the last seven years. Haire led a team of up to 130 people and directed franchise development efforts for Neighborly's 19 domestic franchisor brands which total 4,800 franchisees. He was also involved in Neighborly's acquisition, implementation, and integration of 10 franchisor brands during his tenure.

Jim Waskovich, Co-Managing Partner of Princeton Equity Group, said, "We are thrilled to welcome Brandon to the Princeton team. He is an exceptional leader with a phenomenal track record of helping to transform the franchise development efforts of many companies over his career. We think he will be an invaluable resource to founders and management teams as they look to partner with Princeton."

Doug Kennealey, Co-Managing Partner of Princeton Equity Group, added, "Brandon's extensive franchise development and leadership experience will add tremendous value to Princeton and our portfolio companies. Like us, Brandon believes that a strong and supportive franchisee culture is critical to the success of the overall franchise system. We are delighted to begin working together."

"To me, the character and values of a business are most important. Princeton has a superb reputation, impeccable moral standards, and long history of investing in and helping to grow market-leading franchisor brands," said Haire. "I am extremely excited and humbled to join the Princeton team and work closely with portfolio company executives to help drive performance."

About Princeton Equity Group

Princeton Equity Group is among the most experienced franchisor and multi-unit investors in the United States and exclusively invests in leading franchisor and multi-unit companies. Princeton views each investment as a long-term, supportive business partnership with founders and management teams to help build companies of great value. The principals at Princeton have sponsored investments in some of the most admired, growth-oriented franchisors and multi-unit companies in the U.S. For more information, visit www.princetonequity.com.

Contact:

Shana Rosenthal

Fish Consulting

(954) 893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Princeton Equity Group
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 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
Automotive and Rail are the key growth areas for QuEST and the company aspires to emerge as a strong connected engineering player in these industries. With Martinez on board, the organization feels it will be able to further strengthen its endeavor to be the Most Recognized & Trusted Global Engineering Partner to its customers.

Alfonso brings with him myriad of useful industry experience acquired through his association with different industries over a period of three decades. He has an in-depth understanding of automotive and railway market and has successfully led numerous customer-focused initiatives in the industry. With a perfect blend of attributes like entrepreneurship, management and technology, Martinez joins QuEST from Capgemini, where he was the Executive Vice-President, Aeronautics Engineering and R&D. Based out of Paris, at Capgemini Engineering, Martinez was responsible for the global P&L for the entire Aerospace industry vertical.

Welcoming Martinez to QuEST, Ajit Prabhu, Chairman & CEO, QuEST Global, said, "For almost 25 years, we have established QuEST Global as a brand that is trusted by its customers world over. Martinez brings in deep domain knowledge and management expertise that I am sure will prove to be instrumental for our Automotive and Rail verticals  our key growth contributors. At a time when both these sectors are undergoing rapid technological advancements, under Martinez leadership I am sure we will be able to exploit the latent opportunities, solve the industry challenges and demands for our customers across the globe."

On joining QuEST, Martinez commented, "I am excited to join a fast-growing company like QuEST that has, over the years, emerged as a truly global player in the product engineering services industry. We already have a good market presence in the automotive and rail verticals and with my expertise and domain knowledge, I look forward to working with the team to further expand this market creating a strong foothold in the industry."

After completing his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering from Polytechnic University of Madrid and AMP in Management from IESE Business School - University of Navarra, Barcelona, Martinez started his professional journey in 1997 with his own venture - M/s MEDIA Consultores. He successfully led this company with his friend for 10 years and grew it to 200 engineers. In 2006, the company was strategically integrated with Altran, now a part of Capgemini. Post the acquisition, Martinez assumed the key position of CEO-Altran Middle East, Director General-Altran Spain and Chief operating officer of Altran, Spain. In 2018, Martinez moved to Paris as the Group Senior VP, Altran. In this role, he was in charge of Aeronautics, Space, Defense, Naval, Railways, Transportation, Life Sciences and Chemicals verticals globally with an overall responsibility for 12,700 people and nearly USD 1B revenue.

About QuEST Global

For more than 20 years, QuEST Global has been a trusted global product engineering and lifecycle services partner to many of the world's most recognized companies in the Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Energy, Hi-Tech, Medical Devices, Rail, and Semiconductor industries. With a presence in 13 countries, 54 global delivery centers, and 11,250+ personnel, QuEST Global is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software, and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner, and sustainable world. QuEST Global's deep domain knowledge and digital expertise help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.





SOURCE QuEST Global
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quontic Bank Holdings Corp, the parent to Quontic Bank, is the recipient of $1.825M from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's CDFI Rapid Response Program. The program was designed to quickly deploy capital to Certified CDFIs to support small business owners and wage earners impacted by COVID-19. The funds will allow Quontic to reach more low-income families, minorities and those residing in low income communities, so they may access equity in their homes. The funds will also assist creditworthy low-income homebuyers to build a more stable future through affordable home financing.

Quontic's focuses on financially underserved communities. The bank brings the dream of homeownership to low-income families, immigrants, people of color, small business owners and others who are unable to obtain home mortgage financing through traditional mortgage channels.

"Quontic is extremely appreciative to be awarded CDFI Rapid Response funds that will further allow us to assist in the communities we serve," said Steve Schnall, CEO & Founder of Quontic. "We're aware firsthand how much the pandemic affected families, and minorities in particular. The funds will help those creditworthy low-income homebuyers, affected by COVID-19 obtain affordable financing. In addition, we're committed to providing financial literacy and homeownership education to financially underserved communities through partnering with local organizations already embedded in the communities we serve."

Quontic is among 863 CDFIs nationwide that were awarded a total of $1.25 billion dollars in Rapid Response Program funds to aid underserved communities across the country negatively impacted by COVID-19. Quontic was named one of Inc 5000's fastest growing private companies in America in both 2020 and 2021 and recently featured as Bankrate's Best Online Bank.

To learn more about Quontic and its mission, visit www.Quontic.com.

About Quontic

Quontic is the adaptive digital bank that empowers its customers financially while embracing their diverse circumstances. Quontic's disruptive banking platform reimagines traditional banking with adaptive lending and innovative deposit products that transcend legacy banking inequities. Quontic's mission to break the system for financial empowerment stands in the face of big banks and proves there is a better and more equitable way to put the customer first. The bank focuses on truly understanding and serving the underdogs, entrepreneurs, gig-economy workers, immigrants, and more with a curated banking experience as opposed to a one-size-fits-all banking approach. Quontic is a privately held company based in New York, New York. Follow and connect with Quontic on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

About the CDFI Fund

Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $3.9 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through the Bank Enterprise Award Program, the Capital Magnet Fund, the Community Development Financial Institutions Program, the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program, and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $61 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and closed guaranteed bonds for over $1.7 billion through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. For more information about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.

Media Contact:

Lindsay Levitts

[email protected]

SOURCE Quontic

Related Links

https://www.Quontic.com


ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held SEAKR Engineering, Inc., a leading supplier of advanced space electronics. Closure of the acquisition is subject to the completion of customary conditions and regulatory approvals. SEAKR Engineering will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies and will report into Raytheon Intelligence & Space upon closing.

"Our investment strategy accelerates our agility in meeting a higher standard of performance  the space standard  and expands our core space business with new applications that are shaping our world," said Roy Azevedo, president of Raytheon Intelligence & Space. "With SEAKR Engineering, we are enhancing our capability to provide qualified systems faster. SEAKR's culture of forward-thinking innovation will complement our ability to solve our space customers' hardest problems."

Based in Centennial, Colorado with more than 540 employees, SEAKR Engineering was founded in 1981 by the Anderson family. Over the last 40 years, the company has delivered more than 300 flight units with a 100% on-orbit success rate.

"SEAKR Engineering is a forward-leaning business with a determined drive to innovate and do the work necessary to make advancements that enable new possibilities in space," said Scott Anderson, President and Co-Founder, SEAKR Engineering. "Being able to leverage the strengths and expertise of the Raytheon Technologies team, we will have the ability to build on our industry-leading products as part of a larger talented team equally committed to our customers, employees and values."

Raytheon Intelligence & Space's and SEAKR's portfolios are highly complementary, and with RI&S' support, SEAKR's deep bench of talent will be even better positioned to drive growth through our robust, combined pipeline of products.

About Raytheon Intelligence & Space

Raytheon Intelligence & Space delivers the disruptive technologies our customers need to succeed in any domain, against any challenge. A developer of advanced sensors, training, and cyber and software solutions, Raytheon Intelligence & Space provides a decisive advantage to civil, military and commercial customers in more than 46 countries around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the business generated $15 billion in adjusted pro forma annual revenue in 2020 and has 37,000 employees worldwide. Raytheon Intelligence & Space is one of four businesses that form Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

About SEAKR Engineering, Inc.

SEAKR Engineering, Inc. (SEAKR) is a leading supplier of space qualified state-of-the-art electronics for advanced processors, networked systems, reconfigurable Radio Frequency (RF) and Electro-Optical (EO) payloads, and digital channelizers/beamformers. These systems utilize SEAKR's Radiation Hardened system By Design (RHBD) techniques that have successfully been deployed in over 300 missions with a 100% on-orbit success rate. Utilizing RHBD techniques, SEAKR leads the industry with some of the highest performance systems that have flown, and with new developments, SEAKR will continue to push these boundaries. SEAKR designs, builds, and tests these systems at their facilities in Colorado.

About Raytheon Technologies

Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense  the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Media Contact

Dave Desilets

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Technologies
MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Red 6, a revolutionary technology firm at the forefront of synthetic air combat training, is proud to announce Retired Four-Star Admiral Bill Moran as the newest member of Red 6's board of directors. "We are delighted to have the former top Naval Officer join the Red 6 team. His valuable experience and perspective from within the Navy will contribute to our future success," said Daniel Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of Red 6.

Admiral Moran has over thirty-eight years of Naval service experience. He began his career as a Naval Aviator and rose to hold command leadership positions at every level within the Navy. From the Director of Air Warfare, Chief of Naval Personnel, to completing his career as the Navy's Vice Chief of Naval Operations. Since retirement, Moran has served on nonprofit organizations including the U.S. Naval Institute and Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola. He is also the founder and president of WFM Advisors, LLC where he advises several start-ups and larger companies utilizing his vast experience and the nation's security to align. "Red 6 is at the perfect intersection of technological innovation and our nation's national security needs. With companies like Red 6, the U.S. military will continue to modernize and meet the challenges needed to win in the future. I am honored to join the Red 6 team," said Moran.

Red 6's technology system is changing the way the U.S. military trains, fights and wins by addressing and solving several critical needs and shortfalls facing the U.S. military and our allies. Integration into a U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon is in full swing as Red 6 was awarded a SBIR Phase III contract worth up to $70M. Red 6 is in discussions with Navy leadership to bring their innovative technology into all Naval training and operational platforms.

"Red 6 is ushering in a new paradigm in training. It's a big bold vision but one that I believe will fundamentally transform the readiness and lethality of our warfighters," said Robinson.

For more information about Red 6 visit www.red6ar.com or to speak with Daniel Robinson and/or Retired Admiral Moran.

About Red 6

Red 6, founded in 2018, is the creator of Airborne Tactical Augmented Reality System (ATARS). ATARS is the first wide field-of-view, full color demonstrably proven outdoor augmented reality solution that works in dynamic outdoor environments. ATARS allows Virtual and Constructive assets into the real-world by allowing pilots and ground operators to see synthetic threats in real-time, outdoors, and critically, in high-speed environments. By blending augmented reality and artificial intelligence and using both the indoor and outdoor space around us as a medium, Red 6 has redefined the limits of how the world will experience, share, and interact with its information.

SOURCE Red Six Aerospace, Inc
KENT, Ohio, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eighteen months into the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, Ohio is facing an unprecedented wave of business-owner retirements, precarious conditions for workers, and severe wealth inequality, according to Building Legacies , a report released today by the Ohio Worker Ownership Network and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University.

Inaugural report from Ohio's Worker Owned Network and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center highlights the benefits of expanding worker ownership in Ohio Inaugural meeting of Ohio's Worker Ownership Network in at Dayton's Gem City Market - a community and worker-owned grocery store.

To address these huge economic problems, government bodies at the state and local levels must help retiring business owners sell their companies to their workers, saving jobs and maintaining legacies. A new network of loan funds has launched around the state to support the transition to worker-owned businesses.

3 Daunting Economic Challenges

As detailed in Building Legacies report, Ohio is currently facing 3 key economic challenges:

Baby-Boomer Business-Owners Set to Retire in Massive Numbers

In Ohio , baby boomers own 54% of businesses, representing 94,000 firms employing 2.6 million workers. Though more than half of these business owners plan to retire in the next decade, 80% do not have a formal succession plan. And, when put on the market, only 1 in 5 businesses actually sell. Workers Face Low Wages and Instability

Today half of workers aged 18-64 earn a median annual income of only $17,950 . Poorly paid, insecure employment is growing, and women and people of color are disproportionately represented in low-wage industries. Wealth Inequality Spikes to New Highs

Since 1980, the share of income going to the bottom 50% of earners has halved, while the share going to the top 1% has doubled.

The Worker-Ownership Solution

Why embrace the worker-owned business model? Research shows clear advantages compared to conventional companies:

Employee advantage : Employees at worker-owned businesses have higher wages and better benefits.

Company advantage: Worker-owned companies are more profitable and productive.

Community advantage: Worker-owned businesses are less likely to close, relocate, or lay off workers during downturns.

New Funds Support Worker-Ownership

To create a fairer and more resilient economy, loan funds have launched across Ohio to help retiring business owners sell their companies to their workers, thereby building a foundation for sustainable wealth. The following are now offering loans to transition existing businesses to worker ownership:

A statewide network is also providing technical assistance to facilitate the transition to worker-ownership. Co-op Cincy , Co-op Dayton , Evergreen Cooperatives , and the OEOC all offer these services.

Actions Needed

Building Legacies , the report released today by the Network and the OEOC, details key actions that are needed to support worker ownership in Ohio. State and local governments, and economic development organizations around Ohioshould take the following steps:

Invest money to assist in the transition of businesses to worker-ownership

to assist in the transition of businesses to worker-ownership Engage businesses that anchor communities, educating them about succession planning and the worker-ownership option

that anchor communities, educating them about succession planning and the worker-ownership option Partner with Ohio Worker Ownership Network members to support transitions and give technical assistance

Ohio Worker Ownership Network

In 2020, ten organizations from across Ohio formed the Ohio Worker Ownership Network (OWoN) with the aim of supporting worker-owned businesses. OWoN increases awareness about the benefits of worker-ownership among business owners, economic development agencies, officials, and the public. OWoN also connects stakeholders while offering training and assistance with transitions.

OWoN is composed of Co-op Cincy , the Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, Co-op Dayton , The Fund for Employee Ownership , The Center for the Creation of Cooperation , Cleveland Owns , the CFAES Center for Cooperatives at Ohio State University, the Junction Economic Transformation Center , Co-op Columbus , and Co-op Nelsonville.

Media contact:

Michael Palmieri

[email protected]

973-951-9831

SOURCE Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University
FOLSOM, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Richmond American Homes of California, Inc., a subsidiary of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MDC), is pleased to announce the debut of two new model homes at Stone Bluff at White Rock Springs Ranch (RichmondAmerican.com/StoneBluffAtWhiteRockSpringsRanch) in Folsom.

This exceptional new community offers ranch-style luxury homes that are brand new to the Sacramento area, each boasting hundreds of design and structural options. Prices start from the $700s.

The Dominic is one of two new Richmond American models making their debut at Stone Bluff at White Rock Springs Ranch in Folsom, California.

Model Home Tours

Prospective homebuyers and area agents are encouraged to stop by Stone Bluff at White Rock Springs Ranch between 10 a.m and 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 18, and Sunday, September 19, to explore the brand-new Dominc and Daniel models and learn about other available floor plans at the community.

Community Highlights:

New homes from the $700s

Six sought-after ranch-style floor plans

2 to 4 bedrooms, approx. 1,940 to 2,510 sq.ft.

Easy access to outdoor attractions at Folsom Lake and South Lake Tahoe

Close proximity to Palladio Shopping Center and Apple Hill

Those who choose to build a new home from the ground up at this community will have the opportunity to work with professional design consultants to select colors, textures, finishes and fixtures for their new living spacesa complimentary service!

Stone Bluff at White Rock Springs Ranch is located at 3369 Rock Springs Ranch Drive in Folsom. Call 916.472.7392 or visit RichmondAmerican.com for more information. View health and safety updates at RichmondAmerican.com/COVID-19.

About M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.

Operating under the name Richmond American Homes, MDC's homebuilding subsidiaries have built more than 220,000 homes since 1977. Among the nation's largest homebuilders, MDC's subsidiary companies have operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Mortgage lending, plus insurance and title services are offered by the following MDC subsidiaries, respectively: HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC." For more information, visit MDCHoldings.com.

SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

www.richmondamerican.com


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Buyers use BizVibe to discover suppliers from among more than 5 million companies using advanced search filters and comparison tools. Features for buyers include:

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Identify and qualify sales prospects

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Discover BizVibe's seller tools: 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 helps sellers target prospects who need their products and/or services. For more information, please visit www.bizvibe.com and start for free today.

Contact

BizVibe

Jesse Maida

Email: [email protected]

+1 855-897-5880

Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe

Related Links

http://www.bizvibe.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Concho Resources Inc. (NYSE: CXO) between February 21, 2018 and July 31, 2019, inclusive (the "Class Period") of the important September 28, 2021 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Concho securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Concho class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2133.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 28, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the well spacing at the Dominator Project, consisting of 23 wells in the Delaware Basin, part of the larger Permian Basin, was aggressive and highly risky, and premised on no reasonable basis to believe it would work as intended; (2) Concho's practice of implementing tighter well spacing was not relegated to a handful of "tests" and therefore more widespread than the market was led to believe; (3) it was known or recklessly disregarded that any measures to mitigate well spacing risks were non-existent and/or impossible; (4) these risks had manifested during the Class Period, causing underground well interference and permanently decreasing production, forcing Concho to scale back production targets and adopt more conservative spacing measures in its other projects; (5) it would take multiple quarters to unwind the impacts of the widespread well spacing failure; and (6) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the Concho class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2133.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

Related Links

www.rosenlegal.com


"We learned that a significant difference exists between the path that many people are on and the one they would take if they believed they had another option," said Rob Morrison, CFP, chief strategy and innovation officer at Savant. "Although the pandemic led many people to change their plans for retirement, their vision for the future had already begun to evolve. The results not only impact the way advisors work with clients, but also have implications for everything from retirement product design to staffing and human resources," he added.

"Even the word 'retirement' appears to be losing relevance, particularly among younger people," said Julie Littlechild, founder and CEO of Absolute Engagement. "They preferred terms like 'next chapter' or 'second act' to describe the end of full-time work, and a fair number have no plans to stop working completely even if they are financially able to do so."

The research included questions on retirement timing, the effect of COVID-19 on retirement plans, and how the respondents wished to structure their retirement. The report offers six key insights:

Our vision of retirement is changing. Only half of respondents said they plan to work full time and then stop working completely. Nearly 70 percent say they would transition to a different kind of work or work on their own terms if they thought it was an option. The pandemic contributed to shifting plans and ideas for retirement. Roughly a third of respondents (32 percent) said the COVID-19 pandemic changed their plans for retirement, with a much higher proportion of people under age 45 saying their plans were impacted. Planning for a transition that provides meaning and purpose is critical. Nineteen percent of working respondents said they had retired, only to start working again. They pointed to personal, rather than financial, reasons for rejoining the workforce. Many do not think of the end of full-time work as retirement. Just 60 percent of respondents defined the time when they planned to stop working full time as "retirement." Fewer than half (48 percent) of respondents under the age of 45 use the word "retirement" to describe this phase of life. We are planning to retire earlier. Nearly two thirds (59 percent) of respondents said they want to retire before the age of 65, and a third want to retire before the age of 60. Even if we aren't planning on retiring early, we would like to do just that. Approximately two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents who planned on working past the age of 60 said they would retire earlier if they were financially able to do so. The largest proportion (55 percent) of respondents who said they would choose to retire earlier said they would need a clear vision for life in retirement before deciding to retire.

Savant is conducting follow-up research with its clients using this study as a benchmark. The full research report is available at https://savantwealth.com/retirement-study/.

About Savant Wealth Management

Savant Wealth Management, formerly known as Savant Capital Management, is a leading independent, fee-only firm serving clients for 30 years with more than $11 billion in assets under management and assets under advisement. Savant is headquartered in Rockford, IL, with locations in Bloomington, Chicago, Downers Grove, Freeport, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnshire, Naperville, Peoria, St. Charles, Sterling, and Wilmette, IL; Phoenix, AZ; Indianapolis, IN; Plymouth, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Madison and Park Falls, WI; and McLean, VA.

Savant Wealth Management ("Savant") is an SEC registered investment adviser headquartered in Rockford, Illinois. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk. Please see Important Disclosures at savantwealth.com.

About Absolute Engagement

Founded by speaker, author and researcher Julie Littlechild, Absolute Engagement helps financial advisors use on-going input from clients to evolve the experience and drive deeper engagement.

Julie has worked with and studied successful financial advisors and their clients for more than twenty years. Prior to founding Absolute Engagement, she launched and ran one of the industry's leading research firms, focused on client engagement. Julie is the author of a popular blog, the co-host of the Becoming Referable podcast and the author of The Pursuit of Absolute Engagement.

CONTACT:

Catherine Povalitis

Chartwell Agency

[email protected]

815-282-9976

SOURCE Savant Wealth Management

Related Links

http://www.savantwealth.com


A first-of-its-kind real estate office, SERHANT. House NYC was created to be a workplace, a gathering space, a social club for agents, clients, influencers, friends, and a place to create and inspire. SERHANT. House NYC has been designed to elicit creativity, encourage flexibility and bring together modern and collaborative spaces to accommodate the many divisions within the company.

"We're building the real estate brokerage of the future which includes an innovative workspace that caters to our vision," said Ryan Serhant, founder and CEO of SERHANT. "SERHANT. House NYC, and all future Houses as we expand, offers an inviting, home-like setting for our agents, staff, and clients where they can conduct business, host meetings, create content, and network. The way we work drastically changed in the past year, but real estate is still about selling something tangible and I'm proud of the office space we've created to reflect that."

SERHANT. House NYC comes at a time when the workplace experience is constantly in flux. The space was designed during the pandemic in partnership with award-winning firm INC Architecture & Design , an open source, multidisciplinary, architecture and design studio, with experience in a wide range of project types specializing in the integration of the design disciplines. Part clubhouse, part lifestyle loft, and part creative studio, it was inspired by the future of work and spans 15,000 square-feet across four floors featuring a full-service film studio, podcast studio, client lounge, high-tech conference rooms, coworking-style space for agents, phone booths for individual work and meetings, and high-end finishes throughout, including Herman Miller and Design Within Reach (DWR) furniture and decor, and speakers from luxury Danish audio brand Bang & Olufsen .

INC drew inspiration from elevated Victorian clubhouses, highlighting sophistication with rich leathers and cool tones, and from the modern and artistic SoHo neighborhood in which it is situated. The bold colors and sculptural furniture pay homage to the neighborhood's historically thriving art gallery scene. The palette and the exciting signature features of the design create a space that is young, sophisticated, and creative, yet restrained. SERHANT. House NYC also brings the "CEO corner office" into the 21st century, outfitting it to function as a live-stream, broadcast center for Ryan Serhant. Also home to SERHANT. Ventures, the firm's education arm, SERHANT. House NYC offers event space for in-person training and seminars.

"To design this unique space, we took a residential approach to create an environment where agents and clients alike can feel at home," said Adam Rolston, creative and managing director, partner at INC. "The design mixes contrasting elements to create an energy and experience to meet each moment inside the space. Whether a broker is hosting a client meeting or the creative team is filming an ad for a new development in the studio, SERHANT. House NYC is playful and dynamic, professional and welcoming, allowing the company's headquarters to live up to its progressive mission and vision."

This modern workspace was created in partnership with some of the world's leading brands in residential and commercial real estate:

INC Architecture and Design - The entire design of SERHANT. House NYC was conceptualized and brought to life by the firm's brilliant designers and architects.

- The entire design of SERHANT. House NYC was conceptualized and brought to life by the firm's brilliant designers and architects. Bang & Olufsen - The premium electronics brand has outfitted conference rooms, meeting spaces, and common areas with a range of cutting-edge speakers and televisions to complement the design, including the Beosound Shape, a customizable, wall-mounted sound system that absorbs noise and appears as a decorative art piece when not in use, the Beovision Eclipse and Beovision Harmony state-of-the-art televisions, and a selection of premium speakers throughout the office.

- The premium electronics brand has outfitted conference rooms, meeting spaces, and common areas with a range of cutting-edge speakers and televisions to complement the design, including the Beosound Shape, a customizable, wall-mounted sound system that absorbs noise and appears as a decorative art piece when not in use, the Beovision Eclipse and Beovision Harmony state-of-the-art televisions, and a selection of premium speakers throughout the office. Design Within Reach (DWR) and Herman Miller - The innovative workstations at SERHANT. House NYC were provided by global design leader Herman Miller . In addition, DWR, the largest multi-brand retailer of modern design, provided a selection of dynamic and refined furniture and decor that incorporates a mix of design periods, materials and colors to enhance the space's aesthetic, including the second floor loft, the executive office and the reception area.

- The innovative workstations at SERHANT. House NYC were provided by global design leader . In addition, DWR, the largest multi-brand retailer of modern design, provided a selection of dynamic and refined furniture and decor that incorporates a mix of design periods, materials and colors to enhance the space's aesthetic, including the second floor loft, the executive office and the reception area. Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove - The kitchen spaces feature luxury appliances provided by the refrigeration, cooking and dishwashing experts at Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove.

- The kitchen spaces feature luxury appliances provided by the refrigeration, cooking and dishwashing experts at Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove. IRP DESIGNS and Compac The Surface Company - Designed for gathering, the kitchen areas are beautifully finished by IRP DESIGNS with its kitchen line Culnova, and Compac The Surface Company for the quartz countertops.

- Designed for gathering, the kitchen areas are beautifully finished by IRP DESIGNS with its kitchen line Culnova, and Compac The Surface Company for the quartz countertops. Advisors + Consultants - The long-term solution-based service provided support through the concept development and creation process for the office space, including, with execution partners JCDP and Solvera, the giant 10-foot "S" sculpture, representing the brand's iconic symbol, in the entryway.

Founded in September 2020, SERHANT. has grown to more than 55 agents and over 30 full-time employees; it is pleased to welcome its 85-person company into this new headquarters space in time to celebrate the anniversary. SERHANT. was built to serve the marketplace of tomorrow and designed to amplify the success of others  agents, employees, developers, and clients.

About SERHANT.:

SERHANT. is the first real estate brokerage designed and reimagined for the marketplace of tomorrow. It grew from the #1 ranked sales team in New York City into a full-service firm that is revolutionizing the traditional real estate model. The company is a multidimensional firm, made up of the SERHANT. Brokerage, which includes SERHANT. Signature. and SERHANT. New Development; it also includes multiple, complementary divisions designed to fuel sales, offer customer solutions and keep the company at the forefront of innovation for the real estate industry: SERHANT. Studios and SERHANT. Ventures. SERHANT. is powered by proprietary, internally developed technologies and marketing capabilities, ADX and ID Lab. The company sits at the intersection of technology, media, entertainment and education with a commitment to amplify success for its business, agents, employees, developers, buyer and seller clients, global course members, and the real estate industry as a whole. Learn more at https://www.serhant.com/

SOURCE SERHANT.
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Halper Sadeh LLP, a global investor rights law firm, announces it is investigating the following companies:

Lonestar Resources US Inc. (OTCQX: LONE) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its sale to Penn Virginia Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, Lonestar shareholders will receive 0.51 shares of Penn Virginia common stock for each share of Lonestar common stock they own. If you are a Lonestar shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.

Covanta Holding Corporation (NYSE: CVA) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its sale to EQT Infrastructure for $20.25 per share. If you are a Covanta shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.

Retail Properties of America, Inc. (NYSE: RPAI) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its sale to Kite Realty Group Trust. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each Retail Properties common share will be converted into 0.6230 newly issued Kite Realty common shares. On a pro forma basis, following the closing of the transaction, Retail Properties shareholders are expected to own approximately 60% of the combined company's equity. If you are a Retail Properties shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.

Veoneer, Inc. (NYSE: VNE) concerning potential violations of the federal securities laws and/or breaches of fiduciary duties relating to its sale to Magna International Inc. for $31.25 per share in cash. If you are a Veoneer shareholder, click here to learn more about your rights and options.

Halper Sadeh LLP may seek increased consideration, additional disclosures and information concerning the proposed transaction, or other relief and benefits on behalf of shareholders.

Shareholders are encouraged to contact the firm free of charge to discuss their legal rights and options. Please call Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Halper Sadeh LLP represents investors all over the world who have fallen victim to securities fraud and corporate misconduct. Our attorneys have been instrumental in implementing corporate reforms and recovering millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Halper Sadeh LLP

Daniel Sadeh, Esq.

Zachary Halper, Esq.

(212) 763-0060

[email protected]

[email protected]

https://www.halpersadeh.com

SOURCE Halper Sadeh LLP

Related Links

www.halpersadeh.com


TSX: SIL | NYSE American: SILV

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - SilverCrest Metals Inc. ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has been included in the Toronto Stock Exchange's 2021 TSX30, a flagship program recognizing the 30 top-performing TSX stocks over a three-year period based on dividend-adjusted share price appreciation. Over the three-year period considered, the price of SilverCrest shares rose 286%, ranking it ninth on the 2021 TSX30 list.

N. Eric Fier, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I am very proud of the passion and hard work our team has invested to build SilverCrest to this point. Being honoured with the prestigious TSX30 recognition, a list that spans all sectors, both established and emerging companies, is one of the many accomplishments our team has recorded since we were listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Q4, 2015. We are committed to continuing to drive growth as we complete construction and begin commissioning of our Las Chispas Project in mid-2022 and continue our exploration efforts with a focus on creating further long-term shareholder value."

Chris Ritchie, President, commented, "SilverCrest has adopted a successful systematic and responsible phased approach focused on capital efficiency and risk mitigation. Our team has had tremendous success defining a high grade primary silver resource and reserve and positioning Las Chispas to enter production less than seven years from the first drill hole at the project. We are grateful for the support of our employees, contractors, local stakeholders and the investment community, who have all contributed to the extraordinary returns over the last three years."

For more information on the TSX30, visit: www.tsx.com/tsx30.

ABOUT SILVERCREST METALS INC.

SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration and development company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's top priority is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico, where it has completed a feasibility study on the Las Chispas Project and is proceeding with mine construction. Startup of production at the Las Chispas Mine is targeted for mid-2022. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Property resulting in numerous high-grade precious metal discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production.

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng

Chief Executive Officer

SilverCrest Metals Inc.

SOURCE SilverCrest Metals Inc.

Related Links

www.silvercrestmetals.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SKUx, an innovative fintech company redefining the way consumer offers are delivered, redeemed, settled and reported, today announced a game-changing new fintech category of payment-based offers, called SKUPay. SKUPay is designed to replace today's archaic world and process of coupons, rebates, promotional offers, and settlement, freeing up billions of dollars in savings for consumers and solving long-term industry challenges for retailers, consumer brands, and marketing agencies.

Powered by the SKUx platform, SKUPay transforms virtually any coupon, rebate, or promotional offer into an easy-to-use, serialized, single-use offer. They can be delivered through virtually any channel of engagement and monitored and managed in near real-time to optimize campaign results and control costs. Because each offer powered by SKUx is serialized, fully trackable and redeemable only once, it eliminates fraud and misredemption. The system uniquely enables daily settlements for retailers without the need for a lengthy and costly coupon clearinghouse process.

"SKUPay offers are currency, not IOUs like coupons," said Jim Sampey, SKUx Co-Founder and CEO. "They can be spent only once and solve long-time industry problems with process inefficiency, fraud, and misredemption. These challenges are often only exacerbated by today's digital coupons and cost brands and retailers billions of dollars. It's time to put that money to better use providing shoppers with greater savings and satisfaction in the products they buy."

"SKUx empowers consumer brands and retailers to better serve and delight their customers. SKUPay is an intuitive, consumer-preferred solution that makes saving money easier than ever before. It provides unprecedented omnichannel reach and delivers timely and actionable campaign data to optimize engagement and drive increased revenue and sales," Sampey said. "SKUx makes every offer better."

SKUPay will further propel explosive growth within the mobile payment industry. The National Retail Federation and Forrester conducted a midyear 2020 survey showing broad acceptance of no-touch payments, which had increased to 69 percent of retailers. The U.S. is now the world's second-largest market for mobile payments with $465.1 billion worth of transactions in 2020 and volume expected to grow to $698 billion in 2023.

The "Powered by SKUx" Difference:

SKUx and payment-based offers reinvent and simplify the world of consumer offers to bring unparalleled consumer engagement, trust, transparency, immediacy and control to consumer brands, marketers and retailers. Key advantages include:

Powers virtually any channel of consumer engagement anywhere you choose to deliver your incentive, from store shelves, email, social media, mobile, on-pack, display media, and more.

anywhere you choose to deliver your incentive, from store shelves, email, social media, mobile, on-pack, display media, and more. Eliminates fraud and misredemption replaces coupons, rebates, and promotional offers with trusted single-use, serialized offers that can be targeted down to the product SKU or UPC and automatically redeemed and processed without time-consuming and often inaccurate checkout clerk approvals.

replaces coupons, rebates, and promotional offers with trusted single-use, serialized offers that can be targeted down to the product SKU or UPC and automatically redeemed and processed without time-consuming and often inaccurate checkout clerk approvals. Daily processing and settlement retailers can be reimbursed daily, not in weeks or months.

retailers can be reimbursed daily, not in weeks or months. Unparalleled and immediate data visibility and control marketers can optimize campaign results and stay within predetermined budgets.

marketers can optimize campaign results and stay within predetermined budgets. Intuitive and easy to use SKUPay is redeemable wherever mobile payments are accepted.

Deb Henretta, a former top executive at Procter & Gamble who held numerous senior leadership positions, including President of P&G Global e-Business, said the SKUPay category is a major leap forward for the industry. "Digital coupons just haven't solved many of the major challenges that retailers and consumer products companies like Procter & Gamble have grappled with for decades. Coupon fraud, costly settlement processes and a lack of trust, transparency and visibility continue to plague us, said Henretta, an advisor to SKUx. "SKUx and payment-based offers address those challenges in a way our current system can never do."

The SKUx Smart Incentives platform is already being used by leading consumer brands and retailers. In addition, SKUx is continuing to build a major partner ecosystem to further scale and enhance the value of its solution. The company recently announced a partnership with Blackhawk Network, a leader in advanced payment solutions with prepaid products, technologies and network that connect brands and people. Other partnerships are coming.

How it works

Brands, retailers and marketing service providers can quickly create campaigns utilizing digital SKUPay offers that run through the patent-pending SKUx Smart Incentives platform, where they are normalized, serialized, and given an individualized SKUx IDs for tracking. These offers reside in the SKUx platform and can be made readily available through virtually any channel of engagement.

Upon check-out, the serialized offer is redeemed and the SKUx platform is updated, giving partners real-time access to redemption information. Settlement occurs on a daily basis when the SKUx sends settlement amounts to balance the transaction.

About SKUx

A leading fintech innovator, SKUx gives brands and retailers the power to deliver secure, intuitive digital offers anywhere, anytime, at the speed of today's consumer. SKUx transforms virtually any coupon, rebate, or promotional offer into payment-based offers for the world's leading retailers, brands, and marketing agencies. The company's patent-pending Smart Incentives platform as a service combines offer details, serialization, funding, and settlement to increase customer loyalty and create new opportunities for consumer engagement. The result  new incremental revenue, improved efficiency, and laser sharp transparency for all industry stakeholders. For more information, visit www.skux.io.

Media Contact:

Kevin Sugarman

[email protected]

408.966.4852

SOURCE SKUx

Related Links

https://skux.io/


"Since our inception, SKYMINT has been dedicated to celebrating the intersection of cannabis, art, culture, and community," explains SKYMINT Senior Director of Marketing, Aimee Michalak. "ArtPrize and Sheefy McFly are treasures of Michigan's cultural legacy, and we are honored to have this incredible opportunity to join forces with both to kick-off and close the U.S.' biggest biennial event ."

As an official 2021 ArtPrize Premier Sponsor , SKYMINT will host the festival's Oct. 1 closing event at The Atrium, honoring ArtPrize's 2021 participating artists. In addition, SKYMINT is collaborating with the multifaceted Detroit-based visual artist, muralist, musician, and designer, Sheefy McFly , to kick-off ArtPrize 2021 with a two-day (Sept. 16 and 17; 6pm-10pm) immersive installation event titled "The SKYMINT X Sheefy Experience" at ArtPrize's transformed "Welcome Center" tent and social zone at Canal Park.

Located on the city's riverfront and directly across from its host, City Built Brewing Co , the "SKYMINT X Sheefy McFly Experience" will simultaneously serve as Sheefy McFly's unique submission to the ArtPrize 2021 competition, as one of a small minority of BIPOC artist competition entries. Featuring McFly's signature figures and faces, seen throughout the city of Detroit on over 20 murals, the transformed Welcome tent and social zone will showcase multidimensional pop-up art experiences and live installations for ArtPrize attendees to enjoy.

"This is a historical moment not only for me as an artist, but also for cannabis," says the ArtPrize alum, Sheefy McFly. "Cannabis use and its inspiration on radical art movements is well recorded. But it's only now, as legalization continues to sweep across the U.S., that we can finally begin to appreciate their long-standing, deep relationship, out in the open. That is what this SKYMINT x Sheefy McFly collaboration and tent is all about - sparking dialogue, creativity, and new perspectives."

Just named "Artist of the Year" by the Sean Anderson Foundation , a non-profit organization founded by Detroit-native and American rapper, Big Sean , McFly - whose work has been featured in Wallpaper Magazine , Architectural Digest , The Architect's Newspape r, ArchDaily , Architect Magazine and others - is known for his vibrant and abstract expressionism infused with influences from pop-art, street-art, Detroit history and culture, and his African-American heritage.

During the 18-day festival and competition, the "SKYMINT x Sheefy McFly Experience" tent will continue to host a variety of interactive events for ArtPrize festival goers, including an intimate Paint & Sip class in collaboration with City Built Brewing Co. on Sept. 25 and an Oct. 1. OktoberFest event, also in partnership with City Built Brewing Co. ArtPrize attendees can stay abreast of newly added events taking place under the "SKYMINT x Sheefy McFly Experience" tent by visiting https://www.skymint.com/artprize-2021/skymint-x-sheefy .

Since celebrating its 10th anniversary, ArtPrize visitors have cast 3.4 million votes, and the "part art, part social experiment" event has awarded $4.6 million to artists from around the country and world. ArtPrize was named the "most attended public art event" in 2014 and 2015 by the London-based publication, The Art Newspaper, and the expressive and interactive public art event has reported seeing up to 26,000 attendees per day since its inception. The 2021 ArtPrize festival and competition will commence on Sept. 16, and is expected to be attended by more than 500,000 visitors this year, with more than 1,600 artists planning to participate through the event's final day on Oct 3.

"The world is in need of a lot of healing right now," says McFly. "Art is healing and brings people together. The same can be said of cannabis. I'm proud to be a part of this festival and really excited knowing that the 'SKYMINT x Sheefy McFly Experience' tent will remain up for an entire year in Grand Rapids."

To vote for Sheefy McFly, visitors of ArtPrize 2021 are encouraged to scan QR codes discoverable throughout the "SKYMINT x Sheefy McFly Experience" tent.

HIGH-RES IMAGES

ABOUT SKYMINT

Beginning operations in Fall 2018 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, SKYMINT is Michigan's leading vertically integrated cannabis company and the state's largest medical and recreational license holder. With two state-of-the-art indoor grow facilities as well as SKYMINT Farms, a 1000-acre sungrown, sustainable farm, the company cultivates, processes, markets, distributes and sells a full range of branded cannabis products, including SKYMINT , North Cannabis , Jolly Edibles , the Two Joints  brand, which benefits the Last Prisoner Project , and SKYMINT X DNA GENETICS. Just as SKYMINT treats its plants like people - tending to and caring for them by hand, and even playing them music - each and every product is handcrafted to ensure the safest, cleanest, highest quality products at the best value. SKYMINT products can be found at the company's 15 SKYMINT retail centers. As purveyors of premium-crafted cannabis, SKYMINT has developed a portfolio of the finest cannabis brands available for daily wellness, healing, or just getting high on life. Happy Plants. Happy People. Visit www.skymintbrands.com

ABOUT SHEEFY MCFLY

Emerging from a long line of street-smart graffiti artists, who successfully crossed over to the international art gallery circuit, Tashif "Sheefy McFly" Turner has swiftly risen to become one of the most promising American artists of his generation. The critically embraced and popularly celebrated painter and muralist is an alum of Detroit's College of Creative Studies, where McFly very skillfully and purposefully brought together, in his art, a host of disparate traditions, practices, and styles to create a unique kind of visual collage - one deriving in part, from his Michigan based origins, and in another by his African -American heritage. Showing heavy influence from Keith Haring, Pablo Picasso, and Roy Lichtenstein, McFly's style is a colorful mass of disembodied faces, eyes, noses, and mouths that fit together like puzzle pieces. In 2017, Metro Times readers voted him the year's best artist and his work has been showcased in stunning solo exhibitions as well as in group projects at Red Bull House of Art and Playground Detroit. In recent years, McFly has made a name for himself with his colorful murals around Motor City. As part of 2018's Murals in the Market festival, he painted Haring-esque figures jit dancing and twerking next to a man wearing Buffs with a cartoon word balloon saying "Detroit never left." In 2019, around a viaduct on Seven Mile and John R Road, he painted more Haring-esque dancing figures, along with the bold words "TECHNO IS BLACK MUSIC" and an anthropomorphic coney dog saying Detroit's greeting, "What up doe." This summer, McFly was commissioned to paint his largest public mural yet - The Monroe Street Midway outdoor rink. He was also recently commissioned to paint a piece, "Blue" for the Michigan Opera Theatre.

PRESS CONTACTS:

Ally Galanty, 313.575.0361, [email protected]

Holly Aubry, 646.943.0541, [email protected]

SOURCE SKYMINT
Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow is one of today's top artists, widely celebrated for hits including "If I Had a Boat," "We Don't Eat," "Get Low," "Rising Water," and his cover of "Wicked Games," featured in the sixth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones . Recently, McMorrow announced the upcoming release of his new album Grapefruit Season on September 17, featuring his intimate "Headlights" single, as well as "Gone" and "I Should Go" with Kenny Beats. McMorrow also revealed his 2022 UK and Europe tour dates, with more tour announcements to come.

James Vincent McMorrow said, "Sony Music Publishing has been my home since I was literally a kid on myspace uploading songs, the first people to believe in my songwriting. They've helped me find collaborators over the years for my records when I needed them, basically any mad idea I've had they've been down to help make happen. This last year and a half has obviously been fairly rubbish, songwriting was one of the few things in my life I could control. So, having someone like David Ventura ready to take some of the songs I'd written and find homes for them, has been fairly amazing. Coming out of all this I realise how much I do want to write and work with others, I'm excited I'm able to do that with a group of people I genuinely like and trust."

David Ventura, President & Co-Managing Director, Sony Music Publishing UK said, "We are all delighted to continue working with the one and only James Vincent McMorrow. After years of collaboration, we have seen James become a complete artist and unstoppable songwriter. We are excited for the world to discover his new album Grapefruit Season, which is a masterpiece."

Saul Fitton, Senior A&R Manager Sony Music Publishing UK said, "James is a brilliantly intelligent and versatile talent  he is a very forward-thinking songwriter and true artist. We're incredibly excited that James is continuing this next phase of his journey with us."

James Vincent McMorrow first captivated audiences in 2010 with his debut self-titled EP and first album Early In The Morning, which he penned in a small house on Ireland's coast with a guitar, a keyboard, a microphone, a computer and other instruments. Since his breakthrough success with Early in the Morning, McMorrow has released four albums with a wide range of styles and influences, including Post Tropical (2014); We Move (2016) featuring hits "Rising Water" and "Get Low"; and True Care (2017).

In addition to his achievements as an artist, McMorrow has earned great success crafting songs on behalf of numerous artists. In 2015, he co-wrote and performed on Kygo's "I'm In Love" from his debut album Cloud Nine. He also crafted multiple songs on All Tvvins' Just To Exist album in 2019; Dvsn's singles "Run Away" and "Angela"; "Shells of Silver" by The Japanese Popstars; "Wake Up" with Claptone, and Rudimental's "Be Somebody."

SOURCE Sony Music Publishing
BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MIND Research Institute (MIND) has announced a partnership with Boston Public Schools (BPS) to bring ST Math , MIND's patented approach to math instruction, to the largest public school system in Massachusetts. The partnership will help build deep conceptual understanding of mathematics for over 24,000 students across 87 elementary schools.

"We are excited to provide all elementary students in Boston Public Schools with targeted support through ST Math," said BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius. "We have seen strong results in our schools that have used this program with fidelity in the past and see its expansion, along with relevant standards-aligned core instruction, as a key part of our multi-tiered system of support to close gaps created and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic."

ST Math is a PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems. The program was granted to Boston Public Schools by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) under the Accelerating Mathematics Instruction initiative, created to support schools and districts in accelerating student math learning during the 2021-22 school year.

"We are thrilled to grow our partnership with Boston Public Schools at this scale," said Brett Woudenberg, CEO of MIND. "We have seen ST Math make a difference for students from all backgrounds, and we are honored to help ensure Boston students deeply understand and truly love mathematics."

ST Math's nationwide effectiveness study meets What Works Clearinghouse quasi-experiment and the Every Student Succeeds Act Tier 2 requirements. The program has won numerous awards, including a 2021 SIIA CODiE Award for Best Foundational Mathematics Instructional Solution. ST Math was also in the first cohort of programs to be recognized by Digital Promise for their product certifications for research-based design and learner variability .

To learn more about ST Math and its impact, visit stmath.com .

About MIND Research Institute

MIND Research Institute is a neuroscience and education social impact organization dedicated to ensuring that all students are mathematically equipped to solve the world's most challenging problems. MIND is the creator of ST Math, a PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems. ST Math's unique, patented approach provides students with equitable access to learning through challenging puzzles, non-routine problem solving, and informative feedback. Visit mindresearch.org .

SOURCE MIND Research Institute

Related Links

http://www.mindresearch.net


MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Founder, Chairman & CEO of Cassaday & Company, Inc., Stephan Cassaday, has been named to the Virginia 500: The 2021 Power List, which recognizes the state's most powerful and influential leaders by sector. Published by Virginia Business, this is the second annual edition of the Virginia 500 Power List.

Excerpt from Virginia Business' Virginia 500: The 2021 Power List

"My vision in starting the firm was to be a one-stop shop where advice was holistic and comprehensive in nature, with top-notch professionals working collaboratively to address all aspects of a client's financial situation," said Cassaday. "I am fortunate to be surrounded by colleagues who are extremely intelligent, share in this vision, and are bound by a mandate to always do what is right for our clients. My success and the company's success would not be possible without our outstanding employees and clients who continue to put their trust in us," Cassaday concluded.

Executives are divided into 20 categories and listed in alphabetical order within each category. Cassaday is one of only 50 individuals listed in the Finance & Insurance category. This category includes banks, venture capitalists, and other various financial and investment firms in addition to wealth management. Due to the breadth of this category, only 1% of the list are wealth management professionals, making Cassaday's place on the list an exclusive achievement.

Methodology

In assembling the Virginia 500 Power list, Virginia Business considers an array of factors, including  but not limited to  annual revenue, newsworthiness, community involvement, diversity, number of employees (in Virginia and worldwide), and how large of a presence the organization has in the commonwealth. More on methodology here.

About Cassaday & Company, Inc.

Cassaday & Company, Inc. is an award-winning independent wealth management firm in McLean, Virginia with over $4.5 billion in assets under management (September 2021).

Disclosures: Securities offered through Royal Alliance Associates, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory and insurance services offered through Cassaday & Company, Inc., a registered investment adviser not affiliated with RAA. The Virginia 500: The 2021 Power List is a recognition of a person's influence and importance in their field as compiled by Virginia Business. Inclusion in the Virginia 500 is not an endorsement by Virginia Business. For award criteria see Virginia Business' website.

Contact: Michelle Tigani

[email protected]

SOURCE Cassaday & Company Inc.

Related Links

www.cassaday.com


The rebranding represents another chapter in the company's growth and comes at a pivotal time in healthcare marketing Tweet this

"These findings support the reason we exist: healthcare needs to tailor communications to the individual, because doing so creates trust, breeds loyalty and ultimately leads to better health outcomes," said Michael Linnert, CEO of Actium. "Our new name reinforces that our solutions drive action. They are based on a health system's data, which differentiates us from others who use national models and databases. Each individual is unique in their needs, as is every region across the country. With our new name, we are renewing our dedication to our healthcare organization partners, their patients and communities and achieving improved healthcare communications."

Actium recently released the results of one of its projects with partner HonorHealth , a non-profit, local community healthcare system serving an area of 1.6 million people in greater Phoenix, Arizona. Understanding the need for highly tailored communications to connect with elderly patients and those in underserved communities about the COVID-19 vaccine, the system worked with Actium to create and deploy a multi-channel campaign which resulted in filling more than 2,000 vaccination appointments in less than two weeks.

Earlier this year, Actium announced that it secured $25 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding raised to more than $35 million since 2019. In Q2, Actium began working with Catholic Health Services of Long Island and North Carolina-based Legacy Healthcare Services . The company's customer roster now represents more than 14 million patient lives across 12 states.

Most recently, Actium launched its Hello Healthcare Podcast, which aims to inspire listeners to create a better future by driving change in healthcare. Released every other Wednesday, episodes dive deep into topics shaping healthcare and feature esteemed professionals from across industry verticals. Episodes include:

Where to Start with Health Equity

Do Healthcare Marketers Deliver? with Craig Kartchner , AVP of Marketing and Customer Experience, HonorHealth

with , AVP of Marketing and Customer Experience, Will Tech & Retail Eat Healthcare?

Actium will bookend the year with a presentation alongside Virtua at the annual Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS) in October on AI's impact on influencing and engaging patients, followed by a presentation with HonorHealth on using predictive analytics to engage and acquire patients for service line growth at the Healthcare Internet Conference (HCIC) in November.

About Actium Health

Actium is leading the way forward in proactive consumer engagement through health-system data intelligence, transforming the chaotic accumulation of EHR, CRM, and third party data into a clear and prioritized activation plan for every individual healthcare consumer.

Actium's powerful combination of AI-driven next best actions for every individual, paired with hyper-personalized activation tools, is the key to realizing currently untapped value, better managing rising-risk patients, driving service-line growth, and fostering greater retention, loyalty, and lifetime value.

In an increasingly competitive market, health system decision makers finally have an all-in-one intelligence and activation platform sophisticated enough to deconvolute and operationalize their accumulated patient data to help them outperform on the metrics their organizations value most.

For more on Actium Health, visit: actiumhealth.com

Connect with Actium Health on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/actiumhealth

Follow @ActiumHealth on Twitter: twitter.com/actiumhealth

Like ActiumHealth on Facebook: facebook.com/actiumhealth

Listen to Actium Health's podcast: https://www.hellohealthcare.com/

SOURCE Actium Health
LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Synapi, the leading lending software provider, today unveiled its Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform to help merchants achieve higher sales by offering more of their shoppers suitable financing. It's predicted that the global BNPL market will continue to grow at 22% per year in the coming decade and be worth an estimated $31 billion by 2028. Synapi will offer both B2C and B2B merchants its proven technology and know-how  easily accessed through APIs  gained over the past decade extending over 3.5 million loans to customers of its parent company, Gain Credit.

It's estimated that merchants lose 40% of potential sales due to the lack of financing for their shoppers. In further polling, more than a third of customers said they'd be more likely to shop at a merchant offering financing, while a quarter said they'd likely spend more with financing. And nearly 30% of shoppers said they'd be more likely to return to a merchant in the future if financing were available.

All this means that merchants offering financing that's easy for their shoppers to understand and obtain will maximize both revenue and customer engagement in today's environment. And flexibility is key too. As shopper demographics evolve, it will be important for merchants to tailor the financing user experience and product structure to their shoppers' needs, and to do so quickly and efficiently. Nearly 60% of shoppers find financing too expensive, while a quarter find the experience of acquiring financing too lengthy and confusing  leading to high rates of cart abandonment.

Having served more than a million UK customers since 2008, Gain Credit has developed an industry-leading platform and data analytics/AI capability, which Synapi is now using to enable merchants to offer their own BNPL products at the point of sale. Synapi's platform covers the full spectrum of BNPL activities, including the application process, credit decisioning, customer onboarding, payment disbursement, customer service and collections  all fully compliant with applicable regulations. And the platform can be tailored to deliver the user experience merchants and their shoppers want, or adopted as-is, in which case it's ready-to-go 'off the shelf'.

"Our platform has been improved and battle-hardened over the past decade and we're delighted to now offer it to merchants, to power their own BNPL financing programs," said Vijay Sachidanand, CEO and co-founder of Synapi. "If no customization is needed, all a merchant has to do is connect through our APIs to get a BNPL offering up-and-running in days. Synapi's tech stack and machine learning capabilities integrate seamlessly with merchants' existing operations, and no financing expertise is required from the merchant. Our goal is to give merchants more control of the credit they offer their customers, so that financing is available to every shopper who wants it and no shopping cart is left behind."

Synapi is currently in partnership discussions with merchants operating in a range of areas, including everyday consumer goods, jewellery, furniture, travel (holidays), home improvement, medical procedures and educational programs. Average ticket sizes and shopping frequency vary, typically ranging from 100 to 5000 while most purchases are recurring. 42% of shoppers polled believe that businesses could do more to offer suitable point of sale financing, and Synapi is dedicated to helping merchants achieve this.

For more information, please contact our Sales team at [email protected].

About Synapi

Founded in 2021, Synapi's mission is to enable businesses to offer credit to their customers through industry-leading software and expertise. Synapi offers businesses of all sizes easy access to its proven platform; clients can choose the capabilities they need, integrate them seamlessly into their existing workflows, and customize the features to their unique needs with little technical knowledge.

Synapi. Best-in-class technology. Proven lending expertise. Fully compliant. https://www.synapitechnology.com/

About Gain Credit

Founded in 2003, Gain Credit has evolved from providing big data analytics to offering consumers innovative lending products. With offices in UK, US and India, Gain Credit has granted credit to more than a million UK customers since 2008. At the heart of everything Gain Credit does are its values of customer-centricity, innovation and challenging the status quo. https://www.gaincredit.com/

SOURCE Synapi

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"We have prioritized academic gains for students over the past decade, and most recently in our K-12 crisis response to COVID-19," said Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. "We are investing in literacy resources to ensure our early learners are given every opportunity to become proficient readers by third grade, and we are fortunate to have resources like Governor's Early Learning Foundation to help Tennesseans achieve a successful future. This month, join us to celebrate Tennessee Literacy Month to raise awareness of the importance of literacy and the efforts being made across the state to strengthen it."

Less than one third of Tennessee third graders read proficiently. Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) 2021 scores show that disruptions to education due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to student learning loss. These scores show that third grade reading proficiency dropped by five percentage points from 2019.

The rate of second graders scoring "Below" in English Language Arts increased 68%, and the rate of third graders increased 47%. Students scoring at "Below" in 2nd and 3rd grades are typically those who are not able to read proficiently. Third grade reading proficiency is the benchmark where children transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" and is a key indicator for a child's future educational success and workforce readiness.

"Even though these declines were mitigated by the hard work of our educators and families, these statistics are telling, and we must meet our students where they are with the resources and support they need," said James Pond, president of Governor's Early Literacy Foundation. "It's more important than ever to strengthen early literacy and build a brighter future for children, and we can help do that by encouraging children to read and giving them access to quality resources outside of the classroom. Tennessee Literacy Month is the perfect time to come together as Tennesseans to support our youngest learners."

Governor's Early Literacy Foundation (GELF) is a public-private partnership that equips Tennessee's children with books and innovative literacy tools that encourage lifelong learning for a brighter future. Since 2020, GELF has delivered books to 409,000 children through their Birth-5 and K-3 Book Delivery programs, sent at-home learning tips via text message to 140,000 caregivers and partnered to bring 18 Book Buses and 35 Storybook Trails to communities.

GELF encourages Tennesseans to join their efforts to strengthen early literacy in Tennessee by reading with children and utilizing their statewide programs and resources. GELF offers these tips for parents and caregivers:

Visit a Storybook Trail. The Storybook Trails bring classic stories to life in outdoor settings that showcase Tennessee's natural beauty, from Cheekwood in Nashville to Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns .

natural beauty, from Cheekwood in to Montgomery Bell State Park in . When reading to children from 0-24 months, point out interesting pictures, ask questions (Where's the doggie?"), use different voices, imitate sounds, and let them turn pages.

For children 2-3 years old, let them lead, encourage them to point out things and act out parts of the story, and ask them more complicated questions ("What are the bears doing in this picture?").

For children 4-5 years old, encourage them to repeat what you read and point out colors and shapes. Ask them to tell you about the pictures and the story, and start familiarizing them with the alphabet.

For parents and caregivers with children from kindergarten to third grade, encourage your children to continue reading when they are not at school. Adopt reading habits as a family. Make it a part of the daily routine.

For more information on these programs, how to get involved and how to make a donation, visit governorsfoundation.org.

About GELF

Governor's Early Literacy Foundation (GELF) equips Tennessee's children with books and innovative literacy tools that encourage lifelong learning for a brighter future. GELF is a nonpartisan 501c3 driven by a mission to strengthen early literacy in Tennessee by acting as a thought leader, advisor, and catalyst for programs across the state. These programs include Birth-5 Book Delivery through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, K-3 Book Delivery, Caregiver Engagement, Book Buses, and Storybook Trails. GELF was founded in 2004 by former Gov. Phil Bredesen as a public-private partnership to sustain Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Tennessee. GELF has grown from solely a book-gifting program to an early literacy organization driven by a vision where all Tennessee children have access to the resources, guidance, and support they need to become lifelong learners. For more information, visit www.GovernorsFoundation.org or www.facebook.com/GovEarlyLiteracyTN , or call toll-free at (877) 99-BOOKS.

Contact: Claire Jones

[email protected]

(318) 286-0933

SOURCE Governors Early Literacy Foundation

Related Links

https://governorsfoundation.org/


BANGKOK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Each year we lose 931 million tons of food produced for human consumption while more than 1 billion people still do not have access to adequate food.

In Thailand, according to the Pollution Control Department, 64% of municipal waste is food waste which equals to 17.5 million tons per year! Some of those food wastes are invisible food, produced but never reach the consumer.

There are still more businesses that are not addressing their food waste. There are more people now under the poverty line (9.9%) and 6.5M people in the country are undernourished, and there is no law protecting businesses from donating their surplus food to people.

It's time to rally all the food industry leaders to help us fight this battle and achieve ZERO Food Waste and ZERO Hunger in Thailand.

ZERO Summit 2021 is the virtual summit, the first-ever food-driven sustainability event organized by Scholars of Sustenance, the first food rescue foundation in Thailand sponsored by The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) as the 'Sustainable Event Partner'.

On 29th September 2021 from 13:00  18:30, the virtual summit offers 3 main activities and knowledge sharing sessions for everyone to understand and drive a change together with us to make change for a better future in Thailand.

Let's find the answers together from the experts in the food industry from leading local and international organizations about how we can best accelerating sustainable food system changes in Thailand.

Panel 1: Systemic Approach on Food Waste Reduction

The unrevealed successful story of food waste prevention cooperation between partners and SOS, the first food rescue foundation in Thailand, is disclosed here for all participants who want to know how we systematically prevent surplus food from becoming food waste. We are additionally delighted to share our vision and plan for future cooperation with all interested participants.

Panel 2: Building Engagement on Food Waste Reduction (Food Service & Hospitality Sectors and Business Sector)

Have you ever wondered how people can engage in food waste reduction? This talking panel will discover marvelous answers from the interesting practice cases of our guest speakers, who have experience in creating whizzed programs for people to participate in solving the food waste issue together.

Workshop: Shaping the Future Food System (International and Domestic Levels)

It's time for food business leaders to unite and shape the future food system in Thailand together, but how can we do that, and how can policy support us? Here is the discussion workshop, where our professional guest speakers will share their brilliant ideas with all participants for brainstorming and drawing the future policy for supporting food waste management in Thailand together.

Book Your pot Now and Find More Information at https://www.eventpop.me/e/11544/zero-summit

Phone: 088-308-9978 (Kie) 095-553-2795 (Earth)

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE SOS NC, Thailand (Bangkok) and Indonesia (Bali)
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) launches a new suite of free educational materials for people and families living with Parkinson's disease (PD). These new resources, available at michaeljfox.org/off, focus on "off" time, periods when Parkinson's symptoms return because medication isn't working optimally, something that not every person with Parkinson's will experience, but an estimated 40 to 50 percent of patients develop within two to three years of starting the gold standard PD therapy, levodopa. "Off" periods can greatly impact a patient's quality of life, by limiting their ability to complete daily tasks and adding uncertainty to their day. This variability in episodes often causes difficulty for patients and families to interpret back to their doctors.

New Interactive Resources on "Off" Time Answers Common Questions for Patients and Families

The new suite of materials offers tips on managing "off" time and Parkinson's care with medical commentary written by MJFF Senior Vice President of Medical Communications and movement disorder specialist Rachel Dolhun, MD. Additionally, the resources were designed to include personal reflections and anecdotes from people living with Parkinson's who experience "off" time.

"My 'off' episodes are extremely variable," said Margaret Sheehan, 62, of McLean, Virginia and member of MJFF's Patient Council. "Sometimes I feel my medications slowly draining out of me, and sometimes it feels like a switch has flipped, shutting me down almost instantly. People living with Parkinson's and their loved ones hold a critical value in providing our lived experiences with this disease. Resources like these help patients and loved ones better understand our symptoms and provide strategies to voice our most bothersome aspects of the disease."

In this informative interactive suite of materials, patients and families can find:

Understandable first-hand patient insights on breaking down the complex topic of what is "off" time;

Video and podcast resources featuring leading Parkinson's experts answering common questions around the variability of these experiences;

Practical tips and strategies to manage "off" time and speaking with your doctor about finding the right medication regimen; and

Information on the latest treatments and those in the research pipeline.

"'Off' times are different for different people. In some, they can significantly impact daily activities. The uncertainty around "off" time can limit spontaneity and social interactions, too, said Rachel Dolhun, MD. "MJFF's latest resources provide information about the common but sometimes misunderstood experiences of "off" time in Parkinson's, to help people living with PD and their loved ones feel empowered to learn more and take action in their care."

The free resources are available to view at michaeljfox.org/off. A webinar on this topic, featuring Parkinson's community members and experts, also will be available on Thursday, September 16. Register for the free webinar here.

These resources were made possible by select members of our Parkinson's Disease Education Consortium, including Acorda Therapeutics and Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Funding from our industry partners allows the Foundation to maintain editorial oversight in the creation of high-quality educational resources, while directing donor-raised dollars toward critical research.

Empowering Patient-Physician Communication Is Critical to Parkinson's Research and Care

Today, an estimated 6 million people worldwide live with Parkinson's, each experiencing their own version of Parkinson's and its symptoms. With a highly variable disease and progression, resources to better understand and navigate fluctuations in the Parkinson's journey are urgently needed. Although not everyone with Parkinson's experiences "off" time, those who do often find it difficult to explain and interpret the variability in their symptoms with their doctors. Through MJFF's online clinical study, Fox Insight, researchers surveyed 2,000 people with Parkinson's to understand the unique experiences of "off" time. Researchers found that some patients had trouble explaining their symptoms and nearly half described bothersome symptoms that would be missed by standard assessments conducted by doctors. The three most common of these were freezing of gait, apathy and memory problems.

Since inception in 2000, MJFF has directed its funding to work urgently toward cures  treatments to slow or stop overall disease progression and with it the many symptoms Parkinson's can bring. Additionally, since 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 17 new Parkinson's therapies  two of which are Parkinson's treatments funded by MJFF to help treat "off" episodes, Kynmobi from Sunovion Pharmaceuticals and Inbrija by Acorda Therapeutics. Today, there are more than 30 other potential therapies advancing through clinical trials thanks to Foundation funding.

MJFF is dedicated to creating educational resources and onramps for the Parkinson's community and to helping patients and families better understand their role in speeding research. Participants in MJFF's landmark Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) are helping scientists better understand Parkinson's biology and experience. The study is now open to anyone over 18 living in the United States. Learn more and take a short survey to get started at michaeljfox.org/ppmi. And Fox Trial Finder, MJFF's online clinical study matching tool that connects volunteers with recruiting studies in their area, lists more than 425 studies investigating Parkinson's disease, including "off" time.

About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

As the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson's disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson's patients, business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors and volunteers. In addition to funding $1 billion in research to date, the Foundation has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson's research, the Foundation forges groundbreaking collaborations with industry leaders, academic scientists and government research funders; increases the flow of participants into Parkinson's disease clinical trials with its online tool, Fox Trial Finder; promotes Parkinson's awareness through high-profile advocacy, events and outreach; and coordinates the grassroots involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world. For more information, visit us at www.michaeljfox.org, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

SOURCE The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research

Related Links

www.michaeljfox.org


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc. (NYSE: SWZ), a non-diversified registered closed-end investment company (the "Fund"), announced today that the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders was held as scheduled and concluded. Based upon the voting results, 1) Andrew Dakos, Richard Dayan, Phillip F. Goldstein, Gerald Hellerman and Moritz A. Sell were elected as Directors to serve for a one-year term until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until his respective successor is duly elected and qualifies, 2) stockholders ratified the selection by the Fund's Board of Directors of Tait, Weller & Baker, LLP as the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2021, and 3) a non-binding proposal by the Fund's Board of Directors to ratify approval by stockholders in 2006 to permit the Fund to leverage up to 10% of the Fund's total assets (including the amount borrowed) was approved.

About The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc.

The Fund (www.swzfund.com) is a non-diversified, closed-end investment company seeking long-term capital appreciation through investment in equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies. Its shares are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "SWZ." The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing generally in Swiss equity and equity-linked securities that are traded on a Swiss stock exchange, traded at the pre-bourse level of one or more Swiss stock exchanges, traded through a market maker or traded over the counter in Switzerland. The Fund also may invest in Swiss equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies that are traded on other major European stock exchanges.

Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, are not continuously offered. Typically, shares of closed-end funds are sold in the open market through a stock exchange. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. The price of the Fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the Fund. Therefore, the Fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below or above net asset value.

The Fund is managed by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.

About Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.

Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. and Schroder Investment Management North America Limited, investment advisors registered with the U.S. SEC, are units of Schroders plc (SDR.L), a global asset management company with approximately $832.2 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021. Schroder's clients include major financial institutions including banks and insurance companies, as well as local and public authorities, public and private pension funds, endowments and foundations, intermediaries and advisors, as well as high net worth individuals and retail investors. The firm has built one of the largest networks of offices of any dedicated asset management company with more than 500 portfolio managers and analysts covering the world's investment markets, offering a comprehensive range of products and services.

Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. provides asset management products and services to clients in the U.S. and Canada. Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Schroders plc, a U.K. public company with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Fund's shares in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction.

Contact:

Jennifer Brogadir

212-641-3863

SOURCE THE SWISS HELVETIA FUND, INC.
The first confirmed episodes are:

"Chain of favors"

For the first few years, The Epoch Times was a small, low-budget newspaper handed out for free on New York Street corners, but in 2016 it made changes that transformed it into one of the most influential digital media outlets in the country.

Mr. Zhang Tianling, one of the ones responsible for the creation and growth of The Epoch Times, defended his ultra-conservative ideological principles and defined The New York Times as a far-left media.

"The hand that rocks the cradle. Steve Bannon"

Bannon is responsible for Mr. Trump's most controversial policies and statements, for far-right populism in European countries, for fraudulent information, for the illegal theft of personal data of millions of Facebook users, for the fraud in obtaining funds for the construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico for which he is being investigated and imprisoned.

"Interrupted innocence"

Dragon Springs, is the headquarters of the Falun Gong religious movement.

The polarization of the people of Deerpark is at an all-time high because of the irregularities reported for the location and security of the Dragon Hills facility and permitted by the local authorities. Media outlets linked to the movement are becoming major players on the conservative side of the U.S. media, supporting Donald Trump's return to the U.S. presidency and his return to "far-right populist" messaging.

"#StormTheCapitol"

On January 6, one of the darkest episodes in the recent history of the United States occurred. In the days leading up to the riots, federal agencies and the Capitol Police did not issue any severe warnings that the rally could turn violent, despite countless posting on social media and right-wing sites promising clashes. Benni Thompson called it an "assault on democracy and law enforcement.

Six and a half months after the riot happened, the assault on the US. Congress has once again captured the world's attention.

This documentary will give you a chance to look at both sides of the story.

SOURCE Hello Think
JYVASKYLA, Finland and MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trustmary, a leading testimonial marketing platform, today announces its first funding round to drive growth both in North America and Europe. The investment will be used to further intensify the company's market entry while also strengthening marketing and development teams in both the European headquarters in Finland and the US headquarters in Minneapolis. Since the launch of the first SaaS product, the company has rapidly gained hundreds of customers from USA, Canada, Germany, Finland, and Sweden. The $2.2m investment round consisted of a $1.34m equity investment from Vendep Capital, a Northern European SaaS focused venture capital company and a $888k loan from Business Finland, a Finnish governmental funding organization.

Trustmary was founded in 2016 to provide a global video testimonial service, but transformed into a SaaS company during 2020 with the launch of its first SaaS product. The Co-founders Johannes Karjula (CEO), Valtteri Ylimaki (Chief Financial Officer), Arttu Haho (Chief Marketing Officer), and Perttu Paukkeri (Board Member and Advisor) continue in their current roles and are excited to accelerate the company's growth both in Europe and in the North America.

"We are well positioned to become one of the leaders in this new market segment. Our customers have gained outstanding sales growth with Trustmary's testimonial marketing platform. The strong need to build deeper trust and close more sales online already exists across all industries and current global megatrends further boost this need," said Johannes Karjula, CEO of Trustmary comments. "We are happy to have Vendep join our journey. Their involvement and investment motivates our entire team to perform at an even higher level going forward."

"We immediately recognized the strengths of the Trustmary team when we met. I then closely followed their transformation from the first SaaS customer into a full-blown SaaS company over a year," says Jupe Arala, General Partner at Vendep Capital. "This really is a great example of our process and the type of team we look to support."

"Digital trust is in crisis today preventing conversion in the sales pipeline. All research confirms that people trust authentic peer reviews and testimonials when making purchase decisions. Trustmary testimonial marketing platform helps businesses regain digital trust using automated customer testimonials and produce measurable results for their customers," says Mikko Honkanen, Chairman of the Board of Trustmary and founder of Vainu.

Company will be publishing many new features in the Trustmary testimonial marketing platform during 4Q21, doubling the current team with new marketing and development employees, and speeding up the value proposition for customers.

For any additional information, please contact:

Arttu Haho

CMO & Co-Founder

+1 919 522 6846

[email protected]

Jupe Arala

General Partner

Vendep Capital

+358 40 564 9730

[email protected]

Mikko Honkanen

Chairman of the Board

+358 40 833 0181

[email protected]

https://www.trustmary.com

Images:

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/trustmary-group-oy/r/trustmary-announces--2-2-million-funding-to-further-drive-growth-in-europe-and-north-america,c3414121

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE Trustmary Group Oy
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for people-centric organizations, today announced that Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board have both selected Unit4 ERP and FP&A solutions for use by the Human Resources, Finance, Payroll, ICT, Facilities, Custodial, Academic, School administrators and Planning departments, as part of a strategic 10-year agreement with the option to extend for a further five years.

With 50 schools, approximately 21,000 students and around 3,000 employees, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board administers and governs education from kindergarten through to grade 12 in Simcoe County. Their goal is to provide a complete and distinctive learning experience that integrates their faith values and spiritual formation into academic programming.

The Durham Catholic District School Board serves some 21,000+ elementary and secondary students in 50 schools including alternative and continuing education sites. The board offers a range of programs and services to meet the needs of all students. Excellence and student achievement are their number one priority.

Seeking to replace their current legacy software with a single, modern cloud-based ERP platform, both Boards were looking for a core strategic application with powerful reporting capabilities, to maximize efficiencies and inputs into an integrated solution, enabling better decision making.

By choosing to partner with Unit4 they will benefit from:

Unit4's industry experience and implementation models for rapid time to value

One core strategic application to maximize efficiencies and support better decision making

Tighter integrations with industry-specific non-ERP systems for real-time, accurate and trustworthy data to continually improve processes

Quickly understanding business performance with advanced reporting tools for strategic decision making and creating value for the school boards

Increased speed and quality of budgeting processes and scenario planning

Unit4 has vast experience working with Public Sector organizations, including Canadian municipalities and provincial and federal agencies. A single modern cloud platform will provide the ability to respond quickly to change and improve effectiveness, demonstrated in the value the schools deliver to their students, and both Boards saw the importance in working together to reach their objectives now and into the future.

"We share the same sense of community and values with Unit4 and Durham which certainly helped in our decision making," said Scott A. Morrow, Manager of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Services, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board. "Knowing that Unit4 will be on this transformational journey with us, gives us the reassurance we need to provide our students with the education they deserve."

Ronald Rodriguez, Chief Information Officer  Freedom of Information and Privacy, Durham Catholic District School Board, said, "Unit4 cloud ERP provides us with business-critical applications to help us embrace change simply, quickly and cost effectively. Unit4 will streamline all processes and bring productivity improvement to our Board. Specifically designed for our vertical market, this powerful solution will enable us, in partnership with Simcoe, to deliver on our commitment of quality education for all students, across all of our programs."

John Gregitis, President, North America, said: "We are seeing an increase in the purchase of cloud software within public sector organizations in North America and the adoption of our next-generation ERP and FP&A solutions by Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Boards marks a significant milestone."

Related Resources:

Learn more about Unit4's ERP software solutions and products

Read more about our solutions for public sector

About Unit4

Unit4's next-generation enterprise solutions power many of the world's most people-centric mid-market organizations. Our state-of-the-art cloud platform, ERPx, brings together the capabilities of Financials, Procurement, Project Management, HR and FP&A onto a unified cloud platform that shares real-time information and is designed with a powerful, people-centric approach, so employees can benefit from better insight and become more effective and increasingly engaged. It supports rapid and continuous change while delivering individualized fit for customers at scale, delivering the right tools to unify the processes across their organization, and connect their people. Unit4 serves more than 6,000 customers globally including, Bravida, Havas, Migros Aare, Americares, Save the Children International, Action against Hunger, Metro Vancouver, Forest Research, Southampton City Council, Habitat for Humanity, Selkirk College, FTI Consulting, and Surrey County Council.

For more information please visit https://www.unit4.com/, follow us on Twitter @Unit4global , or visit our LinkedIn page

Media Contact:

Lisa Stassoulli

Global Communications Manager, Unit4

Mobile: +44(0)7870 916827

[email protected]

SOURCE Unit4

Related Links

https://www.unit4.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VICHY Laboratoires, a doctor-founded brand with 90 years of expertise, and the #1 anti-aging brand in European pharmacies, reinforces its commitment to innovative and efficacious skin care products that are clinically proven to transform the skin with the launch of Mineral 89 Prebiotic Recovery & Defense Concentrate. Joining the fan-favorite Mineral 89 product collection, VICHY Mineral 89 Prebiotic is formulated to help fight visible signs of aging brought on by stress.

"Stress has a damaging effect on the skin barrier and the skin's ability to repair itself, and it's critical to find products that aid in restoring balance," said leading board-certified dermatologist, Marisa Garshick, MD, FAAD. "The powerhouse ingredients in the new VICHY Prebiotic Recovery & Defense Concentrate are clinically proven to help counteract the impact of stress and other exposome aggressors and noticeably improves the look and feel of skin."

Dermatologist-tested and suitable for sensitive skin, Mineral 89 Prebiotic Recovery & Defense Concentrate delivers clinical results of 45% increased radiance, 28% improved texture, and 23% reduction of fine lines in four weeks, leaving skin looking more youthful. The serum recovers healthy looking skin and defends against visible signs of stress, including dryness, dullness and fine lines. This serum is formulated with three key ingredients:

VICHY Volcanic Water, naturally sourced from French volcanoes and clinically proven to strengthen the skin's natural defenses from exposome aggressors

5% Vitreoscilla Ferment, a nutrient-rich component of non-living bacteria known to have skin barrier recovery properties when grown in the presence of VICHY Volcanic Water

4% Niacinamide and Vitamin E, antioxidants known to help visibly even skin tone

This face serum with Niacinamide helps to recover stressed skin in a fragrance-free, non-comedogenic and allergy-tested formula. Mineral 89 Prebiotic is the newest product to join the Mineral 89 line, alongside Mineral 89 Skin Fortifying Daily Booster Serum and Mineral 89 Hyaluronic Acid Eye Gel.

"As a leader in anti-aging skin care, VICHY remains committed to a continuous innovation pipeline that is a result of the brand's pioneering research on exposome aggressors and their impact on the skin," said Jasteena Gill, Head of Brand, VICHY Laboratoires USA. "The expansion of the Mineral 89 line underscores this commitment to advancing skin health and introducing products that not only accelerate skin repair, but protect the skin against future aggressors."

To use, apply 2-3 drops of Mineral 89 Prebiotic each morning and evening on cleansed skin as the first step in your skincare routine. Layer on any chosen serums and finish with a moisturizer.

New VICHY Mineral 89 Prebiotic Recovery & Defense Concentrate is available in a 1-ounce bottle on VichyUSA.com, Ulta.com, Amazon, CVS and at Walgreens for $34.50, and will be available this fall at Target.

For more information about VICHY Laboratoires and its products, please visit VichyUSA.com.

About VICHY Laboratoires

VICHY Laboratoires: committed to skin health science. A doctor-founded French Pharmacy skincare brand created in 1931, VICHY Laboratoires has a mission to empower individuals to maximize their skin health at every stage of life. VICHY Laboratoires is committed to understanding the science of healthy skin, pioneering research on the exposome  the cumulative impact of lifestyle, environmental and hormonal factors across our lifetime  for over 40 years. At the core of every formulation is the 15 mineral-rich VICHY Volcanic Water, naturally sourced from French volcanoes and clinically proven to strengthen and protect the skin from exposome aggressors. As the #3 brand recommended by dermatologists worldwide, our products promise efficacy and safety, formulated with dermatologist-recommended ingredients backed by science. For additional information, please visit www.vichyusa.com.

SOURCE Vichy Laboratoires USA

Related Links

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Priced from $19.95 to $49.95 USD, the 10 new accessories use Vitamix power and precision to save users time and enhance their culinary skills. Vegetables can be chopped, finely sliced, cut and julienned in seconds. Other foods can be whisked and blended with ultimate power. The accessory line also offers sleek storage options to keep kitchen cabinets tidy and simplify on-the-go cooking.

The new line of Immersion Blender and Food Processor Attachment (FPA) accessories includes:

"The new Immersion Blender and Food Processor Attachment accessories give home chefs more convenience and efficiency in the kitchen, and increase their versatility to create nutritious foods," said Steve Laserson, Chief Commercial Officer at Vitamix. "Customers can also feel confident the accessories will achieve Vitamix-quality results for a wide variety of simple or advanced culinary applications."

These accessories are available for purchase today at vitamix.com , except the Immersion Blender Mini-Chopper, which will be available for purchase late 2021.

About Vitamix

The Vitamix family of companies, privately held and family-owned and -operated since 1921, is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary, with a tribute to healthy, whole-food eating. Millions of people around the world employ Vitamix machines as a means of preparing nutritious foods in their home kitchens. The company also manufactures high-performance blenders and accessories for commercial kitchens. The company's commercial customer list reads like a "Who's Who" of major restaurant chains, and gourmet chefs say their Vitamix machines are as important to them as their knives. The company developed the first true commercial blender in the early 1990s, which ignited the smoothie movement, and has been named the Best in Class Overall beverage blender for nine consecutive years by readers of Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine. Vitamix continues to win awards for its products, culture, and user experience, and is found in more than 130 countries. The company is headquartered in Olmsted Township, Ohio, near Cleveland. For more information, please visit www.vitamix.com .

SOURCE Vitamix

Related Links

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"VTG is honored to partner with Navy SSP and the CPS Program Office in developing and fielding a hypersonic weapon," said John Hassoun, VTG president and CEO . "We recognize the importance of hypersonic technologies as a deterrent to near-peer competitors, and we are proud to be a key member of the growing hypersonic industrial base."

CPS will provide the Navy with a hypersonic conventional weapon capable of precise, timely, long-range strike against deep-inland, time-critical, soft- and medium-hardened targets in contested environments. The missile, which is comprised of a hypersonic glide body and a two-stage booster, will fly at speeds exceeding Mach 5 and be launched from both surface ships and submarines. The Navy is the lead designer for the common hypersonic missile that will be fielded by both the Navy and the Army. The Navy plans to deploy the first CPS weapon system aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyers in FY2025 followed by the Virginia-class attack submarines in FY2028.

Navy SSP's selection of VTG to support the CPS program follows a string of other recently announced awards that have positioned VTG as a critical partner to the Navy in delivering the diverse array of offensive, defensive, and digital capabilities needed for Distributed Maritime Operations. In July, VTG announced its selection to integrate the ODIN directed energy laser weapon system aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. Earlier this year, VTG announced that it had started work on a prime contract to support the Naval Digital Integration Support Cell in accelerating naval digital transformation.

"VTG is excited to add hypersonics to our growing portfolio of engineering expertise," said Sunil Ramchand, VTG chief growth officer. "We're looking forward to supporting the CPS program and doing what we do best: leveraging top engineering and technical talent to rapidly deliver transformative capabilities and technologies to the Fleet."

About VTG

VTG delivers force modernization and digital transformation solutions that expand America's competitive advantage in the modern battlespace. Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, VTG provides full lifecycle engineering for naval, aerospace, network, and digital requirements. Whether at sea, in the air, on land, or in cyberspace, VTG delivers Tomorrow's Transformation Today. For more information, visit us at www.VTGdefense.com.

SOURCE VTG

Related Links

http://www.VTGdefense.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Calling fans of White Castle! The family-owned business that sells its famous Sliders in restaurants and retail outlets is accepting nominations for the 2021 class of its Cravers Hall of Fame.

White Castle has posted a call for entries on its website, looking for heartfelt stories that will earn a small, elite group of its most loyal fans, affectionately known as Cravers, a coveted spot in the hallowed halls of the Cravers Hall of Fame. Entries are due Sept. 30.

White Castle is looking for the next class of its Cravers Hall of Fame! Tweet this White Castle's Cravers Hall of Fame honors the brand's most loyal and zealous fans.

"For more than 100 years, we have been fortunate to have the most devoted customers in the business," said Jamie Richardson, a vice president at White Castle. "Each year, we look forward to this very moment when we get to celebrate all of their unique stories and enshrine a select few into the Cravers Hall of Fame."

White Castle created the Cravers Hall of Fame in 2001 as an exclusive, honorary club to recognize its most dedicated fans who have a special connection with White Castle. In the 20 years since then, only 262 people have been inducted, reflecting the prestige associated with the honor.

Each year, White Castle receives several hundred entries that show just how far some people will go to satisfy their crave. Some of the stories are funny, some are poignant and some are remarkable, but all of them are very personal, genuine testaments to the ways in which White Castle has touched their lives and created lasting memories. All entries are judged on brand loyalty, creative presentation, originality and magnitude of the crave.

White Castle always treats it Cravers Hall of Fame inductees like royalty, bestowing all due honors including commemorative plaques, permanent memorialization on the company website and more. In addition to the 262 Craver Hall of Famers, notable inductees include TV host Adam Richman, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss, rock 'n' roll icon Alice Cooper, comic pioneer Stan Lee, award-winning fashion designer Telfar Clemens, and the stars of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Kal Penn and John Cho.

Cravers can apply for the Hall of Fame on the White Castle website. Entries received after the Sept. 30 deadline will be considered for the 2022 class.

About White Castle

White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty Sliders as a family-owned business for 100 years. Based in Columbus, Ohio, White Castle started serving The Original Slider in 1921. Today, White Castle owns and operates more than 350 restaurants dedicated to satisfying customers' cravings morning, noon and night and sells its famous fare in retail stores nationwide. The Original Slider, named in 2014 as Time magazine's "Most Influential Burger of All Time," is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted Sliders and other mouthwatering food options, including White Castle's Impossible Slider, named by Thrillist in 2019 as the "Best Plant-Based Fast-Food Burger." White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants, bakeries and frozen-food processing plants. In 2021, 100 years after the first Slider was sold, Fast Company named the fast-food pioneer one of the "10 Most Innovative Dining Companies." White Castle is known for the legendary loyalty of its team members, more than 1 in 4 of whom have worked for White Castle for at least 10 years, and also for its faithful fans ("Cravers"), many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app, available at iTunes App Store or Google Play, makes it easy for Cravers to access sweet deals and place pickup orders at any time. They can also have their orders delivered using one of White Castle's delivery partners. For more information on White Castle, visit whitecastle.com.

SOURCE White Castle

Related Links

http://www.whitecastle.com


NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilson Daniels is pleased to announce the appointments of Scott Ehrlich as Vice President of Marketing and Jerred Wolff as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Oregon-based Galaxy Wine Company, effective September 13th. Both positions will report directly to Rocco Lombardo, President of Wilson Daniels.

Ehrlich was most recently the Vice President of Marketing at Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, where he led strategy and brand marketing for 13 fine wine brands. Previously he was the Director of Portfolio Strategy and Channel Marketing for luxury wines at Constellation Brands, as well as the Director of Marketing for luxury imports at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.

"Scott's vast experience in the luxury and fine wine sector makes him deeply attuned to the workings of Wilson Daniels' 37 family-owned producers who represent the quality pinnacle in their regions," said Wilson Daniels President Rocco Lombardo. "On top of his fine wine experience, Scott also possesses a larger luxury consumer marketing background which will greatly benefit our partners in our overall route-to-market strategy. He's an incredibly dynamic individual, and I'm excited to have him on board."

Helming the 65-person Galaxy team is Wolff, who was formerly the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Vehrs Distributing as well as Director of Trade Development for Southern Glazers Wine & Spirits, both positions he held in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to that, Wolff held various fine wine sales roles in his eight years with Palm Bay International.



"Jerred has more than 15 years of direct, hands-on experience in the Pacific Northwestwhich lends an immediacy to the operational and commercial expertise he brings to the organizationbut even more critically, he has extensive knowledge of the business development side," said Lombardo. "Jerred's really seen the business from all lenses, and I'm confident that his varied experiences will contribute to his success in managing the Galaxy business directly in his new role."

Ehrlich will re-locate to California from New York to lead the 10-person Marketing team from Wilson Daniels' Napa headquarters, while Wolff will run Galaxy's operations from his home base in Seattle.

About Wilson Daniels

Founded in 1978, Wilson Daniels is a fully integrated, family-owned marketing and sales company representing a highly selective portfolio of the world's most distinctive wines. Wilson Daniels continues to pursue and elevate the standards of excellence set by founders Win Wilson and Jack Daniels through developing long-term, strategic partnerships with luxury producers that possess profound respect for terroir and are benchmarks in their region. To learn more about Wilson Daniels, visit www.wilsondaniels.com.



About Wilson Daniels Wholesale

Wilson Daniels Wholesale is a family-owned distributor representing the world's premium wines in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Oregon. Wilson Daniels Wholesale partners with family-owned producers dedicated to crafting terroir-driven, expressive wines with natural methods. Wilson Daniels Wholesale values family, heritage, and wines of distinction. Headquartered in New York City, the company's offices and tasting room are located in Manhattan's historic and architecturally-rich Flatiron District.

About Galaxy Wine Company

Galaxy Wine Company is the third-largest wine wholesaler in a state renowned for a discerning collective palate. Since its inception in 1999 by industry veterans Matt Elsen and Bob Liner, Galaxy is proud to represent more than 400 distinguished producers, introducing them to Oregon oenophiles both in retail and restaurants. Galaxy has garnered a reputation for the quality of the wines offered, the knowledgeable staff, and the unrivaled customer service.



Media Contact:

Claire Gibbs

Media Relations and Communications Manager

[email protected]

212.823.6261

SOURCE Wilson Daniels

Related Links

http://www.wilsondaniels.com


LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Windward, the Predictive Intelligence company applying AI to transform global maritime trade, announced today the launch of the Data for Decarbonization Program (D4D), a partnership aimed to increase transparency and foster collaboration within the maritime industry by leveraging the power of big data and AI. The program will ignite participation across the maritime ecosystem including financial institutions, shipowners, insurers, charterers, and energy companies. Existing members include ADNOC Logistics & Services, ASM Maritime, Executive Ship Management (ESM),SOKANA Shipping, and Interunity.

The maritime shipping industry transports 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, and this number is expected to increase as maritime trade volume is projected to triple by 2050. Regulatory bodies including the EU and the IMO are increasing regulations to cut down carbon emissions, yet most stakeholders in the maritime domain are struggling to make commercial decisions that account for carbon emissions.

Alternative fuel options have still not reached widespread adoption and have a long timeline for development. By coming together as an industry and pooling best-in-class vessel operational data as well as AI and fuel consumption data, it is possible to affect the trajectory of the industry's carbon emissions by 5%-20% on a per-voyage basis.

The Windward Data for Decarbonization Program aims to create large datasets gathered from all stakeholders in the maritime trade industry to build AI models that will accurately predict the carbon emissions of any vessel voyage, and optimize the whole pre-fixture process - including vessel selection, contract clauses, and supply chain scheduling. Current solutions are based on static and historical data, primarily on vessel specifications, and lack the high level of accuracy needed in this space. Often they do not consider variables such as weather, a vessel's operational profile, ballast/laden status, the ballast leg, and hull fouling.

The Data for Decarbonization Program will not only see the creation of a solution but will also bring value to members by accelerating the learning curve of understanding their own data, enabling them to better optimize their own assets. The program also benefits the industry at large by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between data scientists, bankers, shippers, IT specialists, commercial teams, and ESG teams.

The Data for Decarbonization Program will enable shipowners to cut fuel costs by optimizing vessel operations without depending on the coverage of expensive IoT devices and hardware, and allows them to compare their fleet to others. Charterers will be able to optimize their pre-fixture vessel selection by choosing the optimal performing vessel, optimizing the ballast leg, and during the post-fixture phase adapting a smart ETA and laden speed to real operating conditions

Freight forwarders and beneficial cargo owners will be able to measure carbon shipping performance for every container, accounting for the particular vessel and projected route of every shipment thus offering end customers a "green premium" option of low carbon shipping. Trade financiers will be able to independently verify the environmental impact of financing decisions thus exercising sustainable trade financing.

"The answer to reducing carbon emissions lies in the Power of Many. Regulation is necessary, but the solution needs to come from within to ensure that the global supply chain continues to function and garners the trust of the general public" said Ami Daniel, CEO & Co-Founder of Windward. "The maritime shipping industry is headed to decarbonization. Those that invest in sharing data and insights now will benefit from the advantages of an accurate model trained specifically for the industry's unique operations. Together we can realize a solution that will allow all stakeholders to analyze, predict, and price their carbon footprint, improve their bottom line, and accomplish a carbon-free future."

About Windward

Windward is the leading Predictive Intelligence company fusing AI and big data to digitalize the global maritime industry, enabling organizations to achieve business and operational readiness. Windward's AI-powered solution allows stakeholders including banks, commodity traders, insurers, and major energy and shipping companies to make real-time, predictive intelligence-driven decisions, providing a 360 view of the maritime ecosystem and its broader impact on safety, security, finance, and business. For more information visit windward.ai.

Media Contact

Sarah Schloss

Headline Media

[email protected]

+1 914 506 5105

SOURCE Windward
This live discussion will take place on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, at 7PM ET, and can be heard exclusively on Wreaths Across America Radio. Tweet this

Panelists:

Anne F. Macdonald, Brigadier General, United States Army (Ret.) and President of Army Women's Foundation. Macdonald graduated from West Point in 1980 in the first gender-integrated class and subsequently served nearly 31 years in the Army leading and building highly effective teams. BG Macdonald is a senior Army aviator qualified as a UH60 Blackhawk pilot, a paratrooper, and is air assault qualified. She served four years in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and 18th Airborne Corps; seven years in the Republic of Korea; two and a half years in Germany before, during, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain; and six years as a General Officer. Her last assignment was in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She was the first active-duty, combat arms (aviator) female to be promoted to General Officer. Anne currently serves as the President of the U.S. Army Women's Foundation, whose mission is to promote public interest in the U.S. Army by honoring and recognizing the service of Army women, past and present.

Phyllis Wilson, United States Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 (Ret.) and President of the Women in Military Service For America Memorial Foundation. Wilson served 37 years in the Army as a Military Intelligence (MI) Voice Intercept Operator. She has served around the globe  visiting more than 35 countries  in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. In August 1990, she was mobilized to support OPERATION DESERT SHIELD/ OPERATION DESERT STORM and served with XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, NC. In December 2002, she mobilized for OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM as a senior Counter Terrorism Analyst. She culminated her military career at the 5th Command Chief Warrant Officer for the United States Army Reserve. As President of the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation, she is responsible for operating and maintaining the 33,000 sq. ft. Military Women's Memorial and Education Center  the only major national memorial honoring the three million women who have defended America from the Revolutionary War to today. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Policy Vets; Allied Forces Foundation; the Army Women's Foundation; and the Association of the United States Army (AUSA).

Brenda Pennels is the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan Strategic Relations Manager for Martin's Point Healthcare. Pennels also has 20 years of leadership experience in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries. She was commissioned a Military Police 2LT in 1981 in the Early Commissioning Program through Army ROTC at the University of Massachusetts. In 1985, CPT Pennels left active duty and served another 16 years in the Army Reserve in the 98th Division (Training), where she received several promotions and held a variety of command and staff positions until her honorable discharge in 2001. In addition to her work with Martin's Point, Pennels serves as the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for the State of Maine, and as an Aide De Camp for Governor Janet T. Mills. Pennels is affiliated with numerous Veteran groups and civic organizations and is currently the President of the Military Officers Association of America, Southern Maine Chapter.

"We have had some really meaningful and important discussions during our first two RoundTable interviews, and this month's topic of women in the military is something I've personally wanted to cover," said Karen Worcester, Executive Director, Wreaths Across America. "I have the utmost respect for each of these women, and for all those who have served and are serving our country. I look forward to learning more about the resiliency and success of all those on the panel."

The goal of the Wreaths Across America Radio roundtable series on Veteran Healing is to help reduce barriers for veterans by:

Supporting generational bonds between military veterans through stories of service and success;

Destigmatizing issues faced by veterans and asking for help;

Combating inaccurate perceptions of veterans by discussing the diverse experiences, challenges, and success of servicemembers, veterans, and their families; and

Connecting veterans with valuable resources.

You can listen to Wreaths Across America Radio's 24/7 stream anywhere at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/radio, and via the iHeart Radio app, or download it at the App Store or on Google.

This is the third broadcast in this series, with the final broadcast scheduled for Thursday, December 23, 2021. All panel discussions will be held LIVE, exclusively on Wreaths Across America Radio.

About Wreaths Across America Radio

Wreaths Across America Radio is a 24/7 Internet stream. Its unique format provides informational and inspiring content about members of the U.S. Armed Forces, their families, military veterans, and volunteers throughout the country and overseas who support the mission to Remember, Honor and Teach. Along with the inspiring content, Wreaths Across America Radio plays a variety of music with roots firmly planted in patriotism and a country music thread running through the core of the stream. Wreaths Across America Radio has a live morning show every weekday morning from 6 am to 10 am eastern, along with a variety of special programs that support the mission.

Listen live at www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/radio and most recently, via the iHeart Radio app, or download it at the App Store or on Google!

About Wreaths Across America

Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. The organization's mission  Remember, Honor, Teach  is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as thousands of veterans' cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.

For more information or to sponsor a wreath please visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.

**NOTES TO MEDIA AND PRESS MATERIALS***

Moderators Karen Worcester and Joe Reagan will be available for interviews leading up to each event. Recorded presentations will be available for re-broadcast and distribution after each event.

To help you build your stories quickly, general press information, pictures, and B-roll can be found by visiting https://learn.wreathsacrossamerica.org/mediaresources

RoundTable Hosts and Panelists Headshots:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eps_AXcGjz_R_xxf-uSBMMty3-UCGowf?usp=sharing

SOURCE Wreaths Across America

Related Links

http://www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org


OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Xantrion Inc ., a top 100 provider of Managed Security Services for midsized companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been recognized as one of the San Francisco Business Times "Largest Women-Owned Businesses" for the fourteenth consecutive year.

"It continues to be gratifying to make the list, especially now for so many back-to-back years" said Anne Bisagno, President and Co-Founder of Xantrion. "I have the best team in the IT business!"

The San Francisco Business Times partners with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to research privately held businesses headquartered in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties, ranking them by criteria such as revenues, ownership and growth.

About Xantrion

Experts in cybersecurity and technical support, Xantrion provides outsourced IT services for midsized companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its team of IT experts brings impeccable technical and business skills to every assignment. Featuring an award-winning strategic approach, SOC2 Type II certified security practices, 24/7 help desk, fixed fees, and a 99.9% uptime record, Xantrion is a proven partner for managed IT and security services.

Contact:

Anne Bisagno

Xantrion

510-588-8201

[email protected]

SOURCE Xantrion Inc.

Related Links

http://www.xantrion.com


Birthplace of the renowned Chinese physician Hua Tuo who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220), Bozhou boasts rich resources in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), making it the country's largest TCM production area and trading hub.

Aiming at building itself into a global TCM center, Bozhou has been making efforts to make the TCM industry more industrialized, modern and internationalized, with a current market value of 145 billion yuan (about 22.50 billion U.S. dollars) and more than 200 medicine production enterprises, said Du Yanan, municipal party secretary of Bozhou, at the opening ceremony, adding that the city will take the TCM industry as a priority in the city's development, borrowing the country's policy preference, such as the integrated development of Yangtze River Delta and the high-quality development of the China's central part.

Bozhou has successfully hosted 36 TCM trade fairs since 1985, making great contributions to the spread of Chinese TCM culture, the development of TCM industry and the international exchanges and cooperation in the field of TCM, said Ma Jianzhong, chairman of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS).

The unveiling ceremony of nine key projects was also held during the expo's opening ceremony.

The expo is co-hosted by the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Beijing Tong Ren Tang Co., Ltd. and three other industrial players.

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road
Brussels, Sep 14 : Croatia was on track to adopt the euro by 2023, as long as it meets the criteria set out by the European Commission, EU's economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has said.

"Euro will be a great asset for Croatia as it is now for Europe, but nobody should use euro adoption to hike prices. This should be monitored and managed closely," he said on Twitter on Monday.

Dombrovskis made the comment shortly after addressing a conference in Zagreb on Croatia's path to the euro, the single European currency, Xinhua news agency reported.

In his speech, he warned that the country had to be wary of the effects of the pandemic on the economy, especially its low vaccination roll-out that may trigger further restrictive measures, although Croatia's economic recovery was doing well.

He said Croatia would be able to introduce the euro only after meeting all convergence requirements.

If these were met in 2022, the Council of the EU will decide whether to allow the euro to be introduced in Croatia on January 1, 2023, he said.
Washington, Sep 14 : The White House has said that the US remains prepared to engage with North Korea, 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 North Korea toward our objective of a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying.

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 US and its allies.

"Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions," Jean-Pierre added.

North Korea 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.

"We're aware of these reports of these cruise missile launches," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a Monday briefing.

He said the US is consulting with regional allies and monitoring the situation, adding US security commitments to Japan and South Korea are ironclad.

The missile tests came after a joint military exercise between South Korea and the US in August.

It also came before the US envoy for North Korea 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 denuclearisation issue but showed no willingness to ease sanctions.
Jaipur, Sep 14 : Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari took a dig at the current political situation in Rajasthan and hit upon the chief minister, MLAs and ministers without naming them, saying that 'everyone is sad in today's situation' during his visit here.

"An MLA is unhappy because he did not become minister; a minister is unhappy because he did not get the right portfolio or did not become the CM; a CM is unhappy because he does not know when he can be removed." Gadkari was in Jaipur on Monday to address a seminar on parliamentary democracy in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.

The Union Road Transport Minister in a lighter mood, "No one is happy as the problem is in front of everyone, in the party, outside the party, in the family and around us."
Jaipur, Sep 14 : Strict action will be taken against those who misbehave with tourists in Rajasthan as the crime will now be included under the category of cognizable offence.

The Rajasthan government on Monday passed the Rajasthan Tourism Business (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Assembly.

Minister of State for Tourism Govind Singh Dotasara, while presenting the Bill in the House, said that Section 27-A has been added in this amendment.

Now the offences involved in this will be cognizable and bailable. At the same time, if the offence in sub-section 3 of section 13 is repeated, it will be non-bailable in sub-section 4 of section 13.

The Bill was brought in the year 2010 for the purpose of improving the pace of tourism business development, returning tourists with a good feeling of pride of Rajasthan and preventing misbehaviour with them. However, it never mentioned whether the punishment was bailable or non-bailable, so it had to be amended, said the government.

The crime has now been brought under the category of cognizable offence.
London, Sep 14 : English star Benedict Cumberbatch has jokingly said that he still needs to master the banjo after playing the musical instrument in his film 'The Power of the Dog'.

Cumberbatch said: "I've yet to master the banjo. If you put an instrument that takes years to practice in someone's hands who's had one year, or a few months in my case, there is nothing like pulling you out of an authentic experience, committing to something you believe is immersive and going, 'Oh this is such a fake moment.' It's really painful." He plays a masculine character who torments his brother George's played by Jesse Plemons family while repressing his inner feelings and sees Burbank as a tragic figure, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Cumberbatch told Variety: "He's a man in great pain. He's so lost in his masculinity, in his veneer of masculinity." He also said that he enjoyed working with Jane Campion and described the filmmaker as an "alchemist".

He said: "She's a real alchemist, isn't she? She knows how to create an environment through very open means, but they do deviate from the norms." Cumberbatch has also had to adapt to playing superhero 'Doctor Strange' in the Marvel movies but said that the demands of 'The Power of the Dog' were very different.

He said: "They're such different tasks, it feels like a completely different musculature. Of course, that you're still trying to get something that's authentic and committed no matter what the scale of it, whether you're acting with a great actor, or a ping pong ball that's supposed to be some weird creature, it's all imagination and commitment."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
San Francisco, Sep 14 : Apple has released iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8 for iPhone as well as for iPad users with an important security fix.

The iOS 14.8 update provides fixes for the CoreGraphics and WebKit vulnerabilities that Apple says may have been exploited.

The iOS 14.8 update can be downloaded for free and the software is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app.

To access the new software, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released a new version if iPadOS 14, reports MacRumors.

In addition, Apple has also released watchOS 7.6.2 with similar security fixes for Apple Watch Series 3 and later.

Apple is expected to launch 'iOS 15' to the public soon and new iPhone 13 units will likely ship with a pre-installed version of the operating system, the report said.

Historically, Apple has released new iOS versions about a week after its September event, but 'iOS 14' was released one day after Apple's September 15 "Time Flies" event in 2020.

This year's "California Streaming" event is on Tuesday, which means if 'iOS 14' is any indicator of the company's new release schedule, 'iOS 15' could come out as early as Wednesday.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Lucknow, Sep 14 : The Uttar Pradesh government has provided free legal advice, counselling and information about their rights to 91,691 women through its 75 One Stop Centres (OSC) across the state under its 'Mission Shakti' programme.

According to a government spokesperson these centres provide support to women affected by violence or those who face physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture.

"Women who face any kind of violence due to sexual harassment, assault, domestic violence, trafficking, honour-related crimes, acid attacks, or witch-hunting are provided specialised services," said Manoj Kumar Rai, Director of the Women Welfare Department.

He said that the centres functioned even during the pandemic.

"When an aggrieved woman approaches the Centre for help, either in person or if anybody approaches on her behalf, the case details are fed into a system as per the prescribed format and a Unique ID Number is generated," said Rai.

The OSCs have been installed to provide solutions and help in one place. At these centres, women will be counselled and given medical attention.

Victims can access One Stop Centres by herself, NGO, friend, volunteer or through Women Helpline integrated with police, ambulance and other emergency response helplines.

The 'Mission Shakti' programme was launched last year to ensure women's safety, dignity and security.

The third phase of the programme was launched last month.
Ayodhya, Sep 14 : Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh will kick-start their fourth 'Tiranga Yatra] in Ayodhya on Tuesday.

The party, which has declared its intention to contest all seats in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022 on its own, said that the Ayodhya leg of its campaign would be a challenge to the BJP on its divisive politics, since the Tricolour symbolises unity in the face of communalism.

The party is also expected to release its first list of about 100 candidates by the end of this month, having already finalised several names.

Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh had reached Ayodhya on Monday, a day ahead of the yatra. They offered prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and the Hanuman Garhi temple and met a number of saints and seers.

Sisodia said that the Tiranga Yatra will aim to bring in a new politics of development and honesty in Uttar Pradesh.

The two AAP leaders will lead the Tiranga Yatra from the 18th century mausoleum of Nawab Shuja Ud Daulah and end at Gandhi Park in the city.

The AAP has already held Tiranga Yatras in Lucknow, Agra and Noida and plans to take out more yatras across other cities ahead of the elections.

The BJP, meanwhile, took a dig at the AAP leaders' affinity for Ayodhya.

"There are leaders who earlier spoke against the Ram temple and they are now seeking refuge in the Lord," said Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya.
Geneva, Sep 14 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a warning against the "serious" possibility of a complete economic collapse in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.

Guterres made the remarks here on Monday while convening a high-level ministerial meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, reports Xinhua news agency.

He highlighted the acute and urgent need for funding support and action in the country.

"The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour," he said during his opening remarks at the meeting.

"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 added.

The UN chief said that as of today, one in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from, and their basic public services are close to collapse.

Due to a severe drought, many people could run out of food by the end of this month.

The threat of economic collapse was discussed at a later press conference on Monday.

The risk comes from limitations in Afghanistan's financial system, meaning that a number of basic economic functions cannot be delivered, according to the UN chief.

"The international community must find ways to make cash available to allow the Afghan economy to breathe, a total collapse would have devastating consequences to the people and risk destabilising neighbouring countries with a massive outflow," he said.

Guterres also announced that he had asked the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, to travel to Kabul to meet the Taliban leadership.

"The de facto authorities pledged, in person and in a follow-up letter to Under-Secretary-General Griffiths, that they will cooperate to ensure assistance is delivered to the people of Afghanistan." Asked about whether he would be willing to go to Kabul himself, Guterres said that "this is something to decide at the right moment, when the right conditions are met".

According to the Secretary-General, the UN Humanitarian Air Service has resumed flights from Islamabad to Kabul, and they were fully operational across the country.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Panaji, Sep 14 : The menace of tar balls is back on Goa's beaches, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar has said.

More than a year after tar balls -- greasy blobs of thick weathered oil that washes ashore -- plagued the state's coastline, the phenomenon appears to have invaded several beaches in the state over the last 24 hours, including the Anjuna beach in North Goa and Majorda beach in South Goa.

Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar has said that his Ministry had given instructions to ensure that the tar balls are cleared off the beaches within two days.

"The beaches should be clean. Beaches are our world famous tourism spots. I do not want to see any garbage on the beaches. We are in the process of clearing it. It will be done within two days. The tar balls were in a large quantity this time," Ajgaonkar said.

The emergence of tar balls on Goa's beaches is a seasonal phenomenon, which occurs during the monsoon season.

According to marine scientists the semi-solid tar bars are created when oil discharged in the sea mixes with the salty water and undergoes a weathering process, which leads to formation of tar balls.

Last year, Goa's Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral had said that the origin of the tar balls were linked to oil discharged at Bombay High, a floating oil field off Mumbai.

Cabral had also said that his Ministry had written to the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests and urged the latter to examine ways and means to tackle the polluting phenomenon, which damages the state's beaches, which are a major tourism attraction.

The tar-ball menace on beaches peaked in 2011, with the state government directing the Indian Coast Guard to crackdown on ships dumping their ballast off Goa, but it had not yielded the anticipated results.

Tourism industry stakeholders in the state have repeatedly urged the Goa government to take up the matter with the central authorities in order to ensure permanent solution to the menace to beaches, which are a top draw as far as the tourism industry in the state is concerned.
Cairo, Sep 14 : Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed the developments of bilateral relations in various fields, as well as the Palestinian issue, according to authorities in Cairo.

The visit marked the first by an Israeli Prime Minister to Egypt in a decade.

During their meeting on Monday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Sisi and Bennett also discussed the recent developments on the regional and international arenas, Xinhua news agency quoted Bassam Rady, spokesperson of the Egyptian presidency, as saying.

Meanwhile, Sisi affirmed Egypt's support for all efforts to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution and the international legitimacy resolutions.

He also stressed the importance of the international community's support for Egypt's efforts to rebuild the Palestinian territories, in addition to the need to maintain calm between the Palestinian and Israeli sides amid Cairo's continuous moves to ease tension in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to a statement released by Bennett's office after the talks, the Prime Minister said that he and Sisi "created a foundation for deep ties in the future".

"We discussed a series of issues in the diplomatic, security and economic spheres, as well as ways to deepen ties and strengthen the interests of our countries," he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Bennett was invited by Sisi on August 21 during the visit of Chief of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel to Palestine and Israel to discuss the ceasefire deal between the Jewish state and Hamas.

The last time an Israeli Prime Minister visited Cairo was in 2011, when Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest serving premier, met former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just over a month before the latter was ousted by a popular uprising.

Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
San Francisco, Sep 14 : Apple is all set to host its special "California Streaming" launch event on Tuesday and this year one can expect the tech giant to unveil the iPhone 13 lineup and the Apple Watch Series 7, along with new iPads and Macs.

The iPhone 13 lineup may mirror the iPhone 12 family of phones, with a 5.4-inch iPhone 13 Mini, 6.1-inch iPhone 13, 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro, and 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The upcoming iPhones are widely believed to bring some upgrade.

The iPhone 13 lineup will start with 128GB of storage, with no 64GB option for any models.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be available with up to 1TB of storage, which would be the largest capacity ever offered for an iPhone, reports MacRumors The devices are said to be powered by Apple's next-generation A15 chip manufactured based on TSMC's 5nm+ process.

The entire iPhone 13 range is also expected to sport the LiDAR sensor. The sensor first appeared in the latest generation iPad Pro in March this year followed by the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

A recent report said that has claimed that the Cupertino-based tech giant will increase the price of the upcoming iPhones to compensate for rising chip production costs.

Apple may also launch Watch Series 7 with a smaller "S7" chip, potentially providing more space for a larger battery or other components.

This new chipset will be built from Taiwanese supplier ASE Technology. On its website, ASE Technology confirmed that its double-sided technology will allow for module miniaturisation.

The Apple Watch Series 7 will come in various screen sizes from 41mm to 45mm. The 45mm version is said to pack a 1.9-inch screen with a resolution of 396 x 484 pixels.

The company is expected to release the new generation of its smartwatch and budget TWS earbuds.
Sofia, Sep 14 : Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has signed a decree to hold new parliamentary elections on November 14, his press office said in a statement.

Through the same decree, Radev dissolved the National Assembly with effect from Thursday, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying on Monday.

The President made the move after the six parties in Parliament failed to form a new cabinet after the July 11 elections.

These will be the third parliamentary elections this year.

Bulgarians went to the polls for the first time on April 4, after a four-year rule by a coalition government dominated by the GERB party.

However, the parties didn't elect a government, and the early elections were held on July 11, but with the same outcome.

On November 14, Bulgaria will also hold presidential elections.

They were scheduled by Parliament in accordance with the country's Constitution as Radev's term will expire at the end of January 2022.

The National Assembly is Bulgaria's legislative body.

It also elects the government by a simple majority, and has a four-year term, except in certain circumstances such as when it is unable to elect a government.

The President is the head of state, and is elected directly by the people for a period of five years.
September 14 : Salman Khan, who is currently shooting in Turkey for Tiger 3, is seen in a viral video entertaining his fans by grooving to his popular track Jeene Ke Hai Chaar Din and performing his popular signature step.

A few videos of the actor went viral on social media, in which the actor can be seen surrounded by his fans in Turkey, while he dances to his popular track Jeene Ke Hai Chaar Din. He is also seen performing his famous towel step as the crowd cheered and clapped for him.

Today, Salman has also shared a picture of himself from Cappadocia in Turkey. In the picture, the actor is seen enjoying the sunrise of Cappadocia. Sunrise  #cappadocia #turkey, he wrote in the caption.

Salman and Katrina Kaif are in Turkey to shoot for Tiger 3. The actors have shot for some action sequences and the main song of the film in the country. The main song was shot in Cappadocia. The song will feature at the end of the film.

While in Turkey, Salman and Katrina met Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Turkey. The minister shared a bunch of pictures from his informal meeting with the actors on his social media and wrote, We came together with the famous actors of Bollywood, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, who are in our country for their new project. Turkey will continue to host many international cinema projects.

Before Turkey, Salman and Katrina had completed a schedule in Russia. Reportedly, Emraan Hashmi has joined them in Turkey. The actor is reportedly playing the antagonist in the film.

Helmed by Maneesh Sharma, Tiger 3 is a Yash Raj Films project. The big budget spy thriller is the third instalment of the blockbuster Tiger franchise. While Salman will return as special agent Avinash Singh Rathore, Katrina as Zoya Humain.
Dar Es Salaam, Sep 14 : Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed Stergomena Lawrence Tax as the east African nation's first-ever female Defence Minister.

Tax replaces Elias Kwandikwa, who died last, Xinhua news agency quoted the Directorate of Presidential Communications at State House as saying in a statement on Monday.

Tax also served as the first and only executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an inter-governmental organisation established in 1992 to promote political, socio-economic and security cooperation and integration among its 16 members.

Her tenure ended on August 31.
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : Karnataka Police have launched a hunt for an accused for sexually abusing a 22-year-old BPO woman employee at the upscale Langford road in Ashoknagar police station limits in Bengaluru in broad daylight.

According to police, the young woman was walking on a footpath near Langford road when the accused, who came from behind, touched inappropriately and then assaulted her. Before people could gather, the accused had disappeared from the place.

The incident took place on September 12 morning. The accused came from behind all of a sudden and the BPO employee could not raise the alarm before the accused attacked her.

The police are gathering CCTV footage from the scene of crime and surrounding areas to nab the abuser. Since, the abuser has assaulted the victim, the police are also probing personal enmity angle.

The police have recorded detailed statements from the victim and gathered information about the accused person and have launched a hunt for him.
Bareilly : , Sep 14 (IANS) A man has been arrested by the Bareilly police in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly molesting a Dalit postgraduate student, who is also the sister of his friend.

The 21-year-old woman had lodged a complaint with the Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police on Monday, accusing the man of molesting her and forcing her to quit her education.

She alleged that the accused had been following and molesting her for more than a year. The accused had shared a few obscene pictures and messages on her social media account.

The woman alleged that he had threatened to kill her.

Bareilly Circle Officer Ashish Pratap Singh said, "The woman approached the police on Monday and based on her complaint, an FIR was registered against the accused at Subhash Nagar police station. We have recorded her statement and arrested the accused on Monday evening. We are gathering evidence and will send him to jail." The accused was a friend of the girl's elder brother, Singh added.

The accused has been booked under sections 354 (attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and appropriate sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, said the police.
London, Sep 14 : Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that her party intends to hold another legal referendum on independence from Britain by the end of 2023 if the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

In a speech delivered to the Scottish National Party (SNP)'s autumn conference on Monday, Sturgeon called for a second Scottish independence referendum, asking the British government to agree to it "in the spirit of co-operation", reports Xinhua news agency.

She said that in May people in Scotland elected a new Scottish Parliament which has a "clear and substantial majority in favour of an independence referendum".

"As we emerge from the pandemic, decisions fall to be made that will shape Scotland for decades to come. So we must decide. Who should be making those decisions: people here in Scotland or governments we don't vote for at 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 in the speech.

Sturgeon added that "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".

Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Sturgeon said she wouldn't "set a precise level of infection" for when a vote could happen -- "but you would want to see the COVID situation under control".

The SNP conference has backed the Scottish government's plans for the timing of another independence referendum at the "earliest" possible moment after the Covid-19 crisis.

The party said the date should be determined by "data-driven criteria" about when the public health crisis is over.

A Scottish independence referendum was held in 2014, when 55 per cent voters backed staying in Britain.

Soon after Sturgeon's party secured the fourth consecutive victory in the Scottish parliamentary election in May, she pledged to push for a second independence referendum when the pandemic crisis has passed.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously said he will not approve a second independence referendum.
September 14 : Pratik Gandhi is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Raavan Leela. Recently, the makers had dropped the trailer of the film, which received immense appreciation and garnered over 10 million views within just three days. But now, the makers have decided to change the title of the film.

Raavan Leela will now be called Bhavai. The makers have issued a statement and announced the change of title. The title of the film has been changed at the last moment to respect religious sentiments of the people of the country and request of the audience.

In a statement, director Hardik Gajjar said, "I am happy to honour the wishes of my stakeholders and audience. The love we have received for the film thus far is the resonance of the fact that good cinema is the need of the hour. Cinema is a medium meant to entertain people and so is our film. Audiences have showered Pratik with love for his work and we hope that this film will only see it multiply. It's a film that is close to our hearts and we are confident that audiences will love it with all their hearts too".

Helmed by Hardik Gajjar, Bhavai stars Pratik Gandhi, Aindrita Ray, Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Sharma, and Abhimanyu Singh in pivotal roles. The musical drama will hit cinemas on October 1, 2021. The film is presented by Dr. Jayantilal Gada (Pen Studios), and produced by Dhaval Jayantilal Gada, Aksshay Jayantilal Gada, Parth Gajjar, and Hardik Gajjar in association with Backbencher Pictures.

The trailer, dropped last week, hinted at a hard-hitting film that questions the hypocrisy and double standards of the society regarding religion, and how it is always used by politicians and leaders to win over people. Pratiks performance as Raja Ram Joshi, an enthusiastic village actor, will leave everyone mesmerised in Bhavai.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 14 : Hugely popular south Indian actor Aravind Swamy is all set to return to Malayalam cinema as he has been signed up for Tamil-Malayalam bi-lingual film 'Ottu'.

It was way back in 1996 that Swamy had acted in a Malayalam film 'Devaragam' and prior to that he also donned the grease paint in the film 'Daddy'.

Swamy burst into the tinsel world with ace director Mani Ratnam's blockbuster 'Thalapathi' also starring superstars Rajinikanth and Mammootty.

After that he has had no reason to look back and the 51-year-old actor has reached a stage where he can pick and choose what and which role he needs.

Popular Malayalam actor Kunchacko Boban also stars in 'Ottu' which is directed by T.P. Fellini and is produced by Tamil actor Arya and Shaji Natesan.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Mumbai, Sep 14 : A documentary series titled 'Crime Stories: India Detectives', featuring four stories, is all set to release on September 22 on Netflix.

Set in Bengaluru, 'Crime Stories: India Detectives' explores some of the most puzzling crimes that the city has witnessed.

A crew follows the Bengaluru Police and documents a never-seen-before look into the methods and working of Indian police. It will give a sneak-peek glimpse into the psyche of a suspect and a glimpse into the complex and challenging inner workings of four major crime investigations.

Produced by Minnow Films, the series is co-directed by N. Amit and Jack Rampling.
Gandhinagar, Sep 14 : Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday afternoon will have an aerial inspection of the devastation caused by heavy rains in Saurashtra, mainly Jamnagar and Rajkot. At least three people have died in the torrential downpour which lashed these areas in just less than two days. Till now 7,656 people have been evacuated to safety in Saurashtra.

Newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel will leave in the afternoon for Jamnagar and Rajkot to have an aerial inspection. He will be accompanied by former Revenue Minister R.C. Faldu, Jamnagar MP, Poonamben Maadam and Gujarat Chief Secretary, Pankaj Kumar.

The administration have deployed NDRF teams for relief and rescue operations. Many people had to be airlifted by Indian Air Force (IAF) choppers on Monday. The IAF rescued 24 people only from Jamnagar.

The massive downpour was so intense in Rajkot's Lodhika Tehsil that it received almost seven inches of rains in just ten hours from 6 a.m. in the morning to 4 p.m. in the evening. Waters entered people's homes destroying food, valuables and property. NDRF teams used boats to evacuate people to safer places. Many villages were transformed into islands, getting cut off from the rest of the area.

According to the official data from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), the state has received almost 70 per cent of the average annual rainfall, with most of the districts of Saurashtra receiving 92 per cent to 98 per cent of the annual average.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an Orange alert for Tuesday and Red alert for Wednesday for several places of Saurashtra.
Tokyo, Sep 14 : Yukio Edano, leader of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), said it seeks to realise a discrimination-free society that respects diversity.

On 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, reports Xinhua news agency.

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 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has recommended the country should change the system.

The CDPJ 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 September 29 for picking Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's successor takes centre stage.

"The LDP is dominated by adamant opposition (to such changes). Whoever becomes its president can not realise 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 October 21, the general election in Japan will be held in the coming months.
Bali, Sep 14 : The Indonesian government has decided to lower the level of the four-tiered restrictions on public activities on the country's resort island of Bali as the number of new Covid-19 cases is on a decline.

During a live-streamed briefing on Monday evening, the country's Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that Bali can now lower its level of the restrictions from Level 4 to Level 3, reports Xinhua news agency.

But Pandjaitan called on the public to keep following the health protocols after the relaxation.

He also announced that the government has extended the restrictions on the islands of Java and Bali until September 20, which were previously set to end on September 13.

The restriction policy was imposed following the surge in Covid-19 cases from June to July fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the country has increased to 4.1 million with the death toll reaching 139,165.

To date, at least 42.1 million people in Indonesia have received two shots of vaccines, and 73.31 million have received the first doses.

The Indonesian government is targeting to vaccinate 208.2 million people, about 80 per cent of the total population.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tehran, Sep 14 : Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the new administration is holding "internal consultations" on how to continue negotiations concerning the 2015 nuclear agreement.

"Despite internal consultations at the beginning of its tenure on how to continue Vienna talks, the Iranian government has made clear that it will welcome negotiations that have tangible results and serve the rights and interests of the people," Abdollahian said during a telephone conversation with his British counterpart Dominic Raab on Monday.

The Iranian government expects "all illegal sanctions" against Iran to be cancelled, he said.

According to the official Iranian readout of the conversation, the British Foreign Secretary, for his part, greeted Abdollahian over his appointment and expressed hope that under the new Iranian administration, bilateral relations would develop on the basis of mutual understanding.

Raab took to Twitter later and wrote he had called on Iran "to release all arbitrarily detained British nationals" and to return to the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The two sides agreed to continue their talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting later this month in New York, IRNA reported.

Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 agreement in May 2018 and unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

In response, Iran has gradually ceased to perform parts of its commitments under the deal since May 2019, invoking provisions within the text of the accord.

After six rounds of talks in Vienna since April, the parties said serious differences remain between Iran and the US for the revitalisation of the agreement.

The sixth round of talks ended on June 20, two days after Iran's June 18 presidential election.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : The government of Telangana is likely to move the Supreme Court challenging Telangana High Court order banning immersion of Ganesh idols made of Plaster of Paris in Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.

With the High Court on Monday refusing to modify its order, the state government is likely to file an appeal in the apex court.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao discussed the situation created by the High Court order with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, municipal administration secretary Arvind Kumar and other top officials late on Monday.

The meeting reportedly decided to challenge the High Court order keeping in view the sentiments of devotees and the problems faced in implementing the ban on immersion of idols made of PoP in Hussain Sagar.

The High Court on Monday 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.

The court also refused to allow immersion into Hussain Sagar from Tank Bund road saying the huge amount of taxpayers' money spent by the government to beautify the stretch will be wasted.

The bench also asked the authorities whether they implement the laws or violate them.

The review petition was filed by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner Lokesh Kumar.

The petitioner had mentioned that if the immersion was not allowed from Tank Bund, it may take up to six days for immersion of thousands of idols brought to the lake.

While refusing to modify its order, the High Court had stated that if the government doesn't like its order, it can challenge the same in the higher court.

With less than a week to go for the immersion, the High Court order has landed the authorities in a dilemma.

A state minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav stated that by the time the high court delivered its decision on immersion of PoP idols, 35,000 Ganesh idols had already been installed at various locations in Hyderabad and it was 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 were being made for peaceful and safe immersion.

Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) has opposed any curbs on immersion in Hussain Sagar.

The organisers of the annual immersion procession called the court order a violation of the right to freedom of religion.

Its leaders have threatened that if authorities stop them from immersing the idols in Hussain Sagar, they will leave the trucks with idols on roads.

The Samithi wants the government to file an appeal in the Supreme Court to ensure that 'Hindu sentiments' are protected and the festival is carried out in keeping with the traditions.

The court had pronounced orders on a contempt petition filed by advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav for not implementing the court's orders 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 September 10. 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 procession which starts from Balapur on the city outskirts.

NGOs, environmental activists and eminent citizens have been voicing concern over the pollution in the lake and demanding curbs on immersion.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Centre, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh governments and other authorities asking for reports of ongoing farmers agitation against the new farm laws.

The NHRC has asked National Disaster Management Authority, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and the Government of India to submit reports with respect to the adverse impact of farmers agitation on various aspects and observance of Covid protocols at the protest sites.

The NHRC has issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Director Generals of Police of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and Commissioner of Police, Delhi calling upon them to submit their respective Action Taken Reports.

In its notice to the Centre and the States, NHRC said, "The commission has received several complaints regarding the ongoing farmers protest. There are allegations of adverse impact on the industrial units, seriously affecting more than 9000 micro, medium, and large companies. Allegedly, transportation is also adversely impacted, causing the commuters, patients, physically challenged people and senior citizens to suffer due to the heavy congestion on roads".

"There are also reports that people could not travel long distances to reach their destinations due to the ongoing farmers agitation and barricades have been put up on the borders", it added further.

Apart from issuing notices to the Centre and the states, the NHRC has asked the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) to examine the adverse impact of the farmers stir on industrial and commercial activities/production and disruption of transport services on commercial and normal consumers including inconvenience and additional expenditure, etc, and to submit a comprehensive report on the matter by October 10, 2021.

The NHRC issued a fresh reminder in the case of alleged gangrape of human rights activist at the protest site to file the report by October 10 as no report was received from Jhajjar DM.

The NHRC has requested Delhi School of Social Work, University of Delhi, to depute teams to conduct a survey and submit the report assessing the disruption of livelihood, lives of people, impact on the aged and infirm persons due to the protracted agitation by farmers.

The NHRC said that there is an allegation of breach of corona protocols by the agitating farmers at the protest sites. There is further allegation that the inhabitants are not being allowed to move out of their homes due to the blockade of the passage.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Aligarh : , Sep 14 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that Aligarh, which was known to manufacture locks for securing houses, will now play an important role in securing the country's borders.

Inaugurating the defence node here, the Prime Minister said the foundation of the defence node of Aligarh was being laid on the auspicious occasion of Radha Ashtami which made the occasion all the more pious.

He said that till now importing defence equipment was a rule but with the establishment of the defence corridor, India would soon be in a position to export defence equipment.

"India will not only become self-reliant in defence matters but will also become a major exporter in this sector," he said.

The Prime Minister who also laid the foundation stone for the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh state university, said that the university will focus on modern education and emerge as a hub for defence studies and defence research.

Talking about Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, the Prime Minister said that he was a freedom fighter who had been forgotten by the previous governments.

"Every youth who has dreams, should know about Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh and can learn from his life. Today, we are trying to acquaint the new generation with these icons even as the country celebrates Amrit Mahotsav," he said.

The Prime Minister said that the defence node in Aligarh and the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh university would transform western Uttar Pradesh soon.

Lauding the Yogi Adityanath government for creating a new work culture and acting as a catalyst for development, the Prime Minister said that the chief minister had given a new face to Uttar Pradesh which was earlier known only for corruption and scams.

Recalling an anecdote from his childhood, the Prime Minister said that a Muslim man would visit his village every three months to sell locks from Aligarh.

"As a child, I knew about Aligarh because of the locks and about Sitapur because everyone used to go to Sitapur for eye treatment. Today Aligarh is poised to make a name in a much larger field," he said.

The Prime Minister also remembered former chief minister late Kalyan Singh and said that his absence was being deeply felt.

Earlier, the Prime Minister viewed the models of the proposed defence node and the state university.

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.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Bhubaneswar, Sep 14 : A team of Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha police on Tuesday seized brown sugar worth over Rs 1 crore in Bhubaneswar city and arrested two persons who belong to West Bengal in this connection, officials said.

On the basis of an intelligence input, the STF team raided near Rasulgarh crossing and seized 1,025 gm of brown sugar worth over Rs 1 crore from his possession, the police said.

The arrested two inter-state drug peddlers are identified as Rakibul Laskar (30) and Sudhanya Gayen (44), both from South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the STF said in a statement.

The accused persons could not produce any valid authority in support of possession of such contraband material, for which the accused persons were arrested and will be forwarded to the court of District & Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar, it said.

"During preliminary investigation, West Bengal link as well as interstate ramification has been established. Steps are being taken to nab the involved interstate drug peddlers in the instant case," the STF said.

The police have registered a case under section 21(c) and 29 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 and further investigation is on.

Since 2020, the STF has seized more than 40 kg of brown sugar/heroin and over 86.81 quintals of ganja/Marijuna and arrested more than 100 drug dealers/peddlers, sources said.
Beirut, Sep 14 : Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the first vessel carrying Iranian fuel oil for Lebanon has arrived in Syria's Baniyas and will be transported by land to Beirut on Thursday.

A second vessel is set to arrive in Syria in a few days, while a third ship carrying gasoline will leave Iran soon, Nasrallah said in a televised speech to discuss the latest developments in Lebanon.

He thanked Syrian authorities for facilitating the transfer of the shipment from Syria's ports to Lebanon,reports Xinhua news agency.

Lebanon has been suffering from shortage in fuel due to the unprecedented financial crisis in the country.
Ramallah, Sep 14 : Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said that the crisis in Gaza "is political" in response to the plan proposed by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on resolving the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.

"The crisis in Gaza is political, likewise the crisis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," Ishtaye said at a weekly meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet.

Ishtaye noted that what is needed "is a serious and real political track that relies on international law and the United Nations resolutions", Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

He also added that the Palestinians are seeking a political solution to end the military occupation of the Palestinian territories, stop settlement expansion and lift years of blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Israeli media reported that Lapid has proposed a new "economy for security" plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

He said that Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, restricted the imports and exports of the goods and indulged in four rounds of large-scale military offensives, adding the new plan aims at creating "stability on both sides of the border".

According to Lapid, the first phase of the plan focuses on an "upgraded humanitarian reconstruction of Gaza", while the second phase proposes investments in large infrastructures, which Israel has blocked, such as building an artificial island off the enclave's shore for a new port.

The plan has not yet been discussed by the Israeli cabinet.
Gurugram, Sep 14 : To complete an under-construction flyover and underpass work at Atul Kataria Chowk in Gurugram on stipulated time, the road connecting Kapashera Border on the old Delhi Road from both sides will be closed for four months.

To meet the schedule demanded by the authority concerned, a plan has been prepared to close the road for four months.

Vehicles going from Atul Kataria Chowk towards Kapashera in Delhi can pass through MDI Chowk or Sheetla Mata Mandir via Palam Vihar. Vehicles coming towards the bus stand from the Delhi side will be diverted from IFFCO Chowk to MDI Chowk via Sukhrali village. The Traffic police will close this route within eight to ten days.

A 750-metre long flyover is being built at Atul Kataria Chowk along with an underpass of 650 metre from MDI Chowk towards Sheetla Mata Mandir. The entire project is worth Rs 47 crore and the deadline set was one-and-a-half years, which is nearing completion.

According to officials, the reason behind the delay was due to shifting of the power line, NOC of the Forest department and water drains. Now the construction will be completed within four months.

Atul Kataria Chowk is a major junction connecting Delhi to the old city. On this route, thousands of vehicles going from Udyog Vihar and Sheetla Colony to Sector-14 and Rajiv Nagar ply to the bus stand every day.

"This road is being closed after receiving a letter from the agency carrying out the construction work at Atul Kataria Chowk. The company has been asked to complete the construction at this point at the earliest," said Ravinder Tomar, Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic, Gurugram.

"It took time to shift the water drain, remove the power cable line for the flyover construction. The project got delayed due to the time taken for this work. The target has been set to complete it within four months," said an official of the Building and Road Construction department, Gurugram.
Lucknow, Sep 14 : The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has shut down 150 illegal slaughterhouses and identified 356 cattle mafias as part of its ongoing mission to protect cows and check smuggling.

The state government has initiated legal action against 1,823 accused and confiscated assets worth more than Rs 18 crore of 68 smugglers booked under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act in the last four and a half years, said an official spokesman on Tuesday.

According to the Urban Development Department, 150 slaughterhouses with the capacity to slaughter 300, 400 and 500 animals daily have been closed in different districts for not complying with the prescribed standards. At present, only 35 slaughterhouses that adhere to the prescribed standards are operating in the state.

Cow smuggling has always been a major issue in Uttar Pradesh that has led to frequent incidents of violence in the state.

The regulations for the operation and maintenance of slaughterhouses were not implemented properly earlier and permission was given to those willing to open slaughterhouses indiscriminately without ensuring their adherence to regulations.

After Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister, strict instructions for implementation of the Supreme Court's order and the Central Government's guidelines in this regard were issued.

According to the Police Department's latest data, 319 cow smugglers have been arrested in the last four and a half years while properties of two have been attached and 14 have been booked under the National Security Act.

Apart from this, 280 accused have been charged under the Gangsters Act, 114 under Goonda Act whereas cases of 156 history-sheeters have also been opened.

The Yogi Adityanath government also started a novel cow adoption initiative for destitute cows to motivate farmers to come forward and adopt stray cattle and rear them. Under this scheme, interested farmers and livestock owners are given an allowance of Rs 900 per month to rear stray cattle.

According to the Department of Rural Development and Livestock, more than 83,203 cows had been given to more than 43,168 people in the state till July, this year.

A total of 5,278 permanent cow shelters have been built in the rural and urban areas of the state housing about 5,86,793 cows.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday junked a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and others to pay Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia to kin of advocates, who died before the age of 60 whether due to Covid-19 or other reasons.

The top court imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner and said life of lawyers cannot be said to be more precious than others.

A bench headed by justice D.Y. Chandrachud noted that the court cannot make an exception for lawyers and cannot encourage filing of bogus PIL by lawyers. The bench also comprising justices Vikram Nath and B.V. Nagarathna told petitioner-in-person advocate Pradeep Kumar Yadav, "Are other people of the society not important". It further added, "This is a publicity interest litigation".

The bench pointed out that several people have succumbed to Covid-19 and cited the judgment passed by the top court dealing with framing of guidelines for compensation to kin of those who have died due to coronavirus. The bench told the lawyer, "Just because you are in black coat does not mean your life is more precious than others".

Yadav had sought Rs 50 lakh for the kin of advocates, who have died within 60 years whether from Covid or any other disease.

The bench reiterated that it is time when it has to stop lawyers from filing bogus PILs. The bench said: "It cannot happen that lawyers file such public interest litigations and demand for compensation from judges and that they will allow". Chiding Yadav, the bench said "You can't be an exception here, Mr Yadav".

The bench also observed that "cut-copy-paste" has been done in the plea and dismissed the petition with a cost of Rs 10,000 payable to the Supreme Court Bar Association within a week.

Yadav argued that all courts are not working, which has impacted the survival of lawyers and their staff. Yadav, in the plea, had arrayed the Centre, Bar Council of India and several other bar bodies as respondents.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Tuesday afternoon reached the national capital and he is scheduled to meet BJP president J.P. Nadda.

Denying speculation of any change of guard in the hill state ahead of next year's assembly polls, a party insider said that the meeting was planned 10 days ago and nothing should be read between the lines.

It is learnt that Nadda will be meeting Thakur and other senior party leaders from Himachal Pradesh and is likely to discuss possible by-polls and next year's assembly polls. The meeting will be held later in the day.

"10 days ago a meeting of the chief minister and senior leaders of Himachal Pradesh was planned with Nadda ji and it will be held today. It has been called to discuss organisational issues and party preparedness for by-polls and next year's state polls," a senior party functionary aware of the meeting told IANS.

Sources said that BJP Himachal Pradesh president Suresh Kashyap and other senior leaders from the state are in the national capital for the meeting.

After reaching Delhi, Thakur also said that he came for a scheduled meeting.

Thakur arriving in Delhi to meet Nadda has fuelled speculation about possible change of guard in Himachal Pradesh on the lines of Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Four BJP chief ministers were changed in three states - Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat -- in the last six months. In March, the saffron party replaced Uttarkhand then chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat with Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat. In July, four months after being made chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat was replaced by two time MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami.

After Uttarakhand, BJP replaced B.S. Yediyurappa with B.S. Bommai. Last week, Vijay Rupani was replaced by Bhupendra Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister.

Another senior party functionary said, "Currently there is no talk about any change of guard in Himachal Pradesh but nothing can be said about the future."
San Francisco, Sep 14 : SpaceX on Tuesday launched its first full stack of 51 Starlink broadband satellites since May, the media reported.

The satellites blasted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Station at 11.55 p.m. on Monday night (9.25 a.m. India time Tuesday morning), marking the company's 22nd launch of the year.

It also marked a record 10th flight for this particular first stage booster, Space.com reported.

"What a beautiful view of Falcon 9 as it successfully lifts off from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, carrying our stack of 51 Starlink satellites to orbit," SpaceX's Youmei Zhou was quoted as saying during the launch broadcast.

"Stage one landed on our drone ship for the 10th time," Zhou added after the booster touched down, noting it was the company's 90th successful landing to date.

The mission, called Starlink 29, is the company's first operational Starlink flight from its West Coast launch facility and will bring the total number of SpaceX broadband satellites launched up to 1,797.

It is the 22nd Falcon 9 mission for SpaceX so far in 2021.

The flight also marks the first Starlink launch since May, the report said.

SpaceX had paused launches for about four months to equip the satellites with laser crosslinks that allow Starlink satellites to communicate with each other, reducing the constellation's reliance on Earth, according to the company.

SpaceX began satellite launches in November 2019 and opened its $99 per month beta programme for select customers around a year later.

The company aims to launch around 30,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, and expand its user pool to millions of customers.

The Starlink programme aims to provide high-speed internet access to users around the world, and as a means to help fund its deep-space ambitions.

The service is targeted to users in rural or remote areas that have little to no connectivity, although anyone can subscribe to it.
San Francisco, Sep 14 : Tech giant Microsoft has said that running Windows 11 on a PC with an Apple M1 "is not a supported scenario", the media reported.

The software giant confirmed its plans to The Register last week, noting Windows 11 will not offer official support for M1 Macs through virtualisation or on bare hardware.

Microsoft did not go so far as to say the practice is illegal, but the statement puts a damper on the deployment of sanctioned VMs with full backing from the developer, reports AppleInsider.

For months, users have relied on Windows Insider builds, specifically those developed for ARM architectures, to run Windows 10 and 11 virtual machines on M1 silicon. That solution might also be in jeopardy, the report said.

As the publication reports, recent updates to a developer channel Windows Insider build of Windows 11 have resulted in hardware compatibility errors on Parallels VMs.

Parallels pushed out a point update that seemingly fixed the issue, but whether the patch will hold remains unclear.

Microsoft could be exploring ways to break compatibility with what it now deems "unsupported scenarios" in attempts to end Windows 11 VMs on Apple devices, a move that could result in a game of cat and mouse with virtualization makers, the report said.

Parallels leaned on Microsoft's Windows Inside builds to introduce support for VMs on ARM hardware in April.

Capabilities were extended to Windows 11 with the release of Parallels 17 in August, with the company promising full support for the operating system when it launches in October.
Srinagar, Sep 14 : Never before in the recent history of Kashmir has one man's assassination triggered the mass exodus of a community as did the murder of Kashmiri Pandit leader, Tikalal Taploo by terrorists on September 14, 1989. It was a sleepy autumn morning when Srinagar city awoke to business as usual.

Government offices, banks, post offices and educational institutions had started functioning normally when the news spread like wildfire.

Terrorists had shot and killed Tikalal Taploo in old city Srinagar to send out a loud message. "Those who stood for India in Kashmir must look elsewhere".

Taploo was the senior most Kashmiri Hindu leader of his time. He was state Vice President of the BJP. His association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was well known.

He was an advocate at the J&K high court. He was called 'Lala' (Elder brother) by locals irrespective of their religious or political belief. He would champion the cause of the under privileged across communities and social strata. He lived in Chinkral Mohalla locality of old Srinagar city and continued to live there despite threats from the terrorists.

He led the agitation and had courted arrest in 1975 against the emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi. His assassination shocked both Muslims and the local Kashmiri Pandits. But, for Kashmiri Pandits it was a message. What followed his assassination was the targeting of local Pandits by the terrorists irrespective of their political loyalties or official positions.

A retired district judge who had pronounced the hang sentence on JKLF founder, Maqbool Bhat, a CID inspector in Rainawari, a petty shopkeeper in Bohri Kadal, an assistant director of food and supplies department, a teacher poet in Anantnag, an ordinary farmer in Pulwama, a medical shop owner in Ganderbal and many others whose killings baffled the administration.

This was no political or personal revenge alone. It was part of the so-called holy war (Jihad) of the terrorists in which differences of religious faith or political belief had no place. It was 'my way or the highway'. Obviously, highway was to what the local Pandit took.

September 14 has since come to be observed as the 'martyrs day' by Kashmiri Pandits wherever they lived after their migration from Kashmir. And, thus Taploo became the martyr of a national cause for which scores of local political activists, policemen and members of the other security forces have been paying with their blood. The latest being Arshid Ahmad Mir, a probationary sub-inspector of police killed by the terrorists in Khanyar area of Srinagar city on September 12.

Interestingly, historical records suggest that the migration of 1990s is not the first exodus of the local Hindus from Kashmir. Whenever, in the past, their persecution at the hands of local tyrant rulers or Afghan invaders took place, Kashmiri Pandits have historically migrated to safety using the road that passes through Batote on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

From 'Batewaat' (The road used by local Pandits during migration) the name has over the years been corrupted to Batote, many local historians believe. Despite persecution triggered by religious intolerance and communal hatred of some rulers in the past, Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits have lived like brothers over centuries.

The mass exodus of 1990s has shaken that edifice which might take ages to rebuild. Nobody can predict with any amount of certainty how long will the dream of an eclectic, tolerant, and intellectually superior Kashmir take to become a reality again.
Moscow, Sep 14 : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday hailed his country's six-year joint anti-terror campaign with Russia during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

In the video footage of the meeting released by his office, Assad started his speech by hailing the Syrian-Russian efforts to fight terror groups in his country, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I am happy to meet today in Moscow as the six years have passed since the joint operation against terror started, during which both the Syrian and Russian armies made major achievements not only about liberating lands or returning refugees to their areas but through protecting other people across the world because terrorism crosses borders," he said.

The Syrian leader noted that his visit to Moscow is an important opportunity to discuss two issues -- fighting terrorism and the political process.

He added that his government insists on moving forward with fighting terrorism in parallel with the political process.

Putin congratulated Assad on winning the May 26 presidential elections, and spoke about the importance of the reconstruction process in Syria and the need for a political solution to move forward.

"The (election) results show that people trust you and, despite all challenges of the previous years and tragedies of the previous years, still associate the process of recovery and return to normal life with you," Putin told Assad.

Russia has been supporting the Assad government in the fight against terror groups in Syria since 2015.

The last time the two leader spoke was in November 2020 via video conference due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Putin had visited the country in January 2020.
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka is caught between the devil and the deep sea after the Supreme Court's order on vacating places of religious worship built on public properties in the state.

As the district administration has begun the work of clearing places of religious worship across Karnataka, the government has received criticism from Hindu groups, opposition parties and even its own leaders.

Hindu Jagaran Vedike, a strong pro-BJP and Hindu organisation, has announced that it will launch a protest on September 16 against Mysuru district administration where the latter will demolish 97 places of worship, of which 93 are Hindu temples.

Jagadish Karanth, the Hindu Jagaran Vedike south India Chief, known for his firebrand speeches on Hindutva, will visit Mysuru.

Siddaramaiah, the Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly, has posted a video of a temple being demolished near Nanjangud town and chided the government that even temples are not safe under the current regime.

BJP MP Pratap Simha said when it comes to religion he will not listen to anyone.

"The state officials are targeting only Hindu temples. The demolition is taking place in such a way that ample time is not given to shift sacred 'kalasa' (the pinnacle element in the form of vase finial of a temple's tower). The administration is twisting the Supreme Court order. It has never prescribed direct demolitions. There is scope for shifting of temples. The officials are targeting Hindu temples as they think they can be soft targets. We will not tolerate this. Will they dare to touch illegal masjids and dargahs?" the BJP MP added.

He also maintained that he had spoken to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on the issue and he had assured to maintain the status quo in Mysuru.

Responding to BJP's Pratap Simha, Mysore Congress leader and former minister Tanveer Sait said if unnecessarily the matter of 'masjids' and 'dargahs' are dragged, he will not sit quiet. "I am not wearing bangles to sit quiet," he added.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA M.P. Renukacharya has reacted angrily that thousands of temples are listed for demolition without proper consultation and some officers in bureaucracy are showing high-handedness.

Former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said temples are being demolished at the behest of the ruling BJP government. "They are the ones who pinch the baby and they will only pose to pacify the child. This statement holds good for BJP regarding demolition of temples," he added.

On the one hand, the ruling BJP government demolishes temples while on the other, Hindu Jagaran Vedike, a pro-BJP organisation protests. "Let the BJP government appeal before the Supreme Court on vacating places of worship. The BJP is directly responsible for this development," he alleged.

The BJP government is treading cautiously on the issue as the matter is heard by the Supreme Court. BJP State President Nalinkumar Kateel said that the order of the apex court will have to be kept in mind, at the same time, religious sentiments should also be considered.

Minister for Revenue R. Ashok stated that he will pass an order to take care of sentiments of people while carrying out the orders of the Supreme Court. The officers will have to discuss with local legislators and people.

The government has given a list of 277 unauthorized constructions of religious places and served notices to 200 of them in Bengaluru. The government has identified and is preparing to vacate 324 places of worship in Hubballi and Dharwad.

The government has vacated 35 temples out of 36 in Chamarajanagar district. The Hindu organisations are alleging that the government is only issuing notices to Masjids and Churches, whereas Hindu temples are ruthlessly demolished.

The Supreme Court issued orders in 2009 to demolish/relocate/regulate unauthorized structures from public places. Even the High Court of Karnataka rapped the government in December, 2020 for not implementing the apex court order.

According to the government, Karnataka has 6,395 unauthorized religious structures in public places. The state has vacated 2,887 temples, mosques, churches and other religious structures.

Coming under severe criticism by the courts, the chief secretary has ordered deputy commissioners to file an affidavit on their action plan how they are carrying out the work of vacating religious places that have come up on public properties.
Melbourne, Sep 14 : Construction workers in Australia's Victoria are being targeted in a vaccination blitz as the state government battles to contain its soaring number of Covid-19 cases.

Victoria reported 445 new locally acquired infections on Tuesday, bringing the overall active cases to 3,799, reports Xinhua news agency.

Throughout the pandemic, Victoria has endured more frequent and lengthier lockdowns than any other Australian region.

The state capital of Melbourne has been the hardest hit of all, so far racking up almost 230 days in lockdown since early 2020. Yet the city's condition is still steadily deteriorating.

Health authorities desperate to track sources of the virus are now concentrating their efforts on building sites, which account for about 13 per cent of the active cases.

Exacerbating the problem is that construction workers tend to travel longer distances than other workers meaning they have even greater potential to transmit the disease.

In response, the Victorian government has begun a four-week enforcement blitz to ensure workers comply with Covid-19 health requirements, such as mandatory mask wearing, and urging them to get vaccinated.

Speaking on Monday, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said, "it doesn't take much for this highly infectious Delta variant to get from a highly mobile, younger, under-vaccinated workforce into outer suburbs, into the families and communities of those suburbs".

"We'll do everything we can to ensure the construction industry can continue in a Covid-safe way," Foley said.

"But the entire industry, employers, unions, are on notice." Workers caught breaking Covid-19 regulations face on-the-spot fines of up to A$1,817 ($1,339), while building businesses will be out of pocket for up to A$10,904.

The state government also wants to encourage construction workers to get vaccinated by allowing them to get their jabs, without bookings, at four large vaccination centres.

That offer will continue until September 26.

Aside from generally being more mobile than most workers, builders and tradesmen tend to be young.

Foley said the outbreak was a "pandemic of the young and the unvaccinated" with 87 per cent of Victoria's active cases being aged under 50, with 585 aged under 19.

Nationally, the Delta strain has disproportionately affected younger people, with the Australian government reporting the highest number of cases has been among those aged from 20 to 29.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tokyo, Sep 14 : Japanese Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said on Tuesday that the country is considering the introduction of a tougher jail sentence as part of penalties for cyber crimes.

Kamikawa told a press conference that she would ask her advisory panel on Thursday to review the plan to impose a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,726) for online insults and extend the statute of limitations for three years, reports Xinhua news agency.

Currently, the penalty is a less than 30 days of detention or a fine of less than 10,000 yen, and the statute of limitations is only one year.

Kamikawa said: "Online insults provoke similar posts one after another, which can lead to irreversible human rights violations... As we see growing criticism against online abuse, we need to designate the act as a crime to be seriously dealt with and curb it." Hana Kimura, a 22-year-old woman, was a professional wrestler and cast member of the popular Netflix reality show "Terrace House" in May 2020.

She committed suicide because of a barrage of hateful messages on social media, which was a well-known case of cyberbullying in Japan.

However, two men found guilty in the case were only fined 9,000 yen.

Provisions on insults have not been drastically reviewed under Japan's Penal Code, as the law was established in 1907.

Defamation, a similar concept that involves an untrue statement referring to a specific action, could be penalized with a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen in Japan.

However, it is not suitable to include insults under this penalty.

After the death of Kimura, Parliament in April introduced a law for establishing an easier court procedure for helping victims of cyberbullying to seek perpetrators.

With the legislation, which is expected to be effective in the fall of next year, victims can obtain information of the harassers through only one court proceeding instead of going through at least two court proceedings, with one of them for social media operators and the other for the internet service provider, at present.
Canberra, Sep 14 : The Covid-19 lockdown in Australia's capital city of Canberra has been extended by a month as the country continues to battle the ongoing third wave of the pandemic.

Andrew Barr, chief minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said on Tuesday that Canberra will remain in lockdown until October 15, reports Xinhua news agency.

Restrictions were due to end on Friday after 36 days in lockdown but Barr said the risk to the community remained high.

On Tuesday morning, Australia reported 1,595 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, taking the nationwide infection tally to 75,324 and the death toll stood at 1,098.

New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state and the current epicentre of the pandemic, reported 1,127 new cases and two deaths.

Victoria, the second-most populous state, reported a further 445 new local cases.

There were 22 new cases reported in the ACT, only two of which were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.

It takes the number of active cases in the national's capital to 252.

The ongoing outbreak in the surrounding NSW area is one of the reasons for the extended lockdown in ACT, according to Barr.

"New South Wales has been problematic for the nation throughout this process. Given we are a jurisdiction sitting wholly within that state, and we are seeing incursion of the virus outside of the Greater Sydney area." Under the current restrictions, Canberra residents are only allowed to leave home for six reasons: essential shopping; healthcare; essential work; outdoor exercise for a maximum of two hours per day; Covid-19 vaccinations; and tests.

So far about 68.5 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 43.2 per cent were fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Health.
New Delhi : NDRF and Delhi Police personnel carried out a rescue operation after a four-storey building collapsed in Sabzi Mandi area, the main market in New Delhi on Monday September 13, 2021. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : NDRF and Delhi Police personnel carried out a rescue operation after a four-storey building collapsed in Sabzi Mandi area, the main market in New Delhi on Monday September 13, 2021. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi : NDRF and Delhi Police personnel carried out a rescue operation after a four-storey building collapsed in Sabzi Mandi area, the main market in New Delhi on Monday September 13, 2021. (Photo: Wasim Sarvar/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 14 : Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested the owner of the ill-fated building in North Delhi that collapsed on Monday, killing two siblings and injuring an elderly man.

According to the police, the accused Mohak Arora resident of Panjabi Basti, Subji Mandi, was arrested in the building collapse case under sections 288, 304, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

Though the police is still investigating the incident, nearby residents alleged that renovation work that began 7-8 days ago, could be the possible reason of the building collapse.

According to Section 288 of the IPC, whoever, in pulling down or repairing any building, knowingly or negligently omits to take such order with that building as is sufficient to guard against any probable danger to human life from the fall of that building, or of any part thereof, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

The four-storey building which was around 50 to 60 years old and was not declared dangerous, collapsed in the Sabzi Mandi area of the national capital on Monday.

A senior official in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) said that there are 20 such buildings in the area, i.e., ward number 13, Ghanta Ghar Sabzi Mandi, which are over 60-70 years old and have been identified as dangerous buildings.

"Out of these 20 buildings declared as dangerous, nine are located in the same street where this was located," the official said adding that this particular building was not earmarked as dangerous.

The official further stated that the civic authority has conducted a survey for the detection of dangerous buildings in all six zones before the onset of monsoon season. During the survey, around 700 properties under the North MCD were found in a dangerous condition, while 444 buildings were identified for carrying out necessary repairs.
September 14 : Kim Kardashians look at Met Gala 2021 has left her fans shocked. Even Kareena Kapoor Khan was shocked to see the actor-models weird look, and many memes have already started flooding social media. Kareena took to social media and expressed her disappointment as she couldnt figure out the weird look of the otherwise stunning Kim.

Kareena today took to her Instagram stories and shared a picture of Kim from the event. Seeing the reality stars Balenciaga look, Kareena was not only disappointed but shocked as she wrote, Kya ho raha hai? (What is happening).

Image Source: Instagram/kareenakapoorkhan Kareena Kapoor shocked to see Kim Kardashians Met Gala 2021 look

Kim arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in a black Balenciaga outfit, which covered her from head to toe in blackeven her face was covered. Only her ponytail was visible.

Kim also shared her look on Instagram and captioned the post as, Balenciaga Met 2021. However, her look received immense appreciation from her contemporaries and fans. Obsessed, wrote Natalie Halcro in the comment section. Olivia Pierson commented, Hot. Scott Disick wrote, Bruce Wayne. However, some fans believe that Kims outfit was the most awful outfit of all time.

Image Source: Instagram/kimkardashian Kim Kardashians Met Gala 2021 look

Last year, Met Gala was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Monday's event, although a small one, required proof of vaccination.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Kareena has recently resumed shooting of Laal Singh Chaddha in Mumbai along with Aamir Khan. The film is an official remake of Tom Hanks Forrest Gump. Also starring Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh, the film is scheduled for Christmas release this year. Kareena has turned a producer and has signed a new film with Hansal Mehta, and will co-produce the venture with Ekta Kapoor. The Good Newwz actress has also released her book Kareena Kapoor Khan's Pregnancy Bible, after welcoming her second baby, Jeh Ali Khan in February this year.
Sanaa, Sep 14 : At least 43 Houthi rebels were killed in Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen's Marib province in the past 24 hours, a military source said on Tuesday.

"The airstrikes targeted the rebel positions, gatherings and reinforcements on the frontlines in Sirwah district, killing 43 and destroying nine weapons-mounted vehicles," the source at the Media Center of the Armed Forces in Marib told Xinhua news agency.

"The airstrikes were a response to the ground attacks launched by the rebels on the (Yemeni) army positions on the frontlines," he said, claiming that there were no casualties among the pro-government armed forces.

The Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported 19 Saudi-led airstrikes in the Sirwah district without providing more details.

Last week, the Houthis seized control of Rahabah district in southwestern Marib.

In February, the Houthi militia launched 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.

Yemen's civil war flared up in late 2014 when the Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support Hadi's government.
Panaji, Sep 14 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant met BJP's Goa poll in-charge Devendra Fadnavis at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Tuesday on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Sawant tweeted photos of himself taking blessings from the Ganesh idol installed at the Maharashtra Opposition leader's residence.

"Took blessing of Lord Ganesh at the residence of Former CM of Maharashtra Shri @Dev_Fadnavisji, in Mumbai," Sawant said in his tweet.

Earlier this month, Fadnavis was appointed as the in-charge of the Goa assembly polls, which are scheduled to be held in early 2022.

Sawant stopped over at the Fadnavis residence enroute from Gujarat, where he had gone on Monday to attend the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Tuesday said that it has deployed 20 teams across Gujarat to tackle flooding due to heavy rainfall in many parts of the state.

According to the NDRF officials, the teams have been stationed in Morbi, Gandhi Nagar, Jamnagar, DevBhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Junagarh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Botad Bayad, Bhavnagar, Valsad, Navsari, Surat and Vadodara.

The officials also said that five teams have been airlifted from Punjab and teams are also on standby.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours along with a flood-like situation.

The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have also deployed its rescue teams in Gujarat.

The Indian Coast Guard on the request of the Jamnagar Civil administration dispatched six Gemini inflatable boats and 35 personnel, including a medical team from Vadinar to Jamnagar.

The Navy dispatched humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) team, consisting of naval divers with support gear from INS Sardar Patel to Rajkot on Monday evening (September 13) and this will report to district authorities at Rajkot and join rescue efforts as and when required.

Six more teams are ready to augment the ongoing civil rescue efforts in affected areas, the Indian Navy said.

Similarly, several rescue teams have been deployed from INS Valsura in Jamnagar to assist stranded people from various parts of rain affected and inundated areas of the city.

"Equipped with Gemini boats, life vests, first aid kits and other requisite gear, the teams rescued a large number of people including elderly and women and shifted them to safety. Naval teams also provided food packets to stranded citizens", the Indian Navy spokesperson said, adding that senior naval authorities have been in constant liaison with civil administration to offer any help needed in the flood relief activities. More rescue teams have been kept on standby to be dispatched at short notice, the spokesperson added.

Heavy rains have battered the state since Monday and around 100 talukas across the State received moderate to heavy rains throughout the day.

The newly elected Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel held a review meeting with the top officials and directed that more NDRF teams be deployed if required.

Extremely heavy rains in Jamnagar and Rajkot districts led to rivers overflowing their banks and flooding low-lying areas. The district authorities evacuated several people amid forecasts from the IMD that the rains are likely to continue for the next three days.
Mumbai, Sep 14 : Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal has started shooting for Prakash Jha's 'Aashram' Season 2 in Jaipur. He will be stationed in the Pink City for a month-long schedule.

In the first season of the Prakash Jha directorial 'Aashram', Chandan played 'Bhopa Swami', who is the right-hand man of a self-styled godman called Kashipur waale 'Baba Nirmal' (played by Bobby Deol), whose Aashram is a front for crimes. In the crime series, Chandan is a mercenary who silences his detractors in a matter-of-fact way.

Chandan says: "'Aashram' marked a turning point in the trajectory of my career. It gave me a special identity as an actor. The production team is taking all the necessary precautions and the love for making content people will love is palpable during the shoot. Revisiting 'Bhopa Swami' is very exciting for me because this season is all about new twists." Apart from 'Aashram 2', Chandan's upcoming projects include Vipul Shah's 'Sanak' and a few unannounced ventures.
Dakshina Kannada : , Sep 14 (IANS) High alert has been sounded across the bordering Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Karwar districts of Karnataka with Kerala, after a sample of a person from Karwar has been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Laboratory in Pune for testing Nipah virus.

Dr K.V. Rajendra, the District Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada explained on Tuesday, thermal scanning is being made mandatory for all travellers from Kerala. Strict vigil is kept at the borders. Hospitals and all doctors are informed to report if they come across any person with the symptoms of Nipah. The vigilance has been increased in Udupi and Karwar districts, he explained.

The man worked in an industry where RT-PCR & Nipah kits were manufactured. The man suspecting to have contracted the Nipah virus approached the hospital in Manipal on Saturday. Presently, he is being isolated at the Government Wenlock District hospital in Mangaluru. His father who accompanied him and family members in Karwar are also isolated.

Dr K.V. Rajendra, explained that, though there were no symptoms of Nipah, the swab sample of the person has been sent to NIV Pune. The sample was sent as the person insisted that he is affected with Nipah virus. The report is expected to come in a day, he added.

The authorities have inquired and inspected the working place of the person and they have not found anyone with symptoms of Nipah. "Though the doctors did not find any Nipah symptoms, the patient insisted that he is being affected with Nipah virus out of phobia. We don't want to take any chance and sent the sample for testing," he said.

The person was affected with fever after he got drenched in rain in Goa. He also experienced headaches and faster heartbeats. The authorities have confirmed that all standard operating procedures were followed at the workplace and he has not come in contact with any of the suspected Nipah cases. Dr K.V. Rajendra underlined that there is no need for the public to panic and the situation is being handled appropriately by the district administration.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, Sep 14: Is Russia's bonhomie with the Taliban over? As events unfold it seems so; Russia maybe running a reality check on the organisation that, among others, is listed as a terrorist group and banned in the Russian Federation.

Russia's glee at the dastardly, if, crafty, US exit cannot of course be faulted. The graveyard of empires which dealt the death blow to the once mighty Soviet Union has done the same to the very United States which had facilitated this death. Observers and commentators have repeatedly pointed out how disciplined, even graceful, the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan had been in comparison to the chaotic and gut-wrenching withdrawal of the US.

What, however, is curious was the almost ecstatic manner that the Taliban's "victory" was hailed by the Russians. The Russian Embassy in Kabul was of the few that remained functioning undisturbed as the Taliban took over Kabul. The ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov lost no time saying that the Taliban were providing security to change the embassy and in general had made Kabul more safe and secure than the government of now discredited President Ashraf Ghani had.

He was also one of the first envoys to meet with the Taliban leadership on August 17 in Kabul to work out the modalities for the future security of the Russian diplomatic mission. AP news agency reported that the Taliban representatives said the Taliban has the friendliest ... approach to Russia.

While some Russian analysts feel that the government has no farsighted Afghan policy, the words of Special Russian envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Second Department of Asia in the Russian Foreign Ministry Zamir Kabulov were both revealing as well as intriguing, when viewed from an Indian perspective.

In a detailed statement to the press that he made, a day after the militant group took over Kabul, Kabulov outlined clearly that he considered the Taliban a far more negotiable people than the government of now discredited former President Ashraf Ghani. They were, in the diplomat's view, more capable of negotiations than the "marionette Kabul government". "We proceed from the fact that negotiations should be implemented. So far, in terms of the security of our embassy and the security of our allies in Central Asia, the Taliban are respecting the agreements..." Kabulov also blamed the Americans for the chaos that ensued at the Hamid Karzai International Airport Kabul after the government collapsed, saying that because of the hurried deployment of 5000 troops to evacuate their (American) colleagues, arrivals and landings of passenger flights had to be temporarily halted, causing the mess.

Giving a clean chit to the Taliban he said that the chaos at the airport had no connection to the situation inside Kabul, adding that not just Kabul, but no other city captured by the Taliban faced any disturbance. There had however, been reports of violence and assault against both men and women in some areas under Taliban control, though not in Kabul.

Emphasising that the Taliban had a role to play in Afghanistan's future, Kabulov lauded the fact that "we had established contact with them (Taliban) for the past 7 years, and discussed many points. And we saw that this force will ultimately play a leading role in the future in Afghanistan, even if it does not fully come to power. All these factors, together with the guarantees given to us by the top leadership have given us reason to calmly face the developments even as we remain vigilant." Now compare this to what Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov recently said. When asked by journalists whether he believed that the Taliban's ascent to power was a loss for Russia, he responded "None of us has won, to say the least. The main question now is whether Afghanistan will remain a key source of the drug threat, the main country supplying huge quantities of opiates to the world and, most importantly, to our country. Will Afghanistan remain a place where terrorist groups feel at ease? All these threats persist, so, obviously, none of us has won." The sombreness could not be more striking.

Russia has also refused to attend the inauguration of the interim Taliban government unveiled last week. Perhaps the support the group had been receiving from powers like Russia and China had emboldened it to announce such an inauguration in the first place which now stands cancelled.

Interestingly, these pronouncements came after Russian security chief Nikolai Patrushev visited Delhi and held talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

By then, the Taliban had announced its cabinet full of its old hard-line guard, almost all Pashtun with a few exceptions, male and Sunni, reflecting none of the diversity that characterizes Afghanistan's demography. But more importantly, it is the inclusion of so many hardened criminals, carrying bounties on their head, that is worrying governments around the world. Curtains have been lifted on the deep tied between the Haqqani network and the Taliban. This may be the tip of the iceberg - the UN had warned as late as May that the Taliban continued to maintain links with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations. Russia's Muslim regions are not insulated from global jihad. Pakistan may have just scored a self-goal with the visit of its spy chief Faiz Hameed to Kabul to facilitate the government formation leaving its fingerprints all over it.

The debate within Russia is interesting, if bordering on Orientalism. The Taliban takeover is viewed not through the lens of human rights of course but as a popular revolution, even if a conservative one. The older generation goes a step further - whitewashing them, as being the ones to enforce law and order, who had done away with narcotics production while demonising the US to the point of holding it responsible even for widespread homosexuality amongst Afghans. But having determined what the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is, there is now less uncertainty on what will be. So, in the true spirit of trust but verify, Russia has also been hedging by fortifying the borders of its Central Asian allies, bordering Afghanistan. And its state-owned media has also started reporting Taliban excesses. Together with the new government announced, and reservations about it by countries like Iran and Tajikistan, emerging evidence of Pakistan's intervention in Panjshir valley, with persistent rumours about the deaths of those like Akhundzada and Baradar and infighting within the Taliban, the National Resistance Front not yet accepting defeat, Russia may be feeling that it has entered a twilight zone. And the shift seems obvious.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Mumbai, Sep 14 : Director Faruk Kabir, who is currently shooting for 'Khuda Haafiz Chapter II: Agni Pariksha', says his upcoming film will showcase a yet-undiscovered facet of actor Vidyut Jammwal.

"We are going to see a very intense and nuanced character portrayal from Vidyut Jammwal in 'Khuda Haafiz Chapter II: Agni Pariksha'. He has worked extremely closely with me on every scene and the buildup of his character throughout the film. He has worked very hard to get into the skin of the character. I think we are going to see a facet of Vidyut that even I haven't discovered before," Faruk Kabir said.

What inspired the writer-director to create a second chapter of his 2020 film 'Khuda Haafiz'? "Many personal reasons inspired me to write Khuda Haafiz Chapter II. Of course, certain elements of what is socially happening within the fabric of our country, also to a certain degree inspired me to write this film. But Chapter II in many ways is very personal for me because it has a lot of nuances and experiences from my own personal life that I have put into the film," he said.

Throwing light on how the story progresses in the film's second chapter, the director said: "Khuda Haafiz Chapter II: Agni Pariksha begins a year later in the life of this couple Sameer and Nargis. It does really test their relationship to great degree and that's why the title mentions 'Agni Pariksha'. In many ways this is an 'Agni Pariksha' for the couple after the incident that happened to them in Chapter One, how do they deal with the trauma of that incident and how it affects them." The film is currently being shot in Lucknow. Talking about the same, Faruk said: "The experience of shooting in Lucknow is always very nice. I really like the city. The more I keep coming to it, the more I keep discovering interesting facets, corners and places about it. Last time we shot for Chapter One here for a brief time but this time of course it's a much longer schedule and we've discovered some locations that people have not shot at before." Opening up on the mouthwatering local cuisine, the filmmaker added: "I love the food here. I love going out and eating at different places in Lucknow and keep trying different cuisines. Lucknow has always been interesting to me!" 'Khuda Haafiz Chapter II: Agni Pariksha' also features Shivaleeka Oberoi in the lead.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kolkata, Sep 14 : Fresh controversy has erupted after BJP complained to the Election Commission of India objecting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's candidature from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency as she has suppressed facts in her affidavit along with her nomination papers.

The BJP has complained that Banerjee has not disclosed in her affidavit five criminal cases pending against her.

In a letter to the Returning Officer of Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency, BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal's chief election agent Sajal Ghosh said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not disclosed five criminal cases pending against her in her affidavit.

Giving details of the cases, Ghosh said that the Chief Minister has been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 153A (promoting enmity) and Section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code in several police stations of Assam including Geeta Nagar police station, Panbazar police station, Jagiroad police station, Lakhimpur police station and Udharbond police station.

Ghosh, referring to several newspaper reports, said that Mamata Banerjee has not mentioned these cases in her affidavit and hence her nomination papers should not be accepted.

Banerjee who was the TMC candidate from Nandigram faced similar objections from the then BJP candidate who had objected that Banerjee had not mentioned six cases pending against her. Of the six cases five are the same cases mentioned by Ghosh in his complaint.

Mamata Banerjee, however contested the Nandigram election but lost to Suvendu Adhikari.

The Assembly seat of Bhabanipur, tucked in the South Kolkata Lok Sabha constituency, had scripted Mamata Banerjee's ascendancy to Bengal, both in 2011 and 2016.

Banerjee is aware that things in Bhabanipur this time around are not as easy as they were in 2011 when she decimated the Left and had won by a whopping 49,936 votes from the seat.

Her victory margin was an enviable 21.91 per cent with a voter turnout of around 63.78 per cent. But, in 2016 her winning margin was slashed by nearly half. With a 66.83 per cent voter turnout, Mamata won by 25,301 votes, with a victory margin of 10.21 per cent.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : India's Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will be visiting Algeria from September 15 to 17, an official statement said.

During his visit, he will call on Algerian Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane and also to hold talks with his counterpart Ramtane Lamamra.

Diplomatic relations between India and Algeria were established in July 1962, the year the north African country gained independence from French colonial rule.

Both nations are part of the Non-Aligned Movement. As a member of the African Union, Algeria supports India's candidacy for a permanent seat in a reformed Security Council.

There has been regular high level exchange of visits by the leaders of the two countries. Both countries have been supporting each other on vital issues at bilateral and multilateral levels.

India provided Algeria with $1 million humanitarian aid following the May 2003 earthquake. The Indian Space Research Organisation launched Algerian satellite Alsat 2A into orbit in July 2010.

India's public sector companies Engineers India Ltd, IRCON International Ltd and Telecommunications Consultants of India (TCIL) have been executing projects related to their respective fields in Algeria while private companies like Larsen and Toubro (L&T), KEC International and Kalpataru are executing their power transmission projects there. Apart from these companies, power equipment manufacturer Vijay Electricals, Dodsal Engineering, construction company Shapoorji Pallonji, pharmaceutical companies like Zydus Cadila, Dabur, Sun Pharma, Cipla, and Hetro Drugs are present there.

The Indian diaspora in Algeria is miniscule, comprising around 5,700 Indians working in various projects and establishments, and a handful of Indians in Algiers including some country heads of companies. There are nine Overseas Citizens of India and 10 Persons of Indian Origin.
Lucknow, Sep 14 : Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has expressed concern over the delay in justice to the Hathras rape victim who died exactly a year ago.

In a tweet, Priyanka Gandhi said that it has been exactly a year since the incident took place but instead of getting justice, the victim's family is receiving threats.

She said that the victim was denied a proper cremation and the entire state machinery was involved in maligning the girl's character.

"How can one even expect sensitivity from a government that is not concerned about women's security and safety? The anti-women mentality of the chief minister who has said 'women should not be given freedom' is known to everyone," she tweeted.

Last year, a Dalit girl was allegedly raped by four youths in a village in Hathras.

She died two weeks later in a Delhi hospital. After her death, the victim was forcibly cremated by the police without the consent of her family -- a claim later denied by the police.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Centre has told the Delhi High Court that the case registered in connection with the alleged violation of Covid-19 protocols at Nizamuddin Markaz, where the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was held in March last year, is a serious case, having trans-border implication and requiring diplomatic consideration.

Justice Mukta Gupta, who was hearing the Delhi Waqf Board's plea to re-open the markaz, which has remained shut since March 31 last year, queried Centre, for how long it intended to keep it locked, emphasising that premises cannot be kept locked forever.

Advocate Rajat Nair, representing the Centre, contended the persons who were occupying the premises has not been able to produce any document as per the Waqf Act and rules showing that they have been valid lease holders of the property.

It said that notices were served on Maulana Saad and family immediately after its sealing to show any title entitlement over the property, and even after a year, they have not been able to show any document, and neither the Waqf Board is able to cite, on what legal premises they have permitted Saad to occupy the building.

The Centre claimed that it appears that there is no valid title holder of Waqf property Masjid Bangley Wali, the Markaz, and Kashif Ul Uloom Madarsa, as no one has been able to show any record document to establish their occupancy, and indicated it appears case of encroachment.

It said that legal action to re-open the markaz can only be initiated by the lessee of the property and a plea has been filed by a resident of the premises to hand over the residential portion of the markaz, which is pending final adjudication before another high court judge.

The court, however, told the Centre's counsel that possession of the case property has to be handed over. It further queried what is Centre's stand on the facts of the case, and "how long will it keep the premises locked as case property?" In an affidavit affirmed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, the Centre said: "Since about 1,300 foreigners were found to be residing in the said premises and cases against them have cross-borders implications and involves the nation's diplomatic relationship with other countries, it is necessary and incumbent on the part of the respondent to preserve the said premises for the purpose of Section 310 of CrPC." "In view of the seriousness of the case which has trans-border implication and diplomatic consideration, it is just and necessary that the case property in such a case is preserved in letter and spirit so that due process of law in dealing with such cases is followed..." Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for the board, contended before the court that his petition pertained to the release of the entire markaz property, comprising the masjid, the madarasa and the residential portion, and it has been pending for more than a year and a half.

Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, representing an intervening member, added that he agrees with the Waqf and the markaz would adhere to the relevant protocols, after re-opening.

The court issued notice on an application filed by a member of the managing committee of the markaz for his impleadment and allowed the Waqf Board to file its response on Centre's affidavit. The court has scheduled the matter for next hearing on November 16.

In connection with the Tablighi Jamaat event held at the markaz, amid the Covid-19 lockdown last year, and the subsequent stay of foreigners several FIRs were registered under the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act, Foreigners Act etc.,
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : Karnataka Police have arrested a youth after a minor girl ended her life for being dragged and hugged by the accused person, the police sources said on Tuesday.

The arrested person is identified as Subramani alias Subbu (26).

The Nandagudi police have slapped charges under POCSO Act and also under IPC Section 305 (abetment to suicide of child).

The accused waylaid the minor girl when she was moving towards the toilet to attend nature's call early in the morning on September 6 in the premises of her house. The accused who was eying on her for a long time had dragged and hugged her.

The mother of the girl rushed to the spot after the victim screamed for help. The accused ran away from the spot after seeing the mother. However, mother and daughter kept the incident a secret fearing social stigma.

However, the accused bragged about his heinous act with his friends and the girl's father came to know about the gossip. The hurt father questioned his daughter and wife about the incident.

The minor girl who was shocked from the day when the incident occurred, felt humiliated after her father questioned her and consumed poison at the residence on September 9. Though she was rushed to the hospital, she passed away on September 11.

The parents of the girl lodged a complaint on Sunday against the accused Subramani, a JCB operator. The parents have also submitted the suicide note left behind by the victim who clearly blamed the accused for taking the extreme step.

The accused was arrested on Monday evening.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Afghan nationals living in India have been opposing the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan since August 15. Afghan residents in south Delhi's Chanakyapuri area on Tuesday afternoon staged a massive protest against Pakistan for the second time this week, demanding that it stop meddling in Afghanistan's affairs. Earlier, on September 10 also, Afghan citizens had staged a protest against Pakistan.

According to them, Taliban is nothing without the tacit support of Pakistan which has helped in breeding them. Taliban does not represent the Afghan people but is controlled by Pakistan. If a Taliban terrorist dies, Pakistan's identity proof is recovered from his pocket.

Mustafa Ansari, an Afghan national living in Delhi for the last five years, told IANS, "We are staging protests against Pakistan because it is interfering in our country's national affairs and lending its support to the Taliban." "We haven't received any help till now, the world knows that Pakistan conducted air strikes in the Panjshir province of Afghanistan and it does not have the jurisdiction to interfere in a foreign country's national issues." He said the situation in Afghanistan is not good. After speaking to our family members in Afghanistan, we came to know that they are not able to go outside their home. We have already experienced the horror under the control of Taliban.

On August 15, the Taliban had captured the entire Afghanistan except the Panjshir valley. Although, a few days later the Taliban claimed that it had captured the Panjshir valley as well.

Another Afghan citizen protesting against Pakistan told IANS, "After the fall of the democratic Afghan government, a new Taliban government has come to power that is why we are protesting. Innocent civilians are being killed as well as continuous attacks are being carried out in the Panjshir valley.

On September 7 after capturing Panjshir valley, the Taliban announced an interim government in Afghanistan. However, Afghan nationals living in India are angry over the new Taliban government controlling Afghanistan and have launched protests.
Chennai, Sep 14 : Former Chief Minister and leader of AIADMK, O. Panneerselvam has appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin to intervene in the problem arising out of the car manufacturing company, Ford announcing to shut down its vehicle and engine assembling unit in Chennai.

In a statement on Tuesday, the former Chief Minister said that according to media reports, the shutting down of the Ford plant would adversely affect a large number of workers who are directly and indirectly employed by the carmaker. Several micro, small and medium enterprises that were dependent on the car manufacturer is also facing issues due to the shutting down of the Ford plant, O. Panneerselvam mentioned in the letter.

The former Chief Minister called upon Stalin to directly talk to the company management and the employees and try for continued operation of the plant. He also said that the government should ensure that employees don't lose their jobs.

It may be noted that the decision of the Ford company to exit from its Vehicle and Engine manufacturing plants in Chennai by the second quarter of 2022 will lead to direct job losses of around 2,600 workers and supervisors.

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) has said that the move of the Ford company would severely impact around 170 dealers of the company who had jointly invested around Rs 2,000 crore. About 40,000 people are employed in these 170 dealers, FADA has said in a statement.

FADA president Vinkesh Gulati in a statement said that the "Franchisee Protection Act" has to be rolled out by the Government of India immediately as this would ensure that the companies adequately compensate the franchisees before they shut down their operations. He said that while Ford had employed 4,000 people in its Sanand and Chennai plants, the dealers employed 40,000 people.

He also said that Ford had appointed multiple dealers as late as five months ago and that these dealers would be hit the hardest.
Kochi, Sep 14 : The Kerala High Court on Tuesday expressed their displeasure in the way Covid protocols were violated last week at the famed Sree Krishna Temple Guruvayoor during the wedding of business magnate Ravi Pillai's son.

The court, seeing the pictures which appeared in the various media, took suo moto cognisance of the violations and directed the administrator of the Guruvayoor Devaswom Board -- the body that runs the temple -- to explain.

The court pointed out that there was a crowd, clearly indicating there were more people than the prescribed numbers and the 'nadapanthal' (the portion in front of the temple) was decorated with cut-outs and flowers.

After examining the CCTV visuals on the day the wedding took place, the court also came down hard on the temple board, asking who were the people seen wearing black dress and were they security personnel of the temple.

Incidentally, according to the present Covid norms, only 12 people are allowed for weddings at the Guruvayoor temple.

During the wedding, there were personal security guards employed to control things.

The court then asked to see that the entire CCTV visuals of the weddings which took place at the temple for the past one month, noting that everyone has the right to conduct marriages but asked if the rules are the same for all.

The court then asked to implead the sectoral magistrate and the local superindent of police and posted the case for October 5.

The state government had appointed gazetted officers as sectoral magistrate with enormous powers to see that no one violates Covid protocols.

Incidentally among those special invitees for the wedding ceremony included superstar Mohanlal and his wife and the temple Board took action against three of their security staff for opening a gate in the temple for the car carrying the superstar and his wife.

Pillai, who heads the RP Group of companies, is on the list of country's richest people and had gifted a emerald-studded crown weighing 725 grams to the temple before the wedding.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : A Telangana Minister on Tuesday said the guilty person in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Hyderabad "will be killed in an encounter".

Labour Minister Malla Reddy's sensational comment came a day after state Congress chief Revanth Reddy made a similar demand.

"We will definitely arrest him and will do the encounter," Malla Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Hyderabad.

Asked to react on criticism by opposition leaders for not calling on the family of the victim, the minister said they would definitely meet the family members and pay them compensation.

The talk of encounter gave new twist to the case amid the ambiguity over the whereabouts of the accused.

Initially, the police sources had claimed that the accused was arrested from his native village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district.

However, a senior official clarified that the accused is still at large.

Fifteen special police teams of the commissioner' task force are said to be on the lookout for the fugitive.

Police have succeeded in securing a CCTV footage from Falaknuma that shows the accused wearing a cap and face mask, while moving along with another person.

The child was sexually assaulted and murdered on September 9 by the 27-year-old accused who happens to be her neighbour in Saidabad.

The body of the girl, who was missing since 5 p.m. Thursday, was found in the house of her neighbour after midnight.

Autopsy done at the government-run Osmania Hospital revealed that the child was sexually assaulted and strangulated to death.

The horrific incident had triggered angry protest from residents on Friday. They staged sit-in for seven hours on Champapet-Sagar Road, demanding immediate and harshest punishment to the guilty. Some of the protestors also demanded that the guilty be killed in an encounter.
Patna, Sep 14 : A man in Bihar's Khagaria district received Rs 5.5 lakh in his account by a bank error, but refused to return the amount, claiming the money "was sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi".

The Gramin Bank in Khagaria had mistakenly sent the money to Ranjit Das, a native of Bakhtiyarpur village under Mansi police station, and despite several notices, Das refused to return the amount, saying he had spent it.

"I was very happy when I received the money in March this year. I thought as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised every one of depositing Rs 15 lakh in their bank account,I thought that it could be the first installment of it. I have spent all the money. Now, I did not have money in my bank account," Das, who has been arrested, said in a statement to police.

Mansi Station House Officer Deepak Kumar said: "We have arrested Ranjit Das on the complaint given by the manager of the bank. Further investigation is on."
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the BJP, who controls MCD Delhi, of negligence over the building collapse incident that occurred in North Delhi's Sabzi Mandi area a day ago.

Addressing a press conference this afternoon, senior party leader Durgesh Pathak said, "That four storey building was being illegally renovated. In fact, AAP counciller from the Malka Ganj Ward -- Guddi Devi had been verbally updating the MCD about the concerns of RWA members and local residents regarding that construction. She also wrote them a letter on September 2 but the party did not heed her warning." "I am sure that BJP is involved in this illegal construction and has taken bribe for the same," he alleged adding that the building used to be constructed during the night hours and it could not have happened without MCD member's knowledge.

The blood of those two children who lost their lives in yesterday's building collapse is on the saffron party, Pathak further said.

The building, which was around 50 to 60 years old, was not even declared dangerous.

Delhi Police arrested the owner of the ill-fated building on Tuesday under sections 288, 304, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. An investigation over the matter is going on.

Durgesh Pathak further accused the BJP of selling four of Delhi's areas, namely, Karol Bagh, Pusa Road, Old Rajinder Nagar, Shastri Nagar and said, "Earlier these people used to give land on lease but now they have started selling them off." There will be a standing committee meeting of the BJP on Wednesday where the future of these four-key areas will be taken, said the AAP leader, adding that their party will protest against the decision.

He also condemned MCD's decision to sell the Novelty cinema land.
Mumbai, Sep 14 : The ongoing track of 'Vighnaharta Ganesh' highlights the past and present life of 'Mirabai' where in both her lives, she is a dedicated devotee of Lord Krishna and worships him religiously. Essaying the pivotal role of 'Mirabai' is actress Lavina Tandon. She talks about depicting this character on-screen and how she prepared herself for this role.

On how the actress brings emotions to her character, she replies: "I do believe in the ultimate supremacy of God, and I am a person full of faith. So, it gets easier for me to get into the emotion of the character because to play the role of Mirabai who is a devotee of Lord Krishna is a blessing. To bring out the character, I am seen in a yellow-colored saree donned with intricate flower jewellery." "Further adding to the essence of the look, I also carry an instrument called 'Ektara' that Mirabai used to play. I believe along with delivering dialogues, looks also play an instrumental role as they help bring out the best depiction of a character. The feel of the set and the character of Param Krishna looks so real to me that when I am sitting on the set and rehearsing, I automatically get into the zone of 'Mirabai," she adds.

Lavina further shares about her shooting experience and says that everybody on the show is working as a team, from the makeup to the hair department, the creative to the costume to assistant directors.

She says: "They helped me prepare the 'Dohas' and get into the skin of my role. They made me understand a few dialogues which are in pure Hindi and Sanskrit. The captain of our ship, our director, JP sir, has been a very big help." While talking about the preparation work she has done for the role, she reveals: "When I got to know that I am playing the character of 'Mirabai', I started researching on Mirabai and read stories about Lord Krishna and Radha. My creatives have been very helpful and provided me with the Dohas and Bhajans beforehand so that I can get enough time to practice them." "The icing on the cake is that when sitting in front of Lord Krishna idol I feel there is some connection. When I have to look into his eyes and say a particular dialogue it comes so naturally. I ask my production team to hand over that murti of Lord Krishna. Since the time I have been shooting I don't think I have been living as Lavina, but as 'Mirabai'," she concludes.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : India will host the first 'Global Buddhist Conference' in November this year. Indian Council for Cultural Relation (ICCR) has also instituted an award for promotion of Buddhist studies.

"The ICCR has planned to launch the first edition of the 'Global Buddhist Conference' (GBC) in November 2021 on the theme 'Buddhism in Literature' in collaboration with the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM) and International Buddhist Confederation (IBC)," Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President of ICCR said.

The GBC is scheduled to be held at the campus of NNM on November 19-20 and will form part of 70th Foundation Day celebrations of NNM. "Eminent scholars from the prominent Buddhist universities or institutions in India and abroad will participate in the GBC. Over 150 delegates of the IBC will also take part in the inaugural ceremony of the GBC scheduled to be held on November 19," Sahasrabuddhe said.

In the run-up to the GBC, four regional conferences in India (Telangana, Sarnath, Gangtok and Dharamshala) and abroad (Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Cambodia) will be organized.

Reports of these Regional Conferences will be presented during the GBC. Talking about the newly instituted award, he said that it will honour the contribution of foreign scholars, individuals, organizations for the promotion of Buddhist studies internationally.

"The award will comprise a cash reward of US$ 20,000, a Plaque and a Gold Plated Medallion. If there is more than one awardee, the amount would be shared equally. The Award is part of the comprehensive and consolidated action plan for activities related to Buddhism, in line with realizing the vision of the Prime Minister for revival of India as a global centre for Buddhism and related tourism," the ICCR president said.

The Award is open to all international individuals regardless of nationality, race, creed or sex. An association, institution or organization shall also be eligible for the award.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday dissolved a two-decade-old marriage, terming it "emotionally dead", despite the wife's objections, and directed the husband to pay Rs 25 lakh to her within eight weeks.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B. R. Gavai said: "The marriage between the parties is emotionally dead and there is no point in persuading them to live together any more. Therefore, this is a fit case for exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. The marriage between the parties is dissolved." It noted that the wife insisted claiming she intends to live with her husband, however, no meaningful effort has been made by her for reconciliation. The wife had accused her husband of adultery -- cited as the main reason for her moving out of the matrimonial home - and excessive consumption of alcohol. The husband, who is a police officer in West Bengal, accused her of cruelty and desertion.

Husband's counsel submitted that they have been living separately for more than 16 years and for all practical purposes, the marriage is dead. The amicus curiae spoke to the wife several times, but she was not convinced that an unworkable marriage should be put to an end.

The trial court and the high court had refused to accept husband's contentions that he is entitled for divorce by holding that he could not make out a case of cruelty meted out by his wife.

Directing the petition filed by the wife for maintenance shall be withdrawn on receipt of the amount of Rs 25 lakh, the apex court said: "The Registry is directed to prepare a decree accordingly." "The petition filed by the respondent under Section 125 CrPC for maintenance shall be withdrawn by the respondent on receipt of the amount of Rs 25 lakh. The payment of the aforesaid amount is in full and final settlement of all claims of the respondent against the appellant." The marriage took place in 1997, and was registered under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The man filed a suit for dissolution of marriage on March 5, 2007 before the District Judge, Alipore.
New Delhi: Chief of Army Staff Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane addressing a press conference on Army day Parade 2021, in New Delhi on Tuesday, 12 January 2021. (Photo: Bidesh Manna/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 14 : Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane visited important Army and Naval installations at Mumbai for two days and reviewed the operational preparedness. He also met Indian private players engaged in defence manufacturing.

General Naravane interacted with business heads of Mahindra Defence, Adani Group, Larsen and Toubro and Tata Group. He complimented the business houses for stellar contributions towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat (Self Reliant India) and capability enhancement of the Army.

On September 13, 2021, the Army Chief visited Headquarters of Western Naval Command where he reviewed a ceremonial guard of honour and interacted with Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of Western Naval Command.

He also visited 'INS Teg', a Missile Frigate affiliated with the 'Sikh Light Infantry Regiment'. In the evening, the General Naravane called on Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Governor of Maharashtra, and discussed issues of mutual interest including welfare and resettlement of Veterans in the State.

On September 14, 2021, he visited the Headquarters of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa Area and different administrative echelons located in Mumbai.

Lt Gen S.K. Prashar, GOC briefed him on the functioning of the Area HQ and their contributions in various humanitarian assistance during Covid-19 and flood relief operations this year.

The Army Chief appreciated the various welfare initiatives and projects undertaken to improve the quality of life of troops, their families and veterans by the Area HQ.

Last week, General Naravane visited Headquarters of Western Command at Chandimandir and reviewed operational preparedness.

The Army Chief was updated on various operational and training related issues by Lieutenant General R.P. Singh, Army Commander, Western Command.

Since Independence, Western Command was instrumental in effectively blunting the Pakistan aggression in 1947, 1965 and 1971, and subsequently carrying the battle into enemy territory.

General Naravane addressed officers of the Western Command during which he exhorted them to serve with pride and in doing so uphold the military ethos and the rich culture of the Indian Army.
Aizawl, Sep 14 : Triggering widespread concern, the Covid-19 positivity rate in Mizoram has jumped to 16.39 per cent, the highest in India, officials said on Tuesday.

According to health officials in Aizawl, in mountainous Mizoram, where the first Covid-19 death was reported on October 28, 2020, six months after the northeast region's first coronavirus fatality in Assam and seven months after India's first in Karnataka, around 1,000 people are testing positive for Covid on every single day during the past two weeks.

Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry data on Tuesday said that the active ratio in Mizoram is 18.34 per cent against Kerala's 4.77 per cent.

With a 1.1 million population (2011 census), Mizoram, India's second least populous state, has, so far, recorded 72,883 positive cases with 241 fatalities.

Covid data analysis found that Mizoram, which shares borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, had over 6.5 per cent of its population infected by the disease.

Talking to IANS, Mizoram health officials said that the state's recovery rate is 82.74 per cent against the national recovery rate of 97.58 per cent.

"We had undertaken mass testing of people mainly through the Rapid Antigen method. Might be due to this,s the number of positive cases have gone high. Our state's Covid fatality rate is 0.33 per cent, lowest in India," said Pachuau Lalmalsawma, who is the state's nodal officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

"Our health officials and workers accompanied by the local Task Force volunteers are conducting active searches for cases through contact tracing. Mass testing covering all citizents of each locality across the state has been done vigorously. Not a single household would remain without testing." Alarmed by the abnormal increase in the number of positive cases, the Centre rushed a two-member expert team to the state last week.

"The central expert team is now studying the cases in Mizoram. After getting their report and recommendations, we would take subsequent steps to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 cases," Lalmalsawma said.

As per the data of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, Punjab, at 2.74 per cent death ratio, has the highest mortality rate in the country followed by Uttarakhand (2.15 per cent), and Maharashtra (2.13 per cent).

On Tuesday afternoon, Mizoram has 13,369 active cases, while 59,273 people have recovered from the disease so far.

According to state immunisation officer Lalzawmi, around 6.72 lakh people have been inoculated, of which over three lakh people have received both doses of vaccines.

Of the state's 11 districts, Aizawl district has registered highest number of 38,137 positive cases and 183 deaths followed by Kolasib with 828 cases and 23 deaths. Khawzawl is the only district where no death has been reported though 142 people tested positive.

(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Delhi Police on Tuesday said they have arrested four people who robbed a shop on Saturday at Kucha Ghashi Ram, in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area.

According to the police, the accused -- Parvez, Paresh Patel, Seema Shadmon, and Abdul Shakur -- robbed an amount of Rs 64,15,000, however, so far only 17.48 lakh has been recovered.

The victim, in his complaint, said that three unknown people barged into his shop when he was present along with his colleagues on September 11. One of the accused was carrying a pistol while the other one had a knife.

"They threatened us to be quiet and the third person robbed Rs 10 Lakh from Almirah and also a bag containing cash and ran away," the complainant said. The police, accordingly, lodged an FIR under relevant sections in PS Lahori Gate and initiated an investigation into the incident.

After analyzing more than 200 CCTV footages in the vicinity of the incident site, call details of the victim's employees, and details of suspected persons, the police got to know about Paresh Patel, an employee of the complainant, who disclosed that he was playing a key role in the robbery. He was then arrested.

As per Paresh's disclosure, his associates Seema, 39, and her husband Abdul Shakur, 42, were arrested and robbed amount of Rs 10 lakh was recovered. Later, their co-accused Parvez, 35, was also arrested from Shastri Nagar and part of robbed amount Rs 7.48 lakh and the weapon used in the crime, a dagger, was also recovered.

The police informed that efforts are on to trace other associates involved in the crime and to recover the remaining robbed amount.
Chandigarh, Sep 14 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it was unfortunate that the farmers agitating against the "black" farm laws had "given a political twist" to his remarks, "instead of understanding the pain and misery caused to the people on account of their protests".

Reacting to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha's criticism of the remarks he had made on Monday in this regard, he lamented that despite his government's unequivocal support to their cause, the farmers had misinterpreted his appeal and had, instead, tried to link it with the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.

His government, as well as the people of Punjab, had always stood with the farmers on the issue of the farm laws, and it was sad that they were now suffering due to the continued protests of the farming community across the state, he said in a statement.

The Chief Minister asserted that there was no question of trying to split the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, "all of whom were equal victims of the apathy of the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the neighbouring state".

"My government, in contrast, has not only firmly supported the farmers' fight against the farm laws but had even brought in amendment Bills in the Vidhan Sabha to mitigate their adverse impact," he pointed out, adding those Bills had, unfortunately, not been forwarded by the Governor to the President for assent.

Pointing out that the farmers' fight was against the BJP, "which was solely responsible for thrusting the anti-farmer legislations on Punjab and other states", Amarinder Singh said inconveniencing the people of Punjab was not justified in the circumstances.

He rejected the morcha's claims that there was no paralysis of the government in Punjab due to the farmers' protests, pointing out that it "is the people of Punjab who are suffering due to the disruption of services as a result of the protests".

Continued protests in Punjab will push industry out of the state, which would have a severe impact on the economy, which his government was "still trying to revive from the crisis into which the previous SAD-BJP government had pushed it", he said.

Already, the situation was becoming serious on the grain storage and procurement front due to the agitation, with lifting of the stocks by the FCI and state agencies getting obstructed, he said.

With wheat stocks having already completed four years of storage, the unused capacity was getting ruined, while also resulting in financial burden on the public exchequer due to payment of guaranteed charges to the silo owners as per agreements, said Amarinder Singh, saying the stocks lying in the FCI Adani silio at Moga alone was worth Rs 480 crore.

All the movement of wheat stocks from the FCI Adani silo in Moga and the FCI silo in Kotkapura is halted due to the ongoing farmers protest, whereas 160,855 metric tonnes of wheat stocks of previous crop years stored in the Adani silo in Moga by the FCI needs to be liquidated on priority, as deterioration of these stocks may lead to losses to the public exchequer.

He also noted that construction of silos awarded by the FCI in the state was getting delayed as farmer unions were not allowing JCBs and trucks to enter the construction sites.

"If things continue in this manner, we will lose out on investment, revenue and employment opportunities," the Chief Minister warned, adding this would lead to serious paralysis of the government in Punjab.

The farmers could not possibly want to lead Punjab and its people back into the depths of despair from which his government had barely managed to pull them out over the past four and a half years, said Amarinder Singh, once again urging the farmers to discontinue their protests in Punjab, which was not even remotely responsible for their plight.
New Delhi, Sep 14: China is set to increase its rice imports from India. Beijing has already imported 4.76 lakh tons of 100 per cent broken rice from India between April and July this year. Indias total rice exports to China during the current financial year could be over 1 million tonnes.

Sample this. According to the All India Rice Exporters' Association, in 2018-19 India exported 951 tonnes but the figure shot up in 2020-21 to touch 33,1571 tonnes.

Heavy floods in China have affected foodgrain production. Large parts of crops were damaged due to heavy rains and flooding last year as well as this year.

Vinod Kaul, executive director of the association, told India Narrative that India, which will be in the rice harvest period next month, is ready to increase exports.

"Countries like China, Vietnam need a lot of broken rice, which is not only the staple grain but it is widely used for making rice wine and noodles and also the grain serves as bird feed. While these countries produce rice on their own, their requirements are also large," Kaul said.

China's Henan province - the second largest rice producer in the country - witnessed severe floods this year. This has brought significant damage to crops-not just rice but other agri-products such as maize and sweet potatoes. The province accounts for more than one-tenth of the country's total rice output.

While there have been several reports suggesting that India's rice exports may take a hit, Kaul said that during the April to June period India's rice exports increased by 112 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year. However, there has been "some slowdown in exports growth" but despite that India's outbound shipment of the grain in the first four months of this financial year stood at 74 per cent.

Besides China, several other countries including Bangladesh and Vietnam have also been importing rice from India.

Vietnam also imported 3.81 lakh tonnes of broken rice from India for the first time during this period.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Bhubaneswar, Sep 14 : In a major success in the fight against Maoists, Odisha police have arrested a top Maoist leader Dubashi Shankar carrying Rs 20 lakh reward on his head, Odisha DGP Abhay said on Tuesday.

Shankar is the highest-ranking Maoist to be arrested or neutralised in the past 20 years by the Odisha police, he said.

On receipt of credible information regarding movement of a group of banned Maoists in the forest area under Boipariguda police limits in Koraput district, an anti-Maoist operation was launched on September 12 night, Abhay said.

On the next day early morning, the police party apprehended the hardcore Maoist who has several names -- Dubashi Shankar, Mahender, Arun, Ramesh, RM and Mahesh, he said.

One Insas Rifle, 10 rounds of ammunition, a mobile phone, radio, Amazon kindle, cash of Rs 35,500 and other articles have been recovered from the possession of Shankar. Koraput police forwarded him to court, the DGP said.

On interrogation, the ultra reveals that he joined the Maoist organization in 1987 in Indrapuriyal area committee, then Andhra Pradesh as a party member.

He was promoted to the rank of special zonal committee member (SZCM) in 2003, joined Andhra Odisha border special zonal committee (AOBSZC) in 2004. In the year 2010 he joined the State Military Commission (SMC).

Abhay said the Maoist was involved in several heinous crimes including ambush in Damanjodi in which 10 CISF jawans were martyred and Govindapalli landmine blast in 2010 in which 11 police personnel were killed. Besides, he was also involved in the Janiguda ambush case in 2012 in which four BSF personnel were killed, he pointed out.

He was also involved in two criminal cases in Koraput district, 18 cases of Malkangiri district, 32 cases of Visakhapatnam district and 24 criminal cases in Telangana.

In a related development, Sonal Madvi Kiran, a member of Guma Area Committee surrendered before the SP and DIG of Koraput on Tuesday, he informed.
Seoul, Sep 14 : South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it has decided to fine global tech giant Google 207.4 billion won ($176.8 million) for its alleged abuse of the market dominance in the mobile operating system and app markets.

Since 2016, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has been looking into Google over allegations it obstructed local smartphone makers, such as Samsung Electronics Co, from using operating systems developed by rivals.

Google has hampered market competition by requiring smartphone makers to clinch an "anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA)" when they sign key contracts with Google over app store licenses and early access to OS, according to the regulator.

Under an AFA, device makers are not permitted to install modified versions of Android OS, known as "Android forks" on their products. They are also not allowed to develop their own Android forks.

This practice has helped Google cement its market dominance in the mobile platform market and undermined innovation in the development of new OS for smart devices, according to the regulator.

In addition to the fine, the KFTC ordered Google LLC, Google Asia Pacific and Google Korea to take corrective steps, reports Yonhap news agency.

The regulator has ordered Google to ban its practice of forcing Android manufacturers to sign an AFA and to make corrections on details about the AFA before reporting them to the commission.

"We expect the latest measures will help set the stage for competition to revive in the mobile OS and app markets. This is also expected to help the launch of innovative goods and services in smart device markets," the KFTC said.

The regulator is separately investigating three more cases related to Google's alleged anti-competition activity.

The KFTC is looking into whether Google allegedly forced mobile game applications to be only released on its Play store. A probe is underway for Google's unfair business practice over the sale of digital ads.

The commission has been also probing into whether Google's new billing policy has harmed market competition.

Google earlier announced a plan to charge a 30 per cent fee to all app developers over in-app digital content purchases in South Korea.

Separately, the National Assembly endorsed an act in August that will curb the dominance Google and Apple exert over payments on their app stores. The move enabled South Korea to become the first nation in the world to enact such a law.
Chandigarh, Sep 14 : The much-awaited cargo complex at the international airport in Mohali will be made operational by November 30, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan said on Tuesday.

At a meeting of the Public Investment Management (PIM) committee, the Chief Secretary was apprised that 10 infrastructure projects worth Rs 795.42 crore have been completed.

These include the mega milk processing plant in Bassi Pathana, a 100-bed hospital in Fazilka, a multi-storey car parking at Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, concrete road from Chandigarh-Ludhiana national highway, and the hi-tech cycle valley in Dhanansu village.

Principal Secretary (Civil Aviation) Tejveer Singh said the civil works of the integrated common use cargo terminal at the Mohali international airport have been completed and necessary equipment are being procured to make it operational.

The cargo complex will be made operational by November 30, he said.

The progress of the cargo complex in Amritsar was also discussed and it was decided that the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion would undertake industry sessions for both the cargo complexes.

On the status of the international airport in Halwara, Tejveer Singh said the construction work of the boundary wall has been completed while the interim terminal building and apron construction work will begin shortly.
Mumbai, Sep 14 : From his workout videos to family photographs, and his banter with nephew Arjun Kapoor, Bollywood star Anil Kapoor is very active on social media.

The actor, though, sounded a note of caution during a conversation with actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan on the chat show 'Pinch Season 2'. When asked about how he views the power of social media and if he had any piece of advice for his fans, 'Mr India' said: "My advice is, don't be trigger-happy, use social media positively as it can be a great platform for spreading love and positive messages. Don't try to use it negatively and exploit it for sensationalism." Kapoor then went on to add: "When you don't have much knowledge about a matter, why do you comment on it? It is better to remain silent and mind your own business." (The episode will be aired on Wednesday, September 15, on QuPlay YouTube, ZEE5 and MyFM)
Panaji, Sep 14 : Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and in-charge of the 2022 assembly polls in Goa, Devendra Fadnavis will arrive in Goa on September 20 to discuss poll strategy with top BJP leaders in the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday.

Sawant who met Fadnavis earlier in the day also said that the BJP would win a majority on its own in the polls.

"I met Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of State for Railways Darshana Jardosh, who is the assistant in-charge for Goa polls. I discussed the political scenario in Goa with them," Sawant said.

"They will be coming to Goa on September 20 and will meet the core team and the state president and decide the future strategy of going into elections. We will be planning our preparations for the elections," Sawant said, adding that Fadnavis' vast political experience will help the BJP "win a full majority" in the 2022 polls.

Earlier, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant visited Fadnavis at the latter's home in Mumbai on Tuesday on the occasion of Ganesh festival.

Sawant tweeted photos of him taking blessings from the Ganesh installed at the Maharashtra Leader of Opposition's residence.

"Took blessing of Lord Ganesh at the residence of Former CM of Maharashtra Shri @Dev_Fadnavisji, in Mumbai," Sawant said in his tweet.

Earlier this month, Fadnavis was appointed as the in-charge of the Goa assembly polls, which are scheduled to be held in early 2022.
Ranchi, Sep 14 Ians) : The Jharkhand government is grabbing every opportunity to attract investments to the state and is exploring opportunities in fields beyond mines and mineral-based industries.

The state has opened doors to eastern India's largest electronic manufacturing cluster in Adityapur near Jamshedpur and now the government is on the way to open doors for investors to the dedicated Pharma Park in Chanho near state capital Ranchi.

"The Department of Industries is developing a Pharma Park and a Food Processing Park at the Chanho Block of Ranchi. The department has reserved an open area of 35 acres for the creation of a Pharma Park. As per the plan, the government has reserved 55 plots for allocation to micro, small, medium and large-scale pharma industries. Out of these 55 plots, 30 plots are reserved for the micro pharma industry, 14 plots for small units, 7 plots for medium units and 4 plots are reserved for large scale pharma production units" a government official told IANS.

The Pharma Park will be equipped with all the infrastructure facilities including an administrative building, a canteen, a utility centre, ETP, road network, drainage system, bridges, streetlights and many more.

In addition, the department is also working on the draft of a new pharma policy to attract investors from other states. At the recently held Investors' Meet, investors raised concerns about the lack of provisions for medical equipment manufacturers in the old pharma policy. Chief Minister Hemant Soren assured them of a solution and directed officials to work on drafting a dedicated Pharma Policy with incentives for medical equipment manufacturers. He also directed the officials to include provisions for plot allocation to the manufacturers in the upcoming Pharma Park.

The Chief Minister said that the government is working on paving the way for industries to come and establish their plants and generate employment in Jharkhand. He said that the government is trying to create an investor-friendly environment and the aim is to take Jharkhand upward in the category of leading states of India.

In the last week of August, Soren was in Delhi to attend the Investors' Meet organised by the Department of Industries, Jharkhand. On the first day of the two-day event, the Chief Minister held a round table meeting with business groups and one to one meetings with representatives from the big industrial houses. The second day of the event witnessed the launch of the Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy 2021 with investment MoUs worth Rs 10,000 crore signed with companies like SAIL, TATA, Aadhunik, Dalmia and others.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has invited US investors, particularly insurance and pension funds, to invest in the country's road and highway infrastructure.

Addressing the 17th Indo-US Economic Summit, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), he said he "sincerely hopes more and more US companies will come and invest in the road and highway projects in India which is the gold mine for all stakeholders".

He assured better returns for the investors compared to those garnered in the US.

About the government's efforts to boost production and adoption of alternative transport fuel such as ethanol and emphasis on last mile connectivity through several modes of transport, he noted that there are opportunities for American companies to invest in research and development of mobility technology in the country.

Gadkari was of the view that both India and the US would play a major role in the post-Covid global economic recovery.

Lalit Bhasin, the Summit Chair, noted that the pandemic presented innumerable challenges in economic fronts, but such challenges are also opportunities that can motivate for scaling up in the bilateral economic value chain.

"Pandemic has taught us to reform the business models, to go further up in the digital space, become more inclusive and at the same time global in our outlook," he said Rohit Kochhar, Regional Vice President, IACC described the current period as a "watershed moment" for the Indo-US relations.

"I say this because our partnership is not just centered around business and economics, but also assumes great significance in view of recent geo-political developments. Increasingly, there are a host of areas where our concerns and interests are both intertwined and complementary," he said.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Anil Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Infrastructure, sai during the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday that Reliance Infrastructure has won against Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) as the Supreme Court upheld the arbitral award in favour of Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), a Reliance Infra arm that used to operate the Delhi Airport Metro line.

Ambani said as a result of the SC judgement, Reliance Infra arm DAMEPL will receive a sum of Rs 7,100 crore from DMRC, which will be utilised to repay the debt of Reliance Infra following which the company will become debt-free.

He added that there are regulatory assets worth Rs 50,000 crore under approval/dispute before various fora for its power distribution business - BSES Delhi and erstwhile GTD in Mumbai. Further arbitration claims pending before various fora amount to Rs 15,000 crore.

In the last AGM, Anil Ambani had announced that the promoters will be increasing their shareholding in the company. The preferential issue of over Rs 550 crore comprising 8.88 crore warrants of Rs 62 each, convertible into equity, will increase the promoter holding to 22.06 per cent.

Reliance Power, Reliance Infra and other promoters have increased stake by converting Rs 1,325 crore ICD. The current holding is 24.98 per cent, which will to go up to 38 per cent on conversion of warrants.

Ambani said during the last year, Reliance Infra successfully completed a 100 per cent stake sale of Delhi Agra Toll Road to Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte Ltd for Rs 3,600 crore, entire 74 per cent stake sale in Parbati Koldam Transmission Company Limited to India Grid Trust for enterprise value of Rs 900 crore, sale of the commercial property at Santacruz under a composite transaction for sale, buyback and lease of the said property resulting in debt reduction by 35 per cent.

Ambani said Reliance Infra's new growth engine will be the power distribution business as the new Electricity Act will be opening up a plethora of opportunities; new contracts in EPC business and defence manufacturing business.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 14 : A two-time Kerala legislator of the ruling CPI-M on Tuesday took pot shots at an unnamed state minister who is allegedly not picking her calls.

At a function in her Kayamkulam Assembly constituency, U. Prathiba said state Education Minister V. Sivankutty always takes her call and if is unable to do so, makes it a point to respond at the first opportunity.

She thanked Sivankutty who was also present there.

"But before I decide to call a Minister, I think several times before making the call as all know that the Minister is very busy. There is one Minister who does not pick my calls and I make the calls for issues concerning people and never for my personal needs," lamented Prathiba.

Following her veiled attack, the social media is buzz with speculation if the Minister whom she was referring to is state Health Minister Veena George.

Incidentally Prathiba has time and again run into controversy by her tongue in cheek remarks and not long ago, she had a run in with journalists, who, she claimed, were after her.

In the past she also had problems with local party leaders in her district.

Now all eyes are on how her latest remarks will be taken by her party, which is all set to begin its organisational meetings to the run-up to the state party conference.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Poll strategist Prashant Kishor has been meeting the Congress leaders informally in poll bound states as his induction in the party is still under consideration by Sonia Gandhi.

Sources have confirmed that he has met a couple of leaders in poll bound states and he has given his personal state specific inputs to them.

Gujarat Congress leader and a former union minister Bharat Singh Solanki, who met Kishor on a couple of occasions, said, "he has a good plan to re-energize the Congress in the state." Gujarat is going to polls next year and Solanki is a strong contender for the state president's post as Congress is going to rejig the state unit soon.

Another leader whom Kishor has met is Veerappa Moily, who is also in support of Kishor joining the party.

Several Congress leaders are however divided over Kishor's role in ticket distribution, but none is averse of him joining the party. They think he should be made in-charge of election management department without the candidate selection power.

Congress leaders do approve that his inputs should be considered in the party but suggested that state leaders and former & sitting chief ministers should have a say in the ticket distribution process.

The Congress party has been consulting the Congress Working Committee (CWC) members to revamp the party structure after losing two consecutive general elections.

Sources said, the CWC members have been asked to give their feedback and Sonia Gandhi loyalist and one of the senior most leader Ambika Soni and A.K. Antony have been involved in the process. General Secretary (organization) K.C. Venugopal has also been roped in for the same.

Soni and Antony have been asking leaders informally about the role the Congress can offer to poll strategist Prashant Kishor.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : In the months leading up to Independence, in Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel are engaged in deliberations with British Viceroy Louis Mountbatten over the fate of the country.

In Lahore, Sepoy Malik returns home from the Great War hoping to win his sweetheart Tara's hand in marriage, only to find divide-and-rule holding sway, and love, friendships and familial bonds being tested.

Set in parallel threads across these two cities, "Lahore" (HarperCollins), part 1 of Manreet Sodhi Someshwar's "The Partition Trilogy" is a behind-the-scenes look into the negotiations and the political skulduggery that gave India its freedom, the price for which was 'batwara'. As the men make the decisions and wield the swords, the women bear the brunt of the carnage that tears through India in the sticky hot months of its cruellest summer ever.

Backed by astute research, "The Partition Trilogy" captures the frenzy of the times and takes readers back to an era of great upheaval and churn. It's an exploration of the events, exigencies and decisions that led to the Independence of India, its concomitant partition, and the accession of princely states alongside.

A literary political thriller that captures the frenzy of the time, the series is set in Delhi, Lahore, Hyderabad and Kashmir. Covering a vast canvas, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Louis Mountbatten share space in the trilogy with the ordinary people from the cities that were affected by the partition and the reorganization of the states.

In its fresh, incisive and insightful portrayal of a cataclysm that haunts us to this day, "The Partition Trilogy" is both spellbinding and believable - a remarkable feat.

The trilogy, said Someshwar, "is the culmination of a two-decade quest to research and write about an event that is concomitant with independence, that has been pushed to the margins of our collective memory, yet one that is wholly resonant with our times. Set in the months leading up to independence, Lahore, Book 1 of the trilogy, will hurtle you towards 15 August - fasten your seatbelts"! Udayan Mitra, Executive Publisher, HarperCollins India, said 1947 is "a year India will never forget: not only because it was the year that the nation attained freedom, but because it was a year that would change the individual lives and destinies of millions of people. As the country stumbles towards Independence and Partition, gripping personal stories take shape alongside the unfolding political drama. 'Lahore' is a joy to read and a wonderful book with which to revisit the most important year in India's history".

Prema Govindan, Senior Commissioning Editor, Literary, HarperCollins India, said: "Manreet's writing has a special place in my heart, for she places the individual and the woman above all the politics and the violence. 'The Partition Trilogy', while being true to history, is a voicing of 'her story' too, and I am glad that we at HarperCollins India are the medium to tell it." Manreet Sodhi Someshwar is a bestselling writer of six books, including the award-winning "The Radiance of a Thousand Suns" and the critically acclaimed "The Long Walk Home". Hailed as "a star on the literary horizon" by Khushwant Singh and garnering endorsement from Gulzar for two of her books, Someshwar and her work have featured at literary festivals. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, the South China Morning Post and several Indian publications. She lives in New York City with her husband, daughter and a cat.
Beijing, Sep 14 : With the resurgence of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in China's Fujian province, the country has shut schools, called off events, and imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, media reports said.

The Fujian Province reported 120 locally transmitted confirmed Covid-19 cases and 19 local asymptomatic carriers as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the Xinhua news agency quoted local authorities as saying.

The confirmed cases occurred in the cities of Putian, Quanzhou, and Xiamen, and the new asymptomatic carrier was detected in Putian, the provincial anti-pandemic workgroup said in a press conference.

All of the infected have been transferred to designated hospitals for treatment. Since the latest resurgence began on Friday, local authorities have made all out efforts to trace the close contacts, who are all under concentrated quarantine.

As of Monday, two areas in the province have been classified as Covid-19 high-risk areas and four more as medium-risk areas, the report said.

Fujian authorities have also ordered mass Covid-19 testing for students and teachers in the province to be completed within a week. The city of Xiamen has closed off two districts and a hospital after identifying coronavirus patients.

Pupils from a Putian primary school were among the first identified Covid-19 patients in the latest outbreak.

The parent of a child at the Putou Primary School in Putian, who returned from Singapore, is the suspected source of the latest outbreak, Al Jazeera reported.

He had returned to China from Singapore in August and completed quarantine -- including multiple coronavirus tests -- before testing positive this month after developing Covid symptoms.

Putian, a city of 3.2 million in Fujian, has ordered the testing of all residents as the infection has spread to more than 100 people in the province, the report said.

Further, the country's largest trade fair China Import and Export Fair also known as Canton Fair, being held in the neighbouring Guangdong province, has also been cut short from 12 days to five days, Chu Shijia, director of the China Foreign Trade Centre, told a press conference on Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported.

Several airports in Guangdong -- including in Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- are now demanding passengers coming from Fujian to take compulsory tests after landing regardless of whether they had presented negative coronavirus tests in the previous 48 hours, according to statements from the airports.

The National Health Commission team sent to Fujian said it was likely that cases would continue to be detected in communities, schools and factories in Putian, where the present outbreak is mainly concentrated, with a risk of further spread of the virus, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Full service private airline Vistara said on Tuesday that its Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan will succeed Leslie Thng as the airline's Chief Executive Officer from January 1, 2022.

Thng, after leading Vistara for more than four years, will move on to take up a senior appointment with Singapore Airlines from January 1, 2022.

At present, Kannan serves as Vistara's Chief Commercial Officer.

He had joined the airline in June 2019 as the Chief Strategy Officer and currently heads network planning, revenue management, marketing, customer experience and cabin service operations, among others.

"He started his career with Singapore Airlines in 2001 and has held various senior positions in the airline. Prior to joining Vistara, he had served as the Chief Commercial Officer for Scoot, the budget airline subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Group," the airline said in a statement.

Kannan has handled global network planning and has spent eight years running operations in Indonesia, Italy and Saudi Arabia.

According to Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat: "Leslie Thng has led the airline through a significant phase, with the start of international operations and the entry into service of various aircraft, including the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

"Vinod Kannan will lead Vistara in its next phase of growth, building on the strong foundation laid by Leslie. This company continues to benefit from the strong commitment of the two partners, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines."
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : Hyderabad police on Tuesday announced a Rs 10 lakh reward for any information leading to arrest of the accused in rape and murder of a six-year-old girl.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar announced the reward as Pallakonda Raju remained absconding.

He declared a reward to any person who gives information/clue leading to arrest of the absconding accused. The information can be passed to Deputy Commissioner of Police, East Zone on contact number 9490616366 or Deputy Commissioner of Police, Task Force on 9490616627.

The police also released a photograph of the accused, aged about 30 years.

According to a statement released by the police, Raju is approximately 5.9 feet tall and has long hair, tied with a rubber band. He is wearing a cap and red scarf around his neck.

The accused has tattoos on his both hands reading 'Mounika'. According to police, he has a beard on his chin and is in formal trousers and a shirt. He is used to taking alcohol and sleeping at pavements and bus stands.

The child was sexually assaulted and murdered on September 9 by Raju who happens to be her neighbour in Saidabad.

The body of the girl, who was missing since 5 p.m. Thursday, was found in the house of her neighbor after midnight.

The horrific incident had triggered angry protest from residents on Friday. They staged sit-in for seven hours on Champapet-Sagar Road, demanding immediate and harshest punishment to the guilty. Some of the protestors also demanded that the guilty be killed in an "encounter".

Initially, the police sources had claimed that accused was arrested from his native village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district.

However, a senior official clarified that the accused is still at large. The police commissioner said despite serious efforts, the accused remained at large.

Fifteen special police teams of the commissioner' task force are said to be on the lookout for the fugitive.

Police have succeeded in securing a CCTV footage from Falaknuma that shows the accused wearing a cap and face mask, while moving along with another person.

A Telangana minister on Tuesday sparked a row with a statement that the guilty will be killed in an "encounter".

Labour Minister Malla Reddy made the sensational comment a day after state Congress chief Revanth Reddy made a similar demand.

"We will definitely arrest him and will do an encounter," Malla Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Hyderabad.
Mumbai, Sep 14 : As torrential rains claimed at least three lives in two days in and around Gujarat's Rajkot city, an SUV of the local police was seen virtually slicing through the flooded roads, rendering assistance to the marooned folks.

A video of the Mahindra Bolero SUV of the Rajkot police was posted by a local and captioned - "Mahindra Hai To Mumkin Hai" - a sly take-off on the Bharatiya Janata Party's oft-repeated slogan to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The white police SUV can be seen gliding through the flood waters on the stretch of road near the Speedwell Party Plot in a prime area of the city - which has given the state two Chief Ministers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won a by-election in 2002, and the recently resigned Vijay Rupani, who is a sitting legislator from Rajkot West. Former Minister and Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R. Vala had also been legislator from the state.

With most other vehicles forced off the roads by the downpour, the high-speed performance of the Bolero in at least 3-4 feet deep flood waters earned laurels while the Rajkot Municipal Corporation was mercilessly roasted on social media.

Seeing the viral video, Mahindra & Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra was equally astounded, as evident from his reactions.

"Seriously? During the recent rains? Even I am pretty amazed", he said in a tweet.

One citizen whip-lashed the Rajkot civic body: "Happy for Mahindra but what a sad state of affairs.. clearly civic bodies have done nothing." Another chipped in saying while the video was certainly a great ad for the Bolero vehicles, he wanted more action than the Bolero.

"Whats's the point in police moving around in a jeep in flood waters? Would have been heartening to see civil aid boats, 5-tonners, small rafts, etc., distributing rations, medical supplies, helping people move around, etc", rued the disappointed twitteratti.

Another was all patriotic praise for the Mahindra Bolero with a whack for the BJP: "Happy to see the powerful SUV from our own country but at the same time #shame4bjp having the condition like this".

Another was cautionary, urging people not to share such videos or "Mahindra would increase the prices of its vehicles", and another shot back: "So to promote Mahindra, officials not caring to clear the drainage.." In his post a worried citizen saluted the SUV, but pointed out the problems of population, pollution, education, and nature, and urged Mahindra & Mahindra chief to tweet on these issues.

And there were many who rambled on the qualities of the rugged Bolero which drove away the Ford from India, and many proclaimed their unabashed love for the different versions of Mahindra vehicles they proudly own.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
Kolkata, Sep 14 : With an eye to make a dent in the Northeast region, particularly in Assam and Tripura, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday nominated former Congress MP from Silchar, Sushmita Deb, for Rajya Sabha.

Deb, who recently joined the Trinamool from the Congress, is likely to become the face of the party in the Northeast.

"We are extremely pleased to nominate @SushmitaDevAITC to the Upper House of the Parliament. @MamataOfficial vision to empower women and ensure their maximum participation in politics shall help our society achieve much more," Trinamool tweeted.

Recently the Election Commission of India had announced polls for six Rajya Sabha seats across five states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Rajya Sabha seat in West Bengal fell vacant after Manas Bhuniya contested and won in the Assembly elections held earlier this year. Deb has been nominated in his place. The elections will be held on October 4.

It has just been a month since Dev left the Congress and joined the Trinamool. She had earlier said that she would undertake any responsibility given to her by the Trinamool and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

According to political analysts, Dev has been nominated to the RS as she is campaigning in Assam and Tripura with the objective of expanding the party's cadre and influence in the Northeast region.

Another factor is Trinamool's ambition to outdo the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. With Dev being a former Congress spokesperson and the chief of the All India Mahila Congress, Trinamool is hopeful that she could soon represent the party nationally under the party's national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Also, the Trinamool is more vocal about women's representation in the Parliament, which is where Dev's experience would come in handy.

According to sources, Dev was reportedly expecting such a coveted post from the Congress earlier. Now that the Trinamool has nominated her for the RS bypolls, it will bolster her position in the corridors of power, besides helping the Trinamool to expand its base in the Northeastern states.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has requested the Home Ministry to decide on the demand of Afghan students for extension of their visa in the wake of the change of regime in their native country.

The ICCR, an autonomous body under the administrative control of the Ministry of External Affairs, offers 1,000 scholarships every year to Afghan nationals for pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D courses through Indian universities.

ICCR President and BJP Rajya Sabha member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said, "Many Afghan students have requested us for extension of their visa in the wake of change of regime in their native country. We have referred their request to the Union Home Ministry, which is the nodal ministry to take call on this issue." He also pointed out that ICCR has no plans to stop or reduce the number of scholarships to Afghan students.

"As far as scholarships of Afghan students are concerned, we have neither any instructions nor any plans to stop them or cut them down," Sahasrabuddhe said.

He mentioned that as per rule, ICCR cannot provide stipend to students who are attending virtual classes from their country.

"Those students who have got admission in Indian institutions but are unable to come here can continue attending classes virtually and reach out to their respective institutions for further details. And in case the students don't attend classes physically in India, rules don't permit us to give them a stipend as they are not incurring any expenditure," he said.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : India's merchandise exports in August 2021 rose to $33.28 billion, higher by 45.76 per cent on a year-on-year basis, official data showed on Tuesday.

Exports during August 2020 stood at $22.83 billion.

The data by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that in comparison to August 2019, last month's exports rose by 28.03 per cent.

"'Non-petroleum' and 'Non-Gems and Jewellery' exports in August 2021 were $25.19 billion, as compared to $19.10 billion in August 2020, registering a positive growth of 31.87 per cent," it said.

"As compared to August 2019, 'Non-petroleum and Non-Gems and Jewellery' exports in August 2021 registered a positive growth of $28.73 per cent." Similarly, India's merchandise imports in August 2021 increased, rising by 51.72 per cent, on a year-on-year basis, to $47.09 billion from $31.03 billion.

"'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports were $28.67 billion in August 2021, recording a positive growth of 37.33 per cent, as compared to 'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports of $20.88 billion in August 2020," the ministry said.

"'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports in August 2021 recorded a positive growth of 4.32 per cent over August 2019."
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday reiterated that a sentence of imprisonment for life means rigorous imprisonment for life.

A bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai declined to reopen the debate whether a life sentence should be treated as rigorous imprisonment for life.

"In view of the authoritative pronouncements of this court on the issues that arise for consideration in these SLPs, there is no need to re-examine the limited point for which notice was issued. Therefore, the Special Leave Petitions are dismissed," it said.

The top court judgment came on two separate appeals, where questions were raised whether life sentence awarded to them would be treated as rigorous imprisonment for life.

The bench said the issue raised has been authoritatively decided in various verdicts including the one involving younger brother of Nathuram Godse, convicted in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case. The appeals were filed challenging two high courts judgments which upheld the conviction and sentence of petitioners for the offence of murder under Section 302 of the IPC.

The top court said it had relied upon on earlier judgements --1945 Privy Council case of Pandit Kishori Lal versus King Emperor and 1961 case of Gopal Vinayak Godse versus Maharashtra - while dealing with same question of law in 1985 case of Naib Singh versus Punjab, and held that "the sentence of imprisonment for life has to be equated to rigorous imprisonment for life".

In Singh's case, the top court noted that one of the points argued by the petitioner relates to sentence of imprisonment for life not to be equated to rigorous imprisonment for life. "The law laid down by this Court in Naib Singh was followed by this Court in three judgments - Dilpesh Balchandra Panchal v State of Gujarat, Sat Pal alias Sadhu v State of Haryana and Mohd. Munna v Union of India," it said.

The top court junked the appeal filed by Md Alfaz Ali, who was convicted under Section 302 of the IPC and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. In 2016, the Gauhati High Court had dismissed his appeal against the conviction and sentence. In July 2018, the top court had agreed to hear his appeal restricted to the question of propriety of specifying rigorous imprisonment while imposing life sentence.

The top court also dismissed another appeal against the Himachal Pradesh High Court verdict, which upheld a man's conviction and sentence under Section 302 of the IPC.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : Telangana Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday threw a challenge at state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar to prove him wrong that the state received only Rs 1.42 lakh crore out of its Rs 2.72 lakh crore contribution to the Centre in the form of taxes.

Rama Rao, who is also son of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Working President of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), said he would resign from his ministerial post if Sanjay proves him wrong and if the BJP leader could not do so, he should resign from the Parliament.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, slammed the BJP leader for his claim during his ongoing 'padyatra' that funds for all the schemes of the state government are coming from the Centre.

Mounting a scathing attack on BJP while addressing a public meeting at Gadwal, he said that the Modi government is giving back only 50 per cent of what Telangana is contributing to the Centre, and told the people that the money earned from their sweat and blood was going to serve the people in the form of central funds to BJP-ruled states.

He alleged that the money being given by Telangana to the Centre in the form of taxes is being diverted to Uttar Pradesh and other backward states.

The TRS leader slammed the Centre for not sanctioning at least one medical college, IIM or Navodaya school for Telangana.

Targetting Sanjay for his claim, KTR asked him whether the Centre was paying for Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bhima, free 24 hours power supply to farmers, nurseries in every village, Vaikuntadhamams in villages, Haritha Haram, Kalyana Lakshmi/Shaadi Mubarak or monthly social security pension of Rs 2,000 for various categories of beneficiaries.

"If the Centre is giving funds for all the schemes being implemented in Telangana, why there are no such schemes in Karnataka which is ruled by the BJP," he asked.

KTR, who laid foundation stone or inaugurated development works worth Rs 104 crore in Jogulamba Gadwal district in a single day, said Sanjay was spreading lies during his ongoing padyatra.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : In a setback for Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India, the Supreme Court has allowed a commercial court to continue hearing in the steel major's dispute regarding cargo handling and payment with Essar Bulk Terminal.

Arcelor had opposed Essar Bulk Terminal's plea for arbitration, and had sought transfer of proceedings from the commercial court to an arbitration tribunal.

The company argued that an arbitral tribunal having been constituted, the commercial court cannot proceed further with the application under Section 9 of the Arbitration Act.

The top court, however, upheld Surat trial court's order by allowing conduct of arbitration proceedings under Section 9 in a commercial court.

The two-judge bench noted that Section 9(1) enables the parties to an arbitration agreement to approach the appropriate court for interim measures before the commencement of arbitral proceedings, during arbitral proceedings, or at any time after the making of an arbitral award but before it is enforced and in accordance with Section 36 of the Arbitration Act.

"The appeal is allowed only to the extent of clarifying that it shall not be necessary for the commercial court to consider the efficacy of relief under Section 17, since the application under Section 9 has already been entertained and considered by the commercial court. The judgment and order under appeal does not, otherwise, call for interference," the judgement said.

Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India moved the top court against the Gujarat High Court order which had refused to interfere with a Surat court order.

A commercial court in Surat had earlier dismissed its plea by refusing to shift all proceedings to the arbitral tribunal.

The case pertains to Essar Bulk Terminal's claim post Essar Steel's acquisition by ArcelorMittal under IBC, wherein Essar Bulk Terminal said that the Hazira port was not a part of the resolution process.
Hyderabad, Sep 14 : The Telangana government on Tuesday challenged, in the Supreme Court, the High Court order banning immersion of Ganesh idols made of plaster of Paris in Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.

With the High Court on Monday refusing to modify its order, the state government filed an appeal in the apex court.

Animal Husbandry Minister T. Srinivas Yadav told reporters that the state government's petition may come up for hearing on Wednesday. "We will wait for the Supreme Court order and will act accordingly," he said after a delegation of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samithi (BGUS) called on him.

The organisers had demanded the government to take measures to ensure smooth conduct of immersion like every year.

A leader of BGUS said it was for the government to go to Supreme Court or bring an ordinance to ensure that the immersion take place without any hurdles.

The decision to file an appeal in the Supreme Court was taken after Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao discussed the situation created by the High Court order with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Municipal Administration Secretary Arvind Kumar and other top officials late on Monday.

The government decided to go for an appeal keeping in view the sentiments of devotees and the problems faced in implementing the ban on immersion of idols made of PoP in Hussain Sagar.

The High Court on Monday dismissed the revision petition filed by the state government to allow immersion of PoP idols in the lake.

A division bench of 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.

The court also refused to allow immersion into Hussain Sagar from Tank Bund road, saying the huge amount of tax payers' money spent by the government to beautify the stretch will be wasted.

It also asked the authorities if they implement the laws or violate them.

The review petition was filed by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Lokesh Kumar.

The petitioner had mentioned that if the immersion was not allowed from Tank Bund, it may take up to six days for immersion of thousands of idols brought to the lake.

While refusing to modify its order, the High Court had stated that if the government doesn't like its order, it can challenge the same in the higher court.

With less than a week to go for the immersion, the High Court order had landed the authorities in a dilemma.

Yadav earlier stated that by the time the high court delivered its decision on immersion of PoP idols, 35,000 Ganesh idols had already been installed at various locations in Hyderabad and it was 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 were being made for peaceful and safe immersion.

The court had pronounced orders on a contempt petition filed by advocate Mamidi Venu Madhav for not implementing the court's orders 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 September 10. The festivities will conclude on September 19 with the immersion.

Every year, thousands of idols are immersed in Hussain Sagar. Huge idols are brought to the lake in a mammoth procession which starts from Balapur on the city outskirts.

NGOs, environmental activists and eminent citizens have been voicing concern over the pollution in the lake and demanding curbs on immersion.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The Faridabad Municipal Corporation "in principle agreed" before the Supreme Court on Tuesday to roll out provisional allotment of houses for rehabilitation of eligible people, affected by the demolition of residential structures in Khori village area in the Haryana district.

A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari directed the corporation that after receiving documents from eligible applicants for rehabilitation, it should issue provisional allotment letters within a week. It pointed out that the letter should indicate that this is only temporary and subject to verification and final draw of lots.

The top court did not express satisfaction with the corporation's timeline for rehabilitation process. The civic body had proposed a schedule going upto April 30 next year for handing over possession of EWS (economically weaker section) flats to the eligible applicants.

The bench said if applicants are found to be eligible, after due scrutiny, a final allotment letter can be issued to them, after which they may occupy the premises cited in the letter.

Advocates, representing some residents of the village, said the proposed schedule --where applicants have to submit application for allotment of EWS flats by October 15 -- is a short period.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for some of the petitioners, said persons are facing difficulties in accessing the corporation's e-portal for submitting applications and documents. To this, the bench said: "It is open to the corporation to shift the cut-off date to November 15, 2021 as requested by the counsel appearing for the concerned persons." The bench said that on September 20, it would consider the challenge to relevant parts of the rehabilitation scheme.

It noted after taking possession of provisional accommodation, the rent of Rs 2,000 per month offered to the concerned eligible applicant from November 1 for six months or actual physical possession of flats, whichever is earlier, will be discontinued based on a case-to-case basis.

The top court also expressed displeasure that Commissioner of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation was changed in the middle of the rehabilitation process for eligible persons, and asked why it was not informed of this development.

It also queried the civic body, "What is happening to those farmhouses which are encroachments? Have you taken action on that?" The apex court on June 7, had directed Haryana government and Faridabad Municipal Corporation to remove "all encroachments", consisting around 10,000 residential constructions, in Aravali forest area near the village.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal will travel to Haldwani and Nanital in Uttarakhand as a part of his election tour ahead of the Assembly elections in the state scheduled in 2022.

"AAP national convenor & Delhi CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal to visit Uttarakhand's Kumaon region. CM Arvind Kejriwal will reach Haldwani on 19 September, 2021. Important tour in view of the upcoming Uttarakhand assembly elections," the Delhi-based party said in a tweet.

"The agenda of CM's visit to the state is presently being planned," a source said.

Earlier in August, Kejriwal had named Col (Retd) Ajay Kothiyal as AAP's chief ministerial candidate for the Uttarakhand Assembly elections.

He had said that the people of Uttarakhand do not want politicians but a patriot army man, who has fought for the country, battled terrorists, carries two bullets in his body, and played a major role in the reconstruction of Kedarnath after the 2013 tragedy.

"People here want a break from politicians who have only looted the state. They now want an Armyman as CM who will not spend his tenure filling his coffers but serve them," Kejriwal had said in Dehradun, adding that he wishes to develop Uttarakhand as a spiritual capital for Indians living across the world.

He had also assured people of generating employment opportunities for the youth if AAP is voted to power in Uttarakhand.

Kothiyal had joined AAP in April this year at an event in Haridwar.

With AAP jumping into the fray by banking on a retired armyman and the Congress as the main opposition, a triangular contest also involving the ruling BJP is anticipated in the hilly-state.

The Kejriwal-led party has planned to contest all the 70 seats in the state.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took to social media to express his solidarity with the Kashmiri Pandits, saying the "country cannot forget those who have suffered due to militancy in Jammu and Kashmir".

In a Facebook post in hindi, the Congress MP wrote, "The country cannot forget the sufferings of you all and my goodwill is with all my Kashmiri Pandit brothers and sisters, humble tributes." Last week during his visit to Jammu, Rahul Gandhi had said that he is a Kashmiri Pandit and feels at home whenever he visits Jammu and Kashmir.

"My family is a Kashmiri Pandit family. A delegation of Kashmiri Pandits met me today. They said the BJP has done nothing for them while the Congress had implemented many welfare schemes for them. I promise my Kashmiri Pandit brothers that I will do something for them.

"J&K has a special place in my heart, but I am also pained. There is brotherhood in J&K, but the BJP and the RSS are trying to break the bond of that brotherhood," he had said.

He had also said that the BJP had snatched away the statehood from the people of J&K, which should be restored.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : India's merchandise exports in August 2021 rose to $33.28 billion, higher by 45.76 per cent on a year-on-year basis, official data showed on Tuesday.

Exports during August 2020 stood at $22.83 billion.

The data by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that in comparison to August 2019, last month's exports rose by 28.03 per cent.

"'Non-petroleum' and 'Non-Gems and Jewellery' exports in August 2021 were $25.19 billion, as compared to $19.10 billion in August 2020, registering a positive growth of 31.87 per cent," the Ministry said.

"As compared to August 2019, 'Non-petroleum and Non-Gems and Jewellery' exports in August 2021 registered a positive growth of $28.73 per cent." Similarly, India's merchandise imports in August 2021 increased, rising by 51.72 per cent over last year to $47.09 billion from $31.03 billion.

"'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports were $28.67 billion in August 2021, recording a positive growth of 37.33 per cent, as compared to 'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports of $20.88 billion in August 2020," the ministry said.

"'Non-Oil' and 'Non-Gold' imports in August 2021 recorded a positive growth of 4.32 per cent over August 2019." Consequently, trade deficit widened by 68.30 per cent on a year-on-year basis to $13.81 billion in August 2021 from $8.20 billion.

"As the state-wise restrictions have lifted, and economic activity and mobility have recovered, the merchandise trade deficit has widened steadily to $13.9 billion in August 2021 from the eight month low $6.3 billion in May 2021. The predominant drivers behind the widening of the trade deficit have been gold and oil imports." "With gold imports likely to ease in the ongoing month on account of the inauspicious period, the merchandise trade deficit may moderate under $10 billion in September 2021." EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said: "The various policy measures taken by the government such as notification of 'RoDTEP' rates and promise to clear all pending dues on account of various export promotion schemes would strengthen the growth further." He said that the government had walked the talk on most issues and hopefully the issue related to reimbursement of taxes embedded in raw materials like steel in engineering products would be resolved soon.

FIEO President A. Sakthivel said: "The continuous growth in exports since March this year not only augurs well for the economy as a whole but also yet again reiterates the commitment and hard work of the exporting community." "Steady recovery in global trade added with the expectation of buoyant order booking position for the coming months has also led to such continuous growth in exports," he said.
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by Airports Authority Employees Union challenging the privatisation of Mangaluru International Airport.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum opined that since leasing the airports is a policy decision taken by the Centre, no interference is needed from courts on the lines of the decision by Kerala High Court.

The petition challenged the Centre's decision to privatise six airports terming it as illegal, arbitrary and beyond the scope of the Airport Authority Act.

Senior advocate Ashok Harnalli, who appeared for petitioners, argued that there was no revenue sharing with the government. Even though it is called a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the control over aviation services is given to the (private parties), and it is against laws, he argued.

Senior counsel M.B. Nargund, appearing for the Centre, brought to the notice of the court that the same petitioner filed a plea before the Kerala High Court and it has been rejected.
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday announced that the state government would administer 30 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses on September 17.

He directed all District Commissioners to get ready with the required infrastructure for the mega Covid vaccination programme.

"Karnataka is speeding up the process of vaccination. 1.10 crore Covid vaccine doses were given in the month of August. The government is contemplating to get both doses of vaccines for people above 18 years by the end of November," Bommai said.

He said that the daily vaccination target is fixed at 5 lakh doses and the government will administer 15 lakh vaccination doses on every Wednesday through a special drive.

During the special drive on September 17, which is also the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Centre aims to vaccine 2 to 3 crore people in one day and the state government has set the target of 30 lakh jabs, Bommai said. "We have submitted special proposal for vaccines." He said that the administration should focus on getting the poor sections vaccinated. "The cooperation of medical colleges and nursing colleges should be taken. Special camps have to be organised in rural areas," he added.

More vaccinations are helping to reduce the numbers of Covid cases in the state, and 71 per cent of population has been vaccinated with first dose, Bommai said.

Bommai said he will inaugurate the special drive from Kalaburgi.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Bengaluru, Sep 14 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday directed the officials not to demolish temples in haste following a Supreme Court order.

Following a court order on unauthorised religious structures in the state, the authororities in Karnataka are considering measures to get rid of such illegal structures constructed on public land.

Bommai said that a show-cause notice has been issued to the Mysuru District Commissioner and Tahasildar for not taking people into confidence before demolishing temples in the district.

He said that direction has been issued not to take decisions regarding demolition of temples in a haste all across the state. Clear guidelines will be issued after a detailed study of the Supreme Court order and discussion in the cabinet meeting, he underlined.

The ruling BJP is under fire from all corners in connection with vacating places of religious worship built on public properties in the state following the Supreme Court order.

As the district administrations have begun the work of vacating places of religious worship across the state, the ruling BJP is facing stiff resistance from Hindu outfits, opposition parties and their own leaders.

Hindu Jagaran Vedike, a powerful Hindu outfit, has announced that it is planning a massive protest against the Mysuru district administration which is planning to demolish 97 places of worship, of which 93 are Hindu temples. It has been announced that the protest will be held on September 16, when Jagadish Karanth, the outfit's 'Sanchalak' for south India, will visit Mysuru.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has posted a video of a temple being demolished near Nanjangud, saying that temples are not safe under the BJP rule in the state.

MP Pratap Simha said, "The officers are targeting only Hindu temples. The demolition is taking place in such a way that proper time is not given to shift the sacred 'kalasa'. The administration is twisting the Supreme Court order. It never prescribed direct demolitions. There is scope for shifting the temples. The officers are targeting Hindu temples as they think they can be soft targets. We will not tolerate this. Will they dare to touch illegal Masjids and Dargahs?"
Guwahati, Sep 14 : In an interesting development, the Gauhati High Court has ruled that the Special Marriage Act, 1954 does not save the second marriage of a Muslim man with a Hindu woman and as such, it would be invalid, a court official said on Tuesday.

According to a high court order, one Dipamani Kalita, mother of a 12-year-old boy and second wife of Sahabuddin Ahmed, had earlier filed a writ petition in the court after the authority had rejected her claim of pension and other pensionary benefits after her husband's death in a road mishap in July 2017.

The writ petition was filed in 2019 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

Ahmed at the time of his death was serving as a 'Lat Mandal' in the Deputy Commissioner's office in Kamrup (Rural) district.

Gauhati High Court judge Justice Kalyan Rai Surana said that Section 4 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 provides that one of the conditions relating to the solemnisation of special marriages is that neither party has a spouse living.

"It is not in dispute that on the date of marriage between the petitioner and late Sahabuddin Ahmed, the latter had a spouse living... There is no document showing that the prior marriage of the husband of the petitioner with respondent No. 6 (first wife) had been annulled," the court said.

Referring to a Supreme Court judgment, the judge said, "It appears that under the principles of Mohammedan law, the marriage of a Muslim man with an idol worshiper is neither valid nor a void marriage, but is merely an irregular marriage." The court said as per Section 22 of the principles of Mohammedan law by Mulla (20th edition), the capacity of marriage relates to every Mohammedan of sound mind who had entered into the contract of marriage.

"The petitioner not being a Mohammedan, the marriage would not be a marriage without strict meaning of the Mohammedan law. In the present case in hand, it is seen that the petitioner was not married as per the customary Mohammedan law, but she was married under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and that the provisions of Section 4(a) of the said Act renders the marriage as void...

"Moreover, the petitioner is still using her Hindu name and there is nothing on record to show that the petitioner had accepted the religion of Islam as her faith," the 15-page court order said.

The court dismissed the writ petition but ruled that under the law, the petitioner's minor son would still be entitled to his share of pension and other pensionary benefits.

"Accordingly, it would be open to the petitioner to open a bank account in the name of her minor son and the petitioner may record her name as mother and natural guardian of her son," the court order said.

Accordingly, the court is inclined to direct the the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (Rural) district to make a proposal for pension and other pensionary benefits by providing for a share of the pension on account of late Sahabuddin Ahmed to Priyanku Parash, the son of the petitioner Dipamani Kalita and late Sahabuddin Ahmed.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have signed a working arrangement to strengthen their relationship and to achieve common safety and environmental protection standards.

The agreement aims at promoting cooperation, the understanding of each other's regulatory systems, and facilitating the exchange of aeronautical products, services, and personnel.

"This agreement is the result of intensive negotiations between the two parties over several years and marks an important milestone in strengthening the relationship between India and Europe in the aviation world," a statement said.

Through this, both intend to develop closer collaboration in in terms of rulemaking, including sharing of information and best practices, in order to support the implementation of harmonised aviation safety and environmental protection requirements.

The pact will also facilitate issuance or acceptance of certificates for products, parts and appliances along with sharing of safety information, including co-operation on continued airworthiness of in-service products, parts, and appliances accepted or approved in application of the working arrangement.

The collaboration also includes technical training and professional staff development.
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Fulfilling his promise of providing financial assistance to the kin of Corona warriors who lost their lives while serving the community during the pandemic, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to the spouse of Amit Singh Damia, a frontline worker who passed away due to cardiac arrest during Covid duty.

"Amit Singh Damia did continuous duty during Corona and served Covid patients with full dedication. I met his family today and handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh as financial aid. This is a small gesture of help from our side. We will always stand with the frontline workers. We are proud of Amit Singh's service and hope this financial aid helps his family by whose side we will always stand by," Kejriwal said after meeting Manmeet Alang, the late doctor's wife, who visited Kejriwal's residence accompanied by her mother and child.

Manmeet thanked the Chief Minister for the aid and said that the Delhi government stood by her in tough times for which she is deeply grateful.

It was on May 13 that Amit Singh, posted as senior resident at Swami Vivekananda Hospital, had a cardiac arrest while still on duty. He was rushed to a civil hospital in Haryana, where he passed away.

Last year in April, Kejriwal had announced financial assistance to the families of those health workers who died while handling Covid patients as a mark of 'respect to their service'. The announcement came days after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had assured a special insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for the frontline workers.

On Monday, Delhi BJP had criticised Kejriwal for not keeping his words on financially assisting the families of deceased frontline workers.
London, Sep 14 : Scientists who declined the theory that Covid-19 leaked from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had connections to the infamous lab, according to media reports.

All but one of the scientists who signed a letter published in The Lancet on March 7 last year rejecting the lab-leak theory had links to Chinese researchers, their colleagues or funders, The Telegraph reported.

The Lancet letter, signed by 27 scientists and initiated by British zoologist Peter Daszak, effectively shut down scientific debate into whether Coronavirus was manipulated or leaked from the Chinese lab.

Daszak is the president of the US-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance that has a direct connection with China. The firm has also funded research at the WIV.

The signatories stated that they "strongly condemned the conspiracy theories" surrounding the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the report said.

The shocking revelation, made using a Freedom of Information request, revealed that an email sent by Daszak on February 8 revealed that he was urged to pen the letter by "our collaborators" in China for a "show of support".

While Daszak eventually declared his involvement in the EcoHealth Alliance, he failed to mention that five other signatories also worked for the organisation, the Express.co.uk said citing the newspaper.

Further, three of the signatories to the Lancet letter were from Britain's Wellcome Trust, which has also funded work at the WIV. One of the signatories, Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of Sage and the director of the Trust, describes George Gao, the head of the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control, as an "old friend".

Gao, who is also a former Wellcome Trust research assistant, had supported Daszak's nomination to the National Academy of Sciences, the report said.

Even after almost two years since Covid-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the question of the virus' origin still remains unanswered. Many claims have been made by several scientists and governments globally. The recent US intelligence report also could not yield a definitive conclusion as to whether the new Coronavirus jumped to humans naturally, or was it the result of a lab leak.

Meanwhile, the claims of US involvement have also been strong.

A new book by Australian investigative journalist Sharri Markson claimed that the US cash funded the infamous Wuhan virology lab. The book also claimed that the controversial research to make diseases more potent was backed by Anthony Fauci, US' top infectious disease expert, Markson wrote in The Times.

Similarly, over 3,000 pages of Fauci's work emails during the pandemic between January and June 2020, obtained by the Washington Post, Buzzfeed News and CNN through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), raised questions on whether he backed Chinese denials of the theory that Covid-19 leaked from a lab in Wuhan.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Sep 14 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired of a meeting of the council of ministers to discuss various issues. It is learnt that in the meeting, a couple of ministers made presentations about the functioning of their respective departments.

Sources said that at the first physical meeting of the council of ministers after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, various issues were discussed. "The meeting lasted for over four hours," sources said.

The meeting was held at the auditorium of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"At the meeting, the Prime Minister asked the ministers to learn the best practices of their colleagues. Referring to late Union minister Manohar Parrikar, the Prime Minister said that simplicity is a way of life," sources said.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made a detailed presentation about their work at the meeting.

It is further learnt that the meeting was more focussed on team efficiency and governance.

"At the meeting, the importance of team work for better efficiency was discussed and the ministers were suggested to hold 'tiffin meetings', in which each individuals (minister) will discussed several issues with their colleagues over lunch brought from home," a source said.

This was the third meeting of the council of ministers of the after Cabinet reshuffle in the first week of July.
London, Sep 14 : A day before he was due to attend a reception at the Parliament House, China's Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, has been informed that he cannot come there while Beijing continues to sanction over half-a-dozen lawmakers, reports said on Tuesday.

Zheng was due to attend a House of Commons reception, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China, on Wednesday.

However, after protests from the MPs concerned - five of the House of Commons and two of the House of Lords - the respective presiding officers, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Lord Speaker Lord McFall announced their decision, the BBC reported.

In the wake of the UK's decision to impose sanctions against Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China had in March imposed travel bans on five MPs and two peers whom it accused of spreading lies about the country.

The five sanctioned Conservative MPs - Sir Iain Duncan-Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani, Neil O'Brien and Tim Loughton - had written to the Speaker last week, expressing their concern over the parliamentary group's invitation to Zheng to its summer party.

The peers - Lord Alton and Labour's Baroness Kennedy - wrote to the Lord Speaker.

"The sanctions imposed by the Chinese government represent an attack not just on members directly targeted, but on the Parliament, all parliamentarians, select committees, and parliamentary privilege.

"We should never allow our place of work to become a platform to validate and promote such sanctions...

"It is unthinkable therefore that parliamentarians should have to suffer this infringement on our liberties whilst the prime representative of the Chinese government in the UK is still apparently free to come to Westminster and to use facilities here as a mouthpiece for his regime." In a statement, Sir Lindsay said: "I do not feel it's appropriate for the ambassador of China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members." Lord McFall's spokeswoman said the "meeting should take place elsewhere considering the current sanctions against members, including two members of the Lords".

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: "The parliament is independent of the government. It is for the Speaker to decide who is allowed on the parliamentary estate." The Chinese Embassy is yet to comment on the issue, the BBC reported.
Oracle to PostgreSQL Migration made easy. Save Oracle License cost, Reduce Oracle to PostgreSQL migration cost substantially. Reduce time to Migration for Oracle to PostgreSQL migration. Ensure high reliability, and low/no downtime in migrating Oracle DB to PostgreSQL DB on cloud.

Newt Global Consulting LLC today announced the availability of DMAP in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store that provides applications and services for use on Azure. Newt Global customers can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management.

DMAP accelerates the database (DB) schema conversion process through progressive automation. Enterprises can cross the chasm by using DMAP when they migrate their licensed relational database management system (RDBMS) to a PostgreSQL database on the Azure cloud. DMAP extends the conversion to cover stored procedures, functions, SQL queries, business logic, and custom schema constructs beyond the standard conversion tools provided by public cloud platforms to help save time and effort in database migration.

Our teams expertise and core competency in database migration, DevOps, and cloud transformation has proven to be a very successful asset for our customers. With this engagement, we play a pivotal role in bringing significant efficiency in the DB migration process and designing an integrated IT asset-provisioning application. This can directly benefit the vast population of enterprise customers, said Neeta Goel, CEO of Newt Global.

Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. said, Were pleased to welcome DMAP from Newt Global to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, which gives our partners great exposure to cloud customers around the globe. Azure Marketplace offers world-class quality experiences from global trusted partners with solutions tested to work seamlessly with Azure.

The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use.

About Newt Global Consulting

Newt Global is a leading cloud and DevOps implementation company headquartered in Irving, Texas, with a presence in multiple locations across the United States and India. Newt Global offers application migration, database migration, and other services related to on-premises-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud migration. Newt Global can help organizations of any size realize cost and time savings. Learn more here.

For more information, press only:

Newt Global Consulting | http://www.newtglobal.com | dmap@newtglobalcorp.com | 972-887-3159
The printed version of the Guide, not for sale, will be distributed among leading industry experts and international buyers from all over the world. However, anyone can have access to the online version, which is now available for consultation on the event website.

5StarWines - the Book is the result of this year's edition - the 5th - of the blind wine tasting 5StarWines & Wine Without Walls, which took place on June 16-18. The printed version of the Guide, not for sale, will be distributed among leading industry experts and international buyers from all over the world. However, anyone can have access to the online version, which is now available for consultation on the event website. The Guide includes technical characteristics, tasting notes, and information about the selected wines.

In this edition, more than 600 wineries from all over the world participated, and almost half of them got selected to be part of the 5StarWines & Wine Without Walls 2022 Guide. Approximately 60 wines were tasted each day by an international jury composed of Masters of Wine, Masters of Sommelier, WSET graduates, Vinitaly International Academy Experts and Ambassadors, oenologists, and journalists. More than 2000 wines were tasted by the jury, which was divided into two categories (one for 5StarWines, and the other for Wine Without Walls which focused on certified organic, biodynamic wines and wines produced by sustainable wineries). The wines awarded a score of at least 90/100 by the jury are now featured in the official Guide 5StarWines - the Book 2022. This year 510 wines were selected: 391 for 5StarWines category and 119 for Wine Without Walls.

The main scope of the guide is to facilitate wineries in better promotion and education of the acclimated wines. Veronafiere is committed to promoting all awardees through all of their resources, including the distribution of the guide 5StarWines  the Book during the main wine trade fairs, B2B meetings, tastings, and masterclasses throughout the year. Moreover, the digital version of the Guide allows a widespread distribution, reaching not only wine experts, but also wine lovers across the world. The Guide is an important marketing tool for the selected wines and wineries, and guarantees them visibility through constant promotional support on a national and international scale. The wines included in 5StarWines - the Book appear also on the Wine-Searcher website, the world's most popular wine search engine, exposing them to a broad new client base.

The Digital format of the guide is available online on the official website of the event: https://www.5starwines.it/la-guida/?lang=en. The paper version of the guide will be published by the end of September 2021.

About: 5StarWines  the Book is the annual wine selection organized by Veronafiere, normally held in the lead-up to the biggest Italian wine fair in the world. 5StarWines  the Book & Wine Without Walls is a blind tasting aimed at shedding light on wineries investing in the improvement of their products. During the event, a highly qualified panel of wine professionals taste and score  using a 100-point scale  participating wines. In the 2021 edition  the fifth  over 2000 bottles took part in the competition and 510 were selected for inclusion in 5StarWines  the Book. The Guide is a useful tool both on the promotional and commercial side. It introduces international buyers and wine lovers to new wine products of great value. It guarantees wine quality, and it maintains and certifies their value at an international level.
We are committed to elevating cardiovascular care in our community and adding CardioMEMS HF System allows us to treat heart failure patients from a distance and, proactively personalize their medical needs, Dr. Oliver Abela, cardiologist at AdventHealth Tampa.

AdventHealth Tampa has performed its first wireless monitoring sensor implant to help physicians manage heart failure patients remotely. The FDA-approved procedure is designed to reduce hospital admissions by 58 percent and improve quality of life for patients. According to the American Heart Association, nearly 6 million Americans have heart failure and 900,000 new patients are diagnosed each year.

This innovative technology is opening up a new chapter in how we treat patients with heart failure, said Dr. Oliver Abela, cardiologist at AdventHealth Tampa and one of the few cardiologists in the country who is board certified both in advanced heart failure and interventional cardiology. We are committed to elevating cardiovascular care in our community and adding CardioMEMS HF System allows us to treat heart failure patients from a distance and, proactively personalize their medical needs.

During the minimally invasive procedure, physicians insert a small sensor (the size of a paper clip) into the patients pulmonary artery. Once implanted, the patient goes home with a queen-sized pillow device that connects wirelessly to the sensor, allowing physicians to monitor the patients heart failure status from anywhere.

AdventHealth Pepin Heart Institute is nationally recognized for heart and chest pain care by the American Heart Association, the Joint Commission, and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

You can learn more about AdventHealth Pepin Heart Institute at AdventHealth Tampa here: https://www.adventhealth.com/hospital/adventhealth-pepin-heart-institute

Other important items:



Patients will usually be discharged from the hospital 4 hours after the procedure & should make a full recovery in a week.

The monitoring sensor is designed to last the lifetime of the patient & doesnt require batteries.

There is no pain or discomfort for the patients during the sensor readings.

About AdventHealth Tampa

AdventHealth Tampa is a not-for-profit 536-bed tertiary hospital specializing in cardiovascular medicine, digestive health, neuroscience, orthopedics, womens services, pediatrics, oncology, endocrinology, bariatrics, wound healing, sleep medicine and general surgery including minimally invasive and robotic- assisted procedures. Also located at AdventHealth Tampa is the renowned AdventHealth Pepin Heart Institute, a recognized leader in cardiovascular disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and leading-edge research. The modern adult and pediatric-dedicated emergency rooms introduce the emergency physician at the beginning of the visit, an example of how AdventHealth Tampa is committed to providing compassionate and quality healthcare. For more information, visit http://www.AdventHealthTampa.com.

About AdventHealth West Florida Division

The West Florida Division of AdventHealth has some of the nations brightest medical minds making lifesaving breakthroughs with surgical pioneers, scientists and researchers using leading edge technology and innovation to deliver our brand of whole-person care. Our network of care includes AdventHealth Carrollwood, AdventHealth Connerton, AdventHealth Dade City, AdventHealth Lake Placid, AdventHealth North Pinellas, AdventHealth Ocala, AdventHealth Sebring, AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Wauchula, AdventHealth Wesley Chapel and AdventHealth Zephyrhills, as well as five freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including AdventHealth Brandon ER, AdventHealth Central Pasco ER, AdventHealth Palm Harbor ER, AdventHealth TimberRidge ER, and AdventHealth Westchase ER. We are more than hospitals, as we have a robust system of care including specialty acute care, over 200 primary care and specialty employed physicians, Express Care at Walgreens clinics, urgent care centers, wound care, physical therapy, home care, mobile mammography and more. AdventHealth is a faith-based not-for-profit health care system with a mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. AdventHealth has hundreds of care sites and nearly 50 hospitals across the United States. For more information about AdventHealth, visit AdventHealth.com, or Facebook.com/AdventHealth, and for West Florida Division, click here.
30-truck parade celebrates National Truck Driver Appreciation Week and showcases the essentiality of America's professional truck driver The America Rolls Strong Truck Parade is all about our nation's professional drivers who are absolutely essential to our economy and deserve to be called out for their continued service under some of the toughest of conditions

Cargo Transporters Hosts America Rolls Strong Truck Parade

Celebration recognizes National Truck Driver Appreciation Week and commemorates the 20th anniversary of 9/11

Cargo Transporters, Inc., an asset-based regional and national carrier, along with the support of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), has hosted the inaugural America Rolls Strong Truck Parade. The event celebrates National Truck Driver Appreciation Week and commemorates the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Held here in Claremont, North Carolina, the America Rolls Strong Truck Parade featured a 30-truck convoy from local and national trucking companies in the region along with first responder vehicles.

The America Rolls Strong Truck Parade is all about our nation's professional drivers who are absolutely essential to our economy and deserve to be called out for their continued service under some of the toughest of conditions, said Dennis Dellinger, president and CEO at Cargo Transporters. These men and women continue to drive and deliver the goods we all depend on, and during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week we are proud to join carriers across the country to celebrate their service.

The inaugural parade is just one of the new initiatives under #TruckloadStrong, a TCA iniative focused on elevating the image of the truckload segment of the trucking industry. The comprehensive program launched earlier this year aims to spread the word about the outstanding people and programs across the truckload segment of the industry by focusing on safety, the growing use of advanced technology, the essential role that carriers and drivers play, and their daily acts of heroism and goodwill.

As the Immediate Past Chairman of TCA, I couldn't be more pleased to have Cargo Transporters support events occurring as part of the grassroots #TruckloadStrong image campaign, Dellinger stated. We look forward to supporting that effort in other ways and in seeing America Rolls Strong Truck Parades taking place nationwide next year.

The America Rolls Strong Truck Parade included special patriotic Ride of Pride trucks. The Ride of Pride program was founded in 2002 by Ed Keeter, a Vietnam War veteran and former shift manager at Freightliners Cleveland Truck Manufacturing Plant in North Carolina, as a way to recognize military veterans. Every year, Freightliner Trucks awards new Ride of Pride trucks to different trucking companies. In 2019, Cargo Transporters received a Ride of Pride tractor dedicated to Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipients.

National Truck Driver Appreciation Week is being held this year from September 12-18. The annual event recognizes and thanks the industrys 3.6 million professional truck drivers who are responsible for delivering Americas most essential goods.

About Truckload Carriers Association (TCA)

Located in Alexandria, VA TCA is the only trade association whose sole focus is the truckload segment of the motor carrier industry. The association represents dry van, refrigerated, flatbed, tanker, and intermodal container carriers operating throughout North America. Founded in 1938, the TCA represents operators of nearly 210,000 trucks, which collectively produce revenue of more than $38 billion in annual truckload revenue.

About Cargo Transporters, Inc

Based in Claremont, North Carolina, Cargo Transporters, Inc is an asset-based, transportation operation with intrastate and interstate common and contract authority. Serving the 48 continental U.S. with emphasis on lanes east of the Rockies, the truckload dry freight carrier specializes in time-definite or JIT/expedited freight services and works with shippers outsourcing transportation to a third-party logistics supplier, including the acquisition and/or disposition of private fleets. Cargo Transporters operates a technologically enhanced fleet of 501 trucks and 1,700 trailers and employs over 650 people. For more information, visit http://www.cargotransporters.com.

Media Contact:

Susan Fall

LaunchIt Public Relations

858-490-1050

susan@launchitpr.com
Edge Healthcare is one of the most comprehensive healthcare consulting services available Edge Healthcares collaborative consulting team consists of highly experienced practice managers and physician executives who have worked on the front lines of healthcare and the executive space, ready to help your health system, hospital, practice or startup thrive in the present environment

The American College of Healthcare Trustees (ACHT), a social enterprise that promotes exceptional and ethical governance, leadership and decision-making in healthcare, announces the formation of a new venture: Edge Healthcare. ACHT and MedPro/MedPharma have combined their extensive consulting resources to form one of the most comprehensive healthcare consulting services available, Edge Healthcare. The founding organizations share a philosophy of making the doctor-patient relationship more sustainable and enhancing the viability of healthcare systems, hospitals and other medical facilities, clinical laboratories and private physician practices. The new entity will leverage the companies wide and deep expertise in healthcare, offering an array of services nationally in categories including:



Consulting for health systems, hospitals and physicians

Support to Boards of Directors

Entrepreneurship

Edge Healthcares collaborative healthcare consulting team consists of highly experienced practice managers and physician executives who have worked on the front lines of healthcare and the executive space, making it the perfect team to help your health system, hospital, practice, vendor company or startup thrive in the present environment, said David Levien, MD, MBA, FACS, President and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Trustees.

Edge Healthcare represents a one-of-a-kind solution to medical consulting needs. The consulting services offered to health systems, hospitals and physicians nationwide include:



Emergency department management: workflow optimization, recruiting, scheduling and retention

Surgery department optimization

Revenue cycle management

Medical staff office and licensing support

Insurance credentialing and contracting

Supporting physician and surgeon performance for quality and safety

Patient satisfaction optimization

EMR/EHR Consulting

Supply chain and logistics

Compliance and accreditation

Analysis of contracted services

Health IT, cybersecurity and site security

Building on the American College of Healthcare Trustees expertise and mission of promoting high performing, competent, qualified and ethical governance and leadership in healthcare, Edge Healthcare offers consulting services to support Boards of Directors, including:



Onboarding

Compliance and ethics training

Retreat planning

Conflict resolution

Executive compensation and incentive packages

Leadership training

Additional services offered include entrepreneurship, business planning, strategic planning and recruitment, with more offerings coming soon.

Dr. David Levien recently interviewed Ms. Lexi Morrison, Director of Business Development at MedPharma and VP of Practice Management at ACHT about MedPharmas work to mitigate physicians' credentialing burden. The video interview is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D10SmcNIow.

To learn more about Edge Healthcare and its services, please contact David Levien, MD, MBA, FACS (david.levien@facht.org, 844-322-4867, https://calendly.com/dlevien48) or Roxanne Bruce, MBA, DrBA (roxanne.bruce@facht.org, 207-267-5070).

About ACHT

The American College of Healthcare Trustees (ACHT) is a national professional association dedicated to promoting high performing, competent, qualified, ethical governance and leadership in healthcare that is person-centered and accountable by providing continuing education, resources, and networking.



Become a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Trustees now.

Know someone else who would benefit from ACHT? Easily gift membership to your friends and colleagues!

About MedPharma

MedPharma, a subsidiary of MedPro, works with some of the most innovative platforms for expedited processing of all inpatient, outpatient and Pharmacy/DME services. Hospitals, doctors offices and pharmacies that choose to utilize MedPharmas services can eliminate some of the stress around coding and billing. Outsourcing these functions to their team of experts greatly improves the success of payments and decreases chances of noncompliance. MedPharma also mitigates physicians credentialing burden.
Chevrolet Truck Month special offers are available now at Carl Black Nashville

Carl Black Nashville is celebrating Chevrolet Truck Month with deals for drivers in the Nashville area. These deals include a $1,000 accessory allowance that is given toward the purchase of a new 2021 or 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Silverado HD, Colorado, Tahoe or Suburban model with eligible accessories. Delivery of these models must be taken by September 30, 2021, in order for drivers to receive the accessory allowance. The accessories purchase must be equal to or more than $1,000 MSRP. Installation and tax are excluded. This offer is not available with some other offers.

A second available deal at Carl Black Nashville is a $1,750 cash allowance toward the purchase of a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab truck. This offer can be combined with the $1,000 accessory allowance and the same qualifications still apply for that offer. For the cash allowance, drivers must take a new retail delivery by the end of the month.

These offers and other special offers are available on the dealerships website, carlblackchevy.com. On its website, the dealership provides drivers with special offers, service coupons, an online inventory, information on new Chevrolet models and more. The dealerships hours of operation, address and contact information are also on the website for drivers who would like to inquire about the offer or make an appointment.
Cayuga Hospitality Newest Consultant Olivier Gauthier We are confident that Olivier will be a great asset to our clients operating around the world as we continue to provide them with comprehensive services tailored for their needs, says Katherine Moulton, Partner and Executive Director.

Cayuga Hospitality Consultants is excited to announce that Olivier Gauthier, based in Paris, France, has joined their team of global consultants. The addition of his expertise will provide international clients specialized services relating to their markets and countries and provide extensive knowledge about international hospitality trends.

We are excited to welcome Olivier and his expertise in construction services to our global consultant team, says Katherine Moulton, Partner and Executive Director. We are confident that he will be a great asset to our clients operating around the world as we continue to provide them with comprehensive services tailored for their needs.

After more than 20 years of working for an interior designer and leading construction consulting firms, Olivier Gauthier has created RealSense to combine his passion for remarkable buildings and stunning interiors with his cutting-edge expertise in project and cost management. From flagship stores to luxury hotels, at any stage of a project life cycle, he provides holistic, strategic and tailor-made project management solutions to meet the unique demand and complexity of high-end projects. His project experience includes Sofitel London Saint-James: Fairmont Le Montreaux Place, Switzerland; InterContinental Cairo Semiramis, Egypt; Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris, France; Louis Vuitton Malettier Cannes, France; Restaurant Bagatelle Monte-Carlo, Monaco as well as many others. In addition, Olivier provides a comprehensive range of construction consulting services to support investors, owners and hotel brands planning to refurbish existing or newly acquired luxury or upper-scale hotels in Europe. His key consulting services include project management, cost management, project audit and review, and Capex estimate and feasibility.

Olivier is currently pursuing a Master's degree in business Management from EM Lyon Business School. In 2019, he joined the board of the Project Management Group at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS). In 2015, he became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS) and in 1999, he graduated as a Quantity Surveyor from the University of Central Lancashire in England.

Olivier joins the global team that includes:



Luis Gallotti, Buenos Aires, Hotel Development & Operations

Romulo Vallejo, Caribbean/Latin America, Hotel Operations Specialist

Richard Williams, Caribbean, Resort Development & Management

Germinal Garcia, Cancun/Tenerife, Openings & Marketing Strategy

Frank Schuetzendorf, Paris, Restaurant Concepts & Management

Katie Benson, London, Asset Management & Development

Alex Moj, Munich, Financial Controlling & Data Analyst

Jens Busch, Hong Kong, Gaming Resorts Operations

Haydee Cruz, Bangkok, Sales & Marketing Expert

Aureliano Bonni, Italy, Tourism & Marketing

To learn more about the global team of consultants, visit Cayuga Hospitality Consultants.

About Cayuga Hospitality Consultants

Cayuga Hospitality Consultants is a global network of independent consultants focused on the hospitality industry. Consultants are available to work independently on assignments or can be organized as a team or task force to achieve the greatest possible results for our clients. Areas of expertise include operations, sales, marketing, finance, asset management, development, technology, insurance, litigation and sustainability for all areas of hospitality, including hotels/resorts, spas/clubs, restaurants/bars, and casinos. Consultants goals are to provide practical, profit-oriented advisory services across a broad range of hospitality property types and business models plus hands-on support implementing their recommendations. For more information, view their hospitality consulting services or follow them on LinkedIn.
International Psilocybin Symposium: Therapeutic potentials, culture and decolonization This symposium opens unique avenues of research to replace the hegemonic paradigms that prevail in the psychedelic renaissance with an approach based on reciprocity, justice, and solidarity.

A host of scientific research and clinical trials around the world are affirming the remarkable effectiveness of psilocybin, the principal psychoactive component of magic mushrooms, in the treatment of a variety of medical conditions, including depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD. These evidence-based health benefits are contributing to the destigmatization and celebration of psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics in the popular culture of the Global North. However, despite this burgeoning interest, the challenges brought about by psilocybins growing globalization, commercialization, and medicalization is rarely addressed. Meanwhile, the realities of the Indigenous cultures that have long included sacred mushrooms in their ancestral healing practices remain almost entirely invisible.

In response to these challenges, the Chacruna Institute, along with the Mexican non-profit organizations Via Synapsis, The Mexican Psilocybin Society, and MindSurf, have joined forces to hold The International Symposium on Psilocybin: Therapeutic Potentials, Culture, and Decolonization on September 2021, 2021. This online event is the first of its kind to offer a platform for voices that are routinely left out of the so-called Psychedelic Renaissance, providing decolonial perspectives on the ritual, therapeutic, scientific, cultural, and philosophical aspects of psilocybin and sacred mushrooms.

This two-day, bilingual event includes prominent researchers, academics, Indigenous leaders, activists, and members of the psychedelic community, who will bring together different disciplines and local cultural knowledge to offer fresh perspectives on the most pressing issues in the global psychedelic movement, including debates few in the Global North are aware of.

This symposium opens unique avenues of research to replace the hegemonic paradigms that prevail in the psychedelic renaissance with an approach based on reciprocity, justice, and solidarity. Join us in this event that provides a space where we can open our thoughts to a diversity of mental landscapes. -Osiris Sinuhe Gonzalez Romero, Ph.D, Via Synapsis/ Chacruna Institute

"We need to go beyond the biomedical voices that dominate the public conversation about psychedelics. Only with philosophers, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, historians, sociologists, activists, and community leaders will we make the psychedelic renaissance truly inclusive and equitable. We invite the leaders of the new psychedelic businesses and of decriminalization efforts in the US to come join this multicultural and bilingual conversation! -Bia Labate, PhD, Chacrunas Institute Executive Director

The International Symposium on Psilocybin: Therapeutic Potentials, Culture, and Decolonization aims to address these issues head-on by recentering Indigenous voices and those from psychedelic communities in Mexico and Colombia. It will highlight ideas that interrogate and challenge those taken for granted in the Global North around psilocybin and sacred mushrooms in the hope of forging a more equitable and sustainable way forward for the psychedelic renaissance and to ensure public policies incorporate harm reduction, cognitive freedom, and Indigenous rights.

International Psilocybin Symposium: Therapeutic Potentials, Culture and Decolonization will take place on September 20th-21st 2021, 8:30 to 17:30 PST. To register for free, click here.

This event is proudly presented by Chacruna Institute, Via Synapsis, Sociedad Mexicana de Psilocibina, and Mindsurf.

About Chacruna Institute

The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, an organization co-founded by Brazilian anthropologist Dr. Bia Labate and American psychologist Dr. Clancy Cavnar, produces high-quality research on plant medicines and psychedelics and helps propagate academic knowledge in more accessible formats. We educate the public and create cultural understanding and legitimacy regarding these substances so that they may cease to be stigmatized and outlawed. Chacruna also promotes a bridge between the world of plant medicines and the emergent field of psychedelic science, between traditional ceremonial use and clinical and therapeutic settings, bringing the knowledge and perspectives of the social sciences to health care professionals and practitioners of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Finally, we foster cultural and political reflections on the field of psychedelic science and facilitate conversations about controversial topics that have been simmering on the sidelines as psychedelics go mainstream.
Algarve, Portugal. After three months on Portugals Algarve and three more on the French Riviera, Ive decided to do a comparison to help anybody trying to narrow down a shortlist for a vacation home or expat destination

Portugals Algarve and the French Riviera are two of Europes most sought-after destinations for vacation and retirement. It makes sense: Both offer sunny skies, postcard-worthy landscapes, a rich culture, and great food. In a new report, International Living pits these heavy-hitters against one another in a head-to-head battle under six categories.

After three months on Portugals Algarve and three more on the French Riviera, Ive decided to do a comparison to help anybody trying to narrow down a shortlist for a vacation home or expat destination, says Margaret Summerfield, Senior Researcher at Real Estate Trend Alert, a publication of International Living.

First up, Ive got to admit I thoroughly enjoyed both locales. I was sorry to leave the Algarve and equally sorry to leave the French Riviera.

On the Algarve, my fond memories are of wandering around Old Town in Lagos, standing on cliffs watching waves crash up onto the beach far below at Praia do Pinhao, and eating Christmas dinner on the balcony in the warm December sunshine.

My fondest French Riviera memories bring to mind the Nomade sculpture in Antibes, with its backdrop of the marina, the beach, the Mediterranean, and snow-covered Alps; following the heritage trail around Menton; and picking up warm, crusty bread every day from a bakery.

Summerfield shares her verdict on two of Europes leading destinations  the Algarve and the French Riviera  by whittling the comparison down to six categoriesGastronomy, Beaches, Price, Climate, Culture, and Infrastructure.

Which has lived up to her expectations, and how do they compare to each other as overseas destinations? Here are the results of three of the six categories:

Gastronomy

In France, food is almost a religion. Theres a passion for quality, local, specialist produce and ingredients. There are entire shops devoted to truffles, or olives, or citrusthe most amazing cheeseand the bread is to die for, says Summerfield.

Pretty much every town has a well-stocked market. There are bakeries and patisseries, stores selling roast chicken, old-school butchers, and fishmongers. On top of which, every area has its own specialty. Even the street food is a must-try. In Menton, theres barbajuan (a type of fritter stuffed with chard and ricotta). In Nice, its socca (a chickpea pancake).

France is also one of the worlds top wine producers, famous for its burgundy, beaujolais, and champagne to name just a few.

Portugal has some fabulous foodfrom cataplana (a seafood stew) to fresh-grilled sardines to delicate custard-filled pastriesand produces wine and sherry. Produce and seafood, in particular, are high quality. But its simply not in the same league as food-obsessed France.

Im awarding France the honor here. I ate very well in Portugals Algarve. But I ate like a queen in France!

Beaches

The Algarves beaches are beautiful. The coastline is a series of low bluffs and outcrops, wrapped around little coves and long sweeps of sandy beach.

Whether you want frosty drinks, a lounger and an attentive waiter, or an empty beach escape, you wont have to go too far to find it, says Summerfield. And a typical Algarve beach offers soft sand.

Although the French Riviera has the advantage of a Mediterranean coast, with mountains close by and dramatic views, the beaches failed to wow me. Theyre often pebble or coarse sand, small and busynothing to write home about.

If youre a beach lover, take note: the Riviera wont cut it. Portugal romps home on this one.

Price

I spent three months on the Algarve followed by three months on the French Riviera, Summerfield says. I ate the same type of foodbut my grocery bill was 15% to 20% higher in France. The same applied to short-term rentals. I paid a lot more (60% to 70% more) for similar size condos on the French Riviera.

In short, my monthly overhead costs soared when I hit the Riviera.

This is also the case when buying property. In Lagos, Portugal, a budget of 300,000 ($353,390) will buy you a new, luxury two-bed, two-bath condo. On the French Riviera, that same budget will buy you a new and very tiny studio.

If youre on a tight budget for your living expenses or want more bang for your real estate buck, you should look to the Algarve. Its a very clear winner.

To see who came out on top in the Clash of the Titans, go here: Clash of the Titans: The Algarve v the French Riviera

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Racial diversity in clinical trials enables the ability to conduct subgroup analyses based on drug metabolism and biomarker differences that will identify differences in biology, efficacy and tolerability between different racial groups of patients.

While the FDA has spent the past few decades promoting diversity in clinical trial patient populations, certain groups still remain underrepresented. Data shows that Black and Hispanic populations are consistently overlooked, even though the US Census Bureau projects that by 2050, 42 percent of American older adults will be members of minority groups. As these populations continue to grow, it only further stresses the need for representation through all phases of research. Black patients account for 12 percent of new breast cancer cases in the United States but constituted only three percent of the participants in the breast cancer clinical trials that led to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals between 2008-2018.

Aside from the obvious moral and ethical concerns over the lack of patient diversity, sponsor companies would greatly benefit from addressing underserved populations. Racial diversity in clinical trials enables the ability to conduct subgroup analyses based on drug metabolism and biomarker differences that will identify differences in biology, efficacy and tolerability between different racial groups of patients.

Trials can be conducted faster  resulting in sponsor cost reductions, increased trial participation rates, and ultimately produce more reliable safety and efficacy data. Yet while it is the goal of biotech and pharmaceutical companies to get their new drug or therapy to the market as quickly (and safely) as possible, it is a shared responsibility between sponsor companies, regulators, researchers, and clinical development partners to address the longstanding racial and ethnic disparities present in clinical research.

Join Scott Treiber, PhD, MBA, Vice President, Strategic Development, Synteract and Ricki Fairley, Chief Executive Officer, TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance in a live webinar on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 11am EDT (4pm BST/UK).

For more information, or to register for this event, visit Closing the Gap: Broadening Representation in Clinical Trials.

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Thomas Reinemer, COO at Cortical.io We are impressed with the AI-based technology and solutions that Cortical.io brings to market, and the potential for their application across multiple industries including the commodity trading space

Cortical.io today announced a $6 million series A investment into the company. Cortical.io delivers business solutions that accurately classify, extract and search information within unstructured documents based on a natural language understanding (NLU) innovation inspired by neuroscience. The investment was provided by Ezpada, a global commodity trading house.

Intelligent processing of unstructured documents is growing market opportunity. Its a complicated problem that tech giants like Google and Amazon have invested massive dollars in developing natural language technology. Cortical.io has had large-scale successes that are gaining attention. Fortune 500 businesses are taking advantage of Cortical.io solutions to solve business problems with complex NLU challenges without the need for in-house AI experience. Earlier this year, the European Investment Bank (EIB) provided $9.1 million to Cortical.io.

We are impressed with the AI-based technology and solutions that Cortical.io brings to market, and the potential for their application across multiple industries including the commodity trading space, remarked Lyubomir Gunev, Chief Operations Officer at Ezpada.

Cortical.io has patented an artificial intelligence (AI)-based NLU technology based on semantic folding and neuroscience. It is a real differentiator in addressing the challenge of processing unstructured text data as it understands the meaning of sentences, paragraphs and concepts, not just keywords and consequently delivers highly accurate results. The company is working to enable semantic supercomputing, the ability to process streams of natural language content at massive scale in real-time through the use of hardware acceleration.

Cortical.io has become the secret weapon of management consultants and innovative organizations; its technology is disrupting market segments including contract analysis, message intelligence and intelligent document processing (IDP).

Cortical.io recently announced Contract Intelligence 4.5, which automatically and accurately searches, extracts, classifies and compares key information from agreements, contracts, and other unstructured documents like policies and financial reports. They also have impressive new capabilities coming soon in an upcoming announcement around Cortical.io Message intelligence, an IDP that provides high accuracy in filtering, classification, and extraction of emails, attachments, and other types of unstructured documents.

We are very excited to bring on a new investor to fuel our growth. This funding, in conjunction with the earlier funding from the European Investment Bank, will allow us expand our efforts to market our proven solutions, said Thomas Reinemer, COO at Cortical.io. We will use the funds to increase our sales and marketing initiatives.

About Cortical.io

Cortical.io delivers AI-based solutions that help businesses search, extract and analyze information from unstructured text more effectively. These meaning-based solutions, including Contract Intelligence and Message Intelligence, cover a wide spectrum of use cases with proven implementations in Fortune 500 companies. They leverage the companys patented Natural Language Understanding technology to solve business problems with complex NLU challenges without the need for in-house AI experience.

The company is working to enable semantic supercomputing, the ability to process streams of natural language content at massive scale in real time through the use of hardware acceleration.

Cortical.io has offices in the U.S. (New York and San Francisco) and Europe (Vienna).

For more information, go to https://www.cortical.io. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Cortical_io.
Were pleased to be able to further extend our footprint in the West, at a time when leasing is such an important option for consumers, by partnering with UFCU, an institution that exemplifies what credit unions are all about: serving the community

Credit Union Leasing of America (CULA) and Utahs University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) today announced that they are partnering to bring the affordability and flexibility of credit union vehicle leasing to Utah, with their first leases having closed in August. This partnership makes University Federal Credit Union the only credit union in Utah to offer vehicle leasing, while further expanding CULAs national footprint.

University Federal Credit Union, which was founded in 1956, is a values-based, full-service financial co-operative serving the needs of more than 100,000 member-owners and their communities. CULA, the leader in indirect vehicle leasing for credit unions for over 30 years, has experienced record leasing demand over the past six months, and, in addition to Utah, recently expanded into or increased regional coverage in New Hampshire, Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California, among the many markets it serves.

Our core values are to create a positive impact on our community and to make a difference for every member, every day, and this means making sure a wide range of financial products are available to our members, said Jack Buttars, Chief Executive Officer of UFCU. Finding the right vehicle at the right price has probably never been more challenging than it is today. Working with the terrific CULA team, who streamline the complexities of leasing - from analytics to insurance to operations to compliance - we are now able to ensure that our members have the opportunity to benefit from leasings more affordable payments and term flexibility, critical factors given the current market landscape.

Pandemic-driven chip shortages and supply chain issues have led to severe vehicle inventory restraints that have driven vehicle pricing to record levels, while limiting choice for car buyers. The estimated average transaction price for a light vehicle in the United States was $42,258 in June 2021, with new vehicle prices increasing $2,527 (up 6.4%) from June 2020, and $928 (up 2.2%) from May 2021.(1) Vehicle leasing offers consumers the option of lower monthly payments - on average about $100 less than vehicle loan payments,(2) with lease payments on SUVs an average of $109 lower than loan payments(3). In addition, leasing provides consumers with the option of shorter term commitments versus purchasing. This is key for consumers who need a vehicle, but cant find the exact model they want in the current market.

Were pleased to be able to further extend our footprint in the West, at a time when leasing is such an important option for consumers, by partnering with UFCU, an institution that exemplifies what credit unions are all about: serving the community, said Ken Sopp, CULAs President. Utah is a new state for us and we are excited to pioneer credit union leasing here. Our leasing program can amplify the customer-centric values of University Federal Credit Union, while also expanding and diversifying their portfolio of services, helping to further enhance membership and yield.

The above market conditions have driven a swell of interest in leasing; and credit unions, with their trusted positions in their communities in these uncertain times, have helped their members with a record number of leases in partnership with CULA. The first six months of 2021 were record-breaking for CULA, with over $950 million in lease originations, an 88.8% increase over the same period in 2019, and the highest period of originations in CULAs more than 30-year history.

CULA pioneered indirect vehicle leasing for credit unions with its analytically driven, high-value leasing program supported by stellar customer service and proven systems, all with a focus on helping credit unions meet their financial and membership goals.

About University Federal Credit Union, Utah

University Federal Credit Union is a values-based, full-service financial co-operative serving the needs of more than 100,000 member-owners and their communities. Our mission is to create a positive impact on our community and to make a difference for every member, every day.

About Credit Union Leasing of America

Credit Union Leasing of America (CULA) has been the leader in indirect vehicle leasing for credit unions for over 30 years. Founded in 1988, CULA provides best-in-class program assistance, analytics reporting, compliance support, dealer management tools and member services. The CULA indirect vehicle leasing program empowers credit union innovators to diversify their existing loan portfolios, improve yield and expand member services. Visit http://www.cula.com to learn more.

Media contacts:

Angela Jacobson, mWEBB Communications, angela(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, (714) 454-8776

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, melanie(at)mwebbcom(dot)com, (949) 307-1723

(1) https://mediaroom.kbb.com/2021-07-19-Average-New-Vehicle-Prices-Hit-All-Time-High,-According-to-Kelley-Blue-Book

(2) https://www.experian.com/content/dam/marketing/na/automotive/quarterly-webinars/credit-trends/q1-2019-safm-final-v2.pdf

(3) https://www.experian.com/content/dam/noindex/na/us/automotive/finance-trends/state-of-auto-finance-q2-2021.pdf
DAPCEP kicks off its 45th Fall Semester this month. The local nonprofit has prepared roughly 70,000 underrepresented students for STEM futures. "We are grateful to all our parents, partners and program providers, our Board and our staff who have supported DAPCEP for decades. Only with this support are we able to continue providing unique STEM experiences for nearly 11,000 students each year," said DAPCEP Executive Director Michelle Reaves

Since its beginnings in 1976, Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) has become one of the leading nonprofit organizations of choice for maximizing underrepresented youth potential for success in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). DAPCEPs standards-based curriculum will expose students to unique STEM experiences including: Animation, Artificial Intelligence and Coding, Bioengineering and other Engineering disciplines, Chemistry, Cyber Security, Digital Tech, Mobile Apps, Accounting, Nuclear Power, SAT Prep, Urban Design and more.

DAPCEP Explorers eight-week modules that will expose PK through 3rd graders to various science and engineering concepts will be held on Saturdays beginning September 25th. DAPCEP Pathfinders six-week modules for grades 4th through 12th will be held on Saturdays starting October 9th. Semester classes will culminate in a final showcase event held November 13th. Interested parents and students can view the full list of Fall 2021 courses online and register at: https://dapcep.asapconnected.com/#CourseIndex, call the DAPCEP office (313-831-3050) or send an email to: info@dapcep.org. Registration for PK through 3rd grade classes ends September 17th and enrollment for 4th through 12th grade classes ends September 24th. Working with Bradley University, DAPCEP Fall virtual courses for 4th through 8th grade students are underway in Peoria, Illinois.

We are truly thrilled to kick off the Fall semester of DAPCEPs 45th year, said Executive Director Michelle L. Reaves. This Fall, we have collaborated with partners -- Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Altair Engineering and PriceWaterhouseCoopers -- and several area universities and educational providers to supply our students with a unique array of hands-on activities that acclimates them with STEM concepts and supplements their academic studies. We will continue with virtual programming to keep our students and instructors safe. We are grateful to all our parents, our partners and program providers, our Board and our staff who have supported DAPCEP for decades. Only with this support are we able to continue providing authentic, interactive STEM experiences for nearly 11,000 students each year.

Classes will be held online, primarily via Zoom. Course materials will be distributed the week prior to when classes start -- either by mail, or via scheduled safe pick-up at the DAPCEP office located in downtown Detroit. Thanks to the generous support of our corporate partners, most of the costs required to deliver DAPCEPs courses have been covered. There is a $75 fee for the Explorers program, and $25 fee for Pathfinders courses. Limited scholarships are available for eligible families.

DAPCEP is the brainchild of the late Mr. Kenneth Hill, who founded the nonprofit with 245 students in 1976. During a mission in Africa, Hill  an educator and engineer by trade - taught local students Calculus by candlelight. This experience motivated Hill to create a similar program in Detroit. Initiated with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, DAPCEP began in partnership with the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, one Detroit high school and two middle schools. Since then, DAPCEP maintains a 50:50 female-to-male ratio, a near 100 percent graduation rate and has amassed roughly 70,000 alumni.

To ready Cody Rouge community students for the 2021-2022 academic year, DAPCEP, together with the St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Community Resource Center, Global Automotive Alliance, Consumers Energys Minority Advisory Panel and the Detroit Police Department hosted a Back-To-School Fair late August.

The 10th annual DAPCEP Real McCoy Awards presented by DTE Energy will be held on Thursday, September 30th at 6:00pmET. Named after famed inventor and Detroiter Elijah McCoy, this annual event honors distinguished professionals and youth who have demonstrated excellence in STEM throughout the year and a commitment to motivate the next generation of STEM professionals. With continued precautionary measures in place, this years event will be pre-recorded and broadcast virtually via DAPCEPs Facebook page.

Reaves, the first woman to be named DAPCEPs Executive Director, added: A recent Pew Research Center report shows that African American and Latinx workers make up just 17 percent of the STEM workforce. If the pandemic has taught us anything, its that the world needs more scientists, more engineers and more researchers to support diverse communities.

About DAPCEP

Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) is an educational 501(c)3 organization that has prepared underrepresented pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students throughout Southeast Michigan for STEM futures since 1976. Using a standards-aligned curriculum, DAPCEP programs are designed to develop students school and life readiness skills such as critical thinking, creativity, confidence, communication and collaboration. Through the generous support of partners, schools and universities, alumni, parents and the community, DAPCEP engages 11,000 students each year. With more than 68,000 alumni, a 50-50 female-to-male student ratio and a near 100% graduation rate, DAPCEP remains one of the leading organizations of choice for maximizing youth potential for success. For more information, visit the DAPCEP website (http://www.dapcep.org), call 313-831-3050 and follow DAPCEP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.


The LayerLok XP and AF are engineered for use in dry van and reefer applications, and the LayerLok SC is specifically designed for installation in shipping containers. Today, Im also announcing that Doleco will offer a free LayerLok XP, AF or SC system to any qualifying fleet.  Abato  Ralph Abato

Doleco USA, the nations fastest-growing manufacturer of lifting, sling and load-securing technologies, including the DoNova PowerLash Textile Lashing Chain and PowerLift textile Chain Sling, introduced the new LayerLok XP, AF and SC double-decking systems today. The LayerLok XP and AF are engineered for use in dry van and reefer applications, and the LayerLok SC is specifically designed for installation in shipping containers. All three new LoadLok products are capable of doubling payload capacity, and their introduction greatly increases the options available to the shipping industry. The products were unveiled during a press conference at the Technology Maintenance Council (TMC) 2021 Fall Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Time Is Right for a Competitive Alternative

Vehicle freight efficiency is of paramount importance to todays fleets, and maximizing trailer capacity will continue as a critical concern, particularly as new trailer orders remain backlogged for the near future. Double-decking systems have been around for almost three decades, but the most popular of these systems is based on the use of aircraft seating track. The track, which was never designed for repetitive sliding, or to carry vertical loads, is prone to deform and fail over time. Competition and pricing pressure have also been hindered by the fact that the industrys two primary double-decking system suppliers are owned by the same parent company.

The LayerLok XP, AF and SC double-decking systems are each purpose-designed and precision-engineered to meet the harsh demands of the shipping environment, said Ralph Abato, president and managing director of Doleco USA. The entry of a new major competitor, like Doleco, into the North America marketplace, will expand customer options and renew competitive vigor within the load securement industry generally, and within the double-decking segment specifically.

Today, Im also announcing that Doleco will offer a free LayerLok XP, AF or SC system to any qualifying fleet. Abato added.

All captive LayerLok systems never leave the trailer and can be stowed at ceiling height when not in use. While different in design, each of the three systems has been optimized to minimize material use and weight, while maximizing strength and durability. The LayerLok XP system is made of proprietary, patent-pending materials that have a higher strength-to-weight ratio than competing products, allowing it to be designed with the thinnest track profiles in the world.

LayerLok XP

The LayerLok XP features a radically different machined aluminum track design with beveled teeth instead of holes or slots. Single- and double-track styles are offered, each with surface-mount, semi-recessed and fully-recessed profiles available. The systems steel head assembly and beam adjustment tool both glide seamlessly within recessed slots on either side of the teeth, virtually eliminating the snag points common to other systems. Optional head assemblies enable the system to operate at just 60 dB, the quietest double-decking system ever designed.

The LayerLok XP can also be configured with interconnecting horizontal tracks that use turntable intersections, enabling decking beams to seamlessly switch from vertical to horizontal travel. The unique feature allows users to accommodate a wider array of cargo capacity and securement needs, by letting decking beams serve double duty as shoring beams when needed.

The LayerLok XP system is the apex of payload maximizing and protection technology, said Abato. There is not a better, more versatile or comparably robust double-decking system available anywhere.

LayerLok AF

The LayerLok AF is designed as an intelligent alternative to the most common aircraft-track-based systems and is modeled on a complementary design, so complementary in fact, that its tracks and decking beams are completely interchangeable with competing systems that are currently installed or now being sold. Single-and double-track styles with surface-mount and semi-recessed versions are also available.

LayerLok AF is designed as a universal solution for trailer OEMs and fleets that are comfortable with the status quo, but less comfortable with the lack of competitive sourcing and pricing for aircraft-track systems, said Abato. In an industry that is somewhat resistant to change, were offering complete systems solutions, individual replacement components and everything in between, but I think what were really offering is a sense of relief.

LayerLok SC

The LayerLok SC is designed exclusively for use in 20- and 40-foot shipping container applications. The steel tracks are engineered to be welded into position within the container body. In addition to optimizing container capacity, the LayerLok SC helps protect cargo and maintain its stability during intermodal transfers.

LayerLok XP, AF and SC were developed by The Netherlands-based LoadLok. LayerLok has been in use throughout Europe for more than 15 years and is already available in 42 countries worldwide. Through an agreement with LoadLok, Doleco is now the exclusive North American distributer and co-manufacturer of the LayerLok XP, AF and SC.

We are excited to partner with Doleco USA to bring these new load-securing, payload-optimizing and cargo-protecting technologies to North America, said Eelco Noort, product manager for LoadLok.

Doleco USA products are available in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through the companys Master Distributor network, which includes over 6,000 distribution points. For information on sales and distribution of Doleco USA products call +1 (203) 440-1940 or email sales@doleco-usa.com

To access high-resolution product images and video of the new LayerLok XP, AF and SC, please visit https://doleco-usa.com/images



END -

About Doleco USA

Incorporated in 2013, Doleco USA is the fastest-growing cargo securement, optimization and protection supplier in the United States. Doleco USAs success has come from offering a full line of quality products through its proven distribution channel of more than 6,000 distribution points. Doleco is a subsidiary of Dolezych GMBH. Founded in 1935 in Dortmund, Germany, Dolezych is a leading manufacturer and supplier of lifting equipment, slings, ropes and load-securing technologies, including the DoNova PowerLash Textile Lashing Chain and PowerLift textile Chain Slings. Dolezych offers secure and reliable solutions for the lifting and transportation of goods  whether its on site in production plants, on construction sites or by transportation via road, rail, sea or air cargo. In addition to Doleco USA, Dolezych also has operations in Poland, Switzerland, China, Chile, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey with more than 600 employees worldwide. Learn more at http://www.doleco-usa.com

About LoadLok

LoadLok is member of the Cargo Control Company (C3). C3 is the No. 1 provider of smart cargo control solutions to the European transport industry, with nine sales offices throughout Europe. Through their leading product brands of LoadLok, they are recognized for their innovative and high-tech approach to both their products, production and supply chain solutions, and their commitment to new product development, technology leadership, business integration and manufacturing excellence. For more information, visit https://www.loadlok.com

Doleco, DoNova, PowerLash and PowerLift are registered trademarks of Dolezych GMBH.

LoadLok and LayerLok are trademarks of Cargo Control Company.


MicroGenDX Logo The study, a collaboration between Dr. J. Curtis Nickel and MicroGen Diagnostics, identified some 643 microbial species among 211 healthy subjects (106 female and 105 male) using NGS, with significant differences in microbial diversity based on gender, age, and previous antibiotic use.

A study to help understand the implications of Next-Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) in the diagnosis and treatment of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and other inflammatory urological conditions has been completed, and results were presented at the September, 2021 AUA Conference. The study, a collaboration between Dr. J. Curtis Nickel and MicroGen Diagnostics, identified some 643 microbial species among 211 healthy subjects (106 female and 105 male) using NGS, with significant differences in microbial diversity based on gender, age, and previous antibiotic use. The greatest abundance of species detected by NGS included microbes in the Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla  and the relative abundance of all taxa detected will be presented at AUA 2021. Understanding the impact of these species and differences in the healthy urinary microbiome on possible infection will help inform treatment of UTIs.

Dr. E. David Crawford, Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Diego, and Professor of Surgery, Urology, and Radiation Oncology at the University of Colorado in Aurora, Colorado, who collaborated on the study and assisted in its development, offers these insights into the studys findings: Our microbiome plays a pivotal role in our health and survival, yet we really dont know what normal is for the urinary tract of men and women. In order to know what is abnormal, we need to know what is normal. This study represents the foundation of that understanding.

Dr. J. Curtis Nickel, Canada Research Chair in Urologic Pain and Inflammation at Queens University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada, worked closely with MicroGenDX, the industry leader in providing NGS for clinical diagnostics, to design and implement the study. MicroGenDX also managed the Institutional Review Board process and contributed some $120,000 in lab services for collection, shipment and analysis of samples.

Inflammatory and pain conditions of the urinary tract are very common, with UTIs being the most common outpatient infections in women today. UTIs have a life-time prevalence of 5060% of adult women, with as many as one-in-five suffering from recurrent UTIs. Chronic inflammatory and pain conditions in the urinary tract in both men and women are difficult to diagnosis and treat with traditional standard culture techniques.

About Dr. J. Curtis Nickel

J. Curtis Nickel, MD, FRCSC, is Professor of Urology and Canada Research Chair in Urologic Pain and Inflammation at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He has over 600 publications, is on the editorial board of eight Urology journals, past-editor of the AUA Update Series, a past-president of the Canadian Urological Association, invited to present in over 45 countries, continuously funded for over 25 years by US NIH and Canadian CIHR. He was awarded a CIHR Tier I Canada Research Chair (until 2021), AUA Distinguished Contribution Award, AUA Lattimer Medal and SIU Mostafa Elhilali Award for his contribution to international urologic research.

About MicroGenDX

Founded in 2008, MicroGenDX has become the industry leader in rapid turnaround and affordability for comprehensive Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and qPCR testing for clinical diagnostics. MicroGenDX is CLIA-licensed and CAP-accredited, and has been the trusted research partner for the CDC, U.S. Army, NASA and the FDA. MicroGenDX has published over 35 clinical trials and is the most experienced molecular diagnostic laboratory with some 1.5 million samples processed. Over 80,000 medical professionals rely on MicroGenDX clinical diagnostics.

MicroGenDX also offers over 30 specialized clinical diagnostic tests for a comprehensive array of medical specialties and infection types. For more information, visit http://www.microgendx.com.
953 N Griffin Shores Dr, Saint Augustine, FL 32080 I personally love the art of matching the right buyer to the right home, but it is Engel & Volkers global reach that ensures our listings are exposed to the largest audience.

Engel & Volkers Florida today announced the record-breaking sale of 953 N Griffin Shores Dr, which stands as the largest single-family home ever sold in the St. Augustine & St. Johns County Board of REALTORS MLS. License Partner and Private Office Advisor, Jenn Bryndal represented the listing of the 12,665 square foot home.

Proper marketing is key when selling luxury homes and even more important when selling a home that is unique for the area, said Bryndal. I personally love the art of matching the right buyer to the right home, but it is Engel & Volkers global reach that ensures our listings are exposed to the largest audience. Our international network and multimedia marketing platform offers our clients an elevated level of service and powerful tools for showcasing their homes.

Built in 2007, the one-and-a-half-acre waterfront estate features views of the Intracoastal Waterway from every room. Totaling a whopping 12,665 square feet, the main home boasts eight bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. A separate guest suite amounts to an additional 2,300 square feet of space, in itself. Other amenities include a four-car garage, two elevators, a home theatre, and a personal fitness center complete with a sauna. Two additional one-acre lots were available for the potential to increase the property size to three-and-a-half-acres, but they were not purchased in this sale.

We are very excited about what Jenn and her team have accomplished in the $1 million and above price range this year, said Peter Giese, Chief Growth Officer at Engel & Volkers Florida. They are leveraging the Engel & Volkers brand and utilizing our systems and tools as intended to provide bespoke buying and selling experiences for the clientele; this has elevated the level of service in their local area to a whole new level.

With a $2.8 million price tag, 953 N Griffin Shores Dr sold for $221 per square foot. The previous record was set in 2003 by a 10,697 square foot home, which sold for $163 per square foot. That was a Victorian home, built in 1863 and located on the waterfront in St. Augustines historic district.

Bryndal left Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in 2019 to start her own brokerage by partnering with Engel & Volkers. Since then, she has broken several local sales records including the most expensive intracoastal-front home in St. Augustine; which was later surpassed by another advisor at Engel & Volkers St. Augustine. Under her leadership, the brokerage has closed over 70 transactions, totaling nearly $54 million year to date.

###

Press contact:

Linzee Werkmeister, Junior Vice President, Marketing & Franchise Support

Email: Linzee.Werkmeister(at)evrealestate.com

Tel: (239) 348-9000

About Engel & Volkers:

Engel & Volkers is a global luxury real estate brand. Founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1977, Engel & Volkers draws on its rich European history to deliver a fresh approach to luxury real estate in the Americas with a focus on creating a personalized client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process for todays savvy homeowner. Engel & Volkers currently operates approximately 240 shop locations with 5,000 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brands global network of over 14,000 real estate professionals in more than 30 countries, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate and yachting. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and platforms; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. For more information, visit http://www.evrealestate.com.

About Engel & Volkers Florida:

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

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

For more information about Engel & Volkers Florida, please visit http://www.florida.evrealestate.com
Corservs Account Issuer Program lets us provide attractive credit card products while keeping the interchange, loan interest, and fees in our bank."

Corserv, a company that empowers banks and fintechs with payment programs, has implemented a credit card program with $2.7B Wichita Kansas-based Fidelity Bank focused on commercial and business cards for local businesses, municipalities, and non-profit organizations.

Fidelity Bank, a fourth-generation family-owned bank, abides by a simple promise: To create a better future by acting with courage and integrity alongside its customers and in the communities in which it serves. With this in mind, Fidelity sought to enhance its credit card offering capabilities and provide a customized experience for its commercial and business customers.

Our customers, especially our commercial and business customers, wanted a competitive credit card option with local service, said Jason West, SVP/ Director of Payments and Commercial Services at Fidelity Bank. Corservs Account Issuer Program lets us provide attractive credit card products while keeping the interchange, loan interest, and fees in our bank. Corservs business and commercial cards enable us to compete with the largest banks by way of self-service spend controls, virtual cards, support for ePayables, and an integrated expense reporting system.

We created the Account Issuer Program to enable banks like Fidelity to own their credit card financials while providing local service and getting access to their customer data without adding staff, said Anil Goyal, President of Corserv. Fidelity Bank is using our program to meet the customer demand for flexible credit cards that also increase Fidelitys non-interest income from interchange. We look forward to working with Fidelity to market and service credit card products for their local customers.

About Fidelity Bank

Fidelity Bank, N.A. is a fourth-generation, family-owned financial institution based in Wichita, Kansas. Fidelity Bank has over 500 employees and more than $2.7 billion in assets across 21 offices in the Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Kansas City metro areas. Visit http://www.fidelitybank.com for more information.

About Corserv

Corserv provides payment services including a turnkey issuing program for credit cards, P-cards, and virtual cards that enables Banks and Fintechs to deliver competitive, branded payment services to their customers. Corservs secure hosted programs combine our credit, compliance and marketing expertise with our modern online solution and open APIs  everything clients need to quickly build a successful card-issuing business. Our Bank and Fintech clients increase their earnings per share by benefitting from loan interest, interchange, fee income and economies of scale from Corservs client base. Most importantly, they deepen their customer relationships. For more information, please visit http://www.corservsolutions.com.


The PTAB was sold to Congress as an easier, faster, and fair alternative to litigation for patent disputes, However, what it became instead was a powerful tool that a large infringer could use to challenge the validity of any small inventors patent." -US Inventor Policy Director Josh Malone.

American inventors from all walks of life will be rallying in six U.S. cities on Thursday, September 16, 2021 to shine a spotlight on the America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA). Signed into law on that day 10 years ago, the AIA has nullified the rights and stolen the dreams of thousands of independent inventors and startups while enriching Big Tech and multi-national conglomerates through the establishment of an administrative tribunal called the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), also known as the Patent Death Squad, says inventor rights advocacy group US Inventor.

Inventors participating in the groups Decade of Stolen Dreams rally - many whose lives and businesses have been unjustly destroyed by PTAB rulings according to US Inventor, will gather along with supporters and make their voices heard in front of USPTO regional offices in Alexandria, VA, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, and San Jose, CA, as well as from the main Vermont office of Senator Patrick Leahy, the bill's principal sponsor. (For rally times, addresses, and additional information please see http://usinventor.org/rally-media)

The PTAB was sold to Congress as an easier and faster but fair alternative to litigation in district court for patent disputes, says US Inventor Policy Director Josh Malone. However, what it became instead was a powerful tool that a large infringer could use to challenge the validity of any small inventors patent in order to use the inventors technology royalty-free, or to prevent the inventors disruptive technology from competing in the marketplace.

Malone says that when patents are reviewed by the PTAB, they are invalidated 84% of the time. Even if the inventor survives a challenge and gets to keep their patent, the big company can request another PTAB hearing on a separate issue. Each attack on a patent costs the inventor hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend against. When a small inventor lacks the funds to defend their patent in a PTAB hearing, they are often left with no other option than to give up their patent and walk away to cut losses. Even Chinese companies tied to the CCP, like ZTE, Huawei, and TikTok, are using the PTAB to invalidate the patents of Americans and take their technologies.

Our Founding Fathers felt that patent rights were so important that they guaranteed them in the Constitution, says Malone. Article 1 Section 8 charges Congress with the duty to protect the rights of inventors. It was the first time in history that a government was authorized to protect patents as a property right. For over two centuries, the innovation of inventors, protected by that right, helped fuel the American economy and assisted a countless number of citizens to achieve the American Dream.

As we approach the ten-year anniversary of the AIA, there are now thousands of inventors whose dreams have been crushed and whose businesses have been destroyed -- and its happening at an increasing rate and its not getting better. This is not the way the patent system is supposed to work. The American Invents Act needs to be fixed.

ABOUT JOSH MALONE  POLICY DIRECTOR US INVENTOR

Josh Malone quit his corporate job in 2006 to take his shot at the Inventors Dream. Eight years later, savings depleted and kids college unfunded, he took one last swing before trudging back to the corporate world. And hit a home-run with Bunch O Balloons. His solution to the 63-year-old problem of filling and sealing water balloons instantly became the number one selling summer toy. His invention was stolen by a notorious serial infringer who convinced the USPTO to revoke his patent under a controversial procedure of the 2011 America Invents Act. A brutal and costly legal battle combined with an anti-corruption crusade ultimately resulted in a $31M award and restoration of his patent rights. He is now a full-time volunteer with the inventor advocacy organization US Inventor.

ABOUT US INVENTOR (http://www.usinventor.org)

Inventor rights advocacy group US Inventor brings together the best and brightest innovators of today to help the best and brightest innovators of tomorrow. Our current mission is to restore the right of an inventor to stop the theft of his or her patented invention by any corporation, no matter how powerful. We also teach and promote the invention process and business methods involved in developing an idea, making a profit, and changing lives.

Decade of Stolen Dreams Inventor Rally - September 16, 2021

Alexandria, VA  4:00 p.m. Burlington, VT  4:00 p.m.

Eastern Regional USPTO Senator Patrick Leahy office

600 Dulany Main Street 199 Main Street

Dallas, TX  10:00 a.m. Denver, CO  4:00 p.m.

Texas Regional USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional USPTO

207 South Houston Street 1961 Stout Street

Detroit, MI  4:00 p.m. San Jose, CA  4:00 p.m.

Midwest Regional USPTO Silicon Valley USPTO

300 River Place Drive 26 South Fourth Street

NOTE TO PRODUCERS: Individual inventors scheduled to speak and available for interviews are listed at http://www.usinventor.org/rally-media


GettinLocal was named one of the best apps to support local businesses, joining the ranks of elite apps such as Google Maps, Facebook, Local Flavor, Nextdoor, Tripadvisor, Yelp and more. Were thrilled MUO recognized GettinLocal as one of the top 10 best apps to support local businesses, said Vito Pagano, CEO & Founder of GettinLocal.

GettinLocal, the digital app that provides dynamic hyperlocal discovery using geo-fencing technology, announced today that they were named one of the 10 Best Apps to Support Local Businesses by the online technology publication Make Use Of (MUO). Launched in early 2021, GettinLocal was named the 10th best app to support local businesses, joining the ranks of elite apps such as Google Maps, Facebook, Local Flavor, Nextdoor, Tripadvisor, Yelp, Foursquare City Guide, Etsy and LivingSocial on MUOs list.

Both iOS and Android compatible, GettinLocal allows users to explore, discover and book activities, amenities and services - all locally. The smart platform changes information as the user moves to different locations by using its geo-fence technology. By changing offerings in real-time, users can discover and book different local activities on the move. While MUO acknowledged that the GettinLocal app would be great for vacationers and in cities the user has never been before, it highlighted that the app is equally as great to use in the users own city. It has the ability to locate restaurants that someone may never have known existed or show local attractions that have not been explored  all within a certain mile radius.

Were thrilled MUO recognized GettinLocal as one of the top 10 best apps to support local businesses, said Vito Pagano, CEO & Founder of GettinLocal. To be included with apps such as Google Maps, Facebook, Local Flavor, Nextdoor, Tripadvisor and more is a huge honor. Right now, GettinLocal is available for use in New York, Miami, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Nashville, Memphis, St. Louis and Toronto. Were gaining momentum rapidly and will be adding new cities throughout the United States and Canada soon, with the ultimate goal of being global.

To learn more visit https://www.gettinlocal.com/ or email info (at) gettinlocal.com or call 877-852-1171.
Save $500 on the purchase of your Honda vehicle with the Honda Military Appreciation Offer available to the U.S. military personnel.

Meridian Honda provides a $500 offer to the U.S. military personnel on the purchase of any 2020 or newer Honda vehicle financed or leased from Honda Financial Services.

Those eligible to redeem this offer include the U.S. military active-duty personnel, including those belonging to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, Coast Guard, Active Reserve, and their spouses. The offer is also redeemable by the U.S. military Ready Reserve, Military Retirees, their spouses, military veterans, and their spouses within two years of separation from active service, and members of the Gold Star Families.

At the time of redemption, certain documents need to be produced as proof. These documents include the Military Leave and Earnings Statement, the Gold Star family status documentation, a Military ID, and the Spouses LES is required if it is the spouse who wishes to claim this offer.

The Honda Military Appreciation Offer is valid till 31/3/2022 and can be redeemed at your local Honda dealership. Visit the dealerships website http://www.meridianhonda.com to see the other eligibility criteria for the Honda Military Appreciation Offer. Interested U.S. Military personnel can contact the dealership by calling (601) 693-4651 or by driving to 503 Front Street Ext.


We are honored to be included on this year's Inc. 5000 list. Our rapid growth is only expected to continue due to the amazing talent we have attracted as well as the extreme transformative nature of the technologies we support as our clients continue on their digital transformation journey.

JOLT Advantage Group, a leading North American IT consulting firm and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) services provider, earned the rank of No. 1137 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list, the most renowned rating of the nation's fastest-growing private firms. The list offers a unique look at the most successful firms in the most dynamic section of the American economy: independent small businesses. Companies that made the list have expanded sixfold on average since 2016. During a period when the economy only grew by 15%.

The COVID pandemic reinforced the urgency for organizations to modernize their technology footprint and speed up the adoption of digital transformation solutions. Throughout the past year, JOLT remained laser-focused on delivering transformative intelligent automation solutions to our clients, placing a strong focus on supporting our valuable workforce and helping them overcome challenges around remote work and continuous client collaboration.

"We are honored and humbled to be included on this year's Inc. 5000 list. Our rapid growth is only expected to continue due to the amazing talent we have attracted as well as the extreme transformative nature of the technologies we support as our client partners continue on their digital transformation journey." Said Chris Thilburg, President and Co-founder of JOLT.

Being recognized in this prestigious showcase is a tribute to the hard work we've put in for our clients, associates, and other stakeholders. Apart from being a reputable editorial prize, the Inc. 5000 list represents a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurial success, and we're honored to be in the company of businesses like Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names who gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

About JOLT Advantage Group:

At JOLT, we free humans of the robotic work they hate, allowing them to be more strategic, analytical, creative, and truly happy. Our 360 RPA & Intelligent Automation solutions drive operational efficiency, optimize customer experience, and maximize employee satisfaction while helping our clients achieve real digital transformation success. JOLT's comprehensive Intelligent Automation portfolio is equipped with the world's leading RPA software platform, purpose-built automation frameworks, intelligent transformation accelerators, custom change management strategy, and highly experienced automation veterans. For more information, please visit http://www.joltag.com and follow us on social: Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube.

About Inc. Media:

The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.

About the Inc. 5000 Methodology:

Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2017 to 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2017. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2020. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to three decimal places.
Peter T. Rosario has been appointed as La Casa de Don Pedro's first President and Chief Executive Officer. (Courtesy of La Casa de Don Pedro.) "We welcome Peter Rosario to La Casa de Don Pedro. Rosario will be a great asset as the organizations new leader, having worked for some of the regions leading non-profit organizations for nearly three decades," said Arcelio Aponte, president of La Casas Board of Directors.

La Casa de Don Pedro, a non-profit organization that serves the Greater Newark region through social services and community development work, has appointed former Ocean County YMCA President and CEO, Peter T. Rosario, as its first President and Chief Executive Officer. As New Jerseys largest Latinx nonprofit, La Casa serves upwards of 50,000 people per year with its 280 employees.

La Casa was formed in 1972 following a period of social unrest in the late-1960s in Newark. With its comprehensive offering of programs and services, La Casa aims to reverse the trajectory of social, racial, political and economic dislocations and marginalization of children and families. Its mission is to foster self-sufficiency, empowerment and neighborhood revitalization through advocacy, education and support.

"We welcome Peter Rosario to La Casa de Don Pedro. Rosario will be a great asset as the organizations new leader, having worked for some of the regions leading non-profit organizations for nearly three decades," said Arcelio Aponte, president of La Casas Board of Directors. His success in the field, passion for La Casas mission and focus on what matters in peoples lives made him the unanimous choice for the role. On behalf of the board, Id like to thank La Casas staff for their efforts in managing the leadership transition. We welcome Rosario as our new President & CEO.

I am humbled and excited to join the amazing team at La Casa de Don Pedro as its President and CEO, said Rosario. I want to thank the Board of Directors for placing its trust in me to lead the organization into its next chapter of service to the communities that we serve. I am also grateful for the warm welcome that the staff, donors, community partners and others have provided me.

Rosario will succeed former Executive Director Raymond Ocasio who led La Casa for 23 years, during which the organization's annual operating budget grew from $3 million to $26 million. Statewide, Ocasio is recognized for his leadership and advocacy, as evidenced by La Casas community development, affordable housing, and early childhood education programs.

I am pleased to be handing the reins to such a capable, visionary leader in Peter Rosario, said Ocasio. With his decades of service to communities across the state, he is an ideal person to lead La Casa as we celebrate our 50th anniversary next year and beyond.

Here at the Victoria Foundation, we support the work that Raymond Ocasio and his team has done at La Casa more than two decades  providing early childhood education, youth development, adult education, homeownership opportunities, housing counseling, energy conservation and so much more, to improve the quality of life for Newark, N.J., residents, said Craig Drinkard, co-executive officer at the Victoria Foundation, one of the oldest private foundations in the U.S. On behalf of our organization, I want to thank Ocasio for his years of service and welcome Rosario as La Casa's new President & CEO.

We have a long-standing history with La Casa and support its mission to help empower all the communities it serves, said Shane Harris, vice president, inclusive solutions, Prudential Financial and president of The Prudential Foundation. We will collaborate with Peter Rosario as he brings his vision and experience to La Casa and helps move Newark residents closer to social and financial mobility.

Growing up in the South Bronx, N.Y., Rosario's interest and passion for community activism and service began at a young age through his church and as a Boy Scout. Rosario attended Fordham University where he earned a bachelors degree in communications while also volunteering for the Scout Reach program.

Throughout his nonprofit career, Rosario distinguished himself in multiple operational, fundraising, and executive leadership roles. As president and CEO of the Ocean County YMCA in Toms River, N.J., Rosario led a turnaround effort, attracting over 10,000 members and ultimately serving as the countys leading provider of childcare, aquatics and wellness programs.

We established the first-ever Summer Meals Program, where we served 700 to 900 meals a day in a community where many residents didn't even recognize they had a food insecurity problem, said Rosario.

Prior to the Ocean County YMCA, Peter served as senior vice president and chief operating officer for the YMCA of Newark and Vicinity. Having always admired La Casa due to its various programs and community work, Rosario resides in Passaic, N.J., where he served two terms on the Passaic City Board of Education and served as president, vice president, and chairman of five committees during his tenure. Rosarios life experiences and personal passions align with La Casas mission.

Racial and social justice is our number one priority across the board, said Rosario. As the go-to organization for the Latinx community serving Black and Brown residents, we must take diversity and inclusion to the next level. Were trying to create an ecosystem of care for our community  focusing on wealth building, not just social services.

About La Casa de Don Pedro:

La Casa de Don Pedro, formed in 1972, as a community-based, grassroots organization committed to empowering the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. The organization was named in honor of Puerto Rican nationalist, Don Pedro Albizu Campos, who advocated the twin virtues of self-sufficiency and empowerment, and was founded by Newarkers of Puerto Rican descent. La Casa de Don Pedro provides comprehensive and integrated services in the following areas: early childhood development, youth educational, cultural and recreational programs, youth and family counseling, HIV/AIDS prevention and services, workforce development, affordable housing development and counseling, community engagement and development, lead remediation and abatement, and home energy conservation assistance. http://www.lacasanwk.org/
Security Preferences I used SutiHR in a previous organization. It's so good, I am launching in my new company! We've had such a good experience that we are now investing in Sutisoft for our Accounts Payable and Employee Expense solutions! Shannon J.Director, People and Culture

SutiSoft Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based and mobile business management solutions, today announces updates to the Personnel and Recruitment modules of SutiHR, its online HRM platform. The latest password security preferences provide HR Administrators the ability to control the password settings for employees.

Employee information is highly sensitive and requires the utmost security. To accommodate this, SutiHR allows HR Administrators to determine the level of security needed to protect employees accounts.

The latest features include:



Password Security Preferences:

Password Security Preferences allow HR Administrators to specify the settings for users to change the application login password, set the specific password requirements, and allow users to reset passwords. This feature provides the ability to select various combinations of settings to determine the desired password login experience.

Two-factor Authentication:

The solution allows users to turn on/off the two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication significantly improves the security of employee login credentials and the personal information in the application.

Creating Bulk Interview Schedule with Different Time Slots:

The Bulk Interview Schedule feature allows HR Administrators to schedule interviews with different time slots for each candidate.

Directly Create Job Profile for Internal Job Postings:

When onboarding new hires, for current employees who have applied for a job through the company job portal, HR Administrators can directly create a new job profile.

Display Tenure Automatically When Adding a Company/Project:

When adding a new company/project details to a resume, the system automatically displays the tenure as the candidates work period from the previous organization is entered.

Recruitment Task Completion Notification:

The system automatically sends an email notification to HR Administrators when an employee completes the recruitment task.

For more information, please visit: https://www.sutihr.com or call us on 650-969-SUTI.

About SutiSoft

SutiSoft provides a comprehensive suite of cloud-based business platforms and solutions for companies of all sizes. These platforms include scalable and easy-to-use solutions for HR, Employee Travel & Expense, Wireless Spend Management, CRM, Document Management, Business Data Analytics, and Electronic signature. Our platforms and solutions enable small, mid-size, and large enterprise customers to control costs, save time, and assist in making smart business decisions. Headquartered in Los Altos, California, SutiSoft also has regional offices in Germany, India, and Japan. For additional information, visit our website at http://www.sutisoft.com.
Legal operations professionals are under pressure to reduce costs while dealing with increasingly complex matters and meeting demands that productivity increase and GCs take on a more strategic role within the business. Said ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research Analyst, Kristie Robertson.

New analysis from ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research shows that while the move to digitize and operationalize the legal department is not new, pressures from COVID-19 have accelerated the pace of transformation out of necessity. The rapid shift to remote work, cybersecurity concerns, business optimization, technological advances, geographic challenges, and more have all come to rely increasingly on the General Counsel (GC) as a strategic resource, as well as touching on legal operations teams to implement. As legal operations have grown in large organizations, small organizations have taken notice and started to implement their own operations solutions while also rethinking delivery models and transforming legal function operations, translating into increased demand in the market all around.

Legal operations professionals are under pressure to reduce costs while dealing with increasingly complex matters and meeting demands that productivity increase and GCs take on a more strategic role within the business, pointed out ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research Analyst Kristie Robertson. This puts a great strain on the legal operations department to not only control costs but to also turn their department into a well-oiled, operationally efficient machine. Organizations that have adopted a strategic legal operations approach are more cost-effective, build better relationships both inside and outside of the organization, and provide greater value for the organization as a whole.

Market Leaders and Pacesetters differentiate themselves by embracing change management and focusing on managing the human side of organizational change. They think and plan beyond just the roadmap for department change and incorporate the human side of the equation through interviews, training, continuing education, and feedback exchange programs. Thought leadership is another integral element and Market Leaders and Pacesetters produce this with expert analysis, in-depth surveys, robust case studies, and panels where experts lead the discussion. These market leaders can drive informed decision-making for their clients and help them take that first step on their path to rapid and robust change.

In ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research: Legal Departments - Legal Operations 2021-2022, the Pacesetter Advisory Council assesses eighteen providers strategies and service offerings identified as Market Leaders for their ability to deliver client impact in legal operations. Additionally, the research and analysis provide insights into the competitive dynamics and service delivery trends, driving convergence across legal, management consulting, multiservice and technology providers.

Research Highlights:



Todays clients are increasingly sophisticated. They are more technologically advanced, desire an enhanced service experience, and want more strategic input in projects

Liberalization of legal markets in some geographies has inspired sharp growth in local innovation. Relationships with traditional law firms as well as conflict-of-interest issues with other clients likely preclude multiservice (and some consulting providers) from competing directly in the practice of law matters, but outside the US, these providers concentrate more on the practice of law as a support function for event-driven matters

Legal operations professionals have an increasing appetite for integrated services that address problems holistically rather than focus on a single area and have been keeping more work in-house

Increased demand for legal operations professionals has created a hiring frenzy. Organizations should look beyond legal experience, and import experienced professionals from adjacent industries (financial/marketing/technology operations) to incorporate diverse experience, especially with technology skills and financial management experience

During this research, many of our conversations with both the provider side and the client-side began with technology, discussing platform selection or how advanced technology like advanced analytics and AI were being deployed. But then ultimately the focus would shift towards achieving project goals -- and more often than not where projects would fail was in figuring out how to get humans and technology to work together most effectively, said Director of ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research, Tomek Jankowski.

ALM Intelligence evaluated the legal operations capabilities of the following providers: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Crowe, Deloitte, Elevate, Epiq, Eversheds Sutherland, EY, FTI Consulting, Intapp, KPMG, Kroll, McKinsey & Company, PwC, QuisLex, Reed Smith, Stout, Wipro.

ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research provides independent, objective research to providers and buyers of professional services, coupled with practical insights that inform the decision-making process for strategic planning and procurement professionals.

To learn more about this report or obtain the Executive Summary, please visit https://www.alm.com/intelligence/pacesetter-research-2/legal-departments-legal-operations/.

Join our analysts for a live discussion on the findings from this research on October 14 at 11:00 AM ET. You can register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/6216315500508/WN_u_QZiCbfQ_GZOTolVOUrJQ.

To obtain the full versions of the ALM Intelligence Pacesetter Research series, visit: https://www.alm.com/intelligence/pacesetter-research/ or contact our Strategic Accounts Manager, James Doyle at JDoyle@alm.com.

About ALM Intelligence

ALM Intelligence provides proprietary data, analysis, tools, and knowledge that empower our clients to succeed. The product suite and vast data repository arm professionals with the critical business information required to make the most impactful and informed decisions possible. The exhaustive data repository and product functionality enable professionals to combat competitive challenges head-on with the confidence to remain ahead of the field. The depth of ALM Intelligences expertise across the benefits, insurance, consulting, and legal industries provide a broad spectrum of actionable intelligence to facilitate and execute strategy. Visit https://www.alm.com/intelligence for more information.

About ALM Media, LLC

ALM, an information and intelligence company, provides customers with critical news, data, analysis, marketing solutions, and events to successfully manage the business of law. ALM serves a community of over 6 million business professionals seeking to discover, connect, and compete in highly complex industries. Please visit http://www.alm.com for more information, and visit http://www.alm.com/events/ to learn about our upcoming events. Please follow us on Twitter at @ALMMedia.
Our philosophy is that you shouldnt have to be an expert to successfully invest in art, said Joel Eidelstein, managing partner of LocalPaper.

LocalPaper, whose alternative investment platform offers pre-funded, institutional-quality investments to accredited investors, recently launched a new fine art investment opportunity. Created in partnership with Lio Malca, a renowned art collector and dealer based out of New York City, the offering provides investors a new way to diversify their portfolios; Malca personally sourced the artworks and LocalPapers principals pre-vetted and invested alongside investors. The offering included artwork by renowned artists, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, George Condo, Kenny Scharf and a selection of emerging artists.

Fine arts historically low correlation to the stock and real estate markets makes investing in art an ideal diversification strategy. However, the barriers of entry have long been high and opaque. Successful investment in the art world requires deep industry knowledge and large amounts of capital.

To disrupt this paradigm, LocalPaper adapted its strategy and success in the real estate asset class, partnering with Malca to allow platform users to invest directly in a portfolio of contemporary art. Investors can rely on Malcas expertise to provide valuation, curation and sourcing in fine art.

Our philosophy is that you shouldnt have to be an expert to successfully invest in art, said Joel Eidelstein, managing partner of LocalPaper. Were proud to be able to give accredited investors the opportunity to directly invest in spectacular artwork, curated by a true expert and managed professionally. The incredible response weve seen thus far is clear validation of the demand.

In the coming months, LocalPaper will regularly launch new art and real estate investments.

To register to invest with LocalPaper, visit the sign-up page.

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About LocalPaper

LocalPaper is a Miami company whose investment platform offers pre-funded, institutional-quality investments to accredited investors. Created by licensed professionals who have facilitated and managed over $1 billion in real estate transactions with zero principal loss, it is the first platform to offer real estate debt investments in multiple tranches, allowing investors a wide range of investment options on a single platform. In July 2021, LocalPaper began offering fine art as an asset class on its platform. For more information, visit localpaper.com or follow @localpaper_usa.
MaidPro, one of the largest and fastest-growing cleaning franchise companies in North America, is announcing its PROfessional Initiative of bringing on 2,000 new employees before the end of the year. As customer demand for home services only continues to grow throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, MaidPro franchisees are offering expanded benefits as they attract motivated individuals to join their teams of cleaning professionals and improve the quality of peoples lives, one client at a time.

As part of the PROfessional Initiative, the company has been actively hiring talent in every market across the country. MaidPros franchisees boast competitive industry wages, paired with individual tips and incentives.

The types of benefits that cleaning PROs receive include schedule flexibility, travel reimbursement, the ability to stay active and moving all day, and the freedom to work alone or with a partner (depending on location). They are provided support and tools by MaidPro franchisees--such as intensive training, uniforms, and cleaning supplies. PROs also have the opportunity to build strong relationships and develop a roster of happy repeat customers, knowing that they are truly making a difference by giving clients their time back.

"We put our PROs first at all times and do whatever we can to support them, especially during these challenging times, said MaidPro Wichita owner Paige Rounds. Last year, local schools kept closing because it was too cold. Not only did students suffer from the lack of school, but many of our employees were left without childcare options throughout the day. As a company, we hosted socially distanced learning at the office on days when school was canceled. We are always happy to help our employees in whatever way we can. We are all people first, and its important to focus on lifting each other up so that we can succeed together."

PROs also enjoy career security as the home service and cleaning industry continues to boom. Proving itself to be pandemic-proof, the cleaning industry is forecasted to see 53% growth between 2020 and 2024. In addition, many MaidPro franchise owners offer extra hiring incentives and bonuses for employees who stay with the company for longer than 90 days.

Our franchisees across the country work tirelessly to ensure that we are delivering a sparkling-clean final product every time, said MaidPro Director of Marketing Kate Greene. That means setting our PROs up for success with professional training tools that are consistent system-wide. Culture is key at MaidPro, and we believe that it sets us apart from our competitors. Our owners present that culture well, and PRO retention is at a much higher rate than other brands in the industry who dont have that culture built in.

To learn more, visit: https://jobs.maidpro.com/.

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About MaidPro:

MaidPro is part of the Threshold Brands family of franchises. MaidPro is a Boston-based franchisor of house cleaning services with over 285 locations in 38 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1997, takes pride in its strong owner community, cutting-edge technology, and creative marketing. It has been honored with the Franchise Business Reviews Four-Star Rating and Franchise 50 awards every year from 2006 to 2021 for owner satisfaction. MaidPro was named one of the Top Franchises by Forbes, Entrepreneur and USA Today. MaidPro is also a proud member of the International Franchise Association, Canadian Franchise Association, and the New England Franchise Association. https://maidpro.com/


McDowell Sonoran Conservancy

The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy (the Conservancy) has received a $1,500,000 multi-year grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation to continue the work of The Parsons Field Institute. The Conservancy serves as the steadfast steward of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which encompasses more than 30,500 acres, with 225 miles of trails, making it the largest urban preserve in North America.

One of Arizonas most spectacular landscapes, the Sonoran Desert is home to an incredible variety of plant and animal life, said Bob Parsons, Founder and CEO of PXG. It is critically important we do our part to better understand and protect this natural resource.

In addition to its work to maintain and preserve the Preserve, the Conservancy is dedicated to improving management practices in ecological restoration. This work includes controlling invasive, non-native plant species and assessing the impact of urban stressors and climate change on the Sonoran Desert and other arid lands.

During the past few years, the Conservancy has transformed from a land conservation organization into a leading scientific research and education institution. Much of its work has far-reaching implications with findings and solutions that have the potential to positively impact arid lands on a global scale, and education plays a critical role in inspiring future generations about the significance of the Sonoran Desert.

This recent grant will support several key initiatives including:



Wildfire mitigation focusing on fire-safe practices, partnerships with the local fire department and research on hazardous vegetation

Soil crust restoration work to find new methods to lessen dust storms and the related respiratory issues they cause

Protecting biodiversity through monitoring, research, conservation and education

Ongoing and expanded education and outreach including the development of a K-12 STEAM curriculum

We are grateful for the generous support of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, said Justin Owen, CEO of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy. Their partnership will allow us to not only continue our education programs for children in underserved communities but expand and share our scientific research with those in similar environments around the world.

In addition to ecological research, the Conservancy places a large emphasis on education. Several of its programs work to engage students, often from Title 1 schools, in immersive experiences that highlight the importance of protecting the environment. The long-term goal of the conservancy is to continue to expand these programs and create a full STEAM curriculum.

Each and every one of us has a duty to be a good steward of our natural surroundings, said Renee Parsons, President and Executive Creative Director of PXG Apparel. The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is doing incredible work in teaching others to respect this beautiful space and leading research that will help ensure its long-term preservation.

The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation has been a valued partner to the Conservancy since 2014 and this recent grant brings total funding to $2,350,000. To learn more about the work of the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy or how to get involved, visit mcdowellsonoran.org and follow the Conservancy via social media: @mcdowellsonoranconservancy.

About The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy

The McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that preserves and advances natural open space through science, education and stewardship. Through a unique partnership with The City of Scottsdale, and the dedication of 650 volunteer Stewards, the Conservancy protects more than 30,500 acres in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which is enjoyed by over 1.2 million visitors annually. To learn more about its mission and achievements visit mcdowellsonoran.org.

About The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation

The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation offers support to nonprofit organizations successfully working to empower, educate, nurture and nourish people during what is often the darkest time of their lives. Founded in 2012 by philanthropists and business leaders Bob and Renee Parsons to provide hope and life-changing assistance to the countrys most vulnerable populations, The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation offers critical funding at critical times to those in need. The Foundations giving is driven by the core belief that all people  regardless of race, religion, roots, economic status, sexual orientation or gender identity  deserve access to quality healthcare, education and a safe place to call home. Follow @WeDealInHope on social media or visit TBRPF.org, to learn more about partner organizations and the important work being done in the community.
Modern and future libraries serve a multifaceted purpose, and their purpose will become even more multifaceted over time. With this white paper, weve shared information thats critical to designing an update to an older library or designing a new library from scratch.

Due to changes in technology and pedagogical expectations, school libraries are taking on new roles in supporting students and educators. MiEN Company is helping librarians and their colleagues consider whatll be required of effective future libraries via a new white paper, Do School Libraries Still Matter? Defining Form and Function of Future-Ready Libraries.

The white paper explores the following questions:



What does it mean to be future-ready?

How are librarians responding to recalibrating their services and to the new physical spaces they need to accommodate changing student expectations for instruction and learning practices?

Do School Libraries Still Matter? answers the question in its title with an unequivocable yes. Research has established a correlation between high-quality library programs and student achievement, said Dr. Christina Counts, Vice President of Education for MiEN Company. Full-time certified librarians have a positive impact on students scores for standards-based language arts, reading, and writing tests. And researchers found that a strong library program is most helpful to at-risk learners, including minority students, low-income students and students with disabilities.

The white paper highlights the need for high-quality K-12 library programs by sharing the following:



75% of students have no idea how to locate articles and resources they need for research.

60% of students dont verify the accuracy of reliability of the information they find.

44% of students do not know how to integrate knowledge from different sources.

Do School Libraries Still Matter? answers the two other questions by describing the school library of the future as a center of knowledge curation and creation as well as knowledge consumption. The white paper supports this vision by citing sources such as the 2017 Horizon Report Library Edition, the Wiley Network, American Libraries magazine, Library Journal and more. It explains that these changes will help students learn core 21st century skills such as inquiry-based learning, higher-order critical thinking, collaboration, creation, curation and self-reflection. Readers will also find a sidebar listing the characteristics of future-ready librarians.

In addition, the white paper examines how school library spaces are changing in response to new learning demands. It states that libraries need flexible space that can transition from one for quiet, independent activities to one that can accommodate groups of various sizes doing collaborative work. It covers the different types of spaces that can be found in future-ready libraries  classrooms, commons, and specialized workspaces like maker spaces.

The paper cites research findings about space influencing peoples mood and behavior. It also explains that furniture configuration strongly affects how people engage each other. In addition, it contains a case study of how Charleston County School District (SC) modernized its libraries.

Even simple updates, like multipurpose furniture, can help to future proof libraries by providing creating flexible space, said Counts. Modern and future libraries serve a multifaceted purpose, and their purpose will become even more multifaceted over time. With this white paper, weve shared information thats critical to designing an update to an older library or designing a new library from scratch.

To download a copy of the white paper please go to: https://miencompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/FutureLibraryK12-MiEN-2021-004.pdf

About MiEN Company

MiEN is a global company serving the education industry with innovative furniture products and services that promote and support active and interactive learning environments in engaging and functional ways. An American company with a strong European influence, its products and services represent the ideas and collaborative efforts of an expert team of suppliers, designers, and engineers. Built strong and durable using eco-friendly, sustainable materials, its products rank high in the industry in meeting the demands of creating dynamic and collaborative learning environments. For more information go to https://miencompany.com
Fans of the Hyundai brand can get behind the wheel of the brand-new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup truck today at Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale.

Hyundai-brand loyalists who need a more capable option may fall in love with the style, utility and performance of the brand-new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup truck at Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale. Scottsdale-area drivers who have been chomping at the bit to get behind the wheel of the Hyundai Santa Cruz will have their wish with the new model now available at Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale.

Hyundai Santa Cruz entries at Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale will be available in four trim levels  SE, SEL, SEL Premium and Limited  with a price tag that starts at $23,990. Built for the family on the go, the Hyundai Santa Cruz will make room for five passengers in a cabin that provides 101.8 cubic feet of passenger space. To promote utility, the Hyundai Santa Cruz features a 48-inch bed with a lockable and drainable in-bed storage compartment. Hyundai Santa Cruz SE FWD models provide drivers with a maximum payload of 1,906 pounds. Highlights of the Santa Cruz interior include an optional 10.25-inch touchscreen multimedia system, a 10.25-inch driver information display, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto and more.

Power is provided to the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz by a pair of powertrain options. Hyundai Santa Cruz SE and SEL trim levels available at the dealership employ a 191-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that will earn 23 mpg combined with the eight-speed automatic transmission. Hyundai Santa Cruz SEL Premium and Limited trim levels feature a 281-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that is married to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Hyundai HTRAC AWD is available with both powertrains. When equipped for towing, the turbocharged Hyundai Santa Cruz will tow up to 5,000 pounds of cargo.

Families interested in the brand-new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz now available at Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale can learn more and schedule a test drive online at http://www.northscottsdalehyundai.com. Contact the Earnhardt Hyundai of North Scottsdale team directly by calling 480-922-5200.
10 Pack Tablet Charging Station

New CaseCruzer 10 Pack Tablet Charging Station makes slow charging of multiple devices such as iPads and Samsung tablets a thing of the past with its 220 Watts of total power and 10 USB-C ports. It has the capability of fast-charging new tablet devices that require USB Type-C. Thats why government and military personnel who work in remote and extreme conditions rely heavily on the new charging solution to keep devices powered.

On the ground or in the air, the new charging station keeps tablets charged for use with applications such as Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs), but also re-charges them even quicker. The charging station has power supply units that comply with USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 specifications and Qualcomm Quick Charge (found in the Samsung Galaxy line). The charging station is backwards compatible. It also has 5 alternate ports for legacy devices that require USB Type-A connectors. Tablet devices can fit snugly with virtually any of the popular protective covers in each of the padded vertical bays. Bays guard electronics from shock, impact and vibration during travel.

The new solution by CaseCruzer ensures devices are completely protected with UL certification. There are two surge protectors with power requirements of 110 Volts AC. An internal fan in the 10 Pack Charging Station provides temperature control while tablets charge. For safety reasons and to help with heat dissipation, the exterior lid is to be kept open while the interior door can be locked while devices power up. A double set of steel flanges can be fastened with heavy-duty padlocks to allow access to authorized users only. The product comes with full safety certificates for CE, ETL, FCC, SAA, KC, PSE, CB, RoHS, Erp, REACH. More technical information can be found on the companys website.

Be mission-ready: to allow for continuously powered tablets, the highly efficient CaseCruzer charging station or multiple stations can adhere to a strict charging schedule. A system such as this is even more important in government, military and medical settings today to better establish improved interpersonal communications. From back-office employees to front line workers in government, keeping vital information updated is a top priority. Likewise, first responders and medical units can better work with necessary medical apps to get their jobs done.

CaseCruzer provides additional specifications on their website for the charging stations USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 DC output, which technically means iPads and Samsung tablets can charge at the fastest possible speed.

The 10 Pack Charging Station is airtight, watertight and its dust-proof features can be attributed to the pressure equalization valve, latches and O-ring seal (MIL-STD-648C & IP67). Harsh weather conditions are no match for the products durability. Naturally, the CaseCruzer pedigree of being virtually indestructible is part of the new, tough charging station. Unconditional lifetime warranty.

While government IT procurement teams can count on the charging station as an indispensable product to incorporate into technology budgets, purchasing agents can depend on the solution for utmost quality, reliability and availability. Please take into account that the current lead time is 7-10 days.

The station weighs approximately 43 lbs. Exterior dimensions of the mobile station are: 27L x 20W x 16H. Color: black. Its wheels and single pull-handle make moving the station effortless when it needs to be transported. It can travel via airplane (ATA 300 rated), train or truck and safely shipped via FedEx & UPS with Ez-Pack N Ship.

CaseCruzer offers over 500+ TAA-compliant carrying cases, weapons transit cases and mobile charging stations.

CaseCruzer is there to help lead the way with fast charging of mobile technology as government personnel, medical teams and those in the military continue to rely on fully powered tablets.

For more information on the new mobile 10 Pack Charging Station, please visit casecruzer.com; call (800) 440-9925 in the U.S. or (909) 613-1999 internationally; fax (909) 613-1979; or write to CaseCruzer at 4665 State Street, Montclair, CA 91763.
Open banking puts the power in the hands of financial institutions and consumers. NXTsoft is excited to have created a standard API solution that facilitates this connectivity and forward progress.

NXTsoft (nxtsoft.com), the market leader in comprehensive, secure API connectivity for fintechs and financial institutions has created an Application Program Interface solution (API) that provides standard connectivity to all banks and credit unions, leading the way in facilitating open banking in the United States.

Open banking refers to the sharing of financial data of account holders with third party financial service providers through a secure API. In Europe, PSD2, which was mandated for European banks by December of 2020, was enacted to boost digital banking innovation while increasing security and consumer rights, thereby fostering innovation and protecting customers with a single regulatory effort. The main technological requirement for PSD2 compliance is providing an API that allows account information service providers access to customer information when its granted by the consumer.

The United States does not currently have a law like PSD2 and as such banking innovation may be lagging behind Europe. Fintechs and financial institutions in the United States are faced with a variety of archaic, legacy IT infrastructures that can impede the implementation of new solutions. Although banks can choose to follow good programming principles and use APIs for both internal and external data transfer, these APIs may be homegrown and therefore proprietary and not standardized. It is difficult for a third-party developer to interface with multiple banks if the banks all use their own proprietary APIs.

NXTsofts OmniConnect standard API solution provides API connectivity that can connect any U.S. financial institution to any 3rd party system with a singular API. With growing list of partners such as Kasasa, Abrigo, ICE Mortgage Technology, Bankpoint and the ability for fintechs to write directly to NXTsofts OmniConnect, NXTsofts technology provides a standard of connectivity enabling financial institutions to plug and play the connectivity they want without costly and time-consuming efforts. OmniConnect designed to make the data sharing process transparent to the consumer, the fintech company and the financial institution while at the same time limiting the amount of consumer data that needs to be shared to accomplish the end goal and to not compromise the security of the consumers account.

Currently in the United Sates, anytime a fintech company wants to connect its application to a financial institutions core system they have to engage software engineers on staff at a cost of $100k + annually per developer to write integrations and then continue to rely on those personnel as the core processor authors 4-6 enhancements and upgrades per year. Similarly, the financial institution could build their own API, but not only would they have to build it, but they would also have to maintain it, update it, support it and secure it. NXTsofts OmniConnect removes that entire burden from fintechs and financial institutions, significantly reducing time to market, costs, headaches, and paves the way for an open banking platform.

It is imperative moving forward that if a financial institution utilizes an API for third-party connectivity, that it not only be standardized, but it will also need to be licensed all the way from the core banking system to the fintech company or other third-party service. NXTsofts OmniConnect standard API solution has this licensing and therefore is the only U.S-based licensed and compliant API provider.

NXTsofts OmniConnect standard API solution enables financial institutions to leverage the myriad of fintech players and third parties to either outsource services that banks no longer want to do, or as a potential lead generation source.

Open banking puts the power in the hands of financial institutions and consumers. Financial institutions can implement the services the want and consumers can bank when and where they want, confident that their personal data is secure, said David Brasfield, CEO of NXTsoft. NXTsoft is excited to have created a standard API solution that facilitates this connectivity and forward progress,

About NXTsoft

NXTsoft is headquartered in Birmingham and has offices in Orlando, Atlanta, and Denver. NXTsoft is the market leader in secure, comprehensive, and complete workflow API connectivity, connecting fintech companies to banks and credit unions throughout the United States. NXTsofts other solutions include data security, data analytics, data management and data migration. NXTsofts products and services help businesses secure, connect and optimize their data to maximize revenue opportunities, enhance profitability, and mitigate cybersecurity risk. For more information visit http://www.nxtsoft.com, email info@nxtsoft.com or call 1-800-915-3381.


Thank you George Chaconas and Courtney Bernhard at Performance Brokerage Services for another successful dealership closing. This sale allows me to focus more on expanding in my home state of Texas."- Mark Smith

George C. Chaconas of Performance Brokerage Services, the nations leading automotive and Harley-Davidson dealership brokerage firm, is pleased to announce the sale of Orange County Harley-Davidson in Irvine and Coronado Beach Harley-Davidson in National City, California from Mark Smith to Rami Yanni and Wise Auto Group.

No stranger to the motorcycle industry, Mark Smith, has owned and operated three dealerships in Texas since 2006. Most notably, Fort Worth Harley-Davidson, the only store in Texas to earn 2 Platinum Bar & Shield awards and 3 Gold Bar & Shield awards by the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. The store recently completed a 65,000 square foot expansion in 2019 and hosted 4,000 riders for its Grand Opening Rally. Mark commented, Thank you George Chaconas and Courtney Bernhard at Performance Brokerage Services for another successful dealership closing. This sale allows me to focus more on expanding in my home state of Texas. Thank you, Rami and team, for being such pros through the entire process. Finally, thank you to the outstanding teams at both stores that did an incredible job taking them from where they were when we started to where they are today. Now, I'm excited to pass the torch to Rami and Wise Auto Group so they can continue to take both stores to the next level.

Over the last 5 years, Performance Brokerage Services has represented for sale over 300 automotive and motorcycle dealerships making it the highest volume automotive and motorcycle dealership brokerage firm in North America. George C. Chaconas, the exclusive advisor for this transaction and the head of the National Harley-Davidson and Powersports Division for Performance Brokerage Services, commented, After recently selling Victorville Harley-Davidson to Rami Yanni, I reached out to him about acquiring Orange County Harley-Davidson and Coronado Beach Harley-Davidson. Rami quickly stepped up and offered the seller a fair price. Mark Smith stated that it was a win-win-win. Mark received an attractive return on his investment and can now focus exclusively on his Texas market. Wise Auto Group acquired these two great stores, which Mark had taken to the next level. Performance Brokerage Services had the pleasure of working with these two professionals on two more successful closings. Mark Smith was a gentleman. I appreciate his gratitude towards my persistence about selling at the right time and the right price. It was very exciting to help Rami and his CFO, Justin Tinker, at Wise Auto Group expand to their 6th location, and I wish them great success. I look forward to working together in the future.

These acquisitions bring Wise Auto Groups total to six Harley-Davidson dealerships. They currently own Death Valley Harley-Davidson in Victorville, Harley-Davidson of Yuba City, Redwood Harley-Davidson in Eureka, California and Reno Harley-Davidson, Nevada. Rami is also a seasoned automotive dealer, owning Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Infiniti, Hyundai, Nissan, Mazda, Buick, GMC, and Volvo franchises. Rami commented, Having bought two Harley-Davidson dealerships from George Chaconas and Performance Brokerage Services in the past, including my recent acquisition of Victorville Harley-Davidson in California, George called me about acquiring the iconic Orange County Harley-Davidson and Coronado Beach Harley-Davidson. George had been in the middle of negotiations with several very interested and capable parties. I didn't want to miss out on these two fantastic opportunities, and we quickly negotiated a deal. The rest is history. I want to thank George and his team again for their professionalism and helping us to continue to grow and expand our footprint in California. We are very happy and look forward to taking both dealerships to the next level. If you are considering selling, call George Chaconas!"

The dealerships will remain at their current locations with Orange County Harley-Davidson at 8677 Research Drive in Irvine, California 92618 and Coronado Beach Harley-Davidson at 3201 Hoover Avenue in National City, California 91950.

The seller was represented by Robert Bass and Greg May of Bass Sox Mercer in Tallahassee, Florida.

The buyer was represented by Les Chayo of Chayo Law in Beverly Hills, California with the assistance of Wise Auto Group CFO, Justin Tinker.

About Performance Brokerage Services

Performance Brokerage Services, Inc. is the nations highest volume dealership brokerage firm, specializing in intermediary services to buyers and sellers of automotive, motorcycle, commercial truck, RV and equipment dealerships.

Performance Brokerage Services offers a unique approach by providing complimentary dealership assessments, no upfront fees, no reimbursement of costs and is paid a success fee only after the transaction closes.

Clients benefit from utilizing an extensive network of industry related accountants, attorneys, hundreds of registered buyers and longstanding relationships with most of the auto and powersport manufacturers.

With corporate offices in Irvine, California, and 5 regional offices in Utah, Florida, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey, Performance Brokerage Services provides its clients national exposure with local representation.

After 25 years, 700 transactions and with a 90% closing rate, the companys reputation is unmatched and governed by the utmost ethical conduct, integrity and transparency.

For more information about the services offered by Performance Brokerage Services, visit https://performancebrokerageservices.com.


Postal.io Raises $22m from OMERS Ventures and Mayfield in Series B Teams that were once manually sending offline touchpoints are now able to efficiently automate and track direct mail, branded company swag, personalized gifts, and virtual events at scale.

Postal.io, a marketing technology company, announced today they have raised a $22 million Series B round led by OMERS Ventures (Crunchbase, Shopify), with participation from existing founding investor, Mayfield Fund (Marketo, Outreach), bringing the companys total capital raised to $31 million. The new funds will be used to grow the Postal.io team, deliver on their product roadmap, and expand into international markets.

Postal.io delivers high-touch impressions using integrated marketing systems and signals. They are among the first to solve the problem of automating offline touchpoints, traditionally an area with the highest conversion rates, but lowest technology enablements. Postal.io connects to existing CRM, Marketing, and HR systems like Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, and Outreach, with a suite of carefully crafted experiences designed to surprise and delight.

Postal.ios touchpoints come from an expansive marketplace featuring high-end, locally curated items from specialized vendors to create and automate meaningful experiences to drive better engagement with prospects, increase conversion rates, and boost employee engagement. In addition, Postal.io provides friendly, flexible integrations enabling customers to automate direct mail, incentive marketing, brand advocacy, internal and external events, and branded company swag.

Teams that were once manually sending offline touchpoints are now able to efficiently automate and track direct mail, branded company swag, personalized gifts, and virtual events at scale, said Erik Kostelnik, Postal.io co-founder, and CEO. We help companies leverage this proven channel with a frictionless, team-agnostic platform. Companies are using Postal.io across their organization to deliver more meaningful, impactful, and delightful experiences.

As marketing becomes increasingly technical and formulaic, businesses are struggling to create moments that break through the noise. The adoption of digital marketing has ironically made it harder than ever to truly connect with consumers, said Eugene Lee, OMERS Ventures. Postal is among the first to personalize marketing automation by creating a bridge between a boutique front-end marketplace and the established systems already embedded in most marketing technology stacks. The friction between offline and online marketing disappears, making it simple for brands to build more meaningful connections with consumers in any industry.

The adoption of Postal.io has been driven by organizations focusing on omni-channel, account-based marketing, and the need to create connections with prospects, customers, and employees in the new hybrid workplace environment.

Postal.io is crucial to our success. 40% of leads who receive an incentive through Postal.io end up converting to our pipeline, said Kyle Lacy, CMO at Lessonly by Seismic.

The success of Postal.io is aided by the fastest-growing global marketplace for local and national vendors. The Postal.io Marketplace gives small businesses a front-row seat to top B2B companies as their preferred corporate sending partner.

"Postal.io has helped us reach a previously untapped market. We are seeing a 100% month-over-month growth since joining the Postal.io Marketplace, said Erika Guilherme Flores, CEO at Obrigaderia, a local business based in San Diego that specializes in gourmet one-of-a-kind chocolate brigadeiros. I have seen 3x increase in sales since becoming a Postal.io vendor and I love that we can share our products with an entirely new customer base."

Postal.io is bringing markets together through an easy-to-use platform built for high-touch experiences that surprise and delight.

About Postal.io

Postal.io is an offline marketing platform that helps personalize, automate, and scale direct mail, internal and external events, branded company swag, and personalized gifts to drive better engagement with prospects, customers, partners, and employees. Postal.io's expansive marketplace, flexible integrations, and comprehensive events portal help companies drive brand loyalty, increase conversions, boost overall employee happiness, and improve customer health scores. The company is backed by leading venture capitalists such as Mayfield and OMERS Ventures and is headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California.

Visit Postal.io to learn more.

For product demos, images, and videos, or to speak with a Postal spokesperson, email Allyssa Eclarin at press@postal.io
Completed project at RAM Pavement's Hebron Street Office It is something that will last a long time and add tremendous value to the property. One of the best things that came out of the project was the additional 45 parking spots, but more importantly, teamwork played an integral part of this success. Rob Miller, President of RAM Pavement

At the beginning of the year, RAM Pavement decided to make some improvements to their physical landscape at their Hebron St. Charlotte, NC location, creating a more efficient environment for its workforce and a better experience for its customers. The project is seen as the beginning for even greater things to come.

The site redevelopment is something that will last a long time and add tremendous value to the property. It was a very large endeavor both financially and physically. Management at RAM knew it needed to be done in order to be more organized, streamlined and to provide a better work space for our team members and clients. - Rob Miller, President of RAM Pavement.

Planning for the massive project took about two years but construction concluded in July of this year. It took RAM six months to complete the project which commenced in January. Because the daily operation at RAM had to continue, the project was divided into three phases. The phased work allowed RAM to operate efficiently while massive work was being undertaken.

To undertake such a project meant a lot of technical expertise played an important part in the feasibility stages of the project. It took a collaborative effort from everyone and especially vendors to ensure the success of the project.

We had to install an underground detention system in the lower lot and of course, curb and gutter throughout the rest of the property. This involved a lot of pipe work and it took a lot of resources but we were able to get it done. We ended up hauling out 600 truck loads of dirt to make this project work. - Rob Miller, President of RAM Pavement

RAMs President, Rob Miller, congratulated everyone and was effusive in his praise about how thrilled he was with the outcome of the project. Miller said, the property is now paved to the rear, making it significantly cleaner. He noted that there was minimal dust getting into the building and no more dust on their trucks and equipment, creating a cleaner environment for everyone.

There is a lot more efficiency. The lot is cleaner and we have about 45 parking stalls where we didnt have those before. Everyone has a safe parking environment, the parking lot is very well lit and we also now have two new gate operators and all new landscaping throughout the property. - Rob Miller, President of RAM Pavement.

This remodel was pegged as a huge success and the RAM team couldnt be prouder. Each job, whether for themselves or their clients, is always done right the first time. When you are ready to start your next paving project, call The Carolinas #1 Choice for Paved Asset Management!
Brian Cheek - Cloud Solutions Consultant, Southeast I'm confident that he will be a true sales thought leader for agents in his region, always staying knowledgeable about cutting-edge cloud technologies while maintaining holistic and sustainable partner relationships.

RapidScale, a Cox Business company, welcomes Brian Cheek as a cloud solutions consultant for the southeast region. Reporting to Sales Director, East Andrew Laughter, he will be responsible for enabling channel partners in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, guiding them in developing their cloud businesses.

For almost a decade, Cheek has been successful in IT and channel sales, holding various sales management roles. He previously worked for Veeam Software, where his business acumen and technical knowledge had given him the ability to uncover large sales opportunities and efficiently manage strategic accounts. Cheek has extensive experience selling cloud and on-premise backup and disaster recovery solutions, along with data migration and SaaS backup for Microsoft 365. He is skilled in business development and lead generation, actively contributing to his partners' sales strategies.

"I am looking forward to building strong, lasting relationships with my partners and guiding them to solve all their customers' IT needs with managed cloud," said Cheek. "My expertise in cloud backup will not only help my partners' clients enhance their data protection strategy in the cloud but will also help identify more opportunities for other managed cloud services that RapidScale offers. My favorite aspect of my role is figuring out how I work with agents to solve client problems as their strategic technology partner."

Cheek is certified in Veeam technical and professional sales. Previously, he won the 2020 Presidents Club at Veeam and the Big Shot Award for onboarding and enabling some of the company's largest partners. A true partner advocate, he is reputable for his communication and results-driven sales strategies. Many partners claimed that his creativity and support have helped them identify significant sales opportunities.

"I'm thrilled to have a seasoned cloud expert join our team. He genuinely cares for his partners, and I admire his drive in ensuring his partners are successful in their businesses," said Laughter. "I'm confident that he will be a true sales thought leader for agents in his region, always staying knowledgeable about cutting-edge cloud technologies while maintaining holistic and sustainable partner relationships."

About RapidScale

Flexible enough for the SMB and powerful enough for the enterprise, RapidScale, a Cox Business company, is a global managed cloud services provider helping organizations increase IT productivity, improve security, and empower remote workforces. Some organizations partner with RapidScale to manage portions of their IT, while others offload it all. Through our global network of data centers and our 24/7/365 high-touch support team, we obsess over creating an exceptional IT experience through a human approach to managed cloud. For more information on RapidScale, visit http://www.rapidscale.net.

Cox Communications owns Cox Business and is a facilities-based provider of voice, video, and data solutions for commercial customers. More information about Cox Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at http://www.cox.com.

About Cox Business

The commercial division of Cox Communications, Cox Business provides voice, data, and video services for more than 355,000 small and regional businesses nationwide, including health care providers; K12 and higher education; financial institutions; and federal, state, and local government organizations. The organization also serves most of the top-tier wireless and wireline telecommunications carriers in the U.S. through its wholesale division. For more information, please visit http://www.coxbusiness.com.

Media Contact

Nikki Salazar

nikki.salazar@rapidscale.net
RideAmigos acquires Carployee "The opportunity to empower people on a global scale to make smarter commute decisions with a like-minded and experienced team made this a perfect match and an easy decision." - Albert Vogl-Bader, Carployee CEO

RideAmigos, whose commute management platform powers the largest public and private commuter management initiatives in the United States, announced the acquisition of innovative Austrian startup Carployee, the team behind the successful employee carpooling app used by European businesses like STIHL, Mercedes Benz and Wurth Group.

Carployee will continue operating from its headquarters in Linz as its team is fully integrated into Santa Monica-based RideAmigos.

The acquisition comes at a time when commuting is becoming a bigger focus for employers, many of which are reimagining employee transportation and parking for the hybrid workplace of the future. Businesses like LinkedIn, Patagonia, and Rivian as well as states and megaregions like the San Francisco Bay and Denver-Boulder areas already use RideAmigos solutions to make commuting more sustainable and less stressful.

These and other customers rely on privately held RideAmigos to power the future of employee transportation during and after the pandemic with a flexible and streamlined commuter experience.

The natural partnership between RideAmigos and Carployee merges both companies research and expertise in commuter experience, behavior change and mobility optimization. Our missions and values are totally aligned and we are already seeing the amazing potential of our teams combined competencies in ways that will benefit all of our customers, said RideAmigos CEO, Soren Eilertsen.

Carployee CEO, Albert Vogl-Bader affirmed the synergy between the two teams. While carpooling is a good start, we are all committed to empowering people to make better commute decisions across all modes. The opportunity to do that on a global scale with a like-minded and experienced team made this a perfect match and an easy decision, he said.

About RideAmigos: At RideAmigos, we are on a mission to change the way the world commutes, for good. Our mobile and web-based commuter engagement solutions combine innovative technology with proven principles of behavioral science to empower everyone to make smarter transportation choices. Large employers, universities and government agencies use our powerful products to reduce congestion, parking demand, and environmental impact while creating healthier, happier communities. We have helped our clients take tens of millions of cars off the road and reduce our collective CO2 footprint by over 280 million pounds. Learn More.

About Carployee: Carployee is a carpooling app for companies, business parks and universities. The talented team around CEO Albert Vogl-Bader has been active since 2018 serving major employers across Europe. The Linz-based company invests heavily in research and development, including groundbreaking grant-funded project in partnership with the University of Salzburg. Carployee is also a partner of klimaaktiv, the climate protection initiative of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology. Learn more.
Sabrina Wottreng, Founder of Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations

Chicago business owner Sabrina Wottreng has established a scholarship fund for students at her alma mater, Loyola University Chicago. Wottreng has committed an annual $2,000 scholarship to the School of Communication for the next three years.

"As a proud graduate of Loyola's School of Communication, I wanted to help foster the next generation of communications professionals, said Sabrina Wottreng, owner of Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations. I remember how significant additional scholarship money would have been to me and decided to establish a scholarship in my firm's name. I challenge every person to reach back and help those following in their footsteps.

Ms. Sabrina Wottreng is an outstanding and caring Loyola SOC alumna. We deeply appreciate her support to our students, said Dr. Hong Cheng, Dean of the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago. Her generous scholarship will surely help and inspire the communication professionals in the making in our school.

Juniors and seniors pursuing a bachelors degree in advertising and public relations are eligible to apply for the Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations Annual Scholarship. Preference will be given to those with a focus in public relations, as determined by the University. The deadline to apply for the inaugural scholarship is October 1, 2021. For more information, students can view the application form.

Wottreng started her own public relations agency in 2016 and has carved out a niche serving an ever-growing list of B2B companies in commercial real estate, technology and law, among other industries. She was named to Publicity Club of Chicago's '30 Under 30' list for the past three consecutive years for her leadership and excellence in the field.

A 2013 graduate of Loyolas School of Communication, Wottreng was named to commercial real estate publication GlobeSt.coms 2019 Marketing Influencers List, a list recognizing individuals and teams in the commercial real estate marketing space. For more information about the firm, visit http://www.sabrinawottreng.com.

About Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations:

Sabrina Wottreng Public Relations works exclusively with B2B companies on their public relations and communications strategy. The agency was founded in 2016 and works primarily with clients in the Chicagoland area. https://www.sabrinawottreng.com/
Sandpiper Hospitality  a Virginia-based hotel management company with vast expertise in the extended-stay segment  is excited to announce that it has been selected to manage four new properties currently under development in Texas that will join the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts family.

Three of the four hotels will be the first new builds completed for Wyndhams La Quinta and Hawthorn Suites dual-branded concept, which was announced earlier this year and designed to attract both short and long term guests.

The four new Texas hotels include:



AmericInn by Wyndham - San Angelo, opening early 2022

La Quinta / Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham  Pflugerville, opening early 2022

La Quinta / Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham  Del Rio, opening in late 2022

La Quinta / Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham  Austin/Tech Center, opening in 2023

Sandpiper hospitality was already approved by Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Choice Hotels International, Suburban Extended Stay Hotels and Extended Stay America to manage their select-service and extended stay brands.

Out of all the management companies we spoke with, Sandpiper Hospitality stood out above everyone else. They were very professional, their follow up was timely and they answered our questions, said Mike Forrest, developer of the four new hotels. We believe this is the best management company to run our hotels and we view this as a long-term partnership.

Sandpiper Hospitality now has a portfolio of 54 hotels open or under contract in 13 different states. Sandpiper Hospitality has earned several new management contracts recently, including the addition of two Savannah Suites Extended Stay Hotels - one in Pleasanton, Texas and one in Arvada, Colorado that has already been repositioned as a Suburban Extended Stay hotel.

We are thrilled to be partnering with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and look forward to a successful ongoing relationship, said Sandpiper Hospitality President & CEO Jim Darter. These four hotels represent a significant piece of new business for us that will substantially expand our footprint in Texas. Additionally, our new relationship with Wyndham will allow us to further grow our brand footprint with an outstanding franchise company.

Sandpiper Hospitality continues to demonstrate its unique ability to combine a flexible approach to 3rd-party management with extra-ordinary financial results for its investors and clients. For more information, please visit http://www.sandpiperhospitality.com.

About Sandpiper Hospitality

Sandpiper Hospitality is a high-performance hotel management firm recognized as experts in the extended stay hotel space. With 54 hotels open or under management for a diverse group of clients across the country, Sandpiper Hospitality is on the leading edge of the hottest segment in hospitality. According to the April 2020 edition of Hospitality Business, Sandpiper Hospitality was the fastest growing Top 100 hotel management company from 2018 to 2019 and that expansion has continued into 2021. The firm has earned its position as the leading operator in the extended stay hotel segment of hospitality by virtue of superior returns on investment for its investors and clients. Sandpiper Hospitality - where expertise grounds us and flexibility elevates us.http://www.sandpiperhospitality.com.
Our new program has the potential to save small businesses thousands of dollars each year in workers compensation costs so that they can focus on operating their business, protecting their staff and serving their customers. -James Dollinger-McElligott

Shoes For Crews, the global leader and pioneer in slip-resistant footwear, recently launched a new safety footwear program for small businesses with a goal to provide a simple solution to protect local businesses from the effects of workplace accidents. The Small Business Program marks the first in which the company has dedicated resources to address the needs of the small business community.

With its groundbreaking Small Business Program, Shoes For Crews will create a hassle-free opportunity for owners and operators to protect their business and employees from the impacts of slips and falls. The program, which ensures employees have access to affordable, industry-leading slip-resistant footwear, requires minimal resources to implement and maintain. Program administrators are provided step-by-step instructions for a seamless onboarding and transitional experience. Additionally, the program will be backed by a $5,000 accident warranty.

Small businesses need support now more than ever, said James Dollinger-McElligott, Vice President of Marketing at Shoes For Crews. Our new program has the potential to save small businesses thousands of dollars each year in workers compensation costs so that they can focus on operating their business, protecting their staff and serving their customers. When we unite, our communities will recover together  one step at a time.

To learn about the free Shoes For Crews Small Business Program, visit the Small Business Program website.

About Shoes For Crews

Shoes For Crews is a leading designer and manufacturer of slip-resistant footwear, protecting millions worldwide. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, Shoes For Crews began producing slip-resistant footwear in 1984 with a mission to create a safer workplace. The company's focus is to deliver best-in-class safety footwear with superior slip-resistant outsole technology, unmatched comfort and on-trend styling through a complete line of slip-resistant footwear designed to bring each employee home safely. For more information, visit http://www.shoesforcrews.com.
VIC is thrilled to create a new company focused solely on this exciting approach for generating novel vaccines for known and unknown infectious diseases, said Michael Artinger, VIC executive vice president, managing director and interim CEO of Solaris.

VIC Technology Venture Development, LLC (VIC), announced today the formation of Colorado-based Solaris Vaccines, Inc., to advance a new vaccine development platform that can be used with coronavirus and other pathogens capable of causing pandemics. Traditional and emerging approaches to creating vaccines have limitations, and better options are urgently needed. The technology was developed by researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) and licensed through the Colorado State University Research Foundation (CSURF).

Solaris is applying a method previously used for inactivating pathogens in the blood supply to quickly produce safe and effective vaccines against viruses, bacteria and parasites under the trade name SolaVAX. Instead of using potentially toxic chemicals to inactivate pathogens to create vaccines, this unique approach uses vitamin B2 and UV light to disrupt the genetic material while preserving immune-stimulating proteins.

VIC is thrilled to create a new company focused solely on this exciting approach for generating novel vaccines for known and unknown infectious diseases, said Michael Artinger, VIC executive vice president, managing director and interim CEO of Solaris. In initial studies, SolaVAX is already demonstrating superior performance over current methods for producing vaccines, andwhen combined with the improved safety and speed of the manufacturing processcould lead to a paradigm shift in how the world responds to threats to global health.

Said CSU professor Raymond Goodrich: As the co-inventor of SolaVAX, it gives me great pleasure to see Solaris as our commercial partner. The technology has benefitted from significant focus and efforts from the Office of the Vice President for Research throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and from the federal government to several academic labs at CSU, resulting in exceptional proof-of-concept data and substantial commercial de-risking of the platform for application to pandemic diseases such as COVID-19.

Given CSU Ventures mandate to translate campus innovation into products with real-world impact, we are delighted to facilitate the formation of and investment in Solaris by VIC, said Ajay Menon, president of CSURF. It is an added bonus that the company is based in Fort Collins and will work closely with Dr. Goodrich and his team, as well as tap into the substantial vaccine-focused resources here in Northern Colorado.

About Solaris Vaccines, Incorporated

Solaris Vaccines, Inc. was established in 2021 to address many of the challenges of creating vaccines in response to emerging threats to global human health. Current methods of developing and manufacturing vaccines have significant limitations. The Solaris SolaVAX approach uses riboflavin (vitamin B2) and UV light to rapidly and effectively inactivate pathogens, resulting in a new platform for creating vaccines against pathogens. Go to https://solarisvax.com/ to learn more.

About VIC Technology Venture Development, LLC

VIC Technology Venture Development, LLC, creates innovative companies with world-changing science- and engineering-based technologies. VIC carefully selects and licenses technologies from universities and research institutions around the world, then partners technology entrepreneurs with VICs team of business and technology experts and allocates seed capital through the global VIC Investor Network. VIC provides its portfolio companies with senior management expertise, extensive knowledge of technology startups and proven processes to execute business strategies including legal, financial, operations, marketing, capital acquisition, and technology management. For more information, please visit https://victech.com.

About CSU Ventures

CSU Ventures is the technology transfer unit of CSURF. As such, CSU Ventures actively supports and promotes the transfer of research and innovations from across the Colorado State University System (CSU Fort Collins, CSU Pueblo, and CSU Global) into the marketplace to benefit society. The company serves as a resource for CSU faculty, staff and students, and also to industry, entrepreneurs and investors seeking to further research or commercialize a technology that has originated within the CSU System. Details can be found at https://csuventures.org/.


I know first hand the challenges that come with being a property investor. Weve built our platform to make it easier than ever for property investors to succeed...

Sundae, a residential real estate marketplace focused on helping sellers of dated or damaged property get the best price for their house, is announcing the launch of its digital platform for property investors to view available properties, submit offers, and streamline transactions in Sundaes marketplace. Sundaes platform for investors which can be found at sundae.com/investor is the first and only that provides access to exclusive and vetted properties sourced directly from homeowners looking to sell to a cash buyer.

Sundaes marketplace helps property investors save thousands of dollars and time that they spend on their own marketing, searching for properties using time consuming tactics such as scouring through the Multiple Listing Service or driving in person through neighborhoods. Properties available on Sundaes platform come with a comprehensive property profile that includes photos, floor plan, 3D walkthrough, disclosures, preliminary title report, and a 3rd party inspection report, allowing investors to also save time on investment due diligence, all of which can happen on Sundaes platform in a matter of minutes.

I know first hand the challenges that come with being a property investor. Weve built our platform to make it easier than ever for property investors to succeed, said Josh Stech, Sundae Co-Founder and CEO. We remove the burden of finding and vetting properties so investors can focus on what they do best -- renovating houses, improving communities, and creating something great for a new family to call home.

Since launching in 2019 in California, Sundae has expanded to more than 15 markets across the U.S. and has plans to open several new markets this year. Sundae is now ranked #1 in market share across established California markets and is quickly gaining share in new markets. With Sundaes recent $80M Series C funding, the company is investing heavily in marketing to homeowners who are looking to sell off-market. This means Sundae offers property investors a growing supply of inventory so they can deploy their funds when they are ready. The level of due diligence available on properties on Sundaes marketplace also enables investors to easily evaluate opportunities remotely so that they can expand into new geographies.

The comprehensive information packet that comes with properties on Sundaes marketplace lets investors analyze the property from their desk and make a confident offer, sight unseen. For example, a property investor living in Utah can find, evaluate and purchase a property in Tampa just in a few clicks through our platform, said Madhav Ranjan, Sundae SVP of Engineering & Product. Were seeing a huge number of buyers on Sundaes platform investing outside of their primary market because they no longer have to travel to do the due diligence in-person. In fact, nearly 40% of investors on our platform have purchased a property through Sundae outside of their primary market.

Sundae is transforming the homebuyer-property investor relationship by helping to cultivate trust and transparency between both parties, and invites property investors to be part of its community of Homebuyers with Heart by signing up at sundae.com/investor.

About Sundae

Sundaes mission is to help homeowners get the best outcome when its time to sell a house that needs some love. Many sellers dont have the time or resources to invest in repairs and cleaning to get the home market-ready. We started Sundae to help sellers in this situation by offering a hassle-free alternative to the traditional real estate agent sales process and a worry-free alternative to predatory "cash-buyer" wholesalers. Instead of talking to multiple cash buyers, hoping to get the best price, Sundae serves as an advocate for the seller and does the hard work for them by packaging and marketing the property to thousands of local vetted buyers who present offers with standardized terms. On average sellers receive ten offers within three days on the marketplace. Sundaes marketplace is free to sellers and theres no obligation to accept an offer.

For property investors, Sundae helps with the difficult task of finding houses in need of renovation, and provides an online platform at sundae.com/investor where they can view available properties and make offers.

Founded in August 2018 by veteran real estate and marketplace executives Josh Stech and Andrew Swain, Sundaes team brings a combined 250+ years of local real estate experience.

Sundae is expanding to new markets across the U.S. and hiring across all departments.

For more information, please visit sundae.com.
The Logic seeks to spark important conversations that will help make Canada a better place to live and work. Those conversations rely on our ability to reach readers wherever they are." -- David Skok, Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of The Logic

Today The Logic, founded in 2018 to provide in-depth reporting on the organizations, policies and people driving transformational change in Canada, announced that it has selected MEI Global, LLC (MEIG), a leader in helping publishers monetize their digital assets, to grow its third party business to business licensing partnerships, with an emphasis on global opportunities.

The Logic seeks to spark important conversations that will help make Canada a better place to live and work, says David Skok, Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of The Logic. Those conversations rely on our ability to reach readers wherever they are. MEIGs expertise and familiarity with licensing partners across the spectrum of use cases, from academic, legal, and financial aggregators to digital newsstands to EdTech, means we can help more readers connect more easily with the stories that will drive Canadas future.

For more than twenty years, MEIG has helped publishers in their efforts to grow distribution partnerships, recognizing that it can be challenging when in-house licensing personnel resources are limited. Chris Broekhoff, MEIGs President, says, Nearly all the vendors we work with on behalf of our publisher clients are interested in expanding their global coverage, particularly when that coverage is of the quality, depth, and breadth found on TheLogic.co. The MEIG dealmaker team is excited for the opportunity to create long-term business partnerships for The Logic that will prove beneficial for all  first and foremost for readers with an interest in Canadian innovation.

Adds Broekhoff, Were pleased The Logic selected MEIG for this critical role, and look forward to building the same long-term, lucrative relationships that we share with our existing publisher clients.

About MEI Global, LLC: MEIG provides a suite of services to help publishers monetize their digital assets. MEIGs expertise includes prospecting, negotiating, relationship management, and extensive knowledge of vendors and their needs, thanks to decades of industry experience within MEIGs dealmaker team. The company assists publishers with strategic decision making through a lens of revenue growth, brand extension and intellectual property protection. For additional information, please contact Vice President of Business Development Nancy Davis Kho at ndkho@marcinko.com.

About The Logic:

The Logic, founded in 2018, is Canadas preeminent business news publication, covering everything from crypto to cleantech. The Logic Briefing newsletter has become a daily must-read for decision makers and executives, and its award-winning investigative journalists have exposed everything from Facebooks discriminatory advertising policies (now reversed), to the price the government was expecting for selling off Canadas airports, to the controversial deals between Toronto and Google sister company Sidewalk Labs. For additional information, please contact COO Jenna Zuschlag Misener, jenna@thelogic.co, +1 416 927-0555.


For many drivers, car insurance is an expensive necessity that is needed to do their daily routines. Luckily, there are many methods that can help anyone save money on car insurance , said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents several factors that affect the premiums and how drivers can pay cheaper car insurance

For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/why-do-you-pay-so-much-on-car-insurance-premiums/

Car insurance rates have a tendency to rise over time. Besides that, there are several factors that affect the costs of car insurance like higher costs of medical bills, increased prices of newer vehicles, and others.

The most common factors that affect the price of car insurance are the following:



Address. The location where a driver is living has a major impact on the price of insurance. Different areas have different insurance rates that are influenced by theft rates, vandalism, traffic congestion, hailstorms, and others. Drivers that live in large cities will pay higher insurance rates than those that live in small rural communities.

Driving record. Drivers that have safe driving habits are less likely to be involved in accidents and will pay less on their insurance rates. On the other hand, drivers that have at-fault accidents, speeding tickets, DUI, convictions, and other traffic violations in their driving records will pay much more on their premiums. Furthermore, drivers that have numerous traffic violations will have a hard time finding an insurance company that is willing to sell coverage to them.

Gender. Statistics show that male drivers are usually involved in more severe accidents than female drivers and are more likely to die than females. Therefore, insurers will charge more on male drivers (especially young drivers) than female drivers. Drivers that live in Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, will be relieved knowing that the insurers cant use the gender in order to determine rates.

The type of car. Certain car models have higher claim rates than others. Usually, these types of vehicles are more likely to be involved in accidents or to be stolen. Drivers that own one of these vehicles will pay higher insurance rates. Policyholders that own vehicles that have high safety ratings will manage to save money on car insurance.

Credit history. Insurance companies consider that drivers that have a credit score under 600 to be riskier to insure, and for that, they will charge more on their insurance. Drivers that live in California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts are in luck because the local legislation doesn't allow the insurers to use their credit score to determine insurance rates.

For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
UBCF commits to a $5,000 matching gift for Twisted Pink during the Give For Good Louisville fundraising event on September 17. United Breast Cancer Foundation enjoys collaborating with Twisted Pink to support breast cancer patients and survivors, as well as raising awareness for Stage IV. We are proud to be matching donations up to $5,000 for this event and look forward to celebrating patients and survivors.

On Friday, September 17, the Community Foundation of Louisville is hosting the Give for Good Louisville Campaign, #GiveForGoodLou, where hundreds of nonprofits participate to raise vital funding to support people in need. United Breast Cancer Foundation is a proud supporter and a $5,000 matching gift donor for funds raised in support of Twisted Pink, a breast cancer organization located in Louisville, KY.

Twisted Pink is raising funds and awareness for metastatic breast cancer research. The entire fundraising event spans 24 hours of online giving. During the evening of the 17th, Twisted Pink will be at the Oxmoor Center in Louisville, KY at 6:00 pm to host a fashion show, model reveals, and conduct a breast cancer survivor gift giveaway. This event will be celebrating survivors while raising funds for breast cancer awareness education, increased research for metastatic breast cancer, and support for patients & families. United Breast Cancer is proud to be a major contributor, matching up to $5,000 dollars in donations for Twisted Pink during the Give for Good Louisville Campaign.

The Give for Good Louisville event will begin with a breast cancer survivor fashion show and 7 breast cancer survivor stories will be revealed on life-sized posters. The fashion show will be followed by cocktails, bites, music, and prizes! Breast cancer survivors will each receive their own swag bag full of exciting gifts thanks to donations from the United Breast Cancer Foundation. By donating at least $50 during the event, supporters will be eligible for 1 of 5 $100 Meijer Gift Cards. Additionally, the first and second place top fundraisers will receive $500 cash and the third place fundraiser will receive $500 in Meijer Gift Cards.

The Community Foundation of Louisville will be hosting live streams of several nonprofits throughout the day on their Facebook page. Twisted Pink will be featured live at 7:00 pm to discuss how donors can have a positive impact on women living with a breast cancer diagnosis and help further research. With the help of United Breast Cancer Foundation's $5,000 matching gift, Twisted Pink hopes to make a larger impact for much needed research to develop better treatments for individuals living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer as well as funding early-stage education.

United Breast Cancer Foundation is excited to support Twisted Pink during this event. Twisted Pinks focus on breast cancer research is complementary to UBCF's goal of assisting breast cancer patients, survivors, and families directly. This comradery has allowed both organizations to work together, thereby helping a greater number of people affected by breast cancer. UBCF and Twisted Pink began working together in 2019 following a successful mattress donation event and have partnered with each other for galas, hope boxes, and more! By providing a $5,000 matching gift, UBCF hopes to increase the positive impact of the Give for Good Louisville campaign.

Stephanie Mastroianni, UBCF's Executive Director, shared, United Breast Cancer Foundation enjoys collaborating with Twisted Pink to support breast cancer patients and survivors, as well as raising awareness for Stage IV. We are proud to be matching donations up to $5,000 for this event and look forward to celebrating patients and survivors.

Stephanie Jones, the Community Outreach Coordinator for Twisted Pink explains, Twisted Pink is extremely grateful for the matching $5,000 donation from the United Breast Cancer Foundation on Give For Good Louisville Day. Their commitment to support the lives of individuals affected by a breast cancer diagnosis is felt far and wide across the country. UBCF continues to awe us with an unmatched commitment of support to make an impact with Twisted Pink both nationally and within our community for breast cancer patients, survivors, and families.

About UBCF:

UBCF is committed to offering breast health and wellness services focused on cancer prevention, screening, treatment and overall wellness. UBCFs mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of those affected by breast cancer and does so through seven life-supporting patient and family programs available to women, men and families nation-wide. UBCF never denies services to anyone regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, income or medical insurance coverage. Tax-deductible contributions may be made towards UBCFs programs. UBCF accepts Donor Advised Funds and vehicle and property donations as well. Combined Federal Campaign #77934. https://www.ubcf.org
Village of Elmsford joins the Empire State Purchasing Group Registered vendors can access bids, related documents, addendum and award information.

The Village of Elmsford has officially joined the Empire State Purchasing Group, one of bidnet directs regional e-procurement solutions, providing vendors throughout New York easy online access to its upcoming solicitations. The Village of Elmsford invites all vendors to register online at http://www.bidnetdirect.com/new-york/elmsfordny.

The regional purchasing group connects local governments with vendors looking to do business with public agencies. On the Empire State Purchasing Group, vendors seeking business with nearly 275 participating agencies can register online to gain access to a single point of entry for opportunities throughout New York. By posting upcoming bids and RFPs on the Empire State Purchasing Group, the Village of Elmsford ensures an entire community of vendors can view their solicitation, download documents, and receive notification of addenda. The vendors self-register and ensure their contact information is up to date.

Because we arent the only agency posting and distributing bids, the Empire State Purchasing Group provides the Village of Elmsford more vendor competition, which we hope will help cut costs, said Tony Capicotto, Village Engineer of the Village of Elmsford when asked why their department decided to join the Empire State Purchasing Group. We also like that it saves on paper and can help our current vendors expand their business opportunities.

The Village of Elmsford invites all local vendors to visit http://www.bidnetdirect.com/new-york/elmsfordny and register to receive access to its upcoming solicitations as well as the upcoming bids and RFPs from 275 other public agencies participating on the Empire State Purchasing Group. Registered vendors have the option to upgrade their service to receive customized bid alerts, notification of term contract expiration, and notification of a real-time addendum.

About the Village of Elmsford:

Elmsford is a village in Westchester County, New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. Roughly one mile square, the village is fully contained within the borders of the town of Greenburgh.

Elmsford was largely farmland throughout its early history. The construction of railroads in the late 19th century brought new prominence to the area, and in 1910 it was incorporated as a village.

The area was known from colonial times as "Storm's Bridge" and later, "Hall's Corners", names derived from the principal landowners of the times. In 1870, the growing village was officially renamed "Elmsford" in honor of a local landmark, a giant elm tree (since deceased). The names Elmsford and Storm's Bridge are reminders of the nearby Saw Mill River, which once had significant tributaries flowing through the village.

A longstanding legend holds that Elmsford is the birthplace of the term "cocktail". According to the tale, a local colonial tavern (sometimes said to be established by town father Isaac Storm) had run out of wooden stirrers during the war and started using the quills of roosters' tailfeathers to stir their drinks; a more embellished version holds that the roosters were plundered from nearby Tory farmers.

Much of Elmsford developed around the New York and Putnam Railroad station, with train service beginning in the 1870s. Commuter rail service ended in 1958, and freight service ended in 1975. The railroad bed is now the South County Trailway and North County Trailway. The train station building is now a restaurant.

The Elmsford Reformed Church and Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

About bidnet direct:

bidnet direct, powered by mdf commerce, is a sourcing solution of regional purchasing groups available at no cost to local government agencies throughout the country. bidnet direct runs regional purchasing groups, including the Empire State Purchasing Group, across all 50 states that are used by over 1,600 local governments. To learn more and have your government agency gain better transparency and efficiency in purchasing, please visit https://www.bidnetdirect.com/buyers
Warbirds Over the Beach is a favorite air show of the Hampton Roads community and has become a bucket list event for Warbird aficionados around the world. We wanted to bring the air show back bigger, with more to do and see than ever before!

The Military Aviation Museum is excited to bring back their signature air show with more to do and see than ever before. This two-day flying event, October 2nd & 3rd will be fun for the whole family and is their largest fundraiser to maintain the museum and expand its educational programming. Their ultra-rare World War I collection of original and replica biplanes and triplanes will fly for the first time since 2019 and nearly every flying aircraft in their collection of WWII fighters, bombers, amphibians, and trainers, will take to the skies over the weekend. There are only a handful of air shows in the world that feature the rare and historic aircraft that the Military Aviation Museum maintains in their collection.

The exciting news this year is the addition, for the first time ever, of an original WWII Sherman Tank rip-roaring in action. An 88mm Flak artillery gun firing demonstration, a WWII Marine Corps weapon demonstration, an entire hangar dedicated to our new Kids Exploration Station with fun, hands-on activities, a new VIP Chalet for the ultimate air show experience, and back by popular demand, the ropes drop before each show to let visitors get up close to all of the vintage warbirds. Bring a camera.

A featured Living History Encampment with reenactors will showcase uniforms, equipment, and armament. Enjoy the swinging sounds of the Grace Street Seven band, the beautiful voice of Theresa Eaman and the crooning of Frank sings Frank entertaining the crowds. Air show guests will notice a new robust sound system expanded throughout the show grounds and a special guest air show announcer from EAA AirVenture. There will be food and merchandise vendors to choose from and plenty of complimentary parking with ticket purchase.

The museums aircraft from WWI and WWII are considered to be one of the largest flying collections in the world, with many aircraft having seen active military service and having been recovered from the battlefields, before being meticulously restored back to flight.

Museum Director, Keegan Chetwynd explains, Warbirds Over the Beach is a favorite air show of the Hampton Roads community and has become a bucket list event for Warbird aficionados around the world. We wanted to bring the air show back bigger, with more to do and see than ever before.

For advance discounted tickets, visit the event website at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/warbirds-over-the-beach-2021-tickets-166180693929

For any questions, please call (757) 721-7767 or visit https://militaryaviationmuseum.org/. The Military Aviation Museum is located at 1341 Princess Anne Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23457.

About the Military Aviation Museum:

A 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization, the Military Aviation Museum is home to one of the worlds largest collections of airworthy military aircraft from the first 50-years of flight. Truly a living museum, its aircraft are in restoration at facilities around the world. Besides the main Museum the Virginia Beach complex features additional exhibition spaces, including a mid-1930s Luftwaffe hangar, originally from Cottbus, Germany, which now serves to house the Museum's collection of WWII-vintage German aircraft. Additional structures include the WWI Hangar, and the original control tower from RAF Goxhill built in England in 1942. Visit http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org for more information or call 757-721-7767.
Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume III: a powerful example of divine inspiration in the face of adversity. Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume III is the creation of published author Warren S. Banks.

Banks shares, This is part 3 of Moment by Moment I Pray, which deals with my praying life from September 1, 2016April 30, 2017. The story behind part 3 is the same as that of part 1 and 2, which dealt with my prayer life from February 10, 2016, and ends on August 31, 2016. I found myself alone after the funeral of my beloved wife, Annie Jewel (Chief) Banks. We had been together almost fifty years. The funeral was held on Monday, January 5, 2015, at Ben Hill UMC, located in the heart of the Ben Hill community. After a forty-plus-mile drive to our birth home of Griffin, Georgia, she was laid to rest. Three days after her funeral, I took my original manuscript from a storage area in the house that we had made our home and had raised our family and went out into the backyard and destroyed all twenty-six thousand handwritten pages. I did not see the need to continue writing or to live. But that was January 8, 2015. I looked up into the heavens and asked the Lord what he wanted me to do. I said, Lord, I have pulled myself up from a small town in the state of Georgia named Griffin, Georgia. I had completed Fairmont High School, entered Clark College (now known as Clark Atlanta University), completion date was May 1970, completed Woodrow Wilson College of Law, Georgia State University Schools of Education for my first teachers certification to teach school and the School of Management.

From 1966 to 1970, I completed my degree in sociology and psychology. During my senior year at Clark, I married the love of my life, Ms. Annie Jewel Hosely, my high school sweetheart, also from Griffin, Georgia. We set up housekeeping in Atlanta, Georgia. But in January 1971, I was drafted into the army and I was shipped to the Republic of South Vietnam to serve a tour of duty as a squad leader in a military police unit. I worked very hard, and I was promoted to the rank of sergeant E5. I survived Vietnam and many other situations, but Chiefs death took a toll upon the very essence of my soul. But on February 12, 2016, I started back writing, and after a talk with the Lord on September 17, 2018, I had handwritten about three thousand pages. At this point, I asked the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do?

A soft but firm voice came to me, Warren, my son, I want you to publish your story, which you have written in the form of a continued prayer.

Well, looking back upon my life, the Lord has always been there for me, even when I thought my life was over.

About seven days later, I was listening to my favorite gospel radio station. I heard his message, If you are considering publishing your manuscript, call this number or go to this website.

I was not quick enough to get the information down; therefore, I missed out on getting the information that I needed to make my contact. But a few days later, while I was again listening to the same radio station, that same message came again. This time, I was able to get the information that I needed and I made the contact. Within the next few minutes, I received a phone call. The person on the other end of the line said that she had been assigned from the Christian Faith Publishing Company to serve as my literary agent. I was told that she would be my guide throughout the production process. I was given information where I needed to mail my manuscript to. I mailed my manuscript off to the address that was given to me. Within a few days, I got a call from my agent indicating that my manuscript had been accepted for publication. I was really beside myself. I have been in constant prayer with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He saw so much more in me than I saw in myself. He said that he would never leave me nor forsake me, and he never has.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Warren S. Bankss new book offers readers a private look into a man of faiths private thoughts and prayers.

Banks writes in hopes of sharing a bit of encouragement to those in need of a refreshed sense of faith.

View a synopsis of Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume III on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume III at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Moment by Moment I Pray: Volume III, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
These are exciting times for Westchester, as they continue to evolve and expand their solutions for the global publishing and education content development markets.

Westchester Publishing Services is pleased to announce the appointment of Deb Taylor as Director of Business Development & Marketing. In this newly created position, Deb will be a member of the senior management team, working with her counterparts across Westchesters three divisions. She is charged with identifying strategic initiatives and helping to efficiently implement new services across all business areas of the company for the benefit of Westchesters more than 300 publisher and content provider clients around the world.

Deb possesses more than twenty years of experience in sales, marketing, business development and client relationship roles, at companies including Harris Connect, Connex International, and 360Alumni. Additionally, she has previously worked with the Westchester Publishing Services sales and marketing team in an advisory capacity. Deb is also a board of education trustee and technology committee volunteer in her local school district.

Paul J. Crecca, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westchester Publishing Services stated, I am thrilled with Deb joining the Westchester senior management team. Over the last 5 years we have developed a healthy list of new products and technologies to bring an even greater level of services to our clients, a list consisting almost entirely of requests and recommendations from our clients. But theres never been enough bandwidth to adequately address all of these opportunities. Deb Taylor as Director of Business Development and Marketing changes that, working across the senior management teams in the US, UK, and India to bring the best new services to life for Westchester clients.

Deb Taylor commented, These are exciting times for Westchester, as they continue to evolve and expand their solutions for the global publishing and education content development markets. I'm honored to have an opportunity to join the team and play a role that will help Westchester clients succeed with their programs.

# # #

About Westchester Publishing Services:

Founded in 1969, Westchester Publishing Services is the only US employee-owned company concentrating in editorial, composition, design, and digital conversion services. Westchester Publishing Services has been a trusted partner to the US publishing industry for decades with clients including Macmillan, Harvard University Press, W.W. Norton, The MIT Press, Bloomsbury, and UCL Press. In 2014, Westchester Publishing Services became a 100% employee-owned company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). In 2017, Westchester Publishing Services launched a new division, Westchester Education Services, based in Dayton, Ohio, to serve the needs of educational publishers. In 2018, Westchester Publishing Services launched Westchester Publishing Services UK, based in Stratford upon Avon, to provide added services for publishers in the UK, and Europe.

For information about our expanded offerings, please contact: Nicole Tomassi, Marketing and Conference Manager, Westchester Publishing Services, at: 203-658-7135 or Nicole.Tomassi@westchesterpubsvcs.com. Further information is also available at: http://www.westchesterpublishingservices.com
Although many believe that claims adjusters are bad and only want to protect the interests of their insurance companies, thats not true. Many good adjusters love helping people and they do have strict claim process to follow , said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of IMC

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com has launched a new blog post that explains what are claims adjusters and how they can help drivers with a car insurance claim.

For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com/what-are-car-insurance-claims-adjusters-and-what-they-do/

Claims adjusters are the persons sent by car insurance companies to investigate the claims made by policyholders and to negotiate settlements. In many cases, the claims adjusters will be in a position to offer explanations for denying a claim or for the amount they offer for a settlement.

Drivers that need a claims adjuster should know the following about them:



Claims adjusters investigate the claims made by policyholders. Claims adjusters are required to investigate the incidents where the policyholders' vehicles were involved. The claims adjuster will determine who was at fault, if the incident is covered, or if it's an insurance fraud attempt. Car insurance frauds are quite common. One of the most common types of insurance fraud is to arson an insured older vehicle. In this type of fraud, a claims adjuster will travel to the place where the incident happened and will start to investigate. The claim will be denied if the claims adjuster reaches the conclusion that the incident is an insurance fraud attempt.

They work for insurance companies. The majority of claims adjusters are working for an insurance company, so it's no wonder that sometimes they protect their insurers' interests by not paying claims or by paying claims of a lesser value than what they should. In some cases, claims adjusters will have to protect the reputation of their insurers, by paying a claim they initially denied. No insurance provider wants bad publicity, and a customer that is not satisfied by the settlement and is willing to fight can bring a lot of bad publicity. Not all adjusters are employed by insurers. Some are just contractors that are sent to negotiate on behalf of a company.

Not all claims adjusters are bad. Despite what everyone thinks, not all claims adjusters will deny or underpay claims. Claims adjusters are salaried people that have no financial interest in the outcome of a claim. Many good claims adjusters are trying to help people that are in great need. Nevertheless, claims adjusters need to follow a strict claim process.

For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://cheapquotesautoinsurance.com/

Cheapquotesautoinsurance.com is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
Paul, Mary-Beth and David are tenured statisticians and researchers and were lucky to have the benefit of their expertise and statistical tools at our disposal. They will be an asset to both our platform and our culture.

Zappi, the ad and innovation testing platform built by brands for brands, today announced it has acquired the business and assets of Chicago-based start-up Data Quorum, including its library of statistical tools, as of July 1 this year.

Founded in 2019, Data Quorum was known for its custom automated statistical analysis applications built and delivered through its SaaS application. It comprised a small group of statisticians and researchers, each with over 25 years of experience, who Zappi is pleased to welcome. This team, Paul Holtzman, Mary-Beth Lake and David Thomas, are poised to help Zappi build strong research solutions, develop better connections to in-market results and elevate Zappis analysis and reporting capabilities.

Named Marketing Research Supplier of the Year by Quirks Media last year, Zappi builds insights solutions in partnership with brands like PepsiCo, McDonalds, Mars and Verizon to help companies answer their most pressing business questions, learn more about their consumers and launch better ads and innovation.

Were thrilled to be joining the Zappi team, said Holtzman of the acquisition. We were first introduced to some of the Zappi team at Intellection 10 years ago, and we found a lot of commonalities between our two companies when we reconnected. Were looking forward to using our expertise to build the Zappi platform and help fuel Zappis growth.

Stephen Phillips, Zappis chief executive officer, added, Im pleased to welcome Data Quorum to Zappi. Paul, Mary-Beth and David are tenured statisticians and researchers and were lucky to have the benefit of their expertise and statistical tools at our disposal. They will be an asset to both our platform and our culture.

ABOUT ZAPPI

Zappi is the ad and innovation testing platform built for brands, by brands. In Zappis single platform co-built with some of the biggest consumer brands on the market, your insights grow more valuable the more you test and learn. Start launching better ads and innovation today. To find out more, visit https://www.zappi.io/web/.

MEDIA CONTACT

Katie Sweet

katie.sweet@zappistore.com
ZenithJet, a leading aviation consulting firm, today introduced Aviation CFO, a cost management program that enables business aircraft owners and operators to reduce operating costs by benchmarking against real-world data.

ZenithJets proprietary data is generated by its sister company ElitAvia, an aircraft management and charter specialist with more than 15 years experience operating a large fleet of business aircraft worldwide. Drawing from this wealth of real-world data, plus additional industry databases, the ZenithJet team generates highly-reliable comparative data on business aircraft services. Launched in response to client demand, Aviation CFO formalizes services that ZenithJet has long performed to reduce clients operating costs.

Based on a monthly subscription, Aviation CFO services include:



Analysis of recurring expenses (fuel, handling, parking, maintenance, hangarage, insurance, crew salaries and other operational costs) as compared to ZenithJets proprietary benchmarks.

Analysis of aircraft programs and warranties to ensure maximum coverage.

Negotiation of aircraft maintenance proposals and final costs.

Operating a business aircraft can easily cost millions of dollars per year and expenses are often summarized in dozens of complex line items, says Kevin Rodgers, Executive Vice President, ZenithJet. We leverage the proprietary data that we have generated as business aircraft operators to analyze and assess expenses, programs and warranties, and negotiate for the financial benefit of our clients. Aviation CFO enables owners and operators to derive maximum value from their aircraft investment by ensuring that operating costs are optimized. We invite aircraft owners and operators worldwide to contact us to find out how we can reduce their costs.

About ZenithJet

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, ZenithJet is a leading aviation consulting firm. Since foundation, the ZenithJet team has supported hundreds of clients operating Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault Falcon, Embraer, Textron Aviation, Boeing Business Jet and Airbus Corporate Jet aircraft. By leveraging its expertise in aircraft operations and maintenance, merged with access to rich proprietary data, ZenithJet offers exceptional cost reduction services. For more information, please visit http://www.zenithjet.com.

Media Contact

Mark Lowe, PRagmatic Communications

mark(dot)lowe(at)pragcom(dot)com / (514) 576-2519
Key research finding

Autism affects about 2% of children in the United States, and about 30% of these children have seizures. Recent large-scale genetic studies revealed that genetic variants in a sodium channel, called voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.2, is a leading cause of autism. Overactive sodium channels in the neuron cause seizures. Doctors often treat seizures by giving the patient a medication meant to close the sodium channels, reducing the flow of sodium through axons. For many patients such treatment works, but in some cases  up to 20 or 30%  the treatment doesnt work. These children have loss-of-function variants in Nav1.2, which is expected to reduce the sodium channel activity as anti-seizures. Thus, how the deficiency in sodium channel Nav1.2 leads to seizures is a major mystery in the field that puzzles physicians and scientists.

Yang Yang, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Purdue University, and his team, including first-author of the paper post-doctoral researcher Jingliang Zhang, tackled the issue. They discovered that in Nav1.2 deficient neurons, the expressions of many potassium channels are surprisingly reduced. The Nav1.2 deficiency itself doesnt cause seizures; the issue arises when the potassium channels over-compensate for the sodium channels deficiency by shutting down too many potassium channels, making the neuron hyperexcitable, which causes seizures. In such cases, treating the sodium channel clearly does not work. Yang and his team suggest that developing medicines to open the potassium channels would help control seizures in these patients. Notably, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco led by Kevin Benders research group made a similar observation independently. Yang and Benders papers were published back-to-back in the same issue of Cell Reports.

Were looking at genetic makeup, so doctors can proscribe a drug and gene therapy based on genes identified  personalized medicines, Yang said. Our research points toward a direction for future research, maybe future treatments. We are peacetime warriors, fighting humanitys biggest enemy: disease. There are kids dying because of these conditions. Our goal is to help them, to help their parents and their families. This kind of basic research is a vital part of finding new drugs.

Purdue professors expertise

Yang is an expert in pharmacogenetics, especially the genetics of chronic pain, epilepsy and autism.

Journal name

Cell Press. The paper is available online.

Funding

This work is supported by the Showalter Research Trust and the Purdue Big Idea Challenge 2.0 on Autism (to Y.Y.). The research reported in this publication was also supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (R01NS117585 and R01NS123154 to Y.Y.). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the FamilieSCN2A Foundation for Action Potential Grant support, and Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery and Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience for additional funding support. This project was supported in part by the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund and the Indiana CTSI, funded in part by UL1TR002529 from the NIH. The Yang lab appreciates bioinformatics support from the Collaborative Core for Cancer Bioinformatics (C3B) of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center (P30CA082709), PCCR (P30CA023168) and the Walther Cancer Foundation.

Brief summary of methods

The research team generated a unique Scn2a deficient mouse model, which has low level of sodium channel Nav1.2, to understand how the deficiency of Nav1.2 channel may lead to seizures. They then closely examined the sodium and potassium channels behavior and looked at the resulting excitability of the neuron. When working with the mice, they were careful to include a balanced ratio of sexes to avoid bias in the data.

Writer and media contact: Brittany Steff, bsteff@purdue.edu

Source: Yang Yang, yangyang@purdue.edu
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue University Global continues to join forces with health care organizations to offer robust educational opportunities with tuition reduction. The latest such partnership is with Columbus (Nebraska) Community Hospital.

We are very pleased to partner with Columbus Community Hospital and are highly committed to helping them with their goal of creating educational pathways for employees, advancing their careers in nursing and in other key areas within the health care organization, said Melissa Burdi, Purdue Global vice president and dean of the School of Nursing.

The Purdue Global School of Nursing offers an associates degree program, RN-BSN, six Master of Science in Nursing specialties and Doctor of Nursing programs. Additional Purdue Global offerings include business, criminal justice, human services and psychology, among others. The partnership does not include Concord Law School or aviation programs.

Columbus Community staff and immediate family members (spouse, domestic partner, children, siblings and parents) will be afforded 20% tuition reduction for undergraduate programs, 14% reduction for graduate programs and 10% reduction for doctoral programs.

We are happy to partner with Purdue University Global as a benefit for our current and future staff, said Mike Hansen, president and CEO at Columbus Community Hospital. We are always willing and eager to invest in our team members and help them as they accomplish their educational goals. This new partnership will give us another avenue to do so.

Purdue Global previously announced similar partnerships with Continuum Pediatric Nursing Services and York (Nebraska) General.

About Purdue University Global

Purdue University Global delivers personalized online education tailored to the unique needs of adults who have work or life experience beyond the classroom, enabling them to develop essential academic and professional skills with the support and flexibility they need to achieve their career goals. It offers personalized paths for students to earn an associate, bachelors, masters or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, desired pace, military service, previous college credits and other considerations  no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It is affiliated with Purdue Universitys flagship institution, a highly ranked public research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University also operates regional campuses in Fort Wayne and Northwest Indiana, as well as serving science, engineering and technology students at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus. For more information, visit purdueglobal.edu.

About Columbus Community Hospital

Columbus Community Hospital is a not-for-profit hospital governed by a local board of directors, licensed by the Nebraska State Board of Health and accredited by the Joint Commission. It is a 50-bed acute care facility certified for swing beds with an additional 14 ambulatory outpatient beds. The 153,000-square-foot hospital is located in the northwest part of Columbus, Nebraska. It also provides additional services through the Healthpark Medical Office Building, Columbus Wellness Center, CCH Child Care Center, CCH South Campus, Humphrey Medical Clinic and Premier Physical Therapy.

Media Contact: Tom Schott, 765-427-1721, tschott@purdue.edu

Sources: Michelle Carlson michelle.carlson@purdueglobal.edu

Melissa Burdi

Mike Hansen
David J. Trachtenberg, Deterrence Implications of the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan, No. 501, September 11, 2021 Download

David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy and former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Twenty years ago, I was sitting in my Capitol Hill office when a colleague rushed in. Turn on your TV, he said. You have to see this. The attack on America had begun.

Over the next few hours, we were evacuated from the Capitol grounds as confusion reigned over which target might be the terrorists next. Weeks earlier, I had been offered a job as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, but my transition from a House staffer to a Pentagon official was delayed. In retrospect, the delay was propitious, as the Pentagon absorbed the next terrorist blow. Three days after I arrived at the Pentagon for my new assignment in October 2001, Operation Enduring Freedomthe U.S. invasion of Afghanistanbegan.

The events of twenty years ago left an indelible mark on me and many of my generation. Twenty years later, the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the ignominious U.S. withdrawal are bitter pills to swallow. Not simply because they reflect a failure of American leadership but because the U.S. withdrawal will likely have negative and long-lasting repercussions for U.S. credibility and deterrence well into the future.

There is no question that the U.S. military performed with exemplary skill and bravery under dangerous circumstances in the final weeks of the Afghan withdrawal. And the thirteen valorous American service personnel who lost their lives helping others to escape Taliban oppression in those final days must never be forgotten. Also never to be forgotten are the haunting images of desperate Afghan refugees plunging to their deaths from an airborne C-17 while seeking frantically to escape Taliban rulean iconic image eerily reminiscent of those who tragically jumped to their death from the World Trade Center as the buildings burned and collapsed around them. The previously unimaginable reality is that hundreds of Americans and other foreign nationals who supported the United States effort in Afghanistan are still stranded in a country now controlled by the very people the United States removed 20 years earlier. Around the world, allies have criticized and enemies have celebrated the apparent U.S. weakness in allowing this reality to emerge.

President Biden has blamed the Afghan army for an unwillingness to fight, despite the fact that Afghan forces suffered more casualties in fighting the Taliban than anyone. He blamed Americans remaining in country for failing to leave, though many who wanted to leave were unable to reach the Kabul airport with their families safely. And he blamed his predecessor for negotiating a deal with the Taliban, despite statements by Trump Administration officials that the February 2020 deal was conditions-based and had repeatedly been violated by the Taliban. Indeed, no American had died in Afghanistan since the 2020 agreement was signed, U.S. forces there were at an historic low, and their mission was to support the Afghan National Armynot to engage in fighting a civil war.

There is no question that the long-term effects of this debacle will reverberate for years to come. And its impact on U.S. deterrence of adversaries and assurance of allies will be felt well beyond Afghanistans regional borders.

U.S. allies and coalition partners have looked aghast at Americas retreat, complaining that they were not consulted about the U.S. withdrawal and that their protestations fell on deaf ears. The special relationship with Americas strongest and most reliable ally, Great Britain, has been shaken, with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair calling President Bidens decision tragic, dangerous, and unnecessary and his rhetoric of ending Americas forever wars, imbecilic.[1] As one French parliamentarian put it: We thought America was back, while in fact, America withdraws.[2] French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire declared, Lets open our eyes, we are facing threats and we cannot rely anymore on the protection of the United States.[3] The chairman of the foreign relations committee in the German Bundestag called the U.S. withdrawal a serious and far-reaching miscalculation [that]does fundamental damage to the political and moral credibility of the West.[4] A candidate running to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel called the U.S. action the greatest debacle that NATO has experienced since its foundation.[5] Czech President Milos Zeman said that by withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Americans have lost their status of global leader.[6] Other allies are reportedly thinking more about a future untethered to the [United States].[7] Indeed, the European Union reportedly is now considering creating its own military rapid reaction force that could be deployed independent of the U.S.-led NATO alliance.[8]

The transatlantic relationship is now under extraordinary stress. While it is true that political relations with European allies were strained under the Trump Administration, European defense spending increased substantially as a result of Trumps insistence that NATO do more in its own defense.[9] Burden sharing became more of a reality than a catchphrase under Trump. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated in 2019, The accumulated increase in defense spending by the end of 2024 will be 400 billion U.S. dollars. This is unprecedented progress.[10]

Yet, the Afghanistan debacle now threatens not only to upend Americas leadership role in the Western alliance, but to undermine the credibility of its deterrence commitmentsincluding the extended deterrent guarantees the United States provides to allies and partners abroad. The consequences of this heighten, not lessen, the risk of conflict. This may be a legacy of the precipitous retreat from Afghanistan.

With the reemergence of great power competition, American attention is properly focused on China as the pacing threat to U.S. security and interests. Yet, as a result of our Afghanistan withdrawal, this threat has arguably increased as our deterrent credibility has waned. Indeed, China is now openly threatening Taiwan with war, arguing that Afghanistan shows the United States is unlikely to come to the islands defense. A recent editorial in the Chinese Communist Partys official propaganda organ, Global Times, noted, Once a cross-Straits war breaks out while the mainland seizes the island with forces, the US would have to have a much greater determination than it had for Afghanistan, Syria, and Vietnam if it wants to interfere. Washington [will] pay a huge price. From what happened in Afghanistan, [Taiwan] should perceive that once a war breaks out in the Straits, the islands defense will collapse in hours and the US military wont come to help.[11] The papers editors warned that Taiwan should start now to mobilize people for war.[12] As the editor of Global Times stated, Whoever dares to cross Chinas redline on the Taiwan question is seeking its own death.[13]

Instead of the United States seeking to strengthen deterrence of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, the Chinese leadership has apparently processed the U.S. defeat in Afghanistan as an opportunity to enhance its own deterrence of U.S. involvement in any conflict involving Taiwan. To say this likely increases the risk of escalation and conflict is an understatement.

Prior to the U.S. departure from Kabul, Japanese officials had expressed solidarity with the United States in its commitment to defend Taiwan. As Japans Defense Minister recently commented, The defense stability of Taiwan is very important, not just for Japans security, but for the stability of the world as well.[14] Chinas reaction was to threaten Japan with nuclear attack: When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force, even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane and one ship, we will not only return reciprocal fire but also start a full-scale war against Japan. We will use nuclear bombs first.[15]

China views the United States as a power in decline, noting that Afghanistan has dealt a heavy blow to the credibility and reliability of the U.S.[16] Is it reasonable to believe that China will be less belligerent in its threats and more cautious in its actions now?

The United States has given security assurances to more than 30 other countries, including extending its nuclear umbrella of protection to others. While some have questioned whether the United States would escalate to nuclear conflict to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an ally, those assurances are increasingly frayed in light of the Afghanistan departure. In the mid-1990s, Chinese general Xiong Guangkai reportedly questioned the credibility of U.S. security assurances to Taiwan, saying that after watching U.S. actions in Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia, Americans dont have the will to defend Taiwan, stating, You [Americans] care a lot more about Los Angeles than Taipei.[17] Is there any reason for China to believe that American will has been strengthened after Afghanistan?

To friends, Americas Afghanistan moment is a warning. To enemies, it is an opportunity. Russia, Iran, and others who may wish the United States ill can only wonder whether the United States is indeed, as Mao Tse-Tung famously proclaimed, a paper tiger.[18] Indeed, the head of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Strategic Communications Department has cited an active campaign in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal to convince his countrymen that the United States is no longer a reliable security partner.[19]

The potential negative implications of Americas departure from Afghanistan for Western security and U.S. credibility are stark and will likely take years, if not decades, to overcome. In the meantime, the United States is likely to be challenged more aggressively on multiple fronts by adversaries who see weakness, a lack of American resolve, andlike sharks that smell blood in the wateran opportunity to strike out against U.S. interests, as well as by allies and friends who see themselves as more vulnerable and less certain of American security guarantees.

There are those who believe this to be an overly pessimistic assessment and that the widespread negative reaction to the chaotic U.S. departure from Afghanistan will only strengthen American determination and commitment to prove the naysayers wrong. But deterrence depends on what others believe, not on what we think they should believe, and it is difficult to imagine that others see Afghanistan as a shining example of U.S. resolve.

This is the dangerous legacy of the withdrawal from Afghanistan; a legacy that need not have been. It will take a prolonged and concerted effortbacked by an unwavering commitment to strengthen U.S. defensesto restore American leadership and credibility in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world. Let us hope we will recognize the need and find the wisdom to do so.

This article appeared originally at National Institute for Public Policy.

Notes:

[1] George Bowden & Lauren Turner, Afghanistan: Tony Blair says withdrawal was driven by imbecilic slogan, BBC News, August 22, 2021, available at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58295384.

[2] Rebecca Klapper, U.K., French, German Leaders Blast Biden Over Afghanistan: We Thought America Was Back, Newsweek, August 19, 2021, available at https://www.newsweek.com/uk-french-german-leaders-blast-biden-over-afghanistan-we-thought-america-was-back-1621228.

[3] Afghanistan a wake-up call for Europe on defence, leadershipFrance, Reuters, September 4, 2021, available at https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/afghanistan-wake-up-call-europe-defence-leadership-france-2021-09-04/.

[4] Linda Qiu, FACT CHECK: Bidens Inaccurate Claims in Defending Afghanistan Withdrawal, The New York Times, August 20, 2021, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/us/politics/biden-afghanistan-fact-check.html.

[5] Guy Taylor, Wary Europe looks to its own defenses after U.S. Afghan debacle, The Washington Times, September 8, 2021, available at https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/sep/8/wary-europe-looks-its-own-defenses-after-us-afghan/.

[6] Klapper, op. cit.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Taylor, op. cit.

[9] David Reid, Europes defense spending nears $300 billion as experts say Trumps pressure is paying off, CNBC, October 31, 2019, available at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/european-defense-spending-to-hit-300-billion-by-2021-analysts-say.html.

[10] Reuters Staff, NATO moves towards spending goal sought by Trump, Spain lags, Reuters, November 29, 2019, available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-summit-stoltenberg/nato-moves-towards-spending-goal-sought-by-trump-spain-lags-idUSKBN1Y31UD.

[11] Afghan abandonment a lesson for Taiwans DPP: Global Times editorial, Global Times, August 16, 2021, available at https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231636.shtml.

[12] Why the US will abandon island of Taiwan eventually: Global Times editorial, Global Times, August 18, 2021, available at https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231877.shtml.

[13] Hu Xijin, The better China is prepared for war, the more it can crush US-DPP collusion, Global Times, August 28, 2021, available at https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1232679.shtml.

[14] Eryk Bagshaw, Japan calls on Australia to lead resistance to Chinas regional sway, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 12, 2021, available at https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/japan-calls-on-australia-to-lead-resistance-to-china-s-regional-sway-20210811-p58hrr.html.

[15] Adam Cabot, Chinas Nuclear Threat Against Japan: Hybrid Warfare and the End of Minimum Deterrence, RealClear Defense, August 6, 2021, available at https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/08/06/chinas_nuclear_threat_against_japan_hybrid_warfare_and_the_end_of_minimum_deterrence_788893.html.

[16] Jesse Johnson, China trumpets U.S. decline, but Asias lessons from Afghan chaos hard to discern, The Japan Times, August 17, 2021, available at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/17/asia-pacific/china-us-afghanistan-taiwan/.

[17] Barton Gellman, U.S. and China Nearly Came to Blows in 96, The Washington Post, June 21, 1998, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/06/21/us-and-china-nearly-came-to-blows-in-96/926d105f-1fd8-404c-9995-90984f86a613/.

[18] Mao Tse-Tung, Imperialism and All Reactionaries are Paper Tigers, Quotations from Chairman Mao TseTung (Peking, China: Foreign Languages Press, 1972), pp. 72-81.

[19] Jacqueline Feldscher, U.S. Afghanistan Withdrawal Becomes Ammo For Disinformation Attacks, DefenseOne, September 9, 2021, available at https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/09/failed-us-afghanistan-withdrawal-ammo-disinformation-attacks/185229/.

The National Institute for Public Policys Information Series is a periodic publication focusing on contemporary strategic issues affecting U.S. foreign and defense policy. It is a forum for promoting critical thinking on the evolving international security environment and how the dynamic geostrategic landscape affects U.S. national security. Contributors are recognized experts in the field of national security. National Institute for Public Policy would like to thank the Sarah Scaife Foundation for its generous support that makes the Information Series possible.

The views in this Information Series are those of the author and should not be construed as official U.S. Government policy, the official policy of the National Institute for Public Policy or any of its sponsors. For additional information about this publication or other publications by the National Institute Press, contact: Editor, National Institute Press, 9302 Lee Highway, Suite 750 |Fairfax, VA 22031 | (703) 293- 9181 |www.nipp.org. For access to previous issues of the National Institute Press Information Series, please visit http://www.nipp.org/national-institutepress/information-series/.

 National Institute Press, 2021
If theres one thing the Left knows cold, its deception. From Vladimir Lenin to Saul Alinsky, leftists are unparalleled masters of the art of victory through hoodwinking: Defeating opponents by fooling them into false agreement.

Owning the battlefield in this war starts with controlling the language. Weve seen this play out in the debate over abortion access, with pro-choice activists redefining pro-life to mean anything but the conviction that life begins at conceptionand swindling unwitting Christians into their ranks.

Now its spreading to the debate over climate change, with environmental activists claiming theres nothing partisan about their one-sided campaign to fundamentally transform America. Radicals, socialists, and authoritarians know that global warming offers them the best chance to weaponize Big Government and dictate where Americans live and work, what they drive, eat, and buy, and even what beliefs theyre allowed to holdall through fear.

Truth-loving skeptics are all that stand in their way. So what better way to defeat them than by undermining the skeptics unity with false promises?

Meet the eco-Right, the collection of lobbying, litigation, and activist nonprofits that identify themselves as free market yet who have bought the Lefts argument that the Earth is getting dangerously hot and were to blame. Groups like ClearPath, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, and the Climate Leadership Council disagree over specific policiessome want a devastating carbon tax to reduce emissions, others want federal subsidies for expensive lithium batteriesbut all want skeptical Republicans to compromise with uncompromising leftists on their global warming policies.

By doing so they threaten to undermine both affordable energy in America and the future of the conservative movementwhich is why theyre often funded by the likes of George Soros as well as the Ford and Hewlett Foundations.

My colleagues and I at the Capital Research Center first broke the news on the secret liberal mega-donors bankrolling the eco-Right in order to rebrand radical environmentalism as conservative. Our new report, Rise of the Eco-Right, compiles years of research and investigative reporting to expose the funders, leadership, and lobbying of the eco-Right, exposing a web of overlapping boards and shared donors in service to a destructive and cynical agenda.

Weve studied the professional Left for decades and are all too familiar with activists use of deception and misdirection to camouflage their agenda to the casual glance. Unlike Activism Inc., we believe that Americans should be free from fearmongering to listen to arguments from both sides and come to their own conclusions in the global warming debate. Rise of the Eco-Right aims to make it clear that climate-conscious conservatives cannot compromise with the Left because activists arent interested in anything less than a green socialist revolution.

Dont take my word for itthats the crux of an open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) signed by 263 activist groups in November 2019, urging Congress to pass the Green New Dealarguably the most sweeping legislation ever proposed in Americato combat increasing income/wealth inequality and rising white nationalism and neo-fascism in America.

Todays environmentalists are more interested in environmental racism and restitution for Black and Indigenous farmers than the environment, and theyre no longer hiding it behind the fig leaf of saving the planet from greenhouse gases.

Recall the explanation that Green New Deal author Saikat Chakrabartis gave to the Washington Post: Do you guys think of [the Green New Deal] as a climate thing? Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.

Heres the bottom line: carbon taxes, green tech subsidies, and greenhouse gas pledges will never be enough for Big Green because the debate isnt really about those things, but power. Activists know this, which is why theyve abandoned these market-friendly proposals for the ultimate prize: the utopia of socialized medicine, federal jobs for everyone, slavery reparations, and more.

The eco-Right offers the Left a backdoor for the kind of statist policies that conservatives would never supportif they werent falsely labeled. Its a sirens song that promises free market answers to climate change but will only result in tyranny. Conservatives, you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by listening to the eco-Rightso dont give up the ship.

Hayden Ludwig is a senior investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center in Washington, DC.
Early one morning a couple of years ago, at the height of Hong Kongs prodemocracy protest movement, Ta Kung Pao, a Chinese-government-owned newspaper based in Hong Kong, published what it claimed was a major scoop. An American diplomat had met with a group of high-profile activists, including Joshua Wong. A photo accompanied the piece, a low-angle shot from across the lobby of the hotel where the meeting had ostensibly taken place. For Beijing, which at the time was promoting the baseless theory that foreign forces were behind Hong Kongs protests, the gotcha moment was a juicy story.
The town of Harmony, Mississippi, which owes its origins to a small number of formerly enslaved Black people who bought land from former slaveholders after the Civil War, is nestled in Leake County, a perfectly square allotment in the center of the state. According to local lore, Harmony, which was previously called Galilee, was renamed in the early nineteen-twenties, after a Black resident who had contributed money to help build the towns school said, upon its completion, Now let us live and work in harmony.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a committee on which I serve.

The secretary has a lot of explaining to do. In the past month, we have seen a catastrophic failure of policy in Afghanistan by the Biden administration. Over and over and over again, President Biden and top officials in his administration made policy decisions that demonstrated their radical ideology and manifest incompetence.

They allowed military vehicles and weapons, and key infrastructure such as Bagram Air Force Base, to fall into Taliban hands. They left stranded hundreds of Americans and Afghans who risked their lives to support the American military mission.

Further, they loaded tens of thousands of unknown and unvetted Afghans on flights to the United States without sufficient concern for security, public health, or human rights.

Two weeks ago, I toured housing thats being built at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The camp will house up to 10,000 Afghan evacuees. At the time, there were flights coming in with evacuees every couple of hours. I asked the commanding general what they were doing to ensure each arriving Afghan evacuee had been properly vetted, and he told me that vetting was being done in Afghanistan.

We now know, in fact, that in many cases vetting was inadequate and, worse, in other cases checks werent even attempted until they arrived in the United States.

Afghanistan is an exceptionally dangerous place where radical Islam is pervasive. We saw that just two weeks ago when a suicide bombing took the lives of 13 servicemen and women.

Of the roughly 30,000 Afghans already brought to the United States, about one-third had not been sufficiently screened and had to be rescreened. One hundred Afghans triggered security alerts  one of whom had previously been deported after committing rape while in the United States. If even just one or two people among the evacuees are seeking to commit acts of terrorism, we could see a suicide bombing in an American mall, restaurant, or other public venue.

The failure goes beyond security. Afghanistan is also awash in horrific crimes against and abuse of women. According to the World Health Organization, 59% of women are married as child brides and 90% of women are subject to domestic abuse. That behavior is rightly both shunned and criminal in the United States. The Biden administration had a responsibility to ensure that the Afghans being brought to the United States share our values.

We also know that, instead, President Biden imported a potential humanitarian crisis into America. According to documents from the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, there have been numerous incidents at intake centers of sexual abuse in which much older Afghan men have presented young girls as their wives. Some of these Afghan men reportedly exploited the withdrawal process itself, and more specifically their access to the United States provided by the Biden administration, to facilitate their abuse.

The administration has so far refused to acknowledge that risk of bringing in thousands of Afghans who havent been through adequate vetting, including savages who beat and rape girls theyve forced into child marriages.

Not only did President Biden surrender to the Taliban, which is right now flying the Taliban flag over the former U.S. Embassy in Kabul, flying Black Hawk helicopters and parading advanced weapons from the U.S. military, he brought potential terrorists and predators onto U.S. soil. That is inexcusable. America needs answers, and we need them now.
Donald Trump hasnt been in office for nearly eight months, and hes not on the ballot in the California recall election. But you wouldnt know it from the closing arguments Monday night from Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden.

Newsom and Biden joined forces in Long Beach to rally Democratic troops to defeat the recall election with only one day left for voters to return their ballots in the second effort to remove the states sitting governor in 18 years.

Yet, the Democratic pair spent far more time warning of a return to Trumpism than they did touting Newsoms record during his COVID-plagued 2-year tenure leading the state.

In back-to-back speeches lasting roughly 20 minutes total, Newsom and Biden invoked Trumps name 14 times as they attempted to turn Larry Elder, the combative conservative talk show host and black Republican threatening the governors job, into a Frankenstein reincarnation of Democrats most apocalyptic fears.

Im going to make this as simple as I can: You either keep Gavin Newsom or youll get Donald Trump. Its not a joke, Biden told a crowd of nearly 1,000 elected Democratic state officials and supporters gathered at Long Beach City College.

Well, this year  the leading Republican running for governor is the closest thing to Trump Ive ever seen, the president added moments later. I really mean he is a clone.  Can you imagine him being governor of the state? You cant let that happen. Theres too much at stake.

Even as Biden described Elder as someone far too right-wing to represent the solidly blue state, he still seemed deeply worried about the possibility of that outcome. The eyes of the nation  its not hyperbole  are on California because the decision youre about to make, he warned. Its gonna have a huge impact on California thats gonna reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly  the world.

Earlier Monday, the president was in Northern California surveying via helicopter damage from the Caldor Fire, which has blackened more than 219,000 acres, destroying more than 1,000 structures, including 782 homes. Its one of several mega-fires still burning across the state, creating an eerie red haze or thick smoky fog in hard-hit areas. The presidents trip comes one day after he declared this seasons wildfires a major disaster.

Seeking to shift blame for the blazes away from Newsom, Biden acknowledged that decades of forest management decisions have played a role but argued that climate change has supercharged the fires, increasing their ferocity and frequency over the last few years.

This is not about red or blue states, its about fires  just fires, he said.

Even before the first spark of the late-summer fire season, Newsom has been facing criticism for grossly misleading the public about his wildfire prevention efforts. An investigation by CapRadio and National Public Radios California Newsroom found the governor overstated by an astounding 690% the number of acres treated with fuel breaks or prescribed burns in the forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized. At the same time, Newsom slashed roughly $150 million from Cal Fires wildfire prevention budget in 2020, the same year 4.3 million acres burned, the most in the states recorded history.

Biden on Monday ignored the criticism that has been aimed at Newsom, claiming he is working closely with the governor to make sure California has every resource  every resource available  to keep families safe.

And the governor has led this state with poise and strong leadership, Biden said about Newsoms efforts, without citing examples. Hes been an innovator in terms of long-term solutions.

When it came to touting accomplishments, Biden focused on Newsoms recent success in helping California become a state with one of the highest COVID vaccination rates and one of the lowest recent tallies of weekly coronavirus cases in the nation.

If California voters decide to keep him in office, Biden argued, theyll be protecting California from Trump Republicans trying to block us from beating this pandemic, COVID-19. He added that Gavin Newsom has had the courage to stand up for science.  He's been one of the leading governors in the nation protecting people, and vaccinating his state.

All the top Republican candidates in the race, including Elder, have said they would roll back many of Newsoms COVID-related restrictions if elected. Newsom himself referred to Elder as to the right of Donald Trump, arguing that his views on race and gender, opposition to any minimum wage, as well as abortion, are out of step with the far more liberal California electorate.

Newsom then repeated well-rehearsed but misleading attack lines about Elder that have marked most of his stump speeches over the last month. He argued that his challenger believes climate change is a myth, despite the GOP candidate stating during the campaign that he believes in global warming but does not know if its a key factor in the increasing severity of the states wildfires.

The first-term governor also asserted, inaccurately, that Elder believes that women are smarter than men. (Elder, writing in a 2000 column, cited an Annenberg study that found that women knew less about politics than men at the time.)

In the final furious weeks of the recall, wild accusations have been flying from both sides. Elders ex-fiancee spoke to Politico and accused him of brandishing a handgun in the middle of a domestic argument between the two of them. Over this past weekend, Hollywood actress and #MeToo activist Rose McGowan accused Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the governors wife, of trying to silence her rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein.

Weinstein is now serving a 23-year sentence for sexual assaults and harassment. The Newsom campaign denied the charge as a wild fabrication. McGowan then tweeted out an email Siebel Newsom sent that confirmed interactions between the two.

Trump, who lost this state by more than 30 percentage points last year, has mainly steered clear of the California recall, not endorsing a GOP candidate in the race. But in the last few days, the former president has claimed that the election is rigged. Presumably, Trump was referring to the 22 million unsecured ballots mailed to registered California voters, but Democrats portrayed it as the same baseless and dangerous undermining of voting integrity that led to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Even before Elder entered the race in early July, Newsom was blaming the recall effort on Trump supporters and QAnon conspiracy theorists. But when Elder, one of the more conservative candidates in the race, surged to the top of the GOP pack, Newsom had an easier foil.

In midsummer, public opinion polls showed Republican voters were far more motivated to oust Newsom than Democrats were to save him, rattling Democratic officials across the state and nation. Newsom called on national Democrats, including Biden and fellow Californian Kamala Harris, who made an appearance last week on his behalf, to get involved in the race.

Even though there are nearly twice as many Democratic as Republican voters in the state, Democratic strategists worried that low turnout on their side could doom Newsom, which would in turn demonstrate weakness as both parties look to next years midterm elections with control of both the House and Senate at stake.

A string of recent polls, however, have shown Newsom in a strong position heading into Election Day. The most recent survey, released Friday by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that 58% of likely voters want to keep Newsom in office while 39% want him removed. The RealClearPolitics average of polls is very similar with 57% support for retaining Newsom and 41.5% for ousting him.

All registered voters across the state received a mail-in ballot, and those must be returned in-person by Tuesday or mailed and received by officials by Sept. 21 in order to count.

Out of those 22 million ballots that were sent out, 8.2 million (37%) have been returned so far, according to data firms tracking the returns. Those numbers include 52% ballots cast by Democrats so far, 25% cast by Republicans and an estimated 23% by independents or those indicating no-party preference in their registration. Republican Party officials believe their voters, distrustful of mail-in voting, will show up at drop-off locations in large numbers Tuesday to deliver their ballots in person. Democrats counter that its wishful thinking and are touting already higher-than-expected turnout as a boon for Newsom. Which side is right will be known in due time. The polls close today at 8 p.m.
Good morning, its Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, Election Day if you live in California. Not that long ago, Gavin Newsom was flying high. Californias chief executive had solid job approval ratings among voters, benefited from strong reviews nationally for handling the pandemic, and was one of a handful of Democratic governors not feuding with the Republican president in the White House.

In March 2020, President Trump had praised Newsom handling of the pandemic, and when the two met outside Sacramento last September, Newsom nudged Trump on climate change, but not in a way meant to provoke his ire.

Although Newsom liked to tell his own voters that California was the most un-Trump state in America, on that occasion he was trying to persuade, not antagonize. Weve known each other too long for posturing, Newsom told the president before adding, We come from a perspective, humbly, where we submit the science is in, and observed evidence is self-evident that climate change is real.

For the most part, Trump listened respectfully. We actually have a very good relationship, he told reporters when talking about Newsom afterward. Good man.

But things change rapidly in American politics, as Susan Crabtree shows in her coverage this morning of the California recall campaign, which Ill tout in a moment. Last night, President Biden pulled out all the stops while urging Californians to retain their embattled governor.

With that, Id direct you to our front page, which aggregates, as it does each day, an array of columns and stories spanning the political spectrum. Todays lineup includes Umair Irfan on climate doomsday scenarios (Vox); John Funds comparison between Canadas election security and Californias (The Spectator); David Zweig on the evolving meaning of COVID statistics (The Atlantic); and Karol Markowicz on requiring children to mask up and social distance (New York Post). We also offer a complement of original material from RCPs reporters and contributors, including the following:

* * *

Biden, Newsom Cast Larry Elder as Trump Clone. Susan Crabtree reports on the presidents appearance in support of the California governor as recall Election Day finally arrives.

Election Updates for the Week of Sept. 13. At RealClearPolicy, Todd Carney has this roundup.

Lawmakers Rip Blinken Over Green Card Holders Left Behind. Phil Wegmann recaps yesterdays testy exchanges as the secretary of state testified about the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Admin Imports Potential Afghan Terrorists, Predators Into U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz asserts that lax (or nonexistent) vetting of refugees puts Americans at risk.

Biden Has Never Been Honest About the Trump Vaccines. Andy Puzder writes that some of the resistance to getting vaccinated stems from the presidents own statements during his candidacy.

Three Questions About the $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan. At RealClearPolicy, James Capretta assesses the assumptions that underlie the proposal.

Why Ethereum Will Overtake Bitcoin. At RealClearMarkets, Rick Amato weighs in on cryptocurrency developments.

The Other Back-to-School Story. At RealClearEducation, Bruno Manno considers changes that the COVID shutdowns spurred among parents looking for improved learning environments for their children.

Largest Union Surrender of the Civil War. At RealClearHistory, Francis Sempa revisits the battle that took place near Harpers Ferry this month in 1862.

* * *

Carl M. Cannon

Washington Bureau chief, RealClearPolitics

@CarlCannon (Twitter)

ccannon@realclearpolitics.com
Thirty-five state governors from both parties say they will welcome Afghan refugees forced to flee their country because of the Taliban takeover. Were a state of refuge, said Gov. Gavin Newsom as he welcomed refugees to California.

Across the country, another Democrat echoed this sentiment. On her second day in office, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement saying that as the world watches the instability in Afghanistan unfold, New York is stepping up to once again serve as a beacon of hope and refuge.

A powerful welcoming statement was tweeted by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (pictured) on the last day of the U.S. evacuation from Kabul of Americans and Afghans. Utah was settled by refugees fleeing religious persecution, Cox said. We understand the pain caused by forced migration and appreciate the contributions of refugees in our communities.

Cox, a Republican who assumed office 2  weeks before President Biden, wrote a letter to Biden offering to assist with the resettlement of individuals and families fleeing Afghanistan, especially those who valiantly helped U.S. troops, diplomats, journalists and other civilians over the past 20 years.

Another Republican, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, said in a series of tweets that the Bay State is ready to assist Afghan refugees ... seeking safety and peace in America.

Mitigating Backlash

These welcoming statements came as the White House sought to tamp down any political backlash and avoid the sort of politicization and outrage that plagued efforts to resettle Syrian refugees in 2015 and created havoc in the federal refugee program, reported Politico.

In an enormous evacuation operation, the United States and its coalition partners airlifted 123,000 people out of Afghanistan in August after the collapse of the government and the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban. Included in this number were about 6,000 Americans, but most of those evacuated were Afghans.

Early in the process, former President Donald Trump issued a statement saying that Afghans who had helped the United States should be allowed to seek refuge. But he later warned of alleged dangers posed by those who were desperately trying to flee their country before the Aug. 31 deadline.

How many terrorists will Joe Biden bring to America? Trump asked.

The Biden administration anticipates that 50,000 Afghans will be allowed to come to the United States without a visa on humanitarian grounds. A number of these are people who assisted U.S. forces or the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

But because of the rapid advance of the Taliban, many Afghans who played helpful roles were unable to get out despite Bidens promises to evacuate them. According to the Wall Street Journal, as many as 60,000 Afghan interpreters and U.S. allies remain in their country.

Americas Long History of Welcoming Refugees

The United States has often had more people in the queue for admission than were allowed to enter. All of our people all over the country  except the pure-blooded Indians  are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, including even those who came over on the Mayflower, President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said.

FDR loosened immigration restrictions imposed by his predecessor on persons likely to be a public charge, but this wasnt nearly sufficient to cope with the flood of European Jews trying to flee Nazi Germany. The United States admitted 123,868 Jewish refugees from 1938 to 1941. Hundreds of thousands of other applicants were denied entry and perished at Nazi hands.

Three years after World War II, Congress passed its first specific refugee law, the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, in an attempt to help nearly 7 million people displaced in Europe by the war. Under this law the United States admitted more than 350,000 displaced persons. Ever since, various laws and executive actions have enabled refugees fleeing wars, violence and persecution to escape. Many of them entered the United States.

The largest evacuation before Afghanistan occurred in December 1950 when the American military brought out 91,000 Koreans by ship from Hungnam, on the east coast of Korea, as Chinese communist forces were advancing. Most of these evacuees settled in South Korea. Some 15,000 came to the United States during the Korean War, but immigration from Korea to the States steadily increased after the Immigration Act of 1965 replaced a law that discriminated against immigrants from Asian and Latin countries.

More than 36,000 Hungarians were admitted under two programs after the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian revolution of 1956. More than 58,000 Cubans fled to the United States after Fidel Castro took power on Jan. 1, 1959. Another 250,000 Cubans arrived in the Cuban airlift of 1965.

Two other waves of Cuban emigration later occurred. In 1985, the Castro regime allowed Cubans to leave and 125,000 of them did so in the Mariel boatlift. Another 30,000 were intercepted at sea in 1994 and interned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo. Some 20,000 Haitians escaping political turmoil and poverty were also intercepted and interned.

Most of those Cubans were admitted to the United States, but only about half of the Haitians were, according to a Brookings Institution study. North Vietnams victory in the Vietnam War created a notable refugee crisis in 1975 to which the present situation in Afghanistan has been compared.

Scores of thousands of Vietnamese whod assisted the U.S. military or supported the South Vietnamese government fled their country by any available means. In response, President Gerald Ford set up an inter-agency task force that admitted 131,000 Vietnamese to the United States. Ford came under political fire for doing this, and on May 6, 1975, said he was damned mad at those who opposed that policy.

Were a country built by immigrants from all areas of the world, and we've always been a very humanitarian nation, and when I read or heard the comments made a few days ago I was disappointed and very upset, Ford said.

Later in the decade, hundreds of thousands of people including many ethnic Chinese left Vietnam in overcrowded boats while thousands of Laotians and Cambodians fled communist regimes by land. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter doubled the number of Indochinese refugees the United States had agreed to accept. Between 1980 and 1990, according to data compiled by the Pew Research Center, nearly 590,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were admitted into the United States.

Since then, thousands of other refugees have settled in the United States, including Nicaraguans fleeing the Sandinista regime in 1979 and Kosovars who came during the 1998-1999 war between a remnant of Yugoslavia and the Kosovar army.

Negative Impact of 9/11 on Refugee Acceptance

Public acceptance of refugees, never high, turned negative against those fleeing the Middle East after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon killed 2,996 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

President Barack Obamas call in 2015 to admit refugees from the deadly Syrian civil war aroused political opposition. Obama wound up admitting only 11,000, a tiny sliver of the 6.8 million Syrian refugees created by the war. This trickle diminished to a few drops under President Donald Trump, who opposed most refugee admissions, especially from predominantly Muslim countries.

Obama had set the number of refugee admissions for 2017 at 110,000, low by historic standards. Once taking office, Trump slashed that figure to 50,000 and admitted only a handful of Syrians.

Under Trump, the United States ceded its decades-long leadership as the worlds most refugee-welcoming nation to Canada, which has about a tenth of the U.S. population.

Refugees Still Net Positive on Most Fronts

The anti-poverty Borgen Project has found that refugees stimulate the economy, enrich culture and supplement the job market. A study led by S. Garnett Russell of Teachers College at Columbia University concluded that newcomer immigrant and refugee students benefited the United States and had a stronger sense of belonging at school than U.S.-born students.

These findings were echoed by Renee Underhill, who taught high school students from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Syria at the Newcomer Center in Denver. She said these students were highly motivated and fascinated by things that U.S.- born students took for granted, such as a bus ride to school or vending machines.

Speaking of Afghans now coming to the United States, Underhill said that in addition to the ethical duty of providing for the people of a land we occupied, having diverse students from other lands enriches us.

Its encouraging that so many governors are responding on a bipartisan basis to welcome Afghan refugees. Theres no reason they shouldnt become a boon to our country, as past refugees have been. As Jerry Ford put it, were a nation built by immigrants from all over the world.

This article first appeared on State Net Capitol Journal.
They can live, work, and travel freely within the country, must pay their taxes, and those age 18-25 are even required to register with the Selective Service to potentially defend the nation in times of emergency. According to recent estimates, there are nearly 14 million green-card holders within the United States, many of them eligible to apply for full citizenship.

Yet, the federal government doesnt know exactly how many were left behind after the military withdrew from Afghanistan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers Monday, I think the best estimates are that theres several thousand green-card holders in Afghanistan.

As Americas longest war came to an abrupt and chaotic end, the Biden administration focused its attention on evacuating American citizens. Blinken reported that as of last week the number had dropped to around 100 who are still looking to leave. Estimates of legal permanent residents, however, remain murky.

When Rep. Lee Zeldin demanded an accounting during a rapid-fire exchange in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken explained the lack of certainty because green-card holders is something we dont track directly. The State Department, he told the New York Republican, has solicited people, if they are green-card holders, to let us know.

Republicans are seething at what they see as shoddy accounting of human capital punctuating an already humiliating military withdrawal. Its beyond unacceptable that we still have no accurate count of Americans, LPRs and SIVs who remain in the country and need assistance, Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican on the committee, told RealClearPolitics, referring to lawful permanent residents and holders of special immigrant visas.

We had several green card holders my office was working with who were never contacted by the State Department before the evacuation was over, he added.

The secretary insisted in the committee hearing, as the administration has previously, that President Bidens commitment to these people endures. Helping them escape Afghanistan is a much harder task without the presence of the U.S. military, however, and the administrations assurance only added to GOP outrage. The calmness White House press secretary Jen Psaki projected from the podium in a press briefing last week had the opposite of its intended effect. Asked if the administration had a count of legal permanent residents still on the ground, Psaki replied, Of course.

We do have counts and the State Department is the best source to give accurate information about all of these numbers, and of course we account for legal permanent residents as well, Psaki explained before noting that the exact figures can go up and down because of the fluid and challenging situation on the ground.

While most of the public attention has centered on citizens stranded in Afghanistan, reporters have been told little when pressing the administration for information about those who qualify for legal resident status in the U.S. Did the daily evacuation updates include green-card holders, RCP asked the day the last U.S. soldier left Kabul. The State Department did not respond.

Blinkens answer Monday was the clearest response to date on the question. But a White House aide insisted that there was no discrepancy between that testimony and what Psaki told the press last week.

As Secretary Blinken noted today, we dont require American citizens or legal permanent residents to register with us, so the numbers that the State Department have are based on self-reporting. Jen was referring in her answer to those approximate numbers maintained by the State Department, the aide said.

Secretary Blinken was asked today for the exact number of legal permanent residents remaining in Afghanistan, which is a separate question, and outlined the same approximate numbers that the State Department maintains, which Jen referred to last week, the aide added.

Even while Americas top diplomat took a beating during his committee hearing, he took care to thank individual members of Congress for their cooperation, noting how both Republicans and Democrats had worked with the administration to identify Americans and Afghan allies desperate for a way out of the country. An exhausted congressional staffer who had helped shepherd vulnerable individuals to the Kabul airport in recent weeks, but was not authorized to speak on the record, wasnt impressed. It is infuriating, the congressional aide said of Blinkens testimony.

What about green-card holders? I have several green card holders who cant get inside the gates, the aide asked the State Department in emails reviewed by RCP.

What am I supposed to tell them? the aide asked again the next day. Again, no answer.

During more than five hours of testimony, Republicans called on Blinken to resign three different times for his handling of the withdrawal.

In American history, American families have never been at a greater risk of attack at home than today, Rep. Joe Wilson told Blinken. 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.

Your bizarre abandoning of Bagram Airfield led directly to 13 Marines murdered at Kabul, that South Carolina Republican added as his allotted time ran out. You should resign.

Blinken responded by thanking Wilson for his support of members of the State Department. I appreciated that part of his statement. Thank you, the diplomat replied.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled last week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait to thank allies who helped in the U.S.-led airlift from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. Yet, Americas traditional allies in the Middle East, along with the rest of the world, must have taken note of the killing of over 100 people at the gates of Kabul airport  including 13 U.S. service members  as one of the horrific consequences of the shambolic exit from Afghanistan ordered by President Joe Biden.

This single incident accounted for more U.S. military deaths than in all of 2020, when there were several thousand more U.S. troops in the country. The ignominy of the precipitous retreat by the Aug. 31 deadline  with an unknown number of American nationals and allied Afghans remaining behind as the Pentagon pulled out its last troops  cannot be lost on Arab leaders in the Middle East.

Its evident that the expedited retreat of American forces from Afghanistan was not part of any credible military plan, which would have run a civilian-evacuation campaign before an orderly withdrawal of troops and the destruction of left-behind materiel and military bases. Biden insisted on his bungled exit for the political optics of announcing mission accomplished by the iconic date of Sept. 11. Few foreign observers would disagree with former Vice President Mike Pences view that the botched withdrawal is a foreign-policy humiliation unlike anything our country has endured since the Iran hostage crisis.

The American retreat must confirm to the Gulf Sunni states that relying on the U.S. security presence is a risky proposition, at best. The willingness of the United Arab Emirates to open diplomatic and economic relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration and Bidens calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan almost exactly one year later are not unconnected. The events of the past few weeks in Afghanistan are the logical denouement of a process that started during Barack Obamas two-term presidency. Obamas hubristic vision  a U.S. disengaged from the Middle East, a legitimized Iran and the Gulf Sunni states sharing the Persian Gulf, and Israel finding its rightful status as just another state in the region, with no special relationship with America  is shared by the Biden administration.

Indeed, if anything, the Biden administration has been cast as Obama 2.0, staffed with familiar national security and foreign policy faces, in service of the former administrations vision of an America that leads from behind. Within weeks of Bidens inauguration, the U.S. withheld arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, revoked the terrorist organization designation imposed on the Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen by the Trump administration, and appointed the same diplomats who negotiated Obamas 2015 nuclear deal with Iran to resume negotiations for re-entering the deal. To further cement the Obama legacy, the Biden administration appointed anti-Israel staffers to his policy team.

The Abraham Accords  signed in August 2020 by the UAE, followed by Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco  represented at long last the victory of self-interest over ideology, in the words of Elliott Abrams. This was an ideology that had given free pass to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas despite their links with Iran and Turkey, and that held onto the unquestioned presumption that Arab states would never normalize relations with Israel without a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Bahrain and UAE agreements with Israel under the Abraham Accords jettisoned that presumption. The accords hedged the Arab Gulf states security dependence on what was correctly perceived to be an unreliable incoming U.S. administration, while cementing relations with Israel, the only proximate actor able to challenge Iranian and Turkish attempts at regional hegemony. Ever-closer security relationships with the Sunni Gulf states, whether formal or less so behind closed doors, could indeed be one of Israels upsides from Bidens Afghanistan debacle. The recent visit to Moscow by the Saudi deputy defense minister, in which he signed a defense-cooperation agreement with Russia, may be seen as another sign of hedging security options by a key Gulf state. Nevertheless, the relations that both Russia and China have with Iran, and the limits on their military force-projection capabilities, mean that neither of these powers is willing or able to play a security-guarantor role in the Gulf.

The return of a medieval, jihadist emirate in Afghanistan might well be a monument to U.S. perfidy. For the moderate Gulf state leaders in the neighborhood, it will concentrate their minds on the realpolitik of regional security. For the rest of Bidens term, at least, they will have to do without the comforting assumptions of an American security blanket that was an established feature of the regional political order since Saudi King Ibn Saud met with President Franklin Roosevelt on board a U.S. navy cruiser in the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez Canal in 1945.

Close allies of the U.S. in Asia and nearby  such as India, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam  will be conducting similar calculations of statecraft in their geopolitically fraught neighborhood.
FOX Nation announced Monday it has ordered Season 33 of the docu-series, COPS.

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The unscripted show will kick off on the FOX News streaming service with four fresh episodes Oct. 1.

Subsequent installments will debut Friday nights.

"COPS is one of the most iconic brands on television with an incredibly passionate fan base. We wanted to show our appreciation to all first responders by combining the launch with a free one-year subscription to give back in a small way to those who place their lives on the line every day to keep us safe," Jason Klarman, president of the subscription streaming service, said in a statement.

The show initially ran on the FOX television network 1989 to 2013 after which it moved to Spike TV, which was later re-branded as the Paramount Network.

Paramount canceled the series in June 2020 in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of a police officer.

"COPS is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return," the network said at the time the show was taken off of its schedule.
Jennifer Aniston says her COVID-19 "bubble" includes her former Friends co-star Courteney Cox.

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The 52-year-old actress said on Monday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! that her pandemic circle consists of Cox, Jimmy Kimmel Live! host Jimmy Kimmel , her Horrible Bosses co-star Jason Bateman and their families.

Aniston she's mainly stayed home during the pandemic, with the exception of work and her small group of friends.

"I've been in the house a lot," Aniston said. "I've rearranged furniture ... I went from the set from Sony studios to shoot [The] Morning Show right back to my house."

"It was like a star, the points that I would go to -- I'd go to work, I'd go to Courteney's. I've been to you guys, to the Batemans, and then that was back home," she added. "So it was kind of like we had this little bubble of friends -- thank god I love all of you so much."

Aniston and Kimmel recalled how Aniston recently lost her ring in a salad during an evening at Kimmel's house. Kimmel had recently turned Aniston on to the Oura Smart Ring, a ring that tracks sleep.

"I'm addicted to it," Aniston said. "I was talking about how this is ruining my life because I'm so obsessed with the Oura ring and looking at my sleep patterns and how badly I sleep and it shames me every day, and then all of sudden I look up but it's gone. I'm just like, 'Oh, god, Jimmy.'"

Aniston said she dug through the salad but couldn't find the ring.

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"I go, 'Well, somebody's gonna find it... eventually,'" she said.

Aniston and Kimmel then found her ring next to the salad.

Aniston is best known for playing Rachel Green on Friends. She portrays Alex Levy on The Morning Show, which will return for a second season Friday on Apple TV+.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
If youre Gen Z like myself, youre familiar with cancel culture. For those less familiar, cancel culture is engaging in mass protest, or canceling, of an individual, group or event as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.

For example, Ellen DeGeneres was canceled for creating a toxic workplace environment. Shane Dawson was canceled for making racist comments in some of his YouTube videos. Jeffree Star was canceled for offensive product names.

Cancel culture is a tricky subject. Celebrities and events have been canceled over small misunderstandings or tedious details. Everyone has something to say about cancel culture. Love it, hate it or dont care, its ever-present, online and in real life with celebrities and regular folks  and it gets annoying.

But whos to say cancel culture cant be put to good use? I think cancel culture could be beneficial in combatting and speaking openly about the toxic rape culture of our society. Instead of seeing sexual assaults in the news and being dissatisfied with outcomes, its time to cancel rape culture.

Sexual assault by the numbers

Women between the ages of 18-24 who are in college are at a higher risk of sexual assault than other women, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. College women between those ages are three times more likely to be assaulted than the general women population.

While RAINN reports that 13% percent of all students experience rape or sexual assault, the reported percentage of undergraduate women across the U.S. who experience rape or sexual assault is 26.4%. This percentage may seem small, but it means that about one out of five women pursuing their undergraduate degree will be or have already been sexually assaulted.

Can you think of five friends or peers who are women? According to these statistics, at least one of them is likely to have been sexually assaulted.

In 2020, there were three reported rapes at the University of Georgia that were proven true, according to UGA crime statistics. There were two reported sexual batteries that were proven true. However, there were zero arrests made for the rape cases and one arrest for a sexual battery case.

In 2019, there were 12 reported rapes and 15 sexual batteries proven to be true. There were zero arrests. In 2018, there were nine reported rapes that were proven true. There were seven reported sexual batteries that were proven true and there was one arrest.

In 2017, there were 16 reported rapes and 9 sexual batteries, proven to be true. There were zero arrests. In 2016, there were 17 reported rapes and 11 sexual batteries, proven to be true. There was one arrest.

Is the pattern becoming clear? Women are being sexually assaulted and the perpetrators are not being held accountable for their actions. Victims of these crimes are having their lives turned upside down and are not receiving closure nor proper reparation.

Gen Z is the most combative and vocal generation when it comes to mental health and injustice. Rape culture is creating negative headspaces in sexual assault victims, filed with the very things we oppose.

Unfortunately, proving a rape or sexual assault can be legally difficult. Even more difficult for the survivors is explaining their experience to the proper authorities to prove it, often triggering post-traumatic stress. Reviewing their experience can be gut-wrenching.

According to RAINN, only 20% of female survivors in our age group report their assault to the police. Looking at the data from UGA police crime statistics, the rate at our school appears even lower.

Rape culture in practice

A striking example of this is described in an article published by The Red & Black in 2018. After a party one night, a female UGA freshman was sexually assaulted and too intoxicated to properly give consent. Moreover, she was taken advantage of after refusing sexual contact.

According to the article, the victim dealt with anxiety after her assault and regularly attended therapy sessions. She also dropped one of her classes.

Although her assailant admitted to the assault via text messages four days after the incident and during the investigation, he was not held appropriately accountable for his actions. He was still allowed to participate in classes and extracurricular activities on campus.

Lisa Anderson, founder of Atlanta Women for Equality, described the result of this case as a freebie first rape. His reparations consisted of academic probation for the duration of his college career and taking a sexual assault and alcohol training course.

He was asked to write a personal statement on what he learned about the effect of drugs and alcohol on the ability to consent.

The University System of Georgias Title IX Disciplinary Action determines the severity of corrective actions in several categories. These include frequency, severity, nature of the offense, conduct history, offenders acceptance of responsibility, previous institutional response to similar conduct, the strength of the evidence and wellbeing of the university community.

The panel must have figured that given he was a freshman first offender, and that he was willing to accept responsibility, he did not deserve the full penalty despite the severity of his actions.

Canceling rape culture

What about his victim? Her life is changed forever. Saying sorry or writing an essay doesnt fix the damages. She walks around campus with a cloud looming over her head. She isnt as confident as she once was. She worries and constantly looks over her shoulder. She gave up pursuing legal action because it was too much to bear.

She is not the only one. Remember the statistics: one in five. Countless other women on campus share her fears and horrifying experience. If this is the best sexual assault reports can do to give these women justice, why would offenders think twice when they assault women on campus?

While the legal barriers to justice are immovable, we have the tools to bring about the end of rape culture. Society needs to implement better education on consent, how to report incidents and how to protect yourself in the event of an assault.

We also need to refuse acceptance of this behavior in polite society. Were canceling people for less.

I know that UGA, among other institutions, has courses on alcohol and sexual encounters, including what consent looks like, but college students think they know everything. Theyre not spending the time reading through the content of the courses for a refresher  or their first lesson  on consent. As students, we need to be active participants in our education, including sexual encounters.

Rape culture makes it so that the victims live in shame and fear, while the abusers and rapists move on unscathed. Its time for this social injustice to end. Cancel rape culture.
A pro-mask-mandate protester points towards and speaks with anti-mask-mandate protesters. Dozens of community members gathered at Tate Plaza in protest of the lack of COVID-19 mandates by the school on Sept. 13, 2021, in Athens, Georgia. The group was met with counter protesters demonstrating their thoughts against the discussed mandates.
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Members of the media were given a tour on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021, around the NorthStars Vermont Yankee nuclear facility, in Vernon, Vt., as the site is being demolished.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 73F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
On Dec. 29, 2014, Vermont Yankee went offline and all the fuel was removed from the nuclear reactor on Jan. 12, 2015. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a permit to a close affiliate of NorthStar, the owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, to build the country's first high-level radioactive waste disposal site in Texas.
Vermont State Police have three open trooper positions in the Shaftsbury barracks and nearly three dozen openings statewide. The situation apparently was exacerbated by three recent trooper resignations.
WASHINGTON  Conversations on the Green presents Climate Change: Sunrise or Sunset? Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. This interactive conversation runs 90 minutes, and will be live streamed, allowing anyone with an internet-connected device to participate and ask questions. Visit Climate Change: Sunrise or Sunset? (constantcontact.com) to attend.

From Conversations on the Green: In the face of climate change, a panel of nationally recognized groundbreakers will discuss the worlds path forward on this seasons 10th episode of Common Ground with Jane Whitney. It will be a wide-ranging discussion of the toxic mix of science, economics, politics, technology and human nature that now threatens to upend life as we know it. The panel will examine what could break the political logjam, how the issues play in national, state and local elections, what state and local communities are doing to mitigate the congressional stasis, and the role of private citizens and companies.

The lead panelist is the first-ever Presidential Envoy on Climate, Secretary John Kerry, who has been a central player in almost every major national issue since the Vietnam war, and his accomplishments provide the structure of much of Americas post 60s history, according to the statement. He has served as Secretary of State, Massachusetts senator, Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, lawyer, prosecutor, naval officer, international aid worker, decorated combat veteran and controversial anti-war activist.

The second panelist is Bill McKibben, an internationally renowned environmentalist, author, journalist and expert on climate change. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and has written 12 books on the impact of global warming, including The End of Nature. Considered a global clarion call when published in 1989, it is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and was enormously influential, according to the statement.

McKibben is a founder and leader of 350.org, an international movement of ordinary people dedicated to ending the fossil fuel era and building a world of community-led renewable energy.

The third panelist is Katharine Hayhoe, an internationally renowned climate scientist and an evangelical Christian who is passionate about demonstrating why faith doesnt conflict with the science of global warming, according to the statement.

The daughter of missionaries, Hayhoe is married to Andrew Farley, a radio evangelist and the pastor of an evangelical church in Lubbock, TX. She is chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and a distinguished professor with an endowed chair in public policy at Texas Tech University, where she also is an associate in the Public Health program of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. An atmospheric scientist, Hayhoes research focuses on providing a scientific way to assess how the climate crisis affects peoples daily lives. She has published more than 125 peer-reviewed papers and abstracts and many vital reports, including the U.S. Global Change Research Programs Second and Third National Climate Assessments, as well as a key paper for the National Academy of Science.

The fourth panelist is Andrew Zimmern, an Emmy and four-time James Beard Award winner. Zimmern is a television personality, writer, teacher, and innovator who inherited his passion for the culinary arts from his parents, especially his father who was renowned as a legendary eater and traveler, according to the statement. He began his career in New York City, helping to manage restaurants while simultaneously struggling with substance abuse. After a stint in a Minneapolis rehab, he landed a job there washing dishes at a cafe, Un Deux Trois. Promoted to executive chef, he transformed the restaurant into an award-winner, making him a media sensation. He soon became a columnist for Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine, host of his own radio show and the creator of several food-based television series, including the smash hit, Whats Eating America. In each episode of the series, Zimmern uses the lens of food to investigate how universal issues, such as climate change, affect Americans daily lives.

The fifth panelist is Xiye Bastida, a Mexican-Chilean teenager born into the Climate Crisis who is often called Americas Greta Thunberg, according to the statement. A member of the Otomi-Toltec indigenous nation, she was raised in San Pedro Tultepec, outside of Mexico City, but moved to New York City in 2015 as a 13-year-old when her hometown was inundated after heavy rains ended three years of drought. As a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, she has launched a Youth Activism Training Program, sits on the Administration Committee of Peoples Climate Movement, is a member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion, was invited to speak about Indigenous Cosmology at the 9th UN World Urban Forum, and three years ago awarded the Spirit of the UN award.

The panel will be moderated by Jane Whitney, former NBC correspondent and national talk show host.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Three former U.S. intelligence and military officials have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described Tuesday as the first of its kind.

The defendants  Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke  are accused of working as senior managers at a UAE-based company that conducted hacking operations on behalf of the government. Prosecutors say the men provided hacking and intelligence-gathering systems that were used to break into computers in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

The Justice Department alleges that the men committed computer fraud and violated export control laws by providing defense services without the required license. The case also appears to be part of a growing trend highlighted earlier this year by the CIA of foreign governments hiring former U.S. intelligence operatives to bolster their own spycraft  a practice officials have said risks exposing U.S. secrets.

This is a loud statement that the Justice Department takes such cases seriously, said Bobby Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who specializes in national security issues.

The charges were filed under a deferred prosecution agreement that, in addition to requiring a $1.68 million payment, will also force the men to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation, to sever any ties with any UAE intelligence or law enforcement agencies and to forego any security clearances. If they comply with those and other terms for three years, the Justice Department will abandon the prosecution.

As part of the agreement, the three men did not dispute any of the facts alleged by prosecutors.

The Justice Department described it as the first-of-its-kind resolution of an investigation into two distinct types of criminal activity, including providing unlicensed technology for the purposes of hacking.

Hackers-for-hire and those who otherwise support such activities in violation of U.S. law should fully expect to be prosecuted for their criminal conduct," Mark Lesko, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's national security division, said in a statement.

According to court documents, the trio left a U.S.-based company that was operating in the UAE to join an Emerati company that would give them significant increases in their salaries.

The companies arent named in charging documents, but Lori Stroud, a former National Security Agency employee, said she worked with the three men in the UAE at U.S.-based CyberPoint and then for UAE-based DarkMatter.

Stroud said she quit because she saw DarkMatter hacking U.S. citizens. She said she assisted the FBI in its investigation and was glad to see the case come to a resolution.

This is progress, Stroud said.

The Emirati government did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday. Questions sent by email to officials at Abu Dhabi-based DarkMatter could not be delivered.

Since details of DarkMatters hacking campaign became public, the companys profile has dropped over the last few years, with some staff moving onto a new Abu Dhabi-based firm called G42. That firm has been linked to a mobile app suspected of being a spying tool as well as Chinese coronavirus tests that American officials warned against using over concerns about patient privacy, test accuracy and Chinese government involvement.

DarkMatter's founder and CEO, Faisal al-Bannai, told The Associated Press in 2018 that the company takes part in no hacking, although he acknowledged the firms close business ties to the Emirati government, as well as its hiring of former CIA and NSA analysts.

Prosecutors said that between January 2016 and November 2019, the defendants increased operations being providing to the UAE government. They bought exploits to break into computers and mobile devices from companies around the world, including those based in the U.S., according to the Justice Department. That includes one so-called zero-click exploit  which can break into mobile devices without any user interaction  that Baier bought from an unnamed U.S. company in 2016.

Lawyers for Adams and Gericke did not immediately return messages seeking comment, and a lawyer for Baier declined to comment.

The Justice Department described each of them as former U.S. intelligence or military personnel. Baier previously worked at the NSA, according to a former colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the matter.

The CIA warned in a letter earlier this year about an uptick in the number of former officers who have disclosed sensitive information about CIA activities, personnel, and tradecraft.

The letter sent to former CIA officials was signed by Sheetal Patel, the agencys assistant director for counterintelligence. It described as a detrimental trend a practice of foreign governments hiring former intelligence officers to build up their spying capabilities. Some listed examples included using access to CIA information or contacts for business opportunities as well as working for state-sponsored intelligence related companies in non-fraternization countries.

We ask that you protect yourself and the CIA by safeguarding the classified tradecraft that underpins your enterprise, Patel wrote.

____

Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Washington and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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.
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.

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See APs complete coverage of the California recall election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall
WASHINGTON (AP)  Congressional security officials have approved the reinstallation of a temporary fence around the Capitol as they prepare for a Saturday rally in defense of the rioters who stormed the building on Jan. 6.

The Capitol Police said in a statement that officials are aware of concerning online chatter about the demonstration. While it is still unclear how large the rally will be and whether members of domestic extremist groups will attend, security officials say they will be ready if there is unrest. They want to avoid the mistakes of Jan. 6, when officers were unprepared for the siege and were overwhelmed by former President Donald Trumps supporters.

Police are preparing for potential violent clashes at Saturday's rally and planning for the possibility that protesters may arrive with weapons, according to three people familiar with the preparations. Officers are monitoring hotel bookings, flights, car rental reservations and buses being chartered to bring groups into Washington.

Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said in a statement that his force will enforce the law and not tolerate violence.

The announcement came hours after Manger and other security officials briefed congressional leaders on the preparations and the plans for a temporary fence, which were first reported Thursday by The Associated Press. Leaving the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he felt law enforcement is ready for whatever might happen on Saturday.

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.

Many in Congress applauded the fence's removal in July, as it meant the public could again enjoy the Capitol grounds. While some lawmakers questioned the ongoing vulnerability of the complex, others argued the Capitol area should be open to all, regardless of risk.

House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, head of a spending committee that oversees the Capitol Police, said in a joint statement that they believe law enforcement agencies have developed a clear plan  based on careful intelligence analysis  to maintain order and protect public safety. They said they would support the temporary fence.

Given the violent tendencies of the right-wing extremists who plan to attend, it is obvious that this rally poses a threat to the Capitol, those who work here, and the law enforcement officers charged with protecting our democracy," DeLauro and Ryan said in the statement.

Police have been tracking intelligence indicating far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to attend next weeks rally, which is designed to demand justice for the hundreds of people who have been charged in connection with Januarys insurrection. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, however, has said he doesnt expect his membership to attend.

Police are monitoring online chatter about the death of Ashli Babbitt, in particular, as they prepare for the rally. Babbitt was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6 attack as she attempted to break into an area immediately adjacent to the House chamber while lawmakers were still trapped inside. Some of Trumps supporters  and Trump himself  have painted her as a martyr, while both the Justice Department and the Capitol Police havecleared the officer who shot her.

There has been increased chatter about justice for Babbitts death and those who may be attending for the rally for that purpose may be more likely to commit violence, according to people familiar with the preparations. Police are also aware of some posts that threaten religious institutions, including Jewish centers.

Dozens of officers from the Capitol Police and Washingtons Metropolitan Police Department were brutally beaten as the hundreds of insurrectionists  including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers  broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6. Investigations into what went wrong found that there was a lack of preparation, lack of command and lack of good intelligence predicting what was going to happen.

Manger, a former police chief in suburban Washington, took over as Capitol chief in July.
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.
CT State Police / Contributed

EAST HARTFORD  A Hartford woman was killed when she was hit by a driver on Interstate 84 Monday night, according to a report from Connecticut State Police.

Shortly before 8 p.m., a Rhode Island woman was driving on Interstate 84 east near the Exit 59 off ramp in the left-center lane of five when she hit a pedestrian who state police said was walking in the travel portion of the highway.
LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP)  A Marine from Massachusetts who was killed last month in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan was given a hero's farewell Tuesday in a public wake and burial attended by hundreds.

The flag-draped casket of Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo was carried by her fellow Marines into Veterans Memorial Stadium in her hometown of Lawrence while hundreds of people lined up to pay their respects.

The 25 year-old was among 13 U.S. service members who died in the Aug. 26 bombing at the Kabul airport, where people were being evacuated amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. A dozen other U.S. service members and 169 Afghans were also killed.

Rosario Pichardo's family watched solemnly as the casket entered the stadium. Her mother, dressed in white, blew a kiss while other family members held their hands over their hearts and Marines in attendance saluted.

Gov. Charlie Baker related how fellow volunteers at a local church food pantry had nicknamed Rosario Pichardo Marine because of her lifelong ambition to become one.

Its often said a hero is someone who puts all others before themselves, he said. As a Marine, as an auntie, as a social worker, as a servant, over and over again, her life exemplified what it means to be truly heroic.

Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez led the crowd in loudly chanting her name. We will not forget you, he said. Thank you, Johanny. You are home now.

Capt. Pascal DeMeo, Rosario Pichardos commanding officer, said the work screening women and children at the airport helped save some 124,000 lives in Americas largest airlift operation.

Before the bomb detonated, he said, Rosario Pichardo had been trying to help two Afghan women who were getting crushed by in a pack of people at the gates of the Kabul airport. Her final words were, They need me, sir.

Rosario Pichardo's younger brother, Erick, remembered her as the backbone of their family. When their mom or other elders couldnt do something that was needed, she somehow found a way, he said.

Everything from here on out will be done for her, Erick Rosario said. Were proud of her, and now it's time to make her proud.

Rosario Pichardo joined the Marines in 2015 and served with the Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.

On Monday, Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley presided over a private funeral Mass. After Tuesday's wake, she was laid to rest at Bellevue Cemetery in Lawrence, in a section reserved for veterans.
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.
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.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin election clerks are reacting with a mixture of concern and confusion to the first inquiry made by a special investigator hired by Republicans to examine how the 2020 presidential election was run in the battleground state.

Based on an Associated Press survey of all 72 county election clerks, the email Monday from the lead investigator landed in the junk folders of at least seven counties and wasn't received by at least 11 others. Several that did get it flagged it as a security risk.

Clerks for at least six counties said they would not be forwarding the email to municipalities in their jurisdiction as the investigator, former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, requested. Gableman is a conservative who last year told a group of Trump supporters that the election had been stolen.

If there was fraud, it wasnt in my county, Christopher Marlow, the Lincoln County clerk, told the AP. We keep very accurate voter lists and we are diligent in our work. All our voters are alive and received one vote each!

Former President Donald Trump won Lincoln County with 61% of the vote in 2020.

The pushback and confusion from clerks is just the latest twist in Wisconsin, where conservatives at Trump's encouragement are ordering investigations into the 2020 election. President Joe Biden carried the state by just under 21,000 votes.

Republicans have authorized an investigation by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, which is expected to be done this fall. A handful of Republicans, including the Assembly elections committee chairwoman, are pushing for a broader review similar to the much-derided effort in Arizona led by Cyber Ninjas, a small cybersecurity firm based in Florida picked to lead the review.

The elections committee chairwoman, Rep. Janel Brandtjen, tried to subpoena voting machines, ballots and other election data in two counties. But her request was rejected by both counties, citing a state law that said the subpoenas had to be signed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to be valid.

Vos said he would not sign them.

Instead, Vos hired Gableman, at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $680,000, to lead another investigation.

But it's off to a rocky start.

Two retired police detectives Vos initially hired to assist Gableman quit this summer, saying the job would take more time than they anticipated. Vos then revised the contract with Gableman, giving him authority to hire whoever he wants.

Gableman has already traveled to Arizona and attended a conference in South Dakota led by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, where election conspiracy theorists made presentations. Gableman is also consulting with Shiva Ayyadurai, a losing U.S. Senate candidate who appeared in a conspiracy theory-fueled film and falsely claimed a million ballots were destroyed in Massachusetts, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Tuesday.

The Gableman probe has drawn bipartisan criticism.

On Monday, an email signed by Gableman was sent to at least 25 of the state's 72 counties, based on the AP tally. The email included an attachment addressed to clerks, asking them to preserve any and all records and evidence related to the 2020 presidential election. It also asks the county clerks to share the email with more than 1,800 municipal clerks who run elections.

Even though Gableman's name was in the body of the email and on the attached letter, the email itself came from someone named john delta at a gmail.com address. The pdf attachment lists Andrew Kloster as the author. He is a former Trump administration official and an attorney who describes himself as an ecumenical rightist on Twitter. Neither he nor Gableman responded to a request for comment.

Shortly after the AP sent Kloster a message on Twitter asking if he had written the email attachment, his old tweets were deleted.

Gableman has not said who, if anyone, he has hired to assist with the investigation and as of Tuesday morning he had not submitted any invoices for reimbursement.

The format of the email raised concerns in several Wisconsin counties.

The sender was not the person signing the email and a PDF attachment from an unknown sender is considered suspicious, said Liz Otto, Green Lake County clerk. Our IT Department has advised deleting any and all suspicious emails and/or attachments. Since this email falls into that category, I did not open it and will not be forwarding it on to any of our municipal clerks.

Trump won Green Lake County with 67% of the vote.

Ashley Reichert, the Washington County clerk, said she got the email but wont open the attachment until her IT department verifies that it is safe to do so. Trump won that county with 68% of the vote.

Clerks in the two largest counties of Milwaukee and Dane said Gableman didnt understand how elections work because he asked for information retained on voting machines, but all data is kept on memory cards and then loaded onto servers.

Trump lost in both of those counties and recounts upheld Biden's win.

Several clerks objected to Gableman asking them to preserve records that state and federal law already requires them to maintain for 22 months after an election.

For me it was really a nothing letter, said Trent Miner, the clerk in Wood County, which Trump won with 59% of the vote.
Actor Ajay Devgn and Kajols son Yug ringed in his 11th birthday with an intimate bash in the Maldives. The celebrations were reportedly a part of Ajays next venture with Bear Grylls in the Maldives where he is currently shooting for the upcoming episode of Into The Wild With Bear Grylls. Recently, Ajay took to Instagram and shared a picture from the all boys party.

In the picture, Ajay and Yug can be seen posing with his sister Neelam Devgan Gandhi's sons-Daanish and Aman. In the picture, Yug wore a white T-shirt with 'Happy Birthday Boy' written on it and a pair of shorts. He also wore dark-coloured sunglasses and flip-flops. Ajay stood behind him wearing a lime-coloured t-shirt and shorts. Ajay captioned the post, "The all-boys (sailboat emoji) party (balloon emojis) Adventure & (grinning face with star eyes emoji)".

Ajay Devgn celebrates son Yug's 11th birthday in the Maldives

Earlier, on September 13, Ajay extended his birthday wishes to his son with a beautiful post on Instagram. He shared his son's picture and wrote, Happy Birthday Boy. Happy times mean just being around you YUG. Will wait for you to wake up & blow the candles out. Apart from Ajay, Kajol also wished her son on Instagram and wrote, All of 11 and the smile in my heart always. #happybirthday #myson #missyousomuch #sogrownup".

Kajol and Ajay are parents to two children-Nysa and Yug. The couple welcomed Nysa in 2003 and Yug in 2010. Meanwhile, on the work front, Ajay will feature with Bear Grylls for the upcoming episode of Into The Wild With Bear Grylls. The show has earlier featured Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and Bollywoods Akshay Kumar. Apart from this, Ajay who last featured in Bhuj: The Pride of India, has Gangubai Kathiawadi, RRR, Maidaan, and Mayday in his kitty. He will also be seen making his web series debut with Rudra  The Edge of Darkness on Disney Plus Hotstar. The series also features actor Esha Deol who is making her comeback into films after a long hiatus.

IMAGE: Instagram/ajaydevgn
A hunter was completely flabbergasted after he found a 6,000-year-old artefact inside a 13-foot alligator. Upon dissecting the body of the enormous alligator that weighed nearly 336 kilos, hunter Shane Smith discovered an antique arrowhead and plummet in its belly. John Hamilton, a fellow hunter, had asked Shane to process the alligator. Shane originally assumed the enormous creature had swallowed an arrow that had been fired at it.

According to the Mississippi state geologist, he examined the photographs and determined that the items were between the age of 5,000 and 6,000 years old. Red Antler Processing, which is the processing plant of Shane, described the incident,

We have been cutting into a few big gators to see what was in their stomach. Everyone so far has had something cool in it. The 13ft 5in gator brought in by John Hamilton today, produced the shock of the year!"

According to historians, Native Americans utilised shattered arrowheads and plummets as fishing weights throughout the Archaic era. Fishbones, feathers, balls of hair, and smelly bile fluids were discovered in the giant creature's stomach.

Shane informed the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger that he initially considered not sharing the incident on Facebook. However, he later realised that the discovery was too amazing not to be shared. He joked that he is probably the only man on Earth who has pulled an arrowhead from an alligator's tummy. Shane believes the alligator consumed the materials to help digestion, as stones may disintegrate hard parts like a bone.

Another alligator incident on social media

A few days back, a woman's fishing excursion turned into a nightmare after a frightening occurrence. In Florida, a woman had a close brush with an alligator. The terrifying video was uploaded on Instagram.

Capecoral.jaden uploaded the video clip on Instagram with the caption, "Florida Everglades never fails to amuse and terrify". In the footage, a woman can be seen fishing when she notices a huge alligator gazing at her. The film begins with a guy attempting to locate an alligator that they had previously spotted. "Where did it go?", the woman can be heard wondering in the footage. However, the woman noticed the alligator slipping out of the water a few seconds later.

Take a look at the video:

(Image: Unsplash/ Facebook/ @the Red Antler Processing)
The Delhi Police special cell on Tuesday conducted a multi-state terror crackdown in close cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh ATS and arrested six suspects of which two alleged terrorists were trained in Pakistan. The massive terror crackdown busted the nexus of Pak-ISI and the Underworld in coordinating terror activities in India. As per the Delhi Police, Pakistan's ISI and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim coordinated the terror plot to target multiple cities in India during the upcoming festive season.

ISI-Dawood terror plot busted

The Delhi Police on Tuesday held a press conference to inform about the multi-state terror crackdown after arrest six suspects along with recovery of firearms and explosives. The raids were conducted in UP, Maharashtra and Delhi.

While one was arrested from Kota, two were arrested in Delhi and three from Uttar Pradesh with the help of UP ATS. The names of those arrested are Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kaliya, Osama a.k.a Sami, Zeeshan Qamar, Mohd Abu Bakar, Mohd Amir Javed and Moolchand who also goes by the name Saaju and Lala.

Sameer Kaliya, one of those arrested, is said to be a close associate of Anees Ibrahim. He was tasked to ensure the smooth delivery of IEDs, sophisticated weapons, and grenades to different entities in India.

Delhi Police Special CP Neeraj Thakur elaborated on the two components of the terror plot. The first component is associated with Underworld, i.e. the delivery of IEDs safely to the sleeper cells hiding in India and the second component was planting the explosives in major cities during the upcoming festive season. Neeraj Thakur said, the entire operation was coordinated by Pakistan, and funded by the Underworld, where he also made mention of Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim.

Of the six arrested, the Delhi Police Special Cell informed that the two terrorists travelled to Muscat via air and then to Gwadar Port in Pakistan via sea. They were trained for 15 days in Pakistan to operate firearms and making explosives after which they returned to India via the same route.

The Delhi Police Special Cell will produce the arrested suspects on Wednesday. The following is a press release by the Police wherein the entire plot and the persons involved are named, as is the Pakistan ISI.

PR ISI Terror (1) by Republic on Scribd

Speaking on the massive development, Uttar Pradesh ADG - Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said that an ISI-sponsored module was busted after raiding four districts simultaneously.
Devious Terror Plot Busted In 3-state-op; 2 Pakistan-trained Terrorists Among 6 Arrested

Averting a major terror plot in the country, the Delhi Police Special Cell in coordination with two other state police departments has busted a terror module organized by Pakistan, by arresting six accused including two Pakistani-trained terrorists on Tuesday. Of the total six arrested individuals, two terrorists named Osama and Zeeshan had been trained in Pakistan, Special Cell sources told Republic. Osama and Zeeshan, who were working under the instructions of Pak-ISI, were tasked to conduct the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and UP for placing the IEDs.

MASSIVE: GST Council May Consider Bringing Petrol, Diesel Under GST On Sept 17

The GST Council might on Friday consider taxing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under the single national GST regime, a move that may require huge compromises by both central and state governments on the revenues they collect from taxing these products.

Mumbai Police To Form 'Nirbhaya Squad'; Launches Helpline Number For Women's Safety

The Mumbai Police has been directed to form a 'Nirbhaya Squad' to ensure women safety in the city in the wake of the horrific Nirbhaya like rape that took place at Saki Naka in the Mumbai suburbs. Among the elaborate guidelines issued to Mumbai Police, Commissioner of Police Hemant Nagrale has also directed the police force to create awareness about helpline number 103 for women safety.

Yogi in troubled waters | Plea Filed Against UP CM Yogi Adityanath's 'Abba Jaan' Remark In Bihar Court

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has landed in trouble with his controversial "Abba Jaan" remark as a petition was filed in Bihar's Muzaffarpur court on Monday, seeking action against the BJP leader. The petition was filed before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Muzaffarpur, by Tamanna Hashmi, a local social activist who alleged that CM Yogi's remarks were an insult to the Muslim community.

COVID-19: ZyCoV-D Vaccines Price To Be Announced Soon, Says Niti Aayogs Dr VK Paul

Shortly after ANI reported that the COVID-19 vaccine of Zydus Cadila is likely to be out in early October, Niti Aayog Health Member Dr VK Paul on Tuesday informed that the discussion on ZyCoV-D's pricing is ongoing. While stating that a decision will be taken soon, Dr VK Paul said, "We are looking to include this vaccine in the national vaccination program."

'Political Twist By Farmers': Punjab CM Says His 'Go-To Delhi' Remark Was Misinterpreted

"Farmers protesting against the Centre's three farm laws have given a political twist to my statement", Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh said on Tuesday. He said that demonstrations in Punjab, which is causing pain and misery to the people, is uncalled for as the Congress government in the state is supporting them.

Pakistan ISI & Dawood's Brother Anees Plotted Terror Blasts During Festivals: Delhi Police

The Delhi Police special cell on Tuesday conducted a multi-state terror crackdown in close cooperation with the Uttar Pradesh ATS and arrested six suspects of which two alleged terrorists were trained in Pakistan. The massive terror crackdown busted the nexus of Pak-ISI and the Underworld in coordinating terror activities in India. As per the Delhi Police, Pakistan's ISI and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees Ibrahim coordinated the terror plot to target multiple cities in India during the upcoming festive season.

Tamil Nadu Govt To Hold Counselling Sessions For NEET Aspirants: Health Minister

In light of the increasing suicide cases among students appearing for NEET, the Tamil Nadu government is looking to organize counselling sessions for students who took the entrance exam this year. Tamil Nadu Health Minister M Subramaniam informed on Tuesday that over 1 Lakh students have appeared for NEET exams from the state this year.

Coal Scam: ED Moves HC Against Kolkata Police Notices; Claims Malafide Intent

The Enforcement Directorate has moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the summons issued against its officials by the Special Cell of the Kolkata Police in an FIR registered on the complaint of TMC leader and Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The said officials, all at the rank of Assistant Director, are probing the illegal mining scam case involving Abhishek Banerjee.

Madhya Pradesh Schools To Reopen From Sept 20 For Classes 1-5, 10,11 & 12

As India continues to battle against the pandemic, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday received a nod to reopen the schools from September 20, 2021. This latest announcement was made by the School Education Department of Madhya Pradesh. As per the orders, classes 1 to 5 and 11 can begin at 50 per cent capacity from September 20, however, classes 8, 10 and 12 can resume offline teaching with 100 per cent capacity.

(Image: Republicworld.com)
New Delhi, Sep 13 (PTI) UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday described as "worrying" India's use of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act as well as "frequent" temporary communication blackouts in Jammu and Kashmir.

In her opening statement at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet acknowledged the Indian government's efforts to counter terrorism and promote development in Jammu and Kashmir but said such "restrictive measures can result in human rights violations and foster further tensions and discontent".

"Indian authorities' restrictions on public assembly and frequent temporary communication blackouts continue in Jammu and Kashmir, while hundreds of people remain in detention for exercising their right to the freedom of expression, and journalists face ever-growing pressure," she said.

"Ongoing use of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act throughout India is worrying, with Jammu and Kashmir having among the highest number of cases in the country," Bachelet said.

There was no official reaction to Bachelet's comments. India, on multiple occasions, in the past strongly rejected the UN human rights chief's criticisms relating to Jammu and Kashmir.

Referring to China, she talked about its new 'National Action Plan on Human Rights 2021-2025' which was released this month.

"I look forward to exploring it for possible areas of engagement and cooperation. I regret that I am not able to report progress on my efforts to seek meaningful access to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region," she said. "In the meantime, my office is finalising its assessment of the available information on allegations of serious human rights violations in that region, with a view to making it public by the end of the year," Bachelet said.

Talking about Nepal, she hoped the new government will take early steps to restore the independence of the National Human Rights Commission through a transparent process.

"The authorities' commitment to prioritise amendment of the transitional justice law is an opportunity for fresh approaches to revitalise the process, in consultation with victims and in line with international standards," the UN human rights chief said. PTI MPB AAR AAR

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Averting a major terror plot in the country, the Delhi Police Special Cell in coordination with two other state police departments has busted a terror module organized by Pakistan, by arresting six accused including two Pakistani-trained terrorists on Tuesday.

Of the total six arrested individuals, two terrorists named Osama and Zeeshan had been trained in Pakistan, Special Cell sources told Republic. Osama and Zeeshan, who were working under the instructions of Pak-ISI, were tasked to conduct the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and UP for placing the IEDs.

The Special cell also recovered explosives and firearms, apart from a live IED, in a multi-state operation. The live bomb was recovered from the Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.

The scale of the operation was evident from the fact that it involved the arrest of persons in Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. The alleged terrorist arrested from UP was picked up in Allahabad's Karaili, with the support of the UP ATS.

Terrorists wanted to conduct targeted killings & blasts across India

The terrorists' motive was to conduct targeted killings and blasts across the country. Sources also said the training of the accused was coordinated by gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother in Pakistan. The terror plot to conduct multiple blasts in major cities of India was funded by Dawood's gang, they added. The terror operation was closely coordinated from the other side of the border.

As per Delhi Police Special CP Neeraj Thakur, there were two components of the operation - one was the delivery of an IED safely to the terrorists hiding in India and the second was planting the explosives in major cities during the festive season. The entire operation was coordinated by Pakistan, he said.

The arrest of four accused persons has exposed the nexus of Pak ISI-sponsored and trained terror modules with underworld operatives and averted a slew of serial blasts and targeted killings in Delhi, UP, Maharashtra, and other states in India. The arrested persons were tasked separately to execute different aspects of the terror plan. The underworld operative Sameer, a close associate of Anees Ibrahim, was tasked by Pak-based persons connected with underworld operatives hiding in Pakistan, to ensure the smooth delivery of IEDs, sophisticated weapons, and grenades to different entities in India.

PR ISI Terror (1) by Republic on Scribd
Hours after six Pakistan ISI-linked terrorists who were part of a major terror module were arrested on Tuesday, the Mumbai police interrogated the family members of underworld operative Jaan Mohammed Shaikh alias Sameer Kaliya.

Mumbai's Dharavi police recorded the statements of Sameer's wife and daughters before taking them to the police station. A close associate of Anees Ibrahim, Sameer was tasked by Pak-based persons connected with underworld operatives, to ensure the smooth delivery of IEDs, sophisticated weapons, and grenades to different entities in India.

Pakistan's ISI and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Anees coordinated the terror plot to target multiple cities in India during the upcoming festive season. The terrorists' motive was to conduct targeted killings and blasts in Delhi, UP, Maharashtra, and other states in the country.

Averting the major terror plot, the Delhi Police Special Cell in coordination with two other state police departments busted arrested the six accused including two Pakistani-trained terrorists on Tuesday.

The names of those arrested are Jaan Mohammad Shaikh alias Sameer Kaliya, Osama a.k.a Sami, Zeeshan Qamar, Mohd Abu Bakar, Mohd Amir Javed, Moolchand who also goes by the name 'Saaju' and Lala.

Pakistan-trained terrorists held by Delhi police

Of the total six arrested individuals, two terrorists named Osama and Zeeshan had been trained in Pakistan. The Delhi Police Special Cell informed that they traveled to Muscat via air and then to Gwadar Port in Pakistan via sea. They were trained for 15 days in Pakistan to operate firearms and making explosives after which they returned to India via the same route.

Upon their return to India, they were tasked with conducting the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and UP for placing the IEDs.

The Special cell also recovered explosives and firearms, apart from a live IED, in a multi-state operation. The live bomb was recovered from the Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, the terror plot to conduct multiple blasts in major cities of India was funded by Dawood's gang. The terror operation was closely coordinated from the other side of the border. The Delhi Police Special Cell will produce the arrested suspects on Wednesday.
Chandigarh, Sep 13 (PTI) The Punjab police on Monday nabbed an alleged smuggler in connection with the recovery of 40 kg of heroin near Indo-Pak border last month.

On August 21, the police foiled a major drug smuggling bid by recovering 39 packets of heroin, weighing 40.81 kg, in the Panjgraian Border Outpost (BOP) area of Amritsar.

Harpreet Singh alias Happy, a resident of village Chawinda Kalan, was arrested from village Chheharta in Amritsar Monday.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Dinkar Gupta said the police also recovered one kg heroin from his possession, according to an official statement.

The DGP said investigations pointed to Singh's alleged nexus with international drug smugglers and gangsters.

His links with smugglers in Pakistan and smuggler Jagga, who works from Malaysia are also being thoroughly probed, he added. PTI CHS VSD MGA MGA

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday took umbrage over suspicions that he had a soft corner for the Taliban and dared the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to declare the militant group a terrorist organisation.

Addressing a press conference here, the firebrand Hyderabad MP also demanded that the government, given the fact that India currently headed the UN committee on sanctions, give an assurance that none of the Taliban leaders will be delisted from the list of terrorists.

Why do you raise suspicions (shaq) over me with regard to Taliban? Was it Asaduddin Owaisi who had handed over jailed terrorists to secure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane in Kandahar, said Owaisi in response to questions about some BJP leaders having dubbed him as a man of Talibani soch (mindset).

Owaisi said he has made his stance clear about the Taliban on the floor of Parliament but his words of caution were not heeded.

During the debate on CAA, I had requested the government to consider making the Act religion-neutral, warning them of a possible takeover by the Taliban. But for that strategic blunder, we would have been in a position to grant safe asylum to Tajiks, Uzbeks, and members of other minority tribes, said Owaisi.

He also said that the Taliban takeover would strengthen Pakistan and China while giving India a lot to worry about which was regrettable since India had invested a lot in Afghanistan.

The country had spent Rs 35,000 crore in Afghanistan. Thousands of its youngsters have been provided education on our soil. We had so much at stake in that rugged country which lies en route to the Chabahar port in Iran we were developing, Owaisi lamented.

What the Modi government is doing is only sending emissaries to hold talks with Taliban representatives and it must have left the diplomats in the restive country to fend for themselves, he alleged.

Let the Modi government declare Taliban a terrorist organisation, if it means business. Let it also announce that no Talibani leader will be given legitimacy by being delisted from the list of global terrorists. I would like to see if it has the courage to do so, Owaisi fumed.

Asked about the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the AIMIM chief, whose party has made some inroads in Bihar, said he was planning to field candidates in about 100 out of the 403 seats there.

When his attention was drawn to criticism over the induction of people with criminal antecedents like Allahabad mafia don Atiq Ahmed, he snapped and is Pragya Thakur above reproach (doodh ki dhuli)?.

He also alleged that a large proportion of legislators belonging to the BJP and its allies like the JD(U), of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, had criminal records.

If they are respected public representatives......then Atiq Ahmed too is a citizen of this country with some unproven charges and hence eligible to contest the polls, said Owaisi.

He also sarcastically referred to Yogi Adityanath's Abba Jaan remark, saying it was a polarising tactic on part of Baba an allusion to the UP CM being a celibate monk.

(Image: PTI)
Hitting out at Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath for using 'Abba Jaan', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took to his official Twitter handle and wrote: "Who hates, how is that Yogi (Jo Nafrat kre, vo Yogi kaisa)". Reacting to this, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister took a jibe at the Congress leader and said that if it is hate to bulldoze the empire of criminals and miscreants, then this hatred will continue unabated.

Yogi Adityanath hits back at Rahul Gandhi

  ,

  !  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 14, 2021

         



    !



          ,      ... pic.twitter.com/hWSQN50bb6  Yogi Adityanath Office (@myogioffice) September 14, 2021

Uttar Pradesh Elections: CM Yogi's 'Abba Jaan' Jibe

This statement from Rahul Gandhi comes at a time when CM Yogi Adityanath is being criticised by the Opposition parties over his "Abba Jaan" remark. Earlier on September 12, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had alleged: "those who called Abba Jaan used to favour one community" implying that his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav appeased Muslims. Vowing that such kinds of acts would not occur under BJP, he had said that his government had indiscriminately distributed ration. His comments have been slammed by Congress and J&K NC as 'communal and hateful'.

Taking a jibe on Akhilesh Yadav, he had said, "Why did the poor not get the ration before 2017? Ration used to reach Nepal and Bangladesh. Those who called their father Abbajan used to benefit a particular section. There used to be caste-based appointment lists. Fair appointments are being made in the BJP government and youth are getting employment".

CM Yogi: 'Wherever scorpion is...'

Following his "Abba Jaan" remark, CM Yogi in an attempt to continue his tirade against the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP), the UP CM on Sunday had claimed that "Wherever the scorpion is, it will bite". Alleging that Congress and SP were pro-Taliban, casteist, dynastic and had even shot at Lord Ram's devotees, he urged UP citizens to re-elect the saffron party to power in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Yogi Adityanath had said, "What was lacking in Uttar Pradesh? Apart from disease, unemployment, mafia raj, corruption, what did the Congress, SP and BSP ruling here give to the state. The SP government along with their party leaders used to eat up the ration of the poor, letting them die, while launching several development projects in Kushinagar."

Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. While Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj is eyeing an alliance with AIMIM, Azad Samaj Party, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party; parties like AAP, Shiv Sena, and JDU have announced that they will be contesting for the UP polls. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab. Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return.

Image: ANI
Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi met with Portugal's Secretary of State for International Affairs and Cooperation Francisco Andre on Monday and signed an agreement on Labour Mobility to facilitate the recruitment of Indian residents to work in Portugal. "Delighted to sign an agreement between India and Portugal on Labour Mobility facilitating recruitment of Indian citizens to work in Portugal," Lekhi said on Twitter.

The agreement will open up new destinations for Indian migrant workers in an EU member country, particularly in light of the large number of Indian employees who have returned to India due to the COVID outbreak. For competent Indian workers and professionals, it will open up new doors and Indian workers would gain better job prospects in Portugal as a result of this agreement.

It is pertinent to mention here that Lekhi and Andre talked on a wide variety of bilateral issues, with a focus on important areas of mutual interest such as science and technology, migration and mobility, trade, and information technology. She also met Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese Foreign Minister, and Eurico Brilhante Dias, the Secretary of State for Internationalization, to address issues of common concern.

MoS Lekhi to visit Spain from September 15-17

MoS Lekhi is also slated to visit Spain from September 15-17 where she will be meeting Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Angeles Moreno Bau as well as other important dignitaries. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), MoS Lekhi will also interact with Indologists and Indophiles, as well as the Indian community in Spain, including ICCR alumni. Both Portugal and Spain have close and friendly connections with India. The visit of the Minister of State, which is the first in-person official interaction between the two countries since the COVID outbreak, is intended to provide bilateral ties with a boost, stated MEA.

Lekhi will also meet members of the Indian community and attend an event marking the rich cultural heritage of India as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, the MEA added. It said Lekhi will hold discussions with her Spanish counterpart, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Angeles Moreno Bau and meet other senior dignitaries during her visit to Spain from 15-17 September. "The Minister of State will also inaugurate The Beatles and India exhibition at Casa de la India, Valladolid and deliver a talk on India's development cooperation at the Spain India Council Foundation," the MEA said. It said she will also interact with Indologists and Indophiles, including ICCR Alumni, and the Indian Community in Spain.

(With agency inputs)

(Image: ANI)
Tech giants like Amazon and Virgin Galactic have already reached space and are in a race to start their commercial flights to space. It seems that space travel is very promising after looking at other giants trying to create their own private space company. Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak and Ripcord Inc. founder Alex Fielding recently joined this race by announcing their new company, Privateer. The founders behind this company claim that it has been created with the aim that helps to "keep space safe and accessible for all humankind."

The makers have not revealed much about the details of their upcoming venture and are supposed to release more about it during the 2021 AMOS Tech Conference in Maui, Hawaii.

Steve Wozniak and Alex Fielding join hands to create Privateer Space

A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others. https://t.co/6s8J32mjuF  Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) September 13, 2021

Privateer Space launch was confirmed after Steve Wozniak released a Tweet on his official Twitter account that read, A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others. The post also had a small teaser showing off the companys aims to make space travel possible for mankind. Nothing more has been released about this recent announcement but the community has been filled up with leaks and rumours about Steve Wozniaks upcoming venture.

What is the Space Garbage Company?

According to the leaks from Gizmodo, Wozniak may be funding a space junk cleanup company  something that makes a lot of sense, given the disastrous amount of garbage thats been getting trapped in our planets orbit in recent decades. More leaks about the company like a press release by Desktop Metal describes Privateer as an upcoming satellite company focused on monitoring and cleaning up objects in space.

This is a great idea because the rise of Space debris has evolved to become a problem. This is mostly because of humans who are populating our planets orbit. This problem has become so huge that it forced the SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk to come up with the idea of using his Starship spacecraft as a massive space junk garbage truck. Apart from this, other known personalities in the tech industry like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have already marked their entry into the space travelling industry. Thus, it is not shocking to hear about the tech giants like Wozniak and Fielding.
As per a global BBC analysis, the frequency of exceptionally hot days every year has doubled, when the temperature hits 50C since the 1980s period. This increase in temperature during the daytime now occurs in more parts of the world than ever before, posing enormous risks to human health. Since 1980, the overall number of days with temperatures exceeding 50C has risen every ten years. Temperature exceeding 50C is recorded of about 14 days each year on average during 1980 and 2009.

On the other hand, between the years 2010 and 2019, the number increased to 26 days per year. It is witnessed that temperatures of 45C or higher happened in an additional 2 weeks each year on average throughout the same time frame. Extreme heat may be fatal to humans and animals, as well as wreaking havoc on buildings, roadways, and electrical systems.

Regions to witness rising temperature

The BBC research shows that over the year, temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius are most common in the Middle East and Gulf areas. The BBC research further reveals that maximum temperatures climbed by 0.5C in the last 10 years in comparison with the long-term average between 1980 to 2009.

However, on the contrary, these rises in temperature were not felt evenly across the globe. These are mostly seen in certain parts of Eastern Europe, southern Africa, as well as Brazil. The temperature of the mentioned regions rose by more than 1 degree Celsius, while regions of the Arctic and the Middle East witnessed rises of more than 2 degrees Celsius. Extreme heatwaves and humidity can be dangerous to one's health even when the temperature is less than 50 degrees Celsius.

As per research released last year by Rutgers University in the United States, approximately 1.2 billion people worldwide might experience thermal discomfort by 2100 due to climate change if the present rate of global warming persists. This will make nearly four times the number of people that are affected now. Individuals are also confronted with tough decisions when the terrain surrounding them is transforming. As the temperature increases lead to drought and wildfires.

Scientists opinion on global warming

While, following the 2021 summer's maximum temperatures recorded in Italy with 48.8C and in Canada with 49.6C, scientists predict that days above 50C would occur abroad until fossil fuel emissions are reduced. According to BBC, Dr Friederike Otto, associate director of the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute explained that the rise in temperature is entirely due to the combustion of fossil fuels. Scientists are urging the world leaders to act promptly at a UN meeting in Glasgow in November when countries will be urged to agree to new carbon reductions in order to keep global temperature rises to a minimum and control climate change.

(Image: Unsplash/ AP)
Kenya's Lomekwi 3 has emerged as the prime candidate to be labelled as the 'oldest archaeological site' since past dating of the fossils found in the region is being speculated to be about 3.3 million years old. According to a report by Live Science, two other candidates are also in line from Ethiopia that dates no less than 2 million years old. These three sites have sparked a debate making the Egyptian pyramids and England's Stonehenge look younger.

Lomekwi 3, the oldest archaeological?

As per media reports, bones of hominins as well as stone tools have been unearthed in the hilly regions of West Turkana in Kenya. Citing a 2015 study published in the journal Nature, Live Science informed that the discovered fossils were estimated to be around 3.3 million years old. A team of scientists wrote in the journal that the tools were likely created to break open nuts by human ancestors 'Australopithecus Afarensis', who dominated the region back then. Although, the researchers involved stated that even though the theory about using tools fails, they would still be considered artefacts created by humans. Assistant director of the Turkana Basin Institute and the study's co-author Jason Lewis called Lomekwi 3 the oldest archaeological site on Earth, however, not all scholars agree over the controversial site, media sources said.

Ethiopia's Ledi-Geraru

This pre-historic site is located in the Afar region of Ethiopia that is known to have discovered fossils dating back about 2.8 million years ago. According to a 2015 paper, titled "Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia," published in the journal Science, fossils of the jaw of pre-historic primate Hominini were found buried in the region. However, media sources suggest that South African archaeologist Yonatan Sahle believes in the fossils being younger than said.

Ethiopia's Gona River

The last one on the list is the Gona area in Ethiopia that has presented 2.6-million-year-old stone tools, as per reports by The Science Times. Findings suggested that the stone tools were most likely made by east African natives Australopithecus Garhi, who roamed in the region around 2.5 million years ago. Archaeologist Yonatan Sahle believes that this site has the most believable evidence among all three.

(Image: Shutterstock)
Venus is supposedly younger and emerged much later after the formation of our nearest neighbour Mars, said a group of scientists who examined active volcano sites of the former. Published in the journal Solar System Research, the conclusion was jointly arrived on by a team of scientists from Russia, Spain, Finland, Italy, and Spain. The scientists are currently focused on Venus' young volcanic sites that will also be targeted for future orbital and in-situ measurements revealed the study.

Volcanoes point towards younger age

The focus of the researchers was primarily Venus' Imdr region, where sits the volcano 'Idunn Mons' having a diameter of 200 km. Upon analyzing the area, the scientists found via the VIRTIS spectrometer, that the age of the surface in this area ranges somewhere between 2.5 million years to just 2,50,000 years. The scientists found another solid support to their conclusion. They found that the targeted region had lower wind speeds at the lower boundary of Venus' cloud layer caused by volcanic activities in younger areas. Based on their overall observations, the scientists concluded Venus to be young, whereas the red planet Mars might be around for billions of years. According to Roscosmos, indirect evidence suggests that Venusian volcanoes and tectonic plates are still active along with the interior of the planet. It further stated that analysis of data from orbiters operating near Venus, in particular, shows that in areas of young volcanic heights, the age of the surface may be much less than the generally accepted 500 million years.

Through this attempt, scientists are trying to understand Venus' anatomy and what happened to it in the past along with the activities currently happening on its surface. The analysis has presented hints that volcanic activities are still ongoing in some areas that should be targeted for future investigations. Previous research led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) had also found the presence of lava flowing on Venus surface which may be only a few years old. This discovery had hinted that younger planets like Earth and Venus are the only ones having active volcanoes.

India's quest to Venus in 2023

India's own mission Shukrayaan-1 is scheduled to depart for the hot planet in 2023. The mission aims to explore in its Venus mission include surface, subsurface, and atmosphere of the planet, as well as its interaction with the Sun. Earlier in 2018, ISRO had invited proposals from the international scientific community to carry out novel experiments for the mission.

(Image: PTI)
Head of Algerian state-owned oil firm Sonatrach, Toufik Hakkar, announced on Monday that the technical layout for the construction of trans-Saharan gas pipeline Medgaz running through West Africa, supplying northern Nigeria and Niger had completed. The route for the gas pipeline was also decided as the company was now preparing to negotiate talks with Nigeria, Algerian daily El-Jazair reported, citing remarks made by Hakkar with National Radio Channel One. EGPDF pipeline, which links to the international Medgaz pipeline that will transport natural gas from Algeria to Europe was inaugurated by the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab in May this year.

The ambitious project of gas pipeline transiting the Sahara Desert was proposed in the 1970s but had stalled due to opposition by environmentalists preserving the Niger River delta and terror threats from the militant groups that warned an attack on pipeline crew, according to Sputnik. If completed, the pipeline will serve as a major gas source to Nigeria and the markets in Europe, via Algeria. Announcing the plans for implementation of the technical aspects of the pipeline projects, Harrar said that the decision to launch such an investment would depend heavily on the price of the gas it would carry, noting that since 2010, the price had fallen from 10 dollars per thermal unit to less than $1 in 2020.

New impetus to Nigeria-Algeria relations

Algerias minister of energy and mines Arkab was quoted as saying by Sputnik that the Algiers will focus their special attention on the rapid completion of the ambitious project which will give a new impetus to the relations between our two countries in terms of technical cooperation and capacity strengthening. Algeria reportedly aims to ramp up its gas capacity from 8.2 billion cubic meters a year (Bcm/y) to 10.2Bcm/y. Algerias Sonatrach became the majority shareholder after it acquired a 19.10 per cent stake in the project from Spanish engineering company Cepsa, according to Algerian press reports.

"This project will have important social and economic results in the transit countries, within the framework of environmental protection and sustainable development, Arkab said, as translated by Sputnik.

Abuja although has deterred from the display of enthusiasm about the construction of the gas pipeline, saying that it would be virtually impossible to guarantee the construction of the gas pipeline as it passes through Daesh and Al-Qaeda stronghold territories not under the control of the Nigerian government that has had little success in countering threats from Boko Haram. Additionally, Abuja argued that the undersea gas line would have to run off the African coast to Morocco. While Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was quoted saying by Sputnik that he had conveyed to the Moroccan King Mohammed VI about the project launch for as soon as possible, the project could end in limbo. Chief operating officer, Yusuf Usman, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), told Nigerian Newsdirect that the firm was ready to make investments to kick start the constructions.

Image: Unsplash/@selimarda (Representative Image)
Marking a spectacular development in Saqqara necropolis, Egypts Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anany, on Monday, reopened the south tomb of King Djoser. Located in the southwestern corner of the 3rd-century pharaoh, the magnificent tomb is the oldest stone building from the ancient world, as per Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. It is worth mentioning that King Djoser was the founder of Egypts Third Dynasty and laid the foundation of the first pyramid- Saqqaras step pyramid.

"This magnificent complex is the oldest stone building of the ancient world and it was named the 'Southern Tomb' following its discovery by the English archaeologist Cecil Mallaby Firth in 1928," Waziri told reporters at the opening event.

The Tombs Infrastructure

The Egyptian minister explained that the Tomb is segregated into two levels. The upper level is a rectangular stone building completed with ornate walls. Its walls are decorated with a series of stone sockets in the form of entrances and exits, crowned by a frieze of cobra heads that symbolize protection and power," Waziri elaborated. Furthermore, he said that the lower level of the burial complex consists of an entrance that leads to the burial chamber which is located at the bottom of a great shaft with a depth of approximately 31 meters, including a huge sarcophagus made of pink granite and a well.

Inauguration of the southern tomb of King Djoser in Saqqara, after completing the restoration work that started in 2006. pic.twitter.com/WsyV5Qqh9b  Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (@TourismandAntiq) September 13, 2021

According to the ministry, the restoration of the tomb commenced back in 2006. The authorities not only conserved and restored the lower corridors, strengthened the walls and ceilings but also completed the interior inscriptions in the tomb. The tomb is set to open for tourists and Egyptians on 14 September.

Last month, an Egyptian archaeological mission discovered remains of a residential and commercial town dating back to the Greek-Roman era in Alexandria. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the preliminary studies on the remains of the uncovered suburb showed that it consisted of the main street on which sub streets, all linked to a sewage network. Ibrahim Mustafa, the head of the mission and the archaeology leader in the press release, informed that the discovered archaeological meeting in this suburb indicates that it was heavily linked to trade movement to the city, fishing activities and associated tool industry. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has shared pictures of the discoveries on the Facebook page.

File Image: AP
Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years, with more than 2,300 people dying from suspected cases as the West African nation struggles to deal with its impact alongside the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 69,925 suspected cholera infections had been recorded as of September 5 in 25 out of the country's 36 states and the capital Abuja, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

At least 2,323 people have died linked to the disease so far in 2021, the centre said, and there are concerns total figures may also be an undercount given that many affected communities are in hard to reach areas.

Children between the ages of 5 and 14 are also the most affected age group in this current health crisis, which has a case fatality ratio of 3.3%, more than double that of the coronavirus' 1.3% in Nigeria.

Nigeria is still facing a third wave of the pandemic mainly driven by the delta variant, and authorities are intensifying efforts to vaccinate a population among whom less than 1% have received both doses of a COVID-19 shot.

Ese Umukoro described her "very difficult" experience of struggling to find a hospital for her brother when he became seriously ill with cholera four weeks ago.

Samson Umukoro was finally admitted to the fourth hospital they went asking for medical help.

He was released last week.

"The government should try their best to at least give us good water and the rest to avoid that kind of sickness because that sickness is not good, it is a very terrible sickness, it is a bad experience as well," Ese Umukoro said.

States in Nigeria's north where flooding and poor sanitation increase the risk of transmission are the hardest hit by the resurgence in cholera infections.

All the 19 states in the northern region account for 98% of the total suspected cases.

Cholera is endemic and seasonal in Africa's most populous country where only 14% of the 200 million population have access to safely managed drinking water supply services.

According to government data from 2020, open defecation is still practiced by at least 30% of residents in 14 states.

The country continues to detect cases of yellow fever, lassa fever, measles and other infectious diseases which have become annual outbreaks.

And officials say the experience from those health crises has helped Nigeria to prepare for the worst.

Engineer Michael Oludare, an Oyo-based water scientist, said it is "very important" for authorities to look into the causes of cholera and provide basic water and sanitation facilities.

According to Oludare, the poor, women, children and internally displaced persons are among "those that will have problems when it comes to cholera."

The government data from a study supported by UNICEF found that 157 million Nigerians are off the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) sanitation target as of December 2019, with access to safely managed sanitation services nationwide at only 21%.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Addressing the nation, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that the country has reaped the benefits of being a member of the BRICS bloc for over a decade. He also added that the developments were most notably in the area of economic cooperation. He spoke about the access to international policies and technological advancements that BRICS membership had offered the nation.

In support of economic recovery, #BRICS partners agreed to strengthen collaboration in catalytic sectors such as energy, IT, science, technology and innovation, agriculture and the green economy. https://t.co/BZSwJvTf88 pic.twitter.com/OxrWWFpM18  Cyril Ramaphosa  #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 13, 2021

Referring to the BRICS membership as a landmark move, President Cyril said, "Joining the BRICS group of countries in 2010 was a milestone in our quest to advance our own national development priorities."

He also added that the country had since established stronger ties with the important emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He also asserted that South Africa was able to build "strategic alliances" with both the countries of the Global South and mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries of the North after its inclusion in the BRICS group.

South Africa "recasting the net" with its Foreign Policies

"Put into context, BRICS countries comprise roughly 41% of the worlds population and account for around 24% of global GDP and some 16% of global trade."

President Ramaphosa mentioned that joining BRICS had opened the gates to bilateral trade, particularly with China and India. This had led to a boost in commodity exports and the effect of manufactured goods imports. Furthermore, talking about assistance from the BRICS countries in terms of technological advancements, he noted, "(They are) important sources of foreign direct investment in keys such as mining, automotive, transportation, clean energy, financial services and IT."

Applauding the efforts of the New Development Bank in enhancing the economic stability of South Africa, President Ramaphosa said that it has been "instrumental in financing and (providing) technical support for projects in transportation, clean energy, environmental protection, water infrastructure, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction."

Notably, the New Development Bank (NBD) has its regional office in Johannesburg. Talking about NBD's contribution to meet the COVID-19 crisis in South Africa, Ramaphosa mentioned,

"Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa has received $2 billion in funding from the New Development Bank under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Programme to fight the pandemic and to support our economic recovery."

Following his participation in the 13th BRICS Summit, President Ramaphosa highlighted BRICS' contribution in the context of climate change. Lastly, he concluded by stating, "In the eleven years since we joined BRICS, our membership has substantially advanced our national interest." With this, he looked forward to deepening the strategic ties with the member nations.

Image: AP/ Twitter_@BRICSCouncil_IN
Stergomena Lawrence Tax has been appointed as Tanzania's new Minister of Defence and National Service, on Monday. According to Chinese news agency, Xinhua, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed Tax late on Monday, September 13.

With this, she became the countrys first female Defence Minister since independence. According to the statement released by the Directorate of Presidential Communications at the State House, Tax replaced her predecessor Elias Kwandikwa, who died in early August while undergoing treatment in Dar es Salaam.

The 61-year-old newly appointed Defence Minister had also served as the first and only executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). While working with the inter-governmental organization established in 1992, she promoted political, socio-economic, security cooperation and integration among its 16 members.

According to AllAfrica, an online news outlet primarily focused on the African continent, Tax was nominated this week to become a Member of Parliament just a few days after she retired from the post of Executive Secretary at SADC. She had been holding the post for the last eight years.

Tanzanias President also reinducts 47-year-old minister January Makamba

Tax, a mother of two children, had also served as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of East African Cooperation from 2008 to 2013. Her appointment has been considered strategically significant as the country saw a major gun battle near the French Embassy in Dar es Salaam in the last month.

Apart from Stergomena Lawrence Tax, Tanzanias President Samia Suluhu Hassan also appointed 47-year-old minister January Makamba. He was dismissed for criticising Samia Suluhu's predecessor. In 2019, Makamba was sacked from the government and was forced to apologise to then-president John Magufuli, who passed away in March this year.

(Image: Stergomena Lawrence Tax Twitter)
The Biden administration is considering a request from Taiwan to rename Taipeis diplomatic office in Washington. China has reportedly criticised the move and warned the US government against going ahead with the renaming plan. A Chinese state-sponsored media outlet Global Times in their editorial has warned that if the US and Taiwan go ahead with the plan to rename Taipei's diplomatic mission in Washington, the Chinese government will have to take "severe economic and military measures" to fight the decision of the US.

Reportedly, the Biden administration is considering the request by Taiwan to change the name of its embassy in the US from the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office" to "Taiwan Representative Office", Global Times cited Financial Times report. It is also reported that White House Asia adviser Kurt Campbell has also backed the request and even National Security Council and State Department has also given support for the move. As per the Financial Times report, the US President has not made any decision yet and it would require him to sign an executive order for allowing the renaming of diplomatic office.

Renaming the diplomatic office

As the Chinese government has always maintained that Taiwan is part of their country, A Chinese Embassy spokesperson told The Financial Times that the US must stop sending the wrong message towards Taiwan's independence. The United States and Taiwan have not made a comment responding to any such development. The Global Times in their editorial explained that a renaming of the diplomatic office would signify the United States "basic abandonment of its one-China policy". The media outlet has mentioned that the Chinese authorities should respond in the way they responded to Lithuania. Earlier, a similar decision of Lithuania had sparked a diplomatic reaction, with China recalling its ambassador to Lithuania. The media outlet suggested some ways in which China can take action against the US and Taiwan, that include imposing economic sanctions on the island.

Image: AP
At least two onboard passengers were killed in a single-engine plane crash off the coast of Greece Island. The incident took place near Samos Island in Greece's Aegean Sea, AMNA news agency reported. As per Associated Press, both the passengers died on the spot after the plane plunged from mid-air.

The bodies were retrieved by the Greek Coast Guard. Both the onboard passengers were identified as Israeli citizens, who were planning to visit the island. The Coast Guard carried out a thorough search and rescue operations involving patrol vessels and fishing boats and recovered the dead bodies of the man and the woman. A probe has been launched by the Greek government to identify the immediate cause of the accident.

Previous plane crash incidents in Greece

Another single-engine plane crashed on Greece mainland in July, killing all onboard passengers and the pilot. The small plane exploded and caught heavy fire after it hit the ground, Greece News Agency AMNA reported. The incident took place in the city of Pyrgos in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece, Xinhua News Agency reported. The firefighters doused the blazing flames and recovered two bodies from the plane. As per reports, the plane was owned by a teacher, who was a trained pilot. The plane took flight from Messolonghi air club for a short flight over western Peloponnese. As per the flight plan, the single-engine private plane was to return to the air club after a short trip, director of the air club George Prevezanos told a local newspaper.

In another such incident, a fire-fighting plane crash landed during an emergency on the Greek Island of Zakynthos. The incident took place on September 9, when the plane had to opt for an emergency landing after it caught fire while battling a wildfire on the island of Evia capital. Fortunately, the pilot escaped without injuries. Thousands of people have been evacuated by ferry due to the massive wildfire on Evia Island.

(With inputs from ANI and AP)

(Image: Unsplash)
On September 13, Lithuania made it mandatory for its citizens to obtain national COVID-19 certificates in order to avail certain services. People who have recovered from COVID in the last 180 days, have tested negative for coronavirus, or have been fully vaccinated are eligible for the 'Opportunity Pass,' according to Xinhua news. It further stated that the Digital COVID Certificate issued by the European Union is also valid. People without such certifications will be prohibited from entering non-essential goods stores, major shopping malls, and marketplaces larger than 1,500 square metres. They would also be barred from beauty salons, gyms, and events with more than 500 attendees. People without national certificates, on the other hand, will still be permitted to visit stores and markets that offer food, veterinary products, animal feeds, pharmacies, as well as stores that sell vision correction products, orthopaedic products, fertilisers, seeds and plants, reported the media agency.

It should be noted here that Lithuania began issuing the EU's COVID pass on June 7. With more stringent regulations, the government intends to encourage higher immunisation rates in the country. According to the National Public Health Center (NPCH), Lithuania has reported as many as 42 coronavirus infections in educational institutions since the beginning of September, with around 90 per cent of them occurring in schools and the remaining 10 per cent in kindergartens. The new cases have been reported from almost all of Lithuania's counties, with the counties of Siauliai, Kaunas, and Klaipeda reporting the highest numbers. Over 1,000 beds have been set aside in Lithuanian hospitals for serious Coronavirus cases, out of which, 850 of them are currently occupied, stated Lithuanian National Television and Radio (LRT) news.

Lithuanian hospitals increasing COVID dedicated beds

The situation is stressful but stable, according to the Santara Clinic in Vilnius, one of the country's largest hospitals. It further stated that a number of beds have been dedicated for COVID-19 patients at the facility. Meanwhile, other hospitals in Vilnius and the surrounding area are also boosting the number of beds available for COVID patients. In southern Lithuania, Alytus Hospital added 10 new beds, and Druskininkai Hospital began accepting COVID patients. Infections and hospitalizations have been on the rise in Siauliai, Lithuania's fourth-largest city, for the past month. To deal with the surge of Coronavirus patients, the town's major hospital has opted to halt non-essential scheduled surgeries, reported LRT news. According to the country's health ministry, as of now, Lithuania has registered a total of 3.09 lakh COVID-19 cases with 4,711 deaths.

(Image: Unsplash/ AP)
A fully inoculated, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be going into self-isolation, an official from Kremlin notified on Tuesday. It is important to note that President Putin has already been registered with both doses of the Russian developed Sputnik vaccine developed by the soviet nation's Health Ministry. This information was notified in the Kremlin's readout of Putin's telephonic conversation with Tajikistan's president.

Kremlin clarifies about the self-isolation

In a report by AP, a Kremlin official while revealing the aforementioned news, notified that Russian President Vladimir Putin was 'absolutely healthy'. When interrogated about the reason for the leader's isolation, the official mentioned that Putin will self isolate after coming in contact with someone who was already in contact with the virus. While assuring that President Putin will be serving the public and guiding administration, as usual, the Kremlin official did not mention the time frame till which the president will be in self-isolation mode. The Kremlin official also mentioned that this step had only been taken after a doctors recommendation. While concluding the official assured that no one's health was endangered. When the Kremlin official was asked if Putin had tested negative for the virus, he strictly maintained that the Russian President was 'negative'.

Putin was involved in various ventures prior to isolation

A report by AP suggests that on Monday, Putin had attended several public events. There the Russian leader met with the Paralympians from the Tokyo Paralympics. Putin had also attended a military exercise conducted in coordination with Belarus, and met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. President Putin had revealed to a Russian news agency, Even in my circle problems occur with this COVID. We need to look into whats really happening there. I think I may have to quarantine soon myself. A lot of people around (me) are sick.

Russia' COVID scenario

A report by AP, suggests that Russia hardly has any COVID related restrictions. In recent weeks, Russia daily infection count is over 17,000 -18,000. However, the daily case count is under 800. A total of 7.1 million confirmed cases have been reported in Russia since the inception of the virus with around 194,249 deaths. Nevertheless, AP suggests that reports by a governments statistical service that tally Coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher numbers.

Image Credits - AP
The first tanker transporting Iranian petroleum to Lebanon arrived at a Syrian port, said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah group on Monday, September 13. He further added that the diesel will be delivered to Lebanon later this week by tanker trucks, reported The Associated Press (AP).

The tanker's arrival comes about a month after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced that the group would begin transporting fuel from Iran in a bid to alleviate Lebanon's debilitating fuel crisis, which has lasted for months. Nasrallah stated that the group chose a Syrian port for the ship to dock in order to avoid insulting the Lebanese state and incurring sanctions.

However, the delivery, orchestrated by an Iran-backed entity, is in violation of US sanctions imposed on Tehran after former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a nuclear deal between Iran and other world powers in 2018, reported The AP.

It is worth mentioning here that the Iranian tanker supplying petroleum to Lebanon arrived just days after a new government was formed, breaking a 13-month standoff. Najib Mikati, Lebanon's new Prime Minister, has remained coy on the Iranian gasoline agreement.

After taking charge as the country's PM last week, he had vowed to do everything to bring the country's disastrous economic situation on track. The ship arrived in the Syrian port of Banias on Sunday, September 12, according to Nasrallah, and the process of offloading the fuel began on the same day. He went on to say that the Syrian government has dispatched dozens of tanker trucks to transfer the diesel to Baalbek in eastern Lebanon by Thursday, September 16.

Hezbollah to supply fuel to gas stations linked to the group in Lebanon

Nasrallah further stated that diesel would be given to institutions such as public hospitals, elderly homes, orphanages, water stations, and the Lebanese Red Cross for a month. He said that private hospitals, pharmaceutical and serum industries, bakeries, and food cooperatives will benefit from low-cost fuel, adding that Hezbollah will supply fuel to gas stations linked to the group across the country.

We are not in competition with the state but we want to increase the flow of fuel in the market," he said, as reported by The AP. It should be noted here that the new government led by Prime Minister Mikati is also expected to undertake critically needed reforms as the country's foreign reserves have been running dangerously low.

(With AP inputs)

Image: AP
Cairo, Sep 13 (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Egypt on Monday for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

It was the first official visit by an Israeli premier since 2010, when then-President Hosni Mubarak hosted a summit with Benjamin 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.

Bennett and the Egyptian president discussed bilateral relations, reviving the Israel-Palestinians peace process and other regional and international developments, according a statement issued by el-Sissi's office.

The statement said el-Sissi stressed his support for all efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution." The Israeli premier, in a statement following the meeting, thanked el-Sissi for Egypt's role in preserving the security and stability in the Gaza Strip and its help with Israeli missing and captives from the conflict. He also said the longstanding relationship between Egypt and Israel was a foundation for Israel's recent accords with other Arab nations.

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.

The meeting was 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.

Saeed Okasha, a political analyst with Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that a more public meeting between el-Sissi and Netanyahu was not conceivable given his anti-Palestinian policies.

"However, 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.

Egypt and Israel have often found themselves on the same side of a wider regional conflict with rivals Iran and sometimes Turkey. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians would give Iran and Turkey one less conflict to exert their influence, according to Okasha.

Israel, with Egypt's help, has maintained a tight blockade over Gaza since the Palestinian militant group Hamas overran the territory in 2007 in an effort to prevent it from importing weapons. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars, most recently in May, and Egypt often serves as a mediator between the two enemies. In the last war, it successfully brokered a cease-fire that brought the fighting largely to a stop.

Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but those efforts appear to have run into trouble in recent weeks. Hamas has demanded a lifting of the blockade, which has devastated Gaza's economy. Israel wants Hamas to free two captive Israeli civilians and to return the remains of two dead soldiers killed in a 2014 war.

With conditions deteriorating in Gaza, Hamas has grown increasingly impatient. In recent weeks, it 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 held talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Abbas in Cairo where they stressed the need to revive 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.

Most recently, as tensions rose in the Gaza Strip, 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. (AP) AMS AMS

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
A prominent anti-vaccine activist in Israel, Hai Shaulian, died on Monday, 13 September, after he was hospitalised in serious condition with COVID-19. According to Israel National News, the 57-year-old was hospitalised one week ago in Holons Wolfson Medical Center after he was diagnosed with the deadly virus. His condition then quickly deteriorated, but still, even two days before his demise, he remained defiantly opposed to COVID-19 vaccines and urged his followers to continue fighting.

In a Facebook post, Shaulian uploaded a photo of him hooked up to an oxygen concentrator. In the caption, the 57-year-old said that his situation is critical and he is incapable of speaking or responding to people. I have no oxygen and am unable to stabilise, Shaulian said. He also said that he believed that with Gods help he would recover in two-three weeks.

"The Creator of the world is with me I am not afraid. I believe that I will get out of this with the help of God, in my estimate, it will take," Shaulian said.

Further, Shaulian rallied at the governments Green Pass system, which limits entry to many venues and events to those who are vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or who presents a negative coronavirus test result. It has nothing to do with the coronavirus. It has nothing to do with vaccines. It has to do with coercion, he said. Keep fighting. The state is committing a criminal intercent coercion on us. Don't give up, Shaulian added.

Shaulian claims police tried to 'poison' him

Last week, the anti-vaxxer had also claimed that police had tried to poison him after he was arrested during a recent protest against the Green Pass. Shaulian complained about the treatment he received at the police station and said that the cops put their legs on his neck. Im telling you, this is an attempt to wipe me out and if something happens to me know thats exactly what happened, he said.

It is worth mentioning that prior to contracting the deadly virus, Shaulian had organised protests against the coronavirus rules. He had demonstrated against the Green Pass and the requirement to wear masks in open and enclosed spaces. Following his demise, some opponents of the vaccines even made similar unfounded claims about his deaths.

(Image: Twitter/Unsplash)
Nisha Rao has become the first Pakistani transgender to get admission in an MPhil programme at the University of Karachi where she will be pursuing her LLM degree, reported Dawn, an English daily in Pakistan. The report further stated that she was forced to resort to begging after being treated as an outcast. At the age of 18, Rao ran away from her parents in Lahore and ended up in Karachi, where she was forced to rely on begging on the streets to make ends meet. Although she was advised by members of the transgender community to beg or become a sex worker in order to survive but chose to use alms collected through begging to pay for her law classes and after a few years she completed her law degree. She further went on to join the Karachi Bar Association after gaining her law licence in 2020, reported Dawn.

She expressed her delight after being granted admission into the MPhil programme. Speaking to Geo News, Rao said that she had taken the exam in the month of June and was a bit anxious for the last two months. She further said that she felt a sense of relief when she was informed about her admission just four days ago. Meanwhile, Khalid Iraqi, the Vice-Chancellor of the Karachi University, stated that it would be the first time when a transgender will be awarded an MPhil degree by the University since its inception. The Trans Pride Society, an NGO dedicated to the rights of transgenders founded by Rao, also announced about her admission. "A momentous day! Nisha Rao, Founder and President of Trans Pride Society, was admitted to the University of Karachi for their Master of Laws Program (L.L.M.). Pictured next to Vice Chancellor of Karachi University, Prof. Dr. Khalid M Iraqi, Nisha is ecstatic for the next step in her journey as Pakistans First Transgender Lawyer [sic]," it wrote on Instagram while sharing a picture.

Rao hopes to inspire her community members

The society further said that Rao hopes to inspire her community members to strive to reach their goals with unfaltering faith, even if they are faced with resolute opposition at times, as she did. It should be noted here that Rao has not been offered a scholarship to cover her LLM studies, according to the university's public relations office. Currently, the university does not offer any scholarships specifically for transgender students. However, Rao intends to pursue the degree by paying for it herself, reported Dawn.

Image: Instagram/@transpridesociety
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 13 said that the people of Afghanistan are facing a humanitarian calamity and convened a high-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan on Monday. According to the statement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published on Monday, the meeting highlighted the crucial needs in the war-ravaged nation. It also underscored the urgent funding support and actions" which are required by global partners to support the Afghan nationals especially "at the time of need."

Guterres said on Twitter that even before the events of the Taliban taking control of the country last month, "Afghans were experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world." He noted that at this time, "one in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from" before saying that the poverty rate in the country is "spiralling" and basic public services are also on the edge of "collapse."

The UN chief also noted that scores of people were "forced to flee their homes." Meanwhile, Guterres said that the war-torn country is tackling severe draught which is also the second to hit the country in just four years. He said that several people "could run out of food by the end of this month" especially when winter is just around the corner. "And, of course, COVID-19 continues to stalk the country, he added in the speech to the high-level meeting.

The people of Afghanistan are facing a humanitarian calamity.



This is the time for the international community to extend a lifeline and do everything we can  and everything we owe  to help them hold on to hope. https://t.co/ZX1koiribx  Antonio Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 13, 2021

Guterres announced $20 mn from UN CERF

Further, in the speech, the UN Secretary-General announced a $20 million allocation from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) to support the humanitarian operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban control. He also called on the members to help and boost humanitarian access, including the airbridge with Kabul and other hubs in Afghanistan. The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) established an airbridge from Islamabad into Kandahar, Mazar and Herat, with operations up and running since the end of August.

Today, United Nations Secretary-General @antonioguterres announced a $20 million allocation from @UNCERF to get life-saving humanitarian aid to the people of #Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/YO3GTCEUJk  Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) September 13, 2021

(Image: AP)
UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said at the opening session of the 48th Human Rights Council that climate crisis is the single greatest challenge to human rights in the present era. She urged global economies to concentrate on the rebuilding of a "greener post-pandemic world." Bachelet highlighted the amplifiers of climate change and interlinked it with global conflicts, structural inequalities and people pushed into vulnerable situations.

 TODAY at #HRC48



- interactive dialogue on the report of the Group of Eminent Experts on #Yemen

- general debate



 https://t.co/Jl4KEYoQmY

 https://t.co/WPBPGLKGzX pic.twitter.com/CZ1qgvi4rY  UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) September 14, 2021

In the Council meeting, the delegates discussed the humanitarian situation due to climate crises all over the world, shedding special light on Venezuela, Madagascar, Vietnam, Nigeria, Bangladesh, China, Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand, and Mauritania. During her opening address, Bachelet stressed the climate change-induced natural disasters in the aforementioned counties. In Madagascar, hundreds of thousands of people were facing extreme hunger after four years without rainfall, leading the World Food Programme (WFP) to warn about the "world's first climate change-induced famine," Bachelet informed. In Bangladesh, 17% of the country would be submerged by rising sea levels, depriving 20 million people of their homes, she added.

"Addressing the world's triple environmental crisis is a humanitarian imperative, a human rights imperative, a peace-building imperative, and a development imperative," Bachelet said.

'Humanitarian emergency fuelled by climate change'

"(The) Maldives is already experiencing severe harm, which would only get worse as sea levels rise," Bachelet informed. "Moreover forecasts across much of South East Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam indicated that by 2050 there would be daily high tides. The subsequent tides would leave about 48 million people under flooded conditions," she said.

The UN official also highlighted the humanitarian emergency in Sahel countries that were "fuelled by climate change." While talking about South Africa, Bachelet referred to the Intergovernmental Panel Report on Climate Crisis. "Immediate action should be taken for more sustainable environment and resource management policies to address access to water in Middle East and North Africa," she said. Bachelet also pointed out to the American "Dry Corridor" as a "striking" example of the impact of climate change on poverty, displacement, and fundamental human rights.

Citing examples of China's new National Action Plan on Human Rights 2021-2025 and India's counter-terrorism methods, Bachelet said that while the efforts are noteworthy, they also have several drawbacks. Bachelet regretted not being able to "report progress on meaningful access" to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Talking about India Bachelet said the restrictive counter-terrorism measures could result in human rights violation and "foster further tensions and discontent," OHCHR mentioned in its statement.

Bachelet speaks on Afghanistan crisis

Last but not the least, the UN High Commissioner highlighted the catastrophic deterioration of human rights conditions in Afghanistan. She pointed out the Taliban's attack on the freedom and fundamental rights of people, especially women and children. "Afghan women and girls are equal to men and boys," Bachelet said sternly.

Lastly, she mentioned that countries should engage in undertaking more environment-friendly projects amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. "This is a ship that unfortunately is not being consistently and robustly undertaken," she said and pointed out the member state's failure to meet the commitments under the Paris Accord. "We must set the bar higher...our common future depends on it," Bachelet concluded.

(Image: AP/Unsplash)
In a bid to offer a single-window channel to the investors, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Tuesday informed that the ministry was developing an application system that could lure more domestic and foreign investors. According to a report by Xinhua, the government was planning to set up a single-window mechanism to help foreign investors to do business in the county's special economic zones (KEK). Speaking during a webinar on KEK, Indrawati asserted the application would provide convenience for the investors as it requires one single document.

It is worth noting that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the country's economy, and forced the big giants to shut down their company due to multiple lockdowns. The country had seen some of the deadliest times when it was recording more than 30,000 cases and over 2,000 fatalities in a day. According to the experts, with the development of a dedicated facility, the government hopes that the special economic zones could add a number of domestic and foreign investments. The single window application would accelerate the recovery of the pandemic-hit economy, said Mulyani Indrawati during the conference.

"The application system is developed by the Indonesian National Single Window Institution along with the Ministry of Finance's Directorate General of Taxes and Directorate General of Customs and Excise," informed the Indonesian Finance Minister.

At least 129 industries have joined in the special application system

Further, the minister said that the application system would offer business players who are active in the KEKs are expected to be able to get various facilities more easily, Xinhua news agency quoted her as saying. "I believe that the advancement of information and technology in the KEKs can recognise the competitiveness of the expansion of Industry 4.0 in Indonesia, mainly industries based on electronics and automation," added Indonesian Finance Minister. According to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, at least 129 industries have joined in the special application system in the KEKs to get exclusive facilities after operating there. The minister said that the exclusive facilities mean exemption from income tax, value-added tax, purchase tax on luxury goods, import duty, import tax, and excise.

"As of July, 166 small and large industries have invested in special economic zones and helped in creating nearly 26,000 jobs," said Hartanto.

(Image: Instagram/Sri Mulyani Indrawati/Pixabay)
Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has said that the party plans to have a discrimination-free society in the country. Addressing a press conference, Edano announced the policies that his party would implement if it wins the elections, reported Kyodo News. He announced that the couples can have the option of keeping their surnames separate after their marriage.

Speaking at a press conference, Edano said that he would implement a law to protect the rights of sexual minorities. He would introduce a law that would help the women who become to domestic violence. The party also plans to impose a ban on discrimination that is based on nationality, gender and disability, as per a report by Kyodo News. If they come into power, Edano announced that they would also review the country's immigration system. The announcement of policies that would be implemented by the Constitutional Democratic Party if it comes in power comes ahead of the general elections.

Yukio Edano announces policies ahead of elections

Meanwhile, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election is scheduled to be held on September 29. Through the election, the party will choose the successor of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Suga has said that he would like to wait until 17 September to decide who to support in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership race, when the final list of candidates is released and the election campaign kicks off, according to ANI.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Suga announced that he would not run for the post of party leader as he wanted to focus on the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. As a result of Suga's decision to withdraw from the election, Japan will soon have a new prime minister. It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Suga has come under heavy criticism for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Image: AP

Inputs from ANI
Almost a month after capturing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban are now facing trouble in gaining international recognition, ANI reported citing local media. Last week, the Taliban announced the formation of its caretaker government but till now not even a single country has given formal recognition to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Notably, the insurgents faced similar problems during their 1996-2000 regime and even banned the cultivation of poppy to gain global legitimacy. During this period, only three countries - the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have recognised it.

Meanwhile, the appointment of hardliners and "global terrorists" to the cabinet is posing a challenge in gaining world approval. Another problem, according to Daily Times, is the restoration of the Islamic Emirate in the Central Asian country. It said that the world will wait to assess if the Taliban fulfil its vow of honouring the promise of protecting human and women rights.

'US not in hurry to recognise Taliban govt.'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on 7 September had said that the US is not rushing to recognise the newly announced government formed by the Taliban. Speaking at a press briefing, Psaki said that the decision to recognise the Taliban government will be based on the actions of the groups. Her comments come after the insurgent group announced that the new Afghan cabinet will be headed by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be his deputy.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said that the US will wait and watch. He claimed that China has a real problem with the Taliban. When asked if he fears China will fund the Taliban now, Biden said, "China has a real problem with the Taliban. They try to work out some of that with the Taliban, I am sure. As does Pakistan, as does Russia, as does Iran."

Too early for recognition: Iran

Meanwhile, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh has said that it is "too early" to speak about recognising the future Afghanistan government or attending its inauguration ceremony. Speaking about the Taliban's invite to the inauguration of their government, Khatibzadeh said it was "too early" to make any comment about the matter, as per the Tasnim news agency report. He asserted that the decision about the invitation will be based on the actions of the Taliban.

(With inputs from ANI)
Even as the Taliban promised of inclusive government to run Afghanistan, it announced a 33-member all-male initial caretaker government on September 7. The situation in Afghanistan has turned from bad to worse since the time the Taliban announced its government. The people of the country are not only facing human rights abuses but they are also dealing with a fragile financial system. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to UN in Geneva, Nasir Ahmad Andisha has raised concern for the people of his country.

Taking to Twitter, Nasir Ahmad Andisha has expressed concern over the condition of Afghan people amid the ongoing crisis in the country. He stated that his people and country are entering a state of "acute poverty and hopelessness". He added that the people have also gone back into an era of "repression and tyranny". He asserted that it is not the people of Afghanistan, who are responsible for this state but it is them who are the most affected due to the ongoing crisis.

Country back into an era of 'repression and tyranny'

Opening of the #UN Humanitarian Conference on . My ppl n country not only entering a state of acute poverty and hopelessness but also plunging into an era of repression and tyranny. The Afghan people are least responsible for this unfolding crisis, and yet most affected by it. pic.twitter.com/bHkbgCGcS6  Nasir Andisha-.  (@AndishaNasir) September 13, 2021

In a separate tweet, Andisha explained that there is no conflict between vigorously pursuing a humanitarian agenda to save lives and preserving human rights. He further stated that both can coexist and fulfil the aim of an inclusive and meaningful political settlement of Afghanistan. He stressed the need for an increase in humanitarian assistance and upholding human rights and international law at the same time.

There is no contradiction btwn actively pursuing a humanitarian agenda 2save lives,&protecting human rights&upholding international law,one can complement other, n all serve the ultimate goal:inclusive&meaningful political settlement of the root causes of conflict in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/fBCCweJwgK  Nasir Andisha-.  (@AndishaNasir) September 13, 2021

On his statement, Amb. Nasir Andisha emphasized on the need for increased humanitarian assistance and upholding human rights and international law at the same time. https://t.co/hIMelSQkL1  Afghanistan in Geneva (@AfghanistanInCH) September 13, 2021

On September 10, Andisha raised concern over the human rights violations happening across the war-ravaged nation. Furthermore, he pointed out executions, disappearances and collective punishment in Panjshir, where the National Reserve Force had resisted the insurgent group. He stated that peace cannot be restored unless the fundamental rights of the Afghan people are not respected.

Human Rights abuses all over the country  IHL violations,summary executions,disappearances&collective punishment in #Panjshir needs to b urgently addressed. No peace without respect 4fundamental rights of our ppl. Vengeance begets vengeance.@UNHumanRights @UNOCHA @unafghanistan https://t.co/E5iCBZNXNA  Nasir Andisha-.  (@AndishaNasir) September 10, 2021

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on September 13 convened a high-level ministerial meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan on Monday. During the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan on Monday, September 13, Guterres said, "Afghans are facing most perilous hour." The meeting highlighted the acute needs of the war-hit country and underscored the "urgent funding support and actions required by international partners to support the Afghan people during their time of need".

Taliban on September 7, announced the all-male cabinet of 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. On August 15, this year, the Taliban re-conquered Afghanistan after capturing the capital city of Kabul.

Image: AP/Afghanistaninch/Twitter
PM Modi To Address The 76th UNGA Session On September 25 In New York

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Tuesday. According to the MEA, PM Modi will address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the UNGA Assembly on September 25. Ahead of the UNGA meeting, PM Modi is also expected to participate in the Leaders Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington on September 24. Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden will be a part of the session. The four leaders are expected to discuss their ties, combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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West Bengal: NIA To Probe Bomb Attack On BJP MP Arjun Singh's Residence

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday took over an investigation into a crude bomb attack outside BJP MP Arjun Singh's residence in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on September 8. Following the attack, the BJP leader had alleged that the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party had been plotting to kill him for a long time and demanded an NIA probe into the incident. A week after the attacks, the NIA has taken over the case from West Bengal police and an FIR has been registered.

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Yogi Govt To Present 'Report Card' Ahead Of UP Polls, All BJP MLAs To List Welfare Work

Eyeing the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022, the Yogi Adityanath-led government is all set to present its report card before the people, showcasing its infrastructure, development projects and welfare policies. Hoping for another favourable mandate in the state, the Yogi Government has also asked all BJP MLAs to present their individual report cards, and list the development work carried out in their constituencies before seeking a vote from the people.

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Indian Coast Guard Rescues Seven Fishermen Stranded Off The Coast Of Diu

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), on September 13, rescued seven fishermen from a grounded boat that was about to sink off the coast of Vanak Bara in Diu The incident comes a day after ICG personnel rescued 11 fishermen after their boat suffered an engine failure in the Bay of Bengal.On receiving the distress call from Diu Administration at 2000 Hrs, the Indian Coast Guard immediately responded and deployed an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter from Porbandar to conduct a lifesaving operation in pitch dark and prevailing inclement weather at Vanak Bara off Diu at a distance of 175 Km from Porbandar.

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India Hands Over Dornier Aircraft To Mauritius As Part Of Maritime Security Initiative

The Indian High Commission in Mauritius on Monday informed the handover of a Dornier aircraft from India to Mauritius. India, as part of Vision SAGAR, has supplied the aircraft on lease. The deal was part of the Indian Navys Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) programme announced for enhanced maritime security of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India on Monday handed over Dornier aircraft to Mauritius to assist the island nation with its security.

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Jaishankar: 'India Stands With Afghans; Will Fulfil Neighbour Responsibility'

At a time Afghanistan is grappling with a grave humanitarian crisis, India acknowledging itself as an 'immediate neighbour,' promised to stand by the war-torn country in the United Nations meeting on Monday. While addressing the delegates present in the meeting convened to discuss the Afghanistan crisis, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar outlined that the country is going through challenging times amid a sea of change in political, economic, social & security situations and consequently in its humanitarian needs.

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Countering Terrorism To Ensuring Healthy Teeth, Army Takes Care Of Kashmiri Smiles At LoC

The Indian Army is not only fighting terrorism and infiltration at the borders but also ensuring a holistic welfare of the Kashmiris. On September 13, the Indian Army organized a Medical and Dental camp for the villagers of the Machhal sector at Sahi Memorial Hospital, Machhal in coordination with civil administration. Machhal is a remote sector in the Northern part of the Kupwara district. Sarpanch and residents from border villages of Machhal approached Army Camp highlighting the need of Medical care for old person, children, and women.

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TMC Says BJP 'Scared To Death' After Tripura Police Reject Rally Request

All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday launched a fresh attack on the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in Tripura after his party was denied permission to conduct a political rally. Tripura police have maintained that the TMC's requested to hold a rally in Agartala was denied as another political party had received prior permission to hold a rally on the same day. Reacting to it, the TMC MP said that Tripura BJP is "scared to death" to let him enter the state. Banerjee shared two letters sent by the Tripura police rejecting the party's request to hold a demonstration on September 15.

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'Useless Talks': Nitish Kumar Refuses BJP's Demand To Rename His Birthplace Bakhtiyarpur

Rubbishing BJP's demand to rename his birthplace 'Bakhtiyarpur', Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Monday, said that no such thing will be done. Addressing the media at a janata darbar, Nitish Kumar said, "What rubbish! Why would we change the name of Bakhtiyarpur? It is my birthplace. These are all useless talks", when asked by a reporter about renaming the place. He added, "When the Act on Nalanda University was tabled in Parliament, an MP had said the destroyer of the university had stationed his camp in Bakhtiyarpur.

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Anil Vij Decries Amarinder Singh's 'diktat' To Farmers, Claims 'Punjab CM Sponsored Stir'

BJP came out with all guns blazing against Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh for exhorting farmers to stop protesting against the farm laws in his state. Addressing a function in Hoshiarpur, Singh highlighted that the protests continuing at 113 sites in Punjab are having a detrimental economic impact. While mentioning that the state Assembly had enacted laws to negate the adverse impact of the agrarian legislation, he lamented that they were yet to be forwarded to President Ram Nath Kovind for his assent.

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In a bid to explore mutual agricultural development possibilities, the Rural Development team from Sri Lanka met Haryana Agricultural Minister Jai Parkash Dalal. On 13 September, Monday, a delegation from Sri Lanka expressed interest in the animal husbandry and agricultural sector of Haryana. The team comprising of Sri Lankan Minister of State for Backward Rural Development, Sathasivam Viyalendran and Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Senthil Thondaman met with Haryana Agricultural Minister to discuss exchanges in Animal Husbandry and agricultural sector.

The delegates met at the Haryana Bhawan in the national capital. After the meeting, Dalal tweeted in Hindi: "Today, (I met with) Sathasivam Viyalendran, Minister of State for Backward Rural Development and Senthil Thondaman, Coordinating Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and held a meeting with them at Haryana Bhawan, Delhi." During the meeting, the delegates displayed a keen interest in the water buffalo breed, Murrah due to its high capacity of milk productivity.

                                 pic.twitter.com/lc12qZvQhv  Jai Parkash Dalal (@JPDALALBJP) September 13, 2021

The Sri Lankan delegates praised the agricultural development in Haryana, especially in the animal husbandry sector. They also expressed their views on the possibility of mutual development in the same. The team spoke about the high-yielding Murrah buffaloes reared in Haryana.

During the in-depth bilateral rural development meeting, the diplomats discussed agricultural research and techniques, e-mandi, agricultural marketing and horticulture centres and milk plants, ANI reported. He also said that both the countries have huge potential for mutual development in the agricultural and animal husbandry sector.

Know about Murrah buffaloes

The water buffalo breed known as the Murrah buffaloes drew the keen interest of the Sri Lankan delegates due to its high milk-producing capacity. The buffaloes produce approximately 15-20 litres of milk every day. Additionally, the stored fat content in the milk is about 7 per cent or more in some cases. Low-quality breeds are sold for Rs. 1 lakh, while prices of premium quality buffaloes can go up to Rs. 4 lakh.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: ANI/ Unsplash)
The Taliban-led government's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Mutaqi met the Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu, said the spokesperson for the group on September 14. Informing about the meeting with the Chinese envoy on social media, Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem said, Today, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Maulvi Amir Khan Mottaki, met with the Ambassador of the neighbouring country, Wang Yu, in Kabul.

The Chinese ambassador congratulated the new Afghan government. China will continue its humanitarian, economic and political cooperation and relations with Afghanistan, Naeem added. The Taliban spokesperson also said that China has pledged $15 million worth of humanitarian aid and continued support for Afghanistan" along with 3 million doses of COVID vaccine.

In response, the acting foreign minister of the Talibans government thanked China for its assistance, adding that China and Afghanistan are neighbours and the development of bilateral relations is in the interest of both sides.

2/2-      .       3      15    .



                             . pic.twitter.com/lRCpELMaMr  Dr.M.Naeem (@IeaOffice) September 14, 2021

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) also allocated around $20 million funds from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) to support the humanitarian operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban control. Notably, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Americas assistance would go directly to non-government organisations and UN agencies providing relief to citizens engulfed in chaos.

Mutaqi met with Pakistans Ambassador to Afghanistan

Apart from Chinas Wang, Mutaqi also met with Pakistans Ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan on September 14, said Naeem on Twitter. The Taliban spokesperson also said, During the meeting, there was a detailed discussion on the movement of people between Spin Boldak and Chaman. The Ambassador of Pakistan promised to facilitate.

There was also a detailed discussion on resolving the problems of Pakistani refugees, humanitarian aid and bilateral relations, Naeem added.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has now brought back the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the country. Several years after the US-led military occupation in the country abolished the Virtue and Vice ministry, the New York Post reported that the Taliban had marked its return which has triggered massive concerns among the Afghans. The shattered citizens in the war-ravaged nation remember the said ministry for its stringent interpretation of Islamic law.

(IMAGE: @leaOffice/Twitter)
After living 40 years in the Vietnamese forest, a man nicknamed a 'real-life Tarzan' died of liver cancer at the age of 52 on September 7. In 1972, Ho Van Lang and his father Ho Van Thanh retreated into the Tra Bong district's forest, fleeing airstrikes by US troops during the Vietnam War, which killed half of their family.

Ho Van Thanh, in 2013, re-established touch with Vietnamese culture and believed the Vietnam War was still going on when the father-son duo entered a village to seek medical help for Lang's father. After this, Lang began living a more contemporary lifestyle, according to Daily Mail.

Lang couldn't speak regional Cor language

Lang could barely speak a few words of the regional Cor language, whereas his father had retained some of his language skills. Lang's brief visit to the Tra Bong jungle, where he grew up, garnered news in 2016. Alvaro Cerezo, a businessman and explorer, stayed with Lang for five days in the hopes of learning from him, according to the New York Post. Cerezo documented many of Lang's ups and downs during his re-acclimatisation to society, and the two stayed in touch after that and became good friends.

Cerezo believes that living a modern life had grave effects on him as he began eating processed foods and occasionally drinking alcohol, reported Daily Mail. Cerezo expressed that he is extremely sad to see him go, but his passing is also a freedom for him because he knows the Lang was suffering in the previous months. He further added that Lang was a beautiful human being, and it will be impossible for me to forget him and he is going to miss his friend every day, according to Daily Mail. In 2017, Cerezo published a book on Ho Van Lang.

Lang had skills equivalent to superhuman

According to the New York Post, Cerezo said that the connection between them was instant since Lang had no idea someone would be interested in his survival skills, and he was so happy to show them all to him. He further said that Lang became so enthralled that he decided to take deep into the bush and show him where he had spent his entire life. As per reports from New York Post, he also said that Lang had the skills of a superhuman.

(Image: Twitter/@chapoisat)
Brazilian authorities continue to show their backing for a multi-billion dollar railway which threatens further mass deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

The 1,000km Ferrograo project would run through the rainforest to connect the city of Itaituba to Mato Grosso state to enable the transport of soy and corn.

Speaking at a conference in favor of the project last month, Mato Grosso Governor Mauro Mendes said Brazil's farming industry could benefit from the rise in global food demand.

Brazilian Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Freitas also attended the event.

With a third of its land destined for farming, Mato Grosso is the powerhouse for soy and corn production in Brazil.

The new railway would facilitate the quicker and cheaper transportation of grains, which at the moment are moved by road.

Ane Alencar, science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, told the Associated Press last month that increased access would also raise the value of land in the Amazon, creating opportunities for estate speculation.

Protected areas of the rainforest are frequently invaded and deforested by land grabbers.

With the increase in value, people can sell that land for farming at a much higher price.

Regions where the Amazon forest lies are experiencing destruction at an accelerated rate.

Annual deforestation in the Amazon has surpassed 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) in the years since President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office compared to an average of 6,500 square kilometers between 2009 and 2018.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The mayor of the Colombian coastal town of Necocli on Monday said restrictions on transit to Panama meant the port was now hosting some 15,000 migrants.

Thousands of people, mostly Haitians, are waiting for boats to take them from Necocli to the Darien jungle, on the border with Panama, in the hope of reaching the United States.

Some of them camp out on the beach for weeks as they wait, including families with childen.

Panama and Colombia have reached agreements to allow 500 migrants a day to pass through their natural border.

But Necocli mayor Jorge Tobon Castro said some 1,500 people were arriving in the town each day and called for a reconsideration.

Sonia Charles, a Haitian migrant traveling to Panama, said she was grateful to finally be taking a boat after more than 20 days of being stalled in Necocli.

At least 45,150 migrants entered Panama crossing the Darien jungle between January and July 2021, of which 12,000 were boys and girls, according to the National Migration Service of Panama.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday reiterated her pledge to hold another legal referendum on independence from Britain by the end of 2023 but only after the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control. Addressing the Scottish National Party's online conference, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon expressed hope that the United Kingdom and Scottish governments can agree to the Scottish independence agreement "in the spirit of co-operation".

"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", said Sturgeon in her address.

In her speech, Nicola Sturgeon said that the Scottish and UK governments can reach an agreement to allow the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland to be heard and respected, but added that Westminster will use the damage inflicted by Brexit to argue that Scottish independence is unworkable. The Scottish first minister said that the United Kingdom will make "us (Scotland) poorer and will say we cant afford to be independent". Sturgeon alleged that the UK will cut "our trade with the EU" and then argue that Scotland is dependent on the rest of the UK. She stressed that the UK will make the working population fall and then argue that the country was ageing too fast.

SNP National Conference 2021 Day 4 / Session 7 m https://t.co/dXZMkZX8bb  The SNP (@theSNP) September 13, 2021

Addressing the Scottish National Partys online conference, Sturgeon said that Westminster wants them to believe that they are "powerless in the face of the disastrous decisions they have taken for us and the damage those decisions is doing". The Scotland minister said the evidence from other countries of Scotlands size showed that independence worked. She argued that neighbours in northwest Europe were wealthier than the UK and more equal, with lower levels of poverty, higher productivity and stronger public finances. She further stated that it worked for countries like Denmark, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Finland etc. Separately, Sturgeon urged the people to continue following COVID protocols, such as wearing face masks, washing hands and maintaining social distancing and advised all to get vaccinated in order to protect themselves against coronavirus.

(Image: AP)


The British Administration on Monday, gave a green light to administer COVID vaccines to children aged 12 and above, as the western European country expands mass inoculations before the onset of winters. The Associated Press reported that British PM Boris Johnson is expected to make the announcement regarding the same on Tuesday, as a part of his COVID toolkit to curb infections in fall and winters. Notably, the toolkit would also include measures such as a third, booster shot for the highly vulnerable population.

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 government's vaccine advisors saying this month that the step would have only marginal health benefits. Later, Minister for Vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi confirmed that the administration has accepted the recommendation and would begin inoculating the teens as soon as next week. Many western countries including the US and France have already begun inoculating teens above the age of 12.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Britain has registered a total of 7,256,559 cases with 134,261 deaths making it the fourth most affected country in the world. Meanwhile, a total of 48,43,272 people have received the first dose of the vaccine while 44,048,093 people are fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to the British government.

UK ditches vaccine passports

On Sunday, UK's Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that British authorities have decided to scrap the mandatory rule for vaccine passports to secure entry into a nightclub and other crowded places. However, he informed that the temporary shelving of vaccine passports could be revisited in case of an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases around autumn or winter. During an interview with BBC, Javid told that the authorities have "looked at it properly." He also added, "...whilst we should keep it in reverse as a potential option, I'm pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports." The announcement comes at the heels of the government's vaccine minister and cultural secretary praising the policy and stating that it would be necessary to enter public places for some time longer.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's mother, Charlotte Johnson Wahl, passed away at the age of 79. As per The Daily Telegraph, Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a professional painter, died "suddenly and peacefully" at St Mary's Hospital in west London on September 13, Monday. The newspaper reports that Johnson Wahl was detected with Parkinson's disease at the age of 40. According to Sky News, UK PM Johnson has reportedly characterised his mother as the family's "supreme authority" and attributed her with teaching in him the equal worth of all human lives.

Prominent politicians from both parties in the United Kingdom have expressed their sympathies to Prime Minister Johnson. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wrote on his Twitter, I'm very sorry to learn of the prime minister's loss. My condolences to him and his family."

Im very sorry to learn of the Prime Ministers loss. My condolences to him and his family.  Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 13, 2021

While, as per BBC, Conservative Party Chairwoman Amanda Milling stated that their thoughts and prayers are with Boris Johnson and his family. The prime ministers Trade Envoy for Canada, MP Conor Burns, also expressed his grief through Twitter, saying, So sad to hear of the death of @BorisJohnsons Mum.

So sad to hear of the death of @BorisJohnsons Mum. Thoughts and prayers are with him and the whole of the Johnson clan  Conor Burns (@ConorBurnsUK) September 13, 2021

About Charlotte Johnson Wahl

Charlotte Johnson Wahl was born in the year 1942. She was the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, an advocate who served as President of the European Commission for Human Rights during the 1970s. She studied English at Oxford but took a break from her education to accompany Stanley Johnson, whom she married in 1963, on a trip to the United States. She went back to finish her education and became the first married woman undergraduate at her institution, Lady Margaret Hall.

Stanley Johnson and Charlotte Johnson Wahl had four children as Prime Minister Boris, journalist Rachel, former politician Jo, and entrepreneur Leo. In the year 1979, they divorced. She built a reputation for herself as a portrait painter. She later married Nicholas Wahl, an American professor, in the year 1988 and relocated to New York. Over there, she started painting cityscapes. Shortly after he died in 1996, she moved back to London. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 40, yet, as per the BBC, she continued to paint despite needing a walking frame to keep her balance.

Image: AP
US secretary of state Antony Blinken on September 13 said that Pakistan has harboured" members of the Taliban, including terrorists from the Haqqani Network. While speaking during his first testimony before Congress since the insurgents took control of Kabul, Blinken said that Pakistan needs to "line up" with a broad majority of the international community regarding the war-torn country. When asked about how the US sees Islamabads involvement in Afghanistan, the top US official said that Pakistan has a "multiplicity of interests", including some that are in "clear conflict" with that of the United States.

"What we have to look at is an insistence that every country, to include Pakistan, make good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban-led government if it's to receive any legitimacy of any kind or any support," Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He added, "So Pakistan needs to line up with a broad majority of the international community in working toward those ends and in upholding those expectations.

Pak involved in 'hedging bets constantly'

Blinken even went on to say that Indias involvement in Afghanistan has influenced some detrimental actions by Pakistan. Further, during the testimony, US lawmaker Bill Keating reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks after the Taliban seized control. Prime Minister Khan claimed Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery. So we used to always hear diplomatically that we have a complicated relationship with Pakistan. I would say it's often duplicitous," Keating said.

He added that Pakistans ISI had such strong ties in cooperation with the Haqqani Network, "responsible for so many things including the deaths of some of our soldiers, and even recently when the Taliban took over in the last month". Keating then asked Blinken how the US can reassess that relationship, how we learn from their actions as well as a way forward.

Blinken responded by saying that Pakistan is involved "hedging its bets constantly" about the future of Afghanistan. "It's one that's involved harbouring members of the Taliban, including the Haqqanis. It's one that's also involved at different points, cooperation with us on counterterrorism, and so there are a number of things that have come into play it. It has a multiplicity of interests, some that are in conflict, clear conflict with ours," he said.

Blinken added, When it comes to Afghanistan, it's focused, of course as well, on, on India and the role that India is playing in Afghanistan, and it looks at it through that prism as well. All of these things, I think, have influenced what it has done on many occasions detrimental to our interests. On other occasions in support of those interests.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan has repeatedly been accused of providing overt and covert support to the Taliban. Earlier, former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh had also asserted that the insurgent group are being micromanaged by Pakistans intelligence agency - the ISI. Saleh added that Islamabad is in charge of the war-torn nation effectively as a colonial power.

(With inputs from ANI)
Washington, Sep 14 (AP) Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pushed back 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 administration's response to the quick collapse of the Afghan government and, more specifically, the State Department's 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 on Monday, maintaining that the administration had done the right thing in ending 20 years of war.

We made the right decision in ending America's 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 programme 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.

Blinken's 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.

And some Republicans appeared to 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. (AP) MRJ

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As the trajectory of the novel COVID-19 infections in the US up-ticked driven by the hypervirulent Delta variant, eateries, dine-ins and food joints such as McDonalds and Chick-fil-A Inc. announced that they were keeping the outlets shuttered amid the new surge. Many restaurants were losing out on the customer turnout, while others attempted to squeeze the seatings on the outdoor patios as they had either shrunk the capacity, closed the indoor areas, or limited hours of operation, US broadcasters reported, citing the franchisees statements.

The US is witnessing the resurgence of the pandemic with the variant wave, and the businesses are once again suffering a hit despite closure for more than a year due to pandemic-related disruptions.

In the past 5 weeks, the sales for the businesses that had picked up during the summers as COVID-19 cases declined, slumped drastically as per the data from restaurant analytics firm Black Box Intelligence. At least 41,500 workers in bars and restaurants were rendered unemployed in the month of August, according to Labor Department figures, noticeably the largest monthly decline of any sector. Food businesses reeled under the impacts of the emerging COVID-19 peak, especially in Texas and Florida.

CDC recommends drive-through, curb side pickups as new COVID wave unleashes

CDC emphasized the considerations in new guidelines on websites for ways in which food business operators could reduce COVID-19 risk for employees, customers, and communities, and stop the spread. It recommended that previously crowded food joints must now limit themselves to the drive-through, delivery, take-out, and curbside pick-ups, stressing that the respiratory ailment would spread when people are physically within 6 feet from each other. The guidance was issued as the US recorded COVID-19 cases more than five times the average number of daily infections one month ago.

As per a report carried by Washington Post, in states where vaccination rates were below 40 per cent, the hospitalization rates were four times higher than states with at least 54 per cent inoculations. California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont  recorded breakthrough infections. A physician and scientist for Scripps Research, US, Eric Topol, estimated that the COVID-19 vaccinations efficacy in combatting the symptomatic transmission of the delta variant among fully vaccinated people was about 60 per cent in the United States.
With the risk of coronavirus infection subsiding and vaccination gaining momentum, many countries have now opened their borders for international travellers, including Indians. Months of start-stop restrictions have marred the Air and Travel industry and disrupted the lives of foreign students and workers. Many countries, including the European holiday destinations France and Spain, have opened their doors to Indians travellers, but only if they are vaccinated against the infection.

Sri Lanka

In its latest travel guidelines, the island has allowed fully vaccinated Indian travellers to enter its territory. As per the reports, anyone travelling from India, with both the doses of either Covaxin or Covishield vaccine, will be allowed entry.

"We look forward to welcoming our closest neighbours yet again, so they may experience the variety that Sri Lanka has to offer. Our country's heritage, culture, wildlife, nature, beaches and more have always proven to be popular among Indian travellers, and they will be able to visit destinations across the country while following the relevant health guidelines," said Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson, Sri Lanka Tourism.

Turkey

While Turkey allowed Indian travellers weeks ago, it has now eased quarantine rules for them. Starting September 4, Indian passengers have been exempted from mandatory quarantine given they have been fully inoculated using COVID vaccines approved for emergency use by WHO or the Turkish administration. As of now, Covishield has been given the green light by WHO, while Turkish health officials have okayed Sputnik.

Updated Quarantine Arrangements For Travelers To Turkey From India  pic.twitter.com/OExkFOpmdj  Turkish Embassy - New Delhi (@TurkeyinDelhi) September 4, 2021

Switzerland

Switzerland, which is significantly dependent on tourism, was one of the first countries on the European continent to reopen its doors for Indian tourists. As per the reports, passengers who have received both the jabs of Covishield, will not be required to undergo quarantine on arrival.

France

A major tourist and student hub, France has put India on its Amber List. According to multiple reports, passengers who have received both the jabs of Covishield or with any vaccine approved by the country will be allowed entry into the country. Notably, the passengers are required to carry their vaccine passports.

The Philippines

The Philippines government decided to lift the travel ban, from September 6, for all the visitors who will arrive from India and nine other countries, despite the growing COVID-19 cases caused by the extremely infectious Delta variant, said the presidential spokesman Harry Roque. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the inter-agency COVID-19 task force's proposal to lift the restrictions on travel from countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, reports ANI.

Kuwait

Kuwait resumed direct flights to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal on September 7. Kuwait's civil aviation authority had halted flights to India during the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and last month, announced its decision to resume flights. In September, India started flights to 49 destinations an air bubble agreement with 18 countries. Special international flights can be undertaken by their airlines between respective borders under an air bubble pact.

Image: Unsplash
St Paul (US), Sep 14 (AP) The leader of an Illinois anti-government militia group who authorities say masterminded the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque was sentenced 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 Centre in Bloomington. Defence attorneys asked for the minimum, but prosecutors sought life, saying Hari hasn't 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. US District Judge Donovan Frank on Monday said evidence clearly showed Hari's intent was to scare, intimidate and terrorise individuals of Muslim faith".

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 (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 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.

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 centre.

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, what's stopping them from coming to Muslim people's 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 organiser and Dar Al Farooq worshipper.

Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq for early morning prayers on August 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 km) 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 travelled 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 fuelled Hari's inner conflict, saying she wanted to transition but knew she would be ostracised, 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 sheriff's 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. (AP) SCY SCY

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Washington, Sep 13 (PTI) US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Monday vigorously defended the decision of the Biden administration to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which has resulted in the Taliban recapturing power in the war-torn country and the collapse of the US-backed democratically elected regime.

President Joe Biden in April announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal.

Theres no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining. If 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in support, equipment, and training did not suffice, why would another year, or five, or ten, make a difference? Blinken told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on Afghanistan.

The first of the series of Congressional hearings were held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Referring to the agreement signed by the previous Trump administration with the Taliban last February, Blinken said that in January 2021, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 9-11  and the US had the smallest number of troops on the ground since 2001.

As a result, upon taking office, President Biden immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it.

Had he not followed through on his predecessors commitment, attacks on our forces and those of our allies would have resumed and the Talibans nationwide assault on Afghanistans major cities would have commenced, he said.

That would have required sending substantially more US forces into Afghanistan to defend ourselves and prevent a Taliban takeover, taking casualties  and with at best the prospect of restoring a stalemate and remaining stuck in Afghanistan, under fire, indefinitely, he said.

Blinken said that there is nothing that strategic competitors like China and Russia  or adversaries like Iran and North Korea  would have liked more than for the United States to re-up a 20-year war and remain bogged down in Afghanistan for another decade.

In advance of the Presidents decision, I was in constant contact with our Allies and partners to hear their views and factor them into our thinking. When the President announced the withdrawal, NATO immediately and unanimously embraced it. We all set to work  together  on the drawdown, he said.

Blinken said that the US will continue to help Americans  and Afghans to whom the US has a special commitment  depart Afghanistan if they choose, just as they have done in other countries where they have evacuated the embassy and hundreds or even thousands of Americans remained behind  for example, in Libya, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. There is no deadline to this mission, he said.

The United States, he said, is focused on counterterrorism. The Taliban has committed to preventing terrorist groups from using Afghanistan as a base for external operations that could threaten the United States or our allies, including Al Qaeda and ISIS-K, he said. We will hold them accountable for that. That does not mean we will rely on them. We will remain vigilant in monitoring threats, and well maintain robust counterterrorism capabilities. in the region to neutralize those threats if necessary  as we do in places around the world where we do not have military forces on the ground, he said.

The US will continue its intensive diplomacy with Allies and partners.

We initiated a statement joined by more than 100 countries and a United Nations Security Council Resolution setting out the international communitys expectations of a Taliban-led government, he added.

We expect the Taliban to ensure freedom of travel; make good on its counter-terrorism commitments; uphold the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women, girls, and minorities; name a broadly representative permanent government, and forswear reprisals. The legitimacy and support it seeks from the international community will depend on its conduct, Blinken said. PTI LKJ AMS AMS

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Washington, Sep 13 (AP) The Pentagon says all flights of Afghan evacuees into the United States have been halted for another seven days. That's 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. (AP) AMS AMS

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All flights of Afghan evacuees into the United States have been halted for another seven days at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, due to measles cases at three different U.S. bases, the Pentagon said Monday.

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 on 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 that all evacuees are receiving any necessary immunizations  including for measles - as a condition of their "humanitarian parole."

"Critical immunizations, including MMR, are being administered for Afghans at safe havens on military bases in the United States. We will soon be vaccinating Afghans for MMR while they are still overseas," Kirby said.

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 an example, 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.

During the last days of the U.S.-led evacuation, officials confirmed that an American drone strike blew up a vehicle carrying "multiple suicide bombers" from Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate before they could attack Kabul's international airport.

Shortly after, a statement from U.S. Central Command said that the U.S. is aware of reports of civilian casualties and is assessing the results of the strike.

"I'm not aware of any plans to put investigators on the ground. Central Command is still assessing the results of that strike... They have a variety of means to do that," Kirby said.

An Afghan official has said three children were killed in the strike near Kabul's airport. Witnesses to the blast say several citizens were killed or wounded.

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Despite the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-firing a long-range cruise missile in an apparent warning to the USA, the United States, on Monday, said it still remains ready to engage in diplomacy with North Korea.

The White House's principal deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said on September 13 that after Pyongyangs announcement about successfully test-firing missile over the weekend that showed they can hit targets 1,500 kms away in Tokyo, the USAs position has still not changed.

Washington will engage in bilateral cooperation and diplomacy with Pyongyang in order to make "practical progress" to ensure the security of the United States and its allies and partners, Jean-Pierre said aboard Air Force One en route to Boise, Idaho for President Bidens briefing. Our position hasnt changed when it comes to North Korea. We remain prepared to engage in diplomacy with DPRK toward our objective of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, said Jean-Pierre.

Our policies call for a calibrated, practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with DPRK to make practical progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies, our deployed forces. Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions. So, that hasnt changed  our diplomatic efforts, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

(Image: US Indo-Pacific Command)

Jean-Pierre also reiterated the statement issued by the US Indo-Pacific Command that said the North Korean missile launches highlighted the threats North Korea poses to other countries in the region, including South Korea. "This activity highlights DPRK's continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that pose to its neighbours and the international community," it hadsaid in a statement.

Meanwhile, Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing, We are aware of these reports and I'm not in a position to confirm the reports with any great specificity at this time. He went on to add, But again, I would just say it just highlights again the threat that the DPRK continues to pose to the region and to its neighbours."

Japan 'worried' over North Korea missile launch

North Korea on Sunday, September 12, test-fired a new type of long-range cruise missile that covered approximately 932 miles in a little over two hours before hitting its targets in North Korean airspace and plunging into territorial waters, state-run Korean Central News Agency reported on Sunday. The efficiency and practicality of the weapon system operation were confirmed to be excellent, the report stated, adding that the new type of missiles range, if accurate, would have the capability to hit as far as Tokyo.

The new missile launch comes as North Korea seeks to expand its military capabilities amid the stalemate in nuclear negotiations with the United States, according to the reports. The latest missile travelled for 7,580 seconds, along the oval and pattern-8 flight orbits KCNA reported. Following the test, Japans chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato said that Japan was worried about the missile launch and was working in collaboration with the US and South Korea to monitor the event.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in touch with India to plan the United States way forward for over-the-horizon capabilities and strategies for counterterrorism military operations in Afghanistan after the United States-led forces deployed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and operational partners pulled out of the Central Asian region with Talibans takeover of Kabul. Blinken on 1 September told US Congress that in the aftermath of the military withdrawal and evacuation efforts that concluded 31 August, America is now in close coordination with ally India to discuss the implementation of the US President Joe Bidens over the horizon strategy (OTH) to identify and strike terrorists with aerial surveillance and drones from abroad.

In revision to his Afghanistan policy, US commander-in-chief Joe Biden had told the presser at the White House that after the military pull out, as the threat from terrorism continues in its pernicious nature, and risks spilling into other countries, US counterterrorism strategy has to change. He then stressed, We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries, we just dont need to fight a ground war to do it. He further stated that his administration will opt for whats called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means the US military forces can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground. He asserted: ISIS-K: We are not done with you yet.

Speaking about the United States so-called over-the-horizon functions, Blinken told reporters that the White House promised Americans to combat the threat of cross-border terrorism that emanates out of Afghan soil. He then stressed that the Biden administration is deeply involved with India on that front for over-the-horizon operations. When asked by US agencies if the administration has reached out to India as a staging area that could exceed the capabilities of future horizon military forces, Blinken responded that US is in contact with India without elaborating on the critical details.

Separately, US President Biden, as well a spokesman for his administration said that America will rely on over-the-horizon (OTH) military capabilities to snub growing threats of terrorism in the Central Asian region. The United States will act swiftly and decisively as needed, they stressed, according to the White House. Tennessee Congressman Mark Greene, meanwhile, enquired whether India would serve as staging partner for US Armed forces across the horizon operations.

Qatar, Doha is a bit too far away elsewhere, so Im talking about northwestern India as a potential, Kuwait, everything. What about North India, and did you get in touch, you? Did you think about it?  asked US Congressman Greene. To this Blinken responded: To install without divulging key details. At least Im glad to know that I have the opportunity to speak. I think its very fair, Greene was quoted saying.

PM Modi likely to visit US to meet President Joe Biden

Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to the US later this month to meet US President Joe Biden, and participate in the first in-person Quad Summit-level meeting on 24 September, sources in New Delhi revealed. The meeting will also host Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga, the White House announced earlier today. 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 told a briefing on 14 September.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will host the first-ever Quad Leaders Summit at the White House on 24 September. 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.
Washington, Sep 14 (PTI) A top American senator has introduced legislation to boost cooperation between India and the US in the areas of clean energy and climate change, emphasising that he witnessed firsthand the positive results that come when the two nations work as a team to tackle common challenges.

The Prioritizing Clean Energy and Climate Cooperation with India Act of 2021 introduced by Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes a day after the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry launched the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue in New Delhi.

Given the shared threat of climate change and Indias growing need for electricity, there is a strong case to be made for strengthening the US-India clean energy partnership. In that vein, I am introducing this legislation having witnessed firsthand the positive results that come when our nations work as a team to tackle common challenges, he said.

By establishing the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Partnership, we are laying the groundwork for successful partnerships between not only the US and Indian governments, but also our universities and private sectors. I am proud to lead this effort to further strengthen our relationship with India, Menendez said.

The legislation among other things establishes the United States-India Climate and Clean Energy Partnership (CCEP) as the main forum for cooperation between the US and India on clean energy technologies and energy transmission.

CCEP activities include promoting joint research and development on clean energy technologies, encouraging US private investment in the Indian clean energy market, and supporting initiatives to develop new renewable energy generation capacity in India.

The Act also promotes US-India cooperation on climate resilience and risk reduction, a media release said.

Observing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prioritised improving citizen access to electricity and electrifying every household in India, the legislation asserts that India, in contrast to China, is demonstrating that climate action is a priority through concrete steps including a climate plan compatible with the goal of limiting global average temperature rise below two degrees Celsius.

Indias unconditional emissions target, as outlined in the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution of India to the Paris Agreement, aims to reduce emissions intensity of gross domestic product by 33 per cent to 35 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, it said.

Noting that in 2019, Prime Minister Modi announced an ambitious domestic target of installing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the legislation said India was among the top five clean energy producers globally.

Installed electricity capacity from renewables in India grew by 144 per cent from 2014 to 2020, and between 2014 and 2019 there was approximately USD 42 billion in investment in the renewable energy sector in India.

The legislation follows a Congressional delegation coming to India in the fall of 2019, during which Menendez engaged with Indias Minister of New and Renewable Energy and Indian business leaders to discuss how the US and India can address the threat of climate change and deepen cooperation on clean energy production.

In addition to establishing groundbreaking new programmes, this bill will also serve to bolster the Biden administrations US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership, which aims to elevate bilateral cooperation on strong climate action and support the achievement of Indias ambitious climate targets, the release said.

The legislation promotes partnerships between US and Indian universities and government research laboratories on the research, development, and application of clean energy technologies. It also promotes sharing of intellectual property between US and Indian private sector entities for renewable energy technology, air conditioning technology, refrigeration systems technology, and other advanced energy technologies.

Encouraging US private investment in the Indian clean energy technology market, the legislation supports the provision of technical assistance and expertise on electrical grid and energy efficiency improvements in India. It supports initiatives to develop new renewable energy generation capacity in India and requires the administration to submit a multi-year strategy to Congress for implementing the CCEP.

The legislation commissions a report on opportunities for States of the United States and States of India to cooperate in advancing clean energy solutions. It also sets advancing climate risk reduction and resilience capacities as a priority for the USs diplomatic, security, and development work in India. PTI LKJ MRJ MRJ

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Afghanistan is no longer the US' top concern among international terrorist threats to the American homeland, and the country faces more danger from terrorist organizations based in Africa and the Middle East, the Director of United States National Intelligence said at the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington on Monday. Terror threats emanating from Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq -- in particular ISIS -- pose a greater danger than those that might emerge from Afghanistan, Avril Haines said in her statement via videoconferencing.

The top spy chief's remarks came as several high-profile intelligence officials hurled caution about the emerging regional threat from Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Central Asia that has regrouped in Kabul after the Taliban's takeover.

The Biden administrations implementation of the Trump-era Doha agreement has been widely been condemned as 'botched' and 'disorderly' as it rendered the central Asian region vulnerable with terror operatives flowing back into their safe haven Kabul. Internationally designated terror networks such as ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, and the Pakistan-based Haqqani group made a resurgence, the US military officials that spoke on condition of anonymity told American news agencies. Separately, a UN report claimed that Afghanistan has close to 400 to 600 Al-Qaeda operatives active in at least 12 Afghan provinces.

Afghanistan withdrawal 'dismantled CIA intelligence network'

Haines on Monday agreed, in the live-streamed address, that Bidens abrupt military withdrawal "dismantled the CIA intelligence network that the United States built up over the last 20 years." After America ended the 2-decade war in Afghanistan as the final military plane pulled out of Kabul, the extensive intelligence and covert action network created over the last 20 years in retaliation to global terrorism since 9/11 have all diminished, she acknowledged. CIA operators involved in operations such as gathering sensitive information and intelligence against the terror groups in Afghanistan have most certainly left as Americas conventional military presence ended, reports further revealed.

"Our intelligence collection is diminished [in Afghanistan] and that is something that we have to prepare for and that we have been preparing for, frankly, quite some time," US Spy Chief warned in a video conference.

[Helicopters carrying US and Moroccan special forces take part in a drill as part of the African Lion military exercise. Credit: AP]

[US military forces take part in a large-scale drill as part of the African Lion military exercise. Credit: AP]

IS-K 'does pose a threat' but more active in Mideast, Africa

Haines, in her broadcast statement, emphasized that the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) does pose a potential threat to the United States and its allies and partners. At the time of the military evacuation efforts at Hamid Karzai International Airport, terrorists carried out a deadly suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 13 US Marines and dozens of Afghan nationals. Daesh-K, or IS later took the responsibility for the explosion. United States' top intelligence official stressed that while IS poses security threats in Central Asia [under the umbrella of Taliban], in Yemen and Somalia, Syria, and Iraq, it is far more active.

A number of terrorist groups operate in Syria, including Daesh and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham / Al Nusrah Front), according to UK Foreign Ministry. They bomb and target a wide range of places, including official installations, airports, border crossings, public transport, and civilian spaces like public squares, hospitals, places of worship, and learning institutions, and launch coordinated attacks against armed actors and civilians. Terrorist groups operating in Syria routinely use kidnapping as a tactic, the UK ministry stated in a declassified report.

In Yemen, Haines stressed, an al Qaeda offshoot based in the territory attempted to launch terror attacks on the US forces prompting a retaliatory airstrike. In Somalia, an insurgent group formed in the early 2000s, Al-Shabab conducted deadly terror attacks across East Africa, despite setbacks from African Union-led military operations. While Haines echoed US President Joe Biden's remarks that terrorism was more prominent in Mideast and Horn of Africa, US military commanders reportedly stressed that the military pullout from Kabul has ended what the troops called "over the horizon" capabilities [the forces ability to conduct surveillance and gain intelligence for the counterterrorism operations].
Police in Kandal province are holding 31 villagers for alleged involvement in violence against authorities.

Police in Cambodia's Kandal province set up roadblocks to prevent villagers from accessing their land, Sept. 7, 2021.

Cambodian authorities have arrested more than 30 villagers during a violent roundup of land protesters in Kandal province where they were protesting against an airport being built by a company owned by a tycoon with ties to the countrys autocratic leader, provincial police and villagers said.

The land at Kampong Talong village in Kandals Beung Khchang commune was taken three years ago by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), a private Cambodian firm, for construction of the U.S. $1.5 billion airport project.

Around 330 families living on the disputed land refused compensation for their fields, saying the amounts offered in payment by the firm were too low.

Police beat the protesters who rallied Sunday, and 31 were arrested for alleged involvement in violence against authorities during the demonstration.

The land dispute between 330 families and the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) owned by Neak Oknha (honorific) Pung Khieu Se, an affluent business tycoon close to Prime Minister Hun Sen led to authorities to make the arrests.

Villager Nai Phon, who was monitoring the situation, said that authorities arrested three of his family members  his wife, Khim Chetra, and sisters Nay Phea and Nay Phol, and that police were still searching for and arresting other villagers.

As a land grab victim, it has been three years since I begged the head of government to help solve this land dispute by giving us fair compensation so that we can accept it, Nai Phon said.

And now we do not dare to claim the market price. We can accept a reasonable price to end the confrontation and have all the detainees released.

RFA could not reach Kandals police commissioner, Chhoeun Socheth, for comment.

It is not a good way

Am Sam Ath, deputy director of monitoring at Cambodian human rights group Licadho, said that this is the first time in the history of land disputes in Cambodia that authorities have arrested such a large number of people.

We still insist on not choosing that way, and it is not a good way, said Am Sam Ath, who condemned the resort to mass arrests.

First, it affects both sides and draws more criticism over the issue of the land dispute as well as other allegations, he said. And if the people are imprisoned, their suffering will be doubled. This means that their families will face more problems.

This arrest and violent crackdown erupted Sept. 12 after hundreds of authorities prevented farmers from accessing the land. They set fire to the rubbish in front of the security barricades used by local police and military police to block the road to their farmland now under the control of OCIC.

In response, Kandal Provincial Hall accused residents of causing acts of violence involving the use of sticks, stones, rubber bullets, and petrol bombs that injured 13 police officers.

Authorities called on residents to stop what they said were illegal activities and return to efforts to resolve the land dispute peacefully.

Acting on behalf of CIOC, Kandal provincial authorities have offered villagers U.S. $8 per square meter for their land, but villagers say that is much lower than the U.S. $70-80 per square meter estimated market price.

Van Sophat, land monitoring officer for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, previously told RFA that OCIC had failed to conduct a proper assessment of their projects environmental impact or to consult Kampong Talong villagers on the proposed development.

The villagers hold title to their land and deserve justice and fair compensation, he said.

Hundreds of police officers blocked villagers on Sept. 7 from visiting rice fields seized to build an airport, though no injuries were reported.

Villagers stopped cultivating their land three years ago, but had to start farming again because business shutdowns caused by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia have left them without other ways to survive, a villager told RFA in an earlier report.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Security chief Chris Tang tells Beijing-backed media that new legislation will govern espionage, theft of state secrets, and groups with overseas ties.

Authorities in Hong Kong will table further national security legislation that creates a list of further "national security" offenses, to supplement those already listed in a law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), ushering in a crackdown on political opposition and peaceful dissent.

Secretary for security and former police chief Chris Tang told the CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao newspaper that the new law would be tabled in the next Legislative Council (LegCo), which will be largely devoid of opposition thanks to a new vetting process for would-be election candidates.

If any organization or group violates the law, including the national security law, it will be held responsible," Tang said.

"We expect that [Legislation governing] espionage activities, the theft of state secrets, activities of foreign political institutions in Hong Kong, and political ties between Hong Kong institutions and foreign countries, among other things, will be completed during the next LegCo session," Tang said.

"The public will be consulted when the time comes."

The new security law will be directed by Article 23 of Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which requires the city to enact its own national security legislation.

Draft Article 23 legislation was shelved in 2003 after an attempt to table it in LegCo sparked mass protests. Beijing then imposed its own national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020, beginning a citywide crackdown on dissent in the wake of the 2019 protest movement that had been sparked by widespread fears over the ongoing erosion of the city's promised freedoms.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong treasury secretary Christopher Hui told LegCo on Tuesday that the government will move to strip charities of their tax-exempt status if they are found to be in breach of the national security law, which criminalizes contact with and funding from overseas politicians and foundations, public criticism of the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, as well as opposition activism, which is deemed a bid to overthrow the existing political order.

Forty-seven former democratic lawmakers and activists are currently awaiting trial on "subversion" charges under the national security law after taking part in a democratic primary in 2020 that was designed to maximize the number of LegCo seats won by the opposition.

Charities under scrutiny

"We .. have to prevent people with ulterior motives from endangering national security in the name of charity," Hui said.

"If any organization is found to have participated or used its resources to support or promote activities contrary to the interest of national security, we will not hesitate to strip it of its charity status and withdraw its tax exemptions," he said.

The Tax Guide for Charitable Institutions and Trusts of a Public Character has been amended to include the national security requirement, and takes immediate effect, Hui said.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said enforcement efforts must now look at preventing breaches of the national security law, as well as punishing people and organizations that run afoul of it.

"I believe that government departments will re-examine their work in future [in the light of the national security law], and then conduct publicity, guidance, and supervision work," Lam said.

No guidelines or consultations

A staff member at a Hong Kong charity, who gave only the nickname A Man, said charities already have to pass stringent criteria and an annual audit to gain tax-exempt status, and that charities are now at a loss over how to mitigate this new risk.

"There are no guidelines, no case studies, and no consultations," A Man told RFA. "There are only these unilateral amendments."

"It's not just environmental groups; religious and social welfare organizations will also be at a loss, and they won't know where the lines are being drawn," he said.

"If I disagree with the government, will that be seen as inciting hatred or dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong government, and could I be charged under the national security law?" he said. "Will organizations that gainsay the government be blacklisted?"

"There is also no appeal mechanism, which is very unfair to [charities]."

He said the law has already had a "chilling effect" on the charity sector, with some organizations adjusting the scope of their services and advocacy work.

"This will obviously mean restrictions [on services they offer] to service users."



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Wall-fare deletes its social media accounts and shutters its office after 'some groups' were accused of turning prisoners against the government.

Hong Kong prisoner support group Wall-fare announced it is disbanding on Tuesday, to mitigate the risk of being pursued under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

"After nine months of hard work, Wall-fare will now officially end its operations," the group said in a cached version of its farewell message on its Facebook page that was later deleted.

"Though we may have been crushed in the end, what came before that made it worthwhile."

Wall-fare's dissolution comes after secretary for security and former police chief Chris Tang accused "certain groups" of endangering national security" in prisons by writing to inmates and "soliciting followers" with gifts of chocolates, hairpins, and other items, making them "hate the government."

It is the latest in a line of civil society groups to disband following public denunciation by officials or by CCP-backed media.

The group started up on Dec. 14, 2020, working out of an office in Lai Chi Kok, collecting goods and money to support prisoners amid a city-wide crackdown on opposition lawmakers, peaceful activism, and public dissent.

"Wall-fare will be wrapping up its caseload according to the principles of social work, but it will no longer be providing services," the statement said.

It said the group would apply to deregister from the Companies Registry and go through the legal processes needed to dissolve.

Activist and former lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun, who once represented social workers in the Legislative Council (LegCo), said the decision came after a meeting of employees on Sunday.

He said it was in response to a specific incident that day, but declined to disclose further details.

Constant political pressure

But he said it was "well-known" that he and the group had been under constant political pressure since the outset.

"Any civil society group in Hong Kong is going to be under all kinds of pressure right now," Shiu said. "Maybe even standing here today is a crime."

"How could we go on, watching one group after another run into trouble? All I can tell you is that I can't do this any more, so we are announcing that it's over," he said.

Shiu said the group had assisted more than 100 inmates and their families in the past nine months, providing material and emotional support to anyone jailed or on remand for taking part in protests or activism.

"People in custody are the most marginalized people in society and are often ignored," he said.

"All I wanted to do was to ... offer a cool glass of water to inmates and their families during the summer heat," Shiu said. "Unfortunately, that cup of water may have gotten too hot now."

Help to inmates' families

Independent social worker Lau Ka Tung said he was one of Wall-fare's service users after being arrested for "obstructing officials in the course of their duties" during the 2019 protest movement.

He said the organization's disbanding was a shame, as it had reduced the burden on families by providing free supplies to inmates.

"The letters I received through their pen-pal matching program helped me make it through," Lau said. "Wall-fare also visited my family and gave gifts to my parents on Mother's Day and Father's Day, which means I didn't worry so much in prison."

"We don't hear much public discussion of the rights and interests of inmates," Lau said. He said Wall-fare had campaigned for fans to be installed during the hot weather, organizing public petitions.

"I don't know who will be doing that sort of rights-based advocacy work now Wall-fare is gone," he said.

Shiu said Wall-fare had always operated within the rules laid down by the Correctional Services Department.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A top business school at the University of Cambridge has close ties with Chinese technology giant Huawei, with three out of five board members linked with the company, a U.K. newspaper reported on .



Three out of four directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (CCCM) have ties with Huawei, while its chief representative is a former Huawei senior vice president paid by the Chinese government, the Times newspaper reported on .



Johnny Patterson, policy director of the U.K.-based rights group Hong Kong Watch called on the university to examine Huaweis relationship with the CCCM, the report said.



The paper quoted former Conservative Party leader Ian Duncan Smith as saying that Cambridge was "one of the worst offenders" when it came to reliance on Chinese funding.



Duncan Smith said companies and universities in the U.K. had grown "far too dependent" on money from China.



"The government needs to urgently set up an inquiry into the UKs dependency on China across a range of institutions and companies," the Times quoted him as saying.



The CCCM is part of Cambridge University's Judge Business School, and calls itself "an academic research institute dedicated to the study of the management practices and strategies of Chinese enterprises."



A cached version of its website described former Huawei senior vice president Hu Yanping as its chief representative in China.



Britain's Prince William cuts the ribbon during the official opening of The Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre Building in Oxford, Sept. 8, 2014. Credit: AFP UK ban on Huawei 5G

But the CCCM denied to the Times that Hu Yanping had provided any professional services, and his profile was deleted from its website soon after the article appeared.



CCCM director Peter Williamson was cited in an article on the website of China's state-run CCTV in January arguing against Huawei's exclusion from 5G in the U.K.



"Huawei's technology is already deeply embedded in the global standards that underpin 5G," the article quoted Williamson as saying. "The costs to the U.K. of excluding Huawei would be huge and complete exclusion is virtually impossible."



Nonetheless, by , the U.K. said it was banning Huawei from its 5G telecom network, a move that came after the Trump administration argued that the company is a threat to national security, and amid an investigation by U.S. prosecutors into its alleged theft of trade secrets and obstruction of justice.



British telecom operators were given until 2027 to remove existing Huawei equipment from their 5G networks in changes likely to delay the country's 5G rollout by a year.



Around the same time, researchers in Australia were sounding the alarm about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s global network of influence operating via the United Front, a network of party and government-linked agencies and companies.



The researchers said the United Front had extended its influence into foreign political parties, diaspora communities and multinational corporations, and represents an explicit bid to export China's political system around the world.



Zhang Yu, secretary-general of the Independent Chinese PEN writers' group, said European countries appear to take the threat of CCP infiltration less seriously than some of their global allies.



"In Europe in particularly we have seen a rather weak response to the threat posed by Huawei's expansion," Zhang said. "The West should pay attention, because this should be banned."



Closely aligned with Beijing

U.K. scholar Wang Jianhong said there is no doubt that Huawei is closely aligned with the Chinese government.



"Huawei is part of the Chinese government, and its engagement in technology theft, the suppression of human rights and digital surveillance is inexcusable," Wang said. "



"This funding and infiltration of one of its research institutes by Huawei is a fatal blow to Cambridge University's reputation as a world-class elite institution," he said.



"This should be an alarm bell, and should act as a warning of the extent to which academic freedom has been compromised," Wang said.



Zhang agreed, saying that Huawei's involvement at Cambridge University was "terrifying."



"Some universities in the U.K. are cooperating with Huawei in the name of academic freedom and independence, but with complete disregard for national security," he said.



According to Zhang, at least 35 British universities have maintained ties with the company, and Huawei's claim to be a private company was a fiction under the CCP.



"There are no large Chinese companies that are not controlled by the state," Zhang said. "This sort of cooperation serves a broader political purpose, which is to help China."



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
We're not going to be coerced or forced to cede the international norms," said Rear Adm. Dan Martin, commander of the Carl Vinson Strike Group.

A U.S. sailor cleans an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) on Sept. 11, 2021, during deployment in the South China Sea.

The commander of a U.S. aircraft carrier deployed in the South China Sea has told RFA it aims to ensure the "freedom of all nations to navigate in international waters" -- a mission that saw it pass just 50 nautical miles from a Chinese survey ship operating in Indonesia exclusive economic zone (EEZ) this weekend.

Global marine traffic records show early on Sunday, the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) was sailing in the Natuna Sea off Indonesia, near where the Chinese survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 10 has been operating since late August.

Unusually, the U.S. super carrier also broadcasted 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 RFA 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 (CVN-70) 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 vessels, 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.

"We're not going to be coerced or forced to cede the international norms," he said.

'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, has also 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 noted.

The paper quoted a Chinese military expert 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.

An RFA 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 vessels 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.

A map showing the location Sunday of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Natuna Sea off Indonesia in relation to the Chinese survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 10, which has been operating in the area since late August. (Credit: MarineTraffic/RFA).





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, and RFA-affiliated online news service.

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 due to 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, D.C., 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 two allies 70 years ago.

Additional reporting by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
The new missiles could deliver a nuclear payload if Pyongyang can make smaller warheads, experts say.

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 September 13, 2021.

North Korea successfully tested new long-range cruise missiles over the weekend, state media reported Monday, its first low-flying missiles capable of hitting targets in Japan.

Pyongyang has tested numerous ballistic missile systems in the past, but the new cruise missiles are much smaller and harder to defend against, analysts told RFA.

The launched long-range cruise missiles traveled for 7,580 seconds [two hours, six minutes, 20 seconds] along an oval and pattern-8 flight orbits in the air above the territorial land and waters of the DPRK and hit targets 1,500 kilometers [932 miles] away, the state-run Korea Central News Agency Reported.

The 1,500-km range means that it can hit the entire Korean Peninsula and even U.S. military bases in Japan, Jeong Chang Wook, head of the South Korea based Korea Defense Study Forum, told RFAs Korean Service Monday.

If there is a move to reinforce the Korean Peninsula, it can be seen that North Korea can strike U.S. bases in Japan without hesitation, Jeong said.

But it remains unclear if North Korea is capable of building smaller nuclear warheads that could be mounted on the new missiles.

That turns on miniaturization and the miniaturization question turns on whether or not North Korea is actually able to create H-bombs, fusion weapons, Bruce Bennett, a researcher at the California-based RAND Corporation think tank, told RFAs Korean Service Monday.

And so, the question is, can they physically create a nuclear weapon that is small enough to go on this weapon, on this cruise missile, both in terms of the size of the nuclear weapon and its weight? Bennet said.

David Maxwell of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told RFA that North Korea might lack the technological skill to miniaturize its nuclear payloads, but said the new missiles appeared to be a capable system.

This is a low flying cruise missile perhaps similar to a U.S. tomahawk missile, but I have to wait for the intelligence analysis to be sure, Maxwell said.

THAAD and Patriot PAC 3 missiles cannot defend against it since it is very low flying. It can be shot down by aircraft and other short range air defense weapons, he said.

Credit: RFA

The news about the tests came a day before the U.S., South Korea, and Japan are scheduled to meet in Tokyo to discuss strategies to overcome stalled denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang.

The analysts were divided on the effects that the tests might have future negotiations.

This launch doesnt help nuclear talks, but the ball is in the U.S. court in how it wants to handle this, Ken Gause of the Virginia-based CNA thinktank said.

If it decides to punish North Korea, it will show that the lines set down by the Trump administration have changed and it will set back talks, he said.

Robert Einhorn, a former U.S. Department of State special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control, told RFA that the test would not derail efforts to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table.

The main reason for the test was North Koreas desire to diversify and expand the nuclear and missile threat it poses to its neighbors. In addition to its ballistic missile capabilities, it now has tested a cruise missile that can reach much of Japan, Einhorn said.

The RAND Corporations Soo Kim told RFA that the tests were a display of new weapons capabilities that would get the attention of the U.S.

Were seeing [North Koreas] portfolio becoming fuller and more diverse. Its unclear whether North Korea had intended for this, but the missile test basically allows North Korea to keep pressing its finger into our sides and reminds us of its growing nuclear and missile threat, she said.

The tests follow a well-established pattern where Kim increases the pressure on Biden to engage and accept a limited nuclear deal, said Anthony Ruggiero, former deputy assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

The Biden administration should respond with issuing the first North Korea sanctions of his presidency to address Kims continued development of these programs, he said.

North Korea may strategically engage in provocations following this test, Kim Hyun-Wook of the Seoul-based Korean National Diplomatic Academy told RFA.

North Korea continues to develop medium-range and long-range strategic weapons. There is also a demand to keep testing, said Kim Hyun-Wook.

North Korea will try to choose a point in time to align this with its foreign strategy, which must be done at some point in the timetable for weapons development, he said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command released a statement Monday saying the tests highlighted North Koreas continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that poses to its neighbors and the international community, and reaffirmed Washingtons defense commitments to Seoul and Tokyo.

A spokesperson for the EU, meanwhile told RFA that the missile launches went against international efforts and willingness to resume dialogue and engage in actions to help the people of that country.

We call on the DPRK to respond constructively to the readiness for diplomacy expressed by the United States and the Republic of Korea and engage in a sustained diplomatic process aimed at building trust, the spokesperson said.

Maxwell criticized North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for testing missiles while blaming the countrys worsening economic situation and food shortages on external factors like international nuclear sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic.

It is Kim's deliberate decision making to prioritize his nuclear and missile programs and military modernization over the welfare of the people The bottom line is Kim is the biggest cause of his own problem and he is solely responsible for the suffering of the Korean people, Maxwell said.

North Koreas cruise missile tests came less than a week after South Korea completed ejection tests on a newly developed submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the first such system for a non-nuclear power.

Korean War hostilities ended in a 1953 armistice agreement, but the two Koreas remain technically at war as no peace treaty has ever been signed.

Reported by Soyoung Kim, Albert Hong, Sangmin Lee, Do Hyung Han and Yong Jae Mok for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun and Jinha Shin. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Debts are tied mainly to the development of infrastructure projects, with money owed to lenders in China and other nearby countries.

Laos is drowning in debt with at least $400 million due in loans this year that cant be repaid, with cash flows crippled in the country because of a shutdown of the economy due to COVID-19 and another $1 billion coming due each year from 2022-2025, experts say.

State officials and Lao researchers say they now see no way the one-party communist state can meet the debts it owes foreign lenders, mostly in China but also in Thailand and Vietnam, amid the global pandemic.

It will be hard to Laos to repay all the debts that have been outstanding for so many years now, an official in the Lao state inspection agency said, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity. Laos cant pay off its debts even if it makes payments over the next ten years. Its just a huge sum of money, he added.

Laos external debt repayment profile remains challenging, according to a Fitch Ratings report dated Aug. 9, with around U.S. $422 million due over the remainder of 2021 and an average of U.S. $1.16 billion due per annum between 2022 and 2025.

Lao debts are tied mainly to the development of infrastructure projects including hydropower dams and transportation systems, one Lao researcher said, also asking that his name not be used. But the more development we do, the more money we borrow, he said.

And in the meantime, the national tax revenue being collected is much smaller than it used to be. The revenue that used to come in from gold mining is almost gone, for example, he said.

Laos debt challenge was avoidable and is closely related to overly ambitious, and poor coordination and implementation with dam building and other megaprojects, said Keith Barney, a senior lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at Australian National University.

It is an environmental tragedy of the highest order that key rivers in Laos, such as the majestic Nam Ou, have been sacrificed to build these dams for an outcome that has seen not state revenues and sustainable development for the people of Laos, but elevated debt burdens and financial stress, Barney said.

'In a tight corner now'

Tax and tariff collections in Laos have also fallen off as businesses close and people lose work amid shutdowns, especially in the tourism and service sectors, caused by the spread of coronavirus in the country, sources say.

Everyone is in a tight corner now, and living under tough conditions. We lack cash flow now because of the outbreak of COVID-19, said a Lao businessman, who requested his name be withheld.

Laos must additionally find funds to accommodate and quarantine the hundreds of thousands of migrant workersmany of whom when employed sent money back to their families in Laosnow returning home from Thailand and other neighboring countries.

Around 100 shelters are now being built housing 1,000 workers each, with food costing each shelter around 40 million kip (U.S. $4,000) each day, sources say.

New program launched

The administration of Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh has recently launched a new program ordering high-ranking state officials to return their luxury vehicles, modernizing the countrys tax collection system, and producing goods for export to earn money for national savings.

We have to build a base of producing goods for export and economizing expenses so that we can have more foreign currencies in reserve to stabilize savings, Viphavanh said in a recent government meeting, adding that the Ministry of Finance now has no money in the state treasury.

So the Ministry is asking the Bank of the Lao PDR to repay its debts in advance so that we dont get into this kind of trouble again, Viphavanh said, referring to Laos by its formal name, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic.

The government is also now emphasizing reform of the countrys state-owned enterprises to increase transparency in their management, said Finance Minister Bounchom Ubonpaseuth, addressing the 1st Extraordinary Conference of the National Assembly on Aug. 6.

Many different state agencies would like to take control of the state enterprises, but when these collapse no one wants to take responsibility for their losses, he said.

Laos has a history of widespread government corruption. The Berlin-based Transparency International reported in January 2021 that Laos corruption ranking had worsened, dropping from 130 in 2019 to 134 in 2020 out of 180 countries.

Reported and translated for RFAs Lao Service by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Richard Finney.
A citizen militia teamed up with the Chin National Army to take over the camp, which they burned to the ground.

A general view of a camp of the Myanmar ethnic rebel group Chin National Front is seen on the Myanmar side of the India-Myanmar border close to the Indian village of Farkawn in the northeastern state of Mizoram, India, March 13, 2021. The rebel group joined forces with a local militia group to overrun a Myanmar military outpost (not pictured) Sept. 11, 2021

Anti-junta resistance forces in Myanmar joined up with an ethnic rebel group over the weekend and took over a military outpost in Chin state near the Indian border, killing 12 regime soldiers in the firefight, sources told RFA.

A coalition of about 400 combatants of the Chin National Army (CNA), and newly organized Chin Defense Force (CDF), were able to overrun the sparsely manned outpost Saturday evening in Chin States Thantlang township.

The CDF was formed by citizens who took up arms following the military takeover of the country Feb. 1 that oustied Aung San Suu Kyis democratically elected government.

They joined forces with the CNA, the armed group connected to the Chin National Front (CNF), a nationalist political organization that advocates for Myanmars Chin ethnic minority. Since its foundation in 1988 the CNA had been fighting against the Myanmar military, but it signed ceasefire agreements in 2012 and 2015.

Eight members of the CDF lost their lives in the attack over the weekend, according to local outlet The Irrawaddy.

Ronoe Lian, a CDF spokesperson in Thantlang, told RFA that the clash over the base in Lungler village lasted two days.

A combined force of the CDF and CNA laid siege to the camp on the evening of Sept. 10. There was a four-hour-long battle that day, and at around 1:00 p.m., a jet fighter flew by twice, then circled the surroundings and bombed four times, Ronoe Lian said.

The junta air support bombed the area about nine or 10 times that day, Ronoe Lian said. A report in the local media outlet Myanmar Now said the coalition that first attacked the base numbered about 200, but they retreated after the arial bombardment. The next day they returned in greater numbers.

On the second day, we battled for over five or six hours. Finally, we overran the camp, seized all the ammunition and set it on fire, Ronoe Lian said.

He said that the coalition were able to acquire ammunition and small arms stored in the camp, which was located just across the border from Mizoram state in India. The camp had been manned by 12 soldiers and had not received reinforcements in months.

The CDF told RFA that after the base was taken over, military helicopters were spotted in the area, likely on reconnaissance missions.

CNA spokesman Salai Htet Ni told RFA that the fighting could intensify because the military will likely bring in reinforcements to the area.

The military can put a lot of pressure here. What we know is that they are sending reinforcements to this region, and we have heard that they plan to wipe out all CDF movements statewide, Salai Htet Ni said.

Thats why we are expecting bigger clashes. We think this is going to happen, he said.

About 1,000 people living near the base fled toward the Indian border when fighting began Saturday, sources told RFA.

People from Longler village and two other nearby villages are fleeing to safety to avoid the fighting, a resident who requested anonymity for security reasons told RFA.

Some people fled their houses before the battle started. Later on, more people fled toward the border, the resident said.

Salai Za Op Lin, the deputy executive director of the India-based Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) told RFA that about 1,000 civilians fled to Mizoram in recent days.

Most of the villagers have fled to safety. This morning, when they saw military planes flying nearby, many of the villagers were terrified. We heard that a lot of the villagers left their homes after Sept. 10, when the military planes showed up, Salai Za Op Lin said.

They fled toward Kyainseng village in Mizoram, but there are also some people who are taking refuge nearby, an estimated 5,000 in total, he said.

The CHRO said more than 30,000 people have fled from Chin state to Mizoram since the coup. The military has responded by setting up road checks in many areas, which could cut of certain parts of the state from supplies and cause food shortages.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun was not available for comment.

The attack on the outpost came days after Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG) on Sept. 7 urged supporters to engage in a nationwide revolt. Interim President Duwa Lashi La called for for the complete overthrow of the junta.

Since then, the country has seen an increase in clashes between soldiers and citizens defense groups all over the country.

In the seven months since the coup, security forces have killed 1,089 civilians and arrested at least 6,477, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)mostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
The former national leader ousted in a Feb. 1 military coup had left the court on Monday, complaining of dizzy spells.

Detained Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi returned to court on Tuesday after an absence due to poor health the previous day interrupted the re-start of her trial in the capital Naypyidaw this week, sources said.

Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar President Win Myint were ousted in a Feb. 1 military coup that overthrew their democratically elected government over unproven accusations by the now ruling junta of voter fraud.

Their trial in a junta court on charges widely regarded as politically motivated was suspended for two months amid an outbreak in the country of COVID-19 and was set to resume on Monday, but was again postponed when Aung San Suu Kyi complained of dizzy spells.

She returned to court on Tuesday, defense attorney Khin Maung Zawhead of the former national leaders defense teamtold RFAs Myanmar Service in an interview.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had a spell of dizziness yesterday, but she was fine today, though she said she still felt a bit groggy, Khin Maun Zaw said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi by the honorific Daw. But we were able to discuss the case, he said.

We also discussed the four corruption charges filed against her in the Mandalay High Court, and she signed a letter of representation for another corruption case filed at the Yangon Region High Court that the team had submitted on her behalf, he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, had been in good health during the last two months, and had experienced difficulties only on Monday, her lawyers told RFA. She had previously been under the care of a family doctor, but after being taken into custody was assigned a doctor by Myanmars ruling Military Council.

Defense attorneys on Tuesday also filed a motion with the Naypyidaw court arguing that Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and former Yangon mayor Myo Aung should not be charged with incitement to disrupt public order, a case opened by police against the three under Section 505 (b) of the countrys Penal Code.

Prosecutors at the same time filed a motion in defense of the charge, defense attorney Min Min Soe said.

Both sides [argued over] the indictment in the 505 (b) case against the three leaders, Min Min Soe said, adding, We argued that no charges should be filed, while the prosecution insisted that they should be.

The court will issue its decision at its next hearing next Tuesday, she said.

Aung San Suu Kyi now faces up to 11 different charges filed by the military against her, and if found guilty in all cases could face a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison.

Myanmars junta has also detained nearly four dozen high-ranking officials from the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) on charges of corruption since seizing power nearly seven months ago in what legal analysts have called a bid to tarnish the partys image at a time of heightened political rivalry.

Anti-junta resistance continues in Myanmar, with as many as 1,089 protesters and other opponents of military rule killed and 6,477 arrested since the Feb. 1 coup, according to figures compiled by the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The move comes amid a regionwide push by Chinese authorities to close schools promoting Tibetan culture and offering classroom instruction in the Tibetan language.

Tibetan students at the Sengdruk Taktse Middle School in Qinghai's Darlag county are shown in an undated photo.

Authorities in a Tibetan-populated county of northwestern Chinas Qinghai province have shut down a Tibetan-run private school, forcing some students to enroll in government schools but leaving others who have no families to fend for themselves, Tibetan sources say.

The Sengdruk Taktse School, located in Darlag (in Chinese, Dali) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was closed without explanation on July 8 amid a regionwide clampdown on schools promoting Tibetan culture and offering instruction in the Tibetan language, sources said.

Many of the students who attended the popular Middle School are now enrolled in schools affiliated with the Chinese government, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA, citing contacts in the Darlag region.

However, those of the students who are orphans now have nowhere to go and have been left unattended, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. And huge restrictions are being placed on the teachers who had taught at Sengdruk to prevent them from helping the orphaned students.

Darlag-area students who had studied at Sengdruk have now been divided into different sections and sent to study at separate schools, while students who had come to Sengdruk from areas such as Derge, Dzachu, and Kyungchu in Sichuan are having trouble finding schools to take them in, the source said.

Almost a month after Sengdruk Taktse was closed, Chinese authorities arrested one of its longest-serving teachers, Rinchen Kyi, accusing her of inciting separatism, a charge frequently used against Tibetans promoting the preservation of Tibets language and culture in the face of domination by Chinas majority Han population.

Rinchen Kyi was taken into custody on Aug. 1 and brought to Qinghais capital Xining to be detained, London-based Free Tibet said in an Aug. 10 report.

Other schools threatened

Other schools in Golog offering classes outside Chinas government-mandated curriculum have now been warned they may also be closed, a Tibetan living in the area said, also speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

With the shutting down of the Sengdruk Taktse school, authorities have also told many private schools in the region they may be shut down eventually, he said.

Schools such as the Golog Ragya Jigme Gyaltsen School and the Golog Tadrak Private Orphanage School are under constant watch by the Chinese government, the source said, adding, For now, they have not been told they must close, but you never know what the future may hold for schools like these.

Authorities in neighboring Sichuan also have also begun this year to close down private Tibetan schools offering classes taught in the Tibetan language, forcing students to go instead to government-run schools where they will be taught entirely in Chinese, sources told RFA in earlier reports.

The move is being pushed in the name of providing uniformity in the use of textbooks and instructional materials, but parents of the affected children and other local Tibetans have expressed concern over the imposed requirements, saying that keeping young Tibetans away from their culture and language will have severe negative consequences for the future.

Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed illegal associations and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.

Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The hearings in London aim to determine if abuses of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims amount to genocide.

Members of the Uyghur Tribunal, a panel of UK-based lawyers, academics, rights experts, and business practitioners investigating alleged human rights violations and reports of genocide targeting Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region, hear testimony from witnesses, in London, Sept. 13, 2021.

The final round of a tribunal investigating whether Chinas treatment of its ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims constitutes genocide ended in London Monday after four days of hearings and testimony provided by nearly 40 witnesses and experts, with a nonbinding verdict expected at the end of the year.

The nine-member tribunal chaired by prominent British lawyer Geoffrey Nice conducted the first set of hearings in London known as the Uyghur Tribunal in early June, during which the panelists heard accounts from internment camp survivors describing abuses such as systematic rape, other forms of gender-based violence, torture, and killings.

During the second round of hearings from Sept. 10-13, nine witnesses and 28 experts testified about their experiences with and research findings on the Uyghur crackdown. The tribunal has no state backing or powers of sanction or enforcement, and any judgments issued are nonbinding on any government.

China has come under criticism for heavy-handed policies targeting the 12 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in the far-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Alleged abuses include the demolition of mosques; the imprisonment of Uyghur intellectuals, artists and business leaders; the replacement of Uyghur with Chinese as the main language in schools; the use of a pervasive and intrusive surveillance system to monitor Uyghurs move; forced labor at factories and farms; and forced birth control and the sterilization of Uyghur women.

China has held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention camps since 2017. Beijing has said that the camps are vocational training centers and has denied widespread and documented allegations that it has mistreated Muslims living in Xinjiang.

The U.S. and the legislatures in several European countries have deemed the treatment of Uyghurs and others in the XUAR as constituting genocide and crimes against humanity.

Intimidation of Uyghurs abroad

During the final day of the session, Laura Harth, campaign director for Spain-based Safeguard Defenders, focused in her remarks to the panel on Beijings public campaign to intimidate Uyghurs living abroad to prevent them from speaking out on alleged abuses in Xinjiang.

The so-called counter-evidence that Beijing and local authorities have sought to posit to the world over the past years bear all the hallmarks of yet more human rights violations and seemed to have the sole purpose of intimidating, discrediting, and silencing individual witnesses overseas, she said.

Barrister Rodney Dixon told the panel that he and two colleagues had submitted a report on crimes committed against Uyghurs in Xinjiang to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on behalf of the East Turkestan government in exile and the Uyghur people.

They gathered evidence about Uyghurs being targeted by Chinese authorities in ICC member states, such as Tajikistan and Cambodia, in order to arrest them and bring them back into China where they are never heard from again and where they are effectively disappeared, Dixon said.

The report urges the ICC to open a full investigation of the crimes, he said. The ICC can investigate and prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression.

Though China has not joined the ICC, the court has jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on the territory of member states, even if those responsible are citizens of a country that is not a member of the court.

The tribunal also heard testimony from ethnic Kazakh Gulzire Alwuqanqizi, who was arrested in July 2017 when she entered Xinjiang from Kazakhstan at the Khorgas border checkpoint with the Kazakh equivalent of a green card and a Chinese passport.

Subsequently interned in four different facilities in Xinjiang over more than 14 months, Gulzire was made to take pills, give blood samples, have medical checks, including ultrasounds, and be injected with what she was told was a flu shot, leaving her unable to have children, she said.

Gulzire told the panel she had been kept in shackles for six months at one camp and had to work as a cleaner, bathing female detainees who had been tied to a bed and raped violently by Han Chinese men. She then had to mop up the floor after the sexual assaults took place.

I saw that Uyghur women were brought to that room, and they were raped, and I had to wash them afterwards, she said through a translator.

I would hear them scream and shout and beg for help, but no one would do so, said Gulzire, who testified that one of the men told her he had paid money to assault Uyghur women.

Involvement of central government organs

Adrien Zenz, a German researcher whose work first brought worldwide attention to the internment camp system, presented the panel with a new report detailing the strong involvement of Chinas central government institutions in the mass incarcerations that began in Xinjiang in 2017.

New evidence shows that three very important central government organs  the Central Committee Xinjiang Work Coordination Small Group, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress in Beijing, and the State Administration for Religious Affairs  were involved in the drafting of a March 2017 regulation that laid the foundation for the vocational skills education training centers in Xinjiang.

Those groups also helped pass revisions to regulations in October 2018 to fully legitimize the re-education institutions, said Zenz, whose new report will be released by the Washington-based think tank Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday.

Chen Quanguo, who has been Communist Party chief in Xinjiang since August 2016 and is considered the architect of the crackdown on Uyghurs, was likely brought in as a ruthless and efficient implementer of a hatched plan that was outlined and approved by the central government, Zenz told the panel.

Zenz previously issued reports on Chinas internment camps in Xinjiang, the forced sterilization of detained Uyghur women, efforts to reduce population growth in Xinjiang thorough birth control and population transfer policies, and population optimization strategy to dilute the Uyghur majority in southern Xinjiang by raising the proportion of Han Chinese.

Chinese state media has vilified Zenz for his research. In March, he was one of 10 European individuals and four entities hit with travel and other sanctions by China in response to European Union penalties imposes on XUAR officials for abuses of Uyghurs.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese government on the final day of the hearings.

A day before the second session of the tribunal began, the Chinese government asked UK officials to stop the event organizers from conducting the hearings, but to no avail.

We were told by the British government that it is not part of the tribunal, that the tribunal is a nongovernmental entity, and that the organization has no legal authority, said Zheng Zeguang, Chinas ambassador to the UK, at a news conference on Sept. 9.

But the point here is, you should not allow these people to continue to spread rumors about China, because when they do so, they are undermining the good will and trust between the peoples of our two countries, Zheng told journalists.

The envoy condemned the panel as a political manipulation aimed at discrediting China.

It is a nongovernmental entity funded by anti-China forces, he said. It is a fake and has no legal basis or validity whatsoever.

The Uyghur Tribunal is expected to issue a final verdict on whether China is committing genocide or crimes against humanity in December.
MOSCOW -- The Moscow-based human rights center Memorial has recognized two Chechen brothers held in Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya as political prisoners.

Memorial said on September 14 that Ismail Isayev and Salekh Magamadov have been persecuted for their criticism of the authorities in Chechnya and for being homosexual.

The brothers have been held in a detention center in the Chechen capital, Grozny, since February on a charge of supporting illegal armed groups by providing them with food.

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"The case against Isayev and Magamadov is marred with blatant violations -- they were not allowed to see their lawyers, legal deadlines in the case have been ignored, pressure has been imposed on the brothers and their relatives, and the two were tortured," the statement says, adding that the case against Isayev and Magamadov is politically motivated and unlawful.

Isayev and Magamadov were initially detained last year over their opposition Telegram channel, through which they criticized Chechen authorities.

After their arrest, a video showing them apologizing for their criticism of the authorities appeared on the Internet. In the video, the young men appeared to have been beaten, according to Memorial.

In July 2020, the Russian LGBT Network helped the two men move to the city of Nizhny Novgorod, from which they planned to leave Russia for an unspecified foreign country.

However, they were abducted and brought to Chechnya in February, where they were charged with supporting terrorists.

Isayev and Magamadov have complained that they were beaten and tortured while in custody.

Chechen authorities have said the two men lied about their sexual orientation to make it easier for them to get asylum abroad, which they and human rights organizations reject.

The volatile region's government and its leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2007, are frequently accused by Russian and international activists of overseeing grave human rights abuses that include abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

Kremlin critics say Russian President Vladimir Putin has turned a blind eye to the alleged abuses and violations of the country's constitution by Kadyrov because he relies on the former rebel commander to control separatist sentiment and violence in Chechnya, the site of two devastating post-Soviet wars and an Islamist insurgency that spread to other mostly Muslim regions in the North Caucasus.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues a farewell trip to the Balkans with a stop on September 14 in Tirana, where she is scheduled to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and the leaders of four other Western Balkan states that strive for membership in the European Union.



Merkel, whose mandate as head of the German government is coming to an end as she prepares to retire after German elections later this month, began her two-day trip to the region on September 13 in Serbia.



She said one of Germany's goals is to see the six Western Balkan states join the European Union, but they 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 after discussions focused on political and economic cooperation and the EU integration process.



She said EU members should keep in mind that it is in the EUs absolute geostrategic interest to advance the integration process.



She did not name Russia and China but said there are influences from other regions in the world and if the European Union doesnt move fast enough...then of course one is forced to arrange oneself with other partners.



As Germanys chancellor, she said she always makes it clear to other EU members how important it is for the European Union to get closer to [the Balkan] countries."



Merkel praised the progress made thus far but also encouraged "further steps toward the rule of law, democracy, and plurality of civil society."



The six Balkan countries have for decades sought EU membership, but the blocs interest in enlargement has stalled. Slovenia, which holds the EU rotating presidency, is preparing a summit of countries from the region in October to relaunch the enlargement process.



The Western Balkan countries are at different stages of the process.



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-Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidate countries.



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.



Merkel is undoubtedly the true leader of Europe, Vucic said. The former member of a radical nationalist party added that he has fear over who will replace her.



Germany is holding general elections on September 26. The front-runner in voter surveys is German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Police in Almaty have dismantled a tent set up by protesters in front of the Chinese Consulate as part of their protest demanding the release of their relatives from prisons and so-called reeducation camps in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.



Despite a police order not to erect tents at the site, dozens of protesters spent a 20th night in front of the consulate in Kazakhstan's largest city on September 14.



One of the protesters, Khalida Aqytkhan,told RFE/RL that she will continue to spend her nights in front of the consulate even without a tent as she fights for the release of her three sons from Chinese custody.

After Kazakhstan gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang and elsewhere have benefited from Kazakhstan's state program on resettlement of ethnic Kazakhs into the country.



Many of them obtained permanent residence in Kazakhstan or Kazakh citizenship but continue to visit Xinjiang on a regular basis either to see relatives or for bureaucratic reasons, where some of them face pressure or even arrest and imprisonment.



Some of the protesters have been rallying in front of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty for many months.



The rallies of one of such protesters, Farida Qabylbek, paid off after her 58-year-old husband, Raqyzhan Zeinolla, was released from home arrest in Xinjiang and came to Kazakhstan from China in April after serving almost 15 years in prison and reeducation camps on espionage charges that his relatives rejected.

In recent years, many similar protests have taken place across Kazakhstan, with demonstrators demanding the authorities officially intervene in the situation faced by ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.



The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim ethnic groups have been confined in detention centers.



China denies that the facilities are internment camps, but individuals who have fled the province say people undergo "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities officially referred to as reeducation camps.



Beijing's policies in Xinjiang are a sensitive issue in Kazakhstan.



China is a major trading partner for the Central Asian country, and the Kazakh state-controlled media has generally avoided reporting about Beijing's policies in Xinjiang.



Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans. Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.
BISHKEK -- Five men have been handed prison terms in Kyrgyzstan for their role in a deadly bride-kidnapping case that sparked protests in the Central Asian nation in April over the widespread practice of abducting women for marriage.

Aizada Kanatbekova was kidnapped by a group of men on April 5 and found dead two days later in a car along with the body of one of her abductors, Zamirbek Tengizbaev, who killed himself after strangling her with a T-shirt.

The lawyer for Kanatbekova's family, Nurbek Toktakunov, told RFE/RL that the Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek on September 14 sentenced Syimyk Moldosariev, Ajikabyl Rysbai Uulu, and Oruzbek Nurumbetov to seven years in prison each, while Zamirbek Ramankulov and Kubanych Tokon Uulu were handed 6 1/2 years in prison for taking part in the kidnapping.

The court also ruled that the five must pay 100,000 soms ($1,200) altogether to the victim's family to compensate moral and material damage caused by the death of the 26-year-old woman.

WATCH: Missing Woman And Kidnapper Found Dead, Setting Off Protests In Kyrgyzstan

Tengizbaev will be tried posthumously on charges of murder and rape, as well as for kidnapping Kanatbekova.

The case shocked Kyrgyzstan, where thousands of bride kidnappings occur each year despite the criminalization of the practice in 2013.

It also put a spotlight on law enforcement's reluctance to pursue such crimes.

Police were sharply criticized for their slow response in the kidnapping even though it was recorded on security cameras with the vehicle's make, model, and license plate clearly visible in the videos.

Relatives of Kanatbekova have labeled the police actions as "casually dismissive," while Toktakunov has filed papers with the court over the "unprofessional handling of the case" by police and what he called "police attempts to cover up their misdeeds by forging documentation related to the case."

WATCH: Kyrgyz 'Bride Kidnapping' Turns Deadly

More than 40 police officers, including the Bishkek city police chief, were fired following the tragedy.

Authorities said at the time that Tengizbaev had been convicted in Russia three times for various crimes.

The UN Development Program and rights groups have highlighted the ongoing prevalence in Kyrgyz society of the practice of bride snatching, which they say often leads to marital rape, domestic violence, and other ills.

One of the most-notorious cases involved the stabbing to death in 2018 of 20-year-old university student Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy by a man who was trying to force her into marriage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in Moscow to discuss military cooperation against the remaining rebel-held areas in Syria, state media in Damascus reported on September 14.

Russia, along with Iran, has provided crucial military support to Assad in Syrias 10-year conflict, which began with a crackdown on anti-government protesters in March 2011. More than 400,000 people have since been killed and millions displaced.

Russia joined the conflict in September 2015, tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, whose forces now control much of the country. However, significant parts of Syria remain out of Assad's control, with Turkish forces deployed in much of the north and northwest -- the last major bastion of anti-Assad fighters -- and U.S.-backed forces in the Kurdish-controlled east and northeast.

Hundreds of Russian troops are deployed across Syria, where Moscow has a military air base in the coastal city of Latakia. Russia also has a sizable naval contingent based at the Syrian port of Tartus, in support of Russian air and ground operations in the country.

Putin and Assad met on September 13, their first meeting since holding talks in the Syrian capital in January 2020. Syrian state television said the two leaders were joined by Syrias foreign minister and Russias defense minister.

"Terrorists have sustained serious, significant damage, and the Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90 percent of the territory," the Russian president said, according to the Kremlin.

Assad hailed what he called a success of the Russian and Syrian armies in "liberating occupied territories" of Syria.

Russia, Syria, and Iran often refer to any armed opponents of the Syrian government as "terrorists."

In recent weeks, Syrian opposition activists said that Russian warplanes have been carrying out strikes in the northwestern province of Idlib -- the last major rebel stronghold in the war-torn country.

Last week, areas held by rebels in the southern city of Daraa came under government control following a siege by forces loyal to Assad.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
The Supreme Court of Russia's Mordovia region has decided not to hear, at least for now, a request from Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who is serving a lengthy prison term on espionage charges he calls trumped-up, to be transferred to the United States to serve out the rest of his sentence.



The court said in a statement on September 14 that it had decided to send the request back to the Justice Ministry "to obtain necessary information in accordance with clauses of an international agreement of the Russian Federation, as well as for preliminary coordination [of the issue] with a competent organ of the United States."



Whelan's defense team initially asked the Moscow City Court to consider their client's request to be handed over to the United States to finish serving his sentence. But the court refused to consider the matter over jurisdictional issues and forwarded it to Mordovia, where Whelan is currently serving his term.



Mordovia is a region located about 350 kilometers east of Moscow known historically as the location of Russia's toughest prisons, including Soviet-era labor camps for political prisoners.



Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison in May 2020 following a trial that was condemned by the United States as a "mockery of justice."



A holder of U.S., Canadian, British, and Irish passports, Whelan has rejected the espionage charges and accused his prison guards of mistreatment.



The United States has criticized the Russian authorities for their "shameful treatment" of Whelan.



Whelan was head of global security at a U.S. auto-parts supplier when he was arrested. He and his relatives insist he visited Russia to attend a wedding.



He is one of several Americans to face trial in Russia in recent years on charges that their families, supporters, and in some cases the U.S. government, have said are trumped-up.



Another former U.S. Marine, Trevor Reed, is serving a nine-year prison term in Mordovia as well. He was sentenced in July 2020 on charges of assaulting two Russian police officers.



The U.S. government and Reed deny the allegations and questioned the fairness of his judicial proceedings.



Reports have surfaced several times of a possible swap involving Whelan, Reed, and two Russians -- arms dealer Viktor Bout and drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko -- who are serving lengthy sentences in U.S. prisons.



Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov said on August 25 that Washington's unspecified "unconstructive" position made a prisoner swap unlikely.
A court in Moscow has ordered Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram to pay more fines for failing to delete content banned by Russian law amid a government campaign to gain more control over the Internet.



A magistrate court in Moscow's Taganka district on September 14 fined Facebook 21 million rubles ($288,000), Telegram 9 million rubles ($123,400), and Twitter 5 million rubles ($68,500) for failing to abide by requests to delete the content as requested by Russian Internet regulator Roskomnadzor.



In recent months, Moscow courts have fined Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, and TikTok over content, as well as for refusing to localize the personal data of its users in Russia.



The total fines Moscow courts have ordered Facebook to pay since January now surpass 90 million rubles ($1.23 million), while the total amount of fines Telegram and Twitter are obliged to pay are 40 million rubles ($550,000) and 60 million rubles ($822,700), respectively.



Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused social-media and other tech giants of flouting the country's Internet laws, including a push seeking to force foreign firms to open offices in Russia.



Many critics say the push has nothing to do with "Internet integrity" and instead accuse the authorities of trying to quell dissent with parliamentary elections looming on September 19 and the ruling United Party's popularity slumping.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described his self-quarantine due to "all-day" exposure to a close contact who tested positive for the coronavirus as a "test" for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

Putin, 68, made the comments during a videoconference on September 14 with members of the government and leaders of the ruling United Russia party.

"Several people fell ill in my inner circle, and one of these employees is a person who works with me in close proximity," Putin said, adding that he had spoken to the unidentified individual just before the man became sick.

"I talked to him all day the day before," Putin added, saying they had been in "very close" contact.

Putin explained that the contact had been vaccinated, but after his antibody levels dropped the man was revaccinated and "three days after the vaccination he got sick."

The Russian president, who has previously claimed to have been fully vaccinated with Sputnik V, described his current situation as a "natural experiment."

"Let's see how Sputnik V will work in practice," he said, adding that tests showed that his antibodies against COVID-19 remained high. "Hopefully, everything will go the way it should and Sputnik V will exhibit high levels of protection against COVID."

The Kremlin earlier announced Putin's self-isolation during a readout of a call Putin had with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

"Vladimir Putin said that in connection with the identified cases of coronavirus in his environment, he must observe the self-isolation regime for a certain period of time," the statement said. It did not say how long the isolation period would be.

Putin has canceled a planned trip to Tajikistan, as well as his attendance at sessions in Dushanbe of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

It is not known which of Putin's close contacts tested positive for COVID-19, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the president is absolutely healthy and "of course" has tested negative for the illness.

Putin attended several public events on September 13, including a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow and the Russian Paralympic team. He also attended military exercises conducted in coordination with Belarus.

He shook hands with Assad and attended the military exercises alongside other officials. He also shook hands with the Paralympians and appeared to signal that he was aware that he may have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Even in my circle, problems occur with this COVID, he was quoted as saying by the state RIA Novosti news agency. We need to look into what's really happening there. I think I may have to quarantine soon myself. A lot of people around [me] are sick."

Peskov later said Putin had been speaking figuratively.

With reporting by TASS, Interfax, and Reuters
The alleged killer of the Russian oligarch known as "the Sausage King" has been apprehended in Moscow after escaping from the detention center he was being held in last month.



Investigative Committee spokeswoman Olga Vrady said on September 14 that Aleksandr Mavridi was caught in the capital the day before with several thousand dollars worth of various currencies in his backpack.



Mavridi was initially arrested in November 2020 and charged with killing Vladimir Marugov, who owned some of Russia's largest meat-processing plants, including the Ozeretsky sausages and Meat Empire sausage factories.



Investigators said at the time that a group of masked men had rushed into the sauna at Marugov's home late at night in the affluent city of Istra near Moscow, tying him and his spouse up before demanding cash.



The woman managed to escape and call the police, but when officers arrived at the scene, they found Marugov dead with an arrow in his body. A crossbow was found nearby.

The 50-year-old Mavridi escaped from the detention center in Istra in early August along with four inmates who had been detained on various theft-related crimes.



Three of the four who escaped with Mavridi were rearrested several days later, while the fourth eventually turned himself in to police.



Two people from the towns of Podolsk and Lobnya were charged with assisting the men in escaping from the detention center.



The acting warden of the detention center, Andrei Starshinov, was charged with abuse of office and banned from leaving his home in the evening, talking with witnesses in the case, and from leaving the Moscow region.



Two guards at the detention center in Istra were also arrested and charged with abuse of duties.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax
Serbia's neighbors are no strangers to the red, blue, and white tricolor flags that fly outside some homes and Serb-led institutions or are splashed around some of the ethnically charged political rallies in the region.

After all, there are a combined 1.3 million ethnic Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo alone, according to estimates.

But all three of those countries are likely to see increased flag-waving and other public expressions of Serbian identity this week on a joint holiday declared last year by the governments of Serbia and of Republika Srpska -- the mostly Serb entity that along with the Muslim and Croat federation composes Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"I support the day and I think it benefits everyone, especially students, because it shows us that we should be united, to respect our compatriots in all countries," says Rastko, a high school senior in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska's capital.

He cites historical themes that are "common to all of us nationally," such as his school's plans to teach a lesson on the Salonica Front, also known as the Macedonian Front.

That World War I theater of battle's liberation in 1918 is ostensibly why Belgrade and the secession-minded leadership of Banja Luka decided -- in lightning succession over two days last year -- to celebrate Serbian Unity, Freedom, and National Flag Day every year on September 15.

But the shared heritage of a century-old battle attributed to Serbian forces and a cross-border celebration of Serbian nationality -- in a region freshly scarred by ethnic warfare -- is less self-evident to some of Republika Srpska's non-Serbs.

To me, it's this effort to try to emphasize nation-building beyond the borders of the state of Serbia."

Bosnia is still divided -- some would say dysfunctionally so -- by the parallel governing structures established along Bosniak, Serbian, and Croatian ethnic lines by the Dayton agreement 25 years ago to end three years of intense conflict accompanying the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Students in Srebrenica, the scene in Republika Srpska of one of postwar Europe's worst atrocities when Bosnian Serb troops massacred more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in 1995, complain that while Serbs should be allowed to celebrate their heritage, republican officials avoid events more closely aligned with Bosniak or Croat identity and history.

One student, Alija, calls Serbian unity day an official effort at "segregation, discrimination, and humiliation of non-Serbs in Republika Srpska."

Meanwhile, analysts warn that the holiday looks like a politically cynical and wrongheaded effort radiating from Belgrade to emphasize nation-building beyond recognized borders while encouraging the notion that Serbian national identity is under threat.

Such a campaign has rattled neighboring governments and could threaten the current Serbian leadership's preferred narrative of their country as a regional political and economic leader, analysts say.

"To me, it's this effort to try to emphasize nation-building beyond the borders of the state of Serbia," Florian Bieber, director of the Center of Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz, says of the new Serbian holiday.

He calls it a "symbolic manifestation" of Serbia's long-standing reluctance to accept its borders after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

It also hints at political opportunism as hopes of an early EU entry fade and a "natural inclination" of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic toward his political and ideological origins "in Serb nationalism and an anti-Western worldview," according to Bieber.

And all of it amid intensifying talk in Belgrade of a new "Serbian world" that critics say is little more than a new label for ethno-nationalist ambitions of a "Greater Serbia."

Serbia's 'Dilemma'

"The basic issue, if you're a nationalist, is how to conceive of this relation between the people inside the state and the people outside the state," says Eric Gordy*, a professor at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. "And that's what they've been talking about for 100 years."

The "big political dilemma" in Serbia -- where frustration particularly among young people has fed a demographic crisis that has reduced the population to under 7 million -- is that a large number of Serbs don't live there, Gordy says.

I have never said, and I won't react more harshly because if [Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin] hadn't said 'Serbian world,' you would have invented something else just so that Serbs would be guilty of something."

That fosters European fears of a return to the kind of conflict that wracked the region in the 1990s, killing at least 130,000 people and displacing millions more.

Gordy and consistent polling suggest there's no appetite for more war in the Balkans.

But like Russia in the 19th century with its appeals to pan-Slavism and Hungarian leaders' ongoing posturing as the protector of ethnic Hungarians abroad, Serbia looks like it's "attempting to achieve what they tried to achieve through force [in the 1990s] but in a softer way," Gordy says.

In that sense, he says, the new Serbian unity holiday looks like projecting influence while "promoting this idea that the national identity is threatened."

Whose Unity?

Serbian Unity, Freedom, and National Flag Day is a collaborative project between Belgrade and Banja Luka.

It was first organized last September by current Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, one of three members of the Bosnian presidency and an avowed separatist who, in the words of the director of the Center for Regionalism in northern Serbia, "spends more time in Belgrade than in Banja Luka."

There was no need to reconcile it nationally in Bosnia since the country has no unified law on public holidays.

A day later, after Vucic noted that it broke no laws, the Serbian government followed suit, and the joint holiday was born.

Within a week, public buildings and major institutions in both Serbia and Republika Srpska were festooned with Serbian flags as ceremonies were held and anthems broadcast to mark the holiday.

Always 'Guilty Of Something'

This year, Serbian unity day arrives with several of the region's governments on guard against interference from Belgrade.

EU enlargement has lost its sizzle on both sides, disappointing a handful of Western Balkan states and eroding one of the prime incentives for lasting democratic and institutional reforms in the region.

Censuses have been postponed in Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, in part, over obstacles to the accurate enumeration of ethnic minorities. (Bosnia isn't due for a new census until 2023.)

The internationally mediated Serbia-Kosovo normalization effort remains largely stalled, with a more politically pugnacious Kosovar prime minister, Albin Kurti, in charge of negotiations for Pristina.

And tensions have even mounted between Belgrade and Podgorica, the capital of neighboring NATO member Montenegro, where around one-third of citizens identify as "Serb." Scuffles broke out there last week over Serbian influence and the enthronement of the Serbian Orthodox Church's top local cleric in a former Montenegrin capital.

Vucic was forced to publicly distance his administration from the notion that it was pursuing a "Serbian world" that threatened Montenegrin or Bosnian independence.

"As for the 'Serbian world,' that is a phrase used by [Interior Minister Aleksandar] Vulin and it is not part of the official policy of the state of Serbia," Vucic said at a press conference.

"I have never said that," Vucic said, "and I won't react more harshly because if he hadn't said 'Serbian world,' you would have invented something else just so that Serbs would be guilty of something."

What's A 'Serbian World' Anyway?

"Serbian world" is a term coined -- or at least popularized -- by right-wing Serbian historian Aleksandar Rakovic a little more than a year ago.

In a front-page polemical in the Balkans' oldest surviving newspaper, Politika, in July 2020, Rakovic suggested that a "Serbian world" exists that implies the unification of Serbia, Republika Srpska, and Montenegro.

The term was quickly adopted by Interior Minister Vulin, a veteran Serbian nationalist politician and member of the cabinet whose Socialist Movement has governed alongside Vucic's senior Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012.

Vulin acknowledged that current circumstances didn't allow for the creation of a single state to unite all Serbs, but he predicted it would happen within decades.

"There was no talk of the 'Serbian world' five years ago, or anything of that sort," says Bieber.

He calls its public emergence part of a "continuous" effort, but one that has escalated in recent months.

"It's gradual and incremental, but it's certainly a distinctive shift away from where Serbia positioned itself [previously], and it's got a lot to do with the fact that EU integration is just not that powerful [of an incentive] anymore," Bieber says.

Until last week, Vucic had mostly batted away questions about a "Serbian world" policy, despite explicit calls by Bosnian Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic and Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani for him to reject it.

And Jeta Krasniqi, project director at the Kosovo Democratic Institute in Pristina, an NGO, tells RFE/RL that the ethno-nationalist tones mean that "any kind of project of this kind needs to be taken seriously."

She notes that despite the Serbian president distancing himself from talk of a "Serbian world," Vulin remains a key minister with a decade of experience working in tandem with Vucic.

Krasniqi, who participated in a meeting between regional leaders and outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the latter's farewell tour of the Balkans on September 14, says that despite the cooling of accession efforts, "it is up to the EU to reject this kind of rhetoric."

Enough Is Enough

But absent the carrot of EU membership in the immediate future, will Belgrade listen?

Gordy warns that the Serbs' recent use of the term "Serbian world" is "part of that continuum" that includes visions of a Greater Serbia or would-be efforts to create a "sphere of influence" in the Balkans.

He speculates that Serbian public opinion is probably "broadly sympathetic" to the idea of a "Serbian world," and that if Vucic thought he could succeed at promoting it he might be "behind it all the way." And sometimes, he warns, "unfortunately the only thing that really stops these kinds of campaigns is failure."

But Gordy predicts that outside pressure will only mount on Vucic to cool his language and notes the challenges for a country like Serbia.

"What makes it difficult here is that this [creation of spheres of influence] is something that major powers can do because they're major powers. Serbia is not a major power, so it's not going to be able to enforce that claim in the same way.

"I think he's seeing it backfiring and stepping away from it," Gordy says of Vucic.

Bieber says it's a "worsening problem" that's "becoming more and more pertinent and stronger in recent months."

But the stakes for Vucic and Belgrade are particularly high, he says, given their efforts to paint Serbia as a regional power in the rapidly changing Balkans.

So the crucial question is how Serbia decides to resolve the "continuous tension" between policies that promote good relations with its neighbors or ones that favor an ethno-nationalist policy toward ethnic kin.

"Being able to get away with more, in a certain way, and having [neighboring] countries which have weaknesses -- like Kosovo sovereignty, Bosnia's fragmented nature of politics, and in Montenegro the [deep] political divisions -- all of these things make it easier for Serbia to promote this kind of [ethno-nationalist] policy," says Bieber.

"But that's something which again contradicts the other narrative of Serbia as a kind of leader of the region, not in an ethnic way, but in an economic and political way beyond supporting Serbs."

*CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Eric Gordy of University College London.

Written and reported by Andy Heil with additional reporting by RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondents Marija Augustinovic and Goran Katic
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said Kyiv expects to receive a second tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under a $5 billion loan program before the end of the year, even as the nations crucial judicial reform stumbles.

An IMF mission will arrive in Kyiv on September 18 to evaluate Ukraines progress on several key reforms, including judicial, central bank, and anti-corruption legislation, that the loans are contingent upon.

The IMF last year approved the 18-month loan to help the country deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Ukraine received its first tranche totaling $2.1 billion in June and is seeking a second tranche of $750 million.

Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions, met all the benchmarks that were underlined in the memorandum with the IMF," Shmyhal said. "We expect this mission will go smoothly, which will be the final one in preparation for the next tranche.

Ukraines parliament in July passed judicial reform, which has been a top priority for the nations Western backers because it is seen as essential to enhancing the rule of law and curbing corruption.

The reform calls for the creation of two panels consisting of six experts each, including three foreigners, who will oversee the two bodies responsible for selecting and choosing candidates for judicial vacancies.

Ukraines judiciary has opposed the reform, saying the inclusion of foreign experts in the process comprises the nations sovereignty and is seeking to overturn it in the Constitutional Court.

Civil society activists say outside experts are necessary because the nations judicial system is deeply corrupt and incapable of reforming itself, pointing to past failures to rid itself of compromised judges.

International business associations say Ukraines corrupt judiciary is a major hinderance to foreign investment.

Ukraines judicial reform took a step forward when the countrys Western backers on September 10 selected its three candidates for each of the two panels.

However, Ukraines Council of Judges on September 13 announced that it had failed to select experts for one of the two panels, sparking accusations it was seeking to undermine the reform.

"They are buying their time to bring the appeal to the Constitutional Court with the hope of canceling the reform, Tetiana Shevchuk, legal counsel for the Kyiv-based Anti-Corruption Action Center, told RFE/RL.

Following the councils decision, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for a meeting on September 16 -- two days before the IMF mission arrives -- with representatives of the judiciary and parliament as well as ambassadors from the Group of Seven (G7) nations who back the reform agenda.

The president said the purpose of the meeting is to prevent the legislation from being derailed.

Every illegal action aimed at blocking judicial reform will be immediately evaluated and rebuffed. I will not allow judges who hamper the reform and the cleanup of the judicial system to deprive the Ukrainians of the right to justice, Zelenskiy said on September 13.

Zelenskiy touted the passage of judicial legislation during his first official visit to Washington earlier this month as he sought to dismiss concerns about his nations commitment to the tough reform agenda.

Shevchuk said judicial reform is one of Zelenskiys main achievements during his two years in office and that he has to show ownership of the process to resolve the situation.

Hopefully this meeting will be enough to persuade the judges to move ahead with the reform, she said.

With reporting by the Kyiv Post
PRAGUE -- The Prague City Court has remanded Russian citizen Aleksandr Franchetti, who is wanted by Ukraine on an international arrest warrant, in custody until a decision is made on his possible extradition to Kyiv.

Franchetti, who was detained at Prague's international airport on September 12, was taken to the Pankrac detention center in the Czech capital after the court handed down its ruling on September 14.

Franchetti is wanted by Ukraine for his alleged involvement in Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Black Sea region of Crimea.

His lawyer, Jan Schwartz, immediately appealed the court's decision.

Franchetti has admitted to being an active participant in the events in Crimea in 2014. Just days before Russias military occupation of the region, he created a paramilitary formation called North Wind, which helped seize power lines and gas pipelines.

In an interview posted on YouTube, Franchetti said he acted in coordination with Russias naval command at the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

According to media reports, Franchetti was granted permanent residence in the Czech Republic in 2000 and has worked there as a fitness trainer. He says he has never violated international law.

With reporting by iDnes and TASS
PRAGUE -- For years, Aleksandr Franchetti lived a double life.

In Prague, his home off and on since the 1990s, information about the middle-aged Russian man arrested over the weekend for his alleged actions during Moscow's seizure of Crimea in 2014 is hard to come by.

At the gym where he apparently worked, people said they hadn't seen him for years or refused to comment. At a nondescript apartment building outside the city center, a ring of the buzzer bearing his adopted name goes unanswered.

In fact, most of the available information about what Franchetti may have done in Crimea comes from Franchetti himself, from web-posted interviews over the years in which he paints a flattering self-portrait of a humble patriot spurred to action to defend the port city of Sevastopol from potential saboteurs.

In any case, his past may have caught up with him on September 12, when he was arrested at the international airport in Prague on the basis of a request from the authorities in Ukraine.

In Kyiv's eyes, Franchetti was no defender: Ukraine wants to put him in the docket on charges of forming an illegal armed group. Franchetti, 48, could face up to eight years in prison if found guilty.

By Any Other Name

A search of public records indicates Franchetti was born in Voronezh on March 2, 1973, but under a different surname, as his sister has confirmed: He was born Aleksandr Olenev, Yana Oleneva, who still lives in the southwestern Russian city, told the Crimea.Realities desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

That name also appears on a page of the Russian website dedicated to poetry --Stixi.ru -- which also includes a headshot of someone appearing to be Franchetti. Evidence also suggests he has used at least two pseudonyms, Aleksandr Kramarenko and Aleksandr Ol.

Aleksandr Molokhov, a representative of the Russian authorities in control of occupied Crimea, said that Franchetti was the last name of the Russian's ex-wife -- a woman he is said to have married sometime after he moved to the Czech Republic in the mid-1990s.

By 2013, Franchetti had acquired residency in the Czech Republic. In a report that year, the Russian Defense Ministry's TV channel Zvezda quoted his daughter, whom it identified as Dia Franchetti, as saying that her father "loved the Czech Republic and Prague."

Franchetti had indicated in the past, including in Internet postings, that he worked as a fitness trainer. In Prague, people at the gym where he has said he worked told Current Time that they had not seen him since 2015 or 2016.

No one answered when reporters from Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, visited an apartment in the Prague 4 district on September 13 with a buzzer with Franchetti's name on it.

Franchetti over the years has opened or run several businesses in Prague, most of which are no longer active or have been liquidated, a search of public records showed.

Train To Sevastopol

In an interview posted to YouTube in September 2014, Franchetti said he first traveled to Crimea on February 25, 2014, arriving by train in Sevastopol from Voronezh.

That was just two days before heavily armed men wearing green uniforms with no identifying insignia stormed the Crimean parliament in Simferopol, the capital of the Ukrainian region on the Black Sea, and raised the Russian flag atop the building.

As masked commandos in similar garb fanned out across the peninsula, surrounding Ukrainian military bases and taking control of other strategic facilities, what Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged much later was already clear to many on the ground: The "little green men" were Russian military personnel.

Russia cemented control over Crimea in March, after staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by most of the international community.

Franchetti said that he got his first "combat duty" on February 28, and that days later he created a paramilitary group called North Wind.

According to Franchetti, the unit patrolled wooded areas around Sevastopol, watching for any pro-Kyiv forces who might try to reach the city, and checked pipelines and power lines regularly to ensure there was no sabotage -- in other words, helping secure control over these facilities for anti-Kyiv forces.

In an interview posted on YouTube, Franchetti also claimed he acted in coordination with Russia's naval command at Sevastopol, which even before Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula was the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Franchetti boasted about allegedly foiling a "saboteur plot" not far from a reservoir near Sevastopol, asserting that all the details of the foiled "diversionary group" had been handed over to the Black Sea Fleet.

His claims fit a Kremlin narrative about the events in Crimea at the time -- what turned out to be the groundless assertion of a major threat from Ukrainian forces that might seek to avert the Russian takeover.

But the details of this alleged operation are unknown -- and a search of public records by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service turned up no information or mention of any military-type actions in the vicinity of Sevastopol in February and March of 2014.

North Wind, Or Bluster?

As with Franchetti, his name, and his actions, questions have been raised about North Wind itself. Franchetti said the group consisted of 12 people, although a search of public records turns up only three names with known links to the group: Fyodor Vetrov, originally from Sevastopol but living in Moscow; Ihor Pavlinenko, from the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk; and Dejan Beric, a citizen of Serbia.

Beric is a well-known figure, who fought later with Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, where a war that erupted weeks after Russia's seizure of Crimea still simmers after more than 13,000 deaths, and was frequently featured by Russian state-run media. He has also apparently worked as a journalist for PolitRussia, a "national, sociopolitical magazine," according to its website.

Information gleaned from his account on the Russian social network VKontakte indicates Beric now lives in Moscow, where he runs a fishing-tackle shop.

His friendship with Beric apparently landed Franchetti in hot water with Sergei Menyailo, picked by Moscow to run Sevastopol after the takeover. Beric became a critic of Menyailo, who left Crimea in 2016, after he refused a petition from Beric in 2015 to grant him Russian citizenship, labeling him merely a mercenary.

When the Russian occupying authorities announced elections in Sevastopol in 2014, Franchetti ran in the city's Nakhimovsky district as an independent candidate, but only got just over 1 percent of the vote in the unrecognized election after promising pension reforms and free "leisure centers" to apartment dwellers in the district, among other things.

His political aspirations dashed, Franchetti slowly disappeared from the separatist political scene in Sevastopol, according to Lenur Usmanov, a local pro-Russian activist who says he knew him well. "Many of these members of 'self-defense units' and others active in events of the 'Russian spring' found themselves with nothing to do. And Franchetti is no exception," Usmanov told Crimea.Realities.

For some time, Franchetti worked as an assistant for Olga Khomyakova, a member of the Russian-appointed local assembly in Sevastopol, before quitting the job.

He did remain, however, co-founding Sevastopol Defense, a so-called civic organization made up mostly of those who had been active in paramilitary groups on the peninsula. In 2016, however, Sevastopol Defense, was plagued by infighting ahead of the Russian State Duma elections -- with some, including Franchetti, backing Russia's ruling United Russia, and others supporting local separatist groups.

"There were even fights between them," a source close to the Sevastopol assembly told Crimea.Realities, requesting anonymity because of the "sensitivity" of the subject.

Planning A Move?

Since 2014, Franchetti has shuttled back and forth between Prague and Sevastopol, according to Usmanov, who said the Russian bodybuilder has also tried his hand at business. Franchetti would often travel back to the Black Sea peninsula with business proposals, only to have them rejected, Usmanov said.

Where exactly Franchetti lived in Sevastopol, Usmanov said he did not know. "The only thing I know for sure is that he had built a house in Sevastopol and was planning to move here for good from Prague. He said that he felt more comfortable here," Usmanov said.

Franchetti may feel more at home in Crimea. But he has apparently soured on Putin, who some of the militants who helped Russia seize Crimea or fought alongside separatist forces in eastern Ukraine fault for not going far enough to expand Russian control over portions of Ukraine.

"I am ashamed. I am very ashamed of this president, who was somehow elected -- I really don't know by whom. Over the past year or two, I have not met a single person who voted for him," Franchetti said in a video uploaded to the Internet in April 2020.

On September 14, a court in Prague ordered Franchetti to be remanded in custody pending a decision on his possible extradition to Ukraine.

Written by Tony Wesolowsky based on reporting by David Akselrod of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, Current Time, and RFE/RL's Russian Service
The Deadline increased for filing the Income Tax Return

New Delhi : The government has again decided to extend the deadline for filing the Income Tax Return (ITR) for the FY 2020-21 by three months to December 31, 2021, from September 30, 2021.





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The deadline has increased due to the problems of the new income tax portal that had made it very difficult for the outcome of taxpayers to conclude their ITR filing process.







This is the second time in this financial year, that the government has reached the deadline of filing ITR for individuals whose accounts are not required to be audited. Initially, due to the second wave of the Covid-19, the ITR filing deadline was extended by two months from the usual deadline of July 31 to September 30, 2021.

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Observing the press release issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), "The due date of furnishing of Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22, which was 31st July 2021 under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, as extended to 30th September 2021 vide Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021, is hereby further extended to 31st December 2021."







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Sujit Bangar, Ex-IRS officer and, founder, Taxbuddy.com, an ITR filing website says, "As we know, the original due date of July 31, 2021, stands extended to December 31, 2021. If tax liability to be paid is less than Rs 1 Lakh, then there wont be interest u/s 234 A for ITR's being filed before Dec 31, 2021. The catch is that interest u/s 234A would be charged if the outstanding tax liability is Rs 1 lakh or more. It will be levied from August 1, 2021, onwards till the date of filing ITR. Therefore, it is advisable to compute tax working immediately even if ITR may be filed later. This may help us in saving interest."







Along with this, the government even extended the deadline to file delayed and/or updated ITR by two months from January 31, 2022, to March 31, 2022. "The due date of furnishing of belated/revised Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22, which is 31st December 2021 under sub-section (4)/sub-section (5) of section 139 of the Act, as extended to 31st January 2022, wide Circular No.9/2021 dated 20.05.2021, is hereby further extended to 31st March 2022."


Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh appealed to the farmers on Monday, to free the state and conduct their protest at Delhi's border and Haryana.

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As the farm laws were passed by the Union government, farmers should now shift the agitation venue to Delhi borders in order to put pressure on the Centre, he said.



Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of a government college at Mukhliana village in Hoshiarpur, the CM said the protests and sit-ins being held at 113 places across Punjab, including at toll plazas, were not at all in the states interests.

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Punjab will suffer financially... There is no use sitting at 113 places in Punjab and weakening its financial position, he said. It is your Punjab, your villages, your people. You do whatever you want to do at Delhi (border), put pressure on them (Centre), and make them agree, Singh said.





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In another event, Amarinder requested the Centre to shed its stubbornness and repeal the farm laws. Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of College of Agriculture in SBS Nagar district, he said, The Constitution has been amended 127 times since 1950. So why not one more time to repeal the farm laws for providing succor to the farmers who have been sitting at Singhu and Tikri borders?

Captain Amarinder Singh



CM Amarinder Singh said that the central farm laws have already been rejected in the assembly replaced by the state governments farm laws, which were sent to the governor for his approval, but to our dismay, these have not yet been forwarded to the President.
Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister





New Delhi/ Chandigarh: The Punjab Government look for a special financial package to establish Centre of Excellence for research and breed improvement of Buffaloes to further boost dairy sector in the state. This demand was raised by Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister during his meeting with Mr. Purshotam Rupala, Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying today at Krishi Bhawan here.

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Mr. Bajwa instructed the Union Minister that the environmental and geographical conditions of Punjab are more appropriate and adaptable for buffaloes than other milch animals for strengthening the Centre of Excellence for research and breed improvement of Buffaloes would benefit the dairy farmers manifolds by adding their income, said Bajwa.



Likewise Mr. Tript Bajwa put up demand for 100% subsidy for the state of Punjab under RGM (RASHTRIYA GOKUL MISSION), for Development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds,Genetic upgradation of bovine population and enhancement of milk production and Productivity of bovines.

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Mr. Bajwa demanded 100 percent funding from the central Government under Establishment of Veterinary Hospital and Dispensary (ESVHD-MVU) Scheme to purchase 70 Mobile Veterinary Units for Punjab to provide door to door emergency services to the livestock farmers. Mr. Bajwa put forward the urgent requirement to allocate funds under GOI scheme to establish A-Grade Semen station at 100 acre Kullemajra Farm of the department in Patiala District.



He demanded funds needed for production of sex sorted semen at A - Grade Semen Station Nabha through Mobile Sex Sorting Units for the production of Sex Sorted Semen doses for use in cattle and Buffaloes. This will desperately check numbers of male calves born and control stray cattle menace in years to come.

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Mr. Bajwa also appealed to the Union Minister to approve and release the required funds under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY ) for the project to be submitted to GoI for Repair and Renovation of 100 Veterinary Hospitals and 100 Veterinary Dispensaries in Punjab. Mr. Bajwa strongly demanded from GoI to provide100% financial assistance to the Dairy Farmers of the State for insurance cover up to 20 cattle buffaloes and upto 100 sheep/goats/pigs on unit basis.



Mr. Tript Bajwa informed that the Punjab Goverment has already demand the GoI to include dairy machinery under SMAM (Sub-mission of Agriculture Mechanization) because there were specific machines and technologies which are completely used in the dairy sector viz. Silage Making Machine (Balers) Bulk Milk Coolers, Total Mixed Ration Machine, Milking Machines, Milking Parlor, Automatic Milk Dispensing Unit etc., which if provided on subsidized cost can help a lot to promote modern dairy practices in the State.

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Mr. Bajwa added that Keeping in view regarding considerations for the importance of livestock contribution in the GDP of the state urged for special 100% GoI scheme for the new construction of veterinary hospitals and veterinary dispensaries in the state. Mr. Rupala has given consent to most of the proposals put up by Mr. Bajwa. Union Minister also directed the concerned authorities to resolve the other pending issues at the earliest.

Tript Bajwa



Additional Chief Secretary, Animal Husbandry Mr. V.k.Janjua, MD Milkfed Mr. Kamaldeep Singh Sangha, Director Animal Husbandry Dr. H.S Kahlon, Director Dairies Sh. Karnail Singh were also assisting Mr. Bajwa.
Sibel KONFINO

Translation by Janet MITRANI

We talked with Funda Kara, the High School Principal of Ulus Jewish High School (UOML), about the AP program that opens the door to universities abroad.

What is AP?

The AP (Advanced Placement) program administered by the American College Board, is a program enabling high school students to study university-level classes. The students participating in the program and taking AP classes, take the international AP Exams in May. Students who are successful in the exams, can earn some important advantages such as getting accepted in the universities and colleges abroad, get scholarships in some universities in Turkey, or earn college credit and be exempt from their future classes in the universities they will go to.

Ulus Jewish High School became an AP School in 2014. In 2014, when we had returned from a seminar in the United States together with Berta Banana, the Head of Mathematics Department, we talked to our administrators and took our first step eagerly and decidedly with the AP Calculus AB class we opened. At the end of the first year, we were very excited to see that all the students who had taken this class received 5 over 5 in the AP Exam. Throughout the years the number of our AP classes and our success quickly increased. When we evaluate the achievement of our 7 years long AP past, I would like to express that the grade average our school's students got in AP exams is way over both Turkey and the world average.

UOML is also College Board's Exam Center.

Due to this authorization granted to a limited number of schools in Turkey, our school is hosting many students from different cities and schools during the exams. In Turkey, there aren't many schools offering the AP program. Some schools offer the program but are not exam centers. Ulus Private Jewish High School is known as an AP exam center in every city in Turkey. Last year 67 students from different cities and schools in Turkey, took their AP exams in our school. I believe that our students' being able to take their AP exams in their own schools is a great privilege.

What kind of doors does AP success open for students?

AP success plays an important role in the acceptance process for the universities abroad, in Europe also. In the scope of the programs they want to study at the universities, students who take AP classes and pass are offered acceptances and scholarships from countries such as Netherlands, Italy, Israel, and distinguished universities around the world.

In which subjects and fields there are AP classes available?

In our school, we have an AP program having a broad selection of choices. The classes we offer our students are AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics, AP Mechanics, AP Electronics, AP Biology, APChemistry, AP Psychology, AP Studio Art, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Computer, AP World History. Of course, we choose students that will take these classes, as the curriculums of these classes are more detailed than the high school curriculum and they contain harder subjects. For a student to be successful, they first have to be ready. I see AP classes as an opportunity that students with good academic infrastructure, who intend to study, who like challenges, and who like to struggle, should not miss. AP Program is a prestigious and widespread program in the world. Just like they do in the United States, Europe, and Israel, some private universities in Turkey have also started to offer scholarships to successful AP students.
Fashion Icon Zandra Rhodes on Staying Busy While Staying Home

Rhodes has unveiled a collection for Happy Socks, hosted virtual fundraisers and teas, and developed a wallpaper collection for Ikea


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From Dan Kopf, Data Editor:

The San Francisco Chronicle has launched the 2020 census explorer to help readers understand how their communities have changed over the past 10 years.

This project allows readers to input an address anywhere in the country and see how the racial and ethnic demographics of their community changed between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. Through maps and charts, the interactive tool shows readers movements in their census tract, city, county and state. The tool also allows readers to see how their neighborhoods demographics differ from that of their county and state.

The census explorer is a powerful way to explore how local demographic trends correspond or divert from city and state figures, giving readers the data behind neighborhood changes they've witnessed in the last decade, said newsroom developer Yoli Martinez, who led the projects creation alongside former newsroom developer Eric Blom. To make the interactive, we used the mapping program MapBox and the javascript visualization library D3. We are proud that the tool is such a smooth experience that will help inform our community.

The 2020 census explorer is the latest interactive tool built by The Chronicle Data Team in collaboration with newsroom developers known collectively as the DevHub. Martinez and Blom were supported in project development by newsroom developer Paula Friedrich, data visualization and interactive project lead Hilary Fung, and senior interactive developer Evan Wagstaff. Data reporter Susie Neilson contributed reporting for the story, and data editor Dan Kopf edited the project.

Other recent projects from the DevHub and Chronicle Data Team include:

Drought Tracker: An interactive that helps readers stay updated on water shortages and restrictions in Bay Area communities affected by the dry conditions plaguing the West

Five ways of looking at how San Franciscos population changed: A series of maps examining where the citys population grew over the last decade

Californias complicated history with assault weapons: An illustrated story showing how gun manufacturers make guns that are similar to assault weapons to be sold in California, even though assault weapons are banned in the state.

We believe that data analysis and interactive storytelling are key to informing our readers, said Kopf. Presenting readers with detailed information on issues like how their neighborhoods are changing and the state of the drought helps people have a more accurate understanding of whats happening in their community and, in some cases, make choices that make that community better.

The Data Team will discuss the census interactive and what new census data tells us about our changing region at Data Speaks: Dissecting the Decennial Census and What it Means for the Bay Area on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. This virtual live event is open to the public and free to join. Click here to register.

About The San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfchronicle.com) is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by the Hearst Corporation in 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 by Charles and Michael de Young and has been awarded six Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Follow us on Twitter at @SFChronicle.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Tuesday, Sept. 14, and one of Tahoes best-known ski resorts has a new name. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

California voters will decide Gov. Gavin Newsoms fate in the recall election, a contest fueled by populist anger over Californias pandemic-era business closures and the governors response to the crisis.

California, the eyes of the nation are on you. Im not joking, President Biden said Monday night as he spoke at a packed rally with Newsom at Long Beach City College.

Newsom could win the election, the second bid to recall a governor in state history, by a big margin, according to recent polls.

But it hasnt been a cakewalk for the governor. Read more from Dustin Gardiner about how the stunning turn of events transpired for Newsom, who won his 2018 election by a landslide and was once considered to be on the Democrats short list of future presidential candidates.

 Still havent voted? Heres how to cast your ballot today.

 Heres what the Chronicle Editorial Board says about how not to vote on Question 2.

 Polls close at 8 p.m.: Follow election results here.

 Latest news updates from the recall vote count.

 When will we get the final result? Heres an expected timeline.

 Sign up for Chronicle breaking news alerts to get the news to your inbox when it happens.

Top Tahoe resort sheds slur

Max Whittaker/Special to The Chronicle

After a years worth of community Zoom hearings, committee brainstorms, marketing meetings and consultations with tribal leaders, the north Lake Tahoe resort known for decades as Squaw Valley on Monday announced its new name: Palisades Tahoe.

The conversation took on new urgency after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement, sparking protests nationwide and imploring companies, government agencies and other institutions to re-examine their contributions to cultural equity.

To the Tahoe ski area, the disruption offered an opportunity to confront an awkward truth that has haunted the resort and surrounding mountain community since their establishment in the mid-20th century: Squaw is a misogynistic term with an ugly history.

Read more from Gregory Thomas.

 Breaking down the new Palisades Tahoe ski resort name and logo.

California wildfires

Courtesy National Park Service

 Fires burning in Sequoia National Park threaten world's largest trees.

 Crews gain ground on Hopkins Fire in Mendocino County.

 Biden urges climate action while stumping for Newsom in California: These fires are blinking code red for our nation.

 Judge questions PG&E employee who found downed tree on power line at Dixie Fire's origin point.

Around the Bay

 Park search: Northern California man on solo hike in Yosemite reported missing.

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.

 Two-year effort: S.F. to allocate $42 million for workforce training programs to help pandemic recovery.

 Transit success: San Francisco Bay Ferry service booming after adding more trips on the weekends.

 The end of plastic bags in Berkeley? City studies banning them from grocery stores and restaurants.

 Proactive move: CHP begins traffic enforcement in Oakland for three-week assignment.

 Bill awaits signature: S.F. archbishop pleads with Newsom to save Junipero Serra statue at state Capitol.

Burglarized and burned

JK Dineen / The Chronicle/

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 Sept. 5 incident is under investigation as a burglary and possible arson, authorities said  the latest in a rash of commercial burglaries in the area during the pandemic, according to Supervisor Gordon Mar.

Standing in the wreckage of the shop, owner Sona Pehlivanian, 66, talked with reporter J.K. Dineen about the stores history, what shes lost and the challenges ahead. Should I put in the energy to rebuild, or walk away and keep doing flowers for the church out of my garage? she said. I dont know.

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.
For the first time since Chinatown leaders pleaded for help amid a wave of violent crimes, six California Highway Patrol officers enforced traffic Sunday in parts of Oakland, authorities said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to send the CHP about a month ago.

The officers worked from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and focused their efforts on traffic infractions, including speeding, reckless driving, sideshows and seat belt and cell phone violations, said CHP Capt. Stephen Perea.

The CHP is focusing on high injury networks in Oakland, which includes 34 corridors and 22 intersections. On Sunday, the officers were stationed in downtown and West Oakland, Perea said.

Our focus for the Highway Patrol is these areas and proactively enforcing the vehicle code, Perea said. Not every stop ends in a citation. Not every stop ends in an arrest. Its just one of those things where it really depends on the situation.

Perea did not have figures on how many arrests or citations were made Sunday.

Mayor Libby Schaaf and police Chief LeRonne Armstrong announced Friday that CHP would begin enforcement over the weekend.

Schaaf said she was thankful for Newsom and the CHP commissioner for partnering with the city to boost police resources to address dangerous traffic activity.

All of our residents deserve safer streets in their neighborhoods, she said.

The increased presence comes after leaders in Chinatown had called on the governor to declare a state of emergency. Their insistence for more police support prompted Schaaf to ask for CHP officers to be sent to the citys major commercial corridors and along International Boulevard. The move prompted criticism from activists who said more police can harm Black and brown communities.

Armstrong said that with the CHPs help, the department hopes to eradicate this illegal sideshow epidemic that has caused so many sleepless nights for our residents here in Oakland.

On Sunday, no sideshows were reported, Perea said.

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 Highway Patrol is expected to help the Oakland Police Department through the end of September. Officers will enforce traffic on city streets every weekend, said Johnna Watson, a spokeswoman for the Police Department.

Watson said the department will measure the CHPs success based on whether its presence deters sideshows and reduces speeding, reckless driving, driving under the influence and collisions.

The assistance is funded through state grants, Perea said. He said he was not sure of the exact cost. But, he said, the number of officers deployed to Oakland will depend on staffing availability. The Oakland shifts are overtime.

We are happy to do it, Perea said. Its just one of those things where staffing is obviously an issue kind of everywhere right now.

But, he added, that Oaklanders should expect us anytime.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Daily Drivers popular wood-fired bagels and house-made cream cheese are coming to Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.

The bagel purveyor is opening Thursday, Sept. 16, inside the Cheese School at 900 North Point. The cafe will serve all of Daily Drivers familiar fare including bagel sandwiches, grab-and-go bags of bagels, fresh cheeses and hand-paddled butters. A new menu item  a bagel grilled cheese made with Point Reyes Gouda, plus tomato soup on the side  will only be available at this location.

This is Daily Drivers third San Francisco location, joining the flagship in Dogpatch and a second outpost at the Ferry Building Marketplace. (A stand that opened in Hayes Valley last summer has since closed.)

Daily Driver co-owner Tamara Hicks knows the owner of the Cheese School, who has been looking for someone to take over part of their kitchen and cafe space, according to Hicks. It made sense for the two businesses, which both make cheese, to share a space. Daily Driver plans to feature Cheese School cheeses on the menu and collaborate on classes and events.

Its a huge win-win, Hicks said. For us, we want to expand to an area of the city that doesnt have a lot of breakfast options.

Frankie Frankeny/Special to The Chronicle

To start, the Ghirardelli Square cafe will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday for indoor and outdoor seating, plus takeout. It might open more days depending on the demand, Hicks said.

Daily Driver also brought on a new head cheesemaker this summer, Rachel Kleine, whos planning to introduce house-made cottage cheese, compound butters, fresh yogurt and other new dairy products. Also new to the Daily Driver menu are cheese curds and butterkase, a creamy, semisoft cheese with high fat content that Daily Driver describes as a more complex, nuanced version of Havarti.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Hicks and David Jablons, owners of Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery in Marin County, started Daily Driver in 2019 with partners Hadley and David Kreitz. The first, two-story location in Dogpatch functions as a cafe, bakery, creamery and coffee roaster. Customers can watch their bagels bake in large ovens and peer through windows to see cultured butter and cheese in process. Since its opening, Daily Driver has drawn a loyal following for its chewy bagels slathered with fresh cream cheese.

Hicks wants to grow Daily Driver further and is eyeing locations in the Outer Sunset and on the Peninsula, she said.

Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany
A wave of Bay Area restaurants and pop-ups have recently closed temporarily to give time off to employees feeling the mental and physical drain of working during the pandemic. San Francisco is allocating $42 million in workforce training programs to help over 10,000 residents recover from the pandemic. 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 could loom again this fall now that California schools, restaurants, bars and even conventions are in business again.

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:

Solano County employees in mask-mandate cities must follow local rule: Solano County employees whose county workplaces are in cities that require indoor mask-wearing -- like Benicia and Vallejo -- must follow the local mandate, county supervisors decided Tuesday. Solano remains the only Bay Area county to not have its own mandate for mask-wearing in indoor public spaces. The board also voted down a measure that would have required county workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Everybody in my household that can have a vaccine has had a vaccine, Supervisor Mitch Mashburn said. I agree with it, but it is not the duty or the job of this board to impose that on our citizens. Supervisor Monica Brown, who proposed the two motions, quipped that President Bidens federal directive, requiring vaccination or coronavirus testing be instituted by employers with 100 more employees, would create a vaccine mandate anyway: At least I hope to have that leadership from above.

Contra Costa County imposes vaccination mandate for some indoor businesses: Contra Costa County on Tuesday issued a new health order, effective Sept. 22, mandating that indoor restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result from the past three days for patrons entering. San Francisco and Berkeley have similar mandates. Contra Costa has endured a severe spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations this summer due to the increasing prevalence of the highly infectious delta variant of the virus and unvaccinated residents, a county release said. The peak appears to have passed, it added, but data show the countys daily case rate remains as high as it was last February. The county said its 15 COVID deaths Aug. 25-31, and 20 from Sept. 1 to 7, were the highest seven-day totals since March. Unvaccinated residents account for 96% of the countys deaths so far. In addition to restaurants, the order covers indoor bars and entertainment venues, and indoor fitness facilities, including yoga and dance studios, where patrons breathe more heavily.

California falls out of CDCs high transmission category: The state is no longer classified as having a high level of community transmission of the coronavirus, according to data published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California joins two other states  Vermont and Connecticut  in advancing into the substantial tier of the agencys risk chart, indicating between 50-99 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, following the summer delta COVID surge. The country as a whole remains at a high level of community transmission, with a seven-day average of 248 new cases per 100,000  more than two times higher than the threshold of 100 cases for the classification.

Federal court blocks N.Y. vaccine mandate for medical workers: A New York federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the states vaccine mandate for medical workers, saying it did not include a religious exemption, the Hill reports. U.S. District Judge David Hurds order temporarily barring the state health department from forcing compliance with the vaccine mandate came after 17 medical workers sued Monday asking the court to enjoin the order. A hearing for a preliminary injunction is set for Sept. 22.

COVID cases surging past winter peak in the U.S.: Even though case rates and hospitalizations in the Bay Area remain stable, COVID-19 deaths and cases nationwide have climbed back to levels not seen since last winter, according to data analysis by the Associated Press. The cases  driven by the delta variant combined with loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels  are concentrated mostly in the South. The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January. And both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.

Cuba to give shots to toddlers: Cuba will begin vaccinating children as young as 2 against the coronavirus this week, making it the only country so far to immunize children that young, the New York Times reports. The U.S. allows COVID-19 vaccinations for children 12 and older, although research is ongoing with younger kids and regulators are expected to broaden the authorization to younger children within months. Chile has begun vaccinating children 6 and older, and in China and the United Arab Emirates children as young as 3 get shots, the Times reports. Cuba last week started immunizing 13- to 17-year-olds with Soberana 2 and Soberana Plus, domestically developed vaccines. Clinical trials showing reportedly high effectiveness have not been published in peer-reviewed international journals.

CDC underscores it has not recommended boosters for all: With President Biden having set Monday as the target to begin rolling out COVID-19 booster shots for everyone, the CDC on Tuesday emphasized its current endorsement of boosters only for immunocompromised people. Although CDC does not recommend additional doses or booster shots for any other population at this time, CDC said in an email update and on its website, HHS (the federal Health and Human Services department) has announced a plan to begin offering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots this fall. People with moderate to severely compromised immune systems may not build the same level of immunity from the two-dose vaccines as people who are not immunocompromised, the agency reiterated by way of explaining its recommendation that the most vulnerable population get a third dose. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which meets Friday, has yet to sanction boosters more broadly.

Southern states suffer ICU crisis: Hospitals in the South are dangerously low on space in intensive care units, with the delta variant driving up infections to winter-surge levels, a New York Times analysis shows. One in four hospitals now reports more than 95% of ICU beds occupied  up from 1 in 5 last month.All ICU beds in Alabama now are occupied. In June, when Covid-19 cases were at their lowest level, less than 1 in 10 hospitals had dangerously high occupancy rates.

Britain to offer booster shots to everyone over 50: An expert advisory panel has recommended the U.K. government offer a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to everyone over age 50 to protect against the coronavirus, the Associated Press reports. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said Tuesday that booster shots are needed to ensure vulnerable people are protected against COVID-19 because studies have shown that the immunity conferred by vaccines slowly weakens over time.

California is close to permanently legalizing takeout cocktails and parklet drinking: City sidewalks are now dotted with parklets, producing an atmosphere thats often compared to European street life. Those effects may soon become permanent, if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs two bills that aim to legitimize some of the alcohol-related rules that were instated temporarily during the pandemic. Read the full story.

Putin in self-isolation after possible COVID exposure: Russian President Vladimir is isolating after possibly being exposed to COVID-19, according to a statement from the Kremlin. During a televised address, Putin said that members of his inner circle, including staffers he interacted closely with, had tested positive, the New York Times reported. Putin said he had been vaccinated with two doses of Russias Sputnik V vaccine.

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.

S.F. to allocate $42 million for workforce training programs to help pandemic recovery: San Franciscos Office of Economic and Workforce Development is allocating a record $42 million in workforce training programs over the next two fiscal years to help over 10,000 residents recover from the pandemic. Read the story here.

Biden calls on global leaders to collaborate on ending the pandemic: The White House has invited world leaders to a summit on Sept. 22 to develop a uniform strategy for ending the coronavirus pandemic. President Biden hopes that participants will identify concrete actions and set the ambitious targets needed to achieve that goal, according to a copy of the email obtained by the Washington Post.

Florida vaccination orders will lead to fines: Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida will fine local governments $5,000 for each employee who is required to be vaccinated. That could mean cities and counties facing potentially millions of dollars in penalties if they adopt strict vaccine mandates, the Associated Press reports. A new state law bars Florida businesses and local governments from requiring proof of vaccination for entry or services. DeSantis, in Alachua County, vowed to fight a local requirement that employees be vaccinated by the end of the month or be fired. The Republican governor called such matters basically a personal choice over their individual health.

S.F. to open 4 vaccination sites at schools: San Franciscos health department will open new COVID-19 vaccination sites at four city schools: Malcolm X Academy School in the Bayview, Balboa High School in the Excelsior, McCoppin Elementary School in the Inner Richmond and Sunset Elementary School in the Outer Sunset. The sites will administer vaccines once weekly. A full list of San Francisco vaccination sites is available here.

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.

What will flu be like in the Bay Area this fall? Here s what experts say: The severe flu season that experts feared last year during the height of the pandemic never materialized thanks to 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. Read the full story.

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.

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.
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.
Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

Over the past 20 years working as a lawyer for people in prison, Ive met countless people serving extreme sentences. I learned about the trauma they experienced as children. Ive watched mentally ill men, faces covered with spit hoods, shackled at the hands and feet as they attended treatment in prison. Handled like animals, the vast majority of these individuals were Black men like me.

The organization I founded, UnCommon Law, works with the 35,000 people seeking release from life sentences in California. Roughly 1 in 3 people in California prisons are serving a life sentence, more than any other state. The overwhelming majority of these people are Black and Latinx, often sentenced at younger ages and for a wider range of crimes than whites. Black people in prison are more likely to be disciplined, to be locked in more restrictive settings and to be denied parole when they become eligible.
SACRAMENTO  Virtually nobody in the California political universe took the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom seriously when conservative activists initially filed their petition against him on Feb. 21, 2020.

Three prior efforts to oust Newsom had failed, and the petition repeated many of the usual grievances that Republicans have with the first-term Democratic governor, including his stance on illegal immigration, opposition to the death penalty and inability to end the states homelessness crisis.

The effort very well might have fizzled out  if not for the worst public-health crisis in a century, which turned Newsom into both a champion of strict health measures and a lightning rod for coronavirus discontent.

Voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide Newsoms fate in the recall election thats become a national rallying point for both major parties. The contest  the highest-profile election since the 2020 presidential race  is fueled by populist anger over Californias pandemic-era business closures and the governors response to the crisis.

California, the eyes of the nation are on you. Im not joking, President Biden said Monday night as he spoke at a packed rally with Newsom at Long Beach City College. You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor, or youll get Donald Trump. The rest of America is counting on you, and so am I.

Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated Press

Newsom may well win the election, the second vote to recall a governor in California history, by a healthy margin, according to recent polls that show him defeating the effort by nearly 20 percentage points.

The final stage of the race has been defined by Newsoms aggressive response to COVID-19. He has touted Californias high vaccination rates and health measures while his leading Republican opponent, radio host Larry Elder, vowed to repeal vaccine and mask mandates.

Newsom appears to have capitalized on voters concerns about the pandemic amid a surge of the highly-infectious delta variant, as well as many of their fears about the consequences of electing a hard-line conservative like Elder, who could win the governorship with a plurality of voters if Newsom falls on the first ballot question.

To be sure, the election hasnt been a cakewalk. Newsom has had to raise more than $80 million to defend himself, and high-profile Democrats, including Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, have flooded the state to campaign on his behalf.

The whole episode has been a stunning change of fortune for a governor who won his 2018 election by a landslide and was once considered to be on Democrats short list of future presidential candidates.

At first, the recall effort was slow to gain momentum.The recall petition drive seemed on the verge of failure when on Nov. 6, a Sacramento county judge granted proponents four extra months to gather signatures, resuscitating the effort.

Around the same time, Newsom made the worst self-inflicted mistake of his political career. The governor went to the tony French Laundry in Napa Valley for the 50th birthday party of a lobbyist and longtime friend. The dinner, attended by 12 people, violated Newsoms own restrictions in place at the time on mixing between households.

His attendance, which was first reported by The Chronicle, ignited a backlash from voters who said the episode showed Newsom was disconnected from the plight of everyday Californians who had lost their jobs or suffered due to the isolation brought on by pandemic health restrictions.

Newsom apologized three days after the French Laundry story broke. But it was clear, in the weeks afterward, that his political brand had been seriously damaged: Donations and volunteers poured into the recall campaign.

Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

By March, recall organizers had gathered more than 1.7 million signatures needed to force the contest onto the ballot. The fight became a national Republican cause celebre seemingly overnight.

A host of well-known Republican challengers emerged: Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer; businessman John Cox, who lost the 2018 governors race to Newsom; and Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian and reality TV star.

They soon moved beyond the coronavirus-driven critique of Newsom and began to hammer the governor for the states high tax rates, growing homelessness crisis and concerns about violent crime.

Anne Dunsmore, campaign manager for Rescue California, one of the main political committees behind the recall, said while the French Laundry incident and the pandemic helped fuel the effort, the snafus were emblematic of a sense that Newsom is an elitist whos disconnected from the struggles of most voters.

We channeled what was there and he built it, she said. He built that anger, he built that tide. That was his making. It was palpable on the street.

Democrats built a massive campaign operation to fight the recall. The governors backers started blanketing the airwaves with ads calling the recall a Republican-led assault on democracy.

Despite the media onslaught and a record $76 billion state budget surplus, polls had Newsom in a tight race. In July, a poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies showed the contest was neck-and-neck.

Republicans and recall supporters, meanwhile, were struggling to coalesce around a challenger who could provide a popular alternative to Newsom, but no Arnold-Schwarzenegger-type figure emerged.

Forty-six replacement candidates ultimately qualified for the ballot. One of the last-minute entrants was Larry Elder, a conservative radio host and author, who quickly surged to the front of the field of potential replacements.

Republicans are tired of losing, Elder told The Chronicle when he launched his campaign. We need somebody who can explain all these things in ways that the average person can understand.

Elders entrance did jolt the race, but apparently to Newsoms benefit, as the radio personalitys stance on a host of issues  many articulated years ago  soon overshadowed his campaign.

Elder has said he opposes the minimum wage. He wants to repeal all mask and vaccine mandates. He supports denying undocumented immigrants public benefits, such as emergency health care. And he doesnt believe racism is a major problem in America.

As his star began to rise, Elder came under bipartisan criticism over his comments about women. He doubled down on his view that employers should be allowed to discriminate against women who plan to become pregnant.

Lily Liu, a tech executive who lives part-time in Los Angeles, spearheaded an open letter from female business leaders and residents opposed to Elders candidacy. She said his views on gender in the workplace were a wake-up call for voters.

It was pretty shocking to hear there is a front-runner that holds these views, Liu said. It has really created a sense of alignment and purpose for women.

Recent polls indicate Newsom has surged in the final weeks of the contest. A poll released this month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California shows 58% of likely voters oppose removing him while just 39% want to boot him.

Campaigning in recent days, Newsom has touted his pandemic health measures, including a mandate that state employees, teachers and health workers must get vaccinated or submit to regular testing.

He has blasted Elder for vowing to repeal such policies, calling the issue a matter of life and death.

Katie Merrill, a Democratic political strategist in Berkeley, said the governor found in Elder the foil he needed to energize his Democratic base to turn out. She said Newsoms campaign wanted a Trump-style Republican to run against, and they found it.

They saw that they were given a gift in the rise of Larry Elder and then they used it, Merrill said. He was their proof point.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner
Mission District resident David Brownell has watched with dismay as the Victorian next door to his home on Shotwell Street has deteriorated over the past six years.

The building at 628 Shotwell St. was a small group home that cared for the elderly for more than three decades until a fire gutted and closed it. Now the doors are boarded up and windows broken. People dump trash outside, and homeless people sometimes sleep on the concrete lot in front, Brownell said.

The 80-year-old was relieved to hear about a plan in November 2019 to turn the site into two housing units. But the process stalled because of temporary legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors that delays the conversion of residential care facilities, also called board and care homes. Supervisors voted unanimously to make the temporary legislation permanent Tuesday.

The goal of the legislation is to save rapidly disappearing facilities that care for the elderly and mentally ill and make it easier to open new ones. Many are closing because they cant afford to operate in San Francisco.

A temporary version of the law seemed to work as intended, helping to expand some care facilities and delaying the conversion of others, but it also left 628 Shotwell St. in limbo despite a coalition of community organizations trying to buy it. Thats partly because of a bigger problem: the lack of long-term funding solutions to preserve and create care facilities.

I understand that there is a crying need for board and care homes, Brownell said. If they can find a way financially to make it plausible as a board and care, I can live with that.

But without a fix to financial woes, Brownell feared it could go back into use as a board and care and then fall back into empty because they go broke.

The five-bed facility is emblematic of the challenges faced by local officials and advocates trying to fix the citys plethora of problems, often reflective of statewide issues beyond their control, and the complicated consequences of well-meaning efforts.

Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

San Franciscos affordable housing crisis means a lack of places to care for an increasingly high percentage of seniors and adults with disabilities. With reimbursement rates and subsidies not keeping pace with the citys escalating costs, many sites cant survive.

The number of assisted living facilities has dropped 38% since 2012, with the number of beds dipping 17%, according to city reports. Hardest hit were the smallest facilities serving low-income residents. At least 100 people were waiting to get a spot in a facility, according to the most recent count.

Officials and residents agree more needs to be done to support the survival of care facilities. The citys two-year budget included adding 196 treatment beds over the next two years, including some board and care, and spending $122 million to acquire and rehab new facilities.

If we need hundreds and thousands more of these types of placements, as I believe we do, that will cost us money and we will need state assistance and additional commitment of local dollars, said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who is sponsoring the legislation.

In 2019, Mandelman sponsored temporary regulations that required a building owner to apply for special approval from the Planning Commission to demolish or convert an existing residential care facility to another use.

The ordinance up for a vote Tuesday would make the rules permanent. It would add measures that put pressure on applicants to check on whether any entity is interested in running the building as a residential facility and require the Planning Commission to ensure there are enough care beds in the area.

The legislation also expands the area where no special approval is needed to create or grow a facility, which eased a proposed expansion at another site down the block from Brownell. At 658 Shotwell, a different care facility was able to start construction to expand without special Planning Commission permission, a win in Mandelmans view.

The law is limited, though. Although the proposed ordinance will make it easier to open facilities, it wont have a significant impact on the steep financial cost or help prevent board and care homes from going out of business, a Planning Commission staff report in August said.

Advocates still hope that despite sitting vacant for six years, 628 Shotwell can be converted back to a site to care for the vulnerable instead of market-rate housing. A coalition of nonprofits has scrambled to come up with $2 million to buy the property after an offer from the owners five months ago.

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.

Ryan Patterson, the owners attorney, said in a statement the owners are in the business of creating housing and are not licensed to operate a care facility, which is not financially viable here in any event.

The coalition isnt set on keeping the site as a board and care, but wants to use it to house homeless individuals or care for people with mental illness, said Sara Shortt, director of policy and community organizing at Community Housing Partnership.

The group quickly realized the gutted building would incur significant rehab costs and hopes the owner will bring down the price. Patterson said that the owner is engaging in good faith and continues to make the property available for the nonprofits to come assess how much rebab would cost.

The coalition also wants the city to step in to help fund the purchase.

Itd be well worth it for them to invest because of the extreme dearth of these types of resources, Shortt said.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who is co-sponsoring Mandelmans legislation, cant take a position on the site in her district since she would need to vote on an appeal if it came to the board. Mandelman didnt know the details, but said the legislation creates time to pursue other options, although it could still result in approval to convert a board and care facility.

The plan to turn 628 Shotwell into two units of housing is back at the Planning Commission on Sept. 23, coming up on two years after it was introduced.

The best is sometimes the enemy of the good, Brownell said. You can wait a long time getting something to happen and in the meanwhile, something that would be an improvement to the existing situation doesnt happen.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
San Franciscos eviction moratorium hasnt prevented landlords from filing more than a thousand eviction notices in the city since the pandemic began, according to a Chronicle analysis.

The Chronicle examined data on eviction notices filed with the San Francisco Rent Board from the beginning of the pandemic onward, comparing recent trends with pre-pandemic evictions. The data, which covers roughly three-quarters of rental units in the city covered by rent control, extends through July 2021.

While eviction notices have decreased significantly since before the pandemic began, the data shows that about 1,080 notices were filed with the Rent Board from March 2020 through July 2021. Additionally, monthly eviction notices have been creeping back up from their low in April 2020. (The data does not include most notices related to nonpayment of rent, which the city doesnt require landlords to file with the Rent Board.)

Prior to enacting its moratorium, San Francisco already had relatively strong eviction protections. The city required landlords to have one of several approved reasons to evict tenants  whats known as the Just Cause ordinance. However, its moratorium bars evictions for most nonpayment issues, plus several other causes the ordinance previously allowed.

The analysis found that landlords have filed fewer notices for almost every reason in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2019. However, notices for nuisance evictions have increased substantially. Landlords filed more nuisance eviction notices in 2020 than they did in 2019, and are on track to file significantly more nuisance notices this year than in either of the two prior years.

In ordinary times, landlords can file nuisance evictions for a lot of reasons, like tenants making loud noises or having bad odors issuing from their units. While the San Francisco moratorium bars evictions for nuisance reasons unless they are health- or safety-related, thats a squishy category, as Scott Weaver, supervising attorney at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, told The Chronicle.

One thing were seeing is that the definition of a health and safety issue is (broadening), Weaver said. I think landlord attorneys who thought something wasnt a health and safety issue previously (now) think that it is.

For instance, Nassim Moallem, a housing attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, told The Chronicle in August that shes been seeing landlords use issues like noisiness or a messy backyard to file a health- and safety-related nuisance eviction.

Alongside banning evictions health and safety-related nuisance evictions, San Francisco currently follows Californias statewide eviction moratorium, which only protects renters from eviction for nonpayment of rent if they were impacted by the pandemic and racked up debt between March 1, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2021. (The statewide moratorium is set to expire at the end of September; a nationwide ban on most nonpayment evictions lapsed several weeks ago as well.) The city and state also allow Ellis Act evictions to proceed, which are evictions triggered by landlords when they take a property off the rental market and force out their tenants.

We found that Ellis Act evictions have decreased significantly since 2019, though they remained roughly the same as a share of all evictions in 2020 and 2021  close to 10% for both years.

The eviction notices we analyzed provide a limited picture of whats going on with evictions in the city. For one, not every tenant that gets an eviction notice ends up leaving their unit, Robert Collins, executive director of the San Francisco Rent Board, told The Chronicle.

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.

Eviction notices are generally the first step in an eviction process, Collins said. The Rent Board does not provide public data on unlawful detainer lawsuits, which landlords often file after an eviction notice if a tenant has not yet vacated a building. The board also does not release data on sheriffs evictions, which happen when the Sheriffs Department forcibly evicts a tenant.

However, the increase in eviction notices matches up with what Weaver and the Eviction Defense Collaborative have observed. He said his group has seen a pretty significant increase in unlawful detainers over the last several months as well.

Weaver also said his group has mainly dealt with cases in the South of Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods during the pandemic, which matches our observations from the Rent Board data. ZIP codes 94103 and 94102, which encompass the SoMa and Tenderloin neighborhoods, have had the greatest density of eviction notices from March 2020 through July 2021.

ZIP code 94103 had 53 eviction notices per 10,000 residents during this period; 94102 had about 25. ZIP code 94133, which includes Fishermans Wharf, also had a substantial number of eviction notices in the Rent Board data. Weaver said the concentration of eviction notices in the Tenderloin and SoMa is likely due to that area having high population density and a large number of individuals with mental health and substance use issues.

People with mental health challenges are going to be more susceptible to the negative psychological consequences of being sheltered in place and having limited movement, Weaver said. Also, there are more people in these environments so theyll be a little more on edge with each other.

Susie Neilson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susieneilson
San Franciscos Office of Economic and Workforce Development is allocating a record $42 million in workforce training programs over the next two fiscal years to help more than 10,000 residents recover from the pandemic.

The funding is going to 67 service providers and community groups including $8.2 million to adult job programs that will create three job training centers in the Excelsior, Richmond and Sunset districts.

Young adult programs for people between ages 16 and 24 will receive $3.6 million, including new job centers in the Fillmore, Bayview and Richmond. Another $10.9 million is going to training programs to give residents new skills in industries including health care, tech and construction.

The money is coming from federal, state and local funding and grants.

The investment is the latest in a series of city programs that helped workers, residents and businesses during the pandemic. The citys recovery remains uneven, with less than 20% of office workers back, tourism activity lagging the rest of the Western U.S., and transit ridership still far below normal, according to an August city report.

Three neighborhoods hard-hit by the pandemic  the Mission, Bayview and Excelsior  will receive a total of $6.4 million at community resource hubs.

The neighborhoods that were most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are the same neighborhoods that have experienced employment disparities for years, and that is where we are directing efforts with these resources, Mayor London Breed said in a statement. If our citys economic recovery is going to be successful and sustainable far into the future, and if we are going to truly make a difference in this City, we have to get our most vulnerable San Franciscans back to work.

San Franciscos equitable economic recovery relies on our investments in communities that need our support the most, Kate Sofis, director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, said in a statement.

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.

Another $6.8 million will target workforce support for Black residents, part of the $120 million Dream Keeper effort, which aims to shift $120 million over two years from law enforcement funding into Black neighborhoods.

The funding comes after a two-year process that included public meetings and feedback from businesses, schools and labor groups on what programs were most needed. The citys Human Rights Commission helped direct programs to address longtime disparities.

This funding centers the ideas, voices, culture and experiences of San Franciscos diverse communities. Listening to community increases the ability to build successful pipelines and has the potential to improve income and economic mobility through employment and workforce programs, Sheryl Davis, executive director of the commission, said in a statement.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
Mary Roach was determined to feed the pigeon, maybe even a little desperate.

The greasy-feathered creature was marching in circles around our outdoor lunch table, a talon missing from one of its tiny red feet, while Roach, the best-selling author of a fistful of popular science books, tried to entice it with a pinch of sourdough pulled from her clam chowder bread bowl.

But gentle persuasion wasnt working on this circumspect avian, and Roachs tone turned firm.

Do it. Come on, do it! she implored. The bug-eyed bird steered itself out of reach again and Roach paused her provocations. Chicken s, she said.

Classic July fog hung low over the bay. Roach met me at Fishermans Wharf to talk about her new book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, which examines how humans try  and usually fail  to contain, corral, redirect and generally manage nuisance wildlife around the globe, from the mountain lions that stalk California to the incorrigible gulls that rain poop on the Vatican.

Its somewhat of a departure for 62-year-old Roach, whose bread and butter is dissecting the funky processes of human biology from various vantages: sex (Bonk); death (Stiff); digestion (Gulp); space travel (Packing for Mars) and war (Grunt). So, why animals?

Id kind of run through the human body, she said.

But her approach hasnt changed. In Fuzz, she displays the curiosity, attention to detail and lighthearted amusement with her subject matter that has helped propel her books to best-seller lists.

Fishermans Wharf is typically laden with seagulls, pigeons, pelicans, sea lions and harbor seals  not to mention swarms of sightseers  so it felt like an appropriate rendezvous to spy the types of awkward animal-human interactions Roach discusses in the book.

W.W. Norton/

Candidly, we both hoped to observe savvy gulls snatching french fries out of the hands of unsuspecting tourists while, I assumed, we locals gleefully cackled from a distance. Roach has lived in the Bay Area for 30 years and knows how brazenly the sea birds here operate.

But the gulls werent showing. In fact, there was a conspicuous lack of them at the piers that day.

Tourists evaporated from Fishermans Wharf overnight when the pandemic struck and their return has come as more of a trickle than a flood. On the day we visited, the chowder houses that line Taylor Street were shuttered or empty. Roach and I milled around but found few gulls, let alone the kind of harassment wed hoped to witness.

Maybe the year-long absence of available food scraps and wrappers had brought famine to the sky scavengers and temporarily turned them away, I hypothesized.

Oh, those poor, hungry birds! Roach replied.

If this was sarcasm, I was having trouble detecting it. Its clear from Fuzz that Roach accepts and appreciates all kinds of creatures and holds a degree of admiration for the hardier ones that thrive among us, in spite of us  the rats and raccoons, the gulls and pigeons, the Presidio coyotes and Peninsula pumas.

The ones that end up as nuisance wildlife are the ones that have figured it out and outsmarted us as we try to mitigate them, Roach said.

As Roach points out in the book, many of these animals wear the brand of varmints and vermin, a stigma assigned by the colonizers who pushed into the Western United States while shooting or snaring just about every creature in their path. To those newcomers, the animals that didnt offer easy commerce or food were considered pests and treated accordingly.

Its hard to turn that (mindset) around, she said.

But to many Americans in the 21st century, wildlife has come to represent exciting evidence of the vibrant natural world we have long suppressed. As many once-threatened species have rebounded under our protection, they have begun pressing back into our cities and towns  often clumsily, sometimes violently. The question now is, what do we do about them?

That inquiry is the bedrock of Fuzz.

The reason were having problems now is that were doing well, Roach said.

To illustrate the irony, the book focuses on several species-specific management efforts around the world: deterring bears from plundering trash cans in Aspen; tracking and counting mountain lions in California; dealing with elephants that occasionally trample field laborers in India; sterilizing populations of marauding monkeys; warding off flocks of hungry birds; and more.

Roach presents these attempts as a mix of mayhem and success. But were making progress as a society, she said.

Its in peoples conscience now that changing human behavior is the answer, not changing animal behavior.

The idea for Fuzz came to Roach a few years ago after she read a white paper on how investigators discern counterfeit tiger penises from the real deal, the controversial type sometimes used in traditional Chinese medicine.

I thought, That world of wildlife crime is interesting, she said.

And that was that. Reporting the book took Roach around the globe, sometimes in search of dangerous wildlife encounters. She filed her manuscript before the onset of the pandemic. The book hits shelves Tuesday.

Sitting and discussing wildlife-human interactions with Roach is to stumble into the kinds of fun, obscure trivia that fill her books. Some examples from our conversation:

Delayed implantation: a superpower of female black bears that allows them to carry fertilized-egg cells in their uteruses for months without incubating. Whether they (the eggs) implant in it come fall  and how many of them do  depends on the mothers health and how well shes been eating, Roach writes.

Compensatory reproduction: a characteristic of coyotes, whereby the animals will bear pups only if there is enough available turf for them to range without impeding on a rivals territory.

Arboreal manslaughter: when a tree falls on a person and kills them.

Flight-initiation distance (FID): the distance at which a bird flees from perceived danger.

For a while, I was going around the streets of Oakland to measure the FID of various birds, Roach said. You can get pretty close if you want to.

Back on the restaurant patio at Fishermans Wharf, two pigeons and a sparrow wrestled with a ring of fried calamari at our feet. From an adjacent table, a tourist seated below a sign reading Please Do Not Feed Birds tossed bits of bread toward another hopeful pigeon.

The birds began gathering, but Roach remained at a stalemate with hers. Again, she presented the sourdough and the bird wobbled over warily.

Im closing the FID now, Roach said.

Finally, the pigeon raised up and snatched the bread from her hand, avoiding direct beak-to-finger contact.

Delicate touch! she said, approvingly. Then smiled: I am part of the problem.

Gregory Thomas is The Chronicles editor of lifestyle & outdoors. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @GregRThomas
KTVU

An 80-year-old Vietnam Vet was reportedly the pilot and only person aboard a small plane that crashed in Palo Alto on Monday afternoon after coming into contact with power lines, KTVU reported.

KTVU didn't share the pilot's name but interviewed his daughter who said that her father "flew Navy aircraft for years and likely relied on his muscle memory in making Mondays difficult landing."
After a semester online, Wang Ziwei looked forward to meeting classmates who are returning to campus at Washington University in St. Louis. But the 23-year-old finance student said the U.S. revoked his student visa on security grounds.

Wang is among at least 500 students the Chinese government says have been rejected under a policy issued by then-President Donald Trump to block Beijing from obtaining U.S. technology with possible military uses. Students argue it is applied too broadly and fume at what they say is an accusation they are spies.

The whole thing is nonsense, Wang said. What do we finance students have to do with the military?

The students join companies and individuals whose plans have been disrupted by U.S.-Chinese tension over technology and security, Beijings military buildup, the origins of the coronavirus, human rights and conflicting claims to the South China Sea and other territory.

The policy blocks visas for people who are affiliated with the ruling Communist Partys military wing, the Peoples Liberation Army, or universities deemed by Washington to be part of military modernization efforts.

U.S. officials say they believe thousands of Chinese students and researchers participate in programs that encourage them to transfer medical, computer and other sensitive information to China.

Washington cites Beijings strategy of civil-military fusion, which it says treats private companies and universities as assets to develop Chinese military technology.

Joint research institutions, academia and private firms are all being exploited to build the PLAs future military systems  often without their knowledge or consent, the State Department said in a 2020 report.

Trump's successor, Joe Biden, has given no indication of what he might do.

Chinese officials appealed to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to drop the visa restrictions when she visited in July, according to The Paper, a Shanghai online news outlet.

The policy is necessary to protect U.S. national security interests," the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. It said the policy is a response to some abuses of the visa process and is narrowly targeted.

More than 85,000 visas for Chinese students have been approved over the past four months, according to the embassy.

The numbers show clearly that the United States stands ready to issue visas to all those who are qualified  including Chinese students and scholars, it said.

Separately, a group of 177 Stanford University professors sent an open letter this month asking the U.S. Justice Department to end the China Initiative, another Trump-era program that investigates researchers in the United States. The letter signers say it has raised concerns about racial profiling and discouraged scholars from staying in or coming to the country.

China is the biggest source of foreign students in the United States, according to U.S. government data. The number fell 20% in 2020 from the previous year but at 380,000 was nearly double that of second-ranked India.

An engineer at a state-owned aircraft manufacturer said he was turned down for a visa to accompany his wife, a visiting scholar in California studying pediatric cancer.

The engineer, who would give only his surname, Huang, has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Harbin Institute of Technology in Chinas northeast. It is one of seven schools Chinese news reports say are associated with visa rejections because they are affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

I was insulted, Huang said. That I graduated from this school means I am a spy? Whats the difference between this and racism?

Huang said his wife's fellowship was two to three years, but she will cut that to one, sacrificing her career to avoid being away from their two children for too long.

Its a pretty big impact on individuals when one country fights with another, Huang said.

Rejection letters received by several students cited Trump's order but gave no details of the decision. However, some students said they received rejections immediately after being asked which university they attended.

Wang, the finance student, said he obtained a visa, but the U.S. Embassy called later and said it was revoked.

Wang graduated from the Beijing Institute of Technology, another university associated with visa rejections due to its connection with the industry ministry. Others include Beijing Aerospace University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harbin Engineering University and Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Graduates of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications also say they have been rejected.

Five Chinese scientists at universities in California and Indiana were charged last year with lying about possible military connections on visa applications. Those charges were dropped in July after the Justice Department said an FBI report indicated such offenses often had no connection to technology theft.

The Chinese government complained in August that three students who had visas were refused entry into the United States at the Houston airport after military training photos were found in their phones.

Beijing strongly deplores and rejects the policy and appealed to the U.S. government to make changes, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

A group that says it represents more than 2,000 students and scholars has announced plans for a lawsuit asking a court to throw out or narrow the restrictions.

At Washington University in St. Louis, a "handful of student visas were affected, according to Kurt Dirks, vice chancellor for international affairs.

Students can start the semester online or wait until next year, Dirks said in an email.

Should they continue to face challenges, the university will work with them so they can complete their program online, Dirks said.

Monica Ma, 23, said she was turned down for a U.S. visa to complete a master's degree in information management at Carnegie Mellon University.

The graduate of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications said after spending a year in Australia working on her degree, she needs to attend classes in person at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh because they no longer are taught online.

Ma said she has a job offer from an internet company that requires her to complete her degree. She has postponed her attendance for classes until next year in hopes she can obtain a visa by then.

I cannot change it through my efforts. Thats the saddest part, Ma said.

Li Quanyi, an electrical engineering student from the southern city of Guiyang, said he was accepted by Columbia University but failed to obtain a visa. Li graduated from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

Carnegie Mellon and Columbia didnt respond to questions sent by email.

Li has moved to Hong Kong and said he is happy there.

I am not going, even if the rule changes, Li said. The United States rejected me, and I am not going."
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  A proposed meeting Wednesday by far-right Idaho House members to form a quorum at the Statehouse and force the Legislature to reconvene to prohibit vaccine mandates is grandstanding and illegitimate and has no chance of succeeding, key lawmakers said.

Far-right lawmakers have said they will hold the meeting anyway to try to get enough members to show up so they can force the Legislature to reconvene. Many Idaho Republican lawmakers are angry with the vaccine mandate that President Joe Biden announced last week.

Republican Rep. Judy Boyle, one of the Houses more conservative lawmakers, said she would support a state law banning vaccine mandates but will not attend Wednesday's gathering after she had a recent discussion with other lawmakers, whom she declined to name.

They made it very clear it's about grandstanding instead of getting something done, she said on Monday while attending a protest of Biden's visit to the National Interagency Fire Center. And I want to get something done.

She also said far-right lawmakers would need support from more moderate Republicans, which collapsed during the discussion.

A couple of my colleagues blew that up the other night, and the moderates all fled, she said, adding that the conservatives messed it up.

Biden, who visited to discuss wildfire issues with Republican Gov. Brad Little, last Thursday announced sweeping new vaccine mandates affecting 100 million Americans.

The vaccine requirement states that employers with more than 100 workers must require them to be vaccinated or test them for the virus weekly.

Workers at health facilities who 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.

Little can call a special session to bring lawmakers to the Statehouse. Republican House Speaker Scott Bedke and Republican Senate Pro Tempore Chuck Winder also said they can reconvene the Legislature because the House never formally adjourned earlier this year.

While none are currently inclined to bring lawmakers back to Boise, the three in a joint statement Tuesday afternoon said they are working with the attorney general's office and governor's legal counsel to take "legal action to stop President Biden's unprecedented government overreach into the private sector with his new COVID-19 plan.

Bedke said Monday he wouldn't reconvene the House unless theres wide support for specific legislation.

No, not at this time, he said in a text message asking him whether he would call lawmakers back to the Statehouse.

The Idaho Senate Majority Caucus, comprised of the chamber's Republican leaders, in a statement on Monday said the attempt by some House members to force the House to reconvene is not allowed under a House resolution and is therefore unofficial and illegitimate.

Specifically, the House passed a resolution earlier this year to end the Legislature's regular session by recessing instead of officially adjourning. According to the resolution, only Bedke can reconvene the House.

On Tuesday after Biden's visit to Idaho, Bedke said he needed to take action. He instructed members of the Committee on Federalism to find a way to defend Idaho against this administrations unrelenting acts of federal overreach at the committee's Sept. 28 meeting. The committee typically takes up issues involving state sovereignty.

Republican Rep. Heather Scott in her legislative newsletter on Saturday, said Wednesday's meeting "will be an attempt to attain a 35-member quorum of committed legislators to pass a bill to protect individuals from medical tyranny.

Republican Rep. Mike Kingsley said Monday, while attending the Biden protest near the fire center, that he would attend the gathering. He wasn't sure how many other lawmakers would be there.

Im getting calls and calls and emails from people who are losing their jobs due to the mandates, he said, undeterred by potential obstacles to reconvening the House. We don't know until we see.

Calling back the Legislature would cost thousands of dollars a day. It would also occur as Idaho hospitals face a surge of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients.

Lawmakers had to recess during the regular legislative session earlier this year after a COVID-19 outbreak among lawmakers, mainly Republicans who tend not to wear masks.

COVID-19 cases are spiking in the state due to the delta variant and poor vaccination rates, overwhelming the states healthcare system.
Two RV parks along the California coast have been penalized three-quarters of a million dollars after a government agency said that the public was misled to believe its adjacent beaches were private, as reported by KGTV San Diego.

How to get the most out of your RV

Campland on the Bay and Mission Bay RV Resort allegedly had signs surrounding the properties stating that beach access was private and for use by their guests only.

The California Coastal Commission reached a settlement with the parks, which are both public trust state tidelands, to ensure the surrounding area knows the beaches are available for all.

"They had a bunch of signs up saying that it was only for private use only, and that it was only for guests of paying customers and their website promoted it like a private luxurious beach," Lisa Haage, Chief Enforcement Officer of the Commission, told KGTV.

The groups agreed on using the $750,000 for free summer camps for underprivileged youth. The parks will also be required to remove any signage that could confuse the public into thinking the beaches are private.

I'd say that we are very excited about resolving these violations, and the fact the orders will finally open up these areas to public use, so that the public can picnic, swim, fish along their coast, Haage said. In addition, the orders will provide for a free program for disadvantaged communities to get the chance to share in these activities. And further, we have provisions that reduce the use of plastics, such as plastic silverware and microplastics from laundry, to protect our coast and ocean from this growing and real threat.

Finally, the parks will add new public toilets and electric vehicle charging stations.

Campland on the Bay and Mission Bay RV Resort provide the most affordable coastal accommodations in the area, having served as conscientious stewards of public access and the surrounding environment for over 50 years in Mission Bay. The unprecedented package of public benefits offered by Campland on the Bay and Mission Bay RV Resort, including free camping for underserved youth, reflects our longstanding mission to facilitate access to coastal recreation in so many forms, Jacob Gelfand, vice president of operations for both parks, said in a statement to SFGATE.

Editors note: This article was updated to include a quote from The California Coastal Commission.
Christin Evans is not your typical small business owner. Shes consulted for some of the biggest names in the tech industry. She actively advocates for homeless people and their rights. She famously sparred on Twitter with none other than Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. And shes reimagined what a neighborhood bookstore can, and most importantly should, be.

Evans owns The Booksmith in the Haight-Ashbury. She also co-owns The Booksmiths neighboring bar, The Alembic, which the San Francisco Chronicle recently named one of the best cocktail bars in the city.

I have a tendency to get excited and go go go, Evans told me on a recent midday visit to The Alembic. Because its just past noon, were sticking with water, but the bars ample alcohol bottles beckon from their shelves.

Evans is one of those San Franciscans that everyone seems to know, whether its from meeting her at one of Booksmiths frequent and well-attended author or community events, seeing her on the street with the Coalition on Homelessness or running into her sipping a drink at The Alembic.

Evans family moved to Walnut Creek when she was a year old. From there, they moved around frequently for her fathers engineering work, but the Bay Area kept calling her back.

After college, Evans hit the ground running in Silicon Valley, starting off in human resources and later working as a strategy consultant for companies such as Microsoft and Dell. She spent about a decade in corporate America before she and her husband, Praveen Madan, decided it was time for a major change.

Douglas ZImmerman/SFGATE

We got to this point where we were like, we should do something different in our careers, something entrepreneurial, something for ourselves, she said.

The year was 2006, not exactly an ideal time for entrepreneurial pursuits, nor local bookstores. That year, as Amazon ascended and people moved more of their book shopping online, countless headlines proclaimed the demise of the small bookstore as mom-and-pop shops seemed to close at breakneck pace.

The death of the independent bookstore, pronounced one headline from that time. Small bookstores fight to survive, read another.

Everybody was talking about e-readers and e-commerce and how traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores were dead, Evans said. And we're just like, that doesn't make sense to us because as humans, we crave belonging and gathering. And so we sought out to imagine what a bookstore could be that would be sustainable and successful in the internet era.

With their mutual business acumen and love of books, Evans and Madan initially set out to offer consulting services to bookstores, pro bono. People werent biting, and when the nearly 50-year-old Booksmith retail location became available for purchase, the couple jumped.

Douglas ZImmerman/SFGATE

How does Booksmith differ from other bookstores? Aside from its warm atmosphere and plenty of shelf talker cards proclaiming the merits of particular titles, what really makes The Booksmith exceptional is its robust programming and events, of which there are about a hundred in a year.

Upcoming happenings include a launch for Mary Roachs latest book, Fuzz. Another features local authors Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snickett) and Michelle Tea in conversation. In October, the bookstore will host a series of writers and academics speaking about Queer Writing on Growing up with the AIDS Crisis.

The programming is varied and expansive. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. And many events, which are currently held virtually, draw dozens of attendees.

The Booksmith also benefits from Evans tech background. She said shes used technology to streamline and simplify the processes of running the store, such as managing inventory. She also makes sure to hire people who dont just love books but love to talk about them with others. She works to pay her employees a wage thats livable for the Bay Area and, in some cases, has helped secure stable housing for staff members. She, ultimately, wants her staff to live near their work.

Douglas ZImmerman/SFGATE

These concerns dovetail with a fierce passion of Evans  advocating for San Franciscos homeless folks. It started about a decade ago, not long after Evans and her husband purchased The Booksmith. They began hosting community events and forums, and Evans eyes opened to the systemic issues that lead to and perpetuate homelessness in San Francisco.

For Evans, being a good business owner complements her homelessness advocacy. If you run a business in the Haight-Ashbury, homelessness directly affects your store. But what if instead of calling the cops on unhoused people blocking your entrance, you addressed homelessness at the source in a compassionate, thoughtful, pragmatic way?

"I just have a longer view," Evans said. "It's not just about my business and the bottom line for my business. There's a lot of people who take the approach of like, 'If I could just get the police to move those people a block away, then that's not going to affect me anymore.' And I just say that that's not sustainable. If you're not addressing the root causes of what is creating more and more homelessness, then there's just going to be another person there the next day."

Douglas ZImmerman/SFGATE

Evans was instrumental in the passage of Proposition C, a tax initiative that funds homelessness services in San Francisco. It all started when Benioff made a remark to Mayor London Breed about homeless services, which was reported in a live-tweet by Bobak Esfandiari, a support operations manager at Nextdoor.

San Francisco is the Four Seasons of Homelessness, people come from all over to San Francisco because they know how wonderful our services are - @Benioff, read the tweet.

Evans, who is extremely active on Twitter, responded: Is this for real?! Did @Benioff just compare SF's homeless services to a luxury hotel chain? How out of touch can a billionaire be?!?! This is why we need @OurHomeSF -- we can't count on the largesse of corporations to solve the homelessness crisis! Vote Yes on C in November!

Things spiraled from there. Benioff and Evans began messaging each other about Proposition C (arguing may be more accurate). But the two took the time to listen to one another, and eventually, the CEO pledged his support  to the tune of $8 million  to the ballot proposition. The two now regularly keep in touch, Evans said, and Benioff continued to donate more money to the cause as lawsuits mounted against Prop. C after its passage,

Are Benioff and Evans, dare we say, friends? Well, not exactly.

Hes no socialist, Evans said laughing.

But she does applaud the role he played in the passage of Prop. C. The proponents of the proposition initially had a budget of just a few hundred thousand dollars for their campaign, Evans said. One fateful Twitter exchange may have, in fact, led to its passage, providing millions of dollars of funding for homelessness in the city.

Thats the type of systemic change Evans wants to see more of.

We have to have systemic change, Evans said of homelessness. We cannot rely on charity. We're not going to charity our way out of this.

You have to look at the numbers like a business person, she continued. You have to look at the sustainability of your business, you have to make your numbers work. We need to build up the resources for systemic change.

Douglas ZImmerman/SFGATE

Sometimes, change can start with a book. Evans specifically cited a book by local author Po Bronson called What Should I Do With My Life, in which Bronson interviews those whove changed their lives. Evans said it helped give her the courage to take the leap from the corporate world into a more unstable path: bookselling.

I asked Evans how shes feeling about her life right now. She said, Im great, but with that comes constant introspection and evaluation.

Im in a position now where I can constantly re-evaluate and adjust, she said. During the pandemic, all of a sudden Im cooking, Im gardening, Im spending a lot of time with the dog. Pre-pandemic, I was hustling on events and stuff like that. So for me, its just constantly evaluating: What am I doing?
LONDON (AP)  Novels that explore historical injustices, the nature of consciousness and the dizzying impact of the internet are among six finalists for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction.

Three books by American authors are on the shortlist announced Tuesday for the 50,000-pound ($69,000) prize: Patricia Lockwoods social media-steeped novel No One is Talking About This; Maggie Shipsteads aviator saga Great Circle; and Richard Powers Bewilderment, the story of an astrobiologist and his neurodivergent son.

Powers won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2019 for the eco-epic The Overstory, which was also a 2018 Booker Prize finalist.

Three other contenders explore historical traumas. They include Sri Lankan author Anuk Arudpragasams tale of war and its aftermath, A Passage North; South African writer Damon Galguts story of racism and reckoning, The Promise; and British/Somali writer Nadifa Mohameds miscarriage-of-justice story The Fortune Men, set among dockers in the 1950s in Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

Historian Maya Jasanoff, who is chairing the judging panel, said the shortlist was immersive, global and engages with matters of life and death, which feels quite poignant and pertinent in this catastrophic year.

Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers careers and was originally open to British, Irish and Commonwealth writers. Eligibility was expanded in 2014 to all novels in English published in the U.K.

The judging panel winnowed their list from 158 novels. Some of the highest-profile novels of the year didnt make the cut, most notably Nobel literature laureate Kazuo Ishiguros Klara and the Sun, which had featured on the 13-book longlist. Ishiguro is a four-time Booker nominee and won the prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day.

Other highly praised works on the longlist that fell by the wayside include British novelist Francis Spuffords Light Perpetual and British/Canadian writer Rachel Cusks Second Place.

Only one British writer, Mohamed, made the final six, a fact likely to spark debate in the U.K. about whether the prize is becoming U.S.-dominated.

The Booker Prize is the great leveler, said Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma, one of the judges. If we dont have any British writers, it is just a coincidence. We are not making any statement.

The winner will be crowned Nov. 3 at a ceremony in London.
NEW YORK (AP)  With her new book, Martita, I Remember You," Sandra Cisneros feels like she's finally answered a long overdue letter.

The author of the best-selling novella The House on Mango Street is back with her first work of fiction in almost a decade, a story of memory and friendship, but also about the experiences young women endure as immigrants worldwide.

Inspired by Cisneros' own time in Paris as a young, aspiring writer, Martita follows Corina, a woman in her 20s who has left her Mexican family in Chicago to pursue literary dreams in the city where Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin and many others lived. During her brief time there, she finds herself struggling with money, befriending panhandling artists and sleeping on crowded floors with other immigrants.

Supporting her through it all are Martita and Paola, an Argentine and an Italian as broke as she was.

Over the years, the three disperse to different continents, eventually falling out of touch, until Corina finds a series of old letters in a drawer that bring back intense memories of those days together.

It began from a place in my own memory, with the real Martita that inspired this story  real Martitas, I should say, because we meet so many in our lives, women that come and befriend us and have nothing. Its always the people that have nothing that give the most, Cisneros said in a recent interview with The Associated Press via Zoom from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

So, what began as a real story about things that happened to me se inflo (inflated)  it went to other places, she continued.

Martita, I Remember You (Vintage Original) was published last week as a dual-language paperback featuring Cisneros English story on the front and, when flipped over, Liliana Valenzuelas Spanish translation, Martita, te recuerdo.

Born in Chicago to Mexican parents, Cisneros is one of the most prominent Latino authors in the United States, with honors including the 1985 National Book Award for The House on Mango Street, the PEN/Nabokov Award for International Literature and the 2015 National Medal of Arts.

She started writing the story about Martita in the late 80s, early 90s, with the idea of including it in her award-winning collection Woman Hollering Creek." But she only had the first part of the story written, and her editor felt there was more to it.

In the last couple of years, she pulled it out again and added a middle and an end.

I guess they needed me to be older to be able to write that part, Cisneros said with a laugh. I dont know how old I was, my 30s? Yeah. I couldnt write the ending because I was too young! Even though Corina is about 36... I am not as wise as Corina. The author needed to be older to get the long view, to see it.

The book takes us back to a time before emails and cellphones, when people would exchange physical addresses to stay in touch. There was the elation of getting letters from afar; Corina reads and re-reads the ones she got.

Actually, the first letter is based on a real letter that came to me after I had left. Years had passed... and a real letter came that triggered a feeling that I didnt have a name for, said Cisneros.

This whole story is my letter that I never mailed back to her, or to all of the Martitas that befriended me when I was floating around in the world. I felt like I had to write this unsent letter to understand what it was that I experienced in these very random, short (relationships with) people that I met when I was traveling."

Although she set her book in France in the 1980s, Cisneros, whose works have always had immigration as a theme, hopes people relate to the story today.

Its still very relevant now to every country, and especially the United States, she said, adding that shes ashamed to be living in this time and to know that Im a citizen of a country that separates children from their parents and who are treating refugees worse that animals. So I hope that this book will help to awaken people, make change.

"I absolutely believe that art can make change, because its made such a big change in my life.

Cisneros recalls the generosity of strangers when she lived abroad, and said it helped her "understand what it is like for immigrants now, coming to the United States, being vilified, being looked down upon the way that Parisians, you know, looked down at us.... I understood my father and I understood the immigrants situation now in a way that maybe I couldnt, so Im glad I lived that experience.

If she could hear back from Martita, what would she tell her?

Oh! I would be so happy! I would say: Martita, where are you? Im coming! What happened to you? I would love to see Martita again. I forgot her last name, I dont know where she is, but she is the one that triggered these stories from many women that are connected, Cisneros said.

She is currently finishing a book of poetry that will come out next fall in English and Spanish: Woman without Shame/ Mujer sin verguenza. She is also working on the libretto of an opera adaptation of The House on Mango Street with New York composer Derek Bermel, as well as on a pilot for a TV series based on that book.

___

Follow Sigal Ratner-Arias on Twitter, at https://twitter.com/sigalratner.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  As the sun went down on the Vila Cruzeiro favela on Monday, bathing this working class neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro with warm evening light, kids lined up to catch a free movie screening.

Some had never stepped foot in a cinema because tickets for families can be prohibitively expensive  even before the pandemic battered their parents' jobs. And their disposable income has been eroded by surging inflation, especially the costs of home electricity and food.
I was partway through a 90-plus-mile drive to Roseville when a small inkling of doubt began to arise and I wondered whether three hours, round trip, was too much for a plate (or two) of tacos.

I knew nothing about Nixtaco, but when a 2019 Food & Wine article made its way to me this summer, it held so much promise. In declarative fashion, the culinary magazine confidently stated, One of Americas Best New Taquerias Is Hiding Out in a Roseville Strip Mall.

I had to find out.

As a person who at times writes Declarative Statements for headlines and stories, I was intrigued by the assuredness with which the article made its case; and perhaps spurred on by a combination of incredulousness (Could this place be better than taquerias in San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego?), hunger (Its tacos. Cmon.) and curiosity, I set my course for Roseville, with no plans other than to grab some tacos for lunch.

And Im so glad I did.

---

What I found in Roseville was a surprisingly different taco than ones Ive had in recent memory. It makes sense when you find out that Nixtaco chef-owner Patricio Wise's background is in banking and hedge fund management, not food. Yet he always dreamed of becoming a chef.

Hailing from Monterrey, in the Nuevo Leon state in Mexico, Wise said he often hosted an underground supper club in his spare time at his home there, where he worked on his cooking techniques, feeding friends  and eventually strangers  as the dinners became more and more popular. The dinners blossomed into a restaurant, which Wise ran alongside his full time job at the bank, but eventually Wise and wife Cinthia Martinez made the move to the United States in 2010, when a connection in banking led their family to Roseville, leaving behind their restaurant.

Wise and Martinez tried to resurrect the dinners in their new home but found it wouldnt work the way it did in Monterrey.

"We encountered a cultural shock where [people would say], 'Well, I don't know you, why am I going to go dine in your house?'" Wise recalled. The later eating time of their dinners in Monterrey also didnt work with the American crowds, Wise said, and so the couple did a few dinners with some friends "but it really wasn't what we were looking to do. We kind of wanted to do something else."

That "something else" became an exploration of one thing Wise said he missed from Monterrey: chicharron. Recalling the chicharron vendors of his hometown, Wise said he couldnt find the product in the Sacramento area. It wasnt the same as the bags of pork crackling that one finds at many grocery stores; instead, the Monterrey chicharron is a deep fried pork jowl found  and typically made  at local butcher shops. What Wise found was a number of Jalisco- and Michoacan-inspired taquerias in the Sacramento area, but nothing really represented the food he wanted from his home state of Nuevo Leon.

I was really craving tacos and chicharron, so I had to start doing research on how to do it myself on a smaller scale, Wise said. And then [I found out] it doesnt work, I have to do it on a large scale. So what am I going to do with the rest?

Courtesy Nixtaco

He started selling tacos at the local farmers market on the weekends while still working in finance, juggling both for a full year. That was in April 2015, and he eventually began catering some events as well, slowly working on his concept for the restaurant he wanted to open. While it started with the chicharron, he needed to also figure out the tortilla. The chicharron was a good introductory dish, Wise said, but in the end its just meat on a tortilla  [and] if its just meat on a tortilla, both have to be amazing.

When I was dissecting how to make the perfect taco, I was thinking, alright, I have to start from the bottom up, Wise said. Any dish is going to be only as good as the worst of your ingredients and that's it. It doesn't matter how much you embellish it, you can have truffles or caviar, and foie gras, but if it's on a crappy tortilla, it'll be a crappy taco.

Once again thinking back to his days in Monterrey and his mothers own homemade nixtamal tortillas, Wise sought to create his own. The nixtamal tortilla is typically part of a lengthy process involving cooking corn, then steeping it overnight with calcium hydroxide before milling it into masa. Eventually Wise sourced some ancestral species of blue bolita corn from Oaxaca, and he began making his own tortillas. The last step in the process was then to find tortilla-making equipment, which he eventually found in Los Angeles.

Everybody thought I was crazy, like, Youre investing this much money and it probably might not work, Wise said. Most of the investment is going to make tortillas, the cheapest of the ingredients. And Im like, Yup, thats exactly what Im doing.

Courtesy Nixtaco

Wise eventually opened Nixtaco in June 2016 and quit the finance world for good, finding inspiration for the name in the tortilla-making process he was bringing to his restaurant, and landing a space in a strip mall in the suburbs, near his home at the time.

It was those blue corn tortillas that captured my attention when I made my way to Roseville. It was nothing like the corn tortillas Ive had stateside, leaving a lingering impression on me, even weeks after my visit. The fillings, of course, were attention-grabbing as well  the chicharron taco is prominent on the menu, but is instead made with pork belly, rather than pork jowl  and the menu has expanded to include a mix of meat and veggie options that appeal to both a Roseville crowd and Wises own sentiments. Among the original options offered on the menu were a taco made with chicken simmered in salsa verde and topped with queso fresco; a short rib barbacoa taco with a healthy slice of avocado on top; and a vegetarian option, the rajas con queso, a taco made with strips of poblano pepper and melted Oaxaca cheese, corn and crema, among others.

A frequent customer request for a Taco Tuesday special led to Wise coming up with new flavor combinations and expanding the menu  the naive person in me didnt realize that they were asking for a monetary deal, Wise admitted, so I came up with a special item every week  with the most popular tacos, now immortalized as their signature tacos. Here you see Wise playing a bit more with the taco ingredients, such as with the roadkill taco which incorporates a roasted and shredded pork belly with cheese, Serrano chiles, tomato and onion; the Nixtaco combination features shrimp Mazatlan style paired with chicharron and covered in a creamy sauce, cheese and cilantro.

In fact, those two tacos were among the items name-checked by James Beard-award winning writer Bill Esparza, author of the aforementioned Food & Wine article, when I spoke to him recently. Nixtaco had already gained local media attention in Sacramento since its opening, but Esparzas article exposed the taqueria to a national level.

Courtesy Nixtaco

What caught Esparzas attention when he visited back in 2019 was the fact that Wise was part of a rising class of Latino chefs who were making (and popularizing) modern tacos at that time, he told me, referencing two Los Angeles-area chefs, Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria and Wes Avila of Angry Egret Dinette.

Patricio has got [at Nixtaco] a modern Mexican American thing, but it's also got a lot of roots and flavors and little hidden tastes of his hometown in Monterrey, where of course they have an incredible taco culture  and he's doing the right thing, Esparza said.

It's really about the way he's putting together traditional Mexican guisados and steak, and using really high quality corn tortillas and high quality flour tortillas, Esparza later added. And really the most important thing is the construction of the taco itself. ... [Wise] was the real deal. And of course it was really delicious when I had it.

Nixtaco is now in its latest phase of its development and expanding its drink options, after recently reopening its dining room to the public. Nixtaco has offered an extensive line of craft beers with its tacos, but it now has a full liquor license and is opening a distillery, where Wise says theyre in the process of making vodka, gin and whiskey. This move is getting Wise closer to his goal of creating his very own Cheers-like place  a dream he actually wrote down in his first business guide  of creating a local, neighborhood watering hole with great food.

Nixtaco is at 1805 Cirby Way No. 12, Roseville. Their hours of operation are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Marking car tires with chalk to issue parking tickets could be ruled unconstitutional in parts of the Bay Area, if two new lawsuits are successful.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, plaintiff Maria Infante recently filed a $50 million lawsuit after receiving a $95 ticket from an S.F. parking enforcement officer who chalked her tires. On the same day in San Leandro, plaintiff Akeel Nasser filed a $5 million lawsuit after receiving four parking tickets from the city, totaling $180. (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina's second-largest school district plans to begin enforcing its requirement that everyone in the building wear masks.

The Charleston County School Board voted Monday to use federal money to enforce its mask requirement for its 48,000 students.

The board had passed a mask rule in August, but told schools to hold off on enforcing it with students until they could figure out a way around a provision in the South Carolina budget that said state money could not be used to carry out any school mask mandates.

District officials didn't share how the rule would now be enforced, saying they were still working on the details and hope to finalize them by the end of the week.

The mask rule runs through Oct. 15 as South Carolina deals with a COVD-19 surge as large as any seen during the pandemic.

Intensive care units in both adult and children hospitals are full. More than 750 deaths have been reported in the first 14 days of September. The average new cases reported each day has dipped from last week's peak, but is still around 4,500 cases  a level only surpassed during the winter peak before vaccines were widely available.

Also on Tuesday, two more lawmakers  one Democrat and one Republican  said they want a special session to repeal the budget rule preventing many districts from passing mask requirements.

Sen. Katrina Shealy, a Republican from Lexington, and Rep. Jermaine Johnson, a Democrat from Columbia, issued a joint statement saying conditions have gotten much worse since the proviso was passed in early June.

We need to repeal this proviso now and allow local governments to make these decisions on their own, based on the rate of spread and the pandemics impact on their communities, their statement read.

A few other Republicans have also called for a special session, including Sen. Luke Rankin from Myrtle Beach, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But Senate President Harvey Peeler has said he doesn't have the two-thirds of senators needed to assure the mask ban is repealed. House leadership, after saying they planned a special session in September to deal with spending COVID-19 federal aid, have not scheduled the session yet amid indications they may not meet this fall at all.

Gov. Henry McMaster, during an appearance Tuesday at the groundbreaking of a new reptile and amphibian house at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, again said parents alone should decide if children wear masks in schools.

He also again called for people to get COVID-19 vaccines. The state is about 14,000 people away from having 50% of its residents age 12 or above fully vaccinated.

All we can do about that is to get the information to the people, tell them what works, what doesnt work, and let them make the best decision for their own families, their own lives, McMaster said.

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Michelle Liu contributed to this report.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.
LEWISTON, Maine (AP)  Three teenagers have been charged with setting fire to an apartment building, resulting in the death of one of the tenants.

Two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old were arrested Monday after an investigation concluded the fire Saturday afternoon was arson. They were transported to the Long Creek Correctional Facility.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP)  A judge has set bail at $3 million for the suspected getaway driver in the killing of Clark County sheriffs Detective Jeremy Brown in east Vancouver, Washington.

Abran Raya Leon, 28, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of second-degree murder, possession of a stolen firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, The Columbian reported. He is scheduled to be arraigned later this month.
NEW YORK (AP)  Just hours before the HBO documentary Jagged was to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday, Alanis Morissette criticized the film about her life as reductive and salacious.

Morissette participated in the film, directed by Alison Klayman, sitting for lengthy interviews. But in a statement issued by her publicist, the Canadian musician said she would not be supporting the film, named after her breakthrough 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill.

I agreed to participate in a piece about the celebration of Jagged Little Pills 25th anniversary, and was interviewed during a very vulnerable time (while in the midst of my third postpartum depression during lockdown), wrote Morissette. I was lulled into a false sense of security and their salacious agenda became apparent immediately upon my seeing the first cut of the film. This is when I knew our visions were in fact painfully diverged. This was not the story I agreed to tell.

Morissette didn't specify her issues with Jagged, which is to premiere Nov. 19 on HBO. But its most sensitive material includes Morissette discussing sexual encounters when she was 15 that she calls statutory rape. The Washington Post earlier reported on that section of the film.

"It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimization on my part, Morissette says in the film. I would always say I was consenting, and then Id be reminded like Hey, you were 15, youre not consenting at 15. Now Im like, Oh yeah, theyre all pedophiles. Its all statutory rape.

Canadas age of consent has been 16 years old since 2008. A person under the age of 18 cannot consent if the sexual activity is with a person with authority over them. Youths 14 or 15 years old can consent to nonexploitive sexual activity when the age difference is no more than five years. Before 2008, the age of consent was 14. Morissette doesn't go into any detail on who the encounters were with.

Representatives for Klayman didn't immediately return requests for comment Tuesday. In an interview with Deadline Hollywood published Tuesday, Klayman, whose films include "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry" and the Steve Bannon documentary Brink, lamented that Morissette wouldn't be there for the premiere.

Its a really hard thing, I think, to see a movie made about yourself, Klayman said. I think shes incredibly brave and the reaction when she saw it was that it was a really  she could feel all the work, all the nuance that went into it. And again, she gave so much of her time and so much of her effort into making this and I think that the movie really speaks for itself.

Morissette is currently on tour and is to perform in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday.

I have chosen not to attend any event around this movie for two reasons: one is that i am on tour right now. The other is that, not unlike many stories and unauthorized biographies out there over the years, this one includes implications and facts that are simply not true, said Morissette. "While there is beauty and some elements of accuracy in this/my story to be sure  I ultimately wont be supporting someone elses reductive take on a story much too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  A member of the Alaska Legislature has apologized for saying Nazi experimentation on prisoners produced results.

State Rep. Sara Hannan, a Democrat from Juneau, made the comment Saturday when House minority Republicans were attempting a vote on whether the Nuremberg Code  ethics principles for human experimentation written after the Nazi atrocities of World War II were discovered  was still valid, the Juneau Empire reported.

I apologize for the words that I used on the House Floor yesterday, Hannan said Sunday on social media. I did not mean to imply any support for NAZIs nor their experimentation in any way. My remarks were incorrect, insensitive and hurtful. I am sorry and will strive to do better.

Hannans comments came during an attempt from state Rep. David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, to force a non-binding vote asking the Alaska House whether the Nuremberg code remains just as valid today as when it was written in 1947, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Some opponents of COVID-19 vaccinations contend they are in violation of the code, created in the wake of Nazi atrocities and intended to prevent medical experimentation again.

Eastman did not explicitly refer to COVID-19 vaccinations in the context of the code on Saturday. The Federal Drug Administration last month gave final approval to the Pfizer vaccine, while vaccines from Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have received emergency use authorizations.

Rep. Christopher Kurka, another Wasilla Republican, on Saturday called mass COVID-19 vaccinations a giant human experiment.

During debate, Hannan said the Nazi experiments were violations of human dignity, of scientific methodology, yet they produced results.

Hannan on Tuesday told The Associated Press that she has been prepared to make an apology on the House floor since making her comments, but the body adjourned Sunday and canceled its session on Monday.

She intended to issue the apology on Tuesday, the last day of the Legislatures special session.

The words I will say are the words that I have posted, she said. I dont usually work from a script, but in this case, I am because thats what got me in trouble.

However, the House canceled its floor session, and then the Legislature adjourned the special session, preventing her from giving the public apology.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, which preserves the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, said on social media in July that using the Holocaust to argue against a vaccination that saves human lives is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.

State Rep. Andy Josephson, an Anchorage Democrat, told the Anchorage newspaper that comparing vaccination efforts and Nazi atrocities was profoundly offensive.

Its just a horrible analogy, and people should just not go there, he said.

House Speaker Louise Stutes, a Kodiak Republican, on Saturday referred Eastmans measure to three committees, a death-knell since the Legislature session had to end Tuesday.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP)  A bill that would set a dividend for Alaska residents this year sat another day in a Senate committee on Monday, while a bill intended to help with medical facility staffing concerns amid a COVID-19 surge appeared dead in the House as lawmakers neared the end of their third special session.

The Senate Finance Committee has yet to advance a version of the dividend bill passed by the House on Aug. 31. The special session is set to expire Tuesday.

A hearing on the bill was set for Tuesday morning, following days in which the bill had been scheduled for hearing but not taken up.

We're trying to get an agreement. The deadline's midnight Tuesday night," said Sen. Bert Stedman, a committee co-chair.

If the version that passes the Senate differs from what passed the House, the House will be asked if it agrees with the changes. Disagreements between the chambers often lead to conference committees, which can take time to set up and time for members to try to come to terms.

The House version called for a roughly $1,100 dividend, which House Speaker Louise Stutes has said was the most the state can afford to pay until Alaskas structural budget deficit is resolved.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, an Anchorage Democrat, said he would work in the session's final hours to encourage colleagues to support the House version, which he said was the only sure guarantee of a dividend this year. ... And people need a dividend.

Lawmakers in recent years have sought to limit annual withdrawals from earnings of the state's oil-wealth fund for dividends and government costs, though they can breach the cap if they choose to do so. Members of the bipartisan coalition that Stutes leads have been resistant to exceeding that limit without an agreement on a long-range fiscal plan.

Other lawmakers said the state can afford a larger dividend and that residents could use the help. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has advocated for a check of around $2,350.

This year's draw from earnings has already gone into the state general fund, the director of the Legislative Finance Division has said.

House majority lawmakers and Dunleavys office have different views on whether some of the funds targeted for use for the dividend in the House bill are available without a three-quarter vote.

Begich said he has to leave by 3 p.m. Tuesday for family obligations and hoped the issue in the Senate could be addressed by then.

Meanwhile, the House majority said it will not bring back for debate a bill introduced by Dunleavy that was intended to help address staffing concerns at medical facilities.

The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association in a statement said recent legislative debates on the bill led to a host of misinformation, distraction and efforts to undermine sound science and mitigation efforts that individual Alaskans can take to persevere through the pandemic.

The group's president and CEO, Jared Kosin, said the group made known that we're not interested in going any further with the bill. He cited concerns with anti-vaccine proposals in the Senate and an amendment that passed the House Sunday that said emergency medical service providers were to allow a patient to have a support person with them during treatment.

The House amendment, largely supported by minority Republicans, also drew support from three majority coalition members. Some supporters saw the provision as compassionate.

But Kosin said it feels like politicians are trying to dictate what a safe environment looks like inside a hospital when doing amendments like this.

The Senate version included a provision that would allow someone to object to a COVID-19 vaccine based on religious, medical, or other grounds. Another provision said businesses or state agencies could not require individuals to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for individuals to access areas or services that are open to the public. Those provisions were removed by a House committee.

Rep. Ben Carpenter, a Nikiski Republican, said Alaskans are concerned about immunization rights. He and other minority Republicans disagreed with the decision to pull the bill from debate, saying a fuller discussion on vaccine and other health care-related issues is warranted.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Arizona commission charged with redrawing maps for congressional and legislative districts every decade approved its basic starting-point grid maps Tuesday, kicking off a months-long process with huge political implications where the boundaries will be heavily tweaked before being finalized.

The grid maps for the state's nine congressional and 30 legislative districts differ greatly from the state's current map. They are also nothing like what the final new maps will outline, according to the chair of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.

Instead, it is a basic map that breaks up Arizona's 7.15 million residents into equal parts by census tract.

Please remember it is an arbitrary starting point, Commission Chair Erika Neuberg said. There's no meaning behind these lines outside of equal population."

How the commission changes the grid map could have vast political consequences because they can affect the ability of parties to elect their candidates.

The state's current congressional delegation consists of four Republicans and five Democrats, although the 2nd Congressional District has swung from Democrat to Republican and back over the past decade. The state Legislature is also closely divided, with Republicans holding just a one-seat advantage in both chambers. Republicans have slowly lost seats over the past decade as the state's voters moved from solidly red to more competitively balanced.

The commission, if it has the votes, could let that trend continue or tip the scales to one party or the other by how it divvies up populations and registered voters. It is made up of two Democrats, two Republicans and Neuberg, who is an independent.

How she votes as the chair and tiebreaker as the mapmaking decisions start to be made will be closely watched by political parties. Two early commission decisions, on the mapping consultant and the panel's executive director, left the Democrats unhappy. But it remains unclear where Neuberg will come down on more substantive decisions.

The commission's contract map-makers started the grid map at the six-way intersection of Grand and 19th avenues and McDowell Road where the state fairgrounds is located in central Phoenix, then broke the state into four quadrants moving clockwise. All the congressional and legislative districts are within one person of being equal -- 794,612 people per congressional district and 239,384 legislative district, or one fewer.

The final maps will be able to have up to a plus or minus 5% difference in population.

Now that it has approved grid maps that contain draft districts with equal populations that are compact and connected, commissioners will consider the four other factors the state constitution says it must weigh in setting up the real districts. They are complying with the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Right Act, keeping "communities of interest" together, considering features such as city, town and county boundaries and creating competitive districts.

Rejiggering the maps is a complex process because each move of a line requires corresponding moves in other districts to keep populations relatively close.

The commission has scheduled a series of five public meetings to get input on those factors, with the first Sept. 21 in Mesa with viewing sites set up in Yuma and at Window Rock on the Navajo Nation. The other hearings also have remote participation options.

Arizona was widely expected to get a 10th congressional seat after last year's Census, but the state grew at a slower pace than expected and lost out on that added representation. Detailed Census data was provided to the commission last month that allowed the map-making process to shift into high gear

The redistricting commission was created by voters in 2000 to limit political influence by the Legislature in redrawing congressional and legislative district maps.

Republicans generally liked the district maps drawn after the 2000 census, and those done following the 2010 census were regarded as more favorable to Democrats, prompting strong criticism from Republicans.

The 2001 and 2011 maps led to prolonged court challenges, including a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld Arizona voters decision to strip the redistricting process from the Legislature.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by the state Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount.

The high court without comment rejected the appeal filed after an appeals court and trial court both ruled the documents are public records that must be released. The court also dissolved a stay on the appeals court ruling it put in place on Aug. 24 so it could review the record and decide whether to accept the appeal.

The Arizona Court of Appeals had ruled that the documents sought by the watchdog group American Oversight detailing how the recount and audit are being conducted are public and must be turned over.

Republicans who control the Senate have tried for months to keep secret how their contractors are conducting the recount. They argued that because the records are maintained by Senate contractors, they were not subject to public records law and that legislative immunity applies. But the appeals court in its Aug. 19 ruling rejected that argument.

The court said the main contractor, Florida company Cyber Ninjas, was subject to the records law because it was performing a core government function that the Senate farmed out.

"Allowing the legislature to disregard the clear mandate of the (public records law) would undermine the integrity of the legislative process and discourage transparency, which contradicts the purpose of both the immunity doctrine and the (law)," acting presiding Judge Maria Elena Cruz wrote for the three-judge panel.

"The requested records are no less public records simply because they are in the possession of a third party, Cyber Ninjas, Cruz wrote later in the ruling.

A spokesman for Cyber Ninjas, Rod Thomson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Senate spokesman Mike Philipsen.

It is unclear when the records will actually be released. There is a previously scheduled status conference hearing set for Thursday before the trial court judge who issued the original order.

The appeals court ruling came in a case filed by American Oversight that is fighting for transparency in the election recount and upheld a Maricopa County Superior Court judge's ruling. That judge also ordered the Senate to turn over audit records it held, and they were released on Aug. 31.

Arizonans can look forward to much needed transparency, even if it may reveal gross attacks on democracy itself, Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.

The unprecedented partisan recount and review of election results in the state's most populous county was prompted by former President Donald Trump's loss in the state and his contention without evidence that he lost in Arizona and other battleground states because of fraud.

Senate Republicans issued subpoenas to Maricopa County for all 2020 ballots, the machines that counted them and other data in the states most populated county.

The materials were given to contractors with little to no election experience for what Senate President Karen Fann calls a forensic audit. Election experts say the 2020 election was secure and well-run, and the contractors are using bizarre and unreliable procedures. Maricopa County has refused further participation.

The results of the audit and hand recount are expected to be handed over to the Senate at any time. But there have been repeated delays. The Senate then plans to review what is expected to be a three-volume report before it is released to the public.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday also rejected an appeal in another public records case involving the Senate election audit. In that case, Cyber Ninjas and the Senate were sued for failing to release records by the company that owns the Arizona Republic newspaper. Cyber Ninjas wanted the case moved to a different trial court judge, but under pandemic rules issued by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, the automatic right to ask for a different judge was suspended.

Cyber Ninjas argued that denying it the ability to seek a new judge improperly deprived it of a valuable substantive right. The high court without comment declined to consider a challenge to its own order, although two of seven justices would have heard the case.

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Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report.
BOSTON (AP)  A former mayor from Massachusetts who was convicted of felony fraud and corruption charges is seeking a three-year prison sentence, much less than the 11 years prosecutors had requested.

Lawyers for former Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia said in a sentencing memorandum filed Monday in federal court that 36 months is a very substantial period of incarceration for a non-violent first offense, particularly for a man as young as Mr. Correia.

The filing included nine letters requesting leniency, including pleas from Correia's parents, his wife, and the pastor of the church he attends.

Jasiel has been and continues to be a model son, brother, cousin, friend and a husband to his wife, and Im certain once he becomes a father hell be 10 times better at being a father than I am, wrote Correias father, also Jasiel Correia.

In addition to prison time, defense attorneys recommended restitution and appropriate forfeiture.

While awaiting sentencing, Correia has been managing a Fall River restaurant-function hall owned by his wifes family, and has been integral to its success, the defense said.

In addition to the 11-year prison term, federal prosecutors last week also called on a judge to order Correia to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution to investors and more than $20,000 to the IRS, and forfeit more than $560,000.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20.

Correia, first elected mayor in 2015 at age 23, was convicted in May of 21 extortion, wire fraud, and filing false tax return counts. He continues to deny all charges and has appealed.

His criminal trial highlighted his swift rise and fall. During his run for mayor, he portrayed himself as a successful entrepreneur who could revive the struggling old mill city some 50 miles south of Boston.

Instead, prosecutors said he stole money from investors in his start-up to bankroll a lavish lifestyle and once he became mayor, and solicited bribes from marijuana vendors who wanted to do business in the city.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A 23-year-old Marine from Omaha who was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the suicide bombing attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan will be buried Friday.

Cpl. Daegan William-Tyeler Page was killed late last month in what the U.S. said was was the most lethal day for American forces in Afghanistan since 2011. The attack was blamed on Afghanistans offshoot of the Islamic State group.
AP

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP)  A California man who went on a solo hiking trip at Yosemite National Park is missing, park officials said.

Joel Thomazin, 31, of Denair, set out to hike Sept. 6 from Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Lake Eleanor, 9 miles (14 kilometers) away and planned to return to Hetch Hetchy by Sept. 9. He was declared missing on Saturday, Yosemite National Park officials said in a statement.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP)  A jury on Monday found a woman was legally sane when she pushed her 7-month-old son to his death from a Southern California hospital parking structure.

Sonia Hermosillo, 41, of La Habra, could now face 25 years to life in prison when she is sentenced next month.

On Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove Noe Medina Jr. to Childrens Hospital of Orange County, where he had been undergoing treatments for several medical problems, although he didn't have an appointment that day, prosecutors said.

Hermosillo removed a helmet that the boy was wearing for one condition and pushed him from the fourth story of the hospital parking structure, prosecutors said.

She then went into the hospital, validated her parking and drove away, authorities said.

The boy died two days later.

According to trial testimony, Hermosillo had struggled with mental health issues after the birth of the boy, who had various issues including a congenitally twisted neck.

He was sick, and his mother didnt want him, prosecutor Mena Guirguis told jurors at the trial. She made a cold-hearted decision to kill her child.

But her attorney argued Hermosillo, who had two other children, had a psychotic break.

Something happened to her, attorney Jacqueline Goodman, Hermosillos attorney. Nothing ever could have forced her to stop loving that baby, except psychosis.

Last month, an Orange County jury convicted Hermosillo of first-degree murder and assault on a child causing death. She had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The same jury ruled in her sanity trial.
LOS ANGELES  Californias overall pandemic trends appear to be improving, led especially by declining hospitalizations in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, although hospitals in the Central Valley and the rural north remain under terrible strain.

But as some health officials have been warning, the improvements are not guaranteed to last.

In late July, Britain celebrated what seemed to be a recovery from its own Delta surge, an improvement that came about six weeks before California began having its own drop in cases. But cases later rose again in the U.K.

The cautionary tale here is from the United Kingdom, where they had a very similar pattern, with a surge that dropped down across the summer ... which were seeing now. But then it went right back up again, Dr. George Rutherford, a University of California, San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert, said at a campus forum recently.

We need to be careful that this doesnt happen here, Rutherford said. We are at risk for this happening. And its going to take some concerted effort to keep it from not happening.

The vaccines are still having a helpful impact in Britain: The nation is reporting about 36,000 cases a day, below both the peak of about 67,000 new daily cases during the winter surge and the summer peak of about 48,000 cases a day in late July.

Still, the latest numbers in Britain illustrate an uptick from a midsummer low of about 22,000 cases a day around early August.

Daily deaths are rising in the U.K. but are still far lower than they were during the winter surge. At its winter peak, Britain was reporting about 1,700 deaths a day over a weekly period before falling to nearly zero in the late spring; the country is now reporting about 140 deaths a day over a weekly period, according to Johns Hopkins University.

California already is at a disadvantage compared to Britain. The Golden State, while boasting one of the United States highest vaccination rates, still lags behind Britains shot record. Among Californians of all ages, 58% are fully vaccinated, while in Britain, 65% are fully vaccinated.

The latest model by the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows just how uncertain Californias future could be.

Currently, California is reporting an average of 100 COVID-19 deaths a day, significantly worse than the tallies of 20 to 30 deaths a day earlier in the summer, but still far better than the nearly 550 deaths a day recorded at the peak of the pandemic during the winter surge.

In the most likely scenario, if vaccines continue to be distributed at the current pace, daily deaths are expected to remain steady, the institutes model says. If more people wear masks, daily deaths would decline.

But if all vaccinated people stopped wearing masks, and variants spread even faster than expected, daily deaths could reach 500 a day by mid-November, according to the institutes model.

With the experience of the U.K., we cant be complacent, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Medicine, said in a tweet.

Californias weekly coronavirus case rates continue to improve.

Los Angeles County did not report case numbers Saturday or Sunday because of a planned upgrade in its processing systems, but the trend heading into the weekend appeared consistent with continued declines in cases.

Between Aug. 27 and Friday, new weekly coronavirus cases have dropped by 36% in the San Francisco Bay Area, 28% in Southern California, 27% in the Greater Sacramento area, 18% in the San Joaquin Valley and 15% in rural Northern California.

Nonetheless, coronavirus transmission levels remain high, and so are COVID-19 hospitalization levels.

Some experts say that it can be prudent to implement emergency COVID-19 measures, such as indoor mask mandates, when there are five or more COVID-19 hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents. The Bay Area has a rate of 11; Southern California, 15; the Greater Sacramento area, 26; rural Northern California, 31; and the San Joaquin Valley, 35, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.

Hospitals in the Central Valley and rural Northern California remain under considerable duress.

In Del Norte County, on Californias northern border, more than half of hospitalized patients at the main hospital in Crescent City have COVID-19.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a broad region with more than 4 million people that stretches from Stockton to Bakersfield, available intensive care unit capacity has remained under 10% for 12 consecutive days, and officials in Fresno County have warned they are so overwhelmed that they might have to ration health care  choosing who receives lifesaving measures.

Fresno Countys ICUs have been particularly crowded in the last several weeks, filled with between 80 and 93 patients  numbers not seen since January. And because hospitals also are caring for non-COVID patients, the crowding has been so extreme that officials have been forced to transfer critically ill patients as far as Sacramento and the Bay Area, about a 170-mile drive away.

Some experts expressed hope that vaccination mandates, or shot-or-test requirements, will boost vaccination rates. Last week, President Joe Biden said that employees at companies with at least 100 workers will be required to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

In Los Angeles County, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has said the pace of vaccinations needs to rise far more than what it is currently. But she expressed hope that targeted vaccination orders will help, like the one that children 12 and older in Los Angeles public schools be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January to enter campus.

Theres just an obligation for us to really try to stop the continued pandemic and vaccinations are the most powerful tool we have, Ferrer said.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration has ordered, with limited exceptions, that health care workers must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30; California school employees also have been ordered to be vaccinated or be tested weekly.

Ongoing studies continue to demonstrate the power of vaccinations. A recent study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that, compared to vaccinated people, unvaccinated people in areas hit by the delta surge were 4 1/2 times more likely to contract the coronavirus, 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19, and 11 times more likely to die.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  Masks will be required for all students, staff and visitors in Cedar Rapids schools, the district's superintendent said Tuesday.

Superintendent Noreen Bush announced the requirement beginning Wednesday in an email to families, a day after a federal judge ordered the state of Iowa to immediately halt enforcement of a law the prevents school board from ordering mask mandates. More than 90 students in the district are now positive for the coronavirus, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported.
NECOCLI, Colombia (AP)  Every day, at least 500 migrants from around the world sail out of Necocli, a small town on Colombias Caribbean coast, across the Gulf of Uraba to the village of Acandi, to start a week-long trek through the jungle that takes them into Panama  the next stop on the long road to the United States.

About one quarter of them are children, according to Panamanian officials, and often still in arms.

While trekking through the lawless jungle known as the Darien Gap, migrants face the risks of being swept away by rivers, assaulted by armed groups or getting lost in the rainforest. Yet thousands of families are making the journey, hoping for a new life.

We we want God to help us prosper said Jackie Charles, a Haitian who was boarding a boat in Necocli. Our country is in crisis and we need to support our family.

The Darien Gap has long been used by migrants from Cuba and Haiti, who find it almost impossible to fly to Mexico or the U.S. due to visa restrictions. Migrants from African and Asian countries, facing similar problems, have also made the trek after first reaching South America.

Most of those passing through the Darien now are Haitians who had been living in Brazil and Chile and left when the pandemic left them with little or no work.

Necocli has became a major bottleneck on the route north. Boat companies struggle to keep up with demand even as governments have limited the numbers. The Pan-American Highway ends here, only to resurface in Yaviza, on the Panamanian side of the Darien.

Colombias Institute for Family Welfare has set up a tent in Necocli to help families arriving with children. Kids are weighed and measured to check for malnutrition. Diapers and baby formula are provided. But in the jungle none of that help is available.

According to Panamas National Immigration Service, 45,000 migrants crossed the Darien Gap in the first seven months of this year and registered with authorities, including 12,000 children.

Doctors Without Borders, which runs a small clinic in the Panamanian village of Bajo Chiquito, says that children who make it through the jungle often suffer from diarrhea and respiratory infections.

Ronald, a Haitian migrant in Necocli, said that his wife, who is six months pregnant and had been to the town's hospital for help with back pains. We realize it's dangerous Ronald said blending Spanish and Portuguese, which he had learned in Brazil. But we are going because we want a better life.

He refused to provide his last name because he feared deportation from Colombia, which he entered illegally at the Ecuador border.

Jorge Tobon, Necoclis mayor, said that respiratory and gastrointestinal problems are the most common reasons that pregnant migrants seek help at the local hospital.

In August, Panama and Colombia agreed to limit the number of migrants crossing through the Darien. Only 500 migrants are allowed to leave Necocli each day on the boats. But many more are arriving each day in the small town, where approximately 14,000 migrants are currently stranded, according to the municipal government.

Tickets on boats leaving Necocli are sold out through the last week of September. ;Migrants wander around the port daily, hoping they can get a ticket, or a spot on a boat that is reserved for tourists, who also travel to beach hotels in Acandi and the nearby village of Capurgana.

We came from Chile. We have been waiting here for two months and still havent been able to get a ticket said Mali, a Haitian who was at the port. Mali, who also refused to provide her last name, said her family had budgeted $1,600 for the journey to the United States, but had already spent more than $2,000 due to the costs of being stranded in Necocli.

Relatives in the United States could send her money, but because she is undocumented in Colombia, there are few ways to withdraw cash from banks or money transfer companies.

Because we dont have any papers, we need Colombian residents to do that for us Mali explained. And they ask for commissions that range from 20 to 50%.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP)  The Michigan Court of Appeals has blocked an effort to increase the number of marijuana businesses to 10 from three in a mid-Michigan college town.

The question was headed to the November ballot in Mount Pleasant. But the appeals court agreed with opponents Monday and said petitions used to gather signatures had technical flaws.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  The Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts plans to host four virtual community forums this month to discuss how domestic violence cases are handled.

The forums on Sept. 27 to 30 are part of an assessment to identify any gaps in cases involving domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual violence, a statement from the Administrative Office of the Courts said. The public is invited to join the forums but must register to attend.
DETROIT (AP)  Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig formally announced his campaign for governor Tuesday, but not before protesters derailed his kickoff event at a state park and forced him to move.

He effectively has been running for months but waited to make it official. He is among 10 Republicans, all of them political newcomers, looking to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2022. He and two others  former conservative media host Tudor Dixon and chiropractor Garrett Soldano  appear best positioned for the primary next August while many others may not be able to qualify for the ballot.

Craig, who would be Michigan's first Black governor if elected, was to speak to reporters on Belle Isle in the middle of the Detroit River in his hometown. But he abandoned that plan when he was shouted down by a couple-dozen people critical of his role as chief.

He turned around and walked back toward a waiting vehicle, which took him to a nearby office complex. It was there that he made the announcement a short time later.

My name is James Craig. And Im running to be your governor, he said, flashing a thumbs-up. The governor for the state of Michigan.

He nodded as supporters chanted, Chief Craig.

As for the disruption on the island park, Craig said a small group of paid protesters did nothing. What they did is reinforce why we need change.

Asked about his statement that the demonstrators were paid, Craig said he did not have evidence of that, but that he believed it.

The message is: Im winning, he said. I got the message out anyway.

Craig was critical of Whitmer, saying the first-term governor has been more focused on political science rather than actual science. She has come under GOP criticism for ordering capacity restrictions and mask requirements to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has contributed to more than 20,000 deaths in the state. She lifted the rules in June, citing vaccinations and other factors.

Craig also predicted support for his campaign from outside southeast Michigan, saying: I will resonate with those folks up north or on the west, because Im authentic, Im a leader and Im blue-collar. I know what hard work looks like. Nobodys ever given me anything.

Rodericka Applewhaite, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said it objectively was not a good morning" for Craig, who also planned stops in Flint and Grand Rapids after the rocky start.

Disruption or no, Michiganders are the ones who lose here, she said. "For months theyve gone without answers from the Detroit Dodger on the integrity of our elections, his refusal to speak out against criminalizing abortion, his willingness to condemn the insurrection and every other issue hes avoided for flashy national cable interviews. Michiganders deserve better.

Six other Republicans have created campaign committees: Army veteran Austin Chenge, Bob Scott, Ryan Kelley, a real estate broker who organized protests against the governors coronavirus orders, pastor Ralph Rebandt II and Articia Bomer. Also running is Evan Space, who has no committee.

___

Eggert reported from Lansing, Michigan.
SAQQARA, Egypt (AP)  Egypt on Tuesday showcased an ancient tomb structure belonging to the cemetery complex of King Djoser, a pharaoh who lived more than 4,500 years ago, following extensive restorations of the site.

The structure  known as the Southern Tomb  is largely underground and includes a labyrinth of corridors, decorated with hieroglyphic carvings and tiles. A central funeral shaft houses a massive granite-clad sarcophagus from Egypts Third Dynasty.

However, the pharaoh was not actually buried there but in the famed Step Pyramid nearby. The two structures make up part of the Saqqara complex near Cairo  one of the countrys richest archeological sites. The Step Pyramid is the oldest known pyramid and one of the first examples of monumental architecture from the ancient world, according to UNESCO. It is believed to have been the inspiration for the Pyramids at Giza.

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism said the opening this week of the tomb structure marked the completion of restoration work that started in 2006 and included reinforcing of the underground corridors, refurbishing the carvings and the tiled walls, and installing lighting. As of Tuesday, the tomb opened to the public.

In addition to the Southern Tomb, the Saqqara plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, as well as hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis of Egypts ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.

Egypt has publicized a string of recent archaeological finds over the past year in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. The sector was also dealt a further blow by the global coronavirus pandemic.
CAIRO (AP)  Egypts president met Tuesday with Libyas parliament speaker and a powerful military commander as Cairo pushes for the withdrawal of foreign forces and the holding of elections as scheduled in December.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi received Speaker Aguila Saleh and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, commander of the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, in Cairo, the Egyptian leaders office said in a statement.

El-Sissi said his government would continue its efforts "with all Libyan brothers ... to hold the significant presidential and parliamentary vote by the end of this year.

He also reiterated calls for foreign forces and mercenaries to be pulled out of the oil-rich country.

Saleh and Hifter, whose forces run most of Libyas eastern and southern regions and oil facilities, are close allies to Egypt. In recent months, el-Sissis government has also reached out to officials in western Libya, apparently to counterbalance Turkeys influence there.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and split the oil-rich country between rival governments, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

In April 2019, Hifters forces, backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His 14-month-long campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military support of the Tripoli-based government with hundreds of Turkish troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.

U.N.-sponsored peace talks brought about a cease-fire last October and installed an interim government that is expected to lead the country into December elections. The cease-fire deal also required the withdrawal of foreign fighters and mercenaries within three months, a deadline that was never met.

The U.N. has estimated there have been 20,000 foreign forces and mercenaries, mostly Syrian, Turkish, Russian and Sudanese, in the North African nation. The presence of foreign fighters and mercenaries is a major hurdle to holding the planned vote.

Libyan lawmakers have failed to finalize a legal framework for voting to take place, throwing the election schedule into doubt.

With mounting international pressure, the parliament earlier this month adopted a controversial presidential electoral law and said it is in the process of finalizing it for parliamentary elections, according to the U.N.'s envoy to Libya.

However, the High Council of State, an executive institution that among other duties proposes electoral laws, complained that the law was adopted without consulting its members, which could derail the roadmap.
CAIRO (AP)  The trial of an Egyptian activist and researcher who has been imprisoned for over a year and a half began Tuesday, his lawyers said. His case has drawn significant international attention, particularly in Italy, where he studied, and has become a high-profile example of the country's many people who are detained indefinitely without due process.

Patrick George Zaki, 29, a human rights advocate and student at the University of Bologna in Italy, worked at one of Egypt's most prominent human rights organizations.

Zaki appeared before a court in the Delta town of Mansoura to faces charges of spreading false news about Egypt domestically and abroad. The charges are based on a 2019 opinion article Zaki wrote on discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt, according to a statement by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Zaki worked as a gender rights researcher there.

"The only reason for denying Zaki his freedom is his practice of his right to free speech in defense of his rights, and the rights of all Egyptians  and especially Christian Egyptians  to equality and full citizenship," read the statement issued Monday and signed by another nine human rights advocacy groups.

A government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zaki's case or the campaign calling for his release.

In Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys presented arguments to the judge, who adjourned the trial until Sept. 28, said Hossam Bahgat, executive director of EIPR. The group is providing Zaki with a lawyer.

Zaki was arrested in February 2020 shortly after he landed in Cairo for a short trip home from Italy. His arrest became front page news there and sparked a wave of student protests in several Italian cities. At the time, the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli called for Zaki's immediate release.

For many Italians, Zaki's detention is reminiscent of the death of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni, who disappeared for several days in January 2016 before his body was found on a desert highway north of the Egyptian capital. Italian prosecutors have formally put four high-ranking members of Egypt's security forces under investigation for their alleged roles in the slaying.

Under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt has seen the heaviest crackdown on dissent in its modern history. Officials have targeted not only Islamist political opponents but also pro-democracy activists, journalists and online critics. Lengthy pretrial detentions have become a common practice to keep the government's critics behind bars for as long as possible.

On Monday, the family of another activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who has been held in pretrial detention for nearly two years, voiced fears he might take his own life.

His lawyer, Khaled Ali, wrote on his Facebook page that during a brief meeting with his client on Monday, Abdel-Fattah told him that he could no longer stand his imprisonment at the maximum security wing of Tora prison, and that he was going to take his own life.

Alaa is in imminent danger, his mental health is failing ... in a prison that operates completely outside the space of the law, his sister Mona Seif wrote in a social media post.

Abdel-Fattah was arrested in September 2019 while on probation amid a sweeping security clampdown following small but rare anti-government protests. His family and his lawyers had previously accused prison authorities of torturing him and denying him basic legal rights.

Abdel-Fattah has been detained several times under different governments for lobbying for civil rights on social media and in public. An influential blogger, he hails from a family of political activists, lawyers and writers. His late father was one of Egypts most tireless rights lawyers, his sisters are also political activists and his aunt is the award-winning novelist Ahdaf Soueif.

In March, an Egyptian court sentenced Sanaa Seif, Abdel-Fattah's sister, to 18 months in jail after finding her guilty of spreading false news about the handling of COVID-19 outbreaks in Egyptian prisons.

A government media officer did not respond to requests for comment concerning Abdel-Fattah's health and prison conditions.
BRUSSELS (AP)  The European Union's climate czar said Tuesday the 27-nation bloc should ensure that the most vulnerable people won't pay the heaviest price of the green transition, and pledged measures guaranteeing equal burden-sharing across society, amid a global surge of energy prices.

The one thing we cannot afford is for the social side to be opposed to the climate side. I see this threat very clearly now that we have a discussion about the price hike in the energy sector," said Frans Timmermans, the European Commission vice president in charge of climate issues.

As the global demand for gas has soared, energy prices have surged across Europe at a time when the EU is pushing for a quick phasing-out of coal and the development of sustainable sources of energy. Carbon prices have rocketed in recent months, having an impact on electricity bills.

Only about one fifth of the price increase can be attributed to Co2 prices rising. The other is simply a consequence of shortage in the the market," said Timmermans, noting that prices for renewables have kept low and stable.

Timmermans spoke at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, during a debate on proposed legislation aimed at helping the bloc cutting emissions of the gases that cause global warming at least by 55% by 2030.

Timmermans said the price hikes in the energy sector should lead the bloc to accelerate the transition toward renewable energy. He pointed out that if the transition had started sooner, the current situation would not have arisen because countries would be less dependent on fossil fuels and natural gas.

The commission's proposals included in the Fit for 55 package presented this summer encompass about a dozen major proposals, ranging from the de-facto phasing out of gasoline and diesel cars by 2035 to new levies on gases from heating buildings.

They involve a revamp of the blocs emissions trading program, under which companies pay for carbon dioxide they emit, and introduce taxes on shipping and aviation fuels for the first time.

Timmermans said the EU's executive branch proposals, which should be endorsed by EU countries and approved by the Parliament, will give the opportunity to all 27 members to introduce measures protecting their citizens, including reducing VAT taxes, duties on energy or giving direct support to households.

Some lawmakers voiced concerns about the impact of the plan on energy prices. Anna Zalewska, an MEP from coal-reliant Poland, said citizens will unfortunately pay for the ambitions of the EU.

Thats why I think what we need to do is to make sure that they do not end up in energy poverty, she said.

Green lawmaker Ska Keller said public subsidies for fossil fuels should be ended immediately in an accelerated switch to renewable energies.

Pascal Canfin, the chair of the Parliament committee on the environment, praised the proposal to put an end to petrol and diesel cars but expressed skepticism at the idea of extending the EUs carbon market to transport and buildings.

Because we believe that the political cost is extremely high, and the climate impact is very low," he said.

Putting a price on emissions from buildings and transport has raised concerns the measure could trigger social protests across Europe similar to the yellow vests" movement which started in France in 2018 after an increase in fuel taxes.

World leaders agreed six years ago in Paris to work to keep global temperatures from increasing more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and ideally no more than 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F) by the end of the century. Scientists say both goals will be missed by a wide margin unless drastic steps are taken to reduce emissions.

I believe we can still fix it," Timmermans said. I believe we can prevent the climate crisis from getting out of hand and out of control."

___

Read more stories on climate issues by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/Climate
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)  An FBI agent shot and killed someone Monday afternoon while working with a task force that was serving an arrest warrant in an East Oakland neighborhood, authorities said.

The shooting occurred shortly before 3:30 p.m. as a U.S. Marshals Service task force that included the FBI agent was working in the neighborhood, according to the FBI's San Francisco office, which said the person was pronounced dead at a hospital.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  The announcement that the federal government will review the Columbus police department and provide technical assistance in areas such as training and recruitment is a far cry from the last time the Justice Department examined the agency and signals the city's willingness to cooperate, analysts say.

The review announced last week will be conducted by the Justice Departments Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and follows a series of fatal police shootings of Black people and the city's heavily criticized response to last years racial injustice protests.

The review stems from an invitation by Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and City Attorney Zach Klein, both Democrats who have pushed for changes to the police department, putting them at times at odds with both rank-and-file officers and police brass.

By contrast, the Justice Department sued the city in 1999, accusing officers of routinely violating peoples civil rights through illegal searches, false arrests and excessive force. The city fought the lawsuit and the government ultimately bowed out.

WHY DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INTERVENE?

The government accepted an April invitation to conduct a review that came after a white officer fatally shot 16-year-old MaKhia Bryant while the teenager, who was Black, was swinging a knife at a woman. But that killing was more like the final straw than a precipitating event.

The same month, a federal judge ripped the city for officers' handling of racial injustice protests in May and June of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, saying police ran amok.

Meanwhile, white Columbus officers were involved in several other fatal shootings of Black people in the preceding months and years, among them the Dec. 22 killing of 47-year-old Andre Hill as he walked out of a garage holding a cell phone, and the 2016 fatal shooting of 13-year-old Tyre King during a robbery investigation.

Records show that Black residents, about 28% of the Columbus population, accounted for about half of all uses of police force from 2015 through 2019.

Ginther has already implemented changes to the police department, from body-worn cameras for officers to spearheading the city's first-ever civilian police review board. But when the mayor requested the federal review, he said Columbus needed help because of fierce opposition to reform within the agency.

WHAT TYPE OF REVIEW IS THIS?

The review will be conducted by the Justice Departments Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and will consist of what the department is calling technical assistance in areas such as training, recruitment including a focus on diversity, technology, and creating an early intervention system for officers.

The COPS office embraces the concept of community policing, which involves police departments strengthening relationships with residents and advocacy groups and helping improve officers' training.

Importantly, the COPS office also provides money to agencies, and has awarded more than $14 billion in grants to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to pay for the the hiring and redeployment of more than 134,000 officers.

That makes it an attractive option for Columbus, since the government could have announced a pattern and practices investigation conducted by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Such an approach typically assumes a combative relationship that starts in the courts and can include a federal judge's oversight of an agency for years. It can also require expensive changes to departmental policy shouldered by the city.

Baltimore has has been under federal oversight  a so-called consent decree  since 2017 after the Justice Department released a scathing report detailing longstanding patterns of racial profiling and excessive force. Such oversight is also in place in Ferguson, Missouri, and Cleveland, while California's Oakland Police Department has been under a consent decree for nearly 20 years.

WHAT DOES THIS REVIEW MEAN FOR COLUMBUS?

The COPS review suggests a more collaborative process, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit Washington-based police think tank.

The city is inviting federal oversight and asking for assistance of a technical variety, similar to requests made by Las Vegas and Philadelphia during the administration of President Barack Obama. Doing so will allow Columbus itself to take the lead on making changes once it receives the federal feedback, Wexler said.

Its significant whenever a city steps up and says we need help, he said. That says to me that Columbus wants to change the way they do business.

In 1999, the Justice Department sued the city, accusing officers of routinely violating peoples civil rights through illegal searches, false arrests and excessive force. A year later, the government added a racial profiling complaint, alleging that from 1994 to 1999, Black people in Columbus were almost three times as likely as white people to be the subject of traffic stops in which a ticket was issued.

A federal judge in 2002 dismissed the lawsuit after the city, which had fought it, made changes on the use of police force and handling of complaints against officers.

Columbus may understand it might not be so lucky the second time around, said Zachary Powell, a criminal justice professor at California State University-San Bernardino.

Former President Donald Trump's administration indicated it was reluctant to use federal consent decrees to enforce change in departments. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has signaled the opposite, Powell said. Powell cited recent federal probes of excessive force allegations against Phoenix police and of policing practices in Minneapolis following Floyd's killing.

If Columbus can show that theyre being cooperative, theyre being proactive, theyre maybe hoping they can get funding to support some of the changes that they need to, Powell said. And also to have a more cooperative relationship with the Department of Justice, if the Department of Justice decides that they need enforcement action.

Columbus spokesperson Melanie Crabill said the city has no expectation of funding. Were just happy to be working together and ready to get started, she said.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)  A former political rival of a Republican Florida congressional candidate made repeated violent threats to take her out, even claiming he could summon a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad to kill her, according to trial testimony Tuesday.

The civil trial concerns whether a temporary restraining order granted to candidate Anna Paulina Luna should be made permanent, which would prevent 2020 GOP primary rival William Braddock from having contact with her. A friend of Luna's, Erin Olszewski, also sought a permanent restraining order against Braddock.

Luna testified that she had only brief in-person contact with Braddock at a political event but heard from several acquaintances last spring that he was allegedly making threats to have her killed.

Mr. Braddock clearly hated my guts and wanted to hurt me, said Luna, who is an Air Force veteran and media consultant. I started getting very afraid of him. It was horrifying, and it still is.

I think he's an evil person, she added. I think he has definitely emotionally terrorized me.

Braddock, a former Marine who has denied any wrongdoing, had been running again in Florida's 13th congressional district this year but dropped out in July citing publicity from the stalking case.

Braddock could testify later in the trial, which is before Pinellas County Circuit Judge Doneene Loar. After a full day of testimony, Loar continued the case until Sept. 24.

Luna is a candidate again for the seat being vacated by Democrat Charlie Crist, who is running for governor. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Luna on Tuesday, just as he did in her unsuccessful 2020 campaign against Crist.

Olszewski testified Tuesday that she secretly recorded a phone call in June she initiated with Braddock in which he claimed the purported Russian-Ukrainian hit squad would respond quickly if he made a single phone call.

I was shook. I actually, I had to catch my breath, Olszewski testified via Zoom. I never in my life had heard an actual threat like this.

Olszewski, a nurse and single mother who is active in Republican politics, also said Braddock made veiled threats against her that mentioned her three children if she revealed what he said about Luna.

It's scary. I didn't know what he's capable of and what he's done in the past, she said. He was very angry. If she would come close to winning, he said he would take her out.

His words were it would be close battle contact. That she wouldn't even see it coming because they would befriend her, Olszewski said of the murder plan.

Olszewski said she shared the contents of the Braddock call she recorded on an iPad with Luna, and both women called police. No criminal charges have been brought.

Several other witnesses testified about similar communications they had with Braddock regarding Luna. Many of them are connected to a conservative political group called Community Patriots Pinellas, including witness Audra Christian.

She testified about several message exchanges she had with Braddock, including one in which he said, We cannot let Luna the lunatic win and another saying he was worried about Luna writing legislation in Congress because she's a moron.

His verbiage was getting increasingly violent, Christian testified. Most men don't talk like that.

Another witness, Arthur Mackwell, said Braddock told him he had watched people come and go from Luna's home in St. Petersburg. It was very concerning, he said.

In 2020, Luna lost by about 24,600 votes to the far better-known Crist in the District 13 congressional race. Crist previously was Florida governor as a Republican and has held or run for several other elected posts.

Other candidates seeking the congressional seat so far are Democratic state legislators Ben Diamond and Michele Raynor, former Obama administration official Eric Lynn and Christian Hotchkiss.

Luna is challenged in the GOP side by Amanda Makki, a former Washington lobbyist who lost the primary to Luna in 2020, and two other lesser-known candidates.
DETROIT  Stand-up comedian and actor Jim Breuer said on social media he will be canceling two shows on his upcoming fall tour due to rules at the venues regarding COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

"The Wellmont Theater, New Jersey ... not doing it. Also, the Royal Oak Theatre in Michigan, due to the segregation of them forcing people to show up with vaccinations, to prove you're vaccinated, to prove that you've had a shot. I am absolutely not doing those shows."

The Royal Oak Music Theatre is owned by AEG, which announced last month that event goers must provide a proof of vaccination to attend concerts and shows at their venues and festivals. It's the second-largest concert promoter in the country behind Live Nation, which followed with similar protocols days later. Artists, crew and attendees at Live Nation shows must provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.

AEG's new policy is set to go into effect Oct. 1, which is the same day of Breuer scheduled concert.

"I know I'm going to sacrifice a lot of money, but I'm not going to be enslaved by this system or by money and nor should anyone that wants to laugh or be entertained," said Breuer on his Facebook live stream Friday morning. "I don't care if you're vaccinated ... that's great. It's a choice, and if you have anything else to say I honestly don't care.

"I have to stick to my morals, I have to stick to what I know is right as a human to another human when you have to be forced, bribed, dictated ... which is basically what's going on."

He says promoters like Live Nation and AEG are "holding hostage to all performers."

"They're doing what what they gotta do, what they feel they have to do, but I'm telling you, the Royal Oak Theater, I love that theater, not doing it."

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Breuer regularly tours as a stand-up comedian and may be best known as a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" from 1995-98 and for his role in the 1998 Dave Chappelle stoner comedy "Half Baked."

Tickets for the Oct. 1 show are still on sale on Royal Oak Music Theatre's website. The Detroit News has reached out to venue representatives for comment.
BERNALILLO,. N.M. (AP)  A former head of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department has been sentenced to five years of probation for her convictions in an embezzlement case.

A state District Court judge for Sandoval County last week sentenced former Secretary Demesia Padilla on her June jury convictions for embezzlement and computer access with intent to defraud or embezzle.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  Authorities have arrested a woman who is charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend one week after she was accused of disabling her electronic monitoring device and fleeing.

The Kansas City Star reports that Jackson County Sheriffs Office announced Monday that Katie Black, of Independence, had been apprehended in a rural part of the county.
BERLIN (AP)  German authorities have compensated nearly 250 people who were prosecuted or investigated under a Nazi-era law criminalizing homosexuality that continued to be enforced enthusiastically after World War II.

The Federal Office of Justice said Monday that, up to the end of August, 317 people had applied for compensation and it had been paid out in 249 cases. So far, it has paid out nearly 860,000 euros (just over $1 million).

Fourteen applications are still being processed, 18 were rejected and 36 were withdrawn, the office said. The deadline for applications is July 21 next year.

German lawmakers in 2017 approved the annulment of thousands of convictions under the Paragraph 175 law, which remained in force in West Germany in its Nazi-era form until homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969. They cleared the way for payments of 3,000 euros per conviction, plus 1,500 euros for every year of jail time those convicted started.

In 2019, the government extended compensation to people who were put under investigation or taken into investigative custody but not convicted. It offered payments of 500 euros per investigation opened, 1,500 euros for each year of time in pre-trial custody started, and 1,500 euros for other professional, financial or health disadvantages related to the law.

The law criminalizing male homosexuality was introduced in the 19th century, toughened under Nazi rule and retained in that form by democratic West Germany, which convicted some 50,000 men between 1949 and 1969.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969 but the legislation wasnt taken off the books entirely until 1994.

In 2000, the German parliament approved a resolution regretting the fact that Paragraph 175 was retained after the war. Two years later, it annulled the convictions of gay men under Nazi rule but not the post-war convictions.

The compensation also applies to men convicted in communist East Germany, which had a milder version of Paragraph 175 and decriminalized homosexuality in 1968.

In all, some 68,300 people were convicted under various forms of Paragraph 175 in both German states.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Republicans were trying to contain a fire of their own making a day before voting ends in the recall election against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, persuading their voters to turn out Tuesday even as party leaders promoted unsubstantiated claims that the race was rigged or compromised by misconduct.

Larry Elder, one of the leading Republican candidates seeking to replace Newsom if the recall succeeds, has said he believes there might very well be shenanigans, as there were in the 2020 election. His campaign website has a link to a Stop CA Fraud website where people can report suspicious voting activity or sign a petition demanding a special legislative session to investigate an election that isnt even over.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump, who has continued to promote falsehoods about his loss in the 2020 election, issued a statement saying, "Does anybody really believe the California Recall Election isn't rigged?"

That messaging poses problems for Republican Party officials, who are encouraging everyone to vote while also promoting a narrative that California's election security can't be trusted. Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and the Republican National Committeewoman for California, said she made a video with her husband showing how they cast ballots by mail and urging everyone to do the same.

But Dhillon also said she could not say whether California's election will be safe and secure, detailing numerous problems that she said she and a team of attorneys monitoring the election have witnessed.

There will be a lot of questions and potentially litigation after this election about this sloppy-at-best treatment of peoples ballots and their right to vote, Dhillon said. I think people have to get out there and vote. We have to document problems, and we have to litigate those problems.

Much of the GOP criticism of Californias elections has focused on the wide use of mail-in ballots, which have been automatically sent to all active registered voters for state elections since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. An overwhelming majority of California voters cast ballots by mail even before the pandemic, and no widespread voter fraud issues have surfaced.

As of Saturday, 7.8 million ballots had been cast, or nearly 35% of registered voters, according to Political Data Inc., a data firm that works with Democrats. Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Registrars Office, said voting by mail is trusted, secure and safe.

There are extensive protocols in place that ensure the security and verification of all returned vote by mail ballots, Sanchez said. The claims made disregard and misrepresent those safeguards. As a result, their messaging could be confusing to voters and discourage participation.

The GOP's predicament is similar to the one from last year's presidential election, when many in the party feared that Trump's claims about widespread fraud from an expansion of mail-in voting during the pandemic would backfire. They were concerned his message would convince many Republicans to stay home.

In California, the GOP needs all the help it can get.

The party has just 24% of registered voters, compared with 46.5% for Democrats. People registered to vote without a political party are roughly equal to registered Republicans, but typically align their votes with Democrats. Republicans have not won a statewide office since 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection to governor.

Dhillon pointed to an issue in Los Angeles over the weekend as one piece of evidence fueling voter distrust. In the Woodland Hills neighborhood, some people who showed up to vote were told they had already voted.

Whether there is an innocent explanation for that or not, rumors spread like wildfires based on facts. Those facts are there are errors in voting in Los Angeles County. People see that online and decide its not worth it to vote, Dhillon said.

The Los Angeles County Registrar's Office said the error was caused by some settings on computers used to check in voters before issuing ballots. The office said those affected were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which act as placeholders until voter eligibility is determined.

Republican Party officials say they are working to have poll watchers in every county to monitor voting locations and county registrar's offices, where clerks will verify and count ballots. The state GOP also is urging voters to report suspicious voting activity to the party.

The Elder campaign promoted fraud claims over the weekend, pointing to a website that urges people to sign a petition saying he's lost an election that isn't over yet.

They are trying to throw battery acid on our Constitution, on our electoral norms, Newsom strategist Sean Clegg said.

Not all Republicans are embracing the claims. John Cox, a businessman running to replace Newsom, said voter fraud concerns are another distraction.

Frankly, all this talk about the election not being valid is a cul de sac because its going to result in some people deciding not to vote, Cox said as he campaigned Monday outside the Capitol.

Separate from the Republican claims, a group of election security and computer science experts have raised concerns about California's election system. Their warning is rooted not in claims of widespread fraud, but public release of copies of an election management system that is similar to the one running elections in 40 of California's 58 counties.

The copies were released last month during an event organized by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump ally who has made unsubstantiated claims about last year's election.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said concerns about election security are inaccurate." The states chief elections official said California has "the strictest voting system testing, procedures for use and security requirements in the nation.

All votes, whether in person, by mail or drop box, will be cast on paper ballots that can be hand-counted afterward if there are questions about the tally in any county.

Part of the challenge for election officials is the vote counting and vote reporting process, which can lead to changes in results that appear to swing back and forth before final tallies are released.

In a state like California, where election officials can begin processing mailed ballots ahead of Election Day, the first batch of results often is from mail-in ballots. Those are expected to slightly favor Democrats. Then come results from in-person polling places on Election Day, which is when higher percentages of Republicans typically vote. Finally, late-arriving mail ballots are counted and reported.

Ballots will be counted up to seven days after the election as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday.

Local elections officials are seeing increased activity from a group of election observers aligned with Republicans, said Donna Johnston, Sutter County registrar of voters and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.

Johnson said election officials welcome observers and the chance to explain procedures that ensure election security and integrity. The increase in distrust, though, is heartbreaking to us, she said.

Election officials take it personally when somebody is just making unfounded accusations about what we do, Johnston said.

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Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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See APs complete coverage of the California recall election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Police in northern Mexico found 38 people, including 22 Haitians and Cubans, who were abducted from a hotel early Tuesday, authorities.

The chief prosecutor of the northern state of San Luis Potosi said the victims were found alive on a roadside, apparently abandoned by their captors.

Prosecutor Federico Garza Herrera said the group included 16 Mexicans and 22 foreigners, among them three children and a pregnant woman.

It was not immediately clear whether the foreigners were migrants. Initial reports suggested some were Venezuelans. Immigration authorities were checking their status in the country.

The abduction took place early Tuesday at a hotel in the city of Matehuala. Prosecutors said three SUVs carrying armed men arrived before dawn at the Hotel Sol y Luna and abducted the guests.

Some of the victims' identification documents were found inside rooms. The abductors apparently also took the hotels log of its guests.

The abductees were found later by National Guard and police officers on a road outside Matehuala, after a caller said a group of people were asking for help on the road.

Costlier migrant smuggling operations often put up their clients in small hotels as they move them north. Organized crime gangs traditionally charge a tax for each migrant moved through their territory. If that tax is not paid or a rival smuggling group sees an opportunity, such abductions can occur.

Rival gangs also sometimes simply hijack groups of migrants from other traffickers.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A new chief prosecutor was sworn in Tuesday just hours after his predecessor asked a judge to charge Prime Minister Ariel Henry in the slaying of the president and to bar him from leaving Haiti, a move that could further destabilize a country roiled by turmoil following the assassination and a recent major earthquake.

The request filed by Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude, who was fired by Henry, came on the same day that the prosecutor had asked that the prime minister come to a meeting and explain why he spoke twice with a key suspect in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise just hours after the killing.

There are enough compromising elements ... to prosecute Henry and ask for his outright indictment, Claude wrote before he was replaced by Frantz Louis Juste, a prosecutor who oversaw the case involving the deaths of more than a dozen children in a fire at an orphanage near Port-au-Prince last year.

A spokesman for Henry could not be reached for comment.

It wasn't clear if Claudes removal would have any impact on the case, but an analyst noted that the investigation is in the hands of a judge.

It wasnt clear if Claude was officially removed before he made the request to the judge. The Associated Press obtained a letter dated Monday in which Henry told Claude that he was being fired for an undefined serious administrative fault and that the decision was effective as soon as he received the document.

Claude did not respond to a request for comment on his firing or when he got the letter.

Claude said the phone calls in question were made at 4:03 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. on July 7, adding that evidence shows the suspect, Joseph Badio, was in the vicinity of Moises home at that time. Badio once worked for Haitis Ministry of Justice and at the governments anti-corruption unit until he was fired in May amid accusations of violating unspecified ethical rules.

In the two-page document, Claude said that the calls lasted a total of seven minutes and that Henry was at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince at the time. The prosecutor also noted a government official tweeted last month that Henry told him he never spoke with Badio.

On Monday, Justice Minister Rockfeller Vincent ordered the chief of Haiti's National Police to boost security for Claude because Claude had received important and disturbing threats in the past five days.

Brian Concannon, an adviser for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, said he did not expect much to change despite the appointment of a new prosecutor.

A lot of this is theater, he said.

Concannon noted that the assassination case is in the hands of Judge Garry Orelien and that he can decide whether to pursue an investigation of Henry even if the new prosecutor advises otherwise. He said the judge has three months to determine whether to take action.

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said there was clearly a power struggle within the government between Henry and those who supported Moise.

We have a very confusing situation, a power struggle at the moment, and we will see who will win it, he said. Its not clear where we are going, and its not clear what the international community thinks about everything.

In recent days, Haiti's ombudsman-like Office of Citizen Protection announced it was demanding that Henry step down and asked that the international community stop supporting him.

Henry has not specifically addressed the issue in public, although during a meeting with politicians and civil society leaders on Saturday, he said he is committed to helping stabilize Haiti.

Rest assured that no distraction, no summons or invitation, no maneuver, no threat, no rear-guard combat, no aggression will distract me from my mission, Henry said. The real culprits, the intellectual authors and coauthor and sponsor of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise will be found and brought to justice and punished for their crimes.

Moise had appointed Henry as prime minister shortly before he was killed at his home in an attack that also seriously wounded his wife, Martine Moise.

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 investigation is ongoing despite court clerks going into hiding after receiving death threats if they didnt change certain names and statements in their reports.

In addition, a Haitian judge assigned to oversee the investigation stepped down last month citing personal reasons. He left after one of his assistants died in unclear circumstances. A new judge has been assigned.
LAS VEGAS (AP)  An Idaho man who served more than four years in federal custody for his part in an armed 2014 standoff against federal agents near states rights figure Cliven Bundys Nevada ranch is suing the U.S. government and prosecutors for damages.

Todd Engel seeks $100 million in a civil rights and conspiracy complaint filed Sept. 7 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, where a judge in January 2018 found flagrant prosecutorial misconduct and dismissed criminal charges against Bundy and more than a dozen other defendants, including Engel.

Its important that people have access to the facts, said Craig Marquiz, the Las Vegas-area attorney who authored the lawsuit accusing the government, three lead prosecutors, an FBI agent and four Bureau of Land Management officials of fabricating the criminal case that led to Engel being branded in the media as a domestic terrorist.

The a 48-page document details the prosecution of 19 people that ultimately led U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro to find government conduct outrageous" and to declare a universal sense of justice has been violated.

Officials with the FBI, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. attorneys office in Las Vegas declined Tuesday to comment about the lawsuit.

Government prosecutors maintained that Bundy racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees and penalties by March 2014 by letting his cows roam on public property.

Federal judges granted land managers court orders to remove Bundy cattle from arid land dotted with scrub brush and petroglyphs near the Virgin River in what is now Gold Butte National Monument.

Bundy continues to argue the U.S. government has no jurisdiction on land his family has grazed for generations surrounding his ranch about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. He and his sons pleaded on social media for help, and hundreds of supporters arrived from at least 11 states.

The standoff came to a tense end in April 2014 with Bundy backers, including Engel, positioned on a high Interstate 15 overpass with military-style assault rifles looking down on a group of heavily armed land management agents and contract cowboys facing a crowd of men, women and children in a dry river bed below.

No violence resulted and no injuries were reported. But the event became a symbol for advocates of states rights, anti-federal policies and the sovereign citizen movement.

Engel was arrested in early 2016  about the same time a group including Bundys eldest sons, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, ended more than a month occupying a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon.

Engel, now 54 and living in northwest Idaho, served 54 months in federal custody before and after his jury trial in 2017 with five other defendants on charges that could have gotten each of them more than 100 years in prison.

Engel represented himself in court and was convicted of obstruction of justice and interstate travel in aid of extortion. He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Four of his co-defendants were acquitted. One remains in prison.

After Navarro dismissed charges against Bundy, his sons and others who stood trial in a third group among the 19 people initially indicted in the case, an appeals court granted Engel a new trial.

The government eventually dropped charges against Engel, and Navarro in September 2020 threw out his conviction.

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This story corrects the spelling of an attorney's name. He is Craig Marquiz, not Marquee.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The Indiana governors office has signed a contract paying a law firm up to nearly $200,000 for challenging the increased power state legislators gave themselves to intervene during public health emergencies.

The governors office released the contract with Indianapolis firm Lewis Wagner on Monday for representing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in the lawsuit against the GOP-controlled Legislature that it filed on his behalf in April.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police questioned the grandfather of a young boy who was the sole survivor of a deadly cable car crash in northern Italy earlier this year, on suspicion of kidnapping on Tuesday.

Eitan Biran, age 6, is the focus of a bitter custody battle between his maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal relatives in Italy. In May, his parents and younger sibling were among 14 killed when a cable car slammed into a mountainside in northern Italy.

Eitan and his parents were living in Italy at the time of the accident, and after his release from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment for critical injuries, Italian juvenile court officials ruled the child would live with a paternal aunt near Pavia, in northern Italy.

His Italian relatives claim the boy was flown without their permission to Israel over the weekend. Italian daily Corriere della Sera said his maternal grandfather drove Eitan in a rented car to Lugano, Switzerland, where they boarded a chartered flight to Tel Aviv.

Italian authorities also opened an investigation this week. The boy's paternal aunt, Aya Biran, filed a formal request with the Italian court system seeking Eitan's return to Italy. She had also told police that the maternal grandfather on Saturday had failed to return Eitan to her home as agreed. Eitan's Israeli relatives deny abducting him and insist they are acting in his interest.

Israeli police said in a statement they received a complaint about the kidnapping of a minor from custody in connection with Eitan's case. It said investigators questioned a 58-year-old resident of the central city of Petah Tikva on suspicion of involvement in the case, and that the investigation was ongoing.

Eitan's maternal relatives said in a statement that Shmulik Peleg, Eitans grandfather, cooperated with police investigators and was released on house arrest until Friday.

Bringing Eitan to Israel was done in a legal manner after legal consultations, the grandfather said in a statement to the press.

Italian news agency LaPresse quoted the Israeli ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar as saying: The heart breaks in the face of the latest and surprising developments tied to the child Eitan Biran."

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Associated Press writer Frances DEmilio contributed from Rome.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A Los Angeles jury began deliberating Tuesday in the lengthy murder trial of New York real estate heir Robert Durst after a prosecutor described him as a narcissistic psychopath" who needs to be held accountable.

Deputy District Attorney John Lewin told jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court that Durst, a multimillionaire, had lived a privileged life in which he played by his own rules and only cared about himself. Lewin said he didn't kill for pleasure but to resolve problems when backed into a corner.

Bob Durst is not crazy. Hes not some nut job serial killer who goes around killing for the thrill of it," Lewin said. Dont let this narcissistic psychopath get away with what hes done.

Durst, 78, who was hunched in a wheelchair in a light blue sportscoat, has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the point-blank shooting of Susan Berman, his confidante.

Jurors deliberated about three hours before recessing for the day. They began hearing evidence in March 2020 before taking a 14-month break during the pandemic. The case resumed in May.

Prosecutors say Durst killed Berman in December 2000 at her home as she planned to speak with police about a phony alibi she provided for him when his wife vanished in New York in 1982.

Lewin said Berman was killed because she was a witness. Prosecutors presented evidence of Kathie Durst's presumed killing to provide his motive and also introduced evidence from a Galveston, Texas, trial where he was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of a neighbor.

Durst had gone into hiding in Texas in late 2000 to avoid what he believed were imminent charges in New York when authorities reopened the investigation into his wife's disappearance. He testified that Morris Black pulled a gun on him in Durst's apartment and was shot in the head during a struggle for the weapon.

The defense challenged the strength of the evidence presented by prosecutors, arguing there was no evidence of Kathie Durst's death and generally a lack of forensic and direct evidence in the case.

They said prosecutors failed to prove that Berman impersonated Kathie Durst to call in sick at the medical school she attended the day after her husband last saw her. The call made it appear she was still alive after Robert Durst had seen her.

"Everythings been this theory but with no meat to the bone, no evidence, defense attorney David Chesnoff said. You know that what Im telling you is real.

Kathie Durst has never been found and no one has been charged in her disappearance.

Durst faces a life sentence if he's convicted.

The defense claimed that prosecutors beat up a sick, old, defenseless man during nine days of brutal cross-examination in which Durst admitted lying under oath and made numerous damning admissions.

Among other things, Durst testified he didnt kill Kathie Durst or Berman, but said he would lie if he had.

I just hope when this is over, you let Mr. Durst be in a hospital of his choosing to live out whatever time he has left, Chesnoff said.

Lewin countered that Durst was only old and feeble because he had been able to live a full life  unlike his victims.

He's up here, hes old and hes sick. He got to live to be old, Lewin said. Kathie never made it to 30. Susan Berman, his close friend, horribly executed. Morris Black murdered and then dismembered. ... Hes lucky to have gotten to live to be 78 to have the health issues he does. Because his victims and their families dont have that same peace of mind."
WASHINGTON - Two Supreme Court justices are attempting to convince the public that the divides on the court are a result of differing judicial philosophies, not partisan motivations.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, making her most visible public remarks since being confirmed to the court last year, told a Kentucky crowd Sunday that the justices do not take partisan outcomes into account when deciding cases.

"My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks," she said, according to a report in the Courier-Journal. Instead, she said, competing judicial philosophies control the way the justices look at the legal issues before them.

But the setting for Barrett's remarks prompted immediate blowback on social media: She was talking to guests at an event marking the 30th anniversary of the opening of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville.

It is named for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who as Senate majority leader was instrumental in Barrett's nearly party-line confirmation vote after President Donald Trump nominated her to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last September.

McConnell pushed for Barrett's confirmation even as voters began voting to deny Trump a second term. He said her confirmation was the capstone of his efforts to make the federal judiciary more conservative, including the confirmation of three Supreme Court justices nominated by Trump.

McConnell introduced Barrett at the event, and praised her for not trying to "legislate from the bench" and for being from "Middle America," noting that the Notre Dame law graduate is the only current justice who didn't attend Harvard or Yale.

The pushback was swift. "If Justice Barrett wants the Supreme Court not to be seen as partisan, she should avoid being hosted by a center named after the most partisan person in America," said Gabe Roth, leader of a Supreme Court reform group called Fix the Court.

"There's value in members of the high court speaking to audiences outside of Washington, but that concept is corrupted when stretched to rationalize appearing at events that look and sound like political pep rallies," he said in a statement.

Barrett said the public perception of the court is driven by media accounts of its decisions.

"The media, along with hot takes on Twitter, report the results and decisions. . . . That makes the decision seem results-oriented," she said, according to the Courier-Journal report. "It leaves the reader to judge whether the court was right or wrong, based on whether she liked the results of the decision."

The court doesn't allow cameras in the courtroom, nor does it allow live audio broadcasts of its decision announcements. It did allow live audio of its oral arguments last term, when it held hearings via teleconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Justice Stephen Breyer continued a book tour in which he, too, has evangelized that the justices are not "junior league" politicians but are deciding cases based on the way they look at the law.

He was asked about Barrett's remarks in an interview on Washington Post Live with columnist David Ignatius.

"I do agree with what I think the approach is that she's taking there," he said. "You know, as I've said, it takes some years, and you then gradually pick up the mores of the institution. And the mores of the institution - you're a judge, and you better be there for everybody, not just the Democrats, not just the Republicans."

But Breyer acknowledged that the court is divided in many high-profile cases and noted especially a recent decision allowing Texas's restrictive abortion law to go into effect while legal battles continue.

"I did think it was very wrong, and I wrote a dissent," Breyer said. "The dissent gave my reason, and the timing wasn't very good for my book because it's pretty hard to believe in a case like those that come along that we're less divided than you might think, but here we are. Sometimes people, as I did in that case, do feel pretty strongly, and then you're not going to get compromise."

As in other interviews, the 83-year-old Breyer declined to talk in detail about the unprecedented pressure he has received to retire so that President Joe Biden can appoint a successor while Democrats are in control of the Senate.

He has said he will take into consideration his health, which appears good, and other factors, including how it would affect the court.

"When I'm ready to announce something, I will," he said, adding: "I'm the one ultimately responsible to myself, and so when I retire is when I made the decision. I have to be convinced that in my own mind, I am doing what I think is the right thing to do, both for the court and for myself."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  The former leader of a Kansas City-area charitable organization said the newest member of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners served on its board for one year, contrary to a report that raised questions about the biographical information she provided before she was appointed to the board.

Dawn Cramer, who was named to the board by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson last month, said in a biography released at the time that she had served on the boards of the Heartland Foundation and the KC Shepherd's Center.

KCUR reported this week that Internal Revenue Service documents going back to 2006 do not list Cramer as a board member for either organization.

But Rebecca Gordon Brown, former executive director of the Heartland Foundation, told KCUR that Cramer served on the board from Jan. 1, 2015 to Nov. 10, 2015. Cramer is not listed on the centers IRS filing for that year, which is required for anyone sitting on a nonprofit board.

KCUR found no proof that Cramer served on the Northland Shepherds Center.

Cramer insisted on Monday that she had served on both boards.

Cramer, who is vice president of Cramer Capital Management, also claimed on her companys website that she completed the highest-level PhD program through Klemmer University.

Klemmer is a for-profit company that provides seminars and private corporate training sessions.

Cramer said Monday that Klemmer provides a leadership program that has been compared internally to working for a Ph.D.

I dont have a PHD and never claimed to have one, Cramer wrote in the email.

Parsons office did not respond to request for comment on the discrepancies. Kansas City police referred comment to the governors office, KCUR reported.

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This story was first published on Sept. 14. It was updated on Sept. 16 to correct that a former executive director of the Heartland Foundation says Cramer served on the organization's board for a year.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  The Kentucky National Guard is expanding its role in assisting hospitals during a surge of COVID-19 cases that has stressed the state's health care infrastructure.

The guard is activating 310 additional members in logistical roles to 21 hospitals across the state, the guard said in a media release. The effort began on Monday.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The leader of a Mexican-based heroin trafficking ring that distributed the drug to cells operating in and around Portland and in southwestern Washington was sentenced Monday to just over eight years in federal prison.

Paul Alberto Guillen, 27, is the last of 24 defendants sentenced from the ring, and was the organizer based in Mexico who occasionally traveled to Portland, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
PARIS (AP)  French President Emmanuel Macron announced measures to make the police more transparent about wrongdoings, including the publication of internal investigation reports and the creation of a parliamentary monitoring body, in efforts to improve public confidence eroded by scandals in recent years.

Macron's speech Tuesday in a police school in Roubaix, in northern France, comes after a months-long national consultation about needed changes to the police, following allegations of violence and racism.

When there are misconducts, they must lead to sanctions. When there are problems, they must get a response," Macron said. We have nothing to fear from a greater transparency.

Macron said international investigation reports about allegations of police abuse and misconduct will now be made public. They must lead to clear decisions about officers and organization issues, he added.

In addition, a new body composed of lawmakers from the National Assembly and the Senate will be in charge of assessing police actions, Macron said. A similar body exists for intelligence services.

In his speech, Macron also sought to respond to demands from police unions for action in areas including improving the training of officers, reducing the amount of paperwork and increasing their presence on the ground.

He said the budget of the Interior Ministry, which is supervising the police, will improve next year by 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion).

The deputy secretary-general of union Unite SGP Police, Jerome Moisant, praised on France Info radio the quite extraordinary budget to be released and the increase by 50% of the time dedicated to training officers throughout their careers.

The national consultation on police was notably prompted by the publication at the end of last year of videos showing a Black man beaten up by several police officers, using a truncheon and tear gas for no apparent reason.

At the time, Macron said he felt ashamed and shocked by the violent beating of music producer Michel Zecler, although he denied that racism or violence were systemic in the force. A judicial investigation has been opened into police actions in that case.

The French government in February launched an online tool to enable people to identify and denounce all kinds of discrimination issues.

Macron stressed that only 4% of the reports concern police forces so far and they had led to internal investigations.

Amid plans detailed by Macron, some run largely after next year despite the presidential election scheduled in April.

Macron, who hasn't yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so, notably said a major law to modernize police, including via digital technology, will be debated at Parliament next year. He also wants to enable victims to file a formal complaint online starting from 2023. The same year, cameras will be deployed in police cars, he added.

Security issues are widely seen as a main theme in the upcoming campaign. Polls at the moment forecast a duel between Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, with Macron expected to win, as it was during Frances last presidential election in 2017.

Macrons speech also comes after a security law extending police powers entered into force earlier this year despite weeks of protests called by civil right activists who feared it would threaten efforts to denounce abuses.

Last year, thousands of French people took part in the global Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

Amnesty International on Tuesday released a report denouncing the disproportionate use of force by police using tear gas and dispersion grenades to end a party gathering about 1,500 people in Redon, in western France, in June.

The violent operation led to one young man getting his hand torn off. Several other people were injured.

Anne-Sophie Simpere, advocacy officer at Amnesty International, expressed skepticism at Macron's announcements, saying that his government didn't show the will to reform police in depth, including during the national consultation. She deplored that in recent years there have been clear recommendations to improve respect for human rights and they have not been implemented.

Simpere notably regretted Macron didn't take measures to quickly decrease the level of violence during police intervention in protests and gatherings, like banning dispersion grenades and high-velocity rubber ball launchers that are causing serious injuries.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A 72-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday for using a stolen identity to vote and obtain public services for more than a decade.

Eric Nyembe Casey, who is originally from South Africa, was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of house arrest and ordered to repay $76,389, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
TIRANA, Albania (AP)  German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Albania on Tuesday to urge the leaders of the six western Balkan states to strengthen their regional cooperation in their strive for European Union membership.

Merkel hailed the cooperation intiative, saying the more cooperation you have, the stronger the Berlin Process will be. The Berlin Process is a program she started in 2014 to boost regional cooperation among the western Balkan countries.

From the geo-strategic viewpoint, the EU, or concretely Germany, has its own interest in the membership of the (western Balkan) countries into the EU, she said at a news conference.

The western Balkan states  which include Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia  are at different stages on the EU membership path. Their progress in integration has been delayed recently due to the blocs stalled interest in enlargement and the years of diplomatic turmoil the EU faced as Britain left the bloc.

Following a veto from EU-member Bulgaria, the launch of EU membership negotiations for Albania and North Macedonia has been postponed, though they already have fulfilled the criteria.

The EU must keep its word and not always come up with new conditions again and again because it doesnt have any interest  perhaps due to domestic reasons in some countries  to push forward the process of accession. That causes disappointment and I can understand that disappointment," Merkel said. We should trust each other.

In the Serbian capital of Belgrade, which Merkel visited on Monday, she noted the presence of other suitors for the Balkan nations, such as Russia and China.

Merkel will be missed much in the region, according to Albania's leader.

In the history of this region, Angela Merkel has set a milestone for decades to come, said Prime Minister Edi Rama.

But Merkel assured her audience that every German chancellor will have a heart for this region as many people from the region now live and work in Germany, the EU's largest economy.

Merkel did not run for reelection this year after leading Germany since 2005. Germany is holding a general election on Sept. 26.

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Kristen Grieshaber contributed from Berlin.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  A judge in Mexico has sentenced drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes to 28 years in prison for organized crime, money laundering and weapons violations, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Carillo Fuentes was a former leader of the Juarez drug cartel, based in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. He is the brother of drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as The Lord of The Skies, who died in a botched plastic surgery in 1997.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Election officials are deploying ballot drop boxes across New Mexico for people who choose to cast absentee ballots without walking indoors during the upcoming Nov. 2 local election for public offices including mayor of Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver told a legislative panel Monday that county clerks are required to provide one drop box for every 25,000 voters and at least two per county. Exceptions can be made at the request of local county officials.

The quick-drop boxes for voting are among a long list measures backed by Toulouse Oliver, a second-term Democrat, that are aimed at making voting more accessible. Lawmakers appropriated funding for the initiative amid concerns about COVID-19 and indoor crowding at polling places.

Ballots must be collected at least once a day from the boxes, video surveillance of drop boxes is required and recordings must be retained by county clerks. It remains illegal for any person to deliver a ballot for another person with the exception of immediate family, and signs at each drop box are required to explain that prohibition against so-called ballot harvesting.

The proliferation of drop boxes is the outcome of 2019 legislation from the Democratic-led Legislature that was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and more detailed rules this summer from state election regulators aimed at consistent procedures.

Drop boxes were a focus of Republican Party concerns about election security in the 2020 general election. Disputes about ballot drop boxes in two counties were resolved in state district court in October 2020 prior to the close of voting.

President Donald Trump directly challenged New Mexico's use of drop boxes for absentee ballots in the aftermath of the 2020 vote, as well as vote-counting equipment sold by Dominion Voting Systems.

The lawsuit was abruptly dropped in January 2020 a few days after Congress certified the election of President Joe Biden. Toulouse Oliver suggested that the Trump campaign should be sanctioned for meritless litigation.

Many emergency balloting reforms adopted in response to the pandemic have expired and will not be in effect in this year's consolidated elections for city, county and school district offices.

Those expired measures included requirements that outer envelopes on absentee ballots be signed with the last four digits of each voters Social Security number.

Toulouse Oliver said she hopes the Legislature will help reinstate expired convenience and ballot security measures.

She also voiced support for the creation of a permanent absentee voting list for people who want to receive ballots at home without having to repeatedly request them.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A university in southeast Oklahoma that was found to have discriminated against a transgender English professor must reinstate the professor with tenure, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Monday ordered professor Rachel Tudor to be reinstated with tenure at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and ordered a lower court to recalculate how much pay and attorney fees she is entitled to.

A federal jury in Oklahoma City previously awarded Tudor more than $1 million after finding the university discriminated against her and wrongfully denied her tenure. But the trial court later reduced that award because of a $300,000 state cap on non-economic damages. Both parties appealed.

Tudor began working at Southeastern in 2004. She began presenting as a woman in 2007 by wearing womens clothing, styling her hair in a feminine way and going by the name Rachel, according to her lawsuit against the university. After she was denied tenure in 2010, Tudor filed a discrimination complaint. She was fired the following year.

The U.S. Department of Justice also sued the university, leading to a settlement with Southeastern agreeing to hold mandatory anti-discrimination training and to implement policy changes to reduce discrimination.

As injurious as the sex discrimination and retaliation were to Dr. Tudor, she did not consider it merely personal," Tudor said in a statement after Monday's ruling. Rather, she was a symbol to those who discriminated against her. They wanted to create an environment where certain views and certain people are punished to create fear and shame instead of self-confidence and opportunity for all."

Tudor said she looks forward to being the best professor she can be."

In a statement, the president of the university, Thomas Newsom, declined to discuss the court's decision.

The University will continue to focus its efforts on educating students as the legal system moves forward," he said.

The Oklahoma attorney general's office, which represented the university, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (AP)  Three students at a South Florida junior high school have been arrested and charged with making threats on social media to shoot up their school, officials said.

Pembroke Pines police arrested the three Silver Trail Middle School students on Sunday, according to a police news release. Officials identified the students as two boys and one girl, all 12 years old.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP)  One week after El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, problems continued to plague the system Tuesday.

El Salvador rolled out a digital wallet known as the Chivo on Sept. 8, but the system has often been down for maintenance. It may have been overloaded by the sheer number of Salvadorans looking to take advantage of the $30 bonus that the government put in each account to incentivize adoption.

Even users like street vendor Cesar Estrada, who were able to download the wallet, have been unable to access the bitcoins.

After several attempts I managed to download the Chivo wallet, but I haven't been able to use the $30, said Estrada.

The problems aren't limited to technical glitches. One of the young workers at the Chivo automatic teller machines set up to handle transactions acknowledged as much.

The problems continue, but there has also been a lot of false information, said the worker, who would identify himself only as Steven,

People are saying that if someone downloads the app, the government can spy on them, or even empty their bank accounts, he said in disbelief. So many things have been said that it gets into people's heads, and added to that is that first, the system collapsed and the errors have continued.

President Nayib Bukele, the main promotor of using the cryptocurrency, acknowledged the government's three-month rollout may have been too ambitious. He said technical glitches had prevented the app from working some kinds of phones.

We set ourselves a goal that was too ambitious and we made mistakes, Bukele wrote in his Twitter account. But we correcting things, and hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans can now use their @chivowallet with no problem. Soon, everyone who wants to can also enjoy the benefits.

There has been skepticism about the governments enthusiastic adoption of bitcoin since Bukele announced it in a video recorded in English and played at a bitcoin conference in Miami in June. Bitcoin is subject to wild swings in value in a matter of minutes.

Last week, bitcoin joined the U.S. dollar as legal tender in El Salvador. Any business with the technological capacity to do so is required to accept payment in bitcoin, but no private citizen is required to use it. Recent public opinion surveys in El Salvador have said a majority of Salvadorans oppose making it an official currency.

Still Bukele claims there are now a half million users of the digital payment system in this Central American nation. And visits to several fast food chains and shopping malls in San Salvador showed that a majority of such businesses are accepting bitcoin.

So, everybody go out and use their @chivowallet! Bukele wrote, everyone who can. Those who can't, they'll have to wait, but it will be worth it! We are working so that the user experience is better and better."
MOSCOW (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin entered self-isolation after people in his inner circle became infected with the coronavirus, the Kremlin said Tuesday, adding that the leader himself tested negative for COVID-19.

Putin, who is fully vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V, held several public engagements indoors Monday and even said that he may have to quarantine soon. An aide at the time sought to suggest he was speaking generally and insisted Tuesday that no one's heath was endangered.

During a daily conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin, 68, is absolutely healthy but had come in contact with someone who contracted the virus. Asked if Putin tested negative for the virus, Peskov said definitely, yes.

Peskov didnt say when Putin began self-isolating, when he tested negative, how long he would remain in self-isolation or who among the president's contacts was infected.

During a videoconference with government officials and members of the ruling United Russia party, Putin said that several people in his immediate circle were infected with the virus, including a staff member who he was in close contact with throughout Monday.

That staffer was vaccinated and recently got revaccinated, Putin said, apparently referring to a third shot that Russia is offering people who were immunized more than six months ago.

"Three days after revaccination he fell ill, Putin said. We will see how Sputnik V really works.

Even the most highly effective coronavirus vaccines in use don't prevent all infections, but they reduce the risk of getting seriously sick or dying from COVID-19.

Russian authorities have been regularly criticized for underplaying the pandemic and for rarely imposing measures to control it even in the face of infection surges. Russias death toll is currently running at its highest level of the pandemic, with just under 800 fatalities a day. Nevertheless, hardly any virus restrictions are currently in place.

Putin has hardly ever worn a mask publicly, though he appeared to work largely remotely and was rarely seen in public for a period before he was vaccinated.

On Monday, Putin attended several public events, most of which were indoors and where it appeared from images on TV that no one wore masks. He shook hands with Russian Paralympians and pinned medals on them, attended military exercises alongside other officials, and met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose hand he also shook. Assad tested positive for the coronavirus in March and later recovered; its not clear if he is vaccinated.

During the meeting with the Paralympians, Putin signaled that he was aware of cases close to him.

Even in my circle problems occur with this COVID, the Russian leader was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying. We need to look into what's really happening there. I think I may have to quarantine soon myself. A lot of people around (me) are sick."

Peskov later said Putin was speaking figuratively.

Asked Tuesday about why Putin proceeded with public events, Peskov said that the decision to self-isolate was made after doctors completed their testing, their procedures. Peskov said without explaining that no one's health was endangered at Monday's events.

Russias daily coronavirus infections have fallen in the past month from over 20,000 to about 17,000  but experts have called into question how Russia is tallying cases and deaths.

Despite high caseloads, Russia has struggled to vaccinate its citizens, and its rates lag behind many other countries. As of Friday, only 32% of the population had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and only 27% had been fully vaccinated.

Putin has occasionally gone to extreme lengths to protect himself from infection, despite the lack of restrictions in general. Peskov has confirmed media reports that people who meet in-person with Putin or attend events with him have to undergo rigorous testing or quarantine ahead of time.

Officials even set up special disinfection tunnels last year at his residence and the Kremlin that anyone meeting Putin had to walk through. The visitors were sprayed with a disinfectant mist, although it is not clear how effective that is. Putin also once visited a hospital in a full hazmat suit.

___

Follow APs pandemic coverage at:

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  A decision is expected Friday on whether judges in Jackson County should be disqualified from hearing court arguments that could determine whether a man is released from prison after serving more than 40 years for a triple murder in Kansas City.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt's office has asked that the Jackson County judges be removed from the case of Kevin Strickland because of perceived bias in Strickland's favor.

At a hearing on Monday, Judge Kevin Harrell heard the attorneys for the attorney general argue that he should remove himself and disqualify other Jackson County judges because the circuits presiding judge, Dale Youngs, previously said he agrees Strickland should be exonerated, The Kansas City Star reported.

Harrell said he would announce his decision on Friday.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced in May that she believed Strickland was wrongfully convicted in the 1978 murders and should be freed. She said at the time that Youngs supports Strickland's release.

Using a new state law, Peters Baker filed a motion seeking an evidentiary hearing that would allow a judge to determine if Strickland would be exonerated and released.

Schmitt's office cited Youngs' support in arguing that the Jackson County judges should be removed from hearing the case. Presiding judges oversee administration of the circuit court.

Jackson County prosecutors and Strickland's lawyers argued Youngs opinion does not represent the opinion of every judge in the circuit and they should not all be disqualified.

Schmitt's office has also asked that the case be moved from criminal to civil court. Harrell said he'll announce his ruling on that motion on Friday.

Strickland, of Kansas City, was 18 when he was arrested in the April 25, 1978, deaths of Larry Ingram, 21; John Walker, 20; and Sherrie Black, 22, during a home invasion. Peters Baker said two men who admitted to the killings have said Strickland wasn't there and the only witness who identified Strickland as the killer recanted her testimony before she died.
MOSCOW (AP)  In the months before Sunday's parliamentary election in Russia, authorities unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, making sure that the best-known and loudest Kremlin critics didnt run.

Some were barred from seeking public office under new, repressive laws. Some were forced to leave the country after threats of prosecution. Some were jailed.

Pressure also mounted on independent media and human rights activists: A dozen news outlets and rights groups were given crippling labels of foreign agents and undesirable organizations or accused of ties with them.

The embattled opposition groups admit the Kremlin has left them few options or resources ahead of the Sept. 19 election that is widely seen as a key to President Vladimir Putins effort to cement his hold on power. But they still hope to erode the dominance of the ruling United Russia party in the State Duma, or parliament.

We still want to take a lot of seats away from the United Russia so that a lot of andidates not approved (by the authorities) become State Duma deputies and members of regional legislatures, Leonid Volkov, top ally of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, told The Associated Press.

The election is crucial because the Kremlin wants complete control over the next parliament, opposition politicians and political analysts say. The Duma chosen this year will still be in place in 2024, when Putins current term expires and he must decide on running for re-election or choosing some other strategy to stay in power.

Putin loves to maintain uncertainty and make decisions at the last minute, says political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter.

No one will know until the last minute what he will do in 2024," Gallyamov said. "Will he run himself once again or put forward a successor?  Will it be another constitutional reform, or will a new cabinet need to be approved, or election laws need to be changed?  All roads must be open to Putin, he must feel that his options are not limited by anything. For that, the parliament must be absolutely obedient.

It's equally important to eliminate any risk of lawmakers supporting possible protests in 2024, Gallyamov said, because a directly elected institution opposing the Kremlin alongside demonstrators could take the conflict to another level.

It won't be easy, however, to preserve United Russia's dominance in parliament, where it holds 334 of 450 seats.

A poll by the independent Levada Center showed only 27% of Russians are prepared to vote for the party. Thus, steamrolling the opposition and using administrative leverage is the only way, Gallyamov said.

Navalny, Putin's biggest critic who dented United Russia's dominance in regional legislatures in recent years, is serving a 2-year prison sentence for violating parole for a conviction he says was politically motivated. That followed his return to Russia from Germany, where he was treated for a poisoning by a nerve agent that he blamed on the Kremlin, which denies it.

Navalny's top allies were slapped with criminal charges, and his Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a network of regional offices have been outlawed as extremist organizations.

That has exposed hundreds of people associated with the groups to prosecution. The parliament also quickly rubber-stamped a law barring those with ties to extremist organizations from seeking office.

As a result, no one from Navalnys team is running, and many have left the country. About 50 websites run by Navalny and his associates have been blocked, and dozens of regional offices are closed. Several other opposition activists were not allowed to run because they supported Navalny.

Another prominent Kremlin critic, former lawmaker Dmitry Gudkov, was briefly arrested in June along with his aunt on fraud charges. Gudkov said he had planned to run in a Moscow district against a less-popular United Russia candidate, but authorities pushed him out of the race.

They took my aunt, found some alleged 6-year-old debt she owed for a rented basement, added me to the case, arrested the two of us for two days, and made it clear that if I dont drop out of the election and dont leave the country, they will imprison me and my aunt, Gudkov told the AP. He then left the country.

Authorities also jailed Andrei Pivovarov of the Open Russia opposition group financed by Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Putin critic who moved to London after spending 10 years in prison on charges widely seen as political revenge.

Pivovarov, who had planned run for the Duma, was removed from a Warsaw-bound plane just before takeoff from St. Petersburg and taken to the southern city of Krasnodar. He was accused of supporting a local candidate last year on behalf of an undesirable organization and jailed pending an investigation.

Open Russia shut down several days before Pivovarovs arrest. In a twist, Pivovarov was allowed on the ballot of the liberal Yabloko party even though he will remain behind bars through election day. Allies say it will be next to impossible for him to win.

They destroyed everyone, who was at least somehow visible, as potential political players, said Marina Litvinovich, a human rights activist and one of the few Kremlin critics running.

Litvinovich was a longtime member of the state Public Monitoring Commission that observes the treatment of prisoners and detainees but was removed after exposing abuses of jailed Navalny supporters. She decided to run in a Moscow district in place of Yulia Galyamina, a prominent politician who was convicted in a criminal case last year and barred from running.

Litvinovich told AP its difficult knowing that at any moment, you could be barred from the race, or targeted with a raid tomorrow, or become implicated in a criminal probe.

But were trying to overcome that feeling and move forward, she said.

Navalny ally Volkov echoed her sentiment.

Its not a very pleasant feeling, when a giant, very heavy, very dumb elephant is galloping towards you, he said.

Despite the crackdown, Navalnys team still plans to deploy its Smart Voting strategy  a project to support candidates who are most likely to defeat those from United Russia. In 2019, Smart Voting helped opposition candidates win 20 of 45 seats on Moscow's city council, and regional elections last year saw United Russia lose its majority in legislatures in three cities.

Volkov said its been harder to promote Smart Voting, with dozens of websites blocked and people intimidated by the crackdown: Online registrations for the project soared a year ago after Navalny's poisoning, but there are fewer this year.

There have been record downloads, however, for the team's smartphone app, which is much harder for the authorities to block.

Others plan to continue advocating against voting for United Russia. Pivovarovs allies decided to proceed with his campaign even though he jailed. Last month, they opened campaign offices in Moscow and Krasnodar, using cardboard cutouts of Pivovarov to greet supporters.

For us, this campaign is a megaphone, Pivovarovs top ally Tatyana Usmanova told AP at the Moscow office opening last month.

What Andrei was striving for is that as many people as possible understood that they shouldnt vote for United Russia, that the elections are unfair. ... Now we have a legitimate opportunity to talk to people about it all.

___

Daniel Kozin in Moscow and Tanya Titova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom's final visitor before his campaign against the recall election ended Monday was also his most politically important. President Joe Biden, arrived in the state with a message for California voters that keeping the incumbent in office was the most effective way to ensure a quick-as-possible end to the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the advent of coronavirus vaccines and an easing of requirements in some states and cities, the pandemic has again become priority one for Newsom and Biden, a pair of politically vulnerable Democrats whose vaccine and mask rules have helped to revive their approval ratings.

The visit, ostensibly a political favor for Newsom, served both politicians' purposes for the eve-of-election stage it gave them to again implore the nation to get vaccinated and wear masks. On Monday, Newsom announced that his administration has spent more than $1 billion on rent and utility assistance for those affected by the coronavirus.

Polls in California have shown that the pandemic outpaces economic worries, wildfire fears and a deep drought as the major concern among voters. Newsom's chief recall rival, conservative radio host Larry Elder, has said he would abolish Newsom's vaccine and mask mandates on his first day in office.

Newsom, now in the third year of his first four-year term, has in recent weeks taken a strong lead in the recall race as more Californians became aware of the need to vote in September of a non-election year.

The state is overwhelmingly Democratic, and the roughly 22 million-strong electorate made Newsom governor with almost 62% of the vote in November 2018. Some recent polls show voters defeating the recall by that margin now after months when the race, obscured in part by the pandemic and an early, frightening start to wildfire season, seemed close.

Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, has long had approval ratings most governors would envy. He was aggressive in imposing statewide rules to slow the spread of the coronavirus - many of which have been vindicated with better health outcomes here than in some big anti-mandate state rivals - but he may have also made the race harder than it had to be.

Last year, after telling residents not to travel to eat with other families until the pandemic slowed, Newsom was caught at a close friend's 50th birthday party in a county where he does not live and with a group much larger than he recommended. The dinner was at the French Laundry in Napa County, one of the state's most famous Michelin-rated restaurants. He quickly fell on his sword. The charges of hypocrisy endured for months.

But recent polling has shown that Californians are paying more attention to the race and the possibility that one of the nation's bluest state's - and a trendsetter in liberal political policy - could have a Republican governor soon by the quirk of the recall rules.

The ballot will comprise two questions. The first is: Should Newsom be recalled? If Newsom cannot win at least 50% of the vote, then the answer voters give to the second question - who should replace him? - will determine the next governor. Forty-six candidates qualified for the ballot. The winner simply needs more votes than the second-place finisher.

The only successful recall was in 2003 when second-term Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps the biggest movie star in the world at the time. There is no one on the Republican list in this race with similar star power.

Newsom and those helping him campaign, including Vice President Kamala Harris last week, have been emphasizing turnout as the surest way to defeat the recall. Labor unions have been door-knocking and phone-banking on Newsom's behalf, and early mail-in ballots allowed in California elections are pointing toward Newsom defeating the recall.

According to Political Data Intelligence, a firm that has been tracking the early ballot returns, about 37% of those who filled out mail-in ballots have returned them so far. Of those, ballots returned by Democrats are outpacing those mailed back by Republicans by more than 2 to 1.

In addition, nearly 2 million ballots have been returned by voters whom "decline to state" a party preference, although past trends show most of those votes will break toward Democrats. The results should be known by the end of Tuesday, the official Election Day.

Newsom is not taking any chances, far outspending his pro-recall opponents and culminating more than a week of campaign visits with prominent national Democrats, including Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., with the president.

Biden's visit to Long Beach on Monday marks only his second in-person campaign event since taking office. In July, the president joined Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe for an event there.

A senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the administration sees Newsom as a critical ally who "always had our backs and we're really grateful for the opportunity to have his here."

The president, the official said, particularly wanted to tout Newsom's efforts to combat the pandemic amid criticism from his Republican challengers.

"We can't deny that covid is definitely on the top of the ballot here, and we feel that the governor has really led," the official said. "As we look back at the beginning of pandemic, we saw some real early leadership from him."

In addition to the coronavirus, the official said Biden would highlight Newsom's record on women's rights, as Republican-led states move to follow Texas in passing restrictive abortion laws, and climate change. Before joining Newsom in Long Beach, Biden traveled to Boise, Idaho, and Mather, Calif., to meet with fire officials and tour damage from this year's severe wildfire season.

The president has warned the country faces a "code red" moment as extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change, wreak havoc throughout the country. Biden's trip to the West Coast, his first since taking office, followed visits to Louisiana and the Northeast in the last two weeks to survey damage from Hurricane Ida. As part of these stops, Biden has been making a more aggressive pitch for his economic agenda, which calls for billions of dollars in spending to combat climate change.

But White House officials said Biden would focus largely on the coronavirus Monday night and contrast Newsom's efforts to curtail the pandemic to those of Republican leaders in states where coronavirus cases are spiking.

"There's a real contrast between Larry Elder and the Republicans in California and Gov. Newsom," the White House official said. "Covid is one of the most glaring examples of this comparison, but it's not the only one, and I think you're going to see this play out in other races across the country. We'll see where voters land, but I think from what we're seeing in the returns I'm encouraged."

Newsom's actions on the coronavirus have long been in lockstep with the Biden administration, and as a presidential candidate, Biden was supportive of the steps Newsom took at the start of the pandemic. Now, as Republicans attack Newsom and other Democratic leaders for instituting vaccine mandates, Biden is joining those efforts from the federal level after months of hesitation.

When the pace of vaccinations slowed, the president sought to cajole Americans into getting the shot. His administration offered incentives, partnered with organizations such as NASCAR to reach vaccine-hesitant Americans and even brought pop star Olivia Rodrigo to the White House to urge young Americans to get vaccinated.

But it wasn't enough - especially as the highly contagious delta variant has sent cases and hospitalizations skyrocketing again. Last Thursday, Biden and his team took their most forceful step yet in his effort to get all Americans vaccinated. He ordered all businesses with more than 100 employees to require workers be vaccinated or submit to weekly coronavirus testing and said he would require most health care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding to vaccinate their employees.

He also mandated all federal workers be vaccinated, removing the option to be regularly tested. In total, the mandates impact tens of millions of Americans.

"We've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin," Biden said as he announced the new mandates. "And your refusal has cost all of us."

The backlash to the new mandates was swift. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., tweeted, "NO VACCINE MANDATES" on Sunday, and some Republican governors argue Biden's actions are unconstitutional and are threatening to sue the administration.

But several industry groups, including the Business Roundtable, endorsed Biden's latest actions, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll released earlier this month found 52% of Americans support businesses requiring employees to be vaccinated compared with 45% who oppose such an effort.

Inside the White House, top officials view the mandates as a necessary step to getting more Americans vaccinated and ending the pandemic.

"Democrats are a party of public safety and doing what's best for our communities, and so I do think that there's a contrast," the senior White House official said. "But as you know well, our administration will work with anyone and everyone to get Americans vaccinated, to ensure that we are handling this pandemic."

- - -

Pager reported from Boise, Idaho, and Long Beach, Calif. Wilson reported from Los Angeles.
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP)  A woman who struggled with a robber inside an Illinois Subway shop said the owner suspended her from work after surveillance video of the fight became public.

Araceli Sotelo told The Rockford Register Star that she was working alone in the sandwich shop Sept. 5 when a man came in with a gun and demanded money. The 20-year-old said she had been working at the shop for about a month at the time and didn't have any training or guidance about what to do if someone attempted to rob the Subway.

The video shows Sotelo screaming stop and move at the man, who is in the employee area behind the sandwich preparation counter with her. She struggles with him as he tried to grab her purse, and she warns him she's going to call the police.

They continue struggling, moving into the customer side of the restaurant, and the man drops a sweatshirt and a gun on the ground along with Sotelo's purse. She scrambles to pick up the gun and he picked up her purse and seemed to offer it back to her.

Sotelo is then shown swinging the gun at his head, hitting him once before the video clip ends.

I was kind of like, I felt like I had no other options, you know? she said. I was alone in there, and anything could have happened, you know? So, I did what I thought was right.

Sotelo said she doesn't know how the video became public. She said she only posted it this week to her TikTok account after the store owner suspended her from her job.

The Subway franchise owner declined to comment to the Register Star.

In a written statement, Subway's corporate office said the company is deeply concerned about the recent incident at a franchised location in Rockford, Illinois.

The restaurant owner and management are fully cooperating with the police investigation, and we request patience until that process is complete," the statement said.

Sotelo said the man took her purse along with her ID and debit card. Police have not reported an arrest.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit Tuesday that sought the removal of a commissioner from a state board that regulates a range of industries, including oil and gas production.

The court ruled that Republican former state Rep. Mike Reynolds lacked standing to seek removal of Republican Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett.

The court didn't rule against the constitutionality, and I think that's a shame, Reynolds said. I think I'm done with lawsuits on that particular issue."

The court wrote that state law allows only the state attorney general, a district attorney or a candidate for the office to petition the removal.

(Reynolds) acknowledges that he does not meet this court's traditional standing requirements for his request, according to the ruling. This proceeding is a collateral attack by a private individual and is not permitted.

Reynolds had argued that Hiett violated the state constitution by serving on the SpiritBank board.

Hiett, a former speaker of the state House of Representatives and a corporation commissioner since 2015, said he expected the ruling.

I am gratified but certainly not surprised by the Oklahoma Supreme Courts unanimous dismissal of the matter," Hiett wrote in a statement. As I said at the outset, this was a frivolous lawsuit.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Tennessee now ranks first in the country for new COVID-19 cases per capita as the state continues to battle its worst virus surge yet.

As of Tuesday, one in every 81 Tennesseans had tested positive for the virus in the past week, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile, the average number of new cases daily has risen by nearly 90% since Aug. 29, to nearly 12,000 new cases a day as of Sunday.

The latest milestone is one of several records the state has reached in the past several weeks, stemming from a spike in cases and hospitalizations among school-aged children.

Hundreds of students throughout Tennessee have been forced to quarantine or isolate due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Some schools have closed classrooms due to staffing shortages, while others have temporarily asked the state to switch to virtual learning.

Yet the increase in cases among children have sparked heated responses from those opposed to enforcing stricter measures designed to help curb the spread of the disease.

Just last week, a Tennessee high school student who spoke at his district's school board meeting in favor of a mask mandate faced laughs and heckles from adults while he spoke about his grandmother dying from the virus. Grady Knox was forced to temporarily stop talking throughout his testimony during the Sept. 7 meeting as the jeers became disruptive.

This year weve already had to shut down because of a lack of staff in the school and were only a month into it," Knox said. This is going to continue if we dont have a mask mandate.

Ultimately, the Rutherford County school board adopted a mask policy allowing parents to opt out.

In the Republican-dominant state, GOP Gov. Bill Lee has resisted calls from Democratic lawmakers and public health leaders to install strict measures to help curb the disease's spread.

Instead, Lee recently told reporters he was hopeful Tennessee was nearing a plateau in the virus spike.

Were beginning to see what we think and hope, cautiously optimistic, were hopeful is a plateau, Lee said. We do not know. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it spikes back up. But we are hopeful that were at that point in the state.

As of Tuesday, the Tennessee National Guard had sent 215 personnel to help support 20 medical facilities across the state to assist health care workers focus directly on patients.

Lee has faced criticism both from state and federal officials after signing an executive order allowing parents to opt out of the mask requirement. Hundreds of students have been attending classes without masks ever since. Two lawsuits have since been filed attempting to overturn the statewide order, with a federal judge since temporarily blocking Lee's order in Shelby County as the suit moves through court.

In Shelby County, Tennessees most populous, health officials have implemented a mask requirement for all indoor public spaces, including K-12 schools. Doctors in the county that includes Memphis have warned that the surge in cases was straining emergency rooms, and units for acute and intensive care.

Of the more than 7,600 active cases in Shelby County, about 35% were found in people 17 and under, the county health department reported.

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Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee.

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Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
LONDON (AP)  The U.K. government canceled an agreement with French vaccine maker Valneva partly because it was clear the companys COVID-19 shot wouldnt be approved by British regulators, the health secretary said Tuesday.

Sajid Javids comments came a day after Valneva said the government had terminated an agreement to buy at least 100 million doses of the vaccine. The company strenuously denied allegations that it had breached its contract obligations.

Responding to questions from a lawmaker, Javid said he couldnt go into detail on the governments decision because of commercial issues.

But he said that "it was also clear to us that the vaccine in question that the company was developing would not get approval by the (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) here in the U.K., Javid said in the House of Commons.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Britain was an early backer of the Valneva project, agreeing to invest millions of pounds in a production facility in Scotland as part of deal announced last September. As part of the contract, the U.K. had agreed to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine, with options for another 90 million. The vaccine is in late stage human trials and not yet approved by regulators.

Valneva would have received up to 1.4 billion euros ($1.65 billion) from the agreement, if Britain took delivery of all 190 million doses, according to the company.

While the decision to cancel the contract wont have an immediate impact on Britains mass vaccination program, Scottish officials are concerned about the impact on jobs at the Valneva plant in Livingston, outside Edinburgh.

The governments investment in Valnevas COVID-19 vaccine was expected to support at least 100 high-paying jobs at the plant.

Javid said the government would be working with Scottish authorities on issues surround the Livingston plant.

Even without the Valneva vaccine, the government has acquired more than enough doses to fully vaccinate everyone in the country twice.

More than 80% of people age 16 and over have already been fully vaccinated, according to the latest government figures. The government on Tuesday announced plans to offer a third shot of vaccine to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people in an effort to head off waning immunity this winter.

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  Vermont on Tuesday became the latest state to sue some of the country's top fossil fuel companies by alleging they misled the public about the impact their products have on climate change.

The state wants the companies to tell consumers that the use of fossil fuel products harms the environment, Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan said after the lawsuit was filed in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington.

The warnings could be similar to those noting the danger of tobacco products or food products that include nutritional and calorie information, he said.

Donovan, speaking outside the Chittenden County courthouse in downtown Burlington where the lawsuit was filed, said they are not trying to prevent the companies from selling their products in the state and that Vermonters will continue to be able to use fossil fuels.

What we are saying is that Vermonters have the right to know," Donovan said. Give Vermonters accurate information. Put a label on the product and let Vermonters decide.

The suit names ExxonMobil Corporation, Shell Oil Company, Sunoco LP, CITGO Petroleum Corporation and other corporations.

In a Tuesday email, Casey Norton, a spokesperson for ExxonMobil, said the suit was baseless and without merit and they look forward to defending the company in court.

Legal proceedings like this waste millions of dollars of taxpayer money and do nothing to advance meaningful actions that reduce the risks of climate change," he said.

Citgo declined to comment on pending litigation. The other two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Vermont lawsuit seeks to prevent the defendants from engaging in what the suit alleges to be further unfair or deceptive acts and practices.

They have known for decades that the Earths climate has been changing because of emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and that the fossil fuels they sell are the primary source of those emissions, the lawsuit said.

Despite that knowledge, the companies have continued to sell their products in Vermont without informing consumers of the effect those products have on their environment, the suit said.

They market fossil fuel products to Vermont consumers by advertising that use of their products is supposedly better for the environment than other products, while staying silent in the ads about the continuing, significant contributions their products actually make to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change,'' the suit said.

A recent report from the U.N.-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is already accelerating sea level rise and worsening extremes such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms.

The Vermont lawsuit was filed under the Vermont Consumer Protection Act, alleging the companies misled the public about their actions, not for any alleged environmental damage.

The Center for Climate Integrity says Vermont is the sixth state to file a lawsuit against major oil and gas companies related to their alleged role in climate change. The District of Columbia has also filed a similar suit.

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This story has been corrected to show that Vermont is the sixth state to file a similar lawsuit, not the seventh state.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The slaughter of 1,428 white-sided dolphins over the weekend, part of a four-century-old traditional drive of sea mammals into shallow water where they are killed for their meat and blubber, has reignited a debate on the small Faeroe Islands.

The hunt in the North Atlantic islands is not commercial and is authorized, but environmental activists claim it is cruel. Even people in the Faeroes who defend the traditional practice worry that this year's hunt will draw unwanted attention because it was far larger than previous ones and seemingly took place without the usual organization.

Heri Petersen, the foreman of a group that drives pilot whales toward shore on the central Faeroese island of Eysturoy, where the killings took place Sunday, said he was not told about the dolphin drive and strongly dissociated himself from it.

He told the news outlet in.fo. that there were too many dolphins and too few people on the beach to slaughter them.

Islanders usually kill up to 1,000 sea mammals annually, according to data kept by the Faeroe Islands. Last year, that included only 35 white-sided dolphins.

Olavur Sjurdarberg, chairman of the Faeroese Pilot Whale Hunt Association, feared Sunday's slaughter would revive the discussion about the sea mammal drives and put a negative spin on the ancient tradition of the 18 rocky islands located halfway between Scotland and Iceland. They are semi-independent and part of the Danish realm.

We need to keep in mind that we are not alone on earth. On the contrary, the world has become much smaller today, with everyone walking around with a camera in their pocket, Sjurdarberg told local broadcaster KVF. This is a fabulous treat for those who want us (to look bad) when it comes to pilot whale catching."

Faeroese Fishery Minister Jacob Vestergaard told local radio station Kringvarp Foeroya that everything was done by the book in the dolphin hunt.

For years, the Seattle-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been opposing the sea mammal drives that date from the late 16th century. On Facebook, the organization described the weekend's events as an illegal hunt.

The white-side dolphins and pilot whales are not endangered species.

Each year, islanders drive herds of the mammals  chiefly pilot whales  into shallow waters, where they are stabbed to death. A blow-hole hook is used to secure the beached whales and their spine and main artery leading to the brain are severed with knives. The drives are regulated by laws and the meat and blubber are shared on a community basis.
Nic Antaya/AP

LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday proposed spending $1.4 billion in federal pandemic funding to expand health care and infrastructure, including to bolster access to mental health services, replace state psychiatric hospitals and build a new public health lab.

The proposal, if approved by the Republican-led Legislature, would account for more than a fifth of Michigan's $6.5 billion in discretionary rescue funding approved by Congress and President Joe Biden six months ago. Lawmakers could consider it  and other spending plans previously outlined by the Democratic governor  this fall after finalizing the state budget this month.
MOUNT AYR, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa woman whose husband died from a breakthrough COVID-19 infection is blaming Americans who refuse to mask or get vaccinated.

Its that kind of attitude that killed my husband, Ardith Keplinger, whose husband, Gary Keplinger, of Mount Ayr, was buried this month, told the Des Moines Register.

In his obituary, the family wrote that his life was unnecessarily cut short. They described the retired school superintendent as one of several victims recently infected from an unmasked, unvaccinated person.

His widow said he had a chronic autoimmune, neuromuscular condition called myasthenia gravis, which may have made him particularly susceptible when he attended a gathering of 50 to 75 extended family members in a rented hall in July.

The couple had been avoiding crowds, but they mingled unmasked at the event, along with relatives, several of whom were unvaccinated, Ardith Keplinger said.

Within a week, 11 members of our family had COVID, she said, adding that she was among them but recovered.

But her husband and a cousin who also attended the party both died of COVID-19 on Aug. 11.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reports that vaccinated people make up just 10% of those being treated for the disease in the states intensive care units, even though 64% of Iowa adults have had the shots.

Most of those who are becoming very ill despite being vaccinated are elderly or have serious immune system issues, Dr. Patricia Winokur, a University of Iowa infectious disease physician and vaccine researcher, told the Des Moines Register.

Elderly people and those with certain health conditions may get less protection from vaccines, because their immune systems are less robust, Winokur said.

Their odds of staying healthy would be significantly higher if everyone around them also were vaccinated against the coronavirus, she said.

Experts say thats why its important for everyone, including young, healthy people, to be vaccinated, wear masks indoors and take other precautions.

Id like to think our communities would protect each other, Winokur said.
SRINAGAR, India (AP)  India's leaders are anxiously watching the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, fearing that it will benefit their bitter rival Pakistan and feed a long-simmering insurgency in the disputed region of Kashmir, where militants already have a foothold.

Lt. Gen. Deependra Singh Hooda, former military commander for northern India between 2014-2016, said militant groups based across the border in Pakistan would certainly try and push men into Kashmir, following the Taliban victory in Afghanistan.

Hooda added it was too early to predict if any influx of fighters into Kashmir would be in numbers that destabilize the security situation and push the region into a military confrontation.

Neighbors India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir and both countries rule parts of the Himalayan region, but claim it in full.

Indian officials worry that Afghanistan under the Taliban could be a base for organizing Islamist militants in Kashmir, many of whom are allied with Pakistan in their struggle against New Delhi.

New Delhi has called the Taliban Pakistan's proxy terrorist group and supported Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government before it was overthrown in August.

Syed Salahuddin, the leader of an alliance of Kashmiri rebel groups, called the Talibans victory extraordinary and historical in a voice message shared across social media days after the fall of Kabul. Salahuddin, who is based in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, said he expected the Afghan group to aid Kashmir's rebels.

Same way, in the near future, India too will be defeated by Kashmir's holy warriors, he added.

In the last few years, anger in Kashmir has deepened after the Indian government  led by a right-wing Hindu nationalist party  stripped the Muslim-majority region of its semiautonomous status.

Indian officials with direct knowledge of strategic planning for the region say that the Talibans rise could draw more recruits and weapons for Kashmiri fighters coming from the Pakistani side. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity keeping with government regulations.

Pakistans geopolitical stature has risen with the coming of Taliban and this will result in hardening of its position on Kashmir, explained Pravin Sawhney, a military expert and editor of FORCE, a monthly magazine focused on Indias national security.

Pakistans powerful spy chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed traveled in early September to Kabul amid speculation that he was there to help in the formation of the new Taliban government.

Around the same time, Indias foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, dashed to Washington where he said the United States and his country were closely watching Pakistans actions in Afghanistan.

Ahead of the final U.S. withdrawal, India was one of the first countries to evacuate its diplomats after Taliban fighters entered Kabul on Aug. 15, fearing for the safety for its staff.

Indian officials maintain that Pakistan-based militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, both believed to have helped the Taliban campaign against the U.S., could use Afghanistan as an operating base and training ground.

In 2019, Jaish-e-Mohammad took credit for the deadliest bombing in Kashmirs insurgency  a blast that killed 40 Indian soldiers and brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war.

We do have concerns about the free ingress that these two terrorist groups have had in Afghanistan, Indias top diplomat Shringla said when in Washington.

The role of Pakistan has to be seen in that context, he added.

Pakistan also accuses India of fomenting violence within its own borders. Islamabad has said Indian intelligence agents were operating out of Afghanistan and using anti-Pakistan groups like the Baluchistan Liberation Army to carry out attacks.

India was the regions largest provider of development aid to Afghanistans U.S.-backed government, investing around $3 billion. Even though it had no military boots on the ground, India trained Afghan army and police and supplied military equipment  while Pakistan maintained links with the Taliban.

With no diplomatic presence left in Kabul, India held its first official meeting with a Taliban representative in Qatar on Aug. 31.

New Delhi said it raised its concern that Afghanistans soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner.

Indian policymakers and experts say they see no guarantees that Afghanistan won't become a haven for militants.

Afghanistan may be poised to become a bottomless hole for all shades of radical, extremist and jihadi outfits somewhat similar to Iraq and Syria, only closer to India, said Gautam Mukhopadhaya, who was Indias ambassador in Kabul between 2010 to 2013.

He added that the Taliban victory could have an inspirational effect not only for Kashmir's rebels but wherever religiously-driven groups operate in the broader region.

In 1989, partly inspired by the defeat of Soviet troops at the hands of Afghan guerrillas, Kashmir erupted into a full-blown armed rebellion against Indian control. Many Kashmiri rebels were trained in Afghanistan in the years before.

Most Muslim Kashmiris continue to support rebel goals for a united Kashmir that would either be independent or ruled by Pakistan. In recent years, tens of thousands of Kashmiris have defied police restrictions and participated in street protests, as well as the funerals of rebel leaders, including Pakistan-based militants.

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed Kashmir's special status in 2019, the crackdown on dissent and civil liberties in the territory intensified. Hundreds of resistance activists remain in Indian jails.

Experts say such a stifling environment partly feeds insurgency, opening up the space for foreign militant groups.

The Taliban has indicated it wants India to continue with its developmental projects in Afghanistan, but the group has also made statements challenging New Delhi.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman recently told the BBC that the group had a right to raise our voice for Muslims in Kashmir, India or any other country.

Those who have fought against India in Kashmir see renewed hope.

Ahmed, a former Kashmiri rebel who guided a few Afghan militants across the mountains into Kashmir in the 1990s, recalled them as good fighters who motivated and trained young men to join the armed struggle.

Two decades on, Ahmed, who gave only his middle name for fear of retribution from Indian authorities, said he anticipated local militants, facing a shortage of weapons, would receive the latest arms from Afghanistan.

Their victory has instilled a tremendous hope. Its a shot in the arm, at a time when we are not even allowed to speak openly, he said.

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Associated Press writer Kathy Ganon in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this story.

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Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijaz
MIAMI (AP)  A South Florida woman has pleaded guilty to making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, pleaded guilty last week in Miami federal court to six counts of making threats against the vice president, according to court records. She faces up to five years in prison at a Nov. 19 sentencing.

Phelps sent her husband, who was in prison, 30-second video clips of herself threatening to kill Harris in February, prosecutors said. The videos show Phelps making the threats, screaming curse words, saying she had accepted $53,000 to carry out a hit against the vice president and explaining she would carry out the assassination within 50 days, investigators said.

Phelps recorded some of the clips herself and her children recorded others, officials said. After sending these videos, Phelps sent a photograph of herself holding a firearm with a target sheet at a gun range. Two days later, Phelps applied for a concealed weapon permit. Phelps later told investigators she did not know what would have happened if they had not come to her home.
The survey -- India's FDI Opportunity -- conducted during the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India this year, found that a large proportion of international business leaders remain confident in India's short- and long-term prospects and are readying plans to make additional and first-time investments in the country.

New Delhi: India remains an attractive destination for investments for multinational corporations, scoring highly for its skilled workforce and prospects for economic growth, a Deloitte global survey has found.

The global survey, which questioned 1,200 business leaders of multinational corporations in the US, UK, Japan and Singapore gauge their perceptions of India as a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI).

An accompanying Deloitte analysis shows that India will need $8 trillion of gross capital formation (new greenfield assets) to become a $5 trillion economy by FY2027. Based on past trends, India will need at least $400 billion, cumulatively, over six years, in FDI.

According to the survey, 44 per cent of MNCs across the US, UK, Japan, and Singapore said they were planning additional or first-time investments in India. Significantly, amongst first time investors, nearly two-thirds are planning investments in India within the next two years.

When the survey asked to identify sectors most likely to see new investments in India, utilities (energy infrastructure) led the way (57 per cent), while financial services (49 per cent) and healthcare (48 per cent) also ranked highly.

Although there is significant crossover, the survey found that more business leaders, especially in Japan, are making investments in India for access to the domestic market rather than using India as a springboard for exports.

India has the strongest positive perception in the US when compared to markets such as China, Brazil, Mexico, and Vietnam. Given the US and UK's strong historic ties with India, the US and the UK business leaders expressed greater confidence in India's stability. However, respondents from Japan and Singapore currently view Vietnam as their preferred investment destination.

Business leaders rated India higher on economic growth and skilled workforce. While India is perceived as both politically and economically stable, it scored lower on institutional stability i.e., regulatory clarity and efficient judicial redress and mechanisms. Inadequate infrastructure was another negative factor cited by existing and potential investors.

The survey predated the government's recent decision to rectify the long-running retrospective taxation issue with an amendment in the tax law, a significant boost for investor confidence.

Despite recent reforms to improve ease of doing business in India, awareness among investors remains low. Business leaders in Japan (16 per cent) and Singapore (9 per cent) were least aware of initiatives such as the digitisation of customs clearance and production linked incentives for manufacturers. Accordingly, India was perceived as a more challenging environment to do business compared to China and Vietnam. Roughly 75 per cent of business leaders said they were more willing to invest in India after being made aware of existing government programmes, incentives and reforms.

Commenting on the findings of the study, Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO, said: "After the challenges of the past 18 months, the Deloitte survey is a positive validation of the underlying strengths of the Indian economy, in particular its appeal for foreign investors. We believe the outlook can only get better because of India's improving ease of business, which includes fiscal benefits and other reforms. These positive steps further convince me that India is moving towards its ambition of a US$ 5 trillion economy."

India can target attracting greater FDI into seven capital-intensive sectors-Textile & Apparels, Food Processing Industry, Electronic Goods, Pharmaceuticals, Vehicles & Parts, Chemicals & API, and Capital Goods-that have contributed $181 billion of merchandise exports in FY 2020-21.

According to Deloitte research, India can target an additional $1 trillion of merchandise exports in the next five years by attracting higher FDI into capital investment-led focus sectors through schemes such as Product Linked Incentives (PLI).

These seven sectors have the necessary potential (meaningful size and growth of exports), opportunity (large MNCs seeking alternative manufacturing hubs), and capability (adequate existing investments as proof of concept) to show quick results and set a global precedent. These sectors are potentially high employment generating sectors in cities outside Tier 1 (Tier 2 and 3 cities as well as in the rural areas) as well as for semi or low skilled workers.
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.

Washington, Sep 13 (IANS) 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.

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.

--IANS

rvt/vd
Francis Enobore, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correction Service (NCoS), said in a statement on Monday the attackers broke into the jail in Kabba town of Kogi state on Sunday night after a fierce gun battle with the guards, and forcefully released about 240 inmates,reports Xinhua news agency.

Abuja, Sep 14 (IANS) At least 240 inmates escaped after unidentified gunmen attacked a jail in Nigeria's Kogi state, the government said, adding that a manhunt is underway to nab the escaped inmates.

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 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.

He 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 centre and the police headquarters in the southern state of Imo, freeing more than 1,800 inmates and setting the facilities ablaze.

--IANS

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Step by step, slice by slice, the Chinese authorities appear determined to carve up and neuter what was once the most powerful fintech in the world, Jack Mas Ant Group.

Having pulled the plug on Ants planned $US37 billion ($50.2 billion) initial public offering last year, the authorities have been systematically transforming Ant from an unregulated tech platform for financial services into a series of state-supervised and tightly-regulated units forced to operate at arms length that constrain its ability to exploit its most valuable asset, its users data.

Ant Group is an arm of the sprawling empire of Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Credit:AP

Ant and its parent, Alibaba, arent being singled out. They are part of a sweeping crackdown on fintechs, and big tech more broadly, this year that includes Alibabas great rival, Tencent Holdings and its WeChat Pay. Between them Ant and WeChat Pay have close to two billion users.

The dramatic assault on fintechs appears partly motivated by a desire to rein in the power and wealth of the billionaires who created them; partly as a result of the near-monopoly power and the network effects within the big techs that entrenches it; partly because of concerns about private dominance of Chinese citizens data and partly because the fintechs have operated outside the official payments system and state controls.
Chinas Evergrande Group issued a dire assessment of its financial health, saying it faces tremendous liquidity strains and has hired advisers for what could be one of the countrys largest-ever debt restructurings.

The appraisal was Evergrandes most downbeat since market confidence in the developer began deteriorating in May, and followed a spate of protests over the past week by angry homebuyers, retail investors and employees demanding that the company make good on its obligations.

The companys billionaire founder, Hui Ka Yan, pledged to complete projects this month, issuing what he called a military order to ensure property construction and delivery. Credit:Bloomberg

Evergrandes dollar bonds and shares sank as markets priced in a near-certain likelihood of default. The extent of the losses facing investors will depend in part on whether Chinese authorities and state-run banks take steps to limit the fallout. Evergrande has emerged as the biggest test yet of President Xi Jinpings willingness to let overindebted companies fail as he tries to wring the excesses out of Chinas $US54 trillion ($73.4 trillion) financial system.

Without state intervention, the risk is that Evergrande enters a downward spiral. The developer said in its statement on Tuesday that property sales will drop in the normally buoyant month of September because of waning confidence among homebuyers, who often need to give the company large down payments for properties that may take years to complete.
Oil producers took the lead on Tuesday as rising oil prices and investor comfort with two large mergers in the sector saw the energy sector outperform the rest of the market.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.2 per cent higher or up 12 points to 7437.3 points.

The energy sector was up 4.5 per cent with Woodside Petroleum up 6.2 per cent, Beach Energy up 7.2 per cent, and the soon-to-be-merged Santos and Oil Search both up more than 5 per cent.

Santos and its merger partner Oil Search provided some of the markets biggest gains on Tuesday. Credit:Kelly Barnes

This was the highest Woodside had been in four weeks, or since it announced it was buying BHPs fossil fuel assets.

Shaw & Partners senior investment advisor Adam Dawes said the larger iron ore miners may benefit from the falling iron ore prices. At $US130 per tonne, it becomes uneconomical for smaller producers to extract the ore, leaving the larger companies to dominate the market.

So, despite a 4 per cent drop in iron ore to $US124 per tonne, both BHP and Rio Tinto finished 0.6 per cent higher. Fortescue dropped 1.8 per cent.

The biggest mover was a surprise 8.3 per cent drop in Brambles and the highest trading volumes in 12 months following an investor update.

Mr Dawes said the sharp drop could have been caused by a stop-loss in the system.

Unless the guidance was a little under-cooked, I couldnt see anything in it, he said.

I am not a huge fan of Brambles and never have been because it really has not done much, but they are doing a share buy-back, maintaining the payout ratio, and have a fair cash flow.

He also noted Magellan Financial Group, which has dropped to an 18-month low of $39.07 following a UBS downgrade, could be a good buy under $40 because of its large cash holding.

If this market does turn to the downside, they will do quite well because of their overweight cash position, Mr Shaw said.
After nearly three centuries behind a layer of paint, a naked Cupid has surfaced in one of the worlds best-loved artworks, drastically altering the background of a quiet interior scene.

The plump, golden-locked god in Johannes Vermeers Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, was revealed in a restoration project that Stephan Koja, director of the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, Germany, described as a detective story and an adventure.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks at Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, in which a cherub has been recently revealed in the top-right corner. Experts deduced that it was painted over long after Vermeer finished with the work. Credit:Jens Schlueter/Pool

The painting is the focus of an exhibition at the gallery, opened Thursday by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands. It is one of just 35 works definitively attributed to Vermeer: Johannes Vermeer: On Reflection unites 10 of them alongside works by contemporaries from whom Vermeer learned, including Pieter de Hooch and Gerard ter Borch.

Ever since an X-ray of Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was made more than 40 years ago, scholars have been aware of the Cupid, who stares out of a painting within the painting. The section, in the upper right of the canvas, was hidden under a rectangle of paint behind the girls head. But they had always assumed that Vermeer had erased the god himself.
The number of coal plants in early stages of development around the world has collapsed by 76 per cent since the Paris Agreement was signed with 41 countries committing not to build any new coal power stations.

Chimneys of a coal-fired power plant smoke beside a wind turbine in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Credit:AP

Since 2015, 1175GW of planned coal-fired power projects have been cancelled, avoiding a 56 per cent increase in coal capacity, according to a study of what is known as the global coal pipeline, which includes coal power stations in pre-planning and financing stages through to the start of construction.

In that time, cancelled plants exceed newly operational by a factor of 3.6 to 1, according to the study of the sector by the leading global climate think tank E3G.

China accounts for 55 per cent of the worlds pre-construction pipeline as well as being home to over half of the worlds operating coal fleet, but its pre-construction pipeline is also shrinking, says the report.
In an international first an endangered species that was extinct in the wild has been successfully reintroduced and had its conservation status changed, with Victorias eastern barred bandicoot population successfully pulled back from the brink of extinction.

On Wednesday, Environment Minister Lily DAmbrosio will announce that the bandicoots threatened species status has been downgraded to endangered and Zoos Victoria will close its 30-year captive bandicoot breeding program because it has been a success.

From a few dozen individuals, bandicoot numbers have increased to around 1500 in the wild. While a number of species worldwide have been listed as extinct in the wild and then reintroduced, such as the Przewalskis horse and the Arabian oryx, they are still supported by global breeding programs.

Amy Coetsee, a threatened species biologist at Zoos Victoria who has worked with bandicoots for 16 years, described the reversal of their fortunes as phenomenal.
The explosive growth of Australian-listed exchange traded funds has continued, with new figures showing $125 billion of investors money was held in them in August.

Figures from ETF provider BetaShares show that over the year to June 30, cash inflows to ETFs were almost $23 billion. In July alone, they reached a monthly high of $2.7 billion.

Australian-listed ETFs had $125 billion of investors money at the end of August, from just $27 billion in 2017. Credit:James Davies

The popularity of these investment vehicles has grown exponentially, mainly because they are easy to buy, as their units are traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), and they provide a low-cost way for investors to add diversification to their investment portfolios.

Over the past five years, the growth rate of Australian ETFs has averaged almost 40 per cent a year.
The rain and coronavirus restrictions kept residents off the streets of locked-down Cabramatta on Tuesday, but few of the store owners and shoppers the Herald could find had ever heard of Senator Kristina Keneally.

After months of strict lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, which is in a local government area of concern, desperate shop owners were more focused on survival than the Labor Party parachuting the former NSW premier into western Sydney to contest the federal lower house seat of Fowler.

Hoa Sanh Asian grocer manager Hoa Tran says it wouldnt matter if her local MP wasnt from south-west Sydney. Credit:Kate Geraghty

I never think about it, said Master Chef Dim Sim and Food Co owner Lily Tang. We cant do much about it.

I just come to work every day, we try to do a good job.
In todays Examine: Is a news conference lasting for hours, much of it antagonistic between journalists and politicians, really the best way to communicate public health messages? Communicating during emergencies Perhaps the best place to start is the oft-forgotten actual plan Australia has for pandemics. It has a whole chapter on how governments should communicate. Be open. Be accurate. Communicate uncertainty. Keep people informed, and give them tools to reduce their own risk. Build and maintain public trust. That last one is key. Studies show a strong association between trust in government and people actually doing what the government asks of them: wear masks, wash hands, social distance. Theres even some early evidence suggesting countries that trusted their governments more ended up with fewer dead people in the pandemic.

Your absolute key goal is to generate and sustain public trust, says Dr Claire Hooker, a University of Sydney researcher who has published on COVID-19 risk communication. The quality of a pandemic response, the ability of any leader to get everybody to work together  the only way you can do effective pandemic management  is highly dependent on public trust. Effective emergency communication generates trust between the people who are speaking and those listening. Are our daily press conferences really doing that? Yes and no, says Dr Barbara Ryan, who chairs the communications group Emergency Media and Public Affairs. Credit:Dyson The problem, she says, is the press conferences are a double-edged sword for the politicians who front them.

A daily news conference is necessary to maintain trust in government. But for career politicians the temptation to be a politician at a daily news conference is great. To get defensive. To spin. To engage in political messaging. These political imperatives directly conflict with pandemic communication goals of openness, accuracy and trustworthiness. Gladys introduces the political element straight up  and then encourages the news conference to become a political forum, said Dr Ryan. When that happens, the clarity and honesty thats really required in this type of communication gets lost. Because health is traditionally a source of lots of anxiety for politicians, the crisis mentality has transferred over to their daily communications  so they are very defensive. Not everyone agrees. Dr Hooker points out that the best way to judge risk communication is to look at how well we have done during the pandemic. Our low death toll suggests we have done pretty well; researchers analysing Prime Minister Scott Morrisons press conferences came away similarly impressed.

What about the misinformation, or perspectives that seem at odds with the evidence? Like Professor Suttons anecdata about children and Delta, or the Victorian governments concerns about playground transmission  which led to the now-overturned decision to close playgrounds. At the time, paediatrician Professor Robert Booy questioned whether policy should be based on one possible case of transmission in a playground? What about Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Youngs warning that 18-year-olds could die from the AstraZeneca vaccine? To be fair, classic risk communication advice suggests leaders urge on the side of alarmism. But communication that lacks absolute accuracy risks undermining trust. The politics, and the media

At its most basic, a daily news conference allows journalists to scrutinise elected officials. This is important. We are, in some senses, living in an autocracy with our normal expectations of civil liberties and human rights suspended in order to address the crisis. The need for accountability at such times is even higher than usual, says Dr Margaret Simons, an honorary principal fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. Dr Simons is a firm supporter of the ongoing need for press conferences. But scrutiny is not the only role of the press. The pandemic, I think, has challenged journalism because it pushes against our basic news values  how we decide if a story is, well, a story. We have a role in providing public health information that can be the difference between life and death. How do you balance transmitting the governments health advice with the views of academics who disagree and business people who are furious? Conflict often makes a story more newsworthy and most journalists strive to provide a balance of views. More fundamentally, how should the press balance scrutiny of health policy and communication of health policy? There is no single right balance, says Dr Simons (she points to evidence suggesting the media has done a pretty good job).

Sometimes rather than asking performatively aggressive questions at the presser, reporters would be better off spending their time on the phone or even just reading publicly available documents, she says. Scrutinising health policy does not necessarily mean assuming bad faith on the part of the authorities. Some of the more performative watchdoggery seems to assume that to do this is the job. I would disagree. What about the politicians themselves? Are there political imperatives to holding a daily news conference? Are there political incentives to pledging, as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has, that the news conference will go on until he has answered every single question? Perhaps. Data from media monitoring company Streem, supplied to this masthead, indicates they have enormously boosted the premiers profiles.

When we looked at the 10 leading media profiles in Australia in 2019 there wasnt a single premier in the list. Last year there were four, says Streem media analyst Conal Hanna. Gladys Berejiklians monthly media profile in the past few months is triple the average of the first five months of 2021. Perhaps the best piece of political journalism I have read on the news conferences comes from The Ages Sumeyya Ilanbey.

Andrews, says a Labor campaigner who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is arguably the governments most effective communicator. But hes also a ruthless political animal. His decision to pursue the mammoth press conference strategy is largely political, the campaigner says  one designed to project an image of strength, determination and commitment. In other words: hes not doing daily press conferences solely for our benefit. Alternatives There are pros and cons to our daily press conferences. But if you believe we need something different, there are alternatives. One clear, evidence-based option: remove the politics. Evidence suggests the person you want talking to the public during a health crisis is the one who is most trusted.
I spent 30 years at the Australian Department of Defence looking at risk. As an Army intelligence officer, I analysed enemy capabilities to identify systemic risks that Australia could exploit.

In my civilian capability and preparedness roles, I led strategic wargames and analyses into the underlying risks and threats to our own Defence systems.

Cheryl Durrant: I spent 30 years at the Australian Department of Defence looking at risk.

By the time I left Defence in 2020 it was clear to me that climate change increases the risk of conflict and Australia will not find lasting national security without adequately addressing it.

As outlined in a new Climate Council report, Rising To The Challenge, our key allies have reached a similar conclusion and climate change is at the top of their security risk priorities. The US, UK and NATO have moved to adopt broader notions of national security to address climate security risks, but Australia is lagging behind.
The second of three sisters who allege they were sexually abused as children by Malka Leifer is giving evidence in the court hearing that will determine whether the former school principal stands 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 this week. 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 Melbourne Magistrates Court.

On Tuesday, Ms Leifer appeared via a video link from custody as the court was open to media and other parties for one minute, and then closed for the rest of the day while the accusers gave evidence. It is standard practice for Victorian courts to be closed while complainants give evidence in sex assault cases.
Struggling Queensland hospitality operators, plus businesses along the NSW border bubble, will get access to $52.8 million to offset the impact of actions and inactions by the NSW government during the coronavirus pandemic, Treasurer Cameron Dick says.

The joint state and federal emergency funding package will include an extension of Queenslands existing pandemic business support program, new one-off hardship payments, and matched funding for local campaigns in the Gold Coast border community.

A view across the quiet NSW-Queensland border to the Twin Towns club during the regional lockdown of the southern state last month. Credit:Matt Dennien

Announcing the funding in State Parliament on Tuesday, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it would help many who had been hit hard.

It supports businesses in the border zone, as well as tourism operators across Queensland who are severely impacted by the ongoing lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria, Ms Palaszczuk said.
Outdoor social gatherings may be among the first activities to resume under the states new road map to reopening, due to be revealed on Sunday.

A prominent public-health expert on Tuesday predicted outdoor freedoms would be granted to ease the burden of lockdown, as Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the government was assessing whether rules around gatherings could be safely eased when the 70 per cent first-dose vaccination target is reached within days.

The Victorian government is poised to unveil a path out of lockdown, including outdoor freedoms. Credit:Eddie Jim

Ill have more to say about schools, more to say about social gatherings, more to say about the economy and all of its different sectors. All of that will be out there on Sunday, he said.

Im not necessarily promising that everything will be open when people want it to be open.
There are fears Edith Cowan Universitys new city campus will sit dormant like its concrete surrounds at Perths floundering Yagan Square.

ECUs nine to 12-storey campus building will sit within the Horseshoe Bridge plaza precinct and house its creative industries, business and technology disciplines, with performance venues operated by the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. There will also be a restaurant or cafe, retail offerings, a gallery and public access through Karak Walk.

An artists sketch of the imagined foot traffic the ECU city campus will bring to Yagan Square at the Horseshoe Bridge.

The state government has come to rely on the relocation of ECUs Mount Lawley campus to help resurrect the $73 million Yagan Square development, which has failed to attract foot traffic and has seen high turnovers of struggling food and beverage tenants since opening in 2018.

You have got to remember, next door the Edith Cowan University campus is about to be built that will bring 10,000 students into the city into that very location every day once its finished in 2025, Premier Mark McGowan said recently.
The Greens party will begin publicly referring to its parliamentary members as shadow ministers, in a move by leader Adam Bandt to sharpen the focus on what he will demand of Labor in any power-sharing agreement after the next election.

Mr Bandt is asking voters to welcome the prospect of a hung Parliament after the next federal election in a strategy to help Labor form a minority government and demand greater action on climate change and inequality.

New Greens senator, Indigenous woman Dorinda Cox, worked as a police officer for eight years.

He has also taken a swipe at the federal opposition over its diversity issues, as the Greens welcomed its second Indigenous woman following her endorsement in a joint sitting of West Australian Parliament on Tuesday.

Senator Dorinda Cox, who replaces Rachel Siewert after 16 years in the upper house, is a Yamatji Noongar woman, an anti-domestic violence campaigner and former police officer. She will be the third woman of colour within the Greens 11-person parliamentary ranks.
The NSW government is reviewing COVID-19 hotspot boundaries, with pressure mounting to free suburbs from harsher restrictions as vaccination rates in some areas rise as much as 66 percentage points in less than two months.

A review is under way to amend how health authorities target areas with rising case numbers, addressing concerns that alternatives to blanket lockdowns for local government areas could be needed in future outbreaks.

A quiet Chinatown on Tuesday. Authorities say its too early to determine whether infections have peaked. Credit:Nick Moir

Liberal MPs have been urging Premier Gladys Berejiklian to rethink the boundaries dividing Sydney and release suburbs with low case numbers from harsher settings.

But modelling from the Burnet Institute released on Tuesday said harsher restrictions, and not rising vaccination rates, had the greatest impact on slowing the spread of coronavirus in south-west and western Sydney.
Singapore: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has foreshadowed a reopening of borders when vaccination rates hit 80 per cent but the hopes of scores of Australians trying to get home before Christmas have been shattered by a slew of new flight cancellations over the next three months.

Singapore Airlines delivered the bad news to passengers on Monday night as a fresh round of international flights in October to December were called off.

Christian and Tamsyn Barker were booked to fly back from Singapore on December 12.

It has been a heartbreaking pattern throughout the coronavirus pandemic due to strict international arrival caps in Australia but the latest cancellations, from regional hub Singapore itself and other destinations, have delivered an additional blow just as the federal government has begun talking up reopening.

With the lack of a firm commitment from government about when caps will be raised or removed, at least one flight into Australia per day over the next three months has been cancelled by the airline.
New York: The United Nations humanitarian chief says $US1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) has been promised to help Afghans facing a growing humanitarian crisis, calling the pledges an important step towards 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 (Tuesday AEST) that was seeking $US606 million until the end of the year to help 11 million people after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last month.

Children pose for a photo as they play in a camp for internally displaced people in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday. Credit:AP

Griffiths said the $US1.2 billion included funding for that appeal as well as the regional response to the Afghan crisis.

The United States pledged $US64 million in new humanitarian assistance at the conference, while Denmark said it was giving 240 million kroner ($51 million). Spain pledged 20 million ($32 million) and Norway an extra $US11.5 million.
Days after former US president George W. Bush called domestic and foreign terrorists children of the same foul spirit, former president Donald Trump has lashed out, saying Bush should not be lecturing Americans about national security.

Trumps statement came days before a planned rally at the Capitol that authorities fear could be a re-run of the January 6 riots.

In decrying violent extremists at home during remarks on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Bush appeared to condemn the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, when a pro-Trump mob overran the complex in a violent siege that resulted in the deaths of five people.

Bush warned there was growing evidence that domestic terrorism could pose as much of a threat to the United States as terrorism originating abroad.
Everything I predicted came true

Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Monday said the fact that President of Parliament Rolando Brison continues to poke fun at the notion of accountability not only reflects his immaturity but the low level of respect he has for the people of St. Maarten. In his mind, he and the government he supports is accountable to no one, Emmanuel said.

MP Emmanuel on Monday called the current government the worst government in the history of St. Maarten with its record of misleading statements, trickery, lack of transparency, no economic plan, no solutions, and, above all, making the everyday standard of living of the people of St. Maarten worse. In fact, the MP said, not a single MP that supports the current government can say how the government has made lives better. And they dont want to be questioned about it. I urge the people of St. Maarten to remember the elected representatives who trivialize accountability, MP Emmanuel said.

The leader of the pack, the President of Parliament, spent his time at the closing of Parliament touting old initiatives that have my name attached to them in support. He could not mention a single thing in this past Parliamentary year in terms of improving peoples lives. He did find the time to make light and try a political jab at the one-person faction who has done his job and held this government accountable every step of the way, MP Emmanuel said, adding that the public should consider the source.

According to Emmanuel, the last Parliamentary year was beset with childish and unbecoming scandals by the President in Parliament, compounded by his and the governments trickery to take away peoples income. He said this is the same President of Parliament who interferes with civil servants doing their jobs of controlling establishments he frequents and puts other people in danger by not following COVID protocols while unvaccinated. His behavior, Emmanuel said, prompted other factions to consider his removal from the position.

Even the faction leaders supporting this government on Monday criticized the government for its general governing approach and the fact that it does not provide information to Parliament. There were multiple leaders telling you that the light is red, but only the President of Parliament seeing green and dismissed general concerns. This should tell everyone to expect more of the same from him and the government he supports, Emmanuel said.

He said if the only critique his political opponents have against him is that he is too vocal too often, then I know I must be doing something right in holding them accountable. He reminded that the one-man faction is the only faction that voted against cutting income for public servants and warned that the so-called savings from the illegal cuts would amount to nothing. This was recently verified by the CFT.

I warned that the smokescreen of fixing corporate governance at PJIA was meant to get rid of specific people and renew Schiphols agreement as is. This has happened. I warned that property/real estate taxes were coming and this is now being developed. I warned about a VAT tax or some sort of retail tax and this is now being worked on. I warned about COHO infringing on our autonomy and it is. And the beat goes on and on. The President of Parliament and the government would prefer that I keep silent and follow their example of not informing the public. I do not intend to give them that satisfaction and now, that effort will be motivated even more, MP Emmanuel said.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel has written to Minister of VROMI Egbert Doran requesting a copy of the final reports of Building Codes and Technical Norms as was publicized by the government last week.

Members of the Association of Dutch Municipalities VNG-International handed over the reports to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance last week. Nothing has been made public about the findings in the report.

I think it is vital that we have an understanding of what the findings in these reports are. If we are talking about findings that will guide a build back better scenario, then believe we should all know what these are not just key stakeholders. The biggest stakeholder is the public who is already dealing with the prospect of property/real estate taxes. We have to be careful that new building methods do not impact the construction and investment sector negatively and that codes are realistic, the MP said.

According to a government press release, 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.

Government is of the opinion that the new building norms are necessary to ensure that future buildings will be more resistant to such natural disasters as hurricanes or earthquakes. But we have to ensure they are feasible for St. Maarten, the MP said.

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.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) on Monday presented the foundations COVID19 Safety Plan for Carnival 2022 to Minister of Public Health Omar Ottley.

The plan builds on the SCDFs existing safety plan which would have been put in place if Carnival 2021 was held earlier this year. The foundation has expanded the Coronavirus protocols keeping in mind governments initiatives and the availability of a vaccine.

The plan covers every aspect of Carnival and will be divulged to the public in a short time once the Minister and his team have had time to peruse the plan. President of the SCDF Alston Lourens said that the foundation and the Minister are already on the same page with many aspects of the plan.

Now we need to continue to work together to ensure we have a safe festival and maybe make some Caribbean history in the process. The plan includes a promotion aspect that kicks off soon. It is important for us to use the months leading up to Carnival to not just promote the festival but also accomplish certain goals. We have been very thorough, Lourens said.

He went on to thank the Minister for meeting with the foundation and exchanging ideas for Carnival 2022. The SCDF is in the middle of its registration process for Carnival 2022 and has already closed off registration for booth holders and international shows. All booths are filled and all shows assigned.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament George Pantophlet continues to insist that the debt owed to the Dutch government by St. Maarten should be canceled. The first step should be immediate suspension and then definite cancellation. Discussions on this matter should commence forthwith. He believes that the Ang. 12.7 million has to be made next month. These funds go towards the Ang. 1 billion already owed to the Dutch government. The economic challenges that St. Maarten is presently facing support this request of suspension and cancellation. Making payments on these debts puts a further burden on the economy of the country and takes away much-needed funds that can better go towards meeting its social needs such as health, education, law enforcement, and infrastructure. And need he remind the public that the International Monetary Fund mentioned in their recent report of July 2021, and he paraphrases, that if the Dutch government does not turn the loans that are given for liquidity support into grants or donations, St. Maarten will not be able to return to the GDP which was the lowest in the Kingdom. Prior to that, they had warned that St. Maarten should not continue to enter into loan agreements as these actions would negatively affect their GDP. Some might be asking if debt cancellation is possible. It is.

In a report entitled "Suspending public debt repayments by legal means" written by Cecile Lamarque and Renaud Vivien (CADT), it is possible. Here is a quote is taken from the said document under the heading "Repayment of the public debt is not inevitable". The quote reads as follows: "To be bound by a loan contract, the State must have given its free consent" end of quote. The MP says he has to explain. Did St. Maarten give her free consent to the liquidity support? We all know the answer to this question. St Maarten was ridiculed by some for playing hardball because the government did not want to submit to these austerity measures that the Dutch government required to get the urgently needed financial injection. But after 6 months of intense discussions, the government was left with the stark reality that at the end of December it would not have been able to meet any of its financial obligations to civil servants, subsidies, and so on. According to article 26 of the 1969 Vienna convention on the law of Treaties, the state is obligated to repay the debt it has contracted. However, and I quote: "these principles are not absolute and are only valid for "debts contracted in the general interest of the community" end of quote. In other words, St. Maarten is not obligated to repay these loans because the conditions that were and are continued to be set for liquidity support are not in the general interest of the community. This is in accordance with International Law. Article 103 explains this and one has to also look at article 55 of the United Nations Charter.

The article mentions in sub c, universal respect for, and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. Article 1-2 talks about the right to self-determination and international cooperation for the development of peoples (art 1-3). This was extracted from the Report). The MP quotes, all these provisions designed to protect human rights have precedence over other obligations entered into by States (St Maarten), including the repayment of debts, and also the application of austerity programs enforced in particular by the IMF, the World Bank, and the European Commission" end of quote. Furthermore, the reforms should not be used as a condition for liquidity support. The Ang 12.7 million payment should be suspended and the loans that were issued for liquidity support must be turned into grants or donations as was mentioned by the International Monetary Fund.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Most countries are experiencing a challenging time due to COVD-19 and the resulting economic crisis. In addition to the difficult economic situation worldwide, Haiti suffered a massive earthquake in August that caused the loss of life and extensive property damage.

In the aftermath, a group of Sint Maarten police officers established a committee tasked with collecting donations from within the police organization for the Haitian people.

Over the last few weeks, the committee has collected more than three boxes of food and other goods. The donation package was handed over on Friday to one of the Haitian organizations operating on Sint Maarten.

The management team of the Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM expresses its appreciation to all police officers and all other personnel for their support for this humanitarian response. Special appreciation is also expressed to the donation committee for coordinating this initiative.
SIMPSON BAY:--- The Red Cross St. Maarten launched its first virtual campaign on Saturday, September 11th, 2021 in collaboration with the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. The live stream featured a certified "Red Cross First Aider and several AUC medical students demonstrating how to Stop the Bleed"

The event, which is part of a recurring series of training exercises available to the public at no cost, drew an online attendance of 500 through the Red Cross St. Maarten Facebook page. In addition, a limited number of in-person participants attended the training to ensure safety precautions.

The youngest attendee on Saturday was 12-years-old was trained and is now certified on Stop the Bleed, with his own tourniquet. Each participant who attended the event in person was served breakfast courtesy of AUC. Viewers and participants simultaneously received hands-on training and awareness on First Aid responding before those who attended in person were given the chance to exercise their skills as part of a simulation of assisting someone who is hurt.

The Red Cross St.Maarten First Aider demonstration was performed by Mrs. Meredith Concincion, a certified Red Cross First Aider.

The Stop the Bleed demonstration by AUC was led by Dr.David Adelstein and medical students from the Disaster Medicine Interest Group. After these demonstrations, AUC issued to each of the participants a certificate and a tourniquet which now can be used in a situation to stop a bleed.

The public is invited to follow and join for the first of its kind a series of St.Maarten Red Cross First Aid Awareness Campaign also featuring AUC Stop the Bleed on our Facebook page. On the Facebook, page participants will have the opportunity to be part of this live stream event by clicking on the link or sign-up for limited spaces to attend in-person. Due to Covid-19 guidelines, seating space is limited for each event in person. The next event is scheduled for Saturday, September 19th, 2021 at 10 am.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hoping to welcome Edinson Cavani back into the first team "soon", following a spell on the sidelines.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is hoping to welcome Edinson Cavani back into the first team "soon", following a spell on the sidelines.

The 34-year-old has featured for just 37 minutes so far this campaign, coming off the bench in the win at Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.

Cavani missed the Red Devils' 4-1 victory over Newcastle United last weekend due to a knock, and is also ruled out of their opening Champions League game away against Young Boys on Tuesday, however Solskjaer has confirmed that the Uruguayan's return is imminent.

"Edi is hopefully back with us soon. He had a slight strain in the international week after the in-house game, he's working hard to get back," Solskjaer told the Manchester Evening News.

Cavani, who is not to travel with the rest of the squad to Bern this week, has been seen with the ball in training and will continue to build up his fitness throughout the rest of this week.

The veteran striker, who will now wear the number 21 shirt following the arrival of number 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, has featured 40 times across all competitions since joining the club last season, scoring 17 goals.
Occupied El Aaiun, 6 September 2021 (SPS) - The Group for Western Sahara Resources Monitoring and Environment Protection reported the interception of three vessels of different nationalities that were about to ship 175,959 tonnes of Sahrawi phosphate, as part of Morocco's systematic looting of Western Sahara resources.



According to a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Group for Western Sahara Resources Monitoring and Environment Protection intercepted Friday two ships in front of the port of Occupied El Aaiun, which were about to pick up a shipment of phosphate delivered by Moroccan occupation authorities.



The first vessel, ILIA (IMO 9490650), was flying the Liberian flag while the second, Geneva (IMO 9731248), was flying the Swiss flag.



A third vessel, VS HAYAKITA (9760158) flying the Panamanian flag, joined the two others in the evening.



The vessel GENAVA left the occupied territories for the port of Mobjack Bay in the United States, carrying 57,587 tonnes of plundered phosphate, while the other two ships are waiting for the green light to leave for the same destination."



The group also intercepted "a new, foreseeable load of wind turbines carried by Aramis (IMO 9815329), a vessel flying the Dutch flag, for the benefit of the Spanish company Siemens Gamesa, according to the statement.



The vessel had left occupied El Aaiun on August 25 towards the port of Motril, Spain, before returning again, trying to conceal its involvement with Siemens Gamesa in the execution of projects in the occupied territories of Western Sahara to the benefit of Morocco.



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Paris, 13 September 2021 (SPS) - The National Secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), Fabien Roussel, reiterated the solidarity of his party with "the just struggle of the Sahrawi people", after receiving Sunday in Paris, a Sahrawi delegation led by Mohamed Sidati, member of the National Secretariat and representative of the Polisario Front in France.



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.



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Pizza making is labor-intensive and can be an expensive process for traditional pizzerias. But people love pizza! It's one of the most popular take-out items because of its versatility, ease of eating, and near-universal availability. However, that doesnt mean there isnt room for innovation. Piestro says its "industry-changing" technology is poised to double traditional pizzeria profit margins and has already led to a partnership with international gourmet pizza brand 800 Degrees Pizza.

Everyone knows just how ubiquitous pizza is, and one business is working to leverage this popularity with new technology to bring to life a high-margin pizzeria of the future. With its robotic pizza maker, Piestro wants to revolutionize the pizza industry by enabling existing pizza businesses to more quickly and cost-effectively make delicious pizza with a white-label service, as well as extend their reach into almost any location with high foot traffic.

The Piestro machine is an all-in-one pizza-making machine. Its internal process selects the base, applies the sauce, and then adds the toppings to the customers' preference  input via the built-in touchscreen or via a mobile app so orders can be executed in advance  and also cooks the pizza on the spot in three minutes. That's much quicker than the traditional method of creating pizza by hand.

Piestro's recently announced partnership with 800 Degrees Pizza, helmed by executive chef Anthony Carron, with locations in Los Angeles, Miami, Tokyo, Singapore and beyond. This commercial partnership, valued at an estimated $530M and projected to kick off with 3,600 machines to be produced and sold over the next five years, will further drive future growth and allow consumers to access pizza 24/7 in high-traffic locations. This partnership will bring consumers a fully-automated pizza experience using the gourmet ingredients and imaginative approach that Chef Anthony takes to his pizza making. Partnering with Piestro will drive tremendous growth and introduce the 800 Degrees Pizza brand to high-traffic, easy-to-access locations throughout the world.

Higher output, lower costs.

The people behind the Piestro machine want to both enable traditional pizzerias to increase their output with lower costs, as well as provide customers in high-traffic areas the option of a quick, easy, and delicious meal on the spot. The machine features an entertaining mechanism with a clear window that allows customers to watch their pizza being made.

The machine can also stay open every hour of the day, so customers can grab a bite whenever they're hungry. By placing the machines in varied locations like at the beach, in shopping malls and food courts, on college campuses, and other areas of high foot traffic, Piestro can reduce costs and time spent making pizzas.

Pizza-making technology is an alternative investment.

The Piestro machine can help to eliminate the retail footprint and labor costs associated with making pizza, offering food using quality ingredients to make better pizzas at lower prices. And Americans' lives are busier than ever, with quick and tasty food options on the go becoming an increasing priority for most people.

The Piestro machine can provide a less expensive method for creating pizzas for many in the business and also target those customers on the move who are looking for a quick meal. While the Piestro machine is still in development, it makes for an excellent alternative investment for those looking to diversify their holdings. Piestro is a high-margin business and can improve the profit generated by traditional pizzerias by more than double  to 48 percent up from just just 22 percent.

Piestro's machines can make pizza in half the time, for half the cost, for busy Americans. Join the investors who backed Blue Bottle, Miso, and MindBody Online by investing in Piestro today, but hurry, the campaign closes on September 30.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
If you were anywhere near social media on Monday night, it wouldve been nearly impossible to miss coverage of the famed Met Gala in New York City.

The fundraiser, which traditionally takes place on the first Monday of May each year, has been around since 1948 and is known as the biggest night in fashion as stars and designers dazzle in over-the-top looks adhering to each years theme.

Actress Keke Palmer served as this years Vogue livestream host alongside Ilana Glazer, with the duo offering humor, candor and lightheartedness to the red carpet and the event at large.

Palmer took to Instagram once inside the show, sharing snippets of performances, decor, guests and most notably, the food selection.

In an Instagram story posted Monday night, Palmer shared a photo of what appears to be a (somewhat sad?) salad next to a place setting with her name on it.

This is why they dont show yall food, she jokingly wrote over the image. Im just playinnnn.

Palmer currently has more than 10.5 million followers on the platform.

Keke Palmer via Instagram

Its been reported that a ticket for the Met Gala costs guests a cool $30,000 (provided theyre invited and approved by the events chair, Anna Wintour). But hey, it's all in the name of charity.

This years vegan menu was curated by 10 top chefs to be a multi-course experience that had to fit the theme of the event, In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.

Palmers picture appears to display the dish created by chefs Emma Bengtsson and Junghyun Park, which consisted of creamy barley with corn, pickled turnips, and roasted maitake, per Vogue.

The star also posted a photo of the dish to her Twitter account, responding to a fan who asked her what was on the menu.

The menu Chile, Palmer joked back next to the photo, in a Tweet that has since received over 22,000 likes.

After a difficult two years for the restaurant industry, this will showcase the work and tell the stories of a dynamic group of chefs while presenting an exciting menu of delicious, plant-based dishes," chef and Bon Apetit advisor Marcus Samuelsson told Vogue. "The gala offers an incomparable opportunity for emerging talent to elevate their careers and share their perspectives and craft."

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
STAMFORD  Of the citys more than 1,200 full-time employees, 71 percent are documented as fully vaccinated one week after its vaccine mandate went into effect, reported Stamford officials.

The city employs 1,202 full-time staff, and 852 of its workers have submitted proof to the city showing full immunization against COVID-19. The mayoral administration maintains that the count of vaccinated employees will grow as more people submit documentation to Human Resources.

The numbers are still coming in and are continuing to rise every day, City spokesperson Rachel LaBella said. Stamfords vaccination count excludes any part-time, seasonal and Board of Education employees.

The Government Centers documented vaccination rate mirrors the citys overall proportion of vaccinated residents closely. Citywide, 76 percent of residents have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which exceeds the vaccination rate in all of Connecticuts other cities.

The day Mayor David Martins vaccine mandate for municipal employees went into effect, the city divulged that, of the 1,990 people working for the city, 1,000 employees had submitted proof of vaccination. Another six employees documented that they have a single dose, according to Director of Human Resources Al Cava told The Stamford Advocate in a statement.

The original figures included part-time, seasonal and Board of Education employees, something LaBella contended distorts the picture of how the city operates currently.

Many... have not returned in person after the pandemic and should not have counted toward the final count of official city employees, LaBella said.

Starting the week of Sept. 13, all unvaccinated city workers must provide a negative COVID-19 test result to human resources. However, according to Mayoral Special Assistant Laura Burwick, the city has yet to hire a company to do the employee testing.

Labella told the Advocate that employees have until the end of each week to prove negativity. Unvaccinated city employees are permitted paid time off from work to meet the testing requirement, according to Martins initial decree.

Though the testing initiative is still in its infancy, LaBella confirmed that there are no reports of employee plans to refuse (both) the vaccine and testing requirement.

Should employees decline to get vaccinated or partake in the testing requirement, they would be subject to discipline under the terms of the Mayors executive order, she said. These terms could include termination, according to Martins executive order.

veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
STAMFORD  City legislators have agreed to ask the state to change the law and require gun owners to show their carry permit when police ask for it.

Were just asking the state to have a discussion about it and nothing else, said city Rep. Jeffrey Stella, D-9, who introduced resolution Jan. 25 along with city Reps. Rodney Pratt, D-9, and Jeff Curtis, D-14.

The resolution, which itself would not change any city statutes, calls on the state to revise laws to require gun owners to present their carry permit when asked by police.

Rep. J.R. McMullen, one of the nine representatives who voted against the resolution, said he couldnt vote in favor of a resolution that asks the state legislature to consider making a law that he claims would be unconstitutional.

I dont know why were asking the state to do something that wastes their time, when there is so much other stuff that they failed to do over the last year and half that we should get them to focus on, McMullen said.

McMullen was joined by Gloria DePina, Bradley Michelson, Susan Nabel, Selina Policar, Robert Roqueta, Bob Lion, Dennis Mahoney and Nina Sherwood in opposing the resolution.

Nabel said the reason she couldnt support the resolution was she felt it could be used as a backdoor for police to racially profile city residents.

Im still of the feeling that this is too fragile a situation, too likely to lead to profiling and possibly puts police officers and the public around them in danger, she said.

For Rep. Bobby Pavia, he said his own unnerving personal experiences with seeing open-carrying individuals around the city had influenced him to vote in favor of the resolution.

I dont think its an infringement on anybodys constitutional rights to be asked when they are brandishing them (guns) to just show that they have a license to have them, he said.

Curtis, another of the resolutions co-sponsors, said there were six incidents in Stamford over the past couple of years where police were called to check on a person bearing a firearm. In all but one of the incidents, the gun owners were more than happy to show their permit, which he offered as proof that a change to state law, if enacted, wouldnt be too intrusive.

My situation here is that people that want to carry guns illegally know that the state law allows them to refuse to show their license, so what is to prevent someone who is carrying illegally, who knows the law, to just say Im sorry but my constitutional rights and state law says I dont have to show you my gun permit, Curtis said.

If the state were to pass a law requiring gun owners to show their permit when asked by police, as is recommended by the resolution, that would lend itself to getting illegal guns off the street, Curtis said.

Since being unveiled, the new resolution has received support from the citys police department and Mayor David Martin, but has been met with debate on the Board of Representatives.

This isnt the first time Stamford city representatives have asked the state to consider passing such a measure.

A similar proposal was shot down by the state legislature in 2017, when then-state Rep. William Tong, now state attorney general, and his colleagues state Reps. Caroline Simmons and Daniel Fox, both D-Stamford, brought it forward.

After the local resolution was passed, Stella told Hearst Connecticut Media that he hoped the state would seriously consider moving forward with changing the law.

To me, its a no-brainer, he said.
At a time when states across the country are restricting voting rights, Connecticut regulators have been swatting away one group's relentless but unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.

The effort is taking time and money, authorities say.

Investigators and lawyers from the State Elections Enforcement Commission, in a rare admonishment, cited inadequate research and erroneous assumptions filed made by Linda Szynkowicz, of Middletown, founder and president of the Wyoming-based Fight Voter Fraud, Inc., which was initially listed in now-outdated state documents as being located in her Middletown home.

In dozens of complaints filed with the SEEC, Szynkowicz charged that during the 2020 presidential election, incarcerated people, unregistered adults and underaged teens voted illegally in Connecticut.

The Commission notes that, while significant commission resources were required to process and definitively disprove the allegations contained in these complaints, complainant could have avoided the waste of these resources if she had ascertained the requirements of the law and the meaning of the data she produced as evidence, the SEEC ruled. The commission would strongly encourage those who hold themselves out as authorities on election law investigations to educate themselves on both the facts and law of the complaints they file with the Commission to avoid the needless waste of the limited investigatory resources of the Commission.

Thirty-two of the complaints involved claims that incarcerated people should have been prohibited from voting but were allowed to cast ballots. Another 18 complaints alleged that underaged teens voted, and other filings charged that unregistered people voted in the contentious November 2020 election, won by Joe Biden. The allegations were dismissed, while several more are pending before the SEEC.

Another rejected complaint cited the photo of an outdoor ballot box, which GOP members of the General Assemblys key elections committee said was overstuffed with absentee ballots and were evidence of fraud.

In fact, the box was locked after the Aug.11, 2020 primary and the envelopes had been were found there on Aug. 13 by West Haven Town Clerk Patricia Horvath. Horvath, who took the photo on Aug. 13  two days after the election  ruled that the seven ballots were invalid because they were cast too late for the primary, and had been jammed into an anti-tampering chute in the otherwise locked ballot box.

The photo, according to the SEEC, was provided to an acquaintance of Horvath: Dominic Rapini, a Branford Republican who is campaigning for secretary of the state. Rapini recently resigned as chairman of the board of Fight Voter Fraud.

Rapini said this week that he still supports the work of Fight Voter Fraud, but he quit the organization at the beginning of August, around the time that the SEEC dismissed dozens of Szynkowiczs complaints. Rapini this week defended the use of the photograph of the ballot box, stressing that it raised questions about the ballots chain of custody.

In February, Rapini, as chairman of the board of Fight Voter Fraud, made several allegations of election irregularities to the General Assembly, and attacked proposals to amend the state Constitution to make it easier to vote by mail-in balloting.

According to the SEEC, in 2021, 56 complaints from Szynkowicz were filed, investigated and dismissed, five of which named Fight Voter Fraud Inc. as co-complainant. Five more complaints from Szynkowicz, one with Rapini as co-complainant, are pending before the SEEC.

We gave the SEEC a chance to do their job, Rapini said in a phone interview, taking time out from the early stages of his statewide effort to win the GOP nomination next year for secretary of the state, Connecticuts top election official. I think we should raise awareness. Felons not yet sentenced cant walk around downtown, cant have conjugal visits, but they can vote. When asked why he left the leadership of Fight Voter Fraud, Rapini said I felt I had to do something different.

The SEEC picks and chooses what statutes they enforce, Szynkowicz said in an interview. We want one vote for one legal voter. The voter rolls in Connecticut need to be purged. There are 11,000 dead people on voter rolls. If we want fair elections, we need to make sure there is no fraud. That is not happening. The secretary of the state is not purging people who moved or died.

Department of Consumer Protection investigating

Under state law, its up to local registrars to remove voters from the rolls of electors in the 169 towns and cities.

After wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars and hundreds of man-hours chasing down frivolous complaints, it would be appropriate for election deniers to show an ounce of humility, said Gabe Rosenberg, general counsel for Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.

Instead, we get more irresponsible half-truths, misstatements, and outright lies designed to erode voters trust in Connecticut elections, Rosenberg said Tuesday. The truth is that Connecticut has among the most accurate voter rolls in the country, and the credit for that should go to the bipartisan group of hard-working local election officials in every town in Connecticut, who instead of grandstanding, put in the work every day to ensure that Connecticut voters can trust their world-class elections.

Michael J. Brandi, executive director and chief counsel for the State Elections Enforcement Commission, said that Szynkowiczs complaints have set a record for rejection and taken a lot of SEEC staff time.

Its unprecedented, Brandi said. We have people in the state that file a lot of complaints, but more often than not, those people do their research. To put it in perspective, 50 complaints is normally about a third of our annual caseload. It has taken up an inordinate amount of our resources, including the time of three investigators and two attorneys, not to mention the time of our commissioners, and the folks at the Department of Correction and the registrars of voters who helped debunk all these claims. But were obligated to respond.

Fight Voter Fraud claims to be a 501(c)4 nonprofit, which does not have to report the identities of its contributors or its financial records. It takes credit card donations, sells T-shirts for $24.95 plus shipping and includes Szynkowiczs phone number and Middletown home address as contact information.

Szynkowicz on Monday declined to discuss the membership of the board, its board chairman, its financial details, or the size of Fight Vote Frauds membership. She said she is not getting paid by the organization.

I am doing this for every citizen in Connecticut to make sure we have clean elections, she said, adding that it was recommended to her to register the group as a nonprofit in Wyoming because among other things, it is less expensive, at $25 a year.

She said more than several hundred people have spent months preparing a report that Fight Voter Fraud expects to release within the next few weeks, including data on deceased people whose identities have been used to cast ballots. I call them my silent army of volunteers, Szynkowicz said of her supporters and researchers, who she said have signed confidentiality agreements.

But now, the state Department of Consumer Protection is investigating whether Fight Voter Fraud Inc., which was first registered with the Connecticut Secretary of the States business unit in March of 2019, then dissolved in July of the same year, is a valid 501(c)4 fund-raising charity as the organization claims.

In May, 2019, it registered with the Wyoming secretary of state. Szynkowicz, Rapini and other members of the board including Treasurer and Secretary Linda Salafia and three other board member including Faith Ham, Robert Ham and George Skakel are all listed at the same Casper, Wyoming, address as its agent, Legalinc Corporate Services Inc.

In order to raise money in Connecticut, a charity must be registered with the state, according to the DCP. Szynkowicz, who lost a state House of Representatives race as a Republican in 2020, said Monday that she is in the process of registering Fight Voter Fraud in Connecticut.

State Republicans slowed constitutional amendment process

The Fight Voter Fraud board of directors had been led by Rapini, who lost the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in 2018 and has set his future sights on a run for secretary of the state, which administers the states elections, along with local town clerks and voter registrars. During the recent legislative session, Rapini, speaking as board chairman, testified against legislation aimed at making it easier for people to cast ballots through the mail.

Recently rejected claims of Fight Voter Fraud were cited by conservative Republicans in the General Assembly this year in attempt to allege statewide election irregularities. But the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate approved two amendments to the state Constitution, one of which will let statewide voters in 2022 decide whether to allow early voting. Another amendment, to create universal mail-in balloting, met opposition by Republicans and failed to meet the 75 percent threshold, and needs to be approved by the next general assembly, elected in 2022, to possibly get on the 2024 ballot.

The Brennan Center for Justice has reported that by mid-July, 18 states enacted 30 laws aimed at making it harder to vote, including new restrictions on mail-in balloting, creating tougher identification requirements and allowing faulty voter purges to occur.

Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group consumer advocacy group, said nationwide, conservative groups use the secrecy provided by 501(c)4 status to shield their members, finances and expenditures from public disclosure.

They are pretty clear in their intention to suppress the vote, particularly in communities of color, Swan said. The 501(c)4 filings are being used more and more to shield corporate interests.

Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, the election watchdogs and voter advocates, agreed that false claims are a nationwide phenomenon. There are so many groups who are not interested in having as many people as possible vote, she said.

Voter fraud is not the problem, Quickmire said. The problem is getting enough people access to the ballot and encouraging voters. I just think things are more difficult now because we dont have the full protection of the (federal) Voter Rights Act. Groups like Fight Voter Fraud spend so much time stoking the myth of voter fraud that it suppresses the vote, rather than encouraging it.

Nationwide, conservative groups continue to pursue the Stop the Steal tactics that led to the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, as Congress was about to ratify the Electoral College vote that sealed Joe Bidens presidential victory.

Both Rapini and Szynkowicz on Monday declined to say whether they thought Donald Trump was reelected last November.

Thats not anything for me to determine, Szynkowicz said. Were a nonpartisan nonprofit.

I believe that Connecticut voters care about voting in places like Bridgeport, Rapini said. I am laser focused on Connecticut. Everything else is just noise.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Pennsylvania residents who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus were far more likely to contract COVID-19, become hospitalized and die than those who got the shot, health officials said Tuesday in the first public release of data on so-called breakthrough" infections in the state.

More than 35,000 people who were fully vaccinated have tested positive for the virus since January, representing only 6% of all cases statewide, according to the data released Tuesday. More than 1,800 vaccinated people were hospitalized and 213 died  both representing a tiny fraction of all COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths since the beginning of the year, the data show.

Unvaccinated people and those who have yet to be fully vaccinated had seven times the risk of contracting the virus and nearly eight times the risk of death as those offered full protection by a vaccine, according to the data.

The relative scarcity of milder breakthrough cases among residents who got the vaccine shows the shots are working, state health officials said.

My hope is is that this data encourages everyone who has not been vaccinated to speak to their doctor about getting the vaccine as soon as possible," Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said at a news conference in Lancaster.

The data that we have is showing once again that even as the more transmissible delta becomes more widespread, the COVID vaccines are safe, are effective and help prevent serious illness and death," she said.

Top GOP lawmakers had requested the data on breakthroughs. The Republicans, who have been skeptical of Wolfs pandemic measures  including, most recently, his statewide mask mandate for schools  wrote to Wolf last week that all Pennsylvanians, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, deserve to know how their respective group is performing.

Wolf promised his administration would release the information, and went further.

Noting that vaccination efforts are lagging in some areas of the state  including those with GOP representation  he vowed to release vaccination reports by legislative district so that the General Assembly and public can better understand how well each members district is performing.

The hospitalization statistics released Tuesday account for data reported by 55% of Pennsylvania hospitals representing 80% of the state's acute-care beds.

In other coronavirus-related developments in Pennsylvania on Tuesday:

___

AUDIT FAULTS WAIVER PROGRAM

A Wolf administration program that allowed Pennsylvania businesses to seek waivers to remain open in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic was deeply flawed, using criteria that shifted constantly and giving inconsistent and subjective answers to business owners struggling to stay afloat, the states chief fiscal watchdog said Tuesday.

Auditor General Timothy DeFoor, a first-term Republican, said he found no evidence that political pressure played a role in the state's determinations on which businesses would be permitted to stay open and which would have to remain closed.

Rather, DeFoor said at a news conference in Harrisburg, the waiver program was thrown together in haste and suffered from a lack of uniformity, clarity and transparency, resulting in frustrated business owners and some questionable decisions that caused unnecessary harm.

Our audit revealed a flawed process that provided inconsistent answers to business owners and caused confusion, he said. The waiver process was hastily assembled on the fly and unevenly administered."

Wolf closed businesses deemed non-life-sustaining to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, but established a waiver program run by the Department of Community and Economic Development under which tens of thousands of businesses applied to remain open during the pandemic.

Many small-business owners complained bitterly about the business shutdown, and said the waiver program allowed some businesses to operate during the pandemic while forcing nearly identical businesses to shut down.

The audit was launched by DeFoors predecessor, Democrat Eugene DePasquale, and its conclusions were similar to the preliminary findings that DePasquale released last October. At the time, DePasquale had called the waiver process a Keystone Kops routine.

The Wolf administration disagreed with some of the audits findings, and lauded agency staff for developing literally overnight a massive program that normally would have required months of planning and preparation.

While we all hope that there is no need for another business waiver program in the future, we certainly want to learn from prior experience in the event that a similar program ever becomes necessary again, Dennis Davin, Wolfs economic development secretary, said in a formal response to DeFoor.

The state got 42,380 waiver requests, and granted more than 7,000 of them, DeFoor said. He said that businesses with the right connections tended to get quicker answers.

Audit staff scrutinized 150 waiver applications, concluding that the decisions issued to 103 of the businesses appeared reasonable, the review said. Auditors questioned the responses given to 45 businesses. Two of the businesses received no response to their waiver request.

These questionable decisions had real-life negative consequences to businesses that should have been able to operate but instead were told they had to close, DeFoor said at the news conference. He said that auditors were concerned with the extent of subjectivity involved in making these decisions.

The audit covered a period between March and June 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, when Wolf shuttered tens of thousands of businesses, ordered people to stay at home and limited the size of gatherings.

___

WOLF: MASK UP TO KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN

Masks, social distancing and other measures are needed to keep schools open for in-person learning, Wolf said Tuesday.

Appearing at a vaccine clinic in Reading, Wolf noted that children under 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Distance learning does not work. and so we can no longer afford to say were going to do hybrid or remote learning, Wolf said. This year, weve got to get them back in the classroom, and weve got to keep them in the classroom.

His administrations mask mandate for schools has generated fierce pushback from a subset of parents and students. At least two lawsuits have been filed seeking to overturn it. Some school districts are allowing students to go unmasked with a parents signature instead of a doctors note, which the state Education Department says doesnt comply with the masking order.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Republicans in Pennsylvanias Senate pursuing what they call a forensic investigation of last years presidential election said Tuesday they plan to subpoena records that detail who voted, including their drivers license number and the last four digits of their Social Security number, and whether they voted by mail or in-person.

Senate Republicans have scheduled a meeting Wednesday of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, which they control, to vote to issue subpoenas for the information from Gov. Tom Wolf's administration.

The request for records on who voted will include their name, address, driver's license number, the last four digits of their Social Security number and how they voted, whether in-person, by mail, absentee or provisional ballot.

Republicans also want that information for each registered voter, as of Nov. 1, 2020, plus the last time they voted. In addition to that, Republicans say they plan to issue subpoenas for records of communication between Wolf's administration and counties concerning elections from May 1, 2020, through May 1, 2021.

The idea of a forensic investigation or audit has been propelled by former President Donald Trumps most ardent supporters in battleground states where he lost. Critics say it is a fruitless search for fraud to legitimize Trumps baseless conspiracy theories that the election was rigged against him.

Democrats have vowed to fight any subpoenas, possibly in court, and its not clear whether Wolfs administration can be forced to produce information, even by court order.

It also is not clear whether Wolf, a Democrat, will cooperate or whether the Department of State  which oversees the counties' administration of elections  stores that information.

Wolf's office said Tuesday that it will need to review the details of any subpoenas before determining how to respond.

Democrats have sharply criticized the effort, saying the Republicans sham audit or fraudit is a stunt to erode the legitimacy of President Joe Bidens victory and an extension of a national campaign to attack voting rights. Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, according to certified results.

Republicans also have repeatedly distorted the actions of judges and state officials leading up to last years election, perpetuating the false idea that Democrats cheated.

___

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/timelywriter.
BOSTON (AP)  A Texas-based company is buying Massachusetts-based Prime Automotive Group, which has 30 dealerships and three collision centers in the Mid Atlantic and New England.

Group 1 Automotive Inc. of Houston entered into an agreement to purchase Prime Automotive from New York-based GPB Capital Holdings for $880 million, the company announced Monday.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The Mexican government said Tuesday it has successfully completed a three-month push to provide coronavirus vaccines to all adult residents of communities along its border with the United States.

Mexico said that when it began the effort in June, it hoped the mass vaccinations would aid in lifting pandemic restrictions on non-essential travel across the border, something that has not yet occurred.

Mexicos public safety department said it was administering the last 64,000 doses Tuesday to people in the Gulf coast border state of Tamaulipas. In total, the program handed out 3.8 million shots in 45 townships and cities in six states along the border.

The United States donated about 1.35 million doses of Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine to help in the effort.

Mexico officials said the goal was to boost vaccination rates along the border to levels similar to that on the U.S. side. Once that level was reached, they assumed there would be no reason to continue restricting travel over the U.S. border.

The project became a priority for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador because the cross-border economy is so important for northern Mexico.

So far, Mexico has received about 100 million doses of vaccines and given at least 61 million people at least one dose. But the Mexican government has so far resisted calls to vaccinate children under 18.

Officials have said eventually they may begin vaccinating people under 18 who have chronic health conditions that put them at increased risk.

But in the first mass vaccination of minors, state officials in the border state of Coahuila bused 1,000 children across the border to Eagle Pass, Texas, where they got their first shot of the Pfizer vaccine administered by members of the Texas National Guard. The youths ages 12 to 17 are the children of workers at border assembly plants known as maquiladoras.

Because the federal government controls vaccination efforts in Mexico, parents must file for a court injunction to get shots for their children, or take them to the United States.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP)  Missouri's K-12 students did worse in all subject and grade-level statewide tests during the coronavirus pandemic, data released Tuesday show.

Roughly 45% of public school students scored at least proficiently at English in the 2020-2021 school year, according to results provided by the Elementary and Secondary Education Department. That's down from the closer to 49% of students who tested that well in the 2019 school year.

Students did worse in math and science, with scores for math dropping from around 42% in 2019 to 35% of students performing at grade level last year. In science, test scores dropped from 42% proficient to 37% proficient.

The state education department won't release district- and school-level data until later this year.

School administrators asked for understanding in light of the slew of challenges teachers and students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, including stress and long absences because of illnesses or quarantining.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most aspects of last school year were not typical," Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven said in a statement. "I urge stakeholders to use these data to learn from this experience and inform how to deploy resources to best support students, educators, and schools.

Missouri School Boards Association Executive Director Melissa Randol in a statement said teachers and students "did a fantastic job under the circumstances during this pandemic.

We cant lose sight of that," she said.

A little more than half of students who were tested last year were learning in person, according to data from the education department. Another 10% learned exclusively online, while 31% were taught via a mix of both ways.

About 80% of students had internet access.

Analysis by the education department found that students scored higher when they learned in school. Students who learned online scored better when they had access to internet and a device.

State education officials already decided that test results for last year wont be used against schools for accountability purposes because of the unusual circumstances of the pandemic.
HELENA, Mont. (AP)  Seventeen Montana National Guard soldiers have volunteered to continue helping the state with its COVID-19 response, Gov. Greg Gianforte said.

Ten soldiers will help at Billings Clinic, starting Wednesday, as the hospital faces capacity and staffing challenges with the latest surge on COVID-19. Another seven soldiers will help the state lab and warehouse in Helena.

Over the last year, soldiers in the Montana National Guard have consistently stepped up to the plate, and today is no different, Gianforte said in a statement Monday. Well continue working with hospitals to address their individual needs as the state responds to COVID-19.

Montana reported another 1,249 known COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with 362 people hospitalized. At least 1,847 residents have died of COVID-19 in the past 18 months, with the health department reporting 47 deaths in the first two weeks of September. Over 474,000 residents  51% of the eligible population  are fully vaccinated. Cases of COVID-19 have been rising steadily since mid-July.

Billings Clinic, which typically has 28 ICU beds, is now making 40 ICU beds available as the more contagious delta variant increases caseloads.

Hospitalized residents used to be in the 70s to 90s age range, said Nancy Iverson, director of patient safety and infection control at Billings Clinic. A 24-year-old is in the ICU now, she said Monday. An unvaccinated woman in her 20s, with no underlying health conditions, died on Sept. 4 at a Billings hospital, the Yellowstone County health department reported.

Young people are fighting for their lives, Iverson told The Billings Gazette.

In Missoula, St. Patrick Hospital reported Tuesday it was using its ambulance bay to evaluate the severity of illness among some patients with COVID-19.

Billings Clinic made its formal request to the governors office for 10 soldiers in August. At the time, nearly 600 Montana National Guard soldiers were fighting wildfires. The state said it could fulfill the request in mid-September.

So far, Billings Clinic is the only hospital in the state to formally request Guard resources, Gianfortes office said.

Montana's Army National Guard has 2,350 soldiers while the Air National Guard has another 950, said Maj. Robert Allinson, public affairs officer for the Montana National Guard. Between 600 and 800 Guard members are preparing to be deployed overseas this fall, he said Monday.

Over the past 18 months, Montana Guard members have been deployed to help with the initial COVID-19 response and to test visitors for the respiratory virus as they arrived at airports. Guard members have also provided security for President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, fought wildfires this summer and are again being asked to help with COVID-19 response.

While Guard members typically help with logistics, such as transporting supplies, they've seen some unique missions due to the pandemic, Allinson said.

Because Guard members have been deployed so often in recent months, the Guard is asking members to volunteer to meet any further requests for help in responding to COVID-19, Allinson said.
NEW YORK (AP)  Comedian Norm Macdonald, a former Saturday Night Live writer and performer who was Weekend Update host when Bill Clinton and O.J. Simpson provided comic fodder during the 1990s, has died.

Macdonald, who was 61, died Tuesday after having cancer for nine years, but keeping it private, according to Brillstein Entertainment Partners, his management firm in Los Angeles.

He never reached the same television heights after being fired from SNL in 1998, but was an indefatigable stand-up comic and popular talk show guest whose death provoked an outpouring from fellow comedians.

Norm was in a comedy genre of his own, tweeted Sarah Silverman. No one like him on this planet. Please do yourself a favor and watch his stuff.

Macdonald, the son of two schoolteachers, was raised in Quebec City, Canada. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau offered his condolences, calling him a comedic genius and a great Canadian.

He was a stand-up comic and briefly a writer for the sitcom Roseanne when he was picked to join the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1993.

He became known for his esoteric impressions, including Burt Reynolds, who gave Will Ferrells Alex Trebek character grief on Celebrity Jeopardy. He also impersonated Bob Dole, Larry King and David Letterman.

His deadpan style and skills as a writer made him the choice to host Weekend Update. Simpson was a favorite target. Macdonald opened the fake newscast the week of the former football star's acquittal on murder charges by saying, "Well, it's finally official. Murder is legal in the state of California.

Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels, speaking for the show, called MacDonald "one of the most impactful comedic voices of his or any other generation.

There are so many things that we'll miss about Norm  from his unflinching integrity to his generosity to his consistent ability to surprise, he said. But most of all he was just plain funny. No one was funny like Norm.

Macdonald was fired in the middle of the season in 1998 by NBC Entertainment executive Don Ohlmeyer, a friend of Simpson's who reportedly didn't appreciate the '"SNL" star making Simpson the near-constant butt of jokes.

I was never bitter, Macdonald said in the oral history Live From New York, released in 2002. I always understood that Ohlmeyer could fire me, because he was the guy who owned the cameras, so that didn't bother me. I was always happy that SNL gave me a chance.

He said in the same book that I just like doing jokes I like, and if the audience doesn't like them, they're wrong, not me.

Ohlmeyer said that was his problem.

When Saturday Night Live is really good, they do care what the audience thinks, he said. And when Saturday Night Live is not really good, they're kind of doing it for themselves and their pals.

MacDonald went on Letterman's show to announce that he was fired. During a commercial break, Letterman asked him, This is like some Andy Kaufman thing with fake wrestling, right?" Macdonald recalled. But it wasn't.

Letterman was a fan who made Macdonald one of the guests in the CBS Late Show host's final run of shows.

In 2016, Letterman told The Washington Post, that the show would have had Macdonald on every week "if we could.''

He is funny in a way that some people inhale and exhale,  Letterman told The Post. "With others, you can tell the comedy, the humor is considered. With Norm, he exudes it ... There may be people as funny as Norm, but I don't know anybody who is funnier.

The Post's story was headlined, Will Somebody Please Give Norm Macdonald Another Show?

As if to answer, Netflix two years later aired 10 episodes of an interview series, Norm Macdonald Has a Show." Guests included Letterman, Lorne Michaels, Jane Fonda and Judge Judy Sheindlin.

He had limited success in other TV ventures. He created and starred in the ABC sitcom The Norm Show, later shortened to Norm, playing a former NHL player kicked out of the league for gambling and tax evasion and forced into community service as a social worker.

A Comedy Central show, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, lasted only a handful of episodes, but he kept busy in comedy clubs.

In my mind, I'm just a stand-up, he told The New York Times in 2018. But other people don't think that. They think, 'oh, the guy from SNL is doing stand-up now,'

In a 2011 comedy special, MacDonald said it was wrong to say you lost your battle with cancer when you died. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that if you die, the cancer also dies at exactly the same time, he said. That, to me, is not a loss. That's a draw.

Jim Carrey tweeted that Macdonald was an honest and courageous comedy genius. Seth Rogen said he essentially ripped off his delivery when he started acting.

No one could make you break like Norm Macdonald, Jon Stewart said on Twitter. Hilarious and unique.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles, Hillel Italie in New York and Robert Gilles in Toronto contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (AP)  Theater royalty  in the form of Kristin Chenoweth, Julie Taymor and Lin-Manuel Miranda  welcomed back boisterous audiences to Wicked, The Lion King and Hamilton for the first time since the start of the pandemic, marking Tuesday as the unofficial return of Broadway.

Chenoweth surprised the crowd at Wicked by appearing onstage for a speech on the same stage where she became a star years ago. There's no place like home, she said, lifting a line from the musical. The crowd hooted, hollered and gave her a standing ovation.

Taymor, the director and costume-designer of The Lion King, congratulated her audience for the courage and enthusiasm to lead the way. "Theater, as we know, is the lifeblood and soul of the city," she said. "It's time for us to live again." And Miranda at Hamilton summed up the feeling of a lot of people when he said: I don't ever want to take live theater for granted.

The Lion King, Hamilton and Wicked all staked out Tuesday to reopen together in early May after then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo picked Sept. 14 for when Broadway could begin welcoming back audiences at full capacity.

The trio of shows were beaten by Bruce Springsteens concert show in June and the opening of the new play Pass Over on Aug. 22, as well as the reopening of two big musicals  Hadestown and Waitress.

But the return of the three musicals  the spiritual anchors of modern Broadways success  as well as the return of the long-running Chicago and the reopening of the iconic TKTS booth, both also on Tuesday, are important signals that Broadway is back, despite pressure and uncertainty from the spread of the delta variant.

The crowds virtually blew the roof off the three theaters. At Wicked, they stood and applauded the dimming of the lights, the welcome announcement, the arrival and departure of Chenoweth, the opening notes of the first song and several moments during that song, especially when Glinda says: Its good to see me, isnt it?

At The Lion King, the opening song The Circle of Life was virtually drowned out by cheers and clapping, while every star in Hamilton had to pause to let the entrance applause die down enough to be heard again.

Linda Diane Polichetti, an usher at Hamilton, said she was proud to back at work. I'm just glad to be back because the world I was in, I wasn't recognizing, she said. I love my show. I love my cast.

Ticketholders to all three mega-hits had to prove they were fully vaccinated with an FDA- or WHO-authorized vaccine and masks must be worn at all times, except when eating or drinking in designated areas.

Vaccine checkers in bright T-shirts inspected phones and cards as the crowds made their way into the theaters. Thank you for getting vaccinated and wearing a mask, Miranda said, to roars of approval. The crowds were very compliant with the new rules, only lowering their masks for the obligatory selfie. Taymor joked in her speech that the performers often wear masks. Guess what? You get to wear masks tonight.

Before the shows, Miranda, Taymor and "Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz stressed that Broadway has implemented safety protocols that make cramming strangers into theaters as safe as it can be.

We go to a theater for catharsis. Literally thats what we go for: to be in communion with each other, hear a story told in the dark and experience catharsis, said Miranda. For a while, it wasnt safe to do that. And its safe to come back now with the protocols we have in place.

Actors across Broadway say they're itching to get back on stage after more than a year of waiting, trusting the health experts to make the process safe. The bulk of Broadway's theaters will be reopened by Thanksgiving.

Its a little bit like when youre on an airplane and theres turbulence, said Sharon Wheatley, a veteran actor in the show Come From Away, which resumes its Broadway run Sept. 21. I have to trust the pilot, I have to trust the air traffic controllers. I feel nervous, but I have to understand that I dont know as much as these people do.

"Hamilton," which opened six years ago, Wicked, which opened 17 years ago and The Lion King, which opened 23 years ago, form the bedrock of modern Broadway, virtually immune to downturns, shifts in tourism and rivals.

Another sign that Broadway is inching back to normalcy is the re-opening of the famed TKTS booth in the heart of Times Square, where visitors can get same-day and some next-day discount Broadway and off-Broadway tickets.

Its such a big step forward, said Victoria Bailey, executive director of the nonprofit Theatre Development Fund, which runs the booth. To get it open and such a symbol to people that theater is coming back.

Bailey says Broadways return will be less like a flick of a light switch and more like a dimmer, with a slow build to regular attendance. Well know so much more in two or three weeks, but you cant swim unless you can start by dog-paddling.

During the pandemic, Miranda saw his visionary show turned into a critically hailed filmed version for Disney+, but said there no substitute for seeing it live.

Its one thing to see something on the screen. And Im thrilled Hamilton was was available on a screen in a time when we couldnt go to a theater. But Im even more thrilled that now it can be experienced the way it was meant to, live in front of an audience, the final collaborator every night.

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A judge's decision to release a Wisconsin woman who helped stab her sixth-grade classmate to please online horror character Slender Man from a mental health facility has left the victim's family nervous and afraid, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren on Friday ordered 19-year-old Anissa Weier released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, ruling she's no longer a threat and conditions on her release should protect both her and the community. Weier has spent nearly four years at the facility.

Bohren scheduled her release for Monday, but it's unclear whether Weier has left the facility. Officials with the state Department of Health Services, which oversees Winnebago, have repeatedly refused to so much as acknowledge Weier was a patient out of privacy concerns. Weier's attorney, Maura McMahon, said she's not allowed access to Weier's transportation plans. She didn't immediately respond to a message Tuesday.

Steve Lyons, a spokesman for victim Payton Leutner's family, said Tuesday that they're disappointed with Bohren's decision and Weier should have served more time at Winnebago.

We're just nervous that she's going to be out, Lyons said. We're nervous about the potential of what could happen.

Weier and a friend, Morgan Geyser, both were committed to Winnebago after pleading guilty to attacking Leutner when they were all 12 years old.

Geyser stabbed Leutner multiple times in a Waukesha park as Weier urged her on. Leutner suffered 19 wounds  including one that narrowly missed her heart  and barely survived.

Weier and Geyser later told investigators they attacked Leutner to earn a place as Slender Man's servants and prevent him from killing their families. Bohren sentenced Weier in December 2017 to 25 years at Winnebago and Geyser to 40 years at the facility in February 2018.

Weier petitioned for release in March, saying she had exhausted her treatment options. Bohren ruled in July that she no longer posed a threat. He signed off on a conditional release plan Friday before ordering the facility to release her on Monday.

Under the plan, Weier must live with her father, continue to receive psychiatric care and submit to around-the-clock GPS monitoring. She can't have any contact with Leutner's family, can't possess any weapons and can't use social media. The Department of Corrections will monitor her limited internet use.

Leutner's family declined to speak during Friday's court hearing on the plan. Lyons said Tuesday that the family is reasonably comfortable with the conditions but Leutner's safety and the community's safety must come first.

He added that Leutner no longer lives in Waukesha County and is now a college sophomore with a part-time job. He declined to name the college or her employer. He did say that she just bought her first used car on Monday and has two cats, Salem and Lilith.

___

Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1
There were points during Lewis Pughs 12 day swim through Greenlands treacherously cold Illulissat Icefjord where he wanted to give up.

Some nights Id wake up and ask myself how much longer my body could keep on going, says the endurance swimmer and UN Patron of the Oceans. But to shine a light on whats happening in this part of the world, it required more than a one-day swim  this story required a sustained campaign.

Every morning, he donned his swimming cap and speedos to plunge into freezing waters, awash with sharp shards of broken ice. As he swam, he heard wind, crashing icebergs and the constant barks of Greenland dogs - which is what the locals call huskies, he tells me.

Olle Nordell

As we sit in a sunny hotel lounge in Marble Arch, the Illulissat glacier, where Pugh was just days ago, seems worlds away. It is precisely this perceived distance which Pugh hopes to bridge through his pioneering swim. With COP-26 mere days away, he is in London trying to drum up meaningful action before the climate conference.

COP-26 is the most important conference of our lifetime and Ill be delivering a message on what Ive been seeing in the Polar Regions since 2003, he says. What I dont think the public know is the sheer speed and scale of this crisis in the Arctic  its the fastest warming area in the world.

For Pugh, global coalitions aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050 are simply not ambitious enough. Even as he was undertaking the climate swim, the environment around the endurance swimmer was in flux  the Greenland Ice Sheet is one of the many long-suffering victims of the climate crisis, melting at an unprecedented rate.

Suddenly springing out of his seat to come and kneel next to me, Pugh pulls out his phone to show me satellite images of the glacier he promises will blow your mind. He meticulously explains the mechanisms behind the rapid movement of the ice, in a manner befitting his weighty title as the UN Patron of the Oceans.

European Union 2021 Copernicus Sentinel-2 @DEFIS_EU

If the entire Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt, it would lead to sea levels rising by over seven metres. To put this into context, it would only take a one-metre rise to drown entire cities like London, Tokyo and New York. Its only when you see it live that you realise you cant negotiate with nature, he says, returning to the sofa opposite me.

Pugh is no stranger to the sea. If anything, he has a peculiar affinity with it, which he says is impossible not to have when spending your childhood years in Plymouth, or Britains Ocean City as its often referred to. It is in Tavistock, just outside Plymouth, where 9-year-old Pugh had his first encounter with the powerful force of nature - when the River Tavy overflowed.

I remember my dad going out to try and salvage the car, and the water was swirling around him . I experienced the devastation of flooding first hand, he says.

Such entrenched commitment to the ocean seeped into his academic pursuits, as Pugh embarked on a career as a maritime lawyer after studying at the University of Capetown in South Africa and the University of Cambridge in the UK. But Pugh says it was studying in South Africa towards the end of the apartheid which instilled in him a desire to fight for justice and freedom: When change comes, like it eventually came in South Africa, it comes like a steam train. I want the steam train to arrive in Glasgow for COP-26.

Since diving into endurance swimming in the early 2000s, Pugh has accumulated an impressive number of achievements under his belt: he was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world, as well as being the first to swim across the North Pole.

Olle Nordell

Despite his years of experience, its the 7.8 km climate swim across the Illulissat glacier which he has found the most challenging  a fitting tribute to the scale of the climate problem he is trying to address. The science is very, very clear. We are running out of time, Pugh says, before launching into a series of vivid similes to demonstrate his point.

I want you to imagine looking out of the window at 4am in the morning and seeing a glacier crumbling like a meringue, leading to a motorway of ice which will pour out into the sea.

Pugh is calling for 30% of the worlds oceans to become Marine Protected Areas, to make them more resilient to climate change. So far, 86 nations have made that commitment.

Olle Nordell

Both humans and the planet operate in what Pugh terms a narrow band of comfort, or thermal regulation. Only a few degrees separate clinical hyperthermia and hypothermia, terms he is familiar with owing to his regular exposure to zero-degree water - which he says was almost intolerable to swim in.

Pugh recovering after a icy swim across the Illulissat Icefjord / Olle Nordell

While Pughs core body temperature was able to regulate  albeit with the help of the three hot water bottles and steaming chocolate drink he was greeted with on the boat  if the earth warmed by 2 degrees, we would suffer from widespread water scarcity, crop failures, and increased flooding.

To ease the increasing bleakness underpinning our conversation, I ask him what the general public can do to help protect the oceans. Before responding, Pugh thanks me sincerely for asking the question. Every single purchase we make is a decision about our future. If the 7.7 billion people on this earth make environmentally friendly decisions on a daily basis, that creates meaningful change, he says.

Before we part ways, Pugh brings my attention towards his mantra: ice is as essential to life on earth as the air we breathe, " he says, following up with the pithier strapline, ice is life. Though being amongst the oldest ice on earth made Pugh feel like a voice in the wilderness, here in London, before the most important climate conference of our lifetimes, Pugh says he is a voice for the oceans. For me, the UN Environment Assembly and the numerous political, business and cultural leaders he has spoken with, he is simply a voice worth listening to.
Luzerne County Council will vote Tuesday whether to reinstate a law firm that council banned from county business after it filed a motion in U.S. Supreme Court one week before the presidential election last fall without notifying county officials of its plans.

On the agenda for councils 6 p.m. voting session is a resolution that would add Joyce, Carmody & Moran, P.C. to the countys approved panel of law firms that provide insurance defense services to the county.

Council removed the firm from that panel on Nov. 10, 2020, on a 6-5 vote.

Two weeks earlier, several council members criticized the firm and attorney Lawrence Moran for filing a motion with the Supreme Court on Oct. 27, asking Justice Amy Coney Barrett  who was sworn in to the nations highest court that day  to recuse herself in a dispute over the mail-in ballot deadline in Pennsylvania.

The firm was representing the county in a suit brought by the Trump for President campaign against election officials throughout Pennsylvania.

Council members blasted Joyce, Carmody & Moran for filing the motion without consulting council or the county office of law. Councilman Harry Haas, a Republican and a vocal opponent of mail-in voting, said the firm was playing politics.

Ten months ago, Haas voted in favor of removing the firm from the approved panel, as did council members Linda McClosky Houck, Stephen J. Urban, Walter Griffith, Chris Perry and LeeAnn McDermott.

Council members Tim McGinley, Sheila Saidman, Robert Schnee, Matthew Vough and Kendra Radle voted no.

It is not clear why council will vote this week on the resolution to reinstate the firm.

The makeup of the 11-member council has not changed since councils vote last November. At least two new council members will be seated in January.

 Eric Mark
Published: 14 September 2021

Turnover in trade grew by 7.7 per cent in July

According to Statistics Finland, turnover in total trade adjusted for working days grew in July by 7.7 per cent from July 2020. Over the same period, the working day adjusted volume of sales in total trade, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, increased by 1.9 per cent. Turnover and sales volume increased in all industries of trade.

Annual change in working day adjusted turnover and sales volume in total trade (G), %

Strong turnover growth continued in wholesale trade in July

The positive development in the biggest industry of trade, wholesale trade, which started in February, also continued in July. The working day adjusted turnover of wholesale trade grew by 10.4 per cent and sales volume by 0.7 per cent from the year before. The more favourable development in turnover than in sales volume in wholesale trade is explained by risen prices especially of processed petroleum products.

In July, working day adjusted turnover in motor vehicle trade increased by 3.7 per cent and sales volume by 1.5 per cent from one year back.

In retail trade, working day adjusted turnover grew in July in total by 5.3 per cent and sales volume by 3.4 per cent. Among retail trade industries, department store trade grew most, as turnover went up by 5.1 per cent and sales volume by 5.0 per cent. Turnover in daily consumer goods trade rose by 4.3 per cent and sales volume by 2.2 per cent from July 2020. Turnover in specialised store trade grew by 3.4 per and sales volume by 2.0 per cent year-on-year.

Annual change in working day adjusted turnover and sales volume in industries of trade, July 2021, % (TOL 2008)

Seasonally adjusted turnover and sales volume declined from the previous month

Seasonally adjusted turnover in total trade fell by 0.7 per cent in July from June. Seasonally adjusted sales volume went down by 1.2 per cent over the same period. In June, turnover rose by 2.3 per cent and sales volume by 1.4 per cent from the month before.

Change in seasonally adjusted turnover and sales volume in total trade (G) from the previous month, %

Trend of turnover and sales volume in total trade

The calculation of indices of turnover of trade is based on the Tax Administrations data on self-assessed taxes, which are supplemented with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The volume index of sales is calculated by removing the effect of price changes from the value index series.

The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well.

The data for the latest month are preliminary and they may become significantly revised particularly on more detailed industry levels in coming months.

Source: Turnover of trade, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Lauri Pullinen 029 551 3043, Mauri Niiniaho 029 551 3409, kauppa.suhdanne@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Katri Kaaja

Publication in pdf-format (285.8 kB)

Updated 14.09.2021

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Turnover of trade [e-publication].

ISSN=1799-0939. July 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 21.9.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/klv/2021/07/klv_2021_07_2021-09-14_tie_002_en.html
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Agentia de rating Standard & Poors (S&P) arata, cu doar o luna inainte de evaluarea oficiala, faptul ca Romania este stabila din punct de vedere economic, in ciuda crizei politice. Analistii explica faptul ca Executivul mentine politicile fiscale si noteaza ca este posibila o ameliorare a conflictului politic dupa ce vor avea loc alegerile interne din PNL si USR-PLUS.

Asteptarile noastre, in scenariul de baza, sunt ca Executivul sa incerce pastrarea capacitatii de functionare pe termen scurt pentru a atrage finantarea europeana. Adoptarea rectificarii bugetare, de saptamana trecuta, indica faptul ca Executivul are capacitatea de a-si duce la indeplinire politicile. Cu toate acestea, incertitudinea persistenta ar putea accentua riscurile fiscale pe termen mediu, arata analistii S&P.

Deocamdata, cresterea economica revigoranta a Romaniei contribuie la atenuarea presiunii asupra pozitiei fiscale a guvernului. Economia a revenit deja la productia sa prepandemica, inregistrand o crestere cu 6,5% in prima jumatate a anului 2021, depasind prognoza noastra din aprilie, unde era o crestere de 5% pentru intregul an., mai spun acestia.

Mai jos intreg comentariul celor de la S&P:

Romania Political Events Unlikely To Stop Consolidation

S&P Global Ratings said today that it does not expect imminent risks to Romanias (BBB-/Stable/A-3) near-term fiscal consolidation plans following the resignation on Sept. 7, of USR Plus ministers from the government coalition. USR Plus withdrawal, following a series of policy clashes and intra-coalition tensions, will require Prime Minister Florin Citu to seek parliamentary reapproval for his now minority cabinet within 45 days. This comes at a time when the government is set to engage with the European authorities to secure funds from the EUs Recovery and Resilience Facility.

We assume, in our base case, that the government would aim to preserve its capacity to function over the short term in order to contract this funding, which we understand is ready to be disbursed. The adoption of Romanias budget rectification for 2021 last week suggests that there is capacity to execute policy, in our view. That said, persistent uncertainty could accentuate fiscal risks over the medium term.

Separately, the USR Plus party filed a motion to censure Citus government but we understand the debate and vote have been delayed. This is the second time that confidence in the government has been questioned in just four months.

Aside from the ongoing votes of confidence, both parties will hold elections of their leadership over the coming month. This could spur a political re-set of coalition talks, somewhat complicating the political outlook.

For now, Romanias rebounding economic growth is helping to mitigate pressure on the governments fiscal position. The economy has already returned to its prepandemic output, expanding by 6.5% over the first half of 2021, outperforming our April forecast of 5% growth for the full year (see Romania Outlook Revised To Stable From Negative On Decreasing Fiscal Risks; BBB-/A-3 Ratings Affirmed, published April 16, 2021).

We forecast GDP growth at about 4.5% in 2022 and 2023, buoyed by EU and Next Generation EU grants and loans totaling 20% of Romanias GDP between 2021 and 2026. Our current forecasts include a general government deficit of 7% of GDP in 2021, before gradually narrowing to 3% of GDP in 2024 supported by the governments consolidation agenda and Romanias recovering economy.

Nevertheless, should the political deadlock persist, it could disrupt progress on much-needed fiscal reform. We still believe that medium-term fiscal consolidation and a rebalancing of Romanias budget structure, aided by successful absorption of EU financing, are key elements to stabilizing the countrys fiscal and external positions.

The next scheduled review of our ratings on Romania is on Oct. 15, 2021..
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) calls on the government to eliminate the provision that makes it possible to switch to online school from a cumulative incidence of COVID cases greater than 6/1,000 and "not to put pressure on students and teachers to get vaccinated."

"After the bad experience of the previous school year, we believe that closing schools is an excessive measure considering the danger that is supposed to prevent it. It has a negative impact on the educational process, leading to a decrease in cognitive skills and knowledge level, and prevents the fulfillment of the quality and efficiency requirements that the National Education Law requires imperatively. More than that, socializing and interacting with others are part of the larger educational process, with a negative impact, when missing, on the psychological health of the first beneficiaries of the educational process - the pupils," said Claudiu Tarziu, co-chair of AUR, according to a press release.

According to MP George Simion, co-chair of AUR, the efficiency, and quality of the educational process decreased dramatically last year, Agerpres informs.

"Minister Sorin Cimpeanu himself acknowledged that the online school was a disaster. Also, in terms of health, there was no benefit after closing schools, as it was not found that schools would have a major influence in increasing the incidence rate of COVID-19. Children with special educational needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds have been particularly affected by the switch to online classes, and their marginalization has deepened," said Simon.

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians also warns the Citu Government not to try to force pupils and teachers to get vaccinated.

"Vaccination is voluntary and health can only be conceptualized and managed if the fundamental human rights are observed, especially the right of adults to autonomy and the right of parents to represent the best interests of their children," the AUR press release said.
The President of the Senate, Anca Dragu, said she will notify the Joint Standing Bureaus to clarify the situation of the leadership of the joint session of Parliament on September 9, during which the censure motion was read, agerpres reports.

Asked if she will notify the Joint Standing Bureaus regarding the joint session being led by Florin Roman, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) group in the Chamber of Deputies to whom the attributions of the Chamber's Speaker had been delegated, Dragu said: "We must see the abuse that Mr. Roman committed at that session. His colleagues say that he was the one abused, but that doesn't mean it was so (...) Yes. We will request the clarification of the situation, firstly, and we cannot let this situation remain in the air like this, we cannot keep passing the buck. We are responsible people, we are MPs, we have a Constitution we must respect."

"I should have led that session of the Joint Plenum. Until September 9 there were 13 joint sessions - seven sessions were led by Speaker [Ludovic] Orban and six by me (...) Where's the alternation? The argument brought by Mr. Roman is a superficial one," said, on Tuesday, Dragu, at the Senate.The Chamber of Deputies and Senate met, on September 9, in Joint Session to present the censure motion submitted by the Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).At the start of the session, Florin Roman mentioned that the meetings of the Joint Plenum are led alternatively by the chairs of the two Chambers.The leader of the USR deputies, Ionut Mosteanu, requested Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Florin Roman allow the President of the Senate, Anca Dragu, lead the session. Roman closed the session and left the Parliament's rostrum, pressured by MPs from USR PLUS and AUR.After Roman announced he is concluding the session, the leadership of the session was taken over by the President of the Senate, Anca Dragu.
Five migrants from Afghanistan and Turkey were found hidden in two trucks, following a check by border police at Nadlac Border Checkpoint, agerpres reports.

According to a release sent on Tuesday by the Territorial Inspectorate of the Oradea Border Police, one of the vehicles was registered in Turkey and the other in Bulgaria.

"According to the documents accompanying the goods, the drivers were carrying sunflower seeds and food for German companies. Following a thorough inspection of the means of transport, a total of five foreign nationals were found hidden in the cargo compartments," reads the release.The same source informs that the verifications established that they are citizens of Afghanistan and Turkey, aged between 15 and 34, most of whom being asylum seekers in Romania.As a result of another action, the policemen with the Nadlac Border Police Sector found on Tuesday morning, at about 100 meters from the border, four people aged between 19 and 21, citizens of Algeria and Afghanistan, who were walking, trying to cross illegally into Hungary."In all cases, the border police carry out investigations in order to establish the entire criminal activity and all the necessary legal measures will be ordered," the release also mentioned.
A military and religious ceremony took place, on Tuesday, on the Christian feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, on the plateau near Caraiman Peak in the Bucegi Mountains, at the Commemorative Cross to the Romanian Heroes of the First World War.

"The cross is a symbol of victory, of triumph and of courage, and the Cross of the Nation's Heroes, done on the initiative of the Queen of Hearts, Queen Maria, will remind us that every triumph is obtained through sacrifice and that no sacrifice is too great when we speak of Nation and Motherland. We have the duty to write the page of the present and be responsible of what leave as legacy to our descendants. That is why, I wish that on this holy day we remember the sacrifices made by those before us and bear recognition to those who sacrificed themselves to consolidate the modern Romanian state. If we do not honor the past properly, the future will be poorer in ideals and built on quicksand," wrote, on Facebook, the Minister of Internal Affairs and ad-interim Justice Minister, Lucian Bode, who participated in the ceremony organized by the Ministry of Defence.

In the context of this activity, the Ministry of National Defence (MApN) also launched a photography competition with images taken of the Cross on Caraiman Peak, Agerpres.ro informs.

The authors of the most successful photographs will receive a volume of the monography titled "Cross of Romanian Heroes on Caraiman Peak - History, restoration, rehabilitation, conservation," published this year by the publishing house of the Army's Technical-Editorial Center.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu had a telephone conversation on Tuesday with the National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, Jake Sullivan, on which occasion the two high officials hailed the 10th anniversary, on September 13, of the adoption of the Joint Declaration On Strategic Partnership For The 21st Century Between The United States Of America And Romania and the signing of the Agreement on the location of the United States Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informed.

This moment was also marked by a joint press statement issued by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department.

According to the MAE, Jake Sullivan thanked Minister Aurescu for Romania's "firm" commitment to strengthening transatlantic security and promoting common values and interests, our country having an "essential" contribution to regional stability and resilience. The US official expressed special appreciation for Romania's hosting of the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Facility at Deveselu, which contributes to strengthening the common defense at the Allied level and to deterring threats.

Minister Aurescu pointed out that the discussion, held on the sidelines of the symbolic anniversary moment, represents a good opportunity to assess the stage of the Strategic Partnership, which is at an "excellent" level of depth and substance, and to further develop Romania - US cooperation, on all dimensions of the partnership, based on the principles and major lines of action established by the two documents, Agerpres.ro informs.

The two high dignitaries discussed the concrete ways to further strengthen the bilateral Strategic Partnership and to consolidate the cooperation between Romania and the USA, both by intensifying the political-diplomatic dialogue, including at the highest level, and by joint steps to respond to current international challenges.

The US President National Security Advisor said in this regard that the US Administration appreciates Romania's involvement and participation as the presidency of the Community of Democracies (2019-2022), which will also be relevant to the Summit of Democracies to be hosted by President Biden at the end of the year. Jake Sullivan also mentioned President Biden's participation in the virtual Bucharest-9 Summit 2021, successfully hosted by President Klaus Iohannis, in May, as well as the US Administration's special appreciation for Romania's commitment within this format.

The discussion also addressed the important role of Romania in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Black Sea, as well as the significant efforts of our country in terms of strengthening regional security and stability, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also mentions. Minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated Romania's commitment and concrete support actions in relation to partners such as Ukraine and Georgia, the dynamic and substantial involvement in regional cooperation formats, such as Bucharest 9, the Romania-Poland-Turkey Trilateral and the Three Seas Initiative, but also the commitment to common security, including through Romania's contribution within NATO.

An exchange of assessments on the security situation in the Black Sea region and the persistent security challenges on the Eastern Side of the North Atlantic Alliance also took place during the discussion. In this context, Minister Aurescu pleaded for the need to strengthen NATO's position of deterrence and defense on NATO's Eastern Flank, on the Black Sea, especially through a unitary and coherent approach.

"The two senior officials agreed that Romania and the USA should maintain, in the next period, a close coordination on security at the Black Sea, appreciating Romania's contribution, including at the conceptual level, taking into account its regional expertise and geostrategic position," informs MAE .

Minister Bogdan Aurescu also discussed with the high US official about the coordination on the topic of NATO's adaptation and of the negotiation process of a New Strategic Concept. He emphasized once again the importance that Romania attaches to the increase of the US military presence in Romania and at the Black Sea.

The head of Romanian diplomacy and the US national security advisor also addressed the issue of strengthening strategic resilience, stressing the importance of coordination with partners who share the same values and priorities, primarily at the transatlantic level, as well as the need to promote democracy, prosperity and the rule of law in the region. Minister Bogdan Aurescu mentioned, in this context, the inauguration, in Bucharest, of the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience and highlighted the opportunities offered by this hub at transatlantic as well as regional level.

Bogdan Aurescu reiterated the importance of the two major regional interconnection projects, Rail-2-Sea and Via Carpathia, promoted by Romania, including within the Three Seas Initiative, aimed at supporting economic development and military mobility, as well as the interest in the involvement, including financial, of the United States in their realization. Thus, the head of the Romanian diplomacy called for the need to consolidate the US economic and investment presence, in addition to an increased US military presence in the region.

Minister Aurescu also underlined on this occasion, the significance that Romania and the Romanian citizens grant to the accession in the Visa Waiver Program. Thus, the two sides agreed to maintain a close dialogue in the next period in order to identify concrete common solutions that can contribute to tangible progress in this regard. The head of diplomacy also evoked Romania's strategic goal of joining the OECD.

The US National Security Advisor thanked for the measures taken by Romania regarding the security of 5G networks and for the recent entry into force of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America regarding the cooperation on the nuclear-energy projects in Cernavoda and in the field of civil nuclear energy in Romania, our country being considered by the US Administration a regional model in addressing these strategic areas. According to the MAE, the common interest for the rapid realization of the cooperation opportunities in the civil nuclear energy sector in Romania, which will deepen the strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship, was underlined.
The Employers' Federation of Construction Companies (FPSC), together with the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Social House of Builders organizes, on Tuesday, at the Romanian Academy Library, an event to pay homage to the constructors' profession on the occasion of the National Constructors' Day, a release sent by the employers' organization mentioned, agerpres reports.

During the event, the builders' representatives will also discuss the latest technologies for the design, execution and maintenance of the constructions for the future, according to the source.

The event is attended by, among others, the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, Attila-Zoltan Cseke, the President of the Employers' Federation of Construction Companies, Cristian Erbasu, and university professors in the field of constructions.
The quantity of 21 tonnes of rubber waste illegally transported from Bulgaria to a Czech company was stopped at the Giurgiu Border Checkpoint.

"Border police with the Giurgiu Border Checkpoint carried out a specific check on a truck driven by a Bulgarian citizen, aged 46. He was carrying, according to the documents accompanying the goods, rubber waste. As there are suspicions regarding the legality of the above-mentioned transport, the border police with Giurgiu Border Checkpoint have requested authorized support from the representatives of the National Environmental Guard," reads a press release issued on Tuesday by Giurgiu Border Police.

Following the verifications, the authorities established that the waste, in a total quantity of 21,400 kilograms, was loaded from Bulgaria, bound to a Czech company, and the transfer documents presented by the driver were incomplete, Agerpres informs.

The control authorities did not allow entry into Romania for the means of transport in question, and the waste was returned to the shipping company.
Prime Minister Florin Citu met on Tuesday with representatives of the Enel Group, and the talks focused, among other things, on investments in renewable energy generation, grid and digitalization.

"Green energy is the future," said Citu, according to whom the challenge is to make the energy transition in a way that benefits consumers and the entire economy, Agerpres.ro informs.

"We need investment in renewable energy generation, grid and digitalisation. The challenge is to achieve the energy transition without exorbitant costs. In other words, to be beneficial for consumers and the entire economy. We need to think in the medium and long term, not just respond to current issues. We have discussed all these things with the Enel representatives. I am very interested in these consultations with the market players, because this is the only way we can have good results. The fact that Enel further intends to invest in Romania shows us that there is confidence in this Government and in the way we do things: with predictability, without changes in taxation," the Prime Minister wrote on his Facebook page.
President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Tuesday, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace a delegation from Enel Group, headed by Francesco Starace, CEO, context in which the head of state conveyed the need for a joint effort of energy companies and authorities to identify the most appropriate measures and tools to protect vulnerable consumers, but also companies in the productive sector, strongly affected by the current rise in prices in the field.

"During the meeting, the main challenges currently facing the energy market at European level were discussed, as well as the specific aspects of the domestic market, whose recent developments have created major concerns for domestic and industrial consumers. In this sense, President Klaus Iohannis conveyed to the leadership of the Enel Group that a joint effort is needed between energy companies and state authorities to identify the most appropriate measures and tools to protect vulnerable consumers, as well as companies in the productive sector, which are severely affected by the current rise in energy prices," the Presidential Administration said in a press release.

According to the cited source, the general manager of Enel Group mentioned the the company's firm interest to continue to represent a long-term partner of the Romanian state, aiming to "significantly" contribute to ensuring a fair and successful energy transition.

The Presidential Administration specifies that the Enel Group delegation presented the company's activity and "ambitious" investment plans, aimed at developing new electricity generation capacities from renewable resources, as well as goals regarding the sustainability of distribution networks, in the context of priorities focusing on digitalisation and electromobility, Agerpres.ro confirms.

President Iohannis stressed the need for a consistent increase in investments and the development of new production units in the energy sector, which would contribute to strengthening Romania's energy security, but also regionally. In this regard, the head of state mentioned that new directions of development can be explored and exploited, with long-term solutions, such as electromobility or the use of hydrogen as an energy source. Iohannis encouraged the continuation of the dialogue between Enel and the state authorities, emphasizing the importance of capitalizing on the "special" advantages that our country has in the energy sector.

According to the Presidential Administration, the global expertise of the Enel group in the field of green energy will be able to facilitate the meeting of the targets assumed at European level within the new policies specific to the Green Deal. Thus, the European funds and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan are financing opportunities that will support the achievement of the energy security objectives at national level, the cited source indicates.
Romania and the United Stats of America will continue to be a bulwark of Euro-Atlantic values and they will meet all the future challenges together, as partners and allies, a joint press statement issued on Monday by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State underscores.

The following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and Romania on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the signing of the U.S.-Romania Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century and the Agreement on the Deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania:

"Today is the 10th anniversary of two instruments that address the peace and security of the United States, Romania, and our European allies - the U.S.-Romania Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century and the Agreement on the Deployment of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in Romania. As a result of our Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement, Romania now hosts the Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System. In May 2021, we celebrated five years since Aegis Ashore became operational. This anniversary marks an important milestone in our bilateral relationship. We reaffirm and celebrate our friendship and the diplomatic framework that has strengthened bilateral relations, supported democratic development and Euro-Atlantic integration, increased trade, and investment, and helped spread widely the benefits of sustainable prosperity," reads the above-mentioned document.Moreover, according to the same source, the document reaffirms the cooperation between Romania and the U.S., both at present and in the future."Building on the milestone reflected in these joint anniversaries, our two governments recommit to serving as a bulwark for Euro-Atlantic values and to broadening and deepening the economic, cultural, and interpersonal links between our two nations. Today, we reaffirm and celebrate our cooperation and appreciate the fact that we will meet our future challenges together as friends and allies," the joint statement of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US State Department pointed out.***Ever since its launch in 1997, the Strategic Partnership concluded between Romania and the U.S. represented an essential milestone in the Romanian foreign policy's history and one of its main pillars, alongside the North-Atlantic Alliance and the European Union memberships, as well as an efficient instrument supporting internal efforts in building security, increasing prosperity, carrying out political, economic, military and administrative reforms, underscored the MAE.The cooperation between Romania and the U.S. has constantly strengthened and diversified until, in 2011, the two sides decided to further develop their Partnership through establishing the main directions of the bilateral relations, within the Strategic Dialogue process: maintaining political dialogue, broadening the economic relations, interpersonal links, deepening dialogue in various fields such as science and technology, research, education, culture.In this context, they negotiated the political text of the Joint Declaration, with the chief negotiator for Romania being the incumbent Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu. On September 13, 2011, on the occasion of the Romanian President's, Traian Basescu, visit to Washington, they adopted the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st century between Romania and the United States of America, mentions the MAE.The open cooperation framework described by the Joint Declaration contributed to the development of the strategic, political-military, and security dimensions of the Strategic Partnership, representing its current foundation, on all its dimensions, as the first political bilateral document evoking the Strategic Partnership. At the same time, it contributes to the strengthening of the political dialogue and it brought the economic and energy security dimensions to a level of performance close to the one reached in the strategic and military fields.MAE brings to mind that the negotiations regarding an Agreement to have a ballistic missile defense system (BMDA) belonging to the U.S. located in Romania started in 2010. After eight rounds of discussions between the negotiation teams, led by Bogdan Aurescu (Secretary of State with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs back then) for Romania, and Ellen Tauscher (at that time Under Secretary of State for Arms Control of the United States), respectively, for the U.S., the Agreement was sealed on June 6, 2011, and signed on September 13, 2011, in Washington. The Agreement came into force on December 23, 2011, as the first legal document mentioning the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the U.S.).On December 18, 2015, they declared the technical capacity of the Anti-missile Facility in Deveselu, with the inauguration ceremony (declaring the full operation capacity) of the Aegis Ashore Facility within the Deveselu Military Base, part of NATO's system of defence against the ballistic missiles (NATO BMD) taking place on May 12, 2016.The Agreement proves the United States' commitment to European security and represents a joint contribution of Romania and the United States to the collective defence, within NATO. The anti-missile defence system is exclusively defensive and targets threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic space.
The leader of the USR PLUS (Save Romania Union, Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) Deputies, Ionut Mosteanu, said on Tuesday that he sent a request to the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament to convene a plenary sitting to debate on the motion of censure, while mentioning that the only two parties who want this are USR PLUS (Save Romania Union, Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) and AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), with PNL (National Liberal Party) and PSD (Social Democratic Party) continuing to form a "wall" behind PM Florin Citu.

"Today I requested the presidents of the two chambers of Parliament to convene a plenary meeting to debate on the motion of censure under Article 113 of the Constitution. I also submitted a notification to the plenum of Parliament on Thursday, when the motion was read. Since it was already read, the motion needs now to be debated and voted on. I don't understand why is being postponed. I expected that the presidents will make the call already, the same as they did last week, in compliance with the Constitution when the motion was read. Something has happened in the meantime and things are not going at the same speed. That is why I wrote this letter. I sent it to Mr. Ludovic Orban, the Speaker of the Deputies' Chamber, and to Mrs. Anca Dragu, the President of the Senate," Mosteanu said.

He said that Anca Dragu sent a letter to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on Monday to convene this plenary meeting to debate on the motion, but Ludovic Orban left on Tuesday and delegated the duties to a colleague, a PNL deputy chairman."So, today, as things stand, we will not have a plenary sitting to debate on the motion, the only ones who want this debate are us, the ones from USR PLUS and the ones from AUR, who signed this motion. PSD and PNL are building a wall behind Florin Citu in this unprecedented abuse that we have been seeing for almost two weeks," added Mosteanu.
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An American firm, Spire Global, is in the business of putting large numbers of its tiny Lemur (Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver satellites) CubeSats to monitor weather as well as maritime traffic. While calibrating the electronics in the first of their Lemur CubeSats they discovered another use, and customer, for Lemur; detecting GPS jamming and other forms of electronic warfare. Now Spire has several additional customers, U.S. government agencies that exist to detect and deal with jamming, especially of satellite signals.

Lemur uses a technique called reflectometry that, from space, detects and measures weak electronic signals broadcast from space, like GPS, and measures the return signal from the planet surface to obtain more detailed and accurate weather patterns and. Another type of Lemur is equipped to detect and monitor moving objects at sea.

Reflectometry is something like passive (listen only) sonar, radar and thermal systems. Collecting this data simultaneously on a global scale creates better weather forecasting data, especially for ocean shipping as well as better current data for mapmakers. Spire Global uses commercial technology to build its Lemur satellites but now has a division that works with Western intelligence agencies to determine how much they can use Lemur data or how Lemur satellites can be equipped to detect even more information about jamming, like the location of the earth based jammers and other forms of electronic warfare.

Current Lemur CubeSats weigh eight kg (17.6 pound) each and are classified as U class spacecraft. This is based on the standard for the smallest (1U) CubeSat which is volume no more than one liter (10x10cm or 4.1x4.1 inches) and weigh no more than 1.3 kg (three pounds). A 3U CubeSat is three times the volume of a 1U version. Currently the largest CubeSats are 6U.

Spire Global was founded in the U.S. during 2012 and has since established facilities in Britain and Luxembourg. Spire Global is one of many new firms taking advantage of advances in microelectronics and small satellite technology. These trends have revolutionized space satellite design and capabilities.

In the late 1990s several countries in the West (especially the U.S.) began developing very small satellites mainly because the technology had improved to the point where small was affordable and useful. The earliest of these ultra-small satellite designs was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and were called CubeSats. The military got the idea from the increasing use of commercial nanosatellites that weigh no more than 6.8 kg (15 pounds). The U.S. military launched its first CubeSats in 2008, piggybacking with a larger satellite that had unused space in the payload nosecone.

It was quickly verified that CubeSats could be used for photo or electronic surveillance, or communications. Rapid advances in communications and sensor technology in the early 21st century made it possible to build a useful reconnaissance satellite weighing less and less. A tiny satellite like this includes solar panels to provide power.

A British firm pioneered this ultra-small satellite technology in the 1990s and made it possible to get scientific satellites in orbit for a fraction of the usual price. Since 2008 over a thousand CubeSats (or similar designs) have been launched and the number is increasing each year. Most of the 173 micro-satellites carried by the recent Soyuz and PSLV launches were based on the CubeSat design. That standardization also allowed for the establishment of standards for placing many micro-satellites in a rocket's final stage, another factor in keeping delivery costs down.

Spire Global has been a major participant in this and now has over a hundred Lemurs in orbit, each carrying either a weather, maritime traffic or air traffic sensing payload. Lemurs are powered by solar arrays and battery back-up and operate in LEO (Low Earth Orbits) of 500 kilometers or less. The lower the orbit the more efficient the onboard sensors are at collecting electronic signals on earth. Lemur-2 satellites have a useful life of two years, and operate in separate constellations of a dozen or more satellites. Each constellation must be constantly refreshed with new satellites and this makes it easier to upgrade constellation capabilities.

CubeSats are now technically U Class spacecraft and have standard weight and dimensions. Larger (6U) CubeSats, which weigh 8 kg (13.2 pounds) and handle a lot of jobs that previously needed a much larger and heavier satellite. CubeSats of all sizes are increasingly popular for science experiments by smaller organizations, or even individuals, who cannot afford a multi-million- dollar satellite that is ten or more times larger and heavier than a CubeSat. Over 1,400 CubeSats have been launched since 1998, with about 93 percent reaching orbit. That number is expected to double in the next few years because more and more commercial satellite launchers are providing unused space and weight on their launcher rockets for carrying and launching some CubeSats. In some cases, the CubeSat owners pay for this service while in other cases some CubeSats are taken up for free, as a public service.
CHICAGO, Sept. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding its global distribution presence, Prinova Group LLC ("Prinova"), a NAGASE Group Company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire industry expert The Ingredient House, LLC ("TIH"). TIH has a significant presence in the sweetener, polyol and specialty ingredient sectors both in the U.S. and internationally. This purchase represents another stride forward in Prinova's long history of growth in the ingredient distribution space.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Southern Pines, North Carolina, The Ingredient House is a quality-focused supplier of ingredients to the global food and beverage industry. TIH has experienced substantial growth since its inception through strategic partnerships with global branded customers and offshore manufacturers. Key to TIH's success is its implementation of and adherence to improved quality standards to consistently deliver the global supply chain needs of its food and beverage customers.

Headquartered Carol Stream, IL and privately owned for 40 years, Prinova was acquired by Nagase & Co., Ltd. ("Nagase"), based in Tokyo, in 2019. Since then, Prinova has experienced substantial growth in flavor manufacturing, premix manufacturing, and its flagship ingredient distribution offering. This acquisition is an opportunity for Prinova to further leverage industry relationships and integrate The Ingredient House's unique supply chain advantages into its existing business.

Prinova President and CEO Don Thorp commented: "We are excited to welcome The Ingredient House to the Prinova Group and are eager to have their innovative commercial team plug into our broader network. The success of Prinova's ingredient business has always been based on customer relationships, market expertise and a global presence. TIH will contribute immensely to this offering, especially in the sweetener and polyol space."

Graham Hall, CEO at The Ingredient House, echoed Thorp's enthusiasm, saying: "Through our 15-year history, TIH has strived to partner closely with our customers and suppliers to deliver upon our commitment to Quality, Service and Reliability. This has been the cornerstone of our growth over many years. Through an integration with Prinova, we see tremendous synergy potential through access to a much broader ingredient portfolio and manufacturing resources that will deliver significant value to our customers and our suppliers."

ABOUT THE INGREDIENT HOUSE, LLC

Founded in 2006, The Ingredient House, LLC is a global supplier of high-quality polyols, high intensity sweeteners, and other specialty ingredients for the food & beverage industry. Utilizing a unique, solutions-oriented business model, TIH is a trusted strategic sales, marketing, and quality partner to its global ingredient manufacturing relationships and world-class customer base. TIH has earned a reputation for its ability to deliver creative solutions to supply chain challenges while offering best-in-class quality and customer service. For more detailed information on The Ingredient House, visit www.theingredienthouse.com.

ABOUT PRINOVA GROUP LLC AND NAGASE & CO. LTD.

Headquartered Carol Stream, IL, Prinova has been providing high-quality ingredients, flavors, nutrient premixes, and value-added solutions to the food, beverage and nutrition industries for over 40 years. As a world-leading distributor of functional ingredients, Prinova utilizes a global network to help its customers gain the strategic advantage they need to drive their business forward. Prinova was acquired by Nagase & Co., Ltd. ("Nagase") in 2019. Founded in 1832, Nagase offers global trading services of chemicals, plastics, electronics materials, cosmetics, and food ingredients. With more than 100 Group companies in 30 countries and regions, Nagase offers unique values to customers by combining group functions of manufacturing, processing, and R&D. For more detailed information on Prinova and Nagase, visit www.prinovaglobal.com and www.nagase.co.jp/english/

Visit Prinova's website to learn more: https://www.prinovaglobal.com/us/en/resources/news/prinova-acquires-ingredients-house

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prinova-expands-distribution-presence-through-acquisition-of-the-ingredient-house-301375525.html

SOURCE Prinova Group LLC
Preschool children from the New Horizons Child Development Center on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, attend an event in November 2015. (Michelle Gigante/U.S. Air Force)

(Tribune News Service)  State and local officials are starting to push back on a Department of the Air Force report card that last week placed Ohio only in the middle of the pack for support of military families.

Rick Perales, a Greene County commissioner and a former state lawmaker, believes those who compiled the Air Force report misconstrued Ohio statutes, particularly when it comes to accommodating military spouses who move to Ohio from other states with professional licenses.

The report card, Perales said in an interview, does not do us justice.

Gov. Mike DeWines office has asked the Air Force to revisit its assessment.

The Air Force report, titled Support of Military Families 2021, grades states by colors. Green states are seen as highly supportive of military families, and states graded yellow  such as Ohio  are deemed only moderately supportive. Red states are regarded as least supportive.

Perales took particular umbrage on the yellow grade Ohio received on professional license reciprocity. He was a principal lawmaker behind Ohio Senate Bill 7, which DeWine signed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in January 2020.

The bill requires state occupational licensing agencies to issue temporary licenses or certificates to members of the military and spouses who are professionally licensed in another jurisdiction and have moved to Ohio for military duty.

Such reciprocity should make it easier for those spouses to take up work in their chosen fields in Ohio.

Perhaps confusingly, more than one Pentagon-related report card grades the states on these issues. Perales has worked with a Department of Defense liaison to the states, James Rickel, on addressing defense industry concerns such as license reciprocity.

In an interview Tuesday, Rickel declined to comment on the Air Force report. But he said a separate DOD report gives Ohio a green grade on reciprocity and other issues.

I think theyre doing a superior job. I think theyre doing a great job, Rickel said of Ohio.

Rickel pointed as well to Ohios green or blue ratings on other issues, including in-state tuition continuity, virtual school enrollment, licensing compacts and other areas.

Youre going to see Ohio is green or working on a lot of issues, Rickel said. Issues not rated as green often are the subject of bills working through the Ohio General Assembly, he said.

He will tell you that Ohio is smoking when it comes to getting this stuff done, Perales said. At least in the top five of the country.

A message seeking comment was sent to Michael Coltrin, the Air Force assistant deputy, force support and family, and another Air Force contact.

Perales points to other state provisions that aim to support military families, including a bill from State Rep. Cindy Abrams, R- Harrison. The bill requires that local childrens services offices be notified if an investigation of child abuse or neglect involves a parent, guardian or custodian serving in the military.

Now, its going to be reported to the proper authorities, Perales said.

Also signed into law last year: House Bill 287, which will allow reciprocity for Medicaid home and community-based service waivers for active-duty military family members with special needs when families move to Ohio for military assignments.

A new bill introduced by Ohio State Sen. Niraj Antani, R- Miami Twp., would require state employees to determine a citizens veteran status in routine interactions  another need identified by the DOD.

And lawmakers have long noted that retirement pay received for service on military active duty or the National Guard or Reserves, as well as pay received by surviving spouses, has been exempt from the Ohio income tax since 2008.

Joe Zeis, DeWines senior advisor on aerospace and defense matters, said Tuesday that the state has sought to address areas of concern to the both the Air Force and the DOD. He maintains that the DOD can confidently place new missions in Ohio.

In a word, we want to be the best for military families, said Zeis, a former Air Force colonel.

He said the governors office has asked the Air Force to revisit its assessment. The Air Force has made no commitment, but a briefing is scheduled on the matter, he said.

(c)2021 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)

Visit the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) at www.daytondailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC .
An Air Force spouse who lives with her family at Yokota Air Base, Japan, posted photographs to Facebook on Sept. 12, 2021, of a dilapidated apartment where they were sent for 14 days of quarantine. (Heather Ann Knef)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan  Pictures posted on social media by an Air Force spouse of filthy, moldy accommodations set aside for families in coronavirus quarantine have prompted the base commander to announce a thorough review.

The images posted Sunday on the Yokota Spouses & Families Facebook page and a response from base officials sparked more than 800 comments, with many blaming Air Force leaders for the conditions.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, 374th Airlift Wing commander Col. Andrew Campbell thanked those who brought their concerns to his attention.

Yokotas leadership team is dedicated to ensuring the facilities used reflect the care and respect we have for our community, he wrote. As the Wing Commander, Im responsible for any lapse in focus to that end. Along with Yokotas leadership team, Im executing a comprehensive review of how we manage COVID related isolation and quarantine.

Photographs of quarantine quarters at Yokota Air Base, Japan, show a dirty bathroom, stained carpet, food waste spattered on kitchen floors and appliances, holes in the ceiling and walls and what looks like mold growing on fixtures. (Heather Ann Knef)

Campbell said he has given another colonel authority to make needed changes related to the facilitys cleanliness and its teams readiness to properly host and support the community.

Air Force spouse Heather Ann Knef posted images of a dilapidated apartment where her family was sent for 14 days of quarantine after her daughter tested positive for the coronavirus.

The photographs show a dirty bathroom, stained carpet, food waste spattered on kitchen floors and appliances, holes in the ceiling and walls and what looks like mold growing on fixtures.

The family was overwhelmed by the smell of mold and mildew when they arrived at the unit, Knef said in her post.

Not to mention you can see mold everywhere you look, she wrote. This room wasnt even cleaned before they forced us to quarantine here. There is pee and poop on the toilets, toothpaste in the sink, food and filth on the carpets, trash on the bathroom floor, rust everywhere, food crusted on the microwave and the shower is still wet from the last people that stayed here.

No one should be expected to live such conditions like this, Knef said in her post.

They are sending sick, vulnerable Covid patients from the comfort of their home to quarantine in this filth, she wrote.

The 374th Airlift Wing addressed Knefs post on the popular Facebook page with one of its own Monday evening that blamed a breakdown in administrative processes and communication for sending the family to an apartment that hadnt been cleaned.

Photographs of quarantine quarters at Yokota Air Base, Japan, show a dirty bathroom, stained carpet, food waste spattered on kitchen floors and appliances, holes in the ceiling and walls and what looks like mold growing on fixtures. (Heather Ann Knef) An Air Force spouse who lives with her family at Yokota Air Base, Japan, posted photographs to Facebook on Sept. 12, 2021, of a dilapidated apartment where they were sent for 14 days of quarantine. (Heather Ann Knef)

When the accidental assignment was identified by wing personnel, the family in question was reassigned to another unit, the message said.

However, Knef said the second unit was in poor condition, too.

Her concerns were echoed by Alexandra Kliber, 36, who said she was sent to the tower in August along with her sons, ages 2 and 10, to care for her husband, Air Force Capt. Eric Kliber, 38, who had tested for the coronavirus, she said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Eric Kliber was severely ill but his request to be hospitalized was refused and the family was forced to go to the temporary quarters, she said.

The carpets were full of mildew, she said. It was hard to keep my 2-year-old off them.

Knefs post drew almost 500 comments about the towers condition and questioning the need for people to be there when they could quarantine at home.

Temporary assignment to the tower is a hardship but its one of the communitys most effective tools for mitigating virus spread, according to the wings post, which prompted more than 300 additional comments.

Some questioned the impact of quarantines on people who had already faced more than a year of restrictions due to the pandemic. Others said unsanitary conditions in the quarantine tower have been present for more than a year.
Japanese macaques are common throughout most of Japan, and inhabit forested mountain slopes right down to the fringes of Tokyo. (Pixabay)

As if typhoon season, earthquakes and the coronavirus werent enough, here come the monkeys.

Camp Zama, headquarters of U.S. Army Japan southwest of Tokyo, recently warned residents on post and at a housing area nearby to be on the lookout for wild monkeys patrolling their neighborhoods.

The animals were sighted early this month in a wooded area near the post airfield and at Sagamihara Housing Area about 3  miles away.

The monkeys could easily enter the installation, according to a Sept. 4 post on the camp official Facebook page, as they have previously.

The neighboring cities of Zama and Sagamihara inform Camp Zama when wildlife is around the post and housing area, U.S. Army Garrison Japan spokesman Timothy Flack told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.

This is not the first time that wild monkeys have been spotted on or near Camp Zama, but fortunately we have not had any incidents involving property damage or injury in the past, he said. Our communication with the community is key to avoiding incidents.

The monkeys have mostly been spotted northwest of the airfield and in the 900 block of the housing area, according to the Facebook post.

Japanese macaques, the type of monkey spotted in and around Camp Zama, are common throughout most of Japan, and inhabit forested mountain slopes right down to the fringes of Tokyo, the worlds largest urban area.

Japanese macaques are gentle creatures that display frequent social interactions and are seldom aggressive, according to the New England Primate Conservancy website.

Nonetheless, staring at them eye to eye can provoke an aggressive response, such as baring their teeth, according to JapanVisitor.com. Further unwanted attention could result in a bite.

They travel in troops, are active during the day and sleep in trees at night.

Flack said the monkeys pose a nuisance because their behavior is unpredictable and they risk spreading disease, causing property damage and spreading litter from garbage containers.

Base residents should not approach or feed the monkeys and should contact the directorate of public works if they come across any on the installation, according to the Facebook post.

Monkeys are not the only wild animals that turn up on bases in Japan, Flack said.

Crows sometimes dive-bomb passersby who come too close during nesting season. Tanukis, or racoon dogs, are elusive Japanese natives sometimes glimpsed trotting in out-of-the-way corners.
Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31, shown here in an undated photo from social media, hailed from Utah. (Facebook)

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (Tribune News Service) They might not have known Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, one of the 13 American service members killed in last months bombing attack of the Kabul airport, but more than 200 members of the Orange County community where he shared a home with his fiance wanted to show what his sacrifice meant to them by honoring the man he was.

As the sun started to drop Sunday evening, they held candles and little American flags, sitting in the small amphitheater of the Aliso Viejo Towne Center for a vigil to honor one of their own. Hoover, 31, who grew up in Daggett County, Utah, lived with his fiance Nicole Weiss in town, just a short drive to Camp Pendletons northern border where Hoover was stationed with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Camp Horno.

Hoover was one of 10 Marines from the regiment that died in the bombing attack Aug. 26. Three others grew up in Southern California.

Described by his family in stories as someone who would light up the room with his smile, Hoover had deployed with his 2/1 unit to the Middle East in April as part of a special crisis response force. Due home later this fall, they were routed to the airport to help secure its perimeter as Americans and Afghan allies crowded to get to the planes and evacuate in the final days of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan.

All these people came out to support a total stranger, Aliso Viejo Councilman Dave Harrington said. He had brought the plans for the vigil to the dais and asked the city to help get the message out. It was very emotional and patriotic, it makes you proud to be an American.

Those in attendance included military veterans, active-duty Marines and families from the community. The service ended with taps played by a Marine bugler.

There was a strong sense of unity, said Diane Davani, who with Ted Fuentes, Harrington and Harringtons wife, Michele, a Marine veteran, organized the vigil.

The Aliso Viejo community is a family. We share good times and bad, she said. Staff Sgt. Hoovers loss has been felt by all and we want to honor his ultimate sacrifice for our country. Were also committed to support and comfort Nicole during this difficult time.

For Fuentes, a veteran activist who served in the Air Force from 1986 to 1993, the vigil was a small way he could pay his respects to a brother in service.

I never met Staff Sgt. Hoover, he said. But, as a veteran, we take care of our own.

Fuentes also partnered with a local restaurant, Tony Pepperoni, known for its support of the military and veterans for a fundraiser for Weiss that raised $4,000 over the weekend.

Fuentes said he invited Hoovers fiancee to the restaurant to meet other veterans in the community so she could sense the broad support Aliso Viejo has for her.

I wanted to make sure she knew we had her back, he said.

Communities throughout Southern California have been holding candlelight vigils, car and truck rallies and even a hike to recognized their fallen Marines. On Sept. 4, 800 turned out at Camp Pendletons Del Mar Beach to pay tribute to their own. On Sept. 5, about 600 people marched through San Clementes downtown along Avenida Del Mar ending at Park Semper Fi where they paid tribute to the 13 who died.

The Aliso Viejo vigil Sunday was the beginning of another long week of remembrances as the Marines are flown home for funerals.

On Thursday, Sept. 16, Cpl. Hunter Lopez, the son of Riverside County Sheriffs Captain Herman Lopez and Deputy Alicia Lopez, will return to Southern California for his funeral. A procession is planned to start in Cathedral City. It will travel through Palm Desert, passing the Sheriffs Department station, and end in La Quinta, where his father served as the police chief.

On Friday, a second procession will be held for Lopez, this time touring past the schools he attended in Indio and La Quinta. A memorial service will be held for him on Saturday at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Lopez will be buried a the Riverside National Cemetery.

Also on Friday, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui will be returned home. A procession is planned for him departing from the Ontario Airport around 2 p.m. A funeral will be held at Harvest Christian Fellowship on Saturday, Sept. 18.

And on Sept. 21, Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola is expected to return to California. A procession is planned. He will be laid to rest at Forest Lawn in Covina Hills on Sept. 26.

___

(c)2021 The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.)

Visit The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.) at www.ocregister.com

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Police in Berlin, Conn., are looking for the woman shown in a video apparently slapping a man as she cursed at him at Central Pizza on Sept. 11, 2021. (Berlin, Conn., Police Department)

HARTFORD, Conn. (Tribune News Service)  A video on TikTok showing a woman shrieking and cursing at a man in a Berlin, Conn., pizzeria has prompted a criminal investigation, with police saying the victim was a Navy sailor attacked for no apparent reason.

At one point, the woman appears to slap the man  who is off camera  and yelling this is disgusting while flinging his cap to the ground.

The widely shared video has led scores of commenters across social media platforms to express outrage, particularly because the incident happened on the night of Sept. 11, and the victim  Sean Nolte Jr.  was apparently in uniform.

Berlin police on Tuesday afternoon distributed screen grabs of the video and asking for tips to identify the woman.

The incident was caught on video, which has been widely shared on social media, Acting Chief Christopher Ciuci said. As of today we have received no information from the public that would help us identify the suspect.

Police ask anyone with information to contact them at 860-828-7080.

Nolte, a sailor from Harrisburg, Pa., posted the video to his Facebook page on Saturday night, and it has been shared more than 700 times since then.

Noltes Facebook page describes him as a submarine electronics fire control technician; he works at the submarine base in Groton.

Tonight has been eventful to say the least, he wrote late Saturday night. I went to get a bite to eat off-base at a local pizza spot. As my friend is standing talking to her family, who currently owns this pizza spot, a woman walks in and is constantly staring back at me.

Nolte described the woman yelling He is a fake by the way, my husband is in the Army, and then discrediting the ID he produced.

She kept claiming that my military ID is fake, and proceeds to show me her dependent military ID, and screams This is what your ID should look like,  he wrote.

The video apparently begins at about that point, and the encounter escalates. The woman is seen grabbing a black cap off the counter and flinging it down, prompting a restaurant worker to warn her to leave.

Maam, youre on camera  I would leave now before I call the police, the off-camera worker warns.

The woman gets more irate and approaches the camera.

Maam, youre not allowed to grab my phone, youre not permitted to grab his hat, the off-camera worker says.

The woman points in Noltes direction and yells You disgrace the USA ... that is not a uniform you (profanity).

In a last ditch effort to leave, she rushes towards me and slaps me in the left side of my face. Being in uniform, I must maintain professionalism, so I stand there and proceed to wish her a nice day, Nolte wrote.

At some point late Saturday night, an acquaintance apparently posted the video on TikTok, and another one added it to the comments on Noltes Facebook page.

Nolte could not be reached Tuesday, and the owners of Central Pizza, where the incident happened, did not return a message.

Nolte is a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Harrisburg.

Seans a really good guy. He joined us right out of high school and were lucky to have him, said Chief Nick Wachter of Rescue Fire Company 37, a volunteer fire and EMS department. He enlisted in the Navy so hes not local any more, but hes still a member.

Just two months ago, WHTM-TV, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg, featured Nolte in a public service message.

Today we salute Sean Nolte Jr. of Harrisburg, who is a 2017 graduate of Harrisburg High School Sci-Tech Campus. Nolte is serving with the U.S. Navy in Groton, Conn., the station said. We salute you, and thank you for your service.

2021 Hartford Courant.

Visit courant.com.
A sailor receives his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine early this year at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan. (Quinton Lee/U.S. Navy)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  All active-duty sailors stationed ashore in Japan should be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus well ahead of the Navys 90-day deadline, according to the commander of Naval Forces Japan.

Rear Adm. Carl Lahti, who also commands Navy Region Japan, recently told Stars and Stripes that while he cant predict when his command will reach 100%, he expects that to happen sooner than the Nov. 28 deadline, due in part to vaccine availability.

Were actually in the process of administering vaccinations right now, and we believe we have enough vaccine in-country and pushed to our medical clinics to be able to complete them right now, he said.

Naval Forces Japan spokeswoman Cmdr. Katie Cerezo told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday that she was not authorized to say what percentage of all U.S. sailors in Japan are currently vaccinated.

Lahti said a high percentage of active-duty and civilian personnel in Japan were already vaccinated ahead of the Navy secretarys mandate, a fact he said contributes to the low number of active coronavirus cases at Navy installations in Japan. Naval Forces Japan accounts for about 6,000 of the approximately 54,000 U.S. military personnel in the country, according to U.S. Forces Japan.

Weve been able to manage the infection rate, predominantly due to our vaccination rate, Lahti said. Although were still experiencing some cases, its much lower than other communities and not providing an impact on operations.

Yokosuka Naval Base reported 38 active cases on Tuesday, Naval Air Facility Atsugi reported five cases on Monday and Sasebo Naval Base reported 19 on Friday.

While controversy around the vaccine has continued to flare up in the United States, Lahti said theres been no large-scale resistance to the Navys mandate. He also acknowledged the importance of discussing vaccine concerns with medical professionals.

Anything dealing with your health is really an individual one-on-one thing between you and your medical provider, he said. Were strongly encouraging sailors to talk to their individual medical providers about the vaccine and understanding the importance of getting the vaccine and why we would make it mandatory.

Lahtis timeline follows an administrative message from Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro issued on Aug. 30, which gave active-duty sailors and Marines 90 days to be fully vaccinated. Reservists were given 120 days.

The order followed a similar mandate from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who on Aug. 24 instructed all services to move toward vaccinating their troops as soon as possible. Lloyds order was given just one day after the Food and Drug Administration granted approval to the two-shot Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.
A syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa., Sept. 14, 2021. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter. (Matt Rourke/AP)

COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Biden's argument for his sweeping new vaccination requirements.

The cases  driven by the delta variant combined with resistance among some Americans to getting vaccinated  are concentrated mostly in the South.

While one-time hot spots like Florida and Louisiana are improving, infection rates are soaring in Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, fueled by children now back in school, loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels.

The dire situation in some hospitals is starting to sound like January's infection peak: Surgeries canceled in hospitals in Washington state and Utah. Severe staff shortages in Kentucky and Alabama. A lack of beds in Tennessee. Intensive care units at or over capacity in Texas.

The deteriorating picture nine months into the nation's vaccination drive has angered and frustrated medical professionals who see the heartbreak as preventable. The vast majority of the dead and the hospitalized have been unvaccinated. That has proved to be a hard lesson for some families.

"The problem now is we have been trying to educate based on science, but I think most of the education that is happening now is based on tragedy, personal tragedy," said Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency room physician in Lexington, Ky.

In Kentucky, 70% of the state's hospitals  66 of 96  are reporting critical staff shortages, the highest level yet during the pandemic, the governor said.

"Our hospitals are at the brink of collapse in many communities," said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky's public health commissioner.

The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January. And both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.

The nation is dispensing about 900,000 shots of the vaccine per day, well below the peak of 3.4 million a day in mid-April. On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet to discuss whether the U.S. should begin dispensing booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine to shore up people's protection.

On a positive note, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 appears to be leveling off or even declining at around 90,000, or about where things stood in February.

The outbreak in the U.S. topped out in January at an average of about 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day. That was just weeks into the nation's vaccination drive. A precipitous drop followed, extending into the spring before creeping back up with the rise of the more contagious delta variant.

Last week, the president ordered all employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly tests, a measure 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.

"We read about and hear about and we see the stories of hospitalized people, people on their deathbeds among the unvaccinated over the past few weeks," Biden said in announcing the rules. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated."

The requirements have met with resistance and threats of lawsuits from Republicans.

Stanton, the ER doctor in Kentucky, said he has admitted families where the delta variant has swept through generations, especially if the older members are unvaccinated.

"Now in Kentucky, one-third of new cases are under age 18," he said. Some children brought it home from summer camp and spread it to the rest of the family, and now, "between day care and schools and school activities, and friends getting together, there are just so many exposures."

In Alabama, hundreds of COVID-19 patients fill intensive care units, and hospital staff in one facility contacted 43 other hospitals in three states to find a specialty cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia. It wasn't fast enough. The 73-year-old died Sept. 1. And his family made a plea in his obituary.

"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 read.

In Hidalgo County, Texas, along the Mexican border, about 50 patients were in the hospital with COVID-19 on a given day in July. By early August, the number had soared to over 600.

"Back in July we were almost celebrating. Little did we know," said Ivan Melendez, public health authority for Hidalgo County. The situation has improved somewhat, with just under 300 people hospitalized for COVID-19 on Monday, but ICUs are still above 90% capacity, Melendez said.

"We have not turned the corner," Melendez said. "Double digits of people, double digits are dying every day."

The biggest surge over the summer occurred in states that had low vaccination rates, particularly in the South, where many people rely on air conditioning and are breathing recirculated air, said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.

Heading into colder months, states farther north with low vaccination rates, especially in the Midwest, are likely to see upticks.

"We're cresting the peak right now, but I don't think it's going to come all the way back down," Marr said. "I think it's going to kind of stay at the simmering level as it works its way through the unvaccinated population in the other states. And it'll work its way north because in the wintertime, people are heating and then you get that same issue of recirculating the air indoors."

Vaccination rates are not as low in some of the Northern states, but "there's still a lot of unvaccinated people out there. Delta is going to find them," Marr said.

And vaccinated people are still not in the clear. Shri Amarnath said her father got sick during a business trip to Georgia just before his Aug. 31 retirement and had to miss his last day of work and retirement festivities.

After he had been symptom-free for 48 hours, the family left for a lake house in Tennessee. Everyone was vaccinated. But Amarnath's mother started feeling sick during the trip and has now tested positive.

Everyone else is quarantining and planning to get tested or retested, said Amaranth, who lives in Indianapolis.

"Everyone is kind of like on alert, waiting to see who's next," she said.

Associated Press Writers Ken Sweet and Tali Arbel contributed to this report.
Ousmane Kaba, Guinean opposition leader, leaves after a meeting with the military junta led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya, at people's palace in Conakry, Guinea, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Guinea's junta is expected to face more pressure to set a timeframe for new elections Tuesday as the military rulers open a four-day series of meetings about the West African nation's future following the president's overthrow in a coup just over a week ago. (Sunday Alamba/AP)

CONAKRY, Guinea  Guinea's longtime opposition leaders voiced support Tuesday for the country's new military rulers as a four-day summit got under way that is aimed at charting the West African nation's future following a coup just over a week ago.

Pressure, though, is expected to mount this week for Col. Mamady Doumbouya to set a timeframe for holding new elections. Regional mediators and the international community are calling for the junta to hand over power to a civilian-led transitional government.

Opposition party leaders who came to the heavily guarded People's Palace for the Tuesday meeting, however, publicly backed the coup and laid more criticism on ousted President Alpha Conde. The 83-year-old leader was detained by the junta during the Sept. 5 coup and his exact whereabouts have not been disclosed.

Conde sparked violent street protests last year after he pushed forth a constitutional referendum he said allowed him to extend his rule to a third term.

Ousmane Kaba, leader of the opposition Party of Democrats for Hope, called that bid by Conde to stay in power beyond his mandate a coup as well.

"That was not legal, you know, so that's why we had a military coup to stop the institutional, constitutional coup," he told reporters Tuesday. "And I think the international community should help us, should help Guinea to have a good transition."

Guinea's most prominent opposition figure, Cellou Dalein Diallo, already has spoken out against Conde, calling him a dictator who had brought on his own downfall. Diallo, who had lost to the ousted leader in the last three presidential elections, has signaled that he intends to run whenever a vote is next held.

But the opposition's request for support and not punishment may not sway the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS. It already has threatened Guinea with economic sanctions unless the junta releases the deposed president immediately.

The bloc took a similar move in August 2020 when it imposed sanctions on neighboring Mali after mutinous soldiers there overthrew a longtime president who had become increasingly unpopular. Regional mediators called for a one-year deadline for new elections in Mali but later acquiesced to the junta leaders and accepted an 18-month timeframe instead.

Even that now appears in doubt as February 2022 approaches, since Col. Assimi Goita effectively staged a second coup in Mali nine months after the first by firing the civilian president and prime minister and later declaring himself president of the transition.

In Mali's case, the junta had overthrown a president who came to power through a democratic election supported by the international community and who had not sought to change the country's term limits.

Guinea's ex-leader, though, had lost credibility with many in Conakry after he won his third term in October. That appears to have muted the public backlash against the junta so far in Guinea's capital, where opposition figures said Tuesday they were optimistic about what the coming days would bring.

Sidya Toure, leader of the Union of Republican Forces party, said conditions already appear to have improved since the military takeover. He recalled how security forces had "tried to kidnap me in my home" during Conde's regime.

"We can see it all around the town in Conakry, absolutely the change amongst the military and policemen," he said. "I think we are going in the right way for the moment."

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal.
An Afghanistan flag is raised over Helmand province in 2010. (U.S. Marine Corps)

TOKYO  Ten Afghans who left their country after the Taliban took control in August arrived in Japan this week, according to the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Four arrived on Sunday night and another six on Monday via commercial flights to Narita International Airport outside Tokyo, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs news releases on Monday and Tuesday. They are the first Afghans to arrive in Japan after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, according to Kyodo News.

The group was composed of Afghan employees of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and their family members, who traveled overland from Afghanistan to a neighboring country on their own, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said during a news conference Monday. He did not identify the neighboring country citing security concerns.

JICA is a governmental agency that provides aid to promote economic and social development in developing countries.

The Japanese government issued the Afghans short-term visas and bought them airplane tickets after they expressed their wish to evacuate to Japan, Kato said.

He said they received health checkups at Narita and will be quarantined as part of Japans requirements for international arrivals to curb the coronavirus spread.

Kato said Japan will support the evacuees whether they wish to travel to a third country or stay in Japan. He said the government would consider asylum applications from any of the Afghans in a routine fashion.

Although they have not applied for refugee status, if they wish to apply, the Japanese government will examine each case based on the latest situation in Afghanistan and will give appropriate authorization to those who qualify, Kato said.

Late last month, Japan sent Self-Defense Force aircraft to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese and Afghans who worked at the Japanese Embassy and for JICA, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Monday.

However, the aircraft were able to evacuate only one Japanese and 14 Afghans to Pakistan on behalf of the United States, Kyodo News reported. The Japanese and Afghans the Self-Defense Force expected to fly out were delayed by the Aug. 26 terrorist bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members, according to Japanese media reports at the time.

Kato said Japan will continue to secure the safety of those Japanese and local workers remaining in Afghanistan and assist any wishing to evacuate through diplomatic efforts, including negotiations with the Taliban, and by cooperating with related countries such as the United States and Qatar.

About 500 Japanese and Afghans who worked for the Japanese government remain in Afghanistan, with their families, according to the Mainichi report.
Buy Photo Marine spouse Breanda Webb says she cleans every day to combat mold in her apartment at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan  When the hot water went out in the five-story, residential Bara Tower on Aug. 22, the base housing office estimated a fix would take up to four months.

The office directed tenants to the base gym, where they could shower until the hot water was restored. That was unacceptable to Marine spouse Breanda Webb, who instead bathed her infants in water she heated on her stovetop and carried to the bathtub.

Thats not an option for me to take my kids to shower at the gym, she told Stars and Stripes last Thursday. Am I supposed to place my infants on the shower floor? Thats unsanitary.

Webb said she was not alone in her frustration, and the sudden lack of hot water was another issue on a list that affects many tower residents. She also raised questions about the housing offices handling of problems with mold.

Faced with numerous complaints, the base facilities department fixed the problem itself after outside contractors estimated four months of repairs, base spokesman Maj. Joshua Diddams told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. The department cannibalized needed parts from elsewhere on base.

Ultimately, similar units were salvaged from another building and installed on Sept. 2, which was the fastest way to restore hot water to our residents, Diddams said.

Buy Photo A hot-water outage at Bara Tower on Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, was expected to take up to four months the repair. After resident complaints, the base fixed the problem in less than two weeks. (Jonathan Snyder/Stars and Stripes)

Webb then turned the attention focused on the hot-water outage and to another familiar problem in base housing in Japan  mold.

My house is infested with mold, she said, and I have been complaining for months about this and I just keep getting ignored.

Concerned for the health of her three children, Webb said she cleans every day to slow the problem. Her husband, Marine Staff Sgt. Shaquille Webb, helps clean, too, she said. The family has thrown out clothes, toys and furniture.

The infants were inhaling mold until we caught it, and they were sick all the time, she said. We had to throw out their bassinets because it had mold in them.

Diddams, the base spokesman, said the base tries to address mold problems through constant maintenance and repairs.

In the last six months, the Housing Office at MCAS Iwakuni has only identified six issues potentially related to mold which have required work orders, he said.

The housing office provides base residents with a portable dehumidifier. It also suggests they set thermostats above 74 degrees Fahrenheit and keep windows closed on humid days.

Webb said the housing office deep cleaned the air conditioning vents and replaced two squares of carpet in the familys apartment only for the mold to quickly return.

For Webb and many other base residents struggling with this issue, the remedy lies in a diagnosis linked to mold exposure.

If the lodging is deemed unsafe, in conjunction with the Clinics Preventative Medicine Department, the residents will be moved to alternate lodging while repairs are made, Diddams said.
Buy Photo The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported another 1,004 people tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

TOKYO  The number of new coronavirus cases in Japans capital city continued their nearly monthlong decline Tuesday as U.S. bases in the country announced 20 new infections.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government reported another 1,004 people tested positive for the virus, the 23rd consecutive day that number is lower than a week prior, according to public broadcaster NHK and metro government data.

Yokosuka Naval Base, the homeport south of Tokyo of 7th Fleet, said 12 people tested positive for the coronavirus respiratory disease.

Seven unimmunized people, including one base employee, and two immunized people developed COVID-19 symptoms; two unimmunized people turned up during medical screenings; and one immunized base employee was discovered during contact tracing, according to news release from the naval base. Yokosuka has 38 coronavirus patients under observation.

Sasebo Naval Base on Kyushu Island had another four people test positive since Friday, according to a Facebook post by the base. Three turned up in a medical screening and one became ill. The base has 13 active cases.

Naval Air Facility Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo, identified four people with the virus since Friday, according to news releases Monday. All tested positive on tests administered at an airport upon their arrival in Japan. The base has five active cases.

Of four Defense Department schools at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, that canceled some classes Monday due to a spate of coronavirus infections, one returned to a normal schedule and two kept those classrooms closed, according to messages posted by school principals on Facebook.

Ryukyu Middle School resumed a normal schedule Tuesday, according to a message from principal Craig Maxey to families and staff. The messages were posted on the Marine Corps Community Services Okinawa, School Liaison, Facebook page.

Kadena Middle School continued contact tracing and kept four classrooms closed to complete contact tracing; Kadena High School kept eight closed for the same purpose, according to messages from principals Mynda Massey-Vukovic and Kristopher Kwiatek.

Okinawa prefecture, where the bulk of U.S. forces reside, reported 284 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, according to the prefectural Department of Public Health and Medical Care.

Japan announced 4,165 new coronavirus cases Monday, and 50 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The nation has fully vaccinated 51% of its population, or 64.5 million people.

Stars and Stripes reporter Mari Higa contributed to this report.
Warsaw's Jewish community held a funeral for an unidentified Holocaust victim after human remains were recently discovered in an area that belonged to the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday Sept. 14, 2021. (Vanessa Gera/AP)

WARSAW, Poland  Warsaw's Jewish community buried an unidentified Holocaust victim on Tuesday whose remains were discovered this summer in a building that was within the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

"We are here as the family for a person we don't know," Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said as the bones, wrapped in white cloth, lay on a wooden cart and community members gathered together.

Four men pulled the cart to the grave, where the bones were buried with soil from Israel, and Jewish leaders recited Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.

The ceremony took place in Warsaw's Jewish Cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe in a city that was a leading center of Jewish life until the Holocaust.

Leslaw Piszewski, chairman of the Jewish Community in Warsaw, said the burial was a very emotional event for him, all the more so coming on the eve of Yom Kippur, one of the most sacred days in the Jewish calendar.

"After nearly 80 years this unknown person got his dignity back," Piszewski said. "This is very important. This is the only thing that we can do for the unknown victim."

The remains were discovered due to a water break in a building in Muranow, a Warsaw district that was largely Jewish before the war and was the site of the Warsaw Ghetto during the German wartime occupation of Poland.

Marek Slusarz, a man who lives and runs a community nonprofit foundation in the building, discovered the human bones when he was searching in the basement for the source of a water break. When he and a plumber found them, he alerted police and the Jewish community.

It is believed that the remains belonged to a Jew who was in hiding when the German forces crushed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 by razing the area to the ground.

The area was rebuilt after the war on top of the wartime rubble.

Slusarz said that despite the tragedy, it was a source of satisfaction for him to have a role in the victim receiving a dignified burial. Not Jewish himself, he said he hoped such events would inspire younger generations in Poland to preserve the memory of the centuries of Jewish and non-Jewish co-existence in Poland.

A representative from the Israeli Embassy laid a wreath and Wojciech Kolarski, secretary of state in the office of President Andrzej Duda, also paid his respects at the funeral.
The foreign minister in Afghanistans new Taliban-run Cabinet, Amir Khan Mutaqi, gives a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Mutaqi said Tuesday that the government remains committed to its promises not to allow militants to use its territory to attack others. (Muhammad Farooq/AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan  Afghanistan's new foreign minister said Tuesday that the Taliban governing the country remain committed to not allowing militants to use their territory to launch attacks. But he refused to say when or if the country's new rulers would create a more inclusive government.

Without other political factions and women serving in the government, the Taliban seem unlikely to win international recognition as the legitimate leaders of Afghanistan. And without such recognition, the Afghan state is unable to tap billions of its funds frozen abroad, leaving it virtually bankrupt at a time of immense humanitarian need.

The Taliban received sharp criticism last week after they announced a Cabinet made up entirely of men from their movement, including several on international terror lists. Taliban leaders previously had promised broader representation.

Amir Khan Mutaqi, a longtime Taliban negotiator named as foreign minister, appeared Tuesday at his first news conference since becoming a member of the interim government. But he gave little indication of whether the Taliban would bend to international pressure.

Asked if the Taliban would include women or ethnic and religious minorities in the government, Mutaqi answered, "We will decide in time" but did not offer a commitment.

He underscored that the current government is ruling on an interim basis and said that when a permanent one is formed, "we will take into account what the people want." He would not give a timetable for a permanent government.

"We are taking everything step by step. We have not said how long this Cabinet will last," Mutaqi said.

After the withdrawal of Western troops and the Taliban's sudden return to power last month, the U.S. and its allies have used money, potential recognition and warnings of isolation to pressure them away from repeating their repressive rule of the 1990s. At that time, the Taliban imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, including severe restrictions on women and minorities.

Mutaqi, responding Tuesday to a question about the eventual holding of elections, replied that other countries must not interfere in Afghanistan's internal issues, a comment he repeated several times during the news conference.

However, the foreign minister did give the first confirmation from the interim government of the new Cabinet's intention to honor a deal the Taliban reached with the United States last year.

Under the deal, which opened the way for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban promised to break ties with al-Qaida and other militant groups and ensure they don't threaten other countries from the movement's territory.

"We will not allow anyone or any groups to use our soil against any other countries," Mutaqi said.

While ruling Afghanistan during the late 1990s, the Taliban sheltered al-Qaida and its chief, Osama bin Laden. Their refusal to hand over bin Laden and other al-Qaida members after the Sept. 11 terror attacks prompted the U.S. to launch a military assault which ousted the Taliban and led to a 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Many experts remain skeptical the Taliban have broken ties with al-Qaida since they reached the 2020 withdrawal deal with the Trump administration. But al Qaida has been significantly weakened, and Washington has made clear its top priority is preventing Islamic State attacks from Afghanistan.

The Taliban have battled with the Islamic State since its emergence in Afghanistan in 2014. A burgeoning IS affiliate has claimed responsibility for most recent attacks, including the horrific bombing outside the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service personnel and 169 Afghans during last month's chaotic evacuations.

Still, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, said at a national security summit Tuesday that al-Qaida could begin to threaten the United States from Afghanistan within one to two years, echoing warnings that were issued before the U.S. withdrawal.

Meanwhile, the broader terms of the world's relationship with the Taliban remain unsettled a month after they swept into Kabul on Aug. 15 and Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the presidential palace.

There also appear to be divisions within the Taliban over the next steps. Some leaders are said to be more open to compromise, while others insist on resolute Taliban domination.

The makeup of the Taliban government poses a dilemma for the United Nations as it prepares to open a new session of the U.N. General Assembly. Several of the interim ministers, including Mutaqi, Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund and Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, are on the U.N.'s so-called black list of international terrorists and terrorist financers.

Haqqani is also wanted by the FBI for questioning in connection with attacks in the Afghan capital during the last two decades. As the interim interior minister, he oversees Afghanistan's police and has already called former officers back to work. While some have returned, including most traffic police, many are reluctant.

Mutaqi urged the U.N. to remove the Taliban ministers from the watch list. "The list has no logic," he said.

When the Taliban last ruled, the U.N. refused to recognize their government and instead gave Afghanistan's seat to the previous, warlord-dominated government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who eventually was killed by a suicide bomber in 2011. It was Rabbani's government that brought bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.

This time around, it is not clear whether the seat will be reserved for a representative of Ghani's government. The president's sudden departure shocked the political leadership in Kabul, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the government's chief negotiator, who were still negotiating with the Taliban to form an interim government.

The governments of the U.S. and other countries promised millions in new humanitarian aid for the U.N. to spend in Afghanistan as the country faces increasing hunger and economic collapse, but they suggested a future willingness to help could depend on the actions of the Taliban.

During a second day of tough congressional questioning about the Afghanistan withdrawal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration would hold the Taliban, to their promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a base for terrorist attacks.

Mutaqi said the Taliban-led government seeks good relations with foreign nations but insisted they must not interfere in its affairs. He also called for international donors to send more aid and international banking institutions to continue their projects in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan is poor. It needs all the help" the world can give, Mutaqi said, promising that foreign aid would be distributed without corruption.

He also said that all of Afghanistan's embassies operating abroad have been told to continue their operations. He promised Afghans would be allowed to leave the country and said it was the job of the Taliban government to provide passports to its citizens.

Lee Keath contributed from Cairo.
A member of the commandos unit of the Syrian Democratic Forces stands on a sand berm in the eastern part of Syria's Hasakah province during what was thought to be a security threat on the road between Raqqa and Dashisha on Aug. 3. (Nicole Tung/for The Washington Post)

DASHISHA, Syria  The pair of young women had been missing for hours when troops searching for them heard gunshots in the desert night. Two quick booms, then two again. They found the bodies by the roadside.

Staring down at them, soldiers from the Syrian Democratic Forces had no doubts about who kidnapped the women, both local government workers, and shot them dead. These killings were a message to everyone, the SDF commander, Shvan Selmo, recalled thinking.

The slayings near the remote, sun-scorched village of Dashisha bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State.

Two and a half years after its self-declared caliphate was extinguished amid a blitz of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in the palm groves of Baghouz, further to the south, the militants in northeastern Syria are down but not defeated. They have melted back to their insurgent roots, seeding sleeper cells across the region, as well as in neighboring Iraq, and using improvised explosives and small arms to target security forces and government employees.

This part of Syria is run by a Kurdish-dominated authority and secured by the SDF, a force armed and trained to carry the fight against ISIS. Some 900 U.S. troops are still in the area, patrolling oil infrastructure and supporting the SDF in its operations against the jihadist group.

The U.S.-led coalition estimates that between 8,000 and 16,000 ISIS fighters still operate in Syria and Iraq. And with the militants digging in for the long haul and young men still being recruited, though on a smaller scale than before, local officials now watch their backs as they work. In the rural communities, fearful residents turn a blind eye when fighters come out of the desert.

The militants who dragged Hind Latif al-Khadir, who was about 20, and her friend Sada Faysal al-Hermas from their homes early this year, trucking them through the desert and to their deaths, had seemed confident that no one would even track them.

One of the ISIS fighters, a teenage recruit named Ibrahim, had boasted days earlier that they felt untouchable. We move freely here, he told his cousin, according to voice messages shared by the SDF, which said they had been recovered from the young mans phone. Dont worry, nobody even knows who we are.

A photo of Hind Latif al-Khadir is shown on a cellphone by her sister at their home in Dashisha. (Nicole Tung/for The Washington Post) Rusil Latif al-Khadir, 4, and Hiyam Latif al-Khadir, 22, the daughter and sister, respectively, of Hind Latif al-Khadir, stand beneath a portrait of her at their home in Dashisha, close to Syria's border with Iraq. (Nicole Tung/for The Washington Post) An 18-year-old suspect in the killings of Hind Latif al-Khadir and Sa'da Faysal al-Hermas is seen in an interview room at a detention center in the town of Shaddadi in Hasakah province on Aug. 8. (Nicole Tung/for The Washington Post)

- - -

Ibrahim later recalled that he had been recruited into ISIS by a man named Abu Omar, known to Ibrahims family as a member of the group. Interviewed while in detention at the Shaddadi prison in the presence of a guard, Ibrahim, 18, said he had simply been looking to earn some money.

But SDF intelligence officers said he asked from the start to join the groups armed operations and that he had been watching ISIS online propaganda for a while. They declined to provide details. An officer in the Shaddadi prison, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with the press, said the young mans trajectory was common among those arrested for involvement in ISIS sleeper cells: They have poor education. Their morale is low. They see holding guns as a way of finding power.

Ibrahims introduction to the group began with twice-weekly religious lessons, he said, describing a curriculum that demonized individuals who fought the group or joined local government.

Soon, he was tapped for missions. Initially, he was asked to transport motorcycles and bags through the desert, he said. During the next operation, a man was killed, apparently as punishment because he had been a member of the SDF.

Ibrahim described himself as a bystander in that attack, with no advance warning of the cells intention. But in phone message from several days later, heard by The Washington Post, Ibrahim sounds giddy as he says that he was the one to shoot the gun. I didnt stop until I could see his brains, he tells a cousin.

Returning home late at night after that killing, Ibrahim remembers thinking to himself that there was no turning back. I just had this feeling that I was in it now, he said.

Ibrahims cell began planning the young womens deaths days later, according to him and SDF officials. The women were both involved in a local government-sponsored program for female empowerment.

On a January night, members of the cell assembled. Ibrahim said he did not recognize most of the men. One of them gave us a location in the desert, he said. There were six of us.

- - -

SDF commandos are trained specifically to thwart attacks, especially from Islamic State sleeper cells, as the extremist group ramps up its activities in the eastern part of Syria. (Nicole Tung/for The Washington Post)

Local SDF troops learned of Sadas kidnapping first. She had been pulled from her house in the early evening and thrown into a Bongo pickup truck, they were told. Piling quickly into their vehicles, the soldiers gave chase.

But even as they scrambled toward the site of the abduction, the assailants were racing toward their next target. They arrived at Hinds house at 7 p.m., her family said.

First came the bang at the door. Then the men burst inside, wearing masks, and screams filled the air.

The attackers separated Hind from her sister Hiyam and put a gun to Hiyams head. In the next room, someone was restraining Hind and shouting at others to find the familys gun.

Then the militants fled with Hind, hopes for her survival fading with her muffled yells. Sometimes you just know who has come to your door, Hiyam said. She broke down in jagged sobs as the truck pulled away and the night felt deadly still, she recalled.

A picture of her sisters body, dressed in the black velour tracksuit she had bought to wear at home, reached Hiyams phone in little more than an hour.

Hiyam concluded that their home had been watched for weeks, but she wasnt sure whether it had been the militants or their own neighbors who had been spying on them. They were asking for details that no one else could have known, she said. How can we trust anyone here now?

Ibrahim was arrested days later based on coalition-provided intelligence, according to SDF officials at the Shaddadi prison. Wed been tracking them for a while, said one official, adding that the rest of Ibrahims cell was killed in an airstrike the following week.

- - -

SDF commanders say their forces have rolled up scores of sleeper cells in recent months, often on the basis of intelligence from the U.S.-led coalition or with coalition air support.

But in remote areas such as Dashisha, the terrain is on the militants side. The village, located near the Iraqi border, is surrounded by desert for miles, and checkpoints are few and far between. Along the Syrian-Iraqi frontier, ISIS fighters shelter in hidden tunnels or in buildings emptied by U.S.-led coalition bombing.

When reporters recently traveled to the area with an SDF escort, troops were visibly wary, scanning the horizon for threats. At one point, the soldiers slammed the brakes and fanned out along the sand dunes on foot. What they had seen, it turned out, was just an abandoned motorcycle.

The militants who stalk Dashisha are often local or from neighboring Iraq, according to SDF officials, and cells like Ibrahims typically comprise around half a dozen men. They generally make decisions among themselves that adhere to the propaganda of the now largely leaderless group. Although there is some communication among cells, they are mostly isolated, and this can make them hard to track.

ISIS cells are also active across the Euphrates River to the southwest, in territory held by the Syrian government forces of Bashar Assad. Coalition officials say government forces have made only weak efforts to tackle the militants, giving them a base to reconstitute.

SDF and coalition officials also warn that the local cells could one day be bolstered by escapees from the weakly defended prisons and displacement camps run by the SDF elsewhere in northeastern Syria that house thousands of former ISISfighters and their families. Officials say that men and women have been smuggled out from both camps and prisons, with some rejoining the fight.

The coalition said in a report released last month that ISIS activists have already tried to recruit among the hundreds of Syrians who have recently been released, but provided no evidence.

- - -

The area around Dashisha is chronically underserved, with scant access to water or government electricity. While such dire conditions have led some locals to sign on with ISIS, those hardships had helped convince Hind to join the local government, according to her family. She wanted to help people and she wanted to provide for us, Hiyam said.

The family home is a squat, concrete structure, spartan on the inside. No furniture was visible on the day reporters visited. On the wall by the door, someone had etched rose buds into the concrete and painted them pink.

Hinds 4-year-old daughter, Rusil, scrolled through Hiyams cellphone photo gallery, past pictures of her smiling mother in a scarlet party dress to the image of her lying in a pool of blood. Rusil kept pointing to the photo and saying, Mama.

Hinds family doesnt go out much anymore. Last month, a young man approached her nephew in the street and told him that the family should wait and see what happened next. They took it as a warning.

In neighboring villages, few wanted to discuss the killings. Its hard for them to speak, observed SDF commander Selmo, gazing toward the dusty roadside where Hind and Sadas bodies had been found.

But when villagers were asked why it happened, they said they had little doubt. Well, they worked for the local council, said Hamid Aboud Mohammed, Sadas neighbor. People dont do that around here.

Meanwhile, Ibrahims fate remains uncertain. The SDF says it does not have the capacity to try him. He has been detained for seven months and has no lawyer.

When asked if he had been informed of when he might face trial, the young man simply looked down and shook his head.

The Washington Posts Mustafa al-Ali contributed to this report.
An aircraft takes off from Larnaca airport past the control tower, at the southern coastal city of Larnaca, Cyprus, Oct. 7, 2017. A flight safety organization is warning that a Turkish drone base in ethnically divided Cyprus could increase safety risks for thousands of commercial flights that cross the airspace around the eastern Mediterranean island. (Petros Karadjias/AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus  A Turkish drone base in the breakaway north of ethnically divided Cyprus could increase safety risks for thousands of commercial flights that cross the airspace around the eastern Mediterranean island, a flight safety group warned Tuesday.

FSF-Med, an NGO affiliated with the Washington, D.C.-based International Flight Safety Foundation, said the planned upgrading of the Turkish air base in Gecitkale  called Lefkoniko in Greek  may compound a communications and coordination problem between aviation authorities in Turkey and Cyprus that has already compromised flight safety for years.

An intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press suggests that the Gecitkale base will be expanded to host both armed and unarmed Bayraktar TV2 drones, surveillance aircraft, training planes and advanced fighter jets.

Cyprus was split into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Turkish Cypriots declared an independent state nearly a decade later, but only Turkey recognizes it. Although Turkish Cypriots say they control air traffic in airspace in the northern half of Cyprus, aviation authorities including the International Civil Aviation Organization don't recognize it.

Despite this, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot air traffic control authorities don't communicate with the island's internationally recognized Nicosia ATC in the south and often issue conflicting instructions to passing civilian aircraft, resulting in numerous near misses between passenger planes in the past that the AP uncovered in 2011.

The danger is heightened because Turkish military aircraft don't share flight plans with Cypriot government authorities and could fly close to civilian aircraft.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) cited a recent European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) study that the potential consequences of such conflicting instructions to civilian jets "could be detrimental to flight safety for aircraft" operating in the region. The same study recorded 166 "incidents" took place inside airspace controlled by Nicosia ATC in 2019, without specifying the exact nature of the incidents. The same study indicated that between 2016-18, there were 276, 260 and 254 "incidents" respectively.

FSF-MED said it would press international and European aviation safety bodies to express its concerns over the added risks posed by the drone base and to ask them to compel Turkey to comply with international air safety rules.

"FSF-MED will also stress that in case of an accident, responsibility won't burden only Turkey, which is contravening international rules, but also those who could have forced the country to cease its violations but didn't do it," the organization said.
MCALLEN, Texas (Tribune News Service)  A member of the Alabama National Guard appeared before a judge Tuesday after he was arrested for attempting to transport cocaine while in uniform and driving a Border Patrol vehicle in Hidalgo County on Monday.

Derrick Terelle Sankey, 21, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker for his initial appearance Tuesday morning.

U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents received information on Sept. 8 that led them to believe Sankey was involved in moving and distributing narcotics, according to the criminal complaint.

Acting on that information, agents set up a sting operation on Monday where an undercover agent met with the Alabama National Guard soldier at the Whataburger in Hidalgo.

Sankey arrived wearing his military uniform and driving a Border Patrol vehicle, according to the complaint. He asked the undercover agent for the package he agreed to pick up and was arrested by HSI special agents.

He was interviewed after the arrest and Sankey admitted he intended to pick up the drugs and take them to the DoubleTree hotel in McAllen.

Sankey admitted that he believed the person he received the package from had brought the package from Mexico into the United States. Sankey admitted that he was to be paid $1,000 for his efforts, the criminal complaint stated.

Hacker, who was assessing Sankeys financial resources to determine whether a public defendant would be appointed, said during the initial appearance that the soldier had a substantial amount of money in checking and savings accounts.

Sankey was determined to be a flight risk and will be held temporarily without bond until a detention hearing, which was set for Friday.

(c)2021 The Monitor (McAllen, Texas)

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Residents wait in line at a walk-in COVID-19 vaccination site, targeting people in the 16-39 age group, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo on Aug. 27, 2021. (Soichiro Koriyama/Bloomberg)

The U.S. is now last among the worlds most powerful democracies when it comes to COVID vaccinations, squandering an early lead and plentiful supplies, as it was surpassed by Japans steady progress in rolling out shots.

Japan, which started its mass vaccination program in April, has given a first dose to 63.6% of its population, according to government figures released Tuesday. The U.S. has administered at least one dose to 63.1% of its residents, the lowest among the Group of Seven nations.

The U.S. has seen immunization rates stall as the issue becomes politicized and anti-vaccine groups gain ground. Its a critical issue for U.S. President Joe Biden, who is trying to staunch an outbreak that has dogged the country all summer. There were more than a quarter of a million infections reported on Monday alone.

Last week, Biden announced a vaccine mandate for all federal employees, health care workers and employees at large companies. It might not be enough. Andy Slavitt, former Biden White House senior adviser for COVID response, said in a tweet late Monday night that the U.S. will have the lowest vaccination level of all prosperous democracies by the end of September.

The vaccination rollout in Japan, which started off slow and late compared to other developed nations, has progressed quickly since early summer. Japan hit a million shots administered per day in mid-June, and has maintained the pace while battling a wave of infections driven by the more transmissible delta variant. The U.S., meanwhile, hasnt kept up after a fast, early start.

Japan has administered a total of 145.8 million shots, and over 51% of its population is fully vaccinated, according to government figures. Its goal is to vaccinate at least 80% of its population by November. About 53.8% of Americans are fully vaccinated  a figure that looks soon to be surpassed as well.

Japans vaccinated population is concentrated among its elderly, who were initially prioritized. Near 90% of those 65 or older have had both jabs. The country is still rushing to inoculate younger people, who have been most affected in the most recent and worst-yet wave of coronavirus infections.

As shots in Japan are still being delivered at a brisk pace, its too early to tell how much hesitancy may affect the vaccination program in the country, which has a testy history with vaccines.

Taro Kono, the minister in charge of the vaccine rollout, is currently running to lead Japans ruling party and become its next prime minister. As Kono announced his official bid on Friday, he said Japan would be among the top of the G7 countries in October in terms of vaccination rates. France currently leads the group, with about 76% of its residents having received at least one dose.
The remains of 1st Lt. Thomas J. Redgate will be interred at the Massachusetts National Cemetery on Sept. 17, 2021. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

(Tribune News Service)  U.S. Army 1st Lt. Thomas J. Redgate, a native of Boston and a soldier killed during the Korean War, will finally be put to rest this week after 70 years missing in action.

Redgate was a member of Battery A, 48th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, when he was reported missing Dec. 11, 1950, after his unit was attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir in whats now North Korea. His remains could not be recovered after the battle, said officials from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency.

Redgates remains were turned over by North Korea on July 27, 2018. He was accounted for by the accounting agency on April 16, 2020, after his remains were identified using circumstantial evidence and anthropological, mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome and autosomal DNA analysis.

Redgate was raised in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, along with several siblings, including Irene Bloniarz, who went on to raise a family in Springfield.

Her sons Peter and David Blonairz told The Republican last year their siblings and many cousins grew up hearing about their uncle. Each of their families always displayed at least one photograph of Redgate in their homes. Both said they were relived to learn that his remains had been returned.

This is the honor he deserves, and, after 70 years, he is finally coming home, Peter Bloniarz said.

Redgate will be interred at the Massachusetts National Cemetery on Friday. Funeral services will be at Lehman, Reen, McNamara Funeral Home in Brighton preceding the interment.

More than 7,500 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Korean War.

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Otumoetai Primary School held the official opening of its new playground, featuring basket swings and a flying fox, on Friday afternoon.

Student leaders, the kapa haka, and the school's senior management team were all in attendance, alongside TECT Trustee Peter Blackwell who spoke of TECT's contribution to the project and cut the opening ribbon.

After formalities were over, children quickly jumped onto the new playground equipment to give it its first playtime. And there was plenty of play to be had.

Elevel-year-old student Katy Bradnock says she has had the most fun on the flying fox.

"The playground is absolutely amazing; it is very high quality. The flying fox goes pretty fast and high, and my favourite part about it is swinging at the end, racing all my friends, and jumping on it  it's just so fun.

"We also have a lot of basket swings at school now, and because they are so popular, it means everyone can use them. You also don't see flying foxes around that much, so we are lucky to have them."

Student Brodie Scholes, aged 11, says the students came up with rules to ensure everyone was safe while playing.

"The new playground is super cool; everyone loves it in the school. We chose the basket swings because everyone loves the other one we have, and the flying fox is also a big hit  we are the only school in our area that has one.

"We came up with rules around lining up either side of the flying fox, so no one gets hurts as well, which I think is good."

Positioned in the heart of Otumoetai, Otumoetai Primary School is the largest kura in the area and currently has 577 pupils on the roll, with this expected to grow to over 600 by the end of the year.

TECT Trustee Peter Blackwell cuts the ribbon to the flying fox.

The school's fields, playgrounds, courts and common areas are not only utilised by the students during school hours but are also regularly used outside of school hours by the wider community.

Marcus Hughes, Otumoetai Deputy Principal, says the new playground was much needed.

"We had a very tired and ageing playground that was built approximately 20 years ago. Although it was fun and challenging, it got to the point that it was irreparable and unsafe for the students to use, so we had to remove it.

"This is an exciting day for our senior students. The 2020 student leaders came up with the design of the new playground to fit the area after consulting with their peers.

"This included feedback about the popularity of the one basket swing we have at the other end of the school that is used more than any other piece of equipment. The double flying fox also ties in perfectly with the sloping area of the school.

"There is a feeling of ownership amongst the children. I know that they are very excited to use it, and we will no doubt have to create a roster for everyone to have an equal turn."

Marcus says TECT's contribution to the project was invaluable  making the playground a reality.

"We simply could not have raised the funds over the past two years with Covid. All of our amazing playgrounds have been paid for by successive Board of Trustee and PTA groups over the last ten years. This is the first playground grant we have received, and we are extremely grateful to TECT.

"TECT's support has helped us achieve a safe, durable, challenging addition to our school's playground that enables more children access to quality playground equipment. Further to this, we hope it will also be enjoyed by the wider community outside of school hours."

TECT's funding of $32,198 helped with the purchase and installation of safe soft fall surfacing, the two swings and the double flying fox.

TECT Trustee Peter Blackwell says the new playground will be enjoyed by students and the community for many years.

TECT Trustee Peter Blackwell cuts the ribbon to the swings.



"We are lucky as trustees to be involved in TECT, supporting schools like Otumoetai Primary around the Western Bay of Plenty with projects like this. Playgrounds are fantastic for developing children's critical thinking and collaboration skills, imaginative play, and there are countless social, mental and physical benefits.

"I'm proud to be a part of the opening of this playground, which will be enjoyed not only by children today, but by children for many years to come. It has been a privilege to be here at the opening, and I was impressed with the kapa haka performance and speeches by the student leaders. They are clearly proud of what they have accomplished, and a big hats off to Marcus for leading this project."

To learn more about Otumoetai Primary School, visit https://www.ops.school.nz/.
As part of the ongoing search and rescue operation for a man and his three children, police are appealing for any sightings of the group.

Thirty-four-year-old Thomas Phillips, along with eight-year-old Jayda Jin, six-year-old Maverick Callum-Phillips and five-year-old Ember Phillips were last seen at Marokopa, in the Waikato, on Saturday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Patterson says the vehicle used by the man was found at the beach at Kiritehere on Saturday.

Searches of the coastal area will continue today as will canvassing of the local area with staff going door-to-door in Marokopa and Kiritehere.

"The familys safety is our paramount concern at this stage and that is why search and rescue have been activated," says Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Patterson, in an earlier statement.

"There is a large Police presence in Marokopa today focused on the search for Thomas and the children.," says Inspector Will Loughrin, Area Commander Waikato West.

"If anyone has seen or heard from Thomas and the kids since Saturday please contact Police immediately,"

Police were notified yesterday that the group were last seen at Marokopa on Saturday.

Search and rescue teams from Police and LandSAR are involved in the search along with Fire and Emergency New Zealand staff and local Police staff.

Anyone with information is asked to contact 105 and quote job number 210913/1952.
Te Pati Maori has launched a petition to change the official name of New Zealand to Aotearoa.

Maori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer launched the petition on Tuesday, with the aim to change the name to Aotearoa and use te reo Maori names for all towns, cities and places by 2026.

"It's well past time that te reo Maori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country. We are a Polynesian country, we are Aotearoa," Waititi says.

"Our petition calls on Parliament to change New Zealand to Aotearoa and begin a process, alongside whanau, hapu and iwi, to identify and officially restore the original te reo Maori names for all towns, cities and places right across the country by 2026.

"Tangata whenua are sick to death of our ancestral names being mangled, bastardised, and ignored. It's the 21st Century, this must change.

"Article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi promises tangata whenua the same rights as British citizens, that te reo Maori me ona tikanga katoa be treated and valued exactly the same as the English language - ko te mana orite tera," Waititi says.

Ngarewa-Packer says name changes over the whenua and the imposition of a colonial agenda in the education system in the early 1900s meant that te reo Maori fluency among tupuna went from 90 per cent in 1910 to 26 per cent in 1950.

"In only 40 years, the colonisers managed to successfully strip us of our language and we are still feeling the impacts of this today," she says.

"A year ago today, Te Pati Maori launched our te reo Maori policy which addresses the dire fact that current estimates show that only 20 per cent of the Maori population and 3 per cent of people living in Aotearoa can speak te reo Maori.

"It is the duty of the Crown to do all that it can to restore the status of our language to where it was when the moment they arrived and interrupted our natural development. That means it needs to be accessible in the most obvious of places; on our televisions, on our radio stations, on road signs and maps and in our education system."

Asked about the petition, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern would not commit to supporting such a move, but says place names could continue to be used interchangably as te reo Maori is an official language.

"We've got no plans to go through an official process to change the name of New Zealand, but I would say at the same time that actually I'm encouraged by the fact that people are using place names interchangably and I think that will only continue to grow.

"Te reo Maori's an official language and so therefore we use those names interchangably and I think we should continue to do so."

-RNZ.
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kutts BHPian

Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 220 Thanked: 287 Times

Gearbox changed under warranty on my brand-new Tata Tiago



After an extensive week of lockdown during which the car was completely stationery I saw to my horror a pool of oil . This was on 21st July and the car had covered only 242km by now. Oil level seemed fine and no flashing indicators.









Called up the dealer Derik Motors and they promptly picked up the car. I knew the SA since he was handling my older Nano and had a good rapport with him since a couple of years now. The fault seemed to be due to a drive shaft oil seal which was replaced and the car given back a couple of days later. His opinion was that the burning smell could have been due to the oil getting in contact with the silencer.



The very next morning noticed a couple of drops of oil. I was advised to drive around for 50km since it could be due to the residual oil that was not cleaned up properly. But unfortunately the issue persisted the next day. Once again back to the workshop floor.







Got the car back on 28th Jul, this time with drive shaft oil seals once again replaced. But if I remember correctly, this time both seals were replaced whilst last time only a single seal was replaced.



The ordeal continues the very next day! Vehicle given back to me on 6th Aug with the input shaft seal replaced. Drove for another day, hardly 10km more and once again I see drops of oil.









This now had me quite very upset and angry . It was the 3rd time the issue was repeating. My SA friend was also taken aback. They had been test driving extensively each time and my odo stood at 700km with 90% of that done as test drives.



A close friend who used to be an automobile engineer suggested that the gear box milling may be having a minute error which is causing these. Contacted Tata Motors Kerala CRM directly since this was beyond a 1 in 3 lakh odds of having an oil seal leak 3 times in a brand new vehicle and I dint want this to be taken lightly anymore. Subsequent calls revealed that this was now taken up at the Tata Motors factory level itself after the 2nd time the leak was observed and the input shaft oil seal replacement was also done under the direct guidance of Tata Motors engineers.



The SA called me a couple of days later and informed that they have received authorization to replace the entire gear box assembly which would take about 2 weeks to arrive from Pune. Though I had not put forward any suggestions on replacing the gear box assembly, it came as a pleasant surprise that Tata Motors was not playing around with the situation. Even though the leak was not observable by now since they changed the input oil seal once again, they wanted to ensure that there was absolutely no chance of it occurring in the future.



Been couple of weeks now since the vehicle is back after the gear box replacement. So far looks okay and no leaks till now. It might be a psychological effect, but I dont feel the butter smooth slotting of gears. Anything to watch for?



Received a 1 year extended warranty as good will and an additional one more year warranty for a nominal amount. So now I presume its a peaceful ride for next 4 years atleast.



Overall, though I was paying my EMIs for a car which spent most of the time in the dealer yard (during a booking fiasco related to own insurance v/s dealer insurance) and workshop, what I appreciated the most was how professionally Tata Motors and Derik Motors came together to resolve the issue without me having to escalate or make a large noise. Bought a Tiago Petrol and the car was delivered on 24th Jun 2021. Had driven only short distances due to lockdown and used to have a burning smell at times once we got out of the car. Did not observe anything unusual and thought it might be the brakes bedding in even though the car was never driven hard.After an extensive week of lockdown during which the car was completely stationery I saw to my horror a pool of oil. This was on 21st July and the car had covered only 242km by now. Oil level seemed fine and no flashing indicators.Called up the dealer Derik Motors and they promptly picked up the car. I knew the SA since he was handling my older Nano and had a good rapport with him since a couple of years now. The fault seemed to be due to a drive shaft oil seal which was replaced and the car given back a couple of days later. His opinion was that the burning smell could have been due to the oil getting in contact with the silencer.The very next morning noticed a couple of drops of oil. I was advised to drive around for 50km since it could be due to the residual oil that was not cleaned up properly. But unfortunately the issue persisted the next day. Once again back to the workshop floor.Got the car back on 28th Jul, this time with drive shaft oil seals once again replaced. But if I remember correctly, this time both seals were replaced whilst last time only a single seal was replaced.The ordeal continues the very next day! Vehicle given back to me on 6th Aug with the input shaft seal replaced. Drove for another day, hardly 10km more and once again I see drops of oil.This now had me quite very upset and angry. It was the 3rd time the issue was repeating. My SA friend was also taken aback. They had been test driving extensively each time and my odo stood at 700km with 90% of that done as test drives.A close friend who used to be an automobile engineer suggested that the gear box milling may be having a minute error which is causing these. Contacted Tata Motors Kerala CRM directly since this was beyond a 1 in 3 lakh odds of having an oil seal leak 3 times in a brand new vehicle and I dint want this to be taken lightly anymore. Subsequent calls revealed that this was now taken up at the Tata Motors factory level itself after the 2nd time the leak was observed and the input shaft oil seal replacement was also done under the direct guidance of Tata Motors engineers.The SA called me a couple of days later and informed that they have received authorization to replace the entire gear box assembly which would take about 2 weeks to arrive from Pune. Though I had not put forward any suggestions on replacing the gear box assembly, it came as a pleasant surprise that Tata Motors was not playing around with the situation. Even though the leak was not observable by now since they changed the input oil seal once again, they wanted to ensure that there was absolutely no chance of it occurring in the future.Been couple of weeks now since the vehicle is back after the gear box replacement. So far looks okay and no leaks till now. It might be a psychological effect, but I dont feel the butter smooth slotting of gears. Anything to watch for?Received a 1 year extended warranty as good will and an additional one more year warranty for a nominal amount. So now I presume its a peaceful ride for next 4 years atleast.Overall, though I was paying my EMIs for a car which spent most of the time in the dealer yard (during a booking fiasco related to own insurance v/s dealer insurance) and workshop, what I appreciated the most was how professionally Tata Motors and Derik Motors came together to resolve the issue without me having to escalate or make a large noise.
Coyote BHPian

Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Bangalore Posts: 49 Thanked: 281 Times

re: My Kia Sonet GTX+ (Petrol DCT) Review Initial Ownership Impressions



I am presently at around 8000 kms on the ODO in about 9 months of ownership. I had planned a Bangalore-Bombay-Goa-Bangalore trip for March 2021, which had to be shelved on account of the second wave. I'm hoping I can get round to this soon, contingent on the now ever present Covid-19 situation.



That being said, I think I have enough driving experience to actually sit down and pen this report, and I hope it may shed light on others contemplating this purchase. I will start with the negatives, elaborate a bit, and then move on to the positives.



DISCLAIMER: What follows are my personal observations and my personal take on the said observation. I concede that others may not have enough of an issue with things on this list to even bother writing them down. I may even seem like I am nitpicking. However, as this is my personal take, I will be taking a few liberties My apologies, in advance, if you feel my dislikes listed below do not merit being on such a list.



Things I dislike The absence of crash test rating. The inconsistency of Sport mode (Elaborated below). DCT's inclination to get into D2 (Elaborated below). TPMS error (Elaborated below). Headlights aren't great. Auto AC does not support footwell ventilation (Elaborated below). Centre armrest concerns (Elaborated below). Lack of a request sensor button on the passenger door. Exposed fog lamps. The glove box is not very big. Lack of wireless Android Auto (GTX+ has the wired one). Single tripmeter.

Sport Mode in Traffic



The sport mode is designed to hold on to gears longer. This keeps the engine on the boil, and makes the vehicle feel responsive and, for lack of a better term, alive.



Now, the issue I am facing is this: If I am accelerating in Sport mode from say, standstill to about 60, with decent throttle inputs, the vehicle progressively upshifts, eventually ending up in D 5/6. This is fine, and nice. Now, if I were to brake, on account of an obstacle, a cow, an errant driver, what have you, the vehicle drops down to the incorrect gear, ie, the 3rd/2nd gear, and holds on to the gear for longer, revving hard, even with calm throttle inputs. I find myself having to use the tiptronic to manually upshift, or change out of sport mode and toggle back to it for it to find the right gear again. Paddle shifters would significantly help here. Unfortunately, mine is the 2020 Sonet which does not come with paddle shifters.



Essentially, the vehicle, in sport mode, finds the right gears from standstill, but when forced to downshift quickly, struggles, and is reluctant to upshift to the right gear. This behaviour is not observed in the normal mode. I do not use Eco mode at all, so I do not know if it holds true there as well. This behaviour is observed during even with normal throttle inputs / average driving patterns post deceleration, let alone aggressive driving, where it may be expected.



For instance, I have seen D3 being held till about 75 kmph, in Sport mode, as a result of sudden deceleration. Normally, in Sport mode, or even in Normal mode, the gearbox would have shifted to D5/6 at these speeds.



This gets annoying fast because at the end of the day, this is a small 1.0 litre turbo petrol and the noise it makes in D2/D3 while revving hard at high speeds, as a result of rapid deceleration and the resultant acceleration, is simply not pleasant. The FE takes a nosedive. Also, I simply don't like revving this much in lower gears. I am unsure of the longterm adverse effects.



This is becoming so much of an issue that I am forced to generally use Normal mode in the city over the Sport mode. I plan to speak to the service centre guys at the first annual service on this, though I do not know if anything will come of it.



DCT, D2, and the brakes (First 6-7000 Kms)

The creep speed in D1 is set to 7/8 Kmph. In normal mode, and with light accelerator inputs, the DCT, presumably in the interests of FE, upshifts to D2 fairly quickly. This results in the vehicle picking up more speed. Now, in the course of normal driving, this is well and good. If however, you are driving a very short distance, such as, for instance, to find a better parking spot, or are coming up to a bigger road from a side road, you are moving faster than one would like, and would need to brake harder than one would like. The travel distance for the brake to bite, and the resultant, small judder is what I specifically have an issue with. You see, this takes some getting used to, and even then, can sometimes take you by surprise.



Why is this a problem? My father drives a manual, has driven a manual all his life, and this took him by surprise. Fortunately, we were in the basement of my apartment so no harm there. Same issue with a friend, who also drives a manual. Same issue with my spouse as well. I think, the reason for this is the dissonance between the speed you think you are at, given the short distance driven, and the speeds the Sonet actually manages to get to.



UPDATE: This judder seems to have been resolved, I'm guessing as a result of the brakes having finally been run in. Took about 5-6000 kms. I have taken so long to write and upload this review, the problem has resolved itself. However, I will still leave this up so it may be of use to others. Besides, the point still stands that this is something new drivers and new to Sonet drivers may expect from the vehicle.



TPMS Error

The TPMS is generally accurate to 1-2 psi and I have had no issues save one instance. When I started, the vehicle showed me 29 psi on a couple of tyres and 30 in the other two. At a fuel station, I filled up to 32 psi on all tyres. Quite quickly afterwards, I was greeted by a warning on the tyre pressure being low on one of the tyres, which started blinking rapidly and the reading was 29 psi. Now, at this point, the tyre reading were 29 psi, 29 psi, 30 psi and 31 psi. However, only one tyre was blinking, which went to be permanently lit. This was followed by two other tyres throwing up the same warning, eventually being completely lit as well. I tried filling up to 33 psi again, but the warning remained. The reason this was alarming was I have had 29 psi readings earlier, which have never prompted a warning and have gone away upon filling up to 32/33 psi.





This is the icon displayed on the MID. I forgot to click a picture of the actual screen at the time.



I checked the owners manual, and a permanently lit tyre indicated a TPMS error, with the manual advising owners to drive to the nearest service centre. So, off I went, thinking there was a software issue and the error needed to be rectified. The service centre guy took one look at the problem, and filled up the tyres to 35 psi each, with the engine running, before bringing them down to 33. Turns out this is a standard issue in Kia TPMS and the solution is to literally fill air (within the threshold) till the warning goes away and bring it back down (if desired).



Funnily enough, my friend with the iMT GTX+ had the same issue crop up, the same week as me. At my suggestion, he too headed to the service centre and obtained the same resolution. This makes us suspect that an OTA software update was rolled out. This is, of course, pure speculation.



Climate Control and Footwell ventilation

The default airflow in the auto ac mode is the through the vents on top. Most times, I prefer my feet be cold as well, and redirect the airflow to the vents there as well as the ones on top. However, if you redirect the airflow, the Sonet disables auto ac and you have to manually set the fan speed. This can be quite irritating, as I do genuinely like the ac in the footwell.





Changing the airflow direction turns auto AC off. My apologies for the quality of the images.





Auto AC on.



Centre Armrest Concerns

I have concerns over the longevity of the centre armrest / air purifier lid. While driving, if on the highway, I generally rest my left elbow on the centre armrest. Sometimes, my wife (front passenger) rests her right elbow on it too. Even if it is just me, I have felt the armrest creak/move ever so slightly. It is important to note that this is not an audible creak, but one that is felt. The movement is not enough to be an issue, yet enough for you to notice. This may be because there is a bit of a projection on the armrest, with only the back bit supported by the base where the air filter is.



I suspect I may be putting more weight on the thing than it can handle, but, I would have definitely appreciated better engineering here. My concern is that the small give / creak I feel will increase over time, eventually requiring a replacement of the unit at around the 3-4 year mark. Of course the air filter is part of the unit so it may just be an expensive replacement.



Things I really like The turbo petrol engine and the gearbox combo. It makes me smile every time. Excellent FE if one is patient enough. This can be hard. Comfortable highway cruiser. Cruise Control, Ventilated Seats, drive modes. I regularly use all three and honestly will absolutely need them in my next upgrade. Remote Start through the App and through the key. Again, used all the time, and what a boon it is in the summer. The safety features. Nifty things like programmable number of lane shift indicator blinks.

As all the things on this list are self-explanatory, I am not elaborating further. I am presently at around 8000 kms on the ODO in about 9 months of ownership. I had planned a Bangalore-Bombay-Goa-Bangalore trip for March 2021, which had to be shelved on account of the second wave. I'm hoping I can get round to this soon, contingent on the now ever present Covid-19 situation.That being said, I think I have enough driving experience to actually sit down and pen this report, and I hope it may shed light on others contemplating this purchase. I will start with the negatives, elaborate a bit, and then move on to the positives.DISCLAIMER: What follows are my personal observations and my personal take on the said observation. I concede that others may not have enough of an issue with things on this list to even bother writing them down. I may even seem like I am nitpicking. However, as this is my personal take, I will be taking a few libertiesMy apologies, in advance, if you feel my dislikes listed below do not merit being on such a list.The sport mode is designed to hold on to gears longer. This keeps the engine on the boil, and makes the vehicle feel responsive and, for lack of a better term, alive.Now, the issue I am facing is this: If I am accelerating in Sport mode from say, standstill to about 60, with decent throttle inputs, the vehicle progressively upshifts, eventually ending up in D 5/6. This is fine, and nice. Now, if I were to brake, on account of an obstacle, a cow, an errant driver, what have you, the vehicle drops down to the incorrect gear, ie, the 3rd/2nd gear, and holds on to the gear for longer, revving hard, even with calm throttle inputs. I find myself having to use the tiptronic to manually upshift, or change out of sport mode and toggle back to it for it to find the right gear again. Paddle shifters would significantly help here. Unfortunately, mine is the 2020 Sonet which does not come with paddle shifters.Essentially, the vehicle, in sport mode, finds the right gears from standstill, but when forced to downshift quickly, struggles, and is reluctant to upshift to the right gear. This behaviour is not observed in the normal mode. I do not use Eco mode at all, so I do not know if it holds true there as well. This behaviour is observed during even with normal throttle inputs / average driving patterns post deceleration, let alone aggressive driving, where it may be expected.For instance, I have seen D3 being held till about 75 kmph, in Sport mode, as a result of sudden deceleration. Normally, in Sport mode, or even in Normal mode, the gearbox would have shifted to D5/6 at these speeds.This gets annoying fast because at the end of the day, this is a small 1.0 litre turbo petrol and the noise it makes in D2/D3 while revving hard at high speeds, as a result of rapid deceleration and the resultant acceleration, is simply not pleasant. The FE takes a nosedive. Also, I simply don't like revving this much in lower gears. I am unsure of the longterm adverse effects.This is becoming so much of an issue that I am forced to generally use Normal mode in the city over the Sport mode. I plan to speak to the service centre guys at the first annual service on this, though I do not know if anything will come of it.The creep speed in D1 is set to 7/8 Kmph. In normal mode, and with light accelerator inputs, the DCT, presumably in the interests of FE, upshifts to D2 fairly quickly. This results in the vehicle picking up more speed. Now, in the course of normal driving, this is well and good. If however, you are driving a very short distance, such as, for instance, to find a better parking spot, or are coming up to a bigger road from a side road, you are moving faster than one would like, and would need to brake harder than one would like. The travel distance for the brake to bite, and the resultant,is what I specifically have an issue with. You see, this takes some getting used to, and even then, can sometimes take you by surprise.Why is this a problem? My father drives a manual, has driven a manual all his life, and this took him by surprise. Fortunately, we were in the basement of my apartment so no harm there. Same issue with a friend, who also drives a manual. Same issue with my spouse as well. I think, the reason for this is the dissonance between the speed you think you are at, given the short distance driven, and the speeds the Sonet actually manages to get to.UPDATE: This judder seems to have been resolved, I'm guessing as a result of the brakes having finally been run in. Took about 5-6000 kms. I have taken so long to write and upload this review, the problem has resolved itself.However, I will still leave this up so it may be of use to others. Besides, the point still stands that this is something new drivers and new to Sonet drivers may expect from the vehicle.The TPMS is generally accurate to 1-2 psi and I have had no issues save one instance. When I started, the vehicle showed me 29 psi on a couple of tyres and 30 in the other two. At a fuel station, I filled up to 32 psi on all tyres. Quite quickly afterwards, I was greeted by a warning on the tyre pressure being low on one of the tyres, which started blinking rapidly and the reading was 29 psi. Now, at this point, the tyre reading were 29 psi, 29 psi, 30 psi and 31 psi. However, only one tyre was blinking, which went to be permanently lit. This was followed by two other tyres throwing up the same warning, eventually being completely lit as well. I tried filling up to 33 psi again, but the warning remained. The reason this was alarming was I have had 29 psi readings earlier, which have never prompted a warning and have gone away upon filling up to 32/33 psi.This is the icon displayed on the MID. I forgot to click a picture of the actual screen at the time.I checked the owners manual, and a permanently lit tyre indicated a TPMS error, with the manual advising owners to drive to the nearest service centre. So, off I went, thinking there was a software issue and the error needed to be rectified. The service centre guy took one look at the problem, and filled up the tyres to 35 psi each, with the engine running, before bringing them down to 33. Turns out this is a standard issue in Kia TPMS and the solution is to literally fill air (within the threshold) till the warning goes away and bring it back down (if desired).Funnily enough, my friend with the iMT GTX+ had the same issue crop up, the same week as me. At my suggestion, he too headed to the service centre and obtained the same resolution. This makes us suspect that an OTA software update was rolled out. This is, of course, pure speculation.The default airflow in the auto ac mode is the through the vents on top. Most times, I prefer my feet be cold as well, and redirect the airflow to the vents there as well as the ones on top. However, if you redirect the airflow, the Sonet disables auto ac and you have to manually set the fan speed. This can be quite irritating, as I do genuinely like the ac in the footwell.Changing the airflow direction turns auto AC off. My apologies for the quality of the images.Auto AC on.I have concerns over the longevity of the centre armrest / air purifier lid. While driving, if on the highway, I generally rest my left elbow on the centre armrest. Sometimes, my wife (front passenger) rests her right elbow on it too. Even if it is just me, I have felt the armrest creak/move ever so slightly. It is important to note that this is not an audible creak, but one that is felt. The movement is not enough to be an issue, yet enough for you to notice. This may be because there is a bit of a projection on the armrest, with only the back bit supported by the base where the air filter is.I suspect I may be putting more weight on the thing than it can handle, but, I would have definitely appreciated better engineering here. My concern is that the small give / creak I feel will increase over time, eventually requiring a replacement of the unit at around the 3-4 year mark. Of course the air filter is part of the unit so it may just be an expensive replacement.As all the things on this list are self-explanatory, I am not elaborating further. Last edited by Coyote : 13th September 2021 at 15:53 .
Artyom BHPian



Join Date: May 2020 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 395 Thanked: 707 Times

Bangalore to Vizag | Monsoon & Scenic Views | 2354 Km | Creta 1.6P

Moreover, TN and Kerela were not accepting tourists so the options were anyways less known to me.

Then out of nowhere, my cousin called in stating that he had some official work in Vishakapatnam and was planning to stay there for few days.

It was an opportunity I could not miss to meet them and to have a road trip and so the planning started.

Vishakapatnam as such is not a tourist destination but some research found that in and around Vishakapatnam there were numerous hill stations and worth a visit.

The plan was made such that we cover Vigaz(Vishakapatnam) and Araku valley(nearby hill station)

2 Families + Unknown place + Monsoon what else you want eh.



Preparations

***********************************

From my previous trip to Punjab last September most of the necessary things were already in stock like



1. Iftex Clean System G to keep the injectors clean(Recommended by Anurag)

2.AmazonBasics Jumper Cable

3.Windek Digital Tyre Inflator

4.amiciAuto Tubeless Tyre Puncture Repair Kit

5. Spartan T-12 T-Type Handle Socket Wrench Deep Reach Nut Driver

6. PROKLEAR Wash Additive Concentrate

7. Inalsa Electric Kettle

8. Healthgenie Pepper Spray

9. Multipurpose Alcohol Based Disinfectant Sanitizer Spray

10. Sanitizer

11. Pain killers and generic medicines.



Getting "Artyom" ready for the Trip

------------------------------------------------

1. The vehicle had gone through the 3rd service in July,21 so nothing major was pending as such.

2. I got the Wheel Balancing and Alignment soon after the servicing

3. A thorough cleaning in and out was done a day prior.





Initial Plan decided WAS :-



1.6th we leave from Bangalore to Vijaywada(Halt for Night)

2.7th we leave from Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Stay for 3 nights)

3.10th we leave from Vizag to Araku Valley(Stay for 2 Nights)

4.12th we leave from Araku Valley to Vijaywada

5.13th we leave from Vijaywada to Bangalore



Change in Plans :-



Due to some last-minute work commitments in my cousin's family, our trip was cut short and he had to leave Vishakapatnam on the 10th Morning.

This made us change our plans as well and we mutually decided to drop the plan for Araku and head back home.

My nephew(15 Year Old) was traveling along with us and with 2 days spare in hand we decided to have a detour and travel to Hyderabad and then back to Bangalore.

We could not miss an opportunity to relish Hyderabadi Biryani along with a visit to Ikea so the final plan decided upon was:-



1.6th we leave from Bangalore to Vijaywada(Halt for Night)

2.7th we leave from Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Stay for 3 nights)

3.10th we leave from Vizag to Hyderabad(Halt Overnight)

4.11th we leave from Hyderabad to Bangalore



Time & ODO reading

*******************

Started-13753

Ending-16107

Total Km Travelled->2354

Average->11.20(With AC)



-------Arrival-----------

1. Bangalore to Vijaywada(Sep 6th)-(6:13 am-6:11 Pm) 10 Hours/653 Km

2. Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Sep 7th)-(8:00 am-06:48 Pm)7.45 Hours/376 Km

------Departure-----------

1. Vishakapatnam to Hyderabad(Sep 10th)-(9:32 Am -9:11 Pm)11 Hours /683 Km

2. Hyderabad to Bangalore (Sep 11th)-(2:05 Pm -11:54 Pm)10 Hours /571 Km





Routes Followed

**************

We stayed on NH16, NH65, NH44 through and through and blindly followed Google Maps.



Hotel Stays

***********

Vijaywada->Lemon Tree Premier

Vishakapatnam->Dolphin Hotel, The Gateway Hotel

Hyderabad->Red Fox



Fuel Consumption

*****************

1. Being a Petrol 1.6NA I was mentally prepared to see some huge bills.

2. Every alternate top-up was accompanied by a dose of Iftek G.

3. Fuelio app was used to keep a track of the expenses and below are the numbers

4. The refilling at an HP petrol pump at Vijaywada was something fishy i suspect. My calculation showed that the top-up should take roughly 40-41 Litres max however this refill was for 45.89 liters.

My calculation has been pretty accurate so far in the last 2 years so I am confident there was some hanky panky activity going on at this fuel station. Plus there was the typical attempt

of engaging me in a conversation before filling so that I cant confirm the meter reading is at Zero. Please beware.

5. The very next refilling was done at an Essar Petrol Pump and it was bang on and in Sync with my expectations.



Refills->4

Total fuel-> 210Litres

Total Cost-> 18130INR



Fast-Tag Expense

**************

Approximately 2500 INR for the Whole Trip



General Observations/Caution

******************************

1. The beauty of Vishakapatnam in my opinion is that on one side you have the beautiful sea and on the other side you have hills. (Best of Both Worlds)

2. It's humid in Vizag so Bangaloreans will feel a little uncomfortable.

3. The scenic beauty throughout the trip was the best I have encountered in my life. This added to the fact that it's monsoon the experience was even better.

4. Roads, as usual, were good

5. The only thing which annoyed me was while coming back from Hyderabad to Bangalore we had to cross Vijaywada and this small stretch was a nightmare with

potholes the size of craters where even the trucks were losing balance while passing them.

6. The route that google was showing didn't seem to be accurate only on one occasion where we had to take a detour and hence had to take help from locals to get on the right

track.

7. While Exiting Vijaywada towards Hyderabad we encountered this rough patch full of potholes and the same patch we had to cover again while going from Hyderabad to Bangalore.

8. I usually don't travel at night but this time we had left Hyderabad around 2 Pm and it was dark soon. NH44 was surprisingly dark with very few patches having street lights or roadside markers.

Please do correct me if I am wrong but I found it really concerning that a national highway was not well lit.





Places Visited in Vishakapatnam

********************************

Since the trip was confined to Vishakapatnam we visited the below places:-



1. Kursura Submarine Museum

**************************

1. This Submarine was the one used to bring down the Pakistani warships. Remember the movie"Ghazi Attack". This is the same submarine that won us that conflict.

2. Once you are in the submarine you get to appreciate and respect the men in uniform for what they do to protect the nation.

The moment you enter the submarine you realize how difficult it is to live in that close quarter environment for months in the stretch. The size of the quarters is so compact that I for one cannot even imaging staying there for more than 10 minutes. Hats off again.

3. The sheer size of this thing is ming blowing and the number of controls it had was infinite. Perfecting the art of operating a submarine is a feat in itself.

4. These subs were all analog in nature and as such didn't have any digital technology to detect other submarines. As a result, the operators were trained to listen to the pulses outside and determine if the source was a fish or another submarine just by the nature of the pulse it generated.

5. The crew was trained to stay submerged for months in the stretch.



2.TU142 Aircraft Museum

************************

1. The TU aircraft present in the museum was dismantled and assembled again in the Museum. I can't put all the tools back in the tool kit in a single go and these guys assembled this whole plane.

2. This museum mostly has artifacts about the TU model which was named after the designer Tupelov along with information about the different ranks in the Navy and their designated roles.

3. It also hosts different parts of the plane for a closer look.

4. These planes were primarily used to detect and neutralize the submarines by zeroing in on the coordinates and then releasing a missile to destroy them.

5. These air crafts were in service for 90 years after which they were decommissioned. Nowadays Indian fleet has the Boeing ones which are multipurpose planes that can be used to carry troops for reconnaissance and more.

9. A crew of 9 operated this massive thing with each member having a designated duty.

10. The museum has a section that has specimens of survival kits that the soldiers carry in an event they have to survive in enemy territory.



3.Vishakapatnam Port Trust

**************************

1. Vizag is primarily known for its port and we got an opportunity to ride a jetty and get a feel of how it looks and feels.

2. We came across multiple ships some carrying oil , CNG, Coal.

3. The size of the cranes which load and unload the containers are HUGE and we were lucky to encounter a ship carrying 5 of these cranes approaching the docks for installation.

4. The oil containers carry crude oil which gets transported to the HPCL oil refinery through underground pipelines which span across a few kilometers.

5. The naval base is also adjacent and gave us an opportunity to view the warships of the Indian Navy. (No Photos taken for obvious reasons)

6. HSL (Hindustan Shipyard Limited) has the hangar where the ships are assembled.

7. We came across ships that had cranes fixed on top of them which have been in service for the last 50 years.

8. A lot of crude exports(Coal and other minerals) are transported directly from the ships to the conveyor belts which carry them to processing units.

9. The approach to the port is through a passage that ensures that all the ships can be tracked and monitored for activities. It's one way in and one way out.

10. There are small ships that are used to channel or maneuver bigger ships in and out from the port as the water is shallow once you enter the port and another way around. The size of these ships is small however they have more powerful engines which are capable of pushing heavier loads.

11.Not posting pictures due to obvious reasons.



Hotel Stays Experience

**********************

Lemon Tree Premier

********************

->Clean and hygiene maintained.

->Rooms were clean and tidy

->The property was right in the middle of the city

->Food was really good especially the muffins and donuts



Dolphin Hotel

***************

->Clean and hygiene maintained.

->Rooms were clean and tidy

->The property was right in the middle of the city so the commute was easy

->Breakfast was good but the spread was relatively smaller than others

->Dinner was just OK with nothing special to mention.

->Exceptional customer service by the staff.



The Gateway Hotel

*******************

->Clean and hygiene maintained.

->Rooms were clean and tidy

->The property was right in the middle of the city

->Breakfast & Dinner was too good. Special Mention to Ashok dada who served us exceptional fish fry and chicken tikka.

->Exceptional customer service by the staff and special mention to Mohammed at the front desk who catered to all our requests.



Red Fox

********

->Stricly budget hotel

->Rooms were not that clean especially the washrooms with leaking taps.

->Breakfast was less than average

->For the price, I paid it was a complete ripoff, and would not book any of their hotels again.





The Sub in all its glory



Locked and Loaded



Accomodation for the crew



Narrow Alley within Sub with multiple controls



Hydro Suit



Some More Controls



Main Diesal Engine



Washrooms



Massive Propellers



TU AirCraft



























Contents of Survival Kit



This stretch has a lot of potholes

It had been almost 8 months since last we went on a road trip and every time I initiated the conversation it used to end up inconclusive.Moreover, TN and Kerela were not accepting tourists so the options were anyways less known to me.Then out of nowhere, my cousin called in stating that he had some official work in Vishakapatnam and was planning to stay there for few days.It was an opportunity I could not miss to meet them and to have a road trip and so the planning started.Vishakapatnam as such is not a tourist destination but some research found that in and around Vishakapatnam there were numerous hill stations and worth a visit.The plan was made such that we cover Vigaz(Vishakapatnam) and Araku valley(nearby hill station)2 Families + Unknown place + Monsoon what else you want eh.***********************************From my previous trip to Punjab last September most of the necessary things were already in stock like1. Iftex Clean System G to keep the injectors clean(Recommended by Anurag)2.AmazonBasics Jumper Cable3.Windek Digital Tyre Inflator4.amiciAuto Tubeless Tyre Puncture Repair Kit5. Spartan T-12 T-Type Handle Socket Wrench Deep Reach Nut Driver6. PROKLEAR Wash Additive Concentrate7. Inalsa Electric Kettle8. Healthgenie Pepper Spray9. Multipurpose Alcohol Based Disinfectant Sanitizer Spray10. Sanitizer11. Pain killers and generic medicines.Getting "" ready for the Trip------------------------------------------------1. The vehicle had gone through the 3rd service in July,21 so nothing major was pending as such.2. I got the Wheel Balancing and Alignment soon after the servicing3. A thorough cleaning in and out was done a day prior.:-1.6th we leave from Bangalore to Vijaywada(Halt for Night)2.7th we leave from Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Stay for 3 nights)3.10th we leave from Vizag to Araku Valley(Stay for 2 Nights)4.12th we leave from Araku Valley to Vijaywada5.13th we leave from Vijaywada to Bangalore:-Due to some last-minute work commitments in my cousin's family, our trip was cut short and he had to leave Vishakapatnam on the 10th Morning.This made us change our plans as well and we mutually decided to drop the plan for Araku and head back home.My nephew(15 Year Old) was traveling along with us and with 2 days spare in hand we decided to have a detour and travel to Hyderabad and then back to Bangalore.We could not miss an opportunity to relish Hyderabadi Biryani along with a visit to Ikea so the final plan decided upon was:-1.6th we leave from Bangalore to Vijaywada(Halt for Night)2.7th we leave from Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Stay for 3 nights)3.10th we leave from Vizag to Hyderabad(Halt Overnight)4.11th we leave from Hyderabad to Bangalore*******************Started-13753Ending-16107Total Km Travelled->2354Average->11.20(With AC)------------------1. Bangalore to Vijaywada(Sep 6th)-(6:13 am-6:11 Pm) 10 Hours/653 Km2. Vijaywada to Vishakapatnam(Sep 7th)-(8:00 am-06:48 Pm)7.45 Hours/376 Km-----------------1. Vishakapatnam to Hyderabad(Sep 10th)-(9:32 Am -9:11 Pm)11 Hours /683 Km2. Hyderabad to Bangalore (Sep 11th)-(2:05 Pm -11:54 Pm)10 Hours /571 Km**************We stayed on NH16, NH65, NH44 through and through and blindly followed Google Maps.***********Vijaywada->Lemon Tree PremierVishakapatnam->Dolphin Hotel, The Gateway HotelHyderabad->Red Fox*****************1. Being a Petrol 1.6NA I was mentally prepared to see some huge bills.2. Every alternate top-up was accompanied by a dose of Iftek G.3. Fuelio app was used to keep a track of the expenses and below are the numbers4. The refilling at an HP petrol pump at Vijaywada was something fishy i suspect. My calculation showed that the top-up should take roughly 40-41 Litres max however this refill was for 45.89 liters.My calculation has been pretty accurate so far in the last 2 years so I am confident there was some hanky panky activity going on at this fuel station. Plus there was the typical attemptof engaging me in a conversation before filling so that I cant confirm the meter reading is at Zero. Please beware.5. The very next refilling was done at an Essar Petrol Pump and it was bang on and in Sync with my expectations.Refills->4Total fuel-> 210LitresTotal Cost-> 18130INR**************Approximately 2500 INR for the Whole Trip******************************1. The beauty of Vishakapatnam in my opinion is that on one side you have the beautiful sea and on the other side you have hills. (Best of Both Worlds)2. It's humid in Vizag so Bangaloreans will feel a little uncomfortable.3. The scenic beauty throughout the trip was the best I have encountered in my life. This added to the fact that it's monsoon the experience was even better.4. Roads, as usual, were good5. The only thing which annoyed me was while coming back from Hyderabad to Bangalore we had to cross Vijaywada and this small stretch was a nightmare withpotholes the size of craters where even the trucks were losing balance while passing them.6. The route that google was showing didn't seem to be accurate only on one occasion where we had to take a detour and hence had to take help from locals to get on the righttrack.7. While Exiting Vijaywada towards Hyderabad we encountered this rough patch full of potholes and the same patch we had to cover again while going from Hyderabad to Bangalore.8. I usually don't travel at night but this time we had left Hyderabad around 2 Pm and it was dark soon. NH44 was surprisingly dark with very few patches having street lights or roadside markers.Please do correct me if I am wrong but I found it really concerning that a national highway was not well lit.********************************Since the trip was confined to Vishakapatnam we visited the below places:-1.**************************1. This Submarine was the one used to bring down the Pakistani warships. Remember the movie"". This is the same submarine that won us that conflict.2. Once you are in the submarine you get to appreciate and respect the men in uniform for what they do to protect the nation.The moment you enter the submarine you realize how difficult it is to live in that close quarter environment for months in the stretch. The size of the quarters is so compact that I for one cannot even imaging staying there for more than 10 minutes. Hats off again.3. The sheer size of this thing is ming blowing and the number of controls it had was infinite. Perfecting the art of operating a submarine is a feat in itself.4. These subs were all analog in nature and as such didn't have any digital technology to detect other submarines. As a result, the operators were trained to listen to the pulses outside and determine if the source was a fish or another submarine just by the nature of the pulse it generated.5. The crew was trained to stay submerged for months in the stretch.2.************************1. The TU aircraft present in the museum was dismantled and assembled again in the Museum. I can't put all the tools back in the tool kit in a single go and these guys assembled this whole plane.2. This museum mostly has artifacts about the TU model which was named after the designer Tupelov along with information about the different ranks in the Navy and their designated roles.3. It also hosts different parts of the plane for a closer look.4. These planes were primarily used to detect and neutralize the submarines by zeroing in on the coordinates and then releasing a missile to destroy them.5. These air crafts were in service for 90 years after which they were decommissioned. Nowadays Indian fleet has the Boeing ones which are multipurpose planes that can be used to carry troops for reconnaissance and more.9. A crew of 9 operated this massive thing with each member having a designated duty.10. The museum has a section that has specimens of survival kits that the soldiers carry in an event they have to survive in enemy territory.3.**************************1. Vizag is primarily known for its port and we got an opportunity to ride a jetty and get a feel of how it looks and feels.2. We came across multiple ships some carrying oil , CNG, Coal.3. The size of the cranes which load and unload the containers are HUGE and we were lucky to encounter a ship carrying 5 of these cranes approaching the docks for installation.4. The oil containers carry crude oil which gets transported to the HPCL oil refinery through underground pipelines which span across a few kilometers.5. The naval base is also adjacent and gave us an opportunity to view the warships of the Indian Navy. (No Photos taken for obvious reasons)6. HSL (Hindustan Shipyard Limited) has the hangar where the ships are assembled.7. We came across ships that had cranes fixed on top of them which have been in service for the last 50 years.8. A lot of crude exports(Coal and other minerals) are transported directly from the ships to the conveyor belts which carry them to processing units.9. The approach to the port is through a passage that ensures that all the ships can be tracked and monitored for activities. It's one way in and one way out.10. There are small ships that are used to channel or maneuver bigger ships in and out from the port as the water is shallow once you enter the port and another way around. The size of these ships is small however they have more powerful engines which are capable of pushing heavier loads.11.Not posting pictures due to obvious reasons.******************************************->Clean and hygiene maintained.->Rooms were clean and tidy->The property was right in the middle of the city->Food was really good especially the muffins and donuts***************->Clean and hygiene maintained.->Rooms were clean and tidy->The property was right in the middle of the city so the commute was easy->Breakfast was good but the spread was relatively smaller than others->Dinner was just OK with nothing special to mention.->Exceptional customer service by the staff.*******************->Clean and hygiene maintained.->Rooms were clean and tidy->The property was right in the middle of the city->Breakfast & Dinner was too good. Special Mention to Ashok dada who served us exceptional fish fry and chicken tikka.->Exceptional customer service by the staff and special mention to Mohammed at the front desk who catered to all our requests.********->Stricly budget hotel->Rooms were not that clean especially the washrooms with leaking taps.->Breakfast was less than average->For the price, I paid it was a complete ripoff, and would not book any of their hotels again.The Sub in all its gloryLocked and LoadedAccomodation for the crewNarrow Alley within Sub with multiple controlsHydro SuitSome More ControlsMain Diesal EngineWashroomsMassive PropellersTU AirCraftContents of Survival KitThis stretch has a lot of potholes Last edited by Artyom : 13th September 2021 at 07:21 .
In brief: Smart glasses are back in fashion following the commercial failure that was Google Glass. In the wake of the Ray-Ban/Facebook collaboration on Ray-Ban Stories, Amazons 2nd-gen Echo Frames, Razers Anzu smart glasses, and more, Xiaomi is joining the party with a new take on the techand the Chinese giant claims its product could replace your phone.

The worlds largest phone maker has lifted the lid on the Xiaomi Smart Glasses. The company says they look like regular glassesif you ignore the camera pointing at you, presumablyand weigh just 51g.

The Xiaomi Smart Glasses feature an internal display chip thats as small as a grain of rice (2.4mm x 2.02mm), with individual pixels sized at 4m. Rather than using a mini projector, as with Google Glass, it uses MicroLED imaging technology. Not only does it require less space, but it also offers higher brightness and pixel density, a longer lifespan, and a simpler structure than OLED.

The glasses use a combination of optical waveguide tech and refraction to bounce light beams countless times, allowing the wearer to see a complete image, all done with a single lens.

Xiaomi insists its glasses are more than just a secondary screen for your smartphone. Users can see basic notification and call information, along with navigation, a teleprompter, and real-time text and photo translations. Theres also 5MP camera for taking photos and a built-in microphone. As with similar products, an indicator light will illuminate when the camera is in use.

All this is achieved with a quad-core ARM processor, battery, touchpad, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules, and Android OS. It also comes with Xiaomis XiaoAI assistant.

While Xiaomi claims this is a smartphone replacement, the monochrome green displaychosen so sufficient light can pass through the complicated optical structuresis unlikely to please those whove just sold their $1,000+ flagship and expect a similar experience.

No word yet on the Xiaomi Smart Glasses pricing, release date, or availability.
In brief: The market for E-Ink displays remains small despite numerous advances in the underlying technology. Still, that doesn't stop companies like Onyx from trying to introduce it to a new audience. To that end, the company has developed not one but two e-paper monitors that are just as expensive as they are impressive.

E-ink displays have forever changed e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle and note-taking tablets like the Remarkable, and over the past few years they've been implemented in several commercial and industrial applications, from the lowly price tag in some supermarkets, up to the large area digital signage you can see in some urban centers.

That said, they're far from becoming mainstream. Onyx is one of the companies that has been trying to change that with a lineup of monitors called Mira. The latest addition to that family is the Onyx Boox Mira, a 13.3-inch E-Ink monitor announced in May and now available for pre-order from the Onyx online store.

The Onyx Boox Mira is equipped with an E Ink Mobius panel that has a resolution of 2200 by 1650 pixels, which makes for a relatively crisp image at 207 pixels per inch. The 4:3 aspect ratio means this panel great for productivity, and there's also a touch digitizer that allows you to use it as you would a tablet. The input options include a mini HDMI port and two USB Type-C ports.

Since this is an E-Ink display, it doesn't need much power to operate since electrophoretic displays only use power when changing the image on the display. This makes the Onyx Boox Mira a good choice as a portable secondary monitor for people who need one for their workflow. It also has a VESA mount if you want it to become a more permanent fixture in your setup.

You won't be able to play games on it due to the low refresh rate achievable with E-Ink display technology, but the Onyx Boox Mira does support a "video" mode which improves the experience of watching animation on this monitor.

At $800, this device is definitely not for everyone, and it does have some limitations that may further limit its appeal. The monitor itself is only 8 mm thick and weighs a little under 600 grams, but it has to compete with a slew of less expensive portable monitors that offer a color display and can sometimes be used as standalone tablets. By comparison, the Onyx Boox Mira can only be used as an external display for web browsing, programming, and other productivity tasks.

However, Onyx is convinced there is a market for e-paper monitors. This is why it has also created a 25.3-inch fixed monitor in the form of the Onyx Boox Mira Pro. This model has an aluminum stand, a resolution of 3200 by 1800 pixels, and built-in stereo speakers -- all at an eye-watering price of $1,800.

In the meantime, companies like TCL are working on building affordable alternatives to E-Ink display technology. Last year, the Chinese company revealed a paper-like color display that's supposed to offer higher contrast than E-Ink while having almost none of its drawbacks. A tablet that showcases the new technology was supposed to be unveiled this year, but current market conditions have pushed the release date to 2022-2023.
In brief: Google was found in violation of competition law in South Korea, after an investigation revealed it had forced OEMs to sign "anti-fragmentation agreements." This is only one of several fines levied on the company in recent years, and it looks like more punitive measures may be on the way.

Google is no stranger to antitrust fines. The latest comes from South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), who recently announced that it levied a 207.4 billion won ($177 million) fine on the search giant for allegedly abusing its market power in the Android ecosystem and stifling competition and innovation in mobile operating systems.

According to the KFTC, the decision is the result of an investigation that found Google required phone manufacturers to sign something called an "anti-fragmentation agreement." This means that in order for an OEM to get access to Android, it would have to agree to a set of terms that prohibit the installation of forks -- modified versions of Android -- on its devices.

The KFTC found this to be in violation of local antitrust law, so it ordered Google and its local subsidiaries to cease the practice and remove the requirement from its existing contracts. Korea's competition watchdog is also conducting three separate investigations into the Play Store, its billing system, and Google's practices in the advertising market, respectively.

A Google spokesperson explained that Android's compatibility program has been conducive to the success of hardware and software innovators in the Android ecosystem. The company believes "the KFTCs decision released today ignores these benefits, and will undermine the advantages enjoyed by consumers."

Google plans to appeal the KFTC's ruling, which applies to more than just smartphones -- smartwatches, tablets, smart TVs, and all other Android devices are included in the corrective measures. This also comes just as South Korea passed its "anti-Google law," which requires companies like Google and Apple to allow developers to bypass their app store payment systems.

The $177 million fine may seem like a mere slap on the wrist for Google, but this is only one in a string of levies received this year.

Back in May, Google was fined $123 million in Italy for stifling competition in the Android Auto space. In July, France hit Google to the tune of $591 million for failing to negotiate fair deals with local news publishers. In the US, the search giant faces its biggest antitrust lawsuit yet over its alleged gatekeeping of Android through the Play Store.

Masthead credit Kai Wenzel
In brief: Until now, we've seen Amazon One technology in some of its stores, with more coming soon. However, it looks like Amazon doesn't plan to limit its technology to themselves, as it has already found its first third-party customer, the digital ticketing company AXS.

Amazon began using its palm scanning tech in September 2020 with the opening of its Amazon Go Stores. Since then, the retailing giant expanded its Amazon One technology to over 60 stores, offering a convenient way to pay for your groceries and goods. Now, you'll also see it as an admission method to enter Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where AXS will be responsible for the process.

To use Amazon One to enter a Red Rocks Amphitheatre event, attendees will first have to link their AXS Mobile ID to Amazon One. Once done, go to an Amazon One standalone ticketing pedestal, scan one of your palms or both, and you'll be allowed to get into the event. The ticketing pedestals will be available outside and inside the venue, and the admission process should take less than a minute.

"We are proud to work with Amazon to continue shaping the future of ticketing through cutting-edge innovation," said Bryan Perez, CEO of AXS. "We are also excited to bring Amazon One to our clients and the industry at a time when there is a need for fast, convenient, and contactless ticketing solutions."

Amazon states that even if you use Amazon One palm scanning technology in a third-party location, your Amazon One ID and data are inaccessible to everyone besides Amazon.

At the moment, the only venue that allows you to enter using Amazon One is the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. However, the company is already discussing the implementation of its palm scanning technology with other potential partners.

Amazon had already promoted its palm scanning technology by offering a $10 voucher for anyone that linked its palm to the user's Amazon account. The commotion caused by it led US lawmakers to raise questions about how the company could safely store the data. The inquirers expected a response by August 26th, but we don't know any details or even if Amazon answered the questions.
If you want to remove a friend or a follower from popular social media platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, there is a way to do so without blocking them.

We get you, you are not really fond of all of your Facebook friends or Instagram and TikTok followers seeing your posts, and you want to make it difficult for them to get updates from you.

How to Remove Friends/Followers

As per Tech Crunch, Twitter is currently testing a safety feature on its web version that allows its users to remove their followers without the need to block them.

However, it is to note that this feature is only available to a limited number of users in the microblogging platform.

Nevertheless, other social media sites, like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, have already introduced this function in their platform for quite some time.

If ever you have missed it, here's how to use them.

How to Remove Facebook Friends

This one might be an obvious option for some. Thus, birthing to the term "unfriend," which is used to say that you're deleting a person from your Facebook friends list, according to Interesting Literature.

Despite that, some folks may still not know how to "unfriend" someone on Facebook.

To do so, go to the profile of the user that you wish to remove as a friend, and hover on the "Friends" button, and select "Unfriend."

How to Remove an Instagram Follower

To get rid of your unwanted Instagram followers, it is relatively as easy as how "unfriend" works on Facebook, as per LifeHacker.

However, the steps are a little different.

First, open your Instagram profile from the app of the social media photo-sharing platform.

Then, click on the Followers button to see the list of people following you.

After doing so, you may now browse your followers and tap on the "Remove" button next to their name.

Read Also: TikTok is Now the Social Media Platform With the Most Watch Time Per User in the US and UK, Overtaking YouTube

How to Remove a TikTok Follower

Just like the older counterparts of TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, the video-sharing platform also provides its users an option to get rid of their followers. And yet again, it works without needing to click that block button.

To do so, go to your follower list on the TikTok app found on your "Me" page. Then, click the three dots option found on the name of the user following you. After which, tap the "Remove this follower" button.

Related Article: Facebook Plans to Forcibly Change Your Profile-This is FB's Warning to Those Violating Its Rules and Regulations

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Silicon Accra's David Osei is aiming to bring foreign businesses into Africa's soil and technology industry scene, attesting that the African tech landscape would soon grow into a massive business. The opportunity to do this is now and has been calling mostly on American tech companies to invest their businesses in the country.

It was known that Jack Dorsey, the CEO, and Founder of Twitter, has revealed his plans to relocate to Africa and start the business of social media there. However, it was soon foiled and discontinued.

Africa is still one of the destinations for wildlife encounters but is evolving to be a tech landscape in the world.

David Osei: The CEO Aiming to Transform Africa's Tech Landscape

David Osei is the CEO of the Silicon Accra Technology City, and the company's initiative is to invite businesses to the country, and in turn, would be a place where they could set up tech startups. The deal would have to purchase land to erect a building, and here, the company would be having a complex of their own.

The goal is to build up businesses that operate in Africa, and it would help in bringing people to invest in the country. It would also help in boosting the economy of the African continent, soon to develop better than it was previously known for.

The CEO is also aiming to promote a partnership with Ghanian companies from foreign investors and expand their businesses in a mutual collaboration or partnership.

Read Also: Deezer Podcast Tab Now Covers Asia, Africa, and Oceania

Silicon Accra and David Osei

It is known that a Google-backed research center called "AIMS" has already signed up for this, and would soon relocate to the Silicon Accra Technology City. Osei's initiative is to better Africa's tech landscape, focusing on improving its innovations and development within the country's industry.

Dropifi and Osei said that this is the perfect time to invest in Africa, as the country is on the verge of developing its technological landscape. The CEO also said that the country has a promising development that is rapidly changing for the better.

Not only would a partnership be made between the American and African companies, but the chance to expand learning and knowledge to both parties.

Africa's Technology

Osei said that Africa's technology is rapidly improving, and the collaboration between foreign companies would better it, more for everyone's use and purpose.

No technology was specified by Osei, but the Silicon Accra Technology City would be one, as it aims to make a place an advanced one, something which is apparent in other places in the US.

Silicon Valley is a place in California where most tech companies have initially started, making a name for itself as the birthplace of different innovations and inventions. David Osei's goal is to somehow model Silicon Accra after the popular Californian valley.

Related Article: Elon Musk Agrees Tesla is 'The Most American Car Out There'-Fans Want Production to Happen in US

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Image from Unsplash Website) How to Reverse Image Search on Android and iOS | Mobile Tracking

Ever so often, certain images come across online that make the viewers very curious as to where they come from. Learning how to reverse image search on Android and iOS fixes this problem and helps users know where an image would most likely come from.

Google Reverse Image Search

According to the story by Mashable, depending on what type of mobile browser users are using, it might actually not be immediately obvious how to do a simple reverse image search on mobile. The simplest solution that can be done is to download and easily use Google's Chrome browser for Android and iOS.

This particular browser already has a quick and easy built-in method that can be used to carry out a reverse image search. The simple process of reverse image searching on Android and iOS can be done following the steps below.

How to Reverse Image Search on Android and iOS

The Google Search by Image feature can be very useful when trying to carry out a reverse image search. This would allow users to easily look for related images through uploading the image or even the image URL. Reverse image search for scams can be very helpful to spot which news is true and which is not.

On desktop, the process is much simpler and can be done by going onto images.google.com and simply clicking on the camera icon in the search bar. Users can either paste a URL for an image that they have seen online, upload a certain image from their hard drive, or, even easier, simply drag an image into the search box.

Google Reverse Image Searching on Android or iOS

For those that want to reverse image search on Android or iOS on either a phone or a tablet, users would still need to download the Google Chrome browser for the respective operating systems. The browsers are reportedly free to download on either the App Store for Apple and Google Play for Android.

When users are on their phone through the Chrome browsing app and simply find a certain image that they like to look up, all they need to do is simply press and hold the image. In the menu that will appear on the screen once they have clicked the long press, users can simply click on the "Search Google for This Image." Google will then carry out its advanced "Search by Image" functionality.

Read Also: How to Turn On Google Search Dark Mode Coming Soon | Feature Coming Soon

Looking for Image Sources Online

For users trying to look for images online, there are also some third-party apps that can be used in order to look for the source of an image. This, of course, still depends on the image since some images can be harder to search for compared to others.

The Google Photos app has been improving image search with the help of some additional features. Although this might not help users find the source of an image, it gives users a better search experience.

Related Article: FAA Bans Specific Apple MacBook Pro Model on US Flights | Find Out Which Model

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Written by Urian B.

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Facebook has a program for VIPs called "XCheck" or "cross check," something which was reported earlier today by the Wall Street Journal. The report claims that Facebook has exemptions for politicians, celebrities, and other popular personalities with regards to following the rules or guidelines of social media, which people are compelled to follow.

The big blue social media has recently given people several options to remain anonymous in groups while posting, and it has made way to send in unlabelled reviews or tips online.

However, it seems like that is not the only thing that has the power to get away with certain things, as the new report is coming down on Facebook, hard.

Facebook XCheck: VIP Treatment and Exemptions

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, some reports pointed out to "XCheck" or the so-called "cross check" program gives a free pass to known personalities or powerful individuals from its rules. Yes, these VIPs consisting of celebrities, politicians, influencers, and more have been exempted by the strict Rules or Community Guidelines by social media.

Initially, Facebook has attested that they enforce the same law on every person on the internet, despite having a legitimate account status or is managed by the personality themselves.

One great example of this would be the ban of Donald Trump (now a 2-year suspension), after his stint as the President of the United States.

However, while the company banned one of the most popular people in the country, other VIPs or personalities get away with what they do, post, or say online. WSJ reports that this has been evident for a long-time now and goes against what CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg has previously claimed with regards to its rules and regulations.

Read Also: Facebook Has Been Found Giving Academics Researchers Incomplete Data, Report Says

What is Cross Check or XCheck?

Cross Check or "XCheck" is a special exemptions program on the social media platform of Facebook, one where a certain person would not be subject to its rules and content. No one would find this, even if they search for it via the social media's features or other places, but WSJ claims that this is legitimate from Facebook.

Is There Really an XCheck?

Facebook has initially confirmed the existence of cross check, and what it does is that it receives the complaint, report, or violation of a VIP account, and there, a Facebook employee would check.

WSJ claims that there have been no significant reviews or apprehensions made by the "cross check" team and that no one has been punished despite the violations made by that said "VIP."

Cross check changes the way people view Facebook, especially as it gives a "special treatment" to certain people or personalities, despite claiming against this.

Nevertheless, Facebook is now under close watch for this, giving the public something new to think about against the company and its many controversies now.

Related Article: Here's How to Remove Friends/Followers on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram Without Blocking

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
"Monster Mob," a collection of monster-themed NFTs, is set to go on public sale on September 14.

It joins other NFT collections that will be available for minting on the said date, including "The Order of the Shadows," "The Bear Market," and the "Degen Gang" presale.

There are a total of 7,777 "Monster Mob" NFTs available for minting, but 777 have already been made available during the presale.

"Monster Mob" is the newest addition to the numerous digital art NFTs hitting the market as of late.

'Monster Mob' NFTs to go on Public Sale

"Monster Mob" NFTs are scheduled for launch in a public sale on September 14. The public sale is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. EST, per the "Monster Mob" Twitter announcement. Each NFT can be minted for 0.07 Ethereum (ETH).

According to the "Monster Mob" official website, the NFT collection is made up of "programmatically randomly generated NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain made up of over 150 hand-drawn features."

As is the case with all NFT collections, each "Monster Mob" NFT is unique, and no two monsters are ever alike. Randomly generated assets and features include the monster's head, mouth, nose, eyes, accessories, clothes, tattoos, and more.

What Else Can be Expected From 'Monster Mob'?

According to the "Monster Mob" website, "Every Monster will grant the holders access to exclusive experiences in the metaverse and in real life."

Those who will end up owning "Monster Mob" NFTs can expect a community wallet to be opened in the future. This community wallet can be used to fund buybacks as well as community development projects.

The developer of the NFT collection also plans on introducing real-world experiences for the NFT owners.

"We will open physical locations around the world where Monster Mobs can co-mingle in real life and drink on the house," the official website reads.

Digital Art NFTs

"Monster Mob" is just one of the many new additions to the growing list of digital art NFTs in the market. NFTs do not necessarily have to come in the form of digital art, but it seems that this type is arguably the most popular among minters as of late.

Digital art NFTs come in different designs and themes these days, ranging from animal NFTs and monster NFTs to food NFTs and even rock NFTs.

Animal NFTs seem to be a popular choice these days. Examples of dog NFTs include "SIPHER" and the Dogecoin-inspired NFT collection "DogeX." A popular example of cat NFTs is "CryptoKitties."

Related Article: Panda Fight Club NFTs to go on Sale Sept. 13, NFT Game to Arrive Later This Year

If you are looking for monster NFTs like "Monster Mob," "CryptoPunks" and its zombie NFTs just might fit the bill.

Other cool themed NFT collections available in the market right now include the sushi NFTs of "Sushiverse" and the rock NFT collection called "EtherRock."

Also Read: NFT of a Rock, EtherRock, Sells for MORE than a Million Dollars-HIGHEST Price for the JPEG Cartoon [UPDATE]

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Written by Isabella James

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
NASA Artemis Moon mission is getting ready for its soon spaceflight, but before that, it needs to test its spacesuit's fabric, as it needs to be safe and protective. The space agency is using ballistic air guns and mock space rocks against certain fabrics to ensure they would survive and keep the astronauts safe on the lunar surface.

SpaceX has initially offered their services to create the spacesuits for NASA's upcoming Artemis mission, as it would take them less than the initial budget to be able to create one for the agency.

NASA's SLS would soon bring the astronauts back to the moon after several years, and it would soon create history if it is ready by 2024.

NASA Artemis' Spacesuits Tests via Ballistic Air Guns

NASA's Artemis Moon mission is set for 2024, and preparations for all of the things needed are already underway, and one of the most important things to consider is what the astronauts would soon wear. According to NASA, spacesuits are of utmost importance to the mission, as they would protect the astronauts from dangers of the lunar surface.

The space agency is currently manufacturing the spacesuits and has been on the verge of selecting its fabric that would be robust and durable enough to withstand the harsh conditions up there.

NASA said that it had brought the fabrics to Glenn Research Center's Ballistics Impact Lab, where it would receive a treatment that resembles the Moon's conditions and other factors. The national space agency notes that the Moon has no air, and has a lot of micrometeorites that fly around and hit the person at incredible speeds of up to 22,000 miles per hour.

That being said, it would be very dangerous for astronauts to venture to the Moon without the proper equipment and suits, as it could be life and death despite facing only rocks that fly rapidly.

Glenn's ballistic air guns are 40-foot long and can fire objects at around 3,000 feet per second, making it a famous site to test the integrity of items for a mission.

Read Also: NASA Warp Drive Explained in the Simplest Possible Terms

NASA: Spacesuits for the Moon

Spacesuits for the moon have been tricky to manufacture, especially as budget is a massive concern, and its delivery date was initially said to not reach the target deadline by 2024. NASA's Office of Inspector General's recent report has said that the team developing the spacesuits is nearly exhausting its funds.

For now, NASA sticks with their chosen manufacturer and team for the spacesuits and is not opting for the help of external companies, including the likes of SpaceX. The space agency's spacesuits would improve drastically compared to that of the Apollo, which used the old-fashioned technology.

Why Does the Moon Need Special Suits?

The Moon is a place that has no air, is dusty, and has a lot of rocks that could damage ships and other objects, not to mention spacesuits of astronauts. The harsh conditions of the satellite do not make it ideal to live on and remain only a partner to the Earth.

Related Article: NASA Selects SpaceX for GOES-U Mission After ULA Withdraws Contract

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Written by Isaiah Richard

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Lithium-sulfur batteries are hailed as the "next generation" for the amount of power they can hold compared to conventional lithium-ion ones. However, they have one major Achilles heel: they don't last long.

However, some scientists might've found a way to solve that problem. ABC News Australia recently reported that modern lithium-sulfur batteries could, according to researchers, be more efficient and cheaper to make just by adding sugar.

Yes, you read that right: the one thing that makes your coffee not taste like dirt could be used to improve electronic devices in the near future. Furthermore, the efficiency improvements could be big enough to enable electric vehicles to drive from Melbourne to Sydney on just a single charge.

Here's a bit of perspective for you: a car drive from Melbourne to Sydney will take over 9 hours to complete. That's like driving from Los Angeles to Utah non-stop, at a distance of over 540 miles. For an EV to complete that roadtrip on a single charge is incredibly amazing.

That's because lithium-sulfur batteries have the capacity to store two to five times more power per kilogram (2 lbs) than their lithium-ion counterparts.

Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: An Improbable Solution

Contrary to what you might believe, lithium-sulfur batteries aren't exactly new tech. The technology that allows the manufacture of these batteries has been talked about within the scientific field for years now, even as far back as 2015.

The durability problems of such a battery had already been evident by that time, too, which is why a team of researchers from the Monash University in Melbourne looked for and eventually found an answer in a 30-year-old geochemistry paper: sugar.

Read Also: Battery In Development That Will Survive At -112 F

How Does Sugar Help?

There are two main problems, but only one involves the sugar method. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur cells store energy via an electrode made of sulfur particles, which absorb positively charged lithium ions.

However, using a sulfur electrode can cause the formation of polysulfides, which can lead to a so-called "mossy growth" in the batteries' anodes (aka charging terminals). This, in turn, will degrade the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries over time.

The paper they used as reference which was published in the late 80s, described the incorporation of a "glucose-based additive" (glucose in this case literally means sugar) into the batteries' cathode matrices that managed to "stabilize" the sulfur. In turn, the sulfur was prevented from coating the charging terminals over time.

What Does This Mean for the Future of Lithium-Ion Batteries?

With the sugar solution (and another that significantly improved the durability of the sulfur electrode under duress), the scientists claim to have improved the longevity of lithium-sulfur batteries to at least 200 charge cycles. But of course, they want to go beyond that (likely at least match those of lithium-ion cells).

Should the technology progress enough, experts believe that mass integration into EVs, smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices could be achievable within ten years, according to The EU Research and Innovation Magazine.

Related Article: New Designer Carbon Means Better Energy Storage And Better Batteries

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Written by RJ Pierce

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple has mentioned "Privateer Space," which will focus on future space ventures.

Besides focusing on technology, the Cupertino giant designer is gearing up for a different take on his recent startup: a space garbage company

Steve Wozniak Speaks About Privateer Space Company

According to a report by Digital Trends earlier this week, Apple's Steve Wozniak has recently tweeted that he will be starting a private space company that will be different from other startups.

Following his mysterious tweet that baffled some fans, the teaser that looked like an Apple ad came out. The short clip reminded the humans to work together for what is right and good.

A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others. https://t.co/6s8J32mjuF  Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) September 13, 2021

At the end of the video, the text "sky is no longer the limit" flashed on the screen. This hinted that Wozniak, together with Ripcord's Alex Fielding, collaborated to launch Privateer, a space-centered startup.

The collaboration with Fielding is not the first joint venture of Wozniak with him. The former, who is the CEO of the robotics company, also turned out to be a former Apple engineer.

In 2001, Wozniak and Fielding came up with the WoZ (Wheels of Zeus) startup that focused on tracking the physical location of misplaced objects. Five years later, the duo decided to sell it to Zontrak.

How Different is Privateer From SpaceX and Blue Origin?

Private space firms with the likes of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and even Virgin Galactic have only one common mission: to promote space tourism for private people. These companies, which were started by the biggest names in the tech industry, are focused on giving space travel for the people.

However, that's not the case for Steve Wozniak's Privateer.

As Wozniak mentioned, the upcoming space startup will be different from the previously mentioned private space companies. Based on the clip, we could assume that Privateer Space has a different take on its space service.

As per Gizmodo, Privateer is said to be a "satellite company" that will monitor and clean space junks. Wozniak assured that the team is doing everything to achieve the capabilities for the design for their satellite.

The Independent mentioned in its report that over the last decade, the number of defunct satellites has been escalating. Before 2030 starts, there will be nearly 100,000 satellites in space.

Read Also: NASA GOES-U Mission: Elon Musk's SpaceX Wins Contract; Falcon Heavy Rocket to Fly in April 2024

Space Junk Cleaning

So far, we know that space debris counts as pollution that happens in space. Back in July, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that he would soon clean up the surrounding space debris that will be an obstacle to future space trips.

Since the space junks continue to rise in numbers, SpaceX aims to pick some debris through its Starship.

Last year, Japan said that there's a way to reduce the metal debris in space. By using wooden satellites, Sumitomo Forestry and Kyoto University researchers believed that these kinds of satellites will solve the clogging population of metal debris in space.

Related Article: SpaceX Adds Two Recovery Ships, at Least One to be Used for Inspiration4 Mission

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tangipahoa Parish schools are reversing plans to welcome students back this week for the first time since Hurricane Ida shut them down in late August, as a new storm threatens to flood parts of the Baton Rouge area  hindering repairs still underway after the first one.

Due to the rain and potential flooding expected from Hurricane Nicholas and the interruption of repairs to our buildings due to heavy rains, we will not reopen our schools this week as planned, the district said in a statement Tuesday.

Few students changing schools after Hurricane Ida, but there's a long road to recovery Early indications suggest that Hurricane Ida is not  or at least not yet  causing many families in the most affected areas of southeast Loui

The K-12 district had planned to welcome students back beginning Wednesday via a staggered reopening plan, the district said on Saturday. Most parish roads had been cleared, schools freezers had been restocked so students would have ready access to food and all 32 campuses in the district had regained power.

But Tropical Storm Nicholas approach from the Gulf of Mexico threatened that progress Tuesday. After making landfall late Monday on the central Texas Gulf Coast, Nicholas could dump up to 20 inches of rain in Texas and more than eight inches across parts of Louisiana through Thursday morning, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center said.

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Springfield schools cleared to open after Hurricane Ida as Livingston Parish campuses regain power Three Springfield schools closed in Hurricane Ida's aftermath will reopen to students Wednesday, leaving only one school in Livingston Parish 

Heavy rain bands will create flash flooding risk across the Tangipahoa school districts area, school officials noted in explaining the schedule change. Between 5 and 10 inches of rain are possible along the I-10 and I-12 corridor and south of those thoroughfares. And somewhere between 4 and 6 inches could fall in the northern reaches of the parish.

The district apologized Tuesday for the ongoing closures, but said student and employee safety are priorities.

Now, the district plans tentatively to reopen all schools to students on Sept. 21. School employees will report  tentatively  on Monday.
For days after Hurricane Ida tore into Louisiana, a heaving mass of backed-up water and shattered debris churned in the usually tranquil swamps of Lake Maurepas, keeping George Bennett from his home.

By this past weekend, two weeks after the storm hit, the waters had gone down enough for the 70-year-old to boat out to the house on Jones Island, where, pre-hurricane, he usually spent four days each week fishing.

As he headed out, Bennett already had a good idea what he would find. His nephew had braved the high waters a few days earlier to snap pictures of the house.

The little blue A-frame structure sat askew, some 20 yards off of its foundation, as its owner sifted through splintered planks and home appliances that Ida had strewn around the swamp. Its roof was mangled by Idas howling winds and eight-foot storm surge.

Torn from its hinges, an otherwise-intact blue shed door lay on a heaping pile of muddy swamp grass. Two other homes that the storm had ripped from the ground formed a trio with Bennetts by the water.

The fisherman sounded at turns desperate and determined as he surveyed the wreckage. Even after a lifetime in South Louisiana, he was unprepared for Idas fury. His voice breaking, he acknowledged that he had no insurance policy to cover the cost of raw materials and home goods needed to rebuild  a grueling task in this lakeshore community accessible only by boat.

Bennett has been coming to Manchac since he was a boy in the 1960s. In 1978 he built the camp, and for the past eight years the house has served as more or less his full time home. Theres no question he will rebuild.

This is life here, he said. You get torn down, you rebuild. Aint nothing else you can do if you want to be here.

Of roughly 200 homes built into the isolated expanse of swampland between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain, Ida blew around 30 off of their foundations. The storm that hit this area packed 100-plus mile-per-hour gusts and heavy storm surge. Many other houses lost roofs, porches, sheds, doors and furniture as the swamp sank under eight feet of water and waves battered their homes, most of which sit above the swamp on stilts.

It was a signature event for Manchac, said Robert Moreau, an environmental historian and research director at Southeastern Universitys Turtle Cove research center in Manchac.

+5 Outside the levees: Despite massive projects, some feel vulnerable  particularly after Ida Louisiana has spent billions of dollars building levees around lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, protecting urban and suburban areas from floo

The severe winds caught even longtime residents off guard. They produced destruction that outpaced Hurricane Isaac in 2012, the last major disaster to hit the area, but one mostly remembered for its flooding.

As levees rise in nearby communities  but not on Lake Maurepas  and climate change batters the Louisiana coast with ever-more-powerful storms, lakeshore residents like those in Manchac are wondering who will save them from the next big storm.

A mix of tiny, sagging fishing huts and more spacious vacation camps raised high above the water on stilts, Manchac is home to a tight-knit community of people  most of them middle and working class  who often have generational ties to the area. Like Bennett, most residents live here part-time. About 30 who make a year-round living by fishing on the lakes call the swamp their permanent home.

Everything from food to materials to repair houses needs to be boated in. Even by the standards of South Louisiana, its a precarious place to call home.

When the water comes up so fast, it just lifts up the houses that arent bolted down strong enough, said Greg Pizzolato, whose camp sits north of Bennetts.

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+2 Hurricane Ida hit Tangipahoa Parish hard. Its leaders say its recovery is inching forward Nearly 73% of Tangipahoa Parish still didn't have power Monday after it was slammed by Hurricane Ida, but local leaders said they are starting

Built on a quiet canal off a main waterway, Pizzolattos camp was rendered inaccessible by a towering pile of matted swamp grass, timber, and corrugated metal scraps. The tons of debris clogging the swamp could take months to be cleared, Moreau said.

Pizzolatos house itself was left untouched  part of a trend where the storm battered homes in some pockets of the swamp harder than others.

You just cant explain it, said Kim Coates, a Tangipahoa Parish council member whose district encompasses Manchac.

He's willing to clear out the canal himself even if it takes days, Pizzolato said.

Rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina to weather powerful storms, the Turtle Cove research center survived Ida with minor cosmetic damages, Moreau said. Nearly three feet of water poured into the building, compared to the foot-and-a-half of liquid caused by Isaac.

Echoing residents like Bennett, Moreau called Ida the most destructive weather event to touch down in Manchac in recent history  a result he attributes to rapid global warming caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

Were seeing more and more storms, and stronger and stronger storms, Moreau said. And due to climate change, were expected to see even stronger storms as ocean waters get even warmer. Hurricanes love warm water.

The Tangipahoa Parish Council is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Emergency Management Agency put a barge on the swamp to help with clearing metal, shattered timber and other wreckage from the debris-logged swamp water, Coates said.

The refuse was everywhere Saturday, stacked up on peoples' porches, on the shoreline, on boats and rooftops  a mix of human-made artifacts and twisted swamp flora. Pieces of plaster from shattered walls floated among uprooted weeds. Its mouth open wide, a four-foot alligator sunned on a board near the lakeshore.

+10 Blue roofs approved for nine more parishes hit by Ida, including East Baton Rouge Homeowners in East Baton Rouge Parish and nine other parishes have been authorized to get free, temporary roofs in the wake of Hurricane Ida, 

Randy Hills' camp on North Pass lost windows taken out by the winds, a back shed that was flattened by a tree and several of his roof's shingles.

As he worked to clear pile after pile of brush from his dock and yard, he said he counted himself lucky.

It depends how much you like living here, said Hills. In our case, we love it. So were going to rebuild.
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.
Pay TV and streaming company Foxtel breached local broadcasting rules when it promoted a betting service and odds during a live AFL match between Geelong and Hawthorn earlier this year.

Australias media watchdog has ruled Foxtel breached the subscription broadcast code of practice when it ran the segment from a wagering partner on Easter Monday. The ruling has coincided with a push by gambling giant Tabcorp to impose tougher restrictions on gambling ads that appear during live sport.

The advertisement ran during a live broadcast of the Easter Monday match between Hawthorn and Geelong. Credit:Getty Images

Under restrictions implemented by the Turnbull government in 2018, the broadcasting rules prevent a licensee from broadcasting a betting advertisement or promoting betting odds from five minutes before a live sport commences, until five minutes after. But on April 5, a gambling promotion ran at 4:30pm during an AFL match between Geelong and Hawthorn, Foxtel self-reported the breach to the Australian Communications and Media Authority following a complaint from a viewer.

ACMA chair Nerida OLoughlin said it was disappointing that the promotion went to air.
Proponents of a controversial coal mine planned for a rich farming area north-west of Sydney have had their appeal against an earlier rejection dismissed by the courts, raising the prospect the project will be scrapped.

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday dismissed the appeal by Korean energy giant KEPCO which is seeking to build a so-called greenfield coal mine in the Bylong Valley.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against an earlier rejection of a coal mine planned for the Bylong Valley north-west of Sydney. Credit:Brendan Esposito

The Independent Planning Commission had dismissed the plan for a 6.5 million tonne a year mine two years ago, and a previous court appeal was also rejected in part because of the climate change impacts of digging up the fossil fuel.

KEPCO was also ordered to pay the court costs of the Bylong Valley Protection Alliance, which had fought against the mine proposal for years.
Victorian health authorities have flagged COVID-19 wastewater detections on the states Surf Coast.

The Chief Health Officers update, issued on Wednesday evening, said coronavirus had been detected in wastewater at Fairhaven and Aireys Inlet.

The period of interest was Tuesday, September 7 to Monday, September 13.

The update also warned there had been repeated wastewater detections in the regional city of Ballarat dating back to August 30, some of which were expected.

However, of particular interest were strong and unexpected detections in the suburbs of Delacombe, Sebastopol South, and Bonshaw.

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The period of interest for those detections was Sunday, September 12 to Tuesday, September 14.

The detections could be the result of a person in the area who has recovered from COVID-19 but is still shedding the virus, or they could be an undiscovered new case, the Chief Health Officers update said.

Anyone who lives, works or has visited those areas is urged to watch for the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms and get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop.

In case you missed it, we reported earlier that Ballarat will be placed into a week-long lockdown at 11.59pm on Wednesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews said on Wednesday afternoon Ballarat was of concern due to multiple wastewater detections in the region that were not accounted for by the four known cases in the city.
Its true that we learn very early to be robust in dealing with furious reactions in private phone calls and emails from the subjects of our journalism. But as those of us who report on media know, that is not the whole story. Journalists ARE thin-skinned, sometimes ridiculously so, when they are criticised in public. Too often they react like stung cats, lashing out and defensive. Once, media organisations could largely control this kind of criticism. I used to sit in The Age newsroom next to the man who edited the letters to the editor page. His judgment was final. There was no appeal, no alternative channel. What he called the circular filing cabinet  his waste bin  was liberally used.

That has changed. Journalists are now subjected to constant scrutiny on how they do their jobs. Adding to this is the live screening of major news events  such as the daily COVID press conferences  which is still a relatively new phenomenon. Journalists are being criticised, sometimes unfairly, for doing their jobs in real time. But some of the criticism has been fair. Some journalists  and Sales has been criticised for this  have gone beyond questioning and taken a stance against public health measures. When we are living with the kind of intrusion on human rights that lockdowns represent, it is right to question. But not, unless there is evidence, to suggest the measures have been imposed in bad faith. Journalists at a press conference held by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Credit:Getty Images What the public cant see is all the other work that good journalists do behind the scenes  the background conversations and briefings that inform how they write and report and ask questions. Nevertheless, given they cant reveal their sources, journalists are basically asking that they be trusted. On social media, as in life, trust is built through a history of interactions. Journalists who do not interact are missing a professional opportunity.

Finally, when it comes to journalism, Twitter is particularly important because it is not like other social media platforms. The best source of data on how Australians access news is the annual digital news report, put out by the University of Canberras News and Media Research Centre. Twitter users are particularly news-aware and engaged. Credit:istock Leigh Sales quotes data from the ABCs Australia Talks survey to assert that only 6 per cent of Australians use Twitter regularly. The University of Canberra figures suggest that is closer to 18 per cent  but these general figures obscure important details. The Digital News Report data shows Twitter users are particularly news-aware and engaged.

They are more likely to use Twitter mainly for news, whereas Facebook and YouTube users come across news incidentally. Loading Twitter users are more likely than other social media users to follow mainstream media outlets and journalists, and less likely to get their news from social media personalities and influencers. Importantly, at a time when persuading people to pay for news is crucial to the survival of serious journalism, Twitter users are much more likely to be already paying subscriptions. The lead author of the digital news report, Professor Sora Park, tells me the data shows 27 per cent of Twitter users pay for news, compared to just 13 per cent of the general Australian population.

By comparison, only 14 per cent of Facebook and YouTube users pay for news, although the user bases are much larger. (Park emphasises that sample sizes are small once cross-tabulated, so the data should be treated as indicative rather than precise.) Loading In other words, the more serious contributors on Twitter are exactly the kind of people serious media organisations most want to attract. All this means that news organisations and individual journalists need to think much more seriously about how to engage with Twitter and social media more generally. Instead, a constant swathe of legal problems, Twitter spats and bruised participants shows we are too much at sea. Media organisations need to provide social media-specific resources, training and support instead of leaving their journalists on their own and without help on this new publishing platform.
Queensland has recorded one new local case of COVID-19 in another student linked to the current Sunnybank cluster, with authorities more confident they have contained the outbreak.

The case is a 15-year-old girl who also attends St Thomas More College in Brisbane where a case emerged last week.

The girl is in a different family from the ones who have already been affected, but all 1000 families connected to the school are in isolation, and the girl was not infectious in the community.

Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the result was wonderful, and suggested that the state had contained the cluster.
A 62-year-old man has died in an underground mine collapse in central Queensland, while another trapped in the mine was freed and airlifted to hospital.

Emergency services, including critical care and a rescue helicopter, were called to the site north of Emerald about 12am on Wednesday, after a section of the Sojitz Gregory Crinum Coal Mine in which they were working collapsed.

The RACQ Capricorn Rescue Helicopter flew a 25-year-old man in a serious but stable condition with crush injuries to his legs and pelvis to Rockhampton Base Hospital.

It is believed that he was trapped in rubble for over four hours before emergency services were able to pull him out, an RACQ Capricorn Rescue Helicopter spokeswoman said.
A motivational speaker and author whose baby daughter drowned in a bath has had a charge of child homicide against her withdrawn by prosecutors.

Fiori Giovanni, 36, was to stand trial over the death of her seven-month-old daughter, Illen Bellinger, in a Southbank apartment on July 18 last year. Ms Giovanni had pleaded not guilty to child homicide, an offence similar to manslaughter that applies only when the victim is younger than six years old.

Fiori Giovanni has had a charge of child homicide discontinued. Credit:Instagram

But in an administrative hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, prosecutors confirmed they had discontinued the charge. Prosecutors did not outline the reasons behind the decision.

Judicial registrar Tim Freeman told Ms Giovanni she was discharged and free to leave, and she replied, Thank you, your honour. She was on bail.
Civil aviation in Australia was carried another step forward yesterday, when the A.N.A. Skymaster Warana took off from Laverton at 4 p.m. on the first flight of the Australia-Canada service.

Calling at Sydney, Fiji, Canton Island, Honolulu and San Francisco, the plane is scheduled to arrive at Vancouver at 5 p.m. on Tuesday Australian time. The trans-Pacific service will at first be fortnightly, but the frequency is expected to be increased at an early date.

Crowds gather to watch the first passengers on the Australia-Canada service. Credit:The Age Archives

The Skymaster carried 30 passengers, including brides of American and Canadian ex-servicemen. It also took the largest consignment of air mail ever to be carried from Australia to Canada.

Passengers destined for the United States, instead of disembarking at San Francisco, will have to travel on to Vancouver and return to San Francisco by a local air service.

This is because the Australian and American Governments have not yet reached an agreement on reciprocal landing rights. A.N.A. will not be permitted to pick up or disembark passengers at either Honolulu or San Francisco.
The inner-city groups motion is an attempt to put pressure on the Andrews government and the Victorian branch of the education union, neither of which have committed to mandatory vaccinations for teachers. This is unlike NSW, where school staff must be vaccinated by November 8. The inner-Melbourne teachers are pushing the union  which is holding a postal ballot on whether to take industrial action against the Andrews government over pay and conditions  to take a harder line on vaccinations and include COVID safer class sizes in its negotiations with the government over an enterprise bargaining agreement. The motion is also due to be put on Wednesday to the unions Broadmeadows region, which covers schools in Melbournes outer north-west where the Delta variant outbreak is most severe. We want to avoid the pandemic of the unvaccinated and to protect our students, including our own children, young people and families, from any undue harm caused by COVID variants now and in the future, as well as from the documented risks of long COVID, the motion states.

Loading Felicity Marlowe, a union representative for education support staff and the student wellbeing co-ordinator at Princes Hill Secondary College, said staff were due back in classrooms full of VCE students by early October, but the government was yet to release a plan for term 4. There are many schools that require an urgent audit ventilation and airflow, Ms Marlowe said, citing her school as an example. In a school of 900 students, we are three storeys, weve got shared locker bays, staff rooms and really crowded corridors and stairwells, I cannot see how we could safely bring everybody back. Ms Marlowe said school staff had a duty of care to provide a safe learning environment where children could learn.

As employees we want to make sure that we can work in the safest workspace possible and while theres been promises made, we just need to have more confidence that we can work and teach and support young people in a safe space. Mr Merlino said the government did not yet have a plan to impose mandatory vaccinations, but was working through a range of industries and sectors where staff vaccinations may be a requirement. My view on vaccination: its our pathway through this pandemic, he said. Whether youre a teacher, whether youre an education support staff member or a student, get vaccinated. He said 20,000 VCE students, VCE teachers and exam assessors had booked a jab in the states current VCE vaccination blitz ahead of exams in October and November.

Loading The government aims to provide an opportunity for all children aged 12 and over to receive at least one vaccine dose by the end of the school year. Its also provided schools with a vaccine communications toolkit to help the state reach its target of 1 million jabs by September 19. The toolkit includes a range of materials for students aged 12 and over, including social media content, a poster, web banners, newsletter templates and frequently asked questions. Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said she had consistently said that schools should only return to on-site learning when its safe to do so and in accordance with the health advice.

We have encouraged, and will keep encouraging our members to get vaccinated as soon as possible, as the best way to protect themselves, their families and their communities from COVID-19, Ms Peace said. Meanwhile, Tina King, acting president of the Australian Principals Federation, said some schools had received legal threats for sending out government emails encouraging student vaccinations. Schools are becoming targeted by anti-vaxxers who have taken umbrage to the emails, saying they have no right to pass them on, Ms King said. They are contacting schools saying, What are your medical qualifications?

One email states: Any act of social manipulation or psychological pressure encouraging vaccine uptake in minors, students, or employees, whether directly, or indirectly, or other behaviour aimed at downplaying vaccine risk and shaming vaccine hesitancy under the pretext of promoting community safety is unconscionable. Shayne Rule is principal of Lakeview Senior College in Caroline Springs, which will provide vaccines to students and staff this week. Mr Rule said he had heard some complaints from parents about promoting vaccines, but some of the opposition had diminished when it was made clear to parents that this [jab] was not compulsory. Mr Rule said the issue was probably more contentious for the families of students aged 12 to 15 because anyone over 16 did not need parental permission for vaccines.
A man has been arrested after two women were killed in a crash involving a semi-trailer in Victorias west on Tuesday afternoon.

The semi-trailer crashed into the rear of a car turning into a rest stop about 12.20pm on the Western Highway at Laharum, about 40 kilometres south of Horsham, Victoria Police allege.

The scene of the crash near Horsham on Tuesday that left two women dead. Credit:Nine News

The car was allegedly pushed into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with another vehicle. The female driver, a 71-year-old from Horsham, of the oncoming car and the female passenger, 42, of the turning car died at the scene, while the 36-year-old male driver of the turning vehicle sustained life-threatening injuries.

Ambulance Victoria said paramedics attended the scene and the male driver was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Loading Thats why we as an industry, us and the employers and the employer organisations have had a massive advertising blitz on promoting vaccination, and were all for vaccination, and we are pushing it [and] are encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. Mr Setka rejected suggestions it has become rare for masks to be worn properly by construction workers. Thats incorrect, its mandatory on sites, theyve got to wear masks, he said. He said reports of a lack of masks could stem from workers who are out the front of sites having a cigarette.

The debate comes as Victoria recorded 445 new cases of COVID-19 and two deaths, including a Hume man in his 20s and a woman in her 80s from Brimbank. Health Department deputy secretary Kate Matson said the young man died at home and had not been identified as a positive case until a post-mortem was performed. She said investigations would continue into his death and work was going on to find out who he lived with and to support his contacts. It is not known if he had underlying health conditions.

The woman in her 80s died in the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she had been admitted as a COVID-19 patient. Deputy Premier and Minister for Mental Health James Merlino said of the 158 people in hospital with COVID-19, 91 per cent were not vaccinated and 8 per cent were partially vaccinated. Just one person was fully vaccinated, he said. He said the state was inching closer to its 70 per cent first dose target, needing only another 36,000 first doses to be administered as almost 67.5 per cent of Victorians aged 16 or over have had at least one shot.

Of the new cases, 129 have so far been linked to existing patients and clusters and three cases have emerged in regional areas, including a person on the Surf Coast linked to the V/Line cluster but who had been in isolation for their entire infectious period, a person in Ballarat who works in construction in Melbourne, and a person in Mitchell Shire who works in one of the suburbs of concern. An outbreak of COVID-19 at a Melbourne school has also grown by four cases, following reports the principal invited parents to send their children to school during lockdowns. Ms Matson told the states COVID press conference this morning that the outbreak at the Fitzroy Community School has reached 33 cases. The 33 cases were a mixture of students, parents, teachers and household contacts, she said.

It comes as The Age reveals the states school regulatory authority is investigating the school for breaching its legal duty to keep children safe and Mr Merlino called the principals actions irresponsible. Weve got more than 2200 schools in Victoria, thats more than 1 million students. Imagine if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one, imagine that, he said. Imagine the case numbers, imagine the hospitalisations if every single principal was as irresponsible as this one. More than 500 of the states total active cases are children under nine, and 85 per cent of the 3799 active cases are people aged under 60.

Of Victorias active cases: 563 are under nine years of age.

647 are aged 10 to 19.

906 are in their 20s.

603 are in their 30s. Of the 158 currently in hospital with COVID, 45 are in ICU and 23 are on a ventilator. Mr Merlino said 91 per cent were not vaccinated. Mr Merlino announced the state will be spending another $22 million to provide pop-up mental health services with 90 clinicians, opening from the end of September.

Professor Pat McGorry praised increased mental health spending. Credit:Chris Hopkins Mental health expert Pat McGorry said young people are being turned away daily from emergency departments due to hospitals being overwhelmed, a situation exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. The people that are really suffering at the moment are young people, Professor McGorry said. Its an urgent problem and I think the governments announcement today recognises the urgency of the situation. The Department of Health said 42,694 test results came back in the 24 hours to midnight on Monday.

The latest outbreak has peaked at 473 daily cases announced on Monday. There are now 3799 active cases in the state, of which about 13 per cent have been linked to the construction industry. On Monday, Victorian Treasurer and Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas warned that the construction industrys permitted worker status was not guaranteed, following reports of people working maskless. Well do everything that we can to ensure that the construction industry can continue in a COVID-safe way, but I have to say this  employers, unions are on notice. Weve had significant transmission on building sites, and we simply cant afford not to act if that continues to grow, Mr Pallas said.

Nick Brown, co-founder of construction company Icon and the current managing director of Riversdale Co, said mandatory vaccinations will have to be accepted. I think that everybody will accept mandatory vaccinations that have to happen. This is one of those industries where you cant just do things individually, Mr Brown told 3AW. But it wouldnt be without backlash, with Mr Brown saying he has lost workers who refused to get vaccinated for subcontracting jobs. Mr Brown questioned why rapid antigen testing couldnt be introduced for multi-storey sites.

The outbreaks have happened on multi-storey sites where you can have control because you have one entry, you have a lift where people go up; why cant we have rapid antigen testing? he said. Then you know that everybody that youre working with, everybody that you come in contact with, you understand doesnt have COVID. Over the coming week, the state government will open 20,000 priority Pfizer and unlimited AstraZeneca bookings for the states 320,000 construction workers. Teams of officials will also be sent to worksites to crack down on compliance with public health rules. Victoria would become the first jurisdiction in the country to make jabs mandatory for construction workers if it commits to the plan.
When Premier Daniel Andrews releases his much-anticipated road map out of lockdown  expected on Sunday  there are many freedoms we would all like to see flagged. It will no doubt be a cautious plan, as it should be, but Victorians will welcome some clear idea of when and how the state will gradually reopen.

The plan will be important for everyone, but especially for schoolchildren and their parents. We need to see a way forward to return students to school as soon and as safely as possible.

Just because our children are resilient does not mean they should be expected to bear this burden a moment longer than they have to. Credit:iStock

In NSW, there is a blueprint detailing which children will return and when. Year 12s will return full-time on October 25, with all students back from November 8. Victoria needs a similar road map so children and parents know when at least that part of life will return to some form of normality, with safety precautions in place.

Throughout this pandemic our children and their teachers have shown adaptability and good grace. They have endured the limitations of remote learning, a severely curtailed social life and an uncertain future. They have made sacrifices, largely to protect not themselves  for children do seem to be affected less severely by COVID-19  but to reduce the spread among older and more vulnerable members of society.
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.
United States President Joe Biden will address action on climate change when he meets in person with Prime Minister Scott Morrison next week as the federal opposition and national security experts call on the Australian government to increase its emissions reduction targets.

The White House on Tuesday confirmed Mr Biden would host the first-ever leaders summit of the Quad  Australia, the US, Japan and India  in Washington on September 24.

The leaders of the Quad - Australia, the US, India and Japan - Scott Morrison, Joe Biden, Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga. Credit:AP

The Quad leaders will be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical co-operation on areas such as combating COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, the statement said.

Action on climate change has proved to be the one awkward issue for the Morrison government and Biden administration. Jonathan Pershing, deputy to Mr Bidens climate envoy John Kerry, last month said the Australian target of a 26 to 28 per cent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 had been overtaken by events and that it should step forward with a more ambitious effort.
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Political parties could be fined for publishing misleading electoral advertisements and social media giants forced to crack down on fake accounts as part of a Victorian parliamentary committees push to reduce the harm social media does to elections.

A cross-party parliamentary inquiry heard social media had fuelled harassment and bullying through anonymous and fake accounts, with women and minority groups disproportionately targeted.

Parliament wants to curb the influence of social media on elections, Credit:Justin McManus

The electoral matters committee on Tuesday tabled its report on the impact social media has had on Victorian elections and electoral administration, and made 33 recommendations to the Andrews government.
London: Chinas ambassador to the UK has been blocked from visiting the British Parliament in a dramatic escalation of tensions between leading China hawks and the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle revoked an invitation to Zheng Zeguang to visit the Palace of Westminster as a special guest on Wednesday night.

Chinas ambassador Zheng Zeguang, pictured in Beijing in 2017, has been banned from visiting the British Parliament. Credit:Sanghee Liu

Zheng was invited to visit the Commons by Conservative MP Richard Graham, chair of the All Party Parliamentary China Group.

An official invitation said the northern summer reception to be held on the Commons terrace would feature guest speakers, including the ambassador and a British minister.
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.
London: Britain announced it will offer a third dose of coronavirus vaccine to everyone over 50, as US President Joe Biden plans to call on world leaders to collectively donate one billion doses to accelerate the global pandemic fight.

Britains booster shots, which will be rolled out beginning next week, were approved a day after the Conservative government also backed plans to offer one vaccine dose to children 12 to 15 years old.

Britains Health Secretary Sajid Javid, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. Credit:AP

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the government, recommended that booster shots be offered to everyone over 50, health care workers, people with underlying health conditions and those who live with people whose immune systems are compromised. They will be given no earlier than six months after a person received their second dose of vaccine.

Around 30 million people will be eligible for the booster shots, which aim to protect against a modest waning in immunity among those who have received two jabs.
Washington: New York congresswoman and progressive champion Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has defended wearing a gown emblazoned with the slogan tax the rich to the lavish Met Gala, saying she has elevated the debate about wealth redistribution in America.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her controversial tax the rich gown, with fashion designer Aurora James. Credit:Getty Images

Prominent conservatives, but also some on the American left, accused the self-declared democratic socialist of hypocrisy for championing the working classes while participating in such an elite and exclusive event.

In a post on Instagram, Ocasio-Cortez pointed to a spike in Google searches for the term tax the rich as evidence her outfit had encouraged people to research Americas f-----d up tax code.

I thought about the criticism Id get, but honestly, I and my body have been so heavily and relentlessly policed from all corners politically since the moment I won my election that its kind of become expected and normalised to me, she wrote on an Instagram story. Ocasio-Cortez said women in politics faced a no-win situation in which they are criticised either for making bold fashion choices or for being inauthentic and too calculated when they choose more cautious looks.
4,000 Unvaccinated Delta Air Lines Employees Got Shots After $200 Surcharge Announcement: Executive

Delta Air Liness chief health officer said that some 4,000 unvaccinated employees got a CCP virus vaccine after the firm announced it would add a $200-per-month surcharge on its health care plan for workers who arent vaccinated.

Henry Ting, the Delta executive, said that about 20 percent of 20,000 Delta employees moved to be inoculated following a late August announcement from CEO Ed Bastian about the surcharge. Ting also claimed the firm hasnt experienced any significant resignations over the policy.

Just within the two weeks of the announcement, weve seen nearly 20 percent, or one-fifth, of that 20,000 decide to get the vaccine, he said during a media briefing with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Ting said that before the announcement, about 74 percent of Delta workers were vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. The number is now about 78 percent, he said.

That last 4 percent is very different from the first 4 percent, Ting said.

On Aug. 25, Bastian wrote in a memo that the extra charge, which is slated to take effect on Nov. 1comes in response to costs for workers COVID-19 hospitalization.

The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $50,000 per person, Bastian wrote. This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company.

Bastian, like other executives and health officials, said the COVID-19 policy change is due to the rise of Delta variant COVID-19 cases. He also said that the company wants to have about 100 percent of its workforce vaccinated.

Earlier this year, Delta announced it would require new employees to receive the vaccine unless they qualify for an exemption.

Several top airlines including American and Southwest have said theyre encouragingbut not mandatingemployees to receive the vaccine.

An American Airlines spokesperson told The Epoch Times in August that theyre offering incentives and an additional day off if workers get the vaccine.

But United Airlines said that employees who have been given medical or religious exemption from taking the vaccine will be automatically placed on unpaid leave.

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, United told workers in memos that were obtained by The Epoch Times.

The memo further stipulated that United can no longer allow unvaccinated people back into the workplace because it cannot be certain how such individuals would interact with customers or coworkers. It came after the company told workers in August that employees would have to get vaccinated unless they received a religious or medical exemption.
A Peek Into the Heritage of Aristotelian Thought

'Aristotle: From Antiquity to the Modern Era,' an exhibition at the New-York Historical Society

All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge, Aristotle said.

Since 335 B.C. when the Greek philosopher Aristotle founded the Lyceum, in Athens, Greece, people around the world have ardently studied the many facets of his knowledge: from science, logic, metaphysics, and ethics, to politics.

Aristotles influence is explored in a recently opened exhibition Aristotle: From Antiquity to the Modern Era at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. Over 30 rare books and manuscripts are on displaysome for the first timefrom the collection of Martin J. Gross.

The manuscripts from the early modern period in Europe (15001800) are in multiple languages, including Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, demonstrating just how important Aristotle was in defining the worlds intellectual traditions.

This exhibition is a celebration of the importance of scholarship and learning.  The works demonstrate how knowledge is passed down through the centuries and [is] built upon by each new generation, the New-York Historical Society CEO and president Louise Mirrer said in a press release.

Aristotle. Opera Omnia, (Vol. 1, Posterior Analytics), 149598, published by Aldus Pius Manutius of Venice. Five volumes, in Greek. (Courtesy of Martin J. Gross)

Spreading Ancient Wisdom

During the Renaissance, ancient literature became more widely available to the Western world when the 15th-century classical scholar and notable printer and publisher, Aldus Pius Manutuis, printed and published the entire known Greek and Roman corpus in its original languages. Manutuis also included works not previously known in Europe, as he had studied with Byzantine scholars and had greater access to Greek works that they brought with them from Constantinople (now Istanbul).

One of the most intriguing objects in the exhibition is Manutuiss edition of the works of Aristotle, which he published in Greek. The entire five volumes are on display and contain the commentary of three different readers, who have filled every available space with copious scholarly annotations. Each note is a response to Aristotle, allowing us to observe the transmission and different interpretations of his teachings centuries later.

The exhibition: Aristotle: From Antiquity to the Modern Era, is curated by Michael Ryan, Sue Ann Weinberg Director Emeritus of the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library and runs until Jan. 2. 2022. To find out more, visit NYHistory.org
People unload boxes of pomegranates from Afghanistan, from a truck at the 'Friendship Gate' crossing point, in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Saeed Ali Achakzai/Reuters)

Analysis: As the West Ponders Aid for Afghanistan, China and Pakistan Are Quick to Provide Relief

ISLAMABADAs international donors gather in Geneva on Monday to discuss humanitarian relief for Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban terrorist group, neighbors China and Pakistan have already reached out with aid and discussions of future assistance.

The economy in the war-torn country is in crisis and a humanitarian crisis is looming, experts say.

Yet the United States and other Western nations are reluctant to provide the Taliban with funds until the radical Islamic terrorist movement provides assurances that it will uphold human rights, and in particular the rights of women.

The countrys roughly $10 billion in foreign assets, held overseas, are also frozen.

The understandable purpose is to deny these funds to the de facto Taliban administration, Deborah Lyons, the U.N. Secretary Generals special representative for Afghanistan, told the U.N. Security Council this week.

The inevitable effect, however, will be a severe economic downturn that could throw many more millions into poverty and hunger, may generate a massive wave of refugees from Afghanistan, and indeed set Afghanistan back for generations.

Another possible effect could be to drive Afghanistan closer to its neighbors and close allies Pakistan and China, who have already sent planeloads of supplies to Afghanistan. They have also signaled they are open to ramped-up engagement.

The Chinese regime announced last week it would send $31 million worth of food and health supplies to Afghanistan, among the first foreign aid pledges since the Taliban took power last month.

Pakistan last week sent supplies such as cooking oil and medicine to authorities in Kabul, while the countrys foreign minister called on the international community to provide assistance without conditions and to unfreeze Afghanistans assets.

Minerals and Terrorism

Pakistan has had deep ties with the Taliban terrorist group and has been accused of supporting the group as it battled the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for 20 yearscharges denied by Islamabad.

China, with a strong alliance with Pakistan, has also been engaging with the Taliban. Some analysts said it was enticed by the countrys mineral wealth, including large reserves of lithium, a key component for electric vehicles.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also expressed concern about terrorism that could spill over from Afghanistan across its border, which it wants the Taliban to help contain.

Beyond humanitarian aid, one possibility is Afghanistan joining the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a central part of the CCPs Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), under which Beijing has pledged over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, much of it in the form of loans.

The Taliban would welcome joining CPEC, China would also be very happy, said Rustam Shah Mohmand, Pakistans former ambassador to Afghanistan.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (L) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via AP)

The Chinese regime has not made any comment on the BRI but Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said Beijing is ready to actively discuss the resumption of China-Afghanistan freight trains and facilitate Afghanistans interaction with the outside world, especially its access to humanitarian supplies.

Pakistans foreign office and a Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to the request for comment.

Taliban, CCP Talk: Source

Taliban leaders in recent weeks have said they want good relations with the Chinese regime.

A senior Taliban source said discussions have taken place with China in Doha about possible investment opportunities. The Chinese regime is interested in mining in particular but any activity in the sector will be open to tender, the source said.

The Taliban welcomes foreign investment that will benefit the country, he said.

Two sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan familiar with the matter said China had been proactively encouraging Afghanistan to join CPEC for years but had been met with a non-committal response from the previous U.S.-backed government.

The Taliban, with a need for economic stimulus and international recognition, seems more keen.

The best way forward and the immediately available alternative option for Afghanistans economic development is CPEC, which includes Pakistan and China, said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a Pakistani senator and former chairman of the China-Pakistan Institute.

The new administration in Kabul would also be receptive to this and they are keen on it.

For the Chinese regime, though, which already has mining interests in Afghanistan that have struggled to get off the ground, any further investment would come with risks attached, given the uncertain security situation in the country.

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
People visit the Apple store in the Oculus Mall in Manhattan in New York City on July 29, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Apple Issues Urgent Software Update to Patch Spyware Vulnerability

Apple users are being encouraged to update their devices after researchers discovered a security flaw that could allow hackers to secretly install spyware without targets knowing.

The company on Monday released an emergency patch to the vulnerability flaw that allowed advanced spyware to be installed into users Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches.

It comes after security researchers at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto last month uncovered the security flaw that they believe has been used by government clients of Israeli spyware company NSO Group to secretly hack into devices since February.

The researchers were examining the phone of a Saudi activist when they discovered the exploit, and subsequently shared their findings with Apple.

According to Citizen Lab, researchers found that in some cases, NSO Groups Pegasus malware-infected targeted Apple devices without the users taking any actionwhats known as a zero-click vulnerability. The malware enables hackers to gather a targets personal information and listen into and read calls and messages.

According to U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), an attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device.

CISA is aware of public reporting that these vulnerabilities may have been exploited in the wild, it said.

The speed with which Apple was seeking to find a solution its operating systems vulnerability highlighted the absolute seriousness of the Citizen Labs findings, researchers said.

Today is going to be a rough day at NSO because the lights are going to go out on one of their most productive exploits, John Scott-Railton, a senior Citizen Lab researcher, told The Guardian.

NSO Group was the focus of recent reports by a media consortium that found the companys spyware tool Pegasus was used in several instances of successful or attempted phone hacks of business executives, human rights activists, and others around the world.

Those investigations, based on leaked data obtained by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International, sparked widespread condemnation of the company.

In July, some 1,000 protesters in Hungarys capital demanded answers to allegations that the countrys 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 opponents and others.

The group in a statement to multiple news outlets didnt address the allegations, but said it will continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life-saving technologies to fight terror and crime.

The Epoch Times has contacted NSO Group for additional comment.

Apple on Monday, without mentioning NSO Group, issued a patch seeking to fix the vulnerability.

After identifying the vulnerability used by this exploit for iMessage, Apple rapidly developed and deployed a fix in iOS 14.8 to protect our users, Ivan Krstic, head of Apple Security Engineering and Architecture, told USA TODAY in a statement.

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, Krstic added, noting that the exploit will not affect the overwhelming majority of our users.

Last month, human rights experts working with the United Nations called on countries to pause the sale and transfer of spyware and other surveillance technology until governments put in place robust regulations that guarantee its use in compliance with international human rights standards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Arizona AG Sues Biden Administration Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Arizona filed a lawsuit against the Biden administrations sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandates that affect federal employees, most healthcare workers, and employees at numerous private businesseslikely the first lawsuit that was filed against the policies.

The federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said in a statement on Tuesday.

In a lawsuit that was filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, Brnovichs team contrasted the new mandates against the lack of COVID-19 vaccine rules for illegal immigrants who enter via the U.S.-Mexico border, where there has been a surge in encounters since Biden took office.

Biden last week made the announcement regarding vaccine mandates for private businesses with 100 or more employees, all federal employees and contractors, and healthcare workers at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. The private employees can either get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing, according to the White House plan.

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, Biden said in a speech last week, explaining why the mandates are necessary.

But the Arizona lawsuit argued that Bidens plan violates the Equal Protection Clause by allegedly favoring illegal aliens who have entered the United States over U.S. citizens.

Although the precise contours of the federal vaccination mandates are not yet clear, the violation of the Equal Protection Clause is already evident and egregious, the brief stated. In a nutshell: unauthorized aliens will not be subject to any vaccination requirements even when released directly into the United States (where most will remain), while roughly a hundred million U.S. citizens will be subject to unprecedented vaccination requirements.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich speaks at a news conference in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 7, 2020. (Bob Christie/AP Photo)

As a result, Brnovichs team argued, the administrations policies display an unmistakable and unconstitutional bias in favor of unauthorized aliens.

Meanwhile, the suit also cites a Twitter post from an MSNBC contributor, Stephanie Ruhle, that was shared by White House chief of staff Ron Klain on Sept. 9 that Bidens order targeting private businesses was the ultimate work-around for the federal government to mandate vaccines.

The inadvertent admission in the preceding paragraph makes all of the administrations actions constitutionally suspect, Brnovichs suit said. These other violations will be the subject of future challenges.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare unconstitutional the administrations allegedly discriminatory vaccine policies regarding illegal aliens and U.S. citizens as well as permanent residents. It also seeks an injunction against the White House implementing the mandate, arguing that any vaccine requirement for citizens and permanent residents should be applied to illegal aliens.

Other Republican attorney generals and governors have said they would file lawsuits against the Biden administration after the mandate was announced.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
A Phoenix police officer stands outside his vehicle in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 30, 2020. (Matt York/AP Photo)

Arizona Police Recruiting in Washington State Days After Vaccine Mandate

Arizonas state police force is in the Pacific Northwest in an attempt to bolster its ranks. The push comes on the heels of news that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee isnt allowing exceptions to his vaccine mandate.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced that they would be in Washington state from Sept. 7 through Sept. 19 to recruit potential new officers.

Their counterpart, the Washington State Patrol, shared Arizonas announcement on Twitter.

The @Arizona_DPS (AZDPS) is visiting WA State from September 7th  19th. They will be actively recruiting at events around the state and primarily at the Washington State Fair. AZDPS will be conducting testing at the Helen Sommers building in on the 18th and 19th of September.  WA State Patrol (@wastatepatrol) September 8, 2021

The recruiting push aimed specifically at Washington state is noticeable since news broke the week prior that Gov. Jay Inslees office had issued blanket denials of requests from officers to be exempt from his vaccination mandate.

Emails obtained by KTTH show a response to an inquiry about religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

At this time it has been confirmed that for any public-facing position, there are limited accommodations available, the email read, adding that there is no accommodation we can provide for their religious exemption requests.

The governors order says that all state workers, K-12 and public university employees must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face losing their jobs. Inslee initially said the state would make religious and medical exemptions available.

A public information officer denied that Inslees vaccination decree was a factor in their decision to recruit in the state.

We are not focused on Washington specifically, its just our first recruiting trip ahead of other states we intend to visit, said media specialist Bart Graves. We dont have a set number of candidates we intend to recruit. We are hoping to fill numerous sworn and professional staff (civilian) positions.

Arizona DPS has advertised out-of-state recruitment opportunities earlier in the year, including welcoming lateral moves from other police departments. However, its yet to single out a state as it had done in Washington this year.

Gov. Doug Ducey retweeted the Washington State Patrol announcement that Arizonas police force was recruiting there, saying, in Arizona were funding the police.

By Cole Lauterbach
Committee chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) questions U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 14, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden Admin Faces Bipartisan Criticism Over Afghanistan at Blinken Senate Hearing

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared before Congress for the second time this weekthis time to address the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On Monday, Blinkens appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee became heated, as Democrats and Republicans hurled accusations at rival party administrations. While debates in the upper chamber were calmer, they put on full display fundamental disagreements about whether the blame for the crisis should be put on former President Donald Trump or sitting President Joe Biden.

Blinken Defends Biden Administration

In the same prepared speech given to the House Monday, Blinken defended the actions of the Biden administration in Afghanistan.

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.

Here, Blinken is referencing Trumps 2020 deal with the Taliban 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.

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.

Democrats Criticize Biden Admin

The hearing opened with words from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the committee chairman. Immediately following the Talibans capture of Kabul, Menendez had promised that the committee would investigate U.S. policy on Afghanistan upon its return from August recess.

Despite his general alignment with Biden politically, Menendez was critical of the Afghanistan fiasco in his opening remarks. Menendez observed that the execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed. For those flaws, Menendez said, Blinken, representing the administration, would have to give Congress a full explanation of Bidens decisions.

The rapid collapse of the country, Menendez said, demonstrated to him that consecutive administrations lied to Congress about the state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Speaking to reports about the Biden administration pursuing diplomatic ties with the Taliban terrorist organization, Menendez exclaimed that there is no such thing as a reformed Taliban. The strict Islamist group, he continued, is stuck in the 14th century and refuse[s] to come out.

Further brushing aside notions of building diplomatic ties with the terrorist group, Menendez argued that the administration should maintain existing sanctions on the nation but should also send humanitarian aid to its citizens, who are among the poorest in the world.

If the administration was going to pursue these ties and recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, Menendez said, the group must meet several conditions before a positive relationship is even considered. Among these conditions, Menendez listed a complete renunciation of harboring terrorists, guaranteeing the rights of women and minorities, renouncing the drug trade as a form of profit for the state, and building a truly democratic and inclusive government.

The information Congress had gotten from the Biden White House, Menendez said, was vague and contradictory.

Later, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) opened her remarks by saying that she share[d] frustration with [her] colleagues.

But like many Democrats in both chambers, Shaheen expressed a feeling that the blame did not lie exclusively with Biden, but with Trump and former presidents Barack Obama and George Bush. The collapse of Afghanistan, she said, came from both Democratic and Republican administrations.

She blasted Republicans for blocking Congress from bringing more special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants to the United States under the guidance of Trump. She said theres a lot of regret and a lot of recriminations to go around.

Near the end of the hearing, moderate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Hillary Clintons former running mate, also expressed some doubts about the administrations handling of the situation.

Criticizing Blinkens claim that the most pessimistic predictions did not show such a quick collapse of Afghanistan, Kaine said, I dont believe that. He conceded that such negative assessments were likely not the majority opinion, but considered it unlikely that they were not foreseen by any analysts.

On the other hand, Kaine said that despite the problems in how the withdrawal was handled, he felt that the Biden administration had made the correct choice in leaving the country and ending Americas longest war.

Kaine said, Im relieved that a child born in Nova Fairfax today is not in a nation at war. Biden, Kaine continued, had the courage to say this nation is not a nation that should be permanently at war.

Still, while some Democrats conceded that Biden bore some of the blame and made errors in executing the withdrawal, almost all agreed that Trump bore a great deal of the blame for the situation as well.

Republicans Go On Offense Against Strategic Unforced Error

While Democrats sought to push much of the blame for the unpopular fiasco onto the Trump-era deal with the Taliban, Republicans were far more critical of the sitting administration.

Ranking minority member Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) spoke first for Republicans.

Like many other Republicans throughout the hearing would do, Risch acknowledged that he supported an end to the Afghanistan war, but not in the way that Bidens administration carried out the logistics of ending the war.

The mishandled withdrawal of U.S. troops, Risch said, was a strategic unforced error with dire consequences. Among these, Risch warned, the withdrawal and the return of the Taliban had created a safe haven for terrorists. Moreover, Risch said that U.S. allies confidence in the nation has been shattered.

Risch made clear that he felt blame should fall squarely on Biden as the sitting president rather than being brushed to Trump. He asserted that the preventable tragedy that unfolded at the airport in Kabul was a disaster of leadership and of the administrations own making. He further emphasized that the Biden administration alone is responsible for this debacle and its consequences.

Later, Sen. Marcio Rubio (R-Fla.) expressed concerns about the administrations lack of preparedness for the rapid fall of the nation.

He mentioned several assessments he had seen that indicated that it was gonna hit the fan. Rubio continued, saying that with these assessments, we had every reason to plan for the rapid collapse of the Afghani government and military.

Rubio accused Biden of relying on a naive optimistic prediction in order to advance his plans to be out of the country by the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Either someone didnt see this or someone didnt want to see this, Rubio ruled.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also added that Blinken and Biden presented the situation as a smashing success rather than an extreme debacle, indicating a serious detachment from reality. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) commented on the same subject that this positive spin of the crisis is the lie of the 21st century and a delusion.

Barrasso also added to Blinken, You nearly broke your shoulder patting yourself on the back for the great job youve done.

Rand Paul Has Heated Exchange With Blinken

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has long been against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, noted that he was glad that the 20-year conflict was over. But, he continued, never in my worst nightmares would an administration have the colossal incompetence to leave billions of dollars in military equipment to the Taliban.

Another instance of this colossal incompetence, Paul said, was the sudden decision to abandon Bagram Airfield without warning. He called it one of the worst military decisions in our history, and warned Blinken that it will be remembered by the people.

Paul also referenced a report by The New York Times that a missile attack killed an aid worker after he was misidentified as an ISIS-K operative carrying a bomb. When Paul asked Blinken about the truth of this story, Blinken refused to comment beyond saying that the State Department was looking into the situation.

Youd think youd know whether the person was an aid worker or an ISIS-K terrorist before using a predator missile, Paul quipped.

Paul, who has often argued against such indiscriminate bombings, warned that if the reports were true and an aid worker was the one killed, the administration could create hundreds or thousands of new terrorists.

Instead, Paul suggested, the administration should have focused on bombing the helicopters and other military equipment left behind rather than on bombing someone whose identity was not known.
A member of the U.S. Air Force stands near a Patriot missile battery at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 20, 2020. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool via AP, File)

Biden Admin Pulls Missile Defenses in Saudi Arabia: Photos

Satellite photos show that the United States has removed a significant number of its advanced missile defense systems and Patriot missile batteries from Saudi Arabia in recent days.

Photos that were obtained and published by The Associated Press (AP) show that the Prince Sultan Air Base previously had on site a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit, another missile defense system, and Patriot missiles provided by the United States. But those batteries are no longer at the base, according to satellite photos taken in late August and reviewed by the AP.

In this satellite photo, an area of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia sees Patriot missile batteries stationed with one advanced Terminal High Altitude Air Defense unit on Aug. 9, 2021. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

In this satellite photo, an area of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia that once saw Patriot missile batteries stationed there with one advanced Terminal High Altitude Air Defense unit stands empty on Sept. 10, 2021. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)

The Defense Department continues to maintain tens of thousands of forces and a robust force posture in the Middle East, representing some of our most advanced air power and maritime capabilities, in support of U.S. national interests and our regional partnerships, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the AP regarding the move.

Representatives of the Pentagon didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.

Over the past several years, amid Saudi incursions in nearby Yemen, the countrys Houthi rebels have fired missiles and carried out drone strikes against Saudi assets. The United States deployed two Patriot missile systems in 2019, following attacks on Saudi oil production sites as Washington blamed Iran for the strikes. Tehran has denied the allegations.

Officials in the kingdom said on Sept. 5 that it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels near the Dammam, Saudi Arabia, according to news reports.

Amid the missile defense pullout, Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal said in a recent interview that he wants Washington to show its committed to the kingdom, urging the Americans to leave the defense systems in the country.

I think we need to be reassured about American commitment, Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabias former intelligence chief, told CNBC. That looks like, for example, not withdrawing Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia at a time when Saudi Arabia is the victim of missile attacks and drone attacksnot just from Yemen, but from Iran.

As the United States pulled out of Afghanistan after a decades-long military occupation, questions were raised about whether the Biden administration would be able to fully protect U.S. allies and interests around the world. The Afghan government collapsed in just less than two weeks to the Taliban, leading the United States to carry out a chaotic evacuation that was punctuated by a terrorist attack that killed 13 service members in late August.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has traveled to several Middle Eastern countries in recent days, but a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia was scrapped due to an alleged scheduling problem. Its not clear if hell return to the kingdom in the near future.
Unaccompanied illegal immigrant children wait to be transported by the U.S. Border Patrols after crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States from Mexico in La Joya, Texas on April 7, 2021. (Go Nakamura/Reuters)

Biden Restarts Program That Lets Parents Bring Central American Children to US

President Joe Bidens administration is accepting new applications from parents who want to bring children as old as 20 from Central America, years after former President Donald Trump ended the program.

The Central American Minors Program was launched in 2014 during the Obama administration to let certain parents legally present in the United States bring their children from Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador to the United States if their request was cleared by U.S. authorities. It was first announced by Biden, then the vice president, in November 2014.

Trump terminated the program in 2017.

Now its being restarted as part of the Biden administrations attempts to expand legal pathways to enter the United States. New applications were accepted for the first time in four years on Sept. 14.

The administration not only rebooted the program, but expanded it. In addition to parents, legal guardians can ask for their kids to be flown from their home country to the United States. The parents or legal guardians can even have pending asylum cases, or be in America on parole, and apply.

We are firmly committed to welcoming people to the United States with humanity and respect, and reuniting families. We are delivering on our promise to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration from Central America through this expansion of legal pathways to seek humanitarian protection in the United States, the Departments of State and Homeland Security said in a statement.

Marta Youth, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, told reporters in a remote news conference that some 1,400 cases would be reopened as part of the programs resumption, Reuters reported.

Americas Voice, a pro-immigrant group that wants to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens, was among those praising the resumption of the program.

CAM offers a safe, expeditious and orderly way for young people to seek safety and apply for reunification with loved ones from the region. After vetting and approval, these young people will board airplanes and join family in America. This provides an alternative route to protection, Frank Sharry, executive director of the group, said in a statement.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, though, argued that the program elevates illegal aliens above U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.

Virtually all Central American minors who were left behind by parents who entered the U.S. illegally will be able to be admitted or paroled to the country and the American taxpayers will bear the costs of administering the program, while lawful immigration programs continue to experience historic delays and backlogs, Matthew Tragesser, spokesperson for the group, which seeks to reduce immigration levels, told The Epoch Times in an email.

The reimplementation of this program reveals where the Biden administrations immigration focus stands right now. It does not want to secure our southern border or limit incentives for illegal aliens, despite illegal immigration increasing every month under the administration and apprehension totals reaching figures not seen in two decades, he added.

Illegal border apprehensions have shot up since Biden took office in January, hitting a 21-year-high in July. One expert projected arrests at the border setting a new record this year. The jump has included an unprecedented number of unaccompanied minors, or illegal immigrant children who arrive without a responsible adult. Over 13,000 unaccompanied minors were in U.S. government custody as of Sept. 13.

Biden administration officials have asserted that the chaos seen at the border is a result of changing what was a cruel immigration system under Trump. Theyve said it takes time to alter the system and that some areas have seen improvement.

Changes so far include stopping construction of the border wall, halting the Remain in Mexico program, and proposing to let immigration officers take over hearing some asylum cases from judges.

The dramatic alterations have hit some roadblocks, with judges ruling against the administration in a series of key cases, including ordering officials to resume Remain in Mexico.

A Department of Homeland Security official told The Epoch Times in a recent email this week that the department has not yet started to return illegal immigrants to Mexico, the core part of the program.

The agency was scheduled to deliver a report on the resumption on Sept. 14.
President Joe Biden speaks about combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 9, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden Set to Visit Long Beach in Support of Newsom Ahead of Recall Election

LONG BEACH, Calif.President Joe Biden will make a long-touted visit to California Monday in support of Gov. Gavin Newsom, with the pair set to speak in Long Beach one day ahead of the deadline to return ballots and vote in the gubernatorial recall election.

Biden and Newsoms appearance at Long Beach City College will be the final rally of the governors campaign. Tuesday is the deadline for voters statewide to cast a ballot or return their vote-by-mail ballot.

Radio talk show host Larry Elder, the leader in the polls to replace Newsom if the recall is successful, dismissed the presidential support for the governor.

If Gavin Newsom thinks that flying in Joe Biden and Kamala Harrisnot exactly the most admired government officials at the present timewill make him look better, thats all you need to know about how oblivious and detached Newsom is from a large majority of Californians, Elder tweeted last week.

Elder attended a pair of events in the Los Angeles area on Monday, with another stop planned in San Pedro Monday afternoon and a volunteer rally planned in Costa Mesa Monday night.

During a morning appearance in Monterey Park, Elder repeated many of the recalls themescriticism of Newsoms handling of issues such as homelessness, crime and the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing him of ignoring science in the imposition of business and school closures.

Elder also shot back at recall critics who have labeled it a Republican movement.

There are 2 million people that signed that petition, Elder said.

A good quarter of them to a third of them were the people who voted for him just two years earlier. Im talking about Independents and Democrats. Sixty-three percent of Hispanics voted for him two years ago. Now the majority of Hispanics want him out.

Newsom has been stepping up his campaign activities in recent days, campaigning in Northern California last Wednesday with his longtime ally, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia took to Twitter last week to hail the pending Biden visit.

We are going to do everything we can to beat this recall over the next few daysand we are creating a national roadmap for Democrats to win in 2022. Take on anti-vaxxers, defend mask mandates, stand up for science and protect public health, Garcia wrote.

Newsom on Monday morning again took to social media to urge voters to reject the recall, writing, Tomorrow CA has the power to stand up for progress. For science. For womens rights. For immigrant rights. For commonsense gun safety. Tomorrow we can show the rest of the nation that we wont let Republicans drag our state backwards. Make sure your voice is heard.

Biden is expected to spend the night in the Southland, then depart for Denver on Tuesday morning for an event to tout his Build Back Better economic recovery agenda.

Earlier Monday, Biden stopped in Boise, Idaho, for a visit to the National Interagency Fire Center. He is scheduled to stop in Sacramento Monday afternoon to survey wildfire damage, according to the White House.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, another Republican candidate on Tuesdays ballot, also dismissed the presidents planned visit.

Washington, D.C., is not going to save Gavin Newsom, Faulconer said. He wants to make it about anything else but him. This recall is a referendum on Gavin Newsoms failure. Thats why so many Californians not only signed the recall petition, but thats why Californians in all parts of the state, all party registrations, are ready for a change at the top.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcettiwho has been nominated by Biden to serve as ambassador to Indiasaid he will meet with Biden during the presidents brief visit. He said his conversation with the president will focus on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which passed with bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate and will next go to the House of Representatives for a vote.

This is something that many of us have been waiting for for two decades, and working really hard for the last couple of years and certainly this year  this is a moment we cannot miss and so my main thing will be what can I do to help  what can we do to say Americans communities need this passed, Garcetti said.

As Biden departs Tuesday, Newsom and his potential successorsnearly four dozen of themwill begin the waiting game as in-person voting enters its final day and the deadline arrives for people to return their vote-by-mail ballots. According to the Secretary of States office, more than 8 million vote-by-mail ballots had been returned statewide as of Sunday. Nearly 22.4 million were sent to voters.

The recall ballot contains only two questions: should Newsom be recalledremovedfrom office, and if so, who should replace him?

If 50 percent or more voters respond no to the first question, Newsom will remain in office, and the results of the second question will be irrelevant. If more than 50 percent of people vote yes on the first question, Newsom will be removed from office and replaced with the candidate who receives the most votes in the second question on the ballot.

Although more than 40 replacement candidates are on the ballot, Elder has consistently led most polls gauging who will take over in the governors office. Beyond Elder, Faulconer and businessman John Cox have been the most prominent candidates seeking the office.

In his campaign, Faulconer has touted his work as San Diego mayor as evidence of what he plans to do for the state, saying he has experience cleaning up our streets, keeping neighborhoods safe and bringing people together.

This recall is a referendum on Newsoms failures, Faulconer wrote on social media Monday. He wants to distract from that. Ill clean up our streets, end open air drug markets and make our state more affordable for everyone as governor.

Cox has touted himself a political outsider who will bring a business-like administration to Sacramento. He has taken to headline-grabbing campaign theater during the race, appearing alongside a live bear to support his beauty-versus-beast campaign theme. He also toted an 8-foot-tall ball of trash that he said was symbolic of the states homelessness crisis and failures to address it.

Newsom and his political insiders in Sacramento have driven California into the ground, Cox said. Vote yes to [recall Newsom] and elect a businessman with a proven track record of getting things done.

Voting locations will be open until 8 p.m. Tuesday. Vote-by-mail ballots will be tallied as long as they are postmarked by Tuesday. The ballots can also be dropped off at any voting location or county elections office, or placed in a ballot drop box.

Due to the presidential visit, traffic was a little heavier in parts of Long Beach Monday, and those issues will continue into Tuesday. Long Beach officials warned motorists to expect delays throughout the city until noon Tuesday due to street closures.

People trying to access the downtown area were urged to use Third or Seventh streets.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks to reporters after doing a helicopter tour with California Gov. Gavin Newsom of the Caldor fire, at Mather Airport on Sept. 13, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Biden Surveys West Coast Wildfire Damage, Promotes Spending Plan

President Joe Biden traveled to the West Coast on Monday to meet with state and local officials at sites affected by recent wildfires.

Multiple blazes in northern California have burned millions of acres and thousands of structures this fire season. The state says it is currently dealing with 15 large fires.

And challenging fire conditions are expected to endure for at least several more weeks. Forecasters expect above-average fire activity over the next two months in Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Northern Rockies.

These fires are blinking code red for our nation, said Biden in an address in Sacramento County, California held after the president observed damage from the Caldor Fire from Marine One. Theyre gaining frequency and ferocity and we know what we have to do.

Earlier in the day, Biden stopped in Boise, Idaho for a briefing from federal and state fire agency officials at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). There he was told by Grant Beebe, the assistant director of the Bureau of Land Managements Office of Fire and Aviation, that record fires are teaching us that we maybe need to change the way that were doing business.

Biden is using the trip to push his $1 trillion dollar infrastructure bill as well as his massive $3.5 trillion spending plan. He visited sites on the East Coast affected by flash flooding last week to deliver a similar message.

[The spending plan] literally provides for billions of dollars for wildfire preparedness, resilience and response, forest management and public water sources, said Biden Mondayas he continued to make the case that the bills will help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Its not a Democrat thing; its not a Republican thing, he said. Its a weather thing. Its a reality. Its serious.

Biden says extreme weather cost the nation about $99 billion last year and even more cost is expected this year.

As of last week, roughly 44,000 wildfires have burned more than 5 million acres of federal, state, local, tribal, and private lands this yearabout 200,000 more than this time last year. On July 14th, the National Wildland Fire Preparedness Level (PL) was raised to level 5 (of 5). This was the earliest we reached PL5 in the past 10 years, and as of next week, it will also be the longest period of continuous-time that it has remained at that highest level.

Biden approved a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration last month to provide California with federal support to combat the Dixie, McFarland, Antelope, Monument, and River fires. The Caldor fire was added to the list over the weekend. Officials say it is about 65 percent contained.

U.S. President Joe Biden walks by fire maps as he prepares to deliver remarks to reporters after doing a helicopter tour with California Gov. Gavin Newsom of the Caldor fire, at Mather Airport on Sept. 13, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Biden also used the Defense Production Act in August to assist with the production of firehoses. The funding helped an Oklahoma City nonprofit called NewView Oklahoma produce and ship 415 miles of firehoses.

Chair of the National Association of State Foresters Wildland Fire Committee George Geissler spoke to the president Monday on the informal collaborative efforts between state and federal firefighting agencies who regularly assist one another on fires outside of their respective jurisdictions.

[The threat of wildfires] really demands national attention, and it needs to be unified, it needs to be multifaceted, said Geissler. It needs to take on prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery.

The trip marks Bidens first official visit to the West Coast as president. The tour also includes a stop later in the day in Long Beach to campaign for California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall vote on Tuesday. Biden will visit Denver, Colorado on Tuesday to visit the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The UK flag, and Google's and Amazon's logos are seen displayed through a magnifier in this illustration picture taken on June 25, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

Big Tech Cloud Services Could Face Resilience Test, Says Bank of England

LONDONAmazon.com Inc., Google Inc., and other tech companies providing cloud computing to banks in Britain may have to comply with minimum resilience standards and testing, a senior Bank of England official said on Monday.

The Bank of England (BoE), along with regulators in Europe and the United States, is worried about the reliance of banks on a handful of Big Tech firms for cloud computing in increasingly critical banking services, and the impact an outage at one of them could have on financial stability.

This is a big topic both within the UK and internationally, Victoria Saporta, BoE executive director for prudential supervision, told an event held by the Institute of International Finance, a global banking industry body.

A global approach would be best, she said.

Our current thinking is that the most effective  approach to managing these risks from critical third party services providers is through a combination of minimum resilience standards aimed directly at critical third parties  coupled with resilience testing of these critical third parties, Saporta said.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks on his plan to raise taxes during a news conference in Downing Street in London, on Sept. 7, 2021. (Toby Melville-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Mother Dies Aged 79

British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons mother died on Monday at the age of 79.

Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a well-known portrait painter, passed away suddenly and peacefully at St. Marys Hospital, Paddington, according to a death notice in The Times of London.

Boris Johnson has previously described his mother as the supreme authority in the family. In his speech at the Conservative Party conference in 2019, he said his mother had taught him the equal importance, the equal dignity, the equal worth of every human being on the planet.

Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, was among the first politicians to offer his condolences.

Im very sorry to learn of the Prime Ministers loss. My condolences to him and his family, he wrote on Twitter.

Our condolences to @BorisJohnson on the passing of his mother Charlotte Johnson Wahl. Parents are the dearest people we have in our lives. Our thoughts are with the Prime Ministers family. pic.twitter.com/DdX5bTFbuZ  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) September 14, 2021

Born in 1942, Johnson Wahl was the daughter of barrister Sir James Fawcett, who was president of the European Commission for Human Rights in the 1970s.

She studied English at Oxford University, but interrupted her education to travel to America with Stanley Johnson, who she married in 1963. She later completed her degree as the first married female undergraduate at her college, Lady Margaret Hall.

The couple had four childrenBoris, journalist Rachel, former minister Jo, and environmentalist Leobefore they divorced in 1979.

In the years following her divorce, she refused to accept any money from her former husband, eking out a living by selling paintings. She later recalled she was very hard up.

As an artist, she made her name as a portrait painter, but was also known for painting landscapes, among other things.

She told The Telegraph in 2015: My older sister was terribly clever, as was my younger brother. My parents didnt know what to do with me so they gave me some paints and I turned out to be good at it. Once I started I couldnt stop.

In 1988, she married Nicholas Wahl, an American professor, and moved to New York, but returned to London following his death in 1996.

While in New York, she began painting cityscapes, which were the subject of a sell-out exhibition in 2004.

At the age of 40, she was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease but she never allowed her illness to prevent her painting, steadying herself with a walking frame as she worked.

In 2015, she was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

PA contributed to this report.
California Faces a Firefighter Shortage Amid Fire Season

As wildfire season receives a head start in Northern California and looms in the south of the state, fire departments are facing a statewide personnel shortage, authorities say.

Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles said Californias staffing shortage of firefighting personnel is leading to overworked firefighters.

We hold them for three, four days in a row, sometimes five days in a row, Boyles told The Epoch Times.

We let them go home for a day or two and then they come back for another three, four, or five days and theyre burning out. As a chief, I must watch their morale, watch their mental health, their physical health. [If] they are still exhausted, they cant perform.

The shortage began during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic due to hiring delays and freezes. With budget constraints taking effect last year, personnel close to retirement were offered early exit plans.

As many eligible firefighters were checking out early, there were no new hires, Boyles said, adding that it takes about six months to onboard firefighter personnel.

The delay of onboarding new staff also occurred as a result of medical examination requirements being unavailable amid closed doctors offices throughout the height of the pandemic.

With the wildfires blazing up north, personnel from Orange County have been heading upstate to assist. However, with the already massive shortage of firefighters, the situation down south tightens.

Were already significantly short-staffed back here at home, so that adds to the problem, Boyles said. Where its impacting is our employees are having to work an extra shift; they basically dont go home.

Greg Barta, Orange County Fire Authority spokesman, told The Epoch Times that amid the need for firefighters, the state was at high fire risk due to decreased rainfall leading to dry vegetation, which can lead to catastrophic wildfires.

The urban interface where we have homes and communities that are bordering and pushed right up next to the wildland area where theres a significant amount of brush, those are the areas that concern us the most, Barta said.

Despite the need for more personal, Boyles says theres no impact on the services provided by the fire department, especially when residents dial 911.

With recruitment for entry-level firefighters reopening last August, potential personnel are training to be onboarded by winter.
California Gov. Newsom Facing Recall as Voters Hit the Polls

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ended his campaign to keep his job as voters headed to the polls on Tuesday to determine whether he should be recalled and potentially replaced by another candidate.

Newsom, a Democrat, recently received support from heavyweight members of his own party, including President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Monday night, Biden delivered a campaign speech for Newsom in California, attacking Republican challenger Larry Elder, a conservative radio and EpochTV host. Biden attempted to characterize Elder as a Trump clone.

Im going to make this as simple as I can, you either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor, or youll get Donald Trump. Its not a joke, Biden said. In Gavin, you have a governor who shares the states values; in Gavin, you have a governor to make sure Donald Trumps dark, destructive, divisive politics never finds a place in California.

Elder, who could become Californias first black governor, called on Californians to vote yes in favor of the recall.

Vote no for Californias future, Gavin? Vote YES. Vote YES for schools that serve our kids. Vote YES for managing our forests. Vote YES for safe & clean streets. Vote YES for Californias future, he wrote on Twitter.

Republican recall candidate Larry Elder speaks in Westminster, Calif., on Sept. 4, 2021. (David McNew/Getty Images)

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 also said from a hotel ballroom in Costa Mesa on Monday.

California voters on Tuesday are faced with two questions in the recall, whether Newsom should be recalled, and if he is recalled, who should replace him. Should more than 50 percent of voters cast their ballots to recall the governor, the top vote-getter in response to the second question would be named Californias governor.

Polls in the Golden State will close at 8 p.m. PT, but due to the large amount of mail-in ballots, its not clear when the election result will be finalized.

Theres no scenario where we lose tomorrow, Newsom strategist Sean Clegg told local news outlets.

But Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California-San Diego, told local station KGTV that Republicans have a chance at polling stations on Tuesday.

What we saw in the 2020 election is that Republicans in California now prefer to cast their ballots in person, Kousser said. So, as these vote centers have been opening up over the weekend and through election day, I think well see the next group of voters coming in more strongly Republican.

The campaign to oust the Democratic governor began with a conservative Republican group and gained steam during the pandemic. Proponents of the recall, angered by Newsoms policies on immigration, crime, and homelessness also became infuriated by his decision to close schools and require masks and mandate vaccinations against COVID-19.

The animus against the governors COVID-19 mandates reached a boiling point when Newsom last year was seen dining in an upscale restaurant, the French Laundry, while he and others were not social distancing or wearing masks.
People arrive to attend the Huawei keynote address at a trade fair opening day in Berlin on Sept. 3, 2020. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Calls for Investigation as Close Ties Emerge Between Huawei, Cambridge Research Center

A former Conservative Party leader has called on the UK government to investigate the countrys dependency on China as a research center of Cambridge University is alleged to have been infiltrated by Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Speaking to The Times of London on Sept. 12, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said universities in the UK are far too dependent on Chinese money, with Cambridge being one of the worst offenders.

The senior Tory urged the government to set up an urgent inquiry into the UKs dependency on China across a range of institutions and companies.

Smiths comments come after the newspaper reported that the chief representative and three out of four of the directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management (CCCM) have ties to Huawei.

The Times reported that the information about Yanping Hu, who was listed as the chief representative of the CCCM, was removed from the CCCM website following inquiries from the newspaper.

A cache of the page, archived on Aug. 17, stated that Hu had been the head of the Huawei Management Engineering Group, director of the Huawei Corporate Change Committee, director of the Huawei Organization Department, and deputy president of Huawei University before becoming the SVP at Huawei.

The Chinese version of the page also stated that Hu is the CEO of Huawei-affiliated Hua Ying Management, which isalong with Huawei and its other affiliateson a Washington list of entities that pose a significant risk of involvement in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

The page also boasted Hus credential as an expert who enjoys a special allowance from the State Council.

Tian Tao, one of the CCCMs four directors, is a senior adviser at Huawei Technologies and a confidant of Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei.

The Chinese version of the CCCMs website also stated that its the CCCMs role and historical mission to document, synthesize, spread, and contribute to the development and management of Chinese enterprises.

Johnny Patterson, co-founder and policy director at human rights non-governmental organization Hong Kong Watch, said the link between the university and the Chinese Communist Party has serious implications.

Huaweis ties with the Chinese government are no secret. It looks as if the research center has been infiltrated by Huawei and the university should definitely investigate it, Patterson told The Times.

The close links between Huawei and Cambridge University have serious national security and moral implications.

A spokesperson for Cambridge University said any relationship the university has is in line with government guidelines.

The CCCM is a business management programme focused on Chinese business practices. As such, it engages with various sectors of the Chinese economy, including technology companies, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The University of Cambridge has a robust system for reviewing all strategic relationships and strict protocols for engaging with any company. Any relationship the University has with any corporate entity, domestic or international, strictly adheres to the guidelines set out by the UK government.

Representatives of Huawei and the UK government didnt respond to requests for comment by press time.
Chinese Ambassador Banned From UK Parliament

Chinas ambassador to the UK has been barred from Parliament after British lawmakers sanctioned by the regime expressed outrage over his scheduled visit.

Zheng Zeguang was invited to a House of Commons reception on Wednesday, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on China, The Telegraph reported.

But he has now been banned from setting foot in Parliament after the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament intervened.

The Chinese regime imposed sanctions on nine British individualsincluding politicians, lawyers, and an academicin retaliation for UK sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for the alleged abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Among the sanctioned were five Conservative MPsTom Tugendhat, Iain Duncan Smith, Neil OBrien, Tim Loughton, and Nusrat Ghaniand two members of the House of LordsLord David Alton, a cross-bencher, and Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy.

But the APPG on China still extended an invitation to Zheng, who became Beijings ambassador in London in June, to its summer party on the Commons terrace pavilion overlooking the Thames.

Zheng Zeguang, Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, is seen speaking at a news conference in Chicago, on Dec. 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)

Last week, some of the sanctioned lawmakers wrote to the Speakers in protest against the invitation, the BBC reported.

They said it would be unthinkable that the prime representative of the Chinese government in the UK is still apparently free to come to Westminster and to use facilities here as a mouthpiece for his regime even after Parliament itself has been directly targeted by the regime.

In response to the protest, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, said: I regularly hold meetings with ambassadors from across the world to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians. But I do not feel its appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members.

If those sanctions were lifted, then of course this would not be an issue, he said. I am not saying the meeting cannot go aheadI am just saying it cannot take place here while those sanctions remain in place.

A spokeswoman for Lord McFall, Speaker of the House of Lords, confirmed that the Speakers of both houses are in agreement that this particular APPG China meeting should take place elsewhere considering the current sanctions against members.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the ruling Conservative Party, and a group of his sanctioned colleagues thanked the Speakers for their strong principled stand, and said allowing the diplomat onto the estate would have been an insult to Parliament.

We the Sanctioned welcome the strong principled stand made by the Speaker and Lord Speaker in standing up for freedom of speech in the mother of Parliaments by supporting those Parliamentarians who have been sanctioned by China, they said in a joint statement.

But Richard Graham, the Conservative MP who chairs the APPG on China, expressed his regret that he would have to postpone the talk.

Graham argued the best way to discuss issues is to engage and it was very important for the group to hear from the new ambassador.

PA contributed to this report.
A Chinese man rides a tricycle past a billboard for the under-construction Wangjing SOHO complex by renowned architect Zaha Hadid in Beijing on Jan. 3, 2013. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Office Developer Shares Plunge 40 Percent After Blackstone Drops Acquisition

The share price of Beijing-based Soho China Ltd. plunged in Hong Kong trading on Sept. 13 after U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Group Inc. dropped a $3 billion takeover deal last week.

The commercial real estate developer, one of the largest in China, saw the biggest daily plunge in its stock price in the past 14 years.

It came after Blackstone withdrew its acquisition as preconditions were unable to be satisfied, Soho said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday, marking its second failed attempt at a sale.

The scrapped deal wiped about $830 million from Soho Chinas market value as its Hong Kong-listed shares fell as much as 40 percent to HK$2.10 ($0.27) on Monday.

In June, Blackstone had offered HK$5 per share to buy all shares in the company, according to Soho China. The deal helped boost Soho Chinas stock price dramatically from HK$2.45 on June 3 to HK$4.6 on June 17, an increase of nearly 88 percent.

The failed takeover came amid a sweeping regulatory clampdown from the Chinese regime across various industries, including investigating foreign investment, market competition, and monopolies.

Blackstone received a notification on Aug. 3 that the regime had begun an antitrust review into the deal, Soho China announced days later.

Reuters contributed to the report.
CIA Director William Burns testifies during a House Intelligence Committee hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 15, 2021. (Al Drago/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

CIAs Bid to Throttle Down Chinese Espionage May Be Easier Said Than Done: Experts

The Central Intelligence Agencys (CIA) reported proposition to create a mission center to keep an eye on the growing threat of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is necessary, but could be considered a lofty idea, former intelligence officers say.

Bloomberg recently reported that the CIA is considering the establishment of a new mission center to focus on the Chinese regime. While matters regarding the regime were once handled by the spy agencys Mission Center for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, it is the desire of the CIAs new director, William Burns, to elevate the focus on the United States number one strategic rivalthe Chinese regimethe report said.

Geopolitical and Global Reach

The proposal for an independent Mission Center for China is in line with previous statements Burns made as a nominee before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February. While describing threats to Americas national security, he admitted that an adversarial, predatory Chinese leadership poses the biggest geopolitical test to the United States.

For retired CIA operations officer Sam Faddis, this was plainly evident.

If you havent been in a coma for the last 30 or 40 years, you should be aware that the Chinese Communist Party is the number one geopolitical strategic threat to the United States, Faddis told The Epoch Times.

Clare Lopez, also a retired CIA operations officer, agreed, describing the CCP as our foremost international strategic adversary. She said the Chinese regime confronts the United States on a regular basis with a broad range of threats, including military and information operations.

Likewise, Burnss previous statements expressed the need to out-compete the CCP due to a growing number of areas in which [Chinese leader] Xis China is a formidable, authoritarian adversarymethodically strengthening its capabilities to steal intellectual property, repress its own people, bully its neighbors, expand its global reach, and build influence in American society.

Better Late Than Never

Six months later, the CIA directors warning about the Chinese regime remains the same. The CCP is one of Americas biggest rivals, which lends to the growing necessity of forward-deploying China specialists and developing a new mission center to gain the upper hand, according to the experts.

Faddis said Burnss proposal requires the melding together of operational and analytical units to focus on all aspects of the Chinese regime. From a bureaucratic standpoint, the plan is intended to convey emphasis and that the threat is being taken seriously, he said.

But the former CIA officer noted the difficulty in this plan.

[The CCP] has made massive inroads, basically running around the United States with a giant vacuum cleaner for decades, stealing every secret we have on any topic under the sun, Faddis said. As a result, the idea that, in 2021, the CCP is now seen as a big problem makes [the CIA] a little late to the party, he said.

However, its not too late, according to Faddis. [The CIAs] success or lack of success in espionage has always depended on what is done in the fieldnot in the offices of bureaucrats.

Thus, he said, the proposal for a mission center must be accompanied by a corresponding effort in the field.

Recent history does not reflect much change in the field, as evidenced by this administrations intelligence failures in Afghanistan, so if you were asking me to put money on it, I would say [Burnss] effort is also going to be smoke and mirrors.

Intelligence Community Discredits the Threat

Faddis noted the spate of federal cases initiated during the Trump administration involving Chinese researchers accused of having ties to the Chinese military, but were subsequently released by the Justice Department this current administration.

Right now, theres a serious debate as to whether the FBIs China initiative, which was put in place to get tough on Chinese espionage, is racist, Faddis said, adding that this is obviously a preamble toat a minimumwatering it down, if not doing away with it entirely.

The Justice Department launched the China initiative in 2018 to tackle the threats posed by Chinese espionage and other forms of Chinese infiltration in the United States. More than 80 percent of all economic espionage charges brought by federal prosecutors since 2012 implicated China, according to the department.

This level of Chinese espionage inside the United States must be reduced, Faddis said. The first step is to get their spies out of the country.

The next step, he said, involves recruiting Chinese operators in the field, here and abroad. It has to translate into getting additional information, he said.

Remedies Not Taken

The former CIA officers said the Biden administration must take tougher action and intensify human intelligence in the fight against the CCP. Faddis cited the Wuhan Institute of Virology as an example. A top lab for bioweapons research should have had the American intelligence community all over it, wired 10 ways from Sunday, he said.

Lopez, also founder and president of Lopez Liberty, agreed, saying that the Chinese regimes array of weapons of mass destruction, in particular, biological weapons and the sprawling network of military and civilian researchers should have been a primary concern.

Faddis said, Yet pushing two years after the beginning of the pandemic, the intelligence community still cant give a straight answer on how it started[and] this is an abject failure.
Countries Donate $1.2 Billion in Aid for Afghans, Eclipsing UN Appeal for $606 Million

The U.N. humanitarian chief on Sept. 13 announced that more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian and development aid has been donated to assist Afghans facing a growing humanitarian crisis in the country since the Taliban takeover of Kabul and many other regions.

The pledges, which were announced by undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths on Monday, by far surpass the $606 million figure the United Nations had sought until the end of the year to assist 11 million Afghan citizens in the region, as some have fled as refugees to neighboring countries.

The sum as of Sept. 14 includes the funding from the initial $606 million sought in a flash appeal, and the regional response to the growing humanitarian crisis, Griffiths said on Monday, speaking at the first high-level briefing on Afghanistan since the Taliban terrorist group seized control of the capital on Aug. 15.

The funding will throw a lifeline to Afghans who lack those services, to the small children that Henrietta Fore of UNICEF spoke of, who face the risk of acute malnutrition, to the many women and girls who could lose their access to reproductive health services and much more, as we have discussed, Griffiths said.

This is a productive day, but it is far from the end of the journey, he continued, emphasizing, We need to be with them [Afghans] for the long and hard road ahead.

Prior to the arrival of the Taliban leadership in Kabul, many in Afghanistan, one of worlds poorest nations, had already been struggling to feed their families amid severe drought. Now with the economy collapsing and the Talibans newly declared government isolated, yet to secure international recognition, aid agencies say millions face starvation.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the beginning of the conference on Monday that Afghans need a lifeline, citing the spiraling poverty rate in the country.

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, he said. 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.

The United States is committed to providing humanitarian assistance for and assisting Afghans, said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced that the United States is providing nearly $64 million in additional humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, bringing the total U.S. humanitarian aid in Afghanistan to $330 million in this fiscal year.

Well continue to support humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, Blinken said. Consistent with sanctions, this aid will not flow through the government, but rather through independent organizations like NGOs and U.N. agencies.

Denmark has said it would pledge a further $38 million, Norway has announced plans to donate an additional $11.5 million, while German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has, without elaborating on specifics, said the country would pledge $590 million into the region and its neighboring countries.

Last week, Beijing said that it would provide food and health supplies worth $31 million, Iran announced that it had sent an air cargo of humanitarian aid, while Pakistan said it dispatched supplies, such as medicine and cooking oil.

On Aug. 22, Henrietta Fore, the head of the U.N. childrens agency, UNICEF, said that she expects the humanitarian needs of women and children to increase over the coming months.

Millions will continue to need essential services, including health, lifesaving vaccination drives against polio and measles, nutrition, protection, shelter, water, and sanitation, Fore said in a statement.

In recent years, significant strides have been made on increasing girls access to educationit is vital that these gains are preserved, and advocacy efforts continue so that all girls in Afghanistan receive a quality education, she added.
A child undergoes a nucleic acid test for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Xianyou county, Putian city, in China's eastern Fujian province on Sept. 13, 2021. (-/CNS/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19 Infection Rise in Southeastern China Prompts New Mass Testing

Hundreds of thousands of residents in a county of Fujian Province on Chinas southeastern coast received orders to undergo nucleic acid testing as a fresh COVID-19 outbreak hit the region.

Fujian Province reported at least 102 new infections within three days, with 64 in Xinyou county, according to statements released by local authorities on Sept. 14. However, the Chinese regime didnt count 21 asymptomatic cases as confirmed. The real counts are likely higher given the CCP has a record of underreporting the infected figures.

The outbreak, which has spread to another two coastal cities in Fujian Province, emerged from Xianyou county of Putian city. On Sept. 10, authorities confirmed that two brothers were infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as novel coronavirus, in a county schools routine test. The boys parents, a classmate, and his father tested positive for the virus.

Students of that school [where the confirmed cases reported] have been sent to a hotel for quarantine, local resident Ming Lan (pseudonym) told The Epoch Times on Sept. 11. Ming lives in the same community where the two pupils study, but she refused to disclose the name of the school.

Ming said the roads surrounding the school are closed. She added that her children, studying in another primary school in the town, are currently self-quarantined at home.

The countys educational bureau confirmed to The Epoch Times on Tuesday that all educational institutions, including primary and middle schools, shut their doors. Students are now studying in online courses.

Meanwhile, authorities announced a new round of mass testing on Friday while suspending transportation and closing most stores.

Residents queue to undergo nucleic acid tests for the Covid-19 coronavirus in Xianyou county, Putian city, in Chinas eastern Fujian province on Sept. 13, 2021.( -/CNS/AFP via Getty Images)

A resident who works in a petrol station told a state-backed media outlet, The Paper, that a village official knocked on his door at 2 a.m. and ordered them to take the nucleic acid test.

All company and factory staff must receive a nucleic acid test before Sept. 13, according to the local authorities notice on Sept. 12. Authorities called on people to report anyone who hasnt been tested to the police.

The local panel tasked with preventing and controlling the CCP virus ordered workers to stay at factory dormitories beginning Monday. They did not give a date for easing restrictions.

Xinyou, a county of over 905,000 residents, completed the first round of mass testing on Sept. 13, according to local governments Tuesday press conference. Residents are undergoing the second round of testing.

The health barcode of those refusing to have nucleic acid tests twice will see their barcode on red, and movement restricted, according to a notice released by the local health authorities on Monday.

The Chinese regime had adopted color-based QR code systems based on big data and mobile technology to control peoples movement. The system assigns citizens three barcodes on mobile phones, including a health code, an itinerary code, and a vaccination code.

The colors of amber or red restrict people from leaving home, taking buses, trains, or planes, and entering supermarkets and restaurants.

A local car shop staff member who gave his surname Liu told The Epoch Times that most peoples health barcodes turned amber, with only a few people showing green after Mondays test.

The countys health authorities didnt answer calls from The Epoch Times.

Similarly, Xiamen city and Quanzhou city have cut schools offline classes, closed non-essential stores, ordered people to stay at home, and launched mass testing in districts where related infections are reported.

Hong Ning contributed to this report.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services building is seen outside outside of Denver, Colo. on July 14, 2019. (Chet Strange/AFP via Getty Images)

COVID-19 Vaccines Mandatory for US Green Card Applicants: Immigration Officials

All green card applicants subject to the immigration medical examination have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next month, federal immigration officials announced Tuesday.

In general, said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), individuals applying to become a lawful permanent resident, and other applicants as deemed necessary, must undergo an immigration medical examination to show they are free from any conditions that would render them inadmissible under the health-related grounds.

And now, as of Oct. 1, applicants subject to the medical examination have to be fully vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, according to the agency.

That update requires applicants subject to the immigration medical examination to complete the COVID-19 vaccine series (one or two doses, depending on the vaccine) and provide documentation of vaccination to the civil surgeon before completion of the immigration medical examination, said USCIS, which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security. It noted that the new policy applies to forms I-693, which are signed by civil surgeons.

The agency said it may issue vaccine waivers to individuals if they are not of age, cannot get the shot due to a medical condition, the vaccine isnt available where a civil surgeon practices, or if there is a limited supply of the vaccine.

Attention Green Card Applicants: Beginning Oct. 1, 2021, all applicants must complete the COVID-19 vaccine shot or series & provide proof of vaccination to the civil surgeon before completion of the immigration medical examination. Learn more: https://t.co/jJei4rlmBE pic.twitter.com/PC23Q0lGwE  USCIS (@USCIS) September 14, 2021

Since President Joe Biden took office in January, his administration has received criticism from Republicans and some Democrats about the surge of illegal immigrants along the U.S.Mexico bordersome of whom may be unvaccinated. The administration has kept the Trump-era Title 42 policy that allows the United States to quickly deport illegal immigrants, although unaccompanied children and some families are exempt.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in early August that the policy will remain intact until the spread of COVID-19 stops being a public danger to the United States, prompting criticism from immigration advocacy groups.

Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed to reporters that COVID-19 vaccines are not mandated for illegal aliens at the border.

Our objective is to get as many people vaccinated as possible, she also said, coming after the Biden administration announced that it would issue an order directing companies with 100 or more workers to have their employees get vaccinated or submit to regular CCP virus testing, or face hefty fines of about $14,000.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is interviewed by The Epoch Times at Florida International University in Miami, Fla., on May 24, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

DeSantis: Local Governments to Face $5,000 Fines for Imposing COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Local governments that impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates will be fined thousands of dollars, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.

The mandates violate a state law, Senate Bill 2006, passed earlier this year that says a government cannot require people to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, commonly known as vaccine passports, to enter government buildings. A Florida Department of Health rule enforcing the law is set to take effect on Sept. 16. Violations of the law will result in the imposition of a $5,000 fine per person, the rule states.

Despite the law, governments in Orange and Leon counties and Gainesville have imposed vaccine passport requirements on employees.

DeSantis told a press conference that theyll face fines of $5,000 per violation if the requirements stay in place.

Thats millions and millions of dollars potentially in fines, he added.

Local government officials, though, have given no indication that the looming fines will cause a change in policy.

It is our belief that as an employer we retain the right to require vaccination as a condition of employment, Gainesville spokesperson Shelby Taylor told news outlets in a statement.

Jerry Demings, a Democrat who is the mayor of Orange County, said Monday that county officials were unaware of the Florida Department of Health rule and would consider their legal options after analyzing it.

Demings announced the countys mandate last month. County workers are required to become fully vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19 by the end of September.

More than 200 police officers and other county employees sued over Gainesvilles requirement, alleging it violates their constitutional rights and asserting that their natural immunity, gained from getting COVID-19 and recovering from it, provides better protection than the vaccines.

Some studies have indicated as much, but federal public health officials, who set policies that inform many rules across the nation, have downplayed the findings and continue urging people to get a COVID-19 vaccine even if they have natural immunity.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, filed an amicus brief in support of the Gainesville workers on Monday.

DeSantis held a press conference with workers from Gainesville and Orange County who are upset about the mandates, including Christine Damm, a Gainesville city employee and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who has four children. She is part of the suit.

Residents of the state of Florida should not be given mandates which require them to either lose their job or their freedom to make their own informed medical decisions. I do not believe it is anybodys business if the citizen next to you is or is not vaccinated, Damm said.

My body, my choice, she added, using a refrain commonly used by pro-abortion activists.

While there are exceptions for religious or medical reasons outlined in the citys mandate, Damm said everybody she knows that has applied for one has been denied.
Vials containing doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are viewed at a clinic in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 9, 2021. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Doctors Risk Losing License for Opinion on COVID-19 Vaccination Deemed Misinformation by Certifying Boards

Three certifying medical boards warn that disciplinary actions will be taken against American physicians who disseminate what the boards allege are misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

In a joint statement, the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Family Medicine, and the American Board of Pediatrics issued a statement on Sept. 9 in support of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) position in disciplining doctorswhich includes revoking or suspending medical licenseswho provide COVID-19 vaccine information that the board does not view as factual and approved by consensus.

We also want all physicians certified by our Boards to know that such unethical or unprofessional conduct may prompt their respective Board to take action that could put their certification at risk, the statement said.

The evidence that we have safe, effective, and widely available vaccines against COVID-19 is overwhelming. We are particularly concerned about physicians who use their authority to denigrate vaccination at a time when vaccines continue to demonstrate excellent effectiveness against severe illness, hospitalization and death, the statement added.

The joint statement follows a FSMB statement released in July, which the organization said was in response to a dramatic increase in the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation by physicians and other health care professionals on social media platforms, online and in the media.

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, FSMB 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.

The FSMB claims that inaccurate information on the COVID-19 vaccine puts patients at risk, contradicts the doctors ethical and professional responsibility, and further erodes public trust in the medical profession, which is regulated by the board.

The national nonprofitwhich represents the 71 state medical boards in the United States and its territorieslicenses and disciplines physicians, and in some jurisdictions, other health professionals; whereas the three certifying boardspart of the 24 member boards that make up the American Board of Medical Specialtiescertifies that medical doctors have demonstrated proficiency in a specialized field.

Both the three boards and the FSMB did not reply to The Epoch Times enquiry of what would be considered misinformation by regulators and whether disciplinary actions have been taken against doctors whove expressed their professional opinion about the current state of COVID-19 vaccines developed under the Trump administrations Operation Warp Speed initiative.

The boards joint statement has caused confusion, with doctors seeking clarification as to what the board classifies as misinformation.

In an email response to the Board of Pediatrics posted on Twitter, one pediatrician wrote, I was disturbed to receive your recent email threatening board-certified physicians with revocation of their certification for being guilty of communicating misinformation about COVID or COVID vaccines. Specifically, I am concerned that misinformation is not defined and is at the sole discretion of the Board.

Board certification requires great expense and many years of training, and threatening revocation for vague, ill-defined offensesespecially when the science around COVID and vaccines is still in a state of fluxseems cruel, unwise, and unfair, the pediatrician added.

My response to @ab_peds re: revoking board certification over whatever they choose to define as COVID misinformationor is it disinformation? (they used both words) #tweetiatricians @AmerAcadPeds pic.twitter.com/r5HZFuDgyq  elizabeth bennett (@ebennett74) September 13, 2021

Two weeks before the boards joint statement was issued, the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) announced on Aug. 26 that it would withdraw or deny certification to doctors who disseminated inaccurate information about measures taken to stop the spread of COVID-19.

ABEMs Code of Professionalism requires that physicians Refrain from conduct that the Board determines, in its sole judgment, to be sufficiently egregious that it is inconsistent with ethical behavior by a physician, the organization said in a news release.

ABEM recognizes that there are numerous medical issues on which physicians will have legitimate differences of opinions  and that ABEM-certified physicians have every right to express their opinions on those issues. However, making public statements that are directly contrary to prevailing medical evidence can constitute unprofessional conduct and may be subject to review by ABEM.

As to what information will be considered misleading and inaccurate, ABEM President Dr. Marianne Gausche-Hill told The Epoch Times in an email it is characterized as contrary to prevailing medical evidence, egregious in its scope, and impacting the health and safety of the public.

When asked if the organizations Code of Professionalism also applies to doctors who refuse to treat patients who are unvaccinated, Gausche-Hill said that ABEM-certified physicians have a legacy of professional commitment of treating any person for anything at any time.

Several physicians have taken to social media to announce that they will not see or treat patients who are not vaccinated against COVID-19, although this goes against their Hippocratic Oath.

Read More Sydney Doctor Suspended Over Social Media Posts Questioning Vaccine Efficacy, Health Restrictions

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSP), a regulatory body for physicians in Ontario, Canada, issued a strong warning in April 2021 to its doctors stating that they risk being investigated and disciplined if their advice and comments encourage the public to act contrary to public health orders and recommendations, which the CPSP said would put the public at risk.

Physicians hold a unique position of trust with the public and have a professional responsibility to not communicate anti-vaccine, anti-masking, anti-distancing, and anti-lockdown statements and/or promoting unsupported, unproven treatments for COVID-19, it stated.

When offering opinions, physicians must be guided by the law, regulatory standards, and the code of ethics and professional conduct. The information shared must not be misleading or deceptive and must be supported by available evidence and science, the regulator added.
(L-R) Green Party Leader Annamie Paul, Conservative Party Leader Erin O'Toole, Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier. (The Canadian Press/ Edited by The Epoch Times)

Election Campaign Day 31: Leaders Talk Climate, Child Care, Vaccine Choice and Cheaper Cellphone Fees

With less than a week left before election day, party leaders continued to promote their platforms on the campaign trail on Sept. 14. From the Liberals climate policies to the Tories childcare promises and an NDP plan for cheaper cell phone and internet services, here is a roundup of the top campaign announcements of the day.

Liberals

At a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C. on Sept. 14, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reiterated the partys environmental policies including banning single-use plastics and continuing to put a price on pollution across Canada.

Trudeau also defended himself in relation to media reports his book was republished by a Chinese-state-owned publishing house in 2016, after he became Prime Minister. In response to a reporters question whether he had sought approval from the federal ethics commissioner before his memoir was published in China at a time when he was seeking a free trade deal and extradition treaty with the country, Trudeau said he played no role in the deal. All the handling of the international editions of my book was done entirely by the publisher, he said.

All of the profits from that book go to the Canadian Red Cross, he continued. I dont see a single penny and I have nothing to do with where it gets translated or sold. When pressed whether that meant Trudeau was indeed cleared by the federal ethics commissioner, Trudeau responded that the commissioner has cleared all my sources of income, many times.

According to the Globe, Trudeaus publisher HarperCollins struck a deal with Yilin Press of Nanjing, China, which is owned by Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media, a state-owned enterprise that takes orders from the propaganda department of the Jiangsu provincial Communist Party committee, to republish Trudeaus 2014 memoir Common Ground in Chinese under the title The Legend Continues.

Conservatives Conservative Party Leader Erin OToole pledged to increase child care affordability in an announcement in Russell, Ontario on Sept. 14. If elected, OToole will convert the Child Care Expense deduction into a refundable tax credit that will cover up to 75 percent of eligible child care expenses for lower-income families. We will leave it up to parents to decide what form of child care works best for them instead of only helping some families, he said in a video posted on Twitter the same day. NDP NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh promised to cap cellphone and internet fees while campaigning in Toronto on Sept. 14. The NDP plan includes mandating that telecommunications companies provide unlimited wireless data options at lower rates and remove data caps for broadband internet. The plan would also introduce a Telecom Consumers Bill of Rights to protect Canadians from unfair wireless and internet sales and services practices, and put an end to gouging for good.

Peoples Party

During a campaign stop in Fort McMurray, Alberta on Sept. 13, PPC Leader Maxime Bernier told attendees that his party has been wrongly portrayed as anti-vaccine by media outlets.

We respect everybody, and the mainstream media, they were quick to say that Oh the PPC, theyre anti-vaccine, anti-mask, anti-everything, he said.

No. We are for freedom, so we are for freedom of choice. Everyone must  decide if they want to have the vaccine or not.

Bernier also posted on Twitter the same day that his party will oppose vaccine passports, and other authoritarian measures imposed by provinces.

Green Party

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul held a press conference with local candidates in Charlottetown, PEI on Sept. 14.

She championed the successful legislation the Greens initiated in PEI through collaboration across party lines, including the Climate Leadership Act and the Poverty Elimination Strategy Act, as part of the partys ground-breaking accomplishments.

Paul also spoke about the need for cross-party cooperation and collaboration to address the climate change policies her party is advocating.
England to Give 12- to 15-Year-Olds CCP Virus Vaccines From Next Week

CCP virus vaccination for 12- to 15-year-olds in England is expected to begin as soon as next week, a minister has confirmed on Tuesday.

The UKs Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Monday accepted the recommendation from the nations four chief medical officers (CMOs), who said that the universal offer of one dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinationpreviously made to 16- and 17-year-oldsshould be extended to 12- to 15-year-olds.

The UK governments decision only applies in England. Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotlandwhich make their own health policieshave also announced on Tuesday their plans to vaccinate children aged between 12 and 15 shortly after Javids announcement.

Most of the young teens will receive their vaccinations in school, with alternative provisions for those who are homeschooled, in secure services, or specialist mental health settings, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the vaccination may start next week as the NHS needs to send consent forms to parents.

Undated photo showing the UKs vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi arrives at BBC Broadcasting House in central London. (Yui Mok/PA)

The NHS has been making plans that will hopefully be able to see the first vaccinations take place after consent because obviously, you need the information and the letters to go out and to receive that consent, by the 22nd of this month, Zahawi told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday.

Gillick Competence

While parents consent will be sought, a child can override the parents decision in some cases, according to Zahawi.

In a separate interview with Sky News, the vaccines minister said a clinician will talk to the parent(s) and the child together when theres a difference of opinion between them to see if they can reach consent.

If that is not possible, then if the child is deemed to be competentand this has been around since the 80s for all vaccination programmes in schoolsif the child is deemed to be competent, Gillick competence as it is referred to, then the child can have the vaccine, he said, referring to a 1985 legal precedent in which Victoria Gillicka mother of several young childrenlost her challenge against a government circular which advised doctors they could prescribe contraception to under-16s without parental consent.

According to government guidance on Immunisation against infectious disease, young people aged 16 and 17 are presumed, in law, to be able to consent to their own medical treatment, and younger children who understand fully what is involved in the proposed procedure (referred to as Gillick competent) can also give consent, although ideally their parents will be involved.

A parent cannot override the consent of a 16- or 17-year-old or a Gillick-competent child, the guidance added.

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) deputy chair Anthony Harnden told the BBCs Today Programme that there will be a grade of competency from the age of 16 downwards.

So 14- to 15-year-olds may be deemed competent to make that decision on their own, its less likely that a 12- or 13-year-old will be deemed competent, he said.

A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guys Hospital in London, UK, on Dec. 8, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

In an interview on Friday with NTD, Dr. Ross Jones, a retired consultant paediatrician from campaign group Health Advisory and Recovery Team, said Gillick Competence shouldnt apply in the case of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccines.

Its [a] completely inappropriate use of Gillick competence. I think they havent understood that in order to make a decision, you have to ensure that the child understands the full implications of  whether they choose to have something and of what happens if they dont have it, Jones said.

And here we are in a situation where the medical advisors cant decide, she added.

So given there is [a] complete disagreement between JCVI and the chief clinical medical officers, then how could you expect a 12-year-old to actually understand the implications? We dont know the long term implications yet. So its a complete abuse of the idea of Gillick competence, she said.

Jones added said children can hardly give informed consent when there have been celebrity campaigns promoting the vaccines, threats of vaccine passports, and peer pressure influencing their decision.

The JCVI previously declined to recommend the jabs for healthy children in this age group, who have a very low risk of getting severely ill from the CCP virus, given the marginal benefits young teens can get from the vaccines and the lack of long-term data on the side-effects including myocarditis.

The CMOs then looked at wider considerations, including the disruption to childrens education, and decided that theres 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.

Dr. June Raine, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Hannah McKay/PA)

During the Downing Street briefing, Dr. June Raine from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said the side effects for 12 to 15-year-olds being vaccinated are mild.

Weve undertaken a very thorough review, both of the UK and the international reports, there is a consistent pattern, slightly more often frequently do we see cases in young males and after the second dose, she said.

But, overall, the conclusion of our expert advisers is these are mild cases, individuals usually recover within a short period of time with standard treatment, she added.

Our advice remains that the benefits outweigh the risks of getting vaccinated, and this includes those aged 12 to 15.

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.

Zachary Stieber, NTD reporter Jane Werrell and PA contributed to this report.
Natural gas reservoirs are seen under construction at the port of Sabetta in the Kara Sea shore line on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic circle on April 16, 2015. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

Europes Gas Shortage Could See Rest of World Paying Larger Heating Bills This Winter: Experts

Europes record low supply of natural gas could see the rest of the world paying larger heating bills in an effort to stay warm this winter, experts warn.

Natural gas prices have risen more than 35 percent in the past month amid lower supplies and a surge in demand as pandemic-hit economies around the world reopen, prompting fears that there is simply not enough gas stored up for the winter if temperatures were to be particularly cold in the northern hemisphere.

Some experts are now pointing to Europe, where supply is at 16 percent below the five-year average, a record low for this time of year.

John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital, told CNBC that people are starting to throw the crisis word around when it comes to Europe.

Europe is squarely behind the eight ball going into the winter season. Its going to put the focus on this commodity thats been overlooked for the last several years, Kilduff added.

Things could well get worse for the United States too if shortages were to become more severe in Europe, with prices possibly even doubling.

If its a cold winter, gas will not just be tight. It will be very tight, Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Markit, said. If thats the case, prices could go sharply higher. It will either be physical shortages, or it will be reflected in price.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs commodities analyst Samantha Dart last week noted that if the coming winter is colder than normal, natural gas prices could jump up past $10/MMBtu.

The Russian pipe laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy is moored in the port of Mukran near Sassnitz on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen, northeastern Germany, on Sept. 7, 2020. (Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)

While a small colder deviation from average would likely be solved through gas-to-coal substitution against Appalachia coal in a $5$6.50/MMBtu gas price range, anything close to a full standard-deviation from average would likely trigger a price spike to cause demand destruction with gas above $10/MMBtu, Dart said.

The outlook could look less bleak if the autumn and early winter prove to be mild and more gas is put into storage, which may reduce prices, according to some strategists.

We lean toward a lot of risks for price spikes, rather than higher and higher sustained prices, Christopher Louney, commodities strategist at RBC, told CNBC.

But its not just Europe that is battling with declining natural gas supplies. According to the Energy Information Administration, the level of gas in U.S. storage is 7.4 percent below the five-year average and 16.8 percent below the level at this time last year.

Added to that, the U.S. industry is also suffering from lower production due to Hurricane Ida, which hit 90 percent of natural gas output, while over 75 percent of Gulf of Mexico natural gas remains shut in, according to a Sept. 13 analysis from S&P Global Platts.

Growing international demand for U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have also added to a price increase for natural gas, which is used for heating and generating electricity, as well as the processing of chemicals, fertilizers, paper, and glass, among other commodities.

The situation in Europe has caught the attention of senior U.S. energy adviser Amos Hochstein, who warned that lives are at stake in Europe this winter amid low supplies and a threat of reduced supply.

If you get a real cold winter by January and February, you could run out of supplies. And thats where I get concerned, Hochstein told reporters Friday, noting that Russia has under supplied the market compared to its traditional supplies which had also contributed to increased prices.

This is not just about some geopolitical game. Peoples lives are at stake, he added.
A man walks by a bank machine at the Wells Fargo & Co. bank in downtown Denver, Colo., on April 13, 2016. (Rick Wilking via Reuters)

Ex-Wells Fargo Execs Square Off With US Regulator in Trial Over Phony Account Scandal

WASHINGTONThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a top U.S. banking regulator, kicked off its civil trial on Monday of three former Wells Fargo & Co. executives over their alleged roles in a scandal involving phony accounts at the San Francisco lender.

The proceedings before an in-house OCC judge in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, mark a rare public confrontation between the regulator and former top bank executives it says are partly culpable for Wells Fargos misconduct.

The OCC alleges that Wells Fargos former risk officer Claudia Russ Anderson, former chief auditor David Julian and former executive audit director Paul McLinko failed to adequately perform their duties and responsibilities, contributing to Wells Fargos systemic sales practices misconduct from 2002 to 2016.

The regulator brought civil charges last year against the trio, as well as other former Wells Fargo executives, and has demanded they pay nearly $19 million combined to settle the matter. It is also seeking to bar Russ Anderson from the banking industry over allegations of outright law and regulation violations.

The long-running scandal over Wells Fargos pressurized sales culture that led staff to open millions of unauthorized or fraudulent customer accounts has cost the bank billions of dollars in civil and criminal penalties and has badly damaged its reputation.

The record reflects that from at least 20132016 sales practice misconduct was pervasive and widespread, administrative law judge Christopher McNeil said in opening remarks detailing the allegations against each of the former executives.

Russ Anderson, Julian and McLinko are fighting the allegations. Attorneys for the trio did not respond to requests for comment but an attorney representing Julian raised allegations of potential bias and credibility issues of government examiners in opening motions, hinting at a potential defense strategy.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo declined to comment beyond a January 2020 statement in which CEO and President Charlie Scharf said the OCCs actions were consistent with holding the firm and individuals accountable for inexcusable sales practices issues.

This hearing represents the culmination of the OCCs longstanding efforts to hold these individuals accountable for material failures in risk management and for consumer harm, the OCC said in a statement on Friday, forecasting the trial to last at least two weeks.

By Jody Godoy and Chris Prentice
Seminole Police on the scene at Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood, Fla., after an explosion damaged storage areas and blew out drywall in the casino, causing numerous injuries, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Susan Stocker/Sun Sentinel/TNS)

Explosion at Florida Casino Injures More Than 20 People, Including Customers

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.  A system meant to suppress fires at the Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood exploded Monday morning, causing dozens of injuriesincluding people inside the casino after drywall rained down on customers.

Seminole Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner said contract workers were servicing the fire suppression system as they do every six months when one of the lines to a gas canister ruptured causing the explosion.

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.

About 100 people were in the casino at the time of the 9:50 a.m. explosion, Bitner said.

Six people were taken to a hospital. None of the injuries are life-threatening, Bitner said. Twenty additional people were treated at the scene but refused to be transported to a hospital.

We were very lucky that the injuries were mainly minimal, Bitner said. And obviously were going to make sure we understand exactly what happened so it never happens again.

Seminole Tribe Fire Rescue as well as fire and rescue units from Hollywood responded, treating people and evacuating the casino at 4150 N. State Road 7. Fire marshals from both agencies are investigating.

It is not clear when the casino will be able to open again.

2021 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The FBI logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, DC on July 5, 2016. (Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images)

FBI Fires Lead Agent in Whitmer Kidnapping Case

The FBI agent credited with foiling Gov. Gretchen Whitmers kidnapping plot no longer works for the agency after he was charged with allegedly smashing his wifes head into a nightstand and choking her after a swingers sex party.

The Detroit News first reported the firing of former Special Agent Richard Trask, 39, who took the public face of the investigation, testifying in court.

However, the FBI dropped Trask as a witness aftersocial media posts calling former President Donald Trump a douchebag and other expletives surfaced.

The firing is another blow to the credibility of at least a dozen confidential informants planted within the Whitmer kidnapping plot, some who allegedly hatched the plan and another who rose to second-in-command of the group.

In March, prosecutors also indicted an informant the Detroit News reported helped the FBI infiltrate the alleged conspiracy.

Five alleged kidnappers are scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 12. The defendants, however, maintain the government set them up. One defense attorney alleges an FBI agent told a paid confidential information to lie, delete messages between them, and implicate an innocent third party.

The deceit continues to blur the line between who was an FBI agent, confidential informant, or an extremist and which group fueled the conspiracy.

Ty Garbin, 25, has been the only alleged extremist to plead guilty to the plot, and was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.

By Scott McClallen
Protesters gather to oppose the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate in New York City on Sept. 13, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Federal Judge Blocks New York State Health Care Worker Vaccination Mandate

A federal judge on Tuesday granted an emergency injunction blocking the state of New York from enforcing a new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

Seventeen medical health professionals had asked the court to enjoin enforcement of New Yorks mandate that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Aug. 16. The mandate required staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities such as nursing homes, adult care facilities, and other congregate care settings, be vaccinated for COVID-19 to continue to be employed.

The plaintiffs, including doctors, nurses, a medical technician, and a physicians liaison, were facing termination, loss of hospital admitting privileges, and the destruction of their careers unless they consent to be vaccinated with vaccines in contradiction of their religious beliefs, the lawsuit argued.

Their religious beliefs compelled the plaintiffs to refuse vaccination with the available COVID-19 vaccines, all of which employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development, or production, according to court documents.

The health care employees argued that the vaccine mandate would nullify protections for sincere religious beliefs under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, even though the prior state health order in effect just days earlier had afforded the same protections. Specifically, they argued that the mandate violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Supremacy Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

What New York is attempting to do is slam shut an escape hatch from an unconstitutional vaccine mandate, attorney Christopher Ferrara, Thomas More Society special counsel, said in a statement before the injunction was granted.

And they are doing this while knowing that many people have sincere religious objections to vaccines that were tested, developed, or produced with cell lines derived from aborted children.

The plaintiffs are identified in the lawsuit only by pseudonyms because, as they state in the legal complaint, they are vilified by the media as pariahs who must be excluded from society until they are vaccinated against their will.

The new mandate emerges in the context of an atmosphere of fear and irrationality in which the unvaccinated are threatened with being reduced to a caste of untouchables if they will not consent to being injected  with vaccines that violate their religious beliefs, are clearly not as effective as promised, and have known and increasingly evident risks of severe and even life-threatening side effects.

Judge David Hurd of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, a Bill Clinton appointee, granted a temporary restraining order (pdf) the morning of Sept. 14 in the case. The lawsuit was brought against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

The vaccine mandate is suspended and the New York Department of Health is barred from taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the licensure, certification, residency, admitting privileges or other professional status or qualification of any of the plaintiffs on account of their seeking or having obtained a religious exemption from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, Hurds order states.

Ferrara learned the court injunction was granted while he was being interviewed over the telephone by The Epoch Times.

Asked if he was pleased by the ruling, Ferrara laughed and said, Are you kidding me?
Participants hold placards as they take part in a demonstration demanding the government take immediate action against climate change in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 10, 2020. (Mohammed Farooq/AFP via Getty Images)

Fitzgibbons Retirement Wont Take the Heat Off Labor

Commentary

The decision by Joel Fitzgibbon, federal member of Parliament for Hunter, to retire at the next election means the Australian Labor Party (ALP) will lose one of the very few MPs who have dirtied their hands in manual work for any extensive period. Fitzgibbon was an automotive electrician for 12 years, a real worker in traditional Labor terms.

When it is recalled that the Labor Party rose from the unions and was established to represent the interests of the working class, principally manual workers, this is indeed ironic.

At the same time the unions, once the source of ALP support, are losing members. In 1992, 40 percent of the Australian workforce was unionised. Now it is 14 percent, comprised mostly of public servants, teachers, and health workers.

The only way to judge what a party stands for is through the policies it advances and what it actually does in office.

That tells us that Labor is no longer the party of the workers. Rather, it is the party of the inner-city elites. The issues which it promulgates are those of the elites and not of manual workers, as indeed are many of those of the Liberal-National Coalition.

Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese makes his closing remarks at the end of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) National Conference at the Revesby Workers Club in Sydney, Australia, on March 31, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

This change in Labor was recounted scathingly by the father of former ALP leader and now Governor of Western Australia Kim Beazley. Beazley Sr. famously said, When I joined the Labor Party it contained the cream of the working-class; now it contains the dregs of the middle-class.

These days, it is in coal-mining electorates like Hunter, north of Sydney, that the ALP struggles with its newfound allegiances. This was brought home to Fitzgibbon at the last election. Labors unqualified endorsement of the Paris Accord solution to the claimed effects of man-made global warming, or as it is now described, climate change, seriously undermined their hold on what had long been a blue ribbon Labor seat.

The coal mining industry is a particular target of global warming believers, a favourite among inner-city voters.

On this, Australia has recently been visited by United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Selwyn Hart, who called for wealthy nations to stop using coal by 2030 and the rest of the world by 2040. Hart also pushed Australia to close down its coal mining industry.

The fact is the world is not about to stop using coal. If Australia were to close down its coal industry, our principal customers, the Peoples Republic of China and India, would find coal elsewhere.

But it would most likely not be of the high-quality Australian coal is. The likely alternatives are of a lower quality, both polluting and producing more CO2.

Hence, the only result of our obeying U.N. instructions would therefore be to increase global warming.

To return to Fitzgibbon, he has held his seat since 1996, when he succeeded his father. But in the last federal election, Labors accommodation of policies to address global warming came home to roost.

Labor member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon walks through the press gallery at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 24, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Fitzgibbon, seen as representing Labors policy, suffered a 15 percent drop in his primary vote which was exceeded by the combined total of the competing National and One Nation party votes.

Only preferential voting saved him, with a two-party preferred vote (after preference votes were distributed) which saw the ALP receive 52.98 percent, compared to 47.025 percent for the Nationals. This was a fall of 9.48 percent for the ALP from the last election in 2016.

The writing was on the wall.

Since that election, Fitzgibbon has campaigned tirelessly for Labor, not to deny climate change, but to adopt a far more gentle approach to its solution.

In effect, he wanted Labor to do what politicians are often accused of doing, to walk both sides of the street.

At the least, he wanted to ensure that Labor went no further than the Coalition in taking action against global warming.

Fitzgibbon tried to introduce a degree of realism without driving Labors elites into the arms of the far left-leaning Australian Greens party.

The fact remains, however, that Hunter is a coal mining electorate and Labor will have difficulties retaining the seat.

Labor is struggling to deal with the fact that it is no longer the party of the workers.

In fact, Labor was instrumental in encouraging the winding up of Australian manufacturing. No one endorsed free trade more than Labor under former Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, and Paul Keating.

Coal operations at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, on Nov. 18, 2015. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

They did this in an academically purist way, dismantling protection unilaterally rather than waiting to agree to concessions in free trade negotiations. The Coalition followed suit.

That is why when free trade negotiations began with Beijing, only the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could offer significant tariff reductions.

Australia was therefore pressed to make concessions on so-called investmentsthat is the acquisition of premium and even strategic assets at bargain basement prices.

Such is the naivete of the Australian political class.

While we are on Labors struggles there is one phase over which they should be very embarrassed.

Before Australias Federation in 1901, the self-governing colonies had little control over immigration. This was more a matter for the Empire and on which the British were very liberal.

With Federation, it was possible to adopt an Australian immigration policy. Of all the parties, Labor was the most opposed, probably because it feared workforce achievements would be undermined.

Rather than hiding behind the device whereby prospective immigrants could be required to pass a dictation test in any European language, Labor pushed for a policy which was blatantly called the White Australia Policy.

The ALP was the firmest in its application immediately following the war, but the policy was effectively dismantled by the Harold Holt Coalition government, although the Whitlam Labor government is usually given the credit by the media for its end.

It is not unknown for a party to hide its past and even to profit from this.

The U.S. Democrats were the party that supported slavery and then segregation. But ironically are now the party most supported by the African American community.

The ALP has the most storied history when it comes to race policy, yet, the latest Newspoll survey reveals that households where a foreign language is normally spoken are more likely to vote Labor 58 to 42.

It is one thing to cover up the past. It is more difficult to hide the present.

Voters are entitled to consistency, but above all that a party will act in what it genuinely believes is in the national interest and that it will openly discuss this.

Albanese may well think that Fitzgibbons departure will take the heat off him, but the fact is, the heat will come from traditional Labor voters as we saw in 2019.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Five Afghans Flown to US Diagnosed With Measles

Five people who were recently evacuated to the United States from Afghanistan were confirmed to have measles, Virginia health officials said Tuesday.

All recently entered the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the U.S. federal governments emergency evacuation of citizens of Afghanistan, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health told The Epoch Times via email.

Health officials are reaching out to people who may have been exposed to the five individuals. At least one was at a hospital in the Richmond area on Sept. 10. And some or all were at Fort Pickett, a U.S. military base, in Nottoway County at some point.

The U.S. military has flown tens of thousands of Afghans to the United States since mid-August. Theyve been placed at bases across the United States until theyre resettled into local communities.

Evacuees have first been taken to military bases in third countries like Germany before being moved on after being vetted.

The evacuation effort is ongoing even after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan, but was temporarily paused at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because several Afghans were diagnosed with measles after arriving in the United States, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

The temporary pause was extended for at least seven additional days from Monday, according to the Pentagon.

John Kirby, the Pentagons spokesman, told reporters that one case was diagnosed at Fort McCoy, one case was found at Fort Pickett, and three were found among Afghans who flew into Dulles Airport in Virginia.

They have been housed separately and are receiving medical care, and the CDC is doing contact tracing, and well [ask] people to self-isolate as needed, Kirby said, adding that the cases are being taken seriously.

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment. The agency describes measles as a highly contagious disease that can spread to others through coughing and sneezing.

Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected, the CDC says on its website. Infected people can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears. Measles virus can live for up to two hours in an airspace after an infected person leaves an area.

Afghanistan is in the top 10 countries with global measles outbreaks, according to provisional monthly data reported to the World Health Organization.

Most Americans get measles vaccines when they are young, though the number of measles cases have been increasing in the country in recent years.

All Afghans who enter the United States are required to be vaccinated for measles but the vaccines are being administered at military bases. Officials are looking into vaccinating people before they enter the country.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis departs after signing into law Senate Bill 7072 at Florida International University in Miami on May 24, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Florida Governor Calls for End Annual Spring Testing in Florida Schools

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced the state is changing the way students are tested each year for academic understanding, putting an end to Common Core.

Floridas education focus should be students growth and how we restore the conversation between parents and teachers in support of students growth, said DeSantis.

In a press conference, DeSantis announced legislation will be drafted to end Floridas Standard Assessment (FSA) tests at the end of the 2021 school year and replace them with a progress monitoring system called Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (F.A.S.T), which aims to foster individual growth, according to the governors office.

Under the old FSA, every Spring, Florida students are tested for hours at a time to obtain data that teachers, parents, and students analyze to see if progress, in terms of curriculum standards set by the state, are being met and examine students higher order thinking skills. Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said that by the time the scores are released it may be too late for some students to do anything about it. The new plan will give teachers time to make any adjustments necessary to make sure students do not fall through the cracks.

I call this V-Day, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said, calling the FSA antiquated. DeSantis will be helping to draft legislation to allow for progress monitoring three times per year.

The governor said progress monitoring, which is already occurring through the school year, would reduce testing in the schools by 75 percent, and would allow for more individualized testing that helps students and teachers make adjustments during the school year, keeping parents better informed, and will be unique to each student.

Thats 75 percent less time for testing and more time for learning, DeSantis said. This way the teachers will know in real time how their students are progressing,

The Florida Department of Education website described the FSA as a group of standardized tests in reading, writing, and math designed to measure student performance. The test is tied to Floridas Common Core-based standards, which outline what students should know at the end of each grade.

We believe that having results monitored and measured is very, very important, but we also think the FSA is outmoded at this point and we need to move forward with a more nimble and effective approach, said DeSantis.

Seminole District Teacher of the Year for 2020 Sarah Hall has been teaching first grade in Seminole County for 19 years. She said this initiative has been a long time coming and is glad to see the FSA disappear.

I will be able to provide targeted individualized interventions in a timely manner to monitor student achievement gaps, Hall said.

DeSantis says the 2022-23 school year will be the baseline year for whatever new system the state implements.

This is moving Florida forward in a good way, DeSantis said. I think weve hit a sweet spot here with this one and there will be a lot of support for this.
A packed parking lot and an empty shopping cart area seen outside a Publix supermarket in Punta Gorda, Fla., on Sept. 14, 2021. (Jannis Falkenstern/Epoch Times)

Florida Small Town Residents Concerned About Population Influx

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.With more than 900 people moving to Florida every day, Punta Gorda is one of many communities experiencing an influx of newcomers and the reverberations of booming growth. While day-to-day things, such as traffic, are an obvious concern, the conservative locals are concerned about more fundamental changes.

The small town on Floridas gulf coast is home to many who fear that their way of life will be wiped out by northern ideals arriving in with the newcomers to the community. Punta Gorda is home to more than 21,000 full-time residents, not counting the thousands of annual winter visitors, whom the locals call snowbirds.

Lifelong residents see the migration pattern from the north as an inconvenience that, far from going away, is only getting worse.

Danielle Bengston of neighboring Fort Myers said the new residents are clogging up the system, making everyday life miserable for her. She recalled going to the tax collectors office in August to get her car tag renewed.

If I heard one more time, Welcome to Florida from the lady at the front counter, I thought I was going to throw up, Bengston said, stating that the she waited three hours for a process that usually takes 20 minutes.

Bengston said the vast majority at the tax collectors office were out-of-state residents who were moving to Florida and transferring their registrations or getting their drivers licenses updated.

I get why these people want to come here, she said. The climate is nice about four months out of the year and our tax system is ideal, but they forget that when theyre not here, we manage to run a government, keep the roads paved, and educate our children.

Jared Davis, 37, a father of five daughters and a third-generation Floridian, said hes worried that his way of life and the life he envisions for his children will no longer exist if the area grows too rapidly. Davis owns the business founded by his grandfather in 1948, D.M. Construction.

With growth comes change, and Davis is concerned that the southern values he holds dear will disappear if too many people with more liberal ideas move the community and stir the pot.

I worry about my lifestyle disappearing, he said. I have a T-shirt that I proudly wear that says: Dont New York my Florida. I think that this is a conservative area and people are moving here because they are mostly conservative and tired of whats going on in their statesthats what Im hoping, anyway.

As for the growth potential of the area, Davis said its good for his business.

As a businessman, its a good thing. But as for someone who grew up here, Im finding more and more that I do not know anyone here anymore, he said. This used to be a place that wherever you went, you saw someone you knew.

I barely know anyone in the store where I used to see my neighbors and friends. Theyre all people I have never seen before, strangers.

As an avid hunter, Davis fears for the wildlife thats synonymous with the Florida landscape. He blamed expansion for wildlife being forced from their homes, so humans can have theirs.

Black bears and other creatures that were only known to roam the southern portion of Florida are now coming north because theyre being evicted from their homes by development.

Bobby Gross Jr., 42, who has been a part of the community since he was 2 years old, has seen the area grow and mostly agrees with Daviss assessment. He hopes that people who move there will respect whats already in placeconservatismand he hopes that itll stay that way.

Like Davis, Gross is in line to run his grandfathers company, Sunland Paving, when his father retires. The population influx hasnt helped with his hiring woes.

The labor market here is still abysmal. I think, mostly, people who are retired are coming here to live instead of visit every year, he said. Everybody that is moving to Florida wants to be the last one to move here.

Gross said he noticed a lot of diversity among the people coming. He said that Florida has a cultural melting pot all of its own.

Willie Campbell, 82, was born in Labelle, Florida, a small town southeast of Punta Gorda. Though Campbell made her fortune in buying and selling Florida real estate, she maintains that the population explosion isnt necessarily a good thing.

What is happening is frightening, she said. Some of these people who are moving here are just too aggressive.

Campbell said she hopes the people who join the community will be peace-loving and share the conservative ideals the area holds dear. She believes that the people who are migrating to Florida want to regain their freedom after their home states were locked down over the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

They saw how our governor opened things up and let people live their lives and make their own decisions, she said. But some of these people coming here want to change everything. Were not ready for that.

Punta Gorda real estate broker Matthew Patterson said there has always been an influx of people moving to the area.

I think that COVID-19 moved forward clock on some of these people, Patterson said. Ten years ago, the median age of people moving here was 72 years of age, now it is closer to 50.

Patterson said the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders gave many people an opportunity to live where they want, because theyre no longer chained to an office.

People are working remotely, he said. Theyre able to make a living from their computers in their home, thus allowing them to live anywhere they want, and a lot of them are choosing to live here.

The cost of living here is a lot less than other places. Plus, they keep their city salaries, which affords them a lot more of whatever they want.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig, left, speaks to the media at Detroit Public Safety Headquarters in Detroit, Mich., on Nov. 21, 2019. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP)

Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig Formally Launches Republican Bid to Unseat Michigan Governor Whitmer

A former Detroit police chief on Tuesday announced a bid to unseat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, delivering remarks after the initial announcement was disrupted by protesters.

James Craig, a Republican, planned to launch his campaign on Belle Isle, but Detroit Will Breathe, a far-left group that describes itself as a movement that seeks to advocate against police brutality towards black lives, drowned him out, forcing him to switch to a nearby location.

Video footage from the scene showed the protesters chanting James Craig has got to go and black lives matter. Many of them were white and Craig is black.

Craig reconvened the press conference on the rooftop of a nearby building.

Small group of paid protesters did nothing. What they did is reinforce why we need change, Craig told reporters. The message is: Im winning. I got the message out anyway. Im winning.

Craig has teased a gubernatorial run in recent months, announcing in July that he was forming an exploratory committee that he said would let him start fundraising.

In a video released that month, Craig described himself as a problem solver who would lead from the front.

Craig, 65, who retired as chief of police on June 1, said Tuesday that his campaign would resonate with those folks up north or on the west, because Im authentic, Im a leader, and Im blue-collar.

I know what hard work looks like. Nobodys ever given me anything, he added.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a press conference on Belle Isle in Detroit, Mich., on June 22, 2021. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP)

Craig later used the disruption by Detroit Will Breathe, which wants to defund the police and the release of all people in prison because of nonviolent offenses, to fundraise.

Craig joins a field of nine Republicans, none of whom have held political office before.

Whitmer, 50, was a longtime state lawmaker before becoming governor in 2019.

Whitmer beat Republican candidate Bill Schuette, a lawyer, with approximately 53 percent of the vote in 2018. She succeeded Rick Snyder, a Republican who was prevented from running again due to term limits.

Early polls suggest Craig and Whitmer are neck-and-neck with about 14 months before the general election.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Craigs year has been a disaster and pointed to his refusal to answer whether he supported former President Donald Trump.

Dont expect him to lead from the front by addressing his main problemhis adamant refusal to answer questions directly. Despite being asked several times now, the Detroit Dodger still wont say what he thinks about the legitimacy of our elections, who he thinks incited the violent insurrection in DC, or what hell do to protect the right to choose for Michigan women and families, Barnes said in a statement.

The Whitmer campaign and the Michigan Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.

Meshawn Maddock, the partys co-chair, highlighted the protest against Craigs announcement on Twitter. She shared an image that showed one protester holding a sign that said defund DPD.

See the sign? These leftists want to defund your police. Republicans are the only sanity left in this Country. @GovWhitmer is finished, she wrote. Thank you BLM for reminding us what your world looks like.
A view of the reactor building is seen at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, in Bushehr, southern Iran, on Aug. 21, 2010. (IIPA via Getty Images)

Germany Arrests Man for Shipping Equipment for Irans Nuclear Program

BERLINGerman police arrested a German-Iranian man suspected of exporting equipment to be used in Iran and missile programs in breach of European Union sanctions, Germanys federal prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Police searched 11 locations, including apartments and offices in the states of Hamburg, Schleswig Holstein, and North Rhine-Westphalia linked to the suspect, the prosecutor said.

The suspect, identified only as Alexander J. under privacy rules, had shipped equipment worth 1.1 million euros to an Iranian whose company in Iran was blacklisted by the EU as a front to procure equipment for nuclear and rocket programs.

The GBA general prosecutors office said the suspect was approached in 2018 and 2019 to procure laboratory equipment. He shipped two spectrometers procured for 166,000 euros ($196,987) to Iran in Jan. 2020, and six months later shipped another two, procured for 388,000euros ($458,059).

He did not apply for a special export license which would have been required to ship such equipment to a recipient on the EU blacklist.

Western countries have long accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, which Tehran denies. In 2015, Iran signed a deal with global powers to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal, and Iran responded by violating some of its terms. Negotiations have been held this year to revive it.

By Joseph Nas
Has the Time Come to Break Up America?

Commentary

I never thought Id be writing about secession or anything close. Not in a million years. America, the Beautiful is my favorite national song, bringing tears to my eyes with its sea to shining sea. Giving up the magnificence that entails would be heartbreaking on so many levels.

But the times being what they are and the man occupying the presidency being who he is, not to mention those surrounding him being who they are, plus the issues that divide us from national defense to education to immigration to race to public safety to the pandemic to values in general being so intractable, I feel compelled to discuss secession or division as if they were a real possibility worth considering.

Maybe we have reached a point that the most patriotic act for our country, for both sides, is to break up, even if it would be extraordinarily difficult.

Ironically, this calls to mind, of all things, Neil Sedakas classic American popular song Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, rerecorded across generations for a reason, because such a division would, in great part, be entirely personal with families, friends, and co-workers interspersed across the land.

Indeed, it would be very hard to do. It could be we would need a trial separation with a chance to reconcile before the formal divorce.

Whatever the case, I know Im not alone in thinking about what was once unthinkable. Indeed, from what Ive heard, even in the halls of Congress there are those so concerned with the inability of the red and blue to speak or reason together, who see a gulf between both sides so wide it will never be bridged, that some of our politicians are beginning to whisper about secession or the like as well.

So here I am writing a very tentative, very early, article about how we might achieve this separation, partial or complete, as the case may be, or at least think about it.

Please understand what I have in mind is not a civil war, anything but. Part of my intention is to diminish the violence thats escalating throughout the nation, dial down the hatred, and certainly to avoid deaths.

Its a peaceful, gradual, and negotiated separation I wish to explore based on two societies recognizing they have different goals and approaches and deciding to go their separate ways.

In other words, if a serious majority of blue state residents want to be woke, teach their children critical race theory, allow them to choose their sex at age eight and so forth, much as I abhor these things, they should have that ability, just as the majority of red state citizens who wish to preserve our constitutional republic for future generations should be able to do that as well.

This division shouldnt be all that surprising at this point, considering what Jefferson said about a revolution being necessary every few decades. The United States of America has grown into something so large as to be nearly ungovernable, an unwieldy nation of some 330 million, a number far greater than the Founders could have conceived in the late 18th century.

Nevertheless, if states rights were honored to the degree those same Founders intended, its doubtful we would even be having this discussion.

But theyre not and we are.

Okay, lets start with the proverbial elephant in the room. Our principle adversaries, China and Russia, are not about to break up. Quite the contrarytheyre looking to expand geographically and grow their militaries, especially China under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party.

At first glance, this argues for the importance of our sticking together, but the recent botched exit from Afghanistan makes the opposite case. Working entirely under blue controlexecutive branch, State Department, and a bizarrely woke militarythis was a disaster of historical proportions leaving the Taliban (and therefore China) in control with virtually the same terror masters in positions of authority who enabled 9/11, only this time seemingly with more power, including their own air force, and al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and similar groups unchecked.

Its hard to see how two separate military commands, red and blue, could possibly have done worse. More likely they would have done a lot better with the red state leadership able to counter, and ameliorate, the odd, virtually inexplicable, behavior of the blue in this instance.

Its the old adage of two heads being better than one (a lot better, in this case).

Several NATO nations appear to have also managed the situation better than the Biden administration. Why not make the two new red and blue USAs two separate members of NATO?

But before going any further, I have obviously skipped over the most basic conundrum of alljust how would you, even could you, divide the United States of America when, as is well known, there are so many blue enclaves in red states and vice versa?

Im not going to suggest any maps in this piece. But lets be honest, no matter how you do it, people will be unhappy and many will end up moving. Large numbers of facilities and businesses will also have to move. The whole enterprise seems too daunting for words.

But is it? We have seen all kinds of things rebuilt, and rather quickly, after national disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. An ordered restructuring, if theres the will to do it (big if, I know), would not be much more difficult and might even improve the infrastructure.

Ordered or not, this restructuring has been happening for some time with the migration from blue to red states for reasons of taxes and lifestyle.

This migration may be on the brink of a significant increase, depending on the result of the California Recall election this week. If the Democrats succeed, by whatever means, in blocking the recall and blunting Larry Elders candidacy, thus keeping Gavin Newsom in office, we may be looking at the largest outflow from California yet. (Were Elder to succeed, the converse could be true.)

But whatever happens in California, we are left with an American population at odds with each other in very basic ways, far more important than the usual political disputes about moving tax rates up and down 5 percent.

Were living through a war of values at the deepest levels. Breaking up may be hard to do, but, painful as it is to say, and it certainly is, the time has come to examine it.

But maybe, just maybe, in that examination we may find a route back. Corny as they are, its also worth remembering Sedakas last lines:

I beg of you dont say goodbye.

Cant we give our love another try?

Come on, baby, lets start anew.

Cause breaking up is hard to do.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People gather outside the Evergrande headquarters in Shenzhen, southeastern China, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

Heavily Indebted Chinese Developer Sees Investors Crowd Headquarters in Protest

Thousands of disgruntled investors besieged the headquarters of the worlds most indebted property developer in China to demand repayment of loans and financial products on Sept. 13.

Evergrande first warned in August of liquidity and default risks if it fails to raise cash and resume construction.

On Sept. 8, investors found the company had suspended payments to its wealth management products, raising panic among investors who have been protesting since last Friday, fearing their money will all be lost.

Simultaneous rallies then emerged in major Chinese cities including Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xian, Mianyang, and Handan.

Return our hard-earned money, most slogans read, also called out by crowds. Videos circulated on social media show that the local government mobilized a large volume of the police force to monitor attendees.

We just arrived at the entrance and were beaten by security guards with batons, a protester in Handan told The Epoch Times on Monday. Five of them beat one of us.

Protesters started to take video recordings on their phones and came under pressure from the police.

[The police] took my phone away and shocked me with an electric baton, threatening that I would die for not deleting the video, said the Handan protester.

I dare not tell you too much, he said.

An ambulance took an overemotional protester in Zhengzhou away from the scene, witnessed by crowds.

A victim said 70 percent of the investors come from owners of Evergrande real estate, while the rest are the companys staff. The Epoch Times is unable to verify the number.

Zhang (pseudonym), a family member of an Evergrande employee, told The Epoch Times last Friday that her husband is one of up to 100,000 staff who had purchased the financial products, along with their families, friends, and customers who were encouraged to invest.

How can one live his future life after having fooled everyone he knows? Zhang said, adding that people around her husband all invested over 600,000 yuan ($93,000) in those products. It is scary, really terrifying, she said.

The government-backed promotion had also raised confidence for investors.

I do not believe that the regulatory government has no responsibility at all, investor Lao Zhang (pseudonym) said, after watching promotions on CCTV and official channels. I saw the advertisement every day, he said.

However, Chinas state-run media have downplayed the debt crisis.

By Monday evening, Evergrande denied rumors of its bankruptcy and reorganization. The companys mid-year report shows it has 778 projects across 223 cities in China as of June 30, 2021.
Home Affairs Minister Receives Powers to Extend Detention for Convicted Terrorists

Australias Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has called for additional powers to keep convicted terrorists who posed an unacceptable risk to society, in prolonged detention.

But, experts are sceptical of the government handing more powers to Australias domestic security apparatus.

Andrews said there were currently 51 offenders serving jail terms on terrorism-related charges in Australia, with another 32 before the courts.

With several of these offenders reaching the conclusion of their prison sentences in the next few years, the need for effective risk management measures to keep our community safe is greater than ever. It will be an important focus of mine, she told the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Sept. 14 in her speech The Road from 9/11.

Federal Parliament is also considering a new amendmentthe Parliament the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (High Risk Terrorist Offenders) Bill 2020that will create a new Extended Supervision Order scheme.

Police officers that form part of the Australian Joint Counter Terrorism Team stand outside a home they raided as part of an operation in which they arrested three men who were allegedly preparing to attack the public in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 20, 2018. (AAP/David Crosling/via Reuters)

Currently, I, as Minister for Home Affairs, can seek from the court a continuing detention order, she said.

Such an order allows for the continuing detention of eligible convicted terrorist offenders who pose an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence if released into the community, she added. Itof coursecomes with high thresholds under the law.

Such an order will also give the minister the power to tailor supervisory conditions to a terrorist offender who has been released into the community after serving their sentence. In addition, the new law would broaden the range of tools available to security agencies.

Andrews also said the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban could reinvigorate religious extremism in the country, warning that the likelihood of a terror attack in Australia was probable.

Afghanistan may once again become an international safe haven for terrorist networks and cells, she said.

Fuelled by the dark web, religiously motivated and ideologically motivated individuals and groups here in Australia do mean us harm and are planning acts of violence, she added, noting the Parliaments passing of new laws in August that would give the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission sweeping powers including the ability to take control of a suspects social media account.

Andrews said she had invited police and law enforcement ministers for a joint meeting on the continued threat of terrorism in the country.

Campbell Newman, former Queensland premier and now-Senate candidate, warned COVID-19 had provided cover for political leaders to increase the powers of the nations law enforcement without proper debate and scrutiny.

Police at the scene of what authorities say is a terrorist attack, Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 9, 2018. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

In my time in government, I can tell you whether it was in the Brisbane City Council as mayor, the council local ward office, or state level bureaucrats and police, they always wanted more power. If you give an inch, they take five miles, he told The Epoch Times.

Newman pointed to the Foreign Interference Laws 2018 that were passed to counteract Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interference in Australias domestic political affairs, which required individuals or entities to register certain activities under a Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme if they were carried out on behalf of a foreign entity.

Within only a year or two, we see a former prime minister (Tony Abbott) being [asked to declare] his involvement with the Consultative Political Action Conference [which was held in Sydney]. How ridiculous was that?

Joseph Siracusa, adjunct professor at Curtin University who teaches the history of international diplomacy, was also critical of Australias approach to dealing with terrorism and its focus on domestic lone wolf actors rather than established terror cells.

Terrorism has been around a long time, and theyre not discovering the sources of terrorism, he told The Epoch Times. There are strong databases to look at, whether its the Red Brigade in Italy, the BaaderMeinhof Gang in West Germany, or the Shining Path in Peru. There are lots of places and literature where terrorists come from, and why younger people make these commitments.

Siracusa attributed Australias successes to its tough border stance, not increased monitoring and surveillance of its civilian population, which he noted, was expensive and infringed on civil liberties.

It is the hardening of the borders that have prevented mass civilian attacks, both in the United States, Canada, and Britain, he said. Its pretty hard to get into Australia, and its hard to get out of Australia.
Signs indicating the screening of documentary films "Taking Back the Legislature" and "Inside the Red Brick Wall" at the SVA Theatre in Manhattan, New York on Sept. 12, 2021. (Jenny Zeng/The Epoch Times)

Award-Winning Hong Kong Protest Documentaries Sold Out in New York

NEW YORKThe third CineCina Film Festival in New York ended on Sept. 12 after three days and six screenings, including the pro-democracy Hong Kong documentaries Taking Back the Legislature and Inside the Red Brick Wall.

The documentaries, about the Hong Kong protests that occurred in July and November 2019, were shown at the SVA Theatre in Manhattan on the last day to a packed theater.

The co-organizer of the event was New Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong (NY4HK).

Anna Yeung-Cheung, founder of the group, said she was deeply impressed by the pictures as she watched them for the first time. She said she had tears in her eyes after learning about what happened during the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong. She believes that showing the films can enable more Americans to understand what really happened in 2019.

A third Hong Kong film, Drifting, was screened at the festivals closing the same day. According to Frank Yan, the curator of the CineCina Film Festival, it describes the lives of a group of homeless and their efforts to sue the government.

Yan said the film provided an immersive experience that was very refreshing. Hong Kong films are a core part of Chinese-language films, so we also hope to bring such films and their diverse perspectives to America, he told The Epoch Times.

Inside the Red Brick Wall was screened in many countries following its premiere in Toronto in late August. It records the large-scale police-civilian clashes during the November 2019 protest of Hong Kongs Extradition Law Amendment Bill, and shows the situation of protesters trapped in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University from multiple perspectives.

The Sept. 12 screening was the films first in-person screening in New York. Ticket sales for the two documentaries started on Aug. 22. Within the first day, about half of the seats were booked, according to NY4HK.

Inside the Red Brick Wall was named the best film by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2020 and the Best Editing Award in the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Yan said that Hong Kong films are an essential part of Chinese-language films, and he hopes that they will be more widely available to United States audiences.

Both films were launched in early 2020. Taking Back the Legislature depicts the anti-extradition bill protest in Hong Kong on Jul. 1, 2019. It is a sister film of Inside the Red Brick Wall and won the Chinese Documentary Award at the Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival (TIDF).

Although the two documentaries have won multiple awards internationally, Hong Kong has continued to restrict the film and its distributor.

On Sept. 21 last year, two hours before the Hong Kong Arts Center screening, the Hong Kong Electrical Inspection Office said the film is rated Class III, meaning only people aged 18 or over can see it. Inside the Red Brick Wall was initially scheduled to be shown at the Golden Scene Cinema in Hong Kong in March, but the cinema canceled it three hours before its scheduled screen time.

In July, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council abruptly terminated the annual funding of film distributor, Ying E Chi, which distributed Taking Back the Legislature and Inside the Red Brick Wall.
House Panel Democrats Turn Back GOP Anti-Forced Labor Amendment

Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee defeated a Republican amendment on Sept. 14 that would have barred the use of federal funds to purchase any critical mineral needed for renewable energy products, such as electric vehicle (EV) batteries, that was mined with forced labor.

Introduced on the second day of the panels markup of President Joe Bidens $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending program, the amendment by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) would have made it illegal to import or pay for products made with critical minerals mined by or assembled with forced labor.

The most frequently mentioned country during the ensuing debate was China, because of its use of forced labor by millions of Muslim Uyghurs in the production of a long list of consumer products that are exported to the United States.

Also frequently mentioned was the Congo, which has most of the worlds cobalt, which is required for batteries used in EVs that the Biden plan seeks to encourage U.S. consumers to buy instead of traditional internal combustion-powered cars and trucks.

China controls most of the cobalt mining in the Congo, as well as that of lithium, which is also required for EV batteries. Approval of the amendment would have erected a major obstacle to achieving Bidens goal of half of all U.S. new vehicle purchases to be of EVs by 2030.

Debate on the amendmentwhich was defeated on a party-line vote of 3226became heated as Republicans decried African children being forced to dig cobalt with their bare hands and Uyghurs held in Chinese labor camps. Democrats replied that the United States already has such laws and thus doesnt need another one with the passage of the Walberg amendment.

My Democratic friends have included hundreds of billions of dollars in order to transform our [electric] grid and make us reliant on renewables and electric vehicles, Walberg said in defending his proposal.

Not only will this lead to trillions more in taxes and debt, drive up [electricity and energy] rates, and undermine wages, it will further entrench our nation in total and complete reliance on communist China.

Communist China produces 90 percent of the silicon wafers that are the key building blocks for solar panels and 80 percent of rare earth minerals that go into magnets essential for wind turbines and EV motors. China also now controls almost 80 percent of the worlds battery capacity and 60 percent of the worlds battery component manufacturing, Walberg said.

This is not just a national security issue, its also a human rights imperative, and this is where it goes to our soul. If were going to build our domestic renewable energy industry, we need to have an honest conversation about where we are sourcing these materials.

Walberg noted that China detains millions of mostly Muslim Uyghurs in more than 100 forced labor camps in that countrys coal-rich northeastern section. There is an estimated 21 million square feet of factory space in which the Uyghurs are forced to work, often making products for U.S. firms that export them back to this country.

So I ask my colleagues, where are the critical minerals required for carbon-free electricity by 2035 going to come from? Other than vague promises, weve seen very little action by Democrats and the Biden administration to ensure domestic sourcing and mining of raw materials required to make the batteries that power EVs, Walberg added.

He noted that a similar amendment was adopted last week on a bipartisan vote by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

In response, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) said, The Biden administration has already taken crucial steps to halt the import of critical minerals from regions that rely on forced labor and lax environmental protections.

The administrations actions send a clear, decisive message that the United States does not tolerate forced labor and that importing critical minerals produced using forced labor may constitute a violation of U.S. law.

Walbergs amendment ignores the important efforts that are already underway to end forced labor and is a distraction from the legislation were here to consider, Castor said.

Walberg said he was encouraged that the Biden administration has taken some actions on the issue, and then asked Castor, What would be the problem with the Congress taking the same steps by putting it into this bill that you intend to pass and putting the sense of Congress, as it were, lining up with the administration if thats what they truly believe and work for?

Castor didnt respond.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told the committee that U.S. law since 1930 has barred the importation of products made using forced labor. We have these laws. They are on the books. Perhaps they need to be more enforced, and so this amendment is really not necessary.
I Support Trump: New England Chainsaw Artist Sculpts Larger-Than-Life Portrait of President Trump

The larger-than-life persona of Donald J. Trump made him the perfect president to drain the swamp and make America great againaccording to one New England chainsaw artist, who devotedly sculpts important historical portraits.

Doing one of Trump was just a matter of time.

A bust of the enigmatic 45th President was the perfect project for Christopher LaMontagne, 55, who has been woodworking since he was a kid, whittling in his dads workshop in Providence, Rhode Island.

He recently carved a bust of Trump, using his gasoline chisel first, to rough-in the businessmans strong features and distinctive trade mark hairstyle.

He is a natural born heroloved by many, myself included, from get go, LaMontagne told The Epoch Times. I loved the idea of a successful American businessman draining the D.C. swamp.

I think he has done a fabulous job even while under constant attack by the deep state. I can only imagine how much more he would do for our great country with these swamp creatures gone.

The New England chainsaw artist works professionally, sculpting commissioned pieces or pieces that have broad public interest which he puts up for sale. The woodworker has depicted past presidents and politicians, such as Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Davis; as well as popular figures, such as Elvis and Mr. Rogers.

The eastern white pine sculpture channels 45s look of shrewd determination. Conceived from a solid hunk of wood in an almost totem-like manner, one gleans a sense of the artists heritagethe people of New England stem from Native American ancestry. But the portrait is unmistakably Trump.

The artist recorded an impressive time-lapse video of the sculpting process, which he posted on YouTube. Particularly absorbing is the roughing-in stage, using a large chainsaw to mass large areasshoulders, nose, jowl, and Trumps exaggerated, jutting hair. LaMontagne then uses finer tools and chisels for details, such as bushy brows.

Bright color is applied in bold blocks, hand painted with latex-based paints. They are durable, dry fast, and easy to clean up with water, and have good adhesion, the artist explained.

Accompanying the bust, LaMontagne even conceived a custom plinth carved the same way as the bust: with a chainsaw.

The finished product is a monumental tribute to the man who started the MAGA movement,

Heres a man who loves his country, lived the American dream with great courage, he truly wanted to make America great again, put all his heart and soul into that goal for this great nation that helped make him a great success, so he could return the favor back to America with gratitude, the artist added. And I believe history will show he did just that!

And so of course, I support Trump, what else can I say?

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
Illegal Immigrant Children Enjoy Different Standard in Proof of Immunization, Florida Educator Says

In the United States, schools must accept the children of illegal immigrants as students. But one mother and educator says the children of illegal immigrants enjoy a different standard regarding proof of immunization than those of U.S. citizens.

Public schools must accept illegal students and not require the same registration paperwork for admission as we would a U.S. citizen, the Florida educator explained, speaking to The Epoch Times under the condition of anonymity for fear that she would lose her job.

Most troubling is many districts allow illegal students admission and services for up to 90 days before they are required to present records like proof of residency or immunization.

The administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also acknowledged the issue.

The teachers concerns about illegal migration and unaccompanied minors in Florida are valid, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for the Executive Office of DeSantis, told The Epoch Times. The Biden administration has been an abject failure on immigration. In fact, mass illegal immigration is the administrations policy, regardless of the damage its doing to our communities.

The educator explained that, because they cant deny registration of those students who provide no documentation, theyre referred to the public services. Because they have no immunization records, theyre also referred to the local health department of the area and given three months to get their paperwork done and submitted.

However, no U.S. citizen can enroll their child without proof of immunization, the educator said.

The Health Risks

As Gov. DeSantis said last month, Biden campaigned on shutting down the virus, Pushaw said. But instead, he has imported more virus from around the world by having a wide-open southern border.'

DeSantis made the statement during an Aug. 4 press briefing.

You have hundreds of thousands of people pouring across every month, he said. Not only are they letting them through, theyre then farming them out all across our communities across this countryputting them on planes, putting them on buses. Do you think theyre worried about COVID for that? Of course not.

Who knows what new variants are out there? But I can tell you whatever variants are around the world, theyre coming across that southern border. And so, hes not shutting down the virus, hes helping to facilitate it in our country.

The educator said the federal government and teachers unions know about the restrictions placed on U.S. citizens for school enrollment. Yet they continue to ship the growing number of illegal immigrants around the country, forcing school systems to take in the children and ignore the rules that are applied to U.S. children.

Everyones hair is on fire that the children of this country need to be immunized to attend any level of education, that they are mandated to wear masks to protect others, the educator said. Yet, the federal government is shipping these children everywhere, and we need to accept them immediately, regardless if they have COVID or havent been immunized for COVID or any other communicable disease.

DeSantis has reached out to the administration of President Joe Biden regarding the settlement of illegal aliens in Florida, according to Pushaw.

Two weeks ago, Governor DeSantis wrote to Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas, demanding that the Department of Human Resources immediately cease any further resettlement of illegal aliens in Florida and that the aliens instead be removed from the United States, she said. Floridians welcome responsible, lawful immigration that serves the interests of our state and the American people, but we cannot abide the lawlessness that the Biden administration is aiding and abetting on the southwest border.

The educator stated that there are laws currently in place that could resolve the countrys immigration issues, were they to be enforced.

Everyone frets about fixing our immigration system, the educator said. We actually have the laws, they are just not being implemented, enforced, or followed. We worry about the costs associated with illegal aliens coming into our country. However, the total costs are never fully calculated because, again, the federal government diffuses these people around the country into every community. The costs are diffused amongst different budgets and line items.

The Laws

Once we are aware that these students do not have a permanent residence, any legal documentation, school records, etc., we cannot report them, the educator said. We can lose our jobs, be fined, and sued by notifying any law enforcement agency. We must provide a safe zone from law enforcement enforcing the laws of our country.

In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union provides educators with an outline of what U.S. schools are legally required to provide to illegal immigrant students, as well as what they cant do to avoid civil rights violations.

As outlined by Public School Review, schools cant: deny a student enrollment based on undocumented status; require different procedures to determine a students residency; engage in any activities that may discourage a student from enrolling; require students or their parents to document their immigration status; ask questions that may expose a students immigration status; or require a students Social Security number for enrollment purposes.

In the meantime, the National Association of Secondary School Principals provides illegal immigrants with a tip sheet to help them navigate public assistance programs.

Floridas state and local law enforcement agencies deserve full transparency on where illegal migrants are being resettled in our state, including unaccompanied minors, Pushaw said. The problem is that state and local law enforcement do not have the authority to deport illegal immigrants. Enforcing our immigration laws is the federal governments duty, and the Biden administration has been shamefully derelict in this duty.

Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis stated that hes surprised that the federal government is not partnering with local law enforcement to verify that the people crossing our borders are telling border agents the truth about their identities and destinations.

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, local law enforcement is never given specific information about individual illegal immigrants destined for their jurisdictions, Nienhuis told The Epoch Times.

I would think that they would want to verify that the person is actually living at his or her proposed destination. Why? Simply because if the information given by the illegal immigrant at the border is a lie, it would be a huge red flag to law enforcement that the person is a terrorist, a wanted fugitive from another country, or a member of an organized criminal enterprise. The sooner we know that the person was untruthful, the better.

Different Standards

Immunization records are required for all K12 students in Florida, except in cases of individual medical exemptions, Pushaw said. Many years of real-world evidence shows us the required vaccines are very low risk to children and confer enormous benefits, protecting kids from diseases that have a much higher pediatric mortality rate than COVID-19.

The immunization requirement isnt just about the well-being of the school community, but the health and safety of migrant children. If the same immunization requirements are not applied to migrant students, that is emblematic of the hypocrisy of the leftthey claim to care about the well-being of illegal immigrant families, but do not care whether unaccompanied minors are protected against serious diseases?

Children arent responsible for crimes committed by their parents. However, it is a matter of common sense to enforce the same rules for all students, including unaccompanied minors.

The educator stated that the effort to accommodate the children of illegal aliens has led to U.S. citizens being held to a higher standard than those who have entered the country illegally.

I have students that I adore, and I know their status, the educator shared. We are such a compassionate country, and we bend over backward to provide for them. The only thing that really bothers me is, I know American parents cant walk in the door and register their child for school without the proper documentation without being sent away. Were holding American parents to these standards, but were not holding others to those same standards.

Right now, our big buzz word is equity. But at this point, we are beefing certain people up to such an extreme that were making it unequitable to someone else. Were taking away from Americans and not giving them the same chance. I dont think thats fair.

We can lose our licensing. We can be fined. We can be civilly attacked. Its horrible.
Iowa Schools Can Mandate Masks After Federal Judge Issues Temporary Order, Governor to Appeal

Schools in Iowa can again mandate masks after a federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order to block the state from enforcing a law banning school mask mandates. Gov. Kim Reynolds is set to appeal the decision.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt in an opinion (pdf) wrote that Iowas law substantially increases disabled or immunocompromised childrens risk of contracting COVID-19. His ruling is effective immediately, until the court orders a preliminary injunction.

Reynolds had signed the measure into law in May, barring K-12 schools and local governments from mandating masks.

In early September, parents of children with disabilities and health conditions filed a lawsuit against Reynolds, Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo and several school districts, over the measure. The suit was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as other disability rights organizations.

The parents argued that Iowas ban on universal mask mandates indoors violates the civil rights of disabled or immunocompromised children under the Americans With Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act of 1990.

According to the opinion, the parents asserted that only the immediate restraint of the mask mandate ban will eliminate this violation of the childrens civil rights.

Pratt wrote in his opinion, 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.

He later added, The Court recognizes issuing a [temporary restraining order] is an extreme remedy, however, 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.

Reynolds said in a post on Twitter late Monday, 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.

The latest development comes amid an investigation by the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights launched on Aug. 30 into whether mask mandate bans in five statesIowa among themviolates the Americans With Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a release on Aug. 30 accused the states of putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Ministry of foreign affairs offices in Jerusalem, Israel, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Abir Sultan/Pool via Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Visits Egypt in First Official Trip for a Decade

CAIROIsraeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday for talks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and bilateral ties in the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt for a decade.

Bennett, who took office in June, was invited to visit by Sisi last month. Since May, Egypt has played a prominent role brokering and trying to reinforce a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after 11 days of conflict there between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which controls the enclave.

Bennett said the talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh covered diplomacy, security, and the economy. We created a foundation for a deep connection going forward, he said before flying home.

In the discussions, Sisi cited Egypts efforts to maintain calm in the Palestinian territories and the importance of international support for rebuilding efforts there, according to an Egyptian presidency statement.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi listens during the Baghdad conference in the Iraqi capital on Aug. 28, 2021. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)

An uptick in cross-border violence since late August has tested the fragile truce in Gaza. Over the past week, Palestinian militants have fired rockets into Israel for three nights in a row, drawing Israeli air strikes.

Sisi also affirmed Egypts support for all efforts to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, according to the two-state solution, the presidency statement said.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014 and analysts say there is little prospect of reviving them. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood. His government has focused on policies to improve economic conditions in the Palestinian territories.

Border Crossing

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 but relations have remained cool, restricted to security cooperation and limited economic links.

Israel and Egypt hold Gaza under a blockade, citing threats from Hamas.

Cairos brokering of the Gaza truce allowed it to reassert its diplomatic role in the region in the wake of deals by four Arab states to normalize ties with Israel last year.

Bennetts trip appeared to give transport links between Egypt and Israel a boost.

The Taba crossing between Israel and Sinai, an entry point for Israeli tourists, would become fully operational from Monday as restrictions put in place during the coronavirus pandemic were lifted, Israels transport ministry said.

From October, Egyptair would begin operating several flights a week between Cairo and Tel Aviv, sources at the Egyptian national carrier said.

Bennett and Sisi had also been expected to discuss regional issues, including Irans influence in the Middle East and the crisis in Lebanon, diplomats and security sources said.

The last official visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt was when Benjamin Netanyahu met former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in January 2011 in Sharm el-Sheikh, just before the uprising that toppled Mubarak.
This picture taken from a Vietnam Coast Guard ship on May 14, 2014 shows a China Coast Guard ship (L) chasing a Vietnam Coast Guard vessel near the site of a Chinese oil drilling rig being installed at the disputed water in the South China Sea off Vietnam's central coast. The Vietnam National Assembly's deputies, gathered for their summer session, are discussing the escalating tensions with China over the South China Sea's contested waters. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan Seeks More Military Allies Amid Chinas Assertive Actions In Indo-Pacific

On Sept. 11, Japan and Vietnam signed a deal, enabling exports of Japanese defense equipment, vessels, and technologies to Vietnam. The deal aims to strengthen cooperation in defending against Chinas expanding military presence in the Southeast Asia regional waters.

The deal was signed in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, during Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishis first overseas visit after assuming office. Kishi said that the accord signed on Sept. 11 had raised the defense partnership between the two countries to a new level.

The two countries agreed to enhance their bilateral security cooperation, such as defense policy dialogue at the deputy ministerial level; consultation sessions between armed services; collaboration in personnel training, defense industry, overcoming war consequences; and participation in UN peacekeeping activities. The two sides plan to deepen protective relations through multinational joint exercises and other means.

After the signing, the Japan Ministry of Defense stated that the transfer details of specific equipment, including naval vessels, will be determined in subsequent talks.

On Aug. 24, two weeks before Japan and Vietnam reached an agreement, United States Vice President Kamala Harris visited Vietnam to strengthen relations with the South China Sea coastal country. During the visit, Harris urged all countries to stand up to the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) expansion in the South China Sea.

One week later, on Sept. 3 and 4, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Vietnam. At the end of his visit, Wang said that China and Vietnam should avoid any unilateral actions on the South China Sea issue that may complicate the situation and widen their differences.

Both Vietnam and China have sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, especially of the Nansha Islands and Paracel Islands, where the two countries have territorial disputes.

On Sept. 11, a few days after Wang Yi concluded his visit to Vietnam, Japans Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi met with Vietnams Foreign Minister Pan Van Giang in Hanoi. Kishi and Pan agreed that maintaining the freedom of navigation and flight in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as cybersecurity and other defense partnerships, is of great significance, and reiterated the need to comply with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Japan Ministry of Defense stated that the CCP has taken increasingly provocative actions in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and strongly condemned any unilateral attempts to coerce the status quo or any activities that increase tensions.

There are also territorial disputes between Japan and China. Japan often protests the activities of the Chinese Coast Guard near the Senkaku Islands that are controlled by Japan in the East China Sea. Japanese officials said that Chinese ships repeatedly violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands and even threaten their fishing boats.

During the Cold War, as a member of the Communist camp, Vietnam relied on the Soviet Union for its weapons, including fighter jets, submarines, and other major military equipment.

Japan is seeking military cooperation with more allies besides the United States. The signing of the defense equipment and technology transfer agreement made Vietnam the eleventh country to sign a deal with Japan. To date, Japan has signed similar agreements with the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Jury: Mom Who Dropped Son to Death From Parking Garage Was Sane at the Time

SANTA ANA, Calif.A woman who dropped her 7-month-old son to his death from a Childrens Hospital of Orange County parking structure a decade ago was legally sane at the time of the crime, a jury found on Sept. 13.

Sonia Hermosillo, 41, was convicted Aug. 11 of first-degree murder and child assault causing death. She had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so the trial entered a sanity phase for jurors to determine her mental stability at the time of the crime.

With jurors finding she was sane, Hermosillo faces 25 years to life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for Oct. 29. If she had been found insane, she would have been diverted to a treatment program.

In the first phase of the trial, jurors considered incriminating statements Hermosillo made to police in Orange following the Aug. 22, 2011, death of her son, Noe Medina Jr. In an interview, Hermosillo told police, No,

I would rather he died, and said she killed him because hes sick, and thats why I dont love him, according to Deputy District Attorney Mena Guirguis.

Experts for the defense testified during the sanity phase that Hermosillo suffered from post-partum psychosis, while experts for the prosecution said she was depressed.

I want you to think of the best mother you know because that was Sonia Hermosillo, defense attorney Jacqueline Goodman told jurors in her closing argument last week.

Hermosillo was a stay-at-home mom who was dedicated to her children and was active in their schooling, her attorney said.

She lived to be a mom, Goodman said, as she showed jurors a photo of Hermosillo cradling her newborn son.

One expert determined Hermosillo had bipolar-type schizo-affective disorder, according to the defense.

When Hermosillos husband sought help for her because she stopped showering and was walking out of the house in the middle of the night to wander around, the couple did not have health insurance so they did not get the specialized care that would have identified a proper diagnosis, Goodman told the jury.

Days would go by and she doesnt sleep, the defense attorney said.

Her husband was tying ropes to her because she would leave and wander around the park. Thats bipolar and mania  and she was also depressed.

One doctor prescribed an anti-depressant, which is the wrong medication for someone with psychosis, Goodman said.

Her delusion was that Noe Jr. would be a big baby in diapers his whole life, she said.

One of the defendants caretakers for the past 10 years in the jail testified that she was psychotic when she came in, Goodman said.

Part of the reason Hermosillos trial was delayed so long was because she was found not mentally healthy enough to assist in her defense and was hospitalized for mental illness.

The law is not whether she murdered her son because she is sick. Its not but for her illness would she have done it. The law is all about her ability to understand whether she knew right from wrong, Guirguis said.

The prosecutor told jurors that the defendant had very severe depression and thats sad. Thats tragic. Depression sucks. It just sucks. But it is not legal insanity. Guirguis added, It is what it isan unwanted child. Hes causing her depression  She tells us shes had enough. Shes freeing herself from this child.

Guirguis characterized the defenses experts as dishonest.

Noe was born with flat-head and twisted-neck syndrome and had to wear a protective helmet. A prior prosecutor on the case said Hermosillo removed the helmet before dropping her son to his death and then had her parking ticket validated before leaving the garage.

Guirguis said the defendant left behind a note for her husband before the babys death, apologizing and asking him to take care of their daughters with no mention of their son.

According to Goodman, the defendant met her husband when they were teens in Mexico. Although Hermosillo only had the equivalent of a sixth-grade education herself, she worked hard overseeing her two daughters as they did their homework because she wanted a better life for them, the defense attorney said.

Hermosillo struggled to get pregnant again and when she did and the couple was told they would have a son, she was overjoyed, Goodman said. But that changed sometime after the baby was born, she said.

There were times when her husband would get home from his job at a construction site and before he went to bed he would tie a rope on the door to keep her wife in their home, Goodman said. He would even take her to work with him to keep an eye on her, the defense attorney said, telling jurors that he took his wife to various doctors and even witch doctors in search of a solution.

When they got Hermosillo to a health center in La Habra, California, the doctors called for an ambulance and had her hospitalized, Goodman said. She said Hermosillo was held longer than the typical 72-hour psychiatric hold but left the hospital against medical advice and with only a weeks worth of medication.

Later, her husband took her to another hospital, where she was treated and given medication, but the couple couldnt afford to refill the prescription, Goodman said.

Hermosillo herself, in a more lucid moment, said the children were not safe with her, according to Goodman.

She did not resent Noe Jr., the attorney said.
LA Inspector General Recommends Regulating Pointing Guns at Unarmed People

A Los Angeles County Inspector Generals report published on Sept. 10 recommended that the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department (LASD) regulate the practice of pointing firearms at unarmed people after an investigation into an incident in which firearms were drawn on three teenagers.

In August 2020, the Santa Clarita Sheriffs station responded to a call about a potential fight in a parking lot in Santa Clarita. The caller said three teenagers allegedly hit an older man with their skateboards; the Los Angeles Daily News reported that a lawyer for the teens later said the older man attacked them and chased them into traffic.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found two 16-year-olds and one 18-year-old at a bus stop with a crowd of about six to eight people. A video shot by a crowd member shows three deputies with their guns, one of them an AR-15 rifle, aimed at the three teenagers, who on video appeared to be unarmed and compliant with the deputies orders, according to the report. The three teenagers were briefly detained and questioned about the fight, and then released.

Two days after the incident, a citizen from the state of Oregon called the Santa Clarita station to file a formal complaint, which launched the investigation. The video also gained many views online as members of the public, as well as Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth and Los Angeles Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who expressed concern about firearms being pulled on the apparently unarmed teens.

I encourage Sheriff Alex Villanueva to support transparency and accountability for the community with a thorough investigation of the facts surrounding this case, Barger said in a statement. In addition, I have spoken with Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman and asked that he share his independent review of the results of the investigation with my office, city leaders, and the community.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, I have concerns regarding the tactics employed, in a 2020 video statement while adding that the matter is currently being investigated.

The report found that the deputies tactics of drawing and pointing the guns were consistent with LASD policy. However, the Watch Commander said that the deputy could have used less lethal tactics instead of using the rifle; the Watch Commander also found that one of the deputies used discourteous language toward the crowd. The deputy was issued a performance log entry for his actions, according to the report, but no other disciplinary action was taken toward the deputies.

The report ultimately made several recommendations, including a recommendation that the Sheriffs Department make the drawing and pointing of a firearm a reportable use of force, and that the department should revise its patrol rifle policy to include clear guidance as to the proper and improper deployment of a rifle.

The report also recommended the diligent documentation and investigation of citizen complaints. The LASD also reportedly closed the investigation without recording statements from other deputies and people who witnessed the interaction.

It is concerning that such behavior would never come to the attention of a supervisor without the public witnessing it, given the lack of reporting requirements means that there is no supervisorial or command staff assessment of the deputies conduct, the report said.

It should not take the publics response to a video of a deputy pointing a rifle at a juvenile to prompt a response from the Sheriffs Department management to reconsider its rifle policy.

The LASD didnt respond to a request for comment by press time; the Los Angeles Inspector General declined to comment for this article.
Los Angeles Police Officers assembled across the street as protestors gather in front of a Chase Bank building on the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Vine St., in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 16, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

LA City Council OKs Plan To Deter Street Racing

LOS ANGELESThe Los Angeles City Council passed a motion Tuesday aimed at curbing illegal street racing by adding deterrents at common locations of races.

The motion was introduced by Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who noted that street racing typically happens in areas with wide, straight roads that have low levels of traffic and easy access to freeways and major roadways that allow participants to quickly disperse.

Traffic calming measuressuch as street humps, rumble strips, raised center medians, curb extensions, and traffic circlescould be engineered in these areas to deter racing, Rodriguezs office said.

The motion, which was seconded by Councilman Bob Blumenfield, instructed the Department of Transportation (LADOT), the Bureau of Street Services, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Street Racing Task Force, the Bureau of Engineering, and the Los Angeles Fire Department to collaborate on a report with recommendations for such measures that could be implemented in areas with frequent illegal street racing.

Recommendations would include temporary devices that could be installed and removed from the areas, and the report would feature a map overlaying known racing corridors and intersections with traffic data from Vision Zero, Los Angeless mission to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Enforcement cannot be the only solution, Rodriguez said after introducing the motion on Aug. 3. We need to also include a proactive approach using street design elements that make it difficult for drivers to conduct the type of street takeovers and speed events that are endangering our

communities.

The motion also instructed LADOT and the LAPDs Racing Task Force to meet each quarter and report to council members offices on street racing data in their respective districts.
Larry Elder Anticipates Winning the Election

California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder said he anticipates winning the recall election at his final campaign stop in San Pedro on Sept. 13.

Elder was joined by the former California Democratic Sen. Gloria Romero, former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, and Wilmington Neighborhood Councilmember Valerie Contreras.

I will be very happy with the results. I anticipate winning. So there wont be any questions about the result because I am going to win, Elder said.

Elder emphasized that there will be a surge of votes coming in on election day.

According to the latest recall election polls, the polling average from July 14 to Sept. 14 demonstrates that 57.3 percent of voters surveyed opposed recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom, and 41.5 percent were in favor of removing him from office.

If the recall succeeds, Elder will most likely replace Newsom and become the new governor, as he is leading with 29.7 percent of support among all other gubernatorial candidates.

Contreras claimed that Wilmington is great lean in a neglected and has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 protocols. She stated that Newsom has failed in his leadership and led to irreversible environmental damage, increasing homelessness, and poor public safety.

Wilmington community members and those that live here continue to feel overburdened by port-related industry, industrial commerce in the name of economic development for the port in our city and beyond, directly leads to our port truck traffic noise air trash train water and land pollution, Contreras said.

Wilmington is a coastal community with contaminated waters, and no beach access, no views due to port grow unsightly container storage yards that operate in violations.

Maldonado enthusiastically endorsed Elder and praised him as someone who knows whats right for the people of California, while accusing Newsom as someone without common sense.

[Newsom] really does live in a different world if you think about it; theres two Californias, and one for him and one for everyone else, Maldonado said.

At the conference, Elder specifically shared his plans to solve the drought, wildfire, public safety, and homelessness in California.

He mentioned that he would push an across-the-board tax cut so people or organizations could have more money in their pockets to help the homeless in their own community.

Elder also plans to build small houses at a fraction of the cost for the homeless people, adding that the California Environmental Quality Act is the primary driver for the states outrageous housing prices and he would remove it.

One of the many things Im going to do when I become governor is to declare a statewide emergency on housing. Im going to declare a statewide emergency on water, said Elder.

Elder also claimed that he would repeal the mask, vaccine, and weekly COVID-19 testing mandates in California if elected.

South Bay Republican Womens Club members also appeared at the conference to show their supports for Elder.

Club member Raechelle Rockoff told The Epoch Times that California used to be the Golden State that plays a leading role in terms of economy, technology, and education. She suggests that Californians should be making a wise choice on this recall election and urged people to vote for Elder, believing he can lead California back to a leading position.

I think that we, as a populace of people who really value our freedom and value our children, we need another direction to go in, said Rockoff.
Labor Senator Kristina Keneally along with President of the Vietnamese Community in Australia Paul Nguyen, and Fairfield Councillor Sera Yilmaz (second right) during a press conference at The Vietnamese Community Cultural Centre in Sydney, Saturday, September 11, 2021. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Locals Furious Over Labors Keneally Move, Former Candidate Says

The fresh-faced local Vietnamese-Australian Labor lower house candidate for the division of Fowler, lawyer Tu Le, has been replaced in a shock move by the Australian Labor Party with Senator Kristina Keneally, the former state premier who serves as the partys deputy leader.

Tu Le, who was backed by retiring Fowler MP Chris Hayes to replace him at the federal election next year, has revealed the move has triggered rage in the southwest Sydney community.

Keneally will now be parachuted in from her home in northern Sydney to become the candidate to represent the multicultural suburb.

They [the community] are furious in fact. The public commentary about this clearly shows their rage, Le told ABC radio on Tuesday. That they feel like they dont have a say in who gets to represent them and who is the person that speaks up for the struggles that they face and we face every day.

Le expressed disappointment over losing the opportunity to represent Fowler, an electorate with 15 percent of people being of Vietnamese origin.

I grew up, I live in this area, and I fight for this area every day in my life as a community worker, as an advocate, an organiser, and a lawyer, she said. I think that the issue is beyond me, and I think its much more than just the sour debacle that we have now.

The decision to replace Le with Keneally drew criticism within Labor as well.

Labor senator Anne Aly poses for a portrait at Rotary Park in Perth, Australia on July 28, 2016. Senator Aly was born in Egypt and migrated to Australia when she was 2 years old. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Diversity, equality, and multiculturalism cant just be a trope that Labor pulls out and parades while wearing a sari and eating some kung pao chicken to make ourselves look good, Labor MP Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to the Australian Parliament, told ABC on Sept.11.

Charishma Kaliyanda, the Labor member on Liverpool Council, published an opinion article in The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday titled, All respect to Kristina Keneally, but my Labor Party is wrong to impose her on western Sydney.

Retiring Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon described the switch as a shame.

I always prefer the selection of local community candidates but you can understand why the party is seeking to retain someone like Kristina Keneally, he said. It is a shame that she couldnt be deployed to a marginal government-held seat which we need to win government.

The real issue is, a very good local candidate with strong local support including the support of the outgoing local member is going to miss out.

Keneally hit back at the media coverage of other Labor MPs questioning diversity over the weekend.

Ill stand by our commitment to multiculturalism up against our Liberal opponents any day of the week, she said.

With a leader with a name like Albanese, you can be sure that a commitment to multicultural Australia sits at the heart of his government.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese on Tuesday told Le to hang in there, confirming that Labor would be committed to cultural representation.

The Labor Party has done an enormous amount for diversity  Labor is the party of multiculturalism, Albanese said.

But Tu Le, I think, will have an outstanding future  I certainly hope she hangs in there and that she will have a bright future.
Los Angeles Residents Cast their Votes in the Gubernatorial Recall Election

Today is the last day for California residents to cast their votes in a gubernatorial election that could potentially remove current Gov. Gavin Newsom from office.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Registrar told The Epoch Times there were 108,416 check-ins for voting in-person, and 1.2 million mail-in ballots returned as of Tuesday afternoon.

The unofficial results are expected to be posted at 8:40 p.m. tonight, but the election will not be certified until the first week of October due to the high number of mail-in ballots. Mail-in ballots may be counted as long as theyre postmarked by election day, the spokesperson said.

Political Data Inc. estimates that 37 percent of the 22 million recall election ballots were returned as of Sept. 14.

In the first section of the ballot, voters will be asked whether they want to vote to recall Newsom; in the second part, they may pick the candidate they prefer in case the recall passes.

If more than 50 percent of voters vote no on the recall question, Newsom will stay in office; if more than 50 percent of voters vote yes, then the recall passes, and the candidate with the highest number of votes will be chosen. A voter who voted no on the recall question may also vote for a replacement candidate, according to the Secretary of States website.

If the recall passes, the election will be certified by the Secretary of State and the new governor will be sworn in within 28 days. If the recall does not pass, then Newsom, who took office in 2018, will remain in office until 2022 when his term is up.

More than 1.6 million California residents signed the recall petition after it was introduced in February 2020before the COVID-19 pandemic hitciting unaffordable housing, high taxes, high rates of homelessness, a failing education system and high pension debt.

During the pandemic, Newsoms pandemic restrictions became a polarizing force for many Californians. Some residents said Newsoms hesitancy to reopen the state early on in the pandemic put a damper on the states economy, while others say the governors mandates should have been more strictly enforced to prevent subsequent spikes in COVID-19 cases.

In Nov. 2020, Newsom attended a birthday party at the French Laundrya birthday gathering with people from multiple households and medical lobbyists, after the governor advised Californians to avoid holiday gatherings with people from more than one household.

On Sept. 13, President Joe Biden visited Long Beach to promote Newsoms campaign, calling Republican candidate Larry Elder a clone of Donald Trump. At his final campaign stop in San Pedro, Elder said he anticipates victory with a surge of incoming votes in his favor on Election Day.

As of the morning of Sept. 14, FiveThirtyEight polls estimated that 57.3 percent of Californians voted to keep Gavin Newson, while 41.5 percent voted to remove him from office. Elder is the lead replacement candidate with an estimated 29.7 percent of the votes; behind him is Democratic real estate agent and YouTuber Kevin Paffrath at 6.1 percent, and Republican former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer at 5.1 percent.
Alexandre Benalla, a former security advisor of French President Emmanuel Macron, arrives with his lawyer Jacqueline Laffont on the first day of his trial for violence committed against demonstrators at a May Day protest in 2018, at the courthouse in Paris, France, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

Macrons Ex-Bodyguard Goes on Trial Over May Day Assaults

PARISA former security advisor of French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at a Paris court on Monday to go on trial accused of roughing up May Day protesters in 2018, in what triggered the first major political crisis of Macrons mandate.

Macron and his Elysee palace team were sharply criticized at the time for not sacking Alexandre Benalla immediately. He was fired when a video of the incident emerged six weeks later.

Macron was accused of being too slow to deal with a member of his inner circle.

Macron rejected accusations, saying the Elysee had not sought to protect Benalla.

The video showed Benalla manhandling protesters during a police-led crowd control operation. While allowed in as an observer, he ended up taking part in the operation, wearing police-marked clothing. He has admitted to making a mistake, but said he just wanted to help police and did nothing illegal.

Benalla, 30, is also on trial over allegations that he illegally kept and used diplomatic passports. He told a Senate committee that he thought he was allowed to use them, but had made a mistake.

Benalla told a senate inquiry in September 2018 that much of his role had involved liaising between Macrons political office and the official security body charged with protecting the president, known as GSPR and made up of top-level gendarmes and senior police officers.

I am not a thug, he said.
China Evergrande Investors Crowd Headquarters in Protest

A new CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak hits China. A man tests positive after three weeks in quarantine and testing negative nine times.

A super typhoon is heading toward South China. Its losing strength along the way, but coastal areas are still bracing themselves.

Beijings World Robot Conference featured a Chinese-speaking Albert Einstein, backflipping dogs, and AI nurses. But controversy is stirring despite the grand displays.

Investors who backed Chinas second-largest property developer are demanding their money back. Nearly 300 real estate companies reportedly filed for bankruptcy already this year. If their company joins the list, it could send shockwaves through Chinas economy.

A Wall Street Journal investigation accuses Tiktok of allegedly promoting sexual content to minors.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter.
Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui holds photocopies of documents allegedly on Chinese national security council request to send more spies to the United States and other specific goals, at a press conference on Chinese Kleptocracy at the National Press Club in Washington, on Oct. 5, 2017. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Media Companies Linked to Chinese Exile to Return Millions to Investors in SEC Settlement

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Sept. 13 charged three U.S.-based media companies over illegal unregistered offerings of stocks and digital assets.

The companiesNew York-based GTV Media Group and Saraca Media Group, and Phoenix-based Voice of Guo Mediaare affiliated with Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire living in exile in the United States.

The three firms agreed to pay more than $539 million to settle, without admitting to or denying the SECs findings, the U.S. regulator stated in a statement. The SEC did not mention Guo by name.

From April to June 2020, the three media solicited individuals to invest in the GTV stock offering, while GTV and Saraca also marketed the sale of a digital asset security they dubbed G-Coins or G-Dollars. The firms promoted their two security offerings through GTV and Saracas websites, as well as on social media platforms including YouTube and Twitter.

The three media did not register with the SEC for their security offerings, the statement said.

Thousands of investors purchased GTV stock, G-Coins, and G-Dollars based on the respondents solicitation of the general public with limited disclosures, said Richard Best, director of the SECs New York regional office, according to the statement.

The SEC found that the three firms raised about $487 million through the two offerings from more than 5,000 investors.

GTV and Saraca agreed to a cease-and-desist order, to pay disgorgement of over $434 million plus prejudgment interest of approximately $16 million on a joint and several basis, and to each pay a civil penalty of $15 million, according to the SEC statement.

Meanwhile, Voice of Guo agreed to pay a civil penalty of $5 million, on top of $52 million in disgorgement plus prejudgement interest of close to $2 million, according to the SEC.

Also on Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that she had secured the recovery of $479.9 million from GTV and Saraca for failing to abide by state laws when selling stocks and digital currencies to dozens of New York investors, according to a statement from her office.

The monetary relief was part of the $539 million the SEC announced.

According to the attorney general, Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist during the Trump administration, briefly served as a non-executive director at GTV. The attorney generals office did not accuse Bannon or Guo of any wrongdoing.

Bannon was arrested last year over accusations that he defrauded donors in a campaign to fund a private wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. He pleaded not guilty and called the charges a political hit job. He was later pardoned by former President Donald Trump.

Guo, who also goes by the name Miles Guo, fled China in 2014 and is known for his connections to retired Chinese regime officials, particularly those associated with former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. He has since accused the Jiang family of amassing wealth by embezzling Chinese funds.

Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui dishes on top Chinese officials wrongdoing during one of his YouTube livestream sessions. (Screenshot via YouTube/Guo Wengui)

A lawyer for GTV and Saraca, in a statement to the Financial Times, said that the two media companies are pleased to have reached this resolution, which achieves our goal of returning funds to our supportersan objective we have had since these regulatory matters commenced.

Guo, in a post published on his Gettr account, said he has accepted the SEC fine and added that working with the SEC had been a success.
A delivery rider for Meituan, one of China's biggest food delivery firms, waits for orders outside a restaurant in Beijing on April 27, 2021. (Greg Baker/AFP)

Chinas Meituan to Change Delivery Algorithm Rules Amid Increased Regulatory Scrutiny

Chinese food delivery giant Meituan released its algorithm rules for the first time as it faces increased scrutiny from regulators. The move is aimed at protecting labor rights for millions of riders by extending the estimated delivery time.

The algorithms help to estimate the time span for riders to complete their deliveries, Meituan stated on Chinese social media platform WeChat on Sept. 10.

According to the post, Meituan will choose the longest time frame from several calculated results for riders, which would factor in delays caused by food vendors, traffic, and others.

Meanwhile, the company introduced a degree of flexibility in experimental cities by changing an estimated arrival time to a time period; it had also invited its delivery workers and outside experts to give feedback on how the algorithms could be improved.

Meituan, Chinas eighth-largest company by market value, is under pressure as authorities come down hard on the countrys sprawling platform economy.

In September 2020, a Chinese magazine published a report exposing the huge pressure and risks when riders rush to meet deadlines set by the companies algorithms.

On Sept. 2, Chinese regulators summoned Meituan and another 10 ride-hailing firms, ordering the companies to inspect their business practices and form a compliance plan by the end of the year.

According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the overall number of food delivery workers in China has reached 7.7 million.

Reuters contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Delta variant and his administration's efforts to increase vaccinations, from the State Dining Room of the White House on Sept. 9, 2021. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

More Than Half of US States Vow to Fight Bidens Vaccine Mandate

Twenty-seven Republican governors or attorneys general have vowed to fight the latest executive order issued by President Joe Biden mandating that over 80 million private employees receive COVID-19 vaccinations or undergo weekly testing, or their employer will be fined.

The executive order directs the U.S. Department of Labors Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to require private businesses with more than 100 employees mandate that their workers receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or undergo weekly testing. Noncompliance would result in fines of $14,000 per violation.

The governors whove expressed opposition include those from Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Republican attorneys general from states with Democratic governors who also vowed to fight include Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Louisiana AG Jeff Landry.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with whom Biden has sparred over mask mandates and vaccine passports, said Florida would fight back.

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, he 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.

Texas, which is already embroiled in several lawsuits with the Biden administration, vowed to sue. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said after hearing Bidens announcement that Texas is already working to halt this power grab and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Texas would be suing the Biden administration very soon.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said, OSHA cannot dictate personal health care decisions for Missourians. Missouri is not under an OSHA state plan, and Parson will not allow state employees to be used to enforce this unconstitutional action.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster vowed to fight Biden, saying, The American Dream has turned into a nightmare under President Biden and the radical Democrats. They have declared war against capitalism, thumbed their noses at the Constitution, and empowered our enemies abroad. Rest assured, we will fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said, Governors dont report to Joe Biden. Governors dont report to the federal government, the states created the federal government, and Joe Biden has stepped out of his reach, Ducey said. These mandates are outrageous. They will never stand up in court. We must and will push back.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita indicated he was working with a group of AGs to file a lawsuit. My team and I, along with other like-minded attorneys general, are reviewing all legal action on how to stand against these authoritarian actions by the Biden administration, he said in a statement.

The Republican National Committee also announced it was suing to protect Americans and their liberties if the proposed rule change were to go into effect.

In response to Republican pushback, White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond, a former Democratic congressman from Louisiana, told CNN the White House expected the opposition.

He said,  those governors that stand in the way, I think, it was very clear from the presidents tone today that he will run over them. And it is important. Its not for political purposes. Its to save the lives of American people. And so, we wont let one or two individuals stand in the way. We will always err on the side of protecting the American people.

By Bethany Blankle
A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Nicholas in the Gulf of Mexico, on Sept. 12, 2021. (NOAA/Handout via Reuters)

Hurricane Nicholas Makes Landfall in Texas

Potential life-threatening flash and urban flooding along Texas coast, NHC warns

Hurricane Nicholas made landfall in Texas early on Tuesday, with the anticipated heavy rain, storm surge, and high winds potentially causing widespread and life-threatening flooding to the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana through the middle of the week.

According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Nicholas strengthened from a tropical storm into a hurricane late on Monday. The Category 1 hurricane hit the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles (17 kilometers) west-southwest of Sargent Beach, at maximum winds of 75 mph (120 kph).

Portions of southeastern Texas, Louisiana, and southern Mississippi are expected to be impacted by heavy rainfall, the NHC said late Monday, warning of potential life-threatening flash and urban flooding along the eastern Texas coast into southwestern Louisiana.

The center said there is also danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation along the Texas coast from Port Aransas to Sabine Pass, and advised residents in these areas to follow advice given by local officials.

It will be a very slow-moving storm across the state of Texas that will linger for several days and drop a tremendous amount of rain, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement on Monday afternoon. People in the region need to be prepared for extreme high-water events.

Abbott announced that he will declare states of emergency in 17 counties and three cities across coastal Texas, adding that boat and helicopter rescue teams have been deployed or placed on standby.

Rainfall totals of up to 16 inches and possibly 20 inches in some isolated areas were forecast for parts of Texas through Wednesday. As Nicholas moves northeast, it was expected to dump as much as 10 inches on parts of south central Louisiana and southern Mississippi through Thursday, the NHC said.

The National Weather Service issued storm surge, flood, and tropical storm warnings and watches throughout the region, calling it a life-threatening situation.

Rain will be heavy at times through midweek across parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana, said AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyson Hoegg.

With landfall expected in just hours, the region is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Ida, which caused widespread damage and power outages in late August.

One of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, Ida tore a devastating path of destruction and crippled the New Orleans power grid. It claimed the lives of more than two dozen people as it devastated communities in Louisiana near New Orleans.

We want to make sure that no one is caught off guard by this storm, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told reporters on Monday afternoon. Heavy rainfall will be the primary concern.

The governor warned that drainage systems still clogged with debris from Ida and other recent storms may not be able to handle the expected deluge of rainwater, causing flash flooding.

Teams of rescue workers with high-water vehicles and boats were prepared to respond to people trapped by flooding across southern Louisiana, Edwards said.

Houstons 2.3 million residents have been urged to remain at home amid expected rainfall of 8 inches.

Take things seriously and prepare, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a press briefing. This is primarily a rain event and we dont know how much rain we will be getting.

According to PowerOutage.us, roughly 95,000 power outages in Louisiana were reported shortly after midnight on Tuesday, while more than 79,000 households and businesses were without power in Texas.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Nothing Is Off the Table: Florida Exploring Best Option to Protect Life

Florida is exploring the best way to protect life after the Texas pro-life law mostly succeeded the challenges in the courts, Gov. Ron DeSantiss spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

At this time nothing has been ruled out, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for DeSantis told The Epoch Times Tuesday. Governor DeSantis has always been pro-life. Advances in science, technology, and medicine since Roe v. Wade was decided have only bolstered the pro-life position. With that said, the governor has not indicated that the same legislation recently enacted in Texas will be on the table in Florida. At the same time, nothing is off the table. All the Governor has said is that hes looking into what the best option might be in terms of legislation to protect life.

On May 19, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8 (pdf), otherwise known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, into law.

The new Texas law bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected and enables private citizensexcept for an individual who impregnated a woman through rape or incestto sue physicians who perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The law also allows for civil action against any person who performs the abortion or provides assistance to anyone to obtain an abortion. Anyone found to have violated the law would be ordered to pay $10,000 to the person who files and wins such a lawsuit.

Our creators endowed us with the right to life, Abbott said at the bill-signing ceremony in Austin. And yet, millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. Abbott further explained that the bill ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.

On Sept. 1, the Supreme Court denied a bid by the American Civil Rights Union (ACLU), several abortion rights groups, and Texas abortion providers to temporarily block the ban.

On Sept. 9, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas over the signing of the bill into law.

The same day, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced the panel will hold a hearing to investigate the Supreme Courts ruling.

This anti-choice law is a devastating blow to Americans constitutional rightsand the court allowed it to see the light of day without public deliberation or transparency, Durbin said in a press statement following the ruling. At a time when public confidence in government institutions has greatly eroded, we must examine not just the constitutional impact of allowing the Texas law to take effect, but also the conservative Courts abuse of the shadow docket.

The term shadow docket refers to decisions from the United States Supreme Court, which are decided outside of its regular docket without oral argument.

In the 27-page suit obtained by The Epoch Times, government attorneys say the Texas law contradicts previous Supreme Court rulings, including Roe v. Wade, which conclude that access to abortion is a constitutional right.

Im pro life, DeSantis said in response to a reporters question regarding the new Texas law at a Sept. 2 press briefing in West Palm Beach, Florida. I welcome pro-life legislation. What they did in Texas was interesting, but I havent really been able to look at enough about it. Theyve basically done this through private right of action. So, its a little bit different than how a lot of these debates have gone. So well have to look, Im gonna look more significantly at it, but I would also say, I mean, what the court basically did isI dont think they really even did a substantive ruling on it. They basically said its not right yet for a decision, but if it ends up going, then you could consider it at that time. So, I wouldnt read too much into it. But I do think that, at the end of the day, the science on this has been very powerful now for a long time. If you go back forty years ago, what people thought versus what they can see now, its very powerful. So Ive always been somebody that really does support protections for life as best as we can do it.

Masooma Haq, Katabella Roberts, and Zachary Stieber contributed to this story.
NYC Council Member Promotes Gas Ban Bill Real Estate Board President Says Wont Reduce Emissions

Alicka Ampry-Samuel, a council member representing New Yorks District 41, gave a speech related to a new bill she is sponsoring to ban gas in the city.

Representatives from New Yorks Passive House, American Institute of ArchitectsNew York, and Alloy Development also voiced their support for the bill in front of a 44-story building, which they said was all-electric at Flatbush Avenue, on Sep. 13.

District 41 encompasses a series of mostly black neighborhoods and is located in eastern Brooklyn.

It is my goal to see bill number 2317 pass in the NY city council before we all leave in December, Ampry-Samuel said, because we need to make sure that this bill, the gas ban bill becomes law in New York City.

NYC council member Alicka Ampry-Samuel at gathering in Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, New York on Sep. 13 2021 (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

This legislation would effectively prohibit the use of gas-operated heating systems in new constructions or full gut renovations across NYC. Our mayor and city want to be carbon-free by 2050, she said, adding, This bill creates the necessary parameters to ensure that we meet that goal

She highlighted that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week signed a bill that would make all passenger vehicles sold in New York City to be emission-free by 2035.

Our president, President Biden has a goal to create a carbon-free, pollution-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050, she added. So were talking about the goals of the city, the governor, and the president of the United States. I dont know why Im constantly being asked is this possible in the city of New York.'

Clearly its possible because it has to be, Ampry-Samuel said.

In regards to the bill, James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said that the reduction of fossil fuels in buildings is laudable but it requires serious planning and a data-driven approach to ensure they are achievable and will help reach our shared climate goals.

Numerous advisory groups, including the citys Local Law 97 Advisory Board and the states Climate Action Council, are working through this challenge right now and considering significantly different and more thoughtful approaches. This legislation ignores these ongoing substantive discussions and instead puts forward a fundamentally flawed proposal that would upend the lives of millions of residents across New York City and significantly increase costs for homeowners and renters, Whelan said.

Further, this proposal will not effectively reduce carbon emissions because the citys electricity will continue to be sourced almost entirely by fossil fuels when this proposal would be implemented as well as for several years thereafter, he added.
Rallygoer protesting against COVID-19 vaccine passports at the Worldwide Rally for Freedom, Peace, and Human Rights in Sydney, Australia on May 15, 2021. (The Epoch Times)

New Campaign Launched for Businesses to Open for Unvaccinated Australians

Australian businesses wanting to keep their doors open to all individualsvaccinated or notare being encouraged to join a new consumer advocacy campaign launched on Sept. 14.

Participating businesses will be listed in a nationwide online directory and will receive a Proudly Open For All badge to display on their storefronts and website.

We are hearing from hundreds of people whovaccinated or notdisagree with the idea of a show your papers policy and the two-tier society that will surely follow, an Open For All spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

Open For All sticker (Supplied)

By publicising the businesses choosing to respect medical freedom, we are giving consumers the opportunity to vote with their wallet and support those committed to equality and inclusivity, he added.

With thousands of business owners across Australia preparing to decide where they stand on this issue, we must act now to preserve a fair and equal marketplace for everyone.

The campaign is free, and is staffed by volunteers. The directory will be launched on Sept. 27.

It comes after the New South Wales government became the first Australian jurisdiction to set a roadmap, including vaccination targets, that will see the state progress away from relying on lockdowns to contain outbreaks of COVID-19.

Freedoms would be granted to fully vaccinated individuals once 70 percent of the state population was vaccinated, including businesses such as hair salons, gyms, restaurants, and churches.

People are seen outside the Royal Exhibition Building Vaccination Centre in Carlton in Melbourne, Australia, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

More freedoms would be on offer once 80 percent of the state was vaccinated. However, the status of unvaccinated individuals has yet to be confirmed.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro last week issued a warning for businesses to comply with the health orders.

There will be a poster on the front window to say the business is vaccinated, he said in comments obtained by The Daily Telegraph. We will make sure it is very visible for the public.

There will be significant fines for breaches, he said. Theres going to be a level of trust.

But we accept that theres always going to be a component of people that do the wrong thing, and they dont always remain compliant, he added. That is why the settings are quite strict and quite conservative.

Open For All said there were no public health orders or laws that made COVID-19 vaccine passports mandatory.

Business owners are responsible for their own decisions regarding laws or mandates if they are implemented. But the threat made by Barilaro shouldnt intimidate business owners or prevent them speaking their minds on this issue, he said.

We have just seen the UK government scrap its vaccine passport plans following widespread opposition from businesses, consumers, and MPs, he added. Australians have the opportunity to achieve the same here if enough of us make our voices heard.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has warned businesses and governments there would be major implications introducing a passport-like system.

Vaccine passports may have significant implications for privacy and autonomy, freedom of movement and association, equity and discrimination, particularly when it comes to accessing everyday services.

Sam Kennard, CEO of Kennards Storage, one of Australias largest storage businesses, said his company would list on Open For All.

There are a large percentage of people who will be pro-vaccine but prefer to resist vaccine passports. There will also be some people who prefer not to vaccinate. Being part of Open for All is push-back against the attempts of government control, he told The Epoch Times.

Vaccine passports will put the population on a slippery slope of ever increasing government oversight, intrusion, and surveillance of our lives. Why not facial recognition check-ins? Geo-tracking? And eventually social credit scores? he added.

It is easy to imagine that such a platform would see controls being incrementally added and liberty gradually lost. All wrapped in the spin that its for our own best interests in terms of health advice and safety, of course.
People listen to a speaker during a rally and march organized by those opposed to COVID-19 vaccination passports in Vancouver, on Sept. 8, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

How Has It Happened That Politicians Deny Universal Human Rights in Canada?

Canadas association with human rights is long and proud

Commentary

The father of the modern human rights system is John Humphrey.  Nelson Mandela

New Brunswicks own John Humphrey was the author of the first draft of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mandelas statement should not mislead us to conclude that the idea of human rights is a recent invention. It is not. The international system is.

The UNs declaration arises from its historical circumstances, a world war in which Hitlers genocidal scientism was its most salient new feature. Anti-humanistic national ideology couched in the language of science was the scalpel wielded against genetic identity groups.

The declaration arose because the long-established law of nationsshorn of Christianityhad been insufficient to halt the transgressions of Nazi Germany. Genetics had trumped ethics and had denied obligations to humanity within its own borders. The international community would do what nations would not.

The declaration was to my mind insufficient. It was humanism still in the thrall of scientism, seeking to recover a religious sense of the sanctity of life, yet without an appeal to the motive of obedience to God. It certainly recovered, in the Nuremberg Code, the important methodology of informed consent for the scientific community, yet without establishing its secure ground in God-given human nature.

It is important to note that the commitment to human rights in Canada did not originate in 1948. Canadas commitment to universal human rights goes back to its Confederation documents. As Canadian historian John Robson reminds us, the right to due process, to the legal presumption of innocence until proof of guilt, to accountable government, to property rights, to free speech and free association, are all explicit in the Magna Carta (1215). It is also encapsulated in Canadas official motto, A mari usque ad mare, an excerpt from Psalm 72:8 of the Bible, reflecting the Christian convictions of the Fathers of Confederation.

But since 1968, the political left has seized human rights as its own exclusive project. It is its credo, a sort of humanitarian civil religion, in Europe and in North America, and it repudiates the historic (especially the Christian) understanding of liberty under law. In keeping with its origins in the sexual revolution, it rewrites history to defame its historical antecedents as oppressors. The evidence against it continues to mount.

Most salient is the way it couches human rights in terms of groups rights rather than the freedoms born of moral action. While it trumpets its defence of minority groups, it discounts the legitimacy of the ultimate minority, namely the individual. See my discussion here.

And instead of liberty under law, the political left appeals to what Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke called the state of nature, an autonomy of human choice without any obligations. This idea of human nature is no longer rooted in marriage or the traditional family, and is devoid of any grammar of moral and political action. It serves the system, which is internationalist. It is not only no longer bound by the law of nations, it acts as if nations were an obstacle to progress.

Fuelled by technology, our elites are now governed by what Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has called post-nationalism. The aim is to appoint bureaucrats to check nationalism with a paralyzing global regulatory framework, such as the Sustainable Development Goals of the UNs Agenda 2030.

Post-nationalism cuts from both ends. It strengthens individual and social rights (through a proliferation of identities), while it minimizes the national form. It is most conspicuous in planned low birth rates and mass immigration. It enacts cultural Marxism by a long, slow march of the left. As globalism waxes within Canadas political and civic bodies (including its educational, scientific, and medical establishment), it also weakens the very institutions that made liberty and self-government possible.

Crossing the Rubicon

The extreme response to COVID-19 has only brought this all to public attention. The governments rejection of Charter rights and freedoms through lockdowns and recent trashing of the Nuremberg Code in the application of vaccine mandates and passports has happened by order of the heads of government. But what is most striking is the eager compliance by an ideologically-motivated public sector and by large corporations whose ties are more globalist than local.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in the recent televised federal election debates, in which no party leader opposed mandatory vaccinations or the idea of vaccine passports. Although they will manifestly contradict inclusion and diversity, and divide Canadians into those with universal human rights and those without them, no political leader said it was un-Canadian.

That is because these leaders, particularly Justin Trudeau, paint those who resist vaccines as far-right. It is gaslighting, for the groups most anxious are the black and indigenous communities, and the typical vaccine-hesitant individual in Canada, as Macleans magazine noted, is a 42-year-old Ontario woman who votes Liberal.

The groups and people who protest do so in the name of freedom. Freedom does not fit within the internationalist system.

The danger is real and present. With no free press in Canada, and with rights and freedoms illegally suspended, the effect of conducting health policy by absurd computer R0 scores has led the majority to favour ghettoizing the unvaccinated on health grounds. It seems likely to be a rubicon moment in which citizens legitimize in their minds the governments ability to deny ALL its citizens privacy and autonomy, its freedom of movement and association, its assurance of equity and against discrimination, particularly when it comes to accessing everyday goods and services.

As Naomi Wolf has rightly noted, the QR codes vaccine passports use are also a slippery slope for introducing a social credit system like that in Communist China. God help us.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
President Joe Biden lands at Long Beach Airport with California Governor Gavin Newsom in Long Beach, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Orange County Residents Cast their Ballots in California Recall Election

According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the county is the fifth largest voting jurisdiction in the in the U.S, serving more than 1.8 million voters.

As of 12:00 p.m. on Sept. 14, 15,000 ballots were cast in-person at Orange County voter sites, a spokesperson for the registrars office told The Epoch Times.

Orange County voters can cast their ballots at over 60 locations until 8pm on election day. The registrar office issued a schedule for election night:

The first round of unofficial Election Night results, including mall in ballots received through 12pm on Tuesday will be made available at 8:05 p.m.

First Unofficial In-person voting results will be available at 9:00 p.m.

Second unofficial results from in person voting will be made available at 9:30 p.m.

Third unofficial results from in-person voting will be made available at 10:00 p.m.

The final unofficial results from in-person voting will be made available at 10:30 p.m.

Following Election Day, final results will be released on Sept. 15 at 5:00 p.m.

For unofficial election results updated beginning 8:05 p.m., residents can visit the current election results page from the Registrars Office.
A 'Help Wanted' sign is posted beside CCP virus safety guidelines in front of a restaurant in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 28, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Over Two-Thirds of Businesses Worldwide Report Hiring Difficulties

A new survey of nearly 45,000 employers in dozens of countries showed that 69 percent of businesses reported having a hard time finding workers, a 15-year high for the second consecutive quarter.

The survey, carried out by employment services provider ManpowerGroup, found that over two-thirds of employers in 43 countries said finding skilled talent remains a top challenge. In order to overcome the hiring hurdle, 67 percent are offering prospective employees more flexibility around both work schedules and where the work gets done. At the same time, 41 percent are investing in training, skills development, and mentoring, in order to help ease the labor crunch.

Employers also reported stronger hiring intentions this year than last, with 15 countriesincluding Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdomreporting their highest hiring outlook since the survey began.

This recovery is unlike any we have seen before with hiring intent picking up much faster than after the previous economic downturn, Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

At the same time, some workers are hesitant to reengage with employers as factors including health concerns and childcare challenges continue, Prising added.

In the United States, job openings surged to a record high of more than 10 million on the last day of July, while hiring lagged that figure by more than 4 million, painting a picture of an economic recovery held back by businesses struggling to fill vacant positions.

The Labor Departments Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released Sept. 8, showed that the number of job vacancies jumped by 749,000 to 10.9 million on the last day of July. The private sector accounted for 9.9 million job openings, with the remainder coming chiefly from state and local government and a small 116,000 contribution from the federal level.

Hiring remained little changed over the month, with U.S. employers taking on 6.7 million workers, the same number as in the prior month. Hires fell in retail trades (-277,000), durable goods manufacturing (-41,000), and educational services (-23,000).

There are now 2.5 million more job openings than unemployed people in the United States. The Labor Departments most recent jobs report showed that the total number of unemployed people edged down to 8.4 million in August.

The biggest challenge is matching the substantial number of jobs available with individuals in the labor force, Bankrate Senior Economic Analyst Mark Hamrick said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times. It remains to be seen whether improvement in employment wanes a bit further here in the closing act of 2021.

Separations, which include quits, layoffs, and discharges, remained little changed over the month, at 5.8 million in July, according to the JOLTS report. The quits rate, which reflects worker confidence in being able to find a better job, remained unchanged over the month at 2.7 percent, a historically elevated number.

While the continued reopening of the economy has driven many businesses to seek workers, hiring efforts have been hampered by a labor shortage, with analysts generally pointing to factors such as child care issues, lingering worries about the pandemic, and generous unemployment benefits. The federal pandemic jobless aid programs have now ended in all states, with future JOLTS reports sure to be closely scrutinized for a bump in hiring.
Pennsylvania Lawmakers Considering Allowing Virtual Meeting Options for Local Governance

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering how municipalities can continue using virtual meeting programs like Zoom when needed for public meetings.

In Pennsylvania, each type of municipalityboroughs, cities, and townshipshave different codes or laws. Most codes require that, for a board to hold a meeting, it must have a quorum of board members physically present. Outside of emergency orders, fully virtual meetings are not allowed. The exception is the second class township code which is silent on whether members must be physically present.

A quorum is the minimum number of board members required to hold a meeting. For example, a board of seven may need at least four members present in order to meet or make decisions. If only three people show up in person, the meeting is canceled. As long as a quorum is physically present, other members could appear virtually.

Before COVID-19, county commissioners, township boards, and city and borough councils held public meetings with entire boards in one room. A few routinely broadcast their meetings on the internet or local television. Elected officials interacted with the public present at meetings but not with online or television viewers.

But with Microsoft Teams or Zoom meetings, board members each broadcast from their home computer and members of the public also use their own computers to interact with the board. Everyone is looking at the computer screen, elected officials and general public viewers are all seen, and the public can electronically raise their hands to participate in public comment time.

More members of the public have been participating in local government public meetings held virtually, according to testimony on Monday in Harrisburg during a joint hearing of the House and Senate Local Government Committees. But now that Governor Tom Wolfs emergency COVID-19 orders are over, fully virtual municipal public meetings have ended and public participation has gone down.

When COVID-19 prevented meeting in person, municipalities were sent scrambling to find a way to continue conducting business, according to Amy Sturges who testified on behalf of the Pennsylvania Municipal League and the Pennsylvania Association of Township Commissioners. The result was Act 15 of 2020, passed by the General Assembly, which removed the in-person requirement for quorums for the duration of Wolfs emergency order.

Once the emergency order ended, the municipal codes went back into effect.

We are asking for the flexibilities at the local level to establish a quorum another way if necessary, Sturges told The Epoch Times in a phone interview. The public should be aware of when that would be. But [we] are not suggesting that governing bodies never meet in person again. Rather than leave the codes as they are, lets get our codes updated so the next time they cant be present in a room, they can meet virtually without a full physical quorum.

Sometimes, the need for a virtual meeting may be regional. Recent flooding in Pennsylvania closed roads in some regions. With the flexibility to meet virtually, boards could have safely met without encountering the roads.

There are certainly benefits to this virtual thing, but its always much more meaningful when you can sit across the table from someone, Republican State Rep. Jerry Knowles told The Epoch Times. People back home did not elect me to stay at home. We cant let this remote stuff become the norm.

Knowles is chairman of the local government committee and he sees benefits to both kinds of meetings under different circumstances.

When people are elected to public office, they are expected to attend the meetings, Knowles said. I dont want people hiding behind a virtual meeting. But if they are put in a position where they can only participate virtually, they can do it from home. Otherwise, they have a responsibility to sit there, eye to eye, and listen to constituents.

Newly proposed legislation, Senate Bill 794 and House Bill 1318, call for removing the in-person requirement for borough quorums, but it does not address meeting requirements for cities or townships.
Pennsylvania Republicans Try to Block School Mask Order

The debate over requiring Pennsylvania school children to wear masks in schools and at child care centers continued on Sept. 14 in Harrisburg, with a letter from the House Health Committee challenging Acting Health Secretary Alison Beams authority to order masks in schools.

In late August, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, asked the General Assembly to return to the state capital and approve a mandate requiring all schools and child care centers to make children wear masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. The Republican-led General Assembly leadership refused.

Within days, Beam issued an order requiring masks to be worn inside K-12 school buildings, early learning programs, and child care providers.

It is my strong belief that the secretary does not have the authority to proclaim this order because it is being interpreted as law, Health Committee Majority Chair Kathy Rapp said during a Sept. 14 committee meeting.

It would be no different than the secretary of agriculture sending out an order that all children in a school district should drink a half a pint of milk for lunch every day. We would look at that and say thats not a law; they dont have to abide by that, because he has not the authority. Its the same with the secretary of health. We are not under a declared emergency.

She does not have the authority, in our opinion, to send out this order and have people obey this order.

Rapp, a Republican, noted that only the General Assembly can make laws, and the governor only signs or declines to sign laws. But Cabinet secretaries cant write or sign laws. Previous health department masking orders were issued under an emergency declaration, but the emergency is no longer in effect.

In a split vote, the committee agreed to send a letter to the Commonwealth Joint Committee on Documents asking it to determine if Beams order should be promulgated as a regulation.

Democrat Dan Frankel, Health Committee minority chair, called the letter an exercise in political theater and said minority members wouldnt support sending the letter. Sitting just inches away from Rapp, who didnt wear a mask, Frankel removed his mask to speak.

While the review process is an important check on the executive branch overall, we feel it is not suited to the fast-moving threat of a highly contagious virus such as COVID-19, Frankel said. There is no such thing as in-person learning without mitigation policies. We either allow outbreaks that force school closures and children to quarantine, or we act responsibly by continuing science-based policies that protect our children in the classroom.

Rapp reminded committee members that theres nothing preventing anyone from wearing a mask.

The issue here is the force of an order which we do not believe is law, Rapp said. What would prevent any other secretary from issuing an order without the rule of law? Without regulation? I just do not believe this is constitutional.

Frankel removed his mask again to speak.

Im flabbergasted that we have come to this point and time where public health has become a partisan, political issue, Frankel said. We need to get back to a point and time where we argue about things, we discuss things, we have disagreements, but we put public health on a different platform. Public health should not be politicized. That is what is going on here.

The letter was hand-delivered on Sept. 14 to the Commonwealth Joint Committee on Documents, which went right to work. Committee Chairman Vince DeLiberato told The Epoch Times that a letter has been sent to the Department of Health, which must respond by Oct. 4, and then each side will have a week to submit legal arguments to the committee. After that, a hearing will be held the week of Oct. 18.

If the Commonwealth Joint Committee on Documents finds that the Department of Healths mask order should be a regulation that requires promulgation, the department has 180 days to complete the lengthy promulgation (approval) process, or cease and desist enforcing the order. If the committee finds that the order doesnt need to be promulgated, the order stands.

Whichever party loses, the House Health Committee or the Department of Health could appeal the decision to the Commonwealth Court.

In the meantime, the mask order is considered in effect, DeLiberato said.
Syringes and vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be administered to front-line health care workers under an emergency use authorization at a drive up vaccination site from Renown Health in Reno, Nev. on Dec. 17, 2020. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Pfizer Plans to Ask Regulators for COVID-19 Vaccine Authorization for Young Children in October

Pfizer is eying an October submission of safety and efficacy data for its COVID-19 vaccine to U.S. drug regulators in a bid to gain authorization for shots for children between the ages of 5 and 11, two company officials said Tuesday.

Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine, made with German partner BioNTech, is currently only authorized for emergency use in the United States for those 12 to 15, with approval granted last month for Americans 16 and older.

Pfizer is running a trial examining the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of its vaccine in children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years. The data from the trial for those between the ages of 5 and 11 is expected by the end of September, Frank DAmelio, Pfizers CEO, told a Morgan Stanley conference on Tuesday.

That would set up an application for emergency use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early October for that age group.

If all goes well, an application for authorization for kids between 6 months and 5 years would be filed weeks later, according to DAmelio.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said at a different forum that the submission for the older group could actually come by the end of September.

Then, it is up to the FDA to take their time, and then make a decision, he said, CNBC reported.

The application for the younger group could come by the end of October, he added.

Pfizers vaccine is the only one currently allowed to be used for anybody between 12 and 18 in the United States.

BioNTech said last week that it expected to file the results of the trial for 5- to 11-year-olds with regulators across the world.

Children are at extremely low risk of contracting severe cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, but Pfizer says its scientists believe vaccinating children will contribute to herd immunity, or protection against the virus in the entire population.

Federal health officials have also said they want children to get a vaccine against the virus.

Were waiting for the companies to submit the data to the FDA, were anticipating that will happen in the fall, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said this week. 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 were hoping by the end of the year.
President Biden Visits Long Beach to Rally Against California Gubernatorial Recall

President Joe Biden arrived at Long Beach Airport the evening of Sept. 13 in his long-awaited trip to California in order to campaign with Gov. Gavin Newsom prior to tomorrows recall election.

The president pulled up on the airport tarmac at approximately 6:10 p.m. in Air Force 1, where both he and Newsom exited the plane to head over to the event in the presidential motorcade. The pair waved but did not take any questions from the nearby media, heading straight to the campaign event at Long Beach City College.

President Joe Biden lands at Long Beach Airport with California Governor Gavin Newsom in Long Beach, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Both Biden and Newsom had come straight from Sacramento for another recall campaign event.

Arriving at the campaign event, the presidential motorcade was met with protestors outside of the college, who booed the pair and were waving American flags, video shows.

Speaking at the campaign event, Newsom urged the audience at the campaign event to vote no on the recall, saying California has too much at stake to lose if the governor is removed from power.

What makes California great is that we can live together and advance together and prosper together across every conceivable difference. Its a remarkable thing, it really is  The issue that defines so much of our politics, thats all on the ballot tomorrow. Racial justice is on the ballot tomorrow night, economic justice is on the ballot tomorrow night, social justice is on the ballot tomorrow night, Long Beach environmental justice is on the ballot tomorrow night, Newsom said.

President Joe Biden lands at Long Beach Airport with California Governor Gavin Newsom in Long Beach, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Coming up after Newsom, Biden also urged voters to vote no on the recall, claiming it would reverse actions taken by Governor Newsom.

The decision you are about to make is going to have a huge impact on California; its going to reverberate around the nation, and quite franklynot a jokearound the world, Biden told the audience at the campaign event.

All of you know the last year I got to run against the real Donald Trump, Biden said. This year, the leading Republican running for governor is the closest thing to a Trump clone that Ive ever seen in your state. I really mean it. Hes leading the other team; he is a clone of Donald Trump. Can you imagine him being governor of the state? You cant let that happen. Theres too much at stake.
Professors Call on Two Ontario Universities to Repeal Mandatory Vaccination Policies

As universities across Ontario roll out mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies, Wilfrid Laurier professor William McNally says he found it upsetting to have to reveal his medical information but felt complying with this violation of his privacy was the only way he could keep his job.

So I made the choice to reveal that information. I feel sick to my stomach about it, but I didnt see how I can complete my job without it. And if I dont teach the classes, then the university has grounds to fire me, McNally told The Epoch Times.

In a recent joint letter, McNally and four other professors called on the presidents of Wilfrid Laurier and the University of Waterloo to repeal their COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandates. The professors raised concerns about several aspects of both universities policy, including discrimination against those who choose not to be vaccinated and the violation of charter rights.

The current COVID-19 vaccination and testing policy blatantly violates our universities commitments to equity, inclusivity, and diversity, the letter states.

The policy explicitly divides our university communities into two groups, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, and then adds to the latter group a requirement to seek an exemption and to regularly undergo onerous biological testing.

The professors called for the policy to be repealed immediately and that it be replaced with a policy whereby students, staff, and faculty have freedom of choice regarding vaccination and testing.

McNally, a professor of finance at Wilfrid Laurier since 1999, said he had to either apply for a vaccine passport or be subjected to an invasive PCR swab test up the nose twice a week.

Im not an antivaxxer. I just cant believe that in Canada, were stepping over this line of coercing or compelling people to undergo a medical procedure against their wishes, he said. We used to believe in informed consent, that individuals would make their own health-care decisions based on their own calculations and their own information.

Wilfred Lauriers vaccination policy requires students and staff to be fully vaccinated to access its campuses. It has also developed its own vaccine passport in the form of a phone app called SAFEHawk.

A Wilfrid Laurier spokesperson said in an email that the university is required by the provincial government to establish, implement, and ensure compliance with a COVID-19 vaccination policy that requires our employees, staff, contractors, volunteers, and students who attend our campuses to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or written proof of a qualifying exemption.

The universitys website says those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons or other grounds protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code can request an exemption and will still have to undergo regular testing.

David Haskell, an associate professor of liberal arts at Wilfrid Laurier who also signed the joint letter, says he is not opposed to the COVID-19 vaccines but that standing against mandatory vaccination is about fundamental human rights.

Up until now, this activity that our universities are engaged in was against the law, Haskell told The Epoch Times.

Canadas own privacy commissioner, Daniel Therrien, just a few months ago made it clear that the Privacy Act ensures citizens cannot be compelled to disclose personal medical information to access public services. This is another example of Canadians rights being incrementally removed. We must stand against it.

A separate open letter to the University of Waterloo signed by a large group of faculty, staff, parents, and students, including alumni, also calls on UW to withdraw the vaccination and testing mandates.

People may object to vaccination for various reasons, including medical, religious, and philosophical ones. Whichever the case may bethe choice to get vaccinated remains a personal one, as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the letter states, noting that the mandates are unlawful.

Asked by The Epoch Times for comment, the University of Waterloo provided its responses to the two open letters.

The academic freedom of our community members to express their views is essential to the scholarly mission of the University. However, academic freedom comes with responsibilities, UW said in one letter, referring to its website guidelines which say, in part, Academic freedom comes with responsibilities. You have a duty to use academic freedom in a manner consistent with the scholarly obligation to base research on an honest search for truth; your scholarship (including teaching) should meet ethical and professional standards; and you must not misrepresent your expertise, nor claim to represent the University.

The Universitys response letter adds that ensuring high rates of vaccination remains the most important way we can protect public health during the pandemic and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Some in the academic community fear being fired if they refuse vaccination.

Julie Ponesse, an ethics professor at Huron University College, an affiliate of Western University, said in a Sept. 8 video that she was facing imminent dismissal after 20 years on the job for refusing vaccination.

My school employs me to be an authority on ethics, and Im here to tell you its ethically wrong to coerce someone to take a vaccine, Ponesse says in the video.

As far as McNally is concerned, compelling people to undergo a medical procedure or take medicine against their will is an extraordinary violation of their charter rights, of their right to personal safety, of their rights to their property, rights to their own body.

He also notes that the tendency to conflate anti-mandates with anti-vaccination is widespread and is leading to division in Canadian society.

People kind of conflate this in their mind. As soon as you talk about opposing mandatory vaccination, they think youre against vaccination totally, he said, adding that most of the blame for this kind of thinking lies with how the media are covering the issue.



A lot of the media is is on board with this. Theyre trying to cast that anyone whos against the mandate is just a bad person, with bad intentions, and theyre stupid because theyre against vaccines as well, so you can kind of paint them as evil, as stupid, he said.

I dont know why we have to do that. Why cant we approach these issues with a little more nuance on a topic-by-topic basis?

Editors note: This article was updated to add more context to the University of Waterloos response letter.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis departs after signing into law Senate Bill 7072 at Florida International University in Miami on May 24, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

States Gear Up for Legal Fight Over Vaccine Mandate

So far 27 states have voiced opposition to federal vaccine mandate, which governors say infringes on personal liberty

Nearly all Republican-led states have voiced opposition to the vaccine mandate announced by President Joe Biden last week. Many of them have vowed to fight the mandate in court, but held back on voicing specific legal strategies as details of the Biden administrations policy remain unknown.

The mandate would require businesses with more than 100 employees to have staff either vaccinated against COVID-19 or be tested weekly for the disease. It would be put in place through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to Biden.

Governors and attorneys general in at least 27 states, all Republicans, made comments in opposition to the mandate. They all generally support vaccinations and some of them even support vaccine mandates in private businesses. However, they largely oppose the notion that businesses should be forced to require vaccination, especially by the federal government.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has already filed a lawsuit against the mandate, arguing it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The Biden administration is targeting mandatory vaccination for American workers, but doesnt require vaccination of those brought in after being caught crossing the southern U.S. border illegally, thus demonstrating unconstitutional bias in favor of unauthorized aliens, Brnovichs Sept. 14 brief says.

One of the most forceful statements opposing the mandate came from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who promised to fight the Biden administration to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.

The critics most often called the mandate a power grab, federal overreach, divisive, counterproductive, un-American, and unconstitutional.

Im 100 percent against this vaccine mandate because I believe it should be a personal health care choice, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts told The Epoch Times.

He acknowledged there are other vaccines that are mandatory in various settings. But those vaccines are much more established, he pointed out, while the COVID-19 vaccines have been around for less than a year and there hasnt been that time to disseminate the information about it.

Those resistant to getting the vaccines tend to mistrust health authorities, in Rickettss experience.

They just dont know who to believe, he said.

He blamed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for their inconsistency and how they delivered the message.

Fauci and others in the government have been inconsistent on a number of issues, including recommendations initially to not wear, and later to wear, masks and on the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. In the spring of 2020, when much of the country was under strict lockdown, authorities refused to speak out against mass protests and riots across the country sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, they criticized other gatherings and protests.

The mandate also appears to overlook different realities in different states.

Nebraska, for instance, has one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the country, despite few restrictions.

We never did a statewide mask mandate; we never did a stay-at-home order. Weve tried to manage this with the lightest touch possible because I believe in personal liberty, Ricketts said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he opposes the mandate on the grounds of personal liberty to make medical decisions. But even if he did support it in principle, he would still oppose Bidens idea, he indicated during a Sept. 13 press conference.

He particularly took issue with the mandate apparently including people whove already had COVID-19 and who, according to some studies, enjoy immunity thats superior to that produced by the vaccines.

If youre really following science, you would acknowledge this natural immunity, DeSantis said.

The mandate may even exacerbate the problems its claimed to alleviate, he suggested.

One argument for the mandate is that the unvaccinated need to be forced to taking the jab to reduce the risk that they end up occupying hospital beds and overwhelming the health care system.

But it hasnt been so much a problem of beds, but rather a lack of staff, especially nurses, according to DeSantis, whose state has seen some hospitals swamped with COVID-19 patients.

Given that a significant share of health care workers refuse the vaccines, he asked how the mandate would help with staff shortages.

Are you going to fire all these nurses who have been treating COVID patients or have been working all this time? he asked. And again, most of them, many of them have already likely had COVID and recovered and do have natural immunity. So it ends up taking issues with the health system and probably exacerbating it dramatically.

When it comes to specifics of how to oppose the mandate, at least a dozen governors and attorneys general said they would sue. It isnt clear yet, though, what legal arguments theyd raise.

The U.S. Department of Labor and OSHA will have to promulgate regulations on this and then, we will have a better idea of how to attack this from a legal standpoint, Ricketts said.

But we are absolutely exploring all those opportunities and put everything on the table.

DeSantiss press secretary, Christina Pushaw, was similarly general.

Were looking at all legal options to protect the rights of employees, and Governor DeSantis encourages business owners to respect their employees rights to medical privacy, she told The Epoch Times via email.

One viable avenue could be to attack the Biden administrations authority to issue the mandate through OSHA, according to Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University.

Under the 1970 OSHA Act, the agency can impose an Emergency Test Standard in cases in which it determines that employees are exposed to grave danger from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful or from new hazards.

The administration may claim that COVID-19 falls into the category of new hazards, but Somin questioned whether the disease is a new hazard, since its been around for more than a year and a half, and whether the statute only applies to a dangerous substance or agent that is novel rather than a hazard of any nature.

He further questions whether COVID-19 poses a grave danger to employees, given that they can easily get vaccinated.

Virtually any workplace activity poses grave dangers to at least some people, if none of the latter can be expected to take even minimal precautions on their own, he said in recent Reason op-ed.

Governors or attorneys general of the following states have spoken in opposition to the mandate: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a meeting with athletes, participants of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 11, 2021. (Sputnik/Evgeny Biyatov/Kremlin via Reuters)

Russias Putin to Self-Isolate After COVID-19 Detected in Entourage

Russian President Vladimir Putin will go into self-isolation after at least one aide in his inner circle tested positive for the CCP virus, the Kremlin announced on Tuesday.

In connection with the detected cases of coronavirus in his environment, he must observe the regime of self-isolation for a certain period of time, according to a statement sent to journalists, obtained by Russian news agency RT.

Putin has been fully vaccinated with Russias COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V. He revealed in June that due to armed forces receiving the Sputnik V shot, he also requested the jab because he is the supreme commander-in-chief.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Putin is in good health and will continue his work via video meetings. He will likely not travel to Tajikistan this week for planned regional security meetings over the situation in Afghanistan, and will instead, hold the talks virtually.

The president is absolutely in good health, Peskov said, adding that the isolation will not affect his work, but there will be no face-to-face events for some time.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov arrives to attend the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Rosa Khutor, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, on Feb. 7, 2020. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Peskov didnt clarify for how long Putin would remain in self-isolation, though he confirmed the president himself has tested negative for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Kremlin visitors have had to pass through special disinfection tunnels, journalists attending his events have to undergo multiple PCR tests, and people he meets are asked to quarantine beforehand and be tested.

The Kremlin said Putin took the decision to self-isolate after he had met Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin on Monday, in consultation with doctors.

Putin also met Russian Paralympians and traveled to western Russia on Monday to observe joint military drills with Belarus.

The Kremlin leaders decision to self-isolate suggests a potential breach in the rigorous regime set up to keep Putin, who turns 69 next month.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington about the end of the war in Afghanistan on Sept. 1, 2021. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Sen. Menendez Floats Subpoena for Bidens Defense Secretary

A Democrat senator on Tuesday floated issuing a subpoena for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after the Biden administration official didnt show up to a congressional hearing.

Austin was absent for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington, stoking criticism from the top Democrats and Republicans on the panel.

Im very disappointed that Secretary Austin declined our request to testify today, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the panels chairman, said in his opening remarks.

A full accounting of the U.S. response to the crisis is not complete without the Pentagon, especially when it comes to understanding the complete collapse of the U.S.-trained and -funded Afghan military. His decision not to appear will affect my personal judgment on Department of Defense nominees. I expect the secretary to avail himself to the committee in the future, and if he should not, I may consider the use of committee subpoena power to compel him and others to testify, he added.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the committees ranking Republican, also noted Austins absence.

Risch welcomed Secretary of State Antony Blinken and told him he was doing the right thing by answering questions from the panel.

However, like the chairman, I am disappointed that some of your colleagues declined to testify, particularly Secretary Austin. Theres questions that we really need to have answered and its disheartening that they declined to testify, he said.

John Kirby, the Pentagons press secretary, told The Epoch Times in an email that Austin had conflicting commitments that prevented his appearance before the Senate panel.

The Secretary thanks Chairman Menendez for his interest in having him appear today and regrets that conflicting commitments made that appearance impracticable. He greatly respects the oversight role of the Congress, and he looks forward to testifying at the end of this month before the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, Kirby said.

Committee chairman Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) questions U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 14, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Austin and two top U.S. generals are scheduled to testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 28. The House Armed Services Committee does not have any hearings scheduled at present.

Neither Austin nor Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have appeared before Congress since the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Both have defended what unfolded even as members of both parties describe it as a failure.

Menendez on Tuesday said the withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed. Risch portrayed it as a dismal failure.

Blinken testified that the withdrawal process was going smoothly until the U.S.-backed Afghan forces failed to hold the country from the Taliban, which triggered the frantic pullout that spanned 17 days and ended with at least 150 Americans being stranded there.

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that the government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. Forces remained. They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward. As Gen. Milley has said, nothing I or anyone else saw indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days, Blinken said.

He dubbed the evacuation an extraordinary effort and praised the 13 U.S. troops who died from an ISIS terrorist attack at the U.S.-held airport in Kabul as heroes.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington in a file photograph. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Senate Democrats Get Manchin on Board With New Election Overhaul Bill

Democrats in the Senate have won the approval of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for a measure that would dramatically overhaul elections.

The new legislation combines elements of an election reform bill proposed by Manchin earlier this year with provisions from the For the People Act, also known as S.1, that Senate Republicans blocked in June.

The full text of the new bill, dubbed the Freedom to Vote Act, hasnt yet been released. Democrats described it as focusing on guaranteeing voter access, election integrity, and civic participation.

Elements include automatic voter registration, making Election Day a public holiday, requiring states to use voting systems with paper ballots, and implementing changes to redistricting that the senators say would prevent partisan manipulation of the process.

With the Freedom to Vote Act, the entire voting rights working group, including Senators Manchin and Merkley, is united behind legislation that will set basic national standards to make sure all Americans can cast their ballots in the way that works best for them, regardless of what ZIP code they live in, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said in a statement.

The right to vote is fundamental to our Democracy and the Freedom to Vote Act is a step in the right direction towards protecting that right for every American. As elected officials, we also have an obligation to restore peoples faith in our Democracy, and I believe that the commonsense provisions in this billlike flexible voter ID requirementswill do just that, Manchin added.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Angus King (I-Maine) are the other co-sponsors of the bill.

The group was put together by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Calif.), who was said to have led the effort to reach a compromise on a new election overhaul bill.

Even in cases in which Democrats can avoid the filibuster, they must get the entire caucus on board.

The Senate is divided between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats or nominal independents who regularly vote with Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, has the ability to cast tie-breaking votes in her capacity as president of the Senate.

The filibuster, though, appears to prevent passage of the new act. The filibuster requires 60 votes to trigger debate on a bill before a final vote is held.

Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) have long opposed alterations to the filibuster, as have Republicans.

Asked how the new bill would pass, Manchin told CNN that he plans to get 10 Republicans on board.

Im talking to reasonable Republicans and friends of mine who understand we need guardrails, Manchin said.

The top Republican in the Senate, though, panned the efforts to change how elections are run.

There is no reason for the federal government to take over how we conduct elections. It is a solution in search of a problem and we will not be supporting that, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters in Washington.
Small Plane Crashes Off the Greek Island of Samos, Two Dead

ATHENSTwo people were killed on Monday when a light aircraft crashed into the sea close to the Greek island of Samos, Greek authorities said.

The small private aircraft, that was flying from Israel to the Greek island with two persons on board, crashed close to the islands airport.

We recovered two bodies from the spot, a coast guard official told Reuters without providing further details.

The aircraft crashed about a mile south from the airport, a second official said.
South Bay residents gather in front of City Hall to protest against mask and vaccine mandates in Torrance, Calif., on Sept. 11, 2021. (Alice Sun/The Epoch Times)

South Bay Residents Protest Against Mask and Vaccine Mandates

About 100 South Bay residents gathered in front of City Hall to protest against recent mask and vaccine mandate policies in Torrance, Calif. on Sept. 11.

Rally organizers Kristy Mueller and Jennifer Viggiano, who has been living in the South Bay for more than two decades, said they chose to come out not only to protest against the medical tyranny, but to honor those who lost their lives twenty years ago. They claim that South Bay residents have been severely impacted and eventually provoked by the mandatory mask and vaccine mandate policies that are enforced by schools, government, and workplaces.

We feel strongly that we need to stand up for our freedoms, they are slowly being eroded, Mueller told The Epoch Times.

South Bay residents gather in front of City Hall to protest against mask and vaccine mandates in Torrance, Calif., on Sept. 11, 2021. (Alice Sun/The Epoch Times)

In August, the California Department of Public Health and the Los Angeles City Council have demanded all healthcare workers and its employees including policemen and firefighters be fully vaccinated by early October, except for those obtaining exemptions.

On Sept. 9, 2021, the largest public school system in California, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), voted to require all students 12 and older to be vaccinated by Jan. 10, 2022. These mandate policies have provoked a series of protests in Los Angeles County.

Nina Asai, who immigrated to Torrance from Japan a decade ago told The Epoch Times that if Torrance Unified School District implement the same vaccine mandate policy as LAUSD, she would consider sending her kids to private school or homeschooling.

South Bay residents gather in front of City Hall to protest against mask and vaccine mandates in Torrance, Calif., on Sept. 11, 2021. (Alice Sun/The Epoch Times)

Paul Viggiano, a local pastor, told The Epoch Times that he was constantly being asked to write religious exemption letters, adding that many people who go to church might be considering getting the vaccine but they definitely do not want to be required.

They want to do their research; they want to talk to their doctors and their own parents  the jurisdiction in terms of health belongs to the family. It does not belong to the church, and it does not belong to the state, Viggiano said.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a safety monitoring program that helps to track any adverse event following any vaccination, including deaths.

Since December 2020, VAERS has received approximately 7439 cases of death and 1401 reports of myocarditis or pericarditis among people ages 30 and younger relating to the COVID-19 vaccine as of Sept. 1, 2021, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

South Bay residents gather in front of City Hall to protest against mask and vaccine mandates in Torrance, Calif., on Sept. 11, 2021. (Alice Sun/The Epoch Times)

Frank Ravaglia, who claims to have never been to a rally or protest before, said that the medical mandate is a war that everyone needs to fight against, and emphasized that he believes in self-choice as a foundation for this country.

We have a system thats okay with drug addiction and abortion and all other kinds of life taking. But they are not okay with the situation that I want to do with my body, putting in a poisonous vaccine that hasnt been regulated or mandated, Ravaglia told The Epoch Times.
Students Sue Catholic University for Denying Them Religious Exemptions to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

A group of students is suing Creighton University, a Jesuit Catholic institution in Nebraska, for refusing to grant them religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The lawsuit was brought against Creighton by four female students who alleged that they received arbitrary and disparate treatment because of their religious objections to COVID-19 vaccination. Specifically, the women argued that the vaccines were developed or tested using abortion-derived fetal cell lines, which goes against their Christian beliefs.

Among the four students is Lauren Ramaekers, the president of campus group Creighton Students for Life. In a written affidavit obtained by The Epoch Times, the senior student stated that as part of her Catholic faith, she believes that abortion is an intrinsic evil and that even remote cooperation with abortion would violate her conscience.

The use of fetal tissue, fetal cells, or any product of abortion in the development or testing of a vaccine or any medical treatment, is abhorrent to me, Ramaekers wrote. This is a sincerely held religious belief, which impacts my moral and ethical views of the world.

Creighton announced in July that all students must receive COVID-19 vaccines in order to register for and attend classes, warning that it would unenroll anyone who failed to show proof of vaccination by a Sept. 7 deadline. According to a report by the student newspaper Creightonian, more than 93 percent of the universitys 9,000 students had already been vaccinated by the end of August.

The university initially offered a medical exemption and a temporary exemption while the vaccines were under emergency use authorization by the federal government. Ramaekers was given a temporary exemption, which expired on Aug. 23, when the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received formal federal approval. No religious exemptions have been offered to students.

Ramaekers, who planned to graduate this December, said that as of Sept. 10, she has been banned from entering the campus or registering for fall classes. She and the other three students are seeking a court order that would have them reenrolled or reinstated.

The suing students are represented by attorney Robert M. Sullivan, who sent a letter to Creighton President Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson on Sept. 2, asking the university to allow his clients to continue their education without having to violate their own consciences. Sullivan said he didnt receive a response to the letter.

According to Sullivan, the Jesuit universitys rigid and intolerant approach to unvaccinated students came as a great surprise to many.

The hope is that educational institutions and others in positions of authority will come to appreciate the fact that it is better to educate and encourage than to force compliance, Sullivan said in a statement to The Epoch Times. This is especially true when those who are not in a position of authority have serious and deeply held conscientious objections, and when those in authority refuse to listen and consider alternative approaches.

While the Plaintiffs are very disappointed in the harsh treatment they have suffered from Creighton University, they remain confident that justice will prevail.

A Creighton spokesperson said the university is aware of a filing, but cant comment on legal action or pending litigation.

The lawsuit comes amid an ongoing debate within the Catholic community over the morality of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. While guidance from the Roman Curia stated that vaccination is not a moral obligation and therefore must be voluntary, it also told believers that if no ethically irreproachable vaccines are available, it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process.

According to a report by the British Medical Journal, the Johnson & Johnson vaccines manufacturing process used cell lines derived from elective abortions performed decades ago. The other COVID-19 vaccines being used in the United States, by Pfizer and Moderna, used these cell lines in testing but not in production.
The logo of Japanese drugs maker Takeda Pharmaceutical is displayed at the company's Tokyo office in Tokyo, Japan on April 25, 2018. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

Takeda Eyes Vaccine Business Growth as Dengue, COVID-19 Shots Progress: CEO

TOKYOTakeda Pharmaceutical Co., which distributes Moderna Inc.s COVID-19 shots in Japan, expects vaccines to become a bigger part of its portfolio as shots for dengue fever and COVID-19 near regulatory approval, its chief executive said.

Takeda, Japans biggest drugmaker and among the top 10 globally after its 2019 takeover of Shire Plc, has traditionally been known more for its cancer and gastrointestinal treatments.

But vaccines have defined much of the companys activities during the coronavirus pandemic, as it worked to bring foreign-developed shots into Japan.

Vaccine production is a business that when established, has a very long life, Takeda CEO Christophe Weber said in an interview broadcast at Reuters Events Pharma Japan 2021 conference on Tuesday.

There is no generic of vaccines, for example. So its a different type of lifecycle, but it can be a very good business if you bring innovation, he added.

Takedas dengue fever vaccine was submitted to European regulators in March, and the company said it planned to file for approval in several South American and Asian countries this year. Takeda has been working for almost 10 years on the shot, which is now in the last stage, Weber said.

The company has imported some 50 million doses of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine into Japan and has a license to manufacture Novavax Incs vaccine, which is still undergoing trials.

Japans government has agreed to buy another 50 million Moderna shots, to be delivered next year, along with 150 million Novavax doses.

About 1.6 million Moderna doses were recalled in Japan this month after the discovery of small metal contaminants in some vials, a problem traced back to a production line in Spain.

Weber said such problems sometimes occur in pharma manufacturing, brushing off the suggestion it was caused by companies rushing to bring vaccines to market.

With some of its main sellers due to lose patent protection in the coming years, Takeda is betting heavily on a pipeline of more than 10 drugs in late-stage development. One of those, a blood cancer treatment known as Pevonedistat, fell out of the running this month after poor trial results.

We dont rely on one product in our pipeline, or two, when we have 40 in clinical stage, Weber said.

By Rocky Swift
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, speaks during talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar, on Sept. 12, 2020. (Ibraheem al Omari/Reuters)

Taliban Rejects Claim Top Leader and Groups Co-founder Was Killed

The Taliban denounced claims on Tuesday that one of its top leaders who is also a co-founder of the designated terrorist group was killed during a clash with resistance forces.

Rumors recently spread on the disappearance of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradara top leader who hasnt been seen in public since the Talibans swift takeover of the war-torn nation and its Western-backed government.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen denied the rumors that he was killed in a statement on Twitter, saying Baradar issued a voice message to reject all those claims.

In a voice message [Baradar] rejected all those claims that he was injured or killed in a clash, Shaheen said, adding that the Taliban co-founder told him the rumors are lies and totally baseless.

The denials follow days of rumors that supporters of Baradar had clashed with those of Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network that is based near the border with Pakistan and was blamed for some of the worst suicide attacks of the war.

The rumors also follow speculation over possible rivalries between military commanders like Haqqani and leaders from the political office in Doha like Baradar, who led diplomatic efforts to reach a settlement with the United States.

Baradar has held positions at an executive level during the Talibans rule from 1996 to 2001 and was named as the second-in-command after the Taliban announced a new government for Afghanistan earlier this month.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Talibans deputy leader and negotiator, and other delegation members attend the Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, on March 18, 2021. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via Reuters)

Baradar was one of the original founders of the Taliban, designated by some federal agencies as a terrorist group, in the early 1990s. He fled to Pakistan when the United States invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Years later, Baradar was captured by Pakistani forces in Karachi and was later released from prison in 2018 after his release was requested so Baradar could lead peace negotiations.

Meanwhile, the groups supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, has also not been seen in public since the group seized control of Kabul last month, although he issued a public statement when the new government was announced.

Speculation over Taliban leaders has been fed by the circumstances surrounding the death of the movements founder, Mullah Omar, which was only made public in 2015 two years after it happened, setting off bitter recriminations among the leadership.

Jack Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Hundreds rally to protest against vaccine mandates at Foley Square, Manhattan, New York on Sept. 13, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Thousands Protest Against COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate in New York City

NEW YORKThousands of people opposed to the harsh COVID-19 vaccine mandates being imposed in New York City protested on Monday.

The large group, estimated to be in the thousands, gathered at Foley Square in the borough of Manhattan and later marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Their message: the citys vaccine mandate for Department of Education employees infringes upon their freedom.

Protesters gather to oppose the new COVID-19 vaccine mandate in New York City on Sept. 13, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

You should have a right to choose whatever you do with your body, Ricardo Alexander, a public school math and physics teacher, told the rally.

Alexander and fellow educators were joined by civil rights attorneys, Bill Pepitone, a conservative candidate for New York City mayor, and Rita Palma, founder of My Kids, My Choice, among others.

Pepitone harkened back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, attempting to link that event to whats unfolding now.

Terrorists tried to take our freedoms away through fear and intimidation.  We fought back. Now our elected officials  are trying to take our freedoms away through fear and intimidation. Twenty years later, we say, hell no,' he told the crowd.

Michael Kane, a teacher in New York City who helped organize the protest with the Teachers for Choice group, told The Epoch Times in a recent interview that he sees the mandates as government overreach and illegal.

Were not anti-vaccine. We are just pro-choice, he said.

One of the featured speakers was Del Bigtree, host of The High Wire podcast. He told The Epoch Times: This is the biggest crowd weve seen yet. This is going to start happening all over this nation.

Del Bigtree speaks at Foley Square, Manhattan, New York, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

The government of the United States needs to do this for us to win, its pressuring us to become the citizens and the freedom fighters that we need to be to maintain the brilliance of this country.

Video footage showed the crowd later making its way across the Brooklyn Bridge while they chanted [Expletive] Biden, referring to President Joe Biden, who recently announced several vaccine mandates.

All New York City educators will have to provide proof that they received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose starting Sept. 27 under the citys vaccine mandate.

Those who dont comply were originally told theyd be fired. An arbitrator, though, ruled last week that teachers who are granted religious or medical exemptions must be retained and assigned to non-classroom work.

Approximately 148,000 people work for the citys Department of Education.

The ruling was a win for the United Federation of Teachers, a teachers union, but Kane said it didnt go far enough.

Teachers for Choice plans to file lawsuits soon on behalf of teachers and other city workers in federal court against the mandate and others like it.

A nurse protesting against vaccine mandates at Foley Square, Manhattan, New York, on Sept. 13, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Zachary Stieber Reporter Follow Zachary Stieber covers U.S. news, including politics and court cases. He started at The Epoch Times as a New York City metro reporter. zackstieber
Top CIA Official: al-Qaeda Terrorists Returning to Afghanistan

A senior CIA official on Tuesday acknowledged that terrorist network al-Qaeda is starting to return to Afghanistan, just a few weeks after the U.S. military withdrew from the country.

We are already beginning to see some of the indications of some potential movement of al-Qaeda to Afghanistan, David Cohen, deputy director of the CIA, said during the Intelligence and National Security Summit. But its early days and we will obviously keep a very close eye on that.

Another top U.S. intelligence official suggested the terrorist group, which was blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 20 years ago, could rebuild inside Afghanistan in one or two years. Al-Qaeda operated in the country and was essentially provided safe harbor by the Taliban terrorist group between its first rule between 1996 and 2001.

The current assessment probably conservatively is one to two years for al-Qaeda to build some capability to at least threaten the homeland, Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, also said at the conference.

A video screenshot taken from the pan-Arab satellite television network al-Jazeera shows al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri on July 6, 2006. (AFP via Getty Images)

Neither Cohen nor Berrier made reference to specific al-Qaeda members who traveled to Afghanistan since the U.S.-backed government and military collapsed in the face of Taliban advances. Last month, former Osama bin Laden deputy Amin al Haq reportedly was seen in a video clip returning to Nangarhar province in Afghanistan.

Were thinking about ways to gain access back into Afghanistan with all kinds of sources, Berrier remarked, according to the New York Times. But he added, We have to be careful to balance these very scarce resources with this pivot to China, and to Russia, referring to intelligence agencies increased monitoring of the two nations.

The pullout of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan last month and the Taliban takeover triggered significant criticism against the Biden administration and how it handled the withdrawal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeatedly defended the White Houses policies during a congressional hearing on Tuesday as he faced grilling by both Democrat and Republican senators.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee members noted that while it was appropriate for the United States to withdraw from the South Asian nation after 20 years of conflict, the chaotic and rushed nature of the evacuation was poorly executed.

Doing the right thing in the wrong way can end up being the wrong thing, said the panels chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday. He noted that various agencies and officials within the federal government provided inaccurate or conflicting information on the evacuation and Taliban takeover last month.

The administration patting itself on the back for this evacuation is like an arsonist taking credit for saving people from a burning building, which it set on fire, added Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking Republican on the committee.
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 on Sept. 13, 2021. (KCNA via Reuters)

Top US Envoy Meets in Japan Over Arms Talks Following North Koreas Missile Test

Senior envoys from Japan, the United States, and South Korea met in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss North Koreas missile and nuclear development a day after Pyongyang tested a new long-range cruise missile.

Analysts expressed concerns about the latest tests of a missile dubbed a strategic weapon of great significance, according to the countrys state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The weapons system, which was tested on Sept. 11 and 12, was the most significant since President Joe Biden took office in January. Analysts said the missile could be the communist countrys first such weapon with nuclear capabilities.

The United States has no hostile intent towards the DPRK, said Sung Kim, Bidens envoy for North Korea, during opening remarks in Tokyo, referring to the communist country by the initials of its official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

We hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions, he added.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, attends a trilateral meeting on North Koreas issues at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 14, 2021. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

North Korea has previously ignored offers from the Biden administration to resume negotiations to abandon its nuclear program. In January, just hours after Bidens inauguration, North Korea test-fired cruise missiles, while in March it again tested a new tactical short-range ballistic missile.

President Donald Trump, who met with North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un three times during his four years in office, was the first U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil, but the authoritarian leader ignored demands to give up its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief.

During the U.S. envoys meeting with his Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi and South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk, he said the three nations all agreed to pursue a diplomatic path to move towards complete denuclearization of North Korea.

All three countries agreed that we should continue to pursue a diplomatic path  but the main goal being complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, Kim told Reuters.

Japanese Foreign Ministrys Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Takehiro Funakoshi, center, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, left, and South Koreas Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk pose for photographers during their trilateral meeting on North Korean issue at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Sept. 14, 2021. (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

North Korea hailed the new missile, saying it is a weapon of great significance, suggesting that it was developed with the intent to arm it with nuclear warheads. The cruise missile is capable of hitting targets 930 miles away.

It is likely that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the reclusive states main backer, has provided finances, high technology, front companies, and diplomatic cover to North Korea during its nuclear weapons development over the years. China also previously protected North Korea diplomatically at the United Nations from tougher sanctions necessary to augment existing sanctions since 2006.

If the countries would consider a future engagement, it seems that any joint approach to the communist country would also need to consider China, its totalitarian ally.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to arrive in Seoul on Sept. 14 for talks with South Korean officials over bilateral relations and the freeze in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (L) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pose for a photo during their meeting in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021. (Li Ran/Xinhua via AP)

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a regular news conference earlier on Tuesday that the trilateral meeting had been scheduled before North Koreas test-firing of the missiles, but the meeting the day after would be a good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation.

Japanese officials and some experts said North Koreas weekend missile test-firing was a new threat to the region.

North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons in order to deter what it claims is hostility from Washington and Seoul.

Anders Corr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Top Terrorism Threats Not From Afghanistan: DNI

Afghanistan does not currently pose the biggest terrorist threat to the United States and is further down the priority list following the U.S. withdrawal and subsequent Taliban takeover, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Monday.

The top intelligence officials comments came on the same day that President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan but also acknowledged that the terrorist group al-Qaeda may attempt to reconstruct itself in the country.

Speaking at an intelligence and national security conference in Washington, Haines noted that while U.S. intelligence officials are keeping a close eye on potential terrorist groups reassembling in the country, they are more concerned with a number of other countries that could be harboring terrorists and pose a threat to national security.

In terms of the homeland, the threat right now from terrorist groups, we dont prioritize at the top of the list Afghanistan, Haines said, adding, what we look at is Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq for ISIS. Thats where we see the greatest threat.

Despite a strong U.S. military presence in both Syria and Iraq, ISIS still operates within both countries, while in Yemen, an al-Qaeda offshoot based there has attempted attacks on the United States. In Somalia, the U.S. has regularly conducted counterterrorism strikes against Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group that regularly attacks neighboring Kenya.

While Haines stressed that there is a big focus for U.S. intelligence agencies in monitoring any possible reconstitution of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, she acknowledged that intelligence gathering in the country has been diminished since the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the Talibans takeover.

A Taliban fighter stands guard along a road in Kabul on Sept. 9, 2021. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghanistan has been gut-wrenching and deeply personal to the intelligence community, Haines said.

Our intelligence collection is diminished and that is something that we have to prepare for and that we have been preparing for, frankly, quite some time, she added of the challenges facing counterterrorism within the country.

Haines added that intelligence agencies have established a set of indicators so that they can provide warning to the policy community but noted that this does not reduce the threat of those who are inspired by the ideology calling that one of the greatest issues for counterterrorism.

Her comments come on the same day that Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan but acknowledged that al-Qaeda may attempt to reconstruct itself in the country following the Taliban takeover.

The president marked the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks by visiting all three sites where the hijacked planes crashed and told reporters he believes the terrorist group could come back.

Could al-Qaeda come back? Yeah, Biden said. 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.

Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the country, concluding two decades of U.S. involvement, noting that it had completed its original mission of removing the terrorist group and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

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.

Elsewhere on Monday, Haines spoke of the growing and concerning threat from domestic terrorists, noting that intelligence agencies are focused on supporting the FBI and Homeland Security Department when it comes to this matter.

She said the top priorities for intelligence agencies include investing in new and emerging technology, building partnerships with the private sector, developing expertise in long-term destabilizing trends like climate change and public health, and countering China, Bloomberg reports.
Conservative MP Michael Barrett rises during question period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on June 15, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

Tories Ask Ethics Watchdog to Confirm Whether Trudeau Disclosed 2016 Book Deal With CCP-Controlled Publisher

The Conservative Party is seeking confirmation from the federal ethics commissioner as to whether clearance was sought on a book deal with a Chinese state-owned publishing house that republished Justin Trudeaus private memoirs in 2016.

I am writing to you about concerns raised by an article published today in the Globe and Mail entitled Justin Trudeaus book was republished by a Chinese state-owned company after he became Prime Minister, wrote Conservative candidate Michael Barrett to Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion on Sept. 14.

This story reveals that after he became Prime Minister, Justin Trudeaus memoir was published by a Chinese publishing company under the title, The Legend Continues.

According to the Globe, Trudeaus publisher HarperCollins struck a deal with Yilin Press of Nanjing, China, which is owned by Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media, a state-owned enterprise that takes orders from the propaganda department of the Jiangsu provincial Communist Party committee, to republish Trudeaus 2014 memoir Common Ground in Chinese.

Barrett said the book deal was made at a time when Trudeau was actively pursuing building a relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including discussing a free trade deal and joining the Asian Infrastructure Bank.

Subsequently Mr. Trudeau has faced many important decisions regarding Canadas relationship with China including whether to ban Huawei from Canadas 5G network, choosing to partner with a Chinese state enterprise on the development of a COVID vaccine, responding to Chinas genocide against the Uighurs, and the crackdown on Hong Kong, he wrote.



The Globes report noted that former senior security and foreign policy advisers to Trudeau were unaware of the book deal, and would have advised him to reject the deal if they had known about it.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau makes a campaign stop in Vancouver, B.C., on Sept. 13, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

When asked about the issue by a Globe reporter during a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C., on Sept. 14, Trudeau said he played no role in the deal.



The Globe and Mail knows full well that all the handling of the International editions of my book was done entirely by the publisher, he said.



And the globe mail knows full well, as well, that all of the profits from that book go to the Canadian Red Cross. I dont see a single penny and I have nothing to do with where it gets translated or sold.



When pressed about whether clearance was sought from Dion, Trudeau didnt answer directly.



The ethics commissioner has cleared all my sources of income many times, he said.



The Epoch Times reached out to the Liberal Party for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.



Barrett said that a book contract with an entity controlled by the CCP would have implications under the provisions in Section 7 of the Conflict of Interest Act, which states that no public office holder shall, in the exercise of an official power, duty or function, give preferential treatment to any person or organization based on the identity of the person or organization that represents the first-mentioned person or organization.

He added that the provisions under section 21 of the act would also have Trudeau recuse himself on decisions related to the Chinese regime.

It is of great importance that Canadians can trust that our leaders do not have undisclosed conflicts of interests with foreign governments, Barrett said in the letter.

He asked Dion to confirm whether Trudeau has disclosed the deal to him at any point since 2016.

Your attention to this matter and clarification is of the utmost importance as Canadians decide whether to reward Justin Trudeau for breaking his promise and calling an unnecessary election in the middle of a pandemic, he wrote.
The Uber Hub is seen in Redondo Beach, Calif., on March 25, 2019. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Uber Drivers Are Employees, Not Contractors, Says Dutch Court

AMSTERDAMUber drivers are employees, not contractors, and so entitled to greater workers rights under local labor laws, a Dutch court ruled on Monday, handing a setback to the U.S. companys European business model.

The Amsterdam District Court sided with the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV), which had argued that Ubers roughly 4,000 drivers in the capital are employees of a taxi company and should be granted benefits in line with the taxi sector.

Uber said it would appeal against the decision and has no plans to employ drivers in the Netherlands.

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 for northern Europe. Drivers dont want to give up their freedom to choose if, when and where to work.

The court found drivers who transport passengers via the Uber app are covered by the collective labor agreement for taxi transportation.

The legal relationship between Uber and these drivers meets all the characteristics of an employment contract, the ruling said.

The FNV hailed the ruling.

Due to the judges ruling, the Uber drivers are now automatically employed by Uber, said Zakaria Boufangacha, FNVs deputy chairman. As a result, they will receive more wages and more rights in the event of dismissal or illness, for example.

Uber drivers are in some cases entitled to back pay, the court said.

The judges also ordered Uber to pay a fine of 50,000 euros ($58,940) for failing to implement the terms of the labor agreement for taxi drivers.

In March, Uber said it would improve workers rights, including the minimum wage, for all of its more than 70,000 British drivers after it lost a Supreme Court case in February.

Uber recorded $600 million in first-quarter charges to account for the UK benefits, highlighting the financial toll of wider changes to its contractor model.

Unlike in other European countries and the United States, UK employment law offers a unique worker statusa legal definition that situates drivers between independent contractors with no benefits and full-fledged employees with extensive benefits.

Uber has advocated for a similar in-between status in other countries, but said those initiatives would require changes to employment laws.

Uber in February released a white paper that called on EU regulators to recognize the value of independent contracts in job creation as they consider new rules to protect gig economy workers.

We believe a new approach is possibleone where having access to protections and benefits doesnt come at the cost of flexibility and of job creation, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a blog post at the time.

The company is pushing for similar models in the United States and Canada, where it faces dozens of lawsuits over the status of its drivers.

Uber in May faced a legal setback when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its bid to avoid a lawsuit over whether drivers are employees and not independent contractors.

But the company and other gig economy companies scored a decisive win in California last year, when a majority of the states voters passed a company-sponsored ballot measure that cemented workers status as contractors, albeit with some benefits.

Gig companies in some U.S. states are also trying to strike deals with labor unions.

($1 = 0.8483 euros)

By Anthony Deutsch and Toby Sterling
UK Employee Numbers Bounce Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Employee numbers in Britain have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels as the economic recovery continues, the UKs Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Tuesday.

Employment was hit hard during the pandemic, but has shown signs of recovery since the end of 2020.

The number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 241,000 to 29.1 million between July and August, returning to the levels of February 2020, just before the start of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the number of job vacancies has seen even more significant growth. Vacancies increased by 35.2 percent in JuneAugust 2021 compared with the last quarter. The largest rise in vacancies was seen in accommodation and food service activities, which rose by 75.4 percent.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the new figures show that our plan for jobs is working.

As we continue to recover from the pandemic, our focus remains on creating opportunities and supporting peoples jobs, he said.

But Jonathan Athow, ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics, cautioned that the recovery isnt even.

In hard-hit areas such as London, and sectors such as hospitality and arts and leisure, the numbers of workers remain well down on pre-pandemic levels, he said.

Labour shortage has become an acute problem for the economy. Athow said the hospitality sector recorded the highest proportion of employers reporting their job openings are hard to fill.

Matthew Percival, director of people and skills at the Confederation of British Industry, said ongoing supply and labour shortages are impeding further growth.

He urged the government to loosen migration rules so that firms can temporarily fill the most significant vacancies.

Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said rising cost pressures and an increasingly onerous tax burden [are] likely to stifle firms recruitment intentions, and as a result the UKs unemployment rate is likely to rise to 5.1 percent in early 2022.

British businesses have complained that the governments decision to raise taxes despite having pledged in its 2019 election manifesto not to do so.

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. He 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.

PA contributed to this report.
UK to Offer COVID-19 Booster Shots to Over 50s

Those in England who are over 50 years old will be offered a third dose of a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Monday.

Its part of the governments autumn and winter plan (pdf) to manage the CCP virus pandemic and other seasonal illnesses such as influenza.

Announcing the plan to Parliament on Tuesday, the health secretary said that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised the government to offer booster doses to priority groups 19 in the same order as the first phase of the CCP virus vaccination rollout.

The groups include care home residents and workers, over 50s, and people over 16 years old with underlying health conditions.

The JCVI said the booster jabs should be offered at least six months after the second dose.

In addition to booster jabs for the priority groups, the governments plan also includes giving one dose of a vaccine to children over 12 years old, and maximising uptake of the vaccine among those that are eligible but have not yet taken up the offer.

The plan says further doses of the vaccinepossibly annual vaccinationmay be offered in the future if the government is advised to do so.

The UK Vaccine Taskforce has already procured vaccines to run further booster programmes in autumn 2022 if necessary, and will continue to look to future deployment needs, it reads.

Shortly after Javids announcement, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland also announced their CCP virus booster vaccination programmes for the priority groups.

According to Javid, 81 percent of the UK population over 16 years old have received two doses of a CCP virus vaccine.

The health secretary also promised the largest ever flu vaccination campaign this country has ever seen over the coming months.

There has been some opposition to offering CCP virus booster vaccines to the UK population at this time.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said on Sept. 10 that the UK should donate vaccines to other countries instead of using them on a booster programme.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot has also said there hasnt been enough clinical data to suggest whether booster shots are necessary.

Helping vaccinate the world is also a part of the COVID-19 autumn and winter plan announced on Tuesday.

Other parts of the plan include antivirus and therapeutics in COVID-19 treatment, testing and tracing, investment into the NHS, advising people on voluntary measures, border control, and a contingency plan that includes vaccine passports and mandatory face coverings in certain settings.
The 787 Aft Body manufacturing area is pictured at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston on March 25, 2018. (Randall Hill/Reuters)

US Awarding $482.3 Million in Aviation Manufacturing Assistance

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Transportation Department said it was offering $482.3 million in aviation manufacturing assistance to 313 businesses, including up to $75.5 million to Spirit AeroSystems.

Congress earlier this year created a $3 billion aviation manufacturing payroll subsidy program that will cover up to half of eligible companies compensation costs for as long as six months. Ohio-based Parker-Hannifin Corp. was offered up to $39.7 million, Connecticut-based Hexcel Corp. offered $20.9 million and Astronics Corp. $14.7 million.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Of the 313 companies receiving funds, 188 of them60 percenthad fewer than 100 employees at the end of calendar year 2020.

The funds will help support as many as 22,500 jobs nationwide.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, said 31 Kansas companies will receive $104 million in payroll grants including Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said $41 million will go to 32 companies in her home state of Washington.

With aviation manufacturing not targeted to recover until well into 2022, at the earliest, this aviation protection program will help in hiring back some of those workers and staving off further layoffs at a critical time, said Cantwell, a Democrat.

More than 100,000 jobs have been lost in the aerospace industry since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Transportation Department. Before then, the U.S. aerospace industry employed approximately 2.2 million workers, including 1.2 million who worked in various parts of the supply chain nationwide.

The offer requires companies to commit to not conducting furloughs without employee consent or laying off employees covered by subsidies during the six-month period.

Companies eligible include aircraft, engine, propeller or component manufacturers and companies that repair or overhaul airplanes and parts.

To qualify, a company must have involuntarily furloughed or laid off at least 10 percent of its total workforce, or have experienced a decline of at least 15 percent in 2020 total operating revenue.

Applications for a second round of funding closed Sept. 1 and additional funding recipients will be announced this fall, the Transportation Department said.

Some big aviation companies like General Electric Co.s GE Aviation and Boeing Co. declined to apply for the subsidy.

By David Shepardson
Students are seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

US Pledges $64 Million in Aid to Afghanistan, Promises to Respect Sanctions

The United States has promised to send about $64 million more in aid to Afghanistan, pledging to respect sanctions on the Taliban terrorist group that now controls the country.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of State are sending the aid through independent organizations like United Nations agencies and non-governmental groups to provide life-saving support directly to Afghans facing the compounding effects of insecurity, conflict, recurring natural disasters, and the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID said in a statement on Monday.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-May, routing the U.S.-backed Afghan forces in a series of fights.

U.S. troops rushed back to the country to secure Kabuls airport and allow the evacuation of some 120,000 people, but withdrew on Aug. 30.

Sanctions on the Taliban will be respected when apportioning the aid, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers in Washington on Monday.

We have seen a terrible drought, growing nutrition problems. It is one of the reasons that we think it is so important to make sure that regardless of anything else, we and other countries find ways to continue humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan, he said.

We can and will do that consistent with the sanctions in our laws by directing assistance through NGOs and United Nations agencies, not through the government. We need to do everything we can to make sure the people of Afghanistan do not suffer anymore, he added.

The State Department declined to name the non-governmental groups. USAID did not respond to a request for comment.

A State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that Our partners have extensive experience working in challenging environments, and have strong risk management procedures in place for their operations, with the objective of ensuring that humanitarian assistance reaches its intended recipients.

We have not taken steps to reduce sanctions pressure on sanctioned Taliban leaders or the significant restrictions on their access to the international financial system, the spokesperson added.

The United States is the largest humanitarian donor to Afghanistan, according to USAID. The financial support this year alone is up to nearly $330 million.

United Nations member states announced Monday $1.2 billion in aid to Afghan nationals, United Nations officials said. The funds will help nearly 11 million people over the next four months, Morgan Griffiths, a United Nations relief official, told the organizations General Assembly in Geneva.

Funding could go to the Taliban. Griffiths noted that the group asked for international support to reconstruct Afghanistan as well as build a counter-narcotics program.

Some U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern about keeping aid out of the hands of the Taliban, including on Monday.

I would like to see, if were going to help Afghanistan with food and aid, that we extract certain commitments from them before we just give them food, Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) said.

Blinken began to respond, but Sires interrupted him and moved on to another topic.
Shipping containers are loaded onto trucks at the Port of Los Angeles, in Long Beach, Calif., on Jan. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

US Supply Chains Struggle as Economy Reopens

Vice President Kamal Harris recently made a strong suggestion that the public should start buying Christmas gifts now instead of waiting for later in the yearand theres a good reason for this.

Ports in theUnited States, particularly on the West and East Coasts, have a processing backlog which is leading to supply chain breakdowns. Ocean cargo port congestion is being blamed and as many as 7 of 10 of the United States busiest ocean ports are affected.

The Marine Exchange of Southern California commented on Twitter that combined data from the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on Aug. 31, reported that four new shipping records were set since Aug. 27. On Aug. 30, there were 129 ships in the vicinity of ports, an increase of five over that weekenda total of 73 ships anchored offshore.

Why such a backlog during this time of year? The answer is partly simple: Christmas holiday and Black Friday shopping scheduled in just 2 months. But theres more than just the annual holiday shopping frenzy.

Over prior decades, United States retailers have favored a just in time inventory method that relies on frequent deliveries instead of storing a large supply of inventory. This method reduces costs for retailers while requiring factories and warehouses to be able to promptly supply goods, and that is where the pressure is currently being felt.

In a CNN video, Maersk shipping CEO Soren Skou said that U.S. economic stimulus money is currently driving demand and the trade pipeline is bursting at the seams.

The past 18 months or so of COVID-19 has also disrupted supply chains. Now with the economy opening up, ports are clogging up with increasing numbers of cargo ships, and goods have trouble moving. Other reasons such as labor disruptions and port availability are likewise delaying factors.

Shipping containers sit on the dock at a container terminal at the Port of Long Beach-Port of Los Angeles complex, in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 7, 2021. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

In a media release, the Port of Los Angeles said they processed 890,800 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in July, a 4 percent increase compared to last year. Last summer is when U.S. consumer purchasing began to build momentum and was the start of 12 consecutive months of year-over-year growth at the Port of Los Angeles.

This remarkable, sustained import surge is pushing the supply chain to new levels, said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka in the statement.

Credit goes to our longshore workers and terminal operators for helping the Port of Los Angeles achieve an average of more than 11,000 TEUs exchanged on each vessel call, the best in the business, Seroka said.

With space tight at warehouses, rail yards, and container terminals as we enter the traditional peak shipping season, we are offering new data tools and incentives to help improve throughput and efficiencies. Additional strategies are being developed in conjunction with both the private sector and federal government.

Backups are not only an issue at U.S. ocean port facilities. Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) are reporting that some of their intermodal facilities are suffering from a backlog of containers waiting to be moved. Both move freight traffic from U.S. ocean ports to intermodal facilities for local distribution or for loading onto other trains destined to other locations.

Robynn Tysver, communications manager for the Union Pacific Railroad, said International supply chains have been straining under the weight of economic growth since the early stages of the COVID-19 recovery. Container processing at port terminals in Southern California and at our inland intermodal terminals, including Chicago, have experienced significant congestion.

To address congestion at inland terminals, Tysver said the company recently temporarily paused West Coast port shipments moving east to Chicago.

We will continue to work closely with the ocean carriers and other stakeholders to address global supply chain challenges, including truck driver and chassis shortages, as well as high warehouse inventory levels.

Amy Casas, senior director of external communications for BNSF Railway, said that BNSF has taken several actions to push more volume through their network.

Increasingly, we see all partners in intermodal supply chains recognizing the significant benefits to everyone operating 24/7 to optimize our collective throughput and service reliability, Casas said.

We have also taken steps to add additional capacity and alleviate constraints, she added.
Asiaha Butler sits inside the peaceful community space she built over the years in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Violence Fuels Black Population Decline in Chicago

CHICAGOChicago, once a promised land for millions of blacks fleeing the Jim Crow South, has seen a steady decrease in the black population since 1980.

The prolonged black exodus just reached a milestone. The newly released census data concludes that blacks, with a 10 percent population loss between 2010 and 2020, are no longer the most populous minority group in Chicago; that title, along with the political power that comes with it, goes to the growing Hispanic population.

Chicagothe third-largest U.S. city with a population of 2.7 millionis now 31 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, 29 percent black, and 10 percent Asian and others.

Most blacks live in poor communities infested with crime and drugs on the South and West Side of Chicago. A dozen locals told The Epoch Times the reverse black migration was fueled by the same desire to better themselves and their families, and by the most fundamental human desireto stay alive.

The bullets have no eyes. They are flying everywhere, Shunte Campbell, a mother of three who moved her family out of Chicago to west suburban Yorkville in 2017, told The Epoch Times.

In early 2017, Campbell drove home from a birthday party to find an active shootout in front of her house in the North Lawndale neighborhood. Ducking down in the car, she called her three daughtersthe youngest was 10 at the timeand was relieved to learn they were hiding in the bathtuba survival tip Campbell had passed on to them.

Police investigate the scene of a shooting in Chicago that took place months ago, just two blocks north of the house where Shunte Campbell used to live before she moved out to Yorkville. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

A man peddles bags of drugs in a well-known open drug market just blocks away from the house where Campbell was raised in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago on Aug. 14, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

That was the last straw for her, Campbell said. Within six weeks, she moved her family to Yorkville, a suburb west of Chicago. The family lives on Campbells governmental disability checks and income from her two daughters, one working at McDonalds and the other at a salon.

Its quiet here, Campbell said of Yorkville. Ive been here almost five years now and Ive yet to hear gunshots. At least 20 more black families moved into her neighborhood this year, she said.

Campbells grandmother migrated from Mississippi to Chicago decades ago, part of a movement dubbed as the Great Migration, which saw nearly 6 million Southern blacks move up to northern industrial cities, such as Chicago, for low-skill factory jobs and a better life for their families.

But when manufacturing began its downturn in the latter half of the 20th century, so began the steep downturn of the black communities, according to Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson. In his book When Work Disappears, he examined how joblessness gave birth to the problems plaguing urban black ghettos today, such as crime, poverty, family breakdown, failing schools, and drugs.

Like Campbell, the majority of the blacks in reverse migration did not move back to the South, according to a University of IllinoisChicago study that examines demographic data between 2005 and 2016. Instead, they moved to nearby suburbs in Illinois and Indiana, retaining ties with friends and relatives in the old Chicago neighborhoods.

Dominica Jimenez, who had moved to suburban South Holland in 2018, drove back to Chicago in the early morning of Sept. 12, after learning her cousin was shot while driving northbound on a major avenue in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. At least four dozen of family members gathered at the crime scene.

This is a typical day on the West Side. Innocent people got caught in crossfire, Jimenez told The Epoch Times at the crime scene, tears streaming down her cheeks. Thats why I left three years ago. Just the inner-city craziness.

Her cousin, who sustained multiple shots, was pronounced dead at the scene and detectives are investigating, according to an email from the Chicago Police Department to The Epoch Times.

Workers move Jimenezs cousins body onto a van at the intersection of Lexington and California on the West Side of Chicago on Sept. 12, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Dominica Jimenez prays with relatives and friends at the crime scene where her cousin was fatally shot on the West Side of Chicago on Sept. 12, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Jimenez was raised in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side, which has seen the highest black population dropat 11,824among 77 Chicago neighborhoods between 2010 and 2020, according to an analysis of census data by The Epoch Times.

Austin is also the third most violent Chicago neighborhood this year, with 53 murders and 244 injuries. Chicago has seen 591 murders this year, the highest in a decade; 95 percent are due to gunfire.

Asiaha Butler, too, considered leaving Chicago. That was in 2008, when fights often took place in front of a house next to hers in the Englewood neighborhood; she also felt the local schools were not up to par for her daughter.

But she decided to stay; it was the place where generations of her family have been rooted after migrating from Alabama.

Now, violence still occurs on certain blocks in her neighborhood, but not on hers anymore. She owns two of the three houses still standing on her block; she also purchased a vacant lot next to them to build a peaceful community space.

The house next to Asiaha Butlers is now boarded up and no criminal activities take place around it anymore, in Chicago, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Asiaha Butler created a safe community space over the years and it sits next to the house where her community organization operates from, in Chicago, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Englewood, combined with West Englewood, has seen 44 murders and 245 injuries this year. The neighborhood also saw the third-highest decrease in the black population among 77 Chicago neighborhoods between 2010 and 2020.

Even in communities like Englewood, its possible to create peace on your block, like I did on mine. It took me 15 years to feel safe, Butler said. She founded a community called the Resident Association of Greater Englewood through which she spreads the message of owning and building your block.

You dont have to save the whole entire community. Do what you can on your block. We are a living testament that it is possible to do that, Butler told The Epoch Times.
Washington State Troopers, Firefighters Sue Governor Over Vaccine Mandate

A group of nearly 90 Washington state troopers, firefighters, and other employees filed a lawsuit on Sept. 10 against Gov. Jay Inslee (D).

The plaintiffs claim that by issuing a vaccine mandate on Aug. 9, Insleey exceeded the authority of his office and violated the rights of state workers guaranteed by the states constitution.

These requirements are legal, and we look forward to responding in court, where to date no challenge to the governors use of his emergency powers has been successful, Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. His use of this authority is appropriate given the extraordinary circumstances of this pandemic. It is not unreasonable to ask public servants to protect the public from being infected with Covid.

The plaintiffs plan to add 30,000 to 50,000 other plaintiffs to the lawsuit (pdf), according to the complaint filed in the Superior Court of Washington in Walla Walla county.

Some of the plaintiffs sought religious exemptions to the mandate and were required to submit a religious questionnaire. The questionnaires inquired into protected private matters, including health decisions and religious convictions, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs cite an email sent by Inslees General Counsel Kathryn Leathers that appears to show the governors office coordinating the mandate exemption language with the Attorney Generals Office.

Exemptions: medical for sure; and religious (if we have to; if yes, as narrow as possible), Leathers wrote on Aug. 3, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs ask the court to invalidate the mandate or, if a full repeal is not possible, to reduce the penalties of the mandate, make religious exemptions accessible in line with state law, and exempt those who work remotely or who can produce a positive antibody test.

Even if the Governors Mandate is in any respect viable, which it is not, a less punitive means of accomplishing its asserted purpose are available, particularly in regard to these Plaintiffs, who have contracted COVID-19 and can produce a positive antibody test result, the lawsuit states.

The Washington lawsuit is one of many challenges to vaccine mandates at the local, state, and private levels.

President Joe Biden said his administration is working on developing a vaccine mandate for employees of private companies with more than 100 employees. Several Republican attorneys general were quick to threaten a lawsuit should the mandate be enacted.

Inslees vaccine mandate gave most state executive branch employees and on-site contractors and volunteers, along with public and private health care and long-term care workers until Oct. 4 to be vaccinated.

Getting vaccinated against COVID is a public good. We have come so close to defeating this deadly disease, Inslee said at the time. We have the toolthe vaccineto get this era behind us. It is safe, it is effective, and you will never regret getting it.
Whirlpool Rolls Out $1,000 Incentive for Employees to Get Vaccinated

Whirlpool Corp. has announced it is offering to pay employees a $1,000 incentive to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as pressure mounts on businesses across America to boost vaccination rates among workers.

The new vaccine incentive, confirmed by Whirlpool to CNN, comes after President Joe Biden last week announced he will direct the Department of Labor to develop a rule that companies with more than 100 employees will require vaccinations or once-per-week testing for their workers.

The new ruling could potentially affect tens of millions of U.S. private-sector employees and health care workers, and businesses that do not comply with Bidens directive could face fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

Chad Parks, a Whirlpool spokesman, in a statement to CNN, said the vaccine bonus will apply to employees who were previously vaccinated as well as those who are newly vaccinated.

Our employees health and safety remain our top priority, Whirlpool said. Throughout this pandemic, they have been working tirelessly to serve our consumers, who are depending on our products more than ever to clean, cook, and provide proper food and medicine storage in their homes, and we are working to ensure we can deliver.

Whirlpool was already offering employees a smaller incentive but rolled out the new $1,000 bonus last week. Parks declined to comment on how much the previous incentive was for.

According to Bloomberg, the Michigan-based appliance maker had previously offered $200 cash bonuses to its workers in May in an effort to get them vaccinated.

Currently, 66.5 percent of Michigans population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The sharp incentive increase comes amid a rise in the number of job openings posted on the Indeed hiring platform stipulating COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment, even in sectors that dont normally require vaccination.

People walk near a Microsoft office in New York on Nov. 10, 2016. (Swayne B. Hall/AP Photo)

In August, the number of job postings per million explicitly mentioning COVID-19 vaccine requirements rose 34 percent in the week ending Aug. 7, compared to the same period a month earlier, according to an analytical note by AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, the research and insights division of the Indeed job site.

Meanwhile, the share of job postings stating vaccines are required but not explicitly specifying COVID-19 rose by 90 percent over the same period.

Whirlpool is just one of the latest companies to issue high incentives for employees in an effort to get them vaccinated.

Earlier this summer, Vanguard, one of the worlds largest asset managers, also offered its employees $1,000 to get a COVID-19 vaccine but stipulated that employees who are vaccinated by October are eligible for the incentive.

Kroger has said vaccinated employees will get a one-time payment of $100, while Bolthouse Farms offered a $500 bonus.

Last month Microsoft said it will require proof of vaccination for all employees, vendors, and visitors to its U.S. offices starting this fall, while Facebook and Google have also recently announced that they will require workers to be vaccinated when they return to the office.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run in Playa Del Rey; Motorist Sought

PLAYA DEL REY, Calif.Authorities continued their efforts Monday to find a hit-and-run motorist responsible for fatally injuring a woman who was crossing a Playa del Rey street with her 3-year-old son.

Wendy Galdamez Palma, 33, was injured about 10:30 p.m. Saturday in the 8800 block of Vista Del Mar and died at the scene, according to the Los Angeles County coroners office and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

Palma was hit by a Toyota 4Runner, according to the LAPD. No description was available of the motorist.

Relatives told Fox11 the Downey woman shielded her 3-year-old son, who was treated at a hospital and released. They had been attending a family bonfire.

Anyone with information regarding the crash was urged to call the LAPDs West Traffic Division at 213-473-0022.
Xiconomics Is a Myth, but It Allows Xi Jinping to Further Consolidate Power

Analysis

During Chinas Cultural Revolution, it was mandatory for citizens to not only read the Little Red Book of Mao Zedong, but to carry it with them at all times. Similarly, Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics is now mandatory for all elementary and secondary school students. Xi Thought is also taught at learning centers across the country. Xi is the first leader whos had his thought enshrined in the state constitution since Mao.

A diplomacy research center for Xi Thought opened last year. In June, a research center on Xis thought on rule of law was founded. And now, another research center on Xis economic thought has been approved and will be established in Beijing. The CCP claims that a new branch of economics has been created in China, based on Xis economic theories, or Xiconomics. The center will help to develop economic policies, in line with Xis 30-year plan called, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Xis doctrine has become part of the Chinese constitution, as well as the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), meaning that Xis theories cannot be challenged.

Western media often refer to Xi as the president of China, but this title is misleading, as presidents are elected. Xis official titles are General Secretary of the CCP, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and President of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Xi is often referred to as a paramount leader or supreme leader because he holds all three positions, as leader of the Party, the military, and the country. Now that he is taking over economic policy, he has assumed some of the powers and responsibilities of the premier of the State Council of the PRC. Xi was already head of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensive Deepening Reform and the Central Leading Group of Finance and Economics Affairs, both of which were normally led by the premier.

One of Xis leading economic policies is the dual-circulation strategy, a self-reliance program, which is focused on domestic markets and developed as a result of the COVID-19 economic slowdown. The goal is to shift the economy away from manufacturing exports toward internal demand and consumption. The concept of internal circulation first arose as a result of the trade tensions during the U.S.-China trade war. China watchers are concerned that these policies will make China even more inward-looking, and that foreign companies and investors will face increased restrictions.

Shipping containers from China and other Asian countries are unloaded at the Port of Los Angeles as the trade war continues between China and the U.S., in Long Beach, Calif., on Sept. 14, 2019. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

The idea of focusing on internal demand is not a new one for China. Previous leaders had also promised to increase domestic consumption. This time, however, the U.S. trade war, as well as trade spates with countries such as Australia, coupled with a general enmity of China among its foreign trading partners, has created an appropriate context for China to rely less on exports and more on its domestic economy.

When China sees a crisis abroad, it focuses its attention back home. After the 2008 global financial crisis, the regime went on a spending spree, using infrastructure investment to prop up a failing economy. Now, with the pandemic, the economies of trading partners are also stalled. Consequently, Beijing is focusing on increasing internal consumption to get things moving again.

One reason for the hype surrounding Xiconomics is to convince the Chinese people that Xi is all-knowing, a master of many fields, including public policy, rule of law, diplomacy, statecraft, and economics. The exact details of what the CCP believes is a new economic discipline and are not yet known. The Peoples Daily lauded Xis work on supply-side structural reform as a driver of growth. Perhaps this could be Xiconomics, except that it makes very little sense. Supply-side economics seeks to increase output and employment by decreasing government involvement in the economy and giving more financial and business freedom to the private sector. In short, this is the exact opposite of Xis current policies, which are characterized by tighter controls on the private sector and an increasing role of the public sector.

So far, Xiconomics seems more like a publicity stunt than an actual economic theory. It is reminiscent of North Koreas Juche economics, one of many areas of unrivaled expertise attributed to former leader Kim Il-sung. Comparing North Korea to South Korea, one could arrive at the conclusion that Juche did not work very well.

As for Xis dual-circulation strategy, it would be difficult for China to replace its robust trade sector with internal demand. The average citizen earns too little and saves too much for that to work. So far, the plan does not seem to be very successful. Between January and July, private investment fell by 5.7 percent, while fixed-asset investment decreased by 1.6 percent. During the same time period, retail sales fell 9.9 percent. It seems that Chinese consumers are afraid to part with their cash, not knowing what lies around the corner.

Whether Xiconomics exists and whether Xi actually has a revolutionary economic plan to save the country remains to be seen. What is certain is that by taking control of the economic sector, he has now further cemented his power on a scale of no leader since Mao.

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

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden is nominating a Vermont judge who played a critical role in paving the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage to become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court.

The White House announced Thursday that Biden has tapped Beth Robinson, an associate justice on the Vermont Supreme Court since 2011, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. The court's territory includes Connecticut, New York and Vermont.
The state Criminal Justice Commission has identified four finalists under consideration to be the states first-ever inspector general, a special prosecutor that will investigate and, if necessary, prosecute police officers use of deadly force.

They are are Moira Buckley, Robert Devlin, A. Ryan McGuigan and Liam Brennan.

The applicants were named in an agenda on the Criminal Justice Commissions website. They will be interviewed in an open hearing on Sept. 27.

The inspector general will be tasked with investigating deaths in police and Department of Correction custody and determining whether to pursue criminal convictions. Coupled with a statutory change narrowing the circumstances in which police can use deadly force, these provisions of the bill are intended to shake up the status quo and hold police accountable for violent misconduct.

Legislators created the position in a special session in the summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. But only existing prosecutors were able to apply for the job, leading advocates to question whether the office was truly independent, given how closely states attorneys and police work.

Members of the Criminal Justice Commission initially split on which career prosecutor to nominate for the job, prompting legislators to pass another bill expanding the applicant pool so that civil rights and defense attorneys, judges and federal prosecutors could apply.

At least two of the applicants have experience in criminal defense work. Buckley is currently an assistant federal defender. An attorney since 1997, she has defended people charged with criminal offenses in state and federal courts. She was an assistant public defender in the states Public Defenders Office, where she specialized in appellate defense for clients convicted of serious felony offenses. She represented people charged with crimes ranging from misdemeanors to capital felony murder when she was a partner at Shipman and Goodwin, LLP and was the sole member in the Law Office of Moira Buckley.

McGuigan is a principal attorney at Rome McGuigan, P.C. A former prosecutor in the Stamford and New Britain Judicial Districts, McGuigan specializes in criminal litigation but has experience in corporate fraud, white-collar criminal investigations and civil litigation. His biography on his firms website said hes tried numerous cases to verdict and has won acquittals for major felonies in state and federal courts.

Devlin is the chair of the Connecticut Sentencing Commission. He has been a judge in appellate and superior courts, hearing criminal cases in judicial districts across the state. From 2010 to 2017, he was the chief administrative judge for the Superior Courts Criminal Division, where he oversaw criminal judges across Connecticut. Before getting appointed to the bench, he was a federal prosecutor the U.S. Department of Justices Organized Crime Strike Force. He was recognized by the U.S. Attorney General in 1992 for his work on the prosecution team that secured convictions for higher-ups in the New England mob.

Brennan was a federal prosecutor for 10 1/2 years, serving as the director of the Public Corruption Task Force in Connecticut from 2015 to 2018. Before that, in 2014, he was one of the prosecutors who tried former Gov. John Rowland, ultimately securing a conviction that led to a 30-month sentence.

Before his current job as the executive director of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, Brennan was an attorney in the Community and Economic Development Unit at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association.

The finalists, all of whom are white, are interviewing for a job to hold police officers accountable George Floyds murder reignited calls for racial justice across the state and country.

Experts estimated in an analysis of last years police accountability bill that it would cost almost $1 million to fund the inspector general employees salaries and benefits. The staff would include the inspector general, a senior assistant states attorney, five inspectors, a forensic analyst and a paralegal. The analysis estimated the office would conduct 25 investigations each year.
NORWALK  Nearly two years after a residents concern over an illustrated Sikh religion book was brought to the Norwalk Library Boards attention, the board voted to keep the book on the library shelves.

In a 5-1 vote, with one abstention, the Library Board of Trustees opted Thursday to keep the graphic novel-type book, Guru Gobind Singh, about Sikhisms tenth and last guru and leader, on the shelves rather than remove it from the librarys collection or place it on an isolated shelf available upon request.

Norwalker Mohinder Kalsi first brought the book to the library boards attention early last year to former library director Christine Bradley, saying pictorial depictions of the Sikh leaders were not permitted in the religion and offensive.

However, addressing the issue was delayed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kalsi, a Sikh, revisited the topic in a request to Library Board of Directors President Alex Knopp in March, Knopp said at the March board meeting. Kalsi could not be reached for comment on Monday.

My advice to the board is we do not remove the book from the catalogue, but also that we do not segregate the book in a separate shelf or collection, Knopp said. This invites us to go down a slippery slope of having other groups or individuals that object to content in the library seeking to put that book or that media or that DVD into a special collection that has to be requested by an individual.

Board members Patsy Brescia, Ralph Bloom, Moina Noor, Mary Mann and Knopp voted in support of keeping the book on the library shelves while Janine Williams voted against the motion. Board member Sharon Baanante abstained from the vote and Thomas Cullen was not present at the meeting.

Following Kalsis plea to the board, the library materials policy was revised, allowing all residents with a library card to come before the board and request the removal of a book they find objectionable.

In her recommendation to the board, Harris advised against removing the book from the library, but potentially removing the book from shelves and making it available upon request. Harris also suggested advising Kalsi and his Sikh temple to bring their concern to the books publisher in the hopes of halting publication. Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji Foundation, a Sikh temple in Norwalk, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

I improvised with this endeavor and in a wonderful world there would be some compromise, Harris said. My thoughts would be to remove the book from our shelves but make it available upon request, but not sure that would quite solve the problem.

At Thursdays meeting, board members explained their decisions, mainly with the concern of setting a dangerous precedent in removing the book from circulation.

It starts with one book and can lead to another, Bloom said. Its hard on the board, its hard on the staff when you have a segregated book. I think its important we give all books an equal value and not establish a precedent.

Connecticut Library Associations Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair Samantha Lee previously said the consortium does not keep exact numbers of book removal requests or censorship in the state, but anecdotally tracks such cases.

The American Library Associations Office for Intellectual Freedom collects self-reported challenge information across the country, she said.

Public libraries routinely receive informal challenges to materials  patrons voicing complaints about materials that dont escalate to a written/formal challenge, Lee said. In informal instances, librarians explain how libraries have all sorts of materials that might be objectionable to some, but that we respect peoples intellectual freedom and dont remove materials because it might be objectionable. Sometimes books may be moved to a different collection, from childrens to young adult. But if the book fits the collection development policy, it stays in the collection.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
Site Selection Magazine has named the Ameren Corporation a Top Utility in Economic Development, the third straight year for Ameren. The recognition includes work in Illinois and in Missouri

Site Selection Magazine is an internationally circulated business publication that covers corporate real estate and economic development.

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, in a statement. "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."

Ameren helps grow the economy of the bi-state region by delivering reliable energy in the area. Ameren Missouri's economic development incentive has created 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 helped create 3,800 new jobs.

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 will remain focused on delivering long-term value to customers by managing 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 more reliable and more modernized.

"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, in a statement. "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, based in St. Louis, provides power to 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area in Missouri and Illinois. Ameren Illinois provides electric transmission and distribution service and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops, owns and operates rate-regulated electric transmission projects.
BOSTON (AP)  A coalition of commercial fishing groups on Monday sued the federal agency that approved construction of a 62-turbine wind energy farm off the coast of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, saying it did not adequately take into account the projects potential impact on the industry.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance's petition for review of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Managements approval of the Vineyard Wind 1 project was filed with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's hasty approval of this project, which could be the nations first commercial scale offshore wind installation, adds unacceptable risk to this sustainable industry without any effort to minimize unreasonable interference with traditional and well-managed seafood production and navigation," the organization said in a statement.

The federal agency, in an emailed statement, said it had no comment.

A spokesperson for Vineyard Wind, a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, said the company dies not comment on pending litigation.

The fishing industry played an active role in the review process, but their expertise was ignored, according to the alliance.

This is a precedent-setting decision by BOEM, and it is critical that they get it right so that future projects are following a trusted roadmap instead of a flawed and dangerous example, Executive Director Anne Hawkins said in a statement. Unfortunately, this lawsuit is the only recourse fishermen have to ensure the fishing communities concerns are addressed.

The project as currently designed endangers the fishing industry by placing turbines too close together for vessels to safely navigate during rough seas, and does not address impacts to fish populations, the alliance said.

Approved earlier this summer, the nearly $3 billion, 800-megawatt project 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of the island would be the first utility-scale wind power development in federal waters. Its scheduled to become operational in 2023 and create enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.

The suit is the second legal challenge to the project filed in the last month. A group of Nantucket residents  ACK Residents Against Turbines  in a federal lawsuit said Vineyard Wind poses a threat to North Atlantic right whales.

Researchers estimate there are fewer than 400 of the sea mammals left.
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.
Aunjai clinic to cater for ATK positive tests

PHUKET: The Phuket government is preparing to set up an Aunjai clinic to administer advice and basic treatment for people who are tested positive by antigen test kits (ATKs) and who have been referred to hospital.

CoronavirusCOVID-19health

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 03:31PM

Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew led a team of officials to examine a shophouse on Komaraphat Rd near Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday (Sept 13) who would serve as the clinics premises.

Joining the Governor on the examination were Phuket Vice Governor Vikrom Jakthee, Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon, Vachira Phuket Hospital Director Dr Chalermpong Sukontapol, and other relevant officers.

The Aunjai clinic will be a venue we set up to take care of infected people, especially those who are tested positive by ATK and do not know what to do next, Governor Narong explained.

They can come to this clinic where health officers and staff will give advice, check their symptoms, conduct x-ray examination of the lungs, and provide medicine. After questioning and examination, officers will separate the infected people into groups and take them to the next appropriate location  be that the hospital, a field hospital, community isolation (CI) venue, or home.

The Aunjai clinic is expected to open on Thursday (Sept 16). Officers and staff are currently moving in medical equipment and preparing the venue to be ready in time.

At this stage, it is clear to see we have a high number of infected people and the number of new cases is also increasing, commented Governor Narong. We are trying hard to solve this problem and control the outbreak.

In the past weeks, our health officers and staff have conducted proactive case screening among people at risk in many areas. People who are infected but display no symptoms have been taken to CI venues.

The Governor added that even though there have been some CI venues that closed after people previously infected were allowed to return home, there is a need to set up more CI venues for those people infected who are showing no symptoms.

Opening more CI venues will hopefully make people who are concerned about decreasing patient bed occupancy rates to feel more comfortable as it will allow the many green-category patients to leave field hospitals and enter CI venues or return home, Governor Narong concluded.
Deputy PM Jurin: Jewellery, gem fest to bring Phuket B100mn

PHUKET: A jewellery and gem festival event to be held in Phuket in December will bring an estimated 4,000 tourists and businesspeople to the island and deliver a boost to the economy of about B100 million, Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit has announced.

COVID-19economicsCoronavirustourismhealth

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 01:06PM

The Gem and Jewelry Fest in Phuket will be held at the Central Phuket shopping mall on Dec 8-12, Mr Jurin announced at a press launch in Phuket yesterday (Sept 13).

The purpose of the event is to create a good image and boost sales for the jewellery industry so they can get through this economic crisis, he said.

We will invite buyers and investors from around the world to come and hold business discussions at the event, he added.

I expect about 200 Thai operators and about 4,000 tourists, local people and international traders will join the event, which is expected to generate about B100 million, Mr Jurin noted.

We will also hold an online business matching event from Nov 29 to Dec 3 for jewellery operators and buyers who cannot come to Phuket to join the event, he added.

Before announcing the gem and jewellery fair, Mr Jurin presided over a meeting at the Royal Phuket City Hotel during which he was updated on the COVID situation by officials and private sector representatives from Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi.

Joining the meeting were Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, Vice Governor Pichet Panapong, Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO, or OrBorJor) President Rewat Areerob, as well as representatives from Phukets tourism industry.

Governor Narong reported that since the opening of Phuket Sandbox on July 1, a total 31,635 arrivals have landed in Phuket. Among those 38 had tested positive for COVID-19.

Of note, the Phuket Sandbox Daily Report issued by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), marked only 86 Sandbox arrivals yesterday, down from the usual hundreds. The arrivals had landed in Phuket on two flights, bot operated by Singapore Airlines.

For the number of infected people right now, every relevant officer is working hard to reduce the number of new infected cases by the end of this month, and I believe that the high number of infected people will not affect the Phuket Sandbox project for sure, Governor Narong said.

At this stage, 430,940, or about 92%, of the target number of people [466,587] have already received their first dose of vaccine, while 379,178, or 81%, have received their second dose. Health officers are also providing the booster dose [third vaccination injection] to our people, he continued.

ANDAMAN UPDATE

Krabi Vice Governor Somchai Hanphakdeepatima explained that 41.26% of people in Krabi have received their first dose of vaccine, while 100% of people living in the Railay Beach, Phi Phi Island and Koh Ngai island areas had received at least one dose of vaccine.

We have 43 tourists under the Phuket Sandbox who have travelled to Krabi and 1,116 room nights have been booked, V/Gov Somchai said.

Not reported was the seven-day restricted access to Phi Phi Island to remain in effect until at least this Saturday (Sept 18) following an outbreak of infections there.

Phang Nga Vice Governor Thammanoon Sriwanna reported that 141,386, or 52%, of that provinces target number of people to be vaccinated had received their first vaccination injection.

So far 35 Sandbox tourists have come to Phang Nga, comprising 30 in Khao Lak and five in Koh Yao. A total 1,687 room nights have been booked, V/Gov Thammanoon said.

PPAO PLEAS FOR JOB CREATION

At the meeting, PPAO President Rewat Areerob asked Mr Jurin to follow up on the approval of the grassroots economic recovery project, under which the PPAO has filed a request to receive B1 billion to create job employment in Phuket.

Basically, I expect to be approved and receive about B450 million, which we will spend on a project to increase employment among people in Phuket, Mr Rewat said.

After receiving the situation update from the three key Andman tourism provinces, Mr Jurin told the meeting, I will present the reported information to the Cabinet in order to ask for the necessary support, as well as to follow up on the project.

I will bring more events to hold in Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi, such as a food festival and surfing fest, he added.
Migrant workers to return, but at a cost

BANGKOK: Businesses will be permitted by the Labour Ministry to import migrant workers once again, but at a steep cost associated with COVID-19 surveillance.

CoronavirusCOVID-19immigration

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 10:21AM

Migrant workers queue up for Covid-19 testing at an apartment in Samut Sakhon last December. Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool

Employment of Myanmar, Lao and Cambodian nationals will be secured under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the respective countries as part of an effort to fill the void created in the labour sector by workers returning home en masse as the situation worsened, reports the Bangkok Post.

Emerging migrant policy management meeting yesterday (Sept 13), Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said business operators will be able to apply to recruit migrant workers at provincial employment offices.

On lodging each application, employers must pay a work permit fee of B1,900. Once the workers arrive, they will undergo three RT-PCR tests, each costing B1,300, and a 14-day quarantine at state-certified facilities charging B500 per day or B7,000 for the entire quarantine duration. In addition, the employers must pay for the workers COVID-19 medical insurance worth B900.

That amounts to a sum of B14,000 per worker for employers and also excludes the costs of travel and visas.

Meanwhile, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) is concerned about a resurgence in infections as restrictions are lifted and people lower their guard.

CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said the virus containment measures were adjusted to allow certain businesses and economic activities a chance to resume.

Were quite disheartened to see how some people are behaving, he said.

The spokesman said the national daily caseload still exceeds 10,000.

Funerals, along with marketing and sales events were also specifically named as hotspots for infection as attendees were not practising appropriate social distancing.

He added regulations were defied by who secretly organised parties. Markets were also relaxing the health scanning of their customers.

Strict health surveillance rules must be maintained until the end of the month at least, said Dr Taweesilp.
Search for missing expat Phi Phi resort GM continues

PHUKET: The search for Florian Hallermann, 56, the General Manager of the Zeavola Resort on Phi Phi Island who has not been seen since last Saturday (Sept 11), continued today with more than 50 people joining the search effort.



By The Phuket News

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 06:06PM

Well known and well liked Florian Hallermann, GM of the Zeavola Resort on Phi Phi Island, was last seen on Saturday (Sept 11). Photo: Zeavola Resort

The search parties, separated into four teams comprising regular police and tourist police officers, rescue volunteers and members of the public, scoured the island today (Sept 14) and came across a startling discovery, the body of a Thai man found among mangroves on the island, reported Thai-language daily Thai Rath.

The Thai man is believed to have died at least three days ago, said the report.

Mr Hallermann, an Austrian national, was last seen walking through the Laem Thong area in Moo 8, Phi Phi Island, on Saturday.

Krabi Immigration Superintendent Col Kongrit Suksai said the search team recently obtained CCTV footage from a camera in front of a hotel in the Laem Tong area showing Mr Hallermann walking past the camera at 2:24pm.

He was walking alone with a backpack along the path leading to Ao Nui.

After Mr Hallermann failed to return to the resort, hotel staff posted photos of him on social media, asking if anyone had seen him. They filed a missing person report at Phi Phi Police Station yesterday (Sept 13), Col Kongrit said.

Mr Hallermann had been working on Phi Phi Island for almost 20 years. He was well known and loved by the locals.

He was not known to be involved in any conflicts with other people, and was not known for carrying any substantial amounts of cash or any valuables, said the report.

The body of the Thai man found today was confirmed to not be that of Mr Hallermann, the report noted.

The body found today was dressed in a black long-sleeved T-shirt and black pants, while CCTV footage showed that Mr Hallermann was last seen wearing shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt.

The body found today, which bore no wounds indicating an attack, was taken for post-mortem examination at Phi Phi Hospital.

Police will check their records for other people reported as missing, the report said.

Meanwhile, the search for Mr Hallermann continues.
Tourism to re-open despite COVID, minister says

BANGKOK: Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has confirmed Bangkok, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chiang Mai will begin implementing their tourism reopening plans on Oct 1 as planned.

tourismCOVID-19Coronaviruseconomicshealth

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 14 September 2021, 06:45PM

This beach at Koh Lan had only a few visitors on Sept 4, after the easing of travel restrictions to the island offshore from Pattaya. Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong / Bangkok Post

The 21 other provinces will follow suit on Oct 15, he said on Tuesday (Sept 14), dispelling doubts over whether the government would be able to proceed with its plan in the face of the ongoing pandemic, reports the Bangkok Post.

Mr Phiphat admitted the high number of new COVID-19 infections is a major hindrance but said the ministry is fully prepared for the reopening.

Asked about the 200-plus new cases of COVID-19 recorded daily in Phuket, he said these high figures stem from the provinces active case finding in every community, including migrant workers.

Phuket was the first province to pilot the tourism reopening programme.

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that the ministry is fully prepared for the Oct 1 reopening.

Phetchaburi is ready to reopen to tourists on Oct 1, with effective COVID-19 controls to reduce the threat of new infections, deputy provincial governor Natthawut Phetpromsorn said on Tuesday.

Strict disease control measures remain in place to contain infection clusters, said Mr Natthawut.

Bubble and seal measures applied at factories and markets have reduced the incidence of the disease, he said.

Now that infections have dropped, Phetchaburi can prepare to reopen for tourism on Oct 1, in line with the governments plan, he said.

All sectors are well-prepared, he said, adding that tourists can have confidence that popular destinations such as Cha-am district are safe and free from the virus. Visitors could enjoy their stay in the province, said Mr Natthawut.

Phetchaburi public health office chief Phetchakit Thaensawat said that 54% of targetted groups in the province have been vaccinated, comprising mainly people aged 60 years and over, and people with any of seven underlying conditions, and pregnant women.

Vaccination would reach 70% when more vaccines arrive, Dr Phetchakit said.
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Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. High near 75F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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A steady rain this evening. Showers with perhaps a rumble of thunder developing overnight. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low near 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
I find myself grieving for someone Ive never met every Sept. 17th  for the past 31 years.

Back in 1990, I was working as the night police reporter for the Quad-City Times when I was dispatched to a fire at a school playground at 9 p.m.

I was one of the first on the scene. I walked to where I saw smoke rising from some tall weeds on the edge of the playground, looked down and was met with the body of a child that had been doused with gasoline and set on fire.

I staggered backwards gasping for air. I could feel the bile rise in my throat and my knees go weak. It was the last thing I expected to find on a crisp autumn evening in Davenport, Iowa.

I was there when the firefighters, the detectives, the medical examiner and a horde of reporters arrived.

And I stood a few feet from the smoldering remains wondering: Who would do such a thing?

What evil lurked in the shadows that committed such an act?

We later learned that the victim was Jennifer Ann Lewis, a pugnacious tom-boy from Rock Islands west end. She was last seen buying gum from a neighborhood store.

She never came back. Year after year, Ive learned a bit more about this girl. And the more I learn, the sadder I become.

Ive wondered what her life would have been like if she had lived.

A teachers aide told me how Jennifer liked to twirl around in frilly dresses hiking the hem higher and higher as she spun. Her best friend told me how they played with My Little Ponies together.

Her mother recalled her daughters sweet disposition, how she loved her newborn baby brother and her dog, Bowser.

We name buildings after wealthy benefactors, bridges after politicians and streets after celebrities. But our collective recollection of children who die at the hands of others fades.

A granite monument funded by the community was placed on the playground where Jennifers corpse was found. A while back, I went looking for it only to learn that vandals long ago destroyed it.

Even in death, she isnt accorded the respect her life was due.

No one that night walked away from that school yard unchanged.

One former police lieutenant froze on a witness stand years later as he suffered a flashback to that horrible night. A police sergeant, who I knew well, had a fit of rage years later when Jennifers name was evoked.

A corporal at that scene descended into alcoholism.

For me, slumber was elusive for weeks following that fateful night.

Another reporter who was there confessed to her teenage sons, decades later, that it is the one image from her journalism career that she cant rid her mind of.

During the past five years, I spent much time researching the case. Ive found myself interviewing vagrants beneath underpasses in New Orleans, knocking on doors of rural Mississippi shacks and wading through thousands of pages of Iowa court documents.

I now know much more. But am I any closer to understanding? Well, I certainly dont understand what would possess someone to commit such evil.

I produced a podcast on the case and Jennifers name is now known by many. I want to write a book. But each time I sit down to write, Im met with the image of a buck-toothed smile and the unassuming brown eyes of a child who never turned 10.

That photo haunts me.

To this youngster, whom Ive never met, I can only promise: Your memory will not be lost.

A man is serving a life sentence for her murder. Hes been tried four times for the same crime  three convictions and one hung jury. His appeals continue.

Although three juries have found him guilty, when I think of Jennifer, I prefer to think of innocence.

I think of a child without guile who was raped, strangled and burned. I think of a youngster who ran down school hallways telling teachers and classmates alike about her upcoming birthday.

She just didnt know that was the day she would be buried.

Scott Reeder is a staff writer with the Illinois Times in Springfield.
On Monday, the Illinois Senate passed Senate Bill 2408, major clean energy legislation that commits the state to reaching 40% renewable energy by 2030 and 50% renewables by 2040. The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act could create tens of thousands of jobs, expand diversity in the renewable energy industry, and provide more than $1 billion in electricity bill savings for consumers.

The bill was a compromise between two pillars of Democratic support, labor groups and environmental groups.

The 40% renewable energy standard was first introduced in the Path to 100 Act by Representative Will Davis and Senator Bill Cunningham in 2019. The renewable energy impacts of the legislation include:

 The 40% renewable energy goal will spur the construction of over 4,000 megawatts of new wind, 4,000 MW of new utility-scale solar, and 5,800 MW of new rooftop and community solar.

 The Illinois Power Agency will procure approximately 2.5 million new renewable energy credits by June 2022 and 3.8 million new RECs per year from 2022-2030.

 The RECs will support wind energy (45%) utility-scale solar (25.85%) brownfield solar (1.65%) and community, rooftop and residential solar through an adjustable block program (27.5%).

 Credits in the adjustable block program are divided among community solar (30%), large distributed generation (20%), small distributed generation (20%), schools (15%), equity eligible projects (10%) and Community-driven community solar (5%).

"As a result of this landmark legislation, Illinois is now ready to embark on its clean energy future," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, in a statement. "Opening the Illinois market is critical to the growth of energy sources that will clean the air, create jobs and jumpstart the states economy. Illinois is now a national leader in crafting renewable energy solutions and we want to thank Gov. Pritzker, Senate President Harmon, Speaker Welch, Sen. Cunningham and Rep. Davis for their leadership on this important bill."

"Illinois kept its promise to the solar workers who have dedicated their careers to building our renewable energy future," said Lesley McCain, executive director of the Illinois Solar Energy Association, in a statement. "After years of advocacy, we now have a path to reverse job losses and deliver clean electricity for families across Illinois."

SB 2408 also includes requirements for diversity, equity and inclusion in the renewable energy industry that were supported by community advocates and wind and solar businesses. Equity provisions include supplier diversity requirements for companies that participate in the states renewable energy program, a dedicated block of renewable energy incentives for businesses from underserved communities and requirements for utility-scale renewable energy projects to complete project labor agreements that directly address the hiring of minority employees.

"Expanding access to low-cost renewable energy through community solar is vital for Illinois to make the transition to clean energy in a manner that is equitable and just," said Laurel Passera, policy director for the Coalition for Community Solar Access, in a statement. "We applaud the legislature for passing a bill that will provide the needed pathway to improve Illinois' energy infrastructure, create good-paying jobs, and provide access to many thousands of residents, businesses and community organizations who do not currently have the opportunities to participate in the clean energy economy."

The bill also includes strong labor provisions and should guarantee that renewable energy growth will create tens of thousands of union jobs in Illinois. All workers building commercial and community-scale renewable energy projects would be paid prevailing wages and utility-scale projects will complete project labor agreements with organized labor.

"SB2408 is landmark legislation that shows what is possible when industry and labor work together," said Joe Duffy, executive director of Climate Jobs Illinois. "This law will make Illinois a national leader in building the clean energy economy of the future, and it will open up new opportunities for historically disadvantaged communities, creating thousands of union jobs and expanding apprenticeship opportunities that will pave the way to the middle class for a new generation of homegrown, highly trained workers. We hope Gov. Pritzker will sign this legislation right away so we can get our members and new trainees to work in the fight against climate change."



Illinois renewable energy workforce would be on the job immediately building the projects the state requires to reach the aggressive clean energy goals. The renewable energy industry says it will continue to collaborate with policymakers and other stakeholders to create Illinois clean energy future.
SPRINGFIELD  Expressing concern the Illinois State Board of Education might have overstepped its bounds by threatening to withhold funding from school districts that do not enforce its mask mandate, a legislative panel on Tuesday urged the agency to put its policies into formal rules.

The unanimous vote by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR, represented one of the few times that Illinois lawmakers have pushed back against the enforcement of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers executive orders since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It came after intense questioning of ISBE officials, especially from Republican members of the panel.

Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, said he has no problem with wearing masks or getting vaccinated, and that he encourages others to get vaccinated as well.

Having said that, I do have concerns with government overreach and those who act outside their authority, he said. As one member of JCAR, it is incumbent upon all of us to ask questions to ensure government is acting within its authority and in line with state statute.

On Aug. 4, Pritzker issued an executive order requiring all public and nonpublic PreK-12 schools to follow joint guidance from ISBE and the Illinois Department of Public Health requiring all students, staff and visitors to wear masks indoors at school.

Since then, the state board has taken an aggressive stance in enforcing that rule by either placing districts on probation or, in the case of nonpublic schools, revoking their official state recognition.

According to ISBE data, 47 public school districts have been placed on suspension for refusing to comply; all but four of them have since agreed to come into compliance. Beecher City CUSD 20, Hutsonville CUSD 1, Cowden-Herrick CUSD 3A and Nauvoo-Colusa CSD 325 remained on probation Tuesday, meaning they are at risk of losing state recognition and state funding.

Fifteen nonpublic school systems have had their state recognition revoked for noncompliance; six of those have since had their recognition restored. Losing recognition can mean, among other things, that their graduation diplomas are not recognized by state colleges and universities and they are ineligible to take part in interscholastic events.

DeWitte and other Republicans on the panel questioned whether the ISBE had statutory or administrative authority to take enforcement action against schools that refuse to comply with guidance issued by state agencies.

Guidance is guidance. Guidance is not a rule, said Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego. A rule is enforceable. A statute is enforceable. I dont believe that an executive order is enforceable to the same degree as statute or (a rule).

Kristen Kennedy, deputy legal counsel for ISBE, said the agency was relying on an existing administrative rule that says, A school district shall be placed on probation if it exhibits deficiencies that present a health hazard or a danger to students or staff as well as Pritzkers executive order and the joint guidance issued by IDPH and ISBE.

She cited a 2020 Sangamon County court ruling involving the Hutsonville school district that held Pritzkers executive orders and the joint guidance were all legally issued and enforceable.

Wheeler, however, compared ISBEs actions with the situation lawmakers faced in the early phases of the pandemic, when JCAR pushed back against emergency rules issued by the Department of Public Health that would have allowed for criminal prosecutions of businesses that violated Pritzkers initial stay-at-home order.

And we went through lots of iterations and hours and hours of discussions trying to land on something that was better than what we started with, and I think we actually did that last year, he said. But it was all done by emergency rulemaking. When it comes to how you direct things toward the public, guidance says should and rule and law say shall. And rarely can you cross over those two, because otherwise theres no point in us having a legislature to oversee these things, to set the policy.

After the panel met behind closed doors, it returned and voted on a motion expressing concern that policies outside of rule may exist and encouraging ISBE to place all policy and guidance in rule. The motion specifically urged ISBE to propose rules that more clearly defined process to be used before revoking a schools recognition.

The motion passed, 10-0.

JCARs next scheduled meeting is set for Oct. 19, in Springfield, the first day of the General Assemblys fall veto session.
BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanons former prime minister left the country for the United States on Tuesday, his advisor said, despite a subpoena from the judge investigating last years devastating explosion at Beirut port.

Hassan Diab was the countrys prime minister when the explosion happened on Aug. 4, 2020. He resigned after the blast that killed over 200 people and injured over 6,000, leaving the large parts of the city devastated.

Diab was caretaker prime minister until last week, when Najib Mikati successfully formed a new government, ending months of political haggling.

As caretaker prime minister, Diab was summoned by investigative judge Tarek Bitar on accusations of intentional killing and negligence. Diab declined to be interrogated as a defendant, saying he had given his testimony in the case. Diab holds that the judges investigating the case have violated Lebanese laws that require that as a senior government official he can only be summoned after the parliament approves.

When Diab failed to show up last month for investigation, Bitar issued a subpoena and the new date for questioning was set for next Monday.

On Tuesday, Bitar issued a new subpoena to include his home address after he stepped down from the premiership.

He has nothing new to say, said Laila Hatoum, Diabs advisor. He considers that he has nothing to do with all that until the parliament decides the course of action.

Hatoum said Diab left for a pre-planned trip to visit his children who are studying in the United States. He has not seen them since he took office, she said.

Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilizers that had been improperly stored in the port for years, exploded on Aug. 4, 2020. The probe shows that most government officials knew of the dangerous material stored at the port.

Diab told The Associated Press in an interview last year that he was being singled out and charged while others knew more.
EDWARDSVILLE  Two Granite City residents were charged Friday with the neglect or abuse of a disabled person they were caring for.

Steven A. Buchanan, 28; and Ashley N. Buchanan, 30, both of the 1900 block of Joy Avenue, Granite City, were each charged with two counts of criminal abuse or neglect of a disabled person, all Class 3 felonies.

The cases were presented by the Granite City Police Department.

According to court documents, between June 14 to Aug. 31 the two failed to perform necessary acts to ensure the health of the person they were responsible for, leading to injuries and a deterioration of the victims condition; and exposed the victim to willful deprivation by failing to obtain adequate medical care, shelter, nutrition and physical assistance.

Bail was set at $75,000 each.

Other felony charges filed Sept. 10 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Ashley N. Houin, 31, of Florissant, Missouri; and Edward J. Cochran, 29, of Christopher, Illinois, were each charged with residential burglary, both Class 1 felonies. The cases were presented by the Pontoon Beach Police Department. According to court documents, on Sept. 4 the two entered a home in the first block of Mallard Drive, Pontoon Beach, to commit theft. Bail was set at $85,000 each.

 Bobby J. Carroll, 46, of the 1300 block of 26th Street, Highland, was charged with unlawful failure to register as a sex offender, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Highland Police Department. According to court documents, on June 27 Carroll failed to register with the Highland Police Department after moving to an apartment in the 1300 block of 26th Street. Bail was set at $15,000.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in Vermont decreased over the last week from the week before, according to data released Tuesday, with state officials remaining cautiously optimistic that a recent surge will continue to decline.

Vermont reported about 86 fewer cases this week compared to last week, said Michael Pieciak, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation who has been handling the virus data for the state.

When you look at that seven-day average the trend is down but its a not clear trend down and it hasnt been sustained yet so thats a point of caution certainly that we want to take into account, Pieciak said during the governors weekly virus briefing.

Washington County, which had a high number of cases last week, has seen some improvement, said Pieciak, dropping from 339 cases to 209 this past week.

Vermont is about nine weeks into a surge in cases from the delta variant of the coronavirus, a time when other jurisdictions had started to see cases slow and then drop, Pieciak said.

"Were still cautiously optimistic about whether were going to see that downward trend, he said.

In other pandemic-related news in Vermont:

CONTACT TRACING IN SCHOOLS

The state is revising its recommendations for the contract tracing process in schools, Education Commissioner Daniel French said.

The changes will allow schools to more quickly identify students who are vaccinated, he said. Under guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Vermont, a vaccinated student who is asymptomatic is not a close contact, French said.

Previously schools had wait for a students vaccination status to be confirmed by the health department, he said. The changes allow schools to use their local vaccination information to determine if a student is vaccinated.

Contact tracing is an important strategy to ensure the safety of our communities and our schools. The delta variant has put pressure on the contact tracing process because it spreads more quickly than other variants," French said.

Anyone within 6 feet of an infectious person for 15 minutes or more is considered a close contact.

In lunch rooms, the state is recommending seating charts and having classes eat together when possible, he said.

___

PRISON CASES

Two consecutive rounds of testing of inmates and staff at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport were all negative for COVID-19 after a recent outbreak, Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said.

The facility has returned to modified operations though there will be another round of testing next week before the facility is fully clear of all outbreak protocol, he said.

Last week the Vermont Department of Corrections said the Newport prison had a total of 13 inmates with COVID-19 and that 20 other inmates and seven staff who were previously infected had been medically cleared.

___

THE NUMBERS

Vermont reported 111 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, for a statewide total of more than 30,370 cases since the pandemic began.

The Health Department reported that 43 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, with nine in intensive care.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont has risen over the past two weeks from 130.29 new cases per day on Aug. 29 to 162.71 new cases per day on Sept. 12

The Associated Press is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the U.S.
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed. High 73F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers. Low around 65F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2019 file photo, Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia speaks outside the federal courthouse in Boston after his appearance on bribery, extortion and fraud charges. The once celebrated young Massachusetts mayor urged a court on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, to throw out a jury's verdict convicting him of fraud and corruption, accusing prosecutors of carrying out an unfair smear campaign in the courtroom."
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It's exceptionally uncommon for a 50-year-old car to have only one owner from new, but that's the case with this extremely rare Italian supercar that has been in storage for most of its life.

The 1971 Iso Grifo - which is one of three ever built - was custom ordered by its only keeper and originally intended for delivery to Rhodesia, in Southern Africa where he had been living.

However, having relocated to the UK, the buyer decided to personally collect the vehicle from the factory in Bresso, just outside of Milan, and drive it home. After using the vehicle for three years and covering fewer than 21,000 miles, it was put into dry storage in 1974 and hasn't moved since.

The car is now set to go under the hammer at Bonhams' Goodwood Revival sale, in Chichester, on Saturday, with the higher estimate for the ultra-exclusive motor set at a cool quarter of a million pounds.

Garaged for 47 years: This ultra-rare 1971 Iso Grifo supercar was put into dry storage by its only owner in 1974 and hasn't surfaced since. Bonhams is now set to sell it to the highest bidder in the UK, with a higher estimate of 250,000 predicted

The auction house says the opportunity to purchase such a low-mileage version of a motor with 'quite exceptional rarity' and with one gentleman owner from new is an 'unrepeatable opportunity'.

The Grifo was produced between 1965 and 1975 by Italian maker, Iso - the manufacturer that had originally made refrigerators before WW2, though post-war switched to making scooters and motorcycles and then the memorably Isetta 'bubble car', which was later taken over by BMW.

The Grifo was an intriguing blend of exotic European design and American muscle-car engine.

The stunning four-seat grand tourer (though even small children would have found the rear seats a squash) could easily be mistaken for a Ferrari or Lamborghini of the same generation, but under the bonnet was the choice of a 5.4-litre Chevrolet Corvette motor, a larger 7.0-litre 'big block' powerplant or a 7.4-litre Can-Am V8 engine, which this example features.

Versions with the bigger capacity engines were easily distinguishable from the regular Grifo by the raised bonnet scoop - dubbed the 'Penthouse' on account of its shape - necessitated by the taller block.

The engine featuring here produced a claimed 390bhp at 4,800rpm when new, with 500lb/ft of torque available at 3,600 revs.

The Grifo was built by Italian manufacturer Iso, which is best known for producing the Isetta 'bubble car'. The GT model is a four-seater with sleek looks and a massive American muscle-car engine under the bonnet

Iso made approximately 412 Grifos in total. Only 90 Series II examples were sold with the 7.4-litre unit and only three in right-hand drive like the one being offered at the Goodwood Revival auction

The 7.4-litre 'Can-Am' engine produced a claimed 390bhp at 4,800rpm when new, with 500lb/ft of torque available at 3,600 revs

Iso made approximately 412 Grifos in total, this car being a Series 2 version. Only 90 were sold with the 7.4-litre unit and only three in right-hand drive with the bigger block motor.

Celebrity Girfo owners include Mike 'The Bike' Hailwood - one of a select few individuals to compete at Grand Prix level on two- and four-wheels, winning nine motorcycle GP world titles before switching to F1 and competing in 50 races and scoring two podiums.

Hailwood had two Grifos, one white and one in the same yellow as this example, with the former (a Series I example with a 5.3-litre motor) selling at auction in 2018 for 270,000.

The one and only owner of this stored Grifo - described by Bonhams as an 'elderly gentleman' - ordered the Grifo directly from the factory, specifying the largest capacity engine, a right-hand drive configuration, five-speed manual gearbox and the addition of a special Blaupunkt radio suitable for reception in Rhodesia where he was living at the time.

Bonhams claims he chose the Iso rather than a 12-cylinder Ferrari as he wanted 'the same power but from what he describes as a more reliable V8 power unit'.

The lone keeper also ordered the car to be built with a special fully-removable 'Targa top' panel rather than a standard sunroof. This was despite Iso bosses advising against the idea, saying it would reduce rigidity.

Further options, including a leather-trimmed steering wheel, air conditioning and a heated rear screen with wiper, saw the final bill for the new motor ring up to roughly the same value as a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow at the time - around 9,925 in 1971, which equates to 157,260 in 2021.

The lone keeper ordered the car to be built with a fully-removable 'Targa top' panel rather than a standard sunroof, despite Iso bosses advising against the idea, saying it would reduce rigidity

The stylish looks means the Iso could easily be mistaken for a Ferrari or Lamborghini of the same generation. In fact, Bonhams claims the one owner chose the Grifo rather than a 12-cylinder Ferrari as he wanted 'the same power but from what he describes as a more reliable V8 power unit'

The one and only owner ordered the Grifo directly from the factory, specifying the addition of a special Blaupunkt radio suitable for reception in Rhodesia where he was living at the time

Having driven the V8 GT car back to London from the Milan factory, the owner used it fairly regularly, including for at least one or two trips through Europe to Spain, over the next three years.

The car had its one and only service at Peter Agg's Trojan company near Croydon and was not registered in the UK until January 1975, having been run with Italian plates until the owner put it in the garage in 1974, never to be taken out again.

It is being sold with a logbook of petrol bills - the last entry being made in 1974 - and copies of its original purchase paperwork and correspondence, and a 'Use and Maintenance' manual.

At time of cataloguing, the car shows a recorded 20,873 miles and is not expected to be started before the auction.

Iso Grifos with the bigger capacity engines were easily distinguishable from the regular version by the raised bonnet scoop - dubbed the 'Penthouse' on account of its shape - necessitated by the taller block

As well as having the the largest capacity engine, the owner requested an example with right-hand drive configuration and a five-speed manual gearbox

Other optional extras from new included a leather-trimmed steering wheel, air conditioning and a heated rear screen with wiper (seen here). In its eventual spec, the purchase bill for the new motor would have rang in at roughly the same value as a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow at the time - around 9,925 in 1971, which equates to 157,260 in 2021. Experts suggest the 250,000 higher estimate for this weekend's sale leaves plenty of room for profit if the vehicle is restored suitably

'Careful reconditioning and servicing, at the very least, is suggested before returning it to regular use,' warns the auction house, though adds that the black leather interior trim is 'very good, with no undue signs of wear'.

Bonhams predicts it will sell for 200,000 to 250,000 when the hammer drops on Saturday at its Goodwood Revival auction.

Hagerty, which specialises in classic car valuations, says a Series II 7.0-litre Iso Grifo in excellent condition would be worth 320,000 today.

With this example having the more exclusive motor and being right-hand drive, a successful bid of a quarter of a million pounds might leave plenty of room for future profit.

The same auction this weekend will also feature the sale of a 1993 Jaguar XJ220 supercar that has fewer than 400 miles on the clock, which is estimated to achieve 500,000 when the hammer drops. Read about it in full in our special report.
The world will always need water, so surely it's a sensible investment?

H20 is a precious commodity and becoming increasingly scarce, leading some to dub it 'blue gold'.

The global water industry is also expected to become worth a trillion dollars a year within a decade.

Precious commodity: The global water industry is expected to become worth a trillion dollars a year within a decade

Climate change is understood to be altering weather patterns  causing water shortages and droughts in some areas, and devastating floods in others, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Brazil has this year been hit with the worst-ever recorded drought, meanwhile Madagascar's shortage is so severe it is leading to famine.

At the same time, floods in Germany and Belgium this summer caused more than 180 deaths.

The WWF predicts that by 2025, two-thirds of the world's population may face water shortages unless a solution is found.

Rob Burgeman, investment manager at wealth advisers Brewin Dolphin, says there are funds available to retail investors that are focused on enhancing the future treatment and purification of water services.

H20 is a precious commodity and becoming increasingly scarce, leading some to dub it 'blue gold'

He says: 'There will be few countries that do not need to invest billions over the next 20 years to improve their water and waste services while addressing water shortages.

'As an investor, there are ways of getting access to this through a selection of exchange traded funds (ETF) and funds that offer exposure to this important industry.

'As ever, it is always best to seek financial advice to ensure your portfolio is diversified as effectively as possible.'

He says the iShares Global Water ETF gives exposure to the top 50 stock market firms involved in water-related business.

Holdings include American Water Works, Veolia Environmental and United Utilities. A 10,000 investment made five years ago, with dividends reinvested, would now be worth 20.381.

Meanwhile, the L&G Clean Water ETF aims to track the performance of a basket of stocks of companies that are involved in the international clean water industry.

A 10,000 investment made two years ago, when the fund was launched, would now be worth 15,259.

The Axa Framlington Global Clean Economy Fund also offers exposure to water and the sustainability of water supply. The fund has turned 10,000 into 17,735 in two years.

Mr Burgeman also suggests the new Fidelity Sustainable Water and Waste Fund that invests in worldwide water and waste management companies.

b.wilkinson@dailymail.co.uk
Ocado Retail has warned of higher costs from a shortage of drivers, as it reported a 10.6 per cent fall in revenue after a fire at its London warehouse disrupted operations over the summer.

The Hatfield-headquartered firm, which is a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer, said that it currently needed to pay drivers more and offer sign-on bonuses and called on the Government to add HGV drivers to the skilled shortage list.

The figures compare to a 54 per cent rise in revenue in the same quarter in 2020 when ongoing pandemic restrictions drove significant demand during the typically slower summer months.

Online grocer Ocado Retail has reported a 10.6 per cent fall in revenue in its latest quarter, after a fire at its London warehouse disrupted operations over the summer

Overall, Ocado Retail revenue totalled 517.5 million in the third quarter to 29 August versus 578.8 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue had grown 19.8 per cent in its first half.

The UK delivery business Ocado Retail - a division of Ocado - is owned 50-50 by it and partner M&S, after the online grocery pioneer inked a deal to replace its Waitrose-sourced products with Marks and Spencers goods in 2020.

Ocado highlighted the rising costs of labour, particularly for delivery and truck drivers.

It said that may result in an up to 5 million hit to full-year numbers, reflecting higher hourly pay rates and signing-on bonuses.

But it added: 'We will be working to mitigate these costs as best we can.'

Ocado said the Government needed to help get more drivers on the road safely, ensuring they could get HGV tests quicker while still being trained properly.

Ocado chairman and co-founder Tim Steiner added: 'Making it easier is the right answer its important to be able to get more people through the process.

'If you could get more people through the process by increasing the number of testers, you could run twice the amount of tests then that could be an alternative solution.

'What is clear is that there is a shortage and it seems to have been significantly exacerbated by the lack of testing that went on while testing facilities were closed or restricted during the Covid period.

'We wouldnt want the shortage to be addressed by putting unqualified or dangerous drivers on the road, but we do need as a country to address the shortage.'

The retailer said that over the first six weeks of the quarter it performed in line with expectations, with revenue down 1.8 per cent, reflecting strong comparative numbers with last year.

However, in the seven weeks after the 16 July fire at the depot in Erith, southeast London, revenue declined by 19 per cent.

In addition to cancelling orders in the week following the fire, the temporary reduction in capacity reduced its ability to offer slots to new customers.







Ocado Retail estimates that during that period of temporary disruption it lost around 300,000 orders, or around 35 million of revenue.

Operating losses during the second half due to the business disruption, primarily lost orders, caused by the fire were estimated at around 10 million.

In addition, the impact of stock and fixed asset write-offs and other incremental costs associated with the fire are estimated to also be around 10 million.

Additional safety measures have been put in place at Erith, and Ocado Retail expects pre-fire capacity to be fully restored by the end of November in time for what the business expects to be 'strong Christmas trading'.

It was the third fire to hit an Ocado warehouse in three years, with its site in Andover, Hampshire, only recently returning to full operation two years after a blaze.

Ocado shares have soared in recent years but are down 35% on their peak

Despite the falls, Ocado said it signed up 64,000 new customers during the period, with 805,000 in total, and orders per week rose 22 per cent.

However, the average basket size was down 12 per cent to 124 compared with 141 a year ago.

Looking ahead, the joint venture forecasts a 'strong' revenue growth in its 2021-22 year and beyond with new warehouses set to open in Bicester and Luton, which will extend total capacity even further to around 700,000 orders per week.

Ocado shares were a pandemic winner, rising more than 170 per cent from their February 2020 level to almost reach 3,000p last autumn and earlier this year.

Since February shares have sunk 35 per cent, however, and were down 2.5 per cent, or 47p, at 1,838.5p today.
A fire at a one of the nation's 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.
The latest in New York politics This article was featured in the Capitol Confidential newsletter. Sign up here to get it each morning.

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. (TU)

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. 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.(TU)
This column expresses the views of the author, separate from those of the Times Union.

SARATOGA  Democrats are lining up to run against Elise Stefanik, for obvious reasons. The congresswoman from the North Country has provided potential opponents with plenty of material.

But can any of the announced candidates actually beat the town of Saratoga Republican?

The Magic 8-Ball says ... outlook not so good.

Think that's unfair? You might be right. But I'm going to quickly mention three of Stefanik's Democratic challengers, and let's see if you can sniff out problem they have in common.

Matt Putorti, 37, is an attorney for a global law firm who recently moved back to the 21st Congressional District from New York City. Bridie Farrell, 39, is a former U.S. national team speed skater and advocate for victims of child sexual abuse who until recently lived outside the district. And Matt Castelli, 40, is a former CIA officer who just moved to Saratoga County from Washington, D.C.

Yes, they are all relatively young, but that isn't the answer I was looking for. It's their recent changes of address that are the concern. Stefanik can gleefully, and somewhat correctly, deride them all as carpetbaggers.

"Another day. Another Far-Left Downstate Dem announcing for Congress. Another 'Welcome to #NY21' packet in the mail!," the person who manages Stefanik's twitter account wrote after Castelli declared he'd run last week, adding:

"Welcome to the North Country. Trump signs will warmly greet you!"

For anyone wondering if Stefanik has distanced herself from the former president she didn't used to like until she decided that putting on a MAGA hat would help her career, well, there's your answer.

And, yes, I know Stefanik is being hypocritical, given that her own ties to the district consisted of little more than a family summer home before she ran for the seat in 2014. Putorti, from Whitehall, and Farrell, originally from Saratoga Springs, can claim deeper North Country roots than the congresswoman who grew up in the southern Albany County hamlet of Feura Bush.

Still, are we to believe there isn't a Democrat with some North Country political experience who could run for the seat? A respected town supervisor, perhaps? Is the bench really so thin that candidates have to be shipped up from downstate?

Or is that anyone who understands the political reality of a district Joe Biden lost by 10 points believes Stefanik can't lose?

No doubt, the 37-year-old will be formidable. Her cynical winking at Donald Trump's false election claims made her the No. 3 Republican in the House and, perhaps most importantly, a fundraising juggernaut, with small donors in distant places newly eager to send her a check.

Many in her district, meanwhile, now consider her one of their own  a local kid, kinda sorta, turned political star. Then again, there are others, including some Republicans, who are embarrassed by Stefanik's new schtick and consider her cynical plotting downright unpatriotic. (After every Stefanik column, I hear from both camps.)

"She has consistently put her career ahead of the needs of the district and the country," Castelli told me Monday. "The scam is going to be up. It's not long for folks to see that."

Stefanik's newest announced challenger is a town of Poughkeepsie native who moved to Stefanik's own town of Saratoga ... sigh ... last month. Previously, Castelli was a CIA officer in Iraq and Afghanistan who also served as the director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. That's an impressive and intense resume, and to avoid a date with a poison dart (a little CIA humor folks), I will say nothing unkind about it.

Castelli was a student at Siena College when, he says, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 called him to service. The Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, meanwhile, led him to run for Congress, he says, and he accuses Stefanik of violating her oath of office by refusing to defend democracy.

He has a point. Stefanik has said next to nothing about the riot, except to claim Nancy Pelosi was somehow responsible for it. She certainly hasn't pointed blame at the former president, or wanted the attack fully investigated, or done anything at all to counter Trump's ego-protecting falsehoods about a stolen election.

Stefanik has much to answer for, in other words. At the very least, she deserves a tough election challenge. And maybe one of the announced candidates will be able to provide it.

Still, Democrats would do well to find a credible candidate who has lived in the district for awhile. Someone other than Tedra Cobb, I mean.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
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.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday sought to parry bipartisan congressional criticism of the Biden administrations Afghanistan withdrawal, as new intelligence estimates warned that al-Qaida could soon again use Afghan soil to plot attacks on the United States.

Blinken had mixed results in attempting to face down a second day of tough congressional questioning, this time from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As a day earlier before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he was assailed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike over the administrations preparation for and handling of the pullout.

Even lawmakers sympathetic to President Joe Bidens decision to end Americas longest-running war by withdrawing from Afghanistan after 20 years expressed disappointment and concern about the large number of Americans, green card holders and at-risk Afghans left behind in the chaotic and hasty evacuation from Kabul.

And, as Blinken testified just three days after the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that led to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, intelligence officials presented a bleak assessment that al-Qaida could begin to use Afghan territory to threaten America within one to two years.

The execution of the U.S. withdrawal was clearly and fatally flawed, said committee chairman Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who has been generally supportive of Bidens foreign policy but has taken issue with several of its aspects, including Afghanistan.

This committee expects to receive a full explanation of this administrations decisions on Afghanistan since coming into office last January, he said. There has to be accountability.

The withdrawal was a dismal failure, said Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the committee. He and virtually all of his Republican colleagues accused the administration of ineptitude that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on U.S. troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.

Theres not enough lipstick in the world to put on this pig to make it look any different than what it actually is, Risch said.

Much as he did on Monday at the often contentious hearing in the House, Blinken tried to deflect the criticism and maintained the administration had done the best it could under extremely trying and chaotic circumstances.

Blinken again blamed the Trump administration for its February 2020 peace deal with the Taliban that he said had tied Bidens hands, as well as the quick and unexpected collapse of the Afghan government and security forces that led to the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.

Even the most pessimistic assessments did not predict that government forces in Kabul would collapse while U.S. forces remained, he said. They were focused on what would happen after the United States withdrew, from September onward.

Blinken said the administration would hold the Taliban, which hosted and protected Osama bin Laden and top members of his al-Qaida network as they plotted the 9/11 strikes, to their promises not to allow Afghanistan to be used again as a base for terrorist attacks.

But as he spoke, U.S. intelligence officials said al-Qaida may be only 12 to 24 months from reconstituting itself in Afghanistan to pose a significant threat to the United States.

Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who leads the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave that estimate while speaking at the Intelligence & National Security Summit. Meanwhile, David Cohen, deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the U.S. already had detected some of the indications of some potential movement of al-Qaida to Afghanistan.

Experts have long said the Taliban still maintains ties to al-Qaida, which took sanctuary in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. Although Blinken was not asked directly about the intelligence assessments, he said the Taliban had not fully severed its links with the group.

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a vehement opponent of numerous Biden policies, called the withdrawal the worst foreign policy catastrophe in a generation and accused the administration of being naive in hoping the Taliban live up to their promises of moderation. They dont want to be welcomed into the community of civilized nations, he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., demanded to know how intelligence about the collapse of the Afghan government had been so wrong. He suggested not only that the wrong people were in charge of assessing the situation but that the policy had been incoherent and left the U.S. vulnerable to rivals.

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This was a failure of policy and planning," said Rubio, another frequent critic of Biden's. I think China and Russia and Iran, they look at this botched withdrawal and what they see as incompetence that they think they might be able to exploit.

The State Department has come under heavy criticism from both sides for not doing enough and not acting quickly enough to get people out of the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul, cementing its hold on the country before the completion of the U.S. withdrawal on Aug. 30.

Blinken defended the withdrawal and the end of America's longest-running war as the right thing to do" after 20 years. And, he noted that despite severe difficulties the U.S. and its allies had managed to evacuate some 124,000 people.

The evacuation was an extraordinary effort  under the most difficult conditions imaginable  by our diplomats, military, and intelligence professionals, he said.

Even some Democrats, though, were unswayed.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the only woman on the committee, who has long fought for the U.S. to protect the advances made by Afghan women and girls, lamented the current situation and said presidents and lawmakers of both parties shared the blame for the situation.

Lets stop with the hypocrisy of whos to blame, there are a lot of people to blame and we all share in it," she said, her voice rising as she took a pointed dig at former President Donald Trump and his second Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who negotiated the 2020 peace deal with the Taliban separate from the Afghan government with no assurance that minority rights would be respected.

I want to know where the outrage was when they were giving away the rights of women and girls, Shaheen said.

In response, Blinken said he would soon be appointing a senior official to oversee U.S. policy toward Afghan women and girls.

___

Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.
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.

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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.
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.

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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.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Congressional leaders on Monday marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, holding a moment of silence at the U.S. Capitol as they recalled that brief moment when national unity prevailed over political discord.

The four top Republicans and Democrats in Congress honored the thousands of lives that were lost that day in New York and Washington. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the country suffered loss we could not fathom and witnessed terrorism we could never forget when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

The leaders spoke on the steps of East front of the Capitol, the same spot where lawmakers locked arms the evening of Sept. 11, 2001 and sang God Bless America. It is also the spot where insurrectionists violently broke into the Capitol building in January to try to block the certification of President Joe Bidens victory  a domestic attack that has driven Republicans and Democrats even further apart, in contrast to the unity Congress found after 9/11.

Though the leaders did not speak about the Jan. 6 insurrection or current political tensions, they harkened back to a time when the nation found a shared purpose.

We stood together, united, proud to be American, said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. We flew the American flag in homes across the country to honor the first responders who lost their lives, and to celebrate the undying American values that a cowardly act of terrorism could not extinguish. That is a record of how a dark hour of American history became one of our finest hours.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the country ensured after 9/11 that our unity and resolve runs even deeper than our sadness, adding that Americans who said such an attack should never happen again should remember what it takes to keep that promise. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it has been a long road since 9/11, and our country has changed in ways we could have scarcely imagined back then.

Still, Schumer said, one thing does not change: our obligation to remember and honor every single American we lost that day.

The ceremony comes as Capitol Police are preparing for a rally Saturday in defense of the insurrectionists who were charged after the Jan. 6 attack. The area where the lawmakers stood Monday morning will soon be fenced off to secure the building  and keep out the public  in the event that the protest becomes violent.

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Many Republicans in Congress have downplayed the severity of the January siege by supporters of former President Donald Trump, opposing investigations of the attack and standing by Trump as he repeats falsehoods about election fraud. It is uncertain whether any lawmakers will participate in Saturdays rally, as several did on Jan 6.

Though congressional leaders avoided direct comparisons, former President George W. Bush  who was in office on 9/11  drew a direct connection between domestic terrorism now and the foreign terrorism that struck America then.

Speaking Saturday at the national memorial to the victims of Flight 93, who forced their hijacked airplane into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania before it could be used as a weapon in Washington, 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.
A man pleaded guilty Thursday in the murders of his childs mother and seven members of her family in 2016  a grisly crime that spread terror across their rural Ohio community and stirred rumors of drug dealers and hit men before authorities concluded it stemmed from a custody dispute.

On the fifth anniversary of the slayings, Edward Jake Wagner pleaded guilty to 23 counts in southern Ohio's Pike County in a deal with prosecutors that spares him from being sentenced to death. He agreed to cooperate in the cases against his parents and brother, who are also charged in the Rhoden family slayings of seven adults and a teenage boy.

I am guilty, your honor," Wagner calmly told the judge again and again, as Judge Randy Deering read each count aloud. The charges included eight counts of aggravated murder, as well as charges of conspiracy, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and other counts.

Wagner admitted he was personally responsible for five of the deaths, special prosecutor Angela Canepa said. He gave prosecutors a full account of what happened that morning, along with information that led to them to additional evidence. She did not say what that evidence was.

Wagner, 28, said in court that he is deeply and very sorry. He wasn't immediately sentenced, but his lawyers said he understands he faces a lifetime behind bars.

He knows hes going to die in prison without any judicial release. As horrifying as this is for all, he is as sorry as he could be, defense attorney Gregory Meyers told the judge.

The killings in April 2016  at three trailers and a camper near Piketon  terrified residents in the surrounding rural community and prompted one of the most extensive criminal investigations in state history. It took authorities more than two years to announce the arrests.

George Billy Wagner III, Angela Wagner and their son George Billy Wagner IV have pleaded not guilty.

The victims were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden Sr.; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence Frankie Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna, the mother of Jake Wagners child; Clarence Rhodens fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden.

Prosecutors alleged the Wagner family planned the killings for months, motivated by a custody dispute. According to Canepa, Jake Wagner tried to convince Hanna Rhoden to agree to shared custody of their daughter and she refused. Wagner was able to gain access to two Facebook accounts and found a post from Hanna saying she would never agree to those terms.

Jake Wagner began dating Hanna Rhoden when she was 13. She became pregnant when she was 15, Canepa said.

The family after the slayings were questioned by authorities at the U.S.-Canadian border, where a laptop was seized. Forged documents were found on the computer purporting that Hanna Rhoden had agreed to shared custody.

The Wagners took phones from six of the victims, as well as a recording device and trail cameras, Canepa said.

The Wagners used guns with two homemade silencers, allowing them to kill their victims as they slept, Canepa said. Parts from a failed effort to build a silencer were found on the Wagners' property, she said.

Most of the victims were repeatedly shot in the head, and some showed signs of bruising. Three young children at the scenes were unharmed.

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According to Canepa, shell casings found at the Wagners' home matched those found at the murder scenes. Investigators also found a shoe of the same size and tread that matched a shoe print found a the scene.

A relative, Tony Rhoden Sr., has sued the suspects, saying he wanted to be sure none of them benefitted financially from the slayings.

One of his lawyers, Brian K. Duncan, said by email that the family is grateful for todays outcome, as it provides at least some semblance of justice on this day which coincides with the fifth anniversary of these tragic events."

___

Associated Press Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus contributed to this report.

___

This story was first published April 22, 2021. It was updated Sept. 14, 2021, to delete a reference to Jake Wagners child being one of the three young children found at the scene. Authorities said that his child was staying with the mans family the night of the killings but that she was not among the three found at the scenes.
GALWAY  Galway schools will pivot to virtual learning through the end of the week after logging a record number of COVID-19 cases in the first days of school.

"Since March 13, 2019, when we moved to remote learning for the first time, we have had many good and bad days," Superintendent Brita Donovan wrote in a memo to families Monday evening. "Today, the number of positive COVID cases, the number of referrals for COVID testing, and the number of quarantines reported in our school were the largest numbers reported during the COVID pandemic."
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Californians voted to keep Gov. Gavin Newsom in office on Tuesday, ending a statewide recall election that saw some Republicans again float unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Days before the polls closed, the campaign of one of the leading Republican candidates promoted a website urging people to sign a petition that declared Newsom had already won because of voter fraud. That language was lifted from a petition circulated to help former President Donald Trump's effort to overturn last year's presidential election results.

By Tuesday afternoon, that language was removed from the website, leaving only a form for people to report irregularities, interference, or intimidation while voting. A spokeswoman for Elder said the website is operated by a third party and that websites update their language all the time."

Elder did not revive any such claims Tuesday night, quickly conceding the race and urging booing supporters to be gracious in defeat."

The claims of fraud  both from Elder and former President Donald Trump  prompted a rebuke from Newsom in an election night victory speech.

Democracy is not a football. You don't throw it around, Newsom said. It's more like a, I don't know, an antique vase. You can drop it and smash it into a million different pieces. And that's what we're capable of doing if we don't stand up to meet the moment and push back.

There were few reported problems with voting on Tuesday. A polling center in Tulare County was closed because of a wildfire, with voters redirected to nearby alternatives. And a poll worker at a West Hollywood voting site was removed for wearing a pro-Trump shirt, according to the Los Angeles County Registrars Office.

In the Woodland Hills neighborhood last weekend, some people who showed up said they were told they had already voted, which the registrar's office said was caused by settings on some computers used to check in voters. The office said those affected were allowed to cast provisional ballots, which act as placeholders until voter eligibility is determined. Similarly, a Newsmax reporter tweeted Tuesday that he was told he had already voted at an Orange County polling place. The county registrar said he couldn't comment on this case, but anecdotally this situation happens but in small numbers and often there is an explanation. He, too, was allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

Some Republicans worried the fraud claims from some party leaders could suppress turnout. Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and the national committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California, said she made a video with her husband showing them casting ballots by mail and urging everyone to do the same.

But Dhillon also said she could not say whether California's election would be secure, saying she and a team of attorneys monitoring voting have witnessed dozens of problems.

There will be a lot of questions and potentially litigation after this election about this sloppy-at-best treatment of peoples ballots and their right to vote, Dhillon said.

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The GOP's predicament was similar to that in last year's presidential election, when many in the party feared that Trump's claims about widespread fraud from expanded mail-in voting would backfire by persuading Republicans to stay home.

In California, the GOP needed all the help it could get.

Democrats make up 46.5% of all registered voters, while Republicans make up just 24%. Independent voters are roughly equivalent to Republicans, but tend to vote Democratic. Republicans have not won a statewide office since 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection as governor.

___

Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

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See APs complete coverage of the California recall election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall
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.

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The only way were going to fix this is collaborative by nature. We all have to come to the table, Blood told The Associated Press.

The field to replace Gov. Pete Ricketts, who will be forced from office by term limits, already includes a long list of Republican contenders. Businessmen Charles Herbster, who also ran for governor in 2014, and Michael Connely have both declared as have State Sen. Brett Lindstrom and University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen. And former Gov. Dave Heineman is considering running for his old job.

During her time in the Legislature, Blood has focused heavily on veterans issues and election transparency, among other concerns. She has also dug into issues at a problem-plagued ethanol plant in Mead that has raised health concerns among some residents.

Her legislative district includes Offutt Air Force Base. Before joining the Legislature, she served as an at-large member of the Bellevue City Council
SCHENECTADY  The city is inching toward soliciting public feedback for how to use its millions in federal coronavirus relief funds.

The city will hold four discussion sessions with neighborhood groups. Dubbed community conversations, the first is slated for Thursday with the Stockade Association.

Schenectady was awarded $53 million in March. Yet public discussion has been scant, and the four meetings mark the first formal community outreach about how to allocate the funding, which will be distributed into city coffers in two installments.

Funds must be appropriated by Dec. 31, 2024 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

Mayor Gary McCarthy has taken a wait-and-see approach to drafting a roadmap, citing the pending infrastructure bill being deliberated by Congress and the desire to avoid potential overlap.

Eligible uses include water, sewer and broadband investments. Funds can also be allocated for broader uses, including replacing revenues lost during the pandemic and responding to workers performing essential work, according to City Hall.

Funds cannot be used to shore up financial reserves, pay off debts or legal settlements, reduce taxes or make deposits into pension funds.

Other localities in upstate New York have already released sweeping templates for how they plan to utilize the funding, including the city of Albany, which announced last week that the city's unionized and non-union workers will receive extra pay from the pool of nearly $81 million the city is getting from the federal government's coronavirus bailout plan.

The Schenectady meetings will be held Sept. 28 (Upper Union, Eastern Avenue, Central State neighborhood associations), Sept. 30 (Goose Hill Neighborhood Association) and Oct. 14 (Mont Pleasant Neighborhood Association).

The citys Department of Development has launched a community survey now available online, to solicit additional public input. Hard copies are also available at the Department of Development in City Hall.

McCarthy and city staff will attend the sessions, which come after City Hall has faced criticism from neighborhood groups and several lawmakers over the lack of public discussion.

Im glad theyre making the effort to include the neighborhoods because lots of times the neighborhoods feel left out of the decision-making process when it comes to funding, said Suzanne Unger, president of Stockade Association.

Unger hopes funds can be used, in part, to shore up ailing infrastructure, fill vacant positions and bolster the citys workforce, including the code enforcement bureau.

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The lack of public dialogue has also bubbled up in the City Council race, where at least one candidate has created an online poll to glean input.

Its not going to dictate how funds are allocated, but it does give you a large sample size, said Damonni Farley, an activist who is seeking a four-year term in November.

Farley created the poll using GoogleDocs.

Theres a glaring gap in connecting with the people of Schenectady, Farley said.

City Hall on Monday pointed at its five-year plan as a possible roadmap, which proposes strategic investments designed to make a concentrated impact in key high-priority areas, including housing, youth engagement, workforce development and public infrastructure.

For a full list of neighborhood associations, visit the city's website.
TROY  A 24-year-old man and a teenager were arraigned in Rensselaer County Court Tuesday for attempted second-degree murder for spraying a South Troy home with bullets in a drive-by shooting in March that left a 12-year-old paralyzed from the waist down.

Julian Soto of Troy stood before Judge Jennifer Sober as he was charged by the grand jury with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Soto is being held on weapons charges in the Albany County jail.

The 17-year-old was arraigned in a closed court hearing on the same charges. His identity was not revealed due to his age, which was the same reason the courtroom was closed to the public.

M.J. Rivera was sweeping up in the familys ONeil Street home on March 8 when nine .40-caliber bullets were shot from a vehicle into the child's home, according to authorities. The passenger in the vehicle allegedly fired the bullets that hit the Rivera home in the Hillside Heights area.

City police said that M.J. was not the target of the shooting, but that the residence had been targeted. Police declined to comment further until after the case makes its way through the court system.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf, citing the nature of the crimes in Troy and Soto facing weapons charges in Albany County, asked that he be held without bail. Sober sent Soto back to jail without setting bail Tuesday.

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Sober issued an order of protection to keep Soto away from M.J.

Jona Rivera, M.J.'s mother, told the Times Union Monday that she is happy the arrests were made.

M.J. was left unable to walk as the bullet is still lodged near the spine. Its considered too dangerous to remove. Jona Rivera said Troy Middle School has been very supportive of her child, who is attending classes in person.

With the evidence finally in place, we were able to present this case to a grand jury. We are one step closer to justice for the Rivera family, District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly said after the arraignment.

The arraignment of Soto and the 17-year-old juvenile follows the arraignment Monday of Jona Riveras older son, Francisco Rivera, age 23, who when he was a teen was a linebacker at Troy High School. Francisco Rivera has been charged in a June 2020 shooting that left a 26-year-old paralyzed. He was arraigned for attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
There are plenty of ways New York can save money. One of the worst ways to do it would be on the backs of people with disabilities.

But for years, New York has been shortchanging programs for people with disabilities. While it took a progressive step in raising the minimum wage, for example, it failed to give nonprofit agencies the extra money they needed to pay the higher wages for home health aides who care for people with disabilities.

Now comes another insult. As the Times Unions Brendan J. Lyons reports, the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities has been using some bureaucratic tricks to deny out-of-state care for young people with high-needs autism diagnoses in order to force them into a remote New York state institution that parents liken to a prison.

That seems on its face to run contrary to the longstanding goal of deinstitutionalizing people who are able to live in the community with reasonable support. Thats been the guiding policy since the 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court ruling, which found that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ruling established the principle of allowing them to live in the least restrictive, most community-integrated setting possible.

A 2014 state law also afforded parents of people with disabilities due process rights in decisions about their childrens long-term care, rights that kick in after the child turns 21 or graduates from school. So in cases where there is a window between graduation and the time the child turns 21, parents say OPWDD is presenting them with an ultimatum  agree to have the child put in Sunmount, or lose funding for their continuing care.

A host of words comes to mind. Heartless. Unconscionable. Reprehensible. Inhumane. One might say unfathomable, until one remembers that this policy was hatched under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who talked a good progressive line but had a miserly side when it came to funding schools and programs for people with disabilities.

But using a loophole to throw young people with disabilities in with criminals in a prisonlike institution? We would never have imagined such cruelty from New York state.

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And what does OPWDD have to say about this? Or about how it allegedly threatened to arrest the parent of a young man who was being forced into Sunmount, along with a representative from a Massachusetts school where their child was receiving treatment, just for wanting to see the facility before he was committed? Nothing but a jargony statement about how it works with parents but its hands are tied.

If thats so, then the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul should fix the law  and take a hard look at why a state as wealthy as New York needs to send children out of state for care in the first place. Why are programs in New York unable or unwilling to serve so many of them?

Oh, and one more thing: Who came up with this idea of trying to deprive parents of disabled children of their right to advocate for their vulnerable loved ones  someone in OPWDD, or someone in the Division of the Budget? Someone might want to reconsider their career in public service.
ALBANY  Amid a flurry of machinations within state government, New York's ethics commission voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to seek a criminal investigation into the 2019 leak of confidential information to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The vote of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics was 11-1, with one abstention, to give Attorney General Letitia James' office the authority to pursue the matter if she chooses. On Monday evening, James rejected an earlier JCOPE referral seeking an investigation, saying the vote to authorize it was legally improper.

In her letter to JCOPE's top staffer, James raised concerns that an earlier JCOPE referral made in August  passed 8-0, with five abstentions  hadn't included any votes from appointees of the governor, as required by the complex rules governing the ethics panel.

New York's governor appoints six JCOPE commissioners: three Democrats and three Republicans. As James interpreted state law, JCOPE cannot make a criminal referral seeking a probe of state officers or employees unless two of the three Democratic gubernatorial appointees votes in favor.

That occurred on Tuesday, facilitated by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who announced a new Democratic Party commissioner, Judge C. Randall Hinrichs, just ahead of the meeting. Hochul also promoted a prior Cuomo Republican appointee, Commissioner James Dering, to serve as the new acting JCOPE chair  a choice that dismayed Republican leadership and progressive Democrats.

Since both Hinrichs and Rob Cohen, another Democratic Party commissioner, voted in favor of the motion on Tuesday, the new referral appears to satisfy the requirements laid out in James' letter. Cohen, who was originally appointed to JCOPE by Cuomo, had in August abstained from voting on that month's referral motions.

Two Democratic Cuomo appointees to JCOPE recently resigned, leaving only a single gubernatorial Democrat on the commission until Hochul's appointment Tuesday morning.

The matter centers on a JCOPE meeting in January 2019 when the commission apparently voted in private against pursuing an investigation of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Cuomo who was accused of misusing government resources to work on the governor's re-election campaign. Cuomo called Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie after the meeting to complain about the way his appointees had voted on the matter. It is a misdemeanor to disclose information from JCOPE's closed-door executive sessions.

While the motion seeking an investigation into the leak was successful, JCOPE's commissioners did not pass a motion in the public session seeking a second, related investigation.

Lavine was also seeking an attorney general inquiry into the state inspector general's 2019 investigation of the JCOPE leak. That investigation has been criticized because the inspector general's office declined to investigate key witnesses, including Cuomo and Heastie, before determining the leak allegations could not be substantiated.

It's not clear whether JCOPE commissioners ended up voting in Tuesday's executive session to refer that matter to James.

James' Monday letter declining the initial referral decried the state laws preventing her office from conducting such an investigation.

"I firmly believe that the laws governing these referrals are wholly inadequate and that the Legislature needs to change them," James wrote. "It further supports the need for a significant change to the system for regulating ethics in New York. Setting aside the fact that it is over two and a half years since the initial alleged incident, it is a travesty that the law does not permit approval of the referral without the consent of specific members of the (JCOPE) board. It truly is unacceptable as a matter of public policy."

Meanwhile, a motion to rescind JCOPE staff's approval of Cuomo's $5.1 million book deal last year went down by a 7-6 vote. All five of the current gubernatorial appointees opposed the motion, including the two just named by Hochul, as did Senate Democratic appointee Juanita Bing Newton.

Some JCOPE commissioners believe Cuomo's counsel misled the commission by promising government staff would not be used to produce "American Crisis," when in fact Cuomo's staff was deeply involved. If the motion had passed, it could have paved the way for JCOPE to seek to claw back millions in proceeds Cuomo earned for writing the COVID-19 memoir.

Although Cuomo has acknowledged using government staff to help produce the book, some Cuomo-appointed commissioners said JCOPE needed to further investigate.

"Do we need to investigate whether those allegations are true or not, or are we allowed to vote on something before we investigate it?" said Commissioner William Fisher.

Dering, the new Hochul-appointed acting chair, was opposed to the revocation. "I'm in favor of transparency. I'm concerned about having this conversation in public," he said. "I think it belongs in executive session."

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Just ahead of the meeting, Hochul announced Dering as the new chair of JCOPE, along with the appointment of Hinrichs, under a pledge to transparency.

"These appointments are an important first step and reflect the urgency required for the ethics body to conduct its business," Hochul said in a statement. "We are committed to instituting bold reforms of JCOPE, which is why my administration will work with legislators, good government groups and the public to reform ethics oversight and ensure that the work of this ethics body is beyond reproach."

Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, chair of the chamber's Ethics Committee, slammed Dering's elevation: Rather than fulfilling her promise to prioritize transparency and integrity in government, Gov. Hochuls appointment only maintains the status quo, she said in a statement Tuesday evening. Biaggi said its time for the Legislature to take matters into our own hands and overhaul the states ethics and oversight system.

The presumptive Republican nominee for governor, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, also slammed the pick, noting that Dering was a former general counsel in Cuomo's state Department of Health and a staffer in Cuomo's attorney general office.

"Hochul continues empowering scandal and corruption," Zeldin said. " ... That appointee then (cast) the tie-breaking vote to cover for Andrew Cuomos $5.1 million self-congratulatory book deal."

On Tuesday evening, Hochul's press secretary said Dering's appointment as chair would only be temporary, which Hochul had not mentioned in the original press release announcing it.

We appreciate that Commissioner Dering was willing to temporarily serve as acting chair on short notice despite his previous, longstanding plans to step down as commissioner and retire ahead of the next meeting," she said.

As of three weeks ago, however, Dering had not wanted to retire.

In an Aug. 28 letter to Hochul, Dering said he planned to resign effective Oct. 8 because of a legal issue related to collecting a state pension. But he also asked to be re-appointed to JCOPE by Hochul, according to Lavine, who described Dering's resignation letter to the TImes Union.

Concerning use of Cuomo's government staff for the book, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said that as was "permissible and consistent with ethical requirements'' people who "volunteered on this project did so on their own time. Every effort was made to ensure that no state resources were used in connection with this project."

Asked how Cuomo apparently learned of confidential JCOPE voting on Jan. 29, 2019, Azzopardi stated his belief that the leak "doesn't exist," but declined to elaborate.

Azzopardi, who has long declined to answer specific questions about the leak matter, has in the past stated that Cuomo and Heastie "have talked about ethics over the years," they "have not had any conversations that were inappropriate."
ALBANY  A federal judge in Utica issued an order Tuesday that will temporarily restrain employers from enforcing a state vaccine mandate on health care workers who have sought a religious exemption from receiving the shots.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd was handed down in a case filed against Gov. Kathy Hochul, health Commissioner Howard Zucker and state Attorney General Letitia James on behalf of 17 medical professionals.

The group of plaintiffs are a mix of mostly physicians and nurses "who allege that their sincere religious beliefs compel them to refuse the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available," Hurd's ruling states.

The temporary restraining order will take effect on Sept. 27, when the state's mandate requiring hospital and nursing home workers is set to begin. The judge's order will not affect health care workers who do not invoke a religious exemption as their reason for not getting vaccinated.

Hurd's order was issued after the head of the state Health Facilities Association on Monday urged the health department to pause its vaccine mandates for health care workers because nursing homes and other assisted-living facilities  and also hospitals  are facing critical staffing shortages that are expected to worsen when potentially thousands of employees will face termination next month if they are not vaccinated.

Stephen B. Hanse, president of the Health Facilities Association that represents more than 450 nursing and assisted-living facilities, said that a survey found between 86 and 99 percent of the facilities are facing staffing shortages, which he characterized as "alarming."

Of those faced with staffing shortages, nearly 60 percent said the workforce crisis is "negatively impacting their ability to admit new residents from hospitals and the community."

Hanse urged Zucker to amend the vaccination policy "for health care workers to authorize, at least on a temporary basis, unvaccinated health care workers the ability to continue to work so long as they are subjected to regular COVID-19 testing and utilize all necessary (personal protective equipment)."

Jill Montag, a spokeswoman for Zucker, said the department is "aware of potential staffing concerns."

"However, our overriding focus is the protection of patients and residents in our health care settings," Montag said. "This is why everyone who is medically able should be vaccinated, especially health care workers who interact and care for our most vulnerable at-risk New Yorkers. The department will listen to any and all input that helps to advance the goal of protecting patients, visitors, the public and health care workers."

Before he resigned last month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had directed that all health care workers in New York, including staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities, would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 27.

Initially, Cuomo had required workers at state-run hospitals to be vaccinated. On Aug. 16, when he announced the expanded mandate, the governor said 25 percent of the state's approximately 450,000 hospital workers were not vaccinated. The number of health care workers not fully vaccinated also included about 26 percent of the state's 30,000 adult care facility workers, and more than 30 percent of the state's approximately145,500 nursing home workers.

On Tuesday, roughly 20 percent of the state's 450,000 hospital workers were listed as unvaccinated, according to the state health department.

For some workers, the decision is based on their own health care concerns.

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Interviewed last week by the Times Union, a travel nurse who has worked in intensive care units throughout the pandemic said he is declining to be vaccinated because his multiple sclerosis is in remission and he fears that a sudden immune response triggered by one of the vaccines could risk kickstarting his symptoms again.

"Im not anti-vaccine, Im anti-COVID vaccine," he said. "Im essentially going to be losing my job ... because they are not allowing for any religious exemptions or medical exemptions."

The nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said his girlfriend, who is also a nurse, has similar concerns about receiving the coronavirus vaccine because she has had cancer. Many physicians, he said, are reluctant to issue medical exemptions for patients because they are concerned about scrutiny of their decisions by medical oversight boards.

"I worry that the vaccines cause a profound immune response and Im nervous that potentially it could spark a storm, and all you need to do is light a match and all of the sudden my MS is active," he said. "I talked to physicians  (and) their answer is to say '(There's) no evidence its not safe.'"

Still, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society said that "research is underway to learn more about the specific experience of people with MS receiving a COVID-19 vaccination ... and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in those with MS are limited." The group said their guidance for people with MS to receive the vaccine is "based on clinical trials of the general population and studies of other vaccines administered to people with MS."

At some hospitals, as many as a third of workers have declined to be vaccinated, according to people familiar with the matter.

Theodore Kastner, commissioner of the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, told a Senate panel Tuesday morning that there are many workers in their facilities who have also declined to be vaccinated.

"It's every reason that you could imagine. ... Its a concern," Kastner said.
ALBANY  The vice president at one of New York's largest labor unions told a state Senate committee on Tuesday that years of staffing and budget cuts at the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities have created critical shortfalls in the ability to provide quality and accessible services for at-risk New Yorkers.

Randi DiAntonio, vice president of the Public Employees Federation (PEF), said the situation has been exacerbated by declining staffing levels during the coronavirus pandemic  and also by years of handing over services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to private providers in an effort to cut costs.

"The state of New York has embarked on a long-term effort to reduce funding and staffing at all of its agencies. OPWDD has seen some of the most dramatic reductions in staffing overtime," DiAntonio said in a written statement provided to the panel, noting that the agency had its workforce cut by 16 percent  nearly 3,800 employees  between 2011, when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo began his first term, and 2020.

"This reduction in staff is directly attributable to the imposition of 'bare bones' budgeting at all of the state agencies that has been in place for years so the state can remain under the arbitrary 2 percent annual state spending cap," she added. "This budgeting approach left the state ill-prepared to address the (COVID-19) pandemic and has hampered the ability of the state to meet its ethical obligations to maintain the continuity of quality and accessible services for many at-risk New Yorkers, including individuals with developmental disabilities."

DiAntonio, under questioning from the panel, said nurses and other health care professionals "are leaving in droves," and morale and burnout in the industry are at an all-time low.

"You have a workforce issue that was created, but that means it also can be solved," she told the panel, noting that health care workers are spread so thin they are bouncing from assignment to assignment at a time when the numbers of group homes and available beds for disabled individuals are plummeting.

"The number of people with disabilities is not shrinking ... and the needs for people with children with autism are exponentially larger," she said. "The waiting list for services has not gone down. ... We've closed almost 5,000 beds."

Tom McCalvanah, executive director of New York Disability Advocates, told the Senate committee that there is a roughly 25 percent vacancy rate for direct care workers, which is about 75 percent higher than before the pandemic.

"Historically, (direct support professionals') wages were significantly higher than minimum wage, but due to years of lack of investment and cuts to the system, wages are now at minimum wage or just above in all regions across the state," he told the Senate.

In a separate statement issued late Monday, PEF also responded to a Times Union story published Sunday in which parents and other caretakers for adults with conditions such as autism said they are being forced by OPWDD to choose between sending their high-needs children 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. OPWDD is targeting individuals in out-of-state schools and treatment centers.

Some lawmakers believe the policy is being driven by an apparent cost-saving measure implemented by Cuomo's administration to exploit a loophole in a 2014 law designed to give parents due-process rights in decisions about long-term care for their children when they reach age 21. Parents told the Times Union they are receiving the relocation letters days or weeks before the due-process rights would have been triggered.

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As a result, some of the parents say they've been left with no alternative to sending their disabled children to what they feel is a remote and prison-like facility that apparently houses individuals convicted of crimes such as child sexual abuse or those who have been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

On its website Monday, PEF blamed the situation on service cuts that took shape in the early stages of Cuomo's first term as governor.

"We have been sounding the alarm for more than a decade about the misguided facility closures and service cuts that have caused the current crisis," the statement reads. " ... Some individuals are exploited, some end up in hospital emergency rooms and others end up in jail. The upticks in homelessness and violence taking place everywhere from the New York City subways to the streets of Rochester are happening in part because people have serious treatment needs that are not being met."

State Sen. John W. Mannion, chair of the Committee on Disabilities that conducted Tuesday's hearing, joined four other legislative chairs recently in signing a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul questioning OPWDD's relocation policies and urging her administration to halt those placements "until administrative and legislative changes can be implemented to ensure that these parents, guardians and their children are not intentionally or unintentionally stripped of their due process rights."

The lawmakers also asked the governor to direct OPWDD to restore funding for those individuals receiving treatment at out-of-state centers and schools.

OPWDD Commissioner Theodore Kastner was not asked about the out-of-state clients when he testified Tuesday before the Senate panel.
An Idaho man who served more than four years in federal custody for his part in an armed 2014 standoff against federal agents near states rights figure Cliven Bundys Nevada ranch is suing the U.S. government and prosecutors for damages
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[September 14, 2021] 5 Best Vegan Cheese 2021, as determined by South Americans

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- abillion, the vegan review platform and social network has released its awards for 2021's 5 Best Vegan Cheese, as determined by members in South America, as well as the global list of The World's 10 Best Vegan Cheese. The global awards were determined by evaluating over 16,000 reviews of plant-based cheese products, posted between 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2021 by members from 70 countries. abillion's awards are based on consumer ratings, the number of reviews, and consumer sentiment scores. abillion publishes regional awards, for South America, as well as North America, Europe, the Middle East & Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific, alongside the global list. To see the 2021's winners of The World's 10 Best Vegan Cheese, and the other regions' winners, visit here . Here are the 5 Best Vegan Cheese, South America, 2021: Mozzarella (Felices Las Vacas, Argentina ) Queso Cremoso (Felices Las Vacas, Argentina ) Rawmesan (Natural Seed, Argentina ) Queso Untable Fantastique Finas Hierbas (Felices Las Vacas, Argentina ) Questana Queso Vegano Ahumado (Felices Las Vacas, Argentina ) Cheese products by a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.abillion.com/articles/felices-las-vacas-is-changing-the-world-one-product-at-a-time" rel="nofollow">Felices Las Vacas swept the regional awards. This Argentinian brand is fast becoming a household name among conscious consumers in Latin America. Its cheese, chocolates and ice cream all performed well in our awards last year.



Based on abillion's review data, consumer interest for vegan cheese products increased by 2.6 times between July 2020 and June 2021, compared to the previous year. Vikas Garg, Founder and CEO, abillion, says, "Vegan cheese has come a long way. Today's variations, according to reviews from the abillion community, are as good as the 'real thing'. Our annual ranking of the world's best vegan cheeses celebrates the range and diversity of this rapidly evolving and growing category. Based on our consumer data, we've noticed that consumers are willing to pay and pay a little more, for quality plant-based products. Consumers care about sustainability and are backing their values with their purchase decisions."

abillion dishes out several awards and publishes research papers throughout the year. For images of the products mentioned, here . About abillion At abillion, we're working to drive a global movement for plant-based food and earth-friendly products. abillion is a digital platform that assists people that want to make sustainable choices. Using the abillion app, members can discover vegan food and vegan and cruelty-free products. abillion, launched in 2018 by CEO Vikas Garg, is unique in harnessing social media for social good. Whenever a member chooses sustainably and shares a review, abillion donates $1 to a life-saving cause which the member can choose through the app. abillion has donated more than US $800,000 to life-saving causes around the world. abillion has over 300,000 members in over 140 countries and has contributed more than 900,000 reviews of vegan dishes and vegan and cruelty-free products. Consumer reviews, along with consumer insights, are shared with business owners, influencing nearly 100,000 brands worldwide to offer more sustainable options. Our mission is to guide a billion people to adopt a plant-based lifestyle in the next 10 years and to be a leading sponsor of animal welfare, rescue and advocacy work globally. Website: www.abillion.com SOURCE abillion

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[September 14, 2021] AAA20Group Aims to Hit the Jackpot at PACK EXPO / PHARMA EXPO Las Vegas, 2021 with Robotic Palletizer

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- AAA20Group, LLC, a leader in the subscription-based robotic solutions industry, announced today that they have completed plans for introducing their new RaaS (Robotics as a Service) at the PACK EXPO / PHARMA EXPO exhibit and symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2021 (Sep. 27-29) is a much-anticipated event that draws visitors from around the globe. AAA20 will be demonstrating the operational and economic benefits of their subscription-based collaborative robots in booth C-3437. The adoption of subscription-based automation solutions are growing rapidly in the packaging industry  most notably for end-of-line palletizing. This approach to capital equipment acquisition provides an exceptional countermeasure against skyrocketing labor costs while protecting against equipment obsolescence. According to Karen Mallouk, Co-Founder of Las Vegas, NV-based AAA20 Group, LLC, "By utilizing RaaS, growing companies can reallocate their workforce toward higher level activities, and as a result, conserve valuable working capital. Our program eliminates the need for any robotics expertise whatsoever, as our application experts will fully configure the robots and deliver a turn-key solution. The implemetation process is efficient, convenient, and offers the benefits of 100% financing. By leasing the labor-saving robots, funding may be allocated as an operating cost versus a capital expense."



AAA20 Group specializes in safe, efficient, collaborative robotic solutions that are perfectly matched to customer requirements. This unique approach offers a risk-free opportunity to gain the benefits of world-class automation robotics in their palletizing operation. No long-term commitments are required, there is no software or AI to develop, and no specialized robotics expertise is required by the customer. Mallouk adds: "PACK EXPO provides an excellent opportunity to meet our prospects face-to-face, and discuss their unique palletizing requirements. Once we demonstrate the many business advantages with our solution, the RaaS return on investment becomes very clear." About AAA20 Group, LLC

AAA20 Group, LLC is a privately held company headquartered in Las Vegas, NV. The company provides collaborative robotic equipment solutions used in the flexible packaging industry. The robots offered by AAA20 for lease are manufactured by proven automation industry leaders. More about AAA20 Group collaborative palletizers: https://youtu.be/BP4l7Bc5TVc

Contact:

Karen Mallouk, Co-Founder

10241 Kirkwood Gaps Ave.

Las Vegas, NV 89135 USA

(847) 220-6733

https://collaborativepalletizer.com

sales@collaborativepalletizer.com Media:

Robert Goldberg

robert@startupfactory.biz View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aaa20group-aims-to-hit-the-jackpot-at-pack-expo--pharma-expo-las-vegas-2021-with-robotic-palletizer-301375728.html SOURCE AAA20Group, LLC

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[September 14, 2021] Abrigo Partners with Green Check Verified for End-to-End Support for Cannabis Banking

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Abrigo, the leader of compliance, credit risk, and lending solutions for financial institutions, today announced its partnership with Green Check Verified (GCV), the top provider of cannabis banking solutions for financial institutions. The partnership will ensure community financial institutions have end-to-end support for banking cannabis-related businesses (CRBs) and maintaining compliance. Abrigo partners with Green Check Verified to expand cannabis banking support to financial institutions. Cannabis is now legal  either medically or recreationally  in most states today, although it remains illegal on a federal level, creating many complexities to providing financial services to this industry. In a recent Abrigo survey, 33% of respondents stated that their financial institution provides services to CRBs or is considering banking CRBs in the future. As this industry grows and changes, banks and credit unions must remain thorough in their due diligence and compliance measures. Abrigo's BAM+ software and advisory team have helped hundreds of financial institutions navigate the changing cannabis industry with ongoing CRB monitoring and detection. With this partnership, Abrigo can now assist institutions working directly with CRBs. The Green Check Verified (GCV) partnership allows Abrigo customers to understand the scope of their cannabis banking business opportunities, manage account openings, automate the most mundane and error-prone aspects of cannabis compliance, and monitor their cannabis account performance with Green Check's CRB-facing software solution. "The cannabis industry is incredibly cmplex and ever-changing, but Abrigo has the people, resources, and expertise to help financial institutions navigate the complexity. Whether or not a financial institution plans on banking cannabis-related businesses, we aim to be the go-to resource for understanding how to approach CRB banking," said Wayne Roberts, CEO of Abrigo. "We're very excited to partner with Green Check Verified to extend our ability to assist financial institutions with end-to-end CRB banking support."



As Abrigo's trusted partner, GCV helps assess the size of the business opportunity for the financial institution and assist compliance teams with communicating the benefits and logistics of banking these CRBs with the institution's board and leadership team. GCV's expert team also provides a software solution that allows financial institutions to interface directly with CRBs, ensuring that no suspicious activity goes undetected. If an institution decides that it wants to bank cannabis, GCV's software allows the institution and CRBs to have a more direct relationship and for BSA professionals to conduct enhanced due diligence on these high-risk transactions. Green Check's software also offers advanced insights into the performance of an institution's CRB accounts and CRB portfolio. With Abrigo, financial institutions are able to receive both software and expert assistance throughout the entire process of banking CRBs. "We are excited to embark on this partnership with Abrigo, whose industry reputation and dedication to thoughtfully supporting financial institutions makes it a natural fit for Green Check," said Kevin Hart, CEO of Green Check Verified. "We've seen an unprecedented number of financial institutions pursue this line of business in 2021, and partnering with Abrigo allows us even broader expertise and resources as we help these institutions build best-in-class programs."

Abrigo and GCV are hosting a free webinar to demonstrate the software and partnership on September 27, 2021, at 2:00 pm ET. For more information about the partnership or the demo, click here. About Abrigo Abrigo enables U.S. financial institutions to support their communities through technology that fights financial crime, grows loans and deposits, and optimizes risk. Abrigo's platform centralizes the institution's data, creates a digital user experience, ensures compliance, and delivers efficiency for scale and profitable growth. Visit www.abrigo.com to learn more. Follow Abrigo on social media using @WeAreAbrigo. About Green Check Verified Green Check Verified (GCV) is a regulatory software and services company founded in 2017 by a team of technology, banking, and regulatory experts. GCV focuses on the intersection between community banking and the emerging legal cannabis industry and aims to provide the services and tools needed to connect these two industries in compliant and profitable ways. For more information about Green Check Verified, visit www.greencheckverified.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/abrigo-partners-with-green-check-verified-for-end-to-end-support-for-cannabis-banking-301376288.html SOURCE Abrigo

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[September 14, 2021] AVI Systems Announces Next-Gen Scholarship Program in Wisconsin

AVI Systems, one of the largest technology systems integrators in the United States, today announced the creation of the new AVI Systems Next-Gen Scholarship Program. The program supports students enrolled at technical and community colleges who are studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses. The company will formally announce the program at its AVI LIVE - Milwaukee customer event at American Family Field on Sept. 15. Waukesha County Technical College, Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, and Blackhawk Technical College in Janesville will receive the inaugural scholarship awards. Each technical college will receive $3,000 from AVI Systems, which will then be awarded to students in need.



"The average annual cost for a Wisconsin resident to attend technical college is $5,257 per year before grants and loans are applied," Michael Shiels, Dean, School of Applied Technologies at Waukesha County Technical College. "In some cases, the financial burden limits what a student can do each semester. STEM scholarship opportunities from companies like AVI Systems enable students to afford an education and move on to careers in technology. We're very grateful to AVI for creating a program focused on technology programs." Combined, the three technical colleges enroll more than 10,300 students each year - many of whom choose to study science, information technology and other STEM-focused courses. More than 90% of those who graduate with a technical college degree are employed within six months of graduation.

"AVI Systems strives to create better outcomes for our customers, but we also apply this goal in the communities we serve," said Jane Phillips, Area Vice President in Wisconsin for AVI Systems. "These STEM scholarships give students the support they need when they need it most - and help ensure that the workforce of the future is well prepared." Founded in 1974, AVI has grown into a top-three systems integrator in the United States and completes more the 3,500 projects for customers around the globe every year. As an employee-owned company, all 600-plus employees have a stake in each client's success. The company operates from 20 locations in the United States and serves as a regional business unit for the GPA. AVI holds itself to high standards and commits to using technology and systems to create human impact and deliver better outcomes. ABOUT AVI SYSTEMS

Organizations who value the power of visual communications trust AVI Systems to enable people and teams to communicate their critical ideas. AVI technologies accelerate decision making, improve human interactions and create immersive digital experiences. For more information about AVI Systems, visit www.avisystems.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005006/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Datto Announces Availability of Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure

Datto Holding Corp. ("Datto") (NYSE: MSP), the leading global provider of cloud-based software and security solutions purpose-built for delivery by Managed Service Providers (MSPs), today announced the commercial availability of Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure, a comprehensive Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) solution that protects MSPs and their clients' data in the public cloud in the event of malicious ransomware attacks, security breaches, and vendor outages. Datto Continuity for Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure is architected to leverage the secure Datto Cloud to address a critical and unmet need for MSPs--the added protection and recovery of data in the public cloud through multi-cloud replication. This comprehensive data protection, management, and streamlined recovery is delivered at a predictable cost and without the need for MSPs to piece together individual technologies or depend solely on Microsoft's data backup services. An increasing number of Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are opting to host their infrastructure and applications in the public cloud, with worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services forecasted to grow 23.1% in 2021 to total $332.3 billion, up from $270 billion in 2020, according to a forecast from Gartner, Inc. This has been a key growth area for MSPs as they support their clients and shift to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) models. Microsoft Azure has been proven to be the leading public cloud provider over other large providers for businesses in the beginning to middle-stages of public cloud adoption, such as MSPs. Azure provides reliable cloud services for building, deploying, and managing intelligent applications. While Microsoft is responsible for the security of the physical hosts, network, and data centers, its Shared Responsibility Model states that the customer is responsible to secure and protect all applications, data, and endpoints contained within Azure. In this model, MSPs carry the responsibility to ensure they have reliable business continuity solutions in place to protect their clients' workloads across on-premises servers and the public cloud. Industry Leading Security and Continuity Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure performs more frequent backups than other solutions and reduces the risk of data loss or prolonged system downtime due to ransomware and public cloud outages. Further, MSPs can now eliminate single-cloud risk by having the ability to restore data from either Microsoft Azure or the immutable, private Datto Cloud as secondary system protection. With this solution, MSPs can offer their clients the scalability and efficiency of the publi cloud while feeling confident their clients' cloud data is backed up and can be recovered within minutes - even if there is an Azure outage.



Designed for Growth Purpose-built to help MSPs scale and grow their business, Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure delivers a predictable pricing model. One easy-to-understand, flat-fee bill accounts for all associated BCDR costs - all achieved with zero egress costs for MSPs. This solution creates a durable margin opportunity, eliminates the need to estimate public cloud service costs or handle unexpected charges, and reduces the total cost of ownership for MSPs. In addition, Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure is cloud-native to enable MSP partners to quickly scale endpoints, while providing high levels of security and reliability.

Simple User Experience MSPs have direct access to Datto's award winning 24/7/365 support team and will no longer need to manage multiple vendors or integrate third-party technologies. The flexible turnkey solution requires minimal training and enables MSPs to manage both on-premises and cloud backup workloads from a single multi-tenant dashboard. "The ongoing cyberwar against ransomware underscores the importance of closing the gap in security for MSPs utilizing the public cloud," said Radhesh Menon, Chief Product Officer at Datto. "We architected Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure from the ground up with the key design goals of providing comprehensive protection and rapid recovery, and an extra layer of protection through multi-cloud replication to Datto's private cloud. In addition, Datto is able to deliver predictability on margin to bring confidence to MSPs that their time and investments in hybrid cloud protection are both secure and profitable." Key features and benefits of Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure include: Efficient deployment: Delivers fast and easy onboarding with a 3-click set-up process that enables a first backup within 15 minutes. Hybrid data protection: Provides data protection for both on-premises and Azure virtual machine (VM) workloads from a single portal. Multi-cloud replication: Eliminates single-cloud risk with secondary replication to the secure and reliable Datto Cloud for better Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and performs backups every hour for a one-hour Recovery Point Objective (RPO). End-to-end protection: Ensures consistent management and protection from endpoint to server to cloud by leveraging Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure in tandem with the Datto Unified Continuity product suite. Cloud Deletion Defense: Enables easy recovery of the entire dataset of backups deleted during an agent deletion or when deleting all cloud backups. Virtualization to the Datto Cloud: Allows MSPs to recover workloads within seconds in the event Azure has an outage. Automatic boot verification of backups: Validates that backups are running as expected with patented screenshot verification. "The driving force behind our clients' desire to migrate to the public cloud is two or threefold," said Rick Topping, VP of Operations at Ceeva, Inc, an MSP in Pennsylvania and beta customer of Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure. "Companies understand their responsibility to ensure data is available to employees at all times and realize it needs to be kept as safe and secure as possible in today's environment. Our clients sometimes find it difficult to host an on-premises system and receive the same features and functionality available with a cloud-based system. Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure provides those capabilities. As we help our clients on their journey to the cloud, this solution gives us the same data protection and business continuity that we're used to with Datto SIRIS and provides the reliability and trust known with Datto." Datto Continuity for Microsoft Azure is available immediately in the United States, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand through an Early Access Program that includes introductory pricing until December. Global availability with additional integrations and feature enhancements is expected by the end of 2021. For more information on the Early Access Program, join us for a webinar series beginning Wednesday, September 15. Register here. About Datto As the world's leading provider of cloud-based software and security solutions purpose-built for delivery by Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Datto believes there is no limit to what small and medium businesses (SMBs) can achieve with the right technology. Datto's proven Unified Continuity, Networking, and Business Management solutions drive cyber resilience, efficiency, and growth for MSPs. Delivered via an integrated platform, Datto's solutions help its global ecosystem of MSP partners serve over one million businesses around the world. From proactive dynamic detection and prevention to fast, flexible recovery from cyber incidents, Datto's solutions defend against costly downtime and data loss in servers, virtual machines, cloud applications, or anywhere data resides. Since its founding in 2007, Datto has won numerous awards for its product excellence, superior technical support, rapid growth, and for fostering an outstanding workplace. With headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut, Datto has global offices in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. MSP-C View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005104/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Donaldson Company Recognized for Support of Service Members, Veterans and Military Families

Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE:DCI), a leading worldwide manufacturer of innovative filtration products and solutions, has been named a Yellow Ribbon Company by the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs' Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program for the company's support of service members, veterans and military families. Yellow Ribbon Company-designated organizations partner with the State of Minnesota Director of Military Outreach to develop a sustainable, formal action plan demonstrating a long-term commitment to service members, veterans and their families. The action plan includes specific recruiting and human resources policies, training and development efforts; community and employee outreach; and support initiatives. On Monday, September 13, 2021, an outdoor employee event at the company's Bloomington, Minnesota, headquarters celebrated the Yellow Ribbon Company designation, with City of Bloomington, Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, Bloomington Armory and National Guard representatives in attendance. Brgadier General Sandra Best, Battalion Officer in Charge and Bloomington Armory OIC with the Minnesota National Guard, presented a proclamation signed by Governor Tim Walz.



"It is a great honor for Donaldson to be recognized as a Yellow Ribbon Company, and I thank the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs for their guidance and support in creating our action plan, which ultimately enabled this designation," said Tod Carpenter, Donaldson Company Chairman, President and CEO. "Thanks also to our Veterans Group and the generations of Donaldson employees who help ensure our workplace and outreach efforts offer a welcoming and inclusive environment for veterans, service members and military families, as well as an appreciation for their many sacrifices and service - we owe them a debt of gratitude." About Donaldson Company, Inc.

Founded in 1915, Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) is a global leader in technology-led filtration products and solutions, serving a broad range of industries and advanced markets. Our diverse, skilled employees at more than 140 locations on six continents partner with customers-from small business owners to the world's biggest OEM brands-to solve complex filtration challenges. Discover how Donaldson is Advancing Filtration for a Cleaner World at www.Donaldson.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005836/en/

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[September 14, 2021] The Eclipse Foundation Announces the Results of the 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Eclipse Foundation, one of the worlds largest open source software foundations, today announced the results of the industrys most prominent survey for technical insights into enterprise Java, the 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey. The results definitively showcase significantly increased growth in the use of Jakarta EE 9 and interest in cloud native Java overall. The 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey Report is available to download on the Jakarta EE website.

Since the big bang move to the jakarta namespace with Jakarta EE 9, enterprise Java has been experiencing something of a renaissance, said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. With the plan for Jakarta EE 10 already formalized and the continued growth in the use of Jakarta EE 9, the cloud native future of open source enterprise Java has never looked brighter. The objective of this survey, now in its fourth year, is to help Java ecosystem stakeholders better understand the requirements, priorities, and perceptions of enterprise developer communities. The survey also sought to help the Java ecosystem gain a better understanding of how the cloud native world for enterprise Java is unfolding and what that means for their respective strategies and businesses. Conducted from April 6 to May 31, 2021, 940 individuals participated in the survey. Java EE 8, Jakarta EE 8 and Jakarta EE 9 have now seen 75% adoption among respondents. Additional key findings from this years survey include: Spring/Spring Boot continues to be the leading framework for building cloud native applications (60%), with its share increasing 16% (60% in 2021 up from 44% in 2020).

Jakarta EE is emerging as the second place cloud native framework with 47% usage in this years survey.

MicroProfile adoption has increased to 34% (vs 29% in 2020).

The popularity of microservices holds steady with a nominal increase, with the usage of the microservices architecture for implementing Java systems in the cloud increasing since last year (43% in 2021 vs 39% in 2020).

Over 48% of respondents have either already migrated to Jakarta EE or plan to within the next 6-24 months.

As part of the report on the surveys findings, the Eclipse Foundation has also incorporated specific recommendations for both enterprises and technology vendors and their respective enterprise Java strategies. These include recommendations related to technology migration, application portability, balancing traditional enterprise applications with cloud native applications and more. The Jakarta EE community welcomes contributions and participation by all interested parties. As the Jakarta EE Working Group continues to build towards the release of Jakarta EE 10, including new cloud native functionality, this is the ideal time to join the community and have your voice heard. To learn more and to participate, all are welcome to connect with the global community at the following page: https://jakarta.ee/connect/ Companies that value enterprise Java and would like to help shape its future can jin the Jakarta EE Working Group. Membership in the working group allows enterprises and other organizations to support the sustainability of the community, participate in marketing programs, and engage directly with the community. Learn more about the benefits and advantages of membership here: https://jakarta.ee/membership/ .



For those organizations interested in learning more about how Jakarta EE can benefit them, the Jakarta EE Working Group has published a white paper on the features and capabilities of Jakarta EE that can help companies accelerate time-to-market for commercial offerings, increase the efficiency of software development, and transition to a cloud native future. Download it here: https://outreach.jakartaee.org/white-paper-java-applications . Quotes from Jakarta EE Working Group Member Organizations

IBM

The 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey shows a healthy improvement in developer awareness and use of Jakarta EE across the board and is another indicator that it is the right platform for cloud-native Java innovation, said Melissa Modjeski, IBM VP of App Platform and Integration. As a runtime certified as both Jakarta EE and MicroProfile compatible, Open Liberty delivers on the promise of Cloud Native Java and is an essential element of accelerating open hybrid cloud adoption. Jelastic

The 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey results prove that cloud adoption keeps growing, as well as more and more enterprise projects decide to develop and run cloud-native applications, said Tetiana Fydorenchyk, Jelastic VP of Marketing. Also, considering that Jelastic was the first cloud platform with Jakarta EE 9 support, its satisfying to see that we helped to spread this version and make it available for those interested in the latest and upcoming improvements. Based on the research, faster pace of innovation is among the top priorities for Jakarta EE community, thats why Jelastic PaaS will continue providing cutting-edge DevOps tools and most recent releases to simplify and accelerate adoption. Oracle

We are very happy to see that the Jarkata EE developer survey findings demonstrate continued success and growth of the Jakarta EE platform, said Tom Snyder, VP of Engineering, Enterprise Cloud Native Products at Oracle. We are quite pleased to see the most requested feature is support for Kubernetes. We hope to bring the experience and expertise we've gained delivering and supporting Oracle Verrazzano Enterprise Container Platform to benefit technology and feature development of Jakarta EE Platform and MicroProfile. With Verrazzano, users can easily model, manage, secure, and maintain their enterprise applications developed in Jakarta EE using a wide range of platforms and frameworks running on premise, or in the cloud. Payara

The 2021 Jakarta EE Developer Survey has produced a useful and encouraging set of results. They affirm both the Eclipse Foundation and Payaras direction of innovation and provide valuable information on the priorities of our community, said Steve Millidge, CEO & Founder, Payara Services. I was excited to see proof of wider mainstream adoption of Jakarta EE 8 and Jakarta EE 9, confirming community satisfaction ahead of the further innovations of Jakarta EE 10. It was also fantastic to see that Jakarta EE emerged as the second-place cloud native framework, as our own business priorities are closely aligned with Jakarta EEs aim of providing strong business application development for the cloud. For example, we have helped customer Rakuten Card move to 100% cloud native with Jakarta EE and our new Payara Cloud project is designed specifically to provide an automated alternative to other cloud native application servers. Were looking forward to sharing the results of the survey with our community and wider team and using it to shape Payaras future plans. Tomitribe

The 2021 Jakarta EE Developer survey highlights the continuing adoption of Jakarta EE by enterprises for cloud-native Java applications. The latest Jakarta EE 9.1 release is the most diverse release to date, with more vendors providing compatible implementations and support than ever before, said Jonathan Gallimore, Tomitribe Director of Support. Apache TomEE implements Jakarta EE 9.1 WebProfile to deliver a lightweight, easy-to-use, cloud-native Java solution. We are excited to help drive Apache TomEE forward as Jakarta EE continues to evolve to meet the needs of the community and its users. About the Eclipse Foundation The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. The Foundation is home to the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 400 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, distributed ledger technologies, open processor designs, and many others. The Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 330 members, including industry leaders who value open source as a key enabler for their business strategies. To learn more, follow us on Twitter @EclipseFdn , LinkedIn or visit eclipse.org . Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Media contacts: Schwartz Public Relations for the Eclipse Foundation, AISBL

Julia Rauch / Sophie Dechansreiter / Tobias Wei

Sendlinger Strae 42A

80331 Munich

EclipseFoundation@schwartzpr.de

+49 (89) 211 871  43 / -35 / -70 Nichols Communications for the Eclipse Foundation, AISBL

Jay Nichols

jay@nicholscomm.com

+1 408-772-1551



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[September 14, 2021] Emerging Markets Report: Making Inroads

An Emerging Markets Sponsored Commentary

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Our publication is called The Emerging Markets Report, and quite literally we are looking at and for ascendant stories in rapidly expanding new markets. Our goal is to identify what we see as public company plays with what we see as potentially Better Mousetrap, market disruptive tech products or technology. It is important to note that for us progress isnt always or even usually a smoking hot annual report full of profits. For companies at this market strata we are looking for acceptance, seminal deals, expansion. Along those lines, its time to revisit Logiq, Inc. (NEO: LGIQ) (OTCQX: LGIQ), a global provider of award-winning e-commerce and fintech solutions which by the way, we have discovered insider buying, as reported here. First off, its clear to any regular reader of The Emerging Markets Report that we love fintech. We believe its an essential part of the global economy with nearly ubiquitous applications, which Logiq is in such in this space. As such, a recent press release announcing penetration into an essential service in the worlds 15th largest economy is worth noting. Lets dive a little deeper. In the press release, the Company reports that it has launched a new exclusive mobile payment option for driver license psychological testing in Indonesia. The tests are mandatory for millions of Indonesians looking to obtain or renew their license. Let those numbers sink in for a moment. Logiq adds that the launch follows its announcement at the end of June that it partnered with Mentalku, the exclusive government-licensed provider of these tests that are mandated by regulatory statute. Mentalku administered about 17 million such tests last year. As part of an initial pilot program for the new mobile payment services, Logiq has integrated its mobile payment solution, AtozPay, into the Mentalku mobile app. The Mentalku app also offers telemedicine services, digital testing and virtual counselling that can be paid for using the newly integrated AtozPay eWallet payment gateway.



Incidentally, Mentalkus principals are the same people whove partnered with Logiq to rollout the microlending platform for BPJSTK, the countrys social security program and benefit sponsor. This is in fact, a government organization, which provides the highest barrier to entry. BPJSTK has 50 million members and 600,000 small businesses on its platform so its a major coup for Logiq. In a world of choices that Indonesias chosen provider selected Logiq as its payment processor for what seems like an enormous, mandated consumer offering.

Logiq is cutting these deals in international markets and Indonesia provides not just the real value of revenue but a case study for the sales team to use in similar markets. For more information, visit https://logiq.com/ About The Emerging Markets Report: The Emerging Markets Report is owned and operated by Emerging Markets Consulting (EMC), a syndicate of investor relations consultants representing years of experience. Our network consists of stockbrokers, investment bankers, fund managers, and institutions that actively seek opportunities in the micro and small-cap equity markets. For more informative reports such as this, please sign up at http://www.emergingmarketsllc.com/newsletter.php Must Read OTC Markets/SEC policy on stock promotion and investor protection https://www.otcmarkets.com/learn/policy-on-stock-promotion

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https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-79

https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bulletins/ia_promotions.html Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 requires that any person that uses the mails to publish, give publicity to, or circulate any publication or communication that describes a security in return for consideration received or to be received directly or indirectly from an issuer, underwriter, or dealer, must fully disclose the type of consideration (i.e. cash, free trading stock, restricted stock, stock options, stock warrants) and the specific amount of the consideration. In connection therewith, EMC has received the following compensation and/or has an agreement to receive in the future certain compensation, as described below. We may purchase Securities of the Profiled Company prior to their securities becoming publicly traded, which we may later sell publicly before, during or after our dissemination of the Information, and make profits therefrom. EMC does not verify or endorse any claims for any of its client companies. EMC has been paid $475,000 by Logiq, Inc. for various marketing services including this report. EMC does not independently verify any of the content linked-to from this editorial. http://emergingmarketsllc.com/disclaimer.php Emerging Markets Consulting, LLC

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[September 14, 2021] General Mills' Box Tops for Education Surprises Local Teachers to Kick Off the New School Year

For teachers, gearing up for the school year consists of a lot more than just creating lesson plans, bulletin boards and seating charts. According to the National Education Association, the average teacher spends upwards of $500 of their own money on school supplies due to lack of adequate funding, with higher expenses on average in high-poverty schools. General Mills' Box (News - Alert) Tops for Education program is partnering with retailers this year to offer new ways for guests to earn cash for schools in need so that teachers don't have to fill this gap alone. Now through September 30th, shoppers can earn an additional 50 Bonus Box Tops, the equivalent of five dollars, when they purchase five participating items at Target (News - Alert) and scan their receipt within 14 days of purchase. Box Tops for Education has also joined a back-to-school celebration barbeque in Brooklyn Park hosted by Black Men Teach, a Minnesota-based organization committed to recruiting, preparing, placing, and retaining Black male teachers in Twin (News - Alert) Cities metro elementary schools. Guests of honor at the event on September 11th included Thetis White, Raphael Barnett and Sidney McClain, three fellows with Black Men Teach and teachers at Monroe Elementary in Brooklyn Park. Earlier this year, they were each awarded $50,000 in loan forgiveness as part of Box Tops for Education's four-year commitment of $500,000 to the organization. This commitment supports Box Top's journey to advance equity in education. As another part of its commitment to racial equity in the classroom, Box Tops has enhanced its app to allow participants to easily find and support schools in need with products they already purchase at participating retailers like Target. "We understand that addressing systemic racism isn't something that we can do alone - but as a platform with a 25-year, and nearly $1 Billion history of helping schools, we believe there is always more we can be doing, especially in our own community," says Lilly Moeding, Box Tops for Education's Brand Experience Manager. "Working with local organizations like Black Men Teach has allowed us to begin our journeytoward making an impact in our own backyard of Minneapolis."



At the back-to-school event, Box Tops for Education also donated $500 Target gift cards to Mr. White, Mr. Barnett and Mr. McClain to get school and classroom supplies for the upcoming year, as well as $25 Target gift cards to the parents of each of their students. This event is driven by Box Tops' goal of enhancing equity in education - starting in the Minneapolis community. "We are so grateful to Box Tops for Education and Black Men Teach for this amazing event and support," said Sidney McClain, one of the three Black Men Teach fellows. "Knowing we can start this school year off without financial stress is such a relief. From being able to afford classroom supplies for our students to the incredible loan forgiveness - it's life-changing and makes such an impact on not only our lives, but also our community at large."

To support Schools in Need, download the Box Tops for Education app available in the iTunes App Store and Google Play and find a school in need through the app's new feature. Earn 50 Bonus Box Tops when you purchase five participating items at Target and scan your receipt within 14 days of purchase.* One simple scan of your grocery receipt could help advance equity in education for the schools that need it the most. For more information, or to see a full list of participating products, visit www.BTFE.com. * Purchase by 09/30/21. Limit 5 claims per receipt. This offer excludes Yoplait single serve cups, Nestle, Paper Mate and Lysol products. Offer valid while supplies last. About Box Tops for Education America's K-8 schools have earned more than $940 million through the Box Tops for Education program since it was founded by General Mills in 1996. More than 80,000 schools use that cash to purchase items such as computers, library books, art supplies, playground equipment and more. To learn more visit www.BTFE.com. About General Mills General Mills makes food the world loves. The company is guided by its Accelerate strategy to drive shareholder value by boldly building its brands, relentlessly innovating, unleashing its scale and being a force for good. Its portfolio of beloved brands includes household names such as Cheerios, Nature Valley, Blue Buffalo, Haagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Annie's, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2021 net sales of U.S. $18.1 billion. In addition, the company's share of non-consolidated joint venture net sales totaled U.S. $1.1 billion. About Black Men Teach Black Men Teach is a nonprofit organization located in Minneapolis with a mission to recruit, prepare, place and retain Black male teachers in elementary schools. Working directly with eight partner schools, Black Men Teach wants all students to have the opportunity to attend schools staffed with racially and culturally diverse teachers and leaders, which creates an environment that affirms students for who they are. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005195/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Grove Point Financial Deepens Commitment to Growth With Addition of Tyson Lozano as New VP of Business Development

Grove Point Financial, a boutique independent wealth management partner, today announced the appointment of Tyson Lozano as Vice President of Business Development. Drawing on his highly accomplished career, Lozano brings with him a proven track record of asset and revenue growth. In this role, he will be responsible for all aspects of recruiting to the company's independent broker-dealer and registered investment adviser, including networking, sourcing leads, and managing prospective firms. Lozano will report to Rob Engle, who joined Grove Point Financial as Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development earlier this year. "We are excited to welcome someone with such deep industry knowledge to the team," said Engle. "Tyson will be a valuable asset in recruiting quality professionals to our platform as well as managing all aspects of he sales funnel, making him an excellent addition to our expanding team dedicated to growth."



Prior to joining Grove Point Financial, Lozano served as Vice President of Advisor Recruiting at FSC Securities. He also held senior-level recruiting roles with Raymond James and LPL Financial where he earned multiple distinguished awards and rankings. Throughout his career he consulted and recruited nearly 200 advisors, helping them take the next step towards their vision of a successful independent practice. "I am confident that Grove Point Financial is the next logical step in my career and look forward to bringing my skillset to the table," said Lozano. "My people-oriented approach and deep understanding of the business, combined with Rob's hands-on strategy and immeasurable experience, will add firepower to Grove Point Financial's continued expansion."

Grove Point Financial recently onboarded McSweeney Investments in Aliso Viejo, California, Mercantile Private Wealth Management in Worcester, Massachusetts, and JW Wealth Management in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. The firms' financial professionals collectively oversee $230 million in assets. Lozano graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds his Series SIE, 6, 7, and 63 registrations. About Grove Point Financial From its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, Grove Point Financial, LLC (Grove Point Financial) provides investment and wealth management services through more than 500 financial professionals across the U.S. Grove Point Financial is guided by a mission of delivering service excellence based on relationships, where all financial professionals thrive in an intimate and accessible culture that values partnership above all else. Securities offered through Grove Point Investments, LLC (GPI), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Grove Point Advisors, LLC (GPA). GPI and GPA are subsidiaries of Grove Point Financial, which is a subsidiary of Kestra Holdings. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005278/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Hyundai Mobis to participate in Motor Bella for the first time to showcase its technology for autonomous and electric vehicle

- Attending the first ever Motor Bella, held in Pontiac, Michigan, near Detroit to demonstrate new ADAS technology and much more - Participating for the first time in a motor show in North America, promoting new opportunities for US automakers, in addition to having participated in IAA Mobility in Europe - Presenting its most advanced electrification components including 3-in-1 system, battery system assembly, and integrated charging control unit for targeting North American EV market. PLYMOUTH, Mich., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Mobis (KRX: 012330) is attending the first ever Motor Bella held in Pontiac near Detroit, the heart of North America's automotive industry. The company announced on the 14th that its goal is to promote new technology and win more contracts from global automakers in North America. This is the first time Hyundai Mobis has participated in a motor show held in the US although they have consistently attended CES. In addition to participation in IAA Mobility held earlier this month in Germany, the company has expanded its scope to North America, and will display new technology while also increasing touchpoints with clients in order to win contracts from global automakers. Motor Bella is held at Pontiac's M1 Concourse near Detroit from the 21st to 26th, while the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), one of the world's biggest motor shows, takes a pause for 2021. Detroit is symbolic of the US automotive industry as it is home to the headquarters and strategic bases of the leading US global automakers, known as the Big 3. The area is a focal point for North American global automakers expanding new mobility offerings. During the show, Mobis will be holding 'obis Tech Days' presented by Key Account Executive(KAE) from Mobis North America (MNA) and Advanced Engineering representatives from Mobis Technical Center America (MTCA). Clients will be invited to experience its latest autonomous driving, electrification, and infotainment technologies.



At Motor Bella, Hyundai Mobis will emphasize its new Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technology on the GV80, which is receiving good reviews from US consumers. The company will also show off other new autonomous driving technologies specialized for North American customers, such as Driver Status Monitoring (DSM), Driver Status Warning (DSW), and the Head-Up Display(HUD) developed at Tech Center. In line with the great shift to EV with large-scale investments by the government in North America, Hyundai Mobis is also exhibiting its most advanced electrification components like 3-in-1 system(integrating motor, inverter and reducer in a single housing), Battery System Assembly (BSA), and Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU). Since 2009, the company has accumulated more than 12 years of electrification system know-how and produced about 1.9 million electrified vehicle systems.

In addition, Hyundai Mobis will install kiosks for its clients and visitors in order to introduce a total 24 technologies, such as infotainment, electrification, chassis, and lamp. The company plans to offer a full portfolio of its diverse products ranging from ADAS to electrified automotive components. Hyundai Mobis has been striving to increase its touchpoints with global clients and win more contracts since the outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the global logistics disturbance and semiconductor shortage problems, the company is maintaining a strong supply system and is a trusted partner with clients. Mobis North America MNA operates 3 major facilities in the Greater Detroit area. Since 2009, the Detroit module assembly plant has been a strong supplier of chassis modules for Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango. The Plymouth Tech Center with 200 employees develops US customized products, such as autonomous driving, safety, lamp, and more. The Novi warehouse and logistics center, with over 80,000 square feet, is the perfect location for logistics, quality control, transportation and inventory for our clients. For Mobis Tech Days, please contact Scott McEwan (ScottMcEwan@mobis-usa.com) and Paul Jurewich (pjurewich@mobis-usa.com) About Hyundai Mobis Hyundai Mobis is the global no.7 global automotive supplier, with annual sales of nearly $30 billion USD. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Hyundai Mobis aims to become a lifelong technology partner for vehicles and people. The company has outstanding expertise in sensors, sensor fusion in ECUs and software development for safety control. The company's products also include various components for electrification, brakes, chassis and suspension, steering, airbags, lighting and automotive electronics. Hyundai Mobis currently employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and has its own production facilities in North America, Europe, China and India. In addition to its research and development headquarters in Korea, Mobis has 4 technology centers in Germany, China, India and the United States. For more information, please visit the website at http://en.mobis.co.kr/ Media Contact Jihyun Han (+82-2-2018-6026, jihyun.han@mobis.co.kr) Choon Kee Hwang (+82-2-2018-5519, ckhwang@mobis.co.kr) Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1624895/thumbnail_Image.jpg

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[September 14, 2021] ImagineX Consulting Earns Continued Recognition from Inc. 5000 and Consulting Magazine in 2021

ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inc. magazine recently revealed that ImagineX Consulting placed No. 2087 on its annual Inc. 5000 list for the second consecutive year. The Inc. 5000 is the most prestigious ranking of the nations fastest-growing private companies. Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this years list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020s unprecedented challenges. Among the list of recipients, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, these companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years. Firstly, we are a humble group that is incredibly proud to be a year after year Inc. 5000 company says Senior Account Director, Vincent Picerno. Our organization, like many, was challenged significantly as COVID became commonplace across the globe in 2020. Our ability to continue to show revenue growth through turbulent times is a testament to the dedication and hard work that we have displayed since our inception over five years ago. The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis weve lived through is just plain amazing. This kindof accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.



Additionally, ImagineX Consulting was featured as a Consulting Magazines Best Small Firms for the fourth consecutive year in 2021. On Thursday, the firm was recognized at the annual awards gala in Chicago as No. 13 on the competitive list. CEO Shaun Bank along with Co-Founders, Neel Sata, and Paul Passey, as well as Sr. Account Director, Vincent Picerno, were in attendance to receive the award. Bank reflected on the year with a poignant acceptance speech sharing, the one thing that got us through these difficult times was focusing on one core value: doing the right thing. Doing the right thing for our consultants, our customers and our company. The Consulting Magazine Best Small Firms to Work For award is a high honor to the growing firm because it is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the team. During the 2020 pandemic, we resolved to be transparent with our consultants about the state of our business, says Co-Founder and newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, Neel Sata. We were honest about the risks we were facing, and the difficult decisions we needed to make in order to navigate the uncertainty of these times. Making the list four years in a row further elevates our brand in the consulting industry as a firm that brings career whitespace to our high-caliber consultants to grow professionally.

ImagineX Consulting is a boutique cybersecurity consulting firm, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm helps customers of all sizes reduce their corporate risk by securing their Cloud infrastructure, their applications, and their data and by providing a holistic and actionable view to client executives of their attack surfaces, assets, and vulnerabilities. ImagineX provides the bespoke white glove service of a small consultancy but the capabilities, expertise, and experience to scale according to their clients needs. For more information about ImagineX Consulting, their strategic offerings, and locations, please reach out to Sales Enablement & Marketing Director, Brittany Patten at Brittany.Patten@imaginexconsulting.com .

ImagineX Consulting 1 Glenlake Pkwy NE UNIT 200 Atlanta, GA 30328 www.imaginexconsulting.com

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[September 14, 2021] Introducing The Steering: AUTONOMOUS CAR SHIPPING TURNED INTO REALITY

MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- When people think of the future of transportation, the thing that comes to mind is the stuff of sci-fi novels; autonomous cars, trucks and Hyperloops. A lot of the news coverage focuses on the hardware; the look and feel, the ins and outs of how this tech will look in real world life. But who is making it all work behind the scenes? Female-founded, Miami-based company, The Steering, took an important niche in the world of problem-solving devs, specializing in the new software required to operate, load and "drive" driverless vehicles, and in particular car shipping trucks. The idea is simple: with a few Uber-like clicks you can order your car to be transported from Texas to South Beach and a driverless truck will come by to pick it up and deliver it autonomously. Sound futuristic? We expect it to be a routine within a 5-10 year window. Until then, we have humans behind the wheel and, as we transition, the autonomous trucks are likely to be on auto-pilot and still driver-assisted for some time. While we move towards our autonomous future, the creative team from The Steering already makes the serviceof car shipping more accessible and affordable for the here and now, by managing a full car transportation cycle; connecting shippers and carriers so efficiently, it really does feel like the stepping stone before full automation.



Customers can order a car to be shipped on The Steering's app, choose from carriers, pay and sign for delivery all on the app. Patented Route Configuration Engine and Vehicle Load Calculator enable car hauling trucks to pick up available vehicles along the route while factoring in the characteristics of the specific trailer. What does this mean in reality? Fuller car trailer loads, best route selection based on vehicles destination, less idle & waiting time - an advanced complete vehicle shipping process and a significantly reduced environmental impact. Auto carriers can manage vehicle loads, conduct billing, and generate reports & documentation on the app. The Steering provides all the digital infrastructure that empowers a future of autonomous shipping trucks. The Steering enters the Seed Series round starting September 15, 2021. The team of founders and engineers travels to Pontiac, Michigan to showcase The Steering`s technology at the Automobili-D Tech Display at Motor Bella Auto Show on September 21-22, 2021.

TheSteering.com. Media Contact:

Daria Goncharenko

7864057686

318835@email4pr.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/introducing-the-steering-autonomous-car-shipping-turned-into-reality-301375769.html SOURCE The STEERING

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[September 14, 2021] Kenosha Area group buy program to help community transition to solar energy

SAINT PAUL, Minn., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- All Energy Solar and Blackbird Gen LLC, a new business created by two Carthage College students, announce a limited campaign to boost solar energy generation in Kenosha and eastern Wisconsin by offering a solar rebate incentive. Additionally, kilowatt (kW) capacity sold in the Kenosha Area Solar Group Buy will raise funds to help Blackbird Gen achieve its environmental objectives. Blackbird Gen was born from an Enactus project started by Zach Gibson and Sophie Shulman. Enactus is an international non-profit organization that empowers student entrepreneurs to build a better, more sustainable world by applying skills learned in the classroom to real-world problems. The Blackbird Gen mission is to reduce carbon emissions within the community by 2030 and to make solar more visible throughout Kenosha and eastern Wisconsin. "Blackbird Gen has the goal of giving residents and businesses an extra incentive to switch to greener energy. We saw this as an opportunity to educate the community on not only the environmental benefits of solar panels, but the ecnomic ones as well," said Zachary Gibson, Blackbird Gen LLC co-founder. "At first, we were drawn to All Energy Solar's Ambassador Referral Program, but we reached out to see if there was a way to make it work better for our objectives."



"We listened to what they had in mind and thought that a group purchase was a better option for their goals," said Ryan Buege, Director of Sales & Marketing for All Energy Solar. "We've completed successful group buys in other communities, and they can help many people switch to solar. When you have a motivated organization to partner with like Blackbird Gen, it's a win-win-win for everyone." As more people sign up, rebates for everyone in the group will grow. Incentives start at $0.02 per watt when at least 25 kW are purchased in the group, and increase to $0.10 per watt if the effort reaches 200 kW. For an average residence, that could save approximately $880 and more for a business.

The Kenosha Area Solar Group Buy program helps Blackbird Gen raise funds in several ways. First, each person who gets a solar evaluation for their property through the program will trigger a $25 donation to the startup. Next, every five kW of residential or commercial solar contracts signed as a result of the program will trigger a $300 donation. If the Group Buy reaches 200 kW between September 15, 2021, and November 30, 2021, participants in the program will lock in the maximum possible level of rebates for their solar installation. All Energy Solar will also donate $10,000 to Blackbird Gen to use towards organizational goals. The Kenosha Area Solar Group Buy is open to residents and businesses in Kenosha and surrounding Wisconsin communities. For more information visit https://blog.allenergysolar.com/blackbird About All Energy Solar

All Energy Solar provides a full-service solar energy integration experience for residential, commercial, agricultural, and government customers. Visit www.allenergysolar.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kenosha-area-group-buy-program-to-help-community-transition-to-solar-energy-301375986.html SOURCE All Energy Solar, Inc

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[September 14, 2021] Latticework Capital Management Announces Partnership with Healthcare Building Solutions

Latticework Capital Management, a Dallas-based private equity firm focused on partnering with entrepreneurially minded management teams to build leading healthcare companies, announced today that it has made a strategic investment in Healthcare Building Solutions ("HBS"). Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, HBS offers project management, transition planning and facility activation services, medical equipment planning and turn-key development services. With a project portfolio that includes new construction, remodeling, and renovation projects, HBS works with clients to improve operational outcomes while reducing administrative burden and cost. "Over its 15-year history, Jay Hornung and the entire team at HBS have built an exceptional business with a stellar reputation based on a consistent track record of providing unbiased, comprehensive solutions and top-tier customer service to their clients," said Latticework Managing Partner Kyle Bradford. "We are thrilled about our partnership and working collaboratively to expand their services, capabilities and geographies served in this next chapter of the company's growth." "We are seeking a partner to help capitalize on the growth opportunity in the market," said Jay Hornung, founder and CEO of HBS. "Our understanding of the entire project lifecycle, combined with Latticework Capital's healhcare focus, expansive industry network and growth mindset, will allow HBS to expand our services to the national healthcare marketplace."



HBS is actively seeking acquisition opportunities to help expand into new geographies and customers. Please reach out to Jay Hornung (jay.hornung@hbsinc.com) to connect further regarding a potential acquisition. About Healthcare Building Solutions:

Healthcare Building Solutions (HBS) collaborates with leading healthcare organizations and their partners to provide comprehensive strategies and solutions to ensure healthcare facilities projects, including new constructions, renovations, and additions, are completed on time and on budget. As former hospital administrators and facility managers, HBS team members have been involved in the development, design, equipment planning and procurement, management, and operation of facilities of all sizes. For more information visit www.hbsinc.com. About Latticework Capital Management: Headquartered in Dallas, Latticework is a growth oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Latticework leverages its over 70 combined years of healthcare experience, as well as its network of industry executives, to help companies grow and realize their full long-term value. The firm is currently investing out of LCM Healthcare Fund I, LP and HBS represents the fifth platform investment made from this investment partnership. For more information, please visit www.latticeworkcapital.com McGuireWoods LLP provided legal services to Latticework as part of the transaction. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005164/en/

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[September 14, 2021] The Lazaridis Institute and Tax Incentive Fintech Boast.AI Partner to Accelerate the Next Generation of Canada's Technology Companies

Faster access to capital, non-dilutive government tax incentives, expanded networking, expert mentors provided to help Canadian tech entrepreneurs grow their businesses VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 14, 2021 /CNW/ -- Boast.AI , North America's leading tax incentive fintech, today announced a partnership with the Lazaridis Institute's ScaleUp program, to help growth-stage technology companies scale more quickly. Access to capital, networks, and mentors are key factors enabling companies to grow faster and scale their operations. The Lazaridis Institute and Boast.AI have partnered to create this access for the next generation of Canada's tech entrepreneurs. Each year, the Lazaridis Institute brings together a cohort of Canada's most promising growth-stage technology companies in ScaleUp, a 12-month program built on a global network of expert mentors. Now, ScaleUp companies will gain access to Boast.AI's tax incentive technology to help identify, claim, and finance Scientific Research & Experimental Development ( SR&ED ) tax credits and government incentives. In addition, ScaleUp companies will benefit by connecting with Boast.AI's non-profit community, Traction, and its 110,000 membersthe world's largest community of innovators.



"Our mission is to help innovative companies succeed. Aligning with Lazaridis ScaleUp is a perfect fit to support Canada's next generation of global innovators," said Alex Popa, Boast.AI CEO and co-founder. "Each year the Canadian government provides billions in SR&ED credits to fund innovation. We fulfill our mission when we help companies collect eligible government tax incentives and use those funds to re-invest in innovation. We want to ensure no startup leaves money on the table, so they can grow faster." Boast.AI's software platform automates the process for claiming SR&ED tax credits in Canada. Itself a high-growth technology company, Boast uses AI to speed up and improve the accuracy of the tax credit process, making it easier for companies to maximize their claims and access eligible refunds on a quarterly basis instead of waiting a year or longer. Boast.AI has 1,000 customers across North America.

"This partnership will provide ScaleUp participants access to more SR&ED tax incentivesnon-dilutive fundingthrough Boast.AI's solutions," said Kim Morouney, managing director of the Lazaridis Institute and professor of Executive Development in the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Laurier. "Our program agenda and expert mentorship, combined with Boast.AI's expertise in tax incentives and their Traction community, bring terrific benefits to ScaleUp companies and alumni, helping them grow faster and operate more effectively." Established in 2016 as part of the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Laurier University, the Lazaridis Institute creates direct links between international research, scaleup and industry best practices, and hands-on curriculum to prepare the next generation of leaders to face tomorrow's technology and business challenges. Its flagship national ScaleUp program helps high-potential companies accelerate their business with customized programming, intensive workshops, and personalized mentoring through its global network of experts. Lazaridis ScaleUp companies have surpassed $1 billion in new capital raised since the launch of the program. About Boast.AI

Boast.AI is a fintech platform that is democratizing access to billions of dollars in R&D tax credits and innovation funding so companies can fuel their growth while preserving equity and avoiding red tape. With operations across the U.S. and Canada, more than 1,000 innovative companies have leveraged Boast.AI to get more money faster for less time and risk. Boast.AI About the Lazaridis Institute

Housed in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada, the Lazaridis Institute combines scholarly research, real-world market analysis and industry best practices to identify obstacles to global competitiveness and optimize the management of high-growth technology companies. Lazaridis ScaleUp is sponsored by Borden Ladner Gervais, Boast.AI, Deloitte, and Silicon Valley Bank. SOURCE Boast.AI

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[September 14, 2021] New Player is Shaping Up the Alt Protein Scene

MODI'IN, Israel, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Start-up Alfred's FoodTech, Ltd. introduces an innovative platform for producing plant-based whole cuts that mimic animal-derived products. The company developed a versatile platform for whole-cut texturization to produce plant-based meat alternatives that can answer the growing need for flavorful, sustainable, animal-free products. Alfred's joined the foodTech scene to solve one of the alt-protein movement's key challenges: creating whole cuts that mimic their animal-based counterparts in terms of texture, mouthfeel, and flavor tones. The technology focused company has successfully produced prototypes of deli meat, high-in-demand chicken nugget analogs. The challenges of whole-cut plant-based products Most meat alternative products contain a long list of ingredients and additives to achieve the same texture and aroma as meat and poultry. The main challenge is to minimalize ingredients and maintain high protein, while creating continuous, whole-muscle tissue cuts in a sustainable and cost-effective manner. Various food technologies already serve the rapidly growing alternative protein scene. Extrusion or the more recent 3D printing are used to bind ingredients into desired fibrous forms. Novel fermentation and scaffold technologies also are gaining ground. Alfred's technology is able to build continuous tissue like structures and can work with other existing technologies. "Plant-based whole-cut products that resemble meat are the 'Holy Grail' of the industry," enthuses Ronny Reinberg, CEO and co-founder of Alfred's. "Our tech uses only simple inredients, such as pea protein and canola oil. Yet we can still custom-design compositions for food companies using protein sources of their choice, including cell-based ingredients. "With Alfred's versatile technology, any food company can easily create alternative products that give consumers the exact experience of real meat and poultry."



Accelerating scale-up Alfred's technology can scale up outputs quickly, making it suitable for mass market-oriented food corporations, and can be integrated into existing food processing systems. The start-up plans to establish a low-volume production site to serve initial market demand. Rafi Shavit, Alfred's other co-founder and COO brings vast experience in business, engineering, and operation management from various industries, helping to ensure that the start-up can rapidly accelerate production.

"We were founded with the goal of bolstering food companies and innovators within the alternative protein landscape," contributes Shavit. "We see ourselves as the engine that enables companies achieve new organoleptic heights in plant-based protein alternatives. Our mission is to elevate the plant-based experience for the growing 'conscious eating' consumer market notably flexitarians aspiring to presume more plant-based lifestyles but still crave for that sensation of biting into a beefy steak." "Building a resilient, scalable, safe food system is the core of Alfred's strength," explains Shavit. "We can produce animal-free products that are affordable, safe, and kinder to our planet." Family legacy In 1935, Jacob and Dina Reinberg, together with their son Alfred and his siblings, emigrated from Germany to Argentina. The family settled near Buenos Aires, where they raised dairy cows for a living. As a young man, Alfred worked at the cold meat production factory "La Foresta" as a foreman. His son, Raul moved to Israel and worked for many years at T'nuva, the largest dairy company in Israel. Alfred's grandson, Ronny, is a biotechnology engineer. He continued the family tradition of meat production but re-imagined it to meet modern demands for meat-like products with the help of cutting-edge technology. A committed vegan for 10 years, he joined with mechanical engineer and lab to scale production expert Rafi Shavit to formulate a compelling alternative meat solution that can appeal to the palate. With capabilities to deliver up to a 30% protein content, it offers a viable and nutritious substitute for animal-sourced proteins. The company has built a strong team of scientists, engineers, and food professionals who bring many years of experience and know-how to execute the company's vision of helping to feed a growing world population. Alfred's formed earlier this year and already has raised US$1.3M in seed funding. The company is now entering its next A-round stage and is currently in dialogue with various leading international food companies, including meat producers and cultured meat companies. Alfred's will take part in the pitch slam at the annual Good Food Institute (GFI) conference on September 23, 2021, as one of the 12 finalists chosen to present their company and tech. For further information, please contact: Company contact

Alfred's FoodTech

Adam Franklin

Business Development Manager

Email: adam@alfreds.tech

Website: www.alfreds.tech

Twitter: @AlfredsFoodTech

Press Contact

NutriPR

Liat Simha

Tel: +972-9-9742893

E-mail: liat@nutripr.com

Website: www.nutripr.com

Twitter: @LiatSimha Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1625252/Alfred_FoodTech_Team.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-player-is-shaping-up-the-alt-protein-scene-301376173.html SOURCE Alfreds FoodTech

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[September 14, 2021] NextSmartShip Initiated "DTC Accelerator Talks" from its 2021 Global E-commerce/DTC Online Summit

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 10th, the 2021 Global E-commerce Online Summit was successfully launched with over 12000 viewers. The event was held by NextSmartShip, a leading GLOCAL e-commerce fulfillment service provider. It was also the first event of such a scale that aimed at a specific theme to discuss how global DTC brands should survive and thrive in a post-pandemic era. It also marked the debut of a special-designed program called "DTC Accelerate Talks" from NextSmartShip to empower global e-commerce brands with the necessary knowledge sets and resources. The event unveiled how the COVID-19 pandemic had been posing challenges for e-commerce merchants, especially global merchants of different sizes, and providing practical knowledge, insights, and solutions by top experts from renowned names in the industry, right from the beginning: sourcing, crowdfunding, marketing, fulfillment, payment, taxation, and more. "It's not just doom and gloom, as we believe that the pandemic will have a long-term positive impact for DTC brands, especially those selling globally. We see the glaring need for businesses to improve and adapt to the post-pandemic era," said John Stone, the Partner and Head of Marketing of NextSmartShip. "This online submit was quite different, not just in that we made it accessible for all, but also that we gathered so many DTC merchants into one community and discussed the mechanics for growing their e-commerce business into an extraordinary empire at a time like this." As a guest speaker of the summit, he also introduced all the basics of fulfillment with a highlight of the core resources of a fufillment company, also the standards for picking a fulfillment partner: A robust and intelligent IT infrastructure/SAAS system, a clear brand philosophy to prioritize clients' growth, and a solid and vast network of top courier partners.



"Working with NextSmartShip makes total sense to us. As e-commerce merchants looking to expand globally, they will encounter new issues like tax obligations. Through our partnership with NextSmartShip, we can ensure that those issues won't stop businesses from growing. The E-com summit was a great idea and gave e-commerce merchants the right information and guidance all in one place," said James Bright, partnership manager of Avalara. NextSmartShip is known for its trustworthy and affordable services at no MOQ requirement, professional and creative products/solutions, global fulfillment centers, an extensive and solid network of top courier partners, a powerful free SAAS, and a service team that always walks an extra mile for clients. The company is pushing the boundaries of both fulfillment and e-commerce industries even further with ongoing innovations. Just last month, the company released a Green Packaging Solution which provided all kinds of packing materials from inside out at different cost levels to help more brands shift to a green journey easier.

The summit also signified a debut of NextSmartShip's "DTC Accelerator Talks," an innovative project dedicatedly designed for global e-commerce brands, in the hope of bringing more in-depth valuable content to online merchants and help them see more and realize more potential of themselves, though the empowerment of a fulfillment brand who really prioritize their growth. To view the playback of the summit or get more information, please visit: https://www.nextsmartship.com/ecommerce-summit/. About NextSmartShip NextSmartShip is a tech-centered GLOCAL logistic powerhouse that strives to help DTC brands of different sizes to elevate their e-commerce business into the next big thing. With a short history from 2019, the company has been helping thousands of global DTC brands to gain exceptional growth via its professional, stable, and affordable fulfillment services. It now delivers over a million packages per year to international destinations. For media inquiries, please contact: daniel.camilo@nextsmartship.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nextsmartship-initiated-dtc-accelerator-talks-from-its-2021-global-e-commercedtc-online-summit-301376013.html SOURCE NextSmartShip

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[September 14, 2021] Nordgold and Columbus combine to launch innovative new financial software solution designed specifically for gold miners

LONDON,, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nord Gold plc ("Nordgold" or the "Company"), the internationally diversified one million ounce gold producer and global IT consultancy Columbus are pleased to announce the launch of "CN Planning Analytics for the Mining Industry", an innovative corporate finance software solution tailored specifically to meet the challenges of the resources industry, in particular the gold sector. CN Planning Analytics is a highly effective software-based tool which provides a user friendly interface that facilitates the transparent planning, measurement, monitoring and reporting of gold mining companies' financial and operating performance. The tool is now available on the IBM Global Solutions Directory. CN Planning Analytics was designed to address gold miners' common challenges when planning, measuring, monitoring and reporting their activities. In particular, CN Planning Analytics: aggregates all operating and financial data in one reliable and customisable place with all IFRS and Non-IFRS Metrics based on industry methodologies;

provides the ability to identify the primary source of any change in performance in a matter of seconds;

automatically generates a full reporting pack immediately after the period end;

compares company performance with industry best practices and peers; and

provides an effective and straightforward tool to manage capex projects' life cycle, which includes tracking approvals, budget vs actual analysis and post-investment reviews. The software includes preconfigured budgeting and management reporting models based on industry-specific KPIs. It is designed to work with different types of mining methods including open pit, underground and mixed as well as gold processing technologies (CIL, CIP, heap leaching and BIOX). CN Planning Analytics also allows data from mine planning IT platforms to be integrated into the gold mine's financial models, which, among other things, streamlines and facilitates long-term strategic financial planning. Dmitry Markeev, Director of Transformation and Business System Development of Nordgold, said: "Having worked together with Columbus to successfully develop a powerful and convenient software-based management tool to support the financial management of our own operations, we recognized we had built a system that could benefit other companies in the sector as well, presenting an interesting commercial opportunity for both parties. What sets CN Planning Analytics apart is its unique focus on gold mining company performance and the fact it is adaptable to all mining and processing technologies. At Nordgold, we continue to invest in our IT capabilities which helps us drive performance, in particular as we move forward on our ambitious growth plans in the Gross region in Russia, where we have built a market leading position." Andrey Yudaev, Business Development Director for Information and Analytical Systems at Columbus, said: "Partnering with Nordgold to develop CN Planning Analytics was a unique collaboration that allowed us to combine the practical business experience of a mining company with the industry and product expertise of a consultancy. The solution's functionality has been proven by IBM and by its high performance in automating Nordgold's real-world business processes. These are the prerequisite that help us guarantee the business value of this solution to future users". Enquiries







Columbus sales@columbus.ru +7 (495) 369-67-69

About Nordgold Nordgold is an internationally diversified one million ounce gold producer with about 7,800 people operating a portfolio of nine mines (in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Russia and Kazakhstan) and a number of development and exploration projects in West Africa, Eurasia and the Americas. Since its foundation in 2007, Nordgold has established a global reputation as a leading developer of tier one gold mining assets with a proven commitment to community engagement, sustainability, efficiency and operating in an environmentally responsible manner. Since 2013, Nordgold has successfully constructed three gold mines, including two in Burkina Faso (Bouly and Bissa) and most recently, the Gross mine in Russia. For further information on Nordgold please visit the Company's website: www.nordgold.com



About Columbus Columbus is a global digital consultancy headquartered in Denmark. For +30 years, we have helped more than 5.000 ambitious companies transform, maximize, and futureproof their business digitally. Columbus employs more than 1,800 digital advisors and consultants focused on the manufacturing-, retail & distribution-, and food & process industries. We offer end-to-end digital services and solutions within Strategy & Change, Cloud ERP, Data & Analytics, Application Management, Digital Commerce, and Customer Experience. Columbus has offices and partners all over the world and we deliver our solutions and services locally  on a global scale. Columbus A/S is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen  COLUM For more information visit www.columbusglobal.com

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[September 14, 2021] PGIM Fixed Income announces senior appointments

PGIM Fixed Income, part of PGIM, the $1.5 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), is making the following senior appointments effective Jan. 1, 2022: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005422/en/ John Vibert, Managing Director, PGIM Fixed Income (Photo: Business Wire) John Vibert, managing director, will move to the newly created role of president. Vibert joined PGIM Fixed Income in 2014 as the head of Securitized Products and serves in that role currently. Prior to joining PGIM Fixed Income, Vibert was a lead portfolio manager for BlackRock's mortgage credit portfolios and the lead trader for its non-agency Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) trading team. He also held senior investment positions at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. Craig Dewling and Gregory Peters, both managing directors, will become co-chief investment officers. Dewling and Peters will take over CIO duties from Michael Lillard, head of PGIM Fixed Income and CIO. Dewling joined the firm in 1987 and currently serves as the deputy chief investment officer. Peters joined the firm in 2014 and currently serves as the head of Multi-Sector and Strategy and as a senior portfolio manager for the firm's multi-sector strategies. Prior to joining PGIM Fixed Income, Peters was the chief global cross asset strategist at Morgan Stanley, responsible for the firm's macro research and asset allocation strategy. Additionally, he was Morgan Stanley's global director of Fixed Income and Economic Research. Vibert, Dewling and Peters will report to Lillard who will remain the head of PGIM Fixed Income. Lillard commented, "I am excited to announce these senior appointments as part of our continuing efforts to broaden the leadership structure of the firm and strengthen our long-term succession plan. Given our more than threefold growth in assets over the last ten years, I believe naming a president and splitting the CIO roles positions us well to continue providing the investment performance and service that our clients know and expect. As head of Securitized Products, John is a proven and natural leader, driving both strong investment results and a positive team culture. In his role as president, John willwork closely with me on the strategic direction and overall management of the firm, including oversight of our global Operations, Technology, and Business Management functions. John will also continue to oversee our global collateralized loan obligation business."



Lillard continued, "Having served as the CIO of PGIM Fixed Income since 2008, I believe it is the right time to have Craig and Greg take over these responsibilities. As deputy CIO, Craig has overseen many of the day-to-day investment functions for the last two years. His deep experience with multi-sector and liquidity portfolios, as well as the management of insurance assets, has been a key driver of our success. Craig has spent his entire career at the firm, and I am confident that he brings an important element of continuity between the historical foundations of our success and our aspirations for the future. Greg's extensive multi-sector portfolio management and global macro investment strategy experience has been instrumental in broadening our overall investment strategy. I believe Craig and Greg's complementary skill sets will enable us to strengthen our investment process and allow us to further develop our investment professionals for many years to come." Upon Vibert assuming the role of president, he will relinquish the role of head of Securitized Products. Gabriel Rivera and Edwin Wilches will become co-heads of Securitized Products reporting to Peters. Gary Horbacz will become head of Securitized Products Research, reporting to Rivera and Wilches.

Upon Dewling and Peters becoming co-CIOs, the deputy CIO role will be eliminated as those duties will be incorporated into the CIO function. In addition to his CIO duties, Peters will remain a senior portfolio manager on the multi-sector team. As always, PGIM Fixed Income remains focused on providing clients with outstanding investment performance and service. ABOUT PGIM FIXED INCOME PGIM Fixed Income, with $954 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021, is a global asset manager offering active solutions across all fixed income markets. The company has offices in Newark, N.J., London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Zurich, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information, visit pgimfixedincome.com. ABOUT PGIM PGIM, the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), ranks among the top 10 largest asset managers in the world* with $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021. With offices in 16 countries, PGIM's businesses offer a range of investment solutions for retail and institutional investors around the world across a broad range of asset classes, including public fixed income, private fixed income, fundamental equity, quantitative equity, real estate and alternatives. For more information about PGIM, visit pgim.com. Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) of the United States is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom, or with Prudential Assurance Company, a subsidiary of M&G plc, incorporated in the United Kingdom. For more information please visit news.prudential.com. * Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) is the 10th largest investment manager (out of 527 firms surveyed) in terms of global assets under management based on Pensions & Investments' Top Money Managers list published on June 1, 2020. This ranking represents global assets under management by PFI as of March 31, 2020. CONNECT WITH US:

Visit pgim.com

Join the conversation on Twitter@PGIM View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005422/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index Reveals 37 Percent Parcel Volume Growth in US for 2020

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing, data and financial services, today released the US data from its latest Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index, ahead of the global Index launch later this month which will include data from 13 countries, including the top 8 GDP nations. Now in its sixth year, the industry report is the strongest indication to date of the pivotal influence the pandemic has had on the US shipping and logistics industry. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005274/en/ Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index - US Edition (Graphic: Business Wire) The Index reveals US parcel volume grew 37 percent year-over-year, reaching 20 billion, up from 15 billion in 2019. In 2020, around 640 parcels were shipped per second, compared to 466 in 2019. Between 2015 and 2020, US parcel volume doubled from 10 billion to 20 billion. Looking ahead, Pitney Bowes forecasts US parcel volume will nearly double by 2026, reaching 32-39 billion, with a 10% CAGR from 2021-2025. Key takeaways from the Index are: Carrier revenue Reached $171 billion - a 29 percent increase year-over-year UPS generated the highest carrier revenue with $60 billion, FedEx generated $58 billion, USPS (News - Alert) reached $33 billion while combined revenue from others was $2 billion . USPS generated a 40 percent increase in parcel revenue growth year-over-year, FedEx 26 percent growth and UPS 15 percent growth

Carrier market share By revenue, UPS had the highest parcel market share (35 percent, down from 39 percent in 2019), followed by FedEx (34 percent, down from 35 percent), USPS (19 percent, up from 18 percent) and Amazon Logistics (10 percent, up from 6 percent) By volume, USPS had the highest market share (38 percent, the same as in 2019), followed by UPS (24 percent, down from 30 percent), Amazon Logistics (1 percent, up from 13 percent) and FedEx (16 percent, down from 18 percent) USPS shipped 7.6 billion parcels in 2020, up from 5.7 billion in 2019; UPS shipped 4.9 billion parcels in 2020, up from 4.4 billion; and FedEx shipped 3.3 billion, up from 2.7 billion

Amazon Logistics Grew revenue to $18 billion - a 109 percent increase year-over-year Shipped more than twice as many parcels year-over-year, rising 127 percent from 1.9 billion to 4.2 billion Passed twice as many parcels to carriers for last mile delivery in 2020 (2.8 billion) compared to 2019 (1.4 billion)





News - Alert) , Pitney Bowes. "A 37 percent increase in parcel volume year-over-year compares with an average growth of 10 percent over the past five years. 20 billion parcels represent an average of 61 parcels generated per U.S citizen. Going forward, accelerated investment in infrastructure, technology and digital capabilities will help carriers address surging demand, deliver at scale and cope with the unpredictable." The rise in ecommerce had a huge impact on 2020's monumental parcel shipping volumes. BOXpoll by Pitney Bowes, the consumer survey on current events, culture and ecommerce logistics, found 41 percent of consumers continue to shop online more today than they did before the pandemic, underscoring the record growth of ecommerce over the past 17 months.

"The pandemic had an enormous impact on the growth of ecommerce, driving the most significant shift from in-store to online shopping ever experienced," said Dies. "And as we head into this year's holiday season, consumer preferences for online shopping show no signs of slowing down." Data for the remaining 12 countries in the Index - Canada, Brazil, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, China, Japan, Australia and India - will be released shortly and will include a forecast of how shipping is expected to grow in the coming years. The decision to release US data earlier was made to meet high market demand in the US. Based on proprietary and published data, the Index has become a valued industry benchmark since the inaugural report in 2015. About the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index measures parcel volume and spend for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business and consumer consigned shipments with weight up to 31.5kg (70 pounds) across Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Population data points were sourced from the International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database published in October 2018. The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index spans 13 countries and represents the parcel shipping activity of 3.7 billion people. About Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions, analytics, and APIs in the areas of ecommerce fulfillment, shipping and returns; cross-border ecommerce; office mailing and shipping; presort services; and financing. For 100 years Pitney Bowes has been innovating and delivering technologies that remove the complexity of getting commerce transactions precisely right. For additional information visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005274/en/

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[September 14, 2021] The Presidio Group Advises Asbury Automotive on the Sale of BMW of Charlottesville

The Presidio Group LLC ("Presidio"), an independent merchant banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and investments in the automotive retail and consumer mobility sectors, exclusively advised Asbury Automotive Group (NYSE: ABG) on the sale of BMW of Charlottesville to Flow Companies. "As we made the decision to exit the Charlottesville market, we once again turned to The Presidio Group to assist with this strategic divestiture of our only dealership in the area," said Asbury's president and CEO David Hult. "The team of consummate professionals at Presidio identified an ideal buyer and facilitated a quick and seamless transaction that met all of our goals, and we could not be more pleased with the outcome". "We are excited to add to our footprint in the Charlottesville market and could not ask for a better franchise than BMW," said Don Flow, chairman and CEO of Flow Automotive Companies. "I attended university in Charlottesville and am personally connected to this amazing community. We welcome the associates at BMW of Charlottesville to our team and look forward to further serving this great community." "A BMW franchise is always highly-desirable and we were honored to bring Asbury and Don Flow together on this transaction, which helped both parties further their strategic goals," said Brodie Cobb, founder and CEO of The Presidio Group. "We were privileged to have once again been entrusted by Asbury Automotive Group to exclusively assist with another strategic transaction," said George Karolis, president of The Presidio Group. "This sale represents the 24th luxury dealership franchise and 77th overall dealership franchise transaction facilitated by The Presidio Group in 2021." Katherine Frazier and Ryan Angel of Hill Ward Henderson served as legal counsel to Asbury Automotive Group. G. William Joyner, III and Michael A. Myers of Kilpatric Townsend & Stockton LLP served as legal counsel to the buyer.



The Presidio Group provided exclusive M&A advisory services to Asbury Automotive through its wholly owned investment bank, Presidio Merchant Partners LLC. About Asbury Automotive Group: Asbury Automotive Group, Inc. (NYSE: ABG), a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Duluth, GA, is one of the largest automotive retailers in the U.S. In late 2020, Asbury embarked on a 5-year plan to strategically increase revenue and profitability through organic and acquisitive growth as well as their innovative Clicklane digital car purchasing platform, with its guest-centric approach as Asbury's constant North Star. Asbury offers an extensive range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles; parts and service, which includes vehicle repair and maintenance services, replacement parts and collision repair services; and finance and insurance products, including arranging vehicle financing through third parties and aftermarket products, such as extended service contracts, guaranteed asset protection debt cancellation, prepaid maintenance, and credit life and disability insurance. For additional information, visit www.asburyauto.com.

About Flow Automotive Companies: Founded by the Flow family in 1957, Flow Automotive Companies today includes 45 rooftops in North Carolina and Virginia. The group defines itself by three principles: A covenant with customers that it is worthy of their trust; a community of people working towards a common vision; and a commitment to work towards the common good in every city in which it does business. It supports non-profits, sports, higher education, arts, and music in those communities. The Presidio Group LLC was founded in 1998 with the simple mission to relentlessly put the interests of our clients first. By steadfastly adhering to this philosophy, the firm has earned the trust of clients throughout the United States. During their careers, the professionals at Presidio have collectively done more than 200 transactions for over $13.7 billion. It also publishes Presidio's Where the Rubber Meets the Road, a leading source of information about the automotive retail landscape and the automotive retail M&A environment. The Presidio Group is based in Denver and Atlanta. Presidio Merchant Partners LLC is a subsidiary of The Presidio Group LLC and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information on Presidio, visit www.thepresidiogroup.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005373/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Sellers Shield Secures $15 Million Growth Investment From Elsewhere Partners

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sellers Shield , the leader in risk-management and software solutions for the real estate industry, announced today that it has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Elsewhere Partners. The funds will be used to expand the company's market coverage across the United States, including Kentucky, Michigan, and Minnesota, and support continued team and product development. Founded in 2015, Sellers Shield has developed an innovative, digital platform for real estate disclosure forms that reduces the likelihood of lawsuits for sellers, agents, and brokers, and provides legal protection for home sellers when a lawsuit occurs. The company works with top brokerages, associations, and software providers including Realty Austin, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Texas REALTORS, and Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies. Bo Blackburn, real estate attorney and co-founder of Sellers Shield, says disclosure documents are at the heart of most home sale disputes, and sellers are historically the only party in the transaction not protected. Home Sale Legal Protection was developed as a response to this inequity, offering home sellers up to $20,000 in expert legal representation. "Disclosure can be the poison pill in an home sale. We're on a mission to prevent lawsuits for the residential real estate industry and protect home sellers from the financial and emotional hardship that stems when home sale lawsuits occur," said Blackburn. "Elsewhere has been great. With their investment and expertise, we will be able to reach more agents and sellers, more effectively."



Financing was driven by Sellers Shield's proven adoption and explosive growth across 12 states since originally launching in Texas. In just the past three years more than 200,000 agents and sellers have used the platform for disclosure. The company is currently on track to triple annual revenue by the end of 2021. As part of the financing, Elsewhere Operating Advisor and Chief Product Officer at Snow Software, Sanjay Castelino , will join Sellers Shield's board of directors. "Agents want their clients and business protected from lawsuits, which is why our platform has taken off in the market and become the gold standard for disclosure," stated CEO Jeff Daily. "We are thrilled to partner with Elsewhere Partners and have no doubt that their support and track record of success will help us achieve our goal of offering our product to every agent and seller in the country. It's all gas, no brakes here at Sellers Shield."

Sellers Shield has quickly become a leader in an increasingly dynamic PropTech sector that has already seen $8.5 billion in investment in the first half of 2021, according to GCA Advisors . "Sellers Shield is innovating at the intersection of real estate and risk management. They have streamlined home sale disclosure forms to protect homeowners' equity and mitigate risk for agents and brokerages," said Elsewhere Partners Co-Founder and Partner, John Thornton. "We are thrilled to partner with Bo and Jeff as they deliver increasing value to real estate transaction stakeholders across the country." About Sellers Shield Based in Austin, Texas, Sellers Shield provides software solutions that protect real estate brokers, agents, and home sellers from lawsuits. Sellers Shield's state-of-the-art protection is designed by industry experts to reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit as well as provide security to sellers if one occurs. To learn more, visit https://sellersshield.com/ . About Elsewhere Partners Elsewhere Partners is a growth-stage venture capital firm that invests in Elsewhere Outliers  business software companies that are located outside of traditional venture capital hubs and have achieved substantial customer traction and revenue growth without significant outside funding. Elsewhere Partners combines transitional capital with transformational expertise to help companies achieve exit readiness on their own terms. To learn more, visit www.elsewhere.partners . Contact Information:

Heather Brewer

customersuccess@sellersshield.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sellers-shield-secures-15-million-growth-investment-from-elsewhere-partners-301376119.html SOURCE Sellers Shield

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[September 14, 2021] SOURCE Global and Arizona State University Bring Sustainable Drinking Water to Reality

SOURCE Global and Arizona State University today announced the launch of a new water farm producing high-quality, sustainable drinking water sourced from the sky and powered by the sun. The technology, which was first developed at ASU and has been installed around the world, is now finding applications in Arizona. SOURCE Hydropanels use only the power of the sun to produce water from the surrounding environment. By tapping an endless, renewable supply of pure water vapor present in the air and transforming it into high-quality drinking water, SOURCE makes what was once scarce, abundant - effectively anywhere the company's Hydropanels are placed. The SOURCE water farm at ASU's Polytechnic Campus in Mesa, Arizona, can produce 400,000 gallons of premium drinking water a year, which is packaged in recyclable and reusable bottles, replacing 3 million single-use plastic water bottles. Because SOURCE technology creates water where it's consumed, it requires no new infrastructure and reduces the carbon footprint of transporting water via truck and, while traditional water bottling requires four liters of water for every liter produced, all the water collected by SOURCE goes into the bottle. Cody Friesen, founder and CEO of SOURCE Global, invented this game-changing technology with his team in his materials science lab at ASU. "No matter where we live or who we are, we all need access to clean, safe drinking water that's in harmony with nature," said Friesen. "We created SOURCE to perfect water for every person, every place, including those who have no water in their homes, who are dealing with contamination, aging infrastructure, and shrinking water supplies or who simply want a reliable source of high-quality drinking water in their homes and are interested in living more sustainably. I'm incredibly proud of our long association with ASU and Dr. Crow, who leads global innovation not just on paper, but in practice." ASU has been ranked number one in innovation by U.S. News & World Report for the last six years and locating the water farm on the Polytechnic Campus reflects SOURCE's appreciation for the University's support of innovators and emerging technology. SOURCE also plans to offer internships to ASU students. "ASU's Polytchnic Campus is attractive to innovative partners like SOURCE Global that will provide leadership in alleviating the world's challenges related to food, water, and energy," said Jon Schmitt, Assistant Vice President of Educational Outreach and Student Services at ASU's Polytechnic Campus. "Partnerships like this one reflect ASU's commitment to building a sustainable and resilient future and can serve as a model for other organizations and educational institutions."



SOURCE Hydropanels work entirely off the grid, in humid climates and the driest places on earth. Throughout the developed and developing world, this technology is bringing reliable, renewable water to schools and universities, healthcare settings, remote worksites, eco-friendly hotels and destinations, water-stressed communities and conscious consumers. About SOURCE Global, PBC

A Public Benefit Corporation, SOURCE Global, PBC's mission is to make drinking water an unlimited resource. The company's SOURCE Hydropanels create drinking water using sunlight and air as the only inputs, and can put the power of safe, sustainable drinking water in the hands of every person in nearly every climate and corner of the world., SOURCE is on Fast Company's 2020 list of most innovative social good companies. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company is, and operates in 52 countries and on six continents. SOURCE is a registered trademark of SOURCE Global, PBC. For more information, visit www.source.co and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. About Arizona State University Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005450/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Survey by D.A. Davidson Found 40% of Student Loan Borrowers Wanted Longer Forbearance

D.A. Davidson Companies announced today results from a survey on student loan debt, which revealed that an overwhelming majority of the public (81%) believes America has a student debt problem. The sentiment proved consistent among all respondents - regardless of personal experiences with student debt - with three quarters of those who have never had student debt agreeing alongside 89% of those who have. "As students head back to school, it's an unfortunate reality that so many of them will finish their education with a lot of debt," said Andrew Crowell, Vice Chairman of Wealth Management at D.A. Davidson. "Our survey uncovered a resounding need to get the student debt crisis in check and address critical conversations that need to be had between families and advisors to minimize the repercussions from student loans." Student Loan Borrowers Hoped for Longer Forbearance Extension While the Biden Administration announced last month the extension of student loan relief until January 2022, 40% of survey respondents who currently have student loan debt believe the administration should have extended the forbearance for a longer period, beyond January 2022. That said, one in five total respondents were not in favor of the administration's decision to extend student loan relief until January. There was a marked difference between respondents' views of the extension when it comes to their political affiliation. Over half (52%) of self-identified Democrats believed the extension was an appropriate amount of time, compared to 28% of self-identified Republicans who said the same. The second most common response among Democrats was that the forbearance should have been extended longer (29%), while the second most common response from Republicans was that the forbearance should not have been extended at all (24%). Ability to Pay Student Loans Varies by Gender Males and females reported different ability to paying off their student loan debt. When asked how respondents approached paying their student loans prior to the forbearance in March 2020, 70% of males made at least their required minimum monthly loan payments, while only half (54%) of females said the same. Nearly two in five females (37%) reported having either struggled or been unable to make their required minimum monthly loan payment prior to the forbeaance, compared to one in four males (26%) in the same situation.



Gender played a consistent role in determining one's ability to pay off student loans over the past year and a half (i.e., during the period of student loan forbearance). More than half of females (55%) stopped making loan payments during this time, versus 36% of males who stopped. One in ten males and one in five females are not taking any financial planning measures to help pay off their student loan debt (i.e., establishing a budget, applying for loan forgiveness). That said, 38% of males surveyed keep to a weekly or monthly budget, versus 24% of women. Nearly a third (32%) of male respondents noted they make extra loan payments when possible, while less than a quarter (23%) of female respondents said the same.

Generational Divide on Student Debt More than half of all respondents (55%) were in favor of the government providing wide-scale student loan forgiveness, but only 43% believe it will happen during the Biden Administration. An overwhelming 71% of Millennials were in favor of student loan forgiveness, the highest percentage across all generations surveyed, followed by 64% of Gen Z respondents who felt the same. The majority response from Baby Boomers was the opposite, with 46% not in favor of student debt cancelation, and only 38% of Baby Boomers in favor. Responses also pointed to a generational divide regarding the use of financial planning tactics to pay off student loan debt. Most respondents who had student loan debt between the ages 45-54 and 55-65 claimed they did not take any financial planning measures to pay off their loans. This far surpassed the only 1% of respondents between the ages of 18-24 who answered this way. Rather, this generation cited that they are taking financial planning measures, such as sticking to a weekly/monthly budget (48%), making extra payments when possible (32%), and using 'found' money to make extra payments (28%). Methodology This Xcelerant Survey was conducted online by Directions Research. The survey was fielded from August 12 to August 17, 2021, among a demographically balanced nationally representative sample of 2,143 U.S. adults 18 years of age and older. About D.A. Davidson Companies D.A. Davidson Companies is an employee-owned financial services firm offering a range of financial services and advice to individuals, corporations, institutions and municipalities nationwide. Founded in 1935 and headquartered in Montana, with corporate offices in Denver, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, the company has approximately 1,400 employees and offices in 28 states. Subsidiaries include: D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm headquartered in the Northwest, providing wealth management, investment banking, equity and fixed income capital markets services, and advice; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional asset management firm; D.A. Davidson Trust Company, a trust and wealth management company; and Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing fixed income portfolio and advisory services. For more information, visit dadavidson.com. Disclaimer The information in this communication has been obtained from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee its/their accuracy or completeness. Neither the information nor any opinion in the publication constitutes a solicitation or offer by D.A. Davidson or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, options, or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005187/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Top Loan Originators Joins UMortgage to Grow Market Share

WILSONVILLE, Ore., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UMortgage is expanding right into the backyard of the Pacific Northwest with a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open their Wilsonville office on Wednesday, September 22nd at 8:30 am. Mayor Julie Fitzgerald will be in attendance to welcome this expansion to her community. The national mortgage company is known for it's best in class, modern, cloud-based technology, and overstaffed proactive and communicative operations team. The addition of the PNW branch comes in tandem with the company's mission for rapid growth, specifically in the PNW market, and clear commitment to supporting it's Loan Originators in local communities across the country. Regional Vice President Kahren Oxner is a Wilsonville resident and Oregon native with over 20 years experience serving Oregon, California, and Washington as a Loan Originator. She joined the mortgage industry shortly after graduating college and quickly felt at home. For Oxner, becoming a Loan Originator was a natural calling. "From very early on in my career, I have wanted to help others achieve homeownership," she said. "Buying a home is one of the most important decisions a person can make. They deserve to have someone in their corner who's committed to making that happen as easily as possible." Years later, Oxner's work ethic goes unchanged. In 2020, she was named in the Scotsman Guide Top 1% of originators in the country. In that same year, she was also in the top 20 United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) originators for the state of Oregon. For Oxner, this momentum is only increasing, "This new chapter with UMortgage has already brought so much renewed energy to our team and I know this is only the beginning." Joining Oxnerare Loan Originators Jen Bell, Candice Cain, and David Carpenter. Bell served as a US Naval Instructor for 10 years prior to beginning her work in the mortgage industry. Now, she uses her teaching experience to help educate first time home buyers. In 2020, Bell joined Oxner on the UWM list of top 20 Oregon based originators.



After 20 years in the fashion industry, Cain decided it was time to change career paths and utilized her problem-solving skills and attention to detail to make a name for herself in the mortgage industry. Now, as a Loan Originator, she specializes in non-traditional lending and is committed to making sure every borrower is able to have their unique needs fulfilled. Carpenter was introduced to the industry by his father, also a Loan Originator in Oregon. Carpenter knew from an early age that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and worked his way from a Loan Originator Assistant to co-owner. Carpenter is bringing that experience with him as a Loan Originator at UMortgage.

The commitment of Oxner's team to best serve their clients has solidified their mark on the area. "Every successful team knows what drives them. For us, it's not about the numbers - it's about changing lives and helping families," she said. "Our whole team is fully aligned with this vision." Oxner was drawn to UMortgage because of their clear dedication to growing the PNW market through the support of like minded Loan Originators in the region. "I can say with full confidence that after two decades of working for some of the largest lenders in the country that this is the most loan originator centric company that exists," said Oxner of her team's transition. "Their cutting edge technology and high level centralized support means that we can focus our time on growing our businesses and serving our customers." UMortgage President and CEO Anthony Casa has high hopes for future growth in the Pacific Northwest. "We believe there is a big opportunity to grow market share in the Pacific Northwest. We have the best platform, best technology, and best pricing. The next step is partnering with the best loan originators, and growing." The ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official grand opening of the Wilsonville office on Wednesday, September 22nd and the team is taking all necessary COVID-19 precautions outlined by the CDC. You can visit their office website here or reach out directly: For Inquiries

Name: Corie Meredith

Email: team@umortgage.com

Website: www.umortgage.com ***UMortgage is a purpose-driven mortgage company committed to serving their Loan Originators and community at large. Each Loan Originator offers consumers the personalized touch of working with a Broker in their backyard while maintaining the support and resources of a nationally licensed company. With licenses in 39 states and rapidly expanding, they are trailblazing a path in the mortgage industry that is streamlined, modernized, and values driven. For more information, visit umortgage.com or email team@umortgage.com . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-loan-originators-joins-umortgage-to-grow-market-share-301376374.html SOURCE UMortgage

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[September 14, 2021] Vade for Microsoft 365 is now available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace

LILLE, France, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vade, a global leader in AI-based threat detection, user awareness and incident response with one billion protected mailboxes worldwide, today announced the availability of Vade for Microsoft 365 in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Vade for Microsoft 365 offers a complementary layer of AI-based cybersecurity to Microsoft's Defender and EOP email security solutions, while increasing margins for Microsoft partners and stickiness with SMB and Enterprise clients. Vade also announced that it has earned co-sell ready status within the Microsoft One Commercial Partner program. Purpose-built for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and their Small to Midsize Business (SMB) clients, Vade for Microsoft 365 is a cybersecurity solution that provides comprehensive, automated protection before, during, and after attacks. Combining artificial intelligence, heuristic rules, and human expertise, Vade's behavioral engine detects unknown threats and dynamic attacks that other filters miss. The engine is continuously improving by ingesting threat intelligence and user feedback reports from one billion protected mailboxes. If a new threat is discovered, Vade's Auto-Remediate feature will automatically remove it from users' inboxes, mitigating the attack before it disrupts the business. Vade is now available in multiple countries through Azure. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 via API, making it invisible to hackers, and can be deployed without changing the client's Mail Exchange (MX) record. Because it sits inside Microsoft 365, Vade requires no user experience change or external quarantine; the solution layers with Microsoft security and it scans intracompany email to protect against insider attacks originating from compromisd accounts. Vade layers effectively with Microsoft's EOP, meaning that users benefit from a combined solution offering dual protection.



"Microsoft 365 email security is more important than ever due to the surge in threats targeting cloud-based solutions, particularly in the wake of widespread remote working," said Georges Lotigier, CEO of Vade. "Vade uniquely helps MSPs strengthen protection of their small business clients with best-in-class threat detection, user awareness and incident response packaged into a solution that's easy to deploy, manage, and use. Our availability in the Azure Marketplace offers partners ease of purchasing and provisioning while being fully aligned with their existing processes. We're looking forward to introducing Azure's global customer base to Vade's market-leading capabilities." An integration for the entire Microsoft ecosystem

As evidence of its expanded collaboration with Microsoft, Vade also announced its earned co-sell ready status as part of the Microsoft One Commercial Partner program. Validation enables the company to work with Microsoft to deliver solutions built on Microsoft technology as packaged offerings, streamlining the buying process for IT decision makers. "We're pleased to welcome Vade to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, which gives our partners great exposure to cloud customers around the globe," said Jake Zborowski, General Manager, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. "Azure Marketplace offers world-class quality experiences from global trusted partners with solutions tested to work seamlessly with Azure." To learn more about Vade for Microsoft 365, visit Vade for Microsoft 365. About Vade Vade helps MSPs and ISPs protect their users from advanced cyberthreats, such as phishing, spear phishing, malware, and ransomware. The company's predictive email defense solutions leverage artificial intelligence, fed by data from 1 billion mailboxes, to block targeted threats and new attacks from the first wave. In addition, real-time threat detection capabilities enable SOCs to instantly identify new threats and orchestrate coordinated responses. Vade's technology is available as a native, API-based offering for Microsoft 365 or as lightweight, extensible APIs for enterprise SOCs.



To learn more, please visit www.VadeSecure.com and follow us on Twitter @VadeSecure or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/vade-secure/. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vade-for-microsoft-365-is-now-available-in-the-microsoft-azure-marketplace-301375602.html SOURCE Vade

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[September 14, 2021] Virginia Firm, 7 Grains Planning & Investments, Heads for Commonwealth

Commonwealth Financial Network, a national firm dedicated to providing advisor-focused business solutions, announces the addition of 7 Grains Planning & Investments to its network of independent financial advisors. Formerly with Edward Jones, financial advisor Jeff Boyer, MBA, CFP, with the support of his staff-Carol Bradley, Calvin Egan, and Kate Egan-brings almost three decades of experience in financial planning, with approximately $60 million in total client assets. Using a team-based approach to financial planning, Boyer and his staff serve professionals and pre-retirees looking for holistic guidance and investment management that complement their life's purpose and adventure. With education as one of the firm's core values, clients gain a deeper knowledge of their portfolio and the markets while Boyer and the team deepen their understanding of their clients' evolving needs. To enhance the capabilities of his independent business, Boyer sought to partner with a firm that valued his commitment to long-term relationships and could bring new efficiencies to the Lynchburg, Virginia, practice. To learn more about 7 Grains Planning & Investments, visit www.7grainsplanning.com.



"We support our clients with kindness and compassion, with a focus on community, and we love to see our clients flourish," said Boyer. "Joining the Commonwealth family of advisors was a natural choice because we knew they valued the same things." Boyer and team took advantage of Commonwealth's Brand Studio offering to create the 7 Grains brand and website. They will continue to partner with Brand Studio to add innovative marketing strategies to reach current and prospective clients. The firm will also call on Commonwealth's Advanced Planning team of specialists to empower a renewed emphasis on tax planning.

"One of the cornerstones of sound planning is a solid tax strategy; I know I can count on Commonwealth's guidance as we provide for our clients' complex financial lives," said Boyer. "It's always exciting to welcome a new firm into our tightly knit community of independent advisors," said Andrew Daniels, Commonwealth's managing principal, business development. "Knowing that we have shared values around education and building relationships for the long haul makes it that much better." Daniels added, "We're confident that our specialists across all areas of a financial advisory firm will propel the 7 Grains forward to achieving its goals-and the goals of its clients. When that happens, we all win." About Commonwealth Financial Network Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser, provides a suite of business solutions that empowers more than 2,000 independent financial advisors nationwide. J.D. Power ranks Commonwealth "#1 in Independent Advisor Satisfaction Among Financial Investment Firms, Eight Times in a Row." Privately held since 1979, the firm has headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. Learn more about Commonwealth by visiting www.commonwealth.com. Commonwealth received the highest score in the independent advisor segment of the J.D. Power 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 Financial Advisor Satisfaction Studies of customers' satisfaction among financial advisors. Visit jdpower.com/awards. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005124/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Visibly, RestoringVision, and NewGlobe to provide free vision tests and prescription eyewear to over 5,000 people including children in Nigeria

CHICAGO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting today, over 5,000 people, including children, in Nigeria will receive access to vision resources free of charge through the partnership of telehealth technology company, Visibly , non-profit organization RestoringVision , and NewGlobe , a transformative learning expert supporting visionary governments to unlock potential through powerful technology-enabled education systems. Together, these three organizations are providing free vision tests and prescription eyewear to communities in the Lagos, Edo and Osun states of Nigeria, Africa, where access to vision resources is scarce and expensive. This vision restoring initiative is driven on existing education systems in Nigeria comprising a private school network located in Lagos and Osun states, as well as public, free education projects in Lagos and Edo State respectively. Seeing clearly should be a right; we believe that vision prescriptions should be accessible and affordable to everyone. Sharing the mission and belief that everyone should be able to see clearly, Visibly, RestoringVision, and NewGlobe are working hard to combat one of the world's largest health problems: vision impairment. RestoringVision has dedicated nearly two decades of work to creating equitable access to eyeglasses around the world. Their work began with providing basic vision screenings and reading glasses. More recently the nonprofit expanded to serving children and adults with prescription glasses thanks to the support of National Vision's Made Locally, Given Globally program. By partnering with Visibly, beneficiaries will be able to receive prescription eyewear aftercompleting Visibly's online vision test. The results will be clear, allowing children to see the chalkboard and their world.



"Our philosophy at RestoringVision is that by collaborating with partners and curating projects such as this, we can accelerate results," says Pelin Munis, Executive Director of RestoringVision. "What better results than ensuring that 5,000 school children can now see clearly because of the collaboration between RestoringVision, Visibly, and NewGlobe. We are honored to be a part of this pilot program and believe the impact is only just beginning." "Since day one, Visibly's mission has been to provide vision resources to anyone, anywhere and at any time," says Brent Rasmussen, CEO of Visibly. "Seeing clearly should be a right; we believe that vision prescriptions should be accessible and affordable to everyone, and we're eager to provide these services to those in need around the globe."

Specializing in creating powerful technology-enabled education systems, NewGlobe will be leading the facilitation of the event and the distribution of the eyewear in Nigeria. This initiative is geared towards helping previously undiagnosed as well as already diagnosed patients in NewGlobe's Nigerian ecosystem of more than 30,000 teachers, more than 1 million pupils and others in the communities where our schools and education partnerships operate. While this is the first project that Visibly, RestoringVision, and NewGlobe are collaborating on together, the partnership is just beginning. The three organizations plan on continuing to make an impact by extending this project and providing vision resources to other communities in need. For more information or questions, please contact:

Taylor@govisibly.com

Lanre.Dairo@NewGlobe.education

brooke@restoringvision.org About Visibly Visibly, a Chicago-based healthcare technology company founded in 2012, creates digital eye care technologies that enable patient choice and convenience while providing doctors the ability to create awesome user experiences. Visibly was founded with the belief that glasses and contact lens prescriptions should be accessible and affordable to everyone. Online vision testing is just the start; Visibly envisions a world where technology enables patients and doctors to connect easily to make all aspects of vision care convenient and accessible for all. Currently, Visibly operates under the Enforcement Policy for Remote Ophthalmic Assessment and Monitoring Devices during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency issued by the FDA in April 2020. About RestoringVision RestoringVision works to address the unmet need for eyeglasses in impoverished communities across the globe, and is committed to helping as many people as possible gain clear vision in order to increase productivity, continue working and earning an income, learning, and performing everyday tasks. Since 2003, RestoringVision has helped over 18 million people in 136 countries through its programs. About NewGlobe NewGlobe supports national and state governments by creating powerful technology-enabled education systems. An education expert and leader in learning, NewGlobe has unequalled experience in dramatically transforming educational outcomes at speed and at scale. Education is a science. NewGlobe has an unprecedented ability to gather and apply data-driven learning improvements across every aspect of the education system, providing a strong foundation for today's youth and tomorrow's future. NewGlobe, was incorporated in 2007 and has since grown to support many different types of education programmes across multiple continents, the vast majority of which are public education programmes. In Nigeria, NewGlobe supports the EdoBEST and EKOEXCEL programmes in Edo and Lagos States, respectively, as well as the community school programmes in Lagos and Osun States. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/visibly-restoringvision-and-newglobe-to-provide-free-vision-tests-and-prescription-eyewear-to-over-5-000-people-including-children-in-nigeria-301376252.html SOURCE Visibly

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[September 14, 2021] Weave Launches Integration With QuickBooks Online

LEHI, Utah, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Weave, the all-in-one customer communication platform for small business, today announced it's further simplifying customer communications through an integration with Intuit QuickBooks Online. With this new integration, Weave expands its existing core functions for QuickBooks Online users to take advantage of automated data syncing that keeps Weave contact lists up-to-date based on changes made in QuickBooks Online customer accounts. "Integrating Weave's services with QuickBooks Online brings efficiency and value to millions of QuickBooks' small business customers, expanding the impact our all-in-one customer communications and engagement platform can have on the small business owners who are the backbone of our economy," said Weave CEO Roy Banks. For many small businesses, the traditional process of updating, organizing and manually managing contact lists for personalized customer communications across multiple databases is burdensome and time consuming. Small businesses need seamless tools that work together to power more meaningful customer conversations. Now that business owners can use their customer data from QuickBooks Online to power communcations on Weave's platform, users can be confident that the data they're seeing in Weave is up-to-date due to an automated customer sync function. This sync also enables automated birthday messages and tracks customer text preferences so users can optimize communication efforts across a desired customer base.



New integration benefits: Data Sync - Keep all customer contact info current in Weave with regular, automatic updates from your database.

- Keep all customer contact info current in Weave with regular, automatic updates from your database. Birthday Messages - Weave can automatically send out Happy Birthday Wishes to customers.

- Weave can automatically send out Happy Birthday Wishes to customers. Text Preferences - Weave tracks which customers want text communications, only sending messages to those who have opted in.

- Weave tracks which customers want text communications, only sending messages to those who have opted in. Email Marketing - Drum up new business and notify customers of offers, promotions, and critical updates. Comes with a library of pre-written email templates. For more information about how to leverage QuickBooks Online and Weave for business, visit the Weave website .

About Weave

Weave is the all-in-one customer communication and engagement platform for small business. From the first phone call to the final invoice and every touchpoint in between, Weave connects the entire customer journey. Weave's software solutions transform how local businesses attract, communicate with and engage customers to grow their business. The first Utah company to join Y Combinator, Weave has set the bar for Utah startup achievement & work culture. In the past year, Weave has been included in the Forbes Cloud 100, Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in America, and Glassdoor Best Places to Work. To learn more, visit www.getweave.com/newsroom/ Contact:

Kali Geldis

Director of Communications, Weave

pr@getweave.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/weave-launches-integration-with-quickbooks-online-301375745.html SOURCE Weave

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[September 14, 2021] WorkWave to Acquire TEAM Software

HOLMDEL, N.J., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkWave , a provider of SaaS solutions that support every stage of a service business's life cycle, today announces that it has signed an agreement to purchase TEAM Software , the world's leading provider of software and solutions for cleaning, janitorial, security, and facilities management service providers. The acquisition is expected to close at the end of September. Much like WorkWave's recent acquisition of Real Green, the acquisition of TEAM Software marks another rare moment where market leaders are coming together to create something unique. Combined, these companies bring well over 100 years of experience partnering with the best service providers in the world, allowing WorkWave to offer the broadest and most complete set of solutions that empower service companiesfrom SMB to enterpriseto grow their business, improve profitability, and beat their competition. "This acquisition marks a major step forward in the execution of WorkWave's strategy to push into new markets, while leveraging our proven track record of helping our customers provide superior service and build fast-growing and highly profitable companies," said David F. Giannetto, CEO of WorkWave. "We are thrilled to be joining forces with TEAM to deliver on our shared commitment to provide the greatest value to our entire customer base." "With the acquisition of proven brands such as Real Green, Slingshot, Coalmarch, and TEAM Software, WorkWave now stands alone as the premier provider of the broadest set of SaaS software and solutions supporting the widest range of service industries," said Darren Roos, chairperson of the board at WorkWave. "WorkWave has a proven track record of delivering customers value, so empowering more customers, across more geographies, with more industry-specific solutions, adds fuel to the company's continued growth." In addition to its market-leading position in the pest control and green industry verticals, WorkWave will become a leading software provider in the commercial cleaning, janitorial, facilities management, and security service industries with the acquisition of TEAM Software and its enterprise-level solutions. TEAM will also expand WorkWave's presence in key international markets, creating a local presence in EMEA and APAC that supports WorkWave's increased footprint overseas. This further supports orkWave as it delivers on its mission of helping customers grow their business, service their customers, and maximize their money in these new vertical and geographic markets.



"We are thrilled to join an industry leader like WorkWave, who has proven service-industry expertise along with a commitment to supporting customer growth through powerful solutions and exceptional service. WorkWave's mission and approach mirror how we think and operate, as well," said John Leiferman, CEO of TEAM Software. "Together, we can provide more value-driven innovation to the industries we support through our greater combination of world-class tools, expertise, and experience." WorkWave is backed by EQT, TA Associates, and Serent Capital, and TEAM Software is backed by Accel-KKR.

About WorkWave For nearly 40 years, WorkWave has been building best practices into its market-leading field service and last mile software solutions to allow best-in-class companies to grow their business, service their customers and maximize their money. Its solutions empower service-oriented companies to reach their full potential through scalable, cloud-based software solutions that support every stage of a business life cycle, including marketing, sales, service delivery, customer interaction and financial transactions. WorkWave is a trusted partner for thousands of customers across a wide variety of industries, including pest control, lawn care, cleaning, HVAC, plumbing and electrical, and last mile delivery. WorkWave's award-winning culture and solutions have been recognized in the SaaS Awards, the Cloud Awards, the American Business Awards, the NJBIZ Best Places to Work Awards, and the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. For more information, visit workwave.com . About TEAM Software TEAM Software develops market-leading solutions for companies powered by distributed workforces, specifically those serving the cleaning and security sectors. TEAM's technology enables companies to manage and optimize their business, from front-line service delivery to back-office financial management, by providing business-critical information to reduce risk and costs and improve efficiency, profitability, and growth. Established in 1989, TEAM is the premier partner and recognized global technology leader for companies that keep the world clean, safe, and secure. Customers count on TEAM's proven industry expertise, world-class software solutions, and exceptional customer experience. Headquartered in the U.S., TEAM has additional bases of operation in Australia and the U.K. For more information, visit teamsoftware.com. About Accel-KKR: Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with over $10 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and tech-enabled businesses, well-positioned for topline and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR's investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value alongside management by leveraging the significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across a wide range of transaction types including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. In 2019 and 2020, Inc. named Accel-KKR to "PE 50  The Best Private Equity Firms for Entrepreneurs," its annual list of founder-friendly private equity firms. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with offices in Atlanta and London. Visit accel-kkr.com to learn more. WorkWave Contact Brittany Boyle

Sr. Manager, Strategic Communications

WorkWave

Email: bboyle@workwave.com Media Contact Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

(865) 977-1973

hripley@ripleypr.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/workwave-to-acquire-team-software-301376229.html SOURCE WorkWave

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[September 13, 2021] Powell Software Launches Together to Allow SMEs to Connect and Collaborate with Ease

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

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[September 13, 2021] NCCN Guidelines Updated to Include PSMA-PET Imaging

MELBOURNE, Australia and INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) has today welcomed the updated National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines for prostate cancer,1 which includes prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging modalities, including Ga-68 PSMA-11.

Telixs New Drug Application (NDA) for its investigational imaging product Illuccix (Kit for the preparation of 68Ga-PSMA-11 injection) is in the late stages of review by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The NCCN Guidelines are a recognised standard for clinical direction and policy in cancer care and are used widely by clinicians and payors. The NCCN panel has recognised the increased sensitivity and specificity of PSMA-PET tracers, compared to conventional imaging (CT, MRI) for detecting micrometastatic disease, at both initial staging and biochemical recurrence. The updated guidelines state that the NCCN Panel does not feel that conventional imaging is a necessary prerequisite to PSMA-PET and that PSMA-PET/CT or PSMA-PET/MRI can serve as equally effective, if not more effective front-line imaging tools for these patients. The updated guidelines now include Ga-68 PSMA-11 PET/CT to be considered as an alternative to standard imaging of bone and soft tissue. Dr Colin Hayward, Chief Medical Officer of Telix said, This is an important change to the guidelines which will influence a shift n clinical practice to consider PSMA-PET imaging as an alternative to standard imaging of bone and soft tissue for the detection of unfavorable intermediate, high and very high risk as well as recurrent prostate cancer.



The NCCN guidelines are considered a global standard to guide oncology practice and reimbursement. The inclusion of PSMA-PET imaging, including with Ga-68, the isotope used in our investigational imaging product Illuccix further signals the emergence of PSMA-PET imaging as a state-of-the-art imaging modality. Dr Oliver Sartor, Medical Director at Tulane Cancer Center said, The updated guidelines will encourage clinicians to use PSMA-PET as a primary imaging modality in patients and will deliver the benefit of a more streamlined approach. We look forward to having access to this functional form of imaging as new products come into the market.

About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products using Molecularly Targeted Radiation (MTR). Telix is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with international operations in Belgium, Japan, and the United States. Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage products that address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TLX). For more information visit www.telixpharma.com and follow Telix on Twitter (@TelixPharma) and LinkedIn. Telixs lead investigational product, Illuccix (TLX591-CDx) for prostate cancer imaging, has been accepted for filing by the U.S. FDA,2 and is under priority evaluation by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).3 Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for Illuccix in the European Union4 and Canada.5 None of Telixs 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 https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/category_1.

2 ASX disclosure 24/11/20.

3 ASX disclosure 14/04/21.

4 ASX disclosure 1/05/20.

5 ASX disclosure 16/12/20.



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[September 14, 2021] Aviation Defence Universe (ADU Media) Helms Pristine and Savant Defence News Unabated

NEW DELHI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes to the context of a news portal that caters oven-fresh and authentic information about the inner spectrums of the defence industry, armed forces, civil aviation and International affairs, ADU Media is one of the trusted names for it.. It is one place where readers can get the best pieces of information related to defence and armed forces, served on a platter. Aviation Defence Universe enjoys its unfaltering stand in the fraternity of the most unprecedented and trusted news portals catering authentic news on aviation, armed forces, navy, defence industry, International relations, army games, events, shows and many more. The entity has obtained enviable fame in its niche and it definitely seems fully equipped as well as geared up to soar high in the years to come. Essentially, the portal has the most accurate as well as substantial information to dish out to target leadership spanning diverse demographics. Areas covered in this podium happen to be mesme rising in terms of depth, nature as well as format. ADU happens to e the sanguine media partner with a spate of events, seminars as well as conferences taking place in India as well as abroad. As a news portal, ADU keeps raging unabated and seems to be on a mission to bring you the best of news flicks which are unadulterated and unfalsified. Articles, published on this platform, specifically sing the glory of India's aggressive progress in the defence industry and the significant achievements of the armed forces and air forces. Thus, the portal serve something which is delectable to every Indian who loves his or her country.



Avid readers and defence industry enthusiasts, who choose to have a finger in every piece of information, would like to appreciate this portal for sure. There is no dearth of high-quality defence-centric articles, reports, editorials, features and so many other variations of news content. ADU specifically covers seminars, events, conferences and exhibitions. Moreover, the entity also handles media coverage that delves deep in the shows such as naval shows, air shows etc. Brig. Vijay Kumar Atray who happens to be the managing editor of the news portal, believes that ADU serves a great purpose by roping in the most relatable news items for both private as well as public sectors. Sangeeta Saxena is another big name behind this brand. She is the editor who happens to exercise her skills and experience to fine-tune every piece of information that will be published on the platform.

The virtual entity toes the line as it veers around the most essential vibes concerning various verticals connected with homeland security, airforce, navy, army, defence industry as well as crucial International affairs. As long as the ensemble advisory board is there to back up the decisions and initiatives of ADU, the entity does promise to scale even higher ranges and achieve more glorious milestones. About the company Aviation Defence Universe stands tall in its designated niche as one of the most valuable news providers in the precinct of army, navy, airforce, arms and ammunition. The virtual portal of ADU boasts a significant amount of global visibility. The entity has a sturdy and experienced advisory board which serves as the backbone behind all the crucial undertakings of the defence journalism podium. Contact information Company Name: Aviation Defense Universe

Address: 20, 122, Vikram Vihar, Lajpat Nagar IV, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi 110024

Contact number: +91-9810633540

Email: editor@aviation-defence-universe.com

Website: https://www.aviation-defence-universe.com

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[September 14, 2021] Digital Media Nusantara secures 'technology bridger' from Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad to become Southeast Asia's first fintech media firm

Digital Media Nusantara, the owner and operator of The ASEAN Post, Spotlight Labs and Reimagining Southeast Asia, secures funding from Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad to futureproof the business and develop its financial markets technology

The funding will enable Digital Media Nusantara to kickstart its mission to become Southeast Asia's first fintech media firm, providing financial markets infrastructure and intelligence for the ASEAN region via its ecosystem of brands KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Media Nusantara, today announced that it has secured venture financing from Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance (Incorporated) [MOF (Inc)]. The funding will be used to accelerate Digital Media Nusantara's mission to become Southeast Asia's first fintech media firm - operating at the first mile of the financial markets infrastructure and market intelligence value chain. The Pre-series A 'technology bridger' will enable the firm to commence future proofing and digital transformation across its ecosystem of brands, including The ASEAN Post, Reimagining Southeast Asia, and Spotlights Labs. Discovery Technologies, it's much awaited ASEAN-focused financial markets infrastructure technology will also commence development. Discovery Technologies is an advanced machine learning and AI enabled capital markets analytics platform. This will establish Digital Media Nusantara as Southeast East Asia's first fintech media firm, whilst unlocking new and sustainable revenue streams for the business. The Digital Media Nusantara team is led by an experienced board of business leaders and industry veterans, including: World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Founder and Managing Director of Digital Media Nusantara Rohan Ramakrishnan; veteran corporate leader Azizi Meor Ngah - Co-Founder and Chairman, Strategic Advisory Board; venture capitalist ST Chua, TMT investment advisory expert Paul Zaman, PE specialist Khoo Eu Wen, Public Affairs expert and fellow World Economic Forum Young Global Leader Ng Yeen Seen, and Public Relations and Media veteran, Terence Stephen, Founding and Managing Editor of The ASEAN Post. Founder and Managing Director of Digital Media Nusantara, Rohan Ramakrihnan, commented: "Digital Media Nusantara's mission is to bridge the data and information gap surrounding Southeast Asia's capital markets. It is widely known and acknowledged across the region's financial services industry and investor community that the lack of accurate, reliable, and structured data is impairing informed decision making and affecting the region's competitiveness.



"Our objective from inception has been to solve this anomaly by aggregating data and streamlining it into actionable insights that can drive the region and its businesses forward. Digital Media Nusantara is focused on a solution, and we have an extremely experienced team on board to guide our progress and rise to the challenges that lie ahead. With MDV's support we are now able to move on to the next stage of our development roadmap in time to play a critical role in the ASEAN Economic Community in 2025," he added. Commenting on the raise, Nizam Mohamed Nadzri, CEO of Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad, said: "Digital Media Nusantara's team has both a brilliant idea and strong track record, and also a real commitment to create an ecosystem that not only solves a problem, but helps to drive forward the ASEAN region in terms of global competitiveness. We are proud to back a Malaysian-owned company that has a first-mover advantage in the race to amalgamate ASEAN's financial markets and information systems landscape and play a pivotal role in accelerating this process. We are delighted to have been able to set things into motion for them and look forward to seeing more growth and success for Digital Media Nusantara."

Development shops in Singapore, India and Europe have been engaged to co-develop the design thinking and technologies given the complexity of the projects by the first quarter of 2022. Concurrently, Digital Media Nusantara will run additional bridging rounds and its larger Series A round to further fuel the development of its growing stable of brands. Singapore-headquartered corporate finance advisory boutique, Yefira Group, acted as transaction advisors whilst Malaysia-based corporate and M&A law boutique firm, Peter Ling & Van Geyzel, acted as transaction lawyers. Hariz bin Muhammad Junid, VP at Yefira Group, added: "Digital Media Nusantara is currently in the midst of deploying the capital raised from MDV to further develop the business. We are looking forward to raising the next funding rounds, which will allow Digital Media Nusantara to amplify its growth, scale up further and build up its stable of brands in support of its mission." Digital Media Nusantara is wholly owned by Vantage Point Capital, a special purpose vehicle founded by Rohan Ramakrishnan, together with veteran corporate leader Azizi Meor Ngah and persons-acting-in-concert. Digital Media Nusantara in turn owns, operates, and manages the stable of brands including The ASEAN Post, Spotlight Labs, Reimagining Southeast Asia and Discovery Technologies, the unique ASEAN-focused financial markets' infrastructure technology that is currently under development. Digital Media Nusantara also has a stable of brands that will be strategically rolled out in phases across 2022. About Digital Media Nusantara Digital Media Nusantara is a financial technology, data services and regional media company operating at the first mile of the financial markets' infrastructure and market intelligence value chain within the ASEAN Economic Community. As Southeast Asia's first fintech media firm, it aims to provide high quality analytics and insights to bridge the news and financial information gap surrounding the region's capital markets for a global audience. Its stable of brands form an ecosystem dedicated to the overall ASEAN Regional Integration agenda. For more information on DMN visit http://www.digitalmedianusantara.com About Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad (MDV) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance (Incorporated) [MOF (Inc)] established in 2002 with the objective of providing flexible and innovative financing to develop high-impact and technology-driven sectors of the economy, identified, and prioritized by the Government as future engines of growth. MDV's strategic role in the technology financing ecosystem in Malaysia is defined by its approach to funding which is different from other financial institutions. MDV's niche is helping to fund young technology-based companies or start-ups that are unable to secure financing from commercial financial institutions due to their novel business model, lack of proven operating track record and lack of collaterals. With the rapid rate of technological and digital advances, and Malaysia's continued push towards becoming an advanced nation, MDV will continue to have a significant role to play particularly in financing emerging technology areas and in achieving its vision of becoming the Nation's Technology Financier. For more information on MDV visit http://www.mdv.com.my/ SOURCE Digital Media Nusantara

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[September 14, 2021] Chamotte Granules to Increase the Efficiency of Underground Water Deironing Up To 78%, NUST MISIS reports

MOSCOW, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A Russian-Belorussian research team has come up with a new method for underground water deironing. Their findings show that modified refractory chamotte granules increase the efficiency of water deironing up to 78%, making underground waters safe to drink. The study was published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. Groundwater is one of the cleanest natural sources of drinking water available. At the same time, often requires deironing  removal of the dissolved iron ions  before the water could be used. For instance, the iron content in underground water could reach 40 mg/L and even higher while in accordance with the requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO) the permissible content of iron in drinking water is 0.2 mg/L. Such water requires purification befor e it could be safely used. Today, the most common method for removing naturally occurring iron from water is oxidation with oxygen or other oxidizing agents, i.e potassium, chlorine and ozone. The process involves the oxidation of the soluble forms of iron to their insoluble forms and then removal y filtration. It is carried out using deironing filters, filled with granulated quartz sand, different types of coals, granite crumbs, and others. The efficiency of the deironing could also be increased by surface modification of the fillers. The most commonly used method for fillers' surface modification is the soaking of the modified material in solutions of metal salts, followed by their drying and calcination within a long time. This approach is very energy- and time-consuming.



The solution combustion synthesis (SCS) approach is considered to be a more efficient and faster alternative. The SCS is based on a combination of homogeneous mixing of initial components in an aqueous solution and their self-propagate combustion in a high-exothermic redox reaction. The whole combustion synthesis process including heating, reaction, and cooling down takes from several seconds to 10 min, depending on reacting system. Besides energy efficiency, the method has several other advantages, including low cost and availability of required chemicals, repeatability, and high adaptiveness for the synthesis of a broad variety of nanomaterials. The scientists from NUST MISIS and the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus have come up with an innovative method for underground water deironing based on the SCS reaction. They used refractory chamotte as the main component of filter filler. The study found that the modification of the surface of chamotte granules increases the efficiency of water deironing by 4578% depending on modifiers concentration.

"The materials obtained are up to 3 times more efficient than those currently used at drinking water treatment plants. The modification process is up to 30 times more time-efficient than other commonly used techniques, and up to 100 times less energy consuming due to the exothermic and self-sustaining nature of the combustion," said Valentin Romanovsky, Research Center for Structural Ceramic Nanomaterials at NUST MISIS. Iron-rich waste (up to 60 wt% of iron) from water deferrization stations were used as a source of iron for the modification of the surface of chamotte granules. A combination of advantages of the solution combustion synthesis with the use of wastes (sediments, obtained during water deironing) as raw materials, will help to develop time and cost-efficient technology for the creation of efficient water deironing filters with a high degree of recycling of secondary resources, the researchers believe. Link to the sourse: https://en.misis.ru/university/news/science/2021-09/7539/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/955872/NUST_MISIS_Logo.jpg

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[September 14, 2021] Wisetek Continues Expansion with Opening of New UK Facility

MILTON KEYNES, England, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wisetek, a global leader in advanced IT asset disposition (ITAD), data destruction, technology reuse, and manufacturing services, has today announced the opening of a new facility in Milton Keynes, England. Wisetek aims to grow the business substantially and become an important contributor to the local community. The 40,000 sq. ft. facility will provide Wisetek's customers with a suite of IT related services including Asset Disposition and Data Destruction. When it is fully operational, the company plans o offer bespoke services such as remote employee services, repair, kitting, and mobile HDD shredding.



The new facility will be managed by Matt Summers, UK Business Operations Manager. The site will service a number of client organisations throughout the UK, including multinational and nationally based businesses. Following Brexit, it is a key priority for Wisetek to expand its presence in the region, in order to facilitate its growth in the UK market.

Mark Watson, UK Head of Business Development said "The establishment of this new facility is a significant achievement for Wisetek, and speaks to the growing demand we are seeing for our services across the globe. We look forward to seizing the opportunities which this new facility will afford us to expand our client base and service businesses and organisations operating in different sectors throughout the UK." Sean Sheehan, CEO of Wisetek said: "Wisetek is incredibly proud to announce the establishment of this new facility, which will enable us to grow our presence in an important international market. This development speaks to the rapid growth of Wisetek and the ITAD sector as a whole, as more and more organisations are realising the importance of implementing fit for purpose processes in this area, in order to ensure security, compliance and sustainability. We look forward to growing Wisetek's business in the UK, as well as continuing to expand internationally in the years to come." Sustainability will be a key priority for Wisetek at its new facility, as is the case across its global operations. The company has a dedicated environmental committee in place, with the objective of continually improving the internal environmental policies and processes at all of its sites. Wisetek operates a Zero Landfill Policy across all of its locations. The company strives to be recognised by customers, employees and the community as a responsible business, committed to best environmental practice and absolute transparency in all work practices. About Wisetek Wisetek is a leader in IT asset disposition (ITAD), secure data destruction, reuse and technology manufacturing services worldwide. Wisetek strives to provide world-class services to achieve a maximum financial return from advanced reuse, remanufacturing, remarketing and recycling of retired IT equipment. The company's advanced managed processes assure clients they remain legally and ethically secure in their data destruction and IT asset disposition operations, whilst also ensuring they achieve optimal financial and operational value recovery from their retired IT equipment. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1624419/Wisetek.jpg

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[September 14, 2021] L3Harris Robots to Help Protect US Air Force Bases Around the World

The U.S. Air Force has chosen L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) robots to help protect its bases around the world. The Air Force awarded L3Harris a 10-year, $85-million, IDIQ contract to produce up to 170 T7 robots to replace its existing 20-year-old Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) system, which mitigates explosive threats at bases. The contract includes robots, robotics support, maintenance and training, with initial deliveries scheduled in 2022. "The T7 is setting the new standard for large EOD robots and has received outstanding technical and usability ratings from the Air Force," said Ed Zoiss, President, Space and Airborne Systems, L3Harris. "This award highlights our ongoing technology investment and positions L3Harris as the premier supplier of large EOD robots." The contract follows L3Harris' successful delivery of Project STARTER to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), which replaced the MOD's aging fleet of EOD robots with 122 T7 robots. The L3Harris family of robots, including the T7 and its equally capable medium-sized counterpart, the T4, will be demonstrated at the Defenceand Security Equipment International (DSEI) conference in London Sept. 14-17 and the Association of the US Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, DC in October.



About L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 47,000 employees, with customers in more than 100 countries. L3Harris.com.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Such statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements about system capabilities and anticipated contract awards are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. L3Harris disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005182/en/

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[September 14, 2021] EC-Council Announces $1 Million CEH Practical Scholarship 2021 to Boost Ethical Hacking Skills

EC-Council, a leader in cybersecurity certification and education programs, has announced the launch of the 2021 edition of the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Practical Scholarship program. Through this program, EC-Council (News - Alert) awards $1 Million to the ethical hacking community, providing 2,000 qualified cybersecurity professionals with the chance to hone their skills through the CEH Practical exam. Candidates that successfully pass the exam will attain the CEH Practical certification. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005321/en/ EC-Council gives back to the Infosecurity community with a $1 Million CEH Practical Scholarship 2021 to Boost Ethical Hacking Skills; the Scholarship aims to encourage skill-building and preparation for CEH Practical Exams. The scholarship has also reserved 50 Percent of its funds for women and neurodiverse individuals to increase diversity and representation. Go to https://www.eccouncil.org/ to apply. (Graphic: Business Wire) The Certified Ethical Hacker by EC-Council is considered a cornerstone of ethical hacking and has set new benchmarks in the industry. CEH (Practical) is the world's first industry-ready ethical hacking assessment conducted live online, 100 percent verified and remotely proctored. Leading government and private entities across the globe need cybersecurity professionals who have proven their practical skills and are ready to apply those skills. Through the CEH Scholarship program, candidates get the opportunity o prove their hands-on abilities in a live, six-hour, remotely proctored CEH Practical exam with twenty challenges. Scholarship recipients will also be featured on the Global Ethical Hacking Leaderboard.



This year, the CEH Practical Scholarship program will bring women and members of the neurodiverse community to the forefront by reserving 50 percent of the allocated funds for these individuals, encouraging more representation and diversity among ethical hacking professionals. Students and existing professionals can also take advantage of this scholarship for further skill development. "CEH (Practical) aims to provide the top cybersecurity minds of the world a platform from where they can set industry standards and create benchmarks," said Jay Bavisi, President and CEO, EC-Council. "The scholarship will also ensure that we reach out to a more diverse cybersecurity community and help them develop their skills."

"A successful candidate will serve in an intermediate trainee developmental level with assignments consisting of specific, often unrelated, tasks that are selected to orient employees in the practical application of theory and basic principles." - US Department of Homeland Security Bavisi continued, "EC-Council's mission to mitigate cyber risk across the world by creating high-quality cybersecurity education through our CEH (Master) Scholarship program is an ongoing one. We are specifically committed to the creation of a diverse cybersecurity community. EC-Council's program is part of our larger effort to harness the collective abilities of everyone to make the world a better place for all." Scholarship Eligibility Criteria: 1. Applicants must be Ethical Hacking practitioners with at least two years of experience, or 2. Applicants must be a Penetration Tester with at least two years of experience, or 3. Applicants must either be enrolled in information security/cybersecurity programs or have completed ethical hacking or penetration testing courses. 4. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age. Additional resources: The program retails at $550, however, EC-Council will cover the cost of 2,000 exam vouchers to merit-based scholarship recipients under the scholarship criteria. The selected participants will only have to pay a nominal processing fee of $99. EC-Council is currently accepting applications and the deadline for submission is December 13, 2021. Interested participants can apply for the CEH Practical Scholarship by filling out the form at: https://www.eccouncil.org/ceh-practical-scholarship-2021/ About EC-Council EC-Council (International Council of E-Commerce Consultants) is a cybersecurity certification body that certifies professionals across the globe in various cybersecurity domains. Its mission is to build and refine the cybersecurity profession by helping individuals, organizations, educators, and governments in 140+ countries address workforce problems by developing and curating world-class cybersecurity education programs and their corresponding certifications and providing cybersecurity services - setting the bar in cybersecurity education. Trusted by seven of the Fortune 10, 47 of the Fortune 100, the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, NATO, and over 2,000 universities, colleges, and training companies, EC-Council is best known for the Certified Ethical Hacker program, equipping over 230,000 information-age soldiers with the knowledge and skills required to defeat black hat adversaries. EC-Council builds individual and team/organization cyber capabilities through this Program, as well as a variety of other cyber programs. An ANSI 17024 accredited organization, they have also earned recognition by the DoD under Directive 8140/8570, in the UK by the GCHQ, CREST, and a variety of other authoritative bodies that influence the entire profession. Founded in 2001, EC-Council employs over four hundred people worldwide with offices around the world. Its U.S. offices are in Albuquerque, NM, and Tampa, FL. Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @ECCOUNCIL, learn more at www.eccouncil.org, mail to: press@eccouncil.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005321/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Lee Equity and Twin Point Acquire Alliance Corporation

Lee Equity Partners and Twin (News - Alert) Point Capital, two growth middle market private equity firms, announced that funds managed by the two groups have acquired a controlling interest in Alliance Corporation ("Alliance" or the "Company"). Alliance is Canada's largest value-added distributor of wireless communications technology and is one of the fastest growing distributors in the United States, providing mission-critical solutions to the leading wireless carriers across North America. The Company is one of only two scaled North American distributors with cable termination capabilities and supports the construction, maintenance, and upgrades of cellular towers, indoor cellular service, and broadband internet. Alliance distributes over 5,000 SKUs of construction and telecom materials and terminates technologically advanced, custom cabling to a broad range of end customers including carriers, internet service providers, contractors, building owners and other components of the broadband infrastructure ecosystem. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005192/en/ Alliance's experienced senior management team is led by Ron Moss, President. Ron has been with the firm for over 25 years and will continue to lead the company. The entire senior management team will retain a meaningful equity investment in the business. Ironbridge Equity Partners ("Ironbridge") has been the majority equity investor in the Company and will exit its investment in its entirety as a result of this transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "For over 28 years, Alliance has served the growing and increasingly complex needs of the wireless telecommunications industry, providing our customers with a comprehensive portfolio of the highest quality products and world-class customer service," said Ron Moss, President of Alliance. "Our national footprint, cable termination capabilities, value-added distribution and logistics, and our dedication to customer service provide our customers with reliable and timely solutions to their expanding 5G infrastructure requirements. We are excited to partner with Lee Equity and Twin Point given their knowledge and experience in the telecommunications and distribution sectors. Our partnership will enable Alliance to grow even faster and better serve an even greater set of customer needs." "Given the rapidly growing G wireless infrastructure requirements in North America, Alliance represents a unique wireless services platform given its leadership position in both distribution and cable termination, diversified customer base across all major U.S. and Canadian wireless carriers, and a broad and experienced management team with deep relations in the industry," said Yoo Jin Kim, a Partner at Lee Equity. "We look forward to working with Ron, the entire Alliance team and Twin Point to accelerate the growth of Alliance and expand its leadership position in its core services and new adjacent services."



"We look forward to partnering with Ron and the Alliance management team," said Jonathan Friesel, Managing Partner of Twin Point Capital. "The company has an impressive set of in-house cable termination and distribution solutions and a passion for solving customer needs, on-time and on-budget. We look forward to working with our new partners on further enhancing growth organically and through strategic acquisitions." D.A. Davidson served as exclusive financial advisor to Alliance and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP served as Alliance's counsel. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Bennett Jones LLP; and DLA Piper LLP (US) served as legal advisors to Lee Equity and Twin Point.

About Alliance Corporation Alliance Corporation distributes wireless network infrastructure, in-building signal enhancement solutions and broadband systems for cellular and next generation 5G networks, fixed wireless networks, as well as private enterprise and industrial users. Alliance also provides pre and post-sale technical support, engineering, radio configuration and training services. Alliance offers wireless infrastructure products, including custom terminated trunk cable and jumpers, antennas, antennas accessories, mobile mounts, cable/connectors/adapters, filter products, RF amplifiers, grounding systems, lightening protection products, amplifiers, filters, test and measurement equipment, towers/site equipment, site monitoring, power and related products. Alliance provides in-building signal enhancement products such amplifiers for public safety, cellular signal repeaters and DAS systems, plenum, coax cable and in-building antennas as well all the other passive components needed for an in-building installation. Alliance also provides wireless broadband products, such as fixed LTE (News - Alert) , Wi-Fi, point to point/backhaul, wireless access/point to multipoint, Industrial mesh technology, IOT equipment, SCADA and wireless video backhaul. Alliance serves telecom carriers, fixed wireless broadband service providers, OEMs, systems integrators, resellers, and contractors in education, enterprise, federal government, military, healthcare, industrial, municipal government, oil and gas, mining, public safety, security, utilities and transportation industries. Visit www.alliancecorporation.ca/ About Lee Equity Partners Lee Equity Partners is a New York-based private equity firm that partners with successful management teams to build companies with strong growth potential. Lee Equity targets equity investments of $50 million to $150 million in middle-market control buyouts and growth capital financings in companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $500 million that are located primarily in the North America. The firm invests in a range of industries where the team has deep relationships developed over decades, including business services, financial services, and healthcare services. Visit www.LeeEquity.com. About Twin Point Capital Twin Point Capital is a principal investment firm founded by Lawrence H. Guffey and Jonathan E. Friesel in 2015 following their careers at Blackstone and Oak Hill Capital Partners, respectively. Based in Palo Alto (News - Alert) , CA and New York, NY, Twin Point seeks to partner with outstanding management teams to build market leading companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005192/en/

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[September 14, 2021] ROME Therapeutics Secures $77 Million in Series B Financing to Advance Repeatome-derived Pipeline for Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases and Expand Repeatomics Platform

ROME Therapeutics, a biotechnology company harnessing the power of the repeatome for drug development, today announced the completion of a $77 million Series B financing led by new investor Section 32. In addition, new investors Sanofi Ventures, Casdin Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Alexandria Venture Investments participated in the round, alongside existing investors ARCH Ventures, GV and Mass General Brigham Ventures (formerly Partners Innovation Fund). Concurrent with the financing, Steven J. Kafka, Ph.D., managing partner at Section 32, and Jim Trenkle, Ph.D., head of investments at Sanofi Ventures, were appointed to ROME's Board of Directors. ROME's mission is to harness the power of the repeatome - the roughly 60% of the human genome consisting of repetitive sequences of nucleic acids, known as repeats - to discover powerful new classes of medicines for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Repeats have long been considered part of the "dark genome," but recent discoveries have demonstrated that the repeatome has pathological consequences in cancer, autoimmune disease and other therapeutic areas. Since launching in April 2020, ROME has identified multiple repeatome-derived targets and created an internal data science platform, called repeatomics, to analyze vast quantities of data available through the repeatome. "In the short time since our founding, ROME has made significant progress uncovering the role and mechanism of the repeatome in cancer and autoimmune disease, which has led to our foundational repeatomics platform and identification of multiple tractable targets for drug discovery," said Rosana Kapeller, M.D., Ph.D., president, chief executive officer and co-founder of ROME. "With the support of this group of premier investors, we are wellcapitalized and resourced to continue advancing our lead programs into the clinic, expanding our pipeline of repeatome-derived programs and enhancing our repeatomics platform, as we seek to revolutionize the way cancer and autoimmune diseases are treated."



"Traditional genomics has transformed how we think about drug development, diagnosis and treatment; however, for too long we have been unable to extend this approach to the 'dark genome,'" said Dr. Kafka. "Leveraging the deep insights garnered by ROME's experienced team of drug hunters and data scientists, ROME has developed innovative tools and techniques to generate novel insights from the repeatome in order to bring forward an entirely new and important class of disease-modifying medicines." About New Directors

Steven J. Kafka, Ph.D., is a managing partner at Section 32, a venture capital fund investing at the frontiers of technology and healthcare. Dr. Kafka serves as chairman of the board of Glympse Bio and a director at ImmuneID, as well as CEO and director of DA 32 Life Science Tech Acquisition Corp. Previously, Dr. Kafka served as both founding CEO and executive chairman of Thrive Earlier Detection, which was acquired by Exact Sciences in January 2021. Dr. Kafka also served as executive chairman of ArcherDX, Inc., which was acquired by Invitae in October 2020. Earlier, Dr. Kafka served as president and chief operating officer of Foundation Medicine, Inc., which was acquired by Roche in 2018, and held executive roles at multiple public and private oncology drug discovery and development companies. Dr. Kafka earned a Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard University and a B.A. in economics and political science from Stanford University. Jim Trenkle, Ph.D., is currently head of investments at Sanofi Ventures and has a background in research and development, commercialization and early-stage biotech investing. Dr. Trenkle currently serves on the board of directors at Therini Bio, Glycomine and Veralox Therapeutics. Prior to joining Sanofi, Dr. Trenkle was part of the early team at Pivotal bioVenture Partners in San Francisco, where he served as Board observer for Entasis (ETTX), Inozyme (INZY), Akouos (AKUS), Fusion Pharmaceuticals (FSUN) and Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX). He began his career with Gilead Sciences where he held positions of increasing responsibility in medicinal chemistry, project and portfolio management and commercial strategy, largely focused on hepatitis C and other liver diseases. Dr. Trenkle holds a B.S. in honors chemistry from the University of Michigan, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of California Berkeley, Haas School of Business. About ROME ROME Therapeutics is developing novel therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases by harnessing the power of the repeatome - vast stretches of uncharted genetic material that have long been dismissed as "junk DNA." With several drug targets identified and multiple discovery programs underway, ROME is moving rapidly to leverage this new frontier in biology. To lead this exploration, ROME has assembled a team of world-class leaders across fields including oncology, immunology, virology and machine learning. ROME is based in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.rometx.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005262/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Ault Global Holdings Takes Delivery of 1,000 S19j Pro Antminers to Be Deployed Promptly

Ault Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: DPW) a diversified holding company (the "Company"), announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Ault Alliance, Inc. ("Ault Alliance"), has taken delivery of 1,000 S19j Pro model Antminers (the "Antminers"). On February 1, 2021, the Company announced that it was resuming bitcoin mining through the acquisition of 1,000 new S19 Pro Antminers. The new Antminers will be deployed at the Company's Michigan data center (the "Data Center"). The deployment of the 1,000 Antminers will begin during the current month and is expected to be completed on or before October 15, 2021. Alliance Cloud Services, LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of Ault Alliance, acquired the Data Center, a 617,000 square foot energy-efficient facility located on a 34.5-acre site, in January 2021. The deployment of the 1,000 Antminers coincides with the buildout of 30,000 square feet dedicated to data center operations. During June 2021, the Company announced its intent to expand the infrastructure of its Data Center and increase the power capacity to 28MWs. Milton "Todd" Ault, III, the Company's Executive Chairman, stated, "We commend our team on the initial 30,000 square foot buildout of the Data Center to accommodate the new Antminers. I'm pleased with the progress achieved to lay the groundwork for our renewed cryptocurrency mining operations that we expect will ultimately contribute meaningfully to the Company's growth in both revenues and profitability." For more information on Ault Global Holdings and its subsidiaries, the Company recommends that stockholders, investors and any other interested parties read the Company's public filings and press releases available under the Investor Relaions section at www.AultGlobal.com or available at www.sec.gov.



About Ault Global Holdings, Inc. Ault Global Holdings, Inc. is a diversified holding company pursuing growth by acquiring undervalued businesses and disruptive technologies with a global impact. Through its wholly and majority-owned subsidiaries and strategic investments, the Company provides mission-critical products that support a diverse range of industries, including defense/aerospace, industrial, automotive, telecommunications, medical/biopharma, and textiles. In addition, the Company extends credit to select entrepreneurial businesses through a licensed lending subsidiary. Ault Global Holding's headquarters are located at 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 240, Las Vegas, NV 89141; www.AultGlobal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "may," "will," "should," "could," "potential," or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Company's business and financial results are included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Company's website at www.AultGlobal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005499/en/

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[September 14, 2021] MSCI Launches Implied Temperature Rise to Help Investors Align Their Portfolios With Global Climate Goals

MSCI, a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community, has announced the launch of its Implied Temperature Rise (or "Temperature Rise") solution, equipping investors globally with data to map how companies in their investment portfolios are aligning with global temperature targets. The company-level dataset will cover nearly 10,000 publicly listed companies based on the MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index. The innovative climate solution is launching ahead of COP26 in November and follows the recent report from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which recommends all financial institutions measure and disclose the alignment of their portfolios with the goals of the Paris Agreement using forward-looking metrics. Despite the growing number of global companies publicly committing to climate-focused goals, the strength and specific details of these commitments vary widely. The Temperature Rise solution comes at a critical time to add clarity and transparency to opaque climate commitments. The solution assesses how strong these commitments are using a simplified and powerful metric: companies' alignment to global temperature targets. Used alongside MSCI's Target Scorecard, a framework to assess companies' decarbonization and net-zero climate targets, this comprehensive series of analytical tools aims to help investors strengthen their engagement on climate risk and navigate the transition to a net-zero world. To enable investors to analyze the pace at which the companies they invest in are transitioning their businesses to meet their climate goals, the solution captures crucial benchmarks such as the 2C target, referring to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) goal, or the 1.5C limit, popularized through the Paris Agreeent.



MSCI's Temperature Rise solution converts the current and projected greenhouse gas emissions, taking into consideration emissions reduction targets, of each company to an estimated rise in global temperature. Projections are calculated by comparing those projected emissions with the global carbon budget that remains if the planet is to keep temperature rise this century below 2C, a benchmark also linked to MSCI's quarterly Net-Zero Tracker. The Temperature Rise solution has been modelled to meet the design recommendations set out by the TCFD Portfolio Alignment Team for all segments of the financial sector to measure and disclose temperature alignment of portfolios as well as target-setting frameworks.

Remy Briand, Global Head of ESG and Climate at MSCI, said: "Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time and capital markets participants are critical to driving the systemic transformation needed to avert climate catastrophe. The Implied Temperature Rise metric is an important addition to our evolving suite of climate investing tools and builds on MSCI's mission to ensure capital markets and its participants can drive the transition to net-zero. Investors are rapidly sharpening their focus on the financial impacts of climate change, and they need greater transparency and insight on whether their capital may further, or frustrate, the goal of a more sustainable society. With its convenient measure for forward-looking portfolio emission trajectory, investors can use Implied Temperature Rise as a versatile tool to set decarbonization targets and strengthen engagement on climate risk." MSCI Implied Temperature Rise is currently available as part of MSCI ESG Research's Climate Value-at-Risk product. MSCI has and will continue to conduct proactive outreach to the nearly 10,000 publicly listed companies to call for increased climate disclosure by year end. MSCI invites all issuers to review and provide feedback on their climate targets and commitments through the MSCI ESG Issuer Communications Portal. About MSCI Inc. MSCI is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services for the global investment community. With over 50 years of expertise in research, data, and technology, we power better investment decisions by enabling clients to understand and analyze key drivers of risk and return and confidently build more effective portfolios. We create industry-leading research-enhanced solutions that clients use to gain insight into and improve transparency across the investment process. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or performance and involve risks that may cause actual results or performance differ materially and you should not place undue reliance on them. Risks that could affect results or performance are in MSCI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year ended on December 31 that is filed with the SEC (News - Alert) . MSCI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. No information herein constitutes investment advice or should be relied on as such. MSCI grants no right or license to use its products or services without an appropriate license. MSCI MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION HEREIN AND DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005643/en/

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[September 14, 2021] NYSE and Intrinsic Exchange Group Partner to Launch a New Asset Class to Power a Sustainable Future

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, and Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) announced today that they are jointly developing a new class of publicly traded assets called Natural Asset Companies, or NACs. NACs are sustainable enterprises that hold the rights to ecosystem services produced by natural, working or hybrid lands. On a global basis, natural assets produce an estimated $125 trillion annually in ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity and clean water. The formidable output underscores the financial potential of an asset class that is wholly based on environmental investment. "This new asset class on the NYSE will create a virtuous cycle of investment in nature that will help finance sustainable development for communities, companies and countries," said Douglas Eger, CEO of IEG. "Together, IEG and the NYSE will enable investors to access nature's store of wealth and transform our industrial economy into one that is more equitable." Because the value created by NACs is not fully captured by traditional economic metrics, IEG has developed an accounting framework to measure ecological performance to complement GAAP financial statements. Developed in consultation with former FASB Chairman Robert Herz and leading accounting firms, IEG's framework enables investors to value the ecosystem services generated by NACs. In addition, the NYSE will develop and seek SEC (News - Alert) approval for unique listing requirements tailored to NACs and incorporating IEG's accounting methodology. IEG and the NYSE would then begin working with the first NACs to help prepare them for listing and trading as publicly held entities on the NYSE. "With the introduction of Natural Asset Companies, the NYSE plans to provide investors an innovative mechanism to financially support the sustainability initiatives they deem critical to our future. Our work with Intrinsic Exchange Group is another example of the NYSE tapping into our community to drive meaningful progress on ESG issues with a solutions-based approach," said Stacey Cunningham, President of NYSE Group. IEG is currently advising a number of sovereign nations, private landowners and public companies on the potential creation of NACs. IEG and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are working with the Government of Costa Rica to lay the foundation for NACs that would preserve and grow natural assets throughout the country. In the private sector, IEG anticipates announcing its first partnership later this fall in collaboration with a multinational corporation. IEG has received initial funding from IDB Lab and IDB, The Rockefeller Foundation, Aberdare Ventures and Entertaining Ideas. IDB was an early supporter of IEG's vision and helped it identify and develop projects in countries throughout South America. IDB's extensive network of relationships and long engagement in both regional and global sustainability efforts position it as an important key partner to IEG. The NYSE has taken a minority stake in IEG and plans to license its accounting framework to support the development of the new asset class. The transaction will not be material to ICE's earnings or have an impact on capital allocation plans. Statements from Key Stakeholders: Robert Herz, former Chairman of FASB:

"In addition to GAAP financial statements, w believe it is absolutely critical to provide investors in Natural Asset Companies with relevant, reliable and understandable information on the flows of the ecosystem services they produce and their stocks of natural capital assets."



Mauricio Claver-Carone, President of Inter-American Development Bank

"This announcement by NYSE and IEG comes at a critical time when the economies of many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have struggled as a result of the pandemic. The IDB Group is proud to have been the first supporter of IEG as an investor and a long-standing partner working with countries to develop projects for the exchange. Unlocking the tremendous intrinsic value of nature will allow countries to leverage their natural capital for conservation and human development goals." Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation

"Climate change is an existential threat, one that demands all of us to urgently consider every opportunity to mobilize resources to protect vulnerable ecosystems and communities and fight for the future of billions of people around the world. This is why we are proud to have been an early supporter of IEG's approach to identifying new and sustainable ways for countries to safeguard their lands and waterways while creating a market to preserve natural assets."

Andrea Meza Murillo, Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica

"In Costa Rica, IEG is supporting us to build a pilot project for establishing a Natural Asset Company. This will deepen the economic analysis of giving nature its economic value, as well as to continue mobilizing financial flows to conservation. All of this, in a key moment when we have to meet social and economic needs on our people and comply with what science tells us about the 30x30 goal, on protecting at least 30 percent of land and oceans by 2030." About NYSE Group NYSE Group is a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure. NYSE Group's equity exchanges -- the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American, NYSE Arca (News - Alert) , NYSE Chicago and NYSE National -- trade more U.S. equity volume than any other exchange group. The NYSE is the premier global venue for capital raising. NYSE Arca Options and NYSE Amex Options are leading equity options exchanges. To learn more, visit nyse.com. About Intercontinental Exchange Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes that offer our customers access to mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and operational efficiencies. We operate exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and clearing houses that help people invest, raise capital and manage risk across multiple asset classes. Our comprehensive fixed income data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers capitalize on opportunities and operate more efficiently. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming and digitizing the U.S. residential mortgage process, from consumer engagement through loan registration. Together, we transform, streamline and automate industries to connect our customers to opportunity. Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading "Key Information Documents (KIDS)." Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the SEC on February 4, 2021. About Intrinsic Exchange Group Intrinsic Exchange Group (IEG) has pioneered a new, publicly traded asset class called Natural Asset Companies, or NACs. NACs are sustainable enterprises that hold the rights to ecosystem services produced by natural, working or hybrid lands. NACs enable natural asset owners to convert nature's value into financial capital, providing additional resources necessary to power a sustainable future. IEG has partnered with New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a minority investor in IEG, to list and trade NACs on the NYSE. IEG works with natural asset owners to form and list NACs. IEG has developed an accounting framework to measure ecological performance to complement GAAP financial statements. Developed in consultation with former FASB Chairman Robert Herz and leading accounting firms, IEG's framework enables investors to value the ecosystem services generated by NACs. IEG was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur and environmentalist, Douglas Eger. IEG received initial funding from IDB Lab and Inter-American Development Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation and Aberdare Ventures and Entertaining Ideas. SOURCE: Intercontinental Exchange

ICE-CORP View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005283/en/

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[September 14, 2021] OmniMetrix Partners with Houston-Based Power Solutions Specialist to Provide Remote Monitoring and Control for Briggs and Stratton Stand-by Power Generators

HOUSTON and BUFORD, Ga., Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OmniMetrixTM, a subsidiary of Acorn Energy, Inc., a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) remote monitoring and control solutions for power generators, gas pipelines, air compressors and other industrial equipment, today announced it has partnered with Power Solutions Specialist, LLC (PSS) to provide remote monitoring and control equipment and services for thousands of Briggs and Stratton back-up power generators over the next twelve months. Based outside of Houston, Texas, PSS is a leading stand-by back-up power generator dealer and service provider in the region.

Brian Northway, Partner at PSS, said, We are pleased to formalize our relationship with OmniMetrix, a leader in the remote monitoring and control technology and service. Remote monitoring is a critical component of a complete power solution and this is particularly true for stand-by generators which are used in emergency situations when power is lost due to storms, fires, floods or other natural disasters. Effective monitoring not only reduces overall maintenance costs by identifying problems early, but can also mitigate issues that would otherwise cause a back-up generator to fail. With increasingly frequent and severe weather events and power grid issues, our customers are recognizing the need for reliable back-up power, and remote monitoring ensures their system is ready when the grid goes down. We are pleased to be bringing OmniMetrixs industry leading technology and service to support our customers. Dan Hess, Vice President of Sales for OmniMetrix, commented, We are excited to partner with Power Solutions Specialist, one of the largest back-up generator providers and a prominent Briggs and Stratton distributor. Generator dealers are our primary customers and we provide cost effective, proactive and predictive monitoring solutions and programs to meet their specific needs and requirements  such as increasing the reliability of generator systems by preventing 95% of fail to start events, providing summary reports, and 24/7 portal access to view the status and control monitored generators. Under the terms f our initial agreement we expect to provide monitoring equipment and services, including the ability to remotely start and stop generators and clear alarms to thousands of generators over the next twelve months, and we hope to build on this relationship in future years.



As previously disclosed, OmniMetrixs GAAP gross profit grew 25% in the first six months of 2021 on cash-basis revenue growth of 25% compared to the first six months of 2020. This partnership with PSS coupled with OmniMetrixs continued investment in its IoT products and its people will further strengthen OmniMetrixs ability to gain market share as it executes on its strategic growth plan into 2022. About Power Solutions Specialist, LLC (www.psstx.com)

Established in 2020, Power Solutions Specialist has a new take on the generator dealer market, providing factory level support, training, and service to all purchasing dealers. PSS takes pride in outstanding customer service and its ability to meet all stand-by generator needs of its customers, including turnkey installation and maintenance. PSS is a distributor for Briggs and Stratton and provides installation and maintenance services as well as parts and maintenance kits. Power Solutions Specialist also works with multiple builders and electrical supply companies to facilitate smooth installation for new and existing construction. PSSs continued success comes from its knowledgeable, dedicated team, and its commitment to innovative approaches, technical excellence and first class customer service.

About OmniMetrix, LLC ( www.omnimetrix.net )

OmniMetrix is a pioneer and leader in machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) wireless remote monitoring and control solutions for stand-by power generators, gas pipelines, air compressors and other industrial equipment. OmniMetrixs proven, cost-effective solutions make critical systems more reliable. The company monitors tens of thousands of assets for customers, which include 25 Fortune/Global 500 companies. In addition to industrial and residential generators, OmniMetrix solutions monitor critical equipment used by cell towers, manufacturing plants, medical facilities, data centers, retail stores, public transportation systems, energy distribution and federal, state and municipal government facilities. OmniMetrix is a subsidiary of Acorn Energy, Inc. (OTCQB: ACFN). Safe Harbor Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties, including risks related to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. There is no assurance that OmniMetrix or Acorn Energy will be successful in growing its business or customers, maintaining profitability, or the value of its operating business and other assets. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect OmniMetrix and Acorn Energy, is included in Risk Factors in Acorns most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Follow Us

Twitter: @Acorn_IR and @OmniMetrix Investor Relations and Media Contacts

Catalyst IR

William Jones, 267-987-2082, wjones@catalyst-ir.com

David Collins, 212-924-9800, dcollins@catalyst-ir.com





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[September 14, 2021] Blackline Safety Achieves Record $12.7M of Revenue up 35% Year Over Year

Blackline Safety Corp. (TSX: BLN), a global leader in connected safety technology with a hardware-enabled software-as-a-service (HeSaaS) business model, announced its eighteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, achieving $12.7M total revenue in the fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2021. Product revenue grew 91% from the prior year's quarter with recurring service revenue up 11% to $7.4M from $6.7M, driven by a 19% increase in software services revenue. "We are proud to deliver record quarterly revenue growth of $12.7M, while also reaching the $5M product revenue threshold for the first time since the pandemic started," said Cody Slater, CEO and Chairman at Blackline Safety. "Although this represents strong growth, the quarter was still impacted by delays in major procurement decisions as customers reacted to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 Delta variant." "Since the onset of the pandemic five quarters ago, we have seen our overall quarterly revenue grow by 50% globally and 74% excluding the commodity-impacted Canadian market. This demonstrates how Blackline is playing an integral part in keeping workers safe, while contributing to digital transformation efforts. Despite the continued presence of COVID throughout the world, we've started to see a return to more normal business operations across our customer base as evidenced by four major contract wins announced at the start of Q4." Recent G7 and G7 EXO product sales and strong retention and renewal activity has resulted in service-level increases, which contributed growth of $0.9M in the quarter. This increase was offset by customers who renewed fewer active devices due to workforce reductions of $0.4M and only $0.02M from customers who declined to renew this quarter. Overall, total service revenue was up 11% for the quarter over the prior year quarter with software services revenue up 19%. Service margin improved to 70%, and although gross margin for the quarter was negatively impacted by global supply chain shortages, causing increased costs of inputs for the Company's manufactured devices, the Company maintained product gross margin of 13%. Blackline closed the third quarter with a solid working capital position including cash and short-term investments of $33.1M. The Company continued to build on its strategic acquisition of Wearable Technologies (News - Alert) Ltd. ("WTL"), investing $1.9M in the company focused on the product development road map and development of the sales team to accelerate our entry into the construction and light industrial markets. Despite the challenging operating environment during the global pandemic, Blackline has managed to maintain strong growth and momentum in product adoption and revenue. The continued investments in innovation and sales expansion have positioned Blackline well to fuel our strong growth trajectory as the world navigates through the pandemic. Third quarter highlights Eighteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year quarterly revenue growth

Total revenue of $12.7M, a 35% increase over the prior year's Q3

Service revenue of $7.4M, an 11% increase over the prior year's Q3, comprised of: Software services revenue of $6.5M, a 19% increase over the prior year's Q3 Operating lease revenue of $0.8M, a 29% decrease compared to the prior year's Q3 Rental revenue of $0.1M, a 10% increase compared to the prior year's Q3

Product revenue of $5. 3M (News - Alert) , a 91% increase from the prior year's Q3

Total revenue grew by 115% in Europe, 29% in the United States, and 90% in Australia, New Zealand and other international markets compared to the prior year's Q3

Total revenue growth was 60%, excluding the commodity-impacted Canadian market

Total cash and short-term investments of $33.1M at July 31, 2021

Graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange and opened the market on June 11, 2021

Christine Gillies, MBA, joined the executive team as Blackline's first Chief Marketing Officer

Brian Sweeney, former Hulu (News - Alert) Director and Amazon Global Head, was announced as a new executive, joining as Blackline's Chief Technology Officer

Issued first ever Environment, Social and Governance ("ESG") Report

G7 EXO awarded gold at INT Design's 2021 GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN awards and New Product of the Year by Occupational Health & Safety Magazine

Added Kokosing Materials, Inc to Blackline Collective, a forum for businesses to share safety insights and best practices

Announced a partnership with the Calgary Zoo to provide a connected safety solution supporting its conservation efforts Post-quarter highlights Announced largest North American portable area gas monitoring deal ever with 150 G7 EXOs sold to a leading Texas based turnaround provider for $1.0M

Blackline Europe closed its fourth large water and wastewater utility customer in the United Kingdom for $2.2M on a four-year contract

Announced largest European portable area gas monitoring deal ever for $1.7M to a leading defense contractor

Announced fifth UK water and wastewater authority win and an expansion and upgrade of a prior deployment of G7 lone worker devices to include gas detection for an existing water authority, representing value of a total value of $2.2M Financial highlights The subsequent values in this release are in thousands, except for percentages and per share data.







Quarter Ended July 31 Nine-Months Ended July 31 2021 2020 Change 2021 2020 Change $ $ % $ $ % Revenue 12,693 9,437 35 35,046 26,827 31 Gross Margin 5,859 4,961 18 17,376 13,678 27 Gross Margin Percentage 46% 53% (7) 50% 51% (1) Net Loss (10,257) (1,762) (482) (23,699) (6,217) (281) Net Loss per Share (0.19) (0.04) (414) (0.44) (0.13) (236) Adjusted EBITDA (4,569) 1,448 (416) (6,443) 3,356 (292) Adjusted EBITDA per Share (0.08) 0.03 (367) (0.13) 0.07 (286)

Key Financial Information Overall, third quarter revenue was $12,693, an increase of 35% from $9,437 in the comparable quarter of the prior fiscal year. Service revenue during the third quarter was $7,411, an increase of 11% compared to $6,665 in the same quarter last year. Retention rates of our existing customers across geographic regions and industry sectors remained robust. However, the velocity of growth in service revenue during the third quarter was negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the Delta variant. This has caused delays in deployments by new customers as well as current customers renewing fewer active devices after experiencing workforce reductions. Blackline's product revenue was $5,282, an increase of 91% compared to $2,772 in the prior year, as we saw the beginning of a return to more normal procurement processes, particularly in the United States and Europe. Notably, product revenue for the quarter was Blackline's second highest ever and marking the second consecutive quarter of greater than 115% in European product sales growth. The increase also reflects the Company's investment in its expanded sales network across North America, Europe and other geographies over the last twelve months. Blackline continued strong sales of its new G7 EXO area gas monitor which contributed $1,766 to sales during the quarter. Service margin of 70% was a 1% increase quarter-over-quarter due to higher overall service volumes as well as lower carrier costs for the connectivity of the Company's devices. Product margin was flat at 13% due to increased margin from G7 EXO sales being offset by increased material, supply and freight costs resulting from global supply chain challenges. Overall gross margin percentage for the third quarter was 46%, a 7% decrease to that achieved in the comparable quarter of the prior year driven by a heavier product versus service mix. Adjusted EBITDA was ($4,569) for the second quarter compared to $1,448 in the comparable quarter of the prior year. The decrease in the Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was attributable to $998 related to operating costs for the Company's new subsidiary WTL, an increase in general and administrative expenses and selling and marketing expenses, primarily as a result of higher salaries expense from additional new hires and reduced funding of $1,177 from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy. Adjusted EBITDA was also impacted as the Company incurred increased recruiting expenses of $380 in the quarter to support its growth strategy in sales and marketing. Blackline's unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis on financial condition and results of operations for the period ended July 31, 2021 (including the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures) are available at www.sedar.com. All results are reported in Canadian dollars. About Blackline Safety: Blackline Safety is a global connected safety leader that helps to ensure every worker gets their job done and returns home safely each day. Blackline provides wearable safety technology, personal and area gas monitoring, cloud-connected software and data analytics to meet demanding safety challenges and increase productivity of organizations with coverage in more than 100 countries. Blackline Safety wearables provide a lifeline to tens of thousands of men and women, having reported over 158 billion data-points and initiated over five million emergency responses. Armed with cellular and satellite connectivity, we ensure that help is never too far away. For more information, visit BlacklineSafety.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to, among other things, Blackline Safety's expectation to realize potential from its intended investment in organic growth opportunities in 2021, Blackline's intention to expand its product offerings to total workplace connectivity and management's expectation that Blackline will continue to focus on its comprehensive approach to connected devices, live monitoring, consulting and integration services. Blackline provided such forward-looking statements in reliance on certain expectations and assumptions that it believes are reasonable at the time, including expectations and assumptions concerning business prospects and opportunities, customer demands, the availability and cost of financing, labor and services and the impact of increasing competition. Although Blackline believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because Blackline can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information addresses future events and conditions, which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including the risks discussed in Blackline's Management's Discussion and Analysis. Blackline's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking information and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Blackline will derive therefrom. Management has included the above summary of assumptions and risks related to forward-looking information provided in this press release in order to provide readers with a more complete perspective on Blackline's future operations and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and Blackline disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005545/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Red Five to Expand and Bring Best-In-Class Security Services to Naples, Florida

NAPLES, Fla., Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Five Security, a leading provider of security and management consulting services for high-net-worth families and corporations , is opening a new office in Naples, Florida to service the rapid growth of families moving to Collier County. In addition to the corporate headquarters in McLean, Virginia and a satellite office in Palo Alto, California, the Naples' office supports the company's growth strategy. Red Five's existing partnerships with Naples' stalwarts William C. Huff , Safe and Sound , and Element Technologies is now further solidified to meet the inreasing demand for professional risk mitigation services in the area.



"The decision to expand our presence into Naples, Florida is a logical step given our incredible relationships and an increase in requests for our services." said Kris Coleman, Owner and Founder. "We look forward to becoming a part of the community, and bringing our unique perspective on privacy, security, and resiliency to Southwest Florida." As a corresponding move, Red Five is excited to announce the addition of Thomas Whalen to the Red Five roster. Mr. Whalen will be a Director of Red Five Security Consulting and will be based in Naples, Florida where he will deliver consulting offerings, work closely with Red Five's partners, and support the local Red Five clientele.

Thomas started his career as a US Navy pilot, flew out of Florida and was deployed globally for 12 years. He joined the FBI in 1998 and has worked in San Diego, California and Washington, DC as an Agent and Supervisor focusing on organized crime, drugs, and cyber-crime. Thomas was detailed to the CIA, and also served as a Unit Chief at FBI Headquarters in charge of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Counterterrorism, and National Preparedness. He holds a MS in International Relations and Negotiations from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a BA in Economics from California State University. Red Five is thrilled to bring his vast expertise to the families and businesses of Southwest Florida.

About Red Five

Red Five is a security and management consulting company composed of former CIA, FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Military security professionals, and experienced system designers. It has an exceptional performance record in providing expert consulting and protection services to corporate executives, U.S. government officials, diplomats, and other high net-worth individuals and families. Red Five is committed to providing holistic, proactive, and cost-effective solutions to critical security challenges and performing targeted assessments with discretion and high ethical standards. The company supports projects in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean from offices in Washington D.C. and Palo Alto, CA. For more information about Red Five, visit Red5Security.com .

Media Contact

Red Five

Derek Showerman, CMO

978-604-0270

318782@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/red-five-to-expand-and-bring-best-in-class-security-services-to-naples-florida-301375577.html SOURCE Red Five Security

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[September 14, 2021] Celebrate #GrenacheDay Friday, September 17 with A Toast to Its Founder, The Late Stephen Spurrier

AVIGNON, France, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The third Friday of every September marks International #GrenacheDay http://www.grenache-association.com/grenacheday/ -- an online social media event celebrating one of the most widely planted grapes in the world. This year the Grenache Association is asking all wine lovers to raise a glass of Grenache and toast wine savant and entrepreneur Stephen Spurrier who passed on March 9, 2021. As an Englishman in Paris, Spurrier is perhaps best known for putting Californian wines on the map in 1976 when he included them in a blind tasting with French wines  a moment captured in film ("Bottle Shock"), an upcoming documentary ("Judgement of Paris") by Jason Wise, numerous books, and wine lore. Spurrier was keen to also put Grenache on the map and was a force behind the 2010 International Grenache Symposium in Provence which he co-chaired with French wine critic Michel Bettane. According to Spurrier, "Grenache has more "old vines" than any other variety and is a "noble grape"  the hero of the wine world." He brought together 256 participants over 3 days with panels, workshops, and a tasting with 1600 Grenache wines from 12 countries. Spurrier attracted attendees such as Philippe Cambie from France, Randall Grahm and Doug Margerum from the the US, Eben Sadie and Michael Fridjhon from South Africa, Chester Osborn and Stephen Henschke from Australia, Alvario Palacio and Pancho Campo MW from Spain, and many others. His co-founders Nicole Rolet of Chene Bleu and Walter McKinley of Domaine de Mourchon donated their time tirelessly to create the not-for-profit socialmedia phenomenon #GrenacheDay with the help of top wine aficionados, wineries, producers, wine writers, and a team of ambassadors like Andy Abramson of Comunicano in the USA and Russell Gallagher, from Serafino Wines, in Australia.



"Stephen triggered a groundswell of interest in Grenache based on the force of his personality and cult," smiles Nicole Rolet. "The symposium was an extraordinary meeting of the minds; he thought it was mostly spurned by the French since it was run by an Englishman at a vineyard owned by an American." I think he liked the challenge it was his Judgement of Provence!" Grenache (aka Garnacha, Garnaxta, Alicate, Aragones, Cannonau) is cultivated for its ability as a stand-alone velvety wine expressing its deep-rooted terroir and umami mouthfeel in every sip; it has a supreme blending capability to make great wines greater.

#GrenacheDay Fun: Celebrate Stephen Spurrier's life and watch "Bottle Shock" with friends (Prime Video, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube Movies).

life and watch "Bottle Shock" with friends (Prime Video, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube Movies). Share your celebration with the world on the #GrenacheDay Google MyMap which brings together a Global Gathering of Grenachistas. List Your Event Here

which brings together a Global Gathering of Grenachistas. Join the conversation with #GrenacheDay and post your photos and videos on Twitter @grenache_global , Facebook Facebook.com/GrenacheDay or Instagram .

and post your photos and videos on Twitter , Facebook or . Download a #GrenacheDay image http://www.grenache-association.com/grenacheday/ EDITORS NOTES: HOW IT ALL BEGAN! CONTACT:

Marlene Angelloz 318720@email4pr.com, +33 6 61 60 95 96

Jane Silverman 318720@email4pr.com, +1 305-587-8570

Media: http://www.grenache-association.com/media View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/celebrate-grenacheday-friday-september-17-with-a-toast-to-its-founder-the-late-stephen-spurrier-301375897.html SOURCE Grenache Association

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[September 14, 2021] Melio Raises $250M To Fuel Expansion Of Its B2B Payments Platform And Forge New Partnerships, Tripling Valuation To $4B

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Melio, a leading B2B payments platform for small businesses, today announced it has raised an additional $250 million, tripling the company's valuation to $4 billion since January 2021. The capital raised will accelerate the company's expansion through partnerships with leading financial institutions, software providers, and marketplaces interested in enabling B2B payments for their customers. The Series D round, which comes as the company grew its monthly processing volumes by 5,000% over the last 18 months, was co-led by new investor Thrive Capital of New York, along with existing investor General Catalyst. U.S. investment firm Tiger Global Management also invested in the round, along with existing investors Accel, Bessemer, Coatue, Corner Ventures, and Latitude. "2021 has been a year of rapid growth for Melio. We found ourselves in a fortunate position to support small businesses more than ever before, helping them digitize their vendor payment operations, saving them valuable time, and maximizing their cash flow," said Melio CEO and co-founder Matan Bar. Melio provides a single, integrated solution that allows small businesses to quickly and seamlessly transfer and receive payments  helping with cash flow needs, reducing or eliminating late payment costs, and giving businesses back valuable time. A survey carried out by Melio found that 31% of small business owners sid embracing new technologies helped their business during COVID-19.



Melio also announced that General Catalyst Chairman and Managing Director Ken Chenault, the former chairman and CEO of American Express, will join Melio's board as an observer. "Melio is leveling the playing field for small businesses, empowering them with solutions focused on cash flow and workflow issues, which are critical for small business owners," said Chenault. "Since our initial investment in Melio, I've worked closely with Matan. I've been very impressed with his leadership and with what he and the team have accomplished. Most importantly, I am very excited about the opportunity that lies ahead of them as one of the fastest growing companies in the small business payments space."

"Melio has been a critical partner for small businesses as they navigated the financial constraints of the pandemic-induced economic downturn," said Vince Hankes, Investor at Thrive Capital. "For many, the ability to implement and adopt these digital payment solutions has been the key to keeping their doors open  proving that digital payment platforms are critical to small business growth." Melio, which raised $110 million in its last funding round in January, is growing rapidly. Its strategy includes integrating with some of the nation's leading financial service and software as a service (SaaS) companies to enable accounts payable and receivable capabilities for their customers by embedding Melio's technology into their products. In June, the company partnered with Capital One to increase access to accounts payable and receivable cash flow management tools for small business customers. In 2020, Melio partnered with Intuit's QuickBooks, the leading accounting software for small businesses. It offers Bill Pay powered by Melio, a free, integrated accounts payable solution that allows QuickBooks users to easily pay business bills in the office or on the go. Investors from previous rounds include Accel, Aleph, Bessemer, Capital One, Coatue, Corner Ventures, General Catalyst, and Latitude. American Express Ventures, Intuit, and Salesforce are also strategic investors, solidifying these companies' interests in the small business economy. About Melio

Melio's mission is to keep small business in business, helping them to improve their cash flow and workflow, gain more control over their finances, and optimize their business's financial health. Melio was founded by CEO Matan Bar, CTO Ilan Atias, and COO Ziv Paz in 2018, with headquarters in New York and an R&D center in Tel Aviv. Melio also selected Colorado for its western U.S. headquarters and has begun recruiting for 250 new jobs in the state. The company has raised $506 million to date. Melio's smart B2B online payment solution is tailor-made for small businesses' needs. It is a free, simple, and secure solution that allows small businesses and their suppliers to transfer and receive payments quickly and easily.

Website: http://www.melio.com

https://www.meliopayments.com/platform-partners View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/melio-raises-250m-to-fuel-expansion-of-its-b2b-payments-platform-and-forge-new-partnerships-tripling-valuation-to-4b-301376128.html SOURCE Melio

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[September 14, 2021] Eyeota Appoints Chief Operating Officer Marc Fanelli

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eyeota, the leading data partner to global enterprises, today announced that Marc Fanelli has been appointed as the companys new Chief Operating Officer. Fanelli most recently served as the companys Executive Vice President of Client Success and Business Operations.

In this expansion of Fanellis role at Eyeota, he will oversee account management, customer success, data operations, privacy compliance, data governance and business operations regarding metrics, measurement and sales reporting and administration. Additionally, Fanelli will be leading the companys new department for vendor management and procurement, a role in which he will guide the evaluation and assessment of the value and performance of new and existing vendor relationships. The positive impact of Marcs efforts and focus on improving Eyeotas structure, metrics, collaboration and transparency has been immeasurable and felt across the entire business, said Kristina Prokop, CEO of Eyeota. Under his leadership, I am confident that well see continued growth and increased efficiency as we continue to expand our global data impact. During Fanellis time at Eyeota, he aided the company in the expansion of its international partnership base across 40 markets, including GFK, Equifax and YouGov, while also spearheading the companys data addressability in 188 countries. Previously, Fanelli served as the general manager of Impact, leading their marketing intelligence product suite. He has also held key positions at Acxiom, Merkle and Experian. Fanelli is a member of the I-COM Advisory Board, co-founder and board member of arlsgate, and he holds multiple U.S. patents for data-driven marketing technologies.



Eyeota is poised to become one of the biggest international data leaders in todays industry, and its an honour to be a part of the journey, Fanelli said. With our clear vision for the value and future of Eyeotas products on market, Im confident in our ability to change the face of global audience data. In addition to Fanellis new role, Eyeota has promoted Rob Armstrong to the position of Senior Vice President of Product, where he will oversee the continued development and production of Eyeotas core offerings and data products. Armstrong has been instrumental in the production of Eyeota Translate, the industry's first global interoperable ID agnostic technology that powers flexible and addressable targeting at scale.

Since joining Eyeota, Rob has shown what the power of product can do for our company, said Prokop. His depth of knowledge, entrepreneurial spirit and can-do attitude have catapulted us into a new phase as both an industry and thought leader. About Eyeota

Eyeota is a data transformation company serving the global enterprise. Leading brands, publishers and data companies leverage Eyeota to onboard, enrich, and activate their data assets across global markets and digital geographies. As the worlds largest data onboarding and audience intelligence firm, Eyeota brings a depth of experience in adapting data strategies to be consumer-friendly, addressable and scalable in omnichannel environments. Empowering enterprises with future-proof data capabilities, Eyeotas suite of solutions are privacy-by-design, flexible and interoperable across all major platforms, channels and identifiers. Founded in 2010, Eyeota operates in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas powering data solutions in 188 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.eyeota.com. Media Contact:

Neil Davies

Broadsheet Communications for Eyeota

neil@broadsheetcomms.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fa35f3ba-157a-46ad-bcbf-f579edc92317



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[September 14, 2021] TrackTime24: The All-in-One Tool for Employee Time Tracking and Work Scheduling, Used by Leading Businesses Worldwide

Bielsko-Biala, Poland, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Tracking time, work scheduling and leave management are vital processes for businesses of all shapes and sizes. By evaluating where time is spent across your business versus the income you are generating, key decisions can be made to improve efficiency, performance, and profitability. However, for many businesses that incorporate things like timesheets, shift scheduling and time off management, and these processes can be a big drain on time if the tools you are using do not seamlessly integrate into your way of working. Weve all had those annoyances of trying to make sense of excel data, keep track of data on paper, or combine google documents into a coherent view, and literal days of time can be lost each month in doing so. The solution is TrackTime24. Hassle-free workforce management, an all-in-one kind of easy-to-use app. It provides everything you need, from generating timesheets, monitoring and tracking of employee clock-ins and clock-outs, planning work schedules, managing PTOs and leaves, exporting timesheets ready for payroll, even seamlessly integrating with most popular payroll software. For all the detail on TrackTime24 and how to get started for free, you can visit their website: tracktime24.com Below, we dive a little deeper into this innovative app, and learn why leading businesses choose to use TrackTime24 as their workforce management tool: TrackTime24 makes managing timesheets the easiest part of your job If your business relies on timesheets, you know how much of a hassle they can be. Not only are they difficult to setup but having to persistently remind your employees to log their hours or to remember to clock in at the start of the day, is an unnecessary burden. With TrackTime24 you can:



Keep track of your staffs time, including work hours, breaks and mealtimes

Prepare timesheets with a single click

Export timesheets for payroll apps

Identify frequently late clock-ins or early clock-outs

Identify chronic lateness

Turn smartphones or tablets into time clocks, for easy clocking in and out via QR codes TrackTime24 is the best way to schedule work shifts and delegate tasks Do you want to spend 80% less time scheduling your employees? That prospect in itself is invaluable, but when combined with having clear and accurate time tracking across your workforce, it can truly revolutionize the way your business operates.

Within the app, you can: Build, plan and share shifts with employees

Assign jobs and tasks

Assign positions

Copy work schedules through drag and drop technology

Keep track of shifts and tasks with calendars

Add shift notes  and much, much more. TrackTime24 is used by everybody from SMBs and Enterprises to local shops and Fortune 500 companies Such is the flexibility of the app; the software is customizable to fit any business size. For small startups, you can be reassured that as your business grows, the software can aid that expansion and be upscaled to follow your growth. For large global enterprises, the software has the power and capability to handle workforces of vast sizes, helping you to track time and schedule work better than ever before, with ease. All-in-one tool for workforce management

Over 100,000+ users

Can be used across numerous devices (desktop, mobile, tablet)

Save money by paying your employees only for worked hours

Save time with easy to manage timesheets and work schedulers

Ditch paper notes and spreadsheets! Replace them with all-in-one tool.

Benefit from expert support, available throughout your journey Ready to try it for free? If youre looking for a seamless, cloud-based way to track time and manage shifts, PTOs and leaves, there simply isnt a better app on the market. Its incredibly easy to integrate into your day-to-day operations, with simple setup, elite support team, and the highest level of security. Try it today for free via the TrackTime24 website. More Information TrackTime24 is the workforce management swiss-knife, so time tracking, scheduling, and leave management work hand-in-hand!Get rid of paper timecards, timesheets, and schedules. Simplify payroll with the power of TrackTime24. Gain access to powerful mobile apps, GPS tracking, overtime monitoring, real-time reports, and much more! Over 100,000 users cannot be wrong! Sign up FREE  no credit card required! One-on-one demo included. Visit https://tracktime24.com/ https://thenewsfront.com/tracktime24-the-all-in-one-tool-for-employee-time-tracking-and-work-scheduling-used-by-leading-businesses-worldwide/

TrackTime24 1 Maja 15 43-300 Bielsko-Biala Poland +48 (33) 500 00 64 https://tracktime24.com

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[September 14, 2021] Brokers to Benefit from Strategic Partnerships Offered by Vertafore Canada Orange Partner Program

Program offers Canadian brokers the ability to enhance processes and digital strategies with high-quality, pre-built integrations with Vertafore Canada solutions MONTREAL, Sept. 14, 2021 /CNW/ -- Vertafore Canada, a leader in modern insurance technology, today announced the launch of the Vertafore Canada Orange Partner Program, providing Canadian brokers the opportunity to take advantage of high-quality, pre-built integrations with strategic third-party technology providers. The program allows brokers to further optimize their processes and enhance the digital experience they offer their customers. "In today's competitive landscape, brokers increasingly need to focus on becoming future-ready, and it is essential that we, as solution providers, look for ways to help them achieve this," said Dimitrios Argitis, vice president and general manager of Vertafore Canada. "We are committed to helping brokers achieve this through improved APIs and high-quality, vetted, strategic partnerships. The introduction of the Vertafore Canada Orange Partner Program is an important step in that direction." he Vertafore Canada Orange Partner Program is launching with seven partnerships that, when integrated with the Vertafore Canada SaaS solutions, offer brokers additional opportunities to optimize processes, enhancing the digital experience and complementing their strategic initiatives.



This initial set of partners serves as the foundation from which the program will continue to scale, and they drive significant value to brokers by offering them the following Vertafore Canada SaaS Platform integrated capabilities: FIRST Insurance Funding Canada: Brokers can now provide monthly payment plans and full payment options for new business and renewals along with the policy proposal with FIRST Pay TM , directly within the SIG.

Brokers can now provide monthly payment plans and full payment options for new business and renewals along with the policy proposal with FIRST Pay , directly within the SIG. ePayPolicy: Brokers can offer their customers secure, quick and easy online payment options that integrate with Vertafore Canada solutions.

Brokers can offer their customers secure, quick and easy online payment options that integrate with Vertafore Canada solutions. AcordPay - Payments: Brokers can offer their customers secure, quick and easy online payment options that integrate with Vertafore Canada solutions.

Brokers can offer their customers secure, quick and easy online payment options that integrate with Vertafore Canada solutions. AcordPay - ClearPay Payables: Brokers can electronically pay carrier payables.

Brokers can electronically pay carrier payables. Pathway: Brokers can automate client emails, texts, and document delivery through seamless data integration.

Brokers can automate client emails, texts, and document delivery through seamless data integration. BrokerLift: Brokers can make selling insurance on their website easier both for their customers and the brokerage staff.

Brokers can make selling insurance on their website easier both for their customers and the brokerage staff. Xenex: Known as eSIGN, brokers can simplify processes by benefiting from this integrated SignatureMaster solution. "These are partnerships that go well beyond just agreeing to work together. They represent a comprehensive arrangement that includes high-quality integrations that have already been developed and comprehensively tested, that collaboratively are being maintained and for which we have testimonials from brokers of their strategic value," added Stacey Miranda, director of product management for Vertafore Canada. "The Orange Partner Program brings a new level of collaboration between Vertafore and its partners for the benefit of Canadian insurance brokers and their customers."

For more information, please visit https://www.vertafore.ca/orange-partner-program. About Vertafore Canada Vertafore Canada is the expert in Canadian broker innovation and a leader in the BMS (Broker Management Systems) marketplace for insurance and financial services brokers. It offers an integrated suite of products designed to increase revenue through efficient use of technology. Vertafore Canada is the new name for Keal Technology, a leading provider of broker and commercial management systems in Canada, acquired by Vertafore in 2016. 2021 Vertafore and the Vertafore logo are registered trademarks of Vertafore. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.? CONTACT: Liz Reilly, lreilly@nextpr.com

SOURCE Vertafore

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[September 14, 2021]

SuperWorld CEO Hrish Lotlikar To Deliver Keynote Speech At Venice Architecture Biennale

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperWorld CEO Hrish Lotlikar, who was recently named one of the Top 30 Most Influential People in the Metaverse , will deliver a keynote speech at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. The speech, including a presentation that underscores the social impact project coordinated by UNESCO and The International Union of Architects (UIA) with support from SuperWorld, will discuss how virtual worlds and the metaverse can make a positive impact in the real world.

Funds raised from the gala and forum will support, "Rise from the Ashes," an initiative between architects, technology platforms and humanitarian organizations to rebuild the city of Beirut.

"I'm honored to address such a distinguished audience," says Lotlikar. "For over 120 years the Venice Biennale has brought about the vanguard of art and creativity, and I'm excited to talk about how the integration of augmented, virtual, and mixed realities can bring economic and humanitarian opportunities to Beirut, help the growth of its economy, and spread creative ideas not just in Beirut and Lebanon, but throughout the world."

Among architects and others in attendance, the event will feature two renowned artists, Ozge Gunaydin and Rachel Rowberry , whose pieces were created for the event and will be available for purchase in the SuperWorld NFT Salon .







About SUPERWORLD

SuperWorld is a virtual world in augmented reality (AR), digitally mapped over the surface of the Earth. Plots of SuperWorld land are represented as 64.8 billion non-fungible tokens (NFT) corresponding to real world space. Any user in SuperWorld can explore and create AR content, engage in a virtual real estate marketplace, or buy and sell NFTs in the SuperWorld NFT Salon. To learn more, visit SuperWorldapp.com

Notable investors and advisors include: Draper Goren Holm , Outlier Ventures , SOSV , Capital Factory and Altered Ventures ; Stephen Wolfram (creator of Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha), Bob Metcalfe (Inventor of Ethernet & Metcalfe's Law), Robert Scoble (author, futurist), and Nitin Gaur (Head of Digital Assets at IBM).

About UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations focused at advocating world peace and safety through international coordination in education, sciences, and culture.

About UIA

The International Union of Architects (UIA) is an international non-governmental organisation recognized by UNESCO as the only architectural union operating at an international level. The UIA acts as a platform for knowledge sharing, helping craft innovative and collaborative solutions for architectural advancement, with a particular focus on sustainable development.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/superworld-ceo-hrish-lotlikar-to-deliver-keynote-speech-at-venice-architecture-biennale-301376147.html

SOURCE SuperWorld
[September 14, 2021] Harris Williams Advises Hunt Valve Company on its Sale to Fairbanks Morse Defense

Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, announces it advised Hunt Valve Company (Hunt Valve), a portfolio company of May River Capital, on its sale to Fairbanks Morse Defense (Fairbanks Morse), a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management (Arcline). Hunt Valve designs and manufactures complex valves and electromechanical actuators that support critical system functions onboard key U.S. Navy platforms. The transaction was led by Chris Rogers, Doug Kinard, Evan Clark, Mike Rohman and Anya Bahros of the Harris Williams Aerospace, Defense & Government Services (ADG) Group and Giles Tucker of the firm's Industrials Group. "In partnership with May River Capital, the Hunt Valve team has achieved impressive growth and solidified the company's position as a leading flo control solutions provider to U.S. Navy ships and submarines," said Doug Kinard, a managing director at Harris Williams. "Partnering with Fairbanks Morse, the combined platform is well positioned to serve the U.S. Navy for decades to come as it continues to expand and maintain its fleet."



"Hunt Valve represents another marquee transaction for Harris Williams in the defense maritime sector, where we continue to see strong investor interest for platforms of scale in what is generally a fragmented supply base," added Chris Rogers, a managing director at Harris Williams. "Demand tailwinds within this market are very positive, and suppliers that can participate in the U.S. Navy's fleet expansion and modernization are well positioned for long-term growth." Hunt Valve brings decades of fluid power engineering innovations and solutions to a wide range of military and industrial customers. It specializes in severe duty valves and complementary engineered components and system solutions for applications that include primary metals, energy, process and U.S. Navy nuclear-powered vessels, including all submarines and carriers in operation as well as the Virginia Class, Columbia Class and Ford (News - Alert) Class.

Headquartered in Chicago, May River Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in lower-middle market industrial growth companies, including precision manufacturing, engineered products and instrumentation, specialized industrial services, and value-added industrial distribution businesses. The firm is investing out of its second institutional fund of approximately $300 million, which was closed in December 2019. Fairbanks Morse develops and manufactures heavy-duty, medium-speed reciprocating engines that are used primarily in marine and power generation applications. The company has been the original equipment manufacturer of its engines for more than 120 years and has a large installed base for which it supplies aftermarket parts and services. Fairbanks Morse is the principal supplier of diesel engines to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard, with all manufacturing conducted in the company's U.S.-based facility in Beloit, Wisconsin, and parts and services delivered through its network of five service centers strategically located in the U.S. and Canada. Arcline is a growth-oriented private equity firm that seeks to invest in thriving middle market businesses in high value industries. Arcline's differentiated investment strategy combines deep business model expertise, proactive thematic research, an unrelenting focus on the upside and a collaborative, management-first approach to value creation. The firm's primary sectors of interest include defense, aerospace, critical infrastructure services, industrial and medical technology, life sciences, and specialty materials. Launched in 2019, Arcline currently has $4.3 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Harris Williams, an investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services, advocates for sellers and buyers of companies worldwide through critical milestones and provides thoughtful advice during the lives of their businesses. By collaborating as one firm across Industry Groups and geographies, the firm helps its clients achieve outcomes that support their objectives and strategically create value. Harris Williams is committed to execution excellence and to building enduring, valued relationships that are based on mutual trust. Harris Williams is a subsidiary of the PNC (News - Alert) Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). The Harris Williams ADG Group offers strategic advice to a global base of leading aerospace, defense and government services clients. For more information on the ADG Group and other recent transactions, visit the ADG Group's section of the Harris Williams website. The Harris Williams Industrials Group has experience across a variety of sectors, including advanced manufacturing; building products; chemicals and specialty materials; industrial technology; and packaging. For more information on the firm's Industrials Group and other recent transactions, visit the Industrials Group's section of the Harris Williams website. Harris Williams LLC is a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is a private limited company incorporated under English law with its registered office at 8th Floor, 20 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB, UK, registered with the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales (registration number 07078852). Harris Williams & Co. Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH is registered in the commercial register of the local court of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under HRB 107540. The registered address is Bockenheimer Landstrasse 33-35, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (email address: hwgermany@harriswilliams.com). Geschaftsfuhrer/Directors: Jeffery H. Perkins, Paul Poggi. (VAT No. DE321666994). Harris Williams is a trade name under which Harris Williams LLC, Harris Williams & Co. Ltd and Harris Williams & Co. Corporate Finance Advisors GmbH conduct business. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005824/en/

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[September 14, 2021]

Boku streamlines & secures online transactions in Germany

LONDON, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boku Inc., (AIM: BOKU), provider of the worlds most comprehensive mobile operator identity network has launched its Verify and Authenticate solutions in Germany, with both solutions integrated with O2, Telekom Deutschland, and Vodafone. Now, 120 million German mobile subscribers will have access to more seamless and secure digital account creation and transactions.



The launch in Germany increases Bokus global coverage for Verify and Authenticate to 20 countries. Leading global companies including banks and fintechs, social networks, marketplaces and government agencies work with Boku to enhance their digital customer experience while ensuring world-class security for their users.

Verify uses signals from mobile operators to streamline digital customer onboarding while preventing identity theft, money laundering, and social fraud.

Authenticate uses mobile operator SIM-based authentication to secure digital account access without SMS one-tie passwords, delivering greater security in a fraction of the time. Authenticate features SIM Swap detection to eliminate this fraud vector quickly and easily.







With increasing digital transformation and swift competition for consumers, these solutions give digital service providers a competitive edge. Bokus mobile identity suite protects consumers from fraud while maintaining personal privacy, fully compliant with GDPR regulations.

Stuart Neal, General Manager for Identity, Boku, commented, "We are honored to partner with Deutsche Telekom, O2 and Vodafone to bring German businesses and consumers better, safer online experiences. Today, consumers expect seamless and secure online experiences, and Boku along with our partners make this possible.

Enquiries:

Boku, Inc.

Jon Prideaux, Chief Executive Officer and Keith Butcher, Chief Financial Officer

+44 (0)20 3934 6630

IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR & IR)

Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Florence Chandler

+44 (0)20 3934 6630

About Boku

Boku Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is the worlds leading provider of mobile payment and mobile identity solutions. Bokus technology platform, which is linked to more than 200 mobile wallets and network operators worldwide, verifies user identity, executes payments, and provisions new services, simplifying daily mobile interactions between consumers and digital organizations.

Bokus technology platform is used in over 59 countries with over 815 million verified transactions in 2019, contributing $5 billion to the digital economy. Businesses that currently employ Bokus platform to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Apple, Discover, Experian, Facebook, FIS, Fiserv, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Paypal, Sony, Spotify and Western Union.

Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in various locations globally including in the US, Mumbai, Munich, Beijing, Paris, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo.

To learn more about Boku Inc., please visit: https://www.boku.com


[September 14, 2021] Amid Surging COVID Outbreaks, Universities Turn to Occuspace Crowd Monitoring Technology for a Safer Fall Term

University campuses remain hotbeds of controversy amid vaccine and/or mask mandates. Easy-to-implement occupancy technology offers a less resistant way to ensure a safer campus SAN DIEGO, Sept. 14, 2021 /CNW/ -- As campuses scramble to reopen in-person instruction despite the surge in new Coronavirus cases, more and more universities are turning to Occuspace to provide a safer experience for faculty, staff and students. The company's innovative people-counting technology monitors crowds and real-time use of popular spaces such as gyms, dining halls and libraries. The Occuspace crowd technology is an innovative approach to reopening campus in a safe, smart way. Despite recent FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, university campuses have been at the center of controversy amid vaccine and/or mask mandates. A recent survey conducted by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University Bloomington reveals that over 40% of the 40,000 college freshman respondents are concerned about their health and safety entering college. At Baylor University in Waco, Texas, the school is requiring incoming and returning students who are unvaccinated to get tested twice a week at a designated location on campus. They chose to install Occuspace's people-counting technology in the testing center to allow students to see how busy it is efore they go to avoid frustration and ensure they get tested.



"We want to make the COVID testing experience as convenientand safeas possible for students," said Eric Ames, assistant director for marketing and communications for Baylor ITS. "Allowing them to see in real-time how busy the testing center is before they go can help improve the odds they get tested in a timely manner that fits with their schedule." The Occuspace easy-to-implement occupancy technology and data are gaining rapid adoption and interest from dozens of universities across North America as a way to help tame outbreaks, even amid resistance to mask and vaccine mandates. In addition to Baylor University, the University of Denver, UC San Diego, Rice University and McGill University are among many higher education institutions using occupancy monitoring technology to manage campus spaces and help minimize the spread of the virus.

The Occuspace sensor technology plugs into a wall outlet to monitor Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals privately using a sophisticated algorithm to relay space occupancy in real-time. The technology anonymously measures foot traffic for use by space planning teams to manage and plan for more efficient use of buildings as well as librarians, dining hall, and recreation teams to watch live use of spaces to maintain capacity requirements and improve the student experience. The company's free mobile Waitz app allows students to watch for crowds in popular campus spaces to stay socially distanced and reduce frustration and/or trepidation by avoiding crowded spaces. At McGill University in Canada, requirements for bringing students back to campus include one-meter physical distancing in spaces like the popular McLennan-Redpath Library Complex. Katherine Hanz is the associate dean of user services at McLennan-Redpath and commented that she is appreciative they are starting this year with the Occuspace technology, which is used by the administration to monitor space use in real-time and to help students navigate campus spaces safely. "Going into this fall, this is technology that will be immensely helpful for our library teams to virtually 'see' how many students are in our spaces and reduce the need to require staff to do head counting in the library to ensure we remain COVID compliant," said Hanz. "We wouldn't have an easy way of determining specifically how many people are in our library at any time without this data." Over 300,000 university students across the U.S. and Canada can now have safer experiences on campus thanks to the Occuspace people-counting technology. Over the past year, the company has seen growing demand for its innovative solution that privately measures minute-by-minute occupancy in a space. To learn more about Occuspace and how the technology works, visit occuspace.io . About Occuspace Occuspace is bringing the power of web analytics to the physical world. By capturing how many people are in a space, Occuspace is helping businesses more accurately understand, control, and improve the way their spaces are being used to enhance the visitor experience and increase efficiencies and cost savings. The company's easily-installed, scalable, and affordable sensor technology is changing how people access and view occupancy data and will make occupancy monitoring a standard moving forward. Contact:

Cassie Dono

Occuspace

+1 858 243 8875

cassie.dono@occuspace.io View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amid-surging-covid-outbreaks-universities-turn-to-occuspace-crowd-monitoring-technology-for-a-safer-fall-term-301376077.html SOURCE Occuspace

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[September 14, 2021] HPE Announces New Chief Technology Officer Fidelma Russo

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) today announced that Fidelma Russo has been named Chief Technology Officer for the company. In this role, Fidelma will lead the innovation agenda and technology roadmap for HPE and manage the design and development of the HPE Greenlake edge-to-cloud platform. "We are excited for Fidelma to join the HPE team in this important role," said Antonio Neri, President and CEO of HPE. "Fidelma brings deep expertise in cloud services, software, and infrastructure built on an extensive career in technology. Her diverse experience makes her distinctively suited to drive innovation as we accelerate our transformation and bring differentiated solutions to the market." "I am thrilled to be joining Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a company with a deep heritage of innovation that is now at another transformational moment in the industry," said Fidelma. "I look forward to working with our leadership, engineers, developers, customers, and partners as we focus on delivering solutions that provide a unified as a service experience from edge-to-cloud."



Fidelma brings more than 30 years of technology leadership spanning cloud services, machine learning and analytics, global IT business services, servers, storage, networking, backup, and infrastructure. Most recently serving as senior vice president and general manager of the Cloud Services business unit at VMware, she has also held senior leadership positions at Dell EMC, HP, Iron Mountain (News - Alert) and Sun Microsystems. She currently serves as a director of SBA Communications and sits on the Audit Committee. Fidelma holds a bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering from University College Cork, a master's in computer science degree from Boston University, and completed the Internet of Things Executive education program at MIT's (News - Alert) Sloan School of Management.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the global edge-to-cloud platform as-a-service company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open and intelligent technology solutions, with a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, to help customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: www.hpe.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005342/en/

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[September 14, 2021] WeVideo Partners with KQED Youth Media Challenges for 2021-2022 School Year

WeVideo, a leading cloud-based, collaborative multimedia creation platform, has joined forces with KQED as an official technology partner of the KQED Youth Media Challenges, an initiative to help educators across the nation facilitate student civic engagement and media making. The partnership provides 2021-2022 school year Challenge participants with a complimentary six-month WeVideo for Schools license for use on their submissions through June 2022. WeVideo's production-proven multimedia platform is trusted by more than 38 million users worldwide, and through the collaboration, KQED Youth Media Challenges participants will be equipped with user-friendly media creation tools, empowering students from all backgrounds and ability levels to share their unique perspectives and stories across a range of topics with their peers and the public. "WeVideo is committed to providing easy and accessible multimedia creation tools for use across education, business and personal projects. Our partnership with KQED brings our tools to all schools that want to participate in the Challenges, removing technology barriers for traditionally under-resourced schools and leveling the playing field so that students can share their voice and learn essential skills through exploring the creative process," states Krishna Menon, CEO, WeVideo. KQED Youth Media Challenges prompt critical thinking and foster civic engagement and are open to middle and high school students across the U.S. With 7 Challenges to choose from, students can explore a range of STEM, humanities and arts topics, and educators can access the supporting curricuum for free. KQED Youth Media Challenges welcome video, audio and graphic arts submissions, transforming traditional classrooms into spaces where students are active creators and producers. With these Challenges, students can build valuable media literacy skills and share their authentic voices beyond their classrooms. All Challenge submissions are published on the online showcase, and select pieces are broadcast to public media audiences on KQED shows and through partners.



"It's a powerful partnership when technology joins with public media to reduce barriers to media creation," says Holly Kernan, Chief Content Officer at KQED. "We anticipate this will make KQED Youth Media Challenges more accessible to more students - particularly those who are underrepresented in traditional media - and we can't wait to hear more of these young people on KQED's airwaves." Complimentary WeVideo for Schools licenses will be available to participants through June 2022 - the deadline to submit entries for the 2021-2022 school year. Ideal for learning environments, WeVideo for Schools can easily be accessed on any Windows, Mac, iOS or Android (News - Alert) device and is trusted by millions of teachers and students, providing cloud-based multimedia production tools that simplify capture, editing, viewing and sharing of education-based projects.

For more information or to participate in KQED Youth Media Challenges, visit: learn.kqed.org/challenges/ About WeVideo WeVideo is a powerful, easy to use, cloud-based collaborative video creation platform. With over 38 million accounts created to date, WeVideo is the first choice of businesses, consumers, educators and students, as well as being the video backbone for many third-party media solutions. WeVideo can be accessed from any computer or device: at school, home, work or on the go. Users can easily capture, edit, view and share videos for personal, social media, business or learning purposes with secure storage of their content in the cloud. Download the mobile app on iTunes or Google Play, and visit the website for more information: https://www.wevideo.com/. About KQED KQED is a nonprofit, public-supported alternative to commercial media. An NPR (News - Alert) and PBS affiliate based in San Francisco, KQED is home to one of the most listened-to public radio stations in the nation, one of the highest-rated public television services and an award-winning education program helping students and educators thrive in 21st-century classrooms. A trusted news source and leader and innovator in interactive technology, KQED takes people of all ages on journeys of exploration-exposing them to new people, places and ideas. kqed.org View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005240/en/

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[September 14, 2021] EDF Renewables North America and MEAG/Munich Re Agree to Partner in Two US Renewable Energy Projects in the United States

EDF Renewables North America (EDFR) and MEAG, acting in its capacity as Munich Re's global asset manager, today announced a strategic investment whereby a subsidiary of Munich Re will acquire a 50% stake in two renewable energy projects in California. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005853/en/ Maverick 6 & 7 Solar Projects in Riverside County California generate 310 megawatts of solar energy. (Photo: Business Wire) The Maverick 6 Solar-plus-Storage Project is 131 MWdc coupled with a 50 MW/200 MWh battery energy storage system. The Maverick 7 Solar Project has a capacity of 179 MWdc. The projects, which utilize horizontal single-axis tracking technology, are located adjacent to one another in Riverside County on federal lands within a Solar Energy Zone and Development Focus Area, managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Both projects are in construction with operations to commence in December 2021. "We are very pleased to announce this strategic partnership with MEAG, who shares EDF Renewables' long-term investment focus and commitment to decarbonization," commented Nate McMurry, Vice President, Divestiture & Portfolio Strategy for EDF Renewables. "Securing the volume of capital investment required to successfully address climate change is one of the 21st century's critical challenges; partnerships between developers of high-quality renewable energy projectsand major institutional investors like MEAG are an important avenue to accelerate the growth of clean energy."



Holger Kerzel, Member of MEAG's Management Board, said, "This project fulfills our high expectations for sustainable investments. By further expanding our renewable energy portfolio in the US we are helping to prevent climate-damaging emissions. We are very pleased about this transaction and are looking forward to a successful partnership with EDF Renewables." The projects combined will generate enough clean energy to meet the consumption of 116,500 average California homes1. This is equivalent to avoiding more than 527,000 metric tons of CO 2 emissions annually2.

The transaction, expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Macquarie Capital acted as exclusive financial advisors. EDF Renewables, one of the largest renewable energy developers in North America, is committing to providing solutions to meet California's carbon-reduction goals. With 35 years of experience and 20 gigawatts of wind, solar, and storage projects developed, EDF Renewables provides integrated energy solutions from grid-scale power to electric vehicle charging. MEAG, acting on behalf of Munich Re, has more than one gigawatt of wind and solar assets under management in Europe and in the US, and is planning to substantially increase its investments into the US renewable energy space over the next years, leveraging on Munich Re's in-house engineering expertise and MEAG's local presence in the US. 1 According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2019 Residential Electricity Sales and U.S. Census Data and typical transmission assumptions.

2 According to U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies calculations and typical transmission assumptions. EDF Renewables North America is a market leading independent power producer and service provider with 35 years of expertise in renewable energy. The Company delivers grid-scale power: wind (onshore and offshore), solar photovoltaic, and storage projects; distributed solutions: solar and storage; and asset optimization: technical, operational, and commercial expertise to maximize performance of generating projects. The Company's PowerFlex subsidiary offers a full suite of onsite energy solutions for commercial and industrial customers: solar, storage, EV charging, energy management systems, and microgrids. EDF Renewables' North American portfolio consists of 20 GW of developed projects and 13 GW under service contracts. EDF Renewables North America is a subsidiary of EDF Renouvelables, the dedicated renewable energy affiliate of the EDF Group. For more information visit: www.edf-re.com. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. About MEAG MEAG manages the assets of Munich Re and ERGO. It has representations in Europe, Asia and North America and offers its extensive know-how to institutional and private customers. MEAG currently manages assets to the value of around  334 billion, around  67 billion of which in its business with institutional investors and private customers. MEAG invests in alternative assets in North America on behalf of Munich Re group and other non-US institutional investors. MEAG's most recent infrastructure investments in the US comprise a solar farm in California and various regulated US water assets in 2020, as well as New York's Astoria Energy Partners and Long Beach Container Terminal in 2019. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005853/en/

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[September 14, 2021] IIE Awards Scholarships to American University of Afghanistan Students

NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute of International Education (IIE), the world leader in international educational exchange and scholar rescue, has created a new scholarship program for students of the now-closed American University of Afghanistan. Less than one week after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, IIE launched a coordinated, organization-wide Afghanistan Crisis Response, leveraging programs already in place to deploy assistance for students, scholars, and artists. The new scholarship program is the latest part of its response. An initial 10 scholarships are a promise of safety for students who, among hundreds of others, were given the assurance of evacuation. At once, a difficult situation became life-threatening when the evacuation was aborted. With these scholarships, students can reconnect to their studies in safety at a college campus abroad. The scholarships provide the hope and possibility that one day the students will return to Afghanistan and contribute to rebuilding their country. IIE will also work to help every student who wishes to leav find a place to go.



IIE Trustee and former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, along with IIE Board Chair Mark Angelson, will co-chair IIE's overall Afghanistan Crisis Response. They will work with Dr. Kenneth Holland, former President of the American University of Afghanistan, and other subject matter experts. "There is no question that the very lives of Afghan students and academics are now targeted by terrorists," said Senator Kaufman. "In 2016, the American University of Afghanistan was attacked with guns and explosives. Fifteen people were killed and at least 50 more were injured, including students, professors, and staff. IIE's work now is more important than ever."

"IIE is here to rescue scholars, students, and artists for the long term, through such programs as the Scholar Rescue Fund, our Emergency Student Fund, and our Artist Protection Fund," said Dr. Goodman. "It's in our DNA to respond to academic emergencies whenever and wherever they arise, and no matter how long they last." "Among many programs in place to support students and scholars in times of crisis, IIE's Scholar Rescue Fund is the only global program that arranges and funds fellowships for threatened and displaced scholars at partner higher education institutions worldwide," said Angelson. "The IIE Emergency Student Fund provides grants to international college students when natural disasters, war or other crises in their home countries threaten their education. And our Artist Protection Fund makes fellowship grants to threatened artists from any field of practice, and places them at host institutions in safe countries where they can continue their works and plan for their futures." To learn more about the IIE Afghanistan Crisis Response and ongoing IIE rescue programs, visit: https://www.iie.org/Why-IIE/Announcements/2021/08/Afghanistan-Crisis-Response. About IIE: Established in 1919, IIE is a global not-for-profit that creates and implements international education programs, conducts research, and provides life-changing opportunities for students and scholars worldwide. IIE collaborates with a range of corporate, government and foundation partners across the globe to design and manage scholarship, study abroad, workforce training and leadership development programs. IIE has a network of 18 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,450 member institutions. Visit iie.org. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iie-awards-scholarships-to-american-university-of-afghanistan-students-301376463.html SOURCE Institute of International Education

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[September 14, 2021] Lightbeam Health Solutions Earns Placement on the Inc. 5000 List for Fourth Successive Year

Inc. magazine today revealed that Lightbeam Health Solutions is featured for the fourth time on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy's most dynamic segment-its independent small businesses. Intuit (News - Alert) , Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000. "Another year on the Inc. 5000 list, and we could not be more proud," said Lightbeam CEO Pat Cline. "In our last fiscal year, we grew revenue by over 20%, welcomed several new clients, and our platform is now used to manage over 34 million patients. This award is an honor and only ignites our commitment to our clients and their patients." Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this year's list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020's unprecedented challenges. Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years. "The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we've lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people." About Lightbeam Health Solutions Lightbea Health Solutions delivers a revolutionary model for managing patient populations and associated risk. Lightbeam's vision is to bring health data into the light through the use of analytics, and to provide the insight and capabilities healthcare clients need to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time. Lightbeam's platform facilitates end-to-end population health management for ACOs, payers, provider groups, health systems, and other healthcare organizations aspiring to provide superior care at a lower cost. For more information, visit www.lightbeamhealth.com, and follow Lightbeam on LinkedIn and Twitter.



About Inc. Media The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including web sites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Vision Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

For more information on the Inc. 5000 Vision Conference, visit http://conference.inc.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005897/en/

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[September 14, 2021] APOLLO Insurance Partners With Homewise to Offer Homebuyers Access to Integrated Digital Insurance

Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd. ("APOLLO Insurance"), Canada's leading online insurance provider, has partnered with Homewise to offer immediate digital insurance products, specifically tailored to Canadian home buyers that use their website each year. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005780/en/ APOLLO Insurance partners with Homewise (Graphic: Business Wire) Launched in 2019, APOLLO Insurance now offers the largest selection of online insurance in Canada, through brokers and integrated partnerships like this one. Through APOLLO, consumers can get a quote and purchase insurance in five minutes, from any device, 24/7. Homewise's mission is to help Canadians save thousands on their mortgages, offering the best mortgage rates in Canada through their list of lenders. Homewise can now offer digital insurance to its thousands of users, through APOLLO. "Homewise is exceptional at providing Canadians the best mortgage rate and services, creating a better experience for home buyers while also giving users the opportunity to save money," said Director of Business Development Jill Carberry-Feldman. "APOLLO is excited to partner with Homewise, as users can now access the right insurance product for them, entirely online, through APOLLO." Lanched in 2018, Homewise wanted to provide Canadians with a better mortgage process that puts the buyer first. Homewise introduced a simple mortgage process with the goal of saving Canadian's time, confusion, and money. With the Homewise free platform, they do the work for their users, negotiating with their large list of lenders to find them a great mortgage that meets their unique needs. Homewise has provided mortgage advice to clients across Canada, with over $10 billion of home transactions.



Homewise is changing the face of the home buyer marketplace and will continue to help Canadians move into their homes easily, confidently, and with extra money in their pocket. "We are excited to partner with APOLLO to provide even more options to our clients in their home buying journey while simplifying their experience. Focusing on our goal of saving clients time, confusion, and a lot of money," said Co-Founder and CEO Jesse Abrams.

APOLLO's proprietary technology platform, the APOLLO Exchange, transacts insurance business in real-time and leverages extensive data and sophisticated algorithms to quote, collect payment, create and deliver policies. Thousands of types of small businesses and individuals are able to buy online without human intervention. About APOLLO Insurance APOLLO is Canada's leading online insurance provider. Our proprietary platform, the APOLLO Exchange, allows insurance agents and their customers to purchase their policy immediately, from anywhere, on any device, 24/7. Unlike traditional paper-based processes, APOLLO leverages extensive data and sophisticated algorithms to quote, collect payment, and issue policies for thousands of types of small business and individuals without human intervention. Through traditional agents and embedded finance partnerships APOLLO is redefining the distribution of insurance. For more information, visit: https://apollocover.com/ About Homewise Homewise makes the mortgage process simple, all with the goal of saving Canadian's time, confusion, and a lot of money. After applying online in only 5 minutes, Homewise searches the market of over 30 banks and lenders to find borrowers their best mortgage - tailored to their specific needs. Borrowers are also set up with a personal Homewise Advisor to guide them at each step. Whether it's pre-approval, approval, refinance, or switch, Homewise makes getting the best mortgage simple. For more information, visit: https://thinkhomewise.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914005780/en/

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Finalists Named in IDC's Inaugural Best in Future of Digital Infrastructure North America Awards

International Data Corporation (IDC) today unveiled nine finalists for its inaugural IDC Future Enterprise Best in Future of Digital Infrastructure North America Awards, which are designed to highlight companies demonstrating excellence in using digital infrastructure to transform business and foster innovation. IDC (News - Alert) received submissions from across North America for this first annual award program. Award winners will be announced September 28th and showcased at CIO's Future of Cloud and Digital Infrastructure Summit being held December 7-9, 2021. To learn more about these annual awards, please visit HERE.

Awards are being given to the best entrants in three categories. The finalists in each category are:

Cloud-Centric Computing

Tapestry - Digital Core Transformation

Siemens (News - Alert) Healthineers - Transformation with Hybrid Cloud

Analytical Biosciences - Big Memory Accelerates Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

Ubiquitous Deployment Strategies

Toyota Financial Services - Digital Infrastructure Transformation

US Air Force Cloud One - Cloud One - US Air Force

Indicio Network - Indicio Network

Autonomous Operations

Founders Federal Credit Union - Transform Its Data Center and Cyber Resilience Strategy with Dell (News - Alert) Technologies

Walgreens Boots Alliance - Partners with Digitate to Accelerate Digital Transformation and Elevate Customer Experience li> Northbridge Financial - Northbridge Financial: Future of Digital Infrastructure







For more information on the IDC Best in Future of Digital Infrastructure Awards, please contact Sarah Murray at sarah@attunecommunications.com

About IDC's Future of Digital Infrastructure Research Practice

IDC's Future of Digital Infrastructure research practice helps organizations prepare for the emerging digital infrastructure ecosystem, which will increasingly be built on a cloud-centric foundation. Organizations will need to focus on ensuring ever faster delivery of innovative infrastructure hardware, software, resource abstraction, and process technologies to support the development and continual refinement of resilient digital services and digital experiences.

To learn more about all nine of IDC's Future of X research practices, please visit https://www.idc.com/FoX

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.

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[September 14, 2021] Prostate Cancer Outpatient Visits Declined During COVID-19 Pandemic, New Studies Find

Prostate cancer patients received outpatient care much less frequently during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic as outpatient urology visits declined more than 40 percent during March 2020 and April 2020, according to two studies from a research collaboration between Verana Health and the American Urological Association (AUA). Urology outpatient visits declined more than 40 percent during the spring of 2020 across all patient groups, but more so for low-risk patients than for high-risk patients. Whether this decline in outpatient care will affect longer-term outcomes is unknown, but the report recommends this question be researched closely in the future. Research findings from two studies were presented as part of the AUA's annual meeting, which was held virtually Sept. 10-13. This research was a collaboration between AUA and Verana Health, a healthcare technology and analytics innovator focused on transforming multi-specialty clinical data into real-world evidence. "While a decline in the number of outpatient visits during the initial phases of a global pandemic is not surprising, it's important to have real-world data on the size and magnitude of the observed decline and to know which patient groups were affected most," said Matthew Roe, MD, MHS, Chief Medical Officer at Verana Health. "These data will be invaluable for Urologists by informing their care decisions for patients as the pandemic continues to unfold." One study presented examined the overall changes in urologic care delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lead author Daniel Lee, MD, MS, assistant professor of urology in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia, found large initial declines in outpatient visits and surgical procedures tracking closely with the initial spread of pandemic in the U.S. Starting in March and April 2020, the number of outpatient urology visits began to fall sharply. The visit volume recovered somewhat after several months, but a secondary decline, which worsened during the pandemic surge in the fall of 2020, resulted in lower visit volume across all patient risk categories by year's end. Dr. Lee's research is also available in a recently published manuscript in the Journal of Urology.



Findings of a second study were also presented by lead author Matt Cooperberg, MD, MPH, professor of urology and epidemiology & biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Cooperberg's research showed that the COVID-19 pandemic sharply curtailed access to outpatient care for men with prostate cancer in the United States. An initial decline in visits for early-stage prostate cancer patients started in March 2020, followed by a recovery in visit volumes over several months. A secondary decline in visits related to the pandemic surge in the fall of 2020 affected all prostate cancer patient risk categories by the end of the year. Both studies used data from the AUA Quality Registry (AQUA), a national Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) that measures, reports, and improves healthcare quality and patient outcomes. A total of 158 U.S. urology practices contributed electronic health record data for this study. Researchers looked at visits for prostate cancer, use of diagnostic procedures such as prostate biopsies, and prostate cancer treatments, including surgical prostatectomy and radiation administration across different patient risk categories.

"For urologists and genitourinary cancer patients, early detection and treatment are critical to successful outcomes," said David F. Penson, MD, MPH, AUA Science and Quality Council Chair. "Thanks to our collaboration with Verana Health, we now have a better understanding about changes in care due to the COVID-19 pandemic that we can study to gauge the long-term impact of delayed diagnoses and treatments for prostate cancer." "The data on early-stage genitourinary cancers in the AQUA Registry are invaluable to researchers and clinicians," said Verana Health's Dr. Roe, a co-author of both studies. "By partnering with AUA to apply our data curation and analytics capabilities to the AQUA Registry data, Verana Health is helping the organization fulfill its mission of improving care for patients with urological disorders." The AUA promotes the highest standards of urological clinical care through research like the partnership with Verana Health. Continued research through the AQUA Registry will also result in further insights into the effectiveness of treatments for early-stage genitourinary cancers. For more information, view the study abstracts here and here. About Verana Health Verana Health is a healthcare technology and analytics company entrusted by key medical associations to manage multi-specialty, real-world data at every stage of the analytics process-from entry to evidence. Anchored in ophthalmology, neurology, and urology, the Company acts as a linchpin in the healthcare data ecosystem, making data meaningful and actionable to empower physicians and accelerate research for patients. By curating and applying advanced analytics to real-world clinical data, Verana Health helps life sciences partners enhance evidence generation, reinvent medical research, and drive innovations in specific disease areas. For more information on Verana Health, visit www.veranahealth.com. About the American Urological Association Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association (AUA) is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has nearly 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. For more information on AUA, visit https://www.auanet.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006024/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Network Wireless Solutions (NWS) Appoints Michael Millegan to Board of Directors

Network Wireless Solutions, LLC ("NWS"), a rapidly growing solutions and logistics provider to carriers and telecommunications contractors, announced today the appointment of Michael Millegan to its board. NWS is a portfolio company of Grain Management, LLC ("Grain"), a leading Washington, D.C.-based investment firm focused on the global communications sector. Mr. Millegan is a seasoned technology executive with several years of experience leading company strategy, including sales, marketing, supply chain operations, cell site build-out, and engineering. Currently, Mr. Millegan serves as an independent board director for AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS), Core Site Realty Corporation (NYSE:COR), Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR), and Wireless Telecom Group (NYSE:WTT). Previously, Mr. Millegan held executive leadership and management positions within Verizon (News - Alert) as President of Verizon Global Wholesale, where he was responsible for US$11 billion in sales revenue, 13,000 employes and US$1 billion in annual capital spending.



"We are thrilled to appoint a seasoned industry professional of Mr. Millegan's caliber," said NWS President John Hamilton. "Having recently partnered with Grain Management, and with Mr. Millegan joining to lend his deep, results-oriented industry expertise, NWS is in a prime position to maximize our market opportunity." "Mr. Millegan's stellar career in the wireless space speaks for itself," said David Grain, founder and CEO of Grain. "Michael's expertise and successes in the industry are well established, and I am confident his leadership and strategic abilities will be a vital ingredient for NWS's growth."

About NWS Since 2012, NWS has provided a wide array of mission-critical services to the wireless telecommunications industry. The company has established itself as a critical partner to carriers, project managers, and general contractors through its expertise, quality of service, and ability to develop and deliver custom cabling solutions and equipment exactly when needed. By combining extensive industry knowledge, a disciplined focus on customer service, and high-quality materials, NWS is a proven partner to keeping cell sites running smoothly. About Grain Management Grain Management, LLC is a leading private investment firm that focuses on broadband infrastructure and technology companies that connect the world to the information economy. Founded in 2007, Grain invests exclusively in the global telecommunications sector, employing a rigorous, data-based process buoyed by deep industry expertise to identify investment opportunities in key areas of telecommunications infrastructure, including fiber networks, wireless spectrum, and cell towers. For more information visit www.graingp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006019/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Global Industry Analysts Predicts the World Powder Coating Equipment Market to Reach $3 Billion by 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new market study published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., (GIA) the premier market research company, today released its report titled "Powder Coating Equipment - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics". The report presents fresh perspectives on opportunities and challenges in a significantly transformed post COVID-19 marketplace. FACTS AT A GLANCE

Edition: 6; Released: April 2021

Executive Pool: 487

Companies: 38 - Players covered include Asahi Sunac Corporation; Gema Switzerland GmbH; Hangzhou Color Powder Coating Equipment Co., Ltd.; J. Wagner GmbH; Koryo Coating Machine Industrial Co. Ltd.; Mitsuba Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd.; MS Oberflachentechnik AG; Nordson Corporation; Parker Ionics Powder Coating Equipment; Sames Kremlin and Others.

Coverage: All major geographies and key segments

Segments: Component (Guns, Ovens, Booths & Systems, Sieving System, Other Components); End-Use (General Metals, Agricultural & Construction, Appliances, Automotive, Architectural, Furniture, Other End-Uses)

Geographies: World; United States; Canada; Japan; China; Europe (France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; Spain; Russia; and Rest of Europe); Asia-Pacific (Australia; India; South Korea; and Rest of Asia-Pacific); Latin America (Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; and Rest of Latin America); Middle East (Iran; Israel; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; and Rest of Middle East); and Africa. Complimentary Project Preview - This is an ongoing global program. Preview our research program before you make a purchase decision. We are offering a complimentary access to qualified executives driving strategy, business development, sales & marketing, and product management roles at featured companies. Previews provide deep insider access to business trends; competitive brands; domain expert profiles; and market data templates and much more. You may also build your own bespoke report using our MarketGlass Platform which offers thousands of data bytes without an oblgation to purchase our report. Preview Registry



ABSTRACT- Global Powder Coating Equipment Market to Reach $3 Billion by 2026

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Powder Coating Equipment estimated at US$2.4 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$3 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.9% over the analysis period. Guns, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 4.3% CAGR and reach US$565.6 Million by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Ovens segment is readjusted to a revised 4% CAGR for the next 7-year period.

The U.S. Market is Estimated at $669.9 Million in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $627.9 Million by 2026

The Powder Coating Equipment market in the U.S. is estimated at US$669.9 Million in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$627.9 Million by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 1.2% and 3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 2% CAGR. Booths & Systems Segment to Reach US$1.2 Billion by the year 2026

In the global Booths & Systems segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 3.7% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$687.2 Million in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$889 Million by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. More MarketGlass Platform

Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide. Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years. CONTACTS:

Zak Ali

Director, Corporate Communications

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Phone: 1-408-528-9966

www.StrategyR.com

Email: ZA@StrategyR.com LINKS

Join Our Expert Panel

https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp Connect With Us on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./ Follow Us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/marketbytes Journalists & Media

Info411@strategyr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-industry-analysts-predicts-the-world-powder-coating-equipment-market-to-reach-3-billion-by-2026-301376659.html SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

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[September 14, 2021] Excella Awarded Navy SeaPort Next Generation IDIQ

Excella, a pioneer in Agile (News - Alert) technology solutions, was awarded a prime position on U.S. Navy's SeaPort Next Generation (Seaport-NxG) multiple-award contract. Prior to this award, Excella was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to research the use of DevSecOps practices and technologies with Naval Control Systems (NCS). Work under SBIR will automate and streamline capabilities while reducing cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Excella will continue to support the Navy by bringing the benefits of Agile and DevSecOps services to Seaport-NxG. Modernized IT systems are crucial in ensuring the warfighter is empowered to meet the Navy's mission of maintaining freedom of the seas. Excella will bring its nearly two decades of experience in modernizing IT systems to address the Navy's technology challenges through agile software development, AI and cybersecurity. "The U.S. Navy is making impressive progress solving transformational challenges and modernizing its approach to IT," said Jeff Gallimore, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Excella. "As an innovation partner, Excella can equip he Navy to be combat-ready and ensure mission success through IT. As a part of SeaPort Next Generation, we will bring the benefits of agile and DevSecOps services to our Naval forces."



SeaPort-NxG will allow the Navy to continue modernizing its technology systems through innovative services including application and infrastructure development. The contract has a 2.5-year base period and an ordering period of five years, with a remaining ceiling value of $7.5 billion. The IDIQ is the Navy's key contract vehicle for acquiring support services in 23 separate areas that include engineering, financial management, and program management "At Excella, we prioritize helping agencies address their biggest IT challenges through agile technology, AI and beyond. Supporting the Navy through this vehicle will help incite end-to-end confidence in the Navy's technological capabilities," said Sarath Ravella, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives of Excella. "Excella's agile approach will accelerate speed to capability for the warfighter."

Excella has successfully led agile and DevSecOps Transformations, legacy IT system modernizations, and AI solution delivery to federal agencies across the government. To learn more about Excella's offerings for government, please visit: https://www.excella.com/markets/federal About Excella Excella is an Agile technology firm and transformative partner to leading organizations. Since 2002, federal agencies, prominent brands, and trailblazing non-profits have turned to Excella to transform bold ideas into elegant technology solutions. We believe technology exists to solve challenges and evolve thinking - we help organizations harness this power to make real progress. Learn more at www.excella.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006068/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Announcing Metaverso, a New NFT Summit Coming to Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, NFT investor gmoney is pleased to announce Metaverso, Puerto Ricos first-ever NFT summit that will take place on Tuesday, December 7th, 2021 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Metaverso will gather NFT creators, collectors, and leading global players for a day of immersive programming, welcoming participants and attendees into Puerto Ricos vibrant crypto and NFT ecosystem. Metaverso will be a day of connection and exploration, where industry leaders will delve into the artistic, technological and cultural implications of this natively digital artform. The one-day summit will feature programming in both Spanish and English that will take place alongside a charitable auction, NFT art exhibit, and the culmination of the Metaverso Hackathon. Metaverso will serve as an inaugural event to kick off Puerto Rico Blockchain Week.

Metaverso is co-hosted by gmoney, a pseudo-anonymous futurist and tech investor who has emerged as one of the most influential voices in the NFT space. Over the last year, gmoney and his peers of early NFT collectors helped to catalyze the exponential growth of the global NFT ecosystem, a market that generated over $900 million in sales in the month of August alone. gmoney was included in Fortunes NFTy 50 and is a general partner of Delphi INFINFT, a fund dedicated to investing in the NFT ecosystem. Known as a crypto enthusiast, curator and collector, gmoney has conceptualized Metaverso to bring attention to the burgeoning crypto art scene in his local Puerto Rico. As an active memberof the Puerto Rican community, I am humbled by the opportunity to educate a collective of local artists and entrepreneurs about this burgeoning new technology. I am excited to create a space that will bring some of the most prominent NFT figures to Puerto Rico, hopefully empowering local communities to explore the ways in which this new art form could change their lives for the better, in the same way I have seen NFT technology affect many lives across the world already, said gmoney.



Metaverso will take place at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, a beautiful art museum in the historic San Juan neighborhood of Santurce, offering a lush setting to discover the latest in cryptos cultural sphere with a focus on Puerto Ricos growing contributions to the industry. Metaverso will bring many in the crypto arts community to San Juan following Art Basel, the international art festival that takes place in Miami the week prior. Metaverso will feature a full day of immersive programming with notable speakers such as Fractional Art Co-Founder Andy Chorlian, John Crain, Founder of SuperRare, Jeff Jihoz Zirlin, Co-founder & Growth Lead at Sky Mavis, and Jarrod Dicker of TCG, in addition to local Puerto Rican leaders across technology and art, such as Nerma Albertorio, the Founder & Executive Director of Centro para Emprendedores (CPE). The Metaverso exhibit will feature works from both emergent and high-profile NFT artists alike including Fvckrender, Snowfro, ACK, Barry Sutton, Cath Simard and many more. Metaverso is co-created by gmoney and Amanda Cassatt, an early crypto entrepreneur and current CEO and co-founder of Serotonin, a premier Web3 marketing firm and venture studio. Our goal with Metaverso is to offer a space where physical and digital art, traditions and new technologies, and people living all over the world and in Puerto Rico, can meet, and through their connection, create novel forms of beauty and value, said Amanda, who also currently resides in Puerto Rico.

Metaverso is supported by industry-leading organizations such as SuperRare, Universe.xyz, Delphi Digital, DARMA Capital, and Serotonins new NFT venture, Mojito. Proceeds from the event will benefit Centro Para Emprendedores and Codetrotters, two organizations that support artists and entrepreneurs creating their own businesses and teach computer coding in Puerto Rico. Tickets for Metaverso are available today at Metaver.so. For media inquiries, please contact kara@serotonin.co.



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[September 14, 2021] guardDog.ai and Nexus IT Enter Joint Relationship to Expand IT Infrastructure, Customer Experience and 24/7 IT Resources as guardDog Customer Base Continues to Scale

Guard Dog Solutions, Inc., dba guardDog.ai, a rapidly expanding leader in cyber security solutions for consumers and businesses, today announced a joint relationship with award-winning IT and service provider Nexus IT (NexusITC.net). The partnership will assist in assuring optimal user experience and 24/7 IT support for the rapidly expanding base of guardDog.ai employees and customers, who rely on the company's AI-driven network overlay technology to find and protect against attempted cyberattacks in less than two milliseconds. guardDog provides a managed detection and response to attempted hacks by identifying the threats that device and network management solutions can't see and proactively halting potential exploits before they begin. Under the terms of today's announcement, guardDog has partnered with Nexus IT to assist with internal cyber security defense and aspects of user experience and management, to aid in guardDog's continuing expansion to customers ranging from individuals to home-based workers and small and large organizations. "We are grateful to count on Nexus IT's depth of experience to harden our infrastructure and platform, allowing us to continue our expansion to all parts of the world at full speed," said Peter Bookman, founder and CEO of guardDog.ai. "We're extremely pleased to join with guardDog in this tremendous endeavor to protect users and networks from the cybersecurity attacks that can cause millions and billions of dollars in damages to the largest organizations, and can entirely debilitate home based businesses and smaller organizations," said Earl Foote, Founder and CEO of Nexus IT Consultants. "We are plased to support and further strengthen guardDog's infrastructure and cybersecurity practices, while creating an ideal IT support model for the guardDog team and their valued customers, allowing guardDog to continue to expand at full speed."



In wired and Wi-Fi networks, guardDog.ai protects against threats outside the perimeter of the network or on attached devices that other solutions can't see, including the many IoT devices that now occupy home and business networks such as digital doorbells, smart refrigerators, and game systems. Devices of every kind are inherently vulnerable to the networks they join. guardDog.ai employs patent-pending artificial intelligence to pre-emptively recognize, expose, and shut down cybersecurity threats before an attack can happen. From the moment the Fido network overlay device is plugged in, it works with guardDog.ai Protective Cloud Services (PCS) to combat threats with Autonomous Incident Response (AiR) technology that uses artificial intelligence to detect cyber threats and instantly shuts attacks down before they compromise privacy and security. The service stays up to date on the latest threats that arise in the form of ransomware, man-in-the-middle attacks, denial of service, and emerging novel threats, to protect networks and the devices attached to them.

About Nexus IT Based in Salt Lake City, UT, Nexus IT Consultants is the winner of Utah's 2021 Best in State awards for excellence, as well as Park City's Best award winner in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. With 23 years of IT and cybersecurity experience, the Nexus IT Consultants team is a friendly team of talented people that provide complete IT Support and Cybersecurity Services for small and medium-sized businesses throughout the U.S. For more information, visit NexusITC.net. About guardDog.ai Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, guardDog.ai has developed a cloud-based Autonomous Incident Response (AiR) cyber security software service with a companion device that work together to simplify network security. The solution provides protection and visibility as it exposes invisible threats on networks and the devices attached to them, with patented technology to address and prevent cybersecurity threats before they compromise network environments. Every business, government, healthcare institution, home consumer, or other organization, are grappling to find security solutions that are adapting to this changing world. guardDog.ai is pioneering new innovations designed to meet these challenges. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward looking statements of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and results, and will not be accurate indications of the times, or by, which such performance will be achieved. For more information visit guardDog.ai and explore edge territory analytics at Live Map. #EdgeTerritory #Cybersecurity #ProtectiveCloudServices #BeyondVPN View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006103/en/

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[September 14, 2021] EarthLink Expands Customer Service Division with New U.S. Call Center

ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthLink, a leading U.S. high-speed internet service provider, is proud to announce the expansion of its Customer Service Division with a new customer support center in Wise County, Virginia. The planned 30,000-square-foot facility marks another milestone in the company's effort to re-shore some of its service operations to the United States to provide an even better experience for customers. "EarthLink's new support center will play a major role in bringing the company's customer service operations to the United States, creating economic opportunity and new jobs for Virginians," said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. "The rural regions of the Commonwealth successfully compete for and attract projects due to their infrastructure, business-friendly operating costs, and dedicated and highly-skilled workforce. We look forward to supporting EarthLink's growth and achievements in the Commonwealth." "Having grown up in this area, it gives me great pride to further EarthLink's efforts to provide award-winning customer experiences through our new sales and service center in Norton, VA. We loo forward to a long partnership with this community and the employees who will become part of EarthLink," said Glenn Goad, CEO of EarthLink.



EarthLink has taken tenancy of an existing site in Wise, Virgina and will begin training employees to handle sales and service calls later this year. EarthLink will hire 150 employees for the initial location. EarthLink plans to then expand into a newly constructed 30,000-square-foot facility in Norton, Virginia, slated for completion in 2024, with a goal of bringing more than 500 jobs to the area. The future site has been determined and cleared for construction. EarthLink is committed to providing an outstanding customer experience. For the second straight year, EarthLink took the top spot in HighSpeedInternet.com's rankings for overall customer satisfaction in 2021, earning first place in all four major categories: price, speed, reliability, and customer service.

"Our mission is to provide the best customer service in the industry," said Brigitte Wright-Roy, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations for EarthLink. "But we can only achieve that goal by building and taking care of a great team of customer service experts. This facility will help us do that and offer even better service to our expanding customer base" EarthLink has open job postings and continues to actively hire for positions in workforce management, customer service, team management, security, and human resources. Individuals interested in careers with EarthLink are encouraged to visit earthlink.net/careers for additional information. About EarthLink:

EarthLink is a top U.S. internet service provider offering access to fast, secure, and reliable internet to more homes and small businesses than any other ISP. As an internet pioneer founded in 1994, EarthLink continues to lead the way by offering customers the right connection  the right speed at the right price. An independent company, EarthLink was certified as a Great Place to Work in 2020 and 2021. To learn more, visit earthlink.net. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/earthlink-expands-customer-service-division-with-new-us-call-center-301376773.html SOURCE EarthLink

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[September 14, 2021] Navitas To Present Next-Gen Semiconductors at Taiwan VIP Investor Meeting

DUBLIN, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Navitas Semiconductor ("the Company" or "Navitas"), the industry-leader in GaN power integrated circuits ("ICs"), has announced its participation in the Taiwan VIP Investor Meeting, hosted by Mesh Ventures. The virtual meeting is scheduled for September 16th at 10pm US EDT, September 17th at 10am in Taiwan. GaNFast power IC technology and the $13.1B market opportunity. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a next-generation semiconductor technology that runs up to 20x faster than legacy silicon and enables up to 3x more power and 3x faster charging in half the size and weight. Navitas' GaNFast power ICs integrate GaN power and drive plus protection and control to deliver simple, small, fast and efficient performance. With over 130 patents issued or pending, and significant trade secrets including a proprietary process design kit (PDK), Navitas believes it has a multi-year lead in next-generation GaN power ICs. Navitas' co-founder and CEO, Gene SHERIDAN and Sr. VP Finance Todd GLICKMAN, will review GaNFast power IC technology and the $13.1B market opportunity in a live presentation with Q&A. To participate, investors should register online via the Mesh Ventures website. "This VIP Investor Meeting is an excellent opportunity for Taiwanese investors to access this next-generation GaN technology and interact with Navitas management in real-time," said Edward CHYAU, Managing Partner at Mesh Ventures. "As an existing investor, we can speak from experience about how the Navitas team is dedicated to both company revenue growth and ensuring that customers benefit from this leading-edge, environmentally-beneficial technology." GaN power ICs have up to 10x lower CO 2 footprint than legacy silicon chips. The higher efficiency and smaller size of the end equipment mean that customers can accelerate progress on their own carbon net zero plans. As Navitas helps to "Electrify Our World", GaN is forecasted to address over 2.6 Gtons of CO 2 annually by 2050. "Taiwan is an important focus for Navitas, with a strong manufacturing base for our GaN power IC wafers, test and package assembly, plus an established customer base," said Gene Sheridan, Navitas' co-founder and CEO. "This VIP meeting is an excellent chance to talk with members of the Taiwanese investment community to highlight our aggressive revenue ramp and expansion into new markets, such as consumer electronics and data centers. Overall, it's a $13 billion GaN electrification opportunity  and we are grateful to Mesh for this platform to meet with future-thinking investors." About Mesh Ventures

Mesh Ventures is a leading venture capital investor, based in Taipei, Taiwan, with a global ecosystem of cross-industry partners spanning corporations, industry leaders, subject matter experts, academia, financial institutions, and professional services. Our network helps us discover new technologies and businesses, analyse technology landscapes, verify supply and demand, and act on opportunities. Our network helps our portfolio companies to address product development issues, align supply chain partners, develop vital strategic relationships, and identify key customers. For our corporate partners, comprised of leading Asian & US semiconductor, electronics, automotive, and industrial companies, we help them engage with cutting-edge enabling technologies and applications. About Navitas

Navitas Semiconductor Limited is the industry leader in GaN power IC's, founded in 2014. Navitas has a strong and growing team ofpower semiconductor industry experts with a combined 300 years of experience in materials, devices, applications, systems and marketing, plus a proven record of innovation with over 200 patents among its founders. GaN power ICs integrate GaN power with drive, control and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density and greater energy savings for mobile, consumer, enterprise, eMobility and new energy markets. Over 130 Navitas patents are issued or pending, and over 25 million GaNFast power ICs have been shipped with zero reported GaN field failures. On May 7th, 2021, Navitas announced plans to "Go Public at an Enterprise Value of $1.04 Billion via Live Oak II (NYSE: LOKB) SPAC Business Combination.



Navitas Semiconductor, GaNFast and the Navitas logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Navitas Semiconductor Limited. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding the proposed transaction, the ability of the parties to consummate the transaction, the benefits of the transaction and the combined company's future financial performance, as well as the combined company's strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projections of market opportunity and market share, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "plan," "seek," "expect," "project," "forecast," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Live Oak II and Navitas caution you that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the expected growth of Navitas' business will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period, due to, among other things: (i) Navitas' goals and strategies, future business development, financial condition and results of operations; (ii) Navitas' customer relationships and ability to retain and expand these customer relationships; (iii) Navitas' ability to accurately predict future revenues for the purpose of appropriately budgeting and adjusting Navitas' expenses; (iv) Navitas' ability to diversify its customer base and develop relationships in new markets; (v) the level of demand in Navitas' customers' end markets; (vi) Navitas' ability to attract, train and retain key qualified personnel; (vii) changes in trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs; (viii) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Navitas' business, results of operations and financial condition; (ix) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy; (x) the ability of Navitas to maintain compliance with certain U.S. Government contracting requirements; (xi) regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; and (xii) Navitas' ability to protect its intellectual property rights. Forward-looking statements are also subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including (i) changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; (ii) the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transaction, including the risk that any required regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction or that the approval of the stockholders of Live Oak II is not obtained; (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Live Oak II or Navitas following announcement of the proposed transaction; (iv) the risk that the proposed transaction disrupts Live Oak II's or Navitas' current plans and operations as a result of the announcement of the proposed transaction; (v) costs related to the proposed transaction; (vi) failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; (vii) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Navitas; (viii) risks related to the rollout of Navitas' business and the timing of expected business milestones; (ix) the effects of competition on Navitas' business; (x) the amount of redemption requests made by Live Oak II's public stockholders; (xi) the ability of Live Oak II or the combined company to issue equity or equity-linked securities in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future; and (xii) those factors discussed in Live Oak II's registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-256880) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on September 10, 2021 (the "Registration Statement") and Live Oak II's final prospectus filed with the SEC on December 4, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and other documents of Live Oak II filed, or to be filed, with the SEC. If any of the risks described above materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by our forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that neither Live Oak II nor Navitas presently know or that Live Oak II and Navitas currently believe are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Live Oak II's and Navitas' expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Live Oak II and Navitas anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments to change. However, while Live Oak II and Navitas may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Live Oak II and Navitas specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements. Important Information and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed transaction, Live Oak II has filed the Registration Statement with the SEC, which includes a proxy statement/prospectus of Live Oak II. Live Oak II also plans to file other documents and relevant materials with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. After the Registration Statement has been cleared by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the stockholders of Live Oak II. SECURITYHOLDERS OF LIVE OAK II AND NAVITAS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS AND RELEVANT MATERIALS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Stockholders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about Live Oak II and Navitas once such documents are filed with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Participants in the Solicitation Live Oak II and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Live Oak II in connection with the proposed transaction. Navitas and its officers and directors may also be deemed participants in such solicitation. Securityholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of certain of Live Oak II's executive officers and directors in the solicitation by reading Live Oak II's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 25, 2021 and the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction when they become available. Information concerning the interests of Live Oak II's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Live Oak II's stockholders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed transaction when it becomes available. Contact Information

Stephen Oliver, VP Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations

ir@navitassemi.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/navitas-to-present-next-gen-semiconductors-at-taiwan-vip-investor-meeting-301376733.html SOURCE Navitas Semiconductor

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[September 14, 2021] Mouser Electronics Examines Impact of 5G and Edge Computing on Intelligent Transportation Systems in Newest EIT Episode

Mouser Electronics Inc. today releases the fifth installment of the 2021 Empowering Innovation Together (EIT) program. The latest installment offers deeper insight into the trends surrounding intelligent transportation systems through a featured blog, infographic, video and more. The series also includes a new episode of The Tech Between Us podcast, available on the Mouser website: https://www.mouser.com/empowering-innovation/intelligent-transportation-systems#podcast-its. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006110/en/ Mouser Electronics today releases the fifth installment of the 2021 Empowering Innovation Together program, which offers deeper insight into the trends surrounding intelligent transportation systems through a featured blog, infographic, video and The Tech Between Us podcast. (Graphic: Business Wire) In the latest podcast episode, Raymond Yin, Mouser's Director of Technical Content, speaks with Dr. Maxime Flament, CTO of the 5G Automotive Association, about the emergence of industry safety standards. They explore the capabilities of implemening 5G networks into transportation systems and the effects of edge computing in the automotive industry. The podcast is also available on Alexa, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora (News - Alert) , Spotify and Mouser's YouTube channel.



"Worldwide, we're seeing rapidly increasing needs for safe, secure and intelligent transportation systems," states Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics. "With new developments enabled by technologies like 5G, ultra-wide bandgap, next-gen wireless connectivity and more, we're in an era of smart transportation solutions that will change the industry and impact our communities, cities, travel and more." The 2021 EIT series includes four byte-sized videos, Then, Now and Next, as well as articles, blogs, infographics and other content, with conversations led by Mouser thought leaders and other experts. Future tech topics following intelligent transportation solutions will review the latest in product technologies such as RF and wireless. The program showcases multiple new product developments and unveils the technical developments required to stay timely with new trends in the marketplace.

The fifth installment of the 2021 EIT program is sponsored by Mouser's valued partners Amphenol ICC, Amphenol RF, Digi International, Intel, KEMET, Microchip Technology (News - Alert) , Molex, STMicroelectronics, TDK and TE Connectivity. Established in 2015, Mouser's Empowering Innovation Together program is one of the industry's most recognized electronic component programs. To learn more, visit https://www.mouser.com/empowering-innovation and follow Mouser on Facebook and Twitter. As a global authorized distributor, Mouser offers the world's widest selection of the newest semiconductors and electronic components - in stock and ready to ship. Mouser's customers can expect 100% certified, genuine products that are fully traceable from each of its manufacturer partners. To help speed customers' designs, Mouser's website hosts an extensive library of technical resources, including a Technical Resource Center, along with product data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design information, engineering tools and other helpful information. Engineers can stay abreast of today's exciting product, technology and application news through Mouser's complimentary e-newsletter. Mouser's email news and reference subscriptions are customizable to the unique and changing project needs of customers and subscribers. No other distributor gives engineers this much customization and control over the information they receive. Learn about emerging technologies, product trends and more by signing up today at https://sub.info.mouser.com/subscriber. About Mouser Electronics Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on New Product Introductions from its leading manufacturer partners. Serving the global electronic design engineer and buyer community, the global distributor's website, mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5 million products from over 1,100 manufacturer brands. Mouser offers 27 support locations worldwide to provide best-in-class customer service in local language, currency and time zone. The distributor ships to over 630,000 customers in 223 countries/territories from its 1 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art distribution facilities in the Dallas, Texas, metro area. For more information, visit https://www.mouser.com/. Trademarks Mouser and Mouser Electronics are registered trademarks of Mouser Electronics, Inc. All other products, logos, and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006110/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Ethos Asset Management Inc., USA Expands and Incorporates Subsidiary in Brazil

Today, Ethos Asset Management Inc., USA announced the formation of Ethos Capital Brasil Ltda. (EB) in Brazil, a recent creation and addition to the Ethos Group. The company was incorporated on April 14th, 2021, by the President and CEO of Ethos Asset Management Inc., USA, Carlos Santos, in Brazil with the support of its Executive Director to Central and South America - Mayra Fonseca Couto. This new operation and physical presence will enable Ethos to overcome some of the challenges in receiving financial guarantees and other financial instruments into its USA banks from various global jurisdictions. ECB will enable Ethos Asset Management Inc., USA, to conduct its ongoing day-to-day worldwide financing activities and to penetrate new markets by providing much-needed investment in local businesses, corporations, governments, and community-based organisations. The company considers this move to be a significant development in the continued growth and expansion of the Ethos group. The move will go far to address the needs of the Brazilian market by having a physical presence in country and will allow Ethos to protect its clients from the exchange ratio exposure of the Brazilian Real against the US Dollar. At the same time this new structure allows Ethos to provide a more bespoke, efficient, high performing service of excellence to its clients who currently represent 39% of Ethos' Closing Pipeline. Carlos Santos, President and CEO of Ethos, stated, "We were very excited and motivated to establish a subsidiary of Ethos in Brazil. This will provide to our present and future Brazilian clients and potential partners in the region with the opportunity to be financed by Ethos dynamically, efficiently, and personally. Our movement is based on the relevance of the market in terms of size and the fact that we have Energy & Natural Resources and Infrastructure & 'Development of Countries' as our target sectors of investment, such areas are exceptionally large and predominant in the Brazil economy. Our new local structue allows us to cover the currency exchange ratio exposure of our clients and provide our investment with higher quality support and a multiple supply of current solutions for our clients. In our view the pandemic opened the door to one of the biggest emergency markets in the world and the eternal BRICS member."



Mayra Fonseca Couto, Executive Director to Central and South America of Ethos, in Brazil, said, "Brazil is an extremely relevant player in the group of emerging markets and is clearly one of the best in terms of investment opportunities. The banking system in Brazil is modernizing and Ethos wants to support it in the capitalization of the Brazilian entities matching global funding and local expertise. To have this opportunity to support Ethos and be a partner in our visionary strategy will impact Brazil's economy in a unique way is really an honour. Ethos is a vehicle of structural change and can allow our country to be a more developed, organized and sustainable nation realising its dream to lead as a BRICS member and to become a fully developed country." Perminio Moreira, CEO, and Board Member of Meat Group, said, "Ethos regards Brazil as priority in terms of building long term relationships. We are very pleased to have a first-class Partner looking for our region with such attention and providing dedicated local support during the whole Meat Foods project building process, and other business that seek to grow in this moment of market recovery."

About Ethos Capital Brasil Ltda.: ETHOS Capital Brasil Ltda., a limited liability company, incorporated under the laws of Brazil, is a subsidiary of Ethos Asset Management Inc., with a global outreach in project financing. Ethos allocates its own resources to finance government and privately promoted projects on every continent and in every sector providing capital to structure projects and restructure debt. About Ethos Asset Management: Ethos Asset Management (Ethos) is an independent, US-based company with a global reach in resource mobilization and project financing. Providing financing to government and privately promoted projects in every continent and every sector, Ethos has developed a unique risk modulation model which allows them to provide financing in terms not available anywhere in traditional financial markets. Additionally, Ethos provides advice to structure projects and restructure debt. Ethos supports and develops their clients to navigate changing market environments to achieve their long-term goals with confidence. For more information about Ethos Asset Management, please visit https://www.ethosasset.com/. You can hear from Carlos Santos, Ethos CEO, in Dubai where he is Guest Speaker and Panellist at The Leaders Without Borders Leadership Summit and International Honours, the #1 gathering of high-achieving level professionals from all across the World, at the Habtoor Palace, Dubai, on 29th - 30th September, 2021. For more information about Ethos, please visit: https://www.ethosasset.com/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006144/en/

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Citi Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Review

Citigroup will issue its third quarter results via press release at approximately 8:00 AM (ET) on Thursday, October 14, 2021. At 10:00 AM (ET), results will be reviewed via live webcast and teleconference.

The press release, webcast and presentation materials will be available at https://www.citigroup.com/citi/investor/. A replay and transcript of the webcast will be available shortly after the event.

To dial-in to the live teleconference, please call (866) 516-9582 (for U.S. and Canada callers) or (973) 409-9210 (for international callers). Conference ID: 2976824. A telephonic replay of the call will be available beginning approximately two hours after the event until Thursday, October 21, 2021 by calling (855) 859-2056 (for U.S. and Canada callers) or (404) 537-3406 (for international callers). Conference ID: 2976824.

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 milion customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.







Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter (News - Alert) : @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi| Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook (News - Alert) : www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn (News - Alert) :www.linkedin.com/company/citi

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[September 14, 2021] First Trust Senior Floating Rate 2022 Target Term Fund Announces Board Approval of Early Liquidation and Waiver of the Management Fee

First Trust Senior Floating Rate 2022 Target (News - Alert) Term Fund (NYSE: FIV) (the "Fund") announced today that the Fund's Board of Trustees (the "Board") has approved the liquidation and termination of the Fund on December 15, 2021 (the "Termination Date"). The governing documents of the Fund provide that the Fund will terminate on or prior to February 1, 2022. In accordance with its early termination, the Fund's common shares of beneficial interest (the "Common Shares") are expected to cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange on or about December 9, 2021 and will be suspended from trading before the open of trading on or about December 10, 2021. The Fund anticipates making its final liquidating distribution on or about the Termination Date to holders of the Fund's Common Shares of record on December 13, 2021. Shareholder approval is not required for the Fund's early termination. The Fund has investment objectives to seek a high level of current income and to return $9.85 per Common Share to holders of the Common Shares at termination. The Fund has entered its wind-up period in anticipation of its termination and, accordingly, may deviate from its investment objectives and policies. As the Fund approaches the Termination Date, Fund managers will continue to reduce and eliminate its leverage and to transition the Fund's portfolio from non-investment grade senior loans to high quality, short-term instruments or cash and cash equivalents. In light of the foregoing and crrent market conditions, the Fund anticipates the income earned by its portfolio investments will be reduced and, as such, the Fund and First Trust Advisors L.P., the investment advisor of the Fund ("FTA"), have entered into, and the Board has approved, an agreement whereby FTA has agreed to waive the management fee payable by the Fund for the period beginning September 1, 2021 through the Termination Date.



As previously announced, due in part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on market conditions and the U.S. economy beginning in March 2020, it is unlikely that the Fund will achieve its objective of returning $9.85 per Common Share to holders of the Common Shares upon termination. The Fund's net asset value as of September 13, 2021 was $9.71. The Fund's daily closing price and net asset value per Common Share as well as other information can be found at www.ftportfolios.com or by calling (800) 988-5891. Shareholders may recognize gain or loss for U.S. tax purposes as a result of the Fund's liquidation. Investors should consult a professional tax advisor regarding their specific tax situation.

FTA is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the Fund's investment advisor. FTA and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately-held companies that provide a variety of investment services. FTA has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $213 billion as of August 31, 2021 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. FTA is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. FTA and FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit https://www.ftportfolios.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210914006091/en/

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[September 14, 2021] Stord Raises $90 Million Series D at a $1.1 Billion Valuation and Acquires Fulfillment Works to Bring World-Class Logistics to Every Company

ATLANTA, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stord, the cloud supply chain leader, announced $90 million in Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with additional participation from Lux Capital, D1 Capital and Palm Tree Crew, and existing investors, including BOND, Dynamo Ventures, Founders Fund, Lineage Logistics, and Susa Ventures. In addition, Michael Rubin, Fanatics founder and founder of GSI Commerce, Carlos Cashman, CEO of Thrasio, Max Mullen, co-founder of Instacart and Will Gaybrick, CPO at Stripe, joined the round. The new funding values the company at $1.1 billion and comes just six months after its $65 million Series C. Stord has raised $205 million in total funding. Along with the funding, Stord also announced the closing of its acquisition of Fulfillment Works, a leading DTC fulfillment provider. Fulfillment Works' decades of deep direct-to-consumer (DTC) experience and first-party warehouses on both coasts are critical to powering Stord's next phase of growth. These announcements come as Stord reports record growth. In the last year, the company has: Delivered its third consecutive year of 300%+ growth, and is on track to repeat that success in 2021

Achieved more than $100 million in revenue

in revenue Grown headcount from 160 staff in 2020 to over 400 so far in 2021

Added Body Armor, DYPER and Thrasio to its roster of leading omnichannel brands also including Advance Auto Parts, Dollar General, Schneider Electric , and Veritiv.

, and Veritiv. Opened a state-of-the-art, 386,000 square foot facility in Atlanta that is leveraging the latest warehouse robotics and automation technologies "The supply chain is the new competitive battleground," said Sean Henry, Stord CEO and co-founder. "Today's buying expectations set by Amazon and the rise of the omnichannel shopper have placed immense pressure on companies to maintain more nimble and efficient supply chains. This new funding and the outstanding Fulfillment Works team bring us that much closer to our goal of being the last logistics partner businesses will ever need. We want every company to have world-class, Prime-like supply chains." With Fulfillment Works, Stord can provide even more specialized, first-party capacity, which, when combined with its network of hundreds f warehouse partners, offers businesses the most powerful supply chain network on the market. Fulfillment Works' customers will now have access to Stord's supply chain software and end-to-end logistics, and Stord will now use Fulfillment Works' facilities to provide additional control and deeper customer service in key regions. These new warehouses will not only improve the supply chain experience for Stord's customers, but Stord will share best practices across its entire partner network. Fulfillment Works' whole team will join Stord.



"Our goal from day one was to help companies delight their customers through amazing fulfillment service," said Amy Cooper, CEO and co-founder of Fulfillment Works. "Now, with Stord, we can realize that vision. Stord has built the only end-to-end logistics network that combines the physical infrastructure with software. Together, we will bring new levels of speed, efficiency and flexibility to brands everywhere, just in time for the busy holiday period." Today's supply chain infrastructure and software tools haven't evolved to meet the customer expectations of DTC commerce brands set by Amazon Prime, or the complex, fast-changing needs of B2B businesses. Resource and capacity constraints require companies to use a patchwork of disconnected 3PLs, creating an inflexible, expensive and opaque logistics network that slows innovation and time to market. The result is slower shipments, higher prices and unhappy customers.

The pandemic exacerbated this problem, as e-commerce boomed, further straining supply chains. Global e-commerce is set to surpass $5 trillion in 2021, while B2B online commerce is expected to reach $20.9 trillion by 2027. Stord is leveling the playing field for mid-market and enterprise companies that want to delight their customers with speedy deliveries, better prices, and great experiences. The company connects brands to an end-to-end logistics infrastructureincluding warehousing, freight and fulfillmentin a single, integrated platform that's available exactly when and where companies need it. "Trillions of dollars will move online in the next few years, and supply chains need to catch up to this transition," said Ilya Fushman, Stord board director and partner at Kleiner Perkins, who also led Stord's Series A. "Stord is democratizing logistics for growing businesses at a time when retailers across the economy are massively increasing their investment in their supply chain. Stord will become for the supply chain what Amazon Web Services is for cloud computingan intelligent, reliable, and scalable utility that lets companies focus on growing their business without having to worry about their logistics ever again." To learn more about Stord's Cloud Supply Chain, visit stord.com. About Stord

Stord is the cloud supply chain enabling companies to compete and grow with world-class logistics  including warehousing, freight and fulfillment  in a single, integrated platform that's available exactly when and where they need it. Hundreds of B2B and B2C companies like BodyArmor, Advance Auto Parts and Dollar General use Stord to make their supply chains perform with the speed, flexibility and ease of the cloud. Led by former operators from Amazon, XPO and Manhattan Associates, Stord is headquartered in Atlanta and backed by Kleiner Perkins, BOND, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, D1 Capital, Palm Tree Crew, Salesforce Ventures, Susa Ventures and Lineage Logistics. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stord-raises-90-million-series-d-at-a-1-1-billion-valuation-and-acquires-fulfillment-works-to-bring-world-class-logistics-to-every-company-301376945.html SOURCE Stord

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[September 14, 2021] Humanforce Releases Solution to Help Employers Manage COVID-19 Vaccination Policies

SYDNEY, Sept. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As increasing vaccination rates become a primary path towards reopening Australia, local workers are indicating a preference to work in environments where their colleagues are vaccinated. To assist businesses in managing complex workplace vaccination issues, Humanforce, a provider of intelligent workforce management solutions, has released a solution to help organisations communicate and manage their policies. "As Australian businesses have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns and have needed to ensure the safety of employees and customers, encouraging and in some cases mandating vaccines in the workplace is being increasingly discussed." said Clayton Pyne, CEO of Humanforce "In fact, we're already seeing vaccination mandates being enacted in high risk settings like residential aged care and even private enterprises, like Qantas, Virgin and food producer SPC. "The challenge for workplaces who are introduing vaccine policies, is how they can effectively communicate, enforce and track these policies with their employees. An automated workforce management solution can help to streamline this process and ensure compliance, which is very important when dealing with such a high priority health issue affecting the safety of the entire workplace and wider community."



Recent research has shown that 67% of casual workers said they had been concerned about their health in the workplace during the pandemic and 79% said they would prefer if their colleagues were vaccinated. "Given there is a strong desire amongst casual workers to complete their shifts in safe environments where those around them are vaccinated, the onus is on employers to formulate and communicate clear vaccination policies for the future," said Clayton.

Humanforce has released a solution to streamline workforce management for COVID-19 vaccinations, which will allow organisations to manage the vaccination policies that may apply to their workforce in the future, and to effectively communicate and track this. This will help managers to have one single source of truth when it comes to ensuring the people who need to be vaccinated within their workforce are, and at the right times. Humanforce can support employers and employees with a solution featuring the following tools: Create custom vaccination requirements, including expiration rules and allow upload of vaccination proof.

Automated communication of vaccination requirements to relevant employees.

Prevents people from being rostered on if they don't meet vaccination requirements, ensuring compliance.

Single view of all employee vaccination status and any upcoming expirations.

Can collect vaccine status and proof from new employees during onboarding. The Humanforce solution also supports contact tracing reporting amongst employees, should there be a positive COVID-19 case occur within the workplace. This helps employers to rapidly and accurately identify and report any workers who are contacts of a positive case. Additionally, the solution helps to navigate and manage a number of new and complex leave types, including pandemic leave, that have been introduced in response to COVID-19. -ends- SOURCE Humanforce

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Under Tennessees accountability system, districts must increase achievement levels for all students and show faster growth in achievement for the students who are furthest behind in order to narrow achievement gaps.



Public Chapter 2 of the First Extraordinary Session of the 112th General Assembly amended laws regarding school and district accountability which offer the opportunity to remove negative consequences associated with accountability this year. This includes using student performance or student growth data from the 2020-21 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) administration to assign letter grades, or assigning summative ratings for schools eligible for accountability protections in the 2020-21 State Report Card.

Additionally, schools that are held harmless may not use student performance data or student growth data from TCAP tests administered in 2020-21 to identify a school as a priority school or to assign a school to the achievement school district. Finally, student performance on assessments administered in 2020-21 to assess student readiness for postsecondary education must be excluded from the performance goals and measures required from schools, unless student performance on postsecondary readiness assessments administered in 2020-21 results in a higher performance designation for the school or LEA. Schools and districts are held harmless from the accountability provisions specified in PC 2 when they meet the TCAP eighty-percent-participation requirement detailed in PC 2.

PC2 does not prohibit the use of student performance data and student growth data from TCAP tests administered in 2020-21 to determine priority exit status for schools identified as priority. PC 2 also allows for schools currently identified as Priority, Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), or Additional Targeted Support and Improvement to have the designation removed upon meeting priority exit criteria if they meet the 80% TCAP participation requirements.

Additionally, the department shall provide student performance and student growth data to LEAs, and as required by federal law. The 2020-21 State Report card will not include letter grades or summative ratings for the 2020-21 school year, but will include additional information on assessment participation rates.

Held harmless refers to schools and school districts for whom student performance and student growth data from the 2020-21 school year cannot be used to assign letter grades or any other summative ratings in the 2021 state report card. These data also cannot be used to identify a school as a priority school, nor to assign a school to the Achievement School District (ASD).

In accordance with PC2, since all districts achieved a minimum 80% participation rate on TCAP assessments, all districts are held harmless for the 2020-21 school year. In other words, districts and schools will not use student achievement and student growth data to assign letter grades or any other summative ratings in the 2021 State Report Card. These data will not be used to identify Priority schools, nor to assign a school to the ASD. LEAs will still be responsible for performance goals, even though performance goals will not be determined using student achievement or student growth data from 2020-21 TCAP assessments.

All school and district designations are pending State Board of Education approval pursuant to T.C.A.  49-1-602.

To read more about hold harmless provisions, please see this FAQ document.

Districts Designated as Exemplary
In this quick roundup we share a bevy of info on ALLEGED misdeeds, police action and all manner of stories connected to cowtown streetlife.



Check the www.TonysKansasCity.com compilation . . .

Be Careful When Parking Van Down By The River

Plan to address illegal parking, safety issues plaguing one area of KC KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Illegal parking is causing safety concerns in one area of the city. In hopes of fixing the issue, Port KC warns that parking may get a little worse before it gets better. Port KC will post notices and mark off parking spaces near Berkley Riverfront Sept.

Fight For Justice Updated

Judge In Strickland Case Set To Decide Whether Innocence Hearing Will Be Held In Jackson County The Missouri Attorney General has raised questions about the appearance of bias within the 16th District Circuit Court and asked the judge to recuse himself and the jurisdiction. A date for Kevin Strickland's innocence hearing has still not been set.

TKC Hopes Hottie Can Be Reformed, Will Help!!!

Jackson County murder suspect in custody after removing GPS tracker, going on the run JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. - The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says deputies have taken a murder suspect into custody days after she went on the run. Officials said sometime on Sept. 7, Katie Black removed her GPS monitoring bracelet and left her home in Atherton, Missouri, north Blue Springs and Independence.

Lawman Seyz Corporate Price Spike Broke Rules

AG: Spike in natural gas prices appears to break Kansas law TOPEKA, Kan. - Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday that sharp spikes in natural gas prices last winter appear to violate Kansas law and he is seeking outside legal help to investigate them.

Charges After Utility Lifted

Power problem: Kansas City, Kansas police looking for owner of stolen transformer by: Heidi Schmidt Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Detectives are having trouble finding the owner of what may be one of the strangest things stolen in the community. Officers with the department recovered a transformer they believe was stolen from somewhere in the area recently.

Show-Me Legal Fight Over Patriotism Or Lack Thereof

"I did not destroy any flags': Student seen in viral video removing flags from WashU 9/11 memorial responds ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) - A viral video of a Washington University student removing thousands of flags on campus has gone viral, attracting national attention. Student Mackenzie Manofsky told News 4 members of the campus' College Republican groups placed 2,977 flags on the lawn of Mudd Field for a Sept.

Golden Ghetto Traffic Danger Caught On Camera

Overland Park traffic cameras catch two close calls in less than a week by: Heidi Schmidt Posted: / Updated: OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Police say a pedestrian and a man riding a motorcycle were both likely shaken by drivers in the past week. Luckily neither seemed to be seriously injured, but Overland Park police warn both crashes could have ended up much worse than the did.

Voter Rights Turned In Sunflower State Criminality?!?

Groups Worry Kansas Criminalized Voter Drives, But Republicans Say They'll Prove Otherwise TOPEKA, Kansas - Outdoor summer events, county fairs, and college move-ins usually draw voter registration drives in the state. But those efforts by non-partisan groups came to an abrupt halt in early July when a new Kansas law muddied the line about when helping someone else register to vote might be criminal.

Local Scammer Admits Misdeeds

Parkville man pleads guilty to $335M fraud scheme to defraud programs for veterans, minorities A Parkville man who was charged in two federal cases pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in a $335 million scheme to defraud federal programs that award contracts to firms owned by minorities, veterans and service-disabled veterans.

Kansas City Police Fight Worsening Regional Murder Crisis

Kansas City Metro Squad asked to help with Harrisonville homicide investigation The Kansas City Metro Squad has been asked to help investigate a homicide in Harrisonville early Monday.Police said officers were called about 2 a.m. to the parking lot of QuikTrip on Missouri 291 Highway and found a male suffering from a stab wound.The victim was taken to a hospital where he died.

Suburbs Need More Cash To Confront Rising Crime

Overland Park eyes potential mill levy increase to fund new public safety measures OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Monday, Overland Park will host a public hearing to get feedback on the city's intent to increase the mill levy beyond a revenue neutral rate. A revenue neutral rate (RNR) is a tax rate that would generate the same amount of property tax dollars for the city as the previous tax [...]

Kangaroo Shares Sophomoric Crime Essay

Opinion: KC's violent crime is a symptom of the impoverishment of non-white communities | UMKC Roo News On Aug. 21, an unknown man was found by KCPD's South Patrol on East 118th Pl. and Delmar Dr. with apparent stab wounds. The man, who was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital, marked Kansas City's 100th homicide of 2021. Later in the week, victims 101-103 were 27-year-old femal ...

Developing . . .
Sorry but all of the best movies about college life seem kinda date-rape-y in retrospect.

Accordingly . . .

TONIGHT KU REPORTEDLY SUFFERS A #METOO RIOT AGAINST ALLEGATIONS SEXUAL MISCONDUCT!!!

Here's what MSM is reporting so far . . .

"Some protesters have smashed windows and stormed the porch of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, which is located just off campus near 15th Street and Iowa Street."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . .

Protest at 'No Means No' rally at KU fraternity turns violent in Lawrence LAWRENCE, Kan. - A protest in Lawrence Monday night has turned violent. Protesters gathered for a "No Means No" rally against sexual assault. But now FOX4 crews on scene have confirmed that some protesters have smashed windows and stormed the porch of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, which is located just off campus near 15th Street and Iowa Street.

BREAKING: Thousands show up to protest Phi Kappa Psi after sexual assault allegation A few thousand people showed up to the lawn of Phi Kappa Psi Monday night to protest an alleged sexual assault that happened at the Phi Kappa Psi house over the weekend. By the start time of 8:30 p.m., thousands were already protesting.

Hundreds of students protest outside KU fraternity house over rape allegations KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hundreds of students gathered outside of a fraternity house at the University of Kansas on Monday night in response to sexual assault allegations against a member of a fraternity.

KU students protest Monday night as Lawrence police investigate sexual assault Police in Lawrence are investigating a sexual assault near the University of Kansas over the weekend.On Monday night, about 1,500 people gathered for the peaceful protest outside the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, where the assault allegedly happened.Demonstrators said they wanted to show support for the survivor and to send a message to end sexual assault.Posts on social media claim the woman was drugged and then sexually assaulted.

Developing . . .
We just returned from Italy and I had the same worry. However we did not leave from Milan. It was hard to navigate the webpages and determine what was close to where we were staying along with meeting requirements, and had open appointments. We contacted the place we were staying and within 5 minutes they gave us 3 pharmacies we could go to without an appointment or 2 that they could make an appointment for us. All within a short distance.

Have you tried that?
How many Lateral Flow Tests do I need to complete?

How many Lateral Flow Tests do I need to complete?

I am flying out to Croatia (Pula) next week and I have already got 2 private Lateral Flow tests.

I was just wondering how many total private tests I will need to complete and when I'd need to complete them.

I know about the one before 48 hours I am due to fly out but then I'm not sure what next I'd need to take.

If someone can explain what I'd need to complete while I'm out there and before / after arrival in the UK that would be great.

many Thanks,
Description: Established in 2002, O'Neills Irish Bar and Restaurant is on the world famous Tomb of the Kings Road in Paphos, Cyprus. We have a great choice of local and international beers and ales including all of your favourites, such as Carling, Fosters, Caffreys and Guinness. Together with a superb menu of home cooked, great value, fresh food O'Neills is the number one place you must visit when in Paphos.

Restaurant details Description: Established in 2002, O'Neills Irish Bar and Restaurant is on the world famous Tomb of the Kings Road in Paphos, Cyprus. We have a great choice of local and international beers and ales including all of your favourites, such as Carling, Fosters, Caffreys and Guinness. Together with a superb menu of home cooked, great value, fresh food O'Neills is the number one place you must visit when in Paphos.
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 are in Wengen and working through all the confusion about Swiss Covid Certificates, QR codes, and so on. Perhaps a report on my experience will be of some help to others already in country or planning to arrive before the next wave of announcements/changes (17 Sept and 20 Sept, respectively).

Wengen Tourist Office confirms that beginning 13 September (tomorrow) the Swiss Federal Council requires all people (over age 12) who enter indoor restaurants, indoor bars, dining cars on trains, and a few other venues to present a Swiss Covid Certificate that has a scannable QR code. Many hotels are beginning to require this as well. The Glacier Express requires one to board any of their rail cars (as reported in another thread on this forum.) n other words, for us Americans our CDC vaccine cards are no longer enough. However, it remains to be seen if this is enforced in Wengen or the smaller villages in the area. There are to be stiff fines imposed for non-compliance. But it seems hard to imagine going from no checking of vaccine status (current) to denying entry entirely. We will see.

Fully vaccinated (or recovered) tourists can get a Covid Certificate for the canton they are spending time in. For us that is Bern. Here is the link I used to get a Swiss Covid Certificate for Bern.

And this site provides links to the other cantons:

Federal Council is saying you need a separate certificate for every canton you visit.

In addition to filling out the on-line forms, you will need to upload your documents. For vaccinated people that is passport and vaccination card. I had scans of these document already loaded on my computer so it was easy. I believe they will also accept .jpg documents so you can take a picture of your documents with your phone and upload it that way.

Some report that they received an email with Swiss Covid Certificate/QR code right away. Others took 24 hours. It took 48 (tense) hours for ours to arrive.

As an extra precaution I also downloaded the Switzerland Covid Certificate app then uploaded our QR codes to that. Here is the link to the BAG site that describes covid certificates and links to the app for various devices:

That was all very simple and good back up should our papers go astray. You can add multiple QR codes to the app. For entire family, for example

For those of you planning to base in Wengen the medical center here in the village is no longer doing testing for travel purposes. They became completely overwhelmed and are now only testing those with COVID symptoms. The nearest facility providing COVID tests for travel is in Lauterbrunnen. Caremed Praxis, phone number 41 033 856 26 26, website and you do need an appointment Another option is Portmann pharmacy in Interlaken It is walk-in only, no appointments, so there is sometimes a wait They do both rapid antigen and PCR.

Travelers planning to arrive in country after 20 Sept will want to keep a very close eye on the announcements scheduled to come 17 Sept. These announcements are set to impose additional entry restrictions for visitors from the US and perhaps other countries. And perhaps more information on how to apply for Swiss Covid Certificate (or some other updated mechanism) before you arrive in country.
Good for: Local cuisine, Special Occasion Dining, Bar Scene, Romantic

Dining options: After-hours, Dinner, Reservations

Description: A piece of authentic Maine history, The Thistle Inn still stands as a place to gather and celebrate what makes life all the more worth living: great food, great company, and a home away from home. Originally built in 1861 for a prominent sea captain, our restaurant and Inn embody the unique period character of Maines past, with updated fixtures for modern comfort. From our seaside favorites to our world-class wine list, our menu is an exploration of classic coastal cuisine prepared with natures freshest ingredients. Guests looking to extend their visit will find six different lodging options at their fingertips, and the best of Boothbay Harbor just a short walk from their quarters. Whether its a meal that brings you to us, or an escape to our quaint Inn, we invite you to relax, stay awhile, and soak up some true downeast hospitality.
Over the past 24 hours, September 13, twelve ceasefire violations were recorded in the Joint Forces Operation area in eastern Ukraine.

The enemy fired grenade machine guns and hand-held antitank grenade launchers on Ukrainian positions near Zaitseve (62km north-east of Donetsk); 120mm mortars banned under the Minsk agreements  outside Verkhniotoretske (22km north-east of Donetsk); 122mm artillery  towards New York (35km north of Donetsk); hand-held antitank grenade launchers  in the area of Zolote-4 (59km west of Luhansk); grenade launchers of different systems and small arms  near Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk); three attacks using grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms were launched outside Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk); two attacks using heavy machine guns, small arms, and 82mm mortars  near Prychepylivka (50km north-west of Luhansk); two attacks using heavy machine guns and hand-held antitank grenade launchers  towards Popasna (69km west of Luhansk), the press center of the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters reported.

One Ukrainian soldier received a fatal wound in the enemy shelling.

Ukrainian defenders opened fire in response to the attacks.

The Ukrainian side of the JCCC informed the OSCE Mission about all the violations by the Russian-occupation forces through the established coordination mechanism.

As of 07:00, September 14, no ceasefire violations were reported.

"Ukrainian soldiers control the situation in the Joint Forces Operation area to repel and deter the armed aggression of the Russian Federation," the JFO Headquarters stressed.

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Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran met with the representatives of the Baykar Makina and discussed the possibilities of locating the production of Turkish UAVs in the territory of Ukraine.

Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran has met with Haluk Bayraktar, CEO of Baykar Makina Turkish company, which manufactures Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles for Ukraine. During the meeting, the production of vehicles commissioned by the Ukrainian side and the possibility of accelerating the implementation of previously reached agreements were discussed. In addition, the possibility and prospects of locating the production of Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles in the territory of Ukraine were considered, the press service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports.

As reported, on December 14, 2020, minister Taran signed agreements with Turkish companies on technology transfer and production of corvettes and unmanned combat aerial vehicles for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The signing ceremony took place during the visit of the Turkish delegation led by President of Defense Industries of the Republic of Turkey Ismail Demir.

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A delegation from the European External Action Service (EEAS) has visited the Joint Forces Operation area and discussed with the Ukrainian side possible assistance provided by the Europe Peace Foundation (EPF).

The press service of the Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote about this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"Foreign guests visited a mobile military hospital in Donetsk region, talked to wounded Ukrainian defenders, and discussed with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation possible assistance to Ukraine from the Europe Peace Foundation. In particular, they talked about Role 2 medical equipment, trucks, English language training laboratories and other equipment," the report reads.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed on further cooperation. In addition, the EEAS delegation will meet in Kyiv with relevant persons to determine in more detail Ukraine's needs in attracting assistance from the Europe Peace Foundation.

As Ukrinform reported, as of June 2021, since the beginning of the year, 22 foreign delegations visited the Joint Forces Operation area to get acquainted with the security situation in eastern Ukraine.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has met with the World Bank's Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, Anna Bjerde, to discuss the continuation of constructive bilateral cooperation, according to the website of the Ukrainian government.

"I am grateful for the large number of projects that we are already successfully implementing together in Ukraine. Our state needs long-term programs of cooperation and investment. Today, mitigating the effects of the coronavirus on the economy remains the government's most important task," Shmyhal said.

Two agreements were signed in the presence of Shmyhal and Bjerde, including an indemnity agreement (Project "Improving Power System Resilience for European Power Grid Integration (Installation of Hybrid Systems for Electricity Production in Ukrhydroenergo)") between Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, acting on behalf of the Clean Technology Fund, and a loan agreement (Project "Ukraine Improving Higher Education for Results") between Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

"I am glad that today we have the opportunity to sign two agreements. These are very important projects. I am grateful to our ministries, which together with the World Bank carried out the work and prepared these projects, and I thank the heads of the companies that worked to make the signing of these documents possible," Shmyhal said.

The World Bank noted that the organization is a reliable partner of Ukraine and is ready for long-term cooperation.

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The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has expressed interest in attracting investments from the United Arab Emirates institutions and companies in the irrigation sector.

This was discussed during a meeting of the Agrarian Policy Ministry representatives with the UAE government delegation led by Minister of State for Food and Water Security of the United Arab Emirates Mariam Almheiri, the Ministrys press service reports.

"The Ukrainian side expressed a keen interest in attracting investments of UAEs financial institutions and companies in the irrigation sector of Ukraine in view of favorable conditions for doing business, namely: non-regulated market, simplified tax system for business, and large government preferences," reads the statement.

Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko also informed the delegation about the situation in the grain and oilseeds market, noting that Ukraine may hit a new record of grain and oilseeds crop this season. In addition, the minister spoke about the successful implementation of land reform and the start of irrigation reforms in the country.

The minister also informed about the adoption at first reading of bill No. 5202-d on the establishment of a water users' association, which is an extremely important step in the implementation of irrigation reform. In addition, Leshchenko spoke about the unprecedented support of Western partners.

"During the visit to the United States, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy signed Memoranda of Understanding with the International Finance Corporation and the Lindsay Corporation," the minister said.

The parties agreed to provide the UAEs side with a list of relevant and attractive areas for investment in Ukraine.

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Within the framework of the 8th meeting of the Armenian-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Yaroslav Demchenkov and Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of the Republic of Armenia Hakob Vardanyan held a bilateral meeting.

"Armenia is interested in strengthening cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, renewable energy, the use of energy saving technologies, and energy efficiency. Ukraine is interested in potential investments in energy transformation projects. We plan to hold a joint Energy Day for such a dialogue," Demchenkov commented on the results of the meeting.

Armenia has several powerful thermal and hydroelectric power plants, as well as nuclear energy. Therefore, potential projects for cooperation are the participation of Ukrainian enterprises in the construction, repair, and modernization of power plants in the country. In particular, Armenia is interested in Ukraine's experience in ensuring the safe long-term operation of nuclear power plants and carrying out modernization measures to increase the level of safety at nuclear power plants.

The parties also agreed to consider the possibility of developing mutually beneficial cooperation and implementation of projects in the field of design, modernization, reconstruction, and repair of power equipment for Armenian power plants.

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The U.S. administration intends to fulfill all undertaken commitments to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

Thats according to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who spoke at the House Foreign Committee Hearings on Monday, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

"Absolutely, we will stand by our commitments," Blinken said in response to a question from Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of whether he could tell the Congress and the nation that the U.S. would "unequivocally and unapologetically do whatever it takes to have the back of our friends in Ukraine in the event of Russian aggression.

Read also: Zelensky says inaccurate to compare Ukraine with Afghanistan

In this regard, Blinken recalled that the American side confirmed its intentions voiced to President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Washington two weeks ago.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick was one of the members of the U.S. congressional delegation led by Senator Lindsey Graham, who paid a working visit to Ukraine last week.

During talks with Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the delegation assured him of U.S. support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression and carrying out internal transformations.

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Experts with the Staff of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine are set to participate in the joint NATO-Ukraine Tabletop Exercise Coherent Resilience on countering hybrid threats to critical infrastructure in the Black Sea region, which will be running in Odesa this week.

That's according to the NSDC press service, Ukrinform reports.

The exercise is part of the decision approved by NATO foreign ministers in Washington in April 2019 to support Ukraine in tackling hybrid challenges in the Black Sea region.

The exercise is conducted by the Cabinet of Ministers in cooperation with the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence and with the support of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School within the framework of the NATO-Ukraine Platform on Countering Hybrid Warfare.

The purpose of the drill is to build up stability of the system of Ukraines state bodies in the field of countering hybrid threats and crisis response by strengthening interagency and civil-military cooperation, planning, and ensuring preparedness.

The exercises will involve agencies operating in the security and defense sectors, institutions coordinating crisis management, as well as operators of energy and other critical infrastructure.

As Ukrinform reported, on February 9, during the Ukrainian government delegations visit to Brussels, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal discussed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg the issues of strengthening cooperation with the Alliance and preparation for "Coherent Resilience."

On May 19-20, 2021, Kyiv hosted the Main Planning Conference on Coherent Resilience.

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John Herbst, president of the Atlantic Council think tank and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, says he is ready to help raise the issue of the need to provide Ukraine with clear security guarantees and increase sanctions pressure on Russia, including due to the construction of Nord Stream 2.

He said this during a meeting with Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov on September 14, Ukrinform reports with reference to the NSDC press service.

"During the meeting, the parties discussed a wide range of issues of Ukrainian-American cooperation, paying special attention to cooperation in the military sphere, in particular, increasing U.S. military assistance to Ukraine," the report reads.

According to Danilov, further deepening of cooperation between the two countries, in particular in the exchange of experience between Ukrainian and U.S. military, "will have a cumulative effect."

The parties exchanged views on the security situation in Europe and the world, in particular in the context of Russia's aggressive actions in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and the completion of the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Danilov reiterated that Nord Stream 2 is a serious security challenge not only for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe. "It's not just about the economic component. For example, the question arises, how will the Russians guard Nord Stream 2? This gas pipeline will be a serious test for everyone," he said.

The parties paid special attention to the recent meeting of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House.

Herbst believes Zelensky's visit to Washington was a success. In particular, he noted that security issues became key during the meeting of the presidents.

President Biden highlighted the priority of security and the need to support Ukraine, he said, adding that the revival of Ukraine-U.S. Strategic Partnership Commission is a call to action.

Herbst expressed his readiness to help advance the issue of the need to provide Ukraine with clear security guarantees and increase sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, including due to the construction of Nord Stream 2.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 10, NSDC Secretary Danilov discussed with Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Takashi Kurai the deepening of bilateral cybersecurity cooperation between the security agencies of the two countries.

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A total of 28 new shelters for victims of domestic violence will be opened across Ukraine this year, along with daycare centers and an emergency response service.

Thats according to Ukraines First Lady Olena Zelenska who spoke in an interview with Korrespondent, Ukrinform reports.

According to the presidents spouse, in Europe regulations mandate a place in the shelter for every 10,000 population, while Ukraine earlier this year had only 16 shelters across the country, and not even in every region.

"In 2021, were making a real leap  according to the action plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, 28 new shelters are to have been set up by December. In addition, daycare centers will be established: so that if someone hasnt made up their mind to leave home, it is possible to come for a consultation so that none of the neighbors or family are aware. A rapid response service is being created: 40 mobile teams that are supposed to deal with domestic violence exclusively. Forty cars will be purchased for their needs, "said the first lady.

Zelenska recalled that in mid-summer, the government allocated a subvention of about UEH 275 million (nearly US$ 10 million) to finance the launch of shelters, daycare centers, and special services within the police.

In addition, the head of state's spouse stressed that psychological assistance should also be provided to victims of domestic violence.

"A victim of domestic violence is welcome to call the 15-47 hotline. They can call social services. And then they will be offered to contact a shelter. Another option is where the social service calls the police and they take her to the shelter. Over there, persons are able to receive first legal aid, especially if they simply have no IDs. They are allowed to stay there for three to six months. They have everything necessary for children," Zelenska explained.

The first lady said that the current trend of domestic violence is "frightening", having become especially apparent amid lockdown.

The first lady stressed that in Ukraine, its mostly women who become victims of domestic violence. Although recently we are starting to find out that many men are also exposed to physical violence by women in families. Its psychological violence, above all," she said.

Zelenska stressed that the governments task in this area is to protect victims and punish perpetrators, and also to change victims attitude to the problem, explaining that speaking up about violence is nothing to be ashamed of and that violence is not the norm.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on April 14, the government approved the National Barrier-Free Strategy and established a Council to control and monitor its implementation.

Ukraine received the official status of a member of Biarritz Partnership, an International Initiative for Equal Rights and Opportunities, in September 2020.

The accession to the Partnership for Peace was initiated by the First Lady of Ukraine in December 2019.

The national strategy for creating a barrier-free space, initiated by Olena Zelenska, is aimed at creating conditions for equal access to public space for citizens with temporary or permanent limited mobility and other challenged categories.

Photo: Olena Zelenska, Facebook

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A solemn ceremony of handing over to Ukraine the Belgica research hydrographic vessel, which will be assigned a different name and will fly the Ukrainian flag, took place at a naval base in Zeebrugge.

Thats according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Today we saw the handover ceremony of the Belgica research vessel, which will further contribute to researching the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. After the annexation and occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, Ukraine lost the tools for such research. I am confident that we will restore all capacities and provide valuable information not only to Ukraine, but also to the European Union and for all countries of the Black Sea region," said Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovsky.

He noted that at present there are difficulties with the ship getting to the Sea of Azov as Russia has been creating all sorts of obstacles to free navigation. According to the Minister, the ship will initially operate in the Black Sea, where theres plenty of work to be done. But already during the transfer from the North Sea to the Mediterranean and further on, to the Black Sea, the vessel will already be conducting important research on pollutants, plastic and microplastic pollution of surface water, then at 3 meters deep, and then of bottom sediments, which will be the basis for scientific conclusions about the quality of these waters.

"Ukraine has signed an Association Agreement with the EU, and one of the tasks the document sets out is the implementation and enforcement of the European Marine Strategy Directive. This vessel will help Ukraine fulfill its obligations and improve the state of the waters of these seas," the Ukrainian official added.

In turn, Belgian Secretary of State for Reconstruction and Strategic Investments, Deputy Minister of Economy and Labor of Belgium Thomas Dermine said he considered the step  the free transfer of the research ship to Ukraine  a manifestation of goodwill by Belgium and its contribution to the environmental protection program.

The Belgian official said the vessel had been operating for over 37 years, spending more than 200 days a year at sea, having covered a distance equal to several circumnavigations, adding that Belgium is happy to contribute to Ukraines efforts in researching the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

According to the participants in the meeting, Belgium has already received a new modern research ship Belgica 2, built in Spain for the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) to replace the ship handed over to Ukraine.

Read also: Ukraine invites Romania and Moldova to strengthen cooperation in Black Sea

Representatives of Ukrainian scientific circles attending the ceremony said they were currently considering three names for the ship, yet to decide on the one. The new Ukrainian research vessel will be assigned to the port of Odesa, where it is to sail from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in October this year.

As Ukrinform reported, in July Ukraine and the Kingdom of Belgium signed a memorandum of understanding in the field of water protection and reproduction and rational use of water resources. With this memorandum, the Belgian side confirmed readiness to hand the Belgica research vessel to Ukraine free of charge.

Photo: mepr.gov.ua, Ukrinform

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The United Jewish Community of Ukraine has denied media reports of the alleged mass cases of COVID-19 among Hasidim pilgrims who had visited Ukraines Uman for this years Rosh Hashanah.

Thats according to a statement by the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, posted on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.

The United Jewish Community of Ukraine points out that the reports have seen no confirmation from Israels official sources.

The information initially emerged in a number of media reports referring to Ukraines Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Israel, while no statements were posted on the websites of the relevant agencies about the number of people who had allegedly contracted the coronavirus while on the Uman pilgrimage, the statement said.

In addition, the Jewish Community recalls, Cherkasy Regional State Administration and Uman District State Administration have denied the possibility of the COVID-19 outbreak among pilgrims.

The United Jewish Community of Ukraine urges media outlets to refrain from unsubstantiated reporting and wait for the official statement by competent authorities to rule out speculation.

im
In Ukraine, nearly 250 hospitals will be providing medical care for COVID-19 patients, with almost 39,000 having been readies for the first wave.

Thats according to Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Ihor Kuzin, who spoke with Liga, Ukrinform reports.

"We have contracted about 250 hospitals ready to provide services to COVID-19 patients. They are divided into the first and second waves of response. Almost 39,000 beds are ready for the first wave, of which 96% have oxygen supply. About 3,000 beds provide resuscitation. Two to three hospitals have been designated in each region, Kuzin said.

According to the health official, UAH 11.8 billion is available for inpatient care to cover such patients. In addition, on September 8, the standards for the treatment of coronavirus disease were updated in accordance with the WHO recommendations, as well as those of the European CDC Bureau, and the American CDC.

The Deputy Minister said that specialized medical equipment had also been procured, including 161 CTs and 146 X-ray scans for hospital support.

Now, according to Kuzin, resuscitation beds are occupied by 23%, beds with oxygen  by 17%, and ventilators  by 8%.

He reminded that the health care systems max capacity for treating COVID is 90,000 beds, which takes into account hospitals of the first and second waves, as well as reserve clinics.

According to the chief state sanitary officer, when employing first and second wave hospitals, limited access to conventional medical services, untimely hospitalization and diagnosis routine, refusal of scheduled hospitalizations, etc. are all potentially possible.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 13, the Cabinet adopted amendments to Resolution 1236, which set new quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In particular, the changes stipulate that the COVID certificate will have two options, the so-called yellow or green, and will contain information about vaccination, a negative test result (valid for 72 hours) or recovery from COVID-19. The so-called yellow certificate will hold data about the first vaccination, and the "green"  about the full course.

In case the yellow level of epidemic threat is introduced, the requirements for educational facilities have been simplified. They will operate as usual if at least 80% of staff hold "yellow" or "green" COVID certificates.

At the same time, the yellow-level restrictions will not apply if all participants (attendees) and at least 80% of organizers of mass events, staff at cinemas, theaters, museums or other cultural facilities, gyms and swimming pools hold a "yellow" or "green" COVID certificate.

Read also: Government imposes new quarantine restrictions in Ukraine

In the red-level threat situation, educational facilities will operate only if 100% of staff hold a "green" COVID certificate.

The resolution comes into force in seven days from the day of publication.

im
The Ministry of Health will strengthen the efforts to track contacts of COVID-19 patients.

This was stated by Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Officer Ihor Kuzin, who spoke with Liga, according to Ukrinform.

To help and inform people about how to act, about preventive measures, at the level of all regional centers for disease prevention we are now implementing another application, GO. Data." This is an information system developed by the WHO, successfully piloted in Chernivtsi region. It allows recording all contacts, selecting a list of people to receive an automatic call, but its an actual doctor who speaks with them, said Kuzin.

The Vdoma application will also be used.

We see when someone installed the application but didnt press the "activate" button. Or when they activated and then deleted it. Such information is forwarded to the National Police. ... These mechanisms will be used, they have been fixed in a separate resolution of the chief state sanitary officer. We have also transferred and fixed it in the corresponding order of the Ministry of Health," Kuzin said.

He added that the Ministry of Health would cooperate with the National Police to ensure active control over the observance of a mask mandate.

In total, according to Kuzin, since May 2021, some 350,000 fines have been imposed for violating the mask mandate.

The Chief State Sanitary Officer reminded that Ukraine has upheld a ban on staying in public indoor settings and public transport during quarantine without personal protective equipment that covers the mouth and nose.

National Police officers are entitled to issue a fine if the norm is not observed.

As Ukrinform reported, on September 13, the Cabinet adopted amendments to Resolution 1236, which set new quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In particular, the changes stipulate that the COVID certificate will have two options, the so-called yellow or green, and will contain information about vaccination, a negative test result (valid for 72 hours) or recovery from COVID-19. The so-called yellow certificate will hold data about the first vaccination, and the "green"  about the full course.

In case the yellow level of epidemic threat is introduced, the requirements for educational facilities have been simplified. They will operate as usual if at least 80% of staff hold "yellow" or "green" COVID certificates.

At the same time, the yellow-level restrictions will not apply if all participants (attendees) and at least 80% of organizers of mass events, staff at cinemas, theaters, museums or other cultural facilities, gyms and swimming pools hold a "yellow" or "green" COVID certificate.

In the red-level threat situation, educational facilities will operate only if 100% of staff hold a "green" COVID certificate.

The resolution comes into force in seven days from the day of publication.

im
The start of a new school year is usually filled with joy and anticipation. When a child that reached Greece as an unaccompanied minor manages to register and attend school, this sense of joy is shared between many people: the children themselves, their relatives living far away, and the people that have supported them in their new home. Among the latter is a group of volunteer teachers, called Foster Teachers.

The story of the Foster Teachers team started in the summer of 2018 in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, when Olga, a computer science teacher and then Refugee Education Coordinator, met Maria Eleftheriadou, coordinator of the shelter for unaccompanied children run by NGO Arsis in Tagarades. While exploring how unaccompanied children could be better integrated into public schools, the idea of a summer school at the shelter came up. Volunteer teachers were easy to find amongst friends and colleagues.

Since then, the team has expanded to cover more shelters and locations, offering classes covering computer science and biology to foreign languages and music. This has been a truly collective effort with the aim of not only helping children with their homework, but mainly empowering and supporting them in order to enrol and stay at school. To create a bridge between schools and shelters for minors that may have otherwise remained invisible to the formal education system.

When I started classes with them, I didnt even realize how quickly I learnt Greek. This helped me so much that I could raise my hand to participate when my teachers were asking questions. Just like my Greek peers! said Omer, who arrived from Pakistan alone three years ago.

Omer was just 15 years old when he came to Greece. After spending a few months at the reception centre in Evros region, he was transferred to a shelter in Thessaloniki, where he stayed for almost two years. His first year at a vocational school did not go smoothly. He struggled to communicate and regularly missed class for this reason, so did not pass the year.

But he did not give up. He learned about a Greek language program carried out by the NGO METAdrasi and started attending afternoon classes. The next year he enrolled back in the first grade of a general high school.

Foster Teachers initially started delivering computer classes at our shelter. When they saw that I am having difficulties with school, they started teaching me maths, physics, biology, and other subjects says Omer. From morning to 2pm I went to high school. From 3pm to 6pm I attended Greek lessons with METAdrasi, and from 7pm to 9pm I had classes with Foster Teachers he says.

As soon as Omer reached 18 years old, he started working in a construction site and was later employed as an interpreter with an NGO. Still, he continued attending school in the evenings and is now planning to complete his high school degree in Thessaloniki.

Olga, Vasilis and Marilena, founding members of the Foster Teachers group, meet regularly to discuss issues of the team. Classes during the summer school run with the support of Foster Teachers in a shelter in Tagarades, Northern Greece. Photo courtesy of Arsis. Classes offered by Foster Teachers are covering from computer science, mathematics and biology to foreign languages and music. Photo courtesy of Arsis.

Each foster teacher undertakes to support three or four students with the aim of facilitating their daily learning, helping them face school challenges and supporting them in their communication with the school staff. The work of the Greek teachers is hard. There are many challenges in the schooling of unaccompanied children, such as the lack of fluency in the language of communication, they explain.

Apart from the age-related difficulties all teenagers have to face, these children also have to deal with the stress around their legal status, the changes in their life and the frequent transfers from one facility to another, Marilena, a member of Foster Teachers explains.

Ahead of the new school year, Foster Teachers are waiting, like everyone else, to return to some normality after the disruption of the pandemic. Asked what kind of support their network needs, they spontaneously answer: Everything!  We need more teachers to join our team, those who specialise in sciences and other technical fields, as well as elementary school teachers and language teachers.

Thanks to their accumulated experience in the educational system, Foster Teachers also support public interventions and proposals for the education system. For example, in the case of one of their students who was deprived unexpectedly of the right to participate in the national university entrance exams. Foster Teachers started a petition on his behalf. Another request that they are working on is for the establishment of a special category for non-Greek speaking candidates who join the national university entrance exams.

Omer dreams of studying to become a nurse or a social worker one day, so that he can continue to help people. I can speak good Greek, but there are some things that as a foreigner I will never be able to learn the way I would have if I were born here, he explains. If we had a different entry base, that would help us a lot he says.

I know that the Foster Teachers will be there for me, they will help me through the university entrance exams, he adds without losing his smile. Foster Teachers have played a very important role in my life, and other Greeks alike. There is so much hardship, but I do not want to focus on the difficult moments. Many times, I feel as if I was born here and that these people are my people.

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(Photo : Image by FireFX from Pixabay)

Scholarships to Study in the USA for Indian Students

Many of us don't even consider the USA when considering countries for studying abroad? Subconsciously we assume that it is unaffordable and only Indian students belonging to affluent families can afford it! Looking in the USA, whether planning for an undergraduate or postgraduate can be affordably provided, you plan to apply to various scholarships available for Indian students being international students in the USA. Various American universities and colleges offer these scholarships. However, they are not open all around the year. There is a specific time limit for its application. You need to apply within those timelines to gain benefit. Your Study Abroad Consultants can help you with the process.

These scholarships offered by USA universities and colleges are based on merit to help Indian students fund their tuition fees that can cover either partially or fully. This funding and financial aid through the scholarships applied for varies depending on the criteria, course, and the university/college. However, there are scholarships offered by American Government and private institutions too that you can apply for.

What are the different kinds of scholarships for Indian students to study in the USA?

There are two kinds of scholarships available:

Full: Here, the scholarship pays for the international student's full tuition fee, living expenditure, and other expenses like books, etc.

Here, the scholarship pays for the international student's full tuition fee, living expenditure, and other expenses like books, etc. Partial: Here, the scholarship pays only for the tuition fee of the college or university. It could also not be the total fees.

The scholarships can provide what amount of money?

Well, this is quite a vast question that will have varied answers simply because every scholarship, whether offered by a university, private institution, or American Government, is entirely different from each other. They are different because they are based on various criteria like percentage of scholarship, weightage to different kinds of student parameters, etc. However, the scholarships can go up to cover 100% of your tuition fees and even a part of your living expense based on your merit!

Another essential aspect that you should remember is facing higher competition if you apply for American Government scholarships compared to private university scholarships. So what is important to note is to apply for both and well in advance!

List of Scholarships in the USA for Indian Students:





1. Fulbright- Nehru Research Fellowship (Government-funded)

The Fulbright- Nehru Research is offered to Indian students who are outstanding academically and wish to study at an accredited USA institution and selected colleges and universities in the USA.

The areas of study for which this scholarship is awarded include:

Arts and Culture Management, International Legal Studies, Environmental Science/Studies; Higher Education Administration, Urban and Regional Planning Public Administration, Public Health, and Women's Studies/Gender Studies.

More Details:

This scholarship is for Indian students who are applying to masters or Ph.D. programs.

The scholarship covers tuition fees, accident and sickness coverage, airfare, and living costs as per US guidelines.

The student will be entitled to receive a monthly stipend to support your course in case of a Ph.D.

The scholarship covers only J-1 visa and round trip economy class air travel.

2. Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program-(Government-funded)

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow Programme is a part of the Fulbright program. This program allows young and mid-level career professionals from developing countries to pursue a non-degree graduate study and related practical professional experience in the USA for 10 months.

The areas of study for which this scholarship is awarded include:

Agricultural and Rural Development; Human Resource, Management, Communications/Journalism, HIV/AIDS Policy and Prevention; Economic Development; Educational Administration, Finance and Banking; Planning and Policy; Higher Education Administration; Law and Human Rights; Natural Resources, Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, Trafficking in Persons, Public Health Policy and Management; Treatment and Prevention; Substance Abuse Education, Technology Policy and Management; Policy, and Prevention; Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration, Urban and Regional Planning, and Environmental Policy, and Climate Change.

More Details:

It also includes Long-Term English (LTE) language training. It is a new inclusion for students belonging to rural or non-elite strata of the society who requires training in their language skills but are excellent in their field of work.

LTE participant undergoes an intensive 20-25-week pre-academic training to improve their language skills

It covers your tuition fees, monthly maintenance allowance, living expense, airfare, professional expenses.

3. Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship

The Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship is granted for study related to high-impact and sustainable outcomes in six areas of focus:

Peace and conflict prevention/resolution

Water and sanitation

Maternal and child health

Basic education and literacy

Economic and community development

Disease prevention and treatment

More Details:

The Scholarship Amount can vary between USD 15,000 to USD 30,000.

When you choose your activities, choose those focused on sustainability, the environment, and the community.

The global grants need to be sponsored by two Rotary clubs, the host country where the student is from and the US where the student is going.

4. Akhtarali H. Tobaccowala Fellowship

The fellowship was formulated in the memory of Akhtarali H. Tobaccowala, who was a 1952 graduate of the Booth school.

The areas of study for which this scholarship is awarded include:

It is for students willing to study the full-time MBA program at Booth school.

More Details:

It offers tuition fee support.

There are two scholarships offered.

The amount of scholarship is USD 25,000

5. Tata Scholarships for Cornell University

The Tata Education and Development Trust Has given a $25 million endowment to Cornell University to offer financial aid to the underprivileged based on merit for Indian students.

The areas of study for which this scholarship is awarded include:

Any undergraduate program at Cornell university

More details:

There are 20 scholarships offered.

6. The Indian Trust Fellowship

The scholarship is given to students aspiring to study at the Booth School of Business in Chicago.

The area of study for which this scholarship is awarded includes:

This scholarship is applicable for doing a full-time MBA program at Booth School of Business in Chicago.

More Details:

A total of 2 scholarships are awarded to Indian students.

The total amount given for the scholarship is USD 10,000

Applicants have to showcase academic excellence, leadership qualities, and extracurricular achievements to secure this scholarship.

Students living or working in India when applying to Booth school are eligible.

7. Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowships for Indian Students

Reliance Industries and Stanford GSB have developed the Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowships for Indian Students to study at the Stanford Graduate Business School.

The area of study for which this scholarship is awarded includes:

The scholarship is offered for studying the 2 year MBA program at Stanford Graduate Business School.

More Details:

A total of 5 scholarships is awarded.

The scholarship amount is a total of USD 150,000.

The students are expected to return to India and work for an Indian organization within two years of completing their MBA.

8. Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Scholarships

The Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation Scholarships are awarded to students who show outstanding talent in their field of choice and wish to study in North America or Europe.

The area of study for which this scholarship is awarded includes:

This scholarship applies to Engineering, Computer Science, Business Studies, Medicine, Public Health, Fashion Design, Music, and Film Animation fields of study.

More Details:

The scholarship amount is around USD 100,000

If the total amount required that includes tuition, one-way travel, and living expenses, is more than US$100,000. The student, during their interview, needs to give proof that they will be able to cover the balance expenses after the scholarship amount.

Accepting any other scholarship, teaching assistantships, and part-time jobs is subject to the Foundation's approval.

9. American University Emerging Global Leader Scholarship

The AU Emerging Global Leader Scholarship (AU EGL) is provided to students who display high performance to study for their bachelor's degree in the USA. The American University, Washington DC, offers it.

The area of study for which this scholarship is awarded includes:

Well, students with this scholarship can study any field of their choice.

More Details:

Students must be active participants in civic and social activities. It is aimed at students who plan to improve the under-resourced and underserved communities back in their home country.

The n umber of scholarships offered is only 1.

This scholarship covers all expenses like total tuition fees, living, and boarding. The scholarship does not cover expenses like the cost of books, airfare, and health insurance.

This scholarship is renewable for a total of four years of undergraduate study. However, it is based on the continued satisfaction and academic performance of the student.

10. #You Are Welcome Here Scholarship-(Non-Government scholarship)

This scholarship is offered to international students in the US higher education system irrespective of the subject area.

More Details:

A mandatory requirement is that the student either prepare an essay or video to showcase your interest to promote intercultural exchange activities. It should also talk about the leadership skills that you wish to showcase when you join the university.

This scholarship gives two annual and renewable scholarships.

The scholarship covers 50% of tuition fees to enroll in the selected international undergraduate program.

11. IEFA-(Non-Government scholarship)

Abbey Road Inc sponsors this scholarship.

More Details

Abbey Road Inc offers this scholarship.

To grant this scholarship, they are looking out for international students aged between 14-18 years who exhibit superb performance in academics and extracurricular activities.

It offers five $1,000 student scholarships every year.

12. AAUW International Fellowships-(Non-Government scholarship)

This scholarship is for only international women to pursue their undergraduate or postgraduate studies in the USA.

More Details:

An international student applying for Master's degree gets a scholarship of $5,000-$18,000

An international student applying for graduate or postdoctoral gets a scholarship of $18,000-$30,000

A total of up to five International Fellowships are offered.

As you can see, there are multiple choices of scholarships for Indian students who wish to study in the USA. However, these scholarships are primarily based on the student's academic ability and performance through the years. The key is to apply in time and give it your best to showcase your academic performance, personality, area of interest, and why you are the right pick for the scholarship.
The current exhibitions at the Texas State Galleries, on display until Nov. 12, feature work Read more
The Moldovan authorities should resort to all leverage at their disposal to agree with Russia on an acceptable gas price instead of leaving the issue to the country's gas transportation operator, Moldovagaz, former Moldovan President and current Socialist Party leader Igor Dodon said on Tuesday

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Moldovan authorities should resort to all leverage at their disposal to agree with Russia on an acceptable gas price instead of leaving the issue to the country's gas transportation operator, Moldovagaz, former Moldovan President and current Socialist Party leader Igor Dodon said on Tuesday.

Last month, Moldovagaz chief Vadim Ceban said that the country would see an increase in gas tariffs in the fall because the current contract on Russian gas purchase at a reduced price expires in September. He noted that the new tariffs would depend on the company's joint work with the Ministry of Economy. Pro-Western President Maia Sandu, however, said on Monday that the government would not engage in negotiations with Russia's energy giant Gazprom on gas supplies.

"Can the president agree on the gas price? The country's leadership must use all leverage and diplomatic opportunities to make Moldovan citizens live better. Attempts to shift responsibility to others is a sign of weakness, unprofessionalism and a derisive attitude toward our citizens," Dodon wrote on his Telegram channel.

Given that the ruling party is in full control of all state bodies from parliament to the government and has the president's support, the authorities must do everything they can to ensure that the country's residents pay reasonable prices for gas and other services.

Moldovagaz launched talks with Gazprom on a new three-year agreement on gas supplies in the summer of 2020, with the discussion still ongoing.
ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 14th Sep, 2021) Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX), the UAEs export financing entity founded by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, has reached critical milestones in its efforts to boost the non-crude export sector and support the global market expansion of Emirati exporters.

In its first full year of operation in 2020, ADEX committed AED500 million (US$136 million) to overseas buyers to finance their procurement of UAE goods and services. In 2021, ADEX allocated AED735 million ($200 million), a 33.3 per cent increase compared to 2020.

Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Chairman of the Export Executive Committee of ADEX, pointed out that the office had made great progress over the past two years at the local and international levels as evidenced by the growing support for local exporters and the steady expansion of their exports and services.

He said, "ADEX continues to transform challenges into opportunities according to the directives of the wise leadership. We will continue with our initiatives to strengthen the global market positioning of goods and services in line with the governments make it in the Emirates initiative and the strategic objectives of Operation 300bn. We are confident that ADEXs financing solutions to foreign importers will open up new opportunities for exporters to expand to new markets."

ADEX has been building robust collaborations with many government, semi-government, and private entities over the past two years. To support the export sector, ADEX signed several agreements and Memoranda of Understanding with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development; the Department of Economic Development in Ajman; the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Sharjah Chambers of Commerce and Industry; Abu Dhabi Global Market; Etihad Credit Insurance; Dubai Industries and Exports; and the Emirates Development Bank. Also, ADEX has conducted webinars to raise the awareness of its members involved in exports about its financing services and ways to leverage its solutions.

ADEX has strengthened its international relations as well to increase exporters access to global markets across continents.

Specifically, ADEX sealed an agreement with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), one of Africas most prominent multilateral development financial organisations, to open a line of credit worth AED110.2 million. Their agreement aims to enable exporters to expand in Africa by giving African importers access to funds to purchase UAE-made goods and services.

In addition, ADEX has signed a cooperation agreement with TDB to establish robust business and trade ties between the UAE and Africa by exploring co-financing possibilities and establishing additional lines of credit.

Furthermore, ADEX provided AED22 million to Jenaan Pipes & Irrigation Systems to finance its infrastructure project in Egypt. The fund will enable the company to import raw materials from Borouge, a leading UAE petrochemicals company, to manufacture and supply irrigation systems to one of the worlds largest refineries situated in Egypt.

Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Acting Director-General of ADEX, said, "Through our support, we are furthering their contributions to the national economy. Our financing solutions are designed to accelerate the diversification of the UAE economy and the growth of the local non-oil sectors, in line with the countrys strategic visions."

"We look forward to enhancing our contributions in the coming years and leveraging promising opportunities to bolster the export sector and explore new global markets for our exporters. This is in line with the 10X10 Program, a recently launched government initiative under the Projects of the 50. We are committed to promoting the local exports, as well as supporting Emirati export companies expansion in 10 markets identified by the 10X10 Program," Al Dhaheri added.

He stated, "As we celebrate ADEXs second anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to utilising our capabilities to support and ensure the sustainable growth of national exports by providing financial support that enables Emirati exporters and their expansion across potential global markets."
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Port Louis, Mauritius, Sept 14 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :Hospitals are overwhelmed, ventilators are hard to find, and there's no longer enough space at the main cemetery for Covid victims in Mauritius.

Barely three weeks before it flings its doors wide open to international travellers at the start of the peak tourist season, the paradise island nation is struggling with an alarming explosion in coronavirus infections and deaths.

In just two months, cases have jumped over five-fold to more than 12,600 as of Friday, by far the largest increase across Africa during this period, according to data compiled by AFP.

Since the pandemic started, Mauritius has recorded 1,005 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, far higher than the continent's average of 598.

The crisis is now so acute that 74-year-old former prime minister Navin Ramgoolam has flown to India for Covid treatment, and the opposition leader has discussed his struggle to find a bed for an ailing friend.

"People do not realise how bad the situation is," said one nurse at a Covid treatment centre, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of possible reprisals.

"We are already above capacity".

In July, the idyllic Indian Ocean holiday destination, renowned for its white sandy beaches and turquoise waters, partly reopened to vaccinated international visitors.

But they had to remain in "resort bubbles" for 14 days before being allowed to venture further afield, provided they had a negative PCR test.

The government reduced that timeframe to seven days this month ahead of a full reopening planned for October 1, when tourists will be free to explore the island as long as they test negative up to 72 hours before arrival.

"The situation is worsening," one doctor said on condition of anonymity, adding that medical professionals had been instructed not to talk about the crisis.

"The priority of the government is to ensure a smooth opening of the borders on October 1." The government has not given any explanation for the surge, but local media reports speak of people ignoring social distancing guidelines and throwing caution to the winds after getting inoculated.

The authorities had ordered people in some sectors to have Covid jabs or risk hefty fines and jail terms of up to five years.

As of Saturday, 61 percent of the population was fully vaccinated.

But nevertheless the pandemic picture remains bleak.

Bernard, a worker at the leafy Bigara cemetery on the main island, said the area reserved for coronavirus victims was already full.

The dead are now being laid to rest at another graveyard in the north of the island, but locals are furious, saying Covid-19 victims are being buried too close to their homes.

L'Express newspaper reported that police had to be summoned last week when some youths began throwing stones at health workers who were burying the dead at Bois-Marchand cemetery.

The authorities have also been slow to paint a clear picture of the pandemic death toll, and announced a sharp revision to official figures Friday, from 34 to 89.

The health ministry explained its initial calculations by saying that the majority of the 89 fatalities were due to comorbidities and not directly caused by Covid-19.

Locals are conflicted about the relaxation of restrictions, with tourism contributing 25 percent of the archipelago's gross domestic product prior to the pandemic.

"We had closed the country but despite this the number of cases exploded," said taxi driver Paul Pierre, who said the prospect of a tourist surge made him "shudder".

Hotel receptionist Diana Mootoosamy echoed his fears, telling AFP, "suddenly we find ourselves without a safety net".

"By welcoming tourists, are we going to attract foreign exchange or (Covid-19) variants?" Others say the economy, which shrank by 15 percent during the last financial year, desperately needs the boost.

"My restaurant has been empty since March 2020. If the tourists don't come back, I'll have to put the key under the doormat," restaurateur John Beeharry told AFP.

The country's healthcare system is already struggling to cope.

Opposition leader Xavier Duval rang alarm bells over his "traumatic" hunt earlier this month for a hospital bed with a ventilator for a close friend.

With family members in tears, Duval tried several private clinics and the main hospital with no luck, before one centre agreed to admit his friend -- but only for 48 hours.

"All this indicates that the system is overwhelmed," he said, calling the situation "alarming".

"I'm afraid Mauritius will come to a stage where we might need to decide who will get the air supply and who will have to die."
Nicosia, Sept 14 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :Cyprus' Covid-19 vaccination rollout has covered 80 per cent of the adult population with one dose, health minister Michael Hadjipantelas said Tuesday.

Achieving the four-in-five milestone brings health authorities closer to their ultimate goal of reaching herd immunity against the coronavirus.

Scientists estimate that coverage of 82-85 per cent is needed following the spread of the more potent Delta variant.

Hadjipantelas said that achieving such high vaccination coverage "ranks Cyprus among the Member States of the European Union that have reached and surpassed the goal set at European level".

Mass vaccination would leave the country better prepared and protected against the virus before winter arrives, he added.

The minister said that 80 per cent of the adult population would be fully vaccinated within the next three weeks.

"We are continuing and intensifying our efforts to boost the vaccination rate even further." As of 13 September, 80 per cent of the adult population have received a COVID-19 jab, while 76 per cent are fully vaccinated.

According to data released by the health ministry, 39.6 per cent of teenagers aged 16 and 17 have received one shot and 32.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Some 24.1 per cent of children aged 12 to 15 have been jabbed, while 13.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the authorities have rolled out booster shots for people over 65 and vulnerable groups.

So far, 1,421 older adults residing in nursing homes have received a booster shot.

Cyprus has suffered 118,090 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, with 532 deaths.
(@FahadShabbir)

The federal cabinet on Tuesday made a landmark decision to introduce comprehensive reforms in the obsolete and outdated criminal justice system in the country in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision for provision of timely and inexpensive justice

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :The federal cabinet on Tuesday made a landmark decision to introduce comprehensive reforms in the obsolete and outdated criminal justice system in the country in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision for provision of timely and inexpensive justice.

Briefing the media about decisions of the Federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Minister for Law and Justice Farough Naseem gave the cabinet a detailed briefing on the proposed law, adding, these reforms would entirely change the criminal justice system.

Fawad said the reforms would fulfil Prime Minister Imran Khan's agenda of improvement in the criminal justice system to ensure timely justice.

He said the focus of reforms would be inexpensive and timely provision of justice besides ending delay in trial and hurdles in registration of First Information Report (FIR).

He said now the matter would be discussed in the Cabinet Committee on Law and Justice and after that it would be implemented.

He said the cabinet rejected the proposal of giving 10 percent adhoc relief to Chairman and Deputy chairman Senate, Speaker and Deputy speaker National Assembly and members of Senate and National Assembly in their salaries.

He said the cabinet had also rejected an allowance traditionally given to members of the federal cabinet.

The minister said the decision was part of the austerity measures taken by the incumbent government from day one to reduce burden on the national exchequer.

He said the decision was meant to show the nation that people in corridors of power were setting an example for other people to save national kitty.

He said the Prime Minister House has made big saving in its expenditure as part of the PM's authority drive and the National Assembly secretariat has returned Rs 1.54 billion to the government.

The cabinet, he said, was informed that the cabinet allowed the Federal Board of Revenue to hire services for making its data more secure following a cyber attack on August 14 this year.

Fawad said hackers attacked the website of Federal Board of Revenue, however most of its data remained safe and an operational emergency was declared to secure its data.

He said the cabinet was informed that this year about a million cyber-attacks were made on Pakistani websites which were thwarted by National Telecom Company. It was informed that a comprehensive framework of cyber security was in place which was being further strengthened.

Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the Ministry of Science and Technology briefed the cabinet on process of electronic voting machines and overseas Pakistanis voting right.

The minister said the Ministry of Information Technology would launch 5G technology in the country from next year in which multiple companies had already shown interest.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Pakistan Telecom Authority to ensure good telecommunication services in all parts of the country so that everyone could benefit from revolution in the sector.

The minister said the cabinet gave approval for the establishment of Quaid-e-Azam Foundation.

He said the Prime Minister expressed disappointment over delay in procurement of wheat despite his clear instructions for early procurement. He said Punjab province was issued directives for immediate release of wheat which, he said, would help in gradual reduction of wheat and flour price in the market.

On the proposal of the tariff policy board, the cabinet approved reduction in additional customs duty on auto parts from seven to two percent to promote indigenous production of vehicles.

He said additional customs duty on heavy commercial vehicles had also been reduced from seven to two percent. Moreover, he said that prices of 1000 cc and below cars would fall after abolishment of additional duty on their equipment.
BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) Germany has allowed entry to 2,000 rights activists, artists, scientists and journalists from Afghanistan who are at risk of retribution from the Taliban (terrorist organization, banned in Russia), media said Monday.

The interior ministry has now begun issuing entry permits to people designated as vulnerable by the foreign office, according to the RND group of newspapers.

Interior ministry spokesman Steve Alter told reporters in Berlin that security forces would run identity checks, after Interior Ministry Horst Seehofer admitted that people with criminal records were airlifted to Germany from Kabul.

The German dpa news agency says there are roughly 2,600 at-risk people and their family members on the ministries' list. The majority of them remain in Afghanistan or have fled to neighboring countries after the Taliban takeover in mid-August.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that his country would not take in any more Afghan migrants after becoming home to the world's largest Afghan population per capita

ROME (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that his country would not take in any more Afghan migrants after becoming home to the world's largest Afghan population per capita.

"We will not welcome any Afghan refugees to our country, not while I am in charge," he said in an interview to the Italian daily La Stampa, published on Tuesday.

Austria is hosting 44,000 Afghan refugees, with 8,000 coming to the small Alpine nation this year via Balkan route. Thousands ended up in Austria during the EU migrant crisis in the previous few years.

"Let's be realistic. The 2015 refugee policy cannot be the solution neither for Kabul nor for the European Union," Kurz argued.

The chancellor said Austria was struggling with integrating Afghans, who mostly had an inferior level of education and different values, and would rather support Afghanistan's neighbors in taking care of them.
The Moldovan Border Police said on Tuesday that they had detained an An-2 aircraft with three Ukrainian nationals aboard believed to have been heading for Romania to smuggle cigarettes

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Moldovan Border Police said on Tuesday that they had detained an An-2 aircraft with three Ukrainian nationals aboard believed to have been heading for Romania to smuggle cigarettes.

"Based on operative information on illegal entering the airspace, border police investigators managed this morning to detain an An-2 aircraft in the area of .

.. the Edinet District. According to preliminary information, this aircraft was used to transport smuggled cigarettes," the police said in a statement shared on Facebook.

The plane, which departed Ukraine for Romania, carried three Ukrainian nationals, who were also detained, the statement read.

The police said they would provide additional information upon completing the operation.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The police in Papua New Guinea have arrested a 59-year-old woman from the Cook Islands for illegal possession of 150 pieces of C-4 plastic explosives, 250 rounds of live ammunition of various calibres and a sniper rifle, a spokesperson said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The police in Papua New Guinea have arrested a 59-year-old woman from the Cook Islands for illegal possession of 150 pieces of C-4 plastic explosives, 250 rounds of live ammunition of various calibres and a sniper rifle, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The suspect, identified as a widow from Rarotonga Island, has reportedly been staying illegally on the territory of Papua New Guinea since her visa expired on February 4, 2020. The arrest occurred in the city of Alotau in the southeastern province of Milne Bay.

"She has been arrested and charged with one count of being in possession of an unlicensed firearm, one count for being in possession of 20 rounds of 9mm ammunition and one count of being in the country with an expired visa," the police spokesperson was quoted as saying by the National.

The police discovered weapons and ammunition in the woman's possession after she reported a house robbery on September 5. Up to four robbers took the rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition, the woman told the police, which opened an investigation.

The weapons were retrieved in a nearby village. The probe found that the weapons and ammunition in the widow's possession were unregistered and posed a threat. When questioned, the woman revealed to the police the place of storage for other explosives and ammunition in an office of a construction firm.

The woman reportedly refused to explain why these weapons were kept in the office. She was released on bail and is due to be tried on Wednesday.
A plan designed by the European Union to restore the Moldovan economy after the pandemic has already been put into operation, Katarina Mathernova, the deputy director-general of the European Commission, said on an official visit to Chisinau on Tuesday

CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) A plan designed by the European Union to restore the Moldovan economy after the pandemic has already been put into operation, Katarina Mathernova, the deputy director-general of the European Commission, said on an official visit to Chisinau on Tuesday.

"The economic recovery plan is already being implemented. Just this week, we actually approved disbursement of over 36 million euro ($42.4 million) not in loans, (but) in grants to Moldova for both to show our support for recovery out of COVID-19 and also for police reform program," Mathernova told a briefing.

She added that the EU's post-COVID-19 assistance to Moldova was not limited to funding, but also included the allocation of vaccine doses.

Mathernova expressed the hope that the pace of vaccination in the Eastern European nation will quicken.

The European Commission came up with the recovery plan for Moldova's economy in June, which entails the disbursement of up to 600 million euro ($706.4 million) over three years. The funding is expected to cover infrastructural projects and training on how to manage public expenditures, as well as support for small and medium businesses, the education system, and reform of the judicial system.

Currently, Moldova has administered over 1,300,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, which is enough to fully immunize a quarter of citizens.
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte discussed over the telephone concerns over the influx of illegal migrants arriving at Lithuania's border from Belarus, the White House said in a press release.

"National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke today with Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte of Lithuania... He also underscored US appreciation for Lithuania's principled foreign policy in support of democracy and human rights, including in Belarus," the release said on Monday. "Mr. Sullivan condemned the Lukashenko regime's orchestration of irregular migrant flows across its borders."

Sullivan and Simonyte also discussed efforts to counter China's influence in Lithuania, the release said.

In August, the Lithuanian and Polish prime ministers issued a joint statement calling on the European Union to expand sanctions against neighboring Belarus over Minsk's alleged assistance to EU-bound illegal immigrants.

Lithuania has accused Belarus of letting migrants cross the border to get into the European Union in retaliation for imposing sweeping economic sanctions against Minsk. The Belarusian president, in turn, argues that his government cannot afford to enhance border security because of the sanctions. More than 4,000 illegal migrants have been detained in Lithuania on the border with Belarus since the beginning of the year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan summoned US Ambassador John Mark Pommersheim on Tuesday and conveyed a note of protest to him in connection with the recent statements made by US President Joe Biden

DUSHANBE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan summoned US Ambassador John Mark Pommersheim on Tuesday and conveyed a note of protest to him in connection with the recent statements made by US President Joe Biden.

"A Verbal Note of protest was conveyed to the US Ambassador in connection with the statements by the President of the United States of America Mr. Joe Biden during his visit to a fire station in Pennsylvania," the ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the "note stated that such statements do not correspond to the spirit of friendly relations and partnership."

The ministry emphasized that Tajikistan is interested in the development of relations with Washington based on mutual support and respect.

In his Saturday remarks made in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after a meeting with firefighters and their families on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Biden defended the heavily criticized US pullout from Afghanistan.

The president said that Afghans clinging to US aircraft and hanging off the moving front wheel was something that could happen in Tajikistan.

"... if we were in Tajikistan and we pulled up with a C-130 and said, 'We're going to let, you know, anybody who was involved with being sympathetic to us to get on the plane,' you'd have people hanging in the wheel well. Come on," Biden told journalists.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist group) would have started a nationwide assault in Afghanistan if President Biden delayed the withdrawal of American forces beyond the August 31 deadline.
The Taliban (a terrorist group banned in Russia) deny all accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Information of Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid said on Tuesday

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) The Taliban (a terrorist group banned in Russia) deny all accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Deputy Minister of Culture and Information of Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid said on Tuesday.

In August, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch released a report, which stated that the Taliban had summarily executed detained soldiers, police, and civilians allegedly linked to the Afghan government without due process of law.

"We strongly deny the Human Rights Watch report, which says that the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are committing war crimes. This organization should not be a victim of enemy disinformation and should not prepare such false reports based on it. They should carefully study everything on the ground and ascertain the facts independently," Mujahid stated on Twitter.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Indian Foreign Minister with an appeal to take urgent steps to address the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Afghanistan.

The letter noted that the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan should share information with international bodies investigating war crimes in the country.

The Taliban intensified its offensive against Afghan government forces a month ago and entered Kabul on August 15. On August 31, the US military left the Kabul airport, bringing an end to the nearly twenty-year American military presence in Afghanistan. On September 6, the Taliban stated that it had gained control of Panjshir, the last of 34 Afghan provinces not under their yoke. The next day, the Taliban announced the composition of the interim government of Afghanistan. It is headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who served as a foreign minister during the first Taliban rule. Akhund has been under UN sanctions since 2001.
A day after winning Norway's general election, left-wing parties on Tuesday kicked off what are expected to be weeks of tough negotiations to form a government replacing the centre-right in power for eight years

Oslo, Sept 14 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :A day after winning Norway's general election, left-wing parties on Tuesday kicked off what are expected to be weeks of tough negotiations to form a government replacing the centre-right in power for eight years.

The Labour Party and its leader Jonas Gahr Store, in all likelihood the next prime minister, and his two preferred allies, the Centre and Socialist Left, won an absolute majority with 89 of 169 seats in parliament, according to preliminary election results.

Outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg acknowledged late Monday that her centre-right coalition had been defeated.

"In the next few days, I will invite the leaders of all the parties who want a new government to talks," Store, who campaigned against social inequalities, said in his victory speech late Monday.

In addition to the Centre and Socialist Left, Store said he plans to meet with two other members of the current opposition, the Greens and the communist Red Party, who won three and eight seats respectively, according to the preliminary results.

The negotiations present numerous challenges.

The Centry Party, which defends the interests of its rural base, and the Socialist Left, which advocates for social justice and environmental protection, are at loggerheads on several issues, including taxes and the oil industry.

Norway is Western Europe's biggest producer of oil.

While the three parties governed together under Jens Stoltenberg -- Store's mentor and predecessor as Labour leader -- Centre said throughout the election campaign it would not govern together with the Socialist Left, though it has softened its tone somewhat in recent days.

Talks to build a new government are expected to take several weeks.
The University of South Florida Presidential Search Committee has met for the first time. It was an introductory meeting for the 15-member committee, which included an overview of the search process and an initial discussion with the search firm, SP&A Executive Search. The meeting took place in the University Student Center Ballroom on the USF St. Petersburg campus.

Led by Mike Griffin, vice chair of the USF Board of Trustees, the search committee is a broadly representative group that includes faculty, student, alumni and community leader perspectives. The committees role in the search process is to reach out to key stakeholder groups to define the position profile in alignment with USFs mission and strategic aspirations; help market the position; and screen and interview the most qualified candidates, including providing opportunities for non-search committee members to interact with the finalists and provide feedback to the committee. The committee will then recommend an unranked list of finalists for ultimate consideration by the USF Board of Trustees.

All committee meetings are open to the public. Future meeting information will be posted on the USF Presidential Search Committee website.
UTEP Celebrates Continued Commitment During Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week

Last Updated on September 13, 2021 at 12:00 AM

Originally published September 13, 2021

By Pablo Villa

UTEP Communications

During a week devoted to recognizing the contributions of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) throughout the nation, The University of Texas of El Paso promotes its efforts as a national leader in shaping the future of higher education by hosting in-person and hybrid events, including an introduction to the Universitys Hispanic Servingness Research Council.

During a week devoted to recognizing the contributions of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) throughout the nation, The University of Texas of El Paso promotes its efforts as a national leader in shaping the future of higher education by hosting three in-person and hybrid events, including an introduction to the Universitys Hispanic Servingness Research Council. Photo: Ivan Pierre Aguirre / UTEP Communications

UTEP's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week events

The events are part of the wider National Hispanic-Serving Institutions week celebration being observed Sept. 13-19, 2021, which coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

On Tuesday, Sept. 14, Anne-Marie Nunez, Ph.D., a professor of educational studies at the Ohio State University, will deliver a livestreamed address at the Blumberg Auditorium in the University Library (Zoom link and more information available here). Nunezs research on ways HSIs foster student success offers a valuable framework for serving Hispanic students in higher education. Nunez works with the UTEP-led Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) to explore how departments in the CAHSI network support Hispanic and underrepresented students to succeed in computing fields.

The newly established Hispanic Servingness Research Council will outline its mission and goals during an interactive panel discussion at noon Wednesday, Sept. 15, in the Blumberg Auditorium.

The events for the week will culminate with the annual El Grito ceremony  the commemoration of the Mexican cry for independence  at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, at Centennial Plaza. All events are free and open to the UTEP community.

Other events in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month will continue through mid-October.

Through this work, we seek to benefit and increase the quality of education and experiences for everyone on campus. In other words, servingness is not a zero-sum game, said Lucia Dura, Ph.D., co-chair of UTEPs Hispanic-Servingness Working Group.

UTEP is one of 569 HSIs in the country. The federal designation of HSI was defined by the Higher Education Act and stipulates an institution must have an undergraduate Hispanic enrollment of at least 25%. HSIs include private, two- and four-year, and nonprofit degree-granting institutions.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week acknowledges the critical role HSIs play in educating and empowering Hispanics. The celebration is organized by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, an organization that works with members of Congress each year to recognize the contributions of HSIs in their communities.

UTEP has had a Hispanic student majority since 1986 and met the threshold to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution in 1992, the year the designation was first recognized by the Higher Education Act. With a Hispanic student population of 83% and intentional implementation of inclusive excellence, UTEP stands as an exemplar among HSIs. It is one of only 17 HSIs designated as an R1 top tier doctoral research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. In 2019, UTEP was one of nine institutions of higher education to earn the inaugural Seal of Excelencia in Education, a certification that recognizes a high level of commitment to serve Latino students.

In 2020, UTEP established a Hispanic Servingness Working Group to work with campus units to build and strengthen the Universitys identity as an HSI and further elevate its national profile; recommend intentional approaches and services that further support holistic student success; and establish related accountability measures. Hispanic servingness is a multidimensional and conceptual way to understand what it means to move from simply enrolling Hispanic students to actually serving them.
On the final day of his Apostolic Journey to Slovakia, Pope Francis pays a visit to the town of Sastin which is known as a pilgrimage site where people come to venerate the statue of the Our Lady of Sorrows.

By Lydia OKane

During the Sunday Angelus on 5 September, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that he would be making a pilgrimage the following week to Budapest and Slovakia. In particular, he noted that the visit would conclude with the great popular celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows, Patron saint of that country. (Slovakia)

The Pope is known for his ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and makes a trip both before and after an Apostolic Visit to the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome to pray before the icon of Our Lady, under the title, Salus Populi Romani.

History of the Shrine

The origins of the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows at Sastin dates back many centuries: to the year 1564 to be exact.

At that time, there was a local aristocrat who constantly behaved badly towards his wife. The wife, a woman named Countess Angelika Bakic, had prayed to Our Lady for years so that her husband would change his ways.

One day her husband got into an argument with her while riding in their carriage and pushed her out onto the road.

That same day she made a promise to have a statue erected to the Virgin Mary if her husband would change his behaviour.

From that day on, he came back for her, changed his behaviour, and asked her forgiveness.

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was then built on the side of the road where the countess had been pushed out. The spot became a popular place of pilgrimage and soon a small chapel was built there.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, Sastin is one of the places where the Virgin Mary of Seven Sorrows in Slovakia is venerated. The church was consecrated in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Emperor Francis I Stephen of Lorraine. The national shrine was promoted to a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1964.

Miroslav Janak is Media Manager at the Shrine for the Popes visit. He says that there are many stories, experiences and personal miracles achieved after visiting this place dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows.

Listen to the interview

Pilgrims

Pilgrimages to the Shrine draw tens of thousands of people every year. There are around 200 domestic pilgrimages to the Shrine at Sastin and around 40 foreign pilgrimages to the shine every year. We have pilgrimage groups from Spain, even from Mexico in 2019. Altogether there are almost 200,000 pilgrims a year, says Mr. Janak.

Papal visit

Speaking about the Papal visit, the Media Manager says that it is a great honour to have Pope Francis come to Slovakia and visit the Shrine, which, he adds, is something that happens once in a generation.

However, he underlines that this Apostolic Visit comes amid difficult times for Slovakia.

Slovakia is a wonderful country; it has all the conditions for a good life; if there would be Jesus visiting Slovakia today, he would not find a united nation.

Facing the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, he emphasizes, has left the country polarized and divided by issues such as anti-vaccination campaigns. Some people say he (the Pope) can bring us to peace. Well, I would say lets hope he can bring peace to us.

Mr. Janak notes that due to the current situation in the country, many people are praying for guidance and they are praying that Our Lady can make us united. 

I think this is a unique connection, this visit of the Pope and the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (15th September) and it connects the idea of being able to accept the help of Our Lady, he says.

Preparations

Asked about preparations for the Popes visit, Mr. Janak says that there are many people preparing to visit the shrine, and there are a great number of volunteers giving of their time.

He says the preparations have been running smoothly and the numbers of volunteers in Sastin alone stand at 1,500, adding that he believes the visit will be a wonderful moment, not only for Slovakia but for all the people watching it and all the people of goodwill.

The Media Manager is also keen to point out that it is important that people prepare personally for the Popes visit as if he was coming to their home, Lets just prepare, not just technically, not just professionally, lets prepare also personally because it is probably the most important thing.
As the Pope prepares to greet the youth of Slovakia, there are great expectations following a pandemic which has seen many young people impacted by COVID-19.

By Lydia OKane - Bratislava

Over the course of his Pontificate, Pope Francis has made it one of his priorities to engage with young people. Whether it be the 2018 Youth Synod, World Youth Days, or meeting with the younger generation during Apostolic Visits, the Pope has been a steadfast father figure.

Pope Francis visit to Slovakia will be no exception, as the youth of the country get ready to give him a rousing reception at Kosices Lokomotiva Stadium.

There are great expectations for this visit and many young people want to be able to participate in the event at Lokomotiva Stadium, says Pavol Hiznay, communications co-ordinator for the youth event.

For the young people, the Holy Father is a spiritual authority who the youth of Slovakia can relate to because he is charismatic and very open. He can get close to young people, and I think young people like listening to him.

Effects of the pandemic

Like much of Europe and beyond, Slovakia was forced to implement strict measures to deal with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many young people, this meant being away from schools and universities and switching to remote learning.

The pandemic made the last year probably the worst year for the young people. Almost half of all pupils had to stay at home and study remotely, Mr Hiznay says, which limited their possibilities for the future and their ability to receive a proper education.

Also many young people seek work and studies abroad, so the situation for young people at the moment is not the best. We hope for a better school year starting from September; also there are expectations for the third wave of this pandemic, he notes.

Listen to the interview

Preparation

Hiznay describes being involved in the organization of the youth event as a great honour," but very demanding and requires focus. He goes on to say that they have had only three months to organize events surrounding this visit, which would usually take one year to prepare.

With COVID-19 curbs still in place, he explains that the basic rule for taking part in any event with the Holy Father is that every person must be vaccinated.

So what can the Pope expect when he arrives at the Lokomotiva stadium on Tuesday afternoon? Giving a sneak preview, Mr Hiznay says, There will be a very extensive programme comprising many artists, music groups and many spiritual activities.

The programme starts before the arrival of the Holy Father, and there will be testimonies from young people talking about their own faith experiences, and questions from young people which Pope Francis is expected to respond to.

Many young people, says the communications co-ordinator, are looking forward to the Popes words to them.

In his 2020 diocesan World Youth Day message, Pope Francis invited young people to take a risk and change the world, giving their passions and dreams free rein. As the youth in Slovakia await the Pope, perhaps this may provide a hint of what they can expect at Lokomotiva Stadium.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued to appear on headlines from media outlets around the world. Vaccine passports and mandates are increasingly being implemented for travel and work. However, millions of people have protested the idea of mandatory vaccination, and criminals have exploited the issue by issuing fake vaccine certificates in some countries.

Greece is one of those countries embroiled in the scam. The National Transparency Authority (NTA) found that 10 vaccination centers in the country were probably guilty of issuing fake vaccination certificates.

According to a report from the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini, authorities have identified a number of false documents after it was reported that a health center in Palamas, located in central Greece, was suspected of handing out at least 44 bogus certificates.

Proof of the 44 fake documents, which came from the health center, was given to the prosecutor on Monday, Sept. 6. So far, 31,296 vaccination certificates have been issued in the region, raising concerns about how many of the certificates are bona fide.

An administrative employee who managed to tap into the online platform using a doctors access code was found guilty of registering people as vaccinated. Disparities detected on the printed certificates revealed the scandal.

Since then, more cases of fraud have emerged in regions such as Messolonghi, Kavala, Kozani, Ikaria, and Patra. Several other facilities have also come under scrutiny, and this has led to health officials getting fired.

After a meeting with regional health officials in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Deputy Health Minister Mina Gaga said, False certificates are a problem that is upsetting us a lot. I think there is a very small number of them right now and these can be checked. Legal action will be taken in those cases where fraud is confirmed and we will be ruthless.

According to Thanos Plevris, Health Minister, a fine of 5,000 euros ($5,894) will be given to individuals for health certificates that are issued fraudulently. Fines of up to 50,000 euros ($58,938) could be levied on private health facilities guilty of issuing fake certificates.

People planning to commit these acts should know that they will be fired, they may face criminal prosecution, and they will have to pay a lot of money, Plevris told state ERT TV.

Deputy Health Minister Gaga also emphasized that health workers, for whom vaccination is mandatory, will now feel the full weight of the law. Vaccination for all healthcare workers has been mandatory since Sept. 1. So far, 5,895 healthcare workers who have not received the jab have been suspended.

Given a large number of affected employees, the Greek government has decided to give healthcare workers another chance to get the first shot of the vaccine and allow them to return to work. As many as 10,000 hospital workers could face suspension for not taking the vaccine, according to a Greek labor union official.

Im here today because I want to support the constitutional right of every Greek citizen to say yes or no to vaccination. I personally am vaccinated, but I believe it is my colleagues right to not get vaccinated if they dont want to, said Evangelia Karatzouli, a nurse at a public hospital. Karatzouli was part of a rally of hundreds of healthcare workers who protested outside the health ministry in Athens on Aug. 26.

In recent weeks, Greece has witnessed a spike in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. With 4,608 new cases, the daily new confirmed cases per million were highest in August at 318.84 since the start of the pandemic, compared to January-end when it was 66.49, a 4.8-fold increase.

From Sept. 13 onwards, new rules came into effect. Unvaccinated customers without a negative COVID-19 test result issued in the past 48 hours lost access to bars, cinemas, and restaurants. Students and staff in schools must wear masks and use test kits if they are found to be unvaccinated.
U.S. President Joe Biden will host a first in-person summit of leaders of the "Quad" countries  Australia, India, Japan and the United States  which have been seeking to enhance cooperation to push back against China's growing assertiveness.

The summit will be held at the White House in Washington on September 24, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. The U.S. visits of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York, which Biden will address on September 21.

A virtual meeting of the Quad leaders was held in March, and they pledged to work closely on COVID-19 vaccines and climate change, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of challenges from Beijing.

"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," Psaki said.

Kurt Campbell, Biden's Indo-Pacific coordinator, said in July the long-planned in-person meeting should bring "decisive" commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure.

Biden, who is pushing big infrastructure spending at home, said in March he had suggested to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China's massive Belt and Road Initiative, which involves projects from East Asia to Europe.

Psaki said the Quad leaders would "be focused on deepening our ties and advancing practical cooperation on areas such as combating COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis, partnering on emerging technologies and cyberspace, and promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific."

A senior U.S. official said infrastructure would be among a range of topics discussed at the summit.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan

The Quad meeting will come after Biden's image has taken a battering over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said ending America's longest war will allow the administration to divert resources and attention to tackling China-related issues.

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, welcomed the plan to host the Quad leaders.

"Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal debacle made India's neighborhood more dangerous & raises legitimate questions for Japan and Australia as well, so it's good we will be hosting Quad partners soon," he said on Twitter.

"We must repair & renew our alliances, and this one is key."

COVID vaccines

The vaccines initiative from the first summit stalled after India, the world's largest vaccine producer, was hit by a catastrophic wave of infections and halted vaccine exports.

At the March summit, the four leaders agreed Indian drugmaker Biological E. Limited would produce at least a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by the end of 2022, mainly for Southeast Asian and Pacific countries.

Japan's Kyodo News reported last week that Suga would visit Washington this month for the Quad meeting even though his term as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party  and by default as Japan's prime minister  ends September 30.

Suga became the first leader to hold a face-to-face White House summit with Biden in April, underscoring Japan's central role in U.S. efforts to face down China.


The junta that overthrew Guineas government more than a week ago began four days of meetings Tuesday that it says will result in the formation of a transitional government.



The junta that ousted President Alpha Conde said it would consult in the capital, Conakry, with political, business and religious leaders as it charts a new course for the West African country.



The junta hopes that during the talks, leaders will agree on who will lead the transition, a time frame to complete it, and the political and institutional reforms needed before the election.



The Economic Community of West African States, which has suspended Guineas decision-making authority, has appealed for a brief civilian-led transition.



Last week, Guineas special forces overthrew the government under the leadership of Mamady Doumbouya, a former French Foreign Legionnaire.



The coup was preceded by violent street demonstrations last year in opposition to Condes quest for a third term in office.



The coup has been welcomed by Condes longtime opponents, including

Cellou Dalein Diallo, the former prime minister who lost to Conde in the last three presidential elections.



Leaders of the countrys mining industry also participated in the coup after

Doumbouya tried to reassure them he would work to prevent the destabilization of its critical bauxite and gold exports.



Some information in this report was provided by the Associated Press and Reuters.


U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested a California man early Monday near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington and that multiple knives, a bayonet and a machete were in his truck.

Officers on patrol said that around midnight Sunday they noticed the truck, with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it. Instead of a license plate, police said the truck had a picture of an American flag.

It is illegal to carry a bayonet and machete in Washington. The arrested man, Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, California, said he was on patrol, police said. Craighead was charged with possession of prohibited weapons.

Police said they are continuing to investigate the suspect.

Security alerts remain high near the U.S. Capitol, not far from the Democratic party headquarters, in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol building January 6 by hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump. The incident happened as lawmakers were certifying that he had lost his re-election bid last November to Democrat Joe Biden, who took over as president January 20.

Those supporting the more than 600 rioters arrested eight months ago are planning a rally, Justice for J6, in Washington this Saturday. About 50 people have pleaded guilty to an array of charges, while the rest of the cases are pending, with some suspects remaining jailed, awaiting trials.

The Capitol Police said in a statement Monday they are aware of concerning online chatter about the demonstration planned for Saturday.

I urge anyone who is thinking about causing trouble to stay home. We will enforce the law and not tolerate violence, said the forces chief, Tom Manger.

Police approved a plan Monday to temporarily reinstall a fence around the Capitol building in anticipation of Saturdays demonstration.


New Zealands prime minister has announced Monday that the countrys largest city, with a population of 1.7 million, will remain in a strict lockdown in an effort to curb small outbreaks of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.

Its clear there is no widespread transmission of the virus in Auckland, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, but so long as we have new cases emerging, there are risks, she added speaking at a news conference.

Aucklands lockdown has been extended to September 21, with 33 new cases recorded Monday, following weekend reports of 23 and 20 cases.

New Zealand went into a countrywide snap lockdown on August 17. Some restrictions, allowing people to go back to offices and schools, were lifted elsewhere in New Zealand last week.

Israel was warned that Israeli travelers who went to the Ukrainian city of Uman for Rosh Hashanah celebrations and re-entered Israel with fake negative COVID test results will face full criminal charges.

The Israeli government views the matter of patients fraudulently entering Israel by falsifying documents very seriously, the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported that by Friday 17,000 of the travelers had returned home and 1,600 had tested positive for COVID. Israel says 25,000 Israelis made the pilgrimage to Uman. More than150 Israelis are suspected of using fake negative coronavirus test results to return home, according to The New York Times.

Britains Health Ministry announced Sunday that it would reverse its decision to require vaccine passports for Britons entering nightclubs and bars.

Health Minister Sajid Javid said that the idea, which faced pushback from conservative lawmakers, had been shelved but would be reconsidered if rates of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, increased substantially.

Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the virus. The vaccine campaign will likely start later this month.

Elsewhere, Bangladesh reopened schools after over 500 days of closure Sunday, as the government reported that 97% of teachers throughout the country have been fully vaccinated.

Children were still required to wear masks in schools and the government warned against being lax on safety measures. For now, students in each class will attend school once a week.

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Monday that it has recorded 224.7 million COVID cases worldwide. The center said 5.7 million vaccines have been administered.

(Some information for this report came from Reuters.)
Nearly 70 students kidnapped in northern Nigeria two weeks ago are free, authorities said Monday.



Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle said security forces freed the students from the Government Day Secondary School. He said no ransom was paid.



Heavily armed gunmen kidnapped them on September 1, continuing a wave of similar attacks in Zamfara that prompted the state government to shut all schools.



UNICEF said there have been 10 similar attacks in Nigeria over the past year, leading to 1,436 kidnappings and 16 deaths.



In this incident, 73 students were initially taken, but five were rescued the day after the attack.



"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.



Authorities blame the abductions on bandits seeking ransom, but some are fearful the bandits are linked to the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram.



Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan for the first time before a congressional panel Monday. Lawmakers, Republicans as well as several Democrats, criticized the Biden administrations handling of the chaotic August withdrawal that ended the longest war in U.S. history. VOAs congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.



Produced by: Katherine Gypson, Barry Unger
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks to reporters following a news conference, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Reynolds lashed out at President Joe Biden Thursday after he ordered his education secretary to explore possible legal action against states that have blocked school mask mandates and other public health measures meant to protect students against COVID-19. Reynolds, a Republican, has signed a bill into law that prohibits school officials from requiring masks, raising concerns as delta variant virus cases climb across the state and schools resume classes soon.
(File photo) The courthouse will be re-shingled after some analysis of the bids.

A view of the crowd enjoying the beautiful weather and an energetic show featuring The Front Fenders in Alexandria on Thursday, June 23rd. The Red Willow Arts Coalition has, again in 2016, assembled a strong lineup of live performances.
FILE - In this Feb. 3 2021 file photo, the French vaccine startup Valneva headquarters is pictured in Saint-Herblain, western France. A French pharmaceutical startup announced Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 that the British government has abruptly terminated an agreement for it to supply tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines. Britain alleged that Valneva was in breach of its obligations under the supply agreement, which the company "strenuously" denied. There was no immediate comment from the British side.
14 Sep 09:55 UTC: First to report: GEONET (NZ) after 5 minutes.

14 Sep 09:57: Magnitude recalculated from 4.2 to 4.4. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 204.8 to 204.9 km (from 127 to 127 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 7.5 km (4.7 mi) towards W.

Update Tue, 14 Sep 2021, 10:03

Just 13 minutes ago, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck near Opunake, South Taranaki District, Taranaki, New Zealand. The tremor was recorded in the evening on Tuesday, September 14th, 2021, at 9:50 pm local time, at an intermediate to considerable depth of 204.9 km below the surface.The event was filed by New Zealand's Earthquake Commission and Geological Survey (GeoNet), the first seismological agency to report it.A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 4.2 earthquake.According to preliminary calculations, we do not expect that the quake was felt by many people and did not cause any damage. In Opunake (pop. 1,500, 64 km away), and Hawera (pop. 11,100, 70 km away), the quake was probably not felt.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app . This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
The celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 give rise to two absolutely contradictory narratives, depending on whether one refers to the written and audio-visual press or to the digital press. For some, Al Qaeda declared war on the West by plotting a high-profile crime, while for others the same crime masked a domestic coup detat in the US.

Any debate is impossible between the supporters of these two versions. Not because both sides refuse it, but because the supporters of the official version -and only they- refuse it. They consider their opponents as "conspiracy theorists", that is to say, in their mind, at best fools, at worst evil people, accomplices -willing or not- of terrorists.

From now on, this disagreement applies to any major political event. And the worldview of the two camps keeps distancing itself from each other.

How could such a fracture between fellow citizens occur in societies that aspire to democracy? Especially since, not this fracture, but the reaction to this fracture makes any democracy impossible.

A certain conception of journalism

We are assured today that the role of journalists is to report faithfully what they have seen. Yet when we are interviewed by a local media outlet about a story we know about and see how they have handled it, we are often disappointed. We feel that we have not been understood. Some of us lament that we have come across the wrong journalist and retain our trust in the mainstream media. Others feel that while a little distortion is possible on small issues, a lot more must be done on more complex ones.

In 1989, a crowd attending one of his speeches heard the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, accuse the fascists of having invented the Timisoara massacre attributed to his regimes torturers. Revulsed by this denial, the crowd revolted, chanting "Ti-mi-soa-ra! Ti-mi-soa-ra!" and overthrew him. The local television station in Atlanta (USA), CNN, broadcast live the few days of this revolution. It thus became the first live news channel and turned into an international channel. However, we know today that this massacre never existed. It was only a staged event using corpses taken from a morgue. It was later learned that a propaganda unit of the US Army had an office adjacent to the CNN newsroom.

The Timisoara manipulation only worked because it was live. Viewers had no time to check or even think. Professionally, no journalist ever drew any conclusions from the event. On the contrary, CNN became the model for the live news channels that have sprung up everywhere.

During the Kosovo war, in 1999, I was producing a daily bulletin summarizing the information from NATO and the regional news agencies (Austria, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Albania, etc.) to which I had subscribed [1]. From the beginning, what Nato was telling us in Brussels was not confirmed by the regional agencies. On the contrary, they described a completely different conflict. It was strange to see that the regional journalists, from all countries except Albania, formed a block, writing texts that were compatible with each other, but not with those of NATO. Week after week, the two versions were moving away from each other.

I n response to this situation, NATO put Jamie Shea in charge of its communications. He told a new story every day from the battlefield. The international press soon had eyes only for him. His story became the media story and the regional news agencies were no longer covered except by me. In my mind, both sides were lying and the truth had to be somewhere in between.

When the war was over, humanitarians, diplomats and UN soldiers rushed to Kosovo. To their surprise - and mine - they found that the local journalists had accurately reported the truth. Jamie Sheas words had been nothing but war propaganda. They had been the only "reliable" source for the international media for three months.

Western journalists who went to Kosovo also found that they had trusted people who had lied to them with aplomb. Yet few of them changed their tune. And even fewer managed to convince their editors that NATO had deceived them. The narrative imposed by the Atlantic Alliance had become the Truth that the history books would repeat despite the facts.

Ancient Greece and the Modern West

In ancient Greece, plays caused strong emotions in the audience. Some feared that the gods would drag them into dark destinies. So gradually the chorus, which narrated the story, also began to explain that one must not be fooled by what one saw, but to understand that it was only a staged show.

This distancing from appearances, which is paralyzed by the myth of live information, is called in psychology the "symbolic function". Small children are incapable of this, they take everything seriously. However, at the "age of reason", at 7 years old, we can all make the difference between what is true and what is only a representation.

Reason here is opposed to rationality. To be rational is to believe only in things that are proven. To be reasonable is not to believe in impossible things. This is a very big difference. Because we dont find the Truth with beliefs, but with facts.

When we see airplanes hitting the World Trade Center in New York and people jumping out of windows to escape the fire, we are all very moved. When the Towers collapse, we are ready to weep. But that should not stop us from thinking [2].

We can always be told that 19 hijackers hijacked four airplanes, but since these people were not on the airlines lists of passengers on board, they could not hijack these planes.

One can always tell us that the fuel from the two burning planes slipped onto the pillars of the buildings and melted them, which would explain why the Twin Towers collapsed, but not on themselves, and not the collapse of the third tower. For a building to collapse, not on one side, but on itself, you have to blow up its foundations, then blow it up from top to bottom to destroy the floors on themselves.

One can always tell us that panic-stricken passengers phoned their relatives before dying, but since the telephone companies have no record of these calls, they did not exist.

One can always tell us that a Boeing destroyed the Pentagon, but it could not have entered through a porte cochere without damaging the doorframe.

The testimonies contradict each other. But only some are contradicted by the facts.

Why we accept to be deceived

There remains a big problem: why do we accept to be deceived? Usually because the Truth is harder for us to accept than the lie.

For example, when for years the son of the president of the National Political Science Foundation denounced the rapes he was subjected to by the president, everyone pitied the poor delusional boy and praised his father for enduring his madness without saying a word. When the victims sister published a book of testimonies, everyone realized who was telling the truth. The president was forced to resign. The rapist owes his escape from justice only to his status: former European deputy, president of the emblematic institution of the entire French political-media class and president of the Siecle, the most exclusive private club in France.

Why do we believe that Al Qaeda is responsible for the 9/11 attacks? Because the Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, came before the United Nations Security Council and swore it. It doesnt matter that he lied years earlier when he validated the story of the incubators stolen from Kuwait by the Iraqis and the babies left to die. Or that he lied later about President Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction. He is a Secretary of State and we must believe him.

On the contrary, if we question his word, we should not only ask why we invaded Afghanistan, then Iraq, and so on. But also and above all why he lied.

The reaction to Covid-19: another 9/11

The enigma of 9/11 is not a question of the past. Our understanding of the last twenty years depends on how it is answered. As long as we do not have contradictory debates between the two versions, we will reproduce this fracture on all global issues.

We are currently experiencing another catastrophe, the Covid-19 pandemic. We have all seen a large laboratory, Gilead Science, bribe the editors of the medical journal The Lancet to denigrate a drug, hydroxychloroquine. Gilead Science is the company formerly headed by the 9/11 Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. It is also the company that produces a drug against Covid-19, Remdesivir. In any case, no one dared to look for drugs to treat Covid anymore. Everyone turned to the hope of vaccines.

Donald Rumsfeld had instructed his staff to develop protocols in case of a bioterrorist attack on US military bases abroad. Then he asked one of them, Dr. Richard Hachett, who was a member of the US National Security Council, to extend this protocol to an attack on the US civilian population. It was this man who proposed the compulsory confinement of healthy populations, provoking an outcry from American doctors, led by Professor Donald Henderson of John Hopkins University [3]. For them, Rumsfeld, Hatchett and their advisor, the senior civil servant Anthony Fauci, were enemies of the Hippocratic oath and of humanity.

When the Covid-19 epidemic occurred, Dr. Richard Hatchett had become the director of CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations); an association created at the Davos Forum and funded by Bill Gates. It was Hatchett who first used the expression "We are at war", which was taken up by his friend President Emmanuel Macron. It was he who advised confining healthy populations as he had imagined 15 years earlier in the "war on terror." Anthony Fauci, on the other hand, was still at his post. He had embezzled federal money to finance illegal research in the United States. The research was conducted for him at the Chinese laboratory in Wuhan.

Normally, the medical professions would have risen up again against the compulsory confinement of healthy people. This did not happen. They overwhelmingly considered that the situation required violating the Hippocratic oath.

Today, the Western countries that followed Dr. Hatchetts advice and believed Gilead Sciences lies have a terrifying record of this pandemic. The United States has 26 times more deaths per million people than China. And its economy is devastated.

This would deserve some debate and explanation, but no. We prefer to see our societies fractured again between supporters of Anthony Fauci or Professor Didier Raoult.

Conclusion

Instead of talking to each other, of confronting our arguments, we organize false debates between the supporters of the dominant doxa and those of the most grotesque opinions possible.

It is useless to aspire to live in a democracy, if we refuse to really discuss the most important subjects.
For 87 years, the Murdaugh family name came to represent a legal dynasty in coastal South Carolina, where three successive generations controlled the local prosecutor's office.

But in recent years, the family has been closely connected to bloody tragedy. There was a fatal boating crash in 2019, the killings of two family members in June, the shooting of a family member last week and allegations of misappropriated funds and drug abuse.

Here's a timeline of what we know about the Murdaugh family's illustrious history, the killings of Margaret Murdaugh and her son Paul, the shooting of Alex Murdaugh last week and the course of the investigation throughout.

1920-2006:

Over three generations, a member of the Murdaugh family serves as the 14th Circuit Solicitor, which leads prosecutions for Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties in the southern part of South Carolina.

Randolph Murdaugh Sr. is elected to the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office in 1920 and serves in the position until his death in 1940.

His son Randolph Murdaugh Jr. then takes over the position and serves until his retirement in 1986.

His son Randolph Murdaugh III then is elected to the role in 1987 and serves through the end of 2005.

In 2006, then-Gov. Mark Sanford appoints attorney Duffie Stone to serve as the 14th Circuit Solicitor, making him the first non-Murdaugh in the position. He has been elected to the position three times since, most recently in 2016.

2019:

A boat crashes at a bridge near Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, on February 24, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach, according to the South Carolina Attorney General in documents obtained by CNN.

Six people were on board the boat at the time of the crash, including 19-year-old Paul T. Murdaugh. His father, Alex Murdaugh, a local attorney and the son of Randolph Murdaugh III, owns the boat.

Stone, the 14th Circuit Solicitor, recuses himself from the case because of the personal connections.

Paul Murdaugh is indicted in April on charges of boating under the influence (BUI) causing great bodily harm and causing death in connection to the crash, court records show. He pleads not guilty.

June 7, 2021:

Alex Murdaugh, 53, calls 911 and reports he found his wife Margaret, 52, and son Paul, then 22, shot dead outside of their home in Islandton, a small community about an hour north of Hilton Head Island, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Colleton County Sheriff's deputies determine both victims had multiple gunshot wounds.

June 10:

Randolph Murdaugh III dies peacefully at his home at age 81, according to his obituary.

June 15:

SLED releases basic information about the killings on June 7, saying Alex Murdaugh had called 911 at 10:07 p.m. and investigators collected evidence that night and the next morning.

"We continue to pursue all leads and the investigation is certainly active and ongoing at this time," the agency said. "We will continue to submit all forensic evidence to SLED's forensic lab. SLED is committed to conducting a professional and thorough criminal investigation to bring justice in the deaths of Paul and Maggie."

June 17:

Alex Murdaugh's brothers, John Marvin Murdaugh and Randolph "Randy" Murdaugh IV, speak to "Good Morning America" about the killings. They say Alex called them "distraught" with the news that his wife and son had been shot. They say they do not believe their brother is involved.

"My brother loved Maggie and loved Paul like nothing else on this earth, just like he loves (his other son) Buster," Randy told "GMA." "So there's no possible way he could have anything to do with this, I can assure you."

June 21:

SLED acknowledges the interest in the case and asks the public to withhold judgment until the investigation is complete. The division also releases redacted copies of supplemental incident reports from the Colleton County Sheriff's Office.

"This case is complex, and we will not rush this or any investigation. Investigative decisions we make throughout this case must withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice process. SLED agents continue to interview possible witnesses, collect and process potential evidence, and investigate every lead with the same diligence we devote to every case," SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a statement.

"SLED agents are working tirelessly with our partners to build a case against any person responsible for the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh to ensure that justice is served," Keel added.

Stone, the 14th Circuit Solicitor, releases a statement saying it is "neither prudent nor proper" to comment on the case and says that his office will act "promptly and ethically" if conflicts of interest arise in the case.

He notes there is no clear suspect in the double killing and contrasts that with Paul Murdaugh's 2019 boating case.

"That was not the situation when I recused my office in the aftermath of the 2019 boating crash for which Paul Murdaugh was eventually charged," Stone said in the statement. "In that case, it was immediately apparent Mr. Murdaugh would be a suspect, that his father owned the boat in which those involved were travelling and that other passengers were related to employees of my office. Thus, any comparison of these cases simply is not apt."

June 22:

SLED reopens an investigation into the unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, whose body was found in the road in 2015 in Hampton County.

The agency says the probe is being reopened based on information gathered while investigating the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

June 25:

Alex Murdaugh and his other son, Buster, announce a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the killings of Margaret and Paul.

July 22:

SLED releases redacted audio of Alex Murdaugh's 911 call the night of the killings. In the audio, a distraught Murdaugh advises dispatchers his wife and son had been shot, are on the ground and are not breathing.

August 11:

Despite his earlier statement, 14th Circuit Solicitor Stone writes a letter to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson saying he intends to recuse himself from the Murdaugh death investigations, WCSC reports.

He writes that the request comes "considering the events of today in SLED's investigation" but does not provide further details.

Friday, September 3:

Alex Murdaugh resigns from the law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED), according to the firm.

Saturday, September 4:

Murdaugh calls 911 and reports he was shot early Saturday afternoon on a road in Hampton County, according to a statement from SLED spokesperson Tommy Crosby. He was taken to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia, where he was treated for a "superficial gunshot wound to the head," the statement said.

"At this time no arrests have been made," the statement said.

Monday, September 6:

Murdaugh releases a statement through his attorney, Dick Harpootlian, to CNN affiliate WCSC saying he is resigning from the PMPED law firm and entering rehab.

"The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life. I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret," he says in the statement. "I'm 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 I've hurt including my family, friends and colleagues. I ask for prayers as I rehabilitate myself and my relationships."

Tuesday, September 7:

The law firm says Murdaugh resigned "after the discovery by PMPED that Alex misappropriated funds in violation of PMPED standards and policies."

"This is disappointing news for all of us. Rest assured that our firm will deal with this in a straightforward manner. There's no place in our firm for such behavior," the law firm says in a statement. PMPED says it plans to retain a forensic accounting firm "to conduct a thorough investigation" and has contacted law enforcement and the South Carolina Bar.

Wednesday, September 8:

The South Carolina Supreme Court issues an order suspending Alex Murdaugh's license to practice law in the state.

According to the court, his license "is suspended until further order of this Court." The 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office also confirms to CNN that Murdaugh has been stripped of his privilege of prosecuting cases as a volunteer.

Randy Murdaugh IV, Alex Murdaugh's brother and also an attorney at PMPED law firm, releases a statement about the resignation.

"I was shocked, just as the rest of my PMPED family, to learn of my brother, Alex's, drug addiction and stealing of money," Randy Murdaugh writes in the statement.

"I love my law firm family and also love Alex as my brother. While I will support him in his recovery, I do not support, condone, or excuse his conduct in stealing by manipulating his most trusted relationships," Murdaugh says. "I will continue to pursue my client's interests with the highest degree of honesty and integrity, as I always have."

Thursday, September 9:

Attorney Jim Griffin specifies that Alex Murdaugh has an opioid addiction. Griffin says his client is in the early stages of treatment at an undisclosed location.

Friday, September 10:

A family spokesperson issues a statement about Alex Murdaugh's shooting that indicates the injury was more serious than a superficial wound.

"After the shooting, Alex had an entry and exit wound, his skull was fractured and it was not a self-inflicted bullet wound," according to the statement.

The spokesperson also added more details about what led up to the incident.

"Alex pulled over after seeing a low tire indicator light. A male driver in a blue pick-up asked him if he had car troubles, as soon as Alex replied, he was shot," the statement said.

"We know that SLED is continuing to work diligently to find this person and the person or people that murdered Maggie and Paul Murdaugh," the statement said.

Monday, September 13:

SLED releases a statement announcing it has opened an investigation into Alex Murdaugh "based upon allegations that he misappropriated funds in connection to his position as a former lawyer with the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, & Detrick (PMPED) law firm in Hampton, South Carolina."

"As Chief of SLED, I continue to urge the public to be patient and let this investigation take its course. Investigative decisions we make throughout this case and any potentially related case must ultimately withstand the scrutiny of the criminal justice process," said Chief Mark Keel.

"As with all cases, SLED is committed to conducting a professional, thorough, and impartial criminal investigation, no matter where the facts lead us."

Tuesday, September 14

Authorities say they have charged a man in Murdaugh's shooting in what they allege was a conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

According to the affidavit filed to support the charges, Murdaugh allegedly conspired with Curtis Edward Smith in the shooting on September 4, providing him with the firearm and instructing Smith to shoot him in the head.

The purpose, according to the affidavit, was for Smith to kill Murdaugh so that his son could collect a life insurance payout of approximately $10 million.

Smith, 61, has been charged with assisted suicide; conspiracy to commit insurance fraud; pointing and presenting a firearm; and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to authorities.

Murdaugh is described as a co-defendant in the affidavit, although no charges have been announced against the attorney.

The-CNN-Wire

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Millions of children are back in the classroom for the new school year, but most aren't vaccinated yet. With children now accounting for more than a quarter of weekly Covid-19 cases nationwide, many communities are turning to a familiar public health tool: quarantines.

Health experts agree that quarantines work, but also stress the importance of in-person learning for children's development. Now many communities are struggling to toe the line between keeping schools open and keeping those who are potentially infectious at home.

Additional layers of protection, like vaccination, testing and masking, can limit the need for quarantines, but those who are against one often push back on all.

Union County Public Schools in North Carolina announced Monday that it will no longer enforce contact tracing and quarantining policies for students and staff who are asymptomatic or test negative after exposure to Covid-19. Masks are optional in the school district.

Angie McCray, a parent in the district, told CNN's Brianna Keilar on Tuesday the decision is "upsetting and disappointing," and she's debating whether to send her first grader back to class in-person. McCray is a pharmacist who stepped back from work to teach her child at home last year; she's not eager to do it again, but says she has to think about safety first.

"I'm currently pregnant and I'm concerned for my family's safety," McCray said. "We were so excited to go back to public school and be able to let her have somewhat of a normal education, and the school board has just made decisions that are not logical and are affecting my family, and so many families in the county."

The spread of Covid-19 has created disruptions and challenges for schools already this year.

At least 44,556 students and staff have quarantined in Florida's major school districts since the start of the new school year.

One middle school in Fulton County, Georgia, transitioned from in-person to remote learning last week, just one month since classes began, after an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Some schools around the nation are offering remote instruction to students in quarantine or isolation, but some parents and politicians, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are resisting.

"I think quarantining healthy kids deprives these kids of an ability to get an education," DeSantis said in August. "Now maybe a parent would want a healthy kid to be quarantined, if there's an exposure, but I think that should be the choice of the parent."

The experts disagree. Allowing people to choose whether to quarantine defeats the purpose of having one.

Doctor: Actions that 'imperil' others shouldn't be a parent's choice

"If you are trying to stop a disease that is rampaging through a community, killing people who don't have to die, you really have to use quarantine," Dr. Christoph Diasio, a North Carolina pediatrician, told CNN.

"Deciding what color shoes your child wears to school, that's maybe a reasonable parental choice," he added. "But when your action can imperil other people, it doesn't feel to me like that should be in the realm of a parent's choice."

Choosing not to quarantine a child who has been exposed to the virus can indeed imperil other people, experts say.

"It's not just about our child's health. It's about the health of the other kids in the school," US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Brianna Keilar last month, in response to DeSantis' comments.

Murthy said he worries about states that are trying to block evidence-based prevention measures.

"The science tells us that tried-and-true methods, like contact tracing; like isolation and quarantine, when required; like improved ventilation; regular testing -- these are all the layers of precaution that we can take to reduce the risk to our children," Murthy said.

Known exposure requires quarantine in schools

"Kids who are sick shouldn't be in school, and kids who've had a known exposure do need to quarantine until we know for sure that they're not infected -- and more importantly that they're not infectious," Shira Shafir, associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, told CNN.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that remote learning earlier in the pandemic highlighted inequalities, exacerbated mental health issues and was detrimental to the education of all students. The group has advocated for a safe return to in-person learning this school year, guided by safety measures -- including quarantining.

Research has shown that quarantine measures can help reduce the spread of the virus in school and community settings. A research review, which included 32 studies focused on Covid-19, found that with quarantine, the number of people infected with coronaviruses could be reduced by between 44% and 96%.

"Quarantine is a key function of public health, especially in this disease, where people are actually infectious before they know they're sick," Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Public Health, told CNN.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's school guidance recommends unvaccinated people and vaccinated people with symptoms quarantine for 14 days if they've been in close contact with an infected person. This means close contacts who are vaccinated and showing no symptoms can continue to attend school -- as long as they are masked for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result -- but currently, no students under the age of 12 are vaccinated.

The agency says close contacts who are not vaccinated should get tested. Depending on guidelines from local health authorities, the CDC says the quarantine period may be shortened to 10 days without testing or seven days with a negative test.

The CDC defines close contact as being within six feet of someone for a cumulative total of 15 minutes a day -- though the agency notes an exception for students in K-12 classrooms, if the students involved are wearing masks.

Transmitting without symptoms

Even a seemingly healthy child who is exposed to the virus can place others at risk and increase the chance of a school shutting down, experts say.

"One of the things, unfortunately, we know about Covid-19 is that people can transmit the virus for a couple days before they begin to manifest any symptoms," said Shafir. "It becomes really important to comply with quarantine, because by the time a child has symptoms of infection, it is entirely possible that they have been infecting and exposing others already."

Shafir said quarantine measures can be used in combination with testing and isolation for those who are infected.

The CDC has cited research from North Carolina and Chicago showing safety measures, including quarantining and masking, helped schools maintain lower Covid-19 transmission rates than those of the surrounding communities.

Increased risk as Delta spreads

The Delta variant is more than twice as contagious as previous Covid-19 variants, and some data suggests that it can cause more severe illness too, the CDC warns.

"It's one of the reasons that we are seeing kids transmitting more often than they did with the ancestral strain," Shafir said.

Kids are not just transmitting this variant more readily; they are getting sick themselves, a fact reflected in rising numbers of pediatric Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the US. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported more than 500,000 Covid-19 cases among children in the past two weeks.

Still, experts say that in-person learning is important for kids' development -- as long as it can be done safely.

"We've got to maintain the safety of the children as, at the same time, we provide them with an education in a way that does not hinder them in the way virtual learning does," Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Layers of protection may prevent need for quarantines

While quarantining can be a useful tool to respond to the spread of Covid-19 in schools, health experts say that when other preventive strategies are in place, it's less likely that students will need to quarantine at all.

Those strategies include masking, physical distancing, testing, improved ventilation and vaccination for those who are eligible. The Covid-19 vaccine is currently available for everyone ages 12 and up in the US.

Los Angeles Unified Public Schools, the nation's second largest school district, is requiring all eligible students to be vaccinated by the end of the calendar year. Students who decline the vaccine will be able to participate in an online study learning program.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb recently issued an executive order relaxing the quarantine requirement for students and staff who are close contacts of coronavirus-positive people -- but only in schools that enforce mask mandates.

President Joe Biden called on governors last week to require vaccination for all teachers and staff in schools, and announced funding to increase testing in schools.

Regular testing can help ensure students don't miss class time unnecessarily, former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said last week. He described how a "test-to-stay" strategy, which schools in states like Illinois and Kentucky are trying this year, can help prevent entire classrooms of people from having to quarantine.

"There's a whole movement around designing protocols that actually allow kids to stay in school, even after a positive case is turned over," Gottlieb said. "Rather than quarantining large cohorts of children, what you do is you just implement serial testing around the exposure."

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says the goal is to create a safe environment for children in schools, with both masks and vaccination.

"One of the most important ways is to surround the children with people who are vaccinated, if they're eligible to be vaccinated -- and that means teachers and personnel in the school," he said.

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The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced a statewide investigation into prisons in Georgia, focusing on prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual abuse of gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners by prisoners and staff.

Kristen Clarke, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said the investigation will look into possible civil rights violations.

Clarke said the Justice Department found "significant justification" to open this investigation.

"For example, in 2020, at least 26 people died in Georgia prisons by confirmed or suspected homicide. There have been a reported 18 homicides so far in 2021," Clarke said. "Reports of countless other violence, assaults, including stabbings and beatings, also have emerged from Georgia prisons."

"Concerned Citizens, family members, and civil rights organizations, as well as photographs and videos linked to social media and other channels have highlighted widespread contraband weapons and open gang activity in the prisons," Clarke added.

The Georgia Department of Corrections denied the allegations in a statement to CNN.

"The GDC is committed to the safety of all of the offenders in its custody and denies that it has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating their civil rights or failing to protect them from harm due to violence," Timothy C. Ward, commissioner for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said in the statement.

"This commitment includes the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault. We cooperated fully with the USDOJ's initial investigation in 2016 and are proud of the service and dedication of our team since then to perform during unprecedented challenges."

Clarke also noted that more than 2 million people reside in prisons and jails across the country, and people of color are disproportionately represented among them.

"For example, in Georgia, the percentage of incarcerated people who are Black is nearly twice the percentage of Black residents in the state of Georgia overall. According to data from the Georgia Department of Corrections, the state's prisoner population is 61% Black, so they make up about 32% of the population," Clarke said.

The investigation will also address the devastating effects of "prison staff shortages, inadequate policies and training, and then the lack of accountability," Clarke said.

"Understaffing in correctional facilities is a particularly acute problem. It can lead to inadequate supervision and violence. It can also prevent people from being able to access necessary medical and mental health care."

A class-action lawsuit filed Friday by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP on behalf of people in solitary confinement in Georgia State Prison alleges prisoners are kept in feces and urine covered cells and not allowed to leave their cells for weeks or even months except to shower, and some are forced to go weeks at a time without a shower or bath because the prison is so short-staffed.

Several officials of the Georgia Department of Corrections and Georgia State Prison are named as defendants. Lori Benoit, a spokeswoman for the GDC, told CNN the department "does not comment on pending litigation."

Federal law, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, authorizes the Justice Department to investigate state prisons "to determine whether incarcerated people are subject to a pattern or practice of constitutional violations," Clarke said.

"While this critical federal civil rights law has led to some progress, the urgent need for our work continues today," Clarke said.

Georgia has the fourth-highest rate of incarceration, behind Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

Last month, the Justice Department and the state of New Jersey announced a proposed consent decree to institute major changes at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women following a two-year investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

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The oldest known living World War II veteran celebrated his 112th birthday with a socially distanced, drive-by celebration at his home in New Orleans Sunday.

According to a statement from the National WWII Museum, Lawrence Brooks was honored on his birthday, September 12, with a Jeep parade, cake, and performances from the Museum's "Victory Belles" as well as other local musicians.

Brooks served in the predominantly African American 91st Engineer Battalion, which was stationed in New Guinea and the Philippines during the war, the statement says. He is the father of five children and five stepchildren.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted a birthday message Sunday thanking Brooks for his service.

"Happy 112th birthday to Mr. Lawrence Brooks, America's oldest living World War II veteran and a proud Louisianan. Mr. Brooks, the entire state of Louisiana thanks you for your service and we all wish you a joyous birthday," Edwards said.

Additionally, the City of New Orleans issued an official proclamation recognizing Brooks' milestone birthday, the museum said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Philippines.

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On Wednesday, four people  none of whom are professional astronauts  will strap themselves into a capsule atop a 200-foot-tall SpaceX rocket that will blast them past the speed of sound and up to 17,500 miles per hour.

This mission, dubbed Inspiration4, is the first orbital mission in the history of spaceflight to be staffed entirely by tourists or otherwise non-astronauts.

Launch is slated for Wednesday between 8:02 pm and 1:02 am ET from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County, Florida, though forecasters are keeping a close eye out for storms that could impact the mission.

The three-day journey will see the quartet free-flying through Earth's orbit, whipping around the planet once every 90 minutes while the passengers float, buoyed by microgravity, and take in panoramic views of our home planet. To cap off the journey, their spacecraft will dive back into the atmosphere for a fiery re-entry and splash down off the coast of Florida. And yes, for all three days in space, the passengers will all have to share a special zero-gravity-friendly toilet located near the top of the capsule. No showering will be available, and crew will all have to sleep in the same reclining seats they will ride in during launch.

This is far from the first time civilians have traveled to space. Though NASA has been averse to signing up non-astronauts for routine missions after the death of Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire school teacher who was killed in the Challenger disaster in 1986, a cohort of wealthy thrill-seekers paid their own way to the International Space Station in the 2000s through a company called Space Adventures. American investment management billionaire Dennis Tito became the first to self-fund a trip in 2001 with his eight-day stay on the International Space Station, and six others came after him. They all booked rides alongside professional astronauts on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

This mission, however, has been billed as the beginning of a new era of space travel in which average people, rather than government-selected astronauts and the occasional deep-pocketed adventurer, carry the mantle of space exploration.

But to be clear, we are still a long way from that reality, and this trip is still far from "average." It's a custom, one-off mission financed by a billionaire founder of a payment processing company, and though pricing details have not been made public, it likely cost upward of $200 million. (According to one government report, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule costs roughly $55 million per seat.)

Here's a rundown of what's happening and why it matters.

The passengers: A billionaire, a cancer survivor, a geologist and a raffle winner

Jared Isaacman, 38, the billionaire founder of payment processing company Shift4, who is also personally financing this entire mission

Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old cancer survivor who now works as a physician assistant at St. Jude, the hospital where she was treated, in Memphis, Tennessee. She'll be the first person with a prosthetic body part to go to space, and she'll serve as the flight's chief medical officer. St. Jude selected Arceneaux for this mission as Isaacman's request, according to a Netflix documentary, and, at the time, she said she was so unfamiliar with space travel that she asked if she would be traveling to the moon, unaware that humans have not set foot on the moon in 50 years.

Sian Proctor, 51, a geologist and educator who was selected for a seat on this mission through a post on social media in which she highlights her space-related artwork and entrepreneurial spirit. She'll be only the fourth Black woman from the US to travel to orbit.

Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old Seattle-based Lockheed Martin employee and former camp counselor at Alabama's famed Space Camp. He won his seat through a raffle he entered by donating to St. Jude Children's Hospital, though he wasn't the official winner. His friend snagged the seat and, after deciding not to go, transferred it to him.

Isaacman  who will become the third billionaire to self-fund a trip to space in the past three months and the first to buy a trip to orbit on a SpaceX capsule  is billing this mission as one that he hopes will inspire would-be space adventureres, hence the missions's name, Inspiration4. He's also using it as the centerpiece for a $200 million fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Hospital, $100 million of which he donated personally and the rest he is hoping to raise through online donations and an upcoming auction.

So far, a fundraiser has brought in $30 million of its $100 million goal.

How did all this happen?

Inspiration4 is entirely the brain child of Jared Isaacman and SpaceX.

Isaacman began flying single-engine prop planes recreationally in the mid-2000s and developed an insatiable thirst for going higher and faster, eventually moving into twin-engine planes, then jets, then military-grade aircraft that can zip past the speed of sound.

Each of Isaacman's fellow passengers was selected in a different way: He asked St. Jude to select a cancer-survivor-turned-healthcare-provider, and the organization chose Arceneaux. Proctor won an online contest specifically for people who use Shift4, the payment platform Isaacman runs. And Sembroski was given his seat by a person who won a raffle for people who donated to St. Jude. (Sembroski also entered the raffle but was not the original winner.)

Isaacman told CNN Business that he sat down with SpaceX to hash out the flight profile. He specifically wanted the Crew Dragon to orbit higher than International Space Station, which is why the spacecraft will orbit about 350 miles above Earth  roughly 100 miles above where the space station orbits.

How risky is this?

Any time a spacecraft leaves Earth there are risks, and there are no perfect measurements for predicting them.

But NASA estimates Crew Dragon has a 1 in 270 chance of catastrophic failure, based on one metric the space agency uses. For comparison, NASA's Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s to early 2000s ultimately logged a failure rate of about 1 in every 68 missions.

Because of the inherent risks of blasting a spacecraft more than 17,500 miles per hour  the speed that allows an object to enter Earth's orbit  Inspiration4 is more dangerous than the brief, up-and-down suborbital jaunts made by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.

Apart from the many perils of the launch itself  in which rockets essentially use controlled explosions more powerful than most wartime bombs to drum up enough speed to rip away from gravity  there's also the re-entry process. When returning from orbit, the Crew Dragon's external temperatures can reach up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and astronauts can experience 4.5 Gs of force pushing them into their seats, all while the ever-thickening atmosphere whips around the capsule.

During a Netflix documentary about the Inspiration4 mission, Musk described a capsule going through reentry as "like a blazing meteor coming in."

"And so it's hard not to get vaporized," he added.

After that the Crew Dragon then has to deploy parachutes to slow its descent and make a safe splashdown in the ocean before rescue ships can whisk the four passengers back to dry land.

Despite the risks, a former NASA chief and career safety officials have said the Crew Dragon is likely the safest crewed vehicle ever flown.

The vehicle: SpaceX's Crew Dragon

All four passengers will spend the entire missions aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, a 13-foot-wide, gumdrop-shaped spacecraft that detaches from SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket after reaching orbital speeds.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule was developed by Elon Musk's rocketry company for the specific purpose of ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, which it did for the first time ever in May 2020.

Since then, SpaceX has launched two additional Crew Dragon missions for NASA.

SpaceX is allowed, however, to sell seats  or entire missions  to whoever the company chooses. Although NASA paid for much of the Crew Dragon's development, under the terms of the deal between the federal agency and the company, SpaceX still technically owns and operates the vehicle and can use it for whatever commercial purposes it wishes.

Crew Dragon's missions in the near future also include a mix of NASA-commissioned flights to the ISS and space tourism missions.

For this mission, the Crew Dragon will be retrofitted with a giant glass dome at the tip of the spacecraft specifically for the crew to soak in panoramic views of the cosmos.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated where Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died in the Challenger disaster, was from. She was from New Hampshire.

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Conservative radio host Pastor Robert "Bob" Enyart, who swore off Covid-19 vaccines, has died from complications due to the virus, his co-host announced on social media Monday.

"It comes with an extremely heavy heart that my close friend and co-host of Real Science Radio has lost his battle with Covid," said co-host Fred Williams on Facebook.

In October, Enyart won a lawsuit against the state of Colorado over its Covid-19 restrictions, CNN has reported.

In a phone call with CNN following the ruling, Enyart said, "We have a right, even an obligation to worship him (God), and that's without government interference."

"Bob Enyart was one of the smartest, and without question the wisest person I've known," said Williams.

An August 2021 Covid-19 update to the radio show's website said Enyart and his wife Cheryl "have sworn off taking the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson vaccines."

Enyart is one of several conservative radio hosts who passed away recently from Covid-19 complications after complaining about masks and expressing skepticism about vaccines. Dick Farrel, a Florida-based talk radio host, passed away from the coronavirus in August, as did Nashville-based host Phil Valentine, who 65 when he died. Marc Bernier, another Florida-based conservative radio host and an outspoken opponent of masking and vaccines, also died of Covid-19 last month.

CNN reached out to Enyart's family and did not receive a response.

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A report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association found that more than 243,000 children tested positive for COVID last week. That's almost 29% of all cases reported.

Here in Alabama, the state health department says a fourth of cases right now are among children.

"This is not last year's virus," Dr. Karen Landers said.

She explained the current variant is more contagious, getting people sicker more quickly, and putting many of them in the hospital.

Right now, there are 46 kids in hospital across Alabama with COVID-19. Almost half of those kids are in the ICU and 7 are on ventilators.

Dr. Landers says it's important to keep kids from getting COVID by taking the necessary precautions including wearing a mask.

"Masks are not harmful. The mask is not going to be problematic for a child. What is going to be problematic for children is having family members becoming sick and potentially die. Losing part of their support system as a result of this terrible virus," Dr. Landers said.

State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey says he's also very concerned about COVID cases in schools. During Thursday's work session, he said the positivity rate is up 300% than what it was last year at their very worst.

During the first week of school, there were more than 4,000 cases reported for the first time ever. Those numbers only continue to go up. Last week, more than 8,400 cases were reported in schools across the state.

Dr. Landers is asking the community to take a layered mitigation approach. That means masking, social distancing and good hygiene. She says these steps are harmless and will keep you safe from COVID-19. She also asks anyone who can to get the COVID vaccine.
In many ways, Siggi was born an average puppy: sweet, cheerful and extremely playful.

But the spotted rat terrier was also quite unusual. Due to a birth defect, her front paws were upside down.

A team at Oklahoma State University's College of Veterinary Medicine was able to give Siggi a chance at a normal life, after performing corrective surgery to bring the paws into the proper downward position.

The university's Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) had performed the surgery only once before, the university said in a press release on August 31. The first dog, a Coonhound named Milo, underwent successful corrective surgery in 2019.

A Dallas animal rescue group brought Siggi to VTH at 13 weeks old, hoping Siggi would find the same good fortune as Milo.

"As with Milo, Siggi's problem looked like it was in the paws, but it was actually in her elbows," VTH animal surgeon Dr. Erik Clary said in the 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 dog's life."

Siggi underwent a more complicated surgery than Milo because a CT exam showed "significant" deformity in the bones in the lower elbow, according to Clary.

"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.

On May 12, Siggi received the life-changing treatment, after which the elbows were placed in splints and an orthopedic fixator device while the bones healed.

Weeks later, Siggi's bones were strong enough for rehabilitation and to begin learning how to walk again.

Clary said Siggi "proved a fairly quick learner... doing many things that puppies like to do, including chasing a ball in the yard."

Although Clary's team performed the surgery, he attributes Siggi's happy ending to OSU's marketing team, which helped spread Milo's story and let people know the surgery is possible.

"Siggi found care and came to OSU's VTH because Milo's story was shared beyond our walls," Clary said. "Milo has brought much joy to many people and I expect the same will be true of Siggi."

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Students and staff in the Muscle Shoals City School's district will have to wear masks until at least Oct. 1.

The district's mask mandate was scheduled to expire Tuesday, but on Monday the board of education decided to extend it.

Not everyone was in favor of the extension. Dr. Jamie Stoddard voted against the mask extension, but everyone else was in favor of it.

Muscle Shoals City Schools Superintendent Chad Holden recommended the board extend the mask order for staff and students.

That's because the Shoals area is seeing a high rate of Covid increase. Last week about 8,400 new Covid cases were found in students across the state.

Muscle Shoals Board of Education President Clayton Wood said they looked to medical professionals for guidance on the matter, too.

"All of the experts that we would traditionally rely on. The Alabama Department of Public Health, our local physicians, our local medical providers, those sorts of people they all generally align with what Dr. Holden was recommending so for me it was an easy decision to support that," said Wood.

The board will revisit the question on extending the mandate again near the new expiration date.
The man convicted of killing a Crossville police officer 35 years ago is serving his sentence inside a minimum-security Alabama Department of Corrections facility, WAAY 31 has learned.

Officer Stevie Thompson was killed on Sept. 13, 1986, during a traffic stop.

Danny Roland Tucker was tried and convicted in the killing. He was originally charged with capital murder, which would have meant life in prison or death penalty. But due to a technicality, that is not what the jury decided. He was instead convicted of murder, opening the door to a possible parole.

Skip ahead 35 years and this community is still fighting for justice for officer Thompson and to keep Tucker in prison for life.

Every anniversary of the killing, current Crossville Assistant Police Chief Jack Claton goes to a small memorial to lower an American flag and remember his friend.

I saw three or four trooper cars coming and I knew something bad happened, said Claton

Claton has attended every one of Tuckers parole hearings over the years, demanding the board not let him free.

The murder of officer Stevie Thompson made front page news in 1986 and rocked this small community.

Over the years, people have moved away, some memories fading into the history books, but Claton says he will never forget what happened.

He didnt get to go home to his wife, his kids, Claton said.

Thompson left behind a wife and daughter. Weeks after his death, his wife gave birth to the couples second daughter.

Claton says he still stays in contact with her to this day, his commitment to the family left behind continues.

Tucker is eligible for parole since the jury decided the officer wasnt officially on duty when he conducted that traffic stop, even though he was in his patrol car with his uniform on when he approached the vehicle.

As the flags above the memorial wave a little lower on this day, September 13th, Claton wants officer Thompson to be remembered as father, a lawmen and man who cared about his community and whats right and wrong.

He was a great man, a great friend, Claton added.

The Alabama Department of Corrections issued a statement to WAAY 31 late Monday, after a week of calls and emails asking about Tuckers prison records. Officials confirming that Tucker is serving a life sentence for murder with the possibility of parole.

He meets established guidelines to be classified as Minimum-Out and placed at a Community-Based Facility / Community Work Center. His conviction does, however, prohibit him from being eligible to participate in the ADOCs Work Release Program, ADOC wrote.

An objective of ADOCs inmate classification policy and guidelines is to make security and custody assignments consistent with available resources to ensure that inmates are placed in the least restrictive setting while providing for the protection of the public, staff, and inmates, the release said.

Our review of and decisions related to an inmates custody level and facility assignment are made on an individual basis following evaluation of his or her crime of conviction, disciplinary record, and many other factors. The custody level of every inmate is reviewed periodically and is subject to change for a variety of reasons.

Q&A with the district attorney who prosecuted this case

Mike O'Dell serves as the District Attorney for Cherokee and DeKalb counties in Alabama. WAAY 31 reached out for comment on this case. Below you will find his responses in full.

Why was the defendant convicted of murder and not capital murder in this case?



Under Alabama law, the murder of a law enforcement officer engaged in his official duties is a capital offense. Inmate Tucker was originally indicted and tried for such an offense. Upon conviction, his sentence would have been either life without parole or the death penalty.

When the trial concluded, the judge instructed the jury on the law. Those instructions were, in my opinion, both misleading and erroneous. Since Officer Thompson had called in end of shift, the jury was instructed that if Thompson was not on duty, then they could not convict Tucker of capital murder. Despite the jurors- who spoke to us after the fact- felt he was guilty under the capital charge, they also felt they had been instructed that they could not convict since he was not actively on duty. This, despite the fact that Officer Thompson acted in his official capacity in making the DUI stop and attempted arrest. Thus, Tucker was convicted of regular murder. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.



I have always been opposed to serious offenders like murderers being placed on work release. Although I am a believer in second chances, and defendants serving their time and being welcomed back into the community, some convictions (murder, child sexual abuse, rape, etc.) are so heinous or egregious that work release shouldnt be considered.

Unfortunately, neither the Legislature nor the pardons and paroles system agree.

Thus, we, as prosecutors have had to accept it.

How has this case impacted you personally?

I most certainly do remember this case. As it involved the senseless murder of beloved Crossville police officer, it will always be a special case to me. In nearly 41 years of prosecution, Officer Stevie Thompsons case has been the only officer murdered in the line of duty that I have had to confront. I have a uniquely special affinity and appreciation for our men and women in blue. They are not only co-workers in the vineyards of public service, they are my friends. They are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and neighbors. They are human, too. They are the ones who work nights, weekends, in rain, shine, snow and extreme heat. While we enjoy special times with our families at Thanksgiving, Christmas, or birthdays, they are out on our streets risking their lives, for us, every day. So to lose such a individual is a very personal loss.



Law enforcement, today, are not held in the same esteem by many in our communities that they used to be. Today, police officers are being vilified and considered the enemy, when, in fact, they represent the very thin line between public safety and security and chaos and confusion. They deserve our respect. The vast majority of them are law abiding men and women of incredible integrity and decency.



It is a case I will never forget. I have dedicated my life to defend and protect all our citizens to the utmost of my ability, but the folks in blue will always hold a special place in my heart.

How do you view the prison and parole system in Alabama today?

My fellow District Attorneys and I have been in constant battles with the Legislature to keep violent offenders behind bars. Every Session new attempts to reduce accountability for defendants are introduced into the Legislature. Last Session was no exception, and we are bracing for more attempts to coddle criminals in the legal system.



We also expect additional attacks on the Parole System, trying to find ways to require early releases for inmates who have, in many cases, not even served a quarter of their sentences.

Our defense of our victims wont cease, nor will we relent and stop our efforts against the passage of defendant-biased laws.
A community in mourning after the sudden death of a 3rd grade teacher in Madison County. The school district says Kattie Brocato died of COVID-19.

It was a difficult day for students and teachers at Lynn Fanning Elementary School, where Mrs. Brocato taught. One student says it was all people were talking about.

Kattie Brocato (Image from Madison County School System) Kattie Brocato (Image from Madison County School System)

"All of the teachers were talking about it. That some teacher was passing away, stuff like that, because of COVID," 4th grade student Zailey Leininger said.

She had Mrs. Brocato as a teacher last year. When she got home after school, her mom told her the devastating news.

"I'm kind of feeling sad about it," Zailey said.

Her third-grade teacher meant a lot to her.

"A nice, generous teacher who will always be in everybody's hearts," is how Zailey described Brocato.

Lynn Fanning's principal described Mrs. Brocato as "a wonderful teacher who always smiled and looked for the best in others. She gave all of her heart to her students and will be truly missed."

Mrs. Brocato also taught at other schools like Endeavor Elementary and Madison Crossroads. There will be extra counselors available at all those schools to help people deal with the sudden loss.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Brocato is not the only educator to lose her life to COVID-19. The Alabama Education Association says as of Monday morning they've had 61 deaths in schools across the state.

"We're all just heartbroken that we lost another educator to COVID," Beverly Sims said.

Sims is the local district director for the Alabama Education Association. She says she's gotten a lot of calls and messages from other teachers with concerns about COVID safety.

"I guess their fears were realized," Sims explained.

She says they all just want to go back to normal, but knows they aren't there yet. She hopes Mrs. Brocato's death encourages people to get the COVID vaccine.

"It's really sad that it takes someone's death. Someone who has a lot of friends and close to a lot of people to wake people up to go get the vaccine," Sims said. "I hope if there's anything good that comes out of this precious person's death is that more people would get the vaccine in her honor. "

As for Zailey, she's going to keep taking the necessary precautions to stay safe.

"Just wearing masks whenever we go to school, and then I think we're good," Zailey said.
Priest alleged to have spent parish funds on drugs.

A parish priest in Italy's Tuscany region has been placed under house arrest on drug-related charges, according to news agency ANSA.

The priest, identified as 40-year-old Francesco Spagnesi, is accused of drug dealing and taking money from the parish coffers to buy drugs.

The priest faces charges relating to the sale and import of drugs, the Prato public prosecutor's office announced in a press conference on Tuesday.

It is understood that the priest became implicated in a police investigation after an acquaintance of his was found in possession of a litre of GBL, a so-called "date rape" drug, imported from Holland via the internet.

Italian media report that the pair organised parties centred around sex and drugs, with the priest under investigation for his role in the sale of cocaine and GBL to dozens of people.

Spagnesi, who has stood down from his posts in the parish of the Annunciazione in the Castellina district of Prato, is alleged to have embezzled tens of thousands of parish funds, according to media reports.

Photo Corriere della Sera
Italy to give covid vaccine 'booster' to most fragile people first.

Italy is to begin giving a third dose of the covid-19 vaccine from 20 September, starting with the most vulnerable people, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients.

The news was announced on last werkyfollowing a meeting between health minister Roberto Speranza and Italy's coronavirus emergency commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo.

The third round of Italy's vaccination campaign will focus initially on those with the most fragile immune systems - around three million people according to news agency ANSA.

Speranza said in recent days that health authorities would then decide to give the booster to the over-80s and residents of nursing homes.

More than 40 million people in Italy have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, equal to 74 per cent of the population over 12, as the government nears its target of vaccinating 80 per cent by the end of September.
Sigonella, when Italy stood up to the United States.

The United States recent chaotic withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan, and the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, bring to mind the countrys long history of tense diplomatic relations in the Middle East. Italy has been an ally of the U.S. for many years in the war against terror, but there were five hours in 1985 when that was not the case.

This armed standoff between the two NATO allies is now known as the Sigonella crisis.

The Achille Lauro Ship

On October 7, the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro docked in Cairo, Egypt, so its passengers could explore the pyramids. It was then that a waiter discovered four members of the Palestine Liberation Front in a cabin, heavily armed. The terrorists had planned to make an attack in Israel later on in the ships journey, but with that plan derailed by their early exposure, they launched an impromptu hijacking of the Achille Lauro. 200 people onboard were taken hostage, and the terrorists announced their demand: that the Israeli government immediately release 50 Palestinian prisoners.

The PLF was the terrorist branch of the PLO, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, led by Yasser Arafat, who claimed the PLO was uninvolved in the hijacking and offered diplomatic assistance. The United States offered help as well, in the form of military aid, but Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi declined, favoring negotiation in cooperation with Arafat, whom the United States distrusted.

The situation escalated dramatically when on October 8, one of the hijackers murdered a passenger aboard the ship. The victim was an Americana sixty-nine-year-old Jewish man named Leon Klinghoffer. Supposedly unaware of the killing, Egypt, Italy, and the PLO were engaged in negotiations that resulted in the provision of a plane to deliver the four terrorists to the PLO.

Leon Klinghoffer

The Achille Lauro docked in Egyptian waters, and the terrorists were placed on an Egyptian civilian flight. On October 9, news of Klinghoffers murder spread to American ears, and once the United States learned one of its citizens was killed, special forces took action.

U.S. fighter jets intercepted the 747 Egyptian flight carrying the four hijackers, two PLO negotiators, an Egyptian ambassador, and Egyptian security, forcing it to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, with authorization for the landing given by Italians (after Craxi received a request from President Ronald Reagan).

The Egyptian flight touched down with U.S. forces right behind it. But as U.S. troops moved to capture the four terrorists, Italian forces took an opposing stance.

A U.S. Administration official told the New York Times that their intentions were to rush the hijackers into an aircraft and take off for the United States. The Italian commander objected, they said. We surrounded the plane, and then the Italians surrounded us.

Therefore, at an Italian air base that normally hosted United States forcesan installation sanctioned by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which united Italy and the United States of America in an essential alliancethe countries were engaged in an armed standoff. And Italiantroops were authorized to use deadly force if it meant preventing U.S. forces from taking the hijackers.

Italy had good reason for disallowing the United States seizure of the terrorists. According to international law, a ship was subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the State whose flag it sails beneath, meaning that, though he was a U.S. citizen, Klinghoffers murder was subject to Italian authority only (Article 92 of the Law of the Seas Convention of 1982).

The United States acted from a Reagan-set, tough-on-terrorism ideology, but it had little to no claim to the hijackers, and by intercepting the Egyptian flight, violated international law.

After a stalemate lasting over five hours, the United States ceded jurisdiction to Italy, with the assurance that the terrorists would be prosecuted for Klinghoffers murder.

The chaos wasnt quite over. After the standoff, the Egyptian flight left Sigonella for Rome, still containing the PLO negotiators. United States forces suspected the PLO was involved in the hijacking and were concerned the Palestinians would be released. So, a U.S. military plane followed the 747 to Rome, and it taxied in front of the Egyptian flight in an attempt to prevent its departure from Rome, until the pilot threatened to run the Americans over. Italy arranged for the PLO members to leave on a chartered plane.

Eventually, a Sicilian prosecutor convicted the PLO negotiators in absentia, but no term was ever served by either. All four hijackers were convicted and served prison sentences.

Ultimately, the United States and Italy were willing to let the incident blow over. On October 25, President Ronald Reagan said to Craxi, The incident is closed. We are friends like before. Craxi addressed it in a speech to Parliament, saying Sigonella was a defect in information and comprehension and emphasizing the importance of Italys allyship with the United States.

If the Sigonella crisis teaches us anything, its that when terrorism is involved, international relations are messy. And when things get personal, lines get blurred. During this short period of long days in 85, Italy and the United States came to a tipping point, and we should all be glad neither side fired a shot.
It is not yet known how much time he spent with his fellow Colonel, Malis Assimi Goita, when the two men participated in a 2019 U.S.-led military exercise in Burkina Faso. But it can hardly have escaped the Guineans attention that Goita was able thereafter to lead two coups  ousting President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020, and then transitional President Bah NDaw in May  with little more than desultory disapproval from Macron. France suspended joint operations with the Malian military for barely a month.
Yet its also important to recognize that not every American should graduate from a four-year university. Because the debate over higher education tends to be dominated by people who themselves graduated from four-year colleges, theres a natural tendency to imagine a world where everyone is a well-rounded professional with a liberal arts degree from a good school. But this is nothing like the reality that working-class Americans face  not only are many not prepared for the coursework at a four-year school, but many simply want to get out in the working world as fast as possible and earn a good salary for their families. Research shows that community colleges are important and powerful engines of upward mobility, so these institutions need more support.
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Then another war was started in Iraq where you could actually see things get blown up. Never mind that Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. An Iraqi expatriate code-named Curveball supposedly told Western intelligence officials that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. But by 2007, the search for WMDs had ended. None had been found, Because there were none. Curveball admitted that he had made the whole thing up.
Past administrations have usually cited national security concerns to exercise a waiver allowing them to disburse $300 million of the aid package that is otherwise contingent on Egypts meeting certain human rights standards. Under the new compromise decision, the Biden administration will not exercise the waiver for any of that portion. A U.S. official said the administrations decision not to use the waiver and place conditions on some of the aid conveys that this is not business as usual.
A person familiar with Wrays thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said Wray is outraged by the handling of the Nassar case, and wants to make clear that this is in no way acceptable, should not have happened, will not happen again, and is not reflective of the agency. Accountability is important to him, and he wants employees to know that they will be held accountable for misconduct.
Theres a real contrast between Larry Elder and the Republicans in California and Governor Newsom, the White House official said. Covid is one of the most glaring examples of this comparison, but its not the only one, and I think youre going to see this play out in other races across the country. Well see where voters land, but I think from what were seeing in the returns Im encouraged.
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.
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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.
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.
Vaccines

A COVID-19 vaccination will be required for all students, except for concurrent enrollment students and students who qualify for an exemption, for the 2022 spring semester.

Students can expect to receive a notification in their WSU student email account directing them to complete a Qualtrics survey form where they will be asked to demonstrate proof of vaccination or file an exemption, in accordance with state law, based on religious, medical or personal reasons. Should they not respond, students will continue to receive email reminders asking them to do so.

Our goal is to have all students fulfill this requirement before the start of spring semester. Please help us by completing the survey form immediately.

Students must demonstrate vaccination verification or request an exemption prior to Jan. 10, 2022.

Vaccination information will be stored securely.

The vaccine requirement does apply to Early College students.

The vaccine requirement does apply to students who take classes 100% online.

The vaccine requirement does not apply to concurrent enrollment students.

Vaccination Clinics

To meet this goal, we have partnered with area health departments to offer free vaccination clinics.

Ogden Campus

Vaccinations are available in the Shepherd Union every Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Appointments can be made through the Weber-Morgan Health Department website.

Davis Campus

Sept. 23, 2:30-5:30 p.m. in the lobby of the Stewart Center. Walk-ins are welcome, or visit the Davis County Health Department website and enter the code "WSUDAVIS" to sign up ahead of time. You can also call the Davis County COVID information line at 801-525-4900 (English) or 801-525-4900 (Spanish) to schedule appointments or ask questions.

Community Education Center

Vaccinations are available each Monday and Wednesday, 18 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome, but to expedite the process you can sign up on the Weber-Morgan Health Department website. The WSU Community Education Center is located at 2605 Monroe Blvd. in Ogden.

All vaccines are free. No health insurance is required.

If you are fully vaccinated but have been exposed to COVID-19:

If it has been two weeks since your final dose of vaccine and you have been in close contact with someone how has COVID-19, you do not need to quarantine. You should get tested 35 days after your exposure, even if you dont have symptoms. However, Weber State is only offering symptomatic testing on campus and therefore you will need to find another testing center if this applies to you. The CDC recommends wearing a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until your test result is negative. You should isolate for 10 days if your test result is positive.

If you test positive, please fill out the self-reporting form.

More vaccine information is available at vaccines.gov.
WSU to participate in Ogdens 20th Harvest Moon Celebration

September 14, 2021

OGDEN, Utah  Weber State University will participate in the 2021 Harvest Moon Celebration, an event that usually attracts thousands of people to downtown Ogden, Sept. 18 from noon-8 p.m. This year marks the celebrations 20th anniversary.

Weber State University remains committed to creating vibrant community relationships as an educational, cultural and economic leader, said Weber State University President Brad Mortensen. The Harvest Moon Celebration gives Weber State the opportunity to further demonstrate that commitment.

Ogden Downtown Alliance organizes the annual event, and Haille Van Patten, the market and public relations manager, labels this year as a grand reopening of downtown. The theme, Come Together, is a play on The Beatles hit song by the same name, and a Beatles tribute band, Imagine: Remembering the Fab Four, will headline the main stage. Other performers will appear throughout the evening.

During the celebration, various WSU groups will have booths with activities and prizes, including Science in the Parks, Botany and Plant Ecology, the College of Engineering, Applied Science & Technology and the Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities.

Community-favorite events such as the Harvest Moon Celebration are important for the community to come together, support local and enjoy time with family and friends, said Van Patten, who is also a Weber State communication graduate. Many of Weber States students, faculty, staff, leadership and alumni reside in Ogden, so its a wonderful opportunity for the university to encourage pride in place.

Weber State is a community partner with the Downtown Ogden Alliance, which hosts community events throughout the year.

Visit the Ogden Downtown Alliance Facebook page for additional information and upcoming events @ogdendowntown.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
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.
Hartford Police / Contributed

HARTFORD  The states chief medical examiner has ruled out foul play for an individual whose body was found in the pond at Bushnell Park on Sunday morning, police officials said on Monday.

Lt. Aaron Boisvert said the medical examiners office indicated there were no signs of trauma or assault. The official cause of death has yet to be determined, and will require additional testing, Boisvert said. The victims identity is not yet being released, pending notification of next of kin.
WESTPORT  A temporary prohibition of any businesses in town related to the production and sale of recreational marijuana goes into effect Wednesday.

The text amendment, which was approved unanimously this month by the Planning and Zoning Commission, states that all cannabis establishments, with the exception of medical dispensary facilities, are prohibited in all zoning districts in the Town of Westport.

The resolution was made in response to a state law, which went into effect July 1, legalizing the possession and use of recreational marijuana for adults.

The law opens the door to retail sales as soon as next year, and municipalities are considering what stance they should take on these facilities.

Planning and Zoning Commission chairwoman Danielle Dobin said the commission opted to temporarily prohibit these businesses because we didnt have the information and time to properly explore this.

Since Westport is already home to a medical marijuana dispensary, Dobin believes there would be interest in opening businesses related to recreational marijuana. However, Dobin said, there are too many unanswered questions about the impact these businesses would have on the town.

One of our most pressing issues in Westport is traffic, Dobin said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have exacerbated the problem. Many of those who used to commute into New York City are now working at home, she said.

All those cars that were in the now-empty train stations parking lots are now on the streets, Dobin said.

There were some concerns that adding a recreational marijuana business to town could worsen the problem, she said, particularly if Westport was the only town in the immediate area with such a businesses.

It doesnt take much imagination to visualize the line of cars that we would see for a recreational dispensary, Dobin said.

Its also unclear what stance other towns will take on these businesses, she said. So far, some other towns have prohibited the sale of recreational marijuana, including Greenwich, while others, including Darien, are considering such a ban.

Dobin said the temporary prohibition gives local officials, including members of Westports Representative Town Meeting, time to consider the issue and make changes in the future.

At least one RTM member said he was ecstatic about the P&Z decision. Jimmy Izzo, who represents Westports third district, said he thought state officials were irresponsible in legalizing recreational marijuana, since there is too much of a gray area when it comes to enforcing drugged driving.

Though operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol is a crime in Connecticut, a good roadside test for drug levels in the body doesnt yet exist, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is a problem, according to Izzo, who is also the chair of the RTM public protection committee.

I dont care about who smokes pot, he said. I just think the laws around drugged driving arent there.
Though Honor Flight of Southern Indiana has been grounded for nearly two years, it does not mean volunteers have forgotten about those veterans.

In an effort to salute the 350 men and women who would have been on those flights, the organization will be hosting a "Heroes Gratitude Drive-Thru Parade."

The organization is looking for community donations to put inside gratitude bags that will be given out to each veteran.

Items are needed by Thursday, September 30.

You can find more information on the needed items and ways to get involved in the Honor Flight of Southern Indiana's website by clicking here.
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READING, Pa.  Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf spoke to students and community members at Reading Area Community College on Tuesday about the importance of continuing to grow the number of vaccinated individuals in the state, especially among those between the ages of 12 and 17.

"COVID-19 vaccinations, they save lives by keeping you, by keeping everyone around you safer," Wolf said.

During a news conference that was streamed live on WFMZ.com, the governor said vaccinations remain the state's number-one strategy for battling the virus.

RACC, along with Reading-based Berks Community Health Center and the Latino Connection, with its CATE mobile response unit, held a vaccine clinic on campus to provide shots and testing for anyone who needed it.

"The only way we can effectively end this virus is to each do our part," said George Fernandez, the CEO of the Latino Connection, "whether that's getting vaccinated or protecting ourselves through masking and testing."

Since CATE started offering COVID vaccines in mid-April, it's provided more than 8,300 vaccinations to Pennsylvanians at 240 locations across the state.

"The fight against COVID-19 is far from over," Fernandez said. "We must now turn our attention to combatting vaccine hesitancy through access and education."

"If we don't reduce the risk of COVID somehow in our schools, in our kids, then we increase the risk that they're not going to get back into the classroom," said Wolf, "and that is a bad thing for all of us."

"To my Latino community, now is the time for us to get vaccinated," said state Rep. Manny Guzman, a Reading Democrat. "If you still have not gotten vaccinated, reach out to my office."
READING, Pa.  One teenager was in critical condition and another had non-life-threatening injuries after gunfire erupted in Reading early Monday afternoon, according to the city police.

RPD officers and paramedics responded around 2:15 p.m. to the area of North 10th and Spring streets.

"That was really close," said neighbor Leisha Reigner.

Police said someone opened fire, striking the two teens as they were walking along the 1000 block of Spring Street.

"I've been renting for over 14 years and it's quiet," Reigner said. "We don't have guns, shootings, anything like that, so it's kind of strange."

According to investigators, it appears the shooting was targeted.

Officials said ambulances transported both victims to the hospital for treatment.

"Generally, around here I feel safe," Reigner said. "Now, I don't."

+9 PHOTOS: Shooting scene at North 10th and Spring streets Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of a reported shooting in the area of North 10th and Spring streets in Reading on Monday.

Police could be seen taking photos and heavily focusing on the area of a silver car on the corner of North 10th and Spring streets. A backpack was on the sidewalk next to the vehicle.

"My son, yeah, he's 40, but I don't even want him to leave the house and take walks," Reigner said, "and I just stay in the house."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Reading police at 610-655-6116 or Crime Alert Berks County at 877-373-9913. Tips can also be submitted to Crime Alert by texting 847411, starting the message with keyword alertberks.
Six-time Academy Award-nominated actress Amy Adams is set to make her West End debut in May, it has been revealed.

Adams will take on the role of matriarch Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams' seminal and semi-autobiographical play The Glass Menagerie, which is set to open at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 23 May 2022.

Adams said today: "I am so honoured and excited to be a part of bringing The Glass Menagerie to the stage in the West End! I have always felt a strong pull towards the work of Tennessee Williams and to this deeply personal story. I am so grateful to be working with the brilliant Jeremy Herrin and with all of the talented cast and creative team. I look forward to the shared experience of theatre. See you in 2022!"

Joining the Golden Globe winner in the revival will be Paul Hilton (The Inheritance), Tom Glynn-Carney (The Ferryman), Lizzie Annis and Victor Alli. Director Jeremy Herrin will slightly re-interpret Williams' work to allow Hilton and Glynn-Carney to play the same character, though through the prism of time and memory.

The show is the first for new production company Second Half Productions, founded by Herrin, Alan Stacey and Rob O'Rahily. Herrin said today: "I can't wait to work with such a talented cast led by the brilliantly transformative Amy Adams on one of the best plays ever written. Tennesse Williams' masterpiece is a delicate work of genius and I look forward to working with a world class creative team including Vicki Mortimer, Paule Constable and Ash J Woodward to allow the play to resonate in a fresh and exciting way. I'm grateful to the Williams estate who have allowed me to split the role of Tom Wingfield - and thrilled to have cast Paul Hilton to play him, and Tom Glynn-Carney to play his younger self. And it is a privilege for Second Half Productions to give West End debuts to the wonderful talent of Lizzie Annis and Victor Alli as Laura Wingfield and Jim O'Connor respectively."

The production runs for 14 weeks, with the creative team also featuring designer Vicki Mortimer, lighting designer Paule Constable and video designer Ash J Woodward.
In this era of Covid-positives, disrupted press nights and perpetual turbulence, never before has the pragmatism, audacity and skill of theatre professionals across the land been more evident. Even after the shift in government restrictions (the rules changed in August so that an entire company is no longer forced to isolate if a single positive Covid case was found), producers and cast members have gone above and beyond to make sure that, after such a long time waiting  the show will go on.

One example was the recent revival of Constellations where, with Anna Maxwell Martin off ill, Chris O'Dowd and Omari Douglas reimagined the two-hander, having never rehearsed the 75-minute play together. Quite literally stellar. Over at Hairspray, producers went as far as to cast an entire second ensemble in the event that one group is forced to isolate. The Royal Court relocated an entire production due to flood damage. These are just the anecdotes from a caffeine-deprived brain the night after a West End opening.

But one experience really brought it home yesterday as Mark Oxtoby stood in for an absent Roger Bart who, for Covid reasons, was forced to skip the London opening of Back to the Future the Musical. As producer Colin Ingram highlighted as he took to the stage during the curtain call, Oxtoby had never done a live performance to a Back to the Future audience, never done an understudy run and was coming in as fresh as could be.

But theatre professionals are the best of the best and, even with the original Doc Brown Christopher Lloyd watching on, he delivered what was an assured, hilarious, bumbling and endearing turn. As anyone who has seen it will know, this is a mighty, technical challenge, and Doc Brown has a fair few numbers to blast through over the course of the chronological caper. Given Bart voiced the character of Hercules, it's only right that what Oxtoby did was downright Herculean. Special praise must also go to the musical director, directors, backstage team and fellow cast members, who all made the actor's first appearance seem seamless.

If the theatre world eventually returns to pre-pandemic audience numbers, it will not just be because of starry big names drawing in the punters, it will be off the back of those who have lost so much over the last 19 months through lack of sustained government support  the freelancers who have returned with downright heroism.

It is through their efforts that shows go on, ticket holder plans aren't disrupted and nights aren't wasted. Everything needs to be done to keep spectator confidence high, and understudies, alternates, swings and company members, such as Oxtoby are playing an incredible part.
The West End production of Constellations is set to be streamed online, it has been announced.

Staged by the Donmar Warehouse at the Vaudeville Theatre, all four cast variations of the show will be available for online consumption over the course of October.

The piece will feature Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah, Peter Capaldi and Zoe Wanamaker, Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey, and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O'Dowd, depending on which cast you watch.

Director Michael Longhurst said today: "It has been a privilege to be the first live performance for so many after such a hiatus  and to be a vital part of reanimating the West End. A production model born of practicality has brought artistic joys  mining the possibilities inherent in the multiverse, celebrating different identities and diversifying the offer to audiences.

"Constellations is a love story that transcends time and space  so I am thrilled that after capturing these astonishing performances in close-up, all four interpretations of Nick's beautiful play will now be accessible to a global audience digitally  as well as free for schools in the UK."

Available via the Donmar Warehouse site, each production is 15 to rent and households will be able to watch the show for 24 hours after purchase; or a multi buy of all four for 40. Captioned and audio described versions will be available, in partnership with VocalEyes and Stagetext.

The productions have design by Tom Scutt, lighting design by Lee Curran, sound design by David McSeveney, music by Simon Slater, movement direction by Lucy Cullingford, casting by Anna Cooper CDG for the Donmar Warehouse, BSL Consultancy by Daryl Jackson, fight direction by Kate Waters, associate direction by Debbie Hannan; associate costume design by Kinnetia Isidore; assistant direction by Sara Aniqah Malik and Robert Awosusi, assistant design by Zoe Hurwitz and assistant lighting design by Laura Howard and assistant sound design by Callum Perrin.
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.

FILE - In this Sunday, April 11, 2021 file photo, Britain's Prince Andrew speaks. during a television interview at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge, Windsor, England, Sunday, April 11, 2021. A U.S. court will hold a pretrial conference Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 in the civil suit filed by a woman who claims Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her as the two sides argue over whether the prince has been properly served with documents in the case. Attorneys for 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. (Steve Parsons/Pool Photo via AP, File)

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.

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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."
SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP)  Tropical Storm Nicholas continued weakening Tuesday night after being downgraded to a tropical depression and slowing to a crawl over southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, drenching both states with flooding rains.

Paul Villagomez secures filled gas containers in his truck as he prepares for Tropical Storm Nicholas, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Kingwood, Texas. "I'm just trying to be prepared," Villagomez said. "I'm actually surprised there aren't more people filling up." (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP)  Tropical Storm Nicholas continued weakening Tuesday night after being downgraded to a tropical depression and slowing to a crawl over southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, drenching both states with flooding rains.

The downgrade earlier Tuesday evening came the same day Nicholas blew ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, knocking out power to a half-million homes and businesses and dumping more than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of rain along the same area swamped by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Nicholas could potentially stall over storm-battered Louisiana and bring life-threatening floods across the Deep South over the coming days, forecasters said.

Nicholas made landfall early Tuesday on the eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula and was soon downgraded to a tropical storm. By Tuesday night, its center was 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) west-northwest or Port Arthur, Texas, with maximum winds of 35 mph (55 kph) as of 10 p.m. CDT, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. However, weather radar showed the heaviest rain was over southwestern Louisiana, well east of the storm center.

Vehicles make their way over the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge in Matagorda, Texas as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

The storm is moving east-northeast at 6 mph (9 kph). The National Hurricane Center said the storm may continue to slow and even stall, and although its winds will gradually subside, heavy rainfall and a significant flash flood risk will continue along the Gulf Coast for the next couple days.

Galveston, Texas, saw nearly 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Nicholas, the 14th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, while Houston reported more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain. That's a fraction of what fell during Harvey, which dumped more than 60 inches (152 centimeters) of rain in southeast Texas over a four-day period.

In the small coastal town of Surfside Beach about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south of Houston, Kirk Klaus, 59, and his wife Monica Klaus, 62, rode out the storm in their two-bedroom home, which sits about 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) above the ground on stilts.

It was bad. I wont ever do it again, Kirk Klaus said.

He said it rained all day on Monday and, as the night progressed, the rainfall and winds got worse.

Jarod Voisin closes the doors of his family's heavily damaged oyster processing plant, as rain from Tropical Storm Nicholas, currently in the Gulf of Mexico, comes down, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Houma, La., Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sometime around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, the strong winds blew out two of his homes windows, letting in rain and forcing the couple to continually mop their floors. Klaus said the rainfall and winds created a storm surge of about 2 feet in front of his home.

It looked like a river out here, he said.

Nearby, Andrew Connor, 33, of Conroe, had not been following the news at his family's rented Surfside Beach vacation house and was unaware of the storm's approach until it struck. The storm surge surrounded the beach house with water, prompting Connor to consider using surfboards to take his wife and six children to higher ground if the house flooded.

The sea never made its way through the door, but it did flood the family sport utility vehicle, Connor said.

When I popped the hood, I had seaweed and beach toys and all that stuff in my engine, he said.

Utility crews replace power poles destroyed by Hurricane Ida as Tropical Storm Nicholas approaches in Pointe-aux-Chenes, La., Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Nicholas is moving so slowly it will dump several inches of rain as it crawls over Texas and southern Louisiana, meteorologists said. This includes areas already struck by Hurricane Ida and devastated last year by Hurricane Laura. Parts of Louisiana are saturated with nowhere for the extra water to go, so it will flood, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

Its stuck in a weak steering environment, McNoldy said Tuesday. So while the storm itself may weaken that wont stop the rain from happening. Whether its a tropical storm, tropical depression or post-tropical blob, itll still rain a lot and thats not really good for that area.

More than a half-million homes and businesses had lost power in Texas, but that number dropped below 200,000 by late Tuesday afternoon, according to the website poweroutage.us that tracks utility reports. Most of those outages were caused by powerful winds as the storm moved through overnight, utility officials said. Across Louisiana, about 89,000 customers remained without power Tuesday afternoon, mostly in areas ravaged by Hurricane Ida.

Nicholas brought rain to the same area of Texas that was hit hard by Harvey, which 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.

McNoldy, the hurricane researcher, said Nicholas is bringing far less rain than Harvey did.

Storm clouds from approaching Tropical Storm Nicholas are seen behind homes destroyed by Hurricane Ida, in Pointe-aux-Chenes, La., Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Its not crazy amounts of rain. It isnt anything like Hurricane Harvey kind of thing with feet of rain, McNoldy said. Harvey not only stalled for three days over the same area, it moved a bit back into the Gulf of Mexico, allowing it to recharge with more water. Nicholas wont do that, McNoldy said.

Nicholas, expected to weaken into a tropical depression by Tuesday night, could dump up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain in parts of southern Louisiana. Forecasters said southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle could see heavy rainfall as well.

On Tuesday, heavy rains from Nicholas pelted blue tarps that covered roofs damaged by Ida all over southern Louisiana.

Ida destroyed one building and left holes in the roof of the main plant at Motivatit Seafoods, a family-run oyster wholesaler in Houma, Louisiana. With rain from Nicholas pouring in on high-pressure processing equipment, owner Steven Voisin said he didnt know whether the machines could be saved after the latest round of tropical weather.

And many people from here to New Orleans have this or more damage, he said. Theyre not going to recover quickly or easily.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Sunday night, ahead of the storms arrival in a state.

In southwestern Louisiana, Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said Monday that crews were scouring the drainage system to keep it free from debris that might clog up and cause flooding. But after multiple natural disasters in such a short period of time, he said hes worried about residents state of mind.

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Last year, Category 4 Hurricane Laura caused substantial structural damage across the city of nearly 80,000 residents. Weeks later, Hurricane Delta ripped through the same area. Freezing temperatures in January burst pipes across the city, and a May rainstorm swamped houses and businesses yet again. Some residents have had to gut houses multiple times over one year.

With what people have gone through over the last 16 months here in Lake Charles, they are very, understandably, despondent, emotional. Any time we have even a hint of a weather event approaching, people get scared, he said.

___

Associated Press writers Terry Wallace in Dallas; Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jay Reeves in Houma, Louisiana; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; Julie Walker in New York, and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
Alberta's top doctor says the province's "Open For Summer" plan set the trajectory for a crushing fourth wave of COVID-19, which her predecessor warns is leading to an "acute care system breakdown."

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, makes her way to the podium to provide an update on COVID-19 and back-to-school guidance in Edmonton on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta's top doctor says the province's "Open For Summer" plan set the trajectory for a crushing fourth wave of COVID-19, which her predecessor warns is leading to an "acute care system breakdown."

Chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, told a conference call with doctors Monday that lifting all public health restrictions in July was the wrong move. She said other provinces that kept base-level restrictions to manage the spread of the virus are faring better than Alberta is now.

"Obviously, Alberta is in a significant crisis state right now," Hinshaw said. "Delta has spread much more quickly and has had more severe outcomes than we anticipated."

She said available data in July on COVID-19 spread and outcomes, together with vaccine uptake, led her to believe it was an appropriate time to open the province.

"The expectations did not match the reality," said Hinshaw, who added there was not the expected decoupling of case rates compared to hospitalizations. "(We) really had to shift and walk back about, OK, were not ready yet, need to take more time."

Dr. James Talbot, a former chief medical health officer for Alberta, said the worsening fourth wave is increasing the likelihood that physicians will have to decide who lives and dies as the health system collapses.

"We're looking at a situation in which an entire cohort of health-care workers, doctors, nurses and anesthetists, administrators are going to live with long-term consequences of having to make life or death decisions for a situation that was completely preventable," Talbot said in an interview Tuesday.

He said Alberta's United Conservative government has failed to address the crisis.

Without vaccine passports and reinstated public health measures to curb spread, the situation will continue to spiral, Talbot predicted.

"If the triage protocol has to be invoked, there are going to be people who would have otherwise survived a heart attack, pregnancy complication or motor vehicle collision who are not going to, because the bed is filled with someone who decided not to get vaccinated."

Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau criticized Alberta and Saskatchewan's opposition to vaccine passports during a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday.

I feel bad, really bad for those people in Alberta and Saskatchewan who stepped up to do the right thing," said Trudeau of the millions who have been vaccinated.

Because of leadership that will not commit to keeping them safe in the right way, or even protecting the economy the right way, they are facing greater risks because of cancelled surgeries. They are facing emergency public health restrictions that may have to be brought in.

During the call with doctors, Hinshaw said it's clear from other jurisdictions that vaccine requirements for discretionary activities can increase uptake among younger populations.

Premier Jason Kenney has repeatedly rejected calls for a proof of vaccination policy in Alberta. However, beginning Thursday, Albertans will be able to print their vaccine status on a card or show it electronically.

Hinshaw also said she "deeply regrets" how comments she made in July led some Albertans to believe COVID-19 was over. She acknowledged frustrations by health-care workers with the government's handling of the pandemic.

A record-setting 212 Albertans were in intensive care as of Tuesday. Overall, 822 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. Alberta had the highest active case count in Canada at 18,265.

Government spokesman Harrison Fleming said the COVID-19 committee was meeting Tuesday and a caucus meeting was to follow.

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In Edmonton, NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said video of Hinshaw's conference call, which circulated online, was concerning given there was no plan mentioned to solve the crisis.

The defeatist attitude was disturbing, Notley said outside the legislature.

The lack of an answer was concerning, (as were) the admissions that this whole crisis that we are in can be traced back to the decisions taken by this government as a whole in July."

Notley renewed a call for Kenneys government to act, particularly with a vaccine passport.

Forecasts prepared by Alberta Health Services say that the number of Albertans who need intensive care in order to save their lives is going to almost double in the coming weeks. We are slipping off the edge of a great cliff.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.
COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to levels not seen since last winter, erasing months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Bidens argument for his sweeping new vaccination requirements.

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2021, file photo, a syringe is prepared with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic at the Reading Area Community College in Reading, Pa. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Bidens case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to levels not seen since last winter, erasing months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Bidens argument for his sweeping new vaccination requirements.

The cases  driven by the delta variant combined with resistance among some Americans to getting the vaccine  are concentrated mostly in the South.

While one-time hot spots like Florida and Louisiana are improving, infection rates are soaring in Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee, fueled by children now back in school, loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels.

The dire situation in some hospitals is starting to sound like January's infection peak: Surgeries canceled in hospitals in Washington state and Utah. Severe staff shortages in Kentucky and Alabama. A lack of beds in Tennessee. Intensive care units at or over capacity in Texas.

The deteriorating picture nine months into the nation's vaccination drive has angered and frustrated medical professionals who see the heartbreak as preventable. The vast majority of the dead and the hospitalized have been unvaccinated, in what has proved to be a hard lesson for some families.

The problem now is we have been trying to educate based on science, but I think most of the education that is happening now is based on tragedy, personal tragedy," said Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency room physician in Lexington, Kentucky.

In Kentucky, 70% of the states hospitals -- 66 of 96 -- are reporting critical staff shortages, the highest level yet during the pandemic, the governor said.

Our hospitals are at the brink of collapse in many communities, said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentuckys public health commissioner.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, Maitre d' Susanne McDonald checks guests' proof of vaccination at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan in New York. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, wiping out months of progress and potentially bolstering President Joe Bidens case for sweeping new vaccination requirements. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The U.S. is averaging over 1,800 COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new cases per day, the highest levels respectively since early March and late January. And both figures have been on the rise over the past two weeks.

The country is still well below the terrifying peaks reached in January, when it was averaging about 3,400 deaths and a quarter-million cases per day.

The U.S. is dispensing about 900,000 vaccinations per day, down from a high of 3.4 million a day in mid-April. On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet to discuss whether the U.S. should begin giving booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

On a positive note, the number of people now in the hospital with COVID-19 appears to be leveling off or even declining at around 90,000, or about where things stood in February.

Last week, the president ordered all employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations or weekly tests, a measure 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.

We read about and hear about and we see the stories of hospitalized people, people on their deathbeds among the unvaccinated over the past few weeks," Biden said in announcing the rules. "This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

The requirements have met with resistance and threats of lawsuits from Republicans.

Arizona on Tuesday reported 117 deaths, the most in a single day since last February. Tennessee now ranks first in the U.S. in new cases per capita. Hundreds of students there have been forced to quarantine. Some schools have closed because of staffing shortages. Others have asked to switch to remote learning.

But measures aimed at containing the virus have run into opposition. Last week, a Tennessee high school student who spoke at a school board meeting in favor of a mask mandate was heckled by adults while he talked about his grandmother dying from the virus.

Stanton, the ER doctor in Kentucky, said he has admitted families where the delta variant has swept through generations, especially if the older members are unvaccinated.

Now in Kentucky, one-third of new cases are under age 18, he said. Some children brought it home from summer camp and spread it to the rest of the family, and now, between day care and schools and school activities, and friends getting together, there are just so many exposures.

In Alabama, hundreds of COVID-19 patients fill intensive care units, and one hospital contacted 43 others in three states to find a specialty cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia. It wasn't soon enough. The 73-year-old died Sept. 1.

In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you have not, in an effort to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies, his family pleaded in his obituary.

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In Hidalgo County, Texas, along the Mexican border, about 50 patients were in the hospital with COVID-19 on a given day in July. By early August, the number had soared to over 600.

Back in July we were almost celebrating. Little did we know, said Ivan Melendez, public health authority for Hidalgo County. The situation has improved, with just under 300 people in the hospital as of Monday, but ICUs are still above 90% capacity, Melendez said.

The biggest surge over the summer occurred in states that had low vaccination rates, particularly in the South, where many people rely on air conditioning and breathe recirculated air, said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech. She said states farther north could see upticks as the onset of cold weather sends people indoors.

Vaccination rates are not as low in some Northern states, but theres still a lot of unvaccinated people out there. Delta is going to find them, Marr said.

___

Associated Press Writers Ken Sweet, Kimberlee Kruesi, Adrian Sainz and Tali Arbel contributed to this report.
BOSTON (AP)  Apple released an emergency 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.

Apple released an emergency 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. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

BOSTON (AP)  Apple released an emergency 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.

The researchers at the University of Torontos Citizen Lab said the flaw allowed spyware from the worlds most infamous hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, 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 Sept. 7 and immediately alerted Apple. They said they had high confidence the Israeli company NSO Group was behind the attack, adding that the targeted activist asked to remain anonymous.

"Were not necessarily attributing this attack to the Saudi government," said researcher Bill Marczak.

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.

Although security experts say that average iPhone, iPad and Mac user generally need not worry  such attacks tend to be highly targeted  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.

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. It 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.

Citizen Lab called the iMessage exploit FORCEDENTRY and said it was effective against Apple iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices.

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.

"If Pegasus was only being used against criminals and terrorists, we never would have found this stuff," said Marczak.

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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 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.
When the Oak Bluff Hutterite Colony started EcoPoxy a few years ago, it did so purposefully.

When the Oak Bluff Hutterite Colony started EcoPoxy a few years ago, it did so purposefully.

It wanted to get into a niche business that was going to be environmentally friendly and did not rely on the increasingly thin margins that agricultural commodity producers increasingly endure.

The company uses only bio-based content in its resins, avoiding all the petroleum ingredients that many other resins use.

JESSICA LEE/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mariette Mulaire, CEO of World Trade Centre, a support program for international trade that Maendel credits for helping his company.

Only a few years later, EcoPoxy has become a global business. Jack Maendel, the companys CEO said EcoPoxy is shipping its coating and casting epoxies around the world and after its purchase last year of the assets of the Composites Innovation Centre out of bankruptcy, it has a fully equipped R & D lab. The company is putting the final touches on some new resin compounds using Prairie commodities instead of the imported palm oil it now uses.

In addition to industrial applications, EcoPoxy sells its epoxy varieties and colour additives to many artisans around the world who use it to create all sorts of distinctive furniture and housewares.

"I think we ship to just about every country other than North Korea," he said.

But the ins and outs of international trade was not something he or anyone else from the colony had any real experience in, other than some modest sales to the U.S. in previous agricultural ventures.

EcoPoxys coating and casting epoxies are being shipped around the world.

"We didnt know what we didnt know," is the way Maendel puts it.

Now, he attributes much of their international trade savvy to the World Trade Centres Trade Accelerator Program.

After taking the trade accelerator program (TAP) with the World Trade Centre, Maendel said he was enlightened about logistics options in moving product around and dealing with the requirement of brokerage, customs, duties and taxes in different jurisdictions.

"I didnt realize we needed to take steps to protect our intellectual property or our brand around the world," he said. "It was very important to be able to understand so we could organize the company to be able to operate internationally the way we do now."

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jack Maendel, CEO of EcoPoxy, in front of a milling machine at company headquarters in Winnipeg. The company uses only bio-based content in its resins, avoiding all the petroleum ingredients that many other resins use.

And Maendel said its EcoPoxys policy to share what theyve learned about international trade to its customers.

"If we can teach others what we know we all win," he said. "The things our customers do is amazing. They create incredible works of art."

EcoPoxy helps its growing customer base market their products outside Canada through simple social media posts or sharing with them connections its made through the WTC.

One of those customers, Lynn & Liana Designs out of Steinbach, now ships its cheeseboard and serveware products  more than 100 different products  made with local maple wood (also imported acacia) uniquely combined with colourful EcoPoxy all around the world.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Epoxy jewel samples

Founder Evan Funk was once an employee of EcoPoxy so he knew the potential of the product.

When he quit EcoPoxy to work full-time at his own family business most of its sales were of the wholesale variety to retailers across the U.S.

"We purposefully targeted the U.S. market when we started," said Funk.

Now, through the WTC, his company has access to reams of leads. For instance, if it wants to find customers in France it can order up a list of 100 appropriate gift stores France, free of charge.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Coloured epoxy samples paired with wood.

Sales at both EcoPoxy and Lynn & Liana have increased during the pandemic, likely at least partially because of the fact that people are spending more time at home pursuing craft and artistic pursuits.

That has created the need for even home-based businesses to get at least a working knowledge of international trade fundamentals.

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Mariette Mulaire, the CEO of World Trade Centre Winnipeg, said the TAP curriculum has successfully transitioned to online delivery with the various experts who present in different areas like legal and marketing fully transitioned to online presentations.

She said the most valuable overall element of the program is getting the potential exporters to commit. Its short term pain for long-term gain.

"The bottom line if they get an export plan in their hands," she said. "It forces companies to stop and think about their strategy and then they can check to make sure everything makes sense legally or that they have the people with the right skill sets they need."

With new intakes for October and spring 2022 now being accepted the TAP program has barely skipped a beat.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
TORONTO - Jagmeet Singh has apologized to the head of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations for not heeding a call to address the organizations annual meeting.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh speaks during a morning announcement in downtown Toronto, Tuesday, September 14, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

TORONTO - Jagmeet Singh has apologized to the head of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations for not heeding a call to address the organizations annual meeting.

That was a mistake and I take responsibility, the NDP leader said during a campaign stop in Toronto.

That should have never happened.

Regional Chief Terry Teegee said that leaders of the three major federal parties were invited to appear digitally to address chiefs at the two-day meeting this week. A lack of response puts their commitment to true and lasting reconciliation in question, he said.

"It definitely speaks to how they prioritized Indigenous issues and quite frankly we are not a priority anymore," he said.

Teegee said while all the leaders spoke about Indigenous issues during last week's debate, the refusal to take part in the meeting shows it is a "great deal of lip service."

Teegee said he has not talked to Singh about the apology.

The B.C. Assembly of First Nations represents all 204 First Nations in the province.

Grand chief, my apologies, Singh said. Im going to make sure we get this right.

The assembly said in a news release that while Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was actually in Vancouver during the meeting, even he would not agree to "spend a few minutes" with B.C. First Nations leadership.

Trudeau said at a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C., that one of the Liberals' "extraordinary" Indigenous candidates attended the meeting. He said his party has demonstrated real results on reconciliation and has seen a record number of Indigenous candidates run under its banner.

"Indigenous Peoples are facing a really important choice in this election like all Canadians. They need to make sure we continue to move forward on the work that we've done," he said, including lifting more boil-water advisories.

"We're continuing to step up in every different area to fight for a better future, better opportunities and proper reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in this country."

A spokesman for Erin O'Toole said while the Conservative leader was unable to attend due to campaign scheduling, Kelsey Shein, Conservative candidate for Burnaby North-Seymour, represented the party at the meeting.

For too long, Indigenous peoples have been waiting for the Liberal government to deliver on their empty promises. A Conservative government led by Erin OToole is committed to taking meaningful action in the early days of our mandate to implement TRC Calls to Action 71 through 76, and will work collaboratively with Indigenous partners on the path toward reconciliation," said Mathew Clancy in a statement.

Singh has positioned himself as an ally to Indigenous voters. He was the first leader to campaign on a reserve and spent Monday in Neskantaga First Nation, a fly-in northern Ontario community with Canadas longest boil-water advisory.

The leaders campaign is now turning its sights towards sought-after seats in Ontario, including Toronto Centre.

The New Democrats came in third there during a byelection prompted by Liberal Bill Morneaus resignation last year. Its also being sought by Green Party Leader Annamie Paul.

While reiterating a commitment to lowering cellphone and internet prices, Singh faced a heckler who yelled about the "new world order," communism and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

Later, Singh was greeted by around 200 supporters chanting his name during a stop in Kitchener Centre. The New Democrats are hoping to win the seat after incumbent Liberal Raj Saini resigned earlier in the campaign following allegations that he harassed a female staff member, claims he firmly denies.

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Following hundreds of selfies and social media videos Singh's camp headed to Windsor-Tecumseh, a riding where he lived between the ages of seven and 23. The New Democrats held the riding since 2000 but the Liberals got a thin win for the seat in the last election.

New polling suggests the Liberals and Conservatives both have the support of 32 per cent of decided voters in Canada. The NDP are in third with 20 per cent.

Singh has not answered questions about whether he'd support efforts by either party in a minority government and has instead kept his focus on Trudeau.

"(Canadians) cant afford another four more years of Trudeau," Singh said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.

 With files from Brenna Owen
UTICA, N.Y. (AP)  A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

UTICA, N.Y. (AP)  A federal judge temporarily blocked the state of New York on Tuesday from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated after a group of health care workers sued, saying their Constitutional rights were violated because the state's mandate disallowed religious exemptions.

Judge David Hurd in Utica issued the order after 17 health professionals, including doctors and nurses, claimed in a lawsuit Monday that their rights were violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

The judge gave New York state until Sept. 22 to respond to the lawsuit in federal court in Utica. If the state opposes the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary court order blocking the vaccine mandate, a Sept. 28 oral hearing will occur.

The state issued the order Aug. 28, requiring at least a first shot for health care workers at hospitals and nursing homes by Sept. 27.

Hazel Crampton-Hays, press secretary to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement that the state was considering all legal options.

Governor Hochul is doing everything in her power to protect New Yorkers and combat the Delta variant by increasing vaccine rates across the State. Requiring vaccination of health care workers is critical to this battle, Crampton-Hays said.

Messages seeking comment also were sent to lawyers for the Thomas More Society who filed the lawsuit.

Dr. Joseph R. Sellers, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, said in a statement that the nonprofit organization for physicians, residents and medical students was greatly dismayed by todays decision.

We believe this step will result in a flurry of attempts to circumvent the well-reasoned vaccination requirement that was an important step towards reversing the recent surge attributable to the more easily spread Delta variant, Sellers said. No major religious denomination opposes vaccinations, and the Supreme Court has for over 100 years upheld vaccination requirements as a means to protect the public health.

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In their lawsuit, health care professionals disguised their identities with pseudonyms such as Dr. A., Nurse A., and Physician Liaison X.

They cited violations of the U.S. Constitution, along with the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law, because the state Department of Health regulation requiring workers to get the vaccine provided no exemption for sincere religious beliefs that compel the refusal of such vaccination.

The court papers said all of the available vaccines employ aborted fetus cell lines in their testing, development or production. But religious leaders have disagreed over the issue and the Vatican issued a statement last year saying the vaccines were morally acceptable.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs wanted to proceed anonymously because they run the risk of ostracization, threats of harm, immediate firing and other retaliatory consequences if their names become known.

The plaintiffs, all Christians, included practicing doctors, nurses, a nuclear medicine technologist, a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and a physician's liaison who all oppose as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in abortion, the lawsuit said.

It added that they are not anti-vaxxers who oppose all vaccines.
PHOENIX (AP)  A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2017 file photo former Backpage.com owners, James Larkin, left, and Michael Lacey wait on Capitol Hill in Washington, to appear at a congressional hearing examining the classified site. Larkin and Lacey are on trial in Arizona on federal charges of facilitating prostitution and money laundering in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly run ads for sexual services. In opening statements on Wednesday Sept, 8, 2021, their lawyers said the site ran legally allowable ads for escort services, but didnt publish ads for sex. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

PHOENIX (AP)  A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.

Michael Lacey, James Larkin and four other Backpage employees were accused of taking part in a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the site. While prosecutors say the site published many ads that depicted children who were victims of sex trafficking, no one in the federal case in Arizona is charged with sex trafficking or child sex trafficking.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said that the cumulative effect of the child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by witnesses for the government is something that I cant overlook and will not overlook.

Before the trial, the judge concluded she would allow evidence showing that people were trafficked using the site, but would not allow prosecutors to linger on the details of the abuse suffered by victims.

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2017, file photo, former Backpage.com owners, James Larkin, left, and Michael Lacey wait on Capitol Hill in Washington to appear before a Senate hearing. A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

It seemed the government abused that leeway, Brnovich said. The judge said one government witness testified about being raped more than once, which raises a whole new emotional response from people.

While saying she didnt believe prosecutors had committed intentional misconduct, Brnovich said prosecutors are held to a high standard and it wasnt their job to to win at all costs.

Lacey and Larkin said the site never allowed ads for sex and used people and automated tools to try to delete such ads. They maintained content on the site was protected by the First Amendment and that the site helped authorities in investigating sex trafficking cases and earned compliments from law enforcement for their assistance.

In all, six former Backpage operators have pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating prostitution. Of the six, Lacey, Larkin and two others have pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges.

Lacey and Larkin founded the Phoenix New Times, held ownership interests in other weeklies such as The Village Voice and ultimately sold their newspapers in 2013. But they held onto Backpage, which authorities say generated $500 million in prostitution-related revenue from its inception in 2004 until April 2018 when it was shut down by the government.

Prosecutors say Backpages operators ignored warnings to stop running prostitution ads, some involving children. They are accused of giving free ads to prostitutes and cultivating arrangements with others who worked in the sex trade to get them to post ads with the company.

Authorities say Backpage employees would identify prostitutes through Google searches, then call and offer them a free ad. The site also is accused of having a business arrangement in which it would place ads on another site that lets customers post reviews of their experiences with prostitutes.

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Prosecutors said the moderation efforts by the site were aimed at concealing the true nature of the ads.

The sites marketing director has pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate prostitution and acknowledged he participated in a scheme to give free ads to prostitutes to win over their business. Additionally, the CEO of the company when the government shut the site down, Carl Ferrer, pleaded guilty to a separate federal conspiracy case in Arizona and to state money laundering charges in California.

The judge has scheduled an Oct. 5 status hearing.

In a separate case in state court in California, Lacey and Larkin had previously pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges. Prosecutors allege Backpages operators illegally funneled nearly $45 million through multiple companies and created websites to get around banks that refused to process their transactions.

Earlier in the case, a judge threw out pimping conspiracy and other state charges against Backpages operators, ruling the charges were barred by a federal law protecting free speech that grants immunity to websites posting content from others. ___

This story has been corrected to say the judge scheduled an Oct. 5 status hearing, not a new trial. ____ Associated Press writer Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.
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.

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.

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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.
LONDON (AP)  The U.K. government canceled an agreement with French vaccine maker Valneva partly because it was clear the companys COVID-19 shot wouldnt be approved by British regulators, the health secretary said Tuesday.

FILE - In this Feb. 3 2021 file photo, the French vaccine startup Valneva headquarters is pictured in Saint-Herblain, western France. A French pharmaceutical startup announced Monday, Sept. 13, 2021 that the British government has abruptly terminated an agreement for it to supply tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines. Britain alleged that Valneva was in breach of its obligations under the supply agreement, which the company "strenuously" denied. There was no immediate comment from the British side.(AP Photo/David Vincent, File)

LONDON (AP)  The U.K. government canceled an agreement with French vaccine maker Valneva partly because it was clear the companys COVID-19 shot wouldnt be approved by British regulators, the health secretary said Tuesday.

Sajid Javids comments came a day after Valneva said the government had terminated an agreement to buy at least 100 million doses of the vaccine. The company strenuously denied allegations that it had breached its contract obligations.

Responding to questions from a lawmaker, Javid said he couldnt go into detail on the governments decision because of commercial issues.

But he said that "it was also clear to us that the vaccine in question that the company was developing would not get approval by the (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) here in the U.K., Javid said in the House of Commons.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Britain was an early backer of the Valneva project, agreeing to invest millions of pounds in a production facility in Scotland as part of deal announced last September. As part of the contract, the U.K. had agreed to buy 100 million doses of the vaccine, with options for another 90 million. The vaccine is in late stage human trials and not yet approved by regulators.

Valneva would have received up to 1.4 billion euros ($1.65 billion) from the agreement, if Britain took delivery of all 190 million doses, according to the company.

While the decision to cancel the contract wont have an immediate impact on Britains mass vaccination program, Scottish officials are concerned about the impact on jobs at the Valneva plant in Livingston, outside Edinburgh.

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The governments investment in Valnevas COVID-19 vaccine was expected to support at least 100 high-paying jobs at the plant.

Javid said the government would be working with Scottish authorities on issues surround the Livingston plant.

Even without the Valneva vaccine, the government has acquired more than enough doses to fully vaccinate everyone in the country twice.

More than 80% of people age 16 and over have already been fully vaccinated, according to the latest government figures. The government on Tuesday announced plans to offer a third shot of vaccine to everyone over 50 and other vulnerable people in an effort to head off waning immunity this winter.

___

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VANCOUVER - All health-care workers and volunteers will soon have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in British Columbia as the provincial government expands its immunization program.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry looks on during a press conference about the COVID-19 vaccine card set to arrive in mid-September at the legislature in Victoria on Aug. 23, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VANCOUVER - All health-care workers and volunteers will soon have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in British Columbia as the provincial government expands its immunization program.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday the vaccine mandate will take effect Oct. 26 and it will be a condition of employment for all workers, including physicians, contractors and volunteers in health facilities. It also applies to people who work in home and community care locations, including client homes.

"We are now in a place where we need to take additional measures," Henry said during a news conference in Vancouver.

Every individual request for a medical or religious exemption will be reviewed by a committee of experts at the Provincial Health Office. Details about that process will be released soon, Henry said.

"In some cases that may mean people being reassigned, people being assigned to separate areas, having to take additional measures like being tested on a regular basis. But the ultimate end for people who choose not to be immunized, who work in health care, is leave without pay," Henry said.

The rule doesn't apply to private practitioners like some physiotherapists who don't have employment privileges through health authorities or their contractors, she said.

The new mandate will apply to upwards of 100,000 more workers, Health Minister Adrian Dix said, although he did not have specific figures available.

Quebec has also announced mandatory vaccines for health workers beginning in October. Ontario is requiring unvaccinated health workers who don't have a documented medical exemption to take an education session and be subject to regular tests.

British Columbia is also giving third vaccine doses to severely immunocompromised individuals.

Henry says about 15,000 eligible British Columbians will be contacted to receive a third dose in accordance with guidance from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. They include those who've received an organ, bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

Henry said experts are reviewing data to better understand the risks to another 120,000 people who are moderately immunocompromised.

The Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association called for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health-care workers more than a month ago, saying it would be an "additional measure to protect patients, the health workforce and health-care system capacity."

Henry said outbreaks in acute care settings are disruptive, especially because of a shortage of workers, and there is a need to protect patients.

There are small pockets of unvaccinated workers, but her office has had challenges getting information on immunization from acute care facilities, she added.

Henry has already issued an order for all health-care staff in long-term care and assisted-living facilities to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 12. Henry said she'd heard concerns that those workers would leave for acute care settings in order to avoid vaccination, but that will no longer be an option.

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British Columbia said Monday it had recorded 1,984 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday, for an average of 661 cases per day. There were 5,825 active cases, with 278 of those patients hospitalized, including 139 in intensive care.

Nine more people died from COVID-19 over the three-day period for a total death toll of 1,865.

About 85.8 per cent of all eligible of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.4 per cent have received their second.

Dix said vaccination rates are higher among health workers than the general public.

The announcement of new measures came the same day that B.C.'s vaccination card system went into effect in an effort to curtail the fourth wave of the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021.
RICHMOND, B.C. - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau urged climate-minded British Columbians to cast a ballot for his party on Sept. 20, saying only the Liberals have a real plan to fight the environmental crisis.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, is handed an umbrella from his senior adviser Ben Chin while talking to climate scientist Andrew Weaver during a campaign stop in Steveston Harbour, Richmond, B.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

RICHMOND, B.C. - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau urged climate-minded British Columbians to cast a ballot for his party on Sept. 20, saying only the Liberals have a real plan to fight the environmental crisis.

During an event in Richmond, B.C. Tuesday, he asked progressive voters to cast their ballots strategically, saying his party is the only one that can stop the Conservatives. Polling suggests the two parties are neck and neck.

"We are the ones that can stop the Conservatives from getting elected and taking us back on climate change," he said at the event where he was flanked by local candidates, including Jonathan Wilkinson, who is seeking re-election and served as environment minister in the Liberal minority government.

Andrew Weaver, the former leader of B.C.'s Green Party who has endorsed the Liberal climate plan, was also with Trudeau.

Weaver praised the Liberal plan for banning the export of thermal coal, tackling methane reduction, focusing on zero-emission vehicles and for balancing the economy with environmental protections.

Trudeau said progressive voters should vote for the party with the best climate change plan and that the Liberals meet that goal.

He accused the NDP of not being ambitious enough on climate change and the Tories of wanting to go backward.

"British Columbians get the importance of protecting this extraordinarily rich and diverse environment," Trudeau said.

"We understand how necessary it is to cherish it, to celebrate it, and to do the things necessary to make sure that future generations can both thrive and enjoy everything that we only sometimes take for granted, because its hard to take for granted this extraordinary place."

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole has faced criticism from environmental groups for promising to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, rather than matching the Liberals' new target of reducing emissions between 40 per cent and 45 per cent.

Trudeau repeatedly insisted Tuesday that OToole's approach to climate would follow that of former prime minister Stephen Harper, and accused the Conservative leader of wanting to revive the Northern Gateway oil pipeline through the Great Bear rainforest.

Energy economist Mark Jaccard has said that while the NDP promises bigger cuts to emissions than the Liberals, the NDP's plan doesn't contain enough detail to show a path to meeting the target.

"Anyone who knows that climate change is real and that we have to listen to science and experts will have a hard time understanding why the NDP didnt bother to put forward a real plan," Trudeau said.

"Thats part of the choice we have to face right now in this election, because Mr. O'Toole is laying out a vision of this country that would take us back."

Trudeau was spending a second straight day in the Greater Vancouver area, where several experts have said the race could be tight in several ridings.

When Trudeau called the election, the standings in B.C. stood at 17 Conservatives, 11 Liberals, 11 New Democrats, two Greens and one Independent.

In the 2019 election that resulted in a minority Liberal government, the Liberals lost six seats in B.C., the Conservatives gained seven seats and the NDP dropped three.

Carla Qualtrough, who is running for re-election in Delta, acknowledged the race in her riding is tight, but added she hopes the Liberal climate platform will help to tip the vote her way.

"I'm hopeful, but Im super competitive and we are not leaving anything on the table," she said.

Trudeau stressed his connection to B.C., describing memories of canoeing, hiking, talking to fishermen and ordering fish and chips at Steveston Wharf with his aunt.

He then took a walk with local families, where he could be seen pushing a stroller with two young children down a trail by the Fraser River.

Trudeau then flew to Brampton. Ont, where he was introduced at a raucous indoor evening rally by former prime minister Jean Chretien.

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The 87-year-old accused O'Toole of "speaking out of both sides of his mouth" on issues such as gun control and child care, and accused Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet of trying to speak for Acadians and Quebecers.

He told the hundreds of people that surrounded the stage that the world is facing a number of challenges including social change in the United States, the threat of China and climate change.

"It's not the time to move to the far right or the far left, it's the time to be in the middle," he said. "It's the time to be reasonable."

Trudeau himself was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters following his stump speech, despite organizers asking people to stand in squares that had been taped on the ground. Liberal staffers said there were some 400 people in attendance and that the gathering met local COVID-19 rules limiting indoor venues to half capacity.

The rally was also attended by 100-year-old former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion. McCallion told reporters after the event that she doesn't agree with calling an election during the pandemic but nevertheless feels that "minorities don't work" and said she hopes Trudeau's Liberals win a majority.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.
YELLOWKNIFE - The top doctor in the Northwest Territories has closed all schools in Yellowknife and surrounding areas after a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The Northwest Territories flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. The chief public health officer in the N.W.T. has closed all schools in Yellowknife and surrounding areas after a spike in COVID-19 cases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

YELLOWKNIFE - The top doctor in the Northwest Territories has closed all schools in Yellowknife and surrounding areas after a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Schools closed Tuesday  two weeks after students returned to classrooms  and are to stay closed until at least Sept. 24.

Students will shift to online learning, said a statement from Dr. Kami Kandola, the territory's chief public health officer.

Kandola noted that Yellowknife's vaccination rate is high  80 per cent of those eligible for shots are fully immunized  but she chose to close schools to protect children under 12 who can't receive a vaccine.

"The fight is not over until schools and classrooms are safe, too," Kandola told a news conference.

She also ordered that private gatherings in Yellowknife and the surrounding area be limited to 10 people. No more than five can be from another household.

The territory is dealing with its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic. There have been 523 cases since early August after a hand-games tournament became a superspreader event.

The bulk of the N.W.T.'s 179 active cases are in three communities. There were 117 cases reported in Yellowknife, 22 in Behchoko and 14 in Whati. Both areas are northwest of the capital.

"We are seeing severe outcomes in those who are not fully vaccinated," Kandola said.

There are more than 70 underhoused people with COVID-19 and cases have been reported in four schools, Kandola said. There have been 16 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the last month, five people admitted to the intensive care unit and one death related to the virus.

Kandola said she ordered schools to close because public health workers in Yellowknife can't keep up with contact tracing and testing.

"Yellowknife Public Health is not able to complete testing and contact tracing in a timely fashion that would reliably prevent further transmission at schools," she said.

The order to close schools represents "a very significant shift" in the territorial government's response to COVID-19, Kandola said.

"The increase in COVID-19 activity in Yellowknife risks the safety of our students, especially those under the age of 12 who are not eligible for vaccination."

Day homes and daycares are exempt from the order, but Kandola said she recommends that everyone in Yellowknife and the surrounding area work from home if possible.

"If you have the capacity to help, please reach out to your neighbours and fellow community members and help one another out where it is needed."

Behchoko, a community of about 1,800 people 110 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, has been under a 14-day lockdown since Thursday to try to slow the spread of the outbreak driven by the Delta variant.

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Yellowknife's day shelter and sobering centre have also closed after a number of staff were infected. The government said Tuesday that Yellowknife's community arena will be used as an emergency shelter, while the city's ski club facilities will be turned into an isolation centre.

On Monday, the N.W.T. government asked the federal government for 20 members of the Canadian Red Cross to help keep up shelter operations, but said it has not yet heard back.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.

 By Emma Tranter in Iqaluit

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship
Three-year-old Hunter Smith-Straight was found clinging to life with a knife still lodged in his neck, the victim of an enraged killer bent on hurting his girlfriend in the cruelest and most permanent way  by taking the life of her only child, a jury heard Monday.

Three-year-old Hunter Smith-Straight was found clinging to life with a knife still lodged in his neck, the victim of an enraged killer bent on hurting his girlfriend "in the cruelest and most permanent way  by taking the life of her only child," a jury heard Monday.

Daniel Jensen, 34, is on trial charged with first-degree murder for the Oct. 30, 2019 killing at the boy's Pritchard Avenue home.

SUPPLIED Three-year-old Hunter Smith-Straight was stabbed Oct. 30, 2019 at his Pritchard Avenue home.

"At its core, this is a case about domestic violence," Crown attorney Courtney St. Croix said in an opening address to jurors. "We expect the evidence will show that whatever affection Dan Jensen may have had for Hunter Smith-Straight was overwhelmed by his drive to hurt his mother."

St. Croix told jurors they will hear evidence Jensen and Hunters mother, Clarice Smith, had been out with another couple that night and the two "were not getting along." While at the Northern Hotel bar, Jensen and Smith got into a "physical altercation" that was broken up by another bar customer, at which point Jensen left the hotel on his own.

Jensen, St. Croix alleged, then walked to Smiths home where, after providing an explanation for his presence to one of the boys cousins, he walked upstairs to Hunters bedroom and stabbed the sleeping boy six times in the head and neck before fleeing the house.

"This was not an accident, this was not an impulsive act, this was deliberate," St. Croix said. "This was something Daniel Jensen thought out, and something he planned as he walked from the Northern Hotel bar to Pritchard Avenue  all because he was mad at Hunters mom."

Hunter was rushed to Health Sciences Centre suffering severe blood loss and brain damage. Three days later he was taken off life-support and died.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to jurors, Jensen was bound by a court order at the time to have no contact with Hunters mother and to stay 200 metres away from her home.

A 911 call placed by one of Hunters cousins shortly after he was discovered in his bedroom captured a scene of chaos and devastation.

"A little boy was stabbed," a distraught and sobbing caller told a dispatcher as others in the house screamed and cried in the background.

"Can you see him right now?" the dispatcher asked the caller.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES A memorial for Hunter Straight-Smith in front of his Pritchard Avenue home in November 2019. Reporter: Sanders

"No, I dont want to go back up there Oh my God," the caller said.

Const. Derrick Klassen, one of the first police officers to arrive at the house, testified he found Hunter on a bed, a pool of blood under his head, and a steak knife protruding from the boys neck.

"When I first saw him, I immediately believed he was deceased," Klassen said. "His eyes were open and he didnt appear to be breathing."

Klassen and other officers tried to resuscitate the boy until paramedics arrived minutes later and rushed him to hospital.

While no one saw Jensen stab Hunter, by trials end there should be no doubt who killed him, St. Croix alleged.

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"When you consider the evidence in its totality, through the lens of common sense and experience, the only reasonable conclusion is that Daniel Jensen stabbed Hunter... and those actions caused his death and that he meant to kill him," St. Croix said.

The trial is set for one month.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
The elementary school educator who co-founded Albertas Black Teachers Association plans to bring her dual passions of anti-racism and technology to her new post at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The elementary school educator who co-founded Albertas Black Teachers Association plans to bring her dual passions of anti-racism and technology to her new post at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Sarah Adomako-Ansah, whose resume includes eight years of teaching students in grades 3 to 6 in Edmonton, has been selected as the Winnipeg-based museums newest educator-in-residence.

Dallas Curow photo Sarah Adomako-Ansah is the new educator-in-residence at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

"My classroom is a very inclusive, very modern space for students to come learn, maybe not in the most conventional way, but they still come out with all of the outcomes," Adomako-Ansah said during a call from her hometown.

A proponent of inquiry-based learning, teaching with a social justice lens and technology integration, she said joining the CMHR team is a perfect fit.

In her new role, which Adomako-Ansah will take on remotely with occasional trips to Winnipeg throughout the yearlong term, she will support the development of in-person and virtual human rights education programs.

Her goal is to equip teachers across Canada with the know-how and confidence to create safe spaces for all students of colour and implement diverse perspectives, including those of Black and Indigenous communities, into their instructional materials.

"We all, unfortunately, have biases within us that maybe we dont know too much about or we dont want to explore, but I think its important to be open with ourselves," she said, adding: "Kids can smell fake a mile away."

At St. Pius X Elementary School, she has often taught by encouraging open-ended questions to spark conversations about race and other topics.

On the day after American George Floyd died in May 2020, as a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes, Adomako-Ansah picked an Eritrean student to select their "morning discussion question." The sixth graders question: "Why does this keep happening?"

The query prompted a deeply upsetting conversation during which many Black students expressed anger that someone had again died because of their skin colour and that Floyd could just as easily have been them or a loved one.

Not long after, a friend, Andrew Parker, called Adomako-Ansah to discuss a similar conversation he had with his students. Their call sparked the creation of an association aimed at sharing anti-racist resources and supporting teachers of colour.

Albertas Black Teachers Association has since grown from two members to 75 Black educators and hundreds of allies, who participate in everything from Zoom workshops to "Melanin Mondays"  a weekly feature of different racialized school staff on social media.

Adomako-Ansah said the power of representation cannot be underestimated: she has seen it firsthand, as a Black woman who had to wait until Grade 9 to be instructed by a person of colour, and more recently, by watching her Black students get excited when she compliments their braids.

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Her appointment comes as the CMHR is rebuilding its reputation as a human rights hub after allegations of workplace discrimination, racism towards staff and censored tours came to light in 2020.

Last summer, an external investigation determined "pervasive and systemic" racism had gone unaddressed by management for years and employees had been directed to conduct tours for certain student groups that excluded LGBTTQ+ content in the past.

Adomako-Ansah said the incidents are disappointing, but owning up to mistakes and learning from them speaks volumes.

"That has been so major  to say... We know that we need to make changes," she said. "Part of my job is to help with those changes."

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
WINNIPEG - The mother of a three-year-old boy who was stabbed repeatedly in the head and neck while lying in his bed has told a trial that the accused threatened her the night her son was attacked.

People drum at a vigil for Hunter Haze Smith-Straight outside Winnipeg's Childrens Hospital, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - The mother of a three-year-old boy who was stabbed repeatedly in the head and neck while lying in his bed has told a trial that the accused threatened her the night her son was attacked.

Clarice Smith testified that her then-boyfriend, Daniel Jensen, said he was going to have someone take her son away from her.

Jensen, 34, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Hunter Smith-Straight, who was attacked in his Winnipeg home on Oct. 30, 2019.

The Crown alleges Jensen stabbed the boy as an act of vengeance against his mother, however, no one in the home saw the attack.

Smith addressed the court for nearly two hours Tuesday afternoon detailing the events leading up to the stabbing.

A one-way screen was brought in to shield Smith from having to look at Jensen, who sat in the prisoner's box across from the witness stand.

During her testimony, Smith took deep breaths and answered questions with calmness, breaking into tears once when describing the last moments she saw her son awake.

Smith testified she spent the evening with Jensen, one of her sisters and her sister's partner.

The group visited a casino and some bars and lounges while one of Hunter's cousins babysat him at the home where Smith and Jensen lived with the toddler and other family members.

Smith said she and Jensen got into an argument while in a car on the way back to the couple's home.

"He said I'll get your son taken away from you," Smith recalled.

Smith said she then punched Jensen three times.

When the group arrived at the home, Smith said she decided she wanted to leave with Hunter.

I dont know where we were going to go, but I was going to take (Hunter) somewhere ... because I didnt feel safe with Dan, Smith testified.

Smith told the jury she went into the bedroom where the three slept and dressed Hunter in a sweater and sweatpants. Then a friend came and convinced her to go to a bar at the Northern Hotel, so she put Hunter back to sleep.

Smith testified Jensen later became jealous when she chatted with some acquaintances at the bar.

She said she then told Jensen she was moving with Hunter back to her home community of Manigotagan, about 150 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, without him.

He got mad," said Smith.

Smith told the jury that Jensen assaulted her, left the bar and she didn't see him again that night.

When she returned home, Smith said she was greeted by first responders and police escorted her to the hospital to be with Hunter.

Court previously heard Brenda Smith, one of Hunter's cousins, called 911 when it was discovered that Hunter had been attacked.

Hunter was taken to hospital and placed on life support due to brain damage from severe blood loss. He was removed from the machines three days later and died.

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Court also heard from a Winnipeg police officer who helped with the early stages of the investigation.

Det. Sgt. Ward Gordon was tasked with interviewing and collecting a blood sample from a witness who was at the home the night the toddler was attacked.

Gordon told the jury that he was also assigned to find old addresses of Jensen, who became an early suspect.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2021.

___

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
As Liberal candidate Jim Carr and Conservative counterpart Joyce Bateman traded jabs at the Winnipeg South Centre virtual election debate Monday night, Julia Riddell of the NDP wondered if everyone could find ways to "work together."

As Liberal candidate Jim Carr and Conservative counterpart Joyce Bateman traded jabs at the Winnipeg South Centre virtual election debate Monday night, Julia Riddell of the NDP wondered if everyone could find ways to "work together."

The debate focused on issues of concern to the Jewish community.

In his opening statement, Carr (who has held the riding since 2015) cited the importance of helping refugees, noting his ancestors came to Canada to escape persecution in Russia and he was beaten as a youth for being Jewish.

Bateman (riding MP 2011-15) followed by accusing the Liberals of being "irresponsible" for holding a federal election during a pandemic.

Riddell, a clinical psychologist, noted the rise in mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and said if it taught her anything, its: "We can take on challenges only if we work together."

Bateman said the Conservative party "stands with the Jewish community" and anti-Semitism is often "dressed up" as anti-Zionism on university campuses, where students call for boycotts of Israel. She said the Conservatives would strengthen laws requiring social media platforms to remove hate of all kinds and double funding for security at synagogues.

She accused Carr and the Liberals of "being silent" about anti-Semitism that arose during the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Carr replied if Bateman was "hearing silence" it was because she was "not listening. I have spoken out against all forms of racism and anti-Semitism using all platforms."

He went on to accuse Bateman of trying to divide the Jewish community based on how people speak out against anti-Semitism.

Riddell said the rise in anti-Semitism was "deeply disturbing" and, "We all should be united in addressing it." An NDP government would develop a national plan to combat anti-Semitism and "ensure the safety" of all marginalized groups, she said.

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When asked to address what the moderator called "strong anti-Israel bias in the United Nations," Bateman said no Canadian taxpayer dollars should go to anything at the United Nations that condones anti-Semitism or "demonizes" Israel or Jews.

Bateman accused the Liberals of "shamefully" failing to curtail efforts to stop anti-Semitism at the agency. Carr said he was "deeply concerned" by her remarks.

That issue is "taken very seriously" by the Liberal government, he said, noting how it had stopped funding when the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was accused of promoting anti-Israel messages.

"Canada doesnt want to be associated with any relief agency that promotes hatred or anti-Semitism," he said.

Reflecting on the barbed exchanges between Carr and Bateman, Riddell said her hope is members of Parliament can "work across parties" on these issues.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
A street closure on Panet Road took effect earlier this morning, and Broadway will be closed on either side of the Donald Street intersection for 30 minutes some time today.

A verdict is expected today in the trial of Linda O'Leary  the wife of celebrity businessman Kevin O'Leary  for a boat crash that killed two people in Ontario in 2019.

California, the most populous state in the U.S., could remove Gavin Newsom from office and elect a new governor in his place today.
Not much has changed since 1965, when Burt Bacharach and Hal David concluded What the world needs now is love, sweet love. But what it also needs more of is just common sense.

Opinion

Not much has changed since 1965, when Burt Bacharach and Hal David concluded "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." But what it also needs more of is just common sense.

Common sense would go a long way toward solving the problems we face. It means considering all the available evidence before making decisions  and it means making decisions, not avoiding them. It means seeing the world as it is, not as we pretend or wish it. It means leaving ideology on the trash heap of history where it belongs, and making practical plans for the future instead of being held hostage by the mistakes of a troubled past.

Specifically, children have just returned to school in the midst of a fourth wave of COVID-19, thanks to the more contagious delta variant. Common sense and the best evidence of medical science predicted this situation in the spring, but the provincial government delayed the obvious response. Once again, June silence was followed by July dither and then August flail, belatedly requiring vaccination before the end of October.

Mask mandates, restrictions on gatherings, and the other things that mitigated previous waves are still slow in returning. Too little, too late was inexcusable in the first wave  how much worse is this response now, in the fourth? We have failed the children of our province and their families, by allowing ideology to trump science, evidence and common sense in making public-health decisions  once again.

Then, to rephrase the old proverb, while you can lead a child to school, you cant make them think. As I watched the anti-mask, anti-vax, anti-science, anti-evidence protesters blocking access to hospitals, it seemed common sense was clearly on life support. If we want to avoid the QAnon-style lunacies that befuddle American politics and threaten its democracy and stability, we need to follow the evidence, not invent it.

While following the evidence  driven by science, rather than by ideology  is crucial in managing our response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more important when it comes to the rapidly worsening climate crisis. If people cant accept the need for masks and vaccination, how can we convince them to make the lifestyle choices that a sustainable future requires?

Common sense is critical thinking at its most basic level. As I repeatedly tell my students, dont just believe what I say  look it up. There is no situation you cant research for yourself, thanks to the internet, but you need to look beyond the click-bait and self-appointed experts.

While dueling experts can undermine our confidence in common sense, we should focus on the scientific consensus about the human causes of the climate crisis, and then actually do something to change them.

Senior American environmentalist Gus Speth just published They Knew, on how the U.S. federal government knowingly fuelled the climate crisis for the past 50 years. There were facts, there was lots of evidence, of what lay ahead if business as usual continued. Some people knew what was going on, but facts were hidden, discounted and ignored to suit the self-interests of those in power.

This is still happening  and for the same reasons. Call it ideology, if you want, or capitalism, if you prefer, but civilization as we know it will end because of selfishness and greed, if common sense keeps being kicked to the curb.

There are many things we could do, if there was the political will and common-sense leadership. Listening to the braying of the participants in the latest party leaders debate makes it clear that both are in short supply, however, as Canadians head to the polls again in a federal election.

As the last two years have gone, so goes the campaign: the NDP is earnest; the Greens are absent; the Liberals are defensive; and the Conservatives are appeasing the worst instincts of their ideological base.

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I am angry that Justin Trudeau smugly called an election two years early, but that is no reason to swipe right for risky Erin OToole. Jagmeet Singh is too nice to sell the NDP vision for the future (if they have one), while Annamie Pauls Green Party is headed for self-inflicted oblivion.

But "None of the above" is not a good answer, either. We need a different kind of common-sense politics, at all levels, one that avoids ideology, dodges personality and follows the evidence to make practical decisions for everyones benefit. Right now, this seems like hunting unicorns.

So, look closely at your local candidates. Pick one who cares and is willing to work, across the irrelevance of party lines and despite the ego of their leader, on common-sense solutions for everyone.

We dont need a political saviour or a one-party future. Instead, to borrow a phrase from local author Shaun Loney, we need someone willing and able to lead "an army of problem solvers."

And that army would be us  all of us.

Peter Denton is an activist, writer and academic, based in rural Manitoba. His latest book (with Gus Speth) is Imagine a Joyful Economy.
A memorial near St. Boniface Cathedral could be an excellent way to tell the stories of Sagkeeng First Nation children who died at the historic St. Boniface Industrial School operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Boniface. Archbishop Albert LeGatt has announced the churchs plan to erect such a monument jointly with Sagkeeng First Nation.

A memorial near St. Boniface Cathedral could be an excellent way to tell the stories of Sagkeeng First Nation children who died at the historic St. Boniface Industrial School operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Boniface. Archbishop Albert LeGatt has announced the churchs plan to erect such a monument jointly with Sagkeeng First Nation.

The location is prominent, accessible and scenically interesting, near the Red River, at the heart of the Franco-Manitoban community and in a dense cluster of Roman Catholic institutions. The industrial school itself stood a few streets away, at Des Meurons Street and Hamel Avenue.

A memorial, however, can be much more than a stone marker. It can be a place for gathering and commemoration. It can be a platform for telling stories. It can be a communal expression of sadness, regret, redemption or other values that may need expression, and which may vary over time.

Two hundred and fifteen orange ribbons line the path to the old St. Boniface Cathedral in June in honour of 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)

The pulling down of statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth on the legislative grounds on July 1 and the ensuing political debate showed how memorials from yesteryear may become unsustainable with the passage of time. The church and the First Nation should plan a monument that expresses the truths already known about the St. Boniface school. They should also leave room for further truths to come to light.

It is known from the 2015 report of Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission that churches operated residential schools for the purpose of teaching Christian doctrine to Indigenous children. It is known that the Canadian government financed rapid expansion of the residential school network after annexation of the Hudsons Bay Company territory in 1870. Canadas purpose was to separate Indigenous children from their parents, their language and their culture and inculcate European settler values.

It is known also that nutrition, health care and discipline in the schools were so bad that many of the children died. Their graves are gradually coming to light as First Nations seek the burial places of their long-lost children.

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The St. Boniface Industrial School, which was in operation from 1889 until 1905, was one of several such institutions in Manitoba. The Anglican Diocese of Ruperts Land, for example, supported one at St. Paul, Middlechurch, a little north of todays north Perimeter Highway.

Archbishop LeGatts project should encourage the Anglican diocese and the Peguis First Nation to look into the rise and fall of the Middlechurch industrial school. A way should be found to tell the stories of the children who attended that school  and the stories of those who entered the school but never got out alive.

Archbishop Albert LeGatt (Jesse Boily / Winnipeg Free Press files)

These projects should not be conceived in haste. Sagkeeng First Nation, Peguis First Nation and other Indigenous communities should take all the time they need to locate the unmarked graves of their lost children, record their stories and pass those stories on to future generations.

Some children attended the schools because the government sent police officers to round them up and deliver them to the schools. Some attended because their parents wanted them to have the advantages they thought might be gained through education in European culture.

The residential school narrative is the story of Canadas cruelty to Indigenous families. That story is made up of many more stories, of individual schools and individual students, and these should not all be squeezed into the mould of a single national narrative. Archbishop LeGatts project should show Canada how to tell a local piece of that story in terms that can be widely understood.
Protesters decrying COVID-19 vaccine requirements gathered at the Manitoba legislature and Winnipeg city hall on Monday after a demonstration intended for the provinces largest hospital was moved in response to widespread criticism.

Protesters decrying COVID-19 vaccine requirements gathered at the Manitoba legislature and Winnipeg city hall on Monday after a demonstration intended for the provinces largest hospital was moved in response to widespread criticism.

Approximately 200 people attended the rally, which began on the grounds of the legislature at about 2 p.m. The group then held a vigil meant for people affected by COVID-19 public health measures, according to organizers.

The crowd later moved down Broadway and Main Street  with Winnipeg police controlling traffic  to city hall, where they stood again in near silence for 30 minutes, holding flowers and signs that read "My body, my choice," "Taking back our freedoms" and "Stop vaccine passports."

A single counter-protester, dressed as the Grim Reaper and holding a scythe, stood on a nearby ledge observing the crowd.

Protesters made their way down Broadway from the legislature on their way to city hall. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

The rally was held in conjunction with events staged outside hospitals across Canada, organized by a group called Canadian Frontline Nurses. The group is not affiliated nor endorsed by any professional nursing associations.

Mondays protest was first scheduled to occur outside the Health Sciences Centre, where earlier this month a couple of hundred demonstrators protested vaccination mandates on the east side of the campus, slowing traffic and hindering people who were trying to access the facility.

Shaun Zimmer, who spoke at the event and helped organize the rally, said the decision to relocate the protest away from the hospital was done "with everybodys best interest at heart."

Zimmer said he was not involved in the organization of the protest held earlier in September.

"The venue changed because we heard feedback on the negative impacts that it had on the hospital last time," Zimmer said. "We want to make sure that were not causing any more divide  unlike many individuals (who) do  so we changed it to accommodate for that."

The decision to relocate the protest away from the hospital was done to prevent more of a divide, said protest organizer Shaun Zimmer (grey shirt). (David Lipnowski / The Canadian Press)

Leading up to Mondays demonstrations, politicians, hospital-system leaders and nursing associations across the country denounced the protests planned outside hospitals.

While Canadians have a right to protest peacefully, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said he was disgusted by, and condemned, any attempt to intimidate or interfere with access to health-care services.

"Our health-care heroes, and the patients they serve, should never be subjected to the kind of treatment that they received during the last protest," Bowman said in a thread of tweets Monday.

A handful of demonstrators did show up at the hospital on Monday afternoon in search of the protest, before making their way to the legislature.

A spokesman for Shared Health, which oversees operations of the Health Sciences Centre, said the hospital was forced to take precautionary measures "to protect the safety of our staff, patients and visitors" in anticipation of a rally.

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Protestors waves to passing vehicles outside of city hall, where they stood in silence for 30 minutes. (John Woods / Winnipeg Free Press)

"We strongly urge demonstrators to protest in a peaceful manner that does not disrespect the efforts of health-care workers over the past 18 months and which in no way impedes access to patients seeking medical care," the spokesman said in a statement.

Manitobas chief provincial public health officer also weighed in on the demonstration on Monday.

"My message is the gratitude and respect I have for the frontline health-care workers who have been at this for 18 months, working overtime, there for Manitobans when we need them the most," Dr. Brent Roussin said.

"It's taking a toll on them personally, and so I don't see the connection of any protest that interferes with the great work that they're doing," he continued, adding Manitobans have a right to protest the province's public health response.

Outside city hall, Zimmer said more demonstrations should be expected through September, this time with a focus on vaccination policies in schools.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca
HOUSTON (AP)  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.

Paul Villagomez secures filled gas containers in his truck as he prepares for Tropical Storm Nicholas, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Kingwood, Texas. "I'm just trying to be prepared," Villagomez said. "I'm actually surprised there aren't more people filling up." (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

HOUSTON (AP)  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.

Cheri Daigle, una profesora jubilada, toma una fotografia mientras la tormenta tropical Nicholas se acerca a la costa de Texas, el lunes 13 de septiembre de 2021, en Galveston, Texas. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

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 storm's arrival in a state still recovering from Hurricane Ida and last year's 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.

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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
Wits to coordinate South Africas national quantum initiative

The South African Quantum Technology Initiative (SA QuTI) aims to drive local quantum technology research and innovation.

Wits University today announced it has successfully secured R8 million in seed funding from the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) towards implementing Phase 1 on behalf of the South African Quantum Technology Initiative (SA QuTI).

Approved by the DSI earlier this year, the SA QuTI is a national undertaking that seeks to create the conditions in South Africa for a globally competitive research environment in quantum technologies and to grow the local quantum technology industry.

Wits University, a leading quantum research institute in Africa through its newly formed WitsQ initiative, is the official host of the SA QuTI and will administer and manage the funds. It will also coordinate the implementation of the SA QuTI.

The objective is to move South Africa into a quantum future where government, industry and academia work together for the development and deployment of quantum technologies, says Distinguished Professor Andrew Forbes, Director of WitsQ and Director of the Structured Light Laboratory in the Wits School of Physics.

It is a very exciting time to be in quantum, and I believe that Wits has an important role to play in this field. We are regarded as world leaders in high-dimensional entanglement, we have unique experimental facilities, and our WitsQ initiative is home to an enthusiastic quantum community that has no traditional discipline boundaries, he adds.

Dr Robin Drennan, Director for Research Development in the University's Research Office, says Wits is proud to act as a host for the SA QuTI and looking forward to working with all the partners from several universities and research institutes across the country that are part of this national initiative.

This initial grant from the DSI is received with deep gratitude. Quantum technologies offer a new frontier of research and innovation, and this grant shows a clear and confident vision expressed by the Department.

It is so important to support the existing research efforts in this budding area to ensure that South Africa remains competitive in these areas of endeavour. It will of course also add impetus to Wits efforts in the field of quantum technologies and our access to a 50 qubit quantum computer, says Drennan.

Wits University has a unique quantum advantage through its partnership with IBM Research by becoming the first African partner on the IBM Q Network and has access to its 50 qubit quantum computer.

Dr Solomon Assefa is the Vice President | IBM Research: Africa & Emerging Market Solutions (left) and Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University, with a 3D printed IBMQ quantum computer.  WITS UNIVERSITY

Consortium partners

The SA QuTI will be a consortium of five universities. Wits University will act as the main contracting site and is also one of the main centres together with Stellenbosch University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The two emerging centres are the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of Zululand. The Centre of High-Performance Computing (CHPC) will provide the quantum computing infrastructure.

First steps

In Phase 1 the funding will be used, among other projects, to support quantum technology development initiatives at Wits University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and the National Metrology Institute of South Africa. The SA QuTI has pre-allocated some of the funds towards supporting identified undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral students in quantum technologies from various universities.

In Phase 2 the SA QuTI aims to create critical mass in quantum technology research leadership across the country through senior and emerging research chairs. It also seeks to achieve greater diversity and demographics in quantum technology research emanating from South Africa by creating new centres of quantum research in previously disadvantaged institutions.

Side-stepping the competition

South Africa cannot compete with the billions of Euros invested in quantum technology development in other countries. That is why we have to be strategic by bringing together our quantum community  research, academia, government and industry  to save decades in time and money, explains Forbes.

Three years in the making, this national roadmap to drive quantum technology research and innovation, have three main focus areas:

quantum communications

quantum computing

quantum sensing

Each focus area will have one flagship project that serves to drive science through to technology and allow for faster uptake by commercial partners.

The philosophy of SA QuTI is to side-step the competition. Take the smartphone industry: you dont have to be a smartphone manufacturer to be part of the smartphone revolution  the economy of smartphone apps is huge, perhaps even bigger than the phone industry itself (think Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and so on). We see an analogous situation in quantum. In quantum computing, for instance, we will not be building a quantum computer but rather develop quantum apps, a faster and cost-effective way to make an impact that leverages on our capabilities in software development, says Forbes.

In quantum communications the idea is to focus on technology integration from partner institutes across South Africa, comprising sources, detectors, protocols and networks, to establish local quantum secure links between universities, key government sites, and strategic industry locations such as banks.

The flagship project in quantum sensing will leverage South Africas well developed and sophisticated medical industry.

WitsQ

As a consequence of the investment, WitsQ, the new quantum initiative at Wits gets a R2-million seed fund injection.

I am very excited that WitsQ has some seed funding so that we can grow our internal community to leverage off the national programme. We plan to use the funds to grow the Wits quantum community by seeding small projects, and bringing new students into the fold, says Forbes.
Lifeline to LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers

Our hope is really to inspire other members of the Wits community to say that there are things that we can do to change the lives of those around us - Harie.

The African LGBTQI+ Migration Research Network (ALMN) and the Gala Queer Archive, both located at Wits, joined forces at the onset of Covid-19 to establish an emergency relief fund to mitigate the adverse effects of the virus on the LGBTQI+ community. For their work, these organisations received nominations as Wits Heroes for going beyond the call of duty.

The organisations partnered with community-based networks to start a GoFundMe campaign to address the plight of LGBTQI+ individuals facing immediate crisis. The campaign, which focused on LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, raised a total of R171 000 and assisted more than 180 individuals originating from 17 African countries.

The campaign provided people with a much-needed safety net, allowing them to buy food, medicine, sanitary items, data and, in some instances, contribute towards paying rent.

During the lockdown last year, it became evident to us that there were so many members of our constituency that were [facing] such a difficult time that we felt a moral obligation to support this community in ways that we have not historically done before, says Keval Harie, Director at the Gala Queer Archive.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequent hard lockdowns severely affected the informal economy, the primary source of income for LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom did not qualify for relief provided by the South African government.

The Fruit Basket, which supports LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in South Africa, was one of the campaigns core partners. The Johannesburg-based organisation helped identify, through its extensive networks, members of the LGBTQI+ community in desperate need of assistance.

Thomars Shamuyarira, founder and director of The Fruit Basket, says beneficiaries received the donations with much gratitude. Furthermore, the initiative saved many lives and served as a reminder of the importance of community.

John Marnell, a PhD fellow at the African Centre for Migration and Society (Wits University) and co-coordinator of ALMN, emphasised that academic institutions need to remain connected to the communities they research and within which they operate.

As researchers and academics, we have an ethical obligation to assist the communities with whom we work and which we are often part of. Its really important to be in touch with people, to listen to them, to recognise their needs and to consider how we might support them, especially in times of crisis. The GoFundMe campaign is an excellent example of how academics and researchers can harness their networks in order to respond to critical social issues. In this case, we were able to bring together researchers, civil society and community networks to raise and distribute urgently needed funds.

Although the campaign did not address all the horrific challenges endured by vulnerable members of the LGBTQI+ community, it did fulfil its mandate of giving people breathing space, reminding us that heroes do not need to wear capes to have a significant impact.

Being a hero is all about significance. Just making a difference in peoples lives, touching peoples lives in different ways people will always remember, in ways that make people want to also get up and do more for other people, Shamuyarira said.

Our hope is really to inspire other members of the Wits community to say that there are things that we can do to change the lives of those around us. Every small effort goes a long way, Harie added.

The GoFundMe campaign was a partnership between ALMN, the GALA Queer Archive, Pachedu, the Fruit Basket and the Holy Trinity LGBT Ministry.

About Wits Heroes

The Wits Heroes campaign was initiated by the Senior Executive Team at Wits University. The campaign recognises Witsies who went beyond the call of duty amidst the Covid-19 pandemic  to complete the academic year, to search for vaccines and treatments, to keep healthcare workers safe, to protect employees and students, to create multimedia content, to secure data and devices for students, to keep systems going, and generally to serve society. The Heroes were nominated by staff and students.
Unusually warm weather will continue in Central New York as we approach the fall season. Typical weather, by now, would be highs in the upper 60s to low 70s with overnight lows more regularly in the upper 40s and low 50s. Instead, our forecast is calling for temperatures that are about 10 degrees warmer than that, both during the day and at night. This warming pattern is due to the jet stream lifting far to the north. Once this pattern sets up, it typically lasts for more than a week, and that's likely going to be the case as we head through the middle and end of September.

With that being said, this is likely going to be a warmer than average September in Central New York. If that ends up being the case, this will be the seventh above average September in a row. We've noticed that the early fall months have been trending warmer in the past several decades due to the overall changing climate.

In addition to the warmer temperatures, we are keeping a close eye on the weather for Tuesday night into Wednesday. A low pressure system is expected to approach from the west and carry a cold front through the region. The front is expected to produce showers and thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon, especially south and west of Utica. Locally heavy rain and gusty winds are possible.
WKTV - 2 Back to Work Job Orders for Sept. 13  Sept.17, 2021

Monday September 13, 2021

Job Title: Outbound Call Center Representative City Rome, NY

Full time for a local credit union. Duties: Serve members and support the sales process by conducting follow-up inquiries. Requirements: Minimum of an Associate's Degree or equivalent work experience. Two years of inside and outbound call experience in a call center environment preferred.

Pay: Starts at $17.07/hour. Benefits. Job Order # DF0681200

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Monday September 13, 2021

Job Title: Service Technician City Herkimer, NY

Full time for a local security system company. Duties: Perform installation and testing of new security alarm and camera systems. Requirements: High School diploma and a valid NY State driver's license. Electrical experience and knowledge of construction, electronic theory and electrical wiring preferred, but not required. Must be able to lift at least 50 lbs. Fingerprinting required.

Pay: Based on experience and performance. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389786

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Tuesday September 14, 2021

Job Title: Commercial Truck Tire Changer City Rome, NY

Full time for a local tire and auto service. Duties: Change and repair commercial truck tires. Requirements: 2 years of experience, a valid NYS driver license and no lifting restrictions.

Pay: $20.00/hour. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389372

Tuesday September 14, 2021

Job Title: Prep and Line Cooks City New Hartford, NY

Full and part time, day, and night shift openings at a popular local restaurant. Duties: Prep food and cook meals to order. Requirements: Must have dependable transportation and a verifiable excellent attendance record. Must have a positive attitude and be a team player.

Pay: Starts at $15.00/hour, more based on experience. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389793

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Wednesday September 15, 2021

Job Title: Production Associates City Rome, NY

Full time for a steel processing company. Duties: Move, band, and learn how to process steel to customer specifications. Requirements: Must be 18 or older with basic math & reading skills. Must pass pre-employment drug test, background check and physical. Business provides on the job training. No manufacturing experience needed.

Pay: $17.00 -$19.00/hour plus $1 shift differential. Benefits. Job Order # NY1388847

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Wednesday September 15, 2021

Job Title: Dining Services Manager City Morrisville, NY

Full time for a college auxiliary company. Duties: Supervise staff and food presentation for the dining facility at a local college. Requirements: Bachelors degree in food service, hospitality or business or a minimum of 3-4 years of food service operational and supervisory experience.

Pay: $22.06/hour. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389573

Thursday September 16, 2021

Job Title: Sales Associate-Hunting City Utica, NY

Full time for major retailer of outdoor sporting goods. Duties: Perform various selling and customer service activities in the stores Hunting department. Requirements: High School diploma or the equivalent and retail experience required. Candidates with experience in firearms safe handling and usage, or training through military or law enforcement agencies preferred.

Pay: Competitive pay. Benefits. Job Order # DF0707940

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Thursday September 16, 2021

Job Title: Public Safety Telecommunicator City Herkimer, NY

Full time for a 911 center. Duties: Monitor, dispatch and coordinate a variety of emergency and non-emergency services including fire, ambulance, and law enforcement. Requirements: High School diploma or the equivalent. Must be able to react quickly and calmly to emergency calls. All applicants will be subject to a background check.

Pay: Competitive pay. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389885

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Friday September 17, 2021

Job Title: Engineering Aide City: Oneida, NY

Full time, seasonal job with a local Public Works department. Duties: Assist on surveying parties and perform clerical work connected with engineering projects. Requirements: Graduation from high school with coursework in mathematics or one year of experience assisting on engineering projects; or any equivalent combination of training and experience sufficient to do the work.

Pay: $17.00/hour. Benefits. Job Order # NY1389379

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Friday September 17, 2021

Job Title: Centralized Scheduler City Utica, NY

Full time full time for a health and human services agency. Duties: Schedule patients clinical and medical sessions. Requirements: Associates Degree required. Bachelor's Degree preferred. Must have one year of employment experience in the Medical Records or Human Services field or an equivalent combination of training and experience.

Pay: Based on experience. Benefits. Job Order # DF0674530
NEW BERLIN, N.Y.  Chobani delivery trucks left the New Berlin facility Tuesday morning to bring about 300,000 products to those in need around the country.

More than 200,000 Chobani yogurt products are headed to those affected by Hurricane Ida, including the hard-hit residents of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York City, Louisiana and New Jersey. Another 100,000 products will also be provided to Afghan refugees living in temporary housing in the U.S. after fleeing Taliban rule in their country.

Keith Hunt // WKTV Keith Hunt // WKTV

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball was at the facility Tuesday morning to help pack the Chobani products and load them on the trucks.

Representatives from Chobani and The Center Executive Director Shelly Callahan were also there to assist with the effort.
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats are unveiling a sweeping proposal for tax hikes on big corporations and the wealthy to fund President Joe Bidens $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan.

The House released details on Monday as Congress speeds ahead to shape the far-reaching package touches almost all aspects of domestic life.

The proposed top tax rate would revert to 39.6% on couples earning more than $400,000, and there would be a 3% tax on wealthier Americans making beyond $5 million a year.

For big businesses, the proposal would lift the 21% corporate tax rate to 26.5% on incomes beyond $5 million. The tax hikes are in line with Bidens own proposals.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
Oneonta, N.Y. -- The Board of Trustees at Hartwick College announced on Monday that Dr. Margaret L. Drugovich will retire from the presidency of Hartwick College during the summer of 2022.

The President shared her decision in a letter to all members of the Board of Trustees and in a communication to the full College community.

"It has been my honor to lead Hartwick over these past 13 years, and to do so in partnership with the College's dedicated trustees and our entire community," said President Drugovich.

The Colleges Board of Trustees has initiated a formal search to choose Hartwicks 11th president. They hope to have a new leader by the start of the 2022-2023 academic year as the College celebrates the 225th anniversary of its founding.
Rome, N.Y. - The start of the school year in Rome was delayed one week this year due to the damage to Staley Elementary during last month's flooding, and students finally made their return on Monday.

It was a lot to undertake for the Rome City School District as not only did it have to deal with the relocation of students from Staley Elementary, which was flooded out last month and currently is unusable, into other elementary schools, but Monday was also day one for a new bus company.

Rome Schools Superintendent Peter Blake says amazingly everything ran as smooth as it possibly could have on Monday.

He says he may have a better idea on Tuesday as far as the bussing situation goes since only half of the high school students started on Monday. Each year the district lets the 9th and 10th graders come on the first day to get them acclimated in a less chaotic environment.

The juniors and seniors will begin on Tuesday.

Blake says the biggest thing on day one is always last minutes changes to the bussing stops, "Parents saying my kid is not going to ride the bus, a parent saying I want my kid to go to this house after school instead of the address you have on file, or pick me up at a different location, so unfortunately there's a lot of last-minute changes. I want to try to accommodate as many of those people as you can, that's going to create some bumps and bruises."

Blake says the moving of students from Staley into the district's other elementary schools took a lot of work by a lot of people in a very short amount of time, but Monday proved to be a big success, "The Staley closure was a big lift for the past two weeks. I spent most of my time today in the elementary buildings walking around, kind of seeing what that looks like and I've got to say our staff is tremendous, the teachers have acclimated well with each other. We've got a lot of great things happening. If you walk through our classrooms today at the elementary level you would've never known that three weeks ago we had seven elementary schools and not six. The teachers, administrators, the custodians, just did a fantastic job getting schools ready for today."

As far as the future of Staley Elementary, that is still up in the air as to whether it will be repaired or not, so the new schools the students from Staley have been put in, are now their permanent schools, at least for now.
Here's a look at the life of former US Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter.

Personal

Birth date: September 24, 1954

Birth place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Birth name: Ashton Baldwin Carter

Father: William Stanley Carter, a psychiatrist and neurologist

Mother: Anne (Baldwin) Carter

Marriages: Stephanie (DeLeeuw) Carter; Clayton Spencer (divorced)

Children: with Clayton Spencer: William, Ava

Education: Attended Edinburgh University, 1975; Yale University, B.A. in physics and medieval history, 1976 (summa cum laude); Oxford University, Rhodes Scholar, Ph.D. in theoretical physics, 1979

Other Facts

Carter has been awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal on several occasions.

"He's also a physicist, which means that he's one of the few people who actually understands how many of our defense systems work," said US President Barack Obama during his nomination announcement.

Regarding his academic interests in both physics and medieval history, Carter once said, "There was no relationship between them in my mind except that both fascinated me." He continued, "It has become a joke among all my friends that, intellectually, I have somehow managed to mix physics and medieval history. It might be an unorthodox combination, but it is an absorbing one."

Carter has served as a member of the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board, the Defense Policy Board, the Defense Science Board, and the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism.

Timeline

1980-1981 - Analyst in the Office of Technology Assessment, International Security and Commerce Program, US Congress.

1981-1982 - Analyst in program analysis and evaluation, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

1982-1984 - Serves as a research fellow within the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

1984-1986 - Assistant professor at the Center for Science and International Affairs (now the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs), John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

1986-1988 - Associate professor, Harvard University.

1988-1990 - Professor and associate director of the center at Harvard University.

1990-1993 - Serves as director of the Center for Science and International Affairs (now the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs), John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

1993-1996 - Serves as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, US Department of Defense.

1998 - Recipient of the Defense Intelligence Medal.

April 2009-October 2011 - Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics

August 2, 2011 - President Obama nominates Carter to replace Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III.

September 23, 2011 - The US Senate unanimously confirms Carter as the deputy secretary of defense.

October 6, 2011-December 3, 2013 - Deputy Secretary of Defense.

December 5, 2014 - President Obama nominates Carter to succeed Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Hagel's resignation was announced November 24, 2014.

February 12, 2015 - Is confirmed by the Senate, 93 to 5, to be the new secretary of defense.

February 17, 2015-January 19, 2017 - Serves as the 25th secretary of defense.

July 12, 2016 - Makes an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to meet with the country's leaders and visit with US forces who are battling a resilient Taliban. Carter's trip comes a week after President Obama's announcement 8,400 troops will remain in Afghanistan through the end of 2017, a higher number than the 5,500 troops originally planned.

March 28, 2017 - Harvard University's Kennedy School announces that Carter will join the school as a professor and as director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

March 29, 2017 - MIT announces Carter will serve as a visiting innovation fellow.

June 11, 2019 - Publishes his book, "Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon."

May 5, 2020 - Is elected to General Electric's Board of Directors.

The-CNN-Wire

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TIPPECANOE COUNTY (WLFI)  Fall Armyworms have made their way to the Midwest and have been causing damage.

Professor of Entomology at Purdue University, Christian Krupke, says were dealing with an infestation of fall armyworms.

This is the first year of a big infestation, said Krupke. "I've never seen this in the 16 years while I've been at Purdue.

Krupke says fall armyworms are native to Central and South America.

"It's a very uncommon occurrence, said Krupke. The damage they do is they have wiped out some of the fields in Indiana, and in Kentucky, and so on."

He says its not uncommon to find a few armyworms every year, especially in late planted corn. However hes never seen an infestation like this one.

"This year they're making a big stir because they're feeding on a lot of crops throughout the state, particularly hay and alfalfa crops, said Krupke. It's worldwide and it's probably one of the biggest insect pest in the word."

There are two types of armyworms; the regular armyworms and fall armyworms.

"Both armyworms get their name because once they wipe out a field they march in a large group just like soldiers in an army, said Krupke. You see them crossing roads and looking for the next field."

The regular armyworms usually can be found in May and June. Krupke says they only feed on grasses, including wheat and corn, but the fall armyworms are a different story.

"Fall armyworms occur in the fall, or close to fall as we're seeing, and it feeds on a much wider range of plants like broadleaf plants and young soybeans, said Krupke. In addition to the alfalfa hay, it can feed on corn as well. So it has a much wider strain and its worldwide a much more serious pest than the true armyworm.

Krupke says the large amount of fall armyworms were seeing in the Midwest is due to weather patterns.

"They fly high up in the atmosphere, in the jet stream actually, believe it or not, said Krupke. They get carried along those winds way up there. So the weather was favorable to bring them up from the south, carry them north, and dump them in parts of the north and in parts of the Midwest like where we are."

Krupke says they have mostly found fall armyworms in alfalfa fields, but that doesnt mean the insects dont cause damage to corn and soybeans.

It can impact corn and soybeans, said Krupke. But at the time of year they come in Indiana most of our soybeans that are planted at a conventional time, and our corn, are past the stage where they are vulnerable.

As the fall season gets underway, Krupke says were towards the end of the infestation.

However, farmers are still encouraged to check their fields.

They need to check their fields, especially alfalfa and if they still have larvae especially small ones, theyll need to treat them, said Krupke. Theyll need to apply a registered recommended insecticide.

Krupke says there are a few things farmers need to keep in mind if they're trying to get rid of fall armyworms.

Theyre most easy to find in the hours approaching darkness, said Krupke. If you really want to find them and spray them, dusk is a good time because the spray will directly encounter them.

Krupke says its hard to find the fall armyworms in the day.

You want to go out there in the fields when the insects are feeding in the evening, said Krupke. They hide during the day, mostly because birds will find them and eat them.

Fall armyworms cannot tolerate the cold, which is why Krupke says the upcoming winter will determine a lot.

"You don't need to think this is an annual event," said Krupke. "But it's also more likely to happen if we have warmer weather through the winter, because the winter is our big reset button."
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLF)  The father of twin boys killed in a fire has been sentenced for a second time in connection to the case. A judge on Monday has sentenced 38-year-old Brandon Abbott to 46 years in prison and six years on probation.

Abbott's three-year-old twins, Landon and Liam, died in the fire in April 2014. It happened at Abbott's home on Brandy Kay Court in Tippecanoe County. Investigators found an exploded propane tank at the scene, along with numerous items of drug-related contraband.

As News 18 previously reported, in 2015 Abbott pleaded guilty to two felony charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

He was sentenced to 70 years.

In 2019 a judge threw out that conviction and sentence and he was re-tried in June of this year.

A jury convicted him of 13 counts:
LOGANSPORT, Ind. (WLFI)  Marine Corporal Humberto Sanchez has been laid to rest.

The fallen hero was honored during his funeral Tuesday.

"We are here to honor this fallen Marine," said Indiana Patriot Guard Captain John Petro.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of Life Gate Church in Logansport Tuesday morning to honor Cpl. Sanchez.

"This is where we need to be today," Air Force Veteran Gary Stanley.

Stanley traveled from Carroll County to be a part of the funeral procession that included 150 motorcyclists.

"There is a family and a brotherhood and a kinship between veterans and Hoosiers and like-minded patriots," Stanley explained.

Sanchez, 22, was killed in August while serving on active duty in Kabul.

The news hit home for Stanley.

"It could have been one of us," Stanley said. "It could have been my mom and dad that were at that church today. So, I think that makes it very profound and very realistic for all of us. It connects us all."

Petro said participating in the procession is another way to pay respect to Sanchez.

"These people have shown up to escort this young man and to show his family honor and respect and that's what it's all about," Petro said.

Honor and respect to a man who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

"Their son's sacrifice is for our freedoms, and you can never repay that," said Petro.

Corporal Sanchez's burial took place in Mount Hope Cemetery in Logansport.

Petro is asking those who couldn't be there to honor him through a moment of silence.
WEST LAFAYETE, Ind. (WLFI) - The Purdue University Senate on Sept. 13 voted against making federal election days a civic day of service, which would give students the day off from classes to vote. The 26-53 decision came after lengthy discussion from both sides of the debate.

While some believed the University should use the day to make voting more accessible, others had concerns over the feasibility of such a measure. Some faculty members argued the measure would be redundant due to early voting ability, others felt losing a day of instruction would be too high a cost.

However, some Purdue students wish the senate had voted the other way. Freshman Samantha Szanti explains.

"I fell like it would allow more students to understand the importance of election day, it would allow them to go out and vote on election day obviously, and I think it would put a more impact for Purdue students in our community, and just the entirety of Indiana would be able to hear those opinions a lot better," Szanti said.

Freshman Mariam Ghoneiama agrees, and says the workload and responsibilities of being a college student could hold students back from voting early.

"I'm just a freshman and I'm already feeling that so upper class men probably have an even bigger workload so even though they do have a month, I believe that having a set day just to be able to go and vote would really make a big impact," Ghoneiama said.

Some in the University Senate briefly discussed excused absences as a solution, but it was never voted on or amended.

Freshman John Burrell thinks the University missed a chance to be a trendsetter.

"I wish the precedent would be set that students need time, but if they've made their decision they've made their decision. I don't know if there's going to be a lot of changing their mind at this point," Burrell said.

The University Senate also voted to condemn and object to the Board of Trustees vote on June 11 to require a civics literacy graduation requirement. The item, which contianed 8 total points (number 9 was amended out), was passed by a 66-10 margin.

Both items 20-57 (federal election day as a civic day of service) and 20-60 (regarding civic literacy as a graduation requirement) can be viewed in more detail.
A dancer from Bejing Dance Academy performs. [For China Daily]

Beijing Dance Academy will launch a nationwide tour with the first stop at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in the capital from Oct 28 to 31.

Over 20 young Chinese dancers will perform classic Chinese pieces which won top national dance awards, including traditional Chinese piece Dian Jiang Chun, or Crimson Lips Adorned, choreographed by Tong Ruirui, as well as new works choreographed by young choreographers from Beijing Dance Academy.

Veteran stage designer Ren Dongsheng will join in the shows with designs combing traditional Chinese culture elements and multimedia technology.

Beijing Dance Academy will launch a nationwide tour with the first stop at Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in the capital from Oct 28 to 31. [For China Daily]

(Source: China Daily)
The opening ceremony of the collection of artworks by elderly photographers, painters and calligraphers is held in Beijing on Thursday. The event aims to highlight the spiritual lives of people over 50 years of age and put their talents on display. [For chinadaily.com.cn]

The works of elderly photographers, painters and calligraphers will be collected and judged in an exhibition in Beijing next spring.

At ceremonies launching the effort on Thursday, various experts shared their opinions about the role of art in the healthcare of older people.

Presented by Health People, the healthcare channel of People's Daily Online, the activity will highlight the spiritual lives of people over 50 years of age and put their talents on display.

Zhen Wei, a professor at Beijing Normal University's School of Arts and Communication, said calligraphy and painting play an important role in the cultural lives of the elderly, and can help to maintain their bodies' sensitivity.

As China has entered a period in which the average age of the population is increasing, concerns about quality of life and health in one's later years, both physically and mentally, are also on the rise.

Zhang Wenhu, secretary-general of China's Partnership for Safe Medicines, said it was not the responsibility of individuals only but also of society in general to improve the lives of middle-aged and elderly people and to help them develop greater cultural literacy.

Lin Nan, president of Baishan pharmaceutical company, said drug companies also matter in protecting the health of older people afflicted with physical ailments.

"Adjustment to an aging society will become a practical and experimental mission for every responsible enterprise in China," Lin said.

The company has created and patented a package designed to help the elderly keep track of medications. It packs medicines by dosage, with reminders of when they should be taken.

The collection of artworks will end on March 31, 2022, with exhibition of selected works to follow from April 2 to 30. Experts will then make further selections, which will be revealed in June.

Elderly people who want to participate with their artworks can scan the QR code to join the activity.

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
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."

(Source: Xinhua)
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.

(Source: Xinhua)
Coronavirus vaccines for 12-15 year olds and booster jabs for over 50s given the go ahead in Wales

Coronavirus vaccines for 12-15 year olds in Wales have been given the go ahead, the health minister confirmed today.

The rollout for both children and booster jabs will begin next week.

The announcement was made at a press conference this afternoon.

In a statement Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: After careful consideration, on public health grounds, the UK CMOs recommend that all children and young people aged 12-15 not already covered by existing JCVI advice should be offered a first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The UK CMOs have decided that the additional likely benefits of reducing educational disruption and the resulting reduction in public health harm provide enough extra advantage to recommend in favour of vaccinating this group. In addition, there is a small advantage at an individual level as already identified by the JCVI.

In line with the other nations of the UK, I thank the CMO for the advice and agree with their recommendations. Our NHS will work in the next couple of weeks to begin offering a dose of vaccine to all children and young people aged 12-15.

We have a blended model of offering the vaccine with all health boards primarily inviting this age group to vaccination centres with some areas going through schools.

The strength of this model is that it is based on local knowledge and it is flexible and agile so it can change depending on the circumstances.

The vaccine is not mandatory and people can choose whether to have the vaccine or not. There will be appropriate information made available for children and young people and their parents to make up their minds about vaccination.

Parents or guardians will be asked to give consent. I encourage parents, guardians, children and young people to discuss together whether or not to have the vaccination.

Those over the age of 50, along with healthcare staff and care home workers and residents will also be offered a booster dose of either a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine  irrespective of which vaccine was given as a primary dose.

The third vaccine should be offered with a minimum 6-month interval after the 2nd dose.

Booster vaccines will be offered in the same way at the first two vaccines  with rollout expected to begin in Wales next week for NHS workers and care home staff and residents.

The single priority group lists:

Those living in residential care homes for older adults

All adults aged 50 years or over

Frontline health and social care workers

All those aged 16 to 49 years with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 (as set out in the Green Book), and adult carers

Adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals

Ms Morgan said: As most younger adults will only receive their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in late summer, the benefits of booster vaccination in this group will be considered at a later time, by the JCVI, when more information is available.

There may be opportunities to offer for the COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine to be co-administered, but this is only where timing and logistics allow.

We have been planning for an autumn booster with health boards over the summer months. I am confident our NHS is ready to deliver this and we will start next week by offering a Booster vaccine to people living and working in care homes and frontline health and social care staff.

It is important that those eligible under the JCVI advice receive a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, when they are called for an appointment, as there is the possibility of reduced immunity of their previous doses over time.

The vaccine continues to be the best way to prevent serious illness and the spread of COVID-19 and every eligible adult is urged to take-up both doses when asked and a booster dose, if eligible.
Australias overseas spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), actively assisted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in destabilising the Chilean government ahead of the bloody US-backed military coup on September 11, 1973.

Supporters of Chile's late President Salvador Allende carry a funeral wreath as they walks to the eastern entrance of La Moneda presidential palace, on the anniversary of the 1973 military coup and Allende's subsequent death, in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Declassified government documents, released from the National Archives of Australia in June, after a four-year legal battle, show that Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam eventually shut down the ASIS operation in April 1973, just five months before the coup. But that was only out of concern that if the public became aware of it, he would find it extremely difficult to justify our presence there.

Although heavily-redacted, the documents reveal that Whitlams predecessor, Liberal Prime Minister Billy McMahon, approved an ASIS request in December 1970 to open a base in Chiles capital Santiago, just weeks after Salvador Allendes Popular Unity government took office in November, following an election victory in September.

According to the US-based National Security Archive, ASIS apparently conducted covert operations in Chile, including handling CIA-recruited Chilean assets in Santiago and filing intelligence reports to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

One ASIS document, from December 1972, said the agency was using the British Embassys secure diplomatic pouch to transmit secret material to camouflage its activities in Chile.

These operations continued under the Whitlam Labor government, elected in December 1972, until April 1973, when Whitlam secretly ordered the then ASIS director, William Robertson, to shut down ASIS spy station.

Despite his knowledge of ASIS collaboration in the CIAs preparation for a military coup, Whitlam kept this information hidden from public view, throughout these critical months, and continued to do so for the rest of his life.

Whitlams primary concern was to prevent any publicity about the Chilean operation, for fear of the popular reaction that would make it so extremely difficult for him to justify the ASIS-CIA collaboration. He told Robertson that was why he was uneasy about the ASIS operation.

Whitlam was also concerned to end ASIS participation in a way that would not disrupt the CIAs ongoing activities to foment unrest and military coup plots against the Chilean government.

After the US Nixon administration failed to directly orchestrate a military takeover in 1971, its strategy to undermine the Allende government focussed on cultivating a coup climate by undermining the Chilean economy and conducting political disruption until the country became ungovernable.

Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam (Source: Wikimedia)

In a meeting on April 1, 1973, Whitlam instructed Robertson to close down the station in a way that would not offend the CIA. Whitlam agreed to Robertsons suggestions for phasing out operations. That involved returning management of the CIAs Chilean informants to the CIA, disposing of station equipment, destroying documents or returning them to Australia, and repatriating the Australian agents in Chile, at which point clandestine activity would cease.

In an April 6 note to file recording the discussion, Robertson wrote: The Prime Minister said that the last thing he wanted to do was to take precipitate action that would embarrass the CIA.

This had caused Whitlam a considerable amount of worry because he was very aware of the importance of this to the Americans and they would interpret his decision as anti-American, which it certainly was not.

He said that he was most concerned that the Americans should not believe that he, personally, necessarily disapproved of what they were doing in Chile, nor did he support Allende.

Robertson wrote to ASIS Santiago station officers to explain that Whitlam was most concerned that CIA should not interpret this decision as being an unfriendly gesture towards the US in general or towards CIA in particular.

As a result of Whitlams phase out plan, ASIS operations continued for about three more months. On July 1, barely two months before the military coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet, the ASIS station in Santiago reported to Canberra that it had shut down and all remaining station records etc. have been destroyed.

If Whitlam had publicly exposed the CIA plotting, making it known to the working class in Chile, as well as in Australia and the US, that may well have prevented the coup.

The Chilean workers had repeatedly proved they had the capacity, courage and determination to defeat a military putsch. In June 1973, in response to an abortive coup attempt, workers seized factories but were sent back to work by Allendes government.

Whitlams preoccupation was with proving that he did not support Allendes supposedly socialist government, and more broadly with mending his fences with Washington, including over the Vietnam War and the US bases in Australia, such as the Pine Gap satellite spy facility.

The ASIS documents, first sought in 2017, were finally released in late June this year, to former Australian army intelligence officer and academic Clinton Fernandes, who is seeking to have further files declassified.

The National Archives of Australia is required to release most records after 20 years, unless they are exempt.

So sensitive and damning is the material, however, that the current Liberal-National government and the intelligence agencies are insisting, in closed tribunal hearings, that to even confirm or deny the existence of records of ASIS operations, including in Chile, would harm Australias national interest.

The case is currently before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, but Attorney-General Michaelia Cash issued a public interest certificate opposing the release of the documents. This suppresses the release of any records from intelligence agencies, because disclosure would prejudice the security, defence or international relations of Australia.

Any disclosures could further expose the role of the Australian ruling elites partners. In the Five Eyes alliance, Australias agencies share files and cooperate with their counterparts in the US, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

The Allende government was a popular front coalition that included his social democratic Socialist Party, the Stalinist Communist Party and the bourgeois Radical Party. It suppressed workers struggles and politically disarmed workers, falsely assuring them that the military would respect democracy.

At least 3,000 workers, youth and peasants were murdered on the first day of the US-orchestrated coup in Chile, September 11, 1973. Thousands more were rounded up, and held in Santiagos National Stadium, along with other makeshift concentration camps throughout the country, where many were subjected to the most hideous forms of torture and executed.

During Pinochets brutal dictatorship from 1973 to 1990, anyone perceived to oppose the regime could be denounced, arrested, disappeared and executed. It is estimated that at least 50,000 out of a population of only 10 million were put to death by the fascist-military regime. Tens of thousands more were mprisoned and tortured. At least 200,000 people fled into exile.

The military dictatorship soon returned property, legally nationalised under Allende, to the US and other foreign multinationals. It abolished the right to strike and cut wage levels in half, within one year, while destroying millions of jobs.

In November 1975, for all his efforts to prove his worth to Washington, Whitlams own government was removed in a CIA-backed operation, driven by fears that the Labor government was unable to contain the working-class unrest in Australia, during this period of global turmoil.

The closest that Whitlam came to acknowledging the Chile operation was as opposition leader in 1977, after leaks from a royal commission that his government had initiated in 1975. He told parliament: It has been writtenI cannot deny itthat when my government took office Australian intelligence personnel were still working as proxies and nominees of the CIA in destabilising the government of Chile.

Now the truth of that filthy work, and Whitlams role in covering it up, is starting to emerge.
The spread of COVID-19 at Dana auto parts plants across the US is growing more dangerous and deadly. At the plant in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, an outbreak is taking place that places the lives of workers, their families and surrounding towns and cities at risk.

Workers at the Dry Ridge plant report that four workers are currently hospitalized, with at least one worker on a ventilator fighting for his life. The family of this worker have set up a GoFundMe page asking for contributions, as he is the familys main breadwinner.

The worker, whose name is Jeff, is very hardworking husband, father, brother, son and grandpa who unfortunately contracted COVID pneumonia and has been battling in the ICU for over a week now, according to the family. He currently is receiving treatment in the hospital and has had to be given a ventilator to help him breathe. Jeff has slowly showed signs of progress, but also has a long road to recovery. The family concluded, We really appreciate the love and support.

The Dry Ridge plant should be considered a superspreader location. However, Dana is sending teams of workers from plants in Warren, Michigan, and Columbia, Missouri, to Dry Ridge to make up production quota shortfalls likely caused by the fact that so many workers at the plant are out sick. As a result, those workers are at high risk of bringing the virus from Dry Ridge back to their home plants.

Danas company policy is to allow infections to spread even in some cases where they are detected. According to an internal Covid Exposure Flowchart acquired by the World Socialist Web Site, Danas official COVID policy is to force workers who test positive, but are vaccinated and no longer exhibiting symptoms, to return to work. Those who are asymptomatic can still spread the virus, however, virtually guaranteeing that they will expose their coworkers. If a vaccinated worker is exposed, but never develops symptoms in the first place, the companys policy is to not even bother to test them at all.

Leaked document shows Dana policy is to force contagious workers to return to the plant if they are vaccinated an asymptomatic.

Danas decision to force workers to risk their lives has impressed Wall Street. Although Dana pleads poverty with workers, the corporate credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings admitted in a statement yesterday that Danas strong liquidity position and financial flexibility helped it manage through the worst of the [coronavirus] pandemic relatively well.

Fitch added: Danas ratings also incorporate the expected improvement in global end-market conditions as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic wane, as well as steps that the company has taken to increase [profit] margins. Those steps include forcing speedups in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

Fitch also reported that Dana produces parts for vehicles that are relatively less affected by a global microchip shortage that has impacted some vehicle production, meaning the Big Three would be directly hit by a strike by Dana workers.

As Dana executives and shareholders celebrate the favorable reviews from Wall Street, anger is growing among workers who are tired of risking their lives for a corporation that takes next-to-no precautions to protect workers.

Referring to the WSWSs initial report on the outbreaks at Dana, a worker at the Dana plant in Toledo, Ohio, told the World Socialist Web Site: I can confirm at Toledo there is hardly a standard for COVID-19 cases. Our own safety managers never have their masks on. We are never informed if anyone has tested positive or if were in close contact. There is no mandated cleaning or sterilization, and the company hasnt fogged the lines since last year. On top of that, its incredibly hot inside the plant. No ventilation in the bathrooms and some of the ceiling fans above the work floor have been broken for over a month.

These conditions take place in union shops organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Steelworkers (USW). Workers are only at work right now because the UAW and USW are extending an expired contract that allows such brutal conditions.

In the past two weeks, over 90 percent of Dana workers voted down a tentative agreement for a five-year contract that maintained or worsened the conditions enforced under the previous contract. The unions are presently forcing workers to stockpile parts for the company in case of a strike. The USW admitted on September 10 that it is extending the contract because without an extension the company is allowed to discontinue automatic dues collection.

In an interview with the World Socialist Web Site yesterday, a former Dana worker in Paris, Tennessee, explained how mandated overtime increases 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. 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.

Meanwhile, the company remains very vulnerable to a strike, which the UAW and USW are doing everything they can to prevent.

Dana workers say they are studying a September 5 article published by the Associated Press titled How long will car prices stay sky-high due to a parts shortage, which explains that auto parts workers are currently occupying a critical chokehold over the global auto industry.

The article warns of a worsening supply shortage that involves not just computer chips but other parts. Because of the virus and a general labor shortage, auto parts makers might not be able to make up for lost production.

With consumer demand still high, automakers feel little pressure to discount their vehicles, the AP article notes. The average price of a new vehicle sold in the US in August hit a record price of just above $41,000.

Yesterday, the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee (DWRFC) published a statement entitled, The COVID-19 outbreak at Dana plants puts our lives in danger! Close all Dana plants now! Full pay for time off!

The DWRFC is a network of workers formed to share information, encourage democratic discussion among the rank-and-file and plan common action. The statement reads, The Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly through Dana plants, putting our lives and the lives of our loved ones at risk of death or lifelong debilitation. The corporations will shut production when they run out of parts, but not for COVID outbreaks. In the eyes of the company and the UAW and USW, a dead worker can be replaced but a missing axle cannot be.

The DWRFC calls for to building rank-and-file strike committees to mobilize all workers in each plant in support of four demands:

An immediate shutdown of all plants to stop the spread of COVID. Immediate publication of COVID case information daily, at every plant. Payment of full wages during any quarantine. A contract with a 40-hour week, eight-hour day, and 75 percent wage increase.

Workers must not be forced to choose between infection and eviction while the company and unions profit.

Join the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee by emailing us at danawrfc@gmail.com or texting us at (248) 6020936.
With schools now open for the autumn term, UK schoolchildren are being placed in grave danger. Since the government reopened the economy and relaxed all restrictions, COVID -19 cases have soared.

Daily UK cases were 29,173 on September 12, with deaths hitting 971 over the previous seven daysup 22.6 percent. Cases rose highest, by 42 percent, among 1019-year-olds in the week ending September 4, according to Public Health England (PHE).

On Monday, a Downing Street press conference announced that the UKs four Chief Medical Officers are recommending 12-15-year-olds take up the vaccine to prevent further disruption to education. Vaccination will not be mandatory and does not apply to the under 12s.

SEP campaign stall in Manchester (WSWS Media)

While vaccination usually provides protection against more severe disease, many people who are hospitalised have been vaccinated. Vaccination does not provide 100 percent protection from becoming infected or prevent transmission.

The decision to extend the vaccination programme is not motivated by concern over the welfare of children, or the education of disadvantaged children, but the fear that rising cases will mean parents having to stay at home instead of making profits for the big corporations. Throughout the pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government has minimised the dangers to children, and denied that schools are major vectors of transmission.

On September 2, PHE released revised guidance for schools, including the abandonment of previous albeit limited mitigation measures like mask wearing and sending bubbles home, declaring, Whilst the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection in children and young people has remained low throughout the pandemic, the vast majority of children and young people who get COVID-19 only have very mild symptoms and some will have no symptoms at all.

For the Conservative government the lives of the 80 children who died from the virus during the pandemic do not matter, nor the tens of thousands with Long COVID.

The BMJ (formerly, the British Medical Journal) addressed an open letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson dated September 3, castigating the government for Allowing mass infection of children.

Children have suffered significant harms from covid-19, the letter explained. In just the past two months there have been over 2,300 hospitalisations of under 18s in England. There are an estimated 34, 000 children living with long covid in the UK already Up to one in seven of those infected are expected to have persisting symptoms at 12-15 weeks. Long covid can be associated with multisystem disease in some children, including persistent cognitive symptoms.

When schools reopened in Scotland on August 19, COVID cases surged to the highest level at any time during the pandemic. COVID related absences reached a new high of 38,361 on Tuesday, despite the continuation of mask wearing there.

Dingwell Academy in the Scottish Highlands had to close due to staff self-isolating. Second year pupils at Inverness High School were waiting for Covid test results after an outbreak in class.

In Northern Ireland, hundreds of children were sent home. More than 3,500 people aged five to 19 tested positive in the week to September 7.

Eighteen schools in the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area sought advice from the Education Authority relating to Covid cases. Around 400 pupils from Larne High School stayed home on September 6 after contact with a positive case.

The Northern Ireland Assembly was recalled to debate a motion expressing its significant concern with increasing reports of pupil absences due to the Covid-19 situation in our schools. Rather than closing schools to stem transmission, however, Stormont decided on a more targeted approach to contact tracing to be done by the Public Health Agency, measures which will facilitate transmission.

In line with the rest of the UK, close contacts are redefined so pupils in the same class as a positive case will not routinely be asked to isolate and take a test. Students identified as close contacts will not have to self-isolate for 10 days, but can return to class if they test negative or have no symptoms on day two of their absence. They must take another coronavirus polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on day eight.

Given that it can take a week for the virus to incubate, this is madness.

The new PHE guidance states if you are fully vaccinated or aged under 18 years and six months you will not be required to self-isolate if you are a contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

Someone tweeted on SafeEdForAll (Safe Education for All), My eight-year olds friend and mum have Covid, sister seems fine so keeps going to school to mix with 500 plus and other families, including six classes at a time in poorly ventilated assembly and lunch halls.

Another tweet read, Department for Educations new pandemic policy means a childs entire household could have Covid, and they can still attend schoolunless a child voluntarily takes a test which shows positive or if they overtly show symptoms. This isnt minimising disruption in schools; this is hiding it.

In England, 59 pupils at the Stamford Endowed Schools, Lincolnshire were isolating from September 9 after testing positive. Positive cases were reported at Shirley Manor Primary Academy in Bradford.

According to data published by SafeEdForAll, there were 62 UK school outbreaks for week ending September 13. This will be an underestimation, as there is no official publication of schools with Covid infections either by the government or the trade unions. The outbreaks are only tracked thanks to parent Daniella Modos-Cutter.

Throughout the pandemic, the education unions promoted the fiction that with mitigation measures alone schools can be made safe.

The National Education Union along the with the GMB, Unison and Unite published Coronavirus: joint union safety checklist for schools for the autumn term. This leaves it to individual union representatives (reps) to make risk assessments and negotiate limited mitigation measures with management on a school-by-school basis. Reps victimised for fighting for safety measures can expect no help from the unions.

Labour Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green, whose party is fully committed to keeping unsafe schools open, said she couldnt understand why the government no longer requires masks to be worn in schools when infection rates are higher than they were when masks were required. Yet many parents who keep their children off school are bullied by Labour controlled authorities, and either forced to deregister their children or face fines and imprisonment. Their defiance is an expression of the fact that the working class is not prepared to live with the virus.

***

On Saturday, Socialist Equality Party members campaigned in central Manchester with the statements, The Eradication of Covid-19 is the only way to stop the pandemic and Oppose the return to Schools: Children and educators lives matter.

The statements make clear that it is possible to end the pandemic, but what is required is a mass mobilisation of the working class, independent of the trade unions. This movement must fight for a global strategy involving an array of public health measures including vaccination, strict lockdown of non-essential industries and the closure of schools. The alternative is mass deaths, illness and the possible emergence of variants immune to the current vaccines.

A passer-by commented, I really agree with what you are doing. Its got to be based on the data.

A teacher explained, Its all back to normal. They dont wear masks. Even the test and trace isnt working. You have to get the consent of parents before you can test and trace. I dont feel safe as a teacher.

Biomedical graduate Aisha said of the Johnson government, We had such a slow response to the whole pandemic. They didnt do anything until the last minute. Thats whats happening now. Everyones mixing, no masks, everythings going back to normal, forget living in a pandemic!

All the festivals are going ahead, theres no social distancing, a perfect place [for the virus] to breed. Weve had so many failed lockdowns. Eradication is the ideal measure.

Aishas sister Laiba, a Year 8 schoolgirl, said she wanted to be vaccinated against Covid: It would be good. We should be wearing masks, even if we do get vaccinated, especially in schools. We have to wear masks on buses, but not in school where its crowded. Good luck!

Aisha (right) with Laiba (WSWS Media)

To take forward the struggle to end the pandemic based on a scientifically based policy of eradication, join the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee today.
Under an executive order from President Joe Biden, the FBI declassified an FBI report on Saturdaythe twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacksshowing that there were links between former representatives of the Saudi Arabian government and the hijackers.

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud (Credit: en.kremlin.ru)

Although the 16-page report, dated April 4, 2016, is redacted, it contains important details about an investigation by the FBI into the support given by a Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles to at least two of the men who hijacked commercial airliners on September 11, 2001.

Entitled, ENCORE Investigation Update, Review and Analysis: Interview [Redacted] (NOV 2015), the FBI report reviews connections and witness testimony regarding the activity of the suspected intelligence agent Omar al-Bayoumi and says that he was deeply involved in providing travel assistance, lodging and financing to help the two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.

The report says that what had been previously portrayed in the official 9/11 Commission Report of 2004 as a chance meeting between al-Bayoumi and the two future hijackers was in fact a preplanned and well-orchestrated rendezvous at a restaurant. Purportedly attending San Diego State University as part of a work-study program paid for by a contractor with the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, al-Bayoumi was characterized by the 9/11 Commission report to be an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamic extremists.

The document from Operation Encore, the codename of the FBI investigation, also says that Saudi diplomat and Islamic Affairs official Fahad al-Thumairy had tasked an associate to help al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar when they arrived in Los Angeles and told the associate that the men were two very significant people.

Al-Hazmi and Al-Mihdhar were two of the five terrorists who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport and flew the Boeing 757 into the Pentagon, killing all 64 aboard and another 125 people in the building.

The FBI release is the first of what is expected to be several documents in response to the September 3 executive order signed by President Biden on Declassification of Certain Documents Concerning the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. Bidens order stated, Information collected and generated in the United States Governments investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks should now be disclosed, except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.

This is the first official US acknowledgement that a relationship existed between individuals connected to the government of Saudi Arabia and the attacks that occurred twenty years ago, attacks that became the basis for international war crimes against Afghanistan and Iraq, rendition to black sites, torture and indefinite detention at Guantanamo Bay as well as an assault on numerous fundamental rights contained in the US Constitution. It is significant that an FBI document based on an interview conducted nearly six years ago is now confirming what has been widely known since 2001.

Family members of those killed on 9/11 responded to the FBI document with blunt statements. Brett Eagleson, whose father died at the World Trade Center, said, Today marks the moment when the Saudis cannot rely on the U.S. government from hiding the truth about 9/11. Terry Strada of the group 9/11 Families United said, Now the Saudis secrets are exposed, and it is well past time for the Kingdom to own up to its officials roles in murdering thousands on American soil.

Jim Kreindler, who represents families suing Saudi Arabia, said the report validates their case. This document, together with the public evidence gathered to date, provides a blueprint for how al-Qaida operated inside the US with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government.

A statement from the Saudi embassy said: No evidence has ever emerged to indicate that the Saudi government or its officials had previous knowledge of the terrorist attack or were in any way involved in its planning or execution. Any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false.

The administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump all blocked public access to any FBI documents regarding Saudi Arabian involvement with al-Qaeda on the grounds that it risked significant harm to the national security of the US. However, the existence of Operation Encore, which dates back to 2007, was revealed in an investigative report based largely on anonymous sources published by ProPublica in January 2020. ProPublica said at the time that the Encore investigation exposed a bitter rift within the bureau over the Saudi connection.

The revelations contained in the declassified document raise many more questions regarding Saudi Arabias role and that of US intelligence agencies in the events of 9/11. As explained by the World Socialist Web Site on Saturday, not only did the Saudis al-Thumairy and al-Bayoumi facilitate the two 9/11 hijackers in California, but both al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar lived in the home of the main FBI informant in the Muslim community of San Diego.

The Saudi connection is so sensitive not only because it involves US imperialisms principal ally in the Arab world, but because the intimate ties between Saudi and US intelligence agencies raise troubling questions about how it was possible that no one in the CIA, FBI or other agencies was aware of the hijackers plans, even though several of them had been under CIA surveillance and were on FBI watch lists as they freely entered and moved about the United States.
Dr. Gasperowicz

Dr. Malgorzata (Gosia) Gasperowicz is a developmental biologist and a researcher at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. She earned her Masters at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology in Gdansk, Poland, and a Ph.D. in biology at Albert Ludvig University of Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Gasperowicz is a co-founder of ZeroCOVIDCanada, a member of COVIDisAirborne, and a member of the World Health Network (WHN). Since the pandemic's beginning, she has been analyzing the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spread and communicating this scientific understanding to the public via social and traditional media. She also advocates for better pandemic response policies.

Benjamin Mateus (BM): Dr. Gasperowicz, thank you for taking the time to sit for this interview. Your contribution to our recent Science Webinar on the COVID-19 pandemic was very valuable in providing a scientific explanation of the need to eradicate the coronavirus. How are things now in Alberta with the surge? And could you perhaps, for those unfamiliar with your work, begin by telling us how and why you initiated Zero COVID in Canada, and why you are advocating for eradication?

Malgorzata Gasperowicz (MG): Yes, of course. Thank you for allowing me to participate.

Well, the situation in Alberta is also horrible, like in the US. The number of cases has been climbing rapidly since July. We are currently in the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Im in the Protect Our Province Alberta group. Its a grassroots movementthere are doctors, scientists, engineers, educators, actors, activists and concerned citizens in the groupthat started with street protests because our public officials announced that they would stop testing, tracing and isolating. Two weeks straight, we held rallies every day. We have also been engaged in making public announcements to tell the public what is happening and what we need to do because our health officials arent. But they didnt do anything. They just watched the numbers grow exponentially. And now our ICUs are full again. The group recently decided that we had to push harder, calling for action. Thats where we are now.

[New cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, Canada, had rapidly declined from the peaks in early May,when daily new COVID cases had reached 2,000 per day, down to less than 30 a day in mid-July. Despite this progress, on July 1, 2021, the province prematurely reopened and also decided, later on, to stop mass testing and isolation requirements. Since then, cases have skyrocketed,with deaths beginning to escalate and the health care sector pushed to overcapacity.]

Daily COVID-19 cases in Alberta, Canada

As to how I started advocating for Zero COVID, Im one of the co-founding members, but it was a sort of amalgamation of people. It began at first with me and three other women chatting on Twitter, having private conversations on what was happening last summer. We discussed how the cases were growing and growing, but nobody was doing anything about it. We knew that it had to be stopped, that the chains of transmissions had to be contained; otherwise, it would grow exponentially. This thing wouldnt just stop by itself.

I was following Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam at the time, and there were others too, and we all met on Twitter. A person in this group, who has remained anonymous, was also in EndCoronavirus and was very active in connecting people through social media by commenting on chats and spreading the idea of how to end the pandemic. She was able to communicate with different professors, epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists, educating them on why zero was so important, why elimination was so important and how to achieve it through green-zone or bubble strategies.

[EndCoronavirus is an international volunteer coalition and networking hub that aims to develop and promote community-based solutions for policymakers, businesses,and individuals. The organization was founded on February 29, 2020, by Professor Bar-Yam, president of the New England Complex Systems Institute based out of Boston, Massachusetts. Bar-Yam specializes in the quantitative analysis of pandemics.]

After the summer, during the second wave, many people began to think similarly about the possibility of ending the pandemic. Out of this amalgamation grew momentum. We started writing letters to policymakers and tried having talks with them on these issues.

On April 2, 2021, we published an open letter directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Minister of Health Patty Hajdu, Dr. Theresa Tam, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and provincial and territorial leaders, explaining the dangers of the third wave and failures of the current mitigation strategies. We wrote that we could either aim to eliminate the virus or risk igniting a wildfire all over again, which is what is happening.

BM: In listening to you, I cant help but sense that the pandemic concerns you deeply. How did you first become engaged with it? What were your first memories of it?

MG: It was sometime after mid-February 2020. I was preparing to go to a scientific conference in Italy scheduled for the second week of March. And of course, on February 20, the outbreaks started in Bergamo and other towns in Italy. I knew right then that I couldnt go because it was a growing disaster there. That was when the pandemic became real to me. I started paying close attention to where it was spreading, really watching the [epidemiological] curves. First in Italy and then in France and recognizing that it would soon be coming to Canada.

I immediately started bombarding politicians with letters warning them that it was coming, and we were on this trajectory with exactly the same steep growth as in Italy and France. The only difference was that we were just several weeks behind them. What was happening there was going to happen here. I sent those letters to many member of our provincial legislative assembly and all the city councilors in Calgary.

BM: Is your field of study also in epidemiology?

MG: No, no. I am a developmental biologist. I wasnt trained in epidemiology. But analyzing the spread of COVID-19 is very similar to the data I would investigate in the experiments I conduct. Whether it would be the weight of embryos and placentas in mice, or the number of cells growing on a Petri dish, or the number of COVID-19 cases in a particular region, the analysis and approach are similar. The common thing is that it has the time component, which allows me to see the dynamics of the growth or decline. And I use the same tools I used in my Masters study in biotechnology. My thesis was on the kinetics of enzymes.

BM: I would like to read a quote from President Bidens speech before asking my question. He said, A distinct minority of Americans and elected officials are keeping us from turning the corner. These pandemic politics are making people sick, causing unvaccinated people to die. 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. How would you respond to this statement, and can we, as he implies, vaccinate our way out of this pandemic?

MG: No, its not possible. Delta is twice more transmissible than the original variant. And we dont have a sterilizing vaccine [which is the ability for the vaccine to generate an immune response to stop a pathogen, including viruses, from replicating within someones body. The smallpox vaccination provides sterilizing immunity, as an example]. The vaccines are also not 100 percent efficient against transmission, which means even if we vaccinated 100 percent of the population, we would continue to see community transmission with this highly transmissible strain.

Lets assume, and this is a close approximation, that the vaccine is 60 percent efficient against transmission. If we wanted to stop the spread of the virus, reduce its reproductive growth number to less than one and reach the herd immunity threshold, we would need to vaccinate 140 percent of the population, which is mathematically not possible. In other words, to get back to normalcy using a vaccination-only strategy is impossible if, at the same time, society operates as if we were still in 2018, where everything is completely open.

In such a strategy, the coronavirus would still spread very fast while it mutates. If the virus didnt mutate, we might get away with it by giving ourselves booster shots. But because it mutates, evolves and gets better and better at what it does, we are dealing with an impossible situation if we rely only on vaccines.

By letting it spread among vaccinated people, we are applying evolutionary pressures on the virus to learn to evade immunity established by vaccination. And as it becomes better at evading immunity, the vaccines that we are currently using will become inefficient even in protecting us from severe outcomes.

Effects of vaccines and public health measures on virus spread

BM: The terms elimination, eradication, and mitigation are well-defined terms in public health. Can you define these so that the readers understand how these terms apply to the present discussion?

MG: Elimination is stopping community transmission in a particular geographical area. This means driving locally derived cases to zero. Though it can still be imported from somewhere else, it isnt actively transmitting in a region. As a strategy, elimination means decision-makers propose policies to stop all community transmission, and if cases are imported, these are stamped out quickly to drive numbers back down to zero.

Eradication is when we eliminate the given pathogen or biological organism everywhere on the planet, except for, perhaps, in scientific laboratories used for their study. But it is not present in any population on Earth.

And then, there is mitigation, which attempts to place temporary public health measures and different controls to slow down the spread. It is essentially a reactive strategy used to prevent overwhelming healthcare systems.

BM: Would China be a country that is employing elimination as a strategy?

MG: Yes, China would be such an example. Atlantic Canada as well. New Zealand and some of the Australian states. But now, there are regions in Australia under intense pressure to adopt mitigation strategies that are driving numbers up. [Cases in Australia have been climbing exponentially throughout much of July and August, climbing to seven-day averages of 1,700 cases per day, primarily caused by the Delta variant.]

Essentially every western country is using mitigation as a strategy to contain the virus. This means the policymakers are allowing the virus to spread until they strain the healthcare system's capacity, forcing them to reduce the number of cases, and hospitalizations, and ICU admissions. But it is only then that these stronger measures are taken. And as soon as numbers go down, they open again, lifting all restrictions, and the virus begins to spread once more, overwhelming hospitals again.

I remember watching in horror after the first wave in my province in Alberta when cases were down to just ten per day. The government decided to relax all restrictions and reopen. If we had persisted for just one month with the same measures in place, we could have driven cases down to zero, we could have stopped all community transmission. But they decided to reopen, and I knew cases would start growing again. And it did begin to grow almost immediately, but slowly at first. And then we had the massive second wave after schools reopened and people came back from the summer holidays.

Early on, when the outbreaks were just taking place across Europe, I was trying to explain to people why the concept of zero was so important, but I think I failed in this. In the beginning, I thought they didnt have the correct information and were taking the matter too lightly. And I thought the policymakers, as individual people, needed accurate information. So, I wrote them emails and sent them letters explaining the math behind it, hoping they would read it, understand the dangers. I wanted them to realize that we needed to control travel, impose mandatory quarantines for travelers from everywherefrom Italy, from Europe, and not just from Wuhan, Chinaand that could have possibly prevented the start of the pandemic here.

Once the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic, the decision-makers began implementing emergency measures. It was almost a magic wordpandemic. It began to work immediately, bending the curve down, including the number of severe cases. Then I thought, They will solve it. We will figure out this pandemic. But then, in May, just before the reopening, they started to say, We have to learn to live with the virus. And this scared me[Pause]

I am trying to think about how I want to express my thoughts. World War II came to my mind as I was speaking. I am from Poland, and my grandmother lived during the war. She would tell me stories of the German occupation.

So, its like you have an enemy army invading your country. But your government tells you, Sorry, but we have to learn to live with it. They will kill some people, maybe not everybody, at the same time. If its just gradual, then its okay.

That was my immediate association when I heard we had to live with it. It was giving up. This virus is an enemy, and they were essentially saying that if it killed some people without overwhelming the hospitals, its okay. That is a horrible message.

BM: That is a great comparison and one that I think is very appropriate. Given that we have seen these recurring patterns of response in Canada, the US, and across Europe, what does that tell you about capitalist society and the people running the governments?

MG: Well, its very saddening. Its something that I would have preferred never to have learned about society. It is a terrifying realization that we live in something that is very dysfunctional and uncaring. I thought that the West had done its homework. But it hadnt, and it is horrific.

For instance, after the first devastating wave that killed so many, the message was that it was okay because it was mainly the old who were dying. That was terrible. The message was that we dont care about these people, we dont need them.

This sentiment has been very present in Europe for the last 20 years. From time to time, you would read headlines that we have this demographic disaster in Europe; Our society is aging; What will we do with the costly pension plans and such? They were making a case that an aging society is a real social problem. And then came the virus that magically solved their dilemma.

Instead of respecting the elderly and protecting them, we have let the virus kill them. If the virus were killing those in their 20s to 40s, we might have seen the pandemic over in weeks. It would have been treated seriously. But because it was killing the elderly, nobody reacted fast or took it seriously. Even now, the virus kills more elderly than any other age group.

Also, there was an excellent graph from a report done in Ontario  it was from many months agoI will send it to youbut they looked at the income distribution for COVID cases. Specifically, how many infections occurred based on income range by household. The highest group was earning more than $150,000 per year. The infection rate in this group was minimal, while the infection rate in the group earning less than $30,000 per year was five or six times higher if I remember correctly.

Another study showed that more people from low socioeconomic status were getting infected, being admitted into hospitals and dying compared to privileged groups.

Yet, those earning more than $150,000 per year are the ones making the decisions to fight the pandemic. And these decision-makers who happen to be living in Zero COVID bubbles are telling the rest of us that Zero COVID is impossible, that we have to learn to live with the consequences of the disease. They dont realize how privileged they are, that their reality is entirely different from the reality of most people. They are completely detached from these problems.

Telling someone earning more than $300,000 per year to learn to live with the virus is very different from telling someone earning less than $30,000 every year. For instance, a single mother who must work some precarious job, maybe even two jobs to make ends meet, is completely immersed in the pandemic, while the privileged who are sheltered by their wealth can live without the threat posed by the virus.

To be continued
College faculty at over a dozen campuses in Georgia started a week-long, daily protest yesterday to demonstrate opposition against the University System of Georgias (USG) COVID-19 policies, which are forcing professors, adjuncts and graduate students to lecture in-person and to teach in schools that have no masks or vaccine mandates.

Georgia University (uga.edu)

The protest in Georgia is an expression of burgeoning anger nationwide over the return to in-person instruction as the Delta variant of the virus is fueling a rise in deaths and hospitalizations.

The protests this week in Georgia follow a string of demonstrations that have sprung up in recent days among educators against the back-to-school campaign being promoted in K-12 and higher education, leading to scores of youth dying or becoming severely ill.

Faculty at the University of Tennessee protested in Knoxville last week for adequate safety measures, while University of South Carolina faculty launched a social media campaign on September 7 highlighting the risks posed to their unvaccinated children and the explosive growth of hospitalizations. At Georgias Columbus State, a demonstration was held last week by faculty and students who held up signs reading Mask it or casket and Dont make CSU = COVID Spreader University.

Leading up to this weeks campus demonstrations, a professor at Georgia College in Milledgeville resigned last week to protest USGs failure to mandate masks for students in classrooms. The instructor, Meredith Styer, made the decision to leave after one of her students refused to wear a mask during a class session, despite Styers admission that she had a family member with serious health problems who could not get vaccinated. Styer resigned once college officials refused to take any action to safeguard her health. The University later cited state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines exempting students from mask requirements while in class.

In an interview with 13WMAZ news, Styer conveyed the dangerous and antiscientific nature of the pandemic policies being pursued in colleges and backed by the right-wing Republican Governor Brian Kemp as well as Joe Bidens White House, along with federal health agencies such as the CDC. This is about a policy that absolutely puts students at risk in opposition to the agreed upon consensus of public health and epidemiology experts, Styer noted.

In a statement replying to the concerns of Styer, Georgia College said they were strongly encouraging all students and faculty to become vaccinated and wear face coverings but remained opposed to requiring both health measures on campus. The University justified this deadly policy by pointing to CDC guidelines issued this past summer on college reopenings.

The CDC has given a green light for administrators to forgo mask requirements if all students, faculty and staff are fully vaccinated prior to the start of the semester, something most colleges are not tracking, let alone requiring, for entry onto campuses.

Styers experience is representative of faculty opposition statewide, with faculty at over 16 college departments spanning 19 campuses demanding this week for university administrators institute the limited mitigation measuresmask and vaccine mandatesto protect the wellbeing of educators and students. Even if such measures were strictly implemented, any serious effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and development of new variants requires the halt to in-person education combined with an internationally coordinated initiative to stamp out the virus.

At the University of Georgia in Athens (UGA), one professor and participant in the demonstrations said he was defying the state and universitys policies by requiring masks for all students who come to his class in-person. UGA math teacher Joseph Fu told USA Today that he was at risk of being fired since he was flouting the Universitys rule that faculty not require their students to wear face coverings.

Fu pointed to widespread fears among colleagues who share similar safety concerns but who seemed intimidated by the prospect of terminations resulting from taking action against administrators. The professor said his colleagues think Im a little bit crazy. But a lot of them are also afraid about being on a campus where there are no masks or vaccine mandates. I see the fear in them every day.

Colleges across the state are still resuming in-person teaching despite infections spiking upward as a direct result of students congregating on campuses with little to no safety precautions in place. Georgia Tech reported 343 new cases since the start of the school year on August 23. Georgia State University reported that 7.7 percent of more than 32,000 of its students have tested positive for the coronavirus thus far. The University of Georgia saw cases jump to more than 500 in one week, with UGA reporting 505 cases the week of August 6, up from 474 the week before.

Contrary to claims that reopening college campuses can be done without contributing to wider transmission in communities, the recent outbreaks in Georgias schools have contributed tremendously to the growth of new cases in the state. Numbers from the Georgia Department of Health showed caseloads among those ages 18 to 29 as the group most infected with the disease, totaling more than 250,000 out of 1.45 million of the states total cases.

Despite the determination of Georgia faculty to teach under safe conditions, many have expressed frustration at the minimal character of the demonstrations, which are not being conducted as a work stoppage. Under Georgias repressive and reactionary labor laws, strikes among public employees are illegal and participants would risk losing their jobs.

Organizations tied to the demonstrations, such as the Georgia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), have sought to issue assurances to administrators and local officials that the protests would not undermine campus operations. Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia AAUP, said, this is not a strike, work stoppage or teach-out, and that classes will continue at their appointed time, and education will not cease.

Significantly, this weeks protesters have not been organized by the main major trade union for Georgias college faculty, the United Campus Workers of Georgia (UCWG). The UCWG staged a one-day die-in protest at Georgia State University last Thursday, which has been the only action the union has taken amid the newest surge of the virus. In fact, the homepage of UCWG Local 3265 does not even mention the protests that are occurring this week nor are any labor actions being planned. Among the websites most recent statements is an open letter issued by a UCWG chapter at Georgia Southwestern University which urged the USG to implement a mask mandate, i.e., asking the board to put in place policies that will surely be refused.

The UCWGs feckless response is mirrored in the stance being taken by every teachers union, with all moving in lockstep with the Biden administrations demand that young people be herded into schools and onto campuses. For primary and secondary education in particular, children are to be placed in unsafe classrooms so that parents can return to work so profits can be maintained for corporations and big business.

While the actions of faculty and staff are an expression of immense determination to fight for scientific and necessary health measures, USG officials have shrugged off the dire warnings being made and remain steadfast in their reckless reopening strategy. USGs Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney defended the university systems stand against mask mandates on Thursday during a meeting of the Board of Regents. MacCartney pointed to inadequate steps the universities were taking against the pandemic, including distributing masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and COVID-19 tests as reasons to continue in-person instruction.

Following the line dictated by Governor Kemp, who has opposed mask mandates at schools and workplaces, MacCartney declared, The health and safety protocols are in place. This is in stark contrast to the health and safety protocols being advocated for by epidemiologists and health experts who say nothing short of shutting down schools and nonessential production, combined with rigorous mitigation efforts like masking, social distancing, and contract tracing are indispensable to eradicate the virus.

Like other governors across the country, Kemp has opposed issuing a state mandate for mask wearing in schools this fall and has given the green light for local districts to pursue their own masking and quarantine policies. The results have been disastrous, as the states Department of Public Health indicated in the first week of September that more than half of Georgias outbreaks were concentrated in K-12 schools. More than two dozen Georgia teachers and staff members have died of COVID-19 since the start of the school year in July.

Following the Biden administrations lead, Georgias Democrats have waged no serious struggle to oppose the homicidal policies of the Republican governor while feigning outrage over the catastrophic state of the pandemic within schools and the state more broadly. In a press conference earlier this month, Democratic State Representative Roger Bruce made banal remarks demanding changes be made to the states mask and vaccination mandates for students. Kemps office responded by calling such demands pandemic politics, and reaffirmed its stance that there would be no statewide mask mandate.
The following statement was distributed by members and supporters of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) at a demonstration over unaffordable rent prices on September 11 in Berlin.

***

The Socialist Equality Party calls for a yes vote in the September 26 referendum on the socialization of the housing stocks of large real estate groups in Berlin. The rent price madness cannot be stopped without expropriating the rental sharks. But real expropriation can only be achieved in struggle against the Social Democrat/Left Party/Green Senate and on the basis of a socialist program that puts the needs of the people before the interests of capital.

Demonstration with SGP placards (WSWS media)

Rents in Germanys capital city have doubled over the past ten years, and the price of undeveloped land has increased eightfold. Speculation in housing has become one of the most important levers for redistributing social wealth from the bottom up. While major property companies like Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia and their shareholders are reaping fantastic returns without lifting a finger, the population is being fleeced.

Rising rents, excessive ancillary costs and luxury renovations mean that hard-working people have to spend more than half of their income on rent or can no longer afford an apartment at all. The human right to housing, anchored in the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has been sacrificed to the profit hunger of rental sharks.

Acceptance of the referendum will not change that. The Senatea coalition of the SPD, the Left Party and the Greenshas already shown the Berlin population the middle finger and made it unmistakably clear that it will not accept a positive result.

In the official communication on the referendum the coalition contrasts the arguments of the Senate with the arguments of the sponsor, the Initiative to expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co. The referendum does not have a specific bill as its subject, it notes. In the case of success, it is therefore not legally binding on the Senate and the decision on the enactment of a socialization law would be incumbent on the House of Representatives.

In other words, because the vote is not on a specific bill, but on an assignment to the Senate to draw up a bill with clearly defined requirements, the Senate declares the result to be legally non-binding and invokes the sovereignty of the House of Representatives.

It has been known for twenty years that the House of Representatives and the Senate parties are in league with the rental sharks. At that time, the SPD and the Left Party (which was still known as the PDS) sold almost 200,000 public apartments to private real estate companies for pocket change. To this day, nothing has changed about this partnership between the Senate and the rental sharks. The Senate actually encourages the latter to drive up rent prices.

While the text of the referendum demands alegally possiblecompensation well below market value and the initiators estimate a sum of 7.3 to 13.7 billion euros for 200,000 apartments, the Senate has published a sum two to three times as high. According to its calculation, the real estate groups can collect 28.2 to 36 billion euros for 243,000 apartments.

In practice, however, the Senate funnels far greater sums into their pockets. Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz (SPD) is in the process of agreeing with Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen to sell almost 15,000 apartments to municipal housing associations before the referendum is voted onat a price of 2.4 billion euros. The two housing giants are currently merging and selling some apartments but will still control 10 percent of all rental apartments in Berlin after the sales.

To put the numbers in perspective: In 2004 the SPD/Left Party Senate sold 65,000 apartments of the municipal corporation at an average price of 6150 euros to Deutsche Wohnen; the initiators of the referendum set an average apartment price of 37,000 to 69,000 euros for the compensation; the Senate calculates with 116,000 to 148,000 euros per apartment; and Kollartz buys apartments from the corporations at an average price of 163,000 euros!

These numbers give an idea of the gold mine that the SPD, Left Party and Greens have opened up for the rental sharks. In addition to the increases in value, there are also high takings. Deutsche Wohnen distributed over 350 million euros to shareholders in 2019 alone; that is 2100 euros per apartment, which flowed directly from the pockets of the tenants to the accounts of the shareholders.

The SPD, the Left Party and the Greens standdespite their crocodile tears over the high rents in the election campaignwith both feet in the camp of capital. This applies not only to the housing issue, but also to the health care systemwhere the Charite and Vivantes hospital employees are currently on strike against the unbearable consequences of years of austerity and privatization measuresand the public service and local transport, where they are destroying tens of thousands of jobs and lowering wages.

The referendum itself iseven if it were implemented in fullcompletely inadequate to solve the burning housing shortage. It only demands the socialization of the holdings of all private housing companies with over 3,000 apartments. They are to be transferred to a non-profit institution under public law in which the tenants have a democratic say. This would affect around 200,000 to 250,000 apartments, which are intended to alleviate the lack of affordable housing for low-wage earners. This would not stop the acute housing shortage in the capital and speculation in housing by medium-sized companies and private investors.

The modest goals of the referendum are not only due to the fact that the initiators strictly adhere to the prescribed legal framework that protects capitalist property. Most of them come from the ranks or the circle of the Senate parties, especially the Left Party. Their whole strategy is geared towards getting the Senate to change course, althoughas all historical and international experience showsit is impossible.

The Left Party is doing everything it can to be accepted into the next federal governmentunder a right-wing social democratic chancellor Olaf Scholz and in alliance with the Greens, who have become pioneers of German militarism. It therefore does everything possible to prove its reliability in domestic and foreign policy to those in power.

The SGP pursues a completely different strategy than the initiators of the referendum. We do not rely on the established parties and trade unions, but on the independent movement of the working class, which is developing with great dynamism worldwide.

Protests and strikes against low wages, unbearable working conditions and social cuts are increasing worldwide. And almost everywhere these struggles develop in an open rebellion against the old workers parties and unions, all of which are in the camp of the ruling class. Here in Berlin, Siemens workers have fought against layoffs and train drivers against wage cuts in the past few days. The employees of the state-owned Charite and Vivantes clinics are on an indefinite strike.

The success of the referendum so far is an expression of this explosive atmosphere. In 2019, in just three months, 77,000 signed the motion for its initiationalmost four times as many as required. This year, in just four months, 350,000 supported the referendum with their signature, although only 175,000 would have been necessary.

The ruling class and its parties are responding to the international offensive of the working class by strengthening fascist forces, arming the state apparatus and fuelling militarism. This reaction is expressed most clearly in their inhumane corona policy, which sacrifices all human lives to the profit interests of corporations and rejects a scientifically based policy to eradicate the virus.

The aim of the SGP is to give the opposition and the struggles of the working class a socialist orientation, to unite them internationally andtogether with their sister parties in the Fourth Internationalto build a socialist mass party.

If you really want to expropriate the rental sharks, you should vote for the list of the SGP in the Berlin House of Representatives and the Bundestag election on September 26th. We advocate the expropriation of all housing groups without compensation. In our election programme, it states:

No social problem can be solved without expropriating the banks and corporations and placing them under the democratic control of the working class. Their profits and assets need to be confiscated and the trillions given to them last year recovered. The world economy must be reorganized on the basis of a scientific and rational plan.
Earlier this month, Ray Martin DeMonia, an Alabama antiques dealer, died from cardiac arrest after being turned away by 43 hospitals due to lack of space in their intensive care units (ICUs), which have been filled with COVID-19 patients.

Ray DeMonia (Facebook)

DeMonia, 73, from Cullman, Alabama, had to be airlifted to a hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, about 200 miles from his home. There were no hospitals closer with a free ICU bed to take him due to a surge of COVID hospitalizations in the region. DeMonia died shortly after arrival at the hospital in Meridian due to complications from the cardiac arrest event.

In writing DeMonias obituary, his family made a plea for increased vaccinations: 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. Due to COVID 19, CRMC emergency staff contacted 43 hospitals in 3 states in search of a Cardiac ICU bed and finally located one in Meridian, MS. He would not want any other family to go through what his did.

DeMonia, who was vaccinated against COVID-19, is one of many who have died as an indirect cause of the pandemic, which is surging in Alabama following homicidal school and workplace reopenings. Alabamas vaccination rate is the second worst in the nation, with just over 49 percent of adults fully vaccinated.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the state of Alabama has been experiencing some of the highest surges of COVID-19 cases in the country, with 541 cases per 100,000 people per week and just over 250 deaths reported in the last seven days.

While particularly grim, the situation in Alabama is part of an ongoing problem across the nation as hospitals are once again being overwhelmed with an influx of COVID-19 patients in need of intense care, taking up beds which would otherwise be used for other critical care patients. Approximately 100,000 hospital beds nationwide are filled with COVID-19 patients, and an average of 1,349 people are dying every day.

The latest surge of the pandemic has forced some states to enact rarely used crisis standard of care because of recent surges. More than 10 states have already reached their limits for hospital admissions, and many are breaking records for highest number of admissions numbers.

While guidelines for crisis standards can vary state to state, the result when enacted is to ration care based on the limited availability of beds, staff and resources, meaning many patients will not be treated as effectively as possible. Crisis standards allow hospitals more freedom to allocate resources based on what is needed most, and in some extreme cases such as when a patient is on the verge of death, it could mean those patients are not given ICU beds; enacting these standards also provides legal protection to doctors in case of litigation.

Crisis standards of care were already enacted at 10 hospitals in northern and central Idaho last week. Hospitals in that state began rationing out care where facilities have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Just over 53 percent of adults in Idaho are vaccinated, and state hospitals have seen massive surges in cases in the last few weeks. Officials have told the press that patients should not expect the usual standard of care they may be used to in normal circumstances.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen released a statement following the move explaining, Crisis standards of care is a last resort. It means we have exhausted our resources to the point that our healthcare systems are unable to provide the treatment and care we expect.

Under these guidelines, beds will be reserved for those most likely to benefit from the care while some services such as elective or non-emergency surgeries are given lower priority and pushed back to later dates. In some cases, patients may be discharged from the hospital earlier than they would normally, while nurses, already overworked due to lack of staffing, may receive more patients to treat than they are used to.

Under such circumstances patients will be given a priority score based on several factors including their likelihood to survive. Those patients facing the direst chances will be given comfort care instead of intensive care.

Intensive care doctor Kenneth Krell spoke to NPR about the situation, comparing it to the worst period of the winter surge last year. Its worse than ever, withat this pointseemingly no end in sight, Krell said; So by no means are we delivering a usual and customary standard of care.

Dr. Eric Toner of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security spoke on the need for such standards. In the absence of a declaration or a plan, doctors and nurses, on their own, are the only ones left to make these gut-wrenching decisions, Toner told NPR. We have individual doctors calling other hospitals, even out of state, trying to transfer patientsthat should not be happening. Were not balancing patients enough between hospitals. Were not sharing resources as well as we should.

As workplaces and schools are being forced open across the country and even minimal mitigation efforts increasingly abandoned, the pandemic is set to continue to overwhelm hospitals. Workers and students and educators must organize rank-and-file committees to fight to close schools and non-essential workplaces to stop the spread of the virus and save lives.
A newly-established group of prominent epidemiologists and scientists has challenged the New South Wales (NSW) Liberal-National Coalition governments claims that lifting stay-at-home measures next month, amid the countrys worst COVID outbreak, will lead to freedom and a return to normality.

Instead they warn that such a pro-business reopening will result in mass infections, deaths and a breakdown of the hospital system.

The OzSAGE web site

The formation of the organisation, named OzSAGE, expresses the growing concern of principled medical experts, along with tens of thousands of health workers, over the catastrophic consequences of a ruling-class drive to dispense with safety restrictions and to force the population to live with the virus in the interests of corporate profit.

The NSW state government, with the support of the Labor Party and the other governments across the country, has been at the forefront of this drive. Last week, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian unveiled a roadmap to end lockdown measures, even as the state records well over 1,000 infections each day. The NSW program is based on a bipartisan National Cabinet plan, under which restrictions will be lifted once 70 to 80 percent of adults are fully vaccinated.

To justify its reopening, the NSW government released modelling last week. Based on cherry-picked and misleading data, it purported to show that while the states hospitals would be stretched, they could cope with an anticipated surge in serious COVID illness.

Even that modelling predicted that the states hospitals will enter a code black in late October, signifying that intensive care units will be overwhelmed. It indicated the probable need for a triage system, by which some critically-ill patients could be denied care, accompanied by a dangerous reduction in nurse-to-patient ratios.

But the official modelling predicted that the code black will be short, and managed through mythical additional resources, even though there are no extra health workers to staff them. The modelling was premised on the existing restrictions remaining in place. It therefore anticipated a sharp fall in infections, right as the lockdown measures are ended.

The OzSAGE groups own modelling takes into account the reopening plan. It includes six different scenarios.

If the government lifts restrictions at 70 percent adult vaccination, and implements a full reopening at 80 percent, as it has stated, there will be 1,169 deaths by February 1, including 186 people who have already lost their lives in the current outbreak.

The states contact-tracing is in a shambles and is being wound back. Even if it were enhanced over the coming months, OzSAGE predicts 866 fatalities.

The prospects for the hospital system are dire. Without enhanced tracing, COVID hospitalisations would peak at 6,340 in December. There would be 1,192 ICU patients, 892 with COVID, well above the existing number of staffed beds. This would trigger a five-week code black from December 9 to January 5.

The OzSAGE modelling is far more credible than the Doherty Report, a pseudo-scientific document commissioned by the National Cabinet to legitimise its reopening roadmap.

Among its false premises, the Doherty document is premised on lifting restrictions in conditions where there are 30 COVID cases across the country. There are currently more than 38,000 active infections. The OzSAGE modelling is based on there being 1,890 daily cases in NSW when restrictions are lifted next month, in line with current infection trends.

The OzSAGE group includes highly-respected experts, such as University of Melbourne Professor Tony Blakely, Burnet Institute head Brendan Crabb, Grattan Institute health economist Stephen Duckett, Kirby Institute biosecurity program head Raina MacIntyre and Australian National University vice-chancellor and Nobel-prize winning astronomer Brian Schmidt.

Unlike numbers of government-aligned chief medical officers and commentators, OzSAGE does not seek to downplay the dangers of the virus. The group notes that the target of 70 percent adult vaccination represents just 56 percent of the whole population fully vaccinated, and is not enough to control the Delta variant.

In contrast to the corporate publications pushing for an end to lockdowns, the OzSAGE experts refer to the international experience.

They note: Israel, the UK, and the United States all lifted restrictions between May and June, after Delta arrived, when total population vaccination rates were about the same as the NSW targets. This resulted in a resurgence in all three countries of high and significant rates of infection with heavy strain on health care and hospitals, even though all of these countries also had much higher levels of immunity due to natural infection and vaccination than in Australia.

The group emphasises the importance of the precautionary principle, given that much remains unknown about COVID, including its potentially dire long-term health effects and the likelihood of further mutations. They warn against comparisons of COVID to influenza, as have been made by a host of government leaders, instead stating that a more appropriate analogy would be to deadly infectious diseases such as the measles and polio.

On this basis, they advocate a strategy for the elimination of the coronavirus to prevent sustained, mass outbreaks of the disease, based on vaccine-immunity and public health measures. The experts contrast this approach with eradicationthe removal of the virus from the entire globedeeming that unlikely.

Eradication, the WSWS and leading scientists have explained, is both possible and necessary, but raises crucial political issues. Chief among them is the need for an international movement of the working class against the homicidal policies of capitalist governments, and for a globally coordinated, science-based response that prioritises health above big business interests.

The stand taken by the scientists itself points to the widespread opposition to the ruling class drive to force the population to accept mass infection and death. This is backed by the international experience in countries such as China and New Zealand, which have repeatedly eliminated COVID through stringent public health measures.

The central role of workplaces in driving the spread of the virus is becoming ever clearer. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the United Workers Union (UWU) has revealed that at least 150 food logistics and distribution workers have been infected during the current NSW outbreak, at 98 separate facilities. More than 3,000 others have been forced into isolation at some point, after being potentially exposed to the virus.

The UWU, together with the governments, has done everything to ensure a continuation of production. That is in line with the role of the trade unions as an industrial police force of the corporations.

Meanwhile, over 100 NSW childcare and early learning centres are being closed each week, after possible virus exposures. These facilities are running at substantial capacity so that parents can stay on the job.

In the neighbouring state of Victoria, construction sites and workplaces are emerging as centres of transmission. A third of the 450 new infections reported on Saturday were linked to construction, while up to 13 percent of all cases since the start of the outbreak stem from the sector.

The Victorian Labor government and the unions have kept the industry open during a lockdown of Melbourne, despite the vast majority of construction being non-essential. At the same time, the government is preparing to release its own roadmap for lifting restrictions, having dispensed with any pretence of seeking to eliminate transmission earlier this month.

The fight against the virus requires the formation of rank-and-file committees, independent of the unions, to combat the reopening drive, shutdown non-essential production and enforce safety measures.
New Zealands biggest city, Auckland, remains in a relatively strict level 4 lockdown, aimed at suppressing an outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19. Another 33 cases were reported yesterday, bringing the total to 954 detected since the first person tested positive on August 17.

McAuley High School, in the Auckland suburb of Otahuhu, is one of more than a dozen schools linked to the present outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19. (Source: Google Streetview)

Although the lockdown appears to be working, significant risks remain, particularly after the Labour Party-led government lifted the lockdown outside of Auckland on September 8, allowing the vast majority of businesses and all schools to reopen. Level 2 restrictions are in forceincluding limits on gathering sizes, physical distancing, and mandatory masks in shops and public transportbut these do not apply in schools.

Although almost all known cases are in Auckland, 17 have been detected in Wellington. Moreover, the boundary between Auckland and the rest of the country is crossed by thousands of people every day, mainly truck drivers, raising the risk that the virus could spread.

The reopening of schools and early childhood centres, in the rest of the country, with no restrictions, poses major risks to teachers, students and the wider population. Aucklands Marist College was central to the initial COVID-19 outbreak last year. A cluster in February 2021 was linked to Papatoetoe High School. At least 13 schools have been linked to the present Delta outbreak and 379 cases, nearly 40 percent of the total, are in people aged 0-19.

Internationally, schools are playing a central role in the spread of the more infectious Delta variant. In the US and UK, where governments have reopened schools with COVID-19 present in the community, cases have exploded. Thousands of people are becoming sick and dying as a result of these criminal policies, driven by the demands of big business, which views lockdowns as an intolerable hindrance to profit-making.

New Zealand has so far not experienced mass deaths during the pandemic, and the government says it is still committed to an elimination policy: using lockdowns and other public health measures to bring case numbers down to zero.

However, public health experts have criticised the latest decisions on schools. University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker has repeatedly called for masks to be mandatory at least in secondary schools at level 2. One infected person in a classroom would infect everyone, he told Stuff on August 30.

In a September 10 blog post, Baker and fellow public health experts Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Dr Jin Russell, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Leah Grout, Dr Julie Bennett and Professor Nick Wilson warned that children are returning to in-person learning with little or no protection against the potential spread of Covid-19 infection in schools.

In addition to masking, they called for improved ventilation, noting: New Zealands cold, damp, indoor environments were a major public health concern long before this pandemic An Auckland based study reported three out of six classrooms had very poor ventilation.

The experts wrote that the risk [of infection] is particularly high while most of New Zealands children are unvaccinated. Children aged above 12 only recently became eligible for vaccination, and those under 12 are still ineligible. About a third of the eligible population has received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and teachers were not made a priority for vaccination until this month.

The governments official COVID-19 website states: Face coverings in schools and tertiary education facilities for those aged 12 and over is strongly encouraged, but it is not a requirement. Masks are also not required on school buses.

The Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) and NZEI Te Riu Roathe two teacher unionshave raised no objections to these policies. Like the unions internationally, they are acting as enforcers for reopening schools and removing restrictions.

A teacher, who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site on condition of anonymity, said if a Delta case hit a school, the outcome would be worse than last years outbreak. While schools had good contact tracing systems, he said, that doesnt account for what happens outside of school, in peoples homes, which is where the virus is spreading the most right now. Safety protections in schools were very weak, theyre not safe places to be.

The teacher estimated that about a quarter of the staff at his school were wearing masks. Its very rare to see a student with a mask. Without a mandate, there is intense peer pressure among students not to wear a mask. From what Ive seen on social media, different schools have very different ways of interpreting the recommendations. Some people are commenting that their school isnt doing anything, at other sites it sounds like everyones wearing a mask.

For ventilation, teachers are encouraged to open windows, but this has to be balanced with the need for classrooms to be at a reasonable temperaturenot an easy task in many schools. New Zealand is just beginning to emerge from winter.

The teacher said the unions had not pushed back against the lack of restrictions in schools, including on gathering sizes. The PPTA website states that in general indoor gatherings cannot exceed 50 people, but this does not apply to schools.

He said it was also impossible to socially distance inside classrooms, adding: I dont see any reason why the staff meetings we are having are not conducted online. He felt that there was a level of complacency outside of Auckland, a sense that it cant happen here, and very little awareness of the fact that schools have become the main vector for transmission of the virus overseas.

He also felt that we should still be doing online teaching. As long as theres unknowns in Auckland, theres unknowns across the country, and as long as there are people who have permission to travel to and from Auckland, theres a risk. This is a very infectious disease, capable of getting out of control fast.

Like capitalist governments everywhere, the Ardern government is under pressure to reopen as quickly as possible. It announced yesterday that it intends to ease the lockdown in Auckland in a week, depending on the number of new cases, which would mean at least the partial reopening of schools. Epidemiologist Rod Jackson told Radio NZ this was probably not long enough to stamp out the outbreak, and suggested it could take two weeks. The unions have raised no objection to the plan.

The unions support for the governments reopening plans reinforces the need for new organisations. Rank-and-file committees should be formed in every schoolinvolving teachers, school staff, parents and studentsto oppose the premature reopening of schools in Auckland and demand the closure of schools nationwide until the outbreak is eliminated. No expense can be spared to implement science-based public health policies, to protect the lives and wellbeing of school staff, children and their families.
While barely reported by the US news media, COVID-19 outbreaks in manufacturing, construction sites and other workplaces are a major driving force for the surge of infections and deaths in the United States.

Workers at the FCA Warren Truck Plant in Warren, Michigan (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Fueled by the Delta variant, the pandemic is once again spreading out of control in the US. Total cases have surpassed 41 million, with more than 670,000 officially recorded COVID deaths. The seven-day average of hospitalizations jumped to 99,879 on September 12, with an average daily death toll of 1,648, up 27 percent over the last two weeks alone.

While there is no national record-keeping for workplace outbreaks and many states do not report details on outbreak locations, the reports that are available show that manufacturing and construction sites, along with K-12 schools and long-term care facilities, regularly exchange positions as the top three settings for spreading the virus.

On Monday, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported that there were 43 ongoing outbreaks at manufacturing and construction sites in the state. This was second only to long-term care facilities (70) and just ahead of schools (42). Twenty of the outbreaks were in the metropolitan Detroit counties, the center of the auto industry.

New outbreaks last week were centered in Michigan schools (67), as students were sent back to classes so parents could be sent back to work, particularly at auto factories, where executives have complained of high absentee rates due to COVID-19 and childcare concerns.

In Illinois, there have been 206 outbreaks at factories and manufacturers since July 1, accounting for 14.2 percent of the total and the highest of any location. In Cook County, which includes Chicago and its industrial suburbs, there have been 56 outbreaks over the last 2 1/2 months, accounting for 32.6 percent of the total.

In California, workplace outbreaks more than doubled between June and July, from 217 to 459. The most outbreaks since the beginning of the year (69) were in the agricultural sector, where migrant workers who harvest crops are packed into busses and dormitories.

These figures confirm reports the World Socialist Web Site has received from workers across the country. In Stuttgart, Arkansas, 55 miles east of Little Rock, workers at a Lennox Industries air conditioner factory report that at least five of their coworkers have died and that the company is bringing in inmates from infected jails to fill in for missing workers. One of my family members is afraid to open his mouth and hes about to die, a worker told the WSWS. People are afraid to speak up because they are worried about being fired. These people should be exposed.

The WSWS reported Monday on the outbreak of infections at Dana auto parts plants in Kentucky, Michigan, Tennessee and other states. In Dry Ridge, Kentucky, multiple workers report that a large proportion of the plants workforce of around 800 is currently out due to COVID-19. Ex-Dana worker Steven Fletcher says he was fired from Dana Dry Ridge after missing time due to COVID earlier this year.

There are currently nine active cases at the Dana plant in Warren, Michigan, according to an update from the company dated September 9. The company claims that there were 53 confirmed positive cases at the plant in 2020, but already 114 this year. At least one worker has died from COVID-19 in 2021.

Case data from local government organizations reveals that in every county where a Dana plant is located, COVID-19 cases are on the rise substantially.

Far from providing this information to workers and encouraging quarantining, there is a deliberate conspiracy to conceal this life-saving knowledge from workers.

Last Friday, the California State Senate, where the Democrats hold 31 of the 40 seats, unanimously approved a bill that explicitly keeps millions of workers from knowing if there are outbreaks at their workplaces. After lobbying from the Chamber of Commerce, state senators removed a clause that allowed the California Public Health Department to reveal the names of individual workplaces with outbreaks, limiting information only to the industry.

Biden has asked the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to draft an emergency rule directing companies of more than 100 employees to adopt COVID-19 vaccination mandates or test their workers regularly. But the agency, which has been gutted for decades, has few means to enforce such a measure even if it were pursued.

Under Biden, OSHA has done no more to protect workers than it did under Trump. Instead, it has ignored thousands of complaints by workers over the lack of safety protocols, employers concealing outbreaks, and threats of being fired if an infected worker does not show up for work.

As of mid-December, OSHA had received 13,000 COVID complaints, not to mention tens of thousands more submitted to state agencies. To date it has concluded 80 percent of the cases, most with cursory investigations that rarely resulted in an inspection. The OSHA web site currently lists only 576 investigations into COVID-19 workplace deaths across the country, with the last one updated October 2020, and has issued only 103 citations related to these COVID deaths.

The unions have played and continue to play the critical role in keeping plants running in the midst of the pandemic. In the spring of last year, the United Auto Workers (UAW) joined with the Big Three companies to reopen the plants after workers took spontaneous action to stop production.

Now, the UAW and other unions are forcing workers to stay on the job even as infections and death spread. UAW officials, who are not planning to return to their Detroit headquarters until 2022 due to COVID concerns, have ignored the demands of Dana workers, who overwhelmingly voted down a pro-company contract, for strike action. Instead, the UAW and the United Steelworkers are forcing Dana workers to labor 12-hour-days, seven days a weekincreasing their exposure to COVIDunder an extended contract to stockpile parts to aid the company in the event of a strike.

The spread in factories and workplaces takes place as the final major public school district, in New York City, was reopened Monday. The resumption of in-person classes throughout the country is behind a catastrophic spike in childhood cases. Nearly one million children have been infected since August 5, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Biden administration, functioning on behalf of the corporate and financial aristocracy, is determined to keep workers on the job and children in schools no matter what the cost in human lives. Under conditions of the buildup of unsustainable levels of debt, fueled by the massive government bailout of Wall Street, they fear that any shutdown of industries would lead to another collapse of the stock markets.

But opposition to this sacrifice of human life for corporate profit is rising around the world, from the revolt of the Dana workers and protesting nurses and students in Alabama, to strikes by Berlin hospital workers and teachers in Europe and Africa. With the assistance of the WSWS, workers at Dana and other auto and auto parts plants, Amazon workers, educators, transit workers all over the world are building rank-and-file safety committees, independent of and in opposition to the unions, which are enforcers of death.

In every workplace, workers must form rank-and-file safety committees to oppose the systematic conspiracy to cover up the spread of COVID-19 and demand full contact tracing information at workplaces and paid quarantine for all workers who are exposed. This must be combined with the demand for the shutdown of nonessential industries and schools, combined with the necessary public health measures, to eradicate the virus once and for all.

This expansion of the national and international network of rank-and-file committees must be combined with a political counteroffensive by the working class to put an end to the profit system once and for all and to reorganize society on the basis of human need, not private profit.
On Monday, approximately one million New York City K-12 public school students returned to classrooms for in-person learning. New York City Public Schools is the countrys largest school district, and it is the last major city in the US to resume classroom instruction amidst the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A coalition of teachers, students, and families protest during a rally called National Day of Resistance Against Unsafe School Reopening Opening, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The school district includes 1.1 million students, but about 100,000 did not report to class on Monday, presumably due to concerns from parents about the unsafe conditions. In addition to one million children, 75,000 teachers were herded back into unsafe, poorly ventilated school buildings that are prime locations for the spread of the virus.

The completion of school reopenings in the US comes as infections, hospitalizations and deaths among children are rising sharply. According to the latest data from the American Academy of Pediatrics, there were 243,373 COVID-19 cases among children in the week before September 9. The total number of cases for the past five weeks (August 5 to September 9) is just under one million, but this does not include cases in Texas, Alabama and Nebraska, which do not report cases by age distribution.

Last week 16 children died from COVID-19, bringing the total for the past five weeks to 89. In the population as a whole, daily new cases are at about 150,000, with daily deaths over 1,300, according to official figures.

With the reopening of schools, the American ruling classled by the Biden administration and backed by both the Democrats and Republicansis carrying out a criminal policy that guarantees the further spread of the deadly pandemic, fueled by the highly infectious Delta variant. In New York, this policy is overseen by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The Washington Post, in an article published Monday, called the reopening of schools a real-life experiment that will answer the question: Can schools stay open safely amid the aggressive spread of the delta variant? The AP referred to the reopening of schools in New York as the nations largest experiment of in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The use of the term experiment sums up the barbaric logic of the reopening of schools. It is a scientific fact that resuming in-person learning is not safe, and it has already led to a sharp spike of the pandemic throughout the country. And the experiment is being carried out on the lives and health of an entire generation of young people, who face the still little understood consequences of Long COVID.

The first day of school in New York could only be described as a disaster. Reports abounded of malfunctions of health screening computer software mandated by the NYC Department of Health (DOH). The Post report stated that the school systems testing and contact tracing regime is the weakest of the three largest school districts in the country, with only 10 percent of unvaccinated individuals being tested weekly.

For several weeks in advance of yesterdays reopening date, educators and parents took to social media, warning of the horrendous conditions in their schools. Teachers noted the outdated and malfunctioning state of the ventilation systems in their buildings, pointing to the fact that the already inadequate health measures outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the DOH were impossible to enforce.

One Brooklyn teacher told the World Socialist Web Site, This reopening is not based on any science. The three-feet social distancing rule is impossible to enforce, and it wasnt any good anyway. I couldnt possibly change the air in my classroom every 5-6 hours as per its recommendation. Theyre totally fudging things.

He added, I personally hate remote learning and teaching, but its just not safe to have kids crammed back into school buildings. This drive to reopen is entirely political.

Im also a DOE [Department of Education] parent, but I cannot justify sending my kids in. Thankfully, my wife is a stay-at-home mom, so Im able to keep my own children out of schools. But it makes it all the more ridiculous that Im being forced to teach other peoples kids in person, he said.

Many New York parents and educators immediately reported unsafe conditions at their schools yesterday morning. One parent wrote on Twitter, [W]ish I had seen this earlier. No social distancing in the school yard at drop off and starting tomorrow about 500 students entering through the cafeteria upon arrival.

A special education teacher described her first day, Pretty much my whole morning so far: Put your mask on, put your mask on. Put it over your nose. It has to cover your nose and mouth.

A health policy expert on Twitter commented on a video of a school safety worker spraying down the walls of a school room with disinfectant, pointing out the futility of the stunt in light of the fact that the transmission of COVID is airborne. This feels like something out of a George Orwell book. Spending millions on theater to lie and pretend like it is safe. Instead of taking needed action to actually make schools and communities safe.  They arent even opening the windows!!

This is all so crazy, read another comment on Twitter. I am a healthcare worker, and I am infuriated that public health officials approve of this.

Biden and de Blasio claim that schools can be reopened safely because of vaccination, but no vaccination has been approved for children under the age of 12 and likely will not be until 2022. Thousands of teachers and staff in the school district are also unvaccinated, and even vaccinated individuals can contract and spread the virus to children, their parents, and the community as a whole.

The determination of the entire political establishment to reopen schools is driven by the imperative to keep parents on the job to fully resume the flow of corporate profits, whatever the cost in human lives. The ruling class, particularly in New York, is terrified that any action to stop the pandemic will produce a massive fall on Wall Street and the collapse of the speculative bubble built up with trillions of dollars pumped into the markets by the Federal Reserve.

In an online forum hosted by the WSWS last month, New Zealand epidemiologist Dr. Michael Baker called the reopening of schools in the UK an almost barbaric experiment on the British people. He continued:

The precautionary principle means that you do not allow a population to be exposed to a hazard when you do not know the consequences of that, and when you think that the effects may be severe. A responsible government would not allow that to occur.

This barbaric experiment is now fully underway in the United States.

In New York as throughout the country, the reopening of schools has been carried out with the assistance and support of the teachers unions, including the American Federation of Teachers and its local affiliates. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York has paid educators to canvass neighborhoods to encourage parents to send their children to classrooms.

Sections of the union apparatus, along with groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, have sought to suppress opposition among educators and parents and channel it behind a call for a remote option. Several protests and demonstrations were organized this weekend to call on de Blasio to reinstitute remote learning resources for families that choose to keep their children out of school.

The remote option, however, leaves the policy of school reopenings in place. It is, moreover, unviable for families who will be unable to afford to stay home and ensure that their children receive quality online education.

New York City parents, students, educators and school staff must instead call for the immediate shutdown of all city schools, along with the allocation of resources to support all families and employees affected, as part of a broader strategy to eradicate the pandemic.

The WSWS urges all parents, educators, educational staff and students who oppose the reckless reopening of New York City schools to become involved in the New York Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.
The Delta variant of COVID is spreading rapidly throughout Dana plants, putting our lives and the lives of our loved ones at risk of death or lifelong debilitation. The corporation will shut production when it runs out of parts but not for COVID outbreaks. In the eyes of the company, the UAW and USW, a dead worker can be replaced but a missing axle cannot be.

We should not be working at all right now. The UAW and USW continue to extend the old contract even after we voted 90 percent no to repudiate sweatshop conditions. They are forcing us to work mandatory overtime in the middle of a deadly pandemic to help the corporation stockpile parts. At many of our plants, we are stockpiling parts even though the assembly plants that use them are on shutdown due to microchip shortages.

The UAW and USW reached an agreement with Dana weeks or months ago. What they want to impose is not a contract; it is a five-year free pass for the corporation to do whatever it wants. There is a growing feeling among workers that a strike is necessary. The company is vulnerable, and supply lines are so interconnected that we have tremendous potential power. The company and unions are playing for time and making us risk our lives to build up a stockpile to weaken our position.

The spread of COVID within the plants makes our situation all the more urgent! We workers must take the initiative, or workers will die! The Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee calls for workers everywhere to build rank-and-file strike committees to mobilize all workers in each plant in support of:

An immediate shutdown of all plants to stop the spread of COVID. Immediate publication of COVID case information daily, at every plant. Payment of full wages during any quarantine. A contract with a 40-hour week, 8-hour day and 75 percent wage increase.

The UAW, USW and Dana are withholding information about the number of COVID cases to keep us working, just like they withheld the contract to try to get us to accept it. But here is the deadly reality:

Cases are on the rise in many Dana plants. Workers report 63 active cases at Danas facility in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. There are currently 9 active cases at the plant in Warren, Michigan, and cases are rising inside the plant at a faster rate than in the surrounding city as a whole. There are also reports of rising cases and community spread at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Danville, Kentucky and Crossville, Tennessee.

By keeping the plants open, Dana and the unions are putting our families and the entire community at risk. In almost every county where a Dana plant is located, COVID cases are on the rise like never before. Cases are at an all-time peak in Dry Ridge, Henderson, Louisville and Danville in Kentucky, as well as in Paris, Humboldt and Crossville in Tennessee. Cases are increasing in Lima and Toledo in Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Columbia, Missouri; Pottstown, Pennsylvania and Warren, St. Clair and Auburn Hills in Michigan.

The health care system cannot withstand more cases. At seven Dana plants in Kentucky and Tennessee, ICU bed utilization within a 30-mile radius of the plants is well above the national average of 82 percent. For the Louisville plant, 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.

The company and unions are sacrificing us for profit. Working overtime means overlapping with the next shift, drastically increasing the likelihood that infections will spread across all shifts and departments.

Efforts to mitigate the spread of the pandemic, including through mask wearing and vaccination, are not enough to protect our lives. As long as the plants are open, the virus will spread. Our 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. Only a shutdown will protect us from infection.

The ruling classincluding its political representatives Biden, Trump and the Democratic and Republican partieshas been waging a campaign to force us workers to die for corporate profit. They are reopening our schools, where our children will get infected. They are cutting off unemployment and ending the moratorium on evictions, all to increase pressure on us to stay on the job. This is an attack against the entire working class, at Dana and beyond, regardless of race, nationality or gender. Meanwhile, the stock market soars, and billionaire wealth reaches new heights.

However, even if we succeed in forcing Dana and the unions to shut down the companys plants, this by itself will not be enough to alter the trajectory of the pandemic, under conditions where both parties are reopening schools and eliminating all remaining restrictions. For that, a new strategy is needed, based on the mobilization of the working class against the sacrifice of lives to profit. The pandemic, which does not respect national or racial boundaries, can only be brought under control if the working class organizes to force the adoption of a strategy, which includes vaccinations, contact tracing and the shutdown of nonessential production, to finally eradicate the virus.

The UAW and USW have tried to convince us that we are isolated and that we can do nothing to fight the concessions that management is demanding. In reality, workers all around the world are looking for ways to fight back against the decision by the corporations and governments to allow the virus to spread unchecked in their workplaces, schools and communities. We can and must make our own movement the tip of the spear of a broader movement, drawing the support of teachers, John Deere workers, autoworkers at the Big Three plants and others.

Enough is enough! We have the power to save our lives and the lives of our loved ones. To enforce shutdowns and prepare for a strike, workers must establish rank-and-file strike committees to share information, ensure democratic discussion and prepare common action within each plant and across all plants. We call for the immediate shutdown of all Dana plants with full quarantine pay for every worker! We must not be forced to choose between infection and eviction.

Join the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee by emailing us at danawrfc@gmail.com or texting us at (248) 6020936.
Last month, workers at the Dana auto parts manufacturing facility in Sterling, Illinois, unanimously voted down the sellout tentative agreement negotiated by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Steelworkers (USW), joining more than a dozen other plants that rejected the deal. Dana workers across the country are determined to fight against grueling industrial sweatshop conditions, including working for weeks on end without a single day off, low wages and widespread safety issues, including dangerous levels of exposure to COVID-19 at various plants.

An employee at the plant told the WSWS, The contract was a slap in the face!! He added, We already voted for strike authorization. We voted 100 percent. That was done before the contract expired.

It sounds like Dana is in bed with the UAW, he added.

Despite the decisive rejection of the contract proposal by Dana workers across the country, the UAW and the USW are forcing workers to stay on the job with an indefinite contract extension. The two unions are conspiring behind the backs of rank-and-file workers to help the multinational auto parts company stockpile parts in the event of a strike.

The Sterling plant is small, with only 23 full-time workers and four temp workers. However, it is strategically significant for both Dana and the motor vehicle industry as a whole. The facility produces drivetrain parts for the construction, agriculture and mining industry, including multinational corporations like John Deere, Caterpillar, Oshkosh, Autocar and JLG. It also has small contracts with the Detroit automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). Over 10,000 workers at John Deere are currently in a contract battle that pits them against both the company and the UAW with a number of locals showing overwhelming strike authorization votes.

Sterling is one of two plants which voted down the contract unanimously; it was followed by a 4350 vote at the Toledo, Ohio, plant. Other plants rejected the contract by near-unanimous margins, including St. Clair, Michigan (97 percent), Auburn Hills, Michigan (96 percent), and Fort Wayne, Indiana (90 percent).

Sterling, formerly known as the Hardware Capital of the World, is located between the Chicago metropolitan area and the agricultural-manufacturing areas of Iowa. Sterling and its twin city Rock Falls have a combined population of 25,000, and the area is historically well-known for its steel and manufacturing.

The Dana employee at Sterlings plant noted, Were more a specialty plant. We call it the junk drawer. Everything the bigger plants dont want to run, they get Sterling to run.

Im angry about money, he noted, pointing to the fact that Dana workers at Sterling have received mere cents in increases over the last decade. Our average hourly rate is $18.79. Union dues, insurance coming out. Insurance aint bad, but thats negotiated. The temp workers only make $13 an hour. But heres the situation. In the last 11 years since 2010 our hourly rate has gone up $0.80 in 11 years. It sounds bad. But whats worse is in January of 2021 we got a $0.35 raise. It was the first hourly increase in 4 years. But in the last ten years since 2010 we got only a $0.45 increase, or 4.5 cents a year! A couple lump sums that werent worth st. Gas has gone up. Utilities have gone up. Everything is going up in prices.

Even during COVID, they were crying they lost money. They didnt lose money, they just didnt make what their prediction was for sales. Theres a difference. We had a couple get COVID who were unvaccinated. They did offer vaccinations. But three people backed out. They said you have to clock out and not get paid for 1 hour. And you have to wait so long after the shot, so you lose time. What pissed everyone off was the office got paid, because they were salaried.

Once this gets voted down, I want a [new] proposal. Dana likes lump sums. They dont like hourly increases. They proposed $1,250. Whoopie! If you take taxes out thats probably $700.

A 2003 neutrality agreement led to an agreement with Dana and the UAW that would allow the union collective bargaining rights in exchange for concessions on health care and more. In 2007, Dana offloaded its retiree health care onto the UAW, which took control of $780 million in stock and cash. The UAW promptly cut retiree benefits and used the funds for its investment opportunities, which was similarly enacted at the Big Three companies.

The Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee, an independent network formed to help workers share information, organize democratic discussion and prepare a common strategy to fight both the concessions demanded by the company and the treachery of the unions, issued a statement last Friday in response to the contract extension. Our no vote showed we have tremendous potential power. The unions and corporations are going to such extremes to forestall a strike because the corporation is extremely vulnerable, the statement read. But we need a strategy for victory Broad self-organization is our only protection against the USW-UAW-Dana conspiracy.

To join the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee, send an email to danawrfc@gmail.com or text (248) 6020936.
Shattering the promises of Washington state politicians and teacher unions that schools could be reopened safely with haphazard mitigation measures and staff vaccination, the first week of fall semester resulted in hundreds of students testing positive and many more quarantining due to exposure.

Roosevelt High School (Wikimedia Commons)

Seattle Public Schools (SPS), the largest school district in Washington state, with about 52,000 students and 7,500 full-time staff members, reopened for full in-person instruction on September 1. Data published regularly by the district reveals that 51 positive cases were reported in the first week of school, consisting of only three days for most students. the following week, SPS reported 66 additional cases, bringing the start-of-the-year total to 117. Students constitute 86 percent of all cases, and staff make up 12 percent.

Data compiled by the Seattle Times on September 8 shows that eight other school districts in King County reported two or more cases. Northshore School District came third behind Seattle, with 48 total cases reported since August 1, and Federal Way School District came in first with 107 total cases since late August. However, the numbers likely arose from the first one-and-a-half weeks of school as all districts held their first day on September 1.

The Washington State Department of Health releases weekly outbreak reports each Wednesday. For the week of August 29, a total of 10 outbreaks were reported, defined as two or more linked cases in a shared location. A total of 358 outbreaks have occurred since the pandemic began. K-12 schools are the fifth-biggest source of outbreaks behind food service, childcare, retail and manufacturing.

However, the scale of infection is largely underreported due to the lack of a rapid testing and contact tracing program for all families and school staff, as well as with a lack of transparency from school officials.

Washingtons data adds to the overwhelming scientific evidence that reopening schools will result in a significant rise in new cases, especially among unvaccinated children. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 252,000 positive pediatric cases were added just this past week, the largest number of child cases in a week since the pandemic began, with children comprising 26.8 percent of reported weekly COVID-19 cases.

The situation has produced opposition among educators and parents. I am very frustrated with the way the reopening is happening, Michael, a math teacher in the Seattle region, told the World Socialist Web Site. All the data that I am seeing, from local reports and your website, tells me that it is not safe in Washington state right now.

We have a lot of questions. Where are they going to put us? Whats the ventilation going to be like? Are we going to be able to maintain six-foot social distancing? Are students going to be wandering the hallways?

The uniform masking mandate, which is insufficient even if it was implemented perfectly, is not being enforced, Michael explained, referencing photos published on social media by a school with an unmasked student standing close to a staff member.

Michael criticized the media narrative that Democratic Governor Jay Inslee is doing a great job leading Washington state through the pandemic. Were not Texas or Florida, so what is there to worry about? [But] even if we do not see the same numbers as in Mississippi right now, even half of that or a third of that would be horrific.

Robert, an English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor from Olympia, said, No, we dont have the same circumstances as Florida, but we have a higher case rate and a lower vaccination rate than the national average. So, what are the grounds for saying Washington should be celebrating? The false confidence that is being promoted throughout the society is kind of unbelievable.

Although Governor Inslee imposed strict requirements for all education staff to be fully vaccinated, data has shown that vaccines arent enough to stop community spread of COVID-19. Washington state has experienced well over 3,000 cases every day since August, reaching higher levels than the peak last winter, when most schools were teaching remotely.

Even in King County, where 65.5 percent of people 12 and over are fully vaccinated, cases and hospitalizations among children have been climbing, straining the hospital system. Dr. John McGuire, who works in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Seattle Children, told a local news outlet: The people we are seeing in the hospital are typically people who are unvaccinated, either teens who are not vaccinated or younger people who are not eligible to be vaccinated. We are clearly in a fifth wave here in Washington.

The Washington Educational Association (WEA) and local affiliate Seattle Education Association (SEA) have been fully on board with the plan to usher kids back into school. Repeatedly declaring their commitment to a non-existent safe in-person reopening, the unions are signing memoranda of understanding with the districts to implement their plans, just as they did in the springtime.

Local union affiliates have followed the lead of the Biden administration and national teacher unions in claiming, falsely, that schools can be opened safely so long as vaccination and mitigation measures like social distancing, masking, and ventilation improvements are in place, conditions that do not exist in the vast majority of public schools.

The SEA-SPS agreement is full of empty or vague phrases such as universal and correct use of masks and a three-foot physical distance, to the extent possible. The guidelines do not outline how maximum social distancing will be maintained in crowded hallways and lunchrooms. Testing will only be provided on-site when teachers or students exhibit symptoms, leaving asymptomatic cases undetected.

While the agreement sets certain guidelines for ventilation systems in every building and classroom, many teachers express fear that these promises will broken as they were last year. Some teachers from the SeattleTacoma region are posting anonymous photos on social media of crowded classrooms, some with no windows.

The Democratic Party and trade unions are in reality pursuing a modified version of the herd immunity policy of right-wing Republicans, accepting as inevitable the rampant spread of the virus throughout schools, workplaces and society as a whole and emphasizing the need to live with the virus.

Eradication of COVID-19 is possible with a rigorous public health strategy that is pursued with a combination of mitigation measures, short-term lockdowns and widespread vaccination. However, the ruling class considers these measures too costly to the profits.

Robert, the ESL tutor, explained: The consequences of the virus to the population, including students, is abundantly well known by people who are making decisions about the school system. Its malicious, willful neglect to send kids back into schools, and they are not going to change course.

The goal of every sector of society is to treat the coronavirus as just a little speedbump in the routine operation of capitalism. The only way that can be done is to sacrifice the working class, specifically with children being pushed back to schools and their parents back to workplaces.

Educators, parents and the working class have the power to unite to stop the pandemic and protect children. Washington teachers and parents must come together to fight the ruling class that puts profits over lives, by building and expanding the network of independent rank-and-file safety committees, independent of and in opposition to the teachers unions, to demand control over health and safety guidelines in their classrooms, the immediate closure of all schools, and the implementation of an eradication strategy to end the pandemic.

We encourage any educator, staff, parent or worker in the region who wants to join this struggle to contact us and attend the next meeting of the Pacific Northwest Educators Rank-and-File Committee this Sunday, September 19 at 12:00 p.m. PST.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  The Indiana governors office has signed a contract paying a law firm up to nearly $200,000 for challenging the increased power state legislators gave themselves to intervene during public health emergencies.

The governors office released the contract with Indianapolis firm Lewis Wagner on Monday for representing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in the lawsuit against the GOP-controlled Legislature that it filed on his behalf in April.

The contract, however, wasnt signed until July 23 after a Marion County judge rejected arguments from Republican state Attorney General Todd Rokita that he had the legal authority to prevent Holcomb from hiring private lawyers for the case. The state Supreme Court also ruled against Rokitas attempts to block the lawsuit.

The Marion County judge heard arguments last week over the lawsuit, with Holcombs attorneys arguing the law passed this spring violates constitutional provisions allowing only the governor to call the General Assembly into special session after its annual session ends.

The attorney generals office maintains that a 1970 constitutional amendment allowing the Legislature to meet each year gave lawmakers maximum flexibility on when to meet.

State records show the governors lawyers have already been paid about $95,000. The contract allows the firm to bill a maximum of $382.50 an hour for its top partners.

All the lawyers listed in court records representing the Legislature in the lawsuit are attorney generals office staffers.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  A Republican redistricting plan released Tuesday shores up a suburban Indianapolis district for the GOP while not making major changes to a potentially targeted Democratic district in northwestern Indiana.

The proposal for new congressional districts under the once-a-decade redistricting process shifts the northern tier of Democratic-leaning Marion County from the 5th District now held by Republican Rep. Victora Spartz to that of Indianapolis Democratic Rep. Andre Carson.

That move will boost Spartz as she lost badly in Marion County in last years election even as she won by an overall 50%-46% margin over Democratic candidate Christina Hale.

Other changes among Indianas nine congressional districts to account for population shifts dont appear likely to shift the 7-2 control that Republicans have held on those seats since the 2012 elections just after the last GOP-controlled redistricting when Democrats held a 5-4 majority after the 2008 elections.

Were approaching perfection as far as the Republicans are concerned, Indiana University political scientist Barbara Hershey said. I think they just made sure that they further entrenched where they felt maybe they needed it.

Republicans have full control Indianas redistricting process through their dominance of the state Legislature and drew the maps behind closed doors.

The Republican plan leaves intact northwestern Indianas 1st District that includes the industrial cities of Hammond and Gary and has long been a Democratic stronghold. The proposed district along Lake Michigan wouldnt change much from the one Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan won last year by keeping all of Lake and Porter counties.

Mrvan said in a statement that he appreciated the Lake Michigan counties being kept in the same district because they share interests in industry, manufacturing, educational institutions, civic organizations, and transportation infrastructure.

Carving up the area in hopes of a Republican pickup might have started putting other GOP seats at risk, along with dividing the large Black and Hispanic populations of northwest Indiana, Hershey said.

Theres a point at which if you go after too much, you start raising court challenges that are going to at least risk the possibility that the whole map goes down, Hershey said.

Major changes in the other congressional districts include:

 The 6th District held by Republican Rep. Greg Pence would gain heavily Republican Johnson County just south of Indianapolis from Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworths 9th District and the GOP-leaning southside of Indianapolis from Carsons 7th District.

 The 9th District picks up all or parts of nine largely rural counties in southeastern Indiana from the 6th District. That district would include all the Ohio River counties from the Louisville, Kentucky, suburbs to the Ohio state line. Republican voters in the districts rural areas have overwhelmed the vote from heavily Democratic Bloomington in Hollingsworths election wins.

Republican legislative leaders said little publicly Tuesday about the proposed maps.

House Speaker Todd Huston said in a statement that Republicans worked to keep communities of interest together with a focus on compactness. Huston didnt respond to a request for an interview made through his office.

The congressional and Indiana House maps were released little more than 24 hours before the start of a two-day public hearing by the House elections committee, which is scheduled to advance the proposals to the full House for votes next week. State Senate maps are set for release next week, with a final Senate vote expected Oct. 1.

Democrats and voting-right activists criticize that fast-tracked process as giving the public little time to study and comment on the new maps.

The revised 5th District held by Spartz would have its population base in fast-growing Hamilton County just north of Indianapolis. The redistricting plan sheds its Indianapolis voters while keeping the factory cities of Anderson and Marion and adding Kokomo and Muncie.

Those blue-collar towns had historically voted Democratic until trending more Republican in recent years. State Democratic spokesman Drew Anderson said the party sees a chance to reverse that trend by promoting the COVID-19 rescue bill and infrastructure plans backed by President Joe Biden that Spartz opposed.

We see this as still an opportunity to go on offense in the Fifth and to hold Congresswoman Spartz accountable, Anderson said.

Spartz campaign spokesman Tim Edson said in a statement that Congresswoman Spartz looks forward to serving any 5th Congressional District approved by the state Legislature to benefit all Hoosiers.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Union Hospital announced just last week that they had 75 patients admitted with COVID-19 with 10 of them waiting for a bed.

Shawna Ladson commented on our Facebook page last Wednesday that her mother was admitted to Union Hospital for breathing complications and waited nearly two days for a room.

"It most definitely...it is real. The ER is full it's overwhelming," Ladson said.

Shawna Ladson's mother Lori Blevens starting feeling ill at the end of August.

Due to her social anxiety, she didn't seek help until early September.

On Friday, September 3, healthcare workers told Ladson's mother her lungs looked Covid-like.

They sent her home with an inhaler prescription and said they wouldn't be able to schedule an anti-body infusion for her until the following Tuesday.

"So then on Saturday, she woke up from a nap not being able to breathe...so she was taken by ambulance to Union at this time."

Ladson tells me that it was around 8 pm Saturday evening and that she didn't get a bed until Monday evening.

Although the wait for a room was long, Ladson said that Union Hospital immediately started treating her mother.

"If Union wouldn't have jumped on top of it and started treating her while she was in the ER, I really don't think she would be with us right now. "

Ladson has a message for all those who don't believe this is a legitimate, and dier issue.

"There's a lot of people saying it's not real and it is. It most definitely is. I'm not gonna argue with anybody on Facebook, or anywhere else. I have been there. I've lived it the past week and it is real. It most definitely is real."

Ladson urges everyone to be cautious and says she's afraid for the future of hospitals if we don't get a hold of it.

Health officials say the best way to avoid being admitted to the ER is to go get vaccinated because it could save you or a loved one's life.

You can get your vaccine at the drive-thru Covid-19 Vaccine and Test Clinic.

It's located at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law that will allow students in Illinois up to five mental health days.

This will be available to students ages seven through 17. It will take effect on January 1st, 2022.

Many students developed mental issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as depression and anxiety. This new law is to help relieve students from their stresses and improve their mental health.

News 10 spoke with the Palestine school district counselor and mother of a fifth-grader, Jessica Will. She says the new law will be beneficial to students of all ages.

"I feel like the issues were already there but this has brought those issues to the forefront. It sets a precedence that mental health is very important and it should be taken into consideration just like physical health" says Will.

Students who will use these sick days won't be required to show proof of a doctor's note. After a student requests a second mental health day a school counselor will contact the parent. They will discuss what the child is going through and decide if professional help is needed.

If your child is struggling with their mental health here is a list of local resources that could help.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WTHI) - The Indiana Supreme Court announced a new eviction task force on Tuesday.

This new task force will help landlords and tenants resolve their disputes.

The group will also provide tenants with resources for rental assistance. The court's hope is that the information gathered will help disperse rental help quicker.

There's also a goal to create a more permanent pre-eviction diversion program in Indiana.
(CNN) -- In what appears to be a massively successful pump and dump scheme, cryptocurrency litecoin surged around 25% early Monday after a falsified news release said Walmart would begin accepting the payment for online purchases.

Investors had plenty of reason to believe the news was true: A verified litecoin Twitter account tweeted out a link to the announcement, which had appeared on the press release service GlobeNewswire. The press release looked legitimate enough, including (made-up) quotes from Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Walmart had just posted a job for a cryptocurrency expert to work at its corporate headquarters. And several major news organizations picked up the news.

The announcement, however, was fake, a Walmart spokesperson confirmed. Walmart is not accepting litecoin, and litecoin deleted its tweet. An hour after the announcement came out, Litecoin's price fell from more than $220 back to $178 -- around where it was trading before the false release went out.

It's not yet clear who the scammers are, but the scheme is likely a pump and dump. That's when people buy an asset and drive up the price  typically with fake news  only to sell it once the price starts soaring.

GlobeNewswire removed the press release minutes after CNN reached out, and it issued a correction, urging investors and the media to ignore the announcement.

A spokesperson for Intrado, the service's parent company, said in an email that a "fraudulent user account" was created to issue the fake release. The service has stepped up its authentication measures and pledged a full investigation into how its systems were tripped.

Although the press release appeared authentic at first glance, it contained some telltale signs of fake news. It contained the bogus "walmart-corp.com" website as the email address for Walmart's chief marketing officer. It used an partial title for McMillon. And it was the first and only press release Walmart had issued on GlobeNewswire.

Litecoin was also an odd choice for Walmart. Although it's among the oldest cryptocurrencies on the market, it's outside the top 10 of the largest digital coins, and it's typically not among the most actively traded - although that changed Monday when several billions of dollars of litecoin changed hands, according to online trading platform Coinbase.

Pump and dump schemes are typically reserved for less-regulated markets, such as penny stocks and cryptocurrencies, where regulators and investors have less insight into the markets and less ability to to suss out criminal activity. Although unusual, the falsified press release of a company the size of Walmart was not the first of its kind.

It's been a turbulent few months for cryptocurrencies, which have grown in recent years. Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in April, plummeted as low as $28,800 in June after China escalated its crackdown on digital currencies. It's now around $44,000.

Regulatory concerns have also increased around digital currencies. The Senate added a provision to its $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed last month that impose more federal regulation on cryptocurrencies and could expand the number of cryptocurrency users who would have to report filings to the Internal Revenue Service. The bill now must be approved by the House before it can head to President Joe Biden's desk.

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VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County Health Department released stats for the first day of their drive-thru COVID-19 clinic at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds.

The health department partnered with the Indiana State Department of Health to host the clinic.

On Monday, the health department gave 355 COVID-19 tests, and 66 people received the vaccine.

The drive-thru clinic continues Tuesday and Wednesday. You can stop in from noon until 8 pm, and you do not need to be a Vigo County resident.

You can preregister at this link.

If you can't make it to the drive-thru event, check out this link to find a COVID-19 vaccination location closer to you.
Here is a look at North Korea's nuclear capabilities and the history of its weapons program.

1985

North Korea signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

1993

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands that inspectors be given access to two nuclear waste storage sites. In response, North Korea threatens to quit the NPT but eventually opts to continue participating in the treaty.

1994

North Korea and the United States sign an agreement. North Korea pledges to freeze and eventually dismantle its old, graphite-moderated nuclear reactors in exchange for international aid to build two new light-water nuclear reactors.

2002

January 29 - US President George W. Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address. "By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger," he says.

October - The Bush Administration reveals that North Korea has admitted operating a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement.

2003

January 10 - North Korea withdraws from the NPT.

February - The United States confirms North Korea has reactivated a five-megawatt nuclear reactor at its Yongbyon facility, capable of producing plutonium for weapons.

April - Declares it has nuclear weapons.

2005

North Korea tentatively agrees to give up its entire nuclear program, including weapons. In exchange, the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea say they will provide energy assistance to North Korea, as well as promote economic cooperation.

2006

July - After North Korea test fires long range missiles, the UN Security Council passes a resolution demanding that North Korea suspend the program.

October - North Korea claims to have successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. The test prompts the UN Security Council to impose a broad array of sanctions.

2007

February 13 - North Korea agrees to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for an aid package worth $400 million.

September 30 - At six-party talks in Beijing, North Korea signs an agreement stating it will begin disabling its nuclear weapons facilities.

December 31 - North Korea misses the deadline to disable its weapons facilities.

2008

June 27 - North Korea destroys a water cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

December - Six-party talks are held in Beijing. The talks break down over North Korea's refusal to allow international inspectors unfettered access to suspected nuclear sites.

2009

May 25 - North Korea announces it has conducted its second nuclear test.

June 12 - The UN Security Council condemns the nuclear test and imposes new sanctions.

2010

November 20 - A Stanford University professor publishes a report that North Korea has a new nuclear enrichment facility.

2011

October 24-25 - US officials meet with a North Korean delegation in Geneva, Switzerland, in an effort to restart the six-party nuclear arms talks that broke down in 2008.

2012

February 29 - The State Department announces that North Korea has agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile launches and nuclear activity at the nation's major nuclear facility in exchange for food aid.

2013

January 24 - North Korea's National Defense Commission says it will continue nuclear testing and long-range rocket launches in defiance of the United States. The tests and launches will feed into an "upcoming all-out action" targeting the United States, "the sworn enemy of the Korean people," the commission says.

February 12 - Conducts third nuclear test. This is the first nuclear test carried out under Kim Jong Un. Three weeks later, the United Nations orders additional sanctions in protest.

2014

March 30-31 - North Korea warns that it is prepping another nuclear test. The following day, the hostility escalates when the country fires hundreds of shells across the sea border with South Korea. In response, South Korea fires about 300 shells into North Korean waters and sends fighter jets to the border.

2015

May 6 - In an exclusive interview with CNN, the deputy director of a North Korean think tank says the country has the missile capability to strike mainland United States and would do so if the United States "forced their hand."

May 20 - North Korea says that it has the ability to miniaturize nuclear weapons, a key step toward building nuclear missiles. A US National Security Council spokesman responds that the United States does not think the North Koreans have that capability.

December 12 - North Korea state media says the country has added the hydrogen bomb to its arsenal.

2016

January 6-7 - North Korea says it has successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. A day after the alleged test, White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that the United States has not verified that the test was successful.

March 9 - North Korea announces that it has miniature nuclear warheads that can fit on ballistic missiles.

September 9 - North Korea claims to have detonated a nuclear warhead. According to South Korea's Meteorological Administration, the blast is estimated to have the explosive power of 10 kilotons.

2017

January 1 - In a televised address, Kim claims that North Korea could soon test an intercontinental ballistic missile.

January 8 - During an interview on "Meet the Press," Defense Secretary Ash Carter says that the military will shoot down any North Korean missile fired at the United States or any of its allies.

January 12 - A US defense official tells CNN that the military has deployed sea-based radar equipment to track long-range missile launches by North Korea.

July 4 - North Korea claims it has conducted its first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, that can "reach anywhere in the world."

July 25 - North Korea threatens a nuclear strike on "the heart of the US" if it attempts to remove Kim as Supreme Leader, according to Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

August 7 - North Korea accuses the United States of "trying to drive the situation of the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war" after the UN Security Council unanimously adopts new sanctions in response to Pyongyang's long-range ballistic missile tests last month.

August 9 - North Korea's military is "examining the operational plan" to strike areas around the US territory of Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic missiles, state-run news agency KCNA says. The North Korea comments are published one day after President Donald Trump warns Pyongyang that if it continues to threaten the United States, it would face "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

September 3 - North Korea carries out its sixth test of a nuclear weapon, causing a 6.3 magnitude seismic event, as measured by the United States Geological Survey. Pyongyang claims the device is a hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on an intercontinental missile. A nuclear weapon monitoring group describes the weapon as up to eight times stronger than the bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945. In response to the test, Trump tweets that North Korea continues to be "very hostile and dangerous to the United States." He goes on the criticize South Korea, claiming that the country is engaging in "talk of appeasement" with its neighbor to the north. He also says that North Korea is "an embarrassment to China," claiming Beijing is having little success reining in the Kim regime.

November 1 - A US official tells CNN that North Korea is working on an advanced version of its intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially reach the United States.

November 28 - A South Korean minister says that North Korea may develop the capability to launch a nuclear weapon on a long-range ballistic missile at some point in 2018.

2018

January 2 - Trump ridicules Kim in a tweet. The president says that he has a larger and more functional nuclear button than the North Korean leader in a post on Twitter, responding to Kim's claim that he has a nuclear button on his desk.

January 10 - The White House releases a statement indicating that the Trump administration may be willing to hold talks with North Korea.

March 6 - South Korea's national security chief Chung Eui-yong says that North Korea has agreed to refrain from nuclear and missile testing while engaging in peace talks. North Korea has also expressed an openness to talk to the United States about abandoning its nuclear program, according to Chung.

March 8 - Chung, standing outside the White House, announces that Trump has accepted an invitation to meet Kim.

June 12 - The final outcome of a landmark summit, and nearly five hours of talks between Trump and Kim in Singapore, culminates with declarations of a new friendship but only vague pledges of nuclear disarmament.

December 5 - New satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN reveal North Korea has significantly expanded a key long-range missile base, offering a reminder that Kim is still pursuing his promise to mass produce and deploy the existing types of nuclear warheads in his arsenal.

2019

January 18 - Trump meets with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea's lead negotiator on nuclear talks, and they discuss denuclearization and the second summit scheduled for February.

February 27-28 - A second round of US-North Korean nuclear diplomacy talks ends abruptly with no joint agreement after Kim insists all US sanctions be lifted on his country. Trump states that Kim offered to take some steps toward dismantling his nuclear arsenal, but not enough to warrant ending sanctions imposed on the country.

March 8 - Analysts say that satellite images indicate possible activity at a launch facility, suggesting that the country may be preparing to shoot a missile or a rocket.

March 15 - North Korea's foreign minister tells reporters that the country has no intention to "yield to the US demands." In the wake of the comment, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insists that negotiations will continue.

May 4 - South Korea's Defense Ministry states that North Korea test-fired 240 mm and 300 mm multiple rocket launchers, including a new model of a tactical guide weapon on May 3. According to the defense ministry's assessment, the launchers' range is about 70 to 240 kilometers (43 to 149 miles). The test is understood to be the first missile launch from North Korea since late 2017 -- and the first since Trump began meeting with Kim.

October 2 - North Korea says it test fired a new type of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), a day after Pyongyang and Washington agreed to resume nuclear talks. The launch marks a departure from the tests of shorter range missiles North Korea has carried out in recent months.

December 3 - In a statement, Ri Thae Song, a first vice minister at the North Korean Foreign Ministry working on US affairs, warns the United States to prepare for a "Christmas gift," which some interpret as the resumption of long-distance missile testing. December 25 passes without a "gift" from the North Korean regime, but US officials remain watchful.

2020

March 9 - According to US and South Korean officials, North Korea fires at least three unidentified projectiles, the second such move by the regime in two weeks. North Korean state media says military exercises began on February 28, the one-year anniversary of Kim's summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, with Trump which ended without a deal. The military drills continued March 2, when Pyongyang fired two unidentified short-range projectiles from an area near the coastal city of Wonsan, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Sondok.

October 10 - North Korea unveils what analysts believe to be one of the world's largest ballistic missiles at a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party broadcast on state-run television.

2021

March 24 - North Korea launches two ballistic missiles -- the second such launch in less than a week. According to a statement from South Korea's joint chiefs of staff, two short-range missiles were fired from the Hamju area of South Hamgyong province toward the sea, off North Korea's east coast, at 7:06 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. local time. The projectiles flew about 450 kilometers (280 miles), reaching an altitude of 60 kilometers (37 miles), and are believed to have been ballistic missiles launched from the ground, the statement said. The exact type of the missiles are still unclear, a senior US official tells CNN, citing an intelligence briefing.

August 27 - In an annual report on Pyongyang's nuclear program, the IAEA says North Korea appears to have restarted operations at a power plant capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. The IAEA says that clues, such as the discharge of cooling water, observed in early July, indicated the plant is active. No such evidence had been observed since December 2018.

September 13 - North Korea claims it successfully test-fired new long-range cruise missiles on September 11 and 12, according to the country's state-run KCNA. According to KCNA, the 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. The US and neighboring South Korea are looking into the launch claims, officials in both countries tell CNN.

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 &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Millions of Americans still need to get vaccinated to slow or stop the spread of Covid-19 and getting the pandemic under control could take "many, many" more vaccine mandates, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said 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," Fauci told CNN's Jen Christensen during an interview at the NLGJA, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists, convention Sunday. "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 the vaccine holdouts has put the United States in a "very difficult period" of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fauci said.

Of the eligible population in the US, which is currently limited to people 12 and older, 63% are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts and officials are aiming for the vast majority of the population to be inoculated to control the spread.

Last week, President Joe Biden announced vaccine requirements that include a mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees to require vaccination or regular testing for employees.

Businesses that want employees to return to work and stay at work will benefit from vaccine requirements, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said. The mandate will benefit employees as well, he added.

"I believe that will not only improve public health, but it will give people some more peace of mind," Murthy told CNN Sunday.

As the debate over mandates continues, some hospitals are feeling the impact of lagging vaccination rates.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis sounded the alarm Friday, saying, "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."

Polis said some hospitals in his state "reaching very close to their capacity limits. And that wouldn't be happening if people were vaccinated."

To booster, or not to booster?

An international group of vaccine scientists, including some from the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, say the current evidence on Covid-19 vaccines does not appear to support a need for booster shots in the general public.

The scientists, who authored a paper about this, include two senior FDA vaccine leaders, Dr. Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, who will be stepping down in October and November, the FDA announced late last month. No further details were released about their retirements, although they sparked questions about whether the departures would affect the agency's work.

The paper's authors write that vaccine efficacy remains high against severe disease, including for the highly transmissible Delta variant, although less so for symptomatic disease.

"Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high," the scientists write in the new paper, published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet.

The FDA and other public health agencies around the world continue to examine evidence on Covid-19 vaccine efficacy and the role booster doses of the vaccine might play in improving immunity against the disease.

Other data on the subject will soon be coming. The New England Journal of Medicine will publish Israeli data showing that a booster shot of Pfizer's vaccine dramatically decreased severe Covid-19, according to Dr. Nachman Ash, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health.

Israel began its booster program on August 1; booster shots have been given to 2.8 million people there so far. To date, much of the country's data on the efficacy of booster shots has not been reviewed by outside experts and published in a medical journal.

US federal health officials have announced plans to offer booster doses this fall, starting September 20, subject to authorization from the FDA and consent from the CDC.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is meeting on Friday to discuss the application by vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech to administer their Covid-19 vaccine as a third dose, or "booster" shot, to people ages 16 and older.

Children could get access to vaccines by Halloween

Parents concerned about protecting their young children from the virus could have access to vaccinations for them by for Halloween, said the former commissioner of the FDA.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is a board member at Pfizer, told CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday the company is expected to have data on vaccinations for children ages 5-11 ready for the FDA by the end of September.

"The FDA says it will be a matter of weeks, not months, to make a determination if they're going to authorize vaccines for kids between 5 to 11. I interpret that to be perhaps four weeks, maybe six weeks," said Gottlieb.

However, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was more guarded about when kids can be vaccinated. She said Monday that the CDC is working urgently on a Covid-19 vaccine for younger children, with the hope that they will be vaccinated by the end of the year.

"We're waiting for the companies to submit the data to the FDA. We're anticipating that will happen in the fall," she told NBC's "Today" show.

"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."

In the meantime, the FDA cautioned parents not to race to vaccinate their children before approval from the agency.

"Children are not small adults -- and issues that may be addressed in pediatric vaccine trials can include whether there is a need for different doses or different strength formulations of vaccines already used for adults," the FDA said in a statement Friday.

Until it is safe to vaccinate that age group, Dr. James Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Children's Hospital, told CBS that prevention is crucial.

"In addition to prevention ... we need to continue to emphasize to all parents and families the importance of timely diagnosing through testing," Versalovic said. "And then triage the care appropriately. Decide whether that child needs hospital-based care. We know how to treat children at this point in the pandemic."

NYC welcomes back students

New York City public school system reopened Monday morning with 100% of its students back in classrooms.

"We've been working for 18 months to get ready for this day," New York Education Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter told CNN in an interview Friday.

All students and teachers returning to school on Monday will be required to wear masks, and the city previously announced a vaccine mandate for all public school employees with no testing opt-out. On Friday, the United Federation of Teachers said in a statement that an independent arbitrator decided teachers who have documented or religious exemptions must be offered a non-classroom assignment.

Department of Education officials said Monday that 74% of teachers and 66% of students 12-17 years old have been vaccinated in New York City.

US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona appeared virtually from a Bronx school and praised NYC officials for the reopening plan.

"To all the families that are watching -- they've worked so hard, they've prepared, they are doing everything to make sure your children and staff are safe," Cardona said.

Also on Monday, NYC began enforcing its vaccination passport rules, which makes vaccinations required for indoor dining, gyms, and other venues.

"This is the day we have been waiting for," de Blasio said Monday. History will remember it, he said, as "a day that was a game changer, a difference maker, a turn around day. This is the day NYC's coming back in full force."

The-CNN-Wire

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FULTON, Miss. (WTVA) - Many communities across Mississippi could use updates on roads and bridges, thats one reason lawmakers met today in Fulton to talk about infrastructure needs throughout the state.

In Washington, the house will soon vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Congressman Trent Kelly said it will be hard to get it passed. He added that he believes if passed, it will do little for Mississippi.

Right now they dont have the votes to pass it and were not going to help them because yes, theres a lot of good but theres more bad," said Kelly. "The majority doesnt go to roads and bridges, it goes to green new deal stuff and thats just not good for Mississippi or anyone.

House Speaker Philip Gunn said the states infrastructure will be improved even if the bill does not pass.

He said legislators held a special session in 2018 to devote money every year to roads and bridges and added that it continues to provide a steady stream of revenue to the cause.

Im glad the legislature stepped up in 2018 and recognized the need and dedicated a steady stream of revenue to fix our roads and bridges," said Gunn.

Meanwhile, Kelly said he would like to see a different infrastructure plan than the one that is up for debate in Washington.

We want an infrastructure deal that puts money into roads and bridges,' said Kelly. "Forty percent of our roads in Mississippi we cant use, weve got bridges that are out.

The house could vote on the infrastructure bill as early as two weeks from now.
BOONEVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - Investigators charged a Booneville woman with forgery.

Law enforcement officers arrested Jerica Davis, 41, on Saturday, Sept. 11.



Madison Grimes was arrested on Sept. 11, 2021, in Prentiss County, Mississippi. Source: Prentiss County Sheriff's Department. Madison Grimes was arrested on Sept. 11, 2021, in Prentiss County, Mississippi. Source: Prentiss County Sheriff's Department.

The arrest was the result of an investigation into identity theft, according to a Monday, Sept. 13 news release from Prentiss County Sheriff Randy Tolar.

Also, Prentiss County deputies and Booneville police officers arrested Davis daughter, 18-year-old Madison Grimes, also of Booneville.

Investigators charged Grimes with hindering prosecution. She's accused of hiding her mother.

The sheriff's department did not release further information about the investigation, only stating a grand jury will hear both cases.
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 childhood poison when Im recommending a COVID vaccine, said doctor 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.
Late Spanish director Ivan Zuluetas lost cult horror masterpiece Arrebato  also known in English as Rapture  is finally getting its first United States theatrical run four decades after opening abroad in 1980. It also happens to be among the favorite horror movies of fellow Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. Altered Innocence will release this brain-bending, phantasmagoric blend of heroin, sex, and Super-8 beginning at the Anthology Film Archive in New York on October 1, followed by a Los Angeles release in the Nuart on October 8. Exclusive to IndieWire, watch the trailer for the new restoration below.

Heres the synopsis courtesy of Altered Innocence: Horror movie director Jose is adrift in a sea of doubt and drugs. As his belated second feature nears completion, his reclusive bubble is popped by two events: a sudden reappearance from an ex-girlfriend and a package from past acquaintance Pedro: a reel of Super-8 film, an audiotape, and a door key. From there, the boundaries of time, space, and sexuality are erased as Jose is once more sucked into Pedros vampiric orbit. Together, they attempt the ultimate hallucinogenic catharsis through a moebius strip of filming and being filmed.

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In a eulogy to Zulueta after he died in 2009, Almodovar wrote highly of the director and this film. The director called Arrebato a filmic testament right from the beginning of the shoot, [which] wouldnt be anything without the thousands of meters that Ivan filmed in Super 8 throughout the previous years. [The Super 8] enraptures the prostrate and expectant bodies of the protagonists Will More and Eusebio Poncela ushers them to a better, or non-world. The only information the film gives us is that this non-world is a sort of void of reddish color.

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He continued, He never filmed a single banal image. The element in which he felt most comfortable was abstraction. The pure image, brimful of meanings but freed from the burden of fiction, always cushioned on a rich variety of soundscapes. David Lynch, but less shadowy and more pop. Psychedelia was his school, and he made genuine masterpieces in this style.

As for Almodovar, his new film Parallel Mothers just won Penelope Cruz the Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the drama in U.S. theaters on December 24.

Watch the trailer for Arrebato below.

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Watch: Madonna's Daughter Lourdes Leon Shows Skin and Armpit Hair in Sparkly Bra Top for 2021 Met Gala Debut

Lourdes Leon continues to make a name for herself on the fashion scene!

Madonna's 24-year-old daughter showed skin in a sparkly fuchsia Moschino by Jeremy Scott ensemble  complete with a bikini halter top and matching skirt both covered in sequin embellishments  as she arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Monday for her first appearance at the Met Gala.

While her mom did not attend the event, Leon made a memorable statement of her own by posing in the bold ensemble with her unshaven armpit visible.

Additionally, hairstylist Evanie Frausto achieved the model's long sleek 'do with products from the Rene Furterer STYLE collection.

lourdes leon

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Leon's appearance at the 2021 Costume Institute Gala comes after she covered the September issue of Vogue for the magazine's feature story, "Generation America: The Models Changing an Industry."

RELATED: The Met Gala 2021 Red Carpet Looks You Must See

She was photographed alongside Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, Precious Lee, Anok Yai, Ariel Nicholson, Sherry Shi, and Yumi Nu.

The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion

Getty

"People think I'm this talentless rich kid who's had everything given to her, but I'm not," Leon told the magazine, explaining that she paid her own college tuition and lives in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick, away from the glitz of Hollywood.

2021 MET Gala Lourdes

Theo Wargo/Getty

And while Leon, who is Madonna's firstborn with ex Carlos Leon, said she is making a life of her own, she explained to Vogue that she and her famous mother share a love of dancing.

"A teacher of mine made me understand movement in a whole new way," she told the outlet of her passion. "You're using your body to define the space around you  to change it. That's a very naked form of expression."

Be sure to check out all of PEOPLE's Met Gala coverage to get the latest news on fashion's biggest night.

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Following the Vogue cover, Leon was also revealed as the face of Swarovski's upcoming campaign, which the brand says will "serve as a platform for representation of people from all cultures and orientations."

This year's Met Gala was a salute to the evolution of American fashion, and organizers said it would celebrate the role of American labels in championing sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.

The Sept. 13 benefit event will kick off a two-part exhibition. Part one, titled In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, will debut on September 18, and run through September 5, 2022, to "celebrate The Costume Institute's 75th anniversary and explore a modern vocabulary of American fashion," according to Vogue and exhibit organizers.

Watch: Met Gala: The best weird and wonderful fashion as celebs return to red carpet

RELATED: Everything to Know About the 2021 Met Gala: The Theme, Co-Chairs, COVID Protocols and Beyond

Part two, In America: An Anthology of Fashion, will open on May 5, 2022, and "will explore the development of American fashion by presenting narratives that relate to the complex and layered histories of those spaces." It will also close on September 5, 2022.

A new class of industry tastemakers were enlisted to host this year's gala, including Amanda Gorman, 23, Timothee Chalamet, 26, Billie Eilish, 19, and Naomi Osaka, 23. Honorary chairs for the evening were designer Tom Ford, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

The Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was delayed from its usual scheduled date on the first Monday in May after last year's event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's guests were required to provide proof of vaccination and wear masks at all times, except for when drinking and eating.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made more than just a fashion statement at the 2021 Met Gala.

The Democrat from New York attended the event Monday night wearing a white tuxedo-inspired gown from Brother Vellies. The off-the-shoulder look also featured a red spray-painted message on the back: Tax the rich.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (L) and designer Aurora James attend the 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

We really started having a conversation about what it means to be a working-class woman of color at the Met," the Congresswoman told Ilana Glazer, host of Vogue's livestream. "We cant just play along ... [I] wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry."

Ocasio-Cortez was accompanied by the designer of her look, Aurora James. She told the fashion publication, We can never get too comfortable in our seats at the table once theyve been given." She continued, We must always continue to push ourselves, push our colleagues, push the culture and push the country forward. Fashion is changing, America is changing. And as far as this theme goes, I think Alexandria and I are a great embodiment of the language fashion needs to consider adding to the general lexicon as we work towards a more sustainable, inclusive and empowered future.

The politician's gown was an internet hit, with many pointing out the irony of her message juxtaposed with the occasion.

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Rep. Carolyn Maloney, also in attendance, similarly used the moment in the spotlight to send a message.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney arrives for the 2021 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York. (Photo: Getty Images)

Rep. Maloney wore a custom gown made in green, yellow, purple and white  suffragette colors  with multiple "Equal rights for women" trains and a "ERA YES" purse.
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Looking for a gift for an artist friend or a child in art school? Here is a list of a dozen things we think every artistwhether they work in traditional media, in a less conventional medium like light (think James Turrell), or in installation or performance artshould keep on hand, along with our with our recommendations for specific products culled from past reviews. Many would also make good holiday gifts, and most are quite affordable. And even if the recipient already has a well-stocked studio, a really good tool is always appreciated. Consider combining a few items to make a useful kit. (Prices current at time of publication.)

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Please note that these tools are for general use. You can find our reviews of more specialized materials and tools here.

1. PAPER

There are innumerable types of artists papers on the market. Smooth-surfaced processed paper is probably the best for sketching with pen or pencil. A good mixed-media pad is the most versatile and comes in handy in most situations.

ARTnews Recommends: Strathmore 500 Series Heavyweight Mixed Media Pads

Acid- and lignin-free, this 100% cotton paper has a slightly textured vellum surface. Each gluebound pad contains 12 sheets of natural white paper.

Purchase: Strathmore 500 Series Heavyweight Mixed Media Pads, $9.14$20.52 on Dick Blick

Budget Pick: Canson XL Series Mix Media Pad

Bright white and thick, Cansons mixed-media paper takes dry media, from pencils to charcoal, very well. You have to exercise more caution, though, with wet media such as watercolors and ink, as the surface can warp with too much liquid.

Purchase: Canson XL Series Mix Media Pad, 9 x 12 in, 60 sheets, $14.79 on Amazon

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2. PENCILS

Wooden or mechanical, soft lead or hard, pencils are vital components of any artists arsenal. Both sets below come with a sharpener and eraser.

ARTnews Recommends: Tombow Mono Drawing Pencil Set

If youve ever known the special, quiet frustration that accompanies a pencil that wont sharpen evenly, youll appreciate the inverse joy of finding a pencil that does. From Japanese artist supply company Tombow, these pencils feature precisely centered lead cores that are adhered to the cedar wood barrel. Cedar wood is hard, so it shaves away cleanly and smoothly, exposing a sharp point. This set contains 12 pencils in degrees from a soft 6B to a hard 4H.

Purchase: Tombow Mono Drawing Pencil Set, 12-Pack, $20.27 on Amazon

Another Option: Generals Semi-Hex Graphite Drawing Pencils

With a hexagonal shaft made of hard cedar painted dark blue, the pencils in this soft-grade set of four range from HB to 6B.

Purchase: Generals Semi-Hex Graphite Drawing Pencils, Set of 4, $4.95 on Amazon

3. PENS

The most practical type are pens with pigment-based ink that will not bleed or run if liquids are spilled on it or if watercolors or other paints are applied after the ink has dried. Many artist pens come in a range of tip sizes.

ARTnews Recommends: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens

Designed in the early 1980s as an inexpensive delivery system for their patented pigment-based ink, Sakuras Pigma Micron pen, with its familiar beige barrel and gear-shaped top, remains the best-quality disposable drawing pen in its class. Permanent, fade resistant, chemically stable, bleed free, and run-proof once dry, Sakuras archival-quality Pigma ink makes the Micron the go-to tool not only for artists, but for anyone concerned with preserving their work. This set comes with three pens, each with a different fine to medium-fine tip size: 0.1mm, 0.3mm, and 0.5mm.

Purchase: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Set of 3, $7.78 on Amazon

A Great Alternative: Le Pen

Behold LePen, a longtime favorite of pen geeks. Unlike our other choices, this super-slim, fine-line marker comes in only one weight (0.3mm in technical-pen speak). However, if youre a writer who gets attached to a particular kind of pen, or a draftsman who needs only one line width for your work, this just might become your new favorite implement. The midrange nib size is useful for writing and drawing, but be warnedthe ink, though a strong black, is not waterproof. This pack contains four pens.

Purchase: Uchida of America, LePen, 4-Pack, $9.69 on Amazon

4. WORK LIGHT

The best work lights let you control the brightness and distribution of light on your desk or workstation. Some LED lamps allow you to adjust the color temperature to give you warmer or cooler light.

ARTnews Recommends:

We are fans of the original Luxo Combination Task Lamp, which holds both a 22W circular fluorescent bulb and a 14W compact fluorescent bulb that can be used together or individually. The spring-balanced arm extends to 45 inches, and the angle of the head can be adjusted in any direction, for getting the best light possible on your work.

Purchase: Luxo Combination Task Lamp with Edge Clamp, White, $233.43 on Amazon

Budget pick: IKEA Forsa Work Lamp

This enormously popular task lamp takes an E14 LED bulb (sold separately) comes in a choice of silver, which suits its bulbous retro styling. While not as sturdy as the Luxo, the Forsa also has a spring-loaded arm with three different hinges, as well as an adjustable head. Those who dislike edge clamps will like its heavy base.

Purchase: IKEA Forsa Work Lamp, $26.99 on IKEA

5. BRUSHES

These can be divided into brushes best suited for drawing lines, for applying colors, and for creating gradations and shading, so a mix of widths and tip styles is recommended. Excellent synthetic alternatives to animal hair can be found, many of which are applicable to a range of uses.

ARTnews Recommends: Princeton Velvetouch Series 3950 Synthetic Brush Set

Truly all-purpose brushes, Princetons synthetic brushes can be used for acrylic, oil, or watercolor paints. This set of four short-handled brushes includes a #4 round brush, a #8 long round brush, a 3/8-inch angle shader, and a 3/4-inch wash brush.

Purchase: Princeton Velvetouch Series 3950, Set of 4, $30.30 on Dick Blick

Budget Pick: Blick Essentials Craft Value Brush Set

If you tend to go through a lot of brushes, or just need a wider variety without breaking the bank, consider this set of 25 brushes in all shapes, sizes, and bristle types, most of which, with care, can be used with a range of media.

https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-essentials-craft-value-brush-set/

Purchase: Blick Essentials Craft Value Brush Set, $11.99 on Dick Blick

6. STRAIGHT-EDGE RULER

Not just for architects and draftspeople, a long straight-edge ruler has infinite uses in the studio, from guiding cutting knives to drawing long, straight lines.

ARTnews Recommends: Starrett Aluminum Straight-Edge Meter Stick

Even on a students budget, theres no excuse for not getting yourself a high-quality tool with Starretts durable, affordable, one-meter-long, straight-edge ruler. Made from anodized aluminum, it has a hole for hanging, which is the best way to prevent warping.

Purchase: Starrett Aluminum Straight-Edge Meter Stick, 39.37 in, $9.18 on Amazon

Pair Your Straightedge with a Drafting Triangle (Again, Not Just for Draftspeople): Westcott C-Thru Professional Triangles

Westcotts smoke-tinted professional-grade triangles feature beveled inking edges to prevent smears, and a cut-out center for easy lifting.

Purchase: Westcott C-Thru Professional Triangles, $3.06$33.92 on Dick Blick

7. NOTEBOOK

Helpful for jotting down notes, sketching out ideas, or even making presentations, notebooks come in a wide range of formats and sizes.

ARTnews Recommends:

If you know your notebooks, you know that Rhodias have a cult followingand for good reason. They are bound with high-quality, smooth European paper that is ideal for taking fountain pen ink. The legacy brand, in business since 1934, offers options in a wide range of formats and sizes, including this hardcover journal with a rigid faux-leather cover, inner pocket, and blank pages.

Purchase: Rhodia Rhodiarama Notebook, Black, 96 Sheets, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 in, Black Cover, $17.96 on Amazon

Budget Pick: Muji Recycled Paper Double-Ring Plain Notebook

Popular with architects, artists, and designers, Mujis super-affordable spiral notebook is bound with 80 sheets of 8.3-by-5.8-inch blank recycled paper. Available in buff or dark grey.

Purchase: Muji Recycled Paper Double-Ring Plain Notebook, $3.90 on Muji

8. CUTTING TOOL

Some artists still use razor blades, but we recommend something with a handle, for safetys sake. A good utility knife should be one you want to reach for over and over again. Deploy it for general everyday tasks, like opening cardboard boxes and slicing tape, or more specialized projects in the studio, like cutting canvas panels or trimming fabrics. When choosing a knife, its important to think not only about sharpness but also comfort and security. Weve done the research for you; check out our favorites below.

ARTnews Recommends (For Heavy Work): Olfa Snap-Off Blade Utility Knife

The first thing to know about Olfas knife is that its loaded with an extremely sharp blade. Just one stroke is needed to slice smoothly thoroughly a cardboard box. The carbon steel metal also stays sharp for a very long time, but when youre ready for a new one, simply snap off the blunt end to reveal a fresh edge: The knife is loaded with a long blade divided into eight 8mm sections. These are rigid, thin to provide precision, and highly resilient.

Purchase: Olfa Snap-Off Blade Utility Knife, $6.21$9.72 on Dick Blick

We Also Like (For Fine Work): X-Acto #1 Knife Set

No art or craft studio is complete without at least one X-Acto knife for precise cutting. X-Actos standard #1 knife is the go-to knife when it comes to finicky cutting, and this set comes with one handle plus three #11 blades, one #10, one #16, and one #17 blade.

Purchase: X-Acto #1 Knife Set, $7.74 on Dick Blick

9. TAPE

Multipurpose artists tape is always useful. But youll also need a stronger tape for general use.

ARTnews Recommends (Artists Tape): Blick Artist Tape

Formulated with a positionable adhesive, this artists tape wont leave residue or tear your paper. Its also easy to write on and comes in six colors, making it ideal for labeling.

Purchase: Blick Artist Tape, $4.00$20.03 on Dick Blick

We Also Like (Gummed Tape): Kraft Paper Tape

Eco-friendly and forming a stronger, longer-lasting bond with cardboard than than plastic packing tape, water-activated gummed paper tape is gallery and museum preparators choice for packing art, as well as for sealing the backs of frames.

Purchase: Kraft Paper Tape, $7.41$12.00 on Dick Blick

10. GLUE

Artists use many different types of adhesives, but here are two basics that every studio should have.

ARTnews Recommends (PVA): Lineco Neutral PH Adhesive

Polyvinyl acetate, or PVA, is just another term for white glue. A rubbery synthetic polymer with adhesive properties, polyvinyl acetate emulsion is PH neutral, water-soluble, and dries clear. Its perfect for woodworking, bookbinding, handicrafts, and wallpapering. Its also useful for sizing a porous medium such as canvas or wood or sealing a finished collagejust cover the surface in a layer of polyvinyl acetate. For projects using very thin paper, PVA can be diluted with one part water to three parts glue. For all these gluing, sealing, and priming tasks, PVA is handy to keep around. Linecos version is buffered and has excellent lay flat properties.

Purchase: Lineco Neutral pH Adhesive, $3.86$47.71 on Dick Blick

Another Option (Epoxy): Gorilla 2-Part Epoxy

Its never a bad idea to keep epoxy in your home or studio. The most common consumer-grade epoxies are two-part epoxies, which keep the resin and hardener separate until its time to use them. For jobs that require you to hold the pieces together, a quick-set epoxy is the best choice. Gorillas dispenser is fitted with two syringes and a plunger that dispenses both liquids at once in equal amounts out of separate nozzles. The result is a clear, super-tough epoxy that sets in just five minutes and cures in about a day.

Purchase: Gorilla 2-Part Epoxy, 5-Minute Set, .85 oz Syringe, Clear, Pack of 2, $9.49 on Amazon

11. SCISSORS

We cant emphasize enough how important it is to have a good pair of scissors. Its nearly impossible to list all the various uses for a pair around the studio, but everyone knows the specific frustration of using dull, weak, or uncomfortable ones.

ARTnews Recommends: Kai 8-Inch Dressmaking Shears

Japanese scissors are supposed to be the best (thanks to the countrys long tradition of blade making), and Kais are ultrasharp and beautifully balanced. Plus, theyre comfortable to hold and come in versions for both right- and left-handed users.

Purchase: Kai 8-Inch Dressmaking Shears, $14.38 on Amazon and here for lefties

Also a Good Option: Fiskars The Original 8-Inch Orange-Handled Scissors

The Original is in the name because just about everybody remembers when these orange scissors were ubiquitous fabric cutters in American households. They dont feature soft grips or titanium-coated blades, but these industry standards prove that good design sometimes matters just as much as cutting edge (sorry) innovations.

Purchase: Fiskars 8-Inch Scissors, $8.99 on Amazon

12. TOOL KIT

Almost every artist, regardless of what medium/media he or she works with, will eventually need a set of common household tools. You never know when you may have to assemble a frame, hang a work of art, or nail an installation setup together.

ARTnews Recommends (For Household Use): Apollo Tools 39-Piece Hand Tool Set

This kit features an 8-ounce claw hammer, pliers, tape measure, utility knife, bit driver plus 20 bits, screwdrivers, hex keys, and scissors, all in a compact storage case.

Purchase: Apollo Tools 39-Piece Hand Tool Set, $19.99 on Amazon

We Also Like (For Crafting): Garrett Wade Basic Tool Kit for Small-Crafts Work

This 26-piece basic kit includes all you need for small crafts work, including bench vise, hand vise, clamps, caliper, picks, probes, tweezers, flat and needle-nose pliers, and a polished mini steel anvil.

Purchase: Garrett Wade Basic Tool Kit for Small-Crafts Work , $107.50 on Garrett Wade
Two years ago, artist Tim Bengel surprised the attendees of Berlin Art Week  and residents of the city  with a public art installation called "Flower Skull Cemetery." Bengel, who is originally from Stuttgart, laid one hundred gold-engraved gravestones on a vacant property near where the Berlin Wall once stood. He and his team surrounded the white marble stones with thousands of flowers, which had to be carefully placed in accordance with the piece's title.

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When seen from above, the floral arrangements formed the shape of a massive red skull and crossbones and, when visitors walked on the stone pathways that ran vertically through the flowers and greenery, they could read the inscriptions on the gravestones. "I tried to impress people I didn't like," one read. "I only lived once. LOL," another sighed.

Solid gold avocado toast bagel

Tim Bengel

"It's super stupid to worry about Instagram likes," Bengel told ArtNet, after he was revealed as the artist of the piece. "There are so many things you worry about in your everyday life that are not worth worrying about."

This year's Berlin Art Week starts on Wednesday, September 15, and Bengel will be there, debuting his newest work. Although his sculpture "Who Wants to Live Forever?" has a significantly smaller footprint than "Flower Skull Cemetery," it comes with a much bigger price tag.

Solid gold avocado toast bagel

Tim Bengel

For this piece, Bengel started with a real sliced pumpkin bagel, five tomato slices, five onion rings, five slices of avocado, and 10 arugula leaves. He scanned and 3-D printed molds of the bagel, and then cast the entire thing in more than 300,000 ($354,000) worth of liquid gold. (Bengel told Food & Wine that he ate the actual, non-gold bagel after the process was complete.)

Solid gold avocado toast bagel components

Steffen Jahn

"For thousands of years, people have attributed meaning to gold," Bengel explained in an email. "Whether as the tears of the gods, as with the Aztecs, or as the source of eternal wealth, as with King Midas in ancient Greece. Of course, gold and especially its mining also have considerable downsides. There are parallels with the avocado, the 'green gold' of a new industry. To capture the cultural significance of the avocado, no material would be more fitting than gold."

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The 29-year-old artist said that his goal for the piece was to capture one aspect of the current cultural climate. "I asked myself 'What is the symbol of my millennial generation?'" he explained. "It had to be something that combines topics like the adaptation of the internet, the use of social media, [and] the trend towards a healthy lifestyle with turbo-capitalism and the destruction of our livelihoods."

The only possible representation of all of those ideas, he decided, was the avocado  specifically this extravagant take on avocado toast. "Who Wants to Live Forever" will be available for sale through Galerie Rother and has an asking price of 2.5 Million (US$2.95 million, or roughly the same price as four bagels from an airport Starbucks). The work will also be displayed at Art Miami in December.

"The sculpture is intended to trigger an awareness of our present time: a time of rapid change, social media, fitness trends, green revolution, environmental destruction, turbo- capitalism, and constant self-optimization," Bengel said. "Perhaps we are living in the most exciting times ever. Be aware of that."
Gabby Petito set of from Florida in July (Suffolk County Police Department)

The mother of a young woman who disappeared after embarking on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, has made an emotional appeal for her safe return: We just want you to come home.

Gabby Petito, 22, was last seen on 24 August when she and her fiance, Brian Laundrie, checked in and out of a hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah.

They had set off in early July to head West and visit some of the nations national parks, recording and sharing their van life-inspired journey on YouTubes Nomadic Statik.

Over the weekend, the young womans family reported her missing to police, saying they had not heard from her for several weeks and were worried. Ms Petito and her family are from Blue Point, on New Yorks Long Island.

Gabrielle Petito was reported missing to the Suffolk County Police Department by her family on September 11 at approximately 6.55 p.m, the police department said in a press release.

According to family, they were last in contact with her during the last week of August. Prior to the last communication, Petito is believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

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Meanwhile, police in Florida, where the couple had lived, said the circumstances of her disappearance appeared odd and that Mr Laundrie had returned home. A spokesperson told The Independent there was no evidence a crime had been committed. The spokesperson said Mr Laundrie had requested if officers wanted to speak to him they should contact his lawyer.

The womans mother, Nicole Schmidt, told Fox News she believed the couple were set to next head to Yellowstone National Park. A spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police confirmed the vehicle had been returned but that officers were not commenting further than the press release from Sunday.

In an interview with CBS News, Ms Schmidt said the family had become increasingly worried.

Its scary and its nerve wracking. We dont sleep. Were just actively looking for her, she said.

At least three times a week we would FaceTime, call, text frequently. She kept me updated on this whole trip.

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Ms Schmidt said they last spoke via FaceTimed about three weeks ago, adding the last text she received was on 30 August.

Ms Petito is described as about 5 feet 5 inches tall and 110 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes, and several tattoos. A tattoo on her forearm says let it be.

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.

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She said she had informed police of the details of the final text message but could not be certain if was her daughter.

I don't know if she left Grand Teton or not, she said. I did receive a text from her on the 27th and the 30th, but I don't know if it was technically her or not, because it was just a text. I didn't verbally speak to her.

Ms Pieto and Mr Laundrie had lived for the past two years in North Port, Florida, located about 30 miles from Sarasota. It was not immediately possible to contact Mr Laundrie.

In a statement, North Fork Police Department said it was cooperating with police in Long Island, to try and locate Ms Pieto.

The North Port Police Department is actively assisting in this case in conjunction with the Suffolk County Police Department where she was reported missing, it said. The Suffolk County Police Department is investigating the disappearance of a Blue Point woman who went missing while traveling.

The 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.

Spokesperson Josh Taylor told The Independent they had confirmed Mr Laundrie had returned to Florida but that he had asked they speak to his lawyer if they have questions.

The spokesperson stressed they had no evidence any crime had been committed and were hoping Ms Petito returned home.

At the same time we have to gather the evidence, said Mr Taylor

Read More

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GOP congressman accuses Blinken of treason and wont end rant at Afghanistan hearing

Gabby Petito: Everything we know about YouTubers mysterious disappearance on road trip
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decided to send a bold message with her fashion at the 2021 Met Gala.

The Democratic congresswoman, 31, made her debut appearance at the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum on Monday, wearing a white gown by Brother Vellies with the political slogan "Tax the Rich" splashed across the back in red lettering.

She completed the outfit with a pair of red shoes and a bag also bearing the same words.

"It's really about having a real conversation," Ocasio-Cortez told reporters about the inspiration behind the statement. "It's about fairness and equity in our system and I think that this conversation is particularly relevant."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Kevin Mazur/MG21/Getty

RELATED: The Met Gala 2021 Red Carpet Looks You Must See

"I would not be here if it wasn't with Aurora as a designer," she continued. "Aurora James, she started off just a couple years ago with three grand in her pockets at the fleas selling her works and now she's here at the Met Gala. And that is the story of our city, it's the story of who should be centered, especially as a Black woman, immigrant designer in an industry where that is severely underrepresented. If we were going to do this, it was to bust the door open and bring people to the Met."

For more on the 2021 Met Gala and other top stories, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

Speaking on the potential backlash to her attendance at the Met Gala, the New York representative said, "I think I'm kind of at the point where no matter what I do, if I wake up in the morning, there's going to be someone who has something to say about that. So at the very least, what we should do is act in our integrity and do things with intention and purpose."

RELATED VIDEO: Look Back at Some of the Best Looks from the Met Gala Years Past

James, the founder and creative director of Brother Vellies, also opened up about the design to Vogue, saying, "We can never get too comfortable in our seats at the table once they've been given," she said. "We must always continue to push ourselves, push our colleagues, push the culture and push the country forward."

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She added, "Fashion is changing, America is changing. And as far as this theme goes, I think Alexandria and I are a great embodiment of the language fashion needs to consider adding to the general lexicon as we work towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and empowered future."

Be sure to check out all of PEOPLE's Met Gala coverage to get the latest news on fashion's biggest night.

As PEOPLE previously reported, the annual gala is enforcing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate and mask requirement after being postponed (the 2020 Met Gala was canceled).

"Currently, all attendees at The Met Gala on September 13 must provide proof of full vaccination and will also be expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking," a spokesperson for The Met confirmed to PEOPLE in August. "We will update these guidelines as needed."

The Metropolitan Museum of Art confirmed in April that the annual fashion fete would be back  in two parts.

RELATED: Met Gala to Require Attendees to Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19 and Wear Masks

The museum's next exhibition will include a series of events celebrating American fashion. Part one, titled In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, will debut on Sept. 18, 2021 and run through Sept. 5, 2022 to "celebrate The Costume Institute's 75th anniversary and explore a modern vocabulary of American fashion," the release states.

Part two, In America: An Anthology of Fashion, will open on May 5, 2022 and "will explore the development of American fashion by presenting narratives that relate to the complex and layered histories of those spaces." It will also close on Sept. 5, 2022.
Apple has released security updates for a zero-day vulnerability that affects every iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Citizen Lab, which discovered the vulnerability and was credited with the find, urges users to immediately update their devices.

The technology giant said iOS 14.8 for iPhones and iPads, as well as new updates for Apple Watch and macOS, will fix at least one vulnerability that it said "may have been actively exploited."

Citizen Lab said it has now discovered new artifacts of the ForcedEntry vulnerability, details it first revealed in August as part of an investigation into the use of a zero-day vulnerability that was used to silently hack into iPhones belonging to at least one Bahraini activist.

Last month, Citizen Lab said the zero-day flaw  named as such since it gives companies zero days to roll out a fix  took advantage of a flaw in Apples iMessage, which was exploited to push the Pegasus spyware, developed by Israeli firm NSO Group, to the activists phone.

Pegasus gives its government customers near-complete access to a targets device, including their personal data, photos, messages and location.

Read more on TechCrunch

The breach was significant because the flaws exploited the latest iPhone software at the time, both iOS 14.4 and later iOS 14.6, which Apple released in May. But also the exploit broke through new iPhone defenses that Apple had baked into iOS 14, dubbed BlastDoor, which were supposed to prevent silent attacks by filtering potentially malicious code. Citizen Lab calls this particular exploit ForcedEntry for its ability to skirt Apple's BlastDoor protections.

In its latest findings, Citizen Lab said it found evidence of the ForcedEntry exploit on the iPhone of a Saudi activist, running at the time the latest version of iOS. The researchers said the exploit takes advantage of a weakness in how Apple devices render images on the display.

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Citizen Lab now says that the same ForcedEntry exploit works on all Apple devices running, until today, the latest software.

Citizen Lab said it reported its findings to Apple on September 7. Apple pushed out the updates for the vulnerability, known officially as CVE-2021-30860. Citizen Lab said it attributes the ForcedEntry exploit to NSO Group with high confidence, citing evidence it has seen that it has not previously published.

John Scott-Railton, a researcher at Citizen Lab, told TechCrunch that messaging apps, like iMessage, are increasingly a target of nation states hacking operations and this latest find underlines the challenges in securing them.

In a brief statement, Apple's head of security engineering and architecture Ivan Krstic confirmed the fix.

"After identifying the vulnerability used by this exploit for iMessage, Apple rapidly developed and deployed a fix in iOS 14.8 to protect our users. Wed like to commend Citizen Lab for successfully completing the very difficult work of obtaining a sample of this exploit so we could develop this fix quickly. 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. While that means they are not a threat to the overwhelming majority of our users, we continue to work tirelessly to defend all our customers, and we are constantly adding new protections for their devices and data," said Krstic.

NSO Group declined to answer our specific questions.

Updated with comment from Apple.
Sep. 13Shari Jerde, a teacher of business education and family and consumer science at Grand Forks Community High School, was praised for her extraordinary skills as an educator during an event to recognize her Monday, Sept. 13, as one of four finalists for 2022 North Dakota Teacher of the Year.

At the celebration event at the alternative high school that enrolls about 90 students, ages 16-18, state school Superintendent Kirsten Baesler lauded Jerde "as a shining example of the best our teaching profession has to offer in North Dakota and throughout our country."

To be chosen as a finalist for North Dakota Teacher of the Year is "truly an honor," Baesler said. There are more than 12,000 teachers in the state, she said.

The selection as a finalist for the award is part of a process of nomination, supported by an application that covers teachers' personal stories and "strategies to engage students of all backgrounds and places in life," said Baesler. "It is one really big homework assignment. And Mrs. Jerde got an A+ in that homework assignment."

Baesler was "tremendously impressed" by Jerde's accounts of her teaching role, including her focus on "techniques and mindfulness and how to cope with stressful situations that all of us face in our lives."

"Mrs. Jerde walks the talk; she does things beyond what's expected of her," Baesler said. "She's really good at what she does."

In accepting the award as a finalist, Jerde thanked her Community High School colleagues, Grand Forks school district administrators, and her family for their support.

Jerde recognized her parents, Judy and Lee Lewis of Mylo, N.D., who attended the event in person, for teaching her that hard work pays off. She also thanked her husband, Sean Jerde, and their three adult daughters for their support and other family members who were also present via an online Zoom connection.

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Teaching at Community High School "has been the greatest teaching opportunity of my career, (working with) students who have not always had a straight path to graduation," she said.

"I will continue to be the best teacher I can be, all for one more opportunity for students to be successful," Jerde said.

In his remarks, Superintendent Terry Brenner, who worked with Jerde on a teacher advisory committee, said that her "decisions and thought process are always about students, not about the adults."

Among several school district administrators in the crowd, Catherine Gillach, associate superintendent of secondary education, said about Jerde, "She is tireless and so creative. She does the kind of teaching we'd like to see everywhere."

At Community High School, Jerde teaches family and consumer sciences, business education, and career and technical education, and she has been a traditional teacher, said Principal Terry Bohan.

"She is prepared, passionate, positive, current, creative, flexible, open, tough and kind," he said. "She uses all of the spices in the spice rack, and multiple tools in the kitchen drawer" in support of her students and their success.

Jerde is "highly unique" in that she holds licensure in many subject areas, "so she is a 'gold mine' for elective programming," Bohan said.

In the past 12 years or so, Jerde is one of three alternative-school teachers to be named as a finalist for North Dakota Teacher of the Year to the best of his knowledge, Bohan said.

This year, finalists were selected from 40 county Teachers of the Year. Not all of the state's 53 counties selected a teacher for this recognition. Jerde was named as Grand Forks County Teacher of the Year.

Other finalists are Matthew Nielson, 11th-grade science teacher at Valley City High School; Heather Ell, first-grade teacher at John Hoeven Elementary School, Minot; and Bret Dockter, sixth-grade teacher at Harvey Elementary School.

The winner of the 2022 North Dakota Teacher of the Year will be announced by Baesler and Governor Doug Burgum on Sept. 27 at the state Capitol's Memorial Hall.
Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, says the Biden administration needs to undo extensive damage in enforcing civil rights laws.

The Justice Department on Tuesday launched a sweeping investigation into the Georgia state prison system plagued by extreme staffing shortages and a culture of violence and neglect in which at least 44 inmates have died by homicide since last year.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, chief of Justice's Civil Rights Division, the said the inquiry was sparked by alarming reports of prisoner-on-prisoner attacks, along with prisoner and staff assaults on gay, lesbian and transgender inmates.

The department's action expands on an existing federal inquiry started in 2016 that had been focused the sexual abuse of LGBT prisoners.

Earlier this month, the Georgia detention system was named in a federal civil rights lawsuit, alleging "abysmal" conditions inside solitary confinement wings that have "deteriorated past the point of constitutional crisis."

Related video: DOJ opens probe into Minneapolis policing after Chauvin verdict

In the lawsuit, the Southern Center for Human Rights asserted that 70% of the 300 people held in solitary confinement suffered from "serious" mental illness.

"Conditions of confinement... are repulsive," the civil rights group contended. "Rats and roaches crawl on people while they sleep and crawl in their food. Many cells have no power and defective plumbing. Living areas reek of feces from accumulated human waste in unflushed toilets, whose flushing mechanisms are controlled by staff.

"The conditions are so harsh and isolating  and mental health care is so inadequate that self-injury and violence are common," the group alleged. "People subjected to solitary confinement ... frequently experience psychiatric crises and become suicidal."

The Georgia Department of Corrections denied claims that the agency was engaged in a "pattern or practice" of misconduct and neglect, asserting that officials were "committed to the safety of all of the offenders in its custody."

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"This commitment includes the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault," the agency said in a written statement. "We cooperated fully with the USDOJs initial investigation in 2016 and are proud of the service and dedication of our team since then to perform during unprecedented challenges."

Clarke, while announcing the Justice action, cited the Southern Center's allegations as among the reports that prompted federal intervention.

Indeed, the federal action comes exactly a year after the Southern Center had called on the department to help "prevent further loss of life."

In a Sept. 14, 2020 letter to the Trump Justice Department, the center warned of "escalating violence" and large-scale rioting sparked by a lack of food, water and sanitation.

"Videos taken by incarcerated people and readily available on the Internet show extreme deprivations  injured prisoners covered in blood, prison dorms with no security supervision, groups of men roaming lockdown dorms armed with machetes, and cells with no running water or functioning toilets," the center said, adding that staff vacancies were running at nearly 30%.

Sara Totonchi, the Southern Center's executive director, said the group is "deeply grateful" for the Justice action.

"This is a significant step in our ongoing struggle for accountability for the lives that have been lost and for the people who continue to suffer behind the walls," Totonchi said.

The assistant attorney general described the Georgia investigation as a "top priority" for the department.

The Justice Departments investigations into prison conditions have been successful at identifying systemic constitutional violations and their causes, fixing those causes and stopping the violations," Clarke said, referring to recent examinations in Alabama and New Jersey. "We are investigating prison violence and abuse in Georgias prisons to determine whether constitutional violations exist, and if so, how to stop them.

.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ investigates Georgia prisons after 44 inmates died, LGBT assaulted
Kate Quigley poses during her appearance at The Ice House Comedy Club on March 31, 2017 in Pasadena, California.

Michael Schwartz/WireImage Kate Quigley

Comedian Kate Quigley is opening up about her recovery after surviving a suspected accidental group fentanyl overdose that killed three people.

"I am better every day. Im sore," Quigley tweeted on Sunday night, when a fan asked her how she was feeling following her release from the hospital.

"I was going to break from social, but honestly I'm in a great mood today," she wrote. "I'm so excited about the @RamsNFL kickoff game & I've decided that life must go on. No use in not living when I am lucky enough to be alive!!"

Quigley was rushed to the hospital on Sept. 4 after she and other partygoers suffered accidental overdoses after allegedly using cocaine that had been laced with fentanyl at a party in Venice, California, according to TMZ.

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RELATED: Comic Kate Quigley Speaks Out After Suspected Accidental Fentanyl Overdose That Killed Fuquan Johnson

The Los Angeles County coroner's office later identified the three people who died as comics Fuquan "Fu" Johnson, 42, and Enrico Colangeli, 48, as well as Natalie Williamson, 33, the Los Angeles Times reported.

On Saturday, Quigley revealed that she had been discharged from the hospital and "finally had the time & clarity to put my feelings on paper" in the wake of the fatal incident.

"Thank you to everyone who reached out to me over the past week," she said in a statement shared on her Twitter. "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."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

"I am still shocked & devastated by the loss of my friends Fu, Rico, and Natalie," continued Quigley. "Words cannot describe the pain I am feeling & I will be changed forever by their passings."

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The comedian and actress, who has appeared in shows like My Super-Overactive Imagination and Add-TV, went on to memorialize her friends, saying in her statement, "They each made an indelible mark on my life and the lives of their loved ones. I will miss them."

"There are so many things i want to say, but I'm not ready. When I am, I will," Quigley said. "Until then: All I can say is: Tell your people that you love them every day. Stay safe. And please don't take life for granted. I did, and I will never again."

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RELATED: Kate Quigley Issues Statement After Surviving Suspected Group Overdose That Killed 3: 'Shocked and Devastated'

Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson Officer Mike Lopez previously told the Los Angeles Times that there "was no indication of foul play" in the incident involving the four friends.

The LAPD had no comment when reached by PEOPLE last Thursday.

Colangeli and Johnson, a writer for Comedy Parlour Live, were staples of the Los Angeles comedy scene.

Following their deaths, North Hollywood's Ha Ha Comedy Club  where Colangeli and Johnson performed  changed their marquee in honor of the late comics.

A memorial for Colangeli and Johnson has also been scheduled for Wednesday, according to the comedy club.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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A conservative commentator believes that Rome and Budapest are ideological allies in the battle against consumerism. A liberal pundit, on the other hand, thinks that Pope Francis and PM Orban embrace very different values.

Magyar Nemzets Levente Sitkei writes that defending national, European and Christian values is one and the same project. He goes on to surmise that the West has abandoned Christian values and embraced materialism and consumerism instead.



Hungary, on the other hand, is still defending traditional Christian, European and national values. In this battle, Rome and Budapest are allies, and only Christian values can lead humanity back to an ethical life, he suggests.



In an aside, Sitkei accuses the atheist Left of having falsely suggested for months that Pope Francis intended to avoid meeting Hungarian government politicians. Trying to drive a wedge between Rome and Budapest, he writes, is sheer political propaganda.



On 444, Peter Sarosi thinks that Pope Francis and PM Orban endorse values and ideologies which are diametrically opposed. The liberal human rights activist acknowledges that the Hungarian government strongly supports Christian churches and Christian organizations, but sees this only as an effort to use them for the governments political purposes.



Pope Francis represents values very different from those of the Hungarian Prime Minister, he suggests.



He describes Pope Francis, a migrant himself, as a leader calling on states to offer refuge to foreigners, help the poor and tolerate gays. Those values, Sarosi concludes, represent the opposite of Prime Minister Orbans political agenda.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

Click here to Share Your Story





MTI Photo: Noemi Bruzak
New Delhi: Eleven States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have achieved the target set by the Ministry of Finance for the capital expenditure in the 1st Quarter of 2021-22, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.

"As an incentive, these States have been granted permission by the Department of Expenditure to borrow an additional amount of Rs. 15,721 crore. The additional open market borrowing permission granted is equivalent to 0.25 percent of their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Additional financial resources thus made available will help the States in pushing their capital expenditure further. State wise amount of additional borrowing permitted is enclosed," FinMin said.

The capital expenditure has a high multiplier effect, enhances the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of economic growth. Accordingly, out of the net borrowing ceiling (NBC) of 4% of GSDP for the States for 2021-22, 0.50 percent of GSDP was earmarked for incremental capital expenditure to be incurred by the States during 2021-22. The target for incremental capital expenditure for each state to qualify for this incremental borrowing was fixed by the Department of Expenditure.

To become eligible for incremental borrowing, States were required to achieve at least 15 percent of the target set for 2021-22 by the end of 1st quarter of 2021-22, 45 percent by the end of 2nd quarter, 70 percent by the end of 3rd quarter and 100 percent by 31st March 2022.

Next review of Capital expenditure of States will be undertaken by the Department of Expenditure in December, 2021. In this round, capital expenditure achieved by the States till 30th September, 2021 will be assessed. Third review will be done in the month of March, 2022 on the basis of capital expenditure incurred by the State during the first three quarters of the year 2021-22. The capital expenditure-linked borrowing ceiling of 0.50 percent of GSDP will be allowed to those States who will achieve actual capital expenditure of at least 45 percent of the target by 30th September 2021 or 70 percent of the target by 31st December 2021.

There would be a final review of actual capital expenditure by the States in the month of June, 2022. Any shortfall/deficiency in actual capital expenditure for the year 2021-22 by the State in comparison with the targeted capital expenditure for the year 2021-22, will be adjusted from the borrowing ceiling of the State for the year 2022-23.

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Ayodhya: Aam Aadmi Party kicked off Tiranga Sankalp Yatra in Ayodhya under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday (September 14).

The party will take the yatra across Uttar Pradesh. Sisodia said, After seeing Ram Lalla in Ayodhya yesterday, we have prayed to the gods that the Aam Aadmi Party should get an opportunity to form the government in Uttar Pradesh. AAP will form a government in the state which will take inspiration from the ideals of Lord Ram. By the grace of Lord Shri Ram, Delhi Government is functioning in accordance with the ideals of Lord Ram and Arvind Kejriwal is the only Chief Minister in all of India who is running the government by following the ideals of Ram Lalla. Today Lord Ram is discussed in other parties, but we all know what is happening in the name of Lord Ram. The Yogi Government of BJP in Uttar Pradesh is neither of the common people nor of Shri Ram. Instead of ending Goonda Raj, the Yogi government is promoting Goonda Raj in the state. Even after 75 years of independence, instead of giving their due to those who give us food, it is very shameful that they are calling farmers goondas, goons and terrorists.

In the 75th year of independence, we will take inspiration from the Tiranga in Ayodhya, the city of Shri Ram, and take a pledge to form a government that provides good education, health, employment, security to women to every person standing under this Tiranga. Yogi made big promises to the people of Uttar Pradesh 4.5 years ago that if his government is formed in Uttar Pradesh, then UP will get freedom from goonda raj, corruption will be free, youth will get jobs. Yogi promised to show farmers the dream that the price of their crops would be doubled, that he would establish such a law and order system where mothers and sisters would be safe. But the Yogi Government has only and only cheated the public, he added.

Sisodia further said, In the last 4.5 years, the Yogi Government instead of freeing Uttar Pradesh from Goonda Raj has promoted Goonda Raj. Jaiprakash Pal was publicly murdered in front of the officers and the police. A girl was raped in Hathras, but instead of supporting the girl's family, the Yogi government failed to stand with the poor. The Yogi Government of BJP, which dreamed of ending the Goonda Raj, stood with the goons and rapists. And to hide his misdeeds, he cremated the body of the victim at 2 o'clock in the night. The Yogi Government not only encouraged Goonda Raj but also stood with the goons. Today, all the newspapers of UP are full of incidents of rape of young girls, but the Yogi Government has become so ruthless that instead of improving the law and order, it is maligning the poor.

Sisodia stated that the Yogi government promised to make Uttar Pradesh corruption-free, but during the COVID period, when schools across the country were closed, the government committed a scam of Rs 9 crore in the name of distribution of bags and stationery.

Sisodia said, The condition of education in Uttar Pradesh is so bad that when I went to see the schools in the capital of Uttar Pradesh, I was stopped by the police. Because the Yogi Government does not have a single school that it can call a model school. The plight of health facilities in Uttar Pradesh can be seen in the times of COVID when thousands of people died due to lack of treatment and bodies were seen floating in the Ganges. Today people from villages of Uttar Pradesh are taking their children to cities for dengue treatment by sitting on cycles but they are neither getting beds nor treatment in the hospital. Parents are forced to take their children back home in the same condition. These pictures are heartbreaking. This is fake nationalism of BJP.

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New Delhi: Afghan refugees on Tuesday held a demonstration in Delhi against the Taliban in which they also raised anti-Pakistan slogans.

The protesters carried placards that read "Terrorism and Pakistan are the same sides of a coin" and "ISI leave Afghanistan" and raised slogans against the Taliban."My relatives were living in Panjshir. Pakistan airforce killed my relatives, my cousins, that is why we are here to protest against Pakistan," a protestor informed ANI."

The ISI is interfering in our country. ISI Chief went to Afghanistan (during the takeover)," another protester, Sapur told ANI."We want India to support us against Pak terrorism. We are protesting against the Taliban and ISI," he added. Protesters also raised slogans in favour of the Afghan resistance movement.

A few days ago, Afghans living in Germany also held a protest demanding that women`s rights should be protected, along with freedom, human rights, and civil rights, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

Earlier on August 15, when the Taliban gained control over the capital city of Kabul, anti-Pakistan protests across the globe were organized against Islamabad`s role in helping the Taliban. Protests were held in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, and Austria against the Taliban, denouncing their aggressive advance and barbaric acts in Afghanistan. Protesters also called for sanctions against Pakistan for their proxy war in Afghanistan. (ANI)

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New Delhi: Top officials of the Australian and Dutch Space agencies have expressed interest in collaborating and working closely with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). While the two countries have had several decades of experience in the field of space technology, it was only over the last decade that they formally established their respective space agencies.

According to Anthony Murfett, Deputy Head, Australian Space Agency, space would be a key part of Australias focus areas in the years to come. This plan would involve startups and businesses and their solutions to transform agriculture, disaster management etc. The ASA, which was established nearly three years ago is looking for domestic and international collaborations for the same.

The Australian Government is proud to be supporting the Gaganyaan mission by tracking through Australias territory on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It shows that Australia can be a trusted partner - we were a partner to NASA during the Apollo missions, we were a partner to Japan during Hayabusa 1&2 and now were working with India on Gaganyaan mission, said Murfett.

Citing immense opportunities for industries to collaborate, the Australian Space official said that ASA and ISRO had recently updated their Memorandum of Understanding to underscore the stronger bilateral relationship.

ALSO READ | ISRO to emphasize on Mfg process, make minor tweaks on GSLV for Gaganyaan

Australia is looking to invest and also be a partner and facilitator of business to transform the economy and also through regulation. We are establishing facilities to test space hardware in Australia, we have also invested in a command and control facility in Perth. We have the technology for massive automation and robotics that are used in mines(with very harsh conditions), which are over 1600kms away, we hope to utilize that expertise for automation in space as well, the Australian official added.

The Netherlands Space Office (NSO), the Dutch Space agency also expressed interest in greater collaboration with ISRO. Representing the agency, Deputy Director, Nico van Putten said that though NSO was formally established in 2009, it was among the founding members of the European Space Agency over four decades ago. Regarding their countrys focus areas in space technology, he said it ranged from development of products and services, miniaturization of technology, components and subsystems, satellite instruments for earth observation and the use of satellite data for studying agriculture, air quality, climate, water management etc.

Between the Netherlands and India Air quality monitoring is an area of cooperation and there is massive data collection by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Sentinel-5P mission, that was launched in 2017. More than 50% of the Netherlands is below sea level, so we are interested in water and agriculture and it is one of our specifics said Van Putten.

He also shared images of NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) monitoring over India that showcased the difference between pre-pandemic and pandemic-lockdown 2020 difference in pollution levels.

ALSO READ | Gaganyaan spacecraft engines tested successfully by ISRO, all you need to know

This is to be noted that, unlike India, Australia and Netherlands dont yet have a standalone and independent space-faring programme. They, notably, work with other agencies and countries to jointly perform missions.

The representatives of the foreign space agencies spoke at the inaugural session of the Building NewSpace in India International Space Conference and Exhibition.

Hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry with the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) and their affiliates, the three-day virtual conference will have eight sessions with over 65 speakers from ISRO, industry and Global Space Agencies focused on specific themes  addressing opportunities for industries, Trends in Satcom, Business models, start-up growth drivers etc.

The conference also has a session dedicated to start-ups.

Earlier, Zee Media had reported that ISRO would also be launching two satellites that are meant to provide communications, tracking support for its human-carrying spacecraft. Known as IDRSS (Indian Data Relay System Satellites), they would be placed nearly 36,000 km above the equator(where it would remain in sync with the earths rotation or geostationary orbit) and will offer near-total tracking and communication with Indias space assets.

It must be noted that a constellation of three satellites positioned in the 36,000 km orbit can offer real-time, 24/7 monitoring of almost all of the earth. In addition to space-based tracking, there would be ground-based and floating platforms(ships) that would be used to track Gaganyaan as it orbits the earth.
Binomo held a large-scale charity event under the slogan We give back to the community in the slums of Delhi and Jharkhand. It took place on 23, 24, and 29 August 2021. In collaboration with Lakshyam, Binomo distributed Ration kits, Solar lamps, and Sewing machines to needy families. In addition, they installed a water cooler in the NCR area of Delhi.

The first event took place in the slum area of Kirby Place in Delhi Cantonment. About 5,000 families have been residing here for the past 22 years without any electricity. There is just one example of the sad condition in which they live.

Binomo has distributed 100 Solar lamps to families of children who study in the area for them to learn even in the dark hours. The purpose of this event was to help children and their families understand the importance of education.

An equally important development was the installation of a water cooler in the NCR area of Delhi. Now, the locals can enjoy clean drinking water.

The charity event was attended by the MLA of Delhi Cantonment, Mr. Virender Singh, and SHO (Dhaula Kuan), Mr. Jagdish Rai. They appreciated Binomo and Lakshyam for doing on-ground work in the area to make significant changes.

Also, one of Binomo's missions is to create women entrepreneurs by providing them skilled based training and materials to achieve it. So after the Solar lamps were distributed, the company handed 20 Sewing machines to women to earn a living and support their families by doing skilled jobs.

The next day, Binomo distributed 200 Ration kits to the families living in the slums of Delhi and Jharkhand. The company has also taken similar initiatives in the past to help those in need during difficult times. Today, Binomo continued to fight against poverty and pandemic, along with other caring people.

For the third charity event, Binomo partnered with Lakshyam to distribute Ration kits to 100 families living in Namkum village on the outskirts of Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand state. The purpose of spreading the Ration kits was solely for the relief work they are doing to support the less privileged.

About Binomo

Founded in 2014, Binomo is not only a company that provides a unique and reliable trading platform for traders to get additional income. It is, first of all, caring people who are ready to help disadvantaged and oppressed communities. They are committed to the idea of everyone's right to education and dignified life.

About Lakshyam

Established in 2012, Lakshyam is a social organization devoted to working for the destitute and suppressed communities, especially children and women. We are engaged in the field of child education, holistic child development, and women empowerment.

The actions of the companies speak louder than words. Binomo & Lakshyam have organized a significant charity event by giving away 200 Ration kits, 20 Sewing machines, 100 Solar lamps, and installed a water cooler. But most of all, we are glad that such charity events in India are held frequently and will continue to be held thanks to Binomo & Lakshyam.

(Disclaimer: This is a featured content)
NEW DELHI: BrahMos, the supersonic cruise missile which is being jointly developed by India and Russia, will be manufactured in the Lucknow node of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Corridor soon.

According to reports, the manufacturing unit for the BrahMos missiles will be set up between Lucknow, Kanpur and Jhansi with an investment of Rs 300 crore. The BrahMos project will provide indirect employment to around 5,000 people and nearly 10,000 will get work through the production centres.

BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture (JV) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and NPO Mashinostroeyenia (NPOM) of Russia, has proposed the setting up of a modern manufacturing facility near Lucknow to the Uttar Pradesh government.

A top-level delegation of BrahMos Aerospace led by the director-general of BrahMos Sudhir K Mishra had earlier met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and discussed the proposal to set a major manufacturing facility for production and supply of various systems and sub-systems for next-generation missile systems.

Mishra also forwarded a letter to UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) CEO and Additional Chief Secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi seeking 200-acre land for the project under the Defence Corridor for making the BrahMos missile.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also given indications that the production unit for the next-generation state-of-the-art BrahMos missiles will most likely come up in the Defence Corridor in Lucknow.

Besides the BrahMos missile manufacturing, research and development work will also be done in these units. More than 100 BrahMos missiles are planned to be built in the next three years.

In January 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the creation of a Defence Corridor in UP during an investors' summit. The UP government also later said that it was setting up defence corridors at Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Agra, and Aligarh nodes.

In the last three years, over 65 big companies have requested the government to provide land in the Defence Industrial Corridor to set up their factories, of which around 19 big companies have been allotted 55.4 hectares of land by the UPEIDA recently.

BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile is a state-of-the-art cruise missile that is designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroeyenia. The next-generation supersonic cruise missile is based on the technology of Russia's P-800 Oniks cruise missile.

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced the suspension of two officials for alleged corruption in building houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana from the dais while addressing a gathering in Niwari, over 350 kilometres from here.

Chouhan, speaking at the rally held in Jairon, asked officials for names of those indulging in corruption in PMAY, a Central housing scheme for the poor, and then repeated the names conveyed to him to the crowd.

"They (officials) are telling me some Uma Shankar was the CMO (chief municipal officer) and one Abhishek Raut is the sub engineer," Chouhan told the crowd, and when they replied "yes" in unison, he went on to announce the suspension of Shankar and Raut.

He also ordered an Economic Offences Wing probe against the two, and told the crowd that his government would ensure those who indulged in corruption went to jail. During his rally, part of the 'Jandarshan Yatra' ahead of the Prithvipur Assembly bypoll likely to be held soon, the CM announced several projects for Niwai and Tikamgarh, officials said.

These include the construction of a college building in Orchha, a community centre in Mohangarh, the redevelopment of canal at an estimated cost of Rs 11.40 crore and and new bus stand at a cost of Rs 2 crore.

The Prithvipur Assembly bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of MLA Brajendra Singh Rathore of the Congress.

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New Delhi: Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress on Monday (September 13) passed a resolution unanimously to appoint Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to lead the party again as its President.

On Monday (September 13) evening, a state executive meeting chaired by Delhi Mahila Congress Chief Amrita Dhawan was held where she read the resolution in the presence of All India Mahila Congress President Netta Desuza.

"In the first state executive meeting of Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress, I am presenting a proposal to Amrita Dhawan, Mahila Congress President to hand over the reins of the party to former President of the All India Congress Committee, Rahul Gandhi," read the resolution.

All office-bearers and district presidents of Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress unanimously presented their consent to make Rahul Gandhi, the party president.

Prior to this, the Indian Youth Congress and National Students` Union of India (NSUI) had also passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi, lead the party.

Addressing the media persons, Dhawan said, "We all know that, in the last few years, there has been a belief among women, that Rahul Gandhi speaks honestly about women`s rights and this honesty makes him different from other leaders."

"We all have full faith that he will ensure the political participation of women and pave way for taking the Congress party to the topmost position in the same way," she added.

Rahul Gandhi formally resigned as the Congress president in July 2019 and had back then asked the party`s working committee to choose his successor.

"It is an honour for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love. Jai Hind," Gandhi had tweeted on July 3, 2019.

Following the resignation, party leaders began deliberations for a suitable candidate to replace him. The Congress Working Committee met in August 2020 to take a final call on the matter and passed a resolution thereby making Sonia Gandhi, the interim president until a consensus candidate could be picked.

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New Delhi: Delhi Police on Tuesday (September 14, 2021) busted a terror module and arrested six people including two terrorists who were trained in Pakistan. Police also recovered explosives and firearms in this multi-state operation.

"Total six people including two Pak-trained terrorists have been arrested," the Delhi Police Special Cell informed.

The terrorists were allegedly planning several blasts across the country during the upcoming festivals, the Delhi Police Special Cell added.

"We have arrested one named Sameer from Kota, two persons from Delhi and three people from Uttar Pradesh. Out of the six people, two were taken to Pakistan via Muscat where they were trained in explosives and firearms including AK-47 for 15 days," the Delhi Police stated.

The accused, identified as Jaan Mohammad Shaikh (47) alias 'Sameer', Osama (22), Moolchand (47), Zeeshan Qamar (28), Mohd Abu Bakar (23) and Mohd Amir Javed (31), were arrested following raids in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh, they said.

"They formed two teams - one was being coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim's brother, Anees Ibrahim, it was tasked to get the arms into India from across the border and keeping them concealed here. The other team was to arrange funding via Hawala," police informed further.

Among the arrested, Osama and Qamar, are Pakistan-trained terror operatives working under the instructions of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). They were tasked to conduct the reconnaissance of different suitable locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for placing IEDs, police said.





"The arrest of the four accused has exposed the nexus of Pakistan's ISI-sponsored and trained terror modules with underworld operatives and averted a slew of serial blasts and targeted killings in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states in India," Delhi Police said.

Delhi Police Special Cell also said that the arrested have stated that there were 14-15 Bangla speaking persons in their group who might have been taken for similar training.

"It looks like this operation was closely coordinated from across the border," Delhi Police Special Cell added.

The underworld operative Sameer, close contact of Anees Ibrahim, who is the brother of Dawood Ibrahim, was tasked by a Pak-based person connected with underworld operatives hiding in Pakistan, to ensure smooth delivery of improvised explosive devices (IED), sophisticated weapons and grenades to different entities in India.

Anees Ibrahim, who is presently based in Pakistan, is stated to be the underworld connect of this module, police said.





UP ATS busts ISI module, detains three

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has also said that they have busted an ISI module by detaining three people and seizing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) from them.

"UP ATS has bused an ISI sponsored module and detained three persons. The detentions were made during simultaneous raids in four districts -- Lucknow, Raebareli, Prayagraj (Allahabad) and Pratapgarh," Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said on Tuesday.

"In Prayagraj, one live IED was also recovered and bomb disposal squad is diffusing it," the officer added.

He stated that the three were being interrogated as police teams are trying to elicit more information.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: After independence, the history of India that we were taught in schools and colleges was written by the British. It was taught by English speakers to those who understood English. In this history, there was a place for Akbar the Great but not for Ashoka the Great'. In this history, Sir Syed Ali Khan was portrayed as a social reformer but the stories of patriots like Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh were left out.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Tuesday (September 14) discussed how many of Indias heroes were forgotten and missing from the history books and stressed on the need to re-establish them.

Today, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, it created a buzz around the historic figure. People all over the country started discussing who Raja Mahendra Singh was.

Well, Raja Mahendra Singh was a freedom fighter who not only fought the British all his life but he was the first Indian to form a government of India in the year 1915 in Kabul, which was named Hukumat-e-Mukhtar-e-Hind which translates to Government of Free India.

Whereas leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru had first demanded complete independence only in the year 1929, fourteen years later.

PM Modi today said that it is the misfortune of the country that after independence such national heroes were forgotten.

Today, very few people will know about Mahendra Pratap Singh. Very few people knew that Singh had donated his personal land to set up the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Just like Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh who fought against the British, Maharani Velu Nachiyar of Sivaganga Empire who fought against the East India Company, King Suheldev defeated Mahmud Ghaznavi's nephew Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud and many of the Maratha warriors defeated the Mughals on many occasions.

However, the history books make no mention of these heroes, while rulers like Babur, Humayun, Akbar Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb are glorified.

The ninth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was assassinated by Aurangzeb only because he was opposing the forced conversion of Kashmiri Hindus. The place where Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded on the orders of Aurangzeb is where Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib is located today. Regrettably, after independence, only 10 km away from Sis Ganj Gurudwara, a road was built in the name of Aurangzeb. It was renamed after former President APJ Abdul Kalam in the year 2015.

The British and leftist historians even tried to prove that the Sanskrit language and Vedic culture were brought to India by foreigners who were called Aryans. However, it has been proved in many studies that the story of the arrival of Aryans in India is concocted and there is no solid evidence for it.

These historians even denied the history of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. And the biggest lie that was told was that the Mughals were the ones who united India. Whereas the truth is that the empires of Gupta, Maurya, and Maratha kings extended even beyond present-day India and these kings had truly united India on the basis of its culture.

At present, there are more than 700 such districts, towns and villages in India, whose names are after the Mughal rulers, while the role of many of the patriots, freedom fighters and rulers have been undermined. There is indeed a need for course correction in Indian history to re-establish the forgotten heroes.

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Pune: An offence has been registered against an unidentified food delivery agent for allegedly molesting a woman while riding past her in Pimpri Chinchwad area of Maharashtra's Pune, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place in Wakad area of Pimpri Chinchwad late on Sunday night, an official said. According to the police, the woman runs a small eatery in the area with her husband.

"The complainant was on her way home after closing the eatery with her husband and son around 11.45 pm, when a food delivery man came on a motorcycle from behind and allegedly passed a remark and touched her inappropriately, outraging her modesty," an official from Wakad police station.

A case has been registered against the unidentified accused under relevant sections of the IPC, he said.

The police are examining the CCTV footage from the area to ascertain the identity of the accused, he added.

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Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Tuesday (September 14) extended the night curfew in eight major cities including Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Surat, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh till September 25.

The curfew will be effective from 11 pm to 6 am in the cities. The decision was taken in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases.

Although the number of new COVID cases has declined in the state, the government took the decision in anticipation of the next wave of the pandemic.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the state has crossed 8.25 lakh with the number of fatalities recorded being over 10,000.

The government reopened schools for students from Classes 6 to 8 from September 2. It, however, added that the parent's consent will be mandatory to call students.

The government also said that the physical classrooms must be run with 50 per cent capacity and that COVID-19 guidelines must be ensured.

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New Delhi: A team of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Indian Navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were called in for rescue operations in Gujarat's flood-hit districts of Rajkot and Jamnagar. The officials on Tuesday (September 14, 2021) informed that over 200 people stranded in the floodwaters were rescued and more than 7,000 people have been shifted to safer places in the two districts.

The IAF helicopters rescued 22 people stranded at some locations in Jamnagar, officials said, adding that 150 people in all were rescued across the district.

The IAF also rescued seven villagers in Rajkot, while a total of 56 people were rescued all over the district, officials said.

"A Navy team was helping in the operation to search for two persons who are missing after their car got washed away in a strong water current in Rajkot on Monday," Collector Arun Mahesh Babu said.

Teams of the Navy and the Coast Guard also assisted the Jamnagar administration in rescuing 150 to 160 people within the city limits as local rescue teams were unable to reach there due to the surge in water level, Jamnagar Collector Sourabh Pardhi said.

#GujaratRains Rescue teams from #INSValsura in #Jamnagar deployed on #13Sep 21 to assist district administration in rescuing a large number of stranded people in rain affected inundated areas of the city. Food packets were also provided by the teams (1/n).@SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/kBJkQ1DYbB  SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) September 14, 2021

As per the latest reports, a national highway in Jamnagar and 18 state highways passing through Rajkot, Jamnagar and Junagadh districts of the Saurashtra region were closed due to flooding, while many villages were cut off as several roads connecting them were inundated.

A bridge over river Fofal has also reportedly collapsed and has forced the closure of a road connecting Jam Kandorna and Gondal in the Rajkot district.

Meanwhile, the newly-elected Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel is visiting the flood-hit areas.

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel visits flood-affected areas in Jamnagar pic.twitter.com/9BaulBsSPn  ANI (@ANI) September 14, 2021

Rajkot's Lodhika taluka received the maximum rainfall of 516 mm in the state during the 24-hour period ending at 6 am on Tuesday, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said in an update. Visavadar taluka in Junagadh district of Saurashtra received the second-highest downpour at 468 mm, while Kalavad in Jamnagar recorded 406 mm rain, Rajkot taluka-325 mm and Dhoraji in Rajkot-250 mm, the SEOC said.

In view IMD reports @NDRFHQ deploys

in coordination with St Gov 20 Teams across Gujarat

to tackle hvy rains& flooding in several districts

5 tms airlifted fm Punjab

Rescue Ops ON@PMOIndia @HMOIndia @BhallaAjay26 @PIBHomeAffairs @PIBAhmedabad @ANI @DDNewslive pic.twitter.com/3mY9R7IEqf  t prdhn   -DG NDRF (@satyaprad1) September 14, 2021

On Tuesday, Mangrol taluka of Junagadh district received 151 mm rainfall in just four hours since 6 am, while Keshod taluka in Junagadh received 108 mm rainfall during the same period, the SEOC said.

During the 24-hour period ending at 6 am on Tuesday, 35 talukas received over 100 mm rainfall, mainly in Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Gir Somnath and Devbhumi Dwarka in Saurashtra region, as well as in south Gujarat's Valsad and Navsari districts, the SEOC said.

Gujarat has so far this monsoon season received 69.24 per cent of the average rainfall, and the downpour this month has helped the state narrow its rain deficiency.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: On September 13, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) declared the result of ICAI Final 2021 and ICAI CA Foundation 2021 exams. Nandini Agrawal has secured All India Rank, AIR 1 in New Course, whereas, Mangaluru's Ruth Clare Dsilva has topped in the Old Course exam. The complete list of toppers can be checked on icai.org.

For ICAI CA Toppers 2021, while Nandini is from Morena, Madhya Pradesh, the second and third position for new course have gone to Sakhshi Airan from Indore and Bagrecha Sakshi Rajendrakumar respectively.

In old course, Malavika R Ksrishnan from Palakkad bagged the all-India second rank.

Most of the CA toppers were women this year. Accoding to media reports, girls fared slightly better than boys with the former scoring 27.26% as pass percentage, while that of the boys stood reportedly at 26.08%. According to media reports, under New Course, 11.97% students have passed, while only 1.57% students have passed under the Old Course.

Meanwhile for topper Nandini's family, it was a case of double celebration. The 19-year-old's brother, Sachin Agrawal, 21, has achieved all India rank (AIR) 18. In an interview to the Indian Express, Nandini said that she and her brother supported each other: My brother and I have been studying together since school. We also prepared for IPCC and CA final together. Our strategy has been simple  we support each other but we critique even more. When we solve a question paper, he checks my answers and I check his. There have been moments when I was losing hope but my brothers support got me on track."

Ruth Clare DSilva, the old course topper is naturally elated and she told the media that while she was confident of clearing the exam, bagging a rank wasn't something she was sure of. Since school days, my favourite subject was accountancy and therefore, I pursued graduation through distance mode and began my preparation for the CA exam, the topper told the Indian express.

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India is no longer known as a defence importer and the country is fast moving towards becoming a major defence exporter.

The PM said this after visiting the exhibition models of the Aligarh node of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor.

PM Narendra Modi visits exhibition models of Aligarh node of UP Defence Industrial Corridor. UP CM Yogi Adityanath was also present. PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh. pic.twitter.com/bH9Yk7LrN7  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2021

India is no longer seen as a defence importer, it is moving fast on the path of becoming a major defence exporter, the PM said in Aligarh.

Today, not only the country, but the world is also seeing that from modern grenades and rifles to fighter aircraft, drones, warships are being manufactured in India itself. India is moving towards making a new identity of a defence exporters, PM Modi added.

Today, not only the country, but world is also seeing that from modern grenades&rifles to fighter aircraft, drones, warships are being manufactured in India itself. India is moving towards making a new identity of a defence exporter: PM Modi pic.twitter.com/k1ywMLOoZY  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2021

The PM began his speech by extending his greetings to people on the occasion of Radha Ashtami and said that he was dearly missing former CM Kalyan Singh's presence.

It's a big day for Aligarh and west UP. The occasion of Radha Ashtami today makes it more holy. I wish you all a happy Radha Ashtami. I'm missing former CM Kalyan Singh's presence today. He would've been very happy with the development of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University, PM Modi said.

It's a big day for Aligarh &west UP. The occasion of Radha Ashtami today makes it more holy.I wish you all a happy Radha Ashtami. I'm missing former CM Kalyan Singh's presence today. He would've been very happy with the development of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University:PM Modi pic.twitter.com/wcEx4n7Q1f  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2021

He also heaped praise on the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.

Today, Uttar Pradesh is becoming an attractive place for every small and big investor of the country and the world. This happens when the right environment is created for development. Yogi govt is working towards development in the state, the PM Modi said in his speech adding, Before 2017, governance in Uttar Pradesh was in hands of 'goondas' and 'mafias', but today such elements are behind bars.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier laid the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Uttar Pradesh`s Aligarh. Prime Minister then visited the exhibition models of Aligarh node of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University.

Aligarh: PM Narendra Modi lays the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University UP Governor Anandiben Patel & UP CM Yogi Adityanath were also present pic.twitter.com/bnqV46C02I  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 14, 2021

UP Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were also present. "I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saving both lives and livelihood of the people in the country during the COVID pandemic," CM Yogi Adityanath said.

The University is being established by the State Government in memory and honour of the great freedom fighter, educationist, and social reformer, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh.

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 affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh Division, informed the official communique.

The establishment of a Defense Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh was announced by the Prime Minister while inaugurating the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit in Lucknow on February 21, 2018.

A total of 6 nodes - Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Lucknow - have 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 in making the country self-reliant in the field of defense production and promoting Make in India`.

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New Delhi: India will be holding the first-ever Global Buddhist Conference in November, which will become an annual feature. The event is being planned by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) from 19th to 20th November in Nalanda, Bihar in the campus of the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara.

Announcing the development, Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President of the ICCR said, "Buddhism is an essential ingredient of the idea of India. Therefore, the predominance of India in the idea of Buddhism and predominance of Buddhism in the idea of India is being underscored in an academic manner."

In the run-up to the conference, four regional conferences in India - Telangana, Saranath, Gangtok and Dharamshala and abroad - in Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Cambodia will be organised. Reports of these regional conferences will be presented at the Global Buddhist Conference.

Dinesh K Patnaik, DG, ICCR explained, "This is an academic conference. The whole idea is how do you make India center of Buddhism, what do you do. It is not about tourism, it is about making center for Buddhist activities, like academics, cultural, seminars, people traveling for festival - Buddha Purnima, Vesak. We are going to have a manuscript repository."

ICCR has also announced an award for the promotion of Buddhist studies which will be given on 21st November in Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The award carries a cash reward of $20,000 (around Rs 14.7 lakh), a plaque, and a gold-plated medallion. The award is part of a comprehensive action plan for activities related to Buddhism.

Buddhism's India link is well known and much-celebrated one. Buddha, the founder of the religion which has millions of followers across the globe, obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar, all the places which are in India. India has been the home to the highest aces of learning of Buddhist studies including Nalanda, Vikramshila universities and the country gets many pilgrims across the globe every year.

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New Delhi: At least four people died by drowning and seven others went missing after an overloaded boat capsized in the Wardha river in Maharashtras Amravati district on Tuesday (September 14).

The police said that two of the male boat occupants aged 27 and 35 swam to safety following the accident.

The incident took place around 10.30 am in Warud tehsil under the jurisdiction of Benoda police station, when 12 people from Gadegaon village along with the boatman were going to a temple after visiting a waterfall nearby, a police official said.

Prima facie, it appears that the boat was unable to sustain the weight of its occupants, he said.

The victims had come to Zunj in Warud tehsil for the post-death rituals of a relative on Monday. On Tuesday morning, they all got on to the boat to visit a temple. However, the vessel capsized in the middle of the river, the official said.

Teams of the police and district disaster management authority have so far been fished out four bodies, and three of them were identified as boatman Narayan Matare (45), Wanshika Shivankar (2) and Kiran Khandale (25), the police said.

Efforts were on to trace the other seven missing people, they said.

Local MLA Devendra Bhuyar and Warud's sub-divisional officer Nitin Hingole rushed to the spot to supervise the search and rescue operation.

Also Read: Boat capsizes in Brahmaputra river in Assam

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New Delhi: On the much-awaited nod by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Niti Aayog Member VK Paul on Tuesday (September 14, 2021) said that a positive decision could be coming in before September-end.

"We know of positive developments - data sharing, data evaluation going on through multiple reviews and we know that we're close to a decision point," VK Paul was quoted as saying by ANI.

He added, "We believe that positive decision could be coming in before month-end."

This is to be noted that the Centre in July had stated that all documents required for the WHO's Emergency Use Listing (EUL) have been submitted by Bharat Biotech as of July 9, following which the global health body had commenced the review process.

The WHO has so far approved coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, US pharma majors Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, China's Sinopharm and Oxford-AstraZeneca for emergency use.

Covaxin is one of the six vaccines that have received emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator and is being used in the nationwide inoculation programme, along with Covishield and Sputnik V.

ALSO READ | Do you know how to identify fake Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines? Check here

Earlier last month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had also 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

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.

ALSO READ | Unprecedented pace, says WHO as India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage crosses 75 crore
Dankaur: A woman, who had 'disappeared' all of a sudden, nearly seven months back, from a nearby village of Delhi, has materialised and that too as policewali! In a story reminiscent of a movie plot, the family of the girl had filed a complaint at Dankaur police station alleging that a young man had lured their daughter away. She has also insisted that she will go home only as a "ghar daroga".

The woman, a student of MA, had reportedly gone missing in January. Her family had alleged that a youth resident of Greater Noida had seduuced and taken away their daughter and they filed the complaint against the young man. But it seems there was clearly a different twist to the tale.

While the police have been busy searching the girl, she returned by herself on Sunday (September 12). The girl was by herself and she revealed the true story of why she ran away. It seems that the family of the girl was hell-bent on getting her married, whereas the girl herself had no such intention - all she wanted to do was build a career for herself. But despite her reluctance, her family was insistent on marriage and had even gone ahead and arranged a marriage with a guy of their choice, reports Hindustan. This was possibly the nail-in-the-coffin moment for the girl who fled.

Also read: Saki Naka rape victim, who was brutalised and assaulted with iron rod, dies in Mumbai

She headed to the capital and in Delhi, stayed reportedly with an acquiantance and prepared for the Delhi Police Constable Recruitment Examination. She cleared the exam with the required marks and now she is deployed as a Delhi Police constable. The woman has also reportedly said that she is willing to marry as per her family's wishes when she fufils her ambition. After informing the police personnel at Dankaur police station, the woman left the place and returned to duty. The Dankaur Police has said they will investigate the case, but pointed out that the woman is an adult, thereby indicatiing she can take her own decisions.

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New Delhi: The Indian Army has invited applications for the recruitment of male engineering graduates for its 134th Technical Graduate Course (TGC) which will commence from January 2022. It is a golden opportunity for Engineering graduates seeking to make a career in the Indian Army and serve the country.

However, the deadline to apply for the course is about to end tomorrow, i.e. September 15, 2021. Hence, those candidates who are interested must hurry and avoid last minute rush.

Candidates must possess an Engineering degree in various disciplines including Information Technology, Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, Electronics & Telecommunication etc to be eligible. Those who have yet to pass their degree examinations, will be eligible only if they are studying in the final year of the degree examination.

The training will be conducted at Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun for permanent commission in the Indian Army.

Indian Army TGC Recruitment  Age Limit:

Minimum age: 20 Years, Maximum age: 27 Years. Candidates born not earlier than January 2, 1995, and not later than January 1, 2002, will be eligible to apply.

Selected candidates will be granted Short Service Commission on probation in the rank of Lt from the date of commencement of the course or the date of reporting at IMA, whichever is later. On successful completion of training, cadets will be granted permanent commission in the Army in the rank of Lieutenant.

Indian Army TGC Recruitment  Stipend and Salary:

The duration of training is 49 weeks. A stipend of Rs 56,100 per month will be given to the trainees.

On completion of training, the cadets will be appointed as Lieutenant on Level 10 pay scale which ranges from Rs 56,100 to Rs 1,77,500. Other allowances will also be applicable.

Indian Army TGC Recruitment - How to apply:

Step 1: Visit the official website of Indian Army on joinindianarmy.nic.in.

Step 2: Click on Officer Entry Apply/Login and then click Registration (Registration is not required, if already registered on joinindianarmy.nic.in.

Step 3: Fill the online registration form after reading the instructions carefully.

Step 4: After getting registered, click on Apply Online under Dashboard. A page Officers Selection Eligibility will open.

Step 5: Click Apply shown against Technical Graduate Course. A page Application Form will open.

Step 6: Fill in the required information and submit the application.

Also Check: Punjab Police Constable Recruitment 2021: 2340 vacancies announced, check important dates, other details here

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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.

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New Delhi: From his workout videos to family photographs, and his banter with nephew Arjun Kapoor, Bollywood star Anil Kapoor is very active on social media.

The actor, though, sounded a note of caution during a conversation with actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan on the chat show 'Pinch Season 2'. When asked about how he views the power of social media and if he had any piece of advice for his fans, 'Mr India' said: "My advice is, don't be trigger-happy, use social media positively as it can be a great platform for spreading love and positive messages. Don't try to use it negatively and exploit it for sensationalism."

Kapoor then went on to add: "When you don't have much knowledge about a matter, why do you comment on it? It is better to remain silent and mind your own business."

(The episode will be aired on Wednesday, September 15, on QuPlay YouTube, ZEE5 and MyFM).
New Delhi: The untimely tragic demise of actor Sidharth Shukla shook the nation with grief. The ocean of fan following, his family members and friends mourned Sid's sudden death on September 2, 2021. He was 40.

Besides Sidharth's mother and other family members, who were the most struck with this unforeseen tragedy, it was Shehnaaz Kaur Gill, whose first appearance at his funeral left all heartbroken. Shehnaaz, his Bigg Boss 13 fellow contestant and close friend was inconsolable and stayed throughout the last rites rituals with family.

Talking to Spotboye.com, Bigg Boss 14 contestant Abhinav Shukla revealed that he and his wife Rubina Dilaik met Shehnaaz's mother after the unfortunate incident and the former is coping fine. He said, " I pray and wish all the strength to Shehnaaz Gill and Sidharth Shuklas family. I and Rubina met her mother and she is coping well. I pray that god assuages their anguish.

Shehnaaz has not posted anything on her social media since Sidharth's untimely demise although her brother Shehbaaz Badesha keeps sharing motivational quotes with Sid's pictures.

For the unversed, Abhinav Shukla and Sidharth Shukla kickstarted their modelling careers together with Gladrags Manhunt and Megamodel Contest in 2004.

Several celebrities from the television and film industry came to offer condolences at Sidharth Shukla's residence and later at the Oshiwara Crematorium. Sidharth's mother was accompanied by family members as she headed for her son's last rites. Close friend Shehnaaz Gill was accompanied by her brother Shehbaaz and looked completely heartbroken. She was teary-eyed and inconsolable.
Chennai: 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 Gods' 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 the 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 the Gods, it is a Godly language. Such a Godly language has to be used while performing Kudamuzhuku," the Madras High 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 particular 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 policymakers 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, nowhere else can be used.

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 Tirmuala 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 a proof is not available. However, it is also one of the ancient languages which are 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 e-stampes 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 the 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.

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Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has revealed that it is soon going to launch the OnePlus 9RT against the T versions of iPhones. The OnePlus 9R variant was scheduled to launch in October.

It has now been revealed that the OnePlus 9RT will launch on October 15 with a minor upgrade to 9R along with a few changes.

A leakster named OnLeaks had posted on Twitter revealing the launch date of the OnePlus 9RT. If this comes out true, then it will coincide with iPhone 13 series availability in India. The latest iPhone launch will happen tonight at 10.30 PM IST.

As per the rumours, the OnePlus 9RT is expected to come with a 6.55-inch Samsung E3 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The smartphone is expected to be powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chip which is seen on the OnePlus 9R after a few changes.

In terms of selfies and videos, the OnePlus 9RT is expected to come with a 50MP main camera (like the Nord 2), a 16MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP B&W sensor. It will have a 16MP front camera. The smartphone will come with a 4,500mAh battery with 65W fast charging, Android 11 with OxygenOS 12. In terms of price, It is likely to come under Rs 40,000, much like the 9R and the Nord 2.

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#mute
New Delhi: Bigg Boss OTT has entered its final leg with the grand finale just 4 days away, the makers have now made special arrangements for all housemates to meet their families and friends in order to boost their morale.

In the promo shared by Voot Select, Shamita Shetty got teary-eyed when she saw her mother Sunanda Shetty in the house.

While the housemates were asked to stay freeze, it was Shamita who couldnt control her emotions and burst into tears after seeing her mother after a long span of time.

She also introduced her mother to her fellow contestant in the house Raqesh Bapat and asked her isnt Raqesh so sweet?

To which her mother says, he is a sweet man. He is the gentleman in the house.

To which Raqesh responds love you from the living area.

Her mother also said she is extremely proud of Shamita and she is doing really well and her sister is also watching the show and everyone is liking her in the show.

For the unversed, recently her sister Shilpa Shetty also appreciated her for how gracefully she is carrying herself on the show.

Bigg Boss OTTs grand finale will premiere on September 18 (Saturday), where all the housemates will fight for the trophy and only one will take it home.
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a university named after Jat King Mahendra Pratap Singh in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh on Tuesday.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the PM will address a gathering and then visit the exhibition models of the Aligarh node of the Uttar Pradesh defence industrial corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University.

This will be the first of the many scheduled visits of PM Modi ahead of the 2022 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on 14 September 2021 at around 12 noon, which will be followed by his address on the occasion. The Prime Minister will also visit the exhibition models of Aligarh node of Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

The university is being established by the Uttar Pradesh government in memory and honour of noted Jat figure Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, a freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer.

The university is being set up over 92 acres in Lodha and Musepur Kareem Jarouli villages of Aligarh's Kol tehsil and will provide affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh division.

The government's decision to set up the university after the noted Jat figure is being politically seen as part of the ruling BJP's bid to win over the community ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the state early next year.

Jats are 17 per cent of the population in Western Uttar Pradesh and the community overwhelmingly supported the ruling party in 2014, 2017 and 2019, but with the farmer agitation gaining momentum, it looks like the community is not standing firmly behind the party this time.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and state chief minister Yogi Adityanath will also be present on the occasion.

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WAs usual, the Met Gala event brought the biggest of celebrities in their complete glory on to the walking carpet.

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 multi-coloured 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 armour 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 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 US--and picked a Louis Vuitton gown designed in collaboration with her sister, Mari Osaka.

However, all the precision taken by the guests couldnt avoid the wrath of the social media.

Here are some of the best reactions:

Anna Wintour is this year's floral couch meme #MetGala pic.twitter.com/p2fQtfQMNh  Miguel (@FormulaMiguel) September 13, 2021

im so sorry but i just cannot get over kim's met gala fit meme pic.twitter.com/XyquQiQHug  msh (@Mishra4442) September 14, 2021

Kim Kardashian: I now declare the Met Gala Memes '21 Open! pic.twitter.com/4DJJ5IknKp  Ramki (@ramkid) September 14, 2021

Me: I really dont care about #MetGala Also me scrolling through all the #MetGala2021 memes on Twitter: pic.twitter.com/KqGlxYcbKY  Heather Monahan (@HeatherMonahan_) September 14, 2021

kim & kanye entering the met gala looking like two dementors #MetGala #MetGala2021 pic.twitter.com/Dv6M6t4HGg  roo (@here4agoodtimex) September 14, 2021



(With inputs from PTI)
New Delhi: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the senior Taliban leader and Deputy Prime Minister of the interim government in Afghanistan, has released an audio message to dismiss rumours about his death and claimed that he is alive and not injured.

The audio message, tweeted by Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem, came amid reports that Mullah Baradar was injured or killed in clashes among the Taliban, according to Tolo News.

concerning latest rumors:

I was on journey. Takkng the opportunity of my absent, media activists started propagating. I and every colleague is ok. News have always done brazen propaganda. Deny these rumors outright, we all are fine. pic.twitter.com/iO3X2fNwX3    (@abdulwaris0988) September 13, 2021

Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was last week named as the number two to Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund, blamed "fake propaganda" for the death rumours in the audio clip shared by the Taliban's media wing.

There had been intense speculation on social media that Baradar was fatally wounded in a shootout between rival Taliban factions at the presidential palace.

"There had been news in the media about my death. 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," Baradar said in the audio clip.

"Media always publish fake propaganda. Therefore, bravely reject all those lies, and I 100 percent confirm to you there is no issue, and we have no problem," he reportedly said in the audio message.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban spokesperson from Qatar, also categorically dismissed the reports about Baradar's death.

Mullah Bradar Akhund, Deputy PM, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in a voice message rejected all those claims that he was injured or killed in a clash. He says it is lies and totally baseless.  Suhail Shaheen.    (@suhailshaheen1) September 13, 2021

Earlier there were reports that Faiz Hameed, the head of Pakistan`s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had rushed to Kabul following a clash between Baradar and Haqqani-supported groups in which Baradar sustained injuries.

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New Delhi: A group of foreign YouTubers, ranging from British to Singapore, have recently been found uploading content and video that either praises Chinas rapid development or criticises and tries to debunk any negative foreign reports about it. China has expertise in the manipulation of narratives and the propagation of false information, and these legions of foreign social media influencers seem to be the latest weapon that Beijing has deployed in order to defame its critics and to shift the narrative in its favour. Experts who have been tracking these YouTubers observed that there have been hundreds of videos garnering millions of views.

YouTubers deny that they are paid and sponsored by the Chinese government. When asked about why they continue to defend China, most of the content creators state that they are on a self-appointed mission to debunk the lies of the West and if Chinese media shares their content there is no harm in it. But the connection between these so-called independent YouTubers with Chinese State media does not end at the state media just sharing their content, by their own admission these YouTubers have even collaborated with Chinese state media on multiple videos.

One of these such content creators has less than 30,000 subscribers but regularly posts videos praising China and comparing the West to China with the goal of making it appear that China is better than the West. Similarly, one British vlogger frequently travels around China in his videos where he tries to portray China as the perfect country and the Chinese people as perfect and content, one of the experts aware of these developments told Zee Media.

China has banned YouTube within its territories but the content of these YouTubers is widely shared and repeatedly praised by Chinas state media like CGTN and many others. Their content is also widely spread on Chinese media platforms. The same Chinese media is highly critical of foreign media and foreign content creators. Any negative coverage by foreign media and accredited journalists about Chinas actions is dubbed to be a ploy of the West but the content of these YouTubers is spread and promoted like gospel.

Over the course of researching these YouTube channels, a trend emerges. Most of the videos posted by these content creators during the early stages of their career were normal apolitical travel videos wherein these creators would travel to different places in Asia and try their food etc. Then about a year ago, their content became political and focused on debunking Western lies.

The intended audience for these YouTube videos is still unclear as they will only convince those individuals that are already staunch believers that China is innocent. But in China, these videos can have a major effect by reinforcing peoples faith in the Party by hiding the truth about the Chinese government's actions.

These YouTubers continue to defend China despite the US and many other countrys accusing Beijing of genocide against Uyghur Muslims residing there. There has also been ample evidence collected pointing towards China using Uyghurs as slave labour and subjecting them to forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

The extent of falsehood being perpetrated by these Youtubers can be gauged from a particular video where one known Youtubers went as far as to claim that the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that were led by students was akin to terrorism. These YouTubers opined that demanding individual rights, freedoms and the right to protest is terrorism.

These YouTubers and Vloggers are one small part of Chinas large and extensive misinformation and propaganda strategy. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, China launched a very deliberate campaign to spread misinformation about the virus so as to deflect blame and attention away from the fact that Chinas inaction during the early stages was the cause for its rapid spread around the globe.

A common belief has existed in the folklore of many cultures, how much to sell your soul to the devil?. The answer to that question is subjective as it depends on the person, but the result of the same can be seen that China has assembled a legion of foreign YouTubers to defend itself online and to disprove allegations of human rights abuses made against it by multiple countries.
The Chinese ambassador to Britain has been banned from attending an event in the country's parliament because Beijing imposed sanctions on lawmakers who highlighted human right abuses in Xinjiang.

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, and John McFall, the speaker of the House of Lords, stepped in to prevent Zheng Zeguang from speaking at an event in parliament.

"The Speakers of both Houses are in agreement that this particular APPG China meeting should take place elsewhere considering the current sanctions against members," said a spokesperson for the speaker of the House of Lords.

Richard Graham, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary China Group, had given an invitation to Zeguang during the summer, the Daily Telegraph said.

Graham, Hoyle and the All Party Parliamentary China Group were not immediately available for comment.

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Washington: Noting that Pakistan has "harboured" members of the Taliban including the terrorists from the proscribed Haqqani network, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Islamabad needs to "line up" with a broad majority of the international community regarding Afghanistan.

Blinken made the remarks during his first testimony before Congress since the Taliban took control of Kabul. The top US diplomat laid out the Biden administration`s posture toward the Taliban in remarks to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

When asked about how the US sees Pakistan`s involvement in Afghanistan, Blinken said Pakistan has a "multiplicity of interests", including some that are in "clear conflict" with that of the United States.

He added that India`s involvement in Afghanistan has influenced some "detrimental" actions by Pakistan. Pakistan has been accused of providing overt and covert support to the Taliban.

Early this month, former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh asserted that the Taliban are being micromanaged by Pakistan notorious intelligence agency--the ISI, adding that Islamabad is in charge of the war-ravaged country effectively as a colonial power.

During the testimony, US lawmaker Bill Keating reminded Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan`s remarks after the Taliban seized control that "Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery".

He said that Pakistan`s ISI had such strong ties in cooperation with the Haqqani Network, "responsible for so many things including the deaths of some of our soldiers, and even recently when the Taliban took over in the last month".

"Prime Minister Khan claimed Afghanistan had broken the shackles of slavery. So we used to always hear diplomatically that we have a complicated relationship with Pakistan. I would say it`s often duplicitous," he said.

Keating asked Blinken: "How do we reassess that relationship how we, how we learn from their actions. And when we go forward. What do we do, what are some of the big issues that we should have stakes in the ground that we should have in dealing with Pakistan and the way they`ve acted over these decades."

To which, Blinken said Pakistan is involved in "hedging its bets constantly" about the future of Afghanistan.

"It`s one that`s involved harbouring members of the Taliban, including the Haqqanis. It`s one that`s also involved at different points, cooperation with us on counterterrorism, and so there are a number of things that have come into play it. It has a multiplicity of interests, some that are in conflict, clear conflict with ours," he said.

"When it comes to Afghanistan, it`s focused, of course as well, on, on India and the role that India is playing in Afghanistan, and it looks at it through that prism as well. All of these things, I think, have influenced what it has done on many occasions detrimental to our interests. On other occasions in support of those interests," he added.

The US top diplomat said that if the Taliban want any legitimacy or any support going forward, it must ensure freedom of travel to include making good on its commitments on not allowing Afghanistan to be used as a haven for outward-directed terrorism to include upholding the basic rights of the Afghan people.

"What we are looking is an insistence that every country, including Pakistan, make good on the expectations that the international community has of what is required of a Taliban led government," he said.

"And so Pakistan needs to line up with with a broad majority of the international community in working toward those ends, and in upholding those, those expectations," he noted.

When another US lawmaker asked if it was time for the US to reassess its relationship with Pakistan given it has provided support to the Taliban, the US top diplomat said: "We are going to be looking at in the days and weeks ahead, the role that Pakistan has played over the last 20 years, but also the role that we would want to see it playing in the coming years".

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Washington: US President Joe Biden would host the first-ever in-person Quad summit at the White House on September 24, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga, the White House announced on Monday.

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, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.

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, the White House 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, it 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.